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Catholics and the International 

Labor Organization 

CJ3 ' ,If 

Albert Le Roy, S.J. 

'<91ie International Labor t9ffice 

Printed for the 

SOCIAL ACTION DEPARTMENT 

N ATIONAL CATHOLIC WELFARE CONFERENCE 

THE PAULIST PRE S S 

40 I West 59th Street 

New York 



Nihil Obstat: 

Imprimatur: 

ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, S.T.D., 
Censor IAbrorum. 

+ FRANCIS J. SPELLMAN, 
Archbishop of New York. 

New York, August 16, 1939. 

PRINTED AND 'PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A. 

BY THE PAULIST PRESS, NEW YORK, N. Y. 





THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

BUILDING, GENEVA 

(See page 23) 



FOREWORD 

THE word "catholic" means "universal." The universal 
and international Church is interested in and sympathetic 
with the just aspirations of labor in all countries. The 
International Labor Organization represents a systematic 
and comprehensive endeavor to improve the working condi-
tions of the toiling masses in every part of the world. 

To the great majority of American Catholics the part 
taken by their European brethren in the foundation of the 
1. L. O. is entirely unknown. As far back as 1884, the Fri-
bourg Union, under the chairmanship of Cardinal Mermillod 
and containing representatives from several countries, was 
exemplifying international Catholic Action for the study of 
the social question and the improvement of the condition 
of labor; as early as 1887, another great Swiss, Caspar 
Decurtins, was endeavoring to induce the legislature of his 
country to "take the initiative in convening an international 
conference to prepare a basis for uniform labor legislation 
throughout the world"; in 1890, such a conference was held 
in Berlin, at which Bishop Kopp, of Breslau, represented 
the Holy See; in 1893, Pope Leo XIII approved a proposal 
to bring about an international agreement for labor legis-
lation, pointing out that uniformity in this field was essen-
tial to protect high standards in one country against injury 
through competition by countries having lower standards. 
The Holy See was officially represented from the beginning 
at the sessions of the International Association for Labor 
Legislation, established in 1900. After the Great War, the 
Christian trade unions gave enthusiastic support to the 
project of setting up an International Labor Organization 
at Geneva. 

Father Leroy's pamphlet gives us an interesting and 
sufficiently comprehensive account of the origins, principles, 
structure, spirit and achievements of the 1. L. O. As he 
points out, there are two facts underlying the scope and 
work of the Organization: conditions of labor involving 
injustice; and the necessity of international agreement to 
provide a remedy. The guiding principles of the institu-
tion, he shows, are in close conformity with Catholic prin-

iii 



iv FOREWORD 

ciples, even in the matter of their phrasing. The most strik-
ing illustration of this resemblance he finds in the Bishops' 
Program of Social Reconstruction, issued by the Adminis-
trative Committee of the National Catholic War Council in 
February, 1919, and recently reprinted in a Twentieth Anni-
versary Edition. A much older instance is found in the 
regulations adopted by the Jesuits for the protection of the 
Indians in the Paraguay Missions. These regulations in-
cluded "all the features of modern social legislation." The 
summary of them given in this pamphlet will probably come 
as a pleasant surprise to the great majority of the readers. 

Perhaps the most striking testimony to the affinity be-
tween Catholic social principles and those of the I. L. O. 
was that offered by M. Albert Thomas, the first head of the 
Organization, a few years ago, when he declared that "the 
principles and even the forms of words" in the Labor 
Charter are practically identical with some of the proposi-
tions in Rerum N ovarum. 

The latter half of Father Leroy's pamphlet describes the 
structure, authority, functions and results of the I. L. O. 
The description is adequate for all practical purposes. The 
last· chapter is entitled: "The Collaboration of Catholics." 
In it the author summarizes the co-operation of Catholics 
in various countries with the I. L. O. and its work. Here 
he gives generous, though brief, recognition to the activities 
of the National Catholic Welfare Conference and the Catho-
lic Conference on Industrial Problems. 

Father Leroy has done a good job in producing this 
pamphlet. Nowhere should it be more welcome or more 
useful than in the United States. American Catholics have 
not yet become adequately conscious of their international 
obligations and opportunities. But they are making prog-
ress in this respect. Father Leroy's pamphlet is well calcu-
lated to accelerate that progress in the great field of labor 
'conditions and labor legislation. 

Washington, D. C. 

July 25, 19.'19. 

JOHN A. RYAN, 
Director, Department of Social Action, 

National Catholic Welfare Conference. 



PREFACE 

A VISITOR who crosses the entrance hall of the Inter-
national Labor Office and climbs the first few steps of the 
main staircase, invariably stops to admire a mural painting 
presented by the Christian Trade Unions. This work of the 
French artist Maurice Denis would not be out of place in a 
church in one of our industrial cities. The central figure is 
that of Christ in all the grace and beauty of His eighteen 
years. The time is the evening of a working day in Nazareth. 
Near Him is Joseph, leaning on his carpenter's bench, and, a 
little farther away, the Virgin, holding her distaff. Seated at 
the feet of Christ are His Galilean compatriots, wearing the 
costume of the period-workers who, under the same skies 
and tilling the same soil, earned, like Him, their daily bread 
by the sweat of their brows and lived on the same fruits of 
the earth. Beyond them are workers from modern factories: 
a metal worker, naked to the waist, other workers in caps, 
an engineer, an artist and an apprentice. Behind them, 
coming from the fields, are peasants returning from their 
daily toil. One of them, with his scythe over his shoulder, 
has come close to the Master. Seated in a corner, in an atti-
tude of contemplation, are Serrarens, Secretary-General 
of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions, 
and Gaston Tessier, Secretary-General of the French Con-
federation of Christian Workers. All are listening atten-
tively to the words spoken on the evening of a hard day's 
work by the young Carpenter of Nazareth, who did His 
share in the toil of men. 

The artist's purpose is clear. These words, so simple 
and so sublime that they must penetrate every heart, for 
"never did man speak like this man," were not spoken 
merely for the listeners of one day ; they are for every age 
and every country. They were addressed equally to the 
humble craftsmen of Nazareth and to the peasants, miners 
and metal workers of the twentieth century. They are still 
the source to which thousands of men, whether manual 
workers or brain workers, constantly return in their search 
for a remedy for the evils of this age and for a solution of 
its social problems. 

v 



vi PREFACE 

This fresco explains more clearly than any lengthy 
speec;h could do the close and cordial relationship which 
has grown up on the basis of mutual respect between Catho-
lics and the International Labor Organization. Catholics 
recognize in the Geneva institution a powerful force which 
can bring a little more justice into this world. The Inter-
national Labor Office, which is sincerely anxious to be uni-
versal in its activities and to exclude no one who is pre-
pared to collaborate in its work of social progress, has al-
ways shown itself willing to give Catholics their full share 
in its activities. 

A brief survey of the origins, principles, structure and 
achievements of the International Labor Organization will 
show more fully the part Catholics play in its work and the 
great opportunities of collaboration which are open to them. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

FOREWORD, by Rt. Rev. John A. Ryan, D.D. ......... iii 

PREFACE ....................................... v 

CHAPTER I 

ORIGINS 9 

CHAPTER II 

PRINCIPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 13 

CHAPTER III 

STRUCTURE 

CHAPTER IV 

RESULTS 

CHAPTER V 

THE COLLABORATION OF CATHOLICS 

ApPENDIX A 

ApPENDIX B 

vii 

23 

30 

42 

48 

51 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION, GENEVA-

(Frontispiece) 

JOHN G. WINANT, DIRECTOR OF THE I. L. O. . . • . . • .• 29 

THE DIGNITY OF WORK ••.....•.••.•••••.•••••• (Center) 

viii 



Catholics and the International 

Labor Organization 

By ALBERT LE Roy, S.J., 

The International Labor Office 

CHAPTER I 

ORIGINS 

A. Before the War 

THE International Labor Organization came into being 
just after the World War; but the idea was an old one, 
which had been stirring in men's minds for many years 
earlier. From the outset, Catholics took up the idea with 
sympathy. The unbridled competition that existed in the 
nineteenth century inevitably led men to the conclusion that 
it was only by breaking down the barriers of national fron-
tiers and seeking an international solution for the social 
problem that remedies could be found for the undeserved 
sufferings of the working classes. 

It was to meet this need that the Fribourg Union was 
founded in 1884 under the chairmanship of Monsignor 
Mermillod. It was an association of leading persons from 
various countries in Europe, who met once a year to study 
the questions of the moment together and thus provide a 
certain unity for the Christian movement. 

In 1887, a Swiss, Decurtins, who belonged to the Catho-
lic social movement, requested the Federal Council of his 
country to take the initiative in convening an international 
conference to prepare a basis for uniform labor legislation 
throughout the world. This idea bore fruit in 1890, when 
the Berlin Conference was held, at which Monsignor Kopp, 
Prince Bishop of Breslau, was present as representative of 
the Holy See. There was no more enthusiastic supporter 
of the work than Cardinal Manning who considered that it 

9 



10 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

was a point of honor for his country to give effect to the con-
clusions of that conference concerning weekly rest, the em-
ployment of women and children, and safety in mines. 

The year 1891 saw the appearance of the Encyclical 
Rerum N ovarum. This Encyclical, addressed to the Church 
Universal, and providing it with a uniform social doctrine, 
brought out still more strongly the trend of opinion in 
favor of international solutions. 

In 1893, Decurtins, at the Workers' Assembly in Bienne, 
again was the protagonist of the idea of an international 
conference. He persuaded the Assembly to convene a con-
gress of workers' delegates without distinction of national-
ity, religious belief, or political opinions, to seek an agree-
ment on protective labor legislation. Leo XIII unreservedly 
approved this proposal. 

"It is clear," he wrote, "that the protection given to 
workers in their employment would be quite inadequate if 
it took the form of different laws drawn up by each nation 
independently. The various commodities from different 
countries compete with each other on the same market, 
and therefore the differences between the regulations un-
der which workers are employed in different lands would 
enable the products of the industry of one nation to flour-
ish at the expense of another." 

