The loss in membership falls largely in the clothing and tobacco trades and is chiefly in New York City, as appears in table 3.

It appears that the decline in the membership of New York unions is quite general, the only trades making any substantial gain being those in the transportation and printing groups; while in the interior towns and cities the only trades suffering noticeable losses are those in the building, clothing and transportation groups.

In the building trades, the painters' organizations in New York suffered a decline of about 1,000 members, and the house shorers of 100; the plumbers also lost ground. But additions to the ranks of plasterers' labor unions partly counterbalanced these losses. The building laborers' unions in Brooklyn lost about 500 members; but, on the other hand, those in New York gained 400. The clothing trades-unions fluctuate in membership according to season and they lost heavily in the last quarter of 1900. Thus in the metropolis, the cloak makers lost 1,400 members, the coat makers 850, the vest makers 500; but the pants makers gained 600 and the tailors 800. Outside of New York, the decline in membership in Group II was due to losses among the textile workers-principally at Cohoes, Jamestown and Amsterdam, the Carpet Printers Union at Amsterdam with a membership of 130 having lapsed.

In Group III, the organization of a Marine Firemen's Union in Buffalo with a membership of 1,800 accounts for the increased "up-State" membership. But the foundry and machine shop laborers suffered a loss of 900 members, two-thirds of which was in Watertown. Two iron molders' unions disbanded, and the aggregate membership in the State slightly decreased.

In Group IV, the gain in New York City is due to the forma tion of an additional union of longshoremen with 400 members, and the "up-State" loss is accounted for by the lapse of two Buffalo freight handlers' unions (800 members) and a decreased membership of 250 in the grain shovelers' union.

In Group VI the loss in the tobacco trades of New York City affects the women particularly.

In Group VII the butchers' unions of New York City lost 150 members and the brewery employees 200.

The large gains in Group X are outside of the metropolis and are largely among bartenders, who are credited with eight new unions and 300 additional members.

The drop in Group XI is explained by the loss of 900 members of the New York City post-office clerks' unions.

In Group XII, there is a decline among the glass workers' unions. Outside of the metropolis this is counterbalanced by the growth of unionism among the paper makers. Several federal labor unions (mixed employment) have disbanded, and one in Utica lost over 100 members, who withdrew to form a coal handlers' union.

II. Unemployment.

At the end of December out of 223,642 members of labor organizations reporting, 49,110 or 22 per cent. were idle; and out of 235,782 reporting, 10,484 or 4.4 per cent. were idle throughout the entire three months (October, November and December). Compared with other years this amount of idleness may be regarded as normal, thus:

TABLE 4.

NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF MEMBERS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IDLE —

The number of unionists idle at the end of 1900 is somewhat larger than in the preceding years, but is smaller proportionally to membership than in other years with the exception of 1899. The proportion of members idle during the entire three months of October, November and December was smaller than in previous years. On the whole, therefore, conditions of employment in the fourth quarter of 1900 were fair.

As usual the proportionate amount of idleness is greater in New York City than in the other localities:

The largest percentage of idleness is found among the female members of organizations in the interior towns. The fact that the percentage of idleness is larger for the women throughout the State than it is for men is due to the concentration of women in the clothing trades, which at this season were very dull. Table II, at the close of the article, gives the figures of idleness by groups of trades; it may be summarized thus:

The idleness at the end of December was proportionately greater than it was a year earlier in eight out of the twelve groups; the four favorable exceptions being printing, theaters, woodworking, and restaurants and retail trade. On the other

hand continuous idleness for three months was relatively less in the fourth quarter of 1900 than in 1899 in nine out of the twelve groups, the unfavorable exceptions being clothing, tobacco, and food and liquors.

In New York City the comparison between 1900 and 1899 is more unfavorable. On the last day of the quarter only two groups (theaters, woodworking) show less idleness in 1900 than in 1899. For the entire quarter the increased idleness in the clothing trades in 1900 brings about an increase for the entire city. The women, however, had somewhat better employment in 1900 than in the corresponding period of 1899.

TABLE 7.

NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF TRADE UNIONISTS (MEN) IDLE IN NEW YORK CITY.

The principal cause of idleness in every industry reporting large percentages of unemployment was either "dull season" or "no work "; the cabmen and coach drivers alone attributed their idleness to unfavorable weather.