were secured from individual workmen as well as from the management of the establishments.

The conclusions drawn from the inquiry were that while leather tanning is probably the most conspicuous of the industries to which disagreeable odors are markedly peculiar, experience has proved that the trade is not dangerous or a menace to health and that in large cities, at least, everything possible has been done to mitigate this feature of disagreeable odors. Nor do the various operations of the industry seem to cause a dangerous degree of physical exhaustion, although work in most of the departments involves a considerable amount of exertion which appears to be very trying to the workman's strength, in addition to which most of the processes keep such clothing as he wears constantly wet from the use of water.

APPRENTICE REGULATIONS OF TRADE UNIONS.-This chapter of the report is devoted to a review of the development of trade unionism during the past thirty years, followed by the apprenticeship regulations of unions in New Jersey representing twenty different trades.

DECISIONS OF COURTS.-Extracts from recent decisions of the highest courts in New Jersey on cases affecting the interests of labor are reproduced under this caption.

INDUSTRIAL CHRONOLOGY.-This record is for the year ending September 30, 1906. During the period there were 483 corporations created with the avowed intention of establishing manufacturing plants in New Jersey, having an aggregate capitalization of $72,407,500; 90 new buildings were erected and equipped for manufacturing purposes and 158 old plants more or less enlarged; 37 industrial plants (none employing fewer than 50 persons) were moved into New Jersey from other States and from three points outside the United States (1 plant from Canada, 1 from France, and 1 from Germany); 14 manufacturing plants (mostly small ones) were permanently closed and 27 closed for a period ranging from two weeks to three months; 111 plants suffered from fire, some being totally destroyed, the losses of 101 reporting that item amounting to $1,712,125, all but a small part of which was covered by insurance; wages were voluntarily increased in 31 establishments and 2 adopted the 8-hour workday, continuing the wages formerly paid for 10 hours in one and 9 hours in the other; 1,274 wage-earners (261 being railroad employees) were injured while at work, of which number 269 (92 being railroad employees) died from the injuries received; 170 strikes and 1 lockout of greater or less duration occurred, 86 strikes being for increase in wages, 9 for reduction of working hours, 15 for increase of wages and reduction of working hours combined, and the remainder for various other causes. There were 46 new labor unions organized during the chronological period covered..

VIRGINIA.

Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics for the State of Virginia. 1906. James B. Doherty, Commissioner. 318 pp.

The matter presented in this report relates to the following subjects: Industrial statistics, 240 pages; laws and court decisions relating to labor, 70 pages.

INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS.-A series of tables is shown for 41 industries, giving the number of establishments in each industry reporting for the year, the value of product, capital invested, amount paid for wages, rent, taxes, and insurance, number of employees by sex and occupation, monthly pay of persons employed on salary, daily wages paid in the different occupations, by sex, wage changes, number of days in operation, number of hours of daily work for each establishment, and also totals and averages for each industry. For most of the industries comparisons with 1904 are presented. Statistics are also given for coal mining and for the operation of 7 gas works, 20 waterworks, 37 steam railroads, and 22 electric railways.

The following table shows for the years 1904 and 1905, for each of the 21 industries in the State which reported an output in 1905 exceeding $1,000,000, the number of establishments reporting, capital invested, value of product, and aggregate wages paid:

CAPITAL INVESTED, VALUE OF PRODUCT, AND WAGES PAID IN 21 INDUSTRIES 1904 AND 1905.

Reports from 253 general contractors in the building trades, for the year 1905, showed a volume of business done aggregating $7,143,806, and from 99 firms of plumbers, gas fitters, and tinners a volume of business done aggregating $1,227,867. During the year the coal production of the State amounted to 4,275,271 short tons and gave employment to 5,730 persons.

The report on the 37 steam railroads operating in the State shows for 1905 the average daily wages paid by each road in each occupation and the average daily wages paid by all roads. A similar report is presented for 22 electric railways operating in the State. The following is a summary of the data presented:

AVERAGE DAILY WAGES OF STEAM RAILROAD AND OF ELECTRIC RAILWAY EMPLOYEES, 1905.

