Non producing help.-The following table gives a fair average of the wages paid to the nonproducing help. Individual ability and consequent worth necessarily differ greatly both in England and America. In some branches, however, the rates of wages are accurately fixed under the day-wage-piecework system, there being a fixed rate of wages per day with a certain amount of work to be performed for that amount of wage. Comparative wages per week, non producing help.

PARAGRAPHS 92-94-POTTERY.

OUTPUT OF ONE POTTERY PLANT FOR ONE YEAR.

To give a still more accurate idea of the cost of producing earthenware in England and America, I have taken from the books of a factory the actual output of their whiteware production, the comparison being confined to staple goods, and values figured on journeymen's wages. This comparison, however, is extremely favorable to the foreign manufacturer on account of a larger proportion of the goods being produced by apprentice labor than is the case with the American production. These figures leave out of consideration the apprenticeship question entirely.

PARAGRAPHS 92-94-POTTERY.

The total cost in England for producing this ware was $13,634.69, while in America the cost was $21,738.95. Adding to these figures the other labor cost, we have the total wage cost, as follows:

The material used in the production of the above quantities of ware are given below:

Adding to the above the other elements entering into the cost, we have the following comparative total cost of the product:

Although the difference given above appears large, it does not fully indicate the real difference, largely on account of the conditions surrounding the manufacture of pottery in England and America:

(1) The age limit of children working in the potteries under certain conditions is 10 years in England, and 14 years in America.

(2) The ratio of male to female labor being 80 females to 100 males in England, while in America the ratio is 19 females to 100 males. The following quotation from the English Board of Trade report would indicate that the American potter need not look for any help in this direction. On page No. 141 of said report is the following:

"It appears that women and girls are very largely employed in the pottery industry. In some branches of the trade they being employed to an increased extent upon which a few years ago was performed almost exclusively by men. They are now actively engaged in competition with male labor, and as they are able to do similar work for lower wages, they are gradually driving men from certain sections of the trade. The reason given for this is the usual one-women do the work as satisfactorily as the men, and the cutting of prices in trade competition drives the employer to resort to low paid labor."

PARAGRAPHS 92-94-POTTERY.

(3) In England the piecework wages are paid for "good from oven." That is, the workman is paid only for such ware as comes from the kiln in perfect condition. In America the ware is paid for "good from hand," the manufacturer assuming all the loss. The English manufacturer considers this method worth about 5 per cent of their clay shop cost.

(4) The apprenticeship system is a great help to the English manufacturer on account of his long term of years of apprenticeship, having the use of the boys during that period at very low wages, and the further benefit of having well-trained operatives at the end of their term of apprenticeship, whereas in America the trade-union rules restrict the number of apprentices, limiting the time and consequent efficiency on entering the trade as a journeyman.

DECORATING.

The difference in cost of decorating is becoming more and more important, because of the fact that from 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the output of the American factory is now decorated. The following tables indicate the difference in cost of decorating materials, and labor cost:

The decorators' wages, like those of the potters, are based on piecework prices and show a corresponding difference in rate paid, so that in either the production of the white ware or the decorating of the same the question of greater efficiency of the one or the other is of no consequence in considering the cost of production.

78959-VOL 1-13- -42

PARAGRAPHS 92-94-POTTERY.

ENGLISH METHOD OF ARRIVING AT COST.

I have taken the following table from the English Manufacturing Potters' Association's book of costs, inserting therein corresponding American costs, which again proves the previous tables showing the cost of production:

Realizing how largely the actual number of hours worked during a given nominal day enters into the cost of the product, and knowing how greatly the days differ in length in the different countries, I secured from over 20 of our largest manufacturers the actual number of hours worked by the various operatives covering a given length of time. These figures show that 4,967 employees-men, women, girls, and boys, skilled and unskilled-worked 469,516 hours (actual time being kept) and earned $126,560.74, or an average of 24.83 cents per hour. Segregating these figures, I find the following average:

Skilled men earn at the rate of $0.405 per hour; unskilled men earn at the rate of $0.225 per hour; skilled women earn at the rate of $0.221 per hour; unskilled women earn at the rate of $0.138 per hour; unskilled boys earn at the rate of $0.162 per hour; unskilled girls earn at the rate of $0.086 per hour.

Not having as accurate data for England and other foreign countries, but knowing that at the low rate of wages every hour of the day must be occupied to produce the meager wages earned by them, I find the following result: