[Transcriber's note: Underscores have been used to indicate _italic_ fonts. Original spelling variants have not been standardized. In the tables, _s._ or s. was used for Shillings; and _d._ or d. for Pence. "It should also be noted that slight errors of a few farthings in the additions have crept into the totals of some of the columns, but as they do not affect the accuracy of the wage figures the Appendix has been copied exactly as it was published." (Appendix VI.)] WOMEN IN THE PRINTING TRADES: A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY. EDITED BY J. RAMSAY MACDONALD, WITH A PREFACE BY PROFESSOR F. Y. EDGEWORTH. INVESTIGATORS: MRS. J. L. HAMMOND, MRS. H. OAKESHOTT, MISS A. BLACK, MISS A. HARRISON, MISS IRWIN, and Others. LONDON: P. S. KING & SON, ORCHARD HOUSE, WESTMINSTER. 1904. PREFACE. My only qualification for writing this preface is the circumstance that, as a representative of the Royal Economic Society, I attended the meetings of the Committee appointed to direct and conduct the investigations of which the results are summarised in the following pages. From what I saw and heard at those meetings I received the impression that the evidence here recorded was collected with great diligence and sifted with great care. It seems to constitute a solid contribution to a department of political economy which has perhaps not received as much attention as it deserves. Among the aspects of women's work on which some new light has been thrown, is the question why women in return for the same or a not very different amount of work should often receive very much less wages. It is a question which not only in its bearing on social life is of the highest practical importance, but also from a more abstract point of view is of considerable theoretical interest, so far as it seems to present the paradox of _entrepreneurs_ paying at very different rates for factors of production which are not so different in efficiency. The question as stated has some resemblance to the well-known demand for an explanation which Charles II. preferred to the Royal Society: there occurs the preliminary question whether the circumstance to be explained exists. The alleged disproportion between the remuneration of men and women is indeed sometimes only apparent, or at least appears to be greater than it is really. Often, however, it is real and great where it is not apparent.