It is not therefore surprising that when the Interna-
tional Association for Labor Legislation was established 
in 1900, the Holy See decided to be officially represented, 
to pay a regular contribution, and to send a delegate to its 
meetings. This association was really the International 
Labor Organization in embryo. It had a permanent office 
in Basle which collected information and centralized the 
work of research. The procedure was a dual one: a tech-
nical conference first met to prepare drafts and make pro-
posals; this was followed by a second, diplomatic confer-
ence, at which the representatives had full powers from 
their Governments, and this conference took decisions. In 
this way Conventions were adopted concerning the em-
ployment of women at night and the prohibition of the 
use of white phosphorous in the manufacture of matches. 
These were proposed by the technical conference at Berne 
in 1905 and ratified by the conference of plenipotentiaries 



ORIGINS 11 

in the same city in 1906. In 1913 another technical con-
ference prepared draft Conventions restricting the hours 
of work of women and young persons and prohibiting the 
employment of children at night. The outbreak of war in 
1914, however, prevented their ratification. 

B. Since the War 

Shocked by the horrors of war, and inspired by the 
hope that out of so much suffering and ruin a world of 
greater justice would be born, the workers of all the allied 
and neutral countries had several times demanded that the 
terms of peace should "safeguard the working class of all 
countries from the attacks of international capitalist 
competition and assure it a minimum guarantee of moral 
and material order as regards labor legislation, trade union 
rights, migration, social insurance, hours of work, and in-
dustrial hygiene and safety." 

The Christian Trade Unions,! ,far from disapproving 
or ignoring these proposals, gave them their fullest support, 
for they were in close harmony with their own desires and 
their own doctrine. In June, 1918, at Le Havre, the Chris-
tian Trade Unions urged: 

"That the Treaty of Peace, following the example of 
various international conventions, and taking account more 
particularly of the results obtained by the Berne Confer-
ences, should contain clauses embodying the fundamental 
points of a system of protective labor legislation or at least 
the principle of such legislation; 

"That the representatives of the various trade union 
associations should be invited to take part in drafting this 
agreement; 

"That the Convention adopted should follow the dic-
tates of humanity and of Christian morality, more especially 
as recapitulated in the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the 
conditions of life of the workers." 

When hostilities ceased, their demands became more 
pressing, and they prepared an outline of an organization 

1 Christian trade unions, comprising Catholics and Protestants, were f ormed on 
Christ ian principles in m an y count ries of Europe the latter part of the last century 
in order to offset Socialist t eachmgs and to give a Christian philosophy t o the labor 
movement. They ar e inter nat ionally united in the International F ederat ion of 
Christian Tra de Union s, with headquar ter s in Utrecht, Holland. 



12 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

which was not unlike that actually established. The Con-
gress of Christian Trade Unions in Paris in March, 1919, 
demanded: 

"(1) The establishment of an international labor insti-
tute, to be responsible for drafting and promoting labor 
legislation with which the various national laws should be 
brought into harmony, and to supervise the application of 
that legislation through an international inspectorate; 

"(2) That each nation should be represented in that 
institute by two Government delegates, two delegates of 
the workers' organizations and two delegates of employers' 
organizations, so as to insure the due representation of 

- the various industrial, commercial and agricultural organi-
zations, irrespective of the trend of opinion to which they 
belong." 

After long years of preparation, therefore, the time 
had come for the creation of an international labor organi-
zation. Catholics were all the more ready to welcome this 
step because they felt that their repeated efforts in favor 
of a cherished idea were at last being rewarded. No more 
striking tribute to this fact has been paid than that from 
Albert Thomas himself, the first Director of the Interna-
tional Labor Office, who publicly recognized the part played 
by Catholics in an official message which was read at 
Rome on the occasion of the festivities commemorating the 
fortieth anniversary of Rerum N ovarum and welcoming 
the promulgation of Quadragesimo Anno: 

"The International Labor Organization, in which the 
peoples put their trust immediately after the world dis-
aster, entrusting to it the establishment of really humane 
labor conditions as part of the effort to secure peace and 
world harmony, has set about this immense task with great 
confidence and enthusiasm. It realizes that it is not a 
spontaneous creation, the result of a sudden burst of en-
thusiasm, but rather the consummation of prolonged ef-
fort and of close and active collaboration between all men 
of good will and all who are striving after ideals. The seed 
fell on good ground, which had been carefully prepared 
over many years by workers who were anxious to secure 
the reign of social justice, and among them by those who 
based their convictions on the Encyclical Rerum Novarum." 



CHAPTER II 

PRINCIPLES 

A. The Starting Point 

THE International Labor Organization was established 
just after the war by a special commission presided over by 
Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor. Its 
constitution was included in the treaties of peace which put 
an end to the War-as Part XIII of the Treaties of Ver-
sailles, St: Germain and Trianon and Part XII of the 
Treaty of Neuilly. 

In reality it is entirely independent of the Treaties arid 
forms a separate entity. Its relations with the League of 
Nations do not in any way affect its complete autonomy. 
Countries that belong to the League of Nations are required 
to be Members of the International Labor Organization, 
but the reverse is not the case. Germany and Austria, 
which had to wait several years after the War before being 
admitted to the League, were Members of the International 
Labor Organization from the outset. 2 Japan 3 and Brazil 
when they withdrew from the former, remained very ac-
tive Members of the latter. The United States, which 
never ratified the Treaty of Versailles or belonged to the 
League of Nations, became a Member of the International 
Labor Organization in 1934 when President Roosevelt, act-
ing under authority of a Joint Resolution of Congress, ac-
cepted the invitation to membership. At present the Or-
ganization has fifty-five States Members, including all the 
important industrial Powers, with the exception of Ger-
many, Japan and Italy.4 

In fact the International Labor Organization stands 
upon its own field of activity in which all can find a com-
mon meeting ground. The problems with which it deals are 

2 Germany resigned from the two organization s in 1933. 
3 Japan, following the Munich pact, notified the Organization that she would 

cease to collaborate with the t echnical services of the League of Nations and with 
the International Labor Organization by the end of 1938. 

4 In December, 1937, Italy withdrew from the League of Nations and the Inter-
national Labor Organization. This decision will become effective after a period of 
two years, in December, 1939. 

13 



14 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

not ephemeral; they are eternally important. They are 
problems not of local but of universal interest. They are 
the most important questions in the everyday life of the 
people of the nations. They have nothing to do with dif-
ferences of opinion between two countries, or with changes 
in boundaries; they concern the fate of humanity as a whole. 
The question at issue is whether, throughout the whole 
world, from Japan to England and from America to France, 
men are to be able to earn in peace their daily bread or 
their bowl of rice; to provide for the subsistence of their 
wives and families; to be saved from poverty, both them 
and their families, when overtaken by sickness; and, after 
a lifetime of labor, to enjoy a few years of rest and peace 
before their days on earth are ended. 

The Organization stands above political discussions. It 
also stands above doctrinaire discussions and differences of 
ideology. It was set up, not to elaborate theories, but to 
remedy crying abuses and to insure a little more happiness 
for everyone. In the world today human beings are suf-
fering and struggling, because their legal conditions of 
labor are not sufficiently humane. The task of the Or-
ganization is to bring them help. 

That is the starting point from which the extent and 
limits of the work can be defined. There are only two 
facts which must be recognized and all the rest follows: 
the first is that conditions of labor exist which involve in-
justice; and the second is that these conditions can be 
remedied only by international agreement. The Preamble 
justifying the creation of the International Labor Organi. 
zation reads as follows: 

" ... Whereas conditions of labor exist involving such 
. injustice, hardship and privation to large numbers of 
people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and 
harmony of the world are imperiled; and an improvement 
of those conditions is urgently required: as, for example, 
by the regulation of the hours of work, including the estab-
lishment of a maximum working Clay and week, the regu-
lation of the labor supply, the prevention of unemploy-
ment, the provision of an adequate living wage, the pro-
tection of the worker against sickness, disease and injury 
arising out of his employment, the protection of children, 



PRINCIPLES 15 

young persons and women, provision for old age and in-
jury, protection of the interests of workers when em-
ployed in countries other than their own, recognition of the 
principle of freedom of association, the organization of 
vocational and technical education and other measures; 

"Whereas also the failure of any nation to adopt humane 
conditions of labor is an obstacle in the way of other nations 
which desire to improve the conditions in their own coun-
tries; 

"The HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES, moved by senti-
ments of justice and humanity as well as by the desire 
to secure the permanent peace of the world, agree to the 
following: 

"A permanent organization is hereby established for 
the promotion of the objects set forth in the Preamble." 

B. The International Labor Charter 

The aspirations expressed in this Preamble, although 
they do not cover the whole field of Catholic social endeavor, 
at least form an integral part of it and have always been 
shared by the supporters of that movement. 

When the guiding principles of the Organization, now . 
everywhere known as the International Labor Charter, are 
. examined, the resemblances will be seen to be equally 
striking. Catholics can unreservedly accept all these prin-
ciples since the very phrases are familiar to them. This 
will be clear from a mere reading of the text: 

"The High Contracting Parties, recognizing that the 
well-being, physical, moral and intellectual, of industrial 
wage-earners is of supreme international importance, have 
framed, in order to further this great end, the permanent 
machinery provided for in Section 1. . . . . 

"They recognize that differences of climate,habits and 
customs, of economic opportunity and industrial tradition, 
make strict uniformity in the conditions of labor difficult 
of immediate attainment. But, holding as they do that 
labor should not be regarded merely as an article of com-
merce, they think that there are methods and principles 
for regulating labor conditions which all industrial com-
munities should endeavor to apply, so far as their special 
circumstances will permit. 



16 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

"Among these methods and principles, the following 
seem to the High Contracting Parties to be of special and 
urgent importance: 

"Firs.t: The guiding principle (above enunciated) 
that labor should not be regarded merely as a com-
modity or article of commerce. 

"Second: The right of association for all lawful 
purposes by the employed as well as by the employers. 

"Third: The payment to the employed of a wage 
adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life as 
this is understood in their time and country. 

"Fourth: The adoption of an eight hours' day or 
a forty-eight hours' week as the standard to be aimed 
at where it has not already been attained. 5 

"Fifth: The adoption of a weekly rest of at least 
twenty-four hours, which should include Sunday 
wherever practicable. 

"Sixth: The abolition of child labor and the im-
position of such limitations on the labor of young 
persons as shall permit the continuation of their edu-
cation and assure their proper physical development. 

"Seventh: The principle that men and women 
should receive equal remuneration for work of equal 
value.6 

"Eighth: The standard set by law in each country 
with respect to the conditions of labor should have 
due regard to the equitable economic treatment of all 
workers lawfully resident therein. 

"Ninth: Each State should make provision for a 
system of inspection in which women should take 
part, in order to ensure the enforcement of the laws 
and regulations for the protection of the employed. 

