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that paid to American glassworkers, and in addition to that there is female labor and child labor. I saw married women carrying their babies to the factories-the manufacturer having provided a nursery, so that when the baby became hungry, the mother could leave her work and go nurse the baby. I visited the large factory at Val St. Lambert, referred to by one of the previous speakers, and I saw young girls wheeling cinders and coal, and carrying boxes that I am sure would tax the strength of an ordinary man.

Ten minutes is almost too brief a time to cover this matter, in the way I would like to do it, and I believe I had better confine myself to what we have done in the United States as workmen, trying to meet this evil of foreign competition.

When the tariff was reduced in 1893 or 1894, goods were shipped into this country by the boatload, loaded in cars and laid down in the factory yards in competition with the products of the American workmen, cheaper than the labor cost. A large number of our plants were thrown into idleness. We accepted a 20 per cent reduction in wages. We doubled our production of goods in a large number of lines, particularly the blown stem ware, such as plain tumblers, glasses for wines, cordials, cocktails, and that class of goods. When the tariff was changed the American manufacturer restored that 20 per cent reduction in wages, but we have never changed back to our old system of production. That increased production that was granted at that time still remains in force.

Two years ago on chemical lines, or wares used in laboratories and hospitals, which I understand comes in free of duty and on which class of goods I understand there is considerable deception-not smuggling, but deception-practiced by the importers of this country, we increased our production 90 per cent. We removed the limit of production and reduced the wages on certain lines with a view of enabling the American manufacturer to meet the foreign competitor and at the same time protect the American workman, so as to assure him a little more steady work than he had enjoyed. I am glad to say some good, but that it has not entirely remedied this evil. I want to say that every time the tariff has been touched and there has been a reduction in glassware, it has meant a reduction in wages and increased production. It has meant a change in system and it has a general disturbing effect upon the American glass industry.

I do not want you gentlemen to think that the American glassworker receives a very high rate of wage. I am familiar with the general cut-glass industry. I am familiar with the man who makes the blanks and am thoroughly familiar with the general cut-glass industry of this country. The men who cut the glass are the lowestpaid skilled mechanics in the United States of America. The men are obliged to serve five years' apprenticeship in that department of the trade. There are men working in that industry for $9 a week, and they are not the youngest men. The minimum rate for the union glass cutter is $15 a week for 55 hours' work. I do not think anybody will say that is an exorbitant wage. The average wage is just about as Mr. Carey states, at union shops, sixteen to seventeen dollars a week. There are nonunion shops in the State of Pennsylvania and in south Jersey that employ boys and girls. The average wage is about $7 a week.

PARAGRAPHS 97-98-GLASS AND GLASSWARE.

Mr. PALMER. How much do the blowers get?

Mr. RowE. Gentlemen, I do not want you to be timid about asking me questions. I am familiar with the wage paid in every line, from the small incandescent electric bulb on up. A man starts in at $2.80 a day. The blower gets $4.50. The man that blows that little glass globe that covers that electric bulb, when it is done on the American system, gets $4.50 a day, but when it is blown by the German method we have instituted the German method with a view of trying to meet the competition of Austria, Bohemia, and other southern continental European countries-the blower of that class of goods receives $6 a day. One of his helpers receives $4 a day; the next helper receives $3 a day. They are in a graduating period. The youngest man in the shop receives $3; the next man in the graduating period receives $4; and the next man $6 a day.

Mr. PALMER. They are a very highly paid class of skilled labor? Mr. RowE. That depends upon how you place them. There are about 30,000 skilled glassworkers in the United States. We have approximately 9,000 members in our organization. The average wage of our members for the year is $14 a week.

Mr. PALMER. For blowers?

Mr. Rowe. Yes, sir.

Mr. PALMER. The average wage of the blower is $14 a week?
Mr. Rowe. Yes, sir.

Mr. PALMER. Does that include helpers and apprentices?

Mr. Rowe. No, sir. That includes only the glassworker. The average wage paid members of our organization for the year is $14 a week.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Palmer asked you to confine your statements to the blowers.

Mr. PALMER. You just told me that the wages of the blowers ran from $3 to $4.50 a day.

Mr. RowE. From $3 to $6 a day.

Mr. PALMER. Now you say that the average of the blowers in your organization is $14 a week.

Mr. RowE. That is for the year; the average for the year. You will understand in the glass trade there is such a thing as the ingredients not running properly. The sand may not be in proper shape; the soda may not be in proper shape; the lead may be bad. A man reports to work on Monday morning, and it is found that the glass is bad and he is knocked out of that day's work. That glass is ladled out and remelted.

