Connecticut western news., 1875-04-02
SOME LABOR STATISTICS.
Social Condition of I.nborers of she United
 States. 4a

states. E
 The data and material for describing the condition of laborers engaged ill the manufacturing industries of, the United States at different periods arc very meager. During the colonial period and the early days of the republic, says ex- Secretary Wells, there was but little ac- cumulated national wealth, but what there was was probably distributed with more of equality than has ever prevailed in any other large community of which we have correct history for any heightened period. At the commencement of the present century there were probably 0 smaller number of individuals in the country, in proportian to the whole popu- lation, who possessed an accumulated capital of $5, ,0O0 than there are at the present time who possess $100,000. But if there was butlittle accumulated wealth in the early days of our national history, there was but little poverty, and conse- quently but few social distinctions, and the natural resources of the country then as now afforded remarkable facilities to all who are willing and able to work for earning comfortable livelihood. With the gradual accumulation of wealth, the utilization of natural forces through the agency of machinery, and the great im- provements in the means of transporta- tion, the consuming power of the masses has also greatly increased, and many things which were once regarded as luxuries have come to be considered by even the humblest in the light of neces- sities, But it cannot, at the same time, be doubted that the general tendency of ,&c khn 1oct ono If A a na1 tury of our national history has been to more unequally distribute the results of industrial effort, to accumulate great fortunes in few hands-in short. to cause the rich to grow richer and the poor poorer. '.4'- t--'ti i.'3'.
 Such results, however, cannot be re- ferred to apy one cause, but they are primarily due to an abandonment of that spirit of economy whichs pre- eminently characterized our ancestors to marked decrease in the efficiency of labor to q continual if not increasing, use of arti fcial stimulants to the crowding oi population in large industrial and com. mercial centefs to war; to the inter, ference of legislation with the freedom ot trade; and latterly, to the use of an un stable, huctuating medium of exchange. which all experience shows is one of the greatest curses that can befall the labor ing population of any country. ',-
 As elements for estimating the social condition of laborers in the manufactur ] ing industries of the United States, the statistics of the wages paid in different occupations are most important anG from the great mass of information or this subject which has recently been col .lected and published the following gen eral items have been selected. Thus il Pennsylvania, the leading State in the production and fabrication of iron, the average earnings per annum in the diff ferent manufacturing establishments O. l the State for the years 1872z73 Gas re ported by the State bureau of statistics of labor) were as follows: Foremen $639 per annum; skilled workmen $536 laborers, first-class $402; labor CTS, second class, $332 males above sixteen, $228; youths, apprentices, etc.
 $15O. e| sE
 In Massachusetts for about the sam, period the average wages reported in thu cotton-manufacturing industry were, fo men, $403 per annum; women, $268
 children, $134. ...
 s- In the silk industry the average earn ings per hand in the most prosperous es tabhshments probably approximate $33I 1 per annum as a maximum.
 In the woolen industry the average daily wages of $500 operatives in tn mills of Massachusetts were reported fol the year 1871 as follows: Men, $1. 62 pel day; women, $1.12; young persons ninty-four cents :; children, sixty-fou l