The wages of third mates, doctors, pursers, chaplains, second stewards, under the Cadiz column, are not usual, but are paid by the Trans atlantic Company.

The wages paid to oilers, leading firemen, second and third cooks, are not usual and are only paid by the Transatlantic Company at Cadiz.

92 A-LAB-91

Agricultural laborers throughout Spain generally work from sunrise to sunset, with the exception of two hours allowed for breakfast and dinner. They also furnish their own food and lodging. House servants excepted.

Denia.

Madrid.

Malaga.

Santander.

RUSSIA.

REPORT BY CONSUL-GENERAL STANTON, OF ST. PETERSBURG.

Herewith I have the honor to transmit, in reply to the Department's Labor Circular, the information which it has been possible for me to collect in this consular district and those of the agencies at Cronstadt, Revel, and Riga.

I have experienced, through the apathy and indifference of the community on such matters, the greatest difficulty in procuring the data for this report, and my experience is borne out by that of the agents.

On being informed by the Central Statistical Bureau, in answer to an inquiry of mine in April last, that they possessed no such statistics at that office, I at once applied to the various Government departments for particulars of the wages, &c., of the laborers in the employ of the Government, and invoked the aid of the legation to the same end.

Up to the present date, however, no reply has been received either at the legation or this office.

Inquiries made simultaneously of the leading employers of labor met, as a rule, with much the same fate. The greatest willingness to oblige was generally expressed, but nothing, in most instances, came of these professions.

The figures forwarded are the result of individual effort, and are as full and exact as it was possible for me to procure.

Notwithstanding repeated disappointments I have retained this report, which was written two months ago, in the hope of making it more complete by the addition of data then lacking and which I daily expected to receive.

I am compelled, however, to forward the report in its incomplete state, lest the information arrive too late to be of value to the Department. Any particulars now omitted which it shall be my good fortune to receive shall be forwarded later on.

The replies to the interrogatories are in the main as applicable to the agencies as to St. Petersburg, the chief difference being that the character and condition of the laboring classes is better in the Baltic provinces and Finland than in Russia proper.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

St. Petersburg, August 1, 1884.

EDGAR STANTON,
Consul General.

I.-MALE LABOR.

RATES OF WAGES.

As far as obtainable the rates of wages are given in the accompany ing tables, special attention being called to those of agricultural laborers. It is difficult to establish an average rate, in consequence of the dif ferent methods prevailing both as to work and to payment. In some factories laborers, being lodged and fed, earn but nominal wages; in others, working by the piece, wages are larger; and in others, again,

being lodged but not fed, the wages earned vary from those earned under different systems.

One or two examples will serve to prove this:

In the largest rope and cordage factory in this city the laborers earn, working ten hours a day, from 28.8 cents to 55.2 cents daily, with free lodging and fuel in the factory.

In the leading glass works in this vicinity common laborers earn from 848 to $67.20 per annum, being lodged and fed at the works.

Master hands work by the piece, and earn from $57.60 to $86.40 per month, with free lodging and fuel, but they are obliged to pay their assistants and apprentices, who receive, the former from $7.20 to $14.40, the latter from $3.84 to $4.80 per month. Overseers, assorters, and clerks receive in this factory from $16.80 to $48 per month.

It will be seen from the foregoing how difficult it is to establish an average rate. Wages in almost every individual case are a matter of bargain, and in this city the wages of all laborers connected with the building trades fluctuate largely, according as the building trade is active or dull.

Owing to the excessive dullness of the present season and the large number of unskilled workmen out of employment, laborers of this class may be had as low as 24 cents per diem.

Ordinarily the average rate for unskilled labor and half-skilled workmen would range from 48 to 57.6 cents.

COST OF LIVING.

The cost of living to a laborer is as various as the wages earned. It depends upon the demands the person makes upon life and its comforts, upon his being married or single, and if married upon his family's being with him in St. Petersburg, or, as is generally the case, in some village of the.interior.

Again, the cost of living is greatly different according as the laborer is independent or dependent, i. e., whether working for own account, or whether, having sold his labor to some contractor, he is working in union with many others.

As a rule, the Russian laborer lays no claim upon the comforts of life. His wants are almost nil, and the wages earned indicate the amount spent.

Many if not most of the married laborers have their families living in villages in the country, and the cost of their support must be deducted from the wages earned. In most cases also laborers have free lodging and not unfrequently both food and fuel as well. Laborers whom I have termed dependent are virtually slaves to the contractors, and living and messing together the expense is reduced to a minimum. With free lodging and fuel, a rope manufacturer of this city estimates that a laborer can live for .096 cent per diem. Cotton operators are supposed to consume, men, $4.80; women, $3.84; children, $2.88 per month for food and clothing, living in country mills in barracks on the premises rent free, and paying in St. Petersburg and Moscow about 48 cents rental per month.

In a glass works the cost of living for a laborer's family is estimated to be from $16.80 to $24 per month. In a steam biscuit manufactory it is estimated that a laborer needs for his support from 72 cents to 2.40 per week.