MASTER NEGATIVE NO. 94-821 40- 14 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials including foreign works under certain conditions. In addition, the United States extends protection to foreign works by means of various international conventions, bilateral agreements, and proclamations. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. The Columbia University Libraries reserve the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. Author: U.S. Bureau of Labor Title: Summary of the wages and hours of labor from Place: Washington, D.C. Date: 1912 MASTER NEGATIVE # COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DIVISION BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET ORiGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD Business D2S2 Un396 I hkiwna U. S, Bureau of labor. Summary of the wages and hours of labor from the Report on conditions of employ- ment in the iron and steel industry in the United States, Washington, 1912. 57 p. tables. (cU. S.3 62d Cong., 2d sess. Senate. Doc. no. 301) n RESTRICTIONS ON USE: TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: 7>^mTC\ REDUCTION RATIO; \M IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA IIAJ IB IIB DATE FILMED: TRACKING # : UX3 \c\n INITIALS: vV.va/ ttiJH 0(fe:fa. FILMED BY PRESERVATION RESOURCES. BETHLEHEM. PA. > O O £7) O U3 o m CD O ^ o O en X < N A^' .'S' ^, 'V? ^, •^^,7^ '^A ^ o i 3 .•^^ > Ul A^ ^^^.4 a? o o 3 3 en o - 1^ 1^ Os 00 ro b ro bo In 1.0 mm 1.5 mm 2.0 mm ABCDEFGHUKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghiiklmnopqrstuvwxy/ 1234667890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 ^o 2.5 mm ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 .< fe i^ ^f

C CO I TJ ^ ^ O 00 m 33 O m 3 3 o > dm i5 t^ C/3 OOM S o 3 3 ±.rn Is P i^ en ^ mmm RNKKI^W 8 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 9 §: results of these studies of conditions of employment and of acci- dents and accident prevention will form the subjects of later volumes of this report. GENERAL SUMMARY. The fact that stands out most strikingly in any study of the labor conditions in the iron and steel industry in the United States is the unusually long schedule of working hours to which the larger num- ber of the employees in this industry are subject. During May, 1910, the period covered by this investigation, 60,000, or 29 per cent, of the 173,000 employees of blast furnaces and steel works and rolUng mills covered by this report customarily worked 7 days per week, and 20 per cent of them worked 84 hours or more per week, which, in effect, means a 12-hour working day every day in the week, including Sunday. The evil of 7-day work was particularly accentuated by the fact developed in the investi- gation, that the 7-day working week was not confined to the blast- furnace department where there is a metallurgical necessity for con- tinuous operation, and in which department 88 per cent of the employees worked 7 days a week; but it was also found that, to a considerable extent, in other departments where no such metallurgical necessity can be claimed, productive work was carried on on Sun- day just as on other days of the week. For example, in some estab- lishments the Bessemer converters, the open-hearth furnaces, and blooming, rail, and structural mills were found operating 7 days a week for commercial reasons only. The hardship of a 12-hour day and a 7-day week is still further increased by the fact that every week or two weeks, as the case may be, when the employees on the day shift are transferred to the night shift, and vice versa, employees remain on duty without relief either 18 or 24 consecutive hours, according to the practice adopted for the change of shift. The most common plan to effect this change of shift is to work one shift of employees on the day of change tlirough the entire 24 hours, the succeeding shift working the regular 12 hours when it comes on duty. In some instances the change is effected by having one shift remain on duty 18 hours and the succeeding shift work 18 hours. During the time that one shift is on duty, of course, the employees on the other shift have the same number of hours of relief from duty. That much of the Sunday labor which has been prevalent in the steel industry is no more necessary than in other industries is shown conclu- sively by the fact that at the time of the investigation made in 1910 by this Bureau into the conditions of labor in the Bethlehem Steel Works, the president of the Steel Corporation directed the rigid enforce- ment of a resolution adopted three years previous, cutting out a large fr part of Sunday work except in the blast-furnace department. Even in the blast-furnace department, where there is a metallurgical neces- sity for continuous operation day and night throughout 7 days of the week, there is practically nothing except the desire to economize in the expense of production that has prevented the introduction of a system that would give each employee 1 day of rest out of the 7. Since the beginning of the present investigation, however, this matter of abolishing 7-day work for the individual employees in the blast furnaces, as well as in other departments of the industry, has received the attention of the American Iron and Steel Institute, and through a committee of that organization a plan has been pro- posed which gives each employee one day of rest each week. A number of the plants throughout the country have, at the instance of the Institute, adopted this plan or some modification of it, and have successfully operated it for several months. A thorough dis- cussion of these plans and of their value in solving the problem to which they are applied will be found in the volume dealing with the general conditions of labor in the industry. During the investigation those in charge of the plants have in their discussions with representatives of the Bureau frequently emphasized the fact that the men working these very long hours are not kept busy all the time. To a considerable extent this is perfectly true; but the employees in question are on duty and subject to orders during the en- tire period, and they are not, except in rare instances, allowed to leave the plant. It should not be overlooked that it is not simply the char- acter or the continuity of the work, but the fact that in the case of the 12-hour-a-day man one-half of each 24 hours — more than three- fourths of his waking hours — is spent on duty in the miUs, which is of significance to the worker and his family. Nothing has been done by the manufacturers nor have any proposals been made to lessen the proportion of men working 72 hours or more per week. It was found in this investigation that nearly 43 per cent of the 173,000 employees in the iron and steel industry were working at least 72 hours per week, or 12 hours per day for 6 days a week. This proportion re- mains unchanged, being unaffected by the plan to give the men who were working 84 hours per week one day of rest in seven. An added significance attaches to the 'conditions of labor here described as characteristic of the iron and steel industry when we consider that the general tendency in other industries for years past has been toward a shorter working-day. Years ago the 10-hour day became almost a standard; since that time further reductions have brought the working-day to 9, and in many cases, to 8 hours, and this reduction has been accompanied by a part holiday on Saturday. K is, therefore, in striking contrast to this general tendency in other r 4 10 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IKON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. industries to find in a great basic industry, such as that part of the iron and steel industry covered in this report, that approximately only 14 per cent of the 173,000 employees work less than 60 houra per week and almost 43 per cent work 72 hours or over per week. Another striking characteristic of the labor conditions in the iron and steel industry is the large proportion of unskilled workmen in the labor force. These unskilled workmen are very largely recruited from the ranks of recent immigrants For the industry as a whole, not far from one-half of the 91,463 employees in the productive iron and steel occupations included within this investigation were of the class of unskilled workmen. In the blast-furnace department, the largest single department in the industry, more than two-thirds of the 24,722 employees in productive occupations were unskilled laborers, a large proportion of whom do not yet speak or under- stand English; and even in the South the number of immigrants employed in the industry is rapidly increasing. Taking the employees in all occupations in the industry, nearly 60 per cent are foreign-born, and nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born are of the Slavic races. Large as is the proportion that unskilled labor forms of the total labor force in the iron and steel industry, steel experts have noted the fact that the tendency of recent years has been steadily toward the reduction of the number of higliiy skilled men employed and the establishment of the general wage on the basis of common or unsldlled labor. Nor is this tendency likely to diminish, since each year sees a wider use of mechanical appliances which unskilled labor can easily be trained to handle. Of the total of 172,706 employees, 13,868, or 8.03 per cent, earned less than 14 cents per hour,* 20,527, or 11.89 per cent, earned 14 and under 16 cents, and 51,417, or 29.77 per cent, earned 16 and under 18 cents. Thus 85,812, or 49.69 per cent of all the employees, received less than 18 cents per hour. Those earning 18 and under 25 cents per hour numbered 46,132, or 26.71 per cent, while 40,762, or 23.61 per -.ent, earned 25 cents and over. A few very highly skilled employees received $1.25 per hour; and those receiving 50 cents and over per hour numbered 4,403, or 2.55 per cent of all employees. In general it may be said that earnings of less than 18 cents per hour represent unskilled labor. The group earning 18 and under 25 cents per Iiour represents semiskilled workmen, while those earning 25 cents and over per hour are skilled employees. The most common rate per hour for unskilled labor in the New England district was 15 cents; in the Eastern district, 13 and 14 cents; in the Pittsburgh dis- trict, 16 and 17 cents; in the Great Lakes and Middle West district, » Throughout this report the earnings given represent the actual amount earned by the employee less the amount paid helpers and other employees for their assistance, where work Is done on a contract basis No account is taken of deductions for hospital or medical fees and simUar deductions for which the employee' receives some return. - I SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOUBS OF I/ABOR. 11 15, 16, and 17 cents; and in the Southern district, 10, 12 J, 13, and 13 J cents.* A brief summary of the conditions as regards earnings, hours, and days worked per week in the industry is given in the table which fol- lows. It is given here as preliminary to a more detailed examination of the results of the investigation, department by department. SUMMARY OF EARNINGS AND HOURS OF LABOR, BY BRANCHES OF THE INDUSTRY. Branches of industry. Num- ber of plants. Blastfurnaces 156 31,854 Num- ber of em- ploy- Steel works and rolling mills: Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills and crucible fur- naces Rolling mills Tube mills Total, steel works and rolling mills . Power, mechanical, and yard force Grand total 24 5,618 80 14,618 58 7,489 212 43,631 12 4,252 212 75,608 168 65,744 «338 172,706 Earnings per hour., Hours per week. Per cent of employ- ees earning— Per cent of employ- ees customarily working— Un- der 16 Un- der 18 cents. ; cents. 31.70 65.96 25 i cents! and I over. 84 72 60 hours hours hoars and and and over. over. under. Per cent of em- ployees cus- tom- arily work- ing? days per week. 7.70 |»62.79 »68.55 110.71 187.88 13.88 47.03 126.36 20.04 148.80 i23.75 17.53 15.88 8.77 27.89 51.46 40.25 132.45 47.81 11.71 .18.08 : 65.61 17.84 23.65 76.29 8.07 .65 3. 85 72. 