5 N ew economic and social circumstance~. the most important of which was the 
depression and the widespread unemployment which accompanied It. have now 
brought us beyond the stage of the 8-hour day; the Question of the moment is the 
40-hour week. 

6 It should be noted that this principle is intended merely to remedy the ob-
vious injustice of paying a woman a lower wage than a man for the same work 
merely because she is a woman. Such a practice means exploiting female labor 
and also tends to bring down rates of wages for m en . Justice demands that when 
a woman performs the same work as a man she shouid be paid the same amount. 
The paragraph was not intended to refer to Questions of family wages or compensa-
tion for family responsibilities-a matter that is dealt with in practice by means of 
family allowances. 



PRINCIPLES 17 

"Without claiming that these methods and principles 
are either complete or final, the High Contracting Parties 
are of opinion that they are well fitted to guide the policy 
of the League of Nations; and that, if adopted by the in-
dustrial communities who are Members of the League, and 
safeguarded in practice by an adequate system of such in-
spection, they will confer lasting benefits upon the wage-
earners of the world." 

Anyone who has even a slight acquaintance with Chris-
tian social doctrine will immediately realize that Catholics 
not only can but ought to subscribe to all these principles. 
It is their own program, a program based on the need for 
justice which they have maintained for many years. It 
was laid down in the Papal Encyclicals and has constantly 
been put forward by the leaders of the Church in every 
country, . such as Cardinal Gibbons when defending the 
Knights of Labor, by Monsignor Ketteler, Bishop of Mainz, 
in his famous speech of 1869 on the trends of the working-
class movement, and by Cardinal Manning, the great Chris-
tian leader, who was so popular in London that his funeral 
brought together representatives of Queen Victoria and 
the Prince of Wales walking side by side with represent-
atives of the trade unions and of the dockers. Read once 
again the following pages from the message which Car-
dinal Manning sent in 1890 to the President of the Liege 
Congress; it might be mistaken for a preliminary draft of 
the International Labor Charter: 

"Political economy is not a matter of values and ex-
changes; or of free contracts only, but of human life in all 
its social needs and welfare. It is impossible to discuss 
how many hours a day a man or a woman shall work, until 
we have first laid down how many hours in the day are 
needed that a man may live a human life, or how much 
time in the day is needed that a woman may fulfill the duties 
of domestic life. 

"In mines and other severe labors a day of eight hours 
is reasonable and just; in lighter labors a day of ten hours 
may safely be admitted. 1 

1 It should not be forgotten that these lines were written in 1890 and the de-
mand. they contain represented considerable progress in the light of the practice 
of that period. One may safely presume that Cardinal Manning would have been 
prepared today to accept the idea of a <!IO·hour week. 



18 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

"For women who are mothers and heads of families it 
is hard to see how they can be absent from their children. 
For other women eight or ten hours is as much as can be 
given without hindering the due fulfillment of the duties of 
human life, and the power of sharing in the domestic life of 
homes. 

"For children no work ought to be permitted until the 
child has been duly educated. This must vary in the various 
conditions of national life; but in almost all countries the 
age for remaining at school ought to be raised. For young 
persons all noxious trades hurtful to health ought to be 
forbidden by law. In mines the work of women and chil-
dren ought to be absolutely illegal; in like manner all night 
work. 

"The rest of the Lord's day ought to be protected by 
law for all who live by labor. 

"Finally the right of uniting for mutual protection · 
and support is a natural and legitimate right inherent in 
capital and labor-in employers and employed. Such 
unions are most fruitful and peaceful when masters and 
men unite in one common confraternity or guild. When 
they are separate and independent, they ought freely to 
confer, face to face, in any contention arising between them. 

"My last word will sound perhaps over-sanguine and 
over-bold. I do not believe that the powerful relations of 
employers and employed will ever be safely and solidly 
secured until the just and due proportion between profits 
and wages shall have been fixed, recognized, laid down, and 
publicly known to govern all free contracts between capital 
and labor." 

More recently, in February, 1919, the Program of So-
cial Reconstruction issued by the Bishops of the United 
States a few months before the International Labor Char-
ter was drawn up contained all the essential points of that 
Charter and was even more daring in some of the reforms 
advocated. The principal points may be reproduced here 
as summarized in an excellent pamphlet prepared by the 
National Catholic Welfare Conference.s 

S Rev. R. A. McGowan, Catholic Work in the U. S. for Social Justice, p. 6. 



PRINCIPLES 19 

"1. The continuance of the National War Labor 
Board to put the power of government back of the 
family living wage, fair hours and the right of col-
lective bargaining. 

"2. The necessity of a high level of general pur-
chasing power to secure steady prosperity. 

"3. Social insurance against unemployment, old 
age, sickness and invalidity; and a co-ordinated sys-
tem of employment bureaus. 

"4. Minimum wage laws and equal pay for equal 
work for women. 

"5. The development of consumers' co-operation 
. and of government competition with monopolies not 
otherwise restrainable. 

"6. High taxes on large incomes, excess profits 
and inheritances. 

"7. The rise of labor to share in management. 
"8. The rise of the working people to share in the 

ownership of the things with which and on which they 
work (through co-partnership and producers' co-
operation) if we are to have an efficient economic 
regime or one safe from revolution. 

"9. The supremacy of the right to a living wage 
over even interest on investment. 

"10. Application to both public service monopolies 
and other businesses of the principle of no more than 
a fair return on actual investment." 

The similarity is surprising, but still more surprIsmg 
is the fact that these aspirations are by no means of recent 
date. They are to be found in some form or another, ac-
cording to the circumstances of time and place, but always 
identical in substance, long Before modern industry began 
to develop. Social problems have now become much more 
extensive, but in essence they remain the same, as do also 
the principles for their solution. 

If we go back to the South America of two centuries 
ago we shall find that the weaker class for whose protec-
tion social legislation was then necessary was not the mod-
ern proletariat but the Indian who had been brought under 
domination by the white settler and whose fate seemed 



20 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

likely to become little better than that of the ancient slave. 
The Jesuits, who established those extraordinary repub-
lics among the Guarani Indians, commonly known as the 
Paraguay Missions, accepted as an elementary truth the 
idea that labor was not a commodity or article of com-
merce and that the worker was entitled to the benefits of 
a system of rules guaranteeing him the full rights of hu-
man existence. In spite of their name these Missions ex-
tended over territory belonging to six different republics: 
Argentine, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Bolivia. 
It was a unique system and wonderfully suited to the char-
acter of a childlike people used to nomadic conditions of 
life who were to be trained to a sedentary existence; full 
account was taken of their qualities and their defects, and 
particularly of their improvident nature which made them 
entirely careless of the morrow. 

All the features of modern social legislation, such as 
the protection of women and children, insurance against 
old age, sickness and accident, the limitation of the work-
ing day, the weekly rest and even vocational guidance can 
be found in an original form in those Missions. 

The land was divided into two parts: one was divided 
up individually among the different families, who were 
free to cultivate it as they wished; the other part, known 
as God's land, was cultivated jointly and the produce was 
used for the maintenance of the aged, the infirm and the 
young, for the building of churches and houses, and for 
paying the modest taxes which the Missions owed to the 
King of Spain. There was no hereditary succession and 
no sale of property; children were educated entirely at the 
expense of the community, and on reaching his majority 
each child received the piece of land to which he was en-
titled. Each child also learned a trade, selected not hap-
hazardly but according to personal ability and tastes. The 
working day was fixed at eight hours and the Indians 
worked for three days a week on God's land and three days 
on their own property; Widows and their daughters were 
engaged in making clothes, which were distributed to every 
member of the Mission, one garment a year being given to 
adults and two to children. 

Money was nonexistent and would in any case have 



PRINCIPLES 21 

been useless. The "foreign trade" of the Missions · was very 
slight and was a monopoly of the community. As white 
settlers were not permitted to enter the territory, a caravan 
set out once a year for the nearest towns to sell the produce 
of the Mission and in particular the well-known Para-
guayan mate which provides a favorite drink. The profits 
were used to buy products which the Missions could not 
manufacture themselves. The problems of the distribu-
tion of profits between capital and labor did not arise, for 
the whole yield was used for the benefit of the members 
of the native community. The Jesuits themselves lived 
on a modest allowance paid by the King of Spain . 

. Life was simple, with no luxuries but also with no pov-
erty or misery. There could be no destitute persons in those 
Missions. Many of the social advantages which the Inter-
national Labor Organization is trying to obtain for mod-
ern workers were guaranteed to the inhabitants of these 
settlements. 

This idyllic system, based on principles so bold that we 
of the present-day should find them alarming, lasted for 
one hundred and fifty years and came to an end only as a 
result of violence when the Guarani Indians were deprived 
of their natural defenders, the Jesuits, and were unable to 
resist the armed attacks of their adversaries. 

* * * * 
Then as now, in America as in Europe, the guiding idea 

of Catholics was the same. In its practical expression it 
has to be adapted to varying circumstances of time and 
place, but in essence it remains unchanged and underlying 
it can always be perceived those ideals which are at the 
basis of the International Labor Organization. 

It is not therefore surprising to find the same agree-
ment revealed in the fundamental document in which 
Catholic social doctrine is now enunciated-the Encyclical 
Rerum Novarum. On many occasions since 1919 corre-
sponding passages from the Encyclical and the Interna-
tional Labor Charter have been placed side by side in vari-
ous kinds of synoptic tables. The concordance between the 
two is in any case freely recognized and appreciated on 



22 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

both sides. On the one hand we have the statement of Pius 
XI in the Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno: 

"When after the great War the rulers of the lead-
ing nations wished to restore peace by an entire re-
form of social conditions, and among other measures 
drew up principles to regulate the just rights of labor, 
many of their conclusions agreed so perfectly with 
the principles and warnings of Leo XIII as to seem 
expressly deduced from them." 

These words are echoed by Albert Thomas, who had no 
hesitation, when paying tribute to the work done by Catho-
lics under the inspiration of the Encyclical Rerum N ova-
rum, in making the following assertion: 

"When our Charter solemnly declares that Labor 
should not be regarded merely as a commodity, that 
young workers should be permitted to continue their 
physical and mental development, that the workers 
should receive wages guaranteeing them a reasonable 
standard of life, and that they should have freedom to 
combine in trade unions, is it surprising that Catho-
lics should take pleasure in recognizing and emphasiz-
ing in the pontifical document of 1891 principles and 
even forms of words that are inspired by the same 
generous aspirations to secure the dignity of man, the 
inalienable rights of children, of women, and of every 
worker to a fair share in all the commodities they 
produce for society, the lawfulness of occupational 
associations and the necessity for State intervention?" 



