While a steady growth is shown both in membership and financial operations, the increase in the income and expenditures was relatively greater than that of membership. In 1897 there was an exceptional increase in expenditures, due very largely to the engineering dispute which occurred during that year.

A comparison of the items of expenditure during the six-year period shows a steady growth of expenditure on superannuation, a comparatively uniform cost per head for sickness, accident, and funeral benefits, and marked variations in the expenditures for dispute and unemployed benefits. These points are brought out by the two following tables: EXPENDITURES OF 100 PRINCIPAL TRADE UNIONS ON VARIOUS BENEFITS, ETC., 1892 TO 1897.

a In a few cases it was not possible to separate a certain amount of dispute benefit from unemployed benefit.

EXPENDITURES PER MEMBER OF 100 PRINCIPAL TRADE UNIONS ON VARIOUS BENEFITS, ETC., 1892 TO 1897.

[The expenditure per member is calculated throughout on the basis of the total membership of the 100 principal trade unious, and not on the membership of the unions paying the particular classes of benefits.]

a In a few cases it was not possible to separate a certain amount of dispute benefit from unemployed

benefit.

The expenditure per head for unemployed, traveling, and emigration benefit purposes was greater in 1897 than in any of the five preceding years, and the expenditure for 1897 for dispute benefits was only exceeded in 1893.

Of all the industries represented in the tabulations, the group of metal, engineering, and shipbuilding incurred the greatest expenditure for unemployed and dispute benefits. The total expenditure shown for this group of industries for these two items was £685,311 ($3,335,066) in 1897, or 70 per cent of the aggregate expenditures for such purposes

of the 100 leading unions. In 1896 the trade unions represented in this group expended but £166,778 ($811,625) for unemployed and dispute benefits. The abnormal conditions in 1897 were due, as stated above, to a strike of unusual magnitude which occurred during that year.

Other forms of labor organizations considered in this report are trade councils and federations of trade unions. Trade councils are defined as "purely consultative bodies without power to direct the action of the unions represented on them, or to levy funds in aid of those on strike, or for other purposes." For the purposes of the present report a federation is "an association either of trade societies connected with the same industry or of societies belonging to several industries with varying degrees of relationship."

The following summary shows the distribution of federations according to groups of industries and the trade councils for the years 1894 to 1897, inclusive:

FEDERATIONS OF TRADE UNIONS AND TRADE COUNCILS, 1894 TO 1897.

It will be observed that federations were most numerous in the building trades, but the largest federation membership occurred in groups of mining and quarrying, of textiles, and of metal, engineering, and shipbuilding trades.

The aggregate membership of trade unions participating in the 124 federations was reported as 1,092,376, but to obtain the actual number of individuals, 310,C57 should be deducted, leaving a net membership of 781,719. This deduction is necessary on account of duplication arising from the fact that the same union was sometimes affiliated with more than one federation. These duplicates occurred mainly in the building, mining and quarrying, and textile trades.

ITALY.

Statistica degli Scioperi avvenuti nell'Industria e nell' Agricoltura durante l'anno 1897. Ministero di Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio, Direzione Generale della Statistica. 1899. 122 PP.

This is a report on strikes and lockouts in Italy during the year 1897, prepared by the bureau of statistics of the Italian department of agriculture, industry, and commerce. It covers labor disputes in the various branches of industry and among agricultural laborers.

The report shows a total of 217 strikes in the various industries, and 12 strikes among agricultural laborers in Italy during 1897. In the summary tables presented in the report only the 217 strikes in industrial establishments are considered. These involved a total of 76,570 strikers and occasioned a loss of 1,113,535 working-days.

The following table shows the number of strikes, strikers, and days lost during each year from 1879 to 1897 in all industries except agriculture:

STRIKES, STRIKERS, AND DAYS LOST ON ACCOUNT OF STRIKES, 1879 TO 1897.

The years 1896 and 1897, according to the above table, show a considerable increase over preceding years, not only in the number of strikes, but especially in the number of strikers and working-days lost on account of strikes.

The causes of strikes in 1897 and their results are shown in the two following tables:

Of the 217 strikes reported, 61.2 per cent were due to wage disputes, 7.9 per cent to disputes regarding hours of labor, and 30.9 per cent to other causes. Taking the strikers as the basis, it is shown that 84.9 per cent of their number struck on account of wage disputes, 4.9 per cent on account of hours of labor, and 10.2 per cent for other reasons. Regarding the results of strikes in 1897, it is shown that 32 per cent of the strikes, involving 10 per cent of all the strikers, were successful; 28 per cent of the strikes, involving 75 per cent of the strikers, were partly successful, and 40 per cent of the strikes, involving 15 per cent of the strikers, were failures.

The following table gives a comparison of the proportionate results of strikes during a period of years:

The proportion of successful strikes, as shown in the above table, increased from an average of 16 per cent for the years 1879 to 1891 to 38 per cent in 1896. In 1897 there was a decrease to 32 per cent. The percentage of unsuccessful strikes showed comparatively little variation, especially during the last four years of the series.

In the following table the total strikes, strikers, and working-days lost in 1897 are given by occupations.

STRIKES, STRIKERS, AND WORKING DAYS LOST, BY OCCUPATIONS, 1897.

The largest number of strikes in 1897 occurred among the textile workers, day laborers, and persons engaged in building trades. The unusual number of strikers reported was, as in 1896, due largely to a single strike among the straw plaiters of Florence, in which, in 1897, 41,550 persons, or over one-half of all the strikers enumerated, took part. This strike likewise accounts for the large number of working. days lost and the large proportion of women and children.

Twelve strikes were reported in the agricultural industry during 1897, involving 24,135 persons of both sexes. Five of these strikes were successful, 6 were partly successful, and 1 failed. All but one of these strikes were due to wage disputes.

Fourteen cases were reported in 1897 where proprietors closed their establishments for the purpose of accomplishing certain objects, but of these only 3 were directed against employees and could properly be called lockouts. These 3 lockouts affected 468 employees, and they all terminated in favor of the employers.