The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS, S*er*tarjr
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
ETHELBERT STEWART, Commiuioner
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES)
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS):
M I S C E L L A N E O U S
........No. 429
S E R I E S
PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL
CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF
GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS OF
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
HELD AT COLUMBUS, OHIO
JUNE 7-10,1926
JANUARY, 1927
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1927
AD D ITIO N A L COPIES
O r THIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PROCURED FROM
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
AT
20 OENT8 P E R COPY
Co n t e n t s
-----------------vi
Officers, 1925-26--—
Constitution--------------------------------------------------------------------- *___ vi-viit
Development of the Association of Governmental Labor Officials- *___ viii, ix
;
MONDAY JUNE
EVENING SESSION
HERMAN B. WITTER, PRESIDENT A. G. L. O., PRESIDING,
Address of James Wilson, president Patternmakers’ League____ - 1 - 3
Appointment of committees__________________________________
3
TUESDAY, JUNE 8— MORNING SESSION
HERMAN R. WITTER, PRESIDENT A. G. L. O., PRESIDING.
Report of secretary-treasurer_________________________________
4, 5
Reports of new legislation:
Report of Canada_______________________________________
5, 6
Report of Colorado__ ________________ - _________________
6, 7
Report of Georgia_______________________________________
7
Report of Louisiana_____________________________________
7
Report of Massachusetts__________________ _______________
7, 8
Report of New York___________________________ _________
8
Report of Ontario_______________________________________
8, 9
9
Report of Pennsylvania------------- --------------------------------------Report of Virginia_______________________________________
9
Report of Wisconsin-------------------------------------------------------9
Discussion:
Mary Anderson, of Washington, D. C._________________
9,10
H. C. Hudson, of Ontario........... .......... ................. ..........
10
Ethel M. Johnson, of Massachusetts----------------------------- 10-12
C. T. Graham-Rogers, of New Y ork..................................
12
Report of committee on statistics______________________________ 13-17
Report of code committees----------------------------------------------------18
TUESDAY, JUNE B—AFTERNOON SESSION
WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY. MARY ANDERSON, DIRECTOR
^UNITED STATES WOMEN'S BUREAU, PRESIDING.
Effect of labor laws upon women in industry, by Mary Van Kleeck,
chairman technical committee on methods of investigation for
United States Women’s Bureau_____________________________ 19-26
Discussion:
Ethel M. Johnson, of Massachusetts___________________
26
R. H. Lansburgh, of Pennsylvania__________________ _
26, 27
Mary Van Kleeck, of New York______________________
27
Mary Anderson, of Washington, D. C__________________
27
Industrial hygiene, by Emery R. Hayhurst, M. D., consulting
industrial hygienist, Consultant Ohio Department of Health____ 27-32
Discussion:
32
C. T. Graham-Rogers, M. D., of New Y ork ___________ _
Emery R. Hayhurst, M. D., of Ohio............................. 32, 33, 34
Louise E. Schutz, of Minnesota............................. ....... 32, 33, 34
Daisy I. Gulick, of Kansas_____________ ______________
33
Maud Swett, of Wisconsin________ *__________________
33
Gertrude S. Weaver, of Ohio__________________________ 33, 34
Ethel M. Johnson, of Massachusetts----------------------------34
Report of committee on industrial home w ork_________ . . . . _____34-40
m
IV
CONTENTS
Page
Report of committee on migratory children_______ ______________ 40-60
Discussion:
Maud Swett, of Wisconsin____________________________ 50, 51
Charlotte Carr, of Pennsylvania-------------------------- --------51
Ethel M. Johnson, of Massachusetts----------------- ------- ---51
T. G. Freshney, of Wyoming----------- ---------------------------- 51, 52
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9— MORNING SESSION
EM PLOYMENT. H . C. HUDSON, GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT EM PLOY
M ENT SERVICE, ONTARIO OFFICES, TORONTO, PRESIDING.
Employment statistics—an opportunity for State departments of
labor, by Mary Van Kleeck, chairman committee on governmental
labor statistics of American Statistical Association____________ 53-61
Discussion:
O. W. Brach, of Ohio------------------------------------------------- 61, 62
62
John H. Hall, jr., of Virginia___________ ______________
Frank E. Wood, of Louisiana____________ _____ ______ 62, 63
The unemployment fund, by Martin Carpenter, of the Dennison
Manufacturing Co____________ ______ _____________________ 63-68
Discussion:
H. C. Hudson, of Toronto____________________________ 68, 69
Martin Carpenter, of Massachusetts__ ________________
68
Securing the confidence of the employer, by T. S. Wharton, manager
public employment bureau, Richmond, Va----------------------------- 69-74
Public employment work in Ohio, by B. C. Seiple, Cleveland superin
tendent Ohio State Employment Service______________________ 74-78
THURSDAY, JUNE 10— MORNING SESSION
JOHN S. R. DAVIE, COMMISSIONER NEW HAMPSHIRE RUREAU OF LABOR,
PRESIDING.
Report of committee on resolutions _________________________
81
Discussion of employment statistics:
John S. B. Davie, of New Hampshire, ............. ........... ............
81
A. F. McBride, of New Jersey_____ ____ __________________ 81, 82
Mary Van Kleeck, of New York___________________________ 82,83
JOHN P. MEADE, DIRECTOR DIVISION OF INDUSTRIAL SAFETY OF MASSA
CHUSETTS, PRESIDING.
Accidents and accident prevention in bituminous mines, by W. W.
Adams, statistician United States Bureau of Mines____________ 83-88
Accidents, by Joseph J. Walsh, superintendent Department of Mines,
Pennsylvania_________________ _____ ________ ____________ 88-90
Discussion:
John Hopkins Hall, jr., of Virginia............. ..................... . 90, 91
THURSDAY. JUNE 10— AFTERNOON SESSION
INSPECTION AND SAFETY. R. H . LANSBURGH, SECRETARY OF LABOR AND
INDUSTRY, PENNSYLVANIA, PRESIDING.
Industrial fatigue, by Lillian M. Gilbreth, Montclair, N. J ________ 92-96
Educational phases of safety work, by T. P. Kearns, superintendent
division of safety and hygiene, Ohio-------------------------------------97-103
Safety work of States, by A. F. McBride, commissioner New Jersey
Department of Labor______________ __________ __________ 104-107
Cooperation between the States and the National Safety Council, by
C. B. Auel, of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co _ 107-111
Discussion:
John H. Hall, jr., of Virginia............. ..................... .......... 111, 112
C. B. Auel, of Pennsylvania__________ ________________
111
Moving pictures in accident-prevention work, by Robert B. Northrup, safety inspector New York Bureau of Industrial Hygiene.. 112-115
Inspection and safety in Massachusetts, by J. P. Meade, director divi
sion of industrial safety, Massachusetts_____________________ 115-118
COtttfEtt't'S
V
HERMAN R. W ITTER, PRESIDENT A. G. L. O., PRESIDING.
Page
Report of committee on constitution.—-------------------------------------Report of committee on officers’ reports________________________
Election of officers______________ _____ ______________________
119
119
120
APPENDIX
List of persons who attended the thirteenth annual convention of the
Association of Governmental Labor Officials------------------------------ 121-123
OFFICERS, 1925-26
President.—H. R. Witter, Columbus, Ohio.
First vice president.—John S. B. Davie. Concord, N. H.
Second vice president,—R. H. Lansburgn, Harrisburg, Pa.
Third vice president.—Maud Swett, Milwaukee, Wis.
Fourth vice president.—Alice McFarland, Topeka, Kans.
Fifth vice president.—H. C. Hudson, Toronto, Canada.
Secretary-treasurer.—Louise E. Schutz, St. Paul, Minn.
CONSTITUTION
Adopted at Chicago, 111., May 20, 1924; amended August 15, 1925
ARTICLE I
S e c t i o n 1. Name.—This organization shall be known as the Association of
Governmental Labor Officials of the United States and Canada.
ARTICLE II
S e c t i o n 1. Objects.—To act as a medium for the exchange of information for
and by the members of the organization; to secure better legislation for the
welfare of women and children in industry and the workers in general; to pro
mote greater safety to life and property; to promote greater uniformity in laborlaw enforcement, establishing of safety standards, compiling and disseminating
labor and employment statistics; and to more closely correlate the activities of
the Federal, State, and Provincial departments of labor.
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 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.
Sec. 2. Honorary members.—Any person who has rendered service while con
nected with any Federal, State, and Provincial department of labor, and the Amer
ican representative of the International Labor Office, may be elected to honorary
membership by a unanimous vote of the executive boara.
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.
Sec. 3. The officers shall be elected from representatives of the active mem*
bership of the association, except as otherwise stated in Article III.
VI
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
VII
ARTICLE 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 deliberations,
appoint all committees, and sign all records, vouchers, or other documents in
connection with the work of the association.
S e c . 2. The vice presidents, in order named, shall perform the duties of the
president in his absence.
S e c . 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 dis
bursements; 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 $180
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.
S e c . 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 unamimous vote.
a r t ic l e
VI
S e c t i o n 1. Finances.—The revenues of the association shall be derived from
annual dues determined on the following basis: (a) Federal, State, or Provincial
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.
a r tic le
vn
S e c t i o n 1. Who entitled to vote.—All active members shall be entitled to vote
on all questions coming before the meeting of the association as hereinafter
provided.
S e c . 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.
a r t ic l e
v iii
S e c t i o n 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.
ARTICLE IX
S e c t io n 1. Program.—The executive board shall act as committee on program
and 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 “ regular order” has
been completed.
vm
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
ARTICLE X
S e c t i o n 1. Rules of order.—The deliberations of the convention shall he gov*
erned by “ Cushing’s Manual.”
ARTICLE XI
S e c t i o n 1. Amendments.—Amendments to the constitution must be filed with
the secretary-treasurer in triplicate and referred to the committee on constitu
tion and by-laws. A two-thirds vote of all delegates shall be required to adopt
any amendment.
a r t ic l e
x ii
Order of business.—
1. Roll call of members by States and Provinces.
2. Appointment of committees.
(a) Committee of five on officers’ reports.
Committee of five on resolutions.
Committee of three on constitution and by-laws.
Special committees.
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.
S e c t i o n 1.
.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR
OFFICIALS
a s s o c ia t io n o f ch ie f s a n d o f f ic ia l s o f b u r e a u s o f l a b o r
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.
Jane, 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 at—
President
Secretary-treasurer
Columbus, Ohio_______ H. A. Newman............. Henry Luskey.
St. Louis, M o._.......................d o ............................
Do.
Boston, Mass_________ » Carroll D. Wright_____ John S. Lord.
Trenton, N. J................. !........d o ............................ E. R. Hutchins.
Madison, Wis................. j ........d o ............................
Do.
Indianapolis, Ind...........!____ d o ________________
Do.
Hartford, Conn.... ......... .........do
No meeting....... .............
Des Moines, Iowa.
Do.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Carroll D. W right...
Frank H. Betton.
Denver, Colo___
Charles F. Peck.........
Do.
Albany, N. Y _ ...............,................................
Washington, D. C ......... Carroll D. Wright
L. G. Powers.
Minneapolis, Minn........»........d o ............................. i
Do.
Albany, N. Y ................. j____ d o ............................. ! Samuel B. Horne.
Do.
Nashville, Tenn............ :____ d o ............................. 1
Do.
Detroit, M ich................. j ____ d o .............................
Do.
Augusta, Me................... \........d o .............................
Milwaukee, Wis............ i........d o ............................. James M. Clark.
St. Louis, M o................. |....... d o ............................
Do.
Do.
New Orleans, La............ :........d o .............................
Do.
Washington, D. C...........i____ do
d o --------------Do.
Concord, N. H ._____
W. L. A. Johnson.
___ .d o ..................
San Francisco, Calif..
Do.
Boston, Mass.............
Charles P. Neill.
___ d o ................. .
Norfolk, V a ...............
Do.
Do.
Detroit, M ich.............
..— d o ................. .
Rochester, N. Y ..___
Do.
___ d o ...................
ASS0CU2X0K 07 OOVBEKHBNTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
XX
Development of the Association of Governmental Labor Officials—Continued
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FACTORY INSPECTORS
No.
Bate
Convention held at*-*
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....................
President
Secretary-treasurer
Philadelphia, P a..
Boston, Mass____
Trenton, N. J.......
New York, N. Y ..
Cleveland, O hio..
Hartford, Conn__
Chicago, HI______
Philadelphia, Pa..
Providence, R. 1...
Toronto, Canada.
Detroit, Mich____
Rufus R. Wade..
___ d o ................ .
.......d o ................ .
Henry Dorn.
Do.
Do.
John Fr«ney.
___ d o ...........
Mary A. O'Reilly.
Evan H. Davis.
Rufus R. Wade..
Alzina P. Stevens.
Boston, M ass______
Quebec, Canada___
Indianapolis, I n d ....
Niagara Falls, N. Y .
Charleston, S. C ___
Montreal, Canada ...
St. Louis, M o______
Detroit, Mich______
Columbus, Ohio___
Hartford, Conn____
Toronto, Canada___
Rochester, N. Y ____
___ d o --------------
Joseph L. Cox.
James M itchell_____
Daniel H. Me A bee.. _
Edgar T . Davies____
Malcolm J. McLead ..
John H. Morgan___
George L. M cL ean...
James T . Burke____
Davis F. Spees.
Do.
C. V. Hartzell.
Thos. Keity.
Do.
Do.
Do.
JOINT MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS AND OFFICIALS OF BUREAUS OF LABOR
AND INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FACTORY INSPECTORS
24
25
26
27
August, 1910------------- Hendersonville, N. C.,
and Columbia, S. C.
September, 1911______ Lincoln, N ebr---------- —
September, 1912______ Washington, D. C _____
May, 1913----------------- Chicago,111___________
J. Ellery Hudson______ E. J. Watson.
Louis G u yon-------------- W . W. Williams.
Do.
Edger T . Davies_______
A. L. Garrett-------------- W. L. Mitchell.
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
Resulting from the Amalgamation of the Association of Chiefs and Officials of Bureaus of Labor and the
International Association of Factory Inspectors
No.
Date
Convention held at—
1
2
8
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
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-----------------
Nashville, Tenn__
Detroit,
....... .
Buffalo, N. Y _________
Ashevffle, N. C ..,.........
Des Moines, Iowa______
MadisongWis_________
Seattle, Wash_________
New Orleans, La_______
Harrisburg, Pa-----------Richmond^ Va________
Chicago, 111___________
Salt Lake City, Utah—
Columbus, Ohio_______
President
Secretary-treasurer
Barney Cohen_________ 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.
Frank E. Hoffman------Do.
Frank B . W ood________
Do.
C. B. Connelley_______ Louise Schuts.
Do.
John Hopkins Hall, jr__
Do.
George B. Arnold___ !>..
H. R. Witter._________
Do.
BULLETIN OF THE
U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
WASHINGTON
J a n u a ry , 1*27
PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE ASSO
CIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS OF THE UNITED STATES
AND CANADA, COLUMBUS, OHIO, JUNE 7-10,1926
MONDAY, JUNE 7—EVENING SESSION
H. R. WITTER, PRESIDENT A. G. L. O., PRESIDING
The thirteenth annual convention of the Association of Govern
mental Labor Officials of the United States and Canada was opened
at 6.30 p. m. .June 7, H. R. Witter, director of the Department
of Industrial Relations of Ohio and president of the association,
presiding. After an address of welcome by Mrs. Donahey, James
Wilson, of Cincinnati, president of the Patternmakers’ League and
seventh vice president of the American Federation of Labor, deliv
ered the following address:
ADDRESS OF JAMES WILSON
You men and women are interested in problems concerning indus
tries. Here in this great State we have laws governing conditions
that surround men and women. In all that the State of Ohio has
done in connection with legislation for its people, there is only one
act of hers I feel ashamed of, and I hope tnat soonshe will rectify
that mistake. Thai is that she has not yet ratified the child labor
amendment to the Federal Constitution.
I was thinking awhile ago that within the lifetime of the men and
women who are here to-night, when men and women were strug
gling and sacrificing against tremendous odds to make possible tne
formation of an organized effort to improve the standard of life of
the workers of our land, there were no labor laws, there were no pro
tective features on the statute books of any State or in the Federal
law. But there came that movement of men and women, too, that
sought to bring betterment into the lives of mankind, and in some way
ana somehow, just like every great movement in every period of the
world’s history, it has been directed into the right channel by the hand
of God; so the great labor movement grew from nothing but the
discontent of men for betterment, and over the few short years of
its existence the labor movement has accomplished a wonderful work.
It has brought happiness and sunshine where misery and darkness
prevailed. It has brought both hope and cheer, in the face of the
indifference of thousands and thousands of people who should embrace
the opportunity to become members of the labor movement.
Trace the history of this trade labor movement, trace it from its
inception down to date; study, analyze its achievements, and no man
who understands the history of the world, the development of man1
2
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
kind, can say that it is not the work of the Supreme Ruler of
the Universe, and the labor movement is the instrument in His hand
that is going to bring justice to all of the people of our land; and
the labor movement, misunderstood, misrepresented as it is, has
steered a course advocating great things.
I remember well when in Ohio we were endeavoring to secure the
passage of a workmen’s compensation law the manufacturers of Ohio
sent appeals to the voters of this State not to pass such socialistic
legislation. Large manufacturers threatened to leave our State,
move their plants into other States, if Ohio adopted a workmen’s
compensation law; and to-day those same manufacturers appear
before the legislative committee in Columbus protesting against any
changes that would set that workmen’s compensation law backward.
They have seen a new light, and to-day they are advocates of the things
that they ware then so much opposed to. And so it is, I find, with
all great reforms. Men are fearful that if the things that are advo
cated by forward-looking men and women become a reality, why
they feax for the very safety of the Nation, and after ones that thing
has been put into operation by the persistent efforts of those who
are interested in it these same people wonder how we ever got along
without it.
So it was nearly 50 years ago when the first convention of the
American Federation of Labor met. The first resolution, number
one, was a resolution of condemnation of the employment of chil
dren in the industries of our country. And to-day in nearly every
State in this Union we have legislation regulating the employment
of children, but in some States there is no legislation that protects
the childhood of those States. The American Federation ot Labor
set itself to the task nearly a half century ago to free the children
from the mill, mine, and workshop; and I say to you men and
women assembled here to-night that the labor movement of America
will persist in its efforts until the most backward State in the
Union recognizes the rights of the little children and protects them
from early employment. And though it may be that propaganda
was carried on that deceived the people of this country as to the
purposes of the Federal amendment, when our people awaken to the
real conditions that surround some 2,000,000 children in America
they will free these children by indorsement of the Federal amend
ment, and I will say to you people here visiting this State, perhaps
for the first time, though the last Legislature of Ohio failed to indorse
that amendment, Ohio will send its indorsement of the'child labor
amendment to the Federal Constitution to the Secretary of State at
Washington, because the people of Ohio, like the people of every
other State, love children. Why, in our great Nation, with the
eat development we have made in production, with our bountiful
essings, with our great natural resources, with our great wealth,
why anyone should want to exploit these little children is more than
I can understand.
I have stood at the cotton-mill gate of the South, I have seen the
children in the industries of New Jersey, I have seen the breaker boy
at the mine in Pennsylvania before the influence of legislation was
felt, and I have seen improvement come in industries, and you can’t
help but notice improvement in citizenship, because children have an
opportunity of education. And so I say to you men and women
S
ADDRESS OF JAMES WILSON
3
here, who constitute the forces of the States of the Nation in enforc
ing labor legislation, that the labor movement of America never
sought one law, never sought one thing that was a special privilege
merely for labor from any legislative body of this land. We seek
to enact legislation in the interest of all of our people, and in our
efforts to bring about legislation that will protect child life we are
protecting the very foundation upon which this Government rests.
In our efforts to secure the workmen’s compensation law it is not for
the worker alone, it is for society in general. In our efforts for
factory inspection laws, or whatever kind of law, it has been demon
strated through the enforcements, after the enactment of the law,
that it is for the general good of all of the people of our great land.
Our labor movement in America is not a movement similar to that
which exists in other nations. We are a movement of men and
women who believe fundamentally in the principle of our Govern
ment. We believe that she was dedicated upon the altar of free
dom. We believe that in her Constitution there is opportunity for
all classes of citizenship. We don’t seek in America to set up a
government of labor, neither do we advocate the setting up of a
ovemment of any other class of citizenship of this great Nation.
7e believe that we should have that kind of government that was
advocated by the immortal Lincoln, a “ government of the people,
by the people, and for the people.”
The millions of men and women who constitute the labor move
ment of America are a part of the people of this great Nation, who
do not want a government for labor, but we want a government for
all people, and with special privilege to none, and we propose, regard
less of how much our efforts may be misunderstood, regardless o f how
much our movement may be misrepresented, that we are going to
continue our efforts until the last vestige of misery and despair is
removed from this earth, until you shall no longer hear the wail of
the child above the roar of the machinery, until justice shall have
come in all its fullness to all the people, ana we shall never cease our
efforts until democracy in industry is as secure to the people of our
land as we believe that democracy in our political life is free to the
people of this great Nation.
You men ana women who constitute the great forces in the enforce
ment of the things that have been brought about through the agi
tation of the great labor movement of our country, I say to you as
a representative of labor, in your duties as enforcement officers be
honest, see that law is complied with; when justice is done, when
favoritism no longer prevails, then justice shall be nearer here, and
our people will have more and more of happiness, contentment, and
prosperity, and in working to that end we will dig deeper and more
securely the foundation of the greatest Government on God’s green
footstool, America.
[The following committees were appointed:]
f
Committee on resolutions.—J. Hopkins Hall, jr., of Virginia, chairman; T. Q .
Freshney, of Wyoming; R. T. Kennard, of Kentucky; F. J. Plant, of Ottawa, Can
ada; and Charlotte Carr, of Pennsylvania.
Committee on constitution and by-laws.—Henry McColl, of Minnesota, chairman; H. M. Stanley, of Georgia; and Mrs. Daisy Gulick, of Kansas.
Committee on officers’ reports.—Miss Ethel Johnson, of Massachusetts, chair
man: George I. Daugherty, of West Virginia; M. H. Alexander, of Colorado;
W. H. Homer, of Pennsylvania; and Frank E. Wood, of Louisiana.
;
TUESDAY JUNE 8— MORNING SESSION
HERMAN R. WITTER, PRESIDENT A. G. L. O., PRESIDING
[A fter the roll call the report o f the secretary-treasurer was read,
as follow s:]
REPORT OF SECRETARY-TREASURER, AUGUST 1, 1925, TO JUNE 1,
1926
BALANCE AND RECEIPTS
Fund on hand at making of last report, August 1, 1925___________
Receipts from interest on savings account, First National B an k -..Dues to July 1, 1925, as follows:
Indiana_________________________________________ $10. 00
New Jersey—........ - ................... .................... ............. ...2& 00
Ohio____________ _________ _____________________ _25. 00
------- —
Dues to July 1, 1926, as follows:
Ohio____________ ___________________ ______ ______25. 00'
California________________ ____ ___ ____ ________ _15. 00
Louisiana________________________________________ _10. 00
Virginia___________ ____ _________________ _____ __15. 00
North Carolina_____________ ____ _______________ _10. 00
New Hampshire___________ _____ ________________ _10. 00
Colorado__________ _____ ____________ ____ _______15. 00
Indiana-------------------------------- ---------- ------------------- -- 10. 00
Massachusetts_____ r____________________ _______ _50. 00
Delaware_____________________ ____ _____________ _10. 00
North Dakota___ __ ____________________________ _10. 00
Minnesota__ ______ _______ ______ ______________ _25. 00
Manitoba-------- ----- ------------------------------------------ ... 15. 00
Kentucky_________ _____ _____ _________________ _10. 00
Illinois.-...... ............... ........... ............ .................... ......15. 00
Washington_____________________________________ _25. 00
Georgia_________________________________________ _10. 00
Pennsylvania--------------------------------------------------------- 50. 00
New Jersey_____ _____ __________________________ _25. 00
Oklahoma............... .......... ........................................ ..... 10. 00
New York...................... .................. ............................ ...50. 00
South Carolina___________________________________ _10. 00
Iowa___ ________________________________________ _15. 00
Connecticut_____________________________________ _10. 00
Wisconsin______ __________ ____ ________________ _50. 00
Kansas__________________________________________ _15. 00
Ontario_______________ ______ ____ ____ ________ _10. 00
U tah___ - ........................................................ 1.......... ...10.00
$741.26
6. 70
60. 00
535.00
Total....................................... ................... ..........................
DISBURSEMENTS
1925
Aug. 26.
26.
26.
26.
Secretary-treasurer, salary, July, 1924-July, 1925. 180. 00
Chase Printing Co., programs............... ................ 15. 00
Secretary-treasurer, expenses, Salt Lake City____ 17. 26
Secretary-treasurer, stamps_______ ___________
2. 00
4
1,342.96
BEPOET OP SECBETABY-TBEASTJBEB
1925
Sept. 4.
18.
25.
Oct. 1.
8.
11.
16.
20.
Nov. 18.
5
disbursements—continued
Secretary-treasurer, stamps___________________
$5. 00
Contribution, National Legal Aid Organization__ 50. 00
Printing resolutions, Theo. Kelley_____________
6. 50
Secretary-treasurer, stamps___________________
5. 00
R. Mark, stenographic service_________________ 175. 00
Western Union, telegram_____________________
. 72
Chase Printing Co., stationery_________________
44. 00
L. Roehnisch, stenographic service_____________
15. 00
Western Union, telegram______ ______________
1. 20
1926
Jan. 24. Secretary-treasurer, expense to board meeting,
Chicago----------------- ---------------------------------Feb. 8. M. Swett, expense, to board meeting, Chicago___
18. Secretary-treasurer, stamps___________________
23. T. Kelley, printing form letter_________________
Mar. 1. R. Carroll, stenographic service________________
30. Secretary-treasurer, stamps___________________
Apr. 24. T. Kelley, printing tentative program----------------27. Stamps________________________ _____ ______
29. R. Carroll, stenographic service________________
May 21. Secretary-treasurer, stamps----------------------------June 3. R. Carroll, stenographic service________________
3. T. Kelley, printing___________________________
3. Chase Printing Co., 400 programs______________
3. B. Holstrom, clerical work____________________
44. 00
2. 17
5. 00
1. 50
15. 00
3. 00
6. 50
4. 00
11. 50
5. 00
15. 00
1. 50
21. 00
5. 00
Total........................... ..........................................
First National, savings account________________ 493. 83
Checking account____________________________ 192. 28
$656. 85
Total on hand________________________________
686.11
1, 342. 96
Respectfully submitted.
L o u is e
E. S c h u t z , Secretary-Treasurer.
[The report was adopted as read.]
The Ch a ir m a n . I will now ask Mr. John S. B. Davie, Commissioner
of Labor of New Hampshire, our first vice president, to come forward
and take the chair.
REPORTS OF NEW LEGISLATION
Mr. D a v ie . We will now take up the reports of progress from
States and Provinces. The delegate from each State, as the name is
called, will make his report. The idea of this report is to state briefly
any legislation that has been enacted since the last meeting.
BEPOET OF CANADA
The social legislation is entirely under the control of the provincial legislature.
The Canadian Parliament has adopted an old-age pension law; this is legislation
that has been advocated by labor organizations for many years, and the present
session of the Canadian Parliament has seen fit to enact that law. However, this
is contingent upon the Province being a contributor to it, and any Province that
may desire to take advantage of the old-age pension will have to pass similar
legislation. Both the Federal authorities and the provincial authorities then
become parties to the payment of the compensation on the old-age pension and
also to the maintenance and upkeep of the various offices which will have to be
located ifc the Provinces in which the law will be applied.
0
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
Another matter which has been before the Federal Parliament at different times
is the question of the eight-hour law. The labor people have been asking for
legislation to make effective the eight-hour convention which was adopted at the
first session of the International Labor Conference, held in Washington in 1919.
Canada, being a party to the treaty of peace, signed the Treaty of Versailles and
became a party to this convention, but the question of the eight-hour day when
it was put before the Dominion Parliament was referred to the department of
justice for decision as to whether the Federal Parliament had the power to adopt
the eight-hour-day law. The decision of the department of justice was that it
was a matter which dealt with civil rights for Provinces, consequently the Prov
inces will have to adopt that legislation before it can become effective.
REPORT OF COLORADO
In Colorado we have two departments that administer the laws affecting
labor. The State industrial commission of three members has control of the
State compensation law and all industrial disputes. The department of labor
statistics, with the secretary of state the ex officio head, is administered by the
deputy State labor comissioner. This department handles all matters hot dele
gated to the industrial commission.
The principal work of the bureau just at the present time consists of factory
inspection. The deputy State labor commissioner is the chief factory inspector.
There are four deputy State factory inspectors—one a woman—who are sadly
underpaid by a salary of $100 a month each; $50 a month traveling expense is
allowed each of these inspectors. I might add that there are metalliferous-mine
inspectors, coal-mine inspectors, oil inspectors, health inspectors, and others, none
of whom are under our jurisdiction, who receive much higher salaries—in some
cases as much as $3,000 a year and traveling expenses. Factory inspectors, who
are required to have a very wide general knowledge, are thus required to work
for the State at the very lowest rate, which makes it difficult to retain the serv
ices of the very best officials. It is proposed to have this condition remedied at
the forthcoming session of the State legislature. The assistance of the State
Federation of Labor will be asked to accomplish this. A factory inspector
should be paid by the State, at the very least, the same scale that he receives if
working at his trade.
Our inspectors visit 4,000 different places annually. When it is remembered
that Colorado covers a very large territory, the size of our undertaking can be
appreciated.
Our department also has charge of the State free employment offices, but
three years ago the legislature declined to appropriate the money to maintain
them (about $15,000 a year), and these offices are now closed.
The State private employment offices are licensed by the deputy State labor
commissioner. There are 45 such in Colorado, mostly in Denver, and a large
majority are teachers’ agencies and offices that handle professional places only.
Out private employment law is a good one and has proved to be very effective.
A work that requires much of the time of the department is the settlement of
claims for wages. Although there is no law to back us up, we nevertheless
accomplish much of benefit to the worker, securing settlement of about 70 out
of every 1Q0 claims filed. We handle an average of 125 claims a month.
Through our efforts most of these are settled direct by the parties themselves,
and there lies the great value of our wage-claim work. Sometimes large amounts
and many persons are involved. For instance, in the month of December, 1923,
claims to the amount of $31,535 were presented and settled. Had the claimants
REPOETS OP NEW LEGISLATION
7
been forced to a settlement in a court, as at present conducted, this would
have cost them from 5 to 10 per cent of claims.
After a long and varied experience in this line it is the conclusion of this
department that the most effective State assistance that can be rendered by a
statute is through the formation of a small-claims court, as in California and in
Nevada, where a claimant can use the court power already established without
cost to himself and can do it at once. This, in my opinion, is more effective
than an attempt to clothe a labor commissioner with court powers.
REPORT OF GEORGIA
Last year we placed the minimum age limit for child labor at 14, with the provsion that the child must be physically fit and able to read and write. The
minimum age for night work and for certain specified hazardous occupations
is 16. There were a few changes in the workmen’s compensation law, but they
related almost entirely to administration, and therefore are entirely unimportant
to this meeting.
REPORT OF LOUISIANA
Our legislature is now in session. I have nothing to report, but I do feel I
will be justified in telling what success we have met with up to the present time.
Louisiana, as you know, has been one of the most backward States in the protec
tion of child workers. You have often heard me say this. We now have before
the legislature a bill reducing the hours to eight, leaving the age limit just as it
is, requiring physical fitness and educational requirements. There was a unani
mously favorable report before the committee of the house, with an excellent
outlook for a similar report from the senate. We feel we are going to get a very
much improved condition in Louisiana at this session. We have other matters,
however, we are confident will pass, increasing the appropriations for depart
ments, regulating the laborers’ lien law, and also four changes in workmen’s com
pensation, which will not prove detrimental to the workers. I hope next time
when we come back I can look you people in the face and tell you we have got
just as good a child-labor law as you have.
REPORT OF MASSACHUSETTS
The Legislature of Massachusetts passed a bill changing the statute requiring
the removal of fumes, dusts, and gases from workrooms of industrial establish
ments. This law applied to a factory where five or more persons, and to a work
shop where five or more women or children, were employed. It is now provided
in chapter 159 of the General Acts of 1926 that a factory or workshop where
more than one person is employed shall be so ventilated that gases, vapors, dusts,
or other impurities injurious to health shall so far as practicable be rendered
harmless.
The workmen’s compensation law was amended to include among the persons
conclusively presumed to be wholly dependent for support upon a deceased
employee a parent upon an unmarried child under the age of 18 years, provided
that such child was living with the parent at the time of the injury resulting in
death. This amendment was provided in chapter 190 of the General Acts of 1926.
Twenty-seven bills were introduced in the legislature seeking to amend the
workmen’s compensation law of Massachusetts. These included provisions for
increasing the amount of compensation to injured employees, adding to the
schedule of specific injuries for which extra compensation is paid, establishing an
exclusive State fund, and allowing employers to insure their own risks. This led
10721°—27-----2
8
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
to the adoption of chapter 36 of the General Resolves of 1926, providing for the
appointment of a special unpaid commission to investigate the operation of the
workmen’s compensation law in Massachusetts and to make such recommenda
tions, with drafts of legislation, as may seem expedient.
On January 1, 1926, the revised rules and regulations pertaining to the paint
ing business, adopted by the Department of Labor and Industries of Massachu
setts, became operative. These included provisions for the better safeguarding
of employees against injuries typical of the painting business. They super
seded the rules adopted in. 1915. The 10 years’ experience with these rules
showed the necessity for new provisions. New regulations for swing staging and
interior scaffolding are included. Health requirements are made to protect
employees in the spraying of paint.
REPORT OF NEW YORE
In addition to the research work of the factory inspectors we have a safety
truck, a large white truck, to which two inspectors are assigned to go out and
give moving pictures and lectures with reference to guarding machinery and on
occupational diseases and such things as would bring directly to the workmen
in the plant how to play safety first, not limiting ourselves to the hours of labor
and the guarding of machines, but also including the health side of it, protection
from the things used in the industry, and showing small manufacturers how they
can install safety devices. Last year we started on a new thing; we are going
into the moving-picture business. We have photographers who will be here later
on to show you that side of our work; we use our entire staff for the actors; we
don’t have any sets; we have safety inspectors and other inspectors, who are
also skilled mechanics, go into the factory, and we show exactly how the accident
happened, if possible getting one of the men to whom the accident happened to
pose for us and show us exactly what happened and how it should be done. In
addition to that we are getting out a bulletin, through which we try to reach
not only the manufacturers but also the people and the physicians. We are
trying to get the State of New York more interested in the question of occupa
tional diseases. The physicians do not report these'cases, and it means delay
and complications, and they could overcome a lot of this by reporting them
and by recognizing the occupational disease and seeing that the individual puts
in a claim and that the claim is compensated. Undoubtedly there are lots of
just claims for occupational disease that are not compensated for, because they
are not recognized by the physicians in regular practice. It means that each
State must give it as much attention as guarding of machinery and the hours of
labor, but so far as we can see occupational disease laws in many States are
absolutely null and void.
We have compensation laws on our statute books, though those laws are use
less as to occupational disease. They are practically nullified, as they either cover
certain diseases you never see or they cover diseases that are rarely seen in
industry. You understand New York has an industrial board which ean make
industrial codes based on the law. We have labor laws and wherever a ques
tion arises as to industry the industrial board can make a code to fit that and
make rules and regulations for special industries based on some part of the law*
REPORT OF ONTARIO
In the last session of the legislature the workman’s compensation law was
amended to include silicosis as a compensable disease. The employee who has
been exposed to silica dust in the mines must have been so exposed for a period
DISCUSSION
9
of at least five years prior to his disablement to make him subject to the regu
lations of the compensation board. The minimum wage board continues to func
tion and is extending its order to all trades in which women are employed.
REPORT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Since we last met in Salt Lake City we have established a new bureau of
women and children as a separate, independent bureau in charge of research, as
it pertains to the employment of women and children. Also, it has charge of
home work regulations in the State for the purpose of seeing that they are
carried out. We have developed a number of new codes, and the bureau of in
dustrial standards is at this time working on some 18 new codes affecting new
industries. The greatest change we have had since the last meeting is that the
mines other than the coal mines, such as limestone, clay, and the quarries in the
State of Pennsylvania, have been made subject to safety regulations and are
now inspected under those regulations. We feel we have made some progress,
which I called to the association’s attention at the meeting held at Salt Lake
City last summer, and that is we have appointed three new supervisors and seven
inspectors, all of whom are college graduates with experience in industrial work;
and a number of the new inspectors appointed are also college men, all new
appointees being high-school graduates with long industrial experience.
REPORT OF VIRGINIA
The legislature adjourned a few months ago in Virginia. Changes in the labor
legislation did not receive a great deal of consideration, but there were a few un
important changes made in the compensation act, largely of administrative
character. An attempt was made to repeal the child labor law, but we were
successful in checking the attempt and the law remained as it had been passed.
We did succeed in amending the 10-hour law to the effect that restaurant
employers are included in the provisions of the law and the employers are
required to post the hours of labor of all their employees. We have been find
ing it difficult to enforce the 10-hour law without having the hours of employ
ment posted.
REPORT OF WISCONSIN
The legislature was not in session since the last meeting, but the commission
itself has adopted orders regulating the employment of children in beet fields and
small telephone exchanges and revising the safety code.
DISCUSSION
The C h a ir m a n . I notice in going over these cards we have a rep
resentative from the Federal Department of Labor in Washington.
We would be pleased to hear a report from Miss Mary Anderson.
Miss A n d e r s o n . I haven’t very much to report this morning, as we
are not a legislative bureau. 1 want to say we are now engaged in
the study of the effect of labor laws on women in industry. We are just
in the midst of our first work, and I want to say that I know that
all the State departments that enforce any labor legislation regard
ing women can give us a great deal of information. I know we
always have received a great deal of cooperation from State depart
ments, and I just want to say that some of our agents will be call
ing on some of you some day. We are not going into each State,
but in the States where we go I am sure you are going to give us
10
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
all the information you can. We want to find out what effect these
laws have on women in industries. There is much question whether
they are a help or a hindrance, and for that reason we want to get as
much information as you have in your files, and also verbal informa
tion. When you enforce the labor law what really happens?
The C h a ir m a n . I don’t know of any better time than right now
to devote about 15 or 20 minutes to any special thing that has been
done by any State or any industrial board to administer and enforce
the labor laws. Has anyone anything to say at this time on that
particular subject?
Mr. H u d s o n . Under the direction of the chief sanitation inspec
tor we are endeavoring to improve conditions under which men
work in the mines and lumber woods. We have been able to bring
the camps to such a degree of comfort and to such a high standard
from a health standpoint that last year among the twenty or twentyfive thousand men working in the woods we had only two cases of
typhoid fever in the whole Province—that is, in the unorganized
territory. Our difficulty at the present time is to educate the men
who go into the woods to keep the camp clean and in the sanitary
condition in which the law of tne Province requires it shall be kept.
We are now carrying on through that same branch of the Depart
ment of Labor the problem of reducing the number of accidents in
the woods. It may seem strange to you to hear that some of the
men who go into lumber woods are so absolutely inexperienced that
they manage to cut themselves on the back of tne head with an ax.
When you are dealing with men who are so inexperienced in han
dling edged tools that they are successful in cutting themselves in
that inaccessible portion of their anatomy you see we must train
the men and for that reason they must be educated to the use of tools.
Besides that, if the man has been slightly injured, instead of allowing
him to drift back to the city and become a charge on the com
munity, we endeavor to persuade the employer to reengage the man.
We feel that the very fact that he has been injured makes him a
better risk in the future. Statistics show that probably 40 per
cent of the accidents in the lumber woods occur during the first
two or three weeks of the employment. If you can get a man
ovei that period or bring him back after he has been injured dur
ing that period, the chances of his being hurt are proportionately
reduced. We had 52 fatal accidents in the lumber woods in
Ontario last year, and a large number of nonfatal injuries, but with
the cooperation oi the employer, particularly in the pulp and paper
industry, we hope to reduce t hat number very materially, as we have
been able to reduce the cases of typhoid fever and the deaths caused
by typhoid fever.
Mass J o h n so n . The suggestion has been made that in addition
to reports on legislation the States report on the work which they
are doing. One of the activities of the Massachusetts Department of
Labor and Industries which may be of interest is represented by the
cooperation with the Massachusetts Association of School Superin
tendents and the State department of education in studying prob
lems connected with the certification of children leaving scnool to
enter employment. The association for several years has been study
ing these problems. One committee has been working on a hand
book of procedure for issuing officials, explaining the various steps
DISCUSSION
11
in certifying children for work and describing the various types of
certificates in use. The handbook of procedure is ready for printing
and will probably be published this summer.
Another committee of the association which has had the coopera
tion of the State labor department is the committee on legislation,
which has been considering amendments to the laws relative to the
certification and employment of children. The association brought
in two measures this year based on the recommendations of the
legislative committee. One of the measures passed; the other failed.
The first provided for defining an illiterate minor for the purpose of
night school attendance. It established as a basis for such attend
ance in the case of illiterate minors the same requirements as are
now fixed for children 14 to 16 years of age who wish to leave school
for employment—that is, ability to meet the requirements for the
completion of the sixth grade. This measure was enacted.
The other measure provided for more adequate health certification
for working children 14 to 16 years of age. At the present time
children between these ages are required to present, as one of the
conditions for securing their working papers, a certificate signed by
a school or family physician, stating thatne has thoroughly examined
the child and that in his opinion the child is in sufficiently sound
health and physically able to perform the work for which he is apply
ing. The bill of the Association of School Superintendents places the
responsibility for this work more definitely upon the school officials by
providing that the school physician should be authorized to issue
these certificates. This measure was referred to the next annuiJ
session.
Other problems which the legislative committee has been studying
include the regulation of the employment of children in agriculture
and private domestic service. At the present time these occupations
tire largely outside of the labor laws m Massachusetts. The most
important protection provided for children under 14 in this work
comes from the compulsory school attendance laws. Outside
of school hours and during the summer vacation there is practically
no Regulation.
Another separate committee of the School Superintendents’ Associa
tion has for the past year been studying the subject of age and grade
requirements for working children. That committee has also had
the cooperation of the department of labor and industries through
representation on its various committees and through assistance m
the preparation of the report. Last November the report was pub
lished giving the results of the committee’s work, and recommending
that legislation be enacted providing for more educational oppor
tunities for working children 14 to 16 years of age, and recommending
a special type of education adapted to meet the needs of children who
leave school to become wage earners.
As a result of this recommendation, legislation was presented by
the State department of education this year asking for the establish
ment of half-time schooling for working children 14 to 16 years of age.
The measure contemplated providing three types of educational
opportunities for working children under the direction of the State
department of education. For the children who wished to continue
their school work, but for economic reasons were obliged to become
12
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
wage earners, it was planned to offer part-time academic courses;
for the children who had definite trade interests specific trade-train
ing courses were to be offered. For the larger group of children who
are not academically minded and who have not as yet decided upon
their future work, a type of vocational education representing a
development of the present junior high school system was proposed.
This measure, although strongly supported by many organizations,
was referred to the next annual session. It will t>e reintroduced
and eventually, I think, will be enacted.
