The table shows that for all the articles included in the comparison, save pork, prices in the United States were higher than in England. On this one article prices were lower in the United States than in any of the other countries. Without exception the highest prices for meat were found in Germany. For two varieties of meat, beef and bacon, Belgium showed the lowest prices, while for mutton the lowest price was found in England. England also showed the lowest price for flour, the price in the United States being 39 per cent higher, while in Germany and France it was 40 and 53 per cent higher, respectively. For bread the highest price was found in the United States, being almost two and one-fourth times the price in England. In France the price was 15 per cent higher than in England, and in Belgium 5 per cent lower. Each report contains figures showing the relative retail prices of commodities in each city as compared with those in the chief city of the country as a basis or 100, and in order to compare the range between the various cities in the several countries these figures have been brought together in the following table: RANGE OF RETAIL PRICES OF COMMODITIES IN THE CITIES OF EACH COUNTRY AS COMPARED WITH PRICES IN THE CHIEF CITY. [Compiled from reports of an Inquiry by the Board of Trade into Working Class Rents, Housing and Retail Prices, together with Rates of Wages in certain occupations in the Principal Industrial Towns of the United Kingdom, 1908; Germany, 1908; France, 1909; Belgium, 1910; United States, 1911.] The differences between the various cities of the several countries are much smaller in the case of prices than was found in the case of wages or rents. In Belgium, for example, a range of only 11 per cent was found between Brussels, the city of highest prices in that country, and Bruges, the city of lowest prices. Both in the United States and in England and Wales the range from lowest to highest was only 18 points; in Germany 24 points; and in France, where the maximum difference was found, 34 points. In all of the countries except Belgium the highest prices were reported from some city other than the largest city. Thus in England the highest prices were reported for Dover; in Germany for Barmen; in France for Marseille; in the United States for Atlanta. It is worthy of note that notwithstanding the great extent of territory covered by the investigation in the United States, the differences in prices throughout that territory were found to be less than in France and Germany and not greater than in England and Wales. COST OF FOOD CONSUMED WEEKLY IN THE BRITISH WORKMAN'S FAMILY. The reports of the Board of Trade have used as a basis of comparison of the cost of food the average quantity consumed as ascertained from an investigation of a large number of British wageearning families. Applying these quantities to the predominant prices of the same articles in the various countries, a total figure is arrived at in which each of the selected articles is weighted according to its importance to the British wage-earning family. The figures so weighted are presented in the following table: COST OF COMMODITIES CONSUMED PER WEEK IN AVERAGE BRITISH WORKMAN'S FAMILY. [Compiled from reports of an Inquiry by the Board of Trade into Working Class Rents, Housing and Retail Prices, together with Rates of Wages in certain occupations in the Principal Industrial Towns of the United Kingdom, 1908; Germany, 1908; France, 1909; Belgium, 1910; United States, 1911.] Cost of commodities, average quantity consumed, in British workman's England and Wales (excluding London).. Germany (including Berlin). France (including Paris)... United States.. Sugar, Bacon, weekly budget. Cheese, Butter, Potatoes, Flour Bread (white), 5 pounds. 1 pounds. pound. 2 pounds. 17 pounds. 10 pounds 22 pounds. 1 Cost of 22 pounds of wheat flour in Germany. The British report states: "Actually 22 pounds of flour are not required for making 22 pounds of bread, but no allowance has been made for the cost of other materials nor of baking, and as the predominant cost of bread per pound in England [2.5 cents] is almost identical with the cost of flour [2.6 cents] the method adopted seems fair." As between prices in Great Britain, October, 1905, and prices in the United States, February, 1909. British prices in February, 1909, after due allowance for the varying degrees of importance of the articles included, were about 4 per cent higher than in October, 1905. The index number when adjusted accordingly becomes 138. The index numbers computed on the total cost of the selected articles of food in the several countries show that the British workman's weekly food budget, which in England and Wales is represented by 100, costs in the United States 43 per cent more; in Germany 17 per cent more; and in France and Belgium 1 per cent less. With reference to the extent to which these figures are modified by the changes in prices between October, 1905, the date of the investigation in England and Wales, and the dates of the several investigations in the other countries, the reports show that in Germany, so far as it was possible to judge from the few returns obtained at the later date, March, 1908, prices appeared to have undergone little change. In France the average increase in prices between October, 1905, and October, 1907, of food other than meat, was estimated at 41 per cent, and on food of all kinds at slightly under 5 per cent. In Belgium no appreciable change appears to have occurred down to the autumn of 1908. When allowance is made for the increase of 4 per cent which took place in England and Wales between October, 1905, and February, 1909, the cost of the British workman's weekly budget was found to be 38 per cent higher in the United States than in England and Wales instead of 43 per cent, as shown in the above table. HOURS OF LABOR OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN EMPLOYED IN FACTORIES IN AUSTRIA. In order to ascertain the effectiveness of the regulations for the protection of workmen in factories, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Austrian Department of Commerce made a study of all the factory establishments in that country in the year 1906. The movement for a reduction in the hours of labor of factory employees had largely engaged the activities of the Austrian Labor Bureau, and especial attention was directed toward finding out in what industries and establishments the hours of labor had already been reduced below the maximum allowed by law. The information on which the study was based was collected by the factory inspection force of the Empire, and only those establishments were included which were subject to the factory inspection laws. For this reason a number of factories, especially iron and steel plants, which were subsidiary parts of mining establishments and therefore subject to the mininginspection department, were not included. The definition of the term factory was of course based on the specifications of the factory laws. According to the ministerial decree of July 18, 1883, a factory is an industrial undertaking in which the production or working up of commodities takes place in workrooms in which more than 20 workmen are employed. Other characteristics are: The use of machines in the processes; a division of labor as distinguished from the artisan method of conducting production; the head of the establishment or proprietor is responsible for the conduct of the undertaking; the higher rates of taxation imposed; the business is conducted by firms, partnerships, corporations, etc. LEGAL REGULATIONS CONCERNING HOURS OF LABOR IN FACTORIES. The law of March 8, 1885, provides that between the beginning and closing of the working day suitable periods or intermissions for rest must be given, amounting to not less than one and one-half hours per day. Unless special conditions in the establishments prevail, one hour of this time must be given for the midday meal, but if the time. before or after the midday rest period amounts to five hours or less, then only the one hour for the midday period is required. In the case of night work, the same regulation applies, with the changes required by the difference in time. The minister of commerce, acting in agreement with the minister of the interior, may, on application of the chambers of commerce and industry, permit of a suitable reduction in the time of the rest periods where such is shown to be called for by the character of the technical operations. 1 Die Arbeitszeit in den Fabriksbetrieben Österreichs. Dargestellt vom K. K. Arbeitsstatistischen Amte im Handelsministerium. Wien, 1907. In the following branches of industry a reduction in the duration of the rest period may be permitted, or rest periods may be arranged * to fall at times permitted by the nature of the work carried on: Blast furnaces, coking plants, charcoal burning plants, puddling works, rolling mills, steel mills, foundries; enamel ironware works; copper, brass, metal, alloy working, etc.; blacksmithing, wheelwrighting; limekilns, cement plants, brickkilns, clay and porcelain factories; glass furnaces; and textiles, including dyeing, bleaching, printing, finishing, fulling, spinning, and mechanical weaving; paper and paper products; flour and similar mills; sugar factories and sugar refineries; sirup factories; bakeries and confectioneries; beer brewing, malting, distilleries; compressed yeast factories; artificial ice factories; chemical factories, including the manufacture of sulphuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, soda, saltpeter, potash, starch, and essential oils; also for zinc color factories, illuminating gas, newspaper printing plants, engine and boiler tenders, linoleum factories, macaroni, etc., factories. In the industrial operations mentioned in the preceding list, although definitely specified periods of rest during the course of operations may be transposed or distributed, it must, however, be understood that during the period of the shift the workmen must be granted adequate time for meals and for rest. The factory inspection laws define a young person as one who is under 16 years of age. Young persons may not be employed for regular industrial operations between 8 p. m. and 5 a. m.; however, the minister of commerce in agreement with the minister of the interior is authorized to change the limits of night work just specified, having due regard to the climatic conditions and other important circumstances, but such changes shall apply to specified categories of industries only. Under this authority the hours of labor for young persons have been fixed as follows: In scythe making male young persons working at the forge may be employed later at night or earlier in the morning on condition that they are changed from day to night shifts; in silk-spinning mills young persons during June and July may be employed earlier in the morning and later at night than the limits already specified, provided that proper rest periods are granted them; in bakeries (Weissbäckereien) male young persons may be employed as apprentices in such bread bakeries as make only one baking during 24 hours, but such employment between 8 p. m. and 5. a. m. may not continue longer than 4 hours without a rest period. In industrial establishments conducted as factories the hours of labor, not including the rest periods, shall not exceed 11 in any 24. However, the minister of commerce in agreement with the minister of the interior, after a hearing of the chambers of commerce and of industry, may draw up a list of those industries which on account of special circumstances can show reasons for increasing the daily hours of labor, and may grant an increase of 1 hour per day; this |