land were even
more pressing in New York. As in most subjects of deep popular or
scientific importance, the sense of need for more data by which to judge
seemed in the air; and already the Labor Bureau of the State of New
York, under the efficient guidance of Mr. Charles F. Peck, had begun a
course of inquiries of the same nature. For years, beginning with the
New York "Tribune," in the days when Margaret Fuller worked for it and
touched at times upon social questions,--always in the mind of Horace
Greeley, its founder,--there had been periodical stirs of feeling in
behalf of sewing-women. It was known that the enormous influx of foreign
labor naturally massed at this point, more than could ever be possible
elsewhere, had brought with it evils suspected, but still not yet
defined in any sense to be trusted. Indications on the surface were
seriously bad, but actual investigation had never tested their nature or
degree. The report of the bureau for 1885, which was given to the
public in 1886, met with a degree of interest and study not usually
accorded these volumes, and roused public feeling to an unexpected
extent.

Mr. Peck brought to the work much the same order of interest that had
marked that of Colonel Wright, and wrote in his introduction to the
report the summary of the situation for New York City:--

"By reason of its immense population, its numerous and extensive
manufactures, its wealth, its poverty, and general cosmopolitan
character, New York City presents a field for investigation into
the subject of 'Working-Women, their Trades, Wages, Home and Social
Conditions,' unequalled by any other centre of population in
America. It opens up a wider and more diversified field for
inquiry, study, and classification of the various industries in
which women seek employment, than can be found even in European
cities, with but few if any exceptions. It is for such reasons that
the inquiry of the bureau into this special subject has been
largely confined to the city named."

Two hundred and forty-seven trades are given in this report, in which
some two hundred thousand women were found to be engaged, this being
exclusive of domestic service. The divisions of the subject were
substantially those adopted by the Massachusetts Bureau; but the numbers
and complexity of conditions made the inquiry far more difficult. Its
results and their bearings will find place later o