Your San Pedro correspondent[2] has got his figures on wages wrong and he leaves the expenses of business out of account. The 1910 Census bulletin of manufactures gives the figures thus, stated in thousands of dollars: Footnote 2: See THE SURVEY of February 8, 1913, p. 653. Value of Product 20,767,546 Wages (16¹¹⁄₂₀%) 3,434,734 Salaries (4¹¹⁄₂₀%) 940,900 Cost of Material (58¹⁴⁄₂₀%) 12,194,019 Miscellaneous expenses (9⁸⁄₂₀%) 1,955,773 —————————— 18,525,426 —————————— Balance for manufacturers 2,242,120 This balance is 10¹⁶⁄₂₀ per cent of the value of the product. Out of this interest on capital and wear and tear have to be met. The employees, in wages and salaries, get 21²⁄₂₀ per cent—just about twice what the manufacturers get. If 13 per cent were to be added to wages, as Mr. Deegan proposes, there would be a loss and business would not be done. He may say charge more for the goods. But he complains of the high cost of living now. To increase it would be an injury—not a benefit. My advice to all my labor friends would be to reduce the cost of production by making labor more efficient. Avoid strikes, settle differences by arbitration. If existing arbitration tribunals are inadequate, provide better, and remember that the real interests of labor and capital are identical. Labor would be fruitless, without factories and machinery. The men who invent or provide these are entitled to their share. EVERETT P. WHEELER. New York. PLAY CENTERS FOR THE POOR TO THE EDITOR: Henry De Peyster’s article on Play Centers for the Poor in THE SURVEY for March 22 is interesting and illuminating. Evidently he has made a profound study of the question. But with regard to France I should like to add a few words to correct a false impression which Mr. De Peyster surely had no intention of giving. As he says, the problem is different in France and Germany from that in other countries; but he does not mention (except tacitly by the picture on page 856) the admirable provision made by the _Mission Populaire_ (the McAll Mission) to meet the actual condition. In all the larger stations of that mission both in Paris and in the provinces (Rouen, Nantes, Lille, etc.) the daily _Ecole de Garde_ (supervised study and play hours) is an important feature. The children leave school at four—their parents reach home from work not much before half past six. Therefore the boys and girls within walking distance hasten to the McAll station. After a light lunch they are turned into the play-ground for an hour on the parallel bars and the other apparatus. At five they are collected in the mission rooms, where their preparation for the next day is supervised by volunteer teachers.