The C h a ir m a n . I s there any other delegate’s report?
Doctor G r ah a m -R o g e r s . New York State took this stand that the
proper way to teach safety was to begin with school children, the child
that goes out into the industry and later on becomes a workman.
Otherwise it would be like closing and locking the stable door after the
horse has been stolen. That question was taken up this year, and
we started a new method. We have in New York what is known as
a continuation school, where the working children must go back and
continue their education. Arrangements were made and all the
teachers were called together and given various lectures by the per
sonnel of different institutions, not only as to the guarding of machin
ery and safety but also as to the question of lighting, ventilation, com
pensation and administration. These teachers go back and teach suc
cessive classes about labor laws and what the child should do when he
goes into industry—that is, see that proper safeguards are placed on
machines, that there is proper ventilation and proper means of remov
ing dust, fumes, etc.—so tnat when the child begins to work he will
expect those things that conserve his health, and if they are not
there he will ask for them.
In. addition we have been giving lectures in schools for some years
back. I think that it is a vital subject to be taken up by the deleates, that the child is told what safety means, not only in industry
ut also in other things, and that it is best for tnem to learn it in the
schools; then when they get into the factories they will expect those
things, and if they are not there they will ask for them and see that
statutes are put on the books that will provide for them. When the
question of nealth in industry comes up that means they should
receive some education along that line ana ask for the proper protec
tion, whether it be dust, fumes, gases, or vapors. We have gotten
out a number of new bulletins lately on saw guards and guards for
punch presses; and for those of you who may be interested along
medical lines we have a pamphlet on silicosis, also on ventilating
conditions in laundries.
Mr. W o od . I would like to ask a question. Did I understand Mr.
Stanley, of Georgia, to say that they placed their age limit at 14, pre
venting the children under 15 from engaging in hazardous work?
Mr. S t a n l e y . Sixteen.
Mr. W ood . Would you call work in a knitting mill hazardous
work?
M r. S t a n l e y . I think it would apply in building trades and
f
machinery, saw mills, and that character, but it wouldn’t affect
the knitting mills.
The C h a ir m a n . If that is all, we will ask for reports of committees.
I believe at this time we have a report of the committee on statistics.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS
13
[The report of the committee on statistics was read by Mr. Hall,
chairman, and after some discussion and a few minor changes was
adopted, as follows:]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS
Your committee, appointed at the last annual meeting of this association to
consider uniform methods of collecting and compiling statistics, begs to make
the following report:
The committee approached the problem well aware of the difficulties in the
way of outlining a plan that will be found practicable and workable by all the
various States. If every State had a sufficient organization and was adequately
financed so as to be able to do all that it desired to do, it would be easy to formu
late plans which all States might adopt, but we realize that such is not the case.
Most States find that their appropriations are so small and their personnel so
limited'that they are able to do only a small portion of the work they would like
to do. The conditions, too, in the various States are so widely different owing
to the great variety of industries that it is difficult to set up a definite uniform
program that can be adopted and carried out by all the States. The committee
therefore presents for your consideration plans for four lines of study and investi
gation, one or more of which it is believed may be adopted and pursued by all
of the States. These can be limited or added to to meet the possibilities of the
individual States. The four lines of study are: Accident statistics, employment
statistics, wages and hours of labor (pay-roll data), and union scales of wages.
The committee wants it clearly understood that in presenting plans for these
four lines of study it does not recommend that all States, nor that any individual
State, shall agree to pursue all or any one of these specified studies, but if any of
the States find it possible to make these studies, that they will agree to make
them along uniform lines that shall be adopted by this association.
I n d u s t r ia l A c c id e n t s
No department of statistical inquiry more closely touches the public weal than
the study of personal injuries by accident. Statistics of industrial accidents
should serve for accident prevention, for the due administration and intelligent
revision of workmen’s compensation laws, and for the computation of compen
sation insurance rates. For accident prevention it is needful to know how and
why accidents occur. For the better administration of workmen’s compensation
laws it is necessary to have an accurate statistical record of the disposal of com
pensation cases, not only the comparatively few cases which are formally passed
upon by the administrative board but the immensely larger number of claims
which are settled between the parties with only a pro forma administrative ap
proval. For the intelligent enactment and revision of compensation legislation,
legislators must know the number and character of accidental injuries, the extent
of wage loss, and the cost in per cent of pay roll of any proposed scale of bene
fits. Lastly, for the computation of insurance rates it is necessary to have not
only the actual pure premiums by industries but a detailed analysis of the acci
dents which occasion the pure premiums.
To serve these ends, accident statistics must be analyzed by industry, by
cause of accident, and by nature and location of injury and extent of disability,
and also by sex, and must be so cross analyzed as to show the correlation of
each of these sets of facts with every other. Still other analyses are necessary.
It is important to know the number, ages, and relationships of dependents in
fatal cases and the age and wage groups of the injured in all cases. In certain
industries an occupational analysis will be of value.
It goes without saying
14
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
also that the pay-roll exposure should be obtained by industries, and that the
wage loss and the amount of compensation and of medical aid should be shown
by industry, by cause of accident, and by nature and location of injury and
extent of disability. Many other statistical studies will prove necessary for
particular purposes. Nevertheless, the classifications by industry, cause, and
nature and extent of injury are primary. Faulty analysis in these respects will
vitiate the whole statistical output. Vice versa, if these fundamental classifica
tions are sound and adequate, everything else can be added as opportunity and
occasion arise.
The most cursory examination will show that the official industrial accident
statistics of the United States are lamentably weak in just these vital particu
lars, and no two States have produced results that are in any way comparable.
One State department follows the census classification of industries, another
uses the schedules of the o]d liability manual, a third the literal classifications of
the compensation insurance manual. The classification of accident causes is
sometimes so meager as to be of little value for prevention, sometimes so prolix
and ill digested as to afford no comprehensive view. The classification of injuries
ranges from the simple division into fatal and nonfatal to an individual list of
permanent disabilities—the mere raw material of statistics.
The above is an abstract from the report on standardization of industrial
accident statistics prepared by the committee on statistics and compensation
insurance cost of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards
and Commissions which was adopted by that association and is recommended
as a basis for the approval of this association. This bulletin contains the full
report of the committee whose service extended over a period of nearly six years.
The committee was composed of the foremost workmen’s compensation statisti
cians of the United States and their report was adopted by the association as
embodying the needs and requirements for the intelligent collection and compila
tion of standard industrial accident statistics.
This report contains standard definitions, classification of industries, classifi
cation of causes of accidents, classification of accidents by location and nature
of injury and extent of disability, standard forms of blanks on which to report
accidents, standard forms of tabulation, and other information needed in the
collection and compilation of uniform accident statistics. For details along any
of these lines reference is made to Bulletin 276 of the United States Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
E m ploym ent
It is impracticable to collect unemployment statistics regularly or frequently
enough to be of any considerable value owing to the great length of time and
large expense required. Therefore the most practicable way of arriving at the
trend of unemployment is through the collection of employment statistics and
the computation of an employment index.
Employment statistics to be of greatest value must be as nearly up to date
as possible, and as it is not possible to make at frequent intervals a census of all
employments it becomes necessary to resort to the sample method—i. e., to
attempt to cover only a representative portion of the important industries of
the State. The sample should be large enough for each industry and carefully
selected so as accurately to reflect the changes in employment in the various
industries from month to month.
In order to obtain the information promptly the collection must necessarily be
done by correspondence on a questionnaire to be sent out each month. This
requires the cooperation of the employers, and, to secure their cooperation and to
reduce to a minimum the time and amount of labor necessary to furnish the data.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS
15
the questionnaire should be restricted to the essential information needed. The
inquiries should include the number on the pay roll and the amount of the pay
roll for a pay-roll period each month; also the percentage of full time and full
capacity worked by the establishment each month. It is desirable that these
employment statistics should be reported by sex when it is practicable to do so.
The industries to be included will, of course, vary from State to State in accord
ance with the extent and importance of each industry in each State. The data
should be collected on the basis of a uniform classification of industries. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics in its collection of employment statistics has followed
in a general way the industry classification adopted by the Bureau of the Census.
The items in this rather broad classification can be subdivided or combined to
meet the particular needs of any individual State.
W ages and H ours op L abor
Information regarding wages of industrial employees to be of value for com
parable purposes, one State with another or one establishment with another,
must be compiled on a comparable basis, by industry and by definite occupation.
As employees in different establishments, and also employees of different
occupations in the same establishment, frequently work a different number of
hours per day and per week, earnings of each employee should be obtained in
such a way that they can be reduced to a uniform basis—i. e., to actual earnings
per hour.
It is important and many times desirable to make a comparison of State data
with those for the United States as a whole as compiled by the Bureau of the
Census. Therefore the broad census classification of industries is recommended
for adoption so that data for more detailed classifications when necessary or de
sirable to be made can be combined, if desired, and compared with census data.
Owing to the large money cost and the great amount of time and labor nec
essary to collect and tabulate pay-roll data and the limited funds generally
available, it will probably be found impossible to cover all of the industries in a
State, or all of the establishments in an industry; and it will also probably be
impracticable to collect the earnings of employees for a whole year. If necessary
to restrict the scope of the study the sample method is recommended—that is,
that the surveys be limited, if necessary, to a representative number of estab
lishments in each industry, and that information be collected for one represent
ative pay-roll period of the year as a minimum.
Detailed information should be compiled separately by sex for employees of
each of the principal key occupations at least, and in order that the survey may
cover the wages of the establishments as a whole the occupations not considered
of sufficient importance to be selected for a separate showing may be combined
into a composite group designated as “ Other employees.”
In the case where information on hours only is being collected, as where
factory inspectors secure data as to the hours worked, but do not enter into the
wage question, such information should distinguish between the nominal or
scheduled hours of the factory and the hours actually worked by the employees—
that is to say, should note in each instance the overtime and undertime em
ployment.
In the reporting of wage data it is of great importance that actuai earnings
be distinguished from rates, and in the reporting of hour data it is of equal im
portance that hours worked be distinguished from nominal or scheduled hours.
The following questionnaire [B. L. S. 277] used by the Federal Bureau of
Labor Statistics is believed to embody the minimum information necessary for a
satisfactory presentation of wage data. [See Wages and Hours of Labor Schedule.]
16
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
U n io n S c a l e s o p W a g e s
Union scales of wages for trades that are so well organized that their scales
may be accepted as the prevailing rate in the trade in the locality can be readily
secured through the various unions. From this source a large volume of wage
B.&.S.OT
1. Industry-------------------------------------------------------- 2. A**nt---------------------------------------U. 8. DEPARTMENT OP LABOR. BUREAU OP LABOR STATISTICS, WASHINGTON
Wages and Hours of Labor
5. Establishment______________________________________S. Department--------------——-----------------------------------4. Local address------------------------------------ --------------------------
7. Occupation--------------------------------------------------------------
6. Person furnishing date
8. Pay roll for ----------------- , ending---------------------------------
________
9. Hours each day: Monday to Friday------------------ - Saturday------------------ - 8unday ......................
Total per week--------------
10. Number of days worked by this occupation in this pay period: 8undays---------- ------ --------------- Week days— ------------------------11. If 7-day occupation, is regular relief: Provided_____________________
is
IS
OcconnowTentonPatBou
2_________ ______
%.T„-,....... r.T... ..... _T_
A.T— -- ________ „,T—T------- t._______________
-T___________
9...... .......... T_„____
$____TTf,._,._T„r„,_____
0----------------------------tA
ft
14_______________
f*IT._,..T„_ _______
U-____ ________ ___
|$rr-,TT-.... ....r—
M.____ _____ ___
------ IT.__________ ___
t«-____ r__T__ r— __
------- 10.. —1_.__r__
» ____ TT.,.r________
11
23__________
------- 24____ _______ ___
Observed_______ __________ (If any, explain la note.)
M
17
11
M
u itM
N
o
wm
Bom 333
■tM
R
•
sn
a- Six M
tinm
-------- --------
»
lamM
n
»
OaH
▼
esM
at)
---------
26____*___ ______
------- n______ __
2*______ _______
------- 20___ _____ ____
M—..........
11....Tr.TT_................ .
.**
U..... ..... ...TI.......
statistics can be obtained at a minimum of time and expense. For several years
data of this kind have been collected very satisfactorily by several of the States
and the plan is recommended for extension to all the other States.
The form of questionnaire on page 17 [B. L. S.—424] is sufficient for the needs
of this sort of data.
ItEPORT
COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS
i7
R e s o l u t io n
Your Committee believes that the greatest advance step that this association
can make at this time is the adoption of the principle of uniformity in the col
lection and compilation of industrial statistics. We therefore propose for your
adoption the following resolution:
Resolved, That the Association of Governmental Labor Officials of the United
States and Canada approve and adopt in principle, the foregoing report, and we,
U. S. D epartm en t o f Labor
B u r e a u o p L a b o r S t a t is t ic s
WASHINGTON
RATES OF WAGES— U N ION SCALE: MAY 15. 1926
I. City.
3. Special i
i Industry-----
5. Local Union N o...
6. Occupation .
9. Name, position, and 1
d)
b.
1926 .
May 15,1926 May 15,1925
10. IL
11. E „
18. Regular rate per_
14. Rate for overtime (1, If, 2, etc.)—
15. Rate for Sunday (1,1 ), % etc.)—
16. Rate for holidays (1,1*, 2, etc.) _
17. Rate for Saturday half holiday (1,1}, 2, etc.) HOURS—
D»y«
per
wwk
18. R egular
w orking
M o*
4»y
T im*
to y
W *W
toy
T ta »
day
a**
toy
to*
toy
run
WMk
1925....
19. B.
20. Number of months having Saturday
21 .
faf holday provided by agree
, 1926.
(Ni m month* prorkted by agrMoMnt)
22. Hours on Saturday during such periods......... ...... ....-------. Union •
23. Numberof union members
in this occupation in this
jurisdiction receiving—
b. More than union scale (note amount received)..
c. Less than union scale (note amount received)__
a.
Total____________________________
24. Changeand date of each change from May 16,1925, to May 15,1926..
25. Change and date of each change after May 15, 1926----------------------------------------------26. Copy of agreement or scale sent: «. For 1926------------------------------------27. This report Is approved:
b. For 1925
------------------------------------ ----------------------
the representatives of said association here assembled, do agree that hereafter
we will so far as possible endeavor to collect and compile all industrial statistics
along uniform lines as outlined in the report.
It is further recommended that the committee be continued until such time
as it can work out a report on terminology and definition of terms used.
[The resolution was adopted.]
IS
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OtfFlCtALS
REPOET OF CODE COMMITTEES (BY ME. AINSWORTH)
There are four committees to report; of one of these, the committee on building
exits, I am not a member, and there is no member of the committee here.
The first committee is the committee on the conveying code. The American
Engineering Standards Committee through the willingness of the National Bureau
of Underwriters and the National Safety Council have started a conveying machin
ery code. This code committee has held three meetings and has definitely
arranged its schedule. It will have to be adopted by the American Engineering
Standards Committee.
Another committee whose work is going along fine is the committee on abra
sive wheels. That code has been revised and the revision approved by the
American Engineering Standards Committee.
Probably the most important code for the various States is the construction
code. A meeting was recently held in New York City on this code in an effort
to try to further enlist the assistance of the Association of General Contractors,
which was represented on the committee for a number of years, then suddenly
withdrew from the committee and put forth every effort possible to set aside the
work done. The meeting in New York was successful in enlisting the aid of the
contractors and work of the committee will now progress and be completed. It
has been decided, however, to limit the work of this committee to building con
struction only and omit general construction work.
In the State of Pennsylvania construction accidents increased 25 per cent
this month over the same period of last year. Such accidents are steadily in
creasing, and each State in the Union must work if we are going to make any
gain. We have the solution in other industries, but construction work seems
to have gone by the board and as a result accidents are continually mounting.
I would-suggest each State represented in the convention take an active interest in
the development of our safety code for the construction industry. It is unfortu
nate that we have to pick one representative and that one representative can’t get
better expression of opinion from the association each year. I plead for every
member of this association to keep in contact with Doctor Agnew. Another point
which has been raised is the question of proper hearings on codes before they are
adopted by the American Engineering Standards Committee. Many codes have
been adopted by sectional committees alone and have not been referred to the
public and when inspectors tried to enforce them found they have not been practi
cal. A movement was started to introduce public hearings after sectional com
mittees have completed the first work and turned it over to the American Engi
neering Standards Committee, but no formal procedure has been outlined. That
will be done at the safety meeting this month. This is a very important point,
introducing the code to the industry before you start to enforce it, giving them
a chance to get acquainted with the code and letting them have an opportunity
to try it out and talk it over with you before you start to enforce it. Your
enforcement problem is made much less difficult.
[The report was adopted.]
TUESDAY, JUNE S— AFTERNOON SESSION
MART ANDERSON, DIRECTOR UNITED STATES WOMEN'S BUREAU, PRESIDING
WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN INDUSTRY
The C h a ir m a n . I am going to begin on the program immediately,
and I am going to call on Miss Mary Van Kleeck, director depart
ment of industrial studies, Russell Sage Foundation, New York.
EFFECT OF LABOR LAWS UPON WOMEN IN INDUSTRY—A PROBLEM
FOR INVESTIGATION
BT MART TAN KLEECK, CHAIRMAN OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON METHODS OF
INVESTIGATION FOR THE WOMEN’ S BUREAU, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
LABOR
The effect of labor laws upon opportunities for women in industry
is the subject of an investigation recently undertaken by the Women;s
Bureau. It offers one of the frequent opportunities for cooperation
between the State and Federal departments of labor. On this occa
sion it is the problem involved in working out the method of study
which is to be presented in the hope of eliciting advice and suggestions
from members of this association.
In order that you may have the background it is necessary to dis
cuss a conflict between a group of femimsts who object to labor laws
for women and a group of wage-earning women and others who favor
them. It was not a feminist but a judge in a New York court who
discovered a connection between women’s rights and labor laws for
women. When the New York law prohibiting the employment of
women at night in factories came before the courts nearly 20 years
ago for decision as to its constitutionality, the judge who wrote
the opinion declared that one of women’s rights was the right to
work when and where she pleased without reference to the position
of the hands on the dial of the clock. I do not recall that his reason
ing made a wide impression upon the public mind. To be sure for
some seven years thereafter women were the equals of men in having
the right to work at night in New York factories until the factory
investigating commission, appointed in 1912, found conditions which,
in its opinion, demanded correction in long hours of work for women
in cordage plants, in binderies, in laundries, and in other work places.
The new law which the commission recommended, guaranteeing a
period of rest at mght for women, was upheld by the court, which
thereby reversed its earlier decision.
At that time the advocates of women’s rights were busy trying to
secure the vote. Not until after the war and after the passage of
the nineteenth amendment did an organization of feminists, casting
about for new work on behalf of women, find in labor legislation an
issue to be joined. As a result your work as enforcers o f labor laws
stands challenged to-day, for the laws themselves are regarded by
19
20
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
one group as a mark of women’s servitude. At any rate it became
a major plank in the platform of the National Woman’s Party to
oppose all labor laws which apply to women only.
But the challenge is healthy. In itself it reveals a weakness to
which labor legislation, has long been exposed. Public interest is
great before a law is passed, but it is not sustained long enough either
to provide adequately for its enforcement or to watch its results.
Hence it seems appropriate to-day to discuss the proposed investi
gation of the effects of labor laws for women which the Women’s
Bureau is making. The main point for consideration on this occasion
is not whether labor laws have good or bad effects but how the
effects should be measured. It is the method of the investigation, not
its conclusions, which needs consideration by governmental labor
officials at this time.
The investigation was proposed at the women’s industrial confer
ence, called in Washington in January, 1926, by the Federal Women’s
Bureau. It was on that occasion that the conflict over labor legisla
tion for women reached a climax. Representatives of the National
Woman’s Party brought in a resolution asking for an investigation
of the effects of special legislation upon the employment of women,
and added a request that while this investigation was in progress
the Women’s Bureau should refrain from taking any position with
reference to the so-called equal rights amendment which had been
before Congress recently. It was this second part of the resolution
which the representatives of the National Woman’s Party frankly
say they were most eager to have passed, because they have found
that testimony growing out of the extensive investigations made by
the Women’s Bureau has been an obstacle to gaining support for the
equal rights amendment. Constitutional lawyers believe that to
incorporate this amendment in the Constitution would jeopardize
all labor laws and other social legislation applying to women and
not to men. Opposition to the amendment has not come only from
advocates of labor laws for women but has been based also upon the
idea that an amendment would make it impossible to experiment
with laws which might change from time to time to meet changing
conditions.
The conference was unwilling to pass a resolution asking the
Women’s Bureau to take no position in this matter. It was pointed
out that information gathered by any Federal bureau and the
personal opinion of any Federal officer should be at the disposal of
Congress in its consideration of any legislation, and that it would
be inappropriate for a group of private citizens called together
by the Women’s Bureau to pass a resolution of this kind. As a sub
stitute a motion was made suggesting the investigation and providing
for a committee representing both sides in the controversy which
would give advice regarding the scope of the investigation. This
resolution was adopted.
The director of the Women’s Bureau proceeded without delay to
act upon the suggestion, and an advisory committee was appointed
composed of six membera, three of whom were nominated, respec
tively, by the American Federation of Labor, the National Women’s
Trade Union League, and a committee of representatives of 11 organ
izations opposed to the so-called equal rights amendment. These
three members of the advisory committee were the representatives
EFFECT OF LABOR LAWS UPON WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
21
of those who support labor laws for women. The National Woman’s
Party, as the one large women’s organization which opposes labor
legislation for women, was asked to nominate three members. Mean
while the technical committee, appointed to advise the Women’s
Bureau regarding the methods of its various investigations, was
called into action to assist in planning this study. Those of you
who come from States having industrial commissions will recognize
the resemblance of the advisory committee of the Women’s Bureau
to the advisory committee for an industrial commission. The indus
trial commission includes the experts; the advisory committee rep
resents employers and labor, thus giving a chance to opposing groups
to make sure that their interests are fairly treated.
Unfortunately the advisory committee of the Women’s Bureau
roved to be a group which could not be held together. The conict over the method of inquiry became so great that the three organi
zations which named the representatives of women favoring labor
legislation instructed their representatives to withdraw. They
declare in their withdrawal that the procedure adopted by the repre
sentatives of the National Woman’s Party in the committee made it
impossible for the advisory committee to function. The party’s
representatives wished to concentrate on investigation of laws pro
hibiting night work, and they suggested that the method of the in
quiry be the holding of public hearings. The representatives of
working women contended that public hearings were not the best
method of inquiry, that wage-earning women called to testify might
be in danger of losing their jobs if they expressed views contrary to
those of their employers, and that in a study of this kind it was
necessary to get the facts from records and from interviews rather
than at public hearings. As this was a problem in method rather than
in scope it came properly to the technical committee, and it was
arranged that a joint meeting should be held by the technical com
mittee and the advisory committee to explain to the members of the
advisory committee why certain decisions regarding procedure had
been reached by the staff of the Women’s Bureau with the advice of
the technicians. Before this meeting could be held, however, and
before the plan of investigation outlined by the bureau was sub
mitted, representatives 01 the National Woman’s Party undertook
a campaign tending to persuade Congressmen, particularly members
of the Committee on Appropriations, that the Women’s Bureau
was partisan and that the proposed investigation would be unfair
unless public hearings were held with opportunity given to represent
atives of the National Woman’s Party to cross-examine witnesses.
Finally, after a subsequent joint meeting, the representatives of
the three organizations favoring labor legislation, acting on instruc
tion from their organizations, resigned their membership. The rea
sons were stated by the representative of the National Women’s Trade
Union League in the following words in a telegram to the Director of
the Women’s Bureau :
S
We refuse to remain longer on committee with National Woman’s Party in
view of tatter’s impossible demands and intolerable conduct in continued attempts
to discredit investigation in advance and by political pressure to coerce Women’s
Bureau in becoming virtual publicity agent for Woman’s Party. We asked in
good faith for a real investigation of a vital industrial problem affecting millions
of working women: that means technical study by experts and by scientific
methods. Woman s Party, which does not represent working women at all but
22
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
women who never had to work for a living, does not want scientific investigation
but public hearing and a forum for its speakers. Working women who advocate
labor laws and need them could not testify at public hearings without risk of
losing their jobs; thus hearings would not bring put facts but only one-sided
opinion and resulting injustice to working women, wliich we refuse to countenance.
The withdrawal of these three members left the advisory committee
with but one side represented. As the resolution appointing it had
rovided for representation of both sides, the committee was dis
anded when one side withdrew. It should be noted, however, that
the work contemplated for the advisory committee haa been substan
tially accomplished. Four meetings had been held and suggestions
regarding the scope of the inquiry had been made by the members,
both in writing and in general discussion. A number of these sug
gestions from both sides had been embodied in the plan.
Meanwhile the investigation is going forward ana is likely to be
one of the most important and significant of all the studies made by
the Women’s Bureau. On this occasion we are concerned, as I have
said, not with the question of whether or not legislation for women
has been an advantage or a disadvantage but we have to consider
the much more difficult question of how to measure its effects. We
are not without information. Factory inspectors who administer the
law know some of its results. Presumably the weight of experience
of many years is in favor of it, since labor laws have been passed and
amendments adopted year after year with very few repeals. More
over, many investigations have been made, including those published
by the Federal Women’s Bureau and by bureaus of women in indus
try in State departments of labor, which throw light on the present
conditions and show by inference the effect of labor laws. Never
theless a specific study of the effects of labor legislation has not been
made, ana so the question of how to determine its effects is a new
one in investigation.
Actually it is necessary to use different methods for different types
of law. It seems obvious that the first effect of a law, provided it
is enforced, is presumably to establish the conditions winch the law
prescribes. If, for example, a State legislature enacts legislation
prohibiting the employment of women in factories at night, presum
ably its effect will be that no women will be found in the factories
at night. Similarly, if a law prohibits the employment of women on
machines having emery wheels for grinding and polishing, the effect
will be to keep women out of that occupation. The problem here is
to measure in the large the results of excluding women from employ
ment under certain specified conditions which have been considered
to be harmful in their essence and hence not susceptible of regulation.
On the other hand, a law like that limiting the employment of
women to a definite schedule of hours in a day regulates a condition;
it does not constitute a prohibition nor does it result in debarring
women from an occupation provided the conditions required are estab
lished. The problem here is to find out whether the reduction in
hours of work has in the long run resulted in better conditions or
larger opportunities or whether it has tended to bar from employment
the group for which these conditions are established.
This distinction was back of the contest over method which devel
oped in the advisory committee. Representatives of the National
Woman's Party wished to demonstrate that labor laws applying only
E
EFFECT OF LABOR LAWS UPON WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
23
to women bar them from opportunities, and they asked that the
whole investigation be centered upon the prohibition of employment
of women in factories at night. Representatives of wage-earning
women, on the other hand, contended that laws shortening hoars of
work applied to a very much larger number of women, and that by
improving the conditions of employment they have tended greatly
to enlarge women’s opportunities by the protection of health, the
increase of efficiency, and the development of greater skill.
In the last analysis the arguments of representatives of the National
Woman’s Party were that the principle of legislation applying to
women only is Dad, that it establishes an inferior status for women
and has the psychological effect on everybody’s mind of making women
appear to be inferior.
Much discussion and consideration on the part of the staff of
the Women’s Bureau has been necessary to develop a plan of inves
tigation which would throw light on all these diverse contentions.
At this moment the plan is tentative and is open for suggestion. It
seems to the staff of the Women’s Bureau that the center of the
whole inquiry is to be found in an analysis of change in the position
of women in industry during the period of development of labor leg
islation. What new occupations have been opened to women ? What
changes have occurred in the occupations which have always been
theirs? From what occupations have they been barred? What are
the causes of these changes? If labor laws have either restricted or
enlaced opportunities for women, we should be able to discover that
fact n we analyze the industries and the positions in which changes
have actually occurred. We can discover more or less satisfactorily
Irom the records of the census the industries in which the proportions of
women as compared with men have changed. It should also be possi
ble to ‘discover from records in factories what changes have occurred
in the proportions of men and women in various occupations. Inter
views with managers and with women employed should then reveal
the circumstances under which these changes took place. Were there
changes in machinery, or in marketing conditions, or in the general
process of work, or in methods of management, or in legal regulations
of women’s work which could account lor the change?
It seemed plausible at first to begin with the statistical records
and then hold the interviews, but the difficulty, familiar to all of you,
is that most establishments keep no records over a long period of
years; and it is always difficult to secure from pay rolls the data
showing the number of men and the number of women in the differ
ent occupations of the industry. The pay roll is not always divided
by occupations, nor is it always clear from the pay roll record which
employees are men and which are women.
The method, therefore, had to be reversed. The chronology of
labor laws in every State has been recorded in the Women’s Bureau
in such a way as to show the exact date of passage of every law and
of all important amendments. Taking this chronology, representa
tives of the Women’s Bureau are proceeding through interviews with
managers of industrial plants, with woman wage earners, and with
factory inspectors to find out what changes they recall in the employ
ment of women and at what period, and what factors or circum
stances entered into the change. In plants which are operating at the
10721°—27------3
24
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
time of passage of any labor law for women information is sought in
interviews as to what adjustments were made in the plant to meet
the new conditions established by the law. Following these inter
views, efforts are being made to secure whatever statistical record
may be available in that plant, through the records of factory inspec
tion or in the United States census, whereby the statements made
in the interviews may be verified or corrected. By these methods
it is hoped that we shall be able to discover not only what changes
have occurred but what factors have entered into the changes which
have been advantageous or disadvantageous for women. We are
concerned, in short, not merely with discovering whether women
have been barred from employment, but we wish to find out under
what circumstances they have attained larger opportunities or
improved conditions.
Thus the plan now tentatively adopted by the Women’s Bureau
provides for a study focused upon laws prolubiting night work and
those regulating daily and weekly hours, with an analysis of those
laws which prohibit employment in certain specified occupations.
Regulation of sanitary conditions and other similar legislation is also
of interest, but, generally speaking, these laws do not apply only to
women and it seems best to concentrate upon those which anect
hours of work, since they are the center of controversy. In view of
the fact that it is impossible to study every industry and every State
in the Union, the bureau is also meeting the question of how best to
select samples. Those trades are chosen first for study in which the
census shows changes in the proportion of women employed, those in
which the proportions of women are large, and those in which women’s
work is very much limited in comparison with the employment of
men. In all the sampling the controlling principle is to make the
selection on the basis of the proportions of women employed in com
parison with men.
Again it is necessary to choose not only the industries but the States
in which those industries will be studied. Here, also, contrast in con
ditions is desirable. Take, for instance, the electrical industry, which
is new and which shows rapid changes in technique. It is possible
to study the same industry, and sometimes the same company, in
Massachusetts with its eight-hour law, in Indiana which has no lim
itation on daily hours, but has a law prohibiting night work, and in
Illinois with a 10-hour law and no limitation on weekly hours. By
comparing conditions in the same industry under the same general
management in three different States having different types of legis
lation, presumably an answer can be found as to what tne effect of
labor laws may be upon the employment of women.
Having selected the industry and the State, local inquiry must
reveal which are the typical establishments. In addition to those
in which women are employed, the staff of the Women’s Bureau, to
make its study more comprehensive, is including in each State studied
an inquiry into opportunities which might exist for women’s employ
ment m those plants which do not employ them at present because
they operate longer hours than the State law permits for women.
Agents of the bureau are finding out in these plants what adjustments
would have to be made in their employment to meet legal require
ments and what opportunities would exist for them if they were
not included under the law. In like manner, in States having
EFFECT OF LABOR LAWS tJPON WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
25
prohibition or limitation on night work, plants which have night
shifts are surveyed. These employ no women (unless in violation of
law), and the agents are asking what women’s occupations on the day
shift are actually filled by men at night and whether, the plant would
employ women at night if the law permitted.
Many minor details are difficult in planning the whole investiga
tion. It might seem a simple thing to measure the proportion of men
and women in a given industry, but it is necessary to decide whether
this is to be measured by counting the number of employees at a
given pay-roll period, or whether the average number throughout the
year should be considered, or whether one should choose a busy week
and a slack week in a year and figure the average in order to deter
mine the proportion of women in tne working force. A detailed count
of numbers in the different occupations or departments in a plant
is being taken only if interviews reveal significant changes requiring
detailed analysis.
Investigators must also envisage conditions in the community. It
is important to interview citizens who have had a vital interest in sup
porting or in opposing labor laws. Moreover, in studying the condi
tions which make for larger opportunities for women in industry one
must take into consideration opportunities for vocational training
in the public schools and what effects they may have had, the effect
of trade-union organization upon conditions of employment of women,
and the general state of public opinion and the way in winch it
affects women’s opportunities. The inquiry, with all its ramifications,
is endless, but the important point in working out a sound method
is to keep the investigation focused upon the right center—in this
study, changes in the opportunities lor women, either adverse or
favorable—and then to select for detailed study only those situations
which require it in order to answer fully the question, “ What has
caused the change?”
I shall not take the time to give you the complete schedule. An
effort has been made to keep it as simple as possible. The main
points asked for are the types of products now being manufactured
and the length of time that the firm has made these products; the
scheduled hours at present for men and for women and the hours
formerly worked; changes which were necessary to meet the require
ments of the last State law regulating hours of work for women; the
extent of overtime and its effect on women’s opportunities; changes
in plant equipment, working conditions, ana occupations, which
have affected the proportionate employment of men and women,
with reasons, date, and effect—including changes in the product, in
machinery, in occupation, in methods of operation, in women’s work
hours, in men’s work hours, and any other changes.
Questions are also asked as to whether women are in supervisory
positions, how many women are employed in them, and what the
policy of the firm is regarding promotion. Closely connected with
policy regarding promotion is the method of selecting for employ
ment and the plan of training. The extent of trade-unionism in tne
plant is also included, the provisions of the agreement, if there be
one, the departments covered, and whether both men and women
are members.
This inquiry, planned thus carefully, should give an answer or at
least suggest a method of approach to the present controversy as to
26
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
the desirability of labor legislation applying to women only. Surely
the answer is"exceedingly important for all State departments of
labor. It is hoped that while this investigation is in progress the
Association of Governmental Labor Officials will be continuously
interested in it, and that in the various States the departments of
labor will give what aid they can in an analysis of statistics of change
in plants as they are shown in the records of factory inspection and
in any other data as to the effects of the law in each State included
in the inquiry. The study can not be absolutely complete or final.
Labor legislation is experimental and probably we must proceed
to meet conditions as they are and be willing to change as conditions
change. Perhaps the best result to be hoped for from the study will
be that it should lead thoughtful persons to realize that controversy
must be settled by facts, and that the actual opportunities for women
in industry and the conditions of their employment can be discov
ered by investigation.
DISCUSSION
Miss Jo h n so n . It is very gratifying that the Woman’s Bureau is
making this investigation and employing methods as described.
Personally it seems to me there should be little question as to the
need or advisability of special legislation for the protection of working
women to-day. But there is need for information as to the effect of
that legislation and to the type of legislation which is necessary.
There is very little scientific information as to the effect of such
legislation. The State departments responsible for enforcing the
laws as they have been enacted have auite naturally devoted their
time to enforcing and administering ratner than to studying the op
eration to ascertain the effect of the law, and very few States are
equipped to do that, with the exception of New York and Pennsyl
vania through their special research bureaus. I hope one of the
direct results from this study which the Women’s Bureau is making
will be to stimulate interest on the part of States to have more re
search work with regard to the effect of legislation. I should think
it would be helpful also in educating the public and meeting some
of the arguments based on misrepresentations and prejudice to pre
sent some of the facts. It seems to me that it should also give
another contribution and that is assurance that legislation for the
protection of women will keep abreast with industrial changes; that
the laws that are enacted by States shall represent most expert
thought and latest development. That type of legislation is very
important, and it is essential that the laws enacted shall afford pro
tection to the women who are unable to control conditions under
which they work; at the same time they shall not restrict opportu
nities of women—women who are in position to have opportunity to
control their working conditions through business or professional
training. That is another result which 1 think can come from such
a study. I think it is very gratifying that women are making this
study, and I feel sure that the investigation will be continued in a
very fair and impartial and scientific way and manner, and I think
it will be very interesting.
Mr. L a n s b u b g h . In listening to the list of questions as given b y
Miss Van Kleeck, I noticed she did not enumerate all the questions.
foiscussioN
27
I was struck by the absence of the type of questions which in gen
eral asks the employer why he maintains conditions better than that
provided for in the law. For instance, in Pennsylvania we have the
54-hour law; now only a very small fraction of women work 54 hours
in Pennsylvania, so most of the answers to the question, “ What effect
has the 54-hour law had ?” must necessarily be, “ There was no effect.”
But, on the other hand, it seems that much valuable information might
be secured on why certain industries work 54 hours whereas others
work only 48 hours. Possibly those questions are included; they
seem to me important.
Miss V a k K l e e c k . I think it is very useful to have that brought
out, but it is true that the question addressed to the employer as to
when the hours were changed doesn’t refer only to changes due to
the labor law. He is asked whether he made a change of his own
volition, how his hours compare with the hours set by law. Pre
sumably the investigator will go on with that. I think it is very
useful to go on with it. They will proceed to ask not only “ Were
your hours changed by the law?” but “ When your hours were
changed how did it happen?” The investigator also has very lib(eral instructions to follow out to get further information.
Mr. M e a d e . I think it would be very interesting to know just
what laws are to be looked into. I didn’t hear Miss Van Kleeck men
tion minimum wage law. I wonder if the inquiry will include that;
iif so, I would be very glad to know how it is done.
The C h a ir m a n . We have for the last two years been investigat
ing the minimum wage law. Of course we recognize the last deci
sion of the Supreme Court will render obsolete the minimum wage
ilaw in any State in the Union where it is brought up before the court
,at this time. The last decision of the Supreme Court of Arizona was
tto throw it out of court because the decision of the District of Colum
bia applied to Arizona, which of course means that no minimum wage
law in any State, with the exception of Massachusetts, where the min
imum wage is not mandatory, is constitutional according to the Uni
ted States Supreme Court. That may mean that any time the law
is brought into court, even a State or district court, it will be
declared unconstitutional on that ground. Now the States are
enforcing the minimum wage law, but of course they don’t know
just how soon a case will be brought into court and the law declared
(unconstitutional, but the minimum-wage question will be taken into
account in the investigation.
If there is no more to be said on this subject we will go on to
the next. I take great pleasure in presenting to you Dr. E .It. HayShurst, of the Department of Health of Ohio.
INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE1
BY EMERY R. HAYHURST, M. D., CONSULTING INDUSTRIAL HYGIENIST, PROFESSOR
0 F HYGIENE, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, CONSULTANT STATE DEPARTMENT
O F HEALTH, ETC., COLUMBUS.
It may truthfully be said that the subject of industrial hygiene has
come naturally to the writer who has specialized in preventive
medicine. Tms is because I once spent some 10 years of my life, viz,
» Adapted from Doctor Hayhurst’s monograph on “ Occupation and diseases of middle life ” in Diseases
af Middle Life, edited by Frank A. Craig, vol. 1, pp. 83-174, F. A. Davis Co., 1923.
28
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL, LABOR OFFICIALS
between 1894 and 1905, in factory work, part of the time while attend
ing school and college. This work was for the Norton Bros. Can
Co. at Maywood (Chicago), 111., which company became the parent
plant of the American Can Co. along about 1899 or 1900. Later,
after some years in hospital and dispensary work and private practice,
the possibilities in industrial hygiene for developing greater output
and less physical disability among workers appealed to me more and
more until it assumed the aspect of an economic question of broad
import and worth a life’s work.
It should be known to the members of this convention that the
pioneer effort in industrial hygiene in this country was made by C.
F. W. Doehring in 1903, under the direct supervision of the late
Hon. Carroll D. Wright, for many years United States Commissioner
of Labor and no doubt well known to many of you. Mr. Doehring’s
full report on the first real investigation and fact-finding inquiry in
this country is contained in United States Department of Labor
Bulletin No. 44, published in January, 1903, under the title of “ Fac
tory sanitation and labor protection.” Hence it is with the pre
cursors of this body to whom I have the honor to speak to-day that
this subject was actually pioneered.
In brief, industrial hygiene covers four major fields: (a) Danger
ous trades; (6) health hazards—some fifteen in number—liable to be
found in industries of all kinds; (c) occupational diseases and physi
cal declines which result from the continued presence of such health
hazards; (d) and the specialty of prevention and control.
This field, you will readily see, is so broad that only this brief cita
tion of its scope is possible. If we pick one portion of it—e. g., the
industrial health hazards—we discern the following possible expo
sures to a person at work: Fatigue; infections; poisons; dust; bad
ventilation; bad illumination; heat; cold; humidity; aridity; caisson
work; altitude work; electrical hazards; dirt, disorder, and general
uncleanliness; bad sanitary conveniences (toilets, water supply, and
waste removal).
About two months ago I had the pleasure of talking over this sub
ject in my office with your very excellent president, Mr. Witter, and
we decided that concentration upon a single feature would be best
for the present annual meeting and I chose the hazard of “ fatigue,”
which I wish to develop, with your forbearance, from the point of
view of the physiologist and the physician.
To understand the reasons for the prevalence of fatigue in industry
we must look into the factors which underlie fatigue. These are of
two general types: (1) Intrinsic, or pertaining to the individual himself and discovered by physical examinations, including a past sick
ness history, subjective symptoms, etc.; and (2) extrinsic, or imme
diately associated with the conditions of work. The extrinsic are
discovered by an analysis of the given job and its environments.
The chief intrinsic or personal factors entering into fatigue are as
follows:
(1) Food, its nutritional, energizing, and vitaminous character, and
the hygiene of digestion and the digestive tract.
(2) Oxygenation of the food in the tissues, judged indirectly by
the presence or absence of anemia.
(3) Circulation efficiency (cardiovascular status).
INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
29
(4) Eliminative efficiency (the intestines, kidneys, lungs, and skin).
(5) Disease conditions present (especially chronic infective foci of
teeth, tonsils, gall bladder, appendix, lungs, accessory nasal sinuses,
etc.).
(6) Abuse of stimulants and depressants (coffee, tea, alcohol, drugs,
highly spiced foods, hot drinks, etc.), which (1) decrease the reserve
capacity, (2) are often substituted by the worker for meals, and (3)
benumb the sense of fatigue. Man needs a stimulant, but the nor
mal physiological stimulant is to be regarded as the adrenine pro
duced by one s own glands.
(7) Lack of industrial interest, often engendered by anxiety and
worry over outside affairs. Interest in the task at hand is undoubtedly
the psychological stimulant for the production of adrenine, and there
fore greater physical and mental effort.
(8) Lack of skill. Newness to any work always causes a surprising
amount of fatigue. Adaptation and skill soon overcome this, pro
vided a stable nervous system be present. In the acquisition oi true
skill the avoidance of useless movements and strained postures is
especially to be aimed at.
