Hitherto the inquiries of this Bureau have been detached, dealing with special lines of investigation and their incidents. A very great deal has been done in detail and in working out conclusions, but it must be remembered that the enterprise is intended to last, and that the work well begun is the more easily kept up and carried through. In the attempt thus far, satisfactory progress has been made, but perhaps the best result attained is that the basis has been laid and the scheme devised for more perfect work.

The statistician knows better than anyone how easy it is to make mistakes, and how difficult to avoid erroneous conclusions. If the data be open to question the conclusions must be unreliable. This mere truism suggests the need of complete investigation, of a frequent traveling over the same ground until accuracy is secured. It is easy enough to illustrate this position out of any business man's daily experience in the narrow circle of personal action. How much more perplexing when the work must pass through many hands, and when it includes the relations of a vast community. A proverbial slur upon statistical statements is that "Figures can be made to prove anything." That is so; but when the facts behind the figures are irrefutable, then, indeed, a solid foundation is had upon which to build. The reliability of statistical statements implies time and patience, collection and comparison, with much going over and repetition by trustworthy agents. The details of a manufacturer's business cannot be learned by a perfunctory inspection. How much less the business of a great people with the bewilderingly multifarious occupations, the disturbing influences and the intricate and changing involutions. And yet, it is precisely this which the modern statistician and philosopher declares must be known and understood, before a permanent basis of wise legislation for good government can be laid.

SUBJECTS OF INVESTIGATION.

This report is divided into five parts, the first of which is devoted to the subject of the condition of workingmen, their earnings, cost of living and possible savings, together with subdivisions of the tabulation by occupations and nationality of individual employés. Included in the compilation are also facts concerning the occupation and earnings of men, women and

children, which are taken from the eleventh annual report of the United States Commissioner of Labor, and which will be of great value for purposes of comparison.

Part Second of the report has for its subject the condition of manufactures, and is so arranged as regards the industries of the State, number employed, hours of labor, amount paid in wages and proportion of business done, as to show, as its title implies, the industrial conditions actually existing throughout the Commonwealth.

The subject to which Part Third of the report is devoted is the hours of labor and wages of male and female clerks employed in mercantile establishments. The subject is one of deep interest and one which has attracted much attention and invited considerable discussion among people generally.

Part Four has reference to rates of wages paid municipal employés, inquiries for information concerning which being so numerous at the office of the Bureau as to warrant the investigation made.

The report closes with Part Five, which includes an abstract of laws relating to labor which were passed or rejected during the January, 1897, Session of the General Assembly, together with Court decisions recently rendered in this and other States, which are deemed of vital importance to the interests of labor.

ALIEN LABORERS.

The act concerning alien laborers has been in operation two and one-half years and its effect has been of a most beneficial character to the Hungarian, Polish and Italian residents of the State, and cases of injustice to those ignorant of the English language are now scarcely known. During the year covered by this report the intervention of the Bureau was sought in but two instances, in which violations of the statute, commonly known as the "Padrone Law," were charged. Upon advice from the Bureau, suit was instituted in both cases, resulting in the imposition of a fine of twenty-five dollars and costs in each instance. The fines were paid, no appeal being taken. Although the above were the only instances brought to the attention of the Bureau, in which by a proper construction of the statute it was thought a conviction would follow prosecution, there were numerous other complaints made to the Italian

agents of the Bureau in which it was alleged that money due for wages had been withheld from the laborer making the complaint. In cases of this nature the amounts alleged to be due have been so small, and under the meaning of the statute the Bureau assumed that it had no authority in the matter of the collection of claims, no prosecutions were instituted, the complaining parties being advised that the remedy lay in process at law instituted only by themselves.

BAKE-SHOPS.

The Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau exposed, in a measure, the unsanitary condition of the cellar bakeries, which at that time were said to exist in many localities in the State. The result of the investigations made developed a more serious and dangerous condition than was deemed possible, and with slight changes a proposed statute recommended by the Bureau, and which appeared in that report, was enacted into law by the General Assembly at the January Session of 1897 (the law as passed will be found on page 206 of this report). The effect of this law, although the period of its operation covers but a few months, has been most salutary, and under its provisions the remedies prescribed have resulted in the abolition, by the authorities, of several cellar bakeries, and closer observance of the laws of health by the proprietors of others, a result which cannot fail but be of incalculable benefit to all citizens.

MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION.

The State Board of Mediation and Arbitration have prepared no official report, the services of the Board not having been required for the adjustment of difficulties between employer and employed. This is a most gratifying condition, and must also be a source of much satisfaction to all citizens who should be congratulated that the industrial conditions have not been disturbed by differences which would need the intervention of an official board of arbitration. The entire absence of labor disturbances is an evidence that there is a mutual recognition by both employers and employés, that though the period of business depression has been long and hard, yet there existed between them a community of material interest which is the safest and surest guaranty for mutual confidence and prosperity.

FORMER REPORTS OF THE BUREAU.

The demand for former reports of the Bureau has been extremely large, coming from professors of colleges and students of economics generally, and in order that the subjects treated upon in the various reports may be made known, it has been thought wise that an analytical abstract of the contents of each report of the Bureau, since its establishment under the provisions of the present law, be given a place in this chapter. In this connection it should be stated that the edition of the report for some of the years has become nearly exhausted, but few copies remaining. Still no effort has been spared to supply the demand, by calling in from all sources any uncalled for reports which could be found.

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT-1885.

The First Annual Report contains a treatise upon the subject of cheap labor, presenting accounts of the various forms of child and untrained labor, labor of foreigners, of convicts, labor-saving machinery and long hours, together with a consideration of time and piece-work, contract system and the manner and time of payment, to which are added discussions on the inequality of wages and on the difficulty experienced in determining the various standards of living, with comparisons.

SECOND ANNUAL REPORT-1886.

The subjects treated upon in this report embrace the enforcement of labor legislation, the legality and powers of labor organizations, also refers to the advantages of the system of weekly payments over the then existing system of infrequent payments, and includes statistical tables showing, by industries. and counties, the number of employés and the time and manner of payment of wages, and also gives information furnished by labor organizations concerning the wages, sex, age and hours of labor of employés in various small establishments throughout the State.

THIRD ANNUAL REPORT-1887.

This report contains a review of industrial legislation in the State from the settlement of the Colony to 1887, including partnership and corporation laws; regulation of prices of wages; protection of consumers and legislation relating to education of children; to the suppression of slavery; to peddlers and hawkers; to the employment of apprentices; relating to savings and building associations; providing for exemption from execution and attachment; inspection of factories; relating to imprisonment for debt; presents papers on discontent among the laboring classes, its extent, its causes, its remedies-these papers being written from the standpoint of a capitalist, of a knight of labor, of the land and labor party, of the more radical socialist party, and of a professional man, to which is added. statistical tables, showing all available facts relating to strikes in Connecticut from 1881 to 1886, inclusive.

FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT-1888.

This report presents the results of an inquiry concerning manufacturers, and is based on information secured directly from the books of ninety establishments in twenty-two lines of industry in 1887, to ascertain what portion of production goes to labor and what proportion to employers' profits. The report also includes reports made by workingmen from all parts of the State, concerning their receipts and expenditures in detail, and statistics relating to agriculture in Connecticut, giving for each county and town, by farms, the size of the farm, and of the farmer's family, the rate of wages paid hired help, the amount of mortgage carried and of capital invested, and the receipts and expenditures of the farmers in detail.

FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT-1889.

The statistics of manufactures presented in this report give the number of establishments considered, capital invested, value of product, cost of materials, number of employés and their wages, with comparisons with the corresponding statistics for 1887 and 1880, the latter data being taken from the United. States census, followed by an exhaustive consideration of the oyster industry of the State, in which among other things, the methods of propagating and gathering oysters, and of destroyng their enemies, and of locating oyster beds, are described.