more than one-fourth of all the strikes and strikers during the 10 years, is the industry in which labor organizations have been most feebly developed. The following table shows the total number of strikes and strikers reported during the 10 years, from 1890 to 1899, by industries:

STRIKES AND STRIKERS, BY INDUSTRIES, 1890 TO 1899.

Of the 4,210 strikes reported in the 10 years, 2,125 were due, either wholly or in part, to demands for increased wages, and 544 to demands against a reduction of wages; 766 were due to demands for or against the discharge of workmen, foremen, or directors, or for their reinstatement, and 472 for a reduction in the hours of labor. The demands regarding wages and hours of labor were mostly successful or partly successful, while those for or against the discharge of workmen, foremen, or directors or for their reinstatement usually failed.

Strikes during this 10-year period were most frequent during the months of April, May, June, and July. The greatest number occurred in May and the smallest number in December.

The following table shows the number of strikes, strikers, and aggregate working days lost, and the per cent of strikes and strikers that succeeded, succeeded partly, and failed, during each of the 10 years from 1890 to 1899:

d One strike involving 2 establishments and 54 employees, not included.

The above statistics do not appear to disclose any marked tendency either toward an increase or decrease in the number of strikes or strikers, the number in each case fluctuating irregularly from one year to another. The same is true with regard to the percentage of success or failure from year to year, although there is some indication of an increasing tendency in the percentage of strikes that were compromised.

Of the total number of strikes reported during the 10 years, 24.10 per cent succeeded, 31.29 per cent succeeded partly, and 44.61 per cent failed. Of the strikers, 18.04 per cent succeeded, 43.33 per cent succeeded partly, and 38.63 per cent failed.

The strikes were mostly of short duration, 2,623 or 62.3 per cent of the strikes, with 347,298 or 37.6 per cent of the strikers, having lasted but one week or less. On the other hand, 404 strikes, with 213,991 strikers, lasted more than 30 days. In the case of 26 strikes, involving 2,057 strikers, the duration was not known.

CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION. The law of December 27, 1892, regarding conciliation and arbitration (a) in trade disputes was applied 197 times in 190 different disputes. As the number of strikes during the year was 740, the proportion of the number of applications of the law to the total number of disputes was 26.62 per cent. The proportion for the six preceding years, taken collectively, in which the law was applied, was 22.09 per cent. The initiative in demanding the application of the law was taken by the employees 112 times, by the employers once, by both employers and employees 4 times, and in 80 cases the initiative was taken through the intervention of justices of the peace.

As regards the results of the application of the law, it was found that in 12 of the 197 cases, relating to 9 disputes, work was resumed before committees of conciliation were constituted. In 79 of the remaining 185 cases, relating to 76 disputes, the demands for conciliation were refused in 65 cases by the employers, in 1 by the employees, and in 13 cases by both employers and employees. In 2 of these cases the employees renounced their demands, and in 2 others a compromise was effected. In the other 75 cases, relating to 72 disputes, strikes were declared or continued after the refusal of conciliation. Of these 72 strikes, 8 were successful, 36 were partly successful, and 28 failed. For the settlement of the remaining 105 disputes 106 committees of conciliation were constituted. Of these disputes 36 were settled directly by the committees of conciliation, 6 by arbitration, and 4 were adjusted by the parties themselves after having had recourse to committees of conciliation. In one of these cases a strike resulted after the failure of conciliation, but later another committee of conciliation settled the dispute. This leaves 59 cases in which the attempted conciliation and

a For a copy of this law see Bulletin No. 25, pp. 854-856.

arbitration failed and strikes resulted or continued. These strikes succeeded in 7 cases, succeeded partly in 41, and failed in 11 cases.

