CODEBOOK AND USER'S MANUAL: A SURVEY OF 719 MALE STONE WORKERS IN MICHIGAN, 1888 REPORTED IN THE SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MICHIGAN BUREAU OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS Version 2.1 May 25, 1993 Susan B. Carter Roger L. Ransom Richard Sutch Hongcheng Zhao Historical Labor Statistics Project Institute of Business and Economic Research University of California Berkeley, California 94720 This codebook is a preliminary draft. The data described here and accompanying this version of the codebook is still in a preliminary format and may contain errors. Those wishing to use this data for research purposes should check with the authors for an update. Neither the collectors of the data or those sponsoring the data collection wish to bear responsibility for the use to which others may make of this data. The financial support of the National Science Foundation, the All-UC Group in Economic History, and of the Institute of Business and Economic Research and the Laboratory for Historical Research, both of the University of California, is appreciated. For further description of the Historical Labor Statistics Project, discussion of the social, economic, and political context in which the data were collected, and an assessment of data quality, see Susan B. Carter, Roger L. Ransom, and Richard Sutch, "The Historical Labor Statistics Project at the University of California," Historical Methods 24 (2) (Spring 1991): 52-65 and Susan B. Carter, Roger L. Ransom, and Richard Sutch, "Doing the Wright Thing: Carroll Wright and the State Labor Statistics Movement." Paper Presented at the Conference on Historical Labor Statistics, Lawrence, Kansas, June 1991. Suggested Citation: Susan B. Carter, Roger L. Ransom, Richard Sutch, and Hongcheng Zhao. Codebook and User's Manual: A Survey of 719 Male Stone Workers in Michigan, 1888; Reported in the Sixth Annual Report of the Michigan Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics. Berkeley: Institute of Business and Economic Research, 1993. A SURVEY OF 719 MALE STONE WORKERS IN MICHIGAN, 1888 The survey of 719 male workers in the fire clay, slate, coal, grindstone, gypsum, stone and copper industries was conducted by the State's Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics in 1888 and published in its Sixth Annual Report. [1] It was the first of a series of industry-specific worker surveys conducted by the Bureau. The Bureau justified this approach by noting: "It was deemed of more value to make a canvass of a few industries and do the work thoroughly and systematically than to spread the work over many occupations and only obtain partial reports." [2] Eight separate industry groups were eventually canvassed. The Bureau prepared a questionnaire designed to elicit information on a variety of topics including employment, earnings and expenditures, family circumstances, asset ownership, and membership in various organizations. The Bureau also requested information from the foreign born on "relief rendered friends in the old country" and "money furnished to friends for passage to the United States." [3] We are aware of no other surveys in which these particular questions were asked. The survey was carried out by special agents of the Bureau. According to the Commissioner: competent men were employed to make a special canvass of each industry, who obtained the replies to the questions on our blanks from the miners and