REPORTS FROM THE CONSULS OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE SEVERAL
COUNTRIES OF EUROPE ON THE RATES OF WAGES, COST OF
LIVING TO THE LABORING CLASSES, PAST AND PRESENT
WAGES, &c., IN THEIR SEVERAL DISTRICTS, IN RESPONSE
TO A CIRCULAR FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE
REQUESTING INFORMATION ON THESE SUBJECTS;

TOGETHER WITH

A LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE TRANSMITTING THE SAME TO
THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

1885.

LABOR IN EUROPE.

LETTER

FROM

THE SECRETARY OF STATE,

REVIEWING

Reports from the consuls of the United States in relation to the state of labor in Europe.

Hon. JOHN G. CARLISLE,

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, December 12, 1884.

Speaker of the House of Representatives :

SIR: By the requirements of section 208 of the Revised Statutes, the Secretary of State is to lay before Congress, each year, "a synopsis of so much of the information which may have been communicated to him by diplomatic and consular officers during the preceding year as he may deem valuable for public information."

The standing instructions of the Department of S'ate to its agents in foreign countries call for periodical information on all matters of public and commercial interest, which is furnished by them with commendable promptness and fullness. Apart from the general heads under which the diplomatic and consular officers abroad are required to seek and transmit information, it has been deemed advisable to specially instruct them from time to time touching matters of distinct interest which may be brought into prominence by the social and economical needs of the country, or by the pressure of public opinion.

Of all these special questions, that of labor and wages is doubtless most important, since an intelligent understanding of the conditions of the existing relations of labor and wages to capital and enterprise in other countries is indispensable to a correct judgment upon problems affecting the laboring and employing classes in our own country.

The importance of gaining such a knowledge of the labor-conditions of foreign countries was early recognized by this Department, and the widely-reaching organization of the consular service was employed in 1878 to collect information respecting the wages paid to European labor, the cost of living in Europe, the condition of business and trade in the different districts, and the business habits and systems there prevalent. A compilation of the replies made by the consuls of the United 92 A-LAB

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