Connecticut western news., 1886-04-28
FIGURES AND FACTS.
Strikes and LockOuts. Their Number and
 Cause Demonstrated from Statistics.

The report of Joseph D. Weeks. expert and speclal az, mt of the Census Bureau, upon strikes and lockouts occurring within the United States during the calendar year 1880, have been received by. the Interior Depart ment. It says:
 the report, ''cOncerning which some informa- tion was obtained, was 765. The largest num- Der of strikes reported as occurring in any one State is 304 in Pennsylvania. New York Is credited with only about one-third as many viz, 104-while Ohio is third, with 93. These States in which the industries are most diversified, that is, in the mining and manu- featuring States, strikes are the most ire quent. Strikes are quite infrequent in az riculture, but occur freely in manufac lures, in mechanical occupations and in mining. It will also be observed that, as & tries in which large bodies of men are col l-cted together in one establishment, and in those sections of the country where such es- tablishments are most numerous.
 The number of strikes in certain of the prominent trades, as given in the report, is as follows:-Iron and steel industries, 236; coal mining, 1858; textile trades, 46; cigarmaking, 43; building trades, 36; transportation, 30; printing trades, 2S; glass industries, 27; piano making, IA; boot and shoemaking, Il.
 The total number of causes repor ed for the 762 strikes and lockouts in this country dur
 
 Der of causes than of strikes is due to the fact that some strikes or lockouts involved more than one question or cause.
 'Much the greater proportion (711 per cent.) of the strikes and lockouts reported upon were caused by differences as to rates of wages. total of 5O3, or about 86 per cent. of those relating to rates of wages, or 62 per cent. of all, were for an advance, and 77, or l4 per cent. of those relating to rates of wages, or 91a per cent. of all were against a r. duction. While this corr eSponds with the generally rec iyed opinion as to the relative frequency of strikes from different causes in all industries, there is notable variation in this proportion. Of the more important in- -du ustries this is especially noticeable in the boot and shoe trades, in which methods of work and rules of the shop occasioned as many strikes as rates of wages.
 Under the title "sLoss of Wages" are given returns from 226 strikes, which show the num- Der of days of idleness in these strikes to have been ,989.S72. This would give an average of $, ,S05 days lost at each strike. Assuming this as an average, we should have the num- Der of days of idleness, as for one man, in 762 strikes, 6,70s, 40. Assuming 800 as the average number of employees Idle at each strike it would follow that the number of days during which each of the 22s, 13S men were idle by reason of strikes and lOckouts was 27. The report coDcu
 .'As to wages lost, it appears that 64,779 employees lost s3,7ll ,197. This would be at the rate of $57 each. AS the entire number of employees estimated was 22S, 13S, the total loss of wages on this average would be S13.- U03, ,s66-that is, for the time lost the wages which would have been received had the works run constantly is the amount named. Of course there would be a number of offsets to this. In case the strikes were successful, the additiona wages would compensate for a portion of this loss. In other cases, where unionism existed in the trades in which there were strikes. the men received strike pay or strike benefits but these strike benefits were in most cases re- funding money that had been previously paid Then in many cases, the parties on strike se. cured employment in other industries, and hence their actual loss would be what wage, they would have earned at their old labo minus what they got at the new"