The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-12-23
LABOR AND WAGE
Child Labor. Long Hours and Month
Iy Payments Found Together.
Legislation Sometimes Useless or
Worse Than Useless.
Extract from Report Of Connecticut Bureau
of Labor Satisfied L


VI 50 concerns that have recently made a
change in the time Of payment, 80 report de
eidedly good effect; eight decidedly bad
effect; and 80 little or no effect.
OF some 10000 hands, whose sex and age
are specified in our returns. there are 10000
women and little less than 5000 children.
The latter figure Is undoubtedly too small In
proportion to the whole number. On the
other hand, the United States census figures
on this same subject are pretty certainly too
large. 1t seems likely that about 5000 chill
dren under fifteen are employed in Connecti-
cut establishments.
Monthly payments are more frequent with
children, somewhat less so with women, and
less frequent with men.
The employment Of women reaches by far
the largest proportion In the manufacture OF
wearing apparel, where they are nearly twice
as numerous as the men; also in the silk
mills, where about the same proportion holds
good. In other textile mills, especially In
the wool manufacture, the men outnumber
the women.
The employment of children reaches the
largest proportions In textile industry, which
gives employment to nearly twice as many
children as all other factory industries put
together. The proportion Of children, and
IN particular OF young children, is much
AoA 6Cot III tuC CUtlOu iHtliSt WutIt III Tedcned
nearly II per cent. Of the whole number en-
ployed. The general percentage Of children
IN all textile industries Is little less than
nine.
The greater part Of the children employed
In the production of textile goods and wear
ing apparel are engaged in tending machin
cry; In other lines OF industry, such employ
ment Is the exception. Most establishments
either in metal or in miscellaneous manufae-
ture, represent children as engaged In
nd II AAIs H.
laborers, or simply In occasional odd jobs
about the shop.
Returns giving the wages Of about three
Thousand women In the city Of New Haven,
where they are perhaps employed in greater
variety OF lines than anywhere else in the
State, show an average weekly wage OF a
triile over six dollars and half. The lowest
average wages are found In the manufacture
OF wearing apparel. Wages under six dol
lars are exceptional.
Returns concerning the employment of
children In four mill towns in the eastern
part OF the State, show scale of wages run
ming down from about a dollar day for
nands over eighteen years Of age, to thirty
nye and forty cents for the youngest hands
In exceptional cases still lower. The aver
age wages were higher, and the work of
little steadier, in wooden mills than in cotton
mills, for children of the same age.
HOURS OF LABOR.
OF 65, 627 hands in the larger establishments
OF the State, 3,345, or about FIVE per cent,
were employed ffty-four hours or less; IA
64I, or a little over twenty-five per cent,
from tifty-five to ffty-nine hours 37,O33, or
considerably over fifty-six per cent, were
employed either ffty-nine and half OF sixty
hours-that Is to say, ten hours a day; while
the remainder, 1862. or sixteen per cent,
had an average working week of more than
sixty hours.
OF establishments paying weekly. only
one per cent: run over sixty hours a week:
Of those paying fortnightly, seven per cent.
q those paying monthly, thirty-two per
cent Or, 10 put the same result in another
form: OF 20,Sl2 hands employed less than ten
hours day, 6,279, or thirty per cent. were
paid monthly; OF $3.50 hands employed ten
hours day, 12.349, or thirty-six and one
half per cent, were paid monthly; while of
lO,46S hands employed regularly more than
ten hours day, 9,425, or fully ninety per
cent, were paid monthly.
Twelve per cent Of the men, twenty-five
per cent OF the women, and thirty-four and
a half per cent Of the children are employed
more than ten hours daily. On the other
hand, thirty per cent Of the men, twenty
eight per cent Of the women, and only eleven
per cent Of the children, are employed less
than ten hours daily.
We thus reach the conclusion that monthly
payments, long hours, and child labor 60
hand in hand.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE FACTS.
w nOA CAllu iuDOif tOuS anu UuULil-
ly payments are found together, 1t means
that society Is on low industrial level. Any
one Of these things, by itself, creates a pre-
sumption to that effect where they are found
the presumption becomes overwhelming
The fact that they habitually go hand In
hand and are found together, indicates that
they are not due TO accidental differences in
business methods, but are at once an indica-
ton and result Of the character Of the COM
mnnity where they prevail.
I..k ~ IN
Gates bad state of things, hardly needs
proof. IL man sends his children TO the
mills at an early age, IL means either that he
cannot support his family himself, or that he
cares more for a slight increase in his pre-
sent earnings than for the future welfare Of
his family. 1t means that his children are
growing up without the advantages of regll-
Lar education. 1t means that there 10 great
danger OF physical deterioration, and little
chance of Intellectual improvement. 1t
means an addition to the ranks Of unskilled
labor at present, at the expense Of the high
er development OF those labOrers In the
future. 1t means that the community Is
more anxious to increase the quantity Of its
products than the quality of its citizens.
In regard to long hours, the case is similar,
though perhaps not equally obvious. The
good workman, as a rule. desires and needs
the short hours far more than the bad work
man. He is better able to make good use
OF the leisure time; he Is better able to work
efficiently in shorter hours, to work hard for
a moderate time instead Of working ineffi-
GENTLY for longer time. Down to a certain
point, the nations who work shorter hours
not merely do better work, but more work
than their competitors. In Russia, the hands
work twelve hours day; in Germany and
France, eleven; in England, nine. Yet nine
hours a day of English work means more
than twelve hours Of Russian work. The
laborer receives better wages, and at the
same time, the manufacturer gets larger
produet-s0 much larger that 1t is the Rus
sian, the German, or the Frenchman, who
requires protection against his English COM
petitor, in spite Of the longer hours and low
er days wages. As long as hours can be re-
duced without reducing the value Of the pro-
duct-that is to say as long as the quantity
remains the same, or as long as any loss in
quantity Is c0unterbalanced by an improve
ment in quality-so long will the labOrer con-
tinue to rise in the industrial scale with the
shortening OF his hours OF work. Where We
find long hours prevailing, 1t means. in gen.
eral, apart from the special circumstances
of particular trades,) that the system Of pro-
duction is based on the wants Of the less eff
Client members Of the community rather than
the more efficient ones.
Monthly payment means, for the majority
OF workmen, system Of store credits
which makes commercial indendence impos-
sible. 1t means either that the hands do not
appreciate the advantages Of the cash sys-
tenn, OF that they have not had the chance
to get far enough ahead to avail themselves
OF these advantages. 1t means that the
manufacturer can avoid the expense and
trouble Of frequent leash payments because
the hands either do not realize the loss
which they suffer, or are not fit TO avail
themselves Of the advantage Of cash pay
ment II 1t were granted them.
Now, any one Of these things, by itself,
may do little harm. Monthly payment Is
sometimes necessitated by the char
acter of the work; sometimes the
employees are in such good positions
financially that they suffer no disadvantage
by waiting few weeks for their pay Long
hours in some trades are due TO the special
exigencies Of the business and not to any
want Of efficiency on the part Of the
laborer. The work may be of kind which
requires picked men for its performance,
who can give the necessary time without sac
rifce of physical vigor.
But these cases are exceptions. In the
majority Of instances, long hours are due to
less efficiency instead Of greater; monthly
payments mean less independence instead Of
more child labor means a sacrifice Of the
future to the present. And where the three
things prevail together, where women and
children wirk long hours and are paid
monthly, the special causes which may JUS
tify any one OF these things are con-
spicuous by their absence. We are there
fore warranted in saying that while one Of
these things by itself may not be an evil the
three things together are unquestionably
bad
We may 20 step farther than this. We
may say without hesitation that the State Is