COMPARATIVE WAGE TABLE.

The table on the following page is intended to show, in a form for ready comparison, the average weekly earnings of wage workers in Missouri, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and California. The Missouri table is compiled mainly from the reports made to this Bureau by individual employes; while the tables for the remaining States are the result of a study of the latest reports of their respective Bureaus. Some prominent discrepancies are noticeable, and can only be accounted for on the theory of careless preparation of tables.. However, the comparative table we present will be found to be approximately correct, and we note with gratification that the labor of the Missouri wage-worker is better rewarded than in any State except California.

WAGES AND COST OF LIVING.

From the following tables it will be seen that wage workers in the United States earn more wages during the year than those in Great Britain or Germany, but this does not necessarily make the prices of manufactured goods higher here, as the workmen in the United States employed in manufacturing industries will produce more goods in the same time than those in other countries. These facts are plainly and forcibly shown in a table compiled by J. Schoenhof from the United States census report of 1880, Mulhall's dictionary of statistics, reports to Parliaments and "Das Deutsche Wirthschaftsjahr 1881." This table only includes "textile fabrics," but proper investigation will be made during next year by this Bureau to collect facts in regard to the productive power of operatives in various other classes of manufactures for comparison of labor in the United States and various foreign countries.