UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 The Movement of Wages 
 
 In The Cotton Manufacturing Industry 
 
 of New England Since i860 
 
 STANLEY E. HOWARD 
 
 8 46 
 
 t
 
 A DISSERTATION 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE 
 
 KACULTV OF PRINCETON l'NI\'ERSITV 
 
 IN CANDIDACY lOR THE DECREE 
 
 OF DOCTOR OK PIIILOSOPHV
 
 The Movement of Wages 
 
 In the Cotton Manufacturing Industry 
 
 of New England 
 
 Since 1860 
 
 By STANLEY E. HOWARD 
 Assistant Professor of Economics in Princeton University 
 
 BOSTON 
 NATIONAL COUNCIL OF AMERICAN COTTON MANUFACTURERS 
 Boston, Mass. WAsiiiNcnoN, D. C. Chariotie, N. C. 
 
 1920
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1920 
 By Stanley E. Howard 
 
 Printed by E. L. Barry 
 Waltham, Mass. 
 
 u 'a- "O- *.«
 
 (V 
 
 
 r 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. The Scope and Method of this Investigation, ..... 5 
 
 II. Changes of Rates of Wages at Fall River, 13 
 
 Table I. Wages, prices ami margins at Fall River, 1875-1918, . . 17 
 
 Chart I. Weaving rates and margins at Fall River, 1875-1918, . 18 
 
 Table II. Hypothetical margins and wea\nng rates to illustrate 
 
 the sliding scale agreement of October, 1905, ... 22 
 
 Table III. Actual margins and rates under the sliding scale agree- 
 ment of October, 1905, 23 
 
 Table I\'. Schedule of margins and weaving rates pn^vided by the 
 
 sliding scale agreement of May 14, 1907, 25 
 
 Table V. Schedule of margins and weaving rates pro\nded by the 
 
 revised sliding scale agreement of Septembers, 1908, 27 
 
 Table \T. .\ctual margins and wages under the sliding scale 
 \ agreement of May 14, 1907, (revised September 8, 
 
 1908,) 29 
 
 Tabic \'II. The correlation of wages and prices at Fall River, 
 
 1881-1904, 30 
 
 III. The Movement of Full Time Framings in the Massachu- 
 
 setts Cotton Manufacturing Industry, 1860-1891, . . 41 
 
 Tabic \'III. Simple medians of relative full time earnings in the 
 
 Massachusetts cotton industry, i860- 1880, .... 44 
 
 Chart II. The movement of full time earnings in the Massachusetts 
 
 cotton industry, 1860-1880, as shown by the method 
 
 of simple medians, 45 
 
 Table I\. The movements of full time earnings in Massachusetts 
 
 cotton mills, and of prices, 1860-1880, 46 
 
 Chart III. I'he movements of full time earnings in Massachusetts 
 
 cotton mills, and of prices, i86<')-l88o, 47 
 
 Chart I\". The movement of full time earnings in the Massachusetts^ 
 
 cotton industry, 1860-1880; by sex groups, .... 48 
 
 Table X. Relative full time earnings in the Massachusetts cotton 
 
 industry in the year 1880, 58 
 
 Table XI. The movement of full time earnings in the Massachusetts 
 
 cotton industry, 1880- 1 89 1, 59 
 
 1 89555
 
 4 WAC.ES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 Chart \'. The movement of full time earnings in the Massachusetts 
 
 cotton industry, 1 880- 1 891, 60 
 
 IV. 'I'hc Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Cotton 
 
 Manufacturing Industry of Massachusetts, Maine and 
 Rhode Island, 1890-1916, 62 
 
 Table XII. The movement of earnings in the Massachusetts cotton 
 
 industry, 1890- 1916, 66-67 
 
 Table XIII. The movement of earnings in the Maine cotton 
 
 industry, 1890-1916, 68-69 
 
 Table XIV. The movement of earnings in the Rhode Island cotton 
 
 industry, 1890-1916, 70-71 
 
 Chart VI. The movement of full time earnings in the Massachu- 
 setts cotton industry, 1890-1916, 72 
 
 Chart VII. The movement of full time earnings in the Maine 
 
 cotton industry, 1890- 1916, 73 
 
 Chart VIII. The movement of full time earnings in the Rhode 
 
 Island cotton industry, 1890- 1916, 74 
 
 Table XV. The percentage distribution of employees in the Mas- 
 sachusetts cotton industry on the basis of weekly 
 earnings, 1889-1916, 80 
 
 Chart IX. The distribution of employees in the Massachusetts 
 cotton industry on the basis of weekly earnings, 1889- 
 1916, 81 
 
 V. Fluctuations of Employment, 83 
 
 Table XVI. Fluctuations of employment in the Massachusetts 
 
 cotton industry, 1889-1916, 84 
 
 Chart X. Fluctuations of Employment in the Massachusetts 
 
 cotton industry, 1886- 1916, 86 
 
 Table XVII. Unemployment in the Massachusetts cotton industry, 
 1886- 1916. The deviation from the monthly average 
 number of employees, 85 
 
 Table XVIII. Unemployment in the Massachusetts cotton industry 
 
 1886-1916. The operating time of the mills, ... 89 
 
 VI. Conclusions, 91 
 
 Table XIX. Wages in the Massachusetts cotton manufacturing 
 
 industry and general prices, i860- 191 8, 93 
 
 Chart XI. Wages in the Massachusetts cotton manufacturing 
 
 industry and general prices, i860- 191 8, 94
 
 SCOPE AND METFiOD 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 The Scope and Method of this Investigation 
 
 At a time like the present when there is at hand so much 
 unavoidable and important work of economic and social read- 
 justment, it seems particularly needful that there be on the part 
 of the public both ability and willingness to view the problems 
 that arise in their true perspectives. While in dealing with all 
 economic problems a thoroughgoing knowledge of historical 
 backgrounds is much to be desired, the importance of such 
 knowledge is especially great when forces of great dynamic 
 power have been and still are at work. We are in a period 
 of upheaval in the industrial world. Under the spur of urgent 
 war needs, production attained in terms both of monetary and 
 of technical units unprecedented levels. Labor has been at a 
 premium unprecedented in our industrial history. Money 
 wages have in many industries been very markedly advanced, 
 and that industry is rare in which there has been no advance at 
 all. These wage changes can no more be thought of as standing 
 by themselves than can the diplomatic and military events of 
 1914-1919. The present monograph is therefore offered in the 
 hope that it may in some measure contribute to public knowl- 
 edge of historical backgrounds in a particular portion of the 
 field of industrial problems. 
 
 There has been chosen as the subject of investigation the 
 changes of wages in the New England cotton manufacturing 
 industry since i860. Thus there is covered a period of nearly 
 sixty years, embracing two important war periods, those of 
 1861-1865 and 1914-1919, and both the period of declining 
 price movement preceding 1897 and that of rising prices since 
 that year. 
 
 As to form and content the present study is largely statistical. 
 Two general problems have presented themselves : First, the
 
 6 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 determination of the detailed facts regarding changes of wages; 
 second, the discovery of the more important causal forces pro- 
 ducing these changes. Of these two problems, the former has 
 been stressed, and only in the discussion of the Fall River 
 sliding scale experiments (in Chapter II) and in the analysis 
 and explanation of the results of Professor Mitchell's work 
 covering the greenback period (Chapter III) has there been any 
 considerable attention given to descriptive and explanatory 
 materials gathered from miscellaneous sources and serving to 
 explain the evidence of the statistical exhibits. In Chapter II 
 the analysis of market conditions in their relation to changes of 
 rates of wages approaches more nearly than does any other 
 part of the study the presentation of critical comment. As to the 
 miscellaneous explanatory materials of Chapter III, their chief 
 justification as a part of the present work lies in the light they 
 throw upon the developments of the early years of the period 
 covered — rather important developments in that not only was 
 there in them a radical departure from the pre-war conditions 
 of i860 so far as concerned cotton mill employees as a group, 
 but also in that in these early years there was established a new 
 relationship of the wage levels of the sexes. 
 
 Of the purely statistical part of the subject there are three 
 main divisions. First, there is that which relates to changes 
 of rates of wages rather than to changes of earnings. This topic 
 is treated particularly in Chapter II. Attention has been given 
 to the history of the weaving piece rate at Fall River, Massa- 
 chusetts, as being at once the best available and a fairly accurate 
 criterion of changes of rates at least for the southern New 
 England section of the cotton manufacturing industry. 
 
 Second, there is that division which relates to changes in 
 earnings, and more particularly to changes of full time earnings. 
 It is obvious that in an industry in which the principle of the 
 division of labor has attained a high degree of development, a 
 development which has been accompanied by considerable 
 resort to piece rate methods of payment, changes of rates may 
 or may not result in proportionate changes of earnings, due to 
 the complicating influence of changes in the technical conditions
 
 SCOPE AND METHOD 7 
 
 of production. And again, even if piece rates and hourly earn- 
 ings do not change, weekly and annual relative earnings may be 
 modified by the enactment of legislation limiting the hours of 
 labor of certain groups of workers, as women and minors — a 
 restriction upon industrial activity which from obvious considera- 
 tions relating to skillful factory organization and management 
 atifects all employees regardless of sex and age. The assembling 
 and analysis of the facts relating to the movement of full time 
 money earnings are presented in Chapters III and IV, the former 
 showing for the period 1860-1891 the conclusions based chiefly, 
 directly or indirectly, upon the materials of the Aldrich Report 
 of 1893;^ the latter, covering the years 1890- 191 6, being based 
 upon the work of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics 
 and of its predecessor the United States Bureau of Labor, and 
 upon the work of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics. 
 
 Finally, as is necessary in any statistical examination of wage 
 movements, consideration has been given to the occurrence, 
 regularly or irregularly, of conditions of unemployment. Such 
 conditions frequently modify in a substantial degree the showing 
 made by statistics of relative full time earnings. This topic has 
 been treated in Chapter V. 
 
 In Chapter VI there is presented a summary of the statistical 
 analysis just outlined. The curves of relative full time earnings 
 in the Massachusetts section of the cotton manufacturing industry 
 for 1860-1891 and 1890-1916 are united into a single curve for 
 the entire period, using the year i860 as the base. Second, 
 comparison is made of the curve of relative full time earnings 
 thus constructed with a similar curve of relative wholesale 
 prices of commodities in general, to reveal the movement of 
 real, in addition to and in comparison with that of money, 
 wages. Finally, comparison is made between the movements 
 of piece rates and of full time earnings, to secure some sugges- 
 tion as to the effects of technical developments upon wage con- 
 ditions. It should be clearly understood with respect to the 
 last mentioned topic that there is here presented only a sugges- 
 
 I. Senate Committee on Kinance, Kt-port on WholesaU Prices, on Wa^cs, onJ 
 on Transportation. Senate Reports, 521! Congress, 2d Session. Report 1394, pts. 1-4.
 
 8 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 tion regarding possible interpretaions of the statistical evidence 
 available. It is to be hoped that this topic may sometime be 
 investigated by someone who not only has ready and constant 
 access to the necessary sources of information, that is, to the 
 strictly private records of the cotton mills, but is also thoroughly 
 familiar by reason of long experience with the complicated 
 technique of the industry. 
 
 There has been no attempt made here to study, with a 
 thoroughness exceeding that already applied by students of 
 economic and industrial history, the history of the labor supply 
 in the New England cotton industry. Obviously the supply 
 has two fundamental aspects, quantity and quality. As regards 
 the former, the compilation and analysis of population and 
 occupation statistics could add little of value for present pur- 
 poses, since, as we have seen in the recent war period, within 
 limits of very general principles of social and industrial stratifi- 
 cation there is no such thing as an arbitrary or permanent division 
 of the industrial population into non-interchangeable classes, 
 and munitions factories have drawn heavily on textile mills 
 for a labor supply. Quantitative changes of population, from a 
 positive point of view, have not been the chief factor in indus- 
 trial adjustments, and to compile elaborate figures showing such 
 changes would add little to the value of this study. 
 
 In general, this quantitative change of labor supply has been 
 a growth from about 122,000 cotton mill employees in the 
 United States in i860, to 378,000 in the United States in 1910, 
 of whom 189,700 were in New England. Within the New 
 England group of states Massachusetts has always been in the 
 lead, showing a growth of from 38,500 in i860 to 108,900 in 
 1910. These are United States Census figures. More detailed 
 figures for Massachusetts are presented in Chapter V. Following 
 Massachusetts in the order of numerical importance, the other 
 New England states are Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine 
 and Connecticut. The development of the industry in Vermont 
 is so small as to be almost negligible. 
 
 The second aspect of the labor supply is the qualitative one. 
 In this connection it is assumed that the reader is familiar with
 
 SCOPE AND METHOD 9 
 
 the fundamental facts: First, tlie increasing resort by mann- 
 facturers, willingly or unwillingly, to individuals representing 
 the successive waves of luiropean immigration into the United 
 States; second, the fact that the above mentioned change has 
 been combined with the constant improvement of machinery 
 and processes to make relatively more economical the employ- 
 ment of certain immigrant males in place of former female 
 employees, particularly in those departments in which the 
 physical severity of the work to be performed has increased as 
 machinery has increased in size and weight; and third, the fact 
 of relatively decreasing employment of children due chief!)' to 
 restrictive legislation by the states, in which matter Massachu- 
 setts has consistently been in the lead of the other New England 
 states. If the reader is unfamiliar with these facts let him 
 consult, for information relating to the cotton manufacturing 
 industr)', Professor M. T. Copeland's volume descriptive of the 
 American cotton manufacturing industry.^ 
 
 Another point of omission in this study is the detailed con- 
 sideration of problems connected with the technique of the 
 textile manufacturing processes. Most readers will be suffic- 
 iently familiar with the fundamental textile processes to follow 
 intelligently the work of statistical compilation and anah'sis in 
 the succeeding chapters. To any who wish more detailed 
 information than is here assumed, there is recommended the 
 reading of Chapters IV and V of Professor Copeland's book 
 above referred to, or of the descriptive materials of Bulletin 
 239 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.- 
 
 So far as we are concerned in this study with the technicalities 
 of the occupational division of labor, the fact of chief interest 
 relates to the influence of manufacturing technique upon the 
 conditions of collective bargaining and upon the significance of 
 statistical data covering the matter of piece rates. 
 
 It is a fundamental prerequisite of successful collective bar- 
 gaining concerning wages that there be some considerable 
 
 1. Copeland, M. T., The Cotton Manuftiituring Industry of the Vnitdi Stiitis. 
 
 2. United States Bureau of Lalxir Statistics, Hulletin 239. H'ti^a attil Hours of 
 Labor in Cotton Gooih Manufacturing and Finishini^, 1916. I'p. 140-205.
 
 10 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 degree of standardization of working conditions or of working 
 rules. And it is a regrettable weakness in the American cotton 
 manufacturing industry that no such standardization has as yet 
 been attained. In the British cotton manufacturing industry 
 there has gradually been developed a set of standardized wage 
 scales, that is scales of compensation in the piece working 
 crafts which adjust themselves automatically to changed condi- 
 tions of production or to changes of products. For this reason 
 most" English weavers are protected somewhat against the risk 
 of accidental or intentional reductions of earnings caused by 
 incorrect readjustment of piece rates as the width of the cloth, 
 the fineness of the warp and weft threads, the number of threads 
 per square inch, and the speed of operation of the machine 
 are changed. Notwithstanding intermittent agitation for the 
 construction of similar standard lists in the United States, par- 
 ticularly in New Bedford, the leading center of the American 
 fine goods industry, where such standardization is most needed, 
 it has not been possible to secure agreement thereon. In fact, 
 opposition of employers has gone so far that it has not been 
 possible to secure for the Massachusetts laws requiring the 
 attachment to all weaving work of cards of detailed specifica- 
 tions an amendment to the effect that these specifications be 
 not written or printed in a code necessarily unintelligible to 
 the workers. Under such conditions collective bargaining 
 whether by individual unions or by groups of unions can not 
 attain a very high degree of development. The nearest 
 approach to a real standard list of piece rates in the New Eng- 
 land cotton industry is the mule spinners' list at Fall River, 
 agreed to by the union of mule spinners and the local manu- 
 facturers in 1889. 
 
 From the standpoint of the statistician the absence of highly 
 standardized conditions in the matter just discussed is of prime 
 interest in that it partially explains the lack of close correlation 
 between the movement of piece rates and that of full time 
 earnings. 
 
 Regarding union organization of cotton mill employees 
 something is said in Chapter II in connection with the sliding
 
 SCOPE AND METHOD 1 1 
 
 scale experiments at VM River. In general, the New England 
 textile industr)' is one in which craft organization has never 
 been very strong, a fact due largely to the low degree of skill 
 required of the majority of the workers and to the presence of 
 large groups of immigrants of many nationalities. In recent 
 years there has been developing considerable antagonism 
 between the old craft unions and the industrial organizations 
 which lean toward the philosophy and the policy of the Indus- 
 trial Workers of the World. 
 
 The character of the work done in the preparation of the 
 succeeding chapters and the manner of presentation of results 
 render superfluous the publication of a formal bibliography. 
 For the purely statistical work the chief sources have been the 
 so-called Weeks Report of the Tenth Census,^ the Aldrich 
 Report of 1893, Professor Wesley C. Mitchell's excellent volume 
 on Go/d, Prices, ami Wages under the Greenback Standard, the 
 Annual Reports and Bulletins of the United States Bureau of 
 Labor and of its successor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the 
 reports of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics, particularly 
 the Reports on the Statistics of Manufactures. Throughout the 
 following pages care has been taken to give specific references 
 to these sources and to explain as clearly as possible the modi- 
 fications and rearrangements of materials made for the purpose 
 in hand. 
 
 Frequent specific references are made in the text and in foot- 
 notes to contemporary accounts in commercial and financial 
 journals descriptive of industrial conditions, and there are also 
 frequent references to books and pamphlets. It is needless to 
 present a general bibliography of useful materials in view of the 
 existence in print of a very complete and well arranged biblio- 
 graphy covering the whole subject of the manufacture of cotton 
 goods. ^ There is also an excellent select bibliograph)' in the 
 
 1. Weeks, Josejih D., Report on iJ'e Statistics of liases in J/nnu/.iitnrin^' 
 InJustries. Tenth Census of the United States, Vol. XX. The cotton manufacturing 
 industry is covered in pp. 327-367. 
 
 2. Woodbur)', C. J. H., Bibliography of the Cotton Manufacture. 2 vols. 
 (1909 and 1910). Published by The National Association of Cotton Manufacturers of 
 which Mr. Woodbury was then secretary.
 
 12 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 appendix of l^rofessor Copeland's book. The reader may be 
 interested, for purposes of comparison, in a study somewhat 
 similar to the present, but covering the British section of the 
 cotton manufacturing industry, by Mr. G. H. Wood of the 
 Royal Statistical Society. ^ 
 
 To make specific reference to all who have given assistance 
 in the preparation of this monograph would be impracticable. 
 The author wishes, however, to acknowledge his indebtedness 
 to Professors F. A. Fetter and E. W. Kemmerer of the Depart- 
 ment of Economics and Social Institutions of Princeton Univer- 
 sity and to Mr. W. M. Adriance, formerly of that department, 
 for advice and assistance in the preparation of the manuscript, 
 and to Mr, A. F, Bemis of the National Council of American 
 Cotton Manufacturers, for co-operation in securing publication 
 at this time. 
 
 I. Wood, George Henr)', The Statistics of Wages in the United Kingdom dur- 
 ing the Nineteenth Century. Parts XV-XIX. 7^he Cotton Industry. Journal of the 
 Royal Statistical Society, 1910, pp. 39-58, 128-163, 283-315, 411-434, 585-626.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL RIVER 13 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Changes of Rates of Wages at Fall River ' 
 
 In an industry like that of cotton cloth manufacturing, organ- 
 ized to a large degree upon the principle of the division of 
 labor, and in which there is a great diversity of products and of 
 technical conditions of operation from town to town, from mill 
 to mill, and from one mill department to the next, the study of 
 the movement of rates of wages is at best difficult. In the 
 American cotton manufacturing industry changes in technical 
 processes, equipment and products have been rapid, the opera- 
 tive force has been continually changing as regards its racial 
 composition, union organization and arrangements for collective 
 bargaining, except in special cases, have been weak and some- 
 what temporary, and there has consequently not evolved any 
 very considerable standardization of rates of wages. The result 
 is that materials for the study of movements of rates of wages 
 are limited. 
 
 However, at F"all River, Massachusetts, the leading cotton 
 manufacturing city of the United States, collective bargaining 
 has attained some strength, the representatives of the chief 
 craft organizations^ being organized into a Textile Council, 
 which deals on behalf of all the operatives, so far as occupa- 
 tional classification is concerned, with the Cotton Manufacturers' 
 Association of the city.'^ The latter organization represents and 
 
 1. This chapter is based upon an article by the author under the title The Fall 
 River Slidini; Scale F.xperinuttt of iqoji-igio, appearing in the American Economic 
 Review, Vol. VII, No. 3, pp. 530-552 (September, 1917). The materials there used 
 have been revised and extended. Due acknowledgment is made to the editors of the 
 American Economic Review for permission to use them in the present larger work. 
 
 2. The unions of mule spinners, weavers, slasher tenders, carders and lo<im 
 fixers. 
 
 3. Formed April 19, 1873, as the Manufacturers' Board of Trade. The name 
 was changed to its present form October 27, 1890. Collective bargaining was first 
 participated in on January 30, 1875, when the association dealt with a committee of 
 weavers. The present Textile Council is first mentioned in the Association's records 
 on February 20, 1899.
 
 14 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 acts for nearly all the mills in Fall River. While one or two 
 mills, notably the Fall River IronVVorks, insist upon dealing with 
 their own employees upon an independent basis, the wage 
 policies of these establishments are not widely at variance with 
 those of the Association. 
 
 A second condition favorable to the purposes of the present 
 investigation is the fact that Fall River is the center of the plain 
 rather than of the fine goods manufacture, so that the absence 
 of a high degree of standardization of rates as between mills and 
 departments constitutes a difificulty of diminished significance. 
 That is, since products are less diversified than elsewhere there 
 is greater probability of changes of rates of wages being applied 
 impartially to all employees regardless of the technical condi- 
 tions of their work. 
 
 Third, it happens that there is public record of the weaving 
 rates paid at Fall River for a cut of 45 yards of 28 inch 64x64 
 print cloth, going back as far as 1875. This particular piece 
 rate has been used for years as the basis for discussion of wage 
 advances and reductions. Changes of rates of wages are com- 
 monly expressed by percentage figures. The understanding 
 has been that whatever rate per cent, of change occurs in the 
 weaving rate shall apply to all workers in all departments of 
 the mills coming under the collective agreements.^ And to 
 know the actual weaving rates applying to a particular mill 
 product is of immense advantage, for thereby there is eliminated 
 much probability of misunderstanding as to the bases used in 
 calculating given wage changes.^ 
 
 Finally, it should be noted that changes of wages at Fall 
 River are generally regarded as indicative of changing condi- 
 
 1. On one occasion, that of a general strike at Fall River in 1894, the mule 
 spinners received an advance of 5 per cent., although none of the other operatives 
 received any advance. This w-as an exceptional case. 
 
 2. For example, if a piece rate is advanced on January i of any year from 20 
 cents to 21 cents, there is an advance of 5 per cent. Concerning this there is no 
 difificulty. Suppose, however, that at the end of three months the piece rate drops to 20 
 cents. The reduction is approximately 4.76 per cent. But such accuracy of expression 
 is rarely found in available records. Rather the popular \4ew is that both the advance 
 and the reduction were at the rate of 5 per cent.
 
 RATES OF WACES AT FALL RIVER 15 
 
 tions throughout the New England cotton industry. This state- 
 ment does not mean that Fall River always leads New England 
 in making changes of wages. In 191 2, for example, Fall River 
 and other Massachusetts mill cities adopted a policy of watchful 
 waiting, and at the conclusion of the Lawrence strike changes 
 of wages were made in accord with the results attained at Law- 
 rence. But from a historical point of view changes at Fall 
 River arc without doubt the most accurate available index of 
 wage changes throughout the mills of New England.' 
 
 Table I and Chart I present the chief facts relative to the 
 changes of the standard weaving rate at Fall River since 1875.2 
 
 1. Cf. also a statement (much more emphatic than this) made by a Fail River 
 manufacturer, quoted in the Textile Manufacturers' Review and Industrial Record, 
 April 27, 1895, pp. 10, II. 
 
 2. The weaving rates actually in force have been taken from (i ) a table given 
 by Mr. J. T. Lincoln on pages 461, 462, of an article, The Slidinq Sra/e of Wages in 
 the Cotton Industry, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. XXIII, pp. 450-469; (2) a 
 table of rates presented on page 22 of the Member's Contribution Book of the Card 
 and Picker Room Protective Association of Fall River and \'icinity: and (3) tables 
 published from time to time in the New York Commercial and Financial Chronicle in 
 the annual report on cotton and cotton manufacture, e. g., August 31, 1918, p. S69. 
 This annual report is published usually late in .August or early in September. 
 
 The weighted average weaving rate prevailing each year was found by weighting 
 each rate prevailing at any time during the year by the number of weeks the rate was 
 actually in force; e. g., in 1899 the weavers worked 8 weeks at a piece rate of 16 
 cents, 41 weeks at 18 cents, and 3 weeks at 19.80 cents. The weighted average rate 
 for 1899 is therefore 17.80 cents. On account of ignorance of the exact dates of the 
 changes of rates of wages in 1875, 1876, 1878 and 1880, figures for these years have 
 not been computed for insertion in columns 5 and 6. 
 
