Page:Wages in US 1908-1910.djvu/116

Rh Division, and the South Atlantic with the South Central Division, the range in wages is negligible. Even the range between the lowest Southern city (Nashville, $22.40) and the highest Northern city (New York, $36.96) is no greater than might be expected when the size and cost of living in both cities are considered.

The comparison of a similar employment, in one industry, under one management, located in twenty-six cities in all parts of the United States, leads to the conclusion that, with the exception of the Western States, wages vary only slightly from one geographic division to another. Within the same geographical area the range of wages is almost as great as is the range between geographic divisions. In the Western States, while the range is less than in any division, the average wage is several dollars above the average in the other divisions.

Though the wages of "telephone operators" lend themselves, perhaps, better than any other group of average wages to geographic comparison, they are wages paid to women. It may possibly be urged that the wages of women vary less with location than the wages of men. In order to avoid the possibility of such criticism, a