fundamen of tlit itian 'is the conservation the nation AMERICAN LABOR LEGISLATION VOL. V, No. 2 PUBLICATION 29 REVIEW ISSUED QUARTERLY PRICE $3.00 PER YEAR UNEMPLOYMENT Second National Conference and Reports of INVESTIGATIONS Supplemental Bibliography JUNE, 1915 PROCEEDINGS SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON UNEMPLOYMENT, PHILADELPHIA, PA., DECEMBER 28-29, 1914 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR LABOR LEGISLATION 131 EAST 23d ST., NEW YORK CITY Entered as second-class matter February 30, 1911, at the post office at New York, N. Y., under tke Act of July 16, 1894 PRICE ONE DOLLAR ' AMERICAN LABOR LEGISLATION REVIEW Vol. V, No. 2 Princeton University Press Princeton, N. J. AMERICAN LABOR LEGISLATION REVIEW Vol. V JUNE, 1915 No. 2 CONTENTS I. A PRACTICAL PROGRAM FOR THE PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN AMERICA JOHN B. ANDREWS 171 Foreword 173 Establishment of Public Employment Exchanges 176 Systematic Distribution of Public Work 182 Regularization of Industry 184 Unemployment Insurance 189 Other Helpful Measures 192 II. UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS Public Employment Bureaus Organiza- tion and Operation CHARLES B. BARNES 195 Juvenile Employment Exchanges ELSA UELAND 203 Redistribution of Public Work in Oregon . FRANK O'HARA 238 Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works F. ERNEST RICHTER 245 Compulsory Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain OLGA S. HALSEY 265 GENERAL DISCUSSION 279 III. THE RELATION OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT TO THE LIVING WAGE FOR WOMEN IRENE OSGOOD ANDREWS 287 Introductory Summary 291 Statistical Analysis of Industries 313 Paper Boxes 313 Confectionery 332 Clothing 356 Shirtmaking 371 Miscellaneous Needle Trades 376 Bookbinding 385 Salesgirls 391 Laundries 400 Canning and Preserving 408 Miscellaneous Industries 410 Analysis of Minimum Wage Awards to January 1, 1915 416 IV. PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT Opening Address GEORGE W. NORRIS 421 What the Enlightened Employer is Think- ing about Unemployment ROBERT G. VALENTINE 423 The Workers and Unemployment JOHN F. TOBIN 429 Responsibility and Opportunity of the City in the Prevention of Unemploy- ment MORRIS L. COOKE 433 Relation of the State to Unemployment. .JOHN P. JACKSON 437 The Nation and the Problem of Unemploy- ment METER LONDON 446 GENERAL DISCUSSION 450 V. SUPPLEMENTAL SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ON UNEMPLOYMENT 457 The American Labor Legislation REVIEW is published quarterly by the American Association for Labor Legislation, 131 East 23d St., New York, N. Y. The price is one dollar per single copy, or three dollars per year in advance. An annual subscription includes individual membership in the Association. INTRODUCTORY NOTE Following the First National Conference on Unem- ployment, which was called under the joint auspices of the American Associations on Unemployment and on Labor Legislation, efforts were made to carry out the duties placed upon the two organizations by resolutions adopted by that conference. The resolutions outlined the field for study and urged especial attention to organization of the labor market, regularization of industry, vocational guidance, systematic distribution of public works, and unemployment insurance. Fortunately, preparations for three steps in this direc- tion were already under way, and with the proceedings of that conference it was possible to publish in May, 1914, reports upon the operation of public employment bureaus, the status of unemployment insurance legislation, and a classified critical bibliography. Immediate efforts were made by the secretary to raise the necessary funds for further study, with sufficient suc- cess to warrant the employment of several assistants who have devoted themselves to this work. Juliet Stuart Poyntz began work on June 1, 1914, and has concentrated on the investigation of seasonally in industry, particularly in the district in and around Boston. In the prosecution of this work the cooperation of several local and state organiza- tions was secured, including particularly the Boston Cham- ber of Commerce and the Minimum Wage Commission, the Public Employment Bureau, and the Bureau of Statis- tics of Massachusetts. Elsa Ueland, who had recently finished her work with the Public Education Association of New York, was engaged to prepare the report on possibilities of coopera- tion between boards of education, departments of health and juvenile departments of public employment bureaus. F. Ernest Richter and Frank O'Hara studied the existing practices regarding employment on public works in Boston and in the state of Oregon. Olga S. Halsey, also from the results of actual field investigation, prepared a report upon the operation of the British compulsory unemployment insurance system. Another study, arranged through cooperation with the New York State Factory Investi- gating Commission, resulted in the report by Irene Osgood Andrews upon the relation of irregularity of employment to the living wage for women. All of these reports of investigations, except the one on seasonally in industry, are here published. The effort throughout has been to make first hand studies of conditions and to assemble in convenient form the basis of American fact so much needed for a definite program of reform. Growing out of these studies it was possible in December, 1914, to distribute a twenty-page pamphlet under the title A Practical Program for the Prevention of Unemployment in America. Although this was issued as a "first tentative draft," the demand for it from all parts of the country required four separate editions totaling 22,000 copies within a few months. Upon the basis of further consideration and numerous sugges- tions received, the revised edition of this practical program is here published. Additional copies, in separate form, will be sent upon request to individuals or organizations who may wish to make use of them in the struggle against unemployment. The Second National Conference on Unemployment was held in Philadelphia, on December 28-29, 1914, and addresses there delivered are also included in this issue. Throughout 1914 and the early part of 1915 interest in the problem of unemployment steadily increased. Six state legislatures beginning with New York made provision for public employment exchanges, and a number of cities, New York again leading, set up municipal bureaus. No fewer than six bills to establish a national system of exchanges were introduced in Congress. Several well attended hearings were held, but action was deferred in response to an announcement by the federal Industrial Relations Commission that it was preparing a measure; and when one of the six bills was finally reported by the House Labor Committee on February 20 last it was too late in the session to lead to any result. An article on A National System of Labor Exchanges, first published as a special supplement to the New Republic for December 26, 1914, and reprinted as a senate document, was used in the campaign for national action. A bill establishing public unemployment insurance, another point in the prac- tical program, is being drafted by our Social Insurance Committee for early introduction in state legislatures. The rising interest in the whole question is furthermore evidenced by the continual flood of correspondence and personal inquiries at our offices and the continued demand for the REVIEW for May, 1914, containing the proceedings of the First National Conference on Unemployment. Numerous addresses have also been made by officers of the Associations and by members of the staff. Special committees to study various phases of the problem have already been formed under the Association's auspices in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The eager spirit of inquiry finally led to a number of organiza- tions' requesting this Association to conduct one single cooperative survey which will include efforts put forth in the chief American cities to meet the unemployment situa- tion of 1914-1915. Investigators are already at work on this survey. The select bibliography published a year ago has been supplemented in this issue by over seventy new titles, mainly reports and magazine articles, with a few books, which have appeared in the intervening period. For edi- torial assistance and reading of proofs credit is due Solon De Leon of the office staff. JOHN B. ANDREWS, Secretary. American Association for Labor Legislation, American Association on Unemployment. A PRACTICAL PROGRAM FOR THE PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN AMERICA By JOHN B. ANDREWS FOURTH EDITION: REVISED (First tentative draft issued December, 1914) FOREWORD The time is past when the problem of unemployment could be disposed of either by ignoring it, as was the practice until recent years in America, or by attributing it to mere laziness and inefficiency. We are beginning to recognize that unemployment is not so much due to individual causes and to the shiftlessness of "won't-works," as social and inherent in our present method of industrial organization. During the winter of 1914-1915 the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, at the request of the committee on unem- ployment appointed by the mayor of New York, estimated after a careful canvass of its industrial policy-holders that 442,000 persons were unemployed in New York City. In the first two weeks of February a careful canvass was made by agents of the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, on the basis of which it was estimated that 398,000 were still unemployed at that time. The dis- puted estimate of 325,000 unemployed in that city alone, made during the previous winter by the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, seems, therefore, not to have been exaggerated. At the same time relief agencies in many other cities were swamped. Municipal lodging houses were turning away many genuine seekers after work to sleep on bare boards at the docks, in warehouses, even in morgues. The United States Census for 1900 showed that 6,468,964 working people, or nearly 25 per cent of all engaged in gainful occupations, had been unemployed some time during the year. Of these 3,177,753 lost from one to three months' work each; 2,554,925 lost from four to six months each; 736,286 lost from seven to twelve months each. Similar data were collected by the government in 1910, but they are still unpublished. In 1901 the federal Bureau of Labor investigated 24,402 working class families in thirty-three states, and found that 12,154 heads of families had been unemployed for an average period of 9.43 weeks during the year. The New York State Department of Labor collected reports each month during the 174 American Labor Legislation Review ten years 1901-1911 from organized workmen averaging in number 99,069 each month, and found that the average number unemployed each month was 14,146, or 18.1 per cent. The federal Census of Manufactures for 1905 shows that in one month 7,017,138 wage-earners were employed, while in another month there were only 4,599,091, leaving a difference of 2,418,047. That is to say, nearly two and a half million workers were either unemployed or compelled to seek a new employer during the year. These figures were drawn from the manufacturers 7 own records. It is important, therefore, that those who are aiming at the prevention of unemployment in America should never for- get that it is a problem continually with us, in good seasons as well as in bad seasons. Occasional crises, with their sym- pathetic demands for temporary relief, should not blind us to the need for a constructive program. In the meantime the community, as a result of its past neglect to adopt some energetic constructive policy on unemployment, is being con- stantly confronted with an army of idle workers whose distress, which becomes conspicuous with the approach of bitter weather, demands and, according to the analysis here presented, deserves adequate relief. Much unemployment is clearly caused by lack of efficient means for supplying information of opportunities and for enabling workers to move smoothly and rapidly from job to job. Public employment exchanges must be established. A careful arrangement of public works to be increased in the slack seasons and lean years of private industry would help equalize the varying demand for labor. Public work must be systematically distributed. Much unemployment is due to irregularity of industrial operations over which the workers have no control. Periodic abnormal excess of labor supply over labor demand is caused by the fluctuations of industry, which in its present disorganized form makes necessary constant reserves waiting to answer calls when they come. Hundreds of thousands more of workers are needed in good years than in bad years, and in each industry many more are needed in the busy season than in the slack season. Furthermore, in almost every business, special calls arise for more workers to be taken on for a few weeks, a few days, or even a few hours. The reserves necessary to meet Practical Pro grant 175 these cyclical, seasonal or casual demands should be reduced to a minimum. Industry must be regularized. While reserves of labor are essential to the operation of fluctuating industries, the industry and the public should recog- nize their responsibility to return these workers to industry with efficiency unimpaired and in good health and spirits, and to pre- serve them from degenerating through privation into the class of unemployables. Adequate unemployment insurance must be established. In addition to these measures for directly attacking unem- ployment, a variety of other policies which are indirectly help- ful should also be encouraged. Among the most important of these are better industrial training, a revival of agriculture, a proper distribution of immigrants, and adequate care for the unemployable. The general scheme of economic reconstruction and organi- zation here outlined is based upon a number of intensive studies carried on during 1914 by special investigators for the American Association on Unemployment, in affiliation with the American Association for Labor Legislation, and will, it is believed, lead to conspicuous and permanent improvement in what has well been called one of the most perplexing and urgent of industrial problems. THE PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT Any comprehensive and workable campaign for the pre- vention of unemployment should emphasize the following lines ef activity: I. Establishment of public employment exchanges; II. Systematic distribution of public work; III. Regularization of industry; and IV. Unemployment insurance. I. ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES. An essential step toward a solution of the problem of unemployment is the organization of the labor market through a connected network of public employment exchanges. This is vitally important as a matter of business organization and not of philanthropy. It is of as much importance for the employer to find help rapidly and efficiently as it is for the worker to find work without delay. The neces- sity of organized markets is recognized in every other field of economic activity, but we have thus far taken only timid and halting steps in the organization of the labor market. The peddling method is still, even in our "efficient" industrial system, the prevalent method of selling labor. Thus a purely business transaction is carried on in a most unbusiness-like, not to say medieval, manner. The system of employment exchanges in order to be thoroughly effective should be organized not only by muni- cipalities and states, but also by the federal government. Local exchanges should be established in every city, either by the municipality, or by the state, or by both in conjunction. These should be brought into a connected system by means of state offices which would act as clearing houses and make possible the movement of workers throughout the state to the localities where they are needed. The work of the state offices should be further co-ordinated by an interstate exchange of information and assisted by a federal employment bureau organized on a national basis. About sixty public employment exchanges have been established by twenty-one American states, in addition to which about twenty have Practical Program 177 been opened by municipalities. In the Congress which adjourned on March 4, 1915, no fewer than six bills were introduced for the establish- ment of a national system of labor exchanges under the federal govern- ment. In Great Britain such a national system, comprising over 400 local exchanges, is maintained by the board of trade, while Germany has 323 offices and France 162, all maintained by local authorities. 1. Local Employment Exchanges. The local bureaus state and municipal should aim at a rapid connection between the "right man for the job and the right job for the man." Their watchword should be efficient service to both employer and worker, and they should aim to extend this service as completely as possible into all industries and all occupations. In establish- ing and operating these exchanges the following points are important : (1) LOCATION AND CHARACTER OF OFFICES. Well arranged, roomy, easily accessible offices should be chosen, in good neighborhoods. (2) DEPARTMENTS. Offices should be divided into separate departments for a. Men, women and children. b. Separate industrial groups, such as skilled and unskilled labor, farm labor, domestic, clerical and factory labor, and the handicapped. In time, as their organization improves, they may need to establish special departments for certain large skilled trades, such as bookbinding, textiles, and boot and shoe making, and for professional groups, such as teachers and skilled technical workers. Practically every public employment exchange in America has separate departments for men and for women. Four have separate juvenile departments. Division into skilled and unskilled is made in two offices, and in the new municipal exchange in New York City there are seven departments: Female: (1) mechanical, industrial and professional; (2) domestic, hotel, restaurant and institutional help. Male: (1) mercantile, professional, technical, and printing trades; (2) juvenile; (3) building, machine shop and foundry, boot and shoe, textile, factory help, engineers and firemen; (4) culinary, including cooks, waiters, countermen, etc.; (5) agricultural and general unskilled labor. In British exchanges the general register (which excludes casuals) is divided into twenty- two separate sections. (3) VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. There should be a special department for vocational guidance, to co-operate with educational 178 American Labor Legislation Review and health officials, with unions and with employers, in endeavor- ing to place young workers where they will have an opportunity for industrial training and for real advancement, instead of leav- ing them to drift into blind-alley occupations. This department should be in charge of a superintendent experienced in vocational work and should be supervised by a special sub-committee on juvenile employment. Vocational guidance is systematically carried on by the public employment exchanges in Massachusetts, and in three other states the beginnings have been made by interested superintendents. In Great Britain vocational guidance is a recognized and important function of the government system of labor exchanges. In London a local com- mittee for each exchange, including representatives of the county council, the head teachers' association, employers and workers, co-operates with the health authorities and advises children and their parents. (4) SELECTION OF APPLICANTS. Applicants should be placed on the basis of fitness alone. The offices should not be allowed to become resorts for sub-standard labor, but should strive to build up their business by attracting and serving the better grades of workmen. Fitness is reported as a basis of placement in twenty American public exchanges. (5) DECASUALIZATION OF CASUAL LABOR. One of the most important functions of a public labor exchange should be the decasualization of casual labor. The New York Commission on Unemployment reported in 1911 that two out of every five wage-earners are obliged to seek new places one or more times every year. When all casual workers are hired through a common center, employment can be concentrated upon the smallest possible number instead of being spread over a large group of underemployed. Such systems are in successful operation in Great Britain among 31,000 Liverpool dock laborers, the cloth-porters of Manchester, and the skilled ship-repairers at Cardiff and at Swansea. (6) DOVETAILING OF SEASONAL INDUSTRIES. The dovetailing of seasonal trades, so as to provide continued employment for workers during the slack seasons of their ordinary occupation, offers a promising field for public employment exchange activity. Practical Program 179 During the winter building trades workers could take up ice cutting or logging, or do some of the less skilled work in shoe, textile or other factories which are busier at that season. Through the London labor exchanges women's work in ready-made tailoring, which is busiest in the spring and fall, has been dovetailed with hand ironing in laundries, which is heaviest during the summer. (7) NEUTRALITY IN TRADE DISPUTES. These agencies should be held true to their public character and remain neutral in all trade disputes. Applications from plants affected by strikes or by lockouts should be received, but workers applying for posi- tions involved should be explicitly informed of the existence of the dispute. Statements from both sides about the issues involved should also be shown to the applicants when they can be secured. This is the method followed, with complete satisfaction to both sides, in most American public employment exchanges, as well as in England, France, Germany and Switzerland. (8) ADVANCEMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. The officers should be empowered to advance, under careful safeguards, railroad fares to workers when necessary. The Wisconsin exchanges sometimes turn over to applicants the transportation advanced by the prospective employer, checking the man's baggage to the employer as a safeguard. In Great Britain the exchanges advance carfare to workers residing more than five miles from the place of employment. In Germany workmen sent more than about fifteen miles are enabled to ride for half fare. (9) CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES. Offices should co- operate with other employment bureaus, municipal, state and federal, in exchanging applications for help and for work, and in adopting uniform systems of records. (10) CIVIL SERVICE. Only persons qualifying through civil service examinations should be employed in the work of the offices. Civil service qualification is required in the state exchanges of Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York and Wisconsin, and in some municipal exchanges, including that in New York City. In Great Britain the employees of the national system, about 3,500 in number, are under civil service. 180 American Labor Legislation Revieiv (11) REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE. Each office should work under the supervision and advice of a representative committee composed of representatives selected by both employers and workers. Such representative committees have been established in Wisconsin, are required under the New York law, and have long been an important adjunct to the exchanges in Great Britain and in France. 2. State Systems. The most advantageous working of the local exchanges requires that these be united in efficient state systems, among whose duties would be: (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF LOCAL EXCHANGES. The state should open local exchanges at all important industrial or agricultural centers, except where this has already been done by the local authorities. As already shown, twenty-one states have made provision for local exchanges. (2) CO-OPERATION WITH LOCAL AUTHORITIES. Wherever it is possible, the state system should co-operate with the local authorities in establishing and conducting the local exchange. In Wisconsin the cities pay for office space, heat, light, telephone and janitor service; the state pays for supplies, salaries and administra- tive expenses. In Cleveland and in Cincinnati, O., also, the city and state share in the expense. (3) REGULATION OF PRIVATE EXCHANGES. Except, perhaps, in the largest cities, needful supervision and regulation of private exchanges are best carried on by state authorities closely con- nected with the public system. Methods of regulation include: a. Licensing and inspection. b. Use of license fees to enforce regulations. c. Making appropriate administrative rules for private agencies after classifying them according to type. d. Prescribing forms for records, uniform with those used at public offices. e. Publishing information of the work of private offices together with that of the public bureau. Private agencies are supervised by the same administrative body which conducts public labor exchanges in Colorado, Con- necticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Practical Program 181 (4) STATISTICS. As a basis for future preventive action, for vocational guidance, and for other purposes, the exchanges should carefully collect data, comparable from year to year and for the various sections of the state, on the amount and duration of unemployment, the ages and occupations of those affected, the causes, and on other points which will suggest themselves. Detailed statistics of this nature are available through the British labor exchange system, through which the national unemployment insurance benefits are also paid. (5) BULLETINS. Periodical bulletins should be issued, show- ing the state of the demand for labor and the supply in the various districts and industries within their field. Monthly news letters are issued by the Massachusetts public exchanges, and similar bulletins are provided for in the New York State law. 3. Federal Employment Bureau. The federal employment bureau would have a valuable function in co-ordinating the work of the local bureaus and in organizing the labor market on a national basis. Such a federal system would have the following functions : (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC EXCHANGES. With careful regard to existing state and municipal exchanges, the federal bureau might find it advantageous to open offices of its own where needed. (2) ASSISTANCE TO LOCAL BUREAUS. Among the means by which the federal bureau could assist the work of the local exchanges are : a. Interchange of Information. A systematic interchange of information on the state of the labor market should be developed through close correspondence, the issuance of periodical reports and, where advisable, the use of telegraph and telephone. b. Standard Record System. A standard system of records should be devised and adopted for the whole country which would make possible comparison of results and compilation of statistics on a national basis. c. District Clearing Houses. The country should be divided into districts, with a clearing house in each. The district clearing houses would : 182 American Labor Legislation Review (a) Exchange information between local bureaus and district branches of the federal bureau. (fc) Receive reports of local public and private agencies, and advise and supervise these agencies. Great Britain, with an area only one twenty-fifth as vast as ours, has been divided for the purpose of administering its employ- ment bureau system into eight divisions, each with its divisional office as a clearing house and channel of communication with the central office in London, (3) REGULATION OF PRIVATE AGENCIES. In so far as private employment agencies do an interstate business they are properly subject to federal supervision and regulation under the inter- state commerce clause of the federal constitution. Complete regulation might be secured through the use of the federal tax- ing power. II. SYSTEMATIC DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC WORK. A well developed system of labor exchanges will not, of course, create jobs, but in addition to bringing the jobless workers quickly and smoothly in contact with such opportunities as exist, it will register the rise and fall in the demand for labor. This knowledge will make possible intelligent action for the prevention and relief of unemployment through the systematic distribution of public work and the pushing of necessary pro- jects when private industry's demand for labor is at a low level. Public work will then act as a sponge, absorbing the reserves of labor in bad years and slack seasons, and setting them free again when the demand for them increases in private business. 1. Adjustment of Regular Work. Even at slightly addi- tional cost regular public work should be conducted in years of depression and seasons of depression. A program of the amount of public work contemplated for several years in advance should be laid out and then carefully planned to be pushed ahead in the lean years which experience has shown to recur periodically, and in the months when private employment is at a low ebb. European experience shows that it is essential to the success of such a program that the work be done in the ordinary way, the workers being employed at the standard wage and under the usual working conditions and hired on the basis of efficiency, Practical Program 183 not merely because they happen to be unemployed. This method of equalizing the demand for labor is the easiest and cheapest way of maintaining the reserves which private in- dustry demands. The independence and self-respect of the workers are preserved, while necessary and productive work is accomplished for the community. The English statistician Bowley estimates that if in the United Kingdom a fund were set aside for public work to be pushed in times of depression, an average of $20,000,000 yearly, or only 3 per cent of the annual appropriation for public works and services, would be sufficient to balance the wage loss from commercial depression. Duluth, Minn., has adopted the policy of building sewers through- out the winter in order to equalize the amount of employment. Detroit has found the diggmg of sewers in frozen ground no more expensive than under the blazing summer sun. 2. Emergency Work. In communities which have not yet developed such a program, or in times of special emergency, it is a much wiser policy to start large projects for public works than to support the unemployed through private charity or public relief. This should not be "relief work" or "made work" simply to keep idle hands busy, but should be necessary public work which would have been undertaken normally in the course of time, but which can be concentrated in the time of emergency. Over fifty American cities successfully carried on such work during the winter of 1914-1915. The work done included digging sewers, lay- ing water mains, improving roads and parks, erecting school houses, and repairing other public buildings. The Idaho legislature of 1915 passed an act establishing the right of every person who has resided in the state for six months to ninety days' public work a year, at 90 per cent of the usual wage if married or having dependents, otherwise at 75 per cent of the usual wage. For women and girls, and for men unsuited by training or by physique for the rougher kinds of public work, the Brooklyn Committee on Unemployment recommended the establishment in vacant loft build- ings of municipal workshops where the unemployed of these classes could manufacture for themselves simple clothing and household utensils. In England, to prevent unemployment during the war, the govern- ment appropriated large sums to help the local authorities in building schools, hospitals, sanatoria, workingmen's houses, street railroads, improving roads, bridges and parks, afforestation, reclamation of waste lands and in other needed public improvements. Workers were hired through the labor exchanges without special reference to their non- employment and were paid standard rates. 184 American Labor Legislation Review III. REGULARIZATION OF INDUSTRY. Side by side with the movements for public labor exchanges and for system- atic distribution of public work should go the movement for the regularization of industry itself, through the combined efforts of employers, employees and the consuming public. Regularization is demanded by the interests of employer and employee alike. The employer, with an expensive plant, requires steady production to keep down overhead expenses and to gain his greatest profit; the employee needs steady work to prevent destitution and demoralization. 1. Regularization by Employers. In the regularization of industry a large responsibility lies directly upon employers to regularize their own businesses. Every attempt should be made within the limits of each business to make every job a steady job. Sincere efforts in this direction on the part of the employer can accomplish much. Among the things which he can do are: (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF AN EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT. The employer should establish, as part of his organization, an em- ployment department, having at its head an employment man- ager whose special duty it is to study the problems of unemploy- ment in the individual shop and to devise ways of meeting them. Such a department would aim at : o. Reduction of the "Turnover" of Labor. By a study of its causes through records of "hiring and firing," reduction could be made in the "turnover" of labor which is at present so excessive that factories frequently hire and discharge 1,000 men in a year to keep up a force of 300. b. Reduction of Fluctuations of Employment Inside the Shop. Among the methods that might be used for this purpose are: (o) Systematic transfer of workers between departments. A Massachusetts candy factory has succeeded, through trans- ferring workers between departments, in overcoming the usual irregularity of the industry and in keeping its force at the same level throughout the year. (fe) Employing all on part time rather than laying off part of the force. This policy was widely recommended in the winter of 1914-1915, notably by the unemployment commissions of New York and Practical Program 185 Chicago, and by the chamber of commerce of Detroit. A large New Hampshire shoe factory employed half of its regular force each alternate week with complete success. (r) Arranging working force in groups and keeping higher groups employed continuously. Those in lower groups will then be encouraged to keep out of the industry altogether, or to combine it with some other occupations to which they can regularly turn in the dull season. (rf) Keeping before the attention of the rest of the organization the importance of regularizing employment. Many progressive firms are now engaging the services of employ- ment managers, and in Boston and New York employment managers' associations have been formed for the co-operative study of their problems. (2) REGULATION OF OUTPUT. The employer should regu- late his output and distribute it as evenly as possible through- out the year. Methods to this end are: a. Record Keeping and Forward Planning. Yearly curves should be kept, showing production, sales and deliveries day by day, week by week, and month by month; and an effort should be made each year to level the curve and to smooth out the "peak load." Production should, wken possible, be planned at least six months ahead. A manufacturer of Christmas novelties keeps production regular throughout the year by sending out samples and booking orders one year in advance. b. Building Up Slack Season Trade. Special instructions should be given to sales departments and to traveling salesmen to urge customers to place orders for delivery during the slack season. Special advertising also stimulates trade in dull periods. Some firms threaten delayed delivery on goods at the height of the season. Many firms offer especially low prices in the dtdl season, grant special discounts, make special cheap lines, or even do business without a profit simply to keep their organization together and to supply work for their forces. The mine owners by selling anthracite coal 50 cents a ton cheaper hi April than in November have adjusted its sale and production so that work at the mines is more evenly distributed throughout the year. c. Keeping a Stock Department and Making to Stock as Liberally as Possible in the Slack Season. The making of goods to stock requires the tying-up of a certain amount of capital, but many employers feel this to be balanced by the gain in contentment among the workers and 1 86 American Labor Legislation Review the increase of efficiency and txam spirit in the organization. They have the further advantage of bemg able to supply goods immediately on order. This method keeps many firms busy. It is more difficult in industries where goods are perishable or where style is an important factor, as in garment making and shoe making, but even here there are conspicuous examples of its success. Other manufacturers deliberately follow a conservative style policy, or concentrate the making of staple styles in the slack season. d. "Going After" Steady Rather Than Speculative Business. Well organized business with a steady demand and a regular and sure profit can afford to dispense with the irregular and unreliable gains of a speculative business which often involve disorganization and irregularity of production. e. Careful Study of Market Conditions and Adjustment of the Business to Take Advantage of Them. A broad market provides more regular business than a narrow one. Foreign trade supplements domestic trade, and orders often arrive from southern and far western markets when the eastern market is slack. A diversity of customers will usually provide a more regular demand than concentration on one or two large buyers. The retail trade will often take a manufacturer's goods just when the wholesale season has stopped. In the shoe industry the ownership of chains of retail stores has enabled some manufacturers to regularize their business con- siderably, and a garment manufacturer who owns his own retail store is able to stock that just as soon as his wholesale orders run slack. /. Developing New Lines and Complementary Industries. A diver- sity of products will often help to regularize a business. Many manu- facturers study their plant, the nature of their material and the character of the market to see whether they cannot add new lines to supplement those they have and fill in business in the slack seasons. One rubber shoe manufacturer, for example, adds rubber sheet- ing, rubber heels, tennis shoes, rubber cloth and rubber tires, and achieves a fairly regular business. g. Overcoming Weather Conditions. Special refrigerating, heat- ing, moistening, drying or other apparatus proves effective in many industries in enabling operations to be continued even in unfavorable weather. Even in the building trade the amount of winter work can be increased by provision for covering or enclosing and heating work under construction. Brick making has been made a regular twelve months' industry instead of a seasonal six months' industry by the introduction of artificial drying. Practical Program 187 (3) CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER EMPLOYERS. Employers could by collective action do much to diminish the extent of unemploy- ment and to abolish trade abuses which lead to it. For instance, they could co-operate to: a. Arrange for Interchange of Workers. A number of employers in the same or in related industries could arrange to take their labor from a central source and to transfer workers between establishments according to the respective fluctuations in business. This would prevent the wasteful system of maintaining a separate reserve of labor for each plant. The best agency .for effecting this transfer is, of course, the public labor exchange. The building trades employers of Boston have agreed to hire all their labor from one central source. The result is that the workmen are directed without delay from one employer to another and secure much more regular work. b. Provide Diversity of Industries. Through chambers of com- merce or similar organizations an effort should be made to provide communities with diversified industries whose slack seasons come at different times, so as to facilitate dovetailing of employments. C. Prevent Development of Plant and Machinery Far Beyond Normal Demand. An installation of equipment, the capacity of which is far in excess of orders normally to be expected, is not only a financial burden, but it is a continual inducement toward rush orders and irregular operation. In some industries this unhealthy tendency is counteracted by the distribution of excessive orders among other firms whose busi- ness is slack. d. Prevent Disorganisation of Production Due to Cut-Throat Competition. Agreements can in some cases be made to restrict extreme styles and other excessively competitive factors which serve to dis- organize production. A shoe manufacturers' association has successfully carried out agreements fixing the styles they will manufacture during the season. (4) CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER EFFORTS TO REGULARIZE EM- PLOYMENT. Employers should co-operate with all other efforts put forth in the community to regularize employment, especially with the public employment exchanges. Employers should make a special point of securing as much of their help as pos- sible from these exchanges. i88 American Labor Legislation Review 2. Regularization by the Workers. The workers them- selves have a special opportunity and responsibility in the cam- paign against unemployment. There is a growing realization among them that regularity of employment is as important to the worker as a fair wage, and that poor employment lowers the standard of life as much as if not more than poor wages. There are evidences that they no longer feel resigned to un- employment as a necessary and inevitable consequence of the industrial organization, that they are expressing their indigna- tion at the distress so caused, and are seeking means of relief. As measures against unemployment individually and through their organizations they should : (1) SUPPORT THE GENERAL PROGRAM HERE OUTLINED. Parts especially recommending themselves for support by the workers are: a. Establishment of the principle of elasticity of working time rather than elasticity of working force. Double pay should be enforced for overtime, however, thus compelling the employer to spread out production more evenly through the year. When part of the mines in a community shut down the organ- ized workers in the other mines frequently divide their work with the men thrown out. b. Encouragement of public employment exchanges as the recog- nized agency for securing employment and for registering unemploy- ment statistics. c. Systematic distribution of public work and provision of emergency work. d. Public unemployment insurance. e. Foundation of a thorough system of economic education and industrial training. (2) PLACE LESS INSISTENCE ON STRONG DEMARCATIONS BE- TWEEN THE TRADES. This would make possible the keeping of reserves for the industry as a whole rather than as at present for each separate trade, for each shop, and even for each separate operation within the shop. It would also permit a more compre- hensive program of industrial education. 3. Regularization by Consumers. Consumers should ar- range their orders and purchases to assist in the regularization Practical Program 1^9 of production and employment. The principle of "shop early," which has proven useful in diminishing the Christmas rush, should be extended. Employers could do much more toward regularizing their output if consumers were more responsive to solicitations to buy in the slack season. Such requests are often sent out by employers, and too generally ignored by con- sumers. Much irregularity is also caused by sudden, heavy orders and by rush orders. A determination to exercise fore- sight and consideration in these matters on the part not only of the ultimate consumer but of large wholesalers and dealers whose demands on the manufacturer are often capricious and unreasonable, would also assist. The slogan of the consumer should become "Shop regularly!" IV. