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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
W . N. DOAK, Secretary
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
ETHELBERT STEWART, Commissioner
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES \
M
BUREAU OF LABOR S T A T IS T IC S /................. llO .
M ISCELLANEOUS
DOO
SERIES
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL
OFFICIALS IN INDUSTRY OF THE
UNITED STATES AND CANADA
[Formerly Association of Governmental Labor Officials]
EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION
BOSTON, MASS., MAY 18-22
1931
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JANUARY, 1932
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1932
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C,
-
• -
Price 35 cents
OFFICERS, 1930-31
James H. H. Ballantyne, Toronto, Ontario.1
nestaem__f
.--\w
A Rooksbery) Little Rock> Ark
First vice president.— (Vacancy.)
Second vice president.—E. Leroy Sweetser, Boston, Mass.
Third vice president.—Eugene B. Patton, New York, N. Y.
Fourth vice president.—T. E. Whitaker, Atlanta, Ga.
Fifth vice president.—Maud Swett, Milwaukee, Wis.
Secretary-treasurer.—Louise E. Schutz, St. Paul, Minn.
CONSTITUTION
Adopted at Chicago, 111., May 20, 1924; amended August 15, 1925; June 3, 1927;
May 24, 1928; May 23, 1930
A
r t ic l e
I
S e c t i o n 1. Name.—This organization shall be known as the Association of
Governmental Officials in Industry of the United States and Canada.2
A
r t ic l e
II
S ection 1. Objects.—To encourage the cooperation of all branches of Federal,
State, and Provincial Governments who are charged with the administration
of laws and regulations for the protection of women and children, and the
safety and welfare of all workers in industry; to maintain and promote the
best possible standards of law enforcement and administrative method; to
act as a medium for the interchange of information for and by the members
of the association in all matters pertaining to the general welfare of men,
women, and young workers in industry; to aid in securing the best possible
education for minors which will enable them to adequately meet the constantly
changing industrial and social changes; to promote the enactment of legis
lation that conforms to and deals with the ever-reeurring changes* that take
place in industry, and in rendering more harmonious relations in industry
between employers and employees; to assist in providing greater and better
safeguards to life and limb of industrial workers, and to cooperate with other
agencies in making the best and safest use of property devoted to industrial
purposes; to secure by means of educational methods a greater degree of
interstate and interprovincial uniformity in the enforcement of labor laws
and regulations; to assist in the establishment of standards of industrial
safety that will give adequate protection to workers; to encourage Federal,
State, and Provincial labor departments to cooperate in compiling and dis
seminating statistics dealing with employment, unemployment, earnings, hours
of labor, and other matters of interest to industrial workers and of importance
to the welfare of women and children; to collaborate and cooperate with asso
ciations of employers and associations of employees in order that all of these
matters may be given the most adequate consideration; and to promote national
prosperity and international good will by correlating as far as possible the
activities of the members of this association.
1 Mr. Ballantyne resigned in January, 1931.
8 Name changed May 24, 1928.
m
IV
CO N STITU TIO N
A r t ic l e
III
S e c t i o n 1. Membership.—The active membership of this association shall
consist of—
(а) Members of the United States Department of Labor, United States
Bureau of Mines, and the Department of Labor of the Dominion of Canada;
such representatives of the bureaus or departments of the United States or
Canada being restricted by law from paying dues into this association may be
members with all privileges of voice and vote, but are not eligible for election
to office. They may serve on committees.
(б) Members of State and Provincial departments of labor.
(c) Members of Federal, State, or Provincial employment services.
Seo. 2. Honorary members.—Any person who has rendered service while con
nected with any Federal, State, and Provincial department of labor, and the
American representative of the International Labor Office, may be elected to
honorary membership by a unanimous vote of the executive board.
Seo. 3. Associate membership.—Any individual, organization, or corporation
interested in and working along the lines of the object of this association may
become an associate member of this association by the unanimous vote of the
executive board.
A r t ic l e
IV
S e c t i o n 1. Officers.—The officers of this association shall be a president, a
first, second, third, fourth, and fifth vice president, and a secretary-treasurer.
These officers shall constitute the executive board.
Sec. 2. Election of officers.— Such officers shall be elected from the members
at the regular annual business meeting of the association by a majority ballot
and shall hold office for one year, or until their successors are elected and
qualified.
S e c . 3. The officers shall be elected from representatives of the active mem
bership of the association, except as otherwise stated in Article III.
A
r t ic l e
V
S e c t i o n 1. Duties of the officers.—The president shall preside at all meetings
of the association and the executive board, preserve order during its delibera
tions, appoint all committees, and sign all records, vouchers, or other documents
in connection with the work of the association.
Sec. 2. The vice presidents, in order named, shall perform the duties of the
president in his absence.
Seo. 3. The secretary-treasurer shall have charge of all books, papers, records,
and other documents of the association; shall receive and have charge of all
dues and other moneys; shall keep a full and complete record of all receipts and
disbursements; shall keep the minutes of all meetings of the association and
the executive board; shall conduct all correspondence pertaining to the office;
shall compile statistics and other data as may be required for the use of the
members of the association; and shall perform such other duties as may be
directed by the convention or the executive board. The secretary-treasurer
shall present a detailed written report of receipts and expenditures to the
convention; shall pay out no money until a voucher has been issued and signed
by the president. The secretary-treasurer shall publish the proceedings of the
convention within four months after the close of the convention, the issue
to consist of such numbers of copies as the executive board may direct. The
secretary-treasurer shall receive such salary as the executive board may decide,
but not less than $300 per year.
S e c . 4. In the event of a vacancy in any office, the executive board may elect
a successor: Provided, The president shall be succeeded by the ranking vice
president.
Sec. 5. The business of the association between conventions shall be conducted
by the executive board, and all questions coming before the board shall be de
cided by a majority vote, except that of the election of honorary members,
which shall be by unanimous vote.
CO N STITU TIO N
V
Article VI
Section 1. Finances.—The revenues of the association shall be derived from
annual dues determined on the following basis: (a) Federal, State, or Provin
cial departments of labor, when the department staff consists of 1 to 5 persons,
$10; 6 to 25 persons, $15; 26 to 75 persons, $25; more than 75 persons, $50.
The executive board may order an assessment levied upon affiliated depart
ments not to exceed one year’s dues.
Sec. 2. The annual fee of associate members shall be $2.
Article YII
Section 1. Who entitled to vote.—All active members shall be entitled to
vote on all questions coming before the meeting of the association as herein
after provided.
Sec. 2. In electing officers of the association, State departments of labor rep
resented by several delegates shall only be entitled to one vote. The delegates
from such departments must select one person from their representatives to
cast the vote of the group.
The various bureaus of the United States Department of Labor and the
Department of Labor of Canada may each be entitled to one vote.
The rule for electing officers shall apply to the vote for selecting convention
city.
Article YIII
Section 1. Meetings.—The association shall meet at least once annually at
such time and place as the association in convention may select. The date of
the annual meeting shall be decided by the executive board unless otherwise
ordered by the convention.
Arttclb IX
Section 1. Program.—The program committee shall consist of the president,
the secretary-treasurer, and the head of the department of the State or Province
within which the convention is to be held, and they shall prepare and publish
the convention programs of the association.
Sec. 2. The committee on program shall set aside at least one session of the
convention as a business session, at which session the regular order of business,
election of officers, and selection of convention city shall be taken up, and no
other business shall be considered at that session until the 44regular order ” has
been completed.
Article X
Section 1. Rules of order.—The deliberations of the convention shall be
governed by “ Cushing’s Manual.”
Article XI
Section 1. Amendments.—Amendments to the constitution must be filed with
the secretary-treasurer in triplicate and referred to the committee on consti
tution and by-laws. A two-thirds vote of all delegates shall be required to
adopt any amendment.
Article XII
Section 1. Order of business.—
1. Roll call of members by States and Provinces.
2. Appointment of committees.
(а) Committee of five on officers’ reports.
(б) Committee of five on resolutions.
(c) Committee of three on constitution and by-laws.
((f) Special committees.
3. Reports of officers.
4. Reports of States and Provinces.
5. Reports of committees.
6. Unfinished business.
7. New business.
8. Selection of place of meeting.
9. Election of officers.
10. Adjournment.
VI
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL
OFFICIALS IN INDUSTRY i
ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS AND OFFICIALS OF BUREAUS OF LABOB
No.
Date
September, 1883.
June, 1884...........
June, 1885...........
June, 1886...........
June, 1887...........
May, 1888...........
June, 1889...........
1890......................
May, 1891...........
May, 1892..........
1893......................
May, 1894...........
September, 1895.
June, 1896...........
May, 1897_____
June, 1898,.........
July, 1899...........
July, 1900.......... .
May, 1901_____
April, 1902..........
April, 1903..........
July, 1904...........
September, 1905.
July, 1906...........
July, 1907...........
August, 1908___
June, 1909...........
Convention held atColumbus, Ohio.........
St. Louis, Mo.............
Boston, Mass.............
Trenton, N .J.............
Madison, Wis.............
Indianapolis, Ind........
Hartford, Conn..........
Des Moines, Iowa____
Philadelphia, Pa.........
Denver, C olo............
Albany, N. Y .............
Washington, D. C___
Minneapolis, Minn.......
Albany, N. Y............
Nashville, Tenn____
Detroit, Mich........ .
Augusta, M e................
Milwaukee, Wis....... .
St. Louis, Mo................
New Orleans, La...........
Washington, D. C.........
Concord, N. H..............
San Francisco, Calif___
Boston, Mass...............
Norfolk, Va..................
Detroit, Mich..............
Rochester, N. Y . ........
President
H. A. Newman
___ do....................
Carroll D . Wright
___ do.................. .
..— do....................
___ do....................
.— .do....................
No meeting..........
Carroll D. Wright
Charles F. Peck.
Carroll D . Wright
___ do....................
___ do_____ ____
___ do....................
.....d o ....................
.— .do....................
.— do....................
.— do....................
..— do....................
.....d o ...................
.....d o ....................
....... do..................
Charles P. Neill..
..— do................
___ do....................
___ do....................
Secretary-treasurer
Henry Luskey.
Do.
John S. Lord.
E. R. Hutchins.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Frank H. Betton.
Do.
L. Q. Powers.
Do.
Samuel B. Horne.
Do.
Do.
Do.
James M. Clark.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
W. L. A. Johnson.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FACTORY INSPECTORS
No.
Date
June, 1887................
August, 1888..........
August, 1889_______
August, 1890...............
August, 1891...............
September, 1892.........
September, 1893.........
September, 1894.........
September, 1895____
September, 1896____
August and Septem
ber, 1897.
September, 1898.........
August, 1899...............
October, 1900............ .
September, 1901.........
December, 1902..........
August, 1903...............
September, 1904.........
August, 1905...............
June, 1906....................
June, 1907...................
June, 1908....................
June, 1909....................
Convention held at—
Philadelphia, Pa—
Boston, Mass........ .
Trenton, N . J.........
New York, N . Y ...
Cleveland, Ohio....
Hartford, Conn___
Chicago, 111______
Philadelphia, Pa. _.
Providence, R. I...
Toronto, Canada...
Detroit, Mich.........
Boston, Mass.............
Quebec, Canada____
Indianapolis, Ind___
Niagara Falls, N . Y_.
Charleston, S. C........
Montreal, Canada...
St. Louis, Mo.............
Detroit, Mich............
Columbus, Ohio........
Hartford, Conn.........
Toronto, Canada___
Rochester, N. Y____
President
Secretary-treasurer
Rufus R. Wade.
___ do..................
----- do..................
Henry Dorn.
Do.
Do.
John Franey.
___ do.............
Mary A. O’Reilly.
Evan H. Davis.
Rufus R. Wade.
___ do..................
Alzina P. Stevens.
Joseph L. Cox.
James Mitchell...........
Daniel H. McAbee__
Edgar T . Davies........
Malcolm J. McLcad.
John H. Morgan........
George L. M cLean...
James T. Burke.........
Davis F. Spees.
Do.
C. V. Hartsell.
Thos. Keity.
Do.
Do.
Do.
JOINT MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS AND OFFICIALS OF BUREAUS
OF LABOR AND INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FACTORY INSPECTORS
No.
Date
Convention held at—
24
25
26
27
August, 1910_________
September, 1911______
September, 1912_____
May, 1913 ______
Hendersonville, N . C.,
and Columbia, S. C.
Lincoln, Nebr_________
Washington, D . C_____
Chicago, HI___________
President
Secretary-treasurer
J. Ellery Hudson............ E. J. Watson.
Louis Guyon__________ W. W. Williams.
Do.
Edgar T. Davies...........
A. L. G arrett...______ W. L. Mitchell.
*Known as Association of Governmental Labor Officials, 1914-1927.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION
VII
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL OFFICIALS IN INDUSTRY1
Resulting from the Amalgamation of the Association of Chiefs and Officials of Bureaus of
Labor and the International Association of Factory Inspectors
No.
Date
June, 1914_____
June-July, 1915.
July, 1916_____
September, 1917
June, 1918..........
June, 1919..........
July, 1920..........
May, 1921_____
May, 1922......... .
May, 1923.........
May, 1924.........
August, 1925___
June, 1926..........
May-June, 1927
May, 1928.........
June, 1929..........
May, 1930.........
May, 1931.........
Convention held at—
Nashville, Tenn...........
Detroit, Mich..............
Buffalo, N. Y .............
Asheville, N . C............
Des Moines, Iowa.......
Madison, Wis___..........
Seattle, Wash...............
New Orleans, La____
Harrisburg, Pa______
Richmond, Va---------Chicago, 111------ -------Salt Lake City, Utah.
Columbus, Ohio_____
Paterson, N. J..............
New Orleans, La.........
Toronto, Canada..
Louisville, K y___
Boston, Mass------
President
Barney Cohen.
.do.
Secretary-treasurer
W. L. Mitchell
John T. Fitzpatrick.
James V. Cunningham. _
Do.
Oscar Nelson............ .
Do.
Edwin Mulready.......... Linna E. Bresette.
C. H. Younger..............
Do.
Geo. P. Hambrecht___
Do.
Prank E. Hoffman____
Do.
Frank E. Wood_______
Do.
C. B. Connelley______ Louise E. Schutz.
John Hopkins Hall, jr.—
Do.
George B. Arnold_____
Do.
H. R. Witter________
Do.
John S. B. Davie______
Do.
/H. M. Stanley 2_______ I Do.
\Andrew F. McBride3...
/.Andrew F. McBride___ r
Do.
\Maud Swett...............Maud Swett........ ........
/John H. H. Ballantyne4
Do.
\W. A. Rooksbery........ .
1 Known as Association of Governmental Labor Officials, 1914-1927.
2 Mr. Stanley resigned in March, 1928.
8 Doctor McBride resigned in March, 1929.
* Mr. Ballantyne resigned in January, 1931.
Contents
Page
Officers, 1930-31-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- in
Constitution------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- in
Development of the Association of Governmental Officials in Industry
of the United States and Canada------------------------------------------------- ----- vi
TUESDAY, MAY 19—MORNING SESSION
Business session—W. A. Rooksbery, President Association of Governmental
Officials in Industry, Presiding
Address of the president__________________________________________
Committees appointed___________________________________________
Report of the secretary___________________________________________
Financial statement of the treasurer________________________________
Report of committee appointed to study the relation of the Association
of Governmental Officials in Industry to safety regulations, safety
codes, etc- by Charles E. Baldwin-----------------------------------------------Report on National Safety Council Congress, by Harry D. Immel--------Discussion__________________________________________________
Eugene B. Patton, of New York.
W. A; Rooksbery, of Arkansas.
Harry D. Immel, of Pennsylvania.
Reports of new labor legislation:
United States Women’s Bureau (Miss Peterson)_________________
Arkansas (Mr. Rooksbery)____________________________________
Delaware___________________________________________________
Georgia (Mr. Whitaker)______________________________________
Indiana (Mr. Reagin)________________________________________
Kentucky (Mr. Settler)_______________________________________
Massachusetts, 1930 (Mr. Meade)_____________________________
Massachusetts, 1931 (Miss Johnson)___________________________
Minnesota (Mr. MeColl)_____________________________________
New Hampshire (Mr; Davie)__________________________________
New Jersey (Mr. Roach)______________________________________
Pennsylvania (Mr. Horner)___________________________________
Pennsylvania (Miss McConnell)_______________________________
Ontario (Mr. Hudson)________________________________________
Discussion______________________________________________
F. J. Plant, of Ottawa.
Miss Agnes L. Peterson, of Washington, D. C.
W. A; Rooksbery, of Arkansas;
Leifur Magnusson, of Washington, D. C.
Charles E. Baldwin, of Washington, D. C.
1
3
3
4
6
8
9
10
10
11
11
11
11
11
13
14
14
14
16
16
16
16
TUESDAY, MAY 19—AFTERNOON SESSION
Maud Swett, Field Director Woman and Child Labor Department, Wisconsin,
Presiding
Recommendations of the White House conference with reference to child
labor, by Anne S; Davis, director vocational guidance bureau, board of
education, Chicago_____________________________________________
Discussion__________________________________________________
W. A. Rooksbery, of Arkansas.
T. E. Whitaker, of Georgia.
James E. Reagin, of Indiana.
Edward F. Settler, of Kentucky.
John P. Meade, of Massachusetts.
John S. B. Davie, of New Hampshire.
John Roach, of New Jersey.
Eugene B. Patton, of New York.
James L. Gernon, of New York.
Miss Alice Angus, of North Dakota.
Miss Beatrice McConnell, of Pennsylvania.
Miss Maud Swett, of Wisconsin.
IX
19
30
X
CO N TE N TS
Page
What accident reports indicate is happening to minors in hazardous
occupations, by Beatrice McConnell, director Bureau of Women and
Children, Department of Labor and Industry of Pennsylvania________
What Illinois is doing to protect children under 18 years from dangerous
employment, read by Anne S. Davis______________________________
Discussion__________________________________________________
Leifur Magnusson, of Washington, D. C.
Miss Anne S. Davis, of Illinois.
Miss Ethel M. Johnson, of Massachusetts.
James E. Reagin, of Indiana.
Eugene B. Patton, of New York.
Injuries to minors under 18 years of age in Massachusetts, by John P.
Meade, director Division of Industrial Safety, Department of Labor and
Industries of Massachusetts--------------------------------------------------------Discussion__________________________________________________
Mrs. Isabelle M. Summers, of New Jersey.
James E. Reagin, of Indiana.
Edward F. Seiller, of Kentucky.
W. A. Rooksbery, of Arkansas.
John S. B. Davie, of New Hampshire.
39
42
51
56
61
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20—MORNING SESSION
Employment Session—Eugene B. Patton, Director Bureau of Statistics and
Information, Department of Labor of New York,, Presiding
The problem of stabilized employment, by Edwin S. Smith, director of
research, Research Committee on Employment Regularization_______
Fundamentals of sustained prosperity, by William T. Foster, of the Poliak
Foundation for Economic Research_______________________________
Employment statistics, by Mary Van Kleeck, chairman committee on gov
ernmental labor statistics of the American Statistical Association______
Discussion____________________________ _____________________
Miss Ethel M. Johnson, of Massachusetts.
Miss Mary Van Kleeck, of New York.
Eugene B. Patton, of New York.
Charles E. Baldwin, of Washington, D. C.
H. C. Hudson, of Ontario.
John B. Andrews, of New York.
Edwin S. Smith, of Massachusetts.
Roswell F. Phelps, of Massachusetts.
James L. Geraon, of New York.
F. V. Bistrup, of Massachusetts.
65
71
74
81
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20—AFTERNOON SESSION
Employment Session—H. C. Hudson, General Superintendent Ontario Govern
ment Employment Offices, Presiding
Statement of H. C. Hudson, of Ontario, on education of unemployed
workers_______________________________________________________
Financial relief of unemployment in the United States and Europe, by
Mary Bi Gilson, of the Industrial Relations Counselors (Inc.), New
York--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Work of the Presidents Emergency Committee for Employment, by Fred
C. Croxton, of the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment.
Employment service of the United States Department of Labor, by H. L.
Brunson, of the United States Department of Labor________________
Report on the status of safety codes, by Cyril Ainsworth______________
Discussion__________________________________________________
John B. Andrews, of New York.
F. J. Plant, of Ontario.
88
89
102
107
110
114
CO N TE N TS
XI
THURSDAY, MAY 21—MORNING SESSION
Industrial Safety Session—E. Leroy Svreetaer, Commissioner Department of
Labor and Industries of Massachusetts
Industrial safety by an employer of labor, by Harold L. Nickerson, of
Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass__,_____________
What I would do, based on my experience, to make work places safe were
I employer or owner, by James L. Gernon, director division of inspec
tion, Department of Labor of New York__________________________
How the Massachusetts Safety Council assists the Massachusetts Depart
ment of Labor and Industries, by Lewis E. MacBrayne, general manager
Massachusetts Safety Council___________________________________
Discussion__________________________________________________
Harry D. Immel, of Pennsylvania.
James L. Gemon, of New York.
Miss Frances Perkins, of New York.
The organization and operation of a State factory-inspection service, by
Alfred W. Briggs, of the American Association for Labor Legislation__
Discussion__________________________________________________
Miss Agnes L. Peterson, of Washington, D. C.
Alfred W. Briggs, of New York.
Miss Maud Swett, of Wisconsin.
Mrs. Isabelle M. Summers, of New Jersey.
E. Leroy Sweetser, of Massachusetts.
Page
117
124
129
134
138
143
THURSDAY, MAY 21—AFTERNOON SESSION
Industrial Diseases—John Roach, Deputy Commissioner of Labor of New Jersey,
Presiding
The relationship of lead poisoning to industry, by Dr. Joseph C. Aub,
associate professor of medicine, Harvard University------------------------Dust hazards and the prevention of injury from the same, by Dr. W. Irving
Clark, instructor of industrial medicine, Harvard University_________
Dangerous chemicals, by Dr. Leonard Greenburg, of the United States
Public Health Service__________________________________________
146
150
155
FRIDAY, MAY 22—MORNING SESSION
Business Session—W . A . Rooksbery, President Association of Government*
Officials in Industry, Presiding
Report of committee on officers’ reports-------------------------------------------Remarks_______________________________________________________
Edward F. Seiller, of Kentucky.
Leifur Magnusson, of Washington, D. C.
Discussion on recommendations regarding problem of unemployment—
H. C. Hudson, of Ontario.
John Roach, of New Jersey.
Eugene B. Patton, of New York.
W. H. Homer, of Pennsylvania.
Report of committee on resolutions________________________________
Discussion on building up the association___________________________
Leifur Magnusson, of Washington, D. C.
T. E. Whitaker, of Georgia.
Place of next meeting____________________________________________
Election of officers_______________________________________________
Honorary life members___________________________________________
Appendix A.—List of persons who attended the eighteenth annual con
vention of the Association of Governmental Officials in Industry------Appendix B.—Foreign labor legislation, 1930, by Leifur Magnusson,
Washington representative, International Labor Office_____________
160
160
162
165
167
168
168
168
169
172
BULLETIN OF THE
U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
WASHINGTON
No. S63
JANUARY, 1932
PROCEEDINGS OF THE EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE ASSO
CIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL OFFICIALS IN INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED
STATES AND CANADA, BOSTON, MASS., MAY 18-22, 1931
The eighteenth annual convention of the Association of Govern
mental Officials in Industry of the United States and Canada opened
on Monday evening, May 18, 1931, at the Statler Hotel, where an
informal dinner was tendered the delegates by the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.
E. Leroy Sweetser, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department
of Labor, presided. Mr. DeWitt C. DeWolfe, secretary to the gov
ernor, and Hon. Joseph McGrath, acting mayor of Boston, extended
words of greeting to the delegates. After the dinner a most inter
esting and unusual group of pictures, including views of historical
places in Massachusetts, was shown the delegates and friends.
TUESDAY, MAY 19—MORNING SESSION
W . A . Rooksbery, President Association of Governmental Officials in Industry* Presiding
BUSINESS SESSION
Mr. John T. Scully, representing the mayor of Boston, presented
an address of welcome to the association, after which General Sweet
ser, commissioner of the 'Massachusetts Department of Labor and
Industries, welcomed the delegates and gave an informal talk in
regard to the program. Mr. F. J. Plant, chief of the labor intelli
gence branch of the Department of Labor of Canada, presented the
greetings of Canada.
Address of the President
By W. A.
R
ooksbery,
Commissioner Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Arkansas
It has been a source of regret to me that every labor official in the
United States and Canada has not taken advantage of the oppor
tunity to attend and take part in the meetings of the Association
of Governmental Officials in Industry. I find their failure has not
been due to lack of a desire to attend, but in many cases the States
or Provinces they represent refuse to make appropriations to cover
expenses of their attendance.
2
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
I can emphatically state that these meetings have been worth every
cent my State has expended in sending delegates to these conventions.
Not only have I attended these conventions during my term of office,
but my predecessors availed themselves of the opportunity. Ideas
gathered from discussions on the floor of this convention and in
association with other labor officials have been put into effect in my
State, and in some instances have resulted in savings sufficient to pay
more than the expenses of such trips. In addition to these ideas
with reference to the enforcement of labor laws in an economical
manner, valuable information in reference to labor legislation has
been gained and these ideas worked into legislation for the benefit
of our people. We have been able to come shoulder to shoulder with
other officials of the United States and Canada, and in addition to
the personal gain of the splendid friendships made we have found
that in the transaction of business matters involving the citizens of
my State which require the aid of officials in other States the task
is more readily accomplished. These meetings really warrant the
attendance of all labor officials, and I hope that those in authority in
Canada and the United States will make it possible that all such
officials may attend these meetings in the future.
It is my belief that during the next few years the labor officials of
the United States and Canada will be in position to render valuable
services to their country, and they should be in possession of all the
information possible to render such service. As labor officials we
occupy a strategic position. On account of our official position we
are so situated that we can approach the employers of our States and
Provinces, and we should also have the confidence of the laboring
people. During this period of readjustment we should use our offices
to the end that justice and fairness shall be the foundation upon
which readjustment policies rest. I f we exercise determination and
frankness in accomplishing this, many labor difficulties may be
averted. It has been my experience that the employer is just as
subject to radicalism as the laborer, which, in eitner case, is often
due to the lack of a proper viewpoint.
It will be up to us, as labor officials, to attempt to find the proper
viewpoint and to have the determination to demand justice and
fairness. We would be better prepared to do this if all labor officials
would counsel together in just such an organization as the Association
of Governmental Officials in Industry.
It has occurred to me that if at this convention we could adopt
some plan to inform the governors of the various States of the United
States and the lieutenant governors of the Provinces of Canada of
the aims and objects of this association and the subjects discussed
here, and then continually urge these officials together with the
labor officials to take an interest in our work, we- might increase the
attendance and through added attendance have added interest. I
would suggest that a steering committee—of all the membership or
a part of it—be appointed for this work and actively begin work at
once.
It is my opinion that this organization will add to the efficiency of
all labor departments taking an interest in its activities, and also
that the labor officials of this country and Canada are in a position
to give more valuable service to their country during the next few
REPORT OF T H E SECRETARY
3
years than in former years, and so should be in possession of all the
information obtainable. This association is one of the best means
to help them. I hope that some plans to the end I have mentioned
will be made.
(The secretary called the roll by States and Provinces. Reports
of legislation will be found on page 10.)
(The secretary then read communications from Mrs. Kinney, of
California; Mr. MacKenzie, of British Columbia; Mr. Urick, of
Iowa; Mr. Cohen, of Illinois; Miss McFarland, of Missouri; Mr.
Kitchen, of North Dakota; Mrs. Trumbull, of Oregon; Mr. Murphy,
of Oklahoma; and Mr. Wood, of Louisiana. Telegrams from Hon.
W. N. Doak, United States Secretary of Labor, and from H. R.
Witter, mayor of Canton, Ohio, and former president of the Associa
tion of Governmental Officials in Industry, were also read.)
(The president then appointed the following committees:)
Committee on officers’ reports.—Charles E. Baldwin, of Washington, D. C.,
chairman ; James E. Reagin, of Indiana; Edward F. Seiller, of Kentucky; Miss
Agnes L. Peterson, of Washington, D. C.; and M. H. Alexander, of Colorado.
Committee on resolutions.—John S. B. Davie, of New Hampshire, chairman;
Henry McColl, of Minnesota; John Roach, of New Jersey; Miss Ethel M. John
son, of Massachusetts; and Miss Alice Angus, of North Dakota.
Committee on constitution and by-laws.—Harry D. Immel, of Pennsylvania,
chairman; Miss Maud Swett, of Wisconsin; and Charles A. Hagner, of
Delaware.
REPOET OF THE SECRETARY
As provided for by resolution adopted at the 1930 convention of the associa
tion held at Louisville, the secretary wrote letters of thanks to the Kentucky
Department of Agriculture and to the mayor of Louisville for courtesiesi ex
tended during the convention. Furthermore, as provided for by resolution
adopted at the convention, a letter of sympathy was written to Commissioner
Hon. Newton Bright, whose illness prevented his attendance at the convention.
C. W. Dickey, associated with the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilming
ton, Del., applied for associate membership in the Association of Governmental
Officials in Industry, June 10. As provided for in the constitution as amended in
May, 1930, his request was referred to the executive board. By unanimous vote
of the board he was elected to associate membership July 18, 1930. I am further
glad to report that since that time Mr. Dickey has not only paid $10 member
ship fee for year ending July 1, 1931, but has also paid for year ending July 1,
1932.
Letters containing announcement that the 1931 convention would be held in
Boston, Mass., and inclosing statement regarding dues to the association for the
year ending July 1, 1931, were sent out August 27. In cases where there was
no response, second and third letters have gone out since that time, with the
result given herewith in the statement of the treasurer.
November 19 page proof of the proceedings of the convention at Louisville
were mailed to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, Washing
ton, to be printed. Considerable difficulty was experienced this year in assem
bling the proceedings, as an inadequate and incorrect report of the proceedings
was made by the official reporter. The proceedings were printed as Bulletin
No. 530 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in November, 1930.
Article 9, section 1, of the constitution was amended in May, 1930, to provide
that the program committee shall consist of the president, secretary-treasurer,
and the head of the department of the State or Province within which the
4
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
convention is to be held. A meeting of the program committee was held in
Chicago January 25 and 26, 1931. Mr. W. A. Rooksbery, president of the asso
ciation, General Sweetser, Mr. Whitaker, of Georgia, Miss Swett, of Wisconsin,
and Miss Schutz attended the program committee meeting, and tentative plans
were drawn up which were later consummated largely through the efforts of
General Sweetser and Doctor Patton, of New York. The credit for securing
most of the excellent speakers on the program this year is due these two
gentlemen.
Under date of January 19 communication was received from Mr. J. H. H.
Ballantyne, who as Deputy Minister of Labor, Ontario, had been elected presi
dent of the association May 23, 1930, to the effect that he tendered his resig
nation as president to the executive board of the Association of Governmental
Officials in Industry. Mr. Ballantyne says in part in his letter of that date:
I shall always value most highly my association and personal friendship with
members of your association and I shall watch its further career with unceasing
interest. I do hope that the forthcoming convention in Boston will be produc
tive of the greatest possible good to all concerned and that the work of the
association will continue to grow in size and expand in influence as the years
go by.
In preparation for the convention, letters of announcement were sent out
under date of February 6, April 7, and May 7 to approximately 200 persons in
the United States and Canada who are now members of the association, poten
tial members, or have shown a friendly interest in the association and its pur
poses. Final printed program was mailed out May 7.
Respectfully submitted.
L o u i s e E. S c h u t z , Secretary-Treastvrer.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT 0E TREASURER, HAT 15, 1930, TO HAT 15, 1931
BALANCE AND RECEIPTS
Funds on hand May 15, 1931:
Savings account___________________________________________ $392. 65
Receipts for fiscal year ending July 1, 1930 (interest and dues):
1930
May 21. Tennessee_________________________________$10. 00
10. 00
West Virginia_____________________________
23. North Dakota_____________________________
10. 00
Ohio_____________________________________
25. 00
Alabama__________________________________
10. 00
July 9; Indiana___________________________________
25. 00
Sept. 8; Connecticut_______________________________
10. 00
Receipts for fiscal year ending July 1, 1931 (interest and dues):
1930
July 1. Interest on savings account_________________
. 78
Aug. 4. Oklahoma_________________________________ 10. 00
7; Indiana___________________________________
25. 00
Sept. 6. Arkansas____ _____________________________
10. 00
8. Kentucky_________________________________
10. 00
25. 00
9. Federal Department, Canada________________
Nova Scotia_______________________________
10. 00
10. Virginia__________________________________
15. 00
C. W. Dickey, associate member_____________
10. 00
11. L. Magnusson, International Labor Office_____
10. 00
(honorary member)
Minnesota________________________________
25. 00
12. Massachusetts_____________________________
50. 00
Alberta___________________________________
10. 00
15; Delaware_________________________________
10. 00
19. New Hampshire___________________________
10. 00
20. Ontario___________________________________
15. 00
24; Manitoba_________________ _____ _________
15. 00
FIN A N C IA L STA TE M E N T OF TREASURER
5
Receipts for fiscal year ending July 1, 1931 (interest and dues)—Contd.
1930
Oct. 3; Interest on savings account_________________
$0. 90
50. 00
6. New York________________________________
13. Pennsylvania______________________________
50. 00
18; Washington_______________________________
25. 00
Nov. 1; Illinois___________________________________
15.00
13. New Jersey_______________________________
25. 00
23. Wisconsin_______________ _________________
50. 00
Ohio.......................................... ........................
25. 00
1931
Jan. 1. Interest on savings account_________________
4. 03
Feb. 16. Georgia___________________________________ 25. 00
Apr. 1. Interest on savings account_________________
5. 74
24. Alabama__________________________________ 10. 00
Receipts for fiscal year ending July 1, 1932:
1931
Feb. 16. C. W. Dickey, associate member_____________
10. 00
---------- $656. 45
Total............................................................... ................. 1,049.10
DISBURSEMENTS
1930
May 26. Partial honorarium L. E. Schutz, secretary-treasurer_______
June 12. Adelaide Hauser, official reporter, part payment___________
18. Stamps, telegrams, air mail, registered mail______________
Three telegrams to Louisville__________________________
19. Barnett Typing Service_______ ____ __________________
Balance on honorarium secretary-treasurer_______________
20. Expenses secretary-treasurer in Louisville-----------------------Stamps________________ ____________________________
24. Adelaide Hauser, official reporter, balance on bill__________
Betty Holstrom, stenographic work_____________________
July 25. Chase Printing Co., 1,000 letterheads___________________
Aug. 19. Registered package to Washington______________________
Sept. 19. Chase Printing Co., receipt book_______________________
150.00
40. 00
1. 36
2. 09
5. 75
150. 00
2.20
3. 00
10. 00
15. 00
13. 58
1. 08
6. 50
1931
Jan. 12. Stamps_____________________________________________
Feb. 16. Expenses, secretary-treasurer, trip to Chicago to attend
executive board meeting_____________________________
27. Stamps_____________________________________________
Mar. 7. Chase Printing Co., 1,000 No. 10 envelopes---------------------Apr. 5. Postal cards and stamps_______________________________
7. Mimeographing postal cards___________________________
30. Stamps_____________________________________________
May 12. Betty Holstrom, stenographic service, June, 1930-May, 193114. Chase Printing Co., 700 printed programs_______________
40. 86
5. 00
7. 00
5. 00
1. 65
5. 00
25. 00
27. 00
Total disbursements_________________________________
Balance on hand, savings account, May 14,1931____________________
522. 07
527. 03
Total____ ________________ _______________ ________
5. 00
1,049.10
President K o o k s b e r y . That is a very good report. It is encourag
ing to know that we have money in the treasury. We will now have
a continuation of a report made at the last convention on safety codes
in the various States. Mr. Baldwin reported on that at the last con
vention, and the committee was continued to make a further study
and to report at this convention. We will' be very glad to hear from
Mr. ’Baldwin at this time.
85053°—32----- 2
6
E IG H T E E N T H ANNUAL, M EETIN G OP A. G. O. I.
REPORT OP COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO STUDY THE RELATION OF THE
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL OFFICIALS IN INDUSTRY TO SAFETY
REGULATIONS, SAFETY CODES, ETC. (CHARLES E. BALDWIN, CHAIR.
MAN)
Your committee, appointed one year ago, to study the relations of the Asso
ciation of Governmental Officials in Industry to safety regulations, safety codes,
etc., was continued this year and was directed to make a report as to the
status of safety codes in the various States. In accordance with that direction
an inquiry was sent to the various States asking what had been accomplished
along the line of adoption of safety codes. The result of that inquiry shows
that a considerable number of industrial safety regulations have been adopted
in the various States since the publication of the existing regulations (see
Monthly Labor Review, March, 1929, pp. 103-115) submitted with the report
to the convention one year ago. The additions consist in some cases of statutory
provisions and in other cases of rules or regulations issued by the State
authorities.
Among the outstanding changes reported is the adoption in 1930 by the
Nebraska Department of Labor of a set of safety codes, covering 25 subjects,
mostly national safety codes or projects, and providing that all cases not
specifically covered by the Nebraska regulations shall be covered by national
safety codes where such codes exist.
Other prominent changes include the adoption of new safety regulations by
Indiana on 10 subjects, by Kentucky on 11 subjects, by Maryland on 15 subjects,
together with general orders for a number of others, by Minnesota on 12 sub
jects, by Ohio on 11 subjects, by Pennsylvania on 9 general subjects and exten
sion of others, and by Washington on 32 subjects.
According to the information received, no changes were made in regulations
in 18 of the States, and 5 other States failed to furnish the data in time for
inclusion in this report.
In several States changes to cover new conditions were made in the existing
rules for specified subjects, and in some of them official codes were adopted in
place of the former rules. In New Jersey, for example, a revised code for
lighting of factories, approved as “American Standard ” in August, 1930, was
officially adopted. In Ohio a code was adopted for laundry machinery and
operations, a new subject, but formal codes were also adopted for construction
work, for protection of workers in foundries, and for woodworking plants, all
previously covered by safety regulations. In Wisconsin original orders were
issued for tunnel, caisson, and trench construction, while amendments were
made to the existing orders for quarries and pits and for spray coating.
A list follows of the additional safety measures adopted by the States as
reported, classified by subject of code or regulation. Safety provisions covering
mines and mine operations have been omitted.
Additional Safety Regulations Adopted
Subjects Covered by Approved National Safety G>des
The following States have adopted rules, regulations, or orders covering the
subjects indicated which have been approved as codes by the American
Standards Association. This does not mean that the codes themselves have
been adopted or even approved by the State named.
Abrasive wheels.— Maryland.
Aeronautics.—California, Delaware, Kentucky (in part), Massachusetts,
Wisconsin.
Automobile brakes and brake testing.—California, Delaware, Massachusetts,
Washington, Wisconsin.
RELATIO N OF ASSOCIATION TO SAFETY REGULATIONS
7
Automobile headlighting.—California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Washington.
Building exits.—Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Washington (in part).
Colors for traffic signals.—-California, Wisconsin.
Electrical installations.—Kentucky, North Dakota.
Elevators and escalators.—Missouri, Tennessee, Washington (in part).
Forging and Tvot-metal stamping.—Indiana, Maryland, Ohio.
Identification of gas-mask canisters.—Maryland.
Ladders.—Maryland.
Laundry machinery1 and operations.—Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Ne
braska, Ohio.
Lighting of factories, mills, etc.—Maryland, Mississippi.
Lighting of school buildings.—Mississippi, Ohio.
Logging and sawmill operations.—Indiana, Maryland, Tennessee.
Paper and pulp mills.—Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Washington.
Power control, electrical.—Nebraska, Tennessee.
Power presses and foot and hand presses.—Indiana, Ohio, Washington.
Power-transmission apparatus.—Maryland.
Pressure piping.—Ohio.
Prevention of dust explosions.—Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri (in
part).
Protection of heads and eyes.—Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska.
Protection of workers in foundries.—Indiana, Maryland.
Refrigeration, mechanical.—Kentucky, Maryland, Washington.
Rubber machinery.—Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska.
Textile plants.—Washington.
Subjects Covered by National Safety Codes in Process of Development
The following States have adopted rules, regulations, or orders which are at
present in process of development as codes by the American Standards
Association:
Amusement parks.—Tennessee, Washington.
Construction work.—Arizona.
Conveyors and conveying machinery.—Nebraska, Washington.
Cranes, derricks, and hoists.—Ohio, Washington.
Exhaust systems.—Minnesota, Washington.
Floor and wall openings, railings, toe boards.—Minnesota, Mississippi (in
part), Nebraska, Texas (in part), Washington.
Industrial sanitation.—Minnesota, South Carolina, Texas, Washington.
Plate and sheet-metaZ worMng.—Washington.
Power control, mechanical.—Minnesota.
Tanneries.—Wisconsin (in part).
Ventilation.—Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Washington.
Window washing.—Minnesota, Nebraska.
Subjects Not Included So Far in National Safety Codes
Definite regulations have been added by the States listed for the subjects
indicated. These subjects are not at the present time under consideration by
the American Standards Association for establishment of specific national codes,
but the standardization of any of the subjects may be introduced at any time.
Bakeries—-Nebraska, Pennsylvania.
Boilers.—Delaware, Kentucky, Maine (in part).
Brewing and bottling.—Pennsylvania.
Cavmeries.—Pennsylvania, Washington.
Ceramics.—New Jersey.
Chemicals.—Washington.
Compressed-air work.—Maine, New York, Pennsylvania.
Dredges.—Washington.
Dry-cleaning and dyeing establishments.—Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska
Ohio, Washington.
Engines.—Washington.
Explosives.—Kentucky.
Felt-hattmg industry.—New Jersey.
Hand tools.—Washington.
Metal working.—Nebraska, Washington.
Milling industry.—Pennsylvania.
8
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
Oil drilling.—Washington.
Painting.—California, Washington.
Plant railways.—Pennsylvania.
Plumbing.—Kentucky, Ohio, Washington.
Potteries.—Washington.
Pressure tonics.—Nebraska, Ohio.
Pressure vessels.—Ohio, Wisconsin.
Printing.—Washington.
Protection from fire and panic.—Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee.
Quarries and pits.—Tennessee, Washington.
Scaffolds and staging.—Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota,
Washington.
Shipbuilding.—Washington.
Spray coating.—New York (in part), Ohio, Pennsylvania.
Steam shovels.—Washington.
Sugar factories.—Colorado.
Twmels.—Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin.
Weldmg.—Ohio.
(On motion regularly made, seconded, and carried, the committee
was continued for another year.)
President R ooksbery. Mr. Baldwin, your committee will continue
your work and give us a report at the next convention.
As Mr. Ainsworth will not be able to be here until this afternoon,
his address will1be given later. However, the representative of this
association who attended the National Safety Congress is here; we
would be glad to hear from Mr. Immel at this time and have a report
on the National Safety Council.
REPORT ON NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL CONGRESS (BY HARRY D. IMMEL)
A year ago I explained briefly to the Governmental Officials in Industry about
the National Safety Council Congress, and to-day I am here to tell you that we
had a very successful session in Pittsburgh last fall. When this matter was
first broached there was some thought that it might intt rfere with the Inter
national Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, but I
think that has been dissipated by what has been done so far.
Our program last year covered some very important topics and was pre
sented by some very representative men. That program included the topics of
“ Safety educational work of governmental agencies,” “ Making use of accident
statistics in safety work,” “ Governmental relations with uniform safety agen
cies,” and “ Cooperation with governmental agencies and safety work.” I see
a few people here to-day who were with us in Pittsburgh and who could tell us
of the impression they received.
Doctor Patton and M.v. Morley were on our program, and Mr. Ethelbert Stew
art presided as chairman. Mr. Stewart was one of those who were skeptical
about the undertaking, but who got up in the session and said he was fully
convinced that it had a valuable mission to perform. That session does afford
a medium of exchange between governmental agencies which have to do with
safety, but, more important than this, it affords an opportunity for exchange
of ideas between the representatives of those agencies and the people they
serve.
This session was attended by representatives of the industries and of other
outside agencies. Interchange of ideas between governmental associations is
afforded by these organizations, but no other organization of national scope
affords the opportunity for contact with the people we serve in the way that
is afforded by the governmental officials’ session of the National Safety Congress.
REPORT ON N A T IO N A L SAFETY C O U N CIL CONGRESS
9
We intend to develop a program for the session at Chicago next fall in which
program we propose to go further, if possible, in the development of this idea.
For example, we hope to have a representative of industry tell us what is
the matter with factory inspection. We shall probably go into the relation of
health, through regulation of governmental agencies, with respect to safety.
There are a number of very important and valuable topics that can be discussed
in this manner before an organization which brings together all the various
people in the governmental safety agencies. That, of course, is distinctly a
safety program; it does not go into the other phases of the labor problem.
I hope that, this year particularly, when people from a good many States of
the West and the South have unfortunately been unable to come here, some of
them may be able to get to Chicago and there get something of the benefit they
might have gotten by attending this meeting. I suggest that Doctor Patton
say a word about our program at Pittsburgh.
DISCUSSION
Doctor P a t t o n (New York). For two years I have opposed the
creation of this section on the ground that the National Safety
Congress is already better than a 5-ring circus; that is, there is so
much going on that you can not see what is already in existence, let
alone taking on something new.
Yet it is true that after the first program, as Mr. Immel pointed
out, both Mr. Stewart and myself were convinced that there was a
proper field for such a section. I think one of Mr. Immel’s suggest
ions was very much to the j>oint—that the program at future meet
ings of that section should distinctly aim at bringing into it, as well
as into the participation and discussions generally, the representa
tives of industry, and not alone the official representatives.
My first feeling of opposition was due largely to the fact that
when I did go to the National Safety Congress I did not want to talk
to other people like myself—I wanted to hear something different.
There is no gathering of any sort where that is more possible than
at the National Safety Congress, because there is a larger representa
tion of nonofficial agencies—nonofficial but at the same time the
people who are actually burdened with carrying on industry—there
than in any other place. So I think that Mr. Immel’s suggestion for
a program for next year and the coming years is good. There is a
real field for such a section and I hope that this gathering will add
the weight of its influence to such a feature.
President R o o k s b e r y . Doctor Patton, I think that should be han
dled at the business session on Friday.
Mr. Immel. I do not know if there has been a formal indorsement
from this association, but I know there has from the I. A. I. A. B. C.
I think an official indorsement would be of great value to that session,
if this association cares to give it.
President R o o k s b e r y . I f there is no objection, we will refer that
question to the business meeting on Friday. That is a splendid re
port and I am of the opinion that it is going to be of great benefit
to this association. I had the pleasure of attending the National
Safety Congress in Chicago two years ago, and it was astounding the
things that developed in that session. As Doctor Patton and others
10
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. O. I.
say, it is almost impossible to see what is going on; but you must
choose those things in which you are interested and by attending
those sessions you will receive great benefit because the program is
very constructive.
REPORTS ON NEW LABOR, LEGISLATION
United States Women’s Bureau (Miss Peterson).
The Women’s Bureau can report a slight increase in appropriation, though
there is danger that some of it may be taken away from, us. We believe that
the State departments are interested in most of our reports, but during the
past year we have been working on reports that are of special interest to the
States. We have now in press a bulletin pertaining to the regulation of drink
ing fountains, in which are presented such standards as exist in the various
States, the standards recommended by the American Public Health Association
and certain other organizations, and summaries of the bacteriological studies
that have called attention to the defects of fountains.
The Secretary of Labor has requested that the engineers of the United States
Public Health Service pass on the drinking facilities to be installed in the new
building for the Department of Labor. As a result, the Treasury Department
has written to the Surgeon General as follows:
F e b r u a r y 26, 1931.
The S u r g e o n G e n e r a l ,
Bureau of the Public Health Service,
Treasury Department, Washington, D. O.
Sir : By direction of the Secretary, I acknowledge receipt of your memoran
dum of the 4th instant, outlining 10 essential features which you suggest should
serve as a guide in future installations both in Washington and throughout the
United States.
I n r e p ly y o u a r e a d v is e d t h a t s p e c ific a t io n s f o r d r in k in g fo u n t a in s t o b e
in s ta lle d in t h e fu t u r e b y t h is d e p a r t m e n t w i l l b e in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e
e s s e n tia l fe a t u r e s s u g g e s te d .
Respectfully,
(S ig n e d )
F erry K . H
eath
,
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
We are working on two other studies of special interest to State departments,
and I want to express our appreciation of the splendid cooperation given to us
by the States, the prompt and full response that has been given us in regard to
the material that we have called for. I refer to the data requested on the regu
lation of toilet facilities and in regard to the question of illumination in work
places. We think that these bulletins will be of special value to the State de
partments of labor, but we should like to have them discussed and distributed
quite generally among employers, because both of these reports when completed
will carry information on the standards in force in the various States, some of
which represent the results of careful consideration by engineers in this field.
Consequently employers who seek acceptable standards on these subjects will
find here a source of practical information on the best practices. We believe
also that, for the same reason, these publications will be of practical value in
States where administrative problems arise because of inadequate wording in
the laws pertaining to such regulations.
Arkansas (by Mr. Rooksbery).
The 1931 Legislature of Arkansas passed a bill limiting the hours of service of
bus and truck drivers, on busses and trucks hauling commodities or transporting
passengers for hire, to 12 hours a day. This bill in its original form limited
the hours to 10 per day, but was amended to 12 hours, and passed both houses
with practically no opposition.
N E W LABOR LEGISLATION
11
The 1929 legislature passed a bill designed to regulate building and loan associ
ations, but it was found that this act attempted to amend the laborer’s lien law
in such manner as to give preference in matters of liens to loans made by build
ing and loan associations over laborer’s and material liens. The 1931 legislature
so amended this act as to correct this provision. Laborers and materialmen
now have preference where liens are filed prior to mortgages made for money
borrowed for building purposes.
An act legalizing and protecting the organization and conduct of credit unions
was passed by the 1931 legislature. It provides for the operation of such unions
and limits the interest charges to 10 per cent per annum. The supervision and
examination of such unions will be under the blue-sky department of the corpo
ration department of the State government.
A court settlement compensation bill died on the calendar of the house.
A bill regulating the practice of law and prohibiting the practice of what is
termed * ambulance chasing ” passed the house, and would possibly have passed
the senate, but the bill disappeared in the senate and was not found until after
the legislature adjourned.
A bill for old-age pensions died on the calendar of the house.
The law regulating the employment of females was amended so* as to» exempt
female railroad telegraphers from the provisions of the 9-hour law in order to
have no conflict between the State law and the Federal regulations.
Delaware.
The only legislation we have had in Delaware pertaining to labor was that
we succeeded, after about 14 years’ effort, in amending in our child labor law
a clause relating to the employment of children in canning houses. The law
formerly read that children over the age of 12 years were not subject to the
child labor law. This year we persuaded the Tri-State Canners’ Association
to accept 14 years as the age when children could legally be employed. The
section now reads that the act shall not apply to children over the age of 14
years who may be employed in any establishment used for canning or preserv
ing or in the preparation for canning or preserving of perishable fruits or vege
tables. In accomplishing this we felt that we had done something worth while.
Georgia (Mr. Whitaker).
In Georgia our legislature meets in June. It has not met since our last ses
sion, except that there was an extraordinary session, but no labor legislation
was discussed at that time.
Indiana (Mr. Reagin).
There has been no new labor legislation by our legislature. Our industrial
board has that authority. There have been no State laws passed regarding our
department. That is also left to the discretion of the board.
Kentucky (Mr. Seiller).
Our legislature has not met this year, so there has been no new legislation.
Massachusetts, 1930 (Mr. Meade).
There have been a number of amendments in connection with the workmen’s
compensation law which are the result of experience in administration, making
it appear that laws should be perfected, rounded out, or adjusted to meet con
ditions arising from time to time.
Bight such measures were passed by the legislature of 1930. One was an act
that clarified the law relative to the payment of workmen’s compensation to a
certain class of workmen and another had to do with the period during which
12
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A . G. O. I.
a lump-sum award might be made under the law in the case of a minor. Other
amendments dealt with the payment of certain expenses for reviews in industrial-accident cases; the payment of workmen’s compensation in case of the
death of certain employees; judicial relief in case of failure to claim a review
within the time set by the act; and the payment of compensation for certain
injuries under the law. Those of you who are familiar with our law know
that there has been a growing and systematic development in the workmen’s
compensation act in the last 15 years, and this policy has resulted in increase
of the compensation to individuals for injuries resulting in permanent partial
disability.
There are three matters that I think are of special interest to this associa
tion. One has to do with the resolve passed by the legislature providing for an
investigation by the department of labor and industries of the purchase of
stock in the so-called cooperative shoe shops. This investigation was concerned
with a very vicious practice that has developed in the last few years; that is,
utilizing the principle of cooperative ownership, but using it as a means of
urging the employees to pay each week, out of their wages, a certain amount
of money for a share of stock. Some of these concerns have operated for a
certain time and then gone into bankruptcy, leaving no legal way for the
employee holding the stock to recover his money. This practice assumed very
serious proportions in the Commonwealth. Investigations had been made by
the department on two or three different occasions before this resolve was
passed by the legislature, so that when it was passed the department was
ready to begin the work at once. We will be very glad to provide a copy of
the resolve for any of the members who desire one, and will also be glad to give
a report made by the legislature in this connection.
Another resolve directed the department of labor and industries to investi
gate unemployment, its causes and the remedies therefor. Of course, the ques
tion of unemployment has been considered many times in this Commonwealth,
just as it has elsewhere, but I think this report has special significance, and
those who are especially interested will get a great deal of interesting infor
mation in it as to modern conditions, at least in Massachusetts, as far as
unemployment is concerned.
The legislature passed another resolve which required an investigation by
the Massachusetts Industrial Commission of conditions affecting the textile
industry. The report thereof is in progress, but not yet in print. A resolve was
passed to investigate the laws relative to dependent and delinquent children
and children otherwise requiring special care.
Outside of a large number of small matters that had to do with enabling
acts, permitting cities and towns to do certain things for laborers and me
chanics and for teamsters and chauffeurs in their employ, that is about all.
Of course, all of these had to do with questions of regulating wages or
conditions of employment, but they are not included here, for they pertain
only to cities and towns.
Listed serially, the acts and resolves of 1930 of Massachusetts affecting labor
are as follows:
Ch. 159. Act clarifying the laws relative to the payment of workmen’s com
pensation as affecting their application to a certain class of workmen.
Ch. 181. Act relative to the period during which a lum3>-sum award may be
made under the workmen’s compensation law in the case of a minor.
Ch. 205. Act relative to the payment of compensation under the workmen’s
compensation laws for injuries received by employees while operating or using
motor or other vehicles.
N E W LABOR LEGISLATION
13
Ch. 208. Act relative to the payment of certain expenses of reviews in
industrial-accident cases.
Ch. 293. Act relative to payment of workmen’s compensation in case of death
of the employee.
Ch. 320. Act relative to judicial relief in case of failure to claim a review
within the time limited by the workmen’s compensation act.
Ch. 330. Act relative to fees for physicians appearing before the department
of industrial accidents.
Ch. 336. Act relative to the amount of compensation payable for certain
specific injuries under the workmen’s compensation law.
Ch. 410. Act establishing a division of necessaries of life in the department
of labor and industries.
Resolve, ch. 16. Resolve enlarging the authority of the special commission
established to investigate the laws relative to dependent, delinquent, and
neglected children, and children otherwise requiring special care.
Resolve, ch. 30. Resolve providing for an investigation by the department of
labor and industries of the question of the purchase of stock by employees in
the cooperative shoe shops, so called.
Resolve, ch. 60. Resolve providing for an investigation by the department of
labor and industries as to the causes of existing unemployment and as to
remedies therefor.
Resolve, ch. 66. Resolve continuing the investigation by the Massachusetts
Industrial Commission of the conditions affecting the textile industry.
Massachusetts, 1931 (Miss Johnson).
Although the legislature is still in session, a number of bills have been
enacted, including several labor measures. Mr. Meade has told you about the
labor laws enacted in 1930. It may be of interest to you to know about some
of the current legislation.
A number of labor and social welfare measures were introduced at this ses
sion of the general court, some of which have already been enacted. Several
of these have to do with unemployment. Several emergency appropriations
have been authorized by the legislature on recommendation of the governor to
provide for emergency employment. Additional appropriations beyond the
budget figures were granted to some of the State departments to permit the
employment of temporary workers. Nearly $18,000 was assigned to the depart
ment of labor and industries for extending the statistical work in collecting
information that would be of assistance in showing employment trends. Two
measures carry the provision that persons employed in connection with the
work outlined should not be subject to civil service.
Another act provides that the order of names in the laborers’ list under civil
service be waived temporarily in order to give preference to men with
dependents.
One of the most important of the unemployment measures enacted is that
providing a 2-year program for speeding up building-construction work in order
to relieve the unemployment emergency. This provides an appropriation of
$2,759,000 for the construction of public buildings and improvements, the
amount to be financed by short-term notes.
Several measures relating to the preference of citizens and veterans on public
works have been enacted. One of the measures restricts the employment of
aliens in the construction of public works, prohibiting such employment if
citizens are available.