47 28.28 240.68 31.23 1.55 3.71 65.85 16.30 141.61 [31.03 18.45 51.22 i22.64 210.85 243.69 231.79 11.70 28.94 55.56 :l= 19.92 49.69 123.60 <20.59 <42.58 i<37.02 24.07 30.20 1.42 210.00- 1.93 213.65 19.34 429.28 1 Not including 31 employees who worked 2 days only, and 2 employees who worked 3 days only. « Not including 2 employees who worked 1 day only. » Actual number of plants. The total number of plants can not be obtained by simple addition of the number of plants having the specified departments, as many plants have two or more departments. For example, many plants with l)last furnaces have also steel works and rolling mills. See ta]>le p. 12. * Not including 2 employees who worked 1 day only, 31 employees who worked 2 days only, and 2 employees who worked 3 days only. The facts presented in the above table are of such simple character that no explanation is necessary. It is sufficient merely to point out the wide differences which exist between the various dej)artments. The blast furnaces show the lowest general level of earnings, 65.96 per cent of all the employees in that branch of the industry earning less than 18 cents per hour, 31.7 per cent earning less than 16 cents per hour, and only 7.7 per cent, or 1 man in 13, earning as much as 25 cents per hour. More than four times as many emplo^'ees earned less than 16 cents per hour as earned 25 cents or more per hour. The highest general level of earnings shown are for the puddling mills and crucible furnaces, where 51.46 per cent of the employees earn 25 cents and over per hour and 27.89 per cent earn under 18 cents per hour. Even greater differences exist between the different branches of the industry as regards w^orking time. The blast fur- naces and open-hearth furnaces show the longest schedule of working hours, and the tube mills, puddling mills, and crucible furnaces decidedly the shortest. 1 For explanation of these districts as used In this report, see p. 13. -■* «^ \ S-: i* 12 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. SUMMARY OF EARNINGS AND HOURS AND DAYS OF WORK IN BLAST FURNACES, STEEL WORKS, AND ROLL- ING MILLS, BY DEPARTMENTS AND DISTRICTS. EXTENT OF THE INVESTIGATION. The data presented in the following section are for blast furnaces, steel works, and rolling mills, together with their auxiliary depart- ments. The data for steel foundries, which fall outside the scope of the investigation as originally planned, are not included here, but are presented in a separate chapter of this volume. The report for blast furnaces, steel works, and rolling miUs covers 338 plants located in 25 States and the District of Columbia. The distribution of the plants by States is shown in the following table, as well as the general character of the plants themselves: NUMBER OF BLAST FURNACES, STEEL WORKS, AND ROLLING MILLS FOR WHICH DATA ARE REPORTED, BY STATES. Number of plants having specified depart- ments. States. Blast fur- naces alone. T51a">t fur- naces with steel works and roll- ing mills. 1 Steel works and rolling mills. Pud- ! dling mills and rolling mills. Rolling mills alone. Total 1 Maine 1 i* 1 1 Massachusetts 2 1 1 1 4 4 Rhode Island 2 Connecticut 1 xTn™^ v«-u /New England district 3 13 4 >21 422 2 3 1 3 14 19 i* 12 xsew X orK ^Q^gat Lakes and Middle West district. . 2 6 ■ New Jersey 4 10 «20 1 •26 6 1 12 i>«„.,„,,i. .-^ /Eastern district 2 »11 73 Pennsylvama {pittsburgh district . 78 Delaware 1 Maryland 1 2 District of Columbia i* 1 Virginia 7 [ 7 -iv<»f v.-«»j«,-r. (Wheeling district 1 1 1 1 ........ 3 West Virgmia {southern district 1 Kentucky «3 10 2 10 9 6 9 2 }■ 6 "Tennessee 11 Georgia 1 3 Alabama •. 2 2 2 6 9 14 [Youngstown district 2 3 2 2 24 Ohio -cLakeand interior counties 22 tSouthern district 9 Indiana 2 3 A »2 1 3 8 1 7 Illinois 3 7 2 1 2 19 Michigan 8 Wisconsin 1 3 Mirmesota ^ 1 Missouri 1 3 Colorado 1 1 Oregon 1 1 i' 1 ■California 2 ' Total « 126 *33 • 55 •48 1 76 338 I 1 Including 1 plant which was combined with another plant of the same company in the wage reports. * Including 1 plant which includes a puddling mill as well as the departments specified and 1 plant which was combined with another plant of the same company in the wage reports. » Including 4 plants which were combined with otner plants of the same company in the wage reports and 1 plant in which the puddling department was canceled because of imperfect data. * Including 1 plant which includes a puddling mill as well as the departments specified. 6 Including I plant in which the puddling department was canceled because of imperfect data. * See notes to details. SUMMABY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 13 The plants represented in this table include every important plant in the United States/ and in every State and district cover practically all the plants which were in operation in May, 1910. The complete character of the information is seen when it is understood that the 159 blast furnace plants for which data are reported contained 285 of the 289 stacks reported by the Iron Age as in blast in May, 1910. Every standard Bessemer plant in operation in May is covered in this report, there being one plant which operated its Bessemer department for only a short time during 1910, for which no data are reported. Similarly 80 of the 83 open-hearth furnace plants in steel works are reported upon, and more than three-fourths of the puddling and rolling mills, although data are not available from which the exact proportions can be determined. It wiU be noted in the above table that the distribution of the plants of different types in the different States is far from uniform. The large plants having blast furnaces, steel works, and rolhng mills oper- ated as one unit are chiefly located in the Pittsburgh district of Pennsylvania and the Youngstown district of Ohio. The puddling mills are to a large extent located in the eastern district of Pennsyl- vania, while the plants of the Southern States are nearly all blast furnaces not connected with steel works or rolling mills. This difference in the character of the plants located in the different parts of the country is so marked that a division of the country into a small number of districts of significance in the industry is easily made. For the purpose of this report the iron and steel plants were grouped into six districts. The ^'New England" district includes the New England States and the eastern and central parts of New York State; the " Eastern '* district includes New Jersey, eastern and central Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland; the '^ Pitts- burgh" district includes the western part of Pennsylvama and the northern part of West Virginia, as well as the eastern part of Ohio; the "Great Lakes and Middle West" district includes the Buffalo plants and the North Central States (with the exception of the southern and eastern section of Ohio), together with the scattered plants lying as far west as Colorado; the "Southern" district includes the southern section of Ohio and all of the Southern States except Maryland; the "Pacific Coast" district includes the few States along the coast. The table following, which shows the character of the plants in the different districts, shows more clearly the nature of the geographical distribution of the industry. 1 Bxoept the Bethlehem Steel Works, which was the sabjeet of a report just prior to this investigation . "V • I I - u LABOR CONDITIONS IN lEON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. NUMBER OF BLAST FURNACES, STEEL WORKS, AND ROLLING DATA ARE REPORTED, BY DISTRICTS. MILLS FOR WHICH Districts. BIl«t nioa only. Blast fur- naces with stesl works and rolling mills. Steel works and rolling mills. Pud- dling mills with rolling mills. Roll- I^US only. Total. New Eneland 5 25 31 24 41 2' 17 11 3 7 14 4 3 28 8 5 2 2 5 17 26 23 4 1 20 Eastern 8# Pittsbureh 105 Great Lakes and Middle West 7» Southern 51 Pacific Coast 3 Total 126 33 56 48 76 1338 , 1 Actual number of plants. The total number of plants can not be found by simple addition of the number of plants having the specified departments, as many plants have two or more departments. The blast-furnace plants, it will be noted, are very evenly distrib- uted in the four principal districts. The importance of the Southern district as a producer of pig iron is apparently exaggerated by the above showing. As a matter of fact, while it has 44 plants with blast furnaces, in comparison with the 48 of the Pittsburgh district, the plants of the Pittsburgh district have twice the number of stacks and produce neariy three times as much pig iron as the plants in the Southern district. The separate rolling mills also, it will be noted, are fairly evenly distributed in the different districts. The relative importance of the different districts is more clearly shown in the following table: NUMBER OF PLANTS REPORTED AND NUMBER AND PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES IN PRODUCTIVE AND IN GENERAL OCCUPATIONS FOR WHOM DATA ARE RE- PORTED, BY DISTRICTS. Districts. New England Eastern Pittsburgh Great Lakes and Middle West. Southern Pacific Coast Total. Num- ber of plants. 20 89 105 70 51 3 338 Number of employees in- Per cent of em- ployees in each district in- Per cent of em- Produc- Gen- All oc- Produc- Gen- ployees meach tive 00- eral oc- cupa- tive oo- eral oc- dis- cupft- cupa- tions. cupa- cupa- trict. tlODfl. tiODS. tions. tiODS. 2,506 1,587 4,093 01. 2 38.8 2.4 17,885 10,256 28,091 63.5 36.5 16. S 42,326 40,050 82,376 51.4 48.6 47.7 21,887 24,052 46,049 47.8 52.2 26.7 6,586 5,198 11,784 55.9 44.1 6.8 213 100 313 68.1 \ 3L9 .2 91,461 81,248 172,706 53.0 47.0 100.0 From the above table it will be seen that while the Pittsburgh dis- trict has less than one-third of all the plants reported it embraces approximately 48 per cent of all the employees in the industry. Similarly, the plants of the Great Lakes and Middle West district, while 19 fewer in number than those of the Eastern district, because SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 15 of the larger size of the plants, have more than 50 per cent more employees. While the Pacific Coast district is insignificant as regards number of employees, the wages in that district are so far different from those in the remainder of the country that it was necessary to present the facts separately. In the presentation of the facts as regards wages and hours of labor in the industry, the primary classification of the employees is that shown in the table. This division of the employees between those directly connected with the production of iron and steel and those whose work is of a general character connected with the production of power, transportation, and in general with the maintenance of the plant is fundamental to a proper understanding of the labor situation in the industry. The working conditions of the two groups are widely different as regards physical surroundings, general nature of the work, and hours of labor. Furthermore, the employees in the general occupations are largely machinists or in the skilled and semi- skilled mechanical trades, and the iron and steel industrv is in direct competition with many other industries in employing them. In the productive occupations the work of all the skilled and semiskilled employees is speciaHzed to a considerable degree, so that they are to a large extent dependent upon the iron and steel industry for employment. It will be noted that for the industry as a whole these two groups of employees are of very nearly the same size, the productive occupa- tion group embracing 53 per cent of all emploj^ees, and the general occupation group embracing 47 per cent. The very large pro- portion of the total labor force w^hich these employees who are not directly connected with production form is one of the most striking characteristics of the iron and steel industry. It will be noted that there is a considerable divergence between the districts in the proportion of employees in the general occupation group. This arises from the fact that tliis group is largest in the very large modern establishments, where the functions are highly speciaHzed and where mechanical methods of production require a large force for power production, repairs, and yard transportation. For this reason the Pittsburgh and the Great Lakes and Middle West districts, where most of the large, highly developed plants are located, have the largest proportion of employees in the general occupations, and leaving out of con- sideration the Pacific Coast district, the Eastern district, where puddling mills and small rolling mills are numerous, has the smallest percentage in this group. The tendency of the industry is alto gether in the direction of increasing the proportion of employees in the general occupation group through the extension of mechanical naethods of production and through increased specialization of occupa- tions. This is exemplified in the fact that in one of the most modern 1 "/"'•; V-^^fl3^^^!ff^ «»^M*r^.»