PART I.

Statistics of Manufactures in New Jersey,

Capital Invested, Number of Operatives Employed.

Cost Value of Material Used.

Selling Value of Goods Made.

Average Working Hours.

Classified Weekly Wages.

Average Yearly Earnings of Labor.

(1)

Statistics of Manufactures of New Jersey for the Twelve Months Ending December 31, 1912.

The following is a statistical presentation of the conditions which prevailed in the manufacturing establishments of New Jersey that are operated on what is known as the factory system, and are in a position to furnish, from their records, the several varieties of information required for these reports.

The law establishing this system of annual statistics of manufactures does not require that a compilation should be made each year similar in character to the Federal Census of manufactures, in which absolutely all forms of productive industry, great and small, permanent and temporary, found to be in existence at the time of making the canvass are included, provided the yearly products of the same are not less than five hundred dollars in value. The purpose aimed at by this presentation is rather to show the permanent industrial growth of our State, and the general economic conditions surrounding that numerous and important part of our population that is permanently employed in factory and workshop occupations.

While the "Statistics of Manufactures" is not, and never was intended to be regarded as a census in the ordinary meaning of that term, the compilation undoubtedly serves to show from year to year whether our industries are growing or declining in diversification of forms and numbers employed. It is, in fact, a complete census of the real factory industries of the State, and to show how slightly its totals differ in all essential respects from those of the Federal compilation, it is sufficient to point to the fact that in the nearly 9,000 separate plants credited to New Jersey by the United States Census of 1910, the average number of persons employed that year is reported at 326,102, while the 2,475 establishments included in this compilation, report 324,670 as the greatest number employed at any time during the year, and 305,295 as the average; it is thus shown that notwithstanding the difference in the number of establishments reporting, the average number employed as shown here is less than 6 per cent. below the figures of

the Federal Census for the far greater number of concerns included in its canvass.

The number of establishments considered in this presentation is 2,475, or 52 more than appeared in the statistics of last year. All but a comparatively small number of these 52 plants had commenced business in this State during the next preceding three years, and were excused from reporting until the present year so as to allow time for a complete organization of their respective systems of manufacture before being called upon to fill out the manufacturers' schedules. The establishments reporting are divided into 89 general industries, and one group under the heading "Unclassified," which contains concerns that could not be presented under correct industry headings without incurring the risk of exposing the business of their owners, because of the fact that not more than two of them were engaged in any one particular line of manufacture, and the established rule which is never departed from, is to have not less than three establishments under any industry heading. The 89 general industry classifications contain a number of individual establishments ranging from 4 in the case of "mirrors" and "women's shirtwaists," to 196 under the heading "broad silk and ribbons." The tables as presented in this compilation are in the form of abstracts which show only the totals relating to each industry; consequently the report of no one establishment can by any possible means be separated from the totals of the industry group with which it is merged.

The tables-ten in number, follow the forms of previous years, and show for each industry-first, the character of management, whether the same be by corporation, partnership, or individual owner; second, the total amount of capital invested, divided so as to show the sum charged to land and buildings, to machinery, tools and implements, and also the amounts in use for other purposes; third, the cost value of stock or material used in manufacture, together with the selling value of all goods made or work done; fourth, the greatest, least and average number of persons employed, by industries; fifth, the average number of persons efployed by months, classified according to sex and age; sixth, the total amount paid in wages and average yearly earnings of employes by industries; seventh, the classified weekly earnings of all wage earners; eighth, the average working hours per week

and per day; ninth, the proportion of business done that is to say, the extent to which the operations of the various industries approached their productive capacity; and tenth, the primary power used, with its aggregate horse power.

Besides these ten general tables, there are a number of more limited compilations in which the totals for twenty-five selected industries are compared with those of the next preceding year and such increases or decreases as occur are shown in absolute numbers and by percentages. The industries used in these comparisons are selected for that purpose because in the matter of capital invested, number of wage earners employed, value of products, etc., they are the most important in the entire classification. These twenty-five industries really include much more than one-half the number of establishments considered, and an even larger proportion of all the other totals included in the compilation. Besides this special comparison of selected industries, the totals for "other industries" and for all establishments included in the compilation are compared for both years. In this way the rise or fall of activity in each industry is shown with satisfactory clearness from year to year, while the space occupied by the tables is much less than would be required if the comparisons were presented in any other way.

TABLE No. 1.

This table shows the character of ownership of all establishments grouped under each of the eight-nine industry headings; the management is divided into three classes, headed respectively, corporations, partnerships and individual owners. The number of stockholders—male, female, and trustees acting for minors, estates, etc., is given for corporations; the number of partners,male, female, and special, in private firms or partnerships, and the number of private owners is also shown on the table.

Of the 2,475 establishments reporting, 1,710, or 69.1 per cent. of the total number are shown by the table to be under corporate management, and 765, or 30.9 per cent., are managed by partnerships, individual owners or other forms of private control. In the manufacturing statistics of 1910, the proportions of the total number of establishments under corporate, and under private control were 68.5 per cent. and 31.5 per cent., respectively. The increase in corporate form of management during the year covered