Average weekly wages of writers, editors and reporters.. Officers, clerks, etc.. Pressmen $500,000 00 $400,000 00 200 200 $60 00 $7.00 4 2 $18 00 $12.00 8 Newspaper. St. Louis, Mo. $500,000 $800,000 52 $225,000 00 $26 00 $30 00 $13 00 The following intelligent report is made by an employe in the office of the Globe-Democrat: 1. Do you work by the day or by the piece? By the piece. 2. How many hours constitute a day's labor where you are employed? About eleven, of which about three and a half hours are preparatory, for which we receive no compensation. 3. What are your earnings per day? They average about $4.00. 4. How many days did you lose by sickness during the past year? About ten. 5. How many days by inability to get work? About fifty-that is, each man holding a situation is laid off on an average of one day in a week, as the regular force is too large to give every one full time, and it must be kept large, as no one can tell when there will be a rush of work on account of important news. 6. How many stories is the building in which you work? Four and a basement. 7. Is it provided with proper fire escapes? As far as I know, it is. 8. How many accidents have happened where you work since January last? None. 9. About what size is the room in which you work? Forty by ninety feet. 10. How many persons work in it? About seventy-five. 11. Have you been implicated in any strike since January last? No. 12. Are girls and women employed in the place where you work? 13. Do men and women work together in the same room? 14. Is your occupation unhealthy? Not particularly so; but from the fact that the work is mainly at night, it is somewhat at variance with nature. 15. Is your occupation unhealthy of itself? Yes. 16. Or from the locality? No. 17. If so, in what respect? As stated above, on sccount of night work. It is injurious to some constitutions, and wearing upon the eyes. 18. Are you a member of a Trades Union? Yes. 19. How much money have you paid such union since January last? Regular dues about $5. 20. Have any considerable number of workmen been discharged since January last without notice? None. 21. If so, do you know the reason? Several have been discharged for incompetency, and three or four for violation of office rules, such as neglect of their business, or drunkenness about the office. 22. Are your wages paid in cash? Yes. 23. How often? Every week. 24. Remarks: The above is simply an individual statement of earnings, and will not be fair for an average of the men; but, I will briefly say that the work on a morning newspaper in this [St. Louis] or other cities is pretty much the same, and is as follows: L. S.-6 Over one half of the compositors are unmarried, with but themselves to care for, and they live in boarding houses. From the nature of their work, they soon lose all social surroundings, and many become rather dissolute, while it usually requires the entire amount of earnings of both married and single to maintain life, leaving no surplus. A few have recently purchased their own homes on monthly payments, and thus have a new impetus to work. The average of the married men's families is five, and they are usually non-productive in the way of earnings, the children usually attending school. With but few exceptions the places where printers are employed are healthy, except as above stated. In a newspaper office there is usually about half as many extras ("subs") as there are "regulars," and where an office employs sixty regular men, there are usually from ninety to one hundred upon its weekly pay-roll, and while a regular can work 300 days out of the 365, if he desires to do so, he usually works but 200 days, the other 100 being given to "subs;" and thus the entire force, regulars and extras, will average four days per week, and as each man is paid by the piece, according to his speed, the only fair way to arrive at the average earnings of each man is to divide the entire amount paid per week by the total number of the men on the roll, and in the Globe-Democrat office this average is about $18.50 per week, and on the Republican it is very nearly the same, while on the German papers it is about $16.00 per week. The same system prevails on the evening papers, although not to so great an extent, and the average weekly earnings on an evening paper will be found to be about $17.00. THE A. N. KELLOGG NEWSPAPER COMPANY. The above firm, located at 224 and 226 Walnut street, St. Louis, is engaged in general newspaper printing and publishing, and in supplying stereotype plates. It makes the following |