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A . G. O. I.
An interesting measure relating to the employment of women and children
which has just been enacted is that imposing a penalty for requiring or permit
ting women or children to work without monetary compensation in industrial
establishments. The measure, which was signed by the governor the other
week, carries as penalty for violation a fine of not more than $50.
The reason for the passage of this measure was the practice which went on,
especially in some of the textile centers, of requiring women and children
to work for a few weeks without compensation on the claim that they were
being taught the operation. Because of unemployment and the depression in
the textile centers, it was possible to secure women and children who were
willing to work on this basis in the hope of securing permanent employment.
In many instances after working without compensation they were discharged.
The measure enacted, although it will not prevent the payment of low wages
which is one of the serious problems in connection with this situation, will
doubtless help in dealing with the problem by focusing public attention on the
situation.
A number of important labor measures are still pending, some of which Will
doubtless be enacted. One of the most important of these is that for the
creation of a commission on stabilizing employment.
Minnesota (Mr. McColl).
At the recent session of the legislature no laws were passed affecting the
industrial commission except the appropriation bill, in which $20,000 was
slashed from our annual appropriation, and we view that with considerable
alarm.
New Hampshire (Mr. Davie).
An act relating to night work for women and minors.
An act relating to hours of labor, providing for 48-hour week.
Three amendments to compensation law.
Bill providing for real workmen’s compensation law with board.
An act relating to collecting employment statistics.
An act to provide for the employment of residents cf the State on public
works.
An act determining the basic working-day on all public improvements as 10
hours.
All of the above bills were lost, with the exception of one amendment to
the workmen’s compensation law increasing the death indemnity from $3,000
to $4,500 where there were dependents, and increasing the burial expenses where
there were no dependents from $100 to $200. This bill passed, to become effec
tive July 1,1931.
The bill providing 10 hours as the basic working-day on all public improve
ments passed, but was pocket vetoed by the governor.
New Jersey (Mr. Roach).
Employment.—Joint Resolution No. 4 (A. J. R. No. 5, Haines) continues the
commission created pursuant to the provisions of Joint Resolution No. 6 of the
legislative session of 1930 for the creation and establishment of a commission to
investigate and study the matter of employment of migratory children in the
State of New Jersey and conditions surrounding such employment
Chapter 27 (S. 116, Reeves) provides that citizens of the State of New Jersey
be given preference in employment upon public works.
Chapter 242 (S. 364, Yates) provides that, on contracts exceeding $5,000 for
public buildings, mechanics and laborers shall be paid wages prevailing in local
ity where the work is being done. It exempts existing contracts.
N E W LABOR LEGISLATION
15
Chapter 305 (A. 250, Vollmer) amends chapter 104, Laws of 1930, which pro
hibits discrimination in public employment against a person over 40 years of
age—members of police and fire departments and guards at penal institutions
excepted—by further providing that the act shall not apply to teachers nor to
any person eligible to membership in the teachers’ pension and annuity fund.
Chapter 261 (A. 297, Hargrave) is an act to create a migrant welfare
commission.
Inspection.—Chapter 168 (A. 87, Bradley) places boiler inspectors in depart
ment of labor under* civil service.
Workmen's compensation.—Chapter 278 (S. 297, Reeves) amends paragraph
6, chapter 187, Laws of 1924, which has heretofore made it possible for an
employee to file a petition beyond the 1-year period when an employer or his
insurance carrier failed to make report to the workmen’s compensation bureau
as required by law. Owing to the fact that this made it possible for the filing
of a petition many years after the occurrence of an accident, when an employer
may find it impossible to present a valid defense, and in further consideration
of the extending of the period for filing a petition from one year to two years,
this paragraph 6 was amended by removing this extended privilege from the act.
Chapter 279 (S. 298, Reeves) amends paragraph 11 (X) of the statute which
refers exclusively to disability resulting from hernia so as definitely to apply
to inguinal hernia only. When originally enacted in 1919, this hernia clause
was intended to apply only to hernia of this class, but some question having
been raised regarding this fact, the word “ inguinal ” was inserted to clarify
this paragraph. A further amendment to this clause relative to the giving
of notice to the employer within 24 hours after the occurrence of the hernia
provides that days when the business is not in operation, such as Sunday,
Saturday, and holidays, shall be excluded from the 24-hour period. This
chapter also amends paragraph 21 (F) of the act relative to the reviewing of
a case previously settled by agreement or by award so as to extend the time
within which a review may be had from one year to two years, and amends
paragraph 28 (F) so as to provide legal authority to enable an employer or
carrier to take action against a third party responsible for injury to an em
ployee when said employee did not undertake to secure damages from such
third party. Paragraph 23 (G) is amended so as to provide expressly that
5 days shall constitute a minimum week for purposes of compensation. The
law previously indicated 5% days as a minimum week. As the act now stands,
compensation must be paid on the basis of a 5-day week regardless of the
number of days that the employee actually worked per week.
Chapter 280 (S. 299, Reeves). Chapter 149 of the Laws of 1918, which
statute created the workmen’s compensation bureau, was amended as to para
graph 5, providing that a petition may be filed within two years of the date of
the accident, or in case of an agreement, within two years of the date of the
agreement, or in the event that a part of the compensation had been paid,
within two years of the last payment. The act previously prescribed a limita
tion of one year. This amended paragraph further provides that a payment
or payments made in accordance with the provisions of section 2 of the work
men’s compensation act shall constitute an agreement for compensation. Prior
to 1931, paragraph 19 of this law specified that an appeal from a judgment
of a deputy commissioner of this bureau should be to the court of common
pleas, based on the record made before said deputy commissioner. This has
now been amended so that any judgment of the workmen’s compensation
bureau shall be reviewable by certiorari only. This amendment eliminates the
common pleas court and requires appeals to be taken directly to the supreme
court.
16
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A . G. O. I.
Chapter 355 (S. 284, McAllister) amends the compensation act to include all
public employees, irrespective of salary received.
Chapter 33 (A. 101, Haines) changes the term “ radium necrosis ” to “ radium
poisoning ” in the list of occupational diseases compensable under the work
men’s compensation act.
Rehabilitation.—Chapter TO (A. 1, Muir) makes permanent the Crippled
Children Commission created by act of the legislature of 1926.
Pennsylvania (Mr. Horner).
Our legislature is still in session, and to my knowledge the amendment to the
compensation law relating to compensation for minors is the only thing that
has come up. That is the only bill which has thus far been passed. It provides
double compensation for minors under 18 years of age if illegally employed.
There are possibly a dozen or more bills that have been introduced permitting a
change in the law, but they are still in committee.
Pennsylvania (Miss McConnell).
There have been two amendments to the school code passed in this session
of the legislature which affect employed children. We have, as in New Jersey,
the migratory child workers, and up to the present time it has not been legal
for these children to enter Pennsylvania schools. These amendments will make
it possible for these children to attend the Pennsylvania schools. Our legisla
ture is still in session and a great number of bills are pending.
Ontario (Mr. Hudson).
1. An act to amend the department of labor act: This amendment grants the
Minister power, with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, to
make regulations deemed necessary for the safety and protection of persons
employed in compressed air and in the construction of tunnels and open caisson
work.
2. An act to amend the apprenticeship act: By this amendment the term
“ employer” is redefined in order to remove the possibility of misinterpretation
in connection with assessment. Contrary to the intention of the amendment of
1930 providing for assessment, the claim has been made that it was not neces
sary for an employer to contribute to the apprenticeship fund unless he actually
had apprentices. According to the new definition (1931) “ employer” shall
mean and include any person, firm, or corporation, or municipal, provincial, or
other public authority to whom an apprentice is, or may be at any time, bound
in accordance with this act by contract of apprenticeship in any designated
trade.
3. An act respecting unemployment reUef.
4. An act to provide for compensation to blind workmen for injuries sus
tained and industrial diseases contracted in the course of their employment.
These two acts do not come under the Department of Labor for purposes of
administration. They were included, however, because of the interest to labor
in their provisions.
DISCUSSION
Mr. P la n t (Ottawa). I think it is unfortunate that you have no
representative from the Province of Quebec, for a real contribution
was made there in legislation—a new workmen’s compensation act.
It is administered by the compensation board and is similar to the
act in Ontario. I think that is one of the outstanding pieces of
legislation passed, in this connection, at least. I think the delegates
N E W LABOR LEGISLATION
17
here should know that it has been enacted, but that it has been enacted
after a lot of agitation, the agitation for many years having been to
get the Province of Quebec to bring its compensation laws into line
with those of the other Provinces. The Province has established a
separate department of labor. The law has been adopted so that
instead of having labor linked up with public works it will be a
separate department.
The labor people used to be of the impression that the labor end
of it was made subordinate to the public works; and now they will
not be able to make that complaint. Measures relating to the pre
vention of silicosis and to the earnings of unmarried women were
also passed.
Miss P e t e r s o n . I believe a department of labor, a bureau of labor
statistics, has been created in New Mexico. That is an important
piece of new legislation of interest to this organization. Also a new
labor law in Oregon provides for a reorganization involving the con
solidation of three agencies that enforce labor laws. The commis
sioner of labor statistics has therefore assumed the duties of secre
tary of the industrial welfare commission and the child labor com
mittee, but the appropriation for the activities of the two last-named
agencies has, I understand, been cut in half.
President R o o k s b e r y . I am interested in this matter of cutting ap
propriations. It seems to be the great pleasure of our legislature,
especially this last year, to prune our appropriations. I am also
interested in some of the things that were brought out here this
morning, especially those dealing with the types of law that protect
the State’s citizens or the workers.
Two measures were introduced in Arkansas in reference to that
question and both were defeated, but at the same time Oklahoma and
the surrounding States are using that as an argument against our
State. They are pushing a $72,000,000 highway program in Arkan
sas at the present time. Sixty-five per cent of the workers are from
other States, and it is Creating a very serious situation. In fact,
there are a couple of strikes on now over the bringing in of these
outside workers. The workers of our State are getting somewhat
agitated and creating disturbances. This was one of the reasons
why one of our members was not able to attend; he was trying to
adjust difficulties in the State.
Is there any further discussion or business now ?
Mr. M a g n t js s o n (Washington, D. C.). There is a study now in
preparation in which I am interested. It has to do with a compari
son of labor laws of different States of the Union and with the
standards set out in the draft treaties of the international labor
organization.1 I hope I may be permitted to submit that to the
members of this body and to ask each commissioner or bureau to
look it over for those items, those references, that concern his par
ticular State, from the point of view of accuracy of statement and
the present existence of legislation in the State.
Mr. B a l d w i n (Washington, D. C.). No report has been made for
the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The only recent legislation that has
been enacted which affects the Bureau o f Labor Statistics is that
1 See p. 172: Appendix B.— Foreign labor legislation, 1930.
18
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
generally known as the Wagner bill. While this law requires the
bureau to do a great many things which it already had authority to
do, it does not give authority to do anything more. We did not
need that law, but it was helpful in this way, that it did aid in get
ting us additional appropriations, which was all that was needed
to do the things the Wagner bill provides the bureau shall do.
I am speaking of this now particularly because a line of inquiry
has been started which is very helpful and necessary, I think, and
in which all the States can assist the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The
great weakness of the bureau’s trend of employment study is that
it does not include employment in the construction industry, and
that, of course, is a serious defect. We realized that, but heretofore
we nave never felt that we could take it up. However, the bureau
has started the collection of statistics on employment in the con
struction industry, and the work is now under way in about 20 cities.
The bureau is doing this work by cities and has kept entirely out
of the States that are cooperating with it at the present time in the
collection of employment statistics, with the hope that those States
will also do that part of the work.
We trust that some of the other States will inaugurate a program
by which they also can help. The bureau is obtaining this informa
tion for each month now from all the contractors in each of the cities
that it covers throughout the country, and after a better sample is
obtained, the bureau will have some information on the construction
industry that, I think, will be quite helpful.
(Meeting adjourned.)
TUESDAY, MAY 19— AFTERNOON SESSION
Maud Swett, Field Director Woman and Child Labor Department, Wisconsin, Presiding
Chairman Sw ett. A great many of us did not have the oppor
tunity of going to the White House conference, but we are going to
be privileged now to hear from Miss Anne S. Davis, director of
the vocational guidance bureau, board of education, Chicago, who
was also the chairman of the committee on vocational guidance and
child labor at the White House conference.
Recommendations of the White House Conference
With Reference to Child Labor
By A
nne
S.
D
a v is ,
Director Vocational Guidance Bureau, Board, of Education,
Chicago
I am going to speak to you on the report of the child labor com
mittee of the White House Conference on Child Health and Protec
tion and the recommendations which that committee set up as essen
tial in a program for the health and protection of children.
The report covered the child laborer in nonagricultural occupa
tions, the employment of children in agriculture, hazardous occupa
tions, industrial accidents, compensation for minors, and administra
tive problems with reference to laws affecting the employment of
minors. The report, which is now being published, will be a volume
of about 600 printed pages and will cover every phase of child labor.
In the last few years great strides have been made in child-labor
legislation. Fifty years ago only 8 States had established a mini
mum age for' factory work and 5 of these had adopted a 10-year age
minimum for employed children; only 16 States had regulated the
hours children might work; most of these had a 10-hour day or a
60-hour week, and 1 State limited the hours to “ from sunrise to
sunset.”
As late as 1895 there were nine States that had no child labor laws
at all, and only nine States prohibited children under 14 from work
in factories. Educational requirements for entering employment
were not specified in the laws of any State at that time.
To-day every State has a child labor law of some kind, but the
laws vary greatly both in the adequacy of their provisions and in
the stringency of their enforcement. They are very uneven in the
amount of protection they extend to the child at work, and many
employments are not covered. Occupations other than work in fac
tories and stores are not so generally regulated, and the laws differ so
much in the application of their various provisions to various types
of employment that it is impossible to classify them satisfactorily.
Five States set no minimum age for employment in any kind of
work except in factories and certain dangerous or hazardous occu
pations, and two others set no minimum age for employment of any
kind except in certain dangerous and hazardous occupations. Of the
19
20
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. O. I.
remaining 41 States, 15 and the District of Columbia apply the
minimum-age provision to a more or less comprehensive list of em
ployments and occupations. The various kinds of domestic and per
sonal service, industrial home work, agricultural work, and theatri
cal work are the employments most frequently unregulated by child
labor laws. On the other hand, some of the occupations which are
usually classified as domestic and personal, such as that of pin boy
in a bowling alley or bell hop in a hotel, have been adjudged physi
cally or morally injurious and are specially regulated.
In all except two States the minimum age for work, at least in fac
tories and often in many other employments, is 14 years or higher,
seven States having an age minimum of 15 or 16 years, but many
exemptions are permitted and there are many limitations upon the
application of the laws. Besides the minimum age for regular em
ployment, most State laws also prohibit minors under specified
ages—usually 16 or 18, but in some cases 21—from work in a number
of occupations dangerous to life and limb or injurious to health or
morals. All except 17 States fix a definite grade standard in their
child labor laws. The educational standard for going to work in 16
States and the District of Columbia is completion of at least the
eighth grade; in some other States the school attendance law requires
completion of the eighth grade before a child of compulsory schoolattendance age may leave school, but exemptions in these laws weaken
their effectiveness as an educational requirement for going to work.
All except 15 States have recognized the need of protection during
the years of growth and development by making some legal provision
in regard to a child’s physical ability to go to work; 25 States and
the District of Columbia have made an examination by a physician
mandatory before a child may go to work, while 8 others authorize
the requirement of an examination at the discretion of the certificateissuing officer.
Thirty-seven States1 and the District of Columbia prohibit the
employment for more than eight hours a day of children of certain
ages in at least one type of employment, most of them in both fac
tories and stores, though some permit certain exemptions. In some of
these States the 8-hour day covers work in many other employments,
sometimes in all “ gainful occupations.” A 48-hour week is nearly
always prescribed in States which require the 8-hour day; four of
these—Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia—have a
44-hour week. The prohibition as to hours may also apply to girls,
or to children of both sexes, up to 18 years of age, and in a few States
it applies to all females. Nine States still permit children between
14 and 16 years of age to work from 9 to 11 hours a day (of which
8 permit from 51 to 60 hours a week) and one does not regulate the
length of the working-day.
The need for protection of children from the physical and moral
dangers of employment at night has received fuller recognition in
State laws than the need for hour regulations; nevertheless, three
States have not yet provided this protection.2 A number of those
that have made such provision apply it only to factory work, a num
1 One additional State, Montana, prohibits altogether the work of children under 16 in
factories.
2 One of these, South Dakota, prohibits night work in mercantile establishments for
children under 14. One other State, Montana, has no night work prohibitions, but
prohibits altogether the work of children under 16 in factories.
R E C O M M E N D ATIO N S ON C H ILD LABOR— A N N E S . DAVIS
21
ber permit exemptions, and the hours vary, so that in one State a
child may be forbidden to work after 6 p. m., while in another he
would be permitted to work until 10 p. m.
A number of States have undertaken to place some safeguards
around the employment of boys and girls 16 and 17 years of age, and
in some cases to the employment of young persons above those ages,
usually by prohibiting their employment in occupations dangerous
to life or limb or injurious to health or morals, or fixing maximum
hours of labor, prohibiting night work, or requiring employment
certificates as xor younger workers.
General Administrative Problems
Although every State has a child labor law, the enforcement of
child-labor legislation throughout the country is uneven and often
inadequate, partly because the importance of effective enforcement is
not realized. Many of the difficulties and complications in enforcing
child labor laws come from lack of simple, clear standards which ad
ministrative officers, employers, parents, and children can easily un
derstand. The most serious cause of complexity in these standards is
in limitations upon the application of the laws, so that a minimum
age of 14 for employment, for example, does not mean a minimum
age of 14 under all circumstances or in all occupations.
Other difficulties arise from lack of recognition of the importance
of the methods used in issuing employment certificates or work per
mits. Yet the employment certificate is the principal factor in pre
venting children from going to work before they have come up to the
standards of the law and in keeping track of them after they go to
work during the years when their hours and other conditions of work
are regulated. The certificate also provides machinery for supervi
sion of the young worker by a public agency, at least while he is sub
ject to legal regulation, a highly important function if he is to receive
any assistance in the difficult transition from school to work. A
system which will keep children out of work who are not legally
qualified for employment involves the working out of careful stand
ards as to the most reliable kinds of evidence of age; a careful ex
amination by a physician of the prospective worker; the production
of evidence that such educational requirements as the law may set
have been fulfilled; and the presentation of evidence that he will be
legally employed.
Issuing officers in many places are not properly qualified for their
work and are not interested in it, or are too overburdened with other
duties to administer the system properly.
In many States^ the evidence of age upon which the certificates
are issued is still inadequate under the law; in many localities it is
difficult to obtain good evidence; and even where the Jaw or the regu
lations require the best evidence obtainable, local issuing officers—
because of ignorance,^ carelessness, and lack of supervision—often
accept inadequate evidence even in cases where good evidence is
available.
The United States Children’s Bureau in a recent study of children
employed in canneries found that 43 per cent in one State were
under 14, the legal age for employment, 38 per cent of whom had
work permits certifying that they were 14 or older. A large indus85053°—32----- 3
22
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
trial State, one of the few publishing figures on violations of its
child labor laws as discovered through its industrial inspection staff,
recently found that 20 per cent of the boys and girls found at work
in factories and 63 per cent in stores were employed illegally, the
great majority of whom had no employment certificates as required
under the law.
Physical examinations, recent surveys show, are poorly and hastily
given in most places. A study in 11 cities in 8 States, made for our
committee by the National Tuberculosis Association, shows that
in these places only one examining physician gave physical exami
nations which met the standards prescribed by the Children’s Bu
reau committee on physical standards for working children. In
another study recently made in 26 cities in Illinois the physical
examinations given to children going to work were characterized as
merely nominal in most cases, and almost no employment certificates
were refused for physical defects.
The careful enforcement of school attendance of minors of schoolattendance age up to the age when they may legally go to work and
after that time if they are not actually and legally employed is basic
to child labor law enforcement, since it automatically prevents em
ployment during school hours of under-age children and of children
of certificate age who have failed to obtain legal authorization to
work.
Unfortunately, under some State laws there is incomplete correla
tion between the school-attendance and the employment-certificate
requirements, which means not only that unemployed children are
not obliged to attend school but that the machinery for enforcing
school attendance can be used only in part or not at all to assist in
preventing illegal employment. Even though the laws may be such
as to make for the highest efficiency in administration, defective en
forcement, due to lack of. an adequate attendance* service, often leaves
open many avenues for illegal employment. Because of the complex
individual and social adjustment problems involved in school ab
sences, such a service to be successful should be a part of a unified
social service department of the school system. Yet a study of
school-attendance enforcement for the committee on delinquency of
the White House Conference indicates a very general failure of
school systems to provide adequate attendance service; qualifications
and salaries are low and the officers are numerically inadequate, even
in cities, and many rural communities have no attendance officers.
In many places children may easily drop out of school to go to work,
but spend their time neither in school nor at work.
Forty-five of the 48 States make some provision for inspection of
work places. Although a few industrial States have established
comparatively large inspection forces, a comparison of the factory
inspection personnel in most States, with the number and size of
establishments under the jurisdiction of the inspection departments
and the laws to be enforced, indicates that inspectors obviously can
not attain to any high degree of thoroughness. No attempt is made
in most States to visit more than once a year work places where chil
dren are employed. As a result, children may easily be employed
for long periods in violation of the law, and in some cases may not
RECO M M E N D ATIO N S ON CH ILD LABOR— A N N E S. DAVIS
23
be discovered until they are past the age when their labor should
have been prevented or regulated.
A large section of the child-labor report of the White House Con
ference was devoted to hazardous occupations, industrial accidents,
and compensation. Those States that have made studies of accidents
to minors have emphasized again and again the extreme liability of
the young worker to accidents—partly a result of the natural curios
ity, irresponsibility, and carelessness of youth—and his peculiar sus
ceptibility to injury from poisons, vitiated air, and other unfavor
able conditions in industry. Young people must be restricted to
the asafe areas” of the working world, and that means exclusion
both from occupations and industries that are hazardous for adults
and from those which, though reasonably safe for adults, may be
dangerous for the immature, such as work that involves undue physi
cal strain or involves moral hazard.
Much more knowledge is needed before it can be said with exact
ness what is and what is not hazardous work for the adolescent boy
or girl. Periodical physical examinations of working adolescents,
studies of occupations and their demands, and analysis of data on
work accidents and injuries may be expected to contribute. At
present, evidence as to the dangers to which young workers are
exposed in industry comes largely from industrial accident statistics,
which are fragmentary and unsatisfactory and which seldom include
injuries not due to accident.
Many thousands of boys and girls are injured in industry each
year. Exactly how many these are no one knows, as less than a third
of the States regularly compile statistics of injuries to minors. A
rough estimate based on information available from 16 States, and
believed to understate the actual number, would indicate that in
these States between 20,000 and 25,000 young persons under 18 and
approximately 3,000 under 16 are injured annually, while in 13 of
these States reporting at least 1,100 young persons under 18 are
killed or permanently disabled. In addition, harmful dusts and
vapors, excessive heat or cold combined with dampness, cramping
posture, and overfatigue are factors which affect far larger numbers
of children than are affected by accidental injury, although their
results are not so sensational as the loss of an arm or an eye.
Most of the States have attempted through legislation to give
minors of certain ages protection against injury by prohibiting
their employment in certain especially hazardous occupations. Such
legislation tails far short of sufficiently protecting young workers
from the hazards of industry. Too often it has little reference to
modern conditions or to such knowledge of occupational hazards as
is available. Provisions relating to hazardous trades often have
been copied mechanically from older legislation on the subject with
out regard to whether they were adapted to the child-employing
industries in the particular State enacting the legislation and with
out regard to possible changes in industrial conditions. Only during
recent years Has a somewhat more scientific approach to the prob
lem been made in a few States, in which the actual accident experi
ence of minors or the hazards inherent in certain occupations or
processes in which minors are employed have been studied and made
the basis of the prohibitions, A number of States still either pro
24
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. O. I.
vide no special protection of minors from hazardous occupations or
have only a general prohibitory clause, which is of doubtful value in
practice when not accompanied by specific prohibitions.
Legislative prohibition of hazardous employment, particularly as
to employment on or about machines, is much Less adequate for 16
and 17 year old workers than for those under 16; many States give
little or no protection to this group, many of whom have just started
to work and have no experience of work on power-driven machinery.
The need for’ further protection for these workers has been demon
strated by the high accident rates among workers of this age group
shown in recent studies, but not recognized at the time when the
early laws were formulated, when 14 was a high minimum age for
factory work, and for work in hazardous occupations a minimum
age of 16 was a high standard.
Legal provisions for the compensation of children and young work
ers injured in industry are often unsatisfactory. In most of them
the amount payable—at best inadequate to indemnify any injured
person, adult or minor, for his wage loss—in the case of the injured
child is pitifully small because of his low earnings, of which the
amount of compensation is only a percentage.
Trend in Employment of Children
Some indication of the trend in the employment of children is given
by statistics on work permits issued in different sections of the coun
try, collected by the Children’s Bureau since the year 1920. On the
whole, they show decided decreases during the last 10 years.
During the decade 1920 to 1930 changes in State child labor and
school attendance laws were made which would tend to decrease
the number of employed children, but these changes can not be ex
pected to have reduced the number of children at work as drastically
as the much more basic changes that were made in many of the laws
between 1910 and 1920.
Whether or not the 1930 census figure will show a decline in the
employment of children similar to that reported in 1920, there is
every indication that several hundred thousand are still employed
in factories, stores, offices, and other work places.
The tendency, however, in many lines of work is not to employ
minors under 16 years of age. Whereas in 1919-20, 7,228 Chicago
firms employed children, in 1929-30 only 1,604 did so, a consistent
decline in the number being recorded year by yea r during this period.
These figures show not only that fewer Chicago firms employ chil
dren but also that many firms that were largely employers of chil
dren now employ few, if any. The number of children 14 to 16
going to work in Chicago in one year has decreased from 20,000 in
1919-20 to 2,640 in 1929-30.
A trend is discernible toward the establishment of a 16-year mini
mum for all gainful employment, a maximum working week of 44
hours, at least an eighth-grade requirement for 14 and 15 year old
children, the requirement of physical examinations for employment
certificates, greater restrictions on employment during evening hours,
extension of the list of prohibited dangerous and injurious occupa
RECO M M E N D ATIO N S ON CH ILD LABOR— A N N E S. DAVIS
25
tions, provision for extra compensation for illegally employed minors,
the abolition of exemptions, and a general strengthening of adminis
trative provisions. A few States seem to be making an attempt to
attack the problem of street work and of agriculture, admittedly
more difficult to control than some other kinds of child labor.
Twelve States now require the attendance of young workers under
18 at continuation schools in communities where they are established.
Recommendations
In order that children and young persons may be protected against
the dangers of premature employment and employment under ad
verse conditions, certain economic, social, and educational measures
are needed, as well as adequate legislative restrictions and safe
guards. Therefore, the child labor committee of the White House
conference urged that special attention be directed toward the solu
tion of such problems as adult unemployment, farm economics, and
a living wage, since an income, earned by the chief wage earner of
the family, sufficient to maintain a decent standard of living is basic
to a normal solution of the problem of child labor as of other prob
lems of child welfare. It urged an extension of mothers’ pensions
and increased State appropriations and scholarships for children to
enable them to continue their education. It strongly urged an edu
cational provision which would take into account individual differ
ences and meet the needs of all types of children.
The committee proposed the following legislative standards:
1. An age minimum of 16 years for employment in any occupa
tion. Children between 14 and 16 might be permitted to work out
side of school hours and during school vacations in a carefully re
stricted list of occupations.
2. Attendance at school full time for at least nine months, and in
any case for the entire period in which the schools are in session
and between the age at which compulsory school attendance begins
and 16 years, and up to the age of 18 years unless the minor is legally
employed or is a 4-year high-school graduate.
3. Physical examination required of all children entering employ
ment to determine whether or not a child is in sound health and of
normal development for a child of his age. There should be periodi
cal physical examinations of all working minors who are under 18
years of age.
4. An 8-hour day and a 44-hour and 6-day week for employed
minors under 18. Since the 8-hour day is now the standard for
large numbers of adults, the question of a shorter working-day for
minors might well be considered. The prohibition of night work
for minors under 18, and of work before 6 a. m. or after 7 p. m.,
except that boys between 16 and 18 might be permitted to work up
to 10 p. m.
5. Prohibition of employment in places and establishments that
do not conform to generally recognized standards as to cleanliness,
sanitation, and safety.
6. Employment certificates for all employed minors under 18
years of age.
26
EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF A . G. 0. I.
Special Problems of Agriculture
Although some regulation of the employment of children in agri
culture by the child labor laws is advocated, the most effective ap
proach to its control would seem to be the extension of schoolattendance requirements for rural children. Special regulations in
regard to schooling and living conditions of migrant agricultural
workers are also necessary.
1. Rural children should be afforded educational opportunities
equivalent to those afforded city children. The ages for compulsory
attendance and the number of months5 attendance required should
be uniform throughout the State. Certain minor adaptations of the
school term to the needs of farm work may be permitted as a method
of improving attendance, but this must not decrease the length of
the school term, which in no case should fall below 9 months. There
should be no distinction in the enforcement of the school attendance
law for resident and nonresident or migratory children.
2. No child under 16, resident or nonresident, should be permitted
to be employed in agriculture, whether at home or away from home,
during the hours that the public schools are in session.
Children under 14 should not be hired out for agricultural work,
either independently or as part of a family group employed on a
contract basis or otherwise, except that children 12 to 14 years might
be employed outside of school hours in light agricultural tasks
involving work for only a few hours a day during a short season.
The hours of work for children under 16 engaged in agricultural
work, but not on the home farm, should be limited to an 8-hour day,
when school is not in session and, when school is in session, to a
combined 8-hour day for work and school.
Special attention should be given the subject of prohibition of
employment about dangerous agricultural machinery. (See Haz
ardous occupations.)
Work permits, valid for the entire season, should be required for
children under 16 engaged in agricultural work but not on the home
farm.
Ccmneries.—The employment of children in canneries should be
subject to all of the provisions of the regular child labor law. (See
also Eeport of the subcommittee on general administrative problems.)
Young workers should be prohibited from employment in con
nection with the more dangerous types of canning machinery.
I f the child labor law does not regulate the hours of work of
minors up to the age of 18 in all occupations, the hours of workers
in canneries up to that age should be regulated by special provision
because of the unusually long hours common in cannery work. Spe
cial attention might have to be given also to the enforcement of
legal provisions relating to hour's, because of the difficulties of en
forcing hour regulations in cannery employment.
A State agency should be vested with authority to make and en
force detailed and specific regulations for labor camps in order to
prevent overcrowding and insanitary conditions.
The importation of families for cannery work in somfe States cre
ates the problem of the migrant child worker. Attention should be
given the subject of the general welfare of children in cannery labor
RE CO M M E N D ATIO N S ON CH ILD LABOR— A N N E S. DAVIS
27
camps, whether or not they are workers, and special arrangements
should be made under the public-school system for the school attend
ance of children in labor camps when the local schools are in session.
Special Problems of Industrial Home Work
The manufacture of articles in the home should be prohibited.
When the home is converted into a workshop not only do young
children work under unfavorable conditions but family life also
suffers. Prohibition of home work was recommended by the New
York Factory Investigating Committee in 1913, and the fact that
the New York Commission to Examine Laws Relating to Child
Welfare found, in 1924, that the only excuse for “ not now recom
mending the immediate complete prohibition of home work in tene
ments ” 3 was that it had “ become so deeply intrenched ” in the in
dustrial life of the State that gradual elimination was all that could
be expected, is worthy of consideration by other States in which the
problem is not now one of large proportions but in which the system
of industrial home work may be beginning or on the increase.
Until home work is eliminated, all State labor laws should apply
to industrial work of all kinds done in the home equally with that
done in the factory. Responsibility for compliance with the laws
should be placed upon the manufacturer. A system of licensing of
home workers through the State department of labor is recom
mended.
Special Problems of Street Work
The child labor law should contain a regulation applying specifi
cally to newspaper selling and other undesirable forms of street work,
as the general child labor law is not usually successfully applied to
street work. The work of newspaper carriers and of other wageearning street workers should come under the provision of the child
labor law regulating employment outside of school hours of children
between 14 and 16.
Special Problems o f Employment Outside of School Hours
The employment of children between 14 and 16 outside of school
hours in a restricted list of employments should be so limited that
the hours in school and at work shall not exceed eight a day. All
other provisions of the child labor law should apply to such
employment.
Because employment outside of school hours, especially in street
work, is frequently resorted to because of inadequate recreational
facilities, it is urged that the public provide recreational and leisuretime activities that will be available for all school children of com
pulsory school-attendance age.
Theatrical Exhibitions and the Like
More information as to the extent, kinds, and conditions of em
ployment in theatrical performances and enlistment of public interest
based on a better understanding of the facts are needed, and surveys
8 New Yorki. Department of Labor. Report on M anufacturing in Tenements, sub
m itted to the Commission to Examine the Laws Relating to Child W elfare, by Bernard
L* Shientag, State Industrial Commissioner, March, 1924, p. 7.
28
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
and studies are recommended. So far as our present limited knowl
edge can be relied upon, there seems to be no reason why the stand
ards for the employment of children in theatrical productions of all
kinds should not be at least as high in regard to a minimum age,
education, and the necessity of procuring employment certificates,
as for other occupations. The enforcement of the law should be
under the supervision of the agency that administers the child labor
law.
Uniform legislation would appear to be especially desirable as re
gards employment in theatrical exhibitions because of the interstate
aspect of the employment of children in traveling companies. An
exchange of information on traveling children between law-enforcing
and other interested agencies would be helpful in protecting the chil
dren and developing standards.
Special Problems of Hazardous Occupations and Compensation
In order to insure protection from occupational hazards for young
workers, it is urged that in every State the agencies responsible for
the administration of child labor and workmen’s compensation laws
develop a program for continuous study of all industrial injuries
to minors under 18 years of age. Such a program should include
compilation and publication of adequate annual statistics of acci
dents; investigation of the causes of at least all serious injuries;
education of employers in the special importance of preventing
injuries to minors; and education of the public in the importance,
as measures of child protection, of suitable legislation dealing with
the safety of all workers, of prohibition of the employment of young
persons in dangerous occupations, and of compensation for injured
minors.
That this program may be as effective as possible from the point
of view of the country as a whole, it is recommended that the States
compile their statistics of accidents to minors on a comparable basis,
and that the Federal Government, through the Children’s Bureau
of the United States Department of Labor, coop erate with the States
by compiling and publishing annual statistics of industrial accidents
to minors in the different States as is now done by that bureau for
other statistics relating to children, such as statistics of employment
certificates and of juvenile court cases.
For the further protection of young workers from industrial
hazards, it is essential that power be given to State labor depart
ments to determine dangerous and injurious occupations and to
prohibit minors’ employment therein. Our present body of knowl«#!ge of the hazards of the industries and occupations in which
minors are employed is so fragmentary and incomplete that a care
ful and comprehensive study is recommended, both of occupations
in which minors are engaged and of those in which industrial
hazards occur, and also of possible safeguards in such occupations,
in order that a scientific basis for such prohibitions may be found
and that legislative prohibitions may be kept abreast of new
industrial hazards.
In view of the wide scope of the problem, affecting minor workers
throughout the country, it is recommended that a continuing com
mittee be appointed, of which the members of the subcommittee on
RECO M M E N D ATIO N S ON C H IL D LABOR— A N N E S. DAVIS
29
hazardous occupations, industrial accidents, and workmen’s com
pensation for injured minors might form a nucleus, to work in co
operation with the Children’s Bureau of the United States
Department of Labor and State departments of labor in studying
all phases of the problem of protection of minor workers xrom
dangerous and injurious employments.
Minors injured in industry are entitled to more adequate compen
sation than is now afforded under most State laws. Basic to a
State program for the adequate compensation of such injured
minors is a workmen’s compensation law which is liberal in its
general provisions. With reference to provisions relating espe
cially to minors, it is urged that in all States not yet having such
laws legislation be passed providing—
1. That at least the employee’s future earning capacity be con
sidered as the basis on which compensation should be computed in
the case of minors permanently disabled; and
2. That minors illegally employed when injured should not only
be brought under the workmen’s compensation law, but that, in
addition, provisions should be made for the payment of extra com
pensation in such cases.
Administration o f Laws
A system of issuance of employment certificates to minors should
be developed which will insure that those not legally qualified to
enter employment do not do so, but which is sufficiently simple
and direct to enable those legally qualified to obtain such authoriza
tion without difficulty or delay.
The enforcement of school attendance should be sufficiently effec
tive to keep in school all minors required by law to attend up to
the age when they are legally permitted to work, and after that
age until they are actually and legally employed, and should insure
the attendance at classes of suitable content of temporarily unem
ployed minors of compulsory school-attendance age. Special atten
tion should be devoted to the problems of school attendance of
children in rural districts and of the education of the so-called
migratory child workers.
Such clear and definite legal standards should be set up by both
child labor and compulsory school attendance laws, without limi
tations and exemptions, and such correlation between school-attendance and employment-certificate requirements should be effected as
to obviate the difficulties now resulting in many States from con
fused and defective legislation.
Inspection for the enforcement of all child labor laws, including
those regulating the employment of children in mines or quarries,
should be under the same department which should be empowered
and required to inspect all places of employment. Except in States
where special conditions or lack of precedent may make it particu
larly desirable that the enforcement of child-labor legislation be
placed in the hands of a State child welfare or education depart
ment, or a special child labor board, inspection for child labor laws
should be made by the State department which enforces the other
labor laws of the State.
30
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
Labor departments, either through a special bureau devoted to
problems of women and children or, if there is no such bureau,
through some individual officer especially qualified, should carry on
educational work designed to secure enforcement of the child labor
law and should make special investigations of child labor and the
problems connected with enforcement of child labor laws.
In States where the problem of child labor is sufficient in magni
tude as to make it desirable, there should be a special division of the
labor department devoted to the enforcement of laws relating to
these workers. In States having no such provision, there should be
one or more persons on the staff of the department assigned to the
enforcement of laws relating to the employment of women and
children.
These standards, in the opinion of the child labor committee of
the White House conference, represent the least that in the light of
present knowledge and understanding of the mental and physical
needs of the child and adolescent should be done. They should be
looked upon as merely a point of departure for higher goals, which,
it is expected, will be revealed through the constantly growing con
tribution of scientific research. They represent the best-known prac
tices in the regulation of child labor, for practically every recom
mendation has been carried out in some State and has proved of
value; it is hoped that they will aid the States in establishing higher
standards and in giving better protection to the youth of our
country.
The control of child labor and the extension of education is one
of the most important of the Nation’s efforts to realize democracy,
and as such it is of national importance and concern. With approx
imately 5,000,000 unemployed in the country, it is unfortunate that
any State to-day permits young boys and girls to leave school to
take work which should go to men and women.
DISCUSSION
Chairman S w e t t . Y ou will remember that the secretary asked you
all to bring a brief statement, telling how you had tried to carry out
the recommendations of the White House conference, so I will call
on you in order.
Mr. R o o k s b e r y (Arkansas). During the meeting of the parentteachers’ convention in Hot Springs^ Ark., recently, Doctor Barnard,
who was in attendance at this meeting, had a conference with Gov
ernor Parnell in reference to the program on child welfare as out
lined at the White House Conference on Child Health and Pro
tection. As a result of the conference between Doctor Barnard and
Governor Parnell, the governor will call a meeting of representatives
of the various official agencies interested in child welfare and promi
nent individuals who have been interested in child welfare at an
early date. At this meeting it is expected a state wide program will
be worked out and the needed legislation framed.
Mr. W h i t a k e r (Georgia). There has been nothing definite accom
plished in our State, except several conferences t>etween the League
of Women Voters, the Parent-Teachers Association, and the State
Federation of Labor, They are trying to formulate plans to intro
RECOM M ENDATION'S ON C H ILD LABOR— DISCUSSION
31
duce into the next session of the legislature laws governing the ages
of children in the industries. At the present time our State has only
one child labor law, and that is in connection with the cotton mills—
14 years—and they are going to try to extend that to all industries.
Mr. R e a g i n (Indiana). Since the conference at Washington we
have been visited by Mr. Kiper and Mr. Brown, who have attended
meetings in almost every county in the State. That may sound farfetchea, but I am sure that it is quite true. There are very few
counties that have not had their meetings. What has come from
that, of course, we do not know, but I am sure that it will be quite
beneficial.
We have held some 92 meetings on this conference. I was author
ized by the governor to make that statement.
Mr. S e il l e r (Kentucky). I think I can show what has been done
in Kentucky by quoting a statement from Professor Nofficier, the
head of the department of political science of Asbury College. He
says this: “ Kentucky has taken the lead in setting up a permanent
council on child health and protection, carrying forth in this State
many projects outlined by the recent White House Conference on
Child Health and Protection. Dr. A. T. Barnard, national director,
announced that he was greatly pleased with the progress that the
State has been making. The Kentucky council has as its objective
a campaign of education on the rights and needs of children. At
the closing session of the White House conference, Miss Grace Ab
bott, Chief of the Federal Children’s Bureau, asked the conference
members to pledge themselves to work harder and more intelligently
for the health and protection of children. The Kentucky council
represents the efforts of this State to fulfill that pledge. No political
action is contemplated by the council, and its membership will in
clude all parties. Every existing agency will be utilized in an effort
to bring home to the people of the State the rights of every child
in the Commonwealth, and in ways of achieving those rights. As
a general statement of the objectives of the council, the planning
committee adopted for Kentucky the children’s charter that had
previously been adopted by the White House conference. The char
ter provides for the complete emancipation of the child, morally,
spiritually, and physically. They will also take up separate plat
forms and recommendations that include caring for child health
from birth, through the home, schoolroom, in labor, and to make
whatever and everywhere available the protection of child health
and welfare.
“ The Kentucky council of the White House Conference for the
Health and Protection of Children will include such representatives
of all state-wide organizations as are interested in child welfare in
any form. The council will have representative groups in each
county of the State who will be concerned with the immediate task
of child caring and protection.”
I regret to state at this time that no member of our department
is represented on this Kentucky council. Why we were left off I have
not yet been able to learn. However, I hope we will be recognized
and given a part in the Kentucky Child Welfare Council. We haVe
several State agencies in Kentucky which operate independently for
the care and protection of the child. I am hoping that the Kentucky
32
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I .
Child Welfare Council will promote the unification of child-welfare
agencies in our State to place them under a central head which, I
feel, will mean economy, greater efficiency in the work being done,
and, not the least, greater opportunities and more adequate protec
tion for the child who becomes the charge of the State or comes
under the State’s observation. It is for this reason, most of all, that
I hope we shall be given membership on the Kentucky Child Welfare
Council.
Mr. M e a d e (Massachusetts). It certainly was very interesting to
listen to the address of the lady representing the White House con
ference. It is interesting to know what standards have been set up,
what standards are now in operation in different States, and what
standards should be adopted. I am sure that when the document
is printed, bringing together, as it does, the latest compilations of
legislation, so far as the hours of labor and conditions of employ
ment for minors are concerned, it ought to be a real contribution to
the literature on that subject.
I think I see in that report a few things taken from our own Com
monwealth, not specifically because we have them here but because
they have proved to be very beneficial here. I have time simply
to comment on one, with your permission. I f you want to draw
aside the veil of industry and ascertain just what the child is doing,
investigate injuries to children. Those of you who are familiar with
our reports will see that annually, for the last seven or eight years,
we have done precisely what the White House conference suggests,
namely, that all serious accidents to children be investigated. In
that report each year there is a resume and an analysis concerning
permanent and partial disability and injuries to children under 18
years of age. Also, under causation for injuries, you will see that
each one is assigned to a definite cause, and I think that in this
way you can find, in the case of a minor, just what is going on in
industry so far as children under 18 years of age are concerned.
However, what seems to have been done in Massachusetts, as to
the White House conference, is that, first, the department of labor
and industries cooperated in furnishing information to the com
mittee on vocational guidance and child labor. Reports indicating
the work done for the enforcement of the statutes to protect the child
in Massachusetts were prepared at the request of Miss Frances
Perkins, chairman of the subcommittee on problems of administra
tion, for the committee on vocational guidance and child labor, and
included a memorandum of the accident-prevention work of the
industries in Massachusetts, with statistics of industrial injuries for
a period of 11 years.
There was also a statement prepared and forwarded to the com
mittee indicating the policy of the division of industrial safety with
reference to its methods in dealing with violations of the law in
connection with the employment of children.
The Commissioner oi Labor and Industries of Massachusetts at
tended the White House Conference on Child Health and Protec
tion in Washington, November 19 to 22, 1930. At this conference it
appears that an estimated expenditure under compensation laws and
for awards and medical benefits received was discussed at length.
Reports were made concerning injuries arising out of and in the
RECO M M E N D ATIO N S ON CH ILD LABOR— DISCUSSION
33
course of employment and their effect upon the children and home
conditions. Other questions concerning the welfare of the child re
ceived attention at this conference, including the mentally and physi
cally handicapped child, medical service for the child, public-health
service, and the administration and training of the child.
What Massachusetts is doing in regard to the problems incidental
to children in industry, as suggested at the White House Conference
on Child Health and Protection, can be summarized as follows:
First, Governor Ely has accepted the honorary chairmanship of the
committee on the White House Conference on Child Health and Pro
tection. He has appointed a committee of some 12 members, of
which Dr. George H. Bigelow, commissioner of health, is the chair
man. This committee appears at present to be involved in the prob
lem of ways and means. It is said that when these matters are set
tled a full-time secretary may be appointed.
I think perhaps that is one of the most important announcements,
which indicates the actual work and the carrying out of the proposals
of the White House conference. The idea of this committee is to
organize for each of the four sections of the conference a group of
authoritative speakers, in order that there may be brought back to
the committees in the State the standards set up by the conference in
the various fields of child welfare. It is planned to hold institutes
in the fall, and regional conferences, as the other States have done,
and, in addition to your speaker, to have very many interested groups
take part in the different aspects of the White House Conference on
Child Health and Protection. It is said that these groups will in
clude women’s clubs, service organizations, educational bodies, public
welfare and social service agencies, labor unions, health organiza
tions, churches, and other groups. Under these circumstances it is
hoped that the standards developed through the White House con
ference may take root in the social and the industrial life of our peo
ple. From the available information, that appears to be the status
at the present time.
Mr. Davie (New Hampshire). Reporting for New Hampshire re
garding the extent to which recommendations of the White House
Conference on Child Health and Protection have been carried out, I
will say that we have in the governor’s chair at the present time a
young man who is intensely interested in this great subject.
A conference on child health and protection, sponsored by Hon.
John G. Winant, governor of New Hampshire, was held at the statehouse, in Concord, April 30 and May 1. The general chairman was
John H. Finley, LL.D., New York Times, editorial service, New
York City, and the meetings were addressed by men and women of
national reputation.
In opening the conference the governor said:
These next two days are dedicated to the child and the mother. We are
gathered here in order to come to a surer understanding of the needs and the
opportunities of childhood that the changing and crowding complexities of
modern civilization present to-day and to accept the generous counsel of those
who have given a lifetime of intense study and devoted service in order to
touch life at its source and lift the level of human happiness. When President
Hoover, in addressing the White House conference, said that “ human progress
marches only when children excel their parents,” he put in a single sentence a
34
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A.. G. 0 . I .
great fundamental truth that underlies all advancement in the evolution of
mankind.
May I take this occasion to express to him ,and to the skillful and devoted
friends of that conference and those meeting here to-day the gratitude of the
citizenry of this State for their contribution in protecting the most precious
possession of this Nation—the American child.
In years to come, long after we here have passed to the great beyond, when
inheritance and environment insure to all children everywhere the strong
minds and firm bodies and perfect spiritual contentment, those who have strug
gled and sacrificed that the will of Him who was the great friend of children
may be done on earth will have their certain reward if, echoing down through
the ages, they can catch the laughter of happy children in a reborn world.
These meetings were attended by 800 registered delegates, also by
representative groups of citizens from all over the State.
Mr. R o a ch (New Jersey). I hoped that Mrs. Summers, the direc
tor of the women’s and children s bureau, would be here to make
this report on what has been done for the working children in the
State, but I do not see her. I might try to give you some idea of
what has been done, although the work is entirely in her care. I
know that she has held a number of conferences of social workers,
trade-unions, and a number of other interested citizens throughout
the State.
From what I can remember about our laws, I think; the legisla
ture has passed legislation that is probably as broad as it is in any
of our northern industrial States, in that the commissioner of labor,
as the chief executive of the department in administrative matters,
does prescribe definite occupations that, in his judgment, are haz
ardous to the physical well-being of children under 16 years of
age. That has been done in a large group of occupations where
it was thought that children working in those occupations might
suffer more in health than an adult.
I have always been curious to know whether or not as a general
thing that is true. I know I am running counter to the general trend
of thought that prevails among social workers in even suggesting it,
but I am wondering what the primary cause of accident to the
worker might be and if it is immaturity. Of course, we want to give
every child a right to life and limb and health and happiness, but
we want to do that for adult workers as well. While it is a good
thing to emphasize the social responsibility—yes, the moral responsi
bility—that rests upon the grown man and woman to protect child
life, we do not want to get into that state of mind where, when we
pass restrictive and prohibitive legislation which will prevent young
persons from engaging in service in a dangerous occupation, we think
we have done our part. Our hope has been to make industry safe
for competent men and women.
# Our record of child-labor accidents has been studied. Our statis
tician has prepared a splendid summary of all the accidents that
occurred to minors during the year, and I am not sure that, from
my knowledge of what the statistics teach, I can draw any useful
lesson from them which would sustain for me, at least, the theory
that adding to restrictive legislation, or advancing the age, is in
itself enough.
I asked our statistician to answer a group of questions relating to
what we know about child labor in the State. I was a bit surprised
to find that maybe we did not know as much some,times as we might
BECO M M EN&ATIO NS ON CH ILD LABOB— DISCUSSION
35
have thought we knew. In our accident-prevention work generally
we try to proceed on well-established premises, and so far as we
can, to abandon guesswork and speculation.
(Mr. Roach concluded by discussing the questions and answers
prepared by James A. T. Gribbin, statistician of the New Jersey
Department of Labor, which follow:)
Q. 1. Does the State of New Jersey prepare records of minors that show the
number of minors employed in industrial groups?—A. While the factory in
spection sheets show for each individual establishment the number of adult
and minor male and female employees, no tabulation of such figures has ever
been made. We are now gathering that information in connection with the
revision of our Industrial Directory of New Jersey and will then be able to
show the number employed by industry group and by municipality.
Q. 2. Do the United States Census figures in any way whatsoever show the
number of minors employed in New Jersey?—A. The 1919 United States Census
of Manufactures shows the number of employed minors (14-16 years of age),
by industry group.
Q. 3. Is there any way in which we can estimate the number of minors
employed in the industries of New Jersey?—A. No way, except ba*sed upon
the 1919 United States Census figures.
Q. 4. Is there anything to show that children injured on machines between
14 and 16 years of age were injured because of their immaturity?—A. Nothing.
Q. 5. If the age limit on machine occupations were raised to 18 years of age,
do you think the same number of accidents would occur to those above 18
years of age that now occur to those that are under 18 years of age?—A. The
number of accidents would probably be in proportion to the exposure, viz., the
number of operators employed.
Q. 6. Do your records show the causes of accidents to minors?—A. Yes;
annual report; September Bulletin.
Q. 7. Were the causes: (a) Lack of safeguards on machines?—A. No. (&)
Lack of training?—A. No.
(c) Lack of supervision?—A. No.
{d) Careless
ness or disregard of safety rules by the minors?—A. No.
Q. 8. Would it be possible from our records to find the number of children
employed in our industries?—A. Yes, by checking up our factory inspection
records.
Doctor P a tto n (New York). I had not expected to make this
report. I think that the program of the White House conference
has been largely attained in New York State. By that I do not
mean to say that we are doing everything we can for children, but
some things have been done, among others an annual tabulation of
our compensated accidents to minors, by age.
In connection with that I want to point out something which
seems to me to have an important bearing. For instance, in New
York we see how many accidents there are to minors, but that does
not begin to give us any information whatsoever about the accident
rates to minors. We do not know how many children are employed.
For two years we published an industrial directory, similar to the
one Mr. Roach spoke about in New Jersey, and in that there was
tabulated the number of children employed at the time of inspec
tion. But, as we all know, children are not employed so continu
ously from January 1 to December 31 as are adults. An employer
may have a dozen children to-day and for the next three weeks
and then none at all for the next three months. Their employment
is more casual and sporadic. Until we have the exposure hours of
these children we will not get very far in determining accident
rates.
Even if we knew the number of these children we would not know
whether they were employed for one hour to run errands or on an 8-
36
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
hour day. Until you get the number employed you can not get a
frequency rate, and until you know the number of hours they are
employed you can not get a severity rate. In other words, it is a
part of the general accident problem. We do not know the accident
rate for all employees, adults included, nor do we know the fre
quency and the severity rates of any single State. We do know the
accident rate of an increasingly large number of concerns that devote
special attention to such matters, but when we speak of the accident
rates for a given State we ought to include the poor as well as the
good. We need to lay insistence on finding out those with poor
records as well as those with good accident records.
New York is one of the States that has tried double compensation
for minors injured in illegal employment. That particular group of
cases is analyzed much more carefully than are accidents as a whole,
but as Mr. Stewart pointed out at the New Orleans meeting, we
have not yet proved that double compensation has reduced children’s
accidents. On that we have to take the position that certainly double
compensation is no incentive to accidents; but so far as it has any
influence, we have to assume that it tends to reduce the number
of illegally employed children.
One of the matters that Miss Davis spoke of was the securing
of the employment certificates. That has been the thought of New
York State. Formerly there were three departments charged with
the issuance of employment certificates. It is now all centralized
in one department. I regard the chief weakness in the New York
law, as regards accidents to children, to be in the obsolete and
inadequate provisions as to prohibited employments, which it has.
They have been in effect for a long time, and everybody that has
anything to do with it recognizes that they are inadequate, and
for at least two years efforts have been under way to revise them.
But on that I have come to the same conclusion that I have in
regard to workmen’s compensation laws in general; that is, that
it would be more easily enforceable to have a blanket prohibition
rather than a specific list of occupations, or machines, which are
prohibited.
Less than two weeks ago a case of double compensation for minors
came to my attention and, in the proceedings before the referee, the
attorney for the employer pointed out that, although metal cut
ting and stamping machines were on the prohibited list, metal-form
ing machines were not and, therefore, the employer should not have
an award made against him. It seems to me that, with the rapid
development that is going on in industry, if you attempt to-day—
May 19, 1931—to draw up a list of prohibited machines, surely by
next year some new device, some bit of machinery, will have been
developed that forms metal but does not stamp metal; and to
keep up, you will have to amend your law every day and every
time some bright inventor gets to work. It seems better to make
the prohibition more in the nature of a blanket; coverage than to
attempt to keep up with a specific list of machines.
The home-work inspection in New York I know has been very
intensive. Every effort has been made to strengthen the home
work inspection, but it will continue for some time to come, at least,
RECO M M E N D ATIO N S ON CH ILD LABOR— DISCUSSION
37
to be a serious problem in New York; State. I am quite sure that
Mr. Gernon could tell you better than I can of the work of the last
two years in regard to the enforcement of the laws in canneries.
Mr. G e r n o n (New York). Before I say anything about canner
ies I would like to touch on one point that Mr. Roach made. We
are all wrong in this child-labor business, as regards regulating the
child’s working conditions and prohibiting him from doing certain
things. The sooner we realize it the better for the child. At least,
I can say this after many years’ experience and having seen a range
of industries that are probably as numerous as they are in any State
in the Union.
To-day we have a condition where a child can not learn anything
that is worth while or anything whereby he can make a living.
Don’t get the idea that I am not in sympathy with child labor laws;
I think my past performance proves that. New York regulates child
labor as much as any State in the Union. In the first place we have
too many people who try to make legislation without conferring
with the people who know something about the problem. That is a
rather broad statement, but it can not very well be disputed; we need
no better illustration of that than section 146 of the New York labor
law, which makes an effort to mention machines on which children
can not work. Whoever drew it up never conferred with me, nor
with anybody else in the department who knows anything about
machinery; and the result is that in this section machines that no
body knows by name or description are specified and the machines
that are considered hazardous are not in there, or there is such a
small proportion of them that it is hardly worth while printing any
of them.
Doctor Patton and Mr. Roach touched on the fact that the people
who object to prohibiting the use of certain machines do so because
they are the group which is trying to teach children something.
Two years ago I examined many of the schools in New York State,
and I found that they never teach a child anything about a machine
nor do they teach it the vocation which they are trying to teach,
because the methods they are using are out of date. What should
we do? In my estimation we should teach children something in
school that will fit them for a useful occupation in their after life.
By this I do not mean to fit them for a particular occupation or
vocation, but to give them the things that would help them. I f
we would do this, the children whom they claim they can not keep in
school would probably stay.
