The Sailors' Union reported that there were about 2,700 Mongolians employed on American vessels sailing from ports on the Pacific Coast. The Butchers' Union reported that 200 Chinese were employed; that the Chinese handle about 75 per cent of all the pork slaughtered in San Francisco, and while butchers handling pork are compelled to work for 25 to 50 per cent less money than those engaged in other branches of the trade. The Cooks' Union reported the number of Chinese employed, varying according to season, from 150 to 300; Japanese from 400 to 1,000. About 180 Chinese and 1,200 Japanese waiters were employed in restaurants and boarding houses.

A bill was also prepared by a special committee to be presented to Congress calling for the application of the Chinese Exclusion Laws to the Japanese and Koreans.

Dividends in Lancashire Cotton Mills.

The gross profit of 71 Lancashire cotton mills making returns for 1905 amounts to $2,865,650.40, an average of $40,361.27 per company, or 74 per cent of the capital stock. The number of spindles represented by these 71 companies is 6,176,366. The appraised value of the mills, machinery, etc., is $18,544,321.44, an average of $2.97 per spindle. This rate of dividend has been equaled in Lancashire in but one other year since 1884, while the average for these 22 years is 4.06 per cent Textile World Record, February, 1906.

Chinese Cotton Factories.

German papers state that a working-day in the Chinese cotton factories is 131⁄2 hours; night shifts work 10 hours. The abolition of night work has been agitated, with the result that only a few mills now run day and night. Many cotton factories at Shanghai still pay by the piece, and the workingmen earn the equivalent of about 12 cents American a day. — Daily Consular and Trade Reports, No. 2278.

Cotton-mill Operatives in Germany. According to the terms of the agreement of the great strike of cotton-mill operatives of Saxony and Thuringia, involving 40,000 workers, the working-day in the factories is to be 101⁄2 hours. The minimum day wage scale paid is as follows: Male operatives up to 18 years of age, 55 cents; female operatives, 34% cents. Those that have not been employed in the factories for six months receive 10 per cent less than these rates. Overtime will be paid for at the rate of 7% to 92 cents an hour. - Daily Consular and Trade Reports, No. 2364.

The Unemployed in New Zealand. The January Journal of the Department of Labour of Wellington, New Zealand, states that during December, 1905, there were 582 unemployed persons assisted by the Department. Of this number 120 were married and 462 were single, the number of persons dependent upon the applicants being 478. Those sent to private employment numbered 121, and to government works, 461. The cause attributed to the persons' failure to get work was slackness of trade. The number of wives assisted was four, while there were nine children assisted.

cember 6, and represents an operated mileage of 214,477.82 miles.

The gross earnings of the railways for the year ending June 30, 1995, on the mileage already stated, were $2,073,177,325. This total comprised earnings from the passenger service amounting to $572,109,366, or 27.60 per cent; earnings from the freight service amounting to $1,449,182,702, or 69.90 per cent, and other miscellaneous earnings amounting to $51,885,257, or 2.50 per cent. According to this preliminary report, the gross earnings from operation averaged $9,666 per mile of line. This average is considerably larger than the like average for any other year for which a statistical report has been published by the Commission. The final report for the year ending June 30, 1904, showed that the total gross earnings of the railways, on 212,243.20 miles of line, for that year were $1,975,174,091, being equivalent to $9,306 per mile. Of the gross earnings per mile of line the passenger service contributed $2,667 and the freight service $6,757. In a general way it may be said that the several per-mile averages shown in connection with the preliminary reports are likely to be somewhat larger than similar averages in the corresponding final reports, in consequence of the fact that the latter include returns for additional roads in which the ratios of the items to the respective mileages are less than the general averages.

