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SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT

OF THK

Bureau of Labor Statistics and

Inspector of Factories

and Workshops

OF THE

STATE OF OREGON From October 1, 1914. to September 30, 1916

TO

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR

AND THE

Twenty-Ninth Legislative Assembly, Regular Session

1917

O. p. HOFF, Commissioner

Sai.km, Okkgon:

STATK PKINTINCi nKPAKTMKNT 1916

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Inspector of Factories and Workshops, Salem, Oregon, December 31, 1916.

To His Excellency the Governor, and to the Hon- orable Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon:

In accordance with an Act of the Legislature of 1903, creating the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Inspector of Factories and Workshops, I have the honor to present to you the Seventh Biennial Report of the Bureau for the State of Oregon, ending September 30, 1916. Respectfully,

0. P. HOFF,

Commissioner.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In presenting this, the seventh biennial report, this Department desires to express its appreciation of the assistance, friendly aid and cooperation extended the Department by the owners and managers of the different industries under its jurisdiction, who cheerfully complied with requests for the betterment of the working conditions of their employes and the safeguarding of their machinery, as well as complying with the requests for statistical information; the zeal and loyalty displayed by the field deputies and office force in the carrying out of their work, to the heads of the various departments of state, and federal, for information fur- nished and other valuable coopei'ation extended in the compilation and issuance of this report; for valuable information cheerfully furnished; to the private employment agencies, the Portland Public Employment Bureau, the U. S. Employment Service; to the county, city and town officials for generous aid and cooperation in the gathering of official statistics; to the labor organizations, the Child Labor Commission, Indus- trial Welfare Commission and to the public generally in lending their valuable assistance and hearty cooperation in furthering the interests and bettering the conditions of the laboring people of Oregon generally, to all of whom this Department feels greatly indebted for whatever measure of success has been achieved in the past and for the abundant promise for the continued improvement of conditions that is held out for the future.

Commissioner.

REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS

WORK OF BUREAU EXPANDING

New conditions are continually arising which, to some extent, change, and, at other times, create new work for the Bureau. The working people throughout the State now look upon this Bureau as the place to come for information and advice in the major portion of their difficul- ties arising from their employment. By giving courteous and pains- taking attention to their requests for information as to their rights and privileges under the labor laws of the Stfite, much litigation has been avoided. The working people, as a class, are not unreasonable, and only want what is their right and justice, and I believe that in nearly every instance where the law has been interpreted to them by this Bureau and they have been pointed out their error, they have cheerfully acquiesced and" gone about their labors uncomplainingly. The burdens and respon- sibilities devolving upon this Bureau are steadily increasing and, I think I can say, with due regard to modesty, that this Bureau is amply equipped and quite equal to any and all occasions which may arise within its province. Careful supervision of factory inspection and close scrutiny of every situation from all angles, so as to be able to meet, cope with and improve the conditions of the working classes generally, are chief among the duties of this Bureau.

ORGANIZED LABOR

That labor organizations are a substantial benefit to a community cannot be successfully contradicted. They are the upholders of the American standard of living and doing. Being of human composition they, like the human individual and other human organizations, sometimes make mistakes and sometimes serious ones, but, has the public at large the right to judge and condemn them by their worst mistakes unless they, them- selves, are willing to be judged and condemned by their worst faults and weaknesses? By meeting together and discussing the issues of the day, their grievances, etc., when such discussions are conducted in honest toleration and due respect is accorded the honest opinions of everybody, an opportunity is offered for the broadening of the intellect and inculcat- ing the spirit of square dealing in all of their transactions. It also tends to create a fraternal feeling among the working people which helps to make life more pleasant and lighten their burdens of toil and responsi- bility. Many of these organizations maintain mutual benefit insurance which serve as a material relief to the manifold burdens of the taxpayer in many ways. Full cooperation between the employer and the employe, supported by a mutual understanding of the rights and privileges of each, is, after all, the ideal system and should be fostered and encouraged upon everv side and occasion.

WAGE-PAYMENT REGULATION

There is urgent need for a law in this state for the protection of the laboring man or woman to the extent of insuring him or her against the unnecessary, sometimes serious, delay in the settlement of wages due when the work is finished. The failure of employers to settle up with their help, after the job is complete, has been the cause of a greater number of complaints received by this bureau than from, perhaps, all other causes and, in many instances, the laborer has been subjected to great annoyance, humiliation and suffering because of his inability to

SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

collect what is coming to him from the employer. There is no law at present to which the laborer has recourse in case of inability on the part of the employer to pay, as claimed, after having contracted for the labor and the job is finished, and this state of affairs has been the breeder of much justifiable discontent among the laboring people. The "laborer is worthy of his hire" and there is no good reason why he should be compelled to wait for his money after he has finished his work. He not only sustains a serious loss of time in being subjected to a delay in settle- ment, but, in many instances, where he is dependent upon his earned wage to pay his transportation to another job, he is the loser of a good job as a consequence. In some cases, no doubt, where unforeseen compli- cations arise, the employer is honest and not to blame in his inability to settle up, but these instances are extremely rare. If a law were enacted providing for an allowance of a reasonable amount of compensation for whatever delay is suffered by the laborer in awaiting a settlement, I am firmly of the opinion that much of the evil would be eliminated. Such a law would not work a hardship upon the employer who intends to do the right thing since, if there is any question as to his inability to pay when the job is done, that contingency can be easily met by the making of a contract beforehand or the making of a frank statement of the con- ditions at the time of hiring his help.

Swingins lut-olf saw, counter-weight fastened to strap passing through wall over pulley. Strap mav break any time, releasing saw with a sudden for- ward movement that has been known to disembowel the operator who stands in front. Chain in picture prevents the saw from going beyond certain safe limit in case the strap breaks.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

CONDITIONS OF THE LABOR MARKET

In order to secure some first-hand information as to the true condi- tion of the labor market in Oreg:on at the close of the report year, and as compared to the conditions existing one year and t^yo years ago, the Bureau started out to make a complete survey of the situation, covering the entire biennial period. Owing to the difficulties encountered m the work as is hereinafter explained in detail, the statistics gathered were by no means complete and representative, but enough was learned to iustifv the statement that conditions surrounding labor in Oregon today are very much improved in every respect over those of last year arid two years ago, and there appears abundant prospect of a continued advance along the line of improvement for an indefinite period. The industnes appear to have undergone a change for the better within the present year (1916), which is especially true of the lumber industry, and others of lesser importance which could be mentioned, all of which speaks for better times for many of our people. ^ff^r.¥

There are many causes which have produced a stimulating effect upon labor conditions in Oregon, but the European war has unquestionably nlayed a very, if not the most important, part m the bringing about of the improvement by the attraction of labor of all classes to the muni- tions and other war-material factories of the East, where the demand for labor has greatly exceeded the supply, and a corresponding increase in wages has resulted. This latter has drawn hundreds of both skilled and unskilled laborers out of Oregon and the Northwest, prmcipally of the transient or itinerant class, and the response to the colors ot their native lands involved in the gigantic struggle has also brought about a more or less heavy draft upon the supply of both common and skilled labor in this country. While the prohibition law, which went into effect on January 1, 1915, cannot be said to have had any very material ettect upon the labor market of Oregon, it has, nevertheless, exerted some influence since, as the manager of one employment agency expressed, "manv laborers departed for California and other non-prohibition states, where they could have their beer." The great war, however, has been the chief controlling factor in the present labor situation and to what extent its indefinite continuance or its sudden cease would ettect condi- tions is not only a matter of conjecture, but of grave concern and serious consideration.

Employment Agencies Cooperate

In course of the survey a blank form was furnished the several employment agencies of the state, to be filled out from their records. They were also requested to give their views upon several stated ques- tions calculated to bring out the predominating influences which have either direct or indirect bearing upon the labor market. 1 he blank torm embraced the following subjects upon which data were necessary for the compilation of statistics tending to throw light upon the situation : Vacan- cies listed, applications received, positions filled, fees collected, tees returned, excess vacancies over applications, and excess applications over vacancies, for both sexes. Because of the absence of uniformity of system of keeping records, and, in some cases, the absence of any system whatever except a cash account of fees received and fees refunded, with a daily record of applications received and positions filled (the latter showing upon the duplicate of fee receipt), the duplication and triplication of applications for positions and vacancies listed prevailing among the several agencies, with no means of segregation and elimina- tion without entailing an enormous amount of work of comparing records which would necessitate the expenditure of a considerable amount of

8 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

money, which this department has not available, it was found impossible to secure any reliable information concerning the total number of vacan- cies listed, applications received, fees collected, excess of vacancies over applications and such meager information as was gained upon these subjects was rejected as of no material value and altogether misleading. The returns from all of the sixteen agencies operating in the State, including twelve private agencies in Portland, two in Marshfield, and the Portland Free Employment Bureau and the United States Employ- ment Bureau, conducted under the supervision of the United States Immigration Service and in co-operation with the Portland free agency, were incomplete for the two-year period, October 1, 1914, to September 30, 1916, upon all subjects embraced in the blank form, but eight agencies reported fully upon the number of positions filled for the two-year period for males, and for the one-year period for females, together with total amount of fees returned for the one-year period for both male and female applications. From a careful study and analysis of the statistics gathered aided by the experience and advice of the heads of employment agencies, it is shown that the demand for labor in Oregon is in more favorable proportion to the supply than was the case one and two years ago; that the general scale of wages has shown an improvement all along the line, and that, while there was some indication of a shortage of help during the past summer and fall, this shortage has existed in the classes of seasonal employment, such as the fruit, hay, grain and hop harvest, which usually occurs in greater or less degree.

Labor Data From Agencies

The following table shows the total number of positions filled in all classes of male employment for the current years, October 1, 1914, to September 30, 1915, and October 1, 1915, to September 30, 1916, as com- piled from the reports of eight private employment agencies of Portland, they being all of the total of twelve reporting which kept complete rec- ords for the biennial period sufficient to use for comparative purposes; the total number of positions filled for all classes of employment for females, for the thirteen-months' period, preceding September 30, 19] 6, from the reports of all agencies trafficking in female employment; the number of fees returned, showing number of positions to which appli- cants were referred and in which employment was not obtained, both male and female, for the eight male agencies and all female agencies; the per cent of increase or decrease in number of positions filled for the current year 1915-1916, as compared to 1914-1915, as to males, and the increase and decrease in per cent, as to females, for the thirteen-months' period ending September 30, 1916, using January, 1916, as the normal average basis of computation. In computing the percentage increase and decrease for males for the biennial period, the month of June, 1915, was used as a basis of comparison in that it more nearly represents the average conditions of a normal year from an industrial standpoint, with the exception of the logging and lumbering industry, which was at a low ebb.

As to female employment, the fluctuation was so slight as between the thirteen months recorded as to make the percentage comparisons unnecessary except to show the divergence from the normal average, January, 1916, due principally to seasonal demands coming from the berry and hop fields, summer resorts, ice cream and delicatessen estab- lishments, etc. Upon this basis of computation, however, the only decrease shown for the period of thirteen months, with the exception of Septem- ber, 1915, is in the case of December, the busiest month of the entire year for female employment in department and other stores during the holiday season; but this is accounted for by the fact that this extraordi-

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

nary seasonal demand was met by the employers, who received applica- tions directly, and the business did not pass through the employment agencies. The fact that the complete records for the thirteen months show that there were 106 refunds of fees for the month of September, 1915, in proportion to 394 positions filled, as compared to but 84 refunds in proportion to 554 positions filled for September, 1916, tends to reflect the increased seasonal demand for female labor for 1916 over 1915.

October ...

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August ...

September

Totals

Number positions filled

Number fees returned

Female ! Male Female

1914-15 3,156 1,795 942 753 1,107 1,247 2,063 2,265 2,158 3,573 4,035

3,508

26,602

1915-16 2,538 1,550 1,567 1,520 3,038 4,639 5,837 7,865 7,269 6,586 5,407

"""5,125

1915-16 549 547 492 529 556 563 575 583 591 586 758 §394 554

1915-16

484

291

227

315

436

780

798

1,137

1,264

983

105

§449

684

1915-16

83

109

53

92

114

86

110

110

111

102

105

§106

84

52,941

6,687 8,606 1,265

'Positions filled — increase or decrease — per cent

1914-15

46.0

-17.0

-56.0

-65.0

-48.7

-41.7

-4.4

4.9

0.0

65.15

. 87.0

62.6

1915-16 18.0 -28.0 -27.0 -29.0 40.7 115.0 170.5 264.4 236.8 205.3 150.5

Female

137.5

1915-16

3.8

3.4

-0.7

0.0

5.2

6.4

8.7

10.2

11.7

10.8

6.2

§-25.7

4.7

104.6

5.9

*Minus (-) sign means decrease. Intending to show the fkictuations as be- tween months and seasons of 1914-1915, with comparisons for corresponding months of 1915-1916. The percentages in the total columns represent the average per cent of increases and decreases for the entire year. § Figures are for Sep- tember, 1915, tlie only monthly records available for purposes of comparison: figures in percentage column show comparative decrease in female positions filled September, 1915, as to January, 1916, average normal.

Conditions Difficult of Analysis

Since it is impossible to give intelligent statistics regarding the num- ber of applications for employment, during the periods covered by the tabulated data, for reasons heretofore stated, there is no way of arriving at a reliable analysis of the labor market upon the important subject of supply and demand, from the reports of the private employment agencies. However, the returns received from all agencies, incomplete, indicate that the number of positions filled for the current year 1915-1916 were in the ratio of six to one of the fees returned, while for the year 1914-1915 they were in the ratio of five to one, indicating that the proportion of bona fide vacancies was greater during the past year than the year previous.

Reports received from the Portland Public Employment Bureau and the United States Employment Service, of Portland, which work in co-operation, and their records, no doubt, are somewhat duplicated or dovetailed, show a combined total of 61,544 persons asked for by employ- ers during the current year, October 1, 1915, to September 30, 1916, and a total of 52,912 persons supplied. The combined registrations for employment for the two agencies totaled 31,769 for this period. The Port- land Public Bureau furnished help to 2,464 females. Besides this, in the juvenile department 600 positions were supplied to boys of a total of 702 registered for employment. While neither bureau kept an accurate and complete record of the total number of applications for employment, the Portland Public Bureau registering only such applicants as could furnish a permanent address, and no reliable data could be secured upon this

10

SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

Drive wheel in electric plant, unprotected Same drive wheel provided with adequate guard rail.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

11

subject, the Portland Bureau estimates a total of 125,000 applying for work through the Bureau during the past current year, as against an aggregate of 105,853 positions filled by all agencies in the city, exclusive of females, which totaled 9,331 for all agencies reporting. A condensed statement of the reports of these two agencies follows:

	Registered 1 Furnished 1 Orders from applicants employmont i employers
Portland Employment Bureau U. S. Employment Service	11,287 32,537 | 37,969 20,482 1 20,375 ] 23.575
Totals	31,769 1 52,912 | 61,544

Director Johnson, of the Portland Employment Bureau, estimates that 80 per cent of the positions to which men and women were referred by his department were of a permanent character and that 50 per cent of the 80 per cent were jobs outside of Portland.

Shortage Conditions Reviewed — Male (Summarized from commentary of employment agencies' reports)

In 1914 there were as many vacancies as applications; in 1915 there were a great many applications with little work to be found of any kind; in 1916 there were a great many vacancies in nearly every kind of work with comparatively few applicants, is the way the situation is summed up generally by all agencies reporting. Among the principal vocations in which shortages appeared to figure most prominently during the past six or seven months enumerated by the agencies were millwork, railroad, general road work, logging, ironworkers, cooks, donkey engineers, black- smiths; but the principal deficiencies in the labor supply existed in saw- mill and logging industries and the harvest work for fruits, grain, hay and hops.

Wages — As a natural consequence of the unusual shortage in the labor supply, or rather the gradual improvement of conditions in the labor market of the Northwest, the wage scale has been proportionately improved in practically all lines of employment, ranging from 15 to 20 per cent in farm and daiiy work to 25 to 30 per cent in common, semi- skilled and skilled labor in the mechanical trades, lumbering and logging. Briefly summarized, a few instances of wage increase in different indus- tries, as shown by employment agencies' reports, they are: Logging industry — Common labor in logging camps, from $2.50 to $3.50 per day, the difference in range being as between common and semi-skilled; com- mon laborers in ordinary work, roads, mills and railroad work, from $2.50 to $2.75, and, in rare cases, even $3.00. One agency reports wages in general farm work about the same, an average of $30 per month, with board and lodging, while another reports an increase of 15 to 20 per cent in farm and dairy work since 1914-1915, and expects "wages in this line will be higher next year (1917) than it has ever been known in the Northwest country." "In 1915 the wages for mill yard men was about $1.50 per day, in 1916 about $2.50 to $2.75 per day, and nearly the same with loggers," says another agency. "In 1915 wages for loggers were $2.00 to $4.00 per day, while in 1916 the wages were from $2.75 to $6.00 per day, although board was more expensive in 1916 by about 50 cents to $1.00 per week." The following wage scale is submitted to show the changes in three classes of employment for 1914-1915-1916: Farm hands— ^1914, $30.00 per month; 1915, $25.00; 1916, $35.00. Milkers— 1914, $35.00 per month; 1915, $30.00; 1916, $45.00. Millmen, in yard— 1914, $2.00 per day; 1915, $1.50; 1916, $2.50. In 1914-1915 the wages for section men and extra gang men on the raih'oads were 15 cents per

12

SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

Gear-roll in saw mill before factory inspection. Dangerous. Same gear-roll with gearing and shafting guarded.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 13

hour, and in 1916 the wages were from 18 1-2 to 25 cents per hour. Another says: "The wages for loggers and sawmill help are from 50 cents to $1.00 per day better than in 1914. The greatest increase is with common labor.

Review of Conditions — Female

Aside from the usual shortage in the labor market for females in seasonal employment, especially in the berry and hop fields, there has been no serious shortages in other lines of work for girls and women during the past two years. As a matter of fact, two agencies report business in hotel and family help for 1914-1915 slightly better than for 1915-1916. They report business very dull for the past year. The prin- cipal excess in vacancies over applications for work has been for female cooks in hotels and restaurants, and family help has been in somewhat greater demand during certain periods. The principal excess in appli- cations over vacancies in 1914-1915 was in hotel chamber work and various lines of office work, and for 1915-1916 hotel chamber work, waitresses, laundry and factory help and office work. Some scarcity is also reported in applications for housemaid work.

Wages- — Little, if any, changes are reported in any line of work for female labor during the past two years. Housemaids receive from $15.00 to $20.00 per month for assistants, and $25.00 to $40.00 per month for head maids with executive or supervisory ability; waitresses in hotels receive from $20.00 to $30.00 per month, with room and board; in res- taurants from $6.00 to $12.00 per week; chambermaids, $35.00 per month, without room and board, and $20.00 to $25.00 with. Chamber work is reported better in 1914 than in 1916, in many instances hotels paying as high as $10.00 per week, with room and board. Wages for cooks in hotels are reported lower than in 1914, many hotels in the city and country paying from $40.00 to $50.00 per month formerly, and there were many more calls for cooks in restaurants at $10.00 to $12.00 per week, with board. Now there are very few calls for restaurant cooks, and the pay ranges from $7.00 to $10.00 per week, with board. Hotels often pay $25.00 to $40.00 per month for cooks, with board, but there has been no place for a $50.00 female cook for two years, possibly three.

Shortage Causes and Working Conditions

The shortage in the labor market for males has been explained before. As to seasonal work for both males and females, the shortage of help for the fruit, grain, hay and hop harvests is due, to a great extent, as one agency explains, to the disinclination on the part of hundreds of avail- able men and women to go into the hop fields and fruit harvest because of the wages paid, and particularly because of the poor accommodations provided by the employers for their help. This agency "anticipated this difficulty will increase until the growers recognize the business sagacity as well as propriety of properly housing or sheltering their employes." In the cases of female employment, the agencies report that in many instances the help is given a room that is undesirable and, perhaps, insanitary, or the meals are provided from materials that are not appe- tizing. Alleged insanitary and uncomfoi'table conditions in kitch- ens, laundries, small and unventilated sleeping rooms, hot and stifling in summer and cold in winter, are frequently complained of by female workers to the heads of employment agencies. "There is no doubt, in the cases of women cooks, the places are sometimes filled by men on account of the eight-hour law for women," says one agency, "but the falling off in the demand for women cooks is due, to a great extent, by the closing of many hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, etc., owing to a wave of hard times and high food prices."

14 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

Prospects for the Future

Without exception, all agencies are inclined to view the future of the labor market in Orepron and the entire Northwest as most promising and encouraging, in the light of present conditions. Some go as far as to predict an unprecedented wave of industrial prosperity, lasting oyer a period of several years, while others are more conservative and confine themselves to the belief that times are due to be much better for the laboring classes, especially for the next year or two, but hold out no glittering promises in the light of the uncertainties involved in the gigantic struggle in progress on the Eastern hemisphere. One believes the raise in wages is due to the increase in living conditions, as well as to the scarcity of labor, and that a still further increase in wages is justifiable, as* board in the logging and railroad camps has necessarily raised to meet the extra charge of foodstuffs and clothing. "I believe that wages will increase and that labor will be scarcer in 1917-1918 than for 1916, for the following reasons," says one agency, "The men who have gone East, to Canada and the war zones are not coming back soon, and the demand for construction and maintenance work will be greater."

