Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1886-03-18
THE STATE AT LARGE.
LABOR IN MICHIGAN.
Labor Commissioner Ponds First Annua
Report.

port OF the workings or the bureau-whlch
covers the time from April /, 1885, to Febru-
airy !, 1885 Especial attention has been given
to Collectng statistics relating to wage-earners
al wages in the state during the year 1885,
comple,iI & the work commenced in the second
annual report. Next year the attention of the
bureau will be dire tied especially To the sub
jects of child abor and prison labor, and the
result VIII be published In time to so before
the next leg stature. The present report is
div id in four parts. l, Papers read at the
Nat onli Convention of Chefs and Commits
s'oners OF abor, held at Boston in July, 1885
2. A hi tory # the strikes In NJ cnlgan from
April TO December |. 1885. 3. Testimony OF
5Sj Wage-workers from seventy-one counties
as to Their social @ nditon. 4. tatistics OF
wages arners, divided into three chapters,
tIeatin of farm labor, railroad law, aud the
condition OF manufacturing ana business
houses IN the state.
There are sew n strikes enumerated In that
part of the report dealing with that subject.
April "a tn Che oy. an rlvormen struck Tor
in advance o nity cents a da and lost.
May a strike was ordered in tn shoe fac
tory OF Pingrtc IL smith, in Detroit, on their
re usal TO make 1t un on one
throughout. The places OF the strikers were
filleI with non-un on mn aud a boycott was
placed upon the &, DDS of the firm, which re
ira ms in force, notw. thstanding the firm EN-
ploys union as vel as non-uniOn men.
May Ii Oscoda dockwollopers struck Tor an
advance of ten cents an hour, and got IL.
May 10 a disturbance occurred between
union and non-union vessel leaders at Mar
quette, which was amicably settled.
May Is the springwells br'ckmakers struck
again. a redut tiol OF wages below those paid
in 1884; 50 men went out ana the strike last
ed four DAYS 1t was lost, except in two yards.
Tbs comm ssoner was on the groun during
tn strike, ana was struck wit the number OF
saloons doing business on the earnings of the
brick yard workers, ninety per cent OF whom
were olanders, Germans and BOhemiaus. lie
lays the tro1b.e to these, supplemented by
speeches OF men from Letroit, which were
generally fringed with Ia k OF n Soc.alistic
nature, Il moi strongly communistic."
June IL Ian ing trench diggeis struck and
received an advance.
July commenced the great Saginaw Valley
strike or Ten hours work day. To 1t h s.
tor, Mr. Pond deyotes tlirly-four OF the fifty
one pages in this tiyision. Tables OF wages
are u nished by seventy-seven mill and fifty
eight salt block owners The total numbtr
afft ctel by The strike was 5,504, the wages or
all over ID ,elIs OF aIe averaging Sill day,
aud all tn er III years of aye averaging y
cent, a da. o eleven 10 eleven and one-haf
lou s. The average for al employees was
Sl59 dry. The loss IN wages 10 lhe men
fro n the strike is pla Cd Il S3S5,6l4 Tor sixty
one days idl mes in JulS AMI August Tn,
effect of the strike on the mill-owneIs is given
asa gain, ny to the increase pr c. o.
lumber and sal that the cessation OF
pro luction caused. What tie men lost
in wages the millowners gained In higher
prices for their manufactures Commissioner
PCnd considers t. at the trouble In the Sagi-
nav valley was brought on by political dem
agogueso t. whose sophstries the working
men listened and were led astray. The "agitat-
.,fc1 hn or NJ III hau
earn no wages; they Joined the Knights of
Labor for their own political purposes The
Iespon ibibty Or the long 90 I'll Iuanc of en-.
forced dleness In the Saginaw valley this sum
mer does not lay with the mill workingmen,
nor with the mill ow 1ers, nor with the Knights
of Labor as an oder, but does attach directly
TO the few professional politicians who, in
the guise of Knights of Labor, were using
their place in the order in direct violation OF
the PRINCIPLES announced by its greatest au-
tLority."
