Omaha daily bee., 1897-08-24
GAINEuL QUOTATIONS.
Interesting Facts Cleaned from n
Inbor bulletin.
philnhelnhin Ielger


Tabor bulletin.
Philadelphia Ledger
The July Bulletin of the Department of
Labor presents some interesting data con-
corning the workers at gainIul occupations
in this country. Tho Bulletin shows perhaps
more clearly than any previous publication
of this character has done the extent to
which women have occupied remunerative
posts which in former periods were ap-
propriated almost exclusively by men. In
the census Of 1870 it appeared that 9.63 per
cent of all the women of the country We're
employed in remuneratve empoymens, but
twenty years later, exhibited by the cen
sus returns Of 1890, the proportion of women
thus employed had reached 12.S1 per cent of
| all the population of that sex. 1t is apparent
to the most casual and cursoTy observer tina
the number of women in the various fields
of industry will be in 1900 very much greater
relatively to the whole number of women
than at the close of any previous decade.
This increase in the number of women enter
ing new industries has been accompanied
by a decided decrease in. the number Of
women engaged in domestic and personal
service
According to the departments digest of
the census returns of 1870 and 1890, it ap-
pears that in 1890 more than one-siXth of
the total number of persons at work in
the country were women, as compared
with little more than one-seventh at the
census Of 1870. The compiler says that the
increase in the proportion of women work
ers is especially noticeable in professional
service, in which class the women consti-
tuted in 1890 very nearly one-third of all
persons so occupied compared with less
than one-fourth in 1870. Women are also
very numerously represented in manufactur-
ing and mechanical industries and in
trade and transportation, in clerical posi-
tions for the most part The representa-
tion in these branches of industry grew
from 2 per cent in 1870 to per cent in
1890 of all persons so employed
In 1870 in Pennsylvania, 3.16 per cent of
all persons over 10 years of age in gainful
occupations were women; in 1880, the per-
centage was 14.90; in 1890, 1854 In New
Jersey the percentages are: 1870 10 per cent;
$780, 1888; 1890, 1850 Thus. in 1890 in New
jersey nearly one-ffth of all persons in
gainful pursuits were women. In some of
the New England states and in certain
southern states the percentage was much
hlgher at the last census. The employ
ment OF colored women in field labor in
the south and the large number of women
ehsused IN the eastern factories explain
inc hlgh percentages in these communities
me Bulletin announces that the District of
Columbia has the largest proportion of
women workers. In 1890 thzy constituted
"i'H per cent of all the gainful workers in
the district. This high percentage is duo
to the fact that the departments Of the na-
tlonal government employ women in large
numbers. " " .
another important feature of the eyhibit
IS the table showing the decline in agri-
cultural employment throughout the conn
try' me report shows that of the whole
population the percentages of persons thus
employed were 1543 in 1870, 1898 in 1890
and 1868 in 1890. At the census of 1920 thn
persons engaged in agriculture in the
orted States numbered 2O7OG GiG or 81 40
per cent OF the total population In 1870
lhe percentage was not materially changed
me hguros for the past thirty years indi-
cate to the point of mathematical demonstra
ton the progressive decline in the propor-
ton OF persons employed in agricultural
pursuits. In Pennsylvania those employed
in agriculture in. 1920 numbered 40 sol. in
1890 32S S73. These employed in the state
IN 1920 in manufacturing and mechanical
industries numbered only G0,215 and in 1880
they numbered 62S,S Seventy wears ago
these classified as agricultural workers in
pennsylvania were more than twice as nu-
merous as those working in mechanical in
dustfies. The conditions are now completely
reversed. the last census showing that G2S-
ooO mechanical workers We're employed here,
against 32S,S73 agriculturists. The compiler
of the bulletin, Mr.. William C. Hunt says:
Excluding the Dhatrict of Columbia from
consideration, there was no state or terri
tory in 1920 which did not have more than
one-tenth OF its total population engaged in
agriculture, the percentages ranging from
1913 in Massa chusetts to Al .6G in Indiana
In 1890, however persons engaged in agrl-
cultural pursuits constituted but little more
than per cent Of the total population of
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, lees than
per cent of the total population Of New Jer-
pey, little more than per cent OF the total
population of Connecticut, New York and
Pennsylvania, and not quite per cent of the
total population of Maryland"