The receipts and disbursements of the relief department of the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburg and Erie during its first seven years, ending June 30, 1896, were as follows:

The railway relief department is an institution that benefits the employees, the companies, and the public, because it is based upon the sound principle that "the interests and welfare of labor, capital, and society are common and harmonious, and can be promoted more by cooperation of effort than by antagonism and strife." The railroad companies are enabled to do more in relieving the sufferings of their employees. Both the public and the railroad companies share in the benefits that result from the higher standard of efficiency which the regulations of the relief departments require of the railway staff.

The relief departments are competitors of the relief and insurance feature of the railway employees' orders. Both methods of providing relief have proven themselves successful and beneficial. A comparison of their merits and a judgment as to which institution is to be preferred, when viewed from the standpoint of all interests concerned, can not be given without considering the plan of organization of the relief work of the railway employees' orders, the principles upon which the plan is based, and the results which have been accomplished. That having been done, fruitful comparisons may be drawn.

RECENT REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR STATISTICS.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor. Part I, Relation of the Liquor Traffic to Pauperism, Crime, and Insanity. 1896. Horace G. Wadlin, Chief. vii, 416 pp.

The information presented in this report was collected in pursuance of a legislative act passed in 1894. The ground covered by the inves tigation can best be stated by quoting from the act, which directs the bureau "to ascertain, from all sources available, facts and statistics showing the number of commitments to all institutions, penal and charitable, resulting from the use or abuse of intoxicating liquors; the number of crimes committed by persons while under the influence of intoxicating liquors; the number of crimes of each class thus committed; the number of paupers whose present condition can be traced to the use or abuse of intoxicating liquors by themselves, or by their parents, guardians, or others; the number of persons who have been pronounced insane and whose condition can be traced to the use or abuse of intoxicating liquors by themselves, their ancestors, or by others; and in general, such other data as will tend to show the relation of the liquor traffic to crime, pauperism, and insanity.”

The investigation, which covered a period of twelve months ending August 20, 1895, was conducted by means of personal interviews had by special agents of the bureau with the inmates of prisons and of the different State institutions for the reception of paupers and the insane. Supplementary information was obtained by the examination of the records of courts, prisons, and other public institutions.

The report is divided into three principal sections-pauperism, crime, and insanity.

The number of cases of pauperism, crime, and insanity covered by the inquiry represents cases of commitments during the twelve months, irrespective of individuals. There were 3,230 returns made as to pauperism, 26,672 as to crime, and 1,836 as to insanity, making a total of 31,738 cases returned.

The returns relating to crime are reported to be more complete and trustworthy than those relating to pauperism and insanity, because in the case of criminals more definite information as to their habits could be obtained from the records, and also because prisoners as a class are much more intelligent, and, therefore, much more capable of giving

evidence. The report is so comprehensive in its character that only some of the main facts derived from the investigation can be here presented.

PAUPERISM. With respect to the drinking habits of paupers, it is found that out of a total of 3,230 found in the State institutions during the twelve consecutive months, 2,108, or 65.26 per cent, were addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors, 866, or 26.81 per cent, were total abstainers, and in regard to 256, or 7.93 per cent, the drinking habits could not be ascertained. Of those who used liquor, 505 were reported as excessive drinkers, the others being persons who drank occasionally, either in public places or only at their own homes. Nearly one-half of the total abstainers, or 429, were minors, 281 being under 10 years. of age. Thirty-one minors were addicted to the use of liquor.

Regarding the direct influence of the use of intoxicating liquors answers could not be obtained for all of the 3,230 paupers reported. Out of 2,701 cases ascertained, 1,274, or 47.17 per cent (39.44 per cent of the whole number returned), attributed their pauperism to their own intemperate habits. The influence of intemperate habits of parents is surprisingly small, only 156 out of a total of 2,890 cases ascertained, or 5.40 per cent (4.83 per cent of the whole number returned), considering their condition of pauperism due to the intemperance of one or both. parents. In 47 out of 2,903 cases ascertained, the paupers attributed their condition to the intemperate habits of their legal guardians, and in 99 out of 2,883 ascertained cases, to the intemperate habits of others. In 1,542 out of a total of 2,379 ascertained cases, or 64.82 per cent (47.74 per cent of the whole number returned), either one or both parents of the paupers were addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors.

