apprentices. As so many foremen and helpers were known, then, to be inseparably included in almost every statement found, the small number reported separately as foremen and helpers were thrown into the general occupation, which must be understood to include all employees on the machinists' roll, from the lowest-paid apprentice to the highest-paid foreman. The value of the data, therefore, for machinists is lessened by reason of this inclusion, but no other course was possible.

In editing the various data found all indefinite statements were omitted entirely, such as wages for all employees of an establishment, and wages for several combined occupations, the intention being to include only those quotations which were for a single specific and reasonably well-defined occupation. A few unimportant occupations having not more than three different quotations have been excluded as being of not sufficient importance to occupy space.

It was often found difficult to determine how broad an expression might be and yet remain specific enough to be considered an occupation name. In this connection it may be stated also that many occupations reasonably specific are yet composite. A large, closely organized establishment may have its working force divided into many classes, while in a similar establishment an occupation may be used to cover several of the more specific ones of the other establishment. For example, one establishment may use the terms "shirt-bosom maker," "collar maker," "shirt maker," etc., while a second establishment may use but the one term "shirt maker," covering the whole labor of making a shirt. There is no doubt also that many employees originally reported and here compiled as sewing-machine operators were engaged in working on shirts. To make a division that the establishment itself had not made, and of which the reports offered no clew, was, of course, impossible.

Foreign occupation names also offered many difficulties. The methods of manufacture and the disposition of employees as regards the specific work done by each were found to differ greatly from the conditions in our own country. In the classification of these occupations the Department has fortunately had the services of experts in its own force, who are thoroughly acquainted with conditions abroad and splendidly equipped for this very work. In regard to these occupation terms the effort has been to ascertain first the specific work represented by each and then classify under the occupation name in our own language which covered the same.

In this editing of occupations it can not be claimed that a perfect classification and wording of the same have been made. To so modify the wording as to bring together the facts for an occupation and still preserve the meaning was a difficult task, owing to the great number

consideration the differences and uncertainties found in the material from which this compilation has been made, however, coming as it does from hundreds of sources, and being expressed in a number of languages, it is believed that the best that is possible has been done.

CONVERSION OF WAGES EXPRESSED IN FOREIGN MONEYS.

It was not expected that any great difficulty would be encountered in converting into the United States equivalent wages which were expressed in foreign moneys, but when this work was taken up it was found that many difficulties existed. The United States itself has not been on a stable, uniform monetary basis during the whole period of its existence. Since 1792 the United States gold coins have been changed twice, and one slight change has been made in the silver dollar. Much of the paper money which was in circulation before the civil war was depreciated, and Government notes fluctuated in their ratio to gold from 1862 to 1878. All of the quotations found in the various United States and State reports are presented in this compilation in the kind of money given in the original sources. Inasmuch as these sources were uniformly silent as to the kind of money in which wages were paid, the Department has not felt itself warranted in making any reduction or change in the figures from these sources. It may fairly be presumed, however, that a dollar means a representative dollar of the date and State quoted, and it may also be presumed that quotations from 1862 to 1878 are in paper currency, except possibly in the Pacific coast States. For the convenience of those who may wish to know the average value of United States gold in paper currency in the years from 1862 to 1878, the following table, published by the United States Treasury Department, is presented:

AVERAGE VALUE OF UNITED STATES GOLD IN PAPER CURRENCY, 1862 TO 1878

The greater part of the foreign wage quotations were found expressed in the pound sterling, the franc, and the mark. These and some other monetary units of foreign countries have remained unchanged for years and were easily converted into the United States equivalent.

L

Other monetary units, however, were found that were not so readily converted. Among them were the o' English, German, Norwegian, Dutch, and Austrian moneys, and the ever shifting moneys of Japan, China, Mexico, India, etc. All foreign moneys have been converted into the United States gold equivalent, and this should be constantly borne in mind in making comparison of domestic and foreign wages. The pound sterling has from 1816 up to the present time contained the same amount of gold, and manifestly in order to compare English wages for one year with another the pound must be given a uniform valuation during that period. For this reason the fluctuations of exchange have been ignored and the conversion made uniformly on the basis of $4.8665 as the equivalent of one pound sterling. Before 1816 there may be a doubt as to the value of the pound, but after consulting several authorities on this subject it has been thought best to use the same valuation back to 1717. The few quotations for years previous to 1717 have been omitted as being too doubtful for conversion.

The French franc has been unchanged for many years, and in this compilation has been converted at 19.3 cents. The franc of other countries, the lira, the mark, crown, and some other foreign monetary units, have fixed values running back for a shorter period of time. In converting fluctuating moneys the valuations have been taken from the regular published statements of the United States Treasury. In converting old-style moneys and moneys but little used or known the valuations have been taken from the Statesman's Yearbook and through the English converted into United States money.