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. The final link, which unites into a practical program the four main methods for the prevention of unemployment, is insurance. Just as work- men's compensation has already resulted in the nation-wide movement for "safety first," and just as health insurance will furnish the working basis for a similar movement for the con- servation of the national health, so the "co-operative pressure" exerted by unemployment insurance can and should be utilized for the prevention of unemployment. For although much regu- larization of industry can be accomplished through the voluntary efforts lof enlightened employers, there is also needed that powerful element of social compulsion which can be exerted through the constant financial pressure of a carefully adjusted system of insurance. The adjustment of insurance rates to the employment experience of the various industries, and then the further adjustment of costs to fit the practices of individual trades and establishments even within given industries, is well within the range of possibility. To be regarded as secondary to this function of regulari- zation is the important provision of unemployment insurance for the maintenance, through out-of-work benefits, of those re- serves of labor which may still be necessary to meet the unpre- vented fluctuations of industry. The financial burden of this maintenance should properly fall on the industry (employers and workers as a whole) and upon the consuming public, rather than upon the fraction of the workers who are in no way respon- 190 American Labor Legislation Review sible for industrial fluctuations and who are as essential, even in their periods of unemployment, to the well-being of industry as are the reserves of an army. Furthermore, it is as important for industry as for the workers themselves that their character and physique be preserved during periods of unemployment so that they may, when called for, return to industry with unim- paired efficiency, and may be preserved from dropping into the ranks of the unemployable where they will constitute a much more serious problem. Some form of unemployment insurance exists in most of the countries of Europe. Three methods of insurance, which can be either combined or organized independently, have been developed: 1. Organization of Out-of-Work Benefits by Trade Unions. This method has proven successful to some extent in Europe and has been used to a limited degree in the United States. The Cigar Makers' International Union of America has had a successful system of out-of-work benefits since 1890. In 1912 it paid out $42,911.05 in out-of-work benefits, at a cost of $1.06 per member. 2. Public Subsidies to Trade Union Out-of-Work Benefits. As the "Ghent System," invented by Dr. Varlez, the inter- national secretary of the Association on Unemployment, this method of administering unemployment insurance has become well known throughout western Europe. Approximately 600,000 workers in Great Britain, 111,000 in Denmark, 103,000 in Belgium, 29,000 in Holland, and 27,000 in Norway were, on January 1, 1914, insured against unemployment under this system, which was also in operation in Luxemburg, certain cities of France and Italy, and in certain cantons of Switzerland. 3. Public Unemployment Insurance. In this employers, workers and the state should become joint contributors. Such a system should be carried on in close connection with the labor exchanges, for the exchanges furnish, particularly when their knowledge of opportunities for private employment is supple- mented by an intelligent adjustment of public works, the best possible "work test" for the unemployed applicant for insurance benefits. Possible abuses of the insurance system may thus be thwarted. During the process both employers and workers learn to make use of the exchanges as centers of information and thereby help to organize the labor market. And of crown- Practical Program 191 ing importance in the movement toward regularization of indus- try is the careful development of this form of insurance with its continuous pressure toward the prevention of unemploy- ment. Compulsory nation-wide insurance against unemployment is found in Great Britain, where a law providing insurance for 2,500,000 wage- earners in six selected industries went into effect on July 15, 1912. The successful working of the system points toward its early extension. Employer and employee each pay 5 cents weekly, payments being made, as with health insurance, through fixing stamps in a book, and a state subsidy is added amounting to one-third of the annual receipts from dues. The annual income has been approximately $11,500,000, and $2,488,625 were paid out to about 1,000,000 cases during the year ending January 16, 1914. The large reserve fund which is accumulating is expected to meet the drain of future hard times. The workman may receive a cash benefit from the second to the sixteenth week of unem- ployment in each year, under the following conditions: (1) He must have worked in one of the selected occupations at least twenty-six! weeks in each of the preceding three years; (2) his unemployment must not be caused by a strike or by his own fault; (3) he must accept work of equal value if found for him by the labor exchange. Less than 2. per cent of all the cases have been found to be still out of work at the end of the sixteenth week. In advance of the careful grading of industries according to the degree of irregularity of employment, this British system offers financial inducements to employers to keep their working force regularly employed. An annual refund of 75 cents is made for each of their workers who has been employed forty-five weeks during the year. Moreover, an ingenious provision of the law entitles any work- man over sixty years of age who has been insured more than ten years and who has paid more than 500 weekly contributions to a refund of his total payments minus his total benefits, with compound interest at 2*4 per cent. This provision is intended to commend the system to the especially skilled and trusty workmen who runs little risk of losing his job. OTHER HELPFUL MEASURES In addition to the foregoing measures, which are directly aimed at the prevention of unemployment, the following policies, initiated primarily for a variety of other social purposes, would also prove helpful: 1. Industrial training, both of young people and of adults, should be encouraged. Every advance in his skill strengthens the hold of the worker upon his job, and a wider industrial ig2 American Labor Legislation Review training makes possible for him adaptation to various kinds of work. Children, especially, should not be permitted to go to work without sufficient industrial training to prevent their being used as casual labor, and should be discouraged from entering "blind-alley" employments which destroy rather than develop industrial ability. For those who go to work early, the system of continuation schools, now found in many states, should be still further developed. The idea, also, that industrial training and education are not feasible for the adult worker should be abandoned, 2. An agricultural revival should be promoted to make rural life more attractive and to keep people on the land. 3. A constructive immigration policy, concerned with both industrial and agricultural aspects of the problem, should be developed for the proper distribution of America's enormous immigration. 4. Reducing the number of young workers by excluding child labor up to 16 years of age and restricting the hours of young people under 18 would lessen the number of the unskilled. 5. Reduction of excessive working hours, especially in occupations where the time of attendance and not the speed of the worker is the essential factor (such as ticket chopping and 'bus driving) would increase to a certain extent the demand for labor. 6. Constructive care of the unemployable, who are them- selves largely the product of unemployment, must be devised, with the aim of restoring them, whenever possible, to normal working life. The problem of these persons is distinct from that of the capable unemployed, and should not be confused with it. For the different groups appropriate treatment is required, including (1) adequate health insurance for the sick, (2) old age pensions for the aged, (3) industrial or agricultural training for the inefficient, (4) segregation for the feebleminded,- and (5) penal farm colonies for the "won't works" and semi- criminal. II UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS Presiding Officer: JOHN B. ANDREWS Secretary, American Association for Labor Legislation NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION CHARLES B. BARNES Director, Nezv York State Bureau of Employment There is just -now a great deal of discussion concerning unemploy- ment in this country. Mayors' committees and church committees have been appointed in different cities to take up the question. These committees will discuss the industrial outlook, they will collect money which will be disbursed for the relief of an acute situation. Then, as warm weather approaches, or if business activity returns to a nor- mal state, these committees will dissolve and the matter will be left to take care of itself until there is another financial depression or a very cold winter. Such temporary committees may help to mitigate some of the dis- tress resulting from unemployment, but they neither relieve unem- ployment itself nor do their investigations bring us any nearer to an understanding of its causes. Unemployment is no longer intermittent in this country; it has come to be a chronic condition which needs to be dealt with in a regular and systematic manner. The first step in properly dealing with this situation is the establishing of a series of cooperating pub- lice employment bureaus. These bureaus, through their body of trained workers, can accomplish two things : First, they can bring together quickly and efficiently the unemployed workers and such jobs as are to be filled. Secondly, in doing this they will gather a great deal of information about industries and workers which will show the real causes of unemployment and point the way to some of its remedies. There are many indications of a growing interest in the subject of public employment offices. Already two bills on this subject are before Congress. In addition, the United States Commission on Industrial Relations issued, about a year ago, a tentative plan for federal employment bureaus, and made a study of the different state 196 American Labor Legislation Review employment offices at present existing. This study led them in their first report, given out early this month, to emphasize the need for a national bureau of employment in connection with the Department of Labor, which would cooperate with state and municipal employ- ment offices, which would regulate private employment agencies, and which would establish clearing houses for industrial information, thus uniting all labor exchanges into one national system. This re- port refers to the imperative necessity of organizing a market for labor on a modern business basis "so that there will be no vacant jobs and idle workers in the same community at the same time." The growing demand for governmental action on this question has led state after state to pass public employment office laws, until there are now twenty-one states having such laws. In addition, cities in seven states have established municipal bureaus. These last bureaus are supported by the cities themselves. The superintendents and others connected with all these offices have formed themselves into an organization entitled the American Association of Public Em- ployment Offices, which has already held its second annual meeting. This association is making a real effort to find ways for improve- ment in the methods of conducting public employment offices. The writer personally made a large part of the investigation for the United States Industrial Relations Commission. In doing this he visited the public employment offices in nearly all the important states. It was found that with a few exceptions these offices were doing poor work. This was not because of any weakness inherent in the system itself. It had resulted largely from poor management and insufficient appropriations. On account of the many sins of the private agencies the public generally has come to have rather a low regard for all employment offices. This has led to the belief that anybody can run an employment office ; that it requires neither character nor any special ability. Only three of the ten states visited had civil service. In all the others the superintendents and other employees were selected on account of their politics. Political ap- pointments are not necessarily bad, but in this case, on account of the poor opinion held of the work, and the misconception of its im- portance, the appointments were made with little or no regard for the fitness of the appointees for the place. The same misconception of the real function of the offices caused insufficient appropriations. Generally a fairly decent salary was allowed the superintendent, but Public Employment Bureaus Organisation and Operation 197 very little was appropriated for clerical help or for the general ex- penses of the office. In the endeavor to make such a showing as would lead to larger appropriations, inaccurate and often misleading statistics were given out. That there is an increase of knowledge, however, concerning this work, is shown by the fact that in a few places the offices are being placed under civil service, and in several instances this has led to very rapid improvement. The office in Boston has for many years been under civil service, and is considered the best in the country. The offices in Wisconsin are also under the merit system, and since Ohio has had an industrial commission, which was appointed a little over a year ago, the offices in that state have been placed under civil service. New York has passed a public employment office law. The offices established under this act are conducted by civil service appointees. There is a general misunderstanding on the part of the public regarding the real work of public employment offices and what can be accomplished by them. Many people conceive vaguely that the establishment of these offices means in some way an increase in employment. Others, and especially social workers, regard public employment offices as a convenient dumping ground for all the unemployable and near-unemployable people with whom they are compelled to deal. This has often given these bureaus the taint of charity, particularly since many charitable organizations maintain their own "free employment offices." This odium has lost public employment offices the patronage of efficient workers and well-pay- ing employers. There is a real need and an important field for these offices, and their best work can only be accomplished after the public is educated to understand this need and this importance. A man seeking work to-day finds many avenues through which to go. The most common way is to apply at the actual place of work. This means tramping the streets of the city, or riding to many parts of the community where work is going on. Or the man may answer an ad. in the newspapers and find himself in the com- pany of hundreds of other applicants. Or he may insert an ad. in some newspaper and go the weary round in answer to the replies. If he is a union man he can apply to the headquarters of his union. .If he is a non-union man, or is not opposed to working in an open 198 American Labor Legislation Review shop, he can apply to the employment department of an employers' association. If he has a family to support and has reached the point of asking charity he may be referred to the employment office of some charitable association. If he has a little money he may go to a private employment agency. Here he may be charged a registration fee, and if, after some delay, he is finally placed in a position, he may be made to pay anywhere from 5 to 20 per cent of his first month's earnings. So many varied ways cause a scattering of energies and a loss of time and money, not only to the employee and employer, but to society as a whole. Some method which will save the time of the employer and the employee must be devised, and this method must be comprehensive enough not only to cover all the field, but to do it with the smallest possible expenditure of time and money. For this purpose a cooperating system of public employment offices must be created. It will have, however, to be clearly recognized that these employ- ment offices in themselves do not and cannot create jobs. They seek only to minimize the number of persons fruitlessly searching for work and to bring employer and employee more quickly together. It is, nevertheless, true that as these public offices grow, and more and more cover the field, they in time will (through the information which they are gathering), be able to devise a method by legislation if necessary whereby the worst effects of seasonal and cyclical variations in the labor market can be avoided, and labor properly shifted from one part of the country to another in compliance with a real demand for such shifting. Thereby the number of casual laborers will be decreased, and year-round employment made less a matter of chance and "luck." Further, we can look forward to the time when these offices will be so firmly established in the confidence of employers as well as of employees, that they can have a special department for the pur- pose of disposing of the large fringe of casual laborers which at the present time they are not fitted to handle, and which must for a while be left to the disposition of organized charity. Too much must not be expected from newly established offices. In the first place it must be understood that there are at present very few trained workers in this field, and one of the benefits of establish- ing offices will be the training of a set of workers who will eventually Public Employment Bureaus Organisation and Operation 199 be capable of dealing adequately with the question of unemployment workers who come in contact with the needs of industry on one hand and with the needs of applicants for positions on the other. Then, too, these offices have quite a task before them in establishing themselves in the confidence of large employers of labor, especially of employers of more or less skilled workers. So general is the belief that public employment offices handle only the poorer grades of labor that most employers refuse to seek their aid. This feeling, of course, brings about a corresponding disinclination on the part of efficient workers to patronize the public employment offices. What suggestions can be made to a state desiring to establish pub- lic employment offices, or to a state desiring to improve offices al- ready in existence? The first thing necessary will be an adequate law which will not enter too much into details, but which will specify only general prin- ciples, leaving details to be worked out by those placed in charge of the bureau. Such a law will call for flexible salaries, so that all employees shall have the incentive of an increase in wages. Civil service for all the office employees from top to bottom should be required. The best offices in the country to-day are those which are working under civil service. Present civil service regulations and methods, however, are in most states too formal and inflexible. An ideal examination for public employment offices should above all things take into consideration the importance of personality in selecting superintendents and their helpers. Dealing with all sorts of people requires a sympathy and understanding and a tact which is not possessed by many otherwise able persons. To insure the selection of properly qualified workers, the director, whether of state or national bureaus, should always be a member of the examin- ing board. Strict impartiality should be maintained as between employers and employees, especially during strikes and labor disturbances. The offices should be so conducted that neither side would have a domin- ating influence. Their success will depend on the friendship of en- ployers and of organized labor, and both should be made to under- stand that the public employment office is a common meeting ground. It would be well for all the offices to have advisory committees. These committees should have equal representation from the ranks of organized labor and from the organizations of employers. It 20O American Labor Legislation Review might also be well to have the general public represented through some of its elected officials. These committees, in addition to their main function of securing impartiality and the proper running of the offices, should also be instrumental in helping to educate the general public into a higher regard for employment offices. The function of these public offices is second only in importance to that of the public school. This is especially true where such offices attempt to give juvenile direction, and this juvenile direction will in time come to be a large part of their work. As the true func- tion of the offices becomes generally known it will be seen that suc- cessfully to conduct them the superintendents and others connected with the work must have required of them the same intelligence and the same training as is now required of those who conduct our public schools and colleges. In this connection it might -be well to call attention to the fact that the word "free" should be eliminated in all references to public employment offices. It is true their services are freehand so also are the services of the public schools. We have, however, long since outgrown the use of the term "free" in con- nection with public schools. Why should we still retain it in refer- ring to public employment offices? While the establishing of public employment offices is a part of the duty of the state (and in time may become the duty of the federal government), yet at the same time, offices can be better conducted if there is cooperation on the part of the city in which such offices are opened. Where the city has a financial interest in the public offices there is more likelihood of a hearty local interest in their success. Where several offices are established in one state they should have a uniform system of records, and a uniform system of reporting to some central bureau. The amount and kind of statistics furnished by each office will have largely to depend upon the number of workers allotted to it, and this number will, of course, depend upon the amount appropriated for the entire bureau. At the very least, however, there should be a daily report from each office of the num- ber of applicants for work, the number of offers of positions re- ceived from employers, the number of applicants referred to positions and the number of notifications received that positions were actually filled. Public Employment Bureaus Organisation and Operation 201 All offices should have at least two main divisions, one for men and one for women. Where the number of office employees justifies it, there should be a further division into skilled and unskilled, and as the office grows larger there should be a still further division into mechanical, clerical, and the like. When an office has reached the i point of being able to have its work thus divided up it will be possible to bring into existence the department already mentioned-^the one for that class of men who are only capable of doing odd jobs or who will work only for a few days at a time. All budgets for employment offices should contain an item for advertising. The amount and' kind will have to be decided by each superintendent. The private agencies find it profitable to advertise, and some of the best public offices advertise regularly in the daily newspapers. Then too, nearly every public office has an opportunity to get much free advertising. Live employment offices are always a good source of news from the daily newspaper standpoint, and advantage should be taken of this to keep the office well and favor- ably known. No office should content itself with sending out a few cards or circulars which are too often thrown into the waste basket. In the case of the public employment office, as is also the case in so many other businesses, its success or failure will largely depend on the kind of man selected for superintendent. We have just pointed out that he should be a man as high in intelligence and in character as the man we select to conduct our public schools. Of course, in the small offices the superintendent will have to do much of the detail work, but even here he should arrange certain hours for outside work. In a large or in a growing office he should be almost free from the detail work. He should spend most of his time in visiting manufacturing plants or other places where work is carried on. He should get well acquainted with the owners and the fore- men. He should convince them that he means to deal fairly by everyone; that he is there for the purpose of making his office the place in that city to which any and all can turn when they wish to secure help or to get a position. By thus getting fully acquainted with all the work of his community he would come to know the seasonal character and varying demands of the labor market in his jurisdiction, and could to a certain extent prepare his office to meet impending changes in this labor market. It should be the superintendent's duty to see that his subordinates properly fill the 2O2 American Labor Legislation Review orders which he secures from employers, and to know something about the way in which employers treat their employees. By thus taking a vital interest not only in the worker sent to a position, but also in the needs of employers, he will in time win the confidence and good will of both sides. An active, tactful superintendent by taking note will find many ways in which he can be helpful to both employer and employee. As a final word on this subject it is necessary again to call atten- tion to the fact that it is going to take hard work and a long time to educate the public to a knowledge of the true function and impor- tance of public employment offices. Ask any intelligent man in the ordinary walks of life about employment offices and he will instantly confess that to him they are of slight importance "They do not amount to much." We must also expect the opposition of private employment agencies, with which the public offices will inevitably come in competition. Those interested in public employment offices must, both in season and out of season, keep bringing before the public not only such immediate benefits as can be derived from them, but also the wonderful opportunity they offer for increasing the efficiency of society generally through the ultimate cooperation of all these bureaus throughout the country. JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES ELSA UELAND Gary, Indiana Students of unemployment everywhere agree that the first absolute essential of any program attempting to deal with unemployment is the efficient organization of the labor market by means of a system of labor exchanges. This is the basis of nearly all the constructive efforts that have been suggested to eliminate unemploy- ment. It is the basis of adjustments between industries which have opposite busy and slack seasons. It is the means of securing the greatest possible mobility of labor. Because of the "work test" which it makes possible, it is the prerequisite 'for any scheme of unemployment insurance. In other words, the organization of labor exchanges is the necessary first step in our fight against unemployment. But students of child labor are conscious of the "wasted years between fourteen and sixteen"; of the eagerness of children to leave school as early as the fifth and sixth grade even when not forced by poverty to do so; and of the dreary "blind alley" jobs which they then find to do. They are conscious of the lowering of adult wages through the competition of child labor; of the con- stant recruiting of the army of -the unemployed and unemployable from the young workers who are turned off from the errand jobs and from other monotonous factory duties which new and younger and cheaper workers can undertake. Such students of child labor are 'frankly afraid that a juvenile employment bureau might meas- ure its efficiency, as an adult bureau must, by the number and rapidity of its placements. They see the danger of such a bureau's causing children to leave school even earlier than they do at present. A DILEMMA Here then is the dilemma. How can the juvenile labor exchange make itself an efficient member of the whole body of labor exchange 204 American Labor Legislation Review organization, and at the same time not help children to exploit them- selves by entering industry too early? The policy of the juvenile department must be carefully thought out indeed, for its path lies somewhere between a futile philanthropy on one side, which seeks to protect young workers from industry as it is, and consequently has no jobs to offer them ; and short sighted efficiency on the other side, which defeats its own ends by helping children to compete against their parents. SEPARATION OF ADULT AND JUVENILE DEPARTMENTS Practically every public employment exchange in the United States maintains separate departments for men and women. 1 Convenience and the necessities of riling systems have made common this type of organization. But only three public employment bureaus those of Indiana, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles have realized the im- portance of separating the juvenile from the adult department. Convenience has not pointed out the value of such separation. Yet it is more imperative that the juvenile department be sep- arated from the adult, than that the departments for men and women should be separate. Men and women are registered and informed of possible employments in accordance with a policy on the part of the labor exchange which is the same for both sexes. The kinds of employment differ and hence it is more convenient to have the two departments, even though their fundamental policy is the same. But the juvenile and adult departments should differ fundamen- tally as to policy; and any public employment exchange which is to do its full share in fighting unemployment must recognize this necessity and meet it by organizing a separate juvenile department, and organizing it in such a way that it can meet its special problems. THREE SPECIAL PROBLEMS These special problems of juvenile placement work may be grouped under three heads as follows: I. Reduction of child labor: Under this head come the special problems which arise from the immaturity and physical disabilities of children, and the consequent danger both of their doing work 1 See American Labor Legislation Review, May, 1914, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 364. Nineteen out of twenty-six state or municipal employment bureaus which reported upon this question have separate departments for men and women. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 205 which is beyond their strength and endurance, and of their doing uneducative work when they might be still in school. 2. Vocational guidance: There are also the special problems attendant upon the entrance into work, which are not limited by age or strength, but are often just as difficult for the high school graduate to meet as for the boy who quits the seventh grade. 3. Juvenile unemployment: The problem of reducing juvenile un- employment the "legalized truancy" of the boys and girls who have "working papers" in their pockets but no jobs cannot be met by the same machinery of placement as is worked out in the adult department, mainly because juvenile labor is comparatively immobile. The reserve of juvenile labor can be reduced only by securing the attendance at school of the boys and girls who are out of work. These three special problems of juvenile placement, which mean that the work of the juvenile department must be conducted so differently from that of the adult department, need further elaboration. REDUCTION OF CHILD LABOR Students of industrial statistics all realize the tremendous oppor- tunity of the labor exchange for research. Facts which now can be secured but incompletely, at great expense, could be registered almost automatically under a perfected system of labor exchanges. As a basis for sound progressive legislation such facts are indispensable. This statement applies with double force to the juvenile depart- ment because of our constant progress in child labor legislation. Higher standards are set each year. New plans for education in continuation and cooperative schools are constantly being urged. And though fourteen is now the legal minimum working age in most of our states, 2 the conviction is wide spread among students of child labor that sixteen ought to be the legal minimum, and will be in the near future. The Committee on Industrial Education of the American Fed- eration of Labor says in its report of 1912 : The committee reaffirms its advocacy of free schools, free textbooks, and the raising of the compulsory school age. 8 a See Bulletin of National Child Labor Committee. Child Labor Laws in All States. "Senate Document No. 936. Compiled and edited by Chas. H. Winslow. <2o6 American Labor Legislation Review The Committee on Standards of Living and Labor of the 1912 Conference of Charities and Corrections includes this statement in its report : "We have declared against the employment of children in wage earning occupations under sixteen years of age. Evidence gathered from every available source tends to prove that the years exacted from the child in industry previous to that are wasted years; that they neither contribute to the wealth of the community nor to the equipment of the child. 4 Prof. F. G. Bonser, President of the Vocational Guidance As- sociation of New York City, writes : With enlarged opportunity for prevocational and vocational education and training, as well as an extension of the period of compulsory school attendance and greater facility for enforcing it, employment of children under sixteen should be limited at least to those forced into it by economic pressure, and there under all possible safeguard. Mrs. Alice Barrows Fernandez, director of the New York Vo- cational Guidance Survey, says in the conclusion of her report to Superintendent Maxwell : A system of vocational guidance which could mean finding jobs for chil- dren under sixteen would be not only futile but dangerously near exploitation, however well meant the intention might be. Dr. Ira S. Wile, Commissioner of Education of New York City, writes : The tendency of industry is to become more complicated and to exercise greater demands upon the nervous system of employees. For this reason, it seems highly undesirable that immature children who virtually are still in the age of active development that is fraught with the greatest demands upon their nervous organization should be permitted to enter into industrial life. Between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years, children are physically not prepared to cope with the stresses, strains and hazards of industrial labor. Such a body of opinion as is represented by the above quotations is at least a challenge to any employment bureau to make a special study of what it is doing for children under sixteen. Future legis- lation upon both child labor and compulsory education is going to demand all the available information upon this subject; and for this reason it is important that the juvenile department regard its work with children under sixteen as a temporary experiment which is to 4 Proceedings of National Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1912. 6 Superintendent's Annual Report, 1912. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 207 be watched closely and critically and registered carefully so as to throw as much light as possible upon the future legislation that is inevitable. This is the first special problem of the juvenile department. Just as the adult department must register information which will be of service for future legislation upon subjects of public relief of unemployment, aids in transportation, and unemployment insurance ; so the juvenile department must register information which will be of service for future legislation upon child labor. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE When an experienced worker enters an employment bureau to look for work, and sees signs over the various counters such as "Skilled Workers Only," "Farm Labor," "Clerical Workers," "Un- skilled Labor," and the like, he has little difficulty in finding the counter which is going to register his application for a job. His future job is already largely determined by what he has done in the past. But a boy or girl who enters the office timidly, fresh from school, armed with a piece of paper called a labor certificate, and with a vague remembrance, perhaps, that a cousin has said, "Electricians have a good trade," or that a mother has remarked, "It is fine to be a dressmaker," but with no other notion at all of what he or she can do such a child represents a much more difficult problem to a conscientious employment bureau than does any adult. This difficulty seems only to be increased by our knowledge of the wholly unsatisfactory openings that children at least children under sixteen must go into. A Massachusetts Commission 6 re- ported that only 2 per cent of the children under sixteen whom they investigated entered "high grade" industries. A St. Louis 7 and a Philadelphia 8 investigation estimated that 3 per cent entered "skilled work," or "skilled trades." A New York City survey, 9 slightly more 'The Massachusetts Commission on Industrial and Technical Education, 1906. 7 E. E. Lewis, "Study of Juvenile Occupations in St. Louis," in School and Home Education, Dec. 1912, Jan. 1913. 8 James S. Hiatt, The Child, the School, and the Job, Public Education Association of Philadelphia. 'Alice P. Barrows, "Report of the Vocational Guidance Survey," in Four- teenth Annual Report of City Superintendent of Schools, New York City. 208 American Labor Legislation Review liberal, reports that 5 per cent found work where there was "some opportunity for training under supervision." But all of these investi- gations agree that the great bulk of work that is done by children under sixteen is unsatisfactory, in the highest degree, from the point of view of the development of these children as future workers. And a Chicago report 10 sums up the situation thus: "Practically the only vfork open to children who leave school at the legal age of fourteen is the most unskilled and poorly paid." Picture for a moment the opportunities for work now open to boys and girls under sixteen in any large city in this country. There are two great classes of juvenile work: the errand jobs where the children are on the outer fringe of industry, as it were, constantly delivering packages without seeing enough of the real working of the shop to know what is being done; and the inside manufacturing and clerical jobs where the boy or girl is kept at a single detail, wrapping packages perhaps, counting parts, screwing nuts onto bolts, stemming cherries, cutting bastings, pasting labels, stamping enve- lopes, or some similar monotonous uneducative detail. These two classes of jobs, "blind alleys," all of them, make up at least 80 per cent of the opportunities open to children under sixteen in our big cities. The most scientific placement could not make these jobs permanent, nor would we wish it to. Here then is the second problem for the juvenile employment de- partment : children who know practically nothing of what they want to do or of what they are able to do, must be sorted into jobs of which the majority are futureless. The futility and even the danger of off hand vocational guidance is obvious. Fortunately, the opportunities for children entering industry over sixteen are much more promising than for those who enter under sixteen, and the ways of meeting this difficulty are being pointed out to us by cities which are experimenting in this new field all over the world. The vocational guidance activities of the juvenile employment bureau will be of two kinds. In many cases the bureau can prevent children from undertaking work which will obviously lead to failure and discouragement. For example, as Dr. Josephine Baker of the New York Department of Health pointed out, if the school doctor 10 Anne Davis : Occupations and Industries Open to Children between Fourteen and Sixteen Years of Age, Board of Education, Chicago, 1914. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 209 discovers that some boy large and strapping though he be has a weak heart, a well organized juvenile labor exchange can keep this boy away from heavy employments. Cooperation with the de- partment of health should make it possible for a record of this boy's physical examination to be on file in the office of the exchange, and the boy can be protected both against himself and against his parents who probably do not appreciate his peculiar weakness. Or if the boy brings to the bureau a record from the school which shows poor work in penmanship, arithmetic, and language work, but a high percentage of success in manual training and industrial work, the labor exchange again has a clue as to the general kind of work which the boy can handle most successfully. Cooperation of the departments of education and of health in transferring to the labor exchange their records of children who are now leaving school to go to work will make possible valuable vocational guidance even though its main aspect is the negative one of telling the child what not to do. A more far reaching and more fundamental policy for vocational guidance of the juvenile department should be the constant en- deavor to stimulate the thought of both the children and their par- ents along vocational lines by presenting to them in digestible form all possible information as to future opportunities. However stu- dents of vocational guidance may differ in their emphasis upon one remedial plan or another to combat the present waste due to voca- tional misfits, they are all agreed that one of the most serious causes of these misfits is the utter lack of information on the part of both children and their parents as to actual work and training oppor- tunities. Parents should understand how certain highly paid em- ployments are subject to long out-of-work periods; and also how those occupations which offer high wages at first usually offer no opportunities of training for the future. Two years ago I visited all the boys of one New York school who were about to leave to go to work, and during a certain period every other boy wanted to be an electrician. It was a fad. Thomas A. Edison had cast glamor and romance upon the profession that spread to the meanest bell wirer. Reliable and comprehensive information is the only defense against such fads. In the absence of accurate information the law of supply and demand works clumsily and some vocations are over- crowded while others suffer a scarcity of labor. After all, a child's parents are his natural counselors, and their present ineffectualness 2io American Labor Legislation Review as advisors is due mainly to their ignorance of what the alternatives really are. In the days of the small town they knew what the various employments meant, but factory walls have grown high, the processes within them have grown complicated, and the layman on the street no longer knows what is going on inside. Suggestions for spreading this information come from many sides. Mr. Sears, now superintendent of the City of New York Public Employment Bureau, suggests debates in school upon occu- pational subjects. Motion picture films showing processes of in- dustrial work are already being manufactured. Visits to factories is a means tried out by many industrial schools to awaken intelligent interest in occupations. Occupational bulletins are being issued by vocation and employment bureaus in several of our cities. These are all suggestive of the ways in which the juvenile exchange can further its policy of educating both the children and their parents as to the real opportunities which exist. W. H. Beveridge, in his book on Unemployment, a Problem of Industry, 11 shows the importance of the vocational guidance of be- ginners in industry from the point of view of industry as a whole. Industry is in a constant flux. New processes are supplanting old processes. Whole new industries are gradually but constantly sup- planting old ones. The adjustments to these changes should be made as far as possible by the young workers, the beginners. An industry in a given locality rarely dies out faster than the death- rate of its workers would normally correspond to were there no new workers taken on. And if the new workers can therefore be guided into the growing industries, and can be trained for the newest pro- cesses while they have their youth and their adaptability, much of the hardship which industrial change brings to the older workers who have already achieved one kind of skill will be avoided. In order to secure this result both individual young people and their parents should be kept informed of the promising, growing indus- tries. Also, schools which are training for special trades should be kept informed as to the status of the trades which they teach. But to give this information to boys and girls, to their parents and their schools, is a large task which demands organization, pub- licity, and above all, study. No juvenile department is going to know anything about the opportunities for work which it is dealing with, unless it has a generous allowance in its budget for this very purpose. Significant facts about occupations will not show them- 11 Pages 212-214. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 211 selves immediately. They must be dug out, a process which, we must recognize in the beginning, will cost both time and money. Miss Poyntz of the Association for Labor Legislation has suggested that the labor exchange should be equipped with a research depart- ment. Let me further suggest a publicity department, or at least a policy of presenting occupational information in popular form to the children who have to decide what they will do, to their parents who must advise them, and to the schools which are training the children for future opportunities of which they know too little. In these ways, then, the juvenile department can gradually meet its second special problem, that of vocational guidance ; and it should be noted that it cannot even begin to meet this special problem with- out the cooperation of the schools and the department of health. JUVENILE UNEMPLOYMENT The third special problem of the juvenile labor exchange is to prevent the unemployment of children, the "legalized truancy" of the boys and girls who have "working papers" in their pockets, but still run the streets with no employment. The Vocational Guidance Survey of New York City found that the "working paper" boys investigated by them were unemployed about one-fourth of the time. Juvenile labor can be picked up off the streets. In New York City there are 800 private employment bureaus, and not one with a special juvenile department. Why? Because an employer can get what he wants by merely hanging a "Boy Wanted" sign in his window, and he doesn't care to pay an agency for the service which his cheaper sign will do. Juvenile labor is too plentiful. There are four boys looking for work for every three positions. This situation, of course, is not peculiar to juvenile workers. It is the purpose of every labor exchange to reduce the reserve of labor, so unnecessarily large. But, by the process of selecting con- tinually the workmen who are most fit, and giving them the ap- proximation of full time work, and by thus freezing out the others who will be forced to go elsewhere, the unemployment of adults can be definitely cut down. This is because adult labor is comparatively mobile, and an efficient system of labor exchanges will make it more so. The grown man will go to live where he can find work. The reduction of juvenile unemployment, on the other hand, can not be accomplished by mere rapidity and efficiency of placement because juvenile labor is comparatively immobile. Children work 212 American Labor Legislation Review and live where their parents live. The fact that a boy or girl of sixteen or seventeen is out of work even for a long period of time rarely means that he or she can go to a neighboring town to look for work. In a city like New York, even the neighborhood within the city makes a great difference. The Vocational Guidance Survey of New York found that of the jobs held by boys investigated in one school district, 80 per cent were within a half mile of this school district. These boys were unemployed about one-fourth of the time; but it was out of the question to look for a job in the Bronx or in Brooklyn, or even in any part of Manhattan two miles away. The chance to save carfare by living near home forbade it. Chil- dren find work according to the local demand. An employment bureau cannot make jobs ; and with the situation just described in mind it is easy to see that a labor exchange can do nothing to reduce this reserve of juvenile labor unless its cooperation with the schools is such that it can induce children for whom in- dustry has no immediate demand to remain in school or even to return to school after they have left. Suppose the juvenile depart- ment should follow the most approved policy of adult placement and concentrate the available employment upon three-fourths of the boys and girls who are now legally allowed to work. What would be the effect upon the other fourth? They would not move away unless their parents did. They would not return to school unless special pressure were brought to bear, because, in possession of their "working papers/' they and their parents would continue to hope that they might find work. As a result, the unemployment of children would merely be concentrated upon a smaller number whose acquisition of bad habits would be proportionately greater. No saving at all would result in toto except a slight saving of the employer's time in finding the boy or girl labor of which he is in need. But this saving would be so small (because employers already get all the applications they can handle by merely hanging out a sign "Boy Wanted" or "Girl Wanted," the demand being for work which can be done by anybody without training), that unless the juvenile department can be organized really to help the boys and girls in a large way the expenditure for its maintenance is wasted. Legislative change which will require that each labor certificate granted shall apply to a specified establishment and must be re- newed before the child is permitted to work elsewhere, plus a defi- nite policy on the part of the juvenile department to concentrate the Juvenile Employment Exchanges 213 opportunities for employment upon the older children, will both reduce to a minimum the present unemployment or legalized truancy of our "working paper" children, and will at the same time raise the age at which children begin to work. Ohio, Massachusetts and Maryland all insist that children who are not at work must be in school. The New York City Public Employment Bureau already makes a point of concentrating the opportunities for employment upon the older children. If these two branches of policy can be brought together, the present legalized truancy of "working paper" children can be ended. It is again worth noting that in order to meet its third problem of reducing the unemployment of children the juvenile employment exchange must work in hand-in-glove cooperation with the schools. PITFALLS The three special problems just described make it clear that if the juvenile department is run on exactly the same lines as the adult bureau, it may fall into the following pitfalls : 1. It may encourage children to leave school early and help to get them situations detrimental to them physically and mentally; thus directly combatting our nation-wide effort against the evils of child labor. 2. It may simply organize on a great scale the present blundering into jobs. 3. It will certainly scarcely reduce to any appreciable extent the present unemployment or legalized truancy of children. QUESTIONS OF POLICY Such are the reasons for organizing a separate juvenile depart- ment along definite policy lines of its own. Because, if, on the other hand, the juvenile department follows a policy of cooperation with the schools, with child labor law enforcing agencies, and with vocational guidance effort, it can use its lever of labor market con- trol to enormous public advantage. Common sense, as well as the practise of the most successful existing employment bureaus, de- clares that the juvenile department must be separate in policy and in the detail of administration from the adult department. Having agreed that the juvenile department is to be distinct, we are faced by many questions : What shall be the age limits of its activity? 214 American Labor Legislation Review What shall be its relation to the adult department? Shall its organization demand the services of an advisory commit- tee, and, if so,, what interests shall be represented upon such a committee ? What are the possibilities in any city of cooperation with the public schools, with the department of health, with the bureau of factory inspection, with volunteer committees? What shall be the basis of selection in sending applicants to positions: age, priority of application, fitness, locality, economic need? To what extent and in what cases is it proper for it to act as a positive deterrent keeping boys away from jobs? What are the possibilities of issuing bulletins of information for school, parent, and child, based upon the statistics available from the registries in the bureau's office? What is the proportionate cost of mere placement; of vocational counsel ; of more complete registration ; of issuing special bulletins ? With these questions in mind, it will be worth while to examine the present organization of some of the most important public em- ployment bureaus in the United States and in Europe to see wherein their experience throws light upon our present problem. SIGNIFICANT EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS IN THE UNITED STATES There are nineteen states in the United States which operate state employment bureaus, and some fifteen cities which operate municipal employment bureaus; but of these only three systems, those of Massachusetts, Indiana and Los Angeles, provide even in theory a separate department for boys. And there is no bureau in the United States, either public or philanthropic, which provides for a girls' department separate from its women's department. "Boy" labor is more distinct from adult male labor, than "girl" labor is from adult female labor. A boy graduates from a wagon boy or "tail boy" into a truck driver merely by adding a couple of years to his age, and the strength which corresponds to his new maturity to his body. In the same way the "water boy" becomes a building laborer, and the errand boy becomes a muscular assistant to the shipping clerk. His type of work has changed enough from the employer's point of view to make it convenient for the employ- ment bureau to deal with him in a separate department. There is less difference between the occupations of girls and Juvenile Employment Exchanges 215 women. The girl's physical strength has not increased in the same proportion as the boy's, and unless her work has been some unusual apprenticeship where she has actually been learning a trade she has not added greatly to her skill. For this reason girls' work and women's work are always grouped together, while boys' work and men's work are occasionally distinguished. This distinction, however, is due to convenience, and not to con- scious public policy. On the whole the organization of public em- ployment bureaus in the United States shows that if the special problems attendant upon the placement of juveniles, as juveniles, are being realized, they are not being consciously met. MASSACHUSETTS Massachusetts has the only public labor exchange in the country which can teach us anything from its own experience about juvenile placement. 12 For further suggestion we must go to the private and philanthropic bureaus of our own country, and to the great labor exchange systems of Great Britain and Germany. In the Massachusetts labor exchange in Boston the main divisions are for males and females, the building being so planned as to receive the men downstairs and the women upstairs. Downstairs in the men's department there is a common riling case holding the records of all the opportunities for employment. This is used in common by the six clerks who have charge of placing, respectively, boys, handicapped, trade or commercial workers, hotel and restaurant help, unskilled industrial workers and skilled indus- trial workers. The applicants are directed by signs as to the specialty of each of the clerks, and they approach the desk which they be- lieve is appropriate to them. Here is where the elasticity of the system adds to its effectiveness. Technically all minors under twenty-one are "boys" and are sup- posed to be in charge of the clerk who places "boys." For ex- ample, if a lad of eighteen or twenty, just out of high school comes in, without much idea as to what he wants to do, he is appropriately directed to the clerk in charge of placing "boys." This clerk has been chosen because of his interest in boys and in their difficulties "Cleveland is undertaking an interesting experiment in associating a vocational guidance bureau very closely with its municipal labor exchange, but as this has been tried only since January, 1915, it is too early to report upon its experience. 216 American Labor Legislation Review upon starting to work. He is not so hard pressed as are the other clerks by the number of connections that must be made. He has more time to talk over the problems of each individual with refer- ence to the opportunities for work of which the bureau has cogni- zance. This is no systematic vocational guidance, but it is a conscious attempt nevertheless to give the youth who is beginning to work very different treatment from the routine which must be accorded the adult experienced workers. Ex-superintendent Sears is fond of recalling incidents when fathers have brought their boys to the office and asked to talk over the whole question of the boys' future with the superintendent. Suppose, however, a youth of eighteen or nineteen calls who is definitely a plumber's helper, and a member of the plumbers' union. This boy is referred at once to the department for skilled indus- trial workers. A lad may not be over seventeen and still be physi- cally so mature, and have such experience already in a definite line of work, that he is sent at once to the appropriate adult department and the clerk in charge of the work for boys does not see him at all. This elasticity of age limit as between the adult and the boys' departments is one of the most suggestive aspects of the Boston bureau. It is based soundly upon the fact that a nineteen-year-old boy of very limited experience may need much more attention than a seventeen-year-old boy of greater working experience. It is also to be remembered that all the opportunities for work for males are filed together. In this way there is no duplication or confusion arising from the fact that a youth may either be placed by one of the special clerks in the adult department or by the clerk in charge of the work for boys. Mr. Sears accomplished an effective and at the -same time an elastic organization. And the main thing other American cities have to learn from him in starting juvenile depart- ments in their public employment bureaus is the elasticity of the age limit as between the juvenile and the adult departments. PHILANTHROPIC BUREAUS Most of the philanthropic employment bureaus in the United States have been organized with some relief purpose in mind. Em- ployment departments in connection with charities and settlements are characteristic. They are, however, so insignificant as far as the real attempt to control and reduce unemployment is concerned that they will not be taken up. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 217 The four philanthropic juvenile employment bureaus that will be described briefly are: (i) the Cooperative Employment Bureau of Cleveland; (2) the Schmidlapp Bureau for Women and Girls, in Cincinnati; (3) the Alliance Employment Bureau of New York City; and (4) the Boston Placement Bureau. These four juvenile employment bureaus undoubtedly represent the best thought that has gone into the organization of juvenile placement work in this country, and as such their aims and ac- complishments are worth close study. The writer believes that many of their methods are not suited to the work of any department of a public employment bureau; and their shortcomings from this point of view will be pointed out unsparingly. Let it be under- stood, however, from the beginning, that the criticisms which are made in what follows are purely from the point of view of the municipal employment bureau which is organizing a juvenile de- partment. Possibly the very methods which would not do at all in a municipal bureau are those methods most valuable in accomplish- ing the special aims of the philanthropic bureau. COOPERATIVE EMPLOYMENT BUREAU OF CLEVELAND, AND SCHMID- LAPP BUREAU FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS, IN CINCINNATI The Cooperative Employment Bureau in Cleveland and the Schmidlapp Bureau in Cincinnati are alike in that both are philan- thropic employment bureaus for women and girls, and both under- take other social activities besides the employment work. For example, the Cleveland bureau has issued a directory of boarding houses, and maintains a summer camp ; and the Schmidlapp bureau perhaps considers its main function the granting of scholarships for the further training of young women and girls. But the em- ployment departments of both bureaus are well developed. In the year ending June i, 1913, the Schmidlapp Bureau had 916 new applicants and made 255 placements; while in the year ending December 31, 1911, the Cleveland bureau had 1,500 new applications, and made 870 placements. It is not possible to find the expense per placement for either of these bureaus, but as the Cleveland bureau all told spent less than $1,500 on its year's work, including the other activities just mentioned, the expense per place- ment is comparatively low. The expenses of the employment department of the Schmidlapp Bureau are not published. Both bureaus regard themselves as much more than mere in- 218 American Labor Legislation Review formational links between the unemployed girl or woman and her employment. The Cleveland bureau describes its work under the three heads of (i) investigation of local trades and publication of simple handbooks on each, (2) vocational guidance, and (3) follow up work. The Cincinnati bureau contains in its report this statement : From the beginning the aim has 'been to fit, as nearly as possible, the right girl into the right place, rather than to make many placements, irre- spective of the individual traits and special conditions of the place to be filled. . . . That a close touch may be established with new applicants they are urged to visit the office frequently, where they are observed and a study made of their personal characteristics. In any cases where further information would seem helpful or necessary, the homes are visited and telephone calls made. . . . Whenever there seems any question of a girl's ability or reliability, an effort is made to follow her up after placement, or in the event of her failing to get work through the Bureau, to keep track of her in some way. ... In order to carry out the aim of the office to suit the worker to her work along with this study into the efficiency and desirability of the applicants, a corresponding effort is made to learn as much as possible of every firm or employer sending in a call for workers ; and the rule holds never to fill any position till some investigation of it is made either by personal visit or inquiry. These statements show how different the policy of these bureaus is from what the policy for adults of a large public employment bureau is likely to be, when we remember that the principal aim of the latter is materially to decrease unemployment by decasualiz- ing industry, and that therefore its aim is to act as an informational link between every possible opportunity for work and the worker. The philanthropic bureaus all agree that certain workers need special protection and special help. They confine their activities to the helping of women and children, showing agreement that they believe these classes of workers are at present in greatest need of protection. And their experience does not lead them to give less time to securing the right placement and protection of workers, and more to increasing the number of applications and placements, but the reverse. ALLIANCE EMPLOYMENT BUREAU OF NEW YORK CITY The Alliance Employment Bureau was organized for the purpose of helping women and girls. It included boys in its placement work only when almost forced to do so by the girls bringing in their younger brothers and asking for help for them. This is a comment Juvenile Employment Exchanges 219 upon the fundamental interrelation of all the departments of an employment bureau, upon the inevitable tendency to make the work of an employment bureau all-inclusive. The Alliance Employment Bureau, however, was founded upon the idea of special protection for the workers. It was its special purpose to find work for women and minors the classes of workers whom they felt needed greatest protection under good conditions. For this reason it seemed logical to them, just as it has to the Cleveland and Cincinnati bureaus, to exclude adult male labor. Like the Cleveland and Cincinnati bureaus, this New York bureau made its watch word the welfare of the worker; and only as a necessity to their having any opportunities for employment to offer was their purpose to secure the welfare of the employer. To this end all establishments are investigated carefully before applicants are sent, but no references are formally demanded of the girls who are sent there. Feeling a certain pride in the kind of girl who comes to the office, the bureau declares that it would not be neces- sary for "its" girls to bring references. 13 Establishments are rejected, in theory at least, on the grounds of (i) nonfulfillment of the child labor law; (2) bad work room conditions (light, air, sanitary conditions, etc.) ; and (3) insufficient wages. The Alliance Employment- Bureau has so complete a system of factory investigation and record that it is interesting to examine their success in this policy of rejecting opportunities for work offered by employers which do not satisfy the standards of the bureau as to wages and conditions of work. There seem to be two difficulties. In the first place, the bureau has no definite standards to judge by, nor can have. Though they insist that the constant in- vestigation of factories on the part of the placement officers gives them approximate standards, these standards are not definite enough to be specified either in writing or by word of mouth for the use of a larger organization of many placement officers all seeking to perform their duties upon the same basis. In the second place, the bureau assumes a certain proprietor- ship over "its" girls, and sometimes insists that the girls placed "Experience has not been so rosy in the case of the boys. Most boys must now bring a labor certificate, a teacher's recommendation, and an outside reference, before being registered. 22O American Labor Legislation Review by the bureau be treated better than other girls in the same shop. One of the placement officers of the bureau told me that she had visited a factory where one of "her" girls was working, and found that the girl she had placed was sitting in the center of the work room under a gas light, while many of the employees were working by the windows. This placement officer felt incensed that "her" girl should have been put in this unfavorable position; and she told me how she had taken the girl away from the shop, and had sent no help to this particular factory since that time. Such a policy might be considered inappropriate if pursued by a public employment bureau. A further difficulty of the Alliance Employment Bureau comes from its taking applicants and notices of vacancies from all over the great city of New York, and yet not doing so in very large numbers. Their registration is comparatively sparse and scattered. In consequence, a boy after registering usually goes home to await a notice of a vacancy sent by mail. The chances are that he finds work by himself in the course of a couple of weeks, and though he has promised faithfully to report to the bureau if he finds work, in more than half the cases he neglects to do so. This means that the bureau sends the boy a postal card notifying him of the vacancy, which he in turn disregards, and the upshot is that the employer hunts elsewhere for a worker to fill his position. From the point of view of a public labor exchange, the Alliance Employment Bureau teaches what to avoid. A public bureau for adults must regard itself mainly as an exchange of information about workers and vacancies. It cannot assume responsibility for its placements to either the employer or the employed. If the bureau can be large enough and efficient enough to register the majority of the notices of vacancy in the city, the places offering high wages will have the best possible opportunity to get the best workers, and the places offering low wages will be forced to raise their rates when brought into direct competition with the others. The policy of exclusiveness in an employment bureau may be of advantage to a private exchange which is built upon that reputation, but it is of no ultimate value for a public employment bureau which has to meet the whole situation. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 221 BOSTON PLACEMENT BUREAU The Boston Placement Bureau has much in common with the Cleveland, Cincinnati and New York bureaus just described. It has the same point of view that its whole function is the successful placement of the worker. To this end factories and work places are investigated and the conditions recorded in much the same way that the Alliance Employment Bureau has worked out. The Boston bureau, perhaps because it is younger and has been founded on the crest of the wave of interest in vocational guidance, has certain other features. It has a large corps of volunteer workers who visit the homes of the children who are registered, and who "follow up" the work of the bureau by meeting these young people and their parents at branch libraries, or night schools, or settlements, on specified evenings to talk over the work and the prospects of these young beginners in industry. The Boston bureau has been further influenced by the interest of the schools of late in vocational guidance. The connection with the school is made as close as possible. When the pupil tells the school that he plans to leave to go to work, the teacher makes out an elaborate record in duplicate which includes a record of the school work, the physical health, the mental traits, and vocational preferences of the child; one of these copies is sent to the placement bureau, the other to the office which grants the labor certificate. Then the placement secretary sees the child and records her impression of his abilities. She calls at his home and talks to his parents, and adds further to the record. Any conference during the follow-up work, as well as every placement and comment of employer upon the quality of work done, is also recorded. And from this mass of information the bureau attempts to place scientifically. Such a system is enormously expensive, and if the present vol- unteer service had to be paid for the cost would be double what it is at present. The Boston bureau admits that its system is an expensive one; but it claims that if scientific placement can re- duce the present changing from job to job, it will save the com- munity its own expense many times over. Has the Boston Placement Bureau succeeded in developing a scientific placement which makes children's jobs more permanent? That is a question which must be answered with a decided affirma- tive before their elaborate record, vocational guidance, and follow up system can be accepted as a sound basis for public extension. 222 American Labor Legislation Review Let us first ask this question: Why do children and young people leave jobs? Nearly all studies of industry which go into an investigation of workers attempt to get information upon the "reasons for leav- ing." It is impossible in the space of this paper to compare the available information. But I think all investigators will agree that most of the jobs are left for reasons inherent in the work itself and not inherent in the workers. "Laid off slack," is the commonest refrain and that happens to the least experienced work- ers first, no matter how scientifically they have been placed. "The boss failed," or "the place was moved," or "the factory was burned out" happen frequently enough to color the picture of industrial insecurity. Next to these reasons apparently so difficult for human control come "I didn't learn enough"; "The boss promised to let me learn all the different machines but he kept me on an automatic gear cutter all the time"; "I learned all there was in that place"; "I had a chance for a better job," etc., etc., which again are inevitable from the present specialiaztion of industry. It has been stated that eighty per cent of the opportunities now open to boys under sixteen in our big cities are either errand jobs where the boy is kept on the outer fringe of industry, or monotonous inside manufacturing or clerical jobs where the boy is kept at a single detail to the exclusion of everything else that is going on, as if he were wearing blinders. The most scientific placement cannot make these jobs -permanent because the more ambitious the boy the more eager he must be to change his job after he has learned all that is possible in his present position. It is further recognized everywhere that practically no indus- tries are self-sustaining in the sense that they provide for a normal quota of workers of all ages, who, when they once have entered the industry, can remain there without change. Frequent change is inevitable from the conditions of our industrial organization; and this is especially true of the younger workers. With this in mind, plus the fact that the Boston Placement Bureau has not proved its placements to be any more permanent than the average job found in the ordinary way, we can certainly not yet justify so great an expenditure per placement on the part of a public employment bureau on the plea of ultimate economy through the reduction of the present changing from job to job. That, at least up to the present, is unproved ground. juvenile Employment Exchanges 223 Another limitation upon vocational guidance is the complexity of industry, and our ignorance of it. While some knowledge has been gained of a half-dozen occupations and their requirements definitely enough to test applicants and weed out those who would be least successful, we have as yet no means of scientifically helping any one individual to choose from among the hundreds of possible occupations. Vocational guidance to date as far as the individual is concerned in making his own personal choice can merely be an effort to place all possible pertinent information at his disposal, and at the disposal of his parents; and to emphasize the importance of his decision enough to make the youth and his parents give the thought to it which its importance demands. SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE PHILANTHROPIC BUREAUS The significance of the two Ohio bureaus lies in the fact that their bulletins of information, their vocational guidance, and their follow up systems, are all being emphasized more and more. Though the policy of a public employment bureau must be very different in its general plan, still the policy of giving special attention to the guidance and protection of juvenile workers whose labor has not the mobility that adult male labor has, must be recognized as sound. Every public bureau should agree with the philanthropic bureaus mentioned in making this a basic policy. The significance of the Alliance Bureau is its constant preference for places where there is "some chance to learn"; its conscious pressure upon young people to give greater weight to the oppor- tunities for training in a job than to the amount of wages. And the significance of the Boston Placement Bureau is its connection with the labor certificate office of the department of education and with the continuation schools. It is attempting to make itself one link in the chain of some state control over young people even after they have left school. That we are beginning to recognize this necessity is evidenced by our recreation centers and continua- tion schools. The Boston Placement Bureau suggests how a juvenile labor exchange can be another link in this control. JUVENILE PLACEMENT IN GERMANY The labor exchange has been further developed in Germany, perhaps, than in any other country. But two characteristic in- stitutions there will account for the little differentiation between 224 American Labor Legislation Review the adult and juvenile departments. One is the highly organized system of continuation and part time schools which have the com- pulsory attendance of boys in the trades from eight to twelve hours a week until they are eighteen years old; and of boys in un- skilled work from six to eight hours a week until they are six- teen ; thus having extensive supervision and control over the youth at this transition age. The other is the Handwerkerskammer (chamber of trade) which is the association of all those holding the master's certificate, and of employers in all trades except those carried on under factory conditions. "This association deals with a wide range of matters touching industry disputes between masters and men, regulations re hours, wages, sanitary conditions, etc., but their most important function is the maintenance of the standard of skill, and the control and supervision of the supply of young labor and of the conditions of apprenticeship. As a rule, the examination of apprentices, of journeymen and masters, the encouragement of technical classes and everything that can tend to secure or improve the status of the handworker master, man or apprentice fall within their scope." 1 * These powerful associations of "little masters" have maintained the old apprenticeship system against the encroachments of modern factory production much more successfully than has been done in England or America. The Handwerkerskammer is strongest in Munich where the apprenticeship system is to be seen at its best and where the proportionate number of "little masters" is probably greater than in any other city of the same size. But though the Handwerkerskammer is exceptionally powerful in Munich, it is in- fluential in all German cities, and takes an active part in an organized way in the placing of apprentices, the inspection of workshops, and determination of proper standards of working conditions for apprentices. When we remember how closely the Handwerkerskammer con- trols the placing of boys in the trades, and how closely the continua- tion schools supervise the boys employed in unskilled work, it is easy to understand that the juvenile labor exchange becomes little except a registration bureau. It is one link in the control of this transition age, but has undertaken no vocational guidance or other 14 Juvenile Labor in Germany; a report to the Education Committee of London County Council, by Miss Durham, 1910. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 225 means of giving special help to juveniles. It has been suggested that a further reason for the lack of interest in vocational guidance on the part of German juvenile labor exchanges is because "for the most part, the social and economic position of the children settles the general class of employment which they are likely to go into." 15 The Berlin bureau has undertaken one special feature within the last two years public motion picture shows of the various em- ployments, with the object of interesting boys and girls in their future vocations. Only to this extent does it do any more for juveniles than it does for adults. With all its perfected organization as a part of the general labor exchange, the juvenile department has sometimes had to protest in order to hold its own even as a labor registration bureau against the encroachments of the employers' associations and the schools, each interested in the placement of juvenile workers. 16 But though the juvenile labor exchange in Germany is usually but one cog in the whole machinery of labor exchanges, without individual character of its own, certain cities have much that is of help to us in our organization of juvenile labor exchanges in America. We have already mentioned Berlin's use of motion pictures show- ing typical employments and the same scheme is followed by Frankfort. A second suggestion comes from Strassburg, where the authorities make a great deal of the physical examination of the children upon leaving school, and the record of it. This medical examination made by the school doctor "is considered of importance both in enabling a suitable choice of trade to be made, as well as in guiding the employer in the choice of a suitable boy or girl." 17 A third suggestion lies in the fact that the director of the statis- tical bureau of Halle has since 1908 opened his office for regular consultation hours both for children who are about to go to work and their parents, and for adults who seek information about various occupations about the wages, hours, and conditions of work, or conditions of the labor market. This statistical bureau M Meyer Bloomfield, The School and the Start in Life, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin 1914, No. 4. 19 See Juvenile Labor in Germany; a report to the Education Committee of the London County Council, by Miss Durham, 1910. 11 Ibid. 226 American Labor Legislation Review works in close touch with the local labor exchange, so that its suggestions find means of realization in the labor exchange. "Dr. Wolff, the organizer of this experiment/' says Mr. Bloomfield, "believes that the child's natural counselors, the parents, are often too busy and too little informed as to the nature of the various employments to be effective advisers." 18 Any one at all acquainted with the complexity and specialization of modern industrial work must realize how mild a statement this is. In the gray confusion that every parent tries to peer into to get some sign of what his child should try to do, let there at least be the light of available information. Too much of statistics is buried in hard volumes. The effort of the director of the Halle Bureau of Statistics to popularize and make available his abundant economic information, and to give much of his own time and that of his office to the explanation and interpretation of this informa- tion to the ordinary citizens parents and children whose lives may be guided by it is one of the most significant beginnings that Germany has to show. GREAT BRITAIN Cities of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, are developing juvenile labor exchanges along two plans of organization. Accord- ing to the first plan the juvenile labor exchange is directly under the authority of the education committee so that it is an integral part of the school system, and its advisory committee enables it to cooperate with the adult labor exchange organized by the national board of trade. 19 According to the second plan the relationship is reversed: the juvenile labor exchange is subordinate to the adult exchange which is directly under the authority of the board of trade, and in this case the advisory committee secures the proper close cooperation with the schools. This dual system has arisen as a result of two statutes, the labor exchange act of igog 20 which gives the board of trade power and "Meyer Bloomfield, The School and the Start in Life, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin 1914, No. 4, p. 124. 19 The board of trade corresponds to our federal Departments of the In- terior, Commerce, and Labor. 20 For text of this act see Bulletin of the International Labor Office, Vol. V, p. 21. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 227 authority to organize labor exchanges, both adult and juvenile; and the education (choice of employment) act of 1910 which empowers "local education authorities to give boys and girls information, ad- vice, and assistance with respect to the choice of employment," 21 when such guidance and placement work has not been organized by some other agency. Some cities, as Liverpool, Birmingham, Cambridge and the cities of Scotland, offer examples of the school controlled juvenile employment agency; and others, as London and the cities of Wales and Ireland, have board of trade con- trolled juvenile labor exchanges which merely cooperate with the school system. The working out of these respective plans is of great interest to the American student of juvenile employment in view of the conflicting opinions now current as to whether a children's em- ployment bureau should be organized inside or outside of our school system. English cities have done so many things along both plans of organization that American cities can learn much from their experience. The work now under way in Liverpool and in London will be briefly described, as these cities are types of what is done elsewhere. LIVERPOOL . The juvenile employment bureau i Liverpool has its offices and waiting rooms in the education I niding. The superintendent of this employment bureau is directl; responsible to the director of education. The schools act as suboffices for the registration of children applying for employment, and many teachers act as subagents for the central office. Some of the aims of the Liverpool juvenile employment com- mittee are as follows: (1) The collection and dissemination of information relating to the industrial conditions prevailing in the city. (2) The furnishing of advice to young persons as to occupations for which they are best fitted, having regard to their education, ability, physique, predilection, and status. (3) The encouragement of young persons to continue their education at evening classes and technical schools. ^Quotation from the title of statute. For full text see Bulletin of the International Labor Office, Vol. VI, p. 36. 