CHAPTER III 

STRUCTURE 

THE International Labor Organization consists of: 

A General Conference of representatives of the States 
Members; and 

The International Labor Office, which is controlled, by 
a Governing Body. 

1. The General Conference 

The General Conference which must meet not less than 
once a year, is composed of delegates of the States Mem-
bers of the Organization. Each Member is entitled to send 
four delegates with the right to vote: two representing the 
Government, one the employers and one the workers; and 
in addition, a certain number of experts (two for each 
item on the agenda). 

This tripartite system of representation is a very happy 
innovation in the history of international relations. Not 
only do the governments have their say in the matter (as 
is only natural since they are responsible for the general 
interests of their countries) but also those who are more 
directly affected by the regulation of labor conditions, 
namely, the employers and the workers. As these interests 
are in some respects divergent, it is only fair that each of 
the groups concerned should have a representative. A 
strict balance is maintained between the two groups. If 
there is no delegate for one group from any country, either 
because the government failed to appoint one or because 
the Conference declined to accept his credentials, the other 
non-government delegate is merely entitled to take part in 
the discussions without having the right to vote. 

The nomination of the employers' and workers' repre-
sentatives is not left entirely to the discretion of the gov-
ernments, for, if it were, these representatives would no 
longer be independent and would not truly represent the 
interests of their respective groups. Under Article 3 of 
the Constitution of the Organization, they must be ap-
pointed "in agreement with the industrial organizations, 

23 



24 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

if such organizations exist, which are most representative 
of employers or workpeople, as the case may be, in their re-
spective countries." 

The interpretation of this provision has led to various 
differences of opinion, one of the most noteworthy of 
which is of special interest to the Catholic social movement 
and was destined to be settled in its favor. It arose in con-
nection with the appointment of Mr. Serrarens, General 
Secretary of the International Federation of Christian 
Trade Unions, as workers' delegate of the Netherlands. 

There were in the Netherlands five leading organiza-
tions of workers: the Netherlands Federation of Trade 
Unions with 219,000 members, the Catholic Workers' Fed-
eration with 156,000, the National Federation of Christian 
Trade Unions (Protestant) with 76,000, the Netherlands 
General Trade Union Federation (neutral) with 51,000 
and the Netherlands Labor Secretariat (extreme Left) with 
36,000. 

In 1919 and 1920 the workers' delegate to the Confer-
ence had been chosen from the Netherlands Federation of 
Trade Unions, which, being numerically the largest, could 
be considered as the most representative. In 1921, after the 
Netherlands Government had tried in vain to bring about 
an agreement between all these organizations, it appointed 
as workers' delegate Mr. Serrarens, who was nominated by 
the Catholic, Protestant and neutral trade unions, which to-
gether had a slightly larger membership than the two other 
federations. The Minister of Labor indicated his intention 
of dividing the workers' organizations into two groups "ac-
cording to whether they accepted or rejected the theory of 
the class struggle." The workers' delegate was to be se-
lected alternately from these groups and at least one adviser 
would be chosen from the other group. 

The Netherlands Federation of Trade Unions, supported 
at the Conference by the International Federation of Trade 
Unions as a whole, lodged a protest and claimed that it alone 
as the largest organization should have the right to nomi-
nate the workers' delegate. The Conference accepted the 
credentials of the delegate de facto and referred the legal 
question to the Permanent Court of International Justice 
at The Hague. 



STRUCTURE 25 

The point at issue was the interpretation to be placed 
on the expression "the industrial organizations which are 
most representative of employers or work-people." What 
was the exact significance of the plural? Did it mean that 
the Government should apply to two organizations, one on 
each side-the most representative organization of em-
ployers and the most representative organization of work-
ers-or was the Government intended to apply to the most 
representative organizations within each of the two groups? 
On, the surface it was an elementary problem of grammar, 
but the grammarians left to themselves would have been 
unable to solve it. The Permanent Court decided in favor 
of the view taken by the Netherlands Government; it con-
sidered it to be in conformity with the provisions of Article 
3 of the Constitution which nowhere lays down the prin-
ciple of representation of only one organization. If only 
one organization had to be consulted this might result in 
the appointment of a delegate against the wishes of a 
majority of the workers in a country which had, for exam-
ple, four organizations, the first with 110,000 members 
and each of the other three with 100,000. The aim of every 
government must certainly be to secure an agreement be-
tween all the most representative organizations of employ-
ers and between all the most representative organizations 
of workers, but that unfortunately is an ideal which it is 
difficult to realize in practice. What governments can be 
asked to do is to make every effort to bring about an agree-
ment which can in the circumstances be considered as 
guaranteeing the most adequate representation of the 
workers of the country. 

* * * * 
The legal instruments at the disposal of the Conference 

for achieving its aims are Conventions and Recommenda-
tions. 

1. Conventions, which are very carefully drawn up, 
usually at two different sessions, are exact and strictly de-
fined texts. They must be adopted by a majority of two-
thirds of the votes cast, each delegate, irrespective of the 
group to which he belongs (government, employers' or 
workers') voting separately and having one vote. This 



26 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

again marks a definite advance on the usual practice of 
international conferences which used to require unanimity 
before a decision could be adopted. 

A convention passed by the Conference does not there-
by become binding on the States Members of the Organiza-
tion; it must, irrespective of how the government delegates 
may have voted, be submitted for approval to the competent 
authority in each country, which is free to ratify or not. 

Thus, although the States remain free to take the final 
decision, an important step forward has been made in the 
development of international legislation since the days of 
the International Association for Labor Legislation. For 
after the diplomatic conferences of the former Association, 
the governments were not obliged to submit the draft con-
ventions that were adopted to their parliaments for rati-
fication. 

2. Recommendations do not bind governments to ac-
cept a definite text; they lay down principles which govern-
ments are invited to take into account in their legislation 
and in their administrative practice. They, too, have to 
be submitted to the competent legislative authority and if 
they are approved, the State is required to give an account 
of the steps it has taken to give effect to the Recommenda-
tions. 

Some provision had to be made for supervising the ap-
plication of conventions. The Members of the Organiza-
tion are therefore required to submit annual reports on the 
measures taken to give effect to the conventions which 
they have ratified. These reports are first examined by a 
committee of twelve experts selected from different coun-
tries on account of their personal competence. A sum-
mary of the reports is submitted to the annual Conference. 

If international regulation of labor conditions is not to 
remain purely platonic and out of touch with reality, but 
is to meet the real needs of the moment, the situation must 
be constantly reviewed · and the main economic and social 
tendencies must be detected in the seemingly chaotic flow 
of events. Thus the line that should be followed and the 
questions which should first be dealt with will clearly 
emerge. For this reason several sittings of the Conference 
-and they are generally far from being the least ani-





THE DIGNIT Y 

Maurice 



r;y OF LABOR 
ce Denis 

(See Preface) 





STRUCTURE 27 

mated-are devoted to the discussion of the report in 
which the Director of the International Labor Office sum-
marizes year by year the economic and social situation 
throughout the world. 

2. The International Labor Office 

It is no easy task to create a body of international legis-
lation applicable to most varied countries at extremely dif-
ferent stages of evolution. It would be impossible to do so 
if there were no permanent institution to serve as secre-
tariat, to conduct research and to provide assistance in 
the preliminary drafting of the texts of Conventions and 
Recommendations. This is the work of the International 
Labor Office, the activities of which are supervised by a 
Governing Body. 

(a) The Governing Body 

The Governing Body of the International Labor Office, 
which meets four times a year, consists at present of 32 
members selected on the same tripartite basis as the Con-
ference: 16 government representatives, 8 employers' rep-
resentatives and 8 workers' representatives. The em-
ployers' and workers' members of the Governing Body are 
elected for three years by the employers' group and the 
workers' group at the Conference respectively. Of the 
sixteen government representatives, eight are elected for 
the same period by the government group at the Confer-
ence and the other eight belong to the countries of chief 
industrial importance: the British Empire, Canada, France, 
India, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist 
Republics.9 

The Governing Body appoints the Director of the Inter-
national Labor Office, passes the budget and draws up the 
agenda for the Conference. 

(b) The Office 

The International Labor Office is the permanent secre-
tariat of the Organization and forms a sort of international 

9 Previous to their withdrawal from the I. L. 0., Italy and Japan were the 
other two countries of chief industrial importance. 



28 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

department of labor. It is not composed on the same tri-
partite basis as the Conference and the Governing Body. 
The members of the staff, who belong to some 40 different 
countries, are all appointed by the Director. They are 
international civil servants who give a solemn undertaking 
"to discharge their functions with the interests of the 
International Labor Organization alone in view." 

At the head of the staff is a director appointed by the 
Governing Body. This post was first held by Albert 
Thomas, the celebrated French statesman. When he died 
suddenly in Paris on May 7, 1932, he was succeeded by 
Harold Butler, formerly a high official in the British Min-
istry of Labor, who had been a member of the Committee 
which drew up the Constitution of the International Labor 
Organization in 1919. The present Director of the Office 
is John G. Winant, former Governor of New Hampshire 
and the first Chairman of the Social Security Board of the 
United States. . 

The duties of the Office include the technical prepara-
tion of the items on the agenda of the Conference, for 
which it supplies the secretariat. It undertakes any in-
vestigations which the Conference instructs it to carry 
out and collects information concerning the international 
adjustment of conditions of industrial life and labor. This 
is an immense task which requires the Office to keep in con-
stant touch, throughout the world, not only with govern-
ments but also with employers' and workers' associations 
and even with all the private organizations dealing with 
social questions. In its endeavor to make its work uni-
versal and to give a faithful reflection of actual conditions 
in the world, it neglects nothing that affects labor or the 
worker and has always been careful not to exclude from 
its relations any group which it recognizes as being of 
real social value. 

In order to obtain full information it has appointed 
various advisory committees of specialists. These keep in 
touch with the Office and supply it with information either 
by correspondence or directly in Geneva when the Office 
finds it necessary to convene meetings of the committees. 

The office takes such a wide view and covers such an 
immense field of activity that it has been called "the best 



JOHN G. WINANT 

Director of the lr:1ternational Labor Organization 

I 

(See page 28) 





STRUCTURE 29 

social observatory in the world," a description that is often 
echoed by those who have been in touch with it. It has no 
desire to keep for itself the mass of information it has col-
lected, but places it at the disposal of any who wish to 
come and study it. 

