Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/379

 ECCENTRIC OFFICIAL STATISTICS 365

number of females were involved in a strike in this industry in 1886:

Males Females

Strikes of May I to 2 and May I to 8, i86, - 10,500 13,500 Census report 1890, - 13,352 6,772

The strike of May I to 2, which was successful, involved 1500 establishments, and that of May I to 8, which was unsuc- cessful, involved 250 establishments. Besides various minor strikes in this industry, a strike is also reported in five establish- ments August 23 of the same year involving 1000 male and 1000 female operatives. These were possibly among the estab- ments involved in the strike of May I ; but in that one strike we find involved 445 more establishments and 6728 more females than are reported in the census four years later. Colonel Wright's latest report on strikes shows a total of 13,035 male and 15,760 female operatives involved in strikes in 1890 in this city in this same industry. As some of these operatives may have been involved in more than one strike, these figures cannot be relied upon as showing the number of operatives ; but it may be noticed that while the census reports but about half as many females as males, Colonel Wright's report shows that the female outnumbered the male operatives in establishments involved in strikes.

While Colonel Wright's reports on strikes which classify strikers only as male and female give no indication of census deficiencies in the enumeration of children, factory inspectors' reports do to a certain extent. These reports give the name of establishments that have been visited by the inspectors and the number of employes there found. As the inspectors are unable and do not attempt to visit all establishments, the census reports for any state or city should show a larger number of employe's than those of the factory inspector. We find, however, that the factory inspector has often discovered a much larger number of females and children in a few establishments than census officials have found in the whole number of establishments.

Comparing the census of the cigar and tobacco industry in Jersey City we have the following :