Organized Labor.

"The statistics of labor for the year ended September 30, 1901, as embodied in this report, are restricted to the organized wage-workers of the State. They do not, therefore, cover all, or even a majority of the wage-earners; but they do represent a minority that is large in point of numbers (275,000 working people), and representative of nearly all the manufacturing and mechanical industries. Organized labor includes, in the first instance, the more highly skilled workmen, and in the second instance, the wage-earners in cities rather than in villages; hence, for both reasons and aside from the probability that members of labor organizations secure more regular employment and slightly higher rates of wages than non-unionists following the same trades, it may be predicated that the average earnings of members of labor organizations are higher than the average earnings of all workmen. It would, therefore, be incorrect to quote the conditions of organized labor as actually representative of all wage-earners; but, on the other hand, the fluctuations from year to year in the amount of employment and earnings of trade unionists do really reflect actual changes throughout the entire body of workingmen.

"The Bureau of Labor Statistics has for five years collected reports from trade unions, designed to show the economic condition of their members, and as these returns are based on uniform methods, they permit comparison for this entire period. But the first point of interest is the strength and the growth of organized labor itself. Such growth can be traced from the year 1894, when the Bureau first gathered comprehensive statistics on the subject; at that time the strength of organized labor had probably suffered something of a decline on account of the industrial depression that began in 1893 and lasted until 1897. It is interesting to study the development of labor organizations in this State since that period. In 1894 the number of labor unions that reported to the Bureau was 860; in 1901, it had increased to 1,881, which is a gain of 119 per cent. In the same period the membership has increased from 157,197 to 276,141, or by 76 per cent.

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"In the official year ended September 30, 1899, the increase in membership was 38,000; in 1900, 36,000; and in 1901, 31,000. The rate of increase has, therefore, declined in 1901 as compared with 1899, or even 1900; and the fact that nearly onehalf the increase in 1901 was in the clothing trades, wherein unstable conditions are proverbial, indicates that the recent rapidity of growth is hardly likely to be maintained.

"Another incident of the expansion of trade unions in the garment-making industry is the large gain in the number of organized workingwomen, who are mainly restricted to the clothing and tobacco trades. In 1897 only 3.4 per cent of the members of labor organizations of this State were women; but in 1901 the proportion had risen to 5.3 per cent. This proportion is the largest found in any year since 1895, when the garment trades of New York City were more thoroughly organized than they have been since.

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AGGREGATE Membership of Labor ORGANIZATIONS, 1894-1901, BY INDUSTRIES.*

*The dates to which these figures relate are July 1 in 1894 and 1895, October 31 in 1896 and September 30 in the subsequent years.

Unemployment.

"A good index of the condition of labor is furnished by statistics of unemployment, which are reported to the Bureau four times a year by the secretaries of labor organizations. These reports show the number of members idle on the last working day of each quarter, and also the number idle throughout the entire quarter, thus covering both occasional idleness, which may be due to nothing but inclement weather, and continuous idleness, which indicates either serious incapacity for work or inability to find employment. Both these classes of the unemployed are swelled by the closing of factories in hard times and diminished by the demand for labor in good times, and thus do actually reflect fluctuations in production and prosperity with a considerable degree of accuracy. *

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NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF MEMBERS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IDLE IN EACH OFf the FOUR QUARTERS.

"A necessary explanation of these figures must be made before undertaking their interpretation, namely, they slightly exaggerate the actual amount of idleness, because many unionists reported idle may in fact have found employment in outside trades unknown to the secretary of their organization. But the number thus employed is doubtless comparatively small and varies little from one year to another. For comparative statements it may be excluded.

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"The weather conditions accounted for 46 and 15.5 per cent of all the idleness at the end of March, 1900 and 1901, respectively, and only 0.5 and 2.2 per cent at the end of September in the same years. This cause really affects but two groups of trades, the building trades and the lake trades (grain handlers, marine engineers and firemen).

"Trade disputes, and personal causes like sickness, accident and old age account for a good deal of the reported idleness; but the principal cause in every instance is inability to find employment. It is, then, lack of work on the part of workingmen able and willing to work that creates the problem of the unemployed.

