GIFT OF
STATE OF NEW YORK
THIRD REPORT
OF THE
Factory Investigating Commission
1914
TRANSMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE FEBRUARY 14, 1914.
ALBANY
J. B. LYON COMPANY, PRINTERS
1914
^vC^-t-rrx^.
STATE OF NEW YORK
No. 28
IN ASSEMBLY
FEBRUARY 16, 1914
THIRD REPORT
OF THE
FACTORY INVESTIGATING COMMISSION
1914
ROBERT F. WAGNER,
Chairman.
ALFRED E. SMITH,
Vice-Chairman.
CHARLES M. HAMILTON,
EDWARD D. JACKSON,
CYRUS W. PHILLIPS,
SIMON BRENTANO,
ROBERT E. DOWLING,
MARY E. DREIER,
ABRAM I. ELKUS, SAMUEL GOMPERS,
Chief Counsel. Commission.
BERNARD L. SHIENTAG, FRANK A. TIERNEY,
Assistant Counsel. Secretary.
HOWARD B. WOOLSTO.X,
Iiircrlor of Wage Investigation.
A. H. N. BAROX,
Assistant Director.
ACT CONTINUING COMMISSION.
CHAP. 137.
AN ACT to continue the commission created by chapter five
hundred and sixty-one of the laws of nineteen hundred ari'.l
eleven, entitled "An act to create a commission to investigate
the conditions under which manufacture is carried on in
cities of the first and second class in this state, and making
appropriation therefor/' and to enlarge the scope of the
investigation of the commission and making an appropri-
ation therefor.
Became a law March 27, 1913, with the approval of the Governor. Passed,
three-fifths being present.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate
and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The commission created by chapter five hundred and
sixty-one of the laws of nineteen hundred and eleven, entitled
"An act to create a commission to investigate the conditions under
which manufacture is carried on in cities of the first and second
class in this state, and making an appropriation therefor," is
hereby continued with all the powers conferred by said chapter,
as amended by chapter twenty-one of the laws of nineteen hundred
and twelve.
2. In addition to the powers heretofore conferred upon it by
such chapter, as amended, the said commission shall have power
to inquire into the wages of labor in all industries and employ-
ments and the conditions under which labor is carried on through-
out the state, and into the advisability of fixing minimum rates
of wages or of other legislation relating to the wages or conditions
of labor in general or in any industry. Said commission shall
also have power to subpoena and require the attendance of wit-
nesses and the production of books and papers pertaining to the
investigation and inquiries hereby authorized and to take the
testimony of all such witnesses and to examine all such books and
papers in relation to any matter which it has power to investigate.
vi ACT CONTINUING COMMISSION.
3. The said commission shall make a report of its proceed-
ings, together with its recommendations, including a revision of
the labor law, to be prepared by the said commission if deemed
advisable by it, to the legislature on or before the fifteenth day of
February, nineteen hundred and fourteen.
4. The sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or so much
thereof as may be needed, is hereby appropriated for the actual
and necessary expenses of the commission in carrying out the pro-
visions of chapter five hundred and sixty-one of the laws of nine-
teen hundred and eleven, as amended, and of this act, payable by
the treasurer on the warrant of the comptroller on the order of
the chairman of said commission.
5. This act shall take effect immediately.
CONTENTS OF THE REPORT.
PAGE
Repoit oi commission 1_64
CREATION AND ORGANIZATION OF COMMISSION 1
Sl'MMAUY OF WORK IN 1911 2
CONTINUANCE OF COMMISSION IN 1912 4
Summary of Commission's work in 1912 5
Issuance of tentative bills 6
Summary of legislation passed 7
Hearing on Commission's bills before legislative committees 10
CONTINUANCE OF COMMISSION IN 1913 10
WORK OF COMMISSION IN 1913 11
General wage investigation 11
Wages in artificial flowers and millinery industry 12
Report on wage legislation 12
Minimum wage bibliography 12
Recodification of the Labor Law 12
Fire hazard in mercantile establishments 12
Miscellaneous matters 13
APPRECIATION OF ASSISTANCE TO COMMISSION 13
WAGE INVESTIGATION 14
Demand for investigation 15
Direction of investigation 15
Appointment of Advisory Committee 16
Outline of proposed plan for wage investigation 18
Meeting with Advisory Committee 25
Questions for discussion 25
SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION UNDEBTAKEN 27
Extent of investigation 27
Methods of investigation 28
Report on minimum wage legislation 29
PBESENT STATUS OF WAGE INVESTIGATION 31
WAGES PAID IN CONFECTIONERY AND PAPER Box INDUSTRIES IN NEW YORK
CITY 31
Tables showing rates of wages and earnings according to occupation,
age and sex of workers 32
WeeKly rates in the confectionery industry 40
Actual earnings in the confectionery industry 40
Weekly rates in the paper box industry 41
Actual earnings in the paper box industry 41
[vii]
viii CONTENTS OF THE REPORT.
PAGE
WAGES Too Low FOR DECENT LIVELIHOOD 42
NECESSITY FOB CONTINUANCE OF INVESTIGATION 42
RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW 45
Repeal of certain articles 45
Transfer of present articles of Labor Law to other chapters of Con-
solidated Laws 46
Present arrangement of the Labor Law 47
Proposed classification 47
New article, " The Department of Labor " 48
Summary powers of Commissioner increased 49
Penalty provisions 49
Increase in criminal penalties. 49
Magistrates to dispose of first offense violations of Labor Law 50
Consolidation of provisions relating to employment certificates 51
MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS 51
Sanitation 52
Employment of children 52
Hours of labor for women 53
Time books 54
FIRE HAZARD IN MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS 54
Scope of investigation 54
Conditions in upstate stores 55
( onditions in New York City stores 56
Conclusions 57
Smoking 58
Provisions for proper maintenance 58
Construction 60
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS 62
Report on Binghamton fire 62
Night work for women test case 63
LIST OF APPENDICES TO REPORT.
PAGE
APPENDIX I. Keport of Director of Investigation on wages in
the Confectionery Industry in New York City.. . . 65-105
II. Report of Director of Investigation on wages in
the Paper Box Industry in New York City 105-166
III. Minimum Wage Legislation Irene Osgood Andrews 167-385
IV. A List of Selected References on the Minimum
Wage C. C. Williamson, Ph.D 387-413
V. Proposed Recodification of Labor Law 415-600
VI. The Fire Hazard in Mercantile Establishments
Frances Perkins 601-658
VII. Report on the Binghamton Clothing Company Fire
James P. Whiskeman, C.E ' . 659-676
[ix]
APPENDIX I.
PAGE
Report of the Director of Investigation on Wages in the Confectionery
Industry in New York City , 65-105
INTRODUCTION 67
CONFECTIONERY TRADE IN NEW YORK CITY 68
PERSONNEL 72
Table 1. Sex and age 72
Table II. Nativity 73
Table III. Nativity by sex and age 74
Table IV. Conjugal condition 75
OCCUPATIONS 75
Table V. Occupations by age and sex 76
Table VI. Occupations by nativity 77
RATES OF WAGES 77
Table VII. Weekly rates by occupation 78
Plate A. Comparison of weekly rates 79
Plate B. Relative number of persons in each of the principal
branches of the confectionery industry in New York City, divided
by sex and into wage groups 80
Table VIII. Median rates by age groups according to sex 81
Plate C. Mean (median) rates of wage by age groups 82
ACTUAL EARNINGS 83
Table IX. Weekly earnings by occupation 84
Plate D. A comparison of rates quoted and actual earnings per
week 85
DAYS WORKED 85
Table X. Days worked 86
HOURS 86
Table XI. Hours per week 87
Table XII. Persons working overtime 87
SEASONAL FLUCTUATIONS 88
Plate E. Chart showing total number of employees and total wages
paid, week by week, for year September 9, 1912, to September
6, 1913, for 45 firms in operation throughout this period. 89
SHIFTING 89
Table XIII. Number and per cent, of employees working given
weeks in a year 89
Plate F. Weeks worked in one year by employees of 10 firms in
confectionery factories 90
xii APPENDIX I.
PAGE
ANNUAL EARNINGS 90
Table XIV. Total annual earnings by occupation and sex 91
Table XV. Average weekly earnings by occupation and sex 92
EXPERIENCE 93
Table XVI. Years of experience by age 94
Table XVII. Earnings and trade experience 95
Table XVIII. Earnings and term of employment 96
Plate G. Experience and earnings 97
ADVANCE IN WAGES 98
Table XIX. Advance in earnings raised in one year 99
WAGES AND MARRIAGE 99
Table XX. Median wage by conjugal conditions ^ 100
EARNINGS AND NATIVITY 100
WAGE EARNING WOMEN 100
TYPICAL W T EEKLY BUDGET FOR SELF-SUPPORTING GIRL WORKER 101
MEN WORKERS 101
EDUCATION 102
STATUS OF THE TRADE. . 102
APPENDIX II.
PAGE
Report of the Director of Investigation on Wages in the Paper Box
Industry in New York City 105-166
EXTENT OF INDUSTRY 107
PERSONNEL 109
Table I. Sex and age 110
Table II. Nativity 110
Table III. Nativity by sex and age groups Ill
Table IV. Conjugal condition 112
OCCUPATIONS 112
Table V. Occupation by age and sex 115
Table VI. Occupation by nativity 116
RATES OF WAGES 116
Table VII. Weekly rates by occupation . 119
Plate A. Comparison of weekly rates and earnings by sex 121
Plate B. Comparison of weekly rates for 5,115 factory workers
receiving less than $20 per week 122
Table VIII. Median weekly rates by age and sex for factory
workers 123
Plate C. Median rates and earnings by age and sex 124
ACTUAL EARNINGS 125
Table IX. Weekly earnings of factory workers by occupation and
sex 126
DAYS WORKED 125
Table X. Days worked in a week 127
HOURS 127
Table XI. Hours per week by age and sex 128
Table XII. Persons working overtime 129
SEASONAL FLUCTUATIONS 129
Plate D. Chart showing total number of employees and total wages
paid, week by week, for the year beginning November 1, 1912 130
SHIFTING 131
Table XIII. Number and per cent, of employees working specified
number of weeks in one year 131
Plate E. Number and per cent, of employees working specified num-
ber of weeks in one year 132
Table XIV. Additions and subtractions in working force for a year. 133
TIME LOST.. 133
[xiii]
xiv APPENDIX II.
PAGE
ANNUAL EARNINGS : 134
Table XV. Annual earnings by occupation and sex 135
Table XVI. Average weekly earnings by occupation and sex 136
EXPERIENCE 136
Table XVII. Year's experience (medians) by age 137
Table XVIII. Earnings and trade experience 138
Table XIX. Earnings and term of employment 139
Plate F. Experience and earnings 140
Table XX. Raised in one year 142
HOME WORK 142
WAGES AND MARRIAGE 143
Table XXI. Median earnings by conjugal condition 143
EARNINGS AND NATIVITY 144
Table XXII. Median weekly earnings and nativity 144
WAGE-EARNING WOMEN 144
Education 146
DOMICILE 146
Table I. Number of female workers by age, according to residence. 146
COMPOSITION OF HOUSEHOLDS 147
Table 2. Number of families of given size by number of wage earn-
ers in each 148
Table 3. Number of families of given size and weekly income of
each 150
PERSONAL BUDGETS 150
Contributions to the families 150
CARFARE 151
Table 4. Weekly expenditures for carfares by rates of wages 151
LUNCHEONS 152
Table 5. Weekly expenditures for luncheon by rate of wages 152
Spending money 152
Clothes 153
Table 6. Annual expenditures of female workers for clothes by rates
of wages 154
Laundry 156
Dues 156
THE GIRL WITHOUT A HOME 156
Cost of board and lodging 156
Clothes, spending money, insurance and savings 157
REPRESENTATIVE CASES AND BUDGETS 157
DATA OBTAINED IN THE HOMES 159
FLUCTUATION OF EARNINGS OF STEADY WORKERS 164
STATUS OF THE TRADE. . 165
APPENDIX III.
PAGE
Minimum Wage Legislation Irene Osgood Andrews 167-385
PREFACE 169
TABLE OF CONTENTS 171
THE AMERICAN MINIMUM VAGE MOVEMENT 173
Introduction 173
Early History of the movement in America 174
Definition of a living wage 175,-
Methods of wage determinations 176
Persons and industries involved 177
Proposals in Congress 178
Analysis of American Laws 179
Titles 180
Appointment Organization Appropriations 180
Jurisdiction 181
Initial investigations 182
Subordinate wage boards Organization 183
Operation of the wage boards 184
Application of wage determinations 185
Rehearings 185
Enforcement Penalties 186
Court review 187
Comparative table of Minimum Wage Laws 188
Operation of American laws 195
Oregon 195
California 199
Massachusetts 199
Minnesota 203
Utah 208
Washington ' 212
Wisconsin 213
Recent developments in the American movement 216
Constitutional amendments Inclusion of men Initiated meas
ures 216
FOREIGN LEGISLATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 219
New Zealand 219
Victoria 220
Germany 231
England 232
International recommendations 245
[xv]
xvi APPENDIX III APPENDIX IV.
PAGE
REPRESENTATIVE OPINIONS UPON THE OPERATION OF WAGE BOARDS 248
Position of the American Federation of Labor 248
Economic inequality between employer and employee 249
A living wage and the parasitic industries 251
Relation to cost of production 253
Effect upon efficiency of employer and employee 253
Employees unable to earn the minimum rate 259
The minimum wage as a public policy 260
Constitutional aspects of minimum wage legislation 265
DECISION OF OREGON SUPREME COURT UPHOLDING THE MINIMUM WAGE
LAW 269
MINIMUM WAGE LAWS 288
The American acts 288
California 288
Colorado 296
Massachusetts 300
Minnesota 305
Nebraska 311
Oregon 315
Utah 324
Washington 325
Wisconsin 331
The British acts 335
The Trade Boards Act 335
The Coal Mines Act 348
The Victorian Special Boards Act 354
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 383
MINIMUM WAGE COMMISSIONS .-. 385
APPENDIX IV.
PAGE
A List of Selected References on the Minimum Wage C. C. William-
son, Ph.D 387-413
APPENDIX V.
PAGE
Proposed Recodification of the Labor Law. . . 415-600
ARTICLE 1. Short title; definitions 419
2. The Department of Labor 421
3. General provisions 453
4. Employment of children and females 459
5. Hours of labor 473
6. Payment of wages 485
7. Public work 487
8. Employment agencies and immigrant lodging-houses 491
9. Building construction and repair work 497
10. Factories 499
11. Bakeries and manufacture of food products 549
12. Tenement-made articles 557
13. Mercantile establishments 563
14. Mines, tunnels and quarries; employment in compressed
air 568
15. Violations and penalties 580
16. Laws repealed 581
[xvii]
APPENDIX VI.
PAGE
Fire Hazard in Mercantile Establishments Frances Perkins 601-658
FIRES IN DEPARTMENT STORES 606
Statistics 606
Causes and places of origin of fires 606
Comparative Chart I, showing causes of department store fires 607
Comparative Chart II, showing rooms in which fires originated 609
DETAILS OF THE INVESTIGATION 610
CONSTRUCTION 611
Type of construction 613
Areas 614
Table I. 10 stores having area of 5,000 square feet and less. . . 615
Table II. 16 stores having area of between 5,000 and 10,000
square feet 616
Table III. 30 stores having area of between 10,000 and 25,000
square feet 617
Table IV. 15 stores having area of between 25,000 and 50,000
square feet 618
Table V. 9 stores having area of between 50,000 and 100,000
square feet 619
Open wells and rotundas 620
Waste and package chutes 620
Stairways 623
Table of 60 stores having no continuous fireproof enclosed stair-
ways 624
Basement exits 626
Table showing the area, number and type of stairways in 32
stores having no direct exits from basement to street 627
Street exits 627
Exterior fire-escapes 628
Table of 23 stores having no exterior escapes or horizontal exits. 630
Elevators freight and passenger 631
Fire walls and horizontal exits 632
MAINTENANCE 633
Occupancy 633
Table showing occupancy in 22 New York City department stores
from December 19th to 24th, 1913 635
Restaurants 637
Kitchens 639
Aisles 641
Egress devices 642
[xix]
xx ^ ^ APPENDIX VI/ APPENDIX VII.
^ * ' l . ,V* v ^ * , " . ^ : PAGE
Fire-escapes .\ . v 642
Stairways 644
Baling rooms and waste 644
Packing rooms 645
Combustibles 646
No smoking signs 647
Inflammable decorations 648
Connection with fire departments or supervisory companies 649
Fire appliances 650
Standpipes. . . 651
Automatic sprinklers 652
CONCLUSION 654
RECOMMENDED REGULATIONS 655
Construction 655
Maintenance 657
APPENDIX VII.
PAGE
Report on Binghamton Clothing Co. Fire James P. Whiskeman, C.E. . 659-676
C. E 659-676
PLANS OF BINGHAMTON CLOTHING Co. BUILDING. . 672
REPORT
OF THE
NEW YORK STATE FACTORY INVESTIGATING
COMMISSION
To the Legislature of the State of New York:
The New York State Factory Investigating Commission, in pur-
suance of the provisions of chapter 137 of the Laws of 1913, here-
by submits the following report :
CBEATION OF THE COMMISSION.
This Commission was created after the Triangle Waist Com-
pany fire occurring in New York City, on March 25, 1911, in
which 145 employees, chiefly women, lost their lives. It owes its
existence to the demand of the people of the State for a careful and
scientific investigation of the conditions under which men, women
and children are employed in the different industries.
Pursuant to chapter 561 of the Laws of 1911, the following
commission was appointed :
By the President of the Senate :
Robert E. Wagner
Charles M. Hamilton.
By the Speaker of the Assembly :
Alfred E. Smith
Edward D. Jackson
Cyrus W. Phillips.
By the Governor :
Simon Brentano
Robert E. Dowling
Mary E Dreier
Samuel Gompers.
REPORT OF COMMISSION.
1 OF THE -COMMISSION'S INVESTIGATION.
The Legislature authorized the Commission to inquire into the
conditions under which manufacturing is carried on in cities of the
first and second class of the State, to the end that remedial legisla-
tion might be enacted for the protection of the life and health of
all factory workers, and for the best interests of the public gen-
erally.
The Commission was given all the powers of a legislative com-
mittee, including the power to compel the attendance of witnesses
and the production of books and papers, and the right to appoint
counsel, secretary, stenographer and the necessary employees to aid
it in carrying out its work The members of the Commission were
to receive no compensation for their services.
The vital importance of this investigation and its broad scope
have already been fully described in the two reports of the Com-
mission which have been previously submitted to the Legislature.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMISSION.
The Commission was organized in August, 1911. Senator Rob-
ert F. Wagner was elected Chairman, and Assemblyman Alfred E.
Smith, Vice Chairman. The Commission appointed Abram I.
Elkus, Chief Counsel, and Bernard L. Shientag, Assistant Coun-
sel. Frank A. Tierney was selected as Secretary.
SUMMARY OF WORK IN 1911.
The Commission retained Dr. George M. Price as its expert in
general charge of the work of inspection of manufacturing estab-
lishments, and of the problem of sanitation therein. Mr. H. F. J.
Porter, a mechanical engineer, was retained as advisor} expert on
the lire problem. Under their supervision a trained corps of in-
spectors was put in the field.
The Commission held fourteen public hearings in the cities of
the first and second class of the State; 222 witnesses were exam-
ined, and 3,489 pages of testimony taken. In addition numerous
executive sessions and conferences were held.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 3
TJ>e following investigations were conducted :
1. General sanitary investigation of factories in cities of the first
and second class.
2. .Fire hazard in factories.
3. Women's trades.
4. Conditions in bakeries and physical examination of bakers
employed therein.
5. Lead poisoning and arsenical poisoning.
6. An industrial survey of a selected area in New York City.
7. Preliminary investigation of child labor in tenement houses.
Special reports on each of the foregoing are fully set forth in the
Commission's preliminary report in three volumes, which was pub-
lished March 1, 1912, to which reference is here made. This re-
port, together with a series of bills embodying the preliminary rec-
ommendations of the Commission, was submitted to the Legislature
on March 1, 1912.
We shall not now go into the details of this preliminary report,
except to call attention to the fact that one investigation alone, the
general sanitary investigation, covered twenty industries and 1,836
factories, in which 63,374 men, women and children were em-
ployed. The bakery investigation covered 500 bakeries, and in-
eluded a careful physical examination of 800 bakers therein em-
ployed. The industrial survey in New York City covered 323 es-
tablishments, in which 10,698 men, women and children were em-
ployed.
LAWS ENACTED AS A RESULT OF THE COMMISSION'S FIRST YEAR'S
WORK.
The following bills recommended by the Commission in its pre-
liminary reports were passed by the Legislature during the session
of 1912, and became laws:
1 . Registration of factories.
2. .Physical examination of children before emplovment certifi-
cate is issued.
4 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
3. Fire drills.
4. Automatic sprinklers.
5. Fire prevention; removal of rubbish; fire-proof receptacles
for waste material; protection of gas jets; prohibition of smoking
in factories.
6. Prohibition of the eating of lunch in rooms where poisonous
substances are prepared or generated in the process of manufac-
ture; adequate hot and cold washing facilities for such establish-
ments.
7. Employment prohibited of women within four weeks after
child-birth.
8. Summary power of Commissioner of Labor over unclean and
unsanitary factories.
CONTINUANCE OF THE COMMISSION IN 1912.
0^ March 6, 1912, chapter 21 of the Laws of 1912 was enacted,
continuing the time within which the Commission might complete
its investigations to the 15th day of January. 1913. The act ex-
tended the jurisdiction of the Commission to cities throughout the
State, and also authorized the Commission to investigate general
conditions in mercantile establishments. The Commission there-
upon continued its investigations with the organization previously
referred to, except that James P. Whiskeman, C. E., was retained
as advisory expert on the fire problem.
Numerous civic organizations, which for many years had urged
the appointment of a special commission to investigate the impor-
tant subject of manufacturing in tenements, requested this Com-
mission to investigate that problem, along with the other work that
it had undertaken.
INVESTIGATIONS IN 1912.
In 1912 and 1913 the Commission conducted the following in-
vestigations :
1. General sanitary investigation continued throughout the
State.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 5
2. Fire hazard investigation continued.
3. Manufacturing in tenements.
4. Conditions in the canneries.
5. Night work of women in factories.
6. The tobacco industry.
7. The printing industry.
8. Investigation of conditions in mercantile establishments.
9. Investigation of dangerous trades, covering the following:
a The chemical industry generally.
b Wood alcohol.
c Commercial acids.
d Lead poisoning and arsenical poisoning.
e Six miscellaneous investigations on occupational dis-
eases and accidents in the dangerous trades.
Detailed reports of all of these investigations are fully set forth
in the second report of the Commission, contained in four printed
volumes, which was submitted to the Legislature in February,
1913.
The enormous amount of work involved in these comprehensive
investigations will be apparent upon an examination of the second
report just mentioned. That report also sets forth the large num-
ber <>f inspectors and trained investigators that had to be retained
to aid in the work of these investigations.
SUMMARY OF COMMISSION'S WORK IN 1912.
In 1912 and 1013 the Commission held 37 public hearings in
different cities of the State, over 250 witnesses were examined, and
' >,.">,") 7 pages of testimony taken. In addition, numerous executive
sessions were held, at which employees of different industries at-
tended and testified.
The general sanitary investigation of 1912 included 45
cities of the State, and covered 1,338 industrial establish-
ments, in which 125,901 wage-earners were employed. All
told, the investigations conducted by the Commission during this
6 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
period covered several hundred thousand men, women and children
working in the different industries of the State. Many canneries
in the State were inspected by the Commission itself or its agents.
Many factories were personally investigated by the Commission,
and hearings held and testimony taken right in the factory.
ISSUANCE OF TENTATIVE BILLS.
. The Commission ? early in the fall of 1912, issued, in the form
of proposed bills, the most important recommendations it had re-
ceived for remedial legislation. These bills were sent broadcast
throughout the State to all of the different interests involved, and
as a result suggestions and criticisms were received which were of
considerable help in drafting the final recommendations of the
Commission. In addition, numerous public hearings were held in
different cities of the State on the tentative bills issued, so that
everyone interested was given an opportunity to appear before the
Commission and present his views and suggestions concerning
any of the matters under consideration.
With its second report the Commission submitted a compre-
hensive series of bills for the improvement of working conditions
and for the complete reorganization of the Department of Labor,
which practically amounted to a new Labor Code for the State of
New York. The following bills recommended by the Commission
in its second report were enacted into law by the Legislature dur-
ing the session of 1913 :
1. Reorganization of Labor Department; Industrial Board.
2. Penalties for violation of Labor Law and Industrial Code.
3. Fire-proof receptacles; gas jets; smoking.
4. Fire alarm signal systems and fire drills.
5. Fire escapes and exits; limitation of number of occupants;
construction of future factory buildings.
6. Amendment to Greater New York Charter (Fire Prevention
Law).
7. Prohibition of employment of children under fourteen, in
cannery sheds or tenement houses ; definition of factory building ;
definition of tenement house,
KEPORT OF COMMISSION. 7
8. Manufacturing in tenements.
9. Hours of labor of women in canneries.
10. Housing conditions in labor camps maintained in connection
with a factory.
11. Physical examination of children employed in factories.
12. Amendments to child labor law; physical examination be-
fore issuance of employment certificate ; school record ; supervision
over issuance of employment certificates.
13. Amendment to compulsory education law; school record.
14. Night work of women in factories.
15. Scats for women in factories.
16. Bakeries.
17. Cleanliness of workrooms.
18. Cleanliness of factory buildings.
19. Ventilation; general; special.
20. Washing facilities; dressing rooms; water closets.
21. Accident prevention; lighting of factories and workrooms.
22. Elevators.
23. Dangerous trades.
24. Foundries.
25. Employment of children in dangerous occupations ; employ-
ment of women in core-rooms.
SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION PASSED IN 1913.
Reorganization of tlie Labor Department.
The number of inspectors subject to civil service 'appointment
was increased. A division of industrial hygiene was created, to be
composed of experts to have charge of ventilation, occupational dis-
eases and accident prevention. A section of Medical Inspection
was provided for, to have charge of the health inspection of fac-
tories and the physical examination of minors. The functions of
the -Bureau of Statistics of the Department were enlarged. An In-
dustrial Board was created, on which employers and employees
8 REPOIIT OF COMMISSION.
were to be represented, and which was to make detailed rules and
regulations for safety and sanitation in factories to meet the vary-
ing conditions in different industries and in different parts of the
State.
Protection in Case of Fire.
A series of laws was passed providing for fire drills and for
alarm signal systems. Smoking in factories was prohibited. Gas
jets were required to be covered. Waste material, cuttings and
rubbish were to be removed from floors and stored in fire-proof re^
ceptacles. Detailed requirements were made for adequate stair-
ways and fire escapes in existing buildings. A code for the future .
construction of factory buildings was enacted. The number of per-
sons permitted to work in a factory was limited in accordance with
exit facilities provided.
Child Labor.
The employment of children under fourteen in tenement house
manufacture and in cannery sheds was prohibited. Requirements
were made for the physical examination of children before employ-
ment certificate is issued and while they are at work in factories.
Employment of children in dangerous trades and in connection
with dangerous machinery was prohibited. The educational re-
quirement for the issuance of a working certificate was raised so
that iio child will be permitted to work until it has completed the
first six years' work of the public school, or school equivalent
thereto.
Women's Work.
JS r ight work of women in factories was prohibited. Hours of
labor of women in canneries were limited to 60 hours a week, with
power to the Industrial Board, if the health of the women will per-
mit, to allrw them to work 00 hours a week during a certain limit-
ed rush period. Employment of women within four weeks after
child-birth was prohibited. Provision was made for furnishing
seats to women workers in factories and mercantile establishments,
with backs where practicable, and permitting the use thereof by the
employees. The employment of women in core-rooms in foundries
was rigidly restricted. Such employment was prohibited where
the oven is located in same room in which women work.
REPOKT OF COM, MISS TON. 9
Manufacturing in Tenements.
The manufacturing or preparation of food products, dolls or
dolls' clothing and infants' and children's wearing apparel in any
living room in a tenement house was prohibited. ~No other manu-
facturing is to be permitted unless a license is obtained therefor,
which license is to be granted only if proper sanitary conditions
are maintained. No child under fourteen is permitted to work
at manufacturing in a tenement house. Provision was made for
the publication of names and addresses of firms who send goods
to the tenement houses to be manufactured or prepared, so that,
the public may be fully aware of the conditions under which the
articles they use or consume are prepared.
Sanitation and Accident Prevention in Factories.
Laws were passed for the prevention of accidents; for the pre-
vention and control of lead poisoning and other industrial poison-
ings ; for cleanliness of factory buildings , and work-rooms ; for
proper ventilation and lighting; for adequate dressing rooms for
female employees, and for proper and sufficient water closets and
washing facilities. A special law was enacted to secure more
sanitary conditions in bakeries throughout the State, and more
frequent and rigid inspection thereof. Future cellar bakeries
were prohibited. Employment of diseased bakers was prohibited.
Duplication of inspection of bakeries was done away with. In-
New York City bakeries were placed within the jurisdiction of
the Board of Health exclusively, and in the rest of the State
within the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor. Provision
was made for a sanitary code for bakeries.
Foundry Bill.
The foundry bill, which provides for safe and healthful working
conditions in the foundries of the State, was passed as a result of
this Commission's recommendations.
Administration of the Labor Law.
Provision was made for the registration of all factories with the
Department of Labor. Summary powers were conferred upon the
10 SEPORT OF COMMISSION.
Commissioner of Labor to close up unclean workrooms in any fac-
tory.
The enactment of these laws marked a new era in labor legisla-
tion in the State of 2^ew York. It placed the State of New York
in the lead in legislation for the protection of wage earners.
HEARING ON COMMISSION'S BILLS BEFORE LEGISLATIVE COM-
MITTEES.
A hearing on the bills recommended by the Commission was held
before the Joint Committees of Labor and Industry of the Senate
and Assembly, in the Assembly Chamber, on February 19, 1913.
At this hearing several hundred representatives of employers,
employees, labor unions and social and civic organizations ap-
peared. The bills recommended by the Commission were commend-
ed and approved by practically everyone present for their fairness
and effectiveness. The minutes of that hearing are referred to and
made part of this report,*
At this hearing also many representatives of .social and civic or-
ganizations called attention to the necessity for a comprehensive
and complete investigation of wages paid in the different industries
of the State, particularly those in which large numbers of women
and children were employed. They urged that instead of the crea-
tion of a new Commission for that purpose, the present Commis-
sion be continued and empowered to conduct this investigation. In
response to that demand chapter 137 of the Laws of 1913 was en-
acted.
CONTINUANCE OF COMMISSION IN 1913.
This act continued the Commission in office until the 15th day
of February, 1914, and authorized it to inquire into the rates of
wages paid in the different industries of the State, and to report on
the advisability of establishing minimum rates of wages. The
Commission was also required to continue the investigation into
conditions in mercantile establishments and, if advisable, to pre-
pare and present to the Legislature a recodification of the Labor
Law.
* See Volume IV of the Commission's Second Report, page 2225.
OF ( V> M M rssioisr. 11
WORK OF TIIF. COMMISSION IN 1913.
Jn 1013 the following matters were taken up by the Commission :
1. Wage Investigation.
This was conducted under the direction of Howard B. Woolston,
Ph. D., with A. H. N". Baron as Assistant Director, and a force
of investigators and inspectors.
Up to the present time this investigation has covered the follow-
ing industries in Greater New York.
1. Confectionery manufacturing.
2. Paper box manufacturing.
3. Department stores and other mercantile establishments.
4. The manufacture of men's shirts.
5. Millinery.
0. Silk mills.
7. Jute mills.
8. Sugar refineries.
1). Umbrella factories.
10. Scrub women and window cleaners in office buildings.
11. Hair and paper
ps on the lower East Side.
1 L 2. Longshoremen.
! -'I. 1 )ress patterns.
14. Buttons.
The first four industries alone included 381 establishments, in
which about 88,000 men, women and children wage earners were
employed. Detailed wage data was secured for each one of these
workers. The other industries mentioned include about 90,000
workers.
The details of this investigation are fully set forth later. The
pn-liininary reports of the Director of Investigation on wages in
the confectionery and paper-box industries in Greater New York
are set forth in Appendices I and II to the report.
12 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
2. Investigation of Wages in Artificial Flowers and Millinery
Industry.
This was conducted under the supervision of the Commission's
Director of Investigation by Miss Mary Van Kleeck, of the Com-
mittee on Women's Work of the Russell Sage Foundation. Over
two thousand annual wage cards of workers have thus far been
obtained. The investigation has not yet been completed.
3. Report on Wage Legislation.
A detailed analysis of all the laws regulating wages in this and
foreign countries, arid describing the operation and method of pro-
cedure under those laws, was prepared for the Commission by
Irene Osgood Andrews, Assistant Secretary of the American Asso-
ciation for Labor Legislation. This report is set forth in Appen-
dix III.
4. Minimum Wage Bibliography.
Dr. C. C. Williamson, Chief of the Division of Economics and
Sociology, of the New York Public Library, prepared for the Com-
mission a comprehensive bibliography on the subject of the mini-
mum wage. A copy of this bibliography is annexed hereto, marked
Appendix IV.
5. Hecodification of the Labor Law.
The Commission has prepared, and submits herewith, in Appen-
dix V to the report, a thorough and comprehensive rectification
of the Labor Law. This was done with the active assistance and
co-operation of the Legislative Bill-Drafting Bureau of .Columbia
LTniversity, of which Thomas I. Parkinson, Esq., of the New York
bar, is the head. The Commission takes this opportunity of ex-
pressing its deep appreciation for the valuable assistance rendered
by the bureau.
6. Fire Hazo,rd in Mercantile Establishments.
This investigation, which covered department stores and other
mercantile establishments in cities of the first and second class in
the State, was conducted by the Commission with the help of Fran-
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 13
ces Perkins, Executive Secretary of the New York Committee on
Safety, and a trained force of inspectors. A special report of this
work is set forth in Appendix VI, annexed hereto.
7. M iscc-llan co us Matters.
The Commission has commenced an investigation of prison-made
shirts under contract in the neighboring States.
Through the State Department of Insurance an investigation of
employees' mutual benefit societies in the large department stores is
also being conducted.
The Commission also made an investigation and report of the
B high am ton fire, which is set forth in Appendix VII to this report.
APPRECIATION OF ASSISTANCE TO THE COMMISSION.
The Commission desires to express its appreciation of the valu-
able service rendered to it, without compensation, by the Com-
mittee on Women's Work of the Russell Sage Foundation, of which
Miss Mary Van Kleeck is director, in the artificial flower and
millinery investigation; by Mrs. Andrews, of the American As-
sociation for Labor Legislation, in the preparation of the report
on wage legislation; by Dr. C. C. Williamson, Chief of the Divi-
sion of Economics and Sociology of the New York Public Library,
in the preparation of the bibliography on the minimum wage,
and by Frances Perkins, Secretary of the Committee on Safety,
in the conduct of the investigation of the fire hazard in mercan-
tile establishments.
We also desire to express our appreciation of the assistance and
co-operation that the Commission received from the Hon. James M.
Lynch, Commissioner of Labor, and his courtesy in assigning
agents of the Department of Labor to assist in the Commission's
work. Our thanks are also due to other officials of the Department
of Labor and to many volunteer students of Columbia University
and the College of the City of New York for the help they rendered
ta result of the Commission's recommendations laws have
heretofore been enacted for the improvement of the physical condi-
tions under which men, women and children are employed and
for the elimination of the evils of child labor, and of excessive
hours of toil by women and minors.
As a fitting climax to its program of social and industrial better-
ment, the Commission was authorized to take up the wage problem
in its various phases, and to consider the question of the enactment
of legislation whereby the State would secure to its workers a living
wage that is, a wage that will secure physical, mental and moral
health for the individual worker. Merely to state the problem
that the Commission was asked to attempt to solve is sufficient to
call attention to the many different elements entering into it.
The wage problem has been with us from early times. It has
been the subject of endless, and for the most part contradictory,
discussion by economists, publicists, theologians and representa-
tives of every side of the question.
The demand for a living wage for workers is by no means of
recent origin. Regulation of wages by the State is nothing new
to many foreign countries.
In the United States, to be sure, the mere suggestion of any in-
terference by the State with wages, if made only a few years ago,
would have been regarded as a startling proposition, and a dan-
gerous and unwarranted form of paternalism.
But in this country also the past decade has witnessed a marked
change in the public attitude toward matters of social and indus-
trial reform. Our strong individualistic tendencies have been
modified, and have given way to a recognition of the interest and
of the duty that the State has in preserving the physical, mental
and moral well-being of its citizens, particularly those employed in
industry, in consequence, in nine of the States during the last
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 15
two or three years wage legislation in some form or other has been
enacted, having as its aim to secure to women workers, for the most
part, a wage that would enable them to be self-sustaining, and to
maintain themselves in health and in "reasonable comfort."
DEMAND FOR INVESTIGATION.
This present investigation comes -at a most opportune time in
this State. For several years attention has been called in the press,
in public utterances and in reports by various private agencies, to
the very low wages paid women workers in some of our industries.
These reports and statements, it was claimed, were exaggerated and
biased, were based on narrow and incomplete investigations, and
reflected only one side of the case.
This Commission was directed, therefore, to conduct a compre-
hensive and scientific investigation of the entire subject, an investi-
gation that would be fair to all concerned, and which would obtain
the real facts, and facts proven by undisputed testimony. Its func-
tion was to ascertain:
First What wages are paid in the different industries of the
State.
Second To suggest a practical remedy for any evils that might
be found to exist.
DIRECTION OF INVESTIGATION.
As director of its investigation, the Commission was fortunate to
secure the services of Howard B. Woolston, Ph. D., Assistant
Professor of Political Science of the College of the City
of New York, a trained statistician and who for many years has
been a student of social 1 and economic problems of the day. As as-
sistant director of investigation, there was appointed Albert H. N.
Baron, M. A., a graduate of the University of Colorado and of
Clark University, and post-graduate student of the Universities of
Chicago and Vienna. Mr. Baron had also been an investigator
for the United States Department of Labor. The director of in-
vestigation selected to assist him, a force of twelve investigators
and four clerical assistants. Four agents were subsequently as-
16 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
signed from the State Department of Labor, through the courtesy
of Commissioner Lynch, and several students and voluntary work-
ers have helped without compensation, so far as their time would
permit. A number of Avelfare and trade societies have materially
assisted in gathering information.
It was recognized at the very outset that in order that its work
might be of value the Commission would have to secure the co-
operation and assistance of the business interests involved, and nu-
merous meetings we-re held with committees of employers in those
industries that were studied.
It is but fair to say that for the most part the information
sought was freely given, and the Commission, up to the present
time, has had no occasion to invoke the power of subpoena con-
ferred upon it by law.
The scope of the investigation was carefully considered. The
subject had so many ramifications that it was deemed advisable to
call in the services of experts to assist the Commission in planning
the scope of its work and the information desired.
APPOINTMENT OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
With this in view the following advisory committee was ap-
pointed :
John B. Andrews, Secretary, American Association for Labor
Legislation.
Gertrude M. Beeks, National Civic Federation.
E. W. Bloomingdale, Counsel, New York Retail Dry Goods
Association.
Peter J. Brady, Allied Printing Trades Council.
Robert E. Chaddock, Columbia University.
Xatherine B. Davis, Commissioner of Corrections, 'New York
City.
Edward T. Devine, Director, School of Philanthropy, New
York City.
Henry W. Farnman, Princeton University.
Irving Fisher, Yale University.
John A. Fitch, The " Survey."
REPOKT OF COMMISSION. 1Y
Lee K. Frankel, Vice-President, Metropolitan Life Insurance
Co.
I'' rank] in 11. Giddings, Professor of Sociology, Columbia Uni-
versity.
I'jiuline Goldmark, Member Industrial Board, Department of
Labor.
Airs. J. Borden Harriman, Member Federal Industrial Rela-
tions Commission.
Daniel Harris, President, N. Y. State Federation of Labor.
Leonard W. Hatch, Chief Statistician, Department of Labor.
Sara Straus Hess, New York City.
Frederick W. Hoffman, Chief Statistician, Prudential Life In-
surance Co.
Jeremiah W. Jenks, New York University.
Paul U. Kellogg, Editor " The Survey."
John Kingsbury, Director, N. Y. Assn. for Improving Condi-
tion of the Poor.
Samuel McCune Lindsay, Columbia University.
George W. Loft, Candy Manufacturer, New York City.
Royal Meeker, Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Washington,
D. C.
( harles P. Neill, Former United States Commissioner of Labor.
Edward D. Page, New York City.
Frances Perkins, Committee on Safety.
William C. Rogers, 2nd Deputy Commissioner, Department of
Labor.
Henry R. Seager, Columbia University.
Louis Stewart, President, Retail Dry Goods Association.
Frank Tucker, Charities Organization Society.
Lillian D. Wald, Nurses' Settlement.
William R. Willcox, National Civic Federation.
William R. Willcox, President, National Civic Federation.
John Williams, Industrial Board, Department of Labor.
TENTATIVE PROGRAMME AND SCHEDULES.
The following tentative programme and schedules were p
and sent to the members of this Committee:
18 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
Outline of a Proposed Plan for a Wage Investigation.
Purpose.
The New York State Factory Investigating Commission, cre-
ated in 1911 and continued in 1912, received an extension of pow-
ers in March of the present year "to inquire into the wages of labor
in all industries and employments and the conditions under which
labor is carried on throughout the State, and into the advisability
of fixing manimum rates of wages or of other legislation relating
to the wages or conditions of labor in general or in 'any industry."
In order to carry out this extended function, the Commission re-
ceived power to subpoena witnesses and to require the production
of books and papers pertaining to the investigation.
The work of the Commission hitherto has been mainly concerned
with the safety and health of factory workers. It now turns to the
question of compensation and to the advisability of establishing
laws regulating the same. The title "Minimum Wage Investiga-
tion" is perhaps unfortunate, as it seems to indicate the purpose of
the Commission to establish such legislation. Such, however, we
take it, is not necessarily the case ; but the purpose is rather to con-
sider the advisability of any such regulation.
Scope.
The scope of the Commission's work falls into four main di-
visions :
First A brief summary of recent investigations and findings
along similar lines.
Second What wages are actually paid in certain industries of
the State?
Third Are these wages adequate to maintain the employee ef-
fectively according to an appropriate standard of living?
Fourth Are the industries able to add to the wage payment of
their employees on the basis of the earnings from their labor ?
This last point cannot be adequately determined with the means
now at the disposal of the Commission,
The investigation thus falls into a discussion of the distribution
of money wages and their adequacy.
KEPORT OF COMMISSION. 19
Industries Selected.
In order to investigate the problem within the limited time and
resources at the command of the Commission, certain industries
have been selected in which the rate of pay is notoriously low.
The following excerpt from Census Bulletin No. 93 shows the
relative status of certain industrial occupations in this State.
(See Table A, page 22.)
The last Federal Census also shows that these industries are
much beluw the general level, as shown by the average annual
wage. (See Table B.)
it will be noted that the confectionery trade, paper box industry,
silk and men's linen are among the lowest paid lines in the State.
However, these industries suggested are representative, in that they
employ a large number of hands and contribute a large proportion
of the annual value of products, as shown by Table C.
It is true that they are not so important as the clothing, printing,
foundry, tobacco and shoe industries, but in the latter cases the
trades are fairly well organized and reasonably well paid. In the
case of clothing, the trades are too extensive and too widely scat-
tered to be investigated in so short a time. Moreover, in the case of
this last group of industries, the employers and employees them-
selves are at present conducting investigations, and it would,
therefore, be difficult for another to progress at the same time. Re-
garding the knit goods industry, it may be said that the State De-
partment of Labor contemplates the possibility of investigating
this for the Commission.
Not only are the industries mentioned important, but their dis-
tribution throughout the State is rather widespread, as shown by
Table D. At the same time, their concentration within a reason-
ably small number of large plants is shown in Table E.
Finally, in selecting these industries, the proportion of women
employed has been considered, inasmuch as the minimum wage in-
vestigations in other States have regarded this matter as of great-
est importance, and because trades in which women are largely oc-
cupied are usually poorly organized and often underpaid. (See
Table F.)
20 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
Field of Investigation.
The Commission has also decided that it would be well to investi-
gate the retail dry goods and department stores, because of the
large number of young women therein employed. It has been sug-
gested, however, that this part of the investigation, because of its
great importance, be postponed until the smaller industries have
been investigated, the force of inspectors trained and the schedules
have been tried out. Otherwise, the first task of the Commission
in studying the department stores would at once consume the
greater part of its time and resources, and yield no basis for com-
parison.
With regard to the order of the investigation, it has been thought
best to begin with an examination of conditions in New York City>
both for reasons of convenience and economy, as well as because of
the fact that in this way a fairly good idea of the conditions of the
trade or industry throughout the State may be obtained. After
this local survey in several lines has been completed, the other
important centers in which the trades are represented will be
visited.
The field of investigation will cover three sources of information :
First The statement of the employer or of his responsible
agent.
Second The records of the firm, so far as they deal with -wages
and hours of labor.
Third The statement of employees obtained in order to check
up and correct the other two sources.
Method of Procedure.
As to the method of procedure, it is proposed to begin with a
preliminary interview on the general facts of the trade or industry,
such as the season, hours of work and general wage classification,
the attitude toward employees, welfare work, etc. Then the in-
vestigators will proceed to use their tabular blanks to find from the
payrolls and other records the individual weekly and annual earn-
ings, following them through the entire year, if possible, or ascer-
tain them for typical periods where this is not possible.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 21
While this material is being taken from pay rolls it is proposed
to secure from a large number of employees individual cards which
will identify them, and to follow these employees by personal in-
terview in order to determine their trade history and general stand-
ing in the occupation.
While it would be desirable to investigate the intimate personal
history and standard of living of employees, it is practically impos-
sible to do such work adequately within the time assigned, unless ,
a great amount of efficient co-operation can be secured from local
welfare agencies, trade associations, etc.
Such material as has been obtained by interview and transcrip-
tion will then be tabulated and analyzed, and this systematic pre-
sentation will be supplemented by hearings, at which explanation
and interpretation of the data will be brought out.
This material, it is hoped, will in the first place give a consider-
able body of facts upon which the Commission may base its judg-
ment as to the wisdom of promoting any wage legislation. It may
also indicate directions in which further investigation or immedi-
ate legislative action is desirable.
It is the hope of the Commission that this rough outline
and schedule material w T ill be freely criticized by persons interested
in the work. We particularly desire to have the ground ade-
quately covered so far as the time will permit, -and at the same
time to secure such simplification as will make possible a proper
conclusion for the task.
22
REPORT OF COMMISSION.
TABLE A Low WEEKLY WAGE.
Census Bulletin No. 93, 1905, Low-Paid Industries of New York
State.
INDUSTRY.
Canning
* Confectionery . .
*{Shirts
*Paper Boxes . . .
*Silk
Knit Goods
"Collars
Millinery and lace
Tobacco
Bookbinding ....
Boots
Lumber
Men's Clothes . . .
Women's Clothes .
Establish-
ments.
257
104
83
119
43
87
7
195
1,709
141
71
463
657
551
No. of
returns.
Average
weekly
wage.
7,350
$6.35
3,877
7.12
3,938
7.29
5,264
7.32
4,884
7.68
11,129
7.70
6,498
8.04
6,166
8.47
18,369
8.96
4,245
9.08
7,064
9.35
4,836
9.59
16,162
9.83
21,555
10.31
All Industries 19,030 430,475 $10.40
TABLE B Low ANNUAL WAGE.
Federal Census of Manufactures, 1909, of New York State.
Average Annual Wages.
(Total Annual Wages Divided by Annual Average of Wage
Earners.)
Average
wage
INDUSTRY. ( annual ) .
All Industries $555
*Paper Boxes 413
Canning 362
Carpets 565
Men's Clothes 525
Women's Clothes . 557
Average
wage
INDUSTRY. (amnual).
^Confectionery $351
Flowers and Feathers. . 40-7
'^Furnishings 428
*Silk 416
Tobacco , 458'
REPORT OF COMMISSION.
23
TABLE C - - RELATIVE IMPORTANCE.
Federal Census of Manufactures, 1909, of New York
44,935 Factories Employing 1,300,981 Wage Earn
Per cent, of
INDUSTRY. wage earners. c
Men's Clothes 9.8
Stale.
?rs.
Per cent, of
total value
>f products.
8.1
7.9
6.4
4.6
2.
2.3
1.4
1.3
.8
.8
.4
.8
.6
Women's Clothes
9.1
Printing .
6.3
O
Foundrv ... ...
6.4
Knit Goods
3.6
Tobacco
3.
Shoes
2.2
^'Furnishing Goods
1.8
*Silk .... . .
1.3
Carpets
1.2
*Paper Boxes
1.1
"^Confectionery . ....
.9
Canning
.7
TABLE D DISTRIBUTION.
Number of Employees in Factories.
X. Y. Department of Labor, Factory Inspector's Report, 1911.
Confec-
tionery.
Paper
boxes.
PUACE.
New York 9,363 9,260 -
Buffalo 722,, 2,442
Rochester .... 645 86^ ._ t
Troy 309
Syracuse 319 211
Glens Falls
Albany ....
Hornell ....
Amsterdam .
Silk.
5,181
910,
1,244
733
Men's
linen.
1,280
Total.
8,793 32,597
312 4,386
434 1,943
14,609 14,918
50 580
1,799 1,799
1,280
1,244
733
24 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
TABLE D (Continued).
PLACE.
LTtica
Confec-
tionery.
Paper-
boxes.
102(2)
Yonkers ....
Sehenectady .
43(2)
Men's
Silk. linen. Total.
102
66(1) .... 66
43
Total 11,049 13,231 8,134 27,277 59,691
TABLE E CONCENTRATION AND NUMBER OF WOMEN.
-Y. Y. Department of Labor, Fa-ctory Inspectors' Report, 1911.
No. of
No. of women
GENERAL INDUSTRY. Special branches. shops. in shops.
Clothing Dressmaking 4,602 52,630
Tailoring 5,265 25,004
"Shirts and Collars.... 356 25,004
Laundries 2,652 10,734
Textiles Hosiery and Knit Goods 330 21,069
-Silk 141 7,794
Carpets 41 5,777
Food Cigars 1,205 11,114
Canning 199 5,329
^Confectionery 783 5,172
Paper "Boxes 366 8,585
Printing 2,313 7,170
Bookbinding 306 4,147
Leather and Rubber . . Shoes 268 7,522
Gloves 130 3,377
Mattresses and Pillows. 298 2,090
Total, all Industries 44,672 322,131
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 25
Federal Census of Manufactures, 1909, of New York State.
No. of No. of wage Per cent.
INDUSTRY. establishments. earners, of women.
*Paper Boxes 315 11,538 62.9
Canning 790 7,075 55.1
Carpets 16 11,898 44.3
Men's Clothes 2,983 91,363 41.1
Women's Clothes 3,083 98,104 57.3
^Confectionery 249 8,570 58.
*Men's Furnishings 375 18,186 77.2
Knit Goods 360 35,950 63.6
*Silk 170 12,903 62.4
Tobacco : 3,371 '30,019 50.6
MEETING WITH ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
On September 26, 1913, the Commission met with the members
of the Advisory Committee to consider the proposed plan. The
following questions were submitted for discussion at this meeting :
Questions for Discussion.
1. The Investigation:
a What industries should be selected ?
b What percentage of workers in each industry should be
covered ?
c Period of time to be covered for each wage-earner ?
d When should the department store investigation be com-
menced ?
e To what extent should investigation cover budgets of
workers and standard of living?
f How far is it practicable or advisable to make a study of
wages as compared with the efficiency of the workers ?
26 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
g To what extent is it practicable or advisable to make a
study of the relationship between wages and profits in
a given industry ?
h Kind of schedules to be used ; comments on proposed
schedules ?
2. Wages and Vice :
To what extent is it practicable or advisable to go into this
subject?
3. Relationship between Wages and Industrial Education:
To what extent should the Commission "go into this subject;
in what way should it be approached ?
4. Outside Agencies :
What outside agencies, Federal or State, and what civic and
social organizations have been engaged in work along
lines similar to that which this Commission is under-
taking ?
To what extent can their past investigations be utilized by
the Commission in this inquiry ?
Is it practicable to request any of them to undertake in-
vestigations in conjunction with the Commission or
under its supervision?
5. Wage Legislation :
a Arguments in favor of wage legislation ?
b Objections to wage legislation practical; economic;
legal. How may these objections be met?
6. Appointment of Sub-Committees :
Advisability of dividing Committee into sub-committees
which are to consider different phases of the wage prob-
lem.
If so, what sub-committees should be appointed ?
The prevailing view was that the wages in three or four indus-
tries, particularly those in which large numbers of women were
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 27
employed, should be carefully studied throughout the State. It
was also recommended that in these industries both the men and
women workers should be studied, and that personal histories and
living conditions of a certain percentage of the wage-earners should
be obtained.
SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION.
It was therefore decided that the following principal indus-
tries should be investigated:
Confectionery.
Paper Box.
Department stores and mercantile establishments.
Shirt factories.
In addition to these main lines of inquiry, the following indus-
tries were examined into to a limited extent :
Silk Mills.
Jute Mills.
Sugar Refineries.
Umbrella Factories.
Scrub women and window cleaners in office buildings.
Rag and paper shops on the lower East Side.
Longshoremen.
Dress patterns.
Button Factories.
EXTENT OF THE INVESTIGATION.
Owing to the limitation of time and funds at the Commission's
disposal, the investigation of the foregoing industries has, up to the
present time, been confined to Greater New York.
To show the extent of the inquiry, we submit herewith the fol-
lowing table, setting forth the number of establishments visited,
and the number of wage workers covered in the principal industries
investigated up to date :
REPORT OF COMMISSION.
PRINCIPAL INDUSTRIES COVERED.
Confectionery
No. of
firms.
61
No. of
workers.
8 656
Paper Boxes
191
9 105
Mercantile establishments (including de-
partment stores)
57
62 406
Men's Shirts
72
7 850
381 87,917
So that, in all, the Commission has secured detailed wage data
for about 88,000 individual workers, including men, women and
children.
In addition to this, the Commission procured information with
reference to wages, in the following industries: Silk mills, jute
mills, sugar refineries, umbrella factories, scrub women and win-
dow cleaners in office buildings, rag and paper shops on the lower
East Side, longshoremen, dress patterns and buttons, representing
upwards of 90,000 wage-earners.
In the four principal industries covered, 2,960 annual wage
schedules of workers were secured, and more than one thousand
personal histories of workers were obtained.
METHODS OF INVESTIGATION.
The method employed was to copy from the payroll, for the cur-
rent week, the receipt of every person in the establishment, noting
rate, time, additions and deductions, and earnings. In several
thousand cases it was possible to obtain such data for an entire year.
The number of employees and the total wages of the week were also
taken.
The second line of inquiry consisted in obtaining from each em-
ployee a card showing his or her age, nativity, conjugal condition,
particular work done, length of time employed, and whether or not
the worker lived at home. This was followed up in over one thou-
sand cases by personal interviews with the workers, by which it
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 29
was sought to ascertain in detail the past industrial experience and
present working conditions of the worker, as well as his or her
schooling and standard of living.
The last branch of the investigation consisted of an interview
with the employers or responsible managers. This dealt with the
general conditions and tendency of the trade, such as hours, sea-
sons and changes in working force. Methods of securing and pro-
moting help, wage payments, fines and commissions, pensions, wel-
fare work and general efficiency were discussed. ' In some cases the
firm's books were thrown open to an accountant for the purpose of
analyzing relative costs
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40 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
WEEKLY RATES IN THE CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY.
The figures for the confectionery industry show that from $8 to
$10 a week is the most common rate for men, and that $5 a week
is most frequently quoted for girls. The majority of male workers
may expect to receive between $8 and $14. Most girls and women
are hired for from $5 to $7.50. M'ore than one-half of the men re-
ceive less than $10, and one-half of the women less than $6 a week.
More specifically, the prevailing rates for foremen are from $16
to $25, and for forewomen, from $8 to $13. The majority of ex-
perienced candy-makers receive from $12 to $18. Good machine
operators are to be had at $11 to $16. Most hand-dippers get from
$5 to $10, the better ones $8 and over. Packers and wrappers, who
constitute the bulk of the female employees, usually receive from $5
to $7, while the great mass of male helpers range from $7 to $12,
and less skilled women from $4.50 to $6.50 a week.
Over one-half the minor male employees are paid less than $7.50
a week, and nearly one-half the adult men receive less than $12.
More than two-thirds of the girls under eighteen are rated below
$5.50 a week, and more than one-half the women above this age fail
to rise above $7.
ACTUAL EARNINGS IN THE CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY.
The foregoing are the rates quoted by employers, but they suffice
to indicate the general levels of wages in the industries. In order
to ascertain the actual earnings, a week was selected when the busi-
ness was active, though not yet quite at its height. According to
rates quoted, only 12.7 per cent, of the employees were rated
under $5 a week, but according to actual earnings, 21.7 per cent,
of all whose receipts were noted fell below that amount. On the
other hand, from the rates quoted, 64.8 per cent, of the workers
might have been expected to receive more than $5 and less than $10
a week. As a matter of fact, however, only 56.6 per cent, act-
ually received sums between these amounts. Absence accounts for
a large part of the discrepancy between wages quoted and wages re-
ceived in the cases of the low-paid employees.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 41
WEEKLY RATES IN THE PAPER Box INDUSTRY.
Twelve dollars is the most common rate for all males, and $6 for
all female employees.
The majority of men and boys are supposed to earn between $8
and $- 6 ; more than half the women and girls between $5 and $9.
Over half the male help is rated below $12 and the majority of
females under $6.50.
Boys and girls under 18 years average between $5 and $6 a
week; women over 18 center at about $9; adult men, at about $15
a week.
The run of foremen are hired for from $18 to $25 ; forewomen,
from $10 to $13. Most male cutters receive from $10 to $18;
women, $5 to $7. Men who do corner-staying and ending usually
ask from $8 to $15; women are to be had for similar work from
$5 to $10. .Male glue-table workers ordinarily range from $6 to
$12 ; most women table workers, who do pasting and finishing, from
$5 to $10. Covering (i. e., stripping and labeling), which is a
woman's trade requiring some skill, brings from $6.50 to $10.
Turners in, who are usually girls learning the trade, are quoted at
from $4.50 to $6. Closing, tying and floor work ordinarily brings
from $5.50 to $10 for males, and from $4 to $7 for girls.
ACTUAL EARNINGS IN THE PAPER-BOX INDUSTRY.
Almoot 2,000 women, or nearly one^half of all over 18 years of
age in the trade, earned le&e than $6 for a, week's work. More than
700 girls under 18, or 43 per cent, of those below this age, earned
less than $5.
More thiin 400 men, or over 20 per cent, of all adult males,
earned Io 3 s than $10 in a week. Nearly half of all male minors
receive:! lew than $7.
42 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
WAGES Too Low FOE DECENT LIVELIHOOD.
This summary of wages actually received indicates clearly that
there is not only room for, but necessity for improvement in wages
paid. !No woman can live properly on $5 or $6, or even $7, a week.
What is to be done to remedy this condition the Commission has
not yet agreed upon. The Commission believes that something
must be done which will provide a remedy. There is no doubt that
investigation and publication of these facts, and the agitation that
will necessarily ensue, will be productive of good results.
The public hearings of the Commission which were held here-
tofore, and which disclosed the long hours which women and chil-
dren worked and unsanitary conditions of labor, produced as-
much good as legislation. Manufacturers and proprietors of
industrial establishments, where attention was called to these
facts in a pointed way, were themselves eager to bring about
improvements.
The Commission believes that when it has finished gathering its
facts, through its investigators, and then has public hearings on the
subject, hearing both sides, as it always has done, and permit-
ting examination and cross-examination of witnesses by all parties
in interest, the publication of the exact facts as to wages and
the discussion necessarily following, will be productive of great
good and improvement of themselves. With all the facts then
before it, and after its own personal investigations are completed,
che Commission will be able fully to report to the Legislature its
views as to what may be done.
NECESSITY FOR CONTINUANCE OF INVESTIGATION.
Facilities should be afforded for completing the tabulation of the
statistics that have been gathered and for continuing the investiga-
tion of the industries named in the different cities of the State
There should also be a more extensive study of the various phases
o c the wage problem, such as :
Unemployment ;
Industrial education ;
Vocational guidance ;
.Efficiency of the workers ;
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 43
Cast of living and family budgets ;
Relation between low wages and vice,
and other kindred subjects.
After all of the statistics have been put in proper shape public
hearings should be held in the different cities of the State, and the
fa- its gathered brought to light, and all those interested, employers
and employees, given an opportunity to present their views and
suggestions concerning the measures to be adopted to remedy the
evils disclosed. Hasty and ill-considered legislation on a matter of
such vital importance cannot be too strongly condemned.
It i- for these reasons that the Commission simply makes this
preliminary report to show the necessity for continuance of its in-
vestigation of this important subject, and does not, at this time, go
into any discussion of the different phases of the problems that have
been assigned to it, or take up the arguments that have been urged
in favor of and in opposition to any wage legislation by the State.
The people of the State have the right to expect us to be sure of
our ground when we make our final recommendations.
It is proper to say that many of us, prior to entering upon the
work of this Commission, have studied this problem, and have ar-
lived at .somewhat definite conclusions. The temptation to make
definite recommendations, based upon personal experience, is very
great, but when, as a Commission, we entered upon this investiga-
tion, we put aside for the time being our own personal views. We
feel that we must decide on the evidence that we have gathered as
a Commission, and believe that the facts that have been obtained up
to the present are insufficient to serve as the basis of any final rec-
ommendations upon this important subject. Moreover, a large part
of the statistics that have been gathered has not yet been tabulated,
and until that has been done they have but little significance.
It is well to call attention to the fact also that next year
there will probably be held a convention to revise the Constitution,
when this matter and other matters bearing upon it will undoubt-
edly come up for consideration. We believe that that Convention
should receive the benefit of a complete and comprehensive investi-
gation of this subject.
44 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
In our second report to the Legislature, we called attention to
the necessity for a complete recodification of the Labor Law. In
that report, page 292, the Commission said:
" The greater part of the legislation recommended by the
Commission must take the form of amendments to the Labor
Law. That statute, since its enactment in 1897, has been
subjected to numerous amendments and has grown to be un-
wieldy and complicated. It is in need of revision that will
simplify its form and arrangement and clarify its meaning.
The Commission recommends that the Labor Law be properly
recodified."
We have accordingly prepared a complete and comprehensive
recodification of the Labor Law, which we submit herewith. It is
attached to this report and marked Appendix V.
In this work we have had the active assistance and co-operation
of the Legislative Bill Drafting Bureau of Columbia University.
The following Advisory Committee was appointed to assist the
Commission in the preparation of the recodification of the Labor
Law:
Hon. James M. Lynch.
Hon. John Williams.
Miss Pauline Goldmark.
Gteorge W. Alger.
Walter Lindner.
John R. Shillady.
Lawrence Yeiller.
Laurence Arnold Tanzer.
The Commission desires to express its appreciation of the many
suggestions and criticisms that were received from the members
of the Committee, who gave up their time to this work.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 45
PRESENT ARRANGEMENT OF THE LABOR LAW.
The present Labor Law contains the following articles :
Art. I. Short title; definitions.
II. General provisions.
III. Department of Labor.
Ilia. Industrial Board.
IV. Bureau of Inspection.
V. Bureau of Statistics and Information.
VI. Factories.
VII. Tenement-made articles.
VIII. Bakeries and confectioneries.
IX. Mines, tunnels and quarries.
X. Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration.
XI. Bureau of Industries and Immigration.
XII. Mercantile establishments.
XIII. Convict-made goods and duties of the Commissioner
of Labor relative thereto.
XIV. Employers' liability.
XI Va. Workmen's compensation in dangerous employments,
XV. Employment of children in street trades.
(XVI. Laws repealed.)
REPEAL OF PRESENT ARTICLES OF THE LABOR LAW.
We have omitted from the proposed revision all of the provi-
sions contained in Article XIII, relating to convict-made goods;
Article XIV, relating to employers' liability; Article XlVa, re-
lating to workmen's compensation ; and Article XV, relating to
children in the street trades.
Article XI Va, dealing with workmen's compensation, and de-
clared unconstitutional in the Ives case, was repealed at the recent
special session of the Legislature.
We also recommend the r,epeal of Article XIII, dealing with
convict-made goods, because it has been held to be unconstitu-
tional, and is now ineffective. (People vs. Hawkins, 157 N". Y.
1, 1898 ; People vs. Rayneg, 136 App. Div. 417, 1910, affirmed
198 K Y. 539, 622, 1910.)
46 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
This article prohibits the sale of convict-made goods without a
license and provides for the issue and revocation of licenses. It
also requires convict-made goods to be labeled and marked as such
and prohibits the sale thereof without such label and mark. Sec-
tion 620 of the Penal Law punishes as a misdemeanor acts which
constitute violations of the provisions of this article.
While we approve of striking out this provision, in the recodifi-
cation of the Labor Law, because the decision of the Court of
Appeals makes it a nullity, yet we are in favor of proper legisla-
tion which will carry into effect the same principles. If neces-
sary, the matter should be submitted to the Constitutional Conven-
tion, which we believe is to be held, so that constitutional author-
ity may be had for legislation upon the subject. If it is necessary
to have such legislation authorized by a federal statute, then we
approve of the enactment of a federal statute carrying out legisla-
tion which embraces this principle.
TRANSFER OF PRESENT ARTICLES OF THE LABOR LAW.
We recommend the transfer to other chapters of the Consoli
dated Laws of:
1. Article XIV, dealing with employers' liability and volun-
tary workmen's compensation. The recently enacted Workmen's
Compensation Act was made chapter 67 of the Consolidated Laws.
We recommend that the title to this chapter be made " Employers'
Liability and Workmen's Compensation," and that the provisions
of this article be transferred to that chapter, so that the wholp
of the statutory law dealing with employers' liability for injuries
to his employees will be contained in one chapter.
2. Article XV, dealing with children in the street trades. The
provisions of this article are now enforced by the police and at-
tendance officers. We suggest that its provisions be transferred
to the Education Law.
The fact that the Department of Labor does not have any power
or duty to enforce the provisions of the foregoing articles consti-
tutes an added reason for their omission from the revised Labor
Law.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 47
PRESENT PLAN OF ARRANGEMENT,
The idea of classification which evidently underlies the present
{MTiuigement of the Labor Law is that all provisions affecting a
particular industry should be gathered into a separate article
devoted to that industry. For example, in the article entitled
" Factories," appear most of the provisions applicable to factories.
That it is practically impossible without wholly unnecessary
repetition to accomplish the purpose of such a classification is evi-
denced by the fact that in the article entitled "General Provisions"
there are a number of provisions which apply to factories, as well
as to other establishments, and in the article entitled "Factories"
there are some provisions which apply to other industrial estab-
lishments, as w r ell as to factories.
The only justification for such a classification is the practical ad-
vantage of having grouped together all of the provisions of the law
applicable to a particular industry. As a matter of fact, the pres-
ent Labor Law does not present this desirable grouping of its pro-
visions, and, as has been said, it is quite impossible to accomplish it
without a very great deal of useless repetition of provisions appli-
cable to several industries in the article devoted to each of those in-
dustries.
All the advantages of such a classification can be accomplished in
the reprints of the law prepared by the Commissioner for the use of
employers and the public. The Commissioner can readily take
out all the provisions of the Labor Law applicable to factories, no
matter what article may contain them, and no matter to what other
industries they may be applicable, and group them in a single pam-
phlet for the use of persons interested in legislation affecting fac-
tories.
PROPOSED CLASSIFICATION.
We have, therefore, departed from the idea of classification
underlying the present arrangement of the law. Briefly, we have
adopted the following arrangement :
Group under headings, indicating the subject matter, all provi-
sions dealing with the relations between the employer and the
employee, as. for example, such matters as hours, wages, pro-
48 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
hibi'ted employments, etc. ; and under headings, indicating the in-
dustries to which they apply, all provisions relating to the physical
conditions under which the work is done, as, for example, con-
struction, equipment and method of operation of places of employ-
ment. Following this plan of grouping the provisions of the law,
we have used the following arrangement :
Art. I. Short title; definitions.
II. The Department of Labor.
III. General provisions.
IV. Employment of children and females.
V. Hours of labor.
VI. Payment of wages.
VII. Public work.
VIII. Employment agencies and immigrant lodging-houses.
IX. Mediation and arbitration of industrial controver-
sies.
X. Building construction and repair work.
XL Eactories.
XII. Bakeries and manufacture of food products.
XIII. Tenement-made articles.
XIV. Sanitation in mercantile establishments.
XV. Mines, tunnels and quarries.
XVI. Employment in compressed air.
XVII. Violations and penalties.
I^EW ARTICLE, " THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR."
Particular attention is called to the new article II, " The De-
partment of Labor." In this we have attempted to cover the
whole field of organization and powers and duties of the Depart-
ment, and to include, as far as possible, all the provisions relating
to administration and enforcement.
The provisions in the existing Labor Law relating to right of
entry, inspection, notices and orders to comply with the provisions
of the law, have been covered by general sections in this new
article.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 49
Some administrative provisions have, where they had special
and exclusive application to particular parts of the law, been
retained in the articles to which they apply, as, for instance, (a)
supervision over the issuance of employment certificates, and
physical examination of children and cancellation of employment
certificates, (b) issuance of sanitary certificates for bakeries and of
licenses for tenement-houses. Again, some administrative provi-
sions with which the Labor Department is not concerned have been
retained in the articles to which they apply, such as (a), the issu-
ance of employment certificates by the Health Department, and (b)
powers and duties of boards of health with reference to tenement-
made articles.
SUMMARY POWERS OF COMMISSIONER INCREASED.
We have increased the summary powers of the Commissioner to
enforce the provisions of the law. The Commissioner of Labor
is authorized to apply to the Supreme Court for an order em-
powering him to close up a building in which there is persistent
violation of the law involving serious danger to the lives or the
health of the employees.
PENALTY PROVISIONS.
A revised form of section 1275 of the Penal Law, under which
practically all prosecutions are now brought, has been substituted
for the many criminal penalties which are now scattered through
the Labor Law and the Penal Law. So, also, two sections, con-
taining general provisions as to civil penalties and remedies, have
been substituted for the several civil penalty provisions that are
now found in different parts of the Labor Law.
INCREASE IN CRIMINAL PENALTIES.
We recommend the following provisions in place of the penal-
ties provided in section 1275 of the Penal Law:
Criminal Penalties- for Violation : 1. Any person who violates,
or does not comply with, any provisions of this chapter, any pro-
vision of rules made under authority granted in this chapter, or any
50 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
lawful order of the Commissioner, and any person who knowingly
makes a false statement or entry in any affidavit, certificate, tran-
script, time-book, register, record, report, documentary evidence or
other papers required to be made or kept under any provision of
this chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction,
shall be punished, except -as otherwise provided in this chapter, for
a first offense by a fine of not less than twenty dollars nor more
than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than
ten days, or by both a fine and imprisonment ; for a second offense
by a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than two thousand
five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than thirty
days, or by both a fine and imprisonment ; and for a third or subse-
quent offense by a fine of not less than two hundred >and fifty dollars
nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not
more than sixty days, or by both a fine and imprisonment,
This changes the present penalties by raising the maximum fine
for a first offense from $50 to $500 ; for a second offense from $250
to $2,500, and also provides that a sentence of not more than ten
days' imprisonment may be imposed for a first offense. There has
been no change in the minimum penalties, and the increase in the
maximum penalties is in response to a widespread demand that
the courts be given power to impose more severe sentences than is
now possible, where circumstances demand it, for example, where
there has been a wilful disregard of measures that indirectly in-
volve the safety of workers.
MAGISTRATES TO DISPOSE OF FIRST OFFENSE VIOLATIONS OF
LABOR LAW.
We recommend the amendment of sections 31 and 72 of the "In-
ferior Courts Act of the City of New York' 7 so as to confer jurisdic-
tion upon the City Magistrates' Court, to dispose of violations of
the Labor Law, first offense. At the present time, in any prosecu-
tion for a violation of the Labor Law, if a prima facie case is made
out, the magistrate has no power except to hold the defendant for
the Court of Special Sessions. The amendment that is suggested
is a very simple one, and will, we believe, result in the saving of
considerable time to the court and to the employees of the Depart-
ment of Labor.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 51
CONSOLIDATION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT
CERTIFICATE.
We have consolidated the lengthy provisions of the present law
relating to the issuance of employment certificates (sections 71 to
7<>, and sections "163 to 167 of the present law), and put them in
the new article IV " Employment of Children and Females."
The two series of provisions are practically identical, and by
consolidating them the unnecessary repetition of more than two
thousand words is avoided.
RECODIFIC.ATION LIMITED TO FORM AND ARRANGEMENT.
We have endeavored not to make any changes in the substantive
provisions of the existing law that is, in those provisions which
impose duties and fix the rights of persons affected by the law. We
have tried to preserve the policies of the present substantive law,
but to state those policies more clearly, more briefly and more con-
sistently with each other. The changes made in the policies of the
present law have been limited to those dealing with the enforce-
ment of the law as previously outlined.
MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
In its second report the Commission discussed the results of a
preliminary investigation of conditions in mercantile establish-
ments in first and second class cities of the State. The investiga-
tion was not completed in time to enable the Commission to sub-
mit any definite recommendations on the subject last year.
This preliminary investigation was supplemented this year by
a careful study of wages in mercantile establishments, to which
reference has already been m'ade.
The Commission also undertook an investigation of the fire
hazard in department stores and other mercantile establishments,
in the different cities of the State, the results of which are set
forth later in this report.
52 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
SANITATION IN MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
But little attention has in the past been paid to conditions of
work in mercantile establishments. The large numbers employed
in such establishments, the fact that most of the workers are girls
and women, and the strain and fatigue of the work which requires
the employees to stand nearly all day, combine to make it just as
essential to require proper measures of sanitation and comfort in
mercantile establishments as is already provided by law for
factories.
The Commission, therefore, recommends that the following pro-
visions of the Factory Law be extended to cover mercantile estab-
lishments, in place of the present inadequate mercantile law :
Sec. 17. Seats for female employees.
Sec. 84. Cleanliness of rooms.
Sec. 84a. Cleanliness of factory buildings.
Sec. 85. Size of rooms.
Sec. 86. Ventilation (subdivisions 1, 3, 4 and 5).
Sec. 88. Drinking water, wash-rooms and dressing-rooms
Sec. 88a. W ater closets.
The Industrial Board should be given the power to amplify and
make more specific these provisions.
EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN.
For more than ten years children under sixteen years of age,
employed in department stores and other mercantile establish-
ments, have been required by statute to limit their hours of labor
to nine hours a day, and 54 a week. In 1907, over six years ago,
children of the same ages, working in factories, were permitted
to work only eight hours a day, and 48 hours a week. The Com-
mission can see no sound reason for this discrimination. The
reasons that have been urged for the eight-hour day for children
in factories apply to those at work in mercantile establishments.
Indeed, it may be urged that in mercantile establishments the
strain is often greater because of constant standing required of the
messengers, cash boys and girls.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 53
The Commission recommends, therefore, that the hours of labor
of children between fourteen and sixteen years of age, in mercan-
tile establishments, be made to conform to those now in force for
children of that age in factories, namely, that no such child shall
be employed in any mercantile establishment for more than eight
hours in any one day, or more than 48 hours in any one week, or
after six o'clock in any day.
HOURS OF LABOR FOR WOMEN.
During the last session of the Legislature an amendment to
section 161 of the Labor Law was- enacted, which provided,
1. That the hours of labor in mercantile establishments, in
cities of the second class, be limited to 54 hours a week, and else-
where to 60 hours a week.
2. That no woman be employed in any mercantile establish-
ment after six o'clock in the evening, in any second class city, or
after ten o'clock in the evening elsewhere in the State.
This amendment, which was not recommended by this Com-
mission, has been severely criticised as being an unfair discrimi-
nation against merchants in second class cities. The Commission
believes this criticism is well founded. In a health measure of
this kind there is no logical reason for making requirements in
second class cities different from those in any other place in the
State.
W.e, therefore, recommend the following amendments to this
section :
1. The hours of labor of women in mercantile establishments to
be limited to 54 hours a week, in all cities of the State.
2. That no women be employed in any mercantile establish-
ment, in any city of the State, after ten o'clock in the evening.
It also appears that this amendment was so loosely drawn as to
permit children under sixteen years of age, to work overtime dur-
ing the Christmas period. This was not permitted under the old
law, and should be corrected immediately.
54 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
TIME BOOKS.
To carry into effect the suggestion made in our second report,
on overtime work in stores, we recommend that the hours of labor
be posted, and a time-book kept, in every mercantile establish-
ment where women are employed after 6.30 p. m.
Bills which embody the foregoing recommendations are sub-
mitted herewith.
FIRE HAZARD IN MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
The Commission's study of mercantile establishments of neces-
sity included an inquiry into the fire hazard in mercantile estab-
lishments, because of the fact that, especially in the case of the
large department stores, they are practically public buildings.
Besides the very large number of employees, there are often thou-
sands of people under one roof at the same time, in these larger
department stores. For this very reason there exists a consider-
able life hazard in case of fire or panic. The obvious exposure of
large quantities of inflammable stock and the difficulty of main-
taining discipline among the thousands of outsiders who visit
these stores, present a condition in which fire or panic is likely to
arise.
SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION.
The Commission's study of the fire hazard in mercan-
tile establishments included both the large department stores and
some of the small mercantile retail establishments. It was, of
course, impossible to visit every mercantile establishment in the
State of New York, but in order to make the work as comprehen-
sive as possible, of the conditions which actually exist, thirty-six re-
tail mercantile establishments in New York city and forty-four such
establishments in other cities were selected as the basis of the
study. The forty-four up-State stores were located in the cities
of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Sclienectady, Troy and
Albany; while the New York stores were located in the boroughs
of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Each store was visited by an investi-
gator trained in building inspection and familiar with the best
methods of fire prevention. A complete survey of each building
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 55
was made, covering the main points of the construction of the
buildings as follows:
The location and type of its exit facilities.
The capacity of exits.
The maintenance of the store with special reference to the
conditions of exits.
The arrangement of aisles for facilitating egress.
The disposition of inflammable stock.
The distribution of inflammable waste, storage and use of
inflammable packing material.
The special plan, if any, existing in the store for facilitat-
ing egress in case of fire or panic.
Other information was gathered in regard to the following:
Existence of fire walls, and the extent to which such fire
walls, when present, had been developed as a means of. exit.
Exit facilities from basements, when basements were used
by the establishments.
Extent to which manufacturing was carried on in these
establishments, and the special precautions taken to insure
safety to the persons engaged at such work in the building.
CONDITIONS IN UP-STATE STORES.
A summary of the information gathered in regard to the forty-
four up-State stores studied shows that 13,000 employees were
involved. Most of the buildings were planned and erected with
little or no thought of providing adequate fire protection to the
thousands of people who work in, or visit, them daily. In many
cases the buildings are old buildings, converted from other uses
into mercantile establishments. Most of them are non-fireproof,
and a very large percentage of them have only non-fireproof, unen-
closed stairways, which in themselves furnish a fire hazard, and
are an entirely unprotected means of exit in case of fire. As a
general rule the ground floor exits are inadequate, there being
usually one main entrance and often no other means of exit.
56 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
A study of the records of tlie forty-four up-State stores shows
the following conditions :
39 are of non-fireproof construction.
17 are unsprinkled.
34 have no standpipes.
16 have open wells or rotundas piercing the various floors,
thus furnishing a draft in case of fire and inviting
spread of flames from floor to floor. Ten of these open
wells were without even the protection of automatic
sprinklers.
22 have elevators without fireproof enclosures.
Exit Facilities:
21 have no exits from the basement directly to the street.
18 have the street doors opening inward.
Maintenance :
The maintenance of the up-State stores was poor. Large amounts
of waste and rubbish were allowed to accumulate, and the pack-
ing rooms were usually found in a hazardous condition. In but
nine stores was packing done in fireproof rooms.
In 24 stores the baling of waste material and old packing
material (all of it highly inflammable) was done in open, non-
firejproof rooms.
In only 10 stores were the exits marked.
In only three of the stores were there any special fire instruc-
tions issued to employees.
In only one store was there a regular fire drill.
In only 13 were there fire bells or gongs to give alarm in case
of fire.
CONDITIONS IN NEW YORK CITY STORES.
Of the thirty-six New York city stores on the Commission's list,
the records of only twenty-one are complete at the date of this
report. These records show the existence of a definite fire hazard
in New York city stores, and the necessity for some corrective
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 57
measures. A summary of these twenty-one stores shows the fol-
lowing conditions :
14 are of non-fireproof construction.
7 are unsprinkled.
8 have no standpipes.
6 have open wells or rotundas.
5 have elevators without fireproof enclosures.
8 have no exits from basement directly to street.
All the buildings have the street doors opening outward.
2 buildings have fireproof packing rooms.
6 have fireproof rooms for the baling of waste material.
11 have the exits marked.
6 have fire drills.
4 have fire signal gongs.
The number of employees in these twenty-one stores is over
20,000.
A study of the crowds in these stores during the Christmas
season revealed the fact that these stores are often crowded far
beyond the capacity of their exits. In one New York city store
the week before Christmas, at about three o'clock in the afternoon,
there were 12,350 in the building, 4,500 of them being on the
ground floor and 2,200 of them being on the fifth floor, where
toys were sold. This building has seven stairways, of which only
two are fireproof enclosed.
Another store, having four stairways, was found with 4,222
people, at about one o'clock in the afternoon 1,000 on the ninth
floor.
Still another building, having seven stairways, was found with
8,325 people 900 of these being on the eighth floor (restaurant),
1,100 on the fifth floor (toys), and 2,135 on the ground floor.
These figures are sufficient to show the crowding which exists.
CONCLUSIONS.
The problem of the fire hazard in mercantile establishments
may be approached from two aspects :
58 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
1. Provisions for proper maintenance, which shall apply to
present and future establishments.
2. Provisions for proper construction, including adequate exit
facilities. Such requirements will necessarily have to be different
for existing and future structures.
SMOKING IN MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
Smoking in mercantile establishments in which inflammable
materials are kept and offered for sale constitutes what is un-
doubtedly the most serious fire hazard in that industry. We have
heretofore recommended legislation, which has been enacted, pro-
hibiting smoking in factories. This was urged by every fire
insurance expert, fire chief and fire prevention engineer that ap-
peared before the Commission.
If such a requirement is necessary in the case of factories,
where practically only employees are to be considered, it needs
no argument to show how necessary it is in mercantile establish-
ments where, besides the large number of workers, the public is
present daily in hundreds and thousands, and where the materials
that are on hand are, for the most part, of a flimsy and highly
inflammable character.
We, therefore, recommend that no smoking be permitted in any
mercantile establishment, other than cigar stores, in which more
than ten persons are employed, except in fireproof enclosed rooms
set apart for that purpose. The Industrial Board shall be given
power to make rules exempting from the operation of this prohibi-
tion certain classes of mercantile establishments where the hazard
to life is small, for example, because of the nature of the materials
that are offered for sale.
OTHER PROVISIONS FOR PROPER MAINTENANCE.
We submit herewith the following suggestions for the proper
maintenance and operation of mercantile establishments and all
places used by or in connection with them, so as reasonably to
prevent the occurrence and spread of fire, and to eliminate, so
far as possible, the danger of panic in the event of fire:
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 59
1. No door, window or other opening leading to or serving as a
means of egress shall be locked, bolted or fastened against egress,
or in any way obstructed during business hours.
2. All means of egress, including stairways, shall be maintained
free of all obstructions.
3. Aisles throughout the building shall be so arranged as to af-
ford continuous, safe, unobstructed passageways on each floor of
the building, with an unobstructed width of at least three feet
throughout their length, leading directly to every means of egress,
including tire escapes and passenger elevators.
4. ~No aisle in any building shall be reduced in width in the di-
rection of the exit.
5. ~No obstruction of any kind, fixed or movable, shall be allowed
to divide or block the aisles.
6. All interior rooms in such a building used as workrooms, and
all interior rooms in which there are more than 25 persons permit-
ted, shall have at least two means of exit remote from each other.
7. Packing rooms, where inflammable material is used, shall be
enclosed in fireproof partitions.
8. All excelsior, paper, clippings or other inflammable material
used for packing purposes shall be baled and stored in a fireproof
room, and all loose excelsior in use in packing rooms shall be kept
in approved fireproof bins.
9. Approved fireproof receptacles shall be provided through-
out the building for the reception of waste material and rubbish,
and waste material must be placed therein.
10. Where gas or kerosene are used for lighting purposes the
lights shall be placed at least eighteen inches distant from inflam-
mable stock, and shall be protected by wire safety cages. No mov-
able Bracket shall be permitted.
11. All kitchens or bakeries located in mercantile establishments
must be enclosed in fireproof partitions, and separated from the
rest of the building by such partitions.
60 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
12. All exits shall be plainly marked by means of a red-lighted
sign, and, in addition, throughout the floor area there shall be red-
lighted index signs showing the most direct path to the various
exits.
13. Where there are different floor levels in any building or
group of buildings used as a mercantile establishment the connec-
tion between the floor levels shall be by means of gradients having
a non-slipping surface.
14. All stairways which are not adequately lighted by natural
light shall be provi ded with artificial light.
REGULATIONS OF INDUSTRIAL BOARD.
We believe, however, that the foregoing detailed requirements
should not be enacted in the form of laws, but rather that they
should be adopted, with such modifications as may be deemed ad-
visable, in the form of regulations by the Industrial Board.
This will carry out the legislative intent that was expressed when
the Industrial Board was created at the last session of the Legisla-
ture that is, that the Legislature should enact broad general re-
quirements for safety in buildings used as factories or for mercan-
tile purposes, leaving it to the Industrial Board, 'after a hearing of
all the parties in interest, to make detailed requirements, which
may be modified as occasion may require.
CONSTRUCTION OF MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
The Commission is not prepared at this time to make any defi-
nite recommendations for changes in the construction of existing
mercantile establishments. When the facts that have been col-
lected in the course of our investigation have been properly cor-
related, public hearings and conferences should be held, at which
owners of department stores, fire experts and those of the public
interested in this problem may express their views arid suggestions
as to the proper kind of requirements that should be made. The
matter is one of considerable importance, and should be disposed of
only after the most careful consideration.
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 61
We submit herewith the following suggestions that we have under
consideration for proper and adequate exit facilities in existing
mercantile establishments :
1. All vertical openings between floors 3hall be enclosed in fire-
proof partitions, and all openings from these enclosures to the va-
rious floors shall be protected by self-closing, fire-proof doors or win-
dows. (For definition of fireproof partitions see the Factory Law.
Vertical openings include rotundas, wells, stairways, elevators,
package chutes, light shafts, belt openings, pipe and duct shafts,
hoist ways, etc.)
2. From every floor of every building used as a mercantile es-
tablishment there shall be at least two standard means of exit re-
mote from each other. A standard means of exit shall be consid-
ered an enclosed fireproof stairway (see Factory Law) ; or a smoke-
proof tower; or a horizontal exit; or an exterior screened stairway
when one of the three foregoing types of exit is present in the
building.
3. All required stairways shall extend continuously from the
floors which they serve to the street; or to a fireproof passageway
independent of other means of exit from the building, and opening
on a road or street ; or to an open area affording unobstucted pass-
age to a road or street.
4. Each floor below the street level used for purposes of the
business, in any mercantile building, shall have at least two stand-
ard means of exit remote from each other, leading directly to the
street, or to a fireproof passageway or vestibule which is inde-
pendent of other means of exit from the building and opens on the
street.
5. All doors in buildings used for mercantile purposes shall open
outwardly, or be double swinging doors.
6. Doors from all interior rooms which are used as workrooms,
or from any interior rooms where more than five persons are permit-
ted, shall open outwardly or be double swinging doors.
7. No revolving doors shall be allowed at any entrance.
62 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
8. The width of the hallways, vestibules and required exit doors
leading therefrom to the street shall he not less than the aggregate
width of all stairways and exits leading to them.
9. Additional exits shall he provided on the main floor of mer-
cantile establishments. (It is on this floor that most of the shop-
ping is done, particularly in the large department stores.)
10. The Commission also has under consideration a plan for re-
quiring the number of exits, both from the ground floor and from
the upper floors, to be based upon an area measurement related to
the occupancy of these buildings, thus providing really adequate
exit facilities, and yet placing no unnecessary burden upon the
owner. Only after long study and conference with merchants
and experts can a definite recommendation as to this be made to
the Legislature.
For the future construction of mercantile establishments the
Commission has under consideration also a requirement to limit
the open floor area between fire walls to 25,000 square feet. In
Boston such floor area is limited to 20,000 square feet; in Chicago
it is limited to 30,000 square feet in sprinkled and 25,000 square
feet in non-sprinkled department stores, and in Philadelphia to
25,000 square feet.
All of the foregoing tentative suggestions should be submitted
to the different interests involved, and carefully discussed and con-
sidered, after full hearings are had, before any final action is taken
on them.
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
Report on Binghamton Fire.
On July 22, 1913, the State was shocked by the occurrence of a
disastrous fire in a factory building at Binghamton. The follow-
ing day the Assistant Counsel and Fire Prevention Expert of the
Commission went to Binghamton and began an investigation of the
fire and its causes, and also participated in the inquest that was
held thereafter. A detailed report of the fire was made by Mr.
J ames P. Whiskeman, the Commission's engineer. This report is
REPORT OF COMMISSION. 63
annexed hereto, and made a part hereof, and marked Appendix VII.
Our engineer also inspected a large number of factory buildings in
IJiiighanitnn. II is detailed report thereon, together with his rec-
onmicMiduhniis for changes in maintenance and construction, were
submitted to the authorities charged with the responsibility for safe
factory conditions.
It is the opinion of the Commission that if the laws passed at the
last session, as a result of its recommendations, had been in opera-
lion and had been properly enforced, no such catastrophe as that
which occurred in Binghamton could have taken place.
" Night Work for Women " Case. One of the laws recom-
mended by the Commission, enacted at the last session of the
Legislature, provided that ki In 'order to protect the health and
morals of females employed in factories, by providing an adequate
period of rest at night, no woman shall be employed or permitted
to work in any factory in this State before six o'clock in the morn-
ing or after ten. o'clock in the evening of any day."
In the case of the People vs. Williams, 189 N. Y. 131, decided
1907, the Court of Appeals held a statute unconstitutional which
prohibited night work of women, as being an unwarranted inter-
ference with an adult woman's freedom of contract. As stated in
our last report, we believe that the present law differs materially
from that which was under consideration by the court in the Wil-
liams case. Furthermore, the facts and testimony that are set
forth in our report show conclusively that the measure is a health
measure, and as such is a reasonable exercise by the State of the
police power for the preservation of the health and well being of
its citizens.
It was recognized that it was important to select a test case that
would present all of the material facts to the court for considera-
tion. Accordingly, in co-operation with the Commissioner of
Labor, a case was prepared and is now pending in the lower courts.
We believe that the change in the trend of judicial decisions, the
change in the present statute, and the evidence gathered by the
Commission, will lead the Court of Appeals to sustain the constitu-
tionality of the statute when it comes before it for determination.
64 REPORT OF COMMISSION.
Amendment to Greater New York Charter, in Relation to the
Preventing of Fires.
Some question having arisen concerning the respective jurisdic-
tion of the Labor Commissioner and the Fire Commissioner over
the fire hazard in factory buildings in New York city, we are
submitting herewith a bill to remove any ambiguity that may
exist in the present law. This bill has been approved by the
State Department of Labor and the Fire Department of New York
city.
. All of which is respectfully submitted, this 14th day of Febru-
ary, 1914.
ROBERT F. WAGNER ;
Chairman.
ALFRED E. SMITH,
Vice-Chairman.
CHARLES M. HAMILTON,
EDWARD D. JACKSON,
CYRUS W. PHILLIPS,
SIMON BRENTANO,
ROBERT E. DOWLING,
MARY E. DREIER,
SAMUEL GOMPERS,
Commission.
FRANK A. TIERNEY,
Secretary.
ABRAM I. ELKUS,
Chief Counsel.
BERNARD L. SHIENTAG,
Assistant Counsel.
APPENDIX I.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF INVESTIGATION
ON THE
CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK CITY.
[65]
INTRODUCTION.
In 1911, the New York State Factory Commission was author-
ized to investigate conditions of safety in manufacturing plants
and to recommend laws securing improvements therein. The
next year it was continued to examine further into questions of
sanitation. In 1913, its powers were extended " to inquire into
the wages of labor in all industries and employments . . .
and into the advisability of fixing minimum rates of wages or of
other legislation relating to the wages or conditions of labor."
To perform this function the Commission was granted the power
to subpoena witnesses and to require the production of books and
papers pertaining to the investigation.
On September 15, 1913, offices were secured and soon after a
force of twelve investigators and four clerical helpers was
engaged. Four agents were subsequently assigned from the State
Labor Department, and several students and volunteer workers
have helped so far as their time would permit. Various wel-
fare and trade societies have materially assisted in gathering
information.
Even with this assistance, the Commission could not possibly
investigate all employees in all factories and stores throughout
the state within the six months at its disposal. It was advised by
students of economics and statistics to select certain trades in
which wages were reported to be low, and to study these in some
detail. Upon the basis of recent reports, four lines were selected
which are well represented by establishments throughout the
state, namely : confectionery, paper boxes, men's shirts and retail
stores. These businesses employ large numbers of women and
the employees are for the most part unorganized.
The method employed was to copy from the pay-roll for the
current week, the receipts of every person, noting rate, time
worked, additions or deductions and net earnings. In several
thousand cases it was possible to obtain such data for a year.
The number of employees and the total wages paid each week
were also taken.
[67|
68 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
A second line of inquiry was started by obtaining from each
employee a card showing his or her age, nativity, conjugal con-
dition, particular work, length of time employed and whether or
not living at home. This was followed up in over a thousand
cases by personal interviews which sought to learu in detail the
past industrial experience and present working conditions of the
employee, as well as his or her schooling, family connections and
standard of living.
The last branch of the investigation consisted of an interview
with the employers or responsible managers. This dealt with the
general conditions and tendencies of the trade, hours, seasons,
changes, etc. Methods of securing and promoting help, wage
payments, fines and extras, pensions, welfare and general
efficiency, were discussed. In some cases the firm's books were
thrown open to an accountant for the purpose of analyzing rela-
tive costs and revenues.
The investigation has now been completed for New York City
and the results for two industries have been tabulated. More
than 360 establishments were scheduled and returns for more
than 88,000 workers obtained. Two- thirds of this material
remains to be tabulated and analyzed a task which will require
an enlarged office force for three months longer.
So far the work of this investigation has cost about $13,000.
At least $7,500 will be required to complete it, without attempt-
ing further investigation up-state. It would be unfortunate to
allow material already collected to remain unpublished or to close
the survey without considering other communities than New
York City.
THE CONFECTIONERY TRADE IN NEW YORK CITY.
United States.
New York
State.
New York
City.
Number of establishments
1 944
249
127
Average number wage earners
Total annual wages
Amount of capital
Cost of materials
44,638
$15,615,000
68,360,000
81 151 000
8,570
$3,079,000
11,702,000
15 644 000
6,522
2,373,000
9,030,000
12 395 000
Value of product
134, 796 ',000
25,540,000
20,062,000
APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 69
Extent. According to the census of 1910, during the preced-
ing year, there was produced by the factories in the United States
nearly $185,000,000 worth of confectionery more than seven
pounds at twenty cents for every man, woman and child in the
country. Of the total amount, New York State produced nearly
19 per cent,, while 15 per cent, was manufactured in New York
City.
Employees. The Industrial Directory* for 1912 reported
1,001 large and small confectionery and ice cream manufactories
throughout the state, employing more than 12,000 persons, three-
fourths of whom were found in New York City. To these we
may add workers engaged in chocolate and cocoa establishments,
which brings the number of employees engaged in these related
trades in Greater New York above 10,000. Nearly half of these
are women.
NEW YORK STATE.
NEW YORK CITY.
Confectionery.
Cocoa.
Confectionery.
Cocoa.
Factories .
1 ,001
10
758
7
Office force
Shop men, 16-K years
Shop hoys, 14 to 15 years
Shop women, 16+ years.
Sli.>p jrirls, 14 to 15 years
Total employees
553 62
5,520 503
45 3
5,755 264
297 ; 1
421
4,232
35
4,432
256
51
425
169
1
12,170
833
9,376 ; 646
Growth. The growth of the confectionery trade in this coun-
try has been very rapid within fifty years. The census of 1840
first designated candy making as a separate industry. At that
time the output for New York State was valued at $386,000.
During the next ten years machines were introduced and the out-
put increased. Abundance of cheap sugar more than doubled the
trade between 1880 and 1890. During the next ten years im-
proved labor-saving devices were invented and some of the larger
factories were established. By 1910 the State of New York had
fifty-one plants which together employed 6,800 wage earners and
* Published by the New York State Department of Labor,
70 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
turned out annually products valued at over $21,000,000. There
is a tendency for such large incorporated establishments to
increase. Small neighborhood shops are no longer considered in
the census.
Classification. Candy manufactories may be divided into
three groups according to the amount, character and disposition
of their product. First, are the neighborhood shops with small
equipments for turning out fresh goodies for local customers.
Second, are the establishments that sell through their own stores
and also manufacture specialties for the trade. Third, are the
factories that turn out standard and cheap goods in large quanti-
ties for jobbers and dealers only. The price of goods and the
character of the labor employed differs considerably between
these groups. Because of the difficulty in reaching many em-
ployees scattered in the small shops, the first group has been
omitted in this investigation.
Organization. The organization of the factories also depends
upon the nature of the product. Besides the office force, shippers
and plant help, the factory proper is usually specialized into as
many departments as the importance of the output requires.
Thus, there may be separate units for making chocolates, bon
bons and nougat, or batches of each may be turned out in one
place. Each division is usually under a foreman with a super-
intendent in charge of the entire plant.
Workers. In local factories, employees are usually obtained
by an advertisement in the papers or by a sign on the door.
Recommendations are required for the more responsible positions,
but as the principal qualifications are neatness, steadiness and
strength, no special training is demanded. There is no regular
system of apprenticeship. A bright young helper learns by
watching and practice how to perform an operation. He is
then kept at this work and advances as he becomes proficient at
it. There is thiis considerable specialization of labor. Foremen
and other responsible persons are generally secured by promoting
old hands who have had good experience and who show ability to
manage people.
APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 71
Definition of Terms. The term " confectionery " includes
not only candy, but also chewing gum, popcorn cakes, licorice,
prepared nuts, sugar pellets and materials for fine pastry. Cocoa
products have been added in this survey because many candy
factories make chocolate, and many chocolate mills turn out sugar
confections.
Chocolate Making. The process of making chocolate is com-
paratively simple and mechanical. Cocoa beans are roasted and
shaken to remove the shells. The nibs are then ground fine and
mixed with sugar and flavoring, after which the mass is poured
into moulds. Men do the machine work ; women are employed to
clean and wrap ihe cakes.
Candy Making. Candy making is as varied in process as the
nature of the product requires. Hard candy is simply sugar or
molasses cooked with flavoring material, and poured into moulds
or pulled, shaped and cut. This is practically all men's work,
requiring some mechanical skill. For soft candy the fondant, or
cream, is obtained by beating cooked syrup in machines until it
is light and pasty. This filling is then poured by hand or machine
into starch moulds and set aside to harden. The cheaper grades
of bon bons are preserved from drying out by being immersed in
a sugar solution, which deposits a thin layer of crystals over the
surface. Other creams are coated by dipping them into warm
chocolate or other flavored pastes. Chocolate dipping by machine
is unskilled work, but fork and hand dipping is a woman's trade
requiring deftness and practice. There are many other opera-
tions, such as coating Jordan almonds in revolving pans, prepar-
ing nuts and making paste, sorting gums and much miscellaneous
floor work.
Character of Occupations. In general, it may be said that
cooking, or " making " candy is a skilled trade in the hands of
men. Machine tending which requires judgment is also a male
occupation. Packing and wrapping require deftness and an eye
for effect, which have made them distinctly women's lines. But
many of the semi-skilled workers, both male and female, who are
put at various tasks as the demand arises, are scarcely to be dis-
72 APPENDIX 1 OOHFECTIONEBY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
tinguished from unskilled laborers, who do the heavier floor work
and cleaning.
Factories Included. For the following analysis sixty-one
factories, employing more than 8,600 persons, were taken. These
range in size from 6 to 857 employees, and include three choco-
late mills, four chewing gum plants, two popcorn factories and
fifty-two places where candy is made. This number comprises
practically all the larger establishments and represents the work-
ing conditions of over 80 per cent, of the persons engaged in the
local trade.
PERSONNEL.
Of all persons employed in local confectionery establishments,
58 per cent, are girls and women a much larger proportion
than in most industries. The following table shows also that
nearly three-fifths of the females are under twenty-one years of
age. Taking factory workers alone, the proportion of girls is
still greater. Here at once appear two reasons for low pay-
feminine lack of aggressiveness and inexperience. (Table I
Sex and Age.)
TABLE I SEX AND AGE.
NCMBER AND PERCENT OF ALL EMPLOYEES IN EACH GROUP.
TOTAL.
MALE.
FEMALE.
Number.
Per cent.
Number.
Per cent.
Number.
Per cent.
Total...
AGE GROUPS.
14-15
8,656
100.
3,636
42.
5,020
58.
279
1,379
2,002
1,393
1,110
669
581
427
556
181
52
27
3.3
15.9
23.1
16.1
12.8
7.7
6.7
4.9
6.4
2.1
.6
.3
22
142
522
585
623
444
384
298
421
143
47
5
.3
1.6
6.
6.8
7.2
5.1
4.4
3.4
4.9
1.7
.5
257
1,237
1,480
808
487
225
197
129
135
38
5
22
3.
14.3
17.1
9.3
5.6
2.6
2.3
1.5
1.6
.4
.1
. 3
16-17
18-20
2124
25-29 '.'.'...'.... '.
30-34
35-39 . . ....
40-44
45-54
55-64 '.....
65+
Not given
APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN "N. Y. CITY. 73
As to nativity, more than half of all employees were born
abroad. Of the factory hands, nearly 54 per cent, are foreign.
Many more are of foreign parentage, but for these the returns
are incomplete. Thirty-five different countries are represented.
Table II shows that Italians lead all immigrants in this trade,
especially the men, who number half the entire male working
force. These facts may suggest another reason for low wages,
namely, workers with a comparatively low standard of living.
(Table II -- Nativity.)
TABLE II NATIVITY.
ALL EMPLOYEES.
Males.
Females.
Both.
Per cent,
of all.
Total
3,636
5,020
8,656
100.
Native
884
3,095
3,979
46.
Foreign
2,674
1,828
4,502
52.
1 848
1 372
3 220
37
Russian
German
158
213
152
39
310
252
3.6
2.9
Austrian
Hungarian
Irish
English
French
111
91
35
31
28
56
18
49
44
13
167
109
84
75
41
1.9
1.3
.97
.87
47
Other foreign
159
85
244
2.8
Not given
79
97
175
2.
Table III shows the distribution of native and foreign em-
ployees by age groups. It should here be noted that young per-
sons of native birth greatly outnumber foreign minors. This
excess is due to the presence of more than 2,000 native girls
more than twice the number of young women from abroad.
Foreigners in the trade, therefore, are somewhat older than the
majority of native workers. Considering factory workers alone,
the proportion of native adult males is less- than half the per-
centage here shown for all departments, while the ratio of females
of all ages, both native and foreign, is correspondingly higher.
(Table III,)
74 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N". Y. CITY.
TABLE III NATIVITY BY SEX AND AGE GROUPS.
NUMBER AND PERCENTAGES OF ALL EMPLOYEES.
TOTALS.
AGE GROUPS.
14-15.
16-20.
OVER 21.
NOT GIVEN.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num- I Per
ber. ! cent.
Num-
ber,
Per
cent.
Totals... / Male. . .
\ Female
3,636
5,020
42.
58.
22
257
.3
3.
664
2,717
7.7
31.4
2,945
2,024
34.
23.4
5
22
^3
Native . . / Male. . .
1 Female
884
3,095
10.2
35.8
19
203
.2
2.4
231
1,817
2.7
21.
634
1,062
7.3
12.3
"l3
"'.i
Foreign . / Male. - .
1 Female
2,674
1,828
30.9
21.1
2
52
.6
416
842
4.8
9.7
2,254
930
26.1
10.8
2
4
Not I" Male. . .
given \ Female
78
97
.9
1.1
1
2
17
58
.2
.7
57
32
.7
.4
3
. i
Conjugal condition is also important to consider in connection
with wages, because it indicates the number of individuals who
may be responsible for helping to support a family. Single per-
sons often contribute toward the maintenance of others; but in
the case of married people, it is reasonably certain that they work
to keep up a home. We should expect to find a large number
of unmarried women in industry, since they are not usually
burdened with household duties. On account of the large number
of young girls in the confectionery trade, we find that 75 per
cent, of all the female help are single. We should also expect
to find married men predominant, because most men of working-
age are married.
The outstanding feature of the following table is the large
number of unmarried persons. This fact suggests that because
the trade is served in the main by young women, married folks
with families dependent upon their earnings cannot readily com-
pete. (Table IV.)
Al'I'KMUX I - - ( 'OM'K< "I IONF.RY INDUSTRY IN N". Y. ClTY. 75
TABLE IV CONJUGAL CONDITION.
NiMi!i;i: AND I'I:I;<'KNT OK AM,
TOTAL.
SINGLE.
MARRIED.
WIDOWED OR
DIVORCKD.
NOT GIVEN.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Males
Females
3,636
5,020
42
58 !
1,586
3,779
18.3
43.7
1,856
683
21 . 5
7.9
68
261
.8
3.
126
297
1.5
3.4
Both
8,656
100.
5,365
62.
2,539
29.4
329
3.8
423
4.9
OCCUPATIONS.
The following table shows the distribution of all employees by
sex according to the general character of work performed :
Male.
Female.
Confectionery workers
Plant help (engineers, etc.)
Shipping and delivery
2,503
463
411
4,782
43
24
Office help
203
14
138
12
Various and not recorded
42
21
Total. ...
3 636
5,020
AYe shall here consider primarily those persons engaged in the
processes of making and putting up confectionery and chocolate.
The plant help, shipping force, office staff and others will be con-
sidered separately in following sections of the report. Occa-
sionally, however, tendencies in the trade as a whole will be noted.
Apart from the heat of cooking and the drudgery of carrying
things about, making confectionery is not a very strenuous
industry. That is, the pace is not so hot as in certain needle
trades, nor the work so heavy as in machine and tool-making.
Piece workers, however, are kept pretty steadily at monotonous
work like sorting nuts. Chocolate dippers are subjected to a
temperature but slightly above 60 degrees; and floor helpers carry
trays from warm rooms into coolers. But the figures available
for sickness and death show workers in confectionery as a whole
to be healthier than the average for their age and sex. The mate-
76 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN K. Y. CITY.
rials used are wholesome. There is little dust except from the starch
moulds. Most dippers and packers can sit at their work,, and
there is often time for others to rest between batches.
As previously remarked, candy-making, pan work and operat-
ing heavy machines are men's trades requiring some skill. Hand
dipping and fancy packing are analogous lines for women. But
the great body of machine and hand helpers who pick materials
and clean products, who mould confections and carry trays, can
scarcely be said to have a regular trade. Confining the enumera-
tion to those engaged in manufacturing processes, the following
table shows the number of persons whose occupations are given,
classified according to age and sex. It will be noted that there is
a larger proportion of young persons employed in factory work
than in other departments of the industry. (See Table V.)
C O/N F
\i~. OCCUPATION B* Aor Ar-inSe]
NUMBER AND TtuceM-r of "FAOTOW.* WORKERS.
FonrnEN
ArrD
CA~ O
MAK.KRS
NAC.MIME
OrERATORS
aHaeS
^"2"
WRAPPERS
senx~
SK.IV.I.EP
MELPCK3
Miicfu-
. L-ABO^
To TALS
Wnc.e
T *
N~~
AM GnoursS
331
E82
148
9^1
^57fe
atss
SIS
72,79
MVf
&*,
MAU
FrAu B
HJWJ
Fei-AL,
iWi
"rAAi.
rw
enra-f
M/.e
Fi-.n
Vc
FfM^^t
MA^-
Ft/ue
MA^ES
FAl.2S
fb2
Ib9
2M
a
140
8
20
9^l
40
^53fe
Ibll
1072
Z4fl
b9
2502,
4777
JOO.
/oo.
/4 - IS
zs
Hb
10
79
4
5
14
255
O.b
5.3
b - /7
2
1
z
)83
1
1^3
12
257 1
8
27
34
1212
3.8
25.-
1 8 - 20
n
7
2
e
/
fo
291
19
827
2J3
e4
25^
41
12
3bl
I40b
/4.4
29.-.
21 - 24
1
35
43
19
2
7
ISI
3
321
151
5S
k
4ofe
75b
/t.a
1 5,s
^5 - 29
2/
40
50
27
3
3
(Ob
7
213
22
85
32
5
4t2
452
/fc.9
9.*
30 - 34
29
33
3T
27
2
55
2
73
IV1
W
3b
1
3oo
211
12.
4.4
35 - 39
2fe
20
^^
Zt
I
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bl
ISfc
51
&0
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2fe9
/79
I0.
3.i
4O - 44
31
10
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/9
I
U
29
9
5b
Z3
7
198
119
7.9
2.5
45 - 54
3i
S
^i>
Z3
H
5
44
IfeO
59
31
4
3oo
130
2.
2.T
55 - M
IS
2
19
^
4
/
?
u
25
b
/os
39
4.z
O.i
ts *ll
2
b
I
1
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IA
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3
l.t
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NOT &,vt*
1
1
l
10
3
3
5
15
O.i
o.
It will be noted that nearly two-thirds of the operatives are
women, and that comparatively few of these are highly skilled.
The brighter girls begin as wrappers and learn to be fancy
APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 77
packers or try to become dippers. The less able carry trays or
sort candy. A few boys who begin as helpers learn to run
machines and to make candy. But the majority, after acquiring
a. certain dexterity, stick to that line for an increase in rate, or
drop out of the industry. Not infrequently older people unsuitcd
for very heavy work drift into the trade. In the making of
chocolate, chewing gum and pop corn, the operations are com-
paratively few and mechanical, so that little training is required.
As might. l>e expected, the proportion of foreign born among
the unskilled factory workers is greater than their quota in the
industry as a whole. The percentages vary in different plants,
some being manned almost entirely by foreign labor. This is
particularly true of chocolate mills and factories where the
cheaper grades of confections are made. On the other hand some
of the most skilled candy makers are foreigners. The following-
table shows the distribution by percentages for 7,139 persons:
TABLE VI OCCUPATIONS BY NATIVITY.
PERCENT OF ALL FACTORY WORKERS.
*
Fore-
Packers
men
Candy
Machine
Hand
and
Labor-
Total.
and fore-
makers.
opera-
dippers.
wrap-
Helpers.
ers.
women.
tors.
pers.
Native
46%
3%
1%
-3%
8%
24%
9%
1%
P'oreign
54%
2%
3%
1.7%
5%
11%
28%
3%
Total
100%
5%
4%
2. %
13%
35%
37%
4%
RATES OF WAGES.
Many hand dippers and fancy packers, and also a few less
skilled operatives are paid on a piece basis. They constitute
about 12 per cent, of all workers. For these no rates can be
given, since they vary with the character of the product. A good
dipper will turn out over 100 pounds of chocolates per day; a
deft packer will put up more than 150 one- pound boxes of mixed
bon bons. Sometimes a flat rate is made for an average task,
and more is paid in proportion to output. In general, however,
fixed time rates prevail in the confectionery trade. These are
given by occupations in the following table. The cumulative
per cents, show the proportion which the sum of all numbers up
to a given point, bear to the total of the group. (Table VII.)
78 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY.