laborers themselves in personal interviews. [4] There is no further description in the Report of the methods agents used to select interviewees or of the reaction of workers to the agents and their questionnaires. The Bureau simply published the individual responses of workers to questions asked together with some summary statistics. The Historical Labor Statistics Project has transformed these data into machine-readable form using the procedures and codes outlined in this Codebook. Table 1 provides a list of the questions asked by the Bureau. Subsequent tables in this Codebook give the codes used in entering the data onto the computer, together with some statistics from the sample. Since version 2.0, some of the variable names and codes have been changed. Users are reminded to be aware of these changes. The data from this sample of 719 male stone workers in Michigan in 1888 has been archived at the Laboratory for Historical Research at the University of California, Riverside. For additional information regarding the availability of these data please contact: Professor Roger Ransom Department of History University of California Riverside, CA 92521 FAX [909] 787-5299 Notes [1] Michigan Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics, Sixth Annual Report, February 1, 1889 [sic]. Lansing: Thorp & Godfrey, State Printers and Binders, 1888. [2] Ibid., p. vi. [3] Ibid., p. vii. [4] Ibid., p. vi. Table 1 Questions Asked of Respondents, Survey of 719 Male Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Name Descriptions PAGE Page Number of Bureau Report ID Case Number IND Industry OCC Occupation AGE Age POB Place of Birth PPOB Parents' Nativity YRSUS Years in the United States MS Marital Status KIDS Number of Children SCH Number of Children Attending School DEP Number of Dependents in Household YRSOCC Years at Present Occupation YRSEMP Years With Present Employer MONTHS Months Employed Each Year HOURS Hours Employed Per Day WAGE Wages Paid CONTRACT Length of Contract TOTEAR Total Earnings in Past Year PAYCASH Paid in Cash or Trade PERIOD How Often Paid SAVINGS Amount Saved in Past Year WGCHG Wages Compared with Past Years OLDOCC Occupation in Old Country OLDWAGE Wages Paid in Old Country OLDPER Period Paid in Old Country OLDHRS Hours Worked Per Day in Old Country DEPOSIT Amount of Dollars in Bank STAKE Amount of Dollars upon Arrival in U.S. HMVALUE Value of Home [if Owned] MORT Amount of Mortgage on Home MORTINTR Interest Rate on Home Mortgage WELL Are You as Well as You Were 5 Years Ago? DLOSTSIC Days Lost Due to Sickness DLOST Total Days Lost Due to Any Reasons NOWORK Days Lost Due to No Work DLOSTOTH Days Lost for Other Reasons RENT Monthly Rent Paid BOARD Amount Paid for Weekly Room and Board INSLIFE How Much Life Insurance? BENESOC Are You a Member of a Benefit Society? BENEFIT Weekly Benefits from Benefit Society SEW Do You Own a Sewing Machine? PIANO Do You Own a Piano? ORGAN Do You Own an Organ? DAILY Do You Take a Daily Newspaper? WEEKLY Do You Take a Weekly Newspaper? MONTHLY Do You Take a Monthly Newspaper? BEGIN Age at Which You Began Work PSTHL State of Health When You Began Work HLTHNOW State of Health Now REMIT Amount of Remittances to Old Country PASSAGE Dollars Furnished for Passage from Old Country INTR Savings Rate Table 2 Industry [IND] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency 1 Fireclay 54 2 Slate 20 3 Coal 69 4 Grindstone 124 5 Gypsum 193 6 Stone 259 Total 719 