The operating expenses of the railways embraced in the current preliminary report amounted to $1,383,584,404, thus averaging $6,451 per mile of line. For the year ending June 30, 1904, the operating expenses reported finally were $1,338,896,253, or 36,308 per mile. This advance report indicates that the ratio of operating expenses to earnings for 1905 was 66.74 per cent. The final report for the year 1904 gave for this item 67.79 per cent. This preliminary report shows that the net earnings of essentially the same roads were, for the year ending June 30, 1905, $689,592,921, and for the year ending June 30, 1904, $634,674,561. The railway companies for which returns are included in this advance report also received $114,636,642 in the form of income from investments in the stocks and bonds of railway and other corporations, and from other miscellaneous sources. The net earnings, as stated above, must be increased by this sum to obtain the entire income which these operating lines had at their disposal for corporate expenditures and for reserve or surplus funds as well. The total income, consequently, was $804,229,563. The aggregate of all the deductions chargeable against such total income was $713,994,800. The principal items included in these deductions were interest on funded debt, rents of leased lines, permanent improvements charged to income, taxes (which were $58,533,381), and dividends, $196,080,237, as described below. It thus appears that the surplus for the year resulting from the operations of those roads which the preliminary report covers was $90,234,763. The complete or final report for the year ending June 30, 1904, covering both operating and leased roads, showed a surplus of $56,729,331, and the like report for the year 1903 showed a surplus of $99,227,469.

As was mentioned above, the preliminary report shows that the operating companies declared dividends during the year to the amount of $196,080,237; it further shows that the dividends declared by practically the same roads during the year 1904 were $184,313,472. From these figures it appears that there was an increase in dividends of $11,766,765.

It should be borne in mind, however, that the preliminary reports, being confined to the returns of operating roads only, necessarily exclude all dividends

Pig Iron Production, United States, 1905. The American Iron and Steel Association reports the total production of pig iron in the United States for 1905 to be 22,992,380 tons, over 25 per cent greater than the year of the heaviest production, 1903. The aggregate shows 40 per cent increase over the production of 1904. The production of bituminous coal, or coke iron, amounted to 20,964,937 tons, over 90 per cent of the total produced.

Considering the production of iron in gross tons in 1905, by States, we find Pennsylvania with 10,579,127; Ohio, 4,586,110; Illinois, 2,034,483; New York, 1,198,068. These are the only States which exceeded the million mark. The production of Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1905 reached 15,987 gross tons.

The statistics of steel ingots and castings in 1905 show a production of 10,941,375 tons. Pennsylvania leads with 4,491,445, followed by Ohio with 3,131,149, and Illinois with 1,651,250. The other States in the ag gregate produced 1,667,531 gross tons. The steel production in 1905 was 3,082,235 tons greater than in 1904. Pig Iron Production, Great Britain, 1905.

The number of tons of pig iron produced in Great Britain in 1905, as reported by Bradstreet's, was 9,592,737. This is an increase of 1,030,079 tons over the output of 1904, or more than 12 per cent, the greatest advance since 1899, when the output was 9,305,319 tons.

The total average number of furnaces in blast during the year was 346 as against 325 for 1904. Allowing that the average annual output of these furnaces is 27,000 tons, Great Britain is producing at the rate of nearly 10,000,000 tons per annum, a figure which considerably exceeds that of any previous period in the history of the British trade.

Friendly Society of Iron Founders. According to the Monthly Report of the Friendly Society of Iron Founders we learn that the total number of members at the close of February, 1906, was 18,595, an increase of 133 members as compared with the corresponding period in 1905. The weekly expenditure for donation and dispute was reported to be £215 188 4d ($1,050.65), or over 3d ($0.06) per member per week. The weekly expenditures for sickness aggregated £208 78 ($1,013.83), or under 3d ($0.06) per member per week, while the weekly superannuation expense was £379 128 6d ($1,847.26), more than 5d ($0.11) per member per week. The total weekly expenditure was shown to be £803 17s 10d ($3,911.74), or over 114d ($0.23) per member per week. Wages Paid Farm Laborers and Domesties, Ontario, Canada.

There has been almost a steady, though gradual, increase paid farm laborers and domestic servants in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as reported by the Ontario Bureau of Industries. The average yearly rate paid farm laborers, with board, has risen from $156 in 1894 to $183 in 1903, while the average yearly

rate, without board, has increased from $247 in 1894 to $274 in 1903. Monthly wages, with board, averaged $19.44 in 1903, an increase of $2.89 in 10 years. Monthly wages, without board, averaged $28.04 in 1903, the increase in 10 years being $2.43. The monthly wage of domestic servants averaged $7.84 in 1903, an increase of $1.61 over the wages paid in 1894.

