1885. 1890. 1900. 1903. Cardroom-- Head mistry 17.00 24.80 34.90 33.00 Card cleaner 5.00 5.25 8.70 8.84 Spare hands 5.00 5.25 5.90 6.58 Muleroom-- Head mistry 8.50 19.60 34.00 36.42 Minder 5.00 6.37 6.20 7.12 Spare hands 5.00 5.00 6.00 6.50 Weaving department-- Mistry 13.50 18.00 18.80 17.81 Healder 5.00 5.50 7.60 7.09 Weaver 6.00 10.50 8.62 9.14 Finishing department-- Washers and bleachers 6.00 18.00 18.70 21.25 Dyer 5.00 5.50 5.50 6.08 Finishing man 5.00 5.50 6.00 6.53 Engineering shop-- Boiler mistry 6.00 9.00 9.30 10.16 Engine man 8.00 11.00 10.80 14.62 Oil man 6.00 6.00 6.20 6.64 Boiler man 6.00 6.00 6.90 7.31 Carpenter 10.00 10.00 11.10 11.67 Blacksmith 11.50 13.50 13.80 15.84 Fitter 10.00 11.00 13.98 These wages, however, correspond with those received by persons in other lines of employment. The postmen employed by the government, or letter carriers as we call them, receive a maximum of only 12.41 rupees a month, which is about $3.50, and a minimum of 9.25, which is equivalent to $3.08 in our money. Able-bodied and skilled mechanics--masons, carpenters and blacksmiths--get no more than $2.50 to $3.50 a month, and bookkeepers, clerks and others having indoor occupations, from $4.10 to $5.50 per month. Taking all of the wage-earners together in India, their compensation per month is just about as much as the same class receive per day in the United States. The encouragement of manufacturing is one of the methods the government has adopted to prevent or mitigate famines, and its policy is gradually becoming felt by the increase of mechanical industries and the employment of the coolie class in lines other than agriculture. At the same time, the problem is complicated by the fact that the greater part of the mechanical products of India have always been produced in the households. Each village has its own weavers, carpenters, brass workers, blacksmiths and potters, who are not able to compete with machine-made goods. Many of these local craftsmen have attained a high standard of artistic skill in making up silk, wool, linen, cotton, carpets, brass, iron, silver, wood, ivory and other materials. But their arts must necessarily decay or depreciate if the local markets are flooded with cheap products from factories, and there a question of serious consequence has arisen.