When you prohibit a machine from being used by children you
prohibit a child from getting a job, because these machines are
being used; and when we say that a child can not go to work on
a certain machine we simply close that occupation to that child.
There are three things which we should do. To be brief, the cur
riculum in the school should be changed to allow the child to learn
something that is useful. It is being proved in New York State,
and in almost every other State, that the children who go into
industry are not fitted for anything and the employer doesnx want
them; the result is they do not employ children until they are over
18, and then they are worse than they were when they were 16,
85053°—32----- 4
38
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A. G. O. I.
because they have knocked around at a lot of things where nobody
helped them. Nobody took them into the industry and taught them
the discipline and the parts of the craft—things they should know.
If you are going to teach a boy anything in industry you must first
teach him discipline. He has to know how to do a thing and how
to do it in an exact way, because most of the things he does are
things that must be done in the right way. When we prohibit the
machine being used by children, we prohibit the child in that in
dustry where the machine is used, and we do the child a lot of harm.
So the second thing we should do is not to permit a child to go to
work until he is 16, and when he is 16, if he is in the schools and the
schools can not teach him anything more, let industry have its
chance.
Let the child fit into industry, no matter how hazardous the
machine is—let him work at it. That does not mean that the machine
should not be guarded. If you will examine the records of the New
York State Department of Labor you will find that machinery is
fairly safe. Machinery is not the most hazardous thing in New
York State; it can be made reasonably safe, because there is a
method of operation on a hazardous machine that will make it safe.
We must realize that it is not the accidents that happen that we are
talking about—most of them are not accidents, they are injuries.
I f we can only keep that in mind we will probably clear up the
situation.
It is important that the child should have a chance, and I think—
well, I know—that when you take the children in New York State
to-day, they can not get jobs in a real decent industry. In the first
place, they must have certificates. The employer is perfectly willing
that the child have a certificate. If you say that the child has to
leave that industry at a certain time to go into a continuation school,
the employer does not want him. This is a handicap to the child.
I do not know if there is anybody here who is connected with con
tinuation schools, but I want to say this: The continuation schools
are only a means to furnish jobs for certain people in educational
work. The work that they are doing is not worth talking about.
It does not fit the child for anything.
Miss A n g u s (North Dakota). I really have nothing to report on
the child-labor situation in North Dakota, because in the first place
we have no factories, so we do not have the question of hazardous
employment. Besides that, we have a compulsory school attendance
law which requires children to attend school until they are 16 years
of age or until they have completed the eighth grade, and that seems
to take care of the situation as far as child labor is concerned. It
is not a problem at all, and to-day, the only question we have to deal
with is keeping them in school, instead of allowing them to go out
on the farms and stay out of school for that purpose.
Miss M c C o n n e l l (Pennsylvania). I think it is extremely difficult
to say what is happening to bring the recommendations of the White
House conference into actuality at this time in the State. There
have been certain pieces of legislation which have come into exist
ence, not altogether in answer to the White House conference. They
came because the need for them has been felt in the past. How
M IN O R S IN H AZARDOUS OCCUPATIONS— B. M cC O N N E L L
39
ever, the two amendments to the school code which have to do with
school attendance of migratory children carry out one of the
recommendations.
Another one we have is the amendment to the workmen’s com
pensation laws that provides for double compensation for illegally
employed children, and that represents one of the recommendations
of the White House conference.
Chairman Sw ett. Some of the measures recommended by the
White House conference we have in Wisconsin; but there are two
we are working on now. One of those is to bring the children, who
perform work, more under the supervision and under the standards of
the child labor law. We are also working over the list of prohibited
employments, realizing that our list is antiquated, just as all the
other States are realizing it, and that it does not do what we want
it to do. To help us in this we have an advisory committee that is
composed of an equal number of representatives of labor and of em
ployers and several representatives of the public, and already a bill
has been reported to the legislature whicn has been reported back
to the legislature favorably by the committee. We do not know
whether it will pass or not; the chances are pretty good that it will
this time.
The commission itself, during past years, has been trying to get
the bill across, but with the help) of the advisory committee we are
in a much better position to get it passed.
In the matter of prohibited employments, we are trying to work
out something with the industrial classification rather than with the
particular thing within the industry. I do not know just where
we are going to land on that. We have had one or two meetings,
and we are now dividing the main committee into a series of sub
committees—people who are familiar with the given industry.
As Mr. Meade and Mr. Eoach and some of the others have said,
you can not protect the children unless you know what is happening
to them. Some of the States have been making studies as to what
the accidents show is happening to children. Pennsylvania is one
of the States that has done something along that line, so Miss
Beatrice McConnell, director of the Bureau of Women and Children
of Pennsylvania, will now talk to us on “ What accident reports
indicate is happening to minors in hazardous occupations.”
What Accident Reports Indicate Is Happening to
Minors in Hazardous Occupations
By B
e a t r ic e
M
Director Bureau of Women and Children, Department
of Labor and Industry of Pennsylvania
cCo n n ell,
The White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, in
emphasizing the need for a closer study of the problems of employed
children in hazardous occupations, touched upon a vital point in the
movement for the more adequate protection of the working child.
The past few decades have witnessed a great change in the public’s
conception of the State’s responsibility for employed children. A
glance at the history of child-labor legislation shows that in the early
40
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. O. I.
days efforts were directed largely toward the establishment of
standards for hours of work, minimum age of employment, and
educational qualifications, and little or no attention was paid to the
type of work in which the child might engage.
The first restriction as to occupation for minors in Pennsylvania
was on the ground of moral hazard. The indifference which existed
toward the need for the protection of the health and safety of the
working child is illustrated in the act of 1879 which prohibited any
minor under 18 years of age from appearing in a theatrical perform
ance but permitted a child 12 years of age to be employed in a coal
mine. Work inside a mine, however, was the Jirst occupation pro
hibited to minors because of the physical hazard involved. This
prohibition was incorporated in the act of 1885 and not until the
passage of the general factory act of 1889 was any other hazardous
occupation prohibited. There was apparently no general acceptance
of the need for protection from hazardous occupations of employed
children until 1909, when the first Pennsylvania child labor law was
passed which prohibited a considerable number of hazardous occupa
tions. The present child labor law enacted in 1915 placed a much
greater emphasis on the restriction of hazardous occupations, par
ticularly in relation to machinery, and empowered the department of
labor and industry through its industrial board to prohibit such other
occupations as might be determined prejudicial to the health and
safety of the employed child.
That the purpose of legislation which restricts the employment
of minors in certain occupations is to protect the health and safety
of the young industrial worker will not be questioned. What acci
dent records indicate as to the efficacy of this protection is the
subject which I have been asked to discuss with you to-day. What
do our accident statistics show of minors’ accidents? What data
are available on which to base a constructive and intelligent accident-prevention plan and further to protect the young worker from
hazardous occupations?
Accident statistics in Pennsylvania show us that the number
of minors under 18 years of age injured in industrial accidents has
not dropped below 4,000 in the past five years and that about 90
per cent of these accidents are incurred by 16 and 17 year old boys
and girls. Our figures show that in general minors’ accidents tend
to increase or decrease in proportion to all industrial accidents, but
curiously enough while there has been a general downward trend
during this 5-year period for accidents to minors 16 and 17 years
of age, the proportion of accidents to minors under 16 has remained
practically stationary. In addition to the number of minors’ acci
dents, we know in what industries they occur most frequently. In
1930 one-half the minors under 18 injured in industrial accidents
were employed in manufacturing industries. More of these minors
were injured while working with metal and metal products than
in any other industry. Mining, an industry closed to children under
16 years of age, was responsible for one-fifth of the accidents to
the group 16 and 17 years of age. Trade, both wholesale and retail,
showed a great many accidents, particularly for the 14 and 15 year
old children.
M IN O R S IN H AZARDOUS OCCUPATIONS---- B. M cC O N N E L L
41
In an analysis of compensated accidents to minors made by the
bureau of statistics for the year 1924, more specific information re
garding minors’ accidents was made available. It was found that
the most serious accidents, those resulting in permanent disability,
were incurred for the most part by minors employed in manufactur
ing establishments and in mines. The proportion of accidents result
ing in permanent disability was twice as great for 16 and 17 year
old minors as for those 14 and 15 years of age. This study showed
also that machinery, vehicles, and handling objects caused nearly
three-fourths of the accidents reported. It was significant that the
proportion of accidents caused by machinery was nearly twice as
great for minors as for adults, and this in spite of the fact that the
operation of many machines is forbidden to minors because of the
hazard involved.
Since its inception in the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and
Industry, the bureau of women and children has been vitally inter
ested in the movement for the prevention of children’s accidents.
Since 1926 all accident reports for minors under 18 have been re
viewed by the bureau and special analyses made as a basis for accident-prevention work of the department. In 1928 nearly one-fifth
of all accidents reported for minors under 18 were caused by working
machines. In the detailed analysis of these machine accidents made
by the bureau, the line of demarcation for occupations prohibited for
14 and 15 year old minors was clearly shown, only a little more than
10 per cent of the machine accidents being incurred by 14 and 15
year old children. Textile and metal working machines were respon
sible for nearly two-thirds of the accidents. In this study an effort
was made to get specific data regarding the occupation of the injured
minor. In 86 per cent of the cases the injured minor was the operator
of the machine which figured in his accident. More than one-half
the accidents occurred at the point of operation while the minor was
operating his machine. Many accidents took place while the machine
or the work was being adjusted. Too frequently this was done with
out shutting off the power and the result was a hand or finger caught
in the moving machinery.
Very briefly, then, this is the picture of children’s employment at
hazardous occupations as revealed by Pennsylvania accident statis
tics. We know the number of minors’ accidents and the ages of the
injured minors. We know what industries are responsible for these
accidents, but with no information as to the number of minors em
ployed in a given industry we have no scientific means of determin
ing where the accident risk is greatest. We have no data as to occu
pational risk, except such scattered facts as have been brought out
in special analyses of accident reports. We do not know to what
extent children are exposed to health hazards of dust, poisonous
fumes, and dangerous chemicals. The health hazard to the young
worker of bad posture, of over-fatigue and high tension superim
posed by the speed and mechanization of modern industry is as yet
an unexplored field. And what is true in Pennsylvania is for the
most part true for the rest of the country. A few States compile
more comprehensive statistics regarding minors’ accidents than
Pennsylvania, but many have even less information available. It
42
EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF A. G. O. I.
seems perfectly evident that the lack of uniform detailed data on
the subject of minors’ accidents is the outstanding finding of a sur
vey of accident statistics in relation to the employment of minors
in hazardous occupations.
♦The situation is a challenging one. Industrial conditions are ever
changing. The increasing speed and mechanization of industry to
day brings with it new operations and new hazards. The introduc
tion and increasing importance of dangerous chemicals in modern
industrial processes opens up new and greater hazards for the imma
ture worker. If the safety and welfare of our boys and girls who
enter industry at an early age are to be effectively safe-guarded, these
changing conditions must be known and acted upon. It seems only
logical that the responsibility for developing an active and construc
tive program for more adequate protection of the working child rests
on the State. Such a program should include the compilation of
accident statistics separately for minors under 18 years of age.
These compilations should give information as to industry, cause,
severity of injury, and manner of occurrence of the accidents. These
fundamental data, supplemented by special investigation and study
where the need is indicated, will provide the most intelligent basis
for recommendations as to the further regulation of hazardous occu
pations for minors.
But legislation and regulations, no matter how effectively drawn up
and enforced by the State, can not make industry wholly safe for the
working child. No program for safeguarding the condition of em
ployment for the young industrial worker can be considered complete
without the understanding and interest of industry itself. It must
then be a part of our program to help industry to realize and to ac
cept its responsibility for the welfare and safety of the young worker
and so to develop its organization and plans of supervision that the
hazards of employment for the working child are minimized.
Chairman S w ett. In response to the request for a brief summary,
a paper was sent from Illinois. Since they showed enough interest
to send this paper even though they could not be here, we feel that
consideration should be given to the Illinois report, and we are ask
ing Miss Davis to read this report.
What Illinois Is Doing to Protect Children Under 18
Years From Dangerous Employment
B y th e I l l i n o i s D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o b
(Read by Miss Anne S. Davis)
Present Protection
The present child labor law of Illinois, either expressly or as inter
preted by the Illinois Department of Labor, regulates the employ
ment of children up to 16 years of age in practically all occupations
except agriculture, domestic service, as “ independent merchants”
(usually meaning newsboys), as golf caddies, or in work under the
sole direction of the child’s parent. It forbids the employment of
children under 14 years of age in any- of the occupations deemed
under the jurisdiction of the child labor law* For children 14 and
PROTECTION OF C H ILD REN IN E M P L O Y M E N T -----IL L IN O IS
43
15 years of age it requires that an employment certificate be issued
for the job on which the child is to work, that the hours of work
shall be limited to eight in any one day (including hours spent in
school on the same day), and that the days per week be limited to
six. It prohibits night work for children 14 and 15 years old between 7 p. m. and 7 a. m. It also specifically forbids children 14 and
15 years old to work at the following employments:
Adjusting belts to machinery.
Oiling or assisting in oiling, wiping, or cleaning any machinery.
Sewing belts.
In any capacity in preparing any composition in which dangerous
or poisonous acids are used.
In any capacity in the manufacture of paints, colors, or white lead.
Operating or assisting to operate the following machines: Band
saws; boring machinery; circular saws; corrugating rolls, such as
are used in roofing factories; cracker machinery; dough breaker;
elevators, freight or passenger; emery or polishing wheels used for
polishing metal; laundry machinery; planers; punches; rolling-mill
machinery; sand-paper machinery; shears; stamping machines in
sheet-metal and tin-ware manufacturing; stamping machines in
washer and nut factories; steam boilers; steam machinery or other
steam-generating apparatus; washing, grinding, or mixing mill or
calender rolls in rubber manufacturing; wire or iron straightening
machinery; wood joiners; wood shapers; wood-polishing machinery;
and wood-turning machinery.
Places in which the law expressly forbids the employment of chil
dren under 16 are bowling alleys, mines and quarries, and theaters,
concert halls, or other places of amusement in which intoxicating
liquor is sold.
The law also forbids the employment of girls under 16 years where
they are required to stand during their work.
Besides these employments, the department of labor is given
authority to prohibit the employment of minors under 16 years “ in
any capacity whatever in any employment that [it] finds to be
dangerous to their lives or limbs or where their health may be injured
or morals depraved.”
Under this discretionary power, the department of labor, through
its division of factory inspection, which enforces the child labor
law, has prohibited the employment of children under 16 years in
the following occupations:
All work on or near power-driven machinery. (This includes
taking work away from the machine as well as operating it. Ex
ceptions: Some harmless office devices and some machines of very
low horsepower.)
Work on scaffolding o ‘ 1
ler construction. (Ex
which are practically
ceptions: Nonhazardous
finished.)
Work in garages, filling stations, and automobile repair shops.
Cranking automobiles or motor trucks.
Handling gasoline.
Work in tunnels.
Work in places where there are noxious gases.
Work with dyes.
44
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
This is not an exhaustive list of employments forbidden under the
department’s discretionary power. One difficulty with preparing
a definite and exhaustive list of occupations in Illinois is that, ac
cording to an opinion of the attorney general rendered in 1925, the
department of labor must consider each case as an individual case
rather than as one of a class of cases. The present Illinois child
labor law does not provide for a procedure for j>ublic hearings as to
which occupations are dangerous, and the responsibility for the
decision in each case rests on the department of labor alone. Ex
perience, however, has proved to the division of factory inspection
that all of the employments which have iust been named are poten
tially so hazardous that no exception should be permitted in the
case of any child; therefore all of these employments are prohibited
for all children under 16 years of age.
The only employment forbidden to minors under 18 years of age is
not written into the child labor law, but is part of the motor vehicles
act, which provides that no person under 18 years of age shall be
licensed to be employed as chauffeur for a motor vehicle. This pro
vision is in the interest of the safety of the public rather than of the
minor employee.
On the basis of the 1920 census it has been estimated that about
79 per cent of all employed children 10 but under 16 years of age in
Illinois are under the jurisdiction of the present child labor law. If
occupations in agriculture and domestic and personal service and
newsboys are excluded, however, the percentage of children under
the jurisdiction of the law is 99.7. While these proportions may
have changed in 1930, the figures are not yet available to determine
where the changes have taken place.
An incentive toward observance of the child labor law is pro
vided in the Illinois workmen’s compensation act, which requires
that a minor under 16 years of age who is injured while illegally
employed shall be paid 50 per cent additional compensation. While
this percentage of additional compensation is not so high as in most
other States where it exists, it does serve as a deterrent to violation
of the child labor law.
What Illinois Finds has been Happening to Minors under 18
Years
Statistics is the measure used by the Illinois Department of Labor,
through its bureau of statistics and research, in trying to determine
whether the present child labor law protects minors sufficiently from
hazardous employments. For five years the bureau has compiled
several types of statistics on work accidents to minors under 18 years
of age.
When laws regulating dangerous occupations for minors have
been passed, they have usually been copied from some other State
more or less uncritically. In 1930 the Illinois Committee on Child
Welfare Legislation requested that a study be made from industrialaccident records in Illinois to see what facts were available regard
ing hazardous occupations as shown by actual injuries to minors.
This study was undertaken by the bureau of statistics and research
and covered 2,819 cases, representing a large part of the experience
of the preceding three years. The study dealt with three age
groups—under 16 years, lo years, and 17 years.
PROTECTION OF CH ILD REN IN E M P L O Y M E N T ---- IL L IN O IS
45
It is often assumed that an occupation should be deemed hazardous
if it shows a large frequency of accidents. But accident frequency
alone does not take into account the seriousness of an injury. It
may happen that an employment has few accidents, but that those
accidents which do occur are more likely to cause death or severe
disability than do more numerous accidents in other employments.
By using a statistical device for translating fatalities, permanent
and temporary disabilities into severity days, the bureau was able
to work out average severity rates per accident according to each
age group, according to cause of accident and according to industry.
Some interesting results were obtained.
For children under 16 years—that is, in the age group now under
the jurisdiction of the child labor law—accidents due to automobiles
and other motor vehicles had a far higher severity rate than had ma
chinery (including elevators), though machinery accidents outnum
bered accidents caused by automobiles. The employment of children
between 14 and 16 years on machinery and elevators is forbidden
under the present child labor law, yet more hazardous employments,
namely, those subject to traffic hazards, such as delivery boys riding
on trucks, are permitted.
Another interesting result of this study was that the average sever
ity of disability was greatest for the children under 16 years, next
greatest for minors 16 years, and considerably less for those of 17
years. Since severity of accident was not studied for the age groups
above 17 years, it is not possible to tell how these rates would com
pare with rates for older minors or with adults.
The highest severity rate in any industry in any age group in this
study was in trade in the group under 16 years of age. This rate
(366.5) was far higher than the severity rates for either construction
or coal mining (notably dangerous industries) in the older groups.
This fact goes contrary to the general impression that trade is less
dangerous than other employments for children under 16 years. It
is also instructive that, among accident causes, automobiles and other
motor vehicles had a severity rate for children under 16 years of
551.5, a rate higher than any other severity rate for any cause in any
age group, and that each of the severity rates by cause of accident
in this group was considerably higher than the rate for any accident
cause in any other age group.
In trade (retail and wholesale), which was the industry with the
highest severity rate for children under 16 years, the highest number
of total severity days, as well as the greatest number of accidents,
were in accidents caused by automobiles and other motor vehicles.
The same was true of retail trade only. In manufacturing (the only
other industry for which a severity rate was calculable in this age
group) the total severity days were highest in accidents due to ma
chinery and to vehicles of various kinds.
The total severity days chargeable to each cause of accident may be
analyzed according to the total severity days attributable to each
industry. This will reveal that for children under 16 years of age
the total severity days chargeable to automobiles and other motor
vehicles were for the most part distributed, in descending order,
among retail trade, manufacturing, express, storage and forwarding,
and telegraph and cable. Total severity days for machinery (all
kinds) were highest in manufacturing, retail trade, and laundries.
46
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
Total severity days for vehicles (all kinds) were distributed chiefly
among retail trade, manufacturing, telegraph and cable, and express,
storage, and forwarding. Severity days chargeable to working ma
chines only were highest in number in manufacturing, laundries, and
retail trade.
To what age should minors be specially protected?
Although in Illinois the child labor law does not protect minors
between 16 and 18 years from dangerous work, a bill proposed in the
general assembly this year sought to provide some protection for this
age group. It was tabled in the senate and probably will not pass,
but it brings up the question: Ati what age may minors be permitted
to enter industry on the same terms as adults ?
Some opponents of the higher age limit say that for psychological
reasons it is wrong to restrict minors beyond the age of 16 years.
A better case for regulation up to 18 years might be made if it
could be proved that minors 16 and 17 years old are subject to
appreciably greater hazards in industry than are adults. This has
not yet been proved by statistics, though the Illinois figures do
imply that minors 16 years of age apparently suifer more severe dis
ability on the average than do minors 17 years of age. This matter
of comparing the hazards for minors with the hazards for adults
calls for intensive exploration.
For the purposes of discussion, however, let us assume that minors
do need special protection up to 18 years. In what industries or
occupations do the records in Illinois show that these minors incur
special dangers ?
The special study just mentioned brought out the following points:
In no single industry and in no single cause of accident for which
severity rates for each age group were available did the severity rate
for minors 16 or 17 years of age equal or surpass that for children
under 16 years in the corresponding industry or cause classification.
However, for several industries and for several causes of accidents,
severity rates for children under 16 years could not be calculated
because there were too few cases, whereas they were calculated
for the older minors. Therefore a complete comparison of rates is
impossible.
The general average severity rate for 16-year-old minors (138)
about equaled the general rate tor all minors under 18 years (133.1).
That for minors 17 years old was much lower (96.9).
Since it was impracticable to compute and study severity rates
for injured workers 18 years of age and over, it has not been pos
sible to determine whether the severity rates for 17-year-old minors
were higher or lower than would have been found in higher age
groups or for adults. The tendency revealed in this study, how
ever, is that average severity rates decreased as the age increased.
Among those comparable industries for which average severity
rates have been obtained, all but services not otherwise classified
showed a higher severity rate for minors of 16 years than for minors
of 17 years. Although in services the 17-year-old minors showed a
higher rate than the 16-year group, in each of these age groups the
severity rate for services was much lower than the general average
severity rate for the same age group. Compared with other indus
tries, therefore, services did not experience a high degree of severe
injury.
PROTECTION OF CH ILD REN IN E M P L O Y M E N T — IL L IN O IS
47
Construction showed the highest severity rate for both the 16-year
and 17-year age group. Coal mining had a high severity rate for the
17-year-old group, but a coal-mining rate could not be computed for
the 16-year group because the base was less than 50. All the other
industries in each age group showed a severity rate which was lower
than the general severity rate for the same age group.
Among causes of accidents, vehicles presented the highest severity
rate both for 16 and for 17 year old minors. Besides vehicles, higher
severity rates than the average were apparent for machinery (all
kinds) in each of the two age groups. Falling objects was a special
hazard for the 17-year-old group because of their employment in coal
mines. The kinds of vehicles which caused the most severe injuries
differed, however. For the 16-year-old workers, automobiles and
other motor vehicles showed a higher severity rate (251.6) than any
other single cause in this age group. For 17-year-old workers, how
ever, while vehicles (all kinds) had a severity rate of 223.5, automo
biles and other motor vehicles showed a rate of only 177. This
difference was due to the fact that, in the 17-year group, some vehicle
accidents with a high number of total severity days occurred in
construction in connection with vehicles not classified as automo
biles and other motor vehicles.
Analysis of the total severity days for minors 16 years of age
shows the following distribution, according to the important causes
of severe injury, in those industries in which the severity rate was
fairly high: Construction—working machines, automobiles, and
other motor vehicles; manufacturing—working machines, elevators
(controlled), falls of persons, handling objects, hand tools; trade and
finance (aM kinds)—automobiles and other motor vehicles, all other
vehicles, handling objects; retail stores—automobiles and other mo
tor vehicles.
Analyzed according to industry, by those accident causes which
showed a fairly high severity rate, the total severity days for 16year-old minors were chiefly distributed as follows: Automobiles and
other motor vehicles—trade and finance (especially retail trade), tele
graph and cable, construction (especially street and highway);
vehicles (all hinds)—experience similar to automobiles and other
motor vehicles; machinery (dU) hinds)—manufacturing, construc
tion; worhmg machines only—manufacturing, construction; falls of
'persons—manufacturing, construction.
For 17-year-old minors a similar analysis of accidents with a fairly
high severity rate by industry according to cause, gives the following
picture: Construction—vehicles (especially “ all other vehicles,” not
including automobiles and other motor vehicles), hand tools, falls of
persons; coal mining—falling objects (not handled by injured), “all
other vehicles” (including mine cars and motors); mining and quar
rying (aU hinds)—falling objects (not handled by injured), “ all
other vehicles” (including mine and quarry cars and motors), hand
ling objects; manufacturing—machinery (all kinds, but especially
working machines), vehicles (all kinds, but especially automobiles
and other motor vehicles), falls of persons, handling objects, step
ping on or striking against objects or persons, hand tools, explosions,
electricity, fires, hot substances, falling objects (not handled by in
jured) ; retail stores—automobiles and other motor vehicles.
48
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. O. I.
By those causes of accident which showed a fairly high severity
rate, the total severity days for 17-year-old minors in each industry
ranked as follows: Vehicles {all kinds)—construction, manufactur
ing, trade and finance (especially retail stores), laundries, coal
mining; automobiles and other motor vehicles*—trade and finance
(especially retail stores), manufacturing, laundries; falling objects
{not handled by injured)—coal mining, manufacturing; working
machines—manufacturing, restaurants, laundries; machinery (all
hinds)—manufacturing, trade and finance, restaurants, laundries;
hand tools—manufacturing, construction (especially street and high
way), agriculture; falls of persons—manufacturing, transportation,
construction, trade and finance.
In general, the conclusions from this study are:
1. Severity of injury, as indicated by the average severity rate,
was greatest among children under 16 years of age, most of whose
employments are covered by the child labor law, and decreased as
age increased.
2. The average severity rate for children under 16 years of age
was highest in trade and next highest in manufacturing. Trade,
therefore, can no longer be considered a less hazardous industry than
manufacturing for children under 16 years.
3. Average severity of injury for children under 16 years was
greatest in accidents caused by automobiles and other motor vehicles
and next greatest in accidents caused by machinery. The former
was a special hazard of employment by retail stores, by factories,
by express, storage, and forwarding firms, and by telegraph and
cable companies.
Occupations which are exposed to traffic hazards or to the dangers
which accompany riding in motor vehicles have not been forbidden
under the child labor law, either expressly or by interpretation of
section 10. Occupations exposed to machinery hazards are already
forbidden to children under 16 years of age. The fact that ma
chinery accidents occur to children in this age group is due in large
part to violation of the child labor law.
4. Minors 16 years of age suffered more severe injuries than minors
17 years of age in all comparable industries except, services not other
wise classified. They also suffered more severe injuries in all com
parable accident-cause groups except vehicles (all kinds) and step
ping on or striking against objects or persons.
5. Minors 17 years of age suffered the least severe injuries of any
of the three age groups studied. Their most severe injuries occurred
in construction. Coal mining and mining and quarrying (all kinds)
were second and third, respectively. The severity rates for manu
facturing and for retail trade, which were almost equal, were some
what below the general severity rate of this group. Since the tend
ency apparent in this study was that the average severity rate de
creased as the age increased, it is possible, if not probable, that
minors 17 years old suffered more severe injury than minors 18 years
of age or older. This supposed tendency remains to be verified by
further study.
6. In the two higher age groups the severity rate for construction
industries was even greater than that of coal mining. The con
struction of buildings is notoriously hazardous, but in the 16-year
PROTECTION OF CH ILD REN IK E M P L O Y M E N T ---- IL L IN O IS
49
group the total severity days for street and highway construction
were almost two-thirds as high as for building construction. Most
of the hazard in street and highway construction was due to vehicles.
7. In each of the three age groups studied accidents due to ve
hicles of one sort or another showed the highest severity rates. Ma
chinery, however, had a high severity rate in each age group, though
in the case of 17-year-old minors its rate was lower than that for
falling objects, which is a common hazard of coal mines.
Needless to say, an occupation which is hazardous for an older
age group, if it is to be forbidden for this group, should automati
cally be forbidden for younger workers. If, for example, work on
or near vehicles or in exposure to vehicle accidents is dangerous for
minors 17 years old, it should also be forbidden to younger minors.
In Illinois not even minors between 14 and 16 years of age are
protected from vehicle hazards. It may be that the mechanization
of vehicles has reached such a point that a motor vehicle should
be considered as machinery and that minors protected from machine
hazards should also be protected from motor-vehicle hazards.
Children Outside the Child Labor Law
In a study, just completed, of accidents to minors reported in
Illinois from 1926 to 1930, it is found that compensable accidents
to children under 16 years whose occupations are outside the juris
diction of the child labor law have been increasing relatively to
the total number of accidents to children under 16 years. The chief
occupations affected are those of the newsboy, whose main danger
is the common vehicle hazard, and the golf caddy, whose chief
hazard is that of being struck by golf balls. It was found that
while no fatal or permanent injuries were reported in 1930 to chil
dren under the child labor law who were working legally, two
children in work not protected by the child labor law were killed,
and at least three sustained some permanent injury or disfigure
ment. The total number of reported injuries to children in occu
pations outside of the child labor law was 22 in 1930.
The newsboy’s exact status is difficult to determine. He may be
considered an independent merchant under the child labor law, yet
the fact that he sometimes receives workmen’s compensation for in
jury indicates that for purposes of compensation he is sometimes
regarded as an employee. Not all of the injuries to newsboys re
ported in the latest study were regarded as compensable, however.
Some of them were reported, not by employers or insurance com
panies, but by civic or welfare agencies.
As for the golf caddy, the Illinois Supreme Court has decided that
this employment is “ temporary and harmless,” and therefore legal
for a child of any age if school is not in session. The employment of
children as golf caddies is usually defended as more sport than work.
Nevertheless, sport has its casualties, and golf caddies have sometimes
been fatally injured in the course of their employment, however tem
porary and harmless it may be in theory.
Incidentally, we find that our statistics on age would be very mis
leading if we did not attempt to verify the age given on the accident
report. We have found that the great majority of children injured
50
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
who are illegally employed are reported on the accident reports as
more than 16 years old. This is not always the deliberate fault of
the employer but is often the result of his neglect to demand evidence
of age. As it is, we succeed in obtaining evidence of age in about
two-thirds of all cases of accidents to minors reported as under 18
years. Last year we found that the ages of a larger proportion of
minors reported as 17 years old were wrong than of minors reported
as 16 years. This may be due to the fact that in Chicago continuation-sehool attendance is required of minors up to 17 years. There
fore a larger proportion of minors who actually may be 16 years or
younger claim that they are 17 in order to get a job without having to
go to continuation school.
What W e Wish W e Knew about Hazardous Occupations in
Illinois
We know only a fragment of the industrial accident experience of
employments not included automatically under the jurisdiction of
the workmen’s compensation act. We know almost nothing about
industrial accidents in agricultural pursuits, in domestic service, and
in the so-called street trades, because the compensation act does not
cover these employments unless the employer elects to come under
the act, which is not usually the case. The National Safety Council
in recent years has found that accidents in the home are as impor
tant a safety problem as accidents in industry, and it may be that
minors employed in domestic service are suffering injuries of which
there is no record.
Since the workmen’s compensation act applies to very few kinds
of occupational diseases, we have comparatively few records of these
diseases.
We do not know how many minors or adults are engaged in the
industries or under the conditions which cause compensable injury,
nor do we know the length of their exposure to these hazards.
Therefore, we have no sure way of relating the number of accidents
and the severity of injury to a fixed base in such a way as to deter
mine which industries and conditions are really the most dangerous.
Classifying occupations from industrial accident reports is impos
sible, in our State at least. The identifying information given on
the report is insufficient, and it is perhaps not too much to say that
it never will be given automatically. The identification of each of
the particular jobs named on accident reports would call for an
amount of intensive investigation which it would be prohibitively
expensive to include in the routine reporting of accidents. Yet if
we are to know exactly what occupations and processes in any given
industry are extrahazardous, complete knowledge of the job on
which each accident happens and the relationship of the accident to
that job is essential.
Although the Illinois child labor law does not at present protect
minors between 16 and 18 years of age from hazardous employments,
Illinois is endeavoring to develop statistics on the subject which may
shed some light on what sort of action the accident situation requires.
PRO TECTION OF C H ILD REN IN E M P L O Y M E N T — DISCUSSION
51
DISCUSSION
Mr. M a g n u s s o n (Washington, D. C . ) . There are some questions I
would like to ask Miss Davis about the White House conference, be
cause it seems to me that the conference is very important and there
has been a great deal of publicity as a result of it. Such meetings as
have been mentioned by Mr. Davie and others have aroused American
opinion on the subject.
Besides considering recommendations that could be enacted into
legislation in the different States, was there any discussion as to
follow-up and application of these recommendations to our Federal
structure of government? It seems to me that the most important
feature of social legislation in the United States is, how is one going
to get progress without taking into account our Federal structure
and its relation to the State structure? Desirable as it is, how is one
going to get the national point of view into our social programs of
action?
With immigration cut off, we must educate our workers for in
dustry, and produce our own social welfare. You heard this morn
ing as to how workers from one State would not be hired in another.
The nonresident worker in a State is in a sorry plight. One wonders
whether or not he is an American citizen, so great is the apparent
lack of any national social consciousness. Was anything done in the
White House conference with this specific problem of follow-up and
maintenance of standards once they are adopted?
Miss D a v is . A continuing committee was appointed, and this com
mittee is trying to get the various States to hold conferences as a
follow-up of the White House conference, at which the recommenda
tions made at the White House conference which would apply to
the particular State and to its own problems might be discussed. A
number of States have already had such a conference and there are a
great many of them who are going to hold such conferences in the
fall. In this conference they try to have some one representing the
Federal Government to discuss the special problems that the State is
most interested in. Does that answer the question ?
Miss J o h n s o n . I would like to suggest that one very important
contribution that was made toward adopting the recommendations
of the White House conference was through the work of the Massa
chusetts Children’s Code Commission. We were fortunate in having
a splendid commission on laws relating to children. Some of the
members of that commission served on the White House conference;
the chairman was a member of the White House conference. That, I
think, explains some of the similarity between the recommenda
tions of the White House conference and the recommendations of the
children’s code commission.
This commission made its recommendations to the legislature this
year, submitting 60 requests for legislation. The greater part of
these recommendations dealt with social welfare problems, with
the protection of dependent, defective, and delinquent children. It
recommended greater care for children in boarding homes, more
protection for illegitimate children, better care for juvenile delin
52
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
quents, better probation work, and the extension of the juvenile
courts. But the commission did not confine its attention to socialwelfare problems in the narrower sense. It considered also childlabor problems, although, because of the limitation on time, the
commission could not go into the field to any extent.
However, it did consider some of the serious problems connected
with the employment of children and presented three child-labor
recommendations which are in line with the recommendations of the
White House conference. More effective health certification for
children entering employment was recommended. From the discus
sions at the child-labor section of the White House conference it was,
I believe, recognized that this work should be performed by an
authorized physician. That was one of the recommendations of the
children’s code commission here.
Several other recommendations were made in the bill regarding
certification matters. These had to do with strengthening the re
quirement for the proof of age for employment certificates, requir
ing the consent of the parent or guardian before an employment
certificate is issued, and providing more safeguards in the case of
children released from school for employment without the educa
tional requirements for a certificate, because they are incapable of
meeting those requirements. The most important of the recommen
dations, however, was the one with regard to health certification.
The commission also recommended better protection for children
on the stage. Its most important recommendation with regard to
child labor was that relating to protection of children in industrial
ized agriculture, so that such children will be brought under the
protection of the child labor laws. In Massachusetts, as in most of
the other States, children employed in industrialized agriculture are
not included within the scope of the child labor laws. We have, of
course, the school attendance laws here that apply while the schools
are in session. There is a general prohibition of young children
working before 6.30 in the morning or after 6 o’clock at night.
There is authority vested in the department to exclude children
from any kind of employment of a hazardous nature, and there is
provision in the^statutes excluding children from employment on or
in connection with hazardous machinery. But aside from this there
is practically nothing in connection with safeguarding children in
agriculture. The children’s code commission recommended that there
should be definite provisions for safeguarding children in industrial
ized agriculture. I think it is significant that it considered this one
of the most important of all of its recommendations, that children in
industrialized agriculture should be brought unde r the protection of
the child labor laws. It was recommended that the same provision
should apply there as in factory work.
The commission recommended that children under 14 should be
prohibited from employment in that work, and that older children,
that is, those from 14 to 16 years of age, should be given the same
protection with regard to hours of labor and night work as applies
to children in factories. It was difficult to draft legislation that
would protect children from employment in the commercialized type
of agriculture and yet not interfere with employment on the home
farm. We tried to get some definition of industrialized agriculture.
We wrote to the Federal Children’s Bureau, which replied that it
PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN EMPLOYMENT-- DISCUSSION 53
had never made a definition of the term. We made a definition of
our own as follows: “ Industrialized agriculture is an agricultural
enterprise conducted primarily for commercial purposes and employ
ing more than 10 persons other than members of the family of the
operator.”
It was not expected that this recommendation would pass this year,
since this was the first year it was introduced, and since it represented
a proposal radically different from the labor legislation now in
existence.
The measure regarding the employment of children on the stage
passed both branches of the legislature; but owing to unfortunate
amendments that were attached to it in the senate it had to be
recalled from the governor and is now before the senate committee
on bills in the third reading. Whether it will fail of passage or be
put through in another form I can not say. Since the session
is so near an end, it is possible that the measure will be referred to
the next annual session. But a distinct beginning has been made, and
the work of the children’s code commission will supplement the work
of the White House conference very definitely.
Chairman S w e t t . I think that I owe Mr. Reagin an apology. He
was to lead this discussion, but somehow we got started off on
answering questions.
Mr. R e a g in (Indiana). I had something I wanted to say. I do
not know whether this word “ discussion ” means what it implies, but
I am in favor of what Mr. Gernon has said. There has been much
said here about the shortcomings of our factories. How about our
schools? What about the schools which are using dangerous ma
chinery? Some of the most serious injuries in industry have come
from our schools—injuries that come from cut-off saws, mortar saws,
and that class of work.
I will venture to say that if the schools would pay as much atten
tion to the welfare of the schools as do the industries they would
probably help some of their own. The other day I went into a
school in western Indiana and saw a square head joiner—any man
here that has ever worked around wood knows what a square head
joiner is—and the worst part is that it was one made in the school.
There was no safety device of any kind. If there is any machine in
the world more dangerous than a square head joiner, we would like
to know where to'find it.
I can recall two schools in our State where in the last month boys’
hands have been severed. The men teaching these boys different
crafts—making footstools, bread boxes, and bread boards, or what
ever you call them—do not seem to take much interest in seeing
that the machines are guarded. I said to one man a week ago, when
a boy lost his hand, “ Where were you ? ” He said, “ I was in the
other room.” I asked, “ Where was the guard? ” He replied, “ The
guard was not on the machine.” I said, “ You ought to be dis
charged.” I think that if the parents, who are probably back of
this movement of cleaning up the factory, would go into some of
the basements of the schoolhouses and see some of the machines
85053°—32-— §
54
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OE A. G. O. I.
there that are not protected, they would find a lot of work to do
there they have never thought of before.
We had in Indiana last year 463 cases of injuries to minors re
ported to the industrial board. Out of those 163 cases, 120 were
cases of illegal employment. We found one boy who lost two hands,
or the fingers of his hands, in industry. We found that many of
these accidents were from falling objects, and not to be charged
to machinery. In the Indiana law illegal employment is not com
pensable. I think that is far better than the double indemnity, but
I am not going to quarrel about that. All our courts have been so
hard on any man who had a child under age in his employ that it
is working out well. I can cite 10 cases in which there have been
$10,000 damages. I know of one case recently of $7,500 damages.
It seems that manufacturers in Indiana, with the cooperation and
the information that they get from the insurance companies, keep
the boy illegally employed away from dangerous occupations with
out much help. This boy who lost his finger happened to be from
Kentucky. He did it on a foot-power machine in a little soap fac
tory. He came to my office, and I told him there was no recovery
under the compensation law and the thing to do was to go to see the
juvenile judge. He went there, and out of the meeting with the
judge sprang a case. The judge in giving his decision said, “ In
view of the fact that this boy is from another State, the Indiana
common law does not apply to him.” Of course, the labor depart
ment in Indiana took issue with that and this case has been carried
to the appellate court, and we are hoping that the case will be sent
back to the lower courts.
I don’t know much about factories in other States, but I do know
a great deal about the factories in my State—at least, I think I
do—and there has been a concerted effort among the employers to
keep the young child away from dangerous occupations. I would
like to see some committee, whether the White House conference or
not, get after the basements of some of our school buildings.
Miss D a v i s . I think it is up to this group and to the safety council
to educate the school people. All of the schools—practically all of
them—are now teaching safety; and I think that if you could get
out instructions and send into the schools of your States to see what
they are doing for the safety of the children, you would find the
superintendents only too willing to cooperate in this movement.
in our city (Chicago) we had some one come into our schools and
inspect our machinery. I think that if the schools were made to
realize that the machines are dangerous they would be glad to work
with the labor department of the State and the safety council on this
very thing. I agree entirely with what you said, and I believe that
those machines should be protected and we should all work to that
end. While it does not come under the department it seems to me
that almost any department of labor in any State would be willing to
cooperate with the schools in the State where machines are established
in their shops. It would not mean many inspections, and although
it is not compulsory, it seems to me that it certainly should be done.
Mr. R e a g i n . We have tried repeatedly to get the cooperation of the
school officials, and if you have ever gone about trying that, you
PROTECTION OF CH ILD REN IN E M P L O Y M E N T — DISCUSSION
55
would find it was a hard job. I f I talked about buying equipment
for the basketball or football team, that was fine; but when you go in
and talk about safety you might just as well not go. I am not stating
that as a relative condition, but you can not get enough of them
interested. I would like to see the day when safety is taught in
school.
Miss D a v is . That is being done now.
Mr. R e a g i n . Where?
Miss D a v i s . In Chicago.
Mr. R e a g i n . Well, I am talking about my own State. In Chicago
you are setting a fine example.
Doctor P a t t o n . I know of a case in New York where they insisted
on that. We went around to visit a school one day, and the principal
went into the shop with us. The first thing that my eyes fell upon
when I entered the room was a band saw, absolutely unguarded, not
even a wire mesh there. I asked the principal who used that saw,
and he said that the children used it. I said to him, “Aren’t you
very much afraid that some boy or girl is going to lose a hand or
arm some day? ” He said, “ I am scared to death every day.” I
said, “ Then why don’t you do something about it? ” He said, “ I
can’t. I wish the labor department would force somebody to put a
guard on it.”
That was the general situation until a few years ago. Then the
division of vocational education in New York requested that an in
spection be made of all vocational schools in the State, or the schools
using machinery, and report be made on what recommendations
should be made if those schools were actually under the jurisdiction
of the labor law. An inspection was made by a regular inspector of
our department. I can not say that the recommendations were car
ried out completely, but there was a very general spirit and attitude
of cooperation. I am thoroughly convinced of the great hazard in
those schools, and the method of handling and teaching the use of
such machinery; but I am also confident that a great deal can be
accomplished, even though there is no legal coverage of such schools
under the labor law, by getting the school officials together and get
ting a response from the respective labor departments. At least, it is
so in New York State.
There is one other point that Mr. Reagin has mentioned and that
is the matter of double compensation. One of the earliest decisions
under the New York compensation act turned on the question
whether a child illegally employed was entitled to compensation
or whether he had the right to sue under the liability law. The court
laid down the flat dictum that all accidents occurring in industries
covered by the compensation laws were covered by that law and
the child had no recourse under the liability law. Certainly if that
decision stands—and I presume that it is the decision in most States
—then it is up to us to see that illegally employed children do get
something more than the ordinary compensation provided, whether
50 per cent additional, 100 per cent as in New York, or 200 per cent
for certain types of cases as in Wisconsin.
I remember one boy in New York City who got a job with a bakery
the next day after his elementary school closed. The Italian in the
56
EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF A. G. 0. I.
building bought his machinery on credit and mixed his dough in
the basement. A woman came in to buy 6 pounds of dough. The
man sent the boy down in the basement to tell the man who operated
the dough mixer to give this woman 6 pounds of dough. The
dough mixer was busy and told the boy to get it himself. The boy
put his hand in the mixer and it was torn off. An award was made
for ordinary and for double compensation. The fact was, however,
that the employer had bought the whole outfit on credit and his
assets if sold at auction would not realize more than 5 cents on the
dollar. The creditors, including the owners of the machinery, made
an offer that if the boy would take 20 cents on the dollar they would
wait and let the man continue his business.
In any event, the guarding of machinery, and general protection
to children in the vocational schools, it seems to me, can best be
handled not by giving the labor department jurisdiction over them,
but by striving to bring about greater cooperation between the
schools themselves and the labor department.
Mr. G e r n o n . About 15 years ago I served on one of the vocational
commissions of the vocational schools, and what we learned about
the schools would not be fit to print. They do not seem to fit the
boy for anything, and there is much more regarding their work that
we can not put in the record.
Injuries to Minors Under 18 Years of Age in
Massachusetts
B y J o h n P . M eade,
Director Division of Industrial Safety, Department of Labor
and Industries of Massachusetts
'No greater responsibility rests upon a labor department than pro
tecting the working child. Through legislative requirement his work
place must be made safe for him. His security in this connection is
provided for not only in those special acts which are designed to
protect children in industry but also in the provisions for the pre
vention of injuries to employees arising out of and in the course of
employment. The certification of minors with its requirements to
protect the young child and the regular and efficient inspection of
factories are designed to prevent his exposure to the dangers of
modern industry.
To accomplish this result, approximately 60,000 inspections of
Massachusetts establishments are made each year. Supervision is
given to power-transmission equipment and safeguarding at the
point of operation in machine processes; to the requirements for gen
eral and local ventilation in plants where dust, fumes, and gases
may arise in the course of employment; to the installation of ade
quate local and general lighting facilities; and to the enforcement
of the statutes preventing excessive hours of employment and re
stricting the child’s work to safe environment. Systematic work of
this kind in the industrial establishments of the State by the in
spector held responsible for maintaining compliance with law in
his district is the means by which the enforcement of these laws is
best achieved. And, then, investigation of work injuries is the best
IN J U R IE S TO M IN ORS---- M ASSACHU SETTS-----J . P. MEADE
57
system by which it is determined if the inspection service is efficient
and if compliance with law is maintained. Here the causal relation
between employment and injury may be established.
Especially is this practice effective in the case of children between
14 and 16 years of age. It affords opportunity to check up on the
certification requirements for the employed child. The law in
Massachusetts provides that children between 14 and 16 years of age
may be released from school and permitted to work in, about, or in
connection with factories, workshops, manufacturing, mechanical, or
mercantile establishments, and in other types of employment if the
person employing them procures and keeps on file an employment
certificate for each child. The person issuing this employment cer
tificate has an important function to discharge, and the statute im
poses this duty upon the superintendent of schools of the city or
town where the child resides, or a person authorized in writing by
him to do so.
This legislative provision is so closely related to the welfare of the
employed minor that it deserves to be presented in detail, for it is
in this procedure that the Commonwealth begins its work to restrict
his employment in safe work places and under circumstances that
will not be injurious to his health or his physical well-being. Before
the superintendent of schools can issue this employment certificate,
he must “ receive, examine, approve, and file four papers duly
executed.” Among these papers is the promise of employment,
which is a statement signed by the employer* or his authorized repre
sentatives, setting forth the character of the specific employment, the
number of hours per day during which the child is to be regularly
employed, and the name and address of the employer. In this pledge
the employer agrees that the child shall be employed in accordance
with all the requirements of the labor laws and he promises to re
turn the employment certificate to the office of the superintendent of
schools when the child ceases to be in his employ. Now, one of the
outstanding provisions in this promise of employment is the require
ment to state the specific nature of employment to which the child
is to be assigned. This means that the work must be designated in
detail and that general terms used in this connection fail to comply
with the law. Its purpose is to keep the child in a safe work place
and away from the trades and occupations prohibited by statute.
This guaranty on the part of the employer is an important one in
the interest of the child, for it means in substance that he must not
be exposed to machinery dangers or conditions likely to cause physi
cal injury. Here we come to one of the prominent duties in factoryinspection work in Massachusetts. Not only are the certificates on
file in the establishment examined by the inspector to determine that
there is compliance with the law, but the investigation includes the
work of comparing the certificate with the type of employment in
which the minor is engaged. Although the certificate of a boy under
16 years of age may indicate that he is employed in sweeping the
floor, through this practice it may be discovered that he also operates
a freight elevator, which is unlawful employment for him.
The accidents occurring under these circumstances are nearly
always fatal. This work becomes especially important in tenantfactory buildings where no general operator is in charge and almost
58
EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF .4. G. O. I.
anyone employed by the various concerns may operate the elevator at
his pleasure. No employer will agree that he hires or permits a boy
under 16 years of age to do this work, and yet it is necessary for in
spectors to be alert in the exercise of their duty to prevent such em
ployment of the child in buildings of this type. This experience illus
trates the value of requiring, in connection with the issuance of em
ployment certificates, a provision in the law for the specific nature
of employment to which the child is to be assigned. The most effec
tive work done by the division of industrial safety in the enforce
ment of the law to protect the child is accomplished through this
practice. It becomes extremely valuable in the case of investigating
accidents to children and promotes interest among the industrial
establishments of the State in preventing the children’s employment
at prohibited trades and restricting their work to safe places. Ex
isting figures indicate a gradual reduction in the past decade in em
ployment injuries to children under 16.
In the year ending June 30, 1921, 808 injuries were sustained by
children under 16 years of age, including 5 fatal and 13 permanent
partial injuries. In the year ending June 30, 1930, the total number
of injuries in the same age group fell to 385, of which 2 were fatal
and 6 of the permanent partial disability type. Neither of the fatal
cases in 1930 occurred in a factory or a workshop or an establishment
where machinery was used.
Although the certificating of minors above 16 years of age does
not require a promise from the employer in Massachusetts to file a
specific declaration concerning the work he is going to give such a
child to do, the law prohibits his employment at certain dangerous
occupations. He can not be employed in the operation or manage
ment of hoisting machines or around blast furnaces; in oiling or
cleaning hazardous machinery in motion; in the operation or use of
any polishing or buffing wheel; in operating motor vehicles of any
description; in or about establishments where gunpowder, nitro
glycerine, dynamite, or other high or dangerous explosive is manu
factured or compounded, and certain other kinds of work. Here
again efficient factory inspection, together with investigation of in
juries, unites to stimulate and maintain interest in aceident-prevention work for this age group.
The safeguarding of machinery and the control of health hazards
at the point of origin by the removal of dust, fumes, and gases has
done much in recent years to protect these employees from the daners of modern industry. In 1925 the Commissioner of Labor of
[assachusetts directed that a special study be made of the fatal and
permanent partial injuries occurring in the year previous to em
ployed children, and this has continued as an annual practice. Each
year approximately 4 per cent of all the tabulatable injuries in
Massachusetts occur to children under 18 years oi! age. This includes
accidents arising out of and in the course of employment in street
trades or at other work permitted under the statutes. Conditions
are carefully examined in cases where it appeared that the employed
was in proximity to hazardous machinery or in violation of the
certificating requirements.
Classified by age and nature of injury, the permanent partial dis
ability injuries in this age group are as follows for 1930:
f
59
IN J U R IE S TO M IN O RS---- M ASSACH U SETTS— J . P . MEADE
Permanent partial injuries to children lk and 15 years of age
There were six such injuries in this age group, and all were boys. These
were as follows:
Industry
Number
Textile_______________________
Shoe_________________________
Errand boy in students’ rooming
house_______________________
Total-
3
2
1
6
Nature of injury
Loss
Loss
Loss
Loss
Loss
Number
of 1 phalange, 1 finger_____
of 2 phalanges, 1 finger____
of 1 finger_______________
of use of 1 finger__________
of 1 eye_________________
2
1
1
1
1
Total___________________
6
Permanent partial injuries to children 16 to 18 years of age
There were 43 in this group—36 boys and 7 girls—classified as follows:
Industry
Number
Nature of injury
Number
Shoe and leather---------------------Textile_______________________
Foundry______________________
Paper________________________
Food products_________________
Woodworking_________________
Electrical------------------------------Printing____________ 1-----------Rubber_______________________
Miscellaneous_________________
11
12
6
4
3
3
1
1
1
1
Loss of phalange, 1 finger_______ 20
Loss of 2 phalanges, 1 finger____
7
Loss of 1 phalange, 2 fingers_____
1
Loss of 1 phalange, 3 fingers_____
1
Loss of 1 finger_______________
2
Loss of 2 fingers_______________
2
Loss of 3 fingers_______________
1
Loss of use of 1 finger__________
4
1
Loss of arm----------------------------Partial loss of use of both arms— 1
Loss of sight of 1 eye___________
2
Knee permanently stiff__________
1
Total___________________
43
Total___________________
43
Outstanding in the degree of severity in these cases were four:
In one a boy 17 years of age, who was helping a machine tender
run on a belt in a dyeing and bleaching establishment, was caught in
the shafting and whirled around, causing his left arm to be torn off
between the elbow and shoulder.
The amputation of several fingers and a badly crushed hand were
sustained by a boy 16 years of age while .operating a punch press.
This machine was not safeguarded as required by law, and several
days before the accident occurred orders were issued by the depart
ment of labor and industries requiring compliance with the statutes
in this connection. Prosecution was undertaken and the concern was
heavily fined on two counts.
In a candy establishment a boy operating a printing press while
wearing a ring caught it (on a spring used to keep paper on the bed
of the press. He* could not withdraw his hand before the press
closed, and it was crushed between the bed and the platen, incurring
the loss of use of three fingers at the second joint of the right hand.
Employed in the manufacture of elastic webbing, a girl 17 years
of age, while removing threads from a quiller, used a pair of scissors
which became deflected in the course of her work, penetrating the
left eye and resulting in permanent loss of sight.
Analysis of the history in each case shows the important factors
in the causation of injuries to be these: Holding stock against ma
chinery, when hand slipped; removing articles from machinery in
motion; tripping machine with hand in the danger zone; lacerating
hands on end of loom, causing infection; picking cotton waste from
inrunning gears; fingers caught between rolls while skiving inner
60
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A . G. O. I.
soles; cutting yarn off quiller, scissors broke, striking employee in
the eye; fish wrapper caught his finger on tin can, infection setting
in and causing loss of use; in trying to keep paper on bed of press,
hand crushed; removing chips from bed of plating machine; fingers
jammed in elevator door.
In the 43 establishments in which specific injuries occurred to
these children, 88 occurred in plants where first-aid rooms were
maintained and were available for the injured employees. In the
other places medical chests were provided and supplies for first-aid
treatment made accessible to the employee. Records on file indicate
that in the plants where the accidents happened, regular inspection
took place. In most of these plants machinery was safeguarded as
required by law and sanitary facilities were furnished. General
compliance with labor laws was the rule in these establishments.
As to the employment of children under 18 years of age and in
proximity to employment in which industrial po: sons are used or in
connection with exposure to the inhalation of irritant dusts, our
investigation of work injuries indicates that very few cases of this
kind occur. In 1929 there were 554 cases of occupational diseases
investigated, and out of this number there was 1 case of gas and
fume poisoning, 1 case of benzol poisoning, and 18 of dermatitis to
children under 18 years of age. In 1980 there were 389 cases in
vestigated, of which 19 were dermatitis, 2 lead poisoning, and 1 gas
and fume poisoning in this age group. The lead-poisoning cases
included a boy nearly 18 years of age, who worked with his father,
installing a drying oven in a storage-battery \7orkshop. He was
not required to handle lead compounds. He wss incapacitated for
a period of five weeks. In the other, a girl in her seventeenth year
painted metal, china, and glassware with colored paints containing
white lead. She was incapacitated for a period of seven days, and
the insurance carrier refused to pay for medical attendance on
the ground that her illness was not contracted in the course of her
employment.
The attitude of the courts in the payment of compensation for
industrial injuries sustained by the child in the course of illegal
employment is now a settled matter in this Commonwealth. This
was determined in the case of a fatal injury to a boy 17 years of
age, which occurred a few years ago in an establishment engaged
in the manufacture of fireworks. The boy was. carrying a tub of
compound into the mixing room and arrived there just as an aluminum-dust explosion occurred. He was knocked ‘down and appar
ently stunned, being fatally injured in the fire which followed the
explosion. Action was brought against the concern in court on the
ground that the minor was employed in violation of section 62,
chapter 149 of the General Laws, which prohibits the employment of
children under 18 years of age in establishments where “ gunpowder,
nitroglycerine, dynamite, or other high or dangerous explosive is
manufactured or compounded.”
