Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-01-22
feABoR IN CONNECTICUT.
Eighth Annual Report OF the Bureau
Made by Commissioner Vance.

Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau
Made by Commissioner Vance.
The report of the bureau of labor statis-
tics of Connecticut for 1892 was being pre-
pared when Mr. Hotchkiss retired as COM
missioner. As the report for 1891 had
Just been distributed it was thought best
to print the report for 1892 with the report
for 1898. Both appear now in one volume.
Returns from the same 624 establish
ments for three years, from the same 23S
for four years, and from the same SO for
five years, show general increase in the
per cent of profit on investment, an in
crease in the cost of material and a de-
crease in the wage cost. The per cent of
profit, of wage cost and of material cost in
1891 on brass goods was 9.65; per cent
wage cost, 21.76; per cent material cost,
67.42. On clocks the per cent Profit was
$50; per cent wage cost 1890: per cent
material cost, 44.56. In a majority of the
industries wage cost decreased as material
cost increased, or increased as material
cost decreased.
Of the 1901 establishments reporting
for 1891 and employing 153, 1853 persons,
only 70 establishments, having 1856 en-
ployes, ran over sixty hours week. This
was only 4.39 per cent of the establish
ments and only 1.65 per cent of the en-
ployes. In 1885, according to 1886 report
of the bureau, 1926 per cent of the en-
ployes then reported were working over
sixty hours per week. The nine hour day
was found in 1892 in lat establishments,
| employing 6,611 people. One-fifth of
these establishments were wood working
shops and one-fourth were stone yards or
quarries.
In 1886, according to the report of the
bureau for that year, of II ,539 people en-
| ployed in 1923 establishments, 1874 per
cent were paid weekly. In 1892, of 153,-
800 people employed in 1901 establish
| ments, 81. SO per cent were paid weekly.
In 1892 69.79 per cent of the establish
ments paid weekly, as compared with
| 32.19 per cent of the establishments re-
| porting for 1860. Monthly payments
were the rule in more than one-half of the
establishments reporting for 1860 and 1880
and in less than one-sixth of those existing
in 1892. Although the weekly payment
law applies only to corporations, very
many establishments not incorporated pay
weekly. On the other hand, ninety-three
| incorporated establishments were found
which do not pay weekly.
Summing up, the bureau declares that
the weekly payment law has abolished the
| practice of charging q commission for
money advances between pay days; it has,
| in connection with the amendment of the
foreign attachment law, practically sus-
pended factorizing; it has increased cash
| transactions, and it has added to the pur-
| chasing power of wages.
OF sixty-seven manufacturers who re-
| piled to a circular letter of the bureau,
thirty declare the weekly payment law I'M
| qualifedly beneficial, twenty condemn it,
and some who do not praise it say they
would not return to monthly payments.
| law, fourteen regard it as immaterial, five
declare that any factorizing law is a hard
| ship, fifteen assert that the existing law
protects dishonesty, and two favor the old
| law.
| Use is made of census figures as to the
| number of employees in the textile indus
| tries in 1880 and 1890 to show the benefi-
cial effects of legislation restricting the
| employment of children. From a compar-
| ison of the statistics of children employed,
of the child labor laws, and of the school
laws in the New England states, the con-
clusion is drawn that the fewest children
are employed in the states where the laws
are the most stringent, and that in this re-
spect Connecticut ranks next to the lowest.
| Arguments are advanced in favor of rails
| ing the age limit of employment in Con-
| necticut from thirteen to fourteen, and on
this proposition the views of manufac-
turers, of workingmen, of school teachers,
and of physicians are presented. The
large majority heartily favor the PROPOSE
| ton.
Statistics of the building trades in the
larger towns of the state show that nearly
half of the workers in these trades have
obtained the nine-hour day. The returns
show also an intimate relation between
| short hours and organization, but no mate
rial difference in wages between union and
non union towns.
Facts and figures concerning cigar
making are thought to warrant the conclu-
sion that the adoption of the eight-hour
| day in that industry has resulted in stead
Ter work, and that the decrease in working
hours has not been accompanied by n
| corresponding decrease in product per en-
ploye.
Included in the report are statistics of
the hours of labor and the wages of mu-
nicipal employees, of street railroad en-
ployes and of bakers.