personal service; 52 under professional service; 50 under public service; 33 under trade; eight under extractive industries; and miscellaneous, 41. The total membership reported by the 1,403 unions in all industries was 241,726. The leading industry in point of membership reported at the close of 1913 (as also at the close of 1912) was manufacturing, with a total membership of 112,991 reported by 513 unions and constituting 46.7 per cent of the aggregate membership reported by all the unions in the State. Transportation ranked second with a total membership of 54,031, or 22.3 per cent, reported by the 243 unions in that industry. Then followed in order of membership reported: Building, 43,640; domestic and personal service, 9,271; professional service, 6,622; public service, 6,127; trade, 3,797; extractive industries, 725; and miscellaneous, 4,522.

E. WOMEN IN LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.1

In several occupations in Massachusetts organized women wage-earners are well represented. A tabulation by sex of the membership of labor organizations in the State shows that at the close of 1913 there were 195 unions having women as members as compared with 181 at the close of 1912. The aggregate female membership at the close of 1913 was 30,513 as compared with an aggregate female membership of 25,749 one year earlier, representing a gain of 4,764 women members, or 18.5 per cent, as compared with a net gain of 9,610, or 59.5 per cent, during the year 1912. The principal increases during 1913 were: Boot and shoe workers, 1,867, and garment workers, 1,148; whereas in 1912 the principal increases were: Textile workers, 3,209; boot and shoe workers, 2,793; telephone operators, 1,850;2 and garment workers, 1,185.

The municipalities in which there were at least 1,000 female trade unionists at the close of 1913 were: Boston, 8,089; Brockton, 4,138; Fall River, 3,484; Lynn, 2,543; Lawrence, 2,187; New Bedford, 2,106; and Haverhill, 1,018. In each of the following municipalities there were over five local unions having female members at the close of 1913: Boston, 39; Brockton, 15; Lynn, 13; Fall River, nine; Springfield, nine; Haverhill, eight; Worcester, eight; Lowell, seven; Fitchburg, Lawrence, New Bedford, and North Adams, six each.

Of the 30,513 female trade unionists in the Commonwealth at the close of 1913, 11,901, or 39.0 per cent, were boot and shoe workers; 8,682, or 28.5 per cent, were textile workers; 3,185, or 10.4 per cent, were garment workers; 2,548, or 8.4 per cent, were telephone operators; 876, or 2.9 per cent, were retail clerks; 650, or 2.1 per cent, were cigar

1 For tabulation in detail by occupations, see Table 5 on page 53.

2 Prior to 1912 there were no organizations of telephone operators in the State.

factory workers and tobacco strippers; 583, or 1.9 per cent, were bookbinders; and 2,088, or 6.8 per cent, were distributed among other occupations.1

Of the 195 unions which had female members at the close of 1913, 18, with an aggregate membership of 7,226, were composed entirely of women. Seven of these 18 unions were in Boston, three were in Springfield, and there was one in each of the following cities: Cambridge, Fall River, Gloucester, Holyoke, Ludlow, Lynn, Salem, and Worcester.

There were 62 unions, each of which had 100 or more female members, and of this number four had over 2,000 female members each, two were represented by a female membership ranging between 1,000 and 1,500, nine between 500 and 1,000 female members, and 47 included from 100 to 500 women.

F. MEMBERSHIP OF THE LARGEST LOCAL UNIONS, 1913.

Of the 1,403 local unions in existence in Massachusetts at the close of 1913, 35 unions reported a membership of 1,000 or over. The membership of the largest union was 8,044, of the next largest, 6,143, and of the third in size, 3,521; six unions had a membership ranging between 2,000 and 3,500; nine between 1,500 and 2,000; and 17 between 1,000 and 1,500. Sixteen of the 35 unions which had a membership of 1,000 or over were located in Boston, four in Brockton, three in Lynn, three in Fall River, two in New Bedford, and one each in seven other cities and towns. Thirteen of these 35 unions were unions of boot and shoe workers; six were unions of textile workers; three were unions of garment workers; two were unions of street and electric railway employees; and there was one union each in the following occupations: Bartenders, bricklayers, cigarmakers, compositors, hod carriers and building laborers, meat cutters, musicians, painters, stationary firemen, teamsters, and telephone operators.

G. MEMBERSHIP OF IDENTICAL UNIONS, 1912 AND 1913. During the course of a single year a considerable number of local unions disband and many new ones are formed; consequently, while the total number of unions existing at the close of one year may vary but little from the total number existing at the close of the previous year, tabulations based on these totals may by no means represent identical unions.

1 Includes laundry workers, musicians, cigarmakers, ticket collectors, cooks and waitresses, compositors, fish workers, hat trimmers, bakers, tailoresses and dressmakers, railway clerks, hat and cap makers, telegraphers, leather workers, upholsterers, fur workers, industrial workers (various occupations), janitresses, station agents, machinists, and one news writer.