 The price data are from Professor M. T. Copeland's The CotiOn Manufacturing 
 Industry of the United States, Appendix, p. 393, supplemented by figures from the 
 Statistical Abstract of the United States (from which Professor Copeland's figures were 
 evidently taken). 
 
 The figures representing the annual average margins of profits for the years 1880- 
 1910, are from Professor Copeland's Ixjok. The margins for the years 1S75-1879 and 
 191 1-1917 have been computed by the present writer. The " margin of ]irofit " which 
 was involvetl in the sliding scale agreements of 1905- 1906 and 1907- 1910 and which 
 was considered by Governor Douglas in the arbitration of the dispute of 1904-1905 
 was a margin of profit per unit of product — the differential between the cost of a certain 
 amount of raw cotton and the price of the cloth into which the raw material was con- 
 verted. The exact method of computation nnder both agreements and as used in the 
 construction of Table I may be reduced to the following rules.
 
 16 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 Multiply the price of middling upland cotton by 8 (to get the price of 8 pounds); 
 multiply the selling price per yard of 28-inch 64x64 print cloth by 45 (the number of 
 yards m a cut); multiply the selling price per yard of 3832 inch 64x64 print cloth by 
 33.11 (the number of yards in a cut); add these last two products; divide by 2; deduct 
 the price of the 8 pounds of middling upland cotton. 
 
 For example, using the data for 1881 : Cents. 
 
 45 yards 28" 64x64 print cloth at 3.95 cts. = 177-75 
 
 33.11 yards 38}^ 64x54 print cloth at 7 cts. = 231.77 
 
 Sum — 409.52 
 
 Divide by 2 204.76 
 
 8 pounds middling upland cotton at 12.03 ^Is. == 96.24 
 
 Margin of profit = 108.52 
 
 In the fourth, sixth and eleventh columns the actual weaving rates in force, the 
 weighted average weaving rates, and the annual average margins of profit are converted 
 into series of index numbers, using the figures for 1881 as the base (100). This base 
 was selected because ( i ) seemed desirable, in the case of the weaving rates, to use as 
 a base a rate that was actually paid at some time rather than an average of any series 
 of rates; (2) the weaving rate of 21 cents prevailed for a longer continuous period 
 than any other rate in the early part of the period under study; (3) the exact date 
 when the weaving rate of 21 cents reported for 1880 became operative is not known to 
 the writer, and therefore it has not been possible to find the weighted average rate 
 prevailing in 1S80; and (4) it seemed advisable not to go back into the greenback 
 period for the selection of a base. 
 
 Chart I presents for the entire period 1875-191S cur\-es showing the movements of 
 actual weaving rates and of annual average margins. In this chart the scale at the left 
 measures the movement of wages, while that at the right measures the movement of 
 margins. 
 
 In Table I and Chart I, 18.63 cents per cut (the average rate under the first 
 sliding scale agreement) is used as the rate prevailing from October, 1905 to July, 1906.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL HIVER 
 
 17 
 
 TABLE I 
 Wages, Prices, and Margins at Fall River, 1875-1918 
 
 Changes of Wages. 
 
 Annual averages of 
 
 wages, prices and margins. 
 
 
 
 W M 
 
 (A 
 
 M M 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 (A 
 
 
 
 hs.: 
 
 I. 4( 
 
 4> 
 
 1. U 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 b 
 
 UI 
 
 vt 
 
 u 
 c« 
 M 
 
 3 
 New weavini 
 rates in force 
 
 4 
 
 Index numbe 
 
 ofweavingrat 
 
 Base (100) 
 
 =21.00 cents 
 
 u 
 
 10 c 
 > 
 
 1 6 
 
 'Index numbe 
 
 jofweavinerat 
 
 Base (100) 
 
 =21.00 cents 
 
 Middling 
 upland cotIo; 
 j per pound. 
 
 8 
 
 28 inch 
 
 print cloth 
 
 per yard 
 
 38% inch 
 print cloth 
 per yard. 
 
 10 
 
 Margins. 
 
 11 
 
 Index numbe 
 of margins 
 Base (100) 
 
 =108.52 cents 
 
 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Centb) 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 
 187s 
 
 
 21.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 
 
 15.46 
 
 5-33 
 
 8.71 
 
 140.43 
 
 129.40 
 
 1876 
 
 
 19.00 
 
 90.48 
 
 
 
 12.98 
 
 4.10 
 
 7.06 
 
 105.28 
 
 97.00 
 
 1877 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11.82 
 
 4.38 
 
 6.77 
 
 116.05 
 
 106.93 
 
 1878 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 85.72 
 
 
 
 11.22 
 
 3-44 
 
 6.09 
 
 88.45 
 
 81.50 
 
 1879 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10.84 
 
 3-93 
 
 6.25 
 
 105.17 
 
 96.90 
 
 1880 
 
 
 21.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 
 
 II. 51 
 
 4.51 
 
 7.41 
 
 132-07 
 
 1 2 1 . 70 
 
 I88I 
 
 
 
 100.00 
 
 21.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 12.03 
 
 3-95 
 
 7.00 
 
 108.52 
 
 100.00 
 
 1882 
 
 
 
 
 21.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 I 1.56 
 
 3.76 
 
 6.50 
 
 99-73 
 
 91.90 
 
 1883 
 
 
 
 
 21.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 11.88 
 
 3.60 
 
 6.00 
 
 85.79 
 
 79.06 
 
 1884 
 
 Feb. 4 
 
 18.50 
 
 88.10 
 
 18.71 
 
 89.10 
 
 10.88 
 
 3-36 
 
 6.00 
 
 87.89 
 
 80.99 
 
 1885 
 
 Jan. 19 
 
 16.50 
 
 78.58 
 
 16.78 
 
 79.91 
 
 10.45 
 
 3.12 
 
 6.00 
 
 85-93 
 
 79.18 
 
 1886 
 
 Mar. I 
 
 18.15 
 
 86.44 
 
 17.89 
 
 85.20 
 
 9.28 
 
 3-31 
 
 6.00 
 
 97-57 
 
 89.90 
 
 1887 
 
 
 
 
 18.15 
 
 86.44 
 
 10.21 
 
 3-33 
 
 6.00 
 
 92.58 
 
 85-31 
 
 1888 
 
 Feb. 13 
 
 19.00 
 
 90.48 
 
 18.90 
 
 90.00 
 
 10.03 
 
 3-8i 
 
 6-50 
 
 113.09 
 
 104.20 
 
 1889 
 
 
 
 
 19.00 
 
 90.48 
 
 10.65 
 
 3-8i 
 
 6.50 
 
 108.14 
 
 99.64 
 
 1890 
 
 
 
 
 19.00 
 
 90.48 
 
 11.07 
 
 3-34 
 
 6.00 
 
 85.92 
 
 79-17 
 
 I89I 
 
 
 
 
 19.00 
 
 90.48 
 
 8.60 
 
 2-95 
 
 6.00 
 
 96.90 
 
 89.29 
 
 1892 
 
 July 11 
 Dec. 5 
 
 19.60 
 21.00 
 
 93-34 
 100.00 
 
 19-39 
 
 92-34 
 
 7.71 
 
 3-39 
 
 6.25 
 
 118.10 
 
 108.83 
 
 '893 
 
 Sept. u 
 
 18.00 
 
 85-72 
 
 20.03 
 
 95-38 
 
 8.56 
 
 3-30 
 
 5-25 
 
 92.69 
 
 85.41 
 
 1894 
 
 Aug. 30 
 
 16.00 
 
 76.20 
 
 17-34 
 
 82.58 
 
 6-94 
 
 2.75 
 
 4.90 
 
 102.47 
 
 94-42 
 
 1895 
 
 Apr. 22 
 
 18.00 
 
 85.72 
 
 17-38 
 
 82.76 
 
 7-44 
 
 2.86 
 
 5-25 
 
 96.74 
 
 89.14 
 
 1896 
 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 85.72 
 
 7-93 
 
 2.60 
 
 4.66 
 
 74-21 
 
 68.39 
 
 1897 
 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 85-72 
 
 7.00 
 
 2.48 
 
 4.70 
 
 77.61 
 
 71-52 
 
 1898 
 
 Jan. 1 
 
 16.00 
 
 76.20 
 
 16.00 
 
 76.20 
 
 5-94 
 
 2.06 
 
 3-96 
 
 64.90 
 
 59.80 
 
 1899 
 
 Feb. 27 
 Dec. II 
 
 18.00 
 19.80 
 
 85.72 
 94.28 
 
 17-79 
 
 84-72 
 
 6.88 
 
 2.69 
 
 4.25 
 
 70.84 
 
 65.28 
 
 1900 
 
 
 
 
 19.80 
 
 94.28 
 
 9-25 
 
 3.21 
 
 5.00 
 
 81.00 
 
 74-64 
 
 I9OI 
 
 
 
 
 19.80 
 
 94.28 
 
 8.75 
 
 2.84 
 
 4.62 
 
 70.38 
 
 64.86 
 
 1902 
 
 Mar. 17 
 
 21.78 
 
 103.72 
 
 21.36 
 
 101.72 
 
 9.00 
 
 311 
 
 5.00 
 
 80.75 
 
 74.41 
 
 1903 
 
 Nov. 23 
 
 19.80 
 
 94.28 
 
 21.55 
 
 102.63 
 
 II. 18 
 
 3-25 
 
 5.00 
 
 66.46 
 
 61.24 
 
 1904 
 
 July 25 
 
 17-32 
 
 82.48 
 
 1S.55 
 
 88.34 
 
 11-75 
 
 3-44 
 
 5.00 
 
 66.18 
 
 60.98 
 
 1905 
 
 Oct. 30 
 
 1S.63 
 
 88.62 
 
 17-54 
 
 •83-52 
 
 9.80 
 
 3-13 
 
 4-75 
 
 70.66 
 
 65.12 
 
 1906 
 
 July 2 
 Nov. 26 
 
 19.80 
 21.78 
 
 94.28 
 103.72 
 
 19-39 
 
 92.34 
 
 11.50 
 
 3-63 
 
 5.12 
 
 74-44 
 
 68.60 
 
 1907 
 
 May 27 
 
 23.96 
 
 114. II 
 
 23.08 
 
 109.92 
 
 12.10 
 
 4.62 
 
 6.00 
 
 106.48 
 
 98.12 
 
 1908 
 
 May 26 
 
 19.66 
 
 93.62 
 
 21-39 
 
 101.86 
 
 10.62 
 
 3-5° 
 
 5-37 
 
 82.69 
 
 76.20 
 
 1909 
 
 
 
 
 19.66 
 
 93.62 
 
 12.68 
 
 367 
 
 5.06 
 
 64.90 
 
 59-80 
 
 I9IO 
 
 
 
 
 19.66 
 
 93.62 
 
 15. II 
 
 3-87 
 
 5.62 
 
 59.24 
 
 54-59 
 
 I9II 
 
 
 
 
 19.66 
 
 93.62 
 
 13.01 
 
 3-54 
 
 5.24 
 
 62.32 
 
 57-42 
 
 1912 
 
 Mar. 25 
 
 21.62 
 
 102.96 
 
 21.16 
 
 100.76 
 
 1 1.52 
 
 3-82 
 
 5.22 
 
 80.21 
 
 73-9' 
 
 I9I3 
 
 
 
 
 21.62 
 
 102.96 
 
 12.80 
 
 3.86 
 
 5.40 
 
 73-85 
 
 68.05 
 
 1914 
 
 
 
 
 21.62 
 
 102.96 
 
 II. 13 
 
 3-48 
 
 5-'9 
 
 75-18 
 
 69-27 
 
 I9I5 
 
 
 
 
 21.62 
 
 102.96 
 
 10.14 
 
 3-27 
 
 5-«9 
 
 78-38 
 
 72.22 
 
 I9I6 
 
 Jan. 24 
 May I 
 Dec. 4 
 
 22.71 
 24.98 
 27.48 
 
 108.15 
 118.97 
 130.86 
 
 24.36 
 
 116.00 
 
 14.45 
 
 4.60 
 
 7.20 
 
 107.10 
 
 98.68 
 
 I9I7 
 
 June 4 
 
 30-23 
 
 143-96 
 
 29.36 
 
 139.82 
 
 23-49 
 
 7.18 
 
 10.79 
 
 152.26 
 
 140.28 
 
 
 Dec. 3 
 
 34.02 
 
 162.00 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1918 
 
 June 3 
 
 39-12 
 
 186.30 
 
 36.96 
 
 176.00 
 
 
 
 

 
 18 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 On 
 ON 
 
 > 
 P^ en 
 
 < .a 
 
 s 
 
 3 
 C 
 C 
 
 S ^ 
 
 C 
 
 I I I I I I I I I I t I I I I 1 ri I I I I I I I I I I >»» 1 1 I I I I I M M 
 
 ,cui o V O "» o <n 
 
 a-^i^ A M O t- tn <4 
 
 026X - 
 
 a 
 
 - s 
 
 «T6t - 
 
 0\61 - 
 
 606T - 
 
 006T - 
 
 seet 
 
 068 T - 
 
 S8dl 
 
 oeei - 
 
 SABI - 
 
 It n n t9 t\t ^ 
 
 ■'''''■■'■■''''''»'■'''■■'■■ 
 
 9 « 
 
 I I I M I I I
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL RIVER 19 
 
 The period studied in this chapter falls into three divisions; 
 first, the period from 1875 to October 30, 1905 ; second, the 
 period from October 30, 1905 to May 30, 1910; third, the 
 period from May 30, 1910 to the date of completion of the 
 present monograph. The first and third periods enumerated 
 above do not differ from each other in essentials, except so far 
 as a portion of the third period has been characterized by war 
 conditions. During these two periods wages in the Fall River 
 cotton manufacturing industry have been determined by the 
 operation of competitive forces. In the second period, how- 
 ever, there occurred a most interesting experiment in wage 
 determination by the method of the sliding scale. It is in con- 
 nection with this experiment that the facts concerning changes 
 of rates of wages in the earlier and later periods have their 
 chief interest. 
 
 Inspection of column 3 of Table I and of the solid line on 
 Chart I shows that in the thirty years preceding the sliding 
 scale agreements changes of rates of wages, although quite 
 frequent, kept within a relatively narrow range. The initial 
 rate in the series, 21 cents per cut, in 1875, was also the highest 
 rate during this thirty year period with the single exception of 
 the rate of 21.78 cents per cut paid between March 17, 1902 
 and November 23, 1903. The lowest rate in force at any time 
 in this first period was 16 cents (from August 30, 1894 to April 
 22, 1895, ^"^ from January i, 1898 to February 27, 1899). 
 These two short periods of extreme depression of the rates 
 reflect respectively the general industrial depression succeeding 
 the panic of 1893 and the more local depression exhibited by 
 the New England section of the American cotton industry 
 due to the keenness of developing competition by the southern 
 mills. During this early thirty year period there appears no one 
 consistent or clearly defined upward or downward movement 
 of the rates. There can not be traced clearly a direct reflection 
 of the course of general commodity prices downward until 1896, 
 although there is some suggestion of the upward swing of 
 industrial prosperity since that date. Supposedly the fluctua- 
 tions of the piece rate, nearly a score in number, were in the
 
 20 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 main due to conditions peculiar to the cotton munufacturing 
 industry. That a relationship exists between rates of wages and 
 conditions in the markets for cotton and cotton cloth early found 
 lodgment in the minds of both employers and employees, 
 particularly the former, familiar as they were with the account- 
 ing aspects of the wage problem. And the particular formulation 
 of the relationship was that wages at Fall River have fluctuated 
 with the "margin of profit" — that is, the margin between the 
 cost of raw cotton entering into certain grades of goods and 
 the selling prices of these goods. The margin came to be looked 
 upon as an index of the prosperity and wage-paying ability of 
 the industry, and was the basis for the sliding scale arrangement 
 made following the strike of 1904. 
 
 On July 14, 1904, after a period in which conditions in the 
 industry had been unsatisfactory both to the employers and to 
 the employees, during which period unemployment had been 
 abnormally large and wages in the Fall River mills had been 
 reduced about 10 per cent, (in November, 1903), it was 
 announced in the mills represented in the Cotton Manufacturers' 
 Association that on July 25 there would be a further reduction 
 of 1234 per cent. As a result there occurred what is known in 
 the industry as the "great strike of 1904." For nearly six 
 months the Fall River cotton industry was at a standstill. 
 Finally work was resumed on January 18, 1905, on the basis of 
 an agreement " that Governor Douglas should investigate the 
 matter of margins between the cost of cotton to the mill owners 
 and the selling price of cloth, and submit his conclusions as to 
 an average margin, upon which the manufacturers should pay 
 a dividend of 5 per cent, on the wages earned from January 18 
 to April i."^ 
 
 On May 17, Governor Douglas reported that a margin of 
 74.38 cents was necessary to justify a wage "dividend" of 5 
 
 I. Commercial and Financial Chronicle, September 9, 1905, p. 808. See also 
 Textile World Record, Vol. XXIX, p. 593, and the Massachusetts Board of Concilia- 
 tion and Arbitration, Annual Report, January, 1906, pp. 20-22. The last mentioned 
 source gives Governor Douglas' full report. For an explanation of the method ordi- 
 narily used in computing the margin of profit, see the note accompanying Table I and 
 Chart I. Governor Douglas used only one set of cloth prices in estimatingjthe margin.
 
 RATES OF WACiES AT FALL RIVER 21 
 
 percent. The margin on January i8 had been 67.80 cents, and 
 had .steadily grown smaller. The reduction of the weaving rate 
 to 17.32 cents per cut was therefore accepted by the operatives, 
 with the understanding that with the improvement of trade the 
 mills would move wages up toward the level at which they had 
 stood before the reduction of November, 1903. 
 
 On October 17, 1905, the Manufacturers' Association made to 
 the operatives in the mills included in the organization a propo- 
 sition as follows.' Beginning October 23 wages should be 
 increased about 5 per cent. In addition, a sliding scale agree- 
 ment should be made, according to which, whenever the 
 employers' margin of profit (to be figured as the difference 
 between the price of raw cotton and that of regular print cloth) 
 should exceed 75 cents, there should be a wage dividend or 
 premium of i per cent, for each cent the margin stood above 
 75 cents up to a margin of 85 cents; and that for each cent the 
 margin should exceed 85 cents up to a maximum of 95 cents 
 there should be an additional wage premium of one-half of i 
 per cent. Calculations of margins and of wages should be 
 made at the end of four-week periods, and the wage premiums 
 should be given to employees of at least two weeks' standing. 
 
 Immediately following this proposal of the Manufacturers' 
 Association, the Fall River Iron Works announced an advance 
 of about 14 per cent, on the rates of wages prevailing before 
 January 23, 1905."^ Dissatisfaction among the employees of 
 the other mills caused by this move gave rise to talk of a strike 
 to secure similar concessions from the Manufacturers' Associa- 
 tion.-'^ This, however, was soon quieted, the Textile Council 
 coming to an agreement with the employers on October 25. 
 
 The arrangements then made embraced the same scale of 
 graduated rates suggested in the employers' proposal of October 
 17, except that 72.5 cents rather than 75 cents was agreed upon 
 as the base margin for a wage of 18 cents per cut for weaving 
 regular print cloth. The base rate of 18 cents was to be the 
 
 1. Chronicle, October 2 1 , 1905,11. 1268. 
 
 2. Ibid., pp. 126S, 1269. 
 
 3. Ibid,, October 28, 1905, p. 1329.
 
 22 
 
 WAC.ES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 minimum rate. The proposed maximum margin of 95 cents 
 beyond which the wage should not shde was excluded from the 
 agreement. And in place of calculations of average margins 
 and wages at intervals of four weeks, provision was made for 
 weekly changes of rates. In the calculation of the margin, two 
 grades of cloth (28-inch and 38>^-inch 64 x 64 prints) were to 
 be considered. It was tacitly agreed that the sliding scale 
 should be given a fair trial for one year.^ The following 
 schedule of hypothetical margins and weaving rates under the 
 agreement of October, 1905, may help the reader to visualize 
 the plan of wage determination and to make comparison with 
 later schedules. 
 
 TABLE II 
 
 Hypothetical Margins and Weaving Rates to Illustrate the Sliding 
 Scale Agreement of October, 1905 
 
 Margins. 
 
 Weaving Rates. 
 
 Margins. 
 
 Weaving Rates. 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 "5 
 
 22.95 
 
 85 
 
 20.25 
 
 1 10 
 
 22.50 
 
 80 
 
 19-35 
 
 105 
 
 22.05 
 
 75 
 
 18.45 
 
 95 
 
 21.15 
 
 72.5 
 
 18.00 
 
 This first formal sliding scale experiment was of short dura- 
 tion. For this there were two chief reasons. First, under this 
 agreement, the average weaving rate in force was only 18.63 
 cents per cut of regular print cloth ; which constituted an 
 average "wage premium" of only 3.5 per cent., or only about 
 one-half of the desired restoration of wages to the level prevail- 
 ing between November, 1903 and July, 1904. Second, the rates 
 of wages paid fluctuated so violently from week to week (see 
 Table III) that the operatives became much dissatisfied and 
 
 I . Some sources for the terms of this agreement are : Chronicle, November 4, 
 1905, p, 1385; Lincoln, loc. cit., p. 456; Massachusetts Labor Bulletin, No. 38, p. 
 342, No. 41, pp. 192-196; Textile World Record, vol. XXX, pp. 361-363.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL RIVER 
 
 23 
 
 were led to question the validity of the theoretical foundation 
 of the experiment.^ 
 
 TABLE III •-' 
 
 Actual Margins and Rates under the Sliding Scale Agreement of 
 October, 1905 
 
 •0 
 
 
 
 
 •0 
 
 
 
 
 •0 
 c 
 
 c 
 
 vB 
 bos 
 
 be 
 
 > i 
 
 V 
 
 •0 
 c 
 
 c 
 "bi 
 
 Ms 
 
 be 
 5 «>■ 
 
 V 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 S5 
 is" 
 
 1905 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Per Cent.) 
 
 (CenU) 
 
 1906 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Per Cent.) 
 
 (CenU) 
 
 Oct. 27 
 
 77.00 
 
 5 
 
 18.90 
 
 Mar. 3 
 
 82.85 
 
 10 
 
 19.80 
 
 Nov. 3 
 
 75-70 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 " 10 
 
 80.19 
 
 8 
 
 19.44 
 
 " 10 
 
 71.40 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 " 17 
 
 81.27 
 
 9 
 
 19.62 
 
 " 17 
 
 74.00 
 
 2 
 
 18.36 
 
 " 24 
 
 77.82 
 
 5 
 
 18.90 
 
 «« 24 
 
 73-50 
 
 I 
 
 18.18 
 
 " 31 
 
 75-42 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 Dec. I 
 
 75.20 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 Apr. 7 
 
 76.15 
 
 4 
 
 18.72 
 
 " 8 
 
 72.40 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 " 14 
 
 7";. 02 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 " 15 
 
 75.02 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 " 21 
 
 74.82 
 
 2 
 
 18.36 
 
 « 22 
 
 73-76 
 
 I 
 
 18.18 
 
 " 28 
 
 75-55 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 " 29 
 
 75-37 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 May 5 
 
 72.85 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 1906 
 
 
 
 
 " 12 
 
 71.40 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 Jan. S 
 
 76.41 
 
 4 
 
 18.72 
 
 " 19 
 
 70.68 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 " 12 
 
 78.09 
 
 6 
 
 19.08 
 
 " 26 
 
 71.14 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 «« 19 
 
 75-23 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 June 2 
 
 73.28 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 '« 26 
 
 75-56 
 
 3 
 
 18.54 
 
 " 9 
 
 75-56 
 
 3 
 
 1S.54 
 
 Feb. 2 
 
 79-49 
 
 7 
 
 19.26 
 
 " 16 
 
 76.67 
 
 4 
 
 18.72 
 
 " 9 
 
 81.16 
 
 9 
 
 19.62 
 
 " 23 
 
 71.17 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 " 16 
 
 81.45 
 
 9 
 
 19.62 
 
 " 30 
 
 71.16 
 
 
 
 18.00 
 
 " 23 
 
 82.75 
 
 10 
 
 19.80 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dissatisfaction caused by these conditions was intensified 
 when, in May, 1906, voluntary wage advances of 10 per cent, 
 were made by certain corporations in Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut engaged in the manufacture of fine goods. '^ Although 
 the employers in Fall River were insistent that " increases in 
 fine goods mills, where margins of profits were large, should 
 have no bearing on the general situation in Fall River, "^ the 
 
 1. P'or an elaboration of this point see Lincoln, loc. cit., pp. 456-459. 
 
 2. This table is constructed on the basis of the table presented by Mr. Lincoln 
 on page 457of his article. Computations for June, 1906 have been added; also weav- 
 ing rates for the entire period. 
 
 3. Chronicle, June 23, 1906, pp. 1405, 1406. 
 
 4. Ibid., September 8, 1906, p. 531.
 
 24 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 Textile Council, voicing the feeling of the operatives with regard 
 to the sliding scale, strongly urged the abandonment of the 
 experiment and the restoration of the rates of wages prevailing 
 before July, 1904. This request was made on June 8. On the 
 sixteenth of the same month the Manufacturers' Association 
 made a counter proposal, offering to guarantee a wage premium 
 (on the basis of the sliding scale) of 5 per cent, from June 12 
 to October i "with a further guarantee that if the margin in any 
 one week exceeded this 5 percent, increase they would pay the 
 additional amount."^ When this plan was rejected the manu- 
 facturers yielded, promising to restore the rates desired {i.e., 
 rates based on a weaving rate of 19.80 cents), at the same time 
 protesting that the margin of profit warranted no such advance 
 and claiming that the advance was made only in the interest of 
 the general welfare of the city.- The new schedule became 
 effective July 2, 1906. 
 