(9) Amount of rest. Defining rest as a state of relaxation between
work efforts it is probably true that most work permits enough rest
eriods interspersed with effort periods to suffice. Some occupations
o not. While Taylor found that in the operation of carrying pig
iron rest periods should occupy 57 per cent of the time and actual
work only 43 per cent, all strenuous labor has an optimum which is
capable of discovery for the average worker by putting him on his
own volition with a prize incentive (piecework, etc.). In general,
rest periods should so interrupt work efforts throughout the day as to
conserve full capacity and enable one to “ quit fresh” instead of "so
tired.” This is the basis of the military day. It seems a good prac
tical rule that if the meal following a work spell does not fully restore
work capacity, then that work has been pathologically fatiguing.
In some work, meals or light lunches must needs come every two or
three hours.
(10) Amount of sleep. The middle-aged worker, who is in normal
health, requires about seven hours’ sleep (always at night time if pos
sible) to meet his requirements. Earlier in life he has required eight
or nine and he may find that as little as six and one-half or six hours
is sufficient as he grows older, although aging ultimately demands
more. Sleep is primarily the “ rest period" for the nervous system.
It is also the opportune time for taking advantage of fresh-air breath
ing which conditions of work so often prevent during the day.
The extrinsic factors leading to fatigue are, as a rule, much less
important than the intrinsic, although often improperly considered
the more important. This is because they are so much easier noticed
and also much more apt to become the cause of complaint. I might
go so far as to say that if all of the factors above listed for the
intrinsic cause of fatigue are properly supervised, it is only excep
tionally possible to fatigue the human body by the extrinsic factors,
i.e., that the factors must have to exist in such plainly hazardous
amounts (not necessarily plain to the ignorant) as to preclude much
work effort under them. The chief extrinsic factors may be summed
up as follows:
S
30
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
(1) Hard work; this is such a relative term as often to mean little.
It has an empirical standing, not often one capable of estimation by
scientific procedure or methods of precision. For the present the
experience of the work group as interpreted by the trained observer
must obtain.
(2) Night work; abnormal to the human being, who is in no sense
a nocturnal animal and whose physical prowesses reach a low ebb
between the midnight hour and daybreak.
(3) Long hours; again a very relative question, but undoubtedly
affecting mental workers less than physical workers.
(4) Piecework; a matter of adaptation and of skill and of properly
interspersed rest periods—perhaps a rest interval as often as every
30 seconds in some processed. Since it furnishes a goal, it arouses
interest, counteracts monotony, and substitutes a normal stimulant
for what is too often the case abnormal and harmful stimulants.
(5) Rhythm; a feature which must be studied for and by the given
worker and which undoubtedly when traversed only encourages the
development of neuroses.
(6) Monotony; a purely relative question depending more upon
the level of intelligence and ambition of the worker than the class of
the work. What is plainly monotonous to one becomes irksome and
is soon dropped, but the same process may prove absorbingly suffi
cient to another.
(7) Distractions; disturbances of all kinds, noise, vibration of floor
or building; glaring illumination, interruptions, etc., these take their
daily share of attention and therefore energy to meet.
(8) Forced inactivity; sedentary work, close eye work, etc.
(9) Forced postures; work requiring continuous fixed attitudes.
Requires extra energy; also care in preventing deformities.
(10) Forced standing still; easily solved by providing seats to be
used at the option of workers.
(11) Spurious seating; especially detrimental when the incorrect
seating causes a slump or kink of the body and a “ transverse abdom
inal crease,” or when it interferes with circulation in the limbs.
Often corrected by a lower seat or higher work plane. The writer
contends that the slump posture is the most restful and requires less
energy to maintain, similar to Doctor Amar’s statement that the
erect standing posture uses more energy as measured by the CO*
output.
(12) Prolonged strain; this is undoubtedly the most important
extrinsic cause of fatigue known and must be obviated by rest
interruptions of sufficient time and relaxation to preclude abnormal
fatigue substances in the tissue. Otherwise the workday and the
output are greatly shortened.
(13) Abnormal ventilation conditions, especially overheated air
when stagnant and humid; worse when polluted with noxious gases,
fumes, or smoke.
(14) Sanitation provisions (toilets, drinking places, and laving places)
inconvenient or uninviting; prompts constipation, disuse of water, and
personal uncleanliness.
(15) Long distance from home to work place, often with weather
exposure; contributes much to the day’s toil on the day’s energy
supply and must be reckoned in as part of the day’s work.
INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
31
Criteria of fatigue.—When do we know that the day’s work is
fatiguing ? There are so many conditions creating the same symptoms
of tiredness” as fatigue that this question is difficult to answer in
the individual case. In a group of workers it is easier, Here the
criteria are the following:
(1) General complaints of tired feeling at close of work periods.
(2) Many health complaints; requests for time off; too many
quittings.
(3) Fagged ” appearance of numbers of workers.
(4) Defective output; not necessarily decreased output except when
measured by the week or month.
(5) Lessened desire to work; disloyalty.
(6) More precisely, the evidence, discovered on inspection, that
many of the intrinsic and extrinsic causes of fatigue are present.
The effects offatigue.—We look for the ultimate effects of fatigue
in persons approaching mid-life and later. Chiefly to be mentioned
are: Increased susceptibility to infections, particularly in the respir
atory and dermatological systems; rheumatism, both acute and
chronic; neurasthenia, associated in certain persons with neuroses
(tailor’s cramp, etc.) and oftentimes with hysterical manifestations.
It is said that 74 per cent of industrial neuroses occur among expert
workers. Frederic S. Lee suggests that since “ pathological fatigue
substances ” are found in the blood and secretions in diabetes mellitus,
there is a strong suspicion that fatigue bears a causal relationship to
this disease when it appears in adult life. Cardiac disorders, such
as “ irritable heart” and the so-called “ effort syndrome,” are cited
in early mid-life, principally when the worker undertakes a more stren
uous physical task. A limited degree of anemia is another alleged
symptom. Lee emphasizes “ borderland ills” in general. Much
evidence is reported on the relationship which fatigue bears to the
causation of accidents.
One has but to look under the “ etiology” of the various diseases
discussed in a textbook of medicine to appreciate the oft-repeated
statement that fatigue is a predisposing cause of the given disease
under consideration. Accumulated fatigue in women is alleged to
result in menstrual disorders, constipation, and digestive disturb
ances. As in overdoing physical culture, girls and women subjected to
industrial fatigue are also apt to veer to the masculine type and prove
physically less capable of performing the functions of motherhood
successfully than their effeminately developed sisters. Statistics
show that between 20 and 55 years of age working women have more
illness than men, often losing twice tne amount of time from this
cause.
The sequence of events in fatigue may be summarized thus:
(a) Immediate results: Inaccuracy in execution; pottering; de
creased enthusiasm followed by decreased morale; depression; health
complaints varying in different workers according to their “ weak
points.” lii respect to the output itself there is noted an increase in
defects (and in repairs necessary), although the quantity of output
may not be affected.
(o) Results in the course of a few days or weeks: Incorrect atti
tudes, both physical and mental; careless output, loitering, often
unappreciated by the worker; requests for time off; sick spells affect
32
ASSOCIATION OP GOVEBNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
ing different workers according to their most vulnerable points; and,
finally, the employment analysis shows an increased labor turnover.
(c) Results after years: Workers have changed jobs or dropped
their regular trades for something easier, although at less pay” ; this
is so common that in many industries with trades which should be of
lifelong tenure but a comparatively few workers are found over 40
and a handful over 50 years of age. Here workers show definite
physical deformities varying according to the stresses of their respective
occupations, but chief among them are back, shoulders, foot, and leg
afflictions of musculo-osseous types. A general condition of malnu
trition maybe present, but not necessarily loss of weight; there may
even be a moderate amount of obesity, usually associated with some
anemia. Decreased endurance, irritability, and changeable disposi
tions proclaim neurasthenia. They often show signs of premature
aging. They have a marked loss of independence so characteristic
oi younger years and in its place either desultory, sheeplike submis
sion, or a loquacious, gently bluffing nature with no stability. Phys
ical examination invariably shows the presence of chronic diseases
(circulatory, kidney, respiratory, etc.).
DISCUSSION
The C h a ir m a n . I am sure Doctor Hayhurst would answer ques
tions if there is anyone who wishes to ask something.
Doctor G r a h a m -R o g e r s . I am interested in Doctor Hayhurst’s
paper, because it is so entirely new. The subject of “ fatigue” is
really new in industrial hygiene. I was very much surprised Doctor
Hayhurst brought it out the way he did. While Doctor Hayhurst
and I don’t agree on some tilings, there is one thing I am very much
interested in, and that is the statistics Doctor Hayhurst has that
attribute a lot of those things to fatigue. I was wondering whether
the doctor collected those from investigations he made as to
fatigue.
Doctor H a y h u r s t . Well, you would acknowledge that all of those
manifestations are those of fatigue, would you not? The point is in
the given worker—are they a result of work or diseased condition in
his body? And that is a matter of physical examination to deter
mine in any given case. In a given case you can not tell; I think
I have made that plain. In a group of workers, with any condition
running above the average, why you have a very great inference,
which is something worth investigating, and I have tried to speak of
fatigue in the group sense.
Miss S o h u tz . I would like to ask Doctor Hayhurst in regard to
the noon-bour lunch period. We have a law that requires an hour
for lunch for woman employees, unless the commissioner of labor
permits a shorter period. Of course as with all our labor legislation
some of our laws are unpopular with the women. They don’t always
want to work shorter hours; they want to be permitted to work longer
hours and earn more money. The consensus of opinion is they
should work shorter hours. In our State our policy is to send the
investigator to the establishment from which the request comes for
a half-hour lunch period and ask the girls whether they want half
hour or hour lunch periods, and what tne facilities are which enable
them to get their lunch readily. We are issuing lunch permits on
that basis. My own conclusion is an hour, or at least 45 minutes,
DISCUSSION
33
ought to be required for lunch periods. I think there is quite a
divergence of opinion. I should like to ask Doctor Hayhurst what
he thinks about it.
Doctor H a y h u r s t . Perhaps I can answer it this way: In one case
they permitted office help and others one hour lunch; they put it up
to the labor group as to whether they wanted one hour or half an
hour. One of the individuals representing the men who were en
gaged in heavy work in unloading Dlack clay from cars said he would
refer half an hour for lunch; that was long enough to eat; he said
e found in heavy work they got stale if they took more than a half
hour, and they couldn't get back in the swing again. The British
investigators nave been paying attention to that situation. I
wouldn’t want to go on record, but I believe that the manual laborer
needs less time because of that than the mental laborer.
Miss S c h u tz . I would.like to hear from some of the rest of the
delegates here who are interested in the lunch-hour question; it
seems to me it is a subject of great interest.
Mrs. G u l io k . I would like to say that we have practically that
same rule in our State, but upon a petition of the woman workers
we grant a shorter lunch period. We investigated and know the
workers want a shorter period before we grant it. It is not at the
request of the management. Before the session closes I want to get
the viewpoint of people of different States in regard to a condition
in our State. We have an eight-hour law for some occupations, and
a nine-hour law for some, and I am wondering if it is better to have
a basic day or basic week of so many hours and not distinguish in
regard to occupation, and before this session is over I want advice
on that question; tins will come up at our next legislature. The
lunch period we have is 45 minutes; very few have 30.
Miss S w e t t . We have that same condition in our State; our stat
ute provides for an hour, but we may grant less. For a time we
did grant these special orders, and usually on the request of the
women, because they could get away .earlier. We looked into con
ditions under which they could get lunch. We decided it did not
work very well, because if one firm heard another had permission,
they would take it without permission. We had hearings on it and
asked physicians about it, and every one of the physicians told us
not to grant a half hour; they told us an hour was better, and they
agreed with Doctor Hayhurst that mental workers needed longer
time than manual workers, but half an hour wasn’t long enough
even for manual workers; that we shouldn’t go below 45 minutes.
We do permit 45 minutes on condition that they have a lunch
room adequately equipped, but we didn’t have a leg to stand on in
those investigations we made. Maybe those same physicians might
change their mind, but at that time that was their opinion. That
is one of the hard problems in connection with the half-hour lunch
period? to put it into vogue, because you nearly always have the
objection of the girls.
Mrs. W e a v e r . Whenever the lunch question is up I always ask
the other women visitors what they are doing about the problem of
lunch rooms. If no lunch room is provided you must give one hour,
but it is exceedingly hard to enforce. You will have probably small
factories in the down town district where there is a restaurant, and it
works a hardship to require an hour at noon. I find most of the
E
34
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
women prefer half an hour. I find they nearly always change their
clothes to go into the factory, and they will not change them at noon,
and they keep in their same factory surroundings just that much
longer if they have an hour at noon.
Miss S c h u tz . It seems to me sometimes the girls get more rest at
noon from staying in the factory than going out. I know from my
own experience that I have more rest by staying in the office than I
do when I go out at noon and shop madly. When I get back I am
always tired. I tliink my experience is common with that of the
factory girl. If they rush around to change their clothes, get their
lunch, and get back, and change their clothes again in an hour they
are exhausted.
Miss J o h n so n . I would like to ask Doctor Hayhurst how he feels
about lunch periods. The Massachusetts law regarding lunch periods
establishes 45 minutes for women in manufacturing and mechanical
establishments, factories, and office work, but does not apply to mer
cantile establishments; also many large stores require an hour, and
on days when they are having special sales the girls are sometimes
kept at the counter with not even time to go for lunch, but are simply
given box lunches in such instances. Is it essential to have a definite
period for lunch in cases where women are working in mercantile
establishments?
D octor H a y h u r s t . I think the whole subject of woman employees
is subject to different analysis with respect to noon lunch hour. I
am sure Dr. Graham-Rogers would agree that there is much more ill
ness among women between 15 to 40, working age, than in men,
and we learn from our insurance statistics and in our governmental
statistics that the rate of tuberculosis is very much higher among
female workers than the male working group, so that I believe more
dispensation should be allowed to the woman laborers. We have
another angle of this subject; of late we have been hearing so much
talk of the beneficial effects of the outdoors, particularly sunlight,
upon health. It would seem advisable not to reduce the noon hour
to less than 45 minutes. There is an educational phase that goes
with it, it seems to me. I quite agree that the girls in clerical work
lose more energy during the noon lunch hour than they gain by run
ning around Slopping, etc. There is an educational phase that
ougnt to be made part of the program. I should be inclined to
think that in the mercantile establishments—because usually stores
are overheated—it would be better to give them an hour in that line
of work. I don’t want to discriminate against the men doing manual
work. It must be modified by the actual facts in the case, that there
is much more consideration to be given to the women than to the
men.
The C h a ir m a n . The next item on the program is the report of
the committee appointed at the last meeting, and Miss E. N. Mat
thews, of the Children’s Bureau, United States Department of Labor,
is going to make that report.
EEPOET OF COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK
At the convention of the Association of Governmental Labor Officials, held in
Salt Lake City in June, 1925, the following resolution was adopted:
“ Resolved, That a committee be appointed to look into the question of indus
trial home work, the extent to which such work is conducted in the various
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK
35
States, and the methods being taken to deal with the situation, such a study to
be made in cooperation with the United States Children’s Bureau and the
United States Women’s Bureau and report to be made to the next convention
of the association.”
The committee was appointed in February, 1926, its membership being as
follows:
Mary Anderson, Director Women’s Bureau, United States Department of
Labor; Charlotte Carr, director bureau of women and children, Pennsylvania
Department of Labor and Industry; Ethel M. Johnson, assistant commissioner
Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries; Nelle Swartz, director
bureau of women in industry. New York Department of Labor; Charles H.
Weeks, deputy commissioner, New Jersey Department of Labor; E. N. Mat
thews, director industrial division Children’s Bureau, United States Department
of Labor, chairman.
The members of the committee have been able to meet only once, having con
ferred for the most part by correspondence.
As only a brief time intervened between the date of the appointment of the
committee and that of the next annual meeting of the association, and as neither
the Women’s Bureau nor the Children’s Bureau of the United States Depart
ment of Labor was in a position to undertake an investigation of the sort called
for in the resolution, the scope of the committee’s inquiry was necessarily limited
chiefly to the assembling of such information on the subject as could be obtained
by the committee members for their respective States and by the chairman
through correspondence with officials in other States.
The first act of the committee was to draw up a brief questionnaire, the form
of which was agreed upon through correspondence, to send oufc to State labor
officials. To supplement the material to be obtained from the questionnaires,
information on the laws affecting industrial home work in the United States
was furnished by the Women’s Bureau through its publication No. 40, “ State
Laws Affecting Working Women,” and a compilation of the most important
published material on industrial home work in this and other countries was
undertaken by the Children’s Bureau, special care being taken, in view of the
needs of the committee, in collecting references relating to methods of adminis
tering home-work laws in the various States and in foreign countries and the
effectiveness of the methods in use.
In addition, it was thought advisable to inquire of certain of the national
organizations and research agencies which were likely to be interested in this
subject as to whether reports on the subject were in preparation or in press and
whether research was under way in this field. Inquiries have therefore been
sent to the American Association for Labor Legislation, National Child Labor
Committee, National Consumers’ League, National Women’s Trade Union
League, Russell Sage Foundation, and a few local agencies and individuals.
Replies to these inquiries have indicated that practically no studies of the home
work problem are at present under way except such as the State labor depart
ments are making (in New York and Pennsylvania, for example) in connection
with the enforcement of the State laws regulating industrial home work.
The questionnaire addressed to the State officials was sent to 45 States—all
except Arizona, Idaho, and New Mexico, States which had no State department
intrusted with factory inspection.
The questions asked were as follows:
1.
What kinds of industrial home work are carried on in your State, and how
extensive is your industrial home-work problem? Please specify the different
kinds of home work in the order of their importance, and if possible give approx
36
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
imate figures as to the number of employers who give out home work and the
number of homes in which such work is done.
2. Do any reports of your department contain information on this subject?
If so, please give references and send copies of the reports if available.
3. Has your department any unpublished material on this subject? If so,
could it be made available for the use of the committee?
4. Has any information on this subject for your State been collected by any
other agencies; and if so, where can it be obtained?
5. If no information on this subject is available, will it be possible for your
department to make a brief survey of the situation within the next month or
six weeks? (This suggestion is made because in many States, especially where
there are no laws regulating industrial home work, the extent of home work,
and even the fact that it exists, is not known even to persons in close touch
with labor conditions.)
6. To what extent is home work sent into your State by manufacturers in
other States? Please specify what kinds of work are received from each State.
7. What legal regulations exist in your State affecting industrial home work
in any way, especially with reference to the employment of women and children
in such work?
8. What is your opinion as to the effectiveness of these regulations?
9. What would you suggest as the most effective type of regulation on this
subject?
Replies have been received from 39 States.1 More detailed reports have been
received from the four States represented on the committee and from Wisconsin
than from the other States.
In regard to the information furnished to the committee by the State labor
officials a brief statement is all that is possible here. Although much interesting
information is contained in the letters in reply to the questionnaire and also in
reports accompanying some of the letters, they are unfortunately too long to be
presented in detail, and too long also I fear to be printed as an appendix to the
report. A few copies of the letters received from the States have been made,
and these the committee will be glad to lend to any member of the association
interested in seeing them.
Answers to the questionnaire indicate that except for sparsely populated agri*
cultural and mining States industrial home work of some sort is to be found in
almost every part of the country. Specific information on the extent, kinds,
and conditions of home work (question 1), however, is reported as not available
in most of the States, and complete information on these points can not be said
to be available for any State. Except from a very few States nothing was
learned as to the extent of interstate shipment of goods to be worked on in
homes, information regarding which was requested under question 6.
The committee was gratified at the response made to the inquiry in regard to
the possibility of surveys by the State departments. Officials in 10 States
reported that they had completed or had under way inquiries as to the home
work situation in their States. In most of these States the staff of the labor
departments is very small, so that the willingness of the department to under
take such an inquiry is most gratifying. On the other hand, officials of a num
ber of the States for which no information was available reported that they were
not able to make such an inquiry, in some cases because the staff of the depart
ment was inadequate to undertake it, in others because in the absence of any
law regulating home work the department did not consider that such a survey
was within its province.
Inquiry 7 of the questionnaire, it will be remembered, had to do with the extent
and nature of legal regulation. Replies to the questionnaire and examination
t The States from which replies have not been received are Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi,
North Dakota, and South Carolina*
BEPOBT OF COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK
37
of the laws of the various States show that 14 States have some sort of regula
tion of industrial home work.2 These are California,3 Connecticut,4 Illinois,
Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York,
Ohio,4 Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
In general, these regulations relate to cleanliness and sanitary conditions of
the work place, to freedomifrom infectious and contagious disease, and (less com
monly) to adequate lighting and ventilation and number of cubic feet of air space
to be allowed per worker. In most of the States a license or permit must be
obtained from the State authority enforcing the labor laws, either by the worker
(Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey) or by the employer or per
son giving out home work (California,5 Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Wis
consin), this license indicating that the standards of the law have been met.
Observance of certain of the standards of the labor laws relating to women
and children is sometimes made a condition of the issuance and holding of a
permit to give out home work. Inspection is relied upon as the method of dis
covering whether the standards set by the law are continuously complied with.
In California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey,
New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (and perhaps in other States by adminis
trative practice) the employer is required to keep a register of the persons to
whom home work is given by him, containing their names and addresses, and
in some States certain other information. It is usually stated that this register
shall be accessible to the inspector. In Massachusetts this register must be
sent monthly to the State labor department; in Pennsylvania it must be sent
to the labor department quarterly.
Answers to questions 8 and 9 (“ What is your opinion as to the effectiveness
of these regulations?” and “ What would you suggest as the most effective type
of regulation on this subject?” ) were on the whole disappointing. The most
significant information yielded was that no uniformity of opinion existed as to
the best method of regulation even where there was a recognized industrial home
work problem and where regulation existed.
In brief, the information obtained from the State labor officials and other
sources leads the committee to the following conclusions in regard to the two
matters it was especially instructed to inquire into—the extent of the home-work
problem and the methods of dealing with the situation that are in effect.
First. As to the information available regarding the extent and conditions of
industrial home work in the United States at the present time:
1. Industrial home work is without question a five problem in many sections
of the United States.
2. In most localities in which it has arisen, serious evils have been found to
follow from its practice.
3. However, information as to its prevalence, the numbers and kinds of work
ers engaged in it, the conditions under which the work is done, the industries
affected, and the interstate aspects of the problem is either lacking entirely or
admittedly inadequate in many sections of the country, even in States where
the existence of home work (at least in some industries) is known to the State
authorities, and even in States where the existence of a home-work problem has
been recognized in the enactment of prohibitory or regulatory legislation.
* A detailed analysis of these provisions has been published by the Women’s Bureau of the United
States Department of Labor (Bulletin No. 40, pp. 6,41-51), and it is here attempted to give only a gen
eral idea of the types of regulations found in the different States.
« in California the regulatory measure consists of an order of the industrial welfare commission acting
under its power to regulate the wages and conditions of employment of women and minors; in the other
States they consist of State laws, supplemented, in some instances, by rulings of State boards.
« The Connecticut and Ohio laws, however, have no application to the members of the family living
in the home where the work is done,
i In California the permit must be obtained Horn the industrial welfare commission, which issued the
38
ASSOCIATION 0 7 GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
4. Therefore no complete report as to the extent and conditions of home work
in this country can be made, and further investigation on the subject is urged.
Second. As to the methods in effect of dealing with the situation:
1. Some system of legal regulation is unquestionably necessary, at least in
States where the industrial home-work problem exists.
2. Certain minimum standards of legal regulation may be agreed upon on the
basis of the experience of the States up to the present time.
3. However, no general agreement among State officials and other authorities
appears to exist as to the most effective program for the correction of the evils
of industrial home work, and no information is available that can enable the com
mittee to judge conclusively as to the relative effectiveness of the different meth
ods in operation.
R e c o m m e n d a t io n s
/. Need for further research and suggestions as to method of conducting the necessary
research
In view of the facts brought out by the inquiry, the committee decided to
place chief emphasis in its report to the association upon the need for further
information as to the facts of industrial home work and as to effective methods
of correcting the evils found to exist wherever home work is undertaken on
any extensive scale, and to make as its chief recommendation a continuation of
the study of the industrial home-work problem by the association and its mem
bership.
It is the opinion of the committee that the facts regarding the extent and
conditions of factory work in the home should be obtained as far as possible by
labor officials of the different States, each working independently in his own
State but preferably following a common outline of study. So ready a re
sponse was made to the request of the committee in its questionnaire sent out
this spring that the committee is encouraged to hope that a large number of
States might cooperate in such an inquiry if given a reasonable time in which
to do so.
The committee believes that the study of the comparative effectiveness of the
different types of home-work regulations, on the other hand, should be under
taken as a general inquiry by some research organization independent of the
membership of this association, working, of course, in close cooperation with
the State agencies and with their active help, but itself assuming full responsi
bility for the investigation and report.
Should the association indorse this plan, it is recommended that a committee
similar to the present one be appointed to undertake the necessary negotiations
for such a study and to serve as an intermediary between the association and
the research agency during the conduct of the inquiry. This committee could
also serve as an advisory board and clearing house of information in connection
with any investigations that might be made by the State officials as to the extent
and conditions of industrial home work in their several States, as suggested above.
II. Minimum standards of regulation recommended pending further research
Although the members of the committee felt that the facts at their command
at the present time were insufficient to enable them to recommend a complete
legislative program, certain minimum standards of regulation operative in some
States at the present time were agreed upon by all members of the committee
as desirable, at least pending the study of regulatory machinery that is necessary
before a more considered program can be recommended.
Before enumerating the standards agreed upon, mention should be made of two
methods-of control not covered in these recommendations:
First, although certain members of the committee were of the opinion, many
times expressed by numerous governmental and other authorities as the result of
r e p o r t o f c o m m itte e o k i n d u s t r ia l h o m e w o r k
39
careful study of the problem, that the cure of the evils of home work could prob
ably be achieved only through the legal prohibition of all kinds of factory work
in the home, the committee as a whole was of the opinion that no stand could
be taken on this point without a more thorough knowledge of the effectiveness
of less drastic methods of control. Moreover, the great difficulty of securing the
passage of prohibitory legislation makes necessary for practical reasons the con
sideration of other and more easily obtainable measures.
Second, the application of minimum wage legislation to industrial home work ?
regarded in countries in which it has been tried as a relatively successful meas
ure of regulation, has not been given serious consideration by the committee as
a method of controlling the home-work problem in the United States at the pres
ent time because of the present constitutional status of legislation of this kind.
Following are the minimum standards of regulation unanimously agreed upon
by the committee:
1. Absolute prohibition of the manufacture of certain kinds of articles in the
homes is necessary for sanitary reasons, either for the protection of the consumer,
as in the case of foodstuffs, certain articles of clothing, etc., or for the protection of
the worker in cases where poisonous or otherwise injurious materials are used in
manufacture of the goods concerned.
2. All labor laws of a State, including legislation regulating child labor and the
hours of labor of women, workmen’s compensation or employer’s liability laws,
minimum-wage legislation, and the legal standards for safety, sanitation, and
working conditions, should apply to industrial work of all kinds done in the home
as well as to that done in the factory.
3. Responsibility for full compliance with such laws and with any special regu
lations applicable to home work should be placed upon the manufacturer for
whom the work is done, irrespective of whether the work is given out by
him directly or through another person. He should be required to keep on file a
register containing the names, addresses, and ages of all home workers employed
on work for him, the kind and amount of work done, rate of pay and actual wages
paid, together with such additional information as the department of labor may
require, accessible to inspectors of the department, and should send a copy of this
register periodically to the labor department. No employer or contractor should
be permitted to give out home work who is not licensed to do so by the State
department of labor and no employer should be licensed to give out home work
wno does not enforce compliance with all the requirements of the labor law
applicable to home work in the homes in which work is done for him.
4. Adequate authority for the enforcement of all laws applying to factory work
done in homes should be given by law to the State labor department, and an
adequate inspection staff should be provided for this work. Periodic inspections
of places where home work is done should be made. It is believed that in States
where the industrial home-work problem is an extensive one, the appointment of
a special staff of inspectors who will devote their entire time to the enforcement
of the regulations applicable to home work will result in greater efficiency of
administration than when the work is handled by regular factory inspectors
assigned also to other duties.
5. Local boards of health shall notify the State labor department daily of all
cases of communicable disease occurring in the locality over which they have
jurisdiction, giving the name and address of the person suffering from the disease,
and the State labor department shall report immediately to employers the names
and addresses of all home workers registered as employed by them in whose
homes such disease exists.
6. A tag or label giving the name and address of the manufacturer, the nature
and quantity of the goods, and the name and address of the worker or workers to
whom the goods are given out to be worked on shall be placed upon each unit
of delivery or shipment to a home worker, and this label shall not be removed
until the work has been completed and returned to the employer.
7. The members of the committee did not feel sufficiently certain of the effec
tiveness of the different systems now in operation in a number of States whereby
individual families or residences are licensed for home work by the State labor
department to recommend the adoption of a specific method of regulation of tins
type. The committee is, however, of the opinion that this machinery should
40
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
certainly be retained by the States in which it is now operating until such time as
more effective methods of enforcement have been worked out by these States.
Miss M a t t h e w s . We were fortunate in having on the committee
representatives from all the important States in which industrial
home work is an extensive problem and in which legal regulations
have been enacted with respect to home work. A number of these
State representatives were responsible for the administration of the
law in their States, so that we had the benefit of having people on
the committee who were personally familiar with the administrative
problems involved.
[After due consideration this report was referred to the committee
on resolutions.]
The C hairm an. The next matter on the program is the report on
migratory children. Mr. Connally is not here, but we are very for
tunate in having Mr. Wood, of Louisiana, to read the report.
Mr. W ood . At the last meeting of tnis association committees
were appointed on a resolution relative to migratory children. liv
ing in different sections of the country, we had to handle this matter
by correspondence. I don’t know that it is the wish of this body
that we should read the report which we have received from the
Children's Bureau. It simply deals with the condition existing
throughout the United States. I hope you will adopt this as it
stands and you will get it to read just about this time next year
when the body meets again.
[It was moved and seconded that this report be received and
incorporated in the minutes and it was turned over to the resolutions
committee. The report follows:]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MIGRATORY CHILDREN
We, your committee on the problem of migratory child labor, appointed at the
Salt Lake City conference last August, have been unable on account of limited
time and means to make a detailed study of the problem. But we have received
and have carefully considered a report of the Children’s Bureau of the United States
Department of Labor dealing with this subject, copy of which is hereto attached,
and which it is recommended be printed in the proceedings of this conference.
In view of the terrible conditions existing in the agricultural industries in the
States affected, as set forth by the Children’s Bureau, your committee presents
the following recommendations:
First. That this association call upon all public-spirited organizations to
redouble their efforts to have the States that have not already done so ratify the
pending Federal child labor amendment.
Second. That this organization request the Chief of the Children’s Bureau
of the United States Department of Labor to have sufficient copies of its report
on migratory children printed to circulate throughout the several States.
Third. That a campaign be conducted with school authorities in the States
affected, to the end that compulsory school attendance laws be improved and that
the strictest enforcement of these laws be insisted upon.
Fourth. That this organization undertake, through the cooperation of the
National Child Labor Committee and other sympathetic organizations, a cam
paign to defeat all candidates for the legislatures of the several States who are
known to be antagonistic to ratification of the proposed twentieth amendment.
C l a u d e E. C o n n a l l y , Chairman.
F. E. W ood*
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MIGRATORY CHILDREN
41
SUMMARY OF INFORMATION OBTAINED BY UNITED STATES
CHILDREN’S BUREAU ON MIGRATORY CHILD WORKERS IN
INDUSTRIALIZED AGRICULTURE
During the period 1920-1924, the industrial division of the Children’s Bureau
made a series of studies of children engaged in agricultural work, selecting typical
farming areas in different sections of the country with the idea of giving a fairly
representative picture of the work of children on farms. By personal interviews
detailed information was obtained regarding approximately 13,500 children under
16 years of age engaged in agricultural labor full time, though usually seasonal,
in 14 States, including sugar-beet growing sections in Michigan and Colorado,
cotton-growing counties in Texas, truck and small-fruit areas in southern New
Jersey, and in Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Washington, and Oregon, wheat,
potato raising, and grazing sections in North Dakota, a section in the Illinois corn
belt, and tobacco-growing districts in Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, Mas
sachusetts, and Connecticut.
C h a r a c t e r o f C h il d L a b o r o n F a r m s in D if f e r e n t S e c t io n s
There is a marked difference in the kinds of child labor employed on farms in
the different States and even on those of different sections of the same State.
The child workers on the truck farms of southern New Jersey, for example,
included both the children of farmers, chiefly immigrants who had taken up small
holdings in the farming districts and become permanent residents, and children
who had come from the large cities as seasonal workers. In the Eastern Shore
section of Maryland most of the children working on the truck farms lived on
the farms the year round, whereas in Anne Arundel County^ around Baltimore,
about two-thirds of the child workers were found to be livmg on the farms or
in small neighboring settlements, and one-third were migratory workers from
Baltimore. In the Norfolk area of Virginia a very large proportion of the farm
laborers did not live on the farms but came from near-by villages or from the city
of Norfolk to work by the day. In the tobacco-growing districts of the South
most of the children who worked on the farms were farmers’ children, whereas
in the Connecticut Valley the children working on the tobacco plantations were
largely day workers from Hartford and Springfield. On the truck farms around
Chicago also most of the hired workers came out from the city by the day,
whereas on the great grain farms of the Middle West and Northwest the child
workers were chiefly tne farmers’ own children.
N u m b e r o f M ig r a t o r y C h il d W o r k e r s in C h il d r e n ’ s B u r e a u St u d ie s
Approximately 3,000 migratory child workers were included in the Children’s
Bureau studies, regarding as migratory workers those who were not living at
home during the period m which they worked on the farms. These children
were found m the greatest numbers working in the beet fields of Colorado and
Michigan and on the truck farms of Maryland and New Jersey and the fruit
and the hop ranches of the Northern Pacific States, but a few of them worked
in the cotton fields in Texas and on truck farms in the vicinity of Chicago.
The migratory children included in the Children’s Bureau studies by no
means represent the total number of such child workers, even in the sections
where the studies were made. For example, in parts of Weld and Larimer
Counties in the Colorado sugar-beet raising districts the Children’s Bureau study
included 1,073 children who were beet field workers, of whom 774, or 72 per cent,
were contract laborers’ children, almost all of whom were migratory workers;
whereas it was estimated by the judge of the Weld County court that about
2,500 children were at work in the beet fields of Weld County and if the
proportion of migratory laborers’ children in the Children’s Bureau study holds
good for these there were almost 1,800 migratory child workers on the beets in
this one county. In the study of children working on the hop ranches and in
the fruit orchards of Washington and Oregon some of the largest ranches even
in the districts surveyed were not visited, so that the 1,000 migratory child
workers interviewed were only a small proportion of the number at work. Con
ditions as found by the Children’s Bureau do not, therefore, give a complete
picture of children throughout the country who migrate to the farms for seasonal
work, but it is believed to be a representative one.
42
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
R a c e a n d N a t io n a l it y o p M ig r a t o r y W o r k e r s
In most of the farming districts the migratory laborers were of foreign stock.
Most of the beet field workers in Colorado were Russian-Germans and Mexicans;
in Michigan, Bohemians and Poles as well as Mexicans. In Maryland the migra
tory farm laborers were for the most part Poles, and in New Jersey, Italians. In
the Texas cotton area they were chiefly negroes and Mexicans, though almost
half were native white. In Washington and Oregon the majority of the migra
tory children were of native white parentage, but they included some of foreign
stock, principally Scandinavians and Russian-Germans, though many foreign
nationalities were represented.
R e c r u it in g M ig r a t o r y F a m il y L a b o r
The migratory child workers went to the farms with their families, in some
cases including the father but often only the mother with the children of both
sexes and all ages. In Colorado many of the families came from small towns
near the beet fields, though others were recruited from Denver, Pueblo, Trinidad,
Kansas and Nebraska cities, and even from Texas and New Mexico; in Michi
gan also they had been brought into the beet fields from the Mexican border
and from cities as far away as Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Baltimore supplied
the Maryland truck farms, and Philadelphia and less commonly Trenton or other
New Jersey cities the New Jersey farms, with seasonal labor. In Washington
and Oregon the migratory workers, came into the hop and fruit districts from
small towns or rural sections in the State, though some were from Portland or Sa
lem and others had come from Idaho, Montana, or more distant States, or from
Canada. Many of these workers were automobile tourists of the type that
“ follows the fruit” year in and year out and has created new and special prob
lems in the Pacific Coast States.
Agents of the beet-sugar companies generally recruited the migratory labor for
the beet fields. In New Jersey and Maryland the “ row boss ” or the “ padrone”
visited the cities and engaged the families, often his relatives and friends, at so
much per head. On the Pacific coast growers advertised extensively and some
times sent trucks to the docks and railroad stations of the cities to pick up any
laborers they could find; some of the large hop companies had offices in Portland
and Seattle, others employed agents, put up signs to attract tourists, or canvassed
the tourist camps for workers. Owners complained about the instability of the
“ tourist ” workers saying that it was necessary to have three crews of pickers,
“ one coming, one going, and one working.”
In order to hold the workers it was customary in some of the districts for
farmers to hold back part of the pay until the end of the season or, as in some
of the sugar-beet sections, to give a bonus, payable also at the end of the season.
Under these circumstances if working and living conditions were unsatisfactory
the migratory workers coming from a distance were at a disadvantage, as they
had to wait weeks or months until they were paid before they could leave. But
whether the families came from near or far the children were subjected to certain
evils arising from the mode of life and the character of the work, chief among
which are the housing situation, long hours of work, and loss of education.
H o u s in g a n d S a n it a t io n
Although farmers were beginning to realize that they could not attract and
hold the better class of laborers unless they provided comfortable quarters, only
too often the living arrangements for migratory workers were the veriest
makeshift, violating every standard of decency as well as comfort.
Laborers’ families in both Colorado and Michigan occupied any kind of shelter
that was available for temporary use—abandoned farm houses, rude frame or
tar-paper shacks, and even tents and caravan wagons—though some of the
sugar companies in Michigan had provided one or two room portable cottages
for their laborers. The dwellings were in many cases in bad repair, dark, ill
ventilated, and far from weatherproof. Overcrowding was extreme. In
Colorado 77 per cent and in Michigan 60 per cent of the laborers’ families
lived with two or more persons per room. Sanitation was poor, and the water
supply especially in the irrigated districts of Colorado, was often neither
plentunl nor protected against contamination. Most of the laborers occupied
their “ beet shacks” for five or six months a year.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MIGRATORY CHILDREN
43
The migratory laborers in the hop yards and orchards of the Pacific coast
lived in camps on the grower’s premises, some of them villages in themselves,
housing several hundred persons. Nearly three-fifths of the families in the
Willamette Valley district included in the study and nearly all in the Yakima
Valley district lived in tents; the others occupied one-room frame houses built
in rows, each with one window. In both tents and “ bunk houses ” extreme
overcrowding was found; two-thirds of the families in one district and almost all in
the other had three or more persons per room and the majority had five or more.
A regulation of the Washington State Board of Health called for a specified
amount of air space per person in frame houses in laborers' camps, but the
regulation did not extend to tents, as a similar one in California does, and
Oregon had no such regulation for either houses or tents. The Washington regula
tion was not enforced in the camps visited. Sanitation of labor camps in both
States is regulated, and sanitary conditions were better than in farm labor camps
visited by the Children’s Bureau in most other sections. Especially in Oregon
it was apparent that systematic State inspection of camps for fruit and hop
pickers could greatly improve sanitary conditions.
In Anne Arundel County, near Baltimore, Md., individual farmers maintained
camps for the migratory workers. Most of them contained but one building,
known as a shanty, which served as sleeping quarters for all the workers, a weather
beaten or unpainted structure the windows of which usually lacked either glass
or shutters or both. As a rule there was but one room on each floor, with stairs
on the outside leading into the upper room. On each side of a narrow aisle down
the center the floor was divided into sections or pens by boards 10 or 12 inches
in height, each being about 6 feet long and from 4 to 6 feet wide and covered
with straw for a mattress. Each family was allotted one of these pens. At
night men, women, and children, partially clad, one family separated from the
next by the plank, lav side .by side. One such shanty in one of the camps
housed 95 persons. More than one-half the families had no toilet facilites, 12
of the 25 camps visited had no privy, only one had adequate toilet arrangements,
and most of the camps were located dangerously near the water supply. “ Here
we are like fish in a barrel” many families declaied, describing the way in
which they lived as “ like hogs/* “ like sheep” and “ like cattle beasts.”
In southern New Jersey the workers were generally housed in labor camps on
the grower’s premises, varying in size from a rude building or two, housing half
a dozen families, to large, well-organized settlements, villages in themselves,
housing 300 to 400 pickers. The living quarters were either one or two room row
buildings or large two-story barnlike structures divided into small rooms upstairs
and down and housing many families. Some of the camp buildings were in good
repair, but even in the best camps congestion was very great; 55 per cent had
three or more persons per room, 27 per cent at least four. The amount of cubic
air space was very inadequate. No provision was made for disposal of garbage
or of waste water, and the privies were often insanitary. In connection with the
housing provided for migratory families in New Jersey it is interesting to note
that the Mothers’ Assistance Fund of Philadelphia would not grant mothers’
pensions to families migrating to the truck farms, on the ground that the crowded
conditions in the country were bad for the children.
C o n d it io n s o f W o r k
The child workers in industrialized agriculture, employed, as they usually are,
for harvesting when speed is essential, working at piece rates, at monotonous ana
repetitive operations, and under the eye of the row boss, work under conditions
not very different from those of factory hands, except that their hours are often
much longer than factory hours.
The Children’s Bureau found that on New Jersey truck farms 41 per cent of the
migratory child workers of all ages worked at least 9 hours a day and 12 per
cent Worked 10 or more hours. The 9 or 10 hour day for children was even
more common in the hop yards and fruit orchards of Washington and Oregon;
in the hop yards and prune orchards of the Willamette Valley district studied in
Oregon 33 per cent of the migratory child workers worked at least 10 hours a
day, and in the Yakima Valley district in Washington, where the children were
employed chiefly in picking hops, 87 per cent worked 10 hours or more a day.
The migratory children who picked cotton in Texas worked at least 8 hours a day
and 68 per cent had a working-day of at least 10 hours. Perhaps the longest
hours of all were those reported by beet field workers; from 50 to 75 per cent of
44
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
the contract laborers’ children in the Colorado and Michigan districts (the pro
portion varying with the different operations) worked 10 hours or more a day,
the working-day in some cases running to 13 or 14 hours.
Almost no attempt has been made to restrict the hours of agricultural work for
children nor to fix a minimum age for farm work, so that children under 10 years
of age, and even under 8, work these excessive hours in many different parts of
the country.
S c h o o l in g
One of the most serious effects of migatory farm work on children is its inter
ference with their education. The children leave school in the spring to go out
to the farms, and it is often November or later before they return; where the
families have no settled home even in the winter but follow the crops the year
round, as do many of the migratory workers in the Pacific Coast States, the chil
dren are never long enough in one place to enter school or else they are enrolled
in so many different schools during the year that they are unable to make
any progress.
