222 LACES AND LACE ARTICLES LACES AND LACE ARTICLES 223- TABLE 107.—Rates of wages paid in the domestic and English bobbinet indun ' TABLE 108.—Index of the cost of living fixed by the Regional Commission of the n& for auxiliary processes Prefecture of the Rhone Process Domestic rates English rates i Index Index Date figure figure $0.145 per bundle (10 pounds). 4Kd.=$0. 0862 per bundle (10 pounds'! 30/2 $0.160 per bundle J 5Kd.= . 1115 per bundle. " December 1926. 500 40/2 $0.177 per bundle 6Jid.= . 1267 per bundle. August.1920 461 $0.207 per bundle December 1924. December 1927. 7Kd.= . 1521 per bundle. 379 March 1928 459 80/2 $0,355 per bundle... 10Md.= . 2129 per bundle. December 1925. The average weekly wages for Less 26 percent. this process paid by tbe firms from whom these fig­ ures were obtained is $21. IX. COST DATA "Warping f$0.85 to $0.90 per hour 15d. per hour = $0.3042. 1. Material costs (.Average per week, $40. Week of 48 hours, £3 = $14.60, less 25 percent Brass-bobbin winding... f$0.26 per 1,000 f All gages, up to and including 125 yards "„ In the manufacture of bobbinets yarns are used for two purposes, \$0.45, $0.50, $0.60 per hour \ 1,000, 6Md.=$0.1369. * aS' ljCr Average per week, $27.25 J4d. extra for every 25 yards or portion the^M for warp and for brass bobbins; the ascertainment of the amount of less 33% percent. each in a wmding does not present any difficulty. The weight of yarn Small bobbins per 1,000: Up to 16 years of age, 7}4&.=$0.1470 in a full set of bobbins is ascertained by multiplying the number_ of ($0.276 per 1,000, 7-point Over 16 years of age, 8Jid.=$0.1573' Threading <$0. 304 per 1,000, 9-point Large bobbins per 1,000: bobbins in the set by the number of yards wound on the set, and divid­ [Average per week, $21.50 Up to 16 years of age, SKd.=$0.1673 ing by the number of yards per pound of the specific yarn count used. • Over 16 years of age, 9%d.=$0.1876 Less 33H percent. When the set is taken from the machine and stripped, the weight of the waste is deducted from the weight of yarn in the full set and the 1 At the commencement of 1933 the following alterations were in force: Threaders, brass winders slm remainder is the amount of bobbin yarn in the piece. The remainder winders, menders: Decrease of &H percent in list prices, making a total reduction of 33M percent far threaders and brass winders, and 25 percent for slip winders and menders (355S and 27J-4 percent respec .of the weight of the piece is warp yarn, Material costs also include tively, in west England). Other auxiliary workers: Decrease of 5 percent on hst price, making a total reduction of 20 percent (22H percent in west England). Twist hands: Revised payments adopted for •dyes and chemicals. artificial silk nets, viz: Artificial silk yarn reduced to equivalent size in cotton, and extras for counts nnS silk as price card. a 2. Comparability- of domestic and foreign bobbinets of cotton and silk The number of variable factors to be considered in the comparison 3. Wage rates in the silk bobbinet industry in Lyons •of domestic and foreign bobbinets.is.reduced to three, viz.: yarn The manufacture of silk bobbinets in France is centered in Lyons counts, weight per unit, and countable quality. Other points of and vicinity. The card under which tullistes are paid in this region construction may be disregarded for the following reasons: There was estabhshed on October 1, 1919.- Fluctuations in the value of is no pattern; the gage of the machine and the quahty of net on the the franc_ and in the cost of hving, however, have made necessary machine cannot be determined after the piece is finished, because the frequent increases, and in recent years some decreases, in the rack web is so elastic that in dressing it is stretched to a wider width and rates. These changes have been made by applying to the basic draws up to a shorter length than the dimensions on the machine; rates coefficients equal to the index figures representing the increases the finished area is greater than the brown area. Nets made in or decreases in the cost of hving, as established by the Regional Com­ different qualities on machines of different gages can be dressed to mission of the Prefecture of the Ehone. The "following table 108 have the same hole count and appearance and are competitive. shows the cost of hving indexes from August 1920 to March 1928 3. Comparison of domestic and English costs of cotton bobbinet based upon the cost of hving on July 1, 1914, taken as 100. The basic card for the payment of twist hands in the Lyons bobbinet mills