AVERAGE EARNINGS PER WEEK, INCLUDING THE VALUE OF ALL ALLOWANCES IN KIND, OF AGRICULTURAL LABORERS IN 1898 AND 1902.

[The averages here shown relate to able-bodied male adults. They do not include the earnings of stewards, bailiffs, foremen, or casual laborers. All computations are based on the census returns for 1901.]

The above table shows that there was an increase in earnings in 1902, as compared with 1898, in all four countries of the United Kingdom. The greatest increase was in Scotland, where there was a rise of 6.88 per cent in the weekly earnings of ordinary farm laborers. The earnings in 1902 in each of the four countries were highest near the large manufacturing and mining centers.

Comparative wage statistics for a series of years are also given in the report. The longest period covered is from 1850 to 1903, the report showing for each year the average weekly cash wages paid ordinary laborers on 69 farms in England and Wales, exclusive of extra payments for piecework, harvest work, overtime, etc., and also of the value of allowances in kind. The wages as thus reported increased from 9s. 34d. ($2.26) per week in 1850 to 14s. 7d. ($3.55) per week in 1903, or 57 per cent during fifty-four years. The increase occurred chiefly from 1850 to 1874, after which wage rates remained almost stationary until 1896, when they resumed an upward tendency, which continued for the rest of the period. In Ireland the average cash wages reported for 10 farms increased from 5s. 101⁄2d. ($1.43) per week in 1850 to 10s. 8d. ($2.60) per week in 1903, or 81.6 per cent.

Information as to the weekly quantity and value of food consumed by farm laborers and their families is presented for each of the countries of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This information is based on returns furnished by landowners, farmers, clergymen, local government officials, and other persons who made investigations in the districts in which they reside. The particulars given were compiled after careful inquiry among a large number of farm laborers and their wives, and they represent the ordinary expenditure for food by farm laborers in the districts to which the returns relate.

According to the figures shown in the report, the average value of the food consumed weekly by a farm laborer, his wife, and four children is 13s. 64d. ($3.30) in England, 15s. 24d. ($3.70) in Scotland,

show the average earnings of ordinary laborers in the various counties of the United Kingdom in 1902, the rates of weekly cash wages paid in different parts of England in 1903, comparative wage data for certain farms in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland for a series of years, and the number and classification of agricultural laborers in each country as shown by the census of 1901. Tables are also appended which show, for each country, the quantity and value of food consumed per week by representative farm laborers' families during certain years. In addition, the report contains a map of the United Kingdom showing the average weekly earnings of agricultural laborers in 1902 by counties, and charts depicting fluctuations in wages between 1850 and 1903.

The usual term of engagement of farm servants is by the year or half year in Scotland, Wales, the north of England, and the north of Ireland. In other parts of England and Ireland the agricultural laborers are, as a rule, engaged by the week, although the men in charge of animals are frequently engaged for longer periods. In the northern counties of England and in Wales the yearly and half-yearly engagements are mainly confined to unmarried men, the married men being generally engaged by the week. The system of hiring farm laborers at fairs still exists in Scotland, the north of England, the north of Ireland, and in a few districts of Wales, but it is declining to some extent. In other parts of the United Kingdom this custom has almost ceased.

An examination of the report shows that the method of remuneration greatly varies in different parts of the United Kingdom, although time payments in cash form the main part of the earnings of agricultural laborers. In districts where the system of engagements for long terms prevails, allowances in kind, such as board and lodging for single men and free cottages, potatoes, fuel, etc., for married men, are frequent, while extra cash payments for piecework, harvest work, overtime, etc., are few. On the other hand, in the eastern and southern counties of England, where the engagements are shorter and the time wages lower, more piecework is done and extra payments in cash at hay and grain harvest and for overtime are the rule, while men in charge of animals often receive free cottages, journey money, and other allowances.

In comparing the rates of wages of agricultural laborers in different parts of the United Kingdom it is necessary, therefore, to take account of all actual earnings, including the extra amounts received in cash. from various sources, as well as the value of all allowances in kind. The following table shows the average earnings per week, including the value of allowances in kind, of agricultural laborers in each division of the United Kingdom in 1898 and 1902:

AVERAGE EARNINGS PER WEEK, INCLUDING THE VALUE OF ALL ALLOWANCES IN KIND, OF AGRICULTURAL LABORERS IN 1898 AND 1902.