It is part of the duty of the Office not only to be a labora-
tory for social studies but also to be a center for distributing 
throughout the whole world the information it has collected 
and compiled. Every month the International Labor Review 
which now appears in English, Spanish, German and French, 
publishes exhaustive studies on the most varied social sub-
jects. Every week Industrial and Labor Information keeps 
thousands of readers abreast of economic and social develop-
ments, the growth of labor legislation in every country, the 
evolution of social insurance, unemployment, migration and 
similar methods. These periodicals are supplemented by 
lengthy documentary studies on various subjects, of which 
200 have already appeared. 

The International Labor Office is also at the disposal of 
individual applicants for information. It is an unvarying 
tradition that no request for information-and, on the aver-
age, a thousand are received annually-should remain un-
answered. 

Researchers and students have facilities for consulting 
in a comfortable reading room the 400,000 volumes which 
constitute the most complete library of social questions in 
the world, the 4,361 newspapers or magazines (861 a day 
on the average) at present received in the periodicals serv-
ice, and the press cuttings selected daily from the most im-
portant of these publications. 



CHAPTER IV 

RESULTS 

AFTER nineteen years of existence, the International La-
bor Organization has to its credit the adoption of 63 Con-
ventions and 55 Recommendations. 

Instead of following step by step the various sessions 
of the Conference in chronological order, it will be prefer-
able, and simpler for the reader, to indicate in outline the 
main features of the work.10 

Hours of Work 

By 1914 the labor abuses of the nineteenth century, when 
hours of work were often 16 or 17 a day, had largely been 
overcome. But in most industrial countries the daily hours 
were still from 10 to 12. That meant that family life was 
practically impossible for the worker who returned home 
exhausted after a day's work in a factory which was often 
at a considerable di'stance from his home. 

Immediately after the War, the campaign for the three 
8's-8 hours' work, 8 hours' leisure and 8 hours' sleep-was 
in full swing . . As was mentioned above, the International 
Labor Charter referred to the 8-hour day or the 48-hour 
week as the goal to be reached wherever it had not already 
been achieved. That was the first item on the agenda of 
the Labor Conference held at Washington in 1919, when a 
convention for a 48-hour week was adopted for workers in 
industry and land h:ansport. It provided certain excep-
tions, more particularly for a few of the Asiatic countries: 
China, Iran and Siam, where local conditions made the re-
form premature and impracticable, and also for Japan and 
India, where a lesser reduction was agreed upon. 

In 1930 that convention was supplemented by another 
for the benefit of employees in commerce and offices. In 
this case also certain categories of workers were excluded 

10 A complete table of the Conventions as of March, 1939, is given in Appendix A. 
The number of ratifications was 835 on November 1, 1938, and this movement far from 
slackening, is gaining strength. Even the depression did not hold it up, for the 
average number of ratifications during the years of prosperity from 1925 to 1929 
was 50 a year, whereas during the years of depression from 1931 to 1935 it was 51. 
In November, 1938, the United States registered its first five ratifications. Appendix B 
summarizes the action taken at the 1939 Conference. 

30 



RESULTS 31 

from the scope: employees in hotels and restaurants, places 
of amusement, and hospital establishments. 

In 1931 a further convention regulating hours of work 
in coal mines fixed the time spent in the mine from the time 
when the first miner descends to the time when the last re-
turns to the surface at 7 hours and 45 minutes. 

Finally in 1936, at a special session dealing with mari-
time questions, a convention on the 8-hour day for seamen 
was also passed. 

One extensive group of workers, those in agriculture, 
has not been dealt with so far in a similar convention. The 
question is at present being considered by technical com-
mittees. It bristles with difficulties which are too obvious 
to require enumeration here. It is enough to mention the 
great difference in the hours worked at various seasons of 
the year and the existence of large numbers of peasants and 
small holders who would not be willing to accept a restric-
tion of hours. 

* * * * 

The economic depression which started in 1929 caused 
unprecedented unemployment. In 1932, the statistics of 
16 countries showed a total of 30 million unemployed per-
sons, which means that, if their families are taken into ac-
count, there were not less than 100 million persons in these 
16 countries who were dependent for a livelihood on vari-
ous forms of relief and allowances. Among the many 
causes of the depression, everyone agrees that an important 
one is the extreme development of mechanization and ra-
tionalization. Far more can now be produced with fewer 
workers than formerly. The natural and almost inevitable 
reaction of the employer at the outset is to reduce his staff, 
and this naturally increases unemployment. 

The trouble was so serious that a remedy had to be 
sought urgently. The idea of producing the maximum 
amount in the minimum of time with the minimum of labor 
without troubling about the consequent unemployment 
must give place to the idea of producing the maximum 
amount in the minimum of time but with a reduction of 
the hours of work of each worker instead of the number of 
workers employed. 



32 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

That is the origin of the idea of the 40-hour week. It 
must be noted, however, that it is proposed to effect the 
40-hour week without any decrease in the standard of liv-
ing of the workers. Otherwise the remedy would be a 
very imperfect one. Since much is being produced, much 
must also be consumed. Otherwise the production would 
be not merely useless but even harmful. One of the effects 
of the 40-hour week as' thus proposed would be to inerease 
the total purchasing power of the masses and therefore 
bring apout an increase in consumption. 

The first arguments advanced in favor of the 40-hour 
week were thus essentially economic. They can, however, 
be backed up by a strong social argument: extreme ra-
tionalization and speed-up work have made even an 8-hour 
day much more strenuous than formerly. The worker is 
subjected to nervous tension which is harmful to health. 
For humanitarian reasons alone, therefore, it is reason-
able to urge that the period of exposure to fatigue should 
be shortened.11 

At its sessions in 1933 and 1934, the annual Conference 
discussed the adoption of a convention on the 40-hour 
week, but a stubborn opposition prevented it from achiev-
ing this aim. 

The idea was not abandoned, but was taken up in a 
different form. The 1935 Conference passed a convention 
of principle: any State which ratifies declares itself in 
favor of the 40-hour week and of the adoption of the neces-
sary measures to introduce it. A series of special conven-
tions for each group of industry was then to be prepared 
and submitted to the Conference for adoption. Up to 1937 
special conventions had been passed for three groups only: 
the glass-bottle industry, public works and the textile in-

11 This idea is coming to be more and more widely held. In an address on April 
13, 1937, to representatives of the Federation of British Industries, Mr. Baldwin. 
then British Prime Minister, after pointing out that cases of nervous strain no 
longer occur only among non-manual workers but very frequently also amOD&' 
manual workers, expressed his opinion as to the necessity for reducing hours ot 
work in the following terms: HIt is no longer a question of leisure or of wages i it 
is a question of ensuring that at any rate those people who are in a position where 
they may suffer from the strain of nerves incidental to certain industries today may 
not be allowed to become what they may well be if nothing is done in years to come 
-nervous wrecks that are no good to themselves or to tbe country. It is, In short, 
what adjustment may be necessary to ensure a sane and healthy life, healthy not 
only in body but, what i. still more important to us, in mind." 



RESULTS 33 

dustry. As this procedure seemed to be too lengthy, it was 
decided, at the request of the workers' representatives, 
that a few general conventions, covering all those workers 
who were not so far covered by conventions adopted in the 
past, would be put before the Conference for decision. 
After a first reading in 1938, the Generalization of the Re-
duction of Hours of Work was placed on the agenda of the 
Conference of 1939. Four groups of conventions will be 
considered: industry, commerce, offices; coal mines; rail-
way, water and air transport; and road transport, where 
the general problem of the hours of work is complicated 
by questions of safety. 

* * * * 
In connection with the conventions on hours of work, 

mention may be made also of the convention providing a 
weekly rest for workers in industry and transport, This 
rest must be granted as far as possible to the whole staff 
on the same day, and should coincide with the traditions 
arid customs of each country. It is clear from the text that 
the convention is inspired both by social and religious mo-
tives. A recommendation urges the extension of the same 
measure to employees in commerce until such time as more 
definite regulations can be adopted for their benefit. 

* * * * 
A convention providing for a week's holiday with pay 

annually was adopted in 1936 by the very large majority 
of 99 votes to 15. 

Social Insurance 

"A system of labor regulation if true to the principle 
of social justice must secure the effective protection of the 
workers against risks endangering their livelihood or that 
of their families. This protection can best be attained by 
means of the establishment of a system of social insurance 
granting clearly-defined rights to the beneficiaries." 

This view was expressed by the Conference in 1925 in 
a general resolution on social insurance. The work accom-
plished in this field, although still incomplete, is consider-
able. 



34 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

In 1925 conventions were adopted on accident insur-
ance and workmen's compensation for accidents for all 
workers, salaried employees and apprentices in any in-
dustrial or commercial undertaking, including foreign 
workers. This measure extends indirectly to agriculture, 
since a convention of 1921 prescribes that the general legis-
lation on workmen's compensation should extend to agri-
cultural workers. 

A convention was also adopted in 1925 on workmen's 
compensation for occupational diseases. In 1927 a Conven-
tion was passed on compulsory sickness insurance, and in 
1929 several conventions made provision for old-age, in-
validity, and widows' and orphans' insurance for all per-
sons employed in industry, commerce and agriculture. 

* * * * 
Everyone who has any knowledge of the workers under-

stands that one of their chief anxieties is for the future of 
themselves and their families. "In the event of sickness 
or accident or in old age," they ask, "what will become of 
my wife and children? What will become of myself?" By 
hastening the adoption of Conventions concerning social 
insurance, the International Labor Organization will have 
done much to grant the workers some degree of security 
and to remove one of their most acute sources of anxiety. 

The Protection of Women 

The desire to protect women in the course of their em-
ployment was one of the primary interests of the Organi-
zation, as it generally has been in national legislation. The 
Labor Charter, as was already seen, demanded equal wages 
for equal work so as to put an end to the widespread ex-
ploiting of women. It also stated that women should be 
included in all factory inspection services. 

As early as 1919 a convention was adopted concerning 
the employment of women before and after childbirth. 
They are entitled to give up their work six weeks before 
the presumed date of the confinement and to remain absent 
six weeks thereafter. During that period they must re-
ceive an adequate allowance for themselves and for the 
child, and they are also entitled to free attendance by a 



RESULTS 35 

doctor or midwife. If as a result of complications they 
are unable to return to work at the end of the six weeks, 
they are still immune from dismissal by their employer. 

A woman who nurses her child is entitled to two breaks 
of half an hour each during her working hours for this 
purpose. 