The beet field workers are likely to be withdrawn from school for the exodus
to the beet fields in March, April, or May, not to return until November or
December and sometimes even January. In the Colorado districts studied the
contract laborers’ children who lived a few miles from the beet fields lost on an
average one-fourth of the school term, and a study of the school attendance of
Colorado beet field workers attending school in Denver and Lincoln, showed that
these migatory children had attended school only from 42 to 56 per cent of the
term. From 47 to 78 per cent of the various groups of migratory beet field
workers in Michigan and Colorado were retarded in school. Comparison of the
children working in the beet field with nonworking children based upon the
school records of several thousand children showed that the percentage of retarded
children was 20 to 30 per cent higher among the employed than among the non
employed children.
The bean pickers and other migratory child workers on the truck farms of
Anne Arundel County, Md., had lost from four to six weeks of the school term
in Baltimore because they had withdrawn from school to go to the country, and
69 per cent of these workers were below the grades which they should have
been in.
In Washington and Oregon the beginning of the hop harvest in September
coincided with the opening of schools in many places from which the migratory
workers came and the strawberry season in June in some section.* of Washington
and Oregon began before all the schools were closed. Children in families who
follow the crops suffer most from irregular attendance, as they either do not go
to school at all in the districts where their parents find work or else go irregu
larly to several schools in one year. Although county attendance officers and
local school boards in the Yakima Valley and Willamette Valley districts studied
made unusual efforts to get the migratory children to go to school, in families
which move from county to county and from State to State the children’s
schooling was at the mercy of the parents’ standards. Fifty-three per cent of
the migratory workers in these districts had missed at least one school month,
twice as many in proportion as local workers who had lost as much time as that
from school, and from 31 to 59 per cent of the migratory workers were retarded.
Although the actual time work by the migratory children in southern New
Jersey was seldom more than three months, the work extended over a period
beginning sometimes as early as March and lasting until after the cranberry
harvest in October or November. As a rule no effort was made to send the
children to school during their residence in New Jersey. The local school
authorities assumed no responsibility, on ground that the children were not resi
dents of the State. The farmers were not usually interested in getting the
children in school, as they felt that they needed the children’s work in order to
get their crops to market. Parents were for the most part primarily intent upon
the money that the children’s labor added to the family income, which would be
considerably diminished if the children of the family were compelled to spend
part of the day in school. Half the children included in the study in New Jersey
had lost 8 weeks or more from school and about 29 per cent had lost at least 12
weeks. The average absence for farm work was 43 days. Almost three-fourths
(74 per cent) of the children were retarded in school. A special supplementary
study of about 800 Philadelphia school children leaving school to work on Ifarms,
principally in New Jersey, showed that the average school attendance of these
children was only between 70 and 75 per cent of the term, and 18 per cent of them
REPOET OP COMMITTEE ON MIGRATORY CHILDREN
45
had attended school less than 60 per cent of the term. The average absence
for farm work was between 15 and 20 per cent of the school year. Among these
children also it was found almost three-fourths (71 per cent)were below the
standard grades for their ages.
L e g a l R e g u l a t io n o p E m p l o y m e n t o p C h il d r e n in A g r ic u l t u r a l P u r s u it s
There are few State laws applying specifically to the work of children in
agricultural pursuits. Although, as noted later, a number of the various pro
visions of the child labor laws affecting the work of the children during school
hours apply to *1all gainful occupations, ” and so would nominally cover farm
work, almost the only regulation of this type of child labor is that which results
indirectly from the operation of the compulsory school attendance laws. Its
effectiveness, therefore, of course depends entirely upon the strictness with which
these laws are enforced.
In the following States, however, definite regulatory provisions of one kind or
another affecting the employment of children in agricultural work are found in
the child labor or the compulsory school attendance laws. All these except the
Nebraska law are of comparatively recent enactment.
Nebraska.—Work in the beet fields is included among the occupations for which
a maximum eight-hour day is fixed and in which night work is prohibited.
New York.—The minimum age for employment in any occupation is 14,1 except
that children of 12 or over may be employed outside of school hours in farm
service not connected with factories, canneries, and the other establishments for
work in which the minimum age is 14. Provision is made for the issuance of a
special type of employment certificate for the employment of children 14 to 16
years of age2in agricultural pursuits during school hours. For this certificate the
same requirements are imposed as for industrial employment, except that the child
need not present a promise of employment and need not obtain a new certificate
when he goes from one employer to another.
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.—Although the child labor law is not made
specifically applicable to children employed in agricultural pursuits, the compul
sory school attendance law requires a child between 14 and 16 who wishes to
leave school for farm work to obtain special type of certificate. To secure this
certificate he must have completed the sixth grade.
Ohio.—The so-called Bing law, pasfted in 1921, regulated the work of children
in agricultural pursuits by prohibiting the employment of children under 14 at
any time and of children under 16 during school hours at any sort of work, ex
empting only “ irregular service” defined below. Certificates were required for
all employment of children between 14 and 18 except in “ irregular service.”
Certain modifications of this law, the effect of which is not entirely clear, were
made in 1925. Under the law as amended children 14 to 18 may work in agri
cultural pursuits outside school hours without employment certificates, and cer
tain exemptions are provided, applicable to children determined to be mentally
incapable of profiting by further school attendance. A child 14 or over may,
under regulations of the State department of education, be excused from school
attendance “ to perform necessary work directly and exclusively for his parent
or guardian.” No child under 14 shall be employed in any occupation more than
four hours a day, and no child under 16 shall be engaged in school and employ
ment more than nine hours altogether in any one day. The definition of irreg
ular service, retained in the new law, is as follows:
“ * * * Service not forbidden by Federal child labor laws which (a) does
not involve confinement, (6) does not require continuous physical strain, (c) is
interrupted with rest or recreation periods, and (d) does not require more than
4 hours of work in any day or 24 in any week. The health commissioner of the
district in which employment is afforded to any child shall determine whether
the employment involves confinement or requires continuous physical strain so
that it can not be deemed irregular service within the meaning of this section.”
Wisconsin.—A law passed in 1925 gives the State industrial commission, which
enforces the child labor law as well as other labor laws, power to fix reasonable
regulations relative to the employment of children under 16 years of age “ in
cherry orchards, market gardening, gardening conducted or controlled by canning
companies, and the culture of sugar beets and cranberries, for the purpose of
protecting the life, health, safety, and welfare of such children.” Under this law
>With certain exemptions applicable to children in street trades.
*Fourteen to seventeen years of age in cities of 5,000 population or over.
46
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
the following regulations relating to the work of children in the culture of sugar
beets have been made:
No minor under the age of 14 years shall be employed or be permitted to work
in the culture or harvesting of sugar beets more than 8 hours in any one day
nor more than 48 hours in any one week, nor before the hour of 7 o’clock In the
morning nor after the hour of 7 o’clock in the evening.
No minor under the age of 14 years who has not completed the eighth grade
in school shall be employed or be permitted to work in the culture and harvest-*
ing of sugar beets during the hours when the public schools are in session in the
school district in which such minor is actually living during the beet culture
and harvesting season.
Companies engaged in the manufacture of beet sugar and who arrange contracts
between the growers and the families who are to perform the work shall send to
the industrial commission the following information when the family is finally
placed with the growers:
(a) The name and address of the field agent; (6) the name, location, and
address of each family under his supervision; (c) the last residential address of
each migratory family; (d) the name and age of each child under 16 years of age
in the family; (e) the name and address of the grower with whom the contract
is made; (/) the name or number of the school in the district.
Companies engaged in the manufacture of beet sugar who arrange contracts
between the growers and the families who are to perform the work shall advise
parents and growers of the provisions of these orders.
Most State child labor laws, on the other hand, either specifically exempt
agricultural pursuits or regulate only a list of specified establishments and occupa*
tions, among which agricultural work is not included.
Compulsory day school attendance laws,3 applicable in most States to children
up to 16 years of age4 indirectly affect, as above stated, the work of children on
farms. The difficulties of enforcement often existing in rural districts are,
however, well known. Many school attendance laws, moreover, contain general
exemptions, such as “ excused for sufficient reasons, ” “ excused for .satisfactory
reasons,” or “ necessary absence” which might be used to cover absence for
farm work. The Georgia law specifically mentions the need for agricultural work
as one of the reasons to be considered in excusing children in farming districts,
and the North Carolina law permits the State board of education to determine
under what circumstances local school authorities may excuse pupils for nonattendance due to “ immediate demands of the farm and the home in certain
seasons.”
The almost universal exemption from school attendence laws of children 14
years of age who are “ employed ” is usually broad enough to cover children
engaged in farm work, and tt sometimes is made specifically applicable to chil
dren working at home. A child leaving school for work in agricultural pursuits
might under many of these laws be required to obtain some km&of school-leaving certificate, but the provisions in most cases are so general or so loosely worded
that no exact analysis on this point is possible.
The general provisions of the State child labor laws which would nominally
cover farm work may be classified as follows:
1. MINIMUM AGE
The following 23 States prohibit the labor of children under 14 or under a
higher age in any occupation, or any gainful occupation, during school hours
(thus covering farm work during the hours when schools are in session):
Alabama,5 14; Arizona, 14; Arkansas (child employed by parent in school
vacation exempted), 14; California, 14 (under 15 unless certain conditions are
fulfilled); Connecticut, 14; Idaho, 14; Illinois, 14; Indiana, 14; Kansas, 14;
Kentucky, 14; Maine, 15; Massachusetts, 14; Minnesota, 14: Nebraska, 14; Ne
vada. 14: New Mexico, 14; New York. 14; North Dakota, 14; Ohio,16 (with exemp
tions); Oregon, 14; Pennsylvania, 14; Tennessee, 14; West Virginia, 14.
* Many of the compulsory continuation school attendance laws also would nominally cover children
employed in farm work, but this fact is of little significance, as continuation schools are seldom if ever
established in rural districts.
< Except in Arkansas, where it extends to 15 years of age, and in Georgia, North Carolina, South Car*
olina, Texas, and Virginia, where it extends to 14 years or age.
* Certain specified occupations are exempted, but not farm work.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MIGRATORY CHILDREN
47
2. MAXIMUM HOURS OF LABOR AND PROHIBITIONS OF NIGHT WORK
The following eight States have laws regulating the hours of labor of children
under 16 in any occupation (not exempting farm work):
Arkansas (8-hour day; night work prohibited); California (8-hour day with
exemptions; night work prohibited; total hours of schooling and labor of child
working outside school hours must not exceed eight); Colorado (8-hour day; night
work prohibited 6) ; Idaho (9-hour day; night work prohibited); Illinois (8-hour
day; night work prohibited); Minnesota (8-hour day; night work prohibited);
New Mexico (8-hour day; night work prohibited7) ; Ohio (not more than 9 hours
per day for both school and employment when child is attending school and
working outside school hours; not more than 4 hours per day for child under 14);
Oregon (8-hour day; night work prohibited).
3. EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES
As in case of the minimum age laws, the requirement of an employment cer
tificate may under some laws nominally cover the work of children in all occupa
tions or in all gainful occupations during school hours. The applicability of
these general provisions to farm work, however, is often ambiguous.
State
C om pu lsory
S chool
A ttendance
L aw s
as
A f f e c t in g
M ig r a t o r y
W orkers
The legal power of the school authorities to require the attendance at public
schools of children of migratory parents would depend upon the exact wording
both of the laws requiring parents to send their children to school and of those
giving to children the right to attend the public schools. The latter provision,
generally found in the State constitutions, is usually broadly worded, giving the
right to attend the public schools to the “ children of the State” within certain
ages. The school laws do not as a rule deal specifically with the situation—that
is, they do not state in so many words that a parent must have lived in the State
for any given period before he has the right to have his children admitted to the
public schools—nor do the compulsory attendance provisions specify that the
duty of the parent to send his child to school extends only to those parents who
have lived in the State for a certain length of time.
The wording of the law varies from State to State. At one end of the scale is
the Ohio law carefully phrased to include specifically migratory children; at the
other the Florida law, for instance, which requires only “ parents or guardians
having citizenship with the State ” to send their children to school. The Ohio
law is as follows:
“ Every child actually resident in the State shall be amenable to the laws relat
ing to compulsory education, and neither he nor the person in charge of him shall
be excused from the operation of said laws or the penalties under them on the
ground that the child’s residence is seasonal or that the parent of the child is a
resident of another State or that the child has attended school for the legal period
in another State.”
A law passed in Maine in 1925 to the same effect provides that children of parents
who must move from place to place on account of their occupations shall be sub
ject to the compulsory school attendance law of the locality where they are
temporarily resident.
Between these two extremes—the Ohio and Maine laws on the one hand and
the Florida law on the other—are many variations, a common one being that
which applies the law to a parent or child who is a “ resident ” of the State.
Under such a law the applicability of the provisions to migratory children would
depend upon whether the school authorities applied a strictly legal definition of
“ residence ” or used the word in its ordinary sense. It does not seem that the
school authorities would be required to interpret the word in its legal significance,
which would depend partly upon length of residence and partly upon intent to
permanently reside, which the migratory worker of course does not have. When
a law, as in Pennsylvania, applies only to children having “ a legal residence ” in
the State, the more strict interpretation might be applied.
•Exemption apparently permitted daring summer vacation on special permit.
i Children working for parents on premises or land occupied by them are exempted.
48
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
Other laws merely require “ every parent, guardian, or other person having
control” of a child of the ages specified to send him to school or require
“ every child” to attend school without saying anything about residence. Even
where the law is of this type, however, the school authorities may object to en
forcing school attendence of migratory children on the general ground that the
State’s school privileges are intended for State children and not for those com
ing in from outside for a temporary stay to take advantage of the employment situation.
Another difficulty which arises in this connection is that migratory children are
very likely not to be included in the annual school census—either because they
are not in the State when the census is taken or because the school census law
is not interpreted to require the enumeration of temporary residents. This not
only increases the difficulty of enforcement of school attendance, but where, as
is very often the case, State school funds are apportioned according to the number
of children of school age as reported by the school census, objection to extending
the school privileges to migratory children may be based upon the fact that no
financial provision has been made for them by the State. A Michigan law passed
in 1925 appears to be aimed to remedy such a situation, as it provides for a con
tinuous State school census and child accounting system, with a special appropria
tion for the purpose to be expended by State superintendent of public instruction.
In California the following special provision was made in 1921 for schools for
migratory children:
" It shall be the duty of the superintendent of public instruction to superin
tend, organize, and maintain special classes of elementary grade for the education
of children of migratory laborers in the rural districts of this State. Within the
limits of the appropriation hereinafter made, he is empowered to employ the
necessary teachers, purchase the necessary supplies, and incur such additional
maintenance charges as may be necessary for the education of such children.
Schools or classes organized under the provisions of this act may be held in the
public school house of the school district in which such children reside or in such
other quarters as the superintendent of public instruction may deem suitable
for the purpose: Provided, That no public school house shall be used for this purpose
without the consent of the governing board of the district. It shall be the duty
of the county superintendent of schools and of school boards to cooperate with
the superintendent of public instruction in carrying out the provisions of this act.
The sum of $10,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appro
priated out of any money in the State treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be
used in accordance with law for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of
this act.”
S ta te
R e g u la tio n
ot
Labor
C am ps
State laws specifically regulating camps for housing industrial workers8 or
giving some State board specific power to make such regulations are found in
the following States:
California (all labor camps); Delaware (cannery camps only); Maryland
(cannery camps only); Michigan (not clear whether all labor camps or only fac
tory, including cannery camps); Minnesota (all labor camps); New Mexico (all
labor camps); New York (department of labor regulations cover camps for fac
tory (including cannery) workers; board of health regulations cover all labor
camps); Pennsylvania (all labor camps).
In addition, it is known that in the following States regulations have been
made by State boards under general powers:
Oregon (hop yards, berry fields, orchards, and packing houses, where women
or minors are employed); Washington (all labor camps).
The Minnesota, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania laws consist of general grants
of power 9 to regulate the sanitary conditions of all types of industrial or labor
camps, this power being given to the State board of health in Minnesota, to the
State department of public welfare in New Mexico, and to the commissoner of
labor and industry in Pennsylvania.
8 Omitting laws relating only to camps for workers on highways and public improvements and those
relating only to boarding houses for laborers.
•We do not know what regulations have been made by these boards.
REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON MIGRATORY CHILDREN
49
The Delaware and Maryland laws relate only to camps for cannery workers
being in each case a part of a general law relating to the sanitation of canneries10
under the jurisdiction of the cannery inspector in Delaware and of the State
board of health in Maryland. In both States the legal provisions are general,
specifying that living quarters shall have waterproof roofs and tight board floors
and shall be provided with ample light and ventilation, that provisions shall be
made for proper separation and privacy of the sexes, that there shall be adequate
drainage, and that the surroundings must be kept in a clean and sanitary condi
tion. The Maryland law contains the additional requirement of an ample supply
of pure drinking water.
The Michigan law, which is part of the general factory law, is under the juris
diction of the department of labor and industry. It applies to “ any employer
engaged in construction of railroad or other work,” and relates to premises for
sleeping or living accommodations furnished by the employer for his employees,
requiring that they “ shall be maintained in a cleanly and sanitary condition and
kept sufficiently heated and well lighted and ventilated.” The application of the
provision is somewhat doubtful, as the powers of inspection given in the act are
limited to factories, including canneries, stores, and hotels. The law creating
the department of labor, however, gives the commissioner and his appointees
under his direction power to inspect “ all manufacturing establishments, work
shops, hotels, stores, and all places where labor is employed.”
The New York law empowers the industrial commissioner to enter and inspect
all labor camps, but gives the department of labor power to regulate sanitary
conditions of such camps only in case of an employer conducting a factory11and
furnishing to his employees living quarters at a place outside the factory. The
employer is required to maintain such living quarters in a sanitary condition and
in accordance with rules adopted by the State industrial board (a division of the
department of labor). The rules promulgated by the board cover construction
of living quarters, air space and windows, beds, bathing facilities, water supply,
drainage, number of rooms per family, sleeping accommodations, garbage and sew
age disposal, cleanliness, and other sanitary conditions. In addition to these regu
lations there should be considered also the regulations established by the State
public health council for labor camps in general. (Chapter V of the Sanitary
Code.) These require that notice of any labor camp occupied by five or more
persons shall be given to the local health officer, and a permit must be obtained
& the camp is to be occupied by more than 10 persons for a period of more than
six days. The provisions apply chiefly to drainage, water supply, pollution of
waters, sewage, waste and garbage disposal, and communicable diseases.
The California law applies to all camps where more than five persons are em
ployed and covers sanitary conditions in bunk houses, tents, and all other sleep
ing and living quarters. The provisions relate to structural condition, cleanliness,
sufficient air space, beds, bathing and toilet facilities, disposal of garbage, and
general sanitary conditions. The enforcement is under the State commission
of immigration and housing, which has issued a pamphlet12 setting out supple
mentary and explanatory rules, and giving detailed directions, with illustrations
as to location and layout of camps, water supply, sleeping quarters, disposal
of garbage and sewage, toilets, baths, and other sanitary aspects.
In Washington the State board of health under its general powers of “ Super
vision of all matters relating to the preservation of the life and health of the
people of the State” has made detailed regulations concerning the establishment
of labor camps, covering location, drainage, toilets, waste and garbage disposal,
water supply, construction and ventilation of bunk houses and amount of air
space, and isolation of diseased persons. The site and water supply of all labor
camps housing five or more persons must be approved by State and local board
of health official!.
io in Maryland the law also covers factories, bakeries, etc., but the provisions as to camps apply only
to canneries.
n “ Factory ” includes a mill, workshop, or other manufacturing establishment and all buildings, sheds,
structures, or other places used for or in connection therewith, where one or more persons are employed
at manufacturing, including making, altering, repairing, finishing, bottling, canning, cleaning, or laun
dering any article or thing, in whole or in part, except certain establishments not pertinent to the present
discussion.
i* Advisory pamphlet on Oamp Sanitation and Housing (revised, 1921), Commission on Immigration
and Housing of California.
50
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
The Oregon regulations referred to are among the rulings made by the State
industrial welfare commission under its power to establish minimum wages and
standard hours and conditions of labor for women and minors. They cover hop
yards, berry fields, orchards, or packing houses in which fruits, vegetables, or
fish are packed, dried, or cured, and prohibit the employment of minors under
18 and women unless the specified conditions are met. These cover water supply,
toilets, and garbage disposal.
It would seem that in most States the State board of health might make reg
ulations under its general powers, as has been done in New York and Washington,
and that in States where industrial commissions are given general powers to
establish standard conditions of labor for women and minors, regulations such
as those of Oregon might be made.
DISCUSSION
The C hairm an. Is there any further business before the meeting
this afternoon?
Miss S c h u t z . Since we are laying on the table the problem of
migratory children and the report is going to be published, it might be
interesting to have a little discussion of how the different States are
meeting the problem if at all. I know Wisconsin has been doing
something.
Miss S w e t t . We are attacking it from the point of the child. The
industry we are having difficulty with is the sugar beet. As I told
you last year, our records showed that the big evil was lack of school
ing of the children; so many were retarded in their schooling—some
thing like 42 per cent were retarded four years and 31.7 per cent three
years or more, allowing two years for one grade. We had a record
of 187 minors from about 165 families. Our legislature passed a law
that the commission should have the power to regulate employment
of children in the sugar-beet fields, markets, cranberry fields, and the
gardens operated by canneries The big evil is the children employed
in the cherry orchards. We are watching that industry, so that if
evils crop up we can make some orders for cherry orchards. We
have adopted orders for the sugar-beet fields. After a discussion we
adopted the following:
No minor under the age of 14 years shall be employed or be permitted to
work in the culture or harvesting of sugar beets more than 8 hours in any one
day nor more than 48 hours in any one week, nor before the hour of 7 o’clock in
the morning nor after the hour of 7 o'clock in the evening.
No minor under the age of 14 years who has not completed the eighth grade in
school shall be employed or be permitted to work in the culture and harvesting
of sugar beets during the hours when the public schools are in session in the school
district in which such minor is actually living during the beet culture and
harvesting season.
The thing that the sugar-beet company stood out for was the second
order, which related to the employment of school children during
school hours.
We are working toward the goal of seeing that the day’s work
doesn't start before 8 and they must quit about 5 or 6 o'clock in the
evening. It will be a difficult matter, and we don’t expect to get it
in a year. It is a matter of real hard work. That means that during
the school hours the school children under 14 years of age are not to
be so employed. If they were in school it wouldn't be a problem for
us, but they are not, so that is our job, to see that tney are not
working. That won't be so difficult as the length-of-the-day question.
DISCUSSION
51
We asked certain information from the beet companies on blanks
drafted by us: The name and address of the field agent; the name,
location, and address of each family under his supervision; the last
residential address of each migratory family; the name and age of
each child under 16 years in the family; the name and address of the
grower with whom the contract is made. If he doesn’t live on the
grower’s farm, we want to know his name and address. If he has
made a contract with the grower we want to know his name. We
are asking the cooperation of the sugar-beet people and school author
ities in getting this information and in enforcing the law to keep
children m school.
Miss C a r r . The migratory question is that of outgoing and incom
ing children. I guess New Jersey is working on the problem of outgo
ing children; we in Pennsylvania are trying to deal with the incoming
children. We found in our study of the canning industry that we get
a large number from Maryland, largely from Baltimore, into our
State, and we have made a printed report of the conditions which we
found. We had three meetings with the canners of Pennsylvania;
the first one was very strenuous, the second not so strenuous, and
the third one most peaceful and instructive. We feel that the canners
are meeting us more than half way to help us solve the question of
legal employment of children in the canning industry. We have
wanted to help them to see that children who were 14 to 15 years of
age to be legally employed in our canneries must have the proper
work certificates. So following our meeting with the canners we have
given to each cannery, to turn over to its neld agent, the promise-ofemployment slips which are used more or less by all canners as their
method of getting workers into the canneries. We have put on this
promise-of-employment slip the address of the place in Baltimore
where each child can go and get a health certificate, to get proof of
age record, and all that is required by us in Pennsylvania; that, of
course, was the result of the excellent cooperation which we had with
the Maryland Department of Labor and the Baltimore school author
ities. We do feel that with the cooperation of the canneries, children
of 14 and 15 who come into Pennsylvania this year to work will have
the proper work certificates.
Nliss Jo h n so n . I would like to suggest, if it is in order, that the
committee on resolutions, which received this report on migratory
children, consider also the question of regulations to protect children
in the commercialized forms of agriculture. Wisconsin is the only
State that makes any effort to do that, so in case of large scale agri
culture operation there is practically no protection for school children
outside oi school attendance laws. Regulation should be extended to
include nonmigratory children employed in industrialized forms of
agriculture.
Mr. F r e s h n e y . The big problem to me is who stuck the pin into
Nebraska? To my own knowledge children have been working in
the beet fields in Nebraska anywhere from 12 to 14 hours a day.
Evidently some one must have stuck a pin in the people there and
awoke them, and my great hope is that they stay awake until the
1st of next November. It is no unusual sight to see little tots 6 years
52
a s s o c ia t io n o f g o v e r n m e n t a l la b o r o f f i c i a l s
old up in the beet fields during the harvest season working from
before daylight in the morning until after sundown at night, and I
want to say that in our State one of the problems we face is the migra
tory worker from Nebraska. So far as children in our own State
are concerned we handle them pretty well. We insist that children
under 16, and even over 16 who have not completed the eighth grade,
must go to school; there is no excuse accepted. They must have a
work permit from the commission. That commission consists of
myself as chairman, Doctor Anderson, the health officer of the State,
and Mr. Tiddball, secretary of the department of the board of edu
cation. We have absolutely frowned on issuing any permit to any
children under age. As a matter of fact I may say I have never writ
ten a permit for a child under 16 since I have been in office. Of
course Wyoming is just on the verge of facing the big question of the
sugar-beet industry, and we realize the magnitude of the task that
li«3 before us, and we are laying the groundwork for this great work.
[Meeting adjourned.]
WEDNESDA Y, JUNE 9— MORNING SESSION
H.
c.
HUDSON, GENERAL S : “ ’'INTENDENT EMPLOYMENT SERVICE, ONTARIO
OFFICE, TORONTO, PRESIDING
EMPLOYMENT
The C h a ir m a n . The first number on the program this morning is
by Miss Mary Van Kleeck, director department of industrial studies,
Bussell Sage Foundation, New York City. Our session this morning
is on the problem of “ Employment.”
EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS—AN OPPORTUNITY FOR STATE DEPART*
MENTS OF LABOR
BT MART VAN KLEECK, CHAIRMAN COMMITTE!) ON GOVERNMENTAL LABOR STA
TISTICS OF AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION
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
a plenty, who pay large taxes and give money to education and char
ity, but we are also regarded as an industrial country with no unemploy
ment 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 con
tinued? If it is true, are we making any plans to continue that
desirable condition ? If it is untrue, if wage earners are not all steadily
employed all the time, are we doing anything effective to insure regular
employment?
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 speculation; tnat evidences are many that
we might have had a serious decline in employment in 1923 and 1924
had it not been for timely warnings which prevented an undue expan
sion in business with the probable resulting depression, and that we
can not escape the effects of economic depression in foreign countries.
A time of prosperity offers a strategic occasion for analyzing anew
the causes of unemployment. Past experience has shown that wide
spread enforced idleness is not due to lack of natural resources, capac
ity, or equipment for production, or even a need on the part oi people
for goods and services. Rather, unemployment has resulted from
fluctuations in economic activity. These fluctuations may be sea
sonal, affecting one industry or activity at a time, or cyclical, affecting
business in general. How far these fluctuations can be prevented or
decreased no industrial country has yet discovered, but the convic
tion is growing among business men in this country that the time to
prevent depression is when a boom toward prosperity is becoming
53
54
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
dangerous, when business is expanding too rapidly or without proper
adjustment between interrelated activities.
If this be true, statistics assume an important place in the preven
tion of unemployment. They are the barometer of the industrial
atmosphere. But we must have enough of them to be accurate. In
the hope of enlisting the interest of departments of labor of a larger
number of States in gathering monthly statistics of employment and
earnings, I come before you to-day in behalf of the committee on
governmental labor statistics of the American Statistical Associa
tion. That committee has included in its membership several statis
ticians in State and Federal bureaus—A. J. Altmeyer, secretary of
the industrial commission of Wisconsin; Charles E. Baldwin, chief
statistician of the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics; Joseph A.
Becker, statistician, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, United States
Department of Agriculture; R. D. Cahn, chief of bureau of industrial
accident and labor research, Illinois Department of Labor; Leonard
W. Hatch, director of bureau of statistics and information, New York
State Department of Labor; R. H. Lansburgh, secretary of labor and
industry for Pennsylvania; Max O. Lorenz, Interstate Commerce
Commission; Royal Meeker, former commissioner of labor statistics
of the United States; Eugene B. Patton, chief statistician, New York
State Department of Labor; Roswell F. Phelps, director division of
research and statistics of the Massachusetts Department of Labor and
Industries; Walter W. Stewart and Woodlief Thomas, of the division
of research and statistics of the Federal Reserve Board; Fred G.
Tryon, statistician of the United States Bureau of Mines; and from
Canada, which has led the way in a nation-wide collection of facts
for all representative industries and has much to teach us as to the
best method of correlating the facts, we have as members of the
committee R. H. Coats, Dominion statistician, and H. H. Ward,
Deputy Minister of Labor.1 Because of these members, who have
had practical experience in governmental work and know all the
difficulties in the way of undertaking new work, including the lack of
adequate appropriations, I venture to hope that you will have confi
dence in the practicability of its recommendations. And may I say
at once that the cooperation of Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana would
greatly strengthen the chain of information for the country as a whole,
and that the Nation also needs for its industrial indexes the facts
which could be gathered by at least one southern State—North Caro
lina, Georgia, Kentucky, or Louisiana.
It would be absurd to claim that the mere collection of statistics
would be the remedy for unemployment, but it is certainly true that
unless we know the facts we can not control conditions. Possibly
no one industry and no one country can ever control the economic
forces that make for industrial depression under the conditions of
the present, but the beginning of experiment in control is the col
lection of adequate information.
iThe other members of the committee who shared in the preparation of the report on employment sta
tistics were: William A. Berridge, associate professor of economics, Brown University, and economist of
the Metropolitan Life insurance C o.; W. Randolph Burgess, assistant Federal reserve agent, Federal
Reserve Bank of New York; Frederick E. Croxton, Columbia University: J. Frederic Dewnurst, chief of
the statistical division, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia; Ralph G. Hurlin, director department of
statistics, Russell Sage Foundation; Don D. Lescohier, professor of economics, University of Wisconsin;
Leo Wolman, national bureau of economic research, and director of research of the Amalgamated Cloth
ing Workers of America.
EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS
55
Let me review the findings of the committee on unemployment
and business cycles which grew out of the President’s conference on
unemployment in 1921. Stated briefly, the conclusions were these:
The time to prevent industrial depression is when business is expand
ing unwisely; when raw materials are on hand in larger quantities
than can be used in production; when sales are not keeping pace
with output; when too large an amount of credit is being used to
increase production. These unbalanced conditions result in a sudden
drop in prices and in numerous other difficulties which result in fail
ure for business enterprises.
This is merely a rough sketch. Too little is yet known about busi
ness cycles to fill in the details. We must know more about how
one industry is related to another industry, so as to interpret the real
significance of changing conditions in any one branch of economic
activity. The important point is that conditions in business are
the result of the sum total of decisions made by managers of indus
try, merchants, and bankers; and the experiment which the statis
ticians are urging is that sufficient information should be provided
in order to insure wiser decisions by managers, merchants, and
bankers.
Unemployment is not due only to general industrial depression.
As we all know it occurs every year in the seasonal fluctuations of
the various trades. Must these be accepted as a matter of course?
The data needed to experiment in the control of the business cycle
should also make possible a more widespread understanding of the
causes of seasonal fluctuation.
When the President’s conference on unemployment met in 1921
it was impossible to ascertain with accuracy how many wage earners
were unemployed. Two States at that time were collecting monthly
statistics—New York and Wisconsin. With the cooperation of these
two States the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics was then also gath
ering monthly data covering about 13 industries and about a half
million wage earners. In the five years since that time great prog
ress has been made. The Federal bureau has extended its collection
until it now covers more than 50 trades and 2,000,000 wage earners.
Four other States are in the cooperative plan with the Federal bureau
besides New York and Wisconsin—Illinois, Massachusetts, Mary
land, and California. In three others similar information is collected,
but cooperative arrangements have not yet been made—Iowa, Penn
sylvania, and Oklahoma. In addition, we have the facts about em
ployment on the railroads, which are gathered monthly by the
Interstate Commerce Commission and reported to the Bureau ot
Labor Statistics for inclusion in its Monthly Review; and the Depart
ment of Agriculture is experimenting in efforts to measure changes in
employment and wages on farms. We are therefore in a very much
more favorable position than in 1921, although 39 States are still
without information for their own territory and very inadequate in
formation is available for industries other than manufacturing and
railroads. The facts now gathered are primarily a demonstration of
the need for more facts.
The primary recommendation of the committee on unemployment
and business cycles was that more adequate statistics suould be
10721°—27------5
56
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
gathered. Included in the data needed were statistics of employment
and earnings. These statistics of employment consist simply of a
monthly report of two facts—number on the pay roll in a given week
in the month and the total pay roll. If these facts are reported by
a sufficient number of firms in a given industry and in a given locality
to be a fair sample, they answer the question “ What change has
taken place and now great has the change been?” They do not an
swer tne question “ How many are out 01 work?” although it is possi
ble by using the census figures to arrive at some sort of estimate of
the number laid off or taken on when the monthly reports show the
extent of change in representative plants. The figures do not meas
ure part time or overtime, except m so far as changes in average
earnings, unaccompanied by a change in wage rates, indicates some
change in volume of employment. Finally, the data on earnings are
of importance in showing changes in the income of wage earners.
If used properly, this information conveys to employers the aver
age condition in their own industry and enables them to measure the
facts for their own plants against the background of a given industry.
It also enables them to know the trends in the businesses from which
they buy and to which they sell.
These statistics of employment and earnings have a great advan
tage compared with other measures of business activity. An index
of production, for instance, is expressed in a particular unit for a
given industry—so many tons, for example. Comparison between
different industries, as an automobile factory and a coal mine, be
comes difficult. Comparison between different branches of economic
activity, such as farms, department stores, and textile mills, is also
almost impossible by any measure other than employment. But
the number of wage earners employed is a measure common to all
branches of business.
By way of illustration, let us review the most recent reports on
employment and earnings and the general condition of business. I
have here bulletins from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the
Department of Commerce, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
and the State departments of labor in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Mas
sachusetts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a decrease of 1
per cent in employment in manufacturing industries in April as com
pared with March and a decrease of 1.9 per cent in the totals of pay
rolls. Taking the average of 1923 as 100, the index of employment
for April is 92.8 per cent as compared with 92.1 per cent for April,
1925. Apparently manufacturing is in a slightly better condition
than a year ago, but is still below the average for 1923. The index
of the total pay roll was 97.2 per cent as compared with the average
for 1923. In other words, earnings show a more satisfactory condi
tion in comparison with number of employees.
These figures apply to the country as a whole, but there are
differences between different sections. The Pacific Coast States
gained 3.9 per cent in employment, but New England lost 4.1 per cent..
This illustrates the need for information not only for the country as
a whole but for different areas. It does aot directly help the New
England textile workers and the employees in boot and shoe factories
in Massachusetts to know that wage earners in California are pros*
perous. The problem of fluctuations in employment must be studied
EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS
57
in the industry and in the locality where it occurs, although obviously
its relation to all other branches of business and to the other sections
of the country must also be known.
Nor is it sufficient to know the facts for an entire State. In fac
tories in Massachusetts, for instance, in April the number of employ
ees decreased 2.5 per cent and the average earnings decreased 2.5
per cent, but in the boot and shoe industry 7.6 per cent of the
employees were laid off in April as compared with March. .The
average weekly earnings per person were $24.81 in March and $24.20
in April, but in the electrical industry the weekly earnings decreased
$2.47 per person, and in Haverhill, although the number employed
showed little change, the average amount in the pay envelope was
$3.84 a weeklesson account of part-time employment. Massachusetts
is one of the few States which publishes facts about employment by
cities, and this one report justifies this detail by showing at what
points the problem is most crucial. Otherwise favorable employment
in one industry or one locality would offset unfavorable conditions
in another industry and anotner city, thus obscuring the picture of
the state of business.
The report for Illinois shows a verv small decrease in factorv em
ployment for the State as a whole (three-tenths of 1 per cent), but in
Rock Island, where the manufacture of furniture and agricultural
implements predominate, 3.7 per cent of the workers were laid off,
while in Moline, with its metal and machinery plants, the forces
were increased. Although the facts for Illinois as a whole seemed
satisfactory, it was nevertheless true that in the State employment
offices 129 persons registered for every 100 jobs open.
These are merely stray items selected from these reports by way of
illustration. We could go very much further in analyzing the data,
but the important point to note is that if the facts are available for
different industries and for different localities they constitute warning
signals which should stimulate the managers of business to attack the
whole problem of fluctuations. Irregular employment and unemploy
ment affect adversely not only the employee but also the employer,
the investor, and the consumer. It is a terrific waste of labor force.
Probably it is the most fundamental problem of business in which
the interests of various groups are identical. In the length of the
working-day and in wages interests diverge. Over any given proposal
for increase of wages and for decrease of hours a contest develops,
but everybody is concerned with making employment more regular.
It is not a good thing for plants to lie idle, and it is not a good thing
for wage earners to oe idle. Nor is it good for the consumer to have
to pay the cost of maintaining those idle plants. Finally, it is a
very bad thing for the employer when his ultimate consumer, the
wage earner, is out of work ana out of wages.
The recent interesting study of profits, issued by the Poliak Foun
dation, shows this dilemma. If large numbers of wage earners are
out of work and unable to make purchases, that condition is likely to
be the beginning of a depression extending far beyond the business
which first laid off its workers. Because these workers are unable to
make their normal purchases or to pay for them, it is probable that
more workers in other industries will shortly be in the same condition,
and if purchasing power as a whole declines production must sooner
or later be lessened or stop. It is a vicious circle, and the place to
58
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
break into it is clearly in the individual business and in each industry
by first studying the facts as to time and severity of change and the
reasons for it.
Although managers of separate businesses have been able to accom
plish a great deal m regularizing their operations, studies of the busi
ness cycle show that it is not sufficient to deal with the problem in a
single establishment. Industries must be studied in their relationships
one with another. The good results of these studies are only begin
ning to show. The Harvard Economic Service has recently referred
to the trends in business in the last five years as the “ regulated”
business cycle. Business men are using the information, Federal
reserve banks are publishing it in their bulletins, and the newspapers
are commenting on it widely. The situation offers an opportunity
to State departments of labor to render a service which business men
will welcome, while at the same time contributing to the task with
which State departments of labor are intimately concerned—the
increase in security of employment for wage earners. State depart
ments of labor are already interested in reducing lost time through
employment exchanges to connect the wage earner out of work with
the job needing a worker. Statistics showing changes in employment
throughout the State constitute a guide enabling employment ex
changes to do their work more effectively; and the two forms of
service in relation to the problem of lessening unemployment are
closely related and indeed dependent upon one another. Moreover,
the employment exchange can not create work where none exists,
but if through the wise use of statistics business managers can make
employment more regular, the ultimate practical purpose of the
employment service to bring about a better organization of the labor
market will be achieved.
As one result of the work of the committee on unemployment and
business cycles, the American Statistical Association appointed its
committee on governmental labor statistics, to which I have already
referred as inducting in it so many statisticians in departments of
labor and other governmental bureaus. The purpose of this com
mittee was to brmg about agreement on the form of collection and
presentation of statistics of employment and earnings and to under
take the extension of the plan winch was then in operation between
the Federal bureau, New York, and Wisconsin. The committee has
been fortunate in including in its membership the men who were
actually collecting statistics of employment or who might become
responsible for their collection in different State and Federal bureaus.
It has also had on it men who were using these statistics in universi
ties, in banks, or in business establishments. The Russell Sage
Foundation made a small appropriation for the work of the commit
tee, enabling its members to meet at regular intervals and sitting
around the table to thrash out the practical problems of collecting
these figures.
The result of all this discussion and experiment has now been
gathered in a book on Employment Statistics for the United States,
which is about to be published by the Russell Sage Foundation. It
is designed as a practical handbodk, in the hope that it may enable
any State department of labor to set up its scheme, secure in having
before it clearly formulated the past experience of bureaus which
Jiave been collecting the facts for as long as 12 years*
EMPLOYMENT STA1
"ICS
59
The book has two parts. Part 1, Recommendations, outlines a plan
for national collection and the uses of employment statistics. Part
II, Methods, contains the following chapters: Sources of employment
statistics; how to collect pay-roll statistics for manufacturing indus
tries (size of sample, selection of representative firms, securing the.
cooperation of firms, interval between reports, form of questionnaire,
and other practical details); how to. collect pay-roll statistics for
industries other than manufacturing (mining, transport and commu
nication, construction, trade, agriculture, ana others); how to tabu
late pay-roll statistics; how to build up an index of employment or
earnmgs; publication of results; and procedure used in a representative
bureau.
The committee has given special attention to the problem of classifi
cation of industries. I need not describe to you either the difficulties or
the need for a uniform plan of classification to be used in all the statis
tical work of State and Federal departments of labor. You have dis
cussed this question in considering the report of your committee on
statistics. In this handbook on statistics of employment, the various
classifications are presented—that used by the census, the one now in
use by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and some States in pre
senting data on employment, and the proposed classification based
largely on the groupings now appearing m the census. As the census
presents the most inclusive data on industry, which must be used in
selecting a sample for various industries and for different States, it
is obviously necessary that the classification of employment statistics
should have some relation to the groupings adopted by the census.
In the report of the committee, a column also shows the international
classification which is being developed by a committee of statisticians
called together by the International Labor Office. Just as we are
discovering in this country the impossibility of adequately dealing
with problems of employment and earnings in any one establishment
or any one industry apart from all others, so we are learning that the
conditions of business of any one country are affected by conditions
in other nations. The statistician is concerned, therefore, with suffi
cient uniformity in classification to make possible a view of economic
conditions as widespread as the forces which affect business.
Incidentally, it is important to point out that employment statistics
collected monthly are of use in measuring exposure to industrial
accidents, but their usefulness for this purpose will be limited by the
clarity of classification of industries. The statisticians concerned
with industrial accidents and those who are collecting employment
statistics will certainly find it to their advantage to attempt some
agreement.
The suggestions made by the committee on governmental labor
statistics m this report are published as a basis of experiment, in the
hope that its use in different States will insure an increasingly satis
factory classification on which agreement can be secured. The col
lection of the figures on employment statistics is not a highly technical
statistical process. Nor is it expensive. Probably no piece of work
which could be undertaken by a State department of labor would
yield so large a measure of satisfaction to the people of the State with
so small an expenditure of money. The figures are simple in them
selves. When the problems of selection of sample and classification
60
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
have been dealt with, the task of tabulating and preparing the figures
for publication is not highly technical.
As to the relation between the States and the Federal Govern
ment in the collection of employment statistics, a plan is already in
effect in six States. Take, for example, the Now York bureau, which
was the first to collect this information. New York collects what
it needs from its own manufacturers, and then sends to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics at Washington such a proportion of its returns in
each industry as is needed for the national total. As the New York
State Department of Labor is geographically in closer touch with its
own manufacturing firms, it can reach them quickly by telephone or
telegraph if the returns are belated, or the factory inspectors can
make personal calls to hasten the reports. The Federal bureau sends
no questionnaires to New York manufacturers. This avoids duplica
tion in reports. The advantage to New York State in making its
report to the Federal bureau is that through the Federal bureau and
the cooperation of other States a broad view of the country as a
whole can be gained, thus enabling NewYork to interpret its own busi
ness conditions with greater insight.
