The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-31
Our Wage-Earning Population.

The state factory inspectors found
1926 wage-earners in Minneapolis dur
ing 1905, and reviewed the conditions
surrounding their work. No one, claims
that this comes anywhere near the total
number Of wage-earners in the city. 1t
merely counts those in establishments of
sufficient size to be inspected It will
surprise many to learn that fourteen
department stores have larger num-
Der Of employees than any one manu-
featuring industry in the city. The -four
mills come next Woodworking estab-.
ishments, if all counted together, would
lead everything with their SITS en-
ployees, but. they are divided among
several industries, and the sawmills
themselves had only i ,72l Oh their pay
rolls last year. a s,...s~
There are some interesting figures in
the report. Boys and girls under 10
numbered S53 in the different employ
ments, or more than 2 per cent of the
total number, and nearly one-fourth of
the whole number were women and girls
over l6. The child labor question is
one, watched with great care by the au-
thorities, and children under 16 are not
allowed to leave school for work unless
there is the greatest necessity. Yet the
report shows that 1873 such children
were forced by dire necessity to earn
pittance to help the family. Usually
the wages are so small as to seem hard.
ly worth while. The labor commissioner
has found the average wage Of children
in Minnesota to be about $3.50. Yet
there are many families in Minneapolis
where that $3.50 a week represents the
difference between existence and starva-
ton. Sick wives who have been aban-
doned by heartless husbands are de-
pendent on some tiny worker, and in
other. homes the breadwinner is disabled
and a child 8 work must exc out their
little substance till brighter days. The
dependent ones are to be pitied, but so
are the children deprived of childhood
and Of their .birthright to school train
ing. Some day human kindness will
manifest itself more effectively than
now, and children will not be forced
prematurely into the world.
The report shows that a small army,
no less than 2,196 persons, habitually
work by night. Such wage-earning
population would support a city larger
than Mankato. OF the number given
791 work in the flour mills, and 351
worked at night during the sawmill sea-
son. A force Of l,760 people work reg
ularly on Sundays, and the majority OF
these are also found in the flour mills
The visits of delegations Of railroad
employees to Washington to protest
against the passage Of a rate regulation
bill on the score that such legislation will
be likely to result in lowering their
wages have not been very numerous OF
'llate. If anyone had ever taken any stock
in that argument against railroad rate
regulation, he would have had difficulty
l in reconciling it with the tremendous
| activity in railroad building during the
past year, the prospective increase il
mileage during the coming year and the
1 unprecedented demand for railroad
/ equipment Evidently the railroads
themselves are not anticipating an,
slump in business or any conditions
where the carrying trade will not b,
A highly profitable. They know well enough
that no government commission is goins
7 to interfere unjustly with the earning
power Of the railroads, and that if the.
imposed any conditions that were unrea
sonable those conditions would not Ion.
endure. M 4
). One Of the boldest bits of railway en-
! cheering in the world has just beel
completed up the Wetterhorn in switzer
, land This road is literally hung in tn
!, air like a spiders web. It connects tn
Il elevated hamlet Of Gleckstein with tn
. valley beneath by means of a series Q