PREFACE.

For many years demands have been made upon the Department of Labor for wage statistics of different countries. These demands have come from all sources-Congressional committees, members of the Senate and House, labor organizations, students, and writers. The only answer to the demands which the Department has been able to make is to refer to individual reports here and there. Such an answer, of course, has been very unsatisfactory. Reference could be made to voluminous collections of wage statistics in the past, especially to the valuable report of Dr. Edward Young, chief of the United States Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department in 1875, entitled Labor in Europe and America, being a special report on the rates of wages, cost of subsistence, and the condition of the working classes in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, and other countries of Europe, as well as in the United States and British America, and to the report (in three volumes) by the honorable Secretary of State, in 1884, of which Volumes I and II, entitled Labor in Europe, are made up from the individual reports of consuls of the United States in the several countries of Europe on the rates of wages, cost of living to the laboring classes, etc., and Volume III, entitled Labor in America, Asia, Africa, Australasia, and Polynesia, gives reports of consuls in those countries on the same subjects. In neither of these valuable documents, however, are the rates of wages arranged by years or classified by countries in such a way as to serve for ready reference. The Department's own reports, too, have from time to time presented large masses of original wage statistics; but these, being incidental to the general subjects of the reports, have usually been limited to particular periods, industries, or localities.

In order to answer the very numerous demands for information relative to the rates of wages, hours of labor, etc., this Department undertook, nearly seven years ago, the compilation of such information for the commercial countries of the world. It was beyond the means of the Department to collect the desired information from original

5

sources. We were therefore obliged to content ourselves with a compilation of the information from such authentic official sources as could be secured. The result is the Fifteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, in two volumes. It is only what it pretends to be a compilation. It is, therefore, a work of reference, and not a study of the wage question. The very nature and magnitude of the work have prevented any summary or analysis. Such a summary would have necessitated calculations showing the course of wages in each country for all the years for which any quotations are given, and also for each occupation. It is believed that the method adopted furnishes the requisite fundamental information for all who may have occasion to use it.

The present compilation includes the lowest, highest, and average rates of wages per day and hours of work per week for the United States, and the lowest and highest rates and hours for foreign countries. It gives quotations for each country as far back as any definite official statement was to be found, and the quotations come down to the present year (1900). In all, 714 different reports are represented, and about 900,000 separate quotations, and these have been classified under approximately 4,500 occupations and subdivisions of occupations. The extent of the work involved can be better understood when it is stated that at least 1,500 different official reports have been carefully reviewed in order to secure authentic information. Of course, wage rates were not found in all that number, although 1,250,000 quotations were copied and classified, out of which 900,000 were found sufficiently definite for the purposes of this report. The information is for practically all of the States and Territories of the United States, and for about 100 foreign countries, colonies, and provinces, of which the following is a nearly complete list:

Algeria.
Antigua.

Argentina.
Australia.

Austria-Hungary.

Azores.

British Guiana.
British Honduras.
British India.

Canada.
Canary Islands.

Cape of Good Hope.

Cuba.
Denmark.

Dutch East Indies.
Ecuador.
England.

Egypt.

FEE

Bahama Islands.
Barbadoes.

Belgium.
Bermuda.
Bolivia.

Brazil.

Ceylon.

Chile.

China.
Colombia.

Corsica.

Costa Rica.

Falkland Islands.

France.
Germany.

Gibraltar.

Great Britain. (a)

Greece.

As the quotations are arranged alphabetically by occupations, an index does not seem to be essential; and, in fact, to make one would expand the size of the report to very great proportions.

As stated in the introduction, the Department disclaims all responsibility for the scientific value of the data compiled, except so far as they are taken from the previous reports and documents issued by it, yet the greatest care has been taken to secure only those statements which have official sanction in the countries from which they emanate. It is with regret that I have to announce the death of Mr. Oren W. Weaver, who was the chief clerk from the organization of the Bureau of Labor in January, 1885, to April 27, 1900. Mr. Weaver's services have been gratefully acknowledged from time to time. His fidelity to and interest in the work of the Department have been of very great value in its development and in the character of its publications. Mr. G. W. W. Hanger, who came into the Department under civilservice rules at the lowest clerical salary, and who has passed through every grade, was on the death of Mr. Weaver appointed chief clerk, and it is with pleasure that I acknowledge the valuable service he has rendered in the difficult compilation resulting in this report. CARROLL D. WRIGHT, Commissioner of Labor.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,

Washington, D. C., November 22, 1900.