communication with American manufacturers of men's, women's, and children's boots and shoes. The addresses of these merchants may be obtained of the Bureau of Manufactures, Washington, D. C.; mention file number 396. Cuban representation. -Mark Cooper, of Salisbury, Md., intends to locate in Cuba and establish sales offices for general machinery supplies and invites correspondence with manufacturers of power and electrical equipments, plumbers', contractors', and builders' supplies, telephone outfits, etc. Alimentary products.-H. Loor & Co., 128 Rue de l'Instruction, Bruxelles, Midi, Belgium, wants to correspond with American firms putting up various food products. Footwear. Robert Schlesinger, Wallfischgasse 2, Vienna, I, Austria, conducts business as retail shoe dealer and carries an assorted stock of all kinds of domestic and foreign manufacture. He states is in position to pay cash. Correspondence in German. Goods for Italy. - Michele Ferrando, via Magnocavallo 53, Naples, Italy, requests the names of manufacturers of rubber overshoes, canvas shoes with rubber soles, surgical rubber goods, ironmongery, and cheap cotton goods. Desires to represent manufacturers in these lines throughout Italy; correspondence to be in French. Goods for Belgium. - An importing agent at a Belgian port would like to handle the following goods of American manufacture: Motor boats, refrigerators, all kinds ventilators, wheelbarrows, push carts, scrubbing boards, wringers, and wire rope. Write Bureau of Manufactures, Washington, D. C., and mention file number 418. Shoes. -A wholesale Belgian dealer in boots and shoes handling American goods to some extent wishes to communicate with American manufacturers making the following grade of shoes: Goodyear welt, to cost at factory $2.25 to $2.60; machine sewed, Goodyear style, $1.60 to $2; white canvas, 80 cents to $1.10. Also the following grades of women's shoes: Goodyear welt, $1.75 to $2.50; machine sewed, $1.35 to $1.60. His address may be obtained of the Bureau of Manufactures, Washington, D. C.; his file num ber is 419. Russian representation. — A Warsaw firm of general commercial and forwarding agents and representatives is desirous of entering into business relations with first-class American firms. The address of this firm may be obtained from the Bureau of Manufactures, Washington, D. C. When writing mention file number 423. Hardware. A merchant in Servia desires catalogues and prices on all kinds of hardware materials, carpenters' tools, stoves for cooking and heating, table knives and forks. This party now buys chiefly from Germany. All correspondence should be in German, and if possible catalogues printed in German should be sent, with weights and measures of the metric system. The address of this merchant may be obtained from the Bureau of Manufactures, Washington, D. C., by referring to file number 424. Cutlery and hardware.-N. S. Byramji, 43 Todd street, Bombay, India, writes: "There is still a better field for merchants dealing in cutlery and hardware, and if any of these will communicate with me I think I will be able to place him in a very good business. It should always be remembered while dealing with India that only those goods stand chances of success which compare favorably in price with German articles." Clogs. In the Northern countries of England it is estimated that there are at least four million pairs of clogs sold each year. The United States Consul has sent to the Bureau of Manufactures, Washington, D. C., four pairs of finished clogs of average style and quality, also the "blocks" from which soles are shaped, together with a full set of machine-made soles and a few hand-made soles. These samples will be loaned interested parties in the order of application. Vehicles. Consul W. W. Canada, of Veracruz, Mexico, writes: Veracruz will shortly open up as a market for all kinds of vehicles. The long-delayed work of paving the city's streets with asphalt was commenced recently, and when completed will result in transforming the present methods of transportation within the city limits. All the heavy, ungainly, and antiquated carts will have to give way to modern vehicles, as the use of the former has been prohibited by city ordinance, when once the asphalt has been laid. At a conservative estimate we figure that there are in this city alone some 500 carts of the kind described, the use of which will have to be abandoned. These vehicles are owned by a few individuals, of whom it might be said that they bave a monopoly of the drayage business of this port. As a natural consequence the light business wagon, as well as the buggy, may be expected to come into general use in course of time. Of this class of vehicles there are but three or four now in town, but doubtless, when a free-delivery system is adopted by the merchants, which will come sooner or later, the light delivery wagon will also have to come to the front. Exporters and manufacturers would do well to look after this market in time, bearing in mind that the draft mule of this section is rarely above 13% hands