The Massachusetts Supreme Court reviewed the facts in this case
when appeal was made on the question of compensation for fatal
injury. On the ground that this minor was not lawfully employed,
the insurer refused to acknowledge liability under part E of sec
tion 32, chapter 152 of the General Laws, which provides for conelusive presumption of total dependency by 4 a parent upon an
IN JU R IE S TO M INO RS---- DISCUSSION
61
unmarried child under the age of 18 years provided that such child
was living with parent at the time the injury resulted in death.”
In defining the purpose of this law as it applied to such injured
minors, the supreme court said:
As respects the rights of minors under the act we do not perceive any reason
to differentiate between those who* are lawfully employed and those employed
as a consequence of the employer’s illegal* conduct. In both instances the
minors are free from any statutory inhibitions; the contracts as to themselves
are free from the taint of illegality; in each case they are entitled to similar
benefits and to an equivalent amount of protection. The parties were pos
sessed of capacity to establish the relation of master and servant, notwith
standing the contrary obligation which the statute imposed upon the employer.
The contract is not of that type which is wholly void and from which no enforce
able rights can arise.
The violation of the statute subjects the employer to the penalties mentioned
in the statute; but it does not prevent the relation of employee and employer
from coming into existence, nor affect the rights incident to that status which
accrue to an employee who, himself, is free from wrongdoing. (267 Mass., 208)
This decision is important because of its bearing upon the rights
of children in relation to the* payment of compensation for inca
pacity resulting from injuries arising out of and in the course of
illegal employment. It leaves the department of labor and indus
tries free to prosecute in cases of this kind without jeopardizing the
rights of the child under the provisions of chapter 152 of the General
Laws.
There is reason now to believe that factory inspection work in
recent years has stimulated interest in protecting the child in the
course of his employment. This is manifest in the annual reports
of the various industrial States and the growing interest in con
serving the welfare of the child. With smaller districts and ade
quate inspection force, more could be accomplished in protecting the
child. In this field the harvest indeed is great, but the laborers
are few.
DISCUSSION
Chairman Sw ett. I notice that Mrs. Summers, of New Jersey, has
come in and I wonder if she has anything to add to this discussion.
What have you done about migratory children?
Mrs. S u m m e r s (New Jersey). During the year that has intervened
between the last conference and this, the migratory child survey com
mission, of which I told the members of this body last year, has been
actively at work. We feel we have done a big job in that we have
compiled statistics and data covering almost the entire field of mi
gratory workers who came to us. We found, as has been the case in
the past, that they came mainly from the State of Pennsylvania, and
we discovered 508 families, over 2,200 people, including 1,400 children.
Our questionnaire covered all of their activities, just what they did
all day long, and where they slept, what kind of food they got, the
quarters they lived in, the hours of work, and every conceivable
thing. A copy of this questionnaire is included in the report of the
commission. The commission was not able to finish its work in time
to prepare legislation, because the field work was carried on from
the 1st of April, when the first families came in last year, right up
to the week of October 20, when the last family left for home. Our
legislature meets in January and the compiling of this data naturally
took a number of months.
62
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G 0E A. G. 0 . I.
We were, however, able to ascertain that there were three specific
bills necessary—one covering housing and sanitation; one covering
the plan of education to be worked out later; and the other covering
various and sundry matters pertaining to migratory children, such
as the hours of labor, etc. We made our report to the legislature and
I am very happy because of the manner in which it was received. We
have not received a single condemnation. We received a lot of en
couragement, and I have written to each of our men to back this up
next year, when it will be presented in the legislature. I do feel
most encouraged and am seriously of the mind that the migratorychild problem is tending toward a solution in New Jersey.
All of the forces which have the power to use arbitrary force
have cooperated with us and gone along in a splendid way. I
believe that in the future we are going to be able to work out this
problem in a splendid way. With respect to the discussion which
I heard just now, I might say that during the past few months
there was brought to my attention a situation similar to that spoken
of by some of the delegates here, that of the improper safeguarding
of machinery in vocational schools. So many of these reports came
to me that 1 decided, even though we had no authority in the mat
ter, that every child was our responsibility no matter where he was
placed. I took the matter up with our assistant commissioner of
education in charge of vocational education and he promised me he
would make a very careful survey of all of these schools and
wherever necessary see that the machinery was properly safeguarded.
Although I know that he is a busy man, I am willing to take his
word that he is going to do it. However, I am going to do a
little follow-up, here and there, to remind him that he has promised
to do something. Then in respect to the White House conference,
we in New Jersey are a little proud of the fact that we were one
of the first States to take action on the White House conference.
I had the privilege of being one of the delegates and came home
bursting with enthusiasm and a desire to see something done
about it.
The question that stood out in my mind constantly was the key
note struck by Senator Davis, from Pennsylvania, who was then
the Secretary of Labor, when he said in effect that the conference
would be of benefit to no one, save as a matter of history, if the rec
ommendations were not carried back into the various States and
put to work. I carried that thought home with me to our commis
sioner of institutions and agencies, William J. Ellis, who was chair
man of one of the subcommittees of the conference, and we talked
about it a great many times after we came back to New Jersey. We
finally decided to ask Governor Larsen to get to work immediately
and call a follow-up conference in New Jersey.
Our governor gave us his permission to go ahead and hold the
conference, whenever and wherever we pleased* and said he would
see that money to carry it out would be appropriated. The legisla
ture gave us an appropriation, and under the guidance of our biggest
social-welfare organization, the New Jersey Conference of Social
Work, this follow-up conference was held at otir Women’s College.
It was a 3-day conference, filled with inspiration, and was one of the
finest I ever attended in my life. Everybody was instructed that
IN J U R IE S TO M IN O RS— DISCUSSION
63
they were not to come with any more recommendations. We had
more recommendations than we knew what to do with. What we
wanted were concrete things—things for each department to do.
Each group in this conference was made up almost exactly the
same as the White House conference, with a group of subcommittees
of labor, health, education, etc. Each one of these was to bring in
definite things for each of the groups to do, and we did have a great
many things brought up. We decided that one of the first things to
be done was to see that someone followed up these concrete sugges
tions. Out of this group that called the conference together, the
planning committee and the chairmen of the various subcommittees
were formed into a continuing committee which has met twice since
the New Jersey conference.
We have given each of the departments certain specific instructions
as to what to do and have asked them to appoint committees im
mediately to do them, and then we are going to meet regularly from
time to time and see that these instructions are carried out. We
have also decided to make the New Jersey conference a permanent
organization by making the organization a subcommittee of the New
Jersey Conference of Social Work. We are going to get extra money
in order to have the necessary secretaries, clerical help and ste
nographers, etc., to keep this work going constantly, and we hope
by next year to be able to report that many of the recommendations
of the White House conference are actually working in the State of
New Jersey.
Our “ child’s bill of rights,” we think, is better than the White
House charter—the children’s charter—because we have had the bene
fit, we feel, of the White House conference and our own as well, and
the two together have given us a very definite piece of work to do
and we are going to try very hard to do it.
Mr. R e a g i n . I think that it is a very splendid spirit when each
State in the Union strives to be ahead of all of the others. I would
like to see everybody have the same story to tell.
Mr. S e il l e r (Kentucky). We have had two papers here to-day.
We have been meandering around aimlessly all of the afternoon.
What conclusion have we come to? What phase are we going to
take up ? We have just rambled and pulled at each other and nothing
was definitely said or done.
President R o o k s b e r y . I am of the opinion that everything that has
been said here has brought out some splendid points and I am sure
that those who listened to them very carefully are going to find some
thing to take back that will keep them busy for the next six months.
I have found things that were brought out in this discussion that
will give me something to talk about for a year. It is rather surpris
ing to hear some of the things, and if you have any recommendations
to make, or suggestions, or a resolution, or something along that line,
I am sure that it would be in order in our business session on Friday.
(After some discussion it was decided, by motion duly seconded and
carried, that the matter of considering the recommendations of the
White House conference be referred to the resolutions committee to
draft a resolution embodying the sense of the convention and the
progress achieved.)
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A, G. O. I.
Mr. D a v ie (New Hampshire). I felt a great deal of interest in
what my brother from Indiana said, but it seems to be just the oppo
site in New Hampshire. We have had personal invitations from the
heads of the vocational schools to come there, e\en though we have
no authority in that respect. We have fine cooperation from the
heads of the different schools and from the penal institutions, like the
State prison which manufactures furniture, the school for the feeble
minded, and the inspectors are welcome to come at any time to offer
any suggestions.
I agree with him that it has taken a whole lot of education to bring
that about, and I agree with the gentleman from New York who finds
a lot of things that are not fit to print, but I wanted to add this little
optimistic vein after all that we heard this afternoon.
Mr. R e a g in . I am afraid that I have been misunderstood. When
our inspectors go into many of our schools we send the orders to the
department head. He will write back and wmt to know what
organization, or lawyer, or person may be indorsing this; and it
raised a little question as to whether we were welcome. I am glad to
know how it is with you. I am not saying that is prevalent in
Indiana. We have some very hard ones to handle. They immedi
ately ask exactly what law we want enforced. When they talk that
way you might as well let them alone. ‘
President R ook sber y . There have been soire splendid things
brought out in this conference, and I am sure it is going to prove of
benefit to the representatives who are here.
(Meeting adjourned.)
Nom—Mr. Plant, chief of the labor intelligence brand 1, Federal Department
of Labor of Canada, submitted to the secretary-treasure? a bulletin, published
in December, 1930, by that department, entitled “ The Employment of Children
and Young Persons in Canada.” In the introduction to the bulletin the state
ment is made that considerable information regarding the employment of
children and young persons in Canada is rendered available for the first time
by the publication in 1929 by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics of the volume
on occupations from the census of 1921. “ The Department of Labor has
received numerous requests for information as to the extent of the employment
of children and young persons in Canada, and there has been also a great
demand for information as to the laws governing such employment. The work
of the International Labor Conference under the League of Nations has in
creased the need for information of this kind from all countries. The present
publication is designed, therefore, to furnish information as to the extent of
the employment of children and young persons in all the Provinces of Canada
and the laws regulating such employment.”
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20— MORNING SESSION
Eugene B. Patton, Director Bureau of Statistics and Information* Department of Labor ot
New York, Presiding:
EMPLOYMENT SESSION
Chairman P a t t o n . Our first speaker this morning needs no in
troduction to Boston or a Boston audience. Mr. Smith served on
the State unemployment commission of Massachusetts which was
appointed by General Sweetser, and has been busy in many ways
and many places in connection with this topic, and we are glad to
have him with us this morning.
The Problem of Stabilized Employment
B y E d w in S. S m
it h
,
Director of Research, Research Committee on Employment
Regularization
In these times of depression there is one group of workers that is
continuously employed and whose number is added to daily by new
arrivals. This is the growing army of economists, both professional
and amateur. These members of our population are working over
time and at feverish haste. As they dig deeper and deeper into the
great heaps of economic statistics and the formidable mounds of
economic theory, the results of their labors are spread before us in
a fascinating but bewildering array. It is probably a safe assertion
that there is no major social ailment concerning which so much is
known as unemployment. The unfortunate thing is that with all
our digging and delving we do not yet know what to do about it.
We are still in the stage of analysis, awaiting the word of a great
coordinator and prophet.
When, through the eyes of experts, we examine the development
of the present depression in the different countries of the world we
are struck both by the diversity of contributing causes and the
fatality of their conjunction.
We find that certain nations have been suffering from a short
age of gold. This has stimulated their export trade to a point
where overproduction and resultant lowering of prices has produced
economic distress. The decline in the price of silver has caused a
marked reduction in shipment of goods to the Orient. Overpopula
tion has played its part in some sections of the world. In one
country it is alleged that wages have risen faster than productivity
of labor and so has driven capital elsewhere; in another, wages are
declared not to have increased fast enough to absorb the rising tide
of consumers’ goods. Everywhere tariff barriers, which may have
benefited certain groups or suppliers, have in general restrained
the free and profitable exchange of goods between nations. Prob
ably more fundamental that all these phenomena is the distressed
65
66
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
state of agriculture, to which business too often tries to shut its eyes,
but which nevertheless exacts its toll in decreased purchase of the
goods which industry produces.
Many other factors, immediate and remote, have contributed to
the depression, but the effect of all of them is to be interpreted in
terms of the old economic stand-bys—oversupply and underdemand.
Whether there is a shortage of gold or a surplus of silver, whether
wages are too scanty to purchase the goods placed in the market or
too high to enable profitable manufacturing to be carried on,
whether the industrialist’s income grows at the expense of the
farmer’s or the farmer’s income at the expense of the wage earner,
all these tendencies are constantly undermining the equilibrium of
supply and demand and making more difficult the sale of com
modities at a profitable price. In each country the factors leading
to overproduction relative to profitable demand may have varied,
but the results have been similar.
The existence of international trade on its present broad scale
necessitates the fact that depressions, produced by whatever cause,
in one country accelerate the changes already making for depression
in other countries. In a monograph prepared for the recent meet
ing of the International Chamber of Commerce, Prof. Ernest
Wagemann, of Berlin, traces the spread of the present depression
from the slump in Germany at the close of 1927, coupled with price
declines in the countries producing raw materials. The change in
business conditions beginning in the United States in the summer
of 1929 contributed to the further fall in prices in raw-material-producing countries by cutting down demand for their products. This
in turn has reduced demand for the products of industrial countries.
Thus in this as in previous crises the wave of business recession has
become cumulative and world-wide.
The foregoing analysis would make it appear that since the whole
world is involved in the cyclical swings of business any curative
action must be undertaken on an international basis. This is true,
but does not exclude the proposition that by setting its own economic
house in order each country can greatly minimize the impact of
depression on itself. Witness the comparative immunity of Russia
from the contagion of the present world crisis, a lesson m economic
preparedness to which I shall refer specifically later.
Each country has both a foreign and a domestic market. Within
limits it can keep its internal economy in a fairly healthy equilibrium,
even though it must share the common burden of international
economic maladjustment.
The fact that the farmers in the United States have suffered
enormously from the lowered export prices? due to world overpro
duction, need not have prevented American industry from trimming
its sails in accordance with the decreased demands of American
farmers for industrial goods. I f American industry from 1925 on
had been gifted with sufficient knowledge to foresee the shrinkage
in its domestic market as well as its foreign trade, American pros
perity might at the present moment be something more than a dim
memory of a historical past. ^
The purpose of this paper is to hazard some suggestions as to how
America may expect in the future to redeem its former mistakes.
STABILIZED E M P L O Y M E N T — E D W IN S. S M IT H
67
What are the profitable avenues of escape from the devastating
rhythm of the business cycle, in so far as one country can maintain
its own stability, and what are the blind alleys in which American
business can no longer afford to wander?
Can business prevent our capitalistic economic order from running
off into periodic inflations of goods, credit, or money which breed
the inevitable “ morning after headache ? Or, to put the question
in the form of the specific interest of this meeting, can business pre
vent the periodic unemployment of millions of capable, willing per
sons whose only request of the industrial system is that it learn now
to function on a stable basis for its own good as well as theirs?
In the light of past history one would certainly be tempted to
answer these questions in the negative. There does appear, however,
ground for at least a qualified optimism. Most helpful is the fact
that business is beginning to recognize that it is the victim of its own
excesses. To realize that the profit margin is constantly endangered
by too great or too costly a production of goods is in itself an im
portant forward step. For the individual business man to know
when and how to apply the brakes to production, when profit mar
gins are in danger of serious impairment, is a more difficult matter.
Even if we had much more accurate indexes than we now possess
of approaching overproduction, the proper course for the business
man as an individual to pursue is by no means clear. Signs of hard
times come to light in a period when there is still plenty of good
times ahead. Even if the business man were convinced that the na
tional economic system was hovering on the brink of a depression,
he might well conclude that slowing down his own factory would not
stay the general crash. In fact he is quite likely to decide that he
had better get what he can while the getting is still good.
His original fault, like that of his competitors, came in overestimat
ing the market for his product and enlarging his plant to a point
where demand could not long sustain its full operation. But ne is
probably not much to be blamed for this, because how should he know
what his competitors were doing or how large the future market for
his particular commodity might prove? Once having indulged in this
expenditure for plant and equipment he will naturally make every
effort to sell sufficient goods to cover interest charges and upkeep
on his investment. He will keep on doing this even in the face of
overproduction and loss of profit until general business depression
calls a halt on him and his competitors together.
It is doubtless too much to expect that the individual business man
will voluntarily curtail production while his fellows are continuing
to manufacture up to the hilt. We may hope, however, that with
more knowledge of the trend of consumer demand in general and for
his own particular products he will be not only willing but anxious
to buy his raw materials, supplies, etc., on a less speculative basis.
This would be a great gain for business stability.
What individual business men would find it difficult to do, business
men acting collectively might do. I f a single manufacturer will
not restrict production while his competitors are gathering in the
harvest, perhaps some form of curtailment might be exercised by all
competitors in an industry acting collectively. This proposition,
of course, raises a series of questions which can barely be referred
68
EIGHTEENTH ANNTTAL. MEETING OF A. G. 0. 1.
to here. The gathering of statistical information by trade associa
tions, which might serve as a basis for limiting production, seems
clearly allowable under our antitrust laws. On the other hand,
deliberate parceling out of production among competitors would
encounter legal difficulties and also resistance from public opinion,
based on fear of j)rice control.
Even if these hindrances in the way of collective checking of over
production were removed, another obstacle remains. Let us suppose
that mounting commodity stocks, rising costs of business, and credit
inflation betoken to the eyes of informed industrial groups the danger
of depression. Admittedly the depression may be some distance
off, perhaps several months; meanwhile the public is still in a buying
mood. What industry, then, will volunteer to be the first to save the
sinking ship by itself curtailing production? Will the textile in
dustry stand aside so that the automobile industry may tap a still
deeper stratum of consumer willingness to buy? Will the radio
industry give ground before the shoe manufacturer? These ques
tions supply their own negative answer. Yet short of a form of
interindustry control which would impose its decrees on all industries
it is quite necessary for each individual industry to decide whether
it shall take the first step toward curtailment. This, out of deference
to its stockholders and its employees, any industry will hesitate to do.
A retrenchment of production in a boom period would have to take
place against a background of great business optimism. I f our refine
ments of statistical procedure and our knowledge of the significance
of statistics were such that we could tell exactly how far off disaster
was, it would perhaps be not difficult to persuade business to go slow
even in prosperous times. Lacking such definiteness of forecast, we
may well be doubtful that industry will go far in imposing voluntary
checks on itself.
There exist possibilities for control of the business cycle which in
volve a definite element of compulsion as contrasted with our national
prejudice in favor of laissez-faire individualism. More rigid control
of credit is such a possibility.
The period preceding the present depression was characterized by
credit expansion on a grand scale. Billions were poured into urban
real estate mortgages, billions into corporate bond issues, and still
other billions into installment sales, feank credit was freely used
to finance the unprecedented stock-market speculation as well as the
issuing of corporate securities in excessive quantities. Stocks of raw
materials mounted rapidly from 1928 to 1929. All this piling up of
present indebtedness, based on hope of future return, represented an
overexpansion of capital equipment and of goods, staged against a
background of rising sales costs, a fairly static commodity price level,
and factory pay rolls that failed to rise as fast as factory production.
Here was inflation which the banks, as agencies of credit, should
have checked before it reached such large proportions. What the
individual bank in competition with other banks would hesitate to
do the Federal reserve system might be expected to accomplish. As
a matter of fact the Federal reserve system did move in this direc
tion, but too slowly to be effective. P^rom the spring of 1928 on it
began the sale of Government securities, thus reducing the funds
available for speculation; at the same time the discount rates moved
STABILIZED E M P L O Y M E N T — ED W IN S. S M IT H
69
upward and some warning statements were issued to member banks
against inflationary activity. Nevertheless borrowings by member
banks continued to mount and no substantial barrier was imposed
against the wave of speculation.
One of the cornerstones of Federal reserve policy has been the
preservation of regional autonomy and of the autonomy of member
banks. The Federal reserve system has been permitted to assume the
responsibility of influencing the expansion or contraction of the
quantity of credit but with scant reference to the uses to which
credit is put. The system has assumed the aspect of a reflector of
changes in the money market rather than an initiator of such
changes. I f the Federal reserve system is to become an effective
instrument for prevention of the speculative overexpansion of busi
ness because of stock-market inflation, undue extension of installment
sales, unwise flotation of securities, etc., it will have progressively
to adopt a policy of greater centralization of responsibility for
credit conditions; in short, to become more autocratic in its be
havior. It will have to talk to member banks more like a Dutch
uncle and less like a vaguely cautionary preceptor. Is America ready
to depart from its traditional economic policy and move in the general
direction of credit dictatorship in the interests of business stability?
It hardly seems likely, yet the business cycle can not be handled
successfully with gloves.
One suggested form of restraint on industrial expansion which ap
pears to be becoming increasingly popular with business men is mod
ification or abrogation of the antitrust laws. If combinations and
price agreements were made legal, the argument runs, we would do
away with cut-throat prices which result from the reckless race of
competitors for sales volume, which leads inevitably to overproduc
tion. The problem of the business cycle is unlikely to yield, however,
to such a simple solution. From the social viewpoint, production
should be carried on up to the very limit which the market will prof
itably absorb, this limit being continuously raised by reduction in
the cost of the product. This is not the philosophy of the trust,
which seeks rather to restrict quantity of production in the interest
of higher prices and stockholders’ profits. Under competition there
is a constant urge to reduce unit costs, which in turn leads both to
lower prices for the product and to higher wages. This state of
affairs assists the wage earners to absorb the products of industry
and so helps to stave off overproduction. Under monopoly conditions
the line of least resistance is to raise prices rather than reduce costs.
With prices of commodities in general increasing faster than wages
the difficulty in disposing of even a reduced volume of industrial
product would grow and the danger of overproduction dog the steps
of industry just as it does under competitive conditions. The worker,
of course, would be much worse off under such a regime and industry
generally in a condition of relative stagnation.
A more drastic approach to the problem of overproduction is the
one followed by Soviet Russia. Measured by the amount of employ
ment which Russia has been able to maintain in the face of the world
wide depression, here would seem to be the most successful approach
yet tried. However, the Russian way imposes restrictions on eco85053°—32----- 6
70
E IG H T E E N T H a n n u a l m e e t i n g
o f a . g . O. I.
nomic behavior which are in diametric opposition to our American
tradition. It is difficult to know how far their approach can be ab
sorbed into the capitalistic system without completely altering that
system. Just at present Russia stands as a serious challenge to
capitalism, a challenge which is being acknowledged by even con
servative business men.
What Russia aims to do is to control production by controlling
demand. To be sure the products of Russian industry are purchased
with money and the individual has a choice as to what he will buy.
However, the whole country is on such a low subsistence level that it
should not be difficult for those in control of industry to gage the
demand for necessities with fair accuracy. Also if one industry is
overproduced its losses can be absorbed by other industries and un
employment insurance benefits paid out to take care of the displaced
workers. There is no incentive, as under the profit system, for in
dustry to overbuild in the first place and, having overbuilt, to resort
to overproduction in order to pay its overhead costs. Despite the fact
that industry is thoroughly monopolized, the profits are collective,
not individual, so there is no temptation to raise prices as would
happen under monopoly in this country. It is, of course, too early to
judge the success of the Russian experiment. Russia is enjoying
something of the boom which always comes to a country when it is
first opened up industrially, when the opportunity for capital expan
sion seems limitless. Whether later it can adjust capital equip
ment and production to the growing and varied needs of its people
remains to be seen.
At least we should learn from the thoroughgoing approach of
Russia to the problem of industrial planning how inefficient our own
attempts in this direction have been. We are now beginning to talk
more or less vaguely about a national planning board, i f such a
board is established and is expected to be effective in modifying the
business cycle, it will have to exercise a far more autocratic control
over the operations of industry and the credit mechanism of the
country than it is likely to be allowed to do, at least in the early
stages of its existence.
Perhaps if it succeeds in focusing attention of business on the
fact that a mad scramble by a dozen persons to climb to the top of
a fence which will hold only three or four is sure to end disastrously,
it will not have been established in vain.
A major difficulty in our approach to the problem of coordinated
industrial planning is psychological. The attitude of the public
toward industry in the United States has been largely concerned
with affording "the utmost latitude to competition in order that the
consumer might be protected against price exploitation by monopoly.
Such protection is highly important, but we are gradually coming
to realize that protection against insecurity of employment is also
of first importance. To prevent unrestrained competition from
catapulting industry into overproduction, defereace must be paid to
the need of checking unwise industrial expansion. This is a bitter
pill for a people to swallow, who have been trained in the belief that
industry is economically and socially in a healthy state only when the
smallest barriers are opposed to individual initiative and judgment.
I have already indicated that I do not think erection of monop
olies would be an effective cure for the troubles brought about by
FU N D A M E N TA L S OF SUSTAINED PROSPERITY— W . T . FOSTER
71
the business cycle. Rather, I think, we should encourage production
and encourage the reduction of costs of production by permitting
the normal operations of competition up to a certain point. There
is, however, a fairly definite point beyond which creation of new
capital facilities, production of more goods, extension of consumer
credit, etc., become definite menaces to the prosperity of business and
the security of employment. When this time arrives some agency
must step in and say to industries and individual units of industry,
“Thus far and no farther.”
Perhaps such an agency is to be found in the Federal reserve sys
tem, perhaps it should be furnished by a group of business men
clothed with authority voluntarily granted them by industry and
approved by government, perhaps government itself should pro
nounce the authoritative words. Admittedly, the problem is one of
utmost difficulty, but in approaching it we must remember that the
situation to be met is itself of the utmost gravity.
More knowledge of foreign economic conditions and of their
effect on our own economy, better planning by industry, by banks,
and by government, plus adequate financial provisions for the in
evitable residuum 01 unemployment, are the necessary planks for a
business platform which can venture to call itself truly civilized.
In attaining these objectives much that has become almost sacred
in the American tradition of freedom of action for the individual
business man will have to be thrown overboard. The ultraconserva
tives will pull hard in the opposite direction, and the temptation to
return to our former easy-going irresponsibility will be great once
the present crisis is past. Business would be unwise to forget, how
ever, that, in the familiar melodramatic phrase, capitalism is really
on trial. The Russian economic system may collapse, but, as Dean
Donham has pointed out, this is a dangerous assumption to make.
At present the Russian challenge to capitalism on the score of un
employment is a severe one. Business can not meet it by grumbling
nor by half-hearted efforts. Plenty of thought, plenty of unselfish
ness, and plenty of courageous action are required if the American
industrial future is to be a bright and shining one for both the busi
ness man and the industrial wage earner.
Chairman P a tto n . I think that we ought to go ahead with the
three papers now and have discussion later, so we will hear now
from Doctor Foster.
Fundamentals of Sustained Prosperity
By
W
il l ia m
T. F
o ster,
of the Poliak Foundation for Economic Research
The earliest advice I have found regarding business cycles is by
the great preacher, the Son of David, king in Jerusalem. It is ail
recorded in the book of Ecclesiastes: “ In the day of prosperity, be
joyful; but in the day of adversity, consider.” Unnecessary advice,
as far as we are concerned, for it is only in the day of adversity that
we ever do consider.
The Son of David, it seems, was the first man to declare that busi
ness cycles are the result of natural law. What goes up, he said.
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EE TIN G OF
V. G. O. I.
must come down. uThe sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down,
and hasteth to his place where he arose.” “AIL the rivers run into
the sea, yet the sea is not full. Unto the place from whence the
rivers come, thither they return again. The thing that hath been, is
that which shall be; and there is no new thing under the sun.”
But can’t we create something new ? Can’t we establish the funda
mentals of sustained prosperity ? Can’t we foresee a depression, and
prevent it? “ Not at all,” says the Son of David. “ God hath made
prosperity side by side with adversity, to the end that man should not
find out anything that shall be after him.” Fair warning to those
who engage in the extrahazardous occupation of business forecasting.
As for attempting to iron out the curves of the business cycle,
“ Consider the work of God,” says the Son of David, “ for who can
make that straight which He hath made crooked ? ”
This was the Biblical warning, I assume, which prompted a United
States Senator to declare: “ I would rather postpone a panic until
the time when God brings it than to have Hoover intrusted with
this power and get the panic a year sooner. We had better let God
run it, as in the past.” This is the economics of original sin. It has
been expounded by doctors of despair ever since the time of the Son
of David. It is, indeed, a dismal science. Shall we escape from it
through study of the real causes of depressions? Or shall we, for
another 3,000 years, put all the blame on God?
To-day, as in every day of adversity, business is like a traffic jam
at the crossroads, with the red light against it. Long lines of cars
are held up; cars with powerful engines and plenty of fuel. The
drivers are eager to go ahead. They are craning their necks to see
what the matter is. Presently one of the drivers, losing his patience,
honks his horn. Impatience is contagious. All the drivers begin
honking horns. The louder the noise the greater the impatience.
The din becomes terrific. But it has not the slightest effect on traf
fic. The red light holds its ow7n and the cars stay where they are.
All winter the drivers of business have been eager to go ahead.
They have had powerful machines and plenty of fuel. They have
been craning their necks in every direction to find out w7hat the
trouble is. They have been holding one unemployment conference
after another. Unemployment conferences are contagious. Every
body has made a lot of noise. Congress has fully done its part.
But all this noise has had little effect. Business is still stalled.
How can we turn on the green light ?
The whole world is perplexed by these periodic traffic jams. Con
cerning the causes, there is much confusion of thought. Concerning
the remedies, there is, therefore, a confusing conflict of advice.
Clearly, it is useless to try to agree upon remedies until there is
agreement as to causes.
Other perplexing problems, the solution of which depends on a
knowledge of facts, have yielded to intensive study. But with
regard to the great problem of periodic depression, there is a chaos
of thought and a Babel of noise. If all the discussions of unem
ployment were laid end to end, they would not reach very far. Most
of them would curl up and finish about where they started; namely,
with the assertion that the way to cure unemployment is to put men
to work.
F U N D A M E N TA L S OF SUSTAINED PROSPERITY---- W . T. FOSTER
73
Even concerning the direction in which we should seek a solution
there is no agreement; yet the very first step toward learning sig
nificant facts is the choice of the right line of attack.
Already there is agreement among us—I assume—that changes in
the quantity of money have something to do with changes in the
price level; and that an extreme change in the price level is a domi
nant feature of every business depression. Whatever may be the
cause of these extreme changes, it is evident that, if they continue,
we shall continue to suffer from periodic slumps in trade and employ
ment. In other words, a stable currency—a dollar which changes
only slowly in purchasing power—is one of the fundamentals of
sustained prosperity.
Now it is common knowledge that a stable currency is impossible
if the volume of paper money which is printed and the volume which
is retired bear no fixed relation to changes in the volume of business.
Everybody knows the danger of fiat paper money. Everybody
knows what happened when a deluge of paper money poured forth
from the printing presses in Germany and in Russia. Prices kept
on rising and holders of money were eager to turn their money into
goods.
What happens, on the other hand, when the volume of paper
money contracts faster than the goods volume of trade is equally
well known. Since prices keep on falling, everybody is eager to
retain his money, rather than to turn it into goods. Production is
discouraged; employment falls off; trade thereby suffers a further
decline; prices sink further; and so on.
Such a spiral of deflation is well understood. Everybody now
expects that large changes in the volume of paper money will be
accompanied by large fluctuations in prices, trade, and employment.
But such fluctuations actually have taken place in the United States
recently, although there have been no large changes in the volume
of paper money.
It is well known, however, that above 90 per cent of our volume of
trade is transacted, not by paper money but by checks on bank de
posits—what we may call“ bank-check currency.” It is possible that
an agreement might be reached that one dollar of business, done with
bank-check currency, has the same effect on volume of trade, prices,
and employment, as one dollar of business done with paper money.
Such an agreement might lead to the further agreement that changes
in the currency which is used in more than 90 per cent of our business
may cause greater disturbance than changes in the currency which is
used in less than 10 per cent of our business.
As a matter of fact, the volume of bank-check currency does in
crease greatly at times, and decrease greatly at other times. Not only
does the volume change greatly, but it is now well known that the rate
at which it is used also changes greatly. That is to say, there are
marked changes in the proportion of the deposits subject to check
which are daily checked out.
Increased turnover, however, does not compensate for decreased
volume, because it is precisely when the volume shrinks that the turn
over slackens. Each dollar of individual demand deposits was used
about five times, on the average, in prosperous 1929, for every three
times a dollar was used from 1919 to 1925; but by the end of 1930 the
74
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
velocity had slowed down to the 1919-1925 average. This decrease in
the use of bank-check currency appears to be roughly equivalent to
a reduction of 40 per cent in the volume.
It has long been assumed that the volume and turnover of bankcheck currency changes-, automatically, in close relation to changes
in the goods volume of business. Possibly this assumption is not in
accord with the facts. It may be that there is not, necessarily, any
fixed relation between changes in money and changes in the work
which money is called upon to perform. I f that is found to be the
case, a basis of fact might be laid down upon which agreement could
be reached that the chief cause of business depressions is changes in
the volume and in the rate of turnover of bank-check currency.
If such an agreement were reached, the problem of sustaining pros
perity would then become chiefly the problem of taking into account
changes in the volume and use of bank-check currency beyond the
requirements of business, and offsetting the influence of such changes.
Chairman P a tto n . Miss Van Kleeck is going to talk to us on
“ Employment Statistics.”
Employment Statistics
By
M
ary
Van K
Chairman Committee on Governmental Labor Statistics
of the American Statistical Association
leeck,
In speaking to-day on behalf of the committee on governmental
labor statistics of the American Statistical Association, I would
first point out that the official representatives of the committee at
this convention are Dr. Eugene B. Patton, of the New York State
Department of Labor, and Mr. Roswell F. Phelps, of the Massa
chusetts Department of Labor and Industries. My warrant for
speaking instead of one of them is that as chairman I must obey their
orders in the committee. But the material which I have to present
grows out of the experience of the membership, which includes statis
ticians in State and Federal bureaus collecting statistics of employ
ment. I greatly appreciate this, the second opportunity which I
have had to speak to this association on its program for govern
mental labor statistics. In view of your resolution of last year
regarding the plan of coordinating the collection by State and Fed
eral bureaus of labor statistics, with which the committee’s program
is in complete harmony, I believe that the subject which I should
stress to-day is the uses of employment statistics rather than the
detailed methods and procedures for collecting them.
My first opportunity to speak on this subject came five years ago,
at your convention in Columbus in June, 1926. Looking over that
address in preparation for this meeting brought vividly to mind the
difference in the economic situation. May I read part of the first
two paragraphs:
We meet at a time when all the nations of the world look with envy upon
the United States as the most prosperous country on the face of the globe.
We are supposed not only to have millionaires aplenty, who pay large taxes
and give money to education and charity, but we are also regarded as an
industrial country with no unemployment and with the highest wages in the
world. Is it true that we have no unemployment, or at least none that is
serious or long continued? If it is true, are we making any plans to continue
that desirable condition? If it is untrue, are we doing anything effective to
insure regular employment?
75
E M P L O Y M E N T STATISTICS— M A R Y V A N K L E E C K
The fact is that for the past five years the economic machinery of the United
States has been in fairly smooth running order; that the opportunity to keep
it so by intelligence and good management is exceedingly promising, but that
prosperity is not proof against careless management and heedless specula
tion * * * and that we can not escape the effects of economic depression
in foreign countries.
The situation at and before that time is shown in a chart drawn
for the President’s Emergency Committee on Unemployment, based
on data from the Federal Reserve Board, which in turn derived its
material from State and Federal statistics for an index of factory
employment adjusted for seasonal variations between 1919 and 1931.
Observing that chart, we note that at the time of the 1926 convention
of the Association of Governmental Labor Officials employment
seemed to be on a somewhat even keel. In fact, after the rise from
the low point in 1921, except for a rather severe dip in 1924, devia
tions from the index number of 100 (which was taken as the monthly
INDEX OF FACTORY EMPLOYMENT. ADJUSTED FOR
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
MONTHLY AVERAGE. 1923-1925*100
mu Kim r .« nattm . pexeve earn
oosit*
average from 1923 to 1925) were not severe, up to the period of 1929,
when the present precipitate fall began.
The picture may be further amplified by a chart compiled by the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, giving monthly indexes
of employment and pay-roll totals in manufacturing industries from
1923 to 1931, with 1926 as 100. Though the difference in base makes
the curve different from that of the Federal Reserve Board and the
seasonal variations affect it, nevertheless the two series show this
important fact: Whereas the severe drop of 1921 was preceded by a
very sharp increase in employment and in pay rolls, the drop of 1929
was preceded by a fairly steady adherence to an average in number
of employees and total wages paid. We seem to have learned from
1921 the lesson that a sharp increase in production may mean a
COMPILED BY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
severe drop afterward. We did not so greatly increase production,
except for such increases as came about through increased per capita
output, in the period preceding 1929. And in so far as these figures
MONTHLY IMDE.XE5 OF EMPLOYMENT AMD OF PAY-ROLL TOTALS IN
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
E M P L O Y M E N T STATISTICS— M A R Y VAN K L E E C K
77
policies and speculation had a primary part to play, and perhaps we
may add governmental policies as having an influence.
Whatever the cause, the significance for our discussion to-day lies
in the fact that these indexes of employment and pay-roll totals give
a picture not only of employment but of the condition of business,
employment being a sensitive index of production and of prosperity
generally. But how accurate has been the index of employment dur
ing the present period of depression? What significance have the
controversies had which arose between the Federal administration
and the New York State Department of Labor, for example, as to
whether the worst was over early in 1930 or whether employment at
that time was still declining? It is in no partisan spirit, but in
order to throw light upon the significance and value of the present
employment statistics collected by State and Federal Governments,
that I wish briefly to analyze, the Federal data secured during that
period.
MONTHLY AND WEEKLY BASIS
In December, 1929, the President askfed the Bureau of Labor
Statistics to collect weekly figures from the same firms which report
monthly. Among these reports are, of course, those obtained in the
dozen States which cooperate with the Federal bureau. In those
States the reports have always been made to the State department
of labor and from there transmitted to Washington. To save time,
however, for these weekly reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics
wrote directly to these companies. It was almost like starting a
new series, therefore, and frequently first reports are somewhat er
ratic. In any event, there was a very sharp decline from the ‘week
of December 16 to the week of December 30, which might have been
expected for that period of the year in manufacturing establish
ments. The next week, January 6, showed a marked increase, and
January 13 a still sharper rise.
78
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. O. I.
The results were transmitted to the President, who issued a state
ment quoted in the United States Daily of January 22, 1930, as fol
lows:
President Hoover was advised by the Secretary of Labor * * * at the
regular meeting of the Cabinet, January 21, that for the first time since the
stock-market depression the tide of unemployment in the United States had
undergone a change in the right direction. * * * From the time of the
stock-market depression to December 25, the President said, there was a con
tinued decrease in employment. “ Now, however,” he stated, “ the tide seems
to have turned the other way, with a substantial increase in employment.”
A week later, on January 29, the United States Daily reported :
“ Industrial employment in the United States for the week ended
January 13 increased 3.3 per cent over the preceding week, it was
stated orally, January 28, by President Hoover.1’
At the same time the Committee on Governmental Labor Statistics
obtained telegraphic reports from the various States collecting em
ployment statistics in answer to an inquiry as to what their figures for
the week of January 15 showed. California, Illinois, Iowa, Mary
land, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin all
reported that the figures which were then in process of tabulation
showed a decrease in employment. In New Jersey the January figures
were not yet available. No State reported an increase. In all of
these States except Iowa and Pennsylvania, it; is the State which
collects the data for the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, and it
was significant of a defect somewhere that, with all' of these indus
trial States reporting declines, the weekly reports, in which the same
firms were included in the new series for the Federal bureau, should
have shown so great an increase as to justify the President’s state
ment that the tide had turned. Moreover, the situation was further
complicated when the regular monthly report of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics became available for the week of January 15 and showed
a decline on that date as compared with the December report.
Efforts to secure the details of the weekly reports showing the data
by industries or by localities, so as to make possible an independent
examination of the returns, brought the response that these reports
were not published. Merely the interpretation of them was issued by
the President. Later, however, it was reported that of the 12,000
firms in manufacturing regularly reporting to the Federal bureau
or to the State department of labor, only 8,000 responded with weekly
reports. It is quite possible that in view of thti appeals which were
then being issued to business men to keep employment as stable as
possible, those firms which were succeeding in this respect answered
more readily than those that were laying off workers. At any rate,
it seemed that the smaller sample reporting weekly showed a more
encouraging trend in employment than the larger number making
the regular monthly reports. Looking back and comparing with
other figures, we may say that these regular monthly reports have
pictured the situation with a fair degree of accuracy. #
Again in no partisan spirit, but with a desire to view objectively
the advantage of statistics in retrospect over this period, we may say
that comment by the Executive branch of the Government has in
this instance been unjustified by the Government’s best data, but
that at the time, unfortunately, the fact that only comment and not
basic information was published was a serious disadvantage. In
E M P L O Y M E N T STATISTICS— M A B Y VAN K LE E C K
79
planning statistics of labor which may at any moment become con
troversial, we may well insist that the full data be promptly pub
lished, so that the integrity of the scientific work of the statisticians
in Government departments may be protected. Comment by those
responsible for leadership is then subject to check by the statistics
themselves. Facts about trends in employment are too vital to run
the risk of partisan interpretation of them, which may mislead
those responsible for programs of action in business and in Govern
ment, and it becomes of urgent importance that the objective preci
sion of statisticians in bureaus of labor statistics be safeguarded.
Briefly stated, the program which the Committee on Governmental
Labor Statistics advocates and which, as already stated, is in essen
tial conformity with the principles expressed by the Association of
Governmental Officials in Industry in its resolution of 1930, calls for
the initial collection by the State of reports from the important
branches of industry and business, showing for one week each month
the total number on"the pay roll and the total wages paid. The State
would then transmit to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics such
reports as are needed for a fair sample of the Nation’s industries.
Moreover, the Federal bureau becomes the recipient of reports from
other bureaus which administratively are in touch with particular
industries, as, for example, the Interstate Commerce Commission for
the railroads. It is unnecessary in this group to point out the ad
vantages of this kind of coordinated collection of statistics which
avoids duplication and makes it possible for each State to know
the conditions within its own borders.
Within this general scheme the committee is concerned with sev
eral important things to make statistics of employment and earnings
more adequate in this country. These were outlined in a report sub
mitted to the National Conference of Governors at its meeting
in 1930.
First, it is desired that the 30 or more States not yet collecting
statistics of employment should begin to do so in accordance with
the uniform plan agreed upon and followed substantially by 12
States in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Second, we would stress emphatically the importance of breaking
down these figures to show conditions in different cities, and in turn
building them up to show conditions in large regions. Moreover,
facts should be shown for different industries, and the recent exten
sion of these statistics beyond manufacturing is of great importance,
as definitely provided in the Wagner bill, which was enacted into
law, affecting the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Notably, the
Federal bureau and several of the States are now adding the Build
ing trades to their list, as has been advocated for several years by
the Committee on Governmental Labor Statistics. Careful study
of all these divisions by industries, regions, States, and cities reveals
the importance of thus showing differences in the condition of em
ployment in order to show the condition of employment in different
industries, communities, and regions.
At this point, since we are meeting in Massachusetts, it may be ap
propriate to pay tribute to the work done by the Massachusetts De
partment of Labor and Industries, which is represented in the Com
mittee on Governmental Labor Statistics by Mr. Phelps. In all of
80
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A. G. O. I.
the phases of the committee’s program for extension to new indus
tries and for refinement of figures for different localities, Massa
chusetts has been ready to make useful experiments, and, as a result,
the information to-day collected is useful to other States, as it must
also be illuminating to the people of Massachusetts.
The committee, moreover, believes it very important that State
bureaus of labor statistics should begin now to collect data on manhours experimentally. This has been done in gome States, notably
in the construction industry, as, for example, in Massachusetts. We
are relying at present upon statistics of employment and total wages.
The total number on the pay roll does not show part time and the
wage data are affected by changes in wage rales. The volume of
employment is best shown in man-hours, and the collection of such
data is the next step toward more precise measurement of trends in
employment.
Current discussion of the depression as showing primarily a lack
of balance between production and consumption has called attention
to the great importance of keeping purchasing power in line with
productive capacity. Therefore much more adequate data are needed
on actual earnings. Information gathered on wage rates is insuffi
cient. The Committee on Governmental Labor Statistics has a sub
committee at work studying the best procedure for the collection of
significant current facts about earnings, and we bespeak the coopera
tion of statisticians in State and Federal bureaus in developing a
uniform procedure for data on wages and earnings, comparable with
the procedure on employment statistics.
As a further need to show the facts concerning employment and
earnings, there is the recommendation that statistics should be
gathered separately for men and women. I have here a statement
from the Women’s Bureau of the United States Department of
Labor, drawing on studies made by the bureau, which indicate that
unemployment and irregular employment are affecting women in
industry differently from men. It is, of course, obvious that the
earnings of women are at different rates from the earnings of men,
and grouping the two together may give a false picture and prevent
the kind of analysis of the problems involved which makes action
possible. The position of the Committee on Governmental Labor
Statistics on this subject has been in general that the current monthly
figures should be kept as simple as possible, but that at fairly fre
quent intervals special studies should be made. Among these the
committee would rank high the separate analysis of employment
and earnings of women in industry.
Finally, the committee urges particularly at this time the need
for statistics of employment in Government—both direct work for
the Government and employment on contract for the Nation, the
States, and the municipalities. At this moment, when emphasis is
being put upon the expansion of public works as a stabilizing influ
ence, it is highly important that we should know the actual extent
of employment furnished through such appropriations. At present
we are without any data except experimental fig ares which are quite
inadequate to give a general picture.
It is of course clear that these current monthly reports from State
and Federal bureaus come from only a sample of establishments in
any one industry. I f these samples are to be tested from time to
E M P L O Y M E N T STATISTICS— DISCUSSION
81
time in the light of the actual growth of industries of different types,
it is highly important that the Bureau of the Census should make
available tne necessary data from the various branches of the census—
manufacturing, population, and distribution. The need for data
regarding labor conditions and employment, as of equal importance
with data on production and trends in business, should be empha
sized in order that sufficient appropriations may be available for the
Bureau of the Census to gather and to publish this type of material.
As to the census on unemployment taken in April, 1930, with a
further sampling in January, 1931, it is only possible to mention it
here as one of the important developments in statistics of employ
ment during the past year. Time does not permit an analysis of
the data or of the method of securing it. The Committee on Gov
ernmental Labor Statistics has made a special study of it. The
difficulties involved in collecting the information have been, of
course, very great. Nevertheless it stands as providing the only
base line which we now have as to the approximate extent of unem
ployment in different occupations and different parts of the country
at a given time, and will continue to serve 'as a useful check upon
statistics of trends in employment.
An unprecedented and challenging opportunity faces Federal and
State departments of labor to-day to give current and adequate
information regarding conditions of employment and earnings in
this country. The present depression, coming at a moment of enor
mously increased productive capacity in this country and in other
lands, has a significance with which departments of labor are pri
marily concerned. Apparently the purchasing power of the people
has not been maintained to enable them to buy the goods of modern
industry. In other words, this is a problem of raising standards of
living to keep pace with the utilization of economic resources. Not
only for the sake of wage earners is information vital regarding
employment and earnings, but the whole industrial mechanism can
not be kept in balance and in running order unless this information
be constantly available. We are concerned not with the average
wealth of the country, but with the standards of living of all the
people, their adequacy, and their security. The ultimate test of
economic policies of business and government is in these standards
of living, and of all the branches of government the departments
of labor are primarily responsible for applying this test.
DISCUSSION
Chairman P a tto n . Now we would be glad to hear from all of you.
Miss Joh n son (Massachusetts). I was very much interested in
what Miss Yan Kleeck said in her address. She said, among other
things, that the responsibility of State labor departments to collect
facts and give them out is one of their most important functions.
I think we would all agree with that as a general proposition. It
is when it comes to the concrete application that there might be di
vergence of opinion.
I was also interested in her suggestion of collecting information
on the wages of women as distinct from those of men. I think that
is an important thing, because there is a marked difference in the
82
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
wages of men and women in industrial employment, and there is
a difference in the matter of effect of unemployment on women as
compared with men. Women are largely employed in unskilled and
unorganized branches of industry. Unless there is special investi
gation, we are not likely to secure an accurate picture of the condi
tions of their employment.
Here in Massachusetts we secure wages classified by sex for all
industries only in alternate years. Monthly returns on this basis,
it is true, are received from a selected list of firms. The firms, how
ever, that cooperate voluntarily in supplying this current informa
tion that comes to the department are apt to be the more progressive
ones that have the better labor policies. Returns are also secured
from organized labor, but these represent returns of wages for the
higher-paid wage earners. Woman workers in industry are very
largely in the unskilled and poorly paid trades. Information that
we have secured from time to time through the minimum wage in
vestigations and inspections during the period of the depression
shows that the wages of women are being cut, although the wages of
men in the organized industries are apt to be kept up.
We have found increasingly during the past year that the wages
of women and girls in low-paid industries were being cut, a cut of
10 per cent or more being commonly made. Then, in addition to
that, are the very low wages that are being paid to women and girls
in some branches of unskilled industries. In some instances firms
that have come from outside the State have taken advantage of
the depressed conditions in the textile centers and are paying wages
that bear no relation to the earnings of the workers or the cost of
existence. This is creating a very serious problem.
I am wondering if Miss Van Kleeck, in her suggestion of collect
ing separate statistics as to the wages of women and men, would
suggest collecting them from different sources than those from which
they are ordinarily taken. That is, would she try to get them out
side of the more progressive firms and from the firms that are organ
ized in order to try to get a picture of the wage situation in the
unorganized industries, and would she include in addition some study
of the wages of men in the unskilled industries; because they, too,
are feeling the wage cuts and the low wages much more than those
in the organized branches of industry. For instance, in the case
of a firm where we got the pay roll a few weeks ago, we found that
men and boys were receiving for full time employment rates of
$9 and $10 a week. I think that is something for serious considera
tion, and I would like to have Miss Van Kleeck speak on that if
she would.
Miss V a n K le e c k (New York). In a word, I might say that the
statistics that we do collect are supposed to be a fair sample of the
industry. They are not limited to the organized industry for either
men or women, and certainly what we would advocate would be that
any collection of figures would take due account of all those situations
and reflect all of the groups, not just the better-paying groups.
Chairman P a tto n . I might say on that point that about 1,200 of
the 1,700 and more firms that report monthly in New York State
have reported separately since June, 1923. They report the earnings
of men and women separately and they so publish them. It might
E M P L O Y M E N T STATISTICS---- DISCUSSION
83
be well to point out that when any State begins to do that you have
criticism. We were charged openly in an editorial the first month
that we published those figures as having in mind the laying of a
background for the establishment of minimum wages for women.
Nothing was further from our minds. All that we wanted to do
was to secure the facts.
However, the opposition to it has long since ceased. Miss Van
Kleeck made the statement that the Southern States had made no
monthly collection of these statistics. I would like to ask Mr. Bald
win whether or not the Federal bureau considers the figures that
come from Texas, Maryland, Virginia, and Oklahoma as represen
tative enough in their character partially to offset Miss Van Kleeck’s
statement. I am interested because I happened to be born in the
South and I happen to have an interest in that subject.
Mr. B aldwin (Washington, D. C.). I will say that the statistics
being received from the State of Maryland now are quite satisfac
tory. They have developed the collection of data there to a point
where it is entirely satisfactory. The data received from Texas
we get through the Kesearch Bureau of the University of Texas, and
it is more or less satisfactory, but we have some difficulty in getting
the returns. We are receiving no data from Oklahoma, and so we
do not include Oklahoma in our study.
Mr. H udson (Ontario). Miss Van Kleeck touched upon two or
three points that are of particular interest to me and I would like to
touch upon them in a word or two. One had to do with the rela
tionship between the Association of Public Employment Officials and
the statistical association which she represents. I want to thank
Miss Van Kleeck and the committee for the work they are doing in
cooperation with us to obtain information as to employment
statistics.
Another point was in regard to the amount of work provided by
these emergency relief appropriations. We have learned that in the
United States you are in some doubt as to the amount of work
provided, but I am very glad to be able to say that in Canada a
record has been kept of the actual days worked by men employed in
the public employment emergency relief. I think that it is a wonder
ful thing to spend public money at a time like that for road building
or for any other public work.
Another point, which will take only a minute to speak about, is
the collection of employment statistics and their use in Canada. I
am happy to say that we have a uniform system throughout the
Dominion and the closest cooperation exists between the Provinces
and the Federal Government, and the pictures are presented in full,
regardless of any consideration whatsoever at any time, no matter
what administration is in power. The results are published in a
publication that might be of interest to you and of which Mr. Plant
could speak more freely than I could. It is the “ Labor Gazette.”
Doctor A ndrews (New York). I was interested in what Mr. Foster
had to say about what would happen in this country if everyone was
to start their plants full blast. In two weeks the depression would
be over. But Miss Van Kleeck gave me the impression that all of
the foreign countries that consume our goods would have to go along,
84
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
Is it not true that we need some foreign consumption as well as
our own ?
I should like to ask Mr. Smith something. You said that you
think perhaps the employment situation has been caused by some
plants overextending themselves—that is, by adding equipment that
was not needed for the ordinary output. Have you given any
thought as to how we are going to give the employees that have to
be shifted a chance to move into something else in some other part
of the country? I know that situations occur in Massachusetts
where the one plant in the town has shut down and the workers have
to take their families and go elsewhere. Now what can we do about
that ?
Mr. S m ith (Massachusetts). What you are referring to is a phase
of technological unemployment. Just what can be done about it I
am not prepared to say. I think it is important that everybody con
nected with the problem should think about what can be done about
it. It is rather interesting to consider! this in relation to techno
logical unemployment—that whenever a manuf acturer brings out a
new product he is very careful to see that the old product in the
hands of the dealers is satisfactorily disposed of before he launches
the new merchandise. You have a restraining influence operating
when a manufacturer introduces a new process or anything that
happens to cause technological displacement of labor.
It seems to me that the reason for that is that, although in the
aggregate all manufacturers lose money by the dislocations that are
caused by technological unemployment, so long as they have workers
out of employment they are not buying goods of any manufacturer,
but in the case of a particular manufacturer the goods that he may
have, or the money that he may save by letting a hundred of his
workers go, far outweighs in his mind what he may lose in sales, as
far as the purchasing power of what those workers represent is con
cerned, in so far as they contribute to his own sales. Now, that being
the case, if the individual manufacturer does noz feel the impulse to
control technological unemployment, we have to look for some form
of social control of the problem. That, to my mind, lies largely
through the instrumentality of public employment offices and per
haps vocational rehabilitation, again exercised through some State
agency.
Chairman P atton. I am sure that if I were down on the floor that
I would be on my feet, so let us have some more questions.
Doctor A ndrews. I asked two questions. I asked Miss Yan Kleeck
if she could tell us what she thinks of the needs of foreign con
sumption ?
Miss V an K leeck. I would like to talk a long while on that. I
can only say briefly that back in 1921, when the conference on unem
ployment was meeting, a statement was issued which said that, al
though our exports amounted to only 10 per cent of our products,
nevertheless, the sale of that 10 per cent at a fair price, or the failure
to sell it, affects the whole of the remaining 90 per cent. It seems to
me that that remains the keynote of our situation. Despite the fact
that we have a large market of our own, that we* do sell a large pro
portion of our products in this country, we have a margin which is
E M P L O Y M E N T STATISTICS— DISCUSSION
85
for sale abroad, and it does not seem to me that we can possibly face
or look at the problem of technological unemployment without con
sidering the fact that the purchasing power of the people all over the
world has to be considered also.
It is not possible for any country, and least of all for a country
with a surplus production, like the United States of America, to bal
ance production and consumption by limiting ourselves to our own
markets and saying that we can stabilize in two weeks in the United
States if we just get over our psychological fears. It seems to me
that the realities are the terribly large number of unemployed in
Germany, the number of unemployed in Great Britain, and the situa
tion in the Far East, to which we give far too little attention. Then
we have India and China and the effect upon them of industrializa
tion. I think we have to consider all of those things.
I heard a Kussian economist say during the past winter that if
you raised the wages in India from 4 to 5 cents a day that you would
increase the purchasing power of that nation 25 per cent. Well,
that is just touching upon it. I am personally convinced that we
can not, in the United States of America, consider only the situation
within our own borders, and that is not in any sense theorizing or
pleading for internationalism. It is a plea for economic common
sense. With our rapid transport, and especially with the flow of
goods into every part of the world and the flow of money, the prob
lem is not a national problem.
Mr. P h e l p s (Massachusetts). Miss Van Kleeck is such an en
thusiastic missionary in the matter of the collection of statistics that
those of us who are associated with her in this work get all pepped
up and do not know where to stop.
There is one thing that I want to say in regard to the work in the
State of Massachusetts and it is to the credit of the governor. He
got an appropriation for us of over $17,000 for the extension in the
scope of our work. We are hoping now that we can extend our
work all the way down the line. We have already undertaken to
collect figures in relation to public employment in cities and towns
and counties. If we can we will use this fund to advantage in
reference to the number of people employed on the emergency public
works. I make this statement because I wish to have it understood
that Massachusetts desires to continue in this work, to go along
pioneering in this work, and to keep on under the guidance of Miss
Yan Kleeck.