The plan also contemplates cooperation between the various Fed
eral departments. It is based upon the idea that certain depart
ments in the Federal Government have contacts with industries
which should enable them to gather the figures more conveniently.
The Interstate Commerce Commission can secure the information
for the railroads, the Bureau of Mines for coal mines, the Department
of Agriculture for farms, but in order that readers need not coordi
nate the material from so many different sources the recommendation
is that the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics should gather it all
together and publish it.
Does not the whole problem of fluctuations in business offer a unique
opportunity to State departments of labor? Business men are using
the facts about stock-exchange operations, interest rates, prices of
commodities, and rate of productions, and these facts are given out
in the newspapers as indicative of our prosperity. Is it not incum
bent upon State departments of labor to protect the interests of
wage earners and to insist that the picture of economic conditions must
include as its most important feature the condition of life of wage
earners? This condition can not be measured only in rates of pro
duction or in wage rates. Much of the public discussion is based
upon the prevailing idea that wages are high, and the figures quoted
by way of illustration are usually the rates paid by the hour or by
the week. The more vital fact for the wage earner, and also for those
from whom he makes purchases, is the regularity of his earnings
throughout the year. This item of annual earnings receives too little
attention. What good does it do to get a high daily rate if you receive
it only six months in a year?
We must also know the buying power of the dollar, not only in
terms of wholesale prices but in the retail prices actually paid, by
wage earners for the goods and services needed in a family. More
over, we must know what sort of balance is kept between the
income of wage earners in different industrial groups, and more par
ticularly, in a country so largely agricultural as is tne United States,
we need to know how the earnings of farmers compare with those 01
DISCUSSION
61
industrial workers. Farmers and industrial workers must prosper
together.
When the facts are gathered for enough industries and enough
localities to make the picture complete, we shall need careful analy
sis to show why one plant keeps its force steadily the year around
while another lays off its workers. In times of prosperity the oppor
tunity is afforded to find out how to prevent unemployment. We
had the same basic conditions—natural resources and the well-known
efficiency of both managers and wage earners in American industry—
in 1921, in 1914, and in 1907, but these alone did not prevent wide
spread and disastrous unemployment. What is needed is constant
study of the problem of making employment regular. Prosperity
reflected in the money market and in the earnings of a few may be
illusory. The only sure test of prosperity is the opportunity for
every wage earner to continue to nave work and wages throughout
the year. This has not been attained in the United States, but
there is great promise that the problems will be wisely studied if gov
ernmental labor bureaus will provide more adequate information and
stimulate the business men with whom they deal to make use of it
in guiding their policies and in regularizing the opportunity to work
for their employees.
DISCUSSION
Mr. B r a c h . Speaking for the State of Ohio, having had consider
able to do with the collection of statistics on employment in the
State of Ohio, I am very much interested in Miss Van Kleeck's
paper, of course, and I am in hopes there are other men in this room
who have charge of employment statistics who might be interested
as much as I am. I might say further, in the State of Ohio we have
a special law which provides that statistics must be collected in a
satisfactory manner. I have realized for some years past that this
law does not come up to the times. I don't know bow much experi
ence some of you folks have had. I know it is quite difficult to change
something or change an idea, especially so when you must receive
such changes from a legislative body, but having that in mind I know
the employers in each State in which there is any industry are all
interested in the collection of statistics. Statistics of a year and a
half or two years old are absolutely no good. We in Ohio have con
sidered this proposition for some time. I am not absolutely sure,
but almost certain, that Ohio will be one of the States that will en
deavor to gather statistics that way. We may eliminate much trou
ble for the employer. I will venture to say that in the State of Ohio
there are several organizations trying to collect some certain data.
If the organization needs to get statistics or facts they immediately
go about preparing a questionnaire and just send it to the employers.
The employers are so tired of answering so many of the questions
that a good many of these questionnaires go into the waste basket.
Under this system of collecting the employer will know there will be
only one of the questionnaires to make out. The Federal branch in
this State does some collecting; even the University of Ohio is endeav
oring to collect some data. It will mean the employer knows every
month he is required, or is going to be asked, to make out a report
and that report is the only one he will have to answer. I know tnere
62
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
isn’t a day passes without my receiving a letter of inquiry as to employ
ment statistics. The department also has free employment to look
after. We at this time take the records from the year’s report and
we are unable to see what the condition will be, comparatively speak
ing, for another year. When the employer needs that information I
know when I answer his letter he is not going to be satisfied with
tfyose statistics. Sometimes we feel ashamed to give the employers
information of that kind. I fortunately have in my office the book
Miss Van Kleeck spoke of, and it is very instructive to anyone inter
ested in statistics as they should be gathered in current figures
monthly. In Ohio I don’t know that it is necessary that the law be
changed, but we receive in Ohio reports from 35,000 employers
every year. That would not be necessary. If we have a report
from fifteen or sixteen hundred we would get a fair average of em
ployment conditions. The law provides that every employer fur
nish these statistics. Some employers have only two or three men
and it is a waste of time. I am sure in the future, as far as I am
concerned, if I can bring it about there will be a collection of that
kind of statistics. You can say I am absolutely sold on that prop
osition.
Mr. H a l l : I agree with Mr. Brach. There are several practical
questions which have occurred to me. Usually departments of labor,
as most of us know, have inadequate appropriations. We have
pressing programs; some are much more pressing than the question
of employment statistics; it is a matter of life and death in many
cases. We find, as Mr. Brach said, there are duplications of sta
tistical questionnaires; consequently we sometimes receive Federal
questionnaires in our office. Sometimes the Federal Government
receives State questionnaires in its office. The employer gets fed
up with the questionnaires and consequently consigns a good many
to the wastebasket. The Federal Reserve bank has been gathering
some statistics; it has plenty of money to gather statistics with.
It strikes me that the employer himself does not cooperate with the
department of labor in the various States until some pressing problem
of his own arises; then he comes to the department of labor and
wants this information at once. When you send him a questionnaire
it lies on his desk several months before he answers it. There is no
law to compel him to answer unless you haul him into court. It
strikes me if this question was presented by Miss Van Kleeck to the
employers as forcibly as it was presented to this association, it prob
ably would reach the proper spnere and get the proper cooperation.
In other words, if the industrial barons want tnis information let
them cooperate with the department of labor and the labor group
and help them get cooperation. We of the smaller States haven t
an adequate appropriation like the larger and more progressive
States of Ohio and New York, wad it strikes me it is a matter of
education among employers. Go to them and tell them what they
have to do.
Mr. W o o d . May I ask a question? Miss Van Kleeck refers to
“ we.” Who are we” ? Are we a Federal department or are we a
private institution? We would like to have that information.
Miss V a n K l e e c k . I don’t remember saying “ we.” I am speak
ing for the country as a whole.
THE UNEMPLOYMENT FUND
63
M r . W o od . W h o are we?
Miss V a n K l e e o k . I should say you are aState department of labor.
Mr. W o o d . D o you want me to go to the Federal Department of
Labor or to the Russell Sage Foundation?
Miss V a n K l e e o k . T o the Federal Department of Labor.
Mr. W o od . We know the conditions witK which we are confronted
and our appropriation better than an outsider and what it would
cost to do it. It is absolutely impossible for us to make a monthly
report. I say that advisedly because I know. I represent both Gov
ernment and State. I know what expenses incidental to that are.
Another thing—Brother Hall has very wisely stated it—is the unde
niable fact that the requests for information about unemployment
usually come from those opposed to the labor department. Not as
a whole, but largely speaking that is true, and we don't get any
cooperation from that source until some condition arises and they
come and say, “ Save us, Lord, or we perish." That's a fact; those
are absolute facts. The smaller States are confronted with that
more forcibly than the large States whose appropriations run into
thousands.
The C hairm an. We are very fortunate in having with us to-day
Mr. Martin Carpenter, of the Dennison Manufacturing Co. He is
not advocating any plan for different industries, but is going to out
line the manner in which the plan has been adopted and successfully
adapted to the Dennison Manufacturing Co.
THE UNEMPLOYMENT FUND
BT MARTIN CARPENTER, OF THE DENNISON MANUFACTURING CO.
First, what is the unemployment fund? The articles drawn up by
the works committee and management for the control and use of the
fund state, “ The unemployment fund of the Dennison Manufac
turing Co. is a sum of money consisting of funds set aside by the
directors when business was good in order to help out employees
during times when there is not enough work to go around.
The
vote of the directors in 1919 stated that the fund was set aside “ to
be used for the partial relief of the distress due to unemployment so
long as the sum lasts."
Now, who shall be paid from the fund and when ? Turning again
to the articles, we find “ any employee who has been six months with
the Dennison Manufacturing Co. or its subsidiary corporations in
any State or country whose laws do not provide for unemployment
insurance, who is not on monthly salary or specifically employed in
a temporary position, shall be entitled to share in the unemployment
fund under the rules set forth."
“ No compensation shall be paid from the fund for any unemploy
ment period of less than one-half day at a time." No compensation
is paid for Sundays, legal holidays, or overtime work; or “for any
shutdown ordered or requested by civil or military authorities; or for
any absences resulting from a vote, decision, or action by or disabil
ity of the employees individually or collectively. No compensation
need be paid ior time lost on account of acts of nature or on account
of destruction of any of the company's property by fire." No com
pensation shall be paid for any time an employee might have been
working if he fails to accept the job offered him temporarily. “If
64
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
there is a shortage of employment in any part of the plant,” the plan
provides that “ the actual laying off of any employee shall be avoided
as long as possible by temporarily transferring each employee for whom
there is no work to other parts of the plant where there is work.”
In this case, “ as far as the nature of the work will permit, employees
with the longest service with the company should be transferred last.”
If the job to which they are transferred pays less than their regular
work, with hourly employees, the full difference is made up from the
unemployment fund. ^Pieceworkers are paid 90 per cent of their
average earnings during the preceding six weeks. Whenever the
piece earnings have fallen off during the six weeks through no fault
of the employee, then the pay is based on the previous six weeks’
period.
If after all possible steps have been taken to prevent unemploy
ment by transfers “ further reduction in output is necessary, employ
ees may be laid off. So far as possible, a large number of people
should be laid off for a short time rather than a few people for a long
time.” For such lay offs of half a day and over employees with
dependents will be paid 80 per cent of their regular weekly wages and
employees without dependents 60 per cent. In the case of piece
workers, their average earnings for the preceding six weeks is used
as the basis of determining tneir regular weekly wages. Thus an
employee receiving $30 a week regularly would receive from the
unemployment fund $24 a week if he has dependents and $18 if he
has no dependents.
The plan is therefore somewhat in the nature of coinsurance.
That is, while the company assumes the responsibility for relieving
most of the distress caused by unemployment, the employee also
shares in this responsibility ana has a direct personal interest in the
steadiness of his own job.
As to what is meant by dependents, the articles state “ Employees
who have living with them children of their own under 16 years of
age, wife or husband, none of whom are regulary employed for pay,
shall be considered as having dependents. Any other employee may
be considered as having a dependent provided he can prove that at
least one person is dependent upon him for his sole means of support.”
All statements in regard to dependents should be in writing and
signed by the employee concerned.
Employees who are laid off for lack of work are always advised
to obtain temporary work outside, if possible. If such outside work
is obtained, the employee will benefit, for he not only receives the
wages from the outside job but if his outside job pays less than his
Dennison job he will also receive an additional amount from the fund.
The amount from the fund will be such as to bring his total wages
up to 90 per cent of his regular Dennison pay, plus 10 per cent of the
wage he is receiving outside.
This sounds rather complicated, but it simply means that if an
employee’s regular pay is $30, and he gets an outside job at $20, he
will receive $9 from the fund, thus bringing his total pay up to $29.
If the temporary work is for less than 48 hours a week, the time
less than 48 hours is paid for on the above basis; the balance of
48 hours is paid from tne fund as straight lay off. Any time over
48 hours winch the employee works belongs to him.
PREVENTION OP UNEMPLOYMENT
65
Employees who are laid off for over six days at a time are required
to report to the company once a week as to their success in obtain
ing outside work. In case they accept a permanent job outside, their
compensation from the fund ceases.
AD the provisions for payments from the unemployment fund apply
“ so long as the total amount of money in the fund shall not fall below
$50,000 and the total disbursements during any 12 consecutive calen
dar months do not exceed $50,000.” Whenever the fund falls below
$50,000 or the total payments from the fund for any 12 consecutive
calendar months exceed $50,000 “ no further disbursements shall be
made from the fund according to the rules and rates provided until
the works committee and management reach a new agreement, or
else the lapse of time or additions to the fund may remove the $50,000
restriction.”
The control of the unemployment fund is in the hands of a com
mittee of four, appointed each year, two by the general works com
mittee and two by the management. The present committee consists
of Edward M. Eldridge and Joseph A. Kellcher from the works com
mittee and G. W. Fromant and W. E. Murphy from the manage
ment.
The unemployment plan also protects an employee against unjust
discharge for lack of work by providing that employees may be dis
charged only during periods of unemployment in case they fail to
measure up to Dennison standards of efficiency, skill, and reliability;
in case they were only hired temporarily; or m case “ the volume of
work of a certain class is, so far as can be seen, permanently reduced
on account of changes in method, products, or market demands, and
employees, on account of their specialized training or skill, can not
be or are unwilling to be transferred elsewhere, then such employees
may be discharged.”
Employees discharged for inefficiency must be given one weeks’
notice or one week’s pay, and those discharged because of permanent
reduction of work, two weeks’ notice or two weeks’ pay.
The unemployment fund committee has the power to decide all
doubtful cases and to arbitrate all disputes in regard to dependents
which can not be settled through the regular channels.
The question of unemployment and how it can be relieved is one
of the important problems of industiy to-day and many industries
are working on its solution. There is in certain sections of the country
astrong movement for State or Federal legislation to control unemploy
ment. If the time should ever come when such legislation is passed,
the articles governing the use of the unemployment fund of the
Dennison Manufacturing Co. would automatically be suspended until
they could be amended so as to conform with the laws without dupli
cation of benefits.
PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT
There is another angle to the Dennison unemployment plan which
is even more important. It is the prevention of unemployment. Any
fund for relieving unemployment would soon be exhausted if no pro
visions were made for preventing unemployment during periods of
depression.
This fact was recognized by the management several years before
our present unemployment plan was put into effect and ways and
66
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL# LABOR OFFICIALS
means of preventing unemployment were studied. As a result of
this study vital changes have been made in our selling and manufac
turing policies. A careful analysis of conditions over a number of
years snowed that at certain periods in each year, such as the few
weeks before Christmas, there was a tremendous rush of business.
Orders were pouring in, customers were clamoring for delivery, and
production facilities were taxed to the limit. After the rush was over,
there was invariably a lull in business. Orders dropped off and it
was sometimes difficult to find enough work to keep the factory going
until the next rush period came.
It was this seasonal condition of demand and supply, therefore,
which was the chief cause of unemployment every year.
The first step then in this attempt to prevent unemployment
involved a change in the selling policy of the company, in order to
get customers to place their orders well in advance of tne season for
which the goods would be required rather than a few weeks before as
had been their practice. Now, this was not an easy task for the sell
ing force. It meant that they had to convince their customers that
it would be to their advantage to place their orders early because they
would be sure of delivery on time and of better quality goods. We
all know how hard it is to persuade a person to change any longestablished method of doing a certain thing. That was just the prop
osition the salesmen were up against in changing the buying habits of
their customers. If our sales force had not attacked this problem
whole-heartedly and put forth their best efforts, it would not have
been possible to accomplish anything like the results that have been
accomplished.
Take boxes, for example. Customers had always placed their
orders for holiday boxes late in the summer and no one had ever
thought that orders could be obtained any earlier. The result, of
course, was a tremendous rush until Christmas and then invariably
an immediate slump. To-day a good proportion of the holiday orders
are placed early in the year. In fact, some customers now place
their orders a year ahead; that is, as soon as Christmas is past they
figure up their requirements for the next Christmas season and place
their order immediately. By having orders placed far ahead, it is
possible for the factory to plan in such a way as to keep production
at a fairly even level throughout the year.
But this was not sufficient to insure constant production. It was
necessary to go one step further and increase the number of nonseasonal orders with long delivery time—another stiff problem for the
selling force. Again they had to go out and bring forth all the argu
ments they could muster to convince their customers that it would
be advantageous to them to estimate their requirements for regular
stock items—tags, crfipe paper, labels, and the like—and place their
orders well in advance of the time they would be required and with
the understanding that they would not be delivered until required.
Thus a customer might order 50,000 tags on June 1 to be delivered
October 1. By so doing he will be practically certain of delivery
on time and, furthermore, of best quality goods.
There was still another necessary step in this process of balancing
production with demand and that was the building up of more “ out
of season ” items. This meant creating a continuous all-the-year-round
demand.for items which had been distinctly seasonal in character;
PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT
67
that is, used for certain seasons only in the year. For instance, boxes
had been used chiefly for holiday purposes. The problem then was
to convince that boxes could be used all the year in various ways.
It was a problem which taxed the ingenuity of the whole selling
organization, for this not only involved selling the customer some
thing that he had never felt the need of before but creating the need.
It involved a complete study of each customer, of his business, of
advertising possibilities, in fact all the problems connected with his
business. And then it took strong selling effort to persuade the cus
tomer that he needed something without which he had succeeded
before.
Here again the selling organization put their shoulders to the wheel
and succeeded in building up a line 01 “ out of season” items which
have helped to keep the factory running.
But the burden of responsibility was not entirely on the selling
organization, though without their cooperation the results accom)lished would not have been possible. It takes orders to keep the
actory going and first of all the orders must be secured. Thus a
good selling force is absolutely essential. The factory has an equal
responsibility, however, for it must produce and deliver the goods.
So another Dig problem was studied—how to increase the efficiency
of the factory by keeping work going through in a steady, even flow.
This really was a question of planning the work, which, after all, is the
secret of operating any business successfully. JProduction could now
be planned far ahead, because orders were placed in advance.
Furthermore, based on previous experience, it was possible to estimate
production requirements some time in advance; that is, make up
certain items for stock and also items such as boxes and labels which
are used by the different departments in the factory. All these items
could be made during periods when the usual lull in outside orders
occurred. This also meant that the production facilities were not
buried with orders ahead, and when special orders came in they could
be taken care of promptly.
Then, too, there is another method of preventing unemployment
in periods of depression especially. We all know that business does
not run at an even rate year in and year out. When business is good
all factories are working at lull capacity and in dull times there are
numerous lay offs and shutdowns.
We try to maintain a fairly even flow of work through good years
and bad. Our problem, of course, is to secure enough business in
poor years to keep all our employees working.
This is accomplished in various ways, ifew items are added to
the line and the making of these new products creates more work
for the factory.
Advertising in times of depression is always increased. This means
an increased demand for our products and consequently more work.
To help keep the factory going, more salesmen are added to our force
throughout the country in bad times. Besides these three ways of
helping to build up business in slow times, we also manufacture larger
quantities of goods for stock. Prices are reduced also, and this helps
to bring in more business.
Thus by studying conditions and experimenting, first in one direc
tion and then in another, by reducing seasonal orders, by increasing
f
68
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
nonseasonal orders with long delivery time, by developing out-ofseason and new items, by long-range planning, by increasing adver
tising, and by manufacturing larger quantities of stock goods a fairly
even flow of work is now maintained throughout the year, which in
turn has lessened the chances for unemployment. It has been a
process of gradual development which is still going on. It required
persuasive and convincing salesmanship, careful and judicious plan
ning, balancing the work of one department against another, following
conditions closely, profiting by past experience, but it is all directed
toward the solution of the problem—the prevention of unemployment.
As the old saying goes, “ An ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure.” So any measures which help to prevent unemployment are
in reality worth more than the measures to relieve unemployment,
for in the latter cases everybody loses something, but in the former
they have everything to gain—tne company, because regular produc
tion means lower costs, better quality production, and increased
profits; the workers, because regular production means steady employXnent, relief from the worries which lack of work cause, and a general
sense of well-being.
DISCUSSION
The C h airm an. I thank Mr. Carpenter on behalf of the associ
ation. I certainly would like to see the plant operated by that
company. It is a contrast to the lack of interest shown by our
companies in their workers. It is surprising to me to find the lack
of interest as to what becomes of thousands or hundreds or scores
hired one day and discharged a week or two later. We have no
Dennison Manufacturing Co. in Canada to my knowledge, but I
feel sure this idea will grow there until there "is some attempt to
work out the scheme of unemployment insurance. Whether for the
country as a whole or by industries only time will tell.
Mr. W o od . D o I understand you to say the employees do not
directly or indirectly pay into that fund?
Mr. C a r p e n t e r . Yes; not a cent.
Mr. W o od . I am going to commend you for that.
Mr. H a l l . Have you any comprehensive data relative to the cost
of your unemployment fund ana your labor turnover before you
inaugurated that feature?
Mr. C a r p e n t e r . The trouble with the Dennison Co. is we put in
several features such as department features in 1919, and the unem
ployment fund in 1920. I Imow our labor turnover dropped in 1925.
Mr. H a l l . In other words, the Dennison Co. finds it profitable to
have this unemployment fund?
Mr. C a r p e n t e r . Yes; it is not from the standpoint of philanthropy.
It does it because it considers it good business.
Mr. H a l l . Is it welfare business?
Mr. C a r p e n t e r . No, sir.
The C h airm an. Some concerns feel they are giving something for
nothing when they inaugurate some feature whidi really is a matter
of justice and economic right and a matter of good business. Some
time ago there was a change in the management of the public em
ployment bureau in Richmond and Capt. T. S. Wharton was made
manager of that bureau. From my knowledge of employment work
SECURING THE CONFIDENCE OF THE EMPLOYER
69
in Canada and United States I want to tell you Captain Wharton
has quickly grasped the situation. For that reason the officials have
asked him to tell us how to secure the confidence of employers.
There is no more important work than securing the confidence of em
ployers, and I take great pleasure in calling on Capt. T. S. Wharton
of Virginia.
SECURING THE CONFIDENCE OF THE EMPLOYER
BT T. S. WHARTON, MANAGER PUBLIC EMPLOTMENT BUREAU, RICHMOND, VA.
My two years’ experience has been entirely confined to Richmond
and vicinity, and this is the first employment service conference that
I have ever attended. Under the circumstances, my ideas and opin
ions are based largely on conditions as they exist in my own locality.
However, since entering the service I have read many bulletins, re
ports, ana papers from other offices and have found by study and
comparison that while each of us may have to overcome some diffi
culties that are characteristic of our own particular locality there is
a great similarity in the general problems that we face and that
winch is helpful or of interest to one of us is usually interesting to all;
At the close of my paper I shall be glad to exchange ideas and
answer any questions.
Securing the confidence of employers is the greatest problem, the
hardest task a public employment service official has to cope with;, and
when he has solved that problem he has achieved the one thing
which guarantees success..
.
.
.
We do not have to solicit applicants, job seekers are everywhere,
and in the great army of the unemployed the ranks are always
recruited up. True we are occasionally unable to supply a particu
lar kind of specialist without some effort, but generally speaking we
do not have to search for our applicants. That is one of the essen
tials of the service that is supplied for us. But we must, have
employers’ orders, for without^ them there can be no service. We
can not tie the man up to the job until we have a job to tie him-to.
And we do not get the order from the employer unless we can con*
vince him that we can supply him with applicants capable of per
forming the tasks incident to the position which he has to offer. In
short, we do not get the employer’s order until we have gained his
confidence, until he is assured we can render him a real service, and
without his order we can not serve anyone.
No man can successfully sell to others a product in which he himself does not believe, and unless we really have a deep and abiding
faith in the service and like the work we can not possibly have the
enthusiasm and determination to surmount the many obstacles
which continuously confront us. Every man and woman in the
ublic employment service, from the director general down to the
umblest file clerk or errand boy, should have confidence in the serv
ice. All assistants employed in any capacity should be trained along:
this line and the principles of the service so instilled into them that
by their efforts to serve and by their contact with the people they
will command the confidence and respect which the service so richly
deserves.
E
70
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
In presenting our case to the employer it must be made clear to
him as purely a business proposition. He must be assured that the
employment bureau is not a charitable institution and that the qual
ifications of the applicant is the first consideration. When we offer
the service to a new prospect he, in most cases, immediately becomes
skeptical; it is something for nothing we offer and he wonders where
the joker is. He begins to suspect that we have a lot of incompetents
or misfits which we hope to unload on some one, or he feels that
while we do not ask him to pay in cash there must be obligations of
some description which he must assume.
We have known employers who felt that the.employment service
was just another of those departments created to provide places for
the political faithful as a reward for party loyalty and campaign
activity. Others are using the same employment system which has
been in effect in their organizations for the past 20 years and do not
hesitate to tell you that they are well able to handle their own
employment situation without assistance from the outside. These
men are not keeping up with the times; they are habitually opposed
to any of the “ new fangled efficiency ideas” and resent our offers
of assistance.
It is our job to meet and overcome the many objections, to correct
the mistaken ideas, and to show the employer that the bureau is
operated as an exchange for facilitating the meeting of buyers and
sellers of labor; that with his cooperation our office can be used as a
clearing house and that by letting us supply his employees he assumes
no obligation whatsoever; that with the assistance of our experienced,
trained, interview clerks we can relieve him of the weeding-out process
and will refer to him only such applicants as are qualified to meet
his needs; that our facilities for service are far-reaching and we can
in many instances save the employer much valuable time and
expense of advertising.
This can best be done by a consistent, aggressive campaign of
education as to the duties and possibilities of the office to render a
real service to the employers and applicants needing our assistance.
Employment bulletins, issued either monthly or semimonthly clear
ance bulletins, press reports of activities, publication of statistics,
broadcasting; the desire to serve, letters and circulars, and personal
contact all help in this campaign of education. However, the best
results are obtained by personal contact, because we are in a posi
tion to answer questions, meet criticism with facts and figures, and
to combat objections with direct argument in a manner that would
be quite impossible by correspondence.
If the service is sponsored by the various civic organizations of the
city, which usually include the progressive business men, it can read
ily be seen that with their lead others will accept the service we offer.
To secure this lead, an employment service official should, if possible,
affiliate himself with such organizations and through personal contact
keep the service ever before them. However, if he is not a member,
he can bv personal visitation and perhaps short addresses acquaint
them with the advantages and value of the service.
Everyone who is aware of the existence of the public employment
bureau knows that we can furnish unskilled workers and common
laborers in large numbers, and the majority of the people have the
mistaken idea that this is the only class we do handle. To correct
SECURING THE CONFIDENCE OF THE EMPLOYER
71
this erroneous impression, particular stress should be given to the
clerical and professional and skilled classes on all bulletins, circulars,
and advertisements. In the Richmond office we attach an extra sheet
to each of our monthly’ bulletins, on which we list a brief synopsis of
the qualifications of six or eight of our best clerical and professional
apphcants for the specific purpose of bringing to the employers’ atten
tion the high type of person whose applications are on our file.
When soliciting a new prospect, it often helps quite a little to show
him a list of some of the larger concerns to whom we have been sup
plying help and perhaps to let him read a few letters of appreciation
commending the service. He may be of the opinion that we can not
readily supply the class of help he needs, and at this point we can show
by our statistics just how many of that certain class we have handled
and satisfactorily placed. He must be assured that he is not obligated
to accept apphcants referred to him. We will send only such persons
as we feel reasonably certain will suit his requirement. Of course,
the final selection will be his.
When we have succeeded in showing the employer how the service
can be of benefit to him and he has agreed to give us an order, it
must be explained that unless he informs us in detail the exact nature
of the position offered, the age, size, and personality of apphcants
desired, duties to be performed, wages he is willing to pay, hours of
duty, etc., we can not render him the best service.
I feel it may not be amiss to relate here a recent experience which
might tend to serve as an illustration. Last December a manufac
turing concern established in Richmond a large branch factory and
it was made known that 500 female and 200 male factory workers
would be employed. About 10 days prior to .the opening of the fac
tory the company’s employment superintendent opened his office and
began receiving apphcants. A representative of the public employ
ment bureau called on this gentleman, offered his services, and re
quested a few minutes in which to explain the advantages of the serv
ice. The factory superintendent in no uncertain terms made it quite
clear that he felt fully capable of handling his own employment situ
ation without help from the outside and he was too busy at that time
to discuss the matter at any great length. However, he dismissed
our representative courteously and stated his willingness to hear
about the advantages of the service at some future date. The
name of this factory superintendent was at once placed on our mail
ing list and copies of each bulletin, circular, and other publications
were sent to him regularly. Whenever the employment bureau rep
resentative was in that neighborhood he would drop in for a moment,
leave his card, and without trying to force our service on the factory
would casually repeat our offer of assistance. This was kept up for
several weeks and in the latter part of April this factory telephoned
in an order for 10 or 12 men to operate a certain kind of machine.
The manager of the bureau immediately made a special trip to the
factory superintendent, thanked him for the order, and requested
certain details concerning requirements of the order which had been
given over the telephone to the clerk in a rather reluctant manner.
It was fully explained why these details were necessary. In less than
two hours after the order had been received, 12 suitable apphcants
10721°—27-----6
72
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
had reported to the factory. That afternoon we called to ascertain
if the men had reported and if they were of the type desired. Every
one had been accepted; the superintendent was very favorably
impressed with the promptness and dispatch with which his order
had been handled, as well as with the type of men that had been
referred to him. He told us it was the first time since he had opened
his office in Richmond that he had not been compelled to reiect at least
50 per cent of the men who applied. He then told us of tie difficulty
he was experiencing in securing the type of female help he needed. In
response to his newspaper advertisements his office was flooded with
applicants each morning and only a small percentage of those who
came were of the type he wanted. He often interviewed a dozen
women and selected only two or three. We asked him to use our
women's division and explained to him how we could save him the
time of needless interviews by doing the weeding out before we referred
the applicants to him. He agreed to give us a trial and said we
might send him a dozen young women the next day. We sent 15;
13 were accepted and 2 were rejected because they could not pass
the physical examination which is given to each girl employed by
the company. But the superintendent was satisfied with our service;
we gained ms confidence and we now have a standing order with that
company. We not only furnish him with factory help but have suc
ceeded m placing office workers and cafeteria help in the plant.
When the order has been received, we must prove our “ selling talk”
by the service we render. The interview clerk must be thoroughly
acquainted with the requirements of the order and must make a care
ful selection of the applicants before he refers them to the employer.
The many phases of the service are so closely related and inter
woven that I find it difficult to stick to my subject without encroach
ing upon others, but I feel that too much can not be said about
effective methods of interviewing. An employment service worker
must have executive ability, must be patient, tactful, and courteous,
and must develop a broad understanding so that he will be able to
see things from the point of view of both the employer and applicant.
A realization of the importance and dignity of the work ana bigness
of the problem is necessary.
Wherever possible, interview clerks and assistants should visit the
plant and familiarize themselves with working conditions and the
duties to be performed. Finding time in a busy office for essential
outside work is in itself a great problem* but the time it takes to make
such visits will be profitably spent. It is necessary at all times to
have at hand general information concerning vocational opportuni
ties, and this can be done only by keeping closely in touch with vari
ous firms, studying their working conditions, learning the require
ments of the various positions, etc. We may receive an order for a
first-class plumber; the interview clerk or registrar probably has
never handled a pipe wrench and the phrase “ wiping a joint” means
the same to him as if it were spoken in a foreign tongue. Our office
in Richmond meets the problem in the following manner: Interviews
were arranged with the master craftsmen of the various labor unions
and this question was asked, “ I want to employ a first-class plumber
or carpenter, machinist, or other classes, as the case might be), but
know nothing of the business. To ascertain if he is a capable man,
i
SECURING THE CONFIDENCE OF THE EMPLOYER
73
what essential questions should I ask him and if he is what he rep
resents himself to be, what answers should he make?” In each case
we received hearty cooperation and full information. With this
information always at hand the interview clerk can intelligently
examine each applicant and determine his qualifications.
It has been said that the final test of the bureau’s efficiency is its
quickness and dispatch in getting the right man to the job in re
sponse to an employer’s call for help, but where the requirements are
strict and the early applicants do not entirely measure up to standard
it is better to delay fulfillment of the order a reasonable time until a
suitable applicant is found rather than to refer persons who stand
an even chance of being rejected. We can not possibly eliminate
rejections entirely but by careful study of the requirements of the
order and close investigation of the applicant’s qualifications we limit
them to a small minimum. We can not render good service to em
ployers except by carefully choosing the applicants, and nothing will
more quickly destroy the confidence we may have gained by great
effort than a haphazard hit-and-miss selection. Should we find it
impossible to fill an order promptly we should communicate with
the employer, preferably by telephone or personal visitation, and
explain the delay.
The interview clerk can not be too careful in choosing his appli
cant. Should we refer to the employer a man who does not possess
the requirements which have been given us to work by, that em
ployer immediately forms the opinion that we are either very care
less or we do not know enough about our business to be of any real
assistance to him. He will be dissatisfied with the service and in all
probability will not hesitate to express his dissatisfaction to his busi
ness associates should occasion arise.
When the suitable applicant has been selected, he must be given
as full information as possible regarding the conditions of the employ
ment offered him, and unless he is perfectly willing to accept the con
ditions he should not be sent.
While our sympathy is with the man out of a job, we can not afford
to let sentiment interfere with good business judgment. No matter
how badly a fellow needs a job, unless he is thoroughly qualified to
meet all requirements of the employer do not send him. Wherever
the governmental appropriation makes it possible, a handicap divi
sion should be created or a good clerk assigned to the duty of find
ing employment for those unfortunates who are for various reasons
handicapped. A spirit of cooperation should prevail between the
employment bureau and the rehabilitation agencies as opportunities
exist which are advantageous to both.
It should be made clear to both the employer and applicant that
it is no part of our business to raise or reduce wages, regulate work
ing conditions, or act as factory inspectors. We confine ourselves to
bringing to the attention of the unemployed workers exact informa
tion as to the available jobs in the community and to the employers
we refer workers who are fit for the jobs. The efficiency of the office
is especially promoted by securing increased confidence of employers
in the ability of the office to select the right man for the position and
their consequent willingness to give detailed information regarding
wages ,paid and other conditions of employment in any position
offered.
74
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
Even though the applicant referred has the qualifications to meet
all the employer’s requirements, he is not considered satisfactorily
placed until we know lie has been accepted and actually on the job.
Unless the introductory card is signed and returned within 24 hours
we should telephone the employer and ascertain whether the appli
cant was accepted or rejected. If he was rejected, find out just
what qualification he lacked, check up on the requirements of the
order again, and refer another man as quickly as possible. Keep
fighting for that job until you fill it or exhaust every means at your
disposal in the attempt.
Once the employer s confidence has been obtained, we must strive
to keep it. This can be* done only by rendering consistent good
service. Each of his subsequent orders must be given the same care
ful attention which we gave the first. Frequent visits to his place
of business and interest shown in his employment problems will con
vince him that the service is all we have claimed for it, that our
desire to serve is real and unselfish, and the confidence he reposed in
us has not been misplaced.
Do not promise tne impossible. The service is a good thing and
we know we can render invaluable assistance to employers of all
classes of labor, but there are times when our enthusiasm is bound
less and we must be careful not to exaggerate our capabilities.
To be a success the business of an employment office must be con
ducted in as aggressive a manner as any commercial undertaking
and, as is true in all lines of business, a satisfied customer is our best
advertisement. To satisfy our customers is to render them good
service and the first essential of good service is to gain the confidence
of the employer.
Fully appreciating my inability to do my subject justice, I can
only say in conclusion that if I have mentioned anything which has
emphasized the paramount importance of securing the employer’s
confidence or if anything contained in my paper has been conducive
of additional thought along this line I win leave this meeting with
the immeasureable satisfaction of having contributed something,
even though it be but a little, to the employment service.
The C h a ir m a n . Captain Wharton has prepared a paper which really
sums up in seven or eight pages all that a public employment office
needs to know about the general public and the way an office must
be conducted. If it is to be successful they should not be conducted
as a philantrophic organization, and the confidence of the employer
is necessary. We can always get the applicants if we have the orders,
but we can not always get the orders. We are going to hear Mr. B.
C. Seiple, Cleveland superintendent Ohio State Employment Serv
ice, tell us about employment work in Ohio.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT WORK IN OHIO
B T B. C. SEIPLE, CLEVELAND SUPERINTENDENT, OHIO STATE EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
I had intended to follow some system of notes; I have changed my
mind, because you have been here some time and have listened to
the excellent papers presented, and also because the immediately
preceding speaker has covered so thoroughly many of the things which
we could say and apply to Ohio. I think his paper in its entirety
could apply to Ohio as well as to Virginia, so I don t want to go back
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT WORK IN OHIO
75
over that. I am therefore going to destroy my notes and proceed
just impromptu.
I think, however, to the folks here from other States it might be
of interest to you to know just how the oldest State employment
service came about, because Ohio is the pioneer in that field in the
point at least of providing for such service by legislative action.
Ohio is almost entirely an agricultural State. That condition was
to have a rapid change because of Ohio's favorable location, centrally
located not only geographically but from a point of natural resources.
This was the place where iron ore from the North should meet with
the coal and other products from the South. Small towns became
large cities because of the opening up of large steel industries and
manufacturing plants for steel products. Consequently there was a
trend of population toward the city. As the cities grew, naturally
the employment problem in those cities became greater; the larger
the city the greater the question of distribution of employment.
The exact man for the exact job may be available, but the difficulty
is to find him. That is not true in the smaller towns, where every
body is acquainted with the industry. As this condition progressed
of course some men found it profitable to act as a go-between. We
have them listed now as private or fee charging organizations oper
ating for profit. As these first men saw this class of work they saw
an opportunity and grabbed at it. They conducted those agencies,
as shown by the best records I am able to get, on a very honest,
sincere basis. They served the public. The employer was glad to
have their assistance; the applicant was glad to know of some place
where by paying a few dollars he could secure a satisfactory position.
Their service was worthy and it was profitable, and with any service
that is profitable there is the attraction of other folks. Other agen
cies began to spring up; competition sprung up, and each office in
trying to maintain a living rate and make some money was less
inclined always to tell the truth; this led to misrepresentation and
exploitation finally. The result was that the social agencies which
we are sometimes inclined to belittle and complain of began to note
these things, and in Ohio these agencies started to find out what
might be done to relieve that. Nothing definite was done until it
was called to the attention of the Ohio Federation of Labor. That
body with its accustomed alacrity immediately began to investigate;
once it was convinced things were not as they should be it found a
means of correction.
In 1889 two bills were introduced in the Ohio State Legislature
providing for the proper regulation and licensing of such agencies.
Another was a step not
‘
111 11
, and that was the
establishment of some
supported from a
ublic fund, an agency t!
m between the man
unting the job and the job, and that without any direct opposition
to the folks who had been previously chargijag. It always takes a
couple of sessions of the legislature to bring a thing of that kind to
pass, no matter how worthy. The folks want to go back home and
see what their constituents think about it. It was m December, 1893,
it was enacted. The problem then was to find out what department
it should come under. Ohio being the pioneer was not able to go
back and make a study; they had to blaze their own trail. The first
office in Ohio had to be content to place only a few hundred laborers
E
76
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
in a year, and the ultimate result was hardly worth the amount of
money spent on it. But the folks who had sponsored it continued
to support it. They understood it must have time to get started.
I won’t endeavor to follow its progress from the time of its inception
up to the entry of the United States into the World War, because it
was just a matter of continual progress; there was nothing very
outstanding, only a matter of progress slowly. However, when the
United States entered the World War a very decided change took
place and, as you know, a change took place in the lives of every man
and woman in the country; every organization, every industry, every
service, and the employment service was no exception. The Federal
Government early recognized that to promote the progress of the war
it was necessary to marshal not only the military but the working
forces; that each man should be in his proper place, and the place
where he could do most good for his country. I oelieve that was the
only real actual motive for the establishment of the United States
Employment Service. Nevertheless practically over night the United
States Employment Service was created and in operation. Of neces
sity it was not well established. No criticism of the folks establishing
it, but it was impossible to establish such an organization in so short
a space of time. Of course Ohio at that time had seven employment
offices in the large cities of the State. The operation under Govern
ment direction brought it up to 23 offices, 1 in each large renter.
The object was to find out just where the man power was—whether
it was engaged in producing nonessentials or essentials. I am going
to speak of the result right now. The employment service under
Federal direction immediately began taking men from nonessential
employment and taking them over to essential employment, which had
been mounting. Tbat caused a terrible time in the nonessentials,
and that is the employer we had to deal with after the war was over.
For a number of years after the conclusion of war we had to deal with
the problem.
Let us look at the benefit under Federal direction. The service
was expanding beyond the imagination of the folks; elaborate offices
were laid out; the Federal Government was lavish with appropri
ations of money because it was the result they counted on. The
offices were elaborate plants of equipment, plenty of help; good sala
ried men of high ideals were attracted to the Government jobs by
reason of the good salaries, and as a consequence development was very
rapid. Those things still remain, and they have been a help. I have
mentioned one of the serious handicaps and another was at the close
of the war when the Federal Government, feeling that the object was
attained for which the service was put in operation, immediately
withdrew their support. It was impossible with the small amount
of appropriation in Ohio to carry on anything near the system which
had been carried on before. We not only fell back to the seven orig
inal offices but those seven offices were demoralized because of reduc
tion in salary and added equipment standing around in the way. I
have gentlemen here who could tell you about that. The reaction
from that meant that if we were to maintain in Ohio anything similar
to the work done under Federal direction we must have increased
appropriations, but we were confronted with the fact that employers
were not satisfied. They looked upon the United States as an organ
ization that had not functioned to their benefit; they were not for
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT WOEK IN OHIO
77
us, and it was difficult to get increased appropriations, and it looked
as if we were about to lose out. At the same time came the reac
tion from the war, and the tumbling back of thousands of men who had
been called away, and the service apparently didn’t function. Thou
sands of men and very few jobs. It was a great period; nevertheless
the men who are in the employment offices of Ohio to-day are almost
without exception the men who were in the employment offices dur
ing the time of the war and immediately following. They put forth
their loyal efforts and sacrificed salary to high ideals for the service.
I believe that the removal of this service from the spoils of politics
is even more important than the increase of appropriation. When
ever a vacancy has occurred in the Cleveland office they have asked
what person I wanted to fill the vacancy, and never asked the ques
tion is he Democrat, Republican, or Socialist? The point is, is
that the best person for the position? I could prove that point by
showing that half the folks that have been brought into my office
since these men have been in charge of the office nave been Repub
licans and the other half Democrats. Neither has any employee in
any employment office been made to feel that his job was insecure
because of his political belief. Because of loyalty to the office and
broadmindedness and cooperation of the State officials, the service
has come back, and to-day the State of Ohio, according to the records
of the United States Department of Labor, leads all other States in
the Union in the number of people placed in jobs, and has done that
for months past.
