RECENT REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR STATISTICS.

MASSACHUSETTS.

Thirty-seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor. January, 1907. Chas. F. Pidgin, Chief. xxx, 664 pp.

This report (following a general review of the work of the bureau, etc.) is made up of six parts, as follows: Part I, The apprenticeship system, 85 pages; Part II, Trained and supplemental employees for domestic service, 37 pages; Part III, The incorporation of trade unions, 119 pages; Part IV, Statistics of manufactures, 1904, 1905, 83 pages; Part V, Labor laws of Massachusetts, 60 pages; Part VI, Labor and industrial chronology for the year ending September 30, 1906, 256 pages.

THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM.-This subject is introduced by a brief consideration of the apprenticeship system in general. In order to ascertain public opinion concerning the apprenticeship system, the bureau issued circular letters of inquiry to employers representing some of the largest industrial establishments in the State and to trade union officials connected with the most influential labor organizations. Replies were received from 58 employers and 104 officers of trade unions. There were 26 specified lines of industry and 1 miscellaneous group represented in the replies. From consolidating the inquiries. and the replies to the same the following statement is obtained:

OPINIONS OF EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES RESPECTING APPRENTICESHIP.

A table is also given showing tor 134 named local and international unions the written and unwritten regulations or restrictions in regard to apprentices, embracing the length of the term of apprenticeship as restricted by the unions, the age limitations, and the limitations as regards the number of apprentices that the employer is permitted to employ.

Specimen apprenticeship agreements used by some of the manufacturing establishments of the State and the provision made for the employment of apprentices in the navy-yards of the country are given, together with the opinions of employers and trade-union officials on restriction of apprentices. Supplementing the subject of apprenticeship, descriptions are given of 11 of the trade schools of the State which give instruction in self-supporting trades.

TRAINED AND SUPPLEMENTAL EMPLOYEES FOR DOMESTIC SERVICE.— In January, 1897, the employment committee of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union resolved to make an attempt to get nearer the source of the difficulties recognized as existing in domestic service in this country. For this purpose they organized the Domestic Reform League. The league in 1901-2 sent out 5,000 question blanks, embodying certain inquiries, to the officers of each of the Federated Clubs of Massachusetts, and to all branches of the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ throughout the United States, with a letter asking that the blanks be distributed to the best advantage among such members of the organizations in question as would be most apt to be interested. There were only 260 replies received, which are given in whole or in part in the present report. The report is in two divisions, one relating to trained workers and the other to supplemental workers. One of the most complete sections of the report is that relating to living expenses and wages paid, from which was deduced the total cost per family for families employing 1 servant, 2 servants, and so on up to 8. There were 234 families, employing 425 domestics, represented.

The following statement presents the average weekly per capita cost of each domestic employee to the employer:

AVERAGE WEEKLY PER CAPITA COST OF EMPLOYEES TO EMPLOYERS.

The Domestic Reform League has constantly advised the employment of day workers as a means toward the solution of the perplexing domestic problem. While not in a position to establish a training school for day workers, the league is in position to supply demands for that class of help. The growing demand for day workers is

shown in the numbers supplied by the league during the years 1898 to 1905, and is as follows: 580 in 1898, 700 in 1899, 734 in 1900, 836 in 1901, 931 in 1902, 1,289 in 1903, 1,639 in 1904, and 2,418 in 1905.

The results of the investigation indicate that "one of the most striking facts contributing to the present chaotic conditions in domestic service is apathy. * ** ** When the interest of women is aroused, either by education or through necessity, the domestic problem will be solved.”

THE INCORPORATION OF TRADE UNIONS.-The object of this investigation was to obtain the opinions of employers of labor, officials of trade unions, members of the legal profession, and of public individuals, either as employers of labor or as workingmen, on this question. Letters of inquiry were mailed to 963 persons, to which 301 replies were received-96 from employers of labor, 81 from labor leaders, 71 from public individuals (college professors, editors, etc.), and 53 from members of the legal fraternity.

The following six inquiries were submitted to the persons addressed:

First, would the incorporation of trade unions under general law similar to the general corporation law be inimical to their interests? Second, would the liability of individual members of incorporated trade unions exceed their actual financial interest in such incorporated organizations?

Third, would it be legal (if possible) to have the strike funds placed in the hands of trustees and thus kept from attachment in case of legal process against the organization?

Fourth, if organized labor and organized capital are to settle their disputes by industrial agreement, is it not anomalous to have one party to the contract with its financial responsibility fixed by law, while the other party to such agreement has no financial limitation?

Fifth, if trade unions are incorporated, should not the manufacturers' and dealers' organizations come under the same law? Could not such a law contain provisions as to the enforcement of industrial agreements that would put such controversies as might arise on a legal basis and thus provide for the settlement of such questions as come up between employers and employees within the provision of an equitable law?

Sixth, can you suggest a just and equitable form of corporation for trade unions which, as regards financial responsibility for broken contracts, will be fair to both labor and capital?

The replies received to the inquiries are given in whole or in part, many of them being too long for full reproduction. Among the general conclusions derived from the various replies the following may be cited:

Employers believe that trade unions should incorporate, because the better class of members would be individually active in the management of the union for the purpose of conservative action leading

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That incorporation is desirable both from the and the unions, for, while it might limit to edom of action of the unions in ways which at times the unions might be embarrassed by csi against them, these disadvantages would the greater willingness of their employers to when they feel that the unions are legally

, which is perhaps in a better position to judge atter than any other, for the reason that it may employers and employees, is of the opinion that cal to the interests of trade unions to be incorporated. The profession declares the difficulty with trade unions *** Incorporatior woman responsibility, and actions by responsible unions st present to their irre-ponsible character. world be acceed as a pledge of good faith by responsible employers.

In addiör, de report presents a brief history of the origin, development, and present status of trade unions in England and in America, De orporation laws of the United States, seven States of the Umor, and five foreign countries, the Taff-Vale decision, and a Pogoply of works relating to the origin, development, and present states of rade unions.

Sparishes or MANUFACTURES, 1904, 1905.-This is the twentieth of a sees of anal reports on manufacturing statistics. The staS prented are compiled from the returns of 5.019 establishNouch of which made a report for the two years under considComparative tables are given showing, for the years 1904

e number of establishments controlled by private firms, STPORN LOR, and by industrial combinations, together with the e partners and stockholders interested therein; the capital , MD and the capital devoted to production (for 1905): e of stock and materials used and the selling value of Ader the smallest, greatest, and average number of perend, and aggregate employees, by months; the total wages each year, average yearly earnings per employee, and aww, Wages in selected industries, by sex and age; the

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ch year, and the proportion of business industries are represented.

The principal facts as to ownership are shown in the following table:

FIRMS. CORPORATIONS, AND INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS, AND PARTNERS AND STOCKHOLDERS IN 5,019 IDENTICAL ESTABLISHMENTS, 1904 AND 1905.

From the above table it will be seen that the tendency continues to be toward an increase of number of establishments controlled by corporations and a decrease of establishments under private control. The following table presents statistics separately for 9 principal industries, in aggregate for 70 other industries, and totals for the 79 industries reported on for the years 1904 and 1905: .

STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURES, 1904 AND 1905.

In the above table the 9 specified industries, the aggregate for 70 other industries, and the total for the 79 industries all show an increase in value of materials and products and in wages paid in 1905