Mr. G ernon (New York). I wonder if the program of this com
mittee means that we will collect statistics of unemployment from
all sources. If we select certain firms, are we not apt to select the
best of them or the largest of them in certain groups? How will
we ever know what the picture is unless we can tell every employer
to report? I think that this depression is of enough significance
for this organization to take the attitude that every employer should
report those conditions. If they did that, we would then know what
we were talking about, which we do not know now.
Then the criticism that is usually leveled at these figures is that
they are taken from certain firms and not from others. Now the
85053°—32----- 7
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
facts are that some of the statistics in certain Sl ates are taken from
firms that do not pay the highest wages. The largest firms do not
pay the highest wages in every industry. The smaller firms pay a
higher rate than the larger ones, so unless you take all of the firms
you do not have all of the information.
Miss V an K leeck. I would say that I agree with Mr. Gernon that
we must make the figures more comprehensive. I think the great
difficulty is to find how many industries we are leaving out. We
have the necessity of keeping a more or less uniform report. The
entrance of a new firm is, of course, statistically very upsetting,
when you try to work out an index number, but it is also upsetting
to the man out of work. It does seem to me that we need a much
more comprehensive method of collection.
That was the point that I was trying to make about the census,
that we should have more complete and more adequate material
and then we will be able to go much further than we can now. But
I would like to say here, since Mr. Gernon asked the question, it
seems to me that in the State departments we ought to have a much
closer tie-up of factory inspection and labor statistics collection.
I believe by a closer tie-up that we would be able to get a more
complete picture in the different States, and that is why it is so
important to have these things collected in the first instance by
the States.
Mr. B istrup (Massachusetts). I would like to take this oppor
tunity to testify to my appreciation of the figures that are obtained
by the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industry, particu
larly in respect to employment and manufacturing. The question
which has come up seems to suggest the policy as to whether an
effort should be made to obtain figures from all manufacturers or
from a fair sample of them.
In Massachusetts I think we have about 10,000 concerns that are
classified as manufacturing concerns in the Government census fig
ures. My observation is that about a fifth of those can not be found,
that is, they are too small to be of consequence. The observation and
the studies which I have made of the figures which are supplied
from the concerns who contribute to the monthly figures on employ
ment and earnings supply a fairly accurate story of present current
employment in our manufacturing establishments. I should hate
like everything, I think, to have Mr. Phelps charged with the respon
sibility of getting from every manufacturer, from every employer,
the figures of employment. 1 think it would clog the works so that
we would get nothing.
I think that if the efforts he is making could be extended to other
kinds of employers we would get a sufficient amount of data to be
of great significance, and to complete the picture we now have. We
are talking about unemployment. I do not know how we can measure
that. It is a difficult thing. We can measure employment fairly
accurately and that may lead to a measure of unemployment, but we
certainly need more figures to round out the picture than we now
have.
Mr. B aldwin . There is one matter that I would like to touch upon.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has felt that the greatest weakness in
its employment statistics was that it did not include any statistics
E M P L O Y M E N T STATISTICS— DISCUSSION
87
of the building construction industry. We have been very loathe to
begin that because of the difficulty, as we thought, of collecting the
information. We felt that we should have to have a large sample
in order to reflect the real conditions in that respect. But quite re
cently we have been trying it out, and have started the collection of
construction employment statistics in a few cities. By the end of
this month we will have statistics from about 20 cities in different
States throughout the country.
We are collecting these statistics frequently from the employer.
We have not attempted to include any city or any State in which
we cooperate on the other statistics. We find that it is not difficult to
get contractors to reply to the questionnaire, and have no more diffi
culty than we do in the manufacturing industries. For instance, we
started with Washington, right at home, and are collecting data from
444 contractors in that city. We have statistics from Providence,
E. I., and many other places. We are taking them, all and looking
them over, and trying to see whether or not employment does fluctuate
there just the same as it does in the other industries and other lines.
We feel that we will have a fair sample and that we can get a pretty
good idea of the conditions as a whole.
Chairman P atton. I think that in one respect the building figures
are better than the manufacturing, in that we get the man-hours.
The building contractors pay their help on the basis of the hours they
work, and we can figure much better that way.
(Meeting adjourned.)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20— AFTERNOON SESSION
H. C. Hudson, General Superintendent Ontario Government Employment Offices, Presiding
EMPLOYMENT SESSIOK
Chairman H udson. We have quite a lengthy program this after
noon, but I am going to take this opportunity of talking just a little
along the line that I have been asked to present to the association,
merely for your information and for the comments you may care to
make on it. We have read in Canada and in the United States about
the different methods of meeting the unemployment situation, the
different remedies. As far as we are aware in Ontario, no attempt
has been made, outside of the city of Toronto, to educate the unem
ployed workers along technical lines or more along what you might
call cultural lines.
There has been formed in Toronto, however, an organization
known as the Unemployed Educational Association, and this group
is endeavoring to provide facilities for giving the man out of work
a chance to learn a trade—the rudiments' of a trade—or to increase
his skill in whatever line he has been following. The criticism which
has been directed at this organization is that it; is not much better
for a man to be out of work when he is trained as a carpenter than
it is to be out of work when he is an unskilled laborer, and opposi
tion has accordingly arisen from certain directions and from men
who are trained and who fear that their numbeis will be augmented
by the additional training of unemployed.
The idea, however, I think, basically has enough to recommend it to
mention it to you. I am not indorsing it or in any way supporting
it*, except through the facilities of the office, where we are giving
some little assistance to the prime movers in the new plan. I f there
has been any attempt made along this line of educating men and
women who are out of work during their periods of enforced idle
ness, I would appreciate it very much if those of you who know
about such experiments would tell me, not necessarily now, but be
fore I leave on Friday night. I did promise the man behind the
movement in Toronto that I would bring with me a questionnaire
which it is part of the plan to send to 500 cities and towns, not only
in Canada and the United States, but also in Europe, to find out if
any action has been taken along these lines, and if so, what the
results have been. I will just pass it around for anyone who cares
to look at it.
Along with the plan there was a registration form, printed by one
of the local newspapers and distributed among the unemployed, to
indicate what they felt about obtaining training. The questionnaire,
or the form, asked .for the man’s name and address, how long unem
ployed, how long a resident in Toronto, in what lines of work he had
the most experience, and how many would like to attend classes in
the following subjects: Reading, writing, and arithmetic; English
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FIN A N C IA L RELIEF OF U N E M P L O Y M E N T — M . B. GILSON
89
grammar and composition; public speaking and salesmanship; archi
tecture and designing; building trades; automobile repair and driv
ing ; bookkeeping and other office work; stenography and typewrit
ing; household or domestic science; dressmaking and millinery;
farming and gardening; dairying and stock raising.
If they would rather go into some other line or have some other
special training, we left a place for them to tell us about that also.
The responses that we got to these were very encouraging, and I am
going to distribute some of them because they have the name of the
man who is behind the movement. I have pleasure now in calling
on Miss Gilson, who is with the Industrial Relations Counselors,
who will tell us something about financial relief of unemployment in
the United States and in Europe.
Financial Relief of Unemployment in the United
States and Europe
By
Maby
B.
G ilso n ,
of the Industrial Relations Counselors (Inc.), New York
It would be absurd to describe to an audience like this the priva
tion and anxiety existing to-day in millions of homes all over the
world. Surely here, if anywhere, one may assume an understanding
of the human misery attendant upon unemployment. It is also to
be taken for granted that no far-reaching methods of preventing
unemployment have as yet been devised and that even in times of
prosperity and plenty there have always been large numbers of
persons suffering from the results of unemployment. We shall
proceed at once, therefore, to outline some of the methods used to
relieve this distress, eliminating public works and other ways of
providing work, and covering only the dispensing of money and
goods to keep the worker from destitution when he is involuntarily
unemployed.
It would be impossible, however, to distinguish the involuntarily
from the voluntarily unemployed in describing our dispensing of
charity in the United States for we may justly be accused of a good
deal or indiscriminate giving of doles “ and no questions asked. It
is well to keep this in mind when one hears foreign systems of unem
ployment insurance condemned. They at least provide for far
more methodical ways of checking the worthy than we have in our
individualistic, bread-line country.
Whatever may be our theories concerning the individual assump
tion of risk, we see all about us to-day evidence that it is fatuous to
hope that people can save enough in times of prosperity to tide them
over the lean years, especially if the lean years stretch on indefinitely.
It is a fact, however unpleasant, that thousands of wage earners do
not earn a “ saving wage,” in the United States as well as in Europe,
and it is an equally unpleasant fact that many wage earners who
have been well paid during periods of prosperity have had illness or
other misfortunes which have eaten into their reserves and left them
with no protection during periods of depression. The man who is
out of a job in the United States and who has no reserve to fall back
on and no relatives who can and will house and feed him is therefore
in nearly all cases, up against the necessity of accepting charity.
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. O. I.
And this is regardless of the fact that he may have been a faithful
and efficient worker for years, unwillingly idle because of an indus
trial system which he can in nowise control.
All the recurring depressions in the United States have resulted
in no antitoxin, no cure. A makeshift system of public employment
offices has been established, but no adequate Federal system which
would promote effectively the mobility of labor. Local charity has
been our means of salving wounds too deep to be more than super
ficially healed by such palliative methods. It is platitudinous to
repeat that the man who is able and willing to work loses his inde
pendence and self-respect in the course of time if he is forced to
continue to resort to charity. Eventually he becomes a willing
pauper, his morale broken.
The immense charitable sums expended on fool and clothing for
the unemployed during the depression we have been and still are
experiencing, the 82 bread lines during the winter of 1930-31 in
New York City alone, the despair of social agencies swamped with
demands they can not fill, the chaotic and confused dispensing of
relief to any and all comers in many communities, and the despair
of the self-respecting worker who would rather suffer hunger and
privation than accept charity—all these and other* considerations are
leading thoughtful people to inquire into orderly methods for pro
viding help to the involuntarily unemployed worker.
No legislation has as yet been enacted in this country to provide
benefits to unemployed workers, so our experience is confined to vol
untary plans. We shall not take time to describe the trade-union
out-of-work benefit plans, the first recognition of unemployment as
a hazard the worker could not meet unaided. Before the present
depression only 13 company plans were in existence. Three compa
nies, the Columbia Conserve Co.. Crocker-McElwain, and Procter &
Gamble virtually guarantee full wages for a year, the first two on
a 52-week basis, the last on a 48-week basis with half pay for any
day in the remaining four weeks in which a man is involuntarily
unemployed. Length of service, type of work, family responsibility,
and other factors affect the benefits paid out in nearly all of the
company plans. The plans are often flexible. For example, last
year, because of the heavy drain on the unemployment fund, the
Dennison Manufacturing Co. had to establish a maximum of $24
a week for employees with dependents and $18 for those without
dependents, instead of following the usual procedure of paying bene
fits on the basis of 80 and 60 per cent, respectively, of the average
weekly wage. Only a few companies have actually set aside funds
for the payment of unemployment compensation. Since the begin
ning of the present depression the General Electric Co. has installed
an unemployment compensation plan, the only company unemploy
ment fund to which workers contribute. All the other company
funds are supported wholly by employers. Other interesting devel
opments of the present depression are the pooling of contributions
to an unemployment fund by 14 Rochester firms and an agreement
entered into by 5 companies in Fond du Lac, Wis., to hire workers
laid off by any of the companies, whenever possible, and, when this
proves impossible, to pay an unemployed worker 65 per cent of his
average wage for not over 100 working days.
F IN A N C IA L RELIEF OF U N E M P L O Y M E N T ---- M . B. GILSON
91
Besides company plans there are also a few set up by agreement
between trade-unions and industry. The oldest and best organized
of these joint plans is that of the men’s clothing industry of Chicago.
About 15,000 workers in this industry are eligible for unemployment
benefit for a proportion of the time lost by them through invol
untary unemployment. The unemployment fund consists of 4y2
per cent of the pay roll of the industry, 3 per cent of which is con
tributed by the employers and 1y2 per cent by the employees. Over
$6,000,000 was distributed in benefits to union members between
May 1, 1924, the date of the first benefit payment, and December,
1930. It was found possible, by means of adjusting rules governing
administration to the exigencies of the situation, to use the unem
ployment funds not only to cover seasonal and cyclical unemploy
ment, but also for quite substantial dismissal bonuses to workers
who had permanently lost their jobs. Clothing workers, even in
periods of general prosperity, have an unemployment rate of oyer
15 per cent, so the experiment which has been so successfully carried
out by the men’s clothing industry is of particular significance in
pointing to the possibility of universal adoption of some such plan
by American industry.
But “ where there’s a will there’s a way ” implies the existence of
a will, and the slow development of both company and joint plans
in the United States gives no earnest of such purpose on the part of
any but a microscopic minority of employers. Therefore, while
every plan in existence has its value and while every employer who
has pioneered in this direction deserves credit, at the present rate of
progress it would require something like a thousand years to cover
all workers by such plans. The average firm is too unwilling to
put itself at a competitive disadvantage to assume the burden in
volved in establishing an unemployment fund. This accounts very
largely for the fact that less than 200,000 workers in the United
States are to-day given any measure of protection when involun
tarily unemployed.
Acknowledging, then, the impracticability of industry, through
voluntary experiments covering the hazard of unemployment for the
involuntarily unemployed worker, it is not to be wondered at that
the number of people becoming interested in some sort of legislation
which will provide^ for such coverage is on the rapid increase. More
and more the conviction is growing that unemployment is a respon
sibility of industry, and that if this responsibility is not assumed
voluntarily it must be given validity by law. Proposed legislation
in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York:, Pennsylvania,
and Wisconsin prior to the present depression was of two general
types. In Massachusetts in 1916 and in New York in 1921, bills
were modeled after the British unemployment insurance plan, pro
viding that all benefits should be paid out of funds subscribed to by
employers, workers, and the State. The other bills, modeled after
the Wisconsin or “ Huber ” plan, provided for contributions to be
paid only by the employer and for the placing of full responsibility
on his shoulders. A total of 15 bills were presented in legislatures
of the States mentioned, up to the time of the present depression,
all of them being fruitless except for arousing and educating public
opinion. The present depression has brought forth more effort to
92
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OP A . G. O. I.
pass legislation and efforts are being made to introduce other bills in
Wisconsin, Indiana, California, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Mas
sachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Some of these bills provide
for contributions of workers and some do not.
Senator Wagner introduced a Federal unemployment insurance
bill which would require the United States Government, through
Congress, to make an initial appropriation of $100,000,000 for the
creation of a fund to be administered by the Department of Labor.
Any State establishing a satisfactory unemployment insurance plan
would receive from the fund annually a sum not to exceed one-third
of the amount appropriated by the State or provided by a munici
pality or by private contributions.
It would be too time consuming to go into all the details of the
various bills now before State legislatures and the Federal Govern
ments of the United States and Canada. But there is no doubt that
the very active groups pushing these bills mean business and that
that in itself is significant. As we have suggested, there is growing
discontent with the soup-kitchen, bread-line, apple-selling methods of
handling unemployment, and an increasing number of thoughtful
people are seeking a more systematic and dignified way of taking care
of the unemployed. It is beginning to be recognized as good busi
ness to store up reserves in times of prosperity to tide workers over
periods of depression, just as it is good to store up reserves to pay
dividends.
A natural outgrowth of discontent with Americ an dole giving and
bread lines is thoughtful inquiry concerning methods of relieving un
employment used in foreign countries. Indeed, if the depression and
unemployment of the past two years have done nothing else, they
have at least stimulated intelligent and sympathetic inquiry into the
actual operation of systems of compulsory unemployment insurance
throughout the world.
In 1919 the International Labor Organization, at its first confer
ence, recommended “ That each member of the International Labor
Organization establish an effective system of unemployment insur
ance, either through a government system or through a system of
government subventions to associations whose rules provide for the
payment of benefits to their unemployed members.”
At the beginning of that year only about four and one-half or five
million workers were insured against unemployment, the majority
of whom were covered by the British scheme, which was the only
national compulsory scheme then in existence and which at that time
covered a small proportion of British workers.
Since 1919 nine more countries have adopted a compulsory system
of unemployment insurance. They are Australia (Queensland only),
Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Irish Free State, Italy, Poland, Switzer
land (9 Cantons), and Russia. In these countries and Great Britain
and Northern Ireland a total of approximately 44,630,000 are covered
by compulsory schemes.
Countries with voluntary unemployment insurance schemes are
Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands,
Norway, and Switzerland (14 Cantons). Adding the workers covered
by voluntary schemes (about 2,840,000) to those covered by compul
sory schemes, approximately 47,500,000 workers are now covered by
unemployment insurance.
FINA NCIAL. RELIEF OF U N E M P L O Y M E N T ---- M . B . GILSON
93
Financial organization of the funds, amounts and duration of
benefits, and classes of workers covered vary from country to country
because of different needs and circumstances. Eligibility for benefits
relates to various things; for example, to the payment of a stipu
lated number of contributions preliminary to drawing benefits, to a
waiting period after a worker becomes unemployed, to a checking
of 66genuine ” involuntary unemployment, and to varying provisions
defining involuntary unemployment.
Most of, the compulsory unemployment insurance systems provide
for the participation of employers, workers, and Federal or local
public authorities. The voluntary systems, which are methods of
subsidizing organizations of workers, are usually financed by workers
and public authorities only.
The most important example of voluntary unemployment insurance
is that of the Netherlands, established in 1916 and amended at various
times since then. Wage earners in all trades are potentially covered,
as any trade-union whose members wish to establish a scheme of outof-work benefits may receive State subsidies varying from an amount
equal to that paid by insured members to twice that sum. The com
munes reimburse the State for half of the subsidy paid out. Em
ployers contribute nothing to the fund and the contributions of
workers vary from fund to fund.
It would be impossible in the scope of this paper to describe the
systems of unemployment insurance in all foreign countries, so we
shall center on the two largest and most important schemes, those of
Germany and Great Britain. It might be interesting, however, to
take a mere glance at Russia. The labor code adopted by the Soviet
Eepublic in 1922 is the basis for the system of unemployment benefits
installed at that time. Employers are the sole contributors to the
fund, but as a large number of industrial establishments are nation
alized this amounts in such cases to a State contribution. A bi
monthly system of rotation on public works is used to provide work
for as large a number of the unemployed as possible.
The scheme is compulsory for all workers, who are divided into
three classes, with benefits varying accordingly. The benefit must
be not less than one-sixth of the average local wage, but, together
with the family allowances, it may not exceed 50 per cent of the wage
earned by the worker during the three months preceding his unem
ployment. Duration of benefit may be 9 months per year and 18
months for every period of unemployment for two consecutive years.
Under an order of the Commissariat of Labor of the Union of Social
ist Soviet Republics, dated October 9, 1930, all unemployment insur
ance benefit was suspended until further notice, and the credits for
this branch of insurance were removed from the social insurance
budget. At the same time the Government drafted all unemployed
persons for existing vacancies, regardless of inclination or previous
experience.
A system of social insurance in Germany, covering health, old
age, and other hazards in the life of the worker, was extended to
cover unemployment on October 1, 1927. Social insurance in Ger
many was originally designed to stifle industrial unrest. The neces
sity for assuming social responsibility is its underlying motive. The
various types of German social insurance, covering sickness, accident,
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
invalidity, old age, unemployment, and maternity and life insurance
benefits amount to about 12 per cent of the total annual wage bill.
The German health insurance scheme covers about 20,000,000 persons
and the unemployment insurance scheme about 18,000,000, out of a
total of approximately 32,000,000 gainfully employed.
A greater degree of coordination of social services is provided
by the German than by the British scheme as contributions are paid
to the sickness insurance fund and are turned over to the office
administering unemployment insurance. At the time unemployment
insurance was introduced the already established national system
of employment exchanges was tied in with it. Prevention and re
lief are closely related and Germany is unrelaxing in her expenditure
of thought and effort on placement of workers and on constructive
measures to prevent their unemployment.
Ten years of Federal experience and about 20 years more of expe
rience on the part of local communities and States preceded the
establishment of unemployment insurance in Germany. Eleven
wage groups form the basis of benefit payments, the benefits being
in inverse ratio to the average wage over the three months preceding
payment. An additional allowance is provided for dependents.
Duration of benefit is 26 weeks and “ emergency55 relief may be
granted for 16 additional weeks to workers who have not been able
fully to qualify for unemployment insurance or who have exhausted
their right to benefit. Unemployed workers over 40 years of age may
draw benefits for 45 weeks. Such emergency relief is limited to
certain industries and to localities exceptionally hard hit.
Eligibility for unemployment benefits is based, in general, on
capacity and willingness to work, involuntary unemployment, 26 or
more weeks of work and of contributions to the unemployment insur
ance funds during the previous 12 months, and on periodic registra
tion at the employment exchange. The waiting period before bene
fits are paid is one week.
Just as in the British scheme, the requirement that a worker report
regularly at the exchange serves to prevent a person from drawing
benefits when he is working and to check on his willingness to accept
an available job. The exchange makes every effort to place him in
his accustomed occupation during the first nine weeks of his unem
ployment ; at the end of that time he must accept anything offered
him. Physical and mental fitness for the job are of course taken
into consideration in placing. Geographical mobility is promoted
by assisting a worker to find work in another locality even to the
extent of making provision for his family in such circumstances.
Funds are provided by the unemployment insurance scheme of
Germany for retraining a person for another trade or occupation
and for vocational guidance for juveniles under 18 years of age.
Some of the exchanges provide guidance for highly technical and
professional work. Thus unemployment insurance, placement, and
vocational guidance are closely coordinated.
The unemployment insurance fund is wholly supported by em
ployers and workers, who pay an equal amount. Originally they
paid jointly 3 per cent of the basic wage, each paying half of this
amount, but in December, 1929, the contribution was raised to Sy2
per cent of the basic wage and in September, 1930, to 6y2 per cent
F IN A N C IA L RELIEF OF U N E M P L O Y M E N T ---- M . B . GILSON
95
of the basic wage. Crisis or emergency benefits are provided by the
Government. If Government grants do not meet the emergency
needs they are met either by increasing contributions or restricting
benefits. Extraordinary emergency relief is met by the public
authorities, four-fifths by the Federal Government, and one-fifth by
the communes.
Out of the unemployment insurance fund not only are unemploy
ment benefits provided but also the expenses of administering em
ployment exchanges and of furnishing placement service and voca
tional guidance.
Severe and prolonged unemployment in Germany has resulted in
a heavy financial drain. With a view to reducing the deficit of the
unemployment insurance fund various proposals have been made.
These include the raising of the rate of contributions; the prolonga
tion of the period during which contributions must have been paid
as a condition for receiving benefits, subject to the granting of
reduced benefits equivalent to emergency benefits after a period of
26 weeks; and the exclusion from benefit of all unemployed persons
under 16 and over 65 years of age.
Workers earning more than $856 a year are excluded from the
compulsory scheme as are nonmanual employees earning more than
$1,999. Both of these groups may insure voluntarily, however.
Agricultural and certain groups of casual workers are also among
the classes excluded from the compulsory scheme.
In February, 1931, there were about 4,756,000 unemployed in Ger
many. All but 800,000 of these received assistance in some form, at
an annual cost of $630,000,000, a large proportion of this expense
being borne by the taxpayers and the rest by workers and employers.
At the time mentioned 2,400,000 received unemployment insurance
benefits, 700,000 lived on the emergency fund provided for in the
Federal budget, and 630,000 were supported by the welfare depart
ments of the cities. The villages probably extended help to about
150,000 unemployed. The remaining, numbering approximately
900,000, did not receive any assistance. Although the majority of
the unemployed have, up to the present time, been supported by
insurance, the recipients of emergency and welfare doles are con
stantly on the increase.
Exactly a year after the German scheme was launched the serious
depression in the fall of 1928 would have wrecked it if the Federal
Government had not granted large loans. By April of 1930 the in
surance fund was indebted to the Reich about $150,000,000 and was
in a state of chronic deficit. The disproportion between expenditure
and revenue was enormous. A total or $450,000,000 was spent in
1930, of which about $20,000,000 went into the cost of administering
benefits. The revenue was only $250,000,000, which was $200,000,000
less than the expenditure. In July last year contributions were mate
rially raised and benefits were reduced and in October contributions
were again raised. This was aimed to put the fund on a self-sup
porting basis. Emergency doles, however, or doles paid to those who
have exhausted their right to benefits, are an ever-present drain on
the Federal Government, which appropriates $100,000,000 annually
for the emergency fund. Moreover, a constantly increasing percent
age of unemployed workers who have exhausted their claim on insur
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
ance and emergency doles fall back on the municipal-welfare contri
bution, which varies from city to city, but usually amounts to about
50 per cent of the insurance benefit. A great number of the cities
are on the verge of bankruptcy and the reform of municipal-welfare
service is essential. In any case new Federal funds will have to be
provided for emergency unemployment relief.
Unemployment insurance and prohibition are two among many
subjects about which certain individuals entertain so many pre
conceptions and prejudices that it is difficult for them to “ stop,
look, and listen55 for the examination of facts. The present unem
ployment insurance scheme in Great Britain is usually in a welter
of controversy because it is constantly subject to the spotlight of
criticism and because postwar conditions have been so muddled that
many persons have attributed the evils attendant upon long-con
tinued trade depression to unemployment insurance instead of to
unemployment. Moreover, those persons who are intent upon dis
crediting the British scheme have a habit of quot ing out of context
certain criticisms directed against the eradicable weaknesses of the
scheme instead of against the scheme itself. An example of this
sort of misrepresentation is found in quotations from drastic crit
icisms of Sir William Beveridge, who has held up to pitiless censure
the faults of the scheme due to the constant extension of benefit
to people who have exhausted their right to it. But, as a matter of
fact, Sir William Beveridge was one of the originators of the British
scheme and has always supported the principle of unemployment
insurance. The person who inveighs against the British unemploy
ment insurance system must in all honesty do one of two things.
He must either give sufficient time to an arduous and painstaking
examination of ancient and unsatisfactory methods of caring for
the unemployed in Great Britain before unemployment insurance
was introduced, of all the features of the present unemployment
insurance scheme and of the obstacles imposed upon it by Britain’s
postwar depression, or he must be willing to accept the verdicts of
such authoritative and unpartisan bodies as the Blanesburgh and
Balfour committees. There is a rich fund of factual and statistical
material and of authoritative opinion. On such evidence judgments
should be formed.
Space and time forbid even a brief review of the history of the
British unemployment insurance scheme from the first act ,of 1911
to the present time. A few facts may serve to paint some of the
difficulties the scheme faces.
Great Britain was the first country to adopt a national compulsory
system of unemployment insurance. This she did in 1911, a year
after she had established a national system of employment exchanges.
The Government, employers, and employees contribute to the unem
ployment insurance fund and a man who is out of work through no
fault of his own may, by fulfilling certain conditions, draw 17 shil
lings (about $4.14) and a woman 15 shillings (about $3.65) a week.
Younger workers get less according to age and sex classifications.
Certain groups o f workers, including agricultural and domestic
workers, are not eligible to benefits. Unemployment insurance
should not be confused with the gift or out-of-work donation which
the Government distributed out of national taxation to demobilized
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97
soldiers, munitions workers, and others after the war. This
amounted to over $300,000,000.
Because of the acute industrial depression and consequent unem
ployment which Great Britain has been facing for so many years
she has from time to time extended benefit to workers who have ex
hausted their right to it through the contributions they have paid
into the fund. This has meant that the fund has had to borrow
money from the Governmeilt and that it is badly in debt at present.
A royal commission is now examining ways and means of putting
it on an actuarially sound basis. But even though many people have
exhausted their right to benefit and are not really entitled, tech
nically, to the money they are receiving, the employment exchanges
have methods of carefully checking up all recipients of benefit and
discovering whether men are really involuntarily unemployed and
whether they need benefits. That has proven far more satisfactory
than the old haphazard methods which were used before unemploy
ment insurance was introduced and which consisted of doling out
charity in one form or another. One should therefore be careful to
call a dole something which is handed out to people without a system
atic check of their willingness to work and without their right to
it by a legally accepted plan. We Americans, given to bread lines
and soup kitchens, too often speak in superior terms of Britain’s
“ dole ” when we are really the past masters in distributing doles.
One of the weaknesses in both the German and British schemes of
unemployment insurance is that they do not furnish sufficient incen
tive to the employer to stabilize his plant or his industry. American
plans for unemployment insurance which are now before State legis
latures in the United States attempt to remedy this defect by exacting
contributions to the funds in proportion to the rate of unemployment.
It is a very easy thing to say that no one should have relief unless
he does some work for it. I can only say that it behooves, those of us
who think this is an easy solution of the problem of unemployment
to examine the history of public works and relief work and makework schemes in other countries. Long-range planning of public
works does not belong in the same category with many of the makework-quick schemes which so many people advocate as a cure-all.
Previous to the war, unemployment in Great Britain ranged from
3 to 8 per cent of the industrial employable population, a proportion
originally used as the actuarial basis for the insurance plan, but dur
ing the decade following the armistice it ranged from 8 to 20 per
cent, averaging about 12 per cent and amounting to as high as 21 per
cent of insured workers in March of this year (1931). This postwar
average is more than double the percentage the present scheme can
carry on an actuarial basis.
The total cost of Great Britain’s social services during the fiscal
year 1927-28 was about £377,954,000, or $1,839,313,000. These social
services include, in addition to unemployment benefits, workmen’s
compensation, poor-law relief, old-age pensions, widows’ and or
phans’ pensions, public education, workers’ housing, public hospitals,
and maternity and child welfare. As against $1,839,313,000 spent for
all these social services, about $2,700,000,000, or approximately onethird more than this sum, was spent in 1929 on obligations resulting
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. O. I .
from past wars and preparation for future wars. Thus may be com
pared the cost of constructing and keeping human beings fit as against
the devastating cost of destroying them.
Great Britain’s unemployment insurance benefits from January,
1919, to the end of November, 1930—that is, for 12 postwar years—
amounted to £487,000,000 or about $2,370,000,000. In addition to this,
about £300,000,000, or $1,460,000,000, was spent during that period
for out-of-work donations and various other kind 3 of relief extended
to those unable to find employment, such as public works, maintain
ing training establishments, gratuitous passage or “ assisted55passage
overseas and a new start in the Dominions, outdoor relief, and “ ex
tended ” benefit paid to those who remained unemployed after
exhausting their period of “ statutory benefits 55v,o which they were
entitled by virtue of the contributions they had paid.
At present the demands on the British unemployment fund, because
of the prolonged depression, have resulted in its paying out about
twice as much as it gets in. Already it is in debt to the National
Exchequer about $300,000,000 and the debt is constantly mounting.
In addition to the amount it has borrowed it receives about $70,000,000
in contributions from workers, about $80,000,000 from employers,
and $75,000,000 as its regular contribution from the Government, the
total income amounting to about $440,000,000. But the estimated
demand for 1931 is $550,000,000, even with an average number of
1,800,000 unemployed, which is far below the act/ual number out of
work to-day. It is evident that without a State loan the normal
contributions from State, employers, and workers would amount to
only about $225,000,000 to meet the estimated outgo of $550,000,000.
The royal commission now examining the scheme has therefore a real
problem on its hands to devise means by which the insurance fund
may be restored to solvency when unemployment is heavy and
prolonged.
The cost falls very unevenly on different industries and this fact
in itself is the cause of dissatisfaction with the present unemployment
insurance scheme. The more prosjoerous industries, whose employees
draw but little from the unemployment insurance fund, to which em
ployers, employees, and the Government contribute, are carrying the
burden for the depressed industries. The Government is now assum
ing the responsibility for the constantly mounting debt to the Na
tional Exchequer by paying benefits to “ transitional cases ” or those
who have exhausted their right to benefits through the contributions
they have paid into the fund.
The outlook for the depressed industries is dismal indeed. Eighty
per cent of Great Britain’s population is urbanized and that percent
age is so dependent on foreign trade that the disturbance to her
foreign markets during the war dealt her a disastrous blow. In 1913
Great Britain had 16.5 per cent of the total world trade and in 1926
this share had fallen to 13.5 per cent. World-wide substitution of oil
and water power for coal, revolutionary developments in the textile
field, and the reduction in armaments have been largely responsible
for unemployment in coal, textiles, and shipbuilding. Industrial
expansion in other countries during and after the war, aided by their
currency inflation in contrast with Britain’s deflation, and the latter’s
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B. GILSON
99
lagging pace in amalgamation and “ rationalization55of her industries
have contributed to the general decline in foreign trade. Expansion
of employment in the newer industries has not been sufficient to absorb
the surplus workers in the declining ones.
The industries suffering most from heavy and prolonged unemploy
ment, then, are the old export industries, such as coal, iron, steel,
engineering, shipbuilding, and textiles. These industries employ
about 4,000,000, or one-third of the insured population, consisting of
over 12,000,000 workers out of about 17,000,000 gainfully employed.
About 400,000 constitute a hard core or the so-called “ permanently55
unemployed, who stand little or no chance of regaining a foothold in
industry because of the conditions of their industries or qualities in
herent or acquired which have made them into “ unemployables.”
Many employers are using the unemployment insurance scheme as a
cushion. In collusion with their workers they arrange a chronic
short-time schedule—three days of work and three days of benefit
paid out of the State unemployment insurance fund. As a worker
is entitled to benefit if he is unemployed three days out of six con
secutive days, it is easy to arrange such a schedule. In the cotton
textile industry in Lancashire this custom is particularly prevalent.
It amounts, in effect, to a subsidy to industry. Casual workers, such
as dock workers, are responsible for an exceptional drain on the
unemployment insurance fund. From October, 1923, to April, 1926,
8,000,000 out of a total of 11,500,000 insured workers drew no benefit
at all, and of the remaining 3,500,000 only 1,000,000 drew benefits for
more than 100 days during the 2^-year period. A revision of
the present scheme so that it would constitute a tax on un
employment instead of on employment would correct such abuses to
a very large extent. It stands to reason that the more prosperous
industries will not continue to bear the burden for the chronically
depressed ones without increasing protest.
In examining the many loose charges of malingering one should
be careful to distinguish between the widespread demoralization
caused by unemployment and that caused in a negligible number of
cases by paltry sums paid out in unemployment benefits. Naturally,
there are always persons who would rather live on the bare sub
sistence level than work for a higher standard of living, but these
persons form a small minority.
The proportion of cases of disallowed claims for unemployment
benefits does not indicate that unjustified claims are numerous.
Moreover, sample studies made from time to time show a very small
percentage of malingerers, generally about 4 or 5 per cent. As for
the charge that workers have lost interest in providing for them
selves, a recent investigation showed that the aggregate savings of
small investors were being maintained and that there was no evidence
that “ the advent of State schemes for social insurance had led to a
slackening of individual effort to provide against the chances and
changes of life.”
Many critics of unemployment insurance confuse it with poor re
lief, which in past years has often been dispensed by boards of guar
dians without proper checks. This was evidenced by a charity
organization confession to the Blanesburgh Committee that many
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. O. I,
young men idling about pool rooms, whom it was supposed had been
financed by unemployment insurance, were in fact being supported'by
poor relief.
As for the effect of the unemployment insurance scheme on the
mobility of labor, it is quite true that in so far as unemployment in
surance has furnished a cushion to employers who have adopted a
chronic short-time schedule, the scheme has removed pressure from
regularization of employment and thus impeded the release of work
ers who stand no chance of full-time employment. But employment
exchanges are a vital factor in promoting mobility and in prevent
ing aimless wandering in search of jobs. The 417 employment ex
changes and 752 branch offices have played a very large part in
redistributing labor throughout the land, although it is unfortunate
that most of the time of the exchange officials is occupied by work
involved in paying unemployment insurance benefits instead of in
interviewing and effectively placing workers. The impression is
widely prevalent that workers may be very high handed in accepting
or refusing what the exchange offers. The fact is that they do not
have to accept any job at any pay, regardless of working conditions;
still they do have to accept a job in another occupation than that to
which they are accustomed (it one in their own can not be found),
as long as the wages and conditions are not substandard.
That a certain amount of migration is actually taking place is
evidenced by the constantly decreasing numbei* of insured workers
in the more depressed industries and corresponding increases in the
number of insured workers in the more prosperous industries. The
shift from coal mining, shipbuilding and ship repairing, iron and
steel, and the textile industries, concentrated chiefly in the north and
in Wales, to the newer industries in the south : s proof of this. An
active policy of transferring workers was undertaken by the Gov
ernment after the report of the British Industrial Transference
Board in 1928, but there are definite limits to such transference.
Psychological factors, housing limitations, and the fact that every
locality in Great Britain already has a percentage of unemployed
are among the chief difficulties encountered. Efforts to transfer
juveniles have met with some success, as have also efforts to train
certain more promising individuals for various trades and occupa
tions and for overseas work on farms.
Emigration as a “ way out” of Britain’s difficulties is no easy
solution. The dominions and colonies have their own unemployment
problem and they do not wish it aggravated by unemployed workers
who may undertake farm life for a time but may eventually drift
into the cities. Moreover, miners, for example, whose fathers and
grandfathers have lived in the cottages they occupy, find it difficult to
sever home and neighborhood ties. Out of a fund of over $100,000,000 appropriated to aid emigrants by the empire settlement act of
1922, less than one-fourth was spent during 1922-1929, only 38,000
persons having been assisted by this fund. lately the dominions
and colonies have been erecting more barriers against “ assisted”
migrants.
It is not to be supposed that any one of the existing schemes of
compulsory unemployment insurance is perfect. Each has its weak
nesses. Demands on the funds of both Germany’s and Great Brit
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101
ain’s unemployment insurance schemes have grown beyond any
possible forecasts. Borrowing has had to be resorted to, to save
them from insolvency, but the mounting volume of unemployment
due to world-wide industrial depression could not have been foreseen.
In any case, although England lias been suffering from heavy unem
ployment ever since the war, the health of her people has continued
to improve, the figures of school attendance have gone up, and the
figures for lawbreaking have continued to decline.
We in the United States are in the fortunate position of watching
other countries proceed by the trial and error method and of being
able to profit by their mistakes. Neither we nor they have yet found
the ideal system, but it is about time for us to do some experimenting
ourselves. It is about time, too, that we realized that the reason so
many countries adopted national compulsory unemployment insur
ance schemes is because they found the ordinary means of charity
and relief unsatisfactory and inadequate. Their long history gave
them an opportunity to test the futility of scrambling together
“ emergency” methods of relieving the unemployed with each suc
ceeding depression. With Bernard Shaw, we in the United States
must acknowledge that, “ If there is one thing that history teaches
us it is that history does not teach us anything” unless we profit by
the experience of other countries. And we can not do this if we per
sist in saying, “ Our country is different,” like the unprogressive busi
ness man who uses the slogan “ My business is different ” when he
wishes to escape responsibility for effecting improvement and change.
The most depressing thing about the present deplorable state of
affairs is not that we have as yet failed to evolve any satisfactory
methods of relieving the unemployed, but that none of our economists
and industrialists have shown any ability to think a way out of the
mess we are in. We are inclined to believe that all these piffling sug
gestions to “fire married women first ” or “ spread work ” or u put
a lock on the cellar door and a maid in the kitchen ” will be even
more tragically comic in years to come than they are to-day. Not
that we expect to find a panacea. But we must not continue to hunt
needle-in-haystack remedies. Perhaps the most depressing thing
of all is that we are still, in the main, isolationists in background and
outlook, and as long as we do not see international implications of
our present predicament we shall probably continue to flounder, and
deservedly so. #Surely we must soon realize that if depressions are
world-wide their causes are also world-wide and that we must be as
interested in the success and well-being of other countries as of our
own if we are to achieve prosperity ourselves. Above all, we must
boldly face facts relating to debts, reparations, tariffs, and monetary
policies and not hide our heads in the sand. We must beware of
laying too much stress on the further assembling of tons of facts and
figures concerning the experiments of foreign countries at the expense
of action. It is by bold experimentation, by trial and error, that the
really significant steps in human progress have been taken. Is it not
about time that we used the knowledge we already have of the suc
cesses and failures other countries have encountered in dealing with
unemployment instead of appointing innumerable commissions and
gathering more tons of figures concerning them? Surely we know
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. O. I.
enough now to plot our unemployment insurance schemes, avoiding
the bogs and pitfalls which have been pointed out clearly by countries
which have already blazed trails.
Chairman H udson. In the Association of Public Employment Serv
ices I have had the pleasure of being associated with Mr. Fred Croxton, our next speaker, and I think he needs no introduction to an
audience made up so largely of people from the United States. I
have pleasure in asking Mr. Croxton to speak to us on the work of
the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment.
Work of the President’s Emergency Committee for
Employment
B y F r e d C . C r o x t o n , of the President's Emergency Committee for Employment
Last fall about 15 or 20 of us were drafted for a difficult task.
Some of these men were borrowed for three months, some could be
spared from their work for 4 or 5 months, and some of us could be
spared for longer. This group of 15 or so men and women formed
the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment, under the
chairmanship of Col. Arthur Woods.
Most of the members of that group had had long experience in one
or more of the problems which confronted us at ihat time. No one,
however, had had experience such as was deman led, owing to con
ditions which confronted us. We had an unknown number of people
who were unemployed, some of them had been unemployed for a
long period, certainly many of them for months. The most wide
spread drought within recollection also extended throughout a con
siderable area in a number of States. Farmers in other States did
not have the consuming power which they had had in previous
years; even though crops had been produced, the prices were lower.
All of those things, therefore, conspired to mate the task a very
difficult one.
The committee rather naturally divided itself up into these three
lines of undertaking: First, contact with the Federal departments in
Washington; and, second, contacts with associations and groups
such as the industrial trade associations and the various womens’
groups throughout the country; and then finally, the contact with
the governors and with the State committees throughout the United
States. My own work had to do with the 10 States that we think
of as the North Central States, running from New York, although
that is a little bit out of the territory, as far West as Minnesota,
including Minnesota and Iowa to the west of the Mississippi, and
West Virginia and Kentucky south of the Ohio River. Some of the
things that I have to say will relate more definitely to that territory.
The field of activity of the committee was, first, to promote em
ployment; that is, by private activities as far as possible, by en
couraging industry to go forward in every possible way, encouraging
industry to maintain the wages, encouraging industry to divide the
work, not' for a long-time solution but to meet the immediate situa
tion. We encouraged the shortening of the days and the shorten
PR E SID E N T ’ S E M P L O Y M E N T CO M M ITTEE---- F . C. CROXTON
103
ing of the weeks. Then, on public works, the effort was to push
. forward as rapidly as possible necessary public works, both on the
part of the Federal Government, on the part of the State govern
ments, and on the part of the local governments. Semipublic work
was also pushed forward. Casual jobs were also encouraged in every
possible way.
In addition to the promotion of employment, such as I have in
dicated, it was also necessary to give a great deal of attention to the
promotion of relief work.
You know that there has been a different approach to employment
roblems throughout this depression than we have seen before. You
now that while wages have not been maintained in some establish
ments there has nevertheless been a general tendency to maintain
the wages and that that has been a part of the economic policy of
many industries. A few years ago we discussed very seriously
whether it was better to divide work or to drop a part of the em
ployees, so that they might find work elsewhere. At this period,
with conditions as they were, there seemed to be no argument.
There was just one thing to do and that was to divide up the work
among the employees.
With reference to special or relief work instead of charity, there
were some pitfalls. In one or two cities they had established this
special work some time before at a reduced wage scale. We did not
believe that was sound. We thought that was taking advantage of
the distress of the citizens of the communities and that it certainly
would have the effect of pulling down the general wage scale.
Therefore in all cases an effort was made to maintain the prevail
ing wage for this special work. As so-called “ made ” work has
been handled in some places it is employment, but as it has been
handled in many places it is relief and oftentimes in an expensive
form.
It was our feeling as we approached the problem of organization
that the most effective work would be done if we could place the
responsibility as far as possible upon the community. I happened
to grow up farther west, where we had McGuffey’s Reader. We
had the Bible, too, but more people are familiar with McGuffey’s
Reader in some^ of those sections than even with “ Heart Throbs,”
which I found in my room. McGuffey’s carried the story of “ The
lark’s nest in the field of grain ” :
A farmer said to his sons one morning, “ We will invite our neigh
bors in to-morrow to cut the grain that is ready to be cut.” The
young larks overheard that and when the mother returned to the
nest they told her that they were anxious to move and she said, “ We
don’t need to move yet.” The morrow came and the neighbors did
not come and then the larks overheard that day the old man say to
his sons, “ The neighbors failed to come; we will invite in our rela
tives to help to cut the grain to-morrow.” The young larks reported
to their mother and they were anxious to move. She said, “ We don’t
need to move yet.” The morrow came and the relatives did not
come. Then the farmer said to his sons, “ Our neighbors did not
come, our relatives did not come, and we will cut the field of grain
ourselves.” When they reported that to the mother bird she said,
“ We move.”
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We believed that if effective work was to be done it would be
done by the localities meeting their own responsibilities as far as
was possible.
That has particular reference to promoting employment, but it
does not cover the whole field and it has even more especial refer
ence to the relief situation.
One year ago last February and March I happened to be in charge
of organizing the State of Ohio, county by ccunty, excepting the
larger cities, for just one purpose and that was to promote employ
ment. We thought we could see the end; we thought we could see
the line rising in at least 90 days. It did advance for two or three
months and then it struck the toboggan. By last fall we had to
have another element in our organization in that State, and that
was the relief element and the more months that passed the greater
part must relief play in the whole program.
I have a friend, a minister in a mid-western city, who preached a
sermon last winter on unemployment. He had given a great deal
of study to it. He was fairly well satisfied with his sermon because
he had given it such careful thought. After the sermon one of the
members of the congregation came up and said, “ Doctor B—,
were you ever out of a job and did not know where you were going
to get one?55 And he said, “ No, I never was.” The man continued,
“ Were you ever hungry and had no food in the house and had none
for your family and did not know where you were going to get
any? ” The minister replied, “ No, I wasn’t. And the member of
his congregation said, “ I, thought not.”
This last winter many who had never before known what it was
to be unemployed and in need were receiving relief. In many locali
ties from 35 to 80 per cent of those being helped had never before
received charitable assistance.
An active local committee means a great deal. First, it is close
to the problems, and, second, it represents the leaders of the com
munity in industry, in commerce, in agriculture where that was a
factor, and in labor; the morale of the unemployed was maintained
to a very much greater extent by reason of the fact that the leaders
of the community were interested. Where it was said that nothing
could be done, there discouragement was greatest.
Believing in the development of local responsibilities, both social
and economic, we worked through the governors of the States. In
some of the States committees were already in existence; in other
States it was necessary to cooperate with the governor in organizing
the State committees. In all cases the State committees included the
various groups such as labor, industrial management, commerce, and
agriculture, if an agricultural State. # And then through the State
organization the localities were organized.
I might say in passing that out of the 10 States with which I
contacted, the governors changed in 5 of them in midwinter—in
January. We had the finest cooperation, however, from those
governors—both the outgoing governors that had but a short time
to serve and the new governors coming in.
The committee, through its members who were skilled in the prob
lems of industrial relations and through its members who were
skilled in relief problems, maintained contact with trade associations
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105
and with the larger employers throughout the country and with
the more progressive groups of employers. The committee also
served as a medium for exchanging helpful information between
the several States and the many localities.
The committees working together in these localities and in the
States have placed a new emphasis upon the interdependence of
roups of people. This meeting is pretty far away from the inustrial mid-west. But in the mid-west the farmers, as early as a
year ago this spring, felt the unemployment situation in a new way,
in that those who were unable to secure work in industrial centers
had come back home without jobs and could not get them there.
Some had come back to their own homes and some to the wife’s
home and they are still there. So that with this backward move
ment to the farms and with poor crops in many cases the unemploy
ment situation is emphasized in rural areas.
In addition to the movement from urban communities to the farm
there was a movement which took place very noticeably in many
localities and that was a movement of the less fit to the urban
localities in the belief that there was an advantage in being within
reach of organized relief agencies.
In some sections of the mid-west there was a decided reduction or
change in the economic status of the farm folk—the wage earners,
the farm hands, became the recipients of charity in many rural com
munities where the drought was an important factor. The renter
became a farm hand and the farm owner became a renter after
losing his farm.
The first time that I had occasion to work through the South I
was surprised to find that the cotton farmers did not have gardens,
but they called my attention to the fact that they could raise cotton
and were not interested in gardens. They could buy their vegetables
and other food. In just the same way in many sections of this
country the farmers have not given attention during the last few
years to the care of their gardens and orchards. It will be necessary
again to give attention to some of those things in order that the indi
vidual may become more nearly self-sustaining. In many industries
it seems probable that the normal week will be shortened in the
future and, therefore, we have set about to consider with industry
and with agriculture in certain States the problems of industrial
employment combined with family food production. In West Vir
ginia there are thousands and thousands of gardens that have been
promoted by the coal companies this summer. What they can raise
on those gardens will be an important factor in relieving the situa
tion this coming winter. As we have gone into the localities we have
been confronted with such questions as these. In some of the terri
tory in which I have worked we have a very serious problem of
retraining where industries have been overexpanded or have moved
out. In the bituminous coal sections you have creeks that have been
abandoned, with scores of families in some of these settlements who
are practically unable to better their economic condition. Under
better conditions they were absorbed in industry, perhaps, but under
present conditions they can not be absorbed without help.
Will you look forward with me just a bit to this fall and summer
and next winter, which the committee faces? If we have five or six
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A. G. O. I.
millions out of employment this winter we will have cause to face
plans in a more serious frame of mind so far as relief is concerned
than we have ever faced a winter since the nineties, and we have no
record of what the nineties meant—some of us know what they meant
but we do not have the records of the conditions they faced. Now,
I am just discussing the question of distress alone at this moment.
The private givers are not in as good position to give as they were
last winter. Corporations in some localities give liberally and in
others not so liberally, and some have been ir red ink and can not
secure from their directors gifts with the same freedom as before.
Those who have been dependent upon their income from investments
will not be in as good shape to give as before because of reduced
dividends. The wage earners as a group gave unusually liberally
last winter but an increased number will not be in position to make
contributions on a similar scale by reason of reduced earnings.
Many of those who have accumulated wealth have heretofore been
liberal givers but greatly increased amounts will be necessary from
that group.
About 70 per cent of the family relief comes out of public moneys.
Taxes in the mid-west are delinquent in a measure that we have not
known for years and it is with difficulty that they are raising the
money to pay salaries in some localities. Now, that is the situation
we are facing for next winter so far as relief is concerned, and the
committee this summer will be pushing as hard as it knows how to
push in cooperation with associations throughout the United States
in organizing localities to meet the relief situation wherever localities
can. In some cases they may not be able to meet it.
We must build for the future and there are some responsibilities
of government that we should face. Miss Van Kleeck touched on
a part of it this morning and that is adequate information. We
need information of two kinds in so far as employment is con
cerned—on employment and on unemployment. We need it badly
because in good times we are governed by o ir hopes and in bad
times we are governed by our fears. The chances oi serious depres
sions would be greatly reduced if we had the facts and faced them.
This is a responsibility of government—to see that we have adequate
information, without bias. It should be the responsibility of gov
ernment to retrain and to assist in readjusting some of these men
and women who are left outside of the industrial currents. And
then, too, the government should have a share in encouraging the
stabilization of industry in every way possible. Stabilization rests
largely with industry and with management, but without govern
ment aid it can not be effectively done.
Government should be responsible for the establishment of effec
tive employment offices. There is very little; conception of how
important a part the employment office can play in a community.
In one city in Ohio we find that in one industry between February
15 and March 15, 1929, the number of men employed in one plant
increased by 268 and in another it was reduced by 246. That was
in the same industry and in the same locality. In another establish
ment there was a reduction of 33 in the number of men employed
and in a fourth establishment an increase of exactly 33 in the niim-
U N ITED STATES E M P L O Y M E N T SEE VICE---- H . L . BRU N SON
107
ber of men employed during that 30 days. Those men did not
change from one place to another quickly, but they walked the streets
from gate to gate until they found their jobs; some found them
quickly and others were a long time finding jobs. That was the
condition in good times.
We will have little conception until we have figures, in addition
to those now available, of the number of workers, men and women,
who are out of employment even in good times.
Government also has a definite responsibility for developing public
works in such a way as to dovetail if possible into industrial
conditions.
Out of all this suffering and loss during the present depression
there certainly must come some benefits. There is a determination
on the part of management to overcome the extreme fluctuation in
employment. That determination may arise from any one of three
causes: First, as a matter of humanity; second, as a matter of good
business; or, third, as a matter of the better way out because of fear
that we may have ill-conceived legislation which will not fit the
situation. But whatever it may be there is a determination on the
part of management that better days shall come and they are turning
their attention very seriously to stabilization.
We hope there is a determination on the part of the Government
that there shall be an effective employment system, that there shall
be accurate information concerning conditions available at all times,
and that out of all this there may come a better day for our children
and our children’s children than that through which we have gone.
Chairman H udson. I would like the president to make an an
nouncement in regard to the next speaker on our program.
President R ooksbery. Secretary of Labor Doak has sent Mr. Brun
son of the Department of Labor here to represent him, and at this
time Mr. Brunson will give us some of the facts pertaining to the
set-up of the Federal and State Employment Service that has recently
been inaugurated by Secretary Doak.
Employment Service of the United States Department
of Labor
By H. L.
B ru n so n,
of the United States Department of Labor
I am privileged to bring to you the official greetings of the Secre
tary of Labor, the Hon. William N. Doak, and of his special assistant
in direct charge of the Employment Service as its supervising direc
tor, the Hon. John R. Alpine.
It was not until immediately before my departure from Washington
to bring these greetings that the Secretary found that important
official duties would prevent his attendance, and about the same late
hour the hopes of Mr. Alpine in that direction were surrendered under
pressure of demand for his time and attention to administrative
matters in connection with the development of the Employment
Service.
Because of the unavoidable absence of these officials, you have to
tolerate a substitute, which means, as during the World War, “ take
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OE A . G. O. I.
what you get without complaint.” I am with you, however, to make
up, in a measure, some of the loss you sustained because of the circum
stances; to give you whatever information I have relating to the
functioning of the Employment Service; to offer to you, and through
you to the several States and municipalities from whence you come,
the fullest measure of cooperation, and to ask in return your active
assistance in developing a worth-while employment service, nation
wide in its scope.
This meeting is being held at a time when the whole world is suffer
ing from the ills of an unprecedented and prolonged industrial de
pression, one of the tentacles of which is still firmly entwined about
the apparently helpless form of our prostrated prosperity.
Throughout the land workers of every class and type are searching
and pleading for the opportunity to exchange their labors for the
necessities of life. Yerily it is a time when most; serious consideration
and undivided effort must be given to the whole question of unem
ployment, or, conversely stated, to the matter of gainful employment
for the masses.
The extent to which any public employment service can relieve un
employment is obviously limited to available employment opportuni
ties and to the collection and issuance of helpful information in
connection therewith.
The purposes of the United States Employment Service, as stated
in the appropriation act, are “ to foster, promote, and develop the
welfare or the wage earners of the United States; to improve their
working conditions; to advance their opportunities for profitable
employment by regularly collecting, furnishing, and publishing em
ployment information as to opportunities for employment; maintain
ing a system for clearing labor between the several States; cooperat
ing with the Veterans’ Administration to secure employment for
veterans; and cooperating with and coordinating the public employ
ment offices throughout the country.”
In order to carry out these purposes, the f oliowing plan of organi
zation has been adopted and is now in effect:
Acting under the immediate supervision of the Secretary of Labor,
the administrative officer of the service is the supervising director.
He is assisted by a director general, an assistant director general, and
the following staff: Director of information, director of veterans’
service, director of farm labor, seven superintendents of industrial ac
tivities, a State director of employment in each of the several States
and the District of Columbia.
The director of the information service is responsible for the corre
lation of all employment information and for the preparation and
issuance of such information to the public, through bulletins and
otherwise, as may be useful to those seeking such information.
The director of the veterans’ service gives special attention to the
service rendered to veterans through the several employment offices,
whether operated under the direction of, or in cooperation with, the
employment service.
The director of the farm labor service gives special attention to
the needs and requirements of agriculture in respect to the kind, type,
and quantity of labor required in the various sections of the country
for planting, tending, or harvesting of the various crops and directs
U N IT E D STATES E M P L O Y M E N T SERVICE— H . L . BRU N SON
109
such surveys as may be considered necessary to develop such facts.
He also acts as a clearing officer for the general direction of farm
labor to the various sections of the country through the various
offices—both directly operated and cooperative—to the end that in
formation given to farm-labor applicants will be so directed by these
various offices as to avoid maldistribution or the massing of an excess
of labor where not required.
The superintendents of specialized industrial activities study the
needs and requirements of the particular trade and occupational
groups to which they are severally assigned, with a view to determin
ing how adequately the work of various employment offices meet the
best interests and requirements of the respective groups.
The benefits of these studies will be available to State organiza
tion and cooperating offices through our State directors.