[The averages here shown relate to able-bodied male adults. They do not include the earnings of stewards, bailiffs, foremen, or casual laborers. All computations are based on the census returns for 1901.]

The above table shows that there was an increase in earnings in 1902, as compared with 1898, in all four countries of the United Kingdom. The greatest increase was in Scotland, where there was a rise of 6.88 per cent in the weekly earnings of ordinary farm laborers. The earnings in 1902 in each of the four countries were highest near the large manufacturing and mining centers.

Comparative wage statistics for a series of years are also given in the report. The longest period covered is from 1850 to 1903, the report showing for each year the average weekly cash wages paid ordinary laborers on 69 farms in England and Wales, exclusive of extra payments for piecework, harvest work, overtime, etc., and also of the value of allowances in kind. The wages as thus reported increased from 9s. 34d. ($2.26) per week in 1850 to 14s. 7d. ($3.55) per week in 1903, or 57 per cent during fifty-four years. The increase occurred chiefly from 1850 to 1874, after which wage rates remained almost stationary until 1896, when they resumed an upward tendency, which continued for the rest of the period. In Ireland the average cash wages reported for 10 farms increased from 5s. 10дd. ($1.43) per week in 1850 to 10s. 8d. ($2.60) per week in 1903, or 81.6 per cent.

Information as to the weekly quantity and value of food consumed by farm laborers and their families is presented for each of the countries of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This information is based on returns furnished by landowners, farmers, clergymen, local government officials, and other persons who made investigations in the districts in which they reside. The particulars given were compiled after careful inquiry among a large number of farm laborers and their wives, and they represent the ordinary expenditure for food by farm laborers in the districts to which the returns relate.

According to the figures shown in the report, the average value of the food consumed weekly by a farm laborer, his wife, and four children is 13s. 64d. ($3.30) in England, 15s. 24d. ($3.70) in Scotland,

These forces sent the actual

* Estel Deraint als produced at home or Duet parents, the values in

mamei fam seres cong revere their cottages free of rent as part payment of the wigs Entligers there usually value the rectas i

images at between 43 $14.50 and £5 ($24.33)

DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR.

[Except in cases of special interest, the decisions here presented are restricted to those rendered by the Federal courts and the higher courts of the States and Territories. Only material portions of such decisions are reproduced, introductory and explanatory matter being given in the words of the editor. Decisions under statutory law are indexed under the proper headings in the cumulative index, page 403 et seq.]

DECISIONS UNDER STATUTORY LAW.

EIGHT-HOUR LAW-EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY-CONSTITUTIONALITY OF STATUTE.-Penn Bridge Company v. United States, Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, 35 Washington Law Reporter, page 287.-The Penn Bridge Company was convicted in the police court of the District of Columbia of a violation of the law forbidding the employment of laborers on public works in the District for more than eight hours in any one day, and appealed. The law makes exceptions in cases of extraordinary emergency, and the company plead that under this they were justified in working their men more than eight hours, even if the law was constitutional, which they denied. The court of appeals sustained the judgment of the police court, upholding the law and construing the words "extraordinary emergency" so as to exclude the conditions described from their operation. From the opinion of the court, as delivered by Judge McComas, the following is quoted:

In Atkin v. Kansas, 191 U. S., 207 [Bulletin No. 50, p. 177], where a similar statute of the State of Kansas was upheld, the Supreme Court has in effect decided that the District statute we here consider is constitutional. The service and employment of Shillingberg and his coworkers [carpenters employed by the company] by the plaintiff in error, a contractor with the District of Columbia, upon this public work of the District of Columbia, was by this statute limited and restricted to eight hours in any one calendar day, and it was unlawful for this contractor to require or permit Shillingberg to work more than eight hours in any one calendar day, except in case of extraordinary emergency, and if the plaintiff in error violated this provision, for each and every such offense he became liable to be punished by a fine or by imprisonment or both as provided by this statute. The government of the District of Columbia is simply an agency of the United States for conducting the affairs of its government in the Federal district and this work on the Piney Branch Creek bridge was of a public and not of a private character. As the Supreme Court has said, in effect, there is no possible ground to dispute the power of