*R"'^ ffm^ 16 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL. INDUSTRY. * 1 plants in the country'the employees in the general occupation group form more than 60 per cent of the entire labor force. In this con- nection it should be noted that all the common laborers specifically charged to a department in the reports of each company have been classified with the productive occupation group for that department. The distribution of the employees by departments as well as the relative proportions of employees in the productive and in the gen- eral occupation groups in each department are shown in the table which follows: NUMBER OF PLANTS REPORTED AND NUMBER AND PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES IN PRODUCTIVE AND IN GENERAL OCCUPATIONS FOR WHOM DATA ARE REPORTED, BY DEPARTMENTS. Num- ber of plants. Number of employees in- Per cent of em- ployees in each department in— Per cent of em- ploy- Departments. Produc- tive oo- cupa- tions. General oc-cupa- tions. All occu- pations. Pro- ductive occupa- tions. Gen- eral oo- cupa- tions. eesm each de- part- ment. Producing departments: Blast furnaces 1.56 24 80 47 11 51 34 10 16 27 116 19 11 12 24,722 4,927 12,421 6,447 633 4,485 5.193 3,584 3,160 2,869 16,148 1,915 864 4,095 6,632 691 2,197 314 95 1,269 748 942 332 403 1,178 641 31,354 5,618 14,618 6,7ei 728 5,754 5,941 4,526 3,492 3,272 17,326 2,456 864 4,252 78.8 87.7 85.0 95.4 87.0 77.9 87.4 79.2 90.5 87.7 93.2 78.0 100.0 96.3 2L2 12.3 15.0 4.6 13.0 22.1 12.6 20.8 9.5 12.3 6.8 22.0 '"3*7" 18.2 Bessemer converters 3.3 Onen-hearth furnaces 8.5 Puddline mills 3.9 Crucible furnaces .4 Bloomini' mills 3.3 Plate mills 3.4 Standard rail mills 2.6 Structural, light rail,and other shape mills 2.0 Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills L9 10.0 Garrett rod mills L4 Misopllanpoiis rod mills .5 Tube mills 157 2.5 Total, producing departmenta . . . 91,463 15,499 106,962 85.5 14.5 6L9 Power, mechanical, and yard force: St^am {"as nnfi Wfttpr 6,037 22,855 3,221 22,588 3,864 4.618 2,561 6,037 22,855 3,221 22,588 3,864 4,618 2,561 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 3.6 Yftrfl anri trftfisnortfttion . .............. 13.2 Wlpptrip nnvvpr and renairs ........ LO ShoDS •••• •••••••• 13.1 Mf^onaiiical ren^rs i 2.2 Rhinnine^ . . .-.- -- 2.7 Miscellaneous 1.6 Total, power, mechanicfil, and yard force 65,744 65,744 100.0 38.1 Grand total 91,463 81,243 172,706 53.0 47.0 100.0 A truer understanding of the relative importance of the different departments of the industry in furnishing opportunities for employ- ment would be given if it were possible to apportion the work done by the power, mechanical, and yard force properly among the differ- ent departments. This is impossible in a wage presentation because the employees included under the head of power, mechanical, and yard force do not work for specific departments, but work as they are needed for each in turn and can therefore be charged only against the plant as a whole. Some comment, however, will greatly aid in secur- ing a correct understanding of the significance of this table. In the first place, the blast furnaces are in large part operated as separate SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 17 Jw Av ^^mrnm- l»ir^.^T'.n'«pr..,T «»-«r-' Pvv. ■,* W-, ik. "' <« 18 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IKON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. Some comment is necessary in order to bring out the significance of the facts shown in this table. There are three primary divisions of the iron and steel industry; first, the production of pig iron in the blast furnaces, second, the refining and conversion of the greater part of this pig iron into steel or puddled iron in the Bessemer converters, open-hearth, or crucible furnaces, or puddling mills, and finally the mechanical working and shaping of this material in the rollin<' and tube mills. "^ It will be seen from the above table that the production of pig iron affords employment to 31,354, or 18.2 per cent, of the 172,706 employees m the industry, and that of this number only 78 8 per cent were directly engaged in production. For the production of steel and puddled iron, 27,725 employees, or 16.1 per cent of the total num- ber were required, of whom approximately 90 per cent were directly engaged m production. Of these, 14,618 were employed in the open- hearth furnaces, which during recent years has become the most important steel-making process. In the rolling mills and tube mills together were 47,883 employees, or 27.8 per cent of the total number of whom approximately 90 per cent were directly engaged in pro- duction. The largest single group, however, including 65,744 employees, or 38.1 per cent, were only very indirectly concerned with production, their work being altogether devoted to repairs, power generation, and the disposition of the products. EARNINGS, BY DEPARTMENTS. More than one-half, or 56.48 per cent, of the 172,706 employees included m this report earned 16 and under 25 cents per hour; almost one-fifth, 19.92 per cent, earned less than 16 cents per hour; ahnost exactly one-half, 49.69 per cent, earned less than 18 cents per hour- three-fourths, 76.40 per cent, earned less than 25 cents per hour; 97.45 per cent earned less than 50 cents per hour; and 2.55 per cent earned 50 cents and over per hour. The summary which follows shows by means of cumulative per- centages the classified earnings for each of the principal branches of the industry: •» ■ • SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 19 PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES EARNING LESS THAN SPECIFIED AMOUNT PER HOUR. BY BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. Branches of industry. Normal number of em- ployees. Per cent of employees earning per hoar- Blast furnaces 31, 354 Steel works and roUinp mills: ' Bessemer converters 5^ 618 Open-hearth furnaces !!!!!!; I4! 618 Puddling mills and crucible furnaces i 7,489 Rolling mills , 43. 631 Tube mills 4, 2.'j2 Total, steel works and rolling mills 75. 008 Power, mechanical, and yard force 65, 744 Grand total 172, 706^ Under i Under 14 cents. 16.29 1.21 9.37 5.35 5.74 3.01 18 cents. Under Under 25 FO cents. , cents. 65.96 I 92.30 99.94 I 47.03 48.80 27.89 40.25 47.81 73.64 76.25 48.54 07.55 88.29 5.91 41.61 I 68.97 95.64 98.54 94.26 93.03 97.77 94.68 6.52 I 51.22 I 77.36 99.46 8.03 I 49.69 76.40 97.45 Comparing first the two primary divisions of the industry, the blast furnaces and the steel works and rolling mills, wide differences are seen to exist in the general level and range of earnings. This differ- ence is marked in every group shown above, but particularly in the highest and lowest. Nearly three times as large a proportion of the employees in blast furnaces were reported as earning under 14 cents per hour as in the steel works and rolling mills, the percentages being 16.29 and 5.91, respectively. In the blast furnaces only 0.06 per cent of all the employees earned as much as 50 cents per hour, while in the steel works and rolling mills 5.32 per cent were earning 50 cents and over per hour. Of the subdivisions of the steel works and rolling mills, the puddling mills and crucible furnaces show the high- est general level of earnings, although the rolling mills have the largest proportion earning 50 cents and over per hour. The tube mills show the lowest general level of earnings of any of the subdivisions, the mnge being unusually narrow, although in the open-hearth furnaces there is a very large proportion of employees, for the most part boys, earning less than 14 cents per hour. A more exact understanding of the range and distribution of earn- ings will be obtained from the following table, which shows in detail for all of the departments of the industry the number and per cent of employees earning each classified amount per hour. It will be noted that in this table the various types of rolling mills are shown sepa- rately, and that the power, mechanical, and yard force is subdivided into its constituent departments. The first section of the table shows numbers and the second section percentages. It will be noted that the average net earnings per hour were not computed except for the employees in productive occupations, on account of the great amount of work and time involved. u'jiii^- m^::^-^:- X V. 20 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IBON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. AVERAGE EARNINGS PER HOUR AND NUMBER AND PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES Mar- ginal num- ber. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Departments. Number of plants. Employees in productive occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces !!!!!!! Blooming mills .'......'.'.'... Plate mills ." ' Standard rail mills \\"".[" Structural, light rail, and other shape mYlis.*."! Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, productive occupations. Employees in general occupations; Blast furnaces . Bessemer converters .......'. Open-hearth furnaces '. Puddling mills ......'..'. Crucible furnaces ..'..'.. Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other "shape "ml*lis\ Miscellaneous mechanical mills Barmdls Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills. Tube mills 156 24 80 47 11 51 34 10 16 27 116 19 11 12 Normal number of employees. ! 24,722 4,927 12,421 6,447 633 4,485 5,193 3,584 3,160 2,869 16,148 1,915 864 4,095 91,463 153 24 67 34 11 48 31 10 13 23 76 19 Total, general occupations. Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water Yard and transportation Electric power and repairs Shops...... Mechanical repairs Shipping ,'"'_■' Miscellaneous 11 6,632 691 2,197 314 95 1,269 748 942 332 403 1,178 541 167 Total, power, mechanical, and yard force. Grand total 15,499 6,037 22,855 3,221 22.588 3,864 4,618 2,561 65,744 172,706 Average earnings per hour. 0.172 .232 .219 .274 .265 .255 .255 .228 .216 .237 .271 .302 .269 .205 .223 SUMMABY OF WAGES AND HOURS OP LABOR. 21 EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT PER HOUR, BY DEPARTMENTS. Number of employees earning each classified amount per hour. Under 12 cents. 12 and under 14 cents. 14 1 and under 16 cents. 16 and under 18 cents. 18 and under 20 cents. 20 and under 25 cents. 25 and under 30 cents. 30 and under 40 cents. 40 and under 50 cents. 60 and under 60 cents 60 and under 70 cents. 1 i 70 i cents 1 and over. " Mar- ginal num- ber. 1,378 23 431 51 22 104 156 56 .58 20 490 5 2 49 3,032 31 867 269 23 164 257 186 22 29 629 60 3 74 4,192 656 1,218 812 50 344 530 514 501 158 1,581 87 80 243 9,273 1,635 3,681 564 128 1,217 938 962 1,018 1,050 2,931 490 227 1,648 3,231 482 985 290 45 361 486 281 416 311 1,612 205 76 738 2,540 699 2,196 946 123 574 897 696 392 519 2,847 233 143 867 722 433 1,164 899 56 429 645 257 329 253 1,613 172 96 163 326 461 1,142 1,960 105 644 641 238 285 223 1,904 177 113 169 26 262 529 267 44 303 278 189 63 137 1,104 137 45 59 2 110 94 317 18 204 164 96 37 97 607 153 37 37 1 68 38 20 7 84 95 87 18 31 311 109 16 57 67 76 62 13 57 116 24 21 41 519 78 26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 2,845 5,655 10,966 25,762 9,519 13,671 7,220 8,388 3,443 1,962 941 1,091 245 3 39 11 1 16 2 4 8 6 44 18 452 11 32 23 1 45 12 43 4' 26 28 640 56 342 50 ""m 120 106 17 15 168 79 1,470 227 523 65 19 440 266 296 190 120 343 156 1,170 130 323 22 10 240 70 130 27 114 150 119 1,316 184 509 76 34 241 141 240 49 89 196 57 756 68 276 36 22 94 91 108 34 37 93 46 636 11 122 26 8 68 55 15 7 18 135 26 30 1 25 3 15 3 16 16 4 2 2 i" 17 18 19 2 20 1 1 21 22 23 24 10 4 7 6 5 2 1 2 25 26 27 28 2 3 2 12 39 77 '7 14' 1 399 680 1,718 4,116 2,544 3,209 1,666 1,039 76 34 14 4 12 186 55 426 8 18 85 120 2,330 36 661 27 196 139 572 4,096 91 1,412 470 685 517 2,388 11,968 288 3,471 423 2.043 958 1,313 1,184 318 2,510 662 864 456 1,236 1,715 1,033 3,746 1,288 610 265 337 960 986 4,061 664 168 106 53 399 412 3 4 3 3 12 i" 29 30 31 5,109 \ 886 289 9 41 2 30 7 228 23 . 1 . 71 17 1 32 .33 34 35 790 3,499 7,843 21,539 7,296 9,893 7,280 6,333 ! 914 252 86 19 4,034 9,834 20,527 61,417 19,359 26,773 16,166 16,760 1 4,433 2,248 1,041 1,114 22 LABOB CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. AVERAGE EARNINGS PER HOUR AND NUMBER AND PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES Mar. glnal num- ber. 1 2 3 4 5 ft 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Departments. Number of plants. Employees in productive occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters. Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills , Crucible furnaces Bloominp mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett roen-hearth furnaces , Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills '. Structural, light rail and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube m ills 156 24 80 47 11 61 34 10 16 27 115 19 11 12 153 24 67 34 11 48 31 10 13 23 70 19 Total, general occupations. Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water Yard and transportation Electric power and repairs Shops Mecnanical repairs Shipping Miscellaneous Total, power, mechanical, and yard force. Grand total 11 24,722 4,927 12,421 6,447 633 4,485 5, 193 3,584 3,160 2,869 16, 148 1,915 864 4,095 91,463 6,632 691 2,197 314 95 1,269 748 942 332 4a3 1,178 541 157 15,499 6,037 22.855 3,221 22,588 3,864 4,618 2,661 65.744 172,706 Average earnings per hour. 0.172 .2.32 .219 .274 .2(i5 .255 .255 .228 .216 .2.37 .271 .302 .269 .205 ,223 SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 23 EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT PER HOUR, BY DEPARTMENTS-Concluded. Per cent of employees earning each classified amount per hour. Under 12 cents. and under 14 cents. 14 and under 16 cents. 16 and tinder 18 cents. 18 and under 20 cents. 20 and under 25 oenffl. 25 and under 30 cents. 30 and under 40 cents. 40 and under 50 cents. 50 and under 60 cents. 60 and ; under ! 70 1 cents. 1 i 70 ' cents 1 and over. ' Mar. ginal num- ber. 5.57 .47 3.47 .79 3.48 2.32 3.00 L56 1.84 .70 3.03 .26 .23 1.20 12.26 .63 6.98 4.17 3.03 3.66 4.95 5.19 .70 1.01 3.90 3.60 .35 .81 16.96 13.31 9.81 12.60 7.90 7.67 10.21 14.34 15.85 5.51 9.79 4.54 a26 5.93 37.51 33.18 29.64 8.75 20.22 27.13 18.06 26.84 32.22 36.60 18.15 25.59 26.27 40.24 13.07 9.78 7.93 4.50 7.11 8.05 9.36 7.84 13.16 10.84 9.98 10.70 8.80 18.02 10.27 14.19 17.68 14.67 19.43 12.80 17.27 19.39 12.41 18.09 17.63 12.17 16.55 21.17 2.92 8.79 9.37 13.94 8.69 9.57 12.42 7.17 10.41 8.82 9.99 8.98 11.11 3.74 1.32 9.36 9.19 30.40 16.59 14.36 12.34 6.64 9.02 7.77 11.79 9.24 13.08 4.13 0.11 5.32 4.26 4.14 6.95 6.76 5.35 5.27 1.99 4.78 6.84 7.15 5.21 1.44 0.01 2.23 .76 4.92 2.84 4.55 2.97 2.65 1.17 3.38 3.76 7.99 4.28 .90 1 i.38 .31 .31 1.11 1.87 1.83 2.43 .57 1.08 1.93 5.69 1.85 1.39 i.36 1 .61 .81 2.05 1.27 2.23 .67 .66 .43 3.21 4.07 3.01 .02 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 3.11 6.18 11.99 28.17 10.41 14.95 7.89 9.17 3.76 2.15 1.03 1.19 3.69 .43 1.78 3.50 1.05 1.26 .27 .42 2.41 1.49 3.74 3.33 6.82 1.59 1.46 7.32 1.05 3.55 1.60 4.56 "'"."99* 2.21 5.18 9.65 8.10 15.57 15.92 "'9.*69' 16.04 11.25 5.12 3.72 14.26 14.60 22.17 32.85 23.81 20.70 20.00 34.67 34.22 31.32 57.23 29.78 29.12 28.84 17.64 18.81 14.70 7.01 10.53 18.91 9.36 13.80 8.13 28.29 12.73 22.00 19.84 26.63 23.17 24.20 35.79 18.99 18.85 25.48 14.76 22.08 16.64 10.54 1L38 9.84 12.56 11.46 23.16 7.41 12.17 11.46 10.24 9.18 7.89 8.32 8.08 1.59 5.55 7.96 8.42 5.36 7.35 1.59 2.11 4.47 11.46 4.62 .45 .14 1.14 .96 .23 .05 15 16 .18. .09 .64 ""'.32' 17 18 19 .16 20 .is .11 21 22 23 24 .85 .74 .59 1.11 .42 .37 .08 .37 25 26 27 28 i.27 1.91 1.27 7.64 24.84 49.04 4.46 8.92 .64 2.67 4.39 11.08 26.56 16.41 20.70 10.75 6.70 .49 .22 .09 .03 .20 .81 1.71 1.89 .21 .39 3.32 1.99 10.19 1.12 2.88 .70 4.24 5.43 9.47 17.92 2.83 6.25 12.16 14.83 20.19 39.66 52.36 8.94 15.37 10.95 44.24 37.41 2L75 5.18 9.87 11.11 17.13 18.49 17.77 20.47 7.50 32.07 16.58 33.33 13.21 10.35 5.58 4.20 30.58 17.98 17.18 3.64 4.10 .88 1.75 12.79 22.62 7.48 .89 1.17 .05 .02 .09 3.92 .23 .04 .27 .05 .05 "(>)■* 29 30 31 1.01 .60 .02 .31 .08 .03 32 33 34 35 1.20 6.32 11.93 . 32.76 11.10 16.05 11.07 9.63 1.39 .38 .13 .03 2.34 5.69 11.89 29.77 11.21 15.50 9.36 9.13 2.57 1.30 .60 .65 ■ ■'- *:c » Less than one.hiindredth ol 1 per cent. r — irirTTT' ■■ W-: 24 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. In productive occupations some employees in every department were earning less than 12 cents per hour. The proportion earning less than 12 cents was 5.57 per cent in the blast furnace department, 3.48 per cent in the crucible furnaces, 3.47 per cent in the open-hearth furnaces, 3.03 per cent in the bar mills, and 3 per cent in the plate mills. Of the total for productive occupations 3.11 per cent earned less than 12 cents per hour. These employees were in large part boys, but in the Southern district particularly a large number of adult males were receiving less than 12 cents per hour. In every department with the exception of the blast furnace depart- ment a few employees in productive occupations earned 70 cents and over per hour. The proportion earning 70 cents and over was 4.07 per cent in the rod mills, 3.21 percent in the bar mills, and 1.19 per cent for the total of all departments. Considering the total number of employees included in this report, 57 per cent more employees earned less than 14 cents per hour than earned 40 cents and over; less than 14 cents per hour was earned by 8.03 per cent of all employees and 40 cents and over per hour was earned by 5.12 per cent of all employees. It will be noted that in the general occupations and in the power, mechanical, and yard force the general level of earnings is lower and the range smaller than in the productive occupations. The shops, however, show both a high level of earnings and a very wide range with a large number in the groups earning 30 cents and over per hour. In order to present the general situation as regards hourly earnings in the simplest form, the following tables have been prepared, the first of which needs no comment, save to point out the very low level of earnings in the blast furnaces as compared with the steel works and rolling mills. The second of these tables merely separates the employees into three groups according to earnings. The group earning under 18 cents per hour represents almost altogether unskilled labor; the group earning 18 and under 25 cents per hour represents the semi- skilled employees, and the group earning 25 cents and over per hour represents skilled employees. • % SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 25 PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT PER HOUR, BY BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. Branches of industry. Num- ber of plants. Nonna' number of em- ployees Blast furnaces Steel works and rolling mills: Bessemer convert- ers Open-hearth fur- naces Puddling mills and crucible furnaces. Rolling mills Tube mills Total, steel works and rolling mills Power, mechanical, and yard force Grand total. 156 24 80 58 212 12 1212 168 1338 Per cent of employees earning each classified amount per hour. Un- der 12 ots. 31,354' 5.18 5,618 .46 I 14,618: 3.22 7,489 1.13 43,631 2.27 4,252 1.20 75,608 2.14 65.744' 1.20 172,706 2.34 12 and un- der 14 ots. 11.11 .76 6.16 4.22 3.48 1.81 3.77 6.32 5.69 14 and un- der 10 cts. 15.41 12.67 10.67 12.18 16 and un- der 18 cts. 34.26 33.14 28.76 10.36 10.14|24.37 5.76139.04 10.39 25.31 11. 93132. 76 11.89 29.77 18 and un- der 20 cts. 14.04 10.89 8.95 4.90 10.54 18.27 10.13 11.10 11.21 20 and un- der 25 cts. 12.30 15.72 18.50 15.74 16.76 22.20 17.23 15.05 15.50 25 and na- der 30 cts. cts. 4.71 8.92 9.86 13.51 9.86 3.76 9.80 11.07 9.36 30 and un- der 40 2.75 8.40 8.65 28.01 10.42 4.30 40 and un- un 50 and der 50 cts. 0.18 4.68 3.79 4.19 5.21 1.41 11.33 9.63 9.18 4.58 1.39 2.57 der 60 cts. 60 and un- der 70 cts. 70 cts. and over. 0.06 0.01 1.96 .67 4.47 3.21 .87 2.62 .38 1.21 .27 .39 1.74 1.34 1.26 .13 1.30 .60 1.19 .62 .88 2.03 .02 1.45 .03 .65 1 Actual number of plants. The total number of plants can not be obtained by simple addition of the number of plants havmg the specified departments, as many plants have two or more departments. NUMBER AND PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES WHOSE EARNINGS FALL WITHIN CERTAIN SPECIFIED WAGE GROUPS, BY DEPARTMENTS. Departments Employees In productive tions: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, shape mills Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills TubemUls.. Total, productive occupations Employees in general occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills Miscellaneous mechajilceil mills. . . Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, general occupations •v 26 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL. INDUSTRY. NUMBER AND PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES WHOSE EARNINGS FALL WITHIN CERTAIN SPECIFIED WAGE GROUPS, BY DEPARTMENTS— Concluded. Departments. Power, raechaulcal, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water Yard and transportation Electric power and repairs Shops Mechanical repairs Shipping Miscellaneous Total, power, mechanical, and yard force Grand total Normal num- ber of em- ployees. 6,037 22,855 3,221 22,588 3,864 4,618 2,561 66,744 172,706 Aver- age earn- ings per houi:. Number of employees earning per hour— Per cent of employees earning per hour — Under 18 cents. 3,092 18,580 470 5,960 928 2,942 1,609 33,671 85,812 18 and under 25 cents. 2,549 2,899 1,351 6,256 1,960 1,464 720 25 cents and over. Under 18 cents. 396 1,376 1,400 10.372 986 212 142 61.22 81.30 14.59 26.39 24.02 63.71 66.34 18 and under 25 cents. 17,189 14,884 61.22 46,132 I 40,762 49.69 42.22 12.68 41.94 27.70 50.47 31.70 28.11 26.15 26.71 26 cents and over. 6.56 6.02 43.46 45.92 26.62 4.59 5.54 22.64 23.60 Almost exactly one-half, 49.69 per cent, of the 172,706 employees earned loss than 18 cents per hour and were practically all unskilled laborers; 26.71 per cent of all employees earned 18 and under 25 cents per hour and were largely semiskilled employees; and 23.60 per cent earned 25 cents and over per hour and were skilled employees. In the productive occupations of the blast furnace department 72.30 per cent of all employees earned less than 18 cents per hour and were practically all unskilled laborers; 23.34 per cent earned 18 and under 25 cents per hour and were largely semiskilled employees; and only 4.36 per cent earned 25 cents and over per hour and were skilled employees. The lowest per cent of employees in productive occupations earn- ing less than 18 cents per hour and the highest per cent earning 25 cents and over per hour were in the puddling mills; less than 18 cents was earned by 26.31 per cent, and 25 cents and over by 54.52 per cent of the employees in that department. In the electric power and repairs and the shops departments the percentage of skilled employees earning 25 cents and over per hour was unusually large, but in the other departments of the power, mechanical, and yard force, except mechanical repairs, the proportion of skilled workmen was extremely small and that of unskilled work- men very large. The summary which follows shows in cumulative form the per cent of employees earning less than each specified amount per hour. SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 27 PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES WHOSE EARNINGS PER HOUR FALL BELOW CERTAIN SPECIFIED AMOUNTS, BY DEPARTMENTS. Normal num- ber of em- ploy- ees. Aver- age earn- ings per hour. Per cent of employees earning per hour— Departments. Un- derl4 cents. Un- der 16 cents. Un- der 18 cents. Un- der 20 cents. Un- der 25 cents. Un- der 30 cents. Un- der 40 cents. Un- der 50 cents. Employees in productive oc- cupations: Blast furnaces 24,722 4,927 12,421 6,447 633 4,485 5,193 .3,584 3,160 2,869 16,148 1,915 864 4,095 $0,172 .232 .219 .274 .265 .255 .255 .228 .216 .237 .271 .302 .269 .205 17.83 1.10 10.45 4.96 7.11 6.98 7.95 6.75 2.54 L71 6.93 3.86 .68 3.01 34.79 14.41 20.26 17.56 16.01 13.65 18.16 21.09 18.39 7.^ 16.70 8.40 9.84 8.94 72.30 47.59 49.90 26.31 35.23 40.78 36.22 47.93 60.61 43.82 34.85 33.99 36.11 49.18 85.37 67.37 67.83 30.81 42.34 48.83 46.58 55.77 63.77 54.66 44.86 44.69 44.91 67.20 95.64 71.56 75.51 45.48 98.56 80.35 84.88 59.42 99.88 89.71 94.07 89.82 87.06 85.56 87.61 88.97 95.61 89.34 84.26 75.08 85.66 96.24 99.99 Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddllnir mills 95.03 98.33 93.96 Crucible furnaces 61. 77 70. 46 61. 63 71. 20 62. 85 75. 27 94.00 Bloomine mills 92.32 Plate mi Is 92.96 Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills Miscellaneous mechanical mills 75.16 76.18 72.75 62.49 56.86 61.46 88.37 82.33 86.59 81.57 72.48 65.84 72.57 92.11 94.24 97.60 94.12 Bar mills 91.10 Oarrett rod mills 82.23 Miscellaneous rod mills . . Tube mills 90.86 97.68 1 Total, productive occu- pations 91,463 .223 9.29 21.28 49.46 59. 86 74. 81 82.70 91.87 96.63 Employees in general occupa- tions: Blast furnaces 6,632 691 2,197 314 95 1,269 748 942 332 403 1,178 541 ....... 10.51 2.03 3.23 10.83 2.11 4.81 1.87 4.99 2.41, 2.48 6.94 8.50 20.16 10.13 18.80 26.75 2.11 14.50 17.91 16.24 7.53 6.20 20.20 23.11 42.33 42.98 42.60 47.45 22.11 69.97 79.81 91.19 98.26 93.04 90.13 91.58 94.48 92.61 98.30 97.89 95.53 86.59 92.79 99.28 99.86 98.69 98.09 100.00 99.84 99.87 100.00 100.00 98.05 97.41 99.73 Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills 61.79 67.31 54.46 32.63 88.42 80.47 78.66 68.42 87.08 80.36 86.84 87.65 86.35 78.69 84.47 100.00 99.73 99.04 Crucible furnaces 100.00 Blooming mills 49.17 1 68.09 100.00 Plate mi Is 62.14 47.56 64.76 35.98 49.32 51.94 61.50 61.36 72.89 64.27 62.05 73.94 99.87 Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills Miscellaneous mechanical mills 99.89 100.00 100.00 Bar mills 98.90 Garrett rod mills 98.15 Misopllanpoiis rod mills 1 Tube mills 157 3.18 4.46 12.10 36.94 85.99 90.45 99.36 100.00 Total, general occupa- tions 15,499 6.96 18.05 44.60 61.02 81.72 92.47 99.17 99.66 Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water . . . Yard and transportation. . H)lectric power and repairs Shops 6,037 22,855 3,221 22,588 3,864 4,618 2,561 2.19 1 11.01 1 2.83 ! 