VIRGINIA.

Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics for the State of Virginia. 1906. James B. Doherty, Commissioner. 318 pp.

The matter presented in this report relates to the following subjects: Industrial statistics, 240 pages; laws and court decisions relating to labor, 70 pages.

INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS.-A series of tables is shown for 41 industries, giving the number of establishments in each industry reporting for the year, the value of product, capital invested, amount paid for wages, rent, taxes, and insurance, number of employees by sex and occupation, monthly pay of persons employed on salary, daily wages paid in the different occupations, by sex, wage changes, number of days in operation, number of hours of daily work for each establishment, and also totals and averages for each industry. For most of the industries comparisons with 1904 are presented. Statistics are also given for coal mining and for the operation of 7 gas works, 20 waterworks, 37 steam railroads, and 22 electric railways.

The following table shows for the years 1904 and 1905, for each of the 21 industries in the State which reported an output in 1905 exceeding $1,000,000, the number of establishments reporting, capital invested, value of product, and aggregate wages paid:

CAPITAL INVESTED, VALUE OF PRODUCT, AND WAGES PAID IN 21 INDUSTRIES 1904 AND 1905.

Reports from 253 general contractors in the building trades, for the year 1905, showed a volume of business done aggregating $7,143,806, and from 99 firms of plumbers, gas fitters, and tinners a volume of business done aggregating $1,227,867. During the year the coal production of the State amounted to 4,275,271 short tons and gave employment to 5,730 persons.

The report on the 37 steam railroads operating in the State showsfor 1905 the average daily wages paid by each road in each occupation and the average daily wages paid by all roads. A similar report is presented for 22 electric railways operating in the State. The following is a summary of the data presented:

AVERAGE DAILY WAGES OF STEAM RAILROAD AND OF ELECTRIC RAILWAY

Accidents on steam railroads in the State during 1905 resulted in the death of 77 employees, 5 passengers, and 133 other persons, and in the injury of 1,276 employees, 112 passengers, and 209 other persons. The table following shows the number of persons killed and the number injured in railroad accidents in 1905:

EMPLOYEES, PASSENGERS, AND OTHERS KILLED AND INJURED IN STEAM RAILROAD ACCIDENTS, 1905.

Accidents on street railways in the State during 1905 resulted in the death of 4 employees, 2 passengers, and 6 other persons, and in the injury of 16 employees, 143 passengers, and 60 other persons.

Statistics for gas works show ownership, capacity, private and municipal consumption, prices to consumers, number and wages of employees, etc.; and those for waterworks, ownership, cost of works,

capacity, consumption, cost of pumping per million gallons, price to consumers, source of supply, number and wages of employees, etc. There is a brief report on inspection of factories and investigations touching child labor.

LAWS AND COURT DECISIONS RELATING TO LABOR.-Under this heading are reproduced various laws of the State relating to labor, and decisions of courts as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor.

WASHINGTON.

Fifth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor of the State of Washington, 1905-6. Charles F. Hubbard, Commissioner. 355 pp.

Following a general review of labor conditions in the State and the operations of the bureau, the subjects presented in detail are: Recommendations to the legislature, 14 pages; first year of the factory inspection law, 17 pages; violations of labor laws, 23 pages; cost of living, 5 pages; organized labor, 22 pages; statistics of wage-earners, 34 pages; free employment offices, 15 pages; accidents to labor, 10 pages; strikes and lockouts, 30 pages; statistics of manufactures, 51 pages; capital and labor, 29 pages; court decisions and rulings, 17 pages; labor laws, 43 pages.

VIOLATIONS OF LABOR LAWs.-Accounts are given of the infractions of the eight-hour law for labor on public works, the ten-hour law relating to the employment of females, the child-labor law, the bake-shop inspection law, the Sunday closing law for barbers, law prohibiting the payment of wages by time check, etc., together with the action taken by the State labor commissioner on the same.

COST OF LIVING.-Under this caption two tables are presented dealing with the cost of a variety of food commodities which enter into ordinary household consumption. The first table shows the variation in wholesale prices of 68 articles through a period beginning with the year 1900 and ending with the year 1906. The per cent of increase or decrease in the price of each article is shown for each succeeding year and the net variations for the entire period. The second table deals with the retail prices of 55 articles of food for the year 1906.

An examination of the tables reveals a marked tendency toward increase in price of a number of staple articles, although considering the list of commodities as a whole the advance during the period has not been extraordinarily large. Of the 68 articles dealt with in the first table, 23 showed an increase averaging 21 per cent in 1906 over 1900, while in the same period 26 articles showed a decrease averaging 16 per cent. The remaining articles did not vary to any appreciable extent.

ORGANIZED LABOR.-Returns from 45 unions give statistics relative to date of organization, membership; initiation fees and monthly dues; strike, sick, accident, and funeral benefits; wages and hours of labor; rules governing apprenticeship; members idle, etc. As there were in 1904 some 250 duly organized labor unions in the State, with a total membership estimated to approximate 22,500, the above returns, 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 counties 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.