The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-05-11
THIRD ANNUAL REPORT
OF
The Bureau of Statistics Of Labor
MGSSACHISETTS.
or SETTS,

OE MNNSAN
The Rcrnrt Of the Bureau is divided into
three parts, with an Introduction and an
Appendix In the Introduction attention
is called t. the Importance of the subject
committedto The charge Of the Department,
and the general attention it is receiving in
all parts IF the civilized world. The ex-
penses for the past year are given as So
S.J2 i3.
Part l. is mainly statistical, giving the
wages. expenses and savings Of the wages
labor classes in all departments Of industry,
represented by a large majority of the
towns in the Commonwealth. TO obtain
these statistics 10 varieties Of blank circu-
lars were used No. on Agriculture, 2,
Fisheries, 3, Workingwomen, 4, Employers
uf Wurkingmen, D, General Wages, 6,
Hours of Labor, Z, Miscellaneous, 8, Cost
# Living, 9, Workingmen, and 10, Saw
ings Banks, the whole number sent out
beng upwards of 5000. A complete class
ihcation uf employments, occupying some
! half dozen pages, are given.
Under the head Of Agriculture, Class l.,
the increases and decreases from 1860 to
| 1870. in various farm products are given,
and table of wages, and considerable space
is allotted to respondents. The testimony
of "A large number is that the cost of farm
| labor has greatly diminished the usual
| breadth If cultivation in the State, or en-
tlrely changed the ordinary purpose of it,
and that the only farm labor to be general
| ly obtained is inferior to that which was
everywhere abundant in former times
Glass =. Commercial, comprises Fisheries,
of which 4 table of shares and earnings are
given, and land and water travel.
The Bureau of Statistics Of Labor Of
Massachusetts, presented on the 9th inst.
its Third Annual Report to the Legisla
ture. signed by Henry X. Oliver, Chief,
and Geo. f. Mcneil, Deputy. The Re
port has been looked for this year with un-
usual interest, as the developments made
| by the Bureau, in its two previous reports
of the condition of the operative classes iii
| Massachusetts,, has resulted in combined
effort, on the part Of its enemies, i'll the
| Legislature, to secure its abolition.
The novelty of the present Report is the
| investigation concerning the Savings Banks
IF the State, i'll which it appears that a
| large proportion of the capital invested Is
not the results Of the savings Of labor.
Tn. Bureau says ''Iiow cooperation
can bc introduced into commerce as well as
/ into industry, will be an interesting part of
| the statement Of the Labor Question, when
ever such "a statement is written"
Domestic Labor and Woman's Work
occupies some 60 pages of the Report, and
is largely the result Of personal investiga-
tion among the working women and their
employers Wages in lS different occupa-
tions are tabulated, and facts and figures
] -, r.la4fnV, ~, lE rAlp lpynnnta mt
/ included in ,.bles The returns to En-
/ ployes Blank were very meagre, 1913 being
sent ont and but % returned The facts
given substantiate those of former reports,
Of low wages and the many disabilities un-
/ der which woman labors.
The Bureau claims that 'There is no
special natural working TO Woman's disad-
! vantage in the matter of wages. The po-
| litical or social economy that solves the
wages question will solve her question at
/ the same time" That political disfran-
chisemcnt, though an injustice from which
woman suffers, is not the cause, though all
| important element Of her cheapness. That
/ '.sbe should have the ballot because it il
| her right, but its possession will not, Of IT.
self, give equal earnings Larger earnings
to labor, whether performed by men OF wo-
men, will come with increased wants and
| higher civilization.
Under the head, industrial and Me
chanical. occupying nearly 100 pages OF
! the Report, are given, IN tabular form, the
number employed, nationality, "hours q
labor, wages, earnings, etc, III the various
industries, with totals and averages to
tables. Following each table are extracts
from returns made be manufacturers. Sew
eral report an improvement III the general
condition Of their employees. A tanner
remarks, page l55, ''There is upon the in
crease among workingmen generally, an
idea of the necessity of taking a vacation,
Of going upon excursions, and Of more lux
uurious living generally, 50 that the de-
mands for compensation are continually
growing greater, etc.
To the special blank sent out on the
"Hours Of Labor, only one full return
was received. The Bureau says The
great interest manifested by employers, and
especially by the manufacturers of sextile
Fabrics in opposition to a reduction of the
hours Of labor, would naturally lead US tO
infer they would readily answer the ques-
tiOns propOunded, especially as they have
continually claimed that production would
be diminished and wages reduced by any
reduction Of the working time. But in this
We are disapp pointed"
Under this head, however, are state
ments Of both employers and employees, in
reply to this question on the hours of labor
in blank Nos. D and 9. Nearly half of the
employers, some thirty-fve in number, ia.
vor the ten hour system, few express nc
opinion, and the remainder are opposed.