in height and that three animals are now required to haul one ton weight. I give a list giving the names of cart owners and of the principal importers to whom catalogues, with cuts and prices, should be sent. Spanish language should be used. [Names will be furnished to applicants by Bureau of Manufactures, Washington, D. C.; mention file number 454.] Paper bags. A German merchant informs an American consul that American manufacturers of paper bags which would take the place of those made of jute and other materials, millions of which are used in Germany for the packing of chemicals, fertilizers, etc., could find a ready sale for their products in that country. The bags should range in size from 3 feet by 6 feet down to smaller dimensions. The merchant would be pleased to receive samples and prices and would act as agent for placing orders. Name and address will be supplied by the Bureau of Manufactures, Washington, D. C.; mention file number 451. RECENT INCREASES IN WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES. Influenced undoubtedly by the extraordinary prosperity which is now prevalent throughout the United States, wages have shown a decided tendency to rise, and within the past few months remarkable increases have been reported. These increases have not been confined to any one section of the country nor to any particular industry. The most pronounced recent increases have been in wages paid to steam and electric railway employees and to textile operatives. In February, 1906, the Boston and Maine Railroad increased the wages of 3,000 employees, adding $140,000 to its annual pay roll, and it was reported that an increase would be granted to other employees in the near future, the policy of the company being not to grant a general increase to all employees at the same time but to increase the wages in different branches of the service at different intervals. Shortly after the Boston and Maine increase was made, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company voluntarily advanced the wages of 6,825 men, making an annual increase in its pay roll of $200,000. Practically all branches were benefited by this advance. The Boston and Albany Railroad more recently made certain advances in the wages of about 200 men distributed in nearly every branch of the service. These advances will involve an addition to the annual pay roll of $14,600. Early in November, The Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company granted substantial increases to their employees. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company ordered an advance of 10 per cent in the wages of all permanent employees on the lines east of Pittsburg and Erie receiving less than $200 a month, the increase to take effect December 1, 1906. About 125,000 men were benefited, which means an increase of $8,435,424 a year in wages paid by the company. Similar advances are promised employees on the lines west of Pittsburg. The increase in the western lines will affect more than 60,000 employees and will add an expense of between $3,500,000 and $4,000,000 to the pay rolls. The increases now ordered and in contemplation, therefore, will favor 185,000 employees of The Pennsylvania Railroad Company and will involve an increased outlay of about $12,000,000 for wages. The increase granted to the employees of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company will benefit about 25,000 persons. Shortly after these announcements, the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company voluntarily granted an increase to more than 1,100 agents and to approximately 500 operatives, the total increase in the annual wage budget amounting to about $120,000. The Norfolk and Western Railway granted an increase of 10 per cent in wages to all employees now receiving less than $200 a month, the advance to take effect December 1, 1906. The Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company then announced that it would grant a 10-hour day to all trainmen in its employ, a concession which had already been granted to engineers and switchmen, and further stated that an increase in wages on the 10-hour basis was under consideration. On November 24, 3,000 firemen on the New York Central Lines were granted an increase in wages varying from six to seven per cent, and on the same day the United States Steel Corporation announced that an increase of 10 cents a day would be paid to about 50,000 laborers in its branch plants in the Pittsburg steel district. The increase will affect all the men employed at the numerous plants of The Carnegie Company, the American Sheet Steel Company, and the American Steel and Wire Company. There have been numerous instances of increases in wages granted to street railway employees in various sections of the country. During the past summer, in the settlement of disputes with the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees, several large traction companies in Chicago and vicinity granted increases aggregating $500,000 annually to about 10,000 employees. In November, the Boston