"During the past year, the relative amount of unemployment among members of labor organizations was smaller than it has been in any recent year with the possible exception of 1899.

Duration of Employment.

"While from two to twelve per cent of the members of labor organizations are continuously idle, the remainder are by no means regularly employed, since the proportion who were found idle at any one time was between five and thirty per cent. On the average a trade unionist loses from 7 to 20 days out of 78 working days in each three-month period. In the past year the average number of days lost in the first and third quarters (January to March and July to September) was 11 and 8, which makes an unusually good showing as compared with previous years.

AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAYS WORKED BY MEMBERS OF LABOR UNIONS.

1897. 1898. 1899 1900. 1901

First Second Third Fourth First Second Third Fourth quarter quarter quarter quarter quarter quarter quarter quarter

"The number of days worked in the second and fourth quarters of 1900 and 1901 was not ascertained. As regards the organized workingwomen, it appears that 1901 did not afford very good opportunities of employment; the average number of days worked, while somewhat above that in 1898, was just equal to the number in 1897 and below the number in 1899 and 1900-particularly 1899. The female members of labor organizations are comparatively few in number and are confined for the most part to the clothing and tobacco trades, in both of which employment fluctuates to an unusual degree.

"Confining attention to the men, we observe that the duration of employment has on the whole been increasing since 1897. In the first quarter the best showing is made in 1901, but for the third quarter 1901 is not quite equal to 1899. The expla nation of the fluctuation depends somewhat upon the figures for the several industries given in the following table:

AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAYS EMPLOYED (MEN ONLY) IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF
1899, 1900 AND 1901.

"With only two exceptions (woodworking, public employment), all the groups exhibit a higher average number of days worked in the third quarter of 1901 than in 1900; but with respect to 1899 the superiority is not so marked, as one-half the groups have the higher average in 1899 and one-half in 1901. The most noticeable difference is in the clothing and textile trades, the members of which averaged 68 days of employment in July, August and September, 1899, as compared with 56 days in those months of 1901. On the other hand, the members of organizations in the transport trades averaged 79 days in the present quarter and only 76 in 1899; in theatrical and musical trades 72 days this year and 60 in 1899; restaurant and retail trade, 79 and 72 respectively, etc.

"The smaller cities and towns, as usual, furnished more days of work, per member, than the metropolis.

"Of the 245,220 men employed in the third quarter of 1901, 27,964 or 11.4 per cent worked 90 days or over. These are nearly all engaged in transport services, -railroad and street railway employes, cab drivers, seamen, post office clerks, etc., who work seven days in the week. Hence, the highest average of days worked is found in the transportation group (IV), namely, 79. This is one of the reasons also why the average for women is nearly always smaller than that for men; practically none of the female unionists having to work seven days a week.

Earnings.

"As nearly all the members of labor organizations are paid by the day, the duration of their employment is of primary importance to them. But, as was noticed above, their employment is subject to many irregularities, with the result that earnings vary also, and as the rates of wages also differ from trade to trade, the variations in earnings are also accentuated.

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"Among the men the most numerous class in the first quarter consisted of those who earned between $150 and $175; in the third quarter, those who earned between $175 and $200. The earnings of the women are of course very much smaller, the largest class containing those who earned from $75 to $100, which is just half the amount earned by the largest body of men.

"Earnings varied noticeably among the different trades, the largest earnings having gone to the men of the theatrical and musical trades, printing, building trades and public employment, thus:

NUMBER OF MEN EMPLOYED AND Average QuarteRLY EARNINGS.

"The smallest earnings of men are found in the clothing and textile and tobacco trades, and these are also the trades in which the competition of women is strongest.

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"The average earnings of organized workingmen in 1898 were 4 per cent greater than in 1897; in 1899 they gained another 12 per cent, but in 1900 lost 4 per cent, while in 1901 they gained 5 per cent, so that at the latter date they were 16 per cent higher than in 1897. Or, if the average earnings of 1897 be taken as a standard of measurement and the earnings of succeeding years expressed in terms of this standard, the result will be as follows:

"A second line shows the rise in prices on July 1, the middle of each year. While earnings have in five years increased 16 per cent, wholesale prices have increased 26 per cent. It is improbable that retail prices have increased at the same rate, especially in the case of manufactured articles; thus, while the price of hides has greatly increased recently, no perceptible advance has been recorded in the price of boots and shoes, and clothing (even as to wholesale prices, raw materials inIcluded) has advanced only 9 per cent. On the other hand, meat, dairy and garden products have increased 26 per cent in price, and breadstuffs 41 per cent and these advanced wholesale prices for food must necessarily be reflected to a considerable extent in retail prices. It therefore seems safe to say that the cost of living has increased since 1897 at least as much as the earnings of labor.