In conclusion, this bureau desires to express regret that some uniform and co-operative system of record-keeping has not been devised and adopted by the employment agencies of the State, by Avhich the duplica- tion of applications for positions and listing of vacancies could be elim- inated and whereby more accurate data could be obtained relative to the true condition of supply and demand in the labor market of the State. This department, however, is endeavoring to work out a uniform system of record-keeping and reporting for use in all agencies in the State, pri- vate and public, and hopes, through its adoption and following out by the employment agencies, to be able to present more complete and reliable statistics and in more g^i'aphic and comprehensive form at the close of another report period. There being no funds available for paying the expense incident to the gathering and compiling of such statistics, the application of the receipts of licenses from employment agencies to the credit of this department, instead of their being turned into the general fund of the treasury, would assist very materially in the performance of this work, as well as in the general administration of the employment agency regulation laws, as recommended in another part of this report under the head of "Employment Agencies."

SUGGESTIONS TO WAGEWORKERS

Be cautious.

Help to reduce the number of accidents.

Money lost is money thrown away. Be careful with money.

Never wear gloves while working around revolving machinery.

Brain in a factory is worth more than horsepower.

Put your money in a State or National bank. They are safe.

When you pay out money, pay by check. It teaches you business.

The bank will keep your accounts for you and advise you on business matters.

Take no chances by carrying money with you. Someone may rob you.

Lending money without security is one way of giving something for nothing.

If you have occasion to borrow money, borrow through your bank. Establish a credit.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 15

SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT FREE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES

The question of how to take care of the unemployed will, I am afraid, always be with us. New inventions are constantly displacing human labor, and the population is increasing at a more rapid rate than the number of new factories, or other industries which tend to increase the demand for labor. The question of seasonal employment is, perhaps, one of the very important and seemingly insoluble problems of the present age. Eventually, I have no doubt, some practicable system may be worked out under which the State government may be able to render valuable assistance along the line of a solution of the matter upon a profitable basis to both the direct beneficiary and the public at large. State or government aid should, of course, be confined to the cases of worthy men and women exclusively. I have in mind the vast area of logged-off — in their present condition an absolute waste — lands, hun- dreds of thousands of acres, which might be converted into happy, pros- perous homes if a workable system of State aid could be devised to encourage the settlement and development of the same. If the State could secure possession of these now useless lands, covered with brush and stumps, but possessing exceedingly rich and highly productive soils, and sell them to the actual settler upon the basis of actual value, unim- proved, upon long and easy terms of payment, without interest, in my opinion the seasonal employment situation would be in a great measure relieved and, perhaps, ultimately solved. Laboring men of little or no means could contract to purchase ten to fifteen acres of these logged-off and brushy lands and, while not engaged at remunerative employment in the local field, could be putting in their otherwise idle time in carving out a home. These men would be available to take care of our seasonal employment, being able to take care of themselves half of the time upon their land. , . .^ ,,

In the absence of some such state-aid system as this, it would seem that the universal shortening of the hours of labor in all classes of employment would be the only plausible solution to the difficulty. This condition may not be brought about in the near future through man- made laws, but it will work itself out eventually under pressure of economic conditions and the principle of "live and let live." It has not been so very long since eleven hours was the regulation workaday in the majority of milling and similar industries. It will not be long until the eight-hour day will be adopted universally in all lines of industry, the great majority of crafts having already been accorded this reduction in the work-day hours, and some of the leading organized crafts are looking forward to the day when six hours will be considered a day's work. State free employment agencies or exchanges would do much toward the early solution of the major portion of the difficulties which now confront the commonwealth from the standpoint of the laborer.

EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES

The Legislative Assembly of 1915 enacted a law designed to regulate the method of conducting the business of private employment agencies in the State for the benefit and protection of the laboring people, statu- torally known as Chapter 128, Laws of 1915. General supervision of the enforcement of the law, authority to prescribe rules and regulations for the conduct of the business along equitable lines, collection of licenses and issuance of license certificates was delegated to this department. The amount of license fees to be paid by private agencies was fixed upon a graduated scale ranging from $2.50 per year, the lowest, which applied

16 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

to agencies located in cities of less than 2,500 population, to $50.00 per year, the highest, applied to agencies of 150,000 inhabitants or more. The law also prescribes that employment agencies be required to furnish a good and sufficient bond, in surety of the legitimate conduct of their affairs, in amounts ranging from |lOO to $1,000, before a license to transact business should issue. These bonds are renewable annually and must accompany applications for renewal of license.

During the year 1915 applications were received and bonds were filed and licenses issued to twelve private agencies in Portland at $50.00 each, one at Salem at $7.50, and two at Marshfield at $5.00 each. Total receipts, $617.50. During 1916 licenses were issued to twelve agencies in Portland at $50.00, two in Marshfield at $5.00, and one at Astoria at $5.00. Total receipts for 1916, $615.00. Evidently, through an over- sight on the part of the Legislature in framing the act, these receipts are turned into the General Fund of the Treasury, whereas, in order that the best results may be obtained in the enforcement of the law, this money should properly be ci-edited to this department, to help defray the expense of administering the law.

Operation of Law; the Agency

In order to ascertain the workings of the new law, inquiry was directed to all of the agencies operating in the state, inviting full and frank expression as to the adequacy and fairness of its provisions and for suggestions for its improvement if, in their judgment, there was need of it in the interests of all parties concerned — the agency, the employer and the employe.

With the exception of one single feature of the law — that which requires the employment agency to refund the fee collected in the event of failure to secure work to which the applicant had been referred, in which particular some agencies claimed that the spirit of the law had been abused and injustices worked upon them in some instances — -all agencies were practically a unit in declaring that, while some changes might be made for the better in some respects, acknowledgedly of a non- essential and unimportant nature, the law is serving the purpose for which it was intended, and were content to let it stand as it is. A few condensed excerpts from some of the replies received upon the subject of "Suggestions for Improvement" of the measure are quoted:

(1) "We feel that there is nothing so detrimental to the progress of the country than the continued change of laws. We are getting the habit of initiative and referendum and legislative laws being continually changed and added to, and I, for one, am going to discourage it as much as possible." (2) "The present employment agency law is fair to all parties concerned, if the law was enforced as it reads." (3) "Believe the law a very good one; answers all requirements, and absolutely fair to both sides; only suggestion is to weed out the disreputable agencies, if such there are, as we believe a straightforward, well-conducted, thor- oughly experienced agency an essential factor to the community, the unprincipled one just the reverse." (4) "In cases where men are sent out on bona-fide proved orders and the employers refuse to put them to work, the employer should be directly responsible to the employe, in the matter of refund of fees, railroad fare, etc., instead of the agent." (5) "When an applicant is employed, gives satisfaction and is then dis- charged on account of the old help returning, the employer should be compelled to pay employment fee and make other just restitution to the applicant instead of the agency." (6) "The law protects the agent from unreliable employers and eliminates the crooked employment agent. Cannot see whei-e the law can be improved much. In some respects it works a hardship upon the private employment agent, but believe that it is best to let well enough alone."

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 17

Six of the leading private employment ap^encies of Portland adopted the following: blanket form of reply to the question which appears to embody the sentiment of the majority upon the subject:

"We, the undersigned employment agents, in answer to your question regai'ding the statute regulating private employment bureaus in the State, beg leave to submit the following:

"That the present statute, while it works a hardship, and even an injustice, in many cases, upon the private employment agents of the state, has been found by a great many officials of this city and State and various investigators to be adequate in its protection of the interests of the laboring man or woman dealing with private employment bureaus, and can be termed a good law to handle the general employment situation. We therefore think it unnecessary to amend or change the statute at this time, and shall not recommend that any changes be made, as we deem it unwise to continually change the laws of the state."

Operation of Law; the Laborer

In order to secure light upon both sides of the question as to the sufficiency of the law in serving the purpose for which it was intended, an expression was also solicited to represent the views of the laboring people, for the protection of whose interests the statute was enacted. The investigation from this standpoint covered a wide field and embraced a fair representation of all kinds of labor, the unorganized workers, which 'depend chiefly upon the employment agency as a medium of secur- ing work.

From the big volume of expression it is deduced that, while the laboring people as a class are naturally independent and are loath to accept a service in the form of charity, they are inclined to rebel at the thought of being compelled to pay for something to which they feel inhei*- ently entitled and in the securing of which they expect to deliver value received for the wage they receive in return for their labor, they do not object to submitting to a reasonable charge by the employment agency if he is treated fairly in the transaction and the goods he pays for are not misrepresented to him.

On the other hand, he is impelled to patronize the private employment agency, being prompted in the act by the feeling that there is a sort of partnership existing between the fee agency and the big concerns which employ labor upon a large scale, and in doing so he stands a better chance of procuring remunerative employment in the line of work best suited to his abilities and adaptability. Furthermore, he feels that, in patronizing the paid, agent, he is provided a measure of protection from fraud and deceit through the medium of legislation which furnishes the means of reprisal in the event of injury by misrepresentation; provided, however, he can prove such misrepresentation.

Although there is no question that the present law has done much to relieve the laboring man or woman from the greater portion of the burden of impositions which he was made to suffer under old conditions, judging from the nature of the complaints which have been lodged with this department and the conditions expressed regarding the workings of the law, there is a certain amount of exploitation still being practiced in the traffic of labor to the prompt and effectual elimination of which immediate steps should be taken. The laborer feels, and justly so, that he is entitled to full protection against the evils of work to which he is "assigned and for which he pays a fee, length of job, camp conditions, board, etc., and if he does not find conditions as his mind has conceived them, he blames the employment agent.

While it is a pleasure to be able to report that, as stated before, these conditions have been greatly improved since the regulatory act became of effect, and that the great majority of the pay agencies are conducted along strictly honorable business lines, for which they are given due

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SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

credit and praise by the laboring: people, there are instances cited which, if they cannot be classed as outright misrepresentations, have the ear- marks of such, but, in the light of the subterfuges which the agents resort to when called to an accounting, it would be extremely difficult for the victim to secure redress at the hands of the courts, should he take such a course. Again, the laboring man or woman will not take his or her troubles to the court, except in extreme cases and as a last resort, for to them it seems an impossible course of procedure, for they have no money to fight their cases nor the time to squander in the undertaking.

One source of dissatisfaction to which the laboring people give expression is the attitude of apparent indifference and, in some cases, contempt which some employers — or, at least, their foremen — show for the law in the matter of the endorsement of the employment ticket as required by law. If the applicant does not secure the job, or if he is discharged before the expiration of the six-day limit, too often the endorsement is refused, or the return of the ticket is refused, or there is a careless and indifferent explanation given, all of which places the applicant at a great disadvantage when he returns to the employment agent to seek the satisfaction which he feels is his due under the law. This is the same condition to which the employment agencies have lodged complaint, or criticism, since it frequently happens, st appears, that the employer, and not the agent, is to blame for the mistreatment of the applicant, yet the employment agent is made the "goat," for, as he explains, for "business reasons" he would rather refund the fee than go to court to clear clouds of his own transactions than to run the risk of losing the business of an otherwise good customer.

There are, no doubt, instances of greatly exaggerated complaints of alleged frauds and misrepresentations as to character of work, wages, and other conditions recited before, but a well-defined statement as to the exact conditions prevailing in connection with the job or work would minimize the ground for controversy and a happier state of affairs would exist all around. A more extensive use of state and federal free employ- ment agencies would have a tendency to further relieve the conditons, and it is the duty of the State to protect from exploitation, as far as possible, the man, woman or child who has no other capital than his or her ability and willingness to work and earn an honest living.

ACCIDENTS The total number of accidents reported to the Industrial Accident Commission, of sufficient degree of seriousness to require compensation under the provisions of the Compensation Act, during the biennial period beginning October 1, 1914, and ending September 30, 1916, was 13,612. Of this number 137 cases were fatal and 13,475 non-fatal. The totals, by months and for the entire period, follow:

Month	Fatal Non- fatal	Month	Fatal	Non-fatal
1914 October November	7 I 481 6 361 374		3 1 520
December Total	5 67 4 3 5 9 11 10 6 5 4 57	468 5,090
December	1916
Total 1915	-IQ 1 "Jl fi	442
4 5 6 6 4 12 5 4 8 5		February	400 608
January	325 275 364 325 387 480 423 486 479 558	April	741
February		1,019
March		946
April		886
May		1,064
June		1,063
July	Total
August	7,169
September October	Grand total ....	137	13.475

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 19

INSPECTION OF MINES

The need of an Inspector of Mines in Oregon for the protection of the lives and limbs of those engaged in this industry, as well as the properties of the employers, was emphasized on the 31st of last October when three miners lost their lives and two others barely escaped vvith theirs, as the result of an explosion of gas in the Beaver Hill Coal Mines, near Marsh- field, in Coos County. Under present conditions of lax or careless methods of operating mines, such disasters are likely to occur at any time and they never fail to take their frightful toll. While the mining industry is under the jurisdiction of this department, by implication under the Employers' Liability Law, and their machinery is subject to inspection by the field deputies, the most dangerous element with which the workmen have to cope is the generation of combustible and poisonous gases, the discovery of the source of which and the means of avoidance of same, requires expert inspectors who are equipped for the work. As soon as possible after the occurrence of the above mentioned disaster an expert was sent to the mine to ascertain the cause and also to inspect other mines in that section for the existence of similar conditions, in order that prompt steps might be taken to avoid a repetition of the Beaver Hill fatality, and to make a full report of his findings together with recommendations. There being no person in Oregon who, within the knowledge of this Department, was properly trained and equipped with the necessary testing paraphernalia to make the inspection, and, being desirous of sending some one who would conduct the inspection in a manner uninfluenced by any motive or senti- ment other than to perform his duty fairly and impartially, the Depart- ment was fortunate in securing the services of James Bagley, Chief State Inspector of Coal Mines of the State of Washington. Mr. Bagley made the inspection of the Beaver Hill mine, the scene of the disaster, on December 7, and, on the following day inspected the property of the Henryville Coal Mines, in the near vicinity. His report, which is ap- pended hereto in full, not only explains in detail the careless methods of operating the mine and the inadequate working devices and equipment which were responsible for the fate of the three victims of the Beaver Hill Mine, but it shows that similar conditions, such as insufficient ventilation, air supply, etc., exist in the neighboring mine and, perhaps, in the major- ity of the mines in the state. It demonstrates that there is need for the services of a trained and competent mining inspector in Oregon and I trust that this Legislative Assembly will supply the necessary means of safeguarding the lives and properties of those engaged in this industry. Mr. Bagley's report follows:

December 11, 1916. In compliance with your request and with the permission of Gov- ernor Lister, I made an inspection of the Beaver Hill and Henryville Coal Mines located near Marshfield, Coos County, Oregon, on Decem- ber 7 and 8, 1916. The report which follows gives an idea of the general conditions at both mines with special reference to the ex- plosion at the Beaver Hill Mine on October 31, 1916, in which three persons were killed.

Inspection of No. 3 mine operated by the Beaver Hill Coal Com- pany December 7, 1916.

This mine is located at the town of Beaver Hill about twelve miles southwest of Marshfield on the Southern Pacific railway. One bed is worked in this mine and is about five feet thick between walls. The mine is opened by a slope driven about 3000 feet on the seam, which dips at an angle of from forty-two degrees at the top of the slope and flattens to twenty-six degi'ees near the bottom. The return airway is driven on the north side of the slope.

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SEVENTH BIENNIAL REUORT OF THE

Wood-pipe machine with gearing open. Showing gearing and dangerous parts guarded.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 21

Method of Workinji and System of Ventilation

The seventh and eighth levels north are turned off the slope and are the levels that are being worked at the present time. The sixth north has also been driven in some distance and is used as a return airway for the air that passes through the seventh and eighth levels. The coal seam generates explosive gases and the levels are driven single and chutes are driven to the level above about every 200 feet as the level advances.

The plan of development is to mine as small amount of coal as possible until the level reaches the property line, then to work the coal out on the retreat system.

Small booster fans are installed in the fresh air outside of the last chute holed and the chutes and gangway ventilated by air driven from the booster fan throygh a six-inch circular pipe which extends to a point near the faces of the working places. This was the plan used in working the mine prior to the explosion on October 31, in which three of the workmen were killed by an explosion of gas.

Cause of Explosion

While it was more than a month after the explosion occured that I visited the mine, I was able to get all of the information necessary to determine the cause of the explosion by the conditions I found, and by interviewing the mine officials and the men who worked in the mine at the time of the explosion.

The explosion occurred on the eighth level north in No. 7 chute which was driven off the level about 1,500 feet from the slope bottom. Five men were working on this level at the time, two in the chute and three on the gangway. All were working with open lights, but the men in the chute and gangway faces had safety lamps which they used for testing their places for gas.

The men who worked in No. 7 chute went up the chute about 7:15 p. m. Whether or not they had gone to the face at that time is not known. The three others who worked on the gangway were eating lunch near the bottom of the chute about 8 p. m., when without warn- ing an explosion occurred in No. 7 chute, the force coming down the chute with great violence. Two of the men on the gangway were slightly burned and bruised but were able to get out to fresh air where they gave the alarm. When a rescue party reached the bottom of No. 7 chute, they found the third man who died shortly after from the effects of the afterdamp which he breathed after the explosion.

The pipe which carried the ventilation up No. 7 chute was blown down and the chute filled with gasses. It was sometime later that this chute was cleared and the bodies of the two men found in the chute about half way down. Their open light lamps were found about fifteen feet from the face of the chute which at the time of the accident was up 269 feet from the gangway. The safety lamp used for testing was hanging on a set of timber about ten feet from the face. The interval between the time the two chute men left the gangway and the time the explosion occured was about forty-five minutes. The men on the gangway heard the coal bursting out at the face of the chute while they were eating their lunch, so it is supposed that the miners had not gone to the face when they first went up the chute but had waited in the chute below the face. More than the usual amount of gas had been given off by the working coal and it either backed down to where the men were waiting with their open lights or they had started to the face without first testing for gas and ignited it with their open lights. The men were badly burned when found.

22 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

No. 7 chute was holed to the level above on the day of my inspec- tion. Air reading taken at the end of the pipe showed 136 cubic feet of air per minute coming out of the end of pipe.

At the time of the explosion very little more than this amount of air was being delivered to the working face in No. 7 chute. Under the above conditions men should not have been allowed to work with open lights, for, no matter how careful the workmen could have been, there was danger of gas accumulating and being lighted with the open lights. If the mine had been on safety lamps this accident would not have occurred.

The mine is ventilated by a fan placed on the return airway on the outside. The air reading taken at the top of the slope, which is the intake, shows 24,750 cubic feet of air per minute entering the mine. On the eighth level north, which is the first level ventilated, the reading showed 9,000 cubic feet of air per minute passing. On the seventh level north, outside of where Nos. 6 and 7 chutes are holed from the eighth level, the reading shows 3,500 cubic feet of air per minute passing at this point. Practically all of the men working are inside of this point, so a very small percentage of the air entering the mine is taken to the working places.

The seventh and eighth levels are opened on the south side of the mine. Some time ago a fire occurred on the seventh level south which compelled the closing off of both south side levels by placing fire stoppings on the gangway near the slope. The stoppings are equipped with a pipe which runs through the stoppings, and a valve is placed on one end of the pipe. When this valve was opened on the seventh level stopping it showed firedamp in the safety lamp.

Recommendations for Future Safety

Under the pi-esent conditions this mine should be placed on locked safety lamps or electric mine safety lamps. The second opening should be kept in good condition for traveling, so if anything should happen on the main slope, those in the mine will have a safe way to get out. Air readings should be taken each week and recorded in a book to be kept at the mine. Report should be made each day on condition of haulage equipment for hoisting or lowering men out of or into the mine. Counter gangway should be driven above main gangway and air kept at least 60 feet from the face. Booster fans should not be used except for driving not more than 60 feet ahead of the air, and then the motor should be placed only on the intake side of the air current. All chutes should be driven in pairs and crosscuts driven not more than 60 feet apart. Dust should be looked after and kept sprinkled, so that it will not be a menace to safety. (The system of driving counter and double chutes has been adopted at the mine, but very little work has been done under it at the time of my inspection.) When the new system is working properly and much gas is given off, the electric haulage should be taken off the return air and bare electric wires allowed only on the fresh air direct from the outside.

Inspection of Henryville Mine, Coos Bay Coal and Fuel Company, on December 8, 1916:

This mine is located about eight miles southwest of Marshfield, Oregon, on the Southern Pacific railway. The bed worked here is the same as at Beaver Hill. A tunnel is driven which intersects the seam on which a slope is driven to the third level. !>fetho(l of Working

The method of working is the gangway and counter system on the level, and the coal is mined on the pitch by the chute and pillar system. The gangway is driven on the low side and is used as a haulage road, and the counter is used as the intake airway.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 23

No reports of fire-boss inspections are kept, so I was unable to find out how much gas has been reported in the past. I was assured by those in charge that the mine gave off very little explosive gas.

