256 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



June 



''The following table will also fhow you the ad- 

 vance in tte prices of labor in the boot and shoe 

 niannfacturing e>tablishraent of E. and A. H. 

 IJatchf 11' r & Co., in the same town, during the 

 years 1860 ancUlSCS, respectively : — 



ISiiO. 1P68. Advance 



Citnmon hands ^-h-ur . ]B§ cts. 2j i ts. 20 ■^ ct. 

 First cla-'P h nd^ %>" hour . iiij " 27i" 2i.2 " 



PIECE WORK.* 



Rus?Pt lra^;in?,'e'pa"r . .15 " 21 " 40 " 



Ulai k br. gans, ^f pair . . 16 " 22 " 37^ " 

 CAm[A g aud treeing boots, 



perp.ir 95 " — " 38i " 



"Average advance in the price of labor, estimat- 

 ing equal quarititits of each kind, 31.6 per cent. 



'From the foregoing statement it appears that 

 the commodities enumerated (in the qui'ntiiies 

 speiitietl) wnuid have cost the common laborer, 

 workii'g ten hours a dav at, 16§ cents per hour, the 

 lahor ot '20 6 days in 1860, while in 1868, when re- 

 ceiving 20 cents an hour, he Wduld have been 

 obliged to work 34 2 days in order to purchase the 

 same articles for the support ot himself and fim- 

 ily. His condition, therefore, compared with 1860, 

 exhibits a loss of 41 pir cent. ; that is, where he 

 then received 100 (reckoned in articles to eat, drink 

 and wiar) for his labor he now receives but 59 cts. 



"In the case of the brogan-maker, the best paid 

 laborer mentioned, the loss is not to heavy, but 

 still very severe. His pay has advanced from 15 

 to 21 cents per pair. To purchase the above com- 

 modiiies, he would 



In 1S63 hivB been obliged to make 325 pairs, 



In 1860, only 229 " 



A loss cf tbe making of 98 " 



i. e., SO much more work to be done before the 

 ■workman receives the same amount of flour, meat, 

 &c., as in 1860. This cquuls a loss of 29.2 per cent. ; 

 or, in other words, when in 1860 he received 100 

 he now receives biit 70 8 cents. 



"Rents have greatly increased, but to what pre- 

 cise extent cannot be so readily ascert.tined as in 

 the case of commodities. The advance cannot be 

 less than about sixty-fixe per cei.t. 



'■Fuel has advanced — sav, wood from $5 to $7 

 per cord, coal from $7 to ^'12 per tou — an average 

 of about 60 per cent. 



"The prices of commodities I have ascertained 

 by a personal exuminatii n of the bo( ka of one of 

 the principal dealers, and am satisticd that they 

 arc coireet, not cnly irom the showing of the ac- 

 counts, but from my general knowledge of current 

 prices. 



"The rates of labor have been obtained from di- 

 rect inquiry of the largest boot and shoe manufac- 

 turing concern in t!ie fcjtate, and are undoubtedly 

 accuiate and reliable. 



(Siijned) "Amasa W.^lker. 



''North Brookfield, Mass., Feb. 2, 1869. 



The following shows the prices paid in Washing- 

 ton for labor on public buildings : — 



3861, 1868, Increase. 



Carpenters $2 00 $3 50 75 per ct. 



Sonematotis .... 2 50 400 60 " 



Brick niasous .... 2 50 4 UO 60 " 



M.icliiiiicts 2 00 3 CO 60 " 



Plumbers 2 25 3 50 65 " 



Biacksojjtbs 2 00 3 00 60 " 



Laborers 1 25 1 75 40 " 



General average increase of skilled workmen, 

 58.^ per cent. 