228 American Labor Legislation Review (4) The keeping of records showing the occupations taken up by children on leaving school. (5) The maintaining of the central office with the schools acting as sub- offices, for the registration of young persons applying for employment, and submitting suitable applicants for the vacant positions notified by employers. (6) The supervision of young persons after they have taken up work, for the purpose of assisting in cases (a) where advice may be needed re- garding the facilities which exist for extending a child's education, and (b) where other and better employment is sought. A large advisory committee of employers representing the leading com- mercial, trade and professional organizations of the city has been formed to help in the employment work. All this effort, it is to borne in mind, is school effort, the whole organization being under the authority of the education committee. But the weakness of the Liverpool system lies in the fact that the placement activities of the board of trade labor exchange and those of the education committee labor exchange are not always correlated. This waste due to duplication of effort has not yet been overcome by cooperation. LONDON In this respect it is interesting to contrast the London scheme which has avoided such waste by having both juvenile and adult labor exchanges under the same authority, the board of trade. London secures the close touch between the employment exchange and the schools which all English experience recognizes as essen- tial by an elaborate system of local and central advisory com- mittees, but the juvenile and adult employment bureaus are kept in the necessary close connection. The London organization will be described in some detail because the writer believes American large cities have more to learn from London in this respect than from any other one place. The following diagrams will serve to make more clear the differences in organization between the Liverpool or school controlled exchange, and the London, or board of trade controlled exchange. The cross lines in the London diagram indicate three important lines of connections: (i) They show the close relation between the London County Council and the board of trade advisory com- ! Meyer Bloomfield, The School and the Start in Life, p r 35. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 229 mittees. Six out of the eighteen members of the central juvenile advisory, and ten out of the thirty members of every local com- mittee, are nominated by the county council. (2) They show the close relation between the local officers and the central clearing IIVBRPOOI [Eduoation Committee] {large Advisory Committee of Employers] (juvenile Emplo srraent Committee] iTeachers Acting as Subagentsj IBoard of Trade! tEabor Exchange for Adufti I N D N fcondon County Council] [Board of Trade] JEducation Commit tea] jCare Committees! ILpprenticaship and Skilled employment Committee Metropolitan Association E [Juvenile Advisory Committee of 18| [for Befriending Young Servant jPriends of the Poor IBoys' Country Work Society Marine Society {Etc., Etc., Etc. Exchange sj [local Exchanges! ORGANIZATION OF JUVENILE LABOR EXCHANGE SYSTEMS IN LIVERPOOL AND LONDON house. And (3) they indicate the cooperation between the local exchanges and the numerous philanthropic societies which are doing similar work. The London organization is too vast and complex to be described in full; but there are certain aspects of the organization which 230 American Labor Legislation Review should be thoughtfully studied by all those interested in starting similar juvenile labor exchanges in the big cities of America. These aspects are: 1. The division into local bureaus. 2. The organization outside of the school system but cooperating with it. 3. The work of volunteers. 4. The connection with medical officers in schools and factories. 5. The extensive cooperation even in placement work with outside organizations. DIVISION INTO LOCAL BUREAUS The work of the London juvenile labor exchange is done by the local bureaus. Each bureau has its own executive or paid secretary, and each its local committee of thirty. The increased efficiency made possible by the local bureaus is self evident. Such bureaus are much more important in the place- ment work for children than in that for adults. Juveniles looking for work are confined much more to the locality of their homes than are their parents. Carfare bears a greater proportion to their wages. As has already been pointed out, 80 per cent of the children investigated by the Vocational Guidance Survey of New York City found their first jobs within a half mile of the school district where they lived. The local bureaus are also important from the point of view of guidance and help. Consultation hours with parents, children, and teachers become possible. In London a "school leaving form" is made out by each child about to leave school to go to work, and this is forwarded to the local office. Then the child and his parents are summoned to the office at a certain time when the committee has decided to meet, and perhaps the teacher or head master of the child is able to be present also. With a list of registered vacancies furnished it by the secretary of the exchange, the committee is able to make this consultation profitable and suggestive as to the child's future. Our largest American cities cannot achieve the same results without the similar organization of local offices. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 231 ORGANIZATION OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL SYSTEM The second aspect of the London system that should be noted is that the juvenile labor exchanges are not under school control though their work is in close cooperation with the work of the schools. The names of employers of labor and the records of all possible opportunities for work should in some way be filed together, whether the opportunities are for juveniles or adults. If waste is to be avoided and policies are to be in harmony there should be the same ultimate authority behind both the adult and juvenile departments. London has recognized this fact, and at the same time has not forgotten the necessity for close relation- ship between the schools and the juvenile departments. The "school leaving form" aids the committee to judge of a boy's capacity. School teachers and head masters serve on the committees. The teacher who knows the child best is often asked to attend the meeting of the committee at which the opportunities for this particular child are discussed. Reports of the action of the ex- change are immediately returned to the school. Thus the boy or girl is not dropped entirely by one organization and suddenly taken under the care of another. The transition is made without abruptness, and with an approximation of intelligent control. WORK OF VOLUNTEERS The advisory committees of the local labor exchanges are or- ganized for an amount of service that would be remarkable, per- haps impossible, in any other country beside England, considering that the members of the committee all act in a volunteer capacity. These local committees of thirty are each appointed by the central juvenile advisory committee of eighteen, which in turn has been appointed by the board of trade. The local committees are repre- sentative of the different interests in the community, some members being nominated by the county council, some by the head teachers' association, and an equal number being chosen to represent the workers and the employers. The following are some of the functions of the local committee as prescribed by the board of trade: 23 3. To form subcommittees or "rotas" to attend at the exchange for the purpose of interviewing applicants and their parents in order to 23 Meyer Bloomfield, The School and the Start in Life. 232 American Labor Legislation Review a. Give advice with regard to employment in general and with regard to particular vacancies. b. To endeavor to secure the attendance of boys and girls at evening continuation or technical classes. 4. To secure in cooperation with the labor exchange authorities that a. Employers are informed as to the work of the local communities. b. Adequate information is obtained as to the conditions and prospects of particular trades and situations. c. The records of all information relative to children, employers, and employment are so kept as to be readily available for the purpose of the committee. 6. To report periodically and make suggestions to the London juvenile advisory committee and to carry out such instructions as may from time to time be issued by them. These volunteer committees thus actually sit with the paid ex- ecutive secretary of the exchange in consultation with children and their parents, advising them as to reported vacancies and future possible careers. It may be doubted whether it is possible to secure volunteer service of similar devotion and efficiency in America, for we do not have the same leisure class, trained and accustomed to public service. Nevertheless, with our great corps of school teachers which has an ever increasing proportion of vocational teachers, men and women of real experience in industry and with our associations of workers and employers ever more conscious of the public service they must give, the organization of local committees to help and advise the local placement secretary seems far from impossible. The success of the London organization of volunteers is at least an inspiration to those who would wish to organize a somewhat similar service in the big cities of the United States. MEDICAL INSPECTION A fourth significant aspect of the London organization is the help given to these local advisory committees by the medical officers in the schools and factories. The placement secretary and the advisory committee not only have before them the child's school record but also his health record, in which all defects are noted. The child is examined shortly before leaving school, and re-ex- aminations are held in cases of doubt. The advisory committees are conscious that many young people break down because they have entered occupations for which they are physically unfit. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 233 This cooperation with medical officers is being carried forward to include cooperation with the certifying factory surgeons. The certifying factory surgeon has the power to forbid physically unfit employees to do work which is injurious, and to allow them to do work which will not be harmful. It is of course important to have a record of his decisions filed with the labor exchange. No one of our states has the system of certifying factory sur- geons. The laws adopted by Ohio, Massachusetts and Maryland, however, requiring that juveniles under specified age return to the labor certificate office for renewal of the certificate before each new job, offer possibilities of similar medical control. For example a child with a curvature of the spine may be forbidden to do any lifting or carrying of weights, but allowed to do ordinary machine tending; while another child with defective vision may be forbidden to do machine work, but allowed to do fairly heavy lifting and carrying. Even without an elaborate inspectorial system of certifying factory surgeons, such orders given by the depart- ment of health, or by whatever department issues the labor certifi- cate, could be made effective by an efficient juvenile labor ex- change which was in possession of the medical records. COOPERATION WITH OUTSIDE ORGANIZATIONS London has not attempted to divert work which was already being done well suddenly into a new and different channel. Her system of juvenile labor exchanges has not been developed to put other people out of business. Rather, it has coordinated and united the work of various philanthropic organizations in such a way that each performs more useful service than before along its own special lines. Rules, or rather suggestions, such as the following, drawn up between the various advisory committees and the apprenticeship and skilled employment committees, serve to prevent overlapping and duplication of effort: Rule I. Except in cases where a parent or employer objects, the entire work of indenturing apprentices, with or without premium, shall be dealt with by the apprenticeship and skilled employment committee, and not by the local advisory committee. Rule II. Boys and girls suited to apprenticeship, for whom there are no suitable vacancies at the exchange, may be referred to the apprenticeship and skilled employment committee. Rule III. The apprenticeship and skilled employment committee shall 234 American Labor Legislation Review notify to the local advisory committee the names of all their juvenile applicants in respect of whom school-leaving forms have been issued. Rule IV. When the labor exchange has a vacancy for an indentured apprentice and the employer does not object, the vacancy shall be referred to the apprenticeship and skilled employment committee and dealt with by them. Rule V. When the apprenticeship and skilled employment committee have a suitable vacancy which they are unable to fill they shall apply to the local advisory connmittee for a suitable boy or girl, and vice versa. Rule VI. 'Apprenticeship and skilled employment committees may canvass employers, but only after consultation with the secretary of the local advisory committee in whose district the firm to be canvassed is situated. Rule VII. As far as possible, all information about juveniles and vacancies possessed by one party to this arrangement shall be at the disposal of the other. Rule VIII. Physically handicapped children who are not eligible for the help of the ''after-care committee for children from the physically defective schools" shall be referred by the local advisory committee to the apprentice- ship and skilled employment committee, if the latter be willing to receive them. This is the agreement of the London juvenile labor exchange with only one other placement agency. Similar arrangements have been made with several other societies such as the Friends of the Poor, the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Ser- vants, and the Boys' Country Work Society. The organization of London juvenile placement efforts shows a consciousness of the waste and of the positive evils which arise from the stumbling of immature children into industrial work which is educationally injurious to them, on the part of the whole community; and it shows a determination on the part of the whole community to take hold of the present situation and check this waste. These English committees know, as everyone must know who has critically studied the industrial careers of fourteen to eighteen-year-old children, that "so long as the public neglects to put in force certain fundamental social policies through legislation, the placement of children under eighteen is at best a make-shift." 24 But the advisory committees are trying not only to replace the unguided stumbling of children into industry by some knowledge of the prospects in different trades and occupations; they are also doing their part toward putting in force the more fundamental social policies of added protection and increased opportunities for training for industry's young beginners. Meyer Bloomfield, The School and the Start in Life, p. 64. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 235 SUGGESTIONS FOR JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENTS The experience of the employment bureaus which have just been described suggests pretty definitely six recommendations in connection with the organization of juvenile departments under public employment bureaus in the United States: 1. The age limit which separates the juvenile from the adult department should not be fixed, but should be flexible. 2. A school record of the child should be forwarded to the juvenile exchange and there filed at the time the child leaves school to go to work. This is the basis for the vocational guidance of all the English labor exchanges, and is a method also followed by the Boston Placement Bureau. 3. A record of the physical examination of the child should likewise be forwarded to the exchange by the department of health, or whatever medical authority is in charge of the examination. The close connection of the labor exchange with all medical au- thority which has anything to do with children leaving school for work, is a feature again of all the English labor exchanges, and is a special feature of the municipal exchange of Strassburg. 4. A scheme of organization into local suboffices will undoubtedly be necessary in the large cities of the United States as the ex- change approaches its maximum efficiency. 5. Reliable information as to the advantages and disadvantages of all kinds of occupations, gathered from the statistics of the department of labor or from the registries of the employment bureau itself, should be presented in understandable form to chil- dren, parents, and schools. Also certain hours of the week should be set aside for consultation upon industrial conditions and op- portunities with children who are about to go to work and with their parents. And it should be understood that this conference with parents need not be held merely at the moment the child is applying for work; but it may take place months before the boy or girl leaves school, and thus influence perhaps the work which the child chooses to* take in school, and the length of time he or she remains in school. This is one of the soundest schemes for vocational guidance, as has been proved by the work of the director of the bureau of statistics at Halle, Germany, and by the efforts of the most energetic of London's local advisory committees. 6. One thing which will be necessary in the United States, at 236 American Labor Legislation Review least while juvenile placement and vocational guidance continue to be experimental and subject to the present constant change and improvement, is an advisory committee which will actively help in securing the necessary cooperation with other organizations and in shaping the policy of the juvenile department. This committee must not be a mere shield of "representative interests" created to divide responsibility. It must be a committee of active students of the whole problem of juvenile employment. ADVISORY COMMITTEE On the advisory committee the following interests or organiza- tions should be represented: (1) The schools should be represented. In some cities it may be desirable to have represented even different departments within the schools. For example, it has been pointed out that the labor exchange can do nothing to reduce juvenile unemployment unless it can help to secure the attendance at school of all children who are unemployed, whether they have labor certificates or not. This means the active cooperation of the department of attendance within the schools. It has further been pointed out that the labor ex- changes can be of great assistance to the schools in their develop- ment of continuation and cooperative classes. Perhaps this would mean another school representative upon the advisory committee, who could make the exchange of the greatest possible value in the organization of these forms of industrial education. The "school leaving form" to be filed in the exchange must of course be secured as a basis for vocational guidance. Thus in some cities it may be sufficient to have one representative of the schools upon the advisory committee, while in others it will be wise to have as many as three members representing the educational work of the municipality. (2) The department of health should be represented. As Meyer Bloomfield says, "All vocational counseling, labor exchange service, and after care must take their cue from the physician's report." 25 (3) Vocational guidance associations should be represented where they exist. Effort is being put forth all over the world to make vocational guidance scientific. The situation is not such to-day 25 The School and the Start in Life, p. 116. Juvenile Employment Exchanges 237 that a labor exchange could make use of psychological tests of fitness for specific occupation. Work is, however, being done every year which brings this technical subject nearer to possibilities of practical use, and it is important that the labor exchange be kept in close connection with the best that is being done. (4) The statistical bureau of the department of labor should be represented. This connection should be very close in order to put the statistics of the employment bureau itself upon a comparative basis, and in order to give the soundest kind of vocational guidance accurate occupational information. (5) and (6) The advisory committee should also include repre- sentatives both of the employer and of the employee. No labor exchange can be effective unless it handles real business. Close touch with existing opportunities for work is thus the first essential. It is also important to have the organized worker represented to avoid mistakes in dealing with the tremendous field for contro- versy, the apprenticeship cases. In a committee of the size already indicated there should be at least two representatives of the employers, and two of the workers. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES With such a committee the juvenile department can develop a forward policy which is not limited merely to finding employment for some of the children who are seeking it. It can become some- thing more than a makeshift, something more than the organization upon a large scale of the present blundering into jobs. With a policy which seeks to prevent the exploitation of children and to protect adult labor from juvenile competition, developed in detail by such a committee, the juvenile department of the labor ex- change will be an important step in the present nation-wide effort to prevent unemployment. And, aided by the development of con- tinuation schools, and by the kind of legislation which will make it necessary for the child to return to the labor certificate office between jobs, the juvenile labor exchange will begin to make pos- sible an adequate conservation of adolescent life and energy. REDISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC WORK IN OREGON FRANK O'HARA Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. In all the larger cities of the country each winter finds a consid- erable number of workers out of work and out of money. The phenomenon is by no means a new one, but the consciousness -that the responsibility for this state of affairs rests not alone upon these unfortunate individuals, but upon the whole industrial machine as well, is of comparatively recent growth. In the city of Portland, Oregon, this consciousness of social responsibility for the evil was last winter more keenly alive than ever before. In certain quar- ters, as was to be expected, it exhibited itself in the form of an unreasoning hysteria which demanded a root and branch over- turning of the social structure. In all quarters there was more than a merely academic interest in the problem. Therefore, when the Oregon Committee of the Association on Unemployment un- dertook a study of the question it was met on all sides by a spirit of cooperation and good will. In general outline, the problem of unemployment in Oregon is the same as the problem of unemployment elsewhere, with minor differences due to distinguishing local characteristics such as cli- mate and distribution of occupations. Perhaps a word concerning the physiography of the state will be in place here. The Cascade range of mountains which runs north and south across Oregon cuts the state into two unequal sections, leaving a strip about 120 miles wide between this range and the ocean, and somewhat more than .twice as much to the east of the mountains. In the latter region the climate is dry and the winters cold, whereas to the west of the mountains there is much rainfall, especially during the wet season which lasts from October to March, and the winters are always mild. The bulk of the population resides west of the Cascades, and it is here for the present that the state's social problems are to be found and faced. In Oregon, as elsewhere, the unemployment problem arises not Redistribution of Public Work in Oregon 239 because there is an absolute lack of work to be done, but rather because there is a bad distribution of the opportunities to work; because there is an irregular distribution of work through the years and through the seasons. In Oregon, for example, according to the figures of the latest federal census, there were employed in manufacturing industries in January only 75 per cent of the number employed in September; that is, there was a demand for one-third more workers in the busiest summer month than in the dullest winter month. The winter army of the unemployed was similarly augmented by recruits from agriculture, trade, trans- portation, mining, and fishing. Manifestly, if weather conditions would only allow, it would be desirable to shift work from summer to winter to permit of a steadier running of the industrial machine. But modern industry has a way of running at high speed and de- manding much labor when the prospect of profits is good, and of slackening the pace and discharging the employees when the pros- pect of losses appears; for profits are the one cardinal virtue of industry and losses the unpardonable sin. Private industry, as a general thing, will not of its own initiative consult the welfare of labor any further than is warranted by the best interests of the balance sheet. And so it appeared to the Oregon Committee that while other phases of the question were not at all to be neglected, it would be well to see whether and to what extent opportunities for work could be shifted from the summer to the winter, not alone in private industry but in public employment as well, for here the considerations of profit and loss are not necessarily paramount. A further reason for raising the question of the desirability of shifting public work from the busy to the dull season was to be found in the fact that in public work as well as in private industry employment is irregular. The government, national, state, county, and municipal, contributes its share to the unemployment problem by reason of the fact that public work is practically at a standstill in the winter time. Thus, for example, ten counties of Oregon reported that they furnished employment at road work to 151 laborers through the month of January, 1914, and to 2,025 through the month of June. The county of Multnomah, in which the city of Portland is situated, employed upon the stretch of the Columbia river highway which falls within that county, eighty men in Jan- uary and 660 in June. In the city of Portland there were employed on street construction work 885 men in August, 1913, only 122 men 240 American Labor Legislation Review in March of the present year, and 565 men in June. In the smaller town of Eugene the number employed on street construction was in January of the present year none; in May, ninety- four. Other Oregon towns show similar figures for this sort of work. In the case of sewer construction the work Was more regular, since this work is less affected by adverse weather conditions. The numbers employed in Portland on sewer construction were January 125; April 172; and June, 190. This construction work is usually let out by contract but it is none the less public work, and if it were found desirable pressure might be brought to effect a redistribution of it throughout the year. Maintenance work, on the other hand, is usually performed directly for the municipality without the inter- mediation of a contractor. This labor is, as a rule, rather steadily employed through the year, but the numbers are comparatively small and have little influence on the totals. In other forms of public work involving the employment of con- siderable labor, such as bridge construction, park work, irrigation, jetty work, and the construction of public buildings, the same state of affairs was found, as a rule, to exist, namely, a heavy summer demand for labor with a very considerable slackening up or a com- plete cessation in winter. The committee undertook by means of a questionnaire to find out what public works were contemplated for the immediate future by the various counties and municipalities of the state, and the extent to which it would be possible to defer the execution of these works until the late fall or the winter. County judge after county judge (county judges are chairmen of county commissioners) and mayor after mayor replied that it would be impossible to defer the work. Pretty generally an exception was made in the case of sewer construction in the section of the state west of the Cascades, but even in this case the opinion was general that sewer construc- tion work in winter would be done at an increased cost. It may be interesting to note in this connection that the opinions of the city engineers who were consulted were almost uniformly more favorable to the equal distribution of work through the year than were the opinions of the officials who were charged with the ex- penditure of the funds. While on all sides a pious wish was ex- pressed that something might be done in the way of regularizing employment on public works a great variety of reasons were ad- vanced to show that nothing of importance could be done. Redistribution of Public Work in Oregon 241 In the first place there was an unusually large number of people out of work this summer, and it was difficult or impossible to give cogent reasons why work which might be done at that time, when the conditions of work were ideal, should be deferred until the more disagreeable winter season. The same argument was used against anticipating next summer's work during the present winter. When it was suggested that a plan should be worked out whereby the construction of roads and streets and sewers and public buildings should be rationally distributed through a series of years in such a way as to provide for at least as much work in the dull years of the industrial cycle as in the busy years, and if possible more, the idea was favorably received by the engineers, but, as a general thing, it was rejected by practical politicians. "The people want what they want when they want it," was the objection. In dull years they do not feel like contracting debts, whereas when they are more pros- perous they are more alive to the need of improvements. This view was held in spite of the fact that in the vast majority of cases public improvements are paid for out of the proceeds of the sale of bonds which are gradually redeemed through a long term of years. In the construction of new roads where considerable cuts have to be made the work can be done as well and as economically in western Oregon in winter as in summer. In such cases no technical objection can be raised against having the work done in winter. But this involves looking and planning ahead, and such planning is outside the line of least resistance which is usually followed by offi- cials when public sentiment is quiescent. The quarrying and crushing of rock for the roads is another in- stance of work which can be done as cheaply in winter as in summer in Oregon. Instead, however, of keeping the quarries going steadily through the year, or of concentrating on the work in the winter time, the rock is usually crushed as it is needed. This means that very little of the work is done in the winter time. The reason that it cannot be crushed and stored in large quantities in the winter time is that the existing bunkers are not large enough to hold large quan- tities. To build large bunkers would be expensive and it is impos- sible to haul the stone directly to the place where it is to be used in the following summer, because it is not known where it will be wanted. Morover, it is often not feasible to haul heavy loads of rock over country roads in the wet season. This latter objection might be overcome by working out a definite plan of road construe- 242 American Labor Legislation Review tion and proceeding with the surfacing from the quarries; but this, too, would involve planning ahead, and public sentiment does not yet demand this. Street and sewer construction work are usually done by con- tract, and this constitutes an added reason why it is more expensive in the winter time and hence why it is avoided at that time. While the cold does not constitute an insuperable objection to doing this kind of work in winter in Oregon, the wet weather interferes more or less seriously with various parts of the work. Thus, where the soil is a sticky clay, the grading is interfered with and can be done only at an increased cost, although where the soil is sandy, winter grading is at no disadvantage. Then, too, there are certain sur- facings which cannot be applied well or which cannot be applied at all in wet weather, and it would be inconvenient or disappointing to depend on the dry days that are scattered through the rainy sea- son. Morover, private contractors, in bidding for public work, un- dertake to have the work completed within a definite period. On ac- count of the uncertainties of the weather in the wet season they are compelled to ask a higher price for the work as an insurance against the worst conditions. If the muncipalities were doing this work directly instead of through contractors this insurance would be unnecessary. But this advantage of construction directly by the city is to be balanced over against certain well known disadvantages. One of these disadvantages is the fact that many muncipalities have adopted the practice of paying a standard wage independently of the condition of the labor market. Thus, the city of Portland pays a minimum wage of $3 a day for its labor. The contractors get the same kind of labor for $1.50, $1.75, or $2 a day. Thus the contractors have a considerable margin of advantage in costs over the city. There are labor leaders who consider this condition of affairs preferable to a wider employment of labor by the city at a wage lower than $3. An industry in Oregon especially suitable for winter work is the clearing of cut over and logged off land. In fact, the wet season is the only time when this clearing is practicable. There are millions of acres of this land in the state which will ultimately provide homes for a prosperous rural population, but which are not easily sub- dued by the individual settler. The Oregon Committee of the As- sociation strongly urged the council of the city of Portland and the county commissioners of Multnomah county as well as the state Redistribution of Public Work in Oregon 243 board of control to investigate the possibilities of organizing and financing the situation so as to bring together the winter army of the unemployed and these boundless opportunities for work. The committee especially called attention to similar work done in the neighborhood of Seattfe a year ago under the leadership of Mr. Pauly of the Hotel de Gink. The general idea appealed to the Port- land City Council, and early in October they engaged a man to act as a clearing house between the unemployed and those who have land to clear. Unfortunately, the city's plan contemplated the entire financing of the enterprise by the unemployed themselves. This will undoubtedly stand in the way of a very wide success of the plan. More recently certain members of the Oregon Committee of the Association on Unemployment have established clearing camps on their own initiative for the purpose of giving work to the unem- ployed. It is too early to say with what success this has been done. The following extract from a letter written by the mayor of Astoria, Oregon, under date of December 9, may be cited to suggest the possibilities of a proper articulation of public and private em- ployment : The principal employment in this vicinity is in the lumber camps, lumber mills, and in the salmon fishing industry. The salmon industry is distinctly seasonal, for a few months during the season only, while the lumber and timber industry is largely seasonal, and dependent largely upon the immediate condition of the lumber market, and also subject to the heavy winter rains. Entirely irrespective of the merits or demerits of the economic doctrine, my impression is that the removal of the tariff on shingles and lumber has proven a severe blow to the entire timber and lumber industry of the north- west. Most of the mills up and down the Columbia river have already closed down or soon will. We have three large lumber mills in Astoria, and all are still running, though all have either reduced the number of hours slightly or their wages slightly. Strong efforts are being made to keep the mills open throughout the winter, and I am pleased to say that these efforts are founded largely on the good will of the mill owners toward their employees, though few of the employees understand or believe that. The mills are run- ning at a loss now. We have no work for outsiders in Astoria. Some public work is. now going on, on streets, in the construction of a large and costly public dock, and other reclamation work may possibly be taken up this winter. This public work has very materially assisted this municipality, and for that rea- son Astoria really has thus far hardly felt any hard times. In Portland a majority of the city council is on record in favor 244 American Labor Legislation Review of a policy of regularizing employment on public works and of shift- ing as much of the public work as is economically feasible to the winter months. Mr. Dieck, the efficient commissioner of public works, as soon as the problem was called to his attention by our committee, at once proceeded to make a study of the possibility of shifting work in his department and assured us that he would do all in his power to effect a wiser distribution of public work. Mr. Brewster, the commissioner of public affairs of Portland, was a member of our committee, and has given much careful study to the various phases of the problem of unemployment. He can be depended upon to contribute valuable aid towards its solution from the point of view of this Association. A problem which gives much concern to western coast cities is what to do with the floating population of the unemployed. Seattle, Portland and San Francisco are the winter resorts of men from all the western states. Many of these men are out of funds and must be cared for. Those charged with caring for them fear that many of the kind hearted relief plans which have been adopted in the past have advertised these cities as easy places to get a living through the winter without work, and consequently have brought an undue share of the country's unemployed to the western coast in the winter time. To offset this kind of advertising, reports are sent out through the east from time to time warning the workers against going west to get work. Only a week ago such warnings from San Francisco appeared in eastern newspapers. Portland, too, has suffered from the fear of being submerged by the floating unemployed population of states other than Oregon, and has sometimes treated these stran- gers less courteously than Portland's known hospitality would lead one to believe. The purpose, of course, is to discourage their coming to Portland. Briefly, in conclusion, there is a considerable amount of public work in Oregon which could without detriment to quality or cost be shifted from the busy season of the year to the dull season, and from years of industrial expansion to years of industrial depression. Some of this shifting will be proceeded with at once, but the bulk of it must wait until the general public wakes up to a realization of the nature of the problem. Even when this time comes, too much must not be expected from this expedient alone. It must be con- sidered as merely one link in the chain of remedies, SEASONAL FLUCTUATION IN PUBLIC WORKS F. ERNEST RICHTER Harvard University In a study of seasonal fluctuations of employment on public works three questions arise: (i) To what extent does the labor force under consideration vary from month to month? (2) What are the causes of variation? (3) To what extent, if at all, and how, may the variation be lessened and employment regularized ? The field of the present study is that of public work in the city of Boston and the metropolitan district thereabouts, for the year 1913. No attempt has been made to cover this field exhaustively ; in- stead, the method of sampling has been resorted to, and figures gathered, as far as possible, on the work of some of the Boston city departments, some of those of three representative cities in the metropolitan district, and a few of the state boards operating around Boston. In Boston, the public works department, the public buildings de- partment, and the schoolhouse department were the ones covered. The scope and functions of the last two are evident from their names. The schoolhouse department has under its supervision the erection and maintenance of public school buildings. The public buildings department does the same work for a number of other public buildings, such as the city hall, court houses, and so on. The public works department is perhaps the most comprehensive in the city. It has three divisions : highway, sewer and water, and bridge and ferry. Again the last two explain themselves; the first, high- way, includes three "services," paving, sanitary (collection of ashes, rubbish, and offal), and street cleaning, oiling and watering. The three departments were selected for the following reasons: (i) They give employment to by far the largest amounts of tem- porary labor. (2) Taken together, they represent about every kind of work that is affected by climatic conditions. (3) They present varied financial problems. (4) Their figures were relatively easy to obtain. It had been intended to include the park and recreation 246 ^American Labor Legislation Review department in the survey, but this was given up for reasons that will be more evident when the manner of employing labor on city works has been noted. This then will be our next consideration. Boston, like most pub- lic bodies, does a certain amount of work by its own employees, or by direct labor, as it is called, and lets out the rest to contractors after public bidding. The city, however, differs, from many others in its policy of introducing practically no variations in its permanent force, save in the general direction of increases, year by year. A conspicuous exception to this rule is the park and recreation de- partment, where in the late spring, the summer, and early fall, the direct labor force of 800 or so is increased by about one-sixth, because of the added burdens attendant on the opening of the bath houses and the increased activities in the parks and recreation centres. Since the study is concerned with fluctuations of employ- ment, those departments are of interest only which let out con- siderable work on contract, because of the permanence of the direct labor force. It is chiefly for this reason, therefore, that those de- partments studied were chosen; and it was for a similar reason that the park department was abandoned, especially after it was found that such figures as might be obtainable on their work might not be sufficiently accurate. This leads in turn to the questions of how the figures to be pre- sented were secured, and within what limits they are accurate. Among the Boston departments the park department was again the exception, this time to the rule that the city inspectors of con- ract jobs render daily or weekly reports of the number of men employed by the contractors on the work. These "inspectors' force accounts," as they are called, are kept on file in the several depart- mental offices and thus provide the information required. In the three other cities studied, Cambridge, Everett, and Newton, where, as far as was learned, no work was done in 1913 in the departments under survey save by direct labor, the city pay rolls gave the needed data. The main difficulties have been encountered in study- ing the work done by the various boards and commissions ; for they keep no record of force accounts, and the figures had therefore to be obtained from the contractors who had done the work. It seems probable that all the figures presented are correct to within 5 or 10 per cent. The sources of error are as follows: (i) Personal fac- Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 247 tors such as fallibility of inspectors and others enter. (2) There is lack of perfect comparability of all the original statistics, some being in the form of labor hours, some in labor days, some in labor weeks or months, all of which had to be more or less accurately reduced to labor days. (3) Some figures represent guesses or approx- imations by contractors or their office employees, who would natur- ally be inclined to give round numbers, or at least integral numbers. Where, for instance, a figure of ten laborers a day was given for a monthly average, eleven or nine and three-eighths might have been more nearly accurate. The danger from this source is increased where jobs are subcontracted; and this consideration was an impor- tant one in the case of the park and recreation department. (4) There are certain omissions, where for one reason or another figures could not be obtained. Beginning with the paving service of the highway division of the Boston Public Works Department, we find a permanent force of men of the classes we are concerned with of some 700 men. This figure is a rough average of the 675 men in those classes employed as of April 30, 1913, and about 715 employed as of April 30, 1914, as given in the city of Boston List of Employees of these dates. The figure includes such men as pavers, rammers, stonecutters, car- penters, and so on, and about 300 simply designated "laborers/* be- sides some seventy-five or eighty inspectors and foremen and sub foremen. These 700 men are used wholly for repair and main- tenance work; for it is the general policy of the division to let out on contract new street work and to use almost wholly its own labor for upkeep work. There seem to be several reasons for this. They include the better facilities of contractors for certain work, the ne- cessity in a few cases of using contractors whose processes on patented pavements the city has no right to use; and above all the saving involved. This last has become especially important, per- haps, since in 1913 the then mayor of Boston, Mr. Fitzgerald, by an executive order caused the pay of common laborers in the various departments to be raised from $2.25 to $2.50 a day. And it is im- portant not only for the city but for certain individuals, since on assessable jobs of new street work, one-half of the cost of the new construction is borne by abutting land owners. It may be remarked in passing that all these employees are under civil service. Their workday is eight hours long. 248 American Labor Legislation Review Here are the monthly figures for the calendar years 1912 and 1913 for labor employed on paving jobs let out on contract. The unit, as everywhere in this report, is the labor day, or the employment of one laborer for one day of eight hours, and the figures show the daily average number of labor days used on the regular working days of each month of the two years. Under the figure for each month is the percentage which that figure is of the maximum monthly figure for that year. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 1912 13 24 42 170 284 364 325 347 335 349 34O 88 Per cent 3 6 12 47 78 100 89 95 92 96 93 24 1913 a a 10 108 273 386 419 387 415 310 369 135 Per cent o o 2 26 65 92 100 92 99 74 88 32 (a) Average less than one labor day a day. One is tempted at first to compare these figures with those for the official mean monthly temperatures at Boston for the two years, which were as follows: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 1912 21 28 36 47 59 68 73 69 64 57 46 39 1913 39 28 42 48 55 68 74 71 62 56 46 38 There are in the two sets of figures some striking concomitant variations ; though care must be taken not to infer too much from them. Undoubtedly, both directly and indirectly the climatic is the most important single influence determining the distribution of em- ployment of labor in this as in other services of the public works department. But fiscal and financial factors enter here as elsewhere. The fiscal year of the city of Boston ends on January 31. In the preceding November the budget for the coming year, with depart- mental estimates of financial needs, is submitted to the mayor for his approval within thirty days. His action on it is in turn subject to the approval of the city council of nine members. One-third of the members of this body are elected annually, and the partially new council, which is to act on the budget and also on new loans for construction purposes, takes office and first sits in February. It is generally April or even May before the bulk at least of new con- struction work, the kind that is let out on contract, can be fully planned. Meanwhile what work is done by the paving service is maintenance work, by direct labor, on which can be spent not more than a third of what was so spent the previous year, and assessable Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 249 construction jobs that have been held over by contractors from the preceding autumn. Of these last, some twenty-five or thirty have in recent years held over the end of each fiscal year, January 31 ; and they furnish most or all of the contractors' employment on public works in the first three months of the calendar year and some even in April and May. Most of the new year's maintenance work, therefore, continuations of non-assessable construction work, and all new construction work, must await not only good weather but the good pleasure of the mayor and council. The above factors apply largely or wholly to the other services of the department as well as to the paving service. To revert now to our labor figures, we find in both years the maximum employment occurring in the early summer: in 1912, in June; in 1913, in July. There is a steady rise before this period, but not a steady fall afterwards. In 1912, for instance, August shows a larger figure than July, October a larger figure than any one of the three preceding months. Again in 1913, September is busier than August, and October, when a great deal of rainy weather interfered with the work, is less busy than November. In both years November shows up well and gives evidence of the final rush to get work done before the cold weather sets in ; and the steep drop in December indicates a let up by contractors as well as the com- pletion of contracts and the absence of further proposals by the city. For in the fall the city accepts bids which allow the con- tractors to drop work in the winter, setting such a time limit that contractors will suffer no penalties for stopping work for several months. That there was in 1912 even as much work done in the first three months of the year as appears from the labor figures is due to the pushing through of a bridge-repairing job that was not interfered with by the winter weather. In the sanitary service of the highway division we find conditions reversed. This is a conspicuous case of a heavy load in the winter. The permanent force consists of about 550 men. In addition to these the service uses contractors' men and teams. Clearly there is more need for ash removal in the winter than in the summer. There is also a decline of about 25 per cent, from January to June, in the number of men used under contract for offal removal, due in part to the fact that some of' the permanent force is shifted from ash collection to offal collection, as the former grows lighter. The figures for 1913 for the sanitary seryice follow: 250 American Labor Legislation Review Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Ashes, etc 159 180 166 160 130 97 82 66 86 114 153 184 Offal 56 54 50 47 45 43 5O 57 5& 54 54 54 Total 215 234 216 207 175 140 132 123 144 168 207 238 Per cent 90 98 91 87 73 59 55 51 60 71 87 100 That December is the largest month of the year in the total is due in part to an increase in the demands of the service. This is at- tested by the fact that the figures for the early months of 1914 are somewhat larger than those for the corresponding months of 1913. Finally in the street cleaning, oiling and watering service, with a permanent force of about 500, we see again a heavy summer load, as is shown by these figures for 1913: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Cleaning is 20 20 21 19 15 15 17 15 15 16 14 Oil and W 4 3 24 72 96 112 103 80 65 15 26 12 Total 19 23 44 93 115 127 118 97 80 30 42 26 Per cent 15 18 35 73 90 100 93 76 63 24 41 20 The fluctuations in the street cleaning figures are negligible and those in the figures for oiling and watering are self-explanatory. The influence of a wet October again shows; and the rise in No- vember is partly a reflection both of dryer weather and of the conditioning of certain streets for the accommodation of large foot- ball crowds. The sewer and water division is divided into the sewer service and the water service. In the former there is a permanent force of about 375. The situation is rather similar to that in the paving service, though the fluctuations are not so extreme. The figures for 1913 on contractors' labor follow: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 54 29 83 128 173 137 158 93 96 120 120 40 Per cent 31 17 48 74 100 79 91 54 55 69 69 23 Although frozen ground does not lend itself easily to sewer or watermain work, a certain amount of the work can be and is car- ried on in the winter. (This fact will again appear in the work of the metropolitan water and sewerage board.) The drop in August and September, according to a member of the department, is to be explained by a lull in the letting of contracts, while the larger figures in the two following months show the results of a new batch Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 251 of contracts. In the water service, which also has a permanent labor force of about 375, the figures for 1913 are: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 7 4 17 23 87 109 81 95 98 82 70 64 Per cent 7 4 16 21 80 100 74 87 90 75 64 59 The- year 1913 saw a relatively small amount of new extension work. Well over half of the above figures, therefore, represent maintenance work let out on contract. The preponderance of the latter is especially heavy in the cold months at both ends of the year, when, in any case, only certain kinds or stages of extension work could be carried out save at increased expense. Total con- tractors' labor figures for the division, both services, follow: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 61 33 100 151 250 246 239 188 194 202 190 104 Per cent 24 13 40 60 100 98 96 75 78 81 76 42 The figures for the bridge and ferry division of the public works department are as follows: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 85 100 95 85 85 50 30 25 40 40 35 40 Per cent 85 100 95 85 85 50 30 25 40 40 35 40 This division has under its control the erection, maintenance and operation of the municipal bridges and ferries. The above figures are all for bridge construction, and the maximum comes in mid- winter and the minimum six months later, in midsummer. It should be said at once that 1913 was not a typical year; still the figures are instructive in certain regards. It will be recalled that much of the work done by the paving service in the first three months of 1912 was of the nature of bridge repairing. Here again is brought to our attention one class of work that permits of being done in the winter. One single job, that went on during most of 1912, was carried through to completion in 1913 without stoppage on account of the weather. On a few of the days the cold was so intense or the snowfall so heavy that, because of the human ele- ment in the job, work had to cease; but the difficulty was not with the materials. In other words, whereas cold or rain or snow will interfere with paving work and masonry work, in the latitude of Boston it has little effect on salt water dredging or pile driving, or steel and certain other types of structural work. The finances of the work having been provided for, neither the climate nor the fisc hindered it. 252 American Labor Legislation Review The permanent force of wage-earners of the bridge and ferry division consists mainly of such persons as draw tenders, deckhands, firemen, and so on. No figures can therefore be presented which would be comparable with the figures given for the other services with their various classes of mobile laborers. The division lets out on contract both maintenance and construction work and has no force of its own such as those of other services heretofore con- sidered. This completes the survey of the public works department. The first two questions the extent of fluctuations and the causes thereof have been answered. There has been some intimation of the answer to the third; a more detailed discussion of this will, however, be deferred till later both for this department and for the other units that are to be studied. Meanwhile there follows the grand total of labor figures on contract work for the whole de- partment for 1913: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 380 390 465 644 898 949 938 820 873 7SO 843 543 Per cent 40 41 49 68 95 100 99 86 92 79 90 57 If, however, we add to the above the permanent force, assuming this to be 2,500 the year around, we get the following results : Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 2880 2890 2965 3144 3398 3449 3438 3320 3373 3250 3343 3043 Per cent 83.5 84 86 91 98.5 100 99.5 96 98 94 97 88 The figures to be presented for the public buildings department are not so complete and therefore not so satisfactory as those for the public works department. There are several reasons for this. One of these is that in 1913 the department kept incomplete inspec- tors' force accounts for its construction work, and none at all on repairs. Another, a consequence of the first, is that figures on the small jobs on which it did not keep the customary records were not all obtained. The department spent during the year over $1,000,000, of which nearly three-quarters went for construction. The rest went for repairs ($40,000), and for such other matters as fuel and lighting, cleaning of buildings, elevator service, and other items in the ordinary running expenses of buildings. Over $500,000 was spent in the construction of one building the new city hall annex, which was completed only this past summer. The figures given below are on about $700,000 worth of construction, or Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 253 over 85 per cent of the total. They represent, of course, like all the other figures given in this report, only labor put directly on the buildings, not any employed in the manufacture or transportation of materials. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 121 94 146 167 210 193 130 141 115 92 127 168 Per cent 58 45 70 79 100 92 62 67 55 44 60 80 In the aggregate, climatic influences play a relatively small part in the composition of these figures. Much more important is the stage of development of the buildings. The drop of the figures in Sep- tember and October, for example, is largely due to the gradual completion of two of the buildings included ; and the rise in Novem- ber is a reflection of a spurt of activity on the city hall annex, which building alone accounts for 150 of the 168 in December. The buildings whose figures contribute to the totals in 1913 were all under way before the year began; and they illustrate the relative independence of climate enjoyed by modern steel structural work. The difference between the trends in building figures and, say, in paving figures is brought out even more clearly by a considera- tion of employment of labor in work for the schoolhouse depart- ment. In this case are presented what are believed to be complete statistics on construction work. Repairs and maintenance are entirely excluded. Inspectors' force accounts on construction work are faithfully kept, but no attempt is made to keep a record of the labor used on each of the multitude of small jobs .about the many school buildings. The firms engaged on such jobs for the department are numerous, and any attempt to get accurate figures for this study would have been impossible, even had time per- mitted. It should be noted, however, that in 1913 the repair and maintenance work accounted for a third of the expenditure of about $1,500,000. Further it must be realized that naturally as much as possible of such repair work is concentrated in the summer, when the schools are not in session. This increases the preponderance of summer employment, but at the same time is so manifestly the part of wisdom that it cannot be considered alterable. The figures, then, for construction in 1913 follow : Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 242 191 255 387 314 284 352 362 246 207 138 97 Per cent 63 49 66 100 81 73 91 94 64 53 36 25 These represent work on thirteen different buildings in various 254 American Labor Legislation Review stages of construction during the year. Here, as in so many other places, the evil effect of February on operations can be seen; but even so the labor employed was about half of that employed in April, the busiest month, and some of the difference was due to financial as well as to climatic causes. In 1913 work was slow in getting started, and figures for 1914 would probably show a much more rapid rise after the beginning of the new fiscal year. This department, like the others, has two sources of income taxation and loans and must await action by the city council for new grants from either source. Like all de- partments, however, where considerable money is raised each year by loans, it can and does provide for keeping sufficient funds avail- able over the end of the fiscal year so that construction need not be halted; and unlike the paving service it is not so largely at the mercy of the weather in its work. Conditions in Cambridge, Everett and Newton are quite different from those in Boston; and the cities are essentially different from one another in a number of ways. Cambridge had in 1910, accord- ing to the federal Census of that year, a population of 104,839. It combines features of a university town with those of a manu- facturing city; those of an old New England town with those of a city which in 1910 had a population only 24.4 per cent of which was native white of native parentage. Everett, a much newer city, which as late as 1880 had a population of only 4,000, in 1910 boasted 33,484 inhabitants, almost a third of whom were native white of native parentage. It is to a good extent a middle and lower class city, is not one of the most attractive suburbs of Boston, and makes not a great deal of effort to build up a system of parks or parkways or driveways. Newton, one of the prettiest and oldest of the suburbs, on the other hand, with an area larger than that of Cambridge, though its population in 1910 was under 40,000, has long stretches of highways and driveways, and spends considerable money each year in so-called "forestry" work. It is the most American of the three cities, with a native white element of native parentage equal to about 40 per cent of its total popu- lation, and is essentially a residential city. The effects of the industrial and physical characteristics of the three communities is to be seen in their employment of labor in the departments under survey. It should be borne in mind that these cities depend almost Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 255 entirely on the direct employment of labor for both construction and maintenance of their public works. The Cambridge Water Department, for example, has not let a contract, save for materials, for about thirty years. All three cities in 1913 paid their common labor $2.25 a day; Cambridge is at present writing going onto the $2.50 scale. The figures for the Cambridge departments studied are: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Street 267 268 239 335 347 35 1 3^5 385 387 392 400 325 Per cent 67 67 60 84 87 88 91 96 97 98 100 81 Parks 49 46 32 38 50 60 70 70 57 57 58 58 Per cent 70 66 46 54 71 86 100 100 81 81 83 83 Water 83 78 84 85 93 95 96" 97 96 94 95 93 Per cent 86 80 87 88 96 98 99100 99 97 98 96 Sewer 15 15 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 Per cent . 20 20 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Total 414 407 430 533 565 581 606 627 615 618 628 551 Per cent 66 65 68 85 90 92 96 99.9 98 98 100 88 The Cambridge fiscal year ends on March 31. The March slump in the street department seems to be due in part to the exhaustion of funds at that time, just as the abrupt rise in April, made necessary by spring work, was made possible by the beginning of the new year. The street department, like the highway division of the Boston Public Works Department, handles all the work connected with the streets, from construction to cleaning. The notable regu- larity, from April to November, inclusive, is in some degree due to the fact that neither of these services new construction or cleaning is very actively pushed, so that the steady increase comes in good measure from such maintenance and repair work as is done. Snow work of course lifts up the figures in January and February. In the park department activities include such matters as parkway construction, moth destruction, tree preservation, and provision for recreation. The city makes use of school yards for playgrounds during July and August, and the figure for each of these months would be swelled by some thirty, were the playground workers included in the total. Moths brown-tails and their kindred account for much employment of labor in a great many 256 American Labor Legislation Review New England towns, and Cambridge and Newton, among others, are at a great expense to fight them. The work goes on not only in the spring and early summer but in the late fall and early winter; and this more than accounts for November and December showing slightly larger figures than the preceding two months, and also contributes to January employment. The minimum em- ployment of labor is found in the first three or four months of the year, when a small force is kept to do what little work is possible and necessary about the parks. In two weeks of March and in one in April, only twenty-seven laborers were on the pay roll of the department. The situation in the water and sewer departments is radically different from that in the two just studied. In both we find a regularity hardly disturbed except by the showing of the first two months of the year in the sewer department. It is a definite policy of the water department to keep more men on its rolls in the winter than are actively engaged, because of the need felt for an adequate emergency force. The smallest figure for the year for this department was seventy in one week in February, and the largest ninety-eight in each of two weeks in August. In the sewer department we find a policy unparalleled by that of any other surveyed. The department aims to keep a steady force throughout the year for its construction and maintenance work, save for the two months in the winter, when construction work meets with the greatest difficulties. For these months the depart- ment arbitrarily cuts down its force to such a small number as the fifteen indicated above, for maintenance work. For the city of Everett the totals of the figures for the correspond- ing departments, for 1913, follow: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 104 65 73 119 123 180 209 224 174 123 144 131 Per cent 46 29 33 53 55 80 93 100 78 55 64 58 In this case all the figures have been bunched together, chiefly because, especially in the park department, figures were very small. The totals show much greater relative fluctuations than do the Cambridge figures; for whereas in the latter city the minimum is over six-tenths of the maximum, here it is barely three-tenths. Nor does Cambridge show the large fluctuations in the autumn that Everett does. In the figures for both cities the most important item is the street department, which furnishes also the widest Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 257 fluctuations. Everett is less densely populated than Cambridge and less completely laid out, and is growing at a rate which gave an increase for the decade 1900-1910 of over 37 per cent, while the increase for Cambridge was only 14 per cent. Naturally, therefore, the street department has relatively more new construc- tion work than has the Cambridge department, and hence varies its labor force more widely. The fiscal year for Everett ends on December 31. Until new appropriations are made, each department may spend for maintenance one-sixth of what it spent the whole preceding year. Meanwhile city elections take place in December and appropriations are possible early in the year. Climatic in- fluences and the pleasure of departmental heads play more important parts there in determining when new work shall begin than is the case in Boston and Cambridge. The striking difference between Everett and Newton, despite a difference in population of only 5,000 or 6,000, is reflected in a comparison of the above figures for Everett and the following for Newton : Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct.Nov.Dec. Water 42 28 26 36 40 49 49 50 47 51 61 54 Per cent 69 46 43 59 66 80 80 82 77 84 100 89 Sewer 42 39 42 45 45 So 76 71 83 m 94 08 Per cent 38 35 38 41 41 45 69 64 75 100 85 88 Parks 63 58 58 63 79 99 38 39 3<5 36 41 S3 Per cent 64 59 59 64 80 100 38 39 36 36 41 54 Street 171 181 185 189 195 192 203 219 209 203 209 178 Per cent 78 82 84 86 89 88 93 100 95 93 95 81 Total 318 306 311 333 359 390 366 379 375 401 405 383 Per cent 78 75 77 82 89 96 90 94 93 99 100 95 In the first place, the daily average employment of labor (in labor days), for 1913, in Everett was only baout 140, whereas in Newton it was about 360. The monthly maxima are respectively 224 and 405 ; the minima, sixty-five and 306, which are respectively three-tenths and three-fourths of the corresponding maxima. This shows far greater regularity of employment for Newton than for Everett. For both, the minima are in February, the month which more than any other has shown throughout this report minimum 258 American Labor Legislation Review figures for employment of labor. The maximum, however, comes for Everett in August ; Newton, like Cambridge, shows its maximum in November. If the Newton figures be analyzed by themselves, some old acquaintances will be met. First, in each department the minimum occurs in one of the first three months of the year. Newton's fiscal year, like that of Everett, coincides with the calendar year, and the city elects new officials in December; climatic influences must again be assigned considerable importance in determining em- ployment of labor in these months. Secondly, in the park depart- ment we see the'influence of the work of moth destruction, begin- ning late in the year, and above all the influence of cessation thereof, in the abrupt drop from June to July. In the street department there is once more a slump in rainy October. Meanwhile, in the first eight months of the year the rise to a maximum in August is quite steady, save for a small drop in June, and the trend is not unlike that of the figures for the highway division of the Boston Public Works Department. In the sewer work a curious abnor- mality is to be found in the presence of the maximum in October, and the compression of almost half the year's activities into the last four months. This is due to some extension work that was under- taken at that time, while maintenance and repair work continued. In the same months also came increased activity in the water de- partment. Throughout the consideration of these figures of New- ton the large territorial extent of the city must be borne in mind as affecting greatly the amount of labor required to be employed. A large number of miles of highways and water mains and sewers require constant upkeep and additions, and in general attention en- tailing an expense per capita far exceeding that for a city like Everett, about equally populous but much smaller in area. Relative regularity of employment of labor is under those conditions not only possible but necessary and actual ; though Newton, using very largely direct labor, has no such definite policy as that of Boston of maintaining a permanent force of men. Employees of Newton, like all others with whom this report is concerned, except contractors' employees, are under civil service. The final division of this report is concerned with the work of some of the boards and commissions operating in the metropolitan district. The main state boards for the purposes of such a survey as this are the metropolitan water and sewerage board, the metro- Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 259 politan park commission, the directors of the port, the Massachusetts Highways Commission, and the harbor and land commissioners. The function of the highways commission is to construct and main- tain state roads in other than urban communities. It therefore practically never undertakes work in the metropolitan district, and hence will not concern us. The harbor and land commissioners for- merly had under their supervision every harbor and inland navig- able body of water in the commonwealth. At present, however, the port of Boston is under the jurisdiction of the port directorate, as far as the commonwealth, as against the federal government, is concerned; and with that transfer went most of the interest of the harbor and land commission for the purposes of this report. Some work it did do in 1913 in the metropolitan district; but the jobs were so small and so scattered that the figures would be of no significance. The metropolitan water and sewerage board will therefore claim first attention. This body is empowered to take charge of water and sewer services for any city in the metropolitan district that wishes to put itself under the board's jurisdiction in these regards. It has a fairly permanent force which in 1913, according to the an- nual report for that year, averaged about 400 men, other than clerks and officials and members of the engineering staff. The maximum employment came in August, the minimum in February, when about three- fourths as many laborers were directly employed as in August. Practically all construction work is let out to public bidders. There are no definitely fixed appropriations, year by year. Money for the work comes from two sources: loans and budgetary appropri- ations. Income from the former is for construction purposes ; that from the latter is for maintenance and is reimbursed to the com- monwealth, together with interest and sinking fund requirements, by assessments on the cities and towns supplied by the board. The loans for the construction fund are authorized far enough in ad- vance so that the board need not within any one year time its work by legislative action. With maintenance appropriations, how- ever, and in 1913 these amounted to $727,000, as against some $445,000 spent from the construction fund the fiscal factor is of importance in determining when work is to be carried on. Though the fiscal year for the commonwealth ends on November 30 and the legislative year begins on January i, new appropriations are not available before April or May. This fact involves the chief 260 American Labor Legislation Review or only possibility of change from present conditions of distribu- tion of employment, since ground conditions are the main determi- nant thereof, and the climate peculiarly significant in this board's work. The figures on labor employed by contractors, during 1913, follow : Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 93 95 uz US 130 150 201 150 123 121 120 87 Per cent 46 47 56 58 65 75 100 75 62 61 60 43 These figures, and all that are to follow for contractors' labor, were secured from contractors with the stipulation that individual figures would not be revealed in this report, but lumped in with all others concerned. Two observations, however, may here be made. In the first place, it may be said that throughout the year most of the labor represents work done for the sewerage works, since in 1913 relatively little construction for the water works was carried on. And secondly, an important piece of sewer construction was car- ried through the first three months of the year, which, having got under way during 1912, was not checked by winter weather, and which furnished a large part of the total for these months. In this connection the dates of the chief contracts made and pending during 1913 may be of interest. They are as follows (as given in the board's report) : 1912, March 28, October 15, December 26 and 30; 1913, February I, April 19, May I, June n and June 28. These do not include, nor do the figures given above include, some im- portant contracts for coal and for stationary engines. The maintenance work and hence the maintenance force of the metropolitan park commission are larger than those of the water and sewerage board. The fluctuations of employment are also greater. Although the exact figures have not been obtained, the variation seems to have been from about 200 or less, in January and February, to over 400 in midsummer, of the classes of labor under consideration. Seasonal influences of course operate strongly on the commission's work. They have been noted in connection with the work of the Boston and Cambridge Park Departments, and include the effects of climate on road and parkway building and repairs, on the work of moth destruction, and on the need for the provision for recreation and bathing facilities. All of th( se are largely or wholly independent of such other factors as finances. The commission, however much it might have at any particular time Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 261 of the year, cannot economically regularize its work to an appreci- able extent. As for the construction work done under the commission's supervision and by it let out on contract, it is on a rather small scale, or was in 1913, compared with that of the other bodies. Indeed, the one job of any size that year was the building of the Anderson Bridge, over the Charles River. The fund for this, $200,000, was given by Mr. Lars Anderson, and work was begun in 1912. Construction work paid or contracted for out of state loans amounted to less than half this in cost. The labor figures are therefore of not very great significance. They follow: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 48 44 50 90 100 123 130 85 88 84 60 64 Per cent 37 34 38 60 77 95 100 65 68 65 46 49 The Anderson Bridge is of reinforced concrete with brick trim- mings, and spans the river at a point where during a good part of the winter there is more or less ice. Work was affected by these factors, as well as by the date of letting the contract, which was in November. Another factor in the rate of work is evident from the following quotation from the commission's report : "The bridge was open for travel in the autumn of 1913, when its usefulness was well demonstrated by the comfort and rapidity with which the crowds attending the greater football games at the Harvard Stadium were accommodated. Great credit is due . . . for the energy and skill with which this result was accomplished." The final state board which is to be studied is the port directorate. This body has practically no permanent force of its own, and lets all work out on contract. To quote from the report of the chief engineer of the directorate to the directors, as of December 21, 1913, "The principal work during the year has been the planning and supervision of the reconstruction of the Commonwealth Pier No. 5 on the Commonwealth flats at South Boston, including the preparation of plans for and supervising the construction of a viaduct extending from said pier to Summer Street ; the preparation of plans and supervising the construction of the paving and drain- ing of Commonwealth Pier No. 6, known as Fish Pier, and the portion of Northern Avenue and D Street adjoining the same"; and the preparation of certain other plans which do not concern this report at this time. The labor figures that are to be given for the work done for the directorate during the year are not complete, 262 American Labor Legislation Review the chief omissions being on certain dredging jobs done at several periods of the year. The bulk of the work represented by the figures was done on Commonwealth Pier No. 5. Contract for this was let on December 9, 1912, and the job was to be completed on April i, 1914. Up to November 30, 1913, the end of the fiscal year, $1,635,285.90 had been paid out on this job alone. The totals on all jobs for which figures could be secured are as follows: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Actual 537 580 647 9841 816 595 S5O 455 5<>7 561 836 917 Per cent 56 61 66 100 83 60 56 48 53 57 85 93 The periods of greatest activity are the spring and the late fall; August, in midsummer, not only is the least busy month but pre- sents a figure less than 50 per cent of the maximum. The trends of the figures are about the same, though of course the percentages are not, if the figures for Commonwealth Pier alone are taken. They do not need much comment. The work on the building, hav- ing been begun in the early winter, was pushed along through the cold weather, and with the coming of mild weather in April took on a burst of activity. As certain parts of the work were completed, and before certain others could be begun, the labor force was di- minished. With the coming of fall, some of the finishing interior work could commence; and contemporaneously other work was pushed faster. The effect of the spurt in April and May is shown in the fact that on May 31 "the first steamship of the Hamburg- American line was docked at the wharf," the eastern side having been completed. The port directorate receives its income from three sources : the sale of bonds authorized by state legislative enactment, special ap- propriations by the legislature, and miscellaneous sources, such as leases, permits, and so on. The bulk of its work, certainly, need not within any one year wait for action by the legislature, and on the other hand much of it is affected by climatic conditions to a less extent than most of the work with which this report has been concerned. This applies naturally even more to dredging and such work, in the open salt water of the harbor, than to some of its building operations or to dredging of inland waters, srch as might be undertaken, for instance, by the harbor and land commissioners, or to bridge building by some other body that entailed operations in frozen rivers. There remains to be answered the third of the three questions Seasonal Fluctuation in Public Works 263 raised at the beginning of this report, namely, "To what extent, if at all, and how, may the variation (in employment of labor) be lessened and employment regularized ?" Clearly there are two chief groups of causes for these variations, as they have presented them- selves in the study: climatic, and financial or administrative. For the former there seems to be but little remedy. Street paving, sewer and water main extension, road building, forestry work in its various aspects much of this either cannot be done at all in the winter, or cannot be done as cheaply as at other times of the year. Other kinds of work can be and are done in winter, such as structural work of certain types, a limited amount of maintenance work of most kinds, dredging, and above all, underground work such as subway construction. Regularization of public employment, therefore, must come largely through the pushing of these latter kinds of work in the slack season of cold weather, unless the prose- cution of other work, even at added immediate expense to the public treasury, seem to be the wise policy, dictated by motives of net long-run social gain. The other set of causes assigned for variations in employment the financial or administrative bear meanwhile on the question of even the most rigidly economical regularization. A number of contractors have volunteered the information that public bodies do not take as much advantage as they should of the fact that where work is possible in winter without increased difficulties and costs, contractors are willing to shade prices in order to keep their capital busy and their labor force as nearly intact as possible. The rea- son for this failure must be in this second set of causes. It was further said that whereas in the spring contractors first compete strongly for business and tend to bid as low as possible, as the year advances and they are using their resources perhaps to the limit they tend to bid higher and higher, because of a decreasing desire to extend their operations. Now we have seen that in the public bodies that have been studied, fiscal years ended some- where between November 30 and March 31, that legislative years began at some time after January i, and that appropriations gen- erally became available some time in April or May. This does not mean that it has been impossible to spend any money at all before that time; for, as we have seen, loans are frequently made available or maintenance work is allowed to be carried on to such 264 American Labor Legislation Review an extent that considerable work of one kind or another can be done as soon as weather conditions permit. It nevertheless seems true that there is room for the earlier placing of contracts than at present obtains. Just what is the extent of this cannot be said ; nor can one say how much the time when a given fiscal year ends affects the volume of contracts let for winter work. Our conclusion must therefore be that some measure of regulari- zation of employment of labor on public works is possible for Boston knd the metropolitan district, even without changing either fiscal or legislative years, and even while adhering to a policy of strict economy of public expenditure for these works. Greater regulariza- tion still, in some directions, may conceivably come through a change in the fiscal year; almost certainly through a greater promptness in the making of appropriations, if that be politically possible. There remains the climatic difficulty. Modern engineering is doing much to lessen that ; yet with the rigorous winters that obtain in the vicin- ity of Boston there are likely to be for some time to come distinct limitations on regularization, from this cause. In so far, however, as it is possible and may be deemed advisable to overcome some of these, at a money cost either slightly or considerably higher than normal, the maximum of regularization will be attained. This would clearly mean the employment of larger numbers of men through the winter months than at present; and the net advantage to the com- munity, as has been said, may lie in the direction of maximum regularization, even at extra money cost. COMPULSORY UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE IN GREAT BRITAIN OLGA S. HALSEY Wellesley College As a ten-months' resident of England, living in and near settle- ments, I soon learned that from the time of Queen Elizabeth, England has known the problem of the "able-bodied poor." This she has successively tried to relieve through the poor law, with its pauper stigma upon beneficiaries, and to prevent with all the power of the deterrent policy of the modern poor law. In 1886, when 10.2 per cent of the members of the trade unions were out of work, the problem became too great for the tremendous ma- chinery of the English poor law to handle unaided, and the municipal authorities were officially invoked to give work for wages to the unemployed, upon the new principle that those aided were not to be classed as paupers. The poor law guardians still controlled the situation, since they alone recommended suitable cases for relief. This provision marks the first general recognition of unemployment by public authorities as no longer a personal but an industrial problem. The experiment was not wholly success- ful; as the supply of work was not sufficient, applicants were employed but two or three days, without adequate support. The attraction of irregular work for the casual and work-shy man compelled the unemployed workman's act, 1905, to place further restrictions upon those who might be aided in order that only the elite of the unemployed might benefit. Again men were casually employed. The employment of men of all grades of industrial experience necessitated expensive supervision; the excessive wage cost of slow, inefficient workers, and the slovenly result, combined to make it a costly experiment. Both the majority and minority reports of the poor law com- mission of 1909 condemned these methods of relief, developed after centuries of experience, and recommended that the labor market be organized through labor exchanges. Parliament passed 266 American Labor Legislation Review the labor exchanges act of 1909, empowering the board of trade to establish a national system of exchanges. In December, 1911, 260 exchanges had been established. These have since been in- creased to 4O2, 1 and 1066 local agencies have been added. As labor exchanges are an essential prerequisite of the British unemployment insurance, their activities will be briefly described as a preliminary to the consideration of the insurance act. Use of the exchange is of course entirely voluntary. An ex- ception is made in the case of the men in the compulsorily insured trades, who must "lodge" their unemployment books at the exchange in order to claim benefit, and are then automatically put on the files of those looking for work. Following the reorganization of the exchanges in 1912 and the coming into operation of the insurance act in July, 1912, the number of individuals registered as looking 'for work in 1913 as compared with 1911 has increased 24 per cent; the number of vacancies to be filled, 55 per cent; the number of vacancies filled, 48 per cent; and the number of individuals placed, 39 per cent. The bulk of this increase in 1913 over 1912 occurred in the insured trades, which accounted for 6 1 per cent of the registrations. 