The condition of the ventilation was very poor on the second north gangway, where most of the men employed in the mine work. Reading taken at top of manway, which is the intake, shows 7,800 cubic feet of air per minute passing that point. Reading taken in crosscut between Nos. 18 and 19 chutes, on second north, shows 187 cubic * feet of air per minute. Six men were working inside of this point, not counting the haulage men, who are in there part of the time. The crosscuts were in bad condition and impassable, so the air could not be expected to be good under these conditions. The fan on the out- side would do more effective work if the conditions were more favorable.

Recommendations

My recommendations at this mine are that permanent stoppings of wood be built between the gangway and counter, and some effort be made to get the air to the working places by cleaning out the crosscuts or counter. That the fire-boss reports be recorded in a book to be kept at the mine. That a record be kept each day of the haulage equipment used for lowering and hoisting the men into and out of the mine. That air readings be taken (Jnce each week and a record kept of same. That the airway or manway be kept in proper condition, so that those employed in the mine may be able to travel that way if necessary.

Conclusions

In conclusion will say that the mines that I visited were in bad condition and showed lack of proper supervision. An inspection of the mines in Coos County would, in my judgment, be beneficial to both the mine operators and those employed in the mines; also to the State of Oregon. While I realize that the mining conditions at the mines I visited are not favorable to keeping the mines in first-class shape, they should be kept in better condition than at present. If a mine is allowed to get in bad condition it is very hard to again put it in good condition, but if the work is kept up as the mine advances, the cost is not felt. If an inspection is made three or four times a year, conditions would be called to the attention of the operator and remedied, but if allowed to run from year to year, the cost to repair them is prohibitive. In making these statements it is not my inten- tion to cast discredit on any of the officials at the mines visited, but to show the conditions as they exist.

Respectfully submitted,

James Bagley, State Mine Inspector, State of Washington.

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SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 25

BOILER INSPECTION

Oreg:on is one of the few states of the Union which has made no provision for inspection of boilers under the jurisdiction of the State. Steam boilers are amonp: the most danp^erous risks with which the laboring: people and the public generally have to deal in the industrial sense, yet, as extensively as they are used in every branch of industrial activity, no State provision is made for their inspection to determine their safety, and thousands of lives are constantly placed in needless, almost reckless jeopardy in consequence. Under present conditions this depart- ment is only authorized to order an inspection of boilers when, in the opinion of the Deputy Inspector of this Bureau, the external appearance of a boiler indicates that there is a possibility of defect such as would render it unsafe to operate. In such cases the representative of this department can only notify the owner of the boiler that an inspection is necessary, and the owner pays the expense of inspection. This procedure occasions considerable delay and loss of time, because of the distances traveled and special trips which an expert inspector has to make. If the State would provide for a competent inspector of boilers, under the direction and jurisdiction of this department, there is no question that it would not only serve as an immediate relief to the manufacturer in the saving of time, annoyance and injury to business in providing prompt inspection of his boiler, but it would be less expensive to him for the service and the protection of the public from the danger to life, limb and property would be immeasurably enhanced.

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS: THE TEACHER

There is no more honorable, responsible or onerous calling or profes- sion than that of the teacher in the public schools. To the teacher of the public school falls the arduous duty and responsibility of moulding the character and fundamental principles of good citizenship of the average child. In point of fact the destiny of a nation is, to a great measure, chargeable and credited to the teacher of the public school. Much of the future of the child depends upon the "building abilities" of the teacher. Therefore all possible encouragement should be given them by the public in order that none but those of the highest standard of manhood and womanhood and the best of mental qualities need aspire to that grave responsibility and trust, and be induced to enter the field of teaching as a life work. A high standard of training should be required and those who are entrusted with the management and conduct of a public school should exercise the greatest care to ascertain the qualifications of a new teacher, to the end that the incompetent and immoral may at once learn that they have entered the wrong field.

It is a source of much gratification to note that, within the past few years, there has been a decided tendency to recognize the real worth and function of a public school teacher and to place him or her upon the rightful plane of equality with the highest of professions. Having been subjected to a reasonable period of probation, and, having demonstrated their competency to fulfil the high mission of their calling, it is no more than right that they should be placed upon a substantial liasis of suste- nance, and material appreciation of their worth be manifested. Once their status is established, their remuneration should be sufficient to enable them to live according to American standards and also to provide against want and misery during their declining years.

In response to a query sent out to all of the principals of the public schools of Portland, under the guarantee of strict confidence, a largely representative number of answers has been received upon the following leading questions, involving the success or failure of the "tenure of

26 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

office" law, enacted by the Legislative Assembly of 1913 and placed in application to the public school system of Portland during the past three years: Its benefits; its drawbacks; and, suggestions for its improve- ment. With but a solitary exception, all of the principals pronounced the act far-reaching in its benefits, and particularly from the fact that it effectually removed the element of doubt and uncertainty of reelection which preyed upon the minds (and efficiency) of the teaching staff as a whole, attendant upon the period of a few weeks or months previous to the election of the teaching staff for the ensuing school year. While a comparatively few complain that the requirements incident to the removal, transfer or discharge of a teacher are objectionable, in that they subject the complainant to the alleged disquieting position of being placed upon the defensive in the substantiation, before the public, of charges preferred against a teacher, the great majority is inclined to view the measure, in its essential features, with approval. Hoivever, teachers having fitted themselves for the ivork certainly ought to be guaranteed a public hearing before being placed upon the "NON-DESIRABLE" list by any authopty. Some suggestions were offered for the amendment of the act, chiefly designed to eliminate the element of alleged antagonism, or suspicion of personal preference, as it were, from the operation of the law, but prac- tically all agreed that the law is still in the stage of experimentation; is undergoing the time-trying process of interpretation, and that it should be allowed to stand upon its merits until proven inadequate.

As to the efficacy of the adoption of such a law and the application of its principles to school districts of a lesser magnitude than the city of Portland, to which the present law exclusively applies, or the enlargement of its scope to incorporate the entire commonwealth, this department deems itself unqualified to recommend, inasmuch as the law is still in the experimental stage. But, whatever the cost, it does not hesitate to say, without equivocation, that any law which has for its purpose the amelio- ration and edification of the status of the public school teacher, the lifting of it from the slime of petty politics and factional dissension, is a forward step toward the uplift of "humanity and the realization of a higher and better plane of American citizenship, and should have the unstinted moral and active support and encouragement of all loyal citizens of the com- monwealth and the nation.

SAFETY FIRST

The proper time to use safety precautions is before the accident happens.

Profit by the experience of others. First aid to the injured is safety first.

Always set, think and act the safety example. You owe it as a duty to your family to be careful.

The most effective safety appliance yet discovered is a careful man. Personal caution is the greatest of all means of preventing accidents. It is better to lose a minute in avoiding accidents than to lose a month in nursing injury. Be cautious.

Do it the safe way. Take no risks.

Stop. Look. Listen.

Always be careful. Keep your head and you will not lose j'our limbs.

The safety first man is bigger, broader and better than the care- less one.

Send your own safety first experience to the Bureau of Labor.

It is everybody's business to be careful; yet it must be some particular body's business to sec that everybody is careful.

Keep your shoes in good condition, so that nails or slivers cannot punch through soles.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 27

SHIPBUILDING ACTIVITY

EFFECTS UPON LABOR

Recently there has been much said in the newspapers of the compara- tively sudden activity in the shipbuilding- industry in Oregon which prompts an expression from this bureau concerning the effects of this agitation upon the conditions of labor within the State. An investigation of the matter reveals that a considerable impetus has been added to the industry within the past few months, but no justifiable reason appears to exist why the condition should be so flatteringly exploited by the press as to create an exaggerated impression in the minds of the laboring element of the country to the extent of attracting a large influx of the unemployed into the State only to be met by disappointment. At the present time laboring conditions in Oregon are far more satisfactory than two years ago and the problem of "unemployment" has been materially relieved. It would be exceedingly unfortunate if, through their zealous efforts to promote the industrial welfare of the State, the newspapers should lose sight of the injustice which their well-meant rejoicings might bring upon the ever-hopeful rank and file of the laboring people. Psychol- ogists, with all of their knowledge gained in exhaustive, scientific research into the mysteries of human nature, have never been able to arrive at a satisfactory analysis of that member of the human family, universally called "Common Laborer." It is known, however, that he is of a highly developed type of civilization who, in the frenzied hope of bettering the conditions of himself and those dependent upon him, will follow almost any sort of will-o'-the-wisp rumor of comfort and affluence, and is prone to sacrifice his all of a material nature to rush to the scene of the new "bonanza" only to find that he has been grievously deceived, without work, penniless, a stranger in a strange land, without resources and thrown upon the tender mercies of charity.

EFFECTS OF NEWSPAPER EXPLOITATION

A careful survey of the shipbuilding situation in Oregon reveals an aggregate of seventeen plants actively and exclusively engaged in the boat and shipbuilding industry, with two new corporations organized and in course of establishment this year and two others in the more or less remote and uncertain stage of prospect. These latter, at this writmg, are only in the "newspaper" stage of realization. The statistical reports to this department disclose that thirteen of the plants in actual existence (reports from others not complete) employ an aggregate of 654 skilled and 360 unskilled laborers in the construction of boats of all types and descriptions, not including two or three of the larger ones, reports from which had not been received up to time of going to press. The plants reporting represent an aggregate investment of capital in property valua- tions of $909,200 and pay out in salaries and wages to labor of all classes over $1,000,000 annually. Reliable comparative statistics bearing upon the subject are not available at the close of the report period for the reason that the sudden activity in the industry is so immediately recent that detailed figures upon the subject were not procurable. However, a diligent canvass of the situation through the medium of the employment agencies of the State tends to confirm the fears of an unwarranted stream of unskilled laborers into the State which has already over-flooded the market and threatens to grow worse if the agitation of the press con- tinues unabated. Many agencies make reference to the matter in more or less alarming degree but one large one, in pai-ticular, has the following to say which, in a general way, voices the sentiments of all in a condensed

28 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

form: "We find that the publicity given this matter has attracted many men to Portland. For the past two weeks we have, probably, had an averag^e of twenty men a day applying for shipbuilding work, who were attracted to Portland by the newspaper stories concerning the shipbuild- ing plants to be established in this city. There are few skilled men among the number, most of them being common laborers." It will be noted from this that the great majority of the incoming laborers are of the common and more dependent; the skilled, that naturally are in greater demand, are in the minority.

According to information credited by the press to the West Coast Lumbermen's Association there are fifty-three wooden vessels in course of construction in yards along the Northwestern seaboard of the United States, twenty of which are being built in the yards at Astoria, Portland and St. Helens, divided as follows: Astoria yards, nine; Portland, eight; St. Helens, three. These twenty vessels are being built expressly for the lumber trade and will have a combined aggregate carrying capacity of approximately 40,000,000 feet of lumber and will require 40,000,000 feet of lumber in the building. Three other large vessels, steam schooners, are also in course of construction by a big shipbuilding plant in Coos County, the combined carrying capacities of which will be 4,.500,000 feet of lumber and at a cost of about $1,000,000. It is gratifying to this Bureau to be able to confirm, in a conservative measure, the current reports of this new source of prosperity, not only on behalf of the interest of labor, but from the stanpoint of the growth and well-being of the commonwealth as a whole, but it sincerely trusts that the press of the State, in the interests of humanity and justice, will temper its congratu- lations over the new-found source of promised wealth to the true con- ditions of the labor market that an unintentional injustice may not be visited upon an innocent and trusting people.

Note. — Since the foregoing was written, official information has been received by this Department from four of the big shipbuilding plants in Multnomah County, not included in the above, showing that at present they employ an aggregate of 2,050 men, and these plants estimate they will eventually employ an aggregate of 7,000 men. Under the ship- builder's method of clasification, the present complement of men is class- ified as forty per cent, or 820 men, as skilled labor, and sixty per cent, or 1,230 men, as unskilled. Under their system of employment all un- skilled men receive thirty-two cents per hour for eight hours' work upon entering their employ. As they become more proficient in the work they are advanced along a graduated scale to as high as $7.00 per day for piece work. In case of overtime all help is paid at the rate of time and a half. These figures bring the total employed in boat and ship- building work in Oregon to 1,474 skilled and 1,590 unskilled or a grand total of 3,064 engaged in the industry with prospects of approximately 8,000 when the new plants are operated at maximum capacity.

"SAFETY" CAMPAIGN IS LAUNCHED

A Safety Federation, composed of the Industrial Accident Commis- sion, the Labor Bureau and the University of Oregon Extension Board, has been formed, whereby a more complete and effective campaign of education may be conducted, demonstrating the need of gi*eater care and cooperation between the employes and employers, looking to the ultimate elimination of all of the elements of danger suri'ounding the workman. Definite plans are now in process of formulation and an extensive cam- paign will be launched in the near future and carried out to a beneficial issue to all concerned.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

29

INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION

Too much cannot be said in praise of the good results that have been accomplished for the uplift of humanity by the work of the Industrial Welfare Commission. This Commission has been in existence less than four years, having been created by act of the Legislative Assembly of 1913, but no sooner had the appointment of the personnel been announced and organization effected than the onerous task of looking after the wel- fare and protection of the young boys and girls and young men and all women workers of the state was entered into, and with an earnestness that made itself felt from the start. In consequence of the tireless activities of this Commission, which formulates and adopts its own rules for the regulation of the employment of minors and women in all kinds of work, and as a result of frequent sessions for the adjustment of certain rules to meet every condition and contingency of employment, the condi- tions of minor and women laborers in all trades and professions have been improved and the relationship between employer and employe has been placed on a better footing. A minimum wage, a maximum length of workday and workweek, minimum duration of rest periods, have been fixed; better health and comfort regulations established, and this depart- ment, upon which falls the responsibility of enforcement of these regu- lations, feels justified in saying to the Industrial Welfare Comrnission, "Well done." This Commission is a non-sectarian, non-partisan institu- tion which is serving without compensation for the bettei*ment of condi- tions of humanity in general.

ManKle in laun(h-v, showing safety roll to prevent operators hand from getting into machine "and crushed between heavy steel rolls. If operator s hand should get under safety roll the machine is so adjusted that the raismg of the safety roll disconnects the gearing and stops the machine.

30

SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

REST FOR THE WEARY

View in Pmtlanrt department store, showing one kind of seat tliat is furnished for the benefit of shop girls under the requirement of the Female Labor Law which makes it obligatory on the part of people who employ female lulp to provide seats, tliat they may rest when not otherwise engaged.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 31

CHILD LABOR

The Child Laboi- Department, through the exercise of tireless and painstaking efforts, is accomplishing results that will merit and receive the blessings of rising and future generations. The great majority of the people do not realize, have not the least conception of what gross misuse child labor is being subjected to, or what it amounts to in the aggregate. In the case of manufacturing plants, child labor means, in most instances, the displacing of the adult and operates to a serious loss to the wage earning phase of the labor question, since the minor invariably receives less pay than the adult. It subsidizes the plant at the expense of the child; dwarfs the body and the intellect, thereby contributing greatly, yes, criminally, to the retarding of the moral, intellectual and physical development of the innocent victims of the lust for gain, and the parents who permit the commercialization of their offspring to this insid- ious end are guilty of the highest degree of usury in that it is nothing less than the mortgaging of the child's future welfare and destiny for the sake of immediate, but only comparatively temporary profit. As the child grows older it gradually loses its natural affection for the parents and, finally respect, and the practice almost invariably results in distress and misery, and frequently in tragedy. As a result of a systematic campaign of education and reform along these lines, conducted by the Child Labor Commission, it is gratifying to note that the people are rapidly coming to view this condition of things in its true light; there has been brought about a decided change for the better and there is ample reason for hope that it will be stamped out completely in due course of time.

GRADUATION OF PENALTIES Penalties in all cases of labor law violations should be reduced so as to come within the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace court. This would have a tendency to reduce the number of more or less petty or trivial violations to the minimum, and save the more expensive and cum- bersome method of taking minor cases before the grand jury. In this report I have confined the citation of instances of prosecutions to those cases in which either convictions have been found and penalties imposed in the justice court or have advanced through the process of grand jury hearings and circuit court proceedings, but no mention is made of the multitude of compai^atively small infractions of the labor laws and child welfare regulations which were either dismissed with a reprimand in the court of first resort or in which prosecutions were not instituted because of the triviality of the offenses. If the scale of penalties were readjusted so as to conform reasonably to all degi-ees of violations, I am certain that the percentage of lesser infringements would be reduced to an appreciable degree, while cases of grosser and more malignant char- acter could be dealt with accordingly.

SAFETY FIRST

The hero at the risk of his own life saves another from a raging fire, flood or collision. But he who prevents the fire, the flood or the wreck by safety measures does incomparably greater good.

The single deed of valor which saves the human life rightly arouses enthusiasm and recognition, but the steady, thoughful service and care which saves numbers by prevention are too often met with indifference. Prevention is better than rescue.

If your eye hurts, do not rub it or let an untrained person fool with it. It may result in blindness. Seek safe and by all means sane treatment immediately.

Picture at top of puRp is that of a sliapt r-saw m a ilanm.L: null i;iiarii>d. In background is sliown dust-conveyor eciuipment adjusted to a trimmer saw.

Lower picture shows portal)le woodssaw witli tilting: table guarded. These wood- Siiws, unsnardt'd, have been the cause of more accidents, in proportion to number of men employed, than any other mechanical labor device.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 33

FACTORY INSPECTION Realizing the importance of keeping abreast of the times in the strug- gle to reduce industrial accidents to the minimum, as well as in the meth- ods of conducting the administrative affairs of the department, last summer I made a tour of some of the leading states of the East and Mid- dle West. The principal object of my trip was to make a thorough inves- tigation of the manner of conducting the offices, the methods of applica- tion of factory inspection laws and the effects, in the hope of gaining some advanced ideas along those lines whereby the interests of Oregon might benefit. During the course of my tour, which covered twenty- eight working days, after my arrival at Kansas City, I worked east and north to Boston, Mass., and back to St. Paul, Minn., and visited the labor bureaus and factory inspection departments of thirteen states and 102 manufacturing plants in twenty-six different towns. The plants I mspected ranged in scope from those employing a half-dozen men to the largest, in which upward of 17,000 men were employed. In all of the states I visited, I found the laws to be very much the same as our own, but the methods of their enforcement differ very materially. As a result of my investigation, one prominent fact was strongly impressed upon my mind, and that was that factory inspection laws cannot be too rigidly enforced. The work of inspection must be performed by experts, whose minds must be centered wholly upon their work, and they must be practical and experienced men who make a special study of the protection of lives and limbs through the placing of the most effective safeguards around the dangerous parts of the machinery and all of the equipment of the factories and workshops. Casual and slipshod methods of factory inspection are extremely dangerous and no state can afford to experiment in this important duty for the sake of saving a few dollars in the expense at the risk of the loss of limbs and lives. While I feel that I learned much by way of comparison of methods and picked up a great many ideas which can be applied to improve conditions gener- ally in Oregon, I feel that I am very consei-vative in stating that the work of my inspectors will compare very favorably with the work done in any of the states I visited. I regard it as the duty of the heads of the various administrative departments of the State to strive to keep in the front ranks of advancement in carrying out the trusts imposed upon them, in order to give the people they serve the very latest and best their services can command, and I feel that I have been, and the people of Oregon through this department will be, greatly benefited by the expe- rience, and that the trip has been a profitable one.

DANGEROUS WOODSAWS GUARDED Of the industrial classes which come under the supervision of this department, that one which has most recently required the department's active attention and occasioned no little difficulty in bringing about a satisfactory observance of the law and rules of the bureau, is the portable woodsaw industry. Owing to the complete exposure of the rapidly revolving saw and the almost universal employ- ment of inexperienced, and consequently, careless, help, the portable wood- saw has been the source of numerous serious accidents, in many cases resulting in permanent partial disability. As many as four personal visits have been found necessary, accompanied by the austere assurance of prompt and rigorous prosecution in the event of absolute refusal or failure to comply with the safeguarding requirements of the department before entirely satisfactory results were accomplished. Our offices have been very successful, however, to the end that much of the danger has been removed and many machines provided with safe and adequate guards. In due time this source of danger to the workman will be reduced to the minimum.

