The gold leaf., 1902-11-06
AMERICAS WAGE FARMERS.
Per Centage of Men and Women En-.
gagged In Profitable Employment In
the United States.
Mahin's Magazine for November.

According to the last census there
are 23.1o4,2Oo males employed,
which means that almost precisely
eighty per cent of the men ten years
of age and over are in gainful occu-
pations. The fewest workers are to
be found in the North Central States.
This shortage is among both men
and women, but chiefly among the
latter. Only .3per cent ofwomen,
ten years of age and over, in these
States, are engaged in gainful occu-
patiOns.
Prominent among the. pursuits of
| men workers are those of agricul-
ture, which employ altogether s, ,404,
429, or about forty per cent of all
the men at work. There are 5,772,-
7SS men in manufacturing and me-
chanical pursuits. Ofthese !, 200, 600
are in the building trades; 800, 139
in iron and steel; 2O3, ,O13 in the man
ufacture of food and kindred pro-
ducts; 33S, ,43S workers in lumber
and its manufactures; 195, ,210 work
ers in paper and printing, and 4S9,-
214 men workers i'm textiles.
Altogether with four-fifths of the
men and nearly one-fifth of the
women at work in gainful occupa-
tions, besides the millions more of
women who are the home makers,
this is certainly busy hive of a ma
ton, and may fairly lay claim to
the strenuous life The signif-
icance of these facts to the adver-
tiser appears when it is recalled that
the worker is also the buyer of goods,
and a dollar earned is IA dollar to
spend for the products of farm and
factory.
Considering all the cities that have
Il population of above 25,0O0 there
are only ten in which more than 60
per cent OF theirpeople, ten years old,
are at work. These are Birmingham,
Ala, COB per cent; Savannah, Ga,
COS; Fall River, Mass. 6O.5; Law
renee, 61S; Lowell, GIT; Butte,
Mont, 63.2; South Omaha, Neb.,
63.S; Portland, Ore, g; Memphis,
Tenn, 61.5; and Seattle, Wash,
which heads the list with 64.G per
cent at work. At the other extreme
are thirty cities whose percentage of
employed drops below 80 per cent.
Among the lowest of these are Salt
Lake City, 45; Topeka, Kan, 1876;
San Antonio, Tex, 46.1, and Joplin,
Mo-, 46.7 per cent.
South Carolina and Indian Terri
tory employ 60 per cent of their
workers in agriculture, while the per-
centage is over II in Oklahoma and
Arkansas. Only 1.2 per cent are en-
plOyed in agriculture in the District
of Columbia, and only 80 and 81
per cent, respectively, in Massachu-
setts and Rhode Island. Forty-seven
per cent of the workers of Massachu-
setts and nearly 53 per cent of those
OF Rhode Island are engaged in man
ufactures, whereas in Mississippifewer
thad > per cent are SO engaged The
District of Columbia heads the list in
trade and transportation. with 32
per cent. Then follow New York with
% per cent, and Massachusetts and
New Jersey with a fraction under "a
per cent. At the other extreme in
trade and transportation are South
Carolina and Mississippi, with but
five per cent SO employed.
Women workers are invading every
line of employment. The census of
1900 makes returns for 3O3 separate
occupations. and in only eight of
these do women workers fail to ap-
pear. Twenty years ago the number
of women at work was but 2, GIL ,157,
only half as many as today and only
14.7 per cent of the female popula-
tiOn above ten years OF age. In other
words, women workers have increased
in twenty years twice as fast as pop
ulation. 1t should be noted that
these figures include only the women
at work for wages, and take no ac-
count of the millions OF wives and
mothers whose work is worth all the
more that there can be no money
value placed upon it.
I'm Kansas and New Mexico only
1O.4 per cent of the women above
ten years o. lce are employed. In
Indian Territory the percentage is
9.S; Idaho, 9.4; in West Virginia, 9.3,
and in Oklahoma but 10 per cent
Contrast these percentages with the
3S per cent of South Carolina: :33
per cent Of the District of Columbia
and Mississippi; 81 per cent OF Ala
bama, and 30 per cent OF women
| workers of Rhode Island. Ratios do
not vary so widely among men work
ers, vet they range from 6:3 per cent
i'll Utah to over SO per cent in Ala
bama and Wyoming.
Among women workers the average
| for the entire cOuntryis 1S.Sper cent
| OF those ten years of age and over.
| But number of the cities show per-
| centages more than double this aver
: age. There are five cities in which
more than 40 per cent OF tho women
are at work: Montgomery, Ala,
| Augusta, Ga; Fall River and Lowell.
Mass, and Manchester. \. H. Lowell
leads with 4l.9 per cent. Nine other
| cities employ more than 30 per cent
OF the women over ten years old.
| Americans can scarcely be called
an idle people when fully half the
population. ten years ofage and over,
are engaged III occupations, that
bring gain to the doors. To he exact
of the 75,994.515, people OH the
mainland of the United States 81
949, ,S24, or 162 per cent, are ten
year OF age and over, and 29.OIi,
III OF these latter are engaged ii
gainful occupations. These comprist
3S.3 per cent ofthe entire population
and 5O.2 per cent OF those who have
reached ten years OF age
. | -. = /.