CONNECTICUT. 



233: 



material, and a decrease in the wage cost. In a 

 majority of the industries wage cost decreased 

 as material cost increased, or increased as mate- 

 rial cost decreased. 



Of the 1,801 establishments reporting for 1892 

 and employing 153,209 persons, only 79 estab- 

 lishments, 'having 2,535 employees, ran over 

 sixty hours a week. This was only 4'39 per 

 cent, of the establishments and only 1-65 per 

 cent, of the employees. In 1885, according to 

 the 1886 report of the bureau, 15-26 per cent, of 

 the establishments and 16'2 per cent, of the em- 

 'ployees then reported were working over sixty 

 hours a week. 



The effect of the law of 1887 was to make sixty 

 hours a week the working time for practically 

 all the men as well as the women and children. 

 There is, moreover, a strong tendency toward 

 even less than sixty hours, as is shown by the 

 fact that in 1892 34*09 per cent, of employees 

 in all the factories of the State were working 

 fifty-nine hours or less a week. In the cotton 

 industry alone this tendency is not found. It is 

 most pronounced in the cities, and reaches its 

 lowest proportions in the 3 eastern counties of 

 the State. 



In 1886, according to the report of the bureau 

 for that year, of 71,539 people employed in 433 

 establishments, 38'4 per cent, were paid weekly. 

 In 1892, of 153,269 people employed in 1,801 es- 

 tablishments, 81'58 per cent, were paid weekly. 

 Besides accomplishing the change above indi- 

 cated, the weekly-payment law has abolished the 

 practice of charging a commission for money 

 advances between paydays; it has, in connec- 

 tion with the amendment of the foreign attach- 

 ment law, practically suspended factorizing ; it 

 has increased cash transactions, and has added 

 to the purchasing power of wages. 



Local Option. Town elections were held 

 throughout the State early in October, at which 

 the question of license or no license for the year 

 following was voted upon. The result is shown 

 below in comparison with the vote in 1893 : 



As a rule, the drift of the State, especially in 

 the rural sections, is quite steadily and strongly 

 toward local prohibition. The gain in the past 

 ten years has been marked. 



State Monuments. The Legislature, at its 

 last session, provided for the erection of suitable 

 memorials on the battlefields of the war, com- 

 memorating the heroism and service of the Con- 

 necticut troops. Pour of the State regiments 

 the Eighth, Eleventh, Fourteenth, and Sixteenth 

 were engaged at Antietam. The Fourteenth 

 was brigaded on the right of the Union lines, 

 while the three remaining commands, with the 



Fourth Rhode Island, constituted the Connecti- 

 cut brigade. This organization was on Burn- 

 side's left, and the Eleventh participated in the 

 charge that won the bridge from the rebel forces. 

 In commemoration of the services of these 

 troops, 4 monuments have been erected on the 

 Antietam battlefield, and early in October they 

 were dedicated. In November a monument simi- 

 lar to these was dedicated at Newbern, N. C., in 

 honor of the Fifteenth Regiment. 



Political. A State convention of the Pro- 

 hibition party met in New Haven on Aug. 22, 

 and nominated the following ticket : For Gov- 

 ernor, De Witt C. Pond : for Lieutenant Gov- 

 ernor, Edward Manchester; for Secretary of 

 State, Louis A. Babcock ; for Treasurer, William 

 Ingalls ; for Comptroller, Oliver G. Beard. The 

 usual antisaloon resolutions were adopted. 



The Republicans met in State convention in 

 Hartford on Sept. 18. Several candidates for 

 the gubernatorial nomination were presented, 

 their strength on the first formal ballot being- 

 as follows : Lieut.-Gov. Samuel E. Merwin, 140 

 voj:es; Frank W. Cheney, 132|; 0. Vincent Cof- 

 fin, 128 : John A. Porter, 63|. Mr. Coffin was 

 nominated on the fourth ballot. The remainder 

 of the ticket was completed as follows : For 

 Lieutenant Governor, Lorrin A. Cooke ; for Sec- 

 retary of State, William G. Mowry; for Treas- 

 urer, George W. Hodge ; for Comptroller, Ben- 

 jamin P. Mead. The platform adopted was 

 silent upon State issues. The following were 

 among its declarations : 



"We declare anew our hearty adhesion to the time- 

 honored principle of judicious tariff protection for 

 American industries, especially the great manufac- 

 turing and agricultural interests, and American 

 wages ; and we invite the business men, manufac- 

 turers, mechanics, wage-earners, and farmers of Con- 

 necticut to pass judgment by their ballots upon a 

 Democratic tariff bill conceived in sectionalism and 

 brought forth iu scandal ; resting upon no discover- 

 able principle ; as unscientific as it is unpatriotic ; 

 swarming with crudities, inequalities, and flagrant 

 discriminations ; borrowing its most striking and ob- 

 noxious feature from the ropulists; and justly de- 

 nounced as a monument of u party perfidy and party 

 dishonor." 



The Eepublican party holds that American silver 

 as well as American gold should be used as standard 

 money under such international agreements as will 

 insure the maintenance of a parity "of values, so that 

 the purchasing and debt-paying power of every dol- 

 lar issued by the Government, whether of gold, sil- 

 ver, or paper, shall be at all times the same. 



On Sept. 25 the Democratic convention as- 

 sembled at New Haven, and nominated Ernest 

 Cady for Governor, Morris B. Beardsley for 

 Lieutenant Governor, Edward G. Kilduff for 

 Secretary of State, Stephen 0. Bowen for Treas- 

 urer, and Nicholas Staub for Auditor. The 

 platform contains the following declarations: 



We believe the free coal and iron bills now pend- 

 ing in the "United States Senate would be beneficial 

 to the interests of the whole country, if promptly 

 passed. 



We demand the prompt passage of a law which 

 will abolish the differential duties on refined sugar 

 now maintained in the Senate by the Eepublican 

 and Sugar Trust combination. 



We demand that the people of Connecticut shall 

 have an early opportunity of deciding by their bal- 

 lot whether they wish to change their fundamental 

 law bv a constitutional convention. 