Sig. 2

34 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

HOSPITAL FEES

One of the greatest, and seemingly unnecessary, sources of complaint and trouble with which this department has had to contend in the imme- diate past is the system, or rather multitude and variety of independent systems, of assessing and collecting hospital fees from employes in force by mjiny of the leading of our ipdustries. The hospital fee system was adopted by many of our industries prior to the enactment of the Work- men's Compensation Act in Oregon, and it served a good purpose as a kind of industrial health insurance and guarantee of proper medical and surgical treatment in the event of illness or accident. The regulation hospital fee in force by the majority of our industries is $1.00 per month, and this is deducted from the wages of the employe at the time of pay- ment. It is also the practice to charge the full month's fee to the work- man, whether he is employed a full month or only a few days; and, in case of his discharge and employment in another position, he is compelled to donate another dollar to the hospital fund of his new employment, and so on ad infinitum. It would not be so bad if the laborer were to receive the treatment which is his due when he falls sick or is injured, but it frequently happens that he receives no relief from the industry hospital fund, and his needs are attended to under the protective features of the Compensation Act. He is required to donate at the rate of 26 cents per month, one cent per day, for his protection under the Compensation Act, and it would seem that one assessment for hospital treatment would be sufficient, particularly so where he receives no benefit greater than that given by the Industrial Accident Commission. If this practice is per- mitted to continue, some provision should be made for the issuance of a statewide transfer hospital credit card, under which the employe would be entitled to treatment while in the employ of any member of what might be termed a State Employers' Hospital Association, or some such organization, for a period of thirty days, through the pajTnent of his monthly dues or assessment to any employer. Or there should be a uniform system of per diem assessment established at not to exceed four cents per day. This is a matter that is of vital importance to the laboring people of the state, and should receive early and serious consideration on the part of our legislative body.

Summary of abuses needing correction: Collection of a month's fee without guarantee of month's protection — charging the regular dollar-per- month fee, where plant is under Compensation Act, and only providing such medical services workmen are entitled to under said Act at the rate of twenty-six cents per month. Failure to provide adequate service to the families of workmen paying the fee therefor. — Furnishing physicians or surgeons who are either incompetent, disliked or distrusted by work- men patients.

Of the total concerns reporting, forty-two have collected $75,274.00 during the current year, June 30, 1915, to July 1, 1916, all of which was disbursed; four collected $6,067.00, all disbursed except ten per cent deducted to cover expense of bookkeeping; nine collected $17,585.00 and disbursed $13,601.00; five collected $3,450.00 and disbursed $5,662.00; seventeen operating under the Compensation Act, collected $31,380.00, including Compensation Act requirements, and disbursed $29,771.00. A nuhiber reporting operating under ' the Compensation Act, made no extra hospital fee charges. Copy of the act requiring this data has been sent to every plant coming under the Factory Inspection Law. So far as the knowledge of this department is concerned as to the number of concerns making hospital fee charges, the reports from which the above data was compiled, are complete.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 35

DESCRIPTIVE AND INFORMATION OREGON

Oregon is bounded by Washington on the north, Idaho on the east, Nevada and California on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It lies between 42 degrees and 46 degrees 15 minutes and 24 seconds north latitude, and between 117 degrees and 124 degrees 34 minutes and 16 seconds west longitude, and contains 96,699 square miles, or 61,887,360 acres. Of Oregon's area, 1,092 square miles represent water surface.

The United States census of 1910 gives Oregon a population of 672,765. Using the ratio of increase in school census, enrollment and average attendance as a basis for calculation (the most correct method of estimat- ing), the population of Oregon on July 1, 1916, was 834,515.

The State offers unlimited opportunitites for persons who have money to buy homes and enter business. The resources are endless and the climate the best, with sufficient variation in the different sections to suit any person's desire.

PUBLIC LANDS IN OREGON

On July 1, 1916 there were 15,337,809 acres of vacant public lands in the State of Oregon open to settlement and entry under the provisions of the homestead laws, of which amount 13,942,348 acres are surveyed This total acreage is a decrease of 104,369 acres from July 1, 1915, and 632,037 acres since July 1, 1914. This does not mean, however, that all of this land was taken up as homesteads during the past two years. Much of it was taken up as claims under the timber and stone acts, mineral, coal, desert land entries and withdrawn for power sites and public water reserves, etc. There is no record as yet available showing the exact disposition of public lands for the fiscal year, July 1, 1916. The report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office for the year 1915 shows that, during the fiscal year ending July 1, 1915, an ag- gregate of 6,814 entries upon vacant public lands were made in Oregon representing a total of 738,401.77 acres in original entries, of which 1,839.03 acres represent sales of Indian lands; there were 316,627.27 acres in final entries, and patents were issued to 441,609.47 acres, including 75,593.40 acres of railroad, Indian and private land grants. During this fiscal year there were 22,634.89 acres, isolated tracts sold at auction; 9,887.28 acres entered under the timber and stone act; 691.22 acres mineral; 43 acres coal and 22,204.44 acres of desert land entries. Of the above acreage embraced in the original entries upon vacant lands, all but 58,887.38 acres which were entered through the Portland and Roseburg land offices, were entered through the five land offices for the districts lying east of the Cascade mountains. During the fiscal year 1915, there were withdrawn for power sites and public water re- serves a total of 263,326 acres which should be charged against the de- crease of 527,668 acres in vacant public lands for that period.

Desirable homestead lands are a very scarce article in Oregon, es- pecially in the humid and highly fertile portion lying west of the Cascade mountains, and where they do exist they are either very remote from the denser populated sections, or difficult of access and without adequate transportation facilities to profitable marketing centers. Of the 13,942,- 348 acres of surveyed vacant public lands, only 257,713 acres, or about 18 per cent, are situated in Western Oregon, and a very small percentage of this area, in fact an almost negligible quantity, is suitable for prac- tical homesteading. Many of the counties as shown by the accompany- ing table, show an increase in public land area, and of this total 24,822 lies in counties west of the Cascades and represent, as a rule, entries that have been canceled for non-fulfillment of statutory requirements

36 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

or relinquished, doubtless for the reason that they were found impracti- cable for homestead tenancy. In the high plateau rejjions of Eastern and Central Oregon, known as the arid and semi-arid region where irrigation and di-y farming methods are used, and the 320-acre (enlarged homestead) act applies, there is abundant opportunity for settlement and entry and it is in this region that the great bulk of homestead settlement has taken place during recent years. While the federal homestead act renders the requirements comparatively easy of fulfillment from a physical stand- point anyone contemplating exercising his homestead right any place in Oregon should prepare himself for a season of greater or less hardships and social privations and should, without fail, foi'tify himself sufficiently with a surplus of funds to provide necessities of life and improvements upon his property before hazarding the attempt. The settler should have enough money to last him at least two years and this varies from $1,000 to $2,000, depending upon conditions surrounding the claim. In any event greatest of caution should be exercised in the selection of the land and strict personal investigation instituted to make absolutely certain of all conditions before entering upon the land.

HOW THEY MAY BE PROCURED

Qualifications for Entry — Male citizens of the United States over twenty-one years of age, or aliens who have taken out their first natural- ization papers, also unmarried females meeting the same requirements, are qualified to make entry and settlement upon vacant public lands in Oregon. Married women, unless they are the head of the family through the desertion of the husband or on account of his chronic illness or incar- ceration for a long period of crime, insanity, etc., are not accorded the same privileges as males and unmarried females.

Homestead Requirements — A homestead entrjTnan must establish actual residence upon the tract within six months after date of the entry unless an extension of time is allowed, and must maintain residence there for a period of three years. During each year, beginning with the date of establishment of actual residence, the entryman may absent himself from the land for not more than two periods, aggregating as much as five months. Cultivation of the land for a period of three years is re- quired, and this must consist of actual breaking of the soil, followed by planting, sowing of seed and tillage for a crop other than native grasses. During the second year not less than one-sixteenth of the area entered must be actually cultivated, and during the third year, and until final proof is made, cultivation of not less than one-eighth must be had. The homestead entryman must have a habitable house upon the land entered at the time of submitting proof. Other improvements should be of such character and amount as are sufficient to show good faith.

Comvtutation — After fourteen months of continuous residence upon the land and the homesteader has fulfilled all of his requirements as to improvements, he may procure patent to his homestead by the pay- ment of $1.25 per acre for ordinary lands, or $2.50 per acre for lands located within the limits of certain railroad grants, with the additional sum of stenographic fees, at the rate of fifteen cents for each 100 words transcribed for special papers.

Enlarged Homesteads — In certain designated sections of Eastern Ore- gon, known as the semi-arid regions, 320 acres may be entered by a qualified person. The residence and improvement requirements are the same as under the old "five-year" and the new "three-year homestead" acts, but the commutation privilege is not extended to lands entered under this act (February 19, 1909 and June 17, 1910). Such lands as come

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

37

STATEMENT

Showing the amount of vacant public lands open to entry under the homestead, timber and stone, desert, isolated tract and mineral laws and subject to selec- tions by the State and by rairoads, and withdrawals for forests, reclamation and various other purposes, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914 ; the amount available on June 30, 1916 ; the acreage surveycnl and amount of increase and decrease in each county ; the increase and decrease are due to various causes, explained in the subject matter preceding this tabulation.

County

Acreage July 1. 1914

Baker

Benton

Clackamas

Clatsop

Columbia — .

Coos

♦Crook

Curry

Douglas

Gilliam

Grant

Harney

Hood River

Jackson

♦Jefferson .. Josephine .. Klamath ....

Lake

Lane

Lincoln

Linn

Malheur

Marion

Morrow

Multnomah

Polk

Sherman .... Tillamook .. Umatilla ....

Union

Wallowa

Wasco

Washington

Wheeler

Yamhill

568,399 5,973

7,500 846

18,701

,233,906

34,995

29,828

73,790

394,371

,257,266

WiO

58,066

33,351

831,974

,459,373

28,484

47,668

15,722

,090,630

' 47r35'6

2,000

560

50,800

22,000

74,220

3..,960 '

112,223

198,120

280

239,130

200

Acreage July 1, 1916

536,174 6,077 9,252 1,118

17,239

970,532

38,694

38,803

47,150

316,103

4,135,921

40

58,125

138,590

42,464

984,996

2,526,051

28,516

13,497

1,591

4.903,683

526

25,145

880

600

40,043

19.698

65,691

16,240

75,838

117,855

320

159,947

410

Acreage Surveyed

531,275 6,077 9,252 1,118

15,979

969,272

35,993

33,843

45,390

315,632

4,098,325

40

55.885

130,910

33,488

878,054

2,272,707

28,516

13,497

1,591

3,954,049

526

25,145

880

600

39,403

19,698

65,400

16,240

65,040

117,855

320

159,947

410

Totals

tNet decrease

15,969,846 15,337,809 13.942,348

Acreage Increase

104

1,752

272

3,699 8.975

59

►138.590

9,113

153,022

66.678

32

526 40

40 '2l6

tAcreage Decrease

32.225

1,462 263,374

26,640

78,268

121,345

120

34,171

14,131

186,947

" "227265 1,120

""l6,'757

2,302

8,529

15,720

36,385

80,265

383,112 1,015,149

632,037

•Jefferson County created at the general election, NoTember 3, 1914, out of the northern part of Crook County, and 13S.590 acres of vacant public lands credited to Jefferson County is deducted from Croolc County's original area. Net decrease in Crooli County's vacant public land area, therefore, is 124,784 acres. Jefferson County's area is credited to "increased acreage."

under the provisions of this act are designated by the Secretary of the Interior as nonmineral, nontimbered and nonirrigable.

Soldiers' and Sailors' Homestead Rights — Any officer, soldier, sea- man, or marine who has served for not less than 90 days in the army or navy of the United States during the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, or the Philippine insurrection and who was honorably discharged and has remained loyal to the g-overnment, and who makes homestead entry, is entitled, under Section 2305 of the Revised Statutes and the act of June 6, 1912, to have the term of his service in the Army or Navy, not exceeding two years, deducted from the three years' residence required under the homestead laws. No credit for military service can be allowed where commutation proof is submitted. (For details write Director of General Land Office, Washington, D. C, for Circular No. 302) . If he was

38 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

discharged on account of wounds or disabilities incurred in the line of duty, credit for the whole term of his enlistment may be allowed.

Fees and CommissioHs — When a homesteader applies to make entry he must pay, in cash to the receiver, a fee of $5.00 if his entry is for less than 81 acres; $10.00 if he enters 81 acres or more. He must also pay both at the time he makes entry and final proof a commission of $1.00 for each forty-acre tract entered outside of the limits of a railroad land grant and $2.00 for each forty-acre tract entered within such limits. On all final proofs made before either the register or receiver, or before any other officer authorized to take such proofs, the register and receiver are en- titled to receive fifteen cents for each 100 words reduced to writing.

FARMING LANDS IN NATIONAL FORESTS (Courtesy U. S. District Forester.)

Under authority of an Act of Congress of August 10, 1912, and the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, the United States Forest Service has been engaged in the classification of all lands within the boundaries of the national forests to determine whether the lands may be subject to settlement and entry under the Act of June 11, 1906, which provides that land in the forests chiefly valuable for agriculture and not needed for public purposes may be opened to entry under the general homestead laws. Since July 1, 1912, a total of 75,314.63 acres have been listed by the Secretary of Agriculture with the Secretary of the Interior as chiefly valuable for agriculture and opened to entry.

The total area classified since the Act of August 10, 1912, and formally approved by the Secretary of Agriculture on August 5, 1916, was 7,648,942.81 acres. The total covered in the field classification pending approval by the Secretary of Agriculture was 5,108,627.39 acres. The total area eliminated from the national forests since July 1, 1912, and up to July 1, 1916, was 449,034 acres, which includes a total of 377,032 acres formerly embraced in the Paulina National Forest, which was abol- ished in 1915 and merged into the Deschutes, Fremont, and Crater National Forests. These lands were eliminated from the Paulina National Forest only because they were found to have little value for practical forestry purposes.

The great bulk of this area of eliminated lands, as will be seen by the following statement showing the national forests from which the lands were eliminated and the counties in which the national forests are situ- ated, is located east of the Cascade Mountains in what is known as the high plateau, arid and semi-arid, and dry farming section of the State. Only 18,440 acres of the total area, or about 4 per cent of the eliminations are in Southern and Southwestern Oregon. A statement showing the na- tional forests from which the eliminations were made, counties embraced in the forests, and the acreage eliminated follows :

Forests Counties Acres

Deschutes Crook, Jefferson, Klamath and Lake oc'qol

Fremont Klamath and Lake tf'nAn

Siskivou Coos, Curry, Douglas and Josephine o Atn

Umpqua Coos, Douglas, Jack.son. Josephine and Lane , T?

Wenaha Umatilla, Union and Wallowa : o-^'Wo

Paulina (Abolished) Klamath and Lake 3i <,OAZ

Total 449.034

The area of land classified as chiefly valuable for agriculture and listed for entry since July 1, 1912, including that examined on individual applications in advance of the general classification, aggregates 75,314.63

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 39

acres. For by far the greater part of these lands, individual applications were received prior to listing and a preferred applicant was named at the time the land was opened to entry. The following list shows the acreage listed for entry since July 1, 1912, by forests:

Forest Acres Forest Acres

Cascade 1,113.75 Siskiyou A'^Alll

Crater 3,047.50 Piuslaw 19.48 k80

Deschutes 3.363.16 Umatilla 7.35.00

Fremont 10,630.00 Umnqua A-iill^

Malheur 1,998.47 Wallowa 10,223.00

Minam 1,606.04 Wenaha "^'^ffSS

Paulina 5,865.40 Whitman 647.80

Ochoco 420.00 TTTTTT^

Oregon 1,811.50 Total 75.314.63

Santiam

Since June 11, 1906, and prior to July 1, 1912, an additional 62,384.77 acres in the national forests had been listed for homestead entry. All of these lands were examined on individual applications.

Practically all of the more desirable agricultural lands in the forests have already been examined and opened to entry; and with the completion of the classification work within the next two years, it is expected that no lands suitable for agricultural development will remain in the forests. Such small tracts as may yet be opened for homestead entry are, as a gen- eral rule, far from transportation and isolated from other settlements, and are often of low producing value owing to adverse climate, topography and soil conditions.' The areas eliminated from the forests were almost entirely of low timber producing value.

Homesteads within the forests are made under the Act of June 11, 1906, (34 Stat. 233) which provides that the lands must be chiefly valua- ble for agriculture, not needed for public purposes, and that their occupa- tion for agricultural purposes must not interfere with the purposes for which the national forests were created. The forest homestead is not a means of securing valuable timber lands under the homestead laws, since it must appear from an examination on the ground that the land is chiefly valuable for agriculture before it will be opened to settlement and entry. One desiring a claim under the Forest Homestead Act should first inspect the land and then make application to the District Forester, Portland, Oregon, upon an application form which may be obtained from any forest officer upon request. The application must be certified before a forest officer. Settlement or entry cannot be made until the land is classified as chiefly valuable for agriculture and declared open to settlement and entry, or until an occupancy permit is obtained from the Forest Supervisor.

After the land is opened to entry, the requirements as to residence and filing fees are the same as under the general homestead laws: Three years continuous residence, and one-eighth of the claim in cultivation at the time of final proof are the principal requirements to be met. A five months leave of absence each year will be granted upon application to officials of the land office. No commutation is allowed on claims under the Forest Homestead Act. When a homesteader applies to make entry, he must pay in cash to the receiver of the local land office a fee of $5.00 if his entry'is for 80 acres or less, or $10.00 if he enters more than 80 acres. A commission of $1.50 for each 40-acre tract if outside the limits of the railroad grant, and $3.00 for each 40-acre tract if within such railroad grant, must be paid both at the time of entry and of final proof. On all final proofs, the register and receiver are entitled to receive 15 cents for each 100 words reduced to writing, and no proof can be made or approved until all fees are paid.

The public is warned to be careful in dealing with locators, as it is not necessary to employ one in making application for lands under the Forest Homestead Act. While the duties of forest officers make it impossible

40 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

for them to accompany applicants in the inspection of lands, such officers will be glad to furnish all possible information to homeseekers. Local forest officers can sometimes direct applicants who present themselves in person to portions of the forest in which they might find land that they would regard as suitable for homesteading; but too many uncertainties are involved to inform persons at a distance by correspondence; hence, those residing in the locality or who can secure the information through a friend residing in the vicinity will find the best land.

REVENUES

Timber Sale, Grazing, Waterpower and Special Use

(Benefits to the homesteader.)

Aside from seeking to preserve the immense fortunes represented in the timber resources of the State for the benefit of posterity, through a system of organized conservation, the vast area embraced within the limits of the National Forests of Oregon, aggregating a gross area of 15,448,960 acres, serve the multiple purpose of Nature's great storehouse for millions of tons of moisture, in the form of winter snows, with which to supply the needs of the fertile soils of the lowlands during the periods of productivity; grazing grounds for hundreds of thousands of horses, sheep, cattle and swine during the grazing seasons at a nominal cost to the owners; and source of supply of lumber for building purposes and wood for fuel for homesteaders located adjacent to the boundaries of a National Forest, and also a source of supply for the general market from fully matured and excess stands of merchantable timber. They also contain vast waterpower resources which are subject to development and rental for beneficial use. Twenty-five per cent of the net receipts from these sources of revenue is turned over to the states annually, and ap- portioned among the several counties upon a national forest area basis, for the benefit of the public schools and public roads.

The homesteader is especially benefited by the grazing and timber sale privileges afforded by the national forests in that he is almost wholly, or to a very large extent, dependent upon livestock to get his products to market for the first few years and upon livestock products for a considerable portion of his sustenance. The grazing fees estab- lished for the forests are reasonable. In general, year-long fees are as follows: Sheep, fifteen to sixteen cents per head; cattle, sixty to sixty- four cents; horses, seventy-five to eighty cents; and swine, thirty- six to thirty-eight cents per head. Short period fees — that is, summer or winter seasons — are approximately one-tenth of the year-long rate. The Forest Service policy is to make as wide a distribution of the grazing privilege as possible, and records show that in the last nine years the number of grazing permits on national forests in Oregon increased from 1,750 to 2,688.

The mature timber on the national forests is for sale in quantities to suit the purchaser. Small amounts for the use of homesteaders and settlers are sold by rangers, and larger amounts by the supervisors, District Forester, or Forester. Timber needed by settlers for improve- ments may be had at a low price. Dead timber, and live timber of cer- tain species, can be obtained by settlers, homesteaders, prospectors, etc., for their own use free of charge upon application to the nearest forest officer.

The total net receipts for the sale of timber, grazing privileges, special use and waterpower rental, for the fiscal years 1914, 1915 and 1916, from the sixteen national forests in Oregon were $772,279.56, segregated as follows:

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 41

Waterpower and

Year Timber sale Grazing special use Total

1914 $160,201.66 $ 84,174.91 .$ S.O.-^l.TT $249,408.34

1915 109,784.16 9.3,595.61 4,777.47 208,157.24

1916 209,093.35 100,658.80 4,961.83 314,713.98

Totals $479,079.17 $278,429.32 $14,771.07 $772,279.56

Oregon's 25'7r receipts: 1914, $61,606.50; 1915, $49,675.83; 1916, $77,029.23. Total, $188,311.56.