 The weaving rate of 19.80 cents per cut thus established 
 remained in force only a few months. A widening margin of 
 profit and a demand for goods so large that, in view of a 
 reported scarcity of labor, it could not be satisfied,'^ soon led 
 to renewed demands for wage advances. This time the request 
 was for a restoration of the rates prevailing before the reduction 
 of 1903. After some parleying, a counter proposal by the 
 employers of a compromise of 5 per cent, increase (with the 
 promise of 5 per cent, more in February, 1907, if conditions 
 should be favorable),"* and a threat of strike on the part of the 
 employees, the manufacturers yielded, and a rate of 21.78 cents 
 was announced to take effect November 26. The margin at 
 this time was about 95 cents.' And it was a part of the settle- 
 ment then made that the wage determined upon should be 
 
 1. Chronicle, June 23, 1906, p. 1406. 
 
 2. Ibid., p. 1448. Following the action of the Manufacturers' Association, the 
 Fall River Iron Works increased the wages of its operatives 10 per cent., " giving 
 them that advantage over the help in other mills of the city." Chronicle, September 
 8, 1906, page 531. 
 
 3. Ibid., January' 5, 1907, p. 60. Mr. Lincoln in his article (p. 459) says that 
 the prosperity of the industrj- at this time was " greater than ever before known." 
 
 4. Chronicle, November 24, 1 906, p. 1 302. 
 
 5. Ibid., May 11, 1907, p. 1129.
 
 RATES OF WACJES AT FALL RIVER 
 
 25 
 
 effective for six months, at the end of which period there 
 should be a readjustment with reference to the then existing 
 margin. 1 
 
 Accordingly, near the end of April, 1907, discussion of the 
 wage problem was reopened. The margin of profit was found 
 to have widened quite substantially, and the advantages which 
 might have accrued to the operatives had they not insisted upon 
 abandonment of the sliding scale appeared great. The demand 
 of the operatives was for a 10 per cent, advance. This the 
 employers were disposed to refuse, but finally the advance was 
 granted with a sliding scale agreement attached. 
 
 In brief the provisions of this agreement were as follows i^ 
 Eighteen cents per cut was established as the minimum weaving 
 rate for 28-inch prints at a base margin of 72.5 cents. At a 
 margin of 75 cents the weaving rate should be 18.68 cents, and 
 above the margin of 75 cents rates were graded in accord with 
 the margin changes indicated in the following tabulation until a 
 maximum margin of 1 15 cents was reached at which the 
 maximum weaving rate should be 23.96 cents. The scale of 
 progression was slightly steeper than that provided in the 
 agreement of 1905. 
 
 TABLE IV 
 
 Schedule of Margins and Weaving Rates Provided by the Sliding 
 Scale Agreement of May 14, 1907 
 
 Margins, 
 
 Weaving Rates. 
 
 Margins. 
 
 Weaving Rates. 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 I'S 
 no 
 
 105 
 95 
 
 (Cents) 
 23.96 
 23-42 
 22.87 
 21.78 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 85 
 80 
 
 75 
 
 72.5 
 
 (Cents) 
 20.69 
 19.66 
 18.68 
 18.00 
 
 Second, the agreement provided that rates of wages should 
 
 1. Ibid., .Septemlier 7, 1907, p. 564. 
 
 2. The full text of this agreement is presented in the Appendix.
 
 26 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 change only once in six months, calculations being made on 
 the last Monday of May and November of each year, the rate 
 to be effective in each six-month period being determined by 
 the average margin of the preceding six months. And, quoting 
 from section 2 of the agreement, " there shall be no change in 
 prices on either the ascending or descending scale unless the 
 margin has reached a point indicated in the . . . -. schedule." 
 
 The new agreement went into force with a weaving rate of 
 23.96 cents, the highest rate allowed under the terms of the 
 bargain, and also the highest rate which had up to that time 
 been paid in the Falls River mills. But the extremely high 
 margins of 1907 were of short duration, and 1908, 1909 and 
 1 910 witnessed successive downward movements. Not only 
 was this true, but, in 1907, difficulties in the financial world 
 found their way into the cotton industry, with the result that 
 curtailment of production was considered and well under way 
 before the end of the year.^ Corporations supposed to be 
 filling large orders were unable to secure ready money for use 
 in purchasing materials and in meeting payroll demands, as 
 jobbers were embarrassed by very high interest rates in making 
 payments on deliveries of goods. ^ Through the spring of 1908 
 curtailment in the form of a short working week was still 
 general.'^ At points throughout New England other than Fall 
 River reductions in wages were the order of the day. But at 
 Fall River the sliding scale agreement for a time saved the 
 operatives from this form of hardship. When, near the end of 
 May, calculations of margins and of wages were made, they 
 showed that the financial distresses had been accompanied by a 
 marked decline of the margin (which in April and May had 
 been between 50 and 60 cents) and that, in accordance with the 
 agreement, the weaving rate must drop from 23.96 cents per 
 
 1 . For interesting information regarding the method adopted by the mill men 
 throughout New England to secure uniformity of curtailmeut see the Chronicle of 
 November 16, 1907, p. 1237; November 23, 1907, p. 1301; December 28, 1907, 
 p. 1653. 
 
 2. Chronicle, November 23, 1907, p. 1301. 
 
 3. Ibid., March 14, 1908, p. 631; March 28, 1908, pp. 757, 758; May 23, 
 1908, p. 1293; May 30, 1908. p. 1308.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL RIVER 
 
 27 
 
 cut to 19.66 cents — a reduction of 17.95 P^"" cent. The spirit 
 in which this, the largest single reduction of wages experienced 
 by Fall River workers was accepted, deserves only the highest 
 commendation. • The operatives as a whole were as yet un- 
 willing to declare the experiment a failure, although the mule 
 spinners led an attempt to have the agreement abandoned 
 through the required process of three months' notice. Instead 
 of abandonment, revision was resorted to in September, when 
 the scale of margins and wages was graduated somewhat more 
 nicely, the intervals between the margins named in the schedule 
 being made uniform at two and one-half cents as shown in 
 Table V. Another slight change was the provision for a delay 
 of two weeks in the enforcement of new rates of wages at the 
 end of each six-month period, ^ 
 
 TABLE V 
 
 Schedule of Margins and Weaving Rates Provided by the Revised 
 Sliding Scale Agreement of September 8, 1908 
 
 Margins. 
 
 Weaving Rates. 
 
 Margins. 
 
 Weaving Rates. 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 (Cents) 
 
 JI5 
 
 23.96 
 
 92.5 
 
 21.50 
 
 112. 5 
 
 23.69 
 
 90 
 
 21.23 
 
 no 
 
 23.42 
 
 87.5 
 
 20.96 
 
 107.5 
 
 23->4 
 
 85 
 
 20.69 
 
 105 
 
 22.87 
 
 82.5 
 
 20. 1 S 
 
 102.5 
 
 22.59 
 
 80 
 
 19.66 
 
 100 
 
 22.32 
 
 77-5 
 
 19.17 
 
 97-5 
 
 22.05 
 
 75 
 
 18.68 
 
 95 
 
 21.78 
 
 72.5 
 
 18.00 
 
 In November, 1908, calculation of the margin showed another 
 marked decline, according to which the rates of wages, under 
 the automatic operation of the agreement, were to be expected 
 
 1 . Mr. Lincoln on pages 465, 466, of his article gives in full the statement issueil 
 at the time by Mr. James Tansey, then president of the Textile Council. See also 
 Massachusetts Labor Bulletin, No. 60, pp. 263-266. 
 
 2. The whole amended agreement is found on pages 16-18 of the handbook of 
 the Carders' Union.
 
 28 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 to drop to the minimum of i8 cents. Instead, the manufacturers 
 waived their rights and allowed the existing rates to continue in 
 force. The situation can best be made clear by quotation from 
 the letter of the Manufacturers' Association to the Textile 
 Council under date of November 19, 1908.' 
 
 Believing that indications point to a prosperous season, the 
 Manufacturers' Association is inclined to waive for the present 
 occasion its right under the contract to reduce wages and to 
 suggest, if it be agreeable to the Textile Council, that the 
 present rate of wages be maintained for the ensuing period of 
 six months, it being thoroughly understood that the extra 
 wage thus paid is something over and above what is required 
 by the contract, which still remains binding on both parties 
 and is offered as in some way a substantial recognition of the 
 good faith of the operatives in remaining true to their con- 
 tractual obligations. 
 
 If, therefore, the members of the Textile Council approve 
 this suggestion, and thus indicate their understanding that no 
 precedent is hereby established and that the textile agreement 
 still remains in full force, the arrangement outlined above will 
 become effective. 
 
 The Commercial and Financial Chronicle gives an additional 
 suggestion of what the conditions were which made this action 
 of the manufacturers possible."^ 
 
 It is explained [by the manufacturers] that supplies of 
 cotton were secured much below recent quotations ; had the 
 manufacturers been forced to buy raw materials and sell pro- 
 ducts at current quotations, the waiving of the rights would 
 not have been possible. 
 
 As is shown in Table VI, the succeeding periods of wage 
 
 1. Handbook of the Carders' Union, p. 19. See also Massachusetts Bureau of 
 Statistics, Annual Report, 1909, pp. 44-47; Textile World Record, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 
 314, 315. The Textile World Record said with reference to the action of the manu- 
 facturers: "They do this undoubtedly because they believe that insisting on the 
 reduction would be an injustice. This is the practical recognition of the important fact 
 that the wages of textile mill operatives are below the American wage standard." 
 (Vol. XXXVI, p. 315.) 
 
 2. Chronicle, December 11, 1909, p. 1509.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT lALL RIVER 
 
 29 
 
 calculation witnessed repetitions of the employers' action of 
 November, 1908. In 1^'cbruary, 1910, the operatives, keenly dis- 
 appointed at the failure of wages to slide upward, voted to 
 withdraw from the agreement. This gave rise to fresh discussion 
 of future rates of wages, and tentative plans were taken up. 
 The proposal of the employees was that of a sliding scale in 
 which 19.66 cents per cut, the rate then being paid, should be 
 the minimum rate, this to be paid at a margin of 67.5 cents or 
 lower. The maximum rate proposed was 26.03 cents at a margin 
 of 1 1 5 cents. Such a scale, if adopted, would have meant an 
 advance all along the line of between 8 and 10 per cent. The 
 manufacturers would not agree to such a marked change, being 
 willing to make only a smaller advance on the sliding scale basis. 
 Consequently the sliding scale experiment was abandoned.^ 
 
 TABLE VI 
 
 Actual Margins and Wages under the Sliding Scale Agreement of 
 May 14, 1907 
 
 (Revised September 8, 1908) 
 
 Dates of 
 
 Average margins for 
 the preceding six- 
 month periods. 
 
 Weaving rates for the the succeeding 
 six-month periods. 
 
 wa(;e changes. 
 
 Rates called for by 
 the agreement. 
 
 Rates actually in 
 force. 
 
 May 27, 1907 
 Nov. 25, 1907 
 May 26, 1908 
 Nov. 26, 1908 
 May 28, 1909 
 Nov. 29, 1909 
 May 30, 1910 
 
 (Cents) 
 115.60 2 
 130.89 
 79.00 
 60.82 
 74.01 
 66.90 
 66.15 
 
 (Cents) 
 23.96 
 23.96 
 19.66 
 18.00 
 18.00 
 18.00 
 18.00 
 
 (Cents) 
 23.96 
 23.96 
 19.66 
 19.66 
 19.66 
 19.66 
 Agreement abandoned 
 
 1. Chronicle, September lo, 1910, p. 622. 
 
 2. The margin of profit upon which the weaving rate for the six months following 
 May 27, 1907, was based was the average margin for a period slightly shorter than six 
 months, ending Ajiril 30, 1907 (Chronicle, May 11, 1907, \i. 1129I. The other 
 s<iurces of the materials tabulated above are as follows: Lincoln, loc. cit., p. 463; 
 Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics, Annual Report, 1909, pp. 44-47; Massachusetts 
 Labor Bulletin, No. 56, p. 4; No. 60, pp. 263-266; Textile World Record, Vol. 
 
 xxxvL pp. 204, 205, 314, 315; Vol. xxxvn, pp. 329, 330; voi. xxxvin, pp. 
 
 363, 365: Vol. XXXIX, pp. 552, 553.
 
 30 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 The first j::jeneral criticism of the sliding scale experiment is 
 that it did not rest upon an adequate foundation of experience. 
 Analysis of the material presented in Table I and Chart I shows : 
 (i) that in the long period preceding 1905 changes of rates of 
 wages had no consistent relationship to changes in the margin 
 of profit; (2) that there was more accurate adjustment of rates 
 of wages to upward movements of the margin than to downward 
 movements ; and (3 ) that the most important reductions of wages 
 were contemporaneous with business disorders not limited to 
 the cotton manufacturing industry. 
 
 In order to secure a more definite expression of whatever 
 relationship may have existed between changes of wages and 
 of market conditions in this industry, Pearson's formula for the 
 coeflficient of correlation has been applied to the data of Table I 
 (columns 6 and 11) for the period 1881-1904 inclusive in the 
 manner and with the results indicated in Table VII. 
 
 TABLE VII 
 The Correlation of Wages and Prices at Fall River, 1 881-1904 
 
 Subject. 
 
 Relative. 
 
 Allowance 
 for lag. 
 
 Coefficient. 
 
 Probable 
 error. 
 
 1 . Weaving rate 
 
 2. Weaving rate 
 
 3. Weaving rate 
 
 4. Weaving rate 
 
 5. Weaving rate 
 
 6. Weaving rate 
 
 Margin of profit 
 Margin of profit 
 Cloth prices ' 
 Cloth prices ' 
 Raw cotton prices » 
 Raw cotton prices 2 
 
 None 
 One year 
 None 
 One year 
 None 
 One year 
 
 + .0964 
 + .2297 
 
 + -4315 
 + .3506 
 + .5648 
 + .3306 
 
 + -1355 
 + .1295 
 + .1114 
 + .1200 
 ± -0932 
 + .1218 
 
 From Table VII it appears that the correlation between the 
 weaving rate and the margin was smaller than that between the 
 weaving rate and either cotton or cloth prices. This is true 
 even when allowance is made for a lag of one year in the adjust- 
 ment of wages to changing commodity market conditions. 
 Rather singularly it appears that the coefificient of correlation 
 
 1. Averages of the prices of 28-inch and 38>2-inch prints. 
 
 2. Average annual prices of middling upland cotton.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL RIVER 31 
 
 between weaving rates and raw cotton prices of the same year 
 is the only coefficient of the six greater than -|--5 (and if from 
 this coefficient the probable error be subtracted the coefficient 
 falls below the -I-.5 mark) ; singularly, because, if one assumes 
 a direct causal relationship between margins and wages, one 
 would expect that the increase of cotton prices would tend to 
 lower wages, not to raise them. 
 
 Whatever be the explanation of the relative values of these 
 coefficients, we must conclude that the sliding scale agreements 
 were founded upon no adequate basis of experience ; that they 
 cannot be regarded as providing a mechanism to secure without 
 friction the results of the operation of the competitive forces 
 through which wages in this industry had previously been 
 adjusted. 
 
 Second, the most elaborate and nicely adjusted system of 
 determination of rates of wages offers no guarantee against un- 
 employment ; and we have seen that the Fall River operatives, 
 in their brief experience with the sliding scale, found that cur- 
 tailment of production by means of short-time operation was 
 still an unsolved problem. 
 
 Under unsatisfactory conditions of manufacture the employer 
 has two means of securing relief so far as his relations with his 
 employees are concerned ; namely, the reduction of rates of 
 wages, and partial or complete stoppage of production. It is 
 evident that the method of a horizontal reduction of wages, 
 particularly of piece rates, presents to the manufacturer the 
 most direct way of reducing costs per unit of product. On the 
 other hand, the successfulness of an attempt to lower rates of 
 wages when the margin is small and when, from the standpoint 
 of the manufacturer, a direct lowering of the cost per unit seems 
 most to be desired may be limited, even though indefinitely, by 
 the approach of real earnings to the minimum of the workers' 
 standards of living. As to the conditions of trade, these may 
 be such that the method of rate cutting tends to defeat its own 
 purpose. Rate cutting, by decreasing costs, tends to encourage 
 large production. At a time of over-production, when the mills 
 have on hand large stocks of goods unsalable except at low
 
 32 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 prices, the obvious remedy is not further manufacture but short- 
 time operation or dismissal of part of the operative force. For 
 a low cost of production in the immediate future cannot remedy 
 the hardships resulting from high cost of goods held in store- 
 houses and not marketable at a profit. On the other hand, the 
 partial suspension of work has the advantage of actually cur- 
 tailing output and also of being able to be effected with less 
 open opposition on the part of employees. 
 
 Systematic and combined curtailment of output, although 
 difficult of successful enforcement, has been sufificiently preva- 
 lent in the New England cotton manufacturing industry to have 
 an important bearing upon the soundness of the sliding scale 
 plan. It is of considerable importance that this curtailment 
 and the unemployment resulting therefrom have occurred with 
 no appreciable seasonal regularity. While it is true that the 
 months of July, August and September (when mill stocks are 
 approaching exhaustion and managers are waiting for the mar- 
 keting of the new crop of cotton) are the months which most 
 frequently show unemployment in excess of the average for the 
 year, it is true that this seasonal swing is very slight. Unem- 
 ployment that occurs irregularly offers greater difficulties to be 
 overcome in wage agreements than that which is regularly 
 recurring. 
 
 It appears from examination of the materials relating to the 
 history of unemployment in the Massachusetts cotton manufac- 
 turing industry, presented elsewhere in this monograph, ^ that 
 in the period of thirty-one years from 1886 to 1916 inclusive 
 there were 10 years ( 1886, 1888, 1893, 1894, 1896, 1897, 1898, 
 1903, 1904 and 1908) in which the number of cotton textile 
 operatives reported to have been unemployed at some time 
 during the year constituted at least 10 per cent, of the average 
 number of employees for the year. Of these ten years, two 
 (1886 and 1888) were years in which this unemployment 
 existed while wage advances were being made at Fall River. 
 In two other of these ten years (1896 and 1897) rates of wages 
 at Fall River were unchangad. While in the remaining six 
 
 I. Chapter V.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL RIVER 33 
 
 years (1893, 1894, 1898, 1903, 1904, and 1908) unemployment 
 existed in the face of very substantial wage reductions. In 
 other words, in these six years wage reductions were supple- 
 mented either by part-time operation or by temporary dismissal 
 of a part of the operative force. With the particular form of 
 curtailment we are not here concerned except to note that at 
 Fall River the tendency has been for the manufacturers to act 
 collectively, to run on part time, and thus to retain the advan- 
 tages of the existing factory organizations of the operative 
 force. 
 
 In an industry in which such conditions as these prevail it 
 cannot be ignored that a sliding scale plan may be ever so finely 
 elaborated solely with reference to rates of wages and still offer 
 no guarantee that the wages thus determined shall actually be 
 paid ; for the sliding scale does not assure employment. It 
 merely provides that if there is employment to be had, com- 
 pensation shall be on a prearranged plan. If, however, the 
 sliding scale system does sometimes tend to reduce unemploy- 
 ment by bringing about almost frictionless reduction of wages, 
 then it devolves upon the laborer to weigh for himself the alter- 
 natives of steady work at low pay or more fluctuating employ- 
 ment at a higher rate of compensation per piece or per hour. 
 
 Third, the so-called margin of profit is not adequate to indi- 
 cate the wage-paying ability of an industry, assuming that the 
 true unit margin of profit can be ascertained and that no diffi- 
 culty exists to hinder or prevent the collection and utilization 
 of price information in computing this margin. 
 
 The philosophy of the sliding scale appears to be this: that 
 it will eliminate from industry the friction of industrial warfare 
 and its consequent social waste, at the same time giving reason- 
 able assurance that the individuals and corporations concerned 
 shall lose nothing which the operation of competitive forces 
 would secure for them. In a sense the sliding scale is a pros- 
 perity-sharing plan. Now it is quite obvious that the prosperity 
 of the cotton manufacturing industry is not a thing to be meas- 
 ured by the manufacturer's gross margin of profit. This 
 method of prosperity measurement takes no account of the
 
 34 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 changing vohinic of trade under changing margin conditions. 
 It is entirely conceivable that the textile mills of New England 
 may secure larger sums of money available for dividends under 
 conditions of narrow margins and large sales than under con- 
 ditions of wide margins and small sales. 
 
 To these considerations bearing upon the inadequacy of the 
 margin as a basis of wage calculation add another — that the 
 margin as calculated at Fall River was a crude one, which ignored 
 entirely not only the volume of trade but also the existence of 
 heavy fixed charges upon the business. 
 
 As concrete evidence of the inadequacy of the margin basis 
 of wage adjustment witness the failure of the Fall River manu- 
 facturers to insist upon rigid adherence to the terms of the 
 agreement of 1907, when, in 1908, "believing that indications 
 point[ed] to a prosperous season" they made slight recognition 
 of existing low margins. That the mill owners, through their 
 representatives, were scrupulously insistent that their considerate 
 action should not be regarded as a precedent is beside the point. 
 A schedule of margins and rates of wages had been agreed upon, 
 and within eighteen months the schedule was found to be not at 
 all indicative of wage-paying ability. 
 
 Fourth, it is doubtful whether it is practicable to find the real 
 
 margin of profit. The sliding scale agreements are to be 
 
 criticised on the ground that in the calculation of the margin of 
 
 profit only two grades of cloth were considered. Although at 
 
 Fall River there is a greater degree of homogeneity of the cloth 
 
 products of the mills than is found in many of the New England 
 
 textile centres, it is true that here at any one time thousands of 
 
 employees are engaged in the production of cloths other than 
 
 the 28-inch and 383^-inch prints. If the wages of these 
 
 operatives are to slide in accordance with changing margins of 
 
 profit, it would seem no more than reasonable to expect that 
 
 the margin be calculated with reference to more than two kinds 
 
 of cloth. For there can be no assurance that the prices of these 
 
 two cloths are indicative of the cloth market so far as these 
 
 particular mills are concerned.^ 
 
 I . It is interesting to note that the 28-inch 64 x 64 prints are no longer regarded 
 as the most typical mill products. The best statistical tabulations of cloth prices now 
 give instead quotations on 27-inch 64 x 60 prints.
 
 RATES OF WAf;ES AT FALL fvIVER 35 
 
 A similar criticism might be made of the use of <iuotations on 
 middling upland cotton alone. But this criticism is of minor 
 importance, for there is reason to think that the prices of the 
 several grades of cotton other than the middling upland bear a 
 more constant relation to those of the latter grade than do the 
 prices of all the different cotton fabrics to those of regular and 
 standard prints. However this may be, we are concerned with 
 cotton prices more with respect to the extent to which these 
 quotations are indicative of mill costs, assuming the logically 
 most simple possible condition, namely, that only middling 
 cotton is used by the mills — a condition which is, of course, 
 contrary to fact. 
 
 This is a matter which has to do with the times of margin 
 calculation and wage adjustment under a sliding scale. The 
 evil result of weekly calculations has already been indicated in 
 the narrative of events of the first experiment in 1 905-1 906. 
 No doubt the six-month basis was an improvement. But there 
 is a difficulty present no matter upon what intervals agreement 
 is reached. There is not much object in averaging raw cotton 
 prices for a week or even for six months with a view to 
 determining wages unless it is known that the cotton used in 
 production was actually bought at the prices averaged. Exami- 
 nation of commercial statistics shows that by far the heaviest 
 buying of cotton stocks by mills in the northern part of the 
 United States and in Canada is in the months of October, 
 November, December, and January of each year. In the five 
 years of the sliding scale experiments an average of over 57 
 percent, of the takings by these mills was in these four months.' 
 The lowest percentage of these takings in these four months (45 ) 
 was in the season 1907-1908, and the highest (66) in the season 
 1909-1910. It is evident that any system of basing wages on 
 margins averaged for six-month periods ending in May and 
 November does not fairly allow for the uneven distribution of 
 cotton purchases throughout the year. And yet an adju.stment 
 
 t. This computation is from Shepperson's Cotton l-a.ts, edition of l>cconil)cr, 
 1907, p. 26; ciiition of December, 1910, p. 26.
 
 36 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 of the dates of margin and wage calculations to meet this seasonal 
 fluctuation is not easy for the fluctuation is not regular. 
 
 To make a more positive statement of this criticism — the 
 calculation of margins, if made at all, should be made with a 
 knowledge of the prices at which the mills concerned have 
 actually bought supplies of cotton, and with a knowledge ako 
 of the prices actually received from time to time for the mill 
 products. Only in this way can the real margin be ascertained. 
 Probably this criticism is destructive rather than constructive. 
 It is doubtful whether it would be feasible to make a sliding 
 scale agreement which would reveal not only to employees but 
 also to competing enterprisers the marketing policies of each 
 corporation.^ The probable result of such an attempt to 
 eliminate labor disputes would be the bargaining of each mill 
 with its own employees and the elimination of collective bar- 
 gaining on a large scale. It is reasonable to suppose that mill 
 owners would resort to pure profit-sharing devices rather than 
 to accept a system which would disclose methods by which 
 profits are secured. 
 
 Fifth, this experiment was based upon the ungrounded assump- 
 tion that wages in any one industry can be determined by rules 
 which relate only to the internal affairs of that industry. 
 