2 The expansion in other industries was slight. The natural interpretation is that the exchanges are serving to break down the initial prejudice of the worker (due to the unfortunate association of the exchanges with the unem- ployed workman act), and that the failure of workers in noninsured trades to avail themselves increasingly of their assistance is at- tributable to the retarding influence of prejudice. The magnitude of the placing done by this network of exchanges, and their increasing patronage, may be realized from a comparison of the October figures for the last three years. The figures for 1911 are not comparable, because during 1911 only 260 exchanges were in operation. WORK OF BRITISH LABOR EXCHANGES *OR THE MONTH ENDING MIDDLE OF OCTOBER, 1912-1914* 191-? 1913 1914 Daily average registrations for work 8,731 9i'5i 12,609 Daily average of vacancies notified by employers 3,898 3,841 5,33 Daily average of vacancies filled 3,133 2,860 4,121 1 Board of Trade Labour Gazette, November, 1914. 3 Ibid., February, 1914. * Board of Trade Labour Gazette, November, 1914. Compulsory Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain 267 Even more significant is the growing number of vacancies which the employers call upon the exchanges to fill, i.e., an increase of 55 per cent from 1911 to 1913. Part of this increase may be attributed to the insurance against unemployment, since 59 per cent of all the vacancies notified are in the insured trades. The explanation is that these employers have had their attention more forcibly called to the exchanges than other manufacturers. This increase in 1913 might be accounted for by the demand for workers in a year of exceptional prosperity. The expanding use of the exchanges by employers during the war, when trade is bad, and when the union unemployed percentage ranged from 7 per cent in August to 4.5 per cent in October, effectually disproves this contention. The following table shows the percentage of gain in vacancies notified by employers from August to November, 1914, over vacancies notified during the corresponding months of 1913, in both insured and noninswed trades. 4 PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE IN VACANCIES NOTIFIED BY EMPLOYERS IN AUGUST- NOVEMBER, 1914, OVER AUGUST-NOVEMBER, 1913 August September October. November Insured trades 24.1% 27. % 45.2% 48.2% Noninsured trades 18.2% 32.9% 34-8% 37-2% Thus both in a time of prosperity, and during trade depression, the registrations from employers show greater gains in the trades covered by unemployment insurance than they do in noninsured trades. The unemployment insurance act has resulted in increasing the use of the exchanges, necessarily by the insured workmen, volun- tarily by others, and by employers in the insured trades. In turn, the more extended use multiplies the effectiveness of the exchanges in reducing the time lost between jobs. In 1909 when the bill establishing labor exchanges was passed, the board of trade had prepared a bill for unemployment insurance, which was withheld in order to perfect the scheme and to permit the newly created exchanges to become an efficient social machine. When the bill was finally presented to the House of Commons in 1911 it appeared as part II of the national insurance act, and as most of the discussion of the bill was directed against part I, which provided for health insurance, it passed into law under cover of this part. It has since been necessary to make amend- * Board of Trade Labour Gazette, September to December, 1914. 268 American Labor Legislation Review ments of administrative technique, through the amending act of 1914. The British supporters of unemployment insurance advocate it primarily as a dignified method of relief. As a palliative it is preferable to poor law aid with the pauper disqualification, or to the municipal relief works with their case investigation into the needs of the man. In contrast with this older method, the insured British workman is now relieved upon the basis of his own con- tributions, without any question of his need, and with a legal right to this assistance. The principle of placing part of the burden upon the employer is essentially equitable, since it is the employer who, in busy seasons, reaps the benefit of the reserve of labor. On the other hand, the state is accustomed to care for the unemployed with more or less adequacy, and, by assisting the insurance scheme, contracts to assist upon a business basis and also justifies her right of compelling both employer and worker to contribute. The obligation to insure against unemployment is placed upon all employers and upon the 2,250,0x30 workers in the six trades of building, construction works, shipbuilding, mechanical engineer- ing, construction of vehicles, and sawmilling. The following table 5 shows the distribution of insured workmen among the insured trades : NUMBER AND PER CENT OF INSURED WORKMEN IN INSURED TRADES Number of Unemployment Per Cent Books Issued to Workers of Total Insured Trade to January, 1914 Insured Building 775,775 34-Q Construction of Docks, Railroads, Canals, etc 161,168 7.0 Shipbuilding 260,820 11.4 Mechanical Engineering . 804,527 35.3 Construction of Vehicles 204,672 9.0 Sawmilling (of a kind commonly car- ried on in an insured trade) 11,819 0.5 Other Industries (insured trades which occur in connection with other in- dustries, and where the noninsured industry is main business of the employer) 63,563 2.8 Total 2,282,324 loo.o 6 Board of Trade Labour Gazette, March, 1914. Compulsory Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain 269 These trades were selected because in them the extent of un- employment was best known and the fluctuation in employment most severe. An umpire appointed by the crown is empowered to decide what workers are included within the terms of the act. 6 Within the first year of the operation of the act over 1,000 pub- lished decisions, and 10,000 decisions given in correspondence, were made by the umpire. 7 A weekly contribution of 2j^ pence is payable by both employer and worker; to the combined contribution of 5 pence the state adds one-third as much, or i% pence, weekly. 8 During the first year, the contributions of employers and workers amounted to 1,701,300, and that of the state to 378,ooo. 9 Payment is made through the employers, who affix weekly a special 5-penny stamp to the unemployment book of each insured workman, deducting the worker's 2^2 pence from his wage. British employers com- plained to me that in addition to the expenditure for the weekly contribution, the act had necessitated increased expense for the extra clerical labor to keep the appropriate records. The incidence of the tax, embodied in the weekly contribution, is considered unjust by leading associations of employers; for it takes cognizance, not of the profits of the employer, but merely of the number of workers employed, which bears no relation to profits. Thus the burden is heavy in the building trades, in which a large amount of labor is employed in proportion to the profits. 10 The following illustrative figures given by Mr. W. Pretty, a promi- nent cotton manufacturer, bring out the point: Firm Employing 100 Hands Firm Employing 2,000 Hands Profit 10,000 Profit 10,000 Employer's levy 1 19 Employer's levy 2,383 Sickness insurance 65 Sickness insurance 1,300 Unemployment insurance. . 54 Unemployment insurance... 1,083 Per cent, levy of profit 1.2 Per cent, levy of profit 24 Conflicting phrases in sections 87 and 101 of the original act leave "National Insurance Act, 191 1, 89. 7 First Annual Report, p. n. 8 The contribution is uniform for all trades and workers ; exception is made in the case of boys under eighteen who pay at the rate of 2 pence a week, with proportionally decreased benefits, and of casual laborers, who pay at a higher daily rate. This is done to penalize irregular employment. "First Annual Report, p. 22. "Building News, December 20, 1912. 270 . American Labor Legislation Review one in doubt as to whether worker or employer is legally liable for the contributions. The French act for compulsory insurance for old age was wrecked on a similar snag. The present outlook in England, however, is encouraging, for in twenty-two prosecutions of em- ployers for failure to pay contributions during the first year, con- victions were secured in each case. 11 In return for the weekly contribution of 5 pence, and the state's contribution of 1^3 pence, the insured workman is assured of a weekly benefit of 7 shillings during unemployment, provided he does not draw more than fifteen weeks' benefit in any one year, nor in greater proportion than one week's benefit to five weeks' contri- butions. 12 Benefit is not paid for the first week. It may be asked whether this limited amount of benefit is ade- quate to the needs of the unemployed. In a study of i3O,ooo 13 spells of unemployment it was found that 63.1 per cent of unem- ployment among nonunion men was covered by benefit, and 59.3 per cent among union men. Among nonunion men the percentage of unemployment which was not on benefit because of the waiting week constituted 27 per cent, and among union men 34 per cent. This difference is due to the fact that the spells of unemployment among nonunion men are longer than among unionists, so that the first waiting week constitutes a larger percentage of the total amount of union unemployment. 1 * Among nonunion men 1.2 per cent of recorded unemployment was not covered because benefit had been exhausted, and among the union men, .5 per cent ; in addition 8.7 per cent of the nonunion men, and 6.2 per cent of the union men were disqualified for statutory reasons which will be discussed later. Although the small proportion of disqualifications due to exhausted benefit presents a flattering pic- ture, it must be remembered that men are less likely to apply for benefit if they have exceeded either the fifteen weeks' benefit or the benefit allotted in proportion to the paid-up contributions. As a result, men may be out of work without benefit, without the knowl- edge of the board of trade. The figures are further colored by the fact that they were taken in the early days of operation, before many of the insured had had an opportunity to exhaust their benefit. "First Annual Report, p. 13. u Act of iQi'i, Seventh schedule. "First Annual Report, p. 36. "The average number of days of unemployment .for each spell for which benefit was paid was 22.2 among non-unionists, and 18.6 among union men. Compulsory Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain 271 The frequency of repeated claims from the same workman increases the importance of this consideration among the constant claimants. Within the first six months in which benefit was paid, 30 per cent of the claimants had made two or more claims. 15 Although the wisdom of covering all the unemployment of the men who are con- stantly in and out of a job may be open to doubt, it is possible that the benefit is not sufficient to meet the demands of the most irregu- lar workers. In addition to the time limitation placed upon benefit, the act con- tains several statutory qualifications which condition its receipt. In order to qualify for benefit a man must prove that he is capable of work but unable to obtain suitable employment. The workman is not considered to have refused suitable employment if he has de- clined a situation vacant because of a trade dispute, or because the wages are less than those to which he was accustomed, or if they are less than the wage prevailing in a district in which he may be offered work. The British trade unionists whom I interviewed agreed that the exchanges had kept the spirit of the act. The original act also required the workman to prove that he had been a worker in an insured trade for at least twenty-six weeks in each of the preceding five years. Over one-third of the men disquali- fied for benefit lost the right on this one ground alone. 16 The amending act of 1914 has substituted as a requirement the payment of ten full contributions. 17 A worker is furthermore disqualified if he has lost employment (i) because of a trade dispute, (2) because of voluntarily leaving without just cause or, (3) because of mis- conduct. 18 During the first twelve months of benefits 9.9 per cent of the total claimants were disqualified on these statutory grounds. The following table 16 shows the percentage of the claims disallowed during the first year which were disallowed on each of the statutory grounds. PERCENTAGE OF CLAIMS DISALLOWED DURING FIRST YEAR WHICH WERE DIS- ALLOWED ON EACH STATUTORY GROUND Failure to prove employment in an insured trade for 26 weeks yearly for 5 years 36.0% Voluntarily leaving employment without just cause) Misconduct j 3&2% Trade Dispute 17.0% Refusal of suitable employment "First Annual Report, p. 26. 18 Board of Trade Labour Gazette, March, 1914, p. 87. 17 National insurance act, 1914, 1. M National insurance act, 1911, 86 and 87. 272 American Labor Legislation Review Notwithstanding these limitations and conditions, during twelve months (January 15, I9i3-January 17, 1914) 1,144,213 claims for benefit were made. Of these the direct claims constituted 822,689, or 72.1 per cent, and those made through trade unions, by a method to be explained later, 321,524 or 27.9 per cent. Separate payments (of which many were frequently made under one claim) numbered 1,651,229, and the total amount expended was 497,725, making an average of 6 shillings a payment. 369,667, or 74 per cent of the benefits, were paid on direct claims, while 128,058, or 26 per cent, were paid on claims made through associations. 19 During the first year, for which alone the full report is available, the estimated weekly cost of benefits was 1^4 pence a head, whereas the total contribution is 6^3 pence a head. As a result of the ac- cumulation of contributions during the first half of the year, when no benefits were paid, and as a result of the exceptionally good trade during the first year of benefits, the fund expended less than was anticipated, and in July, 1913, had accumulated a balance of i,6io,ooo. 20 The administrative machinery for the act is relatively simple. The United Kingdom is divided into eight divisions, and each di- vision has charge of all the claims within its district. All claims for benefit are made through the labor exchange, where the unemploy- ment book is left until work is found, and where in general the worker must prove his unemployment by signing daily an unemploy- ment register within working hours. Unions which have made ar- rangements under section 105 may have their members sign the vacant book at the union offices, although an increasing number of them are keeping the union vacant book at the exchange. The local exchange comr-.unicates with the employer to gain his version of the cause of unemployment; this, together with the claim, is forwarded to the divisional office where the complete records are filed. The insurance officer passes upon the claim and the exchange is notified to pay or to withhold benefit. If the claim is disallowed the workman may appeal to the court of referees which is composed of an impartial chairman, appointed by the board of trade, and an elected representative of the employers and of the workers. Their decision is final if in agreement with that of the insurance officer; if it is in disagreement, appeal may be carried to the umpire. Dur- " Board of Trade Labour Gazette, iMarch, 1914, p. 87. "First Annual Report, pp. 22 and 31. Compulsory Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain 273 ing the first six months of benefit only one in twelve of the 37,424 disallowed claims was appealed. 21 Although unionists complained to me that the process of appeal is slow and difficult, they appear satisfied with the constitution of the courts and with the essential justice of the decisions. The cost of administration is not ex- pected to exceed 10 per cent of the receipts from employers and workers. 22 Figures are not yet available which show its actual amount. Although the act is essentially a measure to relieve the unem- ployed, it also seeks to prevent unemployment by offering slight financial inducements for the regularization of industry. A refund of 3 shillings is made to employers for each workman for whom forty-five weekly contributions have been made in the course of the year. This is at once an effort to induce employers to retain their workmen, and a means by which the premium of the steady establishments is reduced below the flat rate. 23 Another device to the same end is the remission of the contributions of employers and workers when the employer systematically works short time during a period of trade depression, instead of dismissing part of his force. 24 On the other hand, casual labor is penalized through higher contributions, thus for one day's work, I penny is due from both employer and worker; for two days' work, 2 pence; and for three days' work, 2.y 2 pence, which is the regular rate for a week. 28 If, however, the employer engages his casual labor from the labor ex- change, the employment of six different men on the six working days is reckoned as the employment of one man for a week. 28 The advantage of this arrangement to the workmen is apparent, for it gathers the individual reserve of many firms into one central pool at the labor exchange . The possible future effects of these preventive measures cannot be foretold upon the basis of the first two years' operation, when manufacturers were exceptionally prosperous. The absence of pressure may possibly account for the employers' belief that these inducements to prevent unemployment are too slight to produce any great effect. "First Annual Report, p. 32. "Act of 1911, 89. "Act of 1911, 94J 1914, 5- 14 Act of 1914, 7. "Act of 1911, Eighth schedule. "Act of 1911, 99-1. 274 American Labor Legislation Review The most far reaching provision of the act authorizes the in- surance officer to test the ability of a man to work if he is unable to keep a job because of lack of skill; and further empowers him to afford training which will bring the requisite skill. 27 This pro- vision, however, has not been put in operation. The act is perhaps unique for its refunding to insured workmen of the age of sixty, who have made 500 contributions to the fund, the amount by which their contributions have exceeded the benefits received, together with compound interest at 2.^/2 per cent a year. 28 Under these conditions, the inducement to malinger is decreased, and the unemployment fund becomes a savings bank to the steady worker. I was told that this provision has decreased the hostility of the better workmen to the act, since their contributions are not lost to them. It is not yet known what the results of the refund will be, since the clause is as yet substantially inoperative. 29 As an American student of the act, I was particularly impressed by the degree of cooperation with the trade unions. Under section 105 of the act, "an association of workmen" which pays out-of- work benefit to its members in an insured trade may make an ar- rangement with the board of trade to enable the association to pay state benefit to its members, with a refund from the state of three-fourths of the amount so paid out, provided that the union pays a benefit equal to one-third of the state benefit. 30 A refund is made only for those claims which would have been allowed if payment had been "direct" through the labor exchange. This com- plicates the administration slightly, for the local exchange, after it has received its authorization to pay, must then notify the union secretary, who actually pays the benefit. At first difficulties were encountered, for me warm-hearted branch secretaries thought that they could pay the state benefit with the same freedom with which they were accustomed to pay out union benefits; as a result, pay- ments were made with an unjustified expectation of refund, and consequent disappointment. It also not infrequently happened that the inability to obtain all the expected refund was attributable to the poor bookkeeping of the unions, which did not pass the govern- ment auditor. In addition, many of the unions cpmplain that the 27 Act of 1911, 100-1. 28 Act of 1911, 95- "Act of 1911, 95; I9H, 6- "Act of 1911, 105; 1914, 13. Compulsory Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain 275 act has given them no authority and that the administrative work has entailed extra expense for which they receive no compensation. The conference of the Labour party in February, 1914, demanded that a grant be made to the unions to cover these administrative expenses. On the other hand, the union support of the act is shown in their continued agitation that the act be extended to in- clude all trades within the compulsory provisions. Up to July, 1913, 105 associations with 539,775 members had entered into these arrangements, and of these the president of the board of trade stated that twenty-one unions, with a membership of 86,000, had begun to make provision for unemployment in- surance since the passing of the act. Thus compulsory insurance has stimulated voluntary insurance. It was expected that trade unions would reduce their rates of contributions to their own out-of-work benefits by the 2^/> pence which their members contributed to the state scheme, and that the unions would gain by the contributions of employers and state, to the amount of 4 shillings I penny out of each 7 shillings of benefit. 81 As far as I was able to ascertain, this has not occurred. Instead, the unions continue their own rate of benefits, with some slight modifications, and merely add the state benefit "when due." The individual members have benefited and not the union treasury. The act has gone outside the insured trades and aims to en- courage voluntary insurance in all trades by its offer of a subsidy of one-sixth of the out-of-work benefits paid out by any association of workmen in any trade, provided benefit does not exceed 17 shillings a week. 32 In practice, 103 unions have entered into ar- rangements under the two sections, 105 and 106, thus gaining the advantage of the 7 shilling state benefit, and claiming a refund of one-sixth of the union out-of-work benefit. During the first year's operation 172 unions, with a membership of 376,041 in noninsured trades, had made arrangements to gain this subsidy. In each case the union must certify that unemployment has not been connected with a trade dispute, and allow the government to audit the books of the unemployment fund. The government grant for this is made by Parliament and does not come from the unemployment fund built up by the contributions of employers and workers. Unions are finding some difficulty in claiming the refund where their ac- 11 Carr, Garnett and Taylor, National Insurance, 4th edition, p. 384. "Act of 1911, 106; 1914, 14. 276 American Labor Legislation Review counting cannot be accepted by the government auditors. Although the aim of this subsidy is to encourage trade union insurance, promi- nent trade union secretaries doubt if it is large enough to make in- surance possible in the weaker unions, or in those of poorly paid trades. As far as known to the board of trade, only three of the associations which have taken advantage of this section have ini- tiated their out-of-work benefit since the act came into operation, and the board is unable to say how far the prospect of state aid was an inducement. 83 Under the special conditions brought on by the war, the board of trade has made arrangements to increase this subsidy by an "emer- gency grant," upon the conditions (i) that the association is suf- fering from abnormal unemployment; (2) that the association is not paying more than 17 shillings benefit, including the state 7 shil- lings; and (3) that the association will impose special levies upon its employed members. The following is the scale of subsidy in proportion to benefit given and levy imposed : 34 Maximum Rate of Unemployment Rate of Weekly Levy Required to Benefit Paid by Association Obtain Emergency Grant of One-sixth of One-third of benefit benefit Not more than 175 3d 6d Not more than 155 2d 4d Not more than 135 id 2d Thus far we have been concerned with the practical operation of the unemployment insurance act, and have disregarded the under- lying problems v lich faced the British legislators and which they have solved so successfully. The first difficulty encountered is the fact that, in any scheme of insurance embracing large numbers of workmen, the steady workers pay for their irregular comrades, and that the contributions from the trades with low unemployment rate subsidize the more seasonal industries. If insurance is to be the method, the first difficulty cannot be escaped. With regard to the second, if detailed figures were available showing the unemploy- ment percentage in various trades, it would be preferable to vary the weekly premium in accordance with the risk of the trade. The British actuaries who made the estimate upon which the act is based found that available data of union unemployment were not ade- " C. F. Rey. 84 National Insurance Gazette, November 14, 1914. Compulsory Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain 277 quate to justify individualized rates for each trade. 35 In the ab- sence of reliable figures the only course was to adopt, at least for the time being, the policy of a flat rate contribution for all workers in all trades. This was done and power was given to the board of trade to vary the rates, after seven years' experience has been gained, either by a uniform revision, or by a revision for any one trade in which the previous contribution was inadequate or more than adequate. 86 The second problem is that of maintaining neutrality between em- ployer and worker. It is obviously unfair to compel the employer to contribute to the unemployment fund if it is to be used to subsi- dize workmen on strike; it is equally unjust to compel workers to accept jobs vacant because of a strike, on penalty of being dis- qualified from benefit. Equally vital, though no less difficult, are the questions involved in defining unemployment. The employer may reasonably ask if workmen who are discharged because of insubordination, drunkenness, or who leave of their own free will, are to reap the benefits of the employers' contributions. With equal concern the unions may ask if men who are discharged in slack time, or who leave because the foreman is tyrannous or in an effort to get better wages or hours, should be deprived of benefit. A no less difficult set of problems is involved in the necessity of meeting certain union demands. The union will rightly claim a share in the administration of these new benefits. It is a nice question of or- ganization, so to apportion the responsibilities that unions will be contented with their share, and that employers may not reasonably fear union dominance. In my estimation one of the most noteworthy aspects of the act is the extent of cooperation involved with trade unions in accepting union standards, and the success with which the neutrality between employer and worker has been maintained. During the two and a half years of operation, the act has done what it was expected to do ; it has been found possible to define the insured trades, to pay benefit to the unemployed workmen within these trades, and to make a saving on the actuarial estimate. The accumulation of a surplus at the close of the first year is due in part to the phenomenally low rate of unemployment during the first year, which colors all the facts revealed by the early experience, and which should constantly be borne in mind in estimating the "C. D. 162, p. 10. "Act of 1911, 102. 278 American Labor Legislation Review value of the first year's success. The actuarial basis cannot be con- sidered a final success until the act has been tested by a period of trade depression. The board of trade has found it possible to co- operate with the unions and to win the support of the Labour party for the scheme, so that, notwithstanding relatively minor criticism, the party is agitating for the extension of the compulsory provis- ions so that all trades may be included. Furthermore, the existence of compulsory insurance does not seem to have weakened the move- ment for voluntary insurance, but, on the contrary, to have given it a new impetus, especially within the insured trades. The corner stones upon which the present and future success of the act rests are the existence of an efficient system of labor exchanges, and of a sane trade union movement with which it is possible for a gov- ernment to cooperate without calling forth just opposition from employers. GENERAL DISCUSSION WALTER L. SEARS, Superintendent, Public Employment Bureau of the City of New York: Public employment bureaus were first es- tablished in Europe more than fifty years ago, and are now in operation under government control in more than fifteen foreign countries. They were first established in this country in the state of Ohio in an attempt to do away with the unscrupulous private employment agencies. Seventy-five cities located in more than twenty-five states, besides Canada, the Hawaiian and Philippine Is- lands and Porto Rico, now have these bureaus under government jurisdiction. The general impression prevalent in this country relative to these bureaus is bad, for obvious reasons. Wherever these bureaus have been successful and accomplished what their friends desired, it has been due to the fact that they have been accessibly located, run on strictly business lines, free from political influence, highly or- ganized and efficiently managed. They have not been used as a dumping ground for the "down and outs" of the community. They have not been and should not be, considered as a charity in any sense of the word, no more than our public libraries and schools. It, should be remembered that their chief function is to act as an agent of the employer and employee in an honest endeavor to find suitable help for the former, and employment for the latter. The employer usually states in his order for help just what he desires, and it is the duty of the public employment bureau to comply with that request as nearly as possible. The employer has the final say as to whom will be employed; the bureau has little to say in the matter. The employer's confidence in many of these bureaus has been lost, for the reason that the service has not been satisfactory; he has been imposed upon. The ordinary employer may be willing to contribute generously to charity, but when it comes to the matter of whom he shall employ he properly insists upon prompt service and competent, reliable and temperate help, the best he can obtain for the consideration he has to offer. It is human nature the world over to want to "buy in the lowest market and to sell in the 280 American Labor Legislation Review highest market." This is particularly true of the "labor market." The success of these offices depends upon the "quality of service rendered to the employing public." Without the patronage of the employers, which can be obtained and retained only by giving a quality of service equal to the best they can obtain elsewhere, no office could survive. This point is absolutely vital if success is to be obtained. I do not believe in advisory committees or councils to advise and cooperate with the management, except possibly where the officials have had no experience in the work. The public employment bureau should be accessibly located, lighted, well-ventilated, and be provided with sufficient equipment and funds by which properly to serve its patrons. The merit system should prevail in the matter of appointments to the staff, and each member should be courteous, patient, sympathetic, with a pleasing personality and ample knowledge of human nature. Proper records should also be kept, not only for use in the work of the bureau, but to show to those who are responsible for the enforcement of the law and for appropriations. Sufficient funds should also be provided with which to give the office practical, prudent publicity. This is absolutely necessary if the office is to become favorably and properly known to the employing public. Judicious cooperation should be had with all individuals and organizations interested in the intelligent placement of labor, but in no case with a fee agency, unless such agency agrees in advance to waive the fee, and then only with a reputable agency. Handicapped cases, and those sent to the bureau by public bene- factors, can be handled to a limited extent. In all such cases, the employer should be made aware of all the conditions regarding the applicant. Care should be exercised so that employers may not be imposed upon. I have persistently and repeatedly advised that all churches, fra- ternal associations and other organizations having committees on unemployment centralize the demand for labor at the government bureau or clearing house. By this method much of the confusion and duplication could be eliminated. In the absence of reliable in- formation, both the employer and employee are bewildered in not knowing where to obtain suitable help or employment. The gov- ernment bureau can render a disinterested and impartial service free to all. General Discussion 281 If they were properly conducted, and the management fully under- stood their duty to the community that they are to serve, every mem- ber of society would be better off for such institutions. There is ample room and opportunity for highly specialized private employment agencies. The unscrupulous private agency may have cause to fear the government bureau, but no well-con- ducted and properly managed private employment agency need have any fear of the public bureau. Fads and theories should not enter into the administration of the public employment bureau. We should be practical in all that we do, and adopt only such methods as have been tried and found absolutely practical. Obviously, proper blanks and forms are es- sential by which to keep proper records. We believe that we have such blanks in the New York City Public Employment Bureau. The following data represent the total operations of the New York city office for the first five weeks (twenty-nine days) of its existence : Male Female Total 1. Labor demand (Help wanted) No. of employer's applications 424 No. of persons called for 385 337 722 2. Labor supply (Situations wanted) No. of office registrations 9,208 1,281 10,489 No. of positions offered 398 266 664 3. Positions reported filled 117 75 192 4. Native born 5,055 757 5,812 Foreign born 4,153 524 4,677 5. Citizen 6,173 921 7,634 Alien 2,495 360 2,855 6. Unionists 363 I 364 MARY VAN KLEECK, Secretary, Committee on Women's Work, Russell Sage Foundation: We are all expecting a great deal from the public employment agencies in the way of exact and specific information about the industries which lay their workers off at cer- tain seasons of the year, and about the fluctuations in employment. We all know, however, that unless the record system of employment agencies provides for this special gathering of information we are all going to be very much disappointed. I would like to ask Mr. Barnes whether he thinks our hopes are justified on the basis of records now to be had in public employment agencies ? 282 American Labor Legislation Review MR. BARNES: Do I understand that you wish to know whether the records at present used in the best employment offices would show about seasonal work, etc.? Miss VAN KLEECK: I have been a good deal disappointed per- sonally in looking over records in some of the employment agencies. I want to know whether there is anything in the organization of a bureau which would prevent securing the exact and specific informa- tion on those points, or whether the employment agents are generally feeling that they must meet a practical situation in a practical way, and can gather the statistics required. MR. BARNES : I would say in answer that we are in that field in a state of compromise. We are not as yet prepared fully to furnish statistics. The information which first will have to be gathered will be largely that necessary for the working of the office. As I said here before to-day, we have not a trained set of workers for these offices as yet. How are you going to gather these statistics with people who have never been in an employment office before? How many people know anything about employment offices, or have ever looked an applicant squarely in the face and tried to judge whether he could fill the job which was in hand to offer? Miss VAN KLEECK: But do the records provide specifically for a statement of the details of the last job a man has held? MR. BARNES: On the records which I have just had printed for the state of New York, a special point is made of the time a man has been employed, and the time that a man has held his last job, and these will be noted the first thing. The record states that a man shall give as a reference his last employer, and how long he has worked for that man. Miss VAN KLEECK: May I ask Mr. Sears whether this is the case in his bureau ? MR. SEARS : Perhaps I should first explain our method of receiv- ing applications for employment. We register all applicants for employment, who call at the office, on a registry slip. First we ask General Discussion 283 the applicant to sign his name in full on the lower section of the blank. This is done for two reasons: (i) because after signing his name he feels that he is under obligation to tell the truth; (2) because in that way we get the name spelled correctly. The rest of the blank is filled out by the clerk receiving the application. By looking at the blank you will observe that related questions are grouped together; most of the questions are answered by a check mark. We obtain the applicant's name, address, and borough or municipality, and also telephone number of certain classes of help; age, conjugal condition, religion (which is not obligatory), and whether the applicant lives at home or boards out; occupation de- sired, years and months' experience in such occupation, wages acceptable, and whether he is willing to accept employment out of town, language spoken, color or race, length of residence in the United States, state and city ; by whom sent to the bureau, cause of unemployment (the clerk endeavors to classify this answer under a definite standard cause of unemployment), number of months un- employed during the past twelve months, number of dependents, symbol of clerk receiving the application, and date of its receipt. On the back of this registry slip we endeavor to obtain references from the last two employers, written, if possible, and the duration of em- ployment by such employers ; failing in that, we endeavor to get two references from other responsible persons. A record is made on the back of this registry slip showing the prospective employer's number and name, date on which the applicant is sent to such em- ployer, and a symbol indicating whether the applicant has been hired or not. On our new blanks I contemplate adding whether or not the applicant is a unionist, also rating i, 2 or 3 on personality and edu- cation. All of this information is more or less important from an employment office standpoint. I fully realize the importance of obtaining additional information from which to make studies with a view to regularizing employment and for other reasons. None of this information is taken under oath, but it is believed to be sub- stantially correct. The highly skilled applicant will not submit to much questioning, but I would not object to the addition to those already on the blank of other questions from which studies may be made, and would be pleased to receive suggestions in regard to the matter. 