State directors have been appointed in all but three of the States
and appointments will be made in these States shortly. They are the
representatives of this service in their respective States, with super
visory authority over all Federal employment offices therein, and
represent the Federal Employment Service in all cooperative agree
ments with State and municipal employment services. They also
collect and furnish the administrative office with employment infor
mation covering the industries in their respective States.
It is the purpose of the Employment Service to continue to main
tain the present cooperative relationship with States and munici
palities and to extend such cooperative activities as rapidly and as
thoroughly as possible, tendering to the ranking officer of each
cooperating office an appointment as special agent of the Federal
Employment Service, which will entitle his office to the franking
privilege for official employment service purposes and all the regular
standard forms; letterheads and penalty envelopes will be furnished
for like purposes.
The Employment Service of the United States Department of
Labor has therefore something to offer in return for the cooperation
it asks and is justified in expecting. The problem confronting the
several States and the Federal Government is big enough and im
portant enough to put aside all detracting questions and matters of
minor importance m order that its solution may have the united
efforts of all.
It is a problem full of economically sound humanitarian con
siderations, calling for the best that can be given. The Federal
Government has put its hand to the plow and will not turn back.
The organization now in the building is not a temporary device,
but a permanent institution—not for emergency, but for all time.
All State, municipal, and civic organizations are earnestly implored
to lend their help in the completion of the task. Through united
endeavor and understanding cooperation, it can and will be done.
Suggestion is invited, wholesome criticism will be accepted, and
challenge is not feared.
In the name of the Secretary of Labor you are invited to visit
our administrative offices when in Washington and to address any
inquiries to the supervising director of the service, Mr. John R.
Alpine.
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. O. I.
President R o o k s b e r y . We have another speaker here this after
noon, who will make a report that was on yesterday’s program. At
this time we will be very pleased to hear from Mr. Ainsworth, assist
ant secretary of the American Standards Association.
REPOET ON THE STATUS OF SAFETY CODES (BY CYRIL AINSWORTH)
A9 (1929),—Buildlng-exits code.
Representative, John Campbell, department of labor and industry, Harris
burg, Pa.
No new sections or revision of existing sections have been developed during
the past year. There have not been sufficient criticisms of the 1929 draft to
warrant extensive revision of this code up to the present time.
The sponsor, the National Fire Protection Association, has requested a
change in statement of scope which will be submitted to the standards council
of the American Standards Association for consideration at its next meeting
on June 4. This new scope is as follows:
This code covers the construction, arrangement, and i se of exit facilities nec
essary to provide safe means of egress from structures, together with such fea
tures of construction and protection as have bearing on safety of egress.
A ll (1930).—Code of lighting: Factories, mills, and other work places.
Representative, Charles H. Weeks, department of labor, Trenton, N. J.
A revision of this code was completed during the past year and was ap
proved by the American Standards Association as American standard in
August, 1930.
This code has been extensively distributed throughout the United States
and copies have been sent to all regulatory bodies. Tlie code contains a dis
cussion of the necessity for good lighting as well as giving recommended
values and minimum requirements for illumination for various classes of
industrial buildings, work places, and for various operations.
There is an additional point of interest relating to this code which should
be called to your attention. An inspector’s manual is in course of preparation.
This manual is designed to give assistance to inspectors in interpreting and
applying the technical provisions of the code. It is easy enough to train an
inspector to use a foot-candle meter, but if a good job of lighting is to be done,
knowledge of the fundamentals of good lighting is also essential. It is hoped
that the manual will assist in providing the inspector with thesei fundamentals.
A12.—Safety code for floor and wall openings, railings and toe boards.
Representative, E. J. Pierce, department of labor, New York, N. Y.
About a year ago a tentative draft of this code was widely distributed for
the purpose of securing criticism. Very little criticism was received, however,
either from industry or regulatory bodies.
The committee has held two meetings during the past: year in order to pre
pare the final draft, which has been sent to letter ballot of the sectional com
mittee. This letter ballot is about 75 per cent complete and it is expected that
the sponsors, the National Safety Council, will submit this code to the American
Standards Association for approval in the very near future.
A17 (1925).—Safety code for elevators, dumb-waiters, and escalators.
Representative, John P. Meade, department of labor and industries, Boston,
Mass.
During the past year the sectional committee completed its work of revision
of this project. This revision is primarily based on extensive research work
conducted by the committee through the employment oi a research associate
REPORT ON SAFETY CODES---- CYRIL AIN SW O RTH
111
at the United States Bureau of Standards. The research work centered princi
pally in car safeties and buffers.
The new code is now before the sponsors for approval and it is expected
that the code will be submitted to the American Standards Association for
approval as American standard during the month of June.
A22.—Safety code for walkway surface».
Representatives, John Campbell, department of labor and industry, Harris
burg, Pa.; Harry E. Mackenzie, department of labor and factory inspection,
Hartford, Conn.
The report rendered on this code a year ago indicated that the completion
of the project might be anticipated during the year. This has not been pos
sible due to the fact that without practical information concerning accidents
due to faulty walkway surface construction and to the frictional resistance of
walkway surface materials, a draft which will be enforceable and practical for
use by regulatory bodies and architects can not be developed.
A tentative draft is now being prepared with the intention of having it
printed and distributed with the recommendation that regulatory bodies,
architects, building contractors, and manufacturers of walkway surface ma
terials will endeavor to follow the requirements and submit the results of
their findings to the code-drafting committee.
The period for practical application of the code will be for approximately
two years, after which time a further attempt will be made to develop a final
draft which can be approved by the American Standards Association.
B9 (1930).—Safety code for mechanical refrigeration.
Representative, M. H. Christopherson, New York State insurance fund,
New York, N. Y.
This safety code, approved October, 1930, is one of the most important to be
approved by the American Standards Association.
Copies of the code have been sent to all regulatory bodies and a special
promotional booklet was developed for the purpose of promoting the use of the
code throughout the United States. The booklet was distributed to city govern
ments of all cities of over 30,000 inhabitants, to all technical trade magazines,
and to the principal newspaper offices throughout the country. Requests for
copies of the booklet and the safety code have been coming in steadily since
the code was approved and many cities are now considering its adoption in
their city ordinances.
A special subcommittee of the sectional committee has been appointed as
a committee on interpretation. This is especially important to the regulatory
bodies as questions are likely to arise concerning the proper interpretation
of the requirements. All such questions should be referred, through the
American Standards Association office, to this subcommittee. Decisions will
be rendered in much the same way in which they are handed down by the
boiler code committee of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Questions of interpretation will form the basis for future revisions of the
code.
B20 (1930).—Safety code for conveyors and conveying machinery.
Representative, John P. Meade, department of labor and industries, Boston,
Mass.
Very little progress toward the completion of this project can be reported
for the year 1930. Many of the sections of this code prepared by subcom
mittees have been completed but the preparation of the final draft of the
entire code can not be undertaken until subcommittees of the remaining sec
tions have finished their reports.
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
BSO.—Safety code for cranes, derricks, md hoists.
Representative, Eugene B. Patton, department of labor, New York, N. Y.
Various sections of this code, prepared by subcommittees, have been com
pleted but it will be impossible to undertake the preparation of a final draft
until all of the subcommittees have submitted their reports. Very little prog
ress has been made on this project during the past year.
Z4.—Safety code for industrial sanitation.
Representative, T. C. Eipper, department of labor, New York, N. Y.
The sectional committee for this project has been completely revised and the
sponsor, the United States Bureau of the Public Heal ;h Service, has prepared
a tentative draft which is expected to form the basis of the discussion by the
committee. Sectional committee meetings will be called just as soon as the
Bureau of the Public Health Service has completed seme investigations which
it has under way concerning various phases of this project. *
The personnel of the sectional committee has been approved by the American
Standards Association and the scope will be submitted to the next meeting of
the Standards Council on June 4.
Z12.—Safety codes for the prevention of dust explosions.
Representative, W. J. Burke, fire department headquarters, Boston, Mass.
Two new sections of this code were completed during the year 1930. They
are: Installation of pulverized fuel systems and prevention of dust explosions
in coal pneumatic cleaning plants. Copies of both of these sections have been
sent to all regulatory bodies.
This sectional committee is a permanent committee which will consider from
time to time the development of new sections on the general subject of the
prevention of dust explosions.
Z1S.—Safety code for amusement parks.
Representative, T. C. Eipper, department of labor, New York, N. Y.
Considerable progress has been made in the completion of this project during
the past year. Many of the subcommittees have submitted tentative drafts
of various sections and these are being edited and correlated by the staff of
the American Standards Association. The officers of the committee are hope
ful that the code can be completed during the next six months.
The personnel of the committee has been approved and the following scope
will be submitted to Standards Council for final approval at its next meeting
on June 4:
Specifications and recommendations for the construction, operation, main
tenance, and inspection of grounds, buildings, structures, devices, apparatus,
and equipment to insure the protection of the lives and persons of patrons of
amusement parks and amusement devices and the employees engaged in the
operation of such parks and devices; but not to include the traveling carnival
using portable equipment.
B24 (1927).—Safety code for forging and hot metal stamping.
B28.—Safety code for rubber machinery.
Ca (1927).—National electrical safety cods.
K1S (1930).—Code for identification of gas-mask canisters.
Li (1929).—Textile safety code.
X2 (1922).—National safety code for the protection of the heads and eyes of
industrial workers.
Z8 (1924).—Safety code for laundry machinery and operations.
The sectional committees of the above-named committees are inactive, as
no revision cf the projects have been found necessary.
REPORT ON SAFETY CODES---- CYRIL A IN SW O R TH
113
Safety code correlating committee.
Representatives, T. P. Kearns, industrial commission, Columbus, Ohio; John
H. Hall, jr., department of labor and industry, Richmond, Va.; John P. Meade,
department of labor and industries, Boston, Mass.
A meeting of the safety code correlating committee was held last September
in connection with the National Safety Congress at Pittsburgh. At this time
consideration was given to reports of the executive committee, scope commit
tee, and the committee on the promotion of the use of safety codes in industry.
Most of the work of the safety code correlating committee is carried on by
these three subcommittees. All of the safety codes submitted to the American
Standards Association for approval during the past yea* were referred to the
executive committee of the safety code correlating committee in order that they
might consider each one of the following points and make final recommendation
to the Standards Council as to whether or not, in their belief, the code war
ranted approval by the American Standards Association:
1. The adequacy of representation of the various interests concerned on the
sectional committee, with respect to the subject of this report.
2. The regularity and degree of unanimity of the action by which the new
standard was adopted by the sectional committee and approved by the sponsors.
3. Any other facts, considerations, or background which seems to you to have
an important bearing on the question of approval by the American Standards
Association.
4. The desirability of submitting the revised code to letter ballot of the
Standards Council for approval as American standard, based on your considera
tion of the above points (not on the technical details of the code).
All personnel lists and scopes have also been submitted to the executive com
mittee in o!rder that the recommendation of the committee can be sent to the
Standards Council.
Of greatest interest to this association is probably the work of the subcom
mittee on the promotion of the use of safety codes in industry. This committee,
under the chairmanship of Mr. J. A. Morford, of the National Industrial Confer
ence Board, has been very active in bringing to the attention of a large number
of trade associations, individuals connected with various classes of industrial
establishments, and other special groups. For instance, a special meeting of
the Queensboro (N. Y.) Chamber of Commerce was held last November, in which
the whole program was devoted to the standardization work of the American
Standards Association, with special emphasis on safety codes.
Arrangements have been made for several addresses delivered before various
groups by the American Standards Association staff on the general subject of
the use of national safety codes and as a result of this activity there seems
to be a more general acceptance of the fundamental ideas back of the national
safety code movement. This has been shown by the large number of requests
coming in for information concerning the particular codes or the program as a
whole.
In regard to the construction safety code, you will remember that the
report rendered a year ago did not hold out much hope that the committee
would be able to go very far. It is pleasing to be able to report that the
committee is now actively at work. A chairman has been appointed, and six
subcommittee chairmen experts in the line have been chosen to develop tentative
drafts on the various sections and the project is going ahead for the first
time in six years. This activity seems to have dissipated the objections that
have been coming from various sources which have been the “ nigger in the
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E IG H TE E N T H ANNUAJ. M EETIN G OF A. G. O. I.
woodpile” in preventing the development of this most important safety code.
I think we can be hopeful that within a year something of real value will
be developed.
There is a special point in reference to the development of American stand
ard safety codes that I desire to bring to your attention at this time. I have
discussed the national program with several of your representatives and find
that there is a misunderstanding concerning the starting of projects under
American Standards Association procedure. The American Standards Associa
tion does not initiate any projects. The program is entirely dependent upon
the requests for the development of projects which come in from such
associations as this, from trade associations, insurance groups, individual
manufacturing companies, or individual persons. The national safety code
program is coming very close to completion as far as Ihe present projects are
concerned. The expansion of this program is dependent upon requests for
revision of present American standard safety codes or for the development
of new ones. From this you will see that through your interest in accidentprevention work you have a responsibility both as an association and indi
vidually in making known your thoughts as to ways and means of further
developing the national program.
DISCUSSION
Chairman H udson. I am going to ask your worthy president if he
will preside from now on and take charge of the discussion and
meeting in general.
President R ooksbery (Arkansas). We have had a wonderful pro
gram this afternoon and I am sorry we had to break in at this point,
but Mr. Ainsworth has to leave here to-night, I am informed, and it
was the only opportunity for this report.
I am going to ask Doctor Andrews, of New York, who is very
familiar with the employment conditions and studies there, and I
believe he is just the right one to get us back on the track of this
unemployment program this afternoon, to start the discussion on
that.
Doctor A ndrews (New York). The subject that Mr. Ainsworth has
just covered is to my mind a much neglected one still. We have now
had about 20 years of important development of the administrative
order system, which to a very considerable extent has taken the place
of the old statute labor laws in this country, and until comparatively
recently we have had no well-organized statement of what has been
accomplished by that exceedingly important system of legislation.
It is fortunate indeed that the American Standards Association has
men well qualified to do the day-by-day work of following through
with formulation and advertising of the standards that should be
adopted more widely.
There is one phase of it that some of us have been working on
rather intensively in the last three years, and that includes the pro
cedure and the formulation of the orders, which some of us believe
is important not only for the proper understanding of this new law
by the employers and by the workers, and by the lawyers who repre
sent the employers and the workers, but we also think it may be
important later on, when perhaps some of these regulations come to
U N E M P L O Y M E N T ---- DISCUSSION
115
run the gauntlet of the courts, that the procedure be very carefully
outlined and religiously followed, with a record properly made out
for the future.
Of course it is unemployment which has overshadowed every
thing in this country in the last year and a half and that has placed
burdens on all of us in addition to the burdens that we ordinarily
have to carry. I think that you have had here to-day in the fore
noon and afternoon sessions a remarkable foundation for under
standing and discussion of what is to be done next. Personally I am
very much interested always in what are the next steps, and here
you have had the Federal Government representatives, State repre
sentatives, and the experts dealing with employment statistics out
lining the development of this great problem and the machinery,
the strategy, and the technique for handling it more intelligently
during the coming years.
You all know, I believe, that we are not going to get so far ahead
by repeatedly counting the unemployed under our present facilities,
just as accident statistics got further along by having a universal
system of insurance and reserve funds and comprehensive records
of the problem. I remember that in New York State, where Dr.
Leonard Hatch of your association was the very conscientious and
able labor statistician for many years, he got as high as 90,000
industrial accidents reported in 1913 and we commended him very
highly for that. The next year the compulsory accident compensa
tion law went into operation and during the succeeding year we
found that we had, not 90,000, but something like 225,000 accidents
reported. So when we get a comprehensive system of health in
surance or unemployment insurance we will be amazed at what we
did not know about the problem before.
Mr. P lant (Ontario). I would not like this session to adjourn
without saying a few words in regard to the action taken by the
Government of Canada in connection with unemployment relief.
Two months after the election that was held in Canada last summer
a special session of the Canadian Parliament was called for the pur
pose of making provision for the unemployed, and the Government
appropriated $20,000,000, $4,000,000 of which was for direct relief
and the remaining $16,000,000 was for work which was to be under
taken and paid for jointly by the Dominion, by the Provinces, and
by the municipalities. I want to give you just a few figures in con
nection with this problem and to show you the conditions under
which the appropriation was made.
When the act was passed and following that, conferences were
held between the Minister of Labor and the governors of the various
Provinces, and agreements provided for in the regulations were exe
cuted with regard to expenditures for direct relief and public work
and undertakings for the purpose of providing work for the unem
ployed. The agreements provided, in accordance with the legisla
tion, for the payment by the Dominion Government of one-third of
the relief undertaken by municipalities, the Provinces agreeing to
contribute amounts equal to that paid by the Dominion. The agree
ments further provided that the Dominion pay one-half the amounts
paid by the Provinces in unorganized districts. The agreements
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
also provided that there might be paid by the Dominion 25 per cent
of the cost of public work and undertakings carried on by the munici
palities to provide work for the unemployed, and the Provinces
would provide like amounts for such undertakings.
The agreements further provided that the Dominion Government
would pay one-half the cost of provincial public work carried on to
provide suitable work for the unemployed.
As you know, there has been some agitation for years to have a
highway across Canada, and they thought this was a favorable
opportunity to extend that project. I might say in connection with
wages, the Dominion Government has what it calls a fair-wage
policy—that on all public work or work assisted by public funds
the prevailing rate of wages must be paid to the workers; if there
is nothing that can be considered a prevailing rate, then the Min
ister of Labor has the power to set what he considers a fair and rea
sonable rate—and of course the regulations provide for that.
Out of that $4,000,000 that was set aside for direct relief, the
Dominion was only called upon to spend something less than $900,000—that was one-third—the Provinces and municipalities contri
buting like amounts.
The total cost of public work as a result of this $20,000,000 appro
priation amounted to over $70,000,000, so that you can see that there
was a lot of work carried on. This gave employment to 272,000
individuals up to the 14th of this month (May), and the number of
days’ work was 5,651,576. So you see that the Dominion endeavored
to assist in the unemployment situation.
I might say, too, that the Dominion Government, of course, did
not set up any committees to carry on the work of expending this
money, but it undertook to use the established agencies such as the
provincial parliament, which is an elective body, and the munici
palities. In that way there was supervision over the work by the
Provinces and also by the municipalities, so that I do not think we
have made a very bad showing in the way of relieving the un
employment which was so acute during the past winter.
Some of these works, I might say, are not yet completed. The
money was allotted but it has not yet been used. In the city of
Ottawa we have an extensive sewer project which is now under way
and will be for a few months yet, so that the money has not lapsed
but all that has been allotted, or rather the amount that has been
allotted, is less than the amount that was appropriated by
Parliament.
(Meeting adjourned.)
THURSDAY, MAY 21— MORNING SESSION
E . Leroy Sweetser, Commissioner Department of Labor and Industries of Massachusetts
INDUSTRIAL SAFETY SESSION
Chairman S weetser. The program to-day is one of great interest
to the Department of Labor, as it deals with men, women and chil
dren, and industry. It is a subject that I presume always will have
great interest for us, but one to which we have to devote our best
efforts if we are to prevent accidents and injury.
In this connection your committee decided to have one speaker
that represented the manufacturer or the employer of labor and the
department secured one of those employers of labor who are in earn
est to protect their workers from injury. I may add that we have
many employers in this Commonwealth who work hand and glove
with the department to that purpose.
Unfortunately Mr. Tinsley, due to a sudden call to New York,
could not be here in person; but he has sent his chief engineer who,
he says, has a great deal to do with making their plant safe. I take
pleasure in introducing as the first speaker, Mr. Nickerson, the chief
engineer of the Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass.
He has Mr. Tinsley’s paper and he has added some things of his own
to it.
Mr. N ickerson. In the first place I might say that we manufac
ture looms for every type of woven fabric. Tnat calls for quite a
complete manufacturing establishment, so we get into all phases of
the industry. For instance, we have a foundry with about 300 em
ployees at the present time. Then we have a machine shop and presswork, woodworking—and in the woodworking department we have
about 75 or 80 employees. In the whole shop at Worcester, including
the office, there are about 732 people. That will give you a little idea
of our problems.
Industrial Safety by an Employer of Labor
By
H
arold
L.
N ic k e r s o n ,
of Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester,
Mass.
To-day the manufacturer and governmental officials in industry
have a common viewpoint, which is best expressed by a quotation
taken from Lewis A. De Blois’s book, “ Industrial Safety Organi
zation ” :
The purpose of the industrial safety movement is that the workman shall
live to enjoy the fruits of his labor; that his mother shall have the comfort of
his arm in her age; that his wife shall not be untimely a widow; that his
children shall have a father, and that cripples and helpless wrecks who were
once strong men shall not longer be a by-product of industry.
85053°
117
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A . G. 0 . I.
Governments and manufacturers had to pass through long peri
ods of development before this community of interest resulted from
their experiences. History is often helpful in showing how we
arrived at our conception of conditions as they exist at present.
At one time nearly every want of man wTas’ supplied by his own
hands or by bartering those things of which he had an excess beyond
his needs for those things that others made beyond their require
ments. This was true up to the beginning of the factory system in
the sixteenth century. Under such conditions there was no responsi
bility for the safety of an employee, because there were relatively
few employees other than slaves over whom the owner had the
power of life or death. Conditions changed somewhat with the
start of the factory system. This factory idea spread rather slowly,
yet to such an extent that the health hazards created called forth
the first textbook on occupational disease in 1710. Until the close
of the eighteenth century practically no power-operated machinery
was used. The last two decades of the eighteenth century saw the
invention of machinery for spinning and weaving cotton, incident
to the application of steam power, which was almost immediately
made to the cotton machinery. In England, where these inventions
and discoveries were made, an immense impulse was given to indus
try and caused a very rapid increase in the number of factories and
enlargement of existing ones. This rapid development, which was
naturally unregulated, resulted in many accidenl s and much occupa
tional disease. The hours were long and children and women were
given preference in employment.
While it was some time later before factories were started in our
country, they drifted into the same dangers as did those of Europe.
As time passed the dangers to life and limb attracted attention and
it was recognized that something needed to be done. To remedy
these conditions, laws were placed on the statute books limiting the
number of hours that children might work; the age at which chil
dren might be employed; and the hours of work for women.
Later on certain provisions for sanitation and safety were required,
together with provisions for enforcing these laws. To-day we can
judge the progressiveness of a State by the protection it affords its
workers and by the practical limitations placed on the employment
of women and children.
American factory industry is only a little over a hundred years
old. When you look at the distance it has traveled since that time
up to the present with its almost inconceivable production, the rea
son for the somewhat slow appreciation of importance of the human
element becomes clearer.
The minds of men were coping with vast problems that clamored
for solution and would not be denied. Steam, electricity, chemistry,
rapid communication and transportation, immense natural resources,
the pioneering instinct predominated in a great development in
which the individual as such received small consideration.
The first organized effort to prevent accidents was made in Alsace
Lorraine in 1867. The idea found immediate favor in the more pro
gressive European countries, so that in 1910 one of these, at least,
had completed a quarter century of organized accident-prev^ntioi)
work:.
IKDTJ&TRIAL SAFETY— HAEOLD L . N ICK EBSOH
119
In America the first notable effort to prevent accidents was under
taken by the United States Steel Corporation in 1907. At the time
of its organization in 1900 it inherited from the H. C. Frick Coke
Co. the slogan, “ Safety the first consideration,” which had been an
operating rule of the Frick Co. for a score of years by order of its
resident, Thomas Lynch. In 1910 the railroads commenced “ Safety
rst ” campaigning to bring within reasonable bounds the appalling
accident toll from that source.
The safety movement started to assume a national scope in 1911
when a group of electrical engineers connected with the iron and
steel industry met in Milwaukee to discuss the dangers to workmen
in industry.
The workmen’s compensation act was put into effect in this State
in 1912. Massachusetts was one of the first States to provide for
the protection of the workers in industry. This act has been revised
from time to time as experience has shown that changes were
necessary.
Having given you the history of the progress of the accident-prevention movement, I want to devote a few minutes to its practical
application in our plant—the Crompton & Knowles Loom Works.
Our way of handling the problem differs in some ways from the
methods used successfully by other companies. We have found
our method productive of good results in reducing the number and
severity of lost-time accidents and in developing a safety conscious
ness in our employees.
First, let me state that I do not believe you are ever going to
eliminate all accidents from a factory. This statement is based on
the fact that practically every accident in our plant in recent years
has been caused by the man’s failure to observe due care. Human
behavior can not be standardized like a machine operation.
There are two fundamental requirements in any successful accident-prevention program: (1) The management must be completely
sold on the importance of the safety of the employee and the em
ployee must know it. We have the absolute backing of our manager,
Mr. Tinsley, who brought to us his knowledge of accident-prevention
work as carried on by the United States Steel Corporation. (2)
The responsibility for the safety of his men must be put on the
shoulders of the head of the department in such a way that he can
not fail to realize it if an accident occurs.
We have a unique method of charging the foreman for his ac
cidents in the report for the performance of his department which
is compiled at the end of each year. He is penalized in the section
which rates him on his ability to handle men, and again in his costs
by the compensation charges. To go more fully into how this is
handled would require more time than I have at my disposal. An
other thing we have found is that the ordinary shop safety com
mittee interests itself more in bringing out minor shop housekeep
ing defects than it does in checking up for safe working practices,
and in spreading safety education. Therefore, we have a central
safety committee composed of the superintendent of the foundry,
the plant engineer, the service manager, a general foreman, a fore
man, and your speaker. This committee has four permanent mem
bers, the foreman and general foreman being changed each year.
E
120
E IG & T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OE A. G. 0 . I.
The plant is divided into sections and one member of the com
mittee inspects each section. Every two months the members are
reassigned to new sections so that in a year we haA^e six different
opinions on conditions of equipment, guards, sanitary facilities, and
following of safe practices in each section. This works out very
satisfactorily.
We have very few safety rules. These are general in nature and
are fundamental regulations that apply in any part of the plant.
We expect the foreman to see that his men follow safe methods in
doing their work. That is his responsibility and we do not let him
share it with anyone. This prevents any alibis.
We investigate all lost-time accidents and other accidents where
we believe there is some lesson to learn. Frequently we use the court
of inquiry method whereby all those having any knowledge of an
accident meet, go over it in minute detail, fix responsibility, and find
out what can be done to prevent a similar accident from happening
in the future.
One of the big advantages of our system is that we are organized
to take immediate action of any serious hazard that arises. As I
walk about the plant, workmen will come to me and point out haz
ards. This is immediately brought to the attention of the plant
engineer who has the hazard eliminated in a short time.
We have a report from the hospital each month on all minor acci
dents that are treated. We study this for any indications of condi
tions that need correction. These are taken up with the foreman.
Our doctor cooperates with us and recommends men whose phys
ical condition has reached a point where they should be transferred
to a more suitable job. We have physical examination upon en
trance into our employ and yearly or more frequent examinations
of all employees over 35 years old. This is a great benefit to the
man and to us in keeping him safely employed.
We use bulletins, talks to the men on the job, and safety articles
in our employees’ magazine, the “ Loom Pickings,” to help educate
our employees in safe practices. We do not believe in campaigns or
interdepartmental competition. We have tried them and have always
found serious aftereffects in the form of infections from unreported
injuries.
We follow up every case of a man reporting to the hospital for
treatment whenever the injury was not reported immediately after
it happened. We do this through the foreman. This gives him
a chance to give the man safety instruction.
All new employees receive safety instruction from the service
manager and from his foreman before he starts to work. The
foreman follows this up by keeping in close contact with the man
during his learning period.
I have given you the main points in our plan, which has secured
good results for us. In 1923 we had 242 lost -time accidents. In
1930 we had 16 lost-time accidents—a reduction of 94 per cent. We
started our records in 1918. The first three years we averaged 202
lost-time accidents per year. The next five years this average was
reduced to 148, and in the last five years ending January 1, 1931,
we have brought the lost-time accidents to an average of 36 per
INDUSTRIAL SAFETY— HAROLD L. NICKERSON
121
year. In other words, in 10 years we have reduced our average for
a 5-year period 82% per cent. I believe that those figures are proof
that our plan is producing good results in our plant.
The elimination of physical hazards in all progressive plants has
been brought to such a standard that the latest figures show less
than 10 per cent of the accidents have the machine as a contributing
cause. Therefore, the problem of the safety organization is princi
pally concerned with gaining the cooperation of every employee by
educational means ana in some cases dv disciplinary measures. Of
course, it is almost axiomatic that guarding against physical hazards
must go on continually.
This brings us to the point where we come into contact with the
industrial safety division of the Department of Labor and Industries
of Massachusetts. We are not insured under the workmen’s compen
sation act, but handle all accidents in accordance with the regulations
of the act. Thus we do not have the advantage of frequent inspec
tions by an insurance company’s engineers. Therefore, we especially
welcome the visit of the inspector for the State. Familiarity with
conditions often acts to dim your appreciation of the hazards con
nected with the operation or process. Consequently, to aid us in our
safety efforts, we get the opinion and counsel of the State inspector
who is constantly visiting all kinds of manufacturing plants. We
do not look upon the inspector as a spy or police officer, but rather as
a valuable friend who has the same interest in the safety of our
workmen as we have. I believe that this is and should be the view
point of every manufacturer.
I have given this rather lengthy description of the history of the
accident-prevention movement and of how this work is handled in a
modern manufacturing establishment, so that all of us will have the
same understanding of what the history of this movement has been
and how it works under actual shop conditions. I want you to have
this information so that you may more easily follow the reason for
my choice of points that I would look for in a factory if I were a
State inspector, which it was suggested that I bring out in this paper.
The attitude of the management toward the safety of its workmen
is one of the first things that I would want to determine. This is
clearly shown by progress that is being made in the reduction of the
number of accidents which I could check up from the record of acci
dents. I should want to see a brief history of each accident. From
this I would note those in which a machine was involved and would
ask to have the machines pointed out to me as I went through the
plant to make sure that they were satisfactorily guarded.
The next thing I should check would be to find out if employment
certificates were kept on file for all minor workers. Then I would
check up the hours of work for women and minors. Naturally, as I
went through the departments where women or minors worked, I
would ask to see if the hours of work were posted and would watch
for any violations.
Having secured the information mentioned previously, I would be
ready to go through the plant to make a physical inspection. I
should be interested to see that all machinery was guarded in accord
ance with the regulations which the departments such as you repre
sent have ordered. In this same classification would come shafting
122
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. 0 . L
and belting, as well as the projecting set screw which can do so much
serious damage. I should be on the watch for new hazards not cov
ered by regulations to bring to the attention of the commissioners.
Places where a workman might come in contact with electric cur
rent, especially where voltage is as high as 220 volts, would be an
other point that I should be on the watch for at all times. I have
found that machinery manufacturers do not always provide starting
and stopping mechanism on motor-driven machinery which assures
the safety of the workman from electric shock.
Another thing that I should want to investigate is the condition of
the toilet and washing facilities to see that they were clean, in good
repair, properly lighted, and properly ventilated. I should want to
be sure that there were enough of these conveniently located to the
working areas.
Ventilation is another subject that would interest me. This is an
important point in any room where people work, but especially so
in those places where dangerous fumes are present. To-day there
are two dangers from fumes—those which are injurious to the health
and those, such as the fumes from the volatile liquids and the lacquers,
which are dangerously inflammable.
Good housekeeping is important in a plant from the safety view
point. Clean plants generally have the best accident records. There
fore, I should watch out for dangerously piled material; accumula
tions of rubbish, broken boxes, chips, and sawdust; wet, oily, and de
fective floors; and similar hazardous conditions.
The following of safe working practices by the employees would be
another thing that I should be following as I walked through the
plant. If I knew that the management of the plant had the right
safety attitude, I would be doing him a favor by pointing out em
ployees that were not obeying his safety instructions. If he did not
have the right attitude, these would be additional ways of showing
the need for taking the proper interest in the safety of his employees.
The use of personal safety equipment such as goggles, respirators,
sand-blast helmets, leggings, safety clothing, welding shields, etc.,
should be checked by any inspector. Most modern plants provide
every safety device that is necessary, but frequently workmen neglect
to use them, feeling themselves immune to injury. By pointing out
these cases you give the plant safety engineer an additional lever to
use in converting them to ways of safety.
No doubt the regulations that you have in effect now cover the
field quite fully, as you have probably noted these points which I
have made are right in line with them. That is true because this
inspection of factories has reached a standardized condition. How
ever, we are traveling fast in the developing of new methods and
processes, new machines and new methods of transporting material.
Higher speed is constantly demanded. These all bring their prob
lems which must be met. I believe that I am safe in saying that the
machinery manufacturers are giving us machines which are more
completely guarded to-day than ever before, with the guards an
integral part of the machine, making unnecessary those cages of
iron and wire mesh that so detract from the looks of a department.
It is to these rapid changes, however, that I believe we must give our
greatest attention if we are to prevent the serious calamities, such
IN D U ST R IA L SAFETY— H AROLD L . N ICK ERSO N
123
as the hospital fire in Cleveland, the shoe finding plant in Lynn,
and the Briggs Body Plant in Detroit.
In closing I want to take the opportunity to state that our con
tact with the inspector of the State department of labor and indus
tries, Mr. John D. Hassett, has been most pleasant. We have found
him ever willing to cooperate with us in our efforts to make our
plant a safe one in which to work. He has frequently given us
information or told us where we could get information to help
solve our problems. I am sure that we have him to thank for some
of our progress.
Chairman S weetser. We have enjoyed the paper by Mr. Nicker
son very much. It is an example of plant management that believes
in safety. We have had the additional information from him of
what he should do if he were a sanitary inspector. Of course, the
value of those words is more appreciated by inspectors, and that is
the reason the commission has taken advantage of the subject to-day
by having all our industrial inspectors present*
The next speaker does not need any introduction to those of us
who are members of this association. He is one of the outstanding
men in this country, and I am glad Miss Perkins is here to hear what
he has to say in regard to the enforcement of labor laws, especially
those relating to safety, industrial safety, and the safeguarding of
the men, women, and children. His whole life has been devoted to
that subject; he has the splendid experience of having been in charge
of the inspectors of the great State of New York. He is practical and
hard-headed. I heard Ethelbert Stewart say at one of our conven
tions that there are three outstanding men in this country in the
enforcement of labor laws in a common-sense, practical way. These
are Mr. Gernon, of New York; Mr. Roach, of New Jersey; and Mr.
Meade, of Massachusetts.
To take advantage of the presence of Mr. Roach and Mr. Gernon,
a special meeting is to be held to-day, at which I asked them to talk
to my industrial inspectors and to say anything to them except
praise them.
Almost 12 years ago when I was appointed to this position I
wanted the best information I could get. I went to Mr. Gernon and
I went to Mr. Roach. They gave me all the time and attention that
I needed and they have done so ever since. If you ever want any
information on any subject those two men will be glad to help you
and assist you at any time. New York has always been willing to
help every "State in the Union. I take great pleasure in introducing
Mr. Gernon of New York, who will talk from an employer’s stand
point.
Mr. G ernon. The previous speaker said a few things that were
very interesting, and before I read my paper I would like to cover
them to show what we are doing along the same line as he, in one
instance.
He spoke of the machine that was delivered by a manufacturer
and not properly guarded. Fifteen years ago we conceived the idea
of having all of our inspectors report every new machine they found
in industry—that is, a machine that was installed after the last in
spection made in the plant. If that machine was unsafe, he had to
124
E IG H T E E N T H ANNUAL, M E E T IN G OF A . G. O. I .
make a special report to me, and I wrote to the manufacturer. I
can not tell you how many thousands of letters I have written in
those 15 years, but it is encouraging to say that at the present time
I do not have to write 500 letters in a year. The way in which the
manufacturers have responded is remarkable. In only three in
stances in the 15 years have the manufacturers taken exception to
our questioning of the machine. Then we sent them a second letter
in which they were politely informed that our law was sufficiently
strong so that should they not make their machine safe, and should
they install any more in the State of New York, we would put the
“ unsafe55 tag on the machine. That usually brings them around.
It must be said to the credit of manufacturers of machinery in
this country that they are willing to do the things that the law
requires. It is remarkable that men develop machines as efficient as
many of them are, and still we have factories in an unsafe condition,
because the genius that developed the machine was not applied to
the safety of it.
The previous speaker talked of man failure. If I sensed his talk
right, he seems to feel that you can not correct man failure. I do not
agree with him. I believe man failure in industry can be remedied
to a great extent, and it is man failure that is multiplying our in
dustrial injuries. But do not blame it all on the man who gets
hurt—that is the point we must keep in mind. This man failure
may be on the part of the foreman, the superintendent, the owner,
or the man himself. In addition to suffering all the pain and
penalty in connection with industrial injury the poor unfortunate
usually has to take the blame as well. The insurance companies
tell us that it is carelessness; but, it is not always carelessness.
The schools to-day are failing to give the child enough education
in the use of its body to make it safe anywhere. Should the child
leave the school and go into industry, it does not know how to use
its body so as to be safe; and this does not stop with the child, as
the previous speaker demonstrated, but it goes on through his adult
life and into the factory. His company, very wisely, instructs em
ployees in the hazards of the operation. However, my contention
is that the instructions do not go far enough to teach the man that
there is a hazardous point on the machine that he must reach in a
certain way to avoid overstrain. It is my belief that until we ap
proach industrial injuries and their prevention in the way outlined
in my paper, we are not going to reduce them in the groups other
than machinery.
What I Would Do, Based on My Experience, to Make
Work Places Safe Were I Employer or Owner
By
J am ejs
L.
G ernon,
Director Division of Inspection, New York State
Department of Labor
If I were an owner or employer with the experience that has been
acquired from enforcing safety and sanitary laws, I would know that
if my employees were trained in the proper method of creating the
products manufactured, it would reduce injuries and that such a
policy would be to the best interests of the business, especially if the
M A K IN G W O R K PLACES SAFE---- J . L . GERKON
125
employees were properly instructed in the correct and safe methods
of performing their various duties.
Believing in the necessity for proper instruction and training of
employees to promote safe conditions, naturally I would exercise
intelligent effort relative to the arrangement and equipment of the
working places in and about the plant in order to provide safety,
comfort, and real welfare for those employed. At least I would give
as much attention and consideration to the selection, training, and
comfort of the employees as I would to the manufacturing equipment,
the purchasing of raw material, and the sale and distribution of the
products manufactured.
In the work which we as enforcing officers are doing we have some
varied experiences relative to the different types of manufacturing
and mercantile establishments^ and while we. have the opportunity
of seeing and observing all kinds of establishments, varying from
good to bad, we know most of them should be financially successful.
It makes one marvel that many of them are as successful as they are
when there is every evidence of their failure to conduct their busi
nesses in a manner that would promote the best interests of the
employer and employees.
In our efforts to secure proper industrial safeguarding or sani
tary conditions, we have all heard the worn-out arguments such as
“ We are not making money,” “ We can not afford the cost,” and
other statements too numerous to mention. Everybody desires that
employers make money, but even if they are not making money or
if they are unable to afford the cost of proper industrial conditions,
they have no right to conduct an industrial establishment in such
a manner that the health, safety, or comfort of the employees is
placed in jeopardy.
If industry has learned anything in the last decade it is that
the cost of equipment to proviae for the health, safety, and comfort
of employees is money well invested, for it provides an increase in
production and larger profits.
What would I do as an employer to provide safe and healthful
conditions of employment? First, make my plant safe and sani
tary so as fully to protect employees; second, carefully select my
employees for the various types of work; thoroughly train employees
in the proper methods or technique of their respective duties in the
scheme of production: carefully instruct employees as to the hazards
to which they are subjected by reason of the industry carried on,
and of the necessity for observing safety rules and methods of
working so as to protect themselves and the other employees.
By carefully selecting employees I do not mean physical examina
tion of employees as a condition of employment. In many industrial
establishments the policy of physical examinations is farcical if not
vicious as it is conducted. In numerous instances capable employees
are rejected while inexperienced or incapable recruits are accepted.
But it is both farcical and vicious to require physical examination as
a condition of employment and then to make no effort to apply cor
rective medical treatment of employees. It is more than vicious for
employers to claim the right of selecting the most physically fit
among prospective employees by means of physical examination
while they maintain conditions in their plants which are neither safe
126
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A. G. 0 . I.
nor healthful, but are a menace to those employed, and they are
exposing employees to physical ailments for which they are rejecting
new applicants for employment.
After I did all the things relative to plant safety and the selecting
and training of employees* I would make it a practice when any
inspector came to my plant to welcome him as cordially as any busi
ness associate having business there, and instead of turning him over
to some other person I would take time to accompany the inspector
as he visited the different parts of the establishment. In this way
I would observe at first-hand the things which the inspector con
sidered needed correction; and if there were any good reason why
the conditions could not be corrected, I would discuss them then
and there. I f the changes were necessary, I would take immediate
action to correct conditions.
Employers should realize that the inspector, when properly en
forcing the law, may cause changes to be made which will mean the
expenditure of a large amount of money, and because of this author
ity the inspector is as important an individual as many persons who
visit the plant. The practice is far too common with plant owners
and executives of failing to accompany the inspector through the
plant. Some owners and executives would learn much about their
plants if the practice of going through the plant with a trained
inspector were more general. I? this were done some of these owners
and executives would learn of conditions which they would not tol
erate—at least they would not if they were real business managers.
Many employees are injured because of their failure to master the
art of performing the hazardous work at which they are engaged.
You may say, what art is there to such work that employees need
instructions? Please remember that there is a technique to even
what is called common labor—if there be any such thing—and if you
do not know the art or technique of the work you are subject to
injury. Therefore, proper instruction is essential. It may include
correct posture or the proper movement of the body. Injury may
be due to lack of training, or to the worker having defective vision,
insufficient strength, or over-fatigue, or it may be the result of im
proper flooring, poorly stored or stacked material, or defective tools.
These are but a few of the many basic causes responsible for injury
which are too often attributed to carelessness of employees.
What plant owners and executives of the present day should know
is what is really causing the industrial injuries in their plants.
They should not be satisfied with a report that an employee fell and
was injured, but rather, why did he fall—was it the condition of the
floor, or was it the condition of the man’s feet, or was it due to the
condition of the shoes he was wearing? After they know the real
cause of injuries they will be in possession of information which
will enable them to adopt proper preventive measures. Knowing the
real causes of injuries they should be humane enough to provide
the proper means to reduce them to the minimum.
Each foreman should be required to submit a complete report of
of each industrial injury to demonstrate if it were really an accident
or carelessness in failing to carry out instructions. These reports
should be examined critically by the owner or executive to determine
if the injury were avoidable. Were the working conditions proper
or did the foreman fail to direct the work properly ?
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M A K IN G W O R K PLACES SAFE— J . L . GERNON
The executives can not escape their responsibility, but they are
helpless without the aid and cooperation and assistance of the
supervisory force under their direction. They must depend on them
to see that the employees generally do their part. I f owners and
executives do their part completely in promoting safe and healthful
working conditions they will secure the cooperation of the em
ployees ; and should any employee fail to cooperate with the manage
ment in maintaining safe and healthful conditions such person is a
menace to himself and to the other employees, and his services
should be dispensed with until he learns to periorm his part in a
well-conducted industry.
What is causing injuries in industry? It would be#difficult to
answer this, because even in States where the records of injuries are
complete the information furnished in the reports of injuries is not
sufficient to determine properly the correct cause of the injury. ^
We do know the number of cases and the cost of compensation
paid, and for our purpose the figures of New York State will
illustrate what is occuring in industry.
Number and cost of compensated accident cases closed in the year ending June
SO, 19S0
of Amount of
Number of Number
weeks
cases
awarded compensation
Kind of disability
Death............. ......................................................................................
Permanent total_____________ __________________________ _
Permanent partial............................................................................
Temporary_____________________________________________
Total _
........................
.............
1,308
40
22,394
86,106
109,848
967,007
517,880
1,484,887
$8,040,626
696,202
17,664,583
8,842,292
35,243,703
Increase in compensated accidents, by cause groups
Cause of accidents
Handling objects and tools_________ _________
Handling objects...................... ........................
Hand tools.......................................................... Falls of workers..........................................................
Falls to a different level.....................................
Falls on the same level................................—
Mechanical apparatus.............................................
Machinery, prime movers, etc.........................
Elevators, hoists, and conveyors.....................
Vehicles.......................................................................
Falling objects....................................... ..................
Dangerous and harmful substances____________
Electricity, explosives, heat, etc......................
Harmful substances_________________ ____
Stepping on and striking objects__________ ____
Other or indefinite.....................................................
Total, all causes..............................................
Number of cases
closed in the year
Compensation, 1929-30
ended June 30— Per cent
of change,
1929-30
compared
Aver Aver
with
age age
Total
1926
1930 1925-26 amount
cost weeks
per per
case case
35,145 39,103
27,575 31,188
7,570 7,915
18,278 21,313
9,024 10,210
9,254 11,103
16,326 17,140
13,555 13,836
2,771 3,304
8,932 9,686
6,447 6,824
5,456 6,032
4,019 4,366
1,437 1,666
4,273 5,187
4,816 4,563
99,673 109,848
+11 $7,433,458
+13 5,687,278
+5 1,746,180
+17 9,158,560
+13 6,172,074
+20 2,986,486
+5 7,040,833
+2 4,848,705
+19 2,192,128
+8 5,001,265
+6 2,477,660
+11 2,162,758
+9 1,673,135
+16
489,623
640,409
+21
- 5 1,328,760
+10 35,243,703
$190
182
221
430
605
269
411
350
663
516
363
359
383
294
123
291
321
4.9
5.3
3.4
8.7
11.1
6.8
5.3
4.1
10.7
6.7
7.9
5.0
4.3
6.7
3.7
5.1
6.0
128
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A . G. O. I .
These New York figures are clearly indicative of what is occur
ring in each State of the United States.
What do the New York State figures demonstrate? They show
that machinery is responsible for but 17,140 of the total of 109,848
injuries, while four other groups show the following:
Handling objects and tools___________________________ 39,103
Falls of workers_____________________________________21,313
Falling objects--------- ------------------------------------- ----------- 6,824
Stepping on and striking objects----------------------------------- 5,187
Total_________________________________________ 72,427
These four groups are causing 65 per cent of the total number
of injuries, while machinery is causing but 15 per cent. There is
some significance in these figures, for when we realize the vast
amount of machinery used in New York State, and apprehend that
this is a machine age with more work done with mechanical power
than ever before, we must awaken to the fact that attention should
be given to the correction of conditions which are causing the in
juries. It is in these four groups where great reductions in accidents
can be made. And there will be a reduction in these groups and in
all others when industry has intelligence enough to maintain their
industries properly and to instruct or teach their employees how
properly and safely to perform their duties.
I wish it were possible to cover more fully the subject of teaching
and training employees, but it can not be done in the time allowed me.
What is occurring in these four groups clearly demonstrates that
industry has a real job on hand if it will do it, and it may be that
before it will do what it should the State will have to give greater
power to enforcing officers to correct conditions in industry which
are causing a very large percentage of the injuries indicated in
these four groups. Unfortunately in many instances there is no
law which will empower an inspection force to correct many condi
tions which are the primary or basic cause of industrial injuries. To
illustrate one condition, there is not ample power to require the spac
ing of machines, tools, raw or finished products. Overcrowded con
ditions are responsible for injuries in all four of the groups named
above, but there is no limit to what the plant owner or manager can
do to promote safety and sanitation, and thus improve working con
ditions.
I am not advocating that inspectors be given more power, but we
must realize that some employers do not know all they should about
safe methods of working. Others will not do things to improve
working conditions until compelled to do so, but this is not true of
the large majority, who are willing to do things which are required
by law. But this is not enough. What is happening in industry is
an indictment of industrial management as a whole. Particularly
is this so in the industries which have avoidable injuries. Person
ally, I would prefer to have industry teach the proper methods of
performing the work of the particular industry. This is important,
for after all is said and done the people conducting the industries
should know the technique of the work of their industry better than
anyone else, and are therefore the proper people to assume the task.
It is their responsibility and they are remiss in their duty to human
ity if unnecessary injuries occur.
H O W SA FETY CO U N CIL ASSISTS— L . E . M acB R A Y N E
129
The record of industrial injuries is a challenge as to their ability
properly to conduct industry. The question arises: Will they do the
job or must the State make them do it? As good business men they
should change the records, for we all concede that present industrial
injuries cost too much money, to say nothing of the suffering and
misery they cause.
One of the first things we should insist upon is that a better method
of reporting industrial injuries be instituted so that we shall at
least learn the real cause of the injuries. This will enable industry
to learn just what are the responsible causes for industrial injuries.
With this knowledge we will be in a better position to apply the re
medial measures to reduce them in those groups of injuries which
furnish a fertile field for success.
Chairman S weetser. I know the people here appreciate very much
Mr. Gernon’s paper in which he represented the other side of the
question. It has been the policy ox the Department of Labor of
Massachusetts in its industrial safety work to take advantage at all
times of all outside help that it could get to prevent injuries and to
educate the people. We keep in touch with all safety committees;
with all manufacturer organizations; with labor organizations as
well as insurance organizations; and also with safety councils. We
receive a great deal of help from all these organizations and espe
cially from the Massachusetts Safety Council, which does some won
derful work toward the prevention not only ox accidents in industrial
plants but also of automobile accidents and accidents in the home.
Mr. MacBrayne of that organization is going to talk to us about
what it is doing and what it has accomplished as far as industrial
safety is concerned, the object being to call to the attention of the
governmental officials in those States which do not have safety
councils or that do have safety councils and do not take full
advantage of them to do so.
I take pleasure in presenting Mr. Lewis E. MacBrayne, secretary
of the Massachusetts Safety Council.
How the Massachusetts Safety Council Assists the
Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries
B y Lew
is
E . M acB rayn e,
General Manager Massachusetts Safety Council
Noting, as I began the writing of this address, the many States
represented on your program for this convention, it occurred to me
that not all of our State capitals are located in the cities where there
is a safety council affiliated with the National Safety Council. A
word of prelude may be necessary, therefore, to make my talk intelli
gent to all of you.
The Massachusetts Safety Council is a voluntary organization,
comprising the leading industrial and public-service corporations
of the State and also several thousand individual members. It has
been at work for 10 years on the three problems of accident hazards
in industry, in public places, and in the home. Its program is built
upon the premise that most accidents occur through a lack of knowl
edge of a hazard, or lack of individual responsibility, in facing a
130
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
known accident situation. We are interested in statistics only as an
indicator of what is happening. Our endeavor has been to dramatize
the accident in its relation to the man, woman, and child. The
hazard, as we see it, is not a fixed object that you can approach and
remove readily. Nor is it an act of God or of chance. It is some
thing to be studied in its relation to the ever-changing conditions of
flow of traffic on the highway, of new processes in industry', of the
new inventions brought into the home. It is something to be
studied in relation to the human element involved: the person of slow
mental reaction, of perpetually careless habits, or physical defect.
With this general statement of purpose, you can readily see what
our relation should be to our department of labor and industries.
Our purpose as a safety council, clearly stated in our by-laws, is to
“ stimulate and coordinate safety activities throughout the State.55
When we began our work these activities, so far as industry was
concerned, were limited to inspections made by men and women sent
into the plants by the department, safety work carried on by insur
ance company engineers, and the efforts of plant safety committees
in some of the larger corporations. I am free to say that 10 years
ago the average works manager looked upon the State inspector
as a necessary evil, the insurance engineer with some suspicion, and
the safety committee as a doubtful experiment. To-day this has
changed. These groups have been meeting for years now at the
monthly industrial dinner meetings of the Massachusetts Safety
Council. We know the State inspectors by their first names. They,
in turn, have seen foremen and overseers travel from 40 to 60 miles,
after the dav5s work, in order to hear the discussion on some new
accident problem. The insurance engineer, technically trained, has
made his contribution to the general fund of information. We have
all learned the relation of our own work to that of the other fellows,
and have understood the advantage of giving them our cooperation.
Throughout the 10 years of our existence as a council, the com
missioner of labor and industries has been an active member of our
board. There is no political aspect to this relationship. We do not
take part in legislative discussions. We recognize in this department
something permanent and important to the welfare of the State. It
asks no favors of us and we in turn work on the joint constructive
programs to which all of our members can subscribe.
Let me illustrate this with the story of the state-wide interplant
contest, in which nearly 200 corporations, employing in good times
about 100,000 workers, are reporting their accidents to us monthly, in
an effort to lower their 1931 accident records. This is the third year
of this contest, which with cooperating agencies in the central and
western part ox the State has a total registration of 317 corporations
and 140,000 workers. The first organization meeting, for each con
test, is always held at the stateliouse on a call sent out by the com
missioner, who presides. All of the insurance companies writing
industrial business are represented at this meeting and constitute the
follow-up committee that gets to work after the enrollment blanks
have gone out to the corporations. We all talk of the value of this
conteS to industry while it is being organized. The department
points out the decrease of 700 accidents last year among the plants
entered, and stresses its own interest in making working conditions
safer for the Massachusetts worker. The insurance engineers argue
H O W S A F E T Y C O tltfC lL ASSISTS— L . E . M acB R A Y N E
131
the value of competition with a group that has an equal hazard; for
the plants entered are given one of five classifications, so that the
chocolate plant does not by any chance find itself competing with the
foundry. The safety council promises to issue a monthly bulletin
with analysis of the accident reports, a monthly banner to group
leaders, and other material to plants operating without an accident.
These monthly reports are of great value to the contestants, because
they serve to show the trend of accidents in the State. Let us take
the report for last month (April), for example. The corporations
reporting averaged 14 accidents per million hours worked and about
a half day lost for each thousand hours worked. This was the high
est frequency rate for three months, but the lowest severity rate.
There were 64 corporations that had completed three months without
a lost-time accident. But the most important item in this report was
the statement that back strains and hernia had increased from 32 to
43 in a month’s time. This was the tip to all safety committees in
the contest to watch out for this type of accident, which increases
during a period of industrial depression. Unless it has compared its
own record with those of similar plants, an industry may be quite
satisfied with itself, and believe that its experience, however poor, is
the average. This has been the attitude of many corporations as
your own inspectors have gone into the plant and ordered changes.
Usually this type of industry has measured accidents only by fatali
ties, and where these have not occurred, they have not attributed
much importance to the order given by your man to correct conditions
that may result in an accident. To a certain degree, your depart
ment, in whatever part of the country it may be, is handicapped by
the fact that it can not pause to create public opinion in support of
its own policy. It can prosecute where there is a serious violation
of State regulations, but the larger results as we all know are to be
obtained where industry has confidence in its State departments, and
cooperates with them.
It is in creating this opinion that the safety council can be of prac
tical service to you. Suppose that we learned of a plant manager
who did not consider safety work necessary in his shop because no
body had been killed in three years. We would be able to show
him—and possibly at one of our meetings to which he had been in
vited without knowing our real purpose—that the total cost of a
series of nonfatal accidents would far exceed in cost the occasional
fatality. But more than that, we would manage somehow to make
known to him that were he a foreman in several of the leading in
dustries to-day, and in line for promotion to works manager, his
department accident record would be scrutinized closely when his
name was up for consideration, and if it was found that he did not
attribute much importance to safety work, this fact might prevent
his advancement.
I could name one corporation operating in four States, and known
to you all, that conducted an interplant contest of its own last year.
All its shops began to show an improvement except one. At the end
of three months its high accident record stood out conspicuously,
though this fact did not worry the plant manager. At the end of six
months, however, he received notice from a vice president in charge
of safety operations that his accident record would come down or
there would be a new manager. It came down.
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G 0 E A. G. 0 . I.
The safety council, because it is able to study this problem from an
angle slightly different from your own, is able, to sell the idea to
management on the ground of good management or of reduced
production costs.
A rather interesting study was recently made in the State of Con
necticut, based on the reduction of highway accidents for two years.
The serious accidents go up and down in proportion to all accidents
as they do in industry. The point of attack is not that we had so
many killed this year or that because we had fewer killed we are so
much better off; it is that general conditions are causing an increase
or decrease in accidents. Of course, that is exactly the problem in
industry.
It seems to be a part of our job as a council, when we are advised
by the insurance companies that there is a need for creating public
opinion, to get into the game and try to inform the public about it.
Last year we discovered a marked improvement in the number of
accidents; they seemed to be going down. We became suspicious and
found that in the counties they were concealing some of the accidents.
They said, “ Our man was in no way responsible ” ; consequently, they
did not want to call it an accident. I think the prize one was where
a man hit a post and knocked it down, damaging his machine
slightly. They said the post was rotten, and that i f it had been a
perfectly sound post it would not have been knocked down. We said,
“ Supposing it was a pedestrian; we would say nothing about his
being a sound pedestrian or a weak pedestrian ” ; and they agreed
that just as he had hit the post he might have hit a pedestrian.
We found one corporation that thought it was very good, as it
was averaging about 28 per cent above others with the same hazards.
We went in there, and it reduced its accidents, which were already
below normal, entirely by bringing the drivers in and discussing
with them why accidents happen. There was a milk company in
Connecticut which said last year, “ We are going to deliver our milk
at 4 in the afternoon and you will always have the morning cream
on it.” This was abandoned in three months because of the in
creased cost of accidents which wiped out all the profits. The deliv
ery men had been driving when nobody was on the highway; there
after they came in the afternoon in tne most congested traffic and
finished at 5.30, and their accidents showed a great increase.