IV -
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APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 79
%
41.S % PLATCA.
C ONFECTIO/SJERV.
45--
COMPARISON or WEEKU^ KATE&
40-
THA~ ^"2-0. TER WEEK, O\JT Of A TOT/M-
S5-
:
%
30-
*-
:
^
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10-
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15-
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Lei* jP4-2 f t>- #8 ^10.- ff 12. " #14 -Sib" llS"
H~ * T .t -ia Mt -i w n* i
80 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
The figures show that from $8 to $10 a week is the most com-
mon rate for male workers, and that $5 is most frequently quoted
for women and girls. The majority of male workers may expect
to receive between $8 and $14 ; most girls and women are hired for
from $5 to $7.50. More than half of all men and boys receive less
than $10, and half the females less than $6. (Plate A.)
More specifically, the prevailing rates for foremen are fro.ni
$16 to $25, and for forewomen, from $8 to $13.*. The majority
of experienced candy makers receive from $12 to $18. Good
machine operators are to be had at $11 to $16. Most hand
dippers get from $5 to $10, the better ones $8 and over. Packers
and wrappers, who constitute the bulk of female employees,
usually receive from $5 to $7 ; while the great mass of male
helpers range from $7 to $12, and the less skilled women from
$4'.50 to $6.50.
All these rates vary greatly in different lines of work, accord-
ing to the kind of service demanded. Thus, retailing manufac-
turers require more skilled handworkers than those who make for
jobbers only. On the other hand, heavy machinery requires more
men workers, although comparatively few of them need be
experienced confectioners. Either on account of the grade of
goods produced, or because of lower costs in general, the wage
level for Brooklyn firms as a whole is somewhat lower than that
for the New York establishments of the same class. The accom-
panying graph shows the relative importance of five dollar wage
groups according to sex in each main division of the industry.
(Plate B.)
There are also great differences in wages for work that is
apparently the same. Some firms pay consistently 25 per cent,
more than their rivals for similar operations. For instance, in
one wholesale candy factory, no ordinary male laborer receives
as much as $8 per week ; in another of the same general type,
every such person receives over $8. In the former plant no
female packer receives as much as $5.50 per week, nor any hand
dipper as much as $8. In the other establishment, the majority
of women workers in such lines exceed these rates. These
* In each case rates for the middle 50% employed in a line has been taken
to show the prevailing tendency, thus omitting extreme instances.
APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY IMHSTKY IN N. Y. CITY. 81
divergencies extend to machine processes of identical character.
Difference in grade of product may in part explain such vari-
ations; but certain factories have the reputation of paying wages
considerably below or above current rates.
Ago differences may sometimes explain such divergencies.
Naturally, the general experience and the steadiness of workers
will affect their rate of pay. The accompanying graph shows
the rate of payment above and below which- half of all employees
in each age group are found.* (Plate C.) The appended table
feivee the same data for factory workers only. It will be noted
that in their case the middle instances range below the positions
plotted for all employees. The majority of men among the shop
hands never reach $13, and the representative women cannot
make $7.50.. (Table VIII.)
TABLE VIII.
MK;>I.\.\ RATKS BY AGE GROUPS FOR FACTORY WORKERS ACCORDING TO SEX.
Age.
Males.
Females.
14-15...
16-17...
18-20
4.40
6.20
7.73
4 . 32
5.31
6.10
21-24. .
25-29. . .
30-34. . .
35-39...
40-44
9.39
10. -59
11.80
12.42
12.56
7.05
7.24
7.41
6.35
5.90
45-54. . .
55 64
12.11
12 18
5.24
5.46
65 +
12.50
4 . 75
It will be noted that men attain their maximum rate between
the ages of forty and forty-five; women between thirty and
thirty-five are paid highest. The rates of wages for adult women
as a whole are little more than half those for men of the same
age. The presence of so many unorganized women in this
industry undoubtedly has a tendency to hold all wages down.
To sum up the matter of rates over half the minor male
employees are paid less than $7.50 a week; and more than half
the adult men factory workers receive less than $11. More than
two-thirds of the girls under eighteen are rated below $5.50;
and more than half the women shop hands above this age fail to
achieve the $0.50 rate. So much may suffice to indicate the
general levels of wages in the industry.
* The middle case in such a series is called the median, and furnishes a good
type to show the central tendency of a group.
82 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
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APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 83
ACTUAL EARNINGS.
A more important matter is to find how much wage earners
actually receive for their labor. To determine this, our investi-
gators entered the amount placed in the pay envelope of each
employee for a week in October and late September, 1913. This
was at a season when the candy industry was beginning to work
full time and take on additional help in preparation for the
Christmas rush. The time selected, therefore, was one showing
the trade when business was active not yet quite at its height,
but well above the yearly average. Some new hands were
undoubtedly being broken in, but the regulars were also begin-
ning to make extra time or larger pay on increasing piece work.
(Table IX.)
Table IX shows the number of persons receiving given earn-
ings according to sex and occupation and also the per cent, of
each sex earning up to and including the specified amounts. At
first glance this distribution appears very like that shown in the
preceding table for rates; but comparison reveals certain differ-
ences in the proportion of all workers who fall within each
income group. According to rates quoted, only 12.7 per cent,
of the employees were rated under $5. But according to actual
earnings, 21.7 per cent, of all whose receipts were noted fell below
that amount. On the other hand, 64.8 per cent, might have been
expected to receive more than $5 and less than $10. As a matter
of fact, only 56.6 per cent, actually received sums between these
amounts. For amounts over $10, the proportions based on earn-
ings are also slightly lower than those based on rates. (See
Plate D.)
The reasons for this falling in earnings are not far to seek.
The better paid employees are salaried persons whose income
does not vary greatly on account of slack work or short absences.
On the other hand the low paid employees are docked for
absence, or are not paid the full amount if their output falls
below standard. In one place girls are not paid for any time less
than one week. As the rates are low, many soon become discour-
aged and leave. Thus the firm gets some work for nothing.
84 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N". Y. CITY.
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APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY. 85
PLATED.
COMPARISON OF RATES < A.MD
I
t PERCENT
RATE
DAYS WORKED.
An important factor in determining earnings is the length of
time worked. Many employees received less than the prescribed
rate because they did not work a full week. The following table
shows the days credited by 57 firms to 5,837 factory employees:
86 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN H. Y. CITY.
TABLE X DAYS WORKED.
NUMBER AND PERCENT OF FACTORY EMPLOYEES.
TOTAL.
NUMBER OF PERSONS WORKING GIVEN NUMBER OF DATS.
Persons.
Days.
1
1
2
3
4
r
6
7
Average
days.
Male
Female
Total
Per cent, of to
1,916
3,921
10,963
21,591
i
22
108
21
52
22
103
52
172
219
531
750
1,530
2,952
50
2
52
5.57
5.50
5,837
32", 554
1
130
73
125
224
4,482
5.54
tal workers
2.2
1.3
2.1
3.8
12.8
76.7
.9
It will be seen that while 77 per cent, of the persons recorded
worked a full week, the rest lost time sufficient to make the
average for all a little over five and a half days. Eeasons for
absences are not recorded, so we do not know if they were due to
illness or to celebrations. Nearly 1,000 female employees lost a
day or more. On the other hand, fifty men and two women
worked an extra day, or were credited with that much overtime.
Engineers and mechanics very often make repairs on Sunday.
In some cases employees do cleaning or watch the completion of
some process on the Sabbath. In one establishment a man was
registered as a candy-maker for six days and as a watchman on
the seventh.
HOURS.
Practically all factories run from 50 to 60 hours a. week, allow-
ing the legal 54 hours for women and for boys under 18 years,
and 48 hours for children under 16. A few plants, however,
frankly admit to exceeding these limits for young persons and
female workers. In the busy season men are often kept an hour
or two at night three times a week or every dayi
The usual daily hours are 10 for men, 9 for women and 8 for
children. Most firms (38 out of 56 reported) allow one short
day a week. This varies from 5 hours to 8 or 9. In the majority
of cases, 30 minutes is given for lunch. In only 16 places is an
hour allowed for women and children. In 19 factories lateness
is fined at varying rates a half-hour's pay for tardiness of 5
or 10 minutes being specified in 5 cases.
The hours actually worked in the week selected for taking
wage payments, are here shown for factory workers in 57 plants.
x I CONFECTIONERS INDUSTRY IN N". Y. CITY. 87
In many cas(K the hours were obtainable only by consulting UHJ
slips or sheets from the time clock. In few places was entry
made of lion is for piece workers. (Table XL)
TABLE XI HOURS PER WEEK.
NTMBER AND PERCENT OF FACTORY WORKERS BY AGE AND SEX.
Totals.
AGES.
14-15.
16-17.
18 AND OVER.
TOTALS
PER CENT. OF
Male.
Fe-
male.
Male.
Fe-
male.
Male.
Fe-
male.
Male.
Fe-
male.
All
males.
All fe-
males .
13
219
74
1,013
2,152
2,865
2,239
4,097
100
100
OURS.
aiider
inc. 54 ...
inc. 60 ...
inc. 60 ...
inc. 72 ...
11
1
1
192
27
18
23
25
3
4
1
298
694
7
13
1
156
257
1,216
277
195
51
655
2,134
48
7
21
185
281
1,242
280
199
52
1,145
2,855
55
20
22
8.3
12.5
55.4
12.5
8.9
2.3
27.9
69.6
1.3
.5
.5
It will be noted that according to these entries during one
week, 76 women and 21 girls worked more hours than allowed
by law; 29 children exceeded 48 hours, and 34 males under 18
years went over the 54-hour limit. The following table shows
the actual amount of overtime. In computing this, the full time
for men according to the usage of the factory was taken as a
basis for counting extra hours for males over 18 ; for women and
minors, the limit fixed by law was used. These facts were noted
in 53 plants employing 4,232 persons, about equally divided as
to sex. (Table XII.)
TABLE XII PERSONS WORKING OVERTIME.
NUMBER AND PERCENT OF FACTORY WORKERS NOTED.
Male . .
Female . .
Total
persons.
HOURS OVERTIME.
1
hr.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7-9
10-12
13-15
16-18
19 +
628
61
31
64
11
83
33
33
3
31
71
1
35
6
98
4
121
3
43
7
11
Both
689
31
75
116
36
31
72
41 102
124! 43
7
11
Percent.
of all .
100.0
4.5
10.9
16.8
5.2
4.5
10.4
5.9
14.8
18.0
6.2
1.0
1.6
88 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONEKY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
From these figures we calculate that nearly 4,400 hours over-
time was worked in one week by the persons noted. The men aver-
aged about 6.5 hours; the women rather less than half that num-
ber (3.1 hours). This time is ordinarily paid for at the usual rate.
Obviously there are more hours lost than worked overtime dur-
ing the course of a year. The changing seasonal demand for candy
and the perishable character of the finer confections explain some
fluctuations in working time. Moreover, during the hot months it
is difficult to manipulate sticky masses of melted sugar. A few
factories run only part time in the summer.
SEASONAL FLUCTUATIONS.
The yearly rise and fall of the local confectionery trade is
plotted on the accompanying chart. It shows that for the 45 firms
in the confectionery industry that were in operation throughout
the year considered, the maximum number of employees, in the
middle of November, 1912, was over 8,500. The minimum number
employed, in the first part of July, 1913, was about 6,300. The
annual displacement of workers amounted, therefore, to nearly
26 per cent, of the full quota. (See Chart E.)
As for wage payments, shown on the chart by the dotted lines,
'he difference week by week was much greater, as is also tr e of
the extreme fluctuations. The maximum amount paid as wages
in any one week occurred during the middle of December, 1912,
$70,000, and the minimum during the first week of January,
1913, $45,000, or a drop of 36 per cent.
The chart also shows very strikingly the drops in wages paid
during weeks that include a holiday. Thus, in the fall of 1912,
there are instances of decreases of total wages even while the total
number of employees is increasing. There is a drop in the
total wages paid for the fifth week, owing to Columbus Day, gen-
erally observed by Italian workers who form an important ele-
ment in the personnel of the industry ; a sharper drop for the ninth
week, owing to Election Day; and a very large decrease for the
twelfth week, which includes Thanksgiving Day, which is taken
advantage of by many workers to rest until the following Monday.
The largest reduction both in number of employees and in wages
paid occurs during the Christmas season. Decoration Day, in the
. 89
labor
7 ap-
inm-
i the
iring
ntire
that
lents
yy oi
ent. )
cent,
than
ative
. of all
19.4
40.7
53.5
60.5
66.6
69.9
72.9
74.9
76.9
78.6
80.0
81 .4
83.1
100.
100.
tarily
erage
shift-
88 APPENDIX
From, these :
time was worke
aged about 6.5
ber (3.1 hours)
Obviously th(
ing the course o
and the perisha r
fluctuations in ^
is difficult to m
factories run on
The yearly r
plotted on the ac
in the confectioi
the year conside
middle of Govern
employed, in the
annual displacen
26 per cent, of th
As for wage pi
'he difference we
the extreme fluct
in any one week
$70,000, and the
1913, $45,000, or
The" chart also
during weeks that
there are instances
number of emplo
total wages paid f<
erally observed bj
ment in the person:
week, owing to El
twelfth week, whi(
advantage of by mi
The largest reducti
paid occurs during
APPENDIX I QONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 89
thirty-eighth week; July 4th, in the forty-third week; and Labor
Day, in the 52nd week, of the calendar year charted, all show ap-
preciable decreases in wage payments, even though the total num-
ber of employees remains the same or is actually increasing.
SHIFTING.
The fluctuation of the confectionery trade at once suggests the
query as to steadiness of employment. Many persons work during
the busy season only, and comparatively few remain the entire
year. The data on which the following table is based, show that
of 3,138 workers appearing on the payrolls of 10 establishments
within a year, only 629, or 20 per cent., had been in the employ oi
the firms for more than 10 months. Only 530 (16.9 per cent.)
had been steadily employed from 49 to 52 weeks. Sixty per cent,
were engaged 3 months only, and more than 40 per cent, less than
5 weeks. (Table XIII and Plate F.)
TABLE XIII.
NUMBER AND PER CENT. OF EMPLOYEES WORKING GIVEN WEEKS IN A YEAR.
WEEKS WORKED.
Males.
Females.
Both.
Cumulative
per cent, of all
0-1
2-4
160
220
447
447
607
667
19.4
40.7
5-8
0-1
133
88
267
131
400
219
53.5
60.5
13-16
88
105
193
66.6
17-20
36
69
105
69.9
21-24
38
55
93
72.9
25-28
29-32
:-3t;
37-40
41-44
26
22
26
15
22
38
42
27
29
23
64
64
53
44
45
74.9
76.9
78.6
80.0
81.4
45 IS
49 5 9
14
294
40
236
54
530
83.1
100.
Totals
1,182
1,956
3,138
100.
A similar analysis for factory workers only, shows them to be
slightly more temporary than the foregoing data indicate. Girls
are more numerous and less permanent in tenure than men. Vol-
untary vacations play a very small part in the year's employment,
since most factories don't give them to ordinary shop hands.
The factories from which these records were taken ordinarily
employ from 719 to 1,390 people according to season. The average
forces amount to about 953. The extent and rapidity of the shift-
ing is therefore at once apparent.
90 APPENDIX I CONFECTION EBY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
PLATE F
KlUfvncft OF we.fc.tAs
ANNUAL EARNINGS.
For those who had worked steadily, the earnings for every week
during a year were tabulated. The records in many establishments
did not admit of tracing the entire working force for a period of
12 months. In the cases of 12 firms this was possible, and from
payrolls including 1,528 factory hands employed at the time of
the investigation, 571 persons were selected who had worked for a
period of at least 10 months, during the preceding year. Their
actual annual earnings for this period varied from below $200
to over $1,600. The men centered at about $550; the women be-
tween $300 and $350. (Table XIV.)
APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 91
. . I OTAI_/\NNWAU E- AP.Nirv&s a OCCUPATION AND S>.
NUMBER. ANP ~Ric.CrT. OF T-ACToRy WORKERS -RectiviNb e.vcM AI^OUMT*.
FORS
LAB
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4
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92. A
I50O-I769
3
3
100.
92 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
Upon this basis, the median weekly income for men would be
about $11, and slightly above $6 for women. (Table XV.)
Cor
IA'RLE A.V /AVERAGE WEEKLY E-A".M>N&S -B* OCCI/PATIO
Nvi-iBr* A~a "PeticewT. OF TXC.TOH.V WoRKtus.
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100.
30. -34.99
1
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35. -39.,,
5
5
100.
40. -,,,
Comparing these figures with the actual earnings of persons in
the same establishments during a week in October, 1913, we find
that the annual averages are somewhat higher. It must be re-
membered, however, that the persons on the payrolls for a year
are the better employees whose skill or steadiness has led the firms
to retain them. The proportion of foremen, candymakers and bet-
ter paid operatives taken is, therefore, much higher than their usual
quota in the establishments. Their average would naturally be
above those of their fellows who were soon replaced. The totals
are, accordingly, about 11 per cent, above the general level of in-
come, without allowing for time lost by those not steadily em-
APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 93
ployed. Moreover, the level of wages in the establishments taken
was slightly higher than that in the trade as a whole.
It is important here to note that annual wages for these same
persons, when calculated as 52 times their average weekly earn-
ings, range about $50 below their income when computed as 52
times their last rate of payment But we have just remarked that
these are the steadier and better paid employees. It is, therefore,
manifestly unfair to estimate the income of employees from rates
quoted for steady workers.
EXPERIENCE.
Table XVI shows the correlation between age and experience
for both sexes. Evidently most males work pretty steadily, from
the age when the law allows. The women, too, are wage-earners
until about 30, when domestic cares doubtless claim the energies
of most. They then rapidly withdraw, until, after middle age,
incapacity on the part of the principal wage-earner or other family
necessity sends some back into industry, for perhaps 10 years
longer. Then they rapidly drop out.
Experience in the confectionery industry follows the same gen-
eral course, save that the time in this trade is shorter roughly,
half the working years showing conclusively that many of the
older workers had been engaged in other lines before taking up
their present occupation. A similar statement applies to time
with the firm where found. Most seasoned confectionery workers
had had about half their experience elsewhere. (Table XVI.)
94 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN E". Y. CITY.
TABLE XVI YEARS EXPERIENCE (MEDIANS) BY AGE.
ALL EMPLOYEES.
AGE GROUPS.
AT WORK.
IN TRADE.
WITH FIRM.
MALE.
FEMALE.
MALE.
FEMALE.
MALE.
FKM
6
r*
ALE.
A
a
o
3
!*
1
1
8
M
1
1
^3
'c
O
s
1
|
I
14-15
1
2
3
7
11
16
21
26
32
41
45 +
....
11
7
11
10
9
5
11
2
"i"
3
6
10
13
14
9
5
12
1*
8
8
9
11
6
4
"9
9
6
11
9
1
6
5
5
2
3
3
6
6
"2
4
6
6
5
3
3
3
1*
7
10
1
4
2
3
6
5
"2
9
8
10
4
2
5
7
9
5
8
6
8
8
4
7
16-17
18-20
21-24
25-29 .
....
2
3
2
2
2
1
2
1*
1
2
4
6
8
12
14
23
27
1
2
3
4
5
5
8
15
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-54
55-64
Over 65
* Only 5 women 65 years of age or over. Such instances too few and scattering to have
much statistical weight.
Segregating the data for factory workers included in this table
reveals the fact that their industrial experience is somewhat briefer
than that shown for all employees. But since some shifting be-
tween departments is not impossible, it has been deemed best to
show the tendency of the industry as a whole.
Length of time in the trade or with the firm also has a bearing
upon earnings. Ordinarily we should expect those who had been
in the business for several years to be more valuable workers than
newcomers. And their usefulness would normally increase until
advancing age slackens their energy. The following tables and
graph show the number of persons enumerated according to years
of experience in confectionery and with the firm where found.
They also show the wage above and below which half the people
in each year group are distributed. (See Tables XVII, XVIII
and Plate G.)
APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 95
TABLE !X^ZH.
TRADE
AND
P**c.ffr*T. OF AUU enfuo*ees B*
MAL.E
Less
THAN j
.O
37.4
38T
348
744
5.TI
554
(9.Z4
49.4
IO.5T
4Z4
Z7S
78.1.
7.3!
/ 4,1
1 1.50
nz
7.TI
12.38
84.9
S.
I 3
3
4,7.7
U4
87.3
71.2.
i a.*,?
|3^
90.
8.50
Si
91.3
8.50
/0-/4
3^7
83.3
8.84
/5-I9
) 53
IT
104
98.5
9.
94
191
U.
ut
50
1 Us
95.<3
1 1.33
/ fc
99.9
8.5
30-34
98.
99.9
S5-44
5o
99.4
100.
7/13
TO-PAU
zz
35M
100.
4903
96 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY.
EARNINGS AND "Teftin OF EMPLOYMENT,
lMT. OP AUt-
WEEKUV
B>
^'EARS
W-TH
Plp.f*l
M AUES
T r E M A I- E\S
Ni/MBe.
Ct/Mt/uA-rive
P?fte.e,vT.
M&DIAM
BARNIN&-S
Noi^BlfR
CUMULATIVE
PERCEWT.
IMITplArM
e".Nir>t-S
Le
-THArw I
1285
35. s
# c
a 13
^^jo
4fe.4
^5.43
r
487
49.
ft 94
811
bZ.8
5.9i
a
3 17
57.7
1 0. 95
512
13..
^>.97
3
*M
4,5.
H.95
377
80. b
7.30
4
ISO
70.
U.M
2^9
85.x
7.14
5
US
14.5
J2.(,3
139
88.
8.Z9
j
130
7S.,
13.10
t!0
9o.z
8.33
7
103
8i.i
f 3.9-1
/Of
9e.s
8,fe7
9
J03
84.
13.57
34
94.
3.74
9
t7
85.a
15.^^
52
95.
S.9&
/o-H
Z38
92.^
IS.fcl
IM
98.4
8.78
15-)9
9t>
95.,
U.51
44
99.3
9.84,
eo-a^
104
97.9
IKsc
24
99.-,
M.S3
25- Z9
40
99.
19.00
7
99.9
8.50
30-34
23
99.T
18.51
2
99.9
fe.50
35 -44
9
99.9
25.oo
^
/oo.
10.00
45 AN *
^ J **
1
;oo.
2 2. so
TOTAU
3618
497?
Ai'piM)ix I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN K". Y. CITY. 97
N <* * *>
-I ! r
/
/
98 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY IMM-STKY IN X. Y. CITY.
Here again the earnings of the majority of factory workers fall
slightly below those given for the trade as a whole. For instance,
half the men do not get $11 until they have been 6 years in the
business, nor $15 until after 20 years. Also old male employees
are less valuable to the firm as factory workers. But these are the
principal points of divergence. In the main, the figures presented
are fixed by the large number of shop hands included.
It will be noted that over 30 per cent, of all employees had been
in the confectionery business less than a year, and nearly 55 per
cent, less than 3 years. The girls are much briefer in their stay
than the men. Less than 9 per cent, of the women had been in
the trade 10 years or more, whereas more than 26 per cent, of the
men had been in the business so long. Naturally the terms of em-
ployment with the firm are of shorter duration. More than half
had been in the establishment where found less tlian two years.
This brief connection may also partly account for low wages.
Tables XVII and XVIII also show the middle wage for each
group of persons working a given number of years. From the data
presented in the foregoing analysis of age and experience, certain
general conclusions as to progress in earning capacity may be
drawn. It is reasonably sure that a person who has been engaged
for seven years in this industry is no longer a minor; and he or
she is probably over 30 years of age, having come into the con-
fectionery trade after attaining majority. The progression of
earnings with experience is shown in the tables. It is interesting
to note that after 7 years' work in this line, the ordinary man earns
about $13, and the run of women less than $9. Those who stick
to the firm fare a little better, especially in the case of beginners
and also a few old employees, some of whom are retained virtually
as pensioners.
ADVANCE ix WAGES.
Table XIX shows the number and per cent, of all employees in
four factories, whose rate of pay was increased during a year. It
will be seen that over a sixth received an advance the men more
often than the women in proportion to their respective numbers.
The usual amount for both was 50c or $1 a week. The firms con-
sidered are wholesale manufacturers in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
(Table XIX.)
Al'l'I MM X i -( \A !!:< ' TK>N KKY l.MHSTK'Y IX A'. V. ClTY. 91)
TAI'.I.K XIX -KAISKl) IN OXK YI'AK.
NiMr.i::; AN:> PERCENT OF AI.I. KMI-I.OYKKS IN Ft-tl cmplovod
626
820
1,446
100.
AMOUNT OF RAISE.
No raise
509
688
1,197
82.8
$ 25 $ 49
4
11
15
1.
50- 99
33
75
108
7.5
1 ()() l 49
39
32
71
4.9
1 50-1 99
11
3
14
, 1
2 00-2 99
13
6
19
1.3
3 00-3 99
g
4
13
.9
4 00-4 99
2
o
2
5 00-5 99 ...
5
1
6
.4
6.00-6.99
1
1
Total raised
117
132
249
17.2
WAGES AND MARRIAGE,
It is to be expected that married people will require higher
wages to support their families than single persons need. Our
figures show that both married and single people range from one
end of the wage scale to the other. Naturally, those who are mar-
ried are older, and profit by maturity. Again, those who have to
support others are apt to be steady workers. Accordingly, we
find the representative married man somewhat higher in the wage
scale than a bachelor. Taking all employees in the industry to-
gether, the former earns between $12 and $13; the latter between
$9 and $10. Factory workers receive from 50c to $1 less. For
women the difference is not so great. It appears that in their
case the deftness of youth outweighs the experience of years, as
shown bolow. Widows appear to be good workers of necessity,
perhaps; while widowers are apparently beginning to feel the
slackening effects of age. The wage here indicated is that received
by persons midway between high and low extremes. (Table XX.)
100 APPENDIX I CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
TABLE XX MEDIAN WAGE BY CONJUGAL CONDITION.
MALES.
FEMALES.
All
employees.
Factory
workers.
All
employees.
Factory
workers.
Single
Married
Widowed
$9.16
12.93
12.20
$8.63
11.70
11 50
$5.96
5.81
6.02
$5.83
5.73
6.00
EARNINGS AND NATIVITY.
As before remarked, immigrants tend to fill in the less skilled
occupations in the confectionery trade. Therefore, as a rule, they
receive lower wages. Taking the industry as a whole, native male
employees center about $13 and foreign males at somewhat over
$10. Half the native females earn over $6, whereas less than half
the foreign born women reach that level. Considering only fac-
tory workers, we find that the native-born are still slightly above
the foreigners for each sex. It must be remembered, however, that
there are comparatively few native adult men and many native
girls engaged in manufacturing processes. The discrepancy in
earnings is therefore greater than it appears, because of different
proportions as to age and sex.
WAGE-EARNING WOMEN.
Reasonably complete personal data were secured from 55 women
and girls in 11 candy factories, through personal interviews con-
ducted at the plant or in the worker's home. This number is too
few to be made the basis of satisfactory tables, but furnishes some
good typical instances. It is proposed to bring together returns
from all the trades considered, for a subsequent study on standards
of living.
The women selected from the confectionery trade represent va-
rious age groups and occupations. The most usual wage was $6.
Nineteen were classed as self-supporting ; thirteen were assisted by
friends or relatives ; and fourteen helped support others. The rest
were doubtful. Thirty-six women from whom information as to
residence was obtained, lived at home, seven with relatives, seven
Ari'KNDIX I CoTsKKrTlo.Yi-MJY ! Mlf t -rTi< Y IV N Y. ClTY. 101
in furnished rooms and two were the financial heads and sole sup-
ports of their families.
Most of those who live at home turn in their wages, and receive
in addition to board and laundry, small amounts for lunches, car-
fare and amusements. As a rule there is another wage-earner who
helps support the family. A total income of $24 a week for five
persons is a representative figure.
The cost of board with relatives varies greatly. From $2 to $3
a week for Italian girls is about the usual level. Those who live
in furnished rooms pay from $1.50 to $2 a week for part use.
Food costs $2 to $3.
I >eside these items, nearly half the women report carfares aver-
aging 60 cents a week and more than half spend from GO cents to
90 cents on lunches. Laundry is done at home, and clothes cost
$50 to $60 a year. A few also pay small insurance dues.
Herewith is presented a summary weekly budget for the typical
self-supporting girl worker:
Expenses. Receipts.
Half of a furnished room $1 .50 Wages SG.OO
Breakfast and dinner 2.10 Less expenses 5.90
Lunches 70 j
Carfare 60 Balance $ .10
Clothes at $52 a year 1 .00 j
$5.90
10 cents is a narrow margin on which to insure medical
care, recreation, membership fees and other incidentals. It is
obvious that on this basis a self-supporting and self-respecting girl
can save nothing. She is therefore in a precarious situation should
the seasonal fluctuation throw her out of work.
MEN WORKERS.
The histories of 34 male workers in a chocolate mill were also
taken. Practically all of these are Italians, many of whom work
on construction in the summer, and eke out a living in this way
during the winter months when digging is impossible. Most of
102 xVpPEIS T DTX-I -- (VXKKCTI()^l-.r t Y IxDL'STEY IN E". Y. ClTY.
these men receive from $5 to $8 per week, arid some of them try
to support a wife and children on this amount, heedless to say,
expenses at times exceed receipts.
EDUCATION.
It must be admitted that very few confectionery workers have
had more than an elementary school education. Most of them left
to go to work at 14 years of age. The returns upon this point are
few and scattering. But it may be also noted that employers as a
rule do not require anything except the most rudimentary train-
ing. There is little chance of advancement except along narrow
lines, and therein speed and dexterity count most. General in-
telligence would seem to be shown by leaving these blind alley oc-
cupations, rather than by remaining in them.
STATUS OF THE TRADE.
In conclusion it may be stated that the confectionery trade is
one that is capable of earning large profits for the entrepreneur.
The rapid growth of the industry within recent years is ample
proof of this. A wholesale merchant asserted that his candy taken
together did not cost more than 12 1-2 cents a pound ; and although
profits were stated to be less than 1-2 cent a pound, it was admitted
that the annual output was several million pounds.
Of total costs, labor is a comparatively small proportion. The
XIII Census gives 13 per cent, as the share for wages. The prin-
cipal expense is for materials. Only in the higher grades of goods
is skilled manipulation essential.
The general tendency in the industry has been for women to
oust men, and for machines to displace both. As the mechanical
improvements increase, boys are taking the places of girls in many
lines and foreigners are pressing in. The cheapening of the pro-
cess has cut wages, while the influx of immigrants has prevented
organization and has kept rates down.
The following summary from the last Federal Census indicates
the development of the confectionery industry in the United States
during the last six decades. It furnishes a suitable conclusion for
this section of the report,
Al'l'KXDIX I COXFKCTIONKKY TxiH'STKY IX X. Y. ClTY. 103
Number Waee
.
of
earners
Cost of
Value of
Value
establish-
(average
Wages.
materials.
products.
added by
ments.
number).
manufacture.
1909
1,944
44.638
$15,615,388
$81,150,773
$134,795,913
$53,645,140
1904
1,348 36.239
11,699,257
48,810,342
87,087,253
38,276,911
*1899
962
26.866
8,020,453
35,354,208
60,643,946
25,289,738
1889
2,921 21,724
7,783,007
31,116,629
55,997,101
24,880,472
1879
1,450 9.801
3,242,852
17,125,775
25,637,033
8,511,258
1869
949
5,825
2,091,826
8,703,560
15,922,643
7,219,083
1859
541
2,340
688,423
2,990,186
5,361,100
2,370,914
1849
383
1,733
458,904
1,691,824
3,040,671 1,348,847
!
* Small shops no longer counted.
According to these returns, the wage-earners have been multi-
plied 26 times; the wages paid 34 times; the value added in man-
ufacture 40 times; the value of the product 48 times; and else-
where it is reported that the capital involved has increased 68 fold.
The question now arises whether the workers are receiving their
share in this growing industry.
An adequate answer to this question would require a more de-
tailed analysis of better cost and financial accounts than we have
been able to obtain. Most manufacturers do not keep records show-
ing the efficiency of factory workers or the value of the product
at various stages of completion. An employee is " worth " as
much as he can get according to the general level of the labor mar-
ket. How much he actually earns by adding through his labor,
value to the product, is not known.
As to net profits, we are unable to report, because manufactur-
ers objected seriously to revealing complete financial accounts. It
is generally agreed, however, that the selling price of sweets is
well above their cost, the materials being the principal item of ex-
pense. The rapid turnover of capital and its remarkable increase
as shown by the Census figures quoted above, indicate that the
business is not unprofitable.
APPENDIX II
EEPOET OF THE DIEECTOE OF INVESTIGATION
ON THE
PAPEE BOX INDUSTEY IN NEW YOEK CITY.
[105]
THE PAPER BOX INDUSTRY IN GREATER NEW
YORK.
Every time you crumple and throw a paper box into the waste
basket you are encouraging industry, but wasting money. It has
become so commonplace for articles of every sort to be enclosed
in a neat and attractive pasteboard package, that we scarcely
think of the ingenuity and expense involved. Like paper and
string, we expect cartons to be used and then discarded.
Extent. An important industry has been developed upon this
constant demand for fresh, light containers. According to the
Federal Census of 1910, there were about 950 factories in the
United States, employing nearly 40,000 persons and turning out-
more than $54,000,000 worth of these goods a year. Of this
amount. New York State produced over a quarter, and New York
City over a sixth.
FANCY AND PAPER BOX MANUFACTURE, XIII CENSUS.
United States.
Now York
State.
New York
City.
Number of establishments
Average number of wage earners ....
949
39,514
$14 015 000
315
11,538
$4,261,000
211
7,210
$2,849,000
Cost of materials
25,716,000
35 475 000
5,962,000
8 ,072 ,000
3,916,000
4,601,000
Value of product
54,450,000
14,234,000
9,450,000
Growth. Federal statistics for this industry were first shown
separately in the census for 1849. At that time there were
enumerated only 82 establishments, employing 718 persons.
Work was originally done by hand, scissors and paste being the
principal equipment. The growing demand for cheap packages
more than doubled the trade each decade until 1890. Machinery
was introduced, and costs as well as output increased rapidly.
Many establishments now make boxes for their own goods, and
these supplementary plants are not included in the census.
'107!
108 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY.
Employees. In 1912, the Industrial Directory for New York
State reported over 15,000 persons employed in the manufacture
of paper boxes and tubes. Nearly two-thirds of these workers
were girls and women. New York City had about 6,000 of them,
as shown below :
New York State. New York City.
Number of factories 380 I 257
545
354
Shop men, 16 + years
5 469
3,776
Shop boys, 14 to 15 years
Shop women, 16 + years
122
9,159
53
5,676
Shop girls, 14 to 15 years
527
224
Total employees '. .
15,822
10,083
Organization of Trade. In Greater New York the paper box
trade is represented by two associations, which include seventy of
the older established firms, employing altogether about 4,000
people. The Carton Club comprises the Gentile element and the
Paper Box Manufacturers' Association is composed of Hebrews.
Both organizations are interested in the general welfare of the
business, especially on the personal and credit sides.
Union. This two-fold division among both employers and
employees runs throughout the trade. The great mass of workers
are unorganized, but in the Hebrew shops there is a struggling
union. The various foreign elements do not seem to be able to
get together, however. The fact that two-thirds of the workers
are girls and women, and that most of these stay in the trade but
a few years, also checks the movement.
Supply of Working Force. The most usual reply as to the
supply of workers was that dependence was placed on ads. in the
daily papers and on signs hung on the doors. Some factories
keep such signs permanently. A common practice is to encourage
employees to bring their friends, especially box-makers from other
factories. There seems to be an utter lack of utilization of the
established employment agencies, only one firm reporting that it
made inquiries of the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. for help.
There is general complaint that the factories compete excessively
for employees, especially during the busy season, and that they
APPENDIX II- PAI-KR IJox IMMSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 109
resort to unfair methods in taking workers away from one
another. One employer, who has a systematic method of training
beginners, was especially bitter at his colleagues who made it dif-
ficult for him to keep people he had trained.
Training. The employers interviewed were quite agreed that
little could be accomplished by way of preparation for the trade
by courses in the schools. With scarcely any exception manu-
facturers complained of the difficulty of obtaining efficient help,
yet could not suggest anything along the line of improving
capacity. Employers, as a rule, do not regard paper box making
as a trade requiring marked intelligence. No educational stan-
dards have ben set by any employer and there seems to be an
opinion that because of the monotony and dirtiness of much of
the work the task of retaining better educated employees would
be more difficult than at present.
Physique. Except in the factories making the largest sizes of
boxes, there is little in the work of box-making that manifestly
calls for much physical exertion. In several factories deaf-mutes
were found at work, and in two others they had been employed
at various times in the past. In every instance they were giving
complete satisfaction, both on machine and hand work.
Character of Shops. For this investigation 191 factories
located in four boroughs of the city were considered. They
varied in size from a shop employing six persons to one with
320 hands. These comprise three-quarters of all shops listed by
the Labor Department. Naturally the character of such places
differs widely. Some of the small concerns were located in dingy
basements and old loft buildings, where working conditions were
very bad from lack of proper light and ventilation. Other fac-
tories are in modern new plants.
PERSONNEL.
Our agents investigated the wages of 9,105 persons employed
in all branches of the paper box industry. Nearly two-thirds of
these are women and girls, and about a half of all are minors.
Considering factory workers alone, females comprise over 71 per
cent, of the hands. The proportion in each age group for the
entire trade is shown in Table I.
110 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN !N". Y. CITY.
TABLE I SEX AND A(;i:.
NUMBER AND PERCENT OF ALL EMPLOYEES IN EACH GROUP.
TOTAL.
MALE.
FEMALE.
Number.
Per cent.
Number.
Per cent.
Number.
Per cent.
Total
9,105
100.
3,188
35.
5,917
65.
AGE GROUPS.
14-15
16-17
18-20
21-24
464
1,654
2,407
1 ,750
1,035
594
446
290
325
103
10
27
5.1
18.2
26.5
19.2
11.4
6.5
4.9
3.2
3.6
1.1
.1
.3
80
304
574
644
533
340
250
158
211
73
9
12
.9
3.3
6.3
7.1
5.9
3.7
2.7
1.7
2.3
.8
.1
.1
384
1,350
1,833
1,106
502
254
196
132
114
30
1
15
4.2
14.8
20.1
12.2
5.5
2.8
2.2
1.5
1.3
.3
".'2
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-54
55-64
65 +
Not given
About three-eights of all employees were born abroad, and many
more had foreign parents. The proportion of foreigners is
slightly higher among the factory hands. As the following table
shows, Russians lead in numbers. English-speaking immigrants
are not largely represented in the trade. The Jewish element
predominates. (Table II.)
TABLE II NATIVITY.
ALL EMPLOYEES.
Males.
Females.
Both.
Per cent,
of all.
Total.
3,188
5,917
9,105
100.
Native
1 373
4 302
5 675
62 4
Foreign
1 801
1*596
3 397
37 3
Russia
819
851
1 670
18 4
Italy
534
221
755
8 3
Austria
Germany
114
123
198
60
312
183
3.4
2
I reland
England
Roumania
Hungary
28
27
25
19
68
56
29
16
96
83
54
35
1.1
.9
.6
4
Scotland
Poland
Turkey
13
10
23
18
15
2
31
25
25
.3
.3
3
Greece
17
2
19
2
Canada
3
14
17
2
France
West Indies
3
7
10
3
13
10
.1
1
Sweden
7
3
10
1
Norway
Galicia
2
1
7
8
9
g
.1
I
South America
Other foreign
7
19
1
14
8
33
.1
.4
Not given
14
19
33
.4
.x I I PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. Ill
Young women of native birth constitute the largest group in
the industry. On the other hand, foreign men outnumber native
adult males three to two. Among factory workers the excess of
women and of foreign males is still greater. The following table
presents numbers and per cents, for all children, young persons
and adults in the trade according to nativity and sex. (Table III.)
TABLE III NATIVITY BY SEX AND AGE GROUPS.
NUMBER AND PERCENTAGES OF ALL EMPLOYEES.
-
TOTALS.
AGE GROUPS.
14-15.
16-20.
OVER 21.
NOT GIVEN.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Totals... f Male. . .
\ Female
3,188
5,917
35.
65.
80
384
.9
4.2
878
3,183
9.6
35.
2,218
2,335
24.4
25.7
12
15
.1
.2
Native. . / Male. . .
\ Female
Foreign., f Male. . .
\ Female
Not / Male
given t. Female
1 ,373
4,302
1,801
1,596
14
19
15.1
47.3
19.8
17.5
.2
2
64
325
16
59
.7
3.6
.2
.6
434
2,219
443
958
6
4.8
24.4
4.9
10.5
875
1,752
1,341
577
2
6
9.6
19.3
14.7
6.3
" 6
1
2
11
7
.i
.1
.1
.1
.1
The next table shows the number and per cent, of all employees
divided by sex according to marital condition. Here again we
note the large number of single persons, especially of women. As
stated in connection with the confectionery industry, this unusual
proportion of unmarried persons is due to the preponderance of
young women. But that nearly 90 per cent, of all girls and
women in this trade are single, appears remarkable when we com-
pare this figure with recent census returns. In 1910, only 36 per
cent, of all females over 15 in New York City were unmarried.
The special Federal report on Women at Work gave 65 per cent,
of all female breadwinners over 16 as single. Our exhibit shows
the local paper box industry as a great field for matrimonial
prospecting. Seriously, many girls regard marriage as the only
way out of the monotony of the work. (Table IV.)
112 APPENDIX II PAPEK Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
TABLE IV CONJUGAL CONDITION.
NUMBER AND PERCENT OF ALL EMPLOYEES.
TOTAL.
SINGLE.
MARRIED.
WIDOWED OR
DIVORCED.
NOT GIVEN.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
Num-
ber.
Per
cent.
.4
.1
Males
Females
3,188
5,917
35.
65.
1,852
5,277
20.4
58.
1,256
397
13.8
4.4
44
231
.5
2.5
36
12
Both
9,105
100.
7,129
78.3
1 ,653
18.2
275
3.
48
.5
OCCUPATIONS.
The following table shows the main divisions of the industry
according to the general character of the work performed :
Male.
Female.
Paper box making
2,218
5,514
Supplementary operations (printing, etc.)
Shipping and delivery
213
403
242
15
Plant help
271
83
5
141
Total
3,188
5,917
We shall here consider primarily only those persons engaged
directly in the making of boxes, leaving clerks, engineers, delivery
men, etc., for separate sections of the report. Occasionally, how-
ever, we shall indicate the tendency of the trade as a whole, since
factory workers constitute so large a proportion of the entire
number,- and because some shifting from one department to
another is not impossible.
PAPER Box MAKING.
The various kinds of boxes large and small, round and
square, solid and folding require some specialization in manu-
facture. Certain fancy varieties are made almost entirely by
hand ; other standard shapes are turned out practically complete
by machinery. The making of an ordinary shoe box may, how-
ever, serve to illustrate the essential processes. The cardboard
is first cut into correct sizes for top and bottom, the corners are
APPENDIX II- PAIM R Box INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY. 113
next cut out and the flaps are scored so as to bend up and make
the sides. These are then fastened together with glued tabs by a
" corner staying " or " ending " machine. Making the pasteboard
frame, so far, is usually men's work. Then girls turn the box
on a block and wind around the sides a strip of pasted paper,
which is turned over the edges by helpers. Others put on the
top or bottom covering. The box is then practically completed,
unless a lining or tapes are to be put in. After that, the lids are
put on and the boxes are tied up or piled ready for storing or
shipping.
The conditions under which these operations are performed
naturally differ with the plant considered. Cutting is usually
done by one or two competent men. But occasionally we find boys
and even girls helping manipulate dangerous machinery. Corner
staying and ending machines, as well as special mechanisms for
punching, counter sinking, etc., are very generally run by young-
women. Many firms furnish safety devices to prevent crushed
fingers; but frequently employees do not use the guards, because
they hamper rapid manipulation. In the case of the shield for
the staying machine, several workers reported that it increases
the danger by presenting a wider surface to catch the hand.*
Most women machine operators and strippers sit at their work.
Top labellers and table hands generally stand. The smell of glue
is rather distasteful in a close room ; and working clothes have to
be changed or aprons worn in order to avoid smearing with paste.
The pace in a busy factory is pretty fast, as many of the skilled
operatives are on piece rates, and one process fits into the next.
We must now define more clearly what kind of persons perform
the various lines of work. Cutting is a skilled men's trade,
requiring some ability to figure out the dimensions required with
as little waste as possible, and demanding care in the manipula-
tion of dangerous machinery. Chopping out the corners, scoring,
punching in rivets or eyelets, corner staying or ending, require
less skill, but demand dexterity to insert and remove material
quickly in operating the machines. Both young men and women
operate punching and staying machines in the general process of
* For accidents, see p. 134.
114 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN !N". Y. CITY.
setting up. The making and use of glue on heavy cardboard are
also men's occupations, requiring some deftness and judgment.
Covering the sides and tops of boxes with paper (stripping and
top-labeling) as well as making and finishing finer boxes (table
work) is generally a skilled trade for women, demanding dexterity
and neatness. Girls begin by turning in for older hands who do
stripping, and thus learn the latter operation. Closing and tying
require only an eye for defects and dispatch in assembling parts.
Floor work is simply fetching supplies and carrying away finished
goods. There are also several miscellaneous or supplementary
occupations, such as nailing wooden frames, printing and em-
bossing labels, which need not concern us here. The following
table shows the age and sex of persons engaged in the principal
factory occupations. (Table V.)
APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 115
U
I
ua
eft
01
=i
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fr
116 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN INT. Y. CITY.
As before stated, the great majority of women are engaged in
covering and table work the younger girls as turners-in, the
older hands as table workers. The more experienced men run the
heavy cutting machinery ; the boys serve as their helpers or learn
glue work by doing various tasks. There is no regular apprentice-
ship, but experience in helping cutters or coverers leads toward
these more skilled occupations.
Native workers have the largest proportion in women's lines
covering and table work ; foreigners tend rather to predominate
in occupations filled by men glue and machine work, and to
unskilled tasks on the floor. This tendency has been remarked in
the confectionery industry, where native girls and foreign men
are working together in low skilled hand and machine indus-
tries. The accompanying table shows the distribution of 7,700
persons by percentages according to nativity and occupation.
(Table VI.)
TABLE VI OCCUPATION BY NATIVITY.
PER CENT. OF ALL FACTORY WORKERS.
Native.
Foreign.
Both.
Total :
61.6
38.4
100.
Foremen and women
Cutting
1.9
4.4
.8
4.5
2.7
8.9
Glue making
Setting up
Machine work
Glue table
Covering
Table work
Closing and tying
"3.'9
3.8
.3
22.9
19.1
2.5
.1
2.9
2.8
1.6
9.4
11.9
1.6
6!9
6.6
1.9
32.4
3.1
4.1
Floor work
2.6
2.8
5.4
RATES OF WAGES.
In few factories is there any exact record of the production for
time workers. The weekly rates are therefore generally fixed by
guesswork, and vary considerably within the same establishment
without apparent reason. Neither is there often a systematic
determination of piece rates, although in a few places some
attempt has been made to standardize piece rates, or at least to
get the employees to take an intelligent part in the process. Thus,
one factory, whose product is to a large extent stable, varies its
x II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 117
piece rates according to the price it obtains for the product. In
another i'actory, whoso operation is very steady, but whose pro-
ducts vary greatly, new articles are given to three workers chosen
as slow, ordinary, and speedy operators. Their production for a
given time is averaged, and the piece rate is set on the basis of
this average. This method seems to work very satisfactorily.
One undesirable feature found in a large number of factories
is partnership and sub-contract work. In one factory more than
one hundred employees had one or more helpers each, the latter
i ('!!)<> paid not directly by the firm, but by the " box maker," who
received his gross pay on a piece basis. One reason assigned for
the prevalence of this practice is the desire of employers to avoid
the trouble of keeping the working force recruited up to the
needed strength. By the device of paying one person for himself
and his helpers, the total wage payment is often reduced, though
apparently at the expense of the helpers ; and in addition the firm
is more assured of its product.
Of the 2,218 male factory workers, 339, or 15 per cent, were
piece workers; while of the 5,514 women and girls, 2,087, or
about 37 per cent., were on piece rates. These operatives include
some of the most skilled hands, so we must first indicate typical
rates in order to estimate the amount of work required to earn
weekly the sums later to be considered. Naturally the rates vary-
widely according to the size and quality of the product. They
also depend upon whether the box is built by hand or put together
by specialized machinery. We shall here mention only a few
figures for the principal operations to show the ordinary basis of
wage payment. For this purpose we give the middle range of
rates quoted in the factories investigated :
Rate per
Operation. hundred.
Setting up corner staying, ending, etc 5c.-15c.
General machine work 2c.-15c.
Stripping 6c.-25c.
Labeling, all kinds 5c.-10c.
Table work putting in lace paper, tapes and
general hand finishing 5c.-60c.
Closing and tying 2c.-5c.
118 APPENDIX II -- PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
The reader must be cautioned against taking these figures as
giving the upper and lower limits for the payment of piece work.
They merely represent typical rates obtained in several of the local
plants. They also show that if a girl is getting 10 cents a hundred
for covering boxes she must turn out 6,000 a week in order to
make $6 ; that is, one about every 30 seconds for 54 hours. This
figure gives some idea of the speed and deftness required.
Table VII shows the weekly rates quoted for 5,255 employees,
classified according to the principal occupations in the trade. Sum-
marizing the data briefly, we may state that $15 to $16 is the most
common rate for men, due to the large number of cutters and
machine operators. Six dollars is the figure most often quoted
for all female employees. The majority of men and boys may hope
to earn between $7 and $16 ; more than half the women and girls,
between $5 and $9. Over half the male help is rated below $12
and the majority of females, under $6.50. (Table VII.)
More specifically, the run of foremen are hired for from $16
to $25 ; forewomen, from $10 to $12. Most male cutters receive
from $10 to $18 ; women, $5 or $6. Men who do corner staying
and ending usually ask from $8 to $15 ; women are to be had for
similar work from $5 to $10. Male glue table workers ordinarily
range from $10 to $14; most women table workers, who do past-
ing and finishing, from $5 to $10. Covering, i. e., stripping and
labeling, which is a woman's trade requiring some skill, usually
brings from $6 to $10. Turners-in, who are generally girls learn-
ing the trade, are quoted at from $4.50 to $6.50. Closing, tying
and floor work ordinarily brings from $5 to $10 for males and
from $4 to $7 for girls.
AIM-KMUX II P.\ri K IJox INDUSTRY IN iSL Y. CITY. 110
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But even within the same immediate locality there are wide
divergences in rates paid for similar work. For instance, one
Brooklyn factory pays its cutters $10-$15; another $15-$20. The
product in both instances is of the same class. These discrepancies
are found throughout the trade. Sometimes steadiness of work,
type of management or character of employees will help explain
the differences. In other cases they appear to be due to relative
knowledge and skill in bargaining on the part of employer and
employee. Even those who do the same work in a shop are some-
times on a different scale of wages.
Difference in age sometimes accounts for such variations. The
accompanying graph shows the rise and fall of earning power with
advancing years for all employees. (Plate C.) The appended
table gives the same data for factory workers only. The diver-
gences are noteworthy only in the case of men workers. In their
vigorous years, the rates range above those of clerks and drivers
who are included in the plotted curves. (Table VIII.)
TABLE VIII.
MEDIAN WEEKLY RATES BY AGE AND SEX FOR FACTORY WORKERS.
Age.
Males.
Females.
14-15
$5.02
$4 -64
16 17
6.14
5.46
18-20
8.33
6.82
21 24
12.39
8.44
25-29
14.80
9.19
30-34 . .
15.08
9.24
35-39.
15.13
9.43
40-44, . . .
15.75
9.39
45-54
15.33
9.12
55-64
12.62
9.25
65 +
13.00
7.25
It will be noticed that men reach the top of their earning ca-
pacity between 40 and 45 years; women somewhat sooner. It
must be remembered, however, that many of those who remain in
the trade so long are apt to be the better operatives who find it
profitable to use acquired skill. In general we may say that the
majority of boys and girls under 18 are hired for less than $5.50
a week; most women operatives over 18 fall below $9; and the
majority of adult male factory workers are rated under $13.
124 APPENDIX II PAPEE Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
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against
within 1
Now
a brief
6,300 p
busy sea
example
$8.66; 1
23rd we
next thr
a work*
cent, rec
1
APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N". Y. CITY. 131
living either pretty simple or very elastic. For 194 women opera-
tives questioned as to seasonal wages, $7.36 was found to be the
average ordinary week's pay; but in rush season it was $8.13 and
in dull periods $5.68. That is a variation from 10 per cent, above
the usual earnings to 23 per cent, below.
SHIFTING.
The fluctuation of the box trade as a whole gives a very inade-
quate idea of the amount of shifting from one establishment to
another. We were unable to follow all employees for an entire
year within the industry, because of the enormous task of tracing
names and addresses. The following table shows the length of
time 2,295 persons stayed in 9 plants during 12 months. These
places ordinarily employed about 792 hands. (See Table XIII.)
TABLE XIII.
NUMBER AND PER CENT. OF EMPLOYEES WORKING SPECIFIED NUMBER OF WEEKS IN ONE
YEAR.
WEEKS WORKED.
Males.
Females.
Both.
Cumulative
per cent, of all.
86
262
348
15 2
1-4
134
432
566
29 9
5-8
i 73
202
275
51 9
9-12
1 56
117
173
59 5
13-16
31
89
120
64 7
17-20
24
63
87
68 5
21-24
20
46
66
71 4
25-28
24
37
61
74 1
29-32 . .
33-36
14
14
36
32
50
46
76.2
78 3
37-40
41-44
18
1 5
23
29
41
34
80.0
81 5
45-48
12
38
50
83 7
49-52
122
256
378
100
Totals
633
1 662
2 295
100
The accompanying graph shows the same data in a form more
easily appreciated by the eye. It is plain that women were more
rapid in their transit than men. Both sexes appear to be divided
into two well-marked groups. About one-half stayed less than two
months; about one-sixth stayed practically the whole year. The
others straggled in and out at such a rate that several times as
many people as the plants ordinarily employ, were added and
dropped during 12 months. The less skilled and lowest paid
workers shift most rapidly. (Plate E.)
132 APPENDIX II PAPKK Box INDUSTBY ix X. Y. CITY.
i
1
s
s ?3
d. UO
3 ?
r
Via
e uj /
c
a
i
i
j
-
1
4
38
10.-.
31-1
300-349
1
1
11
1
1
4
33
18. t
449
2
g
1
i
,
yj.
365
1
1
100.
100-749
.,
t
i
Sb.3
750-799
5
5
f>f.l
800- 89S
i
3
4
75,
goo- qqs
3
81.3
1COO-1O03
3
3
G
1 1 o-l 1 99
iaoo-i?qq
L
2,
^7-9
1300-1399
1400- 149^
itoo-me
1
1
100.
The returns for males are scattering, centering below $350 for
less skilled occupations, below $650 for ordinary machine opera-
tives, and under $900 for cutters. For females, covering and table
work outweigh all other occupations, and fix annual receipts for
two-thirds of the women under $400.
Upon this basis, average earnings for weeks actually worked
during the year are shown in Table XVI. According to this, over
oG APPENDIX II -PAPER Box IXIMSTKY ix X. V. CITY.
half the males receive less than $13, and the majority of females
under $7.50 a week. This is somewhat higher than earnings for
the week taken in November, for the reasons given above. (See
Table XVI.)
_X ^T" AVERAGE WeeKi^ EARNINGS
*T*D S
'""
,-
*t/TTIW
Se-r--,
wQ. u*
3zr.
TABU.
Coven
~*
TMt nnt
T*..i
Woiu.
^
&.
T^.
,7
t.
...
>-t.
r ^ SS * S ^*^^*TAi_
1
1
3
Zl
b
I/
2
/
3
70
20
T "' > -'
na
n ^ c
4
*
1
PW
5
Sx^t
1
|Wj
42
2/9'
00
E'^sf
100.
VN r** 3.00
1
1
2i
* 3...-3
1
2.
I
f
a
2,3
3.50- 3.*,
2
3
5
4
4...-4.
2
3
1
l
7
1.
4... - IM
1
4
1
3
1
IS
'4. 4
5... - 5. A,
I
b
4.
7
2
1
3
18
y
22*
S.s. - 5.,,
1
1!
z
10
1
23
03
53.
{,..- I ,
1
1
3
1
Ii
2
;&
14 b
40.1
k*. - k..
4
6
/
2
3
10
2ai
^&t
1 .. - 1
I
ii
12,
Z5
54. fc
7.o - 7,,
/i
1
12
31
7o.
&.. - 8.,,
z
7
/4
Z
4
22
29.
3ag
9...-9w
1
1
4
19
1
23
3U
9/-3
10... -lo.
1
2
^
9
14
91.-.
1 I...-1I.M
4
\
1
2
1
7
2
45.
9-4
12... -12.,,
1
1
z
2.
3
3
52.i
loo..
13...- 13.,,
1
1
54.a
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5S.3
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I8...-I9., 9
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ft
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91.,
IS...-Z9.,,
3o...-34.
1
1
(Oft.
35. 59.,,
4o,. A ^. w
EXPERIENCE.
Table XVII shows for all employees, length of experience in
the trade and with the firm where enumerated. Our query as to
how long these persons had been at work for wages, brought out the
response that practically all had begun as soon as the law allowed
and had been at it with few interruptions ever since. But as to
the box industry., our figures show a lagging, which indicates that
other trades had claimed some years. Among 282 women in-
vestigated, who had worked from less than one year to more than
35, we found that 92 had been in one other line; 26 had been
APPENDIX II PAIM.K Uox IXDISTK-Y i.\ N. V. CITY.
in two others, and 14 had been in three or four. So the hoxmaker
is not necessarily a specialist 'by training. (See Table XVII.)
TABLE XVII YEARS EXPERIENCE (MEDIANS) BY AGE.
Ar.r, EMPLOYEES.
AGE GROUPS.
YEARS IN TRADE.
YEARS WITH FIRM.
MALE.
FEMALE.
MALE.
FEMALE.
Years.
Months.
Years.
Months.
Years.
Months.
Years.
Months.
14-15
16-17
8.
9.7
1.
.7
11.6
1.1
7.4
6.
3.4
8.
6.
3
6
12
14
17
22
24
30
32
7.4
11.9
1.4
4.7
6.9
5.9
11.7
10.5
6.
6.
1
2
2
3
4
5
8
5
7.1
8.2
10.8
4.8
5.6
9.7
11.7
10.5
5.5
1.5
6.
i
3
5
5
5
9
8
11
32
7.
9.3
7.5
1.5
2.5
6.
3.
I: 5
3.
6.
18-20
21-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-54
2
5
8
12
14
17
25
16
22
55-64
Over 65
Years with the firm, as shown by the last columns, are brief
indeed. This further emphasizes the shifting nature of the force.
These figures show returns from all departments of the business,
but those for the factory force alone show but slight variation from
them. Only 7 per cent, of the women workers had been with
the firm 10 years or more, and but 18 per cent, of the men had re-
mained over 5 years.
"Xatu rally a worker expects to capitalize such experience in the
form of greater earning capacity. Table XYIII shows that for
only a short time does a man's work for a year put a dollar a
week more in his pay envelope. After 10 years' experience in the
business the representative worker is able to make $15 ; and after
25 years, he attains to $18.44 the high-water mark. Half of the
women rise to $8 after 5 years of work and to $9 after 8 years.
The majority never touch $10. These statements are also true
when factory workers alone are considered, for they constitute 85
per cent, of the eases enumerated. (See Table XYIIL)
138 APPENDIX II PAPEK Box INDUSTRY IN !N". Y. CITY.
R\PERBoxS. TABUE XViLL.
EAR/VINQ-S A j> TRADE EXPERIENCE
ExpeniENce
MALE
FEMALE
N^MBTTK
T%~
FARFMI^S-S
/V^H.
^ W %
23EII.1U
LtbS THAN /
129
23.*
*A,4
1 490
Z5o
* 4-30
1
28b
32.3
8,59
b!5
31,
5.9o
a
22b
39.5
989
bZ7
41.9
b.Si
3
2/0
4k,
lt.lt
5b2
51.5
73.
4
143
5as
1 1.50
405
4>4.s
1.91
5
144
5*
I2.3S
335
10.z
S. -is
fc
/(,4
bO. 4
12.,
295
15.,
&ti
7
/2b
(,46
13.89
249
19.4
3.3,
8
/29
b*.,
I4>z
1 83
82.s
9.3e
9
77
l/.l
J4,t
1 1
84.^
3.35
10 - /4
312
S3.
15.21
438
91.9
9.99
15- /9
2/2
39.1
lb.4,
93*
95.z
9.3 b
20 - 24
122
93.4
1 743
\ 3b
97*
8.8 1
25 - 29
So
9b.s
ia.^
84
39.
9.19
30 -34
b9
98.7
17.0 1
32
99.4
8.^
35 - 44
39
99.9
11.80
ZZ
99.9
8.0.
4 5 ANJ> OVER
fc
1 00.
I Too
\
I OO.
b.T 5
3144
58ifc
APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 139
PAPER D ox ES.
T AB , e m.
UARNINGrS A^p JERM or L.M Pl-Oi>MNT.
INL/IVIBER. ACID ?ERe.e/*T. OF AUL. E/vif'L.oyees Ba JHEMRS
WITH F"mr3
5t.z
k*<
ft
323
44.T
IE.5*
U5
Wi
i.bi
3
ae
T8,
13.39
4W
15.5
3. os
4
/41
11. /
12.8*
308
80.8
8.Z3
5
j ^9
8...
/3.91
a4z
84.9
3.13
*>
99
84.3
/a
1 (>2
81.7
&tl
7
79
rvi
I5.0S
129
29.9
8.8,
8
W,
88.5
/4.88
99
9l.b
^.98
9
3 /
9. 6
M.I o
ia
92.7
9.T3
/ - /4
144.
94.2
fb.OO
2.2
91.1
&98
15 ~ 19
58
9JL*
n...
tl
98.3
9.S.
20 - 24
4(
91.9
/.,7
55
39.3
9.0,
5 - 2.9
3Z
98.9
/ 2.00
&4
99.7
9.33
3o - 34
22
99*.
1 9.00
12
99.9
1.83
35-44
9
/ OO.
1 1.So
b
/ 0.
1.25
45^ v.H
3 1 51
58 4 1
140 APPENDIX II -- PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY.
I
'fi S 3 S
\
PC 1
LJ
Q
Ul
Mi ..
II--- PAIM K I><>\ IMHSTKY IN X. Y. (Yrv. 141
As for sticking to the firm, Table XIX shows how that pays.
As compared with the same length of service in the trade, ordinary
men who stay in one place get two or three dollars a week more
for the first few years ;. but this gradually dwindles to a dollar or
less premium for steadiness. For women there is little difference.
Plate F shows the comparative progress in graphic form.
(See Table XIX and Plate F.)
In considering progress in the trade, the number of lines, or
occupations, worked at may give some idea of the chances of pro-
motion and of the extent of specialization. Of 283 women opera-
tives reporting on this point, 156 (55 per cent.) had worked at
one line only. Of these, 23 had been in the business 10 years or
more. Ninety-six had worked at two lines, and 31 had tried their
hands at three or four operations.
Table XX shows that 15 per cent, of the workers received an
advance in. wages during the course of a year. For two-thirds of
all males raised and for seven-eighths of the girls and women,
this amounted to 50 cents or $1 a week. Other details are shown
in the table. (See Table XX.)
142 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN !N~. Y. CITY.
TABLE XX RAISED IN ONE YEAR.
NUMBER AND PERCENT OF ALL WEEK WORKERS IN NINE FACTORIES, WITH AMOUNT
OF ADVANCE, BY SEX.
Males.
Females.
Both.
Per cent,
of all.
Total employed
631
1,236
1,867
100.
AMOUNT OP RAISE.
No raise
498
1 083
1 581
84 5
$0 25-$0 49
1
2
3
2
0.50- 0,99
1 . 00- 1 49
25
63
108
27
133
90
7.1
4.8
1.50- 1.99
7
7
14
0.7
2.00- 2.99
27
g
35
1.9
3 00- 3 99
5
1
6
0.3
4.00- 4.99
5 00- 5 99
1
2
1
2
0.1
0.2
6.00- 6.99
2*
2
0.2
Total raised
133
153
286
15 5
* One of these was raised $8.00.
HOME WORK.
Our investigators found some home work, both in fine and coarse
grades of goods. Elaborately decorated cardboard boxes and favors
are done in this way. Occasionally a factory worker takes mate-
rial home to finish herself, or has other members of the family
help. Certain tasks, as fitting parts together, can be done per-
fectly well by outworkers, and some of these have been found.
Their connection with a factory is apt to be uncertain and their
earnings very small. Such work is usually regarded as fur-
nishing a supplementary wage to housewives. The following list
taken from one factory, shows one week's earnings and the length
of time the homeworker had been on the firm's payroll.
APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY. 143
Worker.
Week's earnings.
Weeks with firm.
L S
$0 25
1
W. S.
25
3
W. McD
25
10
N. F.. .
40
2
V G. . . .
60
1
Mrs. M.. .
2 50
1
G. D'A
2 50
16
Mrs K
3 00
5
L. W
5 00
41
Total (9) ....
$14 75
80
Average
$1 64
9
These meagre data indicate that few persons could live on such
precarious earnings, and that extensive competition by homework-
ers would be disastrous for the trade. We have not attempted to
investigate the extent of such work, but we believe its continuation
in connection with containers for food has an important sanitary
side as well as an economic bearing.
WAGES AND MARRIAGE.
We have remarked that the number of young single women in
the paper box trade is very large. Men who enter the business
must compete on a general wage scale that is established largely
by the earnings of this kind of help. Indeed, although married
people are usually steadier than those without direct domestic
responsibilities, it is questionable whether the support of a family
is generally the basis for fixing wages. The following table shows
the amount of weekly earnings below which half the persons in
each marital group were found. (Table XXI.)
TABLE XXI.
MEDIAN EARNINGS BY CONJUGAL CONDITION.
MALES.
FEMALES.
All
employees.
Factory
workers.
All
employees.
Factory
workers.
Single
$9.52
14.64
15.60
$9.25
14.90
14.50
$6.74
7.65
8.21
$6.64
7.61
8.11
Married \
Widowed or divorced
1-44 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY JN X. V. CITY.
EARNINGS AND NATIVITY.
As already indicated, immigrants tend to fill in the less skilled
occupations and therefore as a rule are paid lower than natives.
We have also remarked that foreign men enter lines where native
women and boys do much of the work. The following table shows
that in all positions, the recompense for those born abroad is less,
and this despite the fact that the age of foreigners is as a rule
higher than that of native workers in this line. (See Table XXII.)
TABLE XXII.
MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS AND NATIVITY.
MALKS.
FEMALES.
All
employees.
Factory
workers.
All
employees.
Factory
workers.
Native
$12.33
11.44
$123.4
111.6
$6.41
6.29
$6.78
6.77
Foreign
WAGE-EARNING WOMEN.
The following summary of personal interviews is presented
from a summary by the field agents:
Interviews were held, in the factories and in the homes, with 227
women representing thirty^seven factories. Full trade histories
were secured in almost all cases and reasonably full personal his-
tories. Sometimes, when there was perfect willingness to answer,
memories were not ready or accurate. That is why questions as
to hours, holidays, etc., were asked many times in the same
factory. One girl declared that the factory had been open
every Saturday during the previous summer, for she remembered
they were always paid that day. Eighteen other girls, the pay-roll
and the proprietor agreed that work had been very slack and the
factory closed on Saturdays the whole summer. In another case,
six girls gave the list of legal holidays observed, and said they
were not paid for them, before one mentioned that they were
always paid for Christmas Day.
When it came to the personal histories, the questions as to age,
nativity and education were willingly answered, but there was
Ai'i'i:.\i>ix II- ['AIM-IK Uox INDUSTRY IN N. V. CITY. 1 !."
often reluctance to give the occupations and earnings of other
members of the family group. " I don't know " was an easy
refuge, and the agents did not use undue pressure to overcome it,
as willing information was considered the most reliable. N<>
doubt in many cases, the girls, especially the younger ones, really
did not know, for there is a certain reserve on the part of male
members of a family in regard to their earnings.
The personal budget was another difficulty. Lund icon and
carfare expenditures were easy to obtain; clothes and spending
money, much less easy; savings, almost impossible. There is no
reason to doubt that those who reported savings really had them,
but probably some of those who did not answer or who answered
'* Xo," were unwilling to admit having them.
" Clothes " were also a problem. Xo one was able to answer
off-hand, except to say, ki My mother buys them," " What I have
left, I spend/' or " Not much." When a girl seemed friendly and
intelligent, a good deal of time was spent in figuring out with her
everything she had bought in the last twelve months. When the
interviews were taken in the factories, the cost of every large
article could be obtained, including shoes, stockings, and some
underwear; but ribbons, collars, handkerchiefs, and other inci-
dental expenses were lumped together at the judgment of the
agent. It is thought that the totals are not much out. When the
interviews were taken in the homes, more than one visit could be
made and detailed and careful budgets were obtained.
The women interviewed were fairly representative of the trade
as to nationality, but averaged older and steadier, and therefore
their median wage, $7.50, was higher than the median wage for
women in the whole trade. Questions as to loss of time for indus-
trial or personal reasons showed an average loss per person of
twenty-eight working days per year. If we add the eight legal
holidays usually observed and not paid for, the wages are reduced
by per cent., that is, to $6.90. In the opinion of the agents
this is an optimistic estimate. Nevertheless, in all the estimates
of expenditures which follow, the rates of wages are taken as if
they were the actual earnings because the girls' own estimates are
based on them. Ruth S , for instance, said that she spent
146 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
$150 a year for her clothes because she was then spending $3 a
week, and did not take into account the six weeks of the preceding
winter when she had no work at all.
Education Thirty-two of the foreign born had had either no
schooling at all, or less than a year's schooling. Their average
age was 20; their average wage, $6.85. Of the others, 110 left
school at 14 or under, and all but five had left school at 16 or
under. Book-learning is less needed than manual dexterity. In
all the good shops there is a regular system of progression from
turner-in to stripper or top-labeler. But this progression, which
usually takes several years, could in most cases be accomplished in
a few months. For example, Mrs. K , a deserted wife, with a
mother and two children dependent upon her, secured a position
as stayer through the influence of the foreman. u I told them I
would not come for less," she said, and she was at once able as
piece worker to earn $10 a week. Now, after two years, she
makes $11 or over. Evidently it is not a really skilled trade.
Domicile. Sixty-four per cent, were living at home ; 19 per
cent, were living with relatives; 17 per cent, were lodging with
strangers. (See Table 1.)
TABLE 1.
NUMBER OF FEMALE WORKERS BY AGE ACCORDING TO RESIDENCE.
Totnl
A
3E.
Under 16.
16 and over.
178
19
159
With relations
53
36
2
51
36
Lodging with strangers
9
1
9
1
Total
277
21
256
Most of the group were single, many of them girls looking
forward to matrimony as a release from the factory. One young
girl said, " I am sick and tired of this work, stripping all the
time ; it makes me dizzy. There is one hope for us and that is to
get married ; it is easier than doing this. 77 However, some of the
married ones go back to the factory because they " want to live
APPENDIX II PAPEB Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 147
right," which means clothes or amusements, or becar.se they think
it is " better than staying home, just sitting;" and still others are
forced back by family misfortunes. Eleven out of the twenty-two
married ones were childless wives of men able and apparently
willing to support them. Mrs. D , a woman of 50, has a
husband and two sons working, but " My husband may die, and
the boys may marry, and where should I be then ? " So she
works short hours in a factory where she has privileges, and has
laid up in the bank against a rainy day $500, of which her hus-
band and sons know nothing. Others work because their husbands
are ill or out of employment.
Composition of Households. We obtained data concerning the
families of 156 women living at home. A typical family con-
sists of 5 or 6 members, 3 of whom are wage earners. In 8
families, the paper box worker was the only wage earner; in 45
families, 29 per cent, of all, with 214 members, there was one
other wage earner beside the 45 paper box workers;, in 52 other
families, 34 per cent, of all, with 317 members, there were two
other wage earners in each. (See Table 2.)
148 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN X. Y. CIT
Box us
TXeut
OF
NUMBER OF
OF GttveN SIZE
IN E.ACH
Niu/ABtn or
PtRSONt
i * FA^MLW
NU/^OIK
HU^OKM. or W*-i EARM&KS IN FA/^LS
TOTAL
Ntf/"teA, or
Wn.*i EAKNM
FAfiL'ts
1
2.
3
4
5
fe
a
9
G
a
i
3
1 s
1
13
1
30
4
19
6
11
z,
53
S
35
1
7
H
13
1 09
(o
34
10
11
10
3
1 OS
7
13
5
^
3
1
^3
8
14
1
5
G
1
1
5Z
9
9
1
3
1
3
1
36
1
6
z
A
ZZ
11
e
\
1
IO
92
1.
1
S
TOTAL.
1 5-fe
8
*!5.
sa
37
1
A
()\ I.\l>rsTUY IN X. V. ClTY. 140
We should expect the number of wage earners in In- large, for
by st lection we are dealing principally with the families of single
wage earning women of 18 or over, where there would be normally
a male wage earner, the father, and presumably one other wage
earlier. We are dealing therefore in general with families at the
highest point of their prosperity, when the fathers are still work-
ing, and some of the children have come to working age.
It we distributed the individuals evenly among the families
we should have a typical family consisting of five persons. Three
of these would be wage earners, one an adult at home and one a
child. Their weekly income, of which 27 per cent, would be con-
tributed by the paper box worker, would be $26. This might
possibly be adequate for a normal family of two adults and three
children if steady employment could be counted on. But here we
have to deal instead with three wage earners and their absolutely
essential expenses of lunch and carfare and their increased need
of food and clothing. (See Table 3.)
150 APPENDIX II PAPEB, Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
B,
APER -POXES
3.
OF F
IZ.E,
I/VCOME OF EACH.
FAMI I_Y
WEEKLY
E.ARf4tN &S
No MSB. p.
OP
NUMBER OF PERSONS us FAI^MUY
Muriate
o? PEB&r$
n FAMIUCS
FA^ILVES
a
3
4
5
t>
7
S
9
1
ko_ t,., 9
i
i
4;
Too- 7-93
8.00 _ g . 59
1
i
3
9.<8>_ 9.09
3
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b
lO.oo. 10*69
5
2,
a
1
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1 l.oo-f 1-93
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1
i
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5"
1
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1
1
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l4,oo.J4.<39
a
i
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15. oo -IS. 9. 4
lfe.oo-l7.*PE,M3>lTuftE.a
Nu/-\ti.
PAUIN4L
CARFAML
NuMtmn.
PAVING M6
CARPARK
ToTAU
fjj. 10
10 to
fd.30
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>0., a
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M. 00
&
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1
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7
13
800- 8,
1
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18
n
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e
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1
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G
3
10
Z
Z
84
1
1
3
2,
3
1 2,2,
Jff5
^77
152 APPKMMX 1 1 PAPER Box INDUSTRY ix X. Y. CITY.
Luncheon. Two-fifths of the number bring their luncheon
from home; three-fifths buy it. The typical amounts expended
are 10 or 15 cents a day. Most of those who spend less than
10 cents bring something from home as well. Lunch is often
bought from a peddler who comes into the factory, or else one of
the girls or boys goes out to. get what is needed for a group. A
few of the higher paid go to restaurants. It is interesting to see
liow steadily the luncheon expenditures rise with the wages.
After a $5.50 wage is reached, the number of those spending
lunch money is always greater than those not spending. For
those who buy lunch, $7.50 is the average wage and they s
10.7 per cent, of it on luncheon. (See Table 5.)
BOXES
WE.B.KLU
By
TABLE. 5
ITURES FOR Lu
OF WACES
IMCHE.ON
RAT* oF
ta
11
^
\A
/<).*>
- -59
'0-4C.I^O 60
'O.feo
^0.70
*0o
- 89
'0.40
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* |. 00
-i- a
* i i
- 1 '9
S
NuMOtR
S-
ToTAU
UT /3
1
1
1
3.o- 3 19
1
1
3
4
3.Sb_ 3.99
1
1
a
3
4.00 _ 4 .49
t
1
*
1
5"
3
8
4.*> -4-99
1
1
1
3
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I2/
*- _ S*
1
1
3
1
t
1
9
19
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5. so _ 5.99
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1
4
4
1
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12.
30
fo.o._^
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40
(0.50. b*
1
2
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7
5
1 Z
T.- - 7*9
a
1
1
3
2,
4
13
8
2,1
7-So_7.99
1
z
Z
7
u
1 3
800 8.99
*
7
Z
1
3
1
1
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19
9
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a- __ 9.9,
1
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t
7
3
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24
1
34
1 O..o AND OVER.
1
3
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TOTAL
1
t
\z
2,
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34
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4
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19
1S2,
108
^feo
Spending Money. It was not very easy to get data regarding
spending money, under which head are included all expenditures
for recreation, moving pictures, pinnies, dances (when the girls
Al'I'K.MHX II - PAPKR InX IxiH'STKY ! .\ X. Y . ClTY. IT).")
ii'o to any), carefares to see friends, etc. In some families, when
the girl tin 1 us in her pay envelope, it is the custom for the mother
t*> liive her hack 25 cents, 50 cents, or $1, which she is to use for
nil her little expenses. In other families this is done on Sunday.
But sometimes the girls would say, " When I want anything I
ask my mother," or " What I want my mother give* me." Care-
ful questioning could usually bring out how much the mothers
had been giving them in the last few weeks. It is probable that
some expenditures for clothes are included in the spending money.
In many cases, stockings, collars or any little article of personal
adornment must be bought out of the 50 cents a week given to the
girl. The average amount of spending money is 50 cents a week,
which is 8 per cent, of the weekly wage of those reporting.
Clothes. Keports of expenditures for clothes were obtained
from 70 girls and women. Half the number of girls reporting
spent less than $70 a year on clothes. The average per cent, of
income expended was 19.5. A few girls sew for themselves; more
have mothers or sisters who sew for them ; the majority buy most
of their clothes ready-made and get in consequence the style they
lovo, but flimsy materials. A disproportionate amount is often
spent on outer garments. (Sec Table G.)
154: APPENDIX II PAPEE Box INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY.
B
OXES.
TABLE b.
AU EXPENDITURES OF "FeMAi-e WORKERS
TOR CuOTHES, BH RATES OF WA<*ES.
jr-;t
A/v*,,^ Txpe D ,-r^Res x,
To.A,
.0^
5$ TC
3$ T>
JS"
59.
bQ.ro
o9.
I0.ro
ji: TO
29.
IOC-
IO9.
110.-
II 9.
HO.-
J2.9
BS:
S?
150.-
159.
!Sb
i..-A
i
1
I
*l
5
5.5o~ 5! 99
I
1
i
3
|
Z
9
6.*.- J>4
1
i
3
1
fc
Lw- b*
1
a
l
4
T.-l
|
3
4
1
i
io
l.ScT 799
i
1
1
a
1
b
8. Co" 8.99
i
Z
3
l
1
1
5
I
12,
9.00- 9.99
a
Z
Z
1
f
^
t,
II
jo.oo ::;
I
3
a
i
7
"To T At.
Z
J
3
5
15
9
12,
4
8
I
1
1
10
t SPENT
E"o doubt, a wiser expenditure would produce more satisfac-
tory results for the same amount of money, or even make less
money necessary, but girls who go to work at fourteen have no
opportunity to learn to sew and, indeed, dressmaking at night is a
tax on strength and should not be demanded of working women.
As for the mothers, it is not fair that they should be required to
subsidize their working daughters to that extent.
Fifty dollars a year would seem to be the very lowest amount
on which a young woman, careful in her expenditures, prudent in
the manner of wearing her clothes, and skillful in repairing, can
make a merely decent appearance. That is, if her life is to con-
tain anything but going to work in the morning, and coming back
again at night.
APPENDIX II PAPEK Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 155
The following is the actual budget of E. W- , for expendi-
tures for clothes during the past year. Her regular rate of wages
is $5.50 per week.
2 hats, 1 at $2.50 and 1 at $1.50 $4.00
1 coat 9.00
2 skirts at $3.50 each 7 . 00
1 sweater 3 . 00
2 cloth waists at $1 2 . 00
5 shirt waists at 35c 1 . 75
3 petticoats at $1 3 . 00
2 doz. handkerchiefs at 25c. a dozen .50
1 pair mittens .25
1 pair of summer gloves .25
50 pairs of stockings at 9c. . 4. 50
3 pairs of shoes at $2 6 . 00
Repairing shoes 1 . 00
10 undervests at 15c 1 . 50
3 pairs of drawers at 25c. . .75
4 corset covers at 15c .60
1 corset 2 . 00
1 pair of overshoes . . .65
Total $47 . 75
Stockings are the only seeming extravagance. In every other
respect the expenditures are very modest. When the annual
expenditure is less than $50, there is usually dire poverty or a
special explanation.
A. R , who earns $5.50 a week, has spent $10 on clothes in
the past year. She is a woman of 45 who had a good stock of
clothes when she had the misfortune to lose, through failing eye-
sight, a much better position, and she does not know how she can
manage when these things are worn out. Beckie B earns $7,
but as her food and lodging cost her $5 a week, she has to make
$35 a year suffice for clothing. She manages by doing all her
own sewing. Mrs. S , who earns $5 a week, puts $160 of it
on her person, but she has a husband who gets good wages. The
15(5 APPKMHX II --PAPER Box IxnrsTiiY K\ X. V. CITY.
girls on small wages who spend largely on clothes, are subsidized
by their families.
Laundry. Expenditures for laundry are almost negligible.
The mothers do it generally ; the landlady may do it ; and in
many cases the girls do it themselves.
Dues. One hundred and twenty-two out of 206 who gave
information on this point paid dues in some form. Many of
these, usually native Americans, paid insurance ; two paid union
dues; and only four paid club dues.
THE GIRL WITHOUT A HOME.
Of the women interviewed, 40, or 17 per cent., did not live a I
home. Their cases deserve to be well studied both for their own
sakes and for the better understanding of the financial status of
the girl who lives at home. The well-being of the latter depends
principally on the well-being of her family. She gets more
clothes, maybe, and better food and lodging, certainly, if her father
is well-to-do.
Cost of Board and Lodging. Of the 46 women and girls liv-
ing alone, 38 were entirely self-supporting. Some of these girls
board ; others live in furnished rooms, getting their meals outside ;
and one woman has her own little apartment. Fourteen live in
furnished rooms. Three of these, who are American born, pay
$2 to $2.35 a week; eleven, all Russian born, pay $3 a month for
" sleeps," as one of them expressed it. This is apt to mean a sofa
in a room with others, or one-half of the landlady's bed. Meals
may be taken with the landlady or bought at a restaurant. Break-
fast consists usually of coffee and rolls or an apple from a fruit
stand. Many go without breakfast. Luncheon of meat and
potatoes and a vegetable or dessert, is apt to cost 15 cents. Dinner
costs 15 to 25 cents. Three dollars is the usual weekly cost
of food, including luncheon. It could not well be less. Tho
minimum amount paid for lodg'ng, which is also the usual amount
in the case of the foreign born, is TO cents a week, making a
total cost for board and lodging of $3.70. This is almost precisely
the usual amount paid bv those who board and lodee in the same
1'K.MMX
1 1 PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 157
house. There are wide differences, of course, the smallest amount
I'm- hoard being $2.50, the largest $5.75. The expenditures vary
partly with the wages. Most of the girls spend 51 per cent, of
their wages for board and lodging.
For the self-supporting girl, all other expenditures vary much
more directly with the income than is the case with the girl at
home.
Clothes. Seventeen women reported expenditures for clothes.
More than half of these spend less than $65 a year each.
Spending Money and Laundry. Spending money averages 50
cents a week. In only 4 cases are laundry expenses reported. In
18 cases out of 38, the girl is specifically said to do it herself.
This is no insignificant tax upon her strength.
Insurance and Savings. Four, all American born, pay insur-
ance of from 30 cents to 35 cents a week. Five, all .Russians, re-
port savings. One whose wages are $10.50 has saved $-200. The
others, whose wages are $7, $8, $8.50 and $9, have saved $20,
$30, $60 and $50 respectively. Very likely still others have
savings.
It can be easily seen that a girl whose wage rate is $7.50 a
week and whose actual earnings do not average more than $6.90,
must be poorly housed, insufficiently fed and meagerly clothed.
Any need for a doctor or dentist, any call to help needy relations
on this side or the other, must result in actual deprivation. " I
could get on all right with $9," said one girl whose weekly wage
was supposed to be that. " But there is a holiday this week. Last
week I was sick a -day. There is always something. I cannot
plan on more $7.50 and that is very hard."
REPRESENTATIVE CASES AND BUDGETS.
Of the 277 women interviewed there were 73 who had others
partially or entirely dependent upon them. They, like those away
from home, are in the minority, but both groups are numerous
enough to be considered and together they form a large percentage.
158 APPENDIX II PAPEK Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
No. 421.
Mrs. Annie F . Age 24. Russian. Wages, $6. Her hus-
band is ill in Europe. She has two children 7 and 3 years of age.
The three live with her husband's mother to whom she pays $3 a
month for lodging and $4 a week for board.
No. 258.
Loretta B. . Age 15. Of American parentage. Her father
is dead. Her mother earns a little by cleaning. Loretta's wages
are $5 a week. A sister, 16, earns $5. A grandmother who lives
with them and a sister of 17 are at home ill. A brother of 10 and
a sister of 11 go to school.
No. 334.
Gertie S . Age 26. Of American parentage. Wages, $8.
Her father, 60 years old, does not work. Her mother and one sis-
ter do the housework. One sister temporarily out of work. One
sister earns $15 a week.
No. 401.
Gussie S . Age 15. Russian. Wages, $3.50. Her mother
earns $3.50 a week housecleaning. Her brother of 13 goes to
school.
No. 248.
Kitty P . Age 37. American. Father, Irish. Wages,
$7.50. She and one sister live together. The sister is 48 and
cannot work. They have one lodger who pays $2 a week. Miss
P loses much time by illness.
No. 407.
Sadie F . Age 18. American. Father, American. Wages,
$6. Her father has not worked for four years. Her mother earns
$4 a week by washing.
No. 452.
Frieda F . Age 23. Russian. Wages, $12. Father and
one sister are unable to work. A second sister is feeble-minded.
The mother does the housework. Frieda is the sole support of
the family.
APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 159
DATA OBTAINED IN THE HOMES.
The following data have been selected from schedules obtained
in the homes :
No. 513.
Beckie T . Age 19. Russian. She has been in America
only three months. Both father and mother are in Russia. She
has one brother in New York, aged 18, who is making $9 a week.
She began work at paper boxes at $4 a week, and has been raised
to $4.50, $5 and $5.50. Her brother has assisted her, but she does
not know how much he has given her. The family with whom she
lodges have three rooms, and consists of husband, wife and four
children. Beckie pointed out the leather couch on which she
sleeps.
No. 519.
Rose E . Age 23. Russian. She came to the United
States when 18, and began work in a paper box factory at $3.50.
Was raised to $4, $4.50, $5, and now gets $5.50. She can read
and write in Yiddish. Once in two years she sends $5 to her
mother in Russia. She saves enough in rush seasons to carry her
through slack seasons. She pays $3 a month for lodging, and
sleeps on a lounge. Her breakfast of rolls, butter and one cup of
coffee costs 8 or 10 cents. Her lunch from a food peddler in the
factory costs 15 cents and consists of hot meat or fish, or potatoes
or boiled eggs, with bread, but no butter. Supper averages 20
cents and consists of bread with soup and potatoes, or soup and
meat or sometimes soup, meat and potatoes. The weekly cost of
food and lodging is therefore $3.70. She was idle 14 weeks in
the preceding year, making her estimated average wages $4.02 a
week.
No. 520.
Sadie R . Age 14. Italian. She is well grown and tells
them in the factory that she is 17. This girl's family consists of
her father and mother and three children. They came to the
United States when Sadie was 2 years old. Her father is a
cobbler, and the agent thinks he makes from $7 to $10 a week.
100 APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
Sadie's earnings for 20 weeks show an average of $5.47 a week,
but agent thinks that $5 per week the year round is a fair esti-
mate. She goes to a moving picture show once in two weeks.
Here is an account of her annual expenditures for clothes :
1 winter coat $8 . 00
1 sweater 2 . 00
shirtwaists at 70c 4. 20
1 skirt 3.00
36 handkerchiefs at 2c .72
3 petticoats at 75c. each and 3 at 25c. each 3.00
30 pairs of stockings at lOc. pair 3.00
4 pairs of shoes at $2 8 . 00
Underwear 6 . 00
4 corsets at $1 4 . 00
corset covers at 25c 1 . 50
Repairing shoes 1 . 00
No hats this year ....
No rubbers ..." ....
No gloves or mittens ....
Total $44.42
No. 526.
Sarah G . Age 23. Russian. She came to New York
when about 14 years of age. Her parents are in Russia. Her
relatives in New York are an aunt and three unmarried sisters.
Sarah, and her older sister paid for the passage of the other two
sisters to the United States, Sarah's half share being $07.00.
She began work in a shirt factory at $1.50 per week. Next, she
went into paper box making at $2.50, rising to $3.0.0 and $4.00.
Then, in order to save carfare, she changed to a candy factory at
$3.00, and was ultimately raised to $4.50. Later, she began
work in a ribbon factory at $4.00, and was promoted to $4.50.
Then she returned to paper boxes at $5.00, and after two years
was advanced to $5.50. Now she is making $9.00 per week.
The landlady, with whom Sarah lodges, has three rooms, which
are occupied by herself and two male and two female lodgers.
APPENDIX II PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY. 161
Sarah has a bed to herself, for which she pays $3.00 a month.
The following is Sarah's budget :
Lodging, 12 months, at $3 $36 . 00
Doctors 7 bills this year 2 . 00
Laundry, 52 weeks, at 25c 13.00
Spending money, 52 weeks, at 50c 26 . 00
Clothes:
4 hats, at $3 $12.00
1 winter coat 10 . 00
1 spring coat 6.00
1 sweater 3 . 00
6 shirtwaists, at 50c 3 . 00
4 skirts, at $3.50 14.00
2 white dresses, at $3 6 . 00
4 doz. handkerchiefs, at 50c. a doz. ... 2.00 .
5 petticoats, at 75c. ., 3 .75
2 pairs of gloves, at $1 2 . 00
36 pairs of stockings 5 . 20
4 pairs of shoes, at $3 . 12 . 00
1 pair rubbers 1 . 00
Repairing shoes 1 . 00
Underwear 10 . 00
3 pairs corsets, at $2 6 . 00
1 party dress 15 . 00
111.95
Breakfast, 9c. ; lunch, 13c. ; supper, 25c.
47c. per day for 365 days 171 . 55
$360.50
Actual earnings for 36 weeks (as far back as they could be
obtained) averaged $8.34 a week. Assuming the same average
for previous working weeks, and deducting for 4 weeks when
she was out of employment, her total annual earnings would be
$400.32; expenses, $360.50, leaving a surplus of $39.82. Sarah
occasionally assists her sister, whose passage she paid.
6
162 APPENDIX II -- PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN N". Y. CITY.
No. 521.
Antoinette D . Age 21. Italian. She came to the United
State at the age of 17. She has 4 sisters here. Her parents are
in Italy, and she sends them $3 a year. She and one other sister
live with a married sister. Eight people live in 3 rooms. Antoi-
nette spent 2 months in the country with a friend during the past
summer. She began in the paper-hox trade at $5 a week and is
now on a wage rate of $7. Her wages for 21 weeks, which is as far
back as the payroll goes, average $5.92 a week. Her wages for
the year would probably average $6 a week. She admitted that
she worked 7 days in the week for several weeks during the rush
season. Her annual accounts are given herewith :
Income, 52 weeks, at $6 $312 . 00
Board and lodging, 52 weeks, at $3.50 ... $182 . 00
Spending money, 52 weeks, at lOc 5.20
Clothes:
1 hat, $2.50, 1 hat, $8 $10.50
1 winter coat . . . ., 9 . 00
12 shirtwaists, at TOc 8.40
24 handkerchiefs, at 5c 1.20
3 petticoats, at $1 3 . 00
30 pairs of stockings 3 . 60
4 pairs shoes, average, $2.25 9.00
Repairing shoes 1 . 00
Underwear 8 . 00
6 pairs of corsets, at $2 12 . 00
4 corset covers, at 30c 1.20
1 party dress 11 . 00
77.90
Total expenses 265 . 10
Surplus $46 . 90
,
No. 523.
Annie P . Age 19. Austrian. She came here when 12
years of age. Her parents are dead and she lives with her married
brother. She has had no doctor's or dentist's bills this year, but
APPENDIX II --PAPER Box INDUSTRY IN 1ST. Y. CITY. 163
has spent $25 altogether in other years for dentistry. She has
sent $30 to a sister in Austria in the last two years and she has
$30 in the bank. She is a piece-worker and her wages average
$8.29 a week.
Budget:
Total annual earnings , $431 . 32
52 weeks' board, at $3.75 a week $195.00
52 weeks' spending money, at 25c 13.00
Clothes:
1 suit $24.00
3 hats 9 . 00
1 winter coat 10 . 00
1 sweater . . . , 3 . 00
2 cloth waists, at 35c .70
3 skirts, $4, $2.50 and $1.75 8.25
4 shirtwaists, at $1 4.00
2 wash dresses at $3 6 . 00
2 doz. handkerchiefs, at 25c
doz .50
2 petticoats, at $1 2 . 00
1 pair gloves . 1 . 00
36 pairs of stockings 3 . 60
4 pairs of shoes 10 . 00
Repairing shoes 1 . 00
Underwear 7 . 00
1 pair rubbers .75
2 corsets, at $2 4.00
6 corset covers, at 15c .90
4 nightgowns 2 . 00
1 muff 3 . 00
1 party dress 19 . 00
119.70
Total expenses 327 . 70
Surplus $103 . 62
164 APPENDIX II PAPEK Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
Such accounts could be multiplied ; but enough have been given
to show the close economy of the workers. Taken in connection
with the preceding wage data, they indicate that many women are
often on the verge of dependency. A table is added showing
variations in wages from week to week. The figures were taken
from the payrolls. (See Table 7.)
T
ifNO-s OF S-rex&y WORKERS.
EriPuoy/re
SADIC K.
IDA C.
"Ro&e H.
A/v/xic F.
AA>TotneT-r.I).
SAKAM T.
Paee T
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# .5T.Se
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feature is the large item for miscellaneous costs. Paper boxes are
awkward to handle and expensive to store, so that rent and deliv-
ery charges also figure large. The labor cost is one-fourth of the
166 APPENDIX II PAPEK Box INDUSTRY IN N. Y. CITY.
value of the marketed product. Net profits do not appear to be
excessive, if these figures can be trusted.
Paper boxes are probably cheap enough considering the human
labor that enters into their manufacture. According to our figures,
an increase of 10 per cent, in the general level of wages would not
necessarily raise the price 2.5 per cent., nor reduce profits by the
same amount.
There is only a slight relation between proportionate labor cost
shown for the firms above and their general level of wage rates. *
This indicates that low-paid labor is not necessarily cheap nor
high-paid workers expensive. There is a growing tendency
throughout the trade to substitute machinery for skilled hand
labor, and to use girls to operate the automatic devices. This un-
questionably increases fixed charges, enlarges output and holds
down wages.
* The Pearson coefficient of correlation is .27965-}-, which is smaller than
the probable error.
APPENDIX III
MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION
BY
IRENE OSGOOD ANDREWS,
Assistant Secretary, American Association for Labor
Legislation.
[167]
PREFACE.
Americans have long been accustomed to the legal protection
of industrial employees in the matter of hours of labor, safety
and sanitation in work places, the protection of the wage contract,
and other similar legal safeguards. But the extension of legal
regulation to cover the rate of wages paid to women and minors
in private employments did not occur in this country until 1912,
in Massachusetts. Since that year eight additional states have
enacted minimum wage laws. The novelty of this kind of legis-
lation and its widespread popularity have created a persistent
demand for information on the subject.
It is the aim of the following report to present in brief and
convenient form the main facts concerning the enactment and
operation of minimum wage laws in this country as well as in
foreign countries where the acts are similar in purpose to our
American legislation on this subject.
It is not the aim of this report to discuss the economic aspects
of the legal minimum wage. But included in one section are a
few of the more important representative opinions concerning
the actual operation and effect of minimum wage laws in those
countries where they have been in operation sufficiently long to
produce measurable results.
For the convenience of students of the subject there are also
reprinted, as an appendix, the minimum wage laws of this coun-
try, of Victoria and of Great Britain. A select critical bibli-
ography is added for the purpose of indicating a few of the most
helpful and most readily available publications on the subject of
the minimum wage.
I. O. A.
[169]
CONTENTS.
MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
PAGE
I. THE AMERICAN MINIMUM WAGE MOVEMENT 173
1. Introduction 173
2. Early History of the Movement in America 174
Definition of a Living Wage 175
Methods of Wage Determinations 176
Persons and Industries Involved 177
Proposals in Congress 178
3. Analysis of American Laws 179
Titles 180
Appointment Organization Appropriations 180
Jurisdiction 181
Initial Investigations 182
Subordinate Wage Boards Organization 183
Operation of the Wage Boards 184
Application of Wage Determinations 185
Rehearings 185
Enforcement Penalties 186
Court Review 187
Comparative Table of Minimum Wage Laws 188
4. Operation of American Laws 195
Oregon 195
California 199
Massachusetts 199
Minnesota 203
Utah 208
Washington 212
Wisconsin 213
5. Recent Developments in the American Movement 216
Constitutional Amendments Inclusion of men
Initiated measures 216
II. FOREIGN LEGISLATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 219
New Zealand 219
Victoria 220
Germany 281
England '. 232
International Recommendations 245
[171]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
III. REPRESENTATIVE OPINIONS UPON THE OPERATION OF WAGE BOARDS 248
Position of the American Federation of Labor 248
Economic Inequality Between Employer and Employee 249
A Living Wage and the Parasitic Industries 251
Relation to Cost of Production 253
Effect upon efficiency of employer and employee 253
Employees unable to earn the minimum rate 259
The Minimum Wage as a Public Policy 260
Constitutional Aspects of Minimum Wage Legislation 265
APPENDIX A. Decision of Oregon Supreme Court upholding the Mini-
mum Wage Law 269
APPENDIX B. Minimum Wage Laws 288
The American Acts 288
California 288
Colorado 296
Massachusetts 300
Minnesota 305
Nebraska 311
Oregon 315
Utah 324
Washington 325
Wisconsin 331
The British Acts 335
The Trade Boards Act 335
The Coal Mines Act 348
The Victorian Special Boards Act 354
APPENDIX C. ( 1 ) SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 383
(2 ) MINIMUM WAGE COMMISSIONS 385
MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
I. THE AMERICAN MINIMUM WAGE MOVEMENT.
1. INTRODUCTION.
It was nearly a century ago when Mathew Carey, of Phila-
delphia, the first American investigator of woman's work and
the consistent champion of the working woman, wrote that the
wages of women were " barely sufficient to procure them a scant
supply of the very commonest food and raiment." From that
time to the present the relatively low wage of women and chil-
dren has been a subject of constant agitation.
Many women enter the industrial field for short periods only,
mere transients in the business world; comparatively few receive
previous industrial training of any kind; and the majority look
to marriage rather than to organization or efficiency as the way
to a higher standard of living. Organization among working
women, therefore, has been attended with peculiar difficulties.
Working women have remained largely unskilled and unorganized
and thousands of them have been employed at wages insufficient
to " maintain them in health and to provide reasonable comfort."
The wages of public employees in many cities and states of
this country have for several years been regulated by law and a
legal minimum wage rate has frequently been established. In
1913, for example, the city of Spokane at a popular election
established a minimum scale of $3 a day on public work and on
January 2, 1914, this ordinance was sustained by the Supreme
Court of the state of Washington. Among the states which have
provided a wage rate of from $2 to $3 a day in either, state or
city work are California, Indiana, Maryland, (for the city of
Baltimore), Massachusetts, Nebraska and Nevada. But it has
been the common belief that the regulation of wages of employees
in private industries, involving as it does a different principle,
could not legally be undertaken in this country. Such regulation
[173]
174 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
in private employments has been practised, however, under the
legal systems in New Zealand since 1894, in Victoria since
1896, and in the United Kingdom since 1909, when the British
Parliament made provision for the creation of minimum wage
boards, or " trade boards " as they are there called.
The success of the British system, operating under conditions
similar to those in our country, acted as a stimulus to the increas-
ing number of persons interested in the subject in America; and
in 1911 the legislature of Massachusetts authorized the creation
of the first American Minimum Wage Commission to investigate
conditions and report upon the advisability of establishing a per-
manent wage commission. In the same year bills were prepared
and presented to the legislatures in Minnesota and Wisconsin ;
public hearings were held and great interest was displayed, but
in both states the bill failed to pass that year. In 1912, however,
the legislature of Massachusetts again pioneered the way and
passed a bill creating the first permanent Minimum Wage Com-
mission in this country. This was followed in 1913 by minimum
wage laws in eight additional states: California, Oregon, Wash-
ington, Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin (1).
2. EARLY HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA.
Before the days of recent popular agitation for minimum wage
legislation in America there had been sporadic attempts to estab-
lish minimum standards of hours and wages by law. Nebraska,
for example, in February, 1909, introduced the following:
* * * " for the purpose of protecting the American
standard of living, and insure to all who labor that they shall
have an opportunity to improve themselves, to educate their
children, and to lay by a sum for old age, it is hereby pro-
vided, that the minimum wage in all stores, factories, pack-
ing houses and all work-shops of whatsoever kind for all
adult labor, male or female, shall be twenty (20) cents per
hour where labor is performed by the hour and where labor
(1) A complete directory of these commissions is printed on page 385 of
Appendix III.
HISTORY OF AMERICAN LEGISLATION. 175
is performed by the week the minimum wage shall be nine
($9) dollars per week and for such wage by the week not
more than ten hours of labor shall be performed in any one
day; Provided, That such adult labor, male or female, em-
ployed by the week, may engage to labor over time for which
they shall receive not less than twenty-five (25) cents per
hour."
This Nebraska proposal received little serious attention, but
after the passage of the British Trade Boards Act, and its suc-
cessful operation during the years of 1910 and 1911, the demand
for minimum wage laws became prominent in America and bills
were drafted in many states.
Definition of a Living Wage. In practically all of these early
bills there was substantial agreement that a " living wage "
should be the standard for the determination of wage-rates. But
this standard was indefinite and was capable of a variety of inter-
pretations. Was it to be interpreted to cover only the cost of
necessary food, clothing and shelter the slave-owner's standard
as it was sometimes called? Or should it include Mrs. Oilman's
bold request for " two rooms and a bath " ? Still another stan-
dard recommended to the National Conference of Charities and
Correction, by the Committee on Standards of Living and Labor,
rested upon the following definition : " The monetary equivalent
of a living wage varies according to local conditions, but must
include enough to secure the elements of a normal standard of
living; to provide for education and recreation; to care for im-
:mature' members of the family; to maintain the family during
periods of sickness; and to permit of reasonable saving for old
age."
Few of the minimum wage measures, however, either in state
legislatures or in Congress, went beyond a definition of a wage
rate which would enable the workers to sustain themselves in
health, to maintain the accepted moral standards, and, in a few
cases, to provide in addition reasonable or necessary comfort and
well-being. (1)
(1) For the stewdajds p.staMshed in the various enacted laws see p. 182.
176 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
From the beginning the majority of the states, except Massa-
chusetts and Nebraska, in America, as in foreign countries,
apparently accepted the principle that an industry which cannot
pay its employees sufficient to maintain them in health and
reasonable comfort is a parasitic industry which should not be
tolerated by the community.
Methods of Wage Determination. At least four methods
were proposed for determining the " living wage ": (a) by fixing
rates in the law itself; (b) by investigations through the commis-
sioner of labor; (c) by direct investigation of special commis-
sions; and (d) by investigations through commissions with the
aid of special wage boards.
(a) The first method suggested in several states was the estab-
lishment in the law itself of a fixed rate of wages per day or per
week for each class of employees the flat-rate method. These
arbitrary proposals frequently suggested the fixing of hours of
work also.
The only flat-rate bill which became law was the Utah measure,
applying to females only and providing a minimum of $1.25 a
day for experienced adults, $.90 for adult learners or apprentices,
and $.75 for children under eighteen.
(b) A second method, less commonly advocated, proposed to
grant to the State Commissioner of Labor power to determine the
" living wage." In both Oregon and Wisconsin, for example, it
was first suggested that the Labor Commissioner might be re-
quired to investigate the wages paid and the cost of living and,
after public hearings, finally establish the minimum wage rate.
But no state adopted this second method.
(c) The plan of the third method was modeled upon the public
service commission laws and proposed a commission of three
members who were to investigate and, after public hearing, fix
wage rates without the aid of subordinate boards for each industry
or class of industries. This was the plan proposed in the Penn-
sylvania measure which failed to pass and also in the Colorado
measure, which was the only one following this plan to become a
law.
HISTORY OF AMERICAN LEGISLATION. 177
(d) The fourth method of wage determination, and that which
was finally embodied in the laws of all nine states except Colorado
and Utah, provided for the creation of commissions with sub-
ordinate wage boards to investigate and determine, after public
hearing, the minimum wage rate for employees in the different
occupations. Minnesota and Massachusetts adopted this method
in their earliest bills, and the Massachusetts law which was
enacted in 1912, a year earlier than the Minnesota act, became the
model for most of the others.
Bills providing for wage commissions were introduced or pre-
pared for introduction in many of the remaining states of the
forty- two holding legislative sessions in 1913.
Persons and Industries Included. In the discussion of these
bills the right to legislate on the subject of wages for women and
children was generally accepted, but considerable discussion
arose over the question of including men. Men were included in
the acts of Australasia and of Great Britain, but supposed consti-
tutional difficulties deterred many from recommending their
inclusion in this country. The trade unions also were almost
unanimous in their opposition to the inclusion of men. (1) And
while many of the earlier bills applied to all employees, in no one
of the enacted laws were adult men included. On this point a
brief prepared for the law proposed in 1911 in Wisconsin said:
" The fact that no American state regulates wages in
private employment is not conclusive against regulating
them, if new, oppressive, and unwholesome conditions exist
which cannot be corrected except by minimum living wages.
And this applies to men as well as women and children, for
on this line of reasoning, in matters of health, the courts
have gone even further in restricting the hours of men to
eight per day than they have in permitting restriction of
women to ten per day. The principle of classification is,
therefore, not that of sex, or age, but of bargaining power
in protecting themselves against conditions which it is the
interest of the public that they should be protected against."
( 1 ) For a recent official statement of the attitude of the American Federa-
tion of Labor on this point, see p. 248.
178 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
In considering which industries should be included there was
less difference of opinion. In legislation regulating hours of
work, special industries had been selected according to the degree
of physical strain involved, and a few states attempted to follow
in general these classifications. It was finally recognized, how-
ever, that a " living wage " should at least cover the cost of living
in any industry and should not be made to depend upon the kind
of work a person was engaged in. The laws were therefore made
to apply to all occupations, except in Colorado, where an
enumerated list is given.
Federal Proposals. Not in state legislatures alone were
minimum wage bills considered. Several measures were intro-
duced in Congress applying to employees in the District of
Columbia, to employees of the Federal government and also to
those engaged in interstate commerce. One measure, intended to
regulate wage rates for both male and female employees in the
District of Columbia (H. R. 1803, introduced April 7, 1913, by
Representative Lafferty), provided for a commission of three
members at an annual salary of $3,000 each, with powers similar
to those of the Massachusetts commission except that the bill did
not provide for subsidiary wage boards. Another bill (H. R.
4901, introduced May 8, 1913, by Representative Vare) applied
to employees of the Federal government and required a minimum
rate of $2 per day for all adult male employees, and $1.50 for all
adult female employees. It also sought to prohibit the employ-
ment of all persons under the age of fourteen years.
At least two measures have been presented under which wage
rates would be regulated for employees in interstate commerce.
One was a flat-rate measure (S. 579, introduced April 9, 1913,
by Senator Chilton), providing for a wage rate of not less than
$9 a week for all females employed in interstate commerce, or in
the production and manufacture of articles for interstate com-
merce. Hours of work were to be limited to eight a day and six
days a week and no female under fifteen was to be employed.
Penalties for violations were provided as well as provision for
recovery of unpaid wages.
ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS. 179
The second interstate commerce measure provided for a Na-
tional Wage Commission consisting of one " wage commissioner "
appointed for four years in each congressional district to whom
complaints might be made if wages were deemed to be " of a
nature insufficient, inequitable, or unjust in proportion to the
work done and services rendered to the employer, or shall be
insufficient and are not sufficient upon which the said person may
live and maintain an existence in harmony with the spirit and
organization of citizenship in America." Penalties were pro-
vided for violations, but no specific wage standard was given in
the bill (S. 1925, introduced May 14, 1913, by Senator Lewis).
No minimum wage measure for workers in private employments
has at this writing been passed by Congress.
3. ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS.
The first minimum wage law for employees in private indus-
tries in America was enacted in Massachusetts in 1912. This
law applied to females and minors under eighteen years of age
and provided for an administrative commission of three mem-
bers who, with the aid of subordinate wage boards for each
industry, were to establish minimum wage rates for any industry
which the commission found to be paying less than a living wage.
In the following year, 1913, as already indicated, minimum
wage laws were enacted in eight additional states. Minnesota
and Wisconsin, where bills had been introduced in 1911, enacted
laws following the main administrative features of the Massa-
chusetts act, although the administration of the Wisconsin
measure was placed with the existing Industrial Commission and
was made to conform to procedure under the commission law of
which it was a part.
In Oregon, where a " social survey " had been made during the
preceding year, the legislature in 1913 provided the legal
machinery for the establishment of minimum wage rates by
creating the State Industrial Welfare Commission. With very
slight modifications, and under the same name, California and
Washington in the same year created similar state bodies. Mean-
while, following a brief official investigation, the legislature in
180 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
Nebraska passed a bill similar to the Massachusetts law of 1912,
and Colorado and Utah, caught up on the wave of popular senti-
ment, brought the number of states having minimum wage laws
to nine before the end of 1913.
In addition to the minimum wage laws passed in 1913, several
states created commissions to investigate the subject with a view
to recommending legislation. In Connecticut the Commissioner
of Labor was authorized to continue the investigation of woman
and child labor in that state (begun by the Connecticut Indus-
trial Commission of 1912) while the Industrial Commission of
Ohio was required to make a special inquiry into the work of
women and children in mercantile establishments. In Michigan
and Indiana commissions were created to study the subject of
woman's work, and in "New York the Factory Investigating
Commission was continued and authorized to investigate wage
conditions.
Titles. In naming their administrative bodies the nine mini-
mum wage states have chosen three different titles. The three
Pacific coast states, California, Oregon and Washington, have
given to their commissions broader powers than that of fixing
wage rates alone and have therefore selected the title, " Indus-
trial Welfare Commission " ; Massachusetts, Minnesota and Ne-
braska, where power has been given to fix wage rates only, have
chosen the title, " Minimum Wage Commission " ; while in Col-
orado the name " State Wage Board " was selected. In the two
remaining states the minimum wage laws are administered by
existing bodies: In Wisconsin by th$ Industrial Commission,
and in Utah by the Commissioner of Immigration, Labor and
Statistics who has power to enforce the flat-rate minimum named
in the statute. (1)
Appointments, Organization, Appropriations. The commis-
sions or boards are composed of three members in all states except
California and Washington, where five members were appointed,
and in Nebraska where four were authorized. Members were
appointed by the governors for terms of two or three years except
(1) See statement of the Commissioner, p. 208.
ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS.
in Wisconsin, where the term of office is six years and the consent
of the Senate is also necessary. Employers and employees must
be represented on the commissions in Colorado, Minnesota, and
Oregon, and in all states except Oregon, Washington and Wis-
consin at least one member must be a woman. The Commissioner
of Labor was specifically designated as a member in the laws of
Washington, Nebraska and Minnesota. In no case is an annual
salary provided for members, but necessary expenses are allowed,
and in California and Massachusetts $10 a day is authorized in
addition for actual service. Secretaries may be employed, and
their salaries are to be determined by the commissions in all
states except in Colorado where the law specifies $1,200 a year
and in Minnesota where it is fixed at $1,800. The appropriations
for the first year varied from nothing in Nebraska to $15,000 in
California. Colorado, Minnesota and Washington appropriated
$5,000 each; Massachusetts authorized $7,000 for 1913; Oregon
appropriated $3,500 ; while Utah and Wisconsin made no specific
appropriation since the minimum wage work is carried on by
existing official departments.
Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the commissions extends to
all trades or occupations, except in Colorado, where the law
applies only to mercantile and manufacturing establishments,
laundries, hotels, restaurants, and telephone and telegraph offices.
In Massachusetts, Nebraska and Colorado, the commissions are
directed to investigate those industries in which they believe that
wages paid are less than a living wage. Investigations are manda-
tory in all states except Oregon and Minnesota and they are
mandatory in the latter state upon the request of one hundred
persons in any occupation where women and children are em-
ployed. The laws apply to females and to male minors under
eighteen in all states except Minnesota and Wisconsin where the
age limit for males is twenty-one, and in Utah where the act
applies only to females. The commissions have the power to
determine minimum wage rates in all states ; wage rates and con-
ditions of work in Washington; and wage rates and conditions
and hours of work in California and Oregon (and also in Wis-
consin under a separate law).
182 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
Initial Investigation. The initial investigation rests in all
cases with the commission itself. Employers are required to keep
records of the names and addresses of female and minor em-
ployees, of wages paid and hours of work, and to furnish informa-
tion required by a commission. The commissions are given power
to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths and examine books or
records, and in California and Wisconsin a member may enter
premises. In most states the Commissioner of Labor is required
to cooperate in furnishing information. Rules of procedure are
non-technical and are determined by the commissions themselves.
In California and Oregon the commissions may make recom-
mendations for women and minors upon :
(1) Minimum wage rates;
(2) The number of hours of work consistent with health and
welfare (not exceeding the maximum number fixed by statute
law) ; and
(3) Standard conditions of work demanded for the protection
of health and welfare.
In Washington the commission has authority only over wages
and conditions of work. In Wisconsin, under separate acts, the
statute law regulating hours of work for women applies only
where hours have not been determined by the Industrial Com-
mission itself after public hearings. (1) In California the com-
mission is specifically forbidden to act as a board of arbitration
during a strike or lockout.
In determining minimum wage rates the definitions as given in
the laws are : In California " the necessary cost of proper living
and to maintain the health and welfare " ; in Colorado, " to sup-
ply the necessary cost of living, maintain them in health, and
supply the necessary comforts of life ", and the commission must
also consider the " financial condition of the business " ; in Massa-
chusetts and Nebraska, the " necessary cost of living and to main-
tain the worker in health ", and also the " financial condition of
the occupation " ; in Minnesota " to maintain the worker in health
(1) The Ohio Industrial Commission has similar power over hours of labor
for men as well as for women and children.
ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS. 183
and to supply him with the necessary comforts and conditions of
reasonable life " ; in Oregon and Washington the " necessary cost
of living and to maintain the workers in health " ; and in Wis-
consin the term living wage is defined as a wage " sufficient to
maintain himself or herself under conditions consistent with his
or her welfare ", and " welfare " is defined to include " reasonable
comfort, reasonable physical well-being, decency, and moral well-
being ".
If a commission finds after investigation that wages paid are
not sufficient to maintain the specified standard of living it may
after a public hearing determine upon a minimum wage rate or
it may establish a subordinate wage board, or, as it is called in
Oregon and Washington, a " conference ". These subordinate
boards are mandatory only in Wisconsin, and in Massachusetts
and Nebraska in so far as wage rates for women are concerned.
In Colorado alone among the eight states having boards or com-
missions, there is no provision for a subordinate wage board, the
state board itself determining minimum rates.
Subordinate Wage Boards. On the subordinate wage boards
in all states but Wisconsin, employers and employees must be
represented by an equal number of members. In California a
subordinate wage board must be composed of an equal number of
each of these two groups with a representative of the commis-
sion; in Massachusetts, of at least six representatives of each,
with one or more members from the public, but not to exceed one-
half of the representatives of either of the other parties; in
Minnesota there must be from three to ten of each and one or
more representatives of the public, but not to exceed the number of
either group of representatives, and at least one-fifth of the entire
board membership must be women ; in Nebraska, three representa-
tives of employers and of employees including the members of
the commission and three representatives of the public ; in Oregon
three of each with one or more of the commissioners; in Wash-
ington an equal number of each and one or more representatives
of the public as in Minnesota ; in Wisconsin the advisory wage
board must be constituted " so as to fairly represent employers,
employees and the public ".
184 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
The method of selecting members of subordinate wage boards
is left open in all states except Wisconsin where the representa-
tives are to be appointed by the Industrial Commission. In all
other states the commissions merely make rules and regulations
governing the selection of representatives, although in Minnesota
there is the additional provision that where practicable the repre-
sentatives of the employers and employees are to. be elected.
Procedure under the subordinate wage boards is informal and
usually determined by the commissions. The members are not
paid except in California, where they receive $5 a day and
expenses, and in Massachusetts and Nebraska, where they are
paid at the same rate as jurors (in Nebraska, " jurors in the dis-
trict court"), including necessary expenses.
Operation of Subordinate Wage Boards. Upon the establish-
ment of a wage board for any industry the results of the initial
investigations of the parent commission are first transmitted to
the subordinate body which may at once conclude as to minimum
wage rates, or may demand further investigations. Additional
results are to be again laid before the board for consideration and
for determination as to what should be the minimum wage rate.
After agreements have been reached by the subordinate board as
to wages, hours or conditions of work, a report with recommenda-
tions must be made to the commission. The recommendations,
or a part of them, may be accepted by the commission or they
may be referred back to the wage board for further investigation,
or a new wage board may be convened.
As soon as the report of the wage board has been accepted by
the commission a public hearing must be held, preceded in Cali-
fornia and Massachusetts by fourteen days notice, in Oregon by
four weeks, and in Colorado and Nebraska by thirty days ; if
after public consideration no change is deemed necessary in the
recommendations they are promulgated as orders which become
effective after thirty days in Minnesota, Nebraska and Wis-
consin, and after sixty days in California, Colorado, Oregon and
Washington. But in California no order may be issued before
April 1, 1914. In Massachusetts the names of employers refus-
ing to accept the commission's findings may be published imme-
ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS. 185
diately. The commissions may in all states, except Wisconsin,
determine minimum wage rates for minors without the aid of
subordinate wage boards.
Copies of orders issued by a commission must in all cases be
forwarded to the employer concerned in the wage determination.
In most of the states the employer is required to post in a con-
spicuous place where women or minors are employed, copies of
all orders issued; and in California copies of orders must also
be filed with the Commissioner of Labor.
Application of Wage Determinations. Minimum wage rates
may apply either to time or to piece work, and in Minnesota
orders may be issued for a given locality or area. In Wisconsin
the Industrial Commission has power to classify industries for
the purpose of adjusting wage rates.
The commission in each state is authorized to make special
exemptions for defectives the old, crippled or those otherwise
physically incapacitated. This power applies only to women,
however, except in Wisconsin, where minors are also included.
In California exemption licenses for defectives may be renewed
every six months. Special licenses may also be issued to learners
and apprentices in all states except California and Colorado, and
in Oregon and Washington a time limit may be fixed for the
licenses of learners and apprentices.
In Wisconsin any minor in an occupation for which a living
wage has been established and which is a " trade industry " in-
volving mechanical skill and training, must, if he has acquired
no trade, be indentured in a " trade industry " as determined by
the Industrial Commission and as provided for in the statutes.
Any minor in Wisconsin not in a trade industry and who has no
trade, but is working in an industry for which a wage rate has
been established, is subject to the same regulations as are minors
between the ages of fourteen and sixteen under the child labor
law (an eight hour day, a six day week, and night work prohibited
between six at night and seven in the morning).
Rehearings. If any person objects to the rulings of the com 3
mission, rehearings may be granted upon the petition of any per-
186 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
son from either side, except in Colorado, where appeals lie direct
to the courts. In Minnesota a rehearing is mandatory upon the
request of one-fourth of the employers or employees in any occu-
pation in which a wage determination has heen made. In Wis-
consin no special provision has been made for rehearings but
procedure would be the same as in the case of other rehearings
under the Industrial Commission.
Enforcement and Penalties. - - The commissions, except in
Colorado, are specifically authorized to enforce all wage rulings.
In California and Washington no power is given to enforce rul-
ings concerning hours and conditions of work, these two subjects
falling directly within the authority of the State Labor Commis-
sioner. Penalties are provided in all states for an employer who
fails to pay the minimum wage or who violates any part of the
act or any of the commissions' rulings, and also for an employer
who discriminates against any employee who has testified before
the commission, or who is about to testify or who the employer
believes is about to testify. (1) These penalties, which are given
in detail in the table on page 24, range from $10 to $100
for a violation of the act, and from $25 to $1,000 for discrimina-
tion against any employee testifying before the commission. An
employee who has not been paid the required minimum wage rate
and who is entitled to it may recover in a civil action the unpaid
balance except in Massachusetts and Nebraska, where the enforce-
ment of the determinations establishing a minimum wage rate
differs from that in any of the other states, since in these two
instances alone recommendations cannot be issued as orders. In
these two states, when a minimum wage rate is agreed upon the
commission must publish its findings (after thirty days in
Nebraska) in a given number of papers throughout the state.
The publication also, in a specified number of newspapers, of the
names of those employers who refuse to pay the minimum rate
agreed upon is mandatory in Nebraska but merely optional in
Massachusetts. No publisher is liable to any action for damages,
except in case of wilful misrepresentation. Any publisher in
(1) See proposed amendment to this section of the Massachusetts Act, p. 201.
ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS. 187
either state refusing to print the names of such employers is sub-
ject to a fine of $100.
In these two states, also, an employer may appeal to the court
to have the commissions' rulings in his particular case set aside,
by filing a declaration under oath, in Nebraska that " compliance
with such decree would endanger the prosperity of the business ",
and in Massachusetts that compliance " would render it impos-
sible for him to conduct his business at a reasonable profit ". In
Nebraska court review is authorized under the rules of equity
procedure and if the court sustains the plaintiff it may issue
an order revoking the commission's rulings. In Massachusetts
the appeal is authorized in the supreme judicial court or the
superior court and the burden of proof is placed upon the com-
plainant. If, in Massachusetts, the court sustains the complain-
ant it may issue an order restraining the commission from pub-
lishing the name of the employer paying less than the minimum
agreed upon, but the court's order cannot apply to any employer
except the one entering complaint.
Court Review. In Minnesota, alone, no special provision for
court review is made. In all other states except Utah procedure
and the subjects for review are definitely specified. In Oregon
and Washington, only questions of law may be reviewed (1) ;
in addition, in California, the rulings of the commission may be
set aside only if they were secured by fraud or if the commission
acted without its powers; in Colorado and Wisconsin rulings may
be set aside if unreasonable or unlawful ; in Massachusetts if
compliance would prevent a " reasonable profit ", or in Nebraska
if compliance would be " likely to endanger the prosperity of the
business " ; cases may be brought against the commission only in
a superior court (see table on page 193). In most instances
the facts found by the commissions are presumed to be reasonable
and lawful and any new evidence must be referred back to the
commission for consideration.
(1) See court decision in case of Frank C. Stettler v. Edwin V. O'Hara,
Bertha Moores and Amedee M. Smith, constituting the Industrial Welfare
Commission of the State of Oregon, p. 260.
188 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
COMPAEATIVE TABLE OF AMERICAN MINIMUM
WAGE LAWS.
MAIN PROVISIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWS IN THE UNITED
STATES.
SUBSTANTIVE F ATURES.
STATE.
INDUSTRIES COVERED.
EMPLOYEES COVERED.
CALIFORNIA:
C. 324, Laws 1913.
In effect, August 10, 1913.
All.
Women, and minors under
18.
COLORADO :
C. 110, Laws 1913.
In effect, August 12, 1913.
Mercantile, manufactur-
ing, laundry, hotel,
restaurant, telephone
or telegraph.
Same as California.
MASSACHUSETTS :
C. 706, Laws 1912.
In effect, July 1, 1913.
Am'd Cs. 330, 673, L. 1913.
In effect, March 21, July 1, 1913.
All.
Same as California.
MINNESOTA:
C. 547, Laws 1913.
In effect, June 26, 1913.
All.
Women, and minors under
21.
NEBRASKA:
C. 211, Laws 1913.
In effect, July 17, 1913.
All.
Same as California.
OREGON:
C. 62, Laws 1913.
In effect, June 2, 1913.
All.
Same as California.
UTAH:
C. 63, Laws 1913.
In effect, May 13, 1913.
All.
"Females".
WASHINGTON :
C. 174, Laws 1913.
In effect, June 13, 1913.
All.
Same as California.
WISCONSIN :
C. 712, Laws 1913.
In effect, August 1, 1913.
All.
Women and minors.
ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS.
189
MAIN PBOVISIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWS IN THE UNITED
STATES (Continued).
SUBSTANTIVE FEATURES Continued.
STATE.
PRINCIPAL OF WAGE
DETERMINATION.
EXCEPTIONS FOR
DEFECTIVES.
EXCEPTIONS FOR
LEARNERS.
CALIFORNIA.
"Necessary cost of proper
living and to maintain
the health and welfare".
Special license, wo-
men only, renew-
able semi-annual-
ly.
None.
COLORADO.
"Necessary cost of living,
maintain them in health,
and supply the necessary
comforts of life" and
"financial condition of
the business".
Special license, wo-
men only.
None.
MASSACHUSETTS.
"Necessary cost of living
and to maintain the
worker in health" and
"financial condition of
the occupation".
Same as Colorado.
Special rates for
learners and ap -
prentices.
MINNESOTA.
"Wages sufficient to main-
tain the worker in health
and supply him with the
necessary comforts and
conditions of reasonable
life".
Special license, wo-
men only, limited
to 10 per cent of
employees in any
establishment.
Same as Massachu-
setts.
NEBRASKA.
Same as Massachusetts.
Same as Colorado.
Same as Massachu-
setts.
OREGON.
"Necessary cost of living
and to maintain the
workers in health".
Same as Colorado.
Same as Massachu-
setts.
UTAH.
Experienced adults, $1.25
a day, fixed by act.
None.
Females under 18, 75
cents a day; adult
learners and ap-
prentices, 90 cents
a day, fixed by act.
WASHINGTON.
Same as Oregon.
Same as Colorado.
Special license, with
time limit fixed by
commission .
WISCONSIN.
"A wage sufficient to main-
tain himself or herself
under conditions consis-
tent with his or her wel-
fare".
Special license, wo-
men and minors.
i
Minors in a "trade
industry" must be
indentured.
190
APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
MAIN PKOVISIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWS IN THE UNITED
STATES (Continued).
SUBSTANTIVE FEATURES (Concluded.')
STATE.
PENALTY:
1. FOR VIOLATION.
2. FOR DISCRIMINATION. 1
APPROPRIATION.
CALIFORNIA.
1. Minimum, $50, imprisonment for 30
days, or both; (and employee may sue
for wage balance). Applies to wage
rulings only.
2. A misdemeanor.
$15,000 annually.
COLORADO.
1. Maximum, $100, imprisonment for 3
months, or both; (and employee may
sue for wage balance).
2. For each offense, $25. .
$5,000 annually
MASSACHUSETTS.
1. Commission may publish name in news-
papers ($100 for newspapers refusing to
publish).
2. For each offense, $200-$!, 000.
$7,000 for 1913.
MINNESOTA.
1, 2. For each offense, $10-$50, or imprison-
ment for 10 to 60 days; (and employee
may sue for wage balance).
$5,000 annually.
NEBRASKA.
1. Commission must publish names in news-
papers ($100 for newspapers refusing to
publish).
2. For each offense, $25.
None.
OREGON.
1. $25-$100, imprisonment 10 days to 3
months, or both; (and employee may
sue for wage balance).
2. $25-$100.
$3,500 annually.
UTAH.
1. A misdemeanor.
No special provision.
WASHINGTON.
1. $25-$ 100; (and employee may sue for
wage balance).
2. For each offense, $25-$ 100.
$5,000 annually.
WISCONSIN.
1. For each offense, $10-$ 100.
2. For each offense, $25.
General for Industrial
Commission.
1 The penalty for discrimination is for the employer who "discharges or in any way dis
criminates against any employee because such employee has testified, or is about to testify
or because the employer believes that the employee may testify, in any investigation or pro-
ceeding" relative to the enforcement of the act.
ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS.
191
MAIN PROVISIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWS IN THE UNJTKD
STATES ( Continued) .
ADMINISTRATION CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE BODY.
STATE.
NAME.
PERSONNEL.
CALIFORNIA.
Industrial Welfare Commis-
sion.
5 persons, 1 a woman.
(May engage secretary and necessary
assistants).
COLORADO.
State Wage Board.
3 persons: 1 labor representative, 1
employer, 1 woman.
(May engage secretray).
MASSACHUSETTS.
Minimum Wage Commission.
3 persons, 1 a woman.
(May engage secretary).
MINNESOTA.
Minimum Wage Commission.
3 persons: commissioner of labor, 1
employer of women, 1 woman sec-
retary.
NEBRASKA.
Minimum Wage Commission.
4 persons: governor, deputy commis-
sioner of labor, professor of political
science in state university, 1 citizen
of state (la woman).
OREGON.
Industrial Welfare Commis-
sion.
3 persons: 1 representative of employ-
ing class, 1 of employed class, 1 of
public.
(May engage secretary).
UTAH.
Commissioner of Immigration,
Labor and Statistics.
WASHINGTON.
Industrial Welfare Commis-
sion.
5 persons: commissioner of labor, 4
disinterested citizens.
(May engage secretary).
WISCONSIN.
Industrial Commission.
3 persons.
(May engage assistants).
192
APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
MAIN PROVISIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWS IN THE UNITED
STATES (Continued).
ADMINISTRATION CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE BODY (Continued).
STATE.
APPOINTMENT AND
COMPENSATION.
INVESTIGATION.
INITIATION.
1. ORIGINAL INQUIRY.
2. REHEARINGS.
POWERS.
CALIFORNIA.
By governor, for 4
years.
$10 a day and ex-
penses.
1. By commission, or
upon petition.
2. By commission, or
upon petition of em-
ployers or employees.
Subpoena witnesses,
administer oaths,
examine books, en-
ter premises.
COLORADO.
By governor, for 2
years.
Expenses up to $1,300
annually ; secretary,
$1,200 annually.
1. By commission.
2. None provided.
Subpoena witnesses,
administer oaths,
examine books.
MASSACHUSETTS .
By governor, for 3
years.
$10 a day and ex-
penses.
1. Same as Colorado.
2. Upon petition of em-
ployers or employees.
Same as Colorado.
MINNESOTA.
Same as Colorado.
Expenses; secretary,
$1,800 annually.
1. By commission, or at
request of 100 em-
ployees.
2. By commission, or at
request of one-fourth
of the employers or
employees in an occu-
pation.
Same as Colorado.
NEBRASKA.
Same as Colorado.
Expenses.
1. Same as Colorado.
2. Same as Massachu-
setts.
Same as Colorado.
OREGON.
Same as Massachusetts .
Expenses.
1. Same as Colorado.
2. None provided.
Same as Colorado.
UTAH.
By governor, with con-
sent of senate, for 2
years.
$1,800 and $500 ex-
penses, annually.
WASHINGTON.
Same as California.
Expenses.
1. Same as Colorado.
2 Same as Massachusetts.
Same as Colorado.
WISCONSIN.
By governor, with con-
sent of senate, for 6
years.
$5,000 annually, and
expenses.
1. By commission, or
upon complaint.
2. No special provisions.
Same as California.
ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN LAWS.
193
MAIN PROVISIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWS IN THE UNITED
STATES (Continued).
ADMINISTRATION CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE BODY (Concluded).
STATE.
AUTHORITY :
1. To DETERMINE.
2. To ENFORCE.
COURT REVIEW:
1 . COURT
2. GROUNDS FOR SETTING ASIDE
RULING.
CALIFORNIA.
1. Minimum wages, maxi-
mum hours, and conditions
of labor. 2
2. Wage rulings, upon com-
plaint.
1. Superior court, on questions of law
only.
2. If procured by fraud or if the com-
mission acted outside its powers.
COLORADO.
1. Minimum wages.
1. District court on questions of law
only.
2. If unlawful or unreasonable.
MASSACHUSETTS.
1. Same as Colorado.
2. Its rulings (see "Penalty").
1. Supreme judicial court, or superior
court.
2. If compliance would prevent a "rea-
sonable profit".
MINNESOTA.
1. Same as Colorado.
2. The act.
None provided.
NEBRASKA.
1. Same as Colorado.
2. Same as Massachusetts.
1. District court.
2. If compliance "is likley to endanger
the prosperity of the business".
OREGON.
1 . Same as California.
2. All rulings.
1. Circuit court, on questions of law
only.
UTAH.
1. None.
2. Same as Minnesota.
None.
WASHINGTON.
1. Minimum wages and con-
ditions of labor.
2. Same as California.
1. Superior court, on questions of law
only.
WISCONSIN.
1. Minimum wages, maxi-
mum hours (C. 381, L.
1913), and conditions of
labor (C. 485. L. 1911).
2. Wage rulings, upon com-
plaint, other rulings
directly.
1. Circuit court, on questions of law
only.
2. If unlawful or unreasonable.
2 The California law is the only one which forbids the commission to act as a board of
arbitration during a strike or lockout.
194 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
MAIN PROVISIONS OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWS IN THE UNITED
STATES (Concluded}.
ADMINISTRATION SUBORDINATE BODY. 3
STATE.
NAME.
PERSONNEL.
APPOINTMENT AND
COMPENSATION.
CALIFORNIA.
Wage board.
Equal number representatives
of employers and em-
ployees, and a representa-
tive of the commission.
By commission's rules
(optional).
$5 a day and expenses.
COLORADO.
None.
MASSACHUSETTS .
Wage board.
At least 6 representatives of
employers, 6 of employees,
and one or more represen-
tatives of public.
By commission's rules
(only in case of women,
then mandatory) .
Same rate as jurors.
MINNESOTA.
Advisory
board .
3-10 representatives of em-
ployers, equal number of
employees, and 1 or more
representatives of public;
at least one-fifth women.
By commission's rules
election when practica-
ble; (optional).
None.
NEBRASKA.
Wage board.
At least 3 representatives of
employers, 3 of employees,
and the 3 appointed mem-
bers of the commission .
By commission (only in
case of women, then
mandatory)
Same as jurors in district
court.
OREGON.
Conference.
Not more than 3 representa-
tives of employers, 3 of em-
ployees, 3 of public and 1
or more commissioners.
By commission (only in
case of women, then
optional).
None.
UTAH.
None.
WASHINGTON.
Conference.
Equal number of representa-
tives of employers and em-
ployees, and 1 or more
representatives of public.
By commission's rules
(only in case of women,
then optional).
None.
WISCONSIN.
Advisory
wage board.
"So as fairly to represent em-
ployers, employees and the
public".
By commission (manda-
tory).
None.
3 In all cases the functions of the subordinate body are advisory only, its operations ere
confined to the industry in question, and its rules of procedure are determined by the com-
mission.
Reprinted by courtesy of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR LABOR LEGISLATION, 131 East
23rd Street, New York City.
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS. 195
4. OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS.
Although the majority of the minimum wage laws were in
effect by the summer of 1913, but little progress was made that
year in any state except Oregon, where minimum wage rates for
certain classes of industry were established as reprinted below.
In Colorado and Nebraska, as late as February, 1914, the com-
missions had not yet been appointed. In all other states, how-
ever, developments are so rapidly taking place thai at this time
it is safe only to make a preliminary statement concerning
methods and results.
Commissions in America began work along two different lines.
In one case the English and colonial method was followed,
whereby wage boards were created for each particular industry.
In the other case, one entire class of industries, as manufacturing
or mercantile establishments, was taken up as a whole. This
latter method was the one followed in Oregon, Washington and
Minnesota, while the former method was followed in Massachu-
setts and California. In Wisconsin the Industrial Commission
was given power to classify occupations and to appoint advisory
boards for each class when deemed necessary by the commission.
Oregon.
The Oregon Industrial Welfare Commission began its work
on June 3, 1913. It was the first of the state commissions to
organize. Previous to the enactment of the minimum wage law
an intensive investigation had been made into conditions of work
and wages of women and minors in Oregon. The commission
was prepared almost immediately, therefore, for wage conferences
in mercantile and manufacturing industries, and on August 5
issued the following first American minimum wage order to take
effect October 4, 1913:
Order No. 1.
1. No girl under the age of eighteen years shall be em-
ployed in any manufacturing or mercantile establishment,
millinery, dressmaking or hair dressing shop, laundry, hotel
or restaurant, telephone or telegraph establishment or office
196 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
in the State of Oregon more than eight hours and twenty
minutes during any one day or more than fifty (50) hours
in any one week.
2. No girl under the age of eighteen shall be employed
in any one of the above named occupations after the hour of
six o'clock P. M.
3. A minimum wage of one dollar ($1) a day shall be
established for girls between the ages of sixteen (16) and
eighteen (18) years, working in the above mentioned occu-
pations except as otherwise arranged by the Commission in
the cases of apprentices and learners.
On September 10 the Commission made the following second
order in regard to women in manufacturing establishments, to
take effect November 10, 1913 :
Order No. 2.
]STo person, firm, corporation or association owning or
operating any manufacturing establishment in the city of
Portland, Oregon, shall employ any women in said establish-
ment for more than nine hours a day, or fifty-four hours a
week; or fix, allow or permit for any woman employee in
said establishment a noon lunch period of less than forty-five
minutes in length ; or employ any experienced, adult, woman
worker, paid by time rates of payment, in said establishment
at a weekly wage of less than $8.64, any lesser amount being
hereby declared inadequate to supply the necessary cost of
living to such women factory workers, and to maintain them
in health.
The third order, issued September 23, applies to women in
mercantile establishments, and became effective November 23,
1913:
Order No. 3.
No person, firm or corporation owning or conducting any
mercantile establishment; in the city of Portland, Oregon,
shall pay to any experienced, adult woman worker a wage
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS. 197
less than nine dollars and twenty-five cents ($9.25) a week.
Nor shall any such person, firm, or corporation owning or
conducting any mercantile establishment in the city of Port-
land, Oregon, employ any woman worker in such mercantile
establishment more than eight (8) hours and twenty (20)
minutes in any day, and fifty (50) hours in any week, or
after the hour of six (6) o'clock in the afternoon of any day.
It was later found necessary to amend Order No. 3 by extend-
ing the closing hour from 6 p. M. to 8 p. M. for six months after
November 23, but five of the larger department stores complied
with the six o'clock closing rule after January 1, 1914. In view
of the fact that these orders established a working day of eight
hours and twenty minutes for minors in manufacturing establish-
ments while permitting a nine hour day for adult females, the
Commission issued the following notice:
PORTLAND, OREGON, September 17, 1913.
Notice is hereby given that in establishments where minors
are working together with adults, and the enforcement of
an eight hour and twenty minute maximum day for female
minors would cause them to be dismissed, this Commission
will receive application from the establishment for permit
allowing female minors to work the same hours as the adults
in the establishment in which minors are employed. Such
application should show that such hours are not excessive in
view of the work required.
INDUSTRIAL WELFARE COMMISSION.
The form of permit issued by the Commission is as follows :
PORTLAND, Oregon , 19. ..
The Industrial Welfare Commission of the State of Oregon
hereby permits the employment of female minors at
, located at , Oregon, for more than
(Name of Establishment)
eight hours and twenty minutes a day, but not to exceed nine
hours a day.
This permit may be cancelled at any time by the Commission
should it be shown that nine hours of employment a day is detri-
mental to the health of such female minor employees in view of
the character of the work they are called upon to perform.
, Secretary.
198 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
'In the meantime wage conferences had been held and infor-
mation had been secured on the subjects of the six-day week,
night work, and the length of time a woman worker may be
deemed to be inexperienced the period of apprenticeship or of
learning before she is entitled to receive the minimum wage.
On December 3d and 9th, respectively, 1913, the following orders
were issued:
Order No. 4.
(1) No person, firm, corporation or association shall
employ any experienced, adult woman in any office, or at
office work, in the city of Portland for more than fifty-one
hours in any week, nor at a wage rate of less than forty dol-
lars ($40.00) a month.
(2) The following classes of work are included under
this ruling as office work :
Stenographers, bookkeepers, typists, billing clerks, filing
clerks, cashiers (moving picture theatres, restaurants, amuse-
ment parks, ice cream stands, etc.), checkers, invoicers,
comptometer operators, auditors, and all kinds of clerical
work.
Said Order shall become effective from and after Feb-
ruary 2, 1914.
Order No. 5.
(1) No person, firm or corporation shall employ any
experienced, adult woman in any industry in the State of
Oregon, paid by time rate of payment, at a weekly wage rate
of less than eight dollars and twenty-five cents ($8.25) a
week, any lesser amount being hereby declared inadequate
to supply the necessary cost of living to such women workers
and to maintain them in health.
(2) Nor shall any such person, firm or corporation em-
ploy women in any industry in the State of Oregon for more
than fifty-four (54) hours a week.
(3) Nor shall any such person, firm or corporation pay
inexperienced, adult women workers employed by time rate
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS, 199
of payment, at a rate of wages less than six dollars ($6.00)
a week. And the maximum length of time such workers
may be considered inexperienced in any industry shall not
exceed one year.
(4) No person, firm or corporation owning or conduct-
ing any mercantile, manufacturing or laundry establishment
in the State of Oregon shall employ women workers in such
establishment later than the hour of eight-thirty (8:30)
o'clock p. M. of any day. This hour of dismissal does not
apply to telephone and telegraph companies, confectionery
establishments, restaurants and hotels.
Said Order shall become effective from and after Feb-
ruary 7, 1914.
The Oregon law was the first to be carried into the courts and
the favorable decision of the Supreme Court will be found on
p. 103.
California.
The California law fixed April 1, 1914, as the first date upon
which determinations might become effective, but investigations
were undertaken earlier by industries as in Massachusetts, and
preliminary conferences were held in order to interest and inform
the employers. In California the Commission has authority to
fix maximum hours, minimum wages and conditions of work.
The industries first selected for standardizing were laundries,
retail stores, confectionery manufacture, and the canneries.
Massachusetts.
In January, 1912, the Massachusetts Commission, authorized
the previous year to study the wages of women and minors and
to advise as to the need of minimum wage legislation, made a
report on investigations of conditions in the confectionery in-
dustry, retail stores and laundries. When the permanent wage
commission began its work on July 1, 1913, it undertook investi-
gations into the small brush-making industry, and into the larger
corset and confectionery industries.
200 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
The brush-making investigation was the first to be completed
and a wage board was formed. In arranging for this first wage
board the Commission said : " It was the policy of the Commis-
sion to appoint the members of the wage board in such a way that
it might be as widely representative as possible. To this end,
every manufacturer in the state was asked to make nominations.
Nominations were also called for from the workers and efforts
were made to secure representatives from the different groups
and nationalities among them. The invitations to make nomina-
tions were responded to in two cases by the manufacturers, in
each of which, appointments followed, and in three cases by the
workers, as a result of which two appointments were made.
Although the manufacturers failed to make a sufficient number
of nominations to constitute their representation, they were
nevertheless (with a single exception) ready to accept appoint-
ment. The workers were likewise willing to serve, but some of
them labored under a serious handicap in their apprehension that
their activities upon the board might affect the tenure of their
positions. The Commission is glad to say that in the main this
apprehension proved without foundation. Aside from the protec-
tion afforded by the statute itself, the co-operation on the part of
employers which has been mentioned in connection with the
gathering of information was conspicuous here also. That there
should have been one apparent exception is not surprising, though
regrettable. That there should have been only one, is a tribute
to the good sense . and public spirit of the employers in this
industry and is matter for congratulation. In the one instance,
however, two workers who were appointed to the wage board were
t laid off ' immediately after their appointment. This apparent
defiance of the letter and spirit of the statute is now receiving
the attention of the Commission."
An attempt to prevent such occurrences was made through a
proposed amendment to the present law. This amendment
(H. 74, 1914) placed a penalty upon employers who discriminate
against any employee who serves upon a wage board, and also
gave the Commission final power in selecting members of wage
boards. The amendment to section four provided that :
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS, 201
" The Commission shall have absolute and final power in
determining who shall be members of any wage board, and
may fill any vacancy in the membership of any wage board
at any time occurring. In selecting the members to repre-
sent the female employees in any occupation, the Commis-
sion shall, so far as it deems practicable, ascertain what per-
sons are desired by said female employees as the representa-
tives of said female employees on said board ; and similarly
in its selection of members to represent the employers it
shall, so far as it deems practicable, ascertain what persons
are desired by said employers as their representatives ".
The amendment to section thirteen provided a penalty of $200
to $1,000 for an employer who discharged or discriminated
against any employee who has served
"or is about to serve upon a wage board, or has given or is
about to give information concerning the conditions of such
employee's employment, or because the employer believes
the employee may testify, or may serve upon a wage board,
or may give information concerning conditions of the.
employee's employment ".
In describing the activities of the commission, the first
annual report states that
" During the six months of the commission's activity,
from July 1, 1913, to January 1, 1914, investigations have
been made into the wages of women employees in three
industries, the brush industry, the corset industry, and the
confectionery industry, (1) and have been begun in other
industries. The industries were chosen on account of the
large proportion of women workers -among the employees
and the low level of wages indicated by such available
material as the reports of the Bureau of Statistics, especially
Manufactures 1911, and various other special reports. In
(1) The analysis of the data concerning the confectionery industry has not
yet been complied, consequently the results are not available for the present
report.
202 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
the case of brushes and corsets, a study was made of every
establishment within the State which employs women, in so
far as the names and locations of such establishments could
be ascertained.
" The Commission has held it of first importance to inform
itself to the fullest possible extent regarding the elements
of the labor contract; the wages paid and the corresponding
occupations and hours. A transcript of the pay roll for the
past fifty-two weeks was taken by agents of the commission
for all female employees. Where the earnings are deter-
mined by piece rates, a schedule of such rates for the various
occupations in each establishment was secured. Books were
defective or in such condition that only partial records were
obtainable in a small number of cases, but on the whole the
pay rolls appeared to be accurately kept. In all, wage
records for the fifty- two weeks preceding the investigations
were taken for 6,926 women employees, 837 of these for
brush workers, 2,388 for women employed in the corset
factories and 3,701 for women at work on candy. For a
large number of these, personal data regarding age, birth-
place, family and living conditions was also obtained. In
addition, a careful study was made of each process in which
women are engaged, whether performed by hand or machine.
"According to analysis of the results of the separate indus-
tries, a considerable number of women workers are receiving
a wage which is inadequate to supply them with the neces-
saries of life. Almost exactly two-thirds of the brush
workers for whom wage records were available received an
average for the year of less than $6 a week. A smaller pro-
portion of corset workers, 35.5 per cent., received less than
$6 a week. The sum named is lower than the minimum
amounts usually named as necessary to maintain a normal,
healthy existence for women workers.
" In connection with these statements, however, the failure
of many employers to keep records of the number of hours
worked must be taken into consideration. In both the brush
and corset industries, records of hours worked were avail-
able for only a small proportion of the employees, and in
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS. 203
many cases for only a few weeks immediately preceding the
investigation. The statement is made by certain manufac-
turers that not only do a large number of the employees
work for only part time, but also that failure to work for
full time is due, not to lack of work in the factory, but to
choice on the part of the workers. Consequently the amount
received at the end of the week is frequently smaller than
the sum which the workers might have earned had they been
employed for full time. The work of the commission has
been handicapped to some extent by this defect in the
records, since the average earnings and the length of the
average week could be related in so small a proportion of
cases. Fortunately such difficulties will be lessened after
the present year, owing to the passage of the law requiring
employers of labor in manufacturing and mercantile estab-
lishments to keep time books showing the number of hours
worked by all employees each day.(l)
" With very few exceptions, the manufacturers have
shown the fullest co-operation and have facilitated in every
way the work of the commission and its agents. The com-
mission wishes to make acknowledgement of the many cour-
tesies which have been extended by manufacturers and their
representatives.
" It has been the endeavor of the commission to carry on
its study with the least possible disturbance to the indus-
tries, consistent with its purpose to inform itself thoroughly
as to the facts of the wage situation."
Minnesota.
In Minnesota the commission began its work by investigating
mercantile and manufacturing establishments, following the
method adopted in Oregon. The preliminary investigation into
mercantile establishments was completed in January, 1914, and
a wage board was formed, consisting of twenty-five members
ten employers from the larger department stores of Minneapolis
and St. Paul, ten representatives of employees and five repre-
(1) C. 619, Acts of 1913.
204: APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
sentatives of the public. Early in January on a Sunday after-
noon a large mass meeting of employees, followed by a luncheon,
was held in the state capitol at St. Paul to interest and instruct
the workers in regard to the operation of the law.
By the first of March the board had held four meetings and
had appointed four committees, one to determine tht; cost of board
and lodging; one to determine the cost of clothing; one to deter-
mine the period of apprenticeship; and one to determine what
should be included" under miscellaneous expenses.
The investigation into manufacturing industries was next
undertaken by the commission, and a wage board brought
together. The commission, for the most part, secured its infor-
mation concerning wages received and the cost of living by cir-
culating among employees blanks which were returned to the
commission when filled out. Information concerning wages paid
was secured from employers who furnished copies of their
pay-rolls. (1)
Upon the formation of the first wage board (for mercantile
industries) the board requested from the attorney-general his
opinion on the following list of questions:
Whereas, It is not entirely clear what powers and duties
the commission or ourselves as an advisory board have,
or by what methods we shall proceed, in the matter of fixing
a living wage, and it is advisable in order that time may be
saved and we may do our work speedily and to the best
advantage that we be advised upon those matters at once;
Now, therefore, be it resolved that we request the com-
mission to submit the following questions to the attorney-
general for his answer in writing so that we may have them
before us for our guidance in our work.
1. Must not the commission fix a minimum wage in the
" occupation " for the entire state at one time ? It is
claimed by some that the action of the commission must be
with reference to and for the entire state, though in fixing
(1) In an eighty-four page pamphlet, issued February 2, 1914, Home G.
Brown, of Minneapolis, attacked the practicability and constitutionality of
the Minnesota law.
OPERATION OF AMKIIICAN LAWS. 205
the actual minimum it may vary the minimum in different
parts of the state; but though the minimum may differ in
various parts of the state they must all be fixed at the same
time and as part of the same investigation and proceeding.
Answer No.
In other words, can the commission investigate the mini-
mum wage in any " occupation " and act upon it within a
district less in extent than the entire state? Answer Yes.
2. Section 5 provides that the commission shall establish
a minimum rate of wages for an " occupation " after care-
ful investigation, the commission is of opinion the wages
paid to one-sixth or more of the women or minors employed
therein are less than living wages. Can the commission fix
a minimum wage unless upon such investigation they find
that at least one-sixth of the women or minors employed in
the " occupation " within the state are receiving less than
living wages ? Answer No.
Must they find that one-sixth or more of the women are
receiving less than living wages before they can fix mini-
mum wages for women, and that one-sixth or more of the
minors employed in the " occupation " throughout the state
are receiving less than living wages before they can fix the
minimum wage for minors ? Answer No.
Or, can they consider women and minors as belonging to
the same class and fix minimum wages for each if they find
one-sixth of the aggregate number of women and minors are
receiving less than living wages ? Answer Yes.
Must the commission fix a minimum for both women and
minors in the " commission ", if they fix a minimum for
either? Can the minimum fixed for women differ in
amount from that fixed for minors in the same " occupa-
tion " and, if so, on what basis must the difference be fixed?
Answer Yes. Respective cost of living of the two.
Can the commission fix a different minimum for male and
female minors in the same " occupation " ? Answer No.
206 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
3. What is an apprentice or learner? (This question is
answered by paragraph 6 of section 20 of the act itself.) By
what rule shall the commission determine what is an appren-
tice, and what is a learner? (See above answer.)
Must the minimum for apprentices be the same as for
ordinary workers? Answer Yes. (See paragraph 7,
section 20 of the law.) If not, on what basis must the com-
mission fix the minimum for apprentices, if the cost of living
is to determine the wage?
4. Must the commission make the minimum apply to all
classes without regard to the necessity of the class or of the
individual in the class ? Answer That depends upon
facts and applies to all as denned in paragraph 8, section 20
of the law. By what rule, if any, is the commission to deter-
mine what is necessary to maintain the worker in health,
and what are the necessary comforts and conditions of rea-
sonable life? Answer -This is by ascertaining the mini-
mum cost of living.
Can the minimum wage be varied or fixed, having in mind
the ability of the employer to pay the wage, and having in
mind the necessity of the employee to contribute to the sup-
port of a family or others dependent? Answer The
attorney-general concluded the commission had nothing to
do with this matter.
Must not the wage be fixed solely with reference to the
actual needs of the employee of ordinary ability for a decent
livelihood for the employee alone, without allowing anything
to enable the employee to contribute to the support of a
dependent, and without allowing anything for education or
amusement or for clothing or housing beyond that which will
afford a minimum of comfort and amusement. (See sub-
division 1, paragraph 1, section 20, of the law.)
Can the commission in fixing a minimum wage allow any-
thing off or in reduction because of the advantages, educa-
tional or otherwise, which the employee gets from the par-
ticular employment ? Answer Probably not.
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS. 207
5. In case the commission should promulgate a wage
rate which was unsatisfactory to some employer or em-
ployers, could the employer so objecting be compelled to
comply? Answer Yes. I think that the mere fact that
the rate was not satisfactory to some employer would not
excuse him from complying.
Would a rate fixed by the commission in the manner pro-
vided by the Minnesota Minimum Wage Statute be enforc-
ible ? Answer Yes.
May we not expect that the court would hold it unenforc-
ible ? Answer ISTo. The right to rule upon this is left
for the courts.
[In regard to the first two questions asked : " Must not-
the commission fix a minimum wage in the ' occupation '
for the entire state at one time ? In other words, can the
commission investigate the minimum wage in any ' occupa-
tion ' and act upon it within a district less in extent than
the entire state " - these questions were taken up in confer-
ence by the attorney-general and the six assistants, and it was
the unanimous opinion of the department that the acts of the
commission must be state wide and it must be all done at
one time.]
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.
1. The first point is can a minimum wage per week
be divided into half time, time by the day, or time by the
hour ? Answer I think " yes."
2. Can an employer offset against a minimum wage the
value of instruction given to an apprentice or learner?
Answer ~No.
3. When a business is so conducted that the branches of
an ordinary trade are exercised within the business plant,
does the minimum wage in that business control all em-
ployees, or does the minimum wage apply in the occupations
which are grouped together in such business? Answer To
the group.
208 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
Utah.
The Utah law, the only flat-rate measure enacted, provides for
the payment of a minimum of seventy-five cents a day for females
under eighteen, ninety cents for adult learners and apprentices,
and one dollar and twenty-five cents a day for female adults. The
law became effective May 13, 1913, and the following statement,
under date of January 20, 1914, from the Commissioner of Im-
migration, Labor and Statistics, who enforces the act, is of par-
ticular interest:
" Our office has investigated some two hundred or more
cases of alleged violations of the minimum wage law since
May 13, 1913, which have had any merit and a number that
had not. We knew that it was the prime object of the law
makers to secure for the girls and women affected an increase
of wages and in enforcing the law we have always endeavored
to look after the interests of the employees first. For this
reason, where we find violations, we first give the employers
an opportunity to make good to their employees any shortage
of wages between what they had been paying and what they
were legally required to pay. In some cases, we have secured
to a single employee as high as $57 in back wages. The
employers preferred to pay this money rather than stand
trial with the liability of paying a heavy fine and costs of
prosecution, besides the ignominy of being cheap men. In
the above manner, we have collected over $6,000 in back pay
to employees and up to the present time we have had to
bring four prosecutions, three of which we have won and one
is still pending."
Writing late in 1913, the same commissioner said:
" The minimum wage law for females went into effect in
Utah on May 13th of the present year. About a month prior
to the law's becoming effective, copies were sent to every
known employer of female labor within the state with a
notification that on and after the date of its effectiveness,
the law would be strictly enforced.
iox OF AMERICAN LAWS, 209
"Approximately, there are 11,500 female workers em-
ployed in professional and business offices, stores, factories,
mills and laundries in our state, not including canning estab-
lishments, where the periods of operation are from, one to
four months only. About 7,000 of these workers are em-
ployed in Salt Lake City. About 6 per cent, of the female
employees, prior to the operation of this law, were under
eighteen years of age. Approximately 10 per cent, of 'the
total number of women workers came under that classifica-
tion of our law classed as adult learners and apprentices
with less than one year's experience in the line of work
which they are at present engaged in.
" The principal businesses affected by the law are the mer-
cantile, candy, knitting, paper box and overall factories, the
woolen mills, laundries, millineries, hotels and telephone
companies.
" Of the employees under eighteen years of age, consti-
tuting about 6 per cent, of the 11,500, a majority were
employed as cash girls and wrappers in the department
stores and received about $4 per week, a few less. The
minimum wage raised the wages of this class to $4.50 per
week. A number of the department stores supplanted cash
girls with cash boys whom they pay $4 a week or $18 per
month. Many millinery stores that were paying girl appren-
tices from $2.50 to $5 per week also weeded out those who
were the least proficient. In the knitting, candy, paper box
and overall factories, and woolen mills where the piece sys-
tem is in vogue, a few girls were discharged who could not
reach the minimum wage in their respective classes named
in our law. This number, however, was not over 3 per cent,
of the whole number employed therein.
" In the inexperienced adult class, those women over
eighteen years of age with less than one year's experience
as sales ladies or as apprentices in millinery stores and fac-
tories, were affected to a considerable extent. The law
requires that this class shall be paid not less than ninety
cents per day. Many within this classification were drawing
210 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
about the same wage as was paid inexperienced girls who
were under eighteen years of age. In some cases, the older
girls in the ninety cents per day class were no better sales
ladies than their younger sisters. Of this class, constituting
10 per cent, of the female employees in our state, as stated
above, the wages of about 3 per cent, were raised to meet
the minimum wage.
" While the law did not become effective until May 13th,
many of the employers who pay monthly or semi-monthly,
voluntarily caused the law to become effective on May 1st.
In a number of businesses, the employees who were not con-
sidered as possessing the necessary efficiency were notified
that it was up to them to ' make good ' in order to retain
their employment and the probationary period was fixed at
from two to four weeks.
"As a whole, it seems to be the concensus of opinion of
employers that the law has increased efficiency to an appre-
ciable extent. Perhaps not more than 5 per cent, of the
whole number of female employees were discharged because
of this law going into effect and many of those who lost their
employment found employment in other like establishments
or in other lines.
"About the time the law became effective, our department
was called upon by a number of business concerns to deter-
mine what generally would be considered a year's experience
as expressed in our law. They were informed that any girl
or woman who had worked in any kind of store as a sales
girl or sales woman for the period of one year or more, or
who had worked as an apprentice in a millinery establish-
ment or as a laundry girl, telephone girl or in a factory or
mill for a like period, would be considered as ' experienced '
in their respective avocations.
" Some of the department stores claim that they experi-
enced considerable difficulty with employees coming to them
from small country stores and the five and ten cent city
stores. This class of employees are eighteen years old and
over and have had a year's or more experience. Employers
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS. 211
are required to pay this class of girls or women not less than
the minimum wage of $1.25 per day and have found that
others of their older employees who are working as minors
and { inexperienced ' are more efficient. This fact is soon
manifested in a way that touches their pocket books, for the
reason that the smaller paid help are soon at the elbows of
their employers asking for an increase of wages with the
plea that they are better or fully as efficient as the higher
paid employees with a country or small store experience.
" The law has had a tendency to drive out the little errand
girl in some establishments who was drawing from $2.50 to
$3.50 per week and whose tenure of employment was oft-
times a semi-charitable one.
" Compared with many other western states of equal and
some of greater population, the wage scales of this state for
both male and female labor are quite high and our newly
inaugurated minimum wage law was instrumental in increas-
ing the wages of but a small per cent, (possibly ten) of our
working girls and young women. In our laundries, girls
were generally paid from $6 to $7 per week and now they
are paid $7.50 per week. In the department stores, the
wage was from $4 to $25 and in the millinery establishments
from $2.50 to $25 per week. Apprentices in the millinery
establishments must now be paid $4.50 per week or else be
permitted to work under instruction for absolutely no wage,
in which condition the relationship of employer and em-
ployee is not established.
" Thirty dollars a month or one dollar per day was the
general wage of chamber maids in many European hotels
and rooming houses. Now it must be $1.25 per day for six
days a week where neither board nor lodging is furnished.
"As a whole, I think the law a fairly good one and have
yet to learn where it is causing any considerable amount of
oppression or injustice to anyone. Some small establish-
ments, like country printing offices, that employed female
apprentices at a wage of from $3 to $4 per week for the first
year, claim that they cannot afford to pay $7.50 per week
for such help during the second year.
212 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
" In no establishment of the state, coming under our
notice, that employs any considerable number of females,
has the pay roll been increased over 5 per cent. I believe
that the average is between two and three per cent.
" The law has the tendency to equalize the wages of the,
inexperienced and the near experienced. I believe that it
increases efficiency and what is of equal and greater import-
ance will having a growing tendency to secure to competent
women a living wage.' 7
Washington.
In the fall of 1913 the Washington commission began a series
of informal conferences with employers and employees and issued
a series of " questionaires " to secure information concerning the
cost of living and the rate of wages paid in the state.
Considerable difference of opinion has existed in Washington
over the application of the law with reference to apprentices.
The law provides that :
" For any occupation in which a minimum rate has been
established, the commission through its secretary may issue
to an apprentice in such class of employment or
occupation as usually requires to be learned by apprentices,
a special license authorizing the employment of such licenses
for a wage less than the legal minimum wage."
On this point the former secretary of the commission said :
" " Two points of difference have arisen over the interpre-
tation of this clause: (1) Whether the issuance of appren-
ticeship permits be obligatory or optional with the commis-
sion ; (2) whether or not a period of apprenticeship does in
fact exist in mercantile establishments and laundries. * *
" Out of 2,688 employees reporting their length of service
to the commission, 51.6 per cent, had been employed at the
place where they were then working for less than one year.
For laundries the percentage rose to 54.8 and for mercantile
establishments to 53.9.
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS. 213
" Many of these employees, however, were receiving high
wages and presumably had worked elsewhere. Let us there-
fore take only those employees receiving less than $9 per
week those for whose benefit, quite evidently, the law was
enacted. Of the 1,519 employees receiving less than $9 per
week who made report, one-third (32.3 per cent.) had
worked for less than three months, one-half (51.2 per cent.)
for less than six months, and more than two- thirds (68.7
per cent.) for less than one year. These percentages are
lower than would be the case for mercantile establishments
and laundries alone. It must also be considered that only
women who were at work at the time of investigation are
included. Could the many others who had worked for a few
weeks or months and dropped out within the preceding year
be included, the percentages would be materially raised.
" Employers themselves admit this rapid flux in their
labor force. On page 81 of the minutes of hearings by the
Industrial Welfare Commission will be found the statement
of a laundryman that i 60 to 90 days eliminates a crew
completely.' '
Early in April the conference on mercantile establishments,
created in March, recommended to the commission a minimum
wage of $10 a week for all females over 18 years of age. A public
hearing was held on April 13 and this wage rate was adopted by
the commission. The much discussed question of rules for ap
prentices was left to the discretion of the commission itself.
Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin a thorough-going investigation was made into the
cost of living for women and minors. Proprietors of lodging
and boarding houses were visited in order to discover prices and
the quality of the board and lodging furnished; estimates were
also secured on the cost of clothing, laundry service, doctors' bills,
amusements and other items of expense; and individual schedules
for more than 12,000 working girls were secured. Informal con-
ferences were also held with the manufacturers. At these confer-
ences the need of uniformity in legislation not only between
states but also between nations was urged.
214 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
Selection of Representatives of Employers and Employees.
It is the theory of both the English and American acts that, in
order to secure fair consideration for both points of view, and the
greatest degree of democracy in the operation of these measures,
representatives of employers and employees should be elected by
their respective groups. In the case of employers this was not
found impossible in England after the act had become well under-
stood. In the case of the employees, however, experience is quite
different. The act was intended to apply to that group which is
least capable of taking care of itself. This in itself implies the
unorganized. To hastily bring together an unacquainted and
untried group and to trust to them the selection of representatives
for wage boards was to endanger the effectiveness of the admin-
istrative machinery. Qualities necessary for successful bargain-
ing are absence of fear either of employers' blacklisting or of
employees' taunts in case of compromise. Experience in debate
and a knowledge of the industry under consideration and of legal
rights are also important qualifications.
Reporting upon British experience, to the International Asso-
ciation for Labor Legislation in September, 1912, Constance
Smith said :
" The chain-making board is the only board which has,
so far, been constituted by direct election of representatives
by employers and workers in meeting assembled. In the
other three cases the procedure was by Board of Trade
nomination from lists sent up by the two parties."
In the United States, in bringing together representatives of
employees, conditions in the different states have called for
varying methods of selection. One state reports :
" We have had great difficulty in selecting employees to
represent the working girls. The only board appointed so
far the mercantile advisory board has four dry goods
clerks serving on it. The other six representatives of the
employees are club women. I felt compelled to appoint these
women because the employees are in no position to safe-
guard their own rights and we do not want to run any chance
OPERATION OF AMERICAN LAWS. 215
of a girl losing her position. I have decided that it is prac-
tically impossible to put working girls on the board, unless
they have gotten out of the industrial world. We selected
both the representatives of the employers and the employees
because we found that neither class wished to select their
own representatives."
Another state with longer experience in selecting representa-
tives reports:
" Our method was purely by acquaintance. In some
instances we had a difficult time to secure girls who were
intelligent, independent of speech, sufficiently experienced
and securely enough placed in their positions not to fear
dismissal. Our law does not require the representatives of
the employee to be at present employed so that in two
instances I secured young women who had recently been
married. In the conference on mercantile store work we
were fortunate enough to have one employer who approves
entirely of the commission and whose employee representing
the employees could speak fearlessly. Even with all this
care we found the girls somewhat timid when in conference.
As you probably know our law provides for a fine in case of
dismissal of an employee for testifying. While we realize
that this might be a check on the employer, we know also
that he could advance many excuses for having dismissed a
girl other than that she had testified against him. Then, too,
we did not feel that if a woman had had experience, for
example, in factory work, but was at the time engaged in
laundry work, that she was not eligible to the factory confer-
ence for this reason; one of our factory representatives had
had nearly two years' experience in a factory but was at
present engaged in a laundry. Perhaps our freedom in
selecting representatives of the employees helped us out
somewhat. * * * At best it is difficult to get satisfactory
representatives." (See also Massachusetts, p. 200.)
216 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
5. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.
A constitutional amendment specifically permitting the enact-
ment of laws regulating hours and wages was adopted by the
people of Ohio at the constitutional convention in 1912. A
similar form of amendment was passed by the legislature of
California in 1913 to be voted upon by the people in 1914.
The Ohio amendment provides that:
" Laws may be passed fixing and regulating the hours of
labor, establishing a minimum wage and providing for the
health, safety and general welfare of all employees, and no
provision of the constitution shall impair or limit this
power."
Under the authority of this provision the Ohio Minimum Wage
League framed the following proposed law :
" To provide for a Minimum of Compensation for Labor,
Work or Services."
Be it enacted ~by the People of the State of Ohio: Sec-
tion 1. The Governor of the State of Ohio shall, on the first
day of January, the first day of April, the first day of July,
and the first day of October, in each year, compile, or cause
to be compiled, an estimate of the cost of living per day, per
family of two adults and four minor children, in the cities
of the State of Ohio, fewest in number, containing a major-
ity of the people of the State. Said cost of living shall
include rent of a six-room sanitary house with small garden ;
plain food, consisting of meats, vegetables, cereals, and
pastries ; clothing ; insurance against sickness of the family ;
a sum sufficient to provide for the old age of the parents,
and a sum sufficient to provide against the ordinary hazard
of non-employment of the father.
Section 2. Within thirty days thereafter the Governor
shall publish said estimate once each week for three succes-
sive weeks in three newspapers of general circulation in
Franklin county, and upon the final publication of same said
estimate of the cost of living shall constitute and be the
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. 217
minimum wage or rate per day of eight Lours at which con-
tracts or agreements may be made for the performance of or
payment for the labor, work or services of any person of the
age of eighteen years during the time that said estimate is
in effect.
Section 3. The minimum wage or rate at which contracts
or agreements may be made for the performance of or pay-
ment for the labor, work or services of persons under the
age of eighteen years shall be three-fourths of said estimate
of the cost of living.
Section 4. In any action brought upon any contract
for labor, work or services, the amount recoverable shall
not be less than the minimum wage, any contract, agree-
ment, stipulation, settlement, or compromise to the contrary
notwithstanding.
The proposed California amendment provides that:
' The legislature may, by appropriate legislation, provide
for the establishment of a minimum wage for women and
minors and may provide for the comfort, health, safety and
general welfare of any and all employees. ]STo provision of
this constitution shall be construed as a limitation upon the
authority of the legislature to confer upon any commission
now or hereafter created, such power and authority as the
legislature may deem requisite to carry out the provisions
of this section."
The Socialist party of California drafted the following
measure which provides for a flat-rate minimum for all workers:
Minimum, Wage Act
To be Circulated With Initiative Petitions by the Socialist
Party of California in 1914.
The following preamble accompanies the bill on the
petitions :
Whereas: Repeated investigation into the cause of crime
among men and prostitution among women has demonstrated
218 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
that one of the principal causes for both is the employment
of working people at less than a decent living wage, and
Whereas: The mass emigration of large numbers of
working people from Europe through the Panama Canal,
who are accustomed to a lower standard of living, will
greatly endanger our present standard of living,
Therefore, It becomes necessary to set by law an amount
below which the competition of these immigrants shall not
lower our standard of living in the interest of public safety.
An Act to amend the Penal Code by adding a new section
thereto to be numbered 313%, providing a minimum wage
and conditions of employment for employees and providing
a penalty for violation of this act.
The People of California do enact as follows:
~No employer shall employ, or require or permit any super-
intendent, foreman, or other agent to employ, any person for
less than subsistence.
For the purposes of this act the following is determined a
subsistence wage: For all persons between the ages of
eighteen and sixty years, not less than two dollars and fifty
cents per diem.
For all minor children under eighteen years of age, not
less than one dollar and fifty cents per diem.
The employer may pay part of the wages in board and
lodging, but must contract for both or none thereof, and no
more than seventy cents per diem shall be deducted therefor.
Any person, copartnership, or corporation violating any
of the provisions of this act is guilty of a misdemeanor, and
shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars, nor
more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the
county jail for not less than one, nor more than six months,
or both such fine and imprisonment.
FOREIGN LEGISLATION NEW ZEALAND. 219
II. FOREIGN LEGISLATION AND RECOMMENDA-
TIONS.
NEW ZEALAND.
In Australasia, the original home of minimum wage legisla-
tion, there exist two different types of laws. One type, initiated
in New Zealand in 1894 and later followed by New South Wales,
Western Australia and by the Australian Commonwealth where
disturbances extend beyond state lines, is aimed primarily at the
settlement of trade disputes strikes, lockouts, or any question
involving hours of labor, rates of wages or conditions of work.
The other type, initiated in Victoria, in 1896, and later followed
by South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, is aimed at the
evils of the sweating system underpaid labor, exhausting
hours of toil and unhealthful conditions of work.(l)
In attempting to utilize Australasian experience for our
American situation it must be remembered that New Zealand is
a country about the combined size of .New York, Pennsylvania
and Massachusetts, with a population of a little .over a million ;
Victoria is less than the combined area ^o^J^sPew York and Penn-
sylvania, with a population of abdiFone million and one-third.
New Zealand's three or four large cities range from fifty to one
hundred thousand, while Victoria has only one industrial city
with a half-million population.
The beginning of minimum wage legislation occurred in New
Zealand in the year 1894, when Parliament passed the Industrial
Conciliation and Arbitration Act which became effective one year
later. Since this class of legislation bears but little resemblance
to the minimum wage measures under consideration in America,
being aimed primarily at the settlement of trade disputes, only a
brief statement of the main features is necessary. This law
( 1 ) In most of the Australasian states a flat-rate minimum wage is estab-
lished by law. This rate is usually very low and is intended to protect prin-
cipally children, learners and apprentices.
220 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
operates through a permanent industrial commissioner who is
provided for each industrial district and to whom requests may
be sent for intervention in any dispute; two or three representa-
tives of the employers and of the employees are appointed from
lists sent in by each group; and these representatives, together
with the commissioner, who presides and directs but has
no vote, form a Council of Conciliation. If this council
fails to bring the two contending parties to an agreement
the case goes to the Arbitration Court where the decision is final.
This court is composed of one Supreme court judge holding office
for life and two members nominated by employees and employ-
ers ( 1 ) . The general principle of this measure, up to the point of
the establishment of the Arbitration Court, has been followed in
the Canadian Industrial Disputes Act of 1907 ; but in Canada, the
board of investigation and conciliation, when no agreement is
reached, may only publish its findings.
VICTORIA.
Based upon a point of view quite unlike that underlying the
New Zealand legislation, the Victorian Wage Boards Law, enacted
in 1896, was aimed directly at the evils of sweating, particularly
among home workers. This law makes no attempt to interfere
in case of trade disputes and is in general principle similar to
our American acts. ISTo permanent body is provided as in
America but wage boards for any trade may be called into exist-
ence at any time by a resolution adopted by both houses of parlia-
ment. Employers and employees must then send in their nomina-
tions "to the Minister of Labor who makes a selection of from
four to ten members for the special board, which elects its own
chairman and secretary. If agreements are reached the findings
are laid before the Minister of Labor who, if he approves them,
causes them to be gazetted and they become law not sooner than
thirty days thereafter. If employers and employees cannot come
to an agreement, the chairman may cast a deciding vote. If the
Minister of Labor considers the determinations unfair or unwise
(1) For a statement as to the rulings of the judges, see Judicial Interpre-
tations of the Minimum Wage in Australia, by Prof. M. B. Hammond, the
American Economic Review, June, 1913.
FOREIGN LEGISLATION -- VICTORIA. 221
he may suspend the order for six months and then send it back
to the board for reconsideration. If no change is authorized, the
suspension is revoked. In case the Minister of Labor, or a
majority of either party concerned, is not satisfied with the deter-
minations, or if 25 per cent, of the employees of the trade, or an
employer or group of employers of 25 per cent, of the employees
concerned, are dissatisfied, they may apply for a Court of Indus-
trial Appeals, which is composed of one of the judges of the
Supreme Court, who has the final decision in the case. From
September, 1910, to December, 1912, only ten cases had been
appealed to this court.
In all instances the special boards may summon witnesses,
examine records, books or pay-rolls, and may conduct special
investigations. In an earlier form of the law the basis of deter-
mining wage rates was specified as the standard of the " reputable
employer " in the trade under consideration. This was later
stricken out, and the basis now often used is " the normal needs
of the average employee regarded as a human being living in a
civilized community." The determinations of the boards are
enforced by the Minister of Labor and the Factory Inspection
Department. Of the first thirty-eight boards established eleven
were appointed upon applications of the employers. In Decem-
ber, 1913, there were 134 wage boards in existence-
Sir Alexander Peacock, author of the Victorian system, recently
wrote : " * it was alleged, first, that all work would
be driven out of the country, secondly, that only the best workers
would be employed, and thirdly, that it would be impossible to
enforce such provisions at all. It is now somewhat amusing,
although it was serious enough for the government of the day, to
read the debates on the Factories and Workshops Act, 1896.
However, the government managed to carry the bill and the wage
board system was inaugurated." (1)
Dr. Victor S. Clark, formerly of the United States Bureau of
Labor, who has made exhaustive and extended investigations of
Australasian labor conditions, wrote in 1909 (in the Annals of
(1) Quoted in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science, Vol. 48, p. 28, 1913.
222 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 33,
p. 221) " * * * the courts and boards offer what is probably
the best machinery yet devised to protect women and children
workers from industrial oppression. The board determinations,
varying with each industry and accommodating themselves to its
peculiar local conditions, are much more effective than the hard
and fast provisions of a general statute. They become, for the
purposes of enforcement, a part of the factory law of the state,
applying to the industry in question by consent of its own repre-
sentatives. * * * the general effect of the law has been to
increase and equalize the pay of those classes of labor least able
to obtain fair conditions of employment through their unassisted
efforts, and this function of the law appears to be assuming
increasing importance in the public mind."
The most recent and thoroughgoing study of the results attained
under the Victorian minimum wage legislation was made by
Prof. M. B. Hammond, of the Ohio State University. Prof.
Hammond spent the winter of 1911-1912 in Australia and New
Zealand, and reports as follows :
" In conclusion I wish to sum up as briefly as possible the
results which it seems to me have been attained in Victoria
and, so far as their experience extends, in the other Aus-
tralian states, under the wages boards' system. Perhaps I
may be allowed to say that I have reached these conclusions
after a thorough study of the reports and records of the
departments concerned in the administration of the acts;
after attendance on many board meetings; and after inter-
viewing many people, government officials, chairmen of
wages boards, employers, trade union officials, social re-
formers and politicians who have had much to do with wage
board legislation and administration.
" 1. We may say without hesitation, I think, that sweat-
ing no longer exists, unless perhaps in isolated instances, in
Melbourne or in other industrial centers of Victoria. This
is the opinion expressed to me not only by the officials in
the factory inspector's office, including the women inspectors,
but also by Mr. Samuel Mauger, the secretary of the Anti-
FOREIGN LEGISLATION -- VICTORIA. 223
Sweating League, who is constantly on the alert to detect
any evidence of sweating and to ask for the appointment of
a board in any trade in which it is thought to exist. In the
board meetings the efforts of the labor representatives are
nowadays seldom directed towards securing subsistence
wages but they aim rather to secure a standard rate of pay
based on the needs of the average worker, and as much above
this as is possible.
" 2. Industries have not been paralyzed nor driven from
the state as was freely predicted by extreme opponents of the
wages boards' plan. There is one instance of a plant having
left Victoria on this account. A brush manufacturer from
England, who had recently come to Victoria to establish his
business was so enraged at the idea that the wages he was
to pay were to be regulated by law that he moved across Bass
Strait to Tasmania. That is the only instance of the kind
to be found in the records. On the other hand there has been
a steady growth of manufactures. In 1896, when the fac-
tories act, containing the wages board provisions, was passed,
there were in Victoria 3,370 factories; in 1910 there were
5,362. In 1896, the number of workers in factories was
40,814; in 1910 it was 83,053. This, I think, indicates as
great a growth in manufacturing industry as most countries
are able to show.
" 3. In spite of the fact that the law in Victoria does
not forbid strikes, as is the case under compulsory arbitra-
tion, it would be hard to find a community in which strikes
are so infrequent as they are in Victoria. There are, I
think, not more than half a dozen cases in which a strike has
occurred in a trade where the wages and hours were fixed by
a wages board. The only serious strike of this sort was in a
trade where the court of industrial appeals had lowered the
wages fixed by the wages board after these wages had been
paid for some weeks. I may add at this point the statement
that there are very few cases of appeals from e, wages board
determination in Victoria, though there seem to be more in
South Australia.
224 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
" 4. In spite of the fact that the meetings of the boards
are at times the scenes of outbreaks of passion, and angry
and insulting words pass back and forth across the table,
there can be little doubt but that the representatives of both
parties go away from these meetings with an understanding
of the problems and difficulties which the other side has to
meet, which is usually lacking in trades where collective
bargaining is not resorted to. This was repeatedly brought
to my attention both in and out of board meetings by men
who had taken part in these discussions. It probably goes
far towards explaining the infrequency of strikes and
lock-outs.
" 5. That the minimum wage fixed by the board tends
to become the maximum in that trade is often asserted, but
it would not be easy to prove. Employers have frequently
said to me that they believed there was a tendency in that
direction, but they have seldom been able to furnish evi-
dence to that effect from their own establishments. At
times I have found on inquiry that not a single man in their
own plants was receiving the minimum wage. The em-
ployers' opinions seemed .to be more the result of a priori
reasoning than the results of actual experience. Nor, on
reflection, it is easy to see why the minimum should become
the maximum. The determinations do not compel an em-
ployer to hire or to retain in employment any worker. He
is free to dismiss any man whom he believes incapable of
earning the minimum wage, or he can send the employee to
the chief factory inspector for a permit to work at less than
the minimum fixed by the board. There seems to be no
reason why under this system there should not be the same
competition among employers as under the old system to
secure the most efficient and highly skilled workmen and
there is no reason why such men should not get wages based
on their superior efficiency. Victorian statistics on this
point are lacking, but in New Zealand where minimum wages
are fixed by the arbitration court, statistics as to wages,
tabulated in 1909 by the Labor Department, showed that in
FOREIGN LEGISLATION -- VICTORIA. 225
the four leading industrial centers of the Dominion the per-
centage of workers in trades where a legal minimum wage
was fixed who received more than the minimum varied from
51 per cent, in Dunedin to 61 per cent, in Auckland. There
is no reason to think that a dissimilar situation would be
revealed by a statistical investigation in Victoria.
" 6. Although the legal minimum wage does unquestion-
ably force out of employment sooner than would otherwise
be the case a certain number of old, infirm and naturally
slow workers, it is easy to exaggerate the working of the
minimum wage in this respect. The opinions of employers
differ in regard to this point. Workers who feel that they
can not earn the minimum wage may apply to the chief
factory inspector for a permit to work at a less rate than the
minimum and the officials who have charge of this matter
feel pretty certain that in this way practically all cases
really needing relief are cared for. The percentage of men
with permits is, however, not high, and possibly there are
some who are forced out of work who do not apply for a
permit.
" 7. There is also much difference of opinion as to
whether or not the increased wages have been to any con-
siderable extent counterbalanced by an increase of prices
d^e to the increased wages. The probability is that in some
occupations higher wages have in this way been passed on
to the consumers, the laboring classes included. This would
be especially true of industries purely local where there was
little opportunity to use machinery.
" In Melbourne, following close upon a wage board deter-
mination which raised the wages of waiters and cooks in
hotels and restaurants, the cheap restaurants which had been
furnishing meals at 6d. (12 cents) by a concerted movement
doubled their prices. While the increase of wages in this
case was doubtless in part responsible for this increase of
prices, in the main the wage increase was the occasion rather
than the cause of the increase in prices, which was bound to
come sooner or later because of the increase in cost of food
supplies. 8
APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
" The New Zealand commission on the cost of living,
which has recently published its report, carefully considered
this question as to the effect of labor legislation on the cost
of living and concluded that in the case of staple products
whose prices were fixed in the world's markets, the local
legislation could have had no effect on prices. In other
trades, the increased labor costs had served to stimulate the
introduction of machinery and labor saving devices; in still
other trades it had apparently not increased efficiency and
accordingly labor costs had increased. This seems to have
been the case in coal mining. Generally speaking, the evi-
dence in most trades was not sufficiently .definite to show
whether or not there has been an increase or a decrease in
efficiency due to labor legislation. This is about what we
must conclude as a result of the conflicting testimony on
this point in Australia as well as in New Zealand. I found
that most employers with whom I talked were certain that
laborers were less efficient than in former years. Generally
they could not explain very satisfactorily how this was due
to legislation, and their- arguments usually reduced them-
selves to the assertion that the trade unions were preaching
and their members were practicing the doctrine of i go
easy ' and were in this way restricting the output. Trade
union officials, on the other hand, were just as emphatic in
their declaration that such a matter had never been dis-
cussed in their meetings. I do not believe that in this
respect conditions in Australia differ from what they are in
America and I find that the same assertions are made here
by employers as to the effect of trade unions and that these
statements are as vigorously denied by the union officials.
Only to the extent, therefore, that compulsory arbitration
and wage boards tend to develop and strengthen unionism,
which they undoubtedly do, can we find that the legal mini-
mum wage exerts any appreciable effect on the decline of
efficiency and the restriction of output. This must remain
therefore a mooted point.
FOTIKKJX LEGISLATION VICTORIA.
" 8. Finally, whatever may be the difference of opinion
between employers and employees as to the effect of the legal
minimum wage in Victoria in producing certain results and
whatever criticisms they may make of the administration of
the factories act, both sides are now practically unanimous
in saying that they have no desire to return to the old sys-
tem of unrestricted competition in the purchase of labor. I
did not find an employer who expressed a desire to see the
wages boards abolished. Generally speaking, employers are
just now holding tightly to this plan, partly no doubt as a
means of saving themselves from an extension of the opera-
tions of the commonwealth arbitration act. In the main,
however, they have been convinced that the minimum wage
has not been detrimental to their businesses, and that it has
forced their rivals to adopt the same scale of wages as they
are themselves obliged to pay. I have mentioned the fact
that the Victorian Chamber of Manufactures led the attack
on the wage board system when the government was provid-
ing for its extension in 1900. Last April (1912) the presi-
dent and secretary of that organization, and the president
and secretary of the Victorian Employers' Association, told
me that in spite of the defective administration of the wages
boards act, their members had no longer any desire to have
the system abolished. The trade union secretaries also com-
plain of the administration of the act; particularly that the
chief factory inspector does not take a more drastic attitude
in regard to the prosecution of the violators of the act whom
they have reported. This fact that both sides complain of
the administration of the act is a pretty fair indication that
the administrative officials are doing their work in a con-
scientious manner without prejudice or favor. The trade
unionists generally admit that labor has been greatly bene-
fited by the wages boards' legislation and they do not desire
a repeal of these laws, but many of them in Victoria are
inclined to think that compulsory arbitration would give
them even more. The wages boards deal only with wages,
hours, payment for overtime and the number and proportion
of apprentices. The arbitration courts, on the other hand,
228 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
may and sometimes do give preference to unionists and are
often called upon to decide many minor matters which can
not be considered by wages boards. Furthermore, wages
boards established by any one state are bound to consider
interstate competition when they fix wages. The common-
wealth arbitration court, on the other hand, can regulate
wages throughout Australia in the industrial field within
which it operates. Hostility to the minimum wage in
Australia may therefore be said to have practically died out
and the question most discussed to-day is whether this mini-
mum wage shall be secured by means of wages boards or
through the machinery of a federal arbitration court."
The following list of questions concerning the operation of the
minimum wage law in Victoria was sent by the New York Fac-
tory Investigating Commission to the office of the Chief Factory
Inspector at Melbourne :
" First. Does the minimum wage become the maximum ?
Second. How far are the unfit displaced by such
legislation ?
Third. Do such laws tend to drive industry from the
state ?
Fourth. Do they result in decreasing efficiency ? "
In response the following statement was received:
First Question.
" It is frequently asserted in this State that the minimum
becomes the maximum, but our official figures show that
this is not the case. I am sending by separate packet a book
containing all the existing factory laws of Victoria, and a
copy of my latest annual report. If you will kindly refer
to Appendix B you will see what the average wage in the
trade is. A further reference to Appendix D will give you
the wages in any particular trade. I regret that I have not
figures which will precisely answer your question, but a
careful comparison will show that the average wage in a
LEGISLATION VICTORIA. 229
trade is invariably higher than the minimum wage. I do
not know that there is any exception to this in Victoria.
Second Question.
" Legislation which fixes a standard wage undoubtedly
has the effect of displacing the unfit. Our experience, how-
ever, shows that this dislocation is not serious, and that as a
rule things regulate themselves fairly satisfactorily. It is
true, however, that in Victoria for some years there has
been a shortage of labor, and this fact probably has a good
deal of bearing on this point. I do not think there is any
evidence that philanthropic agencies have ever been called
upon to increase their work through minimum wage legisla-
tion. There is, however, a section in our law which enables
a license to be issued to a defective worker to permit a lower
wage than the minimum to be paid to him (see section 202
on page 98 of the Handbook sent). This power is only
sparingly used, as it is regarded very jealously by the trades
unions, and this department requires very strong evidence
before it will issue a license to work for less than the
minimum.
Third Question.
" There is no evidence to show that our labor legislation
has driven any industry from the state, nor from Victoria
to any other part of the commonwealth. As a matter of fact,
labor laws are in operation all over the commonwealth, so
that, if our legislation had any such effect, the industry
would have been driven to other countries. There has been
an increasing amount of imports in the last few years, but
I think I can safely say that the evidence tends to the belief
that that is caused more by our general prosperity than any
other factor. Side by side with the increasing proportional
imports has been a great increase in production and in the
number of factories established. j*tt*
" My own opinion is that the fixing of a standard wage
increases efficiency generally, from the fact that the employer
demands in return a standard degree of efficiency. It is
230 APPENDIX III -- MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
true that some of the unions have endeavored to restrict the
output, and have in some cases gone so far as to strike for
the purpose of enforcing their demands. They have invari-
ably failed. At the same time there is some evidence that
in certain of the trades and in that connection the agri-
cultural implement making trade might he mentioned
they have succeeded to some extent in lessening the output.
For that reason there is a large section of employers in this
state who believe that the only fair way of regulating wages
is by piecework. Our wages boards have power either to fix
piecework rates or to give the employer that privilege with
the provision that the piecework rates fixed by him shall be
such as will enable an average worker to earn at least the
minimum wage. One strike is on record against the fixing
of piecework rates by the employer. The moulders at the
Sunshine Harvester Works objected to piecework rates in
any form, although in fact the men were earning consider-
ably over the minimum, and in some cases twice as much.
Yet the union took their men out for the simple reason that
they objected to piecework being paid under any circum-
stances, and the men have been out now some five or six
weeks. It is only a sectional strike, and probably not more
than twenty or thirty men are affected. To answer your
question generally, I think it can be truthfully said that the
efficiency of the workers all round is distinctly higher under
the minimum wage than it was before.
" I may say, in conclusion, that the minimum wage law
in Victoria is working very smoothly. There are fewer
strikes in this state under the wages boards provision than
in the neighboring state of New South Wales, where they
have an arbitration court. For the last three months, out of
the forty-nine strikes that occurred in the six states of
Australia, thirty-eight were in New South Wales. Our
wages board law takes no cognizance of a strike once it
occurs, but leaves the parties to fight it out amongst them-
selves. In New South Wales they have elaborate provisions
for settling strikes that occur, with the above result. We
FOREIGN LEGISLATION GKHMA.NY. 231
believe that the best way of settling strikes is to provide
as we do in Victoria every means of arriving at fair con-
ditions between master and man, and of revising those con-
ditions as occasion demands, and then washing our hands of
the whole matter."
GERMANY.
The German government, in 1911, passed a Home Work Act,
which, although it falls short of the establishment of trade boards
to fix a minimum rate of wages, sets up trade committees of a
very similar type, whose lack of power to regulate wages directly
miiUit easily be remedied by a supplementary act. At present
trade committees may be appointed by the Federal Council for
particular trades or districts where home workers are employed.
The committees consist of an equal number of home workers, as
defined, and their employers, together with a president and two
assessors, who must have the requisite technical knowledge. The
president must be neither an employer nor a home worker.
Women must be duly represented if they are largely employed
in the trade. It is left to the authorities of the various states to
fix the number of representatives and to appoint not only the
president and assessors but also, after consultation with the em-
ployers and home workers, half their representatives. The
remainder of the representative members are elected by the em-
ployers and home workers respectively.
The duties of the trade committees touch the borderland of
wages regulation. Their functions, as defined in the act, include
the collection of information and, vaguely, the promotion of
institutions or measures for improving the conditions of home
workers, such as collective agreements. If the authorities are
energetic in setting the committees to work, the information they
collect will in time be valuable if their functions are later
extended, as has been predicted. For they must " on the request
of the municipal and communal authorities ascertain, in a suit-
able manner, especially by procuring evidence from employers
and home workers concerned, the amounts actually earned by
home workers, express opinions as to whether such amounts are
232 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
reasonable, and make proposals for procuring agreements for
reasonable remuneration."
Firms giving out work must keep registers of home workers,
post up fixed rates of pay in the rooms where work is given out
or returned, and supply to the workers on each occasion particu-
lars of the amount of such work and rates of pay, and they must,
in addition, conform to any instructions issued by the local
authorities to improve, where necessary, their arrangements for
giving out work or receiving it back, in order to prevent undue
waste of time on the part of the outworker.
GREAT BRITAIN.
The Trade Boards Act. In England considerable legislation
had already been enacted to provide for conciliation in the case
of trade disputes, before the evil of sweating, which was becoming
more and more obnoxious, led to the passage of the Trade Boards
Act. It was to the Victorian legislative model that the English
reform movement turned for relief. In 1906 the National Anti-
Sweating League was formed, which, together with the labor
party and other leading organizations, began to urge some system
of establishing a minimum wage which would reach the less
intelligent and unorganized workers. It was in 1909 that they
succeeded in inducing parliament to pass the Trade Boards Act
which became effective one year later. Under this act, wage or
trade boards may be established for all employees in any industry
by order of the Board of Trade, subject to ratifications by parlia-
ment. The first four trades for which trade boards were estab-
lished were: ready-made tailoring, cardboard box making, the
making of hammered, dollied, or tommied chain, and certain pro-
cesses in lace finishing.
For each such trade, or any branch of the same, the Board of
Trade was empowered to appoint a committee called a " trade
board," consisting of an equal number of representatives of em-
ployers and workers (known as " representative members "),
together with a certain number of persons including women
(known as "appointed members"). The number of appointed
members must be less than half the total number of representa-
tive members. The Board of Trade decides which member shall
FOREIGN LEGISLATION GREAT BRITAIN.
act as chairman. Trade boards may fix general minimum time
rates or minimum piece rates and on the application of any em-
ployer they must fix a special minimum piece rate for any particu-
lar class of work on which he is engaged. The rates fixed may differ
for different classes of workers, for different districts and for
different processes. To advise the Trade Board, district commit-
tees may be appointed in fixing rates for their respective localities.
When a trade board proposes to fix a certain rate, three months
notice must be given, within which period objections to the rate
proposed may be raised. On the conclusion of this period the
rate comes into operation to a- limited extent. It is compulsory
in the absence of a written contract, signed by the worker, pro-
viding for a lower rate, and it must be adopted by all firms
engaged on public contracts. Six months later, the Board of
Trade has power to make the rate obligatory in all cases. Special
exemptions can be procured under the act in the case of old or
infirm workers.
The act provides for the appointment of inspectors for enforc-
ing the payment of the minimum rates fixed by the trade boards.
Such inspectors have the right to enter work places at any reason-
able time and to inspect books, etc. If an employer pays less
than the minimum rate, he is liable to a penalty not exceeding
20 pounds ($100) and for each day on which the offense is con-
tinued after conviction, 5 pounds ($25). An employee who has
not received the legal minimum rate may recover the balance due
him.
A clearer idea of the method of work under this act may be
secured from the following rules which the Board of Trade issued
for the paper box trade:
234 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS, 1910.
No. 429.
TRADE BOARDS.
Regulations, dated April 27, 1910, made by the Board of
Trade, establishing a Trade Board, under s. 11 of the
Trade Boards Act, 1909 (9 Edw. 7, c. 22), for the
making of Boxes or parts thereof made wholly or
partially of Paper, Cardboard, Chip or similar material.
The Board of Trade, in pursuance of their powers under
the Trade Boards Act, 1909, hereby make the following
Regulations with regard to the making of Boxes, or parts
thereof, made wholly or partially of paper, cardboard, chip,
or similar material :
1. A Trade Board shall be established for that branch
of the Box Trade in Great Britain which is engaged in the
making of boxes or parts thereof made wholly or partially
of paper, cardboard, chip, or similar material.
2. The Board shall consist of not less than 35 and not
more than 41 persons, namely, three appointed members,
and members representing employers and workers, respect-
ively, in equal proportions. The Chairman and Deputy
Chairman shall be such of the members as may be nominated
by the Board of Trade.
3. Sixteen members representing employers shall be
elected by employers in the above trade as follows :
1 representative by employers trading within a radius of
18 miles of the Royal Exchange, Manchester.
1 representative by employers trading outside that radius
and within the counties of Cumberland, Westmore-
land, Lancashire, Cheshire, and in North Wales.
FOREIGN LEGISLATION GREAT BRITAIN. 235
1 representative by employers trading in Northumber-
land, Durham, and Yorkshire.
1 representative by employers trading in North Stafford-
shire and the counties of Leicester, Northampton,
and Huntington.
1 representative by employers trading in the counties of
Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, and Rutland.
2 representatives by employers trading in the counties of
Hereford, Worcester, Warwick, Oxford, Stafford
(South), and Shropshire.
2 representatives by employers trading in the counties of
Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Wiltshire, Glou-
cester, Monmouth, and South Wales.
4 representatives by employers trading in London and the
counties of Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent,
Hertford, Bedford, Buckingham, Surrey, Berkshire,
Sussex, Hampshire, and Cambridge.
3 representatives by employers trading in Scotland.
The election of representatives of employers shall be held
under the supervision of the Board of Trade and in such
manner as they may determine. A casual vacancy among
members representing employers in any of the areas above
specified shall be filled by election by employers in that area.
4. Sixteen members representing the workers shall be
chosen by the Board of Trade after considering names sup-
plied by workers in the above trade, due regard being paid
to the proper representation of home workers. A casual
vacancy among members representing workers shall be filled
in the same manner.
5. The Board of Trade may, if they think it necessary
in order to secure proper representation of any classes of
employers or workers, after giving an opportunity to the
Trade Board to be heard, nominate additional representa-
tive members on the Trade Board, and such representative
236 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
members may be nominated either for the whole term of
office of the Board or for any part thereof. The number of
such additional representative members shall not at any
time exceed six, three on each side.
6. The term of office of the first Trade Board shall be
three years.
7. Any representative of employers who becomes a
worker at the trade shall vacate his seat. Any representa-
tive of workers who becomes an employer in the trade shall
also vacate his seat. The question of fact shall in each case
be determined by the Chairman.
8. Any representative of employers or workers who fails
without reasonable cause to attend one-half of the total num-
ber of meetings in one year, shall vacate his seat, but shall
be eligible to be elected or nominated again, as the case
may be.
9. Every member of the Trade Board shall have one
vote. If at any meeting of the Board the number of mem-
bers present representing employers and workers, respec-
tively, are unequal, it shall be open to the side which is in the
majority to arrange that one or more of their members shall
refrain from voting, so as to preserve equality. Failing such
an arrangement, the Chairman, or in his absence the Deputy
Chairman, may, if he thinks it desirable, adjourn the voting
on any question to another meeting of the Board.
10. Any question upon the construction or interpreta-
tion of these regulations shall in the event of dispute be re-
ferred to the Board of Trade for decision.
Signed by order of the Board of Trade this 27th day of
April, 1910.
G. R. ASKWITH,
Assistant Secretary, Board of Trade.
While procedure under the British act is similar on all essen-
tial points to procedure under our compulsory minimum wage
laws, the English boards have dealt with much more complicated
LEGISLATION GREAT BRITAIN. 237
situations than we in America have yet faced. So far, the
English act has applied mainly to those industries which are
characterized by excessive sweating and where the employees are
almost entirely home-workers the most difficult class from
which to get united action. The English boards have considered
rates for each kind of work within an industry, .and for each
class of workers, as well as for each district where the industry is
located. Constance Smith, reporting to the International Asso-
ciation for Labor Legislation in September, 1912, spoke of some
of the difficulties encountered as follows:
The number of members of the Chain-making Board had
been fixed at not more than seventeen persons (including
three appointed members) ; the Lace Board is slightly
larger, the minimum and maximum numbers in this case
being nineteen and twenty-three. This board has also to
deal almost entirely with outworkers. These women, who
are nearly 10,000 in number, do not take out work directly
from the factory, but have it distributed to them by some
700 middle-women. This circumstance, together with the
fact that the lace trade is at all times conscious of the pres-
sure of foreign competition, makes the work of the Lace
Board one of considerable complication and delicacy. The
board has to be careful not to fix the rates at a point which
will let in the French, Swiss or German competitor; it has
also to deal with distributing agents who have been accus-
tomed to take percentages of the prices paid to them by em-
ployers at varying rates and whose ideas of the binding
authority of the Truck Acts is in some cases of an exceed-
ingly lax description. The price lists which governed the
situation in Nottingham before the coming of the Trade
Board were price lists given to the middle-woman, and acted
upon by her at her discretion ; there was no rule by which a
definite proportion of the price was paid to the actual
worker. As a rule the prices paid were miserably low, and
the workers sunk in poverty and misery. Here, far more
than in any other of the scheduled industries, was there dif-
ficulty in finding women of sufficient intelligence and inde-
238 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
pendence to serve on the Trade Board as workers' repre-
sentatives. But for the plan wisely adopted by the Board
of Trade, of not insisting that these representatives should
be in every case engaged in the trade itself, it would have
been impossible to secure adequate representation of the
workers', side.
The tailoring trade, one of the most complex in all industry,
did not baffle the English board. Of this trade, Miss Smith says :
The Tailoring Board (twenty-nine to thirty-seven mem-
bers) has to do with by far the most important trade and the
largest number of workers. It is, however, not so widely
distributed, geographically, as the box trade, being for the
most part concentrated in certain great cities. The trade is
far more complicated than any of the other three, many and
great variations being found in that simple section of it
which is at present being handled by the Board. There was
a time, not very long ago, when even experienced persons
expressed the view that, owing to the seasonability of the
trade, and its variations, the establishment of minimum
rates in connection with it would prove impossible. But
Sir George Askwith, speaking out of an experience unique
as regards the fixing of price lists, all along disputed this
pessimistic view. He wrote (Soziale Praxis, January,
1911) that he considered objections based on the changes of
fashion and its varying forms to be ill-founded. Skill and
organization are what is needed here. In the higher
branches of this very industry, means of solving the problem
have already been found; a piece-work list has been estab-
lished there for some time. If the workers had been better
organized that list would have already been adopted by other
branches. I have helped personally to establish
rates for industries in which variations, much greater and
much more complicated than any that exist in the tailoring
trade, were involved. We sometimes took weeks to achieve
our object ; but in the end we did achieve it.
FOKKI<;.\ LEGISLATION GREAT BBITAIN.
The rates of wages paid in the four trades for which boards
\\vre first authorized seem, particularly in comparison with wage
rates in America, pitifully low (not a few women in the chain-
making trade received two cents an hour). Yet increases of
from 50 per cent, to 150 per cent, have had their influence:
' The women seem different beings from the inert and sunken
people who attended meetings in pre-board times."
Considerable difficulty was experienced in England in secur-
ing proper representatives of employees. In contrast with the
method of our wage commissions which themselves undertake the
selection of representatives, the Board of Trade appoints, from
lists sent to it, members representing the employers and em-
ployees. The selection of these members is left entirely in the
hands of each group. While the employers found but little diffi-
culty in quickly becoming organized, in the case of the employees,
being the least experienced class of workers, entirely unorgan-
ized and full of suspicion, the selection of proper representatives
has fallen largely upon the friends of the workers. On this point
Miss Smith said in 1912:
" The Chain-making Board is the only board which has,
so far, been constituted by direct election of representatives
by employers and workers in meeting assembled. In the
other three cases the procedure was by Board of Trade
nomination from lists sent up by the two parties."
In the case of the chain workers, it was the writer's privilege
to be present at Cradley Heath at the organization of the first
trade board, and the election of members was preceded by a long,
expensive and persistent campaign of education. The cost of
these educational campaigns has been so great that at a recent
meeting, presided over by the Duchess of Marlborough, a special
fund of nearly $4,000 was raised to defray expenses incidental
to preparing workers for representation on the four newly author-
ized trade boards.
On the question as to whether or not the minimum rate be-
comes the maximum the Amalgamated Journal of the Iron, Steel
and Tin Workers said last year, " Many classes of wage earners
240 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
who would be benefited and protected by minimum wage legis-
lation have been living too close to starvation to make possible
any reasonable amount of concerted action on their part, or such
preparation, financial or otherwise, as would ordinarily be con-
sidered essential for success. To all such classes of wage earners
minimum wage legislation should be valuable as establishing an
existence basis from which they are in a better position to
achieve further improved wages and conditions through organized
effort. A woman wage earner receiving a minimum wage of
eight dollars per week is on a better basis from which to secure
ten dollars per week than the same woman getting four dollars
is in a position to get five dollars." This expression of opinion
has been entirely sustained by a recent occurrence in England.
It had been generally accepted that rates first established by a
trade board was a full discharge of the duty of the board although
the act itself clearly provided for variations. But on December
2nd of 1913 the Chain-making Board confirmed proposals to
increase by 10 per cent, the minimum rates it established in 1910.
" The precedent," declares the National Anti-Sweating League,
" will encourage representatives of workers on other boards to
address themselves at once and vigorously to the progressive im-
provement, of the minimum rates fixed for their trade."
Last year Parliament authorized the establishment of trade
boards in four additional industries : sugar confectionery and food
preserving; shirt making; hollow-ware making; and linen and
cotton embroidery.
Sugar confectionery and f$od preserving includes the making
of sugar confectionery, cocoa, chocolate, jam, marmalade, pre-
served fruits, fruit and table jellies, meat extracts, meat essences,
sauces and pickles, the preparation of meat, poultry, game, fish,
vegetables and fruit for sale in a preserved state in tins, pots,
bottles, and similar receptacles ; the processes of wrapping, filling,
packing, and labeling in respect of articles so made or prepared.
ShirtmaJc-ing includes the making from textile fabrics of shirts,
pajamas, and other washable clothing worn by male persons,
excluding articles the making of which is included in para-
graph I of the schedule in the Trade Boards Act, 1909, and
FOREIGN LEGISLATION GREAT BRITAIN. 241
excluding articles which are knitted or are made from knitted
fabrics.
Hollow-ware making includes the making of hollow-ware
(including boxes and canisters) from sheet iron, sheet steel or
tin plate, including the processes of galvanizing, tinning, enamel-
ing, painting, japanning, lacquering and varnishing.
Linen and cotton embroidery includes those branches of the
trade of making up articles of linen or cotton or mixed linen and
cotton which are engaged in the processes of hand embroidery,
drawn thread work, thread drawing, thread clipping, top sewing,
scalloping, nickeling and paring.
The National Anti-Sweating League reports, July 29, 1913,
that:
" In the trades at present within the scope of the Trade
Boards Act there are approximately 250,000 operatives.
The numbers likely to be affected by the boards about to be
established are roughly as follows :
Sugar confectionery and food preserving 80,000
Shirtmaking 50,000
Hollow-ware 15,000
Cotton and linen embroidery 5,000
150,000
" Certain branches of the laundry trade were to have been
included also, but the Provisional Order Bill bringing them
in was withdrawn by the Board of Trade because of defects
in its terminology. Mr. Buxton has intimated that the bill
will be reintroduced next year and should it apply to all
laundrying, as is considered likely, 110,000 workers will be
added to those already enumerated. In this case nearly
500,000 workers, mainly women, will be within the purview
of the act though only four years have elapsed since its pas-
sage into law."
242 APPENDIX III -- MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
Mr. J. J. Mallon, writing in The New Statesman, February 21,
1914 (Women's Supplement, p. x), says:
" What the boards have accomplished may be shortly sum-
marized. For men chain-workers at Cradley Heath the
minimum rates are from 5d. to 7%d. an hour, and for
women 2%d. per hour, these sums including an addition of
10 per cent, just made to the rates originally fixed. Miser-
able as is this woman's rate of 2%d. an hour, yet as compared
with what went on before it is handsome. Hundreds of
women were at one time earning less than half as much, and
at their meetings any mention of a possible minimum of 10s.
for a week of full employment aroused only sceptical mirth.
At the present legal rate the worker of ordinary capacity
earns, if fully employed, rather more than 12s. per week.
"As a fact, of course, many are not earning so much.
Women chain-makers at Cradley Heath are chiefly wives
and mothers, and of these a portion take the benefit of the
higher rates in the shape of ampler leisure, or in time de-
voted to their domestic concerns. Formerly such women
worked for a week to earn half a dozen shillings. Under
the new conditions as much may be earned in two or three
days.
" It should be remembered that the husbands of many of
these workers are themselves beneficiaries. In the smaller
forges men and women work side by side, and where this
occurs the uplift to the joint income has been of the most
substantial kind. l More food and better,' said one local
tradesman when asked as to the effect of minimum rates
upon the chain-maker's purchase; and his view receives
general corroboration. An improvement in the quality of
the lower grades of chain, and a great incentive to organiza-
tion, alike in Cradley Heath and in the surrounding areas,
are further results of the coming of the Trade Board.
" What about the effect on the trade ? If one may judge
by appearances, the trade has actually thriven. The cry of
most employers is that they cannot get workers enough, and
some anxiety is expressed as to the future should the recruit-
FOREIGN LKCJISI.ATION GREAT BRITAIN. 243
ment of young chain-makers not be augmented. Certainly
the trade has not fallen off.
" In a word, the Trade Board at Cradley Heath has more
than justified its friends and confounded its enemies. Its
success is definite, considerable, and complete. It has made
a deep and abiding mark upon the history of the Black
Country. No other industrial event of the present genera-
tion has so impressed and affected the workers of the
district."
The following list of questions concerning the operation of the
minimum wage law in England was sent by the New York Fac-
tory Investigating Commission to the office of the Board of Trade
at London :
" First. Does the minimum wage become the maximum ?
Second. How far are the unfit displaced by such
legislation ?
Third. Do such laws tend to drive industry from the
state ?
Fourth. Do they result in decreasing efficiency ? "
In response the following statement was received :
" I am directed by the Board of Trade to say that, as the
Trade Boards Act has only been in operation for a com-
paratively short period, they consider that it is as yet too
early to express a definite judgment on its indirect and
ultimate results.
' The board are of opinion, however, that provisional re-
plies, based on the experience so far obtained of the working
of the act, may be given to the questions contained in your
letter, as follows: (1) The boarcb-are not aware of any
general tendency among employers to reduce rates to the
minimum allowed by law in cases where higher rates have
been paid in the past. On the contrary, there is reason to
suppose that the better organization of the workers, which
has been observed to have taken place in the trades to which
244 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
the act has been applied, tends to pTevent the legal minimum
rate from becoming in fact the maximum. (2) So far as
the board are aware, there has been no general dismissal of
workers as a result of the fixing of minimum rates ; and even
where workers have been dismissed on this account, it has
frequently been found that this has been due to misunder-
standing of the act and not to its actual provisions. (3) The
board are not aware of any tendency on the part of manu-
facturers to transfer their business to foreign countries, or,
in cases where lower minimum rates have been fixed for
Ireland than for Great Britain, to transfer their business
from Great Britain to Ireland. (4) There is no evidence
in the possession of the board to show that the efficiency of
workers has been reduced as a result of the fixing of mini-
mum rates of wages. On the contrary, there are indications
that in many cases the efficiency of the workers has been
increased. The fixing of minimum rates has also resulted in
better organization among the employers and in improve-
ments in the equipment and organization of their factories."
British Coal Mines (Minimum Wage) Act. Until 1912, the
theory of the legal minimum wage in England had been that of
state interference on behalf of the more helpless workers. But
the winter of 1911-1912 saw great unrest among the coal miners
of Britain perhaps the strongest of organized workmen in that
country. Many strikes occurred with the result that a demand
was made upon Parliament for the establishment of a minimum
wage by law. A compromise was effected and on March 29, 1912,
Parliament passed a measure providing for the establishment of
joint district boards, comprised of representatives of employers
and employees with an independent chairman appointed by them.
These boards have power to fix wage rates, rules and conditions
of work for the twenty-two districts which have been scheduled
by the Board of Trade. (1)
(1) For copy of the law, see p. 348.
INTERNATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS. 245
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTION.
International action in regard to the establishment by law of
a minimum wage was taken by the International Association for
Labor Legislation in 1904 at its third biennial convention at
Basle, Switzerland. This International Association, organized
in 1900 and supported in part by subventions from fourteen gov-
ernments with sections in fifteen different countries, further
recommended at its seventh' biennial meeting in September, 1912,
the following general principles:
The adoption by legislation of the principle that wage
agreements for insufficient amounts or of an usurious nature
should be null and void, and that the conclusion of such
agreements should be subject to penalties. The meeting re-
gards this principle as essential, but at the same time, it
recognizes that the difficulties of its application are such as
to prevent its adoption from being in any degree a practical
solution of the problem.
The delegates' meeting believes that any legislation in
favor of home workers will be ineffective so long as it is not
founded on minimum rates fixed by wages boards constituted
according to the following principles:
1. The board shall be composed of an equal number of
employers and employees, chosen generally by the parties or,
if this is impossible, by bodies acting on their behalf.
The president shall not be an employer or an employee
and shall be elected by the board. The government shall
appoint him in case of disagreement. He "shall have the
casting vote.
2. The minimum 'w'age shall be^so" fixed that a home
worker of ordinary capacity may earn as time wage a sum
approximately equal to fair wages paid in factories and
workshops where similar trades are carried on in the town
or district. The wage must b at least high enough to
ensure to the worker under normal living conditions suffi-
cient food and healthy housing.
246 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
3. The board shall fix officially the minimum wage and
publish it at once.
4. If possible the board shall establish a scale of mini-
mum wage rates for all the different operations of the trade.
5. To the amount of wages must be added the cost of
tools and materials furnished by the worker, the value of
time wasted, etc.
6. The minimum wage must be paid to the worker net
without any deduction in favor of employer or middleman.
7. If collective agreements exist in a trade, the mini-
mum wage board must endeavor to extend the benefits of
such collective agreements to all home workers also.
8. For operations not included in the scale named under
4 the employer must prove in each particular case coming
before the board that the conditions allow the average worker
to earn at least the minimum time wage.
Disputes shall be settled by the wages boards.
9. The board shall establish likewise scales of payment,
and if possible minimum wages, for the apprentices in the
trade, even where the apprentices are employed in workshops.
10. Every violation of the law shall constitute a penal
offense in each case and in respect of each worker concerned.
11. Every trade organization and any person interested
in the trade and every society qualified for the purpose may
inform the board that wages paid are below the minimum
wage fixed for the trade. All such persons or organizations
may take legal action.
12. The minimum wages fixed by the local boards may
be reviewed by a central commission of revision acting
officially and without delay. This commission may modify
and co-ordinate local decisions. The governments shall
select the members of such commission in equal numbers
from the employers and employees composing the local
boards.
IN TKTf NATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS. 247
The delegates' meeting invites the members of Parliament
belonging to the International Association to introduce, or
cause to be introduced, bills corresponding to the accepted
resolution.
The national sections are requested to engage in an ener-
getic campaign in order to convince the public of the neces-
sity of fixing minimum wages for home industries.
248 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
III. REPRESENTATIVE OPINIONS UPON THE
OPERATION OF MINIMUM WAGE LAWS.
POSITION OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR ON THE
LEGAL MINIMUM WAGE.
From the official report of the Executive Council of the Amer-
ican Federation of Labor to the thirty-third annual convention,
1913:
Conclusions and Recommendations.
" From the report we have given, it will be observed that the
movement for a minimum wage for women and minors has gained
considerable headway in our country, and that sentiment in favor
of a living wage is rapidly crystallizing. That this growth of
sentiment among the people is due to the activities of the organ-
ized wage earners there can be no doubt. The organized labor
movement has insisted from the beginning upon the establish-
ment of a living wage as a minimum, and it has, through the
force of organized effort, succeeded in establishing minimum
wages and maximum hours of labor far superior to those pre-
scribed by the wage boards of other countries.
" There is a marked difference, however, between the laws of
other countries and the laws enacted or proposed in various states
in our country. In England and in Australia authority is vested
in wage boards to fix minimum wages for men workers as well as
for women and minors; whereas in America these laws relate
exclusively to women workers and to minors. If it were proposed
in this country to vest authority in any tribunal to fix by law
wages for men, Labor would protest by every means in its power.
Through organization the wages of men can and will be main-
tained at a higher minimum than they would be if fixed by legal
enactment.
" But there is a far more significant ground for opposing the
establishment by law of a minimum wage for men. The prin-
ciple that organization is the most potent means for a shorter
workday, and for a higher standard of wages, applies to women
workers equally as to men. But the fact must be recognized that
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY.
the organization of women workers constitutes a separate and
more difficult problem. Women do not organize as readily or as
stably as men. They are, therefore, more easily exploited. They
certainly are in a greater measure than men entitled to the con-
cern of society. A fair standard of wages, a living wage for
all employed in an industry, should be the first consideration in
production. None are more entitled to that standard than are
the women and minors. An industry which denies to all its
workers and particularly denies to its women and minors who are
toilers a living wage is unfit and should not be permitted to exist.
" We recognize, of course, that in our time legislation of this
character is experimental and that sufficient experience with it
has not been had to enable us to secure comprehensive and accu-
rate information as to its tendency and its effect upon wages and
industrial conditions; therefore, we recommend that for the
information of the labor movement the Executive Council be
instructed to watch developments where such legislation is in
force and to record carefully the activities, the decisions and the
trend of minimum wage boards.
'' We recommend that in all minimum wage laws the organ-
ized workers should see to it that provision is made for the repre-
sentation on minimum wage boards of the organized wage earners,
and that the laws are so changed or drawn and administered as to
afford the largest measure of protection to women and minor
workers those they are designed to protect."
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE.
* The legislature has also recognized the fact, * * * that
the proprietors of these establishments and their employees do
not stand on an equality, and that their interests are, to a certain
extent, conflicting. The former naturally desire to obtain as
much labor as possible from their employees, while the latter are
often induced by the fear of discharge to conform to regulations
which their judgment, fairly exercised, would pronounce to be
detrimental to their health, and strength. In other words, the
proprietors lay down the rules, and the laborers are practically
constrained to obey them. * * * The fact that both parties
250 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
are of full age, and competent to contract, does not necessarily
deprive the state of power to interfere, where the parties do not
stand upon an equality, or where the public health demands that
one party to the contract shall be protected against himself. 7 '
Holden v. Hardy, 169 II. S. 366. Brief for a Proposed
Minimum Wage Law, for Wisconsin, prepared under
the direction of J. R. Commons.
"All the protection afforded to the laborer as debtor, creditor,
wage earner, and wage bargainer in the matter of hours of labor,
sanitation, and methods of payment do not avail unless he re-
ceives wages sufficient to maintain himself and those dependent
upon him in the necessary comforts of life. This is partly the
result of new burdens on labor on account of compulsory educa-
tion, housing and sanitation, pure food laws, industrial accidents,
etc. The cost of living to the laborer has been greatly increased
by these measures. It is also partly the result of lessened oppor-
tunities for labor to escape from the condition of wage earner into
the condition of self-employment or the employment of another,
on account of disappearance of free public lands, and the large
amounts of capital and credit required for business."
Brief for a Proposed Minimum Wage Law for Wisconsin,
prepared under the direction of J. R. Commons.
Mr. Ord, the Victorian factory inspector, describes (Report,
1898, pp. 12, 13 and 14) " the saddest feature of the excess of
labor over demand. The men are not true to themselves. * * *
An aid man (in the boot trade) I once asked to sign a statutory
declaration as to his wages, looked me fair in the face and said,
' Mr. Ord, I'll declare anything you like.' What he meant was,
I must work, and to get and keep the work I will commit perjury
if you like. When the same is done by young men, one
begins to ask, how can Parliament protect the men against them-
selves? The only answer appears to me to be, provide work at
remunerative wages for men able to work and old age pensions
for the old workers."
The Case For and Against a Legal Minimum Wage for
Sweated Workers, p. 15; The Woman's Industrial
Council, London.
1 'AKASITIC I \Di ; s rini-s. 251
" The variations in the wage rates paid by different factories
for the same work are frequent and great. In each occupation
listed, except that of washing, the highest wage paid by the estab-
lishments at one extreme is at least double that paid by the estab-
lishment at the other extreme, and in the excepted occupation of
washing, the variation is little short of 100 per cent. In grinding
the variation is particularly great, the difference between 6.2
cents an hour and 15 cents an hour being, on a 58-hour per week
basis, the difference between $3.60 a week and $8.70 a week."
Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage Earners
in the United States. Vol. Ill, p. 408. Glass
Industry. Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress,
2nd Session, 1911.
A LIVING WAGE AND THE PARASITIC INDUSTRIES.
The interpretation of " fair and reasonable " wages is given
by Mr. Justice Higgins, president of the Australian Common-
wealth Court of Arbitration, as follows :
' The provision for a fair and reasonable remuneration is
obviously designed for the benefit of the employees in the indus-
try; and it must be meant to secure for them something which
they cannot get by the ordinary system of individual bargaining
with employers. If Parliament meant that the conditions shall
be such as they can get by individual bargaining if it meant
that those conditions are to be fair and reasonable which em-
ployees will accept and employers will give in contracts of ser-
vice there would have been no need for this provision. The
remuneration could safely have been left to the usual, but un-
equal, contest, the ' higgling of the market ' for labor, with the
pressure for bread on one side, and the pressure for profits on the
other. The standard of ' fair and reasonable ' must, therefore,
be something else ; and I cannot think of any other standard
more appropriate than the normal needs of the average employee,
regarded as a human being living in a civilized community. I
have invited counsel and all concerned to suggest any other stan-
dard; and they have been unable to do so. If, instead of indi-
vidual bargaining, one can conceive of a collective agreement
252 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
an agreement between all the employers in a given trade on the
one side, and all the employees on the other it seems to me
that the framers of the agreement would have to take, as the first
and dominant factor, the cost of living as a civilized being. If
A lets B have the use of his horses, on the terms that he give
them fair and reasonable treatment, I have no doubt that it is
B's duty to give them proper food (sic) and water, and such
shelter and rest as they need; and, as wages are the means of
obtaining commodities, surely the state, in stipulating for fair
and reasonable remuneration for the employees, means that the
wages shall be sufficient to provide these things, and clothing,
and a condition of frugal comfort estimated by current human
standards. This, then, is the primary test, the test which I shall
apply in ascertaining the minimum wage that can be treated as
' fair and reasonable ? in the case of unskilled laborers."
Quoted by M. B. Hammond, American Economic Review,
June, 1913, page 268.
If a man cannot maintain his enterprise without cutting down
the wages which are proper to be paid to his employees at all
events, the wages which are essential for their living it would
be better that he should abandon the enterprise. This is the
view independently adopted by Mr. Justice Gordon in Adelaide,
and Mr. Justice Burnside in Western Australia. The former
said in the Brush-makers case, " If any particular industry can-
not keep going and pay its employees at least 7s. a day of eight
hours, it must shut up." In the Collie Miners case, Mr. Justice
Burnside refused an application of the employers to lower the
minimum, and said, " If the industry cannot pay that price, it
had better stop, and let some other industry absorb the workers."
Both the other members of the court concurred in the latter
decision. (6 W. A. Arb. Eep. 84.)
Mr. Justice Higgins of the Commonwealth Arbitration
Court of Australia, quoted by M. B. Hammond,
Ibid., p. 282.
" In view of these conditions, can any one say that a wage of
$2.75 a day is, as a matter of law, more than a reasonable living
RELATION TO COST OF PRODUCTION. 253
wage? The unit, as applied to the problem of living, is the
family, not the individual, and $2.75, or even $3, a day can
hardly be complacently pronounced as an unreasonable sum for
supporting such a unit. To hold that the payment of
any sum which we cannot say is above a reasonable living wage,
though it may be above the prevailing rate of wages, is a mere
gratuity, would be to sacrifice the fact to a mere term. Such a
holding would be an indictment of our civilization."
Malette v. City of Spokane, Supreme Court of Washing-
ton, Pacific Reporter, Feb. 2, 1914, page 508.
" Upon the question of the general policy of Parliament fixing
or providing for the fixing of a minimum rate of payment for
work, below which it should be illegal to employ people, your
committee are of the opinion that it is quite as legitimate to
establish by legislation a minimum standard of remuneration as
it is to establish such a standard of sanitation, cleanliness, ventila-
tion, air space, and hours of work. If it be said that there may
be industries which cannot be carried on if such a standard of
payment be enforced, it may be replied that this was said when
the enactment of many of the provisions of the factory and other
similar acts were proposed, and public opinion supported Parlia-
ment in deciding that, if the prognostication were an accurate
one, it would be better that any trade which could not exist if
such a minimum of decent and humane conditions were insisted
upon should cease. Parliament, with the full approval of the
nation, has practically so decided again and again, when enact-
ments have been passed forbidding the carrying on of specified
industries, unless certain minimum conditions as to health, safety
and comfort are complied with."