REFORESTATION

It is estimated that approximately 4,000,000 acres of land, formerly covered by merchantable timber, have been burned over and that one-half, or 2,000,000 acres, of this area is within the national forests. The greater portion of this burned over area is being reforested by nature's process, but such as is not, for numerous reasons, the forest service is gradually reforesting under two methods : Direct seeding, and planting of young trees fi'om the national forest nurseries. During the past seven years, fiscal years 1910 to 1916, inclusive, the department has seeded and planted an aggregate of 26,051 acres of denuded lands within the national forests to trees, which, in the course of time — 80 to 100 years — will be mature and ready for harvest. Of this forested area, 18,163 acres were seeded, and 7,888 acres planted. None but the leading commercial species of stock were used, the predominating varieties of which were, according to soil, altitude and climatic conditions: Douglas fir, western yellow pine, Scotch pine, European larch, Norway spruce, Austrian pine, lodgepole pine, Sitka spruce, red oak, black walnut, shagbark hickory, western larch, western red cedar, Japanese larch, Shasta red fir, noble fir, eastern and western white pine, bigtree, and Lawson cypi'ess.

OREGON & CALIFORNIA LAND GRANT LANDS

(Their status from standpoint of ultimate settlement.)

On June 21, 1915, the United States Supreme Court rendered a decision in the case of the United States vs. the Oregon & California Railroad Company, et al., forbidding the railroad company from making any further sale or other disposition of the unsold area of timber content thereon, remaining of an original grant of approximately 3,782,411.17 acres of government land in Oregon to aid in the construction of a rail- road from Portland, Oregon, to the northern boundary of California, and from Portland to Astoria, in Oregon, for failure to comply with the provisions of the granting acts of April 10, 1869, and May 4, 1870, which required that the granted lands should be sold to actual settlers only, in quantities not exceeding 160 acres to any one purchaser, and for a price not exceeding $2.50 per acre. The unsold area of these two gi-ants, accord- ing to the testimony of the company's land commissioner before the Con- gressional investigating committee, at the latest date of revision and including previously sold lands upon which outstanding contracts had been canceled, was 2,402,758.98 acres. The injunction restriction of the supreme court's decision was effective until Congress enacted such legisla- tion providing for the proper disposition of the lands, consistent with the rights of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, successor in interest to the Oregon & California Co.

In conformity with this instruction, Congress, during the sixty-fourth annual session in 1916, conducted an exhaustive hearing of the matter through the medium of the committee on public lands of the House of

42 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

Representatives, and enacted a bill, known as -the Ferris-Chamberlain act, providing for the disposition of the unsold acreag:e within the grrants, upon the following basis : First, the title to the unsold lands revests in the government. After due examination in the field, the land is to be classified, by the smallest legal subdivisions (40-acre tracts), into three classes, as follows: Class 1 — Power site lands, which will include only such lands as are chiefly valuable for waterpower sites; Class 2 — Timber lands, which will include lands bearing a growth of timber not less than 300,000 feet, board measure, on each 40-acre subdivision; Class 3 — Agricultural lands, which will include all lands not falling within either of the other two classes. The power site lands are withheld from entry subject to present and future legislation. The agricultural and tim- ber lands are made subject to mineral exploration and entry under the existing mineral land laws, except that title to the timber lands of Class 2 may not be acquired by mineral entry. Non-mineral lands in class 2 will not be opened to settlement or entry until the timber thereon has been removed, whereupon they will fall into class 3 and be disposed of in the same manner as are non-mineral lands of that class, as follows:

Lands in Class 3, and those in Class 2, when the timber has been re- moved, will be subject to entry under the general provisions of the home- stead laws of the United States and in accordance with the act of Con- gress of September 30, 1913, under such rules and regulations as may later be promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior, which act author- izes the President to provide for the opening of lands "by settlement in advance of entry, by drawing or by such other methods as he may deem advisable." In addition to the usual homestead fees and commissions, (see notes on "How They May Be Procured," following data on Vacant Public Lands) , a fee of fifty cents per acre must be paid for the land at the time the original entry is allowed and $2.00 per acre when final proof is made, except that the payment of $2.50 per acre will not be required of entrymen upon Class 2 (timber lands), when the same shall become subject to entry as agricultural lands in Class 3. Commutation proof may not be made on these lands and no patent will issue until the entry- man has resided upon and cultivated the land for a period of three years, proof of which must be made within five years fi'om date of entry. The area cultivated must be such as to Scttisfy the Secretary of the Interior that the entry was made in good faith for the purpose of settlement and not for speculation.

Any person otherwise qualified, who on December 1, 1913 or prior thereto, settled upon any of said lands in the primary limits or upon any lands in the indemnity limits covered by a selection by the company (railroad) and who has since, to the same extent and in the same manner as is required under the homestead law, maintained his residence thereon to the date of his application, devoting some portion thereof to agricul- tural uses, is given a preferred right to enter the quarter section upon which he has so resided whether the land be of Class 2 or Class 3 and where such quarter section does not contain more than 1,200,000 feet, board measure, of timber; and where the quarter section contains more than said quantity of timber, such person may enter the 40-acre tract, or lot or lots containing approximately 40 acres upon which his improve- ments or the greater part thereof, are situated. A prior exercise of the homestead right by any such person is not a bar to the exercise of these preference rights.

The work of classification was begun in the field about August 1, 1916, in Jackson and Josephine counties, in Roseburg, Oregon, land dis- trict. The classification will proceed northward as rapidly as possible and will probably be completed some time in 1917. As soon as any considerable portion of these lands have been examined and classified, it is the in- tention, if they be found to be agricultural, immediately to open them to entry without waiting for the classification of the full body of lands

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

43

POPULATION OF OREGON, JULY 1, 1916

(An Estimation)

Based upon the school population, school enrollment and average school attend- ance for 1916, in relative proportion to school population, enrollment and average attendance and U. S. Census for 1910, by counties.

V. 8. Census 1910

Inc. or Dec. in per cent.

ll

1914

to

1916

Baker

Benton

Clackamas .

Clatsop

Columbia —

Coos

Crook

♦Jefferson ...

tCurry

Douglas

Gilliam

Grant

Harney

Hood River Jackson

Josephine ...

Klamath

Lake

Lane

Lincoln

Linn

Malheur

Marion

Morrow

Multnomah .

Polk

Sherman

Tillamook ...

Umatilla

Union

TVallowa

Wasco

Washington

Wheeler

Yamhill

18,076 10,663 29,931 16,106 10,580

17,959 ( 9,315)

"'2,'044 19,674

3,701 5,607 4,059 8,016 25,756

9,567 8,554 4,658 33,783 5,587

22,662 8,601

39,780

4,357

226,261

13,469

4,342

6,266

20,309

16,191

8,364 16,336 21,522

2,484 18,285

Totals

672,765

21,951 14,041 36,479 19,429 12,429

22,513

17,346

2,658 23,291

4,034 6,857 5,834 8,091 26,464

9,224 12,496

5,243 37,328

7,301

25,159

12,586

45,452

4,454

304,228

17,233

4,409

8,424

22,622

16,651

9,905 19,776 25,552

3,236 20,952

833,558

18.748 12,615 38,256 19,929 12,624

19,817

16,674

2,314 23,701

4,118 7,488 4,108 8,159 25,856

8,951 12,574

6,482 37,951

6,427

25,504

13,104

48,341

5,374

'.93,484

17,313

4,884

8,516

24,808

16,178

11,138 21,463 24,063 3,103 19,356

823,421

24,075 14.126 43,215 19,019 14,251

17,714

23,257

2,656 22,984

4,217 7,661 3,864 4,857 27,132

10,018 11,411

5,495 43,041

6,806

28,031

14,875

53,846

4,848

.'.85,139

18,079

4,923

8.681

25.369

22,421

11,847 21,889 19,764 2,885 18.169

21.591 13,594 39,317 19,459 13,101

20,015

12,728

6,364

2,543

23,325

4,123 7,335 4.602 7.036 26.484

9,398 12.160

5,740 39,440

6,845

26,231

13,522

49,213

4,892

294,284

17,542

4,739

8,540

24,266

18,387

10,963 21,043 23,126 3,075 19,492

16.3 21.5 23.8 17.2 19.2

10.3

26.8]

"l'6"3 ' 15.3

10.2 23.5 11.8

-12.2 2.7

—1.7 29.6 19.0 14.3 18.4

13.6 36.8 19.2 10.9 23.1

23.2 8.4 26.6 16.3 11.9

23.6 22.3

6.9 19.2

6.2

5.1 5.1 4.1 10.4 5.8

4.2

—6.0 1.3

7.2

7.8

3.3

—9.2

6.0 4.8 9.9 4.7 1.7

1.8

—1.4

3.9

12.4

4.7

6.5 11.6 7.2 3.5 2.4

11.3 9.6

— .6 5.6

—7.4

846,565

834,515

19.4

3.9

( — ) Minus sign means decrease.

'Jefferson County created from Crook County at general election in 1914. Xo basis available upon which to compute population of Jefferson County separately, hence school statistics for Crook and Jefferson Counties were combined for the year 1916, and percentage proportions for Crook County for 1910 applied to the totals. Registration of voters for 1916 and other available (estimated) data indicates Jefferson County's pojuilation is approximately one-third that of Crook County, and the aggregate total was apportioned on that basis. Crook County's percentage increase in population is based upon its portion of the combined totals. This combination does not affect totals for the State.

tTotal enrollment and average attendance not given for Curry County. Average percentages of these Items as to total school population for years 191.5 and 1910 were obtained and appUed In like proportion to the school census for 1916 to secure population figures for 1916.

Note. — (Explanatory) — Estimated population for 1916 is obtained by first determining percentage or proportion of school census, enrollment and average daily attendance in relation to total census of county (U. S. Census, 1910). and applying these proportions to school census, enrollment and attendance for the year 1916. The ai'"rage of these three results represents the total population of

44 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

in the grant. No more definite information can now be given as to when the lands will be opened to settlement and entry. No portion of the lands, title to which has been resumed by the government, is subject to disposition until after classification. Notice of at least thirty to sixty days will be given in the press before any opening of these lands takes place; and, when they are declared open to entry, applications may be made before the local land officers, or the United States Commis- sioner or county clerk in the county in which the land is situated.

There are no maps available of said lands for distribution, but town- ship plats, showing the location of all vacant lands may be obtained for $1.00 each, upon application to the local land offices — Portland and Rose- burg, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. The public is warned, how- ever, that while certain lands within the primary limits appear to be vacant the same may have passed under the grant and been sold by the railroad company prior to July 1, 1913, in which case they would not revert to the government.

The act of Congress of June 9, 1916, revesting title to the lands in the government, provides that the unsold lands in Class 3 (agricultural), shall be opened to settlement and sold at not to exceed $2.50 per acre as soon as classified; the timber upon the land in Class 2 is to be disposed of first by selling to the highest bidder, in quantities to suit the purchaser and subject to the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior and in such manner as not to promote injurious effect to the lumber market of the present or future. After the land is cleared of timber it will be opened to homestead entry without the payment of $2.50 per acre. Immediately the timber is sold it becomes subject to taxation. The lands in Class 1, classified as power site lands, are to be held intact by the government and subject only to development for waterpower purposes and to rental for beneficial use. The Southern Pacific company is to be paid, out of the receipts of the sale of land and timber, an amount equal to $2.50 per acre for all unsold lands within the grants, and the eighteen counties of Western Oregon, in which the grant lands are sit- uated, are to be paid the full amount of taxes accrued and due for the years 1913, 1914 and 1915, amounting in the aggregate to $1,565,458.88, including penalties and interest. The remainder of the proceeds of the sales is to be apportioned: Twenty-five per cent is to be paid to the State Treasurer to become a part of the irreducible school fund; 25 per cent to the treasurer of each county in which the grant lands are situated

the respective counties and the State as a whole for the year 1916, based upon the reports of the county school sperintendents. universally recognized as the most accurate and reliable basis for estimating population.

The last two columns in the accompanying tabulation are designed to show the percentage of increase or decrease, as the case may be, in population for 1916, as compared to the United States Census for 1910, and the increase or decrease in population during the past two years, 1914 and 1916. Many of the counties show an increase in population for both the ten-year period and the two-year period; others show an increase for the ten-year period but a slight decrease for the two- year period. Because their population statistics were combined for the purpose of arriving at an approximate estimation of their 1916 populations, respectively, the percentage of increase or decrease cannot be given for Crook and Jefferson Counties for the two-year period (1914-1916), and only the ten-year comparison can be made in the case of Crook County.

Multnomah County's increase in population for the ten-year period is shown bv this method of computation to be 2 3.1 per cent, and, for the two-year period (1914-1916), 4.7 per cent, which latter tends to disprove or correct the apparently erroneous impression that seems to prevail that Portland's population has fallen off approximately 40,000 during the past two years. This latter impression is said to have gained credence through the reported increase in vacant houses in the city. However, if there has been a decrease, it certainly does not show in the school population, and, if there is an increase in the number of vacant dwelling houses, it might be accounted for in the growing tendency to concentrate tenancy in apartment houses, and whatever falling off there has been in actual population must have been in the case of individuals leaving the State without affecting or disturbing the family, or unit system, upon which basis permanent and substan- tial population is founded.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 45

to be expended for the benefit of the county schools, roads, bridj^es, highways, and port districts; 40 per cent is to be credited to the United States reclamation fund, and 10 per cent to the' general fund of the United States treasury. Of whatever other receipts are derived fi-om the grant lands and turned into the grant lands fund, 25 per cent is to be paid to the State Treasurer as a part of the irreducible school fund; 25 per cent to the counties to be expended upon schools, roads, highways, bridges, port districts, etc., and the remainder shall become a part of the general fund of the United States treasury. Before the State schools and roads receive any benefits from the fund the railroad company must be paid its $2.50 per acre poi-tion and the government must be reim- bursed for the amount advanced for unpaid taxes upon the lands.

WHAT PORTION IS AGRICULTURAL

Of the 2,402,758.98 acres of unsold lands in the grants, (2,360,492.81 acres at the time the railroad company filed answer to the forfeiture suit in 1908) it is estimated that about eighty per cent was covered with a growth of merchantable timber, variously estimated at from 40,000,- 000,000 feet to 60,000,000,000 feet, board measure, and valued all the way from $20,000,000 to $40,000,000. The grant lands range in altitudes from 200 or 300 feet, along the edge of the valleys, to 5,000 and 6,000 feet, above sea level in the mountainous regions. The most conservative and accurate estimate of the total timber content of the grant lands is 40,000,000,000 feet, valued at approximately $30,000,000. The percentage of agricultural lands embraced within the grants, that is, land that is now suited and adapted to profitable farming, has been estimated at 50 to 75 per cent by administrative department heads and agents. Those who are personally familiar with the lands and the conditions surrounding them, however, declare that not to exceed 15 per cent of them is at pres- ent suited to practical farming and that fully 50 per cent of it never will be farmed. B. A. McAllaster, land commissioner for the Southern Pacific Co., who has had a critical survey and cruise of 41 per cent of the grant lands made since 1906, to determine what portion of the grant is suitable for agriculture, testified before the committee on public lands that but 2 per cent is agricultural, bearing either no timber or a comparatively small amount; 19 per cent is grazing land, not agricultural or useful for farm- ing; either non-timbered or small amount, rocky or on steep hill sides, and 79 per cent is valuable primarily, almost solely for timber. He stated that this estimate would apply in like proportion to the remaining 59 per cent of the grant lands.

The most careful, unbiased and unprejudiced estimates as to the approximate classification of the lands within the grants give: Fifteen per cent situated along the edge of valleys and adjacent to other farmed areas, would become farm lands in the course of years by reason of the fact that the timber is comparatively light; 20 per cent additional might be placed in cultivation at considerable expense in the distant future; 50 per cent higher mountain land that cannot be cultivated, and 15 per cent, rocky and brushy, no grazing or timber value, never will be culti- vated. Therefore, from this, it may be conservatively deducted that possibly 35 per cent of it may be placed under cultivation in the remote future, probably several generations hence; and 65 per cent may never be placed under cultivation. After the timber is removed it will cost from $50.00 to over $150.00 per acre to clear the land and place it under culti- vation. Since the probability of the chance to secure a valuable tract of timber by settlement and entry has been forever removed by reasons of the careful instructions placed around the settlement requirements by Congress and the Department of the Interior, the chances of securing

46 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

a desirable homestead without considerable outlay of money and a long: season of labor, coupled with the privations incident to pioneer life, are somewhat remote. At any rate, before goin^ to great expense of mak- ing the trip from a distance in the hope of securing a valuable farm with comparatively little sacrifice, it will be extremely well to make a thorough investigation through absolutely reliable sources, preferably a trustworthy friend or relative who is on the ground and knows all of the conditions thoroughly.

The approximate area of unsold grant lands, by counties, according to the assessors of the several counties, follows:

County Acres County Acres

Benton 53,627 Lincoln '. 16,000

Clackamas 98.20fi Linn 62,870

Columbia _ 18,000 Marion 33,062

Coos 121,045 Multnomah 9,369

Curry „ 23,400 Polk 37,000

Douglas 650,418 Tillamook 30,000

Jackson 464,560 Washington 17,932

Josephine 303,768 Yamhill 28,655

Klamath 42,983

Lane 300,110 Total 2,311,050

AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, ETC.

An Oregon horse is considered at his best when between six and seven years of age.

A laying hen should average twelve dozen eggs a year. Worth $3.72, cost $1,45, profit $2.27.

Wages rise and fall with the crop prices, Labor cost of growing wheat ranges from $4.00 to $9.00 an acre.

Corn when ripe averages 28,460 pounds to the acre. Water in the crop, 20,542 pounds; dry matter, 7,981 pounds.

An average labor cost not including harvesting fruit is $17.00, harvest- in averages $16.00, and picking cost according to the yield.

Hops cost about $27.00 an acre for cultivation, $22 for harvesting and $60.00 for picking. Total cost $109.00. Average yield, 950 pounds cu.-ed hops at 11 ^^c. just covers. Four pounds of green hops make one of dried.

The United States Census Bureau has made the following estimate of the value of lands in Oregon for 1916: Plow lands, average for poor, $36.00; average for good, $80.00; average for all, $60.00. Average for all farm lands without improvements, $48.00; with improvements, $70.00. The government finds that the average price for lands without improve- ments has increased $2.00 per acre in four years and with improvements decreased $5.00 per acre in the same time.

Minimum weights per bushel in the United States: Barley, 48; bran, 20; buckwheat, 49; blue gi-ass seed, 44; corn, in the ear, 70; corn meal, castor beans, 46; corn, shelled, 56; clover seed, 60; dried apples, 26; dried peaches, 33; flax seed, 56; ground peas, 24; hemp seed, 44; Hungarian grass seed, 50; millet seed, 50; malt, 34; oats, 32; onions, 57, peas, 60; rye, 56; turnips, 55; timothy seed, 45; wheat, 60; white beans, 60.

Taxes paid per $100.00 in the stock raising counties of Oregon amount to $3.51.

The Department of Agriculture estimates that it costs $31.13 to pro- duce a yearling beef, and $45.70 to produce a 2-year-old, in Oregon.

The Department of Agriculture is credited with placing the average valuation on Oregon range cattle for assessment purposes, at $25.80.

The interest loan on cattle in Oregon is 8.42 per cent.

Tables on opposite page show Oregon products and values for 1916.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

47

CEREALS

Crop

Barley

Buckwheat .

