As that State stands among the leaders in this important work, it will not be amiss to describe, in some detail, the methods employed by Massachusetts in collecting and presenting wage material; for could this study succeed in nothing more than in bringing to the attention of State labor bureau chiefs the desirability of collecting and publishing uniform statistics, together with a method for so doing, it would have more than justified its existence.
First, as to the Massachusetts method of collecting the statistics. The Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics has adopted a schedule similar to that employed by the United States Census in its collection of statistics of manufacture. In fact, the two schedules are so similar that the Massachusetts statistics for 1909 and the United States Census of Manufactures for 1909 were collected cooperatively in the same schedule, but the method of collecting the Massachusetts wage statistics is, on the whole, superior to that of the Census of Manufactures, which can supply only average wages.
The year of the Massachusetts Statistics ends December 31st, thus making the calendar year
the statistical year. On the blanks which are
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