Rates of Wages.

"Thus far income or earnings have been discussed rather than wage rates; and attention has been called to the fact that larger income has depended partly upon more constant employment. But as employment has increased only 8 per cent and earnings have increased 16 per cent, it is apparent that wages have also been ad

vanced.

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"Save for the decrease in 1900 there is a steady and constant gain. This decrease and the check in the third quarter of 1901 require examination, which may best begin with the following table of average daily earnings by groups of trades:

"This table shows at once that the decline in 1900 was general; only the smaller groups (V, VI, VII and IX), show an advance, while the larger groups all shared in the decrease. In the summer of 1900 the high price of building material, it will be remembered, checked industrial activity; in the temporary dullness of that period, more men were employed at the minimum union rates and fewer at the maximum. The average earnings of bricklayers and masons, carpenters and painters declined from those of the corresponding period in 1899, as did also the earnings of cloakmakers, railway engineers and trainmen, longshoremen and other large bodies of union workmen.

"But in 1901 no such general decline can be affirmed. On the contrary nine of twelve groups, and noticeably the large groups of the building and clothing trades, shared in a substantial advance over 1899. As a matter of fact, the decline is to be explained almost wholly by changes in the membership of organized labor-by the more rapid growth of the poorly paid trades as compared with the more highly skilled trades. The change in the transport trades (Group IV), aside from a few decreases among irregularly employed workmen like the longshoremen, is due to the organization of new trades and to the transference to this group of car builders and painters from Group IX, where they had been classified in previous years. Only in the theatrical and musical trades was there a real loss, and it is to be noted that the statistics of these trades are perhaps the least exact of any and employment is besides very irregular. The real explanation of the failure of the average daily earnings for the sum of all industries to show forth the advance made in 1901 over 1899 by the vast majority of trades is therefore the change in the character of the membership during that period. Three groups (I, V and VIII) have larger daily earnings than the total for all groups; now while the total number employed in all industries increased between 1899 and 1901 by 29 per cent, the increase in

Group I was only 21 per cent, in Group V, 11 per cent, and in Group VIII there was an actual decrease, so that in 1901 these three groups with high wages constituted less than 43 per cent of the total membership as compared with 46 per cent in 1899. The following table contains comparisons for some of the more prominent occupations:

"The following table shows as accurately as may be done in compressed form the economic condition of organized labor in the State of New York during the last five years:

*This figure is simply the mean or arithmetical average of the four quarterly percentages. †Based on the figures of the first and third quarters only.

Co

Washington Gossip

By Eva McDonald Valesh

CONGRESS goes through some sort of routine every day, but the session is unusually dull. The Philippines furnish the Senate with a little daily excitement. Senators Hoar, Teller and Tillman lead the forces in favor of Filipino independence, and Senators Foraker, Lodge and Beveridge defend the policy of the administration.

A bill now before Congress provides for throwing open the Philippines to those desiring to engage in the lumber, mining or land speculating industries, and it is very likely to become a law.

In the House, all real interest centers in the family row in the Ways and Means Committee over the tariff. Between the question of a reduction on sugar and toWhile there is a great principle in- bacco to Cuba, and Representative Babvolved, yet it must be confessed that the cock's threat to push a bill taking the whole matter is regarded with the ut- tariff off trust-controlled iron and steel, most apathy in Washington. The cham- the House Republican leaders have a pions of Filipino independence confine themselves largely to generalities, and the semi-military colonial policy of the administration does not fear any actual check in its plans.

few troubles of their own.

President Roosevelt complicates matters by standing for the Cuban reduction, and is said to be in sympathy with some trust-restraining legislation, although