284 American Labor Legislation Review Miss VAN KLEECK: Then you do not ask the last business, necessarily ? MR. SEARS: No, we do not always ask the kind of business in which the applicant was last engaged. Only the names of two ref- erences, as previously stated, are required. PETER J. BRADY, Secretary, Allied Printing Trades Council, New York: Just one more question: Is it the policy of any state em- ployment bureau, in case of a strike, to give the applicants for work full information on the new wages which may prevail, and the new conditions that may exist? MR. SEARS: In all labor troubles the office maintains absolute neutrality, as Mr. Barnes has said. We endeavor to have the unions inform the bureau promptly of any labor difficulty. When we learn of any, we take the order for help in the regular way, but inform the applicant of the conditions, and when this is done he usually declines to accept ; but if he should decide to accept, we stamp on the card of introduction "There is a strike on at this establish- ment." When the applicant is fully informed of all conditions, very few are willing x o accept. This policy, followed for more than eight years at the state free employment office at Boston, was found to be satisfactory to organized labor, and from memory I would say that not more than twenty-five places were filled by strike- breakers in the eight years' operation of the office. MR. BRADY: But is the information given that. the people who have gone out on strike have done so because of the desire for shorter hours and better wages? MR. BARNES : I believe the New York law would cover what you are asking. If an employer should send to a New York office for help, and there should be a labor disturbance of any kind, there is a regulation that he make a full statement of what that trouble is. Then it is our duty to notify the workers that this statement has been sent in to us and to ask them to make their statement. Then the statement of the employer and the statement of the workers are posted up in the office, side by side. The rest of the procedure General Discussion 285 is just as Mr. Sears has described. But for the full information of every one concerned, the statement of both sides is posted right there in the office. MR. BRADY: That is in regard to New York. But is this the practice at present wherever these employment bureaus are in operation ? MR. BARNES: In Illinois, for instance, the law in the beginning stated that the public employment offices could not send men to take the place of strikers, but the employers made a fight on that clause and it was declared unconstitutional. In the amended law it was made just as in the New York law, under which there is a statement allowed from both sides, which is supposed to be posted up. In a recent investigation of the Illinois employment offices I found out that in three instances they were run by labor men, and I am very sure that there is strict impartiality there. In the other offices I visited they told me that they always followed the rule of the law. In Indiana there is nothing in the law on this question, but they claimed to me that they were strictly impartial. In Missouri it is the same. MARGARETT A. HOBBS, American Association on Unemployment: While it is true that many difficulties are encountered in providing special public work for the unemployed in times of business depres- sion, yet such work has been started this winter more widely than is perhaps generally realized. Newspaper clippings from all parts of the country show that last winter only about half a dozen cities offered work to the unemployed. Dayton, Ohio, Kansas City, Port- land, Oregon and San Francisco gave a few men a chance to break rock at 75 cents or $i a day. Many would not take this work and on the whole it was rot very successful. Duluth pointed the way to more effective methods by having several sewers built during the winter by the unemployed. This winter, however, fifty or more representative communi- ties in twenty-six states all over the country have actually under way public work for the unemployed, and in many more cities such action has been urged. The scope of the work varies all the way from the $1,500,000 bond issue in Detroit to the action of the coroner 286 American Labor Legislation Review in Peoria, Illinois. This gentleman offered to help the unemployed by placing them on his juries, six men at a time, at the rate of $i and a dinner for each case. Most of the work provided consists of grading, road making, park improvements, sewer building, or laying water and gas pipe. Port- land, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, have arranged for a consid- erable amount of work in clearing land outside the city. San Diego, California, has had for three years a municipal farm where thirty men at a time are taken for ten days each. They are given board and lodging and 50 cents a day. The men have been almost all casual laborers, some under suspended sentences from the police court, yet they have worked well and the plan has even been a financial success. All letters received from the officials in charge of these public works for the unemployed consider them successful. "The city with the expenditure of $7,000 has been able to accomplish work which would otherwise have cost in the neighborhood of $14,000," "We desire to compliment the workmen for. their industry. Many of them are unused to outdoor labor, but all of them worked faith- fully and well," are some of the expressions received. One city offici; I summed up the advantages of public work for the unemployed in these words : "It would be a much wiser policy for the community to supply work at fair wages in times of industrial depression than to dole out public relief to able bodied men better for the community and better for the men." Ill THE RELATION OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT TO THE LIVING WAGE FOR WOMEN Prepared for the YORK STATE FACTORY INVESTIGATING COMMISSION In Cooperation with the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ON UNEMPLOYMENT By IRENE OSGOOD ANDREWS, Assistant Secretary AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR LABOR LEGISLATION PREFACE Two of the big distinct movements which have recently emerged from the heterogeneous strivings for social justice of the past five years in America are centered about the problems of unemployment and the minimum wage. This report is an attempt in a small way to bridge the gap between the two move- ments and to show the relation of one to the other in so far as they are concerned with women in industry. In this investigation, as in many others, material of value was at hand in voluminous printed reports. But the bits of in- formation on the particular topic under consideration were scattered and elusive. By bringing together in convenient form the main existing facts and by analyzing them for purposes of comparison, their true significance is brought out. The analysis of conditions has been confined mainly to irregular employment over a yearly period; no comparisons for long periods of time have been attempted in this report. The three main sources from which the greater part of the material for this report has been ferreted out are the searching investigations made during the past few years by the United States Bureau of Labor, the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission, and the Factory Investigating Commission of New York State. For the painstaking examination of these and numerous scattering articles and reports cordial acknowledg- ment is here made to Miss Margarett Hobbs who has assisted at every step in the preparation of this report. I. 0. A. THE RELATION OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT TO THE LIVING WAGE FOR WOMEN I. INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM In the discussion of the legal minimum wage for women, pro- vided for by nine states in 1912 and 1913, practically all of the emphasis thus far has been placed upon only one of the two essential factors, namely the rate of pay. Almost no attention has been given to the other equally important factor, namely the regularity of employment. Both factors must be taken into consideration if the working woman is to receive a " living wage." All minimum wage rates so far established in this country have been weekly rates based upon the necessary cost of living per week. Such wage awards therefore really set rates per hour. In effect they say, " You may have a living wage for each hour you work, but if you have no work you must get along the best you can." For the awards make no allowance for short time em- ployment To establish rates which will take unemployment into account is admittedly a difficult problem. But in at least one country this need has been recognized and effectively dealt with. Mr. Justice Higgins of the Australian Commonwealth Arbi- tration Court recently had before him a case involving a mini- mum wage for dock and wharf laborers. He refused to con- sider the loosely made statements concerning weekly wages and took as his basis for discussion annual earnings. The Justice said " The vital facts of the position are that the work is casual and uncertain, that jobs are short and that the necessities of the man and his dependents are certain, continuous and incessant. There is nearly every day a surplus of men seeking employment at most wharves. * * * It is lamentable that so many lusty men, in the prime of life, should have to stand about idle wait- 292 American Labor Legislation Review ing for jobs. The frequent bouts of idleness must often lead to bad habits, and to loss of muscular condition. There is a tremendous waste of potential human energy involved. The men serve the public by waiting for ships, and they are entitled at least to food, clothes, and shelter for themselves and depend- ents during the whole time of this service. If people expect cabmen to be ready for a call on the stand, they must pay an extra rate to cover the time lost in waiting. It would be absurd to say, as has been urged here, that the obligation of the master ceases with the actual physical exertion, for ' they also serve who only stand and wait.' r The justice found that the men got about 30 hours of work per week taking slack and busy seasons together. The mini- mum cost of living was found to be 51s. a week; at Is. 9d. an hour for 30 hours a man would receive 52s. 6d. per week. The rate therefore of Is. 9d. per hour was fixed upon with time and a half for overtime. This reward is provisional and can be re- vised as soon as the employers " set their house in order " and devise some means whereby more steady work will be provided. The need of correlating a wage award with the number of hours during which work can reasonably be expected has been recognized by a few English writers, also. Mrs. Hubback writ- ing in the New Statesman for February 21, 1914 (Supplement p. Ill) says " rates, whether time or piece, mean nothing till we know the average received during the year." In the same jour- nal for June 6, 1914 (p. 264) it is stated that if the employers refuse to change their system of employment 1 they " must be compelled, by the extension of the Trade Boards Act or by some other administrative machinery to pay a rate of wages which will assure to all * * * whose services are required at one time or another a rate of wages indubitably sufficient to provide a tolerable living wage." Again and again when legislation has been proposed which would interfere with the " individual free- dom " of the employer the cry has been raised that if we inter- fere with industry we are injuring the workman since he is de- pendent on the industry for his livelihood. In brief " we will take care of our workmen." But what becomes of the employer's J See also, p. 310. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 293 responsibility for his employees when orders for his wares are irregular or times are bad? It appears that some employers at least feel responsible only when it is convenient or profitable for them, for at other times we read " factory closed indefinitely/' or u mills now running half time " or " 10,000 workers laid off.' 7 The importance of regular work has also been recognized in America. The Massachusetts Commission of 1911 said " Regu- larity of employment is as vital to the worker as a living wage. It presents another problem but yet one inextricably bound up with the question of what wages are necessary to maintain the employees of any given industry. 7 ' 1 The Massachusetts Wage Board for the brush industry also saw the need of something more than an hour rate. " Any minimum wage finding which stops with merely naming a minimum hourly rate merely looks well on paper, but accomplishes no actual result beyond a some- what pale moral effect." 2 It must be obvious, therefore, to all thoughtful students of the problem that if we seriously desire to secure for working women a living wage we must either (1) grant them a wage rate suf- ficiently high to cover periods of unavoidable unemployment or (2) devise some method whereby fairly steady employment will be supplied. Some system of unemployment insurance might also well be considered in this connection. The problem is a difficult one and invites the serious attention of those interested in the welfare of working women. THE ECONOMIC HELPLESSNESS OF WOMEN The position of women in respect to the problem of unemploy- ment is one of peculiar helplessness. The entire industrial situa- tion for them is beclouded by the tradition of their economic de- pendence. The right to a just and full compensation for one's labor regardless of questions of dependency is not yet universally accepted. Perhaps unconsciously the employer is influenced by this belief that women do not seriously desire permanent employ- ment. He therefore frequently maintains toward female em- ployees an attitude of irresponsibility. This belief is aggravated 1 Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards, 1912, p. 162. 2 Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission, Bulletin Xo. 3, p. 28. 294 American Labor Legislation Review by the fact that many working girls themselves look forward to marriage and withdrawal from industry within a few years and therefore do not have a strong incentive to strive for steady perma- nent work. Irresponsibility on the part of both the employer and the em- ployee is accentuated by the present unregulated system of em- ployment found in most industrial establishments, and also by the very nature of women's work. In the first place it is very largely in seasonal trades, and in most of these we find a constant flux of workers, employed here or there for a few days or weeks and then passing on to the next job. In the confectionery and the paper box industries in New York City in 1913, for instance, the State Factory Investigating Commission says in its report, that three times as many people as the firms ordinarily employ at any one time, entered and left the industry during the year. This great shifting army is in no position to care for itself during periods of idleness by saving money, for wages in this unskilled group are notoriously low, and indeed there is ample evidence that but few working women receive wages sufficiently high to justify saving. Moreover, very few women belong to trade unions or benefit organizations of any sort. But even among the more highly skilled organized women the percentage of unemployment i? very great, running in New York as high as 12 per cent, at the end of March, 1912, and 6 per cent, at the end of September, 1912. Women workers, too, as a class are especially immobile. The majority of women workers are young and many of them live with their families. Numbers of the older women are struggling to support their children or to help in maintaining the family life. In any case, it is very difficult for them to move from town to town to secure work, and in the case of the younger girls, at least, it is obviously highly undesirable for them to leave the shelter and protection of their families. These peculiar disadvantages besetting the woman in industry make the problem of regular employment and a living wage an unusually serious and difficult one. Any solution must necessarily be preceded by a careful analysis and understanding of the real elements which go to make up this problem of assuring a real living wage to the woman worker who is not only poorly paid but is also irregularly em- ployed. Irregidar Employment and the Living Wage 295 KINDS OF IRREGULAR WORK The problem of unemployment is so complex that one's im- pressions become almost kaleidoscopic. If the point of view is turned ever so little, behold, one has an entirely new picture to study and analyze. It is not the purpose of this report, however, to add new material on the extent of unemployment, but rather to analyze and present in more detail that special picture which shows the effect of irregular employment upon the income of women workers. Irregular work is of several varieties. Most obvious is that complete loss of work occurring when an employee is dropped entirely from the pay-roll of an establishment. Such unemploy- ment means the stopping of all income and the discouraging often heartbreaking task of searching for a new job. At other times the employees are only temporarily " laid off." One de- partment may be closed for a short time, or perhaps the entire establishment shuts down for a few days or weeks. Such periods of irregular work often extending over several months, are usu- ally accompanied by a great deal of " short time " work that is, employees may be retained on the pay-roll but have work for only a few hours a day with two or three days a week entirely unemployed. Thus a worker who averages $7 or $8 a week may earn during these months only $4 or $3 or even $2 a week. Not only does this wage loss occur with piece workers but it affects with almost equal force, time workers. It is this " short time " work which plays havoc with the annual income of the steady worker and which is seldom, if ever, balanced by the short period of overtime work and increased earnings. For example, Katia, a skilled garment operative, had no work at all for two months and a half during the year. But out of the remaining nine months and a half she had only three months of full-time work. During the other six and a half months she never worked more than five days a week and sometimes as little as two days. Again, firms sometimes make a practice of retaining as many of their workers as possible during the dull season but reducing the rate of pay in place of " laying off " the employees. Both short time and a lower rate of pay reduced earnings in the case of a rose-maker in an artificial flower establishment, cited by Miss Van Kleeck. This girl " who earned $9 a week in the busy season 296 American Labor Legislation Review was employed through the dull summer months, but she worked only three days a week with half pay, except for an occasional week when more orders were received. Even then she was paid $2 less than in the winter for a full week's work, a premium to the firm for not i laying her off.' " 1 It is apparent that the woman industrial worker loses for prac- tically every moment when she is not employed, even though she is idle through no fault of her own. This unique method of wage payment for the factory girl is quite in contrast with methods of wage payment among other classes of workers. Salaried workers, for instance, such as stenographers, clerks, agents, social workers, teachers, are paid a certain amount for a given period of time, usually a year or sometimes a number of months, during which time there may be many idle hours without affecting the income. Even salesgirls, paid by the week, often have periods of idleness during a day for which they do not lose in wages. Still another varied group of workers, practically paid by the piece, includes public chauffeurs, cab drivers, waiters, most lawyers and phy- sicians. Such workers are employed and paid for a specific job. But fortunately for them their prices are adjusted, not only to the degree of skill involved, but also to the fact that employment is not continuous. We often rebel at the high fee of the cab driver or the doctor, and fail to realize that in addition to skill we are paying for the unemployed time of the man or woman. In con- trast with these classes of workers the factory girl is paid prac- tically for only the minutes when she is working. Even in laun- dries where work is fairly steady, time clocks are being installed, the workers sent off if they finish a few minutes early and corre- sponding deductions from their wages made. 2 So serious is the need of a steady income that even many of those who have received industrial training in certain lines of employment have been compelled to give up their chosen work for something that offered a more steady income. Miss Oden- crantz writing in the Survey for May 1, 1909, (p. 202) states that one-quarter of 420 girls who had graduated from a trade school had left the trades for which they were trained because 1 "Artificial Flower Makers," Mary Van Kleeck, p. 43. 2 Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards, 1912, p. 155. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 297 their employment was too irregular, and turned to others whose only common element was that of greater steadiness of employ- ment. For instance, Elizabeth and her sister Emily made chil- dren's dresses for several years. In busy times they could earn from $6 to $9 a week, but when the slack season came they made only $3 or $4 and wasted much time waiting for work. They were usually laid off after Christmas for about three weeks and for several months in the summer. Since the mother was a widow and it was necessary for the girls to keep up the home, both finally turned to telephone operating, where each has steady work at $7 a week. Elizabeth said : " Dressmaking is a nice trade, and may be all right for other girls, but I have to support myself and make more than pin money. I can't afford to stay home three or four months every year." In brief, then, we demand that the factory girl be on hand the moment she is "wanted," but the time she wastes waiting to be " wanted " is usually not cared for in any way nor are any steps taken as a rule to reduce this waiting period to a minimum. This unjust and unsocial policy tells its story in the anaemic and under-nourished girl, the tubercular girl, the criminal girl and at times in the girl " gone wrong." ANNUAL INCOMES This study of the actual incomes of working women brings out clearly the indisputable fact that " rate of pay " is but little in- dication of income. And this applies not alone to those younger " irregular " workers as yet unskilled and undisciplined who suffer from lack of work and low earnings, but it is found that for trained and experienced workers also, the actual income falls from 10 per cent, to 20 per cent, below the possible income based on " rate of pay." It is practically impossible for the usual official statistics of " days in operation yearly " or " average number employed by months " to reveal this situation, but it is clearly seen in the more intensive investigations, particularly when the total numbers employed each month are compared with the total amounts paid out in wages each month. The totals for each week bring out the contrast even more clearly. In the paper box industry in New York City, during the year beginning Novem- ber, 1912, the difference between the largest and smallest num- 298 American Labor Legislation Review bers employed each month was only 8 per cent., but this rose to 12 per cent, when weekly totals were compared. In contrast with this is the difference between the largest and smallest amounts paid out in wages. The difference in monthly wage totals was 15 per cent., but this rose to 30 per cent, when weekly totals were compared. While, therefore, the numbers employed varied only 12 per cent, from the busiest to the slackest week, the weekly wage totals varied 30 per cent., indicating that while many em- ployees were kept on the pay-roll their wages, through short-time work, were being reduced very much below normal. In the mak- ing of women's clothing in New York 'City the difference in the average numbers employed in 1912 by months was 46 per cent., while the monthly wage variations rose to 60 per cent. In the confectionery industry in New York, during the year beginning September, 1912, the greatest weekly variation in numbers was 25 per cent., whereas the corresponding variation in wages was 35 per cent. Comparisons between actual and possible earnings, based on average weekly earnings and rate of pay, reinforce these facts. In the paper box industry in New York City, 94 per cent, of a selected group of 246 women working under conditions above the average earned less than their scheduled rate of pay. Out of this 94 per cent., 62.1 per cent, fell more than 10 per cent, below their possible earnings for the period worked, and 41 per cent, fell more than 15 per cent, below. In the confectionery industry in a sim- ilarly selected group of 1,063 workers, 89.7 per cent, earned less than their scheduled rate of pay. Out of this 89.7 per cent., 63.4 per cent, fell more than 10 per cent, below their possible earnings for the period worked, and 44.6 per cent, fell more than 15 per cent, below. The average loss in actual earnings compared with rates for both groups was approximately 15 per cent. An investigation by the Connecticut Commission on the Condi- tions of Wage-Earning Women and Minors 1 showed that for 942 females in the cotton industry the computed full time earnings were $9.17 while the average actual weekly earnings were only $8.05, a loss of 13.9 per cent. ; in the silk industry for 1,175 fe- males the corresponding figures were $7.40 and $6.26, a loss of 1 Renort of Feb. 4. 1913, pp. 67. 91. 153. 171. 200 Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 299 18.2 per cent. ; in brass factories for 662 females, the figures were $7.87 and $6.89, a loss of 14.3 per cent.; in the hardware indus- try for 701 females the figures were $6.79 and $5.95, a loss of 14.1 per cent. ; in the metal trades for 2,541 females the figures were $7.41 and $6.50, a loss of 13.9 per cent. These results are taken from 50 factories in 14 localities, and the average actual weekly hours worked were 51 for all the industries except silk where the average hours were 50 per week, full time for most of these establishments being the legal 58 hours per week. For the year 1913 the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor reported that among organized women workers, where one would expect to find relatively good conditions, the possible annual earn- ings averaged $483, while actual earnings fell to $429, a loss ot 11.2 per cent. For all union garment workers including many women, the average loss was 15.7 per cent. Losses among un- organized workers would unquestionably be higher. In her study on " The Living Wage for Women Workers/ 7 Miss Bosworth found that the factory workers she studied had an average yearly income of " nominally " $406.99. But they lost an average of nearly 13 per cent, from " slack work and no work," or $52.38, reducing their average annual income in this way to $354.61. Miss Bosworth therefore concluded that " the nominal rate is from 4 per cent, to 14 per cent, above the actual earnings." However, this is an average for all trades ; for those where considerable irregularity exists investigations show that at least 15 per cent, should be added to any wage rate in order to cover losses from short-time work. The alternative to this would be, of course, to make employment more regular and to consider some form of unemployment insurance. From the point of view of material values in dollars and cents, perhaps, the usual official wage statistics of " averages " may be of value. But for the human being who must have clothing, shelter and a certain amount of food, if not the proverbial three square meals each day, the average wage or average loss of any group of workers has but little more meaning than " rate of pay." While group averages show wage losses of about 15 per cent., yet when the wages of individual girls are taken out of the statistical 300 American Labor Legislation Review mass, we frequently find variations for the time they are on the payroll, of 75 per cent, between the largest and smallest amounts received each week, with losses from possible earnings running as high as 35 per cent. Take the story of Tina, for instance. Tina was a machine operator in a clothing factory. During the busy seasons, her weekly wage averaged $7 or $8 a week. But in order to come up to this level she had to work overtime till 8 o'clock in the evening for two or three nights a week during the height of the season. And work was so dull in the other half of the year, that her average weekly wage then fell to $3 or $3.50 a week and her total income for the year was only about $262.* She lost during the year about a third of her full-time wage. Well may such a girl ask, " What do I care if I average $6.12 a week for the year. If I have to live for seven or eight weeks in January, February or March on $4 or $3, or even $2 a week, with now and then nothing at all, how is it going to help me if I earn $8 or $10 for four or five weeks next November or December ? " From the point of view of a living wage for the individual a certain steady income must be assured each week. With wages for the great majority too low to permit a margin for saving it otherwise becomes im- possible for a worker to plan wisely or to maintain her standard of self respect or efficiency. OVERTIME The facts invariably discovered in every industry make it impossible for anyone to say " Well, after all they make as much by overtime work in the rush season as they lose in dull times." In the first place, the amount of overtime is far less in actual hours than the amount of slack time; and what overtime there is, is not worked by the entire force. For example, only a third of the women employed in decorating glass worked any overtime at all, according to the federal investigation of 1907-8. The overtime worked by this minority of the employees occurred an average of thirteen times and was most often of two to four hours duration. Some forty hours of overtime yearly worked by a third of the women cannot bring in a return which will 1 "Making Both Ends Meet," Sue Ainslee Clark and Edith Wyatt, p. 121. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 301 make up for the entire closing of many glass factories during the two summer months a sixth of the year. Then often there is no extra payment for the overtime of time workers. Salesgirls, for example, seldom get anything extra except " sup- per money." Three-fifths of the Washington, D. C., factory girls, a government investigation in 1911 showed, were not paid for their after-hours work. Again the output of piece workers is very likely to fall off relatively, because they grow so tired during the long hours, that their gains are much less propor- tionally than their length of time at work would indicate. An instance of this last fact is a computation of the hourly wages of three piece-workers in a Milwaukee tannery. The women were paid bi-monthly, and their regular working hours during each fortnight were 120. One earned 1-8 cents an hour working full time, while working over time her hourly earnings fell as low as 12 cents. The hourly earnings of the second were reduced from 20 cents as low as 8 cents when she worked over- time and the third suffered a reduction of hourly earnings from 15% cents to about 10% cents under the same conditions. 1 In the Boston study of factory girls' budgets, previously re- ferred to, 2 it was found that they lost nearly 13 per cent, on ac- count of industrial conditions. They gained less than 1 per cent from overtime, only $3.76, while they lost an average of $52.38, yearly. But the serious evils of overtime work are too well known to justify any fair minded person in countenancing long hours as a possible means of making up wage losses due to under- employment. DOVETAILING Just how extensive is the opportunity for a woman thrown out of work in one trade to find employment quickly in another is a matter on which there is but little reliable information. As an index of conditions, however, a comparison has been made, of the numbers employed by months in ISTew York City and " up- state " for the various industries for which such information was 1 " Women Workers in Milwaukee Tanneries," Irene Osgood, in Report of Wisconsin Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1907-8. Part VII, p. 1058. 2 " The Living Wage for Women Workers," M. Louise Bosworth, pp. 33-40. 302 American Labor Legislation Review available. (See Charts I and II.) Generally speaking, it may be seen that the busy seasons either coincide or overlap suffi- ciently to make anything like complete dovetailing an utter impos- sibility. In almost all of them there are two busy seasons com- ing in the spring and fall and two dull seasons, one after Christ- mas and the other in the summer. There are differences in the degree to which the numbers fluctuate, but variations follow the same general course except in the manufacture of shirts in Xew York City. There the fall busy season occurs as in other trades, but spring is the dullest time and the summer is active. But since the busiest season in shirt making comes in the late fall along with that of all the other industries, it would be impossible for unemployed operatives of other trades to turn to shirt-making during their slack summer period without displacing regular em- ployees whose services would be needed later on, when the former had returned to their usual work. An example of the difficulties of overlapping of the seasons in various industries, was brought out through efforts made in Bos- ton a few years ago to find work for milliners during the summer dull season. Places were found for them doing film developing, in which the largest number of workers are needed during the summer. But, in order to get positions, the girls had to agree to remain till October 1st, whereas they were needed in millinery by the first of 'September. A similar effort was made to dovetail their work with that of rebinding old books, which is another summer occupation, but here again the season overlaps about a month with that of millinery. Any successful system of dovetailing employments, moreover, would at best benefit only those workers who lose their places entirely, and would be of no help when short hours were worked or a few days lost at irregular intervals, as happens so frequently. The only valid conclusion on the question seems to be that drawn by the Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards, in 1911, 1 which said, after careful investigation, " ~No worker can count on casual work or a supplementary job to fill in the time lost by industrial causes." i Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards, 1912, p. 162. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 303 CHART 1 NEW YORK CITY AVERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED -BY MONTH (MAXIMUM =1OO%) IS 100% 80% 60% 40% 100% 80* 60% 40% 100%' 80% 60% 40% 100% 80% 100%; ^. . ./ / ^ '"***> N, - 40% CON NAL SEPT. FECT i AN 1912 ONEF ) FEJ. -SEP Y ALE T.1913 ioo% 7 : - -^ ^-r _ - , ^ 4O%, PAF MAL NOV. 'ER E AN 1912- BOXE > FEf NOV. S IALE 1913 100% S /'^ ^X \ / -% \ / \ / / 40% 100% 8O%- OR! S SSA MAL ELEC ND W E AN TED AIST D FEI SHOP INDU IALE S 19 *iv 12 / v \ ^ \ \> v ~i A/ 7* "- A \ / f v * \ ^( \ / / / \ X \ \ 40* Ml FE (MAN .LIN MALI X- .-^ .^ ^ X**" - ^" PAP MALE NOV. ER B ANDF I9t2rl OXE EMAL IOV.U 13. 100% ^ ^* x S*- . - 0* 1 < \. v 70X SH MALE OEC.1 IRTS ANDF H2.-0 EMAL EC.191 L 100% ST SALE )RE 56IRL 5 51913. / / 80%- 70X *s ">*-^ ^- ^.M ^KE Bt \ / / /" / / ^ ~--s' /* f >/^ ^ 1 ^~- \/ --r'' /+" -- x JAN. MAY JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 305 In addition to this " time " difficulty a worker has also to consider the kind of work to be done. If she has acquired any skill or experience in a particular line she may not be able to turn indiscriminately to an entirely different kind of work. Such a change of occupation may mean loss of skill for skill to-day is usually experience and speed in one particular motion or set of motions and tends to disappear if interrupted. Among the many other evils besetting the girl trying to piece out a year's work will be found a lowering of the wage standard, breaking down of habits of regularity thus tending to inefficiency, and a lowering of self confidence resulting in a loss of economic bar- gaining power. It is during these periods of searching for work that temptation to immorality becomes strong. A vivid picture of the human meaning of job-hunting was given in a Chicago paper during the summer of 1913 : " For the last ten days I have been going to the loop every day to look for work. I am there at eight o'clock in the morning. I look for work until eleven. From eleven to twelve is the lunch period in most big establish- ments and it is useless to try to see anybody at that time. My lunch in a cafeteria gives me a rest of fifteen or twenty minutes. Then I am back again on the sidewalk. The chase from build- ing to building during the morning and the constant dodging of automobiles tire me. Is there a place where I can go to rest?" Another girl summed up the situation as follows : " Yes, I get the papers right away in the morning, but when you come to the place there are always so many others waiting, and then it is too late to go. to any other place. Sometimes the man takes your name and says he will let you know in a couple of days. You wait, but you don't hear a word from him. Half the time he doesn't want anybody. I just hate to look for work. You always feel kind of upset like, and don't feel like doing anything at home." 1 THE LABOR FORCE To those familiar with industrial conditions it has become a commonplace to see large groups of workers, particularly women and children, suddenly " laid off " at certain periods of the year. i Survey, May 1, 1909, p. 210. 306 American Labor Legislation Review The Christmas " lay off " in department stores and the con- fectionery industry, the summer " dull seasons " in the garment trades, and the dismissal of milliners after the " season " is over present a familiar spectacle. This condition has been illustrated by facts, figures, charts, curves, diagrams and tables all of which have commanded respectful attention. But the real problem is, who is at fault ? How many are thus affected ? How seriously do they suffer ? What shall be done about them ? In the analysis of the situation as to the irregular employment of women there appear three main classes of workers fairly well defined. 1. The smaller group of those permanently employed, forming the backbone of the labor force. 2. Those who are employed for the entire busy season, but are laid off at its close. 3. Those who drift in and out of the industry working only a few days or weeks at a time in one place. In most industrial establishments there exists that smaller class of employees (group 1) consisting of the more skilled and permanent workers, permanent in the sense that they remain on the payroll for at least a year. They are the older more respon- sible workers who are more frequently entirely dependent upon their earnings, often with relatives or families dependent upon them, and are more likely to be employed at the higher rates of wages. Nominally this class of employees is referred to as " steady " workers but from the point of view of earnings we have seen that even these workers suffer large wage losses due to slack work in the dull season. The second group of workers consists of those who for various reasons are dropped from the payroll from the time the dull sea- son begins until the arrival of the busy season. In some lines of work such as confectionery and department stores a very large " lay off " occurs immediately after Christmas. In other kinds of work, as in paper boxes, the " lay off " is more gradual. There are undoubtedly a few employees, some of them perhaps married, who plan to go into the industry only during the busy season in order to supplement the family income, perhaps for personal Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 307 reasons or more likely to tide the family over a financial depres- sion due to sickness or unemployment of the male breadwinner. But the larger group consists of responsible, steady women, many of them entirely dependent on their own resources, others with families depending upon them. These are the workers who suffer most by enforced periods of unemployment. On the other hand there are undoubtedly in this class, also, large numbers of girls to whom a " lay off " is not a serious problem girls who are partly or entirely supported by parents or relatives and who have not yet felt the necessity of steady permanent work. This class of workers merges into the last group (3) and the two together form one of the most serious obstacles to the responsible worker seeking to earn a living wage. This third group of workers consists of those who are con- stantly shifting in and out of the industry staying only a few days or weeks in one place. The existence of this last group is made clear by a study of almost any payroll; for it is almost universally true that, during the course of a year, for one posi- tion, a succession of persons are hired and discharged, or leave for some reason. The State Factory Commission's investiga- tion in New York City showed that in the confectionery indus- try 45 per cent., and in the paper-box industry, 40 per cent, stayed four weeks or less in the same factory. Miss Van Kleeck showed that in millinery 52 per cent, stayed only eight weeks or less. In the manufacture of men's clothing, a more steady trade, an investigation of conditions in the five leading cities in the trade, 1907-8, showed that 28 per cent, of the women worked less than five weeks in the same place. Among salesgirls the condi- tions are similar. In a large Boston store 20.8 per cent, remained less than five weeks, while a Washington, D. C., investigation, showed that 25 per cent, remained three months or less. The following table giving the experience of the seven largest department stores in New York city for 1913 shows a like enor- mous flux of employees constantly passing through their doors. With a single exception, the number of changes is greater than the average number employed. 308 American Labor Legislation Review TABLE 1 RETAIL STORES, NEW YORK CITY, 1913 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES IN THE SEVEN LARGEST ESTABLISHMENTS (New York State Factory Investigating Commission) Aveiage number employed Number added during the year Number dropped or leaving during the year 5,000 5,500 4,296 4,272 3,750 3,500 3,497 2,313 5,979 6,809 12,159 8,155 875 2,967 5,950 6,712 10,382 8,750 940 2,539 In laundries, too, a very great shifting of workers is constantly taking place. One Massachusetts establishment reported that 57 per cent, remained less than three months; another that 76 per cent, remained less than three months; while a Washington employer stated that " 60 to 90 days eliminates a crew com- pletely." These three classes are of course not defined by hard and fast lines. They merge into one another and workers are constantly passing from one class to another. Frequently bad industrial conditions will throw steady workers back into the casual labor class. In the women employing industries, therefore, it is apparent that there are large numbers of young girls, many of whom have not yet reached the years of responsibility, who are not entirely dependent upon their own earnings for support and who expect to be in industry for only a short time. For this class of worker employment is largely the result of preference or custom being to some extent a matter of pin-money and often looked upon as a means of release from monotonous home duties to be replaced by social enjoyment and the companionship of friends. Were it not for the tragic effect which the presence of this proportionally small group of workers has upon the mass of women employees we might pass them by unnoticed. But in this very group lies the key to not a little of the distress of the larger more responsible group. It is this great throng of young, untrained, undisciplined work- ers which supplies the employer with help for the few busy months. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 309 At other times they drift in and out, from establishment to estab- lishment or from trade to trade, taking positions at whatever they can get, keeping out the older girls who are accustomed to a slightly higher wage, and cutting down the income of the steady responsible worker. Because this class of casuals is ever present the employer finds it easier to take them as they come and any question of regularizing his business is passed by. In this way they increase the discontinuous employment of the steady worker, and tend to make permanent a disorganized labor market. The employer, too, has frequently complained of the irrespon- sibility of these workers. On this point one Massachusetts em- ployer said, " the result of a big seasonal demand for female labor like this means that during the dull time of the year the girls we discharge at Christmas drift into other lines of employment, con- sequently, when our biggest demand comes, from September to December, we are compelled to again teach many inexperienced girls. The small output and loss through spoilage of the inexperi- enced girls make them undesirable help. In many cases, even at a small rate of pay, they increase the labor cost on the goods materially." Of these " only a small percentage become of any value as actual producers. Of a lot of say 50 girls hired on Mon- day morning we will often lose or discharge 25 of them before the end of the week. Before the end of the second \veek the lot will sometimes be reduced to 10." 1 Another Massachusetts employer, speaking of the " heedlessness, irresponsibility, and lack of ambi- tion " found in such young workers, declared that, because he had to employ so many of them, " the problem of candy making is the labor question." 2 In short, the presence of this class of workers is one of the main causes for the existing disorganization of indus- trial employment. Moreover, most of their employment is at work which neither trains them nor offers them the opportunity of any great advancement. Their presence in industry cannot be justified from any social point of view. Before we can hope, therefore, to handle effectively the problem of regular employment and a real living wage for the older and needy worker, and, as a first step toward the better organization 1 Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards, 1912, p. 66. 2 Ibid., p. 53. 