Accidents on steam railroads in the State during 1905 resulted in the death of 77 employees, 5 passengers, and 133 other persons, and in the injury of 1,276 employees, 112 passengers, and 209 other persons. The table following shows the number of persons killed and the number injured in railroad accidents in 1905:

EMPLOYEES, PASSENGERS, AND OTHERS KILLED AND INJURED IN STEAM RAILROAD ACCIDENTS, 1905.

Accidents on street railways in the State during 1905 resulted in the death of 4 employees, 2 passengers, and 6 other persons, and in the injury of 16 employees, 143 passengers, and 60 other persons.

Statistics for gas works show ownership, capacity, private and municipal consumption, prices to consumers, number and wages of employees, etc.; and those for waterworks, ownership, cost of works,

capacity, consumption, cost of pumping per million gallons, price to consumers, source of supply, number and wages of employees, etc. There is a brief report on inspection of factories and investigations touching child labor.

LAWS AND COURT DECISIONS RELATING TO LABOR.-Under this heading are reproduced various laws of the State relating to labor, and decisions of courts as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor.

WASHINGTON.

Fifth Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor of the State of Washington, 1905-6. Charles F. Hubbard, Commissioner. 355 pp.

Following a general review of labor conditions in the State and the operations of the bureau, the subjects presented in detail are: Recommendations to the legislature, 14 pages; first year of the factory inspection law, 17 pages; violations of labor laws, 23 pages; cost of living, 5 pages; organized labor, 22 pages; statistics of wage-earners, 34 pages; free employment offices, 15 pages; accidents to labor, 10 pages; strikes and lockouts, 30 pages; statistics of manufactures, 51 pages; capital and labor, 29 pages; court decisions and rulings, 17 pages; labor laws, 43 pages.

VIOLATIONS OF LABOR LAWS.-Accounts are given of the infractions of the eight-hour law for labor on public works, the ten-hour law relating to the employment of females, the child-labor law, the bake-shop inspection law, the Sunday closing law for barbers, law prohibiting the payment of wages by time check, etc., together with the action taken by the State labor commissioner on the same.

COST OF LIVING.-Under this caption two tables are presented dealing with the cost of a variety of food commodities which enter into ordinary household consumption. The first table shows the variation in wholesale prices of 68 articles through a period beginning with the year 1900 and ending with the year 1906. The per cent of increase or decrease in the price of each article is shown for each succeeding year and the net variations for the entire period. The second table deals with the retail prices of 55 articles of food for the year 1906.

An examination of the tables reveals a marked tendency toward increase in price of a number of staple articles, although considering the list of commodities as a whole the advance during the period has not been extraordinarily large. Of the 68 articles dealt with in the first table, 23 showed an increase averaging 21 per cent in 1906 over 1900, while in the same period 26 articles showed a decrease averaging 16 per cent. The remaining articles did not vary to any appreciable extent.

ORGANIZED LABOR.-Returns from 45 unions give statistics relative to date of organization, membership; initiation fees and monthly dues; strike, sick, accident, and funeral benefits; wages and hours of labor; rules governing apprenticeship; members idle, etc. As there were in 1904 some 250 duly organized labor unions in the State, with a total membership estimated to approximate 22,500, the above returns, therefore, are believed to represent only about 20 per cent of the unions in the State.

WAGE-EARNERS.-This chapter is devoted to statistics of wageearners in the employ of mercantile houses, eight steam railroads, nine electric railways, and the Western Union Telegraph Company. The data give number of employees in each occupation, wages per day or per month, hours of labor per day, and days of labor per month. The table following shows the average wages per day of wage-earners in the employ of the steam railroads and of the electric railways:

AVERAGE DAILY WAGES OF STEAM RAILROAD AND OF ELECTRIC RAILWAY

The average wages per month of operators in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company were $68.78, of chief operators $97.15, and of office managers $73.88.

A section of this chapter is also devoted to farm labor and one to convict labor. Of 21 employing farmers, 15 reported paying farm hands $30 per month, 4 as paying $35 per month, and 2 as paying $40 per month.