The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-18
LABOR BUREAU REPORTS.
INTER EsTING ST4TISTICS COM PILED COMIIISSI BACK.

The Value Of Manual Training From u
 Mechanical Standpoint Discussed
 Strikes in the State During the Past
 Year Work of the Free Employ yment [
 Bureaus.
 The seventeenth annual report of the
 state bureau of labor statistics for the
 year ended November 30, 1901, has just
 been issued under the dictatorship of
 Commissioner Harry E. Back. The re- port contains number of new features,
 due to the additional work that has
 come under the jurisdiction of the bu-
 reau during the past year. Consider able space is given to the free public employment bureaus, now an important part of the state bureau and which are exceeding all expectations in the matter of results, during the brief time they have been in operation.
 The report contains a comprehensive
 treatise on manual training from the la bor standpoint and the advisability of its adoption by school authorities.
 Of this the report contains the fol- lowing;
 The value of manual training from mechanical standpoint ought to ap- peal with especial force to the people of the state of Connecticut This state leads all others in the variety and in- senuity of its manufactures and in the number of patents granted annually in proportion to it's population. Can this aI1 ov,tc No i.@+o L., z it's people do not foster and cultivate the skill for which this state is noted? When other states are devoting much time and money to the development and multiplication of manual training schools, can this commonwealth afford to rely upon the old methods, to main tain it's supremacy? Where manual training schools do not exist, there is a tendency, in the young men, decidedly more marked in each succeeding gener atlon, to turn away from mechanical pursuits. Where manual training is taught industries are raised to the lev el of sciences and the skilled manual training scholars enter upon mechanical pursuits as they might enter professions because they find in them opportunities for adequate expression of their tastes and facilities The interests of employ CT and employe become identical and labor disputes are not serious matters. To greater or less extent these condi- tions of harmony and mutual interest have been witnessed In the growth of American industry. The advantage of manual training ought to be carefully and seriously considered by all the peo- pie of Connecticut Manual education broadens both the industry and the worker. To secure these attainments and conserve OFT industries should ever be our aim. Where manual training | could be introduced only by reducing | the expenses of some other department | this could easily be done by giving few CT periods per week to Latin, Greek or | other studies, and requiring longer les- sons of the pupils in such work. In this way fewer teachers would be re- quired, but the same amount of ground would be covered in such courses.
 During a period of ten months from January i to October 30 1901, ninety three strikes and three lockouts are chronicled. The total number really Is about 126, as strikes occurring in the game locality at the same time, for the same causes and resulting alike, have been grouped under one head. The grand totals show that ii, 250 employees were involved in these strikes, and that the resulting loss of time was 250,16S working days, which mean a loss Of wages to the amount of $315,252 estf- mating the average wage rate at Sl.5O per day. The number idle was 1o.94 per cent of the whole number of indus trial employees ill the state during the fiscal year 1900. The amount of wages lost was 7.e3 per cent. of the total amount paid during the said fiscal year. The average number of workers in each strike was 1171S, and the aver age time lost by each employe was 22.23 days Each strike averaged l7.94 days In length, while the average number Of working days and the amount of wages lost during each strike were 2065,91 days and s, ,90S.S6 respectively. Yet thirty-four of the strikes lasted only six days or less. eight were settled in one day, an equal number continued for two days, and four were declared ''oH' after three days,
 While there have been much greater activity and aggressiveness in labor cir cles throughout the state during the last year than for some time previous, | the large figures shown are due prin- cipaly to the great machinists' strike which spread throughout the whole country. { The free public employment bureaus l have more than met all expectations of their usefulness. In the truest sense of ] the word these bureaus are labor eX z changes or clearing houses, where em- :, ployes and employers are properly 1 l classified and an identity of interest is established after careful investigation of the character, ability and needs of both. It is this vital fact which dis V tinguishes free public employment bu- 1 reaus from private intelligence offices g and gives the former standing and dignity which the latter never attain. The element of discrimination is to a I large extent lacking in private inteli- t gence offices because the entire object t