REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF LABOR STATISTICS. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, SIR: I submit herewith my report on the work of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1920. The number of publications issued and the number of pages printed were about the same as in the preceding fiscal year. The data obtained in two extensive surveys, undertaken under the direct authorization of the President and made by the bureau in the preceding fiscal year, have been tabulated and the results published in summary form in various issues of the Monthly Labor Review. These surveys are the Nation-wide cost-of-living study, furnishing at the time a correct basis for wage adjustments, and the industrial survey, a study of actual wages, hours of labor, and employment conditions in the most important industries in the country, distributed throughout 41 States and the District of Columbia. For the purpose of furnishing information for use by the Joint Commission of Congress on Reclassification of Salaries, a comprehensive study was made during the year to determine the cost of maintaining the family of a Government employee and also a single woman and a single man in the clerical service of the Government in Washington, D. C., at a level of health and decency, and quantity and cost budgets (prices secured in August and September, 1919) were compiled and issued. In addition, a minimum quantity budget necessary to maintain a worker's family of five in health and decency was prepared and published. The bureau has continued its efforts toward the standardizing and harmonizing of State labor legislation and administration, and through the active cooperation of the Commissioner of Labor Statistics with the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions and persistent efforts along all lines of labor legislation and administration, much has been accomplished toward this end. The bureau, through one of its agents, has aided some of the State compensation commissions in establishing statistical departments and others in reorganizing their statistical methods. Cooperation with State labor bodies has been maintained through a systematic correspondence. Besides much research work that has been carried on to supply information along labor lines requested by Members of Congress and other interested persons, a great deal of documentary material, as well as publications and periodicals relating to labor accumulated by the bureau, has been made available to all those seeking information on such matters. At the end of the fiscal year 1920 there had been issued in completed form 13 bulletins and 12 numbers of the Monthly Labor Review. The 25 publications issued contained 7,537 pages of printed matter, 44 illustrations, 59 charts, 4 outline maps, and 1 text chart. The number of pages of printed matter issued by the bureau for the fiscal years 1910 to 1920 is given in the following summary state In the series "Wages and hours of labor " six bulletins were issued: No. 252, presenting rates of wages, hours worked, and earnings of employees in the slaughtering and meat-packing industry, and including a description of the departments and occupations in the industry; No. 259, giving the union scales of wages and hours of labor prevailing on May 15, 1918, of 826,638 union members in the principal trades and occupations in 58 important industrial cities in the United States; Nos. 260, 261, and 262, presenting rates of wages (or earnings) per hour, hours of labor per week, and full-time and actual weekly earnings in the year 1918, in the boot and shoe industry, woolen and worsted goods manufacturing, and cotton-goods manufacturing and finishing, respectively; and No. 265, containing a summary report on the wages and hours of labor in 28 industries included in the industrial survey undertaken by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the request of the War Industries Board. One bulletin (No. 264), a report of the proceedings of the fifth annual meeting of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, held at Madison, Wis., September 24-27, 1918, was issued in the series "Workmen's insurance and compensation." In the "Industrial accidents and hygiene" series two bulletins were printed: No. 251 (supplementary to Vol. XIV of the Senate report on the condition of woman and child wage earners in the United States (S. Doc. 301, 62d Cong., 2d sess.), prepared under the direction of the Commissioner of Labor), is a study of preventable death in the cotton manufacturing industry; and No. 256, "Accidents and accident prevention in machine building," is a revision of Bulletin No. 216. In the series "Labor laws of the United States " two bulletins were published: No. 257, which reviews the labor legislation enacted by the legislative bodies of the States and the Federal Government and reproduces such legislation, and No. 258, which reviews the decisions of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1918, and presents in abridged form such decisions of the courts and opinions of the Attorney General of the United States. In Bulletin No. 255, "Joint industrial councils in Great Britain," the only bulletin issued in the series "Labor as affected by the war," the official reports, statements of policy, recommendations, etc., relating to joint industrial councils issued by the British Government, have been brought together, in order that industry may become acquainted with a movement in Great Britain which offers opportunity for labor and capital to compose many of their differences and to get together on questions which vitally affect the interests and well-being of each. One bulletin was issued in the "Miscellaneous" series, No. 254, a revised translation of a pamphlet on international labor legislation and the society of nations, by Dr. Stephan Bauer, director of the International Labor Office, Basel, Switzerland. Listed according to serial numbers, the bulletins issued during the fiscal year are as follows: 251. Preventable death in the cotton manufacturing industry. 