 The ability of cotton textile operatives to secure an advance 
 or to resist a reduction of wages cannot be measured solely by 
 market conditions within the industry. Margins of profit have 
 to do with the demand for labor ; but the prosperity of the cotton 
 manufacturing industry, however indicated, does not constitute 
 the sole demand for the services of cotton mill operatives. Of 
 this witness the attraction of mill workers into munitions factories. 
 Also margins of profit are not directly related to the supply of 
 labor, which cannot be regarded as a fixed or even steadily 
 growing quantity, but which varies with population changes, 
 both quantitative and qualitative. That labor supply tends to 
 conform to labor demand is a mere truism, which means that 
 
 I. See the statement of Mr. Edward Stanwood, secretary of the Arkwright Chib 
 of Boston, in a review of Professor Copeland's book in the American Economic Re\4ew, 
 vol. Ill (June, 1913), p. 372.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL RIVER 37 
 
 the number of goods or services sold must be equal respectively 
 to the number of goods or services bought. It must be evident 
 that any formal agreement, however elaborately drawn, if based 
 upon intra-industrial conditions only, cannot be expected to 
 guarantee to either workers or employers all that could be 
 secured by hard bargaining under competitive conditions. That 
 is, at comparatively frequent intervals the whole sliding schedule 
 would have to be considered anew. Ipso facto the scale would 
 not slide ; it would become a new scale. 
 
 This brings us to a final critical comment upon the sliding 
 scale plan : That the detailed construction of a schedule of 
 margins and wages, in the last analysis, is a matter of the com- 
 parative bargaining powers of employers and employees. 
 
 As we have seen, the sliding scale experiment was abandoned 
 in 1910; first, because the employees were dissatisfied with the 
 failure of rates to slide upward, and, second, because they were 
 unable, in considering the extension of the agreement, to raise 
 the whole scale of rates to a level satisfactory to themselves. 
 In spite of the fundamental unsoundness of the whole scheme, 
 it is not improbable that it would have been continued beyond 
 the spring of 191 o, if both sides had been able to agree upon a 
 new schedule. 
 
 The difficulty appears to be that there is no criterion by which 
 the economic correctness of any proposed schedule maj' be 
 judged. What would be an economically correct schedule? 
 Presumably such would be a schedule which would accord to 
 either party all that could be secured by the most vigorous and 
 keen bargaining. Or, to put the question in another form, what 
 is the criterion of the wage-pa\'ing ability of an industr)-? We 
 do not know. The answer is still in process of being evolved 
 in the cases of public and quasi-public utilities. Governor 
 Douglas, in 1905, when arbitrating the wage dispute at Fall 
 River, made certain allowances for dividends and fordepreciation. 
 But other authorities might make different allowances for the 
 same items. This is a difficult problem, especially in the case 
 of the Fall River cotton mills, regarding wiiose capitalization 
 comparatively little is publicly known. ^ 
 I. Cf. Copeland, op. cit., ch. 15.
 
 38 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 The answer to the last two criticisms (that adjustments of any 
 sUding schedule must be made periodically to meet changing 
 industrial conditions and that there is as yet no criterion by 
 which the sliding schedule may be made accurately to reflect 
 the state of the competitive markets for labor) may be of this 
 nature: That great nicety of adjustment is not to be expected 
 in such a schedule; that some gain will be effected if only the 
 wastes of industrial conflict can be avoided ; and that "in the 
 long run" one side will gain through this inaccuracy of adjust- 
 ment as much as the other. Of this last contention, however, 
 there is no certain proof. While it might be safe to rely upon 
 this supposed tendency to equalize advantages and disadvantages 
 thus arising, if the sliding scale scheme were fundamentally 
 sound, we have seen that in the Fall River case, at least, this 
 soundness did not exist. 
 
 From May 26, 1908, the last date in the sliding scale period 
 on which the piece rates actually changed, until March 25, 
 1912, the weaving piece rate remained 19.66 cents. On the 
 latter date, at the conclusion of the textile strike at Lawrence 
 arising out of the legislation reducing the length of the working 
 day for women and children, the weaving rate became 21.62 
 cents per cut, involving an advance of 10 percent. Then there 
 followed a period of nearly four years with no change in piece 
 rates, culminating January 24, 1916, when under the combined 
 operation of war demands on the cotton industry itself and of 
 demand for workers in munitions factories the textile operatives 
 of Fall River, as well as those of all New England, entered 
 upon a period of frequent and considerable wage advances. 
 
 The weaving rate determined upon January 24, 1916 was 
 22.71 cents, involving an advance of 5 per cent. On May i of 
 the same year another advance of 10 per cent, brought the rate 
 to 24.98 cents. On December 4, 1916, the rate was again 
 advanced 10 per cent, to 27.48 cents. Thus in 1916 alone 
 after a long period of stable rates the Fall River operatives 
 received advances which brought the rates at the end of 1916 
 to a level over 39 per cent, above those prevailing in 1908 
 under the sliding scale agreement, and 27 per cent, above those 
 effective in March, 1912.
 
 RATES OF WAGES AT FALL RIVER 39 
 
 At the time of the advance of wages effective December 4, 
 1916, it was agreed that there should be no change for six months 
 thereafter.' On May 4, 191 7, the Textile Council notified 
 the manufacturers that another advance of 10 per cent, was 
 expected effective June 4 for the succeeding six months.- In 
 the meantime the United States had become a participant in 
 the world war, heavy demands had been and were being made 
 upon the cotton manufacturing industry for army and navy 
 supplies, the already prevailing scarcity of textile operatives 
 caused by the drain to the munitions factories had been increased 
 by voluntary enlistments for military service, and the operation 
 of the machinery for the enforcement of the selectixe draft act 
 held out the prospect of an even greater dearth of labor. Mills 
 could ill afford stoppage of production, even if such stoppage 
 had been permitted by the government. Consequently the 
 advance requested was granted without delay, the new weaving 
 rate being 30.23 cents. 
 
 In October, 191 7, under the continued stimulus of war con- 
 ditions the Textile Council at Fall River again requested an 
 advance of wages, this time of 15 percent. The manufacturers 
 countered with an offer of 10 per cent, which was not accepted. 
 Finally a compromise was effected at an advance of I2^j per 
 cent, subject to the approval of a representative of the United 
 States Department of Labor. The new weaving rate, 34.02 
 cents, became effective December 3, and finally was approved 
 in February, 19 18. The Government representati\e urged that 
 the rate be continued until the end of the customary six-month 
 period, about June i.'' 
 
 With the approach of the latter date the operatives asked for 
 an advance of 25 per cent., but compromised at 15 per cent., 
 bringing the weaving rate to 39.12 cents, effective June 3.'* 
 
 Thus up to the end of the first half of 1918 advances of 
 wages were secured at Fall River aggregating an increase over 
 
 1. Chronicle, November iS, 191O, p. iSiS; August 25, 1917, i». jSj. 
 
 2. Chronicle, August 25, 1917, p. 7S2. 
 
 3. Ibid., August 31, 191 8, p. 869. 
 
 4. Idem.
 
 40 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 the rates fixed May 26, 1908, of 98.98 percent, and an increase 
 over the immediately pre-war wages fixed March 25, 1912, of 
 89.01 per cent. Since the entrance of the United States into 
 the war the gains in wages have aggregated 42.35 per cent, of 
 the rates effective December 4, 191C. 
 
 Conditions in the industry from June until the first of 
 November, 191 8, were such as to give rise to serious expecta- 
 tion of further advances on December first. Unprecedented 
 prosperity, in spite of governmental price control since the early 
 summer, existed contemporaneously with an ever increasing 
 shortage of labor caused not only by the extension of the draft 
 law but also by the epidemic of influenza. But with the signing 
 of the armistice there came an abrupt change in the form of 
 stoppage of production. The Fall River Textile Council late 
 in November presented a request for another advance of rates. 
 Refusal by the employers was prompt and firm, and was acceded 
 to with little delay by the operatives. From that time until the 
 completion ofthis monograph in May, 1919, operation continued 
 on the basis of the 39.12 cents weaving rate, modification of 
 working conditions caused by the new market conditions taking 
 the form chiefly of the forty-eight hour week.
 
 FULL TLME EARNINGS, 1860-189I 41 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Massa- 
 chusetts Cotton Manufacturing Industry, i 860-1 891 
 
 The statistical materials assembled and analyzed in the pre- 
 ceding chapter relate directly to rates of wages. Next, logically, 
 come earnings, that is, the sums of money actually received by 
 operatives per day or per week ; and since this study is primarily 
 historical, relative earnings or "index numbers" of earnings will 
 first claim our attention. Furthermore, we are here concerned 
 with full time earnings. Unemployment and its effects upon 
 pay envelopes in different years constitute a topic for separate 
 consideration, reserved for Chapter V. In the present chapter 
 and the one immediately succeeding, the assumption is made 
 that the quotations of daily and weekly earnings selected from 
 the available statistical raw materials were originall}' compiled 
 as being typical of conditions prevailing in the years or other 
 periods in question. Hence the significance of "full time earn- 
 ings" in the titles of Chapters III and IV. 
 
 For the study of relative full time earnings of employees in 
 the cotton manufacturing industry of New England since i860, 
 the chief sources of statistical information are such as to make 
 advisable a three-fold division of the period. For the years 
 1 860-1 880 there exist two comprehensive bodies of statistical 
 raw materials — the so-called Weeks Report in Volume XX of the 
 reports of the Tenth Census, and the well known Aldrich Report 
 of 1893.' These sources have been ably examined by Professor 
 Wesley C. Mitchell in his Gold, Prices, a>td Wai:;cs under the 
 Greenback Sta)idard. From the results of his study of general 
 wage movements there have been selected for presentation here 
 the facts of importance relating to the cotton mills of New 
 
 I. Senate Committee on Finance, Report on WhoUsaU Prices, on Wages, and 
 on Transportation. Senate Reports, 52(1 Congress, 2d Session. Report 1394, pts. i -4.
 
 42 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 England. These facts, supplemented by explanatory material, 
 serve here as the foundation for the earnings statistics covering 
 later years. 
 
 For the years 1 880-1 891 the most nearly complete and satis- 
 factorily comparable earnings statistics are found in the volumes 
 of the Aldrich Report. These materials have not heretofore 
 been examined for the purposes of such a study as the present 
 one, and it has been the task of the present writer to apply to 
 certain of these series of wage quotations statistical methods 
 calculated to secure continuations of the curves of relative full 
 time earnings constructed by Professor Mitchell for the years 
 1860-1880. 
 
 Third, for the period since 1890 there are available in the 
 Reports and Bulletins of the United States Bureau of Labor and 
 of its successor the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics 
 materials for the construction of nearly complete series of full 
 time earnings for five occupational groups of cotton textile 
 employees. These series have been modified somewhat for 
 purposes of comparative analysis, with special reference to the 
 effects upon earnings of legislation reducing the hours of labor. 
 
 The present chapter contains an analytical and explanatory 
 discussion of the first two periods described, i860— 1880 and 
 1880— 1 891. The next succeeding chapter covers the period 
 1890-1916. 
 
 The exhibits of the Aldrich Report include wage data for five 
 establishments manufacturing cotton cloth, of which four were 
 in Massachusetts. From the original exhibits for these four 
 mills Professor Mitchell constructed 135 occupational series of 
 relative earnings for the years 1 860-1 880, using as a base (100) 
 for each series the actual wage reported to have been paid in 
 January, 1860.^ These series represented all of the occupations 
 reported for the mills in question, including several "non-textile" 
 or " non-operative " groups of workers, such as overseers, 
 mechanics, yard hands, sweepers and scrubbers. From these 
 series there were then constructed other series presenting general 
 
 I. See Table 5 in the appendix of his volume.
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 1860-1891 43 
 
 conclusions regarding all the employees and different groups of 
 them.^ 
 
 The materials of the Weeks Report embrace tabulated returns 
 from thirty-five cotton manufacturing establishments, of which 
 thirty were located east of a line drawn north and south at the 
 eastern boundary of Ohio, and of which twenty-two were in 
 New England. Of the twenty-two New England mills, six were 
 in Connecticut, three in Maine, six in Massachusetts, six in New 
 Hampshire and one in Rhode Island. Professor Mitchell studied 
 as one group the thirty mills east of Ohio, so that exact com- 
 parison of the Aldrich and Weeks materials is not possible. 
 Unlike the Aldrich Report, the Weeks Report made no record 
 of the number of employees receiving each designated wage. 
 For general purposes, therefore, as well as for the purposes of 
 the present investigation, the information of the Weeks Report 
 as analyzed by Professor Mitchell is not as satisfactory as that 
 of the Aldrich Report ; but it is useful chiefly to serve as a check 
 upon the latter. That there is little difference between the con- 
 ditions depicted by the two sets of figures is shown by the accom- 
 panying Table (VIII) and Chart (II) of relative earnings 
 computed by the method of simple medians. 
 
 I. For a detailed description of the methods used, see .Mitchell, op. cit., pp. 94-97.
 
 44 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 TABLE VIII ■ 
 
 Simple Medians of Relative Full Time Earnings in the Massachusetts 
 Cotton Industry, i860- 1880 
 
 (Computed from the Aldrich and Weeks Reports) 
 
 Year. 
 
 Aldrich. 
 
 Weeks. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Aldrich. 
 
 Weeks. 
 
 i860 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 1871 
 
 163 
 
 157 
 
 1861 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 1872 
 
 164 
 
 160 
 
 1862 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 1873 
 
 163 
 
 160 
 
 1863 
 
 104 
 
 ICX) 
 
 1874 
 
 154 
 
 152 
 
 1864 
 
 118 
 
 112 
 
 1875 
 
 147 
 
 150 
 
 1865 
 
 131 
 
 129 
 
 1876 
 
 141 
 
 144 
 
 1866 
 
 153 
 
 149 
 
 1877 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 1867 
 
 160 
 
 155 
 
 1878 
 
 138 
 
 13s 
 
 1868 
 
 158 
 
 150 
 
 1879 
 
 133 
 
 i3> 
 
 1869 
 
 157 
 
 151 
 
 1880 
 
 136 
 
 139 
 
 1870 
 
 160 
 
 15s 
 
 
 
 
 I. This table has been compiled from the table on pp. 208-210 of Professor 
 Mitchell's volume. The semi-annual Aldrich figures have been averaged to obtain one 
 relative wage for each year. The simple rule of calling an average involving the 
 decimal .5 or over equivalent to the next higher unit raises slightly in a few cases the 
 level of the relative wage as compared with the correspondmg figure of the Weeks 
 Report. • 
 
 For four years of the twenty-one the median relatives of the two sets of quotations 
 are identical, for each of three years there is a difference of two points, for five years a 
 difference of three points, for three years four points, for two years five points, for three 
 years six points, and for one year eight points. The differences of movement shown 
 by the two curves are differences of magnitude rather than of general direction.
 
 FULL TLME EARNINGS, 1860-1891 
 
 45 
 
 CHART II 
 
 The Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Massachusetts Cotton 
 
 Industry, 1 860-1 880, as Shown by the Method 
 
 of Simple Medians 
 
 . Aldrich Report 
 
 Weeks Report 
 
 
 — i—r T 
 
 I II- 
 
 1 1 r 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 1 1 1 i" 
 
 1 I 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -200 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 200- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -180 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 180- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -160 
 -140 
 
 
 J 
 
 (^- 
 
 ^^"^ 
 
 >^^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 160- 
 
 140- 
 
 -120 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 120- 
 
 _1 AA 
 
 
 J' 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - eo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 100- 
 
 ao- 
 
 - 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 60- 
 
 - 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40- 
 
 - 20 
 
 S 
 
 T 1 1 
 
 10 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 2 
 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 i 
 
 n 
 
 1 -^ 
 
 ao- 
 
 Therefore, using the results of Professor Mitchell's work with 
 the data of the Aldrich Report, Table IX is presented showinfj 
 the inovements of the Greenback prices of gold, of relative 
 wages in the four Massachusetts cotton mills (by the methods 
 of weighted averages and weighted medians), of relative whole- 
 sale and retail prices of cotton textiles, and of general retail 
 prices in the eastern part of the United States. On Charts III 
 and IV are curves plotted on series of relatives selected from 
 Table IX.
 
 4H 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 TABLE IX ' 
 
 The Movements of Full Time Earnings in Massachusetts Cotton 
 Mills, and of Prices, 1860-1880 
 
 
 I i 
 
 Wages in cotton mill 
 
 s. 
 
 Commodity prices. 
 
 
 All employees. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Cotton textiles. 
 
 "IcS 
 
 
 "ec^ 
 
 ■* m 
 
 •0 • 
 
 •0 . 
 
 ■w • 
 
 JU 
 
 
 •S"£2 
 
 
 Prices 
 
 i 
 
 green 
 
 Ho 
 
 1 
 
 .2^ 
 
 
 "a 
 
 "(5 
 4> 
 
 g 2 " «» 
 
 
 1" 
 
 
 
 
 £ 
 ^ 
 
 a 
 
 i s-2 = 
 
 i860 
 
 100 
 
 lOI 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 TOO 
 
 100 
 
 TOO ■ 
 
 100 
 
 I86I 
 
 100 
 
 97 
 
 102 
 
 103 
 
 100 
 
 98 
 
 124 
 
 112 
 
 1862 
 
 H3 
 
 98 
 
 lOI 
 
 104 
 
 99 
 
 161 
 
 197 
 
 129 
 
 1863 
 
 145 
 
 108 
 
 106 
 
 107 
 
 103 
 
 292 
 
 287 
 
 149 
 
 1864 
 
 203 
 
 127 
 
 117 
 
 112 
 
 120 
 
 462 
 
 414 
 
 179 
 
 1865 
 
 157 
 
 140 
 
 139 
 
 143 
 
 136 
 
 411 
 
 373 
 
 189 
 
 1866 
 
 141 
 
 161 
 
 170 
 
 172 
 
 166 
 
 320 
 
 304 
 
 181 
 
 1867 
 
 138 
 
 167 
 
 175 
 
 182 
 
 168 
 
 227 
 
 236 
 
 172 
 
 1868 
 
 140 
 
 165 
 
 170 
 
 174 
 
 164 
 
 181 
 
 205 
 
 169 
 
 1869 
 
 133 
 
 169 
 
 175 
 
 177 
 
 167 
 
 174 
 
 173 
 
 162 
 
 1870 
 
 115 
 
 166 
 
 174 
 
 179 
 
 172 
 
 159 
 
 158 
 
 152 
 
 I87I 
 
 112 
 
 177 
 
 186 
 
 194 
 
 171 
 
 146 
 
 13s 
 
 140 
 
 1872 
 
 112 
 
 183 
 
 192 
 
 209 
 
 174 
 
 151 
 
 130 
 
 136 
 
 1873 
 
 114 
 
 178 
 
 190 
 
 205 
 
 173 
 
 140 
 
 123 
 
 '37 
 
 1874 
 
 III 
 
 163 
 
 182 
 
 199 
 
 169 
 
 124 
 
 116 
 
 135 
 
 1875 
 
 "5 
 
 150 
 
 169 
 
 181 
 
 161 
 
 112 
 
 109 
 
 130 
 
 1876 
 
 112 
 
 145 
 
 163 
 
 174 
 
 157 
 
 93 
 
 102 
 
 125 
 
 1877 
 
 105 
 
 142 
 
 151 
 
 160 
 
 147 
 
 87 
 
 97 
 
 122 
 
 1878 
 
 lOI 
 
 145 
 
 151 
 
 168 
 
 147 
 
 79 
 
 92 
 
 116 
 
 1879 
 
 100 
 
 144 
 
 143 
 
 163 
 
 141 
 
 79 
 
 91 
 
 114 
 
 1880 
 
 100 
 
 153 
 
 151 
 
 165 
 
 141 
 
 90 
 
 92 
 
 115 
 
 Base (100) ^quotations for i860 (January quotations where such exist) 
 
 I. Compiled from materials presented in Mitchell, op. cit., pp. 91, 103-118, 278.
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 1860-1891 
 
 47 
 
 CHART III 
 
 The Movements of Full Time Earnings in Massachusetts Cotton Mills, 
 and of Prices, i860- 1880 
 
 Base (100) = quotations for January, i860 
 
 Weighted averages of relative full time earnings in Massachusetts Cotton Mills. 
 
 Relative wholesale prices of cotton textiles. 
 
 .X...X... Relative general retail prices in the East. 
 
 . 
 
 — 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 ■ > ■ ■ 1 t 1 — 
 
 
 . 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 • 
 
 i\ 
 
 ■ 
 
 • 
 
 
 • 
 
 '400 
 
 400- 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 • 
 
 1 t 
 
 f ; 
 
 • 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 1 
 
 t 1 
 
 • 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 •500 
 
 1 \ 
 
 300- 
 
 
 1 \ 
 
 ' 
 
 * 
 
 
 " 
 
 • 
 
 1 \ 
 
 • 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 \ 
 
 ■ 
 
 •200 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 \ 
 
 200- 
 
 • 
 
 1 l*"'^'<jS/^ 
 
 - 
 
 • 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 •100 - 
 
 - 100- 
 
 
 
 X / 
 
 
 
 •s_-/ 
 
 
 • 
 
 M •» 
 «0 >0 C- t' oo 
 
 - 
 
 ' 
 
 00 CO CD 00 «0 
 
 .-1 fH M eH »-< 
 
 ■
 
 48 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 CHART IV 
 
 The Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Massachusetts Cotton 
 Industry, 1 860-1 880; by Sex Groups 
 
 Base (100) = quotations for January, i860 
 
 Weighted averages of relative wages — all employees. 
 
 Weighted medians of relative wages — all employees. 
 
 « Weighted medians of relative wages — females. 
 
 X — X — Weighted medians of relative wages — males. 
 
 1 — 1 — I — I — I — I — I — I — I — I I I I — I — I — I — I — I — I — r 
 
 ■Z40 
 
 220 
 200 
 180 
 160 
 140 
 120 
 100- 
 
 - 60 
 
 - 60 
 
 - 40 
 
 - 20 
 
 1 ' "i* ' ' 
 
 J L 
 
 I'll'' 'I T 
 
 240- 
 
 220- 
 
 200' 
 
 180 
 
 160- 
 
 140' 
 
 120 
 
 •100' 
 
 80- 
 
 <0- 
 
 40- 
 
 20- 
 
 Examination of Table IX and of Charts III and IV shows 
 that, for the employees of these textile establishments considered 
 as one group, wages (as measured by the method of weighted 
 averages) fell slightly from the level of i860 in 1861 and 1862, 
 but from 1863 to 1867 rose steadily to a point 67 per cent, above 
 the level of January i860. In the three-year period 1868- 1870
 
 FULL TLME EARNINGS, 1860-189I 49 
 
 inclusive, full time earnings fluctuated somewhat, but after 1870 
 rose again until in 1872 they were at a point 83 per cent, above 
 the level of January, i860. After i 872 there occurred a decline 
 of wages, slight at first, but after 1873 rapid, reaching its low 
 point in 1877; but this low point was still 42 per cent, above 
 the level of the wages of January, i860. The period ends, in 
 1880, with the wage level 53 per cent, above the base line. 
 
 Comparison of the series of weighted averages and of weighted 
 medians for all employees shows that the use of the method of 
 weighted averages as compared with that of weighted medians 
 does not magnify the upward change of wages after i860. And 
 the differences between the two sets of relative figures in these 
 two cases are of negligible importance. While for nearly all of 
 the period the weighted medians show advances of wages some- 
 what greater than do the weighted averages, the two curves are 
 approximately parallel. The curve of weighted averages is 
 therefore selected as the more conservative and for the additional 
 reason that the method of weighted averages tends to eliminate 
 overstatements of wage movements which might be due to 
 unrepresentative distribution of wage quotations in the tally 
 sheets for any one year. 
 
 The results of the use of the weighted medians have been 
 presented here to make possible comparison of wage changes 
 applying to the sex groups. Chart IV shows clearly that the 
 women in these cotton mills shared in the wage advances of the 
 greenback period to a greater degree than did the men, their 
 advances being about 50 per cent, greater than those of the men. 
 
 The table and the charts just referred to present in statistical 
 form the chief facts relating to wage and price movements in 
 the greenback period. It now remains to suggest some of the 
 forces motivating these textile wage movements and to present 
 such pieces of evidence bearing upon them as have been possible 
 of collection from contemporary records. 
 
 Some reference is undoubtedly due to the displacement of gold 
 money as the circulating medium and standard of value during 
 the major part of this early period ; to the effects of paper 
 currency inflation upon price movements. Our interest here,
 
 50 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 however, is in special markets for labor and for commodities. 
 Conditions existing in the cotton and cotton cloth markets 
 during the Civil War were somewhat peculiar to these markets, 
 the prime factor at work being the so-called "cotton famine." 
 The then fabulous prices of raw cotton, which would normally 
 enter into manufacturers' costs and so contribute to determine 
 the lower limit of prices of mill products, were prices indicating, 
 not so much a depreciation of the currency, as inability of manu- 
 facturers to obtain raw materials on any considerable scale. 
 As to the trading in cotton that was done, to the extent that 
 both the raw cotton and dry goods markets were highly 
 organized, there would be a tendency for their prices to respond 
 quickly to changed conditions of the currency. At the same 
 time, to the extent that in either of these markets there was 
 dealing in futures and that in the conduct of cloth manufacturing 
 there prevailed the custom of production of goods on orders for 
 delivery at more or less remote dates in the future, this quick 
 adjustment of prices to changed currency conditions would be 
 stabilized. Moreover, the use in textile manufacturing of a large 
 amount of elaborate and expensive equipment, involving heavy 
 fixed costs, would further retard the adjustment of cloth prices 
 to a depreciation of the currency. There is found, however, as 
 was to be expected, little correlation between wage and price 
 movements in the cotton manufacturing industry and the green- 
 back prices of gold. In as much, also, as the prices of cotton 
 textiles both at wholesale and at retail declined more rapidly 
 after the termination of the Civil War than did the retail prices 
 of commodities in general, we must look more particularly into 
 the cotton manufacturing industry itself to secure an explanation 
 which even approximates giving satisfaction, regarding the com- 
 petitive forces at work affecting wages. ^ 
 
 I. The downward movement of the prices of cotton goods from 1863 to 1871 
 may be considered to be chiefly the evidence of transition from abnormal to more normal 
 conditions in the production and marketing of cotton and in the manufacture of cotton 
 cloth. The more gradual downward tendency of prices from 1873 ^° 1879 is in general 
 agreement with the downward movement of prices in general. Note that cotton goods, 
 both at wholesale and at retail declined more than did commodities in general.
 
