it should not be possible for a laborer to earn an amount large enough to discourage him from seeking employment in the regular business establishments. For this reason maximum wage rates were usually established and generally at an amount somewhat less than the market rates for casual or unskilled labor. In Frankfort-on-theMain, for instance, the rate per hour for a man without dependents was 20 pfennigs (5 cents), while for those with dependents it was 25 pfennigs (6 cents). The usual practice was to pay time rates for practically all the work except stone breaking, for which piece rates were paid.

In addition to the compensation just mentioned some of the cities paid the whole cost of insurance under the national workmen's insurance system, provided a hot midday meal or hot coffee, loaned tools and implements, etc.

HOURS OF LABOR.-In the cities investigated the daily working time, not including the meal or rest periods, averaged eight and one-half hours. As most of the work was done out of doors the length of the working day was largely dependent upon the period of daylight.

COMPARATIVE COST OF RELIEF WORK.-Of the 44 cities which made replies regarding the cost of work when done under the usual conditions, as compared with the cost of the same work when done to provide means of earning wages for the unemployed, by far the greater number replied that the cost was higher in the second case. For instance, it is estimated in the report that the increased cost of the class of work termed "earthwork" was 29 per cent, while for stone breaking the increase was 34 per cent. Two facts-first, that those employed on the work are usually without experience, and second, that the season of the year when the work is done is the least favorable for such work-readily account for most of the increased cost.

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CONCLUSION. As far as the cities investigated are concerned the conclusion is drawn that with the possible exception of a few cities, the use of relief or emergency work as a means of alleviating distress caused by unemployment was still in an experimental stage. The advantage of postponing great municipal improvements until times of industrial depression in order to provide employment is emphasized, and the benefit of planning to have as much as possible of the ordinary municipal work done at times when a high rate of unemployment prevails is also pointed out. Such a policy consistently carried out would ordinarily obviate the necessity of establishing relief work and would be less likely to impose an extra burden on the taxpayers.

GREAT BRITAIN.

Third Abstract of Foreign Labor Statistics. 1906. xxxiv, 343 pp. (Published by the Labor Department of the British Board of Trade.)

This abstract is the third of a series intended to be supplementary to the Statistical Abstract for the Principal and Other Foreign Countries, and also to the Annual Abstract of Labor Statistics of the United Kingdom.

The subjects dealt with are: Wages and hours of labor; trade unions; trade disputes; conciliation and arbitration; workmen's insurance, and cooperation. The latest available reports have been utilized in the preparation of the tables given, and, as far as practicable, the tables appearing in former abstracts, which related to a series of years, have been reviewed and brought to date. The source from which the abstract has been compiled is usually stated in connection with the tables presented. Altogether statistics on one or more of the subjects dealt with are given for twelve principal European countries, the United States, and Japan. France and Germany are the only countries for which statistics are given on each of the six subjects.

A large number of new tables relating to the eleven countries embraced in previous reports and a new section relative to hours of labor have been added, and several sections have been enlarged by the addition of tables relating to countries not embraced in the previous numbers. The section devoted to cooperation has been considerably extended.

Comparative tables, especially those relating to the building trades, blacksmiths, pattern makers, etc., are shown, giving the rates of wages per hour and week and hours per day and week in the different countries. The rates of wages are reported in all the tables in English money, and the rates of conversion used are given in Appendix I. As far as possible the figures have been arranged on lines adopted in the reports relating to labor statistics of the United Kingdom.

Appendix II gives a list of tables which appeared in the first and second abstracts, but which have been superseded in this volume by later reports.

Fifth Report of Proceedings under the Conciliation (Trade Disputes) Act, 1896. (Published by the British Board of Trade.) 1905.

81 pp.

This is a report of the proceedings under the Conciliation Act, 1896, and covers a period of two years, from July 1, 1903, to June 30, 1905. During the period 27 cases were presented for settlement. In 23 of these cases the application for arbitration or conciliation was made by both parties to the dispute, in 2 by workmen, in 1 by an employer,

and in 1 by arbitrators who had failed to agree. Of the disputes leading to these applications, 12 were in the building trades, 7 in the metal, engineering, and shipbuilding trades, and 8 in various other groups of trades. There were 23 cases settled under the act, 1 was pending at the date of the report, on 1 the action taken did not directly lead to a settlement, and on 2 applications action was refused. The total number of applications for arbitration or conciliation reported since the act went into operation (August 18, 1896) was 181. Of this number 68 were in the building trades, 38 in the metal, engineering, and shipbuilding trades, 23 in the mining and quarrying trades, 16 in transport trades, 8 in textile trades, 8 in clothing trades, and 20 in various other trades. Of the 181 applications made 122 were settled under the act, 14 cases were settled by the parties in dispute while the negotiations by the board were pending, in 44 cases action was either declined by the board of trade or no direct settlement resulted from their intervention. Settlement was effected in 85 cases by arbitration, and in 37 by conciliation, in 23 of which the settlement was arranged by officials of the department.