In order to ascertain the actual fluctuation in membership of identical unions (ie., of unions reporting their membership both at the close of 1912 and of 1913) a table1 has been prepared showing for specified cities, and for other cities and towns grouped together, the membership of identical unions in 1912 and 1913 and also the increase or decrease in 1913 as compared with 1912.

The total number of identical unions reporting was 1,256, of which number 617 reported increases in membership, 502 reported decreases, and 137 reported no change. The net increase reported by these 1,256 identical unions was 3,306, which was approximately 66.8 per cent of the net increase in membership of all unions in the State in 1913 as compared with 1912. The largest net increase in membership of identical unions in any municipality was 6,992 in Boston, followed by 2,651 in Fall River; and 694 in New Bedford; while the largest net decreases were 6,4312 in Lawrence and 1,001 in Lynn. Of the 262 identical unions in Boston, 137 reported increases in membership, 96 reported decreases, and 29 reported no change.

1 See Table 7 on page 55.

* Principally members of local organizations affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World.

III.

UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE ORGANIZED INDUSTRIES.

1. INTRODUCTORY.

Annual summaries of the statistics relative to unemployment among the organized wage-earners of Massachusetts have been published by this Bureau in the "Annual Reports on Labor Organizations." The present summary, therefore, constitutes virtually our Sixth Annual Report on the subject of Unemployment.

Statistics of unemployment, wherever collected, show that even in times of industrial prosperity, some measure of unemployment is unavoidable. Careful investigations as to the extent and causes of unemployment, which have recently been made both by public and private agencies, uniformly are in agreement in their conclusions that methods can be devised whereby the number of persons unable to find employment can, at all times, be materially reduced and that the adoption of measures with this end in view should receive immediate public attention in this country.

In certain European countries attempts have been made for some years to reduce the amount of unemployment through various forms of legislative action such as the provision of labor exchanges, the provision of special government enterprises for the express purpose of providing work for the unemployed, the provision of some form of insurance for the benefit of those who have been unable to find employment, and other measures, some of which are of a decidedly novel nature. But until recent years the problem of unemployment in the United States, except during comparatively brief and infrequent seasons of industrial inactivity, has

1 The summary information for 1908-1912 was published in the Annual Reports on Labor Organizations as follows:

1908 First Annual Report on Labor Organizations (Part II of the 39th Annual Report on the Statistics of Labor), pp. 182-184, 205, 206.

1909 Second Annual Report on Labor Organizations (Part III of the 40th Annual Report on the Statistics of Labor), pp. 303-307, 339, 340.

1910 Third Annual Report on Labor Organizations (Labor Bulletin No. 87), pp. 28-33.

1911

Fourth Annual Report on Labor Organizations (Part II of the 42d Annual Report on the Statistics of Labor), pp. 89-100.

1912- Fifth Annual Report on Labor Organizations (Labor Bulletin No. 96), pp. 22-38, 110-113. The quarterly reports on unemployment have been issued as follows:

Each quarterly bulletin or report contained the returns for the quarter just ended previous to its publication, together with comparable returns for earlier quarters and several pages of descriptive text.

received but scant and inadequate attention.1 Occasionally demonstrations by large numbers of unemployed who have congregated in urban centers in this country, have called brief public attention to this phase of industrial life. At such times temporary and merely palliative remedies have been offered, only to be summarily dismissed from thought as soon as the disturbances have ceased.

Although the problem of unemployment has been a subject of prolonged investigation and of numerous experiments in certain European cities, it has scarcely been considered at all, except intermittently, in the United States until within a few years. In fact interest in any new industrial problem in this country seems to await an attempted solution in one or more of the European countries, eventually to result in the adoption of a series of varying systems in as many different States, such systems bearing but little resemblance to the plans which have been carefully worked out in other countries. Thus, for several years past the subject of industrial accidents and systems of compensation therefor, have occupied the attention of the leading men of affairs and of our legislatures. Having finally put into operation more or less satisfactory systems in the leading industrial States, public opinion is now being directed to the problem of unemployment, in an endeavor to devise a system which shall be adapted to meet American conditions and which, consequently, would differ essentially from their European prototypes.

No attempt has been made in this report to cover the wide range of topics which should be considered in a comprehensive and detailed study of the subject of unemployment. We have endeavored to consider, merely in the nature of a general review or survey, the main facts as to the development of the principal phases of this problem which are now the subject of zealous inquiry by students, social workers, public officials, and popular writers. We have also discussed at some length a graphic representation of existing statistics of unemployment among organized wage-earners in the United Kingdom, Germany, New York State, and Massachusetts, in order to show to what extent the periods of industrial inactivity have corresponded in the several countries considered. Following this discussion is presented an analysis of the statistical data relative to unemployment of organized workpeople in Massachusetts, obtained during the six-year period, 1908-1913.

1 Except for the provision of free employment offices in 19 states (57 offices) and 15 municipalities, the problem of finding work for the unemployed has been left almost wholly to charitable institutions and associations and to private agencies and individuals, among which institutions and agencies no large spirit of co-operation has been manifested.