THE

Wages in the Territory of the Saar.'

HE coal mines of the territory of the Saar employed during 1921 an average of 72,400 miners, or about 40 per cent of the total labor population of approximately 180,000 in this region. Unemployment has been at a minimum in this section, the highest number of unemployed in all industries from February, 1920, to December, 1921, being 3,365 during the month of August, 1921. The average daily output per underground worker increased from 738 kilograms (1,627 pounds) in February, 1920, the period at which the governmental commission took control, to 793 kilograms (1,748 pounds) in December, 1921.

The average daily wages in the mines increased from 5.37 franes ($1.04, par) in February, 1920, to 21.40 francs ($4.13, par) in July, 1920. The wages were maintained at that figure with slight changes up to April, 1921, when they were reduced to 18.09 francs ($3.49, par). A further reduction of about 3 francs (57.9 cents, par) was put into effect December 1, 1921. The following table shows the average rate of wages (in francs) of underground workers, pick miners, and surface workers at different periods from February, 1920, to April, 1921.

AVERAGE DAILY WAGES IN MINES OF THE SAAR FOR DIFFERENT CLASSES OF WORKERS, FEBRUARY, 1920, TO APRIL, 1921.

In the iron and steel industry of the Saar only 15 of the 30 blast furnaces were in operation in February, 1920, while in November, 1921, the number had increased to 20. Iron production increased from 46,000 tons in February, 1920, to 95,000 tons in October, 1921, nearly reaching the average monthly production of 1913, which was 100,000 tons. The manufacture of steel ingots increased from 54,000 tons in February, 1920, to 87,000 tons in November, 1921, while the personnel in iron and steel mills increased during the same period from 26,000 to 29,000.

The wages of these workers were paid in marks until November 30, 1920, and after that time in francs. The average monthly wages of skilled and unskilled workers, married and having three children, are given in the following table:

1 Bulletin du Ministère du Travail, Paris, January-February-March, 1922, pp. 102–105.

AVERAGE MONTHLY WAGES OF SKILLED AND UNSKILLED IRON AND STEEL WORKERS, FEBRUARY, 1920, TO NOVEMBER, 1921.

1 Includes family allowances for workers with 3 children.

The percentage of increase of wages, based on the value of the franc in marks, from February, 1920, to November, 1921, was 1,059 for unskilled and 1,017 for skilled workers.

According to statistics of the cost of living, the report states the wages of miners and iron and steel workers have more than kept pace with living costs, particularly for men with families who have received the family allowances.

M

Eight-Hour Day in the French Merchant Marine.

UCH dissatisfaction has been felt in French shipping circles for more than a year because the application of the eight-hour law to the French merchant marine has placed it in an unfavorable position as regards other countries which are not subject to such limitation of the hours of seamen. La République Française of May 18, 1922, announces the appointment of a joint commission by the undersecretary of state to the merchant service to study the question of modifications to the decree of February 24, 1920, for the application of the eight-hour law in the merchant marine. This commission is composed of representatives of shipowners, ship officers, and the subordinate personnel.

The general secretary of the National Federation of Maritime Unions demanded of the shipping interests the suspension of all modifications of the regulations now in force until the meeting in July of the International Federation of Seamen which will decide on the internationalization of the eight-hour law and upon the means by which it can be effected. The representative of the shipping interests urged, on the other hand, that the present situation required that immediate measures should be taken to improve conditions, although it was conceded that the principle of the eight-hour law should be preserved.

In connection with the question of the hours of maritime workers it is of interest to note a recent statement of the French minister of labor before the labor commission of the Chamber of Deputies

1 Factory, Chicago, June, 1922, p. 684.

that investigation of the workings of the law in France and in other countries had convinced him that nothing would justify a revision. of the law of April 23, 1919. He considered that the law provided sufficiently for the exigencies of production; the decrees by which it had been made applicable to the different industries had been promulgated only after careful study and usually with full agreement on the part of both employers' and employees' organizations, and in only two industries had there been demands for revision of the law.

TH

Wages of Farm Labor in England and Wales.

By MRS. V. B. TURNER.

HE great body of official and unofficial publications having to do with agricultural subjects serves to emphasize the fact that agriculture is a basic, if not the basic, industry. Stress has, however, in most instances, been placed upon the scientific and economic phases of cultivation and production. Studies dealing specifically with agricultural labor are, on the whole, conspicuously few, and such reports as have been made consistently point out their own limitations and the possible inconclusiveness, for various reasons, of the data presented. The isolation of the individual farmer or group of farm workers makes difficult the consideration of a representative number of workers. Surveys of this sort are therefore often necessarily confined to particular classes of such employees or to a certain number of farms. The character of the farming and the economic weakness of farm labor, as well as national economic and political conditions, also affect the results of any investigation of agricultural labor conditions. Multiplicity in the division of labor necessary in some farming areas and the absence of more or less. minute classification in others, with a consequent overlapping of duties, result in such endless variations in wages that averages must be used, which are often somewhat misleading as to actual wage conditions in many of the districts.

For all these reasons and others the review of agricultural wages in England and Wales given in this article is intended rather to throw light upon present and pre-war wage conditions of farm hands than to constitute a basis for general conclusions regarding them.

Description of Occupations or Classes.

England.

