Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/369

 ECCENTRIC OFFICIAL STATISTICS. III.

THERE is perhaps at the present no more interesting or important sociological question than the employment of women and children and the effect of such employment upon that of men. Are these classes taking the place of men in industrial pursuits, and by their competition in the labor market so reduc- ing their wages as to render it difficult or impossible for the head of the family to alone support the family ?

In the first of these papers (JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, January, 1897), the writer criticised a contribution of the Commissioner of Labor to the Chicago Record of July 20, 1894, in which that gentleman, discussing the employment of women and children, undertook to demonstrate from census statistics a great decrease in the employment of children, and that women were not crowd- ing upon men in the industrial pursuits but taking the place of of children. Comparing the proportion of females employed in manufacturing and mechanical industry to the total number of employes in these industries, Colonel Wright said : " This com- parison shows that in 1860 20.66 per cent, of all the persons employed in manufacturing industries were females above fifteen years of age, in 1870 they constituted 15.76 per cent, of the total number employed ; in 1880 they were 19.45 per cent., and in 1890 they were 17.94 per cent. The relation therefore to the total number employed was quite stationary at the last three federal censuses and was only about 2 per cent, in 1880 over what it was in 1870 and nearly 3 per cent, less in 1890 than in 1860. The women are therefore not crowding upon the men in mechanical industries."

Similar comparison of the percentage of children was made showing a most remarkable decrease in the percentage of chil- dren. Colonel Wright was, however, unable to quote the per- centage of children in i860, because they were not reported

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