During the period covered by the fifth report 20 cases were settled by arbitration and 3 by conciliation. In 11 cases work was stopped, and in 16 there was no cessation of work. As regards the number of persons affected, the dispute in the tin-plate industry was the most important. On account of this dispute 41 works, comprising about 250 mills, were closed on August 29, 1903, and 14,000 employees were thrown out of work; an award was made January 27, 1904. Other important disputes settled were: That of the cigar makers, mainly in London, in which 800 persons stopped work for over two months; that of the quarrymen in Leicestershire, involving 400 employees and a cessation of work for seven weeks; that of the plasterers at Bradford, affecting 200 men, where work ceased on January 1, 1903, and where a settlement was effected in November of the same year, and the dispute at Sunderland, where 350 house joiners ceased work for more than three months.

It is known that 48 agreements between employers and employees contain a clause intended to prevent deadlocks, providing that “in the event of the board or other conciliatory agency failing to effect a settlement, application shall be made to the Board of Trade for the appointment of an arbitrator or conciliator."

Appendixes give tabular summary and detailed statement of each case presented to the board during the period covered by this report; text of awards and agreements made under the Conciliation Act during the same period; rules of conciliation boards and other agreements containing clauses which provide for reference of disputes to the Board of Trade, failing their settlements by other agencies, and a reproduction of the text of the Conciliation Act, 1896.

Directory of Industrial Associations in the United Kingdom in 1905. 210 pp. (Published by the Labor Department of the British Board of Trade.)

This is the fourth report of its kind issued by the labor and statistical department. It contains a list of employers' associations, trade unions, councils, federations, and other organizations of work people; conciliation and arbitration boards; cooperative, distributive, productive, and agricultural societies; friendly societies, and cooperative banks for the Kingdom.

The list embraces 984 employers' associations, 1,147 trade unions, 232 trade councils, 93 federations of trade unions, 6 federations of trade councils, 3 parliamentary committees of trade union congresses, 169 conciliation and arbitration boards, 3 free labor associations, 2,671 workmen's cooperative societies, and 347 of the more important friendly societies. The names and addresses of the secretaries of all employers' associations, trade unions, and other labor organizations, so far as known, and of friendly societies are given, as are also the addresses of distributive, productive, and cooperative societies, and of cooperative banks and centralized societies.

Health of Cornish Miners. Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. 1904. 111 pp.

This volume presents the results of an investigation, made in the years 1902 and 1903, into the conditions of health and employment among the miners in Cornwall. The mines there are entirely metalliferous, by far the most important mineral now extracted being tin ore. The present workings are mostly at a depth of between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. Almost no artificial ventilation is in use, so-called natural means being generally relied upon. The use of compressed air in the operation of rock drills is estimated to have an appreciable advantageous effect on the conditions of the air so far as the presence of carbon dioxide is concerned, and in regard to the presence of this gas the atmospheric conditions were found to compare favorably with those in iron and coal mines, where much more attention is paid to ventilation. The investigation showed, however, that the death rate among Cornish miners was considerably greater than among coal and iron miners; and, further, that whereas up to 1890-1892 the excess had been marked only among miners above the age of about 40 years, there was a great increase noted in 1900-1902 between the ages of 25 and 50.

Of the 6,059 work people returned as mine employees in Cornwall in 1901, 4,102 are employed in the Redruth district. Special inquiries were made relative to these in the course of this investigation, and the

following table summarizes the data obtained as to the deaths occurring during the three-year period 1900-1902:

ANNUAL DEATH RATE PER 1,000 MINERS AND MINE LABORERS IN REDRUTH DISTRICT, CORNWALL, 1900-1902.

For purposes of comparison the following table is added, showing the annual death rate per 1,000 male work people in England and Wales for the three-year period 1890–1892.

ANNUAL DEATH RATE PER 1,000 EMPLOYED MALES IN ENGLAND AND WALES, 1890

A comparison of the above tables shows the excessive death rate among the Cornish miners. The following table shows the number of deaths of miners in the Redruth district, 1900-1902; those miners who had at any time worked machine drills and those who had not being separately classified:

DEATHS OF MINERS WHO HAD WORKED MACHINE DRILLS, AND OF OTHER UNDERGROUND MINERS, IN REDRUTH DISTRICT, CORNWALL, 1900-1902.

The number of men engaged in operating machine drills being comparatively small, it is evident from these figures that the mortality due to lung diseases among "miners who had worked machine drills" is enormously greater than among the "other miners."

Phthisis, or "miners' disease," was the certified cause of death of 120 of the machine-drill men, other diseases of the respiratory organs being responsible for the death of 13. The average age of the 142 machine-drill men at death was 37.2 years. Besides the 171 miners