Mr. RAINEY. It is piecework, is it?

Mr. Rowe. About 85 per cent of the ware produced in the United States is on the piecework basis.

Mr. DALZELL. There is a certain period of the year when the glassworkers do not work at all, is there not?

Mr. RowE. The only period is two weeks in the summer. The only stop is the first two weeks in July. That is the only compulsory stop, and it is the vacation period agreed on between the manufacturers and the workers.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Do you represent the same organization that is represented by Mr. Falkner?

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Mr. Rowe. No, sir; he represented the National Window Glassworkers and I represent everything that is made in glass, etc., except window glass.

Here is a little pamphlet that I wrote, reporting to our convention held at Montreal, Quebec, in July, 1912, giving the conditions prevailing in the British Isles, England and Scotland, and particularly in France and Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, and Bohemia. I would like to leave a copy of this with the committee, and I would like to mail a copy of this to each member of the committee, if they have time to look it over.

The CHAIRMAN. If you will hand that to the stenographer it will be printed in the record, where everybody will see it.

Mr. Rowe. I would be glad to leave a copy of our quarterly report, showing that from June 1, 1911, to June 1, 1912, our average unemployed membership was 14 per cent. I would also like to leave a copy of the quarterly statement of the Glass Bottle Blowers' Association, which shows their average number of unemployed men in the past year was 25 per cent.

We have a large number of idle men in the American glass industries. We have no stone wall around the industry; we teach the American apprentice, and admit him to our organization without any high initiation fee; and we do everything we possibly can. At the same time we try to work in harmony with the manufacturers, in order to have all glassware used in the United States made by American workmen.

you

You can go into any 5 and 10 cent store in this country and will see there the stem ware from Belgium and Germany. I visited the McAlpine Hotel on Monday and one contract for stem ware alone-bar goods such as cordial glasses, wineglasses, goblets, and high-ball glasses, etc., amounted to $30,000 in one order, to be supplied through Wanamaker, importers for Val St. Lambert Glass Co., of Brussels, Belgium.

The chandeliers in this room are not made in this country.

Mr. RAINEY. You say the chandeliers in this room are imported? Mr. RowE. Yes, sir; they are not made in the United States. They can not compete with the imported article.

Mr. RAINEY. You must remember that they were all put in before the Democrats got control.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Rowe, you may file your briefs and they will be printed in the record.

BRIEFS SUBMITTED BY MR. T. W. ROWE.

Hon. O. W. UNDERWOOD,

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 7, 1913.

Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Washington, D. C.

HONORABLE SIR: In view of the following facts I hereby protest in behalf of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union against any reduction of the present tariff rates placed on imported glasswares.

First. Approximately there are 125,000 people employed in the American glass industry. Of this number there are, at least, 30,000 skilled mechanics.

Second. The wages paid the skilled glassworkers in continental Europe are about one-fourth and the unskilled labor about one-third the rate paid in the United States, while the cost of materials essential to glassware production is equal, and the advan

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tage in labor cost enjoyed by foreign manufacturers has enabled them to import annually (according to United States census reports) glasswares to the value of $7,000,000. Third. The low wage, long hours of labor, child labor, female labor, company-owned homes and stores, with their independence-destroying systems, all contribute their share toward large importations of glasswares and their accompanying injurious effect to the American workmen.

Fourth. Due to the aforestated truths, the members of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union reduced wages on certain lines, doubled their day's work with no material increase in wages on other lines, increased production on other lines, and suffered many other sacrifices for the purpose of having glasswares used in the United States, made by American workmen, and steady work, with its attending blessings enjoyed by them and their families.

Fifth. Notwithstanding the facts cited, 25 per cent of the members of the Glass Bottle Blowers' Association, and 14 per cent of the members of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union were in total idleness during the fiscal year, June, 1911, to May 31, 1912, while the continental European glass workers were steadily employed and their product landed on our shores and distributed among our people.

Evil competition in the American glass industry, due to the disturbing effect of foreign importations and domestic rivalry, causes blown glasswares to be sold at amazingly low prices, and that fearful fact renders the present American wage and condition insecurable, and aggravates an intensified nonprofitable relation between the employer and employee, which may lead to a terrible conflict if present tariff rates on glasswares are reduced.

In substantiation of the facts stated, I submit herewith a copy of the report of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union, delegate to the International Congress of Glass Workers, held in Berlin, September, 1911, and respectfully call your attention to the facts submitted and comparisons in wages, labor cost, cost of living, etc., as printed on pages 4, 5, 10, 11, 13, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30, 36, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63. Please observe that this report was written in June, 1912, and intended only for the enlightenment of the members of the American Flint Glass Workers' Union.