310 American Labor Legislation Review of industry, particular attention must be given to this special class of workers. The first step toward such a program obviously would be to reduce the supply of this untrained and irresponsible group by partially shutting them out of industry for a period of time. The present age of admission to industry in several states is sixteen years. By extending this limitation to all states and extending this controlled period possibly up to the age of eighteen a great mass of casual labor would at once be removed, and would leave the field open for older and more responsible workers. During these years attention could be given to the proper physical and educational training of young women. With the increased em- phasis that is being placed upon industrial education, this period might well be devoted to a combination of technical and general training, together with practical experience in shop work. For it will probably always be true that, due to changing seasons and emergency demands, many industries will need for certain short periods of time extra help. By supplying this demand as far as possible from the group of young women, practical shop training would be secured and, in addition, the wages earned would aid in relieving economic pressure. The extent of actual factor} 7 work should be limited to certain periods at the discretion of the educational authorities, and the actual placing in establishments should be made through the medium of the Labor Exchanges. The close of the busy season would then find the workers returning to the training school instead of drifting from place to place and from job to job as at present. In this way the necessary surplus pool of labor would be utilized to the best advantage of all concerned. Such physical and indus- trial training would better prepare young women for a useful, efficient life, and at the same time would leave a more open field of employment with more regular work at higher wages for the older responsible workers. There should be no difficulty in secur- ing the cooperation of the employer in such a plan, since for many years his constant complaint has been the untrained, careless and irresponsible character of so large a part of the labor force. In but few cases, however, has there been sufficient pressure upon Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 311 the employer, or initiative on his part, to cause him to change his present haphazard system of employment. For the more steady workers who nevertheless suffer periods of unemployment, some form of unemployment insurance should be considered. By this method the wage losses would be distributed, in part at least, be- tween all parties concerned instead of, as at present, allowing them to fall entirely upon the worker, the person least able to bear them. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION All facts agree that actual earnings fall far short of possible earnings based upon " rate of pay." This investigation leads also to the conclusion that, at least for the workers here con- sidered, the average girl or woman loses in wages an amount equal to no less than 15 per cent, of her possible earnings. The younger more irregular worker loses an even greater amount. In addition, the investigation shows that very many of the women in seasonal trades cannot find work at the same place for the entire year, while in many trades, from a quarter to one-half remain in one place only three months or less. A striking illus- tration of the constant flux of workers in and out of different establishments was found by the Factory Investigating Commis- sion in the records of one large ^ew York City department store, which hired over 12,000 employees in order to maintain an aver- age permanent force of a little over 3,000. In ten confectionery establishments 3,138 were employed to maintain an average force of 953 people. In nine paper-box establishments 1,657 were em- ployed to maintain an average force of 792 workers. This same shifting is found everywhere in varying degrees. It must be quite obvious, therefore, that a living income is de- pendent not only upon a reasonable daily or weekly wage but also upon reasonable regularity of employment. This latter problem presents many difficulties, particularly with industry disorganized as at present. With such large surplus pools of labor to draw from only the few more farsighted employers will initiate reforms in their systems of employment. Moreover, the members of this surplus pool are obtaining practically no training nor are they 312 American Labor Legislation Review receiving anything approaching a living wage. But by withdraw- ing them from the labor market, except for short periods during the " busy season/ 7 the much needed special training can be sup- plied and positions will be left open for older responsible workers. Unless reasonable regularity of employment can be definitely assured, a living wage through the year can be secured only by setting up a wage rate sufficiently high to cover unemployed per- iods of time, or by establishing seme form of unemployment in- surance. II. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF INDUSTRIES THE PAPER BOX INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION Years ago, when we went to the grocery store to buy crackers, the grocer scooped them up out of a barrel and put them into a paper bag for us. Now we get them in a neat little paper box. More and more the grocer's shelves are filled with " package goods," which the housewife prefers because they are more likely to be fresh and free from germs and dust. Every Christmas sees a greater variety of fancy articles offered for sale in " ornamental holly boxes suitable for gifts." All our clothing, hats, and shoes are delivered to us boxed. The ubiquitous paper box serves as container for articles as different as cigarettes and writing paper, phonograph records and ice-cream, electric light bulbs and candy. GENERAL STATISTICS With such an increase in the use of paper boxes, it is not sur- prising that the last few years have witnessed a considerable de- velopment in the industry. According to the United States Cen- sus of Manufactures, the number of wage-earners of both sexes employed has increased from some 27,000 to nearly 40,000, a gain of over 48 per cent, in the ten years between 1899 and 1909. The manufacture of paper boxes is, moreover, one of the large* "women-employing" industries of the United States. In 1909 there was an average number of 23,724 women over 16 at work in paperbox establishments, as against 20,527 in 1904, and 18,192 in 1899, an ir crease of 30 per cent, in the decade, though during the same period the number of men increased 67 per cent. Although women at present form almost exactly three-fifths of the total number of wage earners in paper box making and are thus decidedly in the majority, yet the proportion of men is in- creasing, if very gradually. In 1880, women formed 70 per cent, of the entire labor force, 65 per cent, in 1899, and 60 per cent, in 1909. 314: American Labor Legislation Review This tendency toward displacement of the women workers may or may not continue, but remembering that the large majority of the 2,800 workers under 16 are girls, the statement still holds that paper box making is " woman's work." New York employs by far the greater number of women workers in this industry, nearly 8,000 ; Pennsylvania follows with over 3,000; Massachusetts with 2,600, and Illinois with 2,400. In Ohio are found 1,500, in New Jersey nearly 1,400, and somewhat over 1,000 in Connecticut. 1 Nearly 6,000 more are scattered in smaller numbers over the remaining states. Owing to its low wage level this industry is one frequently sug- gested for investigation by Minimum Wage Commissions. It is therefore especially important to study the effects of irregularity on wages in the industry, and to make a comparison of wage rates and actual earnings in order to see whether or not a minimum wage rate would really provide a paper box worker with a living wage. SEASONAL VARIATIONS The seasonal variations which exist in the paper box industry naturally depend on and precede variations in the demand for goods " put up in pasteboard." On that account, the work on some sorts of boxes, such as those for cigarettes and shoes, is reasonably steady. But, on the whole, the buying for clothing in the spring and fall and the Christmas demand for all sorts of fancy and candy boxes, makes the industry one of decided seasonal irregularity. The busiest season comes in the fall, from Labor Day to Christ- mas, followed by an extremely dull season. The trade revives again for several weeks before Easter, for a shorter and less ex- treme rush season, produced mainly by the demands of the cloth- ing trade. Then another slack period lasts well through the summer. During the rush times, more or less overtime is i FANCY AND PAPER BOXES Number of Women Over 16 Employed December 15, 1909 [United States Census of Manufactures, Vol. IX, Table II for each State] New York 7,928 New Jersey 1 ,387 Pennsylvania 3 ,032 Connecticut 1 ,057 Massachusetts 2,629 Other States 5,932 Illinois 2,478 Ohio 1,518 Total 25,961 Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 315 worked in nearly every prosperous factory and Sunday work also is sometimes found. Most manufacturers believe this cannot be avoided, since orders come at short notice and paper boxes are too bulky in proportion to their values for profitable storage ; the fire-hazard also is too great to risk making them for stock. The reverse of the two busy seasons is found in the dullness of the trade after Christmas and its still greater slackness in the summer. Here is the typical seasonal variation of so many of the industries where large numbers of women are found very busy in the fall, dull after Christmas, busy in the spring and very dull in the summer. Wherever data could be obtained, from Massachusetts to Cali- fornia, from Maryland to Oregon, and in the great industrial states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Wis- consin, a like alternation of rush seasons in the spring and fall with slack in the winter and summer was found. For instance, in Philadelphia an investigation of five firms in 1913 disclosed the fact that after Christmas they made wholesale dismissals to the extent of 24.3 per cent, of their force. In New York City last year the Factory Investigating Commission found that the num- ber of employees rose to 6,700 just before Christmas and fell to 6,100 directly after that time. What this irregularity and loss of working time means to the women is well illustrated by the story of Rose, a Russian girl, twenty-three years old. Her family was still in Russia, so she had to look out for herself entirely. In five years she advanced in wages from $3.50 to $5.50 a week. But out of this meager sum she had to save enough to carry her over the slack season, and she was out of work fourteen weeks during the year. This made her average weekly earnings just $4.02 over 25 per cent, lower than her rate of wages. Even the girls nom- inally at work every week in the year for the same firm are found to suffer large reductions in wages on account of their short hours in the dull season. One girl received an average weekly wage of only $6.14 instead of her regular rate of $7.25, another $8.27 in place of $9.45, a third $4.58, instead of $5. These are exam- ples taken quite at random. For a girl to average more than her rate is very unusual. These facts indicate the need for further study of the irregularity of the industry and its effect on wages, 316 American Labor Legislation Review CHART V PAPER BOXES, NEW YORK NOVEMBER 1912 - NOVEMBER- 1913 AVERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED AND TOTAL -AMOUNT WAGES BY MONTHS. (MAXIMUM = 10O%) 100% MALE -AND FEMALE 100% / f ^ i r \- ^"^j 90% / \ 4i* l i -90% / ' X X 1 s x / 100% NEW 1 r ORK CITY 80% - ~ N \ /: /''^ -^ \ 90% 80% ~~~*'^ \. ^ -^* -/ / N . 90% 80% UP-S1 ATE _ _ Irregidar Employment and the Living Wage 317 and they point toward the conclusion that greater regularity of employment as well as a minimum wage rate is needed to obtain for the steady, responsible, mature women workers a living income. 'STATISTICS OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT The statistics of irregularity most commonly found in state labor reports are from the point of view of the industry rather than that of the workers, and are those of " average number of days in operation yearly " and " average number employed by months." From published statistics on both of these points it does not appear that the manufacture of paper boxes is a particu- larly seasonal industry. For instance, out of a possible 305 work- ing days yearly, Massachusetts factories were in operation 290 days, and New Jersey and Pennsylvania factories 292 days in 1912. The statistics of the varying " number employed by months " during the year are also shown graphically in Chart III. The largest number in any one month is considered 100 per cent, and the per cent, for every other month reckoned with that as a base. The states for which this was obtainable and the latest years for which it is compiled, are Massachusetts in 1912, New Jersey in 1912 and Wisconsin in 1910. It will be seen that the curve for each state follows a similar course and brings out the fall rush with its peak in November, the lesser spring busy season, the short drop in January and the long dull period of the summer months. The situation in New York City and in the rest of the state in 1913, as found by the State Factory Investigating Com- mission, is also presented in this chart. From these figures the fluctuations do not appear to be extreme, since the difference be- tween the largest and smallest number was only 12 per cent, in Massachusetts and New Jersey in 1912, 18 per cent, in Wisconsin in 1910, and 8 per cent, in New York for the year ending Novem- ber 1913. From most of the official statistics, then, it would not seem that the paper box industry was as seriously irregular as many others, yet the contrary is the fact. A consideration of what these two classes of statistics show and do not show, will solve the puzzle. When the " number of days in operation yearly " is given, there is nothing to tell us whether one department or all are at work, 318 American Labor Legislation Review Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 319 whether or not those at work are on full time or whether a few scattered girls or the full force are working. Statistics as to " average number employed by months " do give us some idea of the latter, but in the paper box industry it is the custom not to close the factory for any length of time, nor to dismiss employees to any very large extent, but to hold as nearly as possible the full force on short time, and consequently on short pay, in order to have the workers ready, not only for the busy season, but also to take care of the occasional order that may come in from time to time. The more detailed statistics following will show further that these measurements alone by no means bring out the entire effect of irregular employment on the income of the worker. SHIFTING In the paper box industry the flux of workers is very great; it is a constantly changing group on which all the seasonal variations fall. In New York City in 1912-13, only a quarter of the women paper-box workers stayed in the same place more than six months. Three-fifths stayed three months or less (see Chart IV), one-half less than two months and two-fifths four weeks or less. In- credibly large numbers drift in for a few days or even hours and then drift out again. Only 15 per cent, were what might be called steady workers, staying eleven months or more out of the year in the same establishment. Three times as many people as were employed at any one time were dropped and added during the year. It is of course true that many of these changes were undoubtedly due to personal reasons. A low-grade, poorly paid, little skilled body of workers in an ever-changing one. Yet such facts as the wholesale dismissal of workers in Philadelphia after Christmas previously mentioned, show that the irregularity oi the industry must be held responsible for no small part of the shift- ing. Here, then, is the casual labor force, the three-girls-for-two- jobs state of affairs, which Beveridge, the English authority, be- lieves to be the fundamental cause of unemployment. A wage rate that made no allowance for irregularity of employment would mean little to these people, who are here to-day and gone to- morrow. Rather, some pressure is needed that will force them out and make it profitable for the manufacturer to furnish steady employment to responsible workers. 320 American Labor Legislation Review CHART III PAPER BOXES AVERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED BY MONTHS (MAXIMUM - 100%) 10O% 90X 80X 100% 90% 80% 100% 90% BOX 100% 90% 80% 100% 90% wise ; EMAU ONSII :SOVE 1 1909. M6 /* ~~ l " / /' ^ / ^\ X s ^S / \x MASS ALL F ACHU MALE SETT* 5 1912. = r ^ 90% 80% / / /' /'^ . ** "*"^^ *. . * ' "^^ NEW PENAL JERS ESOVE :ri9i RI6 =c^ \ r \ s ' _/ / ' V "S. r 100% 9O%- NEW MALE YORK kFEMJ 1913. LE U C ' T -/ ^ ^X ^:-~^ :^ "'!^ 4$ > =^.:-'' 80% JAN. FEB. MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUG.. SEPT. OCT. NOV DEC. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 321 VARIATION IN EARNINGS In order to discover the great seriousness of seasonal varia- tions in this industry, we must turn to variations in earnings. The first point to be considered is a comparison of the varia- tion in earnings with the variation in numbers, month by month. Such a comparison, for New York City, 1912-13, and for the rest of the State, as given by the State Factory Investigating Commission, shows a considerable loss in actual as compared with possible earnings. In these monthly averages (see Chart V) the extreme weekly variations are smoothed out, yet there is a 15 per cent, difference between the largest and smallest amount of wages, in contrast to an 8 per cent, variation in numbers. The broken line, it will be noted, drops far below the solid one showing that for those employees who were kept on the pay roll, wages fell con- siderably below normal. But by taking the original figures for the totals of wages and using the totals per week instead of per month, the largest amount paid out is found to be $60,878 for the last week of September and the smallest $43,125 for the first week of January. There is a difference here of nearly 30 per cent. (29.3 per cent.) while the largest difference in numbers by weeks is just about 12 per cent. This result corresponds closely to the testimony of 200 women workers questioned by the Factory Investigating Commission about their weekly wages at different seasons. Their average weekly pay varied from $5.68 in dull times to $8.13 in the busy season, a difference of almost exactly 30 per cent. The New York City investigation further shows that the " ordinary " average weekly wage of a woman worker was $7.36. That is about 10 per cent, less than the " rush reason " weekly wage. We have similar weekly averages for women workers in California and Maryland from an investigation made by the United States Bureau of Labor in 1911. There was a difference of more than 20 per cent, between the weekly average for rush and normal seasons in California ($8.99 and $7.03) and of almost exactly 20 per cent, in Maryland ($6.24 and $5.01). Differences in earnings from season to season do not seem, therefore, to be confined to New York. Clearly then any minimum wage, based, as practically all awards in this country have been thus far, on 322 American Labor Legislation Review the full time work of the u normal " season, would not give women a living wage when this industry was slack, and offers no guaran- tee against such dull times. To examine further the relation between rates and actual earn- ings, and to determine whether or not earnings usually fell below the rate, a comparison was made of the weekly wage rates of 246 of the women paper box workers in New York City with their actual average weekly wages for the period worked. These figures represent conditions far above the average, since only the best factories keep their books so that reliable figures can be obtained. That this selected group represents to a much greater degree the more permanent class of workers is indicated by the fact that 32 per cent, were annual workers as against 15 per cent, of annual workers for the entire labor force. In addition, to avoid including some absences for personal reasons, when the average weekly earnings were computed, the weeks in which a woman was not working at all were omitted, although the number of such ab- sences greatly increases in the dull seasons and the omission there- fore undoubtedly excludes in many cases a part of the wage loss due to industrial conditions. For this particular study therefore the steadier workers in the better factories are under consideration and a certain amount of unemployment is being left out of account. As already said, comparison was made of the rate of pay and the average weekly earnings of 246 such adult women time work- ers in the paper box industry. The average weekly earnings of 94 per cent, of these women were below their stated rate of pay. Only 8, or 3% per cent, had average weekly earnings equal to their rate of pay. The weekly earnings of just 6, or 2% per cent, of the whole group averaged higher than their rate of pay. For that great majority of the women whose earnings fell below their rate, tables were made to show first by wage groups and secondly by length of time in the same factory, what per cent, of the rate they lost. (See Table 2.) According to the table we find that 62.1 per cent, almost two-thirds, lost over 10 per cent, of their supposed wage during the time they worked, with 26 per cent, losing from 16 to 25 per cent, and 15 per cent, losing more than 25 per cent. over a quarter of their supposed income for the Irregular Employment and Hie Living Wage 323 period they worked. It is evident that the lowest paid and most shifting workers are the ones suffering the heaviest losses. Of those earning under $5, 77.7% lost over 10% of wages. Of those earning $5-5.99, 63% lost over 10% of wages. Of those earning $6-0.99, 50% lost over 10% of wages. Of those earning $7-7.99, 50% lost over 10% of wages. Of those earning $8-8.99, 35.8'% lost over 10% of wages. Of those earning $9 and over, 28.1% lost over 10% of wages. When the loss from the rate is computed by length of service, the heavier losses of the " short-time girl " are even more striking. Of those staying 1-4 weeks in same factory, 85.7% lost over 10% of wages. Of those staying 5-13 weeks in same factory, 64.1% lost over 10% of wages. Of those staying 1426 weeks in same factory, 75.5% lost over 10% of wages. Of those staying 27-47 weeks in same factory, 57.2% lost over 10% of wages. Of those staying 4852 weeks in same factory, 21% lost over 10% of wages. TABLE 2 PAPER BOXES. NEW YORK CITY. NOVEMBER, 1912-1913 SELECTED FEMALE TIME WORKERS OVER 16. COMPARISON OF RATE OP PAT AND ACTUAL AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS 1A. NUMBERS LOSING GIVEN PERCENTAGES OF THEIR RATE, BY WAGE GROUPS RATE PERCENTAGE LOST 5 per cent, or less 6-10 per cent. 11-15 per cent. 16-25 per cent. Over 25 per cent. Total Under $5 00 6 14 2 3 3 5 10 25 5 3 6 9 17 21 1 3 3 3 28 24 1 3 2 1 11 18 1 4 72 102 10 12 14 22 $5 00- 5 99 6 00- 6 99 7 00- 7 99 8 00- 8 99 9 00 and over Total 33 58 48 59 34 232 324 American Labor Legislation Review IB. PER CENT LOSING GIVEN PERCENTAGES OF THEIR RATE, BY WAGE GROUPS RATE PERCENTAGE LOST 5 per cent. or less 6-10 per cent. 11-15 per cent. 16-25 per cent. Over 25 per cent. Total Under $5 00 8.3 14.0 20.0 25.0 21.4 23.8 13.9 23.0 50.0 25.0 42.8 38.1 23.6 21.6 10.0 25.0 21.4 14.3 38.9 24.0 10.0 25.0 14.4 4.8 15.2 18.0 10.0 19.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 $5 00- 5 99 6 00- 6 99 7 00- 7 99 8 00- 8 99 9 00 and over Total . . 14.1 23.8 21.1 26.0 15.0 100.0 2A. NUMBERS LOSING GIVEN PERCENTAGES OF THEIR RATE, BY LENGTH OF TIME IN SAME FACTORY PERCENTAGE LOST FACTORY 5 per cent, or less 6-10 per cent. 11-15 per cent. 16-25 per cent. Over 25 per cent. Total 1- 4 weeks 4 4 6 11 19 44 5-13 weeks g 16 10 23 10 67 14-26 weeks 3 8 15 14 5 45 27-47 weeks g g 10 10 o 37 48-52 weeks 10 21 7 1 39 Total . . 33 58 48 59 34 232 2B. PER CENT LOSING GIVEN PERCENTAGES OF THEIR RATE, BY LENGTH OF TIME IN SAME FACTORY PERCENTAGE LOST FACTORY 5 per cent. or less 6-10 per cent. 11-15 per cent. 16-26 per cent. Over 25 per cent. Total 1- 4 weeks 7 i 7 1 14 3 26 2 45 2 100.0 5-13 weeks 11 9 23 9 14 9 34 3 14 9 100 14-26 weeks 6 7 17 8 33 3 31 1 11 1 100.0 27-47 weeks .... 22 9 20 28 6 28 6 100.0 48-52 weeks 26.3 52 6 18.4 2 6 100.0 Total.'. 14.1 23.8 21.1 26.0 15.0 100.0 It may be noted that, among the six who earned more than their rate, the gains were small, none over 10 per cent., and that three of the women who gained were " annual workers " over 48 weeks in the same position. We find in this selected group, therefore, consisting of the better class workers under the more favorable conditions, that 94 per cent, did not succeed in earning the rate of wages at which they were employed, and that nearly two-thirds of them (62.1 Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 325 per cent.) lost more than 10 per cent, of their supposed wages. Undoubtedly if similar figures could be computed for the entire industry, even larger losses would be brought out. For instance, for the week in which the Commission collected wage data, rates and earnings in one of the factories especially studied were com- pared with rates and earnings in a factory keeping no records available for yearly comparisons. Both factories manufactured a similar line of goods, and the factory having yearly records of earnings was one in which about two-fifths of all the cases were found. In the latter establishment no woman was rated at less than $5 for the week but 9 per cent, received less than that sum, while in the other factory 12.7 per cent, were rated at less than $5 and 37.4 per cent, received below that amount. It is the latter which is typical of the majority of factories in the city and therefore the trade as a whole would show annual wage- losses even greater than those here discussed. Moreover, the wage rates just considered are averages for the period covered. They in no way show the variation from week to week in a girl's wage. An average is only a composite photo- graph after all and may or may not represent the experience of any number of workers and, also as in the photograph, the ex- treme variations are smoothed out. When we trace the changes in a girl's wages week by week, then this irregularity which we chart and discuss like an academic problem, without really feel- ing it, becomes a human problem, a hard condition with which human beings are struggling. Out of the thousands of similar records, the New York State Factory Commission quotes weekly wages for six girls, " steady, representative workers in different factories." The charts (VI and VII) show, more plainly than words, the way in which the girls' wages vary from week to week. The first of the charts gives for the three piece workers, Annie, Ida and Sarah, their wages averaged by months. Like all aver- ages, it conceals the greatest variations, but the second chart gives their actual weekly wages for the third quarter of the year, which is not the period of extreme fluctuations. Because piece workers are paid in proportion to their product, many people think the quick, good worker is rewarded for her unusual ability. But what 326 American Labor Legislation Review i | * R * 5 I. 5 \ / / / M \ / / / / O | / OF THREE PIECE-WOR . AVERAGED BY MONT 1 \ Ul \ oe Ul 1 ID N \ \ -1 Ul Ul \ / WEEKLY k \ _i Ul UJ i / \ 1 1 I I 00 o < 1 / / 10 LJ $ > k < | 2 i 1 [ ' LJ **" / \ / / , ,' n i \ \ 1 \ / CM ii u. \ ( / u! 3 3 < 03 (0 eg a> w S w 5 I S Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 327 CHART VII PAPER BOXES NEW YORK CITY WEEKLY WAGES OF THREE PIECE-WORKERS FOR THREE MONTHS $15 $12 $9 $6 $3 $15 $12 $9 $6 $3 $15 $12 $9 $6 $3 WEEK - $15 AMI IE P. /" ^ . $9 /- -^ / /X V r " -/ 53- $15" $12 - S9 M $3 $15 $12 $9 $6 $3 - WEEK / IDA c. ~ -^ !* A /* \ \/ \ J o g \ i / Ul 10 li / H ^ \ o > ! ; "* 1 P UI \ ii 2 )' 1 S CM j / t ( - 1 \ \ O 1 \ / i \ \ / \ / j \ \ ft i \ / (0 i i \ / 10 ( 1 1 \ \ i o ae \ j X i'\ CM to 1 i z \ - % % % * 8 8 ' 8 8 I 330 American Labor Legislation Review pages, is an indirect refutal of that often-heard remark: ' Well, after all, they make up in the busy season what they lose in the dull/' which argument is sometimes even used as a reason for not limiting women's hours of work. But all the direct evidence at hand, as well as the indirect, shows this belief to be erroneous. It is unfortunately true that a good deal of overtime does exist for women paper box workers. But in the first place, waiving for the moment all question of the undesirability of overtime work under high pressure for women workers, it appears that the long hours which bring gains in wages are worked by a minor- ity only. In a busy week in New York City in the fall of K)lo, 258 of the women considered, or only 8 per cent, of the whole number, worked in excess of the legal number of hours. Forty- one, or only 1.2 per cent, worked all seven days of the week, while a larger number, 861 or 19.7 per cent, lost a day or more. It is apparent that for this group at least only a small part of the workers gained anything through overtime to help them through the slack season. While from the point of view of overtime work f., comparatively small number of workers were affected, yet it is apparent that violations of the labor law were not uncommon. The proportionate rise and fall in wages also must not be for- gotten. In the dull season the fall is greater than the rise in the busy season. The New York State Factory Investigating Com- mission found that the average weekly wage of nearly two hun- dred women operatives, questioned as to seasonal wages, rose only 10 per cent, above the usual earnings, but dropped 23 per cent, below. Finally, taking the entire year into account, the slack time is spread out over a much longer period than the rush. The pro- portions are approximately thirty to twenty weeks. This is quite consistent with the facts about the six " steady, representative workers" whose wages, week by week, have already been con- sidered. It is reasonable to suppose that in the busy season the time workers would at least make their rate. But they fell below it far more often than they rose above it. Sadie was 7 weeks above her rate, 2 weeks at it and 10 weeks below. Rose re- ceived her rate only 7 times, never got above it and was below it 29 times. For Antoinette the figures are 5 weeks above her rate. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 3'31 2 weeks at the rate and 16 weeks below the rate. Following the same line of reasoning, the piece-workers would be likely to go above their average wage in a busy week. Sarah did go above her average weekly wage 26 times and below only 23 times, but both the others fell below their average more often than they went above it. Ida was 23 weeks above and 26 weeks below, while Annie was 24 weeks above and 28 weeks below. In the selected group of time-workers, 94 per cent, had average weekly earnings below their rate, only 2% per cent, had average weekly earnings above their rate and 3% per cent, made their scheduled rate of pay. All the facts available, then, agree in showing that the idea of overtime " making up " for undertime is entirely misleading. SUMMARY Looking back over the ground covered, the irregularity in the paper box industry, with the slack seasons in the summer and winter and busy seasons in the fall and spring, may best be rea- lized by a study of the earnings. In contrast to the comparatively small 10 per cent, variation in the number employed at different seasons, we find a 30 per cent, fluctuation in wages, whether meas- ured by averages or totals. The fluctuation in individual cases rises to 75 per cent, and over. In addition, wage gains do not equal wage losses, and the net result of seasonal irregularity is a loss in wages to the employee. The record of the wages of a few individual girls week by week shows, just as an extensive comparison of weekly rates with average weekly earnings shows, an actual income approximately 15 per cent, below the rate. The wage rate is only nominal, a term of little real meaning. These workers are not paid by the week but by the hour or rather by the minute, and in this way in the paper box industry, a casual, shifting group of workers, probably without half realizing it, bears the burden of seasonal irregularity. THE CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION From all statistics, it is evident that the American people are not losing their taste for sweets. The confectionery industry is a growing and prosperous one. At Christmas time, for instance, there are few homes in which the festivities are complete without some candy, and Easter time again swells the stream of buyers. While most people will recognize the truth of these statements, but few realize the effect of our fluctuating desire for sweets, determining as it does the occurrence of marked busy and dull seasons for thousands of workers. The majority of these workers are women and children under sixteen, many of them employed at less than a living wage. For this reason, this industry has fre- quently been the subject of investigations by minimum wage commissions in various parts of the country. GENERAL STATISTICS According to the latest United States Census of Manufactures, the average number of wage earners employed in the confection- ery industry increased from 26,000 to 44,000, or 66 per cent, in the ten years between 1899 and 1909. Women over 16 formed over half of this labor force, nearly 26,000 as against 14,000 in 1899, an increase of no less than 79 per cent, in the decade. The number of men employed increased but 49 per cent, in the same time, and the number of children under 16, only 58 per cent. Women in this industry are, therefore, not only in the majority, but are also tending to displace other classes of employees. This is further evident from the fact that, while in 1899 men were 40 r.er cent, and women 53 per cent, of the whole number of wage earners, in 1909 the proportion of men had fallen to 35 per cent., but the proportion of women had risen to 58 per cent. The percentage of children under 16, the larger number of whom are girls, remained about the same, 6 per cent. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 333 This increased proportion of women is due in part to a more extensive use of machines and a consequent need for a larger number of unskilled employees. For instance, a machine which automatically shapes the cream centers of bonbons and chocolates needs only one regulator and four or five helpers to do the work formerly done by thirty skilled men. In this way the number of women increases, for in the making of candy as in so many other industries the men perform the more highly skilled tasks and the women the simpler and more mechanical ones. Men do all the cooking and moulding of the different candy mixtures; whereas among the women the only skilled workers are the " dippers," who cover the centers of chocolates and bonbons. The majority, however, are employed as "wrappers" and "packers" and as " helpers " who fetch and carry for the rest. New York has the largest number of women candy workers, 5,679 on December 15, 1909, according to the Census of Manu- factures. Massachusetts comes second with 4,140. The other states employing more than a thousand women wage earners over sixteen years old are, in the order named, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and Wisconsin. 1 In addition to the more de- tailed facts for Massachusetts and New York City, information has been secured from widely scattered points from the states of California, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Wisconsin and the cities of Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City. -SEASONAL VABIATIONS So many aspects does this industry present that it is even more difficult than usual to measure its irregularity. First, we find that during the four autumn months a much larger force of workers is used than can find places for the rest of the year. After Christmas, a good many employees are dismissed. At the i CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY NUMBER OF WOMEN OVER 16 EMPLOYED DECEMBER 15, 1909 [United States Census of Manufactures, Vol. IX, Table II for each State] New York 5,679 Missouri 1 ,350 Massachusetts 4,410 Wisconsin 1 ,087 Pennsylvania 3,839 All other States 9,735 Illinois 2,645 Ohio 1,708 Total 30,453 334 American Labor Legislation Review same time the entire factory may close for a week or so, and in July this is still more likely to happen. Or perhaps the factory runs four or five days a week instead of the regular six. Many factories do not close as a whole, but different departments may close for a few days at a time through the dull season, according to the work on hand. Then too, the regular weekly schedule of hours is likely to be shorter in the slack than in the rush season, and often the actual hours worked are even less than these scheduled hours. STATISTICS OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT In so complicated a situation many of the ordinary measures of irregularity fall short of showing the true state of affairs. Here again, according to the " days in operation yearly " in Massachusetts, candy factories worked on the average 292 days out of a possible 305, in New Jersey, 297, in Pennsylvania, 300. From this one would think that a steady worker need miss com- paratively little time. But when a single factory is taken, and just what the steady workers lose in the way of short time is shown, the inadequacy of these figures becomes clear. This may be illustrated by the detailed report of short time in one factory cited as typical by the Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards. This establishment was shut down for two weeks in July and also on two separate occasions in May and two in June, losing five and a half days in this way. Thus during the year there would be a loss of 17% working days, or according to the statistics of " days in operation yearly" 287% days would be worked. But in addition no less than twenty-four times during the dull half of the year, that is, between January and July,, from one to twenty-one departments were closed for from one to three days at a time, as work fluctuated. The least number of days lost in this way was five and a half in three different depart- ments ; the greatest number 28% days in one department ; the other losses ranged between these two amounts. The tables fol- lowing give this loss of days by dates and departments. The en- tirely irregular way in which the days of unemployment oc- curred made it absolutely impossible for employees to make up the time and earnings thus lost by turning to other work- Since Irregular Employment and the Living Wage some parts of the factor}' were running at each of these times,, none of this considerable loss is disclosed under the statistics of " days in operation yearly/' which are thus entirely inadequate as a measure of the extent of irregularity. TABLE 3 CONFECTIONERY MASSACHUSETTS, 1911 IRREGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT IN A MASSACHUSETTS CANDY FACTORY, 1911 A. DATES, NUMBERS OF DAYS AND NUMBER OF DEPARTMENTS CLOSED, IN ADDITION TO A Sstvt- DOWN OF Two WEEKS IN JULY. (TOTAL NUMBER OF DEPARTMENTS, 26) (From report of the Commission on Minimum Wage Boards, pages 64 and 65) DATE Number days closed Number depart- ments closed DATE Number days closed Number departments dosed January 7. ... 1 5 April 22 3 14 14 1 2 29 1 12 February 11 2 2 May 6 2 18 18 2 2 13 2 All employing women,- 25 1 1 20 2 11 March 15 1 1 27 14 All employing women.- 18.... 2 2 June 3 All employing women. 25 2 4 4 3 April 1.... 8.... 15.... 2 24 3 and 2 14 6 21 10 11 17 8 2 5 25 All employing women. B. NUMBER OF DAYS EACH DEPARTMENT WAS CLOSED Department No. Work- ing days closed Department No. Work- ing days closed Department No. Work- "Sr 1. ... 9 10 24 19 74, 2 14 11 19 20 15 3 23 12 16 21 74 4 19 13 284 22 19 5 54 14 54 23 154 6 6 15 204 24 15 7 8} 16 184. 25 ... 13 8 19 17 184 26 54 9. . 13 18... 15 Besides " da.ys in operation yearly " the other common method of measuring seasonal irregularity is that of giving the " average number employed by months." "We have these figures for the women workers in Massachusetts, 1912, New Jersey, 1912 and Wisconsin, 19O9', and for all workers in New York City, and up- state, September, 1912-September, 1913. (See charts IX and X.) This Inst set of figures comes from the New York Com- mission; the. others from state, labor reports. In every case 336 American Labor Legislation Review 100% 90% CHART IX CONFECTIONERY AVERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED BY MONTHS (MAXIMUM = 100%>- 100% MS FEHA LESO\ N 1909 ERI6 7. 80% 7 OX 100%" 90% 80X c/ 90% , /- O . o ^ -v ^ ~T 80% 70% HAS ALL F SACH MALE LJSET 1 TS131 / T " \ \ 100% 90% ~x f SOX 70% 100% 90% 80X 70% 60% 70% / % ^ '-**< V 100% 90% NEWJ FEHAL ERSE ESOVE ri9i2 R16 / A 80% / \ 70% / 60% J y / 50% --. ^> **" o o 50% JAN. FEB. MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 337 A> ieo c /; 907 80X CHART X CONFECTIONERY, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 1912 -SEPTEMBER 1913 /ERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED AND TOTAL AMOU WAGES BY MONTHS. MALE AND FEMALE (MAXIMUM = 10O%I NT 100% 9054 NEW YORKC ;ITY / /I ^\ \ ^ . g J /" -^* 80% "' ^ ^ ^ 70% 60% 60% UPS FATE 100% 90% 2 f /l \ \ 90% 80% 1 / & 80% *-4 / / -^ .^' ^ ^ ^- 60% * 60% 338 American Labor Legislation Review the year is the latest for which the figures are compiled. The percentage of difference between the largest and smallest number employed is nearly 45 per cent, in New Jersey, and about 25 per cent, in the three other states. This latter figure corresponds closely to the per cent, of difference in numbers employed in quite a different locality, Kansas City, where a maximum of 900 and minimum of 670 were found, a difference of just about 25 per cent. The statistics of " average number employed by months " show, then, that a considerable part of the employees cannot find work in the industry during the entire year. Being totals for a large number of factories they do not, however, bring out the real extent of the fluctuations in certain establishments. Some factories hold their employees during the year much more steadily than others, as is disclosed by a table of the monthly fluctuations of numbers for the twelve largest factories in Massa- chusetts. In the factory least affected by seasonal differences, the smallest number employed in any month is 70 per cent, of the largest number, but in the factory most affected, the smallest number is only 22.7 per cent, of the largest number. TABLE 4 CONFECTIONERY MASSACHUSETTS, 1911 MONTHS WHEN MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM NUMBERS ARE EMPLOYED, AND SMALLEST PER CENT. OF MAXIMUM EMPLOYED IN THE TWELVE LARGEST CANDY FACTORIES IN MASSACHUSETTS (Adapted from the Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards, p. 67) FACTORY No. Month when largest number were employed Month when smallest number were employed Per cent, smallest number is of largest number employed 1 Oct July 22 7 2 . .... Sept , Oct., Nov., Dec June' July, Aug 70 3 Sept. Nov. 67 7 4 Nov. Jan. 55 7 5 Nov. Jan. 55 2 6 Nov , Dec Jan 56 8 7 Sept. Feb 60 1 8 ... July Oct 80 3 9 May March 73 8 10 Oct. July 43 3 11 Sept. April 73.9 12 Oct 52 However, even though a woman can find a place on the pay- roll of some factory throughout the year, this does not mean that Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 339 she does not lose time and money through slack work. As shown in the description of the irregularity of a typical Massachusetts factory, besides a probable closing of the factory for a week or two, the day lost here and there and the shorter daily working time all decrease the hours she works and consequently her pay. Almost all steady workers do suffer from such losses. In Massachusetts, nearly 500 steady workers who remained in the same factory throughout the year, were questioned as to time lost. Ninety-five per cent, of them lost time from industrial causes during the year, missing an average of 20 entire working days or over 3 weeks nearly 7 per cent, of their whole period of employment. The table following shows that the larg- est group lost between 25 and 30 entire days. Industrial condi- tions were reported responsible for three-quarters of all the time lost. Since wages always decrease with time lost, in this way alone, through the loss of entire days, the usual minimum wage rate would fail to provide these steady workers with a living wage by about 7 per cent. Moreover, this does not include the further extensive loss from short hours on days