As to the nature of the intoxicants consumed by the paupers the report shows that among 2,108 who used such beverages 535 used wine, 1,850 used lager beer, 1,870 used malt liquor, and 1,584 used distilled liquor, the average number of kinds of liquor used by each person being 2.77. In 480 cases, or 22.77 per cent of the whole, the persons indulged in but one kind of liquor.

The returns as to the political condition of paupers show that by far the greater portion are aliens. Of the 3,230 paupers reported 1,019, or 31.55 per cent, were citizen born, 320, or 9.91 per cent, were naturalized, and 1,867, or 57.80 per cent, were alien. In 24 cases, or 0.74 per cent, this information could not be ascertained. The parents of paupers were both native in only 305 cases, or 9.44 per cent of the number returned, while in 2,652 cases, or 82.11 per cent, the parents of paupers were both foreign. In the remaining cases the parentage could not be ascertained, or only one of the parents was foreign.

The liquor habits of paupers and the number whose pauperism was directly due to the use or abuse of intoxicants are shown, by sex and occupations, in the following table.

LIQUOR HABITS OF PAUPERS AND THEIR RELATION TO PAUPERISM, BY SEX AND OCCUPATIONS.

The most numerous class shown in the table is that of laborers, of whom there were 1,171. Of these 633, or 54.06 per cent, attributed their condition of pauperism to the use of intoxicating liquors; 253, or

21.61 per cent, were excessive drinkers. The next in number were the female domestic servants, namely, 267, of whom 31, or 11.61 per cent, report their condition due to the use of intoxicating liquors, 18 being excessive drinkers. Taking the 51 principal occupations of both sexes in which five or more paupers had been engaged, as shown in the above table, it is found that in eight of them over one-fourth of the cases reported were those of excessive drinkers, namely: Junk dealers, 83.33 per cent; firemen, 40.43 per cent; fishermen, 40 per cent, molders, 36.36 per cent; leatherworkers, 36 per cent; boot and shoe makers (male), 27.45 per cent; masons, 26.83 per cent; machinists, 26.32 per cent. In the case of the following 20 occupations of males over one-half of the paupers in each case reported their present condition due to the use of intoxicants: Junk dealers, 100 per cent; chairmakers, 80 per cent; sorters, 80 per cent; steam fitters, 71 per cent; firemen, 68 per cent; blacksmiths, 66 per cent; leatherworkers, 64 per cent; molders, 64 per cent; masons, 63 per cent; brassworkers, 63 per cent; cooks, 62 per cent; painters, 58 per cent; quarrymen, 58 per cent; barbers, 56 per cent; agents, 56 per cent; clerks, 54 per cent; laborers, 54 per cent; machinists, 53 per cent; boot and shoe makers, 51 per cent; teamsters, 51 per cent.

CRIME. During the twelve months covered by the investigation, there was 26,672 convictions for various offenses, of which 17,575, or 65.89 per cent, were for drunkenness, and 657, or 2.46 per cent, for drunkenness in combination with other offenses. In 21,863 cases, or 81.97 per cent, the offender was in liquor at the time of committing the offense. Taking only the cases in which drunkenness did not form part. of the offense, or 8,440, there were still 3,640 cases, or 43.13 per cent, in which the offender was in liquor at the time the offense was committed, and 4,852 cases, or 57.49 per cent, where the offender was in liquor at the time the intent was formed to commit the offense.

In response to the inquiry whether the intemperate habits of the criminal led to a condition which induced crime, an affirmative reply was made in 22,514 and a negative reply in 4,142 cases, the facts being unknown in 16 instances. Disregarding the cases in which drunkenness was a factor, there remain 4,294 out of 8,440 cases of conviction for other crimes, or 50.88 per cent, in which the intemperate habits of the criminal led to a condition which induced the crime. In 16,115 out of 26,672 cases of conviction for crimes, including drunkenness, the criminals reported that the intemperate habits of others were influential in leading them to a condition which induced crime. In 217 cases this information was lacking. Taking only the 8,440 cases of conviction for crimes other than drunkenness, it is found that 3,611, or 42.78 per cent, attributed their condition to the influence of the intemperate habits of others.

As to the drinking habit of criminals, it is found that 25,137, or 94.24 per cent of the whole number, used intoxicating liquors, and 1,535, or 5.76 per cent, were total abstainers. Of the former, 4,516 were 6395-No. 8——5