MAINE. 



509 



Labor Statistics In May, 1887, Samuel W. 

 Matthews was appointed labor commissioner, 

 and his tirst report was not issued until 1888. 

 He finds the average rates of wages derived in 

 twenty Maine towns: Agricultural laborers. 

 a month, $18.37 and board ; in hayin_ 

 son, with board, 1.75 a day; barbers. $1.50; 

 blacksmiths, $1.75 ; boiler-makers, $'2. 15 : cabi- 

 net-makers, $1.75: carpenters (house), Si. 75; 

 carriage-makers, $1.50; coopers. $150: en- 

 gineers (stationary), $1.75 ; engineers (loco- 

 motive), $2.43: harness-makers, $1.60; labor- 

 ers (common), $1.40; masons, $2.75 ; machin- 

 ists. $2.50; millers, $1.65; painters (house), 

 $2.00 ; plumbers, $3.50 ; printers (male), $1.62 ; 

 printers (female), $1.10; shoemakers, $1.62; 

 teamsters. $1.60; teachers, $1.41; wheel- 

 wrights. $2. mi. 



The fishing industry is represented as being 

 in a very depressed condition. The, following 

 table shows the number and tonnage of ves- 

 sels engaged in the cod and mackerel fisheries 

 in Maine as compared with other States in 

 18S5 : 



Complete returns for 1887 show the number 

 of vessels in Maine engaged in the fisheries to 

 be 448 ; tonnage, 15,857'64 ; a decrease of 

 about 25 per cent, since 1885. Fifteen facto- 

 ries have been engaged in lobster-canning dur- 

 ing the season, putting up from eight to ten 

 million pounds. Each factory employs from 

 40 to 50 hands, about one half men and boys 

 and the other half women and girls. The 

 price paid for lobsters has been $1.25 per one 

 hundred pounds. 



Returns are compiled from 72 manufactur- 

 ing establishments, covering 29 industries. 

 Though few compared with the whole number 

 in the State, and defective in many particu- 

 lars, yet they are among the most important. 

 Those reporting employ 14,695 hands. Sixty- 

 five establishments report capital invested, 

 $16,367,900, and 7.578 male employes over 15 

 years of age; 17 report 412 male employes un- 

 der 15 years; 31 report 6.529 female employes 

 over 15 years, and 12 report 176 female em- 

 ployes under 15 years. Twenty-five industries 

 report the average weekly wages paid men. 

 $10.27; 16 industries the average annual earn- 

 ings of men, $477.81 ; and 8 the average annual 

 earnings of women. $336.96. Forty-four es- 

 tablishments report their "gross product,'' 

 $11,273,514. 



Holidays. In Maine, the first observance of 

 Labor Day occur ivd Si-pt. 5. 18*7. In Port- 

 land, the rity (Government officially recognized 

 the day by hoisting the national colors on the 

 City Hall, closing the city offices, and suspend- 

 ing public work. A large meeting of working 

 men and women was presided over by the Mayor. 

 The day was observed in other cities and towns 

 in the State. 



The Legislature passed the following act, 

 approved March 10, 1887: 



That the Governor shall annually set apart a day in 

 the spring as Arbor Day. and shall issue' a proclama- 

 tion recommending that it be observed by the people 

 of this State in the planting of trees, shrubs, and vines, 

 in the adornment of public and private grounds, places, 

 and ways, and in such other efforts ami underta kind's 

 as shall be in harmony with the general character of 

 a day so established. 



In accordance with this the Governor desig- 

 nated May 1 as the Arbor Day. 



Indians. The annual report of John IT.Stowe, 

 agent of the Peuobscot Indians, gives the an- 

 nual census of the tribe as 385, an increase of 

 five over the report of 1887. The appropria- 

 tions for the year were $8,319.70. Twelve 

 deaths occurred during the year. A. C. Mun- 

 son. agent of the Passamnquoddy Indians, gives 

 the population of that tribe as 5*25, against 515 

 last year. During the year there have been 

 twenty deaths, including three members of the 

 tribe who died at an age exceeding one hun- 

 dred years, the oldest being one hundred and 

 seven. 



Prisons. The prison inspectors report 150 

 convicts in confinement, of whom five were 

 women, in the Maine State Prison. They rind 

 that the act of March 17, 1887, abolishing the 

 death penalty and providing that those con- 

 victed of murder in the first degree shall not 

 be associated or employed with other convicts, 

 can not be carried out without incurring great 

 or continued expense for buildings and disci- 

 plinarians. Those who have been so commit- 

 ted since the passage of the act, have been 

 kept locked in the cells, deprived of the privi- 

 lege of attending divine service or working at 

 a trade, through lack of means to carry out the 

 provisions of the law. The jails were also in- 

 spected, and several were found that were badly 

 kept and in need of repairs. The report of 

 the Industrial School for Girls and that of the 

 State Reform School at Cape Elizabeth, showed 

 that these institutions were in a satisfactory 

 condition. Twenty-three girls were commit- 

 ted at the former during the year, while at the 

 Reform School the number of boys increased 

 from 113 at the beginning of the year to 133 

 at its close. The adoption of the '-family sys- 

 tem " was recommended, on the ground that 

 it admits of more thorough classification and 

 separation of juvenile offenders according to 

 their ages, character, and conduct. The boys 

 are separated into families of about fifty each, 

 who eat. sleep, attend school, work, and play 

 in a college by themselves. Each family is in 

 charge of a man and his wife and a teacher. 



