Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-09-23
FIRST LABOR REPORT.
Commissioner Montagues Facts
and Figures
CONDITION OF WORNNGMEN
Information Regarding Manufactures Of
Virginia and Wages Paid.
INCOMPLETE REPORTS RECEIVED
The Replies Arc Not by Any Means
FuII-The General Condition of All
the Manufacturing Industries is
Good.
Good.

Of the printer, MI. Clyde W. SauhuSIs'
and will soon be issued
The report will be one of the most In
teresting ever issued in this State. 1t VIII
present a great mass OF figures and facts
relative TO the labor and manufacturing
| interests of the State which have never
before been made public. The report
| will include about four hundred pages.
| 1t has engaged nearly all the time OF
Mr.. Archer p. Montague, the Commits
| sioner, since he assumed charge of the
newly-created Bureau of Labor and In
| dustrial Statistics. little over a year
ago. He has collected great mass of
| information, which is not only or in
terest to the workingmen and manufac-
| turers and farmers Of Virginia, but VIII
| be of immense value to the General AS
sembly in shaping legislation affecting
| these classes.
Mr.. Montague regrets that the employ
ers to whom he sent blanks did not more
| generally respond with the information
| he asked. As a result the tables given
are not complete. He therefore impresses
| upon the reader of the report that the
tables which he gives must not be taken
as representing all the establishments or
/
pilation of statistics received.
The report opens with $50 pages de-
voted TO short descriptions Of each coul-
~ in the State the crop product of each
| for the year 1898, the cost of production,
and the assessed valuation Of real and
personal property. Each Of the cities Of
| the States is treated in a manner about
similar.
THE MANUFACTURES.
The report then takes up the States
manufactures. OF the 1882 blanks sent
ont 600 were returned OF the latter num-
Der only 394 were sufficiently complete to
be Of use. The untabulated reports repre-
| scented an invested capital Of %ii.tN OI
J the tabulated reports 1903 were from cor
porations and 2S5 from private firms.
| The aggregate capital invested amounted
! TO SD sol 299.7 Is. The total value Of all
| goods manufactured in Virginia in 1881
| was 500 So. G59O9. The total amount paid
| in wages in mechanical departments IN
| 1896 was $5.O39673.Sl; it 1897 st was So iO6,-
| 52S % an increase of 81 3G6 soil. The
| amount paid for Office help for the year
was 1910. 5554A This office help included
| 466 managers and foremen, 24l statesmen
and 4 saleswomen, 167 male and IL te-
male boolI-keepers. 19l male and IL female
clerks. and 20 male and 10 female stenog-
raphers.
The report then goes into q detailed
report of the various branches Of manu-
featuring in Virginia. The law estab-
! fishing the bureau provided that all in
| formation obtained should be kept secret.
! Therefore. the names Of the different es-
| Establishments are not given.
Under the head of Agricultural Imple-
ment Manufacturers, the result OF replies
| received from four Of the htteen hrms
| I'm the State TO whom blanks were sent,
are given in tabuated form. These four
| show an aggregated invested capital Of
| T42. 7OSSi with a total value of product
! I'm 1897 of 500, g2O.O8. The amount paid in
wages i'm 1897 was $lO,S56.9O in excess of
| that of 1896.
THE ICE MAN.
Twelve Of the eighteen returns from
| ice manufacturers were sufficiently COM
| plete for tabulation, and show an aggre-
| gate invested capital OF S2oS,19i0O ana
| a product for the year 1897 amounting Ia
value 10 SS6,l0S.56. Manufacturers gene
| rally reported the ice business as Delhg
| in an unsatisfactory condition Inc
| number Of persons employed IN thls pusl-
| ness in 1897 was POI.
| ONLY twelve returns from the thirty
three bakeries in the State to which
| blanks were sent were suitable Tor taDu-
| latiou. These showed an aggregate capt.
| tai of SSl 900. and an output for 1877 OF
| the value of 1922, 1883. The more extern
| siye use of homemade bread was salo 10
| be hurting business business on cash
| basis" IAN increase In the volume oil
money! and free silver were some
| of the suggestions advanced ior the De'-
| torment Of business.
BREWERIES REPORT GOOD BOSi-
NESS.
/ MI tualya breWerleS IN VIZ
einia sent replies giving sufficient data
| for tabulation The aggregate capital OF
| tho five was S630,0oO and the value or
| Inc oufnut for 1897 was $40, S1.OS. Bust
ness was reported good. In 1886 the nuci-
| Der of men employed was us, III 1874 I'D
There are twelve broom factories IN
the state and returns were received from
| i've hut they were not sufficiently COM
plete for the purposes or the repor'' Inc
| Industry is much depressed
Fourteen of the twenty-one reports
from brick and tile manufacturers were
tob,,lated. "Exorbitant freight rates
a,d "nrivate persons making brick for
| thotr own houses" were some or the
reosons given for the depressed condl-
| lion of this business. The total Value OF
an goods manufactured during loS' WAS
| $3.50. 52S64. e-....-..
onlv two boot and shoe manufacturers
renorted showing an aggregate capital OF
Cox COO with an output in 1897 of the Value
| 80 s9s So9e5. one manufacturer said that
| ~ something is not done to stop the man.
! rfacture of boots and shoes by cohFicts
| no factory in this line can live.
| .,ve baklng- powder manufacturers re-
norted hut only two Of them sent data
fuu enough for tabulation. The amount
| - canital invested by the two establish
ments was $1,000; value OF goods manu-
| featured in 1897, &OSi6s2
| Tu,o renorts from candy manufacturers
| shoyed an invested capital in 1897 OF SlS,-
! COS .,..oa from, tho
Ten returns were received from the
twentv-two canning factories In virginia
and only seven of those were OF use III
making tabulations. The totdl Value VI
H., output Of these seven In lHsI was VA
| 90. ,otal invested capital $3S,1OO.
| CIGARS. CIGAkEILE,S' AMI NiiH
Twelve reports were received from man
| ,,facturers OF cigars, cigarettes, and che
roots Ten were only full enough for
,ohrlat,on. A number OF the reports noted
e1,o,bt oppression In this line OF bust
ose one manufacturer stated that the
.S, MAS "oyerdone" In the United
| CTS. another could not secure proper
| 49,, ard a third said: "Cheroots sell
-, sror, a 10 $40 per 1000 and the tax to-
dav Is 800 per 1000, just as much as on
q cigar. which costs from s55 to 500 per
600 The aggregate capital OF the ten
concerns amounted to $4o,lh; the total
,,alns Of material used during 1897 was
T'he average daily wages paid cigar
] makers was sl.el for an average OF $50