Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1910-03-02
AN EXHAUSTIVE PUBLICATION.

1Wenty-ihird Report Of the Y. C. Depart
| Inent Of Labor and Printing.
The Twenty-third Annual Re-
port of the Department of Labor
and Printing of the State of North
Carolina has been issued from the
office of Commissioner M. L. Ship.
man.
The chapters of the report GOV.
er, as usual, farms and farm labor,
wages of farm hands and cost OF
production of farm products, con.
dition of the trades, miscellaneou.
factories and industries, cotton
woolen and silk mills, furniture
factories, newspaper statistics,
and railroad employees and wages
| In addition to this, there has
been added q classified list of fac.
tories, the labor laws of the State,
and a resume of the reports is
sued for the past ten years, and
other interesting information.
An excerpt from Chapter I
says:
Primarily, the purpose. of the
statistics is to show hours of Ia.
Dor and wages, conditions of la
Dor, and to give an idea of what
progress is being made in an edu-
catlonal and moral way, whether
there Is an improvement in gener-
al proficiency, and the relation of
supply to demand.
In some quarters to which the
report is sent, these purposes are
overlooked, the recipients expect
ing rather a directory of manu-
featuring enterprises. Under the
peculiar conditions of the law
governing the Department. and
the manner of collection of statis-
tics, it has proven impossible, ex-
cepting cotton, woolen and silk
mills, to secure a complete list of
the factories.
So far az the means at hand
have allowed, it has been the pur-
pose to include every factory, of
whatever kind, employing five or
more people, that it was possible
to reach.
Chapter II, farms and farm Ia
Dor, shows an increase IN the val
ue of land in eighty-seven coun.
ties, decrease IN two and no
change in nine Fertility of land
is reported maintained III eighty
four counties; fourteen report
that it is not maintained Six
counties report a tendency to
have larger farms; ninety-two
smaller. Eighty-six counties re-
port labor scarce; twelve plentl-
full. Ninety-five counties report
negro labor unreliable, two reli-
able, and one, no negro labor.
Sixty counties report employment
regular; thlrty-eight irregular.
Every county reports an increase
IN cost of living.
Chapter III, covering the
trades, says:
In addition to the specific infor-
nation asked for in the blanks
sent out, the Department. has ia
ken general survey of the con-
ditions under which the trades.
or, more properly speaking, the
body of working men and women,
are now lsboring. The conclus-
ions reached, based on the an
swers to inquiries which appear in
one form or another on all blanks
relate to phases of the question
that cannot be answ cred coz pre-.
hensively by yes OF no, or by any
figures. A certain amount 6 the
iosses in quantity of work offered
and prices paid for service which
occurred in the latter part Of 1907
and 1908 have besn regained, and
while employment is by no means
so easily found, and it may be
that wages are slightly less than
in the tfloodtide of 1907, on the
whole, conditions affecting the
trades may be said to be in q
shape fully as satisfactory as at
auy time in the industrial history
of che State.
Chapter ", miscellaneous fact
ories, Gays that general indica.
tions show that the factories are
rapidly being put on substantial
basis-that is, show an absence Of