Not long ago I made a study of the accident experience of several
of our textile plants. I f you know anything about the cotton and
woolen industry, I need not tell you that it has been through des
perate times in the past few years.
When I had compiled the figures on this study I found two dis
tinct groups. The plants with a low-accident experience were
operating with a reasonable degree of success; those with a high
accident rate were running on part time and at a loss. Those that
could not afford to pay for any accidents, for example, were having
plenty of them, thereby adding to the cost of production.
Eecently I examined the year’s accident recox*d of a corporation
that had just gone into the hands of a receiver. Its accident costs
had been far above the average for its class. A closer study of its
problem disclosed the fact that no money had been spent to carry out
recommendations made by its safety committee to prevent accidents.
H O W SAFETY CO U N CIL ASSISTS— L . E. M acB R A Y N E
133
This failure in one single instance had caused two additional acci
dents resulting from a physical defect. Here was a sinking ship, so
to speak, that had refused to stop its leak for fear it might sink.
What are your State inspectors learning about industry in rela
tion to its accidents in this year of serious business depression? Not
as much as the safety council is learning, I will wager.
Industry can not afford to spend a cent this year for anything
that can be postponed. It will be excessively polite to you for that
reason. It will beg to be let alone. But we know of industrial nurses
who have been discharged to save expenses; and we know this to be
false economy. We hear about safety committee chairmen who have
ceased to make recommendations, though we know what this cost
the corporation that went into the hands of a receiver. Our job
this year is to redouble our efforts, knowing that the problem is
beyond your inspector’s jurisdiction. A few days ago we held in
this hotel our largest State safety conference in 10 years, and we
built the program about the question “ Should we reduce plant safety
work in a year of industrial depression?” The chairman of your
session to-day presided at our most important session. His State
inspectors were in the audience, and mingled later with the repre
sentatives of industry. So I need not argue further concerning the
relation of my own safety council to our State department of labor
and industries. We see eye to eye in this matter; and we work
side by side.
At the present time the situation in industry owing to the depres
sion is such that I question whether the inspector can give direct
help, yet it has increased the council’s opportunities for service. A
number of my staff went into a plant only last week and found a
girl who had been in charge of personnel now in charge of safety
work and personnel and a third division. This girl was on the verge
of a breakdown; she could not sleep nights. This plant, which is
losing money, had begun to discharge people and it said to this par
ticular young woman, “ You do her job and her job ”—possibly the
two could be combined into one job, but not a third. I am afraid
we are going to find this condition in other places where they are so
frightened at the losses that they are cutting, and then cutting again,
leaving people not only in a nervous state but making them liable
to more accidents.
There is a definite point of efficiency and, if you go below that,
you are going to wipe out all you saved on one side of the pay roll
by losses on the other. I know one corporation that let a highly
efficient nurse go. Our staff member knew that that girl had the
confidence of the employees and was preventing accidents. In the
three months which followed her dismissal, the accidents increased
in cost two or three times over the salary of the girl. Then we went
to the management and said, “ As a friend of yours and as a service
to a member, put her back in charge of this work. You might as
well send your fire-prevention committee or stop using hose. If an
emergency arose there would be no one there to take care of it.”
Such a situation is going to give us an upward trend in accidents.
On the other hand, we have found many plants with a lowered
record during the past six months because apparently the job has
85053°—32----- 10
134
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A . G. 0 . I.
become more desirable; the people are now anxious to hold their
positions. We are watching these things, and the hazards we are
working under are more difficult, but with intelligent cooperation
we will be able to get results. Frankly, few industries are willing
to spend money this year. Yet it is your job and mine to convince
industry that economy is not in the dollars that are being paid out
but in those that are being saved through decreased losses.
DISCUSSION
Chairman S w e e tse r. If there are any delegates who desire to
ask questions or say anything upon these subjects on which we have
been addressed, they may do so now before we hear the next speaker.
Mr. I m m e l (Pennsylvania). I wish to say that we have gone
right ahead in Pennsylvania and further developed the committee
on educational work and safety inspection. We do not agree with
the notion about the foreman being the key man in industrial safety.
It is certain that if by “ key man ” is meant the one man who in
industry could open the door to safety, that man is the owner and
plant manager rather than the foreman. The foreman occupies the
position of sergeant in the army, and while occasionally you will find
a sergeant with a sufficient degree of initiative and responsibility
to carry on without the commander to direct him, it is comparatively
rare.
The other day in a Pennsylvania city a prominent manufacturer,
who a few years ago had one of the worst safety records in the State,
on his own initiative called together at a dinner 65 representatives
gf industry in that community. There was not a man in that group
who held a lower position than that of general manager. Many
owners of plants were there. He told them what safety had done
for him in the few years past and there inaugurated a branch safety
council for that city. The point I want to make is that that owner,
that employer, had safety sold to him by the bureau of inspection of
the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and it is by
selling safety to chief executives that we make our greatest progress.
We, of course, try not to neglect any of the enforcement respon
sibilities that are imposed upon us. We are very conscious of them.
In Pennsylvania last year, in addition to doing that we found time to
apprehend and convict a group of swindlers operating under the
guise of State factory inspectors, whom New York, New Jersey, and
Ohio had all been anxious to get. We believe fully in this depart
ment of safety education, and through the bureau of inspection its
functions are extended to teaching management the importance of
safety in Pennsylvania. And we predict, General Sweetser, that in
a year or two we will probably come to you for ideas, as we know
of the splendid work you are doing up here.
Mr. G e r n o n . It would be foolish to have a foreman as key man if
the head of the plant was not sold to safety. There is no reason why
the foreman should assume all the responsibility, but I will tell you
what we are coming to and of course we move slowly. The time will
come when either the owners or the foremen or somebody will have
to be responsible for the conditions in industry which are causing
injuries.
M A K IN G W O R K PLACES SAFE— DISCUSSION
135
There are unsafe conditions that exist in plants which are prop
erly guarded—there are conditions of work that can not be guarded;
you can in a few minutes make a condition that is harzardous to
everybody.
Take building-construction work—we have a new code on build
ing construction in New York. The other day the members of the
general committee met and said they would provide a rule that the
work must be done under proper supervision. As an enforcing
officer I asked what that meant and they said,“ Just what it reads.
“ Well,” I said, “ you might as well take it out, it does not mean
anything; it does not say who is responsible.” So they followed the
language of the law which provides that the owner or the con
tractor—the employer—is responsible. We must realize that the em
ployer may be a very busy man and that he may not be on the job,
but under our law he is responsible for the action of his employees.
I f I were running an industry, I would say to the foreman, “ Here,
Mr. Supervisor, you are supervising the employment of 20 men;
unless you protect these men, you can’t work for me.” That is the
way I would put the responsibility on him. I have been a foreman
in my time and that was my responsibility. I have seen men dis
charged because they were injured, because they would not use
guards provided for the work. We have the power in New York
State to prosecute an employee for failing to use a guard that is
provided. If we did that we would be in court all the time, because
the foreman will let the man operate the machine without the use of
a guard.
What is a foreman’s duty ? Why do they hire him ? They hire him
to direct the work. I f he is not capable of directing the work he is
not capable of being a foreman, and the directing of the work is a
protection to these men just as much as it is to the making of the
product. If I were a foreman I should feel remiss if a man got
hurt through my failure to see a hazard. Now there are things that
are not preventable.
We continue calling these injuries accidents. The only accident
that I remember which could be called an accident happened in New
York State the other day. They are building a tunnel there 20
miles long; it is 500 feet below the surface of New York’s streets.
They are going through solid rock except when they hit bad pockets
and that is where most of the trouble comes—the earth pressure
cracks this stone. There may be some carelessness on that job, but
the accident happened and I will vouch that everybody thought they
were absolutely safe and following safe tactics. This tunnel, when
lined, will be 20 feet in diameter, that is, when the concrete is in.
They drove a heading and missed fire on some holes. They realized
this and went back to fire them. The men moved back 1,200 feet
from the face of the heading. They figured that they were abso
lutely safe, that nothing could come up and touch them. A stone,
2 feet square and 6 inches thick came through the face, shot up
the tunnel, hit a man, cut him in half, threw half his body against
another fellow, knocked him down, fractured his skull, and killed
him. That is what I call an accident. We are calling many of
these injuries accidents when they are criminal negligence; that is
all they are, and foremen are responsible for some of them.
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E IG H T E E N T H ANNUAL, M E E T IN G OF A. G. O. I.
A foreman should not have too much supervision; he should not
have too much to do, but when he is directing men he should at least
protect them against the hazards. These men who are working in
plants may have a great deal of vision and see many things, but they
do things which they know are unsafe. Now, if men do not have
their own interests in mind and do those things of their own volition,
that is one thing; but many times they do them because they are
directed to do them. You can not get away from the fact that if
every man were as capable as the foreman and exercised as much care
as the foreman you would have an ideal condition. But what is the
use of this man exercising good judgment when the employer will not
buy him the wherewithal to make the place safe.
Chairman S weetser. The State of New York has always taken a
great interest in this organization not only for its own benefit but for
the benefit of the different States. New York has always sent to the
conventions a number of delegates, who have always been ready to
give us of their knowledge and their experience, which necessarily is
greater than in any other State- To-day New York State has sent
to us its commissioner of labor, Miss Frances Perkins, and I am sure
the delegates would be glad to hear a few words from her.
Miss P erkins (New York). I want to say that it has been a matter
of great regret to me that in the last two years I have not been able
to get to the meeting of this organization, which has such a long and
valuable record and which has made so many contributions to the
administration of labor laws throughout the United States. It is
a great pleasure to have been able to be here to-day and to have
derived the amount of help which I have fr o m the very real
istic discussion and papers we have had this morning. This little
folder [indicating] is full of penciled notes that I have inade of
ideas that have come to me from the papers and discussions you
have had.
I think that this sort of organization, with its interchange of ideas,
is undoubtedly extremely valuable in stimulating all of us not only
to copy each other’s work but to adopt in our own States the ideas
that have been successful in other States. One tiling that stands out
in the discussion this morning is the fact that we are all aware that
good inspection work over a period of years in this country has
undoubtedly reduced the accidents caused through machinery.
Everyone who has had anything to do with the labor department
can be proud of that. Nevertheless we have a constant rise of indus
trial accidents due to other causes than machinery, and the time
has undoubtedly come, not for us alone but for communities gener
ally, for the people of all the industrial States to take cognizance of
this rise in other than machinery accidents.
You know, of course, as well as I do, that in all the great building
and construction trades there is for the most part no adequate super
vision and inspection. Has not the time come when we must all
push for the same kind of supervision in those trades as there has
been for many years in the more closely organized factory trades?
Of course the accidents due to the increase in the United States of
motor vehicles have been very striking; and this, it seems to me, is a
matter that has been handled rather from the ordinary citizen’s point
of view than from the industrial viewpoint, I feel that sooner or
M A K IN G W O R K PLACES SAFE— DISCUSSION
137
later, if we bring to the problem of accidents through motor vehicles
the same thought and attention that we have given to factory regu
lation, we shall see better results. By that I mean the regular and
systematic inspection of the machines themselves and the ordering
out of service, by some responsible governmental official, of certain
machines when they have obviously gone beyond the point where
their operation is safe for the driver or the pedestrians on the streets.
I approve Mr. Gernon’s suggestion about the education of young
people and the young industrialists, and in that direction I think
lies the work of the next 25 or 30 years. Perhaps we can, in this
respect, borrow a page out of our Russian brethren’s progress and
recognize that what we do for the younger generation in regard to
individual training is going to be more important than what we do
for this generation. Every teacher knows that it is almost impos
sible to instill new ideas and new habits into adults. It is difficult to
get them to do things in a new and different way. But you can take
young people up to the age of 18 or 20 and train them to a great
variety of new habits. They are susceptible to training. I think
we must train our young people in the schools, not in the essentials
of making them machinists or shoemakers or something of that sort,
but for the improvement of their bodies and minds in industrial and
machine work. If you watch the ordinary pedestrian dodging auto
mobiles you will realize how badly we have been trained to use our
bodies. Our coordination is poor. I know my own is poor in the
face of honking automobiles, and I dare say that a great part of the
human race has that same slow primary action. In other words,
when young enough we were not trained to regulate our motions
easily and systematically, and rhythmically to do the things that we
have to deal with in our adult life.
In dealing with our children our whole system should be viewed
as an age in which a large part of them are going to earn their livings
in some kind of contact with, or in some relationship to, machinery. I
do not mean that we should teach girls to walk properly and not have
them attend high schools. What the school must do is to teach the
boys and girls to use their bodies in a systematic and rhythmic man
ner, and build up in them a quick-time reaction to danger. You
know you can do it in dogs, and those of you who have trained dogs
realize how quickly a dog responds to a certain tone of voice or to
sound or to a certain motion that has come to mean something. If
the educators and the teachers will put their minds on this, I think
we can develop in the younger generation a kind of automatic safety
control of their own which will greatly improve their hazardous
situation in the modem world. Perhaps it is going to be the function
of this organization to suggest to our friends in the educational world
that it is their duty to cooperate with us in the building up of such
programs. Because, after all, we are the leaders in this situation.
They may know how to teach but we know what they should teach,
although they may have much better ideas than we have about the
technique.
I hope that for some future program of this organization we may
be able to invite people who have the educational point of view and
who will work with us in finding out the methods of making people
safe in industry.
138
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
In New York State we have tried a little experiment in the last
two years, before involving the labor movement in the safety cam
paign. At the last meeting of the New York Safety Council the
president of the State federation of labor, one of the principal speak
ers, reported upon this activity in the labor unions of New York
State, which has now become such that at every meeting of every
local they have a 15-minute report from the chairman of the safety
committee. In other words, we are trying to bring realistically to
the minds of these people in the local unions just what aie the causes
of the accidents that these people suffer, and out of a careful analysis
of their own accidents we are hoping will grow up a kind of per
sonal interest in preventing those accidents particularly that are
due to slips, falls, and stumbles, of which there is a large percentage.
Chairman Sweetser. The next speaker has a subject that is of
interest, necessarily of interest, to us all. Mr. Briggs, of the Ameri
can Association for Labor Legislation, has made a special study of
the factory-inspection service and I take pleasure in presenting him
to you.
The Organization and Operation of a State FactoryInspection Service
B y A lfred
W.
B r ig g s ,
of the American Association for Labor Legislation
This paper represents an intermediate step in the preparation of
a set of recommendations for the organization and operation of a
State factory-inspection service. The standards themselves have not
yet been drafted, but an attempt has been made to pave the way for
their formulation by setting forth some of the methods which have
been developed in this country for meeting certain problems involved
in State factory inspection.
The opportunity for presenting this preliminary material to you at
this time is indeed a welcome one, for your comments and sugges
tions will be of material aid in preparing the final recommendations.
I might add that the paper is a result of my participation in a
study of labor law administration now being conducted by the
American Association for Labor Legislation, although it should not
be construed as representing the official findings of that organization.
Accessibility.—Before any law can be easily enforced its existence
and provisions must be known by all to whom it applies. In order
that the labor laws will be readily accessible to employers, employees,
and the general public, many labor departments have published
handbooks reprinting these statutes and including or making appro
priate references to the codes of administrative orders which am
plify them and give them content. This practice has proved most
effective in those States (New York, for example), which bring out
a revised edition of their handbooks promptly after each legislative
session. Additional accessibility is provided in certain States where
a reviser of statutes is employed who publishes after each legislative
session the State’s revised statutes in one or two large volumes. It
has been suggested that this compilation should also contain reprints
of all administrative orders issued by the various State departments
or, if this would occupy too much space, brief references at appro
STATE F ACTOR Y -IN SP E C T IO K SERVICE— A. W . BRIGGS
139
priate places to these administrative orders. I know of no State
where tnis has been undertaken as yet, although it has been seriously
considered by certain State officials.
Centralized administration.—The last two decades have wit
nessed a rather steady drift toward unified administration of labor
laws. When all of a State’s labor laws are intrusted to a single
department or commission, one of the laws—often the accident com
pensation law—monopolizes more than its share of the department’s
attention. Nevertheless most people feel that the advantages of
centralized administration more than outweigh the danger of this
possibility. Where the factory-inspection service is closely asso
ciated with the administration of the workmen’s compensation act
the accident reports may be routed to the inspection department as
soon as they arrive. This makes it possible to arrange prompt in
vestigations of all serious accidents and of all those which appear
to have resulted from the employer’s failure to observe the safety
laws and regulations. Centralized administration keeps the labor
department’s statistical division in close touch with the accidentprevention work and instead of turning out voluminous academic
reports, it will tend to produce pertinent studies designed to meet
the needs of the engineers and inspectors engaged in preventing
accidents.
It is interesting to note that certain advantages of unified admin
istration have been achieved in some States where the enforcement
of the labor laws is divided between two or more departments
through the cooperation of these separate agencies.
Financing safety inspections.—Because they have felt that in
dustry itself rather than the general tax-paying public should bear
the cost of labor law administration, several States have experi
mented very successfully with a plan for financing the administra
tion of their compensation acts by placing an assessment on the com
pensation insurance carriers (including employers carrying their
own risk) in proportion to the amount of benefits paid out. In view
of this successful experience, would it not be feasible to increase
this assessment sufficiently to cover the cost of the State’s accidentprevention work as well?
Advisory eonwnittees.—ljnbor departments empowered to issue
administrative regulations having tne force and effect of law have
usually found it desirable to appoint representative advisory com
mittees to assist in the drafting of these regulations. The presence
of outside experts and laymen at the committee meetings has helped
to insure the development of standards which are not only practi
cable but more readily enforceable as well. Employers who have
served on such committees are usually staunch supporters of the codes
they have helped to prepare and are inclined to tell their friends
about the wisdom of these regulations. Furthermore, the State in
spectors have been able to support the reasonableness of a contested
order by explaining to a violator that recognized leaders of his own
industry have cooperated in drafting that order.
Although advisory committees have been widely employed in
connection with the drafting of safety codes and other sets of admin
istrative orders and have been provided occasionally for public em
ployment offices and State insurance funds, I have never heard of
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
an inspection division appointing an advisory committee, although
some consideration has been given to such a plan in at least one State.
Selecting new inspectors.—It is unnecessary to remind this con
vention that just as a labor law is no better than its enforcement, so
enforcement is no better than the people to whom this duty is dele
gated. In spite of its well-known shortcomings, the best method
yet devised for building up a staff of factory inspectors seems to
be the merit system of competitive examinations employed in those
States having civil-service regulations. Although only nine States
have such laws they employ nearly half the factory inspectors in
this country. In addition there are several States having no gen
eral civil-service provisions which employ competitive examinations
in the selection of new factory inspectors. In the preparation, con
duct, and grading of examinations certain civil-service commissions
with the cooperation of the department of labor have found it help
ful to appoint advisory committees representing employers, em
ployees, and the general public. People from such outside agencies
as consumers’ leagues, safety societies, and educational institutions,
who are especially familiar with the problems involved, have also
been utilized on these committees.
Entrance qualifications.—High-school graduation and several
years of industrial experience are now minimum entrance require
ments for factory inspectors in several States. College graduation
with special training in economics and sociology has been adopted
as a minimum qualification for woman and child labor inspectors
in California and Wisconsin, and serious consideration should prob
ably be given to the feasibility of establishing higher education qual
ifications than those now prevalent.
Examinations.—In preparing examinations for prospective inspec
tors care is now being taken in some States to test the applicants’
knowledge of present-day industry as well as their general fa
miliarity with the labor laws. In the earlier years of civil-service
regulations these examinations were often academic exercises con
fined to the detail of the laws to be enforced and little consideration
was given to the candidate’s familiarity with the methods and prac
tices of industry.
Written examinations thus prepared are being supplemented with
oral tests at which the candidate’s personality and appearance may
be appraised.
In order to insure the department of labor a certain degree of lat
itude in choosing new inspectors, most civil-service commissions
arrange the names of candidates in the order of their numerical
standing in the examination and certify to the department two more
names from the top of the list when there are vacancies to be filled.
Training.—New inspectors in some States are required to spend
their first week in the main office familiarizing themselves with the
laws and orders they are to enforce and becoming acquainted with
the organization and operation of the department. After that a
week or so is spent with each of a few of the department’s inspectors
who are best fitted to train beginners. In only a few States has a
well-rounded system of continuation training through periodic staff
conferences been developed for improving the work of inspectors,
both old and new, and for keeping them abreast of the never ceasing
changes so characteristic of modern industry.
STATE FAC TO RY -IN SPECTIO N SERVICE---- A. W . BRIGGS
141
Supervision.—Inspection work is sometimes weakened by faulty
supervision, which may go to the extreme of exercising too little
control over the inspectors or o f maintaining a severe, military
regimentation in others. Could not both of these extremes be
avoided by making the inspector definitely responsible for his dis
trict and at the same time giving him a feeling of personal confi
dence and self-reliance, an enthusiasm for his work, and a knowledge
that the department will stand back of him in his dealings with
employers ?
Size of staff.—Because of the wide variations in the size and
character of the different States and in the provision of their labor
laws, it will probably prove difficult to lay down a general rule for
determining the proper number of inspectors. At the present time
the relative number of inspectors varies widely from State to State.
New York employs about 24 inspectors (factory, mercantile, boiler,
hygiene, etc.) for every 100,000 factory workers in the^ State.
Massachusetts employs 19, Wisconsin 15, New Jersey 11, Illinois 9,
and Rhode Island 7. Nevertheless, it is pretty generally agreed that
the inspection staff should be large enough to enable the department
to make a thorough inspection of all establishments not less than
once each year and to make prompt reinspections of all establish
ments in wnich violations are discovered.
Districting.—In a few States the inspectors are rotated from one
district to another as a means of preventing them from becoming
too friendly with certain employers. This practice has not been
generally followed, however, for most department heads feel that
the inspector who is permanently assigned to a district develops a
feeling of responsibility for his district and as the employers become
better acquainted with him he gains their confidence and they learn
that he is there to render them a service and not merely to catch them
in a violation.
Specialization.—The highly technical character of boiler and eleva
tor inspection work makes the employment of specialized boiler and
elevator inspectors almost unavoidable. Specialized building inspec
tors are commonly employed for the enforcement of State regulations
applying to public buildings. The need for additional specialized
safety inspectors will depend on the industrial character of the State
in question.
In at least two departments (Minnesota and Wisconsin) the en
forcement of all laws relating to the employment of women and
children has been assigned to woman and child labor divisions. The
persistent interest in specialized divisions for these laws has arisen
because of the definite tendency of general factory inspectors to con
centrate their efforts on the enforcement of regulations relating to
safety and sanitation to the neglect of those relating to women and
children. Most factory inspectors are drawn from the mechanical
trades and are men whose experience and training cause them to
take a greater interest in safety matters than in the employment
conditions of women and children.
There is one serious difficulty, however, which seems to be inherent
in this division of the inspection work between a bureau for women
and children and a bureau for safety and sanitation. The difficulty
to which I refer arises out of the fact that there is a growing body
of labor legislation which does not relate to industrial safety and at
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
the same time does not apply exclusively to women and children.
One-day-of-rest-in-seven laws are probably the most important regu
lations which are left out in the cold when the inspection work is so
organized. Laws regulating the length of the working-day for men
in certain hazardous or unhealthv trades and laws regulating the
length of the working-day on public works are other illustrations.
Specialization must not be carried beyond the point of diminishing
returns, and a third set of inspectors to handle these laws would be
impractical. The solution of this problem may lie in the creation
of a division of industrial relations instead of a division for women
and children. Such a division would be composed of people who
have had some training in economics and sociology and who are
conversant with pay-roll procedure, child-labor problems, and prob
lems of women in industry. They would be able to advise employers
how working shifts may be dovetailed and time schedules arranged
in order that compliance with statutory requirements may be
achieved with a minimum of inconvenience. The division of safety
and sanitation, on the other hand, would then be free to employ a
trained staff of engineers, mechanics, and experts in industrial sani
tation whose training, experience, and temperament qualify them
for safety work.
Accident investigation.—In addition to routine inspections for the
purpose of enforcing safety laws and regulations a number of State
departments of labor (Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and New Jersey,
for example) have inaugurated extensive programs of accident in
vestigation. This work which is ordinarily handled by the regular
staff of general inspectors is quite widely recognized as an integral
part of modern factory inspection. A comprehensive system of acci
dent investigation is said to serve a twofold purpose. In the first
place it supplies the inspection division with first-hand information
on the way in which accidents actually occur. After investigating a
particular accident the inspector has a more vivid impression of how
it occurred and a clearer idea of the danger points to be watched for
when making future inspections than he would ever secure by reading
a book or memorizing a section of the industrial code. In the second
place accident investigation has a most wholesome effect on the em
ployer. He is in a receptive frame of mind just after an accident has
occurred and will listen to the inspector and comply with his recom
mendations more readily than at any other time. The accident can
be made a vivid object lesson and its occurrence furnishes an op
portunity to deliver a master stroke in the promotion of industrial
safety.
Educational work.—What seems to be another important supple
ment to routine inspection work is the educational activity that has
been undertaken by several State departments. Addresses before
trade organizations and other gatherings of employers, visits to the
head offices of chain stores, conferences with influential individuals,
newspaper releases, foremen’s safety schools, safety literature, and
safety museums are illustrations of the educational activities that
have been used to strengthen the inspection work. One department
has recently appointed a full time “ director of safety education,”
while a number of States have made educational work the part-time
duty of some official in the labor department,
STATE FAC TO ftY -IN SPECTIO N SERVICE— DISCUSSION
143
Cooperation of outside agencies.—Closely allied with this educa
tional work is the enlistment of cooperation on the part of outside
agencies that are interested in seeing that the labor laws are observed.
A number of labor departments have worked out cooperative arrange
ments with other State departments such as the board of health and
the department of public safety, and with municipal health and build
ing departments. In most States the insurance carriers, trade-unions,
consumers’ leagues, child-labor committees, and similar agencies are
encouraged to advise the department of violations. In some States
the boiler and elevator inspectors employed by insurance carriers
must take a comprehensive examination conducted by the department
of labor, after which each successful candidate is granted a license
and his inspections are accepted by the department just as though
he were a member of its staff.
Inspiring employer's confidence.—The consensus of opinion seems
to be that the modern factory inspector is not an industrial detective
who goes about hunting for violations. On the contrary he is an
industrial expert who is anxious to help the employer solve his
employment problems and who enforces the labor law because that
law exists for the benefit of the employer, the worker, and the gen
eral public. When this inspection procedure is followed employers
come to welcome the advice and suggestions of the factory inspector
instead of trying to discover a way of avoiding his recommendations.
In developing a policy of this kind, however, there is danger of
slipping over into an easy-going attitude toward employers who are
reluctant to comply with the law. No matter how successful a State’s
educational work may be or how persuasive its inspection procedure,
it appears that prosecutions and fines are necessary in the case of
certain violators. It seems as though there will always be some
employers who are too inefficient, disinterested, or cynical, or even
too recalcitrant to obey the law voluntarily, and when education and
logic have failed to move them the State must resort to fine or
imprisonment.
In closing let me say that this paper has been limited to a series
of brief statements on a few aspects of the subject, in order that
time would still remain for comments and suggestions.
DISCUSSION
Chairman Sweetser. We have 10 minutes before we close. Has
any delegate anything to ask any of the speakers ?
Miss P eterson (Washington, D. C.). I have a question to ask
and comments to make. I should like to speak of a State in which
a department of industrial relations has been created by legisla
tion. In that department are a division of labor statistics and law
enforcement, a division of industrial welfare, and a division of
industrial accidents. Three other divisions also have been organized
in the department of industrial relations, one pertaining to hous
ing, one to industrial hazards from fire, and an employment service.
The bureau of labor statistics and law enforcement does not make
routine inspections; it inspects only on complaints; the inspections
for follow-up of accidents are now the responsibility of the division
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. O. I.
of industrial accidents. However, the inspections of that division
are made after an accident has occurred in order to secure informa
tion about the cause of the accident.
In other words, the inspections are made to follow up accidents
but do not constitute the kind of routine regular inspection work
by factory inspectors reported upon and recommended by Mr. Ger
non and Mr. Meade as an additional safeguard against accidents.
I mention this to call Mr. Briggs’s attention to the fact that the
name of an organization does not define the work done by a labor
department. I f you have a department of industrial relations the
chances are that there would still exist the need for a division in
that department to specialize in work for women and children. As
a matter of fact, the department to which I refer is in California,
and it depends on its division of industrial welfare to look after
the work conditions of women and children. In this connection, it
seems important to mention that the division of industrial relations
or the division that is authorized to specialize on work for women
and children is the only one of these divisions to make routine in
spections pertaining to work conditions. In that division routine
inspections are also made in regard to the payment of the minimum
wage.
My question is, why the law providing for one day’s rest in seven
must necessarily be neglected because there is a division of women
and children. In Wisconsin, for instance, why don’t the men as
well as the women inspectors carry that out?
Mr. B riggs. The last time I talked to Mr. Altmeyer from Wis
consin he said he felt that they were going to work out a system for
having a safety man handle the one-day-of-rest-in-seven law. How
about that, Miss Swett?
Miss Swett (Wisconsin). The other day, in checking over the
cases covering women and children, I pointed out one violation of
the law. We have all been given instructions to do it right along
with our other work, which we did not do before. We always did it
for the women, but we have not gone into the question of men’s
hours until just lately; but now we are.
M ember. With regular inspectors also ?
Miss Swett. With regular inspectors, too. They have just gotten
their instructions to do it.
Mrs. S ummers (New Jersey). It does not matter what the name
of that bureau is if the proper cooperation exists. I feel that in
New Jersey a great deal of our success has been due to the fact that
none of us stop just where our responsibility ends in the course of a
day’s work. I f we find something that ought to come to the attention
of Mr. Roach’s department we immediately turn it over to the head
of our department of inspection, Mr. Weeks, who in turn takes it up
for investigation. If we find something in the matter of safety
devices or anything that we feel should be turned over to another
department we do so and the men inspectors do likewise. I think a
mutual admiration society is a very good thing, where each one
thinks so much of the other coworker that one feels responsible for
the good things in the other’s department as well as in one’s own.
We have such a mutual admiration society, and I hope we always
STATE F A C T O R Y -M s M C T IO N
SERVICE---- DISCUSSION
145
shall have it. I think Mr. Roach’s safety department is the finest
in the country, and I think he feels our bureau for women and chil
dren is that. I do not care what our name is, we are going to try
to do a good job by endeavoring to help one another and by keep
ing our bureaus at top notch. We are going to make the New Jersey
Department of Labor a little better than it has been.
Chairman Sweetser. I think that that same idea is growing more
and more as between the different departments in this country and
in Canada. I know they frequently write us and I know we fre
quently write around for information ourselves. Why shouldn’t
we? We are all in the same service, accomplishing the same objects
with the same interests. I think that spirit of cooperation that you
have in your two departments in New Jersey and that we have in
Massachusetts ought to extend and does extend to every department
in the Commonwealth. I trust that in our meeting here and learn
ing to know each other we will not hesitate to secure the latest in
formation on any subject. I know we do not hesitate to do so, and
we get considerable help from what other departments are doing.
(Meeting adjourned.)
THURSDAY, MAY 21— AFTERNOON SESSION
John Roach, Deputy Commissioner of Labor of New Jersey, Presiding
INDUSTRIAL DISEASES
Chairman R oach. This question of occupational poisons is being
given increased attention in all of the States and the financial bur
dens are beginning to bear down heavily on the industries that are
concerned. The first speaker this afternoon is one of the men who
is eminent in occupational medicine in our country. At this time
I want to introduce Dr. Joseph C. Aub, associate professor of medi
cine at Harvard University.
The Relationship of Lead Poisoning to Industry
By Dr.
J osep h C. A u b ,
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard University
In order to understand the problems of lead poisoning as they
occur in industry, it is essential to understand somewhat the way
that lead poisoning affects the organism. So, if you will forgive
me, I am going to speak about the pathology of lead poisoning first
in order that you may understand how it acts.
First of all, it is important to appreciate how lead gets into the
organism because, from the engineering point of view, that, after
all, is the most important problem. Lead can get into the organism
in essentially three ways: First of all, it can be swallowed through
the intestinal tract and so absorbed. Secondly, it can be taken in
by the lungs in the form of dust and fumes. Finally, it can be
absorbed very readily merely from the nose or from any of the
mucous membranes of the body. Now, in industry, which one of
these three is most important? In the work that we did a few
years ago it appeared obvious that lead which was present in the
lungs could cause poisoning much more easily than lead which was
taken in through the intestinal tract. The reason for this is now
clear. Much of the lead in the gastrointestinal tract is never ab
sorbed. It stays in the tract and does no harm there. Secondly,
part of that which is absorbed is taken up by the liver and part of
this is again put back into the intestinal tract and excreted. The
rest of the body, therefore, is partly protected from lead which
gets into the gastrointestinal tract. However, the lead which gets
into the lungs is absorbed directly into the general circulation of
blood. That lead is, therefore, available to do whatever harm lead
does to the organism.
As a result, lead which is taken into the nose or throat or into
the lungs will cause as much poisoning as about 10 times that amount
when swallowed. That is a relatively new point of view. You
all know the great stress which has been placed upon the cleanliness
of men before they eat, or the accusation that they got lead poisoning
146
IN D U ST R IA L DISEASES---- LEAD POISONING-----J . 0 . AU B
147
from chewing tobacco and getting lead into their mouths and swal
lowing it. That is of much less importance in industry than dust
and fumes.
It is interesting to make inspections of plants and see what great
stress has been laid upon the cleanliness of men before they eat. In
one plant that I inspected, much stress was laid upon this. The men
had to put on surgeons’ gowns before lunch. They had to wash their
hands and brush their teeth before their food was given to them.
This was all well done, but in this same plant there were huge piles
of powdered lead oxides scattered about, which produced much dust
whenever they were disturbed. Of course, the poisoning that was
occurring in that plant was due to the dust and the fumes. That is
a common error in industry, and it is of extreme importance. I f
you can avoid dust and fumes you can largely eliminate lead poison
ing. Painters get lead poisoning mostly from sandpapering dry
paint, and not from mixing paint. I f they would use the new kind
of oiled sandpaper which is available, with which it is possible to
wet down the paint with water, lead poisoning would largely dis
appear among painters, except among the spray painters. Please
do not misunderstand me—I do not mean to imply that personal
cleanliness is not also important. Its importance is secondary only
to the elimination of lead dusts.
When lead finally gets into the organism, it is important to appre
ciate what happens to it. As long as lead is circulating in the blood
stream it is dangerous, and it is important to be able to control that
lead stream. When lead gets into the body it usually goes primarily
to two places. First of all it is deposited in the liver and kidneys
and, immediately after lead is absorbed, a large percentage is found
here. After lead has been absorbed and exposure to it has ceased,
practically all of it is found stored in the bones. The presence of
lead in the soft tissues of the body, like the liver, is of paramount
importance, because that means that lead is circulating and, in medico-legal proceedings, therefore, possibly a contributory cause of
death. As long as lead stays in the bones it apparently causes no
damage, but if the individual gets sick, or if he gets pneumonia, or
has a prolonged alcoholic debauch, or anything else that disturbs the
inorganic salt metabolism of the body, then lead may be liberated
from the bones. This is because lead in the body responds to the same
stimuli that influence calcium. When calcium is liberated from
bones, then stored lead is also liberated. When this stored lead is
too rapidly freed, then a lead colic, or one of the other manifesta
tions of lead poisoning may be precipitated.
With that knowledge it is possible to control the circulation of
lead in the body above a certain minimum because it is simply neces
sary to control the circulation of calcium in the body. It is upon
that theory that our new treatment of lead poisoning is based. In
a patient with an acute lead colic, it is necessary to store in the bones
the excessive lead which is circulating, and what one does is to give
as much calcium as possible to the body in order to throw the stream
of calcium back into the bones. When you want to pull lead out of
the body a low calcium diet is prescribed plus acid salts further to
stimulate the body needs fpr calcium?
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. O. I.
This is important, because even though lead is in all of the bones
of the body and it is manifestly impossible to liberate all of it, the
lead which is most readily available can be liberated. There are
small parts in the bones which readily give up their calcium when
there is a bodily need for it. When acids are given this very readily
available calcium, and the lead that is stored with it, are liberated.
From the medico-legal point of view one of the great problems is
diagnosis of lead poisoning. There are more diagnoses of lead poi
soning made than are justifiable, because no distinction is made by
most physicians between lead absorption and lead intoxication—
two very different things. Most of us have lead absorption, for
much of the dust on city streets has lead in it. Therefore, many
people are secreting lead in their urine. Lead absorption does not
mean that an individual is suffering from lead poisoning. Many
people work in lead industries for a long time and absorb much lead
but never show any evidence of poisoning from the metal.
We all know that there is a great difference in susceptibility to the
metal. As a result, the various symptoms and signs of lead poison
ing must be clearly differentiated. Thus, a lead line does not mean
that an individual has lead poisoning. Lead in the excreta, which is
stressed so much in our courts, means only that the individual has
absorbed lead, and it does not mean that he has lead poisoning. On
the contrary, there are signs that mean that an individual is suffering
deleterious effects from lead, evidence that indicates that lead is
causing damage to the body.
The best example of body damage, and the one that should be
stressed, is the effect on the blood. The reason is that lead has to
circulate in the blood when it is absorbed. If an individual is get
ting lead poisoning, the first evidence is a change in the blood, be
cause the red blood cells are very susceptible to poisoning by lead.
Therefore stippling of the blood cells is a sign which is quite spe
cific for lead, if it is present in large quantities, and is the best evi
dence that lead is doing damage to the body. As far as I can re
member, I have never seen a case of lead poisoning in which there
was not very distinct stippling in the red cells. Some objective
sign such as this is almost essential in order to make the diagnosis.
In industry, one case of poisoning is very apt to precipitate the
appearance of other similar cases. The true examples of intoxica
tion must then be differentiated from the examples of suggestion or
of malingering. An invaluable aid in such a situation is some objec
tive sign such as the stippling of the blood with secondary anemia.
It shows that body tissues are really being injured. Added informa
tion is also obtained, of course, from the typical clinical picture.
The picture of lead poisoning is usually clear. The first evidence
consists of general weakness, with loss of appetite and severe con
stipation. Then a lead colic may develop. This consists of a very
severe abdominal pain which moves from place to place. It is prac
tically always associated with constipation.
A more severe manifestation are the paralyses produced by lead.
These are now relatively rare and it is very important to prevent
the condition. Paralyses are nearly always preceded by a period in
which muscles are weak and in which fatigue soon appears. Thus,
a painter may complain of an inability to hold the hand extended
for any length of time. This is a danger signal, which should result
IN D U STR IAL DISEASES---- LEAD POISONING-----J . C. AUB
149
in prompt removal from lead exposure. Such a condition then
promptly gets well, but if true paralysis is allowed to develop recov
ery is very slow.
Lead palsy consists of a paralysis of extensor muscles, whereas
the flexor muscles are normal. Tne most characteristic paralysis is
an inability to extend the fingers or wrist. Patients can easily hold
objects such as a pipe and they can do other things, but it is accom
plished with the hand well flexed on the wrist. It is a perfectly
characteristic paralysis, because lead paralyzes very few muscles.
The most fatigued muscles are the ones involved, so that if a person
is left handed the paralysis starts there, and if he is a dancing
teacher the feet may be first involved.
There is one other manifestation of lead poisoning which is now
only very rarely seen—encephalopathy. It comes on fairly suddenly
with convulsions, delirium, dementia, and in a large percentage of
cases causes death. Lead colic and lead palsies cause incapacity but
lead encephalopathy causes death. It is, of course, very important
that no one should be exposed to enough lead to produce this.
It is difficult to tell how long the duration of incapacity should
be in these different forms of the disease. This depends upon the
severity of the conditions and the way they are treated. A colic,
if properly treated, ought to stop within 24 to 48 hours, and to my
way of thinking the incapacity from a simple, not too severe lead
colic ought to be about six weefis. The early manifestations of wrist
weakness mean an incapacity of at least six weeks, but an established
paralysis means a complete incapacity of at least six months. Lead
encephalitis has a more indefinite period of incapacity. As I have
already said, about 50 to 75 per cent of those cases die. In the others
the recovery is often very slow and there sometimes remains a per
manent mental change. By incapacity I mean the period in which
symptoms and signs of injury from lead can be found. Lead will
still be present in the bones but will give no evidence of damage to
body tissues.
Another question which has been brought to my attention has to
do with the end results of lead poisoning. I recently inspected a
factory in which there had arisen a very interesting problem, from
the legal point of view. There was undoubtedly a large amount of
lead absorption and there was a good deal of lead poisoning in the
plant which certainly deserved compensation. The lawyers, how
ever, were trying to show permanent disability in these workers, due
to arteriosclerosis and nephritis, which they said was due to lead.
It is true that arteriosclerosis and nephritis have been said to be pro
duced by lead poisoning, but the evidence for arteriosclerosis is very
slight. Nearly all of us have some arteriosclerosis after we reach
50 years of age. It is obviously ridiculous permanently to compen
sate an individual who had been exposed to lead for a few months
because he also had an associated mild arteriosclerosis. I do not be
lieve there is any good evidence that lead produces arteriosclerosis—*
certainly most arteriosclerosis is produced by other causes as yet
unknown. The fact that an individual who has been exposed to
lead has arteriosclerosis certainly is no indication that lead produced
that hardening of the arteries*
85053°— 32—
11
150
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. O. I.
There is another problem, not often spoken of, which is of inter
est from the medico-legal point of view as well as from the medical
point of view, and that is the neuroses which may be prolonged in
atients who have had lead poisoning. It is extremely difficult to
now whether these neuroses are due to lead poisoning or whether
they are prolonged by the weekly compensation which the patients
receive. It is true that children ill with lead poisoning may be irri
table and nervous, too. This suggests that the poisoning may pro
duce the neuroses. In my experience, however, these neuroses arise
in people who have not been adequately treated or in patients suffer
ing from very severe lead poisoning. I have not seen them in pa
tients who have received thorough, early treatment. They are also
accentuated, just as are traumatic neuroses, by the weekly evidence
of their compensation check. As long as they receive evidence each
week that they are still sick they will remain sick. The best way to
prevent these neuroses, in my experience, is thoroughly to eliminate
lead from the body early in the disease. When the patient feels well,
get him a job quickly, and if he deserves further compensation con
tinue to give it to him even though he is at work. After a neurosis
has developed, the best treatment is to settle the case with a lump
sum of money, and get the patient back at some work. I am thinking
of the patient’s happiness, for it is no kindness to prolong a neu
rosis. The patients are far happier at work and they tend to lose
their neuroses. Lack of work and weekly compensation merely pro
long their worry and help make them chronic invalids. Lead poison
ing, itself, I am sure does not produce this prolonged condition,
except possibly in the rare cases of lead encephalopathy. The con
dition is largely dependent upon the method of treatment of the
disease and the method of compensation.
I can not close this short talk without returning to the most im
portant viewpoint—that of prevention. Lead poisoning can very
largely be eliminated from our factories by proper and simple pre
cautions. This is the crux of the whole problem. The cases of poi
soning ought to diminish progressively, and this should be our goal.
(Doctor Aub then concluded his talk by showing several slides,
illustrative of the points mentioned.)
Chairman R oach. We will now pass on to the paper by Doctor
Clark. Doctor Clark has a long record back of him. He is a graduate
of Columbia University in New York, and now an instructor of
industrial medicine at Harvard, and also has a very creditable war
record.
E
Dust Hazards and the Prevention of Injury from the
Same
By D r . W.
I r v in g C l a r k ,
Instructor of Industrial Medicine, Harvard University
Most people are exposed to dust inhalation, no matter what they
do. In any room dust motes can be seen in a beam of sunlight.
Outdoors there is a large amount of dust in the air, especially
in the cities. In the city of Cleveland, for instance, during the 24month period from June, 1927, to May, 1929, 119 tons of material
per square mile, per month, was deposited from the atmosphere at
IN D U ST R IA L DISEASES— DUST HAZARDS— W . I. CLARK
151
the collection station located in the down-town district. Twentyfour per cent of the total deposit was ferric oxide, showing the
large amount of iron inhaled by the people of this city.1 The same
conditions probably exist in all large cities.
Dust in the street form appears to be quite harmless to the indi
vidual inhaling it. Certain types of industrial dust, however, are
a hazard both quantitatively and qualitatively. The types of dust
evolved during manufacturing processes may be roughly divided
into organic dusts and inorganic dusts. Organic dusts such as fiber
dusts, jute, etc., appear to be relatively harmless. They produce
local irritation of the nose, throat, trachea, and bronchi if inhaled
in very large amounts, and increase the susceptibility of those ex
posed to respiratory infections beside making it more difficult to
recover from respiratory disease. They may also induce asthma.
However, work in the organic dusts can hardly be called hazardous.
Therefore the inorganic dusts will be particularly considered from
now on.
Nature has given man much natural protection against dust. The
nostrils contain fine hairs which trap dust particles, while the mois
ture of the nose and throat catches great numbers. The larnyx, with
its moist mucous mebrane and delicate coughing mechanism, pro
vides for a rejection of many particles, while those which pass into
the windpipe, or trachea, are constantly whipped toward the mouth
by the fine cilia (microscopic hairs) which line this long tube. In
short, there is a constant movement of the mucus from the air cells
of the lungs toward the mouth, which prevents a great deal of dust
which enters the chest from remaining in it. It has been found that
only the very sm allest dust particles reach the lung alveoli, or air
cells. These fine particles are almost ultramicroscopic in size, being
less than 10 microns in diameter, the majority being only 1 or 2
microns in size. A micron is one one-thousandth of a millimeter or
one twenty-five-thousandths of an inch, and anything smaller is col
loidal in size.
These very minute particles slowly collect in the air cells but do
not remain there. They are gradually removed by special body cells
which carry them along the lymphatics to the roots of the lungs,
where they are caught in the lymph glands or remain in the lymph
vessels blocking them up and preventing the normal flow of lymph.
The presence of these cells and their contents provokes the formation
of connective tissue. This is tough and fibrous in character, and as
more and more dust cells are stopped, more and more of this tissue
forms, pushing out its fibrous fingers and choking the air cells and
compressing them. This development of fibrous tissue is slow, the
time before it begins to cause serious damage varying from 3 to 25
years, depending on the chemical composition of the dust.
The effect of this pathological condition upon the workman is at
first too slight to be detected by physical examination and the worker
shows no symptoms. While there is a pathological condition present
it is to all intents and purposes harmless in that if it does not
progress rapidly, it may not provoke symptoms during the worker’s
life. Even respiratory disease of another nature, such as bronchitis,
or even pneumonia, may occur and be recovered from during this
1 Whipple, H.
American Journal of Public Health, March, 1931.
152
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A . G. 0 . I.
period. As the condition progresses, however, more and more of the
lung tissue is converted into fibrous tissue and the patient begins to
have certain symptoms. He complains of shortness of breath when
he goes uphill, and says that his heart beats noticeably. He also
mentions a cough, which is at first dry and infrequent, but gradually
becomes moist and frequent. With the cough he raises scanty,
stringy, white sputum, never very large in amount unless he catches
cold and develops a bronchitis. At this stage an attack of bronchitis
does not get well, it becomes chronic. Slowly the shortness of breath
increases, the patient has poor lung expansion, and his color becomes
pale with bluish lips. The cough is now pretty continuous, the
sputum free and moist, and when examined it frequently shows the
presence of tubercle bacilli. From this time on the patient rapidly
fails. Such is the course of a case of silicosis. While physical signs
are very slight, the X ray shows the condition of the lungs with
clearness and the progress of the disea^n can be followed in this way.
I have said that in some cases the process above outlined is fre
quently not completed, and that in other cases it may progress
rapidly giving definite symptoms in a few years. What is the
reason? This matter was for many years a puzzle. It was noted
that miners working in quartz developed this disease rapidly, while
other miners working in nonsiliceous rock had no symptoms. Very
extensive studies of miners were made by Mavrogordato2 in South
Africa and by Lanza3 in the United States. In addition special
studies were made of granite cutters as well as workers in coal
mines, rock tunnels, and other dusty work. It was found that the
amount of free silica in the rock had an important bearing on the
rapidity of the development of the disease. Grinders using sand
stone which contains a large quantity of silica were also found to be
particularly susceptible. Through these studies and through experi
mental work in laboratories, it has been found that silica dust, when
inhaled, is very active in producing the pathological condition and
symptoms just described. The matter is still under investigation,
but the present belief is that any inorganic dust, if breathed in suffi
cient quantity for a long enough time, will produce the disease called
pneumoconiosis, or silicosis, but that the inhalation of silica dust,
even if inhaled for only a comparatively short time, is invariably
very hazardous.
Therefore in considering the dust hazard of any occupation the
things to be considered are the quantity of fine dust particles to
which the worker is exposed, the chemical composition of these par
ticles, especially whether or not a high percentage of silica is present,
and the number of years of exposure. Second, consideration must
be given to the physical condition of the worker, whether he is robust
or sickly. Third, consideration must be given to the general work
ing conditions which surround the worker. The quantity of dust
can be determined by dust counts. A dust count is made by the use
of a special instrument which collects particles of dust from the air.
These particles are drawn into water and, the amount of air flowing
through the apparatus being known, it is possible to calculate the
number of particles and measure their size by using a counting
chamber under a microscope.
a Mavrogordato, A. South African Institute of Medical Research, No. 15, 1922.
3 Lanza, A. J. Public Health Bulletin 85, 1917.
IN D U ST R IA L DISEASES— DUST HAZARDS---- W . I. CLARK
153
The number of dust particles varies in different parts of the same
room, so that it is good practice to take samples at several different
points and at the height of a worker’s mouth. The numbers of par
ticles found in counts at particularly dusty parts of a factory may be
very high, as in the raw mill of a cement plant where the counts
registered from 67 to 105 million particles below 10 microns in size
per cubic foot of air.4 While a definite safe dust count has not yet
been decided upon, it is felt that 10 to 20 million particles of dust less
than 10 microns in size, per cubic foot of air, is fairly safe from the
point of view of health. While this is probably true for most inor
ganic dusts, it may be too high for safety in dust of very high silica
content.
To summarize then, we find that the continuous inhalation of very
fine particles of inorganic dust in large amounts produces a chronic
disease of lungs which is characterized by the development of fibrous
tissue, by destruction of the air cells, and by the late development
of pulmonary tuberculosis. We further find that this process pro
ceeds very slowly except in cases exposed to dust with a high content
of silica, and that the amount of dust in the workroom must be over
20,000,000 particles of less than 10 microns per cubic foot of air to
be hazardous. Having these basic facts before us, how are we to
protect the worker and at the same time maintain the industry
which produces the dust?
The first principles to be considered are how to prevent the dust
from entering the worker’s lungs. It is obvious that there is no
method by which all dust may be removed from the air, and there
is no mechanical contrivance in the form of a respirator which
workers will wear which will filter dust from the air without
rapidly clogging. The effort must be to keep the number of fine
particles, and these it must be remembered are as fine as smoke par
ticles, from being beyond a certain number per cubic foot of air
space. It has been found that the most effective method of removing
these fine particles is by suction applied as close as possible to the
point where they are generated. Thus exhaust pipes to be efficient
must open at the point where the tool meets the work, and the
amount of suction must be great enough to overcome the dispersing
action upon the dust of the work being done. Thus, in rock drill
ing the exhaust pipe must open near the point of the drill, or in
grinding the exhaust must be under the hood which partly sur
rounds the grinding wheel. The velocity at the air ducts of an
efficient dust-removing tube should be 1,500 linear feet per minute.
This if properly maintained will keep the number of dust particles
to not more than 10,000,000 particles per cubic foot of air.
Efforts have been made to reduce the amount of dust by laying it
with water or oil, but this has not proved very satisfactory. (In
fact, Greenburg5 has shown that the dust hazard in a cutlery factory
where the wheels were kept wet, but no exhaust hoods used, was far
greater than in a grinding room where dry wheels were used but
hoods and exhausts were employed.)
Where automatic processes are in use and the wheel and work are
completely inclosed with an efficient dust exhaust, the operator is very
well protected. Sand blasting and granite cutting are extremely
4 Public Health Bulletin No. 176.
5 Greenburg, L. U. S. Public Health Service Reports, vol. 35, No. 41.
154
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
hazardous, not only because of the great amount of dust gen
erated but because of the high silica content of the materials em
ployed in doing the work. Here cabinets in which the work is sepa
rated from the operator and from which the dust is rapidly ex
hausted is the best method of protection. Where cabinets can not
be employed the use of helmets completely covering the head and
neck of the operator with a free supply of air through a pipe from
a nondusty area, is the most satisfactory protection. It is often diffi
cult to persuade the workman to use complicated or uncomfortable
protective devices either upon his machine or upon himself, and
strict rules must be made and enforced where the dust hazard is
present.
No matter how well a workman is protected he should be kept
under medical supervision a#d have a periodic examination of his
heart and lungs. In addition the X ray should be employed freely
in order to detect early signs of fibrosis in the lungs and to show
any signs of early pulmonary tuberculosis. In my experience with
workers exposed to inorganic dust, nonsiliceous in character, a yearly
physical examination, with an X ray every second year after 10
years’ exposure, is sufficient, but it must be remembered that this is
the result of work in a factory where the character of the dust is
relatively harmless and where excellent dust-removing devices are
installed on every machine where it is possible. Where free silica
is present in large quantities the examinations should begin after
two or three years’ exposure and an X ray should be taken every
year.
It is obvious that workers entering any hazardous occupation
should have a complete physical examination before beginning work.
This is particularly true when the work is particularly dangerous
for those having lung disease, even though this be in mild form.
Men who are asthmatic, who suffer from chronic bronchitis, or who
have had pulmonary tuberculosis should not work at a dusty job.
Thus our effort must be to provide strong, healthy workers with
clear chests and without predisposition to tuberculosis. Having
selected our group we must keep them under medical observation
and during their period of employment they must be exposed to the
least amount of fine dust possible. I f a worker is found to be de
veloping fibrosis of the lung, he should at once be taken off dusty
work, he should be kept under medical supervision, and his sputum
should be examined for tuberculosis at regular intervals.
There is, however, a growing belief that if silicosis has advanced
to diffuse fibrous deposits in the chest, removal from dusty work will
not prevent further development ox fibrous tissue and probably
death from pulmonary tuberculosis. A quick method of estimating
the hazard of a dusty occupation is to obtain its rate of reported cases
of pulmonary tuberculosis and compare it with the rate of tubercu
losis occurring in the community as a whole.
In conclusion, it is important to have clearly in mind the following:
1. That the dust hazard is dependent upon the quantity, quality,
and size of the dust involved.
2. That while organic dust may make those constantly breathing
it susceptible to respiratory disease, it does not produce a disease
IN D U ST R IA L DISEASES— CH EM ICALS— L . GREENBURG
155
entity of its own. According to Landis,6 as far as the X-ray evi
dence is concerned individuals exposed to organic dust show no more
marked changes than are encountered in those who have dwelt all
their lives in large cities.
3. That inorganic dust of any composition will cause a slowly
developing fibrosis of the lung if the exposure is to a sufficient quan
tity of dust over a long enough period. This period is frequently
from 20 to 30 years.
4. That many inorganic dusts are inhaled by workers during a
lifetime without producing symptoms or affecting their work. This
occurs where the amount of dust in the workroom is not excessive.
5. That inorganic dust of high silica content, if breathed over a
long enough period in sufficient concentration, will produce a marked
fibrosis of the lungs with secondary pulmonary tuberculosis.
6. That the best method of protection from any dust is by sep
arating the worker completely from his work by a cabinet, helmet,
or other device. Next best is the removal of dust by suction at the
point at which it is generated.
7. That the dust hazard is a specific hazard, confined to special
industries or special departments, and that the amount of dust
generated in the workrooms of most factories is quite harmless
because of the small amount in the air.
Chairman R o a c h . We will pass on now to Dr. Leonard Greenburg. He has a long and distinguished list of titles and is now an
associate sanitary engineer of the United States Public Health Serv
ice, being connected with the school of public health of Yale Uni
versity. He is going to discuss the very interesting subject of
“ Dangerous chemicals.”
Dangerous Chemicals
By Dr.
L eonard G reenburg,
of the United States Public Health Service
Chemicals, as you know, are not new; they are old, they are very
old. Reference to old literature shows the existence of numberless
cases of lead poisoning. But in the year 1890, or thereabouts, the
sudden growth of the chemical industry in this country became
manifest. In 1900 we began to discover many cases of unusual
chemical poisons. At the present time these consist of a large num
ber of chemical compounds. I must confess that we do not get many
cases of each particular one, but if you look through the complete
literature you will find many different compounds. It is impossible
to estimate just how these compounds should be handled and you will
see why later on.
The records that we formerly got from Washington concerning
poisons are only those that are registered on the basis of deaths.
Now I dare say that probably 85 per cent of lead poisoning does
not result in death, and a far greater percentage of some of the
other poisons does not result in death to the patient or to the worker.