Table 3 Occupation [OCC] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency 1 Bricklayer 2 2 Fireman 1 3 Kiln setter 1 4 Blacksmith 17 5 Brickmaker 1 6 Carpenter 5 7 Channeler 1 8 Clay molder 2 9 Cooper 6 10 Derrickman 1 11 Dock age 1 12 Drillman 7 13 Engineer 28 14 Errand boy 1 15 Eye cutter 10 16 Fireman 6 17 Foreman 13 18 General 1 19 Kalsominer 2 20 Laborer 226 21 Lime burner 3 22 Lumberman 1 23 Machinist 3 24 Mill hand 8 25 Miller 6 26 Miner 127 27 Molder 1 28 Potter 1 29 Quarryman 128 30 Rubber 7 31 Runs clay 1 32 Scabbler 18 33 Shipping 1 34 Slate man 5 35 Steam driller 2 36 Stone cutter 16 37 Stone sawyer 3 38 Stucco boiler 3 39 Superintendent 2 40 Teamster 35 41 Trencher 5 42 Trimmer 5 43 Turner 3 44 Watchman 1 45 Water boy 2 Total 719 Table 4 Age [AGE] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Age or code Frequency -9(No response) 1 12 - 15 years old 6 16 - 20 67 21 - 25 146 26 - 30 138 31 - 35 108 36 - 40 114 41 - 45 49 46 - 50 45 51 - 55 23 56 - 60 14 65 - 66 8 Total 719 Table 5 Nativity and Parents' Nativity Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Frequency Code Response Nativity Parents' nativity [POB] [PPOB] 1 US 148 60 2 England 54 88 3 Germany 72 78 4 Canada 89 13 5 Ireland 57 135 6 Poland 2 43 7 Russia 1 1 8 Scotland 24 47 9 Wales 18 18 10 Holland 64 71 11 Sweden 49 50 12 Prussia 37 76 13 Finland 76 1 14 Norway 8 7 15 New Brunswick 1 1 16 Newfoundland 1 2 17 Denmark 1 16 18 France 6 1 19 Belgium 5 5 20 Austria 1 1 21 Switzerland 1 1 22 Italy 4 4 Total 719 719 Table 6 Years in United States [YRSUS] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Years or code Frequency -9(No response) 7 -8(Born in US) 148 0.08 - 5.00 years 200 5.01 - 10.00 167 10.01 - 15.00 57 15.01 - 20.00 62 20.01 - 25.00 41 25.01 - 30.00 18 30.01 - 35.00 8 35.01 - 40.00 10 40.01 - 45.00 1 Total 719 Table 7 Marital Status [MS] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency 1 Single 298 2 Married 420 3 Widowed 1 Total 719 Table 8 Number of Dependents, Children, and Children Attending School Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Number Dependents Children In shool or code [DEP] [KIDS] [SCH] -9(No response) 267 355 491 1 person 73 49 66 2 83 76 71 3 74 65 44 4 67 60 32 5 62 53 10 6 51 28 4 7 18 14 1 8 16 10 0 9 6 7 0 10 2 1 0 13 0 1 0 Total 719 719 719 Table 9 Years at Present Occupation and with Present Employer Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Years At present occ. With present emp. or code [YRSOCC] [YRSEMP] -9(No response) 122 4 0.02 - 1.00 year 137 343 1.01 - 2.00 78 102 2.01 - 3.00 41 58 3.01 - 4.00 28 47 4.01 - 5.00 39 36 5.01 - 6.00 39 38 6.01 - 7.00 29 20 7.01 - 8.00 30 17 8.01 - 9.00 9 6 9.01 - 10.00 28 13 10.01 - 53.00 139 35 Total 719 719 Table 10 Months Employed Each Year [MONTHS] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Months Frequency 0.75 - 1.00 month 3 1.01 - 2.00 6 2.01 - 3.00 11 3.01 - 4.00 10 4.01 - 5.00 6 5.01 - 6.00 43 6.01 - 7.00 113 7.01 - 8.00 71 8.01 - 9.00 55 9.01 - 10.00 98 10.01 - 11.00 41 11.01 - 12.00 262 Total 719 Table 11 Hours Employed Per Day [HOURS] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Hours or code Frequency -9(No response) 1 7 hours 1 8 64 9 1 10 611 11 25 12 12 13 1 14 1 15 2 Total 719 Table 12 Wages Paid [WAGE] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Wages or code Frequency -8("Piece") 2 $13.00 - 30.00 31 30.01 - 40.00 383 40.01 - 50.00 178 50.01 - 60.00 85 60.01 - 70.00 14 