494 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



included. It is suggestive, however; and corroborated as it is by the 

 records of other investigations, it must go almost unchallenged. 



The report on the wages in the woolen, worsted and cotton mills of 

 Lawrence, Mass.,^^ (November, 1911) is corroborative, for one town, 

 of the general situation as suggested by the Tariff Board's general 

 report. Half of the men received a wage rate of less than $500 ; seven 

 eighths, of less than $600. More than four fifths of the women fell in 

 the group under $500, and 94 per cent, received less than $600. The 

 schedule grouped all earnings above $600 in one class. These figures 

 represent the actual earnings of males and females eighteen years of 

 age and over during one month in 1911. 



Similar wages were compiled for the textile mills (largely hosiery 

 mills) of Little Falls, N. Y.^^ These figures represent actual earnings 

 during parts of September, 1912. Among the total of males employed, 

 three fifths earned at the rate of less than $500, while nine tenths 

 earned at the rate of less than $750 per year. Of the 2,736 women, 

 99.8 per cent, earned at the rate of less than $750 per year, while three 

 quarters fell below $500. This period under investigation is described 

 by the report as one of normal working conditions. 



The inferences from these figures for special towns are corroborated, 

 in large measure, by the special publication of the United States De- 

 partment of Labor, dealing mth the textile industry. These figures, 

 while incomplete and open to question because of the uncertainty as to 

 the manner in which the factories and employments under considera- 

 tion were selected, are nevertheless suggestive of the general situation. 

 In the cotton industry, three fifths of the males, and four fifths of the 

 females received wage rates of $500 per year; while 97 per cent, of the 

 males, and 99 per cent, of the females had wage rates of less than $750 

 per year.^® The wage rates in the woolen industry are considerably 

 higher, though at about the same level as that for the special reports. 

 The wage rates reported for the textile industries in Massachusetts and 

 New Jersey amply confirm the results derived in these special investi- 

 gations. 



The textile industries show an unusually low scale. Practically 

 none of the men receive more than $1,000 ; with the exception of 

 woolen finishers, only a tenth receive more than $750. Among the 

 women the rates are even lower. For them a wage over $750 is not 



37 Eeport on the Strike of Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass., Charles P. 

 Neill, Senate Document 870, 62d Congress, 2d Session, Washington, Government 

 Printing Office, 1912. 



38 "The Little Falls Textile Dispute," New York State Department of 

 Labor, Advance Eeport of the Bulletin for March, 1913, Albany, 1913, pp. 10-11. 



39 ' ' Wages and Hours of Labor in the Cotton, Woolen and Silk Industries, ' ' 

 United States Department of Labor, Bulletin 128, Washington, Government 

 Printing Office, 1913, pp. 30-34. 