We are saving the wage earners who are placed through our service
more than half a million dollars each year. That isn’t guesswork;
it is based upon the minimum fee that is charged by private employ
ment service for similar work. Even if expense to the State was
greater than it is, the saving to the department of welfare and the
saving in the penal institutions would probably offset it. I said to
the financial committee of the legislature when they asked me where
they were going to get a couple thousand dollars for which we were
asking that we might raise tne salaries of people who have been so
loyal in our service, “ You can knock off the money from the welfare
budget and they will never know it and put it on the employment
service side, and I guarantee you for every thousand you put over
we will save five times as much for the welfare department bv keeping
those people out of our institutions.” When you stop and think of
the saving of the souls of men and the homes of men freed from
idleness, discontent, and dissatisfaction, there isn’t any argument.
We unfortunately have to argue to our legislature. In Ohio we have
very definite ideals for the employment service; we have our plans
worked out, and all our offices work together. The 7 original offices
have been extended to 12, with other cities clamoring for an agency,
which they should have. Any city that desires employment service
should receive assistance. We call it in Ohio State-city employment
service. We feel in Ohio the State fund should not be given to any
city. Therefore the State puts it up to the city; if it is willing
to contribute its share the State will come in ana contribute its
share and retain the State supervision, which will insure a uniformity
of action and reporting and proper compilation of statistics, whicn
I think is absolutely proper. So much for the name “ State-city.”
78
ASSOCIATION
Of GOVERNMENTAL LABOB OFFICIALS
The 12 cities are an increase of 5 over 7, with a number of cities
clamoring for agencies, which I think we will endeavor to get at the
next session of the legislature. We believe we have rebuilt the service
because of several things which we have analyzed in conference.
Previously the Government offices in the various cities operated
without knowledge of the other cities; people were not acquainted;
one superintendent knew the other superintendent’s name, and that
was all. Under the present administration these conferences are
called, like this meeting here to-day, and we discuss our problems
jointly and all work in uniformity, and I believe through that cooper
ation we have improved the service immeasurably. We have recog
nized exactly what the previous speaker said, that without the
cooperation of the employer it is absolutely impossible for us to fulfill
the function the State intends us to fulfill. By that I mean the
intention of the State was that this money should be expended solely
for benefiting those who are unemployed, and not because we wish
to benefit the employer; but in order to benefit the applicant we must
do a service to the employer, and at this time comes in all that Mr.
Wharton has said with regard to securing the cooperation of the
employer.
I realize that anything I might say would not do the employment
service in Ohio justification. It has been operating continuously over
a period of about 40 years; to-day it is further advanced than ever
before, not only in the point of number of cities being served but in
the number of applicants being served. I have the figures from the
State statistical department which show that for the last fiscal year
ending June 30,1925, the offices in Ohio placed in employment a little
over 200,000 applicants. You are going to say, “ Many of those
were casual workers and part-time workers.” Absolutely true. But
to the man who is down and out, even a day’s work is a godsend;
even an opportunity to clean snow off the streets when there is no
food in the house is not to be ignored. I have the figures here for
11 months, which proves that every year we are doing more work
with the same appropriation and the same number oi employees.
The figures for the first 11 months of this year, compared with
200,000 last year, are 203,000, and we have a month to go. Every
year the employers understand more and more what we are trying to
do, and we are trying to find out what the employer wants. We are
not fighting the fee-charging employment service. We are determined
that we are going to give as good or better service for no fee and let them
pull themselves out. This is not a charitable service. We don’t
want any contribution of funds from charitable institutions. We
want to be an employment office. We want the idea to be his qualfication for the job, not his need. Need of employment becomes
secondary with us in each instance. We will give preference to a
man who has been referred to us by a charitable institution only
when everything is equal. That is tne only way we can retain the
respect of the employer. He is not concerned about who is down
and out, for he would rather give him a ten-dollar bill than have a
man who does not fit; and why send him a man who does not fit when
we have somebody who does fit? This is employment, not charity.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT WORK IN OHIO
79
We explain to each applicant who feels he is going to degrade himself
coming in for our service that it is not free; you are paying for it, even
though you don’t pay a penny tax directly. Every time you buy a
loaf of bread or a suit of clothes you are paying the tax of the man
who sold it or produced it, and you are a taxpayer; you are entitled
to it and you don’t need to feel you are lowering yourself by coming
and taking it free.
We need more offices, better equipped, arranged for private inter
views, segregation of applicants by type, not by race, color, or by
religious or political faith, but segregating them by type; that is, the
skilled mechanic over here, and they receive a common kind of treat
ment; the common laborers over here: the clerical and technical
workers over here among his kind. We need that; we want that.
I presume, Mr. Chairman, I would probably be ruled out of order if
I didn’t say we need funds. Every other speaker has said that, but
it can’t be helped. We must say it; we need funds. Every State
having a public employment service fund needs them. I am coming
to you this morning with a plea that you as governmental labor
officials do all you can to benefit those who toil. You owe it to your
employment service in your State to use your influence to help this
department. This department doesn’t place common laborers only.
I know of one instance where an executive was placed in a position
at $5,000; I can mention a number of $4,000 jobs. Within the last
two or three weeks we have brought together a man who had a busi
ness in hock and a man who had a few thousand dollars he wanted
to invest in some small business. These two men coming in at
different times through, the efforts of our office were gotten together
and formed the R. W. Comball Manufacturing Co., of Cleveland,
and they are perfectly happy. So the limit of our service is not even
in the minds of the folks. We can’t imagine all the things the
people can do. Each secretary is thoroughly posted upon the childlabor laws of Ohio; we know the exact requirements under the law.
We are quite well posted on factory ventilation, heat, light, and
of machinery and all that. We know that about your
SJotection
epartment; you ought to know something about our department.
We are ready to pass that on to everybody who needs that informa
tion. If somebody calls up andsays, “ I am wondering if I can employ
girls in a certain department,” we are willing to send a girl out ana
talk it over. We believe in plant visitation. In the Cleveland of
fices alone our secretary made personal interviews into over 1,500
plants and offices alone, going through and seeing that the environ
ment was all right, and seeing that conditions were all right, so that
we might be honest with the applicant. A lot is said about being
honest with the employer, but be honest with the applicant. He is
entitled to know before he goes out; why waste his time and car fare,
and how can we tell him if we don’t know? and how can we know if we
don’t visit? Each person coming back into the office makes out a
report of his visitation, which is med in the office. You can go over
any time and see any card and see our visitation plan. The employ
ers are with us 100 per cent. They are recognizing that it is abso
lutely unjust to sit Dy quietly ana allow their employment men to
80
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
call a private agency and expect a man to go out there and work,
ossibly, two weeks for nothing—50 per cent on the month’s salary,
lb employer wants anyone to work for him for nothing. Sometimes
when our representatives go in they will say “ I don’t nave anything
to do with employment agencies,” but the minute they say there
is no fee charged they will take advantage of it. We are recognized
in all their conferences. I was permitted to remain in the national
conference of manufacturers, which was exclusive to the extent that
not even newspaper men could get in, and yet they allowed me to
come in. That is true in all the other cities.
We are proud of our Ohio service, but we are not satisfied, and
whatever you do in your respective States you will be helping us in
ours. I hope the few remarks I have made have been of some service.
I sincerely hope before your association adjourns that some resolution
will be introduced and passed which will show to the public at large
and to our officials who have the power to help us that this associ
ation is absolutely in accord and ready to sponsor and support to the
limit the continuation of the service now inexistence, and its expan
sion throughout the country.
[Meeting adjourned.]
S
THURSDAY, JUNE 10—MORNING SESSION
JOHN S. B. DAVIE, COMMISSIONER NEW HAM PSHIRE BUREAU OF LABOR, PRESIDING
The Ch a ir m a n . The first order of business on this morning’s pro
gram is the report of the resolutions committee.
[The following resolutions were read and adopted:]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS
1. Resolved, That the association extend its appreciation and sincere thanks
to the Department of Industrial Relations of Ohio, which, through its untiring
efforts, has contributed to the pleasure and well-being of the delegates in conven
tion at Columbus.
2. Resolved, That the appreciation of the convention be given to the press for
the publicity given the proceedings of the association.
3. That Herman R. Witter, director of the Department of Industrial Relations
of Ohio, be extended a special vote of thanks for his efficient administration of
the office of president of this association, and that he be made an honorary
member of the association.
4. As a substitute for the recommendations of the committee on migratory
children, be it
Resolved, That this committee be continued, and that its study be extended
to include nonmigratory children employed in industrial forms of agriculture.
5. As a substitute for the recommendation of the committee on industrial
home work, be it
Resolved, That this committee be continued with the view of enlarging the
scope of its investigation.*
6. Resolved, That this association reaffirm its support of the child labor amend
ment to the Federal Constitution.
7. Resolved, That the Association of Governmental Labor Officials extend to
Ethelbert Stewart, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States
Department of Labor, its thanks for his courtesy in printing the twelfth annual
report of the proceedings of the convention, held at Salt Lake City; be it further
Resolved, That he be requested to print the proceedings of the thirteenth annual
convention; held at Columbus, Ohio.
The C h a ir m a n . I was very much interested to hear the questions
asked Miss Van Kleeck after her speech yesterday and I know there
are a number who didn’t ask questions. If it is agreeable to the
convention, would the delegates care to ask questions upon either
one of the speeches given here yesterday? Any further remarks on
Miss Van Kleeck’s speech?
Doctor M cB r id e . I can’t imagine that the organization is in the
mood to discuss questions concerning the control of unemployment
and irregular employment in industry, nor can I see where any great
profit could come by asking questions at this time. There were many
things said in the course of the discussion yesterday, the opinion
strongly being expressed that it would be far better to consider the
matter of appropriation for these various employment agencies to
carry on their work and render a great service. It was said, among
other things, that attention should be directed to that fact rather than
to an elaborate system of statistics that would be helpful in directing
attention to certain spots where unemployment strongly prevailed, at
81
82
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
the same time losing sight of the fact of greater service to the men out
of a job. I caii hardly think there is any need for asking questions.
That is the theme that was talked about quite considerably that there
was more need for intensive work in trying to bring the man to the
job than there was for construction of an elaborate system of
statistics that might determine established tendencies of employment
in one section. For that reason I do not think it would be perfectly
in order to continue the discussion unless some one feels something
constructive can result.
The C h airm an . I would like to see a little pep put in the conven
tion. I thought this was a pretty good time to talk about what
Miss Van Kleeck said. I like a chance to reply. If Miss Van Kleeck
has anything further to say we would be very pleased to listen to
her.
Miss V a n K le e c k :. I would like to take up two points—in the
first place the matter of expense. I don't believe there is a cheaper
investigation any State can make, and Mr. Baldwin will bear me out
on this, than this monthly collection of figures on employment. It
takes no more than probably $2,000 in the largest industrial State
to make this in the course of a year; it takes less than the full time
of a clerk to do this work when these returns come in and enables
the State department to give currently to the public and to the
business men and to labor the facts about changes in employment
when they happen and also the fact about changes in wages when
those changes are taking place, and all for a very small appropriation*
Of course it is important to consider appropriation, but State depart
ments will never get appropriations so long as they don't say, “ We
want it for such and such a specific service to the State." It is true
that business men must be stimulated to want this, but the expe
riences in New York, Wisconsin, etc., indicate that when they have
actually begun it the proper organization passes a resolution to
extend and continue it; they want the information. That is a matter
of practical experience; this isn't a theoretical matter. Of course
statistics don't create work of themselves; that is perfectly evident,
and yet we all know there are policies which are being put into
effect which enable certain enterprises to maintain a steadier
force than other businesses and some of the information needed to
enable employers to continue regular employment is just this infor
mation on employment that we are talking about. Of course we
want employment exchanges, but employment exchanges don't create
jobs. If the industries of your community run on a seasonal basis,
up and down, it enables the employers to control their production so
that they can keep their employees employed. What can your
employment service do about it? The only thing it can do is to
fill a job when it is actually opened. This isn't an alternative.
Employment service is very much needed, but part of the informa
tion needed by the employment service is about where employment
exists. I don't think there is any real argument on the question of
expense. There is no real argument against the statistics, because
these are the most practical statistics and most inexpensive and can
be recorded by the employer's clerk in any establishment in 10 or 15
minutes in a month and the argument that statistics don't create
ACCIDENTS IN BITUMINOUS COAL MINES
83
employment is answered. You have got to have statistics if we are
going to create regular employment.
The C h a ir m a n . I will call upon Brother John Meade, of Massa
chusetts, to preside over the rest of the meeting.
JOHN P . M EADE. DIRECTOR INDUSTRIAL SAFETY, MASSACHUSETTS. PRESIDING
The C h a ir m a n . This organization has many important problems
for its attention. It is interested in the welfare of the child worker
and also in the welfare of the women who toil for a living. It is also
interested in the employee exposed to some of the dangerous work
in the coal mines. The next item on the program is an address by
W. W. Adams, statistician Bureau of Mines, Department of Com
merce, Washington, D. C. His subject will be “ Accidents and acci
dent prevention in bituminous coal mines.”
Mr. A d a m s . Before proceeding to read the paper I want to make
this statement, that the coal mines of this country are responsible for
about one-third of the accidents in coal mines of the world.
ACCIDENTS AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION IN BITUMINOUS COAL
MINES
BT W. W. ADAMS, STATISTICIAN, UNITED STATES BUREAU OF MINES
The United States has for many years led all other nations in the
production of most of the essential minerals. We have, for example,
established undisputed leadership in the production of coal, iron, oil,
copper, lead, and zinc and we occupy either first or second place in
the production of gold, silver, salt, phosphate rock, and various other
minerals and metals. We have taken the lead, not alone in the total
quantities of these minerals produced, but have also assumed an ad
vanced position in what perhaps is equally significant, namely,
adopting methods of operation that have resulted in a larger individ
ual production per employee than in any other country. This fact
is most strikingly illustrated in the case of coal mines. Statistics
show that the United States usually enjoys a larger daily output of
coal per man than any other important coal-producing nation.
It is fitting that these facts should be emphasized because they
demonstrate what American ingenuity can accomplish under mining
conditions that prevail in this country. At the same time they serve
as a background that brings out in bold relief a much less envious
phase of our record. We lead the world in total number of tons
produced, and in the daily output per worker? but we are not as near
the front of the procession as we should be m our efforts to reduce
the death rate per thousand miners employed. For example, Eng
land, France, and Belgium have fatality rates about one-third as high
as ours, and Germany’s rate is only about two-thirds of that for the
United States.
These facts are not new to those having occasion to keep in touch
with coal-mining conditions, but the problem of how to reduce the
fatality rate in this country is one of continual concern. Different
types of mine accidents call for different remedies. No single correc
tive measure can be applied to the whole problem, except, of course,
the universal caution as to greater care on the part of the employees.
84
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
Approximately 1,800 men are killed annually in the bituminous
coal mines of the United States, an average of five for each of the
365 days of the year, or about eight fatalities on each day the mines
are actually in operation. Nearly half of these deaths, or about 900
per year, are caused by falls of roof or coal. Eighteen per cent are
due to haulage accidents underground. About 13 j>er cent are due
to explosions of gas or coal dust. Electricity claims 4 per cent
and explosives about 4 per cent. Shaft accidents average about 2
per cent of the total; miscellaneous causes underground, about 4 per
cent; and all causes above ground, about 6 per cent. It will thus be
seen that all but 12 per cent of coal mine fatalities are caused by falls
of roof and coal, haulage, gas and dust explosions, electricity, and ex
plosives. Any material reduction in the American death rate must
therefore be realized by concentrated effort toward the prevention of
accidents among the five classes named. It may therefore be appro>riate to consider specific measures advocated by the Bureau of Mines
ooking toward the elimination of accidents? of these types.
Explosions of gas and coal dust are the most spectacular class of
accidents that occur in coal mines. The public is more familiar with
explosions than with other kinds of accidents because of the larger
loss of life which they cause in a short space of time. Newspapers
carry glaring headlines and sensational articles to all parts of the
country whenever a large explosion occurs. The facts relating to
the explosion constitute “ news ” of widespread interest and the stories
are therefore given large amounts of prominent space in the daily
press. The fact that only about 13 per cent of all fatalities are
caused by explosions is sometimes lost sight of. Nevertheless explo
sions are one of the important classes of mine accidents that must
be dealt with. It was, indeed, the occurrence of many explosions
from 1907 to 1909 that lead Congress to create the Bureau of Mines.
It was therefore natural that explosions should receive the early atten
tion of the newly created bureau. It is obvious that explosions of
gas or dust can not occur unless some source of ignition is present in
the mine. Several sources of ignition may be present. Matches,
blasting, sparks from trolley wires, electric machines, or miners’
lamps nave at times caused serious explosions. The most fruitful
source of explosions has been open lights carried by miners. Next
in order is blasting. Several explosions in recent years have been
attributed to electric arc either from a cutting machine or trolley
wire. As more than 80 per cent of explosions have been caused either
by open lights or blasting, it will suffice to call attention merely to these
two sources of ignition. A tabulation covering more than 10 years
showed that 46 per cent of explosions were caused by open lights
and 37 per cent by blasting, usually blown-out shots. It is the
belief of engineers of the Bureau of Mines that the elimination of
open lamps and of all types of nonpermissible explosives would pre
vent nearly all major explosions, and that if a body of gas
were ignited its spread through the mine through the agency of coal
dust could be prevented by the use of rock dust to dilute the coal
dust. It is difficult sometimes for the industry, meaning the miners
as well as the operating companies, to see the necessity or advisabil
ity of adopting such radical measures, particularly if in a given mine
{
ACCIDENTS IN BITUMINOUS COAL MINES
85
or mining field no serious disaster has been experienced. Departures
from long-continued practice are not always welcomed by the employ
ees. Moreover, increased production costs occasioned by safeguards
against potential hazards that have to date never resulted in actual
loss of life are not always welcomed by operating companies. This
attitude of some operators is not necessarily without reason and
apparent justification, because many companies operating on a narrow
margin of profit and sometimes on no margin at all, would be at seri
ous and sometimes fatal disadvantage as compared with companies
with lower production costs or with companies operating in neigh
boring States where safety in mining received less consideration under
State laws. Standardization of safety measures applicable to similar
hazards regardless of location of mines would remove any disadvan
tage as to production costs to progressive operators who are anxious
to adopt all reasonable safeguards for their employees. Such stand
ardization can be realized only by the adoption of minimum require
ments which shall become effective in all States simultaneously.
These minimum requirements should not be forced upon the indus
try, but should be the result of concerted action by all operating
companies. Since major dust explosions cause 8 per cent of all
deaths in coal mines, and since such explosions are believed to be
entirely preventable through the use of rock dust, it is probable that
standardization as to the explosion hazard alone would reduce the
annual death toll to that extent. About 4 per cent of all deaths are
due to minor or local explosions of gas, and to these other corrective
measures must be applied.
Falls of roof and coal comprise the chief cause of fatal accidents in
coal mines. As previously stated, nearly 50 per cent of all fatalities
are due to this cause. Accidents of this type are more difficult to pre
vent because of the large variability in their causes and because the
human factor plays so large a part in their occurrence. Many deaths
from this cause must be classed as unavoidable, and therefore properly
chargeable, at least in the present state of our knowledge, to hazards
that $re inherent to coal mining. However, a much larger number
can doubtless be prevented. It is extremely likely that many deaths
are due to insufficient timbering at the working face and to the pre
vailing practice of setting up props to support loose rock or roof only
when it it is believed that the roof is likely to fall. Systematic tim
bering without waiting for the discovery of dangerous conditions would
doubtless prevent much of the loss of life now attributed to falls of
rock. Such timbering would consume time which miners might other
wise use in actual tonnage work and would also, if largely increased
quantities of timber were used, be an added cost to the production
of coal, which must be reflected in the price of coal to the consumer.
Deaths in coal mines are now costing the industry, and indirectly the
consumer, at least $3,000 each. The 900 deaths annually from falls
of roof and coal represent an actual cash expenditure of $2,700,000
a year in the form of compensation paid by State compensation com
missions and insurance companies to dependents of deceased miners.
Lives might be saved through the more generous use of props for the
roof and through the expenditure of additional funds for the employ
ment of more supervisory employees to insure the placing of timber
86
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
by the miners. Miners paid by the ton are sometimes prone to con
tinue loading coal when they have reason to believe that props should
be set; it is perhaps a natural tendency; but some solution or at least
partial solution, satisfactory to miner and operator, could be found
through the joint council of all interested parties in conference where
safety was the prime objective. Here again is illustrated the necessity
for the adoption of minimum safety requirements in all districts where
similar hazards exist, and here also is emphasized the need for simul
taneous application of such requirements so that no single mine may
be operated at the expense of safety to its employees and enjoy price
or market advantages over a neighboring mine operated by a com
pany that is anxious to safeguard the lives of its men. Nor should
mines within any State enjoy such unfair advantages over mines in
adjoining States having higher safety standards. It is doubtless
true that safety pays for itself ultimately in dollars and cents. It is
equally true that the benefits may not be immediately apparent and
that the backward company or State may acquire markets tempo
rarily at least that should not for a moment be lost by the more
advanced companies.
Accidents in connection with haulage operations underground
are usually second in number to those due to falls of roof and coal.
Nearly 20 per cent of all deaths and about 30 per cent of all injuries
are caused by mine cars and mine motors. Most of the victims are
men whose work requires them to be on the haulage ways, but a very
large number, perhaps a third, of all accidents result in death or in
jury to men who are not haulage workers. These men sometimes
become victims of their own carelessness because they walk along the
tracks in violation of safety rules. Many of the larger companies
have provided traveling ways for the men, so that it is unnecessary
for the miners and other nonhaulage workers to use the trackways to
et to and from their working places. Where such traveling ways
ave been provided it is the employee’s duty to use them. There are
many mines, however, where traveling ways for the men have not
been provided, the failure being due to one of three things: First,
the operator’s violation of State law; second, the inadequacy of the
Statens inspection law; or third, the insufficiency of the usual haulage
ways for both haulage operations and man-traveling purposes. Many
mines have haulage ways that are wide enough to afford ample space
between the tracts and rib for the employees to walk in safety. More
over, the companies provide refuge places at frequent intervals along
the side thus affording additional opportunities for the men to pro
tect themselves upon the approach of a motor or trip of cars.
Where such refuge holes are needed and have not been provided and
where ample width between the tracks and side of haulage way is need ed
and not maintained, either the company is operating in violation of the
safety laws of the State or the State’s safety laws are grossly inade
quate. In the former case the remedy is obvious; in the latter case
it would be a service to the industry in particular and to safety in gen
eral if those operators whose safety standards and practices are far in
excess of the minimum requirements of State laws would lend their
influence toward the raising of the minimum requirements and toward
the strict observance of those requirements by all operating compa
nies within the State.
f
ACCIDENTS 1ST BITUMINOUS COAL MINES
87
Proper provision for refuge holes and adequate width between the
tracks ana side also would eliminate many accidents to employees
whose duties are directly connected with haulage operations. Still
other accidents might be prevented by the use of properly designed
cars and the maintenance of track and roadbed in good condition, as
many accidents have been caused by men stumbling and being run
over by coming in contact with overhead obstructions under which
the trip is moving, and by derailments. However, when all safe
guards have been provided by the company there will still be acci
dents due to the carelessness or forgetfulness of men in jumping on
or off cars while in motion, in coupling moving cars, and in other
ways. Accidents of this kind are preventable m exactly the same
way that traffic accidents on city streets are preventable—namely, by
constant education of persons handling moving vehicles and by the
discipline of the small minority who can not or will not adopt safe
practices, either for the protection of themselves or others.
The three classes of accidents thus far referred to—explosions, falls
of roof and coal, and haulage—cover the larger part of all accidents
that occur in coal mines. Two causes remain to be considered, elec
tricity and explosives. Electricity is responsible directly for only a
comparatively small number of fatalities, ranging from 75 to 100 a
year, about 4 per cent of the total number from all causes. It shoald
be stated, however, that electricity must be credited in large part
with the high productivity per man in American mines through the
operation ot electric coal-cutting machines, electric haulage motors,
and electric loading machines. In connection with cutting machines
and haulage operations, electricity is directly responsible for the speed
ing up of mining and haulage operations and indirectly responsible
for some of the accidents charged directly to mine cars and to other
causes. For example, several major explosions of gas or dust are
believed to have originated in the ignition of the gas or dust by an
electric arc from the trolley wire or electric coal-cutting machine.
For the small number of accidents that are directly charged to elec
tricity each year, however, it is usually the forgetfulness or careless
ness of the injured man that is responsible, since most of the accidents
are caused by men coming in contact with the trolley wire. Con
stant care is the chief remedy if not the only remedy for accidents of
this kind.
Explosives are the last of the five main causes of accidents enumer
ated at the beginning of this paper. As stated before, about 4 per
cent of coal-mine fatalities are due to this cause. This is the pro
portion for which they are directly responsible. As a matter of fact
they have also been the initial cause of some of the worst gas and dust
explosions that have occurred in theUnited States. While open lights
have been the principal source of ignition of major explosions, yet
30 to 40 per cent of them have been traceable to explosives, usually
black powder, sometimes dynamite. It is for this reason that the
Bureau of Mines recommends that nothing but permissible explosives
should be used in coal mines. Aside from the fact that many disas
trous explosions of gas or coal dust have been caused by explosives,
it is important to guard against the explosives hazard where dust or
10721°—27----- 7
88
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
gas is m no way involved. Of the 50 or 85 deaths annually from
explosives accidents, the large majority are due to premature shots.
Premature shots are usually due to short fuses; that is, to fuses
which the miner cuts too short to allow himself time enough to reach
a safe place before the blast. Since the shortening of fuses is an old
practice that is most difficult to combat, the elimination of all fuses
and the adoption of other methods of blasting would be promotive
of safety. It is for this reason that the Bureau of Mines has recently
recommended that all blasting in coal mines be done with permis
sible explosives and that the explosives be fired by electric detonators.
Perhaps the measures most needed to reduce the American death
rate may be summarized as follows:
1. Adequate supervision of all working places.
2. Adequate timbering, with a minimum of exposed roof, without
waiting for danger to become obvious.
3. Well planned and well maintained rolling stock, roadways, and
haulage ways.
4. Adequate ventilation to carry away inflammable gas.
5. The use of water on cutter bars of mining machines to allay
coal dust, and the use of rock dust to prevent tne explosion of coal
dust in bituminous mines.
6. Elimination of all open lights in coal mines to prevent explosions
and fires.
7. The exclusive use of permissible explosives for blasting in coal
mines, the explosives to be fired with electric detonators ana used in
a permissible manner.
8. The use of “ permissible” machinery in coal-mining operations.
9. The training of all employees to think safety and practice safety
and the discharge of those who are incapable or unwilling to do so.
10. The convincing of all employees that the company requires
production with safety and that it will not countenance production
without safety.
The collection of fundamental facts relating to accidents in the
mining industry should be made the duty of some impartial agency in
whom the industry has complete confidence. Mutual suspicion
resulting in a lack of full knowledge of conditions has doubtless been
a contributing although indirect cause of many accidents. When
once the basic facts are thoroughly understood, the mining industry
may be relied on to produce the Nation’s minerals at a minimum
cost in human life.
[At this time Mr. R. H. Lansburgh read the following paper on
“ Mine Accidents, ” prepared by Joseph J. Walsh, secretary of mines,
Pennsylvania, who was unable to be present.]
ACCIDENTS
BT JOSEPH J. WALSH, SUPERINTENDENT DEPARTMENT OF MINES, PENNSYLVANIA
(Bead by R. H. Lansburgh]
Wherever there is human activity, there is liability to accident.
In all occupations there is an element of danger. In some there are
exceptional hazards. This is true particularly of the mining occupa
tion. The nature of the work, the surroundings, the implements,
ACCIDENTS
89
and machines that are used to accomplish the work all add to the
dangers and the dangers increase in direct ratio with the difficulty
of the work. The work in a coal mine is continual building up and
tearing down. To meet the conditions that confront the coal miner
precautions are necessary at every stage of the operation; hence, as
the industry has developed and grown to greater proportions, the
laws and rules governing mining operations nave from time to time
been amended and strengthened until to-day they would seem to
meet almost every possible requirement.
But regardless of the laws and rules accidents occur at an appalling
rate. The important and necessary thing to do, therefore, is to work
upon the personal element. Men must give more attention to their
work and the industry must afford more constant and effective super
vision if we are to hope for a lessening in the number of casualties.
Facing danger every day practically under the same conditions
makes men ana officials less careful; constantly doing the same thing
engenders a habit of indifference and the result is a deplorable number
of accidents that could have been averted. Perhaps 50 per cent of
the accidents that occur in the mines could be prevented by keeping
constantly in mind the observance of the rules of safety and the
enforcement of more rigid supervision and direction.
Injuries to workmen in the mines of Pennsylvania occur at the
rate of one every four working minutes.
The excavations made in the coal mines of Pennsylvania each year
would form a subway 8 feet by 10 feet and 13,000 miles in length,
driven at the rate of 3.4 miles per hour. The work is accomplished
in about 240 days by 338,000 workmen, and a fatality takes place at
the rate of 1 for every 14 miles and a nonfatal accident occurs at the
rate of one for every one-fourth mile.
Qualified foreman are in charge of the workmen and they are sup
posed to watch over their safety, but when these officials are called
upon to supervise a large number of workers in different parts of a
mine it is impossible for them to give the men individual attention.
It must not be supposed, however, that all workmen are careless; on
the contrary, the vast majority of them are alert and watchful not
only for their own safety but for that of their fellow workmen.
Were this not the case the casualties would be multiplied in number
and the property of the operators would be in constant danger.
The number of accidents due to the human element may be re
duced by die intelligent supervision and direction of the work by the
mine officials.
No class of workmen in any other industry receive less supervision
than the men engaged in the mines. An examination of hundreds
of accident reports by the department of mines reveals the fact that
less than five minutes a day are spent by an official in supervising
and directing the work of the individual miner. And unless super
vision is increased no material lessening of the casualties can be
expected.
We know when and how accidents occur and the remedy is clear—
supervision and direction. Remarkable results have always followed
intelligent and properly directed supervision. No other plan thal
we know of has proved effective.
90
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
When a workman enters a mine it is for the purpose of digging out
the dollar that hangs in front of him. That is his first consideration.
And he digs to get it in the easiest and most convenient way.
It is beheved by some persons that the miner would be more care
ful if he was more highly educated in matters of safety. This we
think is a wrong assumption; at least the records so indicate. What
would be the accident frequency rate among two groups of workmen
in the same mine, one group composed of experienced miners and
the other composed of experienced miners also well trained in safety
engineering work? There would be no appreciable difference, as
human nature is the same in both cases.
No man works under a piece of roof that he thinks is going to fall
upon him. He knows the roof is not in the best of condition but at
the same time remembers that he worked under such roof possibly
hundreds of times before. His best judgment is that he is safe. He
arrives at the conclusion from past performance and will continue to
do so in the future if permitted. The remedy is more constant super
vision and direction.
DISCUSSION
Mr. H a l l . While perhaps it will be much more constructive to have
this discussion led by a practical miner, yet there are many pertinent
questions occurring to us all which might as well be brought out by
those of us who have general supervision over mine departments and
necessarily have made some study of the same. The most excellent
paper just presented by Mr. Walsh should prove of great value, and
its general deduction that “ the remedy is more constant supervision
ana direction” can not be questioned. However, a few thoughts
have occurred to me. He states “ perhaps 50 per cent of the accidents
that occur in the mines could be prevented by keeping constantly in
mind the observance of the rules of safety and the enforcement of
more rigid supervision and direction.” Can you expect a man to
perform his customary work and at the same time constantly keep
in mind rules of safety? Is it not rather the duty of some other
individual as a safety man to do that?
The illustration of the amount of excavation and consequent fatal
ity rate while an excellent way to focus the attention of the layman
vet for the purpose of a proper fatality analysis is it not better to
have the time exposure fatality rate? While tonnage fatality may
prove of interest to the operators, yet exposure fatality is of far more
importance in safety work.
Again he states when referring to the miners “ the vast majority
of them are alert and watchful not only for their own safety but for
that of their fellow workman.” Is not the duty imposed on the
operators to safeguard the miners, thereby not only protecting his
trained personnel but conserving his property also?
It is indeed illuminating and pertinently answers the whole ques
tion in mine accidents when Mr. Walsh states that less than five
minutes a day are spent by an official in supervising and directing
the work of individual miners. From our own experience I am sat
isfied that too often the general manager of the company has no
knowledge of the true conditions, as the superintendent or mine fore
man is fighting to keep down cost and will assume risks that higher
officials would not approve.
DISCUSSION
91
The only thought in the paper with which I can not fully agree is the
one that experienced miners well trained to safety engineering work
would not be more careful than experienced miners not so trained.
I do not know that any comparative statistics exist on this question,
but can not believe that one trained in safety engineering would not
instinctively take more precautions than one not so trained, regard
less of human nature. It this is not so then our whole system of ed
ucation is wrong. While it is true that “ no man works under a piece
of roof that he thinks is going to fall upon him,” yet his safety
training would or should make him take proper precautions to be a
little more careful than one who has not had such training.
I agree that the remedy is more constant supervision ana I believe
another large factor in reducing mine accidents would be the elimi
nation of the contract system or piecework.
[At this time “ The Fall of Man,” a moving picture under the di
rection of H. W. Mowery, was screened. Following this was a dem
onstration of first aid work in mines under the direction of H. R.
Witter, director department of industrial relations, Ohio, an expla
nation being given by Jerome Watson, chief of the division of mines,
Ohio, after which the meeting adjourned.]
,
THURSDAY JUNE 10— AFTERNOON SESSION
R. H. LANSBURGH, SECRETARY OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY, PENNSYLVANIA,
PRESIDING
INSPECTION AND SAFETY
The C h a ir m a n . The general subject of the afternoon's program is
“ Inspection and safety, following the specific problems in mines that
were discussed this morning. However, the first contribution to the
afternoon’s program is on a subject which we heard something about
yesterday from Doctor Hayhurst, and that is “ Industrial fatigue.”
The speaker, whom I feel more than glad to present, is a national
figure, and has been for some years theleading figure in the United
States on the subject at hand. Her experience covers not one State
or several States but practically all the industrial States in the Union,
and her contributions have always been of the greatest interest be
cause of their# originality. It is therefore with the most extreme
pleasure that I present to this group Mrs. Lillian M. Gilbreth, of
New Jersey.
INDUSTRIAL FATIGUE
BY MBS. LILLIAN M. GILBRETH, MONTCLAIR, N. J.
Edison was asked one time “ What is electricity?” The answer
was “ Electricity is, use it.” Now if we were asked “ What is fatigue ? ”
I am afraid our only answer would be “ Fatigue is, eliminate it.” I
am not going to waste any time in preliminaries; you can't define
fatigue; we can only lay down exact measurements and exact rules
for elimination. There is so much unnecessary fatigue existing in
the industries, in the institutions, and in the homes that if we will
simply take the problem of elimination of the unnecessary and the
pursuance of the simplest sort of device for recovery of what is nec
essary we probably will be doing all we can be expected to do for
some time to come, leaving it to the laboring people to begin that
accurate measurement and fact finding which of course we have to
have before we can be absolutely sure of what is going on.
Doctor Hayhurst I know talked to you somewhat on the physical
side of fatigue; personally I don't feel that this side of it is going to
be increasingly difficult to handle; on the other hand, with the com
ing in of power and machinery, and especially during the last year,
we see wnat this sort of fatigue does to output. This problem is
going to be handled and handled successfully. You know, of course,
of the work that has been done in the departments of your own State
in the study of posture, and the study of seating, length of working
hours, and rest periods, and work periods, and that sort of thing.
This work is getting into shape more and more from a scientific stand
point, and we are more and more getting coordination and correlation
of various activities, which means, I think, we are going to have a
92
INDUSTRIAL FATIGUE
93
body not only of theories but of fine working practice in all of these
various fields. I don’t need to tell you because everyone of you is
in contact with industry. We no longer have to go out and sell the
subject of fatigue elimination to the manager of the other men. There
are two or three points we who have been in it such a long time con
sider and always feel we must stress—one is the necessity of putting
the thing in slowly, in order to gain the cooperation of the people who
are doing it, and make provision to maintain and hold it after you
get it. it is discouraging to put in rest periods and then to have
the organization try it out such a short time; they will fling it out
again without having had a real trial. We know that makes it much
harder to sell the job the second time. A certain group put in a rest
period and before the workers had established their new habits and
gotten down to a point where they became automatic they kept such
close tab on the output sheets—you know, of course, output must go
down during any adjustment period—that the rest period went out
before they nad a chance to demonstrate their efficiency.
We are acquainted with the learning period and habit forming
period, and know how long it takes before a habit is thoroughly
established. How careful we have to be. Unless there is a lapse of
time there is no fair test of this rest period, and it is put out without
any great amount of trial. We sympathize with the people in that
vicinity who are now trying again to sell this rest period to the people
who never gave it a fair trial and only tried it out half way. The
problems of chairs, posture, and all these things are spreading not
only through this country but abroad, not only in industry alone but
in the various institutions and in the home.
I hope to speak a little later about this tie between the industry
and home. I do feel if anything has happened in this year over the
fatigue work it is the realization of this tie, the part of the industry
and the home, that each depends on the other for cooperation, if we
are really going to do any significant thing in the fatigue field.
I said I thought the physical side of fatigue was going to be
handled with increasing ease. Let me give you one more point.
Our work is in the field of motion, study of simple methods, and
standardizing the simplest and easiest way to work. We found
increasingly in industries that the engineering work is having such a
marvelous effect on the fatigue of the Nation. It is customary to
go and study the man doing hand work and try to find out how we
can simplify his motion by putting his equipment nearer, having a
steady flow of the proper material, and functionalizing the work.
Then with the realization of the tie between fatigue elimination and
motion, or what you please, there is coming a very careful study of
each process in hand work and other work, to see how machinery,
machine designs, and tools can be adapted, invented, or supplied to
cut out fatigue. If there should happen to be any new machine
designed, ana undoubtedly you have come up against those problems,
you nave probably seen the tendency in the engineering field to try
to put in the equipment which will eliminate motion and fatigue.
The old-fashioned engineer, clever as he was, invented a machine to
increase output and to be easy of operation, according to the usual
way of operating machinery. The newer type of man designs the
machine with the least possible loss of motion and use and eliminates
94
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOB OFFICIALS
fatigue iu the first step—in machine designing. You have only to
drive or to look over carefully the running equipment of the newest
models of automobiles to find this absolutely true. While there are
yet many machines, old and new, in our plants that do not conform
to the fatigue elimination standards, the newer ones undoubtedly
are working toward that end.
Now, the really important things in fatigue elimination to-day, to
my mind, are the psychological factors, and they are factors which
reach out into every field. We found it in production work, in the
office work; we find it in the selling work ana in the operation that
parallels these—in the home field. It is no longer a matter of theory
but a fact that worry of any kind cuts down output and increases
fatigue. Undoubtedly those who are going to speak on safety this
afternoon will bring that out, because of course we have found that
worry of any sort, worry because you are going to lose your job, worry
because the various types of equipment are not safe, worry from any
industrial anxiety cute down output.
The next thing I want to mention has much the same result; that
is pressure. Pressure means there is plenty of work ahead. It may
be a fatigue-causing factor. It may be a fatigue-eliminating factor,
but as pressure to some means speeding up, pushing through all the
time, then that pressure may De a great factor m fatigue. The
speeding up that is done in bringing machinery to its best speed, and
bringing work to that speed, makes it less tiring in the long run.
This pressure runs through into the home. We have to tie up the
two very closely, because we find in making a fatigue survey we have
to consider a 24-hour day-work, rest, play, and otherwise—if we
are to get any true perspective.
The next factor very much akin is friction. Friction is more or
less variable. That has to do with an individual’s likes and dislikes.
Certain people, and there are always some in each group, simply
thrive on friction. Unless there is something happening, some kind
of a row, they are not absolutely happy. They will go home at night
and tell their families it has been a very glorious day, a fight from
the time they went in the morning until they went out. You nearly
always can find plenty of fights. The answer to that of course is a
little job analysis to find whether there is a job where fights are
common, and a personal analysis to find out who likes these fights.
Then there is the other type who simply can not stand friction at all,
and it isn’t confined to men and it isn’t confined to women. It is a
type that runs through every group in life anywhere. Some places
you can sense it in the atmosphere before it has precipitated itself,
and immediately they begin to resent it.
The last factor belongs to quite a different group, and that is the
uestion of monotony; this is the most fatiguing thing in the world,
stand here to testify that after 20 years of careral looking we
haven’t been able to find one single job that is monotonous to every
body. There is scarcely a job you can think of that isn’t fearfully
monotonous to somebody. The answer to that again is the study
of a job to find out how it has to be done, and a careful study to
make it interesting from the standpoint at least of fatigue, and finally
that personal analysis that means you get a person into tnat job who
likes to do it. Most of the people who claim that work is tearfully
J
INDUSTRIAL FATIGUE
95
monotonous are usually people who have not at that time had first
hand acquaintance with the industry. I feel very sure all of the
members of this group have had considerable difficulty trying to
promote people, trying to get them out of jobs which they have found
to be monotonous to them, and into jobs which are more interesting
and more to their liking. If a person has the initiative to come to
you and say: “ My job is monotonous/’ you think, “ Here is some
body who has every capability of promotion.” ' It is our job in
fatigue elimination to study the work, to estimate its fatigue factors,
and try to find out what sort of people can find it profitable and
what sort of people would find it harmful, and to shift them around.
Another factor is lack of appreciation. That so easily lets itself
develop into an “ I don’t know” case of uplift. There is a great
temptation to go into that factor. Certain people are far more
fatigued by any type of activity that doesn’t give them any oppor
tunity of appreciation of any sort than other people are. Fatigue
begins in production work and spreads into office work. I have had
a rather strenuous time with office jobs. Two gentlemen whom I
went to see about a rest period said they found no office where there
was enough going on to warrant any kmd of a rest period. I think
with newer kmd of work coming on, that it is not so true; I think the
answer to that is simply the fact that we have never put the office
man where he should be placed, along with the production man, where
he is able to say what he thinks should be done, and is able to go
ahead and standardize the work of his department. When that is
done I believe the office is going to show as fine results as it shows
opportunities.
Another fatigue work which is going on is in the field of prison
activity. I don’t know whether anybody in this group knows any
thing about the work being done in prisons and in the reformatories.
The men and woman who are there are largely there because they
have never learned the habit of industry and have never learned of
fatigue. They are now being given an opportunity to learn industries,
and trained so that when they get back into life they will fit into the
industry to-day with all its situations. Now you can see what an
ideal field we are going to have for fatigue investigation, because we
have a group which with all its handicaps can be studied very care
fully under a 24-hour day observation.
The last field into which it is spreading, and where it is needed
most, is the field which must interest you, and that is the home. It
interests you first of all because you are yourselves members of the
home; and secondly, in its industrial aspect, each industrial worker
with whom you come in contact comes from a home with a certain
amount of fatigue, to begin with and he goes back into the home with
the fatigue that has been acquired in daylight. It is not theories I am
giving you, it is actual practice, and if you start to make a fatigue
survey and try to get any actual figures as to what is happening,
you have to tie up the industry with the home. You have to know
what you are going to work with and what happens to the product
after it goes back. This psychology of fatigue is really the most in
teresting thing in the wond, because it is so fresh and new every time
you see it. If you think that it is more or less a fairy tale, and the only
kind of fatigue that counts is physical fatigue, and that you know
96
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
absolutely how much physical fatigue you have, just look what hap
pens to you when you go back home from this convention. Supp’ose
you had a most thrilling time, and every thing you could want in
the way of stimulating interest and friendly contact, and when you
get back you find your office in complete contusion, and all this buoy
ancy, satisfaction, and elation, and the feeling that you have thrown
off fatigue all leave you, and that burden will come down upon you.