, The desire for maternity protection is reflected also in a 
recommendation urging that women should not be em-
ployed in handling dangerous substances, even when such 
substances may be handled by male workers. 

Another convention prohibits the employment of women 
during eleven consecutive hours of the night, and yet an-
other prohibits their employment underground in coal 
mines. 

Protection of Young Persons 

There are several conventions concerning the employ-
ment of young persons, which are intended to prevent in-
terference with their full physical development and to 
facilitate their mental development. 

These conventions originally fixed the age of admission 
to employment at 14 years for industry, maritime work, 
non-industrial occupations and agriculture, but in agricul-
ture an exception is made for work outside school hours. 

Employers must keep a special register for all children 
under the age of 16 years. The minimum wage has been 
fixed at 18 years for employment as trimmers and stokers 
on board ship, and it is further provided that young per-
sons employed at sea must undergo periodical medical 
examinations. 

The question of the age of admission to employment was 
reconsidered before very long; and new conventions have 
recently been passed raising the age to 15 years for em-
ployment at sea (October, 1936) and for industrial and 
non-industrial employment (June, 1937). 

It is a matter for congratulation that these new con-
ventions revising the earlier ones were adopted by large 
majorities. It is a reform which the workers had strongly 
urged. It will be remembered that the Young Christian 
Workers (J. O. C.) include in their program the fixing of 
the minimum age at 16 years. 



36 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

This measure is valuable in the first place as an effec-
tive means of combating unemployment. But that is a 
special point of view and by no means the most important. 
The reform is desirable on higher grounds. It is calcu-
lated to raise the whole spiritual, moral and intellectual 
standard of the working class in general. Its purpose is 
not merely to bring some relief to the labor market. To 
raise the age for admission to employment means at the 
same time extending the period of school attendance. A 
young person cannot be left idle. If the doors of the work-
shop are closed until a later age, those of the school must 
be open for a longer period, and the child therefore profits 
by additional years of education. Mr. Pauwels, President 
of the Belgian Christian Trade Unions, who was a workers' 
adviser at the Conference in 1937, drew attention to this 
aspect of the matter in a speech in support of the Conven-
tion. It will certainly be of interest to recall this exposition 
of the workers' psychology. 

"Humanity is always striving towards a better fate. 
That has always been one of its aims, and that is why, 
apart from inevitable pauses and occasional setbacks, the 
work of social progress continues unceasingly and unre-
mittingly. It is a profoundly human aspiration, and, if I 
may say so, it is on that account profoundly Christian. But 
just because it is human this aspiration is particularly 
strong among those whose conditions of spiritual, moral 
and intellectual existence as well as of social life are the 
least favored: among those who feel that their personality 
and their human dignity are slighted; among those who are 
endeavoring to remove still more of the inequalities that 
separate the workers from other classes and to destroy the 
inferiority complex from which the working class suffers. 

"This collective striving towards an ever higher stand-
ard of humanity is not due to any base feeling of envy or 
to any materialistic desire; it is inspired by a profound 
desire for the recognition of a higher dignity-tl1at of hu-
man personality. 

"The workers, I repeat, have lofty aims; they wish to 
rise to higher spiritual, moral, intellectual and social planes, 
and they feel that only in so far as they do rise can they 
possess a fuller human life and secure for labor and hu-



RESULTS 37 

man personality that due respect in economic and social 
affairs which is at the basis of Christian doctrine and of 
all true civilization. It is also one of the fundamental 
principles of our International Labor Organization." 

Industrial Hygiene and Safety 

The International Labor Office, in collaboration with 
scientists and with organizations of employers and work-
ers, is very active in its study of industral hygiene and 
safety. In this matter there is no difficulty from the moral 
or humanitarian point of view, for everyone is agreed. The 
problems to be solved are essentially technical and there-
fore need not be discussed in detail here. 

The Berne Convention in 1906 prohibited the use of 
white phosphorous in the manufacture of matches, and as 
early as 1919 the Conference adopted a recommendation 
urging the governments which had not already done so to 
ratify that convention as soon as possible. 

Mention may also be made of a convention adopted in 
1921 regulating the use of white lead in painting. 

Two conventions have been passed for the protection 
of dockers against accidents. Carping critics might sug-
gest that dockers represent but a relatively small category 
of workers, and that it was scarcely worthwhile setting 
in motion the mechanism of a huge international institution 
simply to avoid a few accidents. But even in such a case, 
if it were merely a question of protecting a few homes 
from disaster or saving a few human lives there would be 
no cause to regret the efforts made. A moment's reflection 
on the value of human personality will show how true this 
is. No worker must remain excluded from the activities 
of the International Labor Organization. As Albert 
Thomas once said: "Some people criticize what they call our 
red-tapism; if it has served to save even a few hundred 
human lives it will not have been in vain." 

Native Labor 

, The indigenous workers in colonies, who are more ex-
posed to exploitation and less able to defend themselves, 
have more need of protection than any other workers. 



38 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

Again one may quote Albert Thomas, who fully realized 
this fact and considered that the work of the International 
Labor Organization would be incomplete if it did not place 
this question in the forefront: 

"With the distant countries more than with any others 
we must be careful to maintain unity in the struggle of men 
against nature and against the sufferings and privations 
which may result from faulty social organizations. Only 
when we have achieved that unity and established constant 
touch with the distant countries shall we have solidly estab-
lished the League of Nations and our Organization for 
social justice." 

The work done in this field is of special interest to mis-
sionaries who live in close touch with the indigenous popu-
lations and have devoted their lives to them. The most im-
portant results are: 

1. The Forced Labor Convention of 1930, by which 
every ratifying State undertakes to abolish forced or com-
pulsory labor in every form at the earliest possible mo-
ment, and, until it can be entirely suppressed, to permit it 
only for public purposes. This convention has been ratified 
by 19 States, whose colonial empires contain 90 per cent 
of the total population of colonies. It will be practically 
universal when ratified by Belgium and Portugal as well. 

2. The Recruiting of Indigenous Workers' Conventions 
of 1936, in which the moral aspect has not been overlooked. 
Among the various rules laid down for the protection of 
these workers, a prominent position is given to the prohibi-
tion of the recruiting of non-adult workers and to the obli-
gation devolving on the competent authorities to take ac-
count of the dangers to the family and to morality which 
recruiting may involve. 

These two Conventions are only a first step, which is to 
be followed by others. The next seems likely to be a con-
vention regulating contracts of employment of indigenous 
workers. It was discussed in first reading in the Confer-
ence of 1938 and will be resumed for a final decision in that 
of 1939. It is indeed essential that strict fundamental 
rules should be laid down for such contracts. Especially 
when they are for long periods and involve penal sanc-
tions, they weigh heavily on the indigenous worker, who 



RESULTS 39 

is often unable through lack of education to realize all their 
implications. Missionaries more than anyone are in a 
position to appreciate the value for native populations of 
the adoption of humane contracts of employment freely 
entered into by the workers. 

Unemployment 

Since the end of the War, no problem has been more 
acute than that of unemployment and consequently none 
has been more attentively studied by all who take an in-
terest in the workers' welfare. 

In order to alleviate the innumerable sufferings caused 
by unemployment, unemployment insurance, which was 
practically unknown before the War, has progressed so 
rapidly that it now exists in twenty countries. A conven-
tion on the subject was adopted in 1934. 

To provide some slight assistance to those who are 
thrown out of employment is merely a first step; what is 
more important is to deal with the problem at its roots. 
Prevention is better than cure; but in this case there can 
be no question of a single remedy but rather of a number 
of measures which taken together, can unite to achieve 
this aim. Some of the measures already mentioned above 
have helped to reabsorb the unemployed: the reduction 
of hours of work, the 40-hour week, holidays with pay and 
the raising of the minimum age for employment. 

In 1929 Albert Thomas advocated the adoption of large-
scale advance planning of public works. The great merit 
of this suggestion was that it was not to be restricted to 
the national field but aimed at co-operation between all 
States and the pooling of all their resources in order to com-
bat effectively this scourge of the modern world. The idea 
seemed to gain no ground for several years but in reality 
it was still alive, and a recommendation in favor of the 
establishment of a plan for international co-operation in 
the planning and timing of public works on a large scale 
was adopted by the Conference in 1937. 

Unemployment of Youth 

Unemployment of youth is even more serious than un-
employment in general from the point of view of its conse-



40 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

quences and, more especially, its moral consequences. It 
is impossible not to be moved by the sufferings of those who 
are just setting out on the path of life and find every ave-
nue blocked to them, so that they remain on the unemploy-
ment register without ever having the opportunity of do-
ing a day's work. These young persons have frequently 
expressed their natural feeling of despair, but never in 
more striking fashion than when they had the opportunity 
of appearing on the platform of the International Labor 
Conference in 1935. Under the auspices of the trade 
unions, delegations of young unemployed persons were per-
mitted to address the Conference and express their views. 
Among them was a delegation of about 100 members of the 
Young Christian Workers (J. O. C.) bearing a petition 
signed by 85,000 young unemployed persons under 25 years 
of age. Their attitude was expressed by one of their num-
bers in the following terms: 

"We are bound to say that when we think of the future 
we are afraid; the fear of life ' overwhelms us; it destroys 
the zest, the joy, the confidence-all the buoyant enthusi-
asms which make the strength and the beauty of youth. 

"No one will ever know the full measure of the pain 
which gnaws the hearts of the young victims of persistent 
unemployment. They are gone, those days when we could 
take home our pay. We wonder how much longer we ca'n 
dare to sit at the family table. At times we dare not eat. 
We are ashamed, and long to go away so that we need no 
more take the bread of those who have earned it by their 
labor. We ought to be helping our parents, but we are to 
them only a cause of distress. We ought to be bearing our 
share of the burdens of our homes, but we are only a 
charge upon them. Many of us do help our families so 
far as it is in our power, by foregoing some things that are 
necessary to us in order to leave enough for our younger 
brothers and sisters. The cost is hunger and malnutrition 
at the very age when the growth of the body demands 
wholesome and strengthening nourishment. We are in 
danger of many diseases, which sometimes compel us to 
spend long periods in hospitals or sanitoria. 

"That is why we, the young unemployed of the whole 
world, in unity with the workers in general, appeal to you 



RESULTS 41 

delegates of the International Labor Conference. We feel 
that the Conference, as a result of its exhaustive studies, 
its previous work and the bonds of close international col-
laboration which it has established, can promote measures 
calculated to reduce unemployment of youth .... We have 
confidence in you and we are convinced that you will do 
everything in your power to find immediate remedies for 
our position. 