The following statement gives a summary of the cases in which recourse was had to the law of 1892 regarding conciliation and arbitration, and the results of such recourse during the year 1899 and for the preceding six years collectively:

SUMMARY OF CASES IN WHICH RECOURSE WAS HAD TO CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION, 1893 TO 1898, AND 1899.

a The 581 cases of recourse to the law relate to 580 disputes. b The 197 cases of recourse to the law relate to 190 disputes. c There were but 144 disputes settled by committees of conciliation, 3 of them being counted twice because 2 committees were formed in each of these 3 cases.

d Figures here apparently should be 153; those given are, however, according to the original.

The above summary shows that of 190 disputes considered in 1899 59 were settled directly or indirectly through the application of the law of 1892, and in the case of 131 the recourse to the law proved fruitless. Of the 59 disputes thus settled 21 were favorable to the demands of the employees, 34 resulted in a compromise, and 4 were unfavorable to the employees. In the 131 disputes which continued after the failure of attempts at conciliation and arbitration the employees succeeded in 15, succeeded partly in 77, and failed in 39.

GERMANY.

Streiks und Aussperrungen im Jahre 1899. Bearbeitet im Kaiserlichen Statistischen Amt. xxviii, 171 pp.

This is the first annual publication on strikes and lockouts issued by the German imperial statistical bureau. The information contained in this report for 1899 had previously been published quarterly in summary form in the Vierteljahrshefte zur Statistik des Deutschen Reichs. A strike for the purposes of this report is defined as "any combined cessation of labor on the part of two or more industrial employees undertaken for the purpose of enforcing certain demands upon an employer." While this definition does not cover all sympathetic strikes, the latter are nevertheless included in the report. A lockout is defined as "any combined shutting out of two or more employees by an employer for the purpose of enforcing certain demands made

upon the employees." The report is intended to cover all strikes and lockouts occurring during the year 1899 in the handicraft trades, factories, mines, hotels, restaurants, etc., and in transportation and commercial occupations in the German Empire.

The information is obtained by the local police authorities, who are required to make a report after each strike or lockout, on blank schedules furnished by the imperial statistical bureau. In this bureau the files of newspapers and trade journals are also consulted in order to catch any disputes that might escape the notice of the local police authorities.

The report contains an analysis and summaries of the strikes and lockouts, copies of the schedules of inquiry, and tables showing in detail, by locality and industry for each dispute, the duration, establishments affected, total number of employees, strikers, and others thrown out of employment, causes, results, manner of settlement, etc. STRIKES.-There were 1,336 strikes reported in 1899, of which 48 continued after the close of the year and are not, therefore, considered in the tabulations. The remaining 1,288 strikes which ended in 1899 affected 7,121 establishments. The strikes in the case of 5,478 of these affected the entire establishment, while in the case of 1,643 only certain branches or occupations were affected. Operations were completely suspended in 1,316 of the former and in 574 of the latter.

There were 99,338 strikers and 10,122 others thrown out of employment on account of strikes, making a total of 109,460 employees affected. The following table shows, by industries, the number of strikes ending in 1899, the establishments and employees affected, and the results of the strikes:

STATISTICS OF STRIKES, BY INDUSTRIES, 1899.

Of the 19 industries above enumerated, that of building trades had the largest number of strikes, strikers, and establishments affected, being over one-third of the entire number in each case. Next in importance with regard to the persons affected were the textiles and the group of mining, smelting, etc. Over one-half of the strikers and others affected on account of strikes were engaged in these three groups of industries.

In presenting strikes by causes the cause and not the strike is made the unit, and the figures, therefore, show the number of times that each cause figured as an incentive to a strike, regardless of the actual number of strikes. Thus in 1899 there were 1,288 strikes, while 2,101 causes are enumerated. The following table shows the causes of strikes, by industries:

The most frequent causes of strikes in 1899 were those due to wage disputes; next in importance were demands relating to working time, for the reinstatement of employees, for changes in the methods of wage payments, and for the discharge of foremen, superintendents, etc. Of the demands relating to wages, 23 per cent were successful,