YEAR COVERED.

The year tabulated is the year in which the wages quoted were paid. On this subject many reports were perfectly clear. The statement was clearly and positively made, either in the introduction of the book or in connection with the wages, as to the exact year of the data. Other reports, however, were absolutely silent on the question, and it could only be presumed in these cases that the wages were for the year of publication. Biennial reports gave particular trouble in this respect, some furnishing information as to the year to which the data applied, which might be either one or both of the years covered by the report, while others made no mention of the particular year. In the latter case the second year of the two nominally covered by the report was fixed on as the year to which the data applied.

LOCALITY.

Had the data in all cases been given it would no doubt have added to the value of the compilation to have included information as to the

city in foreign countries, to which each quotation applied. This information, however, was given in but a small proportion of the instances, and it was found impracticable to publish the quotations other than by State or country.

SEX.

Many of the reports which furnished data as to wages plainly stated the sex of the persons for whom wages were shown. Other reports were either entirely silent on this subject or furnished information with reference to but part of the data given. Frequently two quotations were found in the same report for the same occupation, as, for instance, blacksmiths. With one quotation the sex was given; with the other quotation, of an equal or even higher rate, no statement was made as to sex. Rather than use two lines in the tabulation of this statement-one for "males" and one for "sex not reported"—it was thought better to assume that the second quotation was for a male person and combine the two in one average when everything appeared to support the correctness of the assumption.

HOURS OF LABOR.

The hours of labor were reported generally by the day or week, although occasionally they were given by the month. For the sake of uniformity it was necessary to reduce all these statements to a common basis, and to do this it was necessary to determine the days of work per week in all occupations. It is quite possible that some error of judgment has occurred in this classification, although it is thought that this has occurred in but few cases. Hours per day have been changed to hours per week by multiplying by 6 or by 7, as the occupation was stated or was presumed to be one of six or seven days per week.

RATES OF WAGES.

Rates were found reported by the hour, day, week, month, or yearin some cases by the piece. Piece rates, however, were excluded, except for a few occupations having piece-rate units generally understood. In order to secure uniformity of tabulation it was found necessary to reduce all time rates to a common basis. In most instances these rates were given by the day, and for this reason all rates were reduced to this basis. In many cases it was stated that the occupation was one in which work was carried on either six or seven days per week. Where this was not stated, however, it was necessary to arbitrarily class the quotation for a given occupation as engaged six or seven days per week, and this has been done in some instances. Weekly wages were reduced to daily by dividing by 6 or 7, as the case was known or presumed to be. Monthly rates were LAB 1900- -2

reduced by multiplying by 12 and dividing by 313 or 365, while yearly rates were reduced by dividing by 313 or 365, as the case might be. The table shows the lowest and highest rates reported, and in data for the United States the average rate is also given.

No quotations were accepted for the United States unless the number of employees was given, and with such data it was possible to secure a scientific average. It was found, however, that if the same rule were applied to foreign data comparatively few quotations could be secured, inasmuch as a very large proportion of the quotations from foreign reports were not accompanied by data as to the number of employees. It will be clearly seen that a true average could be computed only by multiplying each rate by the number engaged thereat, adding the products, and dividing the sum by the whole number of persons considered. The number of employees, as has been stated, was seldom given with foreign quotations; hence the true average could seldom be computed for these data. Owing to this fact it was deemed best to omit both the number of persons and the average in the few cases where they might have been given. The effort was made by the study of a number of occupations to determine upon a representative mean rate in connection with foreign quotations to correspond with the true average of domestic wages. After considerable work in this direction, however, it was found that anything which could be selected would probably be incorrect and misleading, and for this reason the attempt to select such a representative mean rate was discontinued. The lowest and highest rates given are the lowest and highest found. They must not be considered as the exact lowest and highest uniformly, for the reason that many reports appeared to be careless in their presentation, wages being given without any statement as to whether actual or average. The reader, therefore, can only infer from the appearance of the data whether the quotation represents an actual rate paid, an average rate paid, or average earnings. The attempt was made in copying these data to designate in every instance whether the rate was actual or average, but it was found practically impossible to do so with any certainty, as statements were not often made as regards this point. It will thus be seen that the figures which are given for lowest and highest may themselves be averages, the lowest and highest rates found in this report being here presented as lowest and highest.

ARRANGEMENT OF COMPILATION.

A systematic arrangement of the compilation was of course necessary to make it readily usable. The arrangement adopted is as follows: (1) The occupation classification is the first one, the occupations being arranged strictly in alphabetical order; (2) under each occupation the years are arranged in order, the earliest years appearing first;