TRENTON, October 31st, 1898. To His Excellency David O. Watkins, Acting Governor : SIR-I have the honor to submit to the Senate and General Assembly, through you, the Twenty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industries. WM. STAINSBY, Chief. (vii) INTRODUCTION. On my unexpected assumption of the duties of the office of Chief of this Bureau in May of the present year, there remained, under the law, only six months in which to collect and prepare the matter for the report which is herewith submitted. The force engaged in the office, though small in number considering the work to be done, have intelligently and zealously performed their several tasks, and have given me, in all things relating to my official duties, a loyal support which entitles them all to my gratitude. The same may be said of those employed on the outside in the collection of data. Their industry and expert knowledge of the work to which they were assigned have contributed very largely to the success of this report. The office force, as at present organized, consists of Mr. James T. Morgan, Secretary, who has served one term of five years and is now entering on his second; Mr. Louis F. A. Herold, who succeeded Mr. Joseph Fischer as Clerk, and a stenographer, who also assists in clerical work. On the outside three men were employed for four months each, collecting statistics. These, with Mr. William A. Crane and Mr. Henry A. Beckmyer, of Newark, who were employed on special work for a shorter period of time, have constituted my entire force. For the purpose of getting useful information, developed by special lines of inquiry, before the people of the State without delay, the policy has been adopted of issuing bulletins from time to time as the matter has become completed. Several such bulletins have been issued, and the practice of sending them out whenever there is material of sufficient interest will be continued. Information of current interest will in this way be imparted to the public while it is still new, instead of waiting for the ordinary course of publication in the annual report, which, occurring but once a year, necessarily, through the lapse of time, impairs its value to a very great extent. It is my desire, as well as my duty, to maintain this office on as high a plane of usefulness as is occupied by any similar one elsewhere in our country or abroad. For the purpose of ascertaining what is being done in other States, I attended the fourteenth annual convention of the "National Association of Officials of Bureaus of Labor Statistics in the United States," which was held in the city of Detroit in June. I was very much impressed with what I saw and heard there, and take this opportunity to express my grateful appreciation of the courtesies shown me as the representative of New Jersey by the members of the Association and the authorities of the city of Detroit. The subjects considered in the report for this year are: PART I.-Statistics of manufactures; current graded wages and hours of labor; cost of living in New Jersey; a comparative statement of county, city and town debts; and a brief study in tradesunionism. PART II and III.-Occupations and earnings of men, women and children; strikes and lockouts in New Jersey, from 1888 to 1894, inclusive; labor legislation and decisions of courts on matters affecting the interests of wage-workers; an article on the law of master and servant for which I am indebted to the courtesy of an eminent member of the New Jersey Bar, Mr. Frank Bergen; and the Workmen's Compensation Acts that have recently gone into operation in England and France. The reports of the building and loan associations of New Jersey are presented in a separate volume. Such recommendations as I feel it my duty to make regarding them, will be found in the introductory preface or review. As each of these subjects is accompanied by a brief but sufficient introductory notice, no extended reference to them is here required. Of the subjects statistically presented, all but two are the results of original investigation; these, namely, the earnings of men, women and children and "strikes and lockouts," are based on data taken from recent reports of the United States Department of Labor. Both are here presented because they embody the results of careful investigation and exhibit conclusions of great interest and value to all interested in the industrial growth of our State. The want of authority to require answers to questions has made |