Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 86.djvu/498

494 included. It is suggestive, however; and corroborated as it is by the records of other investigations, it must go almost unchallenged.

The report on the wages in the woolen, worsted and cotton mills of Lawrence, Mass., (November, 1911) is corroborative, for one town, of the general situation as suggested by the Tariff Board's general report. Half of the men received a wage rate of less than $500; seven eighths, of less than $600. More than four fifths of the women fell in the group under $500, and 94 per cent, received less than $600. The schedule grouped all earnings above $600 in one class. These figures represent the actual earnings of males and females eighteen years of age and over during one month in 1911.

Similar wages were compiled for the textile mills (largely hosiery mills) of Little Falls, N. Y. These figures represent actual earnings during parts of September, 1912. Among the total of males employed, three fifths earned at the rate of less than $500, while nine tenths earned at the rate of less than $750 per year. Of the 2,736 women, 99.8 per cent, earned at the rate of less than $750 per year, while three quarters fell below $500. This period under investigation is described by the report as one of normal working conditions.

The inferences from these figures for special towns are corroborated, in large measure, by the special publication of the United States Department of Labor, dealing with the textile industry. These figures, while incomplete and open to question because of the uncertainty as to the manner in which the factories and employments under consideration were selected, are nevertheless suggestive of the general situation. In the cotton industry, three fifths of the males, and four fifths of the females received wage rates of $500 per year; while 97 per cent, of the males, and 99 per cent, of the females had wage rates of less than $750 per year. The wage rates in the woolen industry are considerably higher, though at about the same level as that for the special reports. The wage rates reported for the textile industries in Massachusetts and New Jersey amply confirm the results derived in these special investigations.

The textile industries show an unusually low scale. Practically none of the men receive more than $1,000; with the exception of woolen finishers, only a tenth receive more than $750. Among the women the rates are even lower. For them a wage over $750 is not