They result in a certain amount of illness and a certain amount of
6 Landis, H, B. M.
Journal of Industrial Hygiene, Vol. VII, No. 1.
156
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. O. I.
incapacity and in a small percentage of cases in death. The records
are only of that small percentage of cases that were registered in
the death records at Washington. That is why there seems to be a
question as to about how much lead poisoning there is. You will
note that there is no agreement here as to just how much there is.
After workmen’s compensation started in this country we picked
up a great many more of these cases which do not terminate fatally,
and if the compensation records were analyzed they would serve as
the best source of material to determine whether or not a psychosis
ceased when the compensation ceased. I think we really need a
more intensified study of the compensation records in order to
gather some of these fundamental facts that are required.
Now, in general, what is the effect of these poisons? For ex
ample, carbon monoxide results in death and benzol may result in
death. It means that these things may happen or there may be
other results that will follow. The carbon monoxide gas may squeeze
out the life. But let us pass out of the class that produces im
mediate death, and in general the substances that produce immediate
death are the gases, to those poisons that produce chronic illness
that may result in death or permanent disability. These poisons are
varied, and it is impossible to lay down a rule as to how long a chronic
illness will last.
For example, if you have a patient who gets benzol poisoning,
chronic poisoning, and the normal number of red blood cells in
his body is reduced from 5,000,000 to 3,000,000 and there are
other complications, it is wise to expect a more rapid recovery than
you could if the red blood cells were reduced to 1,000,000. It
seems simple enough, arid it is true that it works according to a rule.
Now if you have a subject whose blood cells have been reduced from
5,000,000 to 3,000,000, and if such a person continues to work
in a harmful atmosphere the blood cells may go down to a million
and it may terminate fatally. But if such a person with 3,000,000
blood cells is removed from that atmosphere completely, he may
succeed in regaining full life.
Again, in the case of lead poisoning, as Doctor Aub so skillfully
pointed out, you have lead absorption and lead intoxication, and a
great many cases of the former do not terminate fatally. Then,
hnally, we come to the group of substances which are absorbed and
which apparently produce no effects except slight changes in various
organs in the system. So you see there is a gradual scale, reaching
up from those cases in which you have practically no effects (the
substance in small amount and over a short period of time), to cases
where you get immediate death from exposure to large amounts.
In judging any situation it is absolutely essential to bear in mind
the two important facts, the amount of substance and the duration
of exposure.
Now, what about the nature of these poisons? Some of them are
gases like carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methyl chloride (a refrig
erant used in some refrigerators and the like). Then there are
vapors. There is a vapor from mercury, ordinarily a liquid, but
one which has a low vapor pressure. Then finally we have dust, such
as lead dust or chromium dust. In considering any of these com
pounds it is well to bear this classification in mind, because in gen
IN D U STRIAL DISEASES— CH EM ICALS— L . GREENBURG
157
eral the action of a substance depends in a large measure on the
form of the dispersion. These substances may get into the body in
various ways, as we have mentioned.
By far the largest number of compounds come through the res
piratory tract. They are breathed in and are taken up by the lung
tissue. I do not know just what the computation shows, but the
amount of surface area of the normal person’s lung would about
cover the surface of this room and the walls and ceiling. So you
can see that the lung presents an enormous surface area for the ab
sorption of any material. Then there is a difference in skin absorp
tion, and that raises the question many times as to whether it is
poisoning. I have yet to see a clear-cut case where the respiratory
tract was excluded and such poisons as benzol were known to have
been taken in through the skin. There is a new substance that is used
for chromium plating, and that is taken in through the respiratory
tract in a very small amount and is chiefly absorbed through the
skin and the nose and the mouth.
Finally, there is the intestinal tract, and so far as that is con
cerned, I know of only two substances that are readily absorbed. One
of these is lead and that is absorbed to a small extent, and zinc, which
is absorbed to a certain extent. These poisons affect different parts
of the body. It is very common to find one poison affecting three
or four different organs in the system. For example, the nervous
system is chiefly affected by a substance like lead. The manifesta
tions of manganese are peculiar. In them the patient does not
develop a wrist drop, but develops a peculiar symptom, so that if
he walks forward he can not stop, and if he walks backward he
keeps on going until he hits a wall or falls down. He suffers from
what is generally called retropulsion, or propulsion. After that the
blood is most frequently attacked, and so on.
In benzol poisoning the chief place to look for trouble is in the
blood stream, and in that the poison is evidenced and displayed
very markedly in the changes that take place in the red blood cells.
Nitrobenzol is another substance that affects the blood stream. Please
do not get the impression that any one of these poisons selects a
certain system for attack. In general they attack 2 Qr 3 or
4 systems. Each poison usually presents a complex situation, and
that is why Doctor Aub spoke about the nervous system and ne
phritis in discussing lead poisoning. In this chromium compound the
patient usually suffers with chromium sores on the exposed portion of
the hand and ulcers of the nasal center. His respiratory system may
be attacked, especially in a disease produced by any rust oxide.
In addition to the particular organic systems affected and the nature
and the entrance of the poison the prime factor is exceedingly im
portant. In lead there is an accumulative action. This material, as
Doctor Aub and others have pointed out, is stored in the long bones
of the body and remain there until some particular episode calls
it forth into the blood stream, at which time the patient suffers from
its effects. Then we come to the radium patients. Workers may
use radium over a period of 5 to 10 years, then be out of exposure
for a period of 5 and more years, and then come down with radium
poisoning. The outcome is very interesting to examine in some of
these cases.
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The outcome in benzol poisoning depends on how far it has gone.
We have tried several times to save workmen who had blood counts
of a million and we have failed. I do not mean to say that every
body else would have the same experience that we have demonstrated.
I know of cases of benzol poisoning, chiefly in the rubber industry,
where the blood count was reduced to about two and a half million
and we have saved the patient. I can not say much about the termi
nation in radium poisoning, for I do not know much about it. I
have had little contact with actual cases, but from my knowledge
of the subject I am inclined to believe that if there is definitely fullgrown evidence of radium poisoning the chances of recovery event
ually are very small, but it may drag on for a long, long time.
In relation to new poisons in industry, I might gay that there are
no new poisons that have come to my notice lately, and I am sure
that you could find all of the information on these in some of the
classical books on the subject. Of course methyl poisoning has come
to the front in connection with the antifreeze substances. The wood
alcohol compound is an old story and I do not think there is any
real need to discuss it, other than to point out that it makes no real
difference whether the toxic material is synthetic methyl, which is
chemically pure, or wood alcohol. One is about as toxic as the other,
and if you drink an ounce or two ounces of either you are going to
have a very severe case of poisoning, probably with some degree of
blindness.
The question has come up recently about the inhalation of methyl
alcohol. As to large amounts, there is definite data to show that
men who have varnished the inside of beer vats do get poisoned,
sometimes resulting in blindness or in death. Look at Dr. Alice
Hamilton’s book or read any of the old German references and
you will see that repeated time and time again.
Before closing I would like to spend a minute or two discussing
the prevention of some of these. Of course, the prevention of the
poison depends on the knowledge of the poison and how it acts
when it gets into the body. Unfortunately a lot of people try to
treat these cases without having first familiarized themselves with
the nature of the poison and how the poison is produced. The
methods that are applicable to each are entirely different. There
are certain things that give rise to sudden death—apoplexy is one
of them, and cerebral hemorrhage is another—and we often confuse
poisoning with these things. But so far as the prohibiting of
poisons is concerned the oldest method is to forbid the use of the
poison, but of course that can hardly be done in these days; there
are too many other factors to be considered and we ought to look
for some means of treatment that will enable industry to continue
using the materials which they have to use. Segregation of those
affected is one thing that is very important, once we can really de
termine what the effect is going to be. After segregation, which
applies in most cases, the next thing to do is use methods which will
eliminate the greatest hazards, and in this connection we could go
into each industry and point out particular things there that could
be accomplished along that line.
You know there are delicate adjustments to be made in most plants.
Superintendents think that anyone can design a ventilating system,
IN D U STRIAL DISEASES---- C H EM ICALS---- L . GREENBURG
159
but the money that is saved by not having a competent man design
the job is wasted in the poisonings that may follow. It is absolutely
essential to balance the quantity of air that is being removed against
the velocity of removal, and in the case of dust it is necessary to use
a higher velocity and perhaps a smaller volume. In the case of
gases, which escape so readily, it is necessary to use a larger volume
and a smaller velocity. In general there are no limitations that can
be placed on a competent ventilating engineer, and he is usually very
successful.
That brings us to masks and respirators, which is a long story in
itself and I will not go into it. In the first place, the mask, or the
respirator, is only intended to be used when there is a supply of
oxygen available. If a man goes into a tank that may have con
tained gasoline vapors or benzol, and all of the oxygen has been
excluded from that tank or inclosure, he must have his supply of
oxygen, because life can not continue without it, and the only thing
to do is to give it to him; it is very important to remember that in
this connection. There is just one thing that you can do if oxygen
is not available and that is to use a fresh-air mask. That can be
done under certain conditions. Then there is another type of ap
paratus which is really nothing more than a filter. It may have a
layer of cotton in it, or a wet sponge, or two or three pieces of
ordinary filter paper, but its only function is that it filters a certain
amount of dust out of the air, and that is all that it can be used for.
In all of these different type of masks and respirators you must
be sure that you do not use them for a longer time than the material
in the absorbent is alive. For example, after you have used it for a
certain time the efficiency falls and it must be discarded. When the
life of the absorbent material gives out there is no further use for
that mask, and no further protection is afforded against the gas or
the dust. I think that almost everybody has had experience with
masks and in general it has probably been bad. I think that it will
continue to be bad and they should be used only in cases of emer
gency, and their use and maintenance must be skilled and carefully
supervised. In general, it is not wise to place too much reliance on
them, unless you have to in case of an emergency.
(Meeting adjourned.)
FRIDAY, MAY 22— MORNING SESSION
W . A . Rooksbery, President Association of Governmental Officials in Industry* Presiding
BUSINESS SESSION
REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON OFEICERS’ REPORTS
Your committee appointed to consider the reports of the officers of the
association have performed the duties imposed upon it and beg to present
the following report:
President's report.—We congratulate the president upon the able and con
scientious manner in which he has performed the duties of his office. He
came to the office of president in the middle of the year owing to the severance
of membership of his predecessor. He was therefore handicapped by lack
of information as to plans that had been outlined for the year. The splendid
program presented at this meeting, and the success of the meeting generally,
affords ample evidence of his full grasp of the significance of his office and
his ability to perform every duty.
In reference to the president’s suggestion that a committee be appointed to
inform the governors of the various States of the United States and the
Provinces of Canada of the aims and objects of this association and the
subjects discussed, your committee is of the opinion that such a committee
would be helpful in bringing to the attention of the governors and other State
officials the objects and purposes of this association, and probably might be
able to increase the interest in our meetings and establish the importance of
the work we are doing. We therefore approve and recommend the adoption
of his suggestion that a committee of five, of which the president shall be
chairman, be appointed as a committee of information and publicity, whose
duties shall be as outlined in the president’s suggestion.
Secretary's report.—We have also examined the records and accounts of
the secretary-treasurer and report that a record has been kept of the receipts
and expenditures during the past year and that all money received by the
association has been properly accounted for.
In conclusion, the committee heartily commends both the president and the
secretary-treasurer upon the efficient and painstaking manner in which they
have performed their duties.
President R ooksbery. Have we any unfinished business to take up
at this time ?
Mr. Seiller (Kentucky). I hate to start something at this late
moment, but no cognizance has been taken at this convention of the
uniform child labor law that has been proposed by the Uniform Laws
Commission. I have been thinking for some time that it would be
wise for this and other similar associations to promote uniformity
in laws and submit them to this commission, which, as you know,
has the backing and is made up of the representatives of the law
appointed by the governors of the States,
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161
Another suggestion that I would like to make is that this associ
ation confine itself, as far as its speakers are concerned, to repre
sentatives of labor officials, discussing those problems which we are
faced with day by day.
I am very strong for uniformity in laws as between the States.
My experience in sponsoring legislation leads me to say this: Our
department legislation has either been shelved or defeated because
of the advice given to the legislators and the stand taken by some
legislators that if they adopted our proposed legislation they would
be putting restricted legislation upon our State industries, and
thereby making it very difficult and handicapping the industries in
competition with neighbor States which did not have legislation of
a similar nature.
I believe in uniform labor legislation, such as workmen’s compensa
tion for industrial injuries, hygiene and safety, and that for women
and children. Practically all the States have some legislation on
these subjects. Therefore, uniformity in such legislation would
practically wipe out such a point in competition in trade and indus
tries as between States and would remove the many little difficulties
and misunderstandings which are experienced by trade and indus
tries which have stores, factories, or workshops in several States.
The American Standards Association has done a great deal along
this line in promoting American standard safety codes, and I think
this association and the National Safety Council have done more
than any other private organizations in the way of assisting States
in promoting real and universal safety.
Mr M agnusson. I am in sympathy with what Mr. Seiller has said.
I would like to illustrate that by another example. Take the move
ment for old-age pensions that has spread over the United States
in the last two years. Seventeen States now have laws. Of course,
it is well understood that there are only two of those State laws that
are of any particular value—California, perhaps, and New York.
The consequence of those laws being different in different States is
that each State has to protect itself by excessive residence require
ments—15 years, or something like that, I believe, is the residence
requirement in California. Of course, there are special reasons why
the aged flock to California. We all expect to go to California when
we retire. But that illustrates the same point again. Why do we
go to Florida? Why do we go to Nevada? Because we can get a
divorce in 30 days, they say. That may be good or it may not, I
do not know, but it illustrates exactly the point that I had in mind.
We go to those States whose regulations suit our purposes of evasion
or otherwise. Obviously the continental character of the United
States makes it possible.
As time goes on, in this matter of social legislation, in the matter
of industrial development, uniform legislation is becoming increas
ingly more imperative. Something has happened in the United
States in the last few years that very few ox us realize, the drift
from the farm and from the agricultural regions of the South up to
the North. I have in mind the greater stabilization and slowing
down of population growth in the United States that is bound to
have certain social consequences which find analogies in the cases
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of New Zealand and Australia. It is not just an accident of history
that those two countries are countries with a great deal of social
legislation. I think the social legislation there hears a direct rela
tion to the close economy and policy of restricted population growth
that they have more or less consciously adopted.
As a result of a now somewhat similar population policy the
United States bears the necessity of giving much more conscious
thought to the solution of some of its social problems. We must
earn our standard of living, as it were. We must take account of the
difficulty of maintaining standards of living with a stabilized popu
lation, as against a rapidly increasing and expanding one. Now
that, to my mind, is an underlying ana sound argument for giving
much greater consideration to this problem of uniform State legisla
tion in the United States. I think that the group that knows most
about it is this group right here and that our first step would be to
have a strong committee on that problem of uniform State labor
legislation—in principle only, in the general outlines thereof, not
in the administrative details, because we want to preserve the local
autonomies, local characteristics, and freedom of thought, that we
have. But in the underlying standards it seems to me we have
to face the problem of uniformity.
^You face this problem as soon as you have more than one jurisdic
tion operating over a given territory, because if you have more than
one State, one jurisdiction with authority over a geographical area,
you have the problem of uniformity and coordination with you at
once. So I think that a committee on that would be desirable.
(By unanimous vote the matter under consideration was referred
to the executive committee.)
DISCUSSION ON RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING
PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Mr. H udson (Ontario). The program says that we are going to
discuss recommendations for unemployment. We can do this for a
moment, but there is only one remedy for unemployment and that
is work, so we have disposed of the question.
The only difficulty that we have is how to provide the work. We
have heard very interesting papers on this subject of the remedies
for unemployment. I think it would be a mistake in the closing
minutes of the session to even take time to go over them and enter
into a discussion pro and con on the papers. Consequently all that
I think I should do at this time, as leader of the discussion, is to
tell you in a word or two what we have been attempting to do in
Canada during the past 10 months. I have heard it said that a
government of angels couldn’t survive a period of hard times, and
when the former Federal administration in Canada endeavored to
prove that times were good the opposition, the would-be govern
ment, set about to prove that times were not good and that the fore
cast for the future was by no means encouraging, and we practically
elected it on the basis of that promise to reduce unemployment.
Six weeks after the election a special session of Parliament was
called. That establishes a record for Canada, incidentally, in get
ting under way so rapidly. The sum of $20,000,000 was set aside by
the Federal Government to be used in providing work, so far as
BU SIN E SS SESSION
163
possible, but to be used also in special cases in assisting in direct
relief. Primarily the difficulty was to provide work. Twenty mil
lion dollars spread over a country as large as yours, including
Alaska, is not an awful lot to take care of the situation during the
winter months, but the wise provision was made that this money
should be matched by money appropriated by municipalities and
Provinces.
The result has been that unemployment relief projects have been
carried out throughout Canada. The municipalities in most in
stances instituted the work, and it would take a long time to out
line the various forms of relief work that have been undertaken.
But briefly it has been in the construction of roads, sewers, and
parks. We are going to have a more elaborate system of parks in
Canada as a result of this last year’s relief wort. In taking ad
vantage of the Federal Government’s offer to pay a portion of the
cost the municipalities are benefiting, inasmuch as a job which
might, for purposes of argument, cost a hundred thousand dollars
if done by ordinary methods, might cost much less on the relief
basis. So they can spread that out and do more work.
That provision was one of the incentives that caused the various
towns and cities to embark on this plan of providing unemployment
relief work. The next thing was how to distribute the work. There
are about 70 centers where this work is carried on, and it was the
general practice to use the local office to carry on this work, not
only to make the first selection of men but to keep the rotations
going so that there was absolute fairness in the distribution of the
work. There were, of course, centers where local politics entered
slightly into the scheme of things, and where there would be charges
made that John Jones had had six weeks of work and somebody else
had not had any work. But by and large, and may I say somewhat
to my surprise, the scheme has worked out with absolute fairness
throughout the Dominion.
This has helped remarkably in getting through a most difficult
winter. That is in all probability going to be necessary again next
year, and the minor difficulties that have been encountered during
the past winter will not be in evidence next year. The provincial
governments also undertook relief work, without reference to the
municipalities. I am perfectly well aware of that fact, because it is
almost impossible to carry on a telephone conversation in my office
at the present time in view of the fact that an addition to our
building is being constructed, an addition which under ordinary
conditions would not have been needed for two or three years at
least. But the Province wanted to set an example to the munici
palities and commenced the construction of this 6-story building
and registered the men in order as they applied at the building.
That is one of the things that we have done.
The newspapers have cooperated with us, exactly 100 per cent.
Where there has been any local influence, or tendency to put men on
relief work because of lodge or other connections, the editorial
columns of the newspapers have strongly urged that the facilities of
the employment service be used in all cases, and they have sup
ported us in that way. In addition, the newspapers in many places
have printed full-page advertisements without cost, outlining, as has
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A. G. 0 . I.
been done in Boston, and in Detroit, and in other American cities,
the definite jobs that can be done, or things that can be done around
your home, and have given the telephone numbers of the employ
ment service and have stressed our willingness to cooperate with
qualified help. Those are all panaceas, but the advantage of them
has been that the unemployed workers in Canada have maintained
their morale, feeling that a serious attempt was being made to help
them, and even if a man only got one week’s work in five, if he felt
that he was getting it in his turn and that no one else was getting
three weeks work m five, it has helped to maintain his self-respect
and has prevented him from lining up with the more radical element
in the community, the professional agitators whom we have in
Canada, as you no doubt have in the United States.
President R ooksbery. Mr. Roach, I wonder if you would give us
your thoughts on this subject, just sort of sum it up for us?
Mr. R oach (New Jersey). I think that the answer has been given
by Mr. Hudson when he said that the remedy for unemployment was
employment. I f some one could outline a system by which there
would be a wider and a more diversified diffusion of the products of
labor, so that people might in all times be in a position to buy back
the things they create, we would probably not have any unemploy
ment. But I have not heard anybody bring forward a workable
scheme which will accomplish that laudable purpose.
That is being attempted in Soviet Russia, with very little success,
as far as I can learn. I do not know whether it has ever been tried
in this Commonwealth, and I do not think we will ever have any
relief for these periodic depressions that have been recorded in our
economic history until some way has been devised to put into the
hands of the consuming public the power to buy what they create.
What has been done in Canada has probably been done in all of the
States to a greater or lesser degree. Efforts have been made to
sustain the morale of the workman, but nothing has been done at
all that would strike at the root of the evil.
President R ooksbery. Doctor Patton, I wonder if you could say
something.
Doctor P atton (New York). It is foolish for this organization
to think for a moment that we can solve the unemployment problem.
People have tried it ever since modern industry came into existence.
It seems to me that an organization such as this would have to devote
itself chiefly to a consideration of the best methods as to handling the
unemployment situation, just as Mr. Hudson has spoken of in
Canada.
It is, however, true that we ought to give consideration, along with
the rest of the people of the world, as to the basic causes of unem
ployment. But for us to assume that we could by the arrangement
of a particular program announce to the world that we had dis
covered a cure, or a solution, for unemployment would be beside the
mark. One of the editions of the New York Sund ay Times last win
ter listed 358, or some such number, specific causes of unemployment.
Such a statement as that indicates the complexity of the problem.
There are two things that ought to be kept in mind. One is that
the immediate problem facing us is the problem of relief and the best
method of handling it. Now, whatever the cause may be, if a man
BU SIN E SS SESSION*
165
is sick we want to treat him and we want a skilled medical practi
tioner to render that treatment. There is need also for a research
specialist to discover the cause of any illness and how to prevent its
coming again.
I would not say that I did not get anything out of the unemploy
ment session. I feel that I did, and I would not say that we ought
rigidly to limit our consideration to the specific problems that we
have to face. The wider the background of general knowledge that
we all have, the more likely is it that we can make specific recom
mendations. I do not think it is quite true to- say that there has
been nothing at all done in the direction of preventing unemploy
ment. The rather carefully thought-out studies and experiments
which have been put into effect this last year in a number of the
States, leading to stabilization of employment, I think, are very
hopeful. I think that they have contributed very materially, and
in specific experiments like that, I think the States and organizations
like this have been of real value.
I feel that the report of the New York State Commission on the
Stabilization of Employment, with the concrete information that
has been gathered, and the recommendations that have been made, is
well worth the attention of everybody. I would be glad to send a
copy of it to anybody who would like to see it. There are a number
of other similar reports that have been made. But if you want to
enlarge the growth and welfare of this organization, I can say now
that if we will locate the germ of unemployment, or discover it, that
we will never be troubled by the lack of funds again.
President R ooksbery. Mr. Horner, would you give us your
thoughts on the subject?
Mr. H orner (Pennsylvania). I have been impressed with the ad
dresses I have neard on the unemployment question and I think, of
course, the thing to do, if it can be done, would be to stabilize em
ployment. In Pennsylvania we have a commission wrestling with
that problem, the same as many of the other States have.
An extensive building program has been carried on by the State
and just now we are planning to take over 20,000 miles of dirt road,
which will help to give employment. But as Doctor Patton said, I
think, if this association could provide some method of taking care
of this situation in the future, we would not lack funds.
President R ooksbery. We will follow our course of regular busi
ness now and have the report of the resolutions committee.
r e p o r t of c o m m it t e e on r e s o l u t io n s
Public Employment Offices
Resolved, That the association places itself on record as favoring Federal
cooperative supervision and financial aid in the development of State employ
ment offices rather than an independent system of Federal employment offices.
Cooperation on Child-Labor Standards
Resolved, That the Association of Governmental Officials in Industry of the
United States and Canada hereby approves cooperation with the committee on
85053°— 32-------12
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OF A. G. 0 . I.
the regulation of the employment of minors in hazardous trades, organized by
the Children’s Bureau on the recommendation of the White House conference
to collect and analyze information which may be used as a basis for the
formulation of scientifically determined standards for the protection of children
and young persons from occupational hazards, which standards may serve as
a guide to the various States in the revision of their legislation in this field.
That this association hereby goes on record as favoring such cooperation
and authorizes the executive board of the organization to appoint representa
tives to serve on that committee.
That this association also urges the labor officials constituting its member
ship to aid the committee by furnishing information and in any other way
possible.
Collection of Employment Statistics
Whereas comprehensive and reliable information with reference to the trends
of employment and the earnings of wage earners is essential in order that any
measures adopted for the relief of the unemployed, or any plan for the issuance
of unemployment insurance, or the setting up of unemployment reserve funds
may be based on a full knowledge of conditions! and sound judgment, be it
Resolved, That the Association of Governmental Officiiils in Industry of the
United States and Canada urge all State bureaus of labor and like agencies
which are not already engaged in the collection of pay-roll data from repre
sentative manufacturing establishments to undertake such collection periodically
and systematically, following the so-called “ standard plan” adopted by the
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and by a number of leading industrial
States.
That the scope of such collection of pay-roll data be extended to include the
building industry, wholesale and retail trade, public utilities, agriculture,
office employment, employment in hotels and restaurants, and all other im
portant fields of employment.
That wherever possible or expedient the results be presented, classified by sex
and earnings of employees.
That efforts be made also to secure and publish periodically data with refer
ence to employment by governmental agencies, State, county, and municipal,
and employment on public works, whether constructed directly by govern
mental agencies or under contract, in order to determine the extent to which
such public works contribute to an increase in the amount of available em
ployment.
Child-Labor Recommendations
Resolved, That the association urge the labor officials of all the States to
stimulate interest in the child-labor recommendations of the White House
conference and to assist in securing the adoption of those standards in their
respective States.
Protection of Minors in Vocational Traiwkig Courses
Resolved, That the association invite the cooperation of the superintendent’s
department of the National Educational Association and of the State officials
responsible for supervision of vocational and trade-training courses in order
to insure adequate protection from industrial accidents for minors in such
training courses.
These resolutions were adopted.
B U SIN ESS
s e s s io n
167
DISCUSSION ON BUILDING UP THE ASSOCIATION
President R oo ksbery . We now have a few moments to discuss
the question of building up the association.
Mr. M agnusson (Washington, D. C.)- While I do not wish to
plead for bureaucratizing the association or unduly centralizing it
from Washington, I think it highly desirable that we have a broader
and more national point of view; in other words, more coordination,
if that is not too strong a word. I think my suggestion would indi
cate that I have nothing violent or forcible in mind. How would it
be, in order to give the association greater national prestige, to invite
the United States Secretary of Labor and the Canadian Minister
of Labor, while they are already active members of the association,
to become honorary presidents of the organization, if only to indi
cate their general interest in our problems and to show that we
have a certain amount of national consciousness; that many of the
problems with which we deal have national implications and sig
nificance. It is significant as indicating the national character of
our activities that private associations which are concerned with
our problems (like the labor groups and the employers) are all na
tional in their scope and do not presume to function merely within
the limits of the States’ boundaries. The economic problems of this
country are not confined to political State boundaries. The producer
operates not within a limited, but within a national, market. Com
petition of labor with labor is national. Everyone, in short, is con
stantly referring to the continental, free-trade character of the
American economic system. The very fact that this association exists
as such is evidence of the truly national scope of our interests. The
application of my suggestion, then, in other words, would only be
one further recognition of facts we already perceive.
Mr. W h it a k e r (Georgia). I realize that the time is limited and
I only want to make a few suggestions. However, I want to say that
I have been impressed with the suggestions made by Mr. Magnusson
and the others. In the first place we have to consider what is respon
sible for the nonaffiliation of States now. I f I have been correctly
informed, some of the reasons why we have no representatives here
from some of the States in the Union are the lack of appropriations
and perhaps a lack of the complete knowledge of our purposes.
I am particularly interested in the suggestions made by previous
speakers in connection with uniform labor laws. I believe, for this
association to grow, particularly among the States that are not rep
resented now, that we should, if possible, formulate a plan or a
program that would not be identical with those of other boards.
I believe that if we would arrange through the coming executive
boards, in our future programs, to follow a policy of directing our
attention more to the uniformity and the need ot labor legislation,
that by that method we would be able to distinguish ourselves from
other boards and become more efficient in our own association, over
a certain specialized field of activity.
Another thing that I believe is important for this committee, and
which the president recommended, is to find out the reasons why
these nonaffiliated States are not attending. If our information is
correct it is due to lack of funds. But we should make an effort to
build up a feeling among the laboring people in the community that
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E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. O. I.
will create a demand for attendance to the authorities that govern
the appropriations, with the view of securing it. I am of the
opinion that if the laboring people of the United States fully under
stood the aims and objects of this association the apparent objections
to travel of labor officials in these States would be overcome by
public sentiment.
Another suggestion I have to make is that this incoming board
prepare a report, or a separate pamphlet, giving a list of the labor
officials in the United States and Canada, with their names and
addresses, putting under one heading the affiliated, and under an
other heading the nonaffiliated, and those who do and those who
do not attend, with a view to conducting a campaign to get more
of the nonaffiliated into the association.
I believe that the suggestion made by Mr. Magnusson of inviting the
Federal Secretaries of Labor to become honorary presidents in the as
sociation would materially benefit this association. It is people who
are charged with such responsibilities whom we desire. If we are
going to originate labor laws and continue to enforce them, we
must continue our campaign along the line of such direct and spe
cific officials of the law, and I believe that their attendance would
create a favorable impression of our meetings. We have come to the
point in the South where most of the labor laws have to be spon
sored by the department itself. There is a feeling there that we are
trying to pass laws in order to get to enforce them. That is a con
dition that is coming to pass, and as a result we*, must try to see if
we can not build up our prestige. I would like to see these sug
gestions that we have made given some consideration, to see if we
can not find some means of carrying them out during the next year.
Buffalo was chosen as the place of the next convention.
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:
President.—E. Leroy Sweetser, commissioner department of labor and in
dustries, Boston, Mass.
First vice president.—E. B. Patton, director division of statistics and infor
mation, department of labor, New York, N. Y.
Second vice president.—T. E. Whitaker, industrial commissioner, Atlanta, Ga.
Third vice president.—A. W. Crawford, deputy minister department of labor,
Toronto, Ontario.
Fourth vice president.—Edward F. Seiller, chief labor inspector department
of agriculture, labor, and statistics, Louisville, Ky.
Fifth vice president.—Mrs. Isabelle M. Summers, director bureau of women
and children, department of labor, Trenton, N. J.
Secretary-treasurer.—Louise E. Schutz, superintendent division of women and
children, industrial commission, St. Paul* Minn.
(Convention adjourned.)
HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS
G e o r g e P. H a m b b e o h t , Wisconsin.
F r a n k E. W o od , Louisiana.
L i n n a B r e s e t t e , Illinois.
Dr. C. B. C o n n e l l e y , Pennsylvania.
J o h n H . H a l l , J r ., V i r g i n i a .
H e r m a n W it t e Jr , Ohio.
J o h n S. B. D a v i e , New Hampshire.
R. H. L a n s b u r g h , Pennsylvania.
A l i c e M c F a r l a n d , Kansas.
H. M . S t a n l e y , Georgia.
American Representative, International Labor Office.
A. L. U r i o k , Iowa.
D r . A n d r e w F . M c B r i d e , New Jersey.
Appendix A
LIST OF PERSONS WHO ATTENDED THE EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL
CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL OFFI
CIALS IN INDUSTRY
UNITED STATES
Arkansas
Rooksbery, W. A., bureau of labor statistics, Little Rock.
Colorado
Alexander, M. H., deputy labor commissioner, Denver.
Delaware
Dickey, C. W., E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington.
Hagner, Charles A., chief child labor division, Wilmington.
District of Columbia
Baldwin, Charles E., Assistant Commissioner of Labor, Washington.
Brunson, H. L., Department of Labor, Washington.
Croxton, Fred C., President’s Emergency Committee for Employment,
Washington.
Magnusson, Leifur, American representative International Labor Office,
Washington.
Peterson, Agnes L., assistant director Women’s Bureau, Washington.
Sharkey, Charles F., Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington.
Georgia
Whitaker, T. E., industrial commissioner, industrial commission, Atlanta.
Illinois
Davis, Anne, director vocational guidance bureau, board of education, Chicago.
Indiana
Reagin, James, industrial board, Indianapolis.
Kentucky
Brown, Miss Louie D., deputy labor inspector, Lexington.
Seiller, Edward F., chief labor inspector, Louisville.
Maryland
Rogers, Mrs. George H., assistant commissioner, Baltimore.
Massachusetts
Archibald, Lester E., division of statistics, Boston.
Askins, Leo, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Atsatt, Mr., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Barry, James F., public employment office, Boston.
Brown, Frederick, division of industrial safety, Boston.
169
170
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OP A. G. 0 . I.
Burke, Mrs. Margaret, division of statistics, Boston.
Byrne, Francis P., public employment office.
Christenson, Elmer I., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Clifford, Margaret, division of statistics, Boston.
Collins, Margaret, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Collins, William D., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Conroy, Walter C., public employment office.
Cook, Gertrude, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Dahill, Gerald, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Daley, Daniel, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Delaney, James J., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Dexter, John R., chief inspector division of industrial safety, Boston.
Donohue, Robert J., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Downes, Ruth, division of statistics, Boston.
Dwyer, William, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Egan, Thomas, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Ferguson, Euphemia, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Fisher, Edward, associate commissioner department of labor and industries,
Boston.
Fitzgerald, William E., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Foote, John, division of statistics, Boston.
Giblin, Edward, public employment office.
Goff, Andrew, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Gould, Herbert, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Grant, Edward, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Haggerty, James J., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Hailey, George, public employment office.
Hanna, Everett L., public employment office.
Hassett, John B., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Hawkes, Frederick C., public employment office.
Hingston, Ethel, public employment office.
Johnson, Ethel M., assistant commissioner department of labor and industries,
Boston.
King, Joseph F., division of statistics, Boston.
Knight, Fred M., board of conciliation and arbitration, Boston.
Lamb, Leon M., secretary industrial commission, Boston.
Lawless, Loretto U., division of statistics, Boston.
Lawrence, E. V., division of industrial statistics, Boston.
McCartin, M. Joseph, assistant secretary industrial commission, Boston.
McDonough, John j., division of industrial safety, Boston.
McGrath, Joseph, acting mayor, Boston.
McLaughlin, George F., public employment office, Boston.
McLellan, Arthur P., public employment office, Boston.
Maher, Genevieve A., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Margeson, Richard, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Meade, John P., director divison of industrial safety, Boston.
Miller, George F., division of statistics, Boston.
Murphy, Dr. Francis, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Murphy, William, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Nichols, Mrs. Martha F., division of minimum wage, Boston.
Nickerson, Harold L., Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Boston.
O’Brien, Joseph, division of industrial safety, Boston.
O’Brien, Margaret, division of statistics, Boston.
O’Neil, Edward, division of statistics, Boston.
O’Neil, James E., division of industrial safety, Boston.
O’Sullivan, Mrs. M. K., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Phelps, Roswell, F., division of statistics, Boston.
Power, Agnes L., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Pratt, Leslie W., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Raeburn, Andrew S., industrial commission, Boston.
Reagan, James P., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Regin, John, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Ross, Samuel, associate commissioner department of labor and industries,
Boston.
Scanga, John, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Shea, Margaret W., division of statistics, Boston.
APP E N D IX A .---- LIST OF PERSONS A TTEN D IN G
171
Sherry, Philip, division of industrial safety, Boston.
Smith, Edwin S., Wm. Filene Sons, Boston.
Sweetser, B. Leroy, commissioner department of labor and industries, Boston.
Vaughan, Arthur J., division of industrial safety, Boston.
Wasgatt, Herbert A., associate commissioner department of labor and indus
tries, Boston.
Wilder, William A., public employment office, Boston.
Minnesota
McColl, Henry, commissioner industrial commission, St. Paul.
Schutz, Louise E., superintendent division of women and children, industrial
commission, St. Paul.
New Hampshire
Davie, John S. B., commissioner bureau of labor, Concord.
New Jersey
Roach, John, deputy commissioner of labor, Trenton.
Summers, Mrs. Isabelle M„ director bureau of women and children, Trenton.
New York
Ainsworth, Cyril, American Standards Association, New York.
Andrews, Elmer F., deputy industrial commissioner, New York.
Andrews, John B., American Association for Labor Legislation, New York.
Gernon, James L., director division of inspection, New York.
Gilson, Mary B., Industrial Relations Counselors (Inc.), New York.
Patton, Eugene B., director division of statistics and information, New York.
Perkins, Frances, industrial commissioner, New York.
Van Kleeck, Mary, Russell Sage Foundation, New York.
North Dakota
Angus, Alice, secretary minimum wage commission, Bismarck.
Pennsylvania
Campbell, John, director bureau of industrial standards, Harrisburg.
Carr, Charlotte, E., deputy labor commissioner, Harrisburg.
Horner, W. H., director bureau of workmen’s compensation, Harrisburg.
Immel, Harry D., director bureau of inspection, Harrisburg.
McConnell, Beatrice, director bureau of women and children, Harrisburg.
Wisconsin
Swett, Maud, field director woman and child labor department, Milwaukee.
CANADA
Ontario
Crawford, A. W., deputy minister of labor, Toronto.
Hudson, H. C., general superintendent Ontario Government Employment Office,
Toronto.
Plant, F. J., chief labor intelligence branch, Department of Labor, Ottawa.
Appendix B.—Foreign Labor Legislation, 1930
By
L e if u r M a g n u s s o n ,
Washington Representative, International Labor Office
I n t e r n a t i o n a l L ab or O r g a n i z a t io n
NEW TREATIES AND RATIFICATIONS 1 9 3 0 -3 1
The International Labor Conference at its regular session (May-June) in
1930 drafted two labor treaties. One of these treaties aims to abolish all
forced native or colonial labor for all private purposes, and to apply strict
regulation to the use of such labor for necessary public work. The other
treaty extends to employees in nonindustrial work the maximum 8-hour day
and 48-hour week already applied to industrial work in an earlier treaty.
The fifteenth session of the conference, May-June, 1931, rounded out its
program of child welfare by bringing the employment of children in non
industrial occupations into line with the existing treaties limiting employment
to 14 years in industry and agriculture. This brings the total number of
labor treaties to 32.
Ratifications of these treaties at the end of 1930 numbered 438, and at the
end of June, 1931, 465. Of this final number, 437 have been registered, and
28 have been approved by the competent authority but not formally deposited
with the Secretariat of the League of Nations. During the calendar year
1930 there were 31 ratifications of the treaties of the International Labor
Organization, and during the first six months of 1931, there were 14. In 1930,14
different countries ratified one or more conventions and 18 different con
ventions were ratified by one or more countries as follows (the ratifications
of the first six months of 1931 are followed by the year in parentheses):
Hours convention: Belgium, Lithuania (1931).
Night w ork o f w om en: Lithuania (1931).
Night work of young persons: Lithuania (1931).
Employment offices for seamen: Rumania, Spain (1931).
Minimum age for employment in agriculture: Rumania.
Rights of agricultural labor to organize: Denmark, Rumania.
Workmen’s compensation in agriculture: Italy.
Weekly rest day: Irish Free State, Lithuania (1931).
Minimum age of employment for trimmers and stokers: Japan, Greece,
Irish Free State, Netherlands (1931).
Medical examination of young persons employed at sea: Greece, Irish Free
State.
Equality of treatment for native and foreign workers and their dependents
under workmen’s compensation laws: Estonia, Irish Free State.
Simplification of inspection of immigrants on board ship: Irish Free State,
Hungary (1931).
Seaman’s articles of agreement: France, Germany, Spain (1931).
Repatriation of seamen: Germany, Irish Free State, Spain (1931).
Sickness insurance for industrial workers: Bulgaria, Great Britain (1931),
Lithuania (1931).
Sickness insurance for agricultural workers: Bulgaria, Great Britain (1931).
Minimum wage fixing machinery: China, France, Irish Free State, Italy,
Spain, Australia (1931).
Marking of weight on packages transported by vessels: Irish Free State,
Australia (1931), Japan (1931), Luxemburg (1931), China (1931).
Prevention of accident to dockers: Irish Free State, Luxemburg (1931).
Forced or compulsory labor: Irish Free State (1931), Liberia (1931), Great
Britain (1931).
N a t i o n a l L e g is l a t io n
Not all laws, amendments, regulations, etc., adopted by foreign countries
are included in the following notes. The items here included are those which
have been the subject of considerable interest in the countries to which
they apply or represent steps in bringing the practice of the country into line
with the requirements of international labor conventions.
172
A PP E N D IX B .— FOREIGN LABOR LEGISLATIO N , 1 9 3 0
173
TRADE-UNIONS
Austria passed a law protecting the freedom of assembly and giving certain
sanctions to collective agreements, while forbidding the check-off and exclusion
of unorganized workers from any employment. Finland provided that associa
tions may be enjoined from engaging in activities “ contrary to law or morals,”
but the injunction must be submitted to court examination within a given
period. Malta required registration of trade-unions. The Russian Government
issued a decree defining the legal responsibility of trade-unions.
WAGES
New South Wales adopted, for the basic wage set by the industrial commission,
the family unit of man, wife, and one child, with a “ family endowment” of
about $1.25 per week for each additional child, to be raised by a tax on em
ployers of 1 per cent of their wages bill.
Countries where minimum wage rates are set under legislative provisions
have made various additions to the occupations for which minima are estab
lished or have adjusted rates.
HOURS
Daily aaid weekly.—Argentina made regulations establishing 8 hours as the
maximum working-day in all commercial and industrial undertakings. In
unhealthful occupations the working-day is to be of 6 hours only, without re
duction of wages. France adopted various measures for application of the 8-hour
day law to particular industries. Japcm reduced hours of work in silk mills
from 11 to 10 and reduced hours of all miners engaged in underground work
to 9. Poland set a maximum for employment in street-car service of 184 hours’
work in any period of 4 weeks, making an average of 46 hours a week, no day to
exceed 10% hours. Russia issued an order for purpose of hastening introduction
of 7-hour day. It provided for progressive introduction of “ continuous work
ing ” of industries, by rotation of working periods among workers; in building
industry and seasonal undertakings and their clerical staffs 6 days work and 1
day rest, in other occupations under the system 4 days work and 1 day rest,
Sweden made permanent the maximum 8-hour day, which had already been es
tablished temporarily. It also continued by law until the end of 1933 the tem
porary provisions for the 8-hour day and 48-hour week in work on certain types
of ships.
Weekly rest.—France required gasoline and oil stations to give employees a
weekly day of rest in rotation. Great Britain ordered barbers’ and hair-dress
ing shops to be closed on Sundays, with certain exceptions. Hungary required
work to be suspended from 6 a. m. Sunday to 6 a. m. Monday in flour milling.
Rumania forbade the appearance of papers in Bucharest on Monday mornings
or days following official holidays.
Night work in bakeries.—Bulgaria issued regulations for abolishing night
work in bakeries. Sweden made permanent a temporary prohibition of night
work in bakeries.
Increases in working hours.—Belgium provided for limited exception to the
general law for maximum 8-hour day and 48-hour week in the case of a branch
of the flax industry. Italy provided for limited exception to the general law
for maximum 8-hour day and 48-hour week in the case of a branch of the
textile industry. New South Wales increased the maximum working week from
44 to 48 hours to meet the industrial crisis.
EMPLOYMENT
Employment offices.—The Free City of Danzig amended its system of employ
ment offices. Italy amended legislation relating to employment exchanges; also
passed legislation establishing a system of public employment offices for agricul
tural workers in Italy. Javpan established a new parliamentary commission
on ways and means of relieving unemployment. In Russia, the Labor Commis
sariat issued instructions to employment offices for stricter attention to class
policy in selection of applicants and called for consideration of occupational
qualifications and social antecedents and outlook, etc. Saar Territory reorgan
ized its system of public employment offices and made regulations aiming at
the abolition of fee-charging agencies. Yuaoslavia provided for the abolition of
private employment offices,
174
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M EETIN G OF A. G. O. I.
Unemployment relief.—Australia: Victoria imposed for one year a stamp
tax and an income tax, the income tax to be devoted to relief of unemployment.
Queensland imposed a supertax on incomes and wages, the income to be-used
for unemployment relief. New South Wales provided for the establishment of
a council for the prevention and relief of unemployment and an unemployment
relief fund. Canada appropriated $20,000,000 for relief, which it was arranged
to spend partly in direct relief, partly through the Provinces for assisting local
public works, and partly through work undertaken by railways, on all of which
fair wages are to be paid and the 8-hour day observed. Czechoslovakia author
ized the granting of subsidies to public utility companies for the execution of
works in the public interest to give employment. Finland adopted new rules
governing State action for the relief of unemployment. In Germany the Gov
ernment initiated the creation of a limited company for the promotion of
public works, under State control, for the purpose of obtaining German or
foreign capital for productive unemployment relief. Great Britain passed a
law" to facilitate the execution of works which will contribute to the relief
of unemployment. Italy instituted a scheme of public works to provide employ
ment for approximately 200,000 unemployed persons. The Saar Territory
regulated the administration of productive relief works as a remedy for
unemployment.
SOCIAL INSURANCE
France amended her system of seamen’s insurance against accident, sick
ness, and old age. It replaced its former insurance measures by a new act
covering, in one integrated system, sickness and invalidity benefits, child
birth benefits, old-age pensions, and death benefits. The measure also pro
vides for compulsory insurance of certain groups and allows voluntary insur
ance by independent shopkeepers, small artisans, etc., and by nonwage-earn
ing wives of insured persons. Germany issued a decree revising the systems
of health and unemployment insurance. Holland established compulsory sick
ness insurance. Northern Ireland provided for the inclusion of medical bene
fits among the benefits conferred upon injured persons and abolished certain
exceptions to insurance coverage. Russia in her 5-year plan made provision
for the development of social insurance against accident, disease, old age,
and unemployment.
Unemployment insurance.—Belgium reduced from one year to six months
the period which members of unemployment societies are required to complete
before being entitled to benefit. Czechoslovakia made provision for relief in
kind for unemployed persons not in receipt of insurance benefits and for the'r
families. It authorized the granting of subsidies to public utility companies
for the execution of works in the public interest to give employment. Germany
increased unemployment insurance contributions from 4y2 to 6% per cent
of wages earned and extended payment of emergency relief to all trades except
agricultural work and domestic service but reduced the rate and duration of
such relief. Great Britain amended its unemployment insurance law and
increased the borrowing powers of the unemployment insurance fund. Poland
extended from 13 weeks to 17 weeks the period of benefit for unemployed
persons whose right to benefits under the insurance system had expired June
30, 1930. Russia virtually abolished unemployment insurance in view of the
great demand for labor in all occupations. Reciprocal declarations recognizing
the right of the citizens of one country to receive unemployment insurance
when living and working in the other have been exchanged between 5Switzer
land and Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Italy,
and Poland.
IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION
Restrictions have been placed on immigration by countries in various parts
of the world, among them the following: Canada—In accordance with the new
Canadian policy, Alberta has prohibited all immigration except for settlers of
independent means. Guatemala placed restrictions on immigration from a num
ber of countries in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mexico provided special
corps of police for detection of illicit immigrants. The Straits Settlements
issued a proclamation suspending Chinese immigration for three months on
account of unemployment. Turkey issued regulations defining formalities to
be observed by foreigners entering the country.
A PPEN D IX B.---- FOREIGN LABOR LEG ISLATION , 19 3 0
175
Employment of foreign workers has been the subject of regulation in various
countries. France issued instructions on procedure to be followed by aliens
already in the country who wish to take employment. Greece required
immigrant workers to obtain a license before seeking employment. Mexico
sanctioned admission of 620 Russian families for agricultural employment.
Departure of workers from several European countries has been restricted
in general or for certain destinations. From Spain to certain places where
unemployment is prevalent From Poland to Argentina.
General supervision of migration has been extended, as in the following
instances: France instituted a system of registration for all persons entering
or departing from the Cameroons, including French citizens. It also author
ized recruiting agents to obtain advances to cover the cost of bringing agri
cultural workers into France. The Government of the Ivory Coast set up an
office of emigration and immigration. Poland created a shipping company to
provide direct communication between the United States and Poland. Spain
regulated accommodation of emigrants on board ship and fares which may be
charged during the current year.
A number of reciprocal and other agreements were concluded between coun
tries on the subject of migration or treatment to be accorded their nationals,
as in the following instances: France and'Austria reciprocally agreed to admit
each year 75 young workers who wish to improve their knowledge of trades
and languages. They agreed on the position to be occupied by workers from
each country employed in the other and on the fullest possible equality of
treatment as between immigrants and nationals. France and China agreed
on simplification of formalities in crossing the frontier between Indo-China and
neighboring Chinese States. France and Germany concluded a convention
facilitating passage of the frontier by workers domiciled on one side and
working on the other. France and Czechoslovakia agreed on changes in the
rules for recruiting Czechoslovakian workers for France and on eligibility to
social insurance. They agreed on reciprocal admission of 100 young workers
a year for purpose of training. Great Britain and Australia agreed on suspen
sion of the assisted passage clause in the agreement between the two countries
respecting migration. Lithuania and Latvia agreed on recruitment of Lithu
anian agricultural workers for employment in Latvia. South Africa and Japan.
concluded a gentlemen’s agreement providing for immigration of certain classes
of Japanese citizens.
At a conference in Geneva in 1929 an arrangement for the issue of transit
cards to European emigrants was drafted. The Secretariat of the League of
Nations reported in January, 1930, that it had so far been signed by Belgium,
Finland, Frcmoe, Great Britain, North Ireland, Italy, Poland, Rumania, Spain,
and the Governing Commission of the Saar Territory.
EDUCATION
Poland provided for reorganization of secondary vocational, industrial, and
technical schools. Lithuania introduced State regulation of vocational training.
Chile provided for regulation of industrial education of teaching staff of
industrial educational establishments.
MINING
France and Poland made a mutual agreement by which France agrees to ex
tend benefits of her compensation schemes to Poles employed in French mines,
and Poland to deal similarly with French workers. Great Britam set standard
maximum of 7% hours a day for miners, with option of 90 hours in two weeks,
if agreed to by miners’ and employers’ associations both local and national.
Japan amended mining regulations to prevent accidents and promote hygiene.
SALARIED EMPLOYEES AND PROFESSIONAL WORKERS
Brazil imposed tax of 50 per cent on tickets of motion-picture houses in which
orchestras are replaced by mechanical operators, the proceeds to be devoted to
relief of displaced musicians. Greece legalized the agreement arrived at be
tween representatives of employers and salaried employees on subject of notice
of dismissal. Holland required a day off during the week for persons employed
on Sunday as musicians in motion-picture houses. Itaty gave statutory recogni
tion to a national sickness insurance fund for salaried employees. Peru
176
E IG H T E E N T H A N N U A L M E E T IN G OP A . G. 0 . I .
required compensation of salaried employees for dismissal at certain propor
tion of salary after three months’ service. Poland issued an order relating
to registration of unemployed professional workers in the public employment
offices and regulating the system of supervision and sickness benefit. Provision
that established holidays can be included in the required three months’ notice
of dismissal of salaried employees with consent of employees but not otherwise.
Rumania regulated hours and overtime of private salaried employees. It re
quired music-hall artists and companies of players to have certificates of pro
ficiency and a contract of employment indorsed by the trade-union. Russia
passed an act to facilitate application of labor code to salaried employees of
retail shops controlled by State or cooperative societies.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT
Czechoslovakia provided that certain groups are to receive a bonus of 70
per cent of monthly salary, on December 1st of each year in which they com
plete 10 months’ service. France adopted measures for stabilization of em
ployment of municipal officials and employees, covering recruiting, promotion,
discipline, and discharge. It adjusted pensions to new salary scale. Great
Britain decided that consideration in* filling certain types of positions be given
to ex-regular soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Greece authorized civil servants
pension fund to issue loans to officials still in service, retired officials and
families of deceased civil servants. Switzerland issued regulations governing
working hours in various administrative services, in the courts, and on Federal
railways.
w o m e n ’s
work
Bolivia issued a decree on employment of women, forbidding employment
underground, providing for cessation of work 30 days before confinement, with
holding of positon during that time, and for nursing periods after return to
work. It also forbids night work and employment in a list of dangerous or
unhealthful occupations, and stipulates maximum loads to be carried by women
between 16 and 20 years of age. Canada: Alberta forbade employment of women
about mines in any but clerical or domestic work. Turkey made provision for
women leaving their work before confinement and for allowing them time to
nurse their infants after return to work.
c h il d labor
Bolivia issued a decree forbidding employment of children under 10 years
of age and employment of children over 10 who have not finished their educa
tion unless their wages are necessary for support of parents or brothers or
sisters. Canada: New Brunswick enacted legislation regulating street trading
by children, night work, truancy, begging, etc. Alberta excluded all women
and boys under 16 from all employment about mines, except clerical work or
domestic work in residences and all minors from charge of conveyances used
to transport passengers. China promulgated a factory act which forbids employ
ment of children less than 14 years of age, or employment of children between
14 and 16 years on any but light and easy work, and excluding the latter from
any occupations involving exposure to a long list of risks, sets a maximum
8-hour day for children under 16 and forbids their employment between 6 p. m.
and 7 a. m.; requires at least 10 hours supplementary education weekly and
makes provision for enforcement. Germany established new regulations touch
ing the employment of young people under 16 and under 18 years of age in cer
tain dangerous or difficult occupations. Nova Scotia amended its child labor act
giving to town governments the power to regulate the work of children under
16 years in street trades and messenger service. Syria regulated child labor
forbidding employment of children under 11 years except for four hours a day
in manufacturing for vocational education or in works in charity and forbidding
employment of children under 16 years at night. Turkey prohibited employment
of children under 12 in industry or mining, the employment of children between
12 and 16 years of age after 8 p. m. or in dangerous occupations, and the em
ployment of young persons under 18 years in bars, caf6s, etc.
APP E N D IX B .— FOREIGN LABOR LEGISLATIO N , 1 9 3 0
177
NATIVE LABOR
Dahomey required protection of cotton and kapok pickers from dust and irri
tating particles. French Equatorial Africa decreed as a measure against va
grancy an increased penalty for fraudulently obtaining advances of wages.
Tabun ordered part of monthly wages of native laborers in public or private
employment withheld and paid on termination of contracts whether by expiry
or dismissal. San Thom6 made regulations for the application of the Portu
guese native labor code covering recruitment, contracts, housing, medical care,
policing, etc. South Africa required that every contract of service for a period
in excess of 30 days and every squatter’s contract be entered into in writing in
a prescribed form before a competent officer, who should explain the effect of
the contract to both parties and register it with the native commissioner. The
law prescribed assumed conditions of contract to apply where these requirements
have not been met. Togoland prescribed conditions of employment on rail
way construction work.
SAFETY AND HEALTH
Belgium amended general regulation concerning explosives and set up exten
sive regulations for pneumatic or spray painting industry. It established com
petitive examinations for engineer factory inspectors. Bolivia laid down meas
ures for the protection of workers’ health in industrial establishments. Finland
extended workers’ protection act to include all workers performing paid labor for
an employer, with the exception of work done on ships, work done by relatives
of employer living in employer’s house, and work done in a place not under
control of the employer. Specifications concerning conditions of work, pro
tective appliances, penalties, etc., are included. France set up technical com
mittee on fire prevention and protection in connection with the Ministry of the
Interior. Also set up safety committees in Government powder factories and
a central committee for the prevention of electrical accidents. It specified
certain safety measures with regard to storing and handling of inflammable
liquids, as well as the transport and handling of dangerous substances. It
also made extensive rulings relating to the use of autogenous welding in the
construction and repair of steam apparatus. Germany prohibited the use
of white lead in interior painting of buildings whenever the quantity of lead
contained exceeds 2 per cent and ordered various protective measures in
industrial establishments where there is danger of lead poisoning. Prussia
issued orders concerning the use of inflammable, explosive, and noxious sub
stances, the heating of walled-in gasometers, and the construction of internal
combustion engines. Bremen issued orders covering the testing of sling chains
used in harbors. Italy instituted a corporative inspectorate invested with in
spection powers of the labor inspectorate and technical industrial inspectorates
which are abolished. Japan amended mining police regulations to make tech
nical supervisors obligatory for establishments employing more than 150 miners.
Extended to all mines provisions for accident prevention heretofore applying
only to coal mines, as well as rules for control of equipment, penalties, etc.
It strengthened the rules for control of explosions in coal mines. Luxemburg
issued an order requiring representatives of workers in an undertaking to act
as safety inspectors in cooperation with the head of the undertaking and the
appropriate government inspector. Portugal approved extensive regulations
for loading and unloading appliances used on board vessels of the mercantile
marine.
ADMINISTRATION
Belgium created a national economic council to study and to advise on prob
lems connected with economic welfare. Greece reorganized its factory inspec
tion system. Italy constituted a national council of corporations representing
professions, industry, handicrafts, agriculture, commerce, maritime and aerial
transport, land transportation, inland navigation, and banking. North Borneo
repealed a clause prescribing whipping for breach of contract likely to result
in riot. Peru made regulations relating to inspection of conditions of work
of women and young persons. Poland instituted use of mental tests in selection
of new railway employees. Spain established a sociological institute which
will supervise social science schools where officials of industrial joint commit
tees are required to pass courses. It is closely connected with administration
of the department of labor.
@FedFRASER