"We await the restoration at the earliest possible mo-
ment of the right which we cherish above all others, the 
right to work and the right to live. 

"We are not idle ne'er-do-wells. We urge with all our 
strength that satisfaction be given to our legitimate claims." 

Even after this touching appeal there could, of course, 
be no question of improvising a convention on such an 
extensive basis and covering so many fields as the re-
absorption of unemployment. The Conference, however, 
adopted a recommendation which can be said to constitute 
a real program of social policy. It advocates fixing the 
school-leaving age and the age of admission to employ-
ment at 15 years, the creation of special centers, at which 
attendance would be entirely free, for young unemployed 
persons, the organization of public works for these per-
sons, the development of vocational training and of voca-
tional guidance services. 



CHAPTER V 

THE COLLABORATION OF CATHOLICS 

THE idea of convening a Congress of workers' delegates, 
without distinction of nationality, religious belief or polit-
ical opinion, which Decurtins had advanced in 1893 and 
which received the full approval of Leo XIII, has thus been 
put into practice on a much larger scale than he could have 
hoped for at that time. Instead of a mere Congress, there 
is a huge permanent organization which has been working 
successfully since 1919 and which has already impressive 
results to its credit. Every year new conventions are 
adopted by the Conference and every year additional rati-
fications introduce into the legislation of the States Mem-
bers new measures for promoting social justice. No inter-
national organization ever worked on such a scale and with 
such unbroken continuity. Little by little a system of inter-
national labor legislation is being built up which will give 
the working class of the whole world an increasing meas-
ure of justice and well-being. 

There is nothing in these achievements or in the prin-
ciples of the International Labor Organization which can 
stand in the way of sincere collaboration by Catholics; on 
the contrary, everything invites them to support the pro-
moters of this beneficent legislation. It is, therefore, not 
surprising that since the very beginning they have taken 
an active interest in the Geneva organization and they may 
in all justice claim their share in the common work 

Collaboration at the Conference is not the same as col-
laboration with the International Labor Office. 

At the Conference delegates are appointed by govern-
ments, and, in the case of the employers and workers at 
least, they must be selected from the most representative 
organizations. It has been seen above what this expression 
means and how exactly it should be interpreted. 

In countries in which there are employers' and work-
ers' organizations directly inspired by Christian principles, 
it is through these organizations that Catholics can obtain 
a place in this ' new labor parliament as employers' or 
workers' delegates or advisers. But we must look facts in 
the face. There are flourishing employers' organizations 

42 



THE COLLABORATION OF CATHOLICS 43 

of Catholic inspiration in certain countries, such as France, 
Belgium and Holland, but they are exceptions and in any 
case most of their members are small-scale or medium-size 
employers. They have made little progress among the 
employers of large-scale industry and the latter group, 
wrongly or rightly, always considers itself as most fully 
representing the interests of the employers. 

It would be very desirable if a place could be found in 
the Conference for employers' representatives who openly 
supported the doctrine of the Encyclicals, for this would 
prevent a considerable amount of friction between the em-
ployers' group and the workers' group. This does not 
mean that there have not been employers' representatives 
who are well-known Catholics, active members of religious 
organizations and speakers at "social weeks." But it was 
not generally as members of these organizations that they 
were selected to take part in the work of the Conference. 
The ideal would be for some at least of those employers to 
be put forward as representatives of a Catholic organi-
zation, with class collaboration as the fundamental prin-
ciple that they advocate. 

The Christian trade unions have, as a result of their 
number and membership, and various local circumstances, 
been able to obtain official representation. This was the 
case in the Netherlands, in circumstances which were ex-
plained above. Since the Permanent Court at The Hague 
gave its decision, other governments have followed the ex-
ample of the Netherlands and have appointed represent-
atives of the Christian trade unions as workers' delegates 
or advisers. Czechoslovakia and Poland, for example, have 
sent them as delegates; and Belgium and Switzerland, as 
advisers. 

It might be thought desirable for the Christian Trade 
Unions to be still more fully represented. That is a ques-
tion, however, which does not depend on the International 
Labor Organization; it is a national question, since each 
government has to select its delegates according to the rules 
laid down above. If it is thought desirable to secure fuller 
representation for the Christian Trade Unions at the Con-
ference, these trade unions and the employers' associations 
must first endeavor to increase their membership in each 



44 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

country. So far, however, their presence and their col-
laboration have certainly borne fruit and their participa-
tion in the common work has been eminently satisfactory. 

In countries such as England and the United States, 
where there is no independent Christian trade union move-
ment, Catholics have not this special problem to face. If 
they wish to be logical with themselves, their obvious duty 
is not to remain outside the occupational movement in 
their country but to become active members of the exist-
ing employers' and workers' organizations. In so doing 
they will contribute 'not only to the development of social 
legislation in the national field, but also to the preparation 
of international labor legislation. Thus they will further 
the establishment of justice, both in their own countries 
and in the world as a whole. 

There is another way in which the Catholic social move-
ment can be represented at the Conference, namely, in the 
government delegations. Here it is not a question of mem-
bership but merely of personality, since each government 
is free to appoint the representatives whom it considers 
best suited to promote its interests. In order to realize 
the part that Catholics have played in the International 
Labor Conferences by this means, it will suffice to mention, 
by way of example, that two outstanding representatives 
of the social movement have presided over the discussions 
of the Conference: Monsignor Nolens, Minister of State 
of the Netherlands, in 1926, and the Rev. Dr. Brauns, for-
mer Minister of Labor of Germany, in 1929. 

The International Labor Office offers possibilities of 
collaboration of quite a different kind. The Office is in 
daily touch with various Catholic groups on innumerable 
questions and the relations between the two have always 
been most cordial. It may be said that there is no Catholic 
group interested in social questions of any kind, which has 
not been in communication with the Office and which has 
not had reason to congratulate itself on the fact. The same 
can be said from the point of view of the Office. Albert 
Thomas, in that spirit of loyalty which characterized all his 
activities, did not fail to acknowledge this fact publicly: 

"I can definitely state that whenever we have worked 
side by side in the past eight years, we have done so in a 



THE COLLABORATION OF CATHOLICS 45 

spirit, not of mutual tolerance, but of ardent and passion-
ate faith on both sides in the realization of our common 
ideal, although our inspiration may have come from dif-
ferent sources." 

Any enumeration of the organizations with which the 
Office has collaborated must necessarily be incomplete, but 
a few may be selected at random. 

The French Social Weeks, at which the Office has made 
a point of being represented every year, have expressly 
recommended in their conclusions an interest in and co-
operation with the International Labor Organization. 

The Young Christian Workers' Organization (J. O. C.) 
delegates of which had an opportunity of addressing the 
Conference in 1935, has carried out inquiries into the wages 
of young persons, apprenticeship and vocational training, 
which are increasingly appreciated by the Office. 

The international students' organization Pax Romana, 
which has co-operated with the Office in studying the ques-
tion of unemployment in the professions. 

The Apostolatus Maris, which deals with the question 
of seamen's welfare in every port of the world. 

The International Catholic Union for Social Service, 
which has at present 47 social service schools and auxiliary 
associations. 

The Catholic Workers' College in Oxford, which trains 
a number of militant workers every year. 

The Catholic Social Guild in England, which organizes 
more than 350 study circles, members of which are drawn 
from all ranks of life. 

As was natural, the Office first developed these rela-
tions in Europe, but it rapidly got in touch with more dis-
tant countries and its relations may now be said to extend 
over the whole world. 

In South America the attention of the Office was nat-
urally drawn to the Catholic social movement which is 
rapidly developing there. In this case also only a few 
examples can be given: the Economic and Social Secre-
tariat in Buenos Aires, which has branches throughout the 
whole of Argentina, the Matte de Cruchaga Social Service 
School in Santiago de Chile, the similar school in Monte-
video, the Catholic Young Workers' Organization in Co-



46 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

lombia, the workers' clubs in Brazil, the Social Action 
Group in Rio de Janeiro, etc. 

In Canada the Office has established close and frequent 
contact with Social Weeks, the People's Social School in 
Montreal and the Chri.stian Trade Unions in Quebec. 

Nowhere perhaps is the Catholic Social Movement so 
youthful as in the United States. Fundamentally it is the 
same as in every other country, but its physiognomy is en-
tirely its own. It reflects the innate qualities of the people 
of that country, being full of life and having no fear of 
audacious projects, for social problems arise there more 
rapidly and more acutely than in other countries. That is 
why the American Catholics, although not ignoring the 
lofty realm of principles, show a definite desire not to spend 
too long in that rarefied atmosphere but prefer to descend 
boldly into the arena as soon as possible. 

This explans the rapid development of social schools, 
workers' schools, social courses for the clergy and summer 
schools for students, all of which are well attended. It 
also explains the innumerable leaflets and pamphlets and 
the weekly radio talks which deal with current problems 
affecting the workers considered in the light of Christian 
principles. Special mention should be made of the very 
active Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems. This 
organization is a unique type of traveling university, which 
holds about six regional meetings annually, at which em-
ployers, employees, students of Catholic social teaching 
and the public can exchange ideas on the social problems 
of the day. 

It would be difficult to study the details of this enthusi-
astic movement without the help of the powerful National 
Catholic Welfare Conference. This body, which was set 
up in 1919 under the supervision of the Bishops, aims at 
unifying, co-ordinating and organizing the Catholic people 
of the United States in works of education, social action, 
immigrant aid and other activities. It has maintained 
cordial relations and collaborated more and more closely 
with the International Labor Office for many years, par-
ticularly so since the United States became a Member of 
the Organization. 

Missionaries anxious to help the peoples to whom they 



THE COLLABORATION OF CATHOLICS 47 

have devoted their lives have made frequent appeals to the 
International Labor Office and have had reason to thank 
it for its effective help. 

Two further details will help to show the interest taken 
by the International Labor Office in these relations and 
the spirit of benevolent impartiality in which it follows 
the development of the Catholic social movement. Every 
year the I. L. O. Year-Book, which is an official publica-
tion summarizing the work achieved during the preceding 
year, devotes one chapter to the Catholic Church. Since 
1926, at the request of the Director and with the approval 
of the ecclesiastical authorities, the Office has had on its 
staff a priest who takes part in its work and maintains 
contact with Catholic organizations. 