Corn

Oats

Rye

Wheat

Total

Price Oct. 1 1916

$0.75

1.00

.81

.46

1.11

1.26

Acres

Acre yield

Total

Value

129,870 28,900 42,857

364,583 23,833

745,000

38.5 18 35 48 18 23

5,000,000

520,200

1,500,000

17,500,000

429,000

17,143,000

$ 3,750,000

520,200

1,215,000

8,050,000

476,190

21,600,180

$35,611,370

BERRIES

P d t Value

Blackberries, "ic lb., 6,000,000 ? ^to'oOO

Cranberries, 10c lb., 100.000 j"'""^'

Gooseberries, 2c lb., 2,000.000 vAoo

Huckleberries, 10c lb., 125,000 4^0000

Loganberries, 4c lb., 10,000.000 ISo'oOO

Raspberries, 4c lb., 4,500,000 440 000

Strawberries, 4c lb., 11,000,000 ^^"■^^"

$ 1,322,500

Total

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Butter, 32c lb., 21,000,000 ? kJoKoO

Cheese, 16c lb., 10,000,000 7 000000

Milk, 25c gal., 28,000,000 ^'"""'""^

„ , , $15,320,000

Total

EGGS AND POULTRY

^ „, , 1 nn nnn r\f\(\ $34,000,000

Eggs, 34c doz., 100,000,000 29 500 000

Poultry '

^ , , $63,500,000

Total :

FRUIT

. , -„ , ^ 100 nnn $ 3,903.000

App es, 93c bu., 4,190,000 350,000

Apples, 35c bu., 1,000,000 K c;no

Apricots, $1.08 bu., 6,000 ^189 610

Peaches $2 03 bu 287 OOO ----■■-;■■•■ ^«. bi^

Pears, $1.17 bu., 587,000 126 000

Plums, fl-05bu 120 000 ■■--•;- ^^^'^q^o

Plums, 75c bu., 400,000 ..— - . aar, oOO

Prunes, dried, 7c lb., 28,000,000 " l-»^"-"""

^ ^ , $ 7,914,900

Total

LIVESTOCK

Cattle, $33.00 head, 553,000 '^^^'loo'oOO

Goats, $2.00 head, 200,000 . G80000

Hogs, $14.20 head, 400,000 31 976 500

Horses, $107.85 head, 290,000 i4 987 500

Milch Cows, $68.75 head. 218,000 1140000

Mules, $114.00 head, 10,000 15366000

Sheep, $6.00 head, 2,561,000 15,jbb,uuu

^ ^ , $87,099,000

Total

VEGETABLES

Beans, 5c lb., 110,000,000 ? ^'sJo'oOO

Cabbage, IVaC lb.. 36,000,000 49 000

Cauliflower, $1.35 crate, 37,000 ^07242

Onions, $1.37 bushel, 370.000 106 09^

Peas, $2.18 bushel, 48,666 4 975'obo

Potatoes, 60c bushel, 7,125,000 1 Rr,o ooO

Rhubarb, IVaC lb.. 122,000 000 - ^'S^o'qoo

Tomatoes, ^c lb., 74,000,000 5 000 000

Seed ;;"!"!! i;217;000

Miscellaneous

^ , , $19,414,334

Total - ^

48

SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

MIXED PRODUCTS

„ Price Oct. 1 Crop i9„;	Acres Acre yield Total Value
Flax $15.00 ton	621 i 1 35! • ^'>'i	$ 12.645
Flax seed 2.00 bu.			6,210 1,973,000 18.500,000 1,300,000 600,000 6,669 416,000 11,600,000
Hay 12.00 ton			$22,676,000 1,850,000 130,000 210,000 10,670 66,560 3.364,000 2,000,000
Hops .10 lb. Honey .10 1b.	19,453	951
Mohair .35 lb.
Peppermint 1.60	117 457	57 lbs.
Walnuts .16 lb.
Wool .29 lb.
Grass seed |
	1
Total \	: j	$30,332,295

From the above figures it will be seen that Oregon's agricultural and horticultural crop for 1916 amounted to $252,853,007. The prices quoted are of October 1st, the date of closing this report. One industry not quoted is that of the sugar beet, an industry that has been dormant for sevei-al years. The crop has not been harvested at the time of closing this report. Yields as high as twenty-eight tons to the acre are reported with net return of $154.00 to the acre. Average price, $6.00 per ton. Esti- mated 1,000 acres at an average of twenty-four tons to the acre and $6.00 per ton wquld give a crop of 24,000 tons and a value of $144,000.

STATE INSTITUTIONS

Agricultural College, Corvallis — Organized, 1885; W. J. Kerr, pres- ident. President's salary, $7,000; 162 instructors; 3,265 students 1913- 1916; 37,465 volumes in library.

Oregon Institute for the Blind, Salem — E. T. Moores, superintendent; salary, $1,200 (living expenses furnished) ; four teachers; 700 volumes in library; 40 students.

University of Oregon, Eugene — Organized, 1876; P. L. Campbell, president; salary, $5,000; 151 instructors; 1,395 students on the campus, 1915-1916; 66,000 volumes in the library.

Oregon State School for the Deaf, Salem — E. S. Tillinghast, superin- tendent; salary, $1,500 (living expenses furnished) ; first opened by pri- vate parties in 1870; placed under State Board of Education and sup- ported by State in 1874; ten literary and four industrial instructors; 121 students enrolled 1915-1916.

ACADEMIES AND COLLEGES

Albany College, Albany — Organized, 1866; Presbyterian; Wallace H. Lee, president; sixteen instructors; 130 students in 1915-1916; 7,500 vol- umes in library; president's salary, $2,000.

McMinnville College, McMinnville — Organized 1857; Baptist; Leonard W. Riley, D. D., president; president's salary, $1,800; fifteen instructors; 225 students 1915-1916; 6,000 volumes in library.

Pacific College, Newberg — Organized as an academy in 1885, and as a college in 1891; Friends; Levi T. Pennington, president; president's sal- ary, $1,800; twelve instructors; 136 students 1915-1916; 3,500 volumes in library.

Pacific University, Forest Grove — Organized as an academy in 1849; university organized, 1854; non-sectarian; C. J. Bushnell, Ph. D., presi- dent; president's salary, $2,400; twenty-two instructors; 182 students, 1916-1917; 20,000 volumes in library; academy discontinued, 1915; value campus buildings and equipment, $26,000; endowment, $240,000; college offers standard courses as approved by U. S. Bureau of Education, in regular arts and letters departments and in music; conservatory offers complete training in voice, piano, violin, organ, orchestral instruments,

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 49

theory and history of music; fifteen units of standard hig:h school training: required for unconditional admission to freshman class; emphasis placed on provision for remunerative employment for self-supporting students, by industrial art w^ork.

Reed College, Portland— William T. Foster, Ph. D., LL. D., president; organized, 1911; 276 students, 1915-1916; twenty instructors; 7,000 vol- umes in library.

Willamette University, Salem — Organized, 1844; Methodist Episcopal; Carl Gregg Doney, Ph. D., LL. D., president; president's salary, $3,600; twenty-three instructors; 377 students 1915-1916; 11,500 volumes in library. Academy discontinued in June, 1916, causing decrease in faculty.

GOVERNMENT SCHOOL

U. S. Indian Training School, Chemawa — Established 1879; Harwood Hall, superintendent; assistant superintendent and principal's salary, $1,600; fifty instructors; 600 students 1915-1916; 2,975 volumes in library.

U. S. Fort Klamath Indian Agency Boarding School, Fort Klamath— Wm. B. Freer, superintendent; superintendents salary, $1,800; instruc- tors, 10; students, 97.

BUSINESS COLLEGES

Baker Business College, Baker — Organized, 1906; two instructors; sixty students, 1915-1916; volumes in library, 200.

Behnke-Walker Business College, Portland — I. M. Walker, president; instructors, 12; 467 students, 1914-1915, and 502 in 1915-1916; and 476 in 1914-1915 and 564 in 1915-1916 in stenographic course.

Calital Business College, Salem — ^W. I. Staley, principal; organized, 1889; five instructors; 196 students enrolled 1915-1916.

Elite Private Business College, Portland — -Organized, 1912; Maude S. Decker, principal; thirty students, 1915-1916; instructors, 2.

Holmes Business College, Portland — Organized, 1887; private school.

Link's Business College, Portland — Established, 1914; A. T. Link, principal and president; five instructors; 210 students, 1915-1916.

Progressive Business College, Portland — Organized, April, 1914; Florence Ridings, principal; sixty students per month, 1915-1916; fifty volumes in library; four instructors.

LAW SCHOOLS

Northwestern College of Law, Portland — Organized in 1884 as the law department of the University of Oregon; name changed to the North- western College of Law, in 1915; C. U. Gantenbein, Dean; 176 students in 1915-1916; an annual payment is made by the school to the Multnomah County Law Library, so that all students of the school have free use of the library, which contains 16.000 volumes; twenty instructors; school located on seventh floor of Multnomah County courthouse, Portland, Oregon; Carlton E. Spencer, secretary.

Oregon Law School, Salem and Portland — S. T. Richardson, Dean; forty-five students, 1915-1916; eleven instructors; 535 volumes in library.

MILITARY SCHOOL

Hill Military Academy, Portland— ^Organized, 1901; incorporated, 1908; president and principal, Joseph W. Hill; vice-president and mana- ger, Joseph A. Hill; six instructors; fifty students; small library; num- ber of reference books.

SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

St. Helens Hall, Portland — Organized by Bishop Morris, 1869; Epis- copal; in charge of Sisters St. John the Baptist; fifteen secular instruc- tors with salaries; 130 students (nineteen boarders. 111 day) ; post grad- uate course; kindergarten training school; 1,000 volumes in the library; Elisa Monica, of the Community of St. John the Baptist, Sister Superior.

50 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

SCHOOLS OF EXPRESSION

Gillespie School of Expression, Portland — Organized, 1900; Emma Wilson Gillespie, principal; thirty-four students, 1915-1916; three instructors.

Fish School of Expression, Salem — Anna Rogers Fish, director; organ- ized, 1915.

THEOLOGY

Eugene Bible University, Eugene — Organized 1895; Christian or Disciple of Christ; Eugene C. Sanderson, president; president's salary, $1,800; eighteen instructors; 133 students, 1916-1917; 5,400 volumes in the library. The university comprises (1) the School of Liberal Arts, with two courses of study; (2) the Bible College, with two courses of study; (3) the College of P'ine Arts, which includes the School of Elocution and Oratory, and School of Music; (4) the Girls' College; and (5) the Academy.

Kimball College of Theology, Salem — Organized in 1906 by the Rev. Henry D. Kimball, D. D., LL. D.; Methodist Episcopal; three instructors; thirty-five students, 1915-1916; 3,000 volumes in library. The building was donated by Mrs. Henry D. Kimball, and the founder. Dr. Kimball, served as Dean and President from 1906 to 1914. President since 1914, H. J. Talbott, D. D.

CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS

Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Albany — Organized Novem- ber, 1886; Roman Catholic; Benedictine Sisters; Sister M. Placide, Superior; five instructors; eighty-five students, 1916-1917; resident stu- dents, 27; 470 volumes in library.

McLoughlin Institute, Oregon City — Sister M. Ida, Superior; 281 pupils; seven instructors.

St. Mary's Academy and College, Portland — Organized, 1859 as an academy, and in 1893 as a college; Catholic; Sister Mary Alphonsus, Superior; forty instructors; 374 students, 1913-1914; 8,000 volumes in library. ^ , ,. _. ^

St. Paul's Academy, St. Paul— Organized in 1861; Catholic; Sjster Mary Louis, Superior; four instructoi-s ; thirty-five students, 1916-1917; public school district No. 45, by two of the Sisters; sixty-six students.

Columbia University, Portland — Organized, 1901; Roman Catholic; Rev. John T. Boland, C. S. C; fifteen instructors; 170 students, 5,000 volumes in library.

Mt. Angel College, Mt. Angel — Roman Catholic; in charge of Bene- dictine Fathers; Rev. Basil Schieber, principal; twenty-five instructors; 137 students.

Mt. Angel Academy and Normal, Mt. Angel— Organized September 1, 1888; conducted by the Benedictine Sisters; Mother M. Agnes, O. S. B., Superior; Sister M. Rose, 0. S. B., Directress; twenty-seven instructors; 475 students, 1915-1916; 2,990 bound volumes in library- Sacred Heart Academy, La Grande — Organized, September, 1894; Roman Catholic; Sisters of St. Francis; Sister M. Aquinata, Mother Superior; six instructors; 160 students, 1913-1914; 500 volumes in library.

Sacred Heart Academy, Salem— Organized, 1863; Catholic; Sister Mary Elphege, Superior; eleven instructors; 150 students, 1916-1917; 1,200 volumes in library. . , a

St. Francis College and Academy, Baker. — ^Organized August 24, 1885; Roman Catholic; under supervision of Sister Mary Polycarp; ten instructors; 200 students 1916-17; 600 volumes in library. _

St. Joseph Academy, Pendleton.— Organized 1887; undei auspices of Sisters of St. Francis; Roman Catholic; Sister Mary Kilian, Superior; twelve instructors; 201 students 1916-1917; 1,030 volumes in library.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

51

St. Mary's Home, Beaverton. — Sister M. Theresa, Superior; Rt. Rev. James Rauw, superintendent; 145 students 1915-16; four instructors.

St. Boniface School, Sublimity.- — Sister M. Imelda, principal; Sister M. Genevieve, Sister M. Innocentia, Sister M. Elizabeth, assistants; 140 students 1916-17; four instructors.

POSTOFFICES IN OREGON On September 30, 1916, there were three first class, twenty-five second class, sixty third class, total 118 presidential and 756 fourth class or a total of 874 postoffices in Oregon. The official abbreviation for Oregon is "Oreg.," not "Ore." or "Ogn."

STATEMENT OF ASSESSED VALUE OF ALL TAXABLE PROP- ERTY IN THE STATE, BY COUNTIES, FOR 1916.

(Prepared by the State Tax Commission of Oregon.) Showing: First column, names of counties; second column, value of taxable property in each county as assessed by the county assessor and equalized by the county board of equalization thereof, as of March 1, 1916; third column, value of taxable property assessed and equalized by the State Tax Commission and apportioned according to respective county ratios; fourth column, total value of taxable property in each county, in- cluding that equalized by the county board of equalization and that equal- ized and apportioned by the State Tax Commission; fifth column, per cent or ratio of taxable to full cash value of property generally in each county, as determined by the State Tax Commission; sixth column, total taxable value of all property in the State equalized among the several counties according to their respective ratios.

First Column	Second Column	Third Column 1	Fourth Column	Fifth Col.	Sixth Column
Baker	$ 18.819.245.00 9.909,380.00 23,038.965.00 19,361.338.00 10.645.560.00 18,929,545.00 7,909,170.00 4,633.755.00 21,668.615.00 7.231.255.58 6.852.758.00 8.256.363.00 7.324.340.00 22,989,100.00 3,795.220.00 6.761,410.00 14.230,536.00 9.420,264.00 26,413.272.00 9,275,386.00 26.093,130.00 5,938,920.00 36,142,120.00 9,630.139.00 271.357.940.00 11,853,255.00 6,305,400.00 19,829,975.00 37,924,138.00 16.127,160.00 11,947.189.00 12,269.080.00 19,160,000.00 4,305.294.00 14,685.910.00	$ 5,529.586.06 968,944.45 5.697,017.94 1,607,148.77 ' 1,651.130.70 ; 833,135.16 504,518.92 15,867.32 6.207.541.50 , 3,129,902.57 311,809.54 20.949.50 1.748,328.23 3,505,405.26 1,212.406.56 1,940.880.08 , 988.371.84 129,438.49 3,912.188.67 615.224.34 4.186.134.41 1.583.516.24 5.237,399.72 2,917.556.41 33.979.1.54.85 1.449,040.27 2,499,178.89 814,265.27 10.860.693.15 4.284,447.42 1.277.085.58 4.937.702.87 2,011,372.12 2,368.85 1.1,53,105.18	$ 24,348.831.06 10.878,324.45 28.735.982.94 20,968,486.77 12.296,690.70 19,762.680.16 8.413,688.92 4,649.622..'?2 27.876.156.50 10,361,158.15 7.164.567.54 8,277,312.50 9.072.668.23 26,494,505.26 5.007,626.56 8.702,290.08 15.218.907.84 9.549.702.49 30.325.460.67 9,890.610.34 30,279.264.41 7.522.436.24 41.379,519.72 12.547,695.41 305.337.094.85 13.302,295.27 8.804.578.89 20.644.240.27 48.790.831.15 20.411.607.42 13.224.274.58 17,206,782.87 21,171,372.12 4,307.662.85 15.839.015.18	.76 .62 .58 .58 .60 .66 .53 .87 .74 .78 .66 .65 .64 .62 .72 .71 .69 .73 .53 .93 .68 .42 .67 .88 .60 .51 .68 .91 .78 .71 .76 .75 .51 .73 .50	$ 20.395.390.50 11.169.605.10
Clackamas	31,540.281.50 23,014.767.80
	13.046.814.90
	19,062,041.40
	10,105.971.80
Curry Douglas Gilliam	3.402.247.70 23,981.076.60 8.456,316.00 6.910.,564.90
	8,106.688.70
Hood River	9,024,487,70 27.203,928.60
	4.427.585.40
	7.802.660.50
	14.041.124.80
Lake	8.327.881.30
	36,424,956.20
	6.770.295.80
	28.346.791.50
	11.401.886.80
	39,316,798.30
	9.077,135.10
	323,963,304.00
Polk	16.604,427.60
	8.242.656.10
	14.441.922.60
Umatilla	39.820.904.00
	18.301.486.30
	11.077,092.10
	14.605.146.50
	26.426.906.70
	3,756.525.51
Yamhill	20.166,274.40
Totals	$761,035,127.58	$117,728,817.13	$878,763,944.71		$878,763,944.71

52

SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

TIMBER INDUSTRIES

	SKILLED WOHKEKS	UNSKILLED WORKERS Ji^^J^^g	OFFICE FORCE
COUNTY	1	1 1 £.3 <		Total wages paid in year	Number Average days worked in year	Average wage per day	Tntal wages paid in year.	3 C	Chinese Japanese	Male Female	1
	283 57 136 511 545 271 349 165 99 51 34 114 64 5 50 292 4 278 15 115 3 197 11 1737 110 67 46 208 157 25 114 18 143	242 170 180 305 226 282 143 219 194 155 90 168 196 15 121 241 86 185 97 202 55 271 62 279 266 216 145 240 190 108 133 77 128	$ 3.41 % 282.354	880 214	$ 2.50 2.23 1.69 2.30 2.42 2.62 2.29	$ 362.721 49,922 69,837 530,298 271,563 817,068 223,963 163,821 175,492 46,474 4,152 176.500 6,255 344 40,810 171,688 2,337 267,783 8,995 52,979 591 374.993 3,572 1,409.253 60,172 92.361 12,417 171,893 50,187 9,267 87,641 5,543 46,690	58 5 ...„	.... 70	29 3 3 31 16 25 22 12 12 8 3 ....„ 18 30 1 5 22 iiid 6 5 2 18 5 1 10 ....„	4 3 2 8 4 5 4 2 3 1 1 1 ....„ ....„ 52 1 1 1 3	$ 44,231
Benton Clackamas .... Clatsop Columbia ....	2.93 3.27 4.11 3.00 3.61 3.01 4.16 3.50 3.94 2.43 3.72 3.17 2.76 3.08 3.28 3.00 3.04 2.73 2.68 2.75 3.08 2.72 3.11 2.83 3.58 3.62 3.29 3.02 2.87 3.38 2.90 3.16	28,467 80.058 155.761 368,560 276,061 150,347 150,330 67,247 31,142 7,386 71,139 39,643 210 18,652 230.960 1,035 156,604 3,946 62,365 451 164,515 1.859 1,505,056 82,703 51,770 24,177 164,749 90,065 7,764 51,322 4,043 57.917	135 218 765 523 1192 674 238 322 120 26 396 41 10 148 366 12 587 34 156 5 587 29 2338 124 164 57 347 149 37 286 28	166 189 301 214 261 145	4	159 "is "25 ....„ 70 16 13	2.540 4,111 44,371 21.425 28,716
	13,923
	277 2.48	15.400
Douglas	237 160 76 192 70 15 128 194 67 213 118 170 55 268 58 261 213 208 89 212 149 106 140 K4	2.30 2.42 2.11 2.32 2.19 2.26 2.15 2.42 2.95 2.14 2.24 2.00 2.16 2.38 2.X2 2.31 2.28 2.71 2.45 2.33 2.27 2.36 2.18 2.35 2.16	16.845
Harney Hood River .. Jackson Jefferson Josephine .... Klamath ....	160 7,115 2.329
4,128 15,966
	42,906
Lincoln Linn Malheur Marion Morrow Multnomah .. Polk Tillamook .... UmatiUa	80 3,980
31,401
230,906 7,479 4,594 3,001 25,754
Wallowa Wasco Washington .. WTieeler YarahiU	5,383 1,092 4.530
197 110	3,245
Total 1916	6274			$4,238,311	11,191		$5,837,584	70	4	373	440	109	$ 585.611
Total 1914	4883		1 $4,098,329	9,335		$5,186,749	120	16	178	352	65	$ 439,203

Capital to the amount of $23,619,902 is invested in the plants and equipment of the various timber industries of the State. This is exclu- sive of working capital and timber holdings and includes only the build- ings, machinery and other equipment that is actually used in putting timber and the articles manufactured therefrom on the market. Two years ago the total investment was $19,242,119.

These industries give employment to 22,984 persons and the annual payroll totals $14,317,135. The preceding report of this office showed that 20,535 persons were engaged and that they received in wages and salaries the sum of $13,493,031.