4.77 ! .91 i 4.63 1 8.75 1 11.66 28.93 5.65 11.02 13.07 19.47 28.93 51.22 81.30 14.59 26.39 24.02 63.71 66.34 72.97 86.48 24.46 37.50 41.15 82.20 84.11 93.44 93.98 56.54 54.08 74.48 95.41 94.46 99.02 98.18 87.12 72.06 91.67 99.05 98.56 99.90 99.93 99.91 94.68 99.15 99.94 99.73 99.95 99.94 100.00 98.60 Mecnanical repairs ShiDDing 99.38 99.98 Miscellaneous 100.00 Total, power, mechani- cal, and yard force. . . 65,744 6.62 18.45 51.22 62.31 77.36 88.43 98.07 99.46 Grand total 172,706 8.03 19.92 49.69 60.90 76.40 85.76 94.88 97.45 1 Nearly one-twelfth of all employees earned less than 14 cents per hour, and almost one-fifth, 19.92 per cent, of all employees earned less than 16 cents per hour. In 10 of the 14 departments at least one-eighth of all employees in productive occupations earned less than 16 cents per hour; in 3 of the 14 departments at least one- fifth of all employees earned less than 16 cents per hour, and in 1 department more than one-third of all employees earned less than 16 i ^^^^ .,>\IV «S^*" 28 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. cents per hour. In the general occupations the most noticeable feature is the very small percentage in all the departments earning 40 cents and over per hour. EARNINGS, BY DEPARTMENTS AND DISTRICTS. In the sections of this report in which the data are discussed by departments, earnings in the several districts are compared. Earn- mgs for tlie whole iron and steel industry can not be summarized by districts with fairness for the reason that in certain departments a much larger proportion of unskiUed labor is employed than in others, and the earnings for the department are therefore less; and the proportion of departments employing large numbers of unskilled men, and therefore normally having low earnings, varies materially m the several districts. Thus a comparison of earnings in the industry as a whole in the Pittsburgh district with earnings in the Southern district would be decidedly unfair for the reason that in the Southern district the great bulk of the plants reported are blast furnaces, and by far the greater part of the labor is therefore un- skilled, while in the Pittsburgh district every department of the iron and steel industry is represented; and in other departments a much smaller proportion of the employees are unskilled than is the case in blast furnaces. Within a department a comparison of the earnings in the various districts is upon a fair basis. In these tables the total for all districts includes aU plants, but data as to earnings for a department are not shown for any district from which only one plant reported in the department in question. Data for the Pacific Coast district are entirely omitted for the reason that only a very few plants are located in that district. It sliould be borne in mind, however, that all plants in all districts are included in the column ''Total, all districts.'' AVERAGE EARNINGS PER HOUR OF EMPLOYEES IN PRODUCTIVE OCCUPATIONS IN EACH DEPARTMENT, BY DISTRICTS. Departments. New land. East- em. Pitts- burgh. Great Lakes and Middle West. South- ern. Total, all dis- tricts. Blast furnaces $0,172 10.153 10.186 .241 .230 .291 .248 .276 .266 .228 .232 .239 .278 .324 .269 .204 $0,183 .226 .220 .322 $0,138 """.'196* .262 Bessemer converters $0,172 Open-hearth furnaces .221 .219 .267 .222 .191 .264 .267 .230 .244 .205 .216 .232 Puddling mills .219 Crucible furnaces ..'.....'. .274 .265 Platemils .235 .243 .235 .192 .235 .280 .300 .267 .211 ■.*2i4* .256 Standard rail mills .255 Structural, light rail, and other shape mills' .228 .216 Miscellaneous mechanical mills.. Bar mills .252 .247 .287 .237 Garrett rod mills .271 Miscellaneous rod mills .263 .302 Tubemills .269 .205 ;«KSI»*^lg:»P SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 2» In practically every department the average earnings by districts varied materially. In blast furnaces the district with the lowest average was the Southern with 13.8 cents and the second lowest the Eastern with 15.3 cents. The New England district was next in order with 17.2 cents, and the Great Lakes and Middle West district and the Pitts- burgh district were on practically the same level, the average being 18.3 and 18.6 cents, respectively. In the open-hearth department the average ranged from 19.1 cents in the Eastern district to 23 cents in the Pittsburgh district. In puddling mills the greatest variations are shown; the lowest aver- age, 21.9 cents, is for the New England district, and the highest aver- age, 32.2 cents, is for the Great Lakes and Middle West district, the average earnings in the latter district being about 47 per cent higher than in the former district. It is possible to compare earnings in all five of the districts in each of five departments — blast furnaces, open-hearth furnaces, and puddling, blooming, and bar mills. The Southern district shows lower average earnings than any of the other four districts in blast furnaces, blooming mills, and bar mills; lower than any other except the Eastern in open hearth; and lower than any other except the New England in puddling. The Pittsburgh district shows higher average earnings than any of the other four districts in blast furnaces, open-hearth furnaces, and blooming mills and higher than any other except the Great Lakes and Middle West district in puddling and bar mills. It is possible to compare earnings in the Eastern, the Pittsburgh, and the Great Lakes and Middle West districts in nine departments. In seven of those nine departments the earnings in the Eastern district were lower than in either of the other two districts, and in the other two departinents the earnings in the Eastern district were lower than in the Pittsburgh district. In three of the nine depart- ments the earnings in the Great Lakes and Middle West district were higher than in either the Eastern or the Pittsburgh district. In six of the nine departments the earnings in the Pittsburgh district were higher than in either the Eastern district or the Great Lakes and Middle West district. It is possible to compare earnings in the Pittsburgh district and in the Great Lakes and Middle West district in 12 of the 14 depart- ments. In 9 of those departments the earnings were lower in the Great Lakes and Middle West district than in the Pittsburgh district. The summary wMch follows shows by districts the per cent of employees in each department earning less than 18 cents per hour. Data for a department are not shown for any district from which only one plant reported, and data for the Pacific Coast district are 30 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. entirely omitted owing to the small number of plants in that section of the country. All plants and all districts, however, are included in the column ^* Total, all districts." PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES IN EACH DEPARTMENT EARNING LESS THAN 18 CENTS PER HOUR, BY DISTRICTS. Departments. Employees in productive occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddlinp mills Crucible furnaces Bloominc mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills ; Tube mills Total, productive occupations. Employees in general occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, general occupations. Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water Yard and transportation Electric power and repairs Shops Mechanical repairs Shipping; Miscellaneous Total, power, mechanical, and yard force. Grand total New Eng- land. East- ern. 73.78 45.10 58.78 33.33 22.58 46.32 '37*25' 48.20 55.93 28.21 47.50 36.00 38.46 47.06 42.54 25.16 73.28 20.87 11.63 73.77 46.15 90.95 67.98 27. 59 21.03 45.23 37.41 53.39 50.94 40.82 26.40 81 .'42' 54.31 Pitts- burgh. 61.40 42.59 44.46 15.68 49.08 34.11 33.82 48.18. 42.09 44.26 31.00 32.20 34.98 49.83 Great I^akes and Middle West. South- em. 63.80 I 90.66 51.97 41.32 52.39 I 58.82 14.05 i 40.54 Total, all dis- tricts. 49.85 38.46 45.63 63.63 43.37 32.98 35.85 37.37 i 54.81 62.31 "26.* 66* ,1. 43.16 65.04 71.79 59.77 62. 51 6.25 72.30 75.78 56.29 51.35 33.33 47.74 62.86 27.79 39.66 27.88 32.39 25. 81 33.77 34.01 34.04 44.74 36.00 62.89 41.73 49.67 78.38 50.00 10.07 31.29 35.71 37.76 54.17 28.57 48.13 43.21 40.34 73.97 35.23 31.75 48.92 70.48 69.70 61.29 65.18 "83. ei i66.'66" 79.71 76.47 61. 57 32. 62 38. 15 70. 77 62.00 81.32 35.44 37.40 22.54 82.48 92.00 47.93 81.29 12. 16 25.50 28.36 61. 57 50.30 67.40 79.60 12.83 23.63 12.31 58.43 73.38 70.83 93.37 10.66 29. 5o 27.80 86.89 97.06 41. 85 59. 54 50. 65 47.71 63.26 45.79 1 56.43 1 45.68! 47.48 72.88 72.30 47.50 49.89 26.31 35.23 40.78 36.22 47.94 50.60 43.81 34.87 33.99 36.11 49.18 49.45 42.33 42.98 42.60 47.45 22.11 49.17 52.14 47.56 64.76 35.98 49.32 51.94 12.10 44.60 51.22 81.30 14.50 26.39 24.02 63.71 (i6.34 51.22 49.69 Comparing first the employees in the productive occupations, in several of the departments the districts vary materially in the proportion of employees earning less than 18 cents per hour, while within a few of the departments there is an unusual agreement. The puddling department shows the greatest variation. In that department less than 18 cents per hour was earned by 58.78 per cent of the employees in productive occupations in the New England district, 40.54 per cent in the Southern district, 27.59 per cent in the Eastern district, 15.68 per cent in the Pittsburgh district, and 14.95 per cent in the Great Lakes and Middle West district. SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 31 The plate mills show but slight variations by districts. In that department less than 18 cents per hour was earned by 38.46 per cent of the employees in productive occupations in the Great Lakes and Middle West district, 37.41 per cent in the Eastern district, and 33.82 per cent in the Pittsburgh district. In the five departments in which earnings may be compared in all five of the districts, the Southern district shows a larger per cent of employees earning less than 18 cents per hour than any of the other four districts in open-hearth furnaces, blooming mills, and bar mills; larger than any other except the Eastern in blast furnaces; and larger than any other except New England in puddling mills. The Pittsburgh district shows a smaller per cent of employees earning less than 18 cents per hour than any of the other four districts in blast furnaces, open-hearth furnaces, and bar mills; smaller than any other except the Great Lakes and Middle West district in pud- dling mills; and smaller than any other except the New England in blooming mills. Earnings may be compared in the Pittsburgh district with earnings in the Great Lakes and Mddle West district in 12 departments. In 9 of these 12 departments the per cent of employees earning less than 18 cents per hour was greater in the Great Lakes and ^liddle West district than in the Pittsburgh district. Comparing now the departments of the power, mechanical, and yard force in the different districts, it is seen that in general the vari- ations between the different districts are much less than in the pro- ducing departments. This is particularly true in the yard and trans- portation, electric power and repairs, and shops departments, where there is a remarkably close correspondence of the different districts. The closer correspondence of the Southern district with the other districts in these departments is largely explained by the fact that except for unskilled laborers, the only class of workmen largely earn- ing under 18 cents per hour are the handy men and low-grade mechan- ics. For this class of labor, for whom there is a large demand in other industries, the plants in the Southern district pay very nearly as. much as in the other districts and decidedly more than in the Eastern district. The same condition as regards the more highly skilled mechanics earning 25 cents and over per hour is shown in the table which follows. The summary which follows shows by districts the per cent of employees in each department earning 25 cents and over per hour. Data for a department are not shown for any district from which only one plant reported, and data for the Pacific Coast district are entirely omitted owing to the small number of plants in that section of the country. All plants and all districts, however, are included in the column ''Total, all districts." w 32 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL. INDUSTRY. PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES IN EACH DEPARTMENT EARNING 25 CENTS AND OVER PER HOUR, BY DISTRICTS. DeiMitments. Employees in productive occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills ^ Crucible furnaces Bloomiaa: mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, productive occupations Employees in general occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills , Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills New Ene- land. East- ern. 6.42 23.53 39.08 39.01 30.11 35.07 '38,'56 31.88 10.17 Total, general occupations. Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water Yard and transportation Electric power and repairs Shops Mechanical repairs Shipping Miscellaneous Total, power, mechanical, and yard force Grand total 25.64 30.00 20.00 3.85 38.24 100.00 1.70 17.28 47.24 41.54 32.57 33.48 21.90 19.50 33.59 44.40 9.51 24.52 9.17 23.88 10.06 4.74 58.97 52.18 30.23 13.11 7.69 11.99 17.32 31.25 4.69 10.03 3.97 13.51 50.00 23.87 11.43 Pitts- burgh. 5.50 36.32 28.04 70.19 34.60 47.01 40.79 32.26 32.48 28.36 38.38 42.72 34.65 11.35 28.48 Great Lakes and Middle West. 6.12 19.57 24.44 60.56 26.94 32.37 24.81 11.72 25.25 40.46 43.04 40.21 25.05 30.00 11.69 6.99 3.42 34.83 40.28 37.31 27.22 29.86 88 18 20.20 22.07 23.98 11.49 28.32 30.99 32.26 15.45 28.62 35.46 15.79 8.80 6.84 16.55 13.67 21.55 5.94 7.16 40.83 45.44 24.54 3.97 5.85 South- ern. 1.66 20.46 21.64 58.11 Total, aU dis- tricts. 30.96 22.10 65.00 9.58 4.35 28.44 24.50 54.52 38.23 38.37 37.15 24.83 23.83 27.26 37.52 43.13 38.54 11.62 25.20 25.16 13.03 19.03 8.33 71.43 14.37 20.37 11.17 10.96 15.53 33.53 13.67 20.12 21.19 24.96 6.69 6.19 48.95 48.09 21.34 6.93 7.62 13.62 13.64 12.37 15.18 ■7.' 38' 11.59 17.65 13.25 16.67 .49 48.36 46. 13 30.49 1.64 20.19 11.58 19.63 21.34 31.58 12.92 19.66 13.16 12.35 13.65 21.31 15.53 14.01 18.28 26.24 24.90 20.48 6.56 6.02 43.46 45.92 25.52 4.59 5.54 22.64 13.26 23.60 Comparing first the employees in productive occupations in some departments marked variations and in others unusual agreements are shown in the proportion of employees earning 25 cents and over per hour. The blast-furnace department shows considerable variation, but the greatest proportion of employees in productive occupations in that department earning 25 cents and over in any district is only 6.42 per cent. Twenty-five cents and over per hour was earned by only 1.66 per cent of the employees in the Southern district, 1.70 per cent in the Eastern district, 5.50 per cent in the Pittsburgh district, 6.12 per cent in the Great Lakes and Middle West district, and 6.42 per cent in the New England district. The Garrett rod mills show but slight variations by districts. Twenty-five cents and over per hour was earned by 44.40 per cent of SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 33 the employees in productive occupations in the Eastern district, 43.04 per cent in the Great Lakes and Middle West district, and 42.72 per cent in the Pittsburgh district. Earnings may be compared in all ^ve of the districts in five depart- ments. The districts showing the smallest per cent earning 25 cents and over per hour were the Southern in blast furnaces and in bar mills; the New England, in puddling mills; the Eastern, in open-hearth fur- naces; and the Great Lakes and Middle West in blooming mills. The Pittsburgh district shows a larger per cent than any other district earning 25 cents and over per hour in open-liearth furnaces, puddling mills, and blooming mills. In 8 of the 12 departments in which it is possible to compare the Pittsburgh district and the Great Lakes and Middle West district the per cent earning 25 cents and over per hour was smaller in the Great Lakes and IMiddle West district than in the Pittsburgh district. The point developed in the discus.sion of the preceding table that the wages of workmen in mechanical trades are much more nearly standardized in the different districts than of the employees in the productive occupations, who are dependent almost entirely on the iron and steel industry for employment, is borne out strikingly in the above table. Taking the three departments in which such work- men are chiefly employed, the electric power and repairs, the shops, and the mechanical repairs departments, the close agreement of the different districts in the proportion earning 25 cents and over per hour is remarkable. EARNINGS OF COMMON LABORERS. The most satisfactory comparison between the different districts, however, can be made by considering the earnings of the common, unskilled laborers, who, as a rule, have no regular specified duties, but who are shifted from job to job as the occasion ma}^ require. For this class the department in which the laborers may be employed has no significance inasmuch as they perform about the same kind of work in all the departments and, furthermore, are frequently shifted from one department to another. This class is of the greatest importance in the industry, not only because of the very large pro- portion employed, but even more because their wage forms the base rate of the entire industry, above which the wages of the other employees are graded. In the following table are shown the earnings of the laborers in pro- ductive departments in each of the districts. It should be noted that the number shown in the table which follows does not include by any means all the unskilled workmen in the industry, but only those who 15161°— S. Doc. 301, 62-2 3 ms w^pi mmmi^ ^ap-.- - atfe-'j -ki:,i^'^;%^ .-^^ii. t. ^.AW'9«-..-.--«t I" "S»g >-- 34 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL. INDUSTRY. are known in the industry as ^'common laborers." In addition to these there is an equally large number of workmen, such for example as the stockers in the various departments, who are also unskilled but who have a specified and regular set of duties and who are con- sequently given a specified occupation designation. PER CENT OF COMMON LABORERS IN PRODUCING DEPARTMENTS EARNING EACH CLASSIFIED AMOUNT PER HOUR, BY DISTRICTS. Per cent of laborers earning each classified amount per hour. Districts. Now England , Bastem , Pittsburgh 8;598 Great Lakes and Middle Under 10 cents. 10 and under 12 cents. 0.40 2.22 .19 West Soutiiem Pacific Coast. TottU. 5,401 1,387 20 .163 .125 .222 3.89 , 28.41 12 and under 14 cents. 7.05 41.99 4.66 .09 5L98 10,620 I .158 ; .36 i 2.51 13.93 14 and under 16 cents. 16 and under 18 cents. 62.39 30.13 52.48 2.35 10.29 83.66 27.22 16.07 71.01 .65 24.58 57.42 18 and under 20 cents. 0.43 1.20 L61 .98 20 and under 25 cents. 0.56 .07 100.00 .23 In the above table the wide variation between the common-labor rates for the different districts is strikingly shown. The Pittsburgh district, for example, shows average earnings per hour 4 cents higher than the rate in the Southern district and 2.5 cents higher than the rate in the Eastern district, and the same proportions hold in regard to the predominant rates in these districts. The Pittsburgh and Great Lakes and Middle West; districts were very nearly together, the difference arising chiefly from the larger proportion in the Great Lakes and Middle West district earning less than 16 cents per hour. The Southern district was far below any of the others, with the New England and Eastern districts lying between it and the remaining districts. In the Southern district all but two-thirds of 1 per cent earned less than 16 cents per hour. In the Eastern district all but 2.91 per cent and in the New England district all but 30.56 per cent earned less than 16 cents, while in the Great Lakes and Middle West district only 27.31 per cent, and in the Pittsburgh district only 15.14 per cent earned less than 16 cents per hour. Furthermore, in the Southern district 84.28 per cent earned less than 14 cents, which was practically double the proportion earning under 14 cents in the Eastern district and more than ten times greater than the proportion earning less than 14 cents in any of the other districts. Almost one-third of all the laborers in the Southern dis- trict earned less than 12 cents per hour, which is many times greater than the proportion in any other district. •WHM^fi SUMMAIIY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 35 In the table which follows are shown the earnings of the laborers in all departments in each of the districts. In this table the average earnings per hour are not shown on account of the large amount of work involved in this calculation. PER CENT OF COMMON LABORERS IN ALL DEPARTMENTS EARNING EACH CLAS- SIFIED AMOUNT PER HOUR. BY DISTRICTS. Districts. New England Eastern Pittsburgli Great Lakes and Middle West Southern Pacific Coast Total Number of em- ployees. 809 5,620 18,924 11,067 2,980 68 39,468 Per cent of laborers earning each classified amount per hour. Un- der 10 cents. 0.28 1.81 10 ' 12 14 ! 16 and I and i and ; and under under under i under 12 cents. 14 ; 16 cents, cents. 2.15 .16 4.08 39.36 8.33 .01 I .20 14.93 i 49.16 18 cents. 58.71 34.98 53.72 3.77 14.35 74.87 21.53 76.46 30.91 j 3.15 ,18 1.51 13.45 24.n 58.83 18 and under 20 cents. 2.22 .28 1.18 1.53 .03 20 and under 25 cents. 0.43 1.05 .27 86.' 76 LOS .79 25 and under 30 cents. 0.05 13.24 .05 30 and under 40 cents. 0.01 0) 1 Less than one-hundredth of 1 per cent. Less than 2 per cent of all the common laborers in the industry received less than 12 cents, and less than 2 per cent received 18 cents and over per hour. Of all the laborers, 96.39 per cent earned 12 and under 18 cents per hour. Of all the laborers, five-sixths, or 82.94 per cent, earned 14 and under 18 cents per hour. In the New England and Eastern districts the largest single groups earned 14 and under 16 cents per hour; in the Pittsburgh and the Great Lakes and Middle West districts the largest groups, including approxi- mately three-fourths of all the laborers, earned 16 and under 18 cents per hour, and in the Southern district the largest group earned 12 and under 14 cents per hour, although there was also a very large group earning 14 and under 16 cents per hour. All of the laborers in the Pacific Coast district earned 20 cents and over per hour. With regard to the laborers reported as earning more than 20 cents per hour in the other districts, it may be said that in each case they were working unusually short hours at very heavy work, and that their daily earnings on account of the short hours were very little above the daily earnings of employees w^orking longer hours at a lower hourly rate of wages. The laborers reported as earning less than 12 cents per hour in every district except the Southern were, for the most part, below the average of efficiency either because of youth and inexperience or because of old age and physical disability. Everywhere except in the South practically all included within this class of unskilled workmen are recent immigrants, the greater number of whom do not speak or understand EngHsh. Even in the 36 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STP:EL INDUSTRY. South there is a rapidly increasing number of immigrants in the indus- try. Of the employees in all occupations nearly 60 per cent are foreign born and nearly two-thirds of the foreign born are of the Slavic races. Great as is the proportion of unskilled labor in the iron and steel industry, steel experts have noted the fact that the tendency of recent years has been constantly toward the reduction of the number of highly skilled men employed and the establishment of the general wage on the basis of common, unskilled labor.^ Each year sees a larger use of mechanical appliances which unskilled labor is usually competent to control. * HOURS OF LABOR, BY DEPARTMENTS. Approximately two-fifths, 42.58 per cent, of the 172,671 employees for whom working time was reported worked 72 hours and over per week, which is, in effect, at least 12 hours per day, and approximately one-fifth, 20. 59 per cent, worked 84 hours and over per week, which is, in effect, 12 hours per day for every day of the week. Only 37.02 per cent of all employees had a week as short as 60 hours, although in most industries 60 hours has come to be regarded as the maximum working week. The summary which follows shows by means of cumulative per- centages the classified customary hours per week for each of the departments. The average hours per week were calculated for the employees in productive occupations only, on account of the large amount of work involved. 1 Compare the statement made by lifr. J. Stephen Jeans, secretary of the British Iron Trade Association, after a very thorough study in 1902 of American steel plants: " The tendency in the American steel industry is to reduce by every possible means the number of highly skilled men employed and more and more to establish the general wage on the basis of common unskilled labor. This is not a new thing, but it becomes every year more accentuated as a result of the use of automatic appliances which unskilled labor is usually competent to control." (American Industrial Conditions and Competition. Edited by J. Stephen Jeans^ p. 317.) SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 37 PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES CUSTOMARILY WORKING EACH SPECIFIED NUMBER OF HOURS PER WEEK. BY DEPARTMENTS. Departments. Employees in productive occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, productive occupations. Employees in general occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters • Open-hearth furnaces • Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, general occupations. Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas. and water Yard and transportation Electric i>ower and repairs Shop Mecnanical repairs Shipping Miscellaneous Total, power, mechanical, and yard force. Grand total Normal number of em- ployees. 1 24,689 4,927 12,421 6,447 633 4,485 5,193 3,584 3,160 2,869 2 16,146 1,915 864 4,095 Average custom- ary hours per week Per cent of employees whose customary working time per week was — 78.9 69.5 74.5 55.2 64.3 69.6 66.0 72.5 70.0 70.2 61.1 66.1 65.8 62.0 92.13 80.68 92.38 23.03 65.40 81.58 78.30 72 hours and over. 72.76 62.90 75.48 1.09 21.17 68.31 30.93 84 hours and over. 67.11 17.15 20.67 .06 .95 11.55 4.37 » 91,428 6,632 691 2,197 314 95 1,269 748 942 332 403 1,178 641 157 15,499 69.8 89.76 76.95 17.41 78.58 66.36 15.57 91.60 57.62 7.18 45.59 14.94 1.08 83.34 35.20 3.50 83.33 18.29 1.62 33.16 2.12 .39 73.48 49.38 24.41 78.71 92.76 89.39 34.39 57.89 92.36 83.69 94.80 71.69 87.10 49.83 74.86 52.86 84.95 80.88 14.97 38.95 80.54 60.03 85.24 67.17 72.46 25.72 43.25 46.70 24.75 40.51 4.46 26.32 38.46 20.19 29.19 30.42 28.29 8.23 13.12 59.87 45.22 31.85 79.71 60.33 35.77 6,037 22,855 3,221 22,588 3,864 4,618 2,561 91.29 43.45 50.61 22.71 54.04 57.49 88.75 79.39 27.66 32.44 9.29 27.33 38.41 75.71 52.34 8.78 18.19 1.58 11.23 .54 43.81 65,744 44.44 28.94 11.70 » 172,671 62.98 42.58 20.59 I Not including 33 employees who worked irregular hours. » Not including 2 employees who worked irregular hours. 3 Not including 35 employees who worked irregular hours. For the employees in productive occupations the customary hours per week were longest in the blast-furnace department and shortest in the puddling-mill department. In the blast furnaces the average customary working time per week for the 24,689 employees was 78.9 hours; 67.11 per cent of the total number of employees customarily worked at least 84 hours per week, which is, in effect, 12 hours per day for 7 days per week; and more than nine-tenths, 92.13 per cent, customarily worked more than 60 hours per week. It is worthy of note, however, that in the open-hearth and the standard rail depart- ments a larger proportion of employees than even in the blast fur- naces were working 72 liours and over per week. 38 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL. INDUSTRY. In the puddling mills, with the shortest hours per week of any department, the average customary working time per week for the 6,447 employees was 55.2 hours; approximately one-fourth, 23.03 per cent, of the total number of employees customarily worked more than 60 hours per week. In the bar mills, in which there were 16,146 employees, the average customary working time per week was 61.1 hours; 45.59 per cent worked over 60 hours and 14.94 per cent worked 72 hours and over. The hours in this department are much shorter than in any of the other rolling mills. Both the puddling mills and the bar mills are and for many years have been to a large extent organized; the tube mills, on the other hand, which show almost equally short hours, have never been organized. In each of 7 of the 14 departments more than one-half of the em- ployees customarily worked 72 hours and over per week. Eighty- four hours and over per week was the customary working time for 67.11 per cent of the employees in the blast furnaces and for from 20.67 per cent to 11.55 per cent of all employees in each of five other departments. In the general occupations the large proportions shoA\Ti as working 84 hours and over in most of the departments are firemen, and gas- producer men, and in large part machinists and other repair men who make repairs while the mills are shut down. It may be noted that in the puddling mills and bar mills, for which the shortest hours in the productive occupations were reported, there are also very small pro])ortions in the general occupations working the longer hours. This is due in part to the fact that these departments ordinarily have no gas producers attached, but much more to the fact that these departments are ordinarily not operated on Saturday night, so that the repair men can get their work done without work- ing on Sunday. In the power, mechanical, and yard force, the departments fall into three groups as regards working time. First, the steam, gas, and water and the miscellaneous departments showing the longest hours. The reason for the long hours in the first of these two is obvious, as it includes the firemen and others, one shift of whom must be on duty continuously. In the miscellaneous department are included the watchmen, which sufficiently explains the long hours in that depailment. The second group contains the two repair departments, many of the employees in which must work when the rest of the mill is shut down. It also contains the 3^ard and transportation and shipping departments, which are chiefly con- cerned with handling the materials and products for the producing departments, and whose hours are therefore very largely dependent on the way in which the producing departments are operated. Thle hours for this group as a whole are much shorter than for the first SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 39 group. The third group contains only the shops which are operated practically independently of the producing (lc})artments, and in which the hours are shorter than anywhere else in the industry. It is worthy of note, however, that in the shops, where practically any schedule of hours can be put into effect, more than one-fifth, 22.71 per cent, of all the employees work over 60 hours. In most com- mercial machine shops, 60 hours is regarded as the maximum week, and the union scale for machinists provides for a working week of less than 55 hours in the majority of cities in the United States. In all but 3 of 28 cities for which data are available the working hours of union machinists were 55 hours or less. The tables which follow show in detail for each of the departments the number and per cent of employees customarily working each classified number of hours per week. The first section of the table shows numbers and the second section percentages. 4 t'j 3 40 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. AVERAGE CUSTOMARY WORKING UOURS PER WEEK AND NUMBER AND PER CENT PER WEEK, BY SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 41 OF EMPLOYEES CUSTOMARILY WORKING EACH CLASSIFIED NUMBER OF HOURS DEPARTMENTS. Mar- ginal num- ber. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 If) 17 18 19 % 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 SB SO U 12 » M 3S DeparUiionts. Number of plants. Employees in productive occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces , Puddling mills , Crucible furnaces , Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total productive occupations. Employees in general occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills ] . Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total general occupations. Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water Yard and transportation Electric power and repairs Shops Mecnanical repairs Shipping Miscellaneous Total power, mechanical, and yard force. Grand total Normal number of employees. 156 24 80 47 11 51 34 10 16 27 115 19 11 12 153 24 67 34 11 48 31 10 13 23 76 IB 124,680 4,927 12,421 6,447 fi33 4,485 5,193 3,160 2,869 s 16,146 1,915 864 4,095 Average customary working hours per week. •91,428 11 6,632 691 2,197 314 95 1,260 748 942 332 403 1,178 541 157 15,499 6,037 22,855 3,221 22,588 3,864 4,618 2,561 65,744 » 172.671 78.9 60.5 74.5 55.2 04.3 69.6 66.0 72.5 70.0 70.2 61.1 (36.1 65.8 62.0 69.8 1 5®! including 31 employees who worked 2 days only and 2 employees who worked 3 days only. « Not including 2 employees who worked 1 day only. ' ^ * » Number of employees whose customary working hours per week were— 48 and under. 10 611 14 1,143 474 424 182 100 105 1,737 117 Over 48 and under 56. 4,917 22 3 2 7 37 3 52 3 138 3 20 219 6,173 29 149 51 2,868 94 7 196 56 and under 60. 8 2 2,26(> 101 2 5.773 28 5 40 22 21 4 209 98 136 108 23 66 113 15 248 3 2,286 78 54 245 60. 3,682 3 2 134 20 279 21 723 39 1,256 102 146 33 2,320 8,372 111 21 96 6 3 16 27 20 1 196 16 1,694 94 745 843 102 279 394 170 321 131 2,496 23 88 2,492 9,872 14 527 57 2,763 245 2,989 339 613 83 7,089 11,298 1,251 26 130 153 15 60 91 49 68 49 261 100 Over 60 and under 72. 4,784 876 2,100 1,415 280 595 2,460 459 386 975 4,948 922 562 1,271 72. 22,033 49 2,302 445 9,386 1,304 13,076 1,33? 1,204 152 26,899 39,073 1,714 54 187 61 18 150 177 90 15 59 284 171 308 1,828 3,241 58 113 2,262 1,281 2,122 1,543 1,252 2,105 599 137 53 16,902 23 3,003 718 3,610 585 3,030 1,032 881 334 10,190 137 333 433 19 3 437 228 512 119 102 162 153 13 Over 72 and un- der 84. 1,086 426 3,567 8 15 284 98 12 62 195 141 8 7 18 5,927 272 83 454 14 9 97 70 16 3 76 44 10 84. 16,545 790 2.540 4 6 505 226 624 492 206 151 67 12 6 Over 84. 22,174 2,651 925 3,436 276 1,004 295 1,462 596 7,994 35,226 27,547 8 1,156 708 878 183 737 327 287 221 3,341 10,424 3,082 169 884 14 25 485 151 276 101 111 94 71 50 5,512 3,145 1,973 554 243 414 25 1,082 7,436 35,122 24 55 27 V 16 2 10 Mar- ginal num- ber. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 148 15 2 6 3 3 32 15 34 32 115 20 40 256 436 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 » Not including 2 employees who worked 1 day only; 31 employees who worked 2 days only, and 2 employees who worked 3 days only. j j> r74 r4 I i 42 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. AVERAGE CUSTOMARY WORKING HOURS PER WEEK AND NUMBER AND PER CENT PER WEEK, BY Mar- ginal num- ber. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 •22 23 24 25 28 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Departments. Employees in productive occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills PlaU> mills , . • ■ Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills « Jarrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Totiil, productive occupations. Average xT..^u.., ^r Normal customary Xnt« number of , working piauis. employees, i hours per week. 156 24 80 47 11 51 34 10 16 27 U5 19 11 12 Employees in general occupations: Blast furnaces Bessemer converters Oi)en-hearth furnaces I'uddling mills Crucible fumaws Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Garrett rod mills Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, general occupations. Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water Yard and transportation Electric power and repairs Shops Mechanical repairs Shipping Miscellaneous Total, power, mechanical, and yard force. Graoid total 124,689 4,027 12,421 6,447 633 4,485 5,193 3,584 3,160 2,869 > 16,146 1,915 864 4,095 3 91,428 163 24 67 84 11 48 31 10 13 23 76 19 6,632 691 2,197 314 95 1,269 748 942 332 78.9 69.5 74.6 55.2 64.3 69.6 66.0 72.5 70.0 70.2 61.1 06.1 65.8 62.0 69.8 1,178 541 11 ' 167 15,499 6,037 22,855 3,221 22,588 3,864 4,618 2,561 65,744 » 172,671 > Not ineludipg 31 employees who worked 2 days only and 2 employees who worked 3 days oi^ly. 2 Not including 2 employees who worked i day only. SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 43 OP EMPLOYEES CUSTOMARILY WORKING EACH CLASSIFIED NUMBER OF HOURS DEPARTMENTS-Concluded. Per cent of employees whose customary working hours per week were— Ploy^ whf^j^kedTda^ronT?