Report from the Select Committee on Home Work to
House of Commons, London, p. xiv, 1908.
RELATION TO COST OF PRODUCTION.
(a) Efficiency of Employer and Employee.
" Frankly, the minimum wage for women has come. You will
have to meet it. And why shouldn't you meet it? What harm
254 AFPEXDIX i IF-- MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
is it going to do you if every merchant has to pay the same
wage ? It becomes precisely as other expense accounts. Hitherto
the law of supply and demand fixed the wage schedule. Hence-
forth it will be efficiency and if the cost of selling is increased,
the purchaser is the one who will pay.
"An eight-hour law for employees is pending in some states.
When the law first came into our state, we thought it was very
drastic. Time has proved the wisdom of this law. Merchants
have adapted themselves to it. Business proceeds with ever-in-
creasing prosperity and we are scarcely conscious of ever having
worked without an eight-hour law in effect."
Mr. Arthur Letts, of Los Angeles, president Retail Dry
Goods Association. New York Times, February 12,
1914.
" It is interesting to note that many of the employers admit
that the result of the Trade Board award has been already to call
their attention to many instances of waste and leakage in their
establishments. While the rate was in partial operation card-
board factories have been carefully overhauled, and a new tidi-
ness and efficiency have entered into them."
Annual Report of the National Anti-Sweating League,
London, 1913, p. 7.
" Many people thought an increase in price must follow a rise
in wages. Well, in Melbourne the trade boards had raised wages,
sometimes by 50 per cent, and TO per cent, beyond what the
women had been getting before, and he had satisfied himself that
there was no increase in the price of the furnished article at all
as a consequence of the rise in prices. Yet the employers were
not bankrupt. The explanation was that when the higher wages
had to be paid the industry was carried on in a more efficient
way than when the employer paid low wages. For the increased
wages they paid they saw to it that they got more efficient work.
Thus the labor was not more expensive to the employer, although
the workers received more.' 7
Sidney Webb, National Conference on the Prevention of
Destitution, p. 425, 1912.
RELATION TO COST OF PRODUCTION. ^."i.",
''And it is difficult to believe that the enforcement of a legal
minimum wage in all these different industries, employing
110,000 persons (being, with their families, more than a quarter
of the entire population of the state), has interfered with the
profitableness of industry, when the number of factories has in-
creased, in the sixteen years, by no less than 60 per cent., and the
numbers of workers in them have more than doubled. Certainly,
no statesman, no economist, no political party nor any responsible
newspaper of Victoria, however much a critic of details, ever
dreams now of undoing the Minimum Wage Law itself."
Sidney Webb, Journal of Political Economy, December,
1912, page 976.
1 The unenlightened employers who have opposed these meas-
ures persistently asserted that the new restrictions or expenses
imposed upon their business would destroy their profits, cripple
their competition with foreigners and close their mills. The laws
were passed, the burdens were imposed, no such disaster as was
predicted actually occurred. Why not? Well, partly because
the improved safety, and sanitation, the shorter hours, and other
betterment in the condition of the employees raised the efficiency
of labor, but partly also because the fear of reduced profits
operated upon the employers as a stimulus to improved economy
in the conduct of their business. A rise in the wage bill or in
other expenses led to the invention or adoption of improved
machinery, the utilization of hitherto wasted products, or other
improvements either in the technique or in the administration
of the business. A trade dependent for its economy upon
abundance of cheap, low-grade labor is notoriously an unpro-
gressive trade; an enforced rise of wages will commonly be a
spur to progress."
John A. Hobson, before the National Anti-Sweating
League, London, 1907. Report of Proceedings,
page 55.
' The fact remains that in several trades in which wages have
tended upwards there IB much testimony to the fact that neither
cost nor price have bee. similarly affected, and in some instances
256 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
it has been admitted that they have tended in the opposite direc-
tion." The Melbourne manager of one of the largest importing
and manufacturing firms in Australia is quoted as saying: " They
(the special boards) have made no difference in business and no
traceable difference in prices." Another employer in the clothing
trade gave an experience of several years during which, while
wages had increased 20 per cent., costs had diminished 35 per cent.
In the replies furnished to the questions set forth in Form B of
Mr. Aves' report, twenty-eight persons state that they are unable
to mention a single case in which special boards have led to an
increase in price, while nine only answer doubtfully or in the
opposite sense. The advantage of a greater equality of conditions
on both sides, secured by a minimum rate, appears to be strongly
felt in Victoria, and the fact that the honest employer is, under
a special board, placed on an equality with the sweater is forcibly
insisted on. " This point is mentioned repeatedly." So cautious
and careful a collector of evidence as Mr. Aves feels constrained
to add that " from this point of view, which is reflected in con-
nection with trades of many descriptions from engineering
down to white work the special boards may almost be regarded
as having won general approval."
Miss Constance Smith in The Case for Wages Boards,
London, National Anti-Sweating League; quotations
from Mr. Ernest Aves' report on the Australasian
systems.
' To the wage earners as a class it is of the utmost importance
that .the other factors in production capital and brain power -
should always be working at their highest possible efficiency, in
order that the common product, on which wages no less than
profits depend, may be as large as possible. The enforcement of
the common rule on all establishments concentrates the pressure
of competition on the brains of the employers, and keeps them
always on the stretch. ' Mankind/ says Emerson, ' is as lazy as
it dares to be ', and so long as an employer can meet the pressure
of the wholesale trader, or of foreign competition, by nibbling
at wages or ' cribbing time ? he is not likely to undertake the
' intolerable toil of thought ' that would be required to discover
TiKLATION TO COST OF PRODUCTION. 257
a genuine improvement in the productive process, or even, as
Babbage candidly admits, to introduce improvements that have
already been invented."
Sidney Webb, Journal of Political Economy, December,
1912, page 983.
" From the point of view of the economist, concerned to secure
the highest efficiency of the national industry, it must be counted
to the credit of the legal minimum wage that it compels the em-
ployer, in his choice of men to fill vacancies, seeing that he can-
not get a k cheap hand ' for the price that he has to pay, to be
always striving to exact greater strength and skill, a higher stan-
dard of sobriety and regular attendance, and a superior capacity
for responsibility and initiative. This is exactly what has hap-
pened in Victoria under the Minimum Wage Law, as it has hap-
pened in Great Britain where a definitely fixed minimum has
been substituted for the irregular competitive rates, which, in the
absence of a common rule, the sharp or ' cutting ' employer can
enforce on the weakest or most necessitous workers. Thus, a
legal minimum wage positively increases the productivity of the
nation's industry, by ensuring that the surplus of unemployed
workmen shall be exclusively the least efficient workmen; or, to
put it in another way, by ensuring that all the situations shall
be filled by the most efficient operatives who are available. This
is plainly not the case under ' free competition ' where there is
no fixed minimum."
Sidney Webb, Journal of Political Economy, December,
1912, page 979.
" But it may be remarked, in passing, that it is by no means
the general consensus of informed opinion that either maximum
time or minimum wage laws, not exceeding a reasonable living
wage, when fairly tried out, will have the necessary effect of
increasing the cost of work to any material extent, especially
when applied only to public work. The evidence shows that
there is no scarcity of laborers in Spokane, and it would seem
that the shorter hours of labor and higher daily pay would neces-
sarily attract many of them. The city and those doing its work
9
258 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
by contract would thus have the choice, and could select the more
efficient laborers. This would unquestionably tend to counteract
in efficiency the added cost caused by shorter hours and higher
pay. Contractors would, in time, -learn this fact and make their
calculations and bids accordingly."
Malette v. City of Spokane, Supreme Court of Washing-
ton, Pacific Eeporter, February 2, 1914, page 504.
" We arrive, therefore, at the unexpected result that the en-
forcement of definite minimum conditions of employment as com-
pared with a state of absolute freedom to the employer to do as
he likes, positively stimulates the invention and adoption of new
processes of manufacture. This is no new paradox, but has been
repeatedly remarked by the opponents of trade unionism. Thus
Babbage, in 1832, described in detail how the invention and
adoption of new methods of forging and welding gun barrels was
directly caused by the combined insistence on better conditions
of employment by all the workmen engaged in the old process.
1 In this difficulty (he says) the contractors resorted to a mode
of welding the gun barrel according to a plan for which a patent
had been taken out by them some years before the event. It had
not then succeeded so well as to come into general use, in conse-
quence of the cheapness of the usual mode of welding by hand
labor, combined with some other difficulties with which the
patentee had to contend. But the stimulus produced by the com-
bination of the workmen for this advance of wages induced him
to make a few trials, and he was enabled to introduce such a
facility in welding gun barrels by roller, and such perfection in
the work itself, that in all probability very few will in future be
welded by hand labor. Similar examples (continues Babbage)
must have presented themselves to those who are familiar with
the details of our manufactories, but these are sufficient to illus-
trate one of the results of combinations. * * * It is quite
evident that they have all this tendency; it is also certain that
considerable stimulus must be applied to induce a man to con-
trive a new and expensive process; and that in both these cases
unless the fear of pecuniary loss had acted powerfully the im-
provement would not have been made/ '
Sidney Webb, Journal of Political Economy, December,
1912, page 982.
RELATION TO COST OF PRODUCTION. 259
(b) Employees Unable to Earn the Minimum Rate.
" Thus, all the most capable and best conducted would cer-
tainly obtain regular situations. But this concentration of em-
ployment would, it must be admitted, imply the total exclusion
of others, who might, in the absence of regulation, have ' picked
up ' some sort of partial livelihood. In so far as the persons thus
rendered permanently unemployed consisted merely of children
removed from industrial work to the schoolroom, few (and cer-
tainly no economist) would doubt that the change would be
wholly advantageous to national productivity and economic
efficiency. And there are many who would welcome a reorgani-
zation of industry, which, by concentrating employment exclus-
ively among those in regular attendance, would tend automatically
to exclude from wage labor, and to set free for domestic duties, an
ever-increasing proportion of the women having young children
to attend to. There would still remain to be considered the
remnant who, notwithstanding the increased demand for adult
male labor and independent female labor, proved to be incapable
of earning the legal minimum in any capacity whatsoever. We
should, in fact, be brought face to face with the problem, not of
the unemployed but of the unemployable; those whom no em-
ployer would employ at the legal minimum even if trade was
booming and he could get nobody else.
" The unemployable, to put it bluntly, do not and cannot under
any circumstances earn their keep. What we have to do with
them is to see that as few as possible of them are produced ; that
such of them as can be cured are (almost at whatever cost)
treated so as promptly to remove their incapacity, and that the
remnant are provided for at the public expense, as wisely, as
humanely, and inexpensively as possible. * But, of all
ways of dealing with these unfortunate parasites, the most ruin-
ous to the community is to allow them unrestrainedly to compete
as wage earners for situations."
Sidney Webb, Journal of Political Economy, December,
1912, page 992.
" It is undoubtedly true that a determination in favor of mini-
mum wage regulations does commit organized society to a more
260 APPENDIX III -- MINIMI *:M WAGE LEGISLATION.
responsible attitude toward the whole labor problem, than any
American state has yet adopted. For one, I welcome this
prospect and believe that the more serious attention to the ques-
tions of unemployment and its remedies, of industrial education
and vocational guidance, and of provision for indigent widows
and orphans, for the superannuated and for defectives, which it
must entail, will prove only advantageous."
Henry R. Seager, American Labor Legislation Review,
Vol. Ill, No. 1, page 89.
THE MINIMUM WAGE AS A PUBLIC POLICY.
" Just as it is against public policy to allow an employer to
engage a woman to work excessive hours or under insanitary con-
ditions, so it is equally against public policy to permit him to
engage her for wages insufficient to provide the food and shelter
without which she cannot continue in health. Once we begin to
prescribe the minimum conditions under which an employer
should be permitted to open a factory, there is no logical distinc-
tion to be drawn between the several clauses of the wage contract.
From the point of view of the employer, one way of increasing
his expenses is the same as another, while to the economist and the
statesman, concerned with the permanent efficiency of industry
and the maintenance of national health, adequate food is at least
as important as reasonable hours or good drainage. To be com-
pletely effectual the same policy will, therefore, have to be ap-
plied to wages. Thus, to the economist, the enforcement of a
legal minimum wage appears but as the latest of the long series
of common rules, which experience has proved to be (&) neces-
sary to prevent national degradation; and (&) positively advan-
tageous to industrial efficiency."
Sidney Webb, Journal of Political Economy, December,
1912, pages 988 and 989.
" The eight-hour law manifests a public policy on the part of
the state to better the condition of laborers employed upon public
work. The purpose of the minimum wage ordinance is precisely
the same, and the policy which sustains the one warrants the
other. We fail to find wherein the ordinance in question is con-
PUBLIC POLICY. 261
trary to any public policy of the state, either as declared or im-
plied in any statutory enactment. On the contrary, it is in
accord with the policy which underlies the eight-hour law.
Malette v. City of Spokane, Supreme Court of Washing-
ton, Pacific Reporter, February 2, 1914, page 502.
" The idea underlying the ultimately developed sentiment of
the people upon that subject (exemption) * is that the
citizen is an essential elementary constituent of the state ; that
to preserve the state the citizen must be protected ; that to live, he
must have the means of living; to act and to be a citizen he must
be free to act and to have somewhat wherewith to act, and thus
to be competent to the performance of his high functions as such.
Hence it would seem, as no doubt it was, a matter of the gravest
state policy to invest the citizen with, and to secure to him, those
essential perquisites, without which the state could not demand
of him at all times his instant service and devoted allegiance."
Maxwell v. Reed, 7 Wis. 594. Brief for a Proposed
Minimum Wage Law for Wisconsin, prepared under
the direction of J. R. Commons.
"A continually fluctuating labor market is a heavy burden 011
the fair employer in manufacturing. He is menaced by the under-
cutting of his wage rates by his rivals in business, by strikes of
his employees, by the uncertainties of the future, by alterations
in costs. His losses besides are those of a citizen obliged to help
support those of his competitors not paying a living wage and
whose employees are hence from time to time thrown on the com-
munity for assistance. We cannot but conclude that the fair em-
ployer must in the end agree with us on the desirability and
feasibility of the minimum wage as here advocated."
John Mitchell, in The Wage-Earner and His Problem,
p. 103.
" First, let us notice that the act of 1896 (like the British
Trade Boards Act of 1909), was only a temporary one. It has
during the past sixteen years been incessantly discussed ; it has
been repeatedly considered by the Legislature; and, as a result,
it has been five successive times renewed by consent of both
262 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
Houses. Can it be that all this is a mistake? Still more con-
vincing, however, are the continuous demands from the other
trades, as they witnessed the actual results of the legal minimum
wage where it was in force, to be brought under the same law.
" Now, in this remarkable popular demonstration of the suc-
cess of the act, tested by the not inconsiderable period of sixteen
years, extending over years of relative trade depression as well
as over years of boom, some features deserve mention. First, the
extensions have frequently indeed, it may be said usually -
taken place at the request, or with the willing acquiescence, of
the employers in a trade, as well as of the wage earners. What
the employers appreciate is, as they have themselves told me, the
very fact that the minimum wage is fixed by law and therefore
really forced on all employers : The security that the act
accordingly gives them against being undercut by the dishonest
or disloyal competitors, who simply will not (in Victoria as in
the Port of London) adhere to the common rules agreed upon by
collective bargaining. We must notice, too, that the application
of the law has been demanded by skilled trades as well as by
those having no unions at all. One is tempted, indeed, to believe
that little remains now outside its scope except the agricultural
occupations and domestic service."
Sidney Webb, Journal of Political Economy, December,
1912, pages 974, 975 and 976.
"It is now seen that, in carrying his successive factory acts,
for one class after another, laying down a legal minimum for one
condition after another; of the wage contract, Lord Shaftsbury,
like the trade unionists whom he feared, was ' building better
than he knew.' What was at first empirical has become scientific.
'And so the factory acts/ to use the words of the late Duke of
Argyll, uttered as long ago as 1867, ' instead of being excused as
exceptional, and pleaded for as justified only under extraordi-
nary conditions, ought to be recognized as in truth the first legis-
lative recognition of a great natural law * destined to
claim for itself wider and wider application.' '
Sidney Webb, Journal of Political Economy, December,
1912, page 998.
PUBLIC POLICY. 263
"A minimum wage standard is essential for the protection of
labor, whether it be under competitive conditions or in the em-
ploy of a trust or municipality. We have seen that this is true
in the case of thousands of non-English-speaking immigrants at
Lawrence and elsewhere. The real question at issue is: Shall
this minimum wage be established by law or by labor organiza-
tions ? It may be best for legislation to avoid this field but, if so,
we may look for just such conditions as have been found at Law-
rence and Little Falls. For the most oppressed laborers, who
are not even able to organize, it would seem that legislation
might make a beginning.' 7
John R. Commons, American Labor Legislation Review,
' Vol. Ill, Eo. 1, page 92.
" In Victoria and New Zealand, the only states which have
had long enough experience with the legal minimum wage to
judge adequately of its results, the desirability and necessity of
its maintenance have ceased to be seriously questioned. The
question which is chiefly discussed in Australia is whether the
wages board system or the compulsory arbitration system is the
best method of securing this result. In Victoria, where em-
ployers for years waged a bitter fight against the wages board
system, opposition on their part to the principle of the system
seems to have died out, however serious may be their complaints
against particular features of the act, against certain determina-
tions of the boards, or against the administration of the act by
the chief factory inspector's department. And, lest this favor-
able opinion of the success of the system be thought simply the
expression of a partisan investigator, let 'me say that the presi-
dents and secretaries of the two strong employers' organizations
in Melbourne, the Victorian Chamber of Manufactures and the
Victorian Employers' Association, which formerly led the attack
on the wages board system, told me that opposition on the part
of their members to the wages board had ceased and that they
had no wish to see the system abandoned. The same opinion was
expressed by all the employers with whom I talked."
M. B. Hammond, American Labor Legislation Review,
Vol. Ill, No. 1, pages 112 and 113.
264 APPENDIX III- ~ MIMMTM WAGE LEGISLATION.
" What the advocates of the minimum wage idea forget is, that
the United States is divided into forty-eight separate, competing
countries with widely varying conditions of employment and
wage standards, Massachusetts being among the states which
head the list in high wages, short hours, and favorable factory
conditions. For any one of these high class states to set a legal
minimum wage will be to open the door to a flood of workers
from other states who will expect employment at higher wages.
The immigration of aliens from Europe, unless absolutely re-
stricted, will swell this stream of labor, and that Massachusetts
could make headway against this inflow is inconceivable. The
legal minimum wage will, therefore, drive the slow, the inef-
ficient and the infirm worker out of industry altogether into
pauperism, and no sophistical explanation that does not explain
will overcome this objection."
Edward F. McSweeney, American Labor Legislation
Review, Vol. Ill, No. 1 ,page 98.
" I wish, however, to refer to Australasian experience as afford-
ing an answer to certain questions which have arisen in this
morning's discussion. It has been said that a wage board would
be unable to accomplish much, if anything, in one of our Amer-
ican states, because to set up a living wage as a minimum in any
industry in which interstate competition existed would result in
driving that industry to another state. Such has not been the
experience in Victoria, where for years the wages boards had to
meet this same difficulty. It simply meant that interstate com-
petition was one of the conditions which the boards had to con-
sider in fixing wages in the industries with which they were
dealing. Sometimes a board would be unable to fix a minimum
as high as it would have been willing to do if the interstate com-
petition had not existed, but this did not mean that the board
could do nothing. For the chief service to be rendered by the
board is the bringing up of wages to the level now maintained by
the best employers in the trade. In spite of keen interstate com-
petition, there are many employers in any trade or industry who,
in the absence of any legal minimum wage, pay fair and reason-
able wages to their employees. This was amply illustrated by
CONSTITUTIONAL Asi'KCTS. J.\ STPKK.MK Conn- DECISION.
2(51)
APPENDIX A.
DECISION OF OREGON SUPKEME COURT UPHOLD-
ING MINIMUM WAGE LAW.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON
IN BANG.
FRANK C. STETTLER,
Appellant,
vs.
EDWIN V. O'HARA, BERTHA MOORES and
AMEDEE M. SMITH, constituting the In-
dustrial Welfare Commission of the State
of Oregon,
Respondents.
Affirmed March 17, 1914.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Multnomah county. Hon.
T. J. Cleeton, Judge. Argued and submitted, February 9, 1914.
STATEMENT.
This is a suit instituted by the appellant, plaintiff ~below, against
the respondents, defendants below, to restrain the defendants, who
constitute the Industrial Welfare Commission, from enforcing a
certain order passed by such Commission.
The plaintiff is engaged in the manufacture of paper boxes in
the city of Portland, and on the 10th day of September,
270 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
1913, said Commission adopted an order whereby it is required
that no person operating any manufacturing establishment in the
city of Portland shall employ any women in such establishment
for more than nine hours a day or employ any experienced adult
women worker at a weekly wage of less than $5.&4.(1).
DECISION.
On February 17, 1913, the legislative assembly passed an act
entitled :
" To protect the lives and health and morals of women and
minor workers, and to establish an Industrial Welfare Com-
mission and define its powers and duties, and to provide for
the fixing of minimum wages and maximum hours and stand-
ard conditions of labor for such workers, and to provide pen-
alties for violation of this act."
The title is followed by a declaration of the evils that it is de-
sired to remedy as follows:
" Whereas, the welfare of the state of Oregon requires that
women and minors should be protected from conditions of
labor which have a pernicious effect on their health and
morals, and inadequate wages and unduly long hours and un-
sanitary conditions of labor have such a pernicious effect;
therefore, be it enacted by the people of the state of Oregon."
The first section provides :
."It shall be unlawful to employ women or minors in any
occupation within the state of Oregon for unreasonably long
hours; and it shall be unlawful to employ women or minors
in any occupation within the state of Oregon under such sur-
roundings or conditions sanitary or otherwise as may
be detrimental to their health or morals; and it shall be un-
lawful to employ women in any occupation within the state
of Oregon for wages which are inadequate to supply the neces-
sary cost of living, and to maintain them in health; and it
shall be unlawful to employ minors in any occupation within
the state of Oregon for unreasonably low wages."
(1) Taken from appellant's brief.
OREGON SUPREME COURT DECISION. 271
Then follows the creation of the commission under the name of
the " Industrial Welfare Commission/ 7 to be appointed by the
Governor, and provisions denning its duties. Section 4 provides:
" Said commission is hereby authorized and empowered to
ascertain and declare, in the manner hereinafter provided,
the following things : (a) Standards of hours of employment
for women or for minors and what are unreasonably long
hours for women or for minors in any occupation within the
state of Oregon; (b) standards of conditions of labor for
women or for minors in any occupation within the state of
Oregon and what surroundings or conditions sanitary or
otherwise are detrimental to the health or morals of women
or of minors in any such occupation; (c) standards of mini-
mum wages for women in any occupation within the state of
Oregon and what wages are inadequate to supply the neces-
sary cost of living to any such women workers and to main-
tain them in good health;, and (d) standards of minimum
wages for minors in any occupation within the state of Oregon
and what wages are unreasonably low for any such minor
workers."
Section 8 provides among other things that the
" Commission may call and convene a conference for the
purpose and with the powers of considering and inquiring
into and reporting on the subject investigated by said commis-
sion and submitted by it to such conference. Such conference
shall be composed of not more than three representatives of the
employers in said occupation and of an equal number of the
representatives of the employees in said occupation and of
not more than three disinterested persons representing the
public and of one or more commissioners,"
and the duties of such conference, which shall report the result
of its investigations with recommendations to the commission.
Section 9 provides that upon the receipt of the report from the
conference, and the approval of its recommendations, the commis-
sion may make and render such order as may be proper or neces-
sary to adopt such recommendations and to carry the same into
272 Ari'Exiux 111 Mix j MUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
effect and require all employers in the occupation affected thereby
to observe and comply with such recommendations and said order.
The act contains other provisions giving the commission and con-
ference power and authority to investigate the matters being con-
sidered, and that from the matters so determined by the commis-
sion there shall be no appeal on any question of fact ; but that there
shall be a right of appeal from the commission to the Circuit Court
from any ruling or holding on a question of law included or em-
bodied in any decision or order by the commission, and from the
Circuit Court to the Supreme Court. The defendants were duly
appointed by the Governor as such -commission. It thereafter
called a conference as provided, which reported to the commission,
making certain recommendations, which were approved ; and based
upon such recommendations it made the following order :
" The Industrial Welfare Commission of the state of Ore-
gon hereby orders that no person, firm, corporation, or asso-
ciation owning or operating any manufacturing establishment
in the city of Portland, Oregon, shall employ women in said
establishment for more than nine hours a day, or fifty* hours
a week; or fix, allow, or permit for any woman employee in
said establishment a noon lunch period of less than forty-five
minutes in length; or employ any experienced adult woman
worker, paid by time rates of payment, in said establishment
at a weekly wage of less than $8.64, any lesser amount being
hereby declared inadequate to supply the necessary cost of
living to such woman factory workers and to maintain them
in health."
The amended complaint sets out all these matters in greater
detail, to which the defendants demurred on various grounds, the
first of which raises the questions here discussed, namely, that
"it does not state facts showing that the act and order com-
plained of is an unreasonable exercise of the police power of
the state."
* Should read " fifty-four " Error in pleadings.
OJ;K<;<>.\ Sn-KK.M K Conn 1 I)i:< ismx. 273
The demurrer was sustaineed, and the plaintiff elected to stand
on the amended complaint. Judgment was rendered dismissing
the suit, and the plaintiff appeals.
EAKIX, J. :
The purpose of this suit is to have determined judicially whether
either the fourteenth amendment of the federal constitution, or
Section 20, Article I, of the Oregon Constitution is an inhibition
against the regulation by the legislature of the hours of labor
during which women may be employed in any mechanical or man-
ufacturing establishment, mercantile occupation, or other employ-
ment requiring continuous physical labor : or against the estab-
lishment of a minimum wage to be paid therefor. Some features
of these questions are practically new in the courts of this country.
There have been some utterances by the courts of last resort to
the effect that it is such an inhibition. Some of these cases relate
exclusively to the limitation of the hours of employment, others
to the wages to be paid on contracts with the state or municipality ;
but the cases so holding are based largely on the fact that such
regulation deprives the individual of liberty and property with-
out due process of law, namely, that it is not within the police
power of the state and violates the liberty of contract. The first
case holding such a statute unconstitutional is Lochner vs. New
York, 198 U. S. 45, Sup. Ct. 539, 49 L. Ed. 937, annotated in 3
Ann. Cas. 1133. A similar case is Eitchie vs. People, 155 111. 98.
40 K E. 454, 29 L. E. A. 79, 46 Am. St. Eep. 315. In the for-
mer case, in the Appellate Division of the State Court two of five
judges were in favor of upholding the law ; in the Supreme Court
of the State three of the seven judges were so minded; and in the
United States Court four of the nine judges favored such a dis-
position of the case. The opinions in those decisions are based
upon different theories, showing that judicial opinion has not
reached any settled or stable basis upon which to rest. It has only
been during the last few years that the matter of legislation upon
the question of the limitation of hours of labor has been agitated
in legislative bodies or in the courts. The decisions of the courts
have been based upon first impression and may be liable to flue-
274 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
tuation from one extreme to the other before the extent of the
power of legislation on these questions is finally settled. The en-
tiy of woman into the realm of many of the employments formerly
filled by man, in which she attempts to compete with him, is a
recent innovation ; and it has created a condition which the legis-
latures have deemed it their duty to investigate and to some ex-
tent govern. It is conceded by all students of the subject, and
they are many and their writings extensive, that woman's physical
structure and her position in the economy of the race renders her
incapable of competing with man either in strength or endurance.
This is well-emphasized by Justice Brewer in Muller vs. Oregon,
208 U. S. 412, 28 Sup. Ct, 324, 52 L. Ed. 13 Ann. Gas. 957, an
appeal from Oregon questioning the constitutionality of the law
fixing the maximum hours of labor for women, where he says :
" That woman's physical structure and the performance of
maternal functions place her at a disadvantage in the struggle
for subsistence is obvious. This is especially true when the
burdens of motherhood are upon her. Even when they are
not, by abundant testimony of the medical fraternity, con-
tinuance for a long time on her feet at work, repeating this
from day to day, tends to injurious effects upon the body,
and as healthy mothers are essential to vigorous offspring, the
physical wellbeing of woman becomes an object of public
interest and care in order to preserve the strength and vigor
of the race. Still, again, history discloses the fact that woman
has always been dependent upon man. He established his
control at the outset by superior physical strength, and this
control in various forms, with diminishing intensity, has con-
tinued to the present. As minors, though not to the same ex-
tent, she has been looked upon in the courts as needing es-
pecial care that her rights may be preserved. Dif-
ferentiated by these matters from the other sex, she is properly
placed in a class by herself, and legislation designed for her
protection may be sustained, even when like legislation is
not necessary for men and could not be sustained. It is im-
possible to close one's eyes to the fact that she still looks to
her brother and depends upon him. * that her phys-
OREGON SUPREME COURT DECISION. 275
ical structure and a proper discharge of her maternal func-
tions having in view not merely her own health, but the
wellbeing of the race justify legislation to protect her from
the greed as well as the passion of man. The limitations
which this statute places upon her contractual powers, upon
her right to agree with her employer as to the time she shall
labor, are not imposed solely for her benefit, but also largely
for the benefit of all. Many words cannot make this plainer.
* * * This difference justifies a difference in legislation
and upholds that which is designed to compensate for some
of the burdens which rest upon her."
The conditions mentioned in the above quotation lie at the foun-
dation of all legislation attempted for the amelioration of woman's
condition in her struggle for subsistence. In many states as well
as in foreign countries special study and investigation have been
given to this question as to the effect of long hours of labor and
inadequate wages upon the health, morals, and welfare of woman,
with a view to remedy the evil results as far as possible.' There
seems to be a very strong and growing sentiment throughout the
land, and a demand that something must be done by law to coun-
teract the evil effects of these conditions. In the case of Lochner
vs. New York, supra, in which the constitutionality of the labor
law of ]is"ew York, limiting the hours of labor in bakeries, is ques-
tioned Justice Peckham wrote the opinion holding the law invalid.
Justice Harlan filed a dissenting opnion which should not be over-
looked as the parts here quoted are general statements of the law
recognized by judicial opinion and not in conflict with the main
opinion. Justices White and Day concurred therein; Justice
Holmes also dissenting. In that opinion it is said:
" While this court has not attempted to mark the precise
boundaries of what is called the police power of the state, the
existence of the power has been uniformly recognized, both
by the federal and state courts. 7 '
In quoting from Patterson vs. Kentucky, 97 U. S. 501, he says:
" It (this court) has nevertheless with marked distinctness
and uniformity, recognized the necessity, growing out of the
276 APPENDIX III -- AI IM.MI ,M WAGE LEGISLATION.
fundamental conditions of civil society, of upholding state
police regulations which were enacted in good faith, and had
appropriate and direct connection with that protection of life,
health and property which each state owes to her citizens.
But neither the (14th) amendment broad and comprehen-
sive as it is nor any other amendment was designed to in-
terfere with the power of the state, sometimes termed its
police power, to prescribe regulations to promote the health,
peace, morals, education, and good order of the people. *
Granting then that there is a liberty of contract which cannot
be violated even under the sanction of direct legislative en-
actment, but assuming, as according to settled law we may
assume, that such liberty of contract is subject to such regula-
tions as the state may reasonably prescribe for the common
good and wellbeing of society, what are the conditions under
which the judiciary may declare such regulations to be in
excess of legislative authority and void ? Upon this point
there is no room for dispute; for, the rule is universal that a
legislative enactment, federal or state, is never to be dis-
regarded or held invalid unless it be, beyond question, plainly
and palpably in excess of legislative power."
The opinion of the justices who hold the maximum hours laws
unconstitutional are based largely upon the fact that they violate the
liberty of contract; holding that such acts are not within the fair
meaning of the term " a health law," but are not an illegal inter-
ference with the rights of the individual and are not within the
police power of the legislature to enact. The right of the state to
prescribe the 'number of hours one may work or be employed on
public works is generally upheld for the reason that the state may
determine for itself what shall constitute a day's work of a laborer
on public works, which violates no individual right of property or
liberty of contract. Penn. Bridge Co. vs. United States, 29 App.
Cas. (D. C.) 452, 10 Ann. Gas. 720; Byars vs. State, 2 Okla.
Grim. 481, 102 Pac. 804, 22 Ann. Gas, 765 ; People vs. Chicago,
256 111. 558, 100 K E. 194, 30 Ann. Cas. 304. So it is held that
work underground or in a smelter is unhealthy and may be regu-
lated in ex parte Boyce, 27 Nev. 299, 75 Pac. 1, 65 L. E. A. 47, 1
OKK<;<>.\ Si IMJK.MK Conrr DECISION. 277
Ann. Cas. 06; Holdeu vs. Hardy, 169 II. S. 366; ex parte Kair,
28 Nov. 127, 425, 80 Pac. 463, 82 Pac. 453, 6 Ann. Cas. 893.
In the Lochner case, supra, employment in a bakery and candy
factory is held not to be unhealthy, and that a statute limiting the
hours of labor therein is void. A statute fixing the hours of labor
for women is held valid in State vs. Muller, 48 Or. 252, 85 Pac.
855, 120 Am. St. Rep. 205, annotated in 11 Ann. Cas. 88, which
case is affirmed in 208 U. S. 412 and annotated in 13 Ann. Cas.
957. In Ritchie vs. People, supra, the law limiting hours of work
for women was held void. However in Ritchie & Co. vs. Wayman,
244 111. 509, 91 1ST. E. 695, 27 L. R. A. (N. S.) 994, such a law
was held valid as within the police power of the legislature; and,
again, in People vs. Chicago, supra, and in People vs. Elerding,
254 111. 579, 92 K E. 982, the law was upheld. Thus it appears
that Illinois has wholly receded from the decision in the case of
Ritchie vs. People, supra, and it may be now considered as estab-
lished that a statute which limits the hours of labor of certain oc-
cupations or for certain classes of persons for the protection of the
health and welfare of society is within the police power of the
state. Commonwealth vs. Riley, 210 Mass, 387, 97 N. E. 367,
25 Ann. Cas. 388 ; State vs. Somerville, 67 Wn. 638, 122 Pac.
324. It was said in People vs. Elerding, supra, wherein a statute
limiting the working hours per day for males was held unconstitu-
tional as a valid exercise of the police power:
" That under the police power of the state the general as-
sembly may enact legislation to prohibit all things hurtful
to the health, welfare, and safety of society, even though the
prohibition invade the right of liberty or property of the in-
dividual, is too well-settled to require discussion or the cita-
tion of authority. * * * While in its last analysis it is a
question whether an act is a proper exercise of the police
power, it is the province of the legislature to determine when
an exigency exists calling for the exercise of this power. When
are legislative authority has decided an exigency exists call-
ing for the exercise of the power and has adopted an act to
meet the emergency, the presumption is that it is a valid en-
actment, and the courts will sustain it unless it appears, be-
278 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
yond any reasonable doubt, that it is in violation of some con-
stitutional limitation."
On the same subject it is said in Lochner vs. New York, supra,
quoting from Jacobson vs. Massachusetts, 197 U. S. 11, 25 Sup.
Ct. 358, 48 L. Ed. 643, relating to the vaccination statute, that
" the power of the courts to review legislative action in re-
spect of a matter affecting the general welfare exists only
' when that which the legislature has done comes within the
rule that if a statute, purporting to have been enacted to pro-
tect the public health, the public morals, or the public safety,
has no real or substantial relation to those objects, or is be-
yond all question a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured
by the fundamental law. 7 * * * If there be doubt as to
the validity of the statute, that doubt must therefore be re-
solved in favor of its validity, and the courts must keep their
hands off, leaving the legislature to meet the responsibility
for unwise legislation."
In re Spencer, 149 Gal. 396, 9 Ann. Gas. 1105, it is said:
" The presumption always is that an act of the legislature
is constitutional, and when this depends upon the existence
or non-existence of some fact, or state of facts, the determina-
tion thereof is primarily for the legislature, and the courts
will acquiesce in its decision, unless the error clearly ap-
pears."
The legislative power of the state is not derived by grant of the
constitution, but exists as to all subjects not inhibited by the state
or federal constitution.
There is only one federal inhibition urged against this statute,
namely :
" No state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the
United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life,
liberty or property without due process of law, or deny to
any person within its jurisdiction an equal protection of the
law."
OREGON SUPREME COURT DECISION. 2Y9
Fourteenth amendment. It may probably be conceded that the
public welfare statute in question here violates this clause as
abridging privileges of citizens if it cannot be justified as a police
measure; and we will assume, without entering into a discussion
of that question or citation of authorities, that provisions enacted
by the state under its police power that have for their purpose
the protection or betterment of the public health, morals, peace,
and welfare, and reasonably tend to that end, are withim the power
of the state notwithstanding that they may apparently conflict with
the fourteenth amendment of the federal constitution.
So that the first and principal question for decision is whether
the provisions of the act before us are within the police power of
the state. Professor Tucker, in 8 Cyc. 863, says:
" Police power is the name given to the inherent sovereignty
which it is the right and duty of the government or its agents
to exercise whenever public policy, in a broad sense, demands,
for the benefit of society at large, regulations to guard its
morals, safety, health, order, or to insure in any respect such
economic conditions as an advancing civilization of a highly
complex character requires. 7 '
This is a comprehensive definition, and we will accept it with-
out further detailed analysis or citation of authority. As will appear
from the cases cited above we can accept as settled law statutes
having for their purpose and tending to that end provision for a
maximum hours law of labor for employees upon public works, a
i>iaximum hours law for women and children employed in mechan-
ical, mercantile, or manufacturing establishments, a maximum
hours law for laborers in mines or smelters, a law fixing minimum
wages for employees upon public works. The latter is held in
Malette vs. Spokane (Wash.) 137" Pac. 500, even where the ex-
pense is borne by private individuals, so that the only question for
decision here is as to the power of the legislature to fix a minimum
wage in such a case. We use the language of Mr. Malarkey :
" The police power, which is another name for the power of
government, is as old and unchanging as government itself.
If its existence be destroyed government ceases. There have
280 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
been many attempts to define the police power and its scope ;
but because of confusing the power itself with the changing
conditions calling for its application, many definitions are
inexact and unsatisfactory. The courts have latterly elimi-
nated much of this confusion by pointing out that, instead of
the power being expanded to apply to new conditions, the new
conditions are, as they arise, brought within the immutable
and unchanging principles underlying the power. When new
conditions arise which injuriously affect the health or morals
or welfare of the public, we no longer say that we will expand
the police power to reach and remedy the evil. Instead v,o
say that a new evil has arisen which an old principle of gov-
ment the police power will correct. 57
If the statute tends reasonably to accomplish the purposes in-
tended by the legislature, it should be upheld by the court. Jus-
tice Harlan, in Jacobson vs. Massachusetts, supra, quoting from
Viemeister vs. White, 1.91 IT. S. 223, states:
"A common belief, like common knowledge, does not re-
quire evidence to establish its existence, but may be acted
upon without proof by the legislature and the courts. The
fact that the belief is not universal is not controlling, for
there is scarce any belief that is accepted by everyone. The
possibility that the belief may be wrong, and that science
may yet show it to be wrong, is not conclusive ; for the legis-
lature has the right to pass laws, which, according to the
common belief of the people, are adapted to prevent the spread
of contagious diseases. In a free country, where the govern-
ment is by the people, through their chosen representatives,
practical legislation admits of no other standard of action;
for what the people believe is for the common welfare, must
be accepted as tending to promote the common welfare,
whether it does in fact or not. Any other basis would con-
flict with the spirit of the constitution, and would sanction
measures opposed to a republican form of government. While
we do not decide and cannot decide that vaccination is a pre-
ventative of smallpox, we take judicial notice of the fact that
this is the common belief of the people of the state, and with
Oi,'K(;oN SUPREME ('OTRT DECISION. 281
this fact as a common foundation wo hold that the statute in
question is a health law, enacted in a reasonable and proper
exercise of the police power/'
In speaking of the Oregon ten-hour law, Chief Justice Bean, in
the case of Stnti vs. Muller, supra, says :
'"' Such legislation must he taken as expressing the belief of
the legislature, and through it of the people, that the labor of
females in such establishments in excess of 10 hours in any
one day is detrimental to health and injuriously affects the
public welfare. The only question for the court is whether
such regulation or limitation has any real or substantial rela-
tion to the object sought to be accomplished, or whether it is so
' utterly unreasonable and extravagant ' as to amount to a
mere arbitrary interference with the right of contract. On
this question we are not without authority."
These are some of the grounds upon which maximum ten hours
laws are sustained, and we have cited them here as applying with
equal force to sustain the women's minimum wage law and as
bringing it within the police power of the legislature. The state
should be as zealous of the morals of its citizens as of their health.
The " whereas clause " quoted above is a statement of the facts or
conclusions constituting the necessity for the enactment, and the
act proceeds to make provision to remedy these causes. " Com-
mon belief" and " common knowledge " are sufficient to make it
palpable and beyond doubt that the employment of female labor
as it has been conducted is highly detrimental to public morals
and has a strong tendency to corrupt them. Elizabeth Beardsley
Butler in her " Women of the Trades " says :
" Yet the fact remains that, for the vast bulk of salesgirls,
the wages paid are not sufficient for self-support; and where
girls do not have families to fall back on, some go under-
nourished and some sell themselves. And the store-employ-
ment which offers them this two-horned dilemma is replete
with opportunities which in gradual, easy, attractive ways
beckon to the second choice ; a situation which few employers
not only seem to tolerate, but to encourage."
282 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
The legislature of the state of Massachusetts appointed a com-
mission known as the Commission on Minimum Wage Boards to
investigate conditions. In the report of that commission in
January, 1912, it said:
" Women in general are working because of dire necessity,
and in most cases the combined income of the family is not
more than adequate to meet the family's cost of living. In
these cases it is not optional with the woman to decline the
low-paid employment. Every dollar added to the family in-
come is needed to lighten the burden which the rest are car-
rying. Wherever the wages of such women are
less than the cost of living and the reasonable provision for
maintaining the worker in health, the industry employing her
is in receipt of the working energy of a human being at less
than its cost, and to that extent is parasitic. The balance
must be made up in some way. It is generally paid by the
industry employing the father. It is sometimes paid in part
by the future inefficiency of the worker herself and by her
children, and perhaps in part ultimately by charity and the
state. * * * If an industry is permanently dependent
for its existence on underpaid labor, its value to the Common-
wealth is questionable."
Many more citations might be made from the same authorities
and from such students of the question as Miss Caroline Gleason,
of Portland, Oregon; Louise B. More, of New York; Irene Os-
good, of Milwaukee, and Robert C. Chapin, of Beloit College.
With this common belief, of which Justice Harlan says " we take
judicial notice," the court cannot say, beyond all question, that the
act is a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fun-
damental law, and has no real or substantial relation to the pro-
tection of public health, the public morals, or public welfare.
Every argument put forward to sustain the maximum hours law
or upon which it was established applies equally in favor of the
constitutionality of the minimum wage lawj as also within the
police power of the state and as a regulation tending to guard the
public morals and the public health.
OREGON SUPREME COURT DECISION. 283
Plaintiff by his complaint questions the law also as a violation
of section 20, of article I, of the constitution of Oregon. As we
understand this contention it is that the order applies to manu-
facturing establishments in Portland alone, that other persons in
the same business in other localities are unaffected by it and that
is discriminatory. The law by which plaintiff is bound is con-
tained in section 1 of the act quoted above. If he will, he can
comply with this provision without any action by the commission,
and it applies to all the state alike. The other provisions of the
act are for the purpose of ascertaining for those who are not com-
plying with it what are reasonable hours of labor and what is a
reasonable wage in the various occupations and localities in the
state to govern in the application of section 1 of the act and for
the purpose of fixing penalties for violations thereof. Counsel
seem to consider the order of the commission as a law which the
commission has been authorized to promulgate, but we do not
understand this to be its province. Section 4 provides : " Said
commission is hereby authorized and empowered to ascertain and
declare (a) standards of hours," etc. By section 8 it is only
after investigation by the commission, and when it is of opinion
therefrom that any substantial number of women in any occupa-
tion are working unreasonably long hours or for inadequate wages,
that it shall, by means of a conference, ascertain what is a reason-
able number of hours for work and a minimum rate of wages,
when it may make such an order as may be necessary to adopt
such regulations as to hours of work and minimum wages; and
section 1 of the act shall be enforced on that basis. There is
nothing in the record suggesting that there is a substantial num-
ber of women workers in the same occupation as those included in
the order complained of here working unreasonably long hours or
for an inadequate wage in any locality other than in Portland.
Other cases as they are discovered are to be remedied as provided
therefor, but the law is state-wide and it does not give to plaintiff
unequal protection of the law nor grant to others privileges denied
to him; neither does it delegate legislative power to the commis-
sion. It is authorized only to ascertain facts that will determine
the localities, businesses, hours and wages to which the law shall
284 APPENDIX III -- MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
apply. Counsel urges that the law upon this question interferes
with plaintiff's freedom of contract, and refers to the language
used in re Jacobs, 98 K Y. 98, 50 Am. Rep. 636, to wit:
" Liberty, in its broad sense as understood in this country,
means the right, not only of freedom from actual servitude,
imprisonment, or restraint, but the right of one to use his
faculties in all lawful ways to live and work where he will,"
etc., as a change brought about by the larger freedom enjoyed
in this country and guaranteed by the federal constitution and the
constitutions of the various states in comparison with conditions
in the earlier days of the common law, when it was found neces-
sary to prevent extortion and oppression by royal proclamation
and otherwise, and to establish reasonable compensation for labor ;
but he fails to take note that by reason of this larger freedom the
tendency is to return to the earlier conditions of long hours and
low wages, so that some classes in some employments seem to need
protection from the same conditions for which royal proclamation
was found necessary. The legislature has evidently concluded that
in certain localities these conditions pervail in Oregon ; that there
are many women employed at inadequate wages employment
not secured by the agreement of the worker .\ Sri'KK.MK ('orirr DI-K.-ISION. 285
confectionary establishments; It may be that the statute had
its origin, in part, in the belief that employers and employees
in such establishments were not upon equal footing, and that
the necessities of the latter often compelled them to submit
to such exactions as unduly taxed their strength. Be that as
it may, the statute must be taken as expressing the belief of
the people of New York that, as a general rule and in the case
of the average man, labor in excess of sixty hours during a
week in such establishments may endanger health of those
who labor.' 7
Counsel suggest it is only quite recently that it has 'been se-
riously contended that the state may lawfully establish a minimum
wage in private employments. This is undoubtedly true, and it
may be that there is an occasion for it. The legislature seems to
have acted on the idea that conditions have changed, or that pri-
vate enterprises have become so crowded that their demands
amount to unreasonable exactions from women and children; that
occasion has arisen for relief through its police power; and that
it has determined the public welfare demands enactment of this
statute. Justice Washington, in Ogden vs. Saunders, 12 Wheat,
269, says that the question which he has been examining is in-
volved in difficulty and doubt,
"but if I could rest my opinion in favor of the constitution-
ality of the law on which the question arises on no other
ground than this doubt so felt and acknowledged, that alone
would in my estimation be a satisfactory vindication of it. It
is but a decent respect due to the wisdom, the integrity and
the patriotism of the legislative body by which any law is
passed, to presume in favor of its validity, until its violation
of the constitution is proved beyond all reasonable doubt."
Plaintiff further contends that the statute is void for the reason
that it makes the findings of the commission on all questions of
fact conclusive, and therefore takes his property without due pro-
cess of law; relying on the decision of Chicago, etc., Ry. Co. vs.
Minnesota, 134 U. S. 418, 10 Sup. Ct. Eep. 462, 33 L. Ed. 970,
as conclusive upon that question. That case was an attack upon
286 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
the law creating a railway and warehouse commission, which was
held valid by the state of Minnesota, but the United States Court
reversed the judgment there for the reason that the law does not
provide for a hearing by the parties affected by the order, which
is not due process of law, and that no notice and opportunity to be
heard is provided for, which is the principal ground upon which
the State Court was reversed. Louisville & N. K. Co. vs. Garrett,
34 Sup. Ct. Eep. 48, is a case very much in point, in which was
had a hearing before the Railway Commiission of Kentucky, fix-
ing freight rates between certain points within the state. The
plaintiff attacked the legality of these orders because they were
final and conclusive without right of appeal, and that by reason
thereof plaintiff was deprived of property without due process of
law. In deciding this question, the court said:
"If (the law) require a hearing * * * and a de-
termination by the commission whether the existing rates
were excessive. But on these conditions being fulfilled, the
questions of fact which might arise * * * would not be-
come, as such, judicial questions to be re-examined by the
courts. The appropriate questions for the courts would be
whether the commission acted within the authority duly con-
ferred."
Thus, in the present case, plaintiff was given the right and op-
portunity to be heard before the commission, as provided for by
section 9 of the act. In the third subdivision of the opinion in
the latter case it is held that, even though the law gives no right
of appeal from the final findings of facts, a party aggrieved is not
without remedy as to matters that would be the appropriate sub-
ject of judicial inquiry, namely, if the rates fixed are confiscatory ;
but where such a board has fully and fairly investigated and fixed
what it believes to be reasonable rates, the party affected thereby
has not been deprived of due process of law. San Diego Land &
Town Co. v. National City, 174 U. S. 739, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 804,
43 L. Ed. 1154; Spring Valley Water Works vs. San Francisco,
82 Cal. 286, 22 Pac. 910, 1046 ; Louisville & K R. Co. v. Garrett,
supra. Many other cases are cited in the briefs of defendants
OREGON SUPREME COURT DECISION. 287
fully supporting their contention. Due process of law merely re-
quires such tribunals as are proper to deal with the subject in
hand. Reasonable notice and a fair opportunity to be heard be-
fore some tribunal before it decides the issues are the essentials of
due process of law. It is sufficient for the protection of his con-
stitutional rights if he has notice and is given an opportunity at
some state of the proceeding to be heard. Towns v. Klamath
County, 33 Or. 225, 63 Pac. 604.
We think we should be bound by the judgment of the legisla-
ture that there is a necessity 'for this act, that it is within the
police power of the state to provide for the protection of the
health, morals and welfare of women and children, and that the
law should be upheld as constitutional.
The decree of the Circuit Court is affirmed. McBride, C. J.,
not sitting.
288 APPENDIX III- MIXIMTM WAGE LEGISLATION.
APPENDIX B.
THE AMERICAN MINIMUM WAGE LAWS.
CALIFORNIA.
Laws 1913. Chapter 324.
AN ACT regulating the employment of women and minors and
establishing an industrial welfare commission to investigate
and deal with such employment, including a minimum wage ;
providing for an appropriation therefor and fixing a penalty
for violations of this act.
The People of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. There is hereby established a commission to be
known as the industrial welfare commission, hereinafter called
the commission. Said commission shall be composed of five per-
sons, at least one of whom shall be a woman, and all of whom
shall be appointed by the governor as follows: two for the term
of one year, one for the term of two years, one for the term of
three years, and one for the term of four years; provided, how-
ever, That at the expiration of their respective terms, their suc-
cessors shall be appointed to serve a full term of four years.
Any vacancies shall be similarly filled for the unexpired portion
of the term in which the vacancy shall occur. Three members of
the commission shall constitute a quorum. A vacancy on the
commission shall not impair the right of the remaining members
to perform all the duties and exercise all the powers and authority
of the commission.
SEC. 2. The members of said commission shall draw no
salaries but all of said members shall be allowed ten dollars per
diem while engaged in the performance of their official duties.
The commission may employ a secretary, and such expert, clerical
AMERICAN LEGISLATION CALIFORNIA. 289
and other assistants as may be necessary to carry out the pur-
poses of this act, and shall fix the compensation of such em-
ployees, and may, also, to carry out such purposes, incur reason-
able and necessary office and other expenses, including the neces-
sary traveling expenses of the members of the commission, of its
secretary, of its experts, and of its clerks and other assistants
and employees. All employees of the commission shall hold office
at the pleasure of the commission.
SEC. 3. (a) It shall be the duty of the commission to ascer-
tain the wages paid, the hours and conditions of labor and em-
ployment in the various occupations, trades, and industries in
which women and minors are employed in the State of Cali-
fornia, and to make investigations into the comfort, health, safety
and welfare of such women and minors.
(fr) It shall be the duty of every person, firm or corporation
employing labor in this state :
1. To furnish to the commission, at its request, any and all
reports or information which the commission may require to
carry out the purposes of this act, such reports and information
to be verified by the oath of the person, or a member of the
firm, or the president, secretary, or manager of the corporation
furnishing the same, if and when so requested by the commission
or any member thereof.
2. To allow any member of the commission, or its secretary,
or any of its duly authorized experts or employees, free access to
the place of business or employment of such person, firm, or cor-
poration, for the purpose of making any investigation authorized
by this act, or to make inspection of, or excerpts from, all books,
reports, contracts, pay rolls, documents, or papers of such person,
firm or corporation relating to the employment of labor and pay-
ment therefor by such person, firm or corporation.
3. To keep a register of the names, ages, and residence ad-
dresses of all women and minors employed.
(c) For the purposes of this act, a minor is defined to be a
person of either sex under the age of eighteen years.
10
290 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
SEC. 4. The commission may specify times to hold public
hearings, at which times, employers, employees, or other inter-
ested persons, may appear and give testimony as to the matter
under consideration. The commission or any member thereof
shall have power to subpoena witnesses and to administer oaths.
All witnesses subpoenaed by the commission shall be paid the
fees and mileage fixed by law in civil cases. In case of failure
on the part of any person to comply with any order of the com-
mission or any member thereof, or any subpoena, or upon the
refusal of any witness to testify to any matter regarding which
he may lawfully be interrogated before any wage board or the
commission, it shall be the duty of the superior court or the judge
thereof, on the application of a member of the commission, to
compel obedience in the same manner, by contempt proceedings
or otherwise, that such obedience would be compelled in a pro-
ceeding pending before said court. The commission shall have
power to make and enforce reasonable and proper rules of prac-
tice and procedure and shall not be bound by the technical rules
of evidence.
SEC. 5. If, after investigation, the commission is of the opin-
ion that, in any occupation, trade, or industry, the wages paid to
women and minors are inadequate to supply the cost of proper
living, or the hours or conditions of labor are prejudicial to the
health, morals or welfare of the workers, the commission may call
a conference, hereinafter called " wage board ", composed of an
equal number of representatives of employers and employees in
the occupation, trade, or industry in question, and a representa-
tive of the commission to be designated by it, who shall act as the
chairman of the wage board. The members of such wage board
shall be allowed five dollars per diem and necessary traveling
expenses while engaged in such conferences. The commission
shall make rules and regulations governing the number and selec-
tion of the members and the mode of procedure of such wage
board, and shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over all questions
arising as to the validity of the procedure and of the recommenda-
tions of such wage board. The proceedings and deliberations of
such wage board shall be made a matter of record for the use of
AMERICAN LEGISLATION CALIFORNIA. 291
the commission, and shall be admissible as evidence in any pro-
ceedings before the commission. On request of the commission,
it shall be the duty of such wage board to report to the commis-
sion its findings, including therein :
1. An estimate of the minimum wage adequate to supply to
women and minors engaged in the occupation, trade or industry
in question, the necessary cost of proper living and to maintain
the health and welfare of such women and minors.
2. The number of hours of work per day in the occupation,
trade or industry in question, consistent with the health and wel-
fare of such women and minors.
3. The standard conditions of labor in the occupation, trade
or industry in question, demanded by the health and welfare of
such women and minors.
SEC. 6. (a) The commission shall have further power after
a public hearing had upon its own motion or upon petition, to
fix:
1. A minimum wage to be paid to women and minors en-
gaged in any occupation, trade or industry in this state, which
shall not be less than a wage adequate to supply to such women
and minors the necessary cost of proper living and to maintain
the health and welfare of such women and minors.
2. The maximum hours of work consistent with the health
and welfare of women and minors engaged in any occupation,
trade or industry in this state ; provided, That the hours so fixed
shall not be more than the maximum now or hereafter fixed by
law.
3. The standard conditions of labor demanded by the health
and welfare of the women and minors engaged in any occupation,
trade or industry in this state.
(2>) Upon the fixing of a time and place for the holding of a
hearing for the purpose of considering and acting upon any mat-
ters referred to in subsection (a-) hereof, the commission shall
give public notice by advertisement in at least one newspaper
292 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
published in each of the cities of Los Angeles and Sacramento
and in the city and county of San Francisco, and by mailing a
copy of said notice to the county recorder of each county in the
state, of such hearing and purpose thereof, which notice shall state
the time and place fixed for such hearing which shall not be earlier
than fourteen days from the date of publication and mailing of
such notices.
(c) After such public hearing, the commission may, in its
discretion, make a mandatory order to be effective in sixty days
from the making of such order, specifying the minimum wage
for women or minors in the occupation in question, the maximum
hours; provided, That the hours specified shall not be more than
the maximum for women or minors in California, and the stan-
dard conditions of labor for said women or minors; provided,
however, That no such order shall become effective until after
April 1, 1914. Such order shall be published in at least one
newspaper in each of the cities of Los Angeles and Sacramento
and in the city and county of San Francisco, and a copy thereof
be mailed to the county recorder of each county in the state, and
such copy shall be recorded without charge, and to the labor com-
missioner who shall send by mail, so far as practicable, to each
employer in the occupation in question, a copy of the order, and
each employer shall be required to post a copy of such order in
the building in which women or minors affected by the order are
employed. Failure to mail notice to the employer shall not re-
lieve the employer from the duty to comply with such order.
Finding by the commission that there has been such publication
and mailing to county recorders shall be conclusive as to service.
SEC. 7. Whenever wages, or hours, or conditions of labor
have been so made mandatory in any occupation, trade or indus-
try, the commission may at any time in its discretion, upon its
own motion or upon petition of either employers or employees,
after a public hearing held upon the notice prescribed for an
original hearing, rescind, alter or amend any prior order. Any
order rescinding a prior order shall have the same effect as herein
provided for in an original order.
AMERICAN LEGISLATION CALIFORNIA. 293
SEC. 8. For any occupation in which a minimum wage has
been established, the commission may issue to a woman physically
defective by age or otherwise, a special license authorizing the
employment of such licensee, for a period of six months, for a
wage less than such legal minimum wage; and the commission
shall fix a special minimum wage for such person. Any such
license may be renewed for like periods of six months.
SEC. 9. Upon the request of the commission, the labor com-
missioner shall cause such statistics and other data and informa-
tion to be gathered, and investigations made, as the commission
may require. The cost thereof shall be paid out of the appropri-
ations made for the expenses of the commission.
SEC. 10. Any employer who discharges, or threatens to dis-
charge, or in any other manner discriminates against any em-
ployee because such employee has testified or is about to testify,
or because such employer believes that said employee may testify
in any investigation, or proceedings relative to the enforcement
of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
SEC. 11. The minimum wage for women and minors fixed by
said commission as in this act provided, shall be the minimum
wage to be paid to such employees, and the payment to such
employees of a less wage than the minimum so fixed shall be
unlawful, and every employer or other person who, either indi-
vidually or as an officer, agent, or employee of a corporation or
other person, pays or causes to be paid to any such employee a
wage less than such minimum, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,
and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less
than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for not less than thirty
days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SEC. 12. In every prosecution for the violation of any pro-
vision of this act, the minimum wage established by the commis-
sion as herein provided shall be prima facie presumed to be
reasonable and lawful, and to be the living wage required herein
to be paid to women and minors. The findings of fact made by
the commission acting within its powers shall, in the absence of
294 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
fraud, be conclusive; and the determination made by the com-
mission shall be subject to review only in a manner and upon the
grounds following: within twenty days from the date of the
determination, any party aggrieved thereby may commence in the
superior court in and for the city and county of San Francisco,
or in and for the counties of Los Angeles or Sacramento, an
action against the commission for review of such determination.
In such action a complaint, which shall state the grounds upon
which a review is sought, shall be served with the summons.
Service -upon the secretary of the commission, or any member of
the commission, shall be deemed a complete service. The com-
mission shall serve its answer within twenty days after the ser-
vice of the complaint. With its answer, the commission shall
make a return to the court of all documents and papers on file in
the matter, and of all testimony and evidence which may have
been taken before it, and of its findings and the determination.
The action may thereupon be brought on for hearing before the
court upon such record by either party on ten days' notice of the
other. Upon such hearing, the court may confirm or set aside
such determination; but the same shall be set aside only upon
the following grounds :
(1) That the commission acted without or in excess of its
powers.
(2) That the determination was procured by fraud.
Upon the setting aside of any determination the court may
recommit the controversy and remand the record in the case to
the commission for further proceedings. The commission, or any
party aggrieved, by a decree entered upon the review of a deter-
mination, may appeal therefrom within the time and in the man-
ner provided for an appeal from the orders of the said superior
court.
SEC. 13. Any employee receiving less than the legal mini-
mum wage applicable to such employee shall be entitled to recover
in a civil action the unpaid balance of the full amount of such
minimum wage, together with costs of suit, notwithstanding any
agreement to work for such lesser wage.
AMEKICAN LEGISLATION CALIFORNIA. 295
SEC. 14. Any person may register with the commission a
complaint that the wages paid to an employee for whom a living
rate has been established, are less than that rate, and the com-
mission shall investigate the matter and take all proceedings
necessary to enforce the payment of a wage not less than the
living wage.
SEC. 15. The commission shall biennially make a report to
the governor and the state legislature of its investigations and
proceedings.
SEC. 16. There is hereby appropriated annually out of the
moneys of the state treasury, not otherwise appropriated, the sum
of fifteen thousand dollars, to be used by the commission in
carrying out the provisions of this act, and the controller is
hereby directed from time to time to draw his warrants on the
general fund in favor of the commission for the amounts ex-
pended under its direction, and the treasurer is hereby author-
ized and directed to pay the same.
SEC. 17. The commission shall not act as a board of arbitra-
tion during a strike or lock-out
SEC. 18. (a) Whenever this act, or any part or section
thereof, is interpreted by a court, it shall be liberally construed
by such court.
(&) If any section, subsection, or subdivision of this act is
for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall
not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this act. The
legislature hereby declares that it would have passed this act,
and each section, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause and
phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sec-
tions, subsections, subdivisions, sentences, clauses or phrases is
declared unconstitutional.
SEC. 19. The provisions of this act shall apply to and include
women and minors employed in any occupation, trade or indus-
try, and whose compensation for labor is measured by time, piece
or otherwise.
[Approved May 26, 1913.]
296 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
COLORADO.
Laws 1913. Chapter 110.
AN ACT providing for the determination of minimum wages for
women and minors.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
SECTION 1. There is hereby created a state wage board to be
composed of three members ; at least one of whom shall be a rep-
resentative of labor, at least one of whom shall be a woman and
one of whom shall be an employer of labor. The members of
said board shall be appointed by the governor, immediately upon
the taking effect of this act and the term of existence of said
board- shall be for two years.
SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the wage board to inquire into
the wages paid to female employes above the age of eighteen
years and minor employes under eighteen years of age in any
mercantile, manufacturing, laundry, hotel, restaurant, telephone
or telegraph business in this state, if the board or any member
of it may have reason to believe the wages paid any such em-
ployes are inadequate to supply the necessary cost of living,
maintain them in health, and supply the necessary comforts of
life. The wage board shall also inquire into the cost of living
in the locality or localities in which the business is carried on and
shall take into consideration the financial condition of the busi-
ness and the probable effect thereon of any increase in the mini-
mum wage paid in different localities, which inquiry and investi-
gation shall be held in the locality affected. After such investi-
gation it shall be the duty of the wage board to fix the minimum
wage, whether by time rate or piece rate, suitable for the female
employes over eighteen years of age in such business or in any
or all of the branches thereof and also a suitable minimum wage
for minors under eighteen years of age employed in the said
business. When two or more members of the wage board shall
agree upon a minimum wage determination, the board shall give
public notice, by advertisement published once in a newspaper of
general circulation in the county or counties in which any such
AMERICAN LEGISLATION COLORADO. 29 Y
business so affected is located, declaring such minimum wage
determination or determinations and giving notice of a public
hearing thereon to be heard in the town or city nearest the place
wherein the inadequate wage is found to exist; said hearing to
be held not earlier than thirty days from the date of such publi-
cation. A copy of such notice shall also be mailed to the person,
association or corporation engaged in the business affected. After
such public hearing or after the expiration of the thirty days,
provided no public hearing is demanded, the wage board shall
issue an obligatory order to be effective in sixty days from the
date of said order, specifying the minimum wages for women or
minors or both in the occupation affected, or any branch thereof,
and after such order is effective, it shall be unlawful for any
employer in said occupation to employ a female over eighteen
years of age or a minor under eighteen years of age for less than
the rate of wages specified for such female or minor. The order
shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in
the county or counties in which any such business affected is
located and a copy of the order shall be sent by mail to the per-
son, association or corporation engaged in said business; and each
such employer shall be required to post a copy of said order in a
conspicuous place in each building in which women or minors
affected by the order are employed.
SEC. 3. The board shall, for the purposes of this act, have
the power to subpoena witnesses and compel their attendance, to
administer oaths, and examine witnesses under oath, and to com-
pel the production of papers, books, accounts, documents and
records. If any person shall fail to attend as a witness when
subpoenaed by the board or shall refuse to testify when ordered
so to do, the board may apply to any district court 01 county court
to compel obedience on the part of such person and such district
or county court shall thereupon compel obedience by proceedings
for contempt as in case of disobedience of any order of said court.
SEC. 4. Each witness who shall appear before the board by
order of the board shall receive for his attendance the fees and
mileage now provided for witnesses in civil cases in the district
courts of the state.
APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
SEC. 5. A full and complete record shall be kept of all testi-
mony taken by, and of all proceedings had before the board.
SEC. 6. Any employer, employe or other person directly
affected by any order of the board fixing and determining a mini-
mum wage in any occupation or industry, shall have the right
of appeal from such order to the district court of the state on the
ground that such order is unlawful or unreasonable. The evi-
dence considered upon such appeal shall be confined to the evi-
dence presented to the board in the case from the decision in
which the appeal is taken, and the order of the board shall re-
main in full force and effect until such order is reversed or set
aside by the district court. In all proceedings in the district
court the district attorney shall appear for the board. In all
proceedings in the supreme court the attorney-general shall
appear for the board.
SEC. 7. Any person or partnership or corporation employing
any female person above the age of eighteen years at less than
the minimum wage fixed for such persons by this board, and any
person, partnership or corporation employing any person of either
sex under the age of eighteen years at less than the minimum
wage fixed for such persons by this board, or violating any other
provision of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not
more than one hundred dollars for each offense, or by imprison-
ment in the county jail for not more than three months or by
both fine and imprisonment.
SEC. 8. Any employer who discharges or in any other man-
ner discriminates against any employe because such employe has
testified, or is about to testify, or because such employer believes
that said employe may testify, in any investigation or proceed-
ing relative to the enforcement of this act, shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished
by a fine of twenty-five dollars for each such misdemeanor.
SEC. 9. Justices of the Peace shall have, according to law,
jurisdiction within their respective counties of all offenses aris-
ing under the provisions of this act.
AMERICAN LEGISLATION COLORADO.
SEC. 10. If any employe shall receive less than the minimum
wage fixed by this board for employes in the occupation in which
said person is employed, he or she shall be entitled to recover in
a civil action, the full amount which would have been due said
employe if the minimum wage fixed by the board had been paid,
together with costs and attorney fees to be fixed by the court,
notwithstanding any agreement to work for such lower wage. In
such action, however, the employer shall be credited with any
wages which have been paid said employe.
SEC. 11. For any occupation in which a minimum time rate
only has been established, the wage board may issue to any female
over the age of eighteen, physically defective, a special license
authorizing the employment of such licensee for a wage less than
the legal minimum wage ; Provided, it is not less than the special
minimum wage fixed for said person.
SEC. 12. The wage board shall, by and with the consent of
the governor, appoint a secretary who may, or -may not be a mem-
ber of the board, and who shall give his entire time to the duties
of the office, whose salary shall be twelve hundred dollars
($1,200.00) per annum, payable monthly. The members of said
wage board and the secretary thereof shall be paid all necessary
traveling and incidental expenses actually incurred in the per-
formance of their official duties, not to exceed thirteen hundred
dollars ($1,300.00) per annum. The board of capitol managers
shall provide a suitable room for the use of said wage board and
its secretary. There is hereby appropriated for the payment of
the aforesaid salary and expenses, out of any moneys in the state
treasury not otherwise appropriated for other ordinary expenses
of the departments of the state, the sum of five thousand dol-
lars ($5,000.00) ; and the auditor of the state is hereby author-
ized and directed to draw his warrants on said fund upon
certified vouchers of the chairman of said board attested by its
secretary.
SEC. 13. The board shall, within thirty days after the con-
vening of the twentieth general assembly, make a report to the
governor and to the general assembly, of its investigations and
300 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
proceedings during the period of its existence, up to and includ-
ing November 30, 1914.
SEC. 14. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with any of the
provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
[Approved May 14, 1913, at 10.15 A. M.]
MASSACHUSETTS.
Laws 1912. Chapter 706.
(As amended by Chapters 673 and 330, Laws of 1913.)
A~N ACT to establish the minimum wage commission and to
provide for the determination of minimum wages for women
and minors.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
SECTION 1. There is hereby established a commission to be
known as the Minimum Wage Commission. It shall consist of
three persons, one of whom may be a woman, to be appointed by
the governor, with the advice and consent of the council. One
of the commissioners shall be designated by the governor as chair-
man. The first appointments shall be made within ninety days
after the passage of this act, one for a term ending October first,
nineteen hundred and thirteen, one for a term ending October
first, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and one for a term ending
October first, nineteen hundred and fifteen; and beginning with
the year nineteen hundred and thirteen, one member shall be
appointed annually for the the term of three years from the first
day of October and until his successor is qualified. Any vacancy
that may occur shall be filled in like manner for the unexpired
part of the term.
SEC. 2. Each commissioner shall be paid ten dollars for each
day's service, in addition to the traveling and other expenses in-
curred in the performance of his official duties. The commission
may appoint a secretary, who shall be the executive officer of the
board and to whose appointment the rules of the civil service com-
mission shall not apply. It shall determine his salary, subject
AMERICAN LEGISLATION MASSACHUSETTS. 301
to the approval of the governor and council. The commission
may incur other necessary expenses not exceeding the annual
appropriation therefor, and shall be provided with an office in the
state house or in some other suitable building in the city of
Boston.
SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the commission to inquire into
the wages paid to the female employees in any occupation in the
commonwealth, if the commission has reason to believe that the
wages paid to a substantial number of such employees are inade-
quate to supply the necessary cost of living and to maintain the
worker in health.
SEC. 4. If after such investigation the commission is of the
opinion that in the occupation in question the wages paid to a
substantial number of female employees are inadequate to supply
the necessary cost of living and to maintain the worker in health,
the commission shall establish a wage board consisting of not less
than six representatives of employers in the occupation in ques-
tion and of an equal number of persons to represent the female
employees in said occupation, and of one or more disinterested
persons appointed by the commission to represent the public, but
the representatives of the public shall not exceed one-half of the
number of representatives of either of the other parties. The
commission shall designate the chairman from among the repre-
sentatives of the public, and shall make rules and regulations
governing the selection of members and the modes of procedure
of the boards, and shall exercise exclusive jurisdiction over all
questions arising with reference to the validity of the procedure
and of the determinations of the boards. The members of wage
boards shall be compensated at the same rate as jurors ; they shall
be allowed the necessary traveling and clerical expenses incurred
in the performance of their duties,-- these payments to be made
from the appropriation for the expenses of the commission.
SEC. 5. The commission may transmit to each wage board all
pertinent information in its possession relative to the wages paid
in the occupation in question. Each wage board shall take into
consideration the needs of the employees, the financial condition
302 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
of the occupation and the probable effect thereon of any increase
in the minimum wages paid, and shall endeavor to determine the
minimum wage, whether by time rate or piece rate, suitable for a
female employee of ordinary ability in the occupation in ques-
tion, or for any or all of the branches thereof, and also suitable
minimum wages for learners and apprentices and for minors
below the age of eighteen years. When a majority of the mem-
bers of a wage board shall agree upon minimum wage determina-
tions, they shall report such determinations to the commission,
together with the reasons therefor and the facts relating thereto.
SEC. 6. Upon receipt of a report from a wage board, the com-
mission shall review the same, and may approve any or all of the
determinations recommended, or may disapprove any or all of
them, or may recommit the subject to the same or to a new wage
board. If the commission approves any or all of the determina-
tions of the wage board it shall, after not less than fourteen days'
notice to employers paying a wage less than the minimum wage
approved, give a public hearing to such employers, and if, after
such public hearing, the commission finally approves the deter-
mination, it shall enter a decree of its findings and note thereon
the names of employers, so far as they may be known to the com-
mission, who fail or refuse to accept such minimum wage and to
agree to abide by it. The commission shall thereafter publish in
at least one newspaper in each county of the commonwealth a
summary of its findings and of its recommendations. It shall
also at such times and in such manner as it shall deem advisable
publish the facts, as it may find them to be, as to the acceptance
of its recommendations by the employers engaged in the industry
to which any of its recommendations relate, and may publish the
names of employers whom it finds to be following or refusing to
follow such recommendations. An employer who files a declara-
tion under oath in the supreme judicial court or the superior
court to the effect that compliance with the recommendation of
the commission would render it impossible for him to conduct his
business at a reasonable profit shall be entitled to a review of said
recommendation by the court under the rules of equity procedure.
The burden of proving the averments of said declaration shall be
AMKJUCAN LEGISLATION MASSACHUSETTS. 303
upon the complainant. If, after such review, the court shall find
the averments of the declaration to be sustained, it may issue an
order restraining the commission from publishing the name of
the complainant as one who refuses to comply with the recom-
mendations of the commission. But such review, or any order
issued by the court thereupon, shall not be an adjudication affect-
ing the commission as to any employer other than the complain-
ant, and shall in no way affect the right of the commission to
publish the names of those employers who do comply with its
recommendations. The type in which the employers' names shall
be printed shall not be smaller than that in which the news matter
of the paper is printed. The publication shall be attested by the
signature of at least a majority of the commission.
SEC. 7. In case a wage board shall make a recommendation
of a wage determination in which a majority but less than two-
thirds of the members concur, the commission, in its discretion,
may report such recommendation and the pertinent facts relating
thereto to the general court.
SEC. 8. Whenever a minimum wage rate has been established
in any occupation, the commission may, upon petition of either
employers or employees, reconvene the wage board or establish
a new wage board, and any recommendation made by such board
shall be dealt with in the same manner as the original recom-
mendation of a wage board.
SEC. 9. For any occupation in which a minimum time rate
only has been established, the commission may issue to any
woman physically defective a special license authorizing the em-
ployment of the licensee for a wage less than the legal minimum
wage; provided, That it is not less than the special minimum
wage fixed for that person.
SEC. 10. The commission may at any time inquire into the
wages paid to minors in any occupation in which the majority of
employees are minors, and may, after giving public hearings,
determine minimum wages suitable for such minors. When the
commission has made such a determination, it may proceed in tha
304 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
same manner as if the determination had been recommended to
the commission by a wage board.
SEC. 11. Every employer of women and minors shall keep a
register of the names, addresses and occupations of all women
and minors employed by him and shall, on request of the com-
mission or of the director of the bureau of statistics, permit the
commission or any of its members or agents, or the director of the
bureau of statistics or any duly accredited agent of said bureau,
to inspect the said register and to examine such parts of the books
and records of employers as relate to the wages paid to women
and minors. The commission shall also have power to subpoena
witnesses, administer oaths and take testimony. Such witnesses
shall be summoned in the same manner and be paid from the
treasury of the commonwealth the same fees as witnesses before
the superior court.
SEC. 12. Upon request of the commission, the director of the
bureau of statistics shall cause such statistics and other data to be
gathered as the commission may require, and the cost thereof
shall be paid out of the appropriation made for the expenses of
the commission.
SEC. 13. Any employer who discharges or in any other man-
ner discriminates against any employee because such employee
has testified, or is about to testify, or because the employer be-
lieves that the employee may testify, in any investigation or pro-
ceeding relative to the enforcement of this act, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be
punished by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars, and not
more than one thousand dollars for each offence.
SEC. 14. The commission shall from time to time determine
whether employers in each occupation investigated are obeying
its decrees, and shall publish in the manner provided in section
six, the name of any employer whom it finds to be violating any
such decree.
SEC. 15. Any newspaper refusing or neglecting to publish
the findings, decrees or notices of the commission at its regular
AMERICAN LEGISLATION MINNESOTA. 305
rates for the space taken shall, upon conviction thereof, be
punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars for each
offence.
SEC. 16. No member of the commission and no newspaper
publisher, proprietor, editor or employee thereof, shall be liable
to an action for damages for publishing the name of any employer
in accordance with the provisions of this act, unless such publica-
tion contains some wilful misrepresentation.
SEC. 17. The commission shall, annually, on or before the
first Wednesday in January, make a report to the general court
of its investigations and proceedings during the preceding year.
SEC. 18. This act shall take effect on the first day of July in
the year nineteen hundred and thirteen.
[Approved June 4, 1912.]
MINNESOTA.
Laws 1913. Chapter 547.
A~N ACT to establish a minimum wage commission, and to pro-
vide for the determination and establishment of minimum
wages for women and minors.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of tJie State of Minnesota:
SECTION 1. There is hereby established a commission to be
known as the minimum wage commission. It shall consist of
three persons, one of whom shall be the commissioner of labor who
shall be the chairman of the commission, the governor shall
appoint two others, one of whom shall be an employer of women,
and the third shall be a woman, who shall act as secretary of the
commission. The first appointments shall be made within sixty
days after the passage of this act for a term ending January 1,
1915. Beginning with the year 1915 the appointments shall be
for two years from the first day of January and until their suc-
cessors qualify. Any vacancy that may occur shall be filled in
like manner for the unexpired portion of the term.
SEC. 2. The commission may at its discretion investigate the
wages paid to women and minors in any occupations in the state.
306 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
At the request of not less than one hundred persons engaged in
any occupation in which women and minors are employed, the
commission shall forthwith make such investigation as herein
provided.
SEC. 3. Every employer of women and minors shall keep a
register of the names and addresses of, and wages paid to all
women and minors employed hy him, together with number of
hours that they are employed per day or per week ; and every such
employer shall on request permit the commission or any of its
members or agents to inspect such register.
SEC. 4. The commission shall specify times to hold public
hearings at which employers, employes, or other interested per-
sons may appear and give testimony as to wages, profits and other
pertinent conditions of the occupation or indusrty. The commis-
sion or any member thereof shall have power to subpoena wit-
nesses, to administer oaths, and to compel the production of
books, papers, and other evidence. Witnesses subpoenaed by the
commission may be allowed such compensation for travel and
attendance as the commission may deem reasonable, to an amount
not exceeding the usual mileage and per diem allowed by our
courts in civil cases.
SEC. 5. If after investigation of any occupation the commis-
sion is of opinion that the wages paid to one-sixth or more of the
women or minors employed therein are less than living wages, the
commission shall forthwith proceed to establish legal minimum
rates of wages for said occupation, as hereinafter described and
provided.
SEC. 6. The commission shall determine the minimum wages
sufficient for living wages for women and minors of ordinary
ability, and also the minimum wages sufficient for living wages
for learners and apprentices. The commission shall then issue
an order, to be effective thirty days thereafter, making the wages
thus determined the minimum wages in said occupation through-
out the state, or within any area of the state if differences in the
cost of living warrant this restriction. A copy of said order shall
be mailed, so far as practicable, to each employer affected ; and
AMERICAN LEGISLATION MINNESOTA. 307
each such employer shall be required to post such a reasonable
number of copies as the commission may determine in each build-
ing or other work-place in which affected workers are employed.
The original order shall be filed with the commissioner of labor.
SEC. 7. The commission may at its discretion establish in
any occupation an advisory board which shall serve without pay,
consisting of not less than three nor more than ten persons repre-
senting employers, and an equal number of persons representing
the workers in said occupation, and of one or more disinterested
persons appointed by the commission to represent the public;
but the number of representatives of the public shall not exceed
the number of representatives of either of the other parties. At
least one-fifth of the membership of any advisory board shall be
composed of women, and at least one of the representatives of
the public shall be a woman. The commission shall make rules
and regulations governing the selection of members and the
modes of procedure of the advisory boards, and shall exercise
exclusive jurisdiction over all questions arising with reference
to the validity of the procedure and determination of said boards.
Provided: that the selection of members representing employers
and employes shall be, so far as practicable, through election by
employers and employes respectively.
SEC. 8. Each advisory board shall have the same power as
the commission to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, and com-
pel the production of books, papers and other evidence. Wit-
nesses subpoenaed by an advisory board shall be allowed the same
compensation as when subpoenaed by the commission. Each ad-
visory board shall recommend to the commission an estimate of
the minimum wages, whether by time rate or by piece rate, suf-
ficient for living wages for women and minors of ordinary ability,
and an estimate of the minimum wages sufficient for living wages
for learners and apprentices. A majority of the entire member-
ship of an advisory board shall be necessary and sufficient to
recommend wage estimates to the commission.
SEC. 9. Upon receipt of such estimates of wages from an
advisory board, the commission shall review the same, and if it
308 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
approves them shall make them the minimum wages in said occu-
pation, as provided in section 6. Such wages shall be regarded
as determined by the commission itself and the order of the com-
mission putting them into effect shall have the same force and
authority as though the wages were determined without the assist-
ance of an advisory board.
SEC. 10. All rates of wages ordered by the commission shall
remain in force until new rates are determined and established
by the commission. At the request of approximately one-fourth
of the employers or employes in an occupation, the commission
must reconsider the rates already established therein and may, if
it sees fit, order new rates of minimum wages for said occupation.
The commission may likewise reconsider old rates and order new
minimum rates on its own initiative.
SEC. 11. For any occupation in which a minimum time rate
of wages only has been ordered the commission may issue to a
woman physically defective a special license authorizing her em-
ployment at a wage less than the general minimum ordered in
said occupation: and the commission may fix a special wage for
such person. Provided: that the number of such persons shall
not exceed one-tenth of the whole number of workers in any
establishment.
SEC. 12. Every employer in any occupation is hereby pro-
hibited from employing any worker at less than the living wage
or minimum wage as defined in this act and determined in an
order of the commission: and it shall be unlawful for any em-
ployer to employ any worker at less than said living or minimum
wage.
SEC. 13. It shall likewise be unlawful for any employer to
discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employe
because such employe has testified, or is about to testify, or
because such employer believes that said employe is about to
testify, in any investigation or proceeding relative to the enforce-
ment of this act.
AMERICAN LEGISLATION MINNESOTA. 309
SEC. 14. Any worker who receives less than the minimum
wage ordered by the commission shall be entitled to recover in
civil action the full amount due as measured by said order of the
commission, together with costs and attorney's fees to be fixed by
the court, notwithstanding any agreement to work for a lesser
wage.
SEC. 15. The commission shall enforce the provisions of this
act, and determine all questions arising thereunder, except as
otherwise herein provided.
SEC. 16. The commission shall biennially make a report of
its work to the governor and the state legislature, and such re-
ports shall be printed and distributed as in the case of other
executive documents.
SEC. 17. The members of the commission shall be reimbursed
for traveling and other necessary expenses incurred in the per-
formance of their duties on the commission. The woman member
shall receive a salary of eighteen hundred dollars annually for
her work as secretary. All claims of the commission for expenses
necessarily incurred in the administration of this act, but not
exceeding the annual appropriation hereinafter provided, shall
be presented to the state auditor for payment by warrant upon
the state treasurer.
SEC. 18. There is appropriated out of any money in the state
treasury not otherwise appropriated for the fiscal year ending
July 31, 1914, the sum of five thousand dollars $(5,000.00), and
for the fiscal year ending July 31, 1915, the sum of five thousand
dollars ($5,000.00).
SEC. 19. Any employer violating any of the provisions of this
act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction
thereof shall be punished for each offense by a fine of not less
than ten nor more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not
less than ten nor more than sixty days.
SEC. 20. Throughout this act the following words and
phrases, as used herein, shall be considered to have the following
310 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
meanings respectively, unless the context clearly indicates a dif-
ferent meaning in the connection used:
(1) The terms " living wage " or " living wages " shall mean
wages sufficient to maintain the worker in health and supply him
with the necessary comforts and conditions of reasonable life;
and where the words " minimum wage " or " minimum wages "
are used in this act, the same shall he deemed to have the same
meaning as " living wage " or " living wages."
(2) The terms "rate" or "rates" shall- mean rate or rates
of wages.
(3) The term " commission " shall mean the minimum wage
commission.
(4) The term " woman " shall mean a person of the female
sex eighteen years of age or over.
(5) The term " minor" shall mean a male person under the
age of twenty-one years, or a female person under the age of
eighteen years.
(6) The terms "learner" and "apprentice" may mean
either a woman or a minor.
(7) The terms "worker" or "employe" may mean a
woman, a minor, a learner, or an apprentice, who is employed for
wages.
(8) The term "occupation" shall mean any business, indus-
try, trade, or branch of a trade, in which women or minors are
employed.
SEC. 20. This act shall take effect and be in force from and
after its passage.
[Approved April 26, 1913.]
AMERICAN LEGISLATION NEBRASKA. 311
NEBRASKA.
Laws 1913. Chapter 211.
AN ACT to establish a minimum wage commission and to pro-
vide for the determination of minimum wages for women
and minors.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Nebraska:
SECTION 1. There is hereby established a commission to be
known as the Nebraska minimum wage commission. The gov-
ernor is hereby made a member of said commission. Within
thirty days from the passage and approval of this act he shall
appoint the following additional members: deputy commissioner,
of labor, a member of the political science department of the Uni-
versity of Nebraska, one other member who shall be a citizen of
the state. At least one member of said commission shall be a
woman. Each of the above appointments shall be for a period
of two years and may be renewed thereafter. Any vacancy
occurring in the commission shall be filled by the governor.
Within ten days after such appointment the commission shall
meet and organize by the election of a chairman and secretary.
SEC. 2. Each commissioner shall be paid all traveling and
other expenses incurred in the performance of his or her official
duties. The commission may incur other necessary expenses not
exceeding the biennial appropriation therefor and shall be pro-
vided with an office in the state house or at the state university.
SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the commission to inquire into
the wages paid to the female employees in any occupation in the
commonwealth, if the commission has reason to believe that the
wages paid to a substantial number of such employees are inade-
quate to supply the necessary cost of living and to maintain the
worker in health.
SEC. 4. If after such investigation the commission is of the
opinion that in the occupation in question the wages paid to a
substantial number of female employees are inadequate to supply
the necessary cost of living and to maintain the worker in health,
the commission shall establish a wage board consisting of not less
312 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
than three representatives of employers in the occupation in
question and of an equal number of persons to represent the
female employees in said occupation, and in addition thereto the
three appointed members of the commission to represent the
public. The chairman of the commission shall be chairman of
the wage board and shall make rules and regulations governing
the procedure of the board and exercise jurisdiction over all
questions arising with reference to the validity of the procedure
and the determinations of the board. The secretary of the com-
mission shall be secretary of the wage board and keep such record
of hearings and arguments as the wage board shall direct. The
members of wage boards shall be compensated at the same rate as
jurors in district court; they shall be allowed necessary traveling
and other expenses incurred in the performance of their duties,
these payments to be made from the appropriation for the
expenses of the commission.
SEC. 5. The commission may transmit to each wage board all
pertinent information in its possession relative to the wages paid
in the occupation in question. Each wage board shall take into
consideration the needs of the employees, the financial condition
of the occupation and the probable effect thereon of any increase
in the minimum wages paid, and shall endeavor to determine the
minimum wage, whether by time rate or piece rate, suitable for a
female employee of ordinary ability in the occupation in ques-
tion, or for any or all of the branches thereof, and also suitable
minimum wages for learners and apprentices and for minors
below -the age of eighteen years. When two-thirds the members
of the wage board shall agree upon minimum wage determina-
tions, they shall report such determinations to the commission,
together with the reasons therefor and the facts relating thereto,
and also the names, so far as they can be ascertained by the board,
of employers who pay less than the minimum wage so determined.
SEC. 6. Upon receipt of a .report from the wage board, the
commission shall review the same, and report its review to the
governor. If the commission approves any or all of the deter-
minations of the wage board it shall, after not less than thirty
days' notice to employers paying a wage less than the minimum
AMERICAN LEGISLATION NEBRASKA. 313
wage approved, give a public hearing to such employers, and if,
after such public hearing the commission finally approves the
determination, it shall enter a decree of its findings and note
thereon the names of employers, so far as they may be known to
the commission, who fail or refuse to accept such minimum wage
and to agree to abide by it. The commission shall, within thirty
days thereafter, publish the names of all such employers in at
least one newspaper in each county in the commonwealth, to-
gether with the material part of its findings, and a statement of
the minimum wages paid by every such employer. Any employer
upon filing a declaration under oath in the district court to the
effect that compliance with such decree would endanger the pros-
perity of the business to which the same is made applicable, shall
be entitled to a stay of execution of such decree, and a review
thereof with reference to the question involved in such declara-
tion. Such review shall be made by the court under the rules of
equity procedure, and if it shall be found by the court that com-
pliance with such decree is likely to endanger the prosperity of
the business to which the same is applicable, then an order shall
issue from said court revoking the same. The type in which the
employers 7 names shall be printed shall not be smaller than that
in which the news matter of the paper is printed. The publica-
tion shall be attested by the signature of at least a majority of the
commission.
SEC. 7. In case a wage board shall make a recommendation of
a wage determination in which a majority but less than two-
thirds of the members concur, the commission, in its discretion,
may report such recommendation and the pertinent facts relating
thereto to the legislature.
SEC. 8. Whenever a minimum wage rate has been established
in any occupation, the commission may, upon petition of either
employers or employees, reconvene the wage board or establish a
new wage board, and any recommendation made by such board
shall be dealt with in the same manner as the original recom-
mendation of a wage board.
SEC. 9. For any occupation in which a minimum time rate
only has been established, the commission may issue to any
314 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
woman physically defective a special license authorizing the
employment of the licensee for a wage less than the legal minimum
wage: Provided, that it is not less than the special minimum
wage fixed for that person.
SEC. 10. The commission may at any time inquire into the
wages paid to minors in any occupation in which the majority of
employees are minors, and may, after giving public hearings,
determine minimum wages suitable for such minors. When the
commission has made such a determination, it may proceed in
the same manner as if the determination had been recommended
to the commission by the wage board.
SEC. 11. Every employer of women and minors shall keep a
register of the names and addresses of all women and minors
employed by him, and shall on request permit the commission or
any of its members or agents to inspect the register. The com-
mission shall also have power to subpoena witnesses, administer
oaths and take testimony, and to examine such parts of the books
and records of employers as relate to the wages paid to women
and minors. Such witnesses shall be summoned in the same man-
ner and be paid from the treasury of the commonwealth the same
fees as witnesses before the District Court.
SEC. 12. The commission may cause such statistics and other
data to be gathered as it may deem desirable, and the cost thereof
shall be paid out of the appropriation made for the expenses of
the commission.
SEC. 13. Any employer who discharges or in any other man-
ner discriminates against any employee because such employee
has testified, or is about to testify, or because the employer be-
lieves that the employee may testify, in any investigation or pro-
ceeding relative to the enforcement of this act, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be
punished by a fine of twenty-five dollars for each offense.
SEC. 14. The commission shall from time to time determine
whether employers in each occupation investigated are obeying
its decrees, and shall publish in the manner provided in section
AMERICAN LEGISLATION OREGON. 315
six, the name of any employer whom it finds to be violating any
such decree.
SEC. 15. Any newspaper publisher or publishers refusing or
neglecting to publish the findings, decrees or notices of the com-
mission at its regular rates for the space taken shall, upon convic-
tion thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred
dollars for each oifense.
SEC. 16. No member of the commission and no newspaper
publisher, proprietor, editor or employee thereof, shall be liable
to an action for damages for publishing the name of any employer
in accordance with the provisions of this act, unless such publica-
tion contains some wilful misrepresentation.
SEC. 17. The commission shall make a report to the governor
on or before the 1st day of November, 1914, and biennially there-
after, covering the results secured and data gathered in its work.
It may also make such additional reports in the form of bulletins
from time to time as in its judgment shall best serve the public
interest.
[Approved, April 21, 1913.]
OREGON.
Laws 1913. Chapter 62.
AN ACT to protect the lives and health and morals of women and
minor workers, and to establish an Industrial Welfare Com-
mission and define its powers and duties, and to provide for
the fixing of minimum wages and maximum hours and
standard conditions of labor for such workers, and to provide
penalties for violation of this act.
WHEREAS, The welfare of the State of Oregon requires that
women and minors should be protected from conditions of
labor which have a pernicious effect on their health and
morals, and inadequate wages and unduly long hours and
unsanitary conditions of labor have such a pernicious effect ;
therefore
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
316 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful to employ women or minors
in any occupation within the State of Oregon for unreasonably
long hours; and it shall be unlawful to employ women or minors
in any occupation within the State of Oregon under such sur-
roundings or conditions sanitary or otherwise as may be
detrimental to their health or morals; and it shall be unlawful
to employ women in any occupation within the State of Oregon
for wages which are inadequate to supply the necessary cost of
living and to maintain them in health; and it shall be unlawful
to employ minors in any occupation within the State of Oregon
for unreasonably low wages.
SEC. 2. There is hereby created a commission composed of
three commissioners, which shall be known as the " Industrial
Welfare Commission " ; and the word " commission " as herein-
after used refers to and means said Industrial Welfare Commis-
sion ; and the word " commissioner " as hereinafter used refers
to and means a member of said Industrial Welfare Commission.
Said commissioners shall be appointed by the governor. The gov-
ernor shall make his first appointments hereunder within thirty
days after this bill becomes a law ; and of the three commissioners
first appointed, one shall hold office until January 1, 1914, and
another shall hold office until January 1, 1915, and the third
shall hold office until January 1, 1916 ; and the governor shall
designate the terms of each of said three first appointees. On or
before the first day of January of each year, beginning with the
year 1914, the governor shall appoint a commissioner to succeed
the commissioner whose term expires on said first day of Jan-
uary; and such new appointee shall hold office for the term of
three years from said first day of January. Each commissioner
shall hold office until his successor is appointed and has qualified ;
and any vacancy that may occur in the membership of said com-
mission shall be filled by appointment by the governor for the
unexpired portion of the term in which such vacancy occurs. A
majority of said commissioners shall constitute a quorum to
transact business, and the act or decision of such a majority shall
be deemed the act or decision of said commission; and no
vacancy shall impair the right of the remaining commissioners to
AMERICAN LEGISLATION OREGON. 3 IT
exercise all the powers of said commission. The governor shall,
so far as practicable, so select and appoint said commissioners
both the original appointments and all subsequent appointments
that at all times one of said commissioners shall represent the
interests of the employing class and one of said commissioners
shall represent the interests of the employed class and the third
of said commissioners shall be one who will be fair and impartial
between employers and employees and work for the best interests
of the public as a whole.
SEC. 3. The first commissioners appointed under this act
shall, within twenty days after their appointment, meet and
organize said commission by electing one of their number as
chairman thereof and by choosing a secretary of said commission ;
and by or before the tenth day of January of each year, beginning
with the year 1914, said commissioners shall elect a chairman
and choose a secretary for the ensuing year. Each such chair-
man and each such secretary shall hold his or her position until
his or her successor is elected or chosen ; but said commission may
at any time remove any secretary chosen hereunder. Said secre-
tary shall not be a commissioner; and said secretary shall per-
form such duties as may be prescribed and receive such salary as
may be fixed by said commission. None of said commissioners
shall receive any salary as such. All authorized and necessary
expenses of said commission and all authorized and necessary
expenditures incurred by said commission shall be audited and
paid as other state expenses and expenditures are audited and
paid.
SEC. 4. Said commission is hereby authorized and empowered
to ascertain and declare, in the manner hereinafter provided, the
following things: (a) Standards of hours of employment for
women or for minors and what are unreasonably long hours for
women or for minors in any occupation within the State of
Oregon; (b) Standards of conditions of labor for women or for
minors in any occupation within the State of Oregon and what
surroundings or conditions sanitary or otherwise are detri-
mental to the health or morals of women or of minors in any
such occupation; (c) Standards of minimum wages for women
318 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
in any occupation within the State of Oregon and what wages are
inadequate to supply the necessary cost of living to any such
women workers and to maintain them in good health; and (d)
Standards of minimum wages for minors in any occupation
within the State of Oregon and what wages are unreasonably low
for any such minor workers.
SEC. 5. Said commission shall have full power and authority
to investigate and ascertain the wages and the hours of lahor and
the conditions of labor of women and minors in the different
occupations in which they are employed in the State of Oregon;
and said commission shall have full power and authority, either
through any authorized representative or any commissioner to
inspect and examine any and all books and pay rolls and other
records of any employer of women or minors thai in any way
appertain to or have a bearing upon the question of wages or hours
of labor or conditions of labor of any such women workers or
minor workers in any of said occupations and to require from any
such employer full and true statements of the wages paid to, and
the hours of labor of, and the conditions of labor of all women
and minors in his employment.
SEC. 6. Every employer of women or minors shall keep a
register of the names of all women and all minors employed by
him, and shall, on request, permit any commissioner or any
authorized representative of said commission to inspect and
examine such register. The word " minor " as used in this act,
refers to and means any person of either sex under the age of
eighteen years ; and the word " women ", as used in this act,
refers to and means a female person of, or over, the age of
eighteen years.
SEC. 7. Said commission may hold meetings for the transac-
tion of any of its business at such times and places as it may
prescribe; and said commission may hold public hearings at such
times and places as it deems fit and proper for the purpose of
investigating any of the matters it is authorized to investigate by
this act. At any such public hearing any person interested in the
matter being investigated may appear and testify. Said com-
AMERICAN LEGISLATION OREGON. 319
mission shall Lave power to subpoena and compel the attendance
of any witness at any such public hearing or at any session of any
conference called and held as hereinafter provided ; and any com-
missioner shall have power to administer an oath to any witness
who testifies at any such public hearing or at any such session of
any conference. All witnesses subpoenaed by said commission
shall be paid the same mileage and per diem as are allowed by
law to witnesses in civil cases before the circuit court of
Multnomah county.
SEC. 8. If, after investigation, said commission is of opinion
that any substantial number of women workers in any occupation
are working for unreasonably long hours or are working under
surroundings or conditions detrimental to their health or morals
or are receiving wages inadequate to supply them with the neces-
sary cost of living and maintain them in health, said commission
may call and convene a conference for the purpose and with the
powers of considering and inquiring into and reporting on the
subject investigated by said commission and submitted by it to
such conference. Such conference shall be composed of not more
than three representatives of the employers in said occupation
and of an equal number of the representatives of the employees in
said occupation and of not more than three disinterested persons
representing the public and of one or more commissioners. Said
commission shall name and appoint all the members of such con-
ference and designate the chairman thereof. Said commission
shall present to such conference all information and evidence in
the possession or under the control of said commission which
relates to the subject of the inquiry by such conference; and said
commission shall cause to be brought before such conference any
witnesses whose testimony said commission deems material to the
subject of the inquiry by such conference. After completing its
consideration of and inquiry into the subject submitted to it by
said commission, such conference shall make and transmit to said
commission a report containing the findings and recommendations
of such conference on said subject. Accordingly as the subject
submitted to it may require, such conference shall, in its report,
make recommendations on any or all of the following questions
320 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
concerning the particular occupation under inquiry, to-wit:
(a) Standards of hours of employment for women workers and
what are unreasonably long hours of employment for women
workers; (b) Standards of conditions of labor for women
workers and what surroundings or conditions sanitary or other-
wise are detrimental to the health or morals of women
workers; "(c) Standards of minimum wages for women workers
and what wages are inadequate to supply the necessary cost of
living to women workers and maintain them in health. In its
recommendations on a question of wages such conference shall,
where it appears that any substantial number of women workers
in the occupation under inquiry are being paid by piece rates as
distinguished from time rate recommend minimum piece rates
as well as a minimum time rate and recommend such minimum
piece rates as will, in its judgment, be adequate to supply the
necessary cost of living to women workers of average ordinary
ability and maintain them in health ; and in its recommendations
on a question of wages such conference shall, when it appears
proper or necessary, recommend suitable minimum wages for
learners and apprentices and the maximum lengtii of time any
woman worker may be kept at such wages as a learner or appren-
tice, which said warges shall be less than the regular minimum
wages recommended for the regular women workers in the occu-
pation under inquiry. Two-thirds of the members of any such
conference shall constitute a quorum; and the decision or recom-
mendation or report of such a two-thirds on any subject submitted
shall be deemed the decision or recommendations or report of such
conference.
SEC. 9. Upon receipt of any report from any conference, said
commission shall consider and review the recommendations con-
tained in said report; and said commission may approve any or
all of said recommendations or disapprove any or all of said
recommendations; and said commission may re-submit to the
same conference, or a new conference, any subject covered by any
recommendations so disapproved. If said commission approves
any recommendations contained in any report from any confer-
ence, said commission shall publish notice, not less than once a
A MKKK'A.N L|.<;ISI.ATIO.\ -OllEGON. >\'2 1
week for four suc0 APPENDIX TTT - - MixmrM WAGE LEOTSLATTOX.
which is an independent person appointed by agreement between
the persons representing the workmen and employers respectively
on the body, or in default of agreement by the Board of Trade.
The Board of Trade may, as a condition of recognizing as a
joint district board for the purposes of this act any body the
rules of which do not provide for securing equality of voting
power between the members representing workmen and the mem-
bers representing employers and for giving the chairman a cast-
ing vote in case of difference between the two classes of members,
require that body to adopt any such rule as the Board of Trade
may approve for the purpose, and any rule so adopted shall be
deemed to be a rule governing the procedure of the body for the
purposes of this Act.
(3) The joint district board of a district shall settle general
minimum rates of wages and general district rules for their dis-
trict (in this Act referred to as general district minimum rates
and general district rules), and the general district minimum
rates and general district rules shall be the rates and rules
applicable throughout the whole of the district to all coal mines
in the district and to all workmen or classes of workmen em-
ployed underground in those mines, other than mines to which
and workmen to whom a special minimum rate or special district
rules settled under the provisions of this Act is or are applicable,
or mines to which and workmen to whom the joint district board
declare that the general district rates and general district rules
shall not be applicable pending the decision of the question
whether a special district rate or special district rules ought to
be settled in their case.
(4) The joint district board of any district may, if it is
shown to them that any general district minimum rate or general
district rules are not applicable in the case of any group or class
of coal mines within the district, owing to the special circum-
stances of the group or class of mines, settle a special minimum
rate (either higher or lower than the general district rate) or
special district rules (either more or less stringent than the gen-
eral district rules) for that group or class of mines, and any such
special rate or special rules shall be the rate or rules applicable
fVm, MINKS ATT 070 ORKAT F*TUTATN. .>r1
to that group or class of mines instead of the general district
minimum rate or general district rules.
(5) For the purpose of sHlling minimum rates of wage, the
joint district board may subdivide their district into two parts
or, if the members of the joint district board representing the
workmen and the members representing the employers agree, into
more than two parts, and in that case each part of the district
as so subdivided shall, for the purpose of the minimum rate, be
treated as the district.
(6) For the purpose of settling district rules, any joint
district boards may agree that their districts shall be treated as
one district, and in that case those districts shall be treated for
that purpose as one combined district, with a combined district
committee appointed as may be agreed between the joint district
boards concerned, and the chairman of such one of the districts
forming the combination as may be agreed upon between the
joint district boards concerned, or, in default of agreement, deter-
mined by the Board of Trade, shall be the chairman of the com-
bined district committee.
3. (1) Any minimum rate of wages or district rules settled
under this Act shall remain in force until varied in accordance
with the provisions of this Act.
(2) The joint district board of a district shall have power to
vary any minimum rate of wages or district rules for the time
being in force in their district
(a) At any time by agreement between the members of the
joint district board representing the workmen and the members
representing the employers; and
(b) After one year has elapsed since the rate or rules were
last settled or varied, on an application made (with three months'
notice given after the expiration of the year) by any workmen
or employers, which appears to the joint district board to repre-
sent any considerable body of opinion, amongst either the work-
men or the employers concerned;
352 APPENDIX III '-- MINIMUM WAGI-: LEGISLATION.
and the provisions of this Act as to the settlement of minimum
rates of wages or district rules shall, so far as applicable, apply
to the variation of any such rate or rules.
4. (1) If within two Aveeks after the passing of this Act a
joint district board has not been recognized by the Board of
Trade for any district, or if at any time after the passing of this
Act any occasion arises for the exercise or performance in any
district of any power or duty under this Act by the joint district
board, and there is no joint district board for the district, the
Board of Trade may, either forthwith or after such interval as
may seem to them necessary or expedient, appoint such person
as they think fit to act in the place of the joint district board,
and, while that appointment continues, this Act shall be construed,
so far as respects that district, as if the person so appointed were
substituted for the joint district board.
The Board of Trade in any such case where it appears to them
that the necessity for the exercise of their powers under this pro-
vision arises from the failure of the employers to appoint mem-
bers to represent employers on a board when the workmen are
willing to appoint members to represent workmen, or from the
failure of the workmen to appoint members to represent work-
men on a board when the employers are willing to appoint mem-
bers to represent employers, may, if they think fit, instead of
appointing a person to act in place of the joint district board,
appoint such persons as they think fit to represent the employers
or the workmen, as the case may be, who have failed to appoint
members to represent them; and in that case the members so
appointed by the Board of Trade shall be deemed to be members
of the board representing employers or workmen as the case
requires.
(2) If the joint district board within three weeks after the
time at which it has been recognized under this Act for any
district fail to settle the first minimum rates of wages and district
rules in that district, or if the joint district board, within three
weeks after the expiration of a notice for an application under
this Act to vary any minimum rate of wages or district rules
fail to deal with the application, the chairman of the joint dis-
COAL MINES ACT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 353
trict board shall settle the rates or rules or deal with the appli-
cation, as the case may be, in place of the joint district board,
and any minimum rate of wages or district rules settled by him
shall have the same effect for the purposes of this Act as if they
had been settled by the joint district board:
Provided that, if the members of the joint district board
representing the workmen and the members representing the
employers agree, or if the chairman of the joint district board
directs, that a specified period longer than three weeks shall for
the purposes of this subsection be substituted for three weeks,
this subsection shall have e.ffect as if that specified period were
therein substituted for three weeks.
5. (1) In this Act-
The expression " coal mine " includes a mine of stratified
ironstone ;
The expression " workman " means any person employed in a
coal mine below ground other than
(a) A person so employed occasionally or casually only; or
(&) A person so employed solely in surveying or measur-
ing; or
(c) A person so employed as mechanic; or
(d) The manager or any under-manager of the mine; or
(e) Any other official of the mine whose position in the mine
is recognized by the joint district board as being a position dif-
ferent from that of a workman.
(2) If it is thought fit by any persons when appointing a
chairman for the purposes of this Act, or by the Board of Trade
when so appointing a chairman, the office of chairman may be
committed to three persons, and in that case those three persons
acting by a majority shall be deemed to be the chairman for the
purposes of this Act.
G. (1) This Act may be cited as the Coal Mines (Minimum
Wage) Act, 1912.
(2) This Act shall continue in force for three years from the
date of the passing thereof and no longer, unless Parliament shall
otherwise determine.
12
354 Ai'PENPix TTT -- MINIMUM WATJK
THE VICTOKIAN SPECIAL BOAKDS ACT.
SPECIAL BOAKDS.
(1) Appointment of Boards.
133. (1) (Act 2386.) Every Special Board purporting to
have been appointed prior to the commencement of this Act shall
be deemed to have been validly appointed.
(2) Where a resolution is or has been passed by both Houses
of Parliament declaring that it is expedient to appoint any Special
Board to determine the lowest prices or rates which may be paid
to any person or persons or classes of persons employed anywhere
in Victoria (whether in a factory or not) in any process trade
business or occupation or any group thereof specified in the reso-
lution or where any Special Board has prior to the commencement
of this Act been appointed for any process trade business or occu-
pation or any group thereof the Governor in Council may if
he thinks fit from time to time
(a) appoint one or more Special Boards for any one of such
processes trades businesses or occupations or for any branch or
branches thereof or for any group or groups thereof; and
(b) define the area or locality (including the whole or any
part or parts of Victoria)'" within which the Determination of
each of such Special Boards shall be operative; and extend or re-
define any such area or locality ; and
(c) as between any two or more 'Special Boards, adjust the
powers which such Boards or any of them may lawfully exercise,
and for that purpose deprive any Special Board of any of its
powers and confer them upon any other Special Board.
(3) When any Special Board is deprived of any of its powers
pursuant to this section any Determination thereof or of the Court
of Industrial Appeals made before such deprivation under any
power of which the Special Board is deprived shall continue in
operation until superseded by a Determination of the 'Special
* Compare limitations as to certain occupations in section 9 ante. (In a
few cases foot notes refer to sections of compiled factories law, March, 1913,
not here included.)
Mi M.MTM \V.\iJi-: LAW OK VICTORIA. .>f>r>
Board upon which such power is conferred, and upon such Deter-
mination beinii; made shall cease to have effect.
(4) Where under ihis section the area or locality within which
the Determination of any Special Board is to be operative is
extended so as to include any part or parts of Victoria outside the
Metropolitan District or outside any city town or borough the
Governor in Council if in any case he think it necessary may
appoint a new Special Board to take the place of the Special
Board the operation of whose Determination is so extended.
(5) Where any new Special Board is so appointed any De-
termination of the Board whose place it takes or of the Court of
Industrial Appeals theretofore made 'shall within the area or
locality for which the Determination was made continue in opera-
tion until superceded by a Determination of the new Special Board
and upon such Determination being made shall cease to have
effect.
(6) Each Special Board shall consist of not less than four nor
more than ten members and a chairman.
134. (Act 2386.) The Governor in Council may by Order
published in the Government Gazette direct that any Special Board
may in any regulation Determination Order or instrument or legal
proceedings be described for all purposes by some short title
specified in such Order.
135. (1) (Act 2386.) The Governor in Council may by an
order published in the Government Gazette extend the powers
under this Act of any Special Board so that such Board may fix
the lowest prices or rates for any articles or process trade or busi-
ness or part of any such process trade or business which
in the opinion of the Governor in Council are of the
same or similar class or character as those for which such Board
was appointed, and such Board shall as regards the articles process
trade or business mentioned in the extending Order in Council
have all the powers conferred on a Special Board by this Act.
(2) A copy of the Government Gazette containing an order
so extending the powers of a Special Board shall be conclusive
350 APPENDIX TTI -- MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
evidence of the making of such order and such order shall not
be liable to 'be challenged or disputed in any Court whatever.
136. (1) (Act 2386.) One-half of the members of a Special
Board shall be appointed as representatives of employers and one-
half as representatives of employes.*
(2) The representatives of the employers shall be ~bona fide
and actual employers in the trade concerned, or shall have been
so for six months during the three years immediately preceding
their appointment and the representatives of the employes shall be
actual and bona fide employes in such trade or shall have been
so for six months during the three years immediately preceding
their appointment.
(3) (a) Appointments as members of any Special Board shall
be for three years only, but any member of a Special Board may
on the expiration of his term of office be re-appointed thereto;
(Z>) The Chairman of any Special Board shall be deemed and
taken to be a member thereof ; and
(c) The Governor in Council may at any time remove any
member of a Special Board.
137. (1) (Act 2386.) Before appointing the members of
any Special Board the Minister may by notice published in the
Government Gazette nominatef persons as representatives of em-
ployers and representatives of employes to be appointed as mem-
bers of such Special Board.