 FULL TLME EARN1N(;S, 1860-1891 51 
 
 In a sense the rapid upward movement of the curve of weighted 
 average relative wages from 1862 to 1866 is misleading. The 
 quotations upon which this curve is plotted arc not at all 
 indicative of prosperous conditions and large employment of 
 labor; but are rather quite similar to the nominal quotations of 
 commodity prices at times when producers are not able to fill 
 orders. The shutting off of the source of supplies of raw cotton 
 at the outbreak of the Civil War caused serious stoppage of mills 
 throughout the North. It happened that no one of the mills 
 for which data are given in the Aldrich Report was closed at the 
 dates for which pay rolls were examined. But the number of 
 employees enrolled steadily decreased from 1,207 'r> January, 
 i860, to 741 in July, 1863 ; andnotuntil January, 1866, do the 
 records show a total number employed as great as the force in 
 January, i860. In the W^eeks Report there are several instances 
 to be noted in which there was complete stoppage of operation.' 
 It happened that in view of a prospective crop shortage in 1861, 
 with no reference to the coming rebellion, some manufacturers 
 had laid in large supplies of raw materials and by careful 
 husbanding of this stock were enabled to keep in operation much 
 longer than their competitors. But the shortage began to be 
 felt very keenly in 1862 and was at its maximum in 1863. 
 Toward the end of the war some cotton was bought through the 
 Government under regulations imposed by the Treasury Depart- 
 ment. Fite tells- us that during the first year of the war the 
 mills were for the most part operating on two-thirds time and 
 during the second year on one fourth to one-half time. Mr. 
 Samuel Batchelder, a mill manager, says'^ that in 1 863 about one- 
 third of the spindles of the Northern states were kept in operation. 
 
 Mr. Charles Cowley of Lowell stated^ in 1868 that "nine of 
 the great corporations of Lowell, under a mistaken belief that 
 they could not run their mills to a profit during the War, 
 
 1. Weeks Report, pp. 331, 348, 350, 352, 356, 358, 361, 366. 
 
 2. Fite, Emerson D., Soiiiil and /niittsfrial Conditions in the Xorth during the 
 Ci7'il ir,ir, p 86. 
 
 3. Batchelder, Samuel, Introduction and Early Progress of the Cotton Afanu- 
 factur,; (1863), pp. 97, 98. 
 
 4. Cowley, Charles, History of Lowell, (revised edition, 1868 \ p. 60.
 
 52 WAOES OF COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 unanimously, in cold blood, dismissed ten thousand operatives, 
 penniless, into the streets !" The New York Herald in its issue 
 of January 13, 1862 (p. 3) published a long article on the con- 
 dition of the textile industries. In the discussion of the cotton 
 manufacturing industry, under the heading, "What has become 
 of the operatives?" there is the following. 
 
 From extended inquiry we find that the contraction of 
 manufacturing has released about seventy thousand operatives 
 from the mills. About one-lhird of these are males who have 
 mostly walked out of the factory into the camp, and are doing 
 good service in endeavoring to wrest cotton from the grasp of 
 the rebels. The female factory hands of New England have, 
 in many instances, returned to their rural homes until the 
 return of better times, and others have employed themselves 
 in making up clothing for the army. But so far there has 
 been nothing like suffering among the operatives, consequent 
 upon the disarrangement of manufacturing 
 
 When, at the conclusion of hostilities, supplies of raw materials 
 became more easily available and resumption of mill operations 
 commenced on a large scale the markets for labor and for goods 
 were quite altered from the conditions of i860. Mr. David A. 
 Wells in a report to the Secretary of the Treasury dated Decem- 
 ber, 1866 stated' that throughout the northern states manufac- 
 turing industries had suffered a loss of desirable employees since 
 comparatively few of the men who entered the army from the 
 factories returned to their former occupations. Mr. Cowley 
 also refers^ to the stoppage of work by the Lowell mills as a 
 great mistake in policy, since, when the mills reopened, there 
 was difficulty in securing competent operatives. He especially 
 criticises the mill owners for having made no adequate provision 
 for the employment of overseers and more skilled workers many 
 of whom in the years of war joined the enterpriser class. 
 
 But more particularly was there a scarcity of women and girl 
 operatives. It has already been stated that the reopening of 
 the mills after the war failed to attract many of the former 
 
 1. Senate Executive Documents, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., Doc. 2, p. 21. 
 
 2. Cowley, op. cit., p. 61.
 
 FULL TLME EARNINGS, 1860-1891 53 
 
 female operatives of American stock. The situation in the 
 market for women cotton mill workers may best be described in 
 the words of Commissioner Wells. 
 
 The opening up of many new employments to women, 
 coupled with an increased prosperity of the agricultural classes, 
 has also produced in many sections of the country, an unusual 
 scarcity of female operatives. This is particularly the case in 
 the manufacturing districts of New England, and has not been 
 remedied by an advance in wages. The average rate of wages 
 paid to adult female operatives in New England cotton mills 
 is reported to be one dollar per day, while in cases of the more 
 skilled operatives, earnings of from twenty to thirty, and even 
 forty dollars per month, exclusive of board, are reported. As 
 an illustration of the independence of labor over capital in this 
 department, it may be stated that, during the summer of 1866, 
 the product of the cotton mills of New England was variously 
 reduced from five to twenty-five per cent., through the inability 
 to, obtain female operatives, even with the inducement of the 
 highest rates of wages ever paid in this branch of manufacture. 
 In one instance specifically reported to the commissioner, 
 (viz; the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, New Hamp- 
 shire,) at least twenty-five per cent, of the machinery stood 
 still for a period of three months in 1S66, for the sole reason 
 of an inability to procure operatives. ^ 
 
 Another result growing out of this competitive demand for 
 labor is, that the labor itself becomes unstable in its character ; 
 to meet which a not uncommon practice has prevailed in New 
 England of offering ten per cent, in addition to the ordinary 
 rates of wages, conditioned on the continuance of the engage- 
 ment for a certain definite period. - 
 
 The phenomenon above referred to, that is, the relatively 
 greatei scarcity of female as compared with male operatives in 
 the years immediately following the conclusion of hostilities, is 
 reflected in the diagram depicting the wage movements of the 
 sex groups of employees. These curves of weighted medians of 
 relative wages rise abruptly during the war years, attaining in 
 
 1. Senate Executive Documents, 39tli Congress, 2il Session, Doc. 2, p. 22. 
 
 2. Ibid., p. 23.
 
 54 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 1867 levels considerably favoring the women. From 1867 on 
 until the end of the period here under study these superior 
 gains, although subject to greater fluctuations than those of the 
 men, were in general maintained. In 1880 the relative wages 
 of the women, as compared with those of i860 by the use of 
 the weighted medians, showed a gain of 65 per cent., while the 
 gain of the men during the whole period was about 41 percent. 
 
 Contemporary accounts give interesting information concern- 
 ing the downward course of wages after the panic of 1873. In 
 November of that year the Commercial and Financial Chronicle 
 noted^ editorially the stoppage of the cotton mills, which, it 
 said, was not due to any fundamental unsoundness in the cotton 
 manufacturing industry itself, but to the panic, with its resulting 
 stoppage of sales and difificulty of collections. 
 
 But the next year witnessed a depression more peculiar to the 
 cotton industry itself. On September 23, 1874 treasurers and 
 managers of mills met in Boston to consider plans for the relief 
 of the depressed market for cloth. It was voted at this meeting 
 that- "it is imperatively required that the production of the 
 cotton mills of New England should be reduced by at least one- 
 third, until the proper relation between the cost of production 
 and the market value of goods shall be re-established, and the 
 relation between supply and demand adjusted. At a second 
 meeting a working schedule of four days a week was agreed 
 upon.'^ At a similar meeting held at Providence on September 
 25th it was unanimously agreed to reduce production one-third 
 for the following three months. At this meeting, according to 
 the Chronicle,* "facts were submitted showing that the prices 
 of most of the cotton fabrics [were] below the actual cost of 
 production." 
 
 1. Commercial and Financial Chronicle, November i, 1873, pp. 583, 584. 
 
 2. Ibid., September 26, 1874, p. 333. 
 
 3. Ibid., October 3, 1874, p. 355. 
 
 4. Ibid., September 26, 1874, p. 333. The Chronicle of January i, 1876 com- 
 ments (p. 4) on the difficulty of carrying out systematic and combined curtailment. 
 Some additional references in the same publication to curtailment are April 3, 1867, 
 p. 455; June 8, 1867, p. 757; June 22, 1867, p. 789; November 16, 1867, p. 615; 
 October 29, 1870, p. 554.
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 1860-1891 55 
 
 The extent and seriousness of the depression which this policy 
 of curtaihnent was intended to reh'eve is shown by the fact that 
 despite the remedial measures attempted the market was very 
 slow in reviving. Although there was some difficulty in securing 
 uniformity of curtailment — some mills, particularly those in 
 Lowell, failing to get into line in the carrying out of the plan — 
 the systematic curtailment probably amounted to 25 per cent, 
 of normal production. This was supplemented by enforced 
 idleness because of shortage of water power and because of 
 strikes. The reduction of operation caused by all of these factors 
 was estimated to amount to 331/S per cent, which was what the 
 original plan contemplated. The market, however, did not 
 quickly respond and would not take the small amounts of goods 
 offered.^ Not until the summer of 1876 were there indications 
 of a recovery of the print cloth market'^, which had been most 
 affected by the depression. 
 
 In 1880, then, we have the following situation. Gold in terms 
 of Greenbacks was at par. Raw cotton was 12 per cent, higher 
 in price than in i860, although in 1879 it had been at the same 
 price as in i860. Cotton goods were selling at wholesale for 
 10 per cent, less than in i860, and at retail for 8 per cent. less. 
 Commodities in general retailed in the East at prices averaging 
 about 15 per cent, more than in i860, while wages in the cotton 
 industry, so far as the Aldrich data are typical, averaged about 
 53 per cent, higher than immediately before the outbreak of 
 the war, while the cost of living was about 25 per cent higher. 
 
 We have seen that the premium on gold had little direct 
 explanatory connection with the war prices of cotton and of cloth 
 and could therefore have had little direct effect upon the earnings 
 of the comparatively few operatives employed during the war. 
 A temporary scarcity of operatives, especially of women and 
 girls, apparently operated to secure for the workers a higher 
 wage standard when full manufacturing activity was resumed ; 
 while the dull years of 1873 to 1877 ^^ reflected in lower prices 
 and curtailment of production brought gradually decreasing 
 
 1. Commercial and Financial Chronicle, February 13, 1S75, p. 166. 
 
 2. Ibid., August 5, 1S76, p. 124.
 
 56 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 earnings. The fi<^iires for 1879 and 1880 show slightly improving 
 conditions with respect to both prices and wages. 
 
 In order to trace at all accurately the course of full time 
 earnings in the New England cotton manufacturing industry 
 from 1880 to 1890, it is necessary to have recourse again to the 
 data of the Aldrich Report, since these constitute the most 
 reliable and comprehensive body of information available. Yet 
 it is not possible to rely upon the final report of this committee 
 as formally presented, for the reasons which caused Professor 
 Mitchell to go to the original Aldrich Report exhibits and apply 
 to the information therein contained more discriminating 
 statistical methods than were applied in the compilation of the 
 Aldrich Report itself. As Professor Mitchell shows, ^ in this 
 report either there was no allowance made for differences in the 
 sizes of the groups of employees represented by the several 
 wage quotations in the original exhibits or there was used a 
 faulty method of weighting (on the basis of the census returns 
 for occupations). Also, an arbitrary and unwarranted dis- 
 tinction was made between the establishments reported as 
 manufacturing cotton goods and the one establishment reported 
 as manufacturing ginghams. 
 
 Therefore there is presented here a continuation for the period 
 1 880-1 89 1 of the work done by Professor Mitchell for the green- 
 back period. In the application of Professor Mitchell's methods, 
 however, the number of series of quotations has been consider- 
 ably reduced. Professor Mitchell constructed 135 series of 
 relative wages, but they were not all representative of distinctly 
 textile operative occupations. Beltmen, blacksmiths, boilermen, 
 carpenters, machinists, masons, oilers, watchmen, scrubbers, 
 sweepers and yard hands, although employed by textile mills, 
 are not in a narrow sense textile operatives. The wages which 
 these persons receive have not necessarily a close relationship 
 to the wages of spinners, weavers, carders, slashers and pickers, 
 but are rather determined by conditions in the local labor 
 market in these several occupations. Moreover, overseers in 
 
 I. Gold, Prices, and Wages under the Greenback Standard, pp. 169- 1 72, and 
 History of the Greenbacks, pp. 280-282.
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 1860-1891 57 
 
 the mill departments, while textile workers, are not operatives 
 in the sense in which this word is commonly accepted. They 
 are rather technical experts and skilled managers. The series 
 of quotations in the Aldrich Report, then, for these groups were 
 excluded from consideration, with the result that there remained 
 74 occupational series. Of these 27 represented females, 46 
 represented males, 29 represented males who in i860 received 
 wages of less than $1.00 per day, and 17 represented males who 
 in i860 received $i.oo or more per day. In January 1880, 
 1,419 persons were represented as compared with 1,774 in the 
 series used by Professor Mitchell; in July, 1891, 1,883 were 
 represented. 
 
 To these 74 occupational series, then Professor Mitchell's 
 methods were applied retaining as a base (100) the wages 
 reported as being paid in January, i860, in order to secure com- 
 parability with the results of the study of the greenback period. 
 That Professor Mitchell's inclusion of the non-textileoccupational 
 groups did not destroy the representative character of his results 
 so far as concerns the New England cotton manufacturing 
 industry, and that it is possible to treat the present computations 
 of relative full time earnings for the period 1880-1891 as com- 
 parable with Professor Mitchell's series, is evidenced by the 
 figures of Table X, showing the results of the application of the 
 same statistical methods to the two bodies of data for the year 
 1880.^ The discrepancies in results are so small as to be 
 negligible for the purposes of this study. 
 
 I. See Mitchell, Gold, Prices, and Wages under the Greenback Standard, pp. 
 iiS, 120,210. By "weighted averages" is meant an average computed by counting 
 each relative wage in the series once for each employee listed at that wage. Similarly 
 a "weighted meiiian" is a median found by listing each relative wage once for each 
 employee listed as receiving that wage. Hy the "simple median" method each relative 
 wage is listed only once regardless of the number of employees represented.
 
 58 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 TABLE X 
 
 Relative Full Time Earnings in the Massachussetts Cotton Industry 
 in the year 1880 
 
 Base (100) = quotations for January, i860 
 
 A. Results of the use of 135 occupational series of quotations. 
 
 
 Weighted 
 Averages. 
 
 Weighted medians. 
 
 Simple 
 medians. 
 
 • 
 
 All employees. 
 
 All employees. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Males. 
 
 All employees. 
 
 January 
 
 July 
 
 Average 
 
 152 
 
 149 
 152 
 150.5 
 
 166 
 163 
 164.5 
 
 141 
 140 
 140.5 
 
 135 
 137 
 136 
 
 
 B. Results of the use of 74 
 
 occupational series of quotations. 
 
 January 
 
 152 
 
 149 
 
 164 
 
 141 
 
 136 
 
 July 
 
 157 
 
 152 
 
 163 
 
 140 
 
 137 
 
 Average 
 
 154-5 
 
 150-5 
 
 163-5 
 
 140.5 
 
 136.5 
 
 The results of the statistical analysis of the raw materials of 
 the Aldrich Report for the years 1 880-1 891 are presented in 
 Table XI and Chart V, showing respectively series and curves 
 (based upon the series) of weighted average relative wages. 
 The base used by Professor Mitchell for the greenback period is 
 here retained, so that the curve of weighted average relative 
 wages of all employees for the later period may be regarded as a 
 continuation of the corresponding curve plotted by Professor 
 Mitchell. 1 
 
 1 . There is, of course, a failure of the series for the two periods to connect per- 
 fectly, when weighted averages of relative wages are used, as in the body of this study. 
 (See Table X). In constructing a series to summarize the movement of earnings for 
 the whole period since i860, the writer has used for the year 1880 a compromise figure, 
 154. See Chapter \I.
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, i860- 1 89 1 
 
 59 
 
 TABLE XI 
 
 The Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Massachusetts Cotton 
 Industry, 1880-1891 
 
 Base (100) = quotations for January, i860 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .5-SS 
 
 •5-2 s 
 
 u 
 
 J= 
 
 
 
 jj 
 
 
 ~ «* _ « 
 
 T u '^ rt 
 
 c« 
 
 c 
 
 a. 
 
 n 
 
 ^ 
 
 ;: ^ =-6 
 
 f y UTJ 
 
 >• 
 
 
 
 
 E 
 
 a 
 
 ■r. t. j: u. 
 
 « !i u 
 
 S 
 
 " 
 
 X 
 
 S 
 
 iSZ^ 
 
 ■5-2* »■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^00 ID 
 
 w « — 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 2« w 
 
 S-i* 
 
 1880 
 
 January 
 
 152 
 
 170 
 
 139 
 
 143 
 
 129 
 
 
 July 
 
 '57 
 
 171 
 
 141 
 
 '44 
 
 '34 
 
 
 Average 
 
 155 
 
 171 
 
 140 
 
 '44 
 
 132 
 
 1881 
 
 January 
 
 147 
 
 '55 
 
 138 
 
 140 
 
 '33 
 
 
 July 
 
 151 
 
 167 
 
 132 
 
 '36 
 
 '3' 
 
 
 Average 
 
 149 
 
 161 
 
 '35 
 
 138 
 
 132 
 
 1882 
 
 January 
 
 158 
 
 171 
 
 141 
 
 143 
 
 134 
 
 
 July 
 
 156 
 
 162 
 
 148 
 
 154 
 
 '35 
 
 
 Average 
 
 157 
 
 167 
 
 '45 
 
 '49 
 
 '35 
 
 1883 
 
 Januar)- 
 
 160 
 
 173 
 
 145 
 
 '49 
 
 '36 
 
 
 July 
 
 156 
 
 171 
 
 136 
 
 '37 
 
 '33 
 
 
 Average 
 
 158 
 
 172 
 
 141 
 
 '43 
 
 '35 
 
 1884 
 
 January 
 
 154 
 
 '65 
 
 '38 
 
 141 
 
 '3' 
 
 
 July 
 
 156 
 
 167 
 
 141 
 
 145 
 
 129 
 
 
 Average 
 
 155 
 
 166 
 
 140 
 
 143 
 
 '3° 
 
 1885 
 
 January 
 
 150 
 
 160 
 
 136 
 
 '39 
 
 128 
 
 
 July 
 
 149 
 
 158 
 
 136 
 
 140 
 
 126 
 
 
 Average 
 
 150 
 
 '59 
 
 '36 
 
 140 
 
 127 
 
 1886 
 
 January 
 
 149 
 
 157 
 
 136 
 
 140 
 
 126 
 
 
 July 
 
 157 
 
 168 
 
 142 
 
 148 
 
 126 
 
 
 Average 
 
 153 
 
 163 
 
 139 
 
 144 
 
 126 
 
 1887 
 
 lanuary 
 
 158 
 
 163 
 
 150 
 
 '55 
 
 '34 
 
 
 July 
 
 162 
 
 170 
 
 '5' 
 
 156 
 
 '35 
 
 
 Average 
 
 160 
 
 167 
 
 151 
 
 156 
 
 '35 
 
 1888 
 
 January 
 
 162 
 
 169 
 
 150 
 
 '55 
 
 135 
 
 
 July 
 
 165 
 
 172 
 
 '55 
 
 162 
 
 '36 
 
 
 Average 
 
 164 
 
 171 
 
 153 
 
 159 
 
 136 
 
 1889 
 
 January 
 
 166 
 
 177 
 
 148 
 
 152 
 
 '38 
 
 
 July 
 
 172 
 
 182 
 
 '57 
 
 162 
 
 139 
 
 
 Average 
 
 169 
 
 180 
 
 '53 
 
 '57 
 
 139 
 
 1890 
 
 January 
 
 168 
 
 178 
 
 154 
 
 158 
 
 141 
 
 
 July 
 
 173 
 
 182 
 
 158 
 
 '63 
 
 '43 
 
 
 Average 
 
 171 
 
 180 
 
 156 
 
 161 
 
 142 
 
 I89I 
 
 lanuar)' 
 
 171 
 
 180 
 
 158 
 
 '63 
 
 '43 
 
 
 July 
 
 '73 
 
 '83 
 
 kS 
 
 164 
 
 142 
 
 
 Average 
 
 172 
 
 182 
 
 158 
 
 164 
 
 '43 
 
 In averaging the two relative wages for each year .5 or greater 
 has been considered as i. in order to secure comparability with 
 the work covering the earlier period.
 
 00 
 
 WAGES IN CO'ITON MANUFACTURES 
 CHART V 
 
 The Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Massachusetts Cotton 
 Industry, 1880-1891 
 
 Base (100) = quotations for January, i86o 
 
 . All employees. 
 .F'emales. 
 
 - X — Males. 
 
 Males receiving in i860 less than $1 per day. 
 
 — ••Males receiving in i860 $1 or more per day. 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 I 1 1 I I 1 1 1 1 
 
 - 
 
 -240 
 
 
 
 240- 
 
 -220 
 
 
 
 220- 
 
 -200 
 
 
 
 200- 
 
 -180 
 
 
 .♦.•.^•- 
 
 leo- 
 
 - 
 
 \ ."• 
 
 "*-N "■^:^ — 
 
 - 
 
 -i60 
 
 V- 
 
 -\^^^:^/ 
 
 •-<r../- 
 
 160- 
 
 -140 
 
 ^^ 
 
 140- 
 
 -120 
 
 
 
 120- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 inn - 
 
 - 60 
 
 
 
 80- 
 
 - 60 
 
 
 
 60- 
 
 - 40 
 
 
 
 40- 
 
 - 20 
 
 - • 
 
 s 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 CO o> 
 
 00 
 
 <-l It 
 
 1 1 t 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 ao- 
 
 For the employees treated as a single group, the upward 
 movement of wages which began in 1878 and continued in 
 1880 was of short duration. The decline to the low relative 
 wage of 149 in 1881 was likewise temporary, wages rising in 
 1883 to a point higher than in any preceding year since 1874,
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 1860-1891 61 
 
 the first year of depression following the panic of 1873. The 
 panic year of 1884 witnessed a slight decline and the following 
 year a greater one ; so that wages approached again the low 
 level of 1 88 1. The years following 1885 showed steadily 
 increasing earnings, the relative wage of 1891 being 172. 
 
 Examining the curves of wages for the separate groups of 
 workers, we find that, as in the greenback period, the relative 
 wages of females (using the January, i860 quotations as the 
 base of 100) were higher than those of males. Moreover, the 
 men who in i860 were paid less than $1 per day received 
 throughout this period greater relative wages than those who 
 in i860 received $i or more per day. At the same time it 
 should be noted that while during the short period following 
 the greenback era the relative wages of the several groups were 
 at the levels just indicated, using i860 as the base year, the 
 net gains of the male employees, and especially of those males 
 who were the poorest paid in i860, were far greater than those 
 of the women. Measured in terms of the relative wage 
 "points," all the employees advanced between 1880 and 1891 
 17 points, the females, 11 points, the males 18 points, the males 
 who in i860 received less than $1 per day 20 points, and the 
 better paid males i i points. In other words, those employees 
 who in the greenback period made the least gains in wages 
 began during the period 1880-1891 to catch up with their 
 fellow workers.
 
 62 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE MOVEMENT OF FULL TIME EARNINGS IN THE COTTON 
 
 MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY OF MASSACHUSETTS, MAINE 
 
 AND RHODE ISLAND, 189O-1916 
 
 The most complete and detailed body of information avail- 
 able for the study of the movement of earnings in the New 
 England cotton manufacturing industry for the years since and 
 including 1890 is that published by the United States Bureau 
 of Labor and its successor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
 This Bureau, in its 19th Annual Report (1904), commenced a 
 series of tables showing wages and hours of labor in sixty or 
 more manufacturing and mechanical industries. The informa- 
 tion in this report covered the period 1 890-1903. Bulletins 
 59, 65, 71 and TJ, appearing in 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908 
 respectively, continued the se^ries of wages and hours quota- 
 tions for the several industries. Bulletins 128, 150 and 190 
 (1913, 1914 and 1916 respectively) continued the series for 
 the textile industries. Bulletin 239 (191 8) extended the quo- 
 tations for the cotton manufacturing industry.^ 
 
 The materials relating to cotton manufacturing contained in 
 these serial reports were collected by the agents of the Bureau 
 from the payrolls of establishments in different states. Sum- 
 maries were usually either for all the establishments repre- 
 sented or in some cases by geographical divisions. Obviously 
 such a grouping of data could not meet the requirements of 
 the present study, and therefore recourse was had to the 
 original exhibits or general tables of the reports in order to 
 make a classification of data suited to the purpose in hand. 
 From these scattered tables it was found possible to construct 
 series of quotations for the period 1 890-1916 for four of the 
 
 I. With the exception that no information was secured for 1915.
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 189Q-1916 63 
 
 chief occupations in the cotton mills of three New England 
 states, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island. These occu- 
 pations were those of card strippers or carding machine 
 tenders, loom fixers, frame spinners and weavers. In the last 
 named group separate series for the sexes were available. The 
 members of the first two groups were males; those of the third 
 group females. While, of course, the members of these few 
 occupational groups form only a part of the force of operatives 
 in any mill, it is to be remembered that the)' are the workers 
 performing the tasks connected with the major or more funda- 
 mental processes.^ And since it has been found that changes 
 in rates of wages have affected all mill departments about 
 equally, there is reason to suppose that the five complete occu- 
 pational series available represent fairly accurate!)- the changing 
 wage conditions in the industry. 
 
