New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-22
UNEMPLOYED LABORRRS.


UNEMPLOYED LABORERS.
owe have had enough of industrial hypO-
"chondria, and it Is time the public recOg-
"nized the facts in the case, and acted accord
"ingly. The industrial stagnatiOn and de-
"pression have been and are severe enough
." but every sign indicates sure recuperation."
These Just and strong words are from the report
of Mr.. Carroll ID. Wright, Chief of the Massachu-
sets Bureau of Statistics, upon the number OF
laborers unemployed In that State. They ring
with manly scorn for the charlatans and dem
agogues who are trying to lift themselves
into office by persistently stimulating "indus-
" trial hypochondria," and peTsuading the la
boring classes that their condition is I'M
endurable. AS one of the demagOgues,
General Butler has had much to say
of the wrongs and sutfelings of the work.
ingmen of Massachusetts. 1t is hardly
worth while to quote Kearney, but Others
more respectable and less reckless than he
have repeatedly asserted that 3,OOO.OOO
working people were out of employment III
the countly-from 100000 to 100000 in
Massachusetts,. and 10000 in Boston
alone. The Massachusetts Labor Bureau
proceeded to investigate this matter thor
oughly. Every city was carefully can
vassed by the agents of the Bureau with the
aid of the police and the city authorities.
Experienced reporters for the Bureau, and the
assessors in each town in the State, were
also addressed, and replies were obtained
from all the towns save fity-One, which
contain only AT per cent OF the population
of the State. and produce only % per cent OF
the annual product of goods. in fact, they
are agricultural towns, in which there really
are no unemployed persons during the Sum-
mer season.
This canvass was commenced June "a, and
ended August 10, and the circulars sent
required ascertainment of the number unem-
ployed June l. The report says:
Then the shutdown mills OF the State were still
shut down. and the shoe factories dull while now very
many OF these mills are operation, and the shoe
factories busy everywhere II the account related 10
August Instead OF June l. the total would not be one
half as large that given. In June, In Fail River,
beside the skilled and unsklied worEmen accounted
for in the table, there eight thousand women
and children OF both under eighteen years of age
operatives oat OF work, thousand Of whom were
out on of the transactions OF two men, Most Of
them now have some employment The oVerseers
Of the poor in the cities and towns report less
demand Tor assistance than for years past Their
evidence Is incOntrovertble,
Under such circumstances, the Bureau seems
fully justified in its claim that " the figures
given are greater rather than less, than the
real number ont of work" But what are
these fguresf A table by counties is given;
the aggregate of males unemployed June l
was 21.S12, of whom over 5000 were in the
counties which embrace Boston and Lynn,
12,135 were in the nineteen cities of the
State, and $500 were skilled and 1922 UNI
skilled laborers. As this includes males only,
the Bureau adds for unemployed females 3O.7
per cent of the number ascertmned, that be-
ing the proportion of all females to all males
employed, and thus gives 2S,50S as
the aggregate number of skilled and I'M
skilled laboreIs, male and female, out of chi
"ployment in Massachusetts, June /, 1878"
The importance of this report, i'll the cur
rent financial and economic discussions, can
hardly be overestimated. There are in Massa-
chusetts 5s4. 800 skilled and unskilled labOrers,
of whom 447, 1874 are males. Less than one
twentieth of these-accurately, 4.8S per cent
are found to be unemployed in June, and
the Bureau reports that the number in August
would not be One-haf as large" or less than
one-fortieth of the whole. But there is no reason
to suppose thatthe proportion in Massachusetts,
which is prominently the State of factories
and operatives, is smaller than in any other
State, with the possible exception of Pennsyl-
yania--for the iron and coal trades have suf-
fered greatly. On the other hand, it is GER
tain that in all the agricultural States west
of the Alleghanies and south of the POto-
mac, the proportion of unemployed is
much smaller than IN Massachusetts,. The
estimate of the Massachusetts, bureau for
August 1-one-fOrtieth of the whole number
engaged in any gainful occupation-must there
fore be fully large enough for the whole
country, and on that basis the number Of
unemployed August 1 was not more than
100000. In other words. the charlatans
and demagogues have been mixing false
hood with truth in the ratio of nine
lies to one fact Instead of 5000, 900 out of
work, 1t s safe to say that there are not more
than one-tenth as many. The, report of the
| Bureau, out of excessive caution, supposes
that the proportion in the whole country may
/ possibly be as great as it was in Massachusetts,,
June 1, but the reasoning of the report, coupled
| with the fact that in agricultural regions
| the main difficulty is from deficiency Of
i laborers in the Summer. cOncusiyely proves
| that the allowance is excessive. Even upon
| that basis, however, the whole number OF un-
| EMPLOYED in the United States would be only
| $4,000, and the proportion Of falsehOOd to
| truth IN the story of the demagogue would be
as five TO one.
i p.on.Dp nTUTT oEDUTDE pRKnDn