° ""^'^^ ' ^*^ '''''^' ^' ""^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^'^ ^ ^^^^ "^^ ^^ ^ ^^' 44 LABOK CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. In every department the customary working time for some em- ployees was 84 hours and over per week, and in 11 of the 14 depart- ments the customary working time for at least a few employees was 48 hours and under per week. There were 4 departments in which more than 10 per cent of the employees customarily worked 48 hours or less per week. The employees working these shorter hours are almost all in the more skilled occupations and in positions requiring great physical strain or exposure to great heat. As regards the particular group of hours in productive occupations at which the largest proportion of employees in each of the depart- ments were reported as customarUy working, blast furnaces alone show the predominating group as customarily working 84 hours. In the Bessemer converters, in common with the blooming, standard rail, structural, and miscellaneous mechanical mills, the largest proportion of employees were reported as working 72 hours per week. In the cruci- ble furnace department and in the plate, bar, Garrett rod, and miscel- laneous rod mills the customary working time of the predominant group was over 60 and under 72 hours per week, although in the bar mills very large groups were reported as working each classified num- ber of hours under 72 hours per week. In the open-hearth department groups of almost equal size were reported as working 72, over 72 and under 84, and 84 hours per week, respectively. In the pud- dling mills the predominant group worked over 48 and under 56 hours per week, and in the tube mills 60 hours per week. In the general occupations, it may be briefly noted that the largest single group in practically aU of the departments custom- arily work either 84 or 72 hours per week. In 6 departments the largest group works 84 hours; in 4 departments the largest group works 72 hours. In the power, mechanical, and yard force the largest single group in each of 4 departments works 60 hours, in each of 2 departments, 84 hours, and in 1 department 72 hours. In the two largest departments of this force, the yard and shops, the group working 60 hours per week is much larger than any other! In order to bring out more clearly the general situation as regards customary working time in the industry, the following table, drawn up in much simpler form than the preceding, has been prepared. In this table the productive and general occupations have been com- bined for each of the departments. :.. -'^'•ti?-**^'^ «»i.*i»^"-->»-tf,jIpj!'. SUMMAKY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 45 PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES CUSTOMARILY WORKING EACH CLASSIFIED NUMBER OF HOURS PER WEEK, B^ BRANCH OF INDUSTRY. Branches of industry Num- ber of plants. Blast furnaces Steel works and rolling mills: Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces. . , Puddling mills and cru- cible furnaces Rolling mills Tube mills Total steel works and rolling mills , Power, mechanical and yard force 156 24 80 58 212 12 212 168 Grand total. 338 Per cent of employees whose customary working hours per week were — Normal number of em- ployees. 48 ' and I un- I der. 131.321 I 0.10 .•>,618 ilO.93 14,618 .11 7,489 15.30 « 43, 629 4.252 i 75, 606 (>5, 744 7.20 6.51 .33 3 172.671 3.00 Over 48 and under 56. 56 and under 60. 0.18 2.(>5 .38 40.38 6.34 7.93 3.53 4.85 1.02 2.12 1.59 1.87 7.19 6.09 5.14 10. 78 60. 9.40 2.14 5.99 14.86 10.50 59.76 Over 60 and under 72. 6.54 12.21 40.91 22.63 20.75 16.55 15.65 23.09 28.08 30.43 24.52 15.50 20.40 72. Over; 72 I and , 84. underj 84. I I Over ; 84. 1.42 4.34 62.60 | 38.47 I 9.0 1 :H?K^Vr= V *skm. 64 Kv- num- ber. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 aft 31 32 as 34 35 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY. NUMBER AND PER CENT OP EMPLOYEES CUSTOMARILY WORKING EACH Departments. Employees iB productive occupations: Blast furnaces , Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces , Puddling mills , Crucible furnaces , Blooming mills , Plate mills Standard rail mills Structural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills Bar mills Tiarrett rod mills , Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, productive occupations. Employees in general occupations: Blast furnaces Bessen\er converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills Crucible furnaces Blooming mills Plate mills Standard rail mills Stmctural, light rail, and other shape mills. Miscellaneous mechanical mills , Bar mills Garrett rod mills , Miscellaneous rod mills Tube mills Total, general occupations. Power, mechanical, and yard force: Steam, gas, and water Yard and traasportation Electric power and repairs Shot NiiTnher of I Nofmal plants. employees. 3PS cm Meonanical repairs. Shipping Miscellaneous Total, power, mechanical, and yard force. Grand total 156 24 80 47 11 51 34 10 16 27 115 19 11 12 1 24, 689 4,927 12,421 6,447 633 4,486 5,193 3,584 3,160 2,860 « 16, 146 1,916 864 4,095 8 91,428 16a 24 67 34 11 48 31 10 13 23 76 19 6,632 691 2,19t 314 96 1,269 748 942 332 403 1,178 541 11 157 15,499 6,037 22,865 3,221 22,588 ;?.864 4,618 2,661 66,744 8 172.671 1 Not including 31 employees who worked 2 days and 2 employees who worked 3 days only. 2 Including 78 employees who worked 5, G, and 7 days in rotation. 3 Including 20 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. * Including 6 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. * Including 4 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. •Not including 2 employees who worked 1 day only. "> Including 12 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. * Not including 2 employees who worked 1 day only and 31 employees who worked 2 days only and 2 employees who worked 3 days only. » * SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. SPECIFIED NUMBER OF DAYS OR TURNS PER WEEK, BY DEPARTMENTS. 55 ^ » ( •% \ I Number of employees whose customary time per week wa&— working Per cent of employees whose customary work- ing time p^r week was — Mar- 5 days. 5 and 6 days alter- nately. 6 days. 6 and 7 days alt^- nately. 7 days. 5 days. 6 and 6 days alter- nately. 6 days. 6 and 7 days alter- nately. 7 days. ginal num- ber. 16 2,136 »3,238 36,485 1,526 423 3,262 4 3,648 2,552 5 1,966 1,990 7 8,535 791 295 1,361 7 138 3,092 8 22,531 1,156 3,396 7 21 642 265 638 499 310 367 68 15 30 0.06 8.65 8 65.72 3 44.16 23.67 66.82 72.73 <70.25 7L21 5 62.22 69.36 7 52.86 41.31 34.14 33.24 0.03 2.80 24.89 .12 9L26 23.44 27.33 .11 3.32 14.31 4.91 17.80 15.79 10.81 2.27 3.55 1.74 .73 1 396 426 4,591 188 244 1,186 390 632 483 6,180 967 522 2,691 8.04 3.43 71.21 29.70 5.44 22.84 10.88 20.00 16.84 38.28 50.50 60.42 65.71 2 23 315 1 120 IS .19 4.89 .16 2.68 .25 3 4 5 ""' 2i7 91 4 60 80 40 4.84 '■.11 1.90 2.79 .25 6 7 8 3 6 1,024 89 32 9 .09 .21 6.34 4.65 3.70 .22 9 10 11 12 13 4 .10 14 1,650 18,896 •37,208 3,741 29,933 1.80 20.67 »40.70 4.09 32.74 10 1,554 438 721 190 44 554 10 456 561 137 170 "790 258 74 26 402 11 8 66 60 16 2 18 22 6 4,994 197 1,030 39 3» 596 163 297 102 174 162 76 .15 23.43 63.39 32.82 60.51 46.32 43.66 10 60. 96 69.55 4L27 42.18 "67.06 47.69 1.12 3.76 18.30 3.50 8.42 5.20 9.22 1.59 .60 4.47 1.87 1.11 75.30 28.51 46.43 12.42 41.05 46.97 21.79 3L53 30.72 43.18 13.75 13.86 15 30 51 68 3 25 57 69 91 41 151 188 4.34 2.32 21.66 3.16 L97 7.62 7.32 27.41 10.17 12.82 34.75 16 3 6 3 .14 1.91 1.05 2.21 .40 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 53 14 4.50 2.59 25 26 27 44 55 6 52 28.03 35.03 3.82 33.12 28 118 818 7 5,928 726 7,910 .76 5.28 7 38.25 4.68 5L04 52 310 13 469 17 158 9 241 908 52 250 31 434 250 10 1, 676 n 17, 100 2,108 19,625 "2,686 3,739 977 . 527 786 115 253 216 12 16 3,541 3.751 983 1,991 914 276 l,30fr .86 1.36 .40 2.08 .44 3.42 .35 3.99 3.97 1.61 1.11 .80 9.40 9.76 10 27.76 12 74.82 65.45 86.88 13 69.51 80.97 38.15 8.73 3.44 3.57 1.12 5.59 .26 .62 58.65 16.41 28.97 8.81 23.65 5.95 51.11 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 1,028 2,166 1*47,911 1.925 12,714 1.56 3.29 "72.88 2.93 19.34 2,796 21,880 1*91,047 6,391 50,557 L62 12.67 1 15 52.73 3.70 29.28 • Including 42 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days and 78 employees who worked 5, 6, and 7 days in rotation. 10 Including 7 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. 11 Including 5 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. 1* Including 24 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. 13 Including 9 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. i« Including 40 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. 15 Including 94 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days and 78 employees who worked 5, 6, and 7 days in rotation. I r 56 LABOR CONDITIONS IN IRON AND STEEL. INDUSTRY. In spite of the fact stated on page 9 that the percentage of employees working 7 days per week has been somewhat altered since the date of these reports, it is of the greatest importance that the conditions existing in the industry at the beginning of the present investigation should be clearly understood. The blast-furnace department is the only one of the 14 depart- ments where there is any metallurgical necessity for continuous opera- tion day and night throughout 7 days per week. In industries other than iron and steel, where continuous operation is necessary, such for instance as street railway and newspaper publishing, it is the custom to carry a sufficient number of employees to enable each employee to rest one day in seven. Throughout the iron and steel industry prior to the present investigation and at the date of the present inquiries (May, 1910) the employees were expected to work seven days whenever the department in which they were working was running seven days and the occupation in which they were engaged required continuous work. The above table shows that in the blast-furnace department, where the operation is continuous, 91.26 per cent of the employees in pro- ductive occupations customarily worked seven days or turns per week. The table also shows that in every single department the cus- tomary working time of some employees was seven days per week. In practically every department it is necessary for a few men to be on duty at all hours day and night during the week, but the propor- tion of the total number of employees required for this seven-day duty is very small, and in not more than 3 or 4 of the departments does the proportion required approach the number who were custom- arily working seven days per week. The large proportion of the Bessemer converters, open-hearth furnaces, and rolling mills working seven days or turns was due to the fact that these departments were in continuous operation in some plants, although no real necessity for this condition existed, only a desire to increase the output of the plant. It is worthy of note that of the 80 open-hearth plants re- ported upon here, 21, or over one-fourth, were operated on Sunday during some part of the year. Next to the blast-furnace department the open-hearth had the largest proportion of employees customarily working seven days or turns per week, the per cent being 27.33, and the Bessemer converting was third in order with 23.44 per cent. In order to present the general situation in the simplest form the table following has been prepared, showing the proportion of em- ployees in each of the principal branches or divisions of the industry who worked each specified number of days or turns per week. « \ I SUMMARY OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR. 57 PER CENT OF EMPLOYEES CUSTOMARILY WORKING EACH SPECIFIED NUMBER OF DAYS PER WEEK, BY BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. Branch of industry. Blast furnaces steel works and rolling mills: Bessemer converters Open-hearth furnaces Puddling mills and crucible furnaces. Rolling mills Tube mills Total, steel works and rolling mills. Power, mechanical and yard force Grand total Normal num- ber of plants. 156 24 80 58 212 12 212 168 338 Number oJ em- ployees. 131.321 5,618 14,618 7,489 M3,»j29 4.252 < 75.606 65,744 8 172,671 Per cent of employees whose customary working time per week was — 5 days. 0.08 .18 4.31 3.17 .21 2.31 L56 1.62 5 and 6 days alter- nately. 7.58 3.26 64.76 25.73 ()4.32 26.07 3.29 12.67 6 days. 11.78 2 65.43 8 42. 45 29.15 5 59.51 33.30 6 52.17 7 72. 88 » 52. 73 6 and 7 days alter- nately. 0.26 2.92 23.90 .36 1.58 .24 5.80 7 days. 87.88 24.07 30.20 1.42 10.00 L93 13.66 2.93 19.34 3.70 29.28 I Not including 31 employees who worked 2 days, and 2 employees who worked 3 days only. ' Including 78 employees who worked 5, 6, and 7 days in rotation. • Including 20 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days. • Not including 2 employees who worked 1 day only. » Including 34 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 daj^s. • Including 54 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days, and 78 employees who worked 5, 6, and 7 days in rotation. ^ Including 40 employees who worked alter-lately 5 and 7 days. • Not including 2 employees who worked 1 day only, 31 employees who worked 2 days only, and 2 em- ployees who worked 3 days only. 'Including 94 employees who worked alternately 5 and 7 days, and 78 employees who worked 5,6, and 7 days in rotation. O GAYLAMOUNT PAMPHLET BINDER 6AYLOR0 BROS. I« 9yr«cus«, N. Y. SlockUn, Caltf. t ' D£6k Un596 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the library rules or by special arrangement with the Librarian in charge. DATE BORROWED DATE DUE DATE BORROWED DATE DUE 1 1 Ca8(n4»}lOOM \ =i T i. .1 .. '<■ ft ji I m 1 "^ 'Ul^z Un396 U.S. Congress. Senate. Summary of the '.7a^*es and Hours of Labor f^SH 6 NOV 2 1^9^' ^ ,»-s. t'-5 ■^Tt*. ,«*;.'. ".! A k- Ei I -l-,J n >. .*; END OF TITLE