Therefore, we beseech you not to reduce the present tariff rates on glassware.
Respectfully,
T. W. ROWE,

President American Flint Glass Workers' Union, Toledo, Ohio,
In behalf of said Union.

EXTRACTS FROM REPORT OF T. W. Rowe, Delegate TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF GLASSWORKERS, BERLIN, GERMANY, SEPTEMBER, 1911.

WORKING HOURS.

The British flint glass worker toils six turns of eight hours each, or 48 hours a week. The turn generally commences on Tuesday morning and they complete their week's work early Saturday morning. But in some cases they commence at 7 o'clock Monday morning and finish their week on Friday night.

WAGES.

Another surprising feature connected with the British glass working conditions is their lack of uniformity in production. Each department establishes that which they term a move. In some districts they are permitted to make two moves in one turn, in others two and one-quarter, in others two and one-half and in some places, they make three moves in a turn. This, of course, makes their weekly rate of wage different, and it may be pertinent to state all work on a piecework basis. The wages of the very best caster place workmen in the British Isles would run from $13 to $18 a week, and in only a few cases do they exceed $15 a week. The servitor's wages would run from $10 to $12 a week, and the foot maker from $7 to $9 a week. The second-class caster place gaffer would average $11 to $12 a week, the servitor would average $8 to $9 a week, and the foot maker $6 to $7 a week. The highest paid wine workmen would run from $12 to $14 a week, the servitor $8 to $10 a week, and the gatherer from $6 to $7 a week. A second-class wine shop would average from $10 to $12 a week, servitor $7.50 to $8.50 a week, foot makers from $5.75 to $6.50 a week,

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The best pressers in England earn $9 and $10 a week; finishers earn the same amount, and the gatherers earn $6 and $7, and in some cases as low as $5 a week.

The aforegoing wages are the very best that are paid.

APPRENTICE SYSTEM.

A very peculiar feature connected with the British glass industry is their apprentice system. When a boy is put on as an apprentice he must work at whatever wages the employer deems it wise to pay until he reaches the age of 21 years in England, in Scotland 23 years, and it is a well-known fact that there are young men serving their apprenticeship blowing paste and iron mold wares at 2 shillings a turn, or about 48 cents; and there are apprentices gathering shades and caster place wares for $3.50 · a week of 48 hours. An exceptionally favored apprentice does not exceed $5 a week. Secretary Hussell bee informed me that he served in a wine chair for six years at $4 a week. Secretary Bradford served six years and 10 months at the same rate, and several years at $2.50 a week. Small boys gathering handles and doing other small boys' work at a factory receive 1 shilling or 24 cents a turn, and this system has prevailed since 1848.

ELECTRIC-BULB CONDITIONS.

There are two factories located on the Tyne making electric bulbs-one at Lemmington and the other at New Castle. The blower gathers and blows his bulb. On bulbs 2 inches and smaller they receive 1s., or 24 cents, a hundred; from 24 to 3 inches in diameter, they pay 1s. 2d., or 28 cents, a hundred; on 3 to 34 inches, they receive 32 cents a hundred. On large tungsten bulbs they receive 24 to 34 cents a hundred, and the blower is assisted by one boy, who receives 48 cents a day of 11 hours.

At Ponders End, 12 miles from London, where the Edison & Swan Co. employs 38 bulb workers and 8 men on tube shops, the bulb blower gathers and blows his own bulb. On the small sizes they receive 36 cents a hundred and on the larger sizes they receive 40 cents a hundred. They work on a strictly piecework basis. They explain the reason they receive a higher rate of wages per hundred for blowing bulbs than that paid in New Castle is due to the fact that at Ponders End they use a carbon mold that requires no paste or any wetting. They refer to it as being made of plum bago or black lead and assert that it is a slower method of blowing bulbs. Consequently they secure a higher rate of wages.

TUBE SHOPS.

The tube shops at this factory work 10 hours a day, and they work with two men on the shop. The gaffer receives $3 a day and the servitor $2 a day. This company operates with two furnaces, an eight pot and a six pot, and has quite a large plant fitting out electric bulbs.

SUMMER STOP.

The British glassmakers have no summer stop.

WAGES IN OTHER TRADES.

In addition to the wages paid to the glassworkers in England, I inquired about men employed at other trades and I found that the wages of other mechanics are as follows: