There was wide variation in the number of man-hours per acre for all the crops. The differences, which are due almost entirely to the different operations performed by different men, the number of times various operations such as cultivating are performed, and the method of harvesting the crop, are shown for the cotton crop, these differences being typical of the other crops. The average number of man-hours per acre for the 249 farms on which cotton was raised was 132.5, but 3 farmers averaged less than 60 man-hours per acre, 7 from 60 to 80 hours, 33 from 80 to 100, 53 from 100 to 120, 59 from 120 to 140, 52 from 140 to 160, 23 from 160 to 180, and 19 averaged 180 and over. TH WOMAN AND CHILD LABOR Scheduled Working Hours for Women HE Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor has recently issued a bulletin (No. 43) summarizing the scheduled working hours of women in 13 States in which the bureau has made studies of the subject and, in addition, in Chicago and Philadelphia. The data relate to scheduled hours as they were on September 15, 1922, or on the pay-roll date nearest to that day. In all, information on scheduled hours was secured for 162,792 women employed in 1,709 plants in 13 different States and in two cities outside those States. The States included are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia. The scheduled daily hours worked were found to range from under 8 to over 11, the largest group of women, 34.2 per cent of the total, having a scheduled day of 9 hours from Monday to Friday, inclusive. Practically one-fifth of those studied had a day of 8 hours or less, while one-fourth were expected to work regularly more than 9 hours a day. For purposes of comparison two groups of States are shown, the first consisting of six having the largest proportions of women working a 10-hour day and the second of five having the largest proportions of women working a day of 8 hours or less. DISTRIBUTION OF WORKING WOMEN ACCORDING TO LENGTH OF WORKING-DAY, BY STATES While South Carolina, the first in the list of these States, reported no women on a schedule of more than 10 hours, it had such an overwhelmingly large proportion employed at 10 hours and so few with the 8-hour day that it stands well toward the bottom of the list when the more progressive hour standard is considered. Neither do the Virginia returns show any women regularly employed longer than 10 hours in a day, although almost one-half of them had a 10-hour day. Alabama shows, in addition to a considerable proportion of women with such a day, a record of almost one-tenth with a day longer than 10 hours, while it stands low in the list when the States are rated according to the proportion who worked 8 hours or less. Georgia's record in respect to hours is poor in spite of the fact that but a little over a third of the women were scheduled for a 10-hour day, since practically 30 per cent of the women workers for whom information was given had a working-day longer than 10 hours. In the second group none of the States showed women working over 10 hours a day, the proportions having as long a day as that were very small, and two States showed no women in this group. It is pointed out that the prevalence of a working-day of a given length within a State may be determined by the presence of one large industry with a uniform policy as to hours. Thus, in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama a large number of the women studied were in textile mills, in which the 10-hour day predominated. There was considerable difference among the industries in this respect. In 24 out of the 52 industries the scheduled day found to be more usual than any other was one of 9 hours, but there was a very large difference in these industries as to the proportion of workers on a 9-hour day. In some cases only a third of the women, while in the manufacture of gloves as high as 91.9 per cent of the workers, included were on a 9-hour day. Only 16 of the industries were found to have a scheduled day of less than 8 hours in any of their establishments. In six the 8-hour day was the regular schedule of the largest number of workers. Three industries accounted for so large a number of the women included that their figures are of special importance. Of all the industries included, three stand out as the largest employers of women. When all of the clothing workers are considered together they form a group of 15,497 women. The women in the various branches of the textile industry sum up to 33,984 in the survey, while as many as 17,865 general mercantile workers were included in the reports. These three principal industries had quite different hour standards. A comparison, therefore, of the distribution of the workers in these industries among the various hour divisions is of particular interest. SCHEDULED DAILY HOURS IN THREE LEADING INDUSTRIES It will be noticed that just half of the women working in the textile industry had a day of 10 hours or more, while of those in mercantile employment 83.9 per cent had a day of 8 hours or less. In the clothing industry, 97.5 per cent were found in the groups having 8 and under 10 hours. The short Saturday was found to be almost universal in the different forms of manufacturing. Of the 136,064 women employed in such industries for whom information is available, 97.5 per cent either worked for a smaller number of hours on Saturday than during the rest of the week or were working on a five-day week schedule with Saturday free. In the stores, however, the situation is reversed, none of the workers having a shorter day on Saturday, while 58 per cent had longer hours than during the other five days. The shorter Saturday inevitably affected the weekly hours, so that their total can not be judged from the daily schedule. A 50-hour week was the standard for the largest group of women when the workers of all the State surveyed were considered together. In this respect onethird of all women had a scheduled week of 48 hours or less; Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Maryland took the lead with approximately 68 per cent, 55 per cent and 52 per cent of the women reported in each, respectively, showing such a schedule. An overwhelming majority of the South Carolina workers, on the other hand, regularly put in more than 54 hours a week while in both Georgia and Alabama practically two-thirds of the women reported had a scheduled week of more than 54 hours. Attention is called to the fact that although in every State there were progressive employers who operated a shorter working-day than that permitted by the State's laws, yet there were also a considerable number of employers whose schedules called for the maximum number of hours, daily and weekly, allowed by the laws It is evident, therefore, that more progressive legal standards would be necessary in the great majority of the States surveyed to insure all women in industry against an overlong working-day. TH Woman and Child Labor in Maryland, 19241 Hours of Women HE following table, compiled from the thirty-third annual report of the commissioner of labor and statistics of Maryland, gives the daily and Saturday hours of 48,251 women of that State in 3,492 manufacturing, mercantile, and mechanical establishments in 1924: WORKING HOURS OF WOMEN EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURING, MERCANTILE, AND MECHANICAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN BALTIMORE CITY AND IN COUNTIES OF MARYLAND, 1924 Maryland. Commissioner of Labor and Statistics. Thirty-third annual report, 1924. Baltimore, 1925. Pp. 92-110. Child Labor in 1923 and 1924 THE following figures on child labor in Maryland are taken from the annual reports of the commissioner of labor and statistics of that State for the years 1923 and 1924: The following statement shows the number of permits issued to children in 1923 and 1924: The number of newsboys and street traders in Baltimore earning each specified amount per week in 1923 and 1924 were as follows: Weekly earnings: Number TH 50 to 99 cents. $1 to $1.49_. $1.50 to $1.99. $2 to $2.49_ $2.50 to $2.99. $3 to $3.49_. $3.50 and over.. Unknown... Total.. Number 69 115 Working Women in Brattleboro, Vt. 3 HE Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston has recently published a study of the gainfully employed women of Brattleboro, Vt., which contains some facts of interest concerning regularity of employment, earnings, and the like. It 1 Including 42 street traders earning from $4.50 to $14 per week. Including street traders earning from $1 to $10.50 per week. Women's Educational and Industrial Union. Studies in economic relations of women, Vol. XII: A legacy to wage-earning women, by Lucile Eaves and associates. Boston, 1925, 135 pp. |