In the Merrimac Manufacturing Company in 

 Lowell, Mass., the average advance in the wages 

 paid In 1868-9, in the "carding" department, omit- 

 ting overseers, was 60 per cent.; in the "spinning" 

 department, 52 per cent.; ia the "dressing" de- 



*l'ho8e who perform piece-work cannot rely upon as 

 conetiint employ mtni as 'hose who work by the Lour, 

 ■which accounts for the difference in price, 



I partment, 75 per cent. ; in the "weaving" depart- 

 ment, 53 per cent. In the repair shop of the same 

 corporation the average advance in the wages of 

 mechanics was 63 per cent. ; of overseers in all the 

 depaitments, 36 per cent. In ditfejent branches of 

 mechanical industry, in the ci y of Lowell, the 

 advance in the wages of machinists, carpenters 

 and blacksmiths was 50 per cent. ; of stone cuttt-rs, 

 100 per cent. ; of btone and brick masons, 75 per 

 cent, over 1860. 



A list of prices of 21 different articles of dimes- 

 tie consumption, similar to that given above by 

 Mr. Walker, shows an advance in Lowell and Law- 

 rence of 91.65 per cent, from 1860 to 1869, 



He also presents a large number of letters from 

 leading manufacturers in different sections, giving 

 evidence as to the relative condition of labor and 

 wages in 1869, as compared with 1860. 



The Colt's Fire Arms Company of Hartford, have 

 more applicants for work than in 1860 and pav 50 

 per cent ligher w;iges; the Buffalo and Erie Rail- 

 toad pay 30 to 50 per cent, higher and can get all 

 they want; the American Screw Company pay 60 

 to 70 per cent, higher, but the cost of living has 

 advanced siill more; C. Aultman & Co. of Can- 

 ton, Ohio, manufacturers of reapers and mowers, 

 are refusing tifteen to eighte:n applications for 

 work per day, never knew skilled labor sj abun- 

 dant, and find men asking for the means to live 

 until work can be got; Stephenson & Co., car- 

 builders ot New York, are employing fewer men, 

 sometimes running short time, and pay 50 percent, 

 inci'case in wages over 1860; T. W. Griswold,k lit 

 goods, Wetheivtield, Conn., report their mill idle, 

 having run at a loss last year, wages there 50 per 

 (Cnt. above 1860; Chickcring & Sons, labor more 

 fiilly employed and wjges 40 to 50 per cent, higher; 

 VVcodrutl & Beach of Hartford employ Jess men 

 by one-third and pay one-third higher wages than 

 in 1860; the Vermont Central Fi,nlroad say that 

 common labor is abundant and pay 50 to 65 per 

 cent, higher than in 1860; Miles Greenwood of 

 Cintinnaii finds labor not so fiilly eniployed as in 

 1800 and pays 66 jicr cent, higher wages ; J. Ryle 

 & Co., silk manufaciurers, Paterson, N. J., 79 per 

 cent.; L. FuUanr, boots and shoes, West Brook- 

 field, Mass., 50 per cent.; Ames Manufacturing 

 Company, Chicopee, Mass., for skilled labor 71 to 

 90 ner tent., for common labor 70 per cent. 



In the town of Canton, Ohio, the advance in 

 wages employed in the manufaeture of agiieultu- 

 ral machinery was from 55 to 60 percent, in Nov., 

 1866, as compared with the same month of 1860, 

 the advance in the cost of Itving, as dedured trom 

 the prices of sixteen of the leading ai tides of do- 

 mes.! j consumption, viz.: fl nir, corn, meal, buck- 

 wheat-flour, beef, l^utter, eggs, lard, potatoes, ap- 

 ples, chickens, dried apples, coffee, sugar, syrup, 

 calicoes and muslins, showed an average increase 

 of about one hundred and thirty per cent. 



A real estate agent in Philadelphia furnishes a 

 statement of the monthly rent of 26 houses in 

 Philadelphia, in 1860 and 1869. They rented ra 

 1860 for #382.34 ; in 1869 for $'882.00,— an advance 

 $'499 67, or 130.69 per cent, increase. 



The following is an extract from the report of 

 Gen. H. K. Oliver to the Legislature of Massachu- 

 setts, "on the employment of children in facto- 

 ries," which is endorsed by the Springfield Repub- 

 lican "as a tolerably good description of v.'hat 

 most of us have seen :" — 



"Certain parties are called the great manuf^ictur- 

 ers of New England, and they have been engaged 