The latest data available with respect to domestic and foreign costs was estabhshed October 1, 1919; the increase in the cost of hving of production are those obtained bv the Tariff Commission in a cost and thus of wages between the latter date and August 1920 (the date investigation completed in 1924. These data, a decade old, are here of the first coefficient shown), as estabhshed by the Syndicate of recorded as indicative of conditions at that time. Silk Manufacturers of Lyons, was 20 percent—thereafter the increases Table 109 shows costs of production of 6 domestic cotton bobbinets have followed the indexes in the table. and of 6 comparable British bobbinets. The British costs are shown The basic wage rates increased by coefficients do not represent only as totals; the domestic costs are subdivided to show material, absolutely the wages paid to the tulhstes. The basic rates merely labor, and expense. have offered a basis for bargaining between the employees and their employers. In general, tullistes' wages-have increased more than the cost of living index during busy seasons, and less during dull seasons. 224. LACES AND LACE AETICLES LACES AND LACE ARTICLES 225 TABLE 109.—Plain nets of cotton made on the bobbinet machine: Costs oivroch^u TABLE 111-—Cotton bobbinets: Comparison of details of domestic costs with details in the United States and in England, 1924 auction of foreign costs, other than British, 1924 [Per square yard] [Per square yard] Manu­ Costs Percent of total mill cost Manu­ Total Manu­ Manu­ No. Mate­ factur­ factur­ Mate­ factur­ rial ing mm No. factur­ Number ing ex­ cost rial ing ing ex­ labor pense Country of sam­ Manufac­ labor pense Manufac­ Total ples Material Labor turing Material Labor turing expense mill cost expense Domestic British 1 $0. 0758 $0.0740 $0.1753 $0.3251 2 .0869 .0505 .0420 .1794 '.0950 $0.0765 1.1164 I. 2879 33.00 26. 57 40.43 3 _ 'United States.. .0611 .0496 .1171 .2278 3 Germany .0620 .0305 .0114 .1039 59.67 29.36 10.97 4 __ .1482 .1343 .0799 .3624 4 5 . .1462 .0749 .0451 .2662 5... United States. .1124 .0789 .0765 .2678 41.97 29. 46 28.57 6 .1224 .1170 .2776 .5170 6 France. .0815 .0170 .0171 .1156 70.50 14.70 14.80 Average .1068 .0834 .1228 .3130 Average. 35.41 26.89 37.70 .1067" United States. .Switzerland 61.75 2 32. 52 3 5.73 i There is only one bobbinet mill in Switzerland; to avoid revealing confidential information the basio The percentages which material, labor, and expense, constituted data are therefore omitted. of total domestic mill cost were 34, 27, and 39, respectively. The ! Yarn preparation, making, and mending labor only. ... manufacturing expense of tbe domestic mills averaged 148 percent J Includes finishing labor. of the manufacturing labor cost. As shown by table 111, which breaks down domestic and foreign Table 110 compares by percentages the average costs of 6 domestic costs into material costs, direct labor costs, and manufacturing cotton nets with'the average costs of 6 like or similar British nets. expense, domestic costs in all three classifications are higher than sim­ ilar foreign costs. However, with a single exception, the greatest dis­ TABLE 110.—Cotton bobbinets: Ratio of domestic costs to British costs, 1924 parities between -domestic and foreign costs, both absolutely and in [Per square yard] relation to total costs, occur in the item "manufacturing expense." This cost, which includes overhead and all fixed charges, declines per unit directly as efficiency of production per unit increases. The Excess of domestic single exception is the item of French "labor costs" in the production Domestic British over of cotton bobbinets; these costs are quite low, both in relation to British cost American labor cost and in relation to their own total cost, yet the fact remains that the British industry, paying higher wages than the Total cost at plant French, is the principal producer, and exporter of bobbinets. 50.3130 $0.1067 Percent 193: Bobbinet is the sole item of production in only one domestic mill; Transportation and other charges to New York. .0011 .0116 -91 its production is a minor item in lace plants specializing in other Total cost delivered at New York .3141 .1183 165- types of lace. Domestic bobbmet production, therefore, - depends largely upon other branches of the lace industry for its financial 4. Costs of cotton bobbinets from countries other than Great Britain support. Table 111 shows costs of production of domestic cotton bobbinets 5. Costs of silk bobbinets and of comparable cotton bobbinets manufactured in Germany,.