194 [INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WAGES

In the investigations made by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, allowance has been made for the shortened
hours during recent years as well as for the decline in the
number of workers. On the basis of 1914 as 100, the
following advances in the output of individual workers,
by leading industries, are shown for the period 1914-1925:

Industry

Per Cent
Increase in
Individual Output

Tron and Steel Industry:
As a Whole........
Blast Furnaces ..... cccoeeveoanne
Steel Works and Rolling Mills...
Boots and Shoes...  -Leather
 Tanning ....... . a ws
Slaughtering and Meat Packing... .
Petroleum Refining ...-......
Paper and Wood Pulp........
Cement Manufacturing ..
Automobiles .....
Rubber Tires ..
Flour Milling ......
Cane Sugar Refining......

39
54
59

(to 1923)

2

7

7

——

During the same period, the productivity of all steam
railroad employees increased 40 per cent. per man-hour,
and of train and engine crews alone 34 per cent. As measured
 by the average daily tonnage per man employed, the
bituminous coal miner produced 25 per cent. more in 1925
than he did in 1915.2

In terms of the increase of horse-power, and of output
per wage-earner in manufacturing, the National Industrial
Conference Board has prepared the following striking
comparison, by years, for the period 1899-1925:

1 For studies of increased productive efficiency of industry and- of labor,
see the following: “Commerce Yearbook, 1926,” pp. 1-26; “Handbook of Labor
Statistics,” U. S. Bureau Labor Statistics, 1924-1926, pp. 528-558; “American
Labor Year Book, 1928,” pp. 39-46; “Industry’s Coming of Age,” by Rexford
Guy Tugwell, Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York, 1927, pp. 1-28; Bulletins No.
7 and No. 20—National Industrial Conference Board, Inc., New York,