The report further states that "complaints of fluctuations in wages due to irregularity of employment come chiefly from the woolen trade. Slack times are said to be frequent, owing to foreign tariffs."

The jute, silk, carpet, and dyeing industries received such a slight notice that there are not sufficient data presented in the summary attached to their final report to warrant definite conclusions with regard to the most important conditions under which the industries are carried on. The report, however, states with reference to these industries that,

In the jute industry at Dundee two manufacturers quoted the average wages paid to their spinners as 15s. ($3.60) to 17s. ($4.08) and 10s. ($2.40) to 13s. 9d. ($3.30), respectively, and the president of the Dundee Factory Operatives' Union stated that the wages of jute spinners were higher at Dundee than at Barrow, where they earned 10s. 6d. ($2.58) a week. Weavers' wages in the jute industry were said by one manufacturer at Dundee to average 16s. 9d. ($4.02), whilst a representative of the Forfar Factory Workers' Union gave the average wages for weavers as 18s. ($4.32) for four looms; 155. ($3.60) for three looms, and from 135. ($3.12) to 20s. ($4.80) for two looms, according to the size of the machines. Only women are employed in weaving jute.

With reference to carpet industry the commission stated :

Evidence was given by only one representative of the carpet industry, a manufacturer at Bridgnorth, who stated that in his own factory the wages of male weavers averaged from 325. ($7.68) to 35s. ($8.40) a week, and those of female weavers from 125. ($2.88) to 15s. ($3.60). The Aberdeen Carpet Weavers' Association states that the average wages are 175. 6d. ($4.20) a week, fluctuating from 335. ($7.92) to IOS. ($2.40).

The representatives of the Bradford Society of Dyers stated that the average wages in that industry were now from 145. ($3.36) to 16s. ($3.80) or 18s. ($4.32) a week, although experienced hands earned about 24s. ($5.76) a week. Formerly, however, 245. was a general average. An employer engaged in the dyeing and finishing industry in Leicester stated that the average wages of the men employed by him during the last year had amounted to 30s. ($7.20) a head.

A more complete investigation was made into the wages of women in the textile industries and other occupations in which they are so largely employed. The table on page 358, showing the wages earned by women in miscellaneous textile industries, was copied from the Final Report of the Royal Commission.

Upon the inquiry which was made into the wages of women the General report makes the following statement:

The mean of the returns collected for woman in 1860-61 in the Kidderminster carpet, pottery, tobacco, etc., rope-making, shoddy and flock trades was 9s. 1d. The mean in 1891 was 8s. 11d. If these statistics are to be trusted, and so far as the mean of the returns can be taken as representing true averages, women's wages in those trades would seem to have not merely been stationary, but to have positively decreased. It appears probable that if the information concerning the alleged decline in wages in the confectionery, umbrella-covering and straw-hat trades were sufficiently reliable, and covered a sufficiently long period to be taken into account, the same conclusion might be drawn from a larger number of industries. The means of

conclusions as to women's

wages.

"Sweated trades."

the returns given in 1860-61 in the above-mentioned trades, and also in the boot and shoe and worsted industries, which group represents the greatest number of industries under consideration, both skilled and unskilled (excluding the organized industries), was Ss. 11d. In 1891 it was 9s. 9d.; it had, therefore, increased by only 9 per cent. The apparently arbitrary selection of the industries which furnish data for these comparisons is explained by the fact that the necessary information was only forthcoming in these instances. Women's wages in the industries under consideration, except in certain skilled and organized trades, have either decreased, remained stationary, or have increased but slightly. It may, perhaps, be the case that the number of women engaged in the organized industries is so large that the gain there relatively greater than that obtained by the men, would outweigh the comparatively stationary rate of wages in the other industries. In the Census Returns for 1891, it appeared that while the number of women in the cotton industry was nearly 333,000, the number of women employed in all the other industries enumerated in Table V amounted to about 370,000. Taking this into account in finding the averages over the whole period, women's wages would probably appear to have risen faster than men's. On the other hand it must be remembered that the industries mentioned in Table V includes less than 800,000 women workers out of a total of more than 1,800,000 in the industrial class. The wages of a million women, therefore, in the industrial class, that is excluding domestic service, remained unaccounted for; and the evidence obtained both by the House of Lords' committee and by the lady assistant commissioners and from other sources, went to show that this large proportion of women belonged rather to the body of unorganized and underpaid workers than organized and better paid. 1

The industries referred to in Table V, mentioned above, are as follows: Cotton industry, boot and shoe industry, hosiery, carpet industry (1880, Kidderminster), silk and poplin (1859-62), linen, jute, etc. (185961), woolen industry, worsted industry, book-folding, book-sewing, etc., potteries, tobacco, etc., manufactures, rope-making, shoddy and flock manufacture.

