The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-04-30
he was in for full share OF trouble
in the near future.
WHERE LABOR is KING,


ed for the British Board of Trade In
quiry, conducted in 1909, into the
earnings, expenditures and general
living conditions of the people OF the
United States. AS far as practicable
a comparison is made with the results
of similar inquiry conducted in the
United Kingdom in 1905. The results
obtained are decidedly flattering to
the United States, and justify a more
extended review than the summary
carried by the press cable.
According to the London Times, the
subjects covered are wages, hours OF
work. housing and rents, food prices
and family expenditure A large amount
of the information embodied in
the report was obtained directly
from employers and trade unions. The
latter, the British reader Is informed,
have reached very high degree of
development in America, and many
factories in certain cities are entirely
closed to non-unionists.
The report explains the meaning of
the trade union label" which 1t says
is a distinctive feature OF American
unionism. 1t is small stamped label
attached to garments or boots, or in
the printing trades small imprint,
denoting that the article is the pro-
duct of labor employed under approx
ed trades union conditions. The firms
authorized to use the label" form a
small minority of the trades as
whole. Trades unionists in America
probably number altogether about
100000.
In order to ascertain the level OF
wages, three generally distributed en-
pigments were selected. These were
the engineering, building and print
ing trades. A table is submitted
showing the predominant wages of
adult males in the selected occupa-
lions in the United States in Feb
ruary, 1909. as compared with those
paid to workmen in the corresponding
trades in the United Kingdom From
this table it appears that in England
and Wales bricklayers receive from
| SO to $3.50 per week, as compared
with $26.40 to $50 per week in the
! United States; stone masons $3.50 to
| s9.40 as compared with $23 to $26.
carpenters and joiners 1910 as against
$3.50 to s21.60: plasterers $S.75 to
| 1878, contrasted to s26 to $3.50;
plumbers $3.50 to $3.50 in England and
Wales and s21 to s27 in this country.
Other comparisons briefly stated are:
Painters, $3.50 to $9-s15. go to 500 40;
hod carriers and bricklayers' laborers
81 to s64S-s12 to $3.50; filters and
turner's in the engineering trades
$40 to ssG0-s1520 to SIS; smiths
| $40 to ss.6O-sl6.25 to 5000; la
borers s432 to s5.2S-s9 to 5000;
/ printers thand compositors. Job work.
500 to sS-S16.50 to $40. 80.
The board of trade thinks the COM
paratively low wages of carpenters
worthy of remark, because the car
than the bricklayer, owing to the
prevalence of wooden buildings in
! the United States. The widest range
In wages is in the case of masons'
laborers, which varies from II per
cent above the average of New York
at st. Louis to 81 per cent below it
at Augusta, Ga.
Hours of labor in most trades, with
the exception of engineering, are
shorter than in the United Kingdom.
I From the tables in the report it ap-
pears that the average hours per
J week in the building trades are from
forty-four to forty-eight, in the en-
cheering trades from fifty-four to
sixty, and among hand compositors on
job work forty-eight. In the first
named trade the length of the working
week is rarely affected by the season
any curtailment that takes place being
during the hottest period of the sum
mer, and not during the short winter
days, as might be expected, because
the geographical position of most OIL
: the United States renders any short
) ening of the working hours in winter
unnecessary. Sometimes extra hours
: are worked on other week days tt
secure a Saturday half-holiday, the
English Saturday half-holiday having
not yet established itself generally II
j the United States
i 1t is noted that the American work
man does not consume as much bak
2 er's bread as the Englishman. HI
t uses eight and one-auarter pounds
= weekly and the British laborer TWEEN
r ty-two pounds The difference Is ex
: planned by the fact that the Amer
e can workman uses rolls. cakes, bis
t cults, etc. spending three times a
], much on these as does the Briton.
n The American consumes much NOR
meat and vegetables than the Ems
e lishman, Scot and Irishman, and j
d general the budgets show that tn
S dinner table OF the working class i
/. America Is more varied and liberia
than that of corresponding familie
l. in the United Kingdom.
IF Summarizing the results of tn
e comparison the report says:
~ 1T appears that the ratio of til
y weekly wages for certain occupi
:. tons in the United States and En-
81 Nd Eola ut III