 In the original tables published by the Bureau there were 
 usually^ presented for each year of each scries three figures 
 which are of interest here: (i) the average earnings per hour 
 of the operatives whose wages were reported; (2) the nominal 
 full time hours of labor per week ; and (3) the nominal full 
 time earnings per week. The third item is the product of the 
 first two. The first item was found by ascertaining for each 
 operative included in the investigation the total earnings for 
 the payroll period and the number of hours worked and then 
 dividing the former by the latter. Then the hourly earnings 
 of all the operatives in the occupational group in all the mills 
 were added and the sum divided by the number of items. 
 Piece and time workers were all massed together, if it happened 
 
 1 . For a particularly detailed description of the tasks of the several occupational 
 groups in the cotton manufacturing industry, see Bulletin 239 of the Bureau of Labor 
 Statistics, pp. 140-205. 
 
 The occupation of mule spinning is the chief one of importance for which a com- 
 plete series of (juotations is not available. This occupation, while important in so far 
 as it is connected with a fundamental technical process and also since it belongs to a 
 group of workers who may be considered to be among the most skilful of all textile 
 operatives, comprises a membership which has in recent years declined relatively to 
 the numbers of all textile employees. 
 
 2. The practice of the Bureau was not uniform. Sometimes the third item 
 named in the text was omitted.
 
 64 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 that in any group workers were employed under both systems. 
 Thus earnings were reduced to a standard unit of calculation, 
 the hour of labor. 
 
 Regarding the second group of items, full time hours of 
 labor per week, in all but two or three cases the full time hours 
 reported in the publications of the Bureau were the maximum 
 hours allowed by state laws for women and minors. The excep- 
 tional cases appeared very early in the series, at a time when it 
 was the custom of the Bureau of Labor to make allowance for 
 short time operation if such a condition prevailed over ten 
 months of the year. The first step, therefore, in the revision 
 of the official figures consisted in the elimination of such 
 unusual figures computed by a method no longer in use, 
 
 A second step of revision consisted of a refinement which 
 makes allowance for the exact dates of effectiveness of state 
 laws reducing the maximum hours of labor for women and 
 minors. For example, the fifty-eight hour law of Massachu- 
 setts went into effect on July i, 1892. This meant that the 
 operatives worked for six months in 1892 under the sixty-hour 
 system and for six months under the fifty-eight-hour system. 
 The average full time operation of the mills in Massachusetts 
 in 1892 was therefore fifty-nine hours per week, and to ascer- 
 tain the nominal or full time earnings for a week in 1892, 
 assuming the hourly quotations to be correct or representative 
 of conditions, these hourly earnings should be multiplied by 
 fifty-nine. 
 
 In 1910 and 1912 in Massachusetts the reductions of the 
 working week became effective on January first. In Maine, 
 likewise, the fifty-eight hour law went into effect on Januar}- i, 
 1910.^ In Rhode Island a similar law took effect on April 4, 
 1902.'-^ The operatives in that state in 1902 therefore worked 
 for one-fourth of the year under a full time system of sixty 
 hours per week and for three-fourths of a year under the fifty 
 eight hour system. The average full time week for the year 
 was fifty-eight and one-half hours. The Rhode Island law of 
 
 1. Maine, Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics, 1909, p. 476. 
 
 2. Rhode Island, Public Laws, 1902, p. 73. (Ch. 994).
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 189O-1916 65 
 
 April 7, 1909 providing for the fifty-six hour week took effect 
 on the first Monday in January, 1910.' The fifty-four hour 
 law of the same state was efifective July i, 19 13.'- 
 
 Tables XII, XIII, and XIV and Charts VI, VII, and VIII 
 exhibit the results of the work of piecing together the disjointed 
 parts of series in the Bureau of Labor data and of making the 
 slight modifications just described with respect to the calcula- 
 tion of full time hours and of full time earnings. The quota- 
 tions of hourly earnings as given in the original tables have 
 been unchanged except that for certain years where the quota- 
 tion is marked by an asterisk quotations published in different 
 bulletins covering different groups of establishments have been 
 averaged. Such marked quotations do not include all the cases 
 in which there has been an overlapping of reports, for cases 
 frequently occurred in which different bulletins covering the 
 same year gave identical quotations. 
 
 The relative wages given are the relative full time weekly 
 earnings. The base for each series of relative full time earnings 
 has been constructed by taking a simple average of the nominal 
 full time earnings for the ten-year period 1 890-1 899. Obvi- 
 ously a series of relative full time weekly earnings for a series 
 of years may serve as a series of relative full time earnings for 
 the whole year, provided that the conditions of employment at 
 the time the agents of the Bureau studied the payrolls were 
 typical of conditions for the year, i, e., with respect to piece 
 rates, quality of stock used, number of machines tended by each 
 operative, and so forth. 
 
 Each one of the charts, which refer to the conditions in 
 Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island, shows that during the 
 last decade of the last century relative full time earnings for 
 the groups of operatives covered fluctuated back and forth 
 above and below the base line, being slightly above the base 
 in 1893, slightly below in 1894 and 1895, very slightly above 
 in 1896 and 1897, and below in 1899, The year 1900 witnessed 
 the beginning of a marked upward movement which, although 
 
 1. Rhode Island, Public Laws, 1909, pp. 41, 42. (Ch. 384). 
 
 2. Ibid., 1913, pp. 6, 7. (Ch. 912).
 
 66 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 checked in Massachusetts (in 1901 and 1902) and even 
 reversed in Maine (in 1902 and 1903) and in Rhode Island 
 (in 1901 and 1904) culminated in 1907. The panic of 1907 
 and the years of depression immediately following caused a 
 marked decline of earnings and not until 191 2 did earnings 
 generally begin again to rise. Although the published reports 
 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics do not bring the wage quota- 
 tions up to date, they are sufficiently complete to indicate some 
 of the results of the known advances of piece rates under the 
 war conditions of 1916. Only two groups of operatives studied, 
 male and female weavers in Maine, fail to show exclusively 
 increasing earnings since 1913, and these exceptions are such 
 as to be of negligible importance, the female weavers appear- 
 ing to have received in 19 14 only 4 cents per week less than in 
 1913, and the male weavers only 12 cents less. 
 
 TABLE XII 
 The Movement of Earnings in the Massachusetts Cotton Industry, 
 
 1890-1916 
 
 
 
 Card Strippers 
 
 -Male. 
 
 Frame Spinners 
 
 — Female. 
 
 
 . 
 
 Nominal fFull Time) 
 
 ui 
 
 Nomina 
 
 (Full Time) 
 
 e5 
 
 V 
 
 E— " " 
 
 1; == 
 
 Weekly 
 
 Earnings. 
 
 ~ c 
 
 Weekly Earnings. 
 
 > 
 
 ° = 0^ 
 
 o'5 
 
 
 
 c'E 
 
 
 
 
 ^u.x 
 
 4< ^ 
 
 Absolute 
 
 Relative. 
 
 s« 
 
 Absolute. 
 
 Relative. 
 
 
 
 » 
 
 
 (Base =$6,187) 
 
 M 
 
 
 (Base z= $5,408) 
 
 1890 
 
 60 
 
 $.0999 
 
 $5-99 
 
 96.8 
 
 $.0911 
 
 $5-47 
 
 lOI.I 
 
 189I 
 
 60 
 
 •1035 
 
 6.21 
 
 100.4 
 
 .0894 
 
 5-36 
 
 99.1 
 
 1892 
 
 59** 
 
 • 1057 
 
 6.24 
 
 100.9 
 
 .0912 
 
 5-38 
 
 99-5 
 
 1893 
 
 58 
 
 .1089 
 
 6.31 
 
 102.0 
 
 .0992 
 
 5-75 
 
 106.3 
 
 1894 
 
 58 
 
 .1065 
 
 6.18 
 
 99-9 
 
 .0892 
 
 5-17 
 
 95.6 
 
 189s 
 
 58 
 
 .1064 
 
 6.17 
 
 99-7 
 
 .0912 
 
 5.29 
 
 97.8 
 
 1896 
 
 58 
 
 .1086 
 
 6.30 
 
 101.8 
 
 .0967 
 
 5.61 
 
 103.7 
 
 1897 
 
 58 
 
 .1083 
 
 6.28 
 
 101.5 
 
 .0960 
 
 5-57 
 
 103.0 
 
 1898 
 
 58 
 
 .1074 
 
 6.23 
 
 100.7 
 
 .0916 
 
 5-31 
 
 98.2 
 
 1899 
 
 58 
 
 .1027 
 
 5.96 
 
 96.3 
 
 .0892 
 
 5-17 
 
 95-6 
 
 1900 
 
 58 
 
 .1183 
 
 6.86 
 
 1 10.9 
 
 .1041 
 
 6.04 
 
 III. 7 
 
 I9OI 
 
 58 
 
 .1186 
 
 6.88 
 
 III. 2 
 
 .1025 
 
 5-95 
 
 IIO.O 
 
 1902 
 
 58 
 
 .1186 
 
 6.88 
 
 III. 2 
 
 .1028 
 
 5.96 
 
 no. 2 
 
 1903 
 
 58 
 
 .1206 
 
 6.99 
 
 113-0 
 
 .1055* 
 
 6.12 
 
 1 13.2 
 
 1904 
 
 58 
 
 .1194* 
 
 6.93 
 
 1 1 2.0 
 
 .1028* 
 
 5-96 
 
 no. 2 
 
 1905 
 
 58 
 
 .1196 
 
 6.94 
 
 112. 2 
 
 •1055 
 
 6.12 
 
 113. 2 
 
 1906 
 
 58 
 
 .1286* 
 
 7.46 
 
 120.6 
 
 .1221 
 
 7.08 
 
 130.9 
 
 1907 
 
 58 
 
 .1441* 
 
 8.36 
 
 I35-I 
 
 .1307* 
 
 8.07 
 
 149.2 
 
 1908 
 
 58 
 
 •1325 
 
 7.69 
 
 124.3 
 
 .1322 
 
 7.67 
 
 141. 8 
 
 1909 
 
 58 
 
 .1262 
 
 7-32 
 
 118.3 
 
 .1242 
 
 7.20 
 
 I33-I 
 
 I9IO 
 
 56 
 
 .1283* 
 
 7.19 
 
 116. 2 
 
 .1307* 
 
 7-32 
 
 135-3 
 
 I9II 
 
 56 
 
 .1287* 
 
 7.21 
 
 116. 5 
 
 .1314* 
 
 7-36 
 
 136.9 
 
 I9I2 
 
 54 
 
 • 1437 
 
 7.76 
 
 125-4 
 
 .1449* 
 
 7.82 
 
 144.6 
 
 I9I3 
 
 54 
 
 .1489 
 
 8.04 
 
 130.0 
 
 .1490 
 
 8.05 
 
 148.9 
 
 I9I4 
 
 54 
 
 .151 
 
 8.15 
 
 131-7 
 
 .150 
 
 8.10 
 
 149.8 
 
 I915 
 
 No data 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I916 
 
 54 
 
 .188 
 
 10.15 
 
 164. 1 
 
 .182 
 
 9-83 
 
 181.8
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 189O-1916 
 
 67 
 
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 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
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 ■^i-iri-^u^inTi-mLovorj-u^uiin u^no no r>.t^t~.t^i~»r^r^i^t-^ 
 
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 00 00 00 00 00 00 On OnOO t^OO ONONONO"--r^cl"-NNroror') 
 
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 OnOnOnOnOnO^OnOnOnOnOOOOOOOOOO'-'"-'-''-'""-'- 
 00000000000000000000 OnOnCnOnOnOnOnOnOnCnOnOnCnOnOnOnOn 
 

 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 189O-I916 
 
 69 
 
 F If 
 
 00 
 
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 rot^i^io — OO ro — OO OnO O^"- ^<^r^o^0^f<^"^^^l0^^ — "l-N 
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 r^ t^ t^OO r^ r^OO OO t^ t^OO On OnOO 00OnO'-O0O\O""« 
 
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 >-"00—00"OONCNO"^O"^NONt^'-'00NNNmOt^O 
 
 N r>.vO lO O 00 OO r^OO O u^^O O r^sO 00 TfM '^— — OOnO OnI^ 
 
 N C) N r«imp< ror<1N N r<ii/^iriTrro"^t^ONt^t^»^'^ONONON 
 
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 OnOnO ►- — ►- "- ►- r^TfroroN rom«*-Tf 
 
 
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 r^ t^NO NO 
 
 t^ t^ r^ r-^ t^oo 00 onoo Onoo 00 
 
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 f*lu^NON"-00t^i-NNi-iN00O -^OO O r^ON— O"^"-'"^"^ 
 
 >-i»-ii-ii-iOO>- — O — Nt^NNNi-iNrONNNNrnr'lTl- 
 
 
 NO N fO On O "i-OO 0'*-ONONmO»^'-"^*OON OnvO 00 t"* 
 
 r^oo "OO o on'^'-oo n "i-Tru^N Tfr^o ►» t>.0 ioonOoo 
 
 00 00 Onoo 00 I^OO on t^OO 000000n0<^"-0"- — rOTl-u-> 
 »l-l•-lM>-l<-■l-.■-.l-.l-l(s^4M^4^4>-HN^4^tc4N^4^l^<^) 
 
 
 vonOnOnOnOnOnOnOnonOnOnOnOnOnOnonOnOnO" 
 
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 O ►- N ro Tt u-ivo r^oo On Q " N m "^ »rno r^oo on O •- N <^ •^ "^nO 
 OnCTnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOOOOOOOOOO'-''-''-''-" — — 
 00000000000000000000 OnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOn
 
 70 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 3 
 
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 0»0'*'0\N (*>t^««00 "-I r^vo 000 ro ro I~N 1^00 t~< ro ^^00 0^ 
 ro N "^ 00 On t-« r^oo p<1>0 N rovO iriOO Orl-'^OvON'- O <^>-' 
 lou-iu-ivo U-) iri^o \0 iJ-ivO r^ t^ On On 00 OnO f^N ►- rorON ^ir> 
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 "OnOvOnOvCnOOnOnOnOnO^ r^ t^^ t^ 1^00 00 CO t^ t^OO 00 00 
 
 
 
 •s3utnjBg 
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 ONt-»0 ONvnO N t^ONi^'^r^NOO u^Tj-t^t-^vo 0\roiri 
 N rn 0^0 ONrnfOi^roOMi^r-^ OnOO 00 00 t^ On On "^ 
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 OnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOOOOOOOOOO'-'""-'"""-"" 
 00000000000000000000 OnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOn 
 

 
 FULL IIME EARNINGS, 189O-I916 
 
 71 
 
 
 
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 r^'*-0 OOO 000 CTv^OO'O irsKO O. 't'^rO'^vOOO ri — OO r) 
 
 CT^OO 00 CT\O0 00 00 00 r^ t>. a>00 on on 00 to ON""0000000 
 
 
 OnOO O mvO N ONr<^ONO •-' "- ONr^rot^-l-N OnnO ly^ PI >- "1 — 
 ^orOTfLnr^TtrO'~n-' rO"-iTi- u-ivo -t -t^o OnCO 00 00 00 On O^ O 
 
 H 
 
 he 
 
 
 ONt^N NvOOO OnNvO onN OOO ■*■- N t^N N rooo <^vO ro Tf 
 
 
 >-<NP)50NMOOMNrOO"^'-'MOOiO"^r'im vnvo t--. in f^ 
 00 On t^ on LO Tf\0 P) w^ On ^ 0^ -^nO vO ^O O On On ltivO O O '^ t-" 
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 O O t^OO ONOO to 1-1 N o I'NNO OnnO r^»- OnO NnO rot^ r^OO ■"^ 
 
 OOOOOOOOONO'-'-'fONi-i'-'NTl-rorofOrOTr^'^ 
 
 
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 vOOO ONroONO ri'-"NO0000 u^OO ^ fOvO NO ■* itnvo vO t^ ionO \0 
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 O >-i N ro Tt \j-,\o t^OO On O ►- N ro ^ "^nO t^OO On O ■- N rn t1- u-inO 
 
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 OOOOOOiOOOOOOOOOOOOO OnOnOnOnQnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnCnOn
 
 72 
 
 wa(;es in cotton manufactures 
 CHART VI 
 
 The Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Massachusetts Cotton 
 Industry, 1890-19 1 6 
 
 Base (100) = averages of quotations for 1 890-1 899 
 
 -Card strippers, male Frame spinners, female 
 
 . Loom fixers, male — x — x Weavers, female 
 ... — ... — Weavers, male 
 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 1 r I T 
 
 I r 1 1 i 1 
 
 1 I- r 
 
 III! 
 
 1 1 II 11 1 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -240 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 240- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -Z20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 220- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -ZOO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 200- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -ISO 
 -160 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 / 
 
 1»0- 
 160- 
 
 -140 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 140- 
 
 -120 
 
 
 
 
 J6c-^ 
 
 7 ^\ 
 
 Safeii^^r^ 
 
 120- 
 
 - 
 
 
 >ki 
 
 «!«4n 
 
 iMisrsr^ 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -100 — 
 
 
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 •f^cf-. .ir 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *^J^ 
 
 ™"*5^ 
 
 
 
 
 - lOO- 
 
 - 80 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 80- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 60- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -40 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -20 
 
 1 
 
 tH 
 1 1 1 
 
 i 1 1 1 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 
 i-JL.l_X. 
 
 S 2 
 
 S 2 
 
 -L-l L. 1 1 1 i . 
 
 20-
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 189O-I916 
 CHART VII 
 
 73 
 
 The Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Maine Cotton Industry, 
 
 1 890-19 1 6 
 
 Base (100) = averages of rjuotations for 1890-1899 
 
 . Card strippers, male Frame spinners, female 
 
 .Loom fixers, male — x — x — Weavers, female 
 . ... Weavers, male 
 
 
 - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -240 
 
 
 V ' 
 
 
 
 240- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 -220 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 220- 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 - 
 
 -200 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 
 200- 
 
 -180 
 -160 
 -MO 
 >-l20 
 -100 — 
 
 ^•■Jt^'T^^ C^ 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 /" ' 
 
 x\ ...^2^^^^'' .••'' **■•-— •■' 
 
 
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 :«o- 
 
 160- 
 
 140- 
 
 120- 
 
 — 100— 
 
 
 ^.iJiyjX^-^T:-;^^ 
 
 -•^^ 
 
 
 
 
 - 80 
 
 
 
 
 
 60- 
 
 - 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 60- 
 
 - 40 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 40- 
 
 - 20 
 
 r> 
 
 03 CO 
 
 . i 1 1 1 1 t 1 
 
 <« 
 0. ~ 
 
 0^ 2 <% 
 
 iiiTiiiiTiiiiTiii 
 
 1 1 
 
 •-• 
 
 I 
 
 20-
 
 74 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 CHART VIII 
 
 The Movement of Full Time Earnings in the Rhode Island Cotton 
 Industry, 1890-1916 
 
 Base (100) = averages of quotations for 1890-1899 
 
 -Card strippers, male Frame spinners, female 
 
 .Loom fixers, male — x — x — Weavers, female 
 . Weavers, male 
 
 1 I ] I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 
 
 / 
 / 
 / 
 
 -300 
 -280 
 
 ' ^ / \ / 
 
 -360 / 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 ■«40 / 
 
 -220 
 
 -«00 
 
 -180 
 
 -160 
 
 -140 
 
 .120 
 
 -100 
 
 80 
 
 -60 
 
 -40 
 
 - 20 o A o 
 
 •^ o» <n o 
 
 00 <D 0> 
 
 thai^^^a l^ 
 
 '•^m,^ 
 
 J_J. 
 
 riTli lirilliVllllliilIlT 
 
 If we examine separately the charts for Massachusetts, Maine 
 and Rhode Island, it is apparent that in each of these states the 
 movements of full time earnings in all of the occupational 
 groups have been quite similar. However, the chart represent-
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 1890-1916 75 
 
 ing the conditions in the Massachusetts section of the industry- 
 exhibits by far the greatest amount of correlation between the 
 different occupational series. From 1891 to 1907 this corre- 
 lation is very marked, while after the latter year the only curve 
 which diverges considerably from what may be called the 
 normal course is that for female frame spinners. This diver- 
 gence seems to be due to some change which occurred about 
 1907, placing the female frame spinners in that year at a level 
 considerably higher relatively, than the other workers. The 
 relative heights of the occupational series established in 1907 
 were maintained approximately through the remaining years 
 of the period, the general direction of movement for frame 
 spinners corresponding quite closely with the movements of 
 earnings of the operative groups. 
 
 While it is true that the charts for Maine and Rhode Island 
 show a greater scattering of the occupational earnings curves, 
 and that there is apparent in these cases a much less amount 
 of correlation between the occupational series of full time 
 earnings quotations, it is nevertheless true that there is to be 
 observed in each of these charts a common tendency of the 
 wage movements of the occupational groups. In each of these 
 cases, as in the Massachusetts case, it is the female frame 
 spinners who appear to have departed from the path of com- 
 mon progress. On the whole the evidence presented by these 
 charts seems to add to the plausibility of the theory that not 
 only have changes of rates of wages at Fall River been shared 
 equally by all the occupational groups in that city but such 
 standardization has to a considerable degree come to pervade 
 the whole industry, being most highly developed in Massachu- 
 setts, and much less developed in Maine and Rhode Island. 
 
 Aside from giving some indication as to the direction of 
 changes of full time earnings and as to the standardization of 
 wage movements as between occupational groups, the materials 
 of Tables XII, XIII, and XIV throw some light on the rela- 
 tionship between legislation reducing the hours of labor and 
 the earnings of the operatives. First, let us examine in some 
 detail the effects of legislation in Massachusetts reducing the
 
 76 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 hours of labor per week for women and minors from sixty to 
 fifty-eight, from fifty-eight to fifty-six, and from fifty-six to 
 fifty-four. 
 
 In 1 89 1 card strippers at an average hourly earning of 
 $.1035, working sixty hours per week, received $6.21 for the 
 week's work. Working an average week of fifty-nine hours 
 the following year at an hourly earning of $.1057 the weekly 
 pay envelope showed a gain of $.03, while the next year, the 
 first in which the fifty-eight hour week prevailed exclusively, 
 with an hourly earning of $.1089 the weekly earnings reached 
 $6.31. But declining hourly earnings in 1894 and 1895 reduced 
 the weekly amounts below the level of 1891 and not until 1900 
 did the amount of the weekly earnings rise to the level of 1891 
 not to fall back again during the period of our study. Similarly 
 the year 1900 marks the permanent establishment of weekly 
 earnings at or above the level of weekly earnings prevailing in 
 1 891 for each of the other occupational groups studied. Of 
 course such a long period of readjustment reflects the uncer- 
 tain trade conditions and changing piece rates of the decade, 
 and it is probable that this long period of fluctuating weekly 
 earnings is not representative of the normal effects of legisla- 
 tion decreasing the hours of labor. 
 
 Again taking the Massachusetts card strippers for an 
 example, note the effects of the fifty-eight and fifty-six hour 
 laws which became operative January i, 1910 and January i, 
 1912, respectively. In 1909 at an hourly earning of $.1262, 
 working fifty-eight hours, these men earned $7.32 per week. 
 In both 1910 and 191 1 the hourly earnings were greater than 
 in 1909, but not sufficiently so to compensate for the reduction 
 of hours to fifty-six, so that in these years the weekly earnings 
 were less than in 1909. When the fifty-four hour law went 
 into force labor agitation throughout Massachusetts, of which 
 the strike at Lawrence was the most violent and determining, 
 caused advances of wages which brought increases of hourly 
 earnings sufficient to raise the weekly earnings above the level 
 of 1909. What happened in the case of the card strippers 
 happened also in the cases of the other workers with the excep-
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 189O-1916 77 
 
 tion of the female frame spinners, whose peculiar position 
 since 1907 we have already noted. Their hourly earnings in 
 1910 and 191 1 were so considerably greater than in 1909 as to 
 counteract the influence of the restrictive legislation. 
 
 A similar result followed the restriction of the hours of labor 
 in Maine in 1910. All that has just been stated to have hap- 
 pened in Massachusetts with regard to the course of weekly 
 earnings happened in Maine, except that the loom fixers and 
 the male weavers recovered their earning powers under the 
 new conditions by 1911. 
 
 An examination along the same lines of the conditions of 
 the operatives in Rhode Island shows that the legislation of 
 1902 caused no unfavorable movement of the curve of weekly 
 earnings as compared with the level of 1901, with the exception 
 that the male weavers appear from the table to have received 
 in 1904 less per week than in 1901. But it is doubtful whether 
 this item in the table shows a result of labor legislation. Rather 
 it appears that the marked but temporary decrease of weekly 
 earnings was due to a similar decrease of the hourly earnings. 
 In explanation of the general rise of weekly earnings following 
 reduction of hours is suggested the marked increase of the 
 hourly earnings which began in 1902 and which is probably a 
 reflection of the changes of rates which are known to have 
 occurred in 1902, if we assume the Fall River conditions to be 
 typical of the industry. This assumption is the more reason- 
 able in view of the proximity of the Rhode Island mills to Fall 
 River. This reduction of hours in Rhode Island occurred at a 
 time most favorable to assuring beneficial results to the workers. 
 The uncertain conditions of the panic of 1893, the depression 
 of 1894 and 1895, the political campaign of 1896, and the war 
 conditions of 1898 were at an end and business in general was 
 on the road to prosperity. 
 