Elevated Railway Company voluntarily increased the wages of 5,300 men employed on the elevated and surface lines. The increase varies from 10 to 25 cents a day, and the annual increase in the pay roll will amount to about $160,000. The Montreal (Canada) Street Railway recently decided to increase the wages of conductors and motormen one cent an hour, which will mean an annual increase of $75,000 in the wages paid by the company. Following the plan adopted by the railroads of the country, two of the largest express companies, the American and the National, each announced an increase of 10 per cent to all employees whose wages did not exceed $200 a month and had not been increased within 12 months. About 10,000 employees of the American Express Company were affected, and between $600,000 and $700,000 was added to the annual pay roll. The increase in we yes paid to textile operatives has been general throughout New England. In Maine, ing the past summer, the mills of Biddeford, Lewiston, and Waterville, together employing nearly 10,000 operatives, announced an increase amounting to five per cent. In July, the cotton mills of Manchester, N. H., posted notices announcing an increase of five per cent in wages for 15,000 operatives, amounting to an annual increase of more than $250,000. In Massachusetts, corresponding increases during the summer months were granted, in many instances voluntarily. In November, as a result of the determined stand taken by cotton operatives of Fall River, the managers of 93 mills, employing about 30,000 operatives, granted a general increase of 10 per cent to go into effect November 26 for a period of six months. It is expected that advances of from five to 10 per cent in other mills of Eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Eastern Connecticut will soon follow. The numerous and substantial increases in wages of employees in the various industries of this country have, in many instances, been granted voluntarily, no doubt in recognition of the unusual prosperity enjoyed by the respective organizations concerned. In other cases the justice of the demands of employees for a share in the general prosperity of the country and of individual concerns has been recognized. Then, also, the scarcity of labor has been unprecedented. In Bradstreet's of October 27, we read that "Cotton picking has been hampered, the output of cotton manufactures has been restricted, the production of iron and steel has been cut down, while copper as well as ore mining operations have been reduced somewhat by the one common cause, paucity of labor." A report from Chicago says that the railroads of the West are calling for 50,000 laborers for construction work, and that such work is being retarded by the inability of the roads to secure sufficient common labor. In connection with the rise in wages, the general prosperity of the country and the scarcity of labor, which are correlated phenomena, the accompanying rise in prices must also be taken into consideration. A report of the United States Bureau of Labor for 1905 shows that the retail prices of meat, flour, vegetables, and other articles of food have materially increased over prices recorded in 1904. In view of this advance in prices of food, for which the wage-earner spends a large proportion of his income, the wage advances being accorded him are not only justifiable, but necessary, if he is to maintain his present standard of living.* The natural inquiry arising from a careful consideration of the above facts would be "What follows higher wages?" In Moody's Magazine for November, 1906, appears a paragraph under that caption from which the following remarks are taken: "With the cost of living at the highest point for 25 years and rising rapidly, it is only fair that labor should receive a share of the present unprecedented prosperity. Nor is it probable that labor's demands for increased pay will, in most cases, be refused if they are reasonable and are presented in a proper way. It is, however, history that periods of rising wages soon run into periods of strikes and lockouts. It is human nature to want more of all good things. This applies to the profits of greedy employers as well as to the wages of dissatisfied workingmen. Hence a compromise is not always possible when labor asks for more than employers are willing to grant. Judging the future by the past, labor will soon begin to demand more than employers will grant, and then trouble will begin which will not end until industry has been retarded and prosperity is ended. . . . It is not improbable that a new adjustment must soon be made. It is almost certain that during this process great friction will result; great economic and political disturbances will take place." Whatever may be the result of the upward movement of prices and wages, together with the attendant insufficiency in the supply of labor of all kinds, it is undoubtedly true that the crest of the wave of prosperity has not yet been reached and that the full report of the advances in wages has yet to be written. See p. 495, ante. |