The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-07
THE NUMBER OF UNION MEN.

The NUMBER OF UNION MEN.
Said to be Only Small Per cent of
Workers or Voters.
In 1890 little more than 40 per cent
Of the population of the State of New
York was engaged in some gainfui oc-
cupation. The proportion is the larger
now for the number of persons in indus
trial employment has increased more
than the population. But IL we take an
even 40 per cent at present time for
convenience and safety, there were in
this State in the census year 2,907,557
persons in gainful pursuits.
1t is impossible to say precisely
what occupations are organizable and
what are not, but in 1890 nearly rs per
cent Of all persons in gainful pursuits
We're in mining and mechanical in
dustries and in manufacturing in which
classification are to be found nearly
all the organizable occupations. AS
Stunning that one-fourth of the people of
this State who work for their living
work in some of these occupation, we
have 1885, $3.50 persons in organizable in
dustries, and the latest report of the
membership of labor unions in this
State, made nearly two years later than
the census, and much in excess of the
number in the census year was 1880.
This number is 1856 per cent. of what we
may call the organizable. industries of
he o. n h11f n ta opnH 1noI fhor
10 per cent. of all the people in the
state who are earning their livings.
During the steel strike of last year
Mr.. Shaffer tried to convince the coun-
try that he was in command of forty
thousand men. But there was pub
lished a confidential report that had
been made to the last preceding con-
vention of the Amalgamated association
which showed that the membership at
that time was 1888, one-third of that
claimed by Mr.. shaffer, and that the
membership had never exceeded 24,06S
in 1891, a year before the Homestead
strike, at which time the membership
was less than twenty-one thousand.
There were employed in the rolling
mills and steel works 1877 ,295 wage earn
ers In 1890 and 1S3,Oz3 in 1900. There
were on the rolls of Mr.. Skaters Or
ganization rs per cent. of the wage
earners in the rolling mills and steel
works.
The late Colonel Richard J. Hinton
was a champion of organized labor.
He admitted the difficulty he encoun-
tered in ascertaining the numbers of la
Dor organizations. These numbers
were so unimpressive that the officers
generally refused to disclose them.
The numbers they gave were generally
in round tens of thousands, and Colonel
Hinton admits that he did not attach
full credit to them. He estimated, how
ever, that about 20 per cent Of organ
liable labor was in the unions We re-
vsed his figures and reduced the
twenty to fourteen, and as the labor
which he classed as organizable was
only about one-fourth of the whole, this
reduced the labor in unions to S.5 per
cent. Of the population that works for
living.
In 1896 less than per cent. of the
persons in gainful occupations in Eng
land were in unions; in this state we
estimate that the percentage Is about
the same. Omitting in he case Of Eng
land agricultural and other non-organi-
Fable labor, the membership of the or
CARNATIONS was about IS per cent. of
the persons in organizable industries.