JO HARD or fast classification of the English farm workers can be made. Divisions of duties prevailing in farm work in some localities are quite different from those in others, the locality, type, and size of the farm causing a merging of duties or the opposite, as the case may be. On the small farms, particularly the small grass farms, there is a tendency for the laborer to be an "all-round" man, who may be assigned to practically any job, while the work of the large farm requires more clearly defined groups of workers. Generally speaking, the English farm laborers fall into the following classes, which in 1918 included the number of persons,

male and female, quoted: Bailiffs and foremen, 22,166; shepherds, 20,844; cattlemen, 74,028; horsemen, 128,122; laborers not designated, 433,343; making a total of 678,503. At the same time there were 228,788 farmers and graziers, the relation of the farm workers to the latter class thus being in the ratio of nearly three to one.

In January, 1920, the number of permanent and casual farm workers irrespective of occupation was: 496,000 men, 15,500 girls, 52,500 women, 95,000 boys, or a total of 659,000. In some counties it is customary to employ casual labor; in others this practice is not followed. War demands greatly affected the usual classification of labor on the farms, substitution of old men, women, and boys for the young men called into the army tending to increase the number of "all-round workers."

Bailiff's and foremen supervise manual operations for the farmer or landowner. On the large sheep farms the shepherd, who has entire care of the sheep, is the chief man on the farm, but in many places he ranks equally with the horsemen and the cowmen, the gradation depending, of course, on the type of farm. Horsemen include all men in charge of horses. They are classified as horsemen, horsekeepers, wagoners, carters, teamsmen, and hands, terms impossible of exact differentiation but covering men of widely different standing, wages, and degrees of responsibility. The large arable farms where much team work is required usually have a head horseman, or wagoner with a second horseman and carters. The head horseman is hired by the year, lives on the farm, and has general supervision of the horses. The assistants, in most instances single men between 15 and 30 years of age, work under his direction, and as a rule board or lodge with his family. Horsemen, as a class, were greatly affected by the war, as they were freely called upon for the Army, their places being taken by boys and in some cases at least by women.

Men having charge of cattle include cowmen, milkers, stockmen, yardmen, garthmen, and herdsmen, whose particular duties and relative standing are also precisely determined according to the type and scale of the farming followed. Head cowmen and herdsmen must always be experienced men and on large cattle or dairy farms have the more highly paid positions. On farms where the care of the cattle does not require the continuous labor of these men, they employ their spare time with other farm work. The regular ordinary farm laborers are by no means an unimportant factor in English agricultural work, especially on the arable farms, where they do ditching, draining, harvesting, haymaking, hedging, potato digging, thinning, thatching, and weeding. Laborers are also often plowmen, but are not responsible for the horses. The more experienced men are assigned to draining, hedging, plowing, thatching, and the management of machinery. For this more skilled work higher wages are paid and the men are more permanent.

A special class of laborers employed in market gardens and osier beds is more highly paid than the ordinary farm laborer. Casual labor is a term covering a large number of men variously known as catchmen, datal men, daymen, jobbers, and odd men, employed for

I Great Britain. Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Wages and conditions of employment in agriculture. Vol. I. General report. London, 1919, p. 2. [Cmd. 24.)

* Estimated number. Great Britain. Agricultural Wages Board. Wages Board Gazette. London, Apr. 1, 1920, p. 152.

seasonal work such as harvesting, fruit and hop picking, thrashing, hoeing, weeding, and the like. It includes the class of Irish immigrants who go to England for part of the year, often migrating from one county to another until all possible seasonal work is finished, and immigrants from industrial areas, as well as tramps and gypsies. Another type of labor is the small holder who, when not busy on his own holding, works as an extra hand on a neighboring farm. Sometimes his labor is in the nature of an exchange, the farmer furnishing team work for his holding which he repays by day labor. In a few counties small holders known as lookers" take charge of cattle and sheep for large farmers.

Wales.

Farming conditions in Wales lead to a less detailed classification of labor than is found in England. The land suitable for arable farming is limited in extent. Consequently, a large number of the holdings are small, 44,351 out of a total 64,330 containing from 1 to 50 acres. Family farming is an outstanding characteristic of Welsh rural economy, about 60.2 per cent of all persons engaged in agriculture consisting of farmers and their relatives, as compared with 31.2 per cent for England and Wales combined. The "living-in" system prevails. The absence of social barriers between master and man is marked. Neither the character of the farming nor the size of the farm, therefore, demands a large supply of labor. Necessary extra help ordinarily consists of one farm boy or young man who lives with the family. On the larger farms the following classes appear: (1) Farm servants or laborers; (2) the "bound tenant," who rents a cottage from his employer and a small holding attached to his employer's farm, the conditions of whose tenancy are that he shall remain in his employer's service, that the farmer shall assist the tenant with his team at plowing and harvest, and that the tenant's family shall work for the farmer during his harvest; (3) "freehanded laborers," who work for whomever they will and change their system of hiring out as occasion demands; and (4) a special class of hill shepherds who work on several different wage bases. According to the census of 1911, the number of horsemen, shepherds, cattlemen, and other laborers was 39,766.

A noticeable feature of farm labor in Wales is the extensive employment of boys and young men, a practice which is on the increase. The principal reasons given for the farmers' apparent preference to young inexperienced men rather than to the older more experienced laborers are:

(1) Owing to the poverty of the soil and the backwardness of agriculture, farmers are unable to pay wages sufficient to secure competent and experienced men, and the latter have to migrate to areas where their skill and strength can command a better reward. Many of them forsake agriculture for mining and other industrial occupations.

(2) In some districts, owing to the scarcity of suitable cottage accommodation, young men are compelled to migrate to the works on marriage.

(3) Many farmers also prefer boys and young men because they live at the farms and are at their beck and call day and night, if required, whereas the hours of married laborers are shorter and more clearly defined. The passing of the corn production

* Great Britain. Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Wages and conditions of employment in agricul Vol. I. General report. London, 1919, p. 182. [Cmd. 24.]

ture.