Changes in Wages and Hours of Labor — Canada, 1905.

The total number of changes in the rates of wages and hours of labor during 1905 and affecting in each case a number of workpeople was 140. There were 118 increases in wages, accompanied in four instances by decreases in hours of labor; 14 were decreases in hours; four were decreases in wages, and the remain. der were increases in hours accompanied by a corre sponding increase in earnings. The largest number of skilled employees affected was in the building trades, there being 3,884, the total increase in weekly earnings being $7,796, accompanied by a decrease in weekly employment of 1,791 hours. The civic employees numerically follow in importance, there being 1,621 such workpeople affected, the total increase of weekly earnings for these persons being $1,220.

Considering aggregate decreases in hours of employ. ment a week, two of the most important changes were in the building and printing trades. There was a decrease of weekly labor in the printing trades of 1,771 hours, while the decrease in the building trades, as we have above stated, was 1,791 hours.

An early closing by-law was passed by the city of Montreal, Quebec, during the month of March, 1905, by which all stores, excepting tobacco, news, confectionery, etc, and saloons, were compelled to close at 7 PM. on Wednesdays and Thursdays of each week, except during December, and on days preceding public holidays. This by-law affected between 8,000 and 10,000 employees.

Early closing arrangements went into effect in a large number of cities and towns throughout Canada during the summer months, the chief persons affected being retail clerks, barbers, factory employees, etc.- Labour Gazette, Department of Labour, Canada, February, 1906.

France Desires to Illuminate with
Alcohol.

Consul General Skinner, of Marseille, writes that the official decree has been published by the President of the French Republic providing for prizes for the following-described inventions:

One prize of 20,000 francs ($3,860) is instituted for the benefit of the person who shall discover a denaturizing agent for alcohol more advantageous than the denaturizing agent now in use, and offering to the "treasury" every guarantee against fraud.

One prize of 50,000 francs ($9,650) is provided for the benefit of the person who shall discover a system of utilizing alcohol for illuminating purposes under the same conditions as petroleum.

The commission of analytical methods and of alcohol denaturization instituted within the ministry of finance by the decree of June 23, 1896, is instructed to determine the conditions under which these prizes shall be distributed, and to award them in conformity with the programme which it shall lay down.

Corporations in Germany.

The improvement in German industrial conditions is shown by the number of new corporations which were formed in Germany during the year 1905. In the first half of the year 87 corporations were formed

with a total capital of $50,170,000, and in the second half 104 with $35,150,000 capital, making a total of 191 corporations with $85,320,000 capital. The figures for former years were: 1904, 104 corporations with $35,150,000 capital; 1903, 84 with $75,000,000; 1902, 86 with $29,600,000 capital. The average capital per corporation amounted to $504,000 in 1905, $337,500 in 1904, $892,500 in 1903, and $340,000 in 1902. The largest of these were in the mining and metal industries. - Daily Consular and Trade Reports, No. 2495.

British Gas Prices.

There are 1,252 gas plants in England, 259 in Scotland, 110 in Ireland, 135 in Australasia, 52 in Canada, 15 in other British possessions, and 15 British gas companies operating on the Continent and other parts of the world. All large Scottish towns own their gas works, which produce 83.8 per cent of the total, while in England only 31.3 per cent is so made and in Ireland 44.9 per cent. The largest gas company in the world, the London Gas Light and Coke Company, makes 22,000,000,000 cubic feet of gas per year and charges 59 cents per 1,000, while some of the other 11 London companies charge a good deal less, notably the South Metropolitan Company, which charges 48 cents, and the Wandsworth Company, whose charge is 52 cents. Gas cooking stoves grow in favor, the number having increased 250,000 last year in the United Kingdom. Gas World Year Book, 1905.