Wages, on the whole, both for skilled and unskilled workers, show a gratifying increase during the past six months and give indications of going higher. For the preceding year and a half they averaged about what they did for the previous two-year period. All reports received show that there is an undoubted reawakening of business in the timber indus- tries, gradual, it is true, but of a nature that holds out rich promise for

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

53

MEN IN WOODS

KIND AND AMOUNT | OF POWER USED

I > '

EH

423 95 81 452 46 840 236 130 360	$2.72 2.64 2.79 ' 3.15 2.84 3.10 2.98 3.00 3.05 2.90 1.74 2.89 2.95 2.61 2.75 2.50 2.68 1.25 2.43 2.85 2.00 2.61 3.14 2.50 2.81 2.69 2.28 2.77 1.99 3.00	107,124 16.674 10,722 127,430 9,250 193,460 33,810 39.279 82,386 34.353 529 27.273 5,808	$ 242,344 43,997 29,924 401,775 26,242 600.955 100,775 117,751 251.201 99,466 921 78,715 17,120	$ 964,531 125,236 184.110 1.616,026 688,066 1,711,568 489,858 447,142 459,649 177,081 12,619 333,490 65,347 554 76.081 615.930 5,434 686.526 13,111 129,270 1,042 698,746 5,605 3,237,422 289,917 185,407 40,347 634,578 145.640 18,492 235,041 10,921 147,280	25 80 40 ""42 25 '20 ?5 70 40 30(1 75ii 2M ■"2;; 411	130 40 10 414	3.006 1.177 2,477 7,460 4.870 9.668 2,936 180 3,897 1,496 288 2,054 445 115 730 2,480 80 5,133 232 1,439 65 5,260 241 18,021 2,193 1,296 245 2.769 1.680 363 3,040 282 1,781	20 23 6 20 16 20 20 15 8 16	235,312,000 42,962,000 118,321.000 302,180,064 323,916,265 1.769,871,800 99,994,000 82,332,000 104,002.500 51.106,500 7,127,000 122,110,000 13.869,000 530.000 18.468.000 131,106.000 375.000 210.871.192 8,246.000 42,996,000 1.120.000 72.253,000 3,282.000 777.524.000 54.958,000 63,700,000 8,987,000 116.310,000 52,664.000 10.974,500 88,516,100 5.418.500 28.787,891	$ 884.711 126.432 231.012 2.145.296 1.551.505
2,072	2.915.353 1.393.005
10,000	590,900 541,650
	207,050
		22,300
175 36	1,240 45	1,168,240 79.000 6,000
44 351 g	4,785 71,075 825 79,426 360 3,672 44,874 86 31.652 44,444 14,670 268 101,127	12,491 195,126 2,062 212,722 450 8,936	97 615	113.500 734.769 7.800
394 3	2,461	1,402,327 21.100
25	135	198,434 3,000
295	127,837 174 82,703 139,563 36,675 752 272,182		539.303
3		16,900
153 151 60 11 375	2,563 55 30 150 80	5.599.159 251.015 219,600 65,800 1,587.100 215,000
9 203 8	276 33,734 670 13,127	630 93,536 1.335 39.428	30 31	25,200 450.479 28.000
144	15	429,050
5250		1,133,178	$3,237,788	$14,452,067	1510	20,213	87.399	164	4,970,190,000	$23,669,990
				$13,043,031	2714	7,012	81.631	120	2.871,198,000	$19,242,11?

the future. The demand for men is steadily growing and inducements in the form of wage increases are being held out in some instances. Reports from employers of labor show a tendency toward still higher wages and lead to the conviction that the coming years are to be prosperous ones for the workers as well as the operators.

The lumber industry proper, that branch which deals with the con- verting of logs into rough lumber, gave employment to 3,104 skilled and 7,050 unskilled workers during the past two-year period. In this time $2,050,241 was paid in wages to skilled workmen and unskilled men received $3,432,769. Including the payroll for office maintenance and operations in the woods the amount turned over to employes totaled $7,531,446.

In this time the output of rough lumber was 2,020,516,637 board feet and the valuation of plants engaged in the business was $13,482,337.

For logging operations alone, $3,193,282 was paid in wages. Men are now in demand for this work at wages ranging from $2.75 to $3.50 a day.

54

SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

STATEMENT

Showing' amount of general and special taxes raised for school pur- poses; apportionment of common school fund, interest, among counties for school purposes; amount of general and special taxes raised for road purposes and total amount of taxes raised for all purposes; by counties, including schools and roads, for the years 1915 and 1916:

	SCHOOLS.
	General	Special	SUte	Fund
	1915	1916	1915	1916	1915	1916
	$ 47,657.44 50,777.78 102,111.60 42,812.14 30,496.00 55.104.00 56,782.91 8,956.29 69,199.35 16.419.54 27.242.58 22,189.92 105,686.43	$ 55.114.86 50.258.09 125,175.59 43,247.45 30.536.00 62,932..'?G 40.819.34 7,046.05 70,451.79 18.681.02 24.416.94 22.643..58 79.976.78 15.013.22 17,802.16 35,814.79 93.284.73 31.256.12 138,902.21 25,041.47 92,225.40 28.164.49 127.148.05 15.465.88 436.860.92 60.707.55 12.580.11 48,574.30 72,000.00 62,715.49 26,732.45 44,060.71 79,477.43 12.927.10 84,012.75	$ 89,395.06 50.445.99 110,397.80 91.666..34 77,300.96 141,181.21 73,216.44 7.231.09 89,267.41 28.169.71 32,74.3.58 52.610.81 153.634.07	$ 97,323.40 58,291.46 114.872.25 103,349.30 74,137.99 150.064.73 .58.314.74 11.780.65 122,299.19 30,642.30 38,658.67 51.152.66 1.56,333.05 31,227.14 27,276.72 42,593.80 32.036.70 26.857.65 195,869.04 36.026.06 111,936.48 86,048.70 159,267.95 44.475.11 2,083,291.93 63,431.97 36,428.67 36,408.57 206.573.20 104,351.18 60,242.33 80,182.56 73,473.75 14,494.89 91,857.04	$ 10,718.75 7,1.55.75 20,368.25 8,881.25 6,833.75 12.027.75 4.838.75 1,482.25 11,520.25 3.501.75 2.506.00 3,696.00 12,146.75 1,828.75 1,947.75 5.048.75 4.704.00 2.712.50 21.077.00 3,892.00 14,659.75 5,600.00 23,779.00 2,619.75 87,596.25 9,133.25 1,846.25 3.904.25 12,267.50 9,922.50 5.544.00 7,183.75 14.871.50 1.860.25 12,390.00	$ 11 189 94
	7 373 82
	20,493.06
Clatsop	9.457.11 6.665.82
Coos Crook	12,016.53 5,177.25 1,486.80
	11,818.29
	3,738.24
	2 674 47
Hood River Jackson	3,623.19 11.804.13 1 816 02
Gilliam	17,59L63 35.842.16 99.398.67 30.460.60 128.406.70 27,969.64 82,171.73 26.820.03 117,315.10 14.841.63 486.818.29 57.570.00 8.840.00 56,264.67 69,756.00 45.711.29	30.375.62 50.563.97 32.299.27 14.213.49 177.223.72 27.431.40 93.063.65 66,807.56 150,164.18 33,077.09 1,633,424.57 54.823.04 32,612.15 3M62.86 197.592.08 95,690.26 53,262.43 79,827.72 77,096.77 13,458.19 82,584.12	2,086.83
Josephine Klamath Lake	5,175.48 4,954.23 2,709.87
	20 746 17
	3 902 85
	14 384 79
	5,784.36
	23 732 16
Morrow _ Multnomah Polk	2,672.70 94,234.80 9,425.25 1,906.29
Tillamook Umatilla	4,115.25 12,451.95 9 439 41
Wallowa	5,872.86
	42.114.66 67.545.81 13.688.46 82.095.07	7,490 64
Washington Wheeler Yamhill	14,744,10 1.970.01 12 349 29
Totals	$2,156,658.12	J2,192,067.1S	$4,024,014.61	$4,711,571.83	$360,066.00	$369,483.96

'Included in blanket county tax; not segregable.

Special Road Expeiiditures. — Aside from the regular g:eneral and special taxes raised for road and bridge construction and repair for the years 1915-1916 several of the counties of the state bonded themselves heavily for road construction during the past three years, as follows: Clatsop County, $400,000 in 1913, expended upon roads in 1914-1915; Columbia County, $360,000, in 1913, expended during 1914-1915; Jackson County, $500,000 in 1913, expended during 1914-1915; Hood River County, $75,000 in 1914, expended in 1915-1916; Multnomah County, $1,250,000 in 1915, expended in 1915-1916; Wasco County, $362,000 in 1916, to be expended in 1917; Coos County, $358,000 in 1916, to be expended in 1916-1917; Wheeler County, $65,000 in 1916, to be expended in 1916-1917.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

55

Klamath County voted $450,000 bonds in 1912 which were expended for road construction in 1913-1914-1915. Besides the funds realized upon the sale of bonds, sixteen counties of Orep^on have received aid for the con- struction of permanent hij^hways from the state highway fund, produced by the annual levy of one-fourth mill upon all taxable property in the State durinc- the past three years as follows : Benton and Polk counties, 1916, $1,500; Clackamas, 1916, $15,000; Clatsop, 1914, $65,397.96; 1915,

ROADS.

Special

48,602.92 243,001.14

133.255.69 196,000.00 37,107.22 35.286.27 111,851.41 29,394.38 25.118.48 23.350.71 42,403.01 80.744.87

41.606.87 58.019..57 19,712.42 57,247.26 30,561.27

140,188.31 41,039.14

123,945.54 27,498.21

537,178.80 51,106.24 25.293.69

101,773.91 29,462.66

73,672.68

121,010.41

18,844.78

62.512.24

28,677.47 242,628.30

193,201.23 168,877.36

37,578.94 164,435.85 27.692.26 32,119.05 32.555.92 43.197.77 70.379.55 15,013.22 39,442.64 64,093.82 29,417.53

60,097.72 118,471.03

46,253.73 121,721.83

27,963.26 631.021.33

43,415.05

29,713.85

174,015.76

120,000.00

9,742.21

74.482.93

118,206.85

19,499.95

61,895.36

$2,566,790.10 $2,845,811.77

5.146.93

64,012.21

105,670.53

13,360.62

23.784.52

16,463.95

21.672.16 41.234.31 22,088.92

39,130.89

8,713.42 392.26

1.366.61

54,498.71

2.435.04

TOTAL TAXES FOR ALL PtJRPOSES.

$419,971.08

14.080.12 70.281.28 127.697.72 12.902.53 19.622;09

47.593.26

1.042.17

571.34

6.727.50

3.931.61

41.676.02 60.196.48 24.775.15

35,538.37

18,640.51

2.774.88 61.974.30

1,454.98

1915

1916

384,413.01 301,984.22 784,378.64 730.689.28 399,392.28 741,362.34 365.255.10 80,388.67 501,713.28 138,477.25 129,471.68 205.386.90 229.050.74 789.274.81

301,240.17 452,206.92 130,933.36 983.581.37 203.598.01 564,692.23 314.521.37 931.867.85 146.619.85 7.563.310.26 363.694.47 125.216.84 417.729.10 660,694.29 387,450.69 205,789.53 357,129.65 513.520.06 80.043.53 434.043.22

$551,388.86 $20,919,120.97

424,114.23 306,170.54 818.177.85 823.855.00 426,450.64 756,722.82 281,210.33 86.130.09 630,404.09 129.316.94 124,731.17 221,406.03 236.017.58 778.778.44 138.150.65 271.852.98 504,693.76 160.247.34

1.040.594.64 201,880.02 568,7.';7.87 349.302.05 980,650.61 169.217.96

7,981,937.32 383,195.26 139.372.95 412,729.69 671.774.73 401.844.97 199.170.32 351.476.06 527,651.45 78.201.29 452,133.27

$22,028,420.94

$35,000; 1916, $20,500; total, $120,897.96. Columbia, 1914, $28,510.25; 1915 $50,000; 1916, $36,000; total, $114,510.25. Crook, 1916, $12,000; Douglas, 1915, $20,000; 1916, $18,000; total, $38,000; Hood River, 1915, $50,000; 1916, $5,000; total, $55,000; Jackson, 1914, $60,101.52; 1915, $50,000; 1916, $40,000; total, $150,101.52; Josephine, 1915, $5,000; 1916, $7,000; total, $12,000; Lane, 1916, $5,000; Multnomah, 1914, $111,253; Polk, 1916, $5,000; Sherman, 1914, $44,920.29; Tillamook, 1916, $4,500; Washington, 1914, $5,008.14; 1915, $7,300; 1916, $28,000; total, $40,308.14; Yamhill, 1916, $9,500. Total State aid covering three-year period, all counties, $739,491.16.

56

SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

PUBLIC SCHOOLS; SALARY SCHEDULE

Average salaries paid teachers and principals in schools of Oregon under

classification as to size of school, and of superintendents

in districts of the first class, by counties.

(Courtesy of J. A. Churchill, Superintendent of Public Instruction.)

County

Average Monthly

Salaries of Teachers

for 1916

¥Q0 S.2

— g^Sj — 522S

Mo)" —

£■3131

tx IS3 d X CS— 5 M »

!r =s

Baker

Benton* .... Clackamas Clatsop* .. Columbia ..

Coos

Crookt . Curry ... Douglas* Gilliamt

Grant

Harneyt .... Hood River Jackson* .... Jefferson ....

Josephine* Klamatht

Lake*

Lane*

Lincoln* ..

Linn*

Malheur ....

Marion

Morrow

Multnomah

Polk*

Sherman .. Tillamook* Umatilla .. Union* ....

Wallowa*

Wasco*

Washington WTieolert .... Yamhill* ....

Average ? 87.14

$107.20

72.57

82.84

104.58

100.15

81.45 77.50 65.00 81.70 92.54

94.10 73.15 104.50 92.05 73.40

72.00 102.20 82.00 73.64 69.50

74.40 88.43 80.86 106.66 98.82

80.86 96.50 83.83 127.03 95.15

78.^5 78.71 75.00 106.66 76.36

$65.54 54.30 61.16 70.13 64.00

62.66 64.00 60.00 60.00 62.70

72.46 62.15 75.64 68.65 64.41

61,00 77.54 69.00 57.00 59.00

54.20 65.31 60.49 69.25 64.84

55.26 70.82 65.00 74.27 62.48

60.00 60.10 60.00 57.31 55.85

$63.61

$52.03 54.20 61.27 65.52 64.00

60.83 63.50 60.00 55.00 59.73

73.00 65.00 75.00 59.13 62.66

61.00 77.90 65.60 55.0ft- 58.40

55.00 63.75 59.45 64.59 83.70

55.00 70.38 ■ 63.38 73.25 64.46

59.70 59.30 60.00 61.25 54.62

$62.76

$69.11 67.24 60.54 66.66 70.00

66.17 74.00 60.00 69.00 72.62

70.93 75.00 79.30 77.26 71.25

72.00 78.00 78.20 71.00 68.00

65.00 66.00 63.97 75.47 84.43

60.00 78.95 65.23 77.53 76.65

71.48 72.18 55.00 63.25 62.00

$106.91

81.15

81.46

93.23

115.00

99.78 115.00

80.00 104.00 108.19

96.00 100.00

82.70 106.59

75.00

84.00

100.00

125.00

98.00

92.00

110.00 121.50

81.39 154.33

99.33

90.00 112.00

86.36 112.86 114.37

131.73

103.73

95.no

97.25

86.64

$70.09 $101.16

$2,400.00 1,800.00 1,900.00 2,100.00

1,800.00

2,125.00

1,800.00 1,800.00

2,500.00

2,200.00 2,'"750^00 3,'833.'33 1,350.00

1.800.00 2,400.00

2.500.00

i'iedb.bo

$2,156.37

*Has County High School P^ind. tHas County High School.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 57

FIRE, HEALTH AND ACCIDENT INSPECTION

In the performance of its paramount province, the placinp: of safe- guards around the lives and limbs of employes in the varied industries of the State, this department has ever borne in mind the best interests of the employer and the public at large and has used its every effort to bring about a betterment of conditions in all respects, within the scope of its jurisdiction, from a standpoint of health and safety as well as financial. In years past the principal activities of this department have been centered for the most part around the protection of life and limb against accident through the guarding of the most dangerous and exposed parts of machinery. More recently, however, the scope of its efforts has been gradually enlarged and extended to include every agency which works to the good or the evil of the working classes in every line of industry. In keeping with its adopted policy of "Safety First" and the old axiom, "An ounce of prevention, etc.," which militate to the benefit of the employer, employe and public at large in equal proportions, especial attention has been devoted by the department the last year in prosecuting a campaign of "Safety First" as applied to fire, accident and health hazards whei'ever they have been found to exist within the domain of its authority. To this end a special form of inspection blank was prepared early in the year and a vigorous inspefttion was carried out in all of the four districts into which the State has been divided for the purposes of this department.

Aside from actual exposure of dangerous parts of machinery this department is fully cognizant of the fact that there are a "thousand and one" other things, more or less significant in their relative individual importance to everyday life, which contribute their portion to the long list of accidents. Among these may be mentioned, incidentally, the con- dition of floors of buildings wherein people labor or are wont to assemble for divers reasons, whether they have holes, are slippery or otherwise dangerous; whether the lighting system is safe; exit doors open outward or kept open during working hours and stairways properly arranged and adequate in event of fire; if proper safeguards are provided to take care of any emergency; sanitary conditions conducive to good health of employes to prevent sickness or faintness on account of improper toilet and drinking facilities, foul and stifling atmospheric conditions, etc. All of these and other things of a like nature are matters of vital importance to the employer as well as the employe. The results of the inspection, which has for its purpose the ultimate elimination of every visible or invisible risk or cause of accident or death (atmospheric, physical or human oversight) have been most gratifying. While some of the conditions discovered, as a result of this inspection, and rectified might seem insignificant in themselves, although any one of them may have been directly or indirectly the cause of a serious accident, there were a great many grave discrepancies uncovered which, if they had been permitted to exist without check, may have some day resulted in serious loss of life, if not a dreadful holocaust. Upon the whole the results have been most satisfactory and, if but a single hand or foot, to say nothing of an entire limb or life, has been saved through the medium of this inspection, this department will feel amply compensated for the additional effort and outlay expended and feels certain that inestimable benefits will accrue to the employer, employe and humanity in general.

In the four districts under the organization of this department an aggregate of 524 inspections were made of which 316 were one-stoi"y structures; 124 two-story; 14 one and one-half-story; 41 three-story; 21 four-story; 1 five-story; 3 six-story; 3 seven-story; and 1 eight-story. Comparatively little consideration can be paid to the fire hazard in structures of but one and one and one-half stories, which predominate in the report, but much stress can be laid to condition of the floors, exits,

58 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

protection of electric lighting and heating equipment, sanitation and ventilation, and particular attention was directed to these conditions. In the structures of two stories and over every condition was taken into consideration and detailed reports were exacted and received upon all questions. In summarizing these reports, for the sake of space, no men- tion will be made of the "good," "fair," or "adequate" conditions which were found to exist and which will be taken for granted and duly appre- ciated, but only instances where discrepancies or dangers were found to exist and were corrected as a direct result of this inspection will be treated and in the briefest form possible, consistent with clarity. The inspection has covered a period of several months but only the latest reports upon each institution visited and inspected will be considered.

ONE AND ONE AND ONE-HALF STORY

Total inspections, 330. Of these 246 were frame; 37 brick; 13 con- crete; 4 mill construction; 1 frame and concrete; 2 frame and steel, and 27 open and incomplete.

Floors. — Twenty were dilapidated, unsafe, slippery and otherwise dangerous and ordered repaii-ed, rebuilt and remedied; 1 slippery and dangers; 1 oily; 1 holes and dangerous and 1 being repaired.

Lighting.— Electric 154; gas 2. Gas brackets in two unprotected. Wiring faulty and unprotected in 4; motors unsafe in 21; motors ordered grounded in 9 and protected in 12. Switchboards unsafe and ordered protected in 8.

Exit Doors. — In only 17 cases were they found to open outward; were "sticky" in 1, and two instances were found where exit doors were kept fastened during working hours.

Exits. — Not kept clear, 7. Rubbish allowed to accumulate in 3, and inflammables in 5. Smoking was prohibited in 17 cases in only 14 of which were signs posted.

Fire Protection. — None had fire escapes and several had no exit doors other than through the office. Majority was provided with some kind of extra fire protection, such as extinguishers, grenades, water in pails, etc., but two were found to be "extra hazardous," were condemned and will be rebuilt.

Sanitation. — Toilets were found inadequate, insanitary and out of repair in 20 instances in 2 of which conditions were reported as "bad," and in 16 others drinking facilities were reported insanitary and all condi- tions were ordered remedied.

Ventilation. — One was reported bad and one ordered to install adequate dust exhaust system.

TWO-STORY STRUCTURES

Total 123. Of these 80 were frame; 14 brick; 7 concrete; 15 mill construction; 5 brick and mill; 1 brick and frame, and 1 concrete and mill. Includes two dredge boats, both reported in safe and sanitary condition. Two concrete and 3 brick buildings reported fireproof, and 3 semi-fire- proof.

Floors. — Not in good repair, 19. Reported "bad," "bad holes in floor," "slippery and otherwise dangerous," "holes in dock floor," etc. All ordered remedied and 2 ordered replaced.

Exit Doors. — In 11 instances doors open outward; sliding, 23; not open during working hours, 6; one bolted on inside and 5 fastened with spring locks; seven have fireproof doors between departments. One, located on lower floor of eight-story building, provided with fire escapes.

Stairivays. — 'In 3 buildings not provided with handrail.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 59

Exits. — Passageways in 5 were not kept clear; smoking was prohibited in 26, in 9 of which sigrns were posted. Matches used in 7, in 4 of which they were kept in pockets and in 1, kept in boxes.

Lighting. — Electric, 27; electric and gas, 1. Unprotected gas brackets. 1. Motors and switchboards ordered protected in 7; motors ordered grounded in 2; wiring unsafe in 4 and 1 being rewired.

Fire Protection. — None, 23. Seventeen installed fire alarm systems; 15 electric, 1 thermostatic and 1 whistle.

