Page:Wages in US 1908-1910.djvu/40

Rh Table 6, in three parts, gives the statistics of unemployment by industries, by cities and towns, and by counties. All of this tabulated material appears in a little over one hundred—exactly 126 pages—in such form that it can be readily utilized. It permits of an accurate analysis and determination of the condition of manufactures in Massachusetts, the rates of wages and the extent of unemployment. It is, from the commercial standpoint, important, and from the standpoint of the social worker invaluable in the determination of disputed wage problems. There is one objection which may, with obvious justice, be urged against these statistics. They are furnished by the manufacturers and present only their side of the problem. They may be accurate for capital, product, and the like, but they cannot fairly represent wages. Men and women are frequently sick, injured, kept at home. They do not work the full 275 or 296 days, as stated in these tabulations. The mill may have been in operation, but these people were, for one reason or another, not in their places and consequently were not paid.

That objection is valid. Yet from