TABLE III.-RELATIVE PRICES OF COMMODITIES, 1890 TO 1901-Cont'd. [Average price for 1890-1899-100. For a more complete description of the articles see Table L]

TABLE III.—RELATIVE PRICES OF COMMODITIES, 1890 TO 1901-Conc'd. [Average price for 1890-1899-100. For a more complete description of the articles see Table I.]

RECENT REPORTS OF STATE BUREAUS OF LABOR STATISTICS.

WISCONSIN.

Ninth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics, 1898-99. Halford Erickson, Commissioner. xxx, 1141 pp.

This report consists of seven parts: Laws of Wisconsin relating to labor, 114 pages; synopsis of the reports of the bureau of labor of Wisconsin, 147 pages; child labor, 144 pages; manufacturing statistics for 1897-98, 137 pages; manufacturing statistics for 1898-99, 164 pages; employment and earnings in various industries in 1898, 130 pages; factory inspection, 302 pages.

CHILD LABOR.-This part of the report opens with a general review of child labor in England and in the United States since the beginning of the factory system. Conditions in Wisconsin are then considered in detail in the results of an inquiry into child labor in 1898 and 1899, conducted through the factory inspectors. The inquiry relates to the condition of employment, nativity, age, education, and earnings of children, proportion of children employed to total employees, occupations of parents, earnings of families whose children were employed,

etc.

In these investigations 290 establishments were visited. These employed 44,056 persons, of whom 4,756, or 10.80 per cent, were 16 years of age or under, and of these 456, or 1.04 per cent of the whole number, were under 14 years of age. As 14 years is the minimum age at which children may be legally employed, these 456 children were dismissed when the facts were ascertained. Of the 4,756 children under 16 years of age, 3,021, or 63.52 per cent, were males, and 1,735, or 36.48 per cent, were females. The average wages paid these children were $2.66 per week. Of the 4,756 children considered, 4,747 had attended school at some time, and 9 had not; 4,704 lived with their parents, 46 with relatives, and 6 were boarding. Of 2,495 children questioned, 1,540, or 61.72 per cent, reported that the father was employed, and 955, or 38.28 per cent, reported that he had no employment at the time. Of 2,615 children reporting, 1,324, or 50.63 per cent, stated that their families owned their homes, and 1,291 that they paid rent. Of 4,756 children reporting, 3,634 stated that their fathers were laborers, and 1,122 that they were skilled workmen.

There were 381 families investigated because children belonging to them were either under the legal age limit for such employment or appeared to be very young for the nature of their work. The average size of these families was 7.3 persons, of whom an average of 2.8 were working for wages. In 152 families there were 3 wage-earners; in 68 there were 4; in 18 there were 5, and in 1 there were 6, including the father. The average yearly earnings per family were $593.94, of which the father earned $341.77, or 57.54 per cent, and the other members of the family $252.17, or 42.46 per cent. Of 250 families questioned, the average age of the head of the family was 47.7 years. The heads of the families were employed an average of 225.35 days, and the other members 220.69 days per year.

The investigation also covered returns from employers giving their opinions regarding the effects of the enforcement of the child labor law. (a)

MANUFACTURES.-These statistics are given in two series, one showing returns for identical establishments for 1897 and 1898, and the other for identical establishments in 1898 and 1899. While the returns do not cover all establishments in the State, they include the greater portion of them. For the first series, these statistics are based upon returns from 1,245 establishments for some items, and 1,499 establishments for others. In the second series all the statistics are based upon returns from 992 establishments. The following tables give a summary of the statistics for the two series:

STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURES, 1897 AND 1898.

[The figures showing number of private firms, corporations, partners, stockholders, capital invested, cost of stock used, and value of goods made are based upon returns from 1,245 establishments; the other figures are based upon returns from 1,499 establishments.]

The figures given in the first table, for 1897 and 1898, show an increase in all the items except the number of private firms and the number of partners, which show a decrease. The figures in the second table, for 1898 and 1899, show an increase in all the items except the number of private firms.

EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS.-In this part of the report statistics are given showing the number of employees and their earnings in the manufacturing, mercantile, mining, quarrying, and logging industries, skilled trades, and coal and wood handling. Following is a summary of the statistics given:

WEEKLY EARNINGS IN SPECIFIED INDUSTRIES.