E.rtra Hazaixlous. — One permitted old slabwood to accumulate to a dangerous extent; 2 elevators were in a dangerous condition; 6 permitted rubbish to accumulate, one of which the inspector reports was "very care- less about fire risk.". Four allowed inflammable materials to exist about the premises.

Sanitation. — Better toilet facilities were found necessary for 23; one ordered to remedy toilets in basement and two were ordered to install toilets outside of buildings.

Ventilation. — Generally good; 10 reported "fair."

THREE-STORY STRUCTURES

Frame, 29; brick, 6; concrete, 1; mill construction, 2; brick and frame, 1; brick and mill, 2. Total, 41. Fireproof, none.

Floors. — Bad condition 8. Four slippery; 1 holes. All ordered repaired.

Lighting. — Electric 34; gas 2; electric and gas 1. Unprotected gas brackets 1; wiring unsafe 2; motors and switchboards unprotected 5; motors ordered grounded 2.

Exit Doors. — Not opened outward 38; sliding 11; fastened during working hours 2. One has fireproof doors between departments.

Stairivays. — Seven buildings have only 1, balance from 2 to 5, all wood, straight and winding. Twelve have no handrails.

Fire Escapes. — Thirty-six buildings have none; two have straight ladders; three steel steps with landings, two unsafe.

Exit Passageumys. — Not clear 3; no exit signs in 14.

Smoking. — Is prohibited in 28 and signs are displayed in 4.

Fire Protection. — Fifteen have none of any description, and 20 have no fire alarm systems.

Sanitation. — Bad 3; better toilet facilities ordered in one and drinking arrangements in two.

Ventilation. — Generally good. One bad; exhaust system needed for carrying away impurities. Working conditions crowded.

Extra Hazards. — One concern, a brick and frame structure, has wooden stairways with one handrail; building full of rubbish and inflammable materials; no fire-fighting apparatus or equipment (not even standpipes and hose) ; no fireproof doors, no fire escapes and women employed on second and third floors; floors not kept clear. Air very bad, owing to handling of sacks and rags; no provision for carrying away foul, germ- laden dust.

FOUR-STORY STRUCTURES

Frame 13 ; brick 4 ; mill construction 1 ; brick and frame 1 ; brick and mill 2. Total 21. Semi-fireproof 1.

Floors. — Dangerous 3; slippery 2; holes 1. All ordered repaired or remedied.

Lighting. — Electric 19 ; gas 1 ; electric and gas 1 ; unprotected gas brackets 1 ; unprotected motors or switchboards 3.

60 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

Exit Doors. — Open outward in six instances only; sliding 7; all open during working hours. Only six have fireproof doors between departments.

Exit Passageways. — Not kept clear in 1 and signs not posted in 6.

Stairivays. — Seven have but one and two have two wooden stairways; remainder have from four to eight, wooden, straight and winding, and five have but one handrail.

Fire Eseapes. — Fourteen buildings have none, twelve of which are frame; one brick and one mill construction. One promised to provide adequate fire escapes. Others have from one to three escapes, all steel. Four prohibited smoking, only one of which displayed signs.

Rubbish. — Allowed to accumulate in three; in one no disposition shown to dispose of it.

Inflanunable. — ^Materials in basement of one.

No fire protection — In the nature of apparatus or extra equipment, in 4, and no fire alarm system in 3.

Sanitation. — Better toilet conditions ordered in 7; better drinking facilities in 8, and spitting receptacles in 6.

Ventilation. — Not good in 3; bad in toilets of 2.

Extra Hazards. — Elevator in one in dangerous condition; open stair- well in another.

FIVE-STORY STRUCTURE

One, mill construction, passed good inspection.

SIX-STORY STRUCTURES

Concrete 1; mill construction 1; brick and mill 1. Total 3. Two fire- proof.

Exit Doors. — Not open outward 1 ; sliding 1 ; not open during working hours 1.

Steel Stairways. — Both straightaway and winding, not provided with handi'ails on both sides. One has no fire escapes; no exit signs posted in 1. No drinking fountains in 1. The sanitation and ventilation in two was reported good, in the other "fair."

SEVEN-STORY STRUCTURES Three. Two fireproof; one semi-fireproof. All passed good inspection.

EIGHT-STORY STRUCTURE

One brick and frame, not fireproof. Has six stairways, both wooden and steel, straight and winding, and some fireproof doors. One fire escape is of the steel, straight-ladder type. Passed good inspection both as to health and safety.

BUREAU SHOULD REGULATE

While, as will be seen from the foregoing analysis of reports, many conditions of an unsanitary nature were uncovered as a result of the inspections, such as are not conducive to the health and comfort of the employes in various lines of work, this department is not clothed with regulative authority to compel observance of rules and regulations designed to improve the surroundings of the laboring people, from the standpoint of health and comfort. Inasmuch as the efficiency of the employe, both in quality and quantity of service performed, is measured to a very great extent by the state of being of both mind and body, if this bureau were properly clothed with direct corrective authority to right the wrongs as they are discovered, it would redound to the mutual benefit of the employer, employe and public at large, and I trust some legislative action along this line will be taken during the appi'oaching session of the Legislature.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 61

INDUSTRIES, CALLINGS, TRADES, PROFESSIONS, BUSINESSES,

ETC.

Abstracts of Title. — Eighty firms furnishing abstracts of title employed 240 persons and paid them $224,640.

Abstract Examiners. — Six firms act as examiners of abstracts furnished by abstract companies. They are a court of last resort. Num- bers of larg-e loaning companies require that abstracts be examined after their attorneys have passed upon the same and seek the services of an abstract examiner.

Accordeon Plaiting. — Five individuals following accordeon plaiting gave employment to five individual firm members.

Accottntayits. — iThirty-one accountants earned $46,.500.

Acetylene Gas Fi.vti(res. — Three firms dealing in fixtures for the use of acetylene gas employ an average of nine persons at an annual wage of $8.58.00, each making a total of $7,722 in wages for the year, and two clerks receiving a total of $1,944.

Addressing Machine Bureaus. — Four firms give employment to an average of fifteen people, to whom they pay $13,275.

Adjusters. — Eight persons follow the profession of adjusting accounts, fire losses, etc. They give professional advice, examine stocks of goods, and place a value upon goods damaged by fire and maintain a rate for services similar to those of an attorney or physician.

Advertising and Specialties. — Thirty-five firms employ, in addition to proprietors and firm members, twenty-seven persons who received in wages and salaries $19,200.

Air Compressors. — Five plants valued at $19,000 employed twenty- seven men, paying them $19,275 in wages.

Amusement Companies. — Six amusement companies employ an average of eighteen people, paying them $27,000.

Appraisers. — Seven Oregonians follow the vocation of appraising estates and land values and give their professional services to the general public.

Aprons.— The making of aprons furnishes a living for three families in this State. There are firms and people who make aprons, but there are three whose only business is the making and selling of aprons.

Architects. — Offices, 207; wage earners, -37; wages paid, $29,250.

Art Glass, Mirrors, etc. — Four firms employ an average of twelve skilled and five unskilled workmen and three office clerks. Average daily wage paid to skilled workers, $3.75, and to unskilled, $1.50 a day. Skilled labor received $11,700 and unskilled $2,652. Office help averaged $2.72 a day and was paid a total of $3,394.56. A total of sixty-five electric horsepower used in operating plants. Help worked from seven and one-half to nine hours a day. Highest daily wage $3.50 and lowest $2.50. Plants valued at $52,000.'

Artificial Limbs. — Two firms manufacture artificial limbs.

Artificial Stone, Paving, etc. — Individual firms to the number of one hundred and twenty employed a total of one hundred and thirty-seven wage earners about two hundred days. There were one hundred and twenty-six wage earners, nine male and two female clerks. The clerks were employed the full year. Wages were from $2.25 to $4.75 a day, and clerical help was paid an average of $3.40 a day. Total paid to labor, $90,115.

Artists. — Fifty-two people in Oregon following no other calling, but depending upon the sales of their work, class themselves as artists. Possibly a thousand people having side lines or who are classed as housewives, do painting, but fifty-two people supporting thirty-one families are listed among the professional callings in this State.

Ai't Metals. — Three firms employ five people in the manufacture of goods, paying them an average of $2.93 a day, and a total of $4,570.80,

62 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

for the year. One clerk receives $2.98 a day or a total of $929.76 for the year. Three additional persons are employed at a total salary of $2,184.

Asbestos. — Valued at $71,250, six plants gave employment to twenty- nine persons, and paid in wages $22,315.

Asphalt aiid Mortar Ready Mixed. — Plants, 6; operated from 50 to 300 days; 45 skilled and 15 unskilled workers; 6 male clerks; skilled labor averaged $3.10, and unskilled $2.50 a day; clerks averaged $3.33 a day; total paid to labor, $12,669; 9 and 10 hours a day's work; value of plants, $44,200; electric horsepower, 673.

Assay ers. — Fifteen assayers are earning a total salary of $28,140.

Auctioncers.^-Foriy-one men sell their services to the general public as auctioneers, receiving as pay for their services a percentage of the money received for sales. Some of these people maintain stores and have auctions on stated days of the week, while others go to different sections of the State and "cry sales." The annual commissions earned by these people have been estimated by some of them at $91,000.

Axvnings and Tents. — Five plants employ an average of forty-five skilled men, seventy skilled women, fifty-five unskilled men, and twenty- five unskilled women, six office men and nine office women. A workday of nine hours prevails. Average daily wage to skilled men, $3.22; to skilled women, $2.00; to unskilled men, $2.25, and to unskilled women, $1.25. Male help in office received $3.50 and female $2.00 a day. Average highest daily wage, $3.50, and average lowest, $1.50 to males; average hig'hest to females $2.00, and average lowest, $1.16. Average for all, $2.18 a day. Skilled males were paid $45,209; unskilled, $38,611; skilled women, $43,680; unskilled, $9,750; male clerks, $6,552, and female clerks, $5,616; a total of $149,417. No labor troubles and no fire losses reported during the year. A total of 162 electric power used by the plants.

Baby Korals. — Output, 16,500. Five skilled mechanics.

Baking Powder. — Three firms who manufacture other goods make a baking powder and in the manufacture of the powder employ an average of six wage earners, fourteen male and four female clerks, besides four salaried officers, a total of twenty-eight. Wage earners received $4,972, and the clerical force $14,040. Plants are valued at $16,^50. An 8-hour workday prevailed.

Barbers. — Five hundred and twenty barber shops employ in addition to the firm members, five hundred and sixty-three wage earners, at an average daily wage of $3.00. Working hours, ten a day. Total paid to help, $526,968.

Baskets. — Five firms manufacturing baskets, splints and handles, have plants valued at $11,400, and are operated by 42% electric horse- power, employing sixteen skilled and four unskilled workmen. Annual business transacted amounts to $37,500. The sixteen skilled workers received a total of $9,360, the unskilled $2,496, and two male clerks on part time $1,720, a total payroll for the year of $19,576. Four of those employed are females. All persons employed are American-born except one, an Italian weaver. Highest daily wages paid $3.50, and lowest $1.50. An average of the highest wage $3.25 and of the lowest $2.00. Highest daily wage to females $1.50 and lowest $1.50. Plants operate from eight to ten hours daily. No labor troubles during the year. No loss from fire within twelve months. Volume of business shows an increase over that of 1915.

Bedding.— Three plants employ three hundred and seven people, to whom an average daily wage of $2.50 is paid to skilled, $2.00 to unskilled, and $3.50 to male and $3.00 to female clerks. Total payroll, $200,000.

Beverages (Soda Water) . — Ten plants, having a valuation of $73,900, operated the full year. Daily capacity, 32,000 bottles; daily output, 18,000. Sixty electric horsepower and eight steam, total of sixty-eight horsepower. Nine and ten hours constitute a workday. Three male office clerks average $3.25 a day, and three female clerks $2.00. Three

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

63

BANKS

BESOURCES

Number of banks

Loans and discounts

Overdrafts

Securities, bonds, etc

Banking house, furniture and

fixtures

Other real estate owned

Stock in Federal Reserve bank.. Due from Federal Reserve bank Due- from banks (not reserve )

agents '

Due from approved reserve i'

agents '

Checks and other cash items

Exchanges for clearing house....

Cash on hand

United States bonds to secure

circulation

United States bonds to secure

deposits

United States bonds on hand

Premiums on United States

bonds

Five per cent redemption fund.. Due from United States Treas- urer

Expenses, taxes and interest paid Other items than above

Totals

♦Minus ( — ) sign means decrease

LIABILITIES

Capital stock paid in

Surplus fund

Undivided profits

Dividends unpaid

Due to banks and bankers

Deposits due State Treasurer....

Deposits subject to check (in- cluding cashier's checks and certified checks)

Demand certificates of deposit..

Time certificates of deposit

Savings deposit

United States postal deposits....

United States deposits

Deposits United States disburs- ing officers

Re-discounts with Federal Re- serve banks

Other notes and bills re-dis- counted

Bills payable

Certificates of deposits issued for money borrowed

National bank notes outstanding

Reserved for taxes and interest

Other items than above

Totals

*Minus ( — ) sign means decrease

Combined figures of all l):ink!i In

State

Nov. 17. 1916

261

Combined fiRures of all banks In

State

Oct. 31, 1914

263

Increase or decrease*

$105,025,705.82

537,602.36

17,415,281.12

4,537,479.12

2,852,492.46

442,200.00

4,038,308.52

91,810,850.12

492,486.21

16,213,634.05

4,351,781.19 1,710,301.32

13,214,855.70

45.116.15

1,201,647.07

185,697.93 1,142,191.14

444,200.00 4,038,308.52

41,998,179.41 , 21,367,391.59 20,630.787.

535,552.60

1,852,160.12

13,367,198.68

6,184,260.00

4,096,201.87 22,780.00

28,624.50 309,213.00

1,000.00 175,221.56 943,881.37

$204,365,342.51

19,090,150.00

7,611,484.08

3,136,907.49

23.883.64

26,353,063.40 2,061,072.44

84,959,461.55

5,378,156.95

17,932,235.33

25,445,242.96

1,834,645.25

566,472.22

66,630.64

4,276.52

2,623,544.83

410,027.71

10.000.00

5,965,670.00

123,107.24

769,310.26

807,656.99

1,295,623.33

15,074,903.36

6,500.510.00

2,405,307.66 1,045,661.03

78,768.36 409,825.50

112,235.21 1,145,698.82

—272,

556.

-1.707,

104.39 536.79 704.68

-316,250.00

1,690, 1.022,

—50 —100

1

62

-201

894.21 881.03

143.86 612.50

000.00 986.35

817.45

$164,822,634.74 [ $

42,214 -3.671

221.68 513.91

19.553.630.00

7,631,729.82

2,689,419.72

33.409.85

13,460,091.84

809,500.00

71.081,035.25

3,672,333.81

15,144,475.87

18,849,151.85

1,492,046.76

537,075.86

319,811.82

199,870.95 531,787.20

336,000.00

7,416,257.50

144,723.05

920.283.59

$ 39.542.707.77

463.480.00

20.245.74

447.487.77

9.526.21

12.892.971.56

1.251.572.44

13.878,426.30

1,705,823.14

2,787,759.46

6,596,091.11

342.598.49

29,396.36

— 253,181.18

4.276.52

2,423,673.88 — 121,759.49

—326,000.00

—1.450,587.50

— 21,615.81

—150.973.33

$204,365,342.51

$164,822,634.74

$ 42,360.077.03

— 2.817,369.26

$ 39,542.707.77

64 SEVENTH BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE

skilled females average $2.00, twenty-six skilled males $3.12, and twenty- six unskilled males $2.37 a day. Average highest wages paid to males $3.12, and to females $2.00 a day. Average lowest daily wages paid to males $2.45. Average of all, $2.66. Male clerks received a total of $3,045, female clerks $1,872, skilled males $25,309, skilled females $1,872, and unskilled males $19,225. Total to all, $51,323. No fire loss during the year. In addition to the salaries paid some of the help receive com- missions from the firms. Value of product, $135,000.

Bicycles (Dealers and Repab- Shops). — 'Number, 56; number firm members, 63; persons employed, 100; average daily wage, $2.50; total payroll for 1916, $78,000; business increased 300 per cent since 1914.

Bill Distributors. — Eleven firms pay $12,915 to labor during the year, the average number employed being twenty-one.

Billiard Halls. — Number of places, 247; wage earners, 300; wages paid, $146,400.

Blacksmith, Machine and Repair Shops (Not Railroad). — Of four hundred and eighty-three shops in the State, one hundred and five come under the factory inspection law. Those coming under the inspection law are valued at $433,250, and the others are valued at an equal amount, making the value $866,500. A workday of ten hours prevails. An aver- age of two hundred and three skilled and eighty-five unskilled wage earners and seven male and three female clerks were employed. Total of two hundred and ninety-nine. Skilled labor average $3.33 and unskilled $2.33 a day. Male clerks averaged $3.50 and female $2.50 a day. Skilled workers received $210,909, unskilled $61,781, male clerks $7,644, and female clerks $2,340; total, $282,684. Of the one hundred and five plants reporting power, a total of 750 electric, 106 gasoline, and 10 water power were used in operation. Total, 865 horsepower.

Blueing Manufacturers. — Three firms in addition to five firm mem- bers give employment to an average of five persons, who receive a total of $3,120.

Boat Liveries. — Eighteen places are open to the general public where row boats, canoes, launches, and similar craft may be left the same as a team at a livery stable or an automobile at a garage. They are ternied boat liveries. Besides twenty-three proprietors and firm members, nine men are employed at a total annual salary of $7,020.

Boat and Shiphuilding. — Reports from thirteen plants engaged in the construction of all kinds of boats from skiffs and launches to sea-going vessels, represent a total property valuation of $909,200, which gives employment to six hundred and fifty-four skilled and three hundred and sixty unskilled laborers, at an average of twenty-five days a month throughout the year, and an average wage of $4.50 per day for skilled labor and $2.42 for unskilled, the total wages paid by these plants during the year, October 1, 1915, to September 30, 1916, aggregating $1,013,403. These plants engaged six males and two females in office work, the average daily wage for male labor being $3.94 and for females $2.20. This does not include the plants which have been established since August, 1916.

Boilers {Dealers and Manufacturers). — Firms and plants, 7; horse- power used, 165 electric; average days operated, 312; number people employed, 43 skilled, 34 unskilled, and five male clerks; average daily wage, $4.00 to skilled and $2.50 to unskilled; office force averaged $3.35 a day; average highest wages paid, $4.50; and of lowest, $2.50; general average to all, $3.45 a day; skilled workers received a total of $53,664; unskilled, $26,520; male clerks, $5,460; total, $85,644. Value of plants, $52,000. Value of product, $200,000.

Bornises and Investments. — Six firms give employment to nine clerks and stenographers, who receive $9,180 annually.

Books and Stationery. — Firms doing a strictly book and stationery business number one hundred and seven in the State. There are numbers

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 65

of firms carrying books and stationery, covering: from fifteen to forty per cent of the stock in trade, especially drug stores. Book and stationery firms pay $140,000 annually to one hundred and seventy-nine persons besides firm members.

Bookbinding. — Eight firms, with plants valued at $200,000. One hun- dred skilled and forty unskilled males, and ten skilled and fifty unskilled female workers, and eleven male and nine female clerks; total, twenty-two. Average of highest wages paid, $5.07; of lowest, $1.53. Skilled workers averaged $3.75 and unskilled $1.50 per day. Male and female clerks averaged $4.00 per day. Average for all, $3.08 a day. Skilled workers received $128,700, unskilled $41,120, and clerical help $24,960; total, $194,780.

Bread and Bakery Products. — Number of establishments in State, 270, of which number twenty-five come under the inspection department of the Bureau of Labor. Three of the plants are strictly wholesale estab- lishments, valued approximately at $650,000. Plants coming under the inspection law employ an average of 235 skilled and 156 unskilled males, 100 skilled and 43 unskilled females, 25 male and 20 female clerks. Total number wage earners employed in the two hundred and seventy wholesale and retail bakeries, 602 skilled and 411 unskilled males, 200 skilled and 85 unskilled females, 50 male and 40 female clerks, a total of 1,388. Skilled males averaged $3.00, unskilled $2.00, skilled females $2.00, unskilled, $1.50, male clerks $4.00 and female $2.00 a day. Average highest wages paid to males $4.00, lowest $1.75, highest to females $1.86, and lowest $1.21 a day; average for all, $2.33 a day. Labor received the following payments: Skilled males, $563,472; unskilled males, $256,464; skilled females, $124,800; unskilled females, $39,780; male clerks, $31,200, and female clerks, $24,960; a total of $1,040,676. Hours of labor, 8, 9 and 9y2. Value of product, $4,468,000.

Brick and Tile. — Sixty-eight plants, operated an average of 148 days, have a daily capacity of turning out 1,168,880 brick and tile and pro- duced 962,400; a total of 2,990 steam horsepower and 570 electric is used in operating. Plants operated nine and ten hours a day. There were one hundred and fifty-four skilled and five hundred and four unskilled workmen employed on an average. In addition there were seventy-one firm members working about the plants. Skilled labor averaged $3.00 a day and unskilled $2.34.