Emigration from Europe.
Spain.

The subject of Immigration has never been a more important one to the United States than at the present time. The fields, shops, and mills of our country are all calling for more labor. From what source shall it come is the interesting question. The tide of emigration from Northern Europe has ebbed, and Italy's sons have been coming in peaceful armies to our aid. But this, too, will decrease, since Italy is becoming depleted. Another Mediterranean country is Spain, the only European country that has not yet started a tide of emigration for our shores That the Spaniard has not yet caught the migrating fever seriously is evidenced by the fact that less than two per 1,000 inhabitants started for other lands during 1904, while in the same year over seven Irishmen out of each 1,000 left their native island, and still more Italians quit their peninsula. Therefore, the following report from Consul Harmony, of Corunna, will prove of considerable interest to Americans:

In Spain the maritime provinces are the most abundant sources of emigration. Yet the seacoast popula. tion has increased, while that of the inland provinces, which contribute few emigrants, is much lower in comparison and remains stationary. In the year 1904 98,394 left Spain by sea, and 71,254 entered. These totals include the important movement between Spain and Africa, France and Gibraltar. The excess of emigration over immigration in Spain is from the most densely populated provinces, which continue to increase in population. As to the comparison of emigration from this country with emigration from other European nations, the statistics published by the Geographical and Statistical Institute of Spain give Ireland 7.37 emigrants per 1,000 inhabitants, and Spain 1.82 per 1,000.

No exact figures are obtainable as to the total of the important sums sent or brought into Spain by persons

who emigrated to America, but it is averred that in the year 1904 one banking house in Corunna paid $2,200,000 through drafts from America, entirely apart from any commercial transaction. In the same year the bank of Rio de la Plata paid drafts for $8,000,000. Therefore, it is not too much to infer that in the year 1904 $16,000,000 were sent or brought into this country by Spaniards who emigrated to the new world.

Germany.

During the eighties of the last century Germany sent as many as 200,000 emigrants to the United States in a single year. That is 10 times as many as she is sending to-day. The healthy development of German industries at home turned the tide of emigration from America to the cities, and the marvelous growth of such places as Berlin, Chemnitz, Nuremberg, and others has been the result. This Empire has so rationally understood not only how to stem the tide of a great emigration, even to such a country as the United States, but to render it possible for these people to better their condition and to found new homes within the limits of the mother country, where the population is already overcrowded and still increasing at the rate of 800,000 per annum.

Italy.

In 1905 more than 700,000 emigrants departed from Italy to seek homes in North and South America. This represents a population almost as large as the annual increase and gain which the German Empire adds to its population. Owing to the continual heavy drain in some parts, especially Venetia and Calabria, whole districts have become practically depopulated. It not uncommonly happens that an entire company, with a priest at its head, starts for the seaport to begin the journey to some part of America in order to seek out a new existence. The South American States, particularly Brazil, are the chief goal of the Italians, but the United States and Canada, too, receive a considerable part of this great stream of emi. gration. With their uncommonly small needs and surprisingly high degree of agricultural efficiency, there is no question but that the Italian emigrants will succeed in making good farmers. Their nature is also such that as soon as they get comfortably established, the desire to live well begins to assert itself. In this way Italian colonies become communities of great purchasing power. The Italian colonization in Brazil has increased in such a measure that in some districts the Italian language is beginning to crowd out the Portuguese, and the whole life is taking on quite an Italian character.

Whether Italy, like Germany, will ever be able to check this exodus of the country population seems more than doubtful. Unlike England and Germany, Italy will never, even proportionately, become a great industrial State. France has succeeded in keeping the pendulum evenly swinging between her agricultural and industrial interests. This is due to the fact that France gives few emigrants to foreign countries, while the birth rate adds but little in the shape of an increase to her annual census. Italy was also able to do this until the enormous emigration already referred to began to exert such a powerful influence upon her agricultural interests. The next few years must tell the tale whether the Italian tide of emigration will begin to ebb in consequence of more favorable conditions at home. - Daily Consular and Trade Reports, Nos. 2500 and 2509.