UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY LIBRARY CONTENTS. Page. 16 35 49 55 . 65 79 80 CHAPTER 1.-MODERN INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSIONS Germany, 1837–86 ............... The United States, 1837-78 ..... CHAPTER II.-THE INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1882-86. The Extent of the Depression... Alleged Causes of the Present Depression ... Machinery and Over-production ..... The Variation in the Cost of Production.. The Variation in the Rates of Wages ... Speculative Railroad Building .... Crippled Consuming Power, or Under-consumption Miscellaneous .................................... CHAPTER III.—THE MANUFACTURING NAȚIONS CONSIDERED ROUP RELATION TO THE PRESENT DEPRESSION.. CHAPTER IV.-SUGGESTED REMEDIES FOR DEPRESSIONS ...... The Restriction of Land Grants to Corporations ... The Restriction of Immigration.... The Enactment of Laws to Stop Speculation ... The Establishment of Boards of Arbitration to Settle Industrial Difficulti Commercial and Mercantile Conditions.... The Distribution of Products .... Remedies .......... tries.................................................................... APPENDIX B.-Earnings and Expenses of Wage Receivers in Europe .... APPENDIX C.-Syriopsis of Labor Legislation in the United States ... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF LABOR, Washington, D. C., March 17, 1886. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith the first annual report relating to the information collected and collated by the Bureau of Labor. The Bureau of Labor was established by act of Congress, approved June 27, 1884, which provided for the appointment of a Commissioner of Labor by the President, and a Chief Clerk, to be appointed by the honorable Secretary of the Interior, and such employés as might be necessary to conduct the work of the Bureau. No officers were appointed, however, until January, 1885, when, under a commission received from the President, I assumed the duties of Commissioner of Labor January 31, and February 3 Mr. Oren W. Weaver was appointed Chief Clerk. The policy under which it seemed to me best that the operations of the Bureau should be conducted was submitted February 4 in a communication to the Secretary of the Interior, the features of which policy need not be restated. March 11 I submitted for your approval an outline of the first year's work of the Bureau. This outline related to the collection of information relative to industrial depressions, the investigation comprehending a study of their character and alleged causes, whether contemporaneous in the great producing countries of the world, and whether, as to duration, severity, and periodicity, they have been sipilar in such countries. The outline also comprehended the collection of data relating to the variation of wages in different countries and in different parts of this country, in the cost of living in the same localities, and the cost of production, and, in fact, all such alleged causes of industrial depressions as might offer opportunity for illustration through classified facts. The suggested remedies for such depressions were also comprehended in the outline. March 17, a year ago to-day, you did me the honor to approve this outline of work, when I entered at once upon preparations for carrying it out. Unavoidable circumstances prevented the several |