(2) In any case where one-fifth of the employers or employes
in any process trade business or occupation carry on or are en-
gaged in such process trade business or occupation outside the
Metropolitan District as defined in this ActJ one at least of the
* On the Special Board for Men's and Boys' clothing, the employers' repre-
sentatives must consist of three representatives of makers of ready-made
clothing and two of makers of order clothing. (See section 162 post.)
t Although the Minister has power to nominate whomsoever he pleases
within the limitations of section 136 ante, his invariable practice is to consult
the parties interested. It is open for any person or association to forward
the names of persons suitable for nomination. If such names exceed the
number to be appointed, the Minister makes a selection, and nominates those
selected by publishing their name in the Government Gazette.
$ The Metropolitan District is denned in section 77.
MINIMUM WAGE LAW OF VICTORIA. 357
persons so nominated as representatives of employers and one at
least of the persons so nominated as representatives of employes
shall be a person who resides and who carries on or is engaged in
or has carried on or been engaged in (as the case may *be) such
process trade business or occupation outside the said Metropolitan
District.
(3) Unless within twenty-one days after the date when such
nominations are so published at least one-fifth of the employers or
at least one-fifth of the adult employes respectively engaged in the
process trade business or occupation subject to such Special Board
give notice in writing to the Minister that they object to the ap-
pointment of the persons nominated as their representatives (as
the case may be) then such persons so nominated may be appointed
members of the Special Board by the Governor in Council as
representatives thereon of the employers or employes (as the case
may be).
(4) For the purpose of furnishing the information necessary
for preparing rolls of electors (none of whom shall be under the
age of eighteen years) for Special Boards in any process trade
business or occupation not usually or frequently carried on in a
factory as defined by this Act all employers shall send to the Chief
Inspector their names and addresses and also the names and ad-
dresses of all employes not under eighteen years of age, in the
form or to the effect of the Seventh 'Schedule and the Chief In-
spector shall compile voters' rolls therefrom and each employer
and each employe shall have one vote.
Any employer failing so to forward his name and address shall
not be entitled to vote for representatives of employers on the
Special Board to be elected.
Every employe not under eighteen years of age, who produces
evidence to the satisfaction of the Chief Inspector that his ordinary
occupation when at work is employment in any process trade busi-
ness or occupation in regard to which the lowest prices or rates
of payment are to be determined by any Special Board shall not-
withstanding that his name and address have not been forwarded
by his employer be enrolled as an elector of representatives of
employes on such Special Board.
358 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
The Minister may decide whether any process trade business
or occupation falls within this sub-section.
(5) The Minister shall decide whether persons nominated as
representatives have been objected to by at least one-fifth of em-
ployers or adult employes (as the case may be) and for that pur-
pose he shall accept the records given by the Chief Inspector in
his latest annual report.
Provided that in any case where no records are given in the
latest Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories with
respect to any persons, likely to be affected by the Determination
of any such Special Board the Minister if he is satisfied that there
is substantial objection to the persons nominated by him as repre-
sentatives of employers or employes on such Special Board and
notwithstanding that an objection signed by one-fifth of the em-
ployers or adult employes respectively engaged in the process trade
business or occupation subject to such Special Board has not been
lodged may decide that an election shall be held .
(6) If the Minister is satisfied that at least one-fifth of the
employers or of the adult employes object within the time afore-
said to the persons nominated as their representatives or that
otherwise there is substantial objection then such representatives
of employers or such representatives of employes shall subject to
the provisions of this Act be elected as may be prescribed by regu-
lations made by the Governor in Council, t
138. (Act 2386.) If the number of persons nominated as
representatives of employers or employes (as the case may be)
does not exceed the number of persons to be elected the persons
nominated shall be deemed and taken to have been elected and
shall be appointed by the Governor in Council accordingly to be
members of the Special Board.
139. (Act 2386.) In the event of any vacancy occurring
from any cause whatsoever in any 'Special Board, the Governor
in Council may without previous nomination or election appoint
a person as representative of employers or employes as the case
t But the members of any Special Board for the furniture trade shall not
be elected. Section 161 post.
MINIMUM WA<;I; LAW OF VICTORIA.
may require (and the person so appointed shall be deemed and
taken to have been elected by such employers or employes, as the
case may be) ; and such person shall be so appointed for the un-
expired portion of the term of office of the member who dies or
resigns or is removed.*
(2) Appointment of Chairmen.
140. ( 1 ) (Act 2386. ) The members of a Special Board shall
within fourteen days after their appointment nominate in writing
some person (not being one of such members) to be Chairman of
such Special Board, and such person shall be appointed by the
Governor in Council to such office.
(2) In the event of the Minister not receiving such nomina-
tion within fourteen days after the appointment of the said mem-
bers then the Governor in Council may appoint the Chairman 011
the recommendation of the Minister.
(3) Powers and Functions of Boards.^
141. (Act 2386.) Every Special Board in accordance with
the terms of its appointment
(a) shall determine the lowest prices or rates of pay-
ment payable to any person or persons or classes of persons em-
ployed in the process trade business or occupation specified in
such appointment. Such prices or rates of payment may be fixed
at piece-work prices or at wages rates or both as the Special Board
thinks fit;
(6) shall determine the maximum number of hours per week
for which such lowest wages rates shall be payable according to the
nature or conditions of the work ; and the wages rates payable for
any shorter time worked shall be not less than a pro rata amount
of -such wage* vaks and not less than such a rate as may be fixed
for casual labour.
* It is the practice of the Minister to consult the interests of the persons
concerned. If the Board is sitting when the vacancy occurs, its remaining
members usually suggest a suitable person. It is well, therefore, for parties
interested to be ready with nominations ;is soon as a seat on the Board be-
comes vacant.
t A Board may fix rates for repairing articles. Section 152 post. For
additional powers as to apprentices and improvers, see section 182 post.
360 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
In fixing such lowest prices or rates the Special Board shall
take into consideration the following matters and may (if it thinks
fit) fix different prices or rates accordingly -
(i) the nature kind and class of the work;
(ii) the mode and manner in which the work is to be done;
(iii) the age and sex of the workers;*
(iv) the place or locality where the work is to be done;
(v) the hour of the day or night when the work is to be done;
(vi) whether more than six consecutive days' work is to be
done;
(vii) whether the work is casual as defined by the Board;
(viii) any recognized usage or custom in the manner of carry-
ing out the work; and
(ix) any matter whatsoever which may from time to time be
prescribed.
(c) shall fix a higher wages rate to be paid for any time in
excess of the maximum number of hours per week so fixed and
may fix the times of beginning and ending work upon each
day; and
may fix a higher rate to be paid for any hour or fraction of an
hour worked outside the times so fixed ;f and
*As to persons under 21 years of age, other than apprentices or improvers,
see section 154 post.
tit will be noted that, under paragraphs (6) and (c), two different classes
of overtime can be fixed. Under (&) and (c) the Boards are bound to fix the
number of hours for a week's work, and the wages rate for any time in ex-
cess. Under (c) they may fix the times of beginning and ending work upon
each day, and, having done so, must fix a higher rate for all time worked
outside those hours. If these two powers were exercised independently of one
another, they would clash.
It has been found necessary, when any Board wishes to exercise both
powers, to adopt a form such as follows:
TIME OF BEGINNING AND ENDING WORK.
That the time of beginning and ending work shall be:
Time of Beginning. Time of Ending.
7.30 A. M. 12 noon on the day on which the half -holiday is
observed.
7.30 A. M. 6 P. M. on the other working days of the week.
MINIMUM WAGE LAW OF VICTORIA. 301
may fix special rates for work to be done on a Sunday or public
holiday, f
(d) May prescribe the form of apprenticeship indenture to
be used.
(e) When in this Act or any regulations thereunder the num-
ber of the hours of work per week or the overtime rates of pay
are fixed for any class or classes of workers, a 'Special Board when
exercising any of the powers conferred by this section instead of
fixing the number of working hours per week or overtime rate for
the class or classes of workers to be affected by the determination
of such Board fixed by the Factories and Shops Acts may fix a
different number of working hours or overtime rate as the case
may be.
142. (Act 2386.) Where pursuant to this Act by any Deter-
mination of a Special Board both a piece-work price and a wages
rate are fixed for any work, the piece-work price shall be based
on the wages rate ;, but no Determination shall be liable to be ques-
tioned or challenged on the ground that any piece-work price is a
greater or less amount than such price would be if based upon the
wages rate.
143. (Act 2386.) For wholly or partly preparing or man-
ufacturing outside a factory articles of clothing or wearing apparel
OVEBTIME.
That the following rates shall be paid for all work done:
(a) Within the hours fixed in clause in excess of 48 ] _,
hours in any week Time and a
(&) Outside the hours fixed in clause
In many trades it is found better to exercise only the power of fixing over-
time rates on the week's work, without fixing the time of beginning and end-
ing. This course has the advantage of elasticity, allowing employers and
employes to arrange their hours of work to suit themselves, according to the
conditions and locality of their work.
t The only days which a Wages Board has power to name as public holidays
are: 1st January (New Year's Day), 26th January (Foundation Day),
Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, 21st April (Eight
Hours' Day), 3rd June (King's Birthday), first Thursday in September
(Royal Agricultural Show Day, in localities named in the Royal Agricultural
Show Act), 25th December (Christmas Day), and 2Gth December (Boxing
Day).
APPENDIX TTT- "\IIXTMFM WAC.E LEGISLATION.
or boots or shoes a piece-work price only shall be fixed, and the
Board shall on request of any occupier of a factory or shop or place
fix a wages rate for any work done by persons operating at a ma-
chine used in such factory or shop or place.
144. (1) (Act 2386.) Any Special Board instead of speci-
fying the lowest piece-work prices which may be paid for wholly
or partly preparing or manufacturing any articles may determine
that piece-work prices based on wages rates fixed by such Special
Board may be fixed and paid therefor subject to and as provided
in the next following sub-section.
(2) Any employer who pursuant to such Determination fixes
and pays piece-work prices shall base such piece-work prices on
the earnings of an average worker working under like conditions
to those for which the piece-work prices are fixed and who is paid
by time at the wages rates fixed by such Special Board. Every
such employer shall if required by the Chief Inspector so to do
forward a statement of such prices to the Chief Inspector.
(3) Any person who having fixed a piece-work price as in
this section provided either directly or indirectly or by any pre-
tence or device pays or offers or permits any person to offer or
attempts to pay any person a piece-work price lower than the price
so fixed by such first-mentioned person or Avho refuses or neglects
to forward a statement of such prices when required to do so by
the Chief Inspector shall be deemed to be guilty of a contravention
of the provisions of this Part.*
(4) In proceedings against any person for a contravention of
the provisions of the two last preceding sub-sections of this section
the onus of proof that any piece-work price fixed or paid by such
person is in accordance with the provisions of such sub-sections
shall in all cases lie on the defendant.
145. (Act 2386.) When in any Determination a Special
Board has fixed a wages rate only for wholly or partly preparing
or manufacturing either inside or outside a factory any articles
or for doing any work then it shall not be lawful for any person
to pay or authorize or permit to be paid therefor any piece-work
* Penalty section 226.
rM W\<;r. LAW OF YIOTOTJTA.
prims, and the rereip! <>r acceptance of any piece work prices
shall nut. be deemed t<> IK- payment or part payment of any such
wages.
l-Hi. (Act 2380.) Wlien in any Determination a Special Board
lias fixed piece-work prices for wholly or partly preparing or man-
ufacturing any articles and in the description of the worl: in
respect of which such piece-work price is to be paid such Board
enumerates several operations, and when any one or more of such
operations is by the direction or with the expressed or implied
consent of the occupier of the factory or his manager or foreman
or agent omitted, such omission shall not affect the price to be
paid in connection with the particular work, but such price shall,
unless otherwise provided in such Determination, be that fixed
as the price for the whole work described.
147. (Act 2386.) Notwithstanding anything contained in
this Act the price or rate of payment to be fixed by any Special
Board for wholly or partly preparing or manufacturing any ar-
ticle of furniture* shall wherever practicable be both a piece-work
price and a wages rate. The piece-work price shall be based on
the wages rate fixed by such Board.
148. Act 2386.) Where it appears to be just and expedient
special wages rates may be fixed for aged infirm or slow workers
by any Special Board, f
149. (Act 2386.) All powers of any Special Board may be
exercised by a majority of the members thereof.
150. (Act 2386.) During any vacancy in a Special Board
(other than in the office of Chairman) the continuing members may
act as if no vacancy existed, provided no member of the Board
objects.;;
* For additional powers of Furniture Board, see sections 152 and 15G post.
t Very few Boards have exercised their powers under this section. Under
section 202 the Chief Inspector can grant a license to an old, slow, or infirm
worker to work for less than the minimum wage, but it is questionable whether
in case a Board had fixed rates, the Chief Inspector could legally grant a
license to work for anything less than the rate fixed by the Board.
J In practice the Boards do not usually decide important points during a
vacancy.
364 APPENDIX ITT MINIMUM WAOE LEGISLATION.
151. (Act 2386.) The Chaiiirian of any Special Board may
require any person (including a member of a Special Board)
giving evidence before a Board to give bis evidence on oath and
for such purpose shall be entitled to administer an oath accord-
ingly to such person.
152. (Act 2386.) A Special Board shall have power to deter-
mine the lowest prices or rates to be paid to any person or persons
or classes of persons employed in repairing
(a) Any articles of clothing or wearing apparel or furniture
in respect to which such Board may make a Determination ; or
(&) any articles which are subject to the Determination of a
Special Board for any process trade or business.
153. (Act 2386.) Where by the Determination of a Special
Board the wages of an apprentice or of an improver are to vary
in accordance with his experience or length of employment in
his trade, then for the purpose of determining the wages he is
entitled to receive, any time during which such apprentice or
improver has worked at his trade shall be reckoned in his length
of employment in such trade.
154. (Act 2386.) When fixing the wages rate to be paid to
p Tsons (other than apprentices or improvers) under twenty-one
years of age for any particular class of work any Special Board
may fix different rates having regard to the length of experience
of such persons in such particular class.
155. (Act 2386.) ~No Special Board shall sit during ordinary
working hours in any trade except by mutual agreement of the
representatives of the employers and employes on the Board, or
by the direction of the Minister.
(4) Miscellaneous Provisions as to Special Boards.
156. (Act 2386.) The Special Board heretofore appointed
with regard to articles of furniture may also determine the lowest
prices or rates which may be paid to female workers employed
as upholstresses whether as carpet hands table hands or drapery
hands, also to male persons employed in planning and laying car-
MJM.ML.M \\',\<-i LAW OF VICTOBIA. 365
pets or linoleums or floor cloths or fixing draperies or making and
fixing window Venetian and wire blinds if a resolution shall have
been passed by both Houses of Parliament declaring it is ex-
pedient for the Special Board so to do.
157. (Act 2386.) The Special Board heretofore appointed
and called the Woodworkers Board may also determine the lowest
prices or rates which may be paid to persons employed as stackers
or sorters in connection with the loading or unloading of timber
from ships, or the stacking of same in any yard or place.
158. (1) (Act 2386.) Special Boards may be appointed in
order to determine the lowest prices or rates which may be paid
to any person or persons or classes of persons wheresoever em-
ployed in the process trade or business of either the whole or any
part of the iron working trade (for which a Special Board has
not been constituted) including
(a) engineering,
(b) boilermaking,
( c ) blacksmithing,
(d) general iron work.
(2) The lowest prices or rates which may be determined under
and pursuant to the Factories and Shops Acts by any Special
Board appointed
in the occupation of a fireman boiler attendant or engine-driver
in connection with the use of steam-boilers or steam-engines other
than steam-boilers or steam-engines connected with mines ; or
under the provisions of paragraphs (a-), (fr), (c), and (d) of
this section
for any person or persons or classes of persons shall 'be the lowest
prices or rates to be paid to such person or persons or classes of
persons wheresoever employed, notwithstanding that any other
rates are determined with respect to such person or persons or
classes of persons by any other Special Board.
I.V.). (1) (Act 2386.) Any Special Board appointed -
(a.) in the occupation of a fireman boiler attendant or engine-
driver in connection with the use of steam-boilers or steam-engines
other than steam-boilers or steam-engines connected with mines; or
-366 APPENDIX III -- MIISJ.MIM WAi oiL-lit into force without any period of waiting. Although this
,i pivM-nta a price or rate coming into force until after the lapse of
thirty da\s. nolliinv in the I- 'act ot ics and Shops Acts requires preliminary
notice. In practice, the Department endeavours to ijive reasonable notice in
the Hurcrniitcnt Gazette, but there have been instances when circumstances
have rendered that impossible, and the Determination lias come into forc
immediately on being published.
368 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
amended by a Determination of such Special Board; but such
Determination may at any time be amended or revoked by the
Court of Industrial Appeals.
165. (1) (Act 2386.) The Determination of any Special
Board shall be signed by the Chairman thereof and published in
the Government Gazette and shall apply to the area or locality
(including the whole or any part or parts of Victoria) defined
by the Governor in Council as the area or locality within which
the Determination of such Special Board shall be operative.*
(2) Every amendment of any Determination of any Special
Board at any time made shall apply to the same part or parts of
Victoria as the Determination amended.
3. (Act 2447.) For section one hundred and sixty-six of the
Principal Act there shall be substituted the following section : -
" 166. No determination of a Special Board shall prevent the
sons or daughters of any employer being employed by him in any
capacity whether he has or has not the full number of apprentices
and improvers, and he shall not be bound to pay his sons and
daughters the rates fixed by any Determination."
167. (Act 2386.) Where any person is employed to perform
two or more classes of work to which a rate fixed by a Special
Board is applicable then such person shall be paid in respect of
the time occupied in each class of work at the rate fixed by the
Board for such work.f
* There is nothing in this section to indicate upon whom the duty lies of
publishing a Determination in the Government Gazette. The amended Deter-
mination of the Hairdressers Board was sent to the Minister of Labour in
December, 1911. The Minister refused to gazette it. Application was made
to Mr. Justice Cussen for a mandamus. The Judge refused the application.
f This section imposes the duty upon the employer of paying an employe
in accordance with the period of time occupied under each Determination, or
under different parts of the same Determination. In cases where several De-
terminations are operative this may become a difficult matter, and necessitates
the times being carefully kept and properly booked. It was the difficulty of
carrying out the provisions of this section that induced the appointment of
the Country Shop Assistants Board, which fixes a flat rate for all shop
assistants in the districts to which the Determination extends, whether they
be drapers, grocers, or fancy goods sellers, etc., as it was considered impossible
to allocate the time in a country store to each of the many classes of em-
ployment.
Compare section 141 (5) as to payment of a pro rata amount for less hours
worked than those fixed by the Board and section 168.
MINIMUM WAGE LAW OF VICTORIA. 369
168. (Act 2386.) When any person is employed during any
part of a day for an employer at work for which a Special Board
has fixed a wages rate then all work whatever done by such person
during such day for such employer whether inside or outside a
factory or shop or place whatsoever or wheresoever shall be paid
for at the same wages rate.
169. (Act 2386.). There shall be kept printed, painted or
affixed in legible Roman characters, in some conspicuous place at
or near the entrance of each and every factory or shop or place
to which the Determination of a Special Board applies, in such a
position as to be easily read by the persons employed therein, a
true copy of the Determination of the Special Board as to the
lowest prices or rates of payment determined by such Board.*
170. (Act 2386.) Where a piece-work price or a wages rate
has been fixed by the Determination of any Special Board for
wholly or partly preparing or manufacturing either inside or out-
side any factory any articles or for doing any work no person
shall either directly or indirectly require or compel any person
affected by such Determination to accept goods of any kind in lieu
of money or in payment or part payment for any work done or
wages earned and the receipt or acceptance of any goods shall not
be deemed to be payment or part payment for any such work or of
any such wages.
(6) Validity of Determination.
171. (1) (Act 2386.) If any person desires to dispute the
validity of any Determination of any Special Board made or pur-
porting to have been made under any of the provisions of this
Act or any Act repealed thereby it shall be lawful for such person
to apply to the Supreme Court upon affidavit for a rule calling
upon the Chief Inspector to show cause why such Determination
should not be quashed either wholly or in part for the illegality
thereof; and the said Court may make the said rule absolute or
discharge it with or without costs as to the Court shall seem meet.
(2) Every Determination of any Special Board shall uulr-s
and until so quashed have and be deemed and taken to have the
* For particulars of other information to be posted up in factories, see sec-
tion 22; as to shops, see section 126.
370 APPENDIX III ^IL.M.MIM WAGE LEGISLATION.
like force validity and effect as if such Determination had been
enacted in this Act, and shall not be in any manner liable to be
challenged or disputed ; but any such Determination may be altered
or revoked 'by any subsequent Determination under this Act*
(7) Suspension of Determination.
172. (1) (Act 2386.) Notwithstanding anything contained
in this Act the Governor in Council may at any time for such
period or periods as he thinks fit not exceeding six months in the
whole by Order published in the Government Gazette suspend the
operation of the Determination of any Special Board, f When
the operation of any Determination (whether published in the
Government Gazette or not) is so suspended it shall be the duty of
such Special Board to forthwith hear receive and examine evidence
as to such Determination, and thereupon such Special Board may
either adhere to the said Determination or may make such amend-
ments therein as to such Board seems proper.
(2) In the event of such Special Board making any such
amendments, such Determination as so amended shall forthwith
be published in the Government Gazette and shall for all purposes
be deemed and taken to be the Determination of such Special
Board from such date as may be fixed in such amended Determi-
nation, and the suspended Determination shall thereupon have ho
further force or effect.
(3) In the event of such Special Board notifying the Minister
that such Board adheres to its Determination without amendment
such suspension of the operation of such Determination shall by
an Order in Council published in the Government Gazette be re-
* The Court of Industrial Appeals has power to amend a Special Board's
Determination. (See section 176(6).)
No change should be made in the Determination of a Board or of the Court
of Industrial Appeals unless on some ground which may reasonably be con-
sidered as permanent, or at least likely to last for some consi1e time.
Mr. Justice Hood, in re the Bread Board, 13 A. L. R. 589.
t This provision became law on 27th September. 1897, by virtue of section
6 of the Factories and Rhops Act, 1897 (No. 1518), and the power of suspen-
sion was exercised on only one occasion. On 25th November, 1897, the (,'<>v
ernor in Council suspended the first Determination of the Boot Board, which
was made on the 3rd November, 1897, and was to come into force on 29th
November, 1897.
Mi MM I'M \\ A<,K LAW OK YHTOKIA. 371
yoked from such date not later than fourteen days as may be fixed
in such Order.
173. (Act 2386.) Where the Minister is satisfied that an
organized strike or industrial dispute is about to take place or has
actually taken place in connection with any process trade business
occupation or employment as to any matter which is the subject of
a Determination of a Special Board or of the Court of Industrial
Appeals the Governor in Council may by order published in the
Government Gazette suspend* for any period not exceeding twelve
months the whole or any part or parts of such Determination so
far as it relates to the matter in reference to which such organized
strike or industrial dispute is about to take place or has taken
place, and such suspension may at any time by an Order published
in the Government Gazette be removed by the Governor in Council
or altered or amended in such manner as he thinks fit.
COURT OF INDUSTRIAL APPEALS.
174. (1) (Act 2386.) There shall be a Court of Industrial
Appeals for deciding all appeals against a Determination of a
Special Board and for dealing with any Determination of a Special
Board referred to the Court by the Minister.
(2) The Court of Industrial Appeals shall consist of any one
of the Judges of the Supreme Court; and the said Judges shall
arrange which of them shall for the time being constitute the
Court of Industrial Appeals.
(3) The Governor in Council may for the purposes of this
Act appoint a Registrar of the Court of Industrial Appeals.
175. (Act 2386.) Where any Determination made by a
Special Board either before or after the commencement of this
Act is being dealt with by the Court, such Court shall consider
whether the Determination appealed against has had or may have
the elirH. of prejudicing tin- progress maintenance of or scope of
employment in the Innle or industry affected by any such price
or rale: and if of opinion that it has had or may have such effect
The power of suspension under section 173 has never been exercised.
372 APPENDIX III -- MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
the Court shall make such alterations as in its opinion may be
necessary to remove or prevent such effect and at the same time
to secure a living wage to the employes in such trade or industry
who are affected by such Determination.
176. (1) (Act 2386.) Notwithstanding anything contained
in this Act a majority of the representatives of employers or a
majority of the representatives of employes on any Special Board
or any employer or group of employers who employ not less than
twenty-five per centum of the total number of the workers in any
trade or twenty-five per centum or more of the workers in any
trade, may at any time in the prescribed manner appeal against
such Determination to the Court. For the purposes of this sub-
section the Court shall accept the records given by the Chief In-
spector in his' latest annual report. f
(2) The Minister may without appeal at any time after the
making of a Determination by a Special Board refer such Deter-
mination for the consideration of the Court and may also refer any
appeal made as hereinbefore provided for the consideration of
the Court.
(3) No appeal against or reference to the Court of a Deter-
mination which has been published in the Government Gazette
si i nil have the effect of suspending or delaying the operation of
such Determination.
(4) Every Determination of a Special Board referred to the
Court by the Minister and such documents relating thereto as
may be deemed necessary shall be forwarded by the Chief In-
spector to the Registrar of the Court.
(5) Except as hereinafter provided no barrister and solicitor
or agent shall be allowed to appear before or be heard by the Court.
By the direction of the Court or with the consent of both parties to
t The power given by this section is to be distinguished from the power to
challenge a Determination before the Supreme Court under section 171 post,
in which latter case it is only challengeable for illegality. While the Court is
considering the Determination the Board has no powers whatever, nor has it
any power to alter or amend the Determination afterwards until such time as
it obtains leave to do so from the Court under subsection (9) of this section.
Compare section 180.
M W\<;i. LAW OF VICTORIA. 373
the appeal or reference either party may at its own cost be rep-
resented by a barrister and solicitor or agent. It appeals by a
minority of employers or employes as provided under sub-section
(1) of this section the Court may give such, directions for the
representation of parties as may in the circumstances appear to
be proper.
(G) The Court shall have and may exercise all or any of the
powers conferred on a Special Board by this Act and may either
increase or decrease any prices or rates of payment (whether piece-
work prices or wages rates) and shall have full power to amend
the whole or any part of any Determination of a Special Board.*
*An appeal to the Court of Industrial Appeals from the determination of a
Wages Board is in the nature of a rehearing, and the Court is not confined
to a consideration of the materials which were before the Board in coming to
a conclusion as to what should be the minimum wage in the trade, process,
or business for which the Special Board was appointed. Mr. Justice Hood,
in re Bread Board, 13 A. L. R. 589. Mr. Justice Hodges, in re the Ice Board,
16 A. L. R. 46.
Appended is a list of the cases in which Determinations were referred to the
Court of Industrial Appeals:
On the 14th September, 1904, an appeal was made to the Court by a group
of six employers against the Determination of the Artificial Manure Board on
the ground that the wage for adults, 40s. 6d., was too high, and it was sug-
gested that 36s. be not exceeded. The Court fixed the wages of adults at 36s.
per week.
On the 17th September, 1906, the Determination of the Fellmongers Board
was appealed against by the representatives of employers on that Board, who
stated that the hours should be 54, and not 48, and that the proportion of
improvers should be increased. The Court fixed the number of hours per
week at 54, but did not alter the proportion of improvers.
Again, on the 2nd October, 1906, the Court was appealed to by the em-
ployes, and, as a result, in 1909 the Court fixed the hours at 48 per week
instead of 54, and some of the rates fixed at 42s. were amended to 45s.
On the llth October, 1906, the representatives of employers on the Printers
Board appealed against the Board's Determination, stating that the condition
of the trade did not then warrant an increase in wages. The Court dismissed
the appeal and upheld the Determination of the Board.
The Starch Board, being unable to arrive at a Determination, the matter of
determining the wages of the employees in that trade was referred by the
Minister of Labour to the Court of Industrial Appeals, and the Court drew up
a Determination, which came into force on the 29th June, 1907.
On the 15th August, 1907, the employers' representatives on the Bread
Board appealed against the increase in wages in the Determination of the
Board. The Court dealt with the matter, and in its Determination, which
came into force on the 15th September, 1907, the minimum wage of 54s. was
altered to 50s. per week.
On the 12th November, 1909, an appeal against the Determination of the
Ice Board was made by the representatives of employers on that Board, who
considered that the rate for chamber hands, Is. 3d., was too high. The Court
amended the wage, and fixed it at Is. per hour.
On the 16th November, 1909, three representatives of employers on the
Hairdressers Board appealed against the Determination of their Board, on the
374 APPENDIX TTT MINIMUM WAUE LEOLST,ATTOX.
(7) The Court shall have and may exercise in respect of the
summoning sending for and examining of witnesses, documents
and books and in respect of persons summoned or giving evidence
before the Court the same powers as are by the Evidence Act 1890
conferred on a Board or Commission appointed or issued by the
Governor in Council; provided however that every summons to
attend the Court may be signed by the Registrar.
(8) No evidence relating to any trade secret or to the profits
or financial position of any witness or party shall be disclosed or
published without the consent of the person entitled to the trade
secret or non-disclosure.
(9) The Determination of the Court shall be final and with-
out appeal and may not be reviewed or altered by a Special Board
without leave of the Court, but the Court if satisfied upon affidavit
that a prima facie case for review exists may either give such leave
or may direct a rehearing before the Court, when the Court may
itself alter or amend its Determination.
(10) The Determination of the Court shall be forwarded to
the Minister by the Registrar.
177. (1) (Act 2386.) On any such appeal or reference to
the Court, the Court may in its discretion appoint two assessors for
the purpose of advising on any questions relating to the Deter-
mination.
(2) Within such time as the Court specifies, one of such as-
sessors may be nominated by the representatives of the employers
and one by the representatives of the employes on the Special
Board which made the Determination.
grounds that the minimum wages of certain male and female workers were
too high, and that the proportion of improvers was too low. As a result of
their representations, the proportion of improvers was amended by the Court,
but the minimum wages fixed for males and females were upheld.
On the 24th July, 1912, an appeal was lodged by the representatives of
employers on the Boilermakers Board against a rate of 54s. fixed for a certain
class of labourers. A supplementary appeal was lodged on the 15th day of
August, 1912, against a rate of 48s. fixed for another class of labourers. The
Court fixed four rates for labourers at 54s., 52s., 50s., and 48s., respectively.
On the 21st December, 1912, the Minister of Labour referred the first
Determination of the Commercial Clerks Board for the consideration of the
Court, more particularly with regard to rates to be paid to female type-
writers. No decision has yet been given.
Mi\i\ir\i W.\(;i: LAW OF VICTORIA. ^7".
(3) If default is made in nominating ;in assessor I'm 1 the eni-
plovors or the enip!<>vrs (as the case may U-) the Court may ap-
point an .1 essor for the employers or the employes (as the case
may l>e) without jmy nomination.
(4) Each assessor shall he entitled to an attendance fee of
One pound for every day on which he attends the Court by order
of the Court.
ITS. (1) (Act 2386.) The Minister shall cause each Deter-
mination of the Court to be published in the Government Gazette
and such Determination shall apply to every part of Victoria to
which the referred Determination applies or is expressly applied.
(2) The production before any Court Judge or Justice of a
copy of the Government Gazette containing a Determination of
the Court shall be conclusive evidence of the making and existence
of such Determination and of the appointment of such Court and
of all preliminary steps necessary to the making of such Deter-
mination.
(3) The provisions of this Act for or relating to the enforce-
ment of any Determination of a Special Board shall equally apply
to any Determination made by the Court, and such provisions shall
with such substitutions as may be necessary be read and construed
accordingly.
179. (1) (Act 2386.) A Determination of the Court of In-
dustrial Appeals may be applied by an Order of the Governor in
Council to any shire or portion of a shire.
(2) Every Order of the Governor in Council made pursuant
to this section shall be published in the Government Gazette and
any Determination thereby applied to any shire or portion of a
shire shall have full force and effect within such shire or portion.
180. (Act 2386.) The Court of Industrial Appeals may re-
vise or alter its own Determination at any time and from time to
time on the application of either the representatives of employers
or representatives of employes on the Special Board.
376 APPENDIX III -- MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
181. (Act 2386.) The Court of Industrial Appeals shall have
all the powers of the Supreme Court and shall in every case he
guided by the real justice of the matter without regard to legal
forms and solemnities and shall direct itself by the best evidence
it can procure or that is laid before it whether the same be such
evidence as the law would require or admit in other cases or not ;
and if the Court considers any further evidence or information
which would assist the Court could be obtained, the Court shall
intimate in open Court what further evidence or information the
Court desires.
APPRENTICES AND IMPROVERS.
(1) Apprentices and Improvers.
182. (1) (Act 2386.) When determining any prices or rates
of payment every special Board shall also determine
(a) the number or proportionate number of apprentices and
improvers who may be employed within any factory or shop or
place or in any process trade business or occupation ;* and
(]}) the lowest prices or rates of pay payable to appren-
tices or improvers when wholly or partly preparing or manufactur-
ing any articles as to which any Special Board has made or makes
a Determination or when engaged in any process trade, business or
occupation as to which any Special Board has made or makes a
Determination, f
* It will be noted that a Board is given power to determine the number or
proportionate number of apprentices and improvers who may be employed
( 1 ) In any factory or shop or place ;
(2) In any process, trade, business, or occupation.
Boards have always fixed the number with reference to a factory, shop, or
place, or with reference to an individual employer. It is difficult to see how a
fixing of the number in a process, trade, business, or occupation could be
practicably administered, seeing that there would be no means of deciding
how many improvers or apprentices any particular employer would be enti-
tled to.
fAny improver may, at the option of his employer, be put to any class of
work. It is allowable for a Board to fix varying rates for improvers accord-
ing to the work at which they are employed. The case is different, however,
regarding apprentices. An apprentice has to be taught the whole of the trade
to which he is apprenticed, and only one scale of payment can be fixed, no
matter what his work.
MINIMUM WAGE LAW OF VICTOKJA. 377
(2) The Board when so determining may -
(ft.) take into consideration the age sex and experience of such
apprentices or improvers;,
(6) fix a scale of prices or rates payable to such apprentices
or improvers respectively according to their respective age sex and
experience; and
(c) fix a different number or proportionate number of male
and female apprentices or improvers.
(d) prescribe the form of apprenticeship indentures to be
used.
(3) In fixing the number or proportionate number of appren-
tices the Board shall not fix a less number or proportionate number
than one apprentice for every three or fraction of three workers
engaged in the particular process trade business or occupation and
receiving the minimum wage or earning at piece-work not less than
the minimum wage fixed for the time by such Determination.
(4) Provided that where prior to the fourth day of January
one thousand nine hundred and eleven all the apprentices of any
employer have been engaged so that all of their terms of appren-
ticeship would expire within eighteen months of one another, such
employer shall be exempt from the operation of this Act and from
the Determination of any Special Board so far as limitation of
apprentices is concerned for a period not exceeding the term of
apprenticeship in the particular trade from the said fourth day of
January, one thousand nine hundred and eleven, so that it shall
be lawful during such period as each apprentice of such employer
completed his first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth year, for
the employer to take another apprentice to supply his place, so that
a due and not disproportionate number of skilled workmen shall be
secured: Provided that at the expiration of such period of ex-
emption the number of apprentices is not in excess of the number
such employer would be entitled to employ in proportion to the
number of persons other than apprentices and improvers employed.
378 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
183. (Act 2386.) No person who has a greater number of
apprentices in his employ than is prescribed in the Determination
of a Special Board shall be or be deemed to be guilty of a contra-
vention of this Act if he proves
(a) that such apprentices employed by him were under inden-
tures of apprenticeship entered into before the thirty-first day of
December, one thousand nine hundred and ten; or
(6) that at the date of entering into the indentures of appren-
ticeship in respect of the last apprentice employed by him and for
three months previous thereto he had in his employ such number
of persons other than apprentices and improvers as at that date
entitled him to the number of apprentices (including such last
apprentice) in his employ.
184. (Act 2386.) Where any indentures of apprenticeship
are entered into with respect to any trade to which the Determina-
tion of a Special Board applies and the wages to be paid to the ap-
prentice are stated in such indentures then notwithstanding any-
thing contained in this Act and notwithstanding any subsequent
alteration of such Determination by such Special Board the wages
to be paid to such apprentice during the currency of such inden-
tures shall be the wages stated in the indentures.
185. (Act 2386.) (Repealed by Section 4, Act 2447.)*
(2) Apprentices.
186. (Act 2386.) Where any apprentice under the age of
twenty-one years has been bound in writing by indentures of
apprenticeship for a period of not less than two years, no provision
in any Determination of a Special Board shall invalidate cancel
or alter such deed of apprenticeship in any way whatever if such
deed of apprenticeship was signed by all parties thereto before the
* Section 185 was a machinery section designed in the Consolidating Act to
provide against the expiry of sections 182, 183. and 184, which were only in
force till 31st December, 1912. The repeal of section 185 merely has the
t of making sections 1S2. 183, and 184 permanent.
MINI MI; At WAGE LAW OF \ r icTOKiA. 379
notice of motion for the resolution for the appointment of such
Special Board was given in either House of Parliament.
187. (1) (Act 2386.) No indenture of apprenticeship shall
be deemed to be invalid under this Act by reason only that such in-
denture is not under seal.
(2) ~No indenture of apprenticeship shall be entered into after
the passing of this Act in connection with any trade working under
this Act except in the form* (if any) prescribed by any Special
Board dealing with such trade and approved of by the Minister.
188. (1) (Act 2386.) Any failure either by an employer or
an apprentice to carry out the terms of an indenture of apprentice-
ship shall be deemed to be a contravention of this section, f
(2) When the Minister is satisfied that there is any such fail-
ure either by an employer or apprentice he may direct that pro-
ceedings shall be instituted against the employer or apprentice as
the case may be.
(3) A Court of Petty Sessions may for any such contraven-
tion
(a) impose a penalty not more than Ten pounds and in ad-
dition
(&) order the defendant to enter into such securities as the
Court may think fit to carry out the terms of the indenture;
(c) or impose on any employer a penalty not more than
Twenty-five pounds if the Court is satisfied that the apprentice has
not been taught the trade in accordance with the indenture of ap-
prenticeship and that the employer has not given to the Court any
satisfactory explanation of such failure to teach the apprentice the
* The power of a Special Board to prescribe the form of indenture will be
found in sections 141 and 182. For a convenient form of indenture, see page
1-J( post.
t Where either an employer or an apprentice considers that the other is
committing a breach of any of the covenants full information should be sent
to the Chief Inspector of Factories with the duplicate copy of the indenture.
Inquiry will then be made, and steps taken by the officers of the Factories
Department to enforce observance of the nirreement.
380 APPENDIX III MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
trade. The whole or any part of such penalty may be applied for
the benefit of the apprentice or otherwise as the Minister deter-
mines.
189. (Act 2386.) The Minister may grant permission in
writing to any person
(a) to be bound for less than three years as an apprentice to
any trade subject to the Determination of a Special Board;
(b) who may become over twenty-one years of age during the
term of his apprenticeship to complete the term of his apprentice-
ship ;
(c) who is over twenty-one years of age to be bound by inden-
tures of apprenticeship.*
190. (Act 2386.) Except in cases where the Minister has
given his permission in writing as aforesaid all apprentices unless
bound by indentures of apprenticeship which bind the employer
to instruct such apprentice for a period of at least three years shall
be deemed to be improvers for the purposes of this Act.f
(3) Prohibition of Certain Premiums and Guarantees.
191. (Act 2386.) Any person who either directly or indi-
rectly or by any pretence or device requires or permits any person
to pay or give or who receives from any person any consideration,
premium or bonus for engaging or employing any female as an
apprentice or improver in preparing or manufacturing articles of
*Any person of working age and under twenty-one can enter into appren-
ticeship for a term of three years or over in any trade subject to the Determi-
nation of a Special Board, but if it is desired that the term of apprenticeship
be less than three years, an application should be made to the Minister of
Labour, on the form provided for that purpose, which may be obtained at the
office of the Chief Inspector of Factories. That permission will be granted
freely in case it is desired to enable a young worker to complete his experience
in his trade. If, for instance, he had served three and a half years' appren-
ticeship to one employer, and desired for any reason (his first indentures hav-
ing expired or been cancelled) to complete five years' experience by serving
one and a half years with another employer, he would be granted permission
as a matter of course. If, on the other hand, he had no experience, and
wished to be bound newly to a trade for less than three years, the Minister
would require strong reasons for permitting apprenticeship for a term which
would be considered too short to enable him to completely master his craft.
A form of application under any of the paragraphs of this section may be
obtained at the office of the Chief Inspector of Factories.
t Section 5 defines " improver."
MINIMUM WAGE LAW OF VICTORIA. 381
<,r wearing apparel shall IK- guilty of an offence and shall
bo liable on conviction to a penalty not more than Ten pounds; arid
the person who pays or gives such consideration, premium or bonus
may recover the same in any Court of competent jurisdiction from
the person who received the same.
192. (Act 2386.) Any shopkeeper (other than a registered
pharmaceutical chemist) who either directly or indirectly or by
any pretence or device requires or permits any person to pay or
give him or who receives from any person any consideration, pre-
mium or bonus for engaging or employing any person in connec-
tion with the selling of goods or in connection with the business of
a hairdresser or barber as an apprentice or improver in a shop shall
be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a penalty
not more than Ten pounds; and the person who pays or gives such
consideration, premium or bonus may recover the same in any
Court of competent jurisdiction from the person who received the
same.
193. (1) (Act 2386.) Except with the consent of the Min-
ister in writing no person shall require or permit any person to
pay any sum of money or enter into or mate any guarantee or
promise requiring or undertaking that such person shall pay any
sum of money in the event of the behaviour or attendance or obe-
dience of any apprentice improver or employe not being at any
time satisfactory to the employer.
(2) Any such guarantee or promise as aforesaid or to the like
effect entered into or made after the commencement of this Act
without the consent of the Minister as aforesaid shall be null and
void, and any person who without such consent makes or requires
such guarantee or promise shall be liable on conviction to a penalty
not exceeding Ten pounds.
(3) Any sum which after the commencement of this Act is
paid in pursuance of such a guarantee or promise as aforesaid or
to the like effect made in contravention of this section shall be
returned to the person paying same; and the person who has so
paid any such sum may if the same is not returned to him on de-
mand recover the same with costs in any Court of competent juris-
diction from the person who received the same.
APPENDIX TIT -- MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
(4) Improvers.
104:. (Act !288G.) The Minister is hereby authorized to grant
to any person over twenty-one years of age who has satisfied him
that such person has not had the full experience prescribed for
improvers by the Special Board a license to work as an improver
for the period named in such license at the wage fixed by the Board
for an improver of any like experience.
SKF.KCT BIBLIOGRAPHY;
APPENDIX C.
(1) SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY.
A few of the more recent and most available references on
minimum wage legislation:
Aves, Ernest. Report to the secretary of state for the Home
Department on the wages boards and industrial conciliation and
arbitration acts of Australia and New Zealand. London: Dar-
ling & Son, Ltd. 1908. 226 pp.
An exhaustive study of the operation of the wage boards and of the indus-
trial arbitration and conciliation acts of Australasia, including results
obtained through this legislation.
Brandeis, Louis D., and Goldmark, Josephine. Appendix to
briefs filed on behalf of respondents in case of Frank C. Stettler
v. Edwin V. O'Hara, Bertha Moores, Amedee M. Smith, consti-
tuting the industrial welfare (minimum wage) commission of
Oregon. 1914. 207pp.
Selection of extracts from all sources favorable to the legal minimum wage.
Sets forth the evil of low wages, the benefits of an adequate wage, the benefits
of the legal minimum wage and the analogy with other labor legislation.
Clark, John Bates. The Minimum Wage. (Atlantic monthly,
Boston, Sept. 1913. pp. 289-297.)
A theoretical discussion setting forth the probable disadvantages of the
legal minimum wage, with particular emphasis upon those who might be
thrown out of work by such laws.
Hammond, Matthew B. Judicial interpretation of the mini-
mum wage in Australia. (American economic review. Prince-
ton, N. J., 1913. v. 3, pp. 259-286.)
Analysis of the fundamental principles underlying decisions given under
the laws establishing minimum wages in Australasia. Based upon studies
made during a personal visit to those countries in the winter of 1911-1912.
. The minimum wage in Great Britain and
Australia. (American academy of political and social science.
Annals. Baltimore, 1913. v. 48, pp. 22-36.)
Results secured under the Victorian and British wage boards laws, based
upon personal investigations.
384 APPENDIX III --MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION.
Holconibe, Arthur N. The legal minimum wage in the United
States. (American economic review. Princeton, N. J., 1912.
v. 2, pp. 21-37.)
Foreign systems of wage regulation, constitutional outlook in America, the
economic need of minimum wage legislation, and the probable effect upon the
relation between employer and employes.
Kennaday, Paul. Victorian wages boards and the New Zealand
conciliation-arbitration act. (Yale review. New Haven, 1910.
v. 19, pp. 32-54.)
Method of operation of the New Zealand and Victorian laws, including
personal impressions of the writer based upon a visit to those countries.
Markham, Arthur B. The coal strike. (Quarterly review.
London, 1912. v. 216, pp. 554-573.)
Causes of the coal strike of 1912, the passage of the coal mines minimum
wage act, and the probable effect of the operation of that law.
Ryan, John Augustine. A living wage; its ethical and eco-
nomic aspects. With an introduction by R. T. Ely. New York :
The Macmillan Co., 1906. 346 pp.
Seager, Henry Rogers. The theory of the minimum wage.
(American labor legislation review. New York, 1913. v. 3, pp.
81-91.)
A statement of the underlying theory of minimum wage legislation together
with its probable results upon the organization of industry and upon other
problems of labor legislation. Contains discussion by John R. Commons,
Paul U. Kellogg, M. B. Hammond, George W. Anderson, Henry Abrahams,
G. W. Noyes, Edward F. McSweeney, George C. Groat and Emily Green Balch.
Snowden, Philip. The living wage. With a preface by H.
Spender. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1913. 189pp.
Discussion of the benefits of the legal minimum wage, including experience
gained under the British Trade Boards Act since 1910.
Webb, Sidney. The economic theory of a legal minimum wage.
(Journal of political economy. Chicago, 1912. v. 20, pp. 973-
998.)
Summary of the theoretical and practical arguments in favor of the mini-
mum' wage, illustrated by experience under existing laws. A comprehensive
statement in favor of minimum wage legislation.
MINIMUM WAGE COMMISSIONS. 385
(2) MINIMUM WAGE COMMISSIONS.
California Industrial Welfare Commission. (Five mem-
bers. ) Personnel Frank J. Murasky, Mrs. Chas. Farwell
Edson, A. B. C. Dohrmann, A. Bonnheim, Walter Mathewson.
Address San Francisco.
Colorado State Wage Board. (Three members.) Per-
sonnel W. H. Kistler, Mrs. Myrtle Porter, Mrs. Hattie Sloth-
ower, Sec. Address Denver.
Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission. (Three com-
missioners.) Personnel H. La Rue Brown, Arthur N. Hoi-
combe, Mabel Gillespie, Amy Hewes, Sec. Address Y20-721
New Albion Bldg., 1 Beacon street, Boston.
Minnesota Minimum Wage Commission. (Three members.)
Personnel W. F. Houk, A. H. Lindeke, Eliza P. Evans, Sec.
Address St. Paul.
Nebraska Minimum Wage Commission. (Four members.)
Personnel Not yet appointed. Address Omaha.
Oregon Industrial Welfare Commission. (Three members.)
Personnel Edwin V. O'Hara, Bertha Moores, Amedee M.
Smith, Caroline J. Gleason, Sec. Address 610 Commercial
Block, Portland.
Utah No board. Commissioner of Immigration, Labor and
Statistics charged with enforcement of law.
Washington. Industrial Welfare Commission. (Five mem-
bers.) Personmel Edw. W. Olson, Mrs. Jackson Silbaugh,
Mrs. Florence H. Swanson, Rev. M. H. Marvin, Mrs. Udall.
Address* Olympia.
Wisconsin Industrial Commission (Three commissioners.)
Personnel C. H. Crownhart, J. D. Beck, Fred M. Wilcox, P. J.
Watrous, Sec. Address Madison.
13
APPENDIX IV
A LIST OF SELECTED REFERENCES ON THE
MINIMUM WAGE.
PREPARED BY
C. C. WILLIAMSON, PH.D.,
Chief of the Division of Economics and Sociology of the New
York Public Library.
[387]
THE MINIMUM WAGE: A PRELIMINARY LIST OF
SELECTED REFERENCES.*
Addams, Jane. Minimum wage boards for women. (Ladies
Home Journal. Philadelphia, 1913. f Vol. 30, No. 3, p. 27.)
Alden, Percy. Sweating and the fair wages report. (Interna-
tional: a review of the world's progress. London, 1909. 4. Vol
4, pp. 224-231.)
Ashley, William James. Wages boards and home workers.
(National Review. London, 1908. 4. Vol. 52, pp. 636-649.)
Aves, Ernest. Report to the Secretary of State for the Home
Department on the wages boards and industrial conciliation and
arbitration acts of Australia and New Zealand. London: Darling
& Son, Ltd., 1908. 226 p. f. (Great Britain. Parliamentary
papers. 1908, Vol. 71.)
B., N. A fair day's pay. (Westminster Review. London,
1907. 8. Vol. 167, pp. 547-553.)
Bauer, E. Vers le minimum de salaire. Conference faite a
T Office Social de Lyon le 7er mars 1909. (Questions pratiques
de legislation ouvriere et d'economie sociale. Paris, 1909. 8.
Tome 10, pp. 137-141, 180-192.)
Baylee, J. Tyrrell. The minimum wage and the poor law.
(Westminster Review. London, 1899. 8. Vol. 152, pp. 628-
640.)
Belgium. Office du Travail. Le minimum de salaire et les
administrations publiques en Belgique. Bruxelles: P. Lebegue
& Cie., 1911. 2 p.L, 3-206 p., 1 1. 8.
* All material included in this list is on file in the Reference Department of
the New York Public Library.
[389]
390 APPENDIX IV SELECTED REFERENCES.
Bellet, Daniel. Du repos hebdomadaire au salaire minimum.
(Journal des ficonomistes. Paris, 1908. 4. Series 6, tome 18,
pp. 19-35.)
Belloc, Hilaire. The minimum wage and the servile state.
(Month. London, 1914. 8. Vol. 123, pp. 33-41.)
Bellom, Maurice. Le juste salaire. (Academic des sciences
morales et politiques. Seances et travaux. Compte rendu. Paris,
1909. 8. Tome 171, pp. 396-410.)
Le juste salaire. (Grande Rev. Paris, 1909. 4.
Vol. 53, pp. 502-513.)
Bender, fimile. Le salaire effectif, sa protection par la loi.
Avec preface de Paul Pic. Paris: A. Rousseau [1898]. 2 p.l.,
vii, 5-182 p. 4.
Berthod, Aime. Le minimum de salaire des ouvrieres a domi-
cile dans Findustrie du vetement. (Questions pratiques de leg-
islation ouvriere et d'economie sociale. Paris, 1913. 8. Annee
4, pp. 257-269.)
Black, Clementina. Legislative proposals. (In: Woman in
industry from seven points of view. London, 1908. 12. pp.
183-206.)
Sweated industry, and the minimum wage, by C. Black.
With an introduction, by A. G. Gardiner. London: Duckworth
& Co., 1907. xxiv, 281 p., 1 1. 12.
What is a fair wage? (New Review. London, 1893.
Vol. 8, pp. 587-592.)
Boehringer, Robert. Die Lohnamter in Victoria. Leipzig:
Duncker & Humblot, 1911. viii, 197 p. 8. (Staats- und sozial-
wissenchaftliche Forschungen. Heft 154.)
v Boyaval, Paul. La lutte contre le sweating-system. Le mini-
mum legal de salaire. L'exemple de FAustralasie et de 1' Angle-
terra Paris: A. Taffin-Lefort, 1911. 718 p. 4. (Universite
de Nancy. Faculte de droit.)
Bibliography, pp. 633-708.
APPENDIX IV SELECTED REFERENCES. 391
Boyle, James. The legal minimum wage. (Forum. New
York, 1913. 8. Vol. 49, pp. 576-584.)
The minimum wage and syndicalism; an independent
survey of the two latest movements affecting American labor. Cin-
cinnati: Stewart & Kidd Co. [Cop. 1913.] 136 pp. 12.
Brandeis, Louis D., and Josephine Goldmark. In the Supreme
Court of the State of Oregon, Oct. term, 1913. F. C. Stettler,
plaintiff and appellant, vs. E. V. O'Hara, B. Moores, A. M. Smith,
constituting the Industrial Welfare Commission of the State of
Oregon, defendants and respondents. Appendix to the briefs filed
on behalf of the respondents, n. p. [1913]. 2 p.l., 3-207 pp. 1
table. 8.
Brentano, Lujo. Ueber Syndikalismus und Lohnminimum;
zwei Vortrage nebst einem Anhang, enthaltend Ausfiihrungen und
Dokumente zur Illustrierung der Kempfweise der Gegner sozialer
Reform gegen deren Vertreter. Miinchen: Suddeutsche G. M. b.
H., 1913, 114 pp. 8.
Broadhead, Henry. The minimum wage. (In his: State regu-
lation of labour and labour disputes in New Zealand. Christ-
church, K Z., 1908. 8. pp. 57-74.)
Broda, Rodolphe. Inwieweit ist eine gesetzliche Festlegung der
Lohn- und Arbeitsbedingungen moglich ? Erfahrungen Englands,
Australiens und Kanadas. Berlin: G. Reimer, 1912. x, 286
pp. 8.
La fixation legale des salaires; experiences de 1'Angle-
terre, de 'Austeralie et du Canada. Paris: M. Giard et E. Briere,
1912. 2 p.L, 181 pp. 8.
Inwieweit ist eine gesetzliche Festlegung der Lohn
und Arbeitsbedingungen notig. (In: Internationale Vereinigung
fiir Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft und Volkswirtschaftslehre
in Berlin, I. Heidelberg, 1911. Verhandlungen. Berlin, 1912.
8. pp. 571-578.)
Le salaire minimum pour les ouvrieres en chambre.
(Documents du progres. Revue Internationale. Paris, 1912. 8.-
Annee 6, pp. 1-11.)
392 APPENDIX IV SELECTED REFERENCES.
Brooks, Sydney. The minimum wage and its consequences.
(Living Age. Boston, 1912. 4. Vol. 273 [7. series, Vol. 55],
pp. 370-372.)
Repr. : Outlook.
Brown, H. La Rue. Massachusetts and the minimum wage.
(American Academy of Political and Social Science. Annals.
Baltimore, 1913. 8. Vol. 48, pp. 13-21.)
A minimum wage for workers. (City Club of Philadel-
phia. City Club Bulletin. Philadelphia, 1913. 8. Vol. 6, pp.
198-203.)
Brussels. Conseil Communal. Minimum de salaire. Enquete
mai 1896. Rapport presente au Conseil Communal au nom de
la commission d'enquete par M. le bourgmestre president. Bruxel-
les: Imprimerie v. J. Baertsoen, 1896. 180pp. 8.
Buxton, Charles Roden. Minimum wages for agricultural labor-
ers. (Contemporary Review. London, 1912. 4. Vol. 102.
pp. 193-201.)
Cadbury, Edward, and George Shann. Remedies ; state regula-
tion of wages. (In their: Sweating. London [1907]. 12. pp.
112-134.)
Carlyle, A. J. Underpayment and sweating in a provincial
town. (Economic Review. London, 1908. 8. Vol. 18, pp.
287-301.)
Case, - The, for the national minimum ; with preface by Mrs.
Sidney Webb. London: National Committee for the Prevention
of Destitution, 1913. Vol. 89. (1) p. 12.
. Chapin, Robert Coit. The standard of living among working-
men's families in New York City. New York : Charities Publica-
tion Committee, 1909. xv, 372 pp. 8. (Russell Sage Founda-
tion.)
Bibliography, pp. 353-360.
Clark, John Bates. The minimum wage. (Atlantic Monthly
Boston, 1913. 8. Vol. 112, pp. 289-297.)
APPENDIX IV SELECTED REFERENCES. 393
Clark, Victor S. Labor conditions in Australia. (United
States. Labor Bureau. Bulletin. Washington, 1905. 8. Vol.
10, No. 56, pp. 9-243.)
Labor conditions in New Zealand. (United States.
Labor Bureau. Bulletin. Washington, 1903. 8. Vol. 8, No.
49, pp. 1142-1281.)
The labor party and the constitution in Australia. (Jour-
nal of Political Economy. Chicago, 1911. 4. Vol. 19, pp. 479-
490.)
Minimum wage boards. (In his: The labour movement
in Australasia: a study in social-democracy. London, 1907. 12.
pp. 138-153.)
Present state of labor legislation in Australia and New
Zealand. (American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Annals. Philadelphia, 1909. 4. Vol. 33, pp. 440-447.)
Compain, L. M. Le minimum legal de salaire en France.
(Grande Revue. Paris, 1910. 8. Vol. 64, pp. 143-147.)
Compulsory minimum wage law in Oregon. (Survey. New
York, 1913. 8. Vol. 30, pp. 4-5.)
Connecticut. Commission to Investigate Conditions of Wage-
earning Women and Minors. Report of the commission appointed
by the governor, 1911, special act number 276. Report presented
to the General Assembly of 1913. Hartford: published by the
state, 1913. 297 pp. 8.
Consumers 7 League of Oregon. Social Survey Com. Report
on the wages, hours and conditions of work and cost and standard
of living of women wage-earners in Oregon with special reference
to Portland. Portland, 1913. 71 pp. 8.
Cotterill, C. C. A living wage a national necessity. How best
to get it. London: A. C. Fifield, 1912. 86 pp., 1 1. 16.
Cristofaro, Salvatore de. Lo stato economico dei funzionari delle
istituzioni pubbliche di beneficenza. (Rivista della beneficenza
pubblica. Bologna, 1912. 8. Anno 40, pp. 553-569.)
394 APPENDIX IV- SELECTED REFERENCES.
Cunningham, William. A living wage. (Contemporary Re-
view. London, 1894. 4. Vol. 65, pp. 16-28.)
Davis, G. Herbert. A legal minimum wage. ( Commonwealth ;
a Christian social magazine. London, 1907. 8. Vol. 12, pp.
153-155.)
Dilke, Charles W. Sweating and minimum wage. (Interna-
tional; a review of the world's progress. London, 1907. 4. Vol.
1, No. 1, pp. 5-12.)
Dyhrenfurth, Gertrud. Die Entwicklung der englischen Trade-
Boards (Gewerkamter). (Jahrbiicher fur Nationalokonomie und
Statistik. Jena, 1910. 8. Folge 3, Bd. 40, pp. 791-806.)
Ensor, R. C. K. The practical case for a legal minimum wage.
(Nineteenth century and after. London, 1912. 8. Vol. 72, pp.
264-276.)
Evans, Elizabeth Glendower. A case for minimum wage boards
(1) experience vs. prophecy; (2) the system on trial. (Survey.
New York, 1914. 4. Vol. 31, pp. 440-441 ; 497-498.)
A legal minimum wage. Part I. Initial steps in this
country. Part II. Some reasons for its adoption. (La Follette's
Weekly Magazine. Madison, Wis., 1912. f. Vol. 4, No. 8,
p. 10; No. 11, pp. 10-11.)
The minimum wage. (City Club Bulletin. Chicago,
1912. 4. Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 25-32.)
The minimum wage for women. The first effort in Amer-
ica to follow the lead of Great Britain in the most important in-
dustrial reform of the day. (Twentieth Century Magazine. Bos-
ton, 1912. 8. Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 65-69.)
Fabian Society. The case for a legal minimum wage, London :
The Fabian Society, 1908. 19 pp. 8. (Fabian Tract, No. 128.)
Fortey, E. C. The living wage, an English view. (American
Catholic Quarterly Review. Philadelphia, 1912. 8. Vol. 37,
pp. 728-736.)
APPENDIX IV - SELECTED REFERENCES. 395
France. Office dn Travail. Note sur le minimum de salaire
dans les travaux publics en Angleterre, en Belgique, en Hollande,
en Suisse, aux Etats-Unis et en France. (Analyse des documents
officiels recueillis sur la demande du Conseil Superieur du Tra-
vail.) Paris: Imprimerie Rationale, 1897. 129pp. 4. (Min-
istere du Commerce, de PIndustrie, des Postes et des Telegraphes.)
Fyfe, \V. Hamilton. The remuneration of women's work. (Eco-
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York, 1902. 8. Vol. 75, pp. 2-16.)
Ryan, John Augustine, and others. Minimum wage and immi-
gration restriction. (Survey. New York, 1911. 4. Vol. 25,
pp. 789-792.)
Sachse, J. Gesetzlicher Minimallohn und Streikrecht, (Neue
Zeit; Wochenschrift der deutschen Sozialdemokratie. Stuttgart,
1913. Jahrg. 31, Bd. 2. 8. pp. 317-322.)
Schwiedland, E. Obligatorische Mindestlohne in Victoria.
(Jahrbiicher fiir Nationaloekonomie und Statistik. Jena, 1898.
8. Serie 3, Vol. 16, pp. 483-494.)
Seager, Henry Rogers. The minimum wage as part of a pro-
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Social Science. Annals. Baltimore, 1913. 8. Vol. 48, pp.
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The theory of the minimum wage. (American Labor
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Shann, George. The effect of the non-living wage upon the in-
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410 APPENDIX IV SELECTED REFERENCES.
Sies, Raymond W. Comparative study of minimum salary
legislation. (Educational Review. Rahway, N. J., 1908. 8.
Vol. 35, pp. 285-299.)
Legal regulation of minimum salaries for teachers.
(Educational Review. Rahway, N. J., 1908. 8. Vol. 35, pp.
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Slater, Gilbert. Trade unionism and the living wage. (In:
Industrial unrest and the living wage. London, [1913]. 12.
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Smith, Constance. The case for wages boards. London: The
National Anti-Sweating League [1913]. 2 p.L, (i) iv-viii, 94
pp. 12.
Das Lohnamtergesetz. (Anallen fur soziale Politik und
Gesetzgebung. Berlin, 1912. 8. Bd. 2, pp. 369-381.)
The minimum wage. (In: Woman in industry from
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Wage movements in other countries. (In: Industrial
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168.)
Smith, E. J. A living profit and a living wage. (Forum.
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Snowden, Philip. The living wage. With a preface by H.
Spender. London: Hodder and Stoughton [1913]. 2 p.L,
(i)viii-xvi, 189 pp. 12.
Soule. Examen du rapport depose par M. Honore a la session
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APPENDIX IV SELECTED REFERENCES. 411
Stimson, Frederic Jesup. Popular law making ; a study of the
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Streightoff, Frank Hatch. The living wage. (In his: The
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Tarde, Alfred de. Le juste salaire. (In his: L'idee de juste
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Thomas, Harold. A living wage. (Westminster Review.
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Three states consider minimum wage boards. (Survey. New
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Tuckwell, Gertrude. A minimum wage. (Independent Re-
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412 APPENDIX IV SELECTED REFERENCES.
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APPENDIX IV - SELECTED REFERENCES. 413
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Zimmern, Dorothy M. The trade boards : their determinations
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APPENDIX V
PROPOSED RECTIFICATION OF THE
LABOR LAW.
Prepared with the assistance of the Legislative Bill Drafting
Bureau of Columbia University.
[415]
PEOPOSED EECODIFICATIOJST OF THE LABOR LAW.
AN ACT
To AMEND THE LABOR LAW, GENERALLY, AND TO AMEND THE
EDUCATION LAW, THE GENERAL CORPORATIION LAW AND
THE PARTNERSHIP LAW, BY TRANSFERRING THERETO CERTAIN
SECTIONS OF THE LABOR LAW, AND TO AMEND THE PENAL
LAW, IN RELATION TO PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE
PROVISIONS OF THE LABOR LAW, AND TO ENACT A NEW CHAP-
TER OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS BY TRANSFERRING THERETO
THE PRESENT PROVISIONS OF THE LABOR LAW RELATING TO
EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate
and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Chapter thirty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred
and nine, entitled "An act relating to labor, constituting chapter
thirty-one of the consolidated laws/ 7 as amended, is hereby further
amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER XXXI OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS.
LABOR LAW.
[Article 1. Short title; definitions. ( 1-2.)
2. General provisions. ( 3-22.)
3. Department of labor. ( 40-48.)
3a. Industrial board. (50-52.)
4. Bureau of inspection. ( 53-61.)
5. Bureau of statistics and information. ( 62-65.)
6. Factories. ( 68-69a.)
7. Tenement-made articles. ( 100-106.)
8. Bakeries and confectioneries. ( 110-117.)
9. Mines, tunnels and quarries and their inspection.
( 119-136.)
EXPLANATION Matter in italics is new ; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to
be omitted.
14
418 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
10. Bureau of mediation and arbitration. ( 140-
148.)
11. Bureau of industries and immigration. ( 151-
156a.)
12. Employment of women and children in mercantile
establishments. ( 160-173.)
13. Convict-made goods and duties of commissioner of
labor relative thereto. ( 190-195.)
14. Employer's liability. ( 200-212.)
14a. Workmen's compensation in certain dangerous em-
ployments. ( 215-219g.)
15. Employment of children in street trades. ( 220-
227.)
16. Laws repealed; when to take effect. ( 240-
241.)]
Article 1. Short title; definitions. (' 1-3.)
2. The department of labor. ( 10-91.)
3. General provisions. ( 95-103.)
4. Employment of children and females. ( 105120.)
5. Hours of labor. ( 125-143.)
6. Payment of wages. ( 145-147.)
7. Public work. ( 150-154.)
8. Employment agencies and immigrant lodging-houses.
( 160-165.)
9. Building construction und repair work. ( 170-
172.)
10. Factories. ( 175-226.)
11. Bakeries and manufacture of food products.
( 235-243.)
12. Tenement-made articles. ( 250-266.)
13. Mercantile establishments. ( 300-315.)
14- Mines/ tunnels and quarries; employment in com-
pressed air. ( 330-357.)
15. Violations and penalties. ( 370-371.)
16. Laws repealed. ( 375-376.)
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 419
ARTICLE 1.
Section 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the
" Labor Law."
2. Definitions. 1. Whenever used in this chapter:
[Employee.] The term " employee," [when used in this
chapter,] means a mechanic, workingman or laborer who works
for another [for hire].
[Employer.] The term " employer," [when used in this
chapter,] means the person employing any such mechanic, work-
ingman or laborer, whether the owner, proprietor, agent, superin-
tendent, foreman or other subordinate.
[Factory ; work for a factory.] The term " factory," [when
used in this chapter, shall be construed to] includes any mill,
workshop, or other manufacturing or business establishment and
all buildings, sheds, structures or other places used for or in
connection therewith, where one or more persons are employed at
labor, except power houses, generating plants, barns, storage
houses, sheds and other structures owned or operated by a public
service corporation or used in connection with railroad or other
public service purposes, other than construction or repair shops,
subject to the jurisdiction of the public service commission under
article three of the public service commissions law.
[Work shall be deemed to be done for a factory within the
meaning of this chapter whenever it is done at any place, upon
the work of a factory or upon any of the materials entering
into the product of the factory, whether under contract or ar-
rangement with any person in charge of or connected with such
factory directly or indirectly through the instrumentality of one
or more contractors or other third persons.]
[Factory building.] The term " factory building," [when
used in this chapter,] means any building, shed or structure
which, or any part of which, is occupied by or used for a factory.
[Mercantile establishment.] The term " mercantile establish-
ment," [when used in this chapter,] means any place where
goods, wares or merchandise are offered for sale.
420 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
[Tenement house. The term " tenement house,' 7 when used in
this chapter, means any house or building, or portion thereof,
which is either rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied, or
is occupied in whole or in part as the home or residence of three
families or more living independently of each other, and doing
their cooking upon the premises, and includes apartment houses,
flat houses and all other houses so occupied, and for the purposes
of this chapter shall be construed to include any building on the
same lot with any such tenement house and which is used for any
of the purposes specified in section one hundred of this chapter.]
The term " department " means the department of labor of the
state of New York.
The term " commissioner " means the commissioner of labor
of the state of New York.
The term " rule " means any rule, regulation or order made by
the industrial board and any amendment or repeal thereof.
2. Prohibited employment. Whenever the provisions of this
chapter prohibit the employment of a person in certain work or
under certain conditions, the employer shall not permit, suffer or
allow such person to so work, either with or without compensar
tion, and in a prosecution or action therefor lack of consent or
knowledge on the part of the employer shall be no defense.
8. Work for a factory. Work shall be deemed to be done for
a factory within the meaning of this chapter whenever it is done
at any place, upon the work of a factory or upon any of the
materials entering into the product of the factory, whether under
contract or arrangement with any person in charge of or con-
nected with such factory directly or indirectly through the in-
strumentality of one or more contractors or other third persons.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 421
ARTICLE [3J0.
THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
[Section 41. Commissioner of labor.
41. Deputy commissioners.
42. Bureaus.
43. Powers.
44. Salaries and expenses.
45. Branch offices.
46. Reports.
47. Old records.
48. Counsel.]
TITLE I. ORGANIZATION.
Section 10. Commissioner of labor.
11. Appointment and removal of subordinate officers and
assistants; salaries.
12. Industrial board, appointment and salaries.
13. Industrial board, secretary and assistants.
14- Bureaus.
15. Branch offices.
16. Expenses.
TITLE II. INDUSTRIAL BOARD; POWERS AND DUTIES.
Section 20. Meetings of board.
21. Investigations.
22. Enactment of rules.
23. Procedure; industrial code.
24. Special rules for dangerous trades.
TITLE III. COMMISSIONER OF LABOR; POWERS AND DUTIES.
Section 30. General duty to enforce labor laws.
31. Power to enter and inspect premises.
32. Examination of books and papers.
33. Inspectors' reports to be in writing.
34- Duty to furnish information and facilitate depart-
ment's inspections.
35. Interference with department prohibited.
36. Service of notice.
37. Reissuance of revoked licenses.
422 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
38. Commissioner to keep record and publish bulletin of
licenses.
39. Blanks to be prepared.
40. Annual report.
41. Seal.
42. Badges.
43. Destruction of old records.
44- Department's process to be in commissioner's name.
45. Oaths und affidavits.
46. Hearings and subpoenas.
47. Proceedings before deputies or assistants.
48. Rules covering hearings.
TITLE IV. SUBORDINATE OFFICERS; POWERS AND DUTIES.
Section 55. Powers and duties of deputies.
56. Duties of counsel.
TITLE V. BUREAU OF INSPECTION.
Section 60. Bureau of inspection; divisions.
61. Inspector general.
62. Factory inspection districts; chief factory inspectors.
63. Supervising factory inspectors.
64- Factory inspection subdistricts.
65. Special factory inspectors.
66. Assignment of factory inspectors.
67. Division of mercantile inspection.
68. Mercantile inspection districts.
69. Special mercantile inspectors.
70. Assignment of mercantile inspectors.
71. Division of homework inspection.
72. Division of industrial hygiene.
73. Section of medical inspection.
TITLE VI. BUREAU OF STATISTICS AND INFORMATION.
Section 75. Bureau of statistics and information; divisions.
76. Powers and duties of divisions.
TITLE VII. BUREAU. OF MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION.
Section 80. Bureau of mediation and arbitration.
81. Board of mediation and arbitration.
82. Mediation and investigation.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 423
83. Procedure of board.
84- Arbitration by the board.
85. Decisions of board.
86. Submission of controversies to local arbitrators.
87. Consent; oath; powers of arbitrators.
88. Decisions of arbitrators.
TITLE VIII. BUREAU OF INDUSTRIES AND IMMIGRATION.
Section 90. Bureau of industries and immigration.
91. General powers and duties.
TITLE I. ORGANIZATION.
[40] 10. Commissioner of labor. There shall [continue to]
be a department of labor, the head of which shall be the com-
missioner of labor, who shall be appointed by the governor
[by and] with the consent of the senate. [, and who] The
commissioner shall hold office for [a] the remainder of the term
of four years beginning on the first day of January of the year
in which he is appointed, [. He] and shall receive an annual
salary of eight thousand dollars. [He shall appoint and may
remove all officers, clerks and other employees in the department
of labor except as in this chapter otherwise provided.]
[54] 11. [Inspectors] Appointment and removal of sub-
ordinate officers and assistants; salaries. [There shall be not less
than one hundred and twenty-five factory inspectors, not more
than thirty of whom shall be women. Such inspectors shall be
appointed by the commissioner of labor and may be removed by
him at any time. The inspectors shall be divided into seven
grades. Inspectors of the first grade, of whom there shall not be
mose than ninety-five, shall each receive an annual salary of one
thousand two hundred dollars; inspectors of the second grade, of
whom there shall be not more than fifty, shall each receive an
annual salary of one thousand five hundred dollars ; inspectors of
the third grade, of whom there shall be not more than twenty-five
shall each receive an annual salary of one thousand eight hundred
dollars; inspectors of the fourth grade, of whom there shall be
not more than ten, shall each receive an annual salary of two
thousand dollars and shall be attached to the division of industrial
hygiene and act as investigators in such division; inspectors
of the fifth grade, of whom there shall be not more than nine,
424 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
one of whom shall 'be able to speak and write at least five European
languages in addition to English, shall each receive an annual
salary of two thousand five hundred dollars, and shall act as
supervising inspectors; inspectors of the sixth grade, of whom
there shall be not less than three and one of whom shall be a
woman, shall act as medical inspectors and shall each receive an
annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars ; inspectors
of the seventh grade, of whom there shall not be less than four,
shall each receive an annual salary of three thousand five hundred
dollars ; all of the inspectors of the sixth grade shall be physicians
duly licensed to practice medicine in the state of New York.
Of the inspectors of the seventh grade one shall be a physician
duly licensed to practice medicine in the state of JSTew York,
and shall be the chief medical inspector; one shall be a chemical
engineer; one shall be a mechanical engineer, and an expert in
ventilation and accident prevention ; and one shall be a civil en-
gineer, and an expert in fire prevention and building construction.
2. Mercantile inspectors. The commissioner of labor may ap-
point from time to time not more than twenty mercantile inspec-
tors not less than four of whom shall be women and who may
be removed by 'him at any time. The mercantile inspectors may
be divided into three grades but not more than five shall be of
the third grade. Each mercantile inspector of the first grade
shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars ; of the
second grade an annual salary of one thousand two hundred
dollars ; and of the third grade an annual salary of one thousand
five hundred dollars.] The commissioner shall appoint and may
at pleasure remove the following officers and assistants who shall
have the qualifications and receive the annual salaries herein
stated after their respective names of office:
1. A first deputy commissioner, who shall be the inspector *gen-
eral, five thousand dollars.
2. A second deputy commissioner, who shall be the chief medi-
ator, forty-five hundred dollars.
3. A counsel, who shall ~be an attorney and counsellor-at-law of
this state, four thousand dollars.
4. Assistants to the counsel, who shall be attorneys and counsel-
lors-at-law of this state, such sum as may be appropriated therefor.
5. A chief statistician, such sum as may be appropriated there-
for.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 425
6. A chief investigator, who shall be the head of the bureau of
industries and immigration, such sum as may be appropriated
therefor.
7. Two chief factory inspectors, each four thousand dollars.
8. A chief mercantile inspector, such sum not exceeding three
thousand dollars as may be appropriated therefor.
9. Not less than one hundred and twenty-five factory inspectors,
of whom not more than thirty shall be women, divided into seven
grades as follows:
a. Not more than ninety-five of the first grade, each twelve
hundred dollars.
b. Not more than fifty of the second grade, each fifteen hun-
dred dollars.
c. Not more than twenty- five of the third grade, each eigh-
teen hundred dollars.
d. Not more than ten of the fourth grade, each two thou-
sand dollars.
e. Not more than nine of the fifth grade, one of whom shall
be able to speak and write at least five European languages in
addition to English, each twenty-five hundred dollars.
f. Not less than three of the sixth grade, one of ivhom shall
be a woman and all of whom shall be physicians duly licensed
to practice medicine in this state, each twenty-five hundred
dollars.
g. Not less than four of the seventh grade, one of ivhom
shall be a physician duly licensed to practice medicine in this
state, one a chemical engineer, one a mechanical engineer and
an expert in ventilation and accident prevention, and one a
civil engineer and an expert in fire prevention and building
construction, each thirty-five hundred dollars.
10. Not more than twenty mercantile inspectors, of whom not
less than four shall be women, divided into three grades as follows:
a. The first grade, one thousand dollars.
b. The second grade, twelve hundred dollars.
c. The third grade, of whom there shall be not more than
five, fifteen hundred dollars.
11. Such number of special investigators as may be necessary to
carry into effect the powers of the bureau of industries and immi-
gration, divided into two grades as follows:
426 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
a. The first grade, twelve hundred dollars.
b. The second grade, fifteen hundred dollars.
12. All other officers, clerks, assistants and employees in the de-
partment except as in this chapter otherwise provided.
[50] 12. Industrial board; [organization] appointment and
salaries. '[!] There shall be an industrial board, to consist
of the commissioner [of labor,] who shall be chairman [of the
board,] and four associate members who [The associate members]
shall be appointed by the governor [by and] with the consent
[and advice] of the senate. Of the associate members first ap-
pointed, one shall hold office until December first, nineteen hun-
dred and fourteen, one until December first, nineteen hundred
and fifteen, one until December first, nineteen hundred and six-
teen, and one until December first, nineteen hundred and seven-
teen. Upon the expiration of each of said terms, the term of office
of each associate member thereafter appointed shall be four years
from the first day of December. Vacancies shall be filled by ap-
pointment for the unexpired term. The associate members shall
each receive [a] an annual salary of three thousand dollars [a
year] and each of said associate members shall be paid his reason-
able and necessary traveling and other expenses while engaged in
the performance of his duties in the manner provided in section
forty-four of this chapter.
[2. The board shall appoint and may remove a secretary who
shall receive a salary to be fixed by the board. The commissioner
of labor shall detail, from time to time, to the assistance of the
board, such employees of the department of labor as the board
may require. In aid of its work, the board is empowered to em-
ploy experts for special and occasional services, and to employ
necessary clerical assistants. The counsel to the department of
labor shall be counsel to the board without additional compensa-
tion.
3. The board shall hold stated meetings, at least once a month
during the year at the office of the department of labor in the city
of Albany or in the city of New York and shall hold other meet-
ings at such times and places as the needs of the public service
may require, which meetings shall be called by the chairman or
by any two associate members of the board. All meetings of the
board shall be open to the public. The board shall keep minutes
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 427
of its proceedings showing the vote of each member upon every
question and records of its examinations and other official action.]
13. Industrial board; secretary and assistants. The board
shall appoint and may remove a secretary and shall fix his salary.
In the performance of its duties the board may employ experts
for special and occasional services and necessary clerical assistants.
The commissioner shall detail,, from time to time, to the assistance
of the board, such employees of the department as the board may
require.
[42] 14- Bureaus. The department [of labor] shall have
[four] the following bureaus [as follows], : Inspection ; statistics
and information; mediation and arbitration; [and] industries
and immigration, and [There shall be] such other bureaus [in
the department of labor] as the commissioner [of labor] may
deem necessary. Each bureau and division of the department and
the persons in charge thereof shall be subject to the supervision
and direction of the commissioner, and in addition to their re-
spective duties as prescribed by this chapter, shall perform such
other duties as may be assigned to them by the commissioner.
[45] 15. Branch offices. The commissioner [of labor] shall
establish and maintain branch offices of the department in [the
city of], New York city and in such other cities of the state as he
may deem advisable. [Such b]jBranch offices shall, subject to the
supervision and direction of the commissioner [of labor], be in
immediate charge of such officials or employees as the commis-
sioner [of labor] may designate. [The reasonable and neces-
sary expenses of such offices shall be paid as are other expenses
of the commissioner of labor.]
[44] 16. [Salaries and ej^xpenses. All necessary expenses
incurred by the commissioner [of labor] and the industrial board
in the discharge of [his] their duties shall be paid by the state
treasurer upon the warrant of the comptroller issued upon proper
vouchers therefor. The reasonable and necessary traveling and
other expenses of the associate members of the industrial board,
the deputy commissioners, [their assistants,] the [agents and]
statisticians, the chief factory inspectors, the factory inspectors,
chief investigator, the special investigators, the chief mercantile in-
spector, mercantile inspectors, and other [field] officers, clerics,
assistants and employees of the department while engaged in the
performance of their duties shall be paid in like manner upon
428 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
vouchers approved by the commissioner [of labor] and audited
by the comptroller.
[ARTICLE 3-A.l TITLE n. INDUSTRIAL BOARD; POWERS AND
DUTIES.
[Section 50. Industrial board; organization.
51. Jurisdiction of board.
52. Rules and regulations; industrial code.]
20. Meetings of board. The industrial board shall hold stated
meetings, at least once a month at the office of the department in
Albany or in New York city, and shall hold other meetings when
and where called by the chairman or two members of the board.
All meetings of the board shall be open to the public. The board
shall keep records of its investigations and other official actions,
and minutes of its proceedings showing the vote of each member
upon every question.
[51. Jurisdiction of board.]J#./. Investigations. [The board
shall have power: (1) To make investigations concerning and
report upon all matters touching the enforcement and effect of
the provisions of this chapter and the rules and regulations made
by the board thereunder, and in the course of such investigations,
each member of the board and the secretary shall have power to
administer oaths and take affidavits. Each member of the board
and the secretary shall have power to make personal inspections
of all factories, factory buildings, mercantile establishments and
other places to which this chapter is applicable.
(2) To subpoena and require the attendance in this state of
witnesses and the production of books and papers pertinent to
the investigations and inquiries hereby authorized and to examine
them in relation to any matter which it has power to investigate,
and to issue commissions for the examination of witnesses who
are out of the state or unable to attend before the board or excused
from attendance.
(3) To make, alter, amend and repeal rules and regulations for
carrying into effect the provisions of this chapter, applying such
provisions to specific conditions and prescribing specific means,
methods or practices to effectuate such provisions.
(4) To make, alter, amend or repeal rules and regulations for
guarding against and minimizing fire hazards, personal injuries
and disease, with respect to (a) the construction, alteration, equip-
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 429
*
ment and maintenance of factories, factory buildings, mercantile
establishments and other places to which this chapter is applicable,
including the conversion of structures into factories and factory
buildings; (b) the arrangement and guarding of machinery and
the storing and keeping of property and articles in factories, factory
buildings and mercantile establishments ; (c) the places where and
the methods and operations by which trades and occupations may
be conducted and the conduct of employers, employees and other
persons in and about factories, factory buildings and mercantile
establishments ; it being the policy and intent of this chapter that
all factories, factory buildings, mercantile establishments and
other places to which this chapter is applicable, shall be so con-
structed, equipped, arranged, operated and conducted in all re-
spects as to provide reasonable and adequate protection to the
lives, health and safety of all persons employed therein and that
the said board shall from time to time make such rules and regula-
tions as will effectuate the said policy and intent.
52. Rules and regulations; industrial code. 1. The rules and
regulations adopted by the board pursuant to the provisions of this
chapter shall have the force and effect of law and shall be enforced
in the same manner as the provisions of this chapter. Such rules
and regulations may apply in whole or in part to particular kinds
of factories or workshops, or to particular machines, apparatus or
articles; or to particular processes, industries, trades or occupa-
tions; and they may be limited in their application to factories
or workshops to be established, or to machines, apparatus or other
articles to be installed or provided in the future.
2. At least three affirmative votes shall be necessary to the adop-
tion of any rule or regulation by the board. Before any rule or
regulation is adopted, altered, amended or repealed by the board
there shall be a public hearing thereon, notice of which shall be
published not less than ten days, in such newspapers as the board
may prescribe. Every rule or regulation and every act of the
board shall be promptly published in bulletins of the department
of labor or in such newspapers as the board may prescribe. The
rules and regulations, and alterations, amendments and changes
thereof shall, unless otherwise prescribed by the board, take effect
twenty days after the first publication thereof.
3. The rules and regulations which shall be in force on the
first day of January, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and the
430 PKOPOSED RE CODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
*
amendments and alterations thereof, and the additions thereto,
shall constitute the industrial code. The industrial code may
embrace all matters and subjects to which and so far as the power
and authority of the department of labor extends and its applica-
tion need not be limited to subjects enumerated in this article.
The industrial code and all amendments and alterations thereof
and additions thereto shall be certified by the secretary of the board
and filed with the secretary of state.] The board shall have power
to make investigations concerning and report upon the conditions
of labor generally and upon all matters relating to the enforcement
and effect of the provisions of this chapter and the rules of the
board. Each member of the board, and the secretary shall have
power to administer oaths and take affidavits and to make per-
sonal inspections of all places to which this chapter applies. The
board shall have power to subpoena and require the attendance of
witnesses and the production of books and papers pertinent to the
investigations and inquiries hereby authorized, and to examine
them in relation to any matter which it has power to investigate,
and to issue commissions for the examination of witnesses who are
out of the state or unable to attend before the board, or excused
from attendance.
22. Enactment of rules. 1. The board shall have power to
make, amend and repeal rules for carrying into effect the pro-
visions of this chapter, applying such provisions to specific con-
ditions and prescribing specific means, methods or practices to
effectuate such provisions, and may amend or repeal rules and
regulations heretofore prescribed by the commissioner with refer-
ence to mines, tunnels and quarries and employment in com-
pressed air. Such rules and regulations heretofore prescribed by
the commissioner shall continue in force until amended or re-
pealed by the industrial board.
2. The board shall have power to make, amend and repeal rules
for improper sanitation in the places to which this chapter applies,
and for guarding against and minimizing fire hazards, personal in-
juries and diseases in all places to which this chapter applies with
respect to
a. The construction, alteration, equipment and maintenance
of all such places, including the conversion of structures into
factories, factory buildings and mercantile establishments;
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 431
b. The arrangement and guarding of machinery and the
storing and keeping of property and articles;
c. The places where and the methods and operations by
which trades and occupations may be conducted and the con-
duct of employers, employees and other persons;
It being the policy and intent of this chapter that all places to
which it applies shall be so constructed, equipped, arranged,
operated and conducted in all respects as to provide reasonable
and adequate protection to the lives, health and safety of all per-
sons employed therein, and frequenting the same, and that the
board shall from time to time make such rules as will effectuate
such policy and intent.
8. The rules may be limited in their application to certain
classes of establishments, places of employment, machines, ap-
paratus, articles, processes, industries, trades or occupations or
may apply only to those to be constructed, established, installed or
provided in the future.
4. The rules of the board shall have the force and effect of law
and shall be enforced in the same manner as the provisions of this
chapter.
5. No provision of this chapter conferring power on the in-
dustrial board to make rules in specific cases shall limit the powers
conferred by this section.
23. Procedure; industrial code. The rules of the board shall
constitute the industrial code. At least three affirmative votes
shall be necessary for the adoption, amendment or repeal of any
rule. Before any rule is adopted, amended or repealed, there shaE
be a public hearing thereon, notice of which shall be published at
least once, not less than ten days prior thereto, in such newspapers
as the board may prescribe and in the city of New York in the
City Record- Every rule adopted and every amendment or re-
peal thereof shall be promptly published in the bulletins of the
department and in such newspapers as the board may prescribe
and in the city of New York in the City Record. The rules und
all amendments and repeals thereof shall, unless otherwise pre-
scribed by the board, take effect twenty days after the fir?i publi-
cation thereof, and every rule and every amendment or repeal
thereof shall be certified by the secretary of the board und filed
with the secretary of state.
432 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
[99] 24* Special rules for [D]cZangerous trades. Whenever
the industrial board [shall] finds [as a result of its investiga-
tions] that any industry, trade or occupation [by reason of the
nature of the materials used therein or the products thereof or
by reason of the methods or processes or machinery or apparatus
employed therein or by reason of any other matter or thing con-
nected with such industry, trade or occupation, contains] involves
such elements of danger to the lives, health or safety of persons
employed therein as to require special regulation for the protection
of such persons, the [said] board shall have power to make [such]
special rules [and regulations as it may deem necessary] to
guard against such elements of danger by establishing require-
ments as to temperature, .humidity, the removal of dust, gases or
fumes and requiring licenses to be applied for and issued by the
commissioner [of labor] as a condition of carrying on any such
industry, trade or occupation and requiring medical inspection
and supervision of persons employed and applying for employ-
ment, and by other appropriate means.
TITLE III. COMMISSIONER OF LABOR; POWERS AND DUTIES.
30. General duty to enforce labor laws. The commissioner
shall enforce all the provisions of this chapter and of the rules of
the industrial board. He may also enforce any lawful municipal
ordinance, by-law or regulation not in conflict with the provisions
of this chapter or the rules of the industrial board relating to any
place affected by the provisions of this chapter. The commissioner
may call upon other state or local officers or boards of health to
secure the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter in so far
as they relate to establishments other than factories specified in
section one hundred and five, and for that purpose such state or
local officers or boards of health shall have all of the powers con-
ferred upon the commissioner by this chapter.
31. Power to enter, and inspect premises. The commissioner
or his deputies and assistants shall inspect every place which is,
or which they may have reasonable cause to believe is, affected by
the provisions of this chapter and he and his deputies and assist-
ants may, in the discharge of their duties, enter any such place.
82. Examination of books and papers. All books, papers,
records or other documents required to be kept by the provisions
of this chapter or the rules of the industrial board, shall at all
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 433
titn.es be open to the inspection of the commissioner, his deputies
and assistants, and the person in charge thereof shall afford every
reasonable facility for their examination and shall furnish a copy
thereof when demanded by the commissioner.
33. Inspectors' reports to be in writing. Every person acting
as an inspector for the department shall report the facts and con-
ditions observed or discovered by him in the course of every in-
spection made by him under the provisions of this chapter. The
commissioner shall prescribe the form, scope and the manner of
making such reports. The reports shall be filed in the depart-
ment.
[64. Information to be furnished upon request.] 34- Duty
to furnish information and facilitate department's inspections.
The owner, operator, manager or lessee of any [mine, factory,
workshop, warehouse, elevator, foundry, machine shop or other
manufacturing] establishment [,] or place affected by the provi-
sions of this chapter or [any] his agent, superintendent, subordi-
nate, or employee [thereof,] and any person employing or direct-
ing any labor affected by the provisions of this chapter, shall, when
requested by the commissioner |[of labor,] furnish any information
in his possession or under his control which the commissioner is
authorized to require, shall answer truthfully all questions put
to him by the commissioner in a circular or otherwise, |[and]
shall admit [him or his duly authorized representative] the com-
missioner or his deputies or assistants to any place which is
affected by the provisions of this chapter for the purpose of mak-
ing inspection or enforcing the provisions of this chapter and the
rules of the industrial board, and shall render assistance necessary
for a proper inspection. [A person refusing to axjnrit such com-
missioner, or person authorized by him, to any such establishment,
or to furnish him any information requested, or who refuses to
answer or untruthfully answers questions put to him by such com-
missioner, in a circular or otherwise, shall forfeit to the people
of the state the sum of one hundred dollars for each refusal or
untruthful answer given, to be sued for and recovered by the com-
missioner in his name of office. The amount so recovered shall
be paid into the state treasury.]
35. Interference with department prohibited. No person
shall interfere with, obstruct or hinder by force or otherwise the
commissioner, his deputies or assistants or any member of the
434 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOK LAW.
industrial board or the secretary or assistants thereof, while in the
performance of their duties.
86. Service of notice. Whenever the department or commis-
sioner, or any person affected by the provisions of this chapter, is
required or authorized by this chapter or any rule made in pursu-
ance thereof to give notice in writing to any other person, such
notice may be given by mailing it in a registered letter addressed
to the person to whom it is required to be given at his last known
residence or place of business or by delivering it personally to
such person. Notice to a partnership may be given to any of the
partners and notice to a corporation may be given to any agent
of the corporation upon whom process may be served, or to "any
officer of the corporation, or to any agent in charge of the business
or place of employment conducted by the corporation. Whenever
the department or commissioner is required or authorized to issue
an order for compliance with any of the provisions of this chapter,
such order shall be served in the manner hereinbefore specified
for the service of notices or by delivering it personally to the per-
son to whom it is required or authorized to be uddressed, or to
any person of suitable age and discretion in charge of the premises
affected by such order, or if no person be found in charge of the
premises then by affixing a copy of such order prominently upon
the premises.
37. Reissuance of revoked licenses. Unless otherwise pro-
vided by this clapter, the commissioner or other public officer
authorized by this chapter to cancel, revoke or suspend any license
or certificate granted by him may, when satisfied that the reasons
for the cancellation, suspension or revocation no longer exist, re-
issue such license or certificate and it shall thereafter be of the
same force and effect as a new license duly issued, but only for
the remainder of the period for which the original license or cer-
tificate was issued.
88. Commissioner to keep record and publish bulletin of
licenses. The commissioner shall keep a record of all licenses or
permits or certificates in the nature of licenses issued by him
under the provisions of this chapter or any rule made in pur-
suance thereof. A complete list (1) of all persons and places
holding such licenses, certificates or permits, showing the name
and address of the owner of the licensed place, building or busi-
ness, the address of the licensed business and the name nnder\
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 435
which it is carried on, the address and place of business of the
licensee, and (2) of all licenses, certificates or permits revoked,
suspended or cancelled shall be published from time to time by
the commissioner.
39. Blanks to be prepared. Whenever any person is required
by the provisions of this chapter or any rule made in pursuance
of authority granted in this chapter to give notice, furnish in-
formation, present a petition, or make or keep any report, record,
book, paper or other documentary evidence on blanks furnished
by the department, the commissioner shall prepare and furnish
such blanks free of charge to all persons applying therefor.
[46]4#. Annual |[R]reports. The commissioner [of
labor] shall report annually to the legislature and shall include
in his annual report or make separately in each year a report of
the operation of each bureau in the department, and the report of
the director of the division of industrial hygiene of the bureau of
inspection.
Jfl. Seal. The commissioner may adopt a seal for the de-
partment and require that it be used for the authentication of the
department's orders and proceedings, und for such other purposes
as he may prescribe. The courts shall take judicial notice of such
seal and of the signatures of the commissioner and the deputy
commissioners.
1+2. Badges. The commissioner may procure badges for him-
self and his subordinates and require them to be worn by his sub-
ordinates while in the performance of their duties.
[47] -4#. Destruction of old records. All statistics furnished
to and all complaints, reports and other documentary matter re-
ceived by the commissioner [of labor pursuant to this chapter or
any act repealed or superseded thereby] may be destroyed [by
such commissioner] after the expiration of six years from the
time of the receipt thereof.
44- Department's process to be in commissioner's name. All
notices, orders and directions of any officer, agent or employee of
the department other than the industrial board given in accord-
ance with this chapter are subject to the approval of the commis-
sioner and may be performed or given by and in his name by any
officer or employee of the department thereunto duly authorized by
him.
436 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
|[43]-4<5. [Powers] Oaths and affidavits. [1.] The commis-
sioner [of labor], his deputies, [and their] and assistants, [and
each agent, chief factory inspector, factory inspector, mine in-
spector, tunnel inspector, chief investigator, special investigator,
chief mercantile inspector, and mercantile inspectors] may ad-
minister oaths and take affidavits in matters relating to the pro-
visions of this chapter.
[2. ]STo person shall interfere with, obstruct or hinder by
force or otherwise the commissioner of labor, any member of the
industrial board, or any officer, agent or employee of the depart-
ment of labor while in the performance of their duties, or refuse
to properly answer questions asked by such officers or employees
pertaining to the provisions of this chapter, or refuse them ad-
mittance to any place which is affected by the provisions of this
chapter.
3. All notices, orders and directions of any officer, agent or
employee of the department of labor other than the commissioner
of labor or the industrial board given in accordance with this
chapter are subject to the approval of the commissioner of labor,
and may be performed or given by and in the name of the com-
missioner of labor and by any officer or employee of the depart-
ment thereunto duly authorized by such commissioner in the name
of such commissioner.
4. The commissioner of labor may procure and cause to be used
badges for himself and his subordinates in the department of labor
while in the performance of their duties.]
4^.. Hearings and subpoenas. The commissioner or any of
his deputies or assistants duly designated by him shall have power
1. To issue subpoenas for and- compel the attendance of wit-
nesses and the production of books, contracts, papers, documents
and other evidence;
2. To hear testimony and take or cause to be taken deposi-
tions of witnesses residing within or without this state in the man-
ner prescribed by law for like depositions in civil actions in the
supreme court.
Subpoenas and commissions to take testimony shall be issued
under the seal of the department.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 437
[15437/7. Proceedings before [the commissioner of labor.]
deputies or assistants. Any investigation, inquiry or hearing
which the commissioner [of labor] has power to undertake or to
hold may by his special authorization [from the commissioner of
labor,] be undertaken or held by or before [the chief investigator,
or any official whom he may designate,] any of his deputies or
assistants and any decision rendered on such investigation, inquiry
or hearing, when approved, and confirmed by the commissioner
and ordered filed in his office, shall [be and be deemed to] be the
order of the commissioner. [All hearings before the commis-
sioner or chief investigator or official duly designated therefor shall
be governed by rules to be adopted and prescribed by the com-
missioner. The commissioner or chief investigator or official duly
designated therefor shall not be bound by technical rules of evi-
dence, and shall have the power to subpoena any witness or any
person, and to examine all books, contracts, records and docu-
ments of any person or corporation and by subpoena duces tecum
to compel production thereof, and to effect as far as practicable
an amicable settlement or adjustment of any such complaint.
Such subpoena shall be issued by the commissioner or chief in-
vestigator under the seal of the department of labor. No person
shall be excused from testifying or from producing any books or
papers on any investigation or inquiry by or upon any hearing
before the commissioner or chief investigator, or official duly desig-
nated thereof,* when ordered to do so, upon the ground that the
testimony or evidence, books or documents required of him may
tend to incriminate him or subject him to a penalty or forfeiture,
but no person shall be prosecuted, punished or subjected to any
penalty or forfeiture, for or on account of any act, transaction,
matter or thing, concerning which he shall under oath have testi-
fied or produced documentary evidence; provided, however, that
no person so testifying shall be exempt from prosecution or punish-
ment for any perjury committed by him in his testimony.]
It 8. Rules governing hearings. The commissioner or his
deputy or assistant duly designated therefor shall not be bound
by technical rules of evidence and shall conduct all hearings ac-
cording to rules prescribed by the commissioner.
438 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
TITLE IV. SUBORDINATE OFFICERS; POWERS AND DUTIES.
[ 41]55. [Deputy commissioners.] Powers and duties of
deputies. Whenever, in this chapter, authority is conferred upon
the commissioner it shall, except as to appointments and removals,
include his deputies or a deputy acting under his direction. [The
commissioner of labor shall forthwith upon entering upon the
duties of his office, appoint and may at pleasure remove two
deputy commissioners of labor. The first deputy commissioner
shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars a year; the second
deputy commissioner shall receive a salary of four thousand five
hundred dollars a year.]
During the absence or disability of the commissioner [of
labor,] the first deputy commissioner shall possess all the powers
and perform all the duties of the commissioner except the power
of appointment and removal. During the absence or disability
of both the commissioner [of labor] and the first deputy com-
missioner [of labor,] the second deputy commissioner shall possess
all the powers and perform all the duties of the commissioner ex-
cept the power of appointment and removal. In case of a vacancy
in the office of commissioner the deputy commissioner acting as
commissioner shall have the power of appointment and removal.
In addition to their duties and powers as prescribed by the pro-
visions of this chapter, the deputy commissioners [of labor] shall
perform such other duties and possess such other powers as the
commissioner [of labor] may prescribe.
|[48]56'. Duties of counsel. [The commissioner of labor shall
appoint and may iat pleasure remove counsel who shall be an at-
torney and counsellor at law of the state of New Tork to] The
counsel of the department shall represent the department [of
labor] and [to] take charge of and assist in the prosecution of
actions and proceedings brought by or on behalf of the commis-
sioner [of labor] or the department [of labor], and generally
[to] shall act as legal adviser to the commissioner and the in-
dustrial board. [Such counsel shall receive a salary of four thou-
sand dollars a year. The commissioner of labor shall have power
to appoint and at pleasure remove attorneys and counsellors at
law to] The assistants to the counsel shall assist the counsel in the
performance of his duties [who shall receive such compensation
as may be provided by law].
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 439
ARTICLE 4J TITLE V. BUREAU OF INSPECTION.
[Section 53. Bureau of inspection ; inspector general ; divisions.
54. Inspectors.
55. Division of factory inspection; factory inspection
districts; chief factory inspectors.
56. Idem; general powers and duties.
57. Division of homework inspection.
58. Division of mercantile inspection.
59. Idem ; general powers and duties.
60. Division of industrial hygiene.
61. Section of medical inspection.]
[5 3] 60. Bureau of inspection; [inspector general;] divi-
sions. The bureau of inspection[, subject to the supervision and
direction of the commissioner of labor,] shall have charge of all
inspections made pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, [and
shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to it by the
commissioner of labor. The first deputy commissioner of labor
shall be the inspector general of the state, and in charge of this
bureau subject to the direction and supervision of the commis-
sioner of labor, except that the division of industrial hygiene shall
be under the immediate direction and supervision of the commis-
sioner of labor. Such] This bureau shall have [four] the
following divisions [as follows] : factory inspection, mercantile
inspection, homework inspection, [and] industrial hygiene,
and [There shall be] such other divisions [in such bureau] as
the commissioner [of labor] may deem necessary. [In addition
to their respective duties as prescribed by the provisions of this
chapter, such divisions shall perform such other duties as may
be assigned to them by the commissioner of labor.]
61. Inspector general. The first deputy commissioner shall
be the inspector general, and shall have charge of the bureau of
inspection, except that the division of industrial hygiene shall be
under the immediate direction and supervision of the commis-
sioner.
[55]##. [Division of factory inspection; f]Factory inspec-
tion districts; chief factory inspectors. [For the inspection of
factories, t] There shall be two inspection districts to be known as
the first factory inspection district and the second factory inspec-
tion district. The first [factory inspection] district shall include
the counties of New York, Bronx, Kings, Queens, Richmond,
440 PROPOSED BECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
Nassau and Suffolk. The second [factory inspection] district
shall include all the other counties of the state. [There shall be
two chief factory inspectors who shall be appointed by the com-
missioner of labor and who may be removed by him at any time
and each of whom shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars
a year.] The inspection of factories in each [factory inspec-
tion] district shall[, subject to the supervision and direction of
the commissioner of labor,] be in charge of a chief factory inspec-
tor assigned to such district by the commissioner [of labor. The
commissioner of labor may designate one of the supervising in-
spectors as assistant chief factory inspector for the first district,
and while acting as such assistant chief factory inspector he shall
receive an additional salary of five hundred dollars per annum].
68. Supervising factory inspectors. The factory inspectors of
the fifth grade shall act as supervising inspectors. The commis-
sioner may designate one of the supervising inspectors as assistant
chief factory inspector for the first district, who while so acting
shall receive additional compensation at the rate of five hundred
dollars a year.
[56. Idem; general powers and duties]. 64- Factory in-
spection subdistricts. [1] The commissioner [of labor] shall,
from time to time, divide the [state] factory inspection districts
into subdistricts, and assign one [factory inspector of the fifth
grade to each subdistrict as] supervising inspector to each sub-
district , and may [in his discretion] transfer [such super vising
inspector] him from one subdistrict to another. [; he shall from
time to time, assign and transfer factory inspectors to each factory
inspection district and to any of the divisions of the bureau of in-
spection; he may assign any factory inspector to inspect any
special class or classes of factories or to enforce any special pro-
visions of this chapter ; and he may assign any one or more of them
to act as clerks in any office of the department.
2. The commissioner of labor may authorize any deputy com-
missioner or assistant and any agent or inspector in the depart-
ment of labor to act as a factory inspector with the full power
and authority thereof.
3. The commissioner of labor, the first deputy commissioner of
labor and his assistant or assistants, and every factory inspector
and every person duly authorized pursuant to sub-division two
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 441
of this section may, in the discharge of his duties, enter any place,
building or room which is affected by the provisions of this chapter
and may enter any factory whenever he may have reasonable cause
to believe that any labor is being performed therein.
4. The commissioner of lahri shall visit and inspect or cause to
be visited and inspected the factories, during reasonable hours,
as often as practicable, and shall cause the provisions of this chap-
ter and the rules and regulations of the industrial board to be en-
forced therein.
5. Any lawful municipal ordinance, by-law or regulation relat-
ing to factories, in addition to the provisions of this chapter and
not in conflict therewith, may be observed and enforced by the com-
missioner of labor.]
65. Special factory inspectors. The commissioner may afr
thorize any deputy commissioner or assistant and any agent or
inspector in the department to act as a factory inspector.
66. Assignment of factory inspectors. The commissioner
shall, from time to time, assign the factory inspectors to the sev-
eral factory inspection districts and divisions of the bureau of in-
spection and may transfer them from one to another of such dis-
tricts and divisions and may assign them to uny division or bureau
of the department. He may assign any factory inspector to in-
spect any special class of factories or to enforce any special pro-
visions of this chapter, or to act as clerics in any office of the de-
partment.
[5 8] 6 7. Division of mercantile inspection. The division
of mercantile inspection shall be under the immediate charge of
the chief mercantile inspector [but subject to the direction and
supervision of the commissioner of labor. The chief mercantile
inspector shall be appointed and be at pleasure removed by the
commissioner of labor, and shall receive such annual salary not
to exceed three thousand dollars as may be appropriated therefor].
[59]6. [Idem; general powers and duties. 1.] Mercan-
tile inspection districts. The commissioner [of labor] may di-
vide the [cities of the first and second class of the] state into
mercantile inspection districts, and assign one or more mer-
cantile inspectors to each [such] district, and may [in his dis-
cretion] transfer them from one [such] district to another. [ ; he
442 PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
may assign any of them to inspect any special class or classes of
mercantile or other establishments specified in article twelve of
this chapter, situated in cities of the first and second class, or to
enforce in cities of the first or second class any special provision
of such article.
2. The commissioner of labor may authorize any deputy com-
missioner or assistant and any agent or inspector in the depart-
ment of labor to act as a mercantile inspector with full power and
authority thereof.
3. The commissioner of labor, the chief mercantile inspector
and his assistant or assistants and every mercantile inspector or
acting mercantile inspector may in the discharge of his duties
enter any place, building or room in cities of the first or second
class which is affected by the provisions of article twelve of this
chapter, and may enter any mercantile or other establishment
specified in said article, situated in the cities of the first or second
class, whenever he may have reasonable cause to believe that it is
affected by the provisions of article twelve of this chapter.
4. The commissioner of labor shall visit and inspect or cause
to be visited and inspected the mercantile and other establishments
specified in article twelve of this chapter situated in cities of the
first and second class, as often as practicable, and shall cause the
provisions of said article and the rules and regulations of the in-
dustrial board to be enforced therein.
5. Any lawful municipal ordinance, by-law or regulation relat-
ing to mercantile or other establishments specified in article twelve
of this chapter, in addition to the provisions of this chapter and not
in conflict therewith, may be enforced by the commissioner of labor
in cities of the first and second class.]
69. Special mercantile inspectors. The commissioner may
authorize any deputy commissioner or assistant and any agent or
inspector in the department to act as a mercantile inspector.
70. Assignment of mercantile inspectors. The commissioner
may assign any mercantile inspector to inspect any special class
of mercantile or other establishments except factories specified in
section one hundred and five or to enforce, uny special provision
of this chapter applicable thereto. He may also assign any mer-
cantile inspector to any division or ~bureau\ of the department.
PROPOSED RECOPJFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 443
[5 7] 71. Division of home work inspection. [The division
of homework inspection shall be in charge of an officer or employee
of the department of labor designated by the commissioner of labor
and shall, subject to the supervision and direction of the commis-
sioner of labor, have charge of all inspections of tenement houses
and of labor therein and of all work done for factories at places
other than such factories.] The division of homework inspection
shall have charge of all inspections of tenement houses and of labor
therein and of all work done for factories at places other than such
factories, and shall be in charge of an officer or employee of the
department designated by the commissioner.
[60] 72. Division of industrial hygiene. [The inspectors of
the seventh grade shall constitute the division of industrial hy-
giene, which shall be under the immediate charge of the commis-
sioner of labor. The commissioner of labor may select one of the
inspectors of the seventh grade to act as the director of such divi-
sion, and such director while acting in that capacity shall receive
an additional compensation of five hundred dollars a year.] The
factory inspectors of the seventh grade shall be members of and
shall constitute the division of industrial hygiene. The commis-
sioner may select one of the members to be director of the division
who, while so acting, shall receive additional compensation at the
rate of five hundred dollars a year. The factory inspectors of the
fourth grade shall be attached to this division and shall act as in-
vestigators therein. The members of the division [of industrial
hygiene] shall make special inspections of factories, mercantile es-
tablishments and other places subject to the provisions of this chap-
ter, [throughout the state, and] shall conduct special investiga-
tions of industrial processes and conditions, and shall prepare
material for leaflets and bulletins calling attention ta dangers in
particular industries and the precautions to be taken to avoid
them, [and shall perform such other duties and render such other
services as may be required by the commissioner of labor.]
[t]The commissioner [of labor] shall submit to the indus-
trial board the recommendations of the division regarding pro-
posed rules [and regulations] and standards to be adopted to
carry into effect the provisions of this chapter and shall advise
[[said] the board concerning the operation of such rules and
standards and as to any changes or modifications to be made
therein. [The members of such division shall prepare material
444 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
for leaflets and bulletins calling attention to dangers in particular
industries and the precautions to be taken to avoid them and shall
perform such other duties and render such other services as may
be required by the commissioner of labor.] The director [of such
division] shall make an annual report to the commissioner [of
labor of the operation of the division], to which may be attached
the individual reports of each member of the division [as above
specified, and same shall be transmitted to the legislature as part
of the annual report of the commissioner of labor].
[61] 73. Section of medical inspection. The factory in-
spectors of the sixth grade shall act as medical inspectors and shall
constitute the section of medical inspection. The factory inspector
of the seventh grade who is a physician, shall be the chief medical
inspector, and shall have charge of this section, [which shall,]
subject to the supervision and direction of the director of the
division of industrial hygiene [be under the immediate charge
of the chief medical inspector]. The section of medical inspection
shall inspect factories, mercantile establishments and other places
subject to the provisions of this chapter [throughout the state]
with respect to conditions of work affecting the health of persons
employed therein and shall have charge of the physical examina-
tion and medical supervision of all children employed therein
[and shall perform such other duties and render such other serv-
ices as the commissioner of labor may direct].
PARTICLE 5/1 TITLE VI. BUREAU OF STATISTICS AND INFOR
MATION.
[Section 62. Bureau of statistics and information.
63. Divisions; duties and powers.
64. Information to be furnished upon request.
65. Industrial poisoning to be reported.]
[6 2] 75. Bureau of statistics and information; divisions.
[The bureau of statistics and information shall be under the im-
mediate charge of a chief statistician, but subject to the direction
and supervision of the commissioner of labor.
63. Divisions ; duties and powers. 1. The bureau of statis-
tics and information shall have five divisions as follows: general
labor statistics; industrial directory; industrial accidents and dis-
eases; special investigations; and printing and publication.
There shall be such other divisions in such bureau as the commis-
sioner of labor may deem advisable. Each of the said divisions
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 445
shall, subject to the supervision and direction of the commissioner
of labor and of the chief statistician, be in charge of an officer or
employee of the department of labor designated by the commis-
sioner of labor; and each of the said divisions, in addition to the
duties prescribed in this chapter, shall perform such other duties
as may be assigned to it by the commissioner of labor.
2. The division of general labor statistics shall collect, and pre-
pare statistics and general information in relation to conditions
of labor and the industries of the state.
3. The division of industrial directory shall prepare annually
an industrial directory for all cities and villages having a popula-
tion of one thousand or more according to the last preceding fed-
eral census or state enumeration. Such directory shall contain
information regarding opportunities and advantages for manufac-
turing in every such city or village, the factories established
therein, hours of labor, housing conditions, railroad and water con-
nections, water power, natural resources, wages and such other
data regarding social, economic and industrial conditions as in the
judgment of the commissioner would be of value to prospective
manufacturers, and their employees. If a city is divided into
boroughs the directory shall contain such information as to each
borough.
