DURATION OF INTERMISSIONS IN ESTABLISHMENTS OPERATING CONTINUOUSLY.

In the establishments operating continuously, 41.5 per cent of the workmen had intermissions which together were equal to one hour or less, 46.8 per cent had intermissions of more than one hour, including two hours, and 2.2 per cent had intermissions of more than two hours; the remaining 9.5 per cent is composed of glassworkers, maltsters, etc., whose intermission came at times allowed by the work, and therefore extremely irregular, while a few had no rest periods at all, though in such cases the shift was short in duration.

The following tables show these facts for the various industry groups:

TOTAL FACTORIES OPERATING CONTINUOUSLY AND TOTAL WORKERS, AND PER CENT OF FACTORIES AND OF WORKERS HAVING SPECIFIED LENGTH OF REST PERIODS, BY INDUSTRY GROUPS, 1906.

PER CENT OF FACTORIES OPERATING CONTINUOUSLY AND OF WORKERS HAVING SPECIFIED LENGTH OF REST PERIODS IN THE FORENOON AND IN THE AFTERNOON, BY INDUSTRY GROUPS, 1906.

Per cent of establishments and of employees having rest periods during

The forenoon (or preceding midnight) The afternoon (or after midnight) of

of

EARLY CLOSING ON SATURDAY AND ON DAYS PRECEDING HOLIDAYS.

The following table shows the number and proportion of establishments and employees having a shorter working-day on Saturday and on days preceding holidays.

ESTABLISHMENTS AND EMPLOYEES WITH SHORTER WORKING-DAY ON SATURDAY AND ON DAYS PRECEDING HOLIDAYS, BY INDUSTRY GROUPS, 1906.

The total line in the preceding table shows that 32.9 per cent of the factory employees have a shorter working-day on Saturday and 44.2 per cent a shorter day on days preceding holidays. Of the males employed in factories 30.8 per cent had a shorter working-day on Saturday and 40.2 per cent on days preceding holidays, while of the females 37.7 per cent had a shorter day on Saturdays and 53.9 per cent on days preceding holidays. The more favorable rest periods granted to females is doubtless due to the desire to afford them opportunity to perform household work for which they are unable to find time during the week.

RECENT FOREIGN STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS.

CHILE.

El Trabajo en la Industria Salitrera. Informes Presentados a la Oficina de Estadistica del Trabajo. 1908. 119 pp.

The results of an inquiry into the condition of labor in the saltpeter industry of northern Chile are given in this volume. The extraction of this mineral forms a most important branch of Chilean industry, in the Province of Tarapacá alone more than 20,000 persons in a population of 110,036 being employed in the various operations of mining and preparing the niter for market.

The investigation was conducted in 1908 by a special agent of the Chilean Bureau of Labor Statistics and covers the subjects of systems of employment, wages, hours of labor, cost of living, the truck system, industrial accidents, the consumption of alcoholic liquors, vital statistics, savings, and other questions affecting the social and economic welfare of workers. Much of the information is presented in tabular form. The conditions of labor are described as dangerous, the laborers being employed in a rigorous climate, in a section of country that is practically a desert, and at exhausting employment. The moral, social, and economic conditions were found to be extremely bad, one result being shown in a death rate of 3.38 per 100, as against a birth rate of but 3.09; while, on account of the isolated situation of the region, civil administration is very defective.

The report comprises 12 chapters, or subdivisions, of which the first is composed of copies of official letters relating to the investigation, while the second is devoted to a reproduction of a memorial presented to the Government in 1904 by operators and proprietors of saltpeter works in Tarapacá and Antofagasta concerning certain measures proposed for the betterment of conditions among the working classes. This memorial gave the amount invested in the saltpeter industry, including necessary railway construction, as over 287,000,000 pesos ($104,755,000). It was also claimed that wage payments amounting to 30,000,000 pesos ($10,950,000) were made at the mines and works and 8,000,000 pesos ($2,920,000) to workmen employed in transportation. Some of the hardships claimed to exist by workmen and others were acknowledged, but emphasis was laid on

1 The conversion of Chilean money is made on the basis: 1 peso equals 36.5 cents.

1

the provisions made by the operators to provide for the welfare of the workmen, the deficiencies in administration, etc.

The third chapter deals with the subject of work and wages, the data being based on the results of the investigation. Three systems of labor are in general use in the niter fields. Under the first are included those persons whose work is to extract the crude materials from the earth. Such workers are subdivided into two classes, according to the character of labor which they perform, the earnings in each case being based on a definite unit of work. Drill men, called barreteros, are those whose work consists in sinking the holes for the reception of explosives used in loosening the soil around the saltpeter veins. These men are paid a stipulated amount for each foot of excavation, the amount varying from 70 centavos (26 cents) to 2 pesos (73 cents), according to the hardness of the materials encountered and the time required for blasting. The average daily earnings of this class of employees are given as 5.5 pesos ($2.01).

The second class of laborers, known as particulares, separate and remove the useful material after the shots have been fired, piling it in heaps of uniform size alongside of the pits. The pay of these employees is governed by the amount of salt-laden earth (caliche) handled, the prevailing unit being a cartload weighing 45 quintals (Spanish). The rate of pay varies according to the difficulties of removing the material, the depth of the excavation, the hardness of the deposit, etc. The average daily earnings of particulares are given in the report as 6 pesos ($2.19). Workers of the foregoing classes enjoy a considerable degree of independence, choosing their own places of work and being under no surveillance or obligation to labor a fixed number of hours per day. The average length of the working day is estimated at eight hours. About 55 per cent of all laborers in the saltpeter works belong to this group.

The second system comprises those laborers who are employed in the various operations connected with the refinement and preparation of the crude saltpeter for the market. This work must be performed at fixed hours and in a definite time, and is usually done in gangs of four or eight men, because this system lends itself most readily to the accomplishment of the best results. The length of the working day is usually 10 hours, exclusive of time spent at meals. The earnings of these employees are dependent on the amount of work done by the gang, the average for each worker ranging from 5 pesos ($1.83) to 7 pesos ($2.56) per day.

Teamsters who transport the crude materials from the pits to the refineries constitute the third system of labor. The workmen in this group are paid under a minimum task system, the basis of which is a certain number of loads-usually 14, but varying with the distance traveled and the difficulty of hauling-which can be delivered in a day