And this fatigue which is apparently in the air will accumulate almost
instantly ana come back. Suppose, on the other hand, that at some
sort of meeting during the day you nave accumulated a great deal of
fatigue, not only fatigue that is physical, not only from physical
activities, I don’t think that any of us are in danger of that, but
psychological fatigue that comes from likes and dislikes, suppose
when you get back to your office you find just that appreciation and
welcome, what is going to happen to that fatigue which has been
so pressing? It is just going to vanish. I felt quite concerned about
this a few days ago ana asked Doctor Hayhurst “ What happens to
all that; isn’t it really driven into the background, and won’t it
come back?” And he said he didn’t know. “ You know the new
gland theory; we explain everything by that; that given a certain
amount of emotional excitation fatigue is burned up and we start
anew.” I don’t know that the gland theory is any more explanable
than the fatigue theory. I don’t know that we are pushing the thing
one step. One thing we do know from actual experience is that the
psychological factors are really the most vital and the most impor
tant. That would be the message that I would bring you in indus
trial fatigue. We are lining up with many groups of many kinds in
many countries and getting in many new slants. We have a feeling
that the engineers will take up their burden and that absolutely we
can depend on them to design and devise the new machinery we are
going to need to cut out fatigue. A feeling of hope is in this field,
which is to sell to people a willingness to try new things and keep try
ing them, through that habit-forming period, and a feeling that psy
chologists are taking up their end of the burden. Increasingly we are
going to have the key to the problem in our hands.
The C h a ir m a n . Inasmuch as the program as outlined is rather
long, I think we should follow the program as printed and take up the
next item on the program at this time. This takes us directly into
safety work, and as you well know, we will take up the educational
phases of safety work. I know all of us from other States are very
appreciative of what Ohio has already done for us, and I know Ohio
is going to give us one more thing to take back with us. There are
many of us in other States who are watching the work being done in
Ohio with a great deal of interest, and we will be very glaa to hear
what Mr. Kearns has to say.
Mr. K e a r n s . I assure you it is a pleasure to be with you this
afternoon, to have this opportunity of presenting to you a few words
on this very important phase of accident prevention work, the educa
tional features of it. I know you are busy and you have a lot of work
to do; you have a full program and I am not going to take any of
your time with any preliminary remarks. I have prepared what I
nave to say on this subject and with your kind indulgence shall pro
ceed to present my thoughts.
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOB OFFICIALS
97
EDUCATIONAL PHASES OF SAFETY WORK
BT T. P. KEARNS, SUPERINTENDENT DIVISION OF SAFETY AND HYGIENE, INDUSTRIAL
COMMISSION OF OHIO
Inasmuch as this is a gathering of State officials whose function
is to prevent industrial casualties, I shall deal with the subject
assigned me, “ Educational phases of safety work,” from the stand
point of the State's activities in this direction.
There was a time not long ago when the entire activities of States
in accident prevention work could be summed up in two phrases,
factory inspection and orders to comply, or, in other words, the
arbitrary enforcement of statutory laws and other mandatory regu
lations governing industrial conditions by inspectors clothed with
police powers of the State. As a matter of fact this is the princi
pal method in most States to-day and in some the only method,
although a few States are doing a fairly large amount of what can
properly be termed educational safety work.
Without a doubt what is commonly termed straight factory inspec
tion work has been the means of eliminating innumerable hazards
from industry, thereby preventing many accidents and injuries; and
I wish to take this opportunity, even at the risk of appearing self
congratulatory, to compliment the factory inspection departments on
the splendid results already accomplished in this direction. How
ever, in spite of the progress that has been made along this line, a
tremendous number of preventable accidents are still occurring in
industrial establishments, as shown by the accident records of the
various States, including those in which the most effective factory
inspection work is being carried on, and these accidents are not con
fined to those which are usually attributed to the human element,
but on the contrary many of them are due to unguarded machinery
and various other mechanical defects which iactory inspection
departments have been endeavoring for years to eliminate.
This being true the question naturally arises what is the reason for
the continuance of these physical hazards after all these years of law
enforcing activities. As one who has been a chief enforcing official
for a number of years, it is my opinion that it is due in a measure to
certain limitations which prevail in factory inspection work and which
necessarily handicap these departments in their activities.
Among these limitations I might mention the following: First, no
inspector, regardless of how competent he may be, can possibly see
all physical hazards in a plant, especially if he is not thoroughly famil
iar with the industry? and to expect him to do so would be expecting
the impossible. Visits of the inspector are of necessity more or less
infrequent, and during intervening periods new hazards are bound to
arise which remain unguarded until he returns, and even if all hazards
were located and orders issued for their removal there is all too fre
quently an effort on the part of the employer to delay or evade com
pliance with such orders. Then, too, some employers more or less
resent being ordered or compelled to do anything, and as a result
such guarding as is done by such employers is intended to meet the
letter rather than the spirit and intent of the law. In other words,
the work is done in a careless slipshod manner, thus defeating 10 a
large extent the purpose of the law and the order.
98
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
The primary object of factory inspection is intended to see that
machines are guarded and protective devices furnished, regardless of
whether employer or employee desires them or, as is often the case,
in spite of the employer's or employee's protestation that they are
unnecessary and useless. This of course raises the question as to
whether or not it is essential to have the interest and cooperation of
employers and employees. An assumption underlying factory inspec
tion is that the removal of physical hazards will make industry as
safe as is practicable, an assumption which meets with a certain
amount of approval from one quarter, yet from another is by infer
ence at least aenied or disputed.
We have here to deal with a question which is almost as old as the
American safety movement, a question of whether mechanical safe
guarding, using that term in a very broad sense, or human engineering,
using that term to denote the handling of the working force, is the
more effective in the prevention of accidents. My own view is that
both are essential; while industry as a whole is to-day much better
protected mechanically than it was a few years a,go, a great amount
of guarding is still imperative, the amount of which varies with each
industry but which is still of great importance in all. Because I be
lieve this to be true, I do not share tne view of those who hold that
the prime essential at present is to insist that workers shall be care
ful. While I agree that workers should be taught safety and taught
to exercise care in their work, as I see it the prune essential is that
employers be induced to take a whole-hearted interest in accident
prevention, for then and only then will the necessary and proper
safeguards be provided and safe conditions obtained, au of which are
necessary in order to appeal to and insist on the workers cooperation.
Only when a real safety spirit is created in each establishment, which
begins with the president and continues to the newest employee, which
provides guards not only in accordance with the codes but far in ex
cess thereof, which functions day in and day out through an or
ganization developed to serve that important purpose, only then
will accidents be reduced to the lowest possible minimum.
When we think of the innumerable causes of accidents which it
would be impractical if not impossible to cover or control by statu
tory enactments or codes, and even though included would be beyond
the ability of any inspector to note, wnen we realize that cooper
ation on the part of tne management and men can not be secured
through legislation or orders, the necessity of supplementing purely
coercive methods with educational methods becomes fully apparent.
I trust that I have made myself sufficiently clear on this pnase of
my subject so that there will be no misunderstanding of my position
regarding factory inspection or arbitrary enforcement of laws relating
to the safeguarding of dangerous conditions in industry. I believe
that regardless of the educational safety work carried on, so-called
straight factory inspection work must continue simply because there
are some employers who must be compelled to provide safe working
conditions in their plant through force or exercise of the police
powers of the State.
Whether educational or persuasive methods and the factory inspec
tion or coercive methods can be successfully combined or whether it
would be best to have them under separate leadership is a question
no one can authoritatively answer to-day simply because there is not
EDUCATIONAL PHASES OP SAFETY WORK
99
as yet sufficient experience on which to base a definite and final con
clusion. In some States, as has already been pointed out, both
methods are being used by one single department. Here in Ohio an
experiment is being tried of having educational safety work carried
on bv a separate department, known as the division of safety and
and hygiene. But whether carried on by one or two departments
the point I wish to make clear is that State educational safety work
must be intensified and extended before we can hope to reach the
desired end in accident prevention work.
Ordinarily when we think of educational safety work we have in
mind the education of employees. From my point of view the edu
cation of the employer is all essential to any results that we can hope
to achieve in the education of employees; otherwise we have the
cart before the horse. In order to direct our educational efforts
intelligently we must clearly visualize what we wish to accomplish
through education. In the case of the employer, I believe our efforts
should be directed to secure his genuine, whole-hearted interest in
“ safety first,” an interest which is based not only on a realization
that safety is a money-saving proposition but that it is a moral and
social obligation as well, and when we succeed in reaching the heart
as well as the mind of tne employer we will get 100 per cent cooper
ation. Sometimes we succeed in interesting the employer but fail to
educate him to a knowledge of how to carry on safety work effec
tively. As a result the employer gets the wrong sort of a start, fails
to secure the results he expected, becomes discouraged or disgusted
and once again accidents in his establishment are permitted to occur
with little or no effort being made to prevent them; but when the
employer is really and whole-heartedly interested in preventing ac
cidents to his employees, he will place some one definitely in charge
of safety work; he will provide the guards and protective devices
required and he will take the necessary measures to interest and edu
cate his foremen and workmen in safety. This analysis shows us not
only what we wish to achieve through education of the employer
but furnishes a yardstick for measuring the effectiveness of our efforts.
Having determined what we wish to accomplish through the edu
cation of the employer and having included therein the education of
the employees, let us inquire what results we wish to achieve through
employees’ education. First of all we wish to see them educated to
an appreciation of the fact that many accidents can be prevented
only tnrough efforts of the worker, ana that these efforts are advan
tageous to them personally. In other words, workers generally must
be convinced that the safety-first spirit pays. I have used the term
“ safety-first spirit” because no single word fuHy conveys the workers'
responsibility. If he has the safety-first spirit he will know the dan
gers of his work and will take no unnecessary chances on his own life
or limb or on that of his fellow worker. He will not indulge in horse
play, and will faithfully use the safeguards provided. He will
endeavor to work safely and will implicitly obey and follow the safety
rules and regulations laid down by This employer.
The foreman or superintendent imbued with a real safety-first
spirit will take the proper interest in the welfare of his men, will
see that proper guards and protective devices are provided, that they
are conscientiously used, that the right workman is placed on each
100
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
job and thoroughly instructed as to the dangers or hazards of his
work, and that safety rules are strictly observed.
While the primary responsibility for creating and inculcating the
safety-first spirit in each organization rests with the management,
the State also has a responsibility in this direction and a splendid
opportunity to render assistance to the employer, because where
workers are properly educated accidents invariably are reduced.
While it is not possible to secure genuine cooperation of the workers
until the management has given tangible evidence of its interest in
accident prevention by providing at least a reasonable measure of
mechanical safeguarding, even where the mechanical safeguarding is
only fair the education of the worker will effect a marked reduction
of accidents. In evaluating the relative importance of the various
factors enteiing into accident prevention, it is a generally accepted
conclusion that safety education is capable of reducing the number of
accidents at least 50 per cent. This of course will vary in different
establishments, depending on the degree of perfection achieved in
mechanical safeguarding.
Granting that safety education is desirable, the next question is
how educational safety work is to be conducted. Educating, per
suading, interesting, or selling the employer, whichever term you pre
fer in safety, is much the same as selling him a new machine or any
thing else that he doesn’t have but should have, whether it is a
commodity or a service. When a company starts out to market its
wares, it usually proceeds by general publicity in the magazines and
newspapers, by sending descriptive material through the mails, and
by personal visits of its salesmen. These three methods have been
and are being used with considerable success by various States in
selling safety service to employers, but in no State of which I know
has a degree of efficiency and coordination been achieved compar
able to that prevailing in industry*.
Our code work, accident statistics, special studies of particular
industries, visits of our field men, all offer an excellent opportunity
for securing news and trade-paper publicity. To do real effective
safety work the subject of safety must be kept constantly before the
public, and there is no better medium through which to accomplish
this than the newspapers, which are always glad to have feature arti
cles; and where could one find material more packed with human
interest than accidents afford? Pick out some of your permanent
total disability cases; show the home conditions before and after
the accident; show the war that is being waged to make such cases
impossible and to make industry safe from tne demon accident and
your newspapers will publish it and come back for more.
By the use of “ boiler plate” a constant flow of publicity can be se
cured in the smaller towns, which in general stand in greater need of
it than the larger towns, in many of which there are locals of the
National Safety Council, large plants doing effective safety work,
and other factors tending to awaken the people to an appreciation
of the need for accident prevention.
Trade papers are always interested in news concerning their own
industry, surveys of special industries, statistical material, stories
of companies doing effective safety work and the results secured,
revision of insurance rates, unusual or interesting decisions of the
compensation commission—all are excellent publicity material and
EDUCATIONAL PHASES OF SAFETY WORK
101
help to create an interest in the problem of protection to human life
and limb.
These are just a few of the channels whereby publicity may be
secured and employers and employees reached indirectly. Before
passing on to direct educational methods, I wish to point out the
necessity of carefully coordinating the various publicity efforts and
the more or less obvious fact that tne preparation of publicity material
requires tome one trained in this worK in order to make it most
effective and productive of the best results.
In considering the direct approach through the mails and in person
I shall first deal with the approach through the mails, for it is the
simplest way to reach the largest number in ths shortest period of
time.
At present quite a number of States send out bulletins, either
monthly or occasional, most of which are very commendable. In the
preparation of these there should, of couise, be a clear perception of
the purpose to be served, which is to interest the employer who has not
yet Decome interested in safety as well as to educate the employer
who is already “ sold on safety.” When we realize the large number
of establishments whose interest in accident prevention is of the
most casual kind, the importance of stressing the factors which tend
to interest employers becomes apparent. These bulletins should
escape from the dry conventional type sometimes used for such
purposes.
In addition to the regular monthly bulletins special bulletins should
be issued. One should cover the basic principles of accident-prevention work with definite instructions, well illustrated, showing how to
properly build the ordinary type of guards. Others should deal with
housekeeping, fire prevention, first aid; still others should be designed
expressly for foremen, safety committeemen and workmen. A series
of high-grade pictorial posters for posting in the shops should also be
provided.
While statistics have been mentioned, they are of such basic impor
tance that further reference must be made to them. It seems scarcely
necessary to point out that intelligent direction of accident preven
tion demands a statistical analysis of all accidents occurring, which
shall definitely determine what the most prolific accident causes are,
in industry generally and in specific industries, thus enabling a con
centration of effort to be made on these causes. In order that the
statistics shall be truly indicative, they must be based on complete
and accurate reports of all accidents and must be in such detail that
specific causes are clearly brought out. That such statistics are of
the greatest value not only in determining where efforts should be
centered but are also of exceptional educational value can not be
gainsaid. When you can place before an employer a thoroughly
exhaustive table of the accident causes in his industry you are reason
ably certain to interest him, and it is also likely that the knowledge
gained will be put to use and the most prolific hazards eliminated or
minimized. These statistics will also reveal the number of accidents
due to the human element and which can be eliminated only by coop
eration of the workers, and thus furnish material for the education
of workers which will carry conviction. Newspapers, posters, and
speeches can be used to carry this message to the workers.
102
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
A safety museum displaying models, photos, and blue prints of
improved safety devices and appliances also has a decided educa
tional value. To serve its purpose properly, however, such a museum
must be reasonably complete and kept strictly up to date.
Another means for educating the employer is afforded by complete
surveys of his plant by field men, who should, of course, be competent
safety engineers. If these surveys are exhaustive, covering not only
the physical hazards but the defects or points of weakness in their
educational safety work, with precise recommendations as to the things
that ought to be done to advance the cause of safety, the employer
is very likely to be impressed sufficiently to carry out many, if not
all, of the recommendations.
Supplementing this service, expert consultation should be made
available to the employer, particularly the small employer who can
not afford such service, to assist him in solving any difficult or tech
nical problem connected with his accident prevention work, whether
it relates to the best guard for a particular machine, or means for
overcoming indifference and carelessness on the part of workers, or
whatever the problem may be.
This service should be further supplemented by offering employers,
either as individual or as a group, services of speakers to address
meetings of workers and of foremen, thus assisting employers in the
education of their workers. An effective approach to the employer
is also afforded by State or regional safety conferences, State or local
safety campaigns, and by having speakers address chambers of com
merce and other civic and trade organizations on the subject of
safety.
All the educational activities noted above have been used by vari
ous States at one time or another and I might add that they repre
sent the activities of the newly created division of safety and hygiene
of the industrial commission of Ohio which are already being carried
out or are in the course of preparation.
While it is still too early for us to judge of the ultimate effective
ness of this method of educational appeal, results already attained
are strikingly encouraging. Our field men report a decidedly favor
able reaction of employers, and these reports are substantiated by
numerous letters received from employers, pledging their coopera
tion not only in the matter of safeguarding but also in carrying out
our recommendations pertaining to organized safety work in their
establishments.
In various cities our appeal through chamber of commerce meet
ings has been very effective not only in arousing the genuine interest
of individual executives but has been the means of securing concerted
action of all executives to make industrial safety a reality in their
community; and the result has been that in these plants more and
better guarding is being done than ever before; safety committees
are being organized; shop meetings of foremen and workers are being
held; accident prevention has become a fixed part of routine and plant
policy; interplant competition has been fostered solely through an
educational presentation of the subject.
I have not touched on school safety education, even though it does
undoubtedly influence the industrial accident situation, because it
seems to me that this phase of the work should properly be carried
on by and through the regular educational agencies of the State and
EDUCATIONAL PHASES OP SAFETY WORK
103
local safety organizations. However, when we have an opportunity
in connection with our regular work to encourage it I think, of course,
that we should make it a point to do so.
There are undoubtedly many other measures for the promotion
and elaboration of industrial safety education which can and will be
conceived by those engaged therein and which will develop as the work
progresses. I have only recited what is now being done or is under
contemplation by the organization tinder my charge. In conclusion
I want to reiterate the points I have tried to make clear, namely,
that State educational safety work can and must be greatly extended
and intensified if accidents are to be reduced to a level that an
enlightened moral sense will justify, and that education in industrial
safety is after all a superstructure built on a foundation laid by
faithful and earnest endeavor in the arbitrary enforcement of State
laws by factory inspectors and that the success of educational work
will continue to depend to a great extent on a continuation of the
exercise of this authority.
The C h a ir m a n . Mr. Kearns gave us what practically amounts to
a text book on the educational methods and phases of safety work
with an introduction to each Chapter. I am wondering whether we
could not devote a few minutes’ time now to a discussion of Mr.
Kearns’ paper while it is fresh in our minds. Doctor McBride, we
will ask you what you are doing in New Jersey along similar lines.
Doctor M cB ride . It is refreshing to see the great interest taken in
this important question. Mr. Kearns and the ladies and other gentle
men who have participated in this safety program are to be com
mended for the splendid papers they have delivered to the associa
tion. I am sure we are deeply indebted to them for this service.
I don’t know of anybody who is more intensely interested in safety
than the average doctor. B y the very nature of his profession he must
be an advocate of safety. He can’t help but be intensely interested.
I believe very much in the question of accident prevention; accidents
can be prevented and cut down to a great extent. That statement
offers no possibility of contradiction. We in New Jersey follow along
the lines indicated by M r. Kearns. We have a bureau of hygiene
and sanitation conducted by one of our deputy commissioners of labor,
who has devoted 15 years of his life to accident prevention. He is a
very intelligent man, and I believe we are getting somewhere in New
Jersey in accident-prevention work. We favor the safeguarding of
machinery on an educational basis, as has been touched upon by
M r. Kearns. We go into the factories of our State, we go before our
chambers of commerce, different social organizations, women’s clubs,
wherever we are invited, and sometimes we extend the invitation to
ourselves. In that way we get pretty much before the public. Since
I have been doing this work I have insisted that each industry in the
State, where humanly possible, organize a safety program. In the
first place, we ask each industry employing over 10 people to have a
real, live, active, efficient safety organization in their plant. In the
smaller plants there are fewer men on the safety committee of the
plant. We don’t want men to be members of that safety committee
unless they are really of service. We want them to meet regularly
and analyze accidents, the cause of accidents, and subsequent
10721°—27------ 8
104
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOB OFFICIALS
prevention. We insist on that. We have instilled in the minds of
industry that we are doing them a service, and that they are not
making any special concession when they allow us to come out to
their places to speak. Unless I can interest the plant manager on
safety work, I do not visit the plant personally for that particular
phase of activity unless to correct something that occurs in his
plant which indicates that he is violating the law. I will not grace
the plant with my presence unless he is sold with the subject of safety
prevention. I quite agree with Mr. Kearns when he says unless
the plant manager is absolutely sold on the subject of safety you
can’t expect to get very gratifying results from the employees of
such a plant. I nave prepared a paper on some of the things New
Jersey is doing on safety work.
SAFETY WORK OF STATES
BT ANDREW F. M’ BBIDE, M. D., COMMISSIONER OF LABOB 0 7 NSW JEBSET
A careful consideration of the perplexing elements involved in the
effort to prevent industrial accidents will probably convince soberminded, thoughtful people that punitive statutes based on force and
fear will never equal in value or supplant in effectiveness voluntary
efforts inspired by a sensible, moral appreciation of the protective re
sponsibility imposed on the employer by the contract of hire.
In discussing the question under consideration to-day my experi
ence with the administration of laws enacted for the purpose of pro
viding a larger measure of industrial safety has convinced me that
the cooperative method whose energizing force depends on popular
approval is a more powerful engine for definite and constructive
industrial reform than is the mere passage of laws that restrain the
ordinary liberty of employers of labor.
An unflinching determination to drive home the unalterable ethics
of this employment theory whose base rests firmly on our modern
conception of industry’s needs, when coupled with unflagging efforts
to arouse and acquaint working men with the solemn character of the
reciprocal obligation inseparable from the wage contract that implies
willingness on their part to cooperate with employers, will do more
to provide safe premises than all the threats of pains and penalties
concomitant with the exercise of the police powers of the State.
I know that in our day when the law mills are busily engaged in
grinding out a grist of unworkable, unmanageable, and inefficient laws
a public man who draws attention to this practice is likely in bureau
cratic quarters to find himself in bad standing with many of his associ
ates. I am also conscious that certain fervid and enthusiastic reform
groups whose tropical judgments in matters of common weal at
times seem to be influenced more by a desire to accomplish an arbi
trary purpose than anxiety to effect results based on sound experi
ence, constructive endeavors, or practical engineering methods, with
a zeal worthy of a better cause pin their faith on a multiplicity of
labor laws that restrain, sometimes harass, and often immoderately
handicap the natural rights of our fellow citizens.
I assume, of course, that we agree that the great majority of
American employers are law abiding and that when definite engineer
ing standards of safety practice have been prepared or approved
SAFETY WORK OF STATES
105
by the American Engineering Standards Committee and adopted by
State departments of labor as a part of the safety program that the
question of compliance is no longer debatable and delays should only
hinge on the ability to alter premises, equipment, or processing meth
ods without causing undue or ruinous effects on busmess.
While I am convinced that punitive legislation will not produce
safety in industry I am not so visionary as to believe that the police
power of the State should be absolutely abandoned and the numer
ically small group of employers who disregard safety principles be
allowed to continue on their course unchecked. If defective plant
structures, hazardous machinery, subtle trade poisons^ or improper
sanitary practices levy a heavy toll on the working efficiency of labor
these derelictions should be called to the attention of employers and
if; after proper official notice, recalcitrants continue to neglect to
discharge statutory obligations, action should be taken unrelentingly
to convince these sinister minds that a contumacious disregard for
human life and health will not be tolerated by society in this age.
When we examine the records that redden the statistical pages of
our industrial accident bureaus and find that after approximately 40
years of experience by administrative bureaus drastic statutory
rocedure has done but little to stem the rising tide of accident
requency thoughtful men and women wonder how long it will take
for the day to arrive when workers will not be required to pawn life,
limb, and health in an effort to win a living in this modern period
of civilization.
Although I am not so experienced in the practical administration of
labor laws as some of my associates in this convention, I am sure I
strike a popular chord when I express the conviction that the cor
rective force needed to provide greater safety in our industries is not
more drastic law but rather a more active and energetic participation
in safety matters that concern their daily hves by the rank and file
of our workers who, after all, are the ones who pay toll in our annual
accident tabulation.
I am sure, as there is nothing controversial involved in the question
of human conservation, that the employer and worker may forget
contemporaneous differences of opinion arising from wage bargaining
and by putting forth their greatest efforts devote their energies to the
work oi saving our man power from needless waste.
Although our records in New Jersey would seem'to show that a
large percentage of all accidents is attributable to carelessness, negli
gence, and thoughtlessness on the part of the workers, I am not one
who wants to charge the workers with a greater degree of folly than
may be imputed to other working elements, for in the final analysis
we are all workers—the executive in his office, the engineer in his
drafting room, the superintendent on whose shoulders rests the respon
sibility of productive management, and indeed all those who are
enlisted in the professional, technical, and supervising groups.
Realizing that recrimination will never provide a remedy or a solu
tion of this problem, and that therefore no useful purpose will be
served by speaking oi the shortcomings of the employer whose failure
to provide safeguards causes accidents, as measured against the care
less tendencies of the workers whose thoughtless disregard of engi
neering rules prepared for their safety inevitably causes loss of life and
E
106
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOB OFFICIALS
limb, I thought it would be more to the point to outline a definite
program to which all classes could subscribe and which, if enforced
with enthusiasm, understanding, and sympathy, might induce large
masses of men to cooperate in a movement that might free industry
from this fearful wastage of human life and limb.
While it has been stated that a large proportion of all accidents may
be based on the indifferent attitude 01 workmen to safety measures,
we should not shade too heavily on that point for the employer is
responsible for tragedies that result from bad machinery, dangerous
structures, and improper processing methods that should cause trou
bled sleep to the minas whose conscience has not been dulled to the
most primal instincts of human understanding.
If I were to outline a program for the prevention of accidents in
industry, I would suggest that all employers of labor subscribe to the
following policy:
1. Provide safe premises and structures, proper lighting, sanitary appliances,,
safeguarded machinery, protection from dust, fumes, excessive heat, moisture,,
and poisonous trade substances.
2. Call all the workers of the plant together in a meeting, ask for their sympa
thetic cooperation in the safety movement, and appoint committees in every
department of work.
3. Impress these committees with the responsibility of their position and hold
them accountable for all accidents that take place within their jurisdiction.
4. Require these committees to hold monthly conferences and to keep careful
records of same.
5. As an auxiliary to the work of these committees appoint a foreman in each
department to be a member of the general committee and hold each foreman
responsible for the safety of operations in his department.
6. Post suitable signs and bulletins throughout the plant; provide “ stuffers”
or other printed matter for pay envelopes, and if the plant is large enough
provide a magazine containing safety news to be circulated among all workmen
who are able to read.
7. If large numbers of foreigners are employed some work on Americanization
(to impress this class of labor with their responsibilities as well as their rights
under our Constitution) should be attempted.
8. Hold shop meetings of the entire plant at intervals, the frequency of which
is to be decided by local conditions. Good speakers should discuss, safety
matters at these meetings and the point should be strictly kept in mind that
s'mply making a noise is not making an effective safety speech. Speakers
should be selected because of their knowledge and ability to perform this kind
of service.
As the safety movement is neither autocratic, aristrocatic, nor
bureaucratic in its conception, I think you will agree with me that
the successful consummation of its saving purpose requires the united
support of every one of our citizens and that the complete democra
tization of industry can be accomplished only by submitting to the
workers therein some intelligent program that, having won their
earnest participation and active support, will inspire them to assume
that share of tne responsibility that may be fairly charged to them.
I am hopeful that a better understanding of the peaceful policy that
has made our country a leader in popular government that depends
for its power and ♦ffectiveness on appeals to citizens to participate
in the performance of public duty will be found no less powerful in
industrial safety work tnan it has been in making possible the orderly
and efficient administration of public affairs.
The C h a ir m a n . In Cleveland. Ohio, last September there assem
bled the greatest conference to aate of the National Safetv Council.
There was registered at that convention people interested in safety
NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL
107
from all parts of the United States and Canada. The National
Safety Council at the present time has about a hundred local
safety councils scattered throughout the United States, with which
many of us are in almost daily contact. It is a great force for
safety, and hence it seems to me that this afternoon’s session,
which is considering safety throughout the United States and the
Dominion of Canada, is peculiarly fortunate in having to come to it
and speak of the cooperation between the State ana the National
Safety Council the man who presided at the great meetingheld at
Cleveland last fall, the president, Mr. C. B. Auel, of the Westingiouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., of East Pittsburgh.
COOPERATION BETWEEN THE STATES AND THE NATIONAL
SAFETY COUNCIL
BY C. B. AUEL, OF THE WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING CO.
I am indeed happy to be here to-day as representing the National
Safety Council and to participate in your program, particularly as it
has to do in part with some of the less known phases of safety.
And is it not curious to find a subject developing into one so com
plex when most, if not all, safety men in the early days felt it to be
only a simple one; that is to say, simple in that it was supposed to be
confined almost wholly to the industries and to the mechanical safe
guarding of tools and equipment in them, although even this at times
still seems impossible to accomplish.
I am not so sure but of the several phases now developing the
matter of health, originally never considered as entering into the
problem in any way, will ultimately prove to be the greatest single
phase of the safety movement in the industries. And I can not
further conceive of any medium equal to this movement for uncon
sciously impressing upon the public generally the necessity of more
attention being paid to health, the lack of which attention was
brought home to us so forcefully during the war.
In evidence of the increasing attention which health matters are
commencing to receive from employers, it is only necessary to mention
physical examination as a requisite to employment, as well as subse
quent periodic examination, dental and optical work, venereal
diseases, etc.
To those disposed to question the connection between health and
accident prevention work, if there are any such, and to claim that
items like those cited are being taken up by employers more in en
deavors to reduce sickness absenteeism, totaling as it does from six
to nine days per year per person, may I say that such a reply is true,
but in part only, as would also be the statement that many employers
are doing a certain amount of health work for purely humanitarian
reasons. Additionally, however, it is a fact that there is an even more
important reason than either of those given for doing health work.
Our compensation laws are becoming more and more liberal in
scope, either purposely made so or else so interpreted by enforcing
authorities, so that employers are now held wholly responsible even
for accidents not disabling in themselves, but which simply aggravate
preexisting conditions, these in turn producing disability. And is it
not the height of unfairness to allow employers no credit for restor
ing to normal injured workers whose health has been previously more
108
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
or less undermined by disease but whose complete rejuvenation must
be undertaken in order to assist their recovery from accident ? Under
such circumstances employers must take cognizance of health condi
tions, whether they would otherwise do so or not.
Accident statistics leave much to be desired at the present time
and estimates are even worse; but comparing figures obtainable for
fatalities 15 years ago with returns of to-day, there has unquestion
ably been a steady lessening year by year of industrial and public
utility fatalities, running into a total reduction of several hundred
thousand for the intervening years.
Notwithstanding, however, this gratifying lessening of accidents
in the industries and the public utilities the advent of the automo
bile has injected a new element into the accident situation, more than
offsetting any previous gains, so that the problem of safety as a whole
is assuming graver proportions than ever. With an annual increase
in the killed from all causes now totaling about 86,000, with present
estimates varying from 2,000,000 to 10,000,000 injured, with finan
cial losses, direct and indirect, running well into the billions of dollars,
this country is confronted with one of the most important economic
problems ever before it. As emphasizing its gravity, comparison
need only be made with the accident (fatal) records of some of the
leading European countries:
Fatalities per IfiOOfiOO population
United States.
Ita ly .........
Switzerland.
France______
Great Britain.
860
840
618
477
473
Germany.
Belgium..
Holland..
Denmark.
384
327
303
223
And among these countries are our leading competitors. We can
feel assured, however, that if they have less accidents than we have,
we have at least not attempted the impossible when we set ourselves
the task of reducing our present high figures. This country is further
ahead than any other country in organized accident prevention work;
but, notwithstanding, the people of other countries have not such a
highly developed national vice as carelessness with which to contend,
and this it is which is counting so heavily against us.
Study and experience in the industries make it appear that the
problem of accident prevention in them has three partial solutions
which, successfully met, would comprise a fairfy complete solution—
namely, mechanical or equivalent safeguarding, say, 25 per cent;
safety organization, 25 per cent; and safetv education, 50 per cent.
It womd seem as if these features would also apply to accidentprevention work in other places—in the homes, on the streets, and
along the highways. Whether or not the same proportions hold is
immaterial; in fact, certain industrial plants have already progressed
so far in prevention work that accidents in them due to the lack of
safeguards may be considered negligible and the two remaining items
accordingly take on even larger proportions.
Whatever worth while has thus far been accomplished in accident
prevention has been due to no single agency but to many agencies
working, unfortunately, more or less independently—among them
the States and the United States, the Red Cross, the industries, the
NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL
109
public utilities, the engineering societies, the National Safety Coun
cil.various other public as weu as private bodies, etc.
The National Safety Council is a wholly nonprofit institution hav
ing had its inception in 1913, its first name being the “ National Coun
cil for Industrial Safety,” and appropriately named at the time.
It was hoped to attract the attention of the industries to it as a
clearing house, where accident experiences might be exchanged and
and where an intensive analysis of the accident situation could be
made and remedies perhaps applied, previous study on the part of a
few far-seeing individuals appearing to indicate the possibilities of
effecting considerable improvement through concerted and combined
effort. The plan was successful from the start and the Council has
steadily grown, enlarging its activities to meet the growing problem,
and changing its name meanwhile to correspond. At the present
time it has a membership of 4,200 corporations and others, including
500 foreign members, operating over 8,000 workshops and employ
ing approximately 6,000,000 workers. It has a headquarters staff
of 62 members with 5 traveling secretaries, and its annual income is
well along toward $1,000,000. The annual congresses, having almost
100 sessions and over 300 speakers, are so well patronized, with an
attendance of over 3,000, that it is already a matter of concern as to
where they shall be held, owing to the lack of suitable hotel facilities
in the majority of our cities.
It has, moreover, established 68 community or local councils in
various parts of the country, which are spending almost $500,000
annually in the cause of safety.
Over 1,000 of our membership are serving on various committees
without compensation, and as snowing what this really means may
I quote from my address as president of the National Safety Council
last year:
We have in our safe practices pamphlets, the finest safety literature extant.
These are being constantly increased, as well as being kept up to date. The
subjects for these pamphlets are first decided upon by the engineering section
of the council and, after approval by the executive committee, are drafted into
preliminary shape by the headquarters staff. They are then submitted for com
ment to a board of 75 engineers, men of mature judgment, selected from our
varied membership, whose combined experience covers many fields and who, in
thus going over these pamphlets, adding to and subtracting from them, place
gratuitously at the disposal of the council knowledge of inestimable value. To
bring home more forcibly to you the really immeasurable value of such service,
the salaries of these men undoubtedly run from $5,000 to $10,000 and higher;
yet even assuming the lower salary of $5,000 for every one of them and an aver
age business and engineering experience of 15 years, the concerns with which
they are connected have expended jointly on their education a total of almost
$6,000,000, and upon this great source of knowledge the council is at all times
free to draw for help. This, however, is not the only source of our strength; it
is but one of many sources, for our talent is not confined to these 75 men, since
our membership approximates 4,200 or more than fifty times as many, so that
it would be rather hard to state, much less to overstate, the quality of the talent
supporting us in our various endeavors.
Our service to members is actually being rendered at less than
cost, due to the income from its calendar, the sales of which last year
exceeded 600,000, and besides the safe practices pamphlets already
alluded to includes our monthly magazine, posters, films, slides, pam
phlets, booklets, calendar, bureau of information, meetings, the annual
congress, reports of special investigations, etc.
110
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
Much information in addition is broadcast to the public at large
through the daily papers, as well as through trade, technical, and
class publications, and over the radio.
A great deal of work has also been done by us in the public and
parochial schools, a large part of which has been made possible by
financial aid over several years at the rate of $35,000 per year ex
tended by the National Bureau of Casualty and Surety Underwriters,
who have further helped with their counsel aud advice. Three of
our field secretaries have paid extended visits to 115 cities and have
assisted in organizing safety work in the schools in many ways, in
cluding the formation of junior safety councils. Some of the results
of these efforts are already in evidence, as instance the reduction in
fatal accidents among the school children of Detroit to 40 per cent
of what they were; and in Louisville from 23 fatalities the year be
fore safety teaching was introduced to 14 the year following, then to
8 the next year, and now almost a year with none; or in Springfield,
Mass., the reduction during the past year of fatalities from 10 to
2 among school children, whne fatalities among children of preschool
years actually increased.
We have already held 17 one-day conferences this year in as many
different cities, such as some of the states hold annually, and have
11 others scheduled—these in addition to 25 industrial safety schools
and 20 safe drivers’ schools, each usually made up of six separate
meetings, and having a total attendance of over 20,000.
We are affiliated with other organizations in their accident-prevention work, among them the large engineering societies, the Rea Cross,
the National Electric Light Association, and the American Gas Asso
ciation, and are supporters financially and otherwise of such move
ments as the American Engineering Standards Committee and the
national conference on street and highway safety, otherwise known
as the Hoover Conference.
In the American Engineering Standards Committee we are repre
sented on the mining standardization and safety code correlating
committees and have acted as sole or joint sponsors for eight safety
codes, serving on a total of 34 code committees in developing what
we hope will ultimately become national safety codes.
In addition to what has been enumerated we have made compre
hensive safety surveys in no less than 12 cities—among them Kansas
City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Syracuse, Richmond,
etc.—pointing out what may be done to improve traffic and public
safety in them. The statistics of the national conference on street
and highway safety showed there were six cities that for two con
secutive years had accomplished a reduction in automobile fatalities,
and it is certainly significant that in all six cities our community or
local safety councils are located.
A special investigation on benzol poisoning has recently been made
at an expense of $5,000 by a committee witn Dr. C. E. A. Winslow,
of Yale University, as chairman. He is also acting as chairman of
another of our committees on spray painting, for which we are
appropriating $10,000.
Our members will further be found responding freely and gratui
tously to calls for their services, appearing on the programs o f many
conventions.
DISCUSSION
111
This is an organization, all too briefly sketched, which not only
continues to offer you its aid but will be equally glad to continue to
receive aid from you.
The problem of safety is so big as to require the help of every
organization and every individual having the welfare of our country
at heart, all working together to develop a constructive program.
You can be of assistance to us by joining the council where you
have not already done so, participating in its activities, advertising
it, and urging others to join. We can be of help to you by spread
ing our organization and its activities through your respective terri
tories, taking part in your conventions, and helping you to organize
and address meetings, establish safety courses, and develop safety
work, both in the industries and in the schools.
We should like nothing better than to have you attend the com
ing congress at Detroit, where we should be glad to give you a con
ference room and afford you every opportunity to become better
acquainted with us and our work.
DISCUSSION
Mr. H a l l . Y ou spoke of the number of accidents in the United
States due largely to carelessness as being above that of other coun
tries. Is the fact also admitted that the United States produces
more than other countries, especially in the coal mines and other
industries?
Mr. A u e l . There is of course a good deal of truth in what the
speaker has said, as seen in my statement. I simply quote inform
ally what others have told me. I lived four years m Europe, so that
in addition to what others told me, I have observed. During the
four years I Uved in Europe I never saw a fire there. I mention
that as indicating that carelessness is one of the big national vices,
and certainly we have it more highly developed than any of the
European countries. I don’t think there is any use in shutting our
eyes to the problem, and it is absolutely a fact that carelessness is
responsible in our own works, which are typical of, I think, the major
ity of works. Borrowing the safety department’s figures, not 75, SO,
or 90, but up to 99% per cent of practically all our accidents in the
past six or seven months (barring one, so far as I know, and that
was due to defective material) could be attributed to nothing else
than carelessness. Of course there may be an underlying reason for
carelessness. I feel quite sure as a result of study that what we have
been prone to call carelessness may be and is an effect and not a
cause. You ask me, then, if carelessness is an effect and not a cause,
what is the cause of carelessness, and I will say there is carelessness
pure and simple, and some things a good many people have been
calling carelessness are really due to worry and ill health.
M r . H a l l . That didn’t e
statement bears out that.
as ten times more than th<
x
„
.
where he has to get out mass production has to become careless
regarding his own safety. Don’t let us be stampeded that the Ameri
can worker is any more careless. He is swifter, and he has therefore
112
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
to take more chances. It is up to the manager to see that he has
the proper protection.
The C h a ir m a n . The next paper and demonstration are on the use
of motion pictures as an aid to accident prevention.
MOVING PICTURES IN ACCIDENT PREVENTION WORK
BY ROBERT B. NORTHRTJP, SAFETT INSPECTOR, BUREAU OF INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE,
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
When a certain procedure has been decided upon in academic trainmg we have heard the saying, “ That will be a stairway to learning.”
With the introduction of the motion-picture film into educational
lines the saying may be changed to a “ moving stairway to learning.”
This reminds us of the moving stairways or escalators in the great
department stores that lift us easily, without fatigue to ourselves,
from floor to floor.
[The next four paragraphs are excerpts from Motion Pictures in
Education, by Don Carlos Ellis and Laura Thornborough:]
“ Through the use of motion pictures in school and college students
are taught quicker, with less fatigue or strain, and retain the infor
mation better. Pictures are able to standardize impressions and
make them clear and complete, uniform, lasting, and specific. By
them the abstract can be made concrete, the absent present. They
overcome time and space. Rapid processes can be slowed down and
analyzed; slow processes can be accelerated; inanimate objects ani
mated; dead facts made to live and pulsate. Attention can be held
and concentrated and the memory more deeply impressed by moving
images. Scientific experiments and demonstration performed with
ideal equipment under the best possible conditions as well as opera
tions performed in the clinic can, by means of motion pictures, be
repeated indefinitely anywhere. Microscopic life can be enlaced
many times on the screen, so that what can ordinarily be seen with
difficulty through the microscope by only one at a time can be easily
viewed on the screen by an entire class. By animated drawings and
models, the electric current passing through a series of wirings of an
electric motor, the nervous impulses passing between various parts of
the body and Drain, or the circulation of the blood through the body
can be visualized. These are but examples of the vast field that can
be utilized.
“ The cinema expands the experience of the pupils by bringing to
them the whole wide world—things as they are. Rushing rivers, the
bubbling lava, caldrons of great volcanos, waving fields of grain, vast
forest fires, storm clouds, and the mighty ocean with its pounding
surf. When geography is studied they are transported as if by magic
to the scenes <3 their studies, where they live among the native people.
They study biology, and the films bring the living animal life of the
world and its native environment to the classroom. In geology the
formation of the mountains and canyons through the slow process of
the ages can by films of animated drawings be vividly presented to
students so that they will never forget.
“ Slow motion pictures define detau—the flower bud slowly opens to
a full bloom flower or the dragoon fly emerges from its chrysalis.
