620 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



year ending Oct. 30, 1898, shows a marked increase 

 in the work. Eighteen thousand two hundred and 

 twenty-eight inspections were made, an increase of 

 8,315 over the number in 1897. Four thousand 

 official visits were also made. Fourteen thousand 

 three hundred and eighty-three orders were issued, 

 an increase of 6,184 over 1897, with '13,183 com- 

 pliances reported at this time. 



Some of the statistics given by the report are : 

 Employees in mills, factories, etc., 408,979, of 

 whom 45,086 are aliens, the remainder native born 

 or naturalized. Of 12,924 employed in sweat- 

 shops, 8,761 were aliens. In the bakeries 6,477 were 

 employed, of whom 1,164 were aliens. Of 2,566 

 family workers, 1,667 were aliens. 



There were 1,754 accidents, of which 73 were 

 fatal. The preceding year but 940 were reported. 

 The increase is due to the fact that a number of 

 foundries, machine shops, iron and steel works were 

 not amenable to the factory laws prior to this year. 

 Several prosecutions were instituted against those 

 who persisted in working minors and women over 

 the lawful time. They were settled upon agree- 

 ments that such violation should not be repeated, 

 and all costs in the cases were paid by the de- 

 fendants. 



" The law regulating the manufacture of cloth- 

 ing, etc., enacted by the last General Assembly, 

 would be an ideal one if the department had the 

 power to confiscate goods made in unlawful and un- 

 healthy places, and dispose of them in such a man- 

 ner as would best protect the public health. The 

 large contracts for soldiers' clothing, requiring 

 prompt and quick delivery, were an incentive to 

 those contracting for the work to be careless as to 

 where the goods were made. In 9 places where 

 clothing was being manufactured diphtheria pre- 

 vailed in its worst form." 



James M. Clark, chief of the Bureau of Industrial 

 Statistics, has prepared an elaborate report on 

 Pennsylvania's production for 1897 of pig iron, 

 steel ingots, and tin plate. The total production 

 of open-hearth steel for the year was 1,421,373 gross 

 tons; Bessemer. 2,586,278 gross tons; crucible, 

 9,245 gross tons; combined production, 4,056,896 

 gross tons, an increase of 71,367 gross tons over the 

 previous year. The total production of pig iron 

 was 4,617,634 gross tons, an increase of 591,284 tons 

 over the previous year. The average value was 

 $48,884,854. an increase of $3,712,815. The aver- 

 age value per ton shows a decrease of 63 cents, the 

 average value for 1896 having been $11.21 against 

 $10.58 last year. 



The aggregate cost of basic material out of which 

 this production of pig iron was made, which means 

 only the iron ore and scrap or cinder, if any were 

 used, was $9,962,533, an increase of $3,711,113 over 

 1896. Neither fuel, limestone, nor any other item 

 of cost is included as basic material with the iron- 

 producing materials here named. The cost per ton 

 of this basic material -was $6.48, a decrease of 4 

 cents per ton from 1896. The number of working 

 people employed was 11,272, a decrease of 308 com- 

 pared with 1896. 



The aggregate amount of wages paid was $4,676,- 

 970, an increase of $87,805. The average yearly 

 earnings were $414.92. The capital invested in the 

 active pig-iron furnaces in Pennsylvania for 1897 

 is estimated at $41,000,000. 



There were 15 black-plate works in operation in 

 the State in the manufacture of tin plate. The 

 capital invested was $5,017,127, an increase of 

 $1,389,852 over the previous year. The entire pro- 

 duction of black plate, tinned and untinned. was 

 254,157,601 pounds, an increase of 95,851,111 

 pounds over 1896. 



The production of black plate which was not 



tinned was 74,451,833 pounds, an increase of 23.1 

 per cent, over 1896. The value of this tinned 

 product was $5,180,624, an increase of $2,022,925. 

 The value of the black plate not tinned was 

 $1,657,297, an increase of 12 per cent. 



In addition to these 15 tin-plate works manu- 

 facturing their own black plate and making tin 

 plate from the billet or bar, 11 dipping works were 

 in operation with a product of 45,926,000 pounds of 

 tin and terne plate and a corresponding value of 

 of $1,816,417. Eliminating the black plate made 

 and not tinned, the entire production of tin and 

 terne plate in Pennsylvania for 1897 was 225,631,766 

 pounds, an increase of 61.6 per cent, over the pre- 

 vious year. The corresponding value was $6,997,- 

 041, an increase of $1,951,944. 



The combined product of the anthracite and 

 bituminous coals from the State amounted to 106,- 

 000,000 short tons. 



The wool clip of 1898 is given as 4,392,937 

 pounds. 



Insurance. The expenses of the State Insurance 

 Department amount to about $16,000 a year ; the 

 receipts from fees have gone as high as $70,000. In 

 1898 about $55,000 was turned into the treasury 

 from this source; in 1895 the amount was $37,- 

 279.76. 



The commissioner says that soon after he as- 

 sumed the duties of the office he gave attention to 

 certain mutual fire insurance companies which had 

 sprung up within a short time and had branched 

 out extensively in underwriting not warranted in 

 companies doing business on the mutual plan. The 

 annual amount of money from these companies 

 showed that an enormous amount was absorbed by 

 salaries and expenses, while the fire losses paid 

 were disproportionate to the amount of losses re- 

 ported. An examination disclosed the fact that 

 these companies had been started by a brood of 

 promoters, who organized the companies solely for 

 the purpose of extracting money from the gullible 

 portion of the public. To obtain charters, both 

 fraud and perjury were resorted to. 



" A strict investigation was set on foot, with the 

 result that two of the more prominent promoters 

 were convicted and sent to jail for perjury. Since 

 that time no companies of this character have pre- 

 sented themselves to the department for charters, 

 and the companies in question, to the number of 

 33, have been forced out of existence. During the 

 few years they flourished the promoters and man- 

 agers drew several million dollars from the confid- 

 ing public." 



As a result of the supervision of the department 

 there has been a large falling off during the last 

 four years of the business done by worthless com- 

 panies from other States. 



The department discovered some time ago that 

 several life insurance companies doing business in 

 the State were really not what they claimed to be, 

 but were liable to taxation, the result being that 

 several thousand dollars of bank taxes were col- 

 lected and taxes on their premiums will be collected 

 in the future. Another source of revenue has been 

 found in giving vitality to an act not previously 

 enforced requiring agents of assessment life com- 

 panies to have certificates of authority. 



The Capitol. After the passage of the act pro- 

 viding for a new Capitol eight plans were selected 

 by experts and submitted to the commission. The 

 following statement of the proceedings is taken 

 from the Governor's message : 



"At this point four of the five members of the com- 

 mission declined to make a selection, and by resolu- 

 tion set aside and ignored the competition and all 

 the plans presented. The only reason made public 

 by them for taking such action was that the tmild- 



