Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/497

Rh that one plant were (January, 1910) in a third of the instances less than $500 per year, in two thirds of the instances less than $625, and in only 8 per cent, of the instances $1,000 and over. In explaining this difference allowance must be made for the fact that the Bethlehem works are in a small city, while many of the plants are located in great centers of population.

Although the wages in the iron and steel industry are higher than the wages paid in many American industries, they seem fairly representative of the situation in those branches of manufacturing which afford employment to men only. In the industry where women as well as men are employed, the wage scale is lower. The wage formula for the steel industry may be taken as a representative of the man-employing industries.

Labor troubles and tariff controversies have combined to attract public attention to the wage rates paid in the textile industries, consequently the data for these industries are now fairly well authenticated. The Tariff Board made an extensive investigation of wage rates in the cotton industry. The information, secured from 76 establishments, covered 18.67 per cent, of all cotton spinning and weaving employees enumerated by the Census (p. 633). An arbitrary division between the northern and southern mills draws a line of marked distinction as to wages. Among the males sixteen years of age and over, in the north 5 per cent., and in the south 22 per cent., received a wage of less than $250. Half of the northern men and over four fifths of the southern men were paid at a rate of less than $500 per year. The highest wage rate in the schedule was twenty-eight cents per hour (about $750 per year). In the north 6 per cent., and in the south 3 per cent., earned more than this amount. The figures for women range much lower than the figures for men. The highest class in the women's schedule is eighteen cents per hour (about $500 per year). In the north, one fifth, and in the south, two per cent., receive more than this amount.

These rates for the cotton industry are similar to those for the woolen and worsted industry. The Tariff Board reports for dyeing and finishing woolens and worsteds that the wages of male dyers are in four fifths of the cases under $500, and in nine tenths of the cases under $700. The highest wage class given in this schedule is twenty-five cents per hour (about $700 per year). Eight per cent, of the male dyers, 15 per cent, of the male finishers, and 3 per cent, of the female finishers received wage rates above that amount. This investigation is obviously faulty in the comparatively small proportion of the employees