ORGANIZED LABOR.-Returns from 45 unions give statistics relative o date of organization, membership; initiation fees and monthly dues; trike, sick, accident, and funeral benefits; wages and hours of labor; ules governing apprenticeship; members idle, etc. As there were n 1904 some 250 duly organized labor unions in the State, with a otal membership estimated to approximate 22,500, the above reurns, therefore, are believed to represent only about 20 per cent of the unions in the State.

WAGE-EARNERS.-This chapter is devoted to statistics of wageearners in the employ of mercantile houses, eight steam railroads, nine electric railways, and the Western Union Telegraph Company. The data give number of employees in each occupation, wages per day or per month, hours of labor per day, and days of labor per month. The table following shows the average wages per day of wage-earners in the employ of the steam railroads and of the electric. railways:

AVERAGE DAILY WAGES OF STEAM RAILROAD AND OF ELECTRIC RAILWAY

The average wages per month of operators in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company were $68.78, of chief operators $97.15, and of office managers $73.88.

A section of this chapter is also devoted to farm labor and one to convict labor. Of 21 employing farmers, 15 reported paying farm hands $30 per month, 4 as paying $35 per month, and 2 as paying $40 per month.

FREE EMPLOYMENT OFFICES.-During the year 1905 there were 20,965 positions (17,763 for males and 3,202 for females) furnished by the public employment office of Seattle, and for the first nine months of 1906 there were 27,682 positions furnished; for the fourteen months ending September, 30 1906, there were 7,402 positions (6,164 for males and 1,238 for females) furnished by the public employment office of Tacoma, and for the fifteen months ending April 11, 1906, there were 2,899 positions (2,421 for males and 478 for females) furnished by the public employment office of Spokane. ACCIDENTS TO LABOR.-Reports pertaining to accidents to labor were received from 59 large manufacturing establishments, and cover the last twelve months (year ending August 1, 1905) preceding the practical operation of the State factory-inspection law and the first twelve months (year ending August 1, 1906) following the date of its going into practical effect. During the first year reported, in which the 59 establishments employed a total of 8,588 men, there occurred 16 fatal, 92 serious, and 1,360 slight accidents; during the second year reported, in which the 59 establishments employed a total of 9,447 men, there occurred 15 fatal, 64 serious, and 1,022 slight accidents.

STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS.-Accounts are given of 13 strikes and 1 lockout that occurred in the State during the years 1905 and 1906. STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURES.-Statistics are presented by coun-, ties showing for each of 1,160 establishments city or town in which located, kind of commodity manufactured, daily capacity and output, number of employees by sex, hours of labor per day, days per month and months per year plant was operated, average wages paid males and paid females, and kind of power used. A summary of the data shows that the establishments employed 37,050 working people (34,525 males and 2,525 females), that the daily hours of labor averaged 10.6, and that the daily wages of males averaged $2.57 and of females $1.47. Further, a list of 177 new industrial plants established since January 1, 1905, is given, showing location by county and city or town, kind of commodity manufactured, amount of capital invested, and number of employees required. These plants involved an investment aggregating $4,133,850 and required the employment of 4,136 working people. The chapter closes with a supplemental presentation for the lumber industry of the State.

CAPITAL AND LABOR.-This chapter consists of the reproduction of various papers and addresses bearing on the topic in question. COURT DECISIONS AND LABOR LAWS.-This comprises decisions and rulings by the supreme court of the State on questions relating to labor, together with a reproduction of the text of the labor laws of the State.

RECENT FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

AUSTRIA.

Arbeiterverhältnisse im Ostrau-Karwiner Steinkohlenreviere. II. Teil. Lebens- und Wohnungsverhältnisse. 1906. Dargestellt vom K. K. Arbeitsstatistischen Amte im Handelsministerium. XXXI, 109, 237* pp.

In 1901 the Austrian bureau of labor statistics made an investigation in regard to the economic and social condition of persons employed in the mines and coking plants in the Ostrau-Karwin coalmine district. The results of this inquiry have been published in two parts. The first volume appeared in 1904 and relates to the hours of labor, efficiency and earnings of the wageworkers. (a) The second (present) volume relates more particularly to social conditions, and contains data concerning sex, age, conjugal condition, place of birth, literacy, military service, length of employment, loss of time entering and leaving mine, housing conditions, and sickness. Several other subjects are considered, the most important of which deals with the average retail prices of staple provisions in the OstrauKarwin district.

The major portion of the volume consists of general tables covering 237 pages, which give in considerable detail the statistical results of the investigation. A number of pages also are devoted to plates showing the plans and dimensions of the various types of houses erected by the several companies for the use of their employees.

The larger part of the text is devoted to facts concerning coal-mine labor. As shown in the report, 32,854 persons were employed in and about the coal mines in the Ostrau-Karwin district on January 1, 1901. Of these, 30,878, or 94.0 per cent, were males and 1,976, or 6.0 per cent, females. Ages were reported for 32,852 persons, of which number 75.3 per cent were 16 to 35 years of age, 3.7 per cent were younger than 16, and 21.0 per cent were older than 35 years.