September l the single mill employees OF
Mus q, gon strucG for ten hOurs' wOrl and
ele, en- h urs' pay, and after four uays succeeded
A. the ten hour law was the cause of some
of the strikes the report, after printing the
law IN full and calling some Of those who re-
quirJ tneir men 10 contract to waive The pro-
visions of the bill "oppressors" of labor, the
report saws: TEA hours OF manual labor is all
that any man should be asked toperform for
days work, save in cases of necessity" but as
"tiere are thousands of wage earners who ask
TO make extra hours for the sake OF extra pay,n
the Commissioner tanks no law should he
made that will prevent one working as long as
he wishes.
Ire estimony OF wace-workers ms to their
condition slows that the average wageearner
has tho and half persons depeI dent upon
him for support; in one case in eight the wife
helps TO sui pot che family. ii receives 81 81
per day, he has been engaged n his present
sl.
rs been with his present employer three years
and i've me ntns. He works eleven hours a
day. He lost on account of sickness last year
twent 4 We nd gu rter days and spent So ~
70 doctors bills for himself and family.
He also lost eignty-four and half
lost in W. ge for this tine 81 IS a. HIS earn.
ings. provided be had been steadily employed,
would hbvi Leen s. Oh 81. 1t is an even CT ance
as to whether or no he owns or rents his home.
il he rents he avs 50 80 per month in rent; If
he owns It'll JUST az likely as not that the
place is mortgaged. lis rate of inter st Is 7gj
per cent, a very high rate; the amount of his
mortgage Is 1919 ~ Will, the value OF his
mortgaycd pro gerty is Sl,Ol9 Al. II h has no
mortgage on has place II is worth S947 81, or In
otter nUrdS he Is about 500 better off than he
would be If his property were mortgaged. His
children att nd scLoJl min months ut o. the
tive We, and If b has his way a out the matter
only one IN tw, Il Y three o, Them shall follow
I'm his fathtr'sioot,tt ps. Theaverage wageearn-
er not over san u ne as to Is uture abl .ty
10 support his family in comfort. The chances
are h rteen 10 enc that lie has no account at
tie ban<, apd eight TO one tina; he has no
mon.y out at interest. Moreover, he Is sadly
dependent about his inability t. lay up
.Hough to supper, i'm in his Did age.
The chapter on farm labor, from reports
from 6l3 out Ct 1,Olb supervisors of townships.
shows that the average wages paid farm
labor, with boarI, per month, are Sli.07; with
GU. board, 81 "A. The hig est with board,
$50: the lowest 50. Tee highest will out
loar !, $50; he lowest, SlT. The average
wages paid tenants, with rent COW and garden,
PER monan. Ssl.45; the highest $40; tue low
lst, 10. Harvest hanls, with board. average
81. pr day: thout board, $1.2; tn,
highest wag with boarl $3.50; the lowest,
81; the highest without board, 49,; the lowest,
Sl.25. The acreage tim, regular labor Is en-
ployed is seven m n,hs anu two DAYS. The
hunter of farms in Michigan in 1884 was 49,
10, nc udin IL, l91, C55 acres, OF which 1,110,-
sO2 aCr.s were improved.
Toe farm wages in Michigan compare with
thos n ore 9 countries as iollows: Mich
Is an, 81 %; Canada $3.50; Fng'and S1l.t2;
Males, Sob; scotland, sl2.4!; Ireland,
$3.50: rance, $7.50: Be GUM $3.50; Aus
tria, 500; Germany, 81. -, Russia, s4.57;
Denmark, S215. These figures arr with board.
he figures on railroad employees have be-
fore Leen given to the public briefly, the Az
erage az mt let's St1 10 per month, and IL an
operator, sos So freight agent, $l33 81; tick
ct agent, SO So; tram bag gagemen, S47 IL;
ST ton la sgagemen, SAL As; brakemen. Si7 ~
fridge superintendent, SIG %; carpenter,
S73 80: a ,nler S56 49, civil engineer, s13j IL !;
Ioal HEAVIER S45; CONDUCTOR, s14 "a; dining car
rock, 3 81; freight engineer, 3 q; PASSENGER
engineer, 500 30; ferry captain, Sll5; nrema },
$40; master car builder, Sl6i 65; tee rapa
operator, $i2 81 yardman, so 10. The scale
pf wages as compared with those OF England
Is about as $50 IS to SIS, those figures repre-
senting the pay Of railroad engineers in Mich
Igan and England.
There we've reported to the bureau the wages,