It may be suggested that even the claim of an increase of wages in the cotton and worsted industries from 1861 to 1892 should be subjected to a most careful examination before such results are accepted. The severe competition to which the operatives in cotton mills have been subjected during the past twenty years, is known to have had a most depressing effect on their earnings. Again, reliable returns from the earlier periods are difficult to obtain for such comparisons. But the admission contained in the foregoing statement of the commission showing that the wage scale in 1892 is below that of 1861 in some industries, while the 1,000,000 workers not taken into account in other industries have concededly suffered from reduced pay, should not be lost sight of, when the question of the comparative rate of wages is being considered. It may be well also to mention the fact that home industries or "sweated trades," as they are called, are being largely carried on as laborers are crowded out of factories and as the body of unemployed increases. As to the wages earned in home trades the commission said:

1 Final Report, Part II., p. 483.

The average hourly wage of out-workers in the villages round Dudley who supply much of the clothing trade of that town was 11⁄2d. A widow in Manchester who finished" shirts at 21⁄2d. a dozen, whatever the work required might be, could never earn more than 2s. 2d. a week. A tailoress in Lambeth "finished" boys' trousers for 3d. a pair, out of which id. had to be subtracted for thread and twist. It took her two and one-half hours to finish one pair, so her rate of pay was less than 1d. per hour. In the hosiery trade a woman seamed stockings for nine hours daily, and if she worked very hard earned 4d. per hour. Her average weekly earnings were 35. A sack sewer and a rope teazer at Arbroath stated that their average wages were about 3s. and 3s. 6d. a week, respectively. It was stated that in the lace trade at Nottingham a great quantity of work which was formerly done inside the factories, such as scalloping, is now given out at reduced prices. An employer who at one time employed fifty women as scallopers" in his factory, most of whom earned 155. a week, now gives out this work to home workers, to whom he pays 6s. or 7s. a week. From the evidence of the out-workers it appeared that the rate of payment was sometimes as low as 1⁄2d. per hour. In Glasgow a woman was found who did tailoring for government contracts. The shop which gave them out paid 25. 2d. per dozen for making Dungaree jackets, the dozen taking fourteen hours. Another woman 'finishes" them for 4d. per dozen, and makes perhaps "four dozen in a day." The total cost to the shop for the making and finishing a dozen of these jackets by outside workers was therefore 2s. 6d. Inspectors' "overalls" were also given out at 45. 8d., and certain "overall " trousers at Is. 6d. per dozen. The witness said that she could make six inspectors' "overalls" in a day, or three pairs of "overall" trousers, i. e., she could earn 2s. 4d. or 6d. for the day's work. In all the cases quoted above the information was received from the home workers personally. One of the worst cases of sweating was that related by the secretary of the Shirtmakers' Union of Manchester. A man in Gorton had a workroom for which he paid 5s. 6d. a week. He took out work from Manchester, and employed women in this workroom at shirtmaking. He made them pay id. for rent and Id. for fire, and a certain sum for cotton, which was 11⁄2d, more than the price in retail shops in Manchester. The women also paid Is. a week for the use of the machine, no matter how slack the work might be. Although they were nominally buying the machines on the hire system, they were never employed regularly or long enough to become the owners. Besides all these deductions he only paid them 7d. a dozen for work for which the witness had been paid 1s. by another firm who had once employed her. 1

Where been an

there has

The same conditions as those affecting the textile industries are found to prevail among the artisans employed in making hardware, cutlery and in the various branches of occupations which are subjected to sharp com-wages, it petition under free trade. All statistics and calculations which are used but slight.

to prove that an advance in wages has taken place in the United Kingdom since the adoption of free trade should be carefully weighed and accepted only with full knowledge of the manner in which the comparisons are made and the occupations to which they relate. The question is one which during the past fifteen years has provoked so much controversy and has given rise to such wide differences of opinion in England among well-informed men, that it is certainly involved in great doubt and is far from being a settled question. It is evident from the foregoing that the advance in wages since 1850 has been very small, even in those occupations

1Royal Commission, Final Report, Part II., p. 483.

advance in

has been

Low wages of the British

workman.

in which it has taken place. It is apparent that the statements which have so frequently been made by the advocates of free trade are grossly exaggerated.

The slight increase which accompanied the period of prosperity from 1869 to 1874, has been reversed by the excessive competition to which the industries of the country have been subjected. The proof of reductions which were made to meet foreign competition, found in the answers of Labor Organizations, Chambers of Commerce, Business Men's Associations, and the evidence of manufacturers and artisans, given before the Royal Commission in 1885, which have been quoted, should certainly be conclusive upon this point. That there have been no improvements in this respect since 1884, is established by Mr. Giffen himself, who stated before the Royal Commission on Labor in 1894 that no material change had taken place since 1872. Speaking of the conditions since 1872, he is reported by the commission to have said: "Subsequently to that date there has been no considerable or marked rise in wages generally, although there has been in many cases a certain steady rise, and certainly in no case or only in a very few exceptional cases, have these wage rates fallen to a point lower than their average level of twenty years ago." This very moderate and conservative estimate from one who has been so criticised by his fellow countrymen for extravagant and inaccurate statements upon this question, is very significant. From this it would appear that the old level of wages established by the evidence before the Royal Commission in 1885 still prevails. It appeared that at that time wages had generally fallen to the level of 1864.

In the brief space which must be devoted to this branch of the subject, it is impossible to enter upon an extended presentation of the earnings of British artisans in the various industries. Enough, however, has been presented of the most authentic character to show that they have advanced but little during the past forty years. The rate of wages given for skilled artisans in the several schedules presented are not as high as those paid to common day laborers in the United States. The earnings of our day laborers generally throughout the country are not less than $1.50 a day, or $9.00 a week, and in many instances are as high as $1.75 per day, while carpenters, masons, bricklayers, painters and plumbers receive from $2.50 to $3.00 per day, and artisans of the same class as those named in the schedules presented, receive more than twice the wages paid in England The preparation of schedules of wages, representing the earnings of operatives in woolen, cotton, linen, silk, lace, and other textile industries is beset with so many difficulties that it is practically impossible to arrive at accurate results. The division of labor is so complete, each operative being fitted to the performance of certain special duties, that such tasks should only be undertaken by a 1 Final Report of Commission on Labor, June, 1894, pp. 9, 10.