 The Rhode Island legislation of 1909 which took effect in 
 January, 1910, caused changes in the weekly earnings remark- 
 ably similar to those caused by the contemporary reductions 
 of hours in Massachusetts and Maine. The female frame 
 spinners suffered no reduction of weekly earnings, the card
 
 78 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 Strippers and loom fixers did not receive weekly earnings 
 equal to those of 1909 until 1912, while the male weavers did 
 not experience a restoration of earnings until 1914, the fifty- 
 four hour law becoming effective in the meantime. The female 
 weavers, according to the table, received a marked advance of 
 weekly pay in 1910, but it is doubtful if the figures for this 
 year are typical of conditions in the industry. The hourly 
 earnings reported by overlapping bulletins of the Bureau of 
 Labor were $.1950 and $.2382, of which the average, used in 
 the present tables, is $.2166. Even the lower figure of the 
 original exhibits would give a weekly earning of $10.92, an 
 amount greater than that received in any other year preceding. 
 If, then, we ignore the figures for 1910, the female weavers, 
 like the male weavers, had to wait until 1914 for a restoration 
 of their earnings to the level of 1909. The legislation of 1913 
 appears to have affected the weekly earnings of the different 
 occupational groups in no uniform manner. 
 
 In the preceding parts of this study of the movement of full 
 time earnings the attempt has been made to ascertain the facts 
 relating to the operative force as a whole or to certain sex or 
 occupational groups. Wage movements have been represented 
 graphically as line movements, the assumption being that 
 changes of rates of wages have affected all mill employees in a 
 substantially uniform measure. Such an analysis as the fore- 
 going, in so far as it must be based upon data of a somewhat 
 fragmentary nature, can be well supplemented by the study of 
 the distribution of workers in different wage groups. The data 
 available for such a study are unusually abundant and adequate. 
 
 For the period since and including 1889 the Massachusetts 
 Bureau of Statistics has collected from manufacturers through- 
 out that state returns of a very complete and detailed nature, 
 showing among other facts the wage classification at a certain 
 time of each year of all their employees other than clerks and 
 salaried officers. For the purpose of the present study these 
 published summaries relating to the cotton manufacturing 
 industry have been rearranged to secure uniformity in the 
 groupings throughout the entire period, and all absolute figures
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 189O-1916 79 
 
 have been converted into percentage figures, so that there 
 might be made a comparison of the distribution of employees 
 from year to year. The results of this work of revision and 
 analysis are presented in Table XV and Chart IX.' 
 
 I. For the years from 1889 to 1905 for the materials of this table, and for the 
 years from 1886 to 1905 for the materials of Tables XVI, X\TI, and XVIII in Chapter 
 V, double reports were prepared by the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics. The 
 nature of these double reports should be explained here once for all, but can be done 
 best by reference to Table X\TI. If the reader will turn to this table he will obser\e 
 that the Massachusetts Statistics of Manufactures dated 1894 contained data for 148 
 cotton manufacturing establishments which replied to the inquiries of the Bureau of 
 Statistics for information regarding conditions in both 1893 and 1894. In 1895 nine 
 more establishments than in the preceding year gave information concerning conditions 
 in 1894 and 1S95. Thus there are two reports for 1894, the one covering 148 
 establishments, and the other 157 establishments. In no cases have there been found 
 serious discrepancies between the reports covering any one year. In Table X\' for 
 the years for which double reports exist averages of these figures are shown. 
 
 The report on the Statistics of Manufactures for the year 1909 does not give any 
 information regarding the distribution of employees in wage groups.
 
 80 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
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 «»« — i-i«i-i»--N«i-i-i — ■-PJNi-i-iNr'iro 
 
 N <S tT Tj- ui Tf PO 
 
 
 O — N OOC ro t^ r^ O -I- 'O rO u-l N iJ-iOO 00 tJ- ■^ >*■ 
 
 vr^ 1^1 ^ — N N On 
 O — O On N t^ On 
 
 mror<1f^roP4 N N mM mTTTru-iu-iri- •^1-vO o t^ 
 
 t^ r^ On O M N Tl- 
 -" - — N 
 
 §ls 
 
 f'l rOOO « 00 On " 'J-VO 1^00 On "^ 00 00 0> TfvO 00 O 
 
 f> OnOO O n >-iOO r>.irit~.r^«- moo tj- in ro t'l O f^ 
 
 Tl- - O NO NO 00 "- 
 ►- vO "^ vri m t^ Tt 
 
 vrM^irir^t^iAirMriir^'^iril^tA.o O^ocj 6^ ei \6 -"T 
 
 N N vri r^ r^oo "^ 
 
 XI 
 
 rOvnvr>ONONTt"-00 O 0>-" OvO t^r^Tj-Q l^P< '- 
 
 rOOO O - 1- N " 
 00 N ■-• vn r^ uino 
 
 t^ t>. ri r-. r^ \J^\D \r^\0 tJ-J^O 0>0>0 OnOO n n 
 
 — N r<^ po r^ Tl- ►- 
 
 "^ IT-' 
 
 t^Tf- r^u-ir^N00\O00vO 'tN TtOO r^N u^tJ-On 
 OnM r^O r<^in«- rtmmr^>- "IN OnN OnN On"" 
 
 Tl-00 u^ u^oo O 00 
 OnnO tJ- ■* ■^ p^« 
 
 r^OO OnOnOOn— — "OnO"'-'-' — N"-TtfOTr 
 
 Tf tI-nO no no I^ On 
 
 
 V 
 
 =1s 
 
 N ON'^mOOO r^r<iNOO O^NOO rO — NO u^o TrTt 
 N •>*■<*■ N t^ Tj- O r^OO " O NvO t^- "- l^mCvm 
 
 00 "^ "^ f<lNO On On 
 OnoO - "- 00 rON 
 
 N N P) rOPJ rO'1-'<^rn'*'^'*-'i--* "^vO nO vO 'i-vO 
 
 t-» r^ r^NO ^/^ u^no 
 
 
 XI 
 
 1 
 
 00 On ►- 00 O NO f^vO 00 ro f^OO nOOC u^tj-'<4-« I^O 
 
 NO On en Tt * O 
 P< O 00 <^ N On 'J- 
 
 OnOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO t^OO n£) r^ r-.00 U1 N 'i- 
 
 vj-i m — O O 00 rn 
 
 
 JO 
 
 in\o t1-nO «'l "I — ir^OO NOO N ►" mONO"^'-' t^t^ 
 00 M-"- i-^u^N- •*•-■ dt-^r^— O t^oo r<^ N 1^ r<l N 
 
 O t^ O ■* On ■>!l- On 
 « « rot~>00 O NO 
 
 u^u^u-irfTTt^NONONO r^vriTfTtN M rorOOCC On 
 
 O O t~»m Tf ■"i- « 
 
 
 u 
 V 
 
 e 
 
 NO OnvO t}- vri r}-NO On'^'S-OnN N n O ^^X N nO vO 
 O NO NO ^nO On ^^ ^nO nO r^vO 1^00 t^ W^OO 00 t^NO 
 
 PI 1- r<i p) On O f^ 
 tJ-nO pO i^ ■»J- O no 
 
 I^nO "^ m N no r^ ro rONO N 00 t^ u^ tJ- u^ r<l OnnO t~» 
 
 t^NO Tl- PO P< P) 
 
 
 On O 1- N ro Tj- u-ikO t^OO On Q '-' N m ■* winO t^OO On O "- N ro rt mN£) 
 OOOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOnOOOOOOOOOO'-'-i---"-'-" 
 0000000000000000000000 ono^ononononononononononono^ononon 
 
 
 1
 
 FULL TIME EARNINGS, 1890-1916 81 
 
 CHART a 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF EliPLOTEES 
 Par Ct. IN THE MASSACHUSETTS COTTON INDUSTRY, 1889-1916 Par CI 
 6 — ON THE BASIS OF WEEKLY EARNINGS 5 
 
 _ » 
 
 
 
 i5 — t30.00 AND OVER _i5 
 
 _10 
 
 5 
 
 _ 
 
 10 _ 
 6_ 
 
 I15.00-S19.99 
 
 ao_ I _ao 
 
 «- I -15 
 
 10_ 
 
 6_ 
 
 0_ 
 
 
 -10 
 _ 5 
 _ 
 tl3.00-tl4.99 
 
 *^ — _ _35 
 
 aO- I -,30 
 
 -15 
 .10 
 . 5 
 - 
 $10.00-111.99 
 
 1E ■■ ■-■Illiilll lllllll =1 
 
 30 — $9.00-89.99 2C 
 
 15. 
 10. 
 
 1= ■■iiiiiiiiimmlll lllllll E ^ 
 
 30_ {a.C0-j8.&9 _20 
 
 fi? 00— fi? 99 
 
 l^llllllllllllliilliii lilt... =i 
 
 20 — J6. 00-16. 99 —20 
 
 i=milllllllniiiii.i I g; 
 
 30 — t5.C0-j5.99 —30 
 
 lllliiliiiliiiiiiii i 
 
 UNDER fS.OO
 
 82 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 In Chart IX there is strong corroborative evidence of the 
 upward movement of full time earnings which has appeared in 
 the tables and charts presented heretofore. While in 1889 
 about 27 per cent of the cotton textile operatives in Massachu- 
 setts received at the date of the filing of the returns less than 
 $5 per week, in 191 6 the same wage group composed less than 
 I per cent of the operative force. And, to illustrate by refer- 
 ence to one of the wage groups higher in the scale, those 
 rece.iving between $15.00 and $19.99 per week grew from 
 being slightly over i per cent of the whole force in 1889 to 
 over 13 per cent in 1916. 
 
 It is interesting to note the general trend of the perpendicular 
 blocks representing the several groups at different dates. The 
 three lowest groups with almost entire consistency throughout 
 the period studied show steadily decreasing relative numbers 
 (that is, percentage composition of the whole group of workers). 
 While the seven remaining groups show fairly consistent and 
 steady growth for nearly all of the period. In the groups which 
 include operatives receiving weekly wages of $7.00 to $9.99 
 there is clearly apparent the effect of the upward trend of wages 
 under war conditions, since in these latest years of the period 
 the tendency of the size of these groups is markedly downward. 
 Note carefully that the increases and decreases in size of these 
 middle groups are by no means as pronounced as those of the 
 crroups at either extreme. Evidently there has been no very 
 great difference in the degrees of rapidity with which workers 
 of all classes have shifted from one group to the next higher. 
 What appears here is valuable as throwing light upon the 
 assumption of approximately equal distribution among the 
 workers of gains and losses resulting from wage advances and 
 reductions. If there appears here anything in modification of 
 this general assumption, it is that in periods of marked upward 
 changes of rates, those who have been the lower paid have 
 received the greater real gains, a phenomenon which has 
 appeared in the chapter analyzing changes of earnings between 
 i860 and 1890. At any rate, all the materials studied evidence 
 quite strongly a marked and rather steady increase of full time 
 money earnings in the Massachusetts section of the cotton 
 manufacturing industry since 1890.
 
 FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT 83 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT 
 
 In the immediately preceding chapters deah'ng with the move- 
 ment of full time earnings there has been a tacit, necessary and 
 temporary assumption that the wage quotations of the original 
 exhibits used have been at least approximately representative 
 of conditions in the several years of the periods studied. In 
 the use of the available materials there has been no systematic 
 or deliberate attempt to make allowance for fluctuations of 
 employment, and it is to the facts concerning this aspect of the 
 wage situation that we next turn. Clearly it is a matter of con- 
 siderable concern to the cotton mill employee that not only 
 shall the rate of wages per piece or per hour be satisfactor}', 
 but also that he shall receive his wage with some degree of 
 regularity from season to season and from year to year. 
 
 So far as concerns the effects of unemployment upon wages 
 and their movements, our problem has two phases: first, that 
 which concerns an}' fairly regular seasonal fluctuations that 
 may exist, and, second, that which concerns the extent of con- 
 ditions of unemployment at whatever times and with whatever 
 regularity or irregularity they may occur. ' 
 
 For the study of the first phase of the unemployment problem 
 in the cotton manufacturing industry, the best single source of 
 information consists of the series of reports of the Massachu- 
 setts Bureau of Statistics on the Statistics of Manufactures, 
 especially that part of each volume of this series which indi- 
 cates the numbers of workers reported as employed each month 
 by the establishments covered. For example, in the report for 
 191 6, returns from 170 cotton manufacturing establishments 
 showed an average number of employees for the year of 
 1 14,800, the monthly figures ranging from 113,000 in August
 
 84 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 to I 16,600 in November. In order to make comparative use 
 of these and similar figures covering other years, the absolute 
 monthly and annual av'erage figures have been converted into 
 
 TABLE XVI 
 
 Fluctuations of Employment in the Massachusetts Cotton Industry, 
 
 1889-1916 
 
 The per cents, which the monthly rolls of employees were of the average for each year.i 
 
 
 3 
 c 
 
 •— > 
 
 >> 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 U 
 
 u 
 15 
 
 a, 
 
 < 
 
 
 V 
 
 c 
 
 3 
 •-> 
 
 1— > 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 < 
 
 V 
 
 S 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 
 c 
 
 V 
 
 .a 
 
 u 
 
 
 u 
 
 B 
 
 V 
 
 
 7, 
 
 .0 
 
 £ 
 
 
 
 1889 
 
 99-5 
 
 99.8 
 
 98.5 
 
 100. 
 
 100. 1 
 
 lOO.O 
 
 lOO.O 
 
 100. I 
 
 100. 1 
 
 100.5 
 
 100.6 
 
 100.6 
 
 1890 
 
 99-3 
 
 100. 1 
 
 99-3 
 
 100.3 
 
 100. 
 
 100. 0; 98.8 
 
 99.2 
 
 100. 100.7 
 
 100.9 100.9 
 
 I89I 
 
 100.5 
 
 100.5 
 
 100.4 
 
 100. 
 
 99-5 
 
 99-4 99-4 
 
 99.1 
 
 99.4 100.3 
 
 100.8 100.8 
 
 1892 
 
 98.9 
 
 100.3 
 
 100.4 
 
 100.7 
 
 100.5 
 
 99-8 99.4 
 
 99-3 
 
 99-6 
 
 99-8 
 
 IOI.2 100.8 
 
 1893 
 
 101.9 
 
 103. 1 
 
 102.9 
 
 104.3 
 
 104.4 
 
 103.9 103.6 
 
 89.0 
 
 81.0 
 
 98.7 
 
 loo.o 99.4 
 
 1894 
 
 105.2 
 
 105.0 
 
 104.2 
 
 103-7 
 
 103-5 
 
 103. 1 98.1 
 
 86.9 
 
 79-3 
 
 99-5 
 
 105.6 
 
 106.7 
 
 1895 
 
 100.4 
 
 100.4 
 
 100.8 
 
 100.7 
 
 100.6 
 
 100.4 98- 1 
 
 97-4 
 
 99-5 
 
 99-6 
 
 lOI.I 
 
 lOI.I 
 
 1896 
 
 103.0 
 
 103.8 
 
 104.3 
 
 103.0 
 
 102.7 
 
 102.0 96.3 
 
 86.1 
 
 92.1 100.7 
 
 102.4 
 
 104.3 
 
 1897 
 
 103.4 
 
 100. 
 
 lOI.O 
 
 lOI.O 
 
 101.5 
 
 99-8 
 
 96.3 
 
 90-5 
 
 100.9 102.2 
 
 102.5 
 
 101.4 
 
 1898 
 
 98.9 
 
 93-1 
 
 94.4 
 
 98.4 
 
 99.8 
 
 102. 1 
 
 100.9 
 
 100.9 
 
 lOI.I 
 
 103-7 
 
 I03-3 
 
 104.0 
 
 1899 
 
 99.0 
 
 99.2 
 
 99.8 
 
 100.7 
 
 100.0 
 
 100. ol 99.8 
 
 99-0 
 
 100. 1 
 
 99.6 
 
 loi.o 102.4 
 
 1900 
 
 99.8 
 
 100.3 
 
 101.6 
 
 100.6 
 
 100.5 
 
 lOI.O 
 
 99.6 
 
 97-5 
 
 97-8 
 
 99-6 
 
 100.7 
 
 101.3 
 
 I9OI 
 
 101.9 
 
 101.8 
 
 101.9 
 
 95-4 
 
 98.0 
 
 98-3 
 
 97.0 
 
 98.6 
 
 99.0 
 
 100.4 
 
 104.2 
 
 103-5 
 
 1902 
 
 99.8 
 
 99-7 
 
 101.4 
 
 100. 
 
 101.2 
 
 99-6 
 
 99.01 99.0 
 
 98-7 
 
 100.6 
 
 IOI.7 
 
 100.7 
 
 1903 
 
 104.2 
 
 104.8 
 
 103.9 
 
 92.0 
 
 91.4 
 
 100.2 
 
 99-7 
 
 98.1 
 
 97-9 
 
 102.4 
 
 102.8 
 
 102.7 
 
 1904 
 
 108. 1 
 
 108. 1 
 
 107.8 
 
 106.9 
 
 105-5 
 
 102.8 
 
 99-2 
 
 84.1 
 
 84.2 
 
 94-3 
 
 97-9 
 
 101.5 
 
 1905 
 
 97-3 
 
 99.9 100.8 
 
 102. 1 
 
 101.8 
 
 101.4 
 
 101.2 
 
 101.2 
 
 101.8 
 
 96.1 
 
 97-7 
 
 99.4 
 
 1906 
 
 99.9 
 
 100. 1 100.5 
 
 100. 1 
 
 100. 
 
 99.8 
 
 99-5 
 
 98-7 
 
 99-1 
 
 100.5 
 
 101.4 
 
 100.4 
 
 1907 
 
 99.6 
 
 100. 100.5 
 
 100.2 
 
 100.2 
 
 TOO. 2 
 
 100. 
 
 99.0 
 
 100.2 
 
 100.8 
 
 100.4 
 
 98.4 
 
 1908 
 
 101.4 
 
 99-3 
 
 96.2 
 
 90-9 
 
 91.0 
 
 99-3 
 
 95-4 
 
 96.2 
 
 101.2 
 
 108.0 
 
 no. I 
 
 1 10.6 
 
 1909 
 
 97-9 
 
 98.4 
 
 99-7 
 
 99-7 
 
 99-9 
 
 90.6 
 
 100.3 
 
 lOO.O 
 
 101.2 
 
 100.7 
 
 100.7 
 
 101.7 
 
 I9IO 
 
 101.7 
 
 101.7 
 
 100.9 
 
 100.6 
 
 100.8 
 
 100.2 
 
 95.6 
 
 96.4 
 
 97-4 
 
 101.4 
 
 102.4 
 
 102.8 
 
 I9II 
 
 102.3 
 
 101.8 102.6 
 
 102.4 
 
 100.6 
 
 97-5 
 
 97.0 
 
 94.1 
 
 95.2 
 
 lOI.I 
 
 102.4 
 
 103. 1 
 
 1912 
 
 99-5 
 
 98.7 
 
 100.4 
 
 96.1 
 
 101.4 
 
 101.5 
 
 98-5 
 
 94-3 
 
 99-9 
 
 102.5 
 
 103-7 
 
 104.1 
 
 I9I3 
 
 101.8 
 
 101.8 
 
 102.4 
 
 101.6 
 
 99.1 
 
 97-1 
 
 96-7 
 
 94.9 
 
 99.9 
 
 lOI.I 
 
 !OI.8 
 
 101.8 
 
 I9I4 
 
 104.4 
 
 103-7 
 
 103.4 
 
 103.2 
 
 101.7 
 
 100.4 
 
 98.2 
 
 95-9 
 
 96.4 
 
 97-2 
 
 97-9 
 
 97-4 
 
 I9I5 
 
 96.7 
 
 97.8 
 
 99-3 
 
 99-7 
 
 99.6 
 
 100. 1 
 
 99.6 
 
 99-0 
 
 99-6 
 
 102.2 
 
 103.1 
 
 103.1 
 
 I9I6 
 
 100. 1 
 
 100.2 
 
 100.6 
 
 100.2 
 
 99.9 
 
 99-6 
 
 98.6 
 
 98-4 
 
 99.0 
 
 100.2 
 
 101.5 
 
 101.6 
 
 Average 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 for 28 
 
 lOI.O 
 
 100.8 
 
 lOI.I 
 
 100.2 
 
 100. 1 
 
 100.3 
 
 98.8 
 
 96.2 
 
 97.2 
 
 100.5 
 
 101.8 
 
 102.0 
 
 years 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1. As in the case of Table XV the figures presented are average figures wherever two 
 reports were published covering one year. The smallest base (100 per cent.) is that for 1889 
 when the average number of employees for the year as reported in 1889 for 13ti establishments 
 was 6'>,400; as reported in 1890, for 1889, for 1.57 establishments was 68,700. The largest base 
 was 114,900 employees representing 167 establishments in 1913.
 
 FLUCTUATIONS OK EMPLOYMENT 
 
 85 
 
 relative or percentage figures, the base (iQO) for each year 
 being the average number of employees reported by all the 
 establishments for that year. The results of this process of 
 conversion are presented in detail in Table XVI. A graphic 
 representation of the course of employment in the Massachu- 
 setts cotton manufacturing industry from 1889 to 1916, using 
 
 TABLE XVII 
 
 Unemployment in the Massachusetts Cotton Industry, 1886-19 16 
 
 The Deviation from the Monthly Average Number of Employees 
 (From the Massachusetts Statistics of Manufactures and Fable XVT of this monograph ) 
 
 
 Per cent, which 
 
 Per cent, which 
 
 Per cent, which 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 lowest monthly 
 
 highest roll 
 
 difference between 
 
 
 roll is of the 
 
 is of the 
 
 these is of the 
 
 
 
 average. 
 
 average. 
 
 average. 
 
 
 1886 
 
 93-3 
 
 104.5 
 
 10.7 
 
 
 1887 
 
 96.1 
 
 103.6 
 
 7-5 
 
 
 1888 
 
 93-1 
 
 103.8 
 
 10.7 
 
 
 1889 
 
 98.5 
 
 100.6 
 
 2.1 
 
 
 1890 
 
 98-8 
 
 100.9 
 
 2.1 
 
 
 189I 
 
 99.1 
 
 100.8 
 
 1-7 
 
 
 1892 
 
 98.9 
 
 100.8 
 
 1-9 
 
 
 1893 
 
 81.0 
 
 104.4 
 
 23-4 
 
 
 1894 
 
 79-3 
 
 106.7 
 
 27.4 
 
 
 1895 
 
 97-4 
 
 lOI.I 
 
 3-7 
 
 
 189O 
 
 86.1 
 
 104.3 
 
 18.2 
 
 
 1897 
 
 90.5 
 
 103.4 
 
 12.9 
 
 
 1898 
 
 93-1 
 
 104.0 
 
 10.9 
 
 
 1899 
 
 99.0 
 
 102.4 
 
 3-4 
 
 
 1900 
 
 97-5 
 
 IOI.7 
 
 4.2 
 
 
 190I 
 
 95-4 
 
 104.2 
 
 8.8 
 
 
 1902 
 
 98.7 
 
 IOI.7 
 
 3-0 
 
 
 1903 
 
 91.4 
 
 104.8 
 
 '3-4 
 
 
 1904 
 
 84.1 
 
 108. 1 
 
 24.0 
 
 
 1905 
 
 96.1 
 
 IOI.8 
 
 5-7 
 
 
 1906 
 
 98.7 
 
 101.4 
 
 2.7 
 
 
 1907 
 
 98.4 
 
 100.8 
 
 2.4 
 
 
 1908 
 
 90.9 
 
 1 10.6 
 
 19.7 
 
 
 1909 
 
 97-9 
 
 101.7 
 
 3-8 
 
 
 I910 
 
 95.6 
 
 102.8 
 
 7-2 
 
 
 I9II 
 
 94.1 
 
 103. 1 
 
 9.0 
 
 
 1912 
 
 94-3 
 
 104. 1 
 
 9.8 
 
 
 I913 
 
 94.9 
 
 102.4 
 
 7-5 
 
 
 1914 
 
 95-9 
 
 104.4 
 
 8.5 
 
 
 I915 
 
 96.7 
 
 103. 1 
 
 6.4 
 
 
 1916 
 
 98.4 
 
 101.6 
 
 3-2 

 
 80 
 
 WAC.ES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES
 
 FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT H7 
 
 this method of a changing base, is given in the upper portion 
 of the truncated Chart X. 
 
 The fact which appears most clearly in the table and in the 
 portion of Chart X referred to is that in the Massachusetts 
 section of the industry there has been little seasonal swing of 
 employment. The only approximation to such a swing is the 
 slight tendency toward curtailment of production in July and 
 August when the mills are waiting for the marketing of the 
 new crop of raw cotton and are apt to proceed cautiously in 
 their buying operations. We may, therefore, omit further con- 
 sideration of this phase of the unemployment problem, and 
 devote attention to the second phase, that of measuring the 
 unemployment that has occurred irregularly and at times on a 
 very considerable scale. 
 
 There are two methods of making such a measurement. The 
 one uses the statistical data just described and is in terms of 
 of variations within each year of the numbers of operatives on 
 the pay rolls of the reporting mills. The other is in terms of 
 the operating time of the mills. Let us first give attention to 
 the former. 
 
 Referring again to Table XVI and to the upper portion of 
 Chart X and also to Table XVII, it appears that in 1916 the 
 total deviation of the operative force from the average of the 
 monthly figures constituted 3.2 per cent, of this average. That 
 is to say, in 1916 the number of cotton mill operatives who at 
 any date covered by the monthly figures were unemployed 
 constituted 3.2 per cent, of the average number of individuals 
 employed in the industry that year. Applying the same 
 method of computation to the available statistical information 
 for the other years of the period 1886-19 16, we have the 
 figures of the last column of Table XVII and on Chart X the 
 solid line curve of the portion below the lines of truncation. 
 On this curve the locations of the circles indicate for the several 
 years the total deviation from the average of employment. To 
 connect in meaning the upper and lower portions of Chart X, 
 the perpendicular distance from any one of the circles on the 
 solid line curve of the lower portion of the chart to the zero
 
 88 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 line equals the perpendicular distance from the lowest point in 
 the upper curve to the highest point in the same curve for the 
 year in question. 
 
 \]y this method of computing the fluctuations of conditions 
 of unemployment it appears that in the period of thirty-one 
 years covered by Table XYH the average deviation from the 
 normal amount of employment per year has been 8.9 per cent. 
 But since the distribution of this idleness has been so uneven 
 in point of time, this average figure has little significance. 
 Certain years, as 1886, 1888, 1893, 1894, 1896-1898, 1903, 
 1904 and 1908, stand out preeminently as years of unusual 
 hardship, the deviation being in each of these years at least 
 10 per cent, and going well over 20 per cent, in 1893, 1894, 
 and 1904 (the last named being a strike year). 
 
 But it must be emphasized that the estimate just made is in 
 terms of one dimension; that is, in terms of the numbers of 
 persons on the pay rolls at different times. In this estimate 
 there is no allowance made for a second dimension which 
 concerns the duration of unemployment. 
 
 For this phase of the problem again the best available infor- 
 mation is that of the Massachusetts Statistics of Manufactures, 
 which show the average operating time of all the establishments 
 reporting each year. By converting the information contained 
 in these reports, whether originally given in terms of days or 
 of weeks, to percentage figures, considering the normal working 
 year to consist of 51 weeks of 6 days, or 306 days, it is pos- 
 sible to make a comparative analysis of the idle time of the 
 mills in successive years. The results of this process of con- 
 version are shown in Table XVIII and by the broken or dash 
 curve of the lower portion of Chart X. 
 
 It appears that the average amount of idle time per year for 
 the period under study was slightly less than 4.5 per cent, of 
 the normal working year. By this method of calculation, it 
 seems, the hardships of unemployment are minimized. But it 
 is quite significant that with respect to relative conditions 
 prevailing in different years there is substantial agreement of 
 the results of the two methods of unemployment measurement.
 
 FLUCTUATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT 
 
 89 
 
 The years in which the greatest idleness existed as shown by 
 the first calculation are likewise the years of greatest idleness 
 as shown by the second. 
 
 Beyond this point in the analysis it is unsafe to proceed. 
 There is not available the material which would make possible 
 
 TABLE XVIII 
 
 Unemployment in the Massachusetts Cotton Industry, 1 886-1916 
 
 The Operating Time of the Mills 
 
 (From the Massachusetts Statistics of Manufactures) 
 
 
 Time in Operation. 
 
 Per cent, of 
 
 Per Cent, of 
 
 Year. 
 
 (Days) 
 
 Working Year 
 in Operation. 
 
 Working Year 
 Idfe. 
 
 1886 
 
 301.56 
 
 98.55 
 
 1-45 
 
 1887 
 
 302.34 
 
 98.80 
 
 1.20 
 
 1888 
 
 302.64 
 
 98.90 
 
 1. 10 
 
 1889 
 
 300.13 
 
 98.09 
 
 I.91 
 
 1890 
 
 296.62 
 
 96.94 
 
 3.06 
 
 1891 
 
 308.49 
 
 100.80 
 
 —0.80 
 
 1892 
 
 304-83 
 
 99.62 
 
 0.38 
 
 1893 
 
 281.99 
 
 92.15 
 
 7-85 
 
 1894 
 
 272.91 
 
 89.19 
 
 10.81 
 
 1895 
 
 297.15 
 
 97.11 
 
 2.89 
 
 1896 
 
 279-73 
 
 91.41 
 
 8.59 
 
 1897 
 
 285.83 
 
 93-41 
 
 6.59 
 
 1898 
 
 293-05 
 
 95.76 
 
 4.24 
 
 1899 
 
 302.02 
 
 98.70 
 
 1.30 
 
 1900 
 
 299.06 
 
 97-73 
 
 2.27 
 
 1901 
 
 296.66 
 
 96.95 
 
 3-os 
 
 1902 
 
 302.66 
 
 98.91 
 
 1.09 
 
 1903 
 
 290.49 
 
 94-94 
 
 5.06 
 
 1904 
 
 280.08 
 
 91-53 
 
 8.47 
 
 1905 
 
 295.46 
 
 96.56 
 
 3-44 
 
 1906 
 
 303-56 
 
 99.20 
 
 0.80 
 
 1907 
 
 300.62 
 
 98.24 
 
 1.76 
 
 1908 
 
 269.62 
 
 88.11 
 
 11.89 
 
 1909 
 
 299.50 
 
 97.88 
 
 2.12 
 
 1910 
 
 280.80 
 
 91.76 
 
 8.24 
 
 I911 
 
 275.7 
 
 90.10 
 
 9.90 
 
 1912 
 
 284.9 
 
 93-'o 
 
 6.90 
 
 1913 
 
 289.S 
 
 94.61 
 
 5-39 
 
 1914 
 
 288.5 
 
 94.28 
 
 5-72 
 
 1915 
 
 282.8 
 
 92.42 
 
 7.58 
 
 1916 
 
 294-3 
 
 96.18 
 
 3-82 
 
 The figures for the years 1887-1906 are averages of double returns, 
 punying Tables XV and XVI, 
 
 Si-e the notes accom
 
 90 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 in this case a more exact estimation of the extent of unemploy- 
 ment and of its effects upon the earnings of operatives. For it 
 must be remembered that the two phases of the problem indi- 
 cated by the two methods of measurement used above are not 
 mutually exclusive. There is no clear separation in the returns 
 published by the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of the 
 results of the different methods of production curtailment — 
 short time operation of whole establishments with no discharge 
 of operatives, and partial discharge of the operative force. It 
 is possible that the greater proximity to each other of the 
 curves in the lower portion of Chart X in the later years of the 
 period than in the earlier years is indicative of a growing 
 custom of systematic curtailment of production, when such 
 curtailment is necessary, by part time operation with few dis- 
 charges of employees. On this point there is avaible no con- 
 clusive evidence. 
 
 No attempt is made, therefore, in view of the nature of the 
 information available, to compute a series of discounts to be 
 applied to the figures showing relative full time earnings with 
 a view to finding exact relative actual earnings. The signifi- 
 cant facts which it is intended that the materials of this chapter 
 shall emphasize are, first, that unemployment in the cotton 
 manufacturing industry has been to no considerable extent 
 regular and seasonal and thus possible of anticipation by 
 prudent workers, and second, that when unemployment has 
 come thus irregularly it has been, at times, on a scale so great 
 as to affect very seriously the yearly earnings of the employees.
 
 CONCLUSIONS 91 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 By way of conclusion there remains a three-fold task : first, 
 to piece together the information relating to the movement of 
 full time earnings in the different historical periods separately 
 studied, thereby to construct one curve of wage movement for 
 the entire period since i860; second, to compare this move- 
 ment of earnings with changes in general prices, in order to 
 form an opinion as to the changes of real as opposed to money 
 earnings; and third, to compare changes of rates of wages 
 with the changes of full time earnings, to see whether changes 
 in manufacturing technique have exerted a favorable or unfav- 
 orable influence upon operatives' earnings. 
 
 First comes the task of constructing a single curve repre- 
 sentative of the movement of full time earnings since i860. 
 Because of the nature of the statistical materials available for 
 study such a summary curve must relate only to the changes 
 of conditions in the Massachusetts section of the cotton manu- 
 facturing industry. So that the task in hand is to connect the 
 Mitchell series of relative earnings in Masschusetts mills for 
 the years 1 860-1 880, the series constructed in the present 
 study from the original exhibits of the Aldrich Report for the 
 years 1880-1891 (both of these presented and discussed in 
 Chapter III), and some single series summarizing the five 
 occupational scries of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1890- 
 1916 (presented and discussed in Chapter IV). 
 
 The first connection is a simple one to make. As shown 
 above in Chapter III, the application of the same statistical 
 methods to the data of the 135 occupational series of the 
 Aldrich Report used by Professor Mitchell and to the 74 occu- 
 pational series studied for the years 1880-1891 gives nearly
 
 92 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 identical results for the overlapping year 1880 — namely, 
 weighted average relative wages of 153 and 155 respectively. 
 The simplest and at the same time probably the most satisfac- 
 tory method of connecting these two curves appears to be 
 to call the quotation for the year 1880, 154, and to leave 
 unchanged all other relatives of the two series. The element 
 of possible error involved is small and is probably no greater 
 than would enter into a more elaborate computation. 
 
 As a preliminary step to the making of the second connec- 
 tion, that of the series just completed from i860 to 1891 with 
 the material covering the years 1 890-1916, it is necessary to 
 reduce the occupational series constructed from the Bureau of 
 Labor Statistics data for Massachusetts to one summary series. 
 This has been done by taking a simple average for each year 
 of the period of the five occupational quotations of relative full 
 time earnings. The series composed of these average figures 
 is, in view of the close correlation of the occupational series, 
 serviceable as a summary of changes in the Massachusetts 
 mills. It is presented in column (6) of Table XIX. 
 
 The conversion of this series into a similar series continuing 
 the one just completed to 1891, using i860 as the base(ioo), 
 has been accomplished by the application of a formula of pro- 
 portion — a method which, while not quite as accurate as would 
 be an entire reworking of the quotations in the original returns 
 made by the agents of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is suffi- 
 ciently accurate for summary purposes. The formula used is 
 as follows : 
 
 X (the relative wage for any year in the new series continu- 
 ing the old series for 1 860-1 891 : the corresponding relative 
 wage of the old series for 1890-19 16 =172 (the relative 
 wage for 1891 of the old series for 1 860-1 891) : 100.4 (the 
 relative wage for 1891 of the old series for 1890-1916). 
 
 The figures of the new continuous series of relative full time 
 earnings for the entire period 1 860-1916, using i860 as the 
 base, are presented in columns (2) and (7) of Table XIX, and 
 the curve based on these quotations is plotted as a solid line 
 on Chart XI.
 
 CONCLUSIONS 
 
 93 
 
 TABLE XIX 
 
 Wages in the Massachusetts Cotton Manufacturing Industry 
 and General Prices, 1 860- 1 9 1 8 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 v<~.E 
 
 U 
 
 
 ,^ 
 
 - 
 
 *-<-.S 
 
 M 
 
 
 3 C 
 
 oc. 
 
 « S 
 
 
 3 C 
 
 •5c 
 
 o",, 
 
 *J ^^ 
 
 
 
 
 y'5 Sst-K 
 
 10 R 
 
 <o >^ be 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^■^g.5 
 
 ( 
 
 Relativ 
 
 sale P 
 
 Commo 
 
 Gen 
 
 — '^ B ^ 
 
 >- 
 
 ^l^-s 
 
 5E.S 
 
 
 
 
 kP 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 
 ^H 
 
 <5P 
 
 vol 
 
 ec-cj 
 
 ^ "- 
 
 i860 
 
 lOI 
 
 100. 
 
 
 1890 
 
 100.8 
 
 172.7 
 
 80.1 
 
 134.8 
 
 I86I 
 
 97 
 
 97-7 
 
 
 1891 
 
 100.4 
 
 172.0 
 
 79.2 
 
 134.8 
 
 1862 
 
 98 
 
 115. 7 
 
 
 1892 
 
 100.4 
 
 172.0 
 
 75-3 
 
 •37-6 
 
 1863 
 
 108 
 
 159-4 
 
 
 1893 
 
 105.2 
 
 180.2 
 
 74-9 
 
 142.1 
 
 1864 
 
 127 
 
 225.2 
 
 
 1894 
 
 97-8 
 
 167.5 
 
 68.2 
 
 123. 1 
 
 1865 
 
 140 
 
 207.3 
 
 
 1895 
 
 96.1 
 
 164.6 
 
 66.4 
 
 J23-3 
 
 1866 
 
 161 
 
 184.6 
 
 
 1896 
 
 102.0 
 
 174-7 
 
 64.1 
 
 127.7 
 
 1867 
 
 167 
 
 165.3 
 
 
 1897 
 
 101.4 
 
 173-7 
 
 63.6 
 
 127.7 
 
 1868 
 
 165 
 
 161.4 
 
 
 1898 
 
 99-9 
 
 171. 2 
 
 66.2 
 
 II3-5 
 
 1869 
 
 169 
 
 157.2 
 
 
 1899 
 
 95-8 
 
 164.1 
 
 72.1 
 
 126.2 
 
 1870 
 
 166 
 
 1 40. 1 
 
 
 1900 
 
 110.5 
 
 189.3 
 
 78.4 
 
 140.5 
 
 I87I 
 
 177 
 
 130.0 
 
 
 1901 
 
 110.6 
 
 189.5 
 
 77.0 
 
 140.5 
 
 1872 
 
 •83 
 
 134-7 
 
 
 1902 
 
 111.3 
 
 190.7 
 
 80.1 
 
 151-5 
 
 1873 
 
 178 
 
 134.0 
 
 
 1903 
 
 114.7 
 
 196.5 
 
 80.6 
 
 152-9 
 
 1874 
 
 163 
 
 128.0 
 
 
 1904 
 
 114.2 
 
 195-7 
 
 80.1 
 
 131.6 
 
 1875 
 
 150 
 
 119.8 
 
 
 1905 
 
 116.8 
 
 200.1 
 
 82.2 
 
 124.4 
 
 1876 
 
 '45 
 
 iii.i 
 
 
 1906 
 
 126.0 
 
 215.9 
 
 86.9 
 
 137-6 
 
 1877 
 
 142 
 
 108.4 
 
 
 1907 
 
 140.0 
 
 239-8 
 
 91.9 
 
 163.8 
 
 1878 
 
 145 
 
 97-9 
 
 
 1908 
 
 133-2 
 
 228.2 
 
 87.1 
 
 151.8 
 
 IS79 
 
 144 
 
 93-9 
 
 
 1909 
 
 122.9 
 
 210.5 
 
 89.7 
 
 139-5 
 
 1880 
 
 154 
 
 104.6 
 
 
 I9I0 
 
 122.1 
 
 209.2 
 
 93-3 
 
 139-5 
 
 I88I 
 
 149 
 
 101.6 
 
 149-Ot 
 
 191 1 
 
 121.0 
 
 207.3 
 
 91.6 
 
 139-5 
 
 1882 
 
 157 
 
 103.2 
 
 149.0 
 
 I9I2 
 
 130.0 
 
 222.7 
 
 94-8 
 
 150.1 
 
 1883 
 
 158 
 
 97-6 
 
 149.0 
 
 I9I3 
 
 132.2 
 
 226.5 
 
 95-9 
 
 '53-4 
 
 1884 
 
 155 
 
 88.9 
 
 132.8 
 
 1914 
 
 133-9 
 
 229.4 
 
 94-9 
 
 '53-4 
 
 1885 
 
 150 
 
 82.1 
 
 119.1 
 
 1915 
 
 
 
 95-9 
 
 153-4 
 
 1886 
 
 153 
 
 80.5 
 
 126.9 
 
 1916 
 
 161.7 
 
 276.9 
 
 118.0 
 
 172.8 
 
 1887 
 
 160 
 
 81. 1 
 
 128.8 
 
 1917 
 
 
 
 167.8 
 
 208.3 
 
 1888 
 
 164 
 
 83.6 
 
 1 34- 1 
 
 1918 
 
 
 
 
 262.2 
 
 1889 
 
 169 
 
 80.6 
 
 134.8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • The relative full time earnings shown in column (fi) have as the base (100) the average 
 of the years 1890-189'.'. 
 
 t The relative lull time earnings shown in columns (2) and (7) have as the base (100) 
 the quotations for January, 1860. 
 
 J As explained in the body of the text the series of index numbers of anniinl average 
 weaving rates presented in column (t>) of Table I h.is here been converted into a similar series 
 having as the starting point for 18S1 the index point 149, which corresponds to the point 149 in 
 the scries of relative lull time earnings. 
 
 The base (10(1) of the series of relative wholesale prices of commodities in general is the 
 quotations for the year 18f>0.
 
 u 
 
 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 Ph 
 
 c 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 'C' 
 
 
 t; 
 
 
 1) 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 
 ,1^ 
 
 c 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 fc 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 rt 
 
 ■t . 
 
 H 
 
 
 :/: 
 
 fe 
 
 o 
 
 Pi 
 
 D 
 
 C 
 
 ■frt 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 »2 
 
 i) 
 1) 
 
 V 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <i, 
 
 ■'"' 
 
 
 C 
 
 
 C 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 
 _C 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 
 0) 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 1> 0) i) 
 
 ^ ei =^ 
 
 > 
 
 -0261 
 
 -5T6I' 
 
 T r I I I n I I I I I I 1 1 r I I I I 
 
 ^161- 
 506T- 
 |006I' 
 [S68T 
 
 -S88I 
 -0881 
 
 -0/.8T 
 :S98I 
 ^981 
 
 o 
 o 
 to 
 
 M I I I I I I I I I I I I r 
 
 o o o 
 to o in 
 
 TT 
 
 0261- 
 
 o o 
 
 in o 
 to to 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 it) 
 
 ■ I ■ t I I ■ I I ' I I I I I I I ■ I 1 I I I I I I I
 
 CONCLUSIONS 05 
 
 From inspection of Chart XI it appears that relative full time 
 earnings dropped from the high point of 183 attained during 
 the greenback period in the year 1872 to the point 142 in 1877, 
 and that the latter relative wage has been the minimum point 
 since the close of the Civil War. And the long continued 
 upward movement since 1877 reached in 1916 a point approxi- 
 mately 177 per cent above the base year i860. 
 
 So much concerning the movement of full time money earn- 
 ings, but what about real wages as measured by the purchasing 
 power of the contents of pay envelopes over commodities in 
 general? To help answer this question resort has been had to 
 the index numbers of wholesale prices published from time to 
 time by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. ^ These 
 index numbers have been revised so as to make the relative 
 price figures for i860 the base of 100 for a new series, which 
 is presented in columns (3) and (8) of Table XIX, and has 
 served as the basis for plotting the broken or dash curve on 
 Chart XI. 
 
 As is commonly known, the downward movement of whole- 
 sale prices from the highest point attained during the Civil 
 War did not conclude with the resumption of specie payments, 
 but was merely interrupted slightly in 1880, 1881 and 1882. 
 In agreement with the general movement, of prices in gold 
 standard countries, the decline continued until in the United 
 States the minimum point was reached in 1 897, the index number 
 for that year (using i860 as the base of 100) being 6^.6. After 
 1897 the price movement was steadily upward until in 191 3, 
 just before the outbreak of the Great War, the index number 
 was 95.9 — not quite up to the level of the pre-war figure of 
 i860. War conditions since 1914 have resulted in bringing 
 the index number well above the base line of i860 to a point 
 in 1917 (using annual average figures) about 68 per cent above 
 the level of i860. 
 
 Comparison of the curves of relative full time earnings and 
 of relative wholesale prices of commodities in general plotted 
 
 I. Especially to Riillelins 140 ( pji. 177, 17S) and 181 (pp. 264-266) and to the 
 November, 1918, number of the Monthly Labor Review (_p. 88).
 
 96 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 on Chart XI shows clearly that from 1867 to 1897, with the 
 exception of the latter part of the greenback period not only 
 was the purchasing power of the dollar increasing but the 
 purchasing power of the contents of cotton mill employees' 
 full time pay envelopes was increasing. And when, after 1897, 
 the course of commodity prices became radically altered, the 
 wage movement in the cotton manufacturing industry of Massa- 
 chusetts kept very close pace with this changed movement. 
 So that, making no allowance for fluctuations in the conditions 
 of employment, it appears that the gain in real earnings secured 
 between i860 and 19 16 is to be assigned to the years before 
 rather than to those after 1897. 
 
 Finally, it is worth while to note the relationship between 
 changes of piece rates and those of relative full time earnings. 
 In column (6) of Table I (Chapter 11) there appears a series 
 of index numbers of annual averages of weaving rates at Fall 
 River. The base (100) of this series in the weaving rate pre- 
 vailing thioughout 1881. In order to secure comparability of 
 the data concerning weaving rates with those concerning the 
 movement of full time earnings, the figures of column (6) of 
 Table I, just referred to, have been converted into a new series, 
 still using the year 1881 as a starting point, but calling this 
 point 149 (the relative full time earnings figure for 1881, 
 when i860 is the base) instead of lOO, and computing for each 
 year since 1881 a pew figure which has the same relationship 
 to 149 as the corresponding figure of the old series had to 100. 
 This new series is shown in columns (4) and (9) of Table 
 XIX, and from it there has been plotted the dotted line curve of 
 Chart XL 
 
 With this curve added to the diagram there is made to appear 
 in a striking way a phenomenon which may have passed unno- 
 ticed in the reading of the preceding pages. Although in the 
 years succeeding 188 1 until the time of the second sliding scale 
 experiment the piece rate at Fall River fluctuated back and 
 forth within a very narrow range of movement, the relative full' 
 time earnings climbed upward quite steadily. Even the strong 
 upward swing of the piece rate in 1907 was of brief duration,
 
 CONCLUSIONS 97 
 
 and not until the war conditions of 1916 were reached did the 
 piece rate get very far outside the range of the preceding 
 thirty-five years. In short, although there is a rather close 
 correspondence between the minor fluctuations of the two 
 curves, the general directions of their movements have been 
 those of divergence. While it is not possible, because of the 
 nature of the data studied, and especially because the piece 
 rates are distinctly local and the data concerning full time 
 earnings cover a wider field of investigation, and also because 
 the series of relative full time earnings refers to both piece and 
 time workers, to treat the evidence here presented as very 
 conclusive, it appears not unreasonable to see in these figures 
 and curves an indication of the beneficial effects to workers of 
 improvements in technical processes ; to consider that the 
 introduction of new machines and new methods has in a very 
 concrete way resulted in industrial gains which have to an 
 appreciable extent been shared by employees ; and at least to 
 consider that the increase of real wages prior to 1897 and their 
 maintenance since that date are not solely to be explained in 
 terms of rates of wages or of hours of labor or of a combination 
 of the two.
 
 98 WAGES IN COTTON MANUFACTURES 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 •THE TEXT OF THE SLIDING SCALE AGREEMENT OF 
 MAY 14, 1907 1 
 
 It Is agreed by the Cotton Manufacturers' Association of 
 Fall River and the Fall River Mule Spinners' Association, the 
 Fall River Weavers' Progressive Association, the Fall River 
 Loom Fixers' Association, the Card Room Protective Associa- 
 tion of Fall River and the Slashers' Union of Fall River that 
 wages in Fall River, so far as the mills represented by the 
 Manufacturers' Association and the operatives who are members 
 of the above organizations arc concerned, shall be determined 
 in the following manner, which shall be binding upon the mills 
 represented by the Manufacturers' Association and upon the 
 members of the various operative associations until changed or 
 terminated as hereafter provided. 
 
 1. That 21.78 cents per cut shall be the recognized stan- 
 dard price for a margin of 95 points, based on the cost of 8 
 pounds of Middling Upland cotton and the average selling 
 price of 45 yards of 28 in. 64 x 64 print cloth and 33.1 1 yards 
 of 38^ in. 64 X 64 print cloth. Quotations from the "New 
 York Journal of Commerce" shall be considered authoritative. 
 
 2. The standard of wages shall be fixed every six months, 
 beginning the last Monday in May and November of each year, 
 and no oftener, and shall be based on the average margin, as 
 fixed above, for the previous six months. 
 
 Prices for weaving shall be as follows : 
 
 I. Quoted verbatim from The Member's Contribution Book of the Card and 
 Picker Room Protective Association of Fall River and Vicinity, pp. 16-18.
 
 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 
 
 With a margin of 
 
 
 With 
 
 a margin of 
 
 
 1 15 points 
 
 23.96 
 
 
 85 
 
 points 
 
 20.69 
 
 1 10 points 
 
 23.42 
 
 
 80 
 
 points 
 
 19.66 
 
 105 points 
 
 22.87 
 
 
 75 
 
 points 
 
 18.68 
 
 95 points 
 
 21.78 
 
 
 72; 
 
 y2 points 
 
 18.00 
 
 99 
 
 but there shall be no change in prices on either the ascending 
 or descending scale unless the margin has reached a point 
 named in the above schedule. Eighteen cents per cut shall be 
 the minimum rate paid for weaving; 23.96 cents shall be the 
 maximum. Wages in all departments other than weaving shall 
 be adjusted on the price for weaving as above determined. 
 
 3. No change shall be made in this agreement and it shall 
 remain in force unless the Cotton Manufacturers' Association 
 on the one side or the members of the various operatives' 
 organizations on the other side give notice of the proposed 
 change at least three months prior to the last Monday of May 
 and November in each year.
 
 ACCEPTED BY THE 
 DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 
 
 JUNE, 1916
 
 / 
 
 5 8 4 6 2
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 I AUG 8 1942 
 
 l"or]ii I,-!.)- 1 ",,„ 7,:; 1
 
 HD Howard - 
 4966 The movement 
 G8U5 Qf wages in 
 the cotton 
 manufacturing In- 
 dustry of New 
 England since 
 1860. 
 
 cans 
 
 IDIHIHNMK.IUNAI llBKAHnA 
 
 iiiiiiiiiiir 
 
 UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA 
 
 AT 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 UBRARY
 
 Iii5> 
 
 iitii^ 
 
 (umntitif.