492 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



stores, wage rates of more than $500 per year ($10 per week) are out 

 of the question. The great bulk of them are paid from $250 to $500. 



VII. The Incomes of Wage-Earners in Certain Manufacturing 



Industries 



"Whatever their failure to provide adequate statistics covering wages 

 in other gainful occupations, state and federal authorities have vied 

 with one another in their efforts to prepare wage statistics for the 

 manufacturing industries. The figures are as yet far from complete; 

 there are still many loopholes through which unjustifiable conclusions 

 may slip unaware; yet, all things considered, the wage figures for the 

 manufacturing industries are far superior to those for other occupa- 

 tions. They point the way, showing what may be done in the compila- 

 tion of wage data. 



Convenience leads to a grouping of the figures for manufacturing 

 industries into three classes. Those for special industries, such as steel, 

 textiles, etc. ; and those for certain states which publish the best wage 

 statistics; and those published by the Census. 



The past three years have added materially to the statistics for 

 special industries. The public demand for facts which arose out of 

 labor disturbances, and the activity of certain public commissions vested 

 with inquisitorial power, have led to the collection of considerable wage 

 data of the greatest value. These data are peculiarly important because 

 in many cases the investigation lias been made from the pay rolls of 

 the company or industry in question. In certain cases these pay-roll 

 data have been extensively compared with pay envelopes. The purpose 

 of this section will be served by a review of only the most important of 

 the recent wage investigations. 



The most complete, and in all ways the most satisfactory, of the 

 recent studies is that of the iron and steel industry, appearing in four 

 volumes.^^ Each occupation in the steel industry was carefully studied. 

 The investigation included plants in every part of the country, and was 

 minute and painstaking in the last degree. In so far as the wage figures 

 are important at this point, they may be briefy summarized as follows : 

 The investigation covered 172,706 employees; their wage rates per year 

 (computed from the per hour rates given for May, 1910) were, under 

 $500, 8 per cent. ; under $750, 60 per cent. ; under $1,000, 85 per cent. ; 

 and under $1,500, 97 per cent.^^ These rates are somewhat higher than 

 the rates previously derived for Bethlehem,^* where the wage rates for 



32 Eeport on Conditions of Employment in the Iron and Steel Industry in 

 the United States in four volumes, 62d Congress, 1st Session, Senate Document 

 110, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1912. 



33 Summary of Wages and Hours of Labor in the Iron and Steel Industry, 

 United States Department of Labor, Senate Document 301, 62d Congress, 2d 

 Session, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1912. 



84 "Wages in the United States," op. cit., pp. 108-112. 