252. Wages and hours of labor in the slaughtering and meat-packing industry. 254. International labor legislation and the society of nations. 255. Joint industrial councils in Great Britain. 256. Accidents and accident prevention in machine building. Revision of Bul. No. 216. 257. Labor legislation of 1918. 258. Decisions of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1918. 259. Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 15, 1918. 260. Wages and hours of labor in the boot and shoe industry, 1907 to 1918. 261. Wages and hours of labor in woolen and worsted goods manufacturing, 1918. 262. Wages and hours of labor in cotton-goods manufacturing and finishing, 1918. 264. Proceedings of the fifth annual meeting of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions. 265. Industrial survey in selected industries in the United States, 1919. The constant demand for immediately available information on current retail prices to be used in the settlement of labor problems still continuing, the bureau, as in the preceding fiscal year, published its statistics of current retail prices each month in the Monthly Labor Review instead of in bulletin form. MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW. The Monthly Labor Review, established by the bureau under the name "Monthly Review," has completed its fifth year of publication, and is fulfilling its purpose of an authoritative medium of news relating to labor more fully each year. The broad range of subjects treated and the exact and current statistics published therein have made it much sought after by those desiring reliable news along labor lines. The highest number of copies required for any issue during the fiscal year was 21,000, an increase of 13,000 over the first issue, and at no time during the year was the number less than 19,000. The December issue contained 412 pages, the highest number in any issue. Since then the existing shortage of paper and the high cost of printing supplies and labor having made it necessary to exercise economy in printing and distributing Government literature, the number of pages has been cut down, and commencing with the June, 1920, issue the type has been set solid, so that the same amount of information may be presented in fewer pages. In the same spirit of economy the bureau has decided to put the Monthly Labor Review, beginning with the July, 1920, issue, on a subscription basis to all except labor departments and bureaus, workmen's compensation commissions, and other offices connected with the administration of labor laws, and organizations exchanging publications with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. SUBJECTS TREATED IN THE MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW. In the Monthly Labor Review are published short articles on important subjects along labor lines, summary statements of results of investigations conducted by the bureau, and the latest developments in the labor situation in this country and abroad. Besides statistics of immigration and a summary of the conciliation work of the department, reports of the various State labor bureaus and other agencies dealing with labor, and digests and reviews of important new legislation, court decisions, and administrative orders affecting labor are published promptly. Up-to-date information on the following subjects are given special attention: Wholesale and retail prices and cost of living; wages and hours of labor; minimum wage; women in industry; employment and unemployment; labor turnover; conciliation and arbitration; strikes and lockouts; collective bargaining; employees' representation; cooperation; profit sharing; labor organizations; industrial accidents and hygiene; industrial poisoning and diseases; workmen's compensation and other phases of social insurance; labor legislation; vocational education; rehabilitation of injured men; housing; welfare work; and other subjects relating to the economic condition of working men and women. Many special articles on important and interesting subjects were published in the Monthly Labor Review during the year. Among them were the following articles on the cost of living: "What is the American standard of living?" giving conclusions from an analysis of the data obtained in the 1918-19 country-wide cost-of-living study of the bureau; "A study of food costs in various cities," "A study, of rents in various cities," "Cost of living in the United Statesclothing and miscellaneous expenditures," and "Cost of living in the United States-family incomes"-all treating of different phases. of the cost-of-living study; "Production, cold-storage holdings, and wholesale and retail prices of butter and cheese," tracing the relation between the amount of butter and cheese in cold storage, the amount produced, and the trend in wholesale prices; and "Summary of cost of living, July, 1914, to June, 1919." In this connection an article on "Price fixing by the Government during the war," a résumé of the work of the price-fixing agencies of the Government during the war, is interesting. A number of articles presenting in summary form the results of the industrial survey conducted by the bureau in 1919 give statistics of the wages (or earnings) and hours of labor in the following industries: Iron and steel; coal mining; woodworking; hosiery and underwear; silk; cigar; men's clothing; hotels and restaurants; paper box; |