and of the status of the trades of every nature in which women are now
engaged.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] Report for 1872, pp. 59-108.

[22] Report for 1875, pp. 67-112.




VI.

PRESENT WAGE-RATES IN THE UNITED STATES.


Under this heading it is proposed to include, not only the trades just
specified as coming under the investigations recorded in "Working-Women
in Large Cities," but also such data as can be gleaned from all the
labor reports which have given any attention to this phase of the labor
question. Naturally, then, we turn to the report of the Massachusetts
Bureau for 1881, the first statement of these points, and compare it
with the results obtained in the last report from Washington, as well as
with the returns from the various States where investigation of the
question has been made.

Exceptionally favorable conditions would seem to belong to the year in
which the report for 1884 appeared. The financial distress of 1877, with
its results, had passed. New industries of many orders had opened up for