4. The division of industrial accidents and diseases shall col-
lect and prepare statistical details and general information regard-
ing industrial and occupational diseases, their causes and effects,
and methods of preventing, curing and remedying them, and of
providing compensation therefor.
5. The division of special investigations shall have charge of
all investigations and research work relating to economic and social
conditions of labor conducted by such bureau.
6. The division of printing and publication shall print, publish
and disseminate in such manner and to such extent as the com-
missioner of labor shall direct, such information and statistics as
the commissioner of labor may direct for the purpose of promoting
the health, safety and well being of persons employed at labor.
7. The commissioner of labor may subpoena witnesses, take and
hear testimony, take or cause to be taken depositions and admin-
ister oaths.] The bureau of statistics and information shall be
under the immediate charge of the chief statistician. This bureau
446 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
shall have the following divisions: general labor statistics; in-
dustrial directory; industrial accidents and diseases; special in-
vestigations; printing and publication, and such other divisions
as the commissioner may deem advisable. Each division shall,
subject to the supervision and direction of the chief statistician,
be in charge of an officer or employee of the department desig-
nated by the commissioner.
76. Powers and duties of divisions. 1. General labor statistics.
The division of general labor statistics shall collect and prepare
statistics and general information in relation to conditions of labor
and the industries of the state.
2. Industrial directory. The division of industrial directory
shall prepare annually an industrial directory for all cities and
villages having a population of one thousand or more according
to the last preceding federal census or state enumeration. Such
directory shall contain information regarding opportunities and
advantages for manufacturing in every such city or village, the
factories established therein, hours of labor, housing conditions,
railroad and water connections, water power, natural resources,
wages and such other data regarding social, economic and indus-
trial conditions as in the judgment of the commissioner would l^e
of value to prospective manufacturers, and their employees. If
a city is divided into boroughs the directory shall contain such
information as to each borough.
3. Industrial accidents and diseases. The division of indus-
trial accidents and diseases shall collect and prepare statistical
details and general information regarding industrial accidents
and occupational diseases, their causes and effects, and methods
of preventing, curing and remedying them, and of providing
compensation for disability or death resulting from them.
4- Special investigations. The division of special investigations
shall have charge of all investigations and research work relating
to economic and social conditions of labor.
5. Printing and publication. The division of printing and
publication shall print, publish and disseminate such information
and statistics as the commissioner may direct for the purpose of
promoting the health, safety and well being of employees.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 447
ARTICLE 10.-1 TITLE VII. BUREAU OF MEDIATION AND ARBITRA-
TION.
[Section 140. Chief mediator.
141. Mediation and investigation.
142. Board of mediation and arbitration.
143. Arbitration by the board.
144. Decisions of board.
145. Annual report.
146. Submission of controversies to local arbitrators.
147. Consent; oath; powers of arbitrators.
148. Decision of arbitrators.]
[140]0. [Chief mediator] Bureau of mediation and arbi-
tration. [There shall continue to be a bureau of mediation and
arbitration.] The second deputy commissioner [of labor] shall
be the chief mediator [of the state] and in immediate charge of
the bureau of mediation und arbitration [this bureau, but subject
to the supervision and direction of the commissioner of labor],
81. Board of mediation and arbitration. There shall be a
state board of mediation and arbitration,, which shall consist of
the chief mediator and two other officers of the department to be
from time to time designated by the commissioner. The chief
mediator when present shall be chairman of the board.
[141]#. Mediation and investigation. Whenever a strike
or lockout occurs or is seriously threatened an officer or agent of
the bureau of mediation and arbitration shall, if practicable, pro-
ceed promptly to the locality thereof and endeavor by mediation
to effect an amicable settlement of the controversy. If the com-
missioner [of labor] deems it advisable the board of mediation
and arbitration may proceed to the locality and inquire into the
cause of an existing or threatened strike or lockout [thereof]
and for that purpose shall have all the powers conferred upon it
in the case of a controversy submitted to it for arbitration.
[142]5$. [Board of mediation and arbitration.] Proced-
ure of board. [There shall continue to be a state board of media-
tion and arbitration, which shall consist of the chief mediator and
two other officers of the department of labor to be from time to
time designated by the commissioner of labor. The chief media-
tor when present shall be chairman of the board.] Two members
of [such] the state board of mediation and arbitration [board]
448 PROPOSED EECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and may
hold meetings at any time [or] and at any place within the state.
Examinations or investigations ordered by the board may be held
by and taken [by and] before any of [their number,] its members
if so directed, but a decision rendered in such a case shall not be
deemed [conclusive] final until approved by the board.
[143] .4. Arbitration by the board. A [grievance or dis-
pute] controversy between an employer and his employees may be
submitted to the board of arbitration and mediation for [their]
its determination and settlement. [Such] The submission shall
be by written statement containing (a) a detailed description of
[in writing, and contain a statement in detail of] the [grievance
or dispute] controversy and the cause thereof, and (b) [also] an
agreement to abide the determination of the board, and to con-
tinue in business or at work during the investigation [without a
lockout or strike]. Upon such submission, the board shall ex-
amine the matter in controversy. For the purpose of [such] the
inquiry [they] it may subpoena witnesses, compel their attend-
ance, take and hear testimony, and call for and examine books,
papers and documents of any parties to the controversy. Sub-
poenas shall be issued by the chairman under the seal of the de-
partment [of labor]. Witnesses shall be allowed the same fees
as in courts of record. [The decision of the board must be
rendered within ten days after the completion of the investiga-
tion.]
[144]55. Decisions of board. Within ten days after the
[completion of every arbitration] close of the inquiry, the board
or a majority thereof shall render a decision, stating such details
as [will] clearly show the nature of the controversy and the
[]points disposed of by them] questions decided, [and make a
written report of] their findings of fact and [of] their recom-
mendations [to each party of the controversy]. Every decision
[and report] shall be filed in the office of the board and a copy
thereof served upon each party to the controversy.
[ 145. Annual report. The commissioner of labor shall make
an annual report to the legislature of the operations of this
bureau.]
[146]&6>. Submission of controversies to local arbitrators.
A [grievance or dispute] controversy between an employer and
PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 449
his employees may be submitted to a board of arbitrators, con-
sisting of three persons, for hearing and settlement. One arbi-
trator shall be appointed by the employer and one by the em-
ployees. The two so designated shall appoint a third, who shall
be chairman of the board. [When] // the employees concerned
are members in good standing of a labor organization, [one] the
arbitrator to represent them may be appointed by such organiza-
tion [and one by the employer]. If such employees are not
members of a labor organization, a majority thereof at a meeting
duly called for that purpose may designate [one] the arbitrator
to represent them [for such board].
[147]57. Consent; oath; powers of arbitrators. Before
entering upon his duties, each arbitrator so selected shall sign a
consent to act, and take and subscribe an oath to faithfully and
impartially discharge his duties [as such arbitrator], which con-
sent and oath shall be filed in the clerk's office [of] in the county
or counties where the controversy arose. [When such board is
ready for the transaction of business, it] The board shall select
one of its members to act as secretary, and notice of the time and
place of hearing shall be given to the parties to the controversy.
The board may, through its chairman, subpoena witnesses, compel
their attendance and take and hear testimony. The board may
make and enforce rules governing [for its government and] the
transaction of the business before it, and fix its sessions and
adjournments.
[148]S. Decisions of arbitrators. [The board shall
w]TFithin ten days after the close of the [hearing] inquiry, the
board shall render a [written] decision signed by each member
[them giving] stating such details as clearly show the nature
of the controversy and the questions decided by them. One copy
of the decision shall be filed in the clerk's office [of the clerk of]
in the county or counties where the controversy arose and one
copy shall be transmitted to the bureau of mediation and arbitra-
tion, and a copy served u,pon each party to the controversy.
450 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
PARTICLE ll.j TITLE VIII. BUREAU OF INDUSTRIES AND
IMMIGRATION.
[Section 151. Bureau of industries and immigration.
152. Special investigators.
153. General powers and duties.
154. Proceedings before the commissioner of labor.
155. Registration and reports of employment agencies.
156. The licensing and regulation of immigrant lodging
places.
156-a. Reports.]
[151]P0. Bureau of industries and immigration. The[re
shall be a] bureau of industries and immigration^ which] shall
be under the immediate charge of |[a] the chief investigator, [but
subject to the supervision and direction of the commissioner of
labor.
152. Special investigators. The commissioner of labor may
appoint from time to time such number of special investigators
and such other assistants as may be necessary to carry into effect
the powers of the said bureau herein denned, who may be removed
by him at any time. The special investigators may be divided
into two grades. Each special investigator of the first grade shall
receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars, and each of
the second grade an annual salary of twelve hundred dollars.]
[153J0.I. General powers and duties. [The commissioner
of labor shall have the power to make full inquiry, examination
and investigation into the condition, welfare and industrial oppor-
tunities of all aliens arriving and being within the state. He
shall also have power to collect information with respect to the
need and demand for labor by the several agricultural, industrial
and other productive activities, including public works throughout
the state; to gather information with respect to the supply of
labor afforded by such aliens as shall from time to time arrive or
be within the state; to ascertain the occupations for which such
aliens shall be best adapted, and to bring about intercommunica-
tion between them and the several activities requiring labor which
will best promote their respective needs; to investigate and deter-
mine the genuineness of any application for labor that may be
received and the treatment accorded to those for whom employ-
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 451
ment shall be secured; to co-operate with the employment and
immigration bureaus conducted under authority of the federal
government, or by the government of any other state, and with
public and philanthropic agencies designed to aid in the distribu-
tion and employment of labor; and to devise and carry out such
other suitable methods as will tend to prevent or relieve congestion
and obviate unemployment.
2. The commissioner of labor shall procure with the consent
of the federal authorities complete lists giving the names, ages,
and destination within the state of all alien children of school age,
and such other facts as will tend to identify them and shall forth-
with deliver copies of such lists to the commissioner of education
or the several boards of education and school boards in the respec-
tive localities within the state to which said children shall be
destined, to aid in the enforcement of the provisions of the educa-
tion law relative to the compulsory attendance at school of chil-
dren of school age.
3. The commissioner of labor shall further co-operate with the
commissioner of education and with the several boards of educa-
tion and school commissioners in the state to ascertain the neces-
sity for and the extent to which instruction should be imparted
to aliens within the state; to devise methods for the proper in-
struction of adult and minor aliens in the English language and
other subjects, and in respect to the duties and rights of citizen-
ship and the fundamental principles of the American system of
government; and may establish and supervise classes and other-
wise further their education.
4. The commissioner of labor may enter and inspect all labor
camps within the state, and any camp which he may have reason-
able cause to believe is a labor camp; and shall inspect all em-
ployment and contract labor agencies dealing with aliens, or
whenever he may have reasonable cause to believe that such em-
ployment or contract labor agencies deal with aliens; or who
secure or negotiate contracts for their employment within the
state; shall inspect all immigrant lodging places or all places
where he has reasonable cause to believe that aliens are received,
lodged, boarded or harbored; shall co-operate with other public
authorities, to enforce all laws applicable to private bankers deal-
ing with aliens and laborers; secure information with respect to
such aliens who shall be in prisons, almshouses and insane asylums
of the state, and who shall be deportable under the laws of the
United States and co-operate with the federal authorities and with
452 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
such officials of the state having jurisdiction over such criminals,
paupers and insane aliens who shall be confined as aforesaid, so
as to facilitate the deportation of such persons as shall come
within the provisions of the aforesaid laws of the United States,
relating to deportation; shall investigate and inspect institutions
established for the temporary shelter and care of aliens, and such
philanthropic societies as shall be organized for the purpose of
securing employment for or aiding in the distribution of aliens,
and the methods by which they are conducted.
5. The commissioner of labor shall investigate conditions pre-
vailing at the various places where aliens are landed within this
state, and at the several docks, ferries, railway stations and on
trains and boats therein, and in co-operation with the proper
authorities, afford them protection against frauds, crimes and
exploitation ; shall investigate any and all complaints with respect
to frauds, extortion, incompetency and improper practices by
notaries public, interpreters and other public officials, or by any
other person or by any corporation, whether public or pri-
vate, and present to the proper authorities the results
of such investigation for action thereon; shall investigate
and study the general social conditions of aliens within
this state, for the purpose of inducing remedial action by
the various agencies of the state possessing the requisite jurisdic-
tion; and shall generally, in conjunction with existing public and
private agencies, consider and devise means to promote the wel-
fare of the state.] The bureau of industries and immigration shall:
1. Investigate conditions prevailing at all docks, ferries, rail-
way stations and other places, where aliens arrive or depart, and
also on boats and trains, and, in co-operation with the proper
authorities, afford such, aliens protection against frauds, crimes
and exploitation; investigate all complaints with respect to
frauds, extortion, incompetency, improper practices by notaries
public, interpreters and other public officials, or by any other
person or by any corporation, whether public or private, and pre-
sent to the proper authorities the results of such investigation for
action thereon; investigate and inspect labor camps; investigate
and inspect institutions established for the temporary shelter and
care of aliens; investigate and inspect philanthropic societies and
other agencies organized for the purpose of aiding in the distribu-
tion and employment of aliens; investigate the general social con-
dition and welfare of, and industrial opportunities for, all aliens
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 453
arriving or residing within the state and, in conjunction with
existing public and private agencies, consider and devise means
to promote the public welfare.
2. Collect information from prisons, insane asylums, alms-
houses and from other sources with respect to deportable aliens
and co-operate with the federal authorities and the officials hav-
ing jurisdiction over such aliens so as to facilitate the deporta-
tion of such aliens.
3. Co-operate with the public authorities charged with the duty
of enforcing laws applicable to private bankers dealing with aliens
and laborers; co-operate with the contimissioner of education and
the several school authorities to ascertain the extent to which in-
struction should be imparted to adult and minor aliens within
the state and to devise methods for the proper instruction of such
aliens and may establish and supervise classes for the educa-
tion of aliens; co-operate with public and philanthropic employ-
ment und immigration bureaus and devise and carry out suitable
methods for aiding in the distribution and employment of aliens.
4- Collect information with respect to the demand for labor
throughout the state, and with respect to the supply of labor
afforded by aliens; ascertain the occupations for which the aliens
are best adapted and bring about communication between aliens
and persons desiring laborers; and ascertain the genuineness of
any application for labor and the treatment accorded to the aliens
for whom employment is secured.
ARTICLE [2] 3.
GENERAL PROVISIONS.
[Section 3. Hours to constitute a day's work.
4. Violations of the labor law.
5. Hours of labor in brickyards.
6. Hours of labor on street surface and elevated rail-
roads.
7. Regulation of hours of labor on steam surface and
other railroads.
8. Regulation of hours of labor of block system tele-
graph and telephone operators and signalmen on
surface, subway and elevated railroads.
8a. One day of rest in seven.
9. Payment of wages by receivers.
4:54 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
10. Cash payment of wages.
11. When wages are to be paid.
12. Penalty for violation of preceding section.
13. Assignment of future wages.
14. Preference in employment of persons upon public
works.
15. Labels, brands and marks used by labor organiza-
tions.
16. Illegal use of' labels, brands and marks, a misde-
meanor; injunction proceedings.
17. Seats for female employees.
18. Scaffolding for use of employees.
19. Inspection of scaffolding, ropes, blocks, pulleys and
tackles in cities.
20. Protection of persons employed on buildings in
cities.
20 a. Accidents to be reported.
2 Ob. Protection of employees.
20c. Switchboards to be protected.
21. Commissioner of labor to enforce provisions of
article.
22. Physical examination of employees.
22. Duties relative to apprentices.]
Section 95. General duty to protect health and safety c] employees.
96. Protection of employees at switchboards.
97. Prohibition against eating meals in certain work-
rooms.
98. Registration of places of employment.
99. Employers' report of accidents to employees.
100. Physicians' report of industrial poisonings.
101. Laws to be posted.
102. Labels, brands and marks used by labor organizations.
103. Illegal use of labels, brands and marks; injunction
proceedings.
[20-b.] 95. [Protection of employees.] General duty to pro-
tect health and safety of employees. All [factories, factory build-
ings, mercantile establishments and other] places to which this
chapter [is applicable,] applies shall be so constructed, equipped,
arranged, operated and conducted [in all respects] as to provide
reasonable and adequate protection to the lives, health and safety
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 455
of all persons employed therein or frequenting the same. The
industrial board shall [from time to time] make '[such] rules
[and regulations as will] to carry into effect the provisions of
this section.
[20-b.] 96. [Switchboards to he protected.] Protection of em-
ployees at switchboards. [All buildings having installed therein
a] At every switchboard of two hundred and twenty or more volts
[or over shall have, on the floor or upon such platform or other
standing place as the switchboard may be located or attached,]
there shall be maintained [a rubber] an insulating mat the length
of the switchboard and of sufficient width and so placed as to allow
a person to stand or walk [or stand] thereon while working at the
switchboard or making tests.
[89-a.] 97. Prohibition against eating meals in certain work-
rooms. No employee shall take or be permitted to take any food
into a room [or apartment] in a factory, or mercantile establish-
ment, [mill or workshop, commercial institution or other estab-
lishment or working place] where lead, arsenic or other poisonous
substances or injurious or noxious fumes, dust or gases exist in
harmful conditions or are present in harmful quantities, [as an
incident or result of the business conducted by such factory, com-
mercial establishment, mill or workshop, commercial institution
or other establishment or working place; and nj^otice to the
foregoing effect shall be kept posted in each such room|[, or apart-
ment]. No employee, unless his presence is necessary for the
proper conduct of the business, shall remain in any such room[,
apartment, or enclosure] during the time allowed for meals, and
[suitable provision shall be made and maintained by the employer
for enabling employees to take their meals elsewhere in such estab-
lishment.] the employer shall provide a- suitable place in such
establishment for his employees to eat their meals.
[^9.] 98. Registration of [factories] places of employment.
[The owner of every factory shall register such factory with the
state department of labor, giving the name of the owner, his home
addrens, the address of the business, the name under which it is
carried on, the number of employees and such other data as the
commissioner of labor may require. Such registration of existing
factories shall be made within six months after this section takes
effect. Factories hereafter established shall be so registered
within thirty days after the commencement of business. Within
456 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
thirty days after a change in the location of a factory the owner
thereof shall file with the commissioner of labor the new address
of the business, together with such other information as the com-
missioner of labor may require.] Every employer, except those
affected by sections three hundred and thirty and three hundred
and thirty-one, employing persons who are affected by any of the
provisions of this chapter shall, within thirty days after em-
ployment begins, register the place of employment with the com-
missioner, giving his name, his home address, the address
of the business, the name under which it is carried on, the number
of employees and such other data as the commissioner may require.
Within thirty days after a change in the location of any such place
of employment, the employer shall file the new address with the
commissioner, together with such other information as the com-
missioner may require. When any such place of employment is
permanently discontinued, the former employer shall notify the
commissioner. All such places of employment, existing when
this section takes effect, shall be registered within thirty days
thereafter.
99. Employers' report of accidents to employees. Every
employer of labor affected by the provisions of this chapter shall
keep a record of every accident which causes personal injury to or
the death of any of his employees in the course of their employ-
ment. The record shall be in such form and shall contain such
information as the commissioner may require. Within forty-
eight hours after any such accident, the employer shall send to
the commissioner a report thereof stating the name, address
and business of the employer; the name, address, sex, age,
nationality and occupation of the employee; time, place and
cause of the accident; the nature of the injury and the probable
extent of disability; the number of days which the employee had
worked for such employer at the employment in which he was
injured; whether he was paid at the time of the accident on the
basis of time or output; the rate of the employee's wages im-
mediately preceding the accident, and such other information as
may be required by the commissioner. Subsequent reports of the
results of the accident and of the condition of the injured employee
shall be sent by the employer to the commissioner at such times
and shall contain such information as he may require. Reports
made under this section shall not be evidence of the facts therein
stated in any action arising out of the accident therein reported.
PROPOSED BECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 457
'[65] 100. Physicians' reports of industrial poisoning [to be
reported]. 1. Every [medical practitioner] physician attending
[on or called in to visit a patient] any person whom he believes to
be suffering from poisoning [from] by lead, phosphorus, arsenic,
brass, wood alcohol, mercury or their compounds, or from anthrax,
or [from] compressed air illness, contracted as the result of the
nature of [the patient's] such persons employment, shall send
to the commissioner [of labor] a [notice] report stating the
name and [full postal] address and place of employment of [the
patient] such person and the disease from which[, in the opinion
of the medical practitioner, the patient] he is suffering, with
such [other and] further information as may be required by the
[said] commissioner.
[2. If any medical practitioner, when required by this section
to send a notice, fails forthwith to send the same, he shall be
liable to a fine not exceeding ten dollars.]
[3] 2. [It shall be the duty of the commissioner of labor to
enforce the provisions of this section, and he] The commissioner
may call upon the state and local boards of health for assistance
in the enforcement of the provisions of this section.
[99-a.] 101. Laws to be posted. [Copies or digests of the
provisions of this chapter and of the rules and regulations of the
industrial board, applicable thereto, in English and in such other
languages as the commissioner of labor may require, to be prepared
and furnished by the commissioner of labor, shall be kept posted
by the employer in such conspicuous place or places as the com-
missioner of labor may direct on each floor of every factory where
persons are employed who are affected by the provisions thereof.]
Wherever persons are employed who are affected by the provisions
of this chapter or the rules of the industrial board, the commis-
sioner shall furnish to the employer copies or abstracts of all such
provisions and rules affecting such persons. The copies or ab-
stracts shall be in such languages as the commissioner may require
and shall be kept posted by the employer in conspicuous places on
the premises.
[15.] 102. Labels, brands and marks used by labor organiza-
tions. A union or association of employees may adopt a device
in the form of a label, brand, mark, name or other character for
the purpose of designating the products of the labor of the mem-
bers thereof. Duplicate copies of such device shall be filed in the
458 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
office of the secretary of state, who shall, under his hand and seal,
deliver to the union or association filing or registering the same a
certified copy and a certificate of the filing thereof, for which he
shall be entitled to a fee of one dollar. Such certificate shall not
be assignable by the union or association to whom it is issued.
[16] 103. Illegal use of labels, brands and marks [a mis-
demeanor] ; injunction proceedings. [A] No person who, [(!)]
shall in any way use or display the label, brand, mark, name
or other character, adopted by any such union or association as
provided in [the preceding] section one hundred and two, without
the consent or authority of such union or association; or [(2)
shall] counterfeit or imitate any such label, brand, mark, name or
other character, or knowingly sell[s] or dispose[s] of, or keep|[s]
or |[has] have in his possession with intent to sell or dispose of,
any goods, wares, merchandise or other products of labor, upon
which any such counterfeit or imitation is attached, affixed,
printed, stamped or impressed, or knowingly sell[s] or dispo>se[s]
of, or keep|[s] or [has] have in his possession with intent to
sell or dispose of any goods, wares, merchandise or other products
of labor contained in any box, case, can or package, to which
or on which any such counterfeit or imitation is attached, affixed,
printed, painted, stamped or impressed.[, is guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than
one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or by
imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than one
year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.] After filing copies
of such device, [such] the union or association may '[also] main-
tain an action to enjoin the manufacture, use, display or sale of
counterfeit or colorable imitations of such device, or of goods bear-
ing the same, or the unauthorized use or display of such device,
or of goods bearing the same, and the court may restrain such
wrongful manufacture, use, display or sale, and every unauthor-
ized use or display by others of the genuine devices so registered
and filed, if such use or display is not authorized by the owner
thereof, and may award to the plaintiff such damages resulting
from such wrongful manufacture, use, display or sale as may be
proved, together with the profits derived therefrom.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 459
ARTICLE 4-
EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN AND FEMALES.
Section 105. Employment of children under the age of fourteen
years prohibited.
106. Employment of children between ike ages of four-
teen and sixteen years.
107. Employment certificates; how issued.
108. Evidence of age.
109. Physical examination before issuance of employ-
ment certificate.
110. Examination by officer issuing, employment
certificate.
111. Contents of employment certificate.
112. Supervision over issuance of employment certificates.
113. Registers of children employed.
114- Employment of children apparently under the age
of sixteen years.
115. Prohibited employment of children and females.
116. Employment of females in core rooms.
117. Prohibited employment of females after child birth.
118. Physical examination of children employed.
119. Physical examination of females.
120. Seats for female employees.
Employment of '[minors] children under the
age of fourteen years prohibited. No child under the age of
fourteen years shall be employed[, permitted or suffered to work]
in or in connection with [any factory in this state,] or for any
factory [at any place in this state.] or in or in connection with
any mercantile establishment, business office, telegraph office,
restaurant, hotel, apartment-house, theatre or other place of amuse-
ment, bowling alley, barber shop, shoe-polishing establishment f
or in the distribution or transmission of merchandise, articles or
messages, or in the sale of articles.
[No child between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years shall
be so employed, permitted or suffered to work unless an employ-
ment certificate, issued as provided in this article, shall have
been theretofore filed in the office of the employer at the place ol
employment of such child.] Nothing [herein] contained in this
4:60 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION or THE LABOE LAW.
section or in section one hundred and six shall prevent a person
engaged in farming from permitting his children to do farm
work for him upon his farm. Boys over the age of twelve
years may be employed in gathering produce, for not more than
six hours in any [one] day, subject to the requirements of chap-
ter twenty-one of the laws of nineteen hundred and nine, entitled
"An act relating to education, constituting chapter sixteen of the
consolidated laws," and all acts amendatory thereof.
106. Employment of children between the ages of fourteen
and sixteen. No child between the ages of fourteen and sixteen
years shall be employed in or in connection with or for any factory,
or in or in connection with any mercantile or other establishment
or business specified in section one hundred and five unless an
employment certificate, issued as provided in this article, is kept
on file in the office of the employer at the place of employment
of the child.
On termination of the employment, the certificate shall, except
where it has been cancelled under the provisions of section one
hundred and eighteen, be surrendered by the employer to the
child or its parent, guardian or custodian.
$ [71].? 07. Employment certificate, how issued. [Such] The
employment certificate required in section one hundred and six
shall be issued by the commissioner of health or the executive
officer of the board or department of health of the city, town or
tillage where such child resides, or is to be employed, or by such
other officer thereof as may be designated by such board, depart-
ment or commissioner for that purpose, upon the application of
the parent, [or] guardian or custodian of the child desiring
[such] employment. Such officer shall not issue [such] the
certificate until he has received, examined, approved and filed the
following papers duly executed : [viz. : The school record of such
child properly filled out and signed as provided in this article ;
also, evidence of age showing that the child is fourteen years old
or upwards, which shall consist of the evidence thereof provided
in one of the following subdivisions of this section and which
shall be required in the order herein designated as follows:
(a) Birth certificate: A duly attested transcript of the birth
certificate filed according to law with a registrar of vital statistics
or other officer charged with the duty of recording births, which
certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the age of such child.
PROPOSED HECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 461
(b) Certificate of graduation : A certificate of graduation duly
issued to such child showing that such child is a graduate of a
public school of the state of New York or elsewhere, having a
course of not less than eight years, or of a school in the state of
'New York other than a public school, having a substantially
equivalent course of study of not less than eight years' duration,
in which a record of the attendance of such child has been kept
as required by article twenty of the education law, provided that
the record of such school shows such child to be at least fourteen
years of age.
(c) Passport or baptismal certificate: A passport or a duly
attested transcript of a certificate of baptism showing the date of
birth and place of baptism of such child.
(d) Other documentary evidence: In case it shall appear to
the satisfaction of the officer to whom application is made, as
herein provided, for an employment certificate, that a child for
whom such certificate is requested, and who has presented the
school record, is in fact over fourteen years of age, and that
satisfactory documentary evidence of age can be produced, which
does not fall within any of the provisions of the preceding sub-
divisions of this section, and that none of the papers mentioned
in said subdivision can be produced, then and not otherwise he
shall present to the board of health of which he is an officer or
agent, for its action thereon, a statement signed by him showing
such facts, together with such affidavits or papers as may have
been produced before him constituting such evidence of the age
of such child, and the board of health, at a regular meeting thereof,
may then, by resolution, provide that such evidence of age shall
be fully entered on the minutes of such board, and shall be re-
ceived as sufficient evidence of the age of such child for the pur-
pose of this section.
(e) Physicians' certificates: In cities of the first class only, in
case application for the issuance of an employment certificate shall
be made to such officer by a child's parent, guardian or custodian
who alleges his inability to produce any of the evidence of age
specified in the preceding subdivisions of this section, and if the
child is apparently at least fourteen years of age, such officer may
receive and file an application signed by the parent, guardian or
custodian of such child for physicians' certificates. Such applica-
tion shall contain the alleged age, place and date of birth, and
4G2 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
present residence of such child, together with such further facts
as may be of assistance in determining the age of such child.
Such application shall be filed for not less than ninety days after
date of such application for such physicians' certificates, for an
examination to be made of the statements contained therein, and
in case no facts appear within such period or by such examination
tending to discredit or contradict any material statement of such
application, then and not otherwise the officer may direct such
child to appear thereafter for physical examination before two
physicians officially designated by the board of health, and in
case such physicians shall certify in writing that they have sepa-
rately examined such child and that in their opinion such child
is at least fourteen years of age such officer shall accept such
certificates as sufficient proof of the age of such child for the pur-
poses of this section. In case the opinions of such physicians
do not concur, the child shall be examined by a third physician
and the concurring opinions shall be conclusive for the purpose
of this section as to the age of such child.
Such officer shall require the evidence of age specified in sub-
division (a) in preference to that specified in any subsequent
subdivision and shall not accept the evidence of age permitted
by any subsequent subdivision unless he shall receive and file in
addition thereto an affidavit of the parent showing that no evi-
dence of age specified in any preceding subdivision or subdivisions
of this section can be produced. Such affidavit shall contain the
age, place and date of birth, and present res^^^e of such child,
which affidavit must be taken before the officer issuing the em-
ployment certificate, who is hereby authorized and required to
administer such oath and who shall not demand or receive a fee
therefor. Such employment certificate shall not be issued until
such child further has personally appeared before and been ex-
amined by the officer issuing the certificate, and until such officer
shall, after making such examination, sign and file in his office a
statement that the child can read and legibly write simple sen-
tences in the English language and that in his opinion the child
is fourteen years of age or upwards and has reached the normal
development of a child of its age, and is in sound health and is
physically able to perform the work which it intends to do. Every
such employment certificate shall be signed, in the presence of the
officer issuing the same, by the child in whose name it is issued.
In every case, before an employment certificate is issued, such
PEOPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 463
physical fitness shall be determined by a medical officer of the
department or board of health, who shall make a thorough physical
examination of the child and record the result thereof on a blank
to be furnished for the purpose by the state commissioner of labor
and shall set forth thereon such facts concerning the physical con-
dition and history of the child as the commissioner of labor may
require.]
1. The evidence of age of the child.
2. The record of the physical examination of the child.
3. The child's school record certificate issued as provided in
section six hundred and thirty of the education law.
108. Evidence of age. The evidence of age shall show that the
child is over the age of fourteen years, and shall be as provided in
one of the following subdivisions:
1. Birth certificate. A duly attested transcript of the birth
certificate filed according to laiv with a registrar of vital statistics
or other officer charged with the duty of recording births.
2. Certificate of graduation. A certification of graduation
showing that such child is a graduate of a public school having
a course of not less than eight years, or of a school in the state
of New York other than a public school, having a substantially
equivalent course of study of not less than eight years, in which
a record of the attendance of such child has been kept as required
by article twenty of the education law.
3. Passport or baptismal certificate. A passport or a duly
attested transcript of a certificate of baptism.
4. Other documentary evidence. If the child, for whom an ap-
plication for an employment certificate is made, is apparently
over the age of fourteen years and has presented his school record
certificate, and if satisfactory documentary evidence of age
can be produced which does not fall within any of the pre-
ceding subdivisions of this section, the officer issuing employment
certificates shall present to the board of health of which he is an
officer or agent, a statement signed by him showing such facts,
together with such papers as may have been received by him con-
stituting such evidence. The commissioner of health or the exec-
utive officer of the board or department of health may then accept
such evidence as sufficient as to the age of such child, and such
evidence shall be fully entered on the minutes of the board at the
next meeting thereof.
464 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
5. Physicians certificates. In cities of the first class only,
if the child,, for ivhom an application for an employment certificate
is made, is apparently over the age of fourteen years the officer
issuing employment certificates may receive and file an applica-
tion signed by the parent,, guardian or custodian of such child for
physicians' certificates. The application for physicians' certifi-
cates shall contain the name, place and date of birth, and resi-
dence of the child, together with such further facts as may be of
assistance in determining the age of such child, and shall remain
on file for not less than ninety days. An examination shall be
made of the statements contained therein, and if no facts appear
within such period or by such examination tending to discredit
or contradict any material statement in the application, the officer
shall direct the child to appear thereafter for physical examination
before two physicians designated by the board of health. If the
physicians certify in writing that they have separately examined
the child and that in their opinion the child is over the age of
fourteen years such certificates shall be sufficient evidence as to the
age of such child. If the opinions of the physicians do not con-
cur, the child shall be examined by a third physician designated
by the board of health and the concurring opinions shall be suffi-
cient evidence as to the age of such child.
The officer issuing employment certificates shall require the
evidence of age in the order hereinabove designated and shall not
accept the evidence permitted by any subdivision, other than sub-
division one, unless he receives and files in addition thereto an
affidavit of the parent, guardian or custodian of the child stating
that no evidence specified m any preceding subdivision can be
produced. Such affidavit shall contain the name, place and date
of birth, and residence of the child, and shall be taken before the
officer issuing the employment certificate, who is hereby au-
thorized and required to administer such oath and who shall not
demand or receive a fee therefor.
109. Physical examination before issuance of employment
certificate. A medical officer of the department or board of health
shall make a thorough physical examination of every child for
whom un application for an employment certificate is made. He
shall record the result of such examination and such other facts
concerning the child's physical condition and history as the com-
missioner may require on blanks to be prepared and furnished by
the commissioner, and shall sign the record so made. The medical
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 465
officer shall file such record with the officer issuing employment
certificates, and no employment certificate shall be issued unless
such record states that the child is normally developed for a child
of its age and is in sound health and physically fit to work.
110. Examination by officer issuing employment certificates.
No employment certificate shall be issued for any child unless
the child has personally appeared before and been examined by
the officer issuing the certificate, and unless such officer has, after
making the examination, signed and filed in his office a statement
that in his opinion the child is over the age of fourteen years
and has reached the normal development of a child of its age,
and is in sound health and is physically fit to work, and that it
can read 'and legibly write simple sentences in the English lan-
guage.
[72] 111. Contents of employment certificate. [Such] The
employment certificate shall contain the name, sex, nationality,
[state] the date and place of birth, [of the child, and describe the
color of the hair and eyes,] the height and weight, the color of hair
and eyes and any distinguishing [facial] physical marks of
[such] the child and shall certify that the papers required by [the
preceding] section one hundred and seven have been duly ex-
amined, approved and filed and that the child named in such
certificate has appeared before the officer signing the certificate
and been examined. It shall bear the date of its issue, and shall
be signed by the officer issuing it and, in his presence, by the
child for whom it is issued.
[75] 112. Supervision over issuance of employment certifi-
cates. [The board or department of health or health commissioner
of a city, village or town,] The officer issuing employment certifi-
cates shall transmit, [between the first and] on or before the tenth
day of each month, to the commissioner [of labor,] a list of the
names of all children [to] for whom certificates have been issued
during the preceding month, together with a duplicate [of the] rec-
ord of [every] all physical examinations [as to the physical fit-
ness,] made under section one hundred and nine including ex-
aminations resulting in rejection. In cities of the first and second
class all employment certificates and school record|[s] certificates
required [under the provisions of] by this chapter shall be in
[such] a form [as shall be] approved by the commissioner, [of
466 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
labor.] [In towns, villages or cities other 1 than cities of the first
or second class, the commissioner of labor shall prepare and fur-
nish blank forms for such employment certificates and school
records.] and elsewhere they shall be on blank forms prepared
and furnished by him. No [school record or] employment cer-
tificate or school record certificate required by this '[article,]
chupter, other than those approved or furnished by the commis-
sioner [of labor] as above provided, shall be used. The com-
missioner [of labor] shall inquire into the administration and
enforcement of the provisions of this article by all public officers
charged with the duty of issuing employment certificates, and for
that purpose the commissioner [of labor] shall have access to
all papers and records required to be kept by all such officers.
[76.]^ 13. Regist[ry]ers of children employed. [Each per-
son owning or operating a factory and employing children therein
shall keep or cause to be kept in the office of such factory, a
register, in which shall be recorded the name, birthplace, age and
place of residence of all children so employed under the age of
sixteen years. Such register and the certificate filed in such office
shall be produced for inspection upon the demand of the commis-
sioner of labor. On termination of the employment of a child so
registered, and whose certificate is so filed, said certificate shall be
forthwith surrendered by the employer to the child or its parent or
guardian or custodian. The commissioner of labor may make
demand on an employer in whose factory a child apparently under
the age of sixteen years is employed or permitted or suffered to
work, and whose employment certificate is not then filed as re-
quired by this article, that such employer shall either furnish him,
within ten days, evidence satisfactory to him that such child is
in fact over sixteen years of age, or shall cease to employ or per-
mit or suffer such child to work in such factory. The commis-
sioner of labor may require from such employer the same evidence
of age of such child as is required on the issuance of an employ-
ment certificate ; and the employer furnishing such evidence shall
not be required to furnish any further evidence of the age of the
child. A notice embodying such demand may be served on such
employer personally or may be sent by mail addressed to him at
said factory, and if served by post shall be deemed to have been
served at the time when the letter containing the same would be
delivered in the ordinary course of the post. When the employer
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 467
is a corporation such notice may be served either personally upon
an officer of such corporation, or by sending it by post addressed
to the office or the principal place of business of such corporation.
The papers constituting such evidence of age furnished by the
employer in response to such demand shall be filed with the com-
missioner of labor and a material false statement made in any such
paper or affidavit by any person shall be a misdemeanor. In case
such employer shall fail to produce and deliver to the commis-
sioner of labor within ten days after such demand such evidence
of age herein required by him, and shall thereafter continue to
employ such child or permit or suffer such child to work in such
factory, proof of the giving of such notice and of such failure to
produce and file such evidence shall be prima facie evidence in any
prosecution brought for a violation of this article that such child
is under sixteen years of age and is unlawfully employed.] The
employer of children for whom employment certificates have
been issued shall keep a register which shall contain the name,
sex, nationality,, date and place of birth, and place of residence
of every child so employed. The register and the employment
certificate kept on file in accord with section one hundred and
six shall be produced for inspection upon the demand of the com-
missioner.
114- Employment of children apparently under the age of
sixteen years. 1. If any child, apparently under the age of six-
teen years, is employed in or in connection with or for any factory,
or in or in connection with any mercantile or other establishment
or business specified in section one hundred and five and no em-
ployment certificate for such child is on file with the employer,
the commissioner may demand that the employer of such child
shall furnish within ten days after demand evidence satisfactory
to the commissioner that the child is over the age of sixteen years,
or that he shall cease to employ the child. The commissioner may
require the age of the child to be established in the manner pre-
scribed in section one hundred and eight, and the employer fur-
nishing evidence in such manner shall not be required to furnish
any further evidence of the age of the child. The papers con-
stituting such evidence shall be filed with the commissioner.
2. The demand for evidence may be served personally upon the
employer or, if the employer is a corporation, upon an officer
thereof, or it may be sent by mail addressed to the employer at the
468 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
factory or mercantile or other establishment or, if the employer
is a corporation, addressed to the office or principal place of busi-
ness thereof. If it is sent by mail, it shall be deemed to have been
served at the time when the letter containing the same would be
delivered in the ordinary course of the mail.
3. If the employer fails to furnish such evidence within ten
days after demand, and, after such ten days, continues to employ
the child in or in connection with or for any factory, or in or in
connection with any mercantile or other establishment or business
specified in section one hundred and five, proof of the service of
the demand and of the failure to furnish such evidence shall, in
any prosecution brought for a violation of this article, be prima
facie evidence that such child is under the age of sixteen years
and is unlawfully employed.
[9 3] 1 15. Prohibited employment of [women and] children
and females. 1. ~No child under the age of sixteen years shall be
employed [or permitted to work] in operating or assisting in
operating any of the following machines:
a. |[c] Circular or band saws, woodshapers, wood jointers,
planers, sandpaper or woodpolishing machinery;
b. [p]Picker machines or machines used in picking wool,
cotton, hair or any upholstery material;
c. [p]Paper lace machines;
d. [b]Purnishing machines in any tannery or leather |[manu-]
factory ;
e. [j]/ob or cylinder printing presses having motive power
other than foot;
/. [w] Wood-turning or boring machinery ;
g. |[d]Drill presses;
h. [m]lfetal or paper cutting machines;
i. [c] Corner staying machines in paper box factories;
j. [s]$tamping machines used in sheet metal and tinware
manufacturing or in washer and nut factories ;
~k. [m] Machines used in making corrugating rolls;
I. [s]$team boilers;
m. [d]Dough brakes or cracker machinery [of any descrip-
tion] ;
n. |[w]Wire or iron straightening machinery;
o. [r]Polling mill machinery;
p. [p] Power punches or shears;
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 469
q. [w] Washing, grinding or mixing machinery;
r. c]<7alendar rolls in rubber manufacturing;
s. [or IJZaundering machinery; [or in operating or assisting
in operating]
t. [a] Any other |[machines or]' machinery [which may be]
found by the industrial board to be dangerous and so
specified [as such from time to time] in its rules [and
regulations adopted by such board].
2. No child under the age of sixteen years shall be employed
[or permitted to work at] in:
a. [a]Adjusting or assisting in adjusting any belt to any ma-
chinery ;
b. [o] Oiling or assisting in oiling, wiping or cleaning ma-
chinery ;
[or in any capacity in]
c. [p]Preparing any composition in which dangerous or
poisonous acids are used ; |[or in]
d. [The manufacture] Manufacturing or packing [of] paints,
dry colors, or red or white lead; [or]
e. |[d]iZ7ipping or dyeing matches; [or in]
/. [The manufacture,] Manufacturing, packing or storing
[of] powder, dynamite, nitroglycerine compounds, fuses,
or other explosives; |[or in]
g. [o]0r about any distillery, brewery, or any other establish-
ment where malt or alcoholic liquors are manufactured,
packed, wrapped, or bottled ; [and]
3. No female under the age of sixteen shall be employed [or
permitted to work] in any capacity where such employment com-
pels her to remain standing constantly.
4. No child under the age of sixteen years shall be employed [or
permitted] to have the care[, custody] or management of or to
operate an elevator either for freight or passengers. No person
under the age of eighteen years shall be employed [or permitted]
to have the carej[, custody] or management of or to operate an
elevator either for freight or passengers running at a speed of
over two hundred feet a minute.
5. No male [person] under the age of eighteen years [or
woman] nor any female under twenty-one years of age shall be
[permitted or directed] employed or directed to clean machinery
while it is in motion.
470 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
6. No male [child] under the age of eighteen years, nor any
female, shall be employed in any factory [in this state]; in oper-
ating or using any emery, tripoli, rouge, corundum, stone, car-
borundum or '[any] other abrasive, or emery polishing or buffing
wheel, [where articles of the baser metals or of iridium are
manufactured :] in the manufacture of articles of the baser metals
or iridium.
7. No child under the uge of sixteen years shall be employed
in or in connection with any mine or quarry nor shall any female
be employed in any mine or quarry.
[3]5. In addition to the cases provided for in the foregoing
subdivisions, the industrial board, when as a result of its investi-
gations it finds that any particular trade, process of manufacture,
or occupation, or particular method of carrying on any trade,
process of manufacture, or occupation, is dangerous or injurious
to the health of minors under eighteen years of age employed
therein, [shall have power to] may adopt rules [and regulations]
prohibiting or regulating the employment of such minors therein.
[4. No female shall be employed or permitted to work in any
brass, iron or steel foundry, at or in connection with the making
of cores where the oven in which the cores are baked is located and
is in operation in the same room or space in which the cores are
made. The erection of a partition separating the oven from the
space where the cores are made shall not be sufficient unless the
said partition extends from the floor to the ceiling, and the parti-
tion is so constructed and arranged, and any openings therein so
protected that the gases and fumes from the core oven will not
enter the room or space in which the women are employed. The
industrial board shall have power to adopt rules and regulations
regulating the construction, equipment, maintenance and opera-
tion of core rooms and the size and weight of cores that may be
handled by women, so as to protect the health and safety of women
employed in core rooms.]
116. Employment of females in core-rooms. No female shall
be employed in any foundry, at or in connection with the making
of cores where the oven in which the cores are baked is located and
is in operation in the same room or space in which the cores are
made. The erection of a partition separating the oven from the
space where the cores are made shall not be sufficient unless the
partition extends from the floor to the ceiling, and the partition is
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 471
so constructed and arranged, and any openings therein so protected
that the gases and fumes from the core oven will not enter the room
or space in which the women are employed. The industrial board
shall adopt rules regulating the construction, equipment, mainte-
nance and operation of core-rooms and the size and weight of cores
that may be handled by women.
[93-a] 117. Prohibited [E] employment of females after
childbirth [prohibited]. [It shall be unlawful for the] No
owner, proprietor, manager, foreman or other person in authority
[of] in any factory, or mercantile establishment[, mill or
workshop to] shall knowingly employ a female or permit a female
to be employed therein within four weeks after she has given
birth to a child.
[76-a] 118. Physical examination of children [in factories;
cancellation of employment certificates.] employed. 1. [All
children] Whenever required by the commissioner, every child be-
tween the ages of fourteen and sixteen years '[of age] employed
in [factories] establishments specified in section one hundred
and five for whom an employment certificate has been issued
shall submit to a physical examination [whenever required] by
a medical inspector of the [state] department [of labor]. The
result of [all] such [physical] examinations shall be recorded
on blanks [furnished for that purpose by the commissioner of
labor,] and [shall be] kept on file in [such office or offices of]
the department [as the commissioner of labor may designate].
2. If any such child [shall]' fails to submit to such [physical]
examination, or if on examination the inspector finds the child
physically unfit to be employed in the work in which he is engaged
and submits a report to that effect which shall be kept on file in
the department, the commissioner [of labor] may issue an
order cancelling [such] the child's employment certificate. Such
order shall be served upon the child's employer [of such child]
who shall forthwith deliver to [an authorized representative of]
the department [of labor] the child's employment certificate. A
certified copy of the order [of cancellation] shall be served on
the board of health or other local authority that issued the
[said] certificate. [No such child whose employment certificate
has been cancelled, as aforesaid, shall, while said cancellation re-
mains unrevoked, be permitted or suffered to work in any factory
of the state before it attains the age of sixteen years.]
472 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOK LAW.
3. If [thereafter] such child '[shall] subsequently submits to
the physical examination required, [the commissioner of labor
may issue an order revoking the cancellation of the employment
certificate and may return the employment certificate to such child.
Copies of the order of revocation shall be served upon the former
employer of the child and the local board of health as aforesaid. 3.
If as a result of the physical examination made by a medical in-
spector it appears that the child is physically unfit to be employed
in a factory, such medical inspector shall forthwith submit a report
to that effect to the commissioner of labor which shall be kept on
file in the office of the commissioner of labor, setting forth in de-
tail his reasons therefor, and the commissioner of labor may issue
an order cancelling the employment certificate of such child. Such
order of cancellation shall be served, and the child's employment
certificate delivered up, as provided in subdivision two thereof, and
no such child while the said order of cancellation remains unre-
voked shall be permitted or suffered to work in any factory of the
state before it attains the age of sixteen years.] or if upon a subse-
quent physical examination of the child [by a medical] the in-
spector [of the department of labor it appears] finds that the phys-
ical infirmities have been removed, [such medical inspector shall
certify to that effect to the commissioner of labor, and] the com-
missioner [of labor] may [thereupon make] file in the depart-
ment an order revoking [the] such cancellation [of the employ-
ment certificate] and may return the certificate to such child. A
certified copy of the order [of revocation] shall be served [in the
manner provided in subdivision two hereof.] on the board of
health or other local authority that issued the certificate.
1-19. Physical examination of females. Whenever a female is
required to submit to a physical examination by a physician or sur-
geon, except under the provisions of sections one hundred and
eight and one hundred and nine she shall be entitled to have the
examination made by a person of her own sex. No employer shall
require or attempt to require a female to submit to physical
nation by a person not of her own sex.
Seats for female employees. [Every person em-
ploying females in a factory or as waitresses in a hotel or restau-
rant shall provide and maintain suitable seats, with proper backs
where practicable, for the use of such female employees, and
permit the use thereof by such employees to such an extent as
PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 473
may be reasonable for the preservation of their health. Where
females are engaged in work which can be properly performed
in a sitting posture, suitable seats, with backs where practicable,
shall be supplied in every factory for the use of all such female
employees and permitted to be used at such work. The industrial
board may determine when seats, with or without backs, are neces-
sary and the number thereof.] A sufficient number of chairs,
stools or other suitable seats, with backs where practicable,
shall be provided and maintained in every factory, mercantile
establishment, hotel and restaurant for the use of the female em-
ployees therein, who shall be allowed to use the seats to such an
extent as may be reasonable for the preservation of their health.
In factories, female employees shall be allowed to utc such seats
whenever they are engaged in work which can be properly per-
formed in a sitting posture. In mercantile establishments, at
least one seat shall be provided for every three female employees
and if the duties of such employees ure to be principally per-
formed in front of a counter, table, desk or fixture, such seats
shall be placed in front thereof, or if such duties are to be prin-
cipally performed behind such table, desk or fixture, such seats
shall be placed behind the same.
ARTICLE 5.
HOURS OF LABOR.
TITLE I. GENERAL.
Section 125. Hours to constitute a day's work.
126. Brickyards.
127. Street railroads.
128. Steam and other railroads.
129. Signalmen.
130. Messengers.
131. Time allowed for meals.
132. One day of rest in seven.
TITLE II. FACTORIES.
Section 135. Children under sixteen.
136. Males "between sixteen and eighteen.
187. Females over sixteen.
138. Females over eighteen in canneries.
139. Period of rest at night for women.
140. Enforcement of this title.
474 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
TITLE III. MERCANTILE AND OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS.
Section 142. Children under sixteen.
J43. Females over sixteen.
TITLE I. GENERAL.
125. Hours to constitute a day's work. Unless otherwise
provided l>y law, the following number of hours shall constitute
a legal day's work:
1. For street surface and elevated railroad employees affected
by section one hundred and twenty-seven,, ten consecutive hours,
including one-half hour for dinner.
2. For employees engaged in the operation of steam or electric
surface, subway or elevated railroads where the mileage system of
running trains is not in use, except those employees affected by
section one hundred and twenty-nine, ten hours, performed within
twelve consecutive hours.
3. For all other employees, except those engaged in farm or
domestic service and those affected by subdivision four of section
one hundred and fifty, eight hours.
This section does not prevent an ugreement for overwork at an
increased compensation, except upon work by or for the state or
a municipal corporation, or by contractors or subcontractors there-
with.
Hours of labor in brickyards. Ten hours, exclu-
sive of the necessary time for meals, shall constitute a legal day's
work in the making of brick in brickyards owned or operated by
corporations. No corporation owning or operating such brickyard
shall require employees to work more than ten hours in any one
day, or to commence work before seven o'clock in the morning.
But overwork and work prior to seven o'clock in the morning for
extra compensation may be performed by agreement between em-
ployer and employee.
[6] 127. [Hours of labor on s] Street [surface and ele-
vated] railroads. [Ten consecutive hours' labor, including one-
half hour for dinner, shall constitute a day's labor in the opera-
tion of all street surface and elevated railroads, of whatever
motive power, owned or operated by corporations in this state,
whose main line of travel, or whose routes lie principally within
the corporate limits of cities of the first and second class. No
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 475
employees of any such corporation shall be permitted or allowed
to work more than ten consecutive hours, including one-half hour
for dinner, in any one day of twenty-four hours. In cases of
accident or unavoidable delay, extra labor may be performed for
extra compensation.] Except in cases of accident or unavoid-
able delay, no employee engaged in the operation of & street sur-
face or elevated railroad of whatever motive power, owned or
operated by a corporation, whose main line or route of travel lies
principally within a city of the first or second class, shall be em-
ployed more than ten consecutive hours, including one-half hour
for dinner, in uny day.
[7] 128. [Regulation of hours of labor on s]$team [surface]
and other railroads. [Ten hours' labor, performed within twelve
consecutive hours, shall constitute a legal day's labor in the opera-
tion of steam surface, electric, subway and elevated railroads
operated within the state, except where the mileage system of run-
ning trains is in operation.] 1. No person or corporation oper-
ating any [such] steam or electric surface, subway or elevated
railroad of thirty miles or more in length, [or over, in whole or in
part] wholly or partly within this state, except where the mileage
system of running trains is in operation, shall permit or require
any conductor, engineer, fireman, trainman, motorman or assistant
motorman, engaged in or connected with the movement of any
train on [any] such railroad, to be or remain on duty for a longer
period than sixteen consecutive hours. [, and w] When ever any
such [conductor, engineer, fireman, trainman, motorman or assist-
ant motorman] employee shall have been continuously on duty for
sixteen hours he shall be relieved and not required or permitted
again to go on duty until he has had at least ten consecutive hours
off duty, [and n]7Vo such [conductor, engineer, fireman, train-
man, motorman or assistant motorman] employee who has been
on duty sixteen hours in the aggregate in any twenty-four hour
period shall be required or permitted to continue or again go on
duty without having had at least eight consecutive hours off duty.
[, except]
2. This section does not apply to any such employee when
(a) by casualty occurring after he [has] started on his trip,
[and except when] or (b) by unknown casualty occurring before
he started on his trip, or (c) by accident to or unexpected delay
of trains scheduled to make connection with the train on which he
is serving, he is prevented from reaching his terminal. [The
476 PROPOSED KE CODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW,
commissioner of labor shall appoint a sufficient number of in-
spectors to enforce the provisions of this section.]
[8] 129. [Regulation of hours of labor of block system tele-
graph and telephone operators and s] /Signalmen, [on surface, sub-
way and elevated railroads. The provisions of section seven of this
chapter shall not be applicable to employees mentioned herein. It
shall be unlawful for any corporation or receiver, operating a line
of railroad, either surface, subway or elevated, in whole or in part
in the state of New York, or any officer, agent or representative of
such corporation or receiver to require or permit any telegraph or
telephone operator who spaces trains by the use of the telegraph
or telephone under what is known and termed the " block system "
(defined as follows) : Reporting trains to another office or offices
or to a train dispatcher operating one or more trains under signals,
and telegraph or telephone levermen who manipulate interlocking
machines in railroad yards or on main tracks out on the lines or
train dispatchers in its service whose duties substantially, as
hereinbefore set forth, pertain to the movement of cars, engines or
trains on its railroad by the use of the telegraph or telephone in
dispatching or reporting trains or receiving or transmitting train
orders as interpreted in this section, to be on duty for more than
eight hours in a day of twenty-four hours, and it is hereby declared
that eight hours shall constitute a day of employment for all
laborers or employees engaged in the kind of labor aforesaid ; ex-
cept in cases of extraordinary emergency caused by accident, fire,
flood or danger to life or property, and for each hour of labor so
performed in any one day in excess of such eight hours, by any
such employee, he shall be paid in addition at least one-eighth of
his daily compensation. Any person who is employed as signal-
man, towerman, gateman, telegraph or telephone operator in a
railroad signal tower or public railroad station to receive or trans-
mit a telegraphic or telephonic message or train order for the
movement of trains and who works eight hours or more in any
twenty-four each and every day continuously, and all gatemen so
employed must have at least two days of twenty-four hours each
in every calendar month for rest with the regular compensation ;
subject to the foregoing provisions relating to extra service in cases
of emergency. Any person or persons, company or corporation,
who shall violate any of the provisions of this section, shall, on
conviction, be fined in the sum of not less than one hundred dollars,
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 477
and such fine shall he recovered by an action in the name of the
state of New York, for the use of the state, which shall sue for it
against such person, corporation or association violating this sec-
tion, said suit to be instituted in any court in this state having
appropriate jurisdiction. Such fine, when recovered as aforesaid,
shall be paid without any deduction whatever, one-half thereof to
the informer, and the balance thereof to be paid into the free school
fund of the state of New York. The provisions of this section
shall not apply to any part of a railroad where not more than
eight regular passenger trains in twenty-four hours pass each way ;
provided, moreover, that where twenty freight trains pass each
way generally in each twenty-four hours then the provisions of
this section shall apply, notwithstanding that there may pass a
less number of passenger trains than hereinbefore set forth, namely
eight]
1. The term " signalman " when used in this section means:
a. A telegraph or telephone operator who reports trains to an-
other office or to a train dispatcher operating one or more
trains under signals-
b. A telegraph or telephone leverman who manipulates inter-
locking machines in railroad yards or on main tracks out
on the lines.
c. A train dispatcher whose duties pertain to the movement of
cars, engines or trains, by use of the telegraph or telephone
in dispatching or reporting trains or receiving or trans-
mitting train orders.
2. The term " railroad " when used in this section means any
portion of a surface, subway or elevated railroad situated wholly
or partly in this state and operated by a corporation or receiver
on which portion at least twenty freight trains on the average or
nine regular passenger trains pass each way in every twenty-four
hours.
3. No signalman shall be employed on any railroad for more
than eight hours in any day except in cases of extraordinary
emergency caused by accident, fire, flood or danger to life or prop-
erty and he shall be paid for each hour of such overtime at least
one-eighth of his daily compensation.
4- Every signalman and every towerman or gateman performing
duties similar to those of a signalman, who is employed for eight
4Y8 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
hours or more every day shall be allowed at least two days of rest
of twenty-four hours each in every calendar month with the
regular compensation, except in cases of extraordinary emer-
gency caused by accident, fire, flood, or danger to life or property.
[161-a.] 130. [Hours of l?bor of m] Messengers. In cities
of the first or second class no person under the age of twenty-one
years shall be employed [or permitted to work] as a messenger
for a telegraph or messenger company in the distribution, trans-
mission or delivery of goods or messages before five o'clock in
the morning or after ten o'clock in the evening [of any day].
[89] 131. Time allowed for meals. Every person employed
in [each] or in connection with any factory, mercantile or other
establishment specified in section one hundred and five shall be
allowed at least sixty minutes [shall be allowed] for the noonday
meal, unless the commissioner [of labor] shall permit a shorter
time. Such permit [must] shall be in writing and shall be kept
conspicuously posted in the main entrance of the [factory] estab-
lishment [and] but it may be revoked at any time. Where
[employees are required or permitted to work] any person is em-
ployed overtime [for more than one hour] after [six] seven
o'clock in the evening, [they], he shall be allowed at least twenty
minutes to obtain a lunch, before beginning to work overtime.
[8-a] 132. One day of rest in seven. 1. Every employer [of
labor engaged in carrying on any] operating a factory or mercan-
tile establishment [in this state] shall allow every person, except
those specified in subdivision two, employed in or in connection
with such factory or mercantile establishment at least twenty-four
consecutive hours of rest in every seven consecutive days. No em-
ployer shall operate any such factory or mercantile establishment
on Sunday unless he [shall have] has complied with subdivision
three. [Provided, however, that t]This section [shall] does not
authorize any work on Sunday not now or hereafter authorized by
law.
2. [This section shall not apply to
(a) Janitors;
(b) Watchmen;
(c) Employees whose duties include not more than three hours'
work on Sunday in (1) setting sponges in bakeries; (2) caring
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 479
for live animals; (3) maintaining fires; (4) necessary repairs to
boilers or machinery.
(d) Superintendents or foremen in charge.] This section does
not apply to males over the age of eighteen years employed as
janitors, watchmen, superintendents or foremen in charge, nor
to male employees over the age of eighteen years whose duties in-
clude not more than three hours' work on Sunday in (a) setting
sponges in bakeries; (b) caring for live animals; (c) maintaining
fires, (d) making necessary repairs to boilers or machinery.
3. Before operating on Sunday, every employer shall post in a
conspicuous place on the premises a schedule containing a list of
his employees who are required or allowed to work on Sunday
and designating the day of rest for each, and shall file a copy of
such schedule with the commissioner [of labor]. The employer
shall promptly file with the [said] commissioner a copy of every
change in such schedule. No [employee] person shall be [re-
quired or allowed to work] employed on the day of rest so desig-
nated for him.
4. Every employer shall keep a time-book, in a form approved
by the commissioner, showing the names and addresses of all em-
ployees and the hours worked by each of them in each day[, and
such time-book shall be open to inspection by the commissioner
of labor].
5. The industrial board at any time when the preservation of
property, life or health requires, may except specific cases for
specified periods from the provisions of this act by written orders
which shall be recorded as public records.
TITLE II. FACTORIES.
135. Children under sixteen. No child under the age of six-
teen years shall be employed in or in connection with a factory
before eight o'clock in the morning, or after five o'clock in the
evening or more than eight hours in any day, or more than six
days in any week.
136. Males between sixteen and eighteen. No male over the
age of sixteen years and under the age of eighteen years shall be
employed in a factory, except in canning or preset i fnjy perishable
products between the fifteenth day of June and the fifteenth day of
October in each year,
480 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
(a) More than six days or fifty-four hours in any week;
(b) More than nine hours in any day, except that he may be
employed not more than ten hours in any day,
(1) Regularly on not more than five days a week in order
to make a short day or holiday on one of the six working
days of the week; or
(2) Irregularly on not more than three days a week.
In no case shall such person be employed between the hours of
twelve midnight and four o'clock in the morning.
137. Females over sixteen. No female over the age of sixteen
years shall be employed in a factory, except as provided in section
one hundred and thirty-eight,
(a) More than six days or fifty-four hours in any week;
(b) More than nine hours in any day, except that she may be
employed not more than ten hours in any day,
(1) Regularly on not more than five days a week in order
to make a short day or holiday on one of the six working days
of the week; or
(#) Irregularly on not more than three days a week.
In no case shall a female under the age of twenty-one years be
employed in a factory before six o'clock in the morning or after
nine o'clock in the evening.
C^ 8 3 1^8 [Exceptions] Females over eighteen in canneries.
[1. A female sixteen years of age or upwards and a male between
the ages of sixteen and eighteen may be employed in a factory
more than nine hours a day: (a) regularly in not to exceed five
days a week, in order to make a short day or holiday on one of
the six working days of the week; (b) irregularly in not to exceed
three days a week ; provided that no such person shall be required
or permitted to work more than ten hours in any one day or more
than fifty-four hours in any one week, and that the provisions of
the preceding section as to notice or time book be fully complied
with.
2. The provisions of subdivision two of section seventy-seven
relating to maximum hours shall not apply to the employment of
male minors sixteen years of age and upwards in canning or pre-
serving perishable products in fruit and canning establishments
between the fifteenth day of June and the fifteenth day of October
each year.
D RECODI^ICATIOW OF THK LABOR LAW. 481
3. A female eighteen years of age or upwards may, notwith-
standing the provisions of subdivision three of section seventy-
seven of this chapter, be employed in canning or preserving perish-
able products in fruit and canning establishments between the
fifteenth day of June and the fifteenth day of October in each
year not more than six days or sixty hours in any one week nor
more than ten hours in any one day ; and the industrial board shall
have power to adopt rules and regulations permitting the employ-
ment of women eighteen years of age and upwards on such work
in such establishments between the twenty-fifth day of June and
the fifth day of August in each year not more than six days nor
more than sixty-six hours in any one week nor more than twelve
hours in any one day, if said board shall find that such employ-
ment is required by the needs of such industry and can be per-
mitted without serious injury to the health of women so employed.
The provisions of this subdivision shall have no application unless
the daily hours of labor shall be posted for the information of
employees and a time book in a form approved by the commis-
sioner of labor, giving the names and addresses of all female em-
ployees and the hours of work by each of them in each day shall
be properly and correctly kept and shall be exhibited to him or
any of his subordinates promptly upon demand. No person shall
knowingly make or permit or suffer to be made a false entry in
any such time book.
4. In a prosecution for a violation of any provision of this or
of the preceding section the burden of proving a permit or excep-
tion shall be upon the party claiming it] A female over the
age of eigliteen years may be employed in canning or preserving
perishable products between ike fifteenth day of June and the
fifi^vmn day of October in each year not more than ten hours in
any day nor more than six days or sixty hours in any week, but
the industrial board may adopt rules permitting such employment
between the twenty-fifth day of June and the fifth day of August
in each year not more than twelve hours in any day nor more than
six days or sixty-six hours in any week, if it finds that such em-
ployment is required by the needs of the industry and can be per-
mitted without serious injury to the health of the women so em-
ployed.
482 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
[93-b]-/3P. Period of rest at night for women. In order to
protect the health and morals of females employed in factories by
providing an adequate period of rest at night no woman shall he
employed or permitted to wo-rk in any factory Jin this state]
before six o'clock in the morning or after ten o'clock in the even-
ing of any day.
[77 J -Z-40. [Hours of lahor of children, minors and women]
Enforcement of this title. [1. No child under the age of sixteen
years shall be employed or permitted to work in or in connection
with any factory in this state before eight o'clock in the morning,
or after five o'clock in the evening of any day, or for more than
eight hours in any one day, or more than six days in any one week.
2. No male minor under the age of eighteen years shall be em-
ployed or permitted to work in any factory in this state more than
six days or fifty-four hours in any one week, or for more than
nine hours in any one day, except as hereinafter provided ; nor
between the hours of twelve midnight and four o'clock in the
morning.
3. No female minor under the age of twenty-one years and no
woman shall be employed or permitted to work in any factory in
this state more than six days or fifty-four hours in any one week ;
nor for more than nine hours in any one day except as hereinafter
provided. No female minor under the age of twenty-one years
shall be employed or permitted to work in any factory in this state
before six o'clock in the morning or after nine o'clock in the even-
ing of any day.]
[4] 1. A [printed] notice, [in] on a [form which shall be]
blank furnished by the commissioner [of labor], stating the num-
ber of hours per day for each day of the week required of [such]
all persons subject to the provisions of this title,, and the time when
such work shall begin and end, shall be kept posted in a con-
spicuous place in each room where they are employed. [But such
persons may begin their work after the time for beginning and
stop before the time for ending such work, mentioned in such
notice, but they shall not otherwise be employed, permitted or
suffered to work in such factory except as stated therein.]
The terms of [such] the notice shall not be changed after the
beginning of labor on the first day of the week without the con-
sent of the commissioner [of labor]. The presence of any such
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 483
person[s] in the factory at any other hours than those stated in
the [printed] notice, or, if no such notice [be] is posted, before
seven o'clock in the morning or after six o'clock in the evening,
shall constitute prima facie evidence of a violation of [this] the
section relating to the hours of labor of such person.
[5] 2. In a factory wherein, owing to the nature of the work,
it is practically impossible to fix the hours of labor weekly in ad-
vance the commissioner [of labor], upon an [proper] applica-
tion stating facts showing the necessity therefor, shall grant a
permit dispensing with the notice [hereinbefore] required in
this section, [upon condition that]
3. In every factory operating under such a permit, or employ-
ing females under section one hundred und thirty-eight, a notice
stating the daily hours of labor shall be posted for the information
of employees and [that] a time book in a form to be approved by
[him]' the commissioner, giving the names and addresses of all
[[female] employees who are subject to this section, and the hours
worked by each of them in each day, shall be [properly and cor-
rectly] kept[, and shall be exhibited to him or any of his sub-
ordinates promptly upon demand. Such].
4. The permit shall be kept posted in [such] a conspicuous
place in [such] the factory, [as such commissioner may pre-
scribe, and may be revoked by such] The commissioner [at any
time] may revoke the permit for failure to [post] keep it or the
daily hours of labor posted, or to keep [or exhibit such] the time
book as herein provided.
[6]5. Where a female or male minor is employed in two or
more factories or mercantile establishments, or in one factory and
one mercantile establishment, in the same day or week the total
time of employment must not exceed that allowed per day or week
in a single factory or mercantile establishment; and any person
who shall require or permit a female to work in a factory between
the hours of six o'clock in the evening and seven o'clock in the
morning in violation of the provisions of this subdivision of this
section, with or without knowledge of the previous or other em-
ployment, shall be liable for a violation thereof.
6. In a prosecution for a violation of any provision of this
title the burden of proving a permit or exception shall be upon
the party claiming it.
484 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
TITLE III. MERCANTILE AND OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS.
[161. 114' [Hours of labor of minors.] Children under six-
teen. No child under the age of sixteen years shall be employed^,
permitted or suffered to work] in or in connection with any mer-
cantile establishment, business office, or telegraph office, restaurant,
hotel, apartment-house, theatre or other place of amusement,
bowling alley, barber shop, shoe-polishing establishment, or in the
distribution or transmission of merchandise, articles or messages,
or in the [distribution or] sale of articles [more than six days or
fifty-four hours in any one week, or more than nine hours in any
one day, or before eight o'clock in the morning or after seven
o'clock in the evening of any day. The foregoing provision shall
not apply to any employment prohibited or regulated by section
four hundred and eighty-five of the penal law. No female em-
ployee shall be required, permitted or suffered to work in or in
connection with any mercantile establishment in any second class
city more than fifty-four hours in any one week, and elsewhere
more than sixty hours in any one week ; or more than nine hours
in any one day in any second class city; or elsewhere more than
ten hours in any one day, unless for the purpose of making a
shorter work day of some one day of the week; or before seven
o'clock in the morning or after six o'clock in the evening of any
day in any second class city, or elsewhere after ten o'clock in the
evening of any day. This section does not apply to the employ-
ment of persons sixteen years of age or upward on Saturday, pro-
vided the total number of hours of labor in a week of any such
person does not exceed fifty-four hours in any second class city
or elsewhere sixty hours, nor to the employment of persons during
the five days preceding the twenty-fifth day of December in any
second class city, or elsewhere between the eighteenth day of
December and the following twenty-fourth day of December, both
inclusive. Not less than forty-five minutes shall be allowed for
the noonday meal of the employees of any such establishment.
Whenever any employee is employed or permitted to work after
seven o'clock in the evening, such employee shall be allowed at
least twenty minutes to obtain lunch or supper between five and
seven o'clock in the evening.]
(a) More than six days or forty-eight hours in any week;
(6) Before eight o'clock in the morning or after six o'clock "'ri
the evening;
(c) More than eight hours in any day.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 485
This section does not apply to any employment prohibited or
regulated by section four hundred and eighty-five of the penal
law.
143. Females over sixteen. Except from the eighteenth day
of December to the following twenty-fourth day of December, both
inclusive, no female over the age of sixteen years shall be employed
in or in connection with any mercantile establishment.
(a) More than six days or fifty-four hours in any week;
(b) Before seven o'clock in the morning or after ten o'clock
in the evening;
(c) More than nine hours in any day, except that she may be
employed more than nine hours per day in order to make a short
day or holiday of one of the six working days of the week.
ARTICLE 6.
PAYMENT OF WAGES.
Section 145. Cash payment of wages.
146. When wages are to be paid.
147. Assignment of future wages.
[10J./.45. Cash payment of wages. [Every manufac-
turing, mining, quarrying, mercantile, railroad, street railway,
canal, steamboat, telegraph and telephone company, every express
company, every corporation engaged in harvesting and storing ice,
and every water company, not municipal, and every person, firm
or corporation, engaged in or upon any public work for the state
or any municipal corporation thereof, either as a contractor or a
subcontractor therewith, shall pay to each employee engaged in
his, their or its business the wages earned by such employee in
cash. ~No such company, person, firm or corporation shall here-
after pay such employees in scrip, commonly known as store
money-orders. No person, firm or corporation engaged in carrying
on public work under contract with the state or with any munici-
pal corporation of the state, either as a contractor or subcontractor
therewith, shall, directly or indirectly, conduct or carry on what
is commonly known as a company store if there shall, at the time
be any store selling supplies, within two miles of the place where
such contract is being executed. Any person, firm or corporation
violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a mis-
486 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
demeanor.] 1. The following employers shall pay in cash to each
employee engaged in their respective businesses the wages earned
by such employee:
(a) Manufacturing, mining, quarrying, mercantile, railroad,
street railway, steamboat, canal, telegraph, telephone or express
corporations or joint-stock associations.
(b) Nonmunicipal water corporations or joint-stock associa-
tions.
(c) Corporations or joint-stock associations engaged in harvest-
ing or storing ice.
2. No such .employer shall pay such employees in scrip com-
monly known as store money-orders.
[11] ^tf. When wages are to be paid. 1. [Every corpora-
tion or joint-stock association, or person carrying on the business
thereof by lease or otherwise, shall pay weekly to each employee
the wages earned by him to a day not more than six days prior
to the date of such payment. But e]!Z?very '[person or] cor-
poration or joint-stock association operating a steam sur-
face railroad, or person carrying on the business thereof by
lease or otherwise shall, on or before the first day of each month,
pay [the] to each employee[s thereof] the wages earned by
[them] him during the first half of the preceding calendar month
ending with the fifteenth day thereof, and on or before the fifteenth
day of each month pay [the] to each employ ee[s thereof] the
wages earned by [them] him during the last half of the preceding
calendar month.
2. Every other corporation or joint-stock association, or person
carrying on the business thereof by lease or otherwise, shall pay
weekly to each employee the wages earned by him to a day not
more than six days prior to the date of such payment.
3. No person shall require from any employee as a condition
of employment any agreement to accept wages at other periods
than as provided in this section.
[13] 147. Assignment of future wages. No assignment of fu-
ture wages, [payable weekly, or monthly in case of a steam surface
railroad corporation,] affected by the provisions of section one
hundred and forty-six, shall be valid if made to the [corporation
or association from which such wages are to become due,] em-
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 487
ployer or to any person on [its] 1 behalf of the employer, or if
made or procured to be made to any person for the purpose of re-
lieving [such corporation OT association] tlie employer from the
railroad corporation] wages as provided by such section. Charges
obligation to pay [weekly, or monthly in case of a sleam surface
for groceries, provisions OT clothing shall not be a valid off-set
[for wages] in behalf of the employer against wages, [any such
corporation or association. ~No such corporation or association
shall require any agreement from any employees to accept wages
at any other periods than as provided in this article as a condition
of employment.]
ARTICLE 7.
PUBLIC WORK.
Section 150. Hours and wages.
151. Company stores.
152. Preference in employment of persons upon public
works.
153. Enforcement of article.
154- Proceedings for noncompliance.
[3] 150. [Hours to constitute a day's work] 1. Hours
and wages. [Eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work for
all classes of employees in this state except those engaged in farm
and domestic service unless otherwise provided by law. This sec-
tion does not prevent an agreement for over work at an increased
compensation except upon work by or for the state or a municipal
corporation, or by contractors or subcontractors therewith.] 1.
Each contract to which the state or a municipal corporation or a
commission appointed pursuant to law is a party which may in-
volve the employment of laborers, workmen or mechanics shall
contain a stipulation that no laborer, workmen or mechanic in the
employ of the contractor, subcontractor or other person doing
or contracting to do the whole or a part of the work contemplated
by the contract shall be permitted or required to work more than
eight hours in any [one calendar] day except in cases of extraor-
dinary emergency caused by fire, flood or danger to life or
property. No such person shall be employed more thun eight
hours in any day except in such emergency.
488 PROPOSED RECODIFICATIOX OF THE LABOR LAW.
2. The wages to be paid for such a [legal] day's work [as
hereinbefore defined] to all [classes of] such laborers, workmen
or mechanics upon all such public works, or upon any material to
be used upon or in connection therewith, shall not be less than
the prevailing rate for a day's work in the same trade or occupa-
tion in the locality within the state where such public work on,
about or in connection with which such labor is performed in its
final or completed form is to be situated, [erected or used ; nor
in any case, less than two dollars per day i] and shall ~be paid in
cash. If such [laborers, workmen or mechanics] persons are em-
ployed upon[, about] or in connection with the canals of the
state, or in tb^> construction[, enlargement] or improvement [of
canals] thereof, such wages shall be not less than tivo dollars a
day. Each such contract [hereafter made] shall contain a stipu-
lation that each such laborer, workman or mechanic, employed by
such contractor, subcontractor or other person [on,] about or
upon such public work, shall receive [such] the wages herein
provided for.
3. Each contract for such public work [hereafter made] shall
contain a provision that the same shall he void and of no effect
unless the person or corporation making or performing the same
shall comply with the provisions of this section ; and no such
person or corporation shall be entitled to receive any sum nor
shall any officer, agent or employee of the state or of a municipal
corporation pay the same or authorize its payment from the funds
under his charge or control to any such person or corporation for
work done upon any contract, which in its form or manner of
performance violates the provisions of this section, [but nothing
in t]"
4. This section shall [be construed to] not apply to
a. [s]$tationary firemen in state hospitals, [nor to]
b- [o] Other persons regularly employed in state institutions,
except mechanics, [nor shall it apply to]
c. [eJ-E'ngineers, electricians and elevator men in the depart-
ment of public buildings during the annual session of the legis-
lature, [nor to]
d. Employees engaged in the construction, maintenance and re-
pair of highways outside the limits of cities and villages.
PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 489
151. Company stores. No person engaged in carrying on
public work under contract with the state or with any municipal
corporation either as a contractor or subcontractor shall, directly
or indirectly, conduct what is commonly known as a company
store if there is any store selling supplies, within two miles of the
place where such contract is being executed.
[141] 152. Preference in employment of persons upon public
works. In the construction of public works by the state or a
municipality, only citizens of the United States shall be em-
ployed. [; and in all cases w] Where laborers are employed on any
such public works, preference shall be given citizens of the state of
New York. In each contract for the construction of public works
a provision shall be inserted to the effect that, if the provisions of
this section are not complied with, the contract shall be void. All
boards, officers, agents or employees of cities of the first class [of
the state,] having the power to enter into contracts which provide
for the expenditure of public money on public works, shall file in
the office of the commissioner [of labor] the names and addresses
of all contractors holding contracts with said cities [of the state].
[Upon the letting of new contracts the names and addresses of
such new contractors shall likewise be filed.] Upon the demand
of the commissioner [of labor] a contractor shall furnish a list of
the names and addresses of all subcontractors in his employ. Each
contractor performing work for any city of the first class shall
keep a list of his employees, [in which it shall be set forth] stating
whether they are naturalized or native born citizens of the United
States, together with, in case of naturalization, the date of natu-
ralization and the name of the court where such naturalization was
granted. [Such lists and records shall be open to the inspection of
the commissioner of laibor. A violation of this section shall con-
stitute a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of not less
than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or by im-
prisonment for not less than thirty days nor more than ninety
days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.]
$ [21]-? 53. [Commissioner of labor to eJ.E/nforcemen^ [pro-
visions] of article. [The commissioner of labor shall enforce all
the provisions of this article. He shall investigate complaints
made to him of violations of such provisions and if he finds that
such complaints are well founded he shall issue an order directed
to the person or corporation complained of, requiring such person
490 PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
or corporation to comply with such provisions. If such order is
disregarded the commissioner of labor shall present to the district
attorney of the proper county all the facts ascertained by him in
regard to the alleged violation, and all other papers, documents or
evidence pertaining thereto, which he may have in his possession.
The district attorney to whom such presentation is made shall
proceed at once to prosecute the person or corporation for the
violations complained of, pursuant to this chapter and the pro-
visions of the penal law. If complaint is made to the commis-
sioner of labor that any person contracting with the state or a
municipal corporation for the performance of any public work
fails to comply with or evades the provisions of this article re-
specting the payment of the prevailing rate of wages, the require-
ments of hours of labor or the employment of citizens of the
United States or of the state of New York,] // the commissioner
[of labor shall if he] finds [such complaints to be well founded]
that any provision of this article lias been violated, lie shall
present evidence of such noncompliance to the officer, depart-
ment or board having charge of such work. Such officer, depart-
ment or board shall thereupon take the proper proceedings to
revoke the contract of the person violating [failing to comply
with or evading] such provisions.
[4] 154. [Violations of the labor law] Proceedings for
nonen for cement. Any officer, agent or employee of this state or
of a municipal corporation therein having a duty to act in the
premises who violates, [evades] or knowingly permits the vio-
lation [or evasion] of any of the provisions of this [chapter]
article shall be guilty of malfeasance in office and shall be sus-
pended or removed by the authority having power to appoint or
remove such officer, agent or employee; otherwise by the gover-
nor. Any citizen of this state may maintain proceedings for the
suspension or removal of such officer, agent or employee or may
maintain an action for the purpose of securing the cancellation or
avoidance of any contract which by its terms or manner of per-
formance violates this [chapter] article or for the purpose of pre-
venting any officer, agent or employee of such municipal corpo-
ration from paying or authorizing the payment of any public
money for work done there[upon]wra?er.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 491
ARTICLE 8.
EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES AND IMMIGRANT LODGING HOUSES.
Section 160. Definitions.
161. Registration of employment agencies.
162. Records of employment agencies.
163. Immigrant lodging houses to be licensed.
164. Issuance of immigrant lodging-house license.
165. Rate of charges to be posted and filed.
[ 155. Registration and reports of employment agencies.}
160. Definitions. The term " employment agency" as used
in this [act] article [shall] includes any person, firm, corporation
or association regularly engaging in the business of negotiating
labor contracts or of receiving applications for help or labor, or
for [places or positions,] employment., excepting such as shall
conduct agencies exclusively for procuring employment for
teachers, for incumbents of technical, clerical or executive positions,
for vaudeville, or theatrical performers, musicians or nurses, and
also excepting bureaus conducted by registered agricultural or
medical institutions, and excepting also departments maintained
by persons, firms, corporations or associations for the purpose of
securing help for themselves where no fee is charged the applicant
for employment. [All employment agencies other than those
herein excepted shall on or before the first day of October, nine-
teen hundred and ten, and annually thereafter, file with the com-
missioner of labor a statement containing the name of the person,
firm, corporation or association conducting such agency, the street
and number of the place where the same shall be conducted and
showing whether said agency is licensed or unlicensed, and if
licensed, specifying the date and duration of the license, by whom
granted and the number thereof. Such statements shall be reg-
istered by the commissioner. Every such employment agency
shall keep in the office thereof a full record of the country of the
birth of those for whom places or positions are secured, their
length of residence in this country, and the name and address
of the person, firm or corporation to whom the persons for whom
such places or positions are secured shall be sent, the occupation
for which employment shall be secured, and the compensation to
be paid to the person employed. The books and records of every
492 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
such agency shall at all reasonable hours be subject to examina-
tion by the commissioner of labor. Any person who shall fail to
register with the commissioner of labor or to keep books or records
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punishable for the
first offense by a fine of not less than ten dollars, nor more than
twenty-five dollars, and for every subsequent offense by a fine of
not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than one hundred dol
lars, or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or by botl.
such fine and imprisonment]
The term " immigrant lodging house" as used in this "article, in-
cludes any place, boarding house, lodging-house, inn or hotel where
immigrants or emigrants while in transit, or aliens are received,
lodged, boarded or harbored, but does not include any place main-
tained or conducted by a charitable, philanthropic or religious
society, association or corporation. Nothing contained herein ap-
plies to temporary sleeping quarters in labor or construction
camps.
161. Registration of employment agencies. Every employ-
ment agency shall annually, on or before the first day of October,
fie with the commissioner a statement containing the name of the
person, firm, corporation or association conducting such agency,
and the address of the agency, and showing whether the agency
is licensed or unlicensed, and if licensed, specifying the date and
duration of the license, by whom granted and the number thereof.
162. Records of employment agencies. Every employment
agency shall keep in its office a record containing the name, age
and country of birth of every person for whom employment is
secured, his length of residence in this country, and the name and
address of the person, firm or corporation by whom he is so em-
ployed, the nature of the employment, and the compensation to bo
paid to the person so employed.
[156. The licensing and regulation of immigrant lodging
places.] 163. Immigrant lodging houses to be licensed. [1] No
person shall [hereafter] directly or indirectly, [own] conduct or
keep an immigrant lodging [place] house without [having first,
obtained from the commissioner of labor] a license [therefor.
Before receiving such license the applicant therefor shall file with
the commissioner of labor, in such form as he may prescribe, a
statement certified by such applicant, or if said applicant is a
corporation, by one of its officers, designating the location of the
PROPOSKI* RKCODIFICATION OF TIII; LAI sou LAW. 403
immigrant lodging place for which a license shall be requested, and
specifying the number of boarders or lodgers received by said ap-
plicant at any one time during the year preceding such application
at the place for which a license is sought, or if no business shall
have previously been conducted at said place the maximum number
of boarders or lodgers which it will accommodate. With such
application there shall be presented to the commissioner of labor
proof of the good moral character of the applicant, and in case
such applicant is a corporation, of its officers, arid in addition
thereto, in the discretion of the commissioner of labor, a bond to
the people of the state of New York, with two or more sureties or
of a surety company approved by the commissioner of labor, con-
ditioned that the obligor shall obey all laws, rules and regulations
applicable to such immigrant lodging place prescribed by any law-
ful authority, and that such obligor shall discharge all obligations
and pay all damages, less and injuries which shall accrue to any
person or persons dealing with such licensee, by reason of any
contract or other obligation of such licensee, or resulting from any
fraud or deceit, conversion of property, oppression, excessive
charges, or other wrongful act of said licensee or of his servants
or agents in connection with the business so licensed. Where the
number of boarders or lodgers specified in said application shall
not exceed ten persons the penalty of said bond shall be one hun-
dred dollars, where it shall be more than ten and less than fifty
persons it shall be two hundred and fifty dollars, and where the
number shall be more than fifty it shall be five hundred dollars.
Any person aggrieved may bring an action for the enforcement
of such bond in any court of competent jurisdiction. On the
approval of the application for said license and of the bond filed
therewith the commissioner of labor shall issue a license authoriz-
ing the applicant to own, conduct and manage an immigrant lodg-
ing place at the place designated in the application and to be
specified in the license certificate. For such license the applicant
shall pay to the commissioner of labor a fee of five dollars where
tho number of boarders or lodgers stated in the application does
not exceed ten, a fee of ten dollars where such number exceeds
ten and does not exceed fifty, and a fee of twenty-five dollars
where such number exceeds fifty. Such license shall not be trans-
ferable without the consent of the commissioner of labor, nor
authorize the conduct of an immigrant lodging place on any other
premises than those described in the application. Such license
494 PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
shall be renewable annually on the payment of a fee based on the
maximum number of boarders and lodgers received by the licensee
at the place licensed during the preceding year, as shown in a
sworn statement filed by such applicant in such form as the com-
missioner of labor shall prescribe. The commissioner of labor
shall keep a book or books in which the licenses granted and the
bonds filed shall be entered in alphabetical order, together with
a statement of the date of the issuance of the license, the name or
names of the principals, the place where the business licensed is
to be transacted, the names of the sureties upon the bond filed and
the amount of the license fee paid by the licensee.
2. Every licensee shall keep conspicuously posted in the public
rooms and in each bedroom of the place licensed a statement
printed in the English language and in the language understood
by the majority of the patrons of said place, specifying the rate
of charges by the day and week for lodging, for meals supplied,
for the transportation of passengers and baggage, the services of
guides, and other service rendered to such patrons. No sum shall
be charged or received by or for the licensee in excess of such
posted rates for any service rendered, and payment shall not be
enforceable for any charge in excess of such rates. ' A copy of the
rates so posted shall be filed by the licensee with the commissioner
of labor, and no increased rate shall be charged or received until
a revised schedule showing such increase shall have been filed
with the commissioner of labor. Every such licensee shall like-
wise file with the commissioner of labor a list specifying the
names and addresses of every person employed by such licensee
as a -runner, guide or other employee, and showing whether such
person is employed at a salary or on commission.
3. A license granted hereunder shall be revocable by the com-
missioner of labor on notice to the licensee and for cause shown.
4. The term immigrant lodging place as used in this section
includes any place, boarding house, lodging house, inn or hotel
where immigrants or emigrants while in transit, or aliens are
received, lodged, boarded or harbored, which shall not include any
place maintained or conducted by a charitable, philanthropic or
religious society, association or corporation. Nothing contained
herein shall be held to apply to temporary sleeping quarters in
labor or construction camps.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION or THE LABOR LAW. 495
5. Any person or any officer of a corporation owning, conduct-
ing or managing an immigrant lodging place without having ob-
tained from the commissioner of labor a license therefor, or who
shall carry on such business after the revocation of a license to
carry on such business, or who shall violate any of the provisions
of this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
6. The license fees collected hereunder shall be paid to the
comptroller and shall constitute a fund to be used in the joint dis-
cretion of the comptroller and commissioner of labor for the ex-
penses necessary for carrying out the provision of this section.]
issued as provided in section one hundred and sixty-four.
164- Issuance of immigrant lodging-house license. 1. An ap-
plication for a license to conduct an immigrant lodging house shall
be made to the commissioner by the owner of the immigrant lodg-
ing house or his duly authorized agent. Such application shall
be made upon blanks prepared and furnished by the commissioner
and shall state under oath the location of the immigrant lodging
house, and the maximum number of boarders or lodgers which it
will accommodate.
With such application there shall be .presented to the commis-
sioner proof of the good moral character of the applicant, and in
case such applicant is a corporation, of its officers, and in addition
thereto, in the discretion of the commissioner, a bond to the people
of the state of New York, with two or more sureties or of a surety
company approved by the commissioner, conditioned that the
obligor shall obey all laws, rules and regulations applicable to such
immigrant lodging house, prescribed by any lawful authority, and
that such obligor shall discharge all obligations and pay all dam-
age or loss which shall accrue to any person dealing with such
licensee, by reason of any contract or other obligation of such
licensee, or resulting from any fraud or deceit, conversion of prop-
erty, oppression, excessive charges, or other wrongful act of said
licensee or of his servants or agents in connection with the business
so licensed. Where the number of boarders or lodgers specified
in said application does not exceed ten persons the penalty of said
bond shall be one hundred dollars; where such number exceeds
ten and does not exceed fifty persons it shall be two hundred and
fifty dollars, and where the number exceeds fifty it shall be five
hundred dollars. Any person aggrieved may bring an action for
the enforcement of such bond in any court of competent juris-
diction.
496 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
2. The applicant for a license shall pay to the commissioner a
fee of five dollars where the number of boarders or lodgers stated
in the application does not exceed ten, a fee of ten dollars where
such number exceeds ten and does not exceed fifty, and a fee of
twenty-five dollars where such number exceeds fifty.
3. On the approval of the application for a license and of the
bond filed therewith the commissioner shall issue a license au-
thorizing the applicant to conduct and keep an immigrant lodging
house at the place designated in the application and to be specified
in the license certificate. Such license shall not be transferable
without the consent of the commissioner, nor authorize the con-
ducting or keeping of an immigrant lodging house on any other
premises than those described in the application. The license
shall be renewable annually on the payment of a fee based on the
maximum number of persons^ boarded or lodged by the licensee at
the house licensed, during the preceding year, as sliown in a sworn
statement filed by such applicant in such form as the commissioner
shall prescribe. The commissioner may revoke the license for any
violation of this article or of any rules or regulations of the com-
missioner, or of the industrial board upon notice to the licensee.
165. Rate of charges to be posted and filed. Every licensee
shall keep posted in a conspicuous .place in the public rooms and
in each bedroom of the house licensed a statement printed in the
English language and in the language understood by the majority
of the patrons, specifying the rate of charges by the day and week
for lodging, for meals supplied, for the transportation of pas-
sengers and baggage, the services of guides, and other service ren-
dered to such patrons. No sum shall be charged or received by or
for the licensee in excess of such posted rates for any service ren-
dered, and payment shall not be enforceable for any charge in ex-
cess of such rates. A copy of the rates so posted shall be filed by
the licensee with the commissioner, and no increased rate shall be
charged or received until a revised schedule showing such increase
shall have been filed with the commissioner. Every such licensee
shall likewise file with the commissioner a list specifying the
names and addresses of every person employed by such licensee as
a runner, guide or other employee, and showing whether such per-
son is employed at a salary or on commission.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 497
ARTICLE 9.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR WORK.
Section 170. Safe scaffolding required for use of employees.
171. Protection of employees on building construction
work.
172. Enforcement of this article in cities.
170. Safe scaffolding required for use of employees. 1.
Every person employing or directing another to perform labor of
any kind in the erection,, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning
or pointing of a building or structure shall furnish or erect, or
cause to be furnished or erected for the performance of such
labor, scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks,
pulleys, braces, irons, ropes or other mechanical contrivances which
are so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection
to the life and limb of a person so employed or engaged.
2. Scaffolding or staging more than twenty feet from the ground
or floor swung or suspended from an overhead support, or erected
with stationary supports, .except scaffolding wholly within the
interior of a building and covering the entire floor space of any
*-oom therein, shall have a safety rail of suitable material, properly
bolted, secured and braced, rising at least thirty-four inches above
the floor or main portions of such scaffolding or staging and ex-
tending along the entire length of the outside and the ends thereof,
with such openings as may be necessary for the delivery of ma-
terials. Such scaffolding or staging shall be so fastened as to pre-
vent the same from swaying from the building or structure.
3. All scaffolding shall be so constructed as to bear four times
the maximum weight required to be dependent therefrom or placed
thereon, when in use. Not more than four men shall be allowtd
on any swinging scaffold at one time.
4. If the commissioner finds that any such scaffolding or other
mechanical contrivance is unsafe, he shall attach thereto a notice
warning all persons against the use thereof. Such notice shall not
be removed except by an authorized representative of the depart-
ment, nor until such scaffolding or other mechanical contrivance
is made safe, and in the meantime the scaffolding or other mechan-
ical contrivance shall not be used.
498 PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
111. Protection of employees on building construction work
in cities. All contractors and owners, when constructing buildings
in cities, shall comply with the following requirements:
1. Where the plans and specifications require the floors to be
arched between the beams thereof, or where the floors or filling
in between the floors ure of fireproof material or brickwork, the
flooring or filling in shall be completed as the building progresses.
2. If the plans and specifications do not require filling in be-
tween the beams of floors with brick or fireproof material the
underflooring shall be laid on each story as the building progresses.
3. Where double floors are not to be used, the floors two stories
below the story where the work is being performed shall be kept
planked over.
4- If the floor beams are of iron or steely the entire tier of iron
or steel beams on which the structural iron or steel work is being
erected, except such spaces as may be reasonably required for the
proper construction of such iron or steel work, and for the raising
or lowering of materials to be used in the construction of such
building, or such spaces as may be designated by the plans and
specifications for stairways and elevator shafts shall be thoroughly
planked over. Such planking shall extend not less than six feet
beyond such beams.
5. If elevators, elevating machines or hod-hoisting apparatus
are used within a building in the course of construction, for the
purpose of lifting materials to be used in such construction, the
shafts or openings in each floor shall be inclosed or fenced in on
all sides-by a barrier at least eight feet in height, except on two
sides which may be used for taking off and putting on materials,
and those sides shall be guarded by an adjustable barrier not less
than three nor more than four feet from the floor and not less
than two feet from the edge of such shaft or opening.
6. If a building in course of construction is five stories or more
in height, no lumber or timber needed for such construction shall
be hoisted or lifted on the outside of such building.
172. Enforcement of article. The chief officer charged with
the enforcement of the building laws of any city and the commis-
sioner shall enforce the provisions of this article. Such chief
officer shall have all the powers for the enforcement of this article
that are vested in the commissioner.
PROPOSED RECODIKIOATION OF Tin: LAIJOR LAW. 499
ARTICLE [6.] 10.
FACTORIES.
[Section 69. Registration of factories.
70. Employment of minurs.
71. Employment certificate, how issued.
72. Contents of certificate.
73. School record, what to contain.
75. Supervision over issuance of certificates.
76. Registry of children employed.
76-a. Physical examination of children in factories;
cancellation of employment certificates.
77. Hours of labor of children, minors and women.
78. Exceptions.
79. Elevators and hoistways.
79-a. Construction of factory buildings hereafter
erected.
79-b. Requirements for existing buildings.
79-c. Additional requirements common to buildings
heretofore and hereafter erected.
79-d. Effect of foregoing provisions; inspection of build-
ings and approval of plans.
79-e. Limitation of number of occupants.
79-f. Meaning of terms.
81. Protection of employees operating machinery;
dust-creating machinery; lighting of factories
and workrooms.
83-a. Fire alarm signal systems and fire drills.
83-b. Automatic sprinklers.
83-c. Fire proof receptacles; gas jets; smoking.
84. Cleanliness of rooms.
84-a. Cleanliness of factory buildings.
85. Size of rooms.
86. Ventilation.
87. Accidents to be reported.
88. Drinking water, wash-rooms and dressing rooms.
88-a. Water closets.
89. Time allowed for meals.
500 PROPOSED EECODIFICATION OF THE LABOK L
89-a. Prohibition against eating meals in certain work
rooms.
90. Inspection of factory buildings.
92. Laundries.
93. Prohibited employment of women and children.
93-a. Employment of females after childbirth pro-
hibited.
93-b. Period of rest at night for women;
94. Tenant-factories.
95. Unclean factories.
96. Definition of " custodian."
97. Brass, iron and steel foundries.
98. Labor camps.
99. Dangerous trades.
99-a. Laws to be posted.]
TITLE I. ACCIDENT PREVENTION.
Section 175. Elevators and hoistways.
176. Protection of employees operating machinery.
177. Lighting to prevent accidents.
TITLE II. FIRE HAZARD.
180. Incombustible fireproof and fireresisting material.
181. Fire door.
182. Fireproof window.
183. Fireproof partition.
184- Fireproof building.
185. Fire wall.
186. Exterior enclosed fireproof stairway.
187. Horizontal exit.
188. Exterior screened stairway.
189. Application of provisions.
190. Construction of buildings erected after October
first, nineteen hundred and thirteen.
191. Requirements for buildings erected before October
first,, nineteen hundred and thirteen.
192. Additional requirements common to all buildings.
193. iFire escapes erected after October first, nineteen
hundred and thirteen.
194- Fire escapes erected before October first, nineteen
hundred and thirteen.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 501
195. Special laws and local ordinances.
196. Inspection of buildings and approval of plans.
197. Limitation of number of occupants.
198. Fire alarm signal systems.
199. Fire drills.
200. Automatic sprinklers.
201. Fireproof receptacles.
202. Gas jets.
203. Smoking.
TITLE III. SANITATION.
210. Cleanliness of factory rooms.
211. Cleanliness of factory biddings.
212. Drinking water.
218. Washrooms.
214. Dressing rooms.
215. Water-closets.
216. Laundries.
217. Unclean factories.
218. Living quarters for factory employees.
219. Ventilation, heat and humidity.
220. Size of rooms.
221. Illumination.
TITLE IV. FOUNDRIES.
225. \Foundries.
TITLE V. DUTIES OF OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS.
226. Duties of owners and occupiers.
TITLE I. ACCIDENT PREVENTION.
$ [79] 7 75. Elevators and hoistways. 1. [Inclosure of shafts.]
In every factory building erected before October first, nineteen
hundred and thirteen, every hoistway, hatchway or well-hole used
for elevators carrying passengers, [or] employees, or [for] freight
[elevators,] or used for hoisting or other purposes, shall, except
as provided in subdivision two, be protected on all sides at each
floor including the basement, by substantial vertical inclosures.
All openings in such inclosures shall be provided with self-closing
gates |[not less than six feet high] of sufficient height or with
502 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
properly constructed sliding doors. In the case of elevators used for
carrying passengers or employees, such inclosures shall be flush
with the hatchway and shall extend from floor to ceiling on every
open side of the car, and on every other side shall be at least six
feet high, and such [e]mclosures shall be free from fixed ob-
structions on every open side of the car. In the case of freight ele-
vators the inclo'sures shall be flush with the hoistway on every
open side of the car.
2. In place of the inclosures [herein] required in subdivision
one [for freight elevators,] every hatchway used for freight ele-
vator purposes may be provided with trap doors so constructed
as to form a substantial floor surface when closed and so arranged
as to open and close by the action of the car in its passage both
ascending and descending. [; provided that i] In addition to
such trap doors, the hatchway shall be adequately protected on
all sides at all floors, including the basement, by a substantial
railing or other vertical inclosure at least three feet in height.
3. [2. Guarding of elevators and hoistways.] In every factory
building erected before October first, nineteen hundred and thir-
teen, all counter-weights of every elevator shall be adequately
protected by proper inclosures at the top and bottom of the run.
The car of [all] every elevator[s] in such building used for
carrying passengers or employees shall be substantially [e]tn-
closed on all sides, including the top, and [such car] shall [at all
times] be properly lighted during working hours [, artificial il-
luminants to be provided and used when necessary]. The top of
every freight elevator car or platform in such building shall be
provided with a substantial grating or covering for the protection
of the operator thereof [, in accordance with such rules and regu-
lations as may be adopted with reference thereto by the industrial
board].
4* [3. Elevators and hoistways in factory buildings hereafter
erected. The provisions of subdivisions one and two of this section
shall apply only to factory buildings heretofore erected.] In all
factory buildings [hereafter] erected after October first, nineteen
hundred and thirteen, every elevator and every part thereof and all
machinery connected therewith and every hoistway, hatchway
and well-hole shall be so constructed, guarded, equipped, main-
tained and operated as to be safe for all persons [using the
same].
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 503
5. [4. Maintenance of elevators and hoistways in all factory
buildings.] In every factory building [heretofore erected or here-
after erected,] all inclosures, [doors and gates] of hoistways,
hatchways or well-holes, and all elevators therein used for [the]
carrying [of] passengers, [or] employees or freight and the
gates, [and] doors, cables, gearing and other apparatus thereof
shall at all times be kept in good repair and in a safe condition.
All openings leading to such elevators shall be kept [well]
properly lighted [at all times] during working hours[, with
artificial illumination when necessary. The cable, gearing and
other apparatus of elevators used for carrying passengers or em-
ployees or freight shall be kept in a safe condition].
6. [5. Powers of industrial board.] The industrial board shall
[have power to] make rules [and regulations] not inconsistent
with the provisions of this chapter regulating the construction,
guarding, equipment, maintenance and operation of elevators and
all parts thereof, and all machinery connected therewith and
hoistways, hatchways and well-holes in order to carry out the pur-
pose [and intention] of this section.
[81] 176. Protection of employees operating machinery^;
dust-creating machinery ; lighting of factories and workrooms. 1.
The owner or person in charge of a factory where machinery is
used, shall provide, as may be required by the rules and regula-
tions of the industrial board, belt shifters or other mechanical
contrivances for the purpose of throwing on or oif belts on pulleys.
Whenever practicable, all machinery shall be provided with loose
pulleys. Every vat and pan wherever set so that the opening or
top thereof is at a lower level than the elbow of the operator or
operators at work about the same shall be protected by a cover
which shall be maintained over the same while in use in such
manner as effectually to prevent such operators or other persons
falling therein or coming in contact with the contents thereof, ex-
cept that where it is necessary to remove such cover while any
such vat or pan is in use, such vat or pan shall be protected by an
adequate railing around the same. Every hydro-extractor shall
be covered or otherwise properly guarded while in motion. Every
saw shall be provided with a proper and effective guard. Every
planer shall be protected by a substantial hood or covering. Every
hand-planer or jointer shall be provided with a proper and effective
guard. All cogs and gearing shall be boxed or cased either with
504 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOK LAW.
metal or wood. All belting within seven feet of the floors shall be
properly guarded. All revolving shafting within seven feet of
the floors shall be protected on its exposed surface by being en-
cased in such a manner as to effectively prevent any part of the
body, hair or clothing of the operators or other persons from com-
ing in contact with such shafting. All set-screws, keys, bolts and
all parts projecting beyond the surface of revolving shafting shall
be countersunk or provided with suitable covering, and machinery
of every description shall be properly guarded and provided with
proper safety appliances or devices. All machines, machinery ap-
paratus, furniture and fixtures shall be so placed and guarded in
relation to one another as to be safe for all persons. Whenever
any danger exists which requires any special care as to the char-
acter and condition of the clothing of the persons employed there-
abouts, or which requires the use of special clothing or guards, the
industrial board may make rules and regulations prescribing what
shall be used or worn for the purpose of guarding against such
danger and regulating the provision, maintenance and use thereof.
~No person shall remove or make ineffective any safeguard or safety
appliance or device around or attached to machinery, vats or pans,
unless for the purpose of immediately making repairs thereto or
adjustment thereof, and any person who removes or makes ineffec-
tive any such safeguard, safety appliance or device for a per-
mitted purpose shall immediately replace the same when such
purpose is accomplished. It shall be the duty of the employer
and of every person exercising direction or control over the person
who removes such safeguard, safety appliance or device, or over
any person for whose protection it is designed to see that a safe-
guard .or safety appliance or device that has been removed is
promptly and properly replaced. All fencing, safeguards, safety
appliances and devices must be constantly maintained in proper
condition. When in the opinion of the commissioner of labor a
machine or any part thereof is in a dangerous condition or is not
properly guarded or is dangerously placed, the use thereof shall
be prohibited by the commissioner of labor and a notice to that
effect shall be attached thereto. Such notice shall not be removed
except by an authorized representative of the department of labor,
nor until the machinery is made safe and the required safe-
guards or safety appliances or devices are provided, and in the
meantime such unsafe or dangerous machinery shall not be used.
The industrial board may make rules and regulations regulating
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 505
the installation, position, operation, guarding and use of machines
and machinery in operation in factories, the furnishing and use
of safety devices and safety appliances for machines and ma-
chinery and of guards to be worn upon the person, and other
cognate matters, whenever it finds such regulations necessary in
order to provide for the prevention of accidents in factories.
2. All grinding, polishing or buffing wheels used in the course
of the manufacture of articles of the baser metals shall be equipped
with proper hoods and pipes and such pipes shall be connected to
an exhaust fan of sufficient capacity and power to remove all
matter thrown off such wheels in the course of their use. Such
fan shall be kept running constantly while such grinding, polish-
ing or buffing wheels are in operation ; except that in case of wet-
grinding it is unnecessary to comply with this provision unless
required by the rules and regulations of the industrial board.
All machinery creating dust or impurities shall be equipped with
proper hoods and pipes and such pipes shall be connected to an
exhaust fan of sufficient capacity and power to remove such dust
or impurities ; such fan shall be kept running constantly while such
machinery is in use ; except where, in case of wood-working .ma-
chinery, the industrial board shall decide that it is unnecessary
for the health and welfare of the operatives.
3. All passageways and other portions .of a factory, and all
moving parts of machinery which are not so guarded as to pre-
vent accidents, where, on or about which persons work or pass
or may have to work or pass in emergencies, shall be kept prop-
erly and * and sufficiently lighted during working hours. The
halls and stairs leading to the workrooms shall be properly and
adequately lighted, and a proper and adequate light shall be kept
burning by the owner or lessee in the public hallways near the
stairs, upon the entrance floor and upon the other floors on every
workday in the year, from the time when the building is open
for use in the morning until the time it is closed in the evening,
except at times when the influx of natural light shall make arti-
ficial light unnecessary. Such lights shall be so arranged as to
insure their reliable operation when through accident or other
cause the regular factory lighting is extinguished.
4. All workrooms shall be properly and adequately lighted
during working hours. Artificial illuminants in every workroom
shall be installed, arranged and used so that the light furnished
506 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
will at all times be sufficient and adequate for the work carried
on therein, and so as to prevent unnecessary strain on the vision
or glare in the eyes of the workers. The industrial board may
make rules and regulations to provide for adequate and sufficient
natural and artificial lighting facilities in all factories.]
1. In every factory all machinery shall be properly guarded
and provided with proper safety appliances or devices.
a. Whenever practicable, all machinery shall be provided
with loose pulleys and with belt shifters for throwing belts on
or off pulleys or with other mechanical contrivances for dis-
engaging power.
b. Wherever the opening or top of a vat or pan is at a lower
level than the elbow of any person at work about it, a cover
shall be maintained over the vat or pan while in use.
Wherever it is necessary to remove the cover while such vat or
pan is in use, a proper railing shall be provided around the
vat or pan. Every hydro-extractor shall be covered or other-
wise properly guarded while in motion.
c. Every saw, hand-planer or jointer shall be provided with
a proper guard and every planer shall be provided with a
substantial hood or other covering.
d. All cogs and gearing shall be boxed or cased with metal
or wood.
e. All belting within seven feet of the floor shall be prop-
erly guarded and all revolving shafting within seven feet of
the floor shall be so encased as to prevent any part of the body,
hair or clothing of any person from coming in contact there-
with.
f. AH set-screws, Jceys, bolts and all parts projecting beyond
the surface of revolving shafting shall be counter-sunk or
provided with suitable covering.
g. All machinery, apparatus, furniture and fixtures shall
be so placed and guarded in relation to one another as to be
safe for all persons.
h. Whenever necessary for the safety of employees special
clothing or guards to be worn upon the person shall be pro-
vided and used.
2. No person shall remove or maJce ineffective any safeguard
or safety appliance or device around or attached to machinery,
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 507
vats or pans, unless for the purpose of immediately repairing or
adjusting such machinery, guard, appliance or device and he shall
immediately replace such guard, appliance or device when such
purpose is accomplished. It shall be the duty of the employer and
of every person exercising direction or control over the person who
removes such safeguard, safety appliance or device, or over any
person for whose protection it is designed, to see that it is promptly
and properly replaced. All safeguards, safety appliances and
devices shall be constantly maintained in proper condition.
3. If the commissioner finds that a machine or any part thereof
is in a dangerous condition or is not properly guarded or is dan-
gerously placed, he shall attach to such machine a notice warning
all persons against the use thereof. Such notice shall not be re-
moved except by an authorized representative of the department
nor until the machinery is made safe and the required safe-
guards or safety appliances or devices are provided, and in the
meantime such machinery shall not be used.
177. Lighting to prevent accidents. 1. If in any factory there
are any moving parts of machinery which are not required to be
guarded under the provisions of section one hundred and seventy-
six or the rules of the industrial board, all such moving parts
shall be kept properly lighted during working hours when neces-
sary to prevent accidents.
2. In every factory all places where persons work or pass or
may have to work or pass in emergencies, shall be kept .properly
lighted during working hours.
3. The halls and stairs leading to factory workrooms shall be
kept properly lighted during working hours. Except when ar-
tificial light is unnecessary a light shall be maintained in the pub-
lic hallways near the stairs upon every floor in every working
day from the time the building is opened for use in the morning
until it is closed in the evening. Such lights shall be so arranged
as to insure their reliable operation when through accident or
other cause the regular factory lighting is extinguished.
[79-f.].750. [Meaning of terms.] Incombustible, fireproof
and -fire-resisting material. [The following terms when used in
this article shall have the following meanings :
1. Fireproof construction. A building shall be deemed to be
of fireproof construction if it conforms to the following require-
508 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
ments: All walls constructed of brick, stone, concrete or terra-
cotta; all floors and roofs of brick, terra-cotta or reinforced con-
crete placed between steel or reinforced concrete beams and girders ;
all the steel entering into the structural parts encased in at least
two inches of fireproof material, excepting the wall columns, which
must be encased in at least eight inches of masonry on the outside
and four inches on the inside ; all stairwells, elevator wells, public
hallways and corridors enclosed by fireproof partitions ; all doors,
fireproof; all stairways, landings, hallways and other floor sur-
faces of incombustible material ; no woodwork or other combustible
material used in any partition, furring, ceiling or floor; and all
window frames, doors and sash, trim and other interior finish
of incombustible material ; all windows shall be fireproof windows
except that in buildings under seventy feet in height fireproof
windows are required only when within thirty feet of another
building or opening on a court or space less than thirty feet wide ;
except that in buildings under one hundred feet in height there
may be wooden sleepers and floor finish and wooden trim, and ex-
cept that in buildings under one hundred and fifty feet in height
heretofore constructed there may be wooden sleepers, floor finish
and trim and the windows need not be fireproof windows, excepting
when such windows are within thirty feet of another building.
2. Fireproof material is material which is incombustible and is
capable of resisting the effect of fire in such manner and to such
extent as to insure the safety of the occupants of the building.
The industrial board shall determine and in its rules and regula-
tions shall specify what materials are fireproof materials within
the meaning hereof. The industrial board shall also determine
and in" its rules and regulations shall specify what materials, not
being fireproof materials within the meaning hereof, are fire resist-
ing materials. Fire resisting material, when required by any of
the provisions of this chapter, shall conform to requirements of
such rules and regulations.
3. Incombustible material is material which will not burn or
support combustion.