MOVING FEATURES IN ACCIDENT PREVENTION WORK
113
Every movement may be analyzed and the memory of the animations
will last far longer tnan is the case when the student reads about
such processes abstractly, coldly and distantly in a textbook.
“ Tests to show the teaching* efficiency of motion-picture films as
measured by results obtained by the teacher in the classroom have been
made. One of the most significant was conducted to determine the
effectiveness of four different methods of presentation: (1) The study
of the printed lesson; (2) the same lesson presented orally by the
teacher; (3) the lesson depicted by a film; and (4) the film presenta
tion accompanied by explanatory comments. A summary of the
results gave evidence that ‘ teacher’ scored lowest, ‘ study’ came
next, 'film alone’ scored a little higher, and ‘ film lecture’ made the
highest score of all. Another test showed: Films alone scored an aver
age of 75.5; the superior teacher scored 66.9; the average teacher
scored 61.36. The significant feature of this test is that the film alone
beat the best teacher 8.6 per cent and the average teacher 14.14 per
■cent, yet experience has proved that the best results of all are obtained
by a combination of the three—accurate text, efficient teacher, and
a truly educative film.”
_
Users of films should know that certain limitations can be overcome.
Let us take the matter of eyestrain: Do not use a faulty projection
or old badly scratched film. With well-maintained modem projec
tors, fresh prints from the master negative, and a suitable distance
from the screen no appreciable eyestrain results. The fire hazard
may be eliminated by the use of noninfiammable film stock now on
the market and by tne use of projection booths constructed of fire
proof material. These booths can be constructed permanently or
may be obtained in the portable type so that they can be transported
from place to place.
Motion pictures and their projection are expensive as compared with
still photography, but when measured with the cost of other educa
tional equipment generally the expense is not so high but that this
work easily passes into the category of “ necessary equipment.”
There are many motion-picture bureaus distributing educational
and industrial films. Public libraries are filing information of these
sources, which include the name of the picture, a brief outline of the
subject, the name of the purveyor, and the cost of rental.
AS APPLIED TO ACCIDENT PREVENTION WORK
Statistics in New York State show that only 27 per cent of all com
pensated industrial accidents are due to machine hazards. This is
largely the result of years of work on machine protection. The bal
ance of 73 per cent of such accidents results from unsafe physical condi
tions, lack of trade ability, improper handling of took and objects,
unsafe methods in operating machines, falls, careless practices, and
kindred conditions.
It follows that the human factor must be considered; that educa
tional measures must be used to stimulate mental alertness until
people are trained to instinctively work safely and avoid danger.
The labor department is now working on this problem through four
avenues—verbally in lectures given at industrial plants, through
114
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
bulletins and publications, by photographs, and finally by means of
moving pictures.
Many of the industries in this country in the years that have
passed protected their machinery, walk ways, etc., and considered it
sufficient. Accidents decreased but to no valuable extent. This
experience showed the necessity for education in accident prevention
principles and cooperation between all forces that are working on
the problem. Let me define the word education as it is used in this
connection. It is not in the sense of mental instruction in mathe
matics or history; rather an instructive propaganda—a constant
agitation in the principles of safety first, hygiene, and sanitation.
Cooperative accident prevention committees of executives and workers
are formed in industrial plants. Shop talks are given, social activi
ties constituting safety rallies are held, safety poster service is insti
tuted, in fact well-organized service has functioned until some concerns
have reduced their accidents as much as 85 per cent. Many indus
tries do this valuable work ; the mass do not, and it is the duty of
the State to reach the latter and instruct them in the principles of
organized safety wofck and the specific.causes of accidents and the
remedy therefor.
Motion pictures are valuable for this work, since an operation
done in an unsafe manner can be seen in moving detail from start
to finish; conversely, the safe way can be shown. The worker hears
that a safety lecture is to be given and stays away. He learns that
a motion picture is to be shown and subconsciously feels the call of
the amusement or interest feature of it and attends. The operator
who sees in a motion picture a man theoretically killed when oper
ating a circular saw in an unsafe manner will, 99 times out of 100,
think of the safe way to operate that saw when he again begins his
work. It would seem that this is only human nature.
The subjects whereon filmpictures will give graphic aid in prevent
ing accidents are endless. But a few are quoted as examples: A
story picture which includes industrial settings with an accident and
its moral; reels of technical pictures showing artisans working the
right and the wrong way which really means the safe and the unsafe
way; (one great source of accidents lies in the fact that many socalled mechanics do not know how to handle their tools or operate
their machines) the right and the wrong of situations and conditions—
i.e., work clothes, shoes, chairs, floors, housekeeping, falls, falling
objects, handling heavy objects, horseplay, poisonous substances, etc.
Already sufficient work with the cinema nas been done in this line
to develop some of its reactions on an audience of workers. The
picture must not be over one-half hour in duration (two reels) and
at least one-third of the picture should be of human interest—domes
tic scenes or a bit of comedy.
The art of producing safety moving pictures is entirely different
from taking purely amusement pictures. In the latter the subject
or story, tne ability to act well, settings, scenery, etc., are of para
mount importance. In accident prevention work acting must be
subordinate to trade knowledge. There will be those in an audience
who both Imow the trade depicted and are critical. If a person
demonstrating an operation on a machine, either the safe or unsafe
INSPECTION AND SAFETY IN MASSACHUSETTS
115
way, shows a lack of knowledge of the trade and makes mistakes,
the lesson that is being conveyed loses practically all of its value.
The picture “ Woodworking hazards that will now be shown is in
conjunction with a field study and analysis, by the New York State
Bureau of Industrial Hygiene, of 300 in woodworking factories
(Bulletin 139).
All of the accidents that are shown have occurred, many repeat
edly. We have endeavored to make the action sufficiently slow that
all movements will be clear and defined. The film will be shown
primarily to groups of woodworkers throughout the State by our
lecturers.
(Mr. Northup then filmed two and a half reels of pictures entitled
“ Woodworking hazards.”]
The C h a ir m a n . I think we are all interested in knowing what
New York is doing. Mr. Sweetzer was unable to come to this con
ference. We all know Mr. John P. Meade, of Massachusetts, who
has been here throughout the conference, and is going to comment
on what is being done in Massachusetts in general in Mr. Sweetzer’s
place.
INSPECTION AND SAFETY IN MASSACHUSETTS
BT J. P. MBADB, DIRECTOR INDUSTRIAL SAFETY, MASSACHUSETTS
Experience in dealing with units of hazardous exposure has re
sulted in a system of factory inspection practical in detail. Danger
points in the industrial establishments are now accurately located.
Causes of injuries are well known. They are made the object of
intensive analysis by those authorized by law to make industry safe
for the employee. Effort is made to deal effectively with the contrib
uting factors for the purpose of saving life and preventing loss of
working hours. This appears to be the experience of all the indus
trial States.
.
Some achievements have been accomplished since this activity
became an integral factor in the industrial field. Machinery acci
dents have been reduced. Exercise of the police power has done
much to make this possible.
Legislative enactment controlling recognized work dangers was the
initial effort in this direction. Hazards of power transmission equip
ment attracted early attention and statutes were made to require
safeguarding of the dangers. General laws for this purpose were
not successful. They were lacking in specific detail ana did not pro
mote uniformity for enforcement through systematic inspection work.
Injuries sustained at the point of operation were not adequately
provided for in such legislation.
It was when State legislatures recognized that law making for the
control of these technical hazards should be exercised by those
experienced in the traditions of the dangerous trades that potential
me$ns were adopted for the prevention of work accidents of this kind.
This marked the beginning of effective accident prevention work
under the auspices of State authority. Regulations to control dan
gerous machinery contact resulted from the combined effort of
employers and workmen well trained in the industry and often super
vised by the constructive ability of the expert. Here was the
116
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
foundation for effective safety inspection work. Its basis rested upon
mutual cooperation with laws made to govern the industry of which
workmen and employers were integral parts. Experience in the
industries of Massachusetts indicate that these forces have operated
to produce a substantial reduction in accidents due to contact with
machinery. Some interesting facts are available to make this state
ment clear. Take this one:
In 1918,77,509 tabulatable injuries were reported in Massachusetts,
of which 19,640 were caused by machinery; in 1925, 58,475 tabulatable injuries occurred, 7,961 being due to contact with machinery*
These figures indicate that tabulatable injuries dropped 25 per cent
while machinery accidents fell off approximately 59 per cent.
In the absence of total employee exposure hours there is room
only for conservative statement, but accidents on machinery have
diminished to such an extent that even in the absence of this infor
mation the case is clearly proved. This is shown by a close analysis
of the different types oi machinery injuries. The major portion of
these occurred at the point of operation.
In 1918 the number of accidents of this type reached a total of
16,113, or 82 per cent ol all machinery accidents. In 1925 there
were 5,333 of these accidents, or 67 per cent of all occurring on ma
chinery. This result came from uniform factory inspection work
with a definite plan of attack. Through this system attention was
directed to well-established danger points. This in turn reduced the
number of work accidents.
Even more convincing proof of this point may be adduced from
the experience with accidents on gears, belts, and set screws. In
1918 the total number of accidents on gears was 934, and in 1925,
246. This was a decrease of 74 per cent. In 1918 there were 743
accidents on belts, and in 1925 tne number fell to 320, showing 57
per cent decrease. Accidents on set screws for 1918 reached a total
of 91; in 1925 they fell to 40, or 56 per cent less than in the former
year. These results indicate clearly practical accomplishment in the
prevention of injuries to employees through employment in connec
tion with machinery. Other agencies have contributed to this result.
Safety engineers and organizations composed of employees and man
agement nave each contributed an important part. They constitute
efficient agencies when they function effectively. The State labor
department, with its staff of trained and competent inspectors, well
informed as to danger zones in the hazardous industries, have stead
ily maintained interest in the main purpose of this work. These are
the driving factors in the reduction of machinery accidents.
Turning to nonmachinery injuries, there is no such encouraging
history. Accidents due to falls, the handling of objects, or the use
of hand tools still maintain their large volume. No reduction has
taken place in these. Accidents due to falls almost equal those
caused by contact with machinery. Wide investigation of these
accidents has proved the need of greater care in the examination of
the floor conditions as an important factor in the work of factory
inspection.
In plants where the worn surface creates the slipping hazard and
floors are frequently made dangerous through the spilling of liquid
INSPECTION AND SAFETY IN MASSACHUSETTS
117
substances, this becomes essential for accident prevention work, In
juries sustained through falls frequently develop into pennant par
tial disability. This means reduced earning capacity to the employee
and often includes the problem of rehabilitation. Broken wrists, frac
tured limbs, and general shock to the nervous system are common
types of injuries sustained under these circumstances. These are
nearly all preventable injuries. It is here that plant safety organiza
tions constitute a potential factor. Supervision of this kind directing
attention to the need of exercising due care has accomplished
more in many plants than the enforcement of provisions authorized
by statute.
Factory inspection of the future should be directed more inten
sively to reducing nonmachinery injuries. To accomplish results in
this direction it must deal effectively with existing risks to vitality
and health. Dust-removal systems should be given frequent ana
regular inspections. Adequate local and general ventilation should
be maintained. Control of fumes and dust should be effectively
established at the point of origin.
Losses sustained through diseases of occupation can not be ade
quately demonstrated in figures. Injuries caused through the inhala
tion of metallic, mineral, or organic dusts often become more serious
to the employee than the result of traumatic amputations. The
entire program of factory sanitation is in close relation to this problem.
This includes compliance with requirements for pure drinking water,
proper lighting, washing, and toilet facilities, and suitable care for
persons injured or taken ill upon the premises of industrial estab
lishments.
Factory inspection reaches its highest degree of efficiency when it
is associated with the investigation of occupational injury. Through
accident investigation in every industry the inspector comes in con
tact with the experience of its human side and learns accurately its
relation to factory plant hazards. Technical knowledge acquired
from this practice provides the basis for effective rules and regulations
in the control of machinery operations. Through this experience the
power punch press is brought out prominently as an important fac
tor in the accident frequency of the plant and becomes a problem
for the expert in prevention work. If his attention is directed to an
accident in a furniture factory in which the workman sustained am
putation of fingers, the inspector quickly learns that the circular saw
constitutes a dominant machine hazard in the plant. This system
promotes efficiency in the administration of labor laws. It checks
up the inspection work and is indispensable in the enforcement of
the statutes protecting the welfare of children. No method of child
labor law enforcement can equal that which has for its leading duty
the investigation of injuries sustained by children in employment.
Usually classified as nonmachinery accidents are those sustained
in the building trades. Constant waste of man power taking place
in this industry is a challenge to experts in accident prevention work
and State labor, departments as wen. Few large buildings are con
structed without sacrifice of life. This is the general experience in
America. Exceptions to the rule are few.
Frequent changes in staging and scaffolding, the handling of un
wieldy material, conditions arising at elevator or hoistway openings,
118
ASSOCIATION OP GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
and the dangers attendant upon excavations all combine to furnish
work injuries in large volume. Accident prevention work in this
industry should be organized from within. The saving of human
life in building operations should be made an integral principle of the
industry and activities in this direction made adequate for the pur
pose. The police power alone will not accomplish enough.
The Boston section of the National Congress of the Building and
Construction Industry is now engaged in an exhaustive inquiry into
the existing means and methods for the prevention of injuries to em
ployees engaged in these trades. Included in the membership of this
organization are men prominent in the business world, such as archi
tects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, leaders of labor organi
zations, and representatives of companies engaged in the furnishing
of material. It is proposed to devise efficient means for the saving of
man power and the prevention of economic waste sustained through
injuries to workman. This is an encouraging indication. It shows
that active sentiment is growing in the builmng-trades industry to
prevent human suffering and the loss of life.
State departments would accomplish much for accident- prevention
in stimulating movements of this kind and thus supplementing the
work of the police power in making the places of employment free
from danger.
I would only say in conclusion that the events of this afternoon I
think impressed every* one of us with the importance of work along
this line. Our function will be to hand down the same impression
and the same encouragement we have received to those men and
women who inspect these industrial plants. The day is here when
the qualifications for an inspector demand not only intelligent persons,
not only those well equipped with industrial training, not only the
specialist in industry, out the men and women, to some extent at
least, who have a high appreciation of the importance of the work
they are doing. I think if we succeed in bringing that home to our
different States this convention will have proved a success.
The .Ch a ir m a n . I will now turn the meeting over to the presi
dent of the association, Mr. Herman Witter.
The C h a ir m a n (Mr. W it t e r ). The next order of business is unfin
ished business. I believe under this head we have a resolution that
was omitted yesterday. I will ask the secretary to read it.
[The resolution was read and adopted, being resolution 7, page 81,
on printing of proceedings of convention.!
Mr. B a l d w i n . On behalf of Mr. Ethelbert Stewart I wish to ex
press his regret at his inability to be here. It was with very deep
regret that he was detained, a change in his plans denying mm the
pleasure of being with you at this convention. As to this resolution
I can say to you for him that he will be pleased to print the pro
ceedings of tms year's convention as you have requested him to do.
The C h a ir m a n . We certainly have missed the presence of Ethel
bert Stewart at this convention. His guiding hand has helped this
association out of many difficult situations. We appreciate every
thing and anything he will do for us. Is there any further unfinished
business ? There is a report of the committee on constitution and
by-laws.
REPOBTS OP COMMITTEES
119
BEPOET OF COMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTION AND BY-1AWS— RESOLUTION
Resolved, That Section 2, Article VII, paragraph 3, be amended to read, “ Shall
apply to the vote for selecting convention city and to the general business
of the convention. ”
[By vote, the resolution was tabled.]
The C h a ir m a n . The next order of business is the report of the
committee on officers' reports.
report
OF COMMITTEE ON OFFICERS’ REPORTS
The committee on officers’ reports and audit of accounts submits herewith the
following report and recommendations:
The committee has examined the accounts and financial statement of the sec
retary-treasurer and find them correct in every detail.
In connection with the financial statement attention is called to the contribu
tion of $50 made by this association to the National Association of Legal Aid
Organizations to assist in the work of standardization of laws regulating the
collection of small wage claims. This is in accordance with the action taken at
the convention in Salt Lake City in August, 1925.
A summary of the secretary’s report shows that 28 States and Provinces paid
dues during the fiscal year amounting to $595; that the funds on hand August
1,1925, were $741.26, and interest on savings account, $6.70, making the total
receipts $1,342.96; that the disbursements, including printing, postage, steno
graphic services, traveling expenses, salary of secretary, etc., amount to $656.85,
leaving a balance in the treasury as of June 10, 1926, of $686.11. Of this
amount, $493.83 is represented by deposits in a savings account, and $192.28
by a checking account.
A gratifying situation indicated by the report is the interest and support from
the various States as evidenced by the increasing number of dues-paying members,
28 this year as compared with 24 the preceding year.
In connection with the matter of dues the committee suggests that the associ
ation consider whether there may be need for reclassification of some of the
States in this respect—whether, for example, any of the States now paying the
minimum dues should, on the basis of size come into the next classification and
whether any now paying $25 should be changed to the classification for $50 dues.
The committee wishes to express its appreciation for the excellent form in
which the secretary’s records have been kept and for the efficient conduct of
the business of the association.
As the report of the president is represented, not by a formal statement with
recommendations for future action but by a record of work accomplished, it is
legitimate for the committee to pay tribute to that work and to the active
cooperation of the other members of the board, especially to that of Mr.
Lansburgh, of Pennsylvania.
We would therefore refer to the splendid constructive program for the conven
tion, in the preparation and conduct of which all of the officers participated—the
excellency of the speakers chosen; the topics represented; the general arrange
ment; the freedom from overcrowding; and the opportunity for discussion afforded;
and in this connection to the close adherence to scheduled time which has made
the sessions particularly profitable.
We would also refer to the hospitality and entertainment provided—to the
constant attention to the comfort and convenience of the delegates and guests
which has made the visit to Columbus so enjoyable.
And, finally, we would refer to the devoted and untiring efforts of the presi
dent on behalf of the association—his modest self-effacement, his generous
recognition of others. The committee wishes to take this opportunity to express
its appreciation for this work, regarding service of this nature as the most admi
rable form in which a president’s report can be presented.
Respectfully submitted.
E t h e l M. J o h n s o n , Chairman.
W . H. H orner.
F . E . W ood.
M. H . A l e x a n d e r .
10721°—27----- 9
120
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
[A motion that at the opening of the next session the question of
admitting the Bureau of Mines to membership in this association be
considered and the constitution amended accordingly was adopted.
The association voted to hold its next convention in rfew Jersey.]
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:
President—John S. B. Davie, commissioner bureau of labor, Concord, N. H.
First vice president—R. H. Lansburgh, secretary of labor and industry, Harris
burg, Pa.
Second vice president—R. T. Kennard, workmen's compensation board, Ken
tucky.
Third vice president—Maud Swett, director woman's department, industrial
commission, Milwaukee, Wis.
Fourth vice president—H. C. Hudson, general superintendent Toronto Employ
ment Service, Ontario, Canada.
Fifth vice president—M. H. Alexander, deputy labor commissioner, Denver,
Colo.
Secretary-treasurer—Louise E. Schutz, superintendent division of women and
children, industrial commission, St. Paul, Minn.
[After the election of John Hopkins Hall, jr., of Virginia, as the
official representative of this association at the industrial accident
prevention conference to be held in Washington, D. C., July 14 to 16,
1926, the convention adjourned.]
APPENDIX
LIST OF PERSONS WHO ATTENDED THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL
CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR
OFFICIALS
CANADA
Federal Department of Labor
F. J. Plant, chief labor intelligence branch, Ottawa.
Ontario
H. C. Hudson, general superintendent employment service, Ontario offices,
Toronto.
UNITED STATES
Federal bureaus, Washington, D. C,
W. W. Adams, statistician. Bureau of Mines.
Mary Anderson, director Womens Bureau.
Chas. E. Baldwin, assistant commissiorer Bureau of Labor Statistics.
E. N. Matthews, director Industrial Division, Children's Bureau.
Emma Ward, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Colorado
M. H. Alexander, deputy labor commissioner bureau of labor statistics, Denver.
Georgia
L. J. Kilbum, industrial commission, Atlanta.
H. M. Stanley, commissioner department of commerce and labor, Atlanta.
Indiana
Dixson H. Bynum chairman industrial board, Indianapolis.
Mr. Reeves, employment service, Indianapolis.
Kansas
Daisy L. Gulick, director women’s work and factory inspector, Topeka.
Kentucky
R. T. Kennard,- chairman workmen’s compensation board, Frankfort.
Louisiana
Frank E. Wood, commissioner bureau of labor and industrial statistics, New
Orleans.
Massachusetts
Martin Carpenter, of Dennison Manufacturing Co.
Ethel M. Johnson, assistant commissioner department of labor and industries,
Boston.
J. P. Meade, director division of industrial safety, Boston.
121
122
ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTAL LABOR OFFICIALS
Minnesota
Henry McColl, member Industrial commission. St. Paul.
Louise E. Schutz, superintendent division of women and children, industrial
commission, St. Pam.
New Hampshire
John S. B. Davie, commissioner bureau of labor, Concord.
New Jersey
Mrs. Lillian M. Gilbreth, Montclair, N. J.
A. F. McBride, M. D., commissioner department of labor, Trenton.
New York
H. W. Mowery, secretary National Safe Walkway Surfaces Code Committee.
Robert B. Northrop, safety inspector department of labor New York.
C. T. Graham-Rogers, bureau industrial hygiene, New York.
Mary Van Kleeck, director department of industrial studies, Russell Sage Foun
dation, New York.
Ohio
O. W. Brach, chief division of labor statistics, Columbus.
E. R. Hayhurst, M. D., consultant industrial hygiene, department of health.
T. P. Kearns, superintendent division of safety and hygiene, Columbus.
Elizabeth S. Magee.
B. C. Seiple, Cleveland superintendent Ohio State Employment Service.
James Wilson.
H. R. Witter, director department of industrial relations, Canton.
Division of factory inspection—lady visitors:
Lauretta Bean.
Blanche E. Cadot.
Eurie E. Foreman.
Lillian McMahon.
Lodema Matzinger.
A. C. F. Miller.
Teresa O’Maley.
Bertha Saltsgaver.
Gertude S. Weaver.
Division of factory inspection—inspectors:
C. A. Benedict, chief division of factory inspection, Columbus.
George P. Butler.
R. Emmett Cannon.
W. D. Calhoun.
Wallace J. Camper.
Frank Christian.
Emmett L. Crider.
J. P. Cummings.
Charles Davis.
Edward Dickson.
William H. Ebersbach.
Harry G. Ehret.
W. W. Evans.
Frank Felsinger.
Joseph J. Fournier.
Stephen Frankowski
J. G. Hagan.
Thomas Hostv.
J. W. Hyser.
Loy C. Minch.
John Neary.
George W. Nesbitt.
Thomas Nichols.
M. F. O’Malley.
APPENDIX— LIST OP PERSONS IN" ATTENDANCE
123
Division of factory inspection—inspectors—Continued.
Harry M. Peck.
George P. Rentschler.
George D. Richardson.
Dewey M. Scott.
Richard Shutt.
F. Leo Smith.
David L. Stygler.
George P. Thompson.
H. D. Titer.
Pennsylvania
Cyril Ainsworth, director bureau of inspection.
C. B. Auel, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., East Pittsburgh.
Charlotte E. Carr, director bureau of women and children, Harrisburg.
W. H. Homer, director bureau of workmen’s compensation, Harrisburg.
R. H. Lansburgh, secretary of labor and industry, Harrisburg.
Harry M. Lee, inspector of labor and industry, Pittsburgh.
William J. Maguire, statistician, department of labor and industry.
Virginia
Mrs. W. L. Ferguson.
John Gribben, chief factory inspector, Richmond.
John H. Hall, jr., commissioner bureau of labor and industry, Richmond.
Mrs. John H. Hall, jr.
T. S. Wharton, public employment bureau.
Wisconsin
Maud Swett, director women and child labor department, industrial commis
sion, Milwaukee.
Wyoming
T. G. Freshney, commissioner of labor and statistics, Cheyenne.
LIST OF BULLETINS OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
The following is a list o f all bulletins o f the Bureau o f Labor Statistics published since
July, 1912, except that in the case o f bulletins giving the results o f routine surveys o f the
bureau, only the latest bulletin on any one subject is here listed.
A com plete list o f the reports and bulletins issued prior to July, 1912, as well as the bul~
letins published since that date, will be furnished on application. Bulletins marked thus
(*) are out o f print*
W h o le sa le P rice*.
No. 284. Index numbers o f wholesale prices in the United
countries. [1921.]
No. 415. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1925.
States and foreign
R e ta il P rices and Coat o f L iv in g .
♦No. 121. Sugar prices, from refiner to consumer. [1913.]
♦No. 130. W heat and flour prices, from farm er to consumer. [1 913.]
♦No. 164. Butter prices, from producer to consumer. [1914.]
No. 170. Foreign food prices as affected by the war. [1915.]
No. 357. Cost o f living in the United States. [1924.]
No. 369. The use o f cost-of-living figures in wage adjustments. [1925.]
No. 418. Retail prices, 1890 to 1925.
W a g e s and H on rs o f L abor.
♦No. 146. Wages and regularity o f employment and standardization o f piece rates
in the dress and w aist industry o f New York City. [1914.]
♦No. 147. W ages and regularity o f employment in the cloak, suit, and skirt in
dustry. [1914.]
No. 161. Wages and hours o f labor in the clothing and cigar industries, 1911 to
1913.
No. 163. W ages and hours o f labor in the building and repairing o f steam rail*
road cars, 1907 to 1913.
•No. 190. W ages and hours o f labor in the cotton, woolen, and silk industries, 1907
to 1914.
No. 204. Street railw ay employment in the United States. [1 917.]
No. 225. Wages and hours o f labor in the lumber, millwork, and furniture in
dustries, 1915..
No. 265. Industrial survey in selected industries in the United States, 1919.
No. 297. W ages and hours o f labor in the petroleum industry, 1920.
No. 348. Wages and hours o f labor in the automobile industry, 1922.
No. 356. Productivity costs in the common-brick industry. [1924.]
No. 358. Wages and hours o f labor in the autom obile-tire industry, 1923.
No. 360. Time and labor costs in m anufacturing 100 pairs o f shoes. [1924.]
No. 365. Wages and hours o f labor in the paper and pulp industry, 1923.
No. 371. 'Wages and hours o f labor in cotton-goods m anufacturing, 1924.
No. 374. W ages and hours o f labor in the boot and shoe industry, 1907 to 1924.
No. 376. Wages and hours o f labor in the hosiery and underwear industry, 1907 to
1924.
No. 377. Wages and hours o f labor in woolen and worsted goods m anufacturing,
•1924.
No. 381. Wages and hours o f labor in the iron and steel industry, 1907 to 1924.
No. 387. Wages and hours o f labor in the men’s clothing industry, 1911 to 1924.
No. 394. Wages and hours o f labor in m etalliferous mines, 1924.
No. 404. Union scale o f wages and hours o f labor, May 15, 1925.
No. 407. Labor cost o f production and wages and hours in the paper box-board
industry, 1925.
No. 412. Wages, hours, and productivity in the pottery industry, 1925.
No. 413. W ages and hours o f labor in the lumber industry in the United States.
1925.
No. 416. Hours and earnings in anthracite and bituminous coal mining, 1922
and 1924.
No. 421. Wages and hours o f labor in the slaughtering and meat-packing industry,
1925.
(i)
W a g e s a n d H o n rs o f L a b o r— Continued.
No. 422. Wages and hours o f labor In foundries and machine shops, 1925.
em p loym en t and U nem ploym ent.
♦No. 109. Statistics o f unemployment and the work o f employment offices in the
United States. [1913.]
No. 172. Unemployment in New York City, N. Y. [1915.]
♦No. 183. R egularity o f employment in the women’ s ready-to-wear garment in
dustries. [1915.]
♦No. 195. Unemployment in the United States. [1916.]
No. 196. Proceedings o f the Employment Managers’ Conference held at M inneapolis,
Minn., January, 1916.
♦No. 202. Proceedings o f the conference o f Employment Managers’ Association o f
B oston, Mass., held May 10, 1916.
No. 206. The B ritish system o f labor exchanges. [1916.]
♦No. 227. Proceedings o f the Employment Managers’ Conference, Philadelphia,
Pa., A pril 2 and 3, 1917.
No. 235. Employment system o f the Lake Carriers’ Association. [1918.]
♦No. 241. Public employment offices in the United States. [1918.]
No. 247. Proceedings o f Employment Managers* Conference, R ochester, N. Y .,
May 9 -1 1 , 1918.
No. 310. Industrial unem ploym ent: A statistical study o f its extent and causes.
[1922.]
No. 409. Unemployment in Columbus, Ohio, 1921 to 1925.
P roceed in gs o f A n nu al M eetin gs o f In tern a tio n al A ssoeiatton o f P u b lic E m p lo y ,
m ent S ervices.
No. 192. First, Chicago, December 19 and 20, 19 1 3 ; Second, Indianapolis, Septem*
ber 24 and 25, 1914; Third, D etroit, July 1 and 2, 1915.
No. 220. Fourth, Buffalo, N. Y., July 20 and 21, 1916.
No. 311. Ninth, Buffalo, N. Y., September 7 -9 , 1921.
No. 337. Tenth, W ashington, D. C., September 11-13, 1922.
No. 355. Eleventh, Toronto, Canada, September 4 -7 , 1923.
No. 400. T w elfth, Chicago, 111., May 19-23, 1924.
No. 414. Thirteenth, Rochester, N. Y., September 15-17, 1925.
W om en and C hildren in In d u stry .
No. 116. Hours, earnings, and duration o f employment o f wage-earning women
in selected industries in the D istrict o f Columbia. [1913.]
♦No. 117. Prohibition o f night work o f young persons. [1913.]
♦No. 118. Ten-hour maximum working-day fo r women and young persons. [1913.]
♦No. 119. W orking hours o f women in the pea canneries o f W isconsin. [1913.]
♦No. 122. Employment o f women in power laundries in Milwaukee. [1913.]
No. 160. Hours, earnings, and conditions o f labor o f women in Indiana mercan
tile establishments and garment factories. [1914.]
♦No. 167. Mininmm-wage legislation in the United States and foreign countries.
[1915.]
♦No. 175. Summary o f the report on conditions o f woman and child wage earners
in the United States. [1915.]
♦No. 176. Effect o f minimum-wage determ inations in Oregon. [1 915.]
♦No. 180. The boot and shoe industry in Massachusetts as a vocation fo r wom en.
[1915.]
♦No. 182. Unemployment among women in department and other retail stores of
B oston, Mass. [1916.]
No. 193. Dressmaking as a trade fo r women in Massachusetts. [1 916.]
No. 215. Industrial experience o f trade-school girls in Massachusetts. [1917.]
♦No. 217. Effect o f workmen’ s compensation laws in diminishing the necessity o f
industrial employment o f women and children. [1918.]
No. 223. Employment o f women and juveniles in Great Britain during the war.
[1917.J
No. 253. W omen in lead industries. [1919.]
W ork m en ’s Insuran ce and C om pensation (in clu d in g: la w s re la tin g th e r e to )•
♦No. 101. Care o f tuberculous wage earners in Germany. [1912.]
♦No. 102. B ritish National Insurance A ct, 1911.
♦No. 103. Sickness and accident insurance law o f Switzerland. [1912.]
No. 107. Law relating to insurance o f salaried employees in Germany. [1913.]
♦No. 155. Compensation fo r accidents to employees o f the United States. [1 914.]
(n)
W ork m en 9* In su rance and C om pensation (in clu d in g: la w s re la tin g th e r e to )—
Continued.
No. 212. Proceedings o f the conference on social insurance called by the Inter~
national Association o f Industrial A ccident Boards and Comm issions.
W ashington, D. C., December 5 -9 , 1916.
No. 243. W orkmen’s compensation legislation in the United States and foreign
countries, 1917 and 1918.
No. 301. Comparison o f workmen’s compensation insurance and administration*
[1922.]
No. 312. National health insurance in Great Britain, 1911 to 1920.
No. 379. Comparison o f workmen's compensation laws o f the United States as ot
January 1, 1925.
No. 423. W orkmen’s compensation legislation o f the United States and Canada
[1926.]
P roceed in g* o f A n n u al M eetin g * o f th e In tern a tio n a l A ssocia tio n o f In d u stria l
A eeld en t B oards and C om m issions.
♦No. 210. Third, Columbus, Ohio, A pril 25 -28, 1916.
No. 248. Fourth, B oston, Mass., August 21-25, 1917.
No. 264. F ifth, Madison, W is., September 24-27, 1918.
♦No. 273. Sixth, Toronto, Canada, September 23-26, 1919.
No. 281. Seventh, San Francisco, Calif., September 20-24, 1920.
No. 304. Eighth, Chicago, 111., September 19-23, 1921.
No. 333. Ninth, B altim ore, M d., October 9 -1 3 , 1922.
No. 359. Tenth, S t Paul, Minn., September 24 -26, 1923.
No. 385. Eleventh, H alifax, Nova Scotia, August 26 -28, 1924.
No. 395. Index to proceedings, 1914-1924.
No. 406. Tw elfth, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 17 -20, 1925.
In d u stria l A ccid en ts and H y gien e.
♦No. 104. Lead poisoning in potteries, tile works, and porcelain enameled sanitary
w are factories. [1912.]
No. 120. Hygiene in the painters’ trade. [1913.]
♦No. 127. Dangers to workers from dust and fumes, and methods o f protection*
[1913.]
♦No. 141. Lead poisoning in the smelting and refining o f lead. [1 914.]
♦No. 157. Industrial accident statistics. [1915.]
♦No. 165. Lead poisoning in the m anufacture o f storage batteries. [1914.]
♦No. 179. Industrial poisons used in the rubber industry. [1915.]
No. 188. Report o f B ritish departmental committee on the danger in the use o f
lead in the painting o f buildings. [1916.]
♦No. 201. R eport o f comm ittee on statistics and compensation-insurance cost o f the*
International A ssociation o f Industrial Accident Boards and Commis
sions. [1916.]
♦No. 207. Causes o f death by occupation. [1917.]
♦No. 209. Hygiene o f the printing trades. [1 917.]
No. 219. Industrial poisons used or produced in the m anufacture o f explosives..
[1917.]
No. 221. Hours, fatigue, and health in British m unition factories. [1917.]
No. 230. Industrial efficiency and fatigue in B ritish munition factories. [1917.]
♦No. 231. M ortality from respiratory diseases in dusty trades (inorganic dusts)..
[1918.]
No. 234. Safety movement in the iron and steel industry, 1907 to 1917.
♦No. 236. Effect o f the air hammer on the hands o f stonecutters. [1918.]
No. 249. Industrial health and efficiency. Final report o f B ritish Health o f Mu
nition W orkers Committee. [1919.]
♦No. 251. Preventable death in the cotton-m anufacturing industry. [1919.]
No. 256. Accidents and accident prevention in machine building. [1919.]
No. 267. A nthrax as an occupational disease. [1920.]
No. 276. Standardization o f industrial accident statistics. [1920.]
No. 280. Industrial poisoning in making coal-tar dyes and dye intermediated.
[1921.]
No. 291. Carbon m onoxide poisoning. [1921.]
No. 293. The problem o f dust phthisis in the granite-stone industry. [1922.]
No. 298. Causes and prevention o f accidents in the iron and steel industry, 1910*
to 1919.
No. 306. Occupational hazards and, diagnostic s ig n s : A guide to impairments to bfr
looked fo r in hazardous occupations. [1 922.]
(in)
In d u s tr ia l A c c id e n ts a n d H y g ie n e — Continued.
No. 839. Statistics o f Industrial accidents in the United States. [1923.1
No. 392. Survey o f hygienic conditions in the printing trades. [1925.]
No. 405. Phosphorus necrosis in the m anufacture o f fireworks and the p rep are
tion o f phosphorus. [1926.]
No. 425. Record o f industrial accidents in the United States to 1925. (In press.)
No. 426. Deaths from lead poisoning. [1926.]
(In press.)
No. 427. Health survey in the printing trades, 1922 to 1925. (In press.)
No. 428. Proceedings o f the Industrial Accident Prevention Conference, held at
W ashington, D. C., July 14-16, 1926.
C o n ciliation and A rb itra tio n (in clu d in g strik e s and lo c k o u ts).
♦No. 124. C onciliation and arbitration in the building trades o f Greater New York;
[1913.]
♦No. 133. Report o f the industrial council o f the British Board o f Trade in its
inquiry into industrial agreements. [1913.]
•No. 139. M ichigan copper district strike. [1914.]
No. 144. Industrial court o f the cloak, suit, and skirt industry o f New Y ork City.
[1914.]
No. 145. Conciliation, arbitration, and sanitation in the dress and w aist industry
o f New Y ork City. [1914.]
♦No. 191. Collective bargaining in the anthracite coal industry. [1916.]
♦No. 198. Collective agreements in the men’s clothing industry. [1916.]
No. 233. Operation o f the industrial disputes investigation act o f Canada. [1918.]
No. 255. Joint industrial councils in Great Britain. [1919.]
No. 283. H istory o f the Shipbuilding Labor Adjustm ent Board, 1917 to 1919.
No. 287. N ational W ar Labor B o a r d : H istory o f its form ation, activities, etc;
[1921.]
No. 303. Use o f Federal power iu settlement o f railway labor disputes. [1 922.]
No. 341. Trade agreement in the silk-ribbon industry o f New York City.
[1923.]
No. 402. Collective bargaining by actors. [1926.]
No. 419. Trade agreements, 1925.
L abor Law s o f th e U nited States (in clu d in g d ecision s o f cou rts re la tin g to
la b o r ).
No. 211. Labor laws and their administration in the Pacific States. [1917.]
No. 229. Wage-payment legislation in the United States. [1917.]
No. 285. Minimum-wage legislation in the United States. [1921.]
No. 321. Labor laws that have been declared unconstitutional. [1922.]
No. 322. Kansas Court o f Industrial Relations. [1923.]
No. 343. Laws providing fo r bureaus o f labor statistics, etc. [1923.]
No. 370. Labor laws o f the United States, with decisions o f courts relating thereto.
[1925.]
No. 403. Labor legislation o f 1925.
No. 408. f^abor laws relating to payment o f wages. [1926.]
No. 417. Decisions o f courts and opinions affecting labor, 1925.
F o reig n L abor L aw s.
♦No. 142. Administration o f labor laws and factory inspection in certain European
countries. [1914.]
V ocation al and W o rk e rs’ E du cation .
♦No. 159. Short-unit courses fo r wage earners, and a fa ctory school experiment.
[1915.]
♦No. 162. V ocational education survey o f Richmond, Va.
[1915.]
No. 199. V ocational education survey o f Minneapolis, Minn.
[1916.]
No. 271. Adult working-class education in Great Britain and the United States.
[1920.]
S a fety Codes.
No. 331. Code o f lighting factories, mills, and other work places.
No. 336. Safety code fo r the protection o f industrial workers, in foundries.
No. 338. Safety code fo r the use, care, and protection o f abrasive wheels.
No. 350. Specifications o f laboratory tests for approval o f electric head'lighting
devices fo r m otor vehicles.
No. 351. Safety code fo r the construction, care, and use o f ladders.
No. 364. Safety code fo r mechanical power-transmission apparatus.
(IT )
S a fe ty Codes— Continued.
No. 375. Safety code fo r laundry m achinery and operation.
No. 378. Safety code fo r woodworking plants.
No. 382. Code o f lighting school buildings.
No. 410. Safety code fo r paper and pulp mills.
In d u stria l R e la tio n s and L abor Conditions*
No. 237. Industrial unrest in Great Britain.
[1917.1
No. 340. Chinese m igrations, w ith special reference to labor conditions.
[1923.]
No. 349. Industrial relations in the W est Coast lumber industry.
[1923.]
No. 361. Labor relations in the Fairm ont (W . V a.) bituminous-coal field. [1924.]
No. 380. P ostw ar labor conditions in Germany.
No. 383. W orks council movement in Germany. [1925.]
No. 384. Labor conditions in the shoe industry in Massachusetts, 1920 to 1924.
No. 399. Labor relations in the lace and laoe-curtain industries in the United
States. [1925.]
W e lfa r e W o rk .
♦No. 123. Employers’ w elfare work. [1913.]
No. 222. W elfare work in British munitions factories. [1917.]
♦No. 250. W elfare work fo r employees in industrial establishments in the United
States. [1919.]
C oop eration .
No. 313. Consumers* cooperative societies in the United States in 1920.
No. 314. Cooperative credit societies in America and in foreign countries.
[1922.]
H o u sin g.
♦No. 158. Government aid to home owning and housing o f working people in foreign
countries. [1914.]
No. 263. Housing by employers in the United States. [1920.]
No. 295. Building operations in representative cities in 1920.
No. 424. Building perm its in the principal cities o f the United States, 1925.
P roceed in gs o f A n n u al C onventions o f th e A ssocia tio n o f G overnm ental Labor
O fficials o f th e U n ited S tates and Canada.
No. 266. Seventh, Seattle, Wash., July 12-15, 1920.
No. 307. Eighth, New Orleans, La., M ay 2 -6 , 1921.
♦No. 323. Ninth, Harrisburg, Pa., M ay 22-26, 1922.
No. 352. Tenth, Richm ond, Va., M ay 1-4, 1923.
No. 389. Eleventh, Chicago, 111., M ay 19-23, 1924.
No. 411. Tw elfth, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 13-15, 1925.
M iscellan eou s S eries.
♦No. 174. Subject index o f the publications o f the United States Bureau o f Labor
Statistics up to M ay 1, 1915.
No. 208. P rofit sharing in the United States. [1916.]
No. 242. F ood situation in central Europe, 1917.
No. 254. International labor legislation and the society o f nations. [1919.]
No. 268. H istorical survey o f international action affecting labor. [1920.]
No. 282. Mutual relief associations am ong Government employees in Washington,
D. C. [1921.]
No. 299. Personnel research agencies. A guide to organized research in employ
ment management, industrial relations, training, and working contions. [1921.]
N o .319. The Bureau o f Labor S ta tistics: Its history, activities, and organization.
No. 326. Methods o f procuring and computing statistical inform ation o f the Bureau
o f Labor Statistics.
N o .342. International Seamen’s Union o f A m erica: A study o f its history and
problems. [1923.]
No. 346. Huihanity in government. [1923.]
No. 372. C onvict labor in 1923.
No. 386. T he cost o f American almshouses. [1925.]
No. 398. Growth o f legal-aid work in the United States. [1926.]
No. 401. Fam ily allowances in foreign countries. [1926.]
No. 420. Handbook o f American trade-unions. [1926.]
(V)
SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS ISSUED BY THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Description of occupations* prepared for the United States Employment Service, 1918~19.
♦Boots and shoes, ‘harness and saddlery, and tanning.
♦Cane-sugar refining and flour milling.
Coal and water gas, paint and varnish, paper, printing trades, and rubber goods.
♦Electrical manufacturing, distribution, and maintenance.
Glass.
Hotels and restaurants.
♦Logging camps and sawmills.
♦Medicinal m anufacturing.
♦Metal working, building and general railroad construction, transportation, and
shipbuilding.
♦Mines and mining.
♦Office employees.
♦Slaughtering and meat packing.
♦Street railways.
♦Textiles and clothing.
♦Water transportation.
(vi>
@FedFRASER