70.01 - 80.00 9 80.01 - 90.00 2 90.01 - 100.00 11 100.01 - 104.00 4 Total 719 Table 13 Length of Contract [CONTRACT] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency 1 Daily 236 2 Piece 2 3 Monthly 481 Total 719 Table 14 Total Earnings and Amount Saved Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value Total Earnings Amount Saved or code [TOTEAR] [SAVINGS] -9(No response) 0 473 $14.00 - 100.00 16 167 100.01 - 200.00 42 55 200.01 - 300.00 152 16 300.01 - 400.00 238 6 400.01 - 500.00 121 1 500.01 - 600.00 84 0 600.01 - 700.00 30 1 700.01 - 1248.00 36 0 Total 719 719 Table 15 Paid in Cash or Trade [PAYCASH] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency -9 No response 1 1 Cash 618 2 Trade 2 3 Both 98 Total 719 Table 16 How Often Paid [PERIOD] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency 1 Weekly 152 2 Two weeks 107 3 Monthly 460 Total 719 Table 17 Wages Compared With Past Year [WGCHG] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency -9 No response 181 1 About half 19 2 Less 135 3 Not so good 52 4 Same 218 5 A little better 1 6 Better 113 Total 719 Table 18 Occupation in Old Country [OLDOCC] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency -9 No response 279 5 Brick making 2 6 Carpenter 4 8 Clay molder 1 13 Engineer 3 16 Fireman 3 20 Laborer 83 24 Mill hand 1 25 Miller 1 26 Mining 52 27 Molder 1 34 Slate maker 6 36 Stone cutter 4 40 Teaming 10 46 Agent 1 47 Blacksmith 18 48 Blast furnace 1 49 Butcher 3 50 Cabinet maker 1 51 Carriage maker 1 52 Clerk 3 53 Dyke worker 1 54 Farmer 210 55 Fisherman 1 56 Gardener 3 57 Iron work 1 58 Maltster 1 59 Mason 1 60 Quarryman 4 61 Railroading 4 62 Sailor 3 63 Salesman 1 64 Saw mill 3 65 Ship carpenter 2 66 Shoemaker 1 67 Store-keeper 1 68 Sugar-maker 1 69 Warden 1 70 Watchmaker 1 71 Weaving 1 Total 719 Table 19 Wages Paid in Old Country [OLDWAGE] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Wages or code Frequency -9(No response) 337 $0.25 - 5.00 203 5.01 - 10.00 35 10.01 - 15.00 64 15.01 - 20.00 29 20.01 - 25.00 9 25.01 - 30.00 25 30.01 - 35.00 5 35.01 - 40.00 5 40.01 - 72.00 7 Total 719 Table 20 Period Paid in Old Country [OLDPER] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency -9 No response 337 1 Daily 177 3 Monthly 186 4 Yearly 8 7 Weekly 11 Total 719 Table 21 Hours Worked Per Day in Old Country [OLDHRS] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Hours or code Frequency -9(No response) 305 6.0 hours 7 7.0 4 8.0 19 9.0 6 10.0 119 11.0 39 11.5 1 12 0 177 12.5 1 13.0 9 14.0 22 15.0 7 16.0 3 Total 719 Table 22 Amount of Dollars in Bank and Brought to US Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value In bank Brought to US or code [DEPOSIT] [STAKE] -9(No response) 652 587 $1.00 - 100.00 21 105 100.01 - 200.00 18 11 200.01 - 300.00 7 6 300.01 - 400.00 6 6 400.01 - 500.00 4 1 500.01 - 4000.00 11 3 Total 719 719 Table 23 Do You Own Your Home, If So, Its Value? [HMVALUE] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value or code Frequency -8("Farm") 1 -7("No") 528 $30.00 - 200.00 25 200.01 - 400.00 32 400.01 - 600.00 46 600.01 - 800.00 27 800.01 - 1000.00 28 1000.01 - 1200.00 4 1200.01 - 1400.00 1 1400.01 - 1600.00 8 1600.01 - 1800.00 2 1800.01 - 2000.00 7 2000.01 - 5000.00 10 Total 719 Table 24 Amount of Mortgage on Home [MORT] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 656 $35.00 - 100.00 17 100.01 - 200.00 20 200.01 - 300.00 11 300.01 - 400.00 9 400.01 - 500.00 1 500.01 - 600.00 2 600.01 - 700.00 2 700.01 - 1000.00 1 Total 719 Table 25 Interest Rate on Home Mortgage [MORTINTR] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Percent or code Frequency -9(No response) 657 6.00 % 2 7.00 33 8.00 17 10.00 9 15.00 1 Total 719 Table 26 Health Now Compared with Five Years Ago [WELL] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency -9 No response 93 1 No 60 2 Yes 451 3 Better 115 Total 719 Table 27 Days Lost by Cause Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Frequency Days Total No Work Sick Other or code [DLOST] [NOWORK] [DLOSTSIC] [DLOSTOTH] -9(No response) 359 524 592 568 2 - 10 days 11 3 26 9 11 - 20 40 17 41 36 21 - 30 54 27 24 40 31 - 40 22 9 10 8 41 - 50 10 5 2 8 51 - 60 71 39 12 18 61 - 70 14 5 1 13 71 - 80 45 36 8 6 81 - 90 8 4 1 1 91 - 234 85 50 2 12 Total 719 719 719 719 Table 28 Monthly Rent Paid [RENT] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Rent or code Frequency -9(No response) 506 $0.01 - 2.00 67 2.01 - 3.00 48 3.01 - 4.00 38 4.01 - 5.00 33 5.01 - 6.00 16 6.01 - 7.00 4 7.01 - 8.00 5 8.01 - 10.00 2 Total 719 Table 29 Amount Paid for Weekly Room and Board [BOARD] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 423 $2.00 - 3.00 53 3.01 - 4.00 167 4.01 - 5.00 74 5.01 - 5.50 2 Total 719 Table 30 How Much Life Insurance [INSLIFE] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 665 $1.00 - 500 10 500.01 - 1000 28 1000.01 - 1500 1 1500.01 - 2000 12 2000.01 - 6500 3 Total 719 Table 31 Member of Benefit Society [BENESOC] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Code Response Frequency 1 No 650 2 Yes 69 Total 719 Table 32 Weekly Benefits From Benefit Society [BENEFIT] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 653 $3.00 37 4.00 13 5.00 7 6.00 1 8.00 1 10.00 4 15.00 3 Total 719 Table 33 Ownership of Sewing Machines, Pianos, and Organs Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Frequency Code Response S. Machine Piano Organ [SEW] [PIANO] [ORGAN] 1 No 487 713 683 2 Yes 232 6 36 Total 719 719 719 Table 34 Subscriptions to Newspapers Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Frequency Daily Weekly Monthly Code Response Newspaper Newspaper Newspaper [DAILY] [WEEKLY] [MONTHLY] 1 No 657 418 681 2 Yes 62 301 38 Total 719 719 719 Table 35 Age at Which You Began Work [BEGIN] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Age or code Frequency -9(No response) 6 6 - 8 years old 26 9 - 10 119 11 - 12 165 13 - 14 209 15 - 16 157 17 - 18 22 19 - 20 11 21 - 25 4 Total 719 Table 36 State of Health When Began Work and Now Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Frequency Code Response When Began Health now [PSTHL] [HLTHNOW] -9 No response 29 29 1 Good 687 654 2 Fair 1 16 4 Not good 1 6 5 Bad/poor 1 14 Total 719 719 Table 37 Amount of Remittances to Old Country [REMIT] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 588 $5.00 - 50.00 68 50.01 - 100.00 31 100.01 - 150.00 7 150.01 - 200.00 15 200.01 - 600.00 10 Total 719 Table 38 Dollars Furnished for Passage From Old Country [PASSAGE] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 659 $14.25 - 20.00 3 20.01 - 40.00 13 40.01 - 60.00 20 60.01 - 80.00 7 80.01 - 100.00 7 100.01 - 300.00 10 Total 719 Table 39 Saving Rate [INTR] Survey of 719 Michigan Stone Workers, 1888 Value or code Frequency -9(No response) 473 0.01 - 0.10 % 20 0.11 - 0.20 89 0.21 - 0.30 65 0.31 - 0.40 35 0.41 - 0.50 16 0.51 - 0.60 12 0.61 - 0.70 5 0.71 - 1.00 4 Total 719