In a study published after its first ten years of exist-
ence, the Office was able to say: "From its inception the 
Organization has tried to create contacts to become known, 
understood and appreciated, to find support, encourage-
ment, stimulus and a guide in its relations with all the ele-
ments of international life." 12 

Catholics for their part can amply confirm the truth of 
this statement. The International Labor Organization has 
appealed for their assistance as for that of others. It has 
loyally opened its doors to them without requiring them to 
conceal in any way the ideals that inspire them. It was 
Albert Thomas himself who recommended that the Chris-
tian trade unions should "freely and openly affirm the ideal 
which attracted large bodies of believers to them." "It is 
our interest," he said, "that every faith should be strength-
ened and should take definite action; it is not by endeavor-
ing prudently or even shamefacedly to minimize or restrict 
our individual activities; it is not by concealing the prin-
ciples we cherish in our heart of hearts, but on the contrary 
by seeking to raise our ideals still higher and revealing them 
in their purity and in their integrity, that we can succeed in 
concentrating our aims on the ideals and activities which 
we possess in common." 

In such an atmosphere of sincerity, free from all mis-
understanding, it is easy to work hand in hand at a task 
which claims the support of every man of good will. 

12 The International Labor Organization : The First Decade, pp. 365, 366. 



APPENDIX A 

Conventions and Recommendations 

March, 1939 

1st Session (Woshington, 1919) 

1. Hours of Work (Industry). 
2. Unemployment. 
3. Childbirth. 
4. Night Work (Women). 
5. Minimum Age (Industry). 
6. Night Work (Young Per-

sons) . 
White Phosphorous.1 

2nd Session (Genoa, 1920) 

7. Minimum Age (Sea). 
8. Unemployment Indemnity 

(Shipwreck) . 
9. Placing of Seamen. 

3rd Session (Geneva, 1921) 

10. Minimum Age (Agriculture). 
11. Right of Association (Agri-

culture) . 
12. Workmen's Compensation 

(Agriculture). . 
13. White Lead (Painting). 
14. Weekly Rest (Industry). 
15. Minimum Age (Trimmers 

and Stokers). 
16. Me d i cal Examination of 

Young Persons (Sea). 

7th Session (Geneva, 1925) 

17. Workmen's Compensation 
(Accidents) . 

18. Workmen's Compensation 
(Occupational Diseases). 

19. Equality of Treatment (Ac-
cident Compensation). 

20. Night Work (Bakeries). 

8th Session (Geneva, 1926) 

21. Inspection of Emigrants. 

9th Session (Geneva, 1926) 

22. Seamen's Articles of Agree-
ment. 

23. Repatriation of Seamen. 

10th Session (Geneva, 1927) 

24. Sickness Insurance (Indus-
try, etc.) . 

25. Sickness Insurance (Agri-
culture) . 

11 th Session (Geneva, 1928) 

26. Minimum Wage-Fixing Ma-
chinery. 

12th Session (Geneva, 1929) 

27. Marking of Weight (Pack-
ages Transported by Ves-
sels) . 

28. Protection against Accidents 
(Dockers) (1929). 

14th Session (Geneva, 1930) 2 

29. Forced Labor. 
30. Hours of Work (Commerce 

and Offices). 

15th Session (Geneva, 1931) 

31. Hours of Work (Coal Mines). 

16th Session (Geneva, 1932) 

32. Protection against Accidents 
(Dockers) (Revised, 1932). 

33. Minimum Age (Non-Indus-
trial Employment). 

1 This Berne Convention formed the 
subject of one of the Washington R ecom- 2 The 13th Session produced n o con-
m endations. ventions. 

48 



ApPENDIX 49 

17th Session (Geneva, 1933) 

34. Fee-Charging Employment 
Agencies. 

35. Old-Age Insurance (Indus-
try, etc.). 

36. Old-Age Insurance (Agricul-
ture) . 

37. Invalidity Insurance (Indus-
try, etc.). 

38. Invalidity Insurance (Agri-
culture) . 

39. Survivors' Insurance (Indus-
try, etc.). 

40. Survivors' Insurance (Agri-
culture) . 

18th Session (Genevo, 1934) 

41. Night Work (Women) (Re-
vised) . 

42. Workmen's Compensation 
(Occupational Dis e a s e s) 
(Revised) . 

43. Sheet-Glass Works. 
44. Unemployment Provision. 

19th Session (Geneva, 1935) 

45. Underground Work (Wom-
en) . 

46. Hours of Work (Coal Mines) 
(Revised) . 

47. Forty-Hour Week. 
48. Maintenance of Migrants, 

Pension Rights. 
49. Reduction of Hours of Work 

(Glass-Bottle Works). 

20th Session (Geneva, 1936) 

50. Recruiting of Indigenous 
Workers. 

51. Reduction of Hours of Work 
(Public Works). 

52. Holidays with Pay. 

21st Session (Geneva, 1936) 

53. Officers' Competency Certifi-
cates. 

54. Holidays with Pay (Sea). 
55. Shipowners' Liability (Sick 

and Injured Seamen). 
56. Sickness Insurance (Sea). 
57. Hours of Work and Manning 

(Sea) • 

22nd Session (Geneva, 1936) 

58. Minimum Age (Sea) (Re-
vised) . 

23rd Session (Geneva, 1937) 

59. Minimum Age (Industry) 
(Revised) . 

60. Minimum Age (Non-Indus-
trial Employment) (Re-
vised). 

61. Reduction of Hours of Work 
(Textiles) . 

62. Safety Provisions (Building). 

24th Session (Geneva, 1938) 

63. Statistics of Wages and 
Hours of Work. 

Recommendations 

In addition to the Recommen-
dation concerning white phos-
phorous mentioned elsewhere, 55 
Recommendations concerning con-
ditions of labor were adopted at 
the twenty-three Sessions of the 
Conference, 1919-1937 inclusive. 
Particulars of action taken on 
these Recommendations, a list of 
which is given below, are pub-
lished from time to time. 

1919 (1st Session): Unemploy-
ment. 

Reciprocity of Treatment. 
Anthrax Prevention. 
Lead Poisoning (Women and 

Children) . 
Labor Inspection (Health Serv-

ices) . 

1920 (2nd): Hours of Work 
(Fishing) . 

Hours of Work (Inland N avi-
gation) . 

National Seamen's Codes. 
Unemployment Insurance (Sea-

men). 

1921 (3rd): Unemployment (Ag-
riculture) . 

Childbirth (Agriculture). 
Night Work of Women (Agri-

culture) . 



50 CATHOLICS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION 

Night Work of Children and 
Young Persons (Agricul-
ture) . 

Vocational Education (Agri-
culture) . 

Living-in Conditions (Agricul-
ture) . 

Social Insurance (Agriculture). 
Weekly Rest (Commerce). 

1922 (4th): Migration Statistics. 

1928 (5th): Labor Inspection. 

1924 (6th): Utilization of Spare 
Time. 

1925 (7th): Workmen's Compen-
sation (Minimum Scale). 

Workmen's Compensation 
(Jurisdiction) . 

Workmen's Compensation (Dis-
eases). 

Equality of Treatment (Acci~ 
dents) . 

1926 (8th): Migration (Protec-
tion of Females at Sea). 

1926 (9th): Repatriation (Ship 
Masters and Apprentices). 

Labor Inspection (Seamen). 

192 7 (10th): Sickness Insurance. 

1928 (11th): Minimum Wage-
Fixing Machinery. 

1929 (12th): Prevention of In-
dustrial Accidents. 

Power-Driven Machinery. 
Protection against Accidents 

(Dockers) R e c i pro cit Y 
(1929) . 

Protection against Accidents 
(Dockers) Consultation of 
Organizations. 

1930 (14th): Forced Labor (In-
direct Compulsion). 

Forced Labor (RegUlation). 
Hours of Work (Hotels, etc.). 
Hours of Work (Theaters, etc.) . 
Hours of Work (Hospitals, 

etc.) . 

1982 (16th): Protection against 
Accidents (Dockers) Reci-
procity (1932). 

Minimum Age (Non-Industrial 
Employment) . 

1938 (17th): Employment Agen-
cies. 

Invalidity, Old-Age and Sur-
vivors' Insurance. 

1984 (18th): Unemployment Pro-
vision. 

1985 (19th): Unemployment 
(Young Persons). 

1986 (20th): Elimination of Re-
cruiting. 

Holidays with Pay. 

1986 (21st): Seamen's Welfare 
in Ports. 

Hours of Work and Manning 
(Sea). 

1987 (23rd): Public Works (In-
ternational Co-operation). 

Public Works (National Plan-
ning) . 

Minimum Age (Family Under-
takings) . 

Safety Provisions (Building). 
Inspection (Building). 
Co-operation in Accident Pre-

vention (Building). 
Vocational Education (Build-

ing). 



APPENDIX B 

1939 Conference 

The International Labor Conference, at its 1939 meeting, adopted 

a convention and four recommendations dealing with the regulation 

of hours of work in road transport. 

The convention limits hours of work in the industry to forty-eight 

per week, but authorizes the competent authorities to sanction higher 

weekly limits for subsidiary work and for work frequently interrupted 

by periods of mere attendance. It also authorizes the competent au-

thorities to exempt workers engaged in certain categories of work, as 

for instance in transporting sick and injured persons, and in forestry 

or agricultural undertakings. 

Daniel J. Tobin, President of the International Brotherhood of 

Teamsters, in a plea for adoption of the convention told the Conference 

that with the exception of three or four industries such as the steel 

industry, road transport employed more men, directly and indirectly 

in the United States than any other line of work. He placed the num-

ber of trucks in operation there as five million, and said that at least 

two and a half billion dollars had been invested in their manufacture 

and operation. 

Mr. Tobin based his plea for the convention largely on humani-

tarian grounds. He stressed the number of road accidents resulting 

each year from tired drivers falling asleep at the wheel, and said 

that from the point of view of road safety the Conference should give 

the convention its full support. 

The four recommendations adopted by the Conference were de-

signed to supplement the convention. One urges governments to re-

quire the use of control books for workers engaged in road transport. 

Another deals with night work in road transport, and the determina-

tion of the classes of workers to be authorized to perform such work. 

The third deals with methods of regulating hours of work in the in-

dustry, and the fourth concerns rest periods for professional drivers 

of private vehicles. 

The Conference also adopted a Resolution sponsored by the United 

States Government requesting the governing body of the Interna-

tional Labor Office to undertake a study of methods which would en-

able federal States to accept the obligations imposed upon them by the 

Conference. 

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