ever, they and all men like them deserve praise and encouragement. Having determined that such an experiment might justify itself in a commercial sense as well as on humanitarian grounds, it was still in their option to provide merely comfortable tenements for their men, plain structures for shops, and ordinary facilities for cleanliness and sanitation, and for these even they would have deserved well, and yet they go much broader and deeper, and decide upon the most perfect methods of drainage for which their site afforded no facilities, and for a system of gas and water distribution to every house and apartment. They construct permanent streets and an elaborate system of drainage. Not content with plain buildings they exhaust the architect's skill in designing the greatest variety of forms for dwellings suited in size and appurtenance to all grades of employees; they erect costly and beautiful buildings for public uses, the church, library, and market house, public halls, theater, savings bank, and stores; they furnish a park for field sports, amphitheater for games, and every facility for recreation, physical and mental; and the place is neatly and attractively ornamented with lawns, shade trees, artificial lakes, fountains and flowers. In brief, they stop at nothing short of a model establishment constructed upon plans which are the result of the widest experience, and the best observation for which modern life affords opportunities. While all this is done at a considerable outlay of money, which to the ordinary manufacturer might seem reckless, and commercially at least unjustifiable, the conviction grew upon us, as the details of this magnificent work became understood, that although no such motive has ever been proclaimed there was really a noble and broad inspiration in the original conception of the undertaking beyond that of merely making the greatest possible amount of money; beyond that of mere personal glorification; an inspiration looking to an actual elevation of the standard of life among the working people who might be fortunate enough to be identified with it. Nothing could be more laudable from our point of view than this, and the Pullman company deserves well of their employees and of all men, not only for what they have accomplished for themselves and their own, but for the conspicuous example they have given the world of the nobler uses of great wealth. It is our view of the case moreover that even if they had attempted and accomplished much less, or even had made great mistakes, they would still deserve commendation for their manifest disposition to recognize the welfare of their employees as of the first concern to themselves. To the growth of such a sentiment among employees, and the practice of it in whatever degree circumstances may permit in smaller establishments, must we look for the real alleviation of the burdens which labor imposes upon those who live by it. As to the question of earnings in the various grades of employment, and the cost of living within as compared with that outside the community, we are not, as we have already indicated, disposed to insist that the one be greater, and the other less, than elsewhere in order to demonstrate the advantages of the place. We should rather say that were there to be an actual money balance, or not, at the end of the year in favor of the average workman at Pullman, there must be a balance in his favor in all those things which go to make up comfortable and healthful living, in opportunities for the education of children, and their protection from dangerous influences; in the incentives to self-respect and self-culture, and in all the social, moral and sanitary influences which surround the life of every one at Pullman. If the workman at Pullman lives in a "gilded cage," we must congratulate him on its being so handsomely gilded; the average workman does not have his cage gilded. That there is any cage or imprisonment about it is not true, save in the sense that all men are circumscribed by the conditions with which they surround themselves, and imprisoned by the daily duties of life." It is quite possible that the Pullman company has been organized and developed thus far on a plan as comprehensive as commercial prudence permits, but when the experiment as now outlined shall have become an established success, it would be gratifying to see certain additional features considered, and if feasible, introduced for practical test. To make Pullman the ideal establishment of the theorists, in addition to the option of purchasing homes and the strength which must come from diversified industry, one would naturally expect that when this enterprise shall have survived adversity as well as prosperity, and the wise and beneficent policy now being tested shall have borne its fruits in a permanent community of intelligent and prosperous workingmen, it may then be found possible to advance them to a share of the profits of the business itself. However this may be, we think we are justified in the belief that, as long as the present management or the spirit of the present management exists, the beneficent features of this most progressive industrial establishment will be extended as rapidly as circumstances may ripen for them. Let the model manufactory and the industrial community of Pullman city be commended as they deserve for whatever they are or what they promise to be. Let them be held up to the manufacturers and employers of men throughout the country as worthy of their emulation. Let Mr. Pullman and his coadjutors be assured of the good wishes of all those who seek the advancement of their kind. CARROLL D. DWIGHT, Chief, Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor. Chief, Pennsylvania Bureau of Industrial Statistics. Commissioner, Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chief, New Jersey Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industries. 