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Fitchburg, Gloucester, Haverhill, Holyoke, Lowell, Ne Springfield, Taunton, and Worcester, while in Bosto rence, Lynn, Newburyport, and Woburn the price p than this average. In October, the average retail bread flour for the State was, as stated, $7.626. exceeded for that month in the cities of Brockton, F: New Bedford, Salem, Taunton, and Worcester, the cities ranging lower than this figure. The table i

and needs no further introduction or analysis.

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per cent of this numnkenness, which n. The closing

Manufacturers that there mer, when men can stay

nent we selected the nd which seemed from ent for their employees Jay have had, and made ist for the investigation. warm enough to permit in justice to the workingsay that the results of this did the one in February. February we selected 328 for

e present the results as shown rietors, foremen, bookkeepers, nis presentation is comparative,

is to say, the 328 establish28 establishments which reported series shows the number of estabid towns specified, and the number employed on Saturday and the fol

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The number of lines or details included in the table is 142. Of these, 74 show an increase in October as compared with April; 60 a decrease, and eight remain the same.

ABSENCE AFTER PAY DAY. No. 2.

In the Bulletin for July an article was published with the title "Absence after Pay Day." We repeat the opening paragraph at the beginning of the second consideration of this subject:

The statement has frequently been made that the indulgence in intoxicating liquors by workingmen after pay day is an evil which affects the industry of the Commonwealth in a large and increasing ratio. This impression seems to be derived from the strenuous efforts of the temperance reformers, and numerous inquiries have been made of this Department as to the truth of the statement.

It was shown that this "6

"impression was an erroneous one and had no foundation in fact. The number of persons covered by the investiga

tion was 39,761, and it was learned that only 1.29 per cent of this number were absent from their work after pay day from drunkenness, which proportion certainly cannot be considered cause for alarm. The closing paragraph of this article said:

The season of the year also has its effect. It is asserted by some manufacturers that there is more loss of time among employees from the use of liquor in the Summer, when men can stay out of doors in comfort, than there is in the Winter.

In order to test the truth of the latter statement we selected the establishments which we considered representative, and which seemed from their environment to offer the greatest inducement for their employees to indulge any propensities for liquor which they may have had, and made another canvass, selecting the last week in August for the investigation. It may be recalled that this week was certainly warm enough to permit the men to stay out of doors in comfort," and in justice to the workingmen of the Commonwealth it is only fair to say that the results of this canvass presented them in a better light than did the one in February.

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From the 413 establishments visited in February we selected 328 for calls in August, and in the following table we present the results as shown by the books and statements of the proprietors, foremen, bookkeepers, and others supplying the information. This presentation is comparative, and shows identical establishments, that is to say, the 328 establishments reporting in August are the same 328 establishments which reported in February. The first table of the series shows the number of establishments visited in each of the cities and towns specified, and the number of male persons over 16 years of age employed on Saturday and the following Monday in February and August.

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In the 328 establishments, 24,516 males over 16 years of age were at work on Saturday in February, and 23,549 on the following Monday. In August, in the same 328 establishments, there were 23,312 males over 16 years of age at work on Saturday, and 23,070 on the following Monday. It will be noted that the establishments visited are well distributed throughout the several cities and towns, especially in the large manufacturing places.

The next table shows the number of males over 16 years of age absent on the Monday after pay day on account of drunkenness and for other causes, in February and August, with the percentages which the number absent for drunkenness bears to the total number of males employed on Saturday.

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First considering the total line, we see that in February there were 328 males over 16 years of age, out of a total number employed of 24,516, who were absent from their work after pay day, because of an over indulgence in alcoholic stimulants, and this number was equivalent to 1.34 per cent of the total number employed on the previous Saturday. In August, in the same 328 establishments, there were absent on account of drunkenness on the day after pay day 131 males, or 0.56 per cent of the total number employed on the Saturday preceding.

If we consider the cities and towns we note many peculiar features. In every instance, except three, where persons were absent on account of drunkenness in February, in August the number absent was smaller or the same. In one instance it was larger by one and in the other two the

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