Fifty per cent of the mine workers were married, 49.2 per cent were single and 0.8 per cent were widowed. Of 16,688 married or widowed work people reporting, 16.5 per cent had no children living at home; 18.1 per cent had 1 child; 19.1 per cent, 2 children; 16.5 per cent, 3, and 12.3 per cent, 4, while 17.5 per cent had 5 or more children.

a Bulletin No. 58, page 968.

The majority of the mine workers (66.6 per cent) had commenced work in the mines in their twentieth year or earlier, 35.1 per cent having begun when 15 years of age or younger. Only 4.4 per cent of the total number entered the occupation of mining after reaching their thirtieth year.

About one-fifth (19.1 per cent) of the number were illiterate, 4.1 per cent could read only, and 76.8 per cent were able both to read and write.

Only 7.5 per cent of the mine workers owned the dwellings they occupied, though a total of 21.3 per cent owned real estate of some sort; 20.3 per cent were living with parents or other relatives; 38.5 per cent occupied rented dwellings, and 33.7 per cent were lodgers in private houses or in the company lodging houses.

The dwellings in most instances were of one or two rooms, 41.8 per cent consisting of only one room and 53.7 per cent of two rooms. On the average there were 5 persons to each dwelling and 3 persons to each room. The monthly rent for quarters in the company houses was in 93.8 per cent of the cases from 3.01 crowns ($0.61) to 6 crowns ($1.22). These quarters as a rule (in 81.5 per cent of the total) consisted of two rooms. On the other hand, only 36.0 per cent of the private houses rented for 6 crowns ($1.22) or less per month, while 27.4 per cent cost from 10.01 crowns ($2.03) to 20 crowns ($4.06) per month, although in 72.8 per cent of all private dwellings they contained but one room.

Lodging in the company houses was also cheaper, costing from 1.01 crowns ($0.21) to 3 crowns ($0.61) per month for 97.2 per cent of the lodgers therein, while in private houses the rates were from 2.01 crowns ($0.41) to 4 crowns ($0.81) for 83.7 per cent of these lodgers.

Similar data to those given above for coal-mine labor are presented for the 2,110 persons employed at the coking plants of the district. Considerable space in the report is given to the presentation of data relating to sickness and disease among the persons employed in the mines and coke works. Statistics showing the percentage of workmen afflicted with the several leading diseases and the average length of the sickness are presented for the coal and coke workers in the Ostrau-Karwin district in comparison with similar data for the total coal-mine workers and for the aggregate number of persons employed in all branches of the mining industry in Austria.

Data relating to housing conditions are also given in considerable detail. Investigation was made of 417 workingmen's dwellings in private houses in 41 municipalities (Gemeinde) in the Ostrau-Karwin district. The data gathered relate to situation of houses, physical condition, dimensions, water supply, outhouses, rent, number of occupants, and number of lodgers. In addition, particularly aggra

vated cases of overcrowding in a number of localities are described in detail.

From the facts presented it would seem that the private houses available for workmen in the Ostrau-Karwin district are, on the whole, not only small, overcrowded, and of a comparatively high rent, but are also damp, poorly lighted, and altogether very unhealthy. Conditions existing in the company houses, on the other hand, appear in a favorable light, the houses being of comparatively recent construction and in good sanitary condition.

Bericht des K. K. Handelsministeriums über die Förderung des Kleingewerbes in den Jahren 1902 und 1903. 1904. 208 pp.

This volume, issued by the Austrian ministry of commerce, deals with the subject of technical and industrial improvement of the handicraft trades in Austria, and is devoted to an account of the operations of the department relative to this subject during the years 1902 and 1903, with frequent references to its operations during previous years.

The report contains a general review, giving a brief statement of the purposes of the department along the lines of the subject under consideration and the means of attaining these objects, a brief financial statement of the total amounts appropriated and expended for this purpose each year from 1892 to 1903, an outline of the organization and functions of the bureau charged with the technical execution of the work relating thereto, a sketch of the advisory council and its duties pertaining to this subject, and an account of the various factors employed in furthering the interests of the handicraft trades.

The financial statement above referred to shows that the appropriation for the department available for this purpose was 641,960 crowns ($130,317.88) for the year 1902 and 677,300 crowns ($137,491.90) for the year 1903. These amounts were considerably augmented by contributions from the States, cities, boards of trade and commerce, trade unions, and other sources friendly to the cause, aggregating in 1902 the sum of about 400,000 crowns ($81,200) and in 1903 670,000 crowns ($136,010), making a total from all sources for the two years of nearly 2,400,000 crowns ($487,200). Beginning with 1892 the expenditures for this purpose steadily increased from 20,000 crowns ($4,060) in 1892 to 677,300 crowns ($137,491.90) in 1903; for the entire 12-year period they amounted to over 8,000,000 crowns ($1,624,000).

The following are the principal means employed by the department to improve the industrial condition and material interests of the handicraft trades.

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