374 H. A. NEWMAN, [ASSEMBLY, No. 26.] Commissioner, Missouri Bureau of Labor Statistics & Inspection. Secretary, Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chief, Indiana Bureau of Statistics and Geology. Commissioner, New York Bureau of Statistics of Labor. Commissioner, California Bureau of Labor Statistics. Dep. Com., Mich. Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics. Commissioner, Wisconsin Bureau of Labor Statistics. Commissioner, Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chief, Maryland Bureau of Statistics of Labor. HENRY LUSKEY, Secretary. President of Convention. 375 MEMORANDA OF A VISIT OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE UNITED STATES COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, CONSISTING OF MESSRS. ALDRICH AND GEORGE, TO THE HOUSES OF COTTON-MILL OPERATIVES AT FALL RIVER, MASS., SEPTEMBER 4, 1883. The committee was accompanied by Mr. Robert Howard, secretary of the Mule Spinners' Association, and by gentlemen interested in the mill property. The first houses visited were in the Bourne mill block, and consisted of tenements having two stories and an attic each. The committee visited the dwellings of: A spinner (French-Canadian). The household consisted of nine members of the family and three boarders; the number of rooms six, of which four were bedrooms. Two children of the family worked in the mills, making about $2.50 per week each. A spinner (French-Canadian). The family consisted of six, of which the father and two children worked in the mills. The apartments consisted of six rooms, of which four were bed rooms. An overseer (American). The family consisted of a father, mother, and two children. There were six rooms; rent $8 per month. In the Shove mill block the committee visited the dwelings of: A weaver (French-Canadian). The household consisted of six persons; the number of rooms five, of which four were bedrooms. and one a room answering the purpose of eating-room, sitting-room and kitchen. per A weaver. The household consisted of eight persons, of whom six were boarders. The head of the household worked eight looms, sometimes making as much as $10 per week; never more than that. The price for board was $4 each per week for men and $3 each week for women, which included washing. The number of rooms was five, of which four were bedrooms, and one answering the purposes of eating-room, sitting-room, and kitchen. The family were at dinner when the committee arrived. In reply to a question as to what sort of fare they lived on, they said that on some days they had for dinner potato pie, on others sausages, sometimes beefsteak and onions. The beefsteak cost them 24 cents per pound. As they did not have any children they thought they lived better than operatives having a family. Milk, they said, was six cents a quart; coal $7 a ton. In the Slade mills block the committee visited the dwellings of: A spinner. The household consisted of seven persons, of whom two were boarders. The father of the family had worked in a mill since he was nine years old; was making now about $10 per week; said he had saved no money and could not save any; did not know any spinner having a family who had saved any money. He thought he could save some if he had only himself to care for, or perhaps if his children were big enough to work in the mill. The boarders were women operatives and paid for their board each $3 per week, which included washing. The number of rooms was five, of which three were on the ground floor and two on the third floor (the attic), the second-story rooms being occupied by another family. They could not afford to buy coal in larger quantities than a barrel at a time, for which they paid $1, which made the coal cost, they said, something over $8 per ton. There was no water in the buildings in this block except, as this tenant told the committee, some "green, stagnated" water under the building of which he said there was enough to make anybody sick. The rain beat in under the building and the water became stagnant there. A weaver (French-Canadian). The family consisted of seven persons, father, mother and five children. The father and two daughters worked in the mills. The rooms consisted of five, of which three were bedrooms. The family had come to Fall River from below Quebec three years ago. They had had a small farm in Canada, which they sold when coming to Fall River, and were now trying to save money to go back to Canada and buy another farm. The mother said, in answer to questions, that she would be contented on a farm there. The health of the family, she said, was fair, although the ground on which the houses was built was low, there were no cellars, and the water gathered under the buildings. A print-works operative. The family consisted of husband, wife, and three children, the eldest child being seven years old. The husband and wife both worked in the mills, he in the print works, she as a weaver. His wages were $7.50 a week; her's generally about $8.40. The wife worked, she said, because her husband was not strong, and was sometimes obliged to lie idle; and if she did not work they would, in idle time, have nothing on which to support the family. Owing to the difference in the character of their work, she could earn more money than he could; and as long as she was able to work she was willing. The working hours were from 6:30 A. M. to 6 P. M., three-quarters of an hour being allowed for dinner. In the Chance mill block the committee visited the dwellings of: A weaver (an Englishman). The household consisted of five members of the family and nine boarders. The wages of the head of the family were $1.15 per day. The couple had been married forty-three years. The price paid for board was, by men, $3.50 per week each; by women, $3 per week each. They were strong, hearty people. "My husband never drinks," the wife said. "We have been here ten years, and he hasn't taken six glasses of any thing in that time." She said they worked like slaves, of course he in the mill and she in keeping the house and the boarders. But she thought they lived very well - the household consuming, she |