4. A fire wall is a wall constructed of brick, concrete, terra-cotta
blocks or reinforced stone concrete, and having at each floor level
one or more openings each protected by fire doors so constructed
as to prevent the spread of fire or smoke through the openings.
In buildings of nonfireproof construction fire walls shall be at
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 509
least twelve inches in thickness and shall extend continuously
from the cellar floor through the entire building and at least three
feet over the roof and be coped; except that walls heretofore
erected not less than eight inches in thickness, but otherwise
conforming to the requirements of this subdivision shall be
considered fire walls within the meaning of this subdivision. No
opening in such wall shall exceed sixty-six inches in width or
sixty square feet in area, except that where openings not exceeding
eight feet in width exist in fire walls heretofore erected, such
walls may be considered fire walls within the meaning of this
subdivision, and in the case of fire walls hereafter constructed no
two openings in the same wall and at the same floor level shall be
nearer than forty feet from the center of one opening to the center
of another. Every opening in a fire wall shall be protected by a
fire door closing automatically on each side of the wall. At every
opening in the fire wall there shall be an incombustible floor finish
extending over the floor for the full thickness of the wall so as to
completely separate the woodwork of the floors on each side of the
fire wall. In fireproof buildings the fire walls shall comply with
the foregoing requirements in all respects excepting that they
may be of the thickness required by the provisions of this section
with respect to fireproof partitions; such fire walls and fireproof
partitions shall be continuous, from the cellar floor to the under
side of the fireproof roof.
5. Fireproof partitions shall be built of brick, concrete, rein-
forced concrete or terra-cotta blocks. When built of brick or
concrete they shall be not less than eight inches in thickness for
the uppermost forty feet, and shall increase four inches in thick-
ness for each additional lower forty feet or part thereof ; or, when
wholly supported by suitable steel framing at vertical intervals
of not over forty feet, they may be eight inches in thickness
throughout their entire height. When wholly supported at verti-
cal intervals of not over twenty-five feet, and built of terra-cotta
blocks, they shall be not less than six inches in thickness and when
so supported and built of reinforced stone concrete, they shall be
not less than four inches in thickness. The supporting steel frame-
work shall be properly encased on all sides by not less than two
inches of fireproof material, securely fastened to the steel work.
All openings in such partitions shall be provided with fire doors.
510 PROPOSED RECODIFI CATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
6. Fire doors. Fire doors shall be metal-covered doors, or doors
of such other material as shall be specified in the rules and regu-
lations of the industrial board. They shall be provided with self-
closing devices and have incombustible sills. The industrial board
shall determine, and in its rules and regulations shall specify,
the material and mode and manner of construction and erection
of such doors.
7. Fireproof windows shall be windows constructed of metal
frames and sash and provided with wired glass and of the auto-
matic, self-closing type.
8. Exterior enclosed fireproof stairways shall be stairways com-
pletely enclosed from top to bottom by walls of fireproof material
not less than eight inches thick extending from the sidewalk, court
or yard level to the roof, and with walls extending above the roof
so as to form a bulkhead. The stairway shall in all other respects
conform to the requirements of this article in regard to enclosed
stairways. There shall be no opening in any wall separating the
exterior enclosed fireproof stairway from the building. Access,
shall be provided to the stairway from every floor of the building
by means of an outside balcony or vestibule of steel, iron or
masonry. Every such balcony or vestibule shall have an unob-
structed width of at least forty-four inches and shall be provided
with a fireproof floor and a railing of incombustible material not
less than three feet high. Access to such balconies from the
building and to the stairway from the balconies, shall be by means
of fire doors. The level of the balcony floor shall be not more
than seven inches below the level of the door sill of the building.
The doors shall be not less than forty-four inches wide and shall
swing outward onto the balcony and inward from the balcony to
the stairway, and shall be provided with locks or latches with
visible fastenings requiring no key to open them in leaving the
building. The landings in such stairway shall be of such width
that the doors in opening into the stairway shall not reduce the
free passageway of the landings to a width less than the width of
the stairs. Every such stairway shall be provided with a proper
lighting system which shall furnish adequate light and shall be so
arranged as to ensure its reliable operation when, through acci-
dent or other cause, the regular factory lighting is extinguished.
The balconies giving access to such stairways shall be open on at
least one side upon an open space not less than one hundred square
feet in area.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 511
9. Horizontal exit. A horizontal exit shall be the connection by
means of one or more openings not less than forty-four inches
wide, protected by fire doors, through a fire wall in any building,
or through a wall or walls between two buildings, which doors shall
continuously be unlocked and the opening unobstructed whenever
any person is employed on either side of the opening. Exterior
balconies and bridges not less than forty-four inches in width con-
necting two buildings and not having a gradient of more than one
foot fall in six, may also be counted as horizontal exits when the
doors opening out upon said balconies or bridges are fireproof
doors and are level with the floors of the building, and when all
doors of both buildings opening on such balconies or bridges are
continuously kept unlocked and unobstructed whenever any person
is employed on either side of the exit, and when such balconies
or bridges are built of incombustible material and are capable
of sustaining a live load of not less than ninety pounds per square
foot with a factor of safety of four; and when such balconies or
bridges are enclosed on. all sides to a height of not less than six
feet and on top and bottom by fireproof material, unless all win-
dows or openings within thirty feet of such balconies in the con-
nected buildings shall be encased in metal frames and sash and
shall have wired glass where glass is used. In any case there shall
be on each side of the wall or partition containing the horizontal
exit and independent of said horizontal exit, at least one stairway
conforming to the requirements for a required means of exit.
10. Exterior screened stairways used as one of the required
means of exit in buildings heretofore erected shall be built of in-
combustible material. The risers of the stairs shall be not more
ttan seven and three-quarters inches in height and the treads not
less than ten inches wide. On each floor there shall be a balcony
connecting with the stairs. Access to the balconies shall be by
means of fire doors that shall open outwardly, so as not to obstruct
the passageway, or slide freely, and shall extend to the floor level.
All windows or other openings opening upon the course of such
stairs shall be fireproof. The level of the balcony floor shall not be
more than seven inches below the level of the door sill. The stairs
shall continue from the roof to the ground level, and there shall be
independent means of exit from the bottom of such stairs to the
street or to an open court or to a fireproof enclosed passageway
leading to the street or to an open area having communication with
512 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
the street or road. The balconies and stairs shall be enclosed in
a screen of incombustible material.
11. The provisions of subdivisions four to nine inclusive of this
section shall apply to all buildings hereafter erected and to all
construction hereafter made in buildings heretofore erected. The
industrial board shall adopt rules and regulations regulating con-
struction heretofore made in buildings heretofore erected requir-
ing compliance with such of the requirements of the said sub-
divisions or with such other or different requirements as said
board may find to be reasonable and adequate to protect persons
employed in such buildings against fire.]
1. The term " incombustible material" when used in this title,
means material which will not burn or support combustion.
2. The term " fireproof material," when used in this title,
means incombustible material capable of resisting the effect of fire
to a sufficient extent to insure the safety of the occupants of the
building. The industrial board shall determine and shall specify
in its rules what materials are fireproof materials within the mean-
ing hereof, and also what materials, not being fireproof materials
within the meaning hereof, are fire resisting materials.
S. The term " fire resisting material" when used in this title,
means material conforming to such latter requirements.
181. Fire door. The term " fire door," when used in this
title, means a metal-covered door or door of such other fire resist-
ing material as shall be specified in the rules of the industrial
board, and that is provided with a self-closing device and has an
incombustible sill. The industrial board shall determine, and
shall specify in its rules, the material, and the manner of construc-
tion and erection of such doors.
182. Fireproof window. The term " fireproof window,"
when used in this title, means a window of the automatic, self-
closing type, constructed of metal frame and sash or frame and
sash covered with metal, and provided with wired glass.
183. Fireproof partition. The term " fireproof partition,"
when used in this title, means a partition built of brick, concrete,
reinforced concrete or terra-cotta blocks and in conformity with the
following requirements. When built of brick or concrete it shall
be not less than eight inches in thickness for the uppermost forty
KECODIFICATION OF TIIK LABOR LAW. 513
feet, and shall increase four inches in thickness for each additional
lower forty feet or part thereof; or when wholly supported by suit-
able steel framing at vertical intervals of not over forty feet, it
may be eight inches in thickness throughout its entire height.
\Vlien wholly supported at vertical intervals of not over twenty-
five feet, and built of terra-cotta blocks, it shall be not less than
six inches in thickness and when so supported and built of rein-
fo-rced stone concrete, it shall be not less than four inches in
thickness when wholly supported at vertical intervals of not over
eighteen feet, and built of reinforced cinder concrete it shall be
not less than four inches in thickness. The supporting steel
framework shall be properly encased on all sides by not less than
two inches of fireproof material, securely fastened to the steel
work. All openings in the partition shall be provided with fire-
doors.
18 If-. Fireproof building. The term " fireproof building,"
when used in this title, means a building conforming to the follow-
ing requirements:
1. All walls shall be constructed of brick, stone, concrete or
terra-cotta.
2. All floors and roofs shall be built of brick, terra-cotta or rein-
forced concrete placed between steel or reinforced concrete beams
and girders.
3. All steel entering into the structural parts shall be encased
in at least two inches of fireproof material, except the wall
columns, which shall be encased in at least eight inches of masonry
on the outside and four inches on the inside.
4- All stairwells, elevator wells, public hallways and corridors
shall be enclosed by fireproof partitions.
5. All doors shall be fire doors.
6. All stairways, landings, halhuays, partitions, furring, ceil-
ings, floors, sash, trim and other interior finish, shall be con-
structed of incombustible material.
7. All windows shall be fireproof windows.
S. Exceptions: (a) In buildings erected after October first,
nineteen hundred and thirteen, under seventy feet in height, fire-
proof windows shall be required only when within thirty feet of
another building or opening on a court or space less than thirty
514 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
feet wide, (b) In buildings erected after October first, nineteen
hundred and fourteen, under one hundred feet in height, there
may be wooden sleepers, floor finish and trim, (c) In buildings
erected before October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, under
one hundred and fifty feet in height there may be wooden sleepers,
floor finish and trim and fireproof wind.ows shall be required only
when such windows are within thirty feet of another building.
185. Fire wall. The term " fire wall," when used in this
title, means a wall conforming to the following requirements:
1. It shall be constructed of brick, concrete, terra-cotta blocks
or reinforced stone concrete.
2. It shall have at each floor level one or more openings each
protected by fire doors closing automatically on either side of the
wall and so constructed as to prevent the spread of fire or smoke
through the openings.
3. In nonfireproof buildings such walls shall be at least eight
inches thick for the uppermost forty feet and shall increase at
least four inches in thickness for each additional lower forty feet
or part thereof if erected after October first, nineteen hundred and
thirteen, and at least eight inches thick if erected before that date.
In fireproof buildings such wall shall be of the thickness required
for a fireproof partition by section one hundred and eighty-three.
4- No opening in such a wall erected after October first, nine-
teen hundred and thirteen, shall exceed sixty-six inches in width
or sixty square feet in area, and no opening in such a wall erected
before that date shall exceed eight feet in width. The industrial
board 'in its rules may except from the requirements of this sub-
division, walls erected after October first, nineteen hundred and
thirteen, in buildings constructed before that date, in which case
no opening in such walls shall exceed eight feet in width.
5. The center of every opening in such a wall erected after Oc-
tober first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, shall be at least forty
feet from the center of every other opening therein at the same
floor level.
6. At every opening in the wall there shall be an incombustible
floor finish extending over the floor the full thickness of the wall
so as to completely separate the woodwork of the floors on each side
of the wall.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 515
7. In a nonfireproof building the wall shall extend from
the cellar floor to at least three feet above the roof and be coped.
In a fireproof building it shall extend from the cellar floor to the
under side of the fireproof roof.
186. Exterior enclosed fireproof stairway. The term " ex-
terior enclosed fireproof stairway/' when used in this title, means
a stairway conforming to the following requirements:
1. It shall be completely enclosed from top to bottom by walls
of fireproof material not less than eight inches thick extending
from the sidewalk, court or yard level to the roof, and above the
roof so as to form a bulkhead.
2. It shall in all other respects conform to the requirements of
sections one hundred and ninety, one hundred and ninety-one and
one hundred and ninety-two, in regard to stairways and their en-
closure.
3. There shall be no opening in any wall separating it from the
building.
4. Access shall be .provided to the stairway from every floor of
the building by means of an outside balcony or vestibule of steel,
iron or masonry. Every such balcony or vestibule shall have an
unobstructed width of at least forty-four inches and shall be pro-
vided with a fireproof floor and a railing of incombustible material
not less than three feet high. Access to such balconies from the
building and to the stairway from the balconies shall be by mean
of fire doors. The level of the balcony floor shall be not more
than seven inches below the level of the door sill of the building.
The doors shall be not less than forty inches wide and shall
swing outward onto the balcony and inward from the balcony to
the stairway, and shall be provided with locks or latches with
visible fastenings requiring no key to open them in leaving the
building. The balconies shall be open on at least one side upon an
open space not less than one hundred square feet in area.
5. The landings shall be of such width that the doors in open-
ing into the stairway shall not reduce the free passageway of the
landings to a width less than the width of the stairs.
6. Such stairway shall be provided with a proper lighting
system which shall furnish adequate light and shall be so arranged
as to ensure its reliable operation when through accident or other
cause, the regular factory lighting is extinguished.
516 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
187. Horizontal exit. The term " horizontal exit/' when
used in this title, means either (a-) an opening through a firewall
in any building or through a wall or walls between two buildings,
which opening conforms to the requirements of subdivision one, or
(b) a balcony or bridge connecting two buildings and conforming
to the requirements of subdivisions two to six inclusive.
1. It shall not be less than forty inches wide and shall be
protected by fire doors. Such doors shall be kept unlocked and un-
obstructed whenever any person is employed on either side. On
each side of the opening there shall be at least one stairway con-
forming to the requirements for required exits.
2. It shall not be less than forty-four inches wide with a gradi-
ent of not more than one foot fall in six.
3. The doors opening upon it from each building shall be fire
doors level with the floors of the respective buildings. Such doors
shall be kept unlocked and unobstructed whenever any person is
employed on either side of the balcony or bridge.
4. It shall be built of incombustible material and be capable of
sustaining a live load of not less than ninety pounds per square
foot with a factor of safety of four.
5. It shall, unless all windows or other openings within thirty
feet of it in the connected buildings are encased in metal frames
and sash or frames and sash covered with metal and with wired
glass where glass is used, be enclosed by fireproof material on
the top and bottom and on all sides to a height of not less than
six feet.
6.' On each side of it there shall be at least one stairway con-
forming to the requirements for required exits.
.188. Exterior screened stairway. The term " exterior
screened stairway/' when used in this title, means a stairway con-
forming to the following requirements:
1. It shall be built of incombustible material.
2. The risers of the stairs shall not be more than seven and
three-quarters inches in height and the treads not less than ten
inches wide.
3. On each floor there shall be a balcony connecting with the
stairs.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATIOH OF THE LABOR LAW. 517
4. Access to the balconies shall be by means of fire doors which
shall extend to the floor level and which shall slide freely or open
outwardly so as not to obstruct the passageway.
5. All windows or other openings opening upon the course of
such stairs shall be fireproof.
6. The level of the balcony floor shall not be more than seven
inches below the level of the door sill.
7. The stairs shall continue from the roof to the ground level t
and shall lead (a) directly to a street, or (b) to a fireproof en-
closed passageway independent of other exit from the building and
leading to a street or road, or (c) to an open area having com-
munication with a street or road.
8. The balconies and stairs shall be enclosed in a screen of in-
combustible material.
9. If erected after July first, nineteen hundred and fourteen,
the stairway shall be not less than three feet wide.
189. Application of provisions. The provisions of sections
one hundred and eighty-one, one hundred and eighty-two, one hun-
dred and eighty-three, one hundred and eighty-five, one hundred
and eighty-six and one hundred and eighty-seven shall apply to
all buildings erected after October first, nineteen hundred and
thirteen, and to all construction made after that date in buildings
erected prior to that date. The industrial board shall adopt rules
regulating construction before October first, nineteen hundred and
thirteen, in buildings erected before that date, requiring com-
pliance with such of the requirements of said sections, or with
such other or different requirements as it finds reasonable and
adequate to protect persons employed in such buildings.
[79-a.]tf00. Construction of [factory] buildings [hereof ter]
erected after October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen. No
factory shall be conducted in any building [hereafter] erected
after October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, which is more
than one story in height unless such building shall conform to the
following requirements:
1. Fireproof construction. All buildings more than four stories
in height shall be [of] fireproof [construction].
2. Roofs and walls. All roofs shall be covered with incom-
bustible material or shall be of tar and slag or plastic cement sup-
518 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
ported by or applied to [arches of fireproof material,] materials
of slow burning construction and the cornices shall be constructed
of incombustible material. All exterior walls within twenty-five
feet of any nonfireproof building shall be not less than eight
inches thick and shall extend three feet above the roof.
[2, Floor area and r]#. -Required exits. The term " floor
area " as used in this section |[signifies] means the entire space
between fire walls, or between a fire wall and an exterior wall of
a building, or between the exterior walls of the building where
there is no intervening fire wall. From every floor area there
shall be not less than two [means of] exits remote from each
other, one of which on every floor above the ground floor shall
be an interior [enclosed fireproof] stairway or an exterior en-
closed fireproof stairway, and the other '[shall be] either such a
stairway or a horizontal exit. ISTo point in any floor area shall
be more than one hundred feet distant from the entrance to one
such [means of] exit at that floor. Whenever any floor area ex-
ceeds five thousand square feet there shall be [provided] at least
one additional |[means of] exit as hereinbefore described and
there shall be another additional exit for each additional five
thousand square feet or part thereof [in excess of five thousand
square feet]. In every building over one hundred feet in height
there shall be at least one exterior enclosed fire proof stairway
which shall be accessible from any point in the* building.
[3]-4. Stairways. All stairways shall be constructed of incom-
bustible material and shall have an unobstructed width of at least
forty-four inches throughout their length, except that hand rails
may project not more than three and one-half inches into such
width. There shall be not more than twelve feet six inches in
height between successive landings. The treads shall be not less
than ten inches wide exclusive of nosing, and the rise shall be not
more than seven and three-fourths inches. No stairway with
"winders" shall be allowed except [as a connection from one
floor to another]! a single flight connecting only two floors. The
treads shall be constructed and maintained in such manner as to
prevent persons from slipping thereon. Every stairway shall be
enclosed on all sides by fireproof partitions extending continu-
ously from the lowest story to which such stairway extends to
three feet above the roof. i[and t] The roofs of the enclosure shall
be constructed of fireproof material at least four inches thick with
a skylight at least three-fourths the area of the shaft. All stair-
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 519
ways serving as required [means of] exits shall extend to the
roof and shall lead (a) continuously to the street, or (b) to a
fireproof passageway independent of other [means of] exit from
the building, opening on a road or street, or (c) to an open area
affording unobstructed passage to a road or street. [All stair-
ways that extend to the top story shall be continued to the roof.]
Provision[s] shall be made for the adequate lighting of all stair-
ways by artificial light.
[4]5. Doors and doorways. All doors shall open outwardly.
The width of the hallways and exit doors leading to the street, at
the street-level, shall be not less than the aggregate width of all
stairways leading to them. Every door leading to or opening on
a stairway shall have an unobstructed width of at least
forty[-four] inches.
[5] 6. Partitions. All partitions in the interior of fireproof
buildings [of fireproof construction] shall be of incombustible
material.
[6] 7. [Openings to be enclosed] Shafts. All elevator and
dumbwaiter shafts, vent and light shafts, pipe and duct shafts,
hoistways and all other vertical openings leading from one floor to
another shall be enclosed throughout their height [on all sides]
by enclosures of fireproof material. Every such enclosure shall
have a roof of fireproof material, [and i] 7f the enclosure extends
to the top story it shall be continued to three feet above the roof
of the building and shall have at the top either a metal-framed
skylight [in a metal frame] at least three-fourths of the area of
the shaft or [exterior] a window with metal frame and sash. The
bottom of the enclosure shall be of fireproof material unless the
[opening] enclosure extends to the cellar bottom. All openings
in such enclosures shall be provided with fire[proof] doors, except
that openings in the enclosures of vent and light shafts shall be
provided either with fire[proof] doors or with windows having
metal frames and sash and wired glass where glass is used.
[79-b]7#7. Requirements for [existing] buildings erected
before October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen. No factory
shall be conducted in any building [heretofore] erected before
October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, unless such building
shall conform to the following requirements:
1. Required exits. [Every building over two stories in height
shall be provided on each floor with at least two means of exit or
520 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
escape from fire,] From every floor in a building over two stories
in height there shall be at least two exits remote from each other
[? X ^ ne of [which] them on every floor ahove the ground floor
shall [lead to or open on]' be either an interior stairway which [in
buildings over four stories in height] shall be enclosed as herein-
after provided, or |[to] an exterior enclosed fireproof stairway.
The other shall [lead to] 1 be either such a stairway; or [to] a
horizontal exit; or [to] an exterior screened stairway; or in
buildings of five stories or less in height to fire escapes on the
outside of the building except that such fire escapes shall not be
accepted as a required exit in such buildings or particular classes
thereof where the industrial board finds that such fire escapes
would not in its opinion furnish adequate and safe means of escape
for the occupants in case of fire or to such outside fire escapes
in buildings over five stories in height when, in the opinion
of the industrial board the safety of the occupants of
the building would not be endangered thereby [to a fire
cscape[s] on the outside of the building]. No point on any floor
[of such factory] shall be more than one hundred feet distant
from the entrance to one such [means of] exit at that floor.
Whenever egress may be had from the roof to an [adjoining or
nearby] adjacent structure, every stairway serving as a required
[means of] exit shall be extended to the roof. All such stairways
shall extend to the first story and lead to the street, or to an un-
obstructed passageway leading to a street or road or to an open
area affording safe passage to a street or road.
2. Stairway enclosures. All interior stairways serving as re-
quired |[means of] exits in buildings more than [four] five
stories in height and the landings, platforms and passageways
connected therewith shall be enclosed on all sides by partitions of
fire resisting material extending continuously from the basement.
Where the stairway extends to the top floor of the building such
partitions shall extend to- three feet above the roof. [All open-
ings in such partitions shall be provided with self-closing doors
constructed of fire resisting material except where such openings
are in the exterior wall of the building.] All such partitions and
the doors provided for the openings therein .shall be constructed
in such manner as the industrial board may prescribe by its rules
and regulations. The industrial board shall have power to adopt
rules and regulations requiring the enclosure of. stairways serving
as required exits in buildings of five stories or less in height or
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 521
in particular classes of such buildings whenever the board finds
that because of the conditions existing in such buildings such re-
quirement is necessary to secure the safety of the lives of the
occupants tliereof, in case of fire. Whenever, in the case of [any
existing] buildings erected before October first , nineteen hundred
and thirteen, not over six stories in height, the industrial board
[shall] finds that the requirements of this [and the last pre-
ceding] subdivision [relating to stairway enclosures] can be
dispensed with or modified without endangering the safety of
employees [persons employed in such buildings, the industrial
board shall have power to] it may adopt [such] rules [and
regulations as may, in its opinion, meet the conditions existing
in such buildings, which rules and regulations may make said re-
quirements inapplicable or] modify [the same]m# the require-
ments of this subdivision in such manner as it [may] finds [to
be] adapted to securing the safety of employees, [persons em-
ployed therein.] The industrial board [shall have power to] may
adopt rules [and regulations] permitting, under conditions there-
in prescribed, as a substitute for the stairway enclosures herein
required the use of partitions [[heretofore] constructed before
October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, in such manner and
of such fire resisting material as [have heretofore been] were
approved before that date by the local authorities exercising super-
vision over the construction and alteration of buildings. [In
such cases, however, e]Very opening in the [enclosing] partitions
required by this subdivision or by rules adopted thereunder shall
be provided with fire doors except where such openings are in the
exterior wall of the building in which case if they are within thirty
feet of unother building they shall be provided with fireproof
windows or fire doors.
S. Width of stairways. All stairways erected after July first,
nineteen hundred and fourteen, shall be not less than three feet
wide.
[3]^. Doors. Where five or more persons are employed on any
floor [of a factory building every] 1 all doors on such floor leading
to or opening on any [means of] exit shall open outwardly or
be double swinging doors or be so constructed as to slide freely.
All exit doors in the first story, including the doors of the ves-
tibule, shall open outwardly.
[4. Fire-escapes. All outside fire-escapes shall be constructed
of wrought iron or steel and shall be so designed, constructed and
522 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
erected as to safely sustain on all platforms, balconies and stair-
ways a live load of not less than ninety pounds per square foot
with a factor of safety of four. Wherever practicable, a continu-
ous run or straight run stairway shall be used. On every floor
above the first there shall be balconies or landings embracing one
or more easily accessible and unobstructed openings at each floor
level, connected with each other and with the ground by means
of a stairway constructed as hereinafter provided and well fastened
and secured. All openings leading to outside fire-escapes shall
have an unobstructed width of at least two feet and an unob-
structed height of at least six feet and shall extend to the floor
level or within six inches thereof, and shall be not more than seven
inches above the floor of the fire-escape balcony. Such opening
shall have metal frames and be provided with doors constructed
of fireproof material with wired glass where glass is used. All
windows opening upon the course of the fire-escape shall be fire-
proof windows. The balconies shall have an unobstructed width
of at least four feet throughout their length and shall have a
landing not less than twenty-four inches square at the head of
every stairway. There shall be a passageway between the stair-
way opening and the side of the building at least eighteen inches
wide throughout except where the stairways reach and leave the
balconies at the ends or where double run stairways are used. The
stairway opening of the balconies shall be of i size sufficient to
provide clear headway and shall be guarded on the long side bj
an iron railing not less than three feet in height. Each balcony
shall be surrounded by an iron railing not less than three feet in
height thoroughly and properly braced. The balconies shall be
connected by stairways not less than twenty-two inches wide placed
at an incline of not more than forty-five degrees, with steps of not
less than eight-inch tread and not over eight-inch rise and provided
with a handrail not less than three feet in height. The treads of
such stairways shall be so constructed as to sustain a live load
of four hundred pounds per step with a factor of safety of four.
There shall be a similar stairway from the top floor balcony to the
roof, except where the fire-escape is erected on the front of the
building. A similar stairway shall also be provided from the
lowest balcony to a safe landing place beneath, which stairway
shall remain down permanently or be arranged to swing up and
down automatically by counterbalancing weights. When not
erected on the front of the building, safe and unobstructed egress
sKT) RECODIFJCATION OF THE LABOI; LAW. 523
squill be provided from the foot of the fire-escape by means of an
open court or courts or a fireproof passageway having an unob-
structed width of at least three feet throughout leading to the
street, or by means of an open area having communication with
the street ; such fireproof passageway shall be adequately lighted
at all times and the lights shall be so arranged as to ensure their
reliable operation when through accident or other cause the regu-
lar factory lighting is extinguished.
5. The provisions of subdivision four shall not apply where at
the time this act takes effect there are outside fire-escapes with
balconies on each floor of the building connected with stairways
placed at an angle of not more than sixty degrees, provided that
such existing outside fire-escapes have or shall be provided with
the following:
A stairway leading from the top floor balcony to the roof,
except where the fire-escapes are erected on the front of the build-
ing; a stairway not less than twenty-two inches wide from the
lowest balcony to a safe landing place beneath, which stairway re-
mains down permanently or is arranged to swing up and down by
counter-balancing weights; a safe and unobstructed exit to the
street from the foot of such fire-escapes as provided in subdivision
four hereof ; steps connecting the sill of every opening leading to
the fire-escapes with the floor wherever such sill is more than three
feet above the floor level; and all openings leading to the fire
escapes provided with windows having metal frames and sash and
with wired glass where glass is used, or with doors constructed
in accordance with the requirements of subdivision four ; and all
windows opening upon the course of the fire-escape provided with
fireproof window r s.]
. [79-c]7P#. Additional requirements common to all buildings
[heretofore and hereafter erected]. No factory shall be con-
ducted in any building unless such building shall be so con-
structed, equipped and maintained in all respects as to afford ade-
quate protection against fire to all persons employed therein, nor
unless, in addition to the requirements of section [seventy-nine-a]
one hundred and ninety,, in the case of a building [hereafter]
erected after October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, or of
section [seventy-nine-b] one hundred and ninety-one, in the case
of a building [heretofore] erected before that date, such building
shall conform to the following requirements :
524 PROPOSED RE CODIFICATION OF THE LABOK LAW.
1. Access to exits. Safe and continuous passageways with an
unobstructed width of at least three feet throughout their length
and leading directly to every exit including fire-escapes and pas-
senger elevators, shall be maintained at all times on every floor of
the building. Every exit shall be maintained in an unobstructed
condition.
[1]#. Stairways. Stairways shall be provided with proper
[and substantial] hand-rails. Where the stairway is enclosed
by fireproof partitions the bottom of the enclosure shall be of fire-
proof material at least four inches thick unless the fireproof parti-
tions extend to the cellar bottom. All stairways that extend to
the top story shall be continued to the roof.
[2] 3. Doors and windows. No door leading out of any factory
shall be locked, bolted or fastened during working hours. No doo?
constituting an entrance to the factory building shall be locked,
fastened or bolted on either side during working hours. No
door, window or other opening on any floor of a factory build-
ing shall be obstructed by stationary metal bars, grating or wirf
mesh. Metal bars, grating or wire mesh provided for any such
door, window or other opening shall be so constructed as to be
readily movable or removable [from both sides] in such manner
as to afford the free and unobstructed use of such door, window
or other opening as a means of egress in case of need [and they] 1 .
Such openings shall be left unlocked during working hours.
Every door opening on a stairway or other [means of] exit shall
so open as not to obstruct the passageway. A clearly painted
sign marked " exit " in letters not less than eight inches in height
shall be placed over all |[exits] openings leading to stairways
and other [means of egress] exits, and in addition a red light
shall be placed over all such [exits] openings for use in time of
darkness.
[3. Access to exits. There shall at all times be maintained con-
tinuous, safe, unobstructed passageways on each floor of the build-
ing, with an unobstructed width of at least three feet throughout
their length leading directly to every means of egress, including
outside fire-escapes and passenger elevators. All means of egress
shall be maintained in an unobstructed condition. No door lead-
ing into or out of any factory or any floor thereof shall be locked,
bolted or fastened during working hours.]
4. Regulation by industrial board. The industrial board [shall
have power to] may adopt rules [and regulations] and establish
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 525
requirements and standards for construction, equipment and
maintenance of factory buildings or of particular classes of fac-
tory buildings and the means and adequacy of exit therefrom in
order to carry out the purposes of this chapter in addition to
the requirements of this section and of sections [seventy-nine-a
and seventy-nine-b, and not inconsistent therewith. J one hundred
and ninety, one hundred and ninety-one, and one hundred and
ninety-two.
193. Fire-escapes erected after October first, nineteen hun-
dred and thirteen. All outside -fire-escapes erected after Oc-
tober first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, whether serving as re-
quired exits or otherwise shall conform to the following require-
ments:
1. They shall be built of wrought iron or steel and shall be so
constructed and erected as to safely sustain on all platforms,
balconies and stairways a live load of not less than ninety pounds
per square foot with a factor of safety of four.
2. Whenever practicable a continuous run or straight run stair-
irai/ shall be built.
3. All openings leading thereto shall have an unobstructed
width of at least two feet and an unobstructed height of at least
six feet. Such openings shall extend to the floor level or within
six inches thereof, and shall be not more than seven inches above
the floor of the fire-escape balcony and shall have metal frames
or frames covered ivith metal and be provided with doors con-
structed of fireproof material with wired glass where glass is
used, except in buildings five stories or under in height erected
prior to October first nineteen hundred and thirteen, in which
case the provisions of subdivisions five and six of section one hun-
dred and ninety-four with reference to sills leading to fire-escapes
nnd openings leading to fire-escapes shall apply.
4. All windows opening upon the course of the fire-escape shall
be fireproof windows.
5: On every floor above the first there shall be a balcony firmly
fastened to the building and embracing one or more easily acces-
sible and unobstructed openings. The balconies shall have an
unobstructed width of at least four feet throughout their \viigth
and shall have a landing not less than twenty-four inches square at
the head of every stairway. There shall be a passageway between
the stairway opening and the side of the building at least eighteen
526 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
inches wide throughout except where the stairways reach and
leave the balconies at the ends or where double run stairways are
used. The stairway opening of the balconies shall be of a size
sufficient to provide clear headway and shall be guarded on the
long side by an iron railing not less than three feet in height.
Each balcony shall be surrounded by an iron railing not less than
three feet in height properly braced.
6. The balconies shall be connected by stairways not less than
twenty-two inches wide placed at an incline of not more than
forty-five degrees, with steps of not less than eight-inch tread and
not over eight-inch rise and provided with a handrail not less than
three feet above the treads. The treads of such stairways shall
be so constructed as to sustain a live load of four hundred pounds
per step with a factor of safety of four.
7. There shall be a similar stairway from the top floor balcony
to the roof, except where the fire-escape is erected on the front
of the building.
8. A similar stairway shall also be provided from the lowest
balcony to a safe landing place beneath, which stairway shall
remain down permanently or be arranged to swing up and down
automatically by counterbalancing weights.
9. When not erected on the front of the building, safe and un-
obstructed egress shall be provided from the foot of the fire-escape
by means of an open court or courts or a fireproof passageway
having an unobstructed width of at least three feet throughout
leading to the street, or by means of an open area having com-
munication with the streetj^'^. Such fireproof passageway shall
be adequately lighted at all times and the lights shall be so
arranged as to insure their reliable operation when through acci-
dent or other cause the regular factory lighting is extinguished.
194' Fire-escapes erected before October first, nineteen hun-
dred and thirteen. The industrial board may in its discretion
adopt requirements as to outside fire-escapes erected before Oc-
tober first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and not serving as re-
quired exits.
All outside fire-escapes erected before October first, nineteen
hundred and thirteen, and serving as required exits under the
provisions of section one hundred and ninety-one shall conform,
to the following requirements:
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 527
1. There shall be balconies on each floor of the building con-
nected with stairways placed at an [angle] incline of not more
than sixty degrees.
2. A stairway shall lead from the top floor balcony to the roof,
except when the fire-escapes are erected on the front of the
building.
3. A stairway not less than twenty-two inches wide shall lead
from the lowest balcony to a safe landing place beneath, which
stairway shall remain down permanently or swing up and down
by counterbalancing weights.
4. A safe and unobstructed exit shall be provided to the street
from the foot of such fire-escapes as required in subdivision nine
of section one hundred and ninety-three.
5. Steps shall connect the sill of every opening leading to the
fire-escapes with the floor wherever such sill is more than three
feet above the floor level.
6. All openings leading to the fire-escapes shall be provided with
windows having metal frames and sash or frames and sash covered
with metal ymd with wired glass where glass is used, or with doors
constructed of fireproof material with wired glass where glass is
used.
7. All windows opening upon the course of the fire-escape, shall
be fireproof windows.
8. The balconies and stairway openings shall be properly
guarded by iron railings.
195. Special laws and local ordinances. The requirements
of sections one hundred and ninety to one hundred and ninety-four
inclusive, are not in substitution for the requirements of any
general or special law or local ordinance relating to the construc-
tion, equipment or maintenance of buildings, but the provisions
of such general and special laws and local ordinances shall be
observed as well as the provisions of said sections. The provisions
of sections one hundred and ninety to one hundred and ninety-
four inclusive shall supersede all provisions inconsistent there-
with in any special law or local ordinance, and any provision of
law or ordinance which gives power to any officer to establish re-
quirements inconsistent with the provisions of such sections or
the rules nd opted by the industrial board under the provisions
of this chapter.
528 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW*
[79-d.]./P<5. [Effect of foregoing provisions; ij/nspection of
buildings and approval of plans. [1. Effect of foregoing pro-
visions. The requirements of sections seventy-nine-a, seventy-
nine-b and seventy-nine-c are not in substitution for the require-
ments of any general or special law or local ordinance relating to
the construction, equipment or maintenance of buildings, but the
provisions of such general and special laws and local ordinances
shall be observed as well as the provisions of said sections. The
provisions of sections seventy-nine-a, seventy-nine-b and seventy-
nine-c shall supersede all provisions inconsistent therewith in any
special law or local ordinance, and any provision of law or ordi-
nance which gives power to any officer to establish requirements
inconsistent with the provisions of such sections or the rules and
regulations adopted by the industrial board under the provisions
of this article.]
[2]i. Inspection of buildings. The officer of any city, village or
town having power to inspect buildings therein for the purpose of
determining their conformity to the requirements of law or ordi-
nance governing the construction thereof, shall, whenever re-
quested by the commissioner [of labor], inspect any factory
building therein and certify to the commissioner [of labor] in de-
tail whether or not such building conforms to the requirements of
this chapter and the rules [and regulations] of the industrial
board, and such certificate shall be filed in the office of the com-
missioner [of labor] and shall be presumptive evidence of the
truth of the matters therein stated.
[3]#. Approval of plans. Before construction or alteration of
a building in which it is intended to conduct one or more factories,
the plans and specifications for such construction or alteration may
be submitted to the commissioner [of labor] and filed in his office
in such form and with such information as may be required by
him or by the rules [and regulations] of the industrial board, and
if such plans and specifications comply with the requirements of
this chapter and the rules [and regulations] of the industrial
board, he shall issue his certificate approving the same, which cer-
tificate shall bear the date when issued. Whenever any certificate
shall be issued by the commissioner [of labor] under this section
the particulars of such certificate shall be recorded and indexed in
the records of his office. Before issuing any such certificate the
commissioner [of labor] may request the officer of the city, vil-
lage or town in which such building is located having power to
PROPOSED EECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 529
examine and pass upon plans for construction of buildings with
"ci'erence to their conformity to the requirements of law or ordi-
nance governing the construction thereof, to examine such plans
and specifications and to certify to the commissioner [of labor]
whether or not such plans and specifications conform to the re-
quirements of this chapter and the rules [and regulations] of the
industrial board [, and s]. $uch officer shall thereupon make such
examination and so certify in detail to the commissioner [of labor
and s]. Such certificate shall be filed in the office of the com-
missioner [of labor] and shall be presumptive evidence of the
truth of the matters therein stated.
[4]-5. Certificate of compliance. After such construction or
alteration shall be completed, the commissioner [of labor] shall,
when requested by the owner or person filing such plans, ascertain
by inspection or in the manner provided in subdivision [two] one
of this section, whether such building conforms to the requirements
of this chapter and the rules [and regulations] of the industrial
board ; and if he finds that it does conform thereto, shall issue his
certificate to that effect [, which]. Such certificate shall bear the
date when issued.
[79-e.]j?97. Limitation of number of occupants. The num-
ber of persons [who may occupy any factory building or portion
thereof above the ground floor shall be limited to such a number
as can safely escape from such building by the means of exit pro-
vided in the building.
1. In buildings hereafter erected no more than fourteen per-
sons shall be employed or permitted or suffered to work on any
one floor for every full twenty-two inches in width of stairway con-
forming to the requirements for a required means of exit except
as to extension to the roof, provided for such floor. Xo allow-
ance shall be made for any excess in width of less than twenty-
two inches.] employed in a factory building on any floor above
ike ground floor shall not exceed the following:
1. In any building erected after October first, nineteen hundred
and thirteen, fourteen persons for every twenty-two inches in width
of stairway provided for such floor and conforming to the require-
ments for required exits, except as to extension to the roof. No
allowance shall be made for any excess in width of less than
twenty-two inches.
530 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
2. In any building[s heretofore] erected [no more than] 'be-
fore October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, fourteen per-
sons, [shall be employed or permitted or suffered to work on any
one floo6>. Automatic sprinklers. In every factory building
[over seven stories or over ninety feet in height] in which wooden
flooring or wooden trim is used and more than two hundred people
are regularly employed above the seventh floor or more than
ninety feet above the ground level of [such] the building, the
owner of the building shall install and maintain an automatic
sprinkler system approved as to form and manner of construction
and installation in the city of New York by the fire commissioner
of such city, and elsewhere by the state fire marshal. Such in-
stallation shall be made within one year after [this section takes
effect] April sixteenth, nineteen hundred and twelve, but the fire
commissioner of the city of New York in such city, and the state
fire marshal elsewhere may, for good cause shown, extend such
time for an additional year. [A failure to comply with this sec-
tion shall be a misdemeanor as provided by section twelve hun-
dred and seventy-five of the penal law, and tJITie provisions
hereof shall [also] be enforced in the city of New York by the
fire commissioner of such city [in the manner provided by the title
three of chapter fifteen of the Greater New York charter] and
elsewhere by the state fire marshal [in the manner provided by
article ten-a of the insurance law].
536 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
[S3-c.]0i. Fireproof receptacles^ ; gas jets; smoking].
[1.] Every factory shall be provided with properly covered fire-
proof receptacles, the number, style and location of which shall be
approved in the city of New York by the fire commissioner, and
elsewhere, by the commissioner of labor. There shall be de-
posited in such receptacles all inflammable waste materials, cut-
tings and rubbish. No waste materials, cuttings or rubbish shall
be permitted to accumulate on the floors of any factory but shall
be removed therefrom not less than twice each day. All [such]
waste materials, cuttings [or] and rubbish shall be entirely re-
moved from a factory building at least once in each day, except
that baled waste material may be stored in fireproof enclosures,
[provided that a]J.ll such baled waste material shall be removed
from such building at least once in each month.
[2. All gas jets or lights in factories shall be properly enclosed
by globes, wire cages or otherwise properly protected in the man-
ner approved in the city of New York by the fire commissioner of
such city, and elsewhere, by the commissioner of labor.
3. No person shall smoke in any factory. A notice of such
prohibition stating the penalty for violation thereof shall be posted
in every entrance hall and every elevator car, and in every stair-
hall and room on every floor of such factory in English and also
in such other language or languages as the fire commissioner of
the city of New York in such city, and elsewhere, the state fire
marshal, shall direct. The fire commissioner of the city of New
York in such city, and elsewhere, the state fire marshal shall en-
force the provisions of this subdivision.]
80$, Gas jets. All gas jets or other lights in factories shall
be properly enclosed by globes, or wire cages or shall be otherwise
properly protected in a manner approved in the city of New York
by the fire commissioner of such city, and elsewhere, by the com-
missioner of labor.
203. Smoking. No person shall smoke in any factory. A
notice of such prohibition stating the penalty for violation thereof
shall be kept posted in every entrance hall, elevator car, stair-hall
and room of a factory in English and also in such other language as
the fire commissioner of the city of New York in such city, and
elsewhere, the state fire marshal, shall direct. The fire commis-
sioner of the city of New York in such city, and elsewhere, the
PROPOSED RECOPIFICATION OF THE LABOK LAW. 537
fire marshal shall enforce tins section. Such notices shall
be furnished by the officer charged with the enforcement of this
section.
TITLE III. SANITATION.
. Cleanliness of factory rooms. Every room in a fac-
tory [and] including the floor[s], walls, ceiling[s], windows and
every other part thereof and all fixtures therein shall at all times
be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. The walls and ceil-
ing^] of [each] such room [in a factory] shall he kept properly
lime washed or painted, except when properly tiled or covered
with slate or marhle with a finished surface. [Such lime wash
or paint shall be renewed whenever necessary as may he required
by the commissioner of labor.] Floors in a factory shall, at all
times, he maintained in a safe condition. No person shall [spit
or] expectorate upon the walls, floors or stairs of any factory
building, [used in whole or in part for factory purposes.] Sani-
tary cuspidors shall be provided, in every workroom in a factory
in sufficient numbers. Such cuspidors shall be thoroughly cleaned
daily. Suitable receptacles shall he provided and used for the
storage of waste and refuse[; s]. $uch receptacles shall be main-
tained D] a sanitar condition.
[S4-a.]277. Cleanliness of factory buildings. Every part of
a factory building and of the premises thereof and the yards,
courts, passages, areas or alleys connected with or belonging to the
same, shall be kept [clean, and shall be kept] free from any
accumulation of dirt, filth, rubbish or garbage [in or on the
same]. The roof, passages, stairs, halls, basements, cellars, privies,
water-closets, [cesspools, drains] and all other parts of such
l)ii il ding and the premises thereof shall at all times be kept in a
clean, sanitary and safe condition. The entire building and
premises shall be well drained and the plumbing, cesspools and
drains thereof at all times kept in proper repair and in a [clean
and] sanitary condition.
212. Drinking water. In every factory there shall be pro-
vided at all times for the use of employees, a sufficient supply of
clean and pure drinking water. Such water shall be supplied
through proper pipe connections with water mains through which
is conveyed the water used for domestic purposes, or, from a
spring or well or body of pure water. If such drinking water
538 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
be placed in receptacles in the factory, such receptacles shall be
properly covered to prevent contamination and shall be thoroughly
cleaned at frequent intervals.
[8 8]&/ 3. [Drinking water,] Washrooms, [and dressing
rooms. 1. In every factory there shall be provided at all times for
the use of employees, a sufficient supply of clean and pure drink-
ing water. Such water shall be supplied through proper pipe
connections with water mains through which is conveyed the Avut<^
used for domestic purposes, or, from a spring or well or body of
pure water ; if such drinking water be placed in receptacles in the
factory, such receptacles shall be properly covered to prevent con-
tamination and shall be thoroughly cleaned at frequent intervals.]
[2.] In every factory there shall be provided and maintained
for the use of employees [suitable] adequate and convenient
washrooms or washing -facilities; [separate for each sex, ade-
quately equipped with] such washing facilities shall consisting]
of sinks or stationary basins provided with running water or with
tanks holding an adequate supply of clean water. Wherever re-
quired by the industrial board such washrooms and washing facil-
ities shall be separate for each sex. Every washroom shall be pro-
vided [with means for artificial illumination and] with adequate
means of ventilation and heating and artificial illumination. [All
washrooms and washing facilities shall be constructed, lighted,
heated, ventilated, arranged and maintained according to rules and
regulations adopted with reference thereto by the industrial
board.] In all factories where lead, arsenic or other poisonous
substances or injurious or noxious fumes, dust or gases are present
as an incident or result of the business or processes conducted by
such factory [there shall be provided] the washing facilities
[which] shall include hot water and soap and individual towels.
[3. Where females are employed, dressing or emergency rocms
shall be provided for their use ; each such room shall have at least
one window opening to the outer air and shall be enclosed by
means of solid partitions or walls. In every factory in which
more than ten women are employed, there shall be provided one
or more separate dressing rooms in such numbers as required by
the rules and regulations of the industrial board and located in
such place or places as required by such rules and regulations,
having an adequate floor space in proportion to the number of em-
ployees, to be fixed by the rules and regulations of the industrial
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 539
board, but the floor space of every such dressing room shall in no
event be less than sixty square feet; each dressing room shall be
separated from any water closet compartment by adequate parti-
tions and shall be provided with adequate means for artificial
illumination; each dressing room shall be provided with suitable
means for hanging clothes and with a suitable number of seats.
All dressing rooms shall be enclosed by means of solid partitions
or walls, and shall be constructed, heated, ventilated, lighted and
maintained in accordance with such rules and regulations as may
be adopted by the industrial board with reference thereto.]
214- Dressing rooms. In every factory where females are
employed a sufficient number of dressing rooms conveniently lo-
cated shall be provided for their use. Each dressing room shall
be properly ventilated by a window or by suitable ducts leading
to the outer air and shall be enclosed by partitions or walls. Each
dressing room shall be provided with adequate means for artificial
illumination, suitable means for hanging clothes and a suitable
number of seats and shall be properly heated and ventilated.
Each dressing room shall be separated from any water closet
compartment by adequate partitions. Adequate floor space shall
be provided in dressing rooms in proportion to the number of em-
ployees. Where more than ten women are employed the dress-
ing room shall have a floor space of not less than sixty square feet
and shall have at least one window opening to the outer air.
[88-a.]#15. Water closets. 1. |[In every factory t] There
shall be provided for every factory a sufficient number of suitable
and convenient water closets [separate for each sex, in such num-
ber and located in such place or places as required by the rules and
regulations of the industrial board]. All water closets shall be
maintained inside the factory building except where, in the opin-
ion of the commissioner [of labor], it is impracticable to do so.
2. There shall be separate water closet compartments or toilet
rooms for females, to be used by them exclusively, and notice to
that effect shall be clearly marked at the entrance to [painted on
the outside of] such compartments or rooms. The entrance
to every water closet compartment or toilet room [used by
females] shall be effectively screened by a partition or vestibule.
Where water closets for males and females are in adjoining com-
partments or toilet rooms, there shall be [solid plastered or metal
covered] partitions of substantial construction between the com-
540 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR L
AW.
partments or rooms extending from the floor to the ceiling und
such partitions shall be plastered or metal covered to a sufficient
height, [whenever any water closet compartments open directly
into the workroom exposing the interior, they shall be screened
from view hy a partition or a vestibule.]' The use of curtains
for screening purposes is prohibited.
3. The use of any form of trough water closet, latrine or school
sink within any factory building is prohibited except fixtures
installed prior to July first,, nineteen hundred and fourteen, having
a common flushing system and approved by the industrial board
in its rules. All such trough water closets, latrines or school
sinks shall, before the first of October, nineteen hundred and four-
teen, be completely removed and the place where they were located
properly disinfected under the direction of the department [of
labor. Such appliances shall be replaced by proper individual
water closets, placed in water closet compartments, all of which
shall be constructed and installed in accordance with rules and
regulations to be adopted by the industrial board].
4. Every [existing] water closet and urinal installed before
October first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, for any factory
inside any factory building shall have a basin of enameled iron
or earthenware, and shall be flushed from a separate water-sup-
plied cistern or through a [floushometer] proper valve connected
in such manner as to keep the water supply of the factory free
from contamination. All water closet compartments or toilet
rooms constructed before October first, nineteen hundred nnd
thirteen, shall have windows or suitable ducts leading to the outer
air. -
5. All woodwork enclosing water closet fixtures shall be re-
moved from the front of the closet and the space underneath the
seat shall be left open. [The floor or other surface beneath and
around the closet shall be maintained in good order and repair
and all the woodwork shall be kept well painted with a light-color
paint.] All '[existing] 1 water closet compartments shall [have
windows leading to the outer air and shall] be [otherwise] prop-
erly ventilated [in accordance with rules and regulations adopted
for that purpose by the industrial board. Such compartments]
and shall be provided with adequate means for artificial illumina-
tion, [and the enclosure of each compartment shall be kept free
from all obscene writing or marking.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 541
5.] 0. All water closets, urinals, [and] water closet compart-
ments and toilet rooms hereafter installed in a factory, including
those provided to replace existing fixtures, shall be properly con-
structed, installed, ventilated, lighted and maintained in accord-
ance with such rules [and regulations] as may be adopted by the
industrial board.
[6.] 7. All water closet compartments, and the floors, walls, ceil-
ings and surface thereof, and all fixtures therein, and all water
closets and urinals shall at all times be [kept and]' maintained in
a clean and sanitary condition. The floor or other surface beneath
and around the closet shall be maintained in good order and repair
and all the wood work shall be kept well painted with a light-color
paint. The enclosure of each compartment and toilet room shall be
kept free from obscene writing or marking. Where the water sup-
ply to water closets or urinals is liable to freeze, the water closet
compartment shall be properly heated so as to prevent freezing, or
the supply and flush pipes, cisterns and traps and valves shall be
effectively covered with wool felt or hair felt, or other adequate
covering.
[7. All water closets shall be constructed, lighted, ventilated,
arranged and maintained according to rules and regulations
adopted with reference thereto by the industrial board.]
[92. ]#./. Laundries. A shop, room or building where one or
more persons are employed in doing public laundry work by way
of trade or for purposes of gain is a factory within the meaning
of this chapter, and shall be subject to [the visitation and inspec-
tion of the commissioner of labor and] the provisions of this chap-
ter in the same manner as any other factory. E"o such public
laundry work shall be done in a room used for a sleeping or living
room. All such laundries shall be kept in a clean condition and
free from vermin and all impurities of an infectious or con-
tagious nature. This section shall not apply to any female engaged
in doing custom laundry work at her home for a regular family
trade.
[95.]#^7. Unclean factories. If the commissioner [of labor]
finds evidence of contagious disease in any factory he shall affix
to any articles therein exposed to such contagion a label contain-
ing the word " unclean " and shall notify the local board of health,
who may disinfect such articles and thereupon remove such label.
542 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
If the commissioner [of labor] finds that any [workroom or]
factory or workroom therein is foul, unclean, or unsanitary, he
may, after first making and filing in the public records of his
office a written order stating the reasons therefor, affix to any ar-
ticles therein found a label containing the word " unclean. " With
the exception of the local board of health, [N]ra> one but [the
commissioner of labor] an authorized representative of the de-
partment shall remove any label so affixed ; and he may refuse to
remove it until such articles [shall have been] are removed from
such factory and cleaned, or until such room [or rooms shall have
been] is cleaned or made sanitary.
[98. Labor camps.]#l. Living quarters for factory em-
ployees. Every employer operating a factory, and furnishing to the
employees thereof any living quarters at any place outside the fac-
tory, either directly or through any third person by contract or
otherwise, shall maintain such living quarters [and every part
thereof] in a [thoroughly]' sanitary condition. [The industrial
board shall have power to make rules and regulations to provide
for the sanitation of such living quarters. The commissioner
of labor may enter and inspect any such living quarters.]
[86.]#1 9. Ventilation, heat and humidity. 1. [The owner,
agent or lessee of e]J?very workroom in a factory shall be pro-
vided with [in each workroom thereof] proper and sufficient
means of ventilation by natural or mechanical means or both, as
may be necessary, and there shall be maintained therein proper and
sufficient ventilation and proper degrees of temperature and
humidity [in every workroom thereof] at all times during work-
ing hours. Iff owing to the nature of the manufacturing process
carried on in a factory workroom, excessive heat be created therein,
there shall be provided, maintained and operated such special
means or appliances as may be required to reduce such excessive
heat.
2. All grinding, polishing or buffing wheels used in the course
of the manufacture of articles of the baser metals shall be equipped
with proper hoods and pipes and such pipes shall be connected to
an exhaust fan of sufficient capacity and power to remove all
matter thrown off such wheels in the course of their use. Such
fan shall be Icept running constantly while such grinding, polish-
ing or buffing wheels are in operation. In case of wet-grinding
it is unnecessary to comply with this subdivision unless required
PKOPOSED E-ECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. r>4->
by ike rules of the industrial board. All machinery creating dust
or impurities shall be equipped with proper hoods and pipes and
such pipes shall be connected to an exhaust fan of sufficient ca-
pacity and power to remove such dust or impurities; such fan
shall be kept running constantly while such machinery is in use.
If in case of wood-working machinery, the industrial board decides
that such apparatus is unnecessary for the health and welfare of
the employees it may adopt rules excepting such machinery from
the operation of this subdivision.
[2]$. If dust, gases, fumes, vapors, fibers or other impurities
are generated or released' in the course of the business carried on
in any workroom of a factory, in quantities tending to injure the
health of the [operatives, the person operating the factory,
whether as owner or lessee of the whole or of a part of the build-
ing in which the same is situated, or otherwise, shall provide]
employees suction devices shall be provided that shall remove said
impurities from the workroom, at their point of origin where
practicable, by means of proper hoods connected to conduits and
exhaust fans of sufficient capacity to remove such impurities,
[and s]$uch fans shall be kept running constantly while such
impurities are being generated or released. [If, owing to the
nature of the manufacturing process carried on in a factory work-
room, excessive heat be created therein the person or persons oper-
ating the factory as aforesaid shall provide, maintain, use and
operate such special means or appliances as may be required to
reduce such excessive heat.]
[3]4. The industrial board shall [have power to] make rules
[and regulations] for and fix standards of ventilation, tempera-
ture and humidity in factories and [may] shall prescribe the
special means, if any, required for removing impurities or for
reducing excessive heat, and the machinery, apparatus or appli-
ances to be used for any of said purposes, and the construction,
equipment, maintenance and operation thereof, in order to effectu-
ate the purposes of this section.
[4] 5.. If any requirement of this section or any rule [or regu-
lation] of the industrial board made under the provisions thereof
shall not be complied with, the commissioner [of labor] shall
issue [or cause to be issued] an order directing compliance there-
with [by the person whose duty it is to comply therewith] within
thirty days after the service of such order. [Such person shall,
in case of failure to comply with the requirements of such order,
544 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
forfeit to the people of the state fifteen dollars for each day dur-
ing which such failure shall continue after the expiration of such
thirty days, to be recovered by the commissioner of labor. The
liability to such penalty shall be in addition to the liability of
such person to prosecution for a misdemeanor as provided by sec-
tion twelve hundred and seventy-five of the penal law.
5. When the commissioner of labor shall issue, or cause to be
issued, an order specified in subdivision four hereof h]/Ze may in
such order require plans and specifications to be filed for any
machinery or apparatus to be provided or altered, pursuant to the
requirements of such order. In such case, before providing, or
making any change or alteration in any machinery or apparatus
for any of the purposes specified in this section, the person upon
whom such order is served shall file with the commissioner [of
labor] plans and specifications therefor, and shall obtain [the]
his approval of such plans and specifications [by the commissioner
of labor] before providing or making any change or alteration in
any such machinery or apparatus.
220. [85.] Size of rooms. No more [employees] persons
shall be [required or permitted to work] employed in a room in a
factory [between the hours of six o'clock in the morning and six
o'clock in the evening] than will allow each [of such employees
not less than] person employed between the hours of six o'clock
in the morning and six o'clock in the evening two hundred and
fifty cubic feet of air space ; [and,] nor unless by a written per-
mit of the commissioner [of labor not less] than will allow four
hundred cubic feet for each [employee, so] person employed be-
tween the hours of six o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the
morning. [, provided s]$uch room [is] shall be lighted by elec-
tricity [at all times during such hours, while] whenever persons
are employed therein between the hours of six o'clock in the even-
ing and six o'clock in the morning and artificial light is necessary.
22.1. Illumination. Every workroom in a factory shall be
properly and adequately lighted during working hours. Artificial
illuminants shall be installed, arranged and used so that the light
furnished will at all times be adequate for the work carried on
therein., and so as to prevent unnecessary strain on the vision or
glare in the eyes of the workers.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 545
TITLE IV.
FOUNDRIES.
[97. Brass, iron and steel f] 225. foundries. [1.] Foundries
shall [be subject] conform to all the provisions of this chapter
relating to factories and also to the following requirements:
[2] 1. All entrances [to foundries] shall be so constructed and
maintained as to minimize drafts, and all windows [therein] shall
be maintained in proper condition and repair.
[3]#. All gangways [in foundries] shall be constructed and
maintained of sufficient width to make the use thereof by em-
ployees reasonably safe. During the progress of casting such
gangways shall not be obstructed in any manner.
[4]#. Smoke, steam and gases generated in foundries shall be
effectively removed therefrom, in accordance with such rules [and
regulations] as may be adopted with reference thereto by the in-
dustrial board, and whenever required by the [regulations] rules
of such board, exhaust fans of sufficient capacity and power, prop-
erly equipped with ducts and hoods, shall be provided and oper-
ated to remove such smoke, steam and gases. The milling and
cleaning of castings, and milling of cupola cinders, shall he done
under such conditions to be prescribed by the rules [and regula-
tions] of the industrial board as will adequately protect the
persons employed in foundries from the dust arising during the
process.
[5]4. All foundries shall be properly and thoroughly lighted
during working hours and in cold weather proper and sufficient
heat shall be provided and maintained therein.
5. The use of heaters discharging smoke or gas into workrooms
is prohibited. [In all foundries s]. /Suitable provision[s] shall
be m-ade and maintained for drying the working clothes of [per-
sons employed therein] employees.
[6. In every foundry in which] 6. Where ten or more persons
are employed [or engaged at labor,] there shall be provided and
maintained [for the use of employees therein] suitable and con-
venient' washrooms [of sufficient capacity] adequately equipped
with hot and cold water service. Such washrooms shall be kept
clean and sanitary and shall be properly heated during cold
weather. In e?ery such foundry lockers shall be provided for
the safe-keeping of employees' clothing[. In every foundry in
which more than ten persons are employed or engaged at labor
where] and if outside water closets or privy accommodations
18
546 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
are permitted by the commissioner [of labor to remain outside
of the factory under the provisions of section eighty-eight of
this chapter,] the passageway leading from the foundry to the
[said] water-closets or privy accommodations shall be so pro-
tected and constructed that the employees in passing thereto or
therefrom shall not be exposed to outdoor atmosphere and such
water-closets or privy accommodations shall be properly heated
during cold weather.
7. The flasks, molding machines, ladles, cranes and apparatus
for transporting molten metal [in foundries] shall be main-
tained in proper condition and repair, and any such tools or imple-
ments that are defective shall not be used until properly repaired.
8. There shall be [in every foundry,] available for immediate
use, an ample supply of lime water, olive oil, vaseline, bandages
and absorbent cotton, to meet the needs of workmen in case of
burns or other accidents ; but any other equally efficacious remedy
for burns may be substituted for those herein prescribed.
TITLE V.
DUTIES OF OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS.
[94. Tenant-factories]^^^. Duties of owners and occupiers.
1. Except as in this article otherwise provided the person operat-
ing a factory whether as owner or lessee of the whole or of a part
of the building in which the same is situated or otherwise, shall
be responsible for the observance of the provisions of this article,
anything in any lease or agreement to the contrary notwith-
standing.
2.- The term " owner " when used in this article means the
owner of the freehold of the premises, or the lessee of the whole
thereof, or the agent in charge of the property.
3. [A tenant-factory within the meaning of the term as] The
term " tenant-factory building " when used in this [chapter is]
section means a building, separate parts of which are occupied and
used by different persons, [companies or corporations,] and one
or more of which parts is [so] used as [to constitute in law] a
factory.
4- The owner[,] of a tenant-factory building, whether or not
he is also one of the occupants, instead of the respective [lessees
or] tenants, shall be responsible for the observance [and punish-
PROPOSED RECTIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 547
able for the nonobservance] of the following provisions of this
article, anything in any lease to the contrary notwithstanding[
namely, the provisions of sections seventy-nine, eighty, eighty-two,
eighty-three, eighty-six, ninety and ninety-one, and the provisions
of section eighty-one with respect to the lighting of halls and
stairways ;] :
Section 175. Elevators and hoistways.
190. Construction of buildings erected after October
first, nineteen hundred and thirteen.
191. Requirements for buildings erected before October
first, nineteen hundred and thirteen.
192. Additional requirements common to all buildings.
193. Fire escapes erected after October first, nineteen
hundred and thirteen.
19 Jf. Fire escapes erected before October first, nineteen
hundred and thirteen.
198. Fire alarm signal systems.
200. Automatic sprinklers.
212. Drinking water.
818. Wash rooms.
215. Water closets.
except that the [lessees or] tenants also shall be responsible for
the observance [and punishable for the nonobservance] of the
provisions of sections [seventy-nine, eighty, eighty-six and ninety-
one] one hundred and seventy-five, one hundred and ninety-one,
one hundred and ninety-two, one hundred and ninety-three, one
hundred and ninety-four, two hundred and twelve, two hundred
and thirteen and two hundred and fifteen, within their respec-
tive holdings. The owner shall also be responsible for all other
provisions of this article in so far as they affect those portions
of the tenant-factory building that are used in common. [The
owner of every tenant-factory shall provide each separate factory
therein with water-closets in accordance with the provisions of
section eighty-eight, and with proper and sufficient water and
plumbing pipes and a proper and sufficient supply of water to
enable the tenant or lessee thereof to comply with all the provi-
sions of said section. But as an alternative to providing water-
closets within each factory as aforesaid, the owner may provide in
the public hallways or other parts of the premises used in com-
mon where they will be at all times readily 'and conveniently
548 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
accessible to all persons employed on the' premises not provided for
in accordance with section eighty-eight, separate water-closets for
each sex, of sufficient numbers to accommodate all such persons.
Such owner shall keep all water-closets located as last specified at
all times provided with proper fastenings, and properly screened,
lighted, ventilated, clean, sanitary and free from all obscene writ-
ing or marking. Outdoor water-closets shall only be permitted
where the commissioner of labor shall decide that they are neces-
sary or preferable, and they shall then be provided in all respects
in accordance with his directions. The owner of every tenant-
factory shall keep the entire building well drained and the plumb-
ing thereof in a clean and sanitary condition ; and shall keep the
cellar, basement, yards, areaways, vacant rooms and spaces, and
all parts and places used in common in a clean, sanitary and safe
condition and shall keep such parts thereof as may reasonably
be required by the commissioner of labor properly lighted at all
hours or times when said building is in use for factory purposes.
The term " owner " as used in this article shall be construed to
mean the owner or owners of the freehold of the premises, or the
lessee or joint lessees of the whole thereof, or his, her or their
agent in charge of the property.]
5. The [lessee or] tenant of any part of a tenant-factory 'build-
ing shall permit the owner, his agents and servants, to enter and
remain upon the demised premises whenever and so long as may
be necessary to comply with the provisions of law, the responsi-
bility for which is by this section placed upon the owner ; and his
failure or refusal so to do shall be a cause for dispossessing said
tenant by summary proceedings to recover possession of real prop-
erty,- as provided in the code of civil procedure. [And w] When-
ever by the terms of a lease any [lessee or] tenant [shall have]
has agreed to comply with or carry out any of such provisions, his
failure or refusal so to do shall be a cause for dispossessing said
tenant by summary proceedings as aforesaid. [Except as in
this article otherwise provided the person or persons, company or
corporation conducting or operating a factory whether as owner
or lessee of the whole or of a part of the building in which the same
is situated or otherwise, shall be responsible for the observance and
punishable for the nonobservance of the provisions of this article,
anything in any lease or agreement to the contrary notwithstand-
ing.]
PROPOSED EECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 549
[ 96. Definition of " custodian." The word " custodian " as
used in this article shall include any person, organization or so-
ciety having the custody of a child.]
AKTICLE [8] 11.
BAKERIES AND rCONFECTIONERIES-| MANUFACTURE OF FOOD PRODUCTS.
[Section 110. Enforcement of article.
111. Definitions.
112. General requirements.
113. Maintenance.
113-a. Prohibited employment of diseased bakers.
114. Inspection of bakeries.
115. Sanitary certificates.
116. Prohibition of future cellar bakeries.
117. Sanitary code for bakeries and confectioneries.]
Section 235. Definitions.
236. Construction.
237. Maintenance and operation.
238. Prohibited employment of diseased bakers.
239. Respective duties of owners and occupiers.
240. Manufacture of other food products.
2Jfl. Sanitary certificates.
2Jf2. Cellar bakeries.
?. Enforcement of article.
. Definitions. The term " bakery" when used in
this chapter means [all] any building[s], room[s] or place[s]
used or occupied for the purpose of making, preparing or baking
bread, biscuits, pastry, cakes, doughnuts, crullers, noodles, maca-
roni or spaghetti, to be sold or consumed on or off the premises,
except [kitchens in] hotels, restaurants, boarding houses or pri-
vate residences wherein [such] all such products [are prepared
to be used and] are used exclusively on the premises; [shall for
the purpose of this article be deemed bakeries. The commis-
sioner of labor shall have the same powers] and with respect to
the provisions of this chapter relating to machinery, safety de-
vices and sanitary conditions includes [in] hotel bakeries [that
he has in respect thereto in bakeries as defined by this chapter.
In cities of the first class the health department's jurisdiction
over hotel bakeries shall not extend to the machinery safety de-
vices and hours of labor of employees therein].
550 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
The term " cellar " when used in this article [shall] means a
room or a part of a building which is more than one-half its height
below the level of the curb or ground outside of or adjoining the
[building (excluding areaways)] same.
The term " owner " [as] when used in this article [shall be
construed to] means the owner [or owners] of the freehold of
the premises, or the lessee [or joint lessees] of the whole thereof,
or [his, her or] the[ir] agent in charge of the property.
The term " occupier " when used in this article [shall be con-
strued to] means the person [, firm or corporation] in actual pos-
session of the premises, who either himself makes, prepares or
bakes any of the articles mentioned in this section, or [hires or]
employs others to do it for him.
Bakeries are factories within the meaning of this chapter, and
subject to all the provisions of article [six] ten thereof.
[112]##6. [General requirements.] Construction. [All
bakeries.] 1. Every bakery shall be [sufficiently] provided with
proper and sufficient drain[age]s, [and with suitable] sinks
[supplied with], clean running water [, for the purpose of wash-
ing and keeping clean the utensils and apparatus used therein],
and water-closets; and the water-closets shall be apart from and
not open directly into the bakeroom or rooms where the raw ma-
terial or manufactured product thereof is stored or sold. [All
bakeries]
2. Every bakery shall be provided with [proper and] adequate
windows, [and if required by the rules and regulations of the
industrial board with v] Fentilating hoods and pipes over ovens
and ashpits or [with] other mechanical means [to so ventilate
same as] of ventilation shall also be provided if necessary, to
render harmless to the persons working therein any steam, gases,
vapors, dust, excessive heat or [any] impurities that may be gen-
erated or released by or in the process of making, preparing or
baking [in said bakeries].
3. Every part of a bakery shall be at least eight feet in height
measured from the surface of the finished floor to the under side
of the ceiling [and shall have a flooring of even, smooth cement,
or of tiles laid in cement, or a wooden floor, so laid and con*
structed as to be free from cracks, holes and interstices], except
that any cellar or basement of less [than eight feet in] height
which was used for a bakery on the second day of May, eighteen
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 551
hundred and ninety-five, need not be altered to conform to this
provision [with respect to height ;].
4. The flooring shall be of smooth, even cement, tiles laid in
cement, or wood, and shall be free from cracks, holes and inter-
stices, and the side walls and ceilings shall be [either plastered,
ceiled or wainscoted.] properly constructed and maintained.
[Every bakery shall be provided with a sufficient number of water-
closets, and such water-closets shall be separate and apart from
and unconnected with the bakeroom or rooms where food products
are stored or sold.]
[113]#-37. Maintenance and operation. 1. All floors, walls,
stairs, shelves, furniture, utensils, yards, areaways[,] and plumb-
ing [drains and sewers], in or in connection with bakeries, or in
bakery water-closets and wash-rooms, or rooms where raw mate-
rial^ are stored,] or [in rooms where] the manufactured product
is stored or sold, shall [at all times] be kept in good repair [and
maintained], in a clean and sanitary condition, and free from all
[kinds of] vermin. All furniture, troughs and utensils shall be
so constructed and arranged as not to prevent cleaning them or
any part of the bakery. All interior woodwork, walls and ceilings
shall be kept properly painted or limewashed except when prop-
erly tiled or covered with slate or marble with a finished surface.
[once every three months, where so required by the commiosioner
of labor. Proper s]
2. Sanitary receptacles snail be provided and used for [stor-
ing] coal, ashes, refuse and garbage[.], [Receptacles for refuse
and garbage shall have their] and the contents of the receptacles
for refuse and garbage shall be removed from bakeries daily and
such receptacles shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary
condition at all times[; the use of tobacco in any form in a
bakery or room where raw material or manufactured product
of such bakery is stored is prohibited. No person shall
sleep, or be permitted, allowed or suffered to sleep in a
bakery, or in any room where raw material or the manu-
factured product of such bakery is stored or sold, and no
domestic animals or birds, except cats, shall be allowed to
remain in any such room]. Mechanical means of ventilation,
when provided, shall be effectively used and operated. Windows,
doors and other openings shall be provided with proper screens.
[All employees, while engaged in the manufacture and handling
552 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
of bread shall wear slippers or shoes and suits of washable material
which shall be used for that purpose only and such garments shall
be kept clean at all times.] Lockers shall be provided for the
street clothes of the employees. [The furniture, troughs and
utensils shall be so arranged and constructed as not to prevent their
cleaning or the cleaning of every part of the bakery.]
3. No person shall use or be permitted to use tobacco in any
form in a bakery or room where the raw material or manufactured
product of such bakery is stored or sold.
If.. No person shall sleep or be permitted to sleep and no do-
mestic animals, except cats, and no birds shall be allowed to re-
main in a bakery or room where the raw material or manufactured
product of such bakery is stored or sold.
5. Every person, while engaged in the manufacture and hand-
ling of bread, shall wear a clean suit, which shall be made of wash-
able material and used for that work only, and clean shoes or
slippers.
[113-a.] 238. Prohibited employment of diseased bakers. No
person who has any communicable disease shall work or be per-
mitted to work in a bakery. Whenever required by a medical
inspector of the department [of labor], any person [em-
ployed] working in a bakery shall submit to a physical examina-
tion by such inspector. No person who refuses to submit te such
examination shall during the period of such refusal work or be
permitted to work in a[ny] bakery.
[. 114. Inspection of bakeries. It shall be the duty of t]
239. Respective duties of owners and occupiers. The owner [of
a building wherein a bakery is located to] shall comply with
[all the provisions of] section [one hundred and twelve of this
article,] two hundred and thirty-six and [of] the occupier [to]
shall comply with [all the provisions of] sections [one
hundred and thirteen of this article,] two hundred and
thirty-seven and two hundred and thirty-eight unless by the
terms of a valid lease [the responsibility for compliance
therewith has been undertaken by] the other party [to
the lease] thereto has undertaken to comply with any provision
of such sections, and a duplicate original lease, containing such
obligation, [shall] ha[ve]s been previously filed in the office
of the commissioner [of labor], in which event the party as-
suming the responsibility shall be responsible for [such] com-
RKCODTFICATION or THE LABOR LAW. :..v)
pliance. [The commissioner of labor may, in his discretion,
apply any or all of the provisions of this article to a factory lo-
cated in a cellar wherein any food product is manufactured, pro-
vided that basements or cellars used as confectionery or ice-cream
manufacturing shops shall not be required to conform to the re-
quirement as to height of rooms. Such establishments shall be
not less than seven feet in height, except that any cellar or base-
ment so used before October first, nineteen hundred and six, which
is more than six feet in height need not be altered to conform to
this provision.
If on inspection the commissioner of labor find a bakery or
any part thereof to be so unclean, ill-drained or ill-ventilated as
to be unsanitary, he may, after not less than forty-eight hours'
notice in writing, to be served by affixing the notice on the inside
of the main entrance door of said bakery, order the person found
in charge thereof immediately to cease operating it until it shall
be properly cleaned, drained or ventilated. If such bakery be
thereupon continued in operation or be thereafter operated before
it be properly cleaned, drained or ventilated, the commissioner of
labor may, after first making and filing in the public records of
his office a written order stating the reasons therefor, at once and
without further notice fasten up and seal the oven or other cook-
ing apparatus of said bakery, and affix to all materials, recep-
tacles, tools and instruments found therein, labels or conspicuous
signs bearing the word " unclean." No one but the commissioner
of labor shall remove any such seal, label or sign, and he may re-
fuse to remove it until such bakery be properly cleaned, drained
or ventilated.]
240. Manufacture of other food products. 1. Every fac-
tory wherein any food product is manufactured shall be kept in
a sanitary condition and properly lighted and ventilated, and the
food product prepared therein shall be protected from contamina-
tion.
2. Every 'basement or cellar used as a confectionery or ice-cream
manufacturing shop shall be not less than seven feet in height
measured from the surface of the finished floor to the underside
of the ceiling, except that any cellar or basement which is more
than six feet in height and was so used before the first day of
October, nineteen hundred and six, need not be altered to conform
to this provision.
554 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
[H5J&M- Sanitary certificates. 1. No person[, firm or
corporation] shall establish^ maintain] or operate a bakery with-
out [obtaining]! a sanitary certificate [from the department of
labor]. The certificate shall be kept posted in a conspicuous place
in the bakery.
2. Application for [such] a certificate shall be made to the
commissioner [of labor] by the occupier [of the bakery] or [by]
the person[, firm or corporation] desiring to establish or [con-
duct] operate [such] the bakery. The application [for a sani-
tary certificate] shall be made [in such form and shall contain
such information as the commissioner of laborf may require.
Blank applications for such certificate shall be] upon blanks pre-
pared and furnished by the commissioner [of labor].
[2. Upon the receipt of such application for a sanitary certifi-
cate,]
3. Before issuing a certificate the commissioner [of labor] shall
[cause an] inspect[ion to be made of] the building, room or
place described in the application. If the bakery conforms to the
provisions of articles [six and eight] ten and eleven [of
this chapter] and the rules [and regulations] of the industrial
board, or in any city of the first class if the bakery conforms to
the provisions of article [eight] eleven [of this chapter], and
[to] the sanitary code and the rules [and regulations] of the de-
partment of health of any such city, the commissioner [of labor]
shall issue a sanitary certificate for such bakery[. Such certifi-
cate shall be] for a period of one year, and shall [be] renew[ed]
it annually unless [by the commissioner of labor if]' upon a re-
inspection of the bakery it is found not to comply with the afore-
said provisions and [regulations] rules. [Every certificate
granted under the provisions of this chapter shall be posted in a
conspicuous place in the bakery for which such certificate is
issued.]
[3. Such] 4- The certificate may be revoked or suspended [at
any time] by the commissioner [of labor] if the health of the
community or of the employees of the bakery requires such ac-
tion, or if an order of the [department issued under the pro-
visions of this chapter be] commissioner is not complied with
within fifteen days after the service thereof upon the person[,
firm or corporation] charged with the duty of compl[ying with
such order] iance. The time for [such] compliance may be ex-
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 555
tended by the commissioner [of labor] for good cause shown, but
a statement of the reasons for such extension shall be filed in [the
office of the department of labor as part of] the public records
[thereof] of his office. [Nothing contained in this subdivision
shall be construed to limit in any way the power of the commis-
sioner of labor to seal up an unsanitary bakery as provided in sec-
tion one hundred and fourteen of this chapter.]
fji] 5. If an application for a [sanitary] certificate [be]
is denied or if [such] a certificate [be] is revoked or suspended
by the commissioner [of labor], he shall file in [the office of the
department of labor as part of] the public records of his office
[thereof], a statement [in writing setting forth] in detail of the
reasons for [such denial or revocation.] his action.
[5. Applications for sanitary certificates for existing bakeries
shall be made within four months after this act takes effect, and
no such bakery shall be conducted or operated without a sanitary
certificate from the department of labor after the first day of
January, nineteen hundred and fourteen. In the case of bakeries
hereafter established, the application for a sanitary certificate
shall be made within ten days after such bakery shall commence
business, and no such bakery shall be conducted or operated with-
out a sanitary certificate for more than thirty days after com-
mencing business.]
6. If a bakery has no [sanitary] certificate as herein re-
quired or if such certificate has been revoked or suspended, the
commissioner [of labor shall] may, after first making and filing
in the public records of his office an [written] order stating the
reasons therefor, [at once and] without further notice fasten up
and seal the oven or other cooking apparatus of said bakery, and
may affix to all materials and utensils in the bakery conspicuous
labels or signs bearing the word " unclean." No one but the com-
missioner of labor or his duly authorized representative shall
remove or deface any such seal, label or sign, and he shall not re-
move [same] it until a [sanitary] certificate [has been] is
issued or reissued to [such] the bakery.
[116]&0. [Prohibition of future c](7ellar bakeries. 1. No
bakery shall hereafter be located in a cellar, [and a sanitary
certificate shall not be issued for any bakery so located, unless
such bakery] which does not conform to all the provisions of this
section, unless a certificate of exemption has been issued to the
556 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
owner under the provisions of the law in effect on or before the
twenty-eighth day of February, nineteen hundred and fourteen.
2. The cellar shall be at least ten feet in height measured from
the surface of the finished floor to the under side of the ceiling
[and i]. /f the bakery is located [or intended to be located]
entirely in the front part of the building, the ceiling of the bakery
shall be not less than [in every part at least] four feet six inches
above the curb level of the street in front of the building, or if
[such bakery is located or intended to be] located entirely in the
rear part of the building or [to] extending from the front to the
rear, the. ceiling [of the bakery] shall be not less than one foot
above the curb level of the street in front of the building and the
bakery shall open upon a yard or courts which shall extend at
least six inches below the floor level of the bakery.
3. [, nor unless proper and a] Adequate provision shall be made
for the lighting and ventilation of such bakery and for the proper
construction of the floor, walls and ceiling thereof, and the bakery
shall be constructed in accord with plans and specifications [foi
the construction and establishment of such bakery], prepared in
such form [and covering such matters] as the commissioner [of
labor] may require [shall], which have been [first] submitted
to and approved by the commissioner [of labor]. [This prohi-
bition shall not apply to a cellar used and operated as a bakery
at any time within one year prior to the date of the passage of
this act, provided that satisfactory proof of its use as a bakery as
herein specified be furnished to the commissioner of labor in such
form as he may require within six months after this act shall take
effect, nor shall it apply to the cellar of a building in the course
of construction on the ninth day of May, nineteen hundred and
thirteen, nor to the cellar of a building the construction of which
was commenced after the first day of January, nineteen hundred
and thirteen, and completed on or before the ninth day of May,
nineteen hundred and thirteen, provided that such cellar be used
and operated as a bakery at any time prior to the first day of
January, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and that satisfactory
proof of the time of the construction of such building and of the
use of the cellar as a bakery as herein specified be furnished to
the commissioner of labor, in such form as he may require, on or
before the twenty-eighth day of February, nineteen hundred and
fourteen. Upon receipt of such proof the commissioner of labor
PROPOSED RECODIFICATIOM OF TIIK LABOK LAW.
shall issue to the owner of the building in which such cellar is
located, a certificate of exemption.]
4. This section shall not prevent the [local] health [authori-
ties] departments in [any] cit[y]tes of the first class from
exercising any power of regulation now or hereafter vested in
them.
[ 117. Sanitary code for bakeries and confectioneries. All
factories wherein any food product is manufactured shall be kept
in a thoroughly sanitary condition and shall be properly lighted
and ventilated, and all necessary methods shall be employed to
protect the food product prepared therein from contamination.
The industrial board may adopt rules and regulations for carry-
ing into effect the provisions of this article. Such rules and regu-
lations shall be known as the sanitary code for bakeries and con-
fectioneries and shall not apply to cities of the first class.]
[110]#-4$. Enforcement of article. [In every city of the
first class the health department of such city shall have exclusive
jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this article. In the ap-
plication of any provision of this article to any city of the first
class, the words " commissioner of labor " or " department of
labor " shall be understood to mean the health department of such
city.] 1 The commissioner shall, except in cities of the first class,
enforce the provisions of this article.
2. In cities of the first class, the health departments thereof
shall enforce the provisions of this article, and for that purpose
shall possess all powers conferred by this chapter upon the com-
missioner, the industrial board, or any officer of the department
of labor.
8. The rules of the industrial board made for the purpose of
carrying into effect the provisions of this article shall not apply
in cities of the first class.
ARTICLE 12.
TENEMENT-MADE ARTICLES.
Section 250. Definitions.
251. Article not to apply to certain shops in tenements.
252. Tenement house license.
253. Manufacturing of certain articles in tenements pro-
hibited.
558 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
. Work in cellars prohibited.
255. Prohibition of manufacturing by persons other than
members of the family.
256. Cleanliness and ventilation.
257. Articles not to be manufactured in tenements in
which there is disease.
258. Articles unlawfully manufactured not to be sold.
259. Articles unlawfully manufactured to be labeled.
260. Register of persons to whom work is given; identifi-
cation label.
261. Manufacturing in unclean tenements prohibited.
262. Owners of tenement houses not to permit the unlaw-
ful use thereof.
263. Powers and duties of boards of health.
26Jf. Issuance of tenement house licenses.
265. Dressmakers permit.
266. Permit to give out goods to a tenement house.
250. Definitions. The term " tenement house," when used
in this article, means any house or building or portion thereof,
of which is rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied,
or is occupied in whole or in part as the home or residence of
three families or more living independently of each other, and
doing their cooking upon the premises, and includes apartment
houses, flat houses and all other houses so occupied, and includes
any building which is on the same lot with any such tenement
house and is used for any purpose specified in section two hundred
and fifty-tivo.
The terms "manufacture " and "manufactured " when used in
this article include altering, repairing or finishing in whole or part.
251. Article not to apply to certain shops in tenements. This
article does not apply to a tenement house if the only manufac-
turing therein is carried on in a shop which is on the main or
ground floor, has a separate entrance to the street, is unconnected
with any living rooms, is entirely separated from the rest of the
building by solid partitions, and is not used for sleeping or cook-
ing.
252. Tenement house license. No room or apartment of a
tenement house shall be used for the purpose of manufacturing
therein any articles except collars, cuffs, shirts or shirtwaists made
of cotton or linen fabrics and laundered before being offered for
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 559
sale and except articles for the exclusive use of the persons living
in such room or apartment, unless a license for the tenement house
has been issued by the commissioner under section two hundred
and sixty -four.
253. Manufacturing of certain articles in tenements pro-
hibited. No article of food } no dolls or dolls clothing and no
article of children's or infants' wearing apparel shall be manu-
factured for a factory, either directly or through one or more
contractors or other third persons, in uny apartment of a tenement
house if any part of such apartment is used for living purposes.
254- Work in cellars prohibited. No articles shall be manu- f
factured in a cellar of a tenement house which is more than one-
half of its height below the level of the curb or ground outside of
or adjoining the same, unless a certificate of exemption has been
issued under chapter four hundred and sixty-three and chapter
seven hundred and ninety-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred
and thirteen.
255. Prohibition of manufacturing by persons other than
members of the family. No person shall manufacture any articles
in any room, or apartment of a licensed tenement house unless he
is a member of a family living in such room or apartment wnd
himself resides therein. This section does not apply to shops of
dressmakers on the ground or second floor dealing solely in the
customs trade direct to the consumer, if the whole number of per-
sons living or working therein does not exceed one to each, one
thousand cubic feet of air space, if no children under fourteen
years of age live or work therein and if u permit for the employ-
ment of such persons has been issued under section two hundred
and sixty-five.
256. Cleanliness and ventilation. Every licensed tenement
house and all parts thereof shall be kept in a clean and sanitary
condition and every room in which articles are manufactured shall
be properly lighted and ventilated and shall contain at least five
hundred cubic feet of air space for every person working therein.
All articles manufactured therein shall be kept clean and free
from vermin and all matter of an infectious or contagious nature.
257. Articles not to be manufactured in tene>ments in which
there is disease. No articles shall be manufactured in any room or
apartment of tenement house in which room or apartment there is
560 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
or has been any infectious, contagious or communicable disease
until such time as the local department or board of health certifies
to the commissioner that such disease has terminated) and
that the room or apartment has been properly disinfected, if disin-
fection after such disease is required by the local ordinances, or
by the rules or regulations of such department or board.
258. Articles unlawfully manufactured not to be sold. No
person shall sell or expose for sale any articles manufactured in
a tenement house contrary to the provisions of this chapter.
259. Articles unlawfully manufactured to be labeled. If the
commissioner finds any articles manufactured in a tenement house
contrary to the provisions of this article or of section one hundred
and five of this chapter, he shall affix to such articles a label con-
taining the words " tenement made/' If the label is affixed because
of the existence of any disease in such tenement house, he shall im-
mediately notify the local board of health ivhich shall disinfect
such articles and after disinfection remove the label. If the label
is affixed for the violation of any provision other than that relat-
ing to disease, the commissioner may seize and destroy such
articles unless the owner thereof shall remove the cause of the
violation within thirty days after notice of such seizure is given
by the commissioner.
260. Register of persons to whom work is given: Identifica-
tion label. Every employer conducting a factory from which
articles or materials are given out to be manufactured in a tene-
ment house shall keep a register of the names and addresses of
the persons to whom such articles or materials are given and shall
issue with all such articles or materials a label bearing the name
and place of business of such factory written or printed in English.
Such label shall be exhibited on the demand of the commissioner
at any time while such articles or materials remain in the tenement
house.
261. Manufacturing in unclean tenements prohibited. When-
ever the commissioner finds that any articles are manufactured
in any room or upartment of a tenement house which is habitually
kept in a filthy condition, he may affix to the entrance door of such
apartment a notice calling attention to such facts and prohibiting
(he manufacture of any articles therein. No person, except an
authorized representative of the department, shall remove or de-
face any such notice.
PROPOSED 1\[.< <>m i ICATIO.N OK TIIK LAHOK LAW. 561
262. Owners of tenement houses not to permit the unlawful
use thereof. The owner or agent of u tenement house shall not
permit the use thereof for the purpose of manufacturing any
article therein contrary to the provisions of this article. If a room
or apartment of a tenement house is so unlawfully used, the com-
missioner shall serve a notice thereof upon the owner or agent.
Unless, within fifteen days after the service of the notice, such
owner or agent causes such unlawful use to be discontinued or in-
stitutes and faithfully prosecutes proceedings for dispossession of
the occupant who unlawfully uses such tenement house, he shall
be deemed guilty of a violation of this article as if he, himself,
were engaged in such unlawful use. Such unlawful use by the
occupant of a tenement house shall be a cause for dispossession of
such occupant, by summary proceedings to recover possession of
real property as provided in the code of civil procedure.
?. Powers and duties of boards of health. The local health
department or board in every city, town and village whenever
there is any infectious, contagious or communicable disease in a
tenement house shall cause an inspection of such tenement house
to be made within forty-eight hours. If any articles are found to
bz manufactured, or in process thereof in an apartment in which
such disease exists, such board shall issue such order as the public
health may require, and shall at once report such facts to the
commissioner. Such board may condemn and destroy all infected
articles manufactured or in the process of manufacture under
unclean or unhealthful conditions. The local health department
or board or other appropriate authority charged with the duty of
sanitary inspection of such houses in every city, town and village
shall, when so requested by the commissioner, furnish comes of
its records as to the presence of infectious, contagious or com-
municable disease, or of unsanitary conditions in said houses;
and shall furnish such other information as may be necessary to
enable the commissioner to carry out the provisions of this article.
264- Issuance of tenement house licenses. 1. An application
for a license to permit the use of a tenement house for manufactur-
ing shall be made to the commissioner by the owner of the tene-
ment house or his duly authorized agent. Such application shall
be made upon blanks prepared and furnished by the commissioner
and shall state the location of the house, the number of apartments
in such house and the name and address of the, owner.
562 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION' OF THE LABOR LAW.
2. Before issuing a license, the commissioner shall consult the
records of the local health department or board and other
appropriate local authority charged with the duty of sanitary in-
spection of such tenements. If such records show the presence of
any infectious, contagious or communicable disease, or any un-
sanitary condition in such tenement house, the commissioner shall
refuse to issue such license until such records show that the tene-
ment house is free therefrom. Before issuing such license, the
commissioner shall also inspect the tenement house sought to be
licensed. If the commissioner finds that such tenement house con-
forms to all thz requirements of this article and if the records of
the local health department or board or other appropriate local
authority show the existence of no infectious, contagious or com-
municable disease or unsanitary condition, he shall grant a license.
3. Such license may be revoked by the commissioner if, in his
opinion, the provisions of this article or of section one hundred and
five of this chapter have, since the issuance of the license, been
or are being violated. Whenever a license is revoked or denied by
the commissioner, the reasons therefor shall be stated in writing
and filed in his office. Where a license is revoked, a new license
must be obtained before such tenement house can again be used
for the purposes for which a license is required.
265. Dressmakers' permit. Before issuing a permit to a dress-
maker us provided in section two hundred and fifty-five the com-
missioner shall inspect the premises for which a permit is sought
and if he finds that such place conforms to all the requirements
of this article, he shall issue a permit therefor. Such permit may
be revoked by the commissioner if there exists any violation of the
provisions of this article or of section one hundred and five of
this chapter.
266. Permit to give out goods to a tenement house. No person
shall hire, employ or contract with any person to manufacture
any articles in any room or apartment of a tenement house which
is not licensed as provided in thi-s article. No articles or materials
shall be given out to be manufactured in any tenement house for
a factory unless the employer conducting such factory has a permit
to give out such articles or materials to such tenement house. Be-
fore issuing a permit, the commissioner shall consult the records
of the local health department or board and if such records show
the presence in such tenement house of any infectious, contagious
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 563
or communicable disease or if such tenement house is not licensed,
lie shall refuse to issue a permit. Such permit may be revoked
by the commissioner if he finds any infectious, contagious or com-
municable disease existing in any room or apartment of a tene-
ment house for which a permit has been issued and whenever a
license for a tenement house is revoked by the commissioner he
shall immediately revoke all permits that have been issued for
such tenement house.
[ARTICLE XII.
EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN MERCANTILE
ESTABLISHMENTS.
Section 160. Application of article.
161. Hours of labor of minors.
161-a. Hours of labor of messengers.
162. Employment of children.
163. Employment certificate; how issued.
164. Contents of certificate.
165. School record, what to contain.
166. Supervision over issuance of certificates.
167. Registry of children employed.
168. Washrooms and waterclosets.
169. Lunch rooms.
170. Seats for women in mercantile establishments.
171. Employment of women and children in basements.
172. Enforcement of article.
173. Laws to be posted.]
ARTICLE IS.
MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
TITLE I. SANITATION.
Section 300. Cleanliness of rooms.
801. Cleanliness of buildings.
Drinking water.
Washrooms.
304' Dressing rooms.
805. Lunchrooms.
306. Water closets.
307. Ventilation.
308. Employment of children and females in basements.
56-i PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
TITLE 11. FIRE HAZARD.
Section 815. Smoking prohibited.
TITLE I. SANITATION.
800. Cleanliness of rooms. Every room in a mercantile es-
tablishment and the floor, walls, ceilings, windows and every other
part thereof and all fixtures therein shall at all times be kept in a
clean and sanitary condition. Floors shall, at all times, be main-
tained in a safe condition- Suitable receptacles shall be provided
and used for the storage of waste and refuse; such receptacles
shall be maintained in a sanitary condition.
SOI. Cleanliness of buildings. Every part of a building in
which a mercantile establishment is located and of the premises
thereof and the yards, courts, passages, areas or alleys connected
with or belonging to the same, shall be kept free from any accumu-
lation of dirt, filth, rubbish or garbage. The roof, passages, stairs,
halls, basements, cellars, privies, water closets, and all other parts
of such building and the premises thereof shall at all times bekept
in a clean, sanitary and safe condition. The entire building and
premises shall be well drained and the plumbing, cesspools and
drains thereof at all times kept in .proper repair and in a sanitary
condition.
802. Drinking water. In every mercantile establishment
there shall be provided at all times for the use of employees, a suffi-
cient supply of clean and pure drinking water. Such water shall
be supplied through proper pipe connections with water mains
through which is conveyed the water used for domestic purposes,
or, from a spring or well or body of pure water. If such drinking
water be placed in receptacles in the mercantile establishment,
such receptacles shall be properly covered to prevent contamina-
tion and shall be thoroughly cleaned at frequent intervals.
303. Washrooms and washing facilities. In every mercantile
establishment there shall be provided and maintained for the use
of employees adequate and convenient washrooms, or washing
facilities. Such washing facilities shall consist of sinks or sta-
tionary basins provided with running water or with tanks holding
an adequate supply of clean water and shall be separate for eacli
sex wherever required by the rules of the industrial board. Every
washroom shall be provided with adequate means of ventilation
and heating and artificial illumination.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 565
304- Dressing rooms. In every mercantile establishment
where more than jive women are employed a sufficient num-
ber of dressing rooms conveniently located shall be provided for
their use. Each dressing room shall be properly ventilated by
a window or by suitable ducts leading to the outer air and shall
be enclosed by .partitions or walls. Each dressing room shall be
provided with adequate means for artificial illumination, suitable
means for hanging clothes and a suitable number of seats and
shall be properly heated and ventilated. Each dressing room shall
be separated from any water closet compartment by adequate par-
titions. Adequate floor space shall be provided in dressing rooms
in proportion to the number of employees. Where more than ten
women are employed such dressing room shall have a floor space
of not less than sixty square feet and shall have at least one
window opening to the outer air.
305. Lunchrooms. No lunchroom in any mercantile estab-
lishment where females are employed shall be next to or adjoining
the water closets, unless a permit therefor is granted by the com-
missioner. Such permit shall be granted unless proper sanitary
conditions do not exist, and it may be revoked at any time if the
lunchroom, is kept in such a manner or is so located as to be
injurious to the health of the employees.
306. Water closets. 1. There shall be provided for every
mercantile establishment a sufficient number of suitable and con-
venient water closets. All water closets shall be maintained inside
the mercantile establishment except where, in the opinion of the
commissioner, it is impracticable to do so.
2. There shall be separate water closet compartments or toilet
rooms for females, to be used by them exclusively, and notice to
that effect shall be clearly marked at the entrance of such com-
partments or rooms. The entrance to every water closet shall be
effectively screened by a partition or vestibule. Where water
closets for males and females are in adjoining compartments or
toilet rooms, there shall be partitions of substantial construction
between the compartments or rooms extending from the floor to
the ceiling and such partitions shall be plastered or metal covered
to a sufficient height. Whenever any water closet compartments
open directly into the workroom exposing the interior, they shall
"be screened from view by a partition or a vestibule. The use of
curtains for screening purposes is prohibited.
566 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
3. The use of any form of trough water closet, latrine or school
sink within any mercantile establishment is prohibited except
fixtures in existence on the first day of October, nineteen hundred
and fourteen, having a common flushing system and approved by
the industrial board in its rules. All such trough water closets,
latrines or school sinks shall, before the first day of October, nine-
teen hundred and fifteen, be completely removed and the place
where they were located properly disinfected under the direction
of the department.
4. Every water closet installed before October first, nineteen
hundred and fourteen, inside any mercantile establishment shall
have a basin of enameled iron or earthenware, and shall be flushed
fr&m a separate water-supplied cistern or through a proper valve
connected in such manner as to keep the water supply of the
establishment free from contamination.
5. All woodwork enclosing water closet fixtures shall be re-
moved from the front of the closet and the space underneath the
seat shall be left open. All water closet compartments or toilet
rooms constructed before October first, nineteen hundred and
fourteen, shall have windows opening directly to the outer air or
shall be otherwise properly ventilated to the outer air by suitable
ducts and shall be provided with means for artificial illumination.
6. All water closets, urinals, water closet compartments and
toilet rooms hereafter installed in a mercantile establishment,
including those provided to replace existing fixtures, shall be
properly constructed, installed, ventilated, lighted and maintained
in accordance with such rules as may be adopted' by the indus-
trial board.
7. All water closet compartments and toilet rooms, and the
floors, walls, ceilings and surface thereof, and all fixtures therein,
and all water closets and urinals shall at all times be maintained in
a clean and sanitary condition. The floor or other surface beneath
and around the closet shall be maintained in good order and
repair and all the woodwork shall be kept well painted with a light
colored paint. The enclosure of each compartment and toilet
room shall be kept free from obscene writing or marking. Where
the water supply to water closets or urinals is liable to freeze, the
water closet compartment shall be properly heated so as to pre-
vent freezing, or the supply and flush pipes, cisterns and traps
and valves shall be effectively covered with wool felt or hair felt,
or other adequate covering.
PROPOSED EECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 567
307. Ventilation. Every mercantile establishment shall be
provided with proper and sufficient means of ventilation by natu-
ral or mechanical means or both, as may be necessary and there
shall be maintained therein proper and sufficient ventilation and
proper degrees of temperature and humidity at all times during
working hours. The industrial board shall make rules for and
fix standards of ventilation, temperature and humidity in mer-
cantile establishments.
308. Employment of children and females in basements.
No child under the age of sixteen years nor any female shall be
employed in the basement of a mercantile establishment unless
a permit therefor is granted by the commissioner. Such permit
shall be granted unless the basement is not sufficiently lighted and
ventilated and is not in a sanitary condition,
TITLE II.
FIRE HAZARD.
315. Smoking prohibited. No person shall smoke in any
mercantile establishment in which more than ten persons are
employed except in a fireproof enclosed room set aside for that
purpose. A notice of such prohibition statmg the -penalty for
violation thereof shall be posted in every entrance hall., elevator
car, stair-hall and room of a mercantile establishment in English
and also in such other language as the fire commissioner of the
city of New York in such city, and elsewhere, the state fire
marshal, shall direct. The fire commissioner of the city of New
York in such city, and elsewhere, the state fire marshal shall en-
force this section. Such notices shall be furnished by the officer
charged with the enforcement of this section and shall not be re-
moved without his consent.
[ARTICLE IX. MINES, TUNNELS AND QUARRIES AND THEIR IN-
SPECTION.
Section 119. Protection of employees in mines, tunnels and quar-
ries.
120. Duties of commissioner of labor relating to mines,
tunnels and quarries ; record and report.
121. Outlets of mines.
122. Ventilation and timbering of mines and tunnels.
568 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
123. Riding on loaded cars; storage of inflammable sup-
plies.
124. Inspection of steam boilers and apparatus; steam,
air and water gauges.
125. Use of explosives; blasting.
126. Report of accidents.
127. Notice of dangerous condition.
128. Traveling ways.
129. Notice of opening new mine, shaft or quarry.
130. Notice of abandonment.
131. Employment of women and children.
132. Underground workings to be equipped with head
house and doors.
133. Mines and tunnels to be equipped with wash-rooms.
134. Method of exploding blasts.
134-a. Hours of labor.
134-b. Medical attendance and regulations.
134-c. Penalties.
134-d. [Air pipes in tunnels and caissons.]
134-e. [Electric lights in tunnels and caissons.]
135. Enforcement of article.
136. Admission of inspectors to mines and tunnels.]
ARTICLE XIV.
MINES, TUNNELS AND QUARRIES; EMPLOYMENT IN COMPRESSED
AIR.
TITLE I. MINES, TUNNELS AND QUARRIES.
Section 380. Notice of opening new mine, tunnel or quarry.
331. Notice of discontinuance or abandonment.
332. Outlets of mines.
333. Traveling ways in mines.
334- Head house and trap-doors.
335. Timbering of mines and tunnels.
336. Ventilation of mines and tunnels.
337. Boilers for mining and tunneling; inspection a HI I
equipment.
338. Safety of apparatus.
339. Riding on loaded cars, cages or buckets.
340. Use of explosives; blasting.
341- Storage of inflammable supplies.
342. Wash-rooms.
343. Responsibility for compliance.
PROPOSKD RECODIFK ATIOX OF TJJE LABOR LAW. 569
TITLE II. EMPLOYMENT IN COMPRESSED AIR.
850. Definition.
351. Equipment.
852. Medical officers and nurses.
858. Physical examinations.
354- Record of physical examinations.
855. Employment of certain persons prohibited.
856. Hours of labor.
357. Rate and time of decompression.
TITLE /. MINES, TUNNELS AND QUARRIES.
|[129] 380. Notice of opening new mine, [shaft] tunnel
or quarry. [Whenever a] Every [mine or quarry] operator,
who is '[has] engaged or [is] about to engage in [the develop-
ment of new industries by the sinking of] opening new shafts, in-
clines, tunnels or quarries, [he] shall report to the commissioner
[of labor], giving the name of the owner [or owners,] and the
location of the property before the work of excavation [shall have]
has reached the depth of twenty-five feet.
[130] 881. Notice of discontinuance or abandonment. [It
shall be the duty of eJEVery [mine or quarry] operator [to notify
i lie commissioner of labor of the] who permanently discontinu-
[ance]es or abandon[ment]s [of] any mine, tunnel or quarry
[when and in the event that such mine or quarry shall be closed
permanently or abandoned.] shall notify the commissioner thereof
immediately after such discontinuance or abandonment.
[121] 332. Outlets of mines. [If, in the opinion of the
commissioner of labor it is necessary for safety of employees, the]
Every [owner, operator or superintendent of a] mine, operating
through either a vertical or inclined shaft, or a horizontal tunnel,
shall [not employ any person therein unless there are in connec-
tion with the subterranean workings thereof]', if the commissioner
finds it is necessary for the safety of the employees and issues an
order to that effect, be provided with not less than two openings
or outlets, at least one hundred and fifty feet apart, and connected
with the subterranean workings and with each other and no per-
son shall be employed in the mine until such openings or outlets
have been provided. [Such] The openings or outlets shall be so
constructed as to provide at all times safe and [distinct means of
ingress and egress from and to the surface, at all times, for the
570 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
use of the employees of such mine.] separate passageways between
the subterranean workings and the surface.
[128] 333. Traveling ways in mines. In [all] every
mine[s] there shall be cut out of or around the sides of every
hoisting shaft, or driven through the solid strata at the bottom
thereof, a traveling way not less than five feet high and three feet
wide to enable persons to pass the shaft in going from one side
to the other without passing over or under or in the way of the
cage or other hoisting apparatus.
|[132] 334. [Underground workings to be equipped with
hj.ffead house and trapdoors. Every underground working
where the depth exceeds forty feet shall be equipped with a proper
head house and trapdoors.
335. Timbering of mines and tunnels. Every mine and
tunnel shall be properly timbered, and the roof and sides of each
working place therein properly secured. No person shall be em-
ployed in an unsafe place in a mine or tunnel except to make it
safe.
'[122] 336. Ventilation [and timbering] of mines and tun-
nels. In [each] every mine [or] and tunnel a ventilating cur-
rent shall be conducted and circulated along the face of all work-
ing places and through the roadways therein in sufficient [quanti-
ties] volume to insure the safety of employees and to remove
smoke and noxious gases.
[Each owner, agent, manager or lessee of a mine or tunnel
shall cause it to be properly timbered, and the roof and sides of
each working place therein properly secured. ~No person shall be
required or permitted to work in an unsafe place or under danger-
ous material, except to make it secure.]
'[124] 337. [Inspection of steam boilers and apparatus;
steam, air and water gauges.] Boilers for mining and tunneling;
inspection and equipment. [All] Every boiler[s,] used in gen-
erating steam for mining or tunneling purposes shall be kept in
good order, and the owner, agent, manager or lessee of such mine
or tunnel shall |[have such boilers] cause them to be inspected at
least once in every six months by a competent person [,] approved
by the commissioner [of labor, once in six months], and shall file
a certificate j[showing the result thereof] in the mine or tunnel
office and a duplicate [thereof] in the office of the commissioner
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 571
[of labor] showing the result of each such inspection. [All en-
gines, brakes, cages, buckets, ropes and chains shall be kept in
good order and inspected daily by the superintendent of the mine
or tunnel or a person designated by him. All lifts, hoists, ropes
and other mechanical devices shall be properly designed and
maintained to sustain the weight intended to be placed thereon
or suspended therefrom, such factors of safety being used as are
generally accepted as sufficient by competent engineers, and all
cars and lifts shall be supplied with safety brakes. All hoisting
ropes shall at all times be of a breaking strength of not less than
five times the gross load suspended from them, including weight
of rope itself. Each] Every boiler or battery of boilers so used
[in mining or tunneling for generating steam,] shall be provided
with ][a] proper safety valves and with proper steam and water
gauges[, to show, respectively, the pressure of steam and the
height of water in the boilers]. Every boiler house in which
a boiler or [nest] lattery of boilers is placed, shall be provided
with a steam gauge properly connected with the boilers|[, and
another]. A steam gauge shall be attached to the steam pipe in
the engine house, and so placed that the engineer or fireman can
readily ascertain the steam pressure [carried. Every tunnel in
which men are working under artificial air pressure shall be fur-
nished with properly equipped and placed gauges capable at all
times of showing the weight or pressure of air in said tunnel, and
said gauge shall at all times during working hours be accessible to
all persons working on said tunnel].
338. Safety of apparatus. All engines, brakes, cages, buck-
ets, ropes and chains shall be kept in good order and inspected
daily by the superintendent of the mine or tunnel or a competent
person designated by him. All lifts, hoists, ropes and other
mechanical devices shall be properly designed and maintained to
sustain the weight intended to be placed thereon or suspended
therefrom, such factors of safety being used as ure generally ac-
cepted as sufficient by competent engineers. All hoisting ropes
sliall at all times be of a breaking strength of not less than five
times the gross load suspended from them, including the weight
of the rope itself. All cars and lifts shall be equipped with safety
brakes.
[123J-33P. Riding on loaded cars[;], cages or buckets.
[storage of inflammable supplies.] No person shall ride or be
572 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
permitted to ride on any loaded car, cage or bucket into or out of
a mine or into or out of a, tunnel in process of construction.
[No powder or oils of any description shall be stored in a mine,
tunnel or quarry, or in or around shafts, engine or boiler-houses,
and all supplies of an inflammable and destructive nature shall be
stored at a safe distance from the mine or tunnel openings.]
[125] 340. Use of explosives; blasting. When high explo-
sives other than gunpowder are used in a mine, tunnel or quarry,
the manner of storing, [keeping,] moving, charging and firing, or
in any manner using such explosives, shall be in accordance with
rules prescribed by the [commissioner of labor] industrial board.
In charging holes for blasting, in slate, rock or ore in any mine,
tunnel or quarry, no iron or steel pointed needle or tamping bar
shall be used, unless the end thereof is tipped with at least six
inches of copper or other soft material. ~No person shall be em-
ployed to blast unless the [mine or tunnel] superintendent or per-
son having charge of such mine, [or] tunnel or quarry is satisfied
that [he] such person is qualified, by experience, to perform the
work with ordinary safety. [When] Before such a blast is [about
to be] fired [in a mine or tunnel,] the person in charge of the
work shall give timely notice [thereof shall be given by the person
in charge of the work,] to all persons who may be in danger
therefrom. No blast shall be exploded by an electric current of
more than two hundred and fifty volts.
341. Storage of inflammable supplies. No powder or oils of
any description shall be stored in a mine, tunnel or quarry or in
or around shafts, engine or boiler houses, and all supplies of an
inflammable and destructive nature shall be stored at a safe dis-
tance from the mine or tunnel openings.
. [Mines and tunnels to be equipped with wJWash-
rooms. Every mine, tunnel or quarry [employing over twenty-
five men shall maintain a suitably equipped and heated washroom,
which shall be at all times accessible to the men employed.] where
more than twenty-five persons are employed shall be provided with
a washroom, properly heated and equipped, and accessible at all
times to the employees.
343. Responsibility for compliance. Except as in this title
otherwise provided the owner, agent, lessee, manager, operator and
superintendent shall be responsible for the observance of the pro-
visions of this title.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 573
TITLE II.
EMPLOYMENT IN COMPRESSED AIR.
350. Definition. The term " pressure/' when used in this
title, means gauge pressure in pounds per square inch.
[ 134-d. All work in the prosecution of which tunnels, caissons
or other apparatus or means within which compressed air is em-
ployed shall have at least two air pipes or lines connected at all
times and in perfect working condition.
134-e. Wherever electricity is used as lighting apparatus the
light supplied for the shaft leading to the caisson or tunnel or
other apparatus wherein the men are actually at work shall be sup-
plied from a different wire from the lights which are located at
the point wherein the men are actually working under air.]
351. Equipment. Every employer carrying on any work in
the prosecution of which persons are employed in compressed air
shall
1. Provide and attach the necessary instruments to all caissons
and air locks for showing the air pressure to which persons so em-
ployed therein are subjected, and employ a competent person to
take charge of such instruments. Such person shall not be per-
mitted to work more than eight hours in any twenty-four hours;
2. Provide and install properly equipped gauges in each
tunnel for showing the air pressure to which the persons so em-
ployed therein are subjected. Such gauges shall be accessible, at
all times during working hours, to all employees in the tunnel;
3. Connect at least two air pipes or lines to each compartment,
caisson, - tunnel or place where persons are so employed, and keep
them so connected and in perfect working condition;
4. Provide a suitable ladder for the entire length of every
shaft used in connection with such work;
5. Keep every passageway used in connection with such work
clear and properly lighted;
6. Wherever electricity is used for lighting, provide a wire for
lighting the shafts which wire shall be separate from the one used
for lighting the place where the employees are at work in com-
pressed air;
574 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
7. Wherever electricity is not used for lighting, provide suit-
able safeguards for nil lights used in connection with such work;
8. Erect a shield in the working chamber of every caisson, in
which persons are employed in compressed air, where the working
chamber is less than ten feet in length and when the caisson is
suspended or hung while work is in progress so that the bottom of
the excavation is more than nine fe*st below the deck of the work-
ing chamber;
9. Provide, for the use of all persons so employed, dressing
rooms which shall be kept open and nccessible during working
hours and during the intervals between working periods. The
dressing rooms shall be kept properly heated, lighted and venti-
lated, shall contain lockers and benches, baths with hot and cold
water, and sanitary water-closets.
10. Wherever the maximum air pressure in such work exceeds
seventeen pounds, provide and maintain a properly equipped medi-
cal lock. Such lock shall be kept properly heated, lighted and
ventilated and shall contain proper medical and surgical equip-
ment.
[ 134-b. Medical attendance and regulations. Any person or
corporation carrying on any tunnel, caisson or other work in the
prosecution of which men are employed or permitted to work in
compressed air, shall, while such men are so employed, also em-
ploy and keep in employment, one or more duly qualified persons
to act as medical officer or officers who shall be in attendance at
all necessary times while such work is in progress and whose duty
it shall be to administer and strictly enforce the following :
(a) No person shall be permitted to work in compressed air
until after he shall have been examined by such medical officer
and reported by such officer to the person in charge thereof as
found to be qualified, physically, to engage in such work.
(b) In the event of absence from work, by an employee for
ten or more successive days for any cause, he shall not resume
work until he shall have been re-examined by the medical officer
and his physical condition reported as hitherto provided to be such
as to permit him to work in compressed air.
(c) No person known to be addicted to the excessive use of in-
toxicants shall be permitted to work in compressed air.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 575
(d) No person not having previously worked in compressed
air shall be permitted during the first twenty-four hours of his
employment to work for longer than one-half of a day period as
provided in section one hundred and thirty-four-a and after so
working shall be re-examined and not permitted to work in a place
where the pressure is in excess of fifteen pounds unless his physical
condition be reported by the medical officer as heretofore pro-
vided to be such as to qualify him for such work.
(e) After a person has been employed continuously in com-
pressed air for a period of three months he shall be re-examined
by the medical officer and he shall not be allowed, permitted or
compelled to work until such examination has been made and he
has been reported as heretofore provided as physically qualified
to engage in compressed air work.
(f) The said medical officer shall at all times keep a complete
and full record of examinations made by him, which record shall
contain dates on which examinations were made and a clear and
full description of the person examined, his age and physical con-
dition at the time examined, also the statement as to the time
such person has been engaged in like employment.
(g) Properly heated, lighted and ventilated dressing rooms
shall be provided for all employees in compressed air which shall
contain lockers and benches and shall be open and accessible to
the men during the intermission between shifts. Such rooms shall
be provided with baths, with hot and cold water service and a
proper and sanitary toilet.
(h) A medical lock shall be established and maintained in con-
nection with all work in compressed air when the maximum
pressure exceeds seventeen pounds as herein provided. Such lock
shall be kept properly heated, lighted and ventilated and shall
contain proper medical and surgical equipment. Such lock shall
be in charge of a certified trained nurse selected by the medical
officer, who shall be qualified to render temporary relief.
(i) Whenever in the prosecution of caisson work in which com-
pressed air is employed the working chamber is less than ten feet
in length and when such caissons are at any time suspended or
hung while work is in progress so that the bottom of the excava-
tion is more than nine feet below the deck of the working cham-
ber, a shield shall be erected in the working chamber for the pro-
tection of the workmen.
576 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
(j) Whenever in the prosecution of work in which compressed
air is employed a shaft is used, all such shafts shall be provided
with a safe, proper and suitable ladder for its entire length.
(k) Wherever in the prosecution of work in tunnels, caissons
or other apparatus or means, in which compressed air is
employed or used, lights other than electric lights are used, the
said lights shall at all times be guarded.
(1) All passage ways in work, wherein compressed air is em-
ployed or used, shall be kept clear and properly lighted.]
852. Medical officers and nurses. Every employer carrying on
any work in the prosecution of which persons are employed in com-
pressed air shall:
1. Employ one or more licensed physicians as medical officers
who shall be in attendance at all necessary times at the place where
mch work is in progress^
2. Wherever the maximum air pressure in such work exceeds
seventeen pounds, employ one or more certified nurses who shall
be selected by the medical officer and who shall have charge of the
medical lock herein provided for.
853. Physical examinations. 1. No person shall be employed
in compressed air until he has been examined by the medical offi-
cer and found to be physically qualified therefor.
2. No person who has not previously worked in compressed
air shall;, during the first twenty-four hours of his employment, be
permitted to work therein longer than one working period as pro-
vided in section three hundred and fifty-six, and he shall not be
permitted to resume such work, if the air pressure exceeds fifteen
pounds, until he has been re-examined by the medical officer and
found to be physically qualified therefor.
3. No person, who is employed in compressed air but who
has been absent therefrom for ten or more consecutive days for
any cause, shall be permitted to resume such work until he has
been re-examined by the medical officer and found to be physically
qualified therefor.
4. No person who has been employed continuously in com-
pressed air for three months shall be permitted to continue such
work until he has been re-examined by the medical officer and
found to be physically qualified therefor.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 577
334. Record of physical examinations. The medical officer
shall keep a record of all physical examinations made in accord-
ance with section three hundred and fifty-three, which record shall
l>e kept at the place of employment and shall contain the name,
age, address and full description of each person examined, the
date on which each examination was made, and the physical con-
dition, on that date, of the person examined and the total time
such person has worked in compressed air including time in pre-
vious employments.
355. Employment of certain persons prohibited. No person
known to be addicted to the excessive use of intoxicants shall be
employed in compressed air.
[ 134-a. Hours of labor. All work in the prosecution of which
tunnels, caissons or other apparatus or means in which compressed
air is employed or used shall be conducted subject to the following
restrictions and regulations : When the air pressure in any compart-
ment, caisson, tunnel or place in which men are employed is greater
than normal and shall not exceed twenty-one pounds to the square
inch, no employee shall be permitted to work or remain therein
more than eight hours in any twenty-four hours and shall only be
permitted to work under such air pressure provided he shall during
such period return to the open air for an interval of at least thirty
consecutive minutes, which interval his employer shall provide for.
When the air pressure in any compartment, caisson, tunnel or
place in which men are employed is greater than normal and shall
equal twenty-two pounds to the square inch and does not exceed
thirty pounds to the square inch, no employee shall be permitted
to work or remain more than six hours in any twenty-four
hours, such six hours to be divided into two periods of three hours
each with an interval of at least one hour between each such period.
When the air pressure in any such compartment, caisson, tunnel or
place shall exceed thirty pounds to the square inch, and shall not
equal thirty-five pounds to the square inch, no employee shall be
pemitted to work or remain therein more than four hours, such
four hours to be divided into two periods of two hours each, with
an interval of at least two hours between each such period. When
the air pressure in any such compartment, caisson, tunnel or place
shall equal thirty-five pounds to the square inch and shall not
exceed forty pounds to the square inch, no such employee shall be
permitted to work or remain therein more than three hours in any
19
578 PROPOSED RKCODIFICATIOX or TIIF. LABOTC LAW.
twenty-four hours, such three hours to be divided into periods of
not more than one and one-half hours each, with an interval of at
least three hours between each such period ; when the air pressure
in any such compartment, caisson, tunnel or place shall equal
forty pounds to the square inch and shall not equal forty-five
pounds to the square inch, no employee shall be permitted to work
or remain therein more than two hours in any twenty-four hours,
such two hours to be divided into periods of not more than one hour
each, with an interval of at least four hours between each such
period; when the air pressure in any such compartment,
caisson, tunnel or place shall equal forty-five pounds to the
square inch and shall not exceed fifty pounds to the square inch,
no employee shall be permitted to work or remain therein more
than ninety minutes in any twenty-four hours, and such ninety
minutes to be divided into periods of forty-five minutes each, with
an interval of not less than five hours between each such period;
no employee shall be permitted to work in any compartment,
caisson, tunnel or place where the pressure shall exceed fifty
pounds to the square inch, except in case of emergency. No per-
son employed in work in compressed air shall be permitted by his
employer or by the person in charge of said work to pass from the
place in which the work is being done to atmosphere of normal
pressure, without passing through an intermediate lock or stage of
decompression, which said decompression shall be, where the work
is being done in tunnels, at the rate of three pounds every two
minutes unless the pressure shall be over thirty-six pounds, in
which event the decompression shall be at the rate of one pound
per minute; and which said decompression shall be, where th"
work is being done in caissons, at the following rates:
Where pressure is not over ten pounds per square inch the time
of decompression shall be one minute; when pressure is over ten
pounds per square inch, but does not exceed fifteen pounds per
square inch, the time of decompression shall be two minutes ; when
pressure is over fifteen pounds per square inch, but does not
exceed twenty pounds per square inch, the time of the decom-
pression shall be five minutes; when pressure is over twenty
pounds per square inch, but does not exceed twenty-five pounds
per square inch, the time of decompression shall be ten minutes;
when pressure is over twenty-five pounds per square inch but does
not exceed thirty pounds per square inch, the time of decompres-
sion shall be twelve minutes ; when pressure is over thirty pounds
PEOPOSED KEOODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 570
per square inch, but does not exceed thirty-six pounds per square
inch, the time of decompression shall be fifteen minutes; when
pressure is over thirty-six pounds per square inch, but does not
exceed forty pounds per square inch, the time of decompression
shall be twenty minutes; when pressure is over forty pounds per
square inch, but does not exceed fifty pounds per square inch, the
time of decompression shall be twenty-five minutes.
All necessary instruments shall be attached to all caissons and
air locks showing the actual air pressure to which men employed
therein are subjected and which instruments shall be accessible to
and in charge of a competent person who shall not be employed
more than eight hours in any twenty-four hours.]
356. Hours of labor. When the air pressure in any tunnel,
caisson, compartment or place in which persons are employed ex-
ceeds normal but does not exceed fifty pounds, the maximum num-
ber of hours which, in every twenty-four hours, a person may be
employed or permitted to remain therein and the minimum time
interval which shall elapse between the working periods shall be
as hereafter stated. In every case the maximum number of hours
shall be divided into two working periods of equal length.
Number of Interval between
When the air pressure : houra in 24 working poriodi
Exceeds normal but does not exceed 21 pounds 8 SO mins.
Exceeds 21 but does not exceed 30 pounds. ... 6 1 hr.
Exceeds 30 but does not exceed 35 pounds 4 2 hrs.
Exceeds 35 but does not exceed 40 pounds .... 3 3 hrs.
Exceeds 40 but does not exceed 45 pounds. ... 2 4 "h>T8.
Exceeds 45 but does not exceed 50 pounds. ... l^fa 6 nrs -
Except in cases of emergency, no person shall be employed' or
permitted to remain in any tunnel, caisson, compartment or place
where the air pressure exceeds fifty pounds.
857. Rate and time of decompression. No person shall be
permitted to pass from any tunnel, caisson, compartment or place
where he has been employed in compressed air to normal pressure
without passing through an intermediate lock or stage of decom-
pression. When the employees are passing from a tunnel to nor-
mal pressure, the rate of decompression shall be three pounds
every two minutes except when the air pressure in such tunnel
exceeds thirty-six pounds in which case the rate of decompression
580 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
shall be one pound every minute. When the employees are passing
from a caisson, compartment,, or place to normal pressure, the time
of decompression shall be as follows:
Time of
When the pressure in a caisson, compartment or place : decompression
Exceeds normal but does not exceed 10 pounds. ... 1 min.
Exceeds 10 but does not exceed 15 pounds # mins,
Exceeds 15 but does not exceed 20 pounds 5 min$.
Exceeds 20 but does not exceed 25 pounds 10 mins.
Exceeds 25 but does not exceed 30 pounds 12 mins.
Exceeds 30 but does not exceed 36 pounds 15 mins.
Exceeds 36 but does not exceed 40 pounds 20 mins.
Exceeds 40 but does not exceed 50 pounds 25 mins.
ARTICLE XV.
VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES.
Section 370. Civil penalties for violations.
871. Summary action to prevent violations.
370. Civil penalties for violations. 1. Any person who vio-
lates or does not comply with any provision of this chapter, any
provision of rules made under authority granted in this chapter,
or any lawful order of the commissioner, and any person who
Icnowingly makes or permits to be made a false statement or
entry in or in relation to any affidavit, certificate, transcript, time-
book, register, record, report, documentary evidence or other
papers required to be made or kept under any provision of this
chapter, is ulso for each such violation liable to a civil penalty of
fifty dollars. Any person who having been served by the com-
missioner with an order to comply with any provision of this
chapter or of rules made thereunder fails to comply with such
order within the time specified therein, or, if no time be specified,
within five days after such service, is also liable to a civil penalty
of two hundred and fifty dollars.
2. The liability to the penalties provided by this section shall
be in addition to liability to prosecution for a misdemeanor.
3. The commissioner in his name of office may bring an action
for the recovery of any penalty under this section.
371. Summary action to prevent violations. 1. The com-
missioner may require any building, structure, enclosure or .place
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 581
of employment to be vacated if in his opinion it is, because of a
violation of any provision of this chapter or of any rules made
thereunder, so unsafe or unsanitary as to endanger life or health.
2. In case any lawful order issued by the commissioner is not
complied with, or the commissioner certifies in writing that an
emergency exists requiring such action, he may issue an order as
provided in subdivision one of this section. Such order shall be
addressed and served as provided in section thirty-seven. When-
ever any order to vacate served as aforesaid shall not have been
complied with, within the time designated therein, the commis-
sioner may apply to any judge of the supreme court, who, without
notice, may grant an order directing the commissioner to vacate
such building or premises, or so much thereof as said commis-
sioner may deem necessary, and prohibiting and enjoining all
persons from using or occupying the same for any purpose until
such measures are token as may be required by such order.
ARTICLE XVI.
LAWS REPEALED; WHEN TO TAKE EFFECT.
Section [240]375. Laws repealed.
[2413370. When to take effect.
[2403^75. Laws repealed. Of the laws enumerated in the
schedule hereto annexed, that portion specified in the last column
is hereby repealed.
[2413370. When to take effect. This chapter shall take
effect immediately.
SCHEDULE OF LAWS REPEALED.
Laws of Chapter Section
1833 87 All
1853 641 All
1867 856 All
1867 969 All
1868 717 2, part suspending opera-
tion of L. 1867, Ch. 969,
10, last two sentences
1869 822 2, part amending L. 1867,
Ch. 969
1870.. 385., All
582 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
1871
... 934
3
1874
... 614
, . . . All
1875
... 472
, . . . All
1881
... 298
, . . . All
1883
... 356
, . . . All
1885
... 314
, . . . All
1885
... 376
, . . . All
1886
... 151
, . . . All
1886
... 205
. . . . All
1886
... 409
, . . . All, except 21, as added
by L. 1887, Ch. 462, 4
1886
... 410
. . . . All
1887
63
. . . . All
1887
... 323
, . . . All
1887
... 462
. . . . All
1887
... 529
. . . . All
1888
... 437
. . . . All
1889
... 380
. . . . All
1889
... 381
. . . . AD
1889
... 385
. . . . All
1889
... 560
. . . . All
1890
... 218
. . . . All
1890
. .. 388
. . . . All
1890
. .. 394
. . . . All
1890
, ... 398
. . . . All
1891
, ... 214
. . . . All
1892
, ... 517
. . . . All
1892
. ... 667
.... All
1892
.... 673
. . . . All
1892
, ... 711
.... All
1893
. ... 173
. . . . All
1893
. ... 219
.... All
1893
. .:. 339
. . . . All
1893
691
. . . . All
1893
715
.... All
1908
520
.... All
1893
. ... 717
. . . . All
1894
277
.... All
1894
373
. . . . All
1894
622
. . . . All
1894
698
.... All
1894..
699..
All
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 58']
1895., 324.. All
1895
413
. . . . All
1895
518
. . . . All
1895
.... 670
. . . . All
1895
765
. . . . All
1895
791
. . . . All
1895
899
All
1896
271
All
1896
384
. . . . All
1896
672
. . . . All
1896
789
. . . . All
1896
931
1-4, 6, 7
1896
936
. . . . All
1896
982
. . . . All
1896
991
. . . . All
1897
148
. . . . All
1897
415
. . . . All
1899
.... 191
.... All
1899
.... 192
. . . . All
1899
375
. ... All
1899
558
. . . . All
1899
567
. . . . All
1900
298
. . . . All
1900
533
. . . . All
1901
9
. . . . All
1901
306
. . . . All
1901
.... 475
. . . . All
1901
477
. . . . All
1901
478
. . . . All
1902
88
. . . . All
1902
454
. . . . All
1902
600
. . . . All
1903
151
. . . . All
1903
.... 184
. . . . All
1903
255
. . . . All
1903
561
. . . . All
1904
291
. . . . All
1904
.... 523
. . . . All
1904
550
. . . . All
1905
.... 493
. . . . All
1905..
518..
All
584 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
1905 519 All
1905 520 All
1906 129 All
1906 158 All
1906 178 All
1906 216 All
1906 275 All
1906 316 All
1906 366 All
1906 375 All
1906 401 All
1906 490 All
1906 506 All
1907 83 All
1907 243 All
1907 286 All
1907 291 All
1907 399 All
1907 418 All
1907 485 All
1907 490 All
1907 505 All
1907 507 All
1907 588 All
1907 627 All
1908 89 All
1908 174 All
1908.' 426 All
1908 442 All
1908 443 All
2. Articles seven, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen of said chap-
ter are hereby repealed and sections nine, twelve, eighteen, nine-
teen, twenty, twenty-a, twenty-one, twenty-two (entitled " duties
relating to apprentices"), seventy-three, eighty-seven, ninety, one
hundred and twenty-six, one hundred and thirty-four, one hundred
and thirty-four-c, one hundred and thirty-five, one hundred and
thirty-six, one hundred and sixty, one hundred and sixty-two, one
hundred and sixty-three, one hundred and sixty-four, one hundred
and sixty-five, one hundred and sixty-six, one hundred and sixty-
seven, one hundred and sixty-eight, one hundred and sixty-nine,
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 585
one hundred and seventy, one hundred and seventy-one, one hun-
dred and seventy-two and one hundred and seventy-three of
said chapter and all other sections thereof not amended by or in-
cluded in section one of this act, are hereby repealed.
3. Chapter twenty-one of the laws of nineteen hundred and
nine, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter
sixteen of the consolidated laws/' as amended by chapter one hun-
dred and forty of the laws of nineteen hundred and ten, is hereby
further amended by adding thereto a new article after article
twenty-three, to be article twenty-three-a thereof, to read as fol-
lows:
ARTICLE 23-A.
EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN IN STREET TRADES.
Section 610. Prohibited employment of children in street trades.
611. Permit and badge for children engaged in street
trades, how issued.
612. Contents of permit and badge.
613. Regulations concerning lodge and permit.
614- Limit of hours.
615. Employment of children in carrying and distribut-
ing newspapers.
616. Enforcement of article.
617. Violation of this article, how punished.
618. Punishment of parent, guardian or other person
contributing to the delinquency of children.
610. Prohibited employment of children in street trades. No
male child under twelve, and no girl under sixteen years of age,
shall in any city of the first, second or third class sell or expose
or offer for sale newspapers, magazines or periodicals in any street
or public place.
611. Permit and badge for children engaged in street trades,
how issued. No male child under fourteen years of age shall sell
or expose or offer for sale said articles unless a permit and badge
as hereinafter provided shall have been issued to him by the dis-
trict superintendent of the board of education of the city and school
district where said child resides, or by such other officer thereof
as may be officially designated by such board for that purpose,
on the application of the parent, guardian or other person having
the custody of the child desiring such permit and badge, or in case
586 PROPOSED KECODIFICATIOX OF THE LABOK LAW.
said child has no parent, guardian or custodian then on the applica-
tion of his next friend, being an adult. Such permit and badge
shall not be issued until the officer issuing the same shall have re-
ceived, examined, approved and placed on file in his office satis-
factory proof that such male child is of the age of twelve years or
upwards, and shall also have received, examined and placed on file
the written statement of the principal or chief executive officer
of the school which the child is attending, stating that such child
is an attendant at such school, that he is of normal development of
a child of his age and physically fit for such employment, and that
said principal or chief executive officer approves the granting of a
permit and badge to such child. No such permit or badge shall
be valid for any purpose except during the period in which such
proof and written statement shall remain on file, nor shall such
permit or badge be authority beyond the period fixed therein
for its duration. After having received, examined and placed
on file such papers the officer shall issue to the child a permit and
badge. Principals or chief executive officers of schools in which
children under fourteen years are pupils shall 'keep complete lists
of all children in their schools to whom a permit and badge as
herein provided have been granted.
612. Contents of permit and badge. Such permit shall state
the date and place of birth of the child, the name and address of
its parent, guardian, custodian or next friend, as the case may be,
and describe the color of hair and eyes, the height, weight and any
distinguishing facial mark of such child, and shall further state
that the papers required by the preceding section have been duly
examined and filed; and that the child named in such permit has
appeared before the officer issuing the permit. The badge fur-
nished by the officer issuing the permit shall bear on its face a
number corresponding to the number of the permit, and the name
of the child. Every such permit, and every such badge on its re-
verse side, shall be signed in the presence of the officer issuing the
same by the child in whose name it is issued.
613. Regulations concerning badge and permit. The badge
provided for herein shall be worn conspicuously at all times by
such child while so working; and all such permits and badges shall
expire annually on the first day of January. The color of the
badge shall be changed each year. No child to whom such permit
and badge are issued shall transfer the same to any other person
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 587
nor be engaged in any city of the first, second or third class as a
newsboy., or shall sell or expose or offer for sale newspapers, maga-
zines or periodicals in any street or public place without having
conspicuously upon his person such badge, and he shall exhibit the
same upon demand at any time to any police, or attendance officer.
614' Limit of hours. No child to whom a permit and badge
are issued as provided for in the preceding section shall sell or ex-
pose or offer for sale any newspapers, magazines or periodicals
after eight o'clock in the evening, or before six o'clock in the
morning.
615. Employment of children in carrying and distributing
newspapers. Upon obtaining w, permit and badge as provided by
this section, a male child over twelve years of age between the close
of school and six-thirty o'clock in the afternoon and a male child
over fourteen years of age between five-thirty and eight o'clock in
the morning may be employed to carry and distribute newspapers
on a newspaper route in a city or village, if no other work or em-
ployment be required or permitted to be done by any such child dur-
ing that time. The badge or permit required by this section shall
be issued to such child by the district superintendent or the board
of education of the city or village and school district where such
child resides, or by such other officer thereof as may be officially
designated by such board for that purpose, on the application of
the parent, guardian or other person having the custody of the
child desiring such permit and badge, or in case such child has no
parent, guardian or custodian then on the application of his next
friend, being an adult. Such permit and badge shall not be issued
until the officer issuing the same shall have received, examined,
approved and placed on file in his office satisfactory proof that such
male child is of the age prescribed by this section, and shall also
have received, examined and placed on file the written statement of
the principal or chief executive officer of the school which the
child is attending, stating that such child is an attendant at such
school, that he is of the normal development of a child of his age
and physically fit for such employment, and that such principal
or chief executive officer approves the granting of a permit and
badge to such child. No such permit or badge shall be valid for
any purpose except during the period in which such proof and
written statement shall remain on fie, nor shall such, permit or
badge be authority beyond the period fixed therein for its duration.
588 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
After having received, examined and placed on file such papers the
officer shall issue to the child a permit and badge. Such permit
shall state the date and place of birth of the child, the name and
address of its parent, guardian, custodian or next friend, as the
case may be, and describe the color of hair and eyes, the height "and
weight and any distinguishing facial mark of such child, and shall
further state that the papers required by this section have been
duly examined and fled; and that the child named in such permit
has appeared before the officer issuing the permit. The badge
furnished by the officer issuing the permit shall bear on its face a
number corresponding with the number of the permit, and the
name of the child. Every such permit, and every such badge on
its reverse side, shall be signed in the presence of the officer issuing
the same by the child in whose name it is issued. The badge pro-
vided for herein shall be worn conspicuously at all times by such
child while so working; and all such permits and badges shall
expire annually on the first day of January. The color of the
badge shall be changed each year. No child to whom such permit
and badge are issued shall transfer the same to any other person
nor be engaged in any city or village in distributing newspapers
without having conspicuously upon his person such badge, and he
shall exhibit the same upon demand at any time to any police or
attendance officer.
616. Enforcement of article. In cities of the first, second or
third class, police officers, and the regular attendance officers ap-
pointed by the board of education, who are hereby vested with the
powers -of peace officers for the purpose, shall enforce the provi-
sions of this article.
617. Violation of this article, how punished. Any child who
shall, in any city of the first, second or third class, sell or expose
or offer for sale newspapers, magazines or periodicals in violation
of the provisions of this article may be deemed and adjudged in
need of the care and protection of the state, and if over seven years
of age may be adjudged guilty of juvenile delinquency. A child
violating the provisions of this act may be arrested and in the city
of New York be brought before a children's court and in any other
city be brought before a court or magistrate having jurisdiction to
commit a child to an incorporated charitable reformatory or other
institution and be dealt with according to law. If any such child
>'s committed to an institution, it shall, when practicable, be com-
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 589
mitted to an institution governed by the same religious faith as
the parents of such child. The permit and badge of any child who
violates the provisions of this article may be revoked by the officer
issuing the same, upon the recommendation of the principal or
chief executive officer of the school which such child is attending,
or upon the complaint of any police officer or attendance officer,
and such child shall surrender the permit and badge so revoked
upon the demand of any attendance officer or police officer charged
with the duty of enforcing the provisions of this article. The re-
fusal of any child to surrender such permit and badge, upon such
demand, or the sale or offering for sale of newspapers, magazines
or periodicals in any street or public place by any child after notice
of the revocation of such permit and badge shall be deemed a vio-
lation of this article and shall subject the child to the penalties
provided for in this section.
618. Punishment of parent, guardian or other person for con-
tributing to the delinquency of children. The parent, guardian or
other person having the custody of a child, who omits to exercise
reasonable diligence to prevent such child from violating the pro-
visions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be
dealt with as provided by section four hundred and ninety-four of
the penal law. In any such proceedings against any such parent,
guardian or other person having custody of such child, proof of the
presence of such child in the public streets engaged in the sale
or exposure or offering for sale of newspapers, magazines or peri-
odicals in violation of the provisions of this article, shall be deemed
prima facie proof of the lack of reasonable diligence in the con-
trol of such child by such parent, guardian or custodian, to pre-
vent such offense by such child.
4. Chapter twenty-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred and
nine, entitled "An act relating to corporations generally, consti-
tuting chapter twenty-three of the consolidated laws," is hereby
amended by adding thereto a new section, to be section two hun-
dred and sixty-one-a thereof, and to read as follows :
%61-a. Payment of wages by receivers. Upon the appoint-
ment of a, receiver of a corporation organized under the laws of
this state and doing business therein, other than a moneyed corpo-
ration, the wages of ihe employees of such corporation shall be
preferred to every other debt or claim. The provisions of section
PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
two hundred and thirty of this chapter do not apply to the provi-
sions vf this section.
5. Chapter forty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred and
nine, entitled "An act in relation to partnership, constituting chap-
ter thirty-nine of the consolidated laws," is hereby amended by
adding thereto a new section, to be section eight thereof, and to
read as follows :
8. Payment of wages by receivers. Upon the appointment of
a receiver of a partnership the wages of the employees of such
partnership shall be preferred to every other debt or claim.
6. Section twelve hundred and seventy-five of chapter
eighty-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred and nine, entitled
" An act to provide for the punishment of crime, constituting
chapter forty of the consolidated laws," as amended by chapter
seven hundred and forty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred
and eleven, chapter three hundred and eighty-three of the laws of
nineteen hundred and twelve and chapter three hundred and forty-
nine of the laws of nineteen hundred and thirteen, is hereby
further amended to read as follows :
1275. Violations of provisions of labor law ; the industrial
code; the rules and regulations of the industrial board of the de-
partment of labor ; orders of the commissioner of labor. Any per-
son who violates or does not comply with any provision of the
labor law, any provision of the industrial code, any rule or regu-
lation of the industrial board of the department of labor, or any
lawful order of the commissioner of labor; and any person who
knowingly makes or permits to be made a false statement or entry
in or in relation to [any application made for an employment cer-
tificate as to any matter required by articles six and eleven of the
labor law to appear in any affidavit, record, transcript or certifi-
cate therein provided for,] any affidavit, certificate, transcript,
time-book, register, record, report, documentary evidence or other
papers required to be made or kept under any provision of the
labor law is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be
punished, except as in this chapter otherwise provided, for a first
offense by a fine of not less than twenty nor more than [fifty] fire
hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than ten days or
by both such fine and imprisonment ; for a second offense by a fine
of not less than fifty nor more than [two hundred and fifty]
PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOK. LAW. 591
two thousand five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not
more than thirty days or by both such fine and imprisonment;
for a third or subsequent offense by a fine of not less than two
hundred and fifty [dollars] nor more than five thousand dollars,
or by imprisonment for not more than sixty days, or by both such
fine and imprisonment.
7. Sections six hundred and twenty, twelve hundred and sev-
enty, twelve hundred and seventy-one, twelve hundred and seventy-
two, twelve hundred and seventy-four, twelve hundred and seventy-
six and twelve hundred and seventy-seven of chapter eighty-eight
of the laws of nineteen hundred and nine, entitled "An act to
provide for the punishment of crime, constituting chapter forty
of the consolidated laws," as amended, are hereby repealed.
8. There is hereby enacted a new chapter of the consolidated
laws to be chapter sixty-eight thereof, and inserted after chapter
sixty-seven and to read as follows:
CHAPTER LXVIII OF THE CONSOLIDATED LAWS.
EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY.
Article 1. Short title. ( 1.)
2. Employers liability. ( 8-15.)
3. Laws repealed; construction; when to take effect.
(, 16-18.)
ARTICLE 1.
SHORT TITLE.
Section 1. Short title.
Section 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the
" employers' liability law."
ARTICLE 2.
EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY.
Section 2. Employer's liability for injuries.
3. Notice to be served.
4. Assumption of risks; contributory negligence, when a
question of fact.
5. Trial; burden of proof.
6. Defense; insurance fund.
592 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
7. Existing rights of action continued.
8. Consent by employer and employee to compensation
plan.
9. Liability to pay compensation; notice of accident.
10. Amount of compensation; persons entitled; physical
examination.
11. Settlement of disputes.
12. Preferential claim; not assignable or subject to attach-
ment; attorney's fee.
13. Cancellation of consent.
14- Reports of compensation plan.
15. Reports by employer.
2. Employer's liability for injuries. When personal injury
is caused to an employee who is himself in the exercise of due
care and diligence at the time:
1. By reason of any defect in the condition of the ways, works,
machinery, or plant, connected with or used in the business of the
employer which arose from or had not been discovered or remedied
owing to the negligence of the employer or of any person in the
service of the employer and intrusted by him with the duty of
seeing that the ways, works, machinery, or plant, were in proper
condition;
2. By reason of the negligence of any person in the service of
the employer intrusted with any superintendence or by reason of
the negligence of any person intrusted with authority to direct,
control or command any employee in the performance of the duty
of such employee. The employee, or in case the injury results in
death, the executor or administrator of a deceased employee who
has left him surviving a husband, wife or next of Jcin, shall have
the same right of compensation and remedies against the employer
&: if the employee had not been an employee of nor in the service
o? the employer nor engaged in his work. The provisions of law
relating to actions for causing death by negligence, so far as the
same are consistent with this act, shall apply to an action brought
by an executor or administrator of a deceased employee, suing
under the provisions of this article. If an employer enters into
a contract, written or verbal, with an independent contractor to
do part of such employer's work, or if such contractor enters into
a contract with a subcontractor to do all or any part of the work
comprised in such contractor's contract with the employer, such
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 598
contract or subcontract shall not bar the liability of the employer
for the injuries to the employees of such contractor or subcon-
t' actor, caused by any defect in the condition of the ways, works,
machinery, or plant, if they are the property of the employer or
are furnished by him, and if such defect arose, or had not been
discovered or remedied, through the negligence of the employer,
or of some person intrusted by him with the duty of seeing that
they were in proper condition.
3. Notice to be served. No action for recovery of compensa-
tion for injury or death under this article shall be maintained
unless notice of the time, place and cause of the injury is given
to the employer luithin one hundred and twenty days and the ac-
tion is commenced within one year after the occurrence of the
accident causing the injury or death. The notice required by this
section shall be in writing and signed by the person injured or
by some one in his behalf, but if from physical or mental in-
capacity it is impossible for the person injured to give notice
within the time provided in this section, he may give the same
within ten days after such incapacity is removed. In case of his
death without having given such notice, his executor or admin-
istrator may give such notice within sixty days after his appoint-
ment, but no notice under the provisions of this section shall be
deemed to be invalid or insufficient solely by reason of any in-
accuracy in stating the time, place or cause of the injury if it be
shown that there was no intention to mislead and that the party
entitled to notice was not in fact misled thereby. If such notice
does not apprise the employer of the time, place or cause of in-
jury, he may, within eight days after service thereof, serve upon
the sender a written demand for a further notice, which demand
must specify the particular in which the first notice is claimed
to be defective, and a failure by the employer to make such de-
mand as herein provided shall be a waiver of all defects that the
notice may contain. After service of such demand as herein pro-
vided, the sender of such notice may at any time within eight
days thereafter serve an amended notice which shall supersede
such first notice and have the same effect as an original notice
hereunder. The notice required by this section shall be served on
tfie employer, or if there is more than one employer, upon one of
such employers, and may be served by delivering the same to or at
the residence or place of business of the person on whom it is to
be served. The notice or demand may be served by post by letter
594 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOH LAW.
addressed to the person on whom it is to be served, at his last
known place of residence or place of business, and if served by
post shall be deemed to have been served at the time when the
letter containing the same would be delivered in the ordinary
course of the post. When the employer is a corporation, notice
shall be served by delivering the same or by sending it by post
addressed to the office or principal place of business of such cor-
poration.
4> Assumption of risks; contributory negligence, when a ques-
tion of fact. An employee by entering upon or continuing in the
service of the employer shall be presumed to have assented to the
necessary risks of the occupation or employment and no others.
The necessary risks of the occupation or employment shall, in all
cases arising after the first day of September, nineteen hundred
and ten, be considered as including those risks, and those only, in-
herent in the nature of the business ivhich remain after the em-
ployer has exercised due care in providing for the safety of his em*
ployees, and has complied with the laivs affecting or regulating
such business or occupation for the greater safety of such em-
ployees. In an action brought to recover damages for personal in-
jury or for death resulting therefrom received after the first day
of September, nineteen hundred and ten, owing to any cause, in-
cluding open and visible defects, for which the employer would be
liable but for the hitherto available defense of assumption of risk
by the employee, the fact that the employee continued in the serv-
ice of the employer in the same place and course of employment
after, the discovery by such employee, or after he had been in-
formed of the danger of personal injury therefrom shall not be,
as matter of fact or as matter of law, an assumption of the risk of
injury therefrom, but an employee, or his legal representative, shall
not be entitled under this article to any right of compensation or
remedy against the employer in any case where such employee
knew of the defect or negligence which caused the injury and
failed, within a reasonable time, to give, or cause to be given, in-
formation thereof to the employer, or to some person superior to
himself in the service of the employer, or who had intrusted to
him some superintendence, unless it shall appear on the trial that
such defect or negligence was known to such employer, or superior
person, prior to such injuries to the employee; or unless such de-
fect could have been discovered by such employer by reasonable
and proper care, tests or inspection.
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 595
5. Trial; burden of proof. On the trial of any action brought
by an employee or his personal representative to recover damages
for negligence arising out of and in the course of such employ-
ment, contributory negligence of the injured employee shall be a
defense to be so pleaded and proved by the defendant.
6. Defense; insurance fund. An employer who shall have
contributed to an insurance fund created and maintained for the
mutual purpose of indemnifying an employee for personal in-
juries, for wliicli compensation may be recovered under this arti-
cle, or to any relief society or benefit fund created under the laws
of this state, may prove in mitigation of damages recoverable by
an employee under this article such proportion of the pecuniary
benefit which has been received by such employee from such fund
or society on account of such contribution of the employer, as the
contribution of such employer to such fund or society bears to the
whole contribution thereto.
7. Existing rights of action continued. Every right of action
existing on the seventeenth day of February, nineteen hundred
and nine, for negligence or to recover damages for injuries result-
ino in death is continued and nothing in this article contained
shall be construed as limiting any such right of action, nor shall
the failure to give the notice provided for in section three of this
article be a bar to the maintenance of a suit upon any such exist-
ing right of action.
8. Consent by employer and employee to compensation plan.
When and if any employer in this state and any of his employees
shall consent to the compensation plan described in sections nine
to fifteen, inclusive, of this article, hereinafter referred to as the
plan, and shall Dignify their consent thereto in writing signed by
each of them 01 their authorized agents, and acknowledged in the
manner prescribed by law for talcing the acknowledgment of a con-
veyance of real property, and such writing is filed with the county
clerk of the county in which it is signed by the employee, then so
long as such consent has not expired or been canceled as herein-
after provided, such employee, or in case injury to him results in
death, his executor or administrator, shall have no other right of
action against the employer for personal injury or death of any
kind, under any statute or at common law, save under the plan so
consented to, except ivhere personal injury to the employee is
caused in whole or in part by the failure of the employer to obey
596 PROPOSED KECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
a valid order made by the commissioner of labor or other public
authority authorized to require the employer to safeguard his em-
ployees, or where such injury is caused by the serious or willful
misconduct of the employer. In such excepted cases thus de-
scribed, no right of action which the employee has at common law
or by any other statute shall be affected or lost by his consent to
the plan, if such employee, or in case of death his executor or ad-
ministrator, commences such action before accepting any benefit
under such plan or giving any notice of injury as provided in sec-
tion nine hereof. The commencing of any legal action whatso-
ever at common law or by any statute against the employer on ac-
count of such injury, except under the plan, shall bar the em-
ployee, and in the event of his death his executors, administrators,
dependents and other beneficiaries, from all benefit under the
plan. This section and section nine to fifteen, inclusive, of
this article shall not apply to a railroad corporation, foreign or
domestic, doing business in this state, or a receiver thereof, or to
any person employed by such corporation or receiver.
9. Liability to pay compensation; notice of accident. If per-
sonal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the em-
ployment is caused to the employee, the employer shall, subject as
hereinafter mentioned, be liable to pay compensation under the
plan at the rates set out in section ten of this article: provided
that the employer shall not be liable in respect of any injury which
does not disable the employee for a period of at least two weeks
from earning full wages at the work at which he was employed,
rind that the employer shall not be liable in respect of any injury
to the employee which is caused by the serious and willful miscon-
duct of that employee. No proceedings for recovery under the
plan provided hereby shall be maintained unless notice of the ac-
cident has been given to the employer as soon as practicable after
the happening thereof and before the employee has voluntarily
left the employment in which he was injured and during such
disability, and unless claim for compensation with respect to the
accident has been made within six months from the occurrence of
the accident, or in the case of death of the employee, or in the
event of his physical or mental incapacity within six months after
such death or removal of such physical or mental incapacity, or
in event that weekly payments have been made under the plan,
within six months after such payments have ceased; but no want
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 597
of or defect or inaccuracy of a notice shall be a bar to the main-
tenance of proceedings under the plan unless the employer proves
that he is prejudiced by said want, defect or inaccuracy. Notice
of the accident shall apprise the employer of the claim for com-
pensation under this plan and shall state the name and address of
the employee injured, the date and place of the accident and in
simple language the cause thereof. The notice may be served per-
sonally or by sending it by mail in a registered letter addressed to
the employer at his last known residence or place of business.
10. Amount of compensation; persons entitled; physical ex-
amination. The amount of compensation under the plan shall
be: 1. In case death results from injury:
(a) If the employee leaves a widow or next of kin at the time
of his death wholly dependent on his earnings, a sum equal to
twelve hundred times the daily earnings of the employee at the
rate at which he was being paid by the employer at the time of the
accident, but not more in any event than three thousand dollars.
Any weekly payments previously made under the plan shall be
deducted in ascertaining such amount payable on death.
(b) If such widow or next of kin or any of them are in part
only dependent upon his earnings, such sum not exceeding that
provided in subdivision a as may be determined to be reasonable
and proportionate to the injury to such dependents.
(c) If he leaves no widow, or next of kin so dependent in whole
or in part, the reasonable expenses of his medical attendance and
burial, not exceeding one hundred dollars. Whatever sum may be
determined to be payable under the plan, in case of death of the
injured employee, shall be paid to his legal representative for the
benefit of such dependents, or if he leaves no such dependents, for
the benefit of the person to whom the expenses of medical attend-
ance and burial are due.
2. Where total or partial incapacity for work at any gainful em-
ployment results to the employee from the injury, a weekly pay-
ment commencing at the end of the second week after the injury
and continuing during incapacity, subject as herein provided, not
exceeding fifty per centum of his average weekly earnings when at
work on full time during the preceding year during which he shall
have been in the employment of the same employer, or if he shall
have been employed less than a year, then a weekly payment of
not exceeding three times the average daily earnings on full time
for such less period.
598 PROPOSED RECTIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
In fixing the amount of the weekly payment, regard shall be had
to any payment, allowance or benefit which the workman may have
received from the employer during the period of his incapacity,
and in the case of partial incapacity the weekly payment shall in
no case exceed the difference between the amount of the average
weekly earnings of the workman before the accident and the aver-
age amount which he is earning or is able to earn in some suitable
employment or business after the accident but shall amount to one-
naif of such difference. In no event shall any weekly payment
payable under the plan exceed ten dollars per week or extend over
more than eight years from the date of the accident. Any person
entitled to receive weekly payments under the plan is required, if
requested by the employer, to submit himself for examination by
a duly qualified medical practitioner or surgeon provided and paid
for by the employer, at a time and place reasonably convenient
for the employee, within three weeks after the injury, and there-
after at intervals not oftener than one in six weeks. If the work-
man refuses so to submit or obstructs the same, his right to weekly
payments shall be suspended until such examination shall have
taken place, and no compensation shall be payable under the plan
during such period. In cafe an injured employee shall be men-
tally incompetent at the time when any right or privilege accrues
to him under the plan, a committee or guardian of the incompetent
appointed pursuant to law may, on behalf of such incompetent,
claim and exercise any such right or privilege with the same force
and effect as if the employee himself had been competent and had
claimed or exercised any such right or privilege; and no limitation
of time herein provided for shall run so long as said incompetent
employee has no committee or guardian.
11. Settlement of disputes. Any question of law or fact
arising in regard to the application of the plan in determining
the compensation payable thereunder or otherwise shall be deter-
mined either by agreement or by arbitration as provided in the
code of civil procedure* or by an action at law as herein provided.
In case the employer shall be in default in any of his obligations
to the employee under the plan, the injured employee or his com-
mittee or guardian, if such be appointed, or his executor or ad-
ministrator, may then bring an action to recover compensation
under the plan in any court having jurisdiction thereof as on a
written contract. Such action shall be conducted in the same man-
ner as an action at law for the recovery of damages for breach
PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW. 599
of a written contract, and shall for all purposes, including the
determination of jurisdiction,, be deemed such an action. The
judgment in such action, in favor of the plaintiff, shall be for
a lump sum equal to the amount of the payments then due and
prospectively due under the plan. In such action by an executor
or administrator the judgment may provide the proportions of
the award or the costs to be distributed to or between the several
dependents. If such determination is not made it shall be deter-
mined by the surrogate's court by which such executor or admin-
istrator is appointed, in accordance with the terms of this article
on petition of any party on such notice as such court may direct.
12. Preferential claim; not assignable or subject to attach-
ment; attorney's fees. Any person entitled to weekly payments
under the plan against any employer shall have the same prefer-
ential claim therefor against the assets of the employer as now
allowed by law for a claim by such person against such employer
for unpaid wages or personal services. Weekly payments due
under the plan shall not be assignable or subject to attachment,
levy or execution. No claim of an attorney for any contingent
interest in any recovery under the plan for services in securing
such recovery shall be an enforceable lien thereon, unless the
amount of the same be approved in writing by a justice of the
supreme court, or in case the same is tried in any court, before
the justice presiding at such trial.
13. Cancellation of consent. When a consent to the plan shall
have been filed in the office of the county cleric as herein provided,
it shall be binding upon both parties thereto as long as the relation
of employer and employee exists between the parties, and expire
at the end of such employment, but it may at any time be canceled
on sixty days' notice in writing from either party to the other.
Such notice of cancellation shall be effective only if served per-
sonally or sent by registered letter to the last known post-office
address of the party to whom it is addressed, but no notice of can-
cellation shall be effective as to a claim for injury occurring
previous thereto.
14- Reports of compensation plan. Each employer who shall
sign with any employee a consent to the plan shall, within thirty
days thereafter, file with the commissioner of labor a statement
thereof, signed by such employer, which shall show (a) the name
of the employer and his post-office address, (b) the name of the
600 PROPOSED RECODIFICATION OF THE LABOR LAW.
employee and his last known post-office address, (c) the date of,
and office where the original consent is filed, (d) the weekly wage
of the employee at the time the consent is signed; unless such
statement is duly fled, such consent of the employee shall not
l)e a bar to any proceeding at law commenced by the employee
against the employer.
15. Reports by employer. Each employer of labor in this state
who shall have entered into the plan with any employee shall, on
or before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and eleven,
and thereafter and at such times as may be required by the com-
missioner of labor, make a report to such commissioner of all
amounts, if any, paid by him under such plan to injured em-
ployees, stating the name of such employees, and showing sepa-
rately the amounts paid under agreement with the employees, and
the amounts paid after proceedings at law, and the proceedings
at law under the plan then pending. Such reports shall be verified
by the employer or a duly authorized agent in the same manner
as affidavits.
ARTICLE 3.
LAWS REPEALED; CONSTRUCTION; WHEN TO TAKE EFFECT.
Section 16. Laws repealed.
17. Construction.
18. When to take effect.
% 16. Laws repealed. Of the laws enumerated in the schedule
hereto annexed, that portion specified in the last column is hereby
repealed.
17. Construction. The provisions of this chapter shall be
construed as a continuation of the provisions of sections two
hundred to two hundred and four of chapter thirty-six of the
laws of nineteen hundred and nine, as amended by chapter three
hundred and fifty-two of the laws of nineteen hundred and ten,
and not as a new enactment.
% 18. This act shall take effect immediately.
SCHEDULE OF LAWS REPEALED.
Laws of Chapter Section
1909 $1 200-204
1910 352 All
9. This act shall take effect immediately.
APPENDIX VI
REPOET OF AN INVESTIGATION OF EETAIL MEE-
CANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS WITH EEFEEENCE
TO THE FIEE HAZAED.
BY
FRANCES PERKINS,
Executive Secretary, Committee on Safety.
ANNA C. PHILLIPS,
Investigators^ D. YERA SABSOVICH,
MARY C. HYATT.
[601]
REPORT OF AN INVESTIGATION OF RETAIL MER-
CANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS WITH REFERENCE
TO THE FIRE HAZARD.
The Commission's study of mercantile establishments of neces-
sity included an inquiry into the fire hazard in retail establish-
ments. Such establishments, especially the large department
stores, are practically public buildings, containing at times thou-
sands of persons in addition to large staffs of employees.
The large department store is unique in that it combines many
widely differing activities in one building ; while general retailing
is the business of these stores, each store has its attendant activi-
ties dependent upon the size of the building and the character
of the goods sold. In addition to the visible selling force, large
numbers of persons are employed in various departments. This
non-selling force in many cases nearly equals the number of sales
clerks.
The mechanical force varies from the porters in the smaller
stores to the staff of porters, electricians, firemen, carpenters,
painters and cleaning women found in large establishments.
Those employed in accounting, bookkeeping, audit, legal, mail
order, and transfer departments frequently number hundreds.
Stores having employees' and customers' restaurants, soda
fountains, kitchens, laundries and bakeries require a correspond-
ing number of waitresses, laundresses, cooks and helpers.
Factories, alteration rooms, and different workrooms employ
workers in varying numbers according to the size of the store
from several persons to three or four hundred.
Among the activities found in department stores are garment
making, wine and olive bottling, glass cutting, candy making,
photography, perfume manufacturing, optical goods manufactur-
ing, silver plating, harness making, lace making, jewelry repair,
toy repair, shoe repair, engraving, shampooing, hair dressing and
manicuring. These miscellaneous processes each have their em-
ployees, the number depending upon the size of the store.
[603]
604 APPENDIX VI MEKCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
A number of stores have established auditorium or concert
halls; other stores hold large fashion exhibitions, the sections
given over to these being temporarily equipped with both a seat-
ing and a standing capacity for hundreds of persons. Thus,
another problem that of the theatre or place of public
assembly is introduced into the general fire protection problem
of the department store.
Department stores present peculiarly hazardous conditions.
The enormous open floor areas, the exposure of large quantities
of inflammable stock, and the obvious impossibility of maintaining
discipline among thousands of customers constitute an enormous
life hazard in case of fire or panic.
Recognizing the unique dangers in places of public assemblage,
such as theatres, churches, steamships, concert halls, the occu-
pancy is definitely limited by law. In department stores, where
every device is employed to attract visitors, the number of persons
admitted is absolutely unrestricted. The capacity and type of
exits are left to the individual owner and the regulations of the
local building authorities, such as they may be.
The New York State Department of Labor reports have re-
peatedly directed attention to the existing conditions in the mer-
cantile establishments of the State. Noting the serious conditions
found in mercantile establishments, the report for 1910 states :
" Few of the buildings are fireproof and it is questionable
if any of them are properly equipped with exits and fire-
escapes from all parts of the buildings. It should be borne
in mind that even in the most modern building the fixtures
and the merchandise exposed for sale are of the most inflam-
mable nature. When you consider the precautions taken as
to exits and escapes in theatres one must marvel that prac-
tically no attention has been given to mercantile establish-
ments, many of which have as many or more employees than
the average theatre will seat, to say nothing of the thousands
of patrons who, with the employees, are distributed all over
the different parts of the building or buildings of such
establishment.
" It is a very conservative estimate to say that during the
greater part of the day there are two patrons in these stores
APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 605
to each employee. This would mean that many of the large
stores have more people within their buildings at one time
than could be seated in Madison Square Garden.
There are many employees and patrons in the basements of
these stores, and in some of them it would be next to impos-
sible to get them out in the event of fire.
" In many of the large stores the main stairways adjoin
the elevator shaft, and in some instances wind around
elevators that are not enclosed in fireproof shafts. Such
stairways would be useless in case of fire. One can see from
casual observation that the aisle space in many of the stores
is not sufficient for the number of persons using the same.
The fact that permanent and temporary bargain counters
are placed in the aisles would lead to serious trouble in case
of fire or panic.
" In cities of the first class the building code seems to give
ample power to change existing conditions. Some one
should be responsible for changing them in order to afford
proper protection to the thousands of patrons and employees
of such establishments, at least by properly designating all
fire exits, having all doors open outward, and providing
ample means of escape from all parts of buildings."
The Department of Labor report for 1911 states:
" In the report of last year attention was called to the
inadequate means of escape in case of fire in many mercan-
tile establishments. That report was written previous to the
disastrous fire in the Asch building in ISTew York City, where
146 persons lost their lives. * * *
" In mercantile establishments the employees and patrons
within the building equal, or outnumber, the employees in
many of the largest of our factories. In these mercantile
establishments the peril from fire or panic is ever present
with the possibility, in case of fire in such places, that the
loss of life in the recent factory fires would be small, in
comparison to the number that might be lost or injured by
fire or panic in some mercantile establishments."
606 APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
City fire department officials do not hesitate to declare their
constant dread of such fires, if occurring during business hours,
with their attendant crowds.
FIRES IN DEPARTMENT STORES.
Statistics.
Accurate statistics in regard to the number, cause, and dis-
astrous results of department store fires are not obtainable. The
city fire departments have only records of fires to which they are
summoned. Companies having supervision over sprinkler sys-
tems have records of fires occurring in buildings they supervise.
Insurance companies have, perhaps, the greatest number of
records, comprised almost entirely of only those fires for which
damage is claimed. But there are no records of fires in establish-
ments carrying their own insurance, nor in those not insured.
Many small fires are suppressed by private fire brigades made up
of porters and other helpers, and to these fires the local depart-
ments are not called unless the flames grow beyond the control
of the volunteer force.
The information furnished by these sources regarding the num-
ber of fires occurring in mercantile establishments is so unrelated,
and often so inaccessible, as to make impossible the compilation
of any complete data on the subject.
Causes and Places of Origin of Fires.
There are certain well recognized sources of fires in department
stores. The following charts were published by the National
Fire Protection Association in a report based on the records of
307 department store fires occurring between October, 1907, and
December, 1913. These comparative charts show the causes and
location of department store fires as compiled from the records
between May, 1894, and October, 1907, and the causes and loca-
tion of such fires compiled from records between October, 1907,
and December, 1913, and give a comprehensive idea of the
definite hazards in such establishments.
VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
607
COMI'ARATIYK ( ' II ART 1.
Showing Causes of Depart men f More Fires.
May, 1894, to October, 1907. Oct., 1907, to Dec., 1913.
Exposure
ncendiary
Christmas
C/3
Waste Chute
Irons
Finishing Rags
Kitchen Stoves
Irons
Finishing Rags
Bronzing
Boilers
vSpontaneous
Ignition
Power .... .... o
July 4th
Boilers
Chimneys& Flues
Spon. Ignition
Power
Miscellaneous
Lighting
Lighting
From the foregoing chart it will be seen that the chief causes
of fires, wcnrding to number, are:
1. Defective lighting.
2. Waste chutes.
3. Rubbish.
4. Smoking.
5. Defective heating.
While the number of fires due to rubbish and defective lighting
lijis docreased, the number caused by defective heating and smok-
ing has tripled. The number originating in waste chutes a
608 APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
source of many fires remains about the same. Five new classi-
fications in the new record namely, Christmas, matches, July
Fourth, chimneys and flues, and lightning indicate a growing
recognition of hazardous conditions.
The special hazard at Christmas is due to the fact that it is
an almost general practice to use decorations in department stores
at this tkne in order to render them attractive and draw custom.
Many of the different decorations used being of a highly inflam-
mable nature, their presence can only increase the possibility of
fire, a possibility greatly increased in those stores where customers
are permitted to carry lighted cigars or cigarettes.
The special hazard in stores at the Fourth of July is due to
the carrying of a stock of fireworks and explosives. The possi-
bility of fires originating in such inflammable stock is well
recognized.
APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
609
COM PA R AT i YI-; (-HART II.
Showing Rooms in which Fires Originated.
Basements..
Boiler room
Kitchen or restaurant
Waste and rubbish storage
Waste chute
Storage or stock room
Shipping and packing
Show window
Elevator well and pit
Furniture ..
Dry goods and dressmaking.
General Salesrooms
J New Record".
Old Record.
The most common places of origin of fires in department stores,
by number, with their general causes, are:
1. Basements. Defective heating or lighting, smoking, and
unsafe use of packing materials. The most striking feature of
the foregoing chart is that these fires have more than doubled.
2. Storage or stock rooms. Defective heating and lighting,
and smoking.
NOTE: " New Record " October, 1907 December, 1913.
" Old Record " May, 18D4 October, 1907.
20
f>10 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
3. General salesrooms. Defective heating and lighting,
smoking. The increased number of fires in geneial salesrooms,
coincident with the increased number of h'res due to smoking, is
indicative of the careless attitude of store managers, toward this
hazard.
4. Waste chutes. Friction, smoldering discarded cigar and
cigarette ends.
5. Waste and rubbish storage.
6. Boiler rooms. Non-fireproof enclosures, hot ashes, oily
waste.
7. Kitchens or restaurants. Unprotected stove pipes, grease
and soot in chimneys and ventilating flues.
8. Show windows. Defective wiring.
9. Shipping and packing. Smoking, and carelessness in use
of packing materials.
10. Drygoods and dressmaking. Use of gas and electric
irons, the latter often left with current on when not equipped
with pilot lights; use of cleansing fluids.
11. Furniture. Use of shellacs, varnishes, alcohol in furni-
ture finishing and polishing.
12. Elevator wells and pits. Defective wiring, smoking, and
rubbish.
DETAILS OF THE INVESTIGATION.
The Commission's study of the fire hazard in mercantile estab-
lishments included many department stores and some small retail
mercantile establishments. It was, of course, impossible to visit
every mercantile establishment in the State of New York; but
in order to make the work as comprehensive and as illustrative
as possible of the conditions which actually exist, eighty estab-
lishments were selected as the basis of the study.
Forty-four stores were located in the cities of Albany, Buffalo,
Rochester, Schenectady, Syracuse, Troy and Utica; while thirty-
six were located in New York City, in the boroughs of Manhattan
and Brooklyn. ,
API'KXDTX VI - M KKOANTTT.E ESTABLISHMENTS. 611
These eighty retail mercantile establishments consisted of sixty-
*ix department stores, three five-and-ten-cent stores, and eleven
special dry goods stores.
Where a wholesale business was conducted on the premises of
any of these establishments it was included in the investigation.
Wholesale departments, packing, shipping, receiving, power
plants, employees' lunch or locker rooms, when not on the prem-
ises, were not included in the investigation.
Each establishment was visited and a complete survey made by
an investigator trained in building inspection and familiar with
the best methods of fire prevention.
Specific information was procured as to the following:
1. Location and type of exit facilities;
2. Capacity of exits;
3. The existence of fire walls and the extent to which such
fire walls, when present, had been developed as a means of exit ;
4. Exit facilities from basement when used by the
establishment ;
5. Arrangement of aisles for facilitating egress;
G. Maintenance, with special reference to condition of exits ;
7. Distribution of inflammable stock;
8. Disposition of inflammable waste ;
9. Storage and use of inflammable packing materials ;
10. Special plan, if any, for facilitating egress in case of fire
or panic;
11. The extent to which manufacturing was carried on in
these establishments, and the special precautions taken to insure
safety to the persons thus employed.
The investigation thus falls under the two general classifica-
tions of Construction and Maintenance.
CONSTRUCTION.
In each building the main features of construction covered
were:
1. Type of construction;
2. Areas ;
APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
o. Open wells and rotundas ;
4. Waste arid package chutes ;
5. Stairways ;
6. Basement exits;
7. Street exits;
8. Exterior escapes;
9. Elevators ;
10. Fire walls and horizontal exits.
Buildings are usually classified as to construction as: Joisted
or quick burning construction; slow burning, or mill construc-
tion ; fire resistive.
In this study of department stores, buildings combining fire
resistive and quick burning construction, with no separating fire
walls, are classified as quick burning.
It was found that department stores were housed in buildings
of widely differing construction, varying from the converted dwell-
ing house, with its utter lack of safety, to the new building of
fire resistive construction having Philadelphia smokeproof towers
in addition to enclosed stairways. Although the type of building
has changed, the stock is still of an inflammable nature and the
possibility of fire and panic in department stores is constantly
present.
Retail mercantile establishments in many instances were found
housed in old buildings, sixteen being located in buildings over
forty years old. While many of these are of slow-burning or mill
construction, they also present conditions of great fire hazard.
The large amount of wood finish and the unprotected vertical
openings between floors, such as open elevator shafts, open esca-
lators, open wood stairways and open wells, encourage the rapid
spread of fire.
These same conditions are present in buildings of a later date,
when iron was being used. Department store buildings are prob-
ably the only public buildings to which people are admitted in
unlimited numbers, in which the old-fashioned wood and iron
construction prevails.
APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 613
The majority of stores of more recent construction have fire-
proof enclosures for all vertical openings and efforts are being
made constantly to limit the extent of possible fires.
It is a remarkable fact that, while modern building codes have
insisted upon fireproof construction and fire prevention methods
where additions or new buildings have been built, these new
structures are frequently found connected with very old types
this often completely nullifying whatever protection the newer
typo of building is supposed to give.
In many cases as the business of stores has increased, adjoining
buildings have been annexed. In the linking up of various build-
ings, creating many different levels, the human element has had
little or no consideration in the planning of areas, stairways, or
exits.
The converting of former party walls into fire walls, which was
f requently found in such combinations of buildings, has been done
primarily to lower the insurance rates on buildings and stock. In
some cases these fire walls actually constitute horizontal exits, but
they are not so indicated, and neither employees nor the general
public have been educated to depend on them as exits.
There is a fixed tradition in department store management that
large areas of space are the leading features necessary to effective
display. This idea is carried to such extremes that store manage-
ments believe large areas so essentially a part of selling attractive-
ness that they are unwilling to subdivide areas in order to provide
for horizontal escapes. This, in face of the fact that several notably
successful stores have subdivided their areas and consider it no
detriment to their business to have the satisfaction of an addi-
tional safeguard. It is a lamentable fact that in a majority of
department stores this fixed idea of large, unbroken areas per-
sists, and the managements remain oblivious to this most modern
and up-to-date practice of more progressive stovos.
I. TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Of the eighty retail mercantile establishments investigated
sixty-two per cent, were in non-fire resistive buildings Over fifty
per cent, of these stores were in two or more buildings, eight being
located in four buildings or more. Fire walls having all openings
614 APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
protected by fire doors were found in eight of these stores old
party walls being utilized in this way. Eight per cent, were in
buildings of slow-burning or mill construction. The majority of
these comprised two buildings four of them with party walls
converted into fire walls, having fire doors at all openings. Thirty
per cent, of the buildings were fire resistive. In sixteen of these,
the stores Avere located in two or more buildings, with no separat-
ing fire walls.
The interior finish of old stores is always wood; but in the
stores of most recent construction, hollow metal or fire resistive
wood are used whenever possible.
Much has been done to protect the valuable stock in stores. The
insurance companies suggest safeguards of all kinds, the installa-
tion of which lowers the rate for the store owner.
II. AREAS.
It is the theory of many merchants that large, unbroken areas
with a profuse display of a great variety of stock, create an im-
pression upon customers which increases sales. Notwithstanding,
fifteen stores included in this study had fire walls party walls
having been cut through and the openings protected by fire doors.
There were usually two such openings on a floor, six to ten feet
wide, the doors being in the majority of cases horizontal sliding
doors.
In- a single store two and three, even as many as four and five
buildings were found separated in this manner. These have been
recommended usually by insurance companies and are sometimes
called " fire stops." As the majority of buildings so treated are
very old, the fire hazard is great and the insurance rate is
materially lowered by the development of this safeguard.
In the following five tables the eighty stores visited are classified
as to areas. The facts tabulated are :
1. Height of building:
2. Number of buildings comprising each store:
i>. Area in square feet:
4. Number, type and capacity per floor of stairways:
5. Fire walls developed from party walls.
APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 615
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Sixty-eight stores had elevators, either passenger or freight or
both.
In 58 per cent, of these stores the elevator shafts were iion-
fire resistive.
Twenty-seven stores had all shafts enclosed in fire-resisting
material. Very few freight elevators are in non-fire resistive
enclosures; even in very old stores, these have been protected, one
store having an asbestos casing between two wood casings.
In addition to the lack of adequate stairway facilities existing
in most of the stores is the serious neglect of safeguarding ele-
vators, upon which store managements chiefly depend to remove
people from the upper floors in case of accident.
Elevator shafts are vertical openings between floors and as such
should be made at least fire resisting. They were found fre-
quently to be enclosed in fire-resisting materials for a few floors
only, as in one of the stores of the following :
Example 1 has twelve passenger elevators, the shafts of which
are open below the fourth floor ; above the fourth they are enclosed
in fire-resisting material.
Example 2. To afford an exhaust for a cashiers' tube room on
an old stairway landing, on the installation of a blower ventilat-
ing system, a pane of wire glass was removed from an adjoining
elevator shaft which was otherwise enclosed in fire-resisting
material throughout.
Example 3. Consists of two old buildings; no fire wall; one
building in the course of complete fire resistive reconstruction;
the freight elevator is in an open wood shaft. Horizontal wooden
doors level with each floor are opened by the top of the elevator,
these doors closing when the elevator descends. On the upper
floors there was no protection around the shaft, the lower floors
having railings surrounding the openings.
As may be seen from the foregoing, in 41, or over 50 per cent,
of the stores visited, unprotected elevator shafts acting as flues,
could materially increase the danger in these stores, should a fire
occur; even if not affected by flames, they could so soon become
filled with smoke as to be of little use as exits.
632 APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
X. FIEE WALLS AND HORIZONTAL EXITS.
Fire Walls:
Eire walls were found in fifteen stores.
Many retail establishments are of fragmentary growth, being
composed of from two to five buildings, party walls having been
cut through in order to annex adjoining buildings. Many of these
buildings originally intended for a small occupancy are now used
by large numbers of people. Notwithstanding this increase in
floor area for the accommodation of a larger number of customers,
the original exit provision remains unchanged.
These combinations of buildings (many of them very old), with
their highly inflammable stock, make of such stores not only
potential conflagration centers, of menace to the surrounding-
buildings, but also create hazards further endangering human life
within the stores.
The lowering of insurance rates rather than the safeguarding of
life seems to have been the motive actuating the store owners to
provide the fire walls found. None of the newer stores had fire
walls, such subdivision of areas being considered detrimental to
the business of general retailing.
That fifteen stores have such subdivisions and continue to be
successful houses is evidence that if compelled to so develop exist-
ing party walls, the business of other houses in similar combina-
tions of buildings would not suffer.
In stores composed of several buildings the expense of making
party walls into fire walls, with protected openings, would not be
prohibitive ; and buildings so separated provide a degree of safety
that should not be underestimated. Whatever the expense, it
would in time be offset by lowered insurance rates.
Horizontal Exits:
Twenty stores had horizontal exits.
Fifteen stores had horizontal exits on each floor.
Eive other stores had horizontal exits on some floors.
These were exits in basements or sub-basements leading under
the street to another building, through tunnels having fire-resistive
doors ; exits to other buildings by means of bridges.
APPENDIX VI -- MEKCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 633
The stores having horizontal exits on each floor had fire walls
either between old buildings or between old buildings and new
additions.
MAINTENANCE.
In each building the main features as to maintenance were:
1. Occupancy ;
2. (a) Restaurants;
(&) Kitchens;
'>. Factories and workrooms;
4. Aisles ;
5. Egress devices ;
6. Fire escapes;
7. Stairways ;
s. Balin'g rooms and waste;
0. Packing rooms;
10. Combustibles;
11. "No Smoking" signs;
12. Inflammable decorations;
13. (a) Connection with fire departments or a supervisory
company ;
(b) Fire appliances;
(c) Standpipes ;
14. Sprinkler systems.
I. OCCUPANCY.
The department store, drawing, as it does, large crowds of
people, is in a sense a public building and as such, people are
entitled to the safety provided for them in other places to which
they are admitted.
The question of safety in stores affects alike the customers who
visit them in vast numbers and the army of people employed in
them. The maximum number of employes in the stores investi-
gated was over 61,600. These figures represent only a portion
of the employes in department stores in the State of New York.
634 APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
Deliverymen, stablemen, helpers and drivers are not included in
the foregoing number as they are not constantly in the buildings.
A study of the occupancy in twenty-two New York City depart-
ment stores during the Christinas season revealed the fact that
those stores are often crowded far beyond the capacity of the exits.
In one store at 3 p. M. there were 13,750 persons in the build-
ing, 4,500 being on the street floor and 2,200 being on the fifth
floor, where toys were sold. This building has six stairways with
total capacity of 730 above the third floor; a center stair with a
capacity of 400 per floor increases the capacity below the third
floor to 1,070 per floor. Five of the stairways are open ; the sixth
stairway, located between the main building and an annex, is
only partially enclosed, having fireproof doors on but two or three
floors.
Another store having four stairways enclosed in fire-resisting
material, with a total capacity of 444 persons per floor, contained
over 5,000 persons at 1 :30 p. M., 1,000 being on the ninth floor.
The following table shows the occupancy in 22 New York City
department stores on a given date, and it is interesting to note
that, in some instances, the number of persons in a single build-
ing equals the population of a whole town or village:
APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 635
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636 APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
A number of stores have established an auditorium or concert
hall. Thus another type of problem is introduced into the general
problem of safety in the department store that of the theatre
or place of public assemblage.
The following are illustrative of such conditions found in four
stores :
One auditorium having a capacity of 1,500, located on the
second and third floor, has a main and balcony floor with exits
from both to two adjacent stairways on each floor, enclosed in
fire-resisting material, with a total capacity of 227 persons per
floor. Two small exterior stairs having cantilever stairs to the
street have a total capacity throughout of 90.
Another concert hall having a capacity of 200 is located on the
sixth floor, has one pair of swing doors and one hinge door open-
ing in, all three opening on a wide corridor with a horizontal exit
and fire resistive enclosed stairway, both eighty feet distant from
the concert hall.
In a third store, concerts attended by 300 people are given in
an open space on the fifth floor, movable, folding chairs being pro-
vided. Forty feet distant is a horizontal exit, and 75 and 190
feet distant, respectively, are two fire resistive enclosed stairways
with a total capacity of 175 persons per floor.
A practice has grown up in stores of holding fashion exhibits,
which are widely advertised and draw large numbers of people.
In one house the attendance at one time is over 1,000, these
exhibits being held 011 an upper floor adjoining a restaurant hav-
ing a capacity of 1,000. Although this store has eight stairways
enclosed in fire-resisting material, with a capacity of 820 persons
per floor, one stair ends in a kitchen on this floor, so that the
capacity is reduced to 724.
Thus, anywhere from 300 to 1,300 people assembled in a
limited area, in addition to the number of people distributed
throughout the store, are likely to be in danger should any panic
or fire occur in these stores at such' (lines. Store proprietors
assume grave responsibilities when they endeavor to attract the
crowds that the foregoing table indicates are present during the
Christmas season, a condition often duplicated on special bargain
days. Every convenience and comfort is provided for the use of
customers, such as rest rooms, hospitals, writing rooms, play
Api'K.xmx VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 637
s fur the children of (.Mislmiu-rs, information bureaus, ticket
offices, etc. The dictates of good business management demand
i lie protection of valuable stock, and the dictates of safety demand
that store owners should be compelled to remedy dangerous con-
ditions now existing in their buildings.
II. (a) KESTAURANTS.
Department store restaurants are no longer solely for the use
of their customers. Many of the stores, being located in business
districts, draw a daily attendance other than shoppers. Those
restaurants in the larger stores are usually located on upper floors
and are in constant daily use, being often crowded to capacity
and with many people waiting.
In New York City, on February 19th, when traffic conditions
were so seriously impaired that the fire commissioner had issued a
warning that streets were almost impassable for fire apparatus,
more than 1,200 people, exclusive of employees, were counted on
an upper restaurant floor. This floor has unenclosed stairways
with a total capacity of 730 for the floor.
In many stores restaurants have separate dining rooms where
smoking is allowed. In some stores smoking materials are on
sale and lighters provided. The carrying of lighted cigars and
cigarettes is allowed in elevators, but store managers say they do
not permit smoking in the sales departments, although smoking
was frequently seen in these departments.
Forty-nine restaurants (including lunch rooms and lunch coun-
ters) were found located in thirty-seven stores, twelve stores hav-
ing two each.
Fifteen were located in basements, of which:
1 had a seating capacity of 550.
5 had a seating capacity of 150 to 200 each.
4 had a seating capacity of 100 each.
6 had a seating capacity of 100 each.
Of the thirty-four located on upper floors:
4 had a seating capacity of 1,000 to 1,200.
3 had a seating capacity of 700 to 800.
6 had a seating capacity of 400 to 500.
21 had a seating capacity of less than 250.
f>38 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
The following are illustrative of the conditions found in four
stores :
Example 1. Restaurant 9th floor, capacity 400. This floor
has two unenclosed stairways with a total capacity of 92 per floor.
Smoking materials sold.
Example 2. Restaurant 7th floor, capacity 700 to 800. Two
fire-resistive enclosed stairways, one over 100 feet distant; total
capacity of 170 per floor. These stairways are open from the
main to the second floors and fire resistive enclosed above the
second.
Example 3. Restaurant 2nd floor, capacity 250. Smoking
allowed in small connecting room. Restaurant partly surrounds
open gallery, wood railing, iron columns. Railing covered with
non-fireproof cotton plants in bloom and cotton goods. No stair-
way near. Escalator in gallery space.
Example 4. Restaurant 8th floor, capacity 1,000 ; smoking
allowed in connecting room; 8 stairways enclosed in fire-resisting
material, total capacity 820 per floor one ending in kitchen
limits capacity to 724 for this floor.
To the man who conducts a restaurant the safety of his place
of business is his active concern and the location of primary im-
portance.
The department store restaurant is an incidental in a large and
varied enterprise and is mainly installed for the convenience of
customers, and as an advertisement the latter with the idea of
drawing many people to the building other than customers. For
this reason such restaurants are usually located on upper floors
so that some of the crowd, drifting down again to the street
through the lower floors full of attractively displayed stock, may
become purchasers.
The location and seating capacity of the majority of store res-
taurants necessitate the provision of adequate and protected stair-
ways. In case of fire, elevators and fire-escapes are of little use
when it is a question of from 400 to 1,000 people on the 8th and
10th floors reaching the street.
APPENDIX VI -- MEK< A\TI LK ESTABLISHMENTS.
(6) KITCHE.NS.
Sixteen of the thirty-five stores having kitchens arid bakeries
were equipped with coal ranges. Thirteen kitchens of the thirty-
five were fireproof rooms.
In a few of the older stores and in nearly all those of recent con-
struction, kitchens and bakeries were located in fireproof rooms.
The following are illustrative of conditions found in two stores
where the kitchens were not fire-resistive rooms.
Example 1. Kitchen and bakery are located on the third
floor ; the kitchen has three stoves the wooden walls being pro-
tected only one-half way up and the smoke pipes being within one
foot of the wall. The bakery is in a wooden partitioned room,
the oven backing up on a wooden partition.
Example 2 has a kitchen on the second floor with a large coal
range located in an old converted dwelling house, the construction
being wood throughout. The escapes are a wooden stairway, or
through the restaurant, which has no stairway near and surrounds
an open gallery.
Conditions such as the foregoing are dangerous in the extreme,
the nature of the buildings inviting the rapid spread of fi.re. The
enclosing in fire-resistive materials of rooms used as kitchens is
the only way to eliminate the hazards arising from the use of
kitchens in store buildings.
III. FACTORIES AND WORKROOMS.
In seventy stores having factories or workrooms a total of over
5,000 persons were employed.
Legislation and the general publicity that has been given to
factory conditions throughout the state has made little change in
the conditions in mercantile establishments.
Nearly all establishments have alteration workrooms for men's
and women's clothing, and millinery workrooms.
Upholstery workrooms, in addition to furniture upholstery, fin-
ishing and polishing, include such industries as carpet sewing,
shade, awning and mattress manufacturing. This last industry
entails the use of large quantities of hair, moss, cotton and feathers.
While in most of the stores these materials were kept in metal-
040 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
lined bins, the mattress making was done in the open spaces.
Sparks from machinery have caused tires in these departments,
the materials used being of a highly inflammable nature.
Manufacturing was carried on in six stores and included the
manufacturing of aprons, waists, dresses, suits, college caps and
gowns, underwear, and men's shirts.
The physical arrangement and location of these factories and
workrooms were, in the majority of establishments, a decided
hazard to the workers.
Aisles were obstructed by chairs, tables, shaft casings and ma-
chines.
Fire-escape windows were found locked, barred and inaccess-
ible. Hot radiators were in front of some fire-escape windows and
often obstruct access to them.
In five stores workrooms were found to be located over 100 feet
from any stairway or fire-escape.
Some specific examples, which illustrate the conditions of work-
rooms in department stores follows :
Example 1. Dressmaking workroom fifth floor, maximum
number of employees 125 ; no fire drill ; one open stairway 50 feet
distant from workers. The only door leading to this stairway
opens in and leads to a corridor 8 1-2 feet wide, obstructed to
23 1-2 inch passageway by many tables, dozens of chairs and large
and small wardrobe trunks ; another door leads to fitting and sales
rooms and another stairway over 100 feet distant.
Example 2. The factory space is on the sixth floor at the end
of an open floor ; 80 people employed. No fire drill. Manufac-
turing aprons, jumpers, etc., piano polishing, upholstery and
mattress making carried on. In the space devoted to piano polish-
ing a small alcohol lamp and a bottle of alcohol were in use. To
reach the only door to the only stairway (an open one) the workers
in the upholstery and manufacturing sections would have to pass
through the piano polishing space. In the upholstery section a
gallon glass bottle of wood alcohol was in use. Supplies of
alcohol, varnish and shellac were kept in two wooden cupboards.
The only fire-escape for this section of the building is reached by
means of a window 28 inches from the floor, the window having
an iron bar 25 1-2 inches from the sill.
APPENDIX VI- MKRCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 641
Example 3. Dress and suit making eighth floor, minimum
number of employees 200. No fire drill. Exit doors open in, lead
through a hall to fire-resistive enclosed stairway. In this work-
room the aisles do not lead to the two exits and arc obstructed l>y
dress form?:, chairs, tables and machines.
Example 4. Dress and suit alteration room, fifth floor, 7f> em-
ployees; no tiro drill. The only exit is through swing doors to an
open stairway. The arrangement of the workroom shows no re-
gard for the safety of the workers. Large tables and benches
break up and obstruct all aisle formation. Thirty gas burners in
a row, for irons.
From the preceding it is realized that factory conditions in de-
partment stores need some regulation other than the present labor
law. The situation is complicated and neglected. The physical
location alone, of these workrooms, makes the conditions entirely
different from those found in the average factory.
IV. AISLES.
The arrangement of aisles, which is recognized as one of the
most important features of the problem of safety in factories, is
almost neglected in department stores where the aisles are the only
means of reaching exits for the hundreds of people who may be in
a store.
Aisles that are narrow, obstructed, broken, lead to a blank wall,
or lead indirectly to an exit, are a menace.
25 stores had broken aisles.
34 stores had indirect aisles.
34 stores had some aisles less than 3 feet wide.
7 stores had all aisles less than 3 feet wide.
Movable obstructions in aisles are particularly dangerous, as
they may very soon block the passageway in case of panic.
58 stores had movable tables in aisles.
23 stores had movable chairs in aisles.
43 stores had merchandise in aisles.
In upholstery and furniture sales departments the aisles are
generally inadequate and indirect. The nature of the goods
642 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
necessitates large areas for display. Although usually the custom-
ers in these departments are apt to be few in number, at times
special sales are held which draw crowds of purchasers to sections
of stores having limited and poor aisle provisions.
V. EGKESS DEVICES.
In this investigation all red-lighted exit signs,- stairway and
lire-escape signs, employees' fire drills, and fire gongs were classi-
fied as egress devices:
86 per cent., or 69 stores, had no fire drills.
49 stores had no fire gongs.
47 stores had exits unindicated by signs.
In nine stores instructions were given as to leaving store in
case of fire.
Two stores only had fire instructions printed and posted in
prominent places.
In one store the investigator was told by the superintendent that
drills were held every two weeks, but had been temporarily dis-
continued, as a new kind of drill was contemplated. Of three
employees questioned, two had been employed six months and
knew of no drill ; the third said drills were held very seldom
every four or five months.
In some New York stores a drill is held which includes only
those porters and others who man the apparatus.
In one of the stores a drill for the sixth floor factory employees
only is held.
Horizontal exits as safe means of egress are not recognized,
either by employees or the public. They are not indicated as such,
nor is there any general knowledge as to the meaning of the term.
This lack of exit signs is most serious exit signs furnish the
only guide in time of fire to people accustomed to the exclusive
use of elevators.
VI. FIRE-ESCAPES.
Fifty-three stores had fire-escapes of some kind. Of these :
In 30 access to the escapes were obstructed.
In 11 the windows giving on escape were barred.
In 14 the windows opening on escapes were locked.
APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 643
In 9 iron shutters at windows blocked the use of the escape.
In 18 fire-escapes were defective, having either no drop ladders
to the street or to adjoining roofs; having ladders out of place;
Icing so badly rusted as to be dangerous. These escapes are of
almost no value as exits, due to the manner in which they are
maintained.
The following conditions are indicative of the maintenance of
lire-escapes in department stores:
Example 1. Had two fire-escapes ending above glass sheds,
with no drop ladders to the street. The superintendent stated that
there never had been any and that this lack had never been called
to his attention by local or state inspectors. In this building on
one floor shades were pulled down (in order that the space might
be used for display of furniture) so that the fire-escape could not
be seen from the interior of the store. Fire-escape windows were
46 inches from the floor in some departments ; many of them
locked ; one in a workroom was nailed up. Benches, machines,
cloth racks, and merchandise obstructed access to the windows,
which were large and heavy and almost impossible to lift.
Example 2. Each window, 21 inches from the floor, leading
to a rear fire-escape, was barred by wooden rods placed diagonally
above the lower sash. On the second floor an up-right iron button
machine was fastened to the sill. All fire-escape windows located
on the third floor were completely blocked by rubbish, boxes and
packing-cases. The yard at the foot of the escape was knee-deep
in hay, excelsior, paper boxes, old waste and broken wooden boxes,
packing-cases being piled so high under the balanced stairs as to
render them utterly useless. The lowest fire-escape platform was
at least 18 feet from the ground.
Example 3. Fire-escape sixth floor, both windows obstructed
by a bench 31 inches high, 28 inches wide. Many windows were
locked.
Example 4. Four story. One fire-escape, second floor, access
to window over hot radiator 27 inches high window locked ;
other window locked but unobstructed. Third floor entrance to
fire-escape blocked by chairs, storage of unused fixtures, old
lumber, etc.
644 APPENDIX VI - - MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
Fire-escapes at best are unreliable as exits and when maintained
as the foregoing, they cease to be of use as such.
VII. STAIRWAYS.
In 43 stores stairways were found obstructed by merchandise.
In 13 stores doors opening on stairways were found locked.
In 18 stores stairways were obstructed by counters and shelves.
The use of elevators by the general public and employees has
created a disregard of the final dependence upon stairways in case
of fire.
In many cases the stairways and landings were actually used for
the display of merchandise. Even landings of stairways enclosed
in fire-resisting materials were found obstructed in this manner.
This is only another instance of the policy of using all possible
space, whether legitimate or not, for purposes of display.
The neglect of available exits indicates an indifference to the
safety of public and employees. All stairway obstructions and
locked doors opening on stairways limit the use of the most safe
means of egress from burning buildings.
VIII. BALING ROOMS AND WASTE.
In large and small department stores waste paper of all kinds
is collected from different parts of the store, baled and sold. In
a few stores baling has been discontinued, all waste being burned
in special incinerators. The usual custom is to collect waste on
the various floors, in wooden wicker or metal trucks. If there is
no waste chute, the waste is then taken to the baling room in these
same trucks. The rubbish and waste are separated, that portion
unfit for baling being usually burned. Baling rooms were found
in 63 stores.
Notwithstanding the fact that department store owners recog-
nize that many fires occur in baling rooms, 36 of the 63 stores
maintained baling rooms that were non-fire-resistive :
12 of the 63 baling rooms were located in sub-basements.
44 of the 63 baling rooms were located in basements.
19 of the 63 baling rooms were located on upper floors.
APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 645
Baling is frequently done in an open basement or cellar as
follows :
Example 1. Building erected 50 years; remodeled six years
ago; 8,844 square feet area; sprinklered ; 205 employees; in
baling section in basement paper, waste and paper boxes piled
3 and 4 feet deep ; baled paper removed every two weeks ; room
opens on an open area containing hoistway sprinkler system is
wet.
In some stores the waste is allowed to accumulate in open non-
fire-resistive rooms, as in the example given below. This practice
is very dangerous and Avas frequently met with.
Example 2. The basement is in a dangerous condition. Floor-
ing part stone and wood; wooden part in very poor repair. Wall
partition of wood, some papers; ceiling low, with exposed beams.
Boiler-room flooring is wood. Old disused stockroom, unlighted,
is filled with old lumber. Waste is thrown down through opening
in first floor to boiler room, and burned. Varnishes and paints
on open wooden shelf.
IX. PACKING ROOMS.
1 ho number of packing rooms and the amount of packing mate-
rials used in each store depends on the character of goods sold.
Those houses specializing in clothing require only paper and boxes ;
those selling china, glass, hardware, furniture, etc., need hay,
straw, excelsior, pads and cut paper. As these are very inflam-
mable materials, the manner in which they are stored and used is
important.
Packing may be done in one central place, in another building,
or in each department. It was found that in the majority of stores
.-mall bundles were wrapped in the department where sold, other
a, >o< U being collected and packed in one general packing room.
In all but a few stores the packing was done in non-fireproof
rooms.
In many stores the bins in which packing material was kept
for immediate use were fire-resistive, and the amount kept in bulk
was stored in fireproof vaults.
646 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
Sixty-six stores had packing rooms; four of these were fire-
resistive.
The following packing-room conditions were frequently found
in stores:
Example 1 consists of six buildings, both quick burning and
fire resistive; area 58,000 square feet; 1,100 employees; sprink-
lered. Packing rooms in basement ; straw littered on floor with
hay and papers, and used from open metal-lined compartments
under packing tables. A closet for excelsior in bulk, near a stair-
way leading to the street used by deliverymen, is imperfectly fire
resisting and has half of the fire-resistive door missing. Xo " No
smoking " signs two employees recently discharged for smok-
ing. That smoking does exist as shown by these dismissals, makes
the conditions in the packing room grave.
Example 2. Ten-story, fire-resistive building; area 83,000
square feet; sprinklered; 4,250 employees. Packing room sub-
basement, many bales of excelsior on floor piled to within one foot
of ceiling; great quantity of empty wooden boxes stacked to ceil-
ing. Fire-resistive room for bulk of packing materials.
Example 3. Eour-story quick burning building; area 17,4-80
square feet; sprinklered; 260 employees. Long, narrow packing
room in basement, littered with excelsior, straw and broken glass.
Rear of basement sales in shipping and receiving department open-
ing on a yard, dozens of cans of oil on shelves ; open gallon can of
kerosene ; portable gas heater on floor within one foot of a wooden
bin containing excelsior. In same small room is a can of carbide,
20 inches high.
X. COMBUSTIBLES.
The various industries carried on in department stores, require
the use of some highly combustible materials.
Paints, varnishes, shellac, alcohol and turpentine were used in
different repair and finishing departments. Gasoline, benzine,
naptha or alcohol were used in alteration, millinery embroidery
workrooms.
These materials, in many stores, were kept in bulk in fireproof
rooms and in small amounts in the different departments in safety
cans.
APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 647
In 22 of the stores these combustibles were found being used
or stored in an unsafe manner.
Specific Conditions Found:
Example 1. Fifth floor, alteration workroom, maximum num-
ber employees 30. Gasoline in use from glass bottle; safety can
near, but not used. Lighted gas stove for irons 12 feet distant;
forewoman superintending use.
Example 2. Third floor, furniture-finishing department.
Two gallons wood alcohol in open wood cupboard.
Two-quart glass bottles benzine in open wood cupboard.
One-quart glass bottle turpentine in open wood cupboard.
Example 3. Has wine and olive bottling department in sepa-
rate division of sub-basement ; sprinklered ; partly under street :
35 barrels of whiskey.
2 barrels of 95 per cent, alcohol.
1 barrel of wood alcohol.
1 barrel of denatured alcohol.
Portable gas heater within ten feet, unprotected.
Twelve men employed only escape up open wooden steps
with capacity of three.
Example 4. Sixth floor, perfumery factory in small room ;
about twenty 2 to 5-gallon glass bottles containing essences in
alcohol ; 1 barrel of bay rum ; 1 barrel alcohol. Gas stove within
twelve feet of alcohols. Exit to roof ; ladder door at top bolted ;
no roof getaway. Stairway more than 100 feet distant; indirect
aisles badly obstructed by packing cases.
XL " Xo SMOKING " SIGNS.
The very large number of fires due to smoking, mentioned pre-
viously, is indicative of the general increase in smoking generally.
Thirty-five per cent, of all stores had " No Smoking" sigin.
Department store maunders recognize the danger of employe'--
smoking where there is so much inflammable material. In many
stores rules regarding smoking are rigidly enforced, men IK-II >; ar
once dismissed if found smoking. With these rules as to em-
648 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
ployees goes an indulgence toward customers who smoke, and
whose smoking creates just as great a hazard.
In the Christmas season in one store, two investigators saw three
men smoking on the street floor. The aisles were crowded to ca-
pacity and the counters covered with flimsy goods. The matter
was called to the attention of the head man on the floor, but, not-
withstanding the congested condition and the real peril involved
to clerks behind high counters, the smoking was allowed to con-
tinue.
XII. INFLAMMABLE DECORATIONS.
Inflammable decorations found were flags, artificial flowers or
foliage, tissue paper decorations, or merchandise of an inflammable
nature used as decorations.
Decorations were arranged around galleries or rotundas, hung
from ceilings, festooned between columns and posts, and on
wooden arches above counters.
The merchandise used for ornamentation was Christmas-tree
decorations, handkerchiefs, sheet music, muslin underwear and
upholstery materials such as portieres, curtains and draperies.
Pieces of all artificial flowers or foliage and tissue paper dec-
orations were tested to ascertain if combustible.
A small blaze which ordinarily could be extinguished quickly
and cause but little panic, when starting in or near inflammable
decorations can spread with great rapidity, in a few seconds be-
coming a serious fire, with the probability that a large area may
become affected, and the inevitable panic among employees and
shoppers be disastrous.
The presence of such decorations increases the possibility of
fires from defective wiring, lighted matches, smoking, and burst-
ing electric light bulbs.
These decorations are in use more generally and to a greater
degree during the Christinas season, when both large and small
stores are subject to extraordinary crowding.
The increased number of fires in department stores, classified
in Chart I previously given, as " Christmas," indicates that cer-
tain fires were due to specific seasonal conditions. Too much stress
cannot be put upon the fact that at this time there is a recognized
APPENDIX VT - M i i;r A XTTLE ESTABLISHMENTS. 649
definite ha/ard which the rise of inflammable decorations can only
greatly increase.
In two stores the decorations were fireproof. In these stores it
was stated that insurance inspectors frequently tested the decora-
tions and those that were condemned were removed.
Kight stores had inflammable dec-orations in use.
Nine stores had inflammable decorations stored.
The following conditions indicate the way in which these deco-
rations were used in the stores investigated:
Kxamplr 1. - Store consists of six buildings, both fire resistive
and quick burning, all open; sprinklered ; area 58,000 square
feet ; 1,000 employees. On the second floor a wooden railing
around open gallery was profusely decorated with cotton plants
in bloom and cotton goods. The restaurant, accommodating 250
persons, partly surrounds this gallery; smoking permitted in an
adjoining room ; no stairway near.
Example 2. Store 26 years old ; sprinklered; area 26,000
square feet ; 560 employees. Sixth floor, small wooden parti-
tioned room contains unused fixtures and non-fire-resistive arti-
ficial foliage decorations stored in wicker laundry baskets-
Superintendent stated that the decorations, which burned freely
when tested, were absolutely fire resistive.
Example 3. Store consists of three buildings two fire
resistive and one quick burning; all open; sprinklered; area,
41, ,320 square* feet; l,4(>r employees. Fourth floor upholstery
department walls and columns were literally covered with large
amounts of draperies; flimsy materials hung between columns and
from ceiling. No definite aisle arrangements; rugs and draperies
obstruct passageways.
XIII. (A) ( '<>.\.\K< TIO.N WITH FIRE DEPARTMENTS OR SUPER-
v i SORY COMPANIES.
(B) FIRE APPLIANCES.
(C) STANDPIPES.
A. Fifty-three per cent, of the retail mercantile establishments
visited were neither connected with local Fire Departments nor
650 APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
Supervisory Companies. To call the fire departments, they were
dependent on telephones, the nearest street fire-boxes or the nearest
buildings connected with fire departments.
B. The number and kind of fire appliances in stores were
found to be usually determined by the insurance companies. The
appliances consisted of pails, tanks containing six pails in a
brine solution; axes, hooks, five-gallon and forty-gallon chemical
extinguishers. A few paint shops and engine rooms were also
equipped with sand pails.
Seventy-eight stores had fire appliances of some kind.
Two stores had no fire appliances.
The following illustrative conditions were found :
Example 1. Area 8,000 square feet; quick burning building;
unsprinklered ; no standpipe, fire department connection or fire
appliances; 60 employees.
Example 2. Area 6,300 square feet; quick burning building;
unsprinklered; one standpipe; no fire department connection; in
flammable decorations in use; 50 employees.
Example 3. Six-story quick burning building ; 8,000 square
feet ; unsprinklered ; no standpipes ; employs 30 people.
Quoting from investigator's report :
"The fifth and sixth floors (non-selling) look as if they had not
been swept for weeks, waste paper, old cases, tables, gingham
covers, old show cases and empty soup cans all over the floor. The
sixth floor room is used by some employees as lunch room papers
scattered around, dust inches thick. Old paint rags, tobacco
pouches, waste paper, burnt out matches on the floor, bottle of
turpentine on a table. The fire pails are neglected, with few ex-
ceptions being uncovered, many empty, others stowed away under
counters. On the main floor, three of the four bucket tanks were
placed together at the head of the stairs to basement. Seveial of
the tank lids stuck and could not be opened."
In a number of the large department stores, fire brigades, com-
posed of store employees, are maintained. The stores are divided
into sections and bells which ring throughout the building indi-
cate the section in which the fire is supposed to be. Some estab-
APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 651
is have retired firemen in charge of all fire appliances,
brigades and drills.
Kxample 1. Has fire brigade drills frequently at 5) A. M. when
customers are in the store, the management believing that patron?
are favorably impressed by such provision for safety.
Example 2. The practice drill for a brigade in one store is as
follows : After closing in the evening, four bells are rung, to
which 23 porters respond, going to the superintendent's office on
the first floor. They are then told the location of the supposed
fire, to which they proceed and go through a drill. The time lost
through the lack of signals to locate a fire definitely must decidedly
lessen the efficacy of this drill.
C. Standpipes.
Fifty-eight per cent, of the stores had no standpipes. One
building had a standpipe without any hose connection.
Standpipes were usually located near stairways so they could
be used readily. In some buildings they were located in the in-
terior of the floor, which limits their accessibility, as smoke might
prevent their being reached. In the newer stores having fireproof
( nclosed stairways, the standpipe connections are usually on the
landings. This location makes them accessible and lessens the
danger for those putting out any fires of being overcome by smoke.
Example 1. New six-story fire-resistive building; area 13,303
square feet ; no standpipe ; sprinklered ; maximum number of em-
ployees, 350; two chemical extinguishers per floor.
Kxample 2. Store consisting of three buildings, erected about
1854; one seven, and two four stories high; area .36,108 square
feet; sprinklered; no standpipes; 700 employees; no fire pails;
12 chemical extinguishers each floor.
Example 3. Xine-story fire-resistive building, ten years old,
area 20,000 square feet; sprinklered; no standpipes; 1,330 maxi-
mum number of employees ; no fire pails ; eight chemical extin-
guishers to each floor.
652 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
XIV. SPRINKLES SYSTEMS.
Fifty of the stores visited were equipped with sprinkler
systems.
In addition to the protection afforded both buildings and con-
tents, the installation of sprinkler systems in retail mercantile
establishments seem to be due to the resulting decrease in rates
of insurance, and to questions of financial credit.
These advantages are effective upon the installation of the
physical equipment. Whatever protection for human safety
sprinkler systems may afford depends upon their maintenance, at
all times and in all parts of the stores, to their maximum
efficiency.
That the maintenance thus entrusted to the owner seems not to
be entirely satisfactory is evinced by the growth of outside super-
visory companies, with their signals, inspections and repairs.
Companies supervising sprinkler systems were not located in
all the cities visited and, furthermore, in cities where these com-
panies did exist all sprinklered stores did not have their
supervision.
There are some conditions due to faulty maintenance which are
not indicated by signals with supervisory companies such ns
merchandise stacked too near sprinkler heads and practices simi-
lar to that found in Example 1 described below.
The following were some of the conditions of maintenance
found :
Example 1. The store consists of three old buildings; 22,500
square feet; no fire walls; 1,880 employees. An indicator in the
engine room records the building, but not the floor, when a
sprinkler head fuses. The trouble has usually proven to be in a
basement delivery department where, because of a low ceiling,
sprinkler heads are easily knocked off. Consequently, the engi-
neer turns off the water in the building indicated until the trouble
is located.
Example 2. The store consists of two buildings, one five
years old, date of construction of the other unknown but it is
very old; no fire wall; area, 17,400 square feet; 250 employees.
Fourth floor (furniture sales) has five small temporary display
APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 653
rooms, lighted by electricity, arranged as living rooms for the
display of furniture, rugs and upholstery. . These rcoms are
divided by wooden partitions, muslin ceilings being stretched be-
tween sprinkler heads and merchandise; the supporting columns
are of wood and iron and one decorated with non-fireproof flowers
and vines. Another similar space near, likewise illuminated and
covering an area of 25 by 10 feet, has a painted muslin ceiling
between the sprinkler heads and merchandise, supported by
wooden columns.
Example 3. Store consists of three buildings separated by
two fire walls; area 25,000 square feet; 1,200 employees. An
investigator having seen fire apparatus in front of this store went
to the fire department for information; from there, for further
information, the investigator was referred to the supervisory com-
pany in charge of the store sprinkler system. At the central office
of the supervisory company the alarm was said to have been false,
due, probably to some disarrangement of the section supplying the
boiler room. Two heads in this room had fused at different times
early in the afternoon, necessitating the shutting off of that sec-
tion for three hours while repairs were made. The boiler room is
wooden beamed and although the store engineer said the heads
fused at 158 degrees Fahrenheit, the manager of the supervisory
company stated they fused at 286 degrees Fahrenheit and that
heads fusing at 300 degrees would be installed. Thus, for three
hours during a busy part of the day this store was deprived of
sprinkler protection in a section continually subjected to great
heat.
When sprinkler systems are properly maintained they are of
inestimable value in preventing serious fires. Because of the pro-
tection afforded by automatic sprinklers the rules for their
proper maintenance ought to be carefully made and enforced
throughout the state. Should fire occur in any section of a store
which because of repair to the system, lack of careful main-
tenance, or lack of water supply is temporarily cut off from
sprinkler protection, the consequences for the occupants might be
grave. Especially would this be so where over confidence in the
infallibility of the sprinkler system has allowed owners to ignore
654 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
the necessity for adequate exit provision. Whatever the devices
for extinguishing. fires in buildings, the exit facilities should be
adequate.
CONCLUSION.
After a study of the facts here presented, it seems clear that
there is imminent danger of a great and disastrous fire in some
mercantile establishment in New York State.
Two sets of conditions contribute to that danger, namely, care-
less maintenance of such establishments, and construction planned
without reference to the safety of the occupants.
To summarize the most commonly occurring dangers, we find
they are:
1. Poor housekeeping, leading to conditions favorable for
origin or spread of fire.
2. Lack of any plan to facilitate egress and prevent panic in
case of fire.
3. Inadequate number and size of street exits from ground
floors, leading to conditions which would cause panic, crowding
and crushing in case of fire.
4. Insufficient number of stairways for accommodation of
crowds on the upper floors in case of fire.
5. Presence of open stairways which not only fail to furnish
a safe egress in case of fire, but act as spreaders of fire from floor
to floor.
Remedies can undoubtedly be found for all these defects and a
possible terrible tragedy averted. Many of the worst conditions
are the result of poor judgment, lack of knowledge or lack of
attention on the part of owners and managers. For the most part,
the existing or possible exit facilities have not been developed
toward making safer buildings, even when no great expense would
be entailed.
The principles of the present labor law in regard to factories
should be adapted to meet the needs of fire protection in mercantile
establishments. The necessary adaptations are indicated below.
The most striking provision for fire safety made by the New
York State Labor Law is that which compels the reduction of the
APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. 655
number of occupants on any floor of a building to a number equal
to the capacity of the approved exits from that floor.
The difficulty of enforcing any such regulation in a mercantile
establishment, where the number of occupants varies from hour
to hour, is obvious. Consequently, it becomes necessary to require
exit facilities for all the possible occupants of a mercantile estab-
lishment.
It is generally admitted that not more than one-half of the
floor space in a mercantile establishment is free from stock, fix-
tures, etc., and so available for human occupancy.
The requirement for exit facilities should be based upon the
number of persons who can occupy this free space. Since a crowd
of considerable density occupies space at the. rate of ten square
feet per person, the possible number of persons on any floor of a
mercantile establishment can be computed, and stairway or hori-
zontal exit provision can be required for them on the regular fac-
tory basis of fourteen persons for every eighteen inches in width
of stairway.
The necessary changes in stores can be made without undue
expense, and because these buildings are in reality public buildings,
to which crowds of persons are attracted by the owner for the gain
of the owner, there can be no doubt of the state's responsibility
to insist upon a thoroughgoing program of protection to human
life as a first requisite for conducting such a business.
RECOMMENDED REGULATIONS FOR MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
The following regulations are recommended for the maintenance
and construction of mercantile establishments. The matters re-
lating to the maintenance of department stores might well be sub-
ject to regulations by the Industrial Board of the State Labor De-
partment. Matters relating to construction or alteration of mer-
cantile establishments should undoubtedly be subjects for special
legislation.
Construction:
1. All vertical openings between floors shall be enclosed in
fireproof partitions, and all openings from these enclosures to the
various floors shall be protected by self-closing, fireproof doors or
656 APPENDIX VI -- MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
windows. (For definition of fireproof partitions, see the Factory
Law. Vertical openings include rotundas, wells, stairways, ele-
vators, package chutes, light shafts, belt openings, pipe and duct
shafts, hoistways, etc.)
2. From every floor of every building used as a mercantile es-
tablishment, there shall be at least two standard means of exit
remote from each other.
A standard means of exit shall be considered an enclosed fire-
proof stairway (see Factory Law) ; or a smokeproof tower; or a
horizontal exit; or an exterior screened stairway when one of the
three foregoing types of exit is present in the building.
3. All required stairways shall extend continuously from the
floors which they serve, to the street; or to a fireproof passageway
independent of other means of exit from the building, and opening
on a road or street ; or to an open area affording unobstructed pas-
sage to a road or street.
'4. Each floor below the street level used for purposes of the
business in any mercantile building shall have at least two stand-
ard means of exit remote from each other leading directly to the
street ; or to a fireproof passageway, or vestibule which is inde-
pendent of other means of exit from the building and opens on the
street.
5. The number of persons who may be allowed to occupy any
mercantile building or portion thereof shall be limited to such
number as can safely escape from such building by the means of
exit provided. (For the standard of exit capacity see the factory
law, section 79-e, pars. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.)
6. Notice of the number of persons who may occupy each
floor of such building shall be posted in plain view on each floor
in as many places as the Commissioner of Labor may designate.
7. All doors in buildings used for mercantile purposes shall
open outward, or be double swinging doors.
8. Doors from all interior rooms which are used as workrooms,
or from any interior room where more than five persons are per-
mitted, shall open outward or be double swinging doors.
9. No revolving doors shall be allowed at any entrance.
A i- 1> KM MX VI -- MKK< A.XTII.K I'" si AULISHMKNTS. 657
in. The width of the hallways, vestibules and required exit
doors leading thcrH'rom to the street shall be not less than the
width of all stairways and exits leading to them.
Maintenance:
1. No door (or window) or other opening leading to a means
of egress shall be locked, bolted or fastened against egress, or in
any way obstructed.
2. All exits (stairways) shall be maintained free of all ob-
struction.
1. Aisles throughout the building shall be so arranged as to
afford continuous, safe, unobstructed passageways on each floor
of the building with an unobstructed width of at least three feet
throughout their length, leading directly to every means of egress.
including fire-escapes and passenger elevators.
4. No aisles in any building shall be reduced in width in the
direction of the exit.
5. No obstruction of any kind, fixed or movable, shall be al-
lowed to divide or block the aisles.
6. All interior rooms in such building used as workrooms, and
all interior rooms in which more than five persons are permitted,
shall have at least two means of exit remote from each other.
7. Packing rooms, where inflammable material is used, shall
be enclosed in fireproof partitions.
8. All excelsior, paper, clippings or other inflammable mate-
rial iif-ed for packing purposes shall be baled and stored in a fire-
proof room, and all loose excelsior in use in packing rooms shall
be kept in approved fireproof bins.
9. Approved fireproof receptables shall be provided throughout
the building for the reception of waste material and rubbish, and
waste material must be placed therein.
10. Where gas or kerosene are used for lighting purposes the
lights shall be placed at least eighteen inches distant from inflam-
mable stock and shall be protected by wire safety-cages. No mov-
al>le brackets shall l>e permitted.
658 APPENDIX VI MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.
11. All kitchens or bakeries located in mercantile establish-
ments must be enclosed in fireproof partitions and separated from
the rest of the building by such partitions.
12. Smoking shall be prohibited throughout the building, ex-
cept in fireproof enclosed rooms set aside for that purpose.
13. All exits shall be plainly marked by means of a red-lighted
sign, and in addition throughout the floor area there shall be red-
lighted index signs showing the most direct path to the various
exits.
14. Where there are different floor levels in any building or
group of buildings used as a mercantile establishment, the con-
nection between floor levels shall be by means of gradients having
a non-slipping surface. (This item should be made to conform to
the provision for floor levels in theatres in the New York City
Building Code.)
15. All stairways which are not adequately lighted by natural
light shall be provided with artificial light.
APPENDIX VII
UK PORT TO THE NEW YOEK STATE FACTORY IN-
V INSTIGATING COMMISSION" OF THE FIRE IN
THE FACTORY OF THE BINGHAMTON CLOTHING
COMPANY, BINGHAMTON, N. Y., JULY 22, 1913,
BY
JAMES P. WHISKEMAN, C. E.,
Advisory Engineer to the Commission.
[659]
UK PORT OF THE INVESTIGATION OF THE FIRE IN
THE FACTORY OF THE BINGHAMTON CLOTHING
COMPANY, BINCI1AMTON, N. Y., JULY 22, 1913.
lion. KOBKKT F. WA;NKI{, Chnlnnn,, \or York State Factory
Investigating Commission, 51 Chambers Street, City:
SIR. In accordance with the instructions of Bernard L.
Shientag, Esq., Assistant Counsel to your Commission, I went to
Hinghamton on Wednesday. July :>:}i-a1'un) tininghamton, X. V. Tt stood upon a lot 125' 4"
deep on the north side, and 11!' <'" deep on the south side, the
lot U'ing 4.V <>" wide on Center street and 45' 3" wide on Wall
street. The building occupied the entire lot, and extended in its
longest dimensions east and west, Wall street being at the west
end. and ( 'enter street at the east end. This building was entirely
detached from other structures.
Foundation HV///\.
The building was about twenty-two years old and was four
stone- an. I cellar in height. The foundation walls are built of
nibble masonry. -K\" thick on the sides and an average of 3' 0"
thick on ('niter -freer : pier- being n-ed TO support the front
on Wall street of irregular dimension-, as shown on the accom-
[661]
662 APPENDIX VII - - BINGHAM TOIST FACTORY FIRE.
panying plans. The foundation walls and piers are all left stand-
ing, and, with the exception of two piers, were not seriously
affected by the fire.
Upper Walls.
The upper walls were built of brick, 1 6" thick in the first story,
and probably 12" or 16" thick in the upper stories, with parapet
walls extending above the roof on all sides.
The main entrance was in the center of the building on Wall
street. The walls above the entrance were supported on cast-iron
columns and brick piers. There were also two window openings,
in addition to the entrance, in the first story on Wall street. There
was another entrance to the building on Center street, and also
an entrance to the cellar on Center street In addition there were
two windows and a loading platform in the first story on Center
street. The north side wall had fifteen window openings in the
cellar, and sixteen window openings in each story above the cellar;
the front wall on Wall street had five large window openings in
each story above the first. The front wall on Center street had
six window openings in each story above the first. The south side
wall had no openings in it in any story.
Interior Floor Construction.
The interior of the building consisted of wooden floor beams and
girders supported by wooden columns above the cellar floor, the
columns being supported on bonded brick piers in the cellar. The
floor beams throughout were 3 x 12" hemlock, 12" on centers. The
girders in the first floor were composed of lO 1 /^" iron I-beams with
wooden plates on each side. The girders on the upper floors were
two 5 l /2 x 12" hemlock timbers, side by side, with 1" air space be-
tween them. The brick piers in the cellar were 2' 0" by 2' 9" in
size, with cap and bond stones. The posts above the cellar were
8" x 8" beech, and were about 12' 0" on centers. The floor beams
were covered by %" flooring.
Stairways.
There was one stairway, about 3' 0" wide, which led from the
entrance door on Wall street to the second floor. There was an-
APPENDIX \ 7 TT -- BTNGHAMTON FACTORY FIRE. 663
other stairway, about 3' 0" wide, located a little east of the center
of the building, along the south wall, which led continuously from
the first floor to the fourth floor. There was formerly another
stairway, about 3' 0" wide, adjacent to this one, which led from
the second floor to the third floor, but which had been closed up.
The entrance to the cellar was by a stairway, which led from Cen-
ter street. There was formerly another stairway to the cellar un-
derneath the front stairway, but which had been closed up. The
stairways were all built of wood, and the stairway from the en-
trance on Wall street to the second floor was provided with wood
doors at the top and bottom, and was enclosed on the sides by wood
partitions, which served the purpose of dividing partitions. The
main stairway along the south wall was unenclosed, excepting
where a partition was placed alongside of it to enclose a room.
There were no doors to this stairway. The stairways from Center
street to the first floor and to the cellar were unenclosed. Exit to
the roof was by means of a scuttle and ladder.
Elevator.
A freight elevator was provided, to the east of the main stair-
way, along the south wall, as shown on the plans, which ran from
the cellar to the top floor. There was no elevator shaft, trap doors
being provided in the various floors through which the elevator
passed, and which were opened and closed automatically by the
elevator in passing through the floors.
Chutes.
Two chutes were provided, one of which was located near Center
street along the north wall, and which extended from the cellar
to the second floor, and was used to lower waste materials, cuttings,
clippings, and other material to the cellar, where it was received
by the engineer. The other chute was located alongside of the
main stairway, and extended from the cellar to the fourth floor.
This chute was used to hoist material from floor to floor, and to
lower the waste materials, clippings, cuttings and rubbish from
the various floors to the cellar, where it was received by the en-
gineer. The chutes were enclosed by board partitions with unpro-
tected openings at each floor.
664 APPENDIX VII - - BTNGHAMTON FACTORY FIRE.
Openings Unprotected.
The window and door openings throughout the building were
not protected by fire-resisting material in the shape of metal frames
and wired glass or fireproof shutters and doors.
Fire-escape.
A double-rung inclined ladder fire-escape was located at the
southeast corner of the building on Center street and took in the
two southerly window openings. The platform of this fire-escape
was 3' 0" wide and was provided with a railing 3' 0" high. The
ladder was 19" wide in the clear, and was placed at an angle of
more than 60 degrees. The treads were composed of two %"
round bars, 2 1 /" apart. The rise was 12", the width of each
string was 4" and the thickness of the string was %". There was
a hand-rail provided. The brackets to support the balconies ex-
tended through the wall, and were bolted on the inside, and were
made of V square rods. A goose-neck ladder was provided from
the fouth story balcony to the roof, and a drop ladder was pro-
vided from the second story balcony to the ground, which was
kept hung on the third floor balcony, and which had to be lowered
by hand and hooked over the second floor balcony when in use.
The drop ladder was 12" in width, with strings %" x 1%", and
rungs Vi" in diameter placed 12" on centers. The fire-escape
passed windows which were unprotected, by shutters or metal
frames or wired glass.
Access fo Fire-escape.
Access to the fire-escape was had through the two window open-
ings in the Center street front nearest the southerly end of the
building. The balcony for the fire-escape was placed directly
below the window sill, which was some distance above the floor.
Wooden steps were provided in the interior leading to the win-
dow sill.
Effect of the Fire on Fire-escape.
The fire-escape was completely destroyed when the wall fell on
which it was placed. An examination of the material showed that
APPKMHX V I I BINGHAMTON FACTORY FIRE. 665
it suffered peril sips more from the fall than it did from the fire,
although it was warped and out of shape.
Nature of Business.
The building throughout was occupied by the Binghamton Cloth-
ing Company in the manufacture of workingmen's clothing, such
as overalls, rain coats, heavy wool-lined coats, etc. The materials
used were largely of a cotton texture and were inflammable.
Occupancy of Cellar.
In the cellar was placed the boiler, engine and some electric
machinery. The cellar was used for the storage of raw materials,
packing cases and for the storage of the waste materials, clippings
and cuttings, where it was bundled in bags for a ragman who came
once a week.
( )c<'n}>