CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. This report is a compilation of the wages and hours of labor of persons engaged in all occupations for all countries of the world for which data have been officially published and for years extending back as far as could be obtained from such data. The work, which required the examination of hundreds of volumes and the copying and classification of thousands of quotations, was begun in 1894, and has been continued at intervals in connection with the other and more pressing work of the Department. In using this compilation it should be clearly understood that the matter here published has not been gathered by original research or a canvass by the agents of the Department of the establishments in which the persons involved have been engaged (except so far as the data have been drawn from the published reports of the Department), but that it is simply a compilation as to wages and hours of labor of all of the available official publications of the commercial countries of the world. The various data relating to wages which have been published in the various reports of the Department have almost invariably been secured from the pay rolls of the establishments in which the individuals concerned have been employed. In this compilation, however, the Department has no knowledge in most cases as to the manner in which the figures were gathered by the various offices publishing the same, and therefore can be responsible only for quotations from its own reports and for the accuracy of the work of transcribing, editing, and compiling the data from the various reports used. The facts are given as found in the various official publications, with only such changes as were necessary to render the tabulation uniform. SOURCES. The data presented in this report, as has been indicated above, have been drawn entirely from official publications, and due credit has been given. The comparatively small number of books of private authorship which contain wage data have been excluded from this compilation, the intention of the Department being to include only such data as have been published with official sanction. The list of these sources is found on pages 21 to 32, immediately preceding the table itself. With a very few exceptions all of the reports of the Federal and State 11 governments of the United States have been accessible to the Depart ment, and but a small number of foreign reports are known to exist which have not been available for use in this compilation. It will be seen, then, that this compilation may be considered exhaustive for the United States and nearly so for foreign countries. METHOD OF COMPILING. In this compilation the data relating to wages found in each of the 714 reports used in the same were transcribed literally upon small working cards. These cards were then classified and tabulated in the form shown in the compilation which follows. In the course of the copying of these data from the various reports it was soon realized that in order to make the data found there of any value in a comparative way it would be necessary to carefully edit and classify the same. Every variety of wording and form of tabulation were found; occupation and industry names were expressed in almost innumerable ways; hours were given for the day, the week, or the month, and wages were given for the hour, the day, the week, the month, or the year. Piece rates have been excluded except in a few cases, as is explained further along. Had the data been compiled literally as found in the various reports, many volumes would have been required to contain the results, occupation names would have numbered into the tens of thousands, and the results themselves would have been so scattered and confusing as to have rendered the report of little practical value. It was necessary, therefore, to edit this heterogeneous matter and put it in such form as would render it valuable when tabulated. It was intended at first to make a classification by general industries, such as agriculture, manufactures, mining, etc., with subclassifications under each of these general industries-as cotton goods, harness and saddlery, etc., under manufactures and, finally, under each subindustry to show the data by occupations. This plan was found open to the objection that the same occupation would be found scattered among several industries, and a study of the occupation itself thus made difficult, if not impossible. Occupations were also frequently found without any reference whatever to the industry with which they were connected, so that they could not have been so classified. It was thought best, therefore, to make no other classification than that by occupations, using the industry only when necessary for additional information, and then as a modifier of the occupation itself. In illustration of the work of editing the occupation, that of "section men, railroad," may be taken as an example. In the original sources this occupation was found variously worded, as follows: "Section men, railroad;" "section hands, railroad;" "section laborers, railroad;""track laborers, railroad;" "track repairers, railroad;" "trackmen, rail ment, railroad." It was thought that all of these expressions covered practically but one kind of work, and inasmuch as the term "section men, railroad," was the predominating one, all the data which were found in connection with the other terms expressing the work of this occupation were combined under the occupation name of "section men, railroad." It will be readily seen that for purposes of comparison such a combination of the data relating to practically the same occupation is much better than an indefinite multiplication of occupation names and thinly scattered data relating to the same. As an illustration of the various industries in which the same occupation is found, that of blacksmith may be taken. It has been found that of the industries in which blacksmiths are employed the following is a partial list: Agricultural implements, bolt works, bridge works, car building, carriages and wagons, coal mining, cotton mills, engine works, foundry, gas works, glass works, iron furnace, iron mine, machine shop, oil wells, printing-press works, railroad shops, shipbuilding, tool factory, etc. As has been stated, this is but a small portion of the whole number of industries that might be named wherein blacksmiths were found employed. While it is possible that some might desire to know the wages of blacksmiths in each of the several industries, it is believed that generally the reader would prefer to have the data relating to this occupation condensed rather than spread over the many industries. As the work in this occupation is practically the same, no matter in what industry it may be found, and for the other reasons stated, blacksmiths have been placed in one class, unmodified by industry. If but one, or even a few occupations or industries were to be considered, it would undoubtedly have been advisable to give the data in the greatest detail, as has been done in many individual reports, but in a work of this scope such a course was deemed impracticable. In most of the occupations the distinction between "foreman," "journeyman," and "helper" have been made in the various reports and have been so presented in this compilation. In one of the largest occupations, however, that of machinists, a hopeless tangle was found. It will be seen by the great range of wages that this occupation, as given in the compilation which follows, includes both highly skilled and low-grade labor. The data were thus found in a great many of the sources quoted. In one table alone which was found in a report used in this compilation, approximately 8,000 so-called "machinists” were included. It was seen at once from the wages given that there had been included in this table, under the occupation name of machinist, not only machinists proper, but also foremen of all classes, apprentices, and helpers of the lowest grade as well. The data were thus given in a great many of the sources quoted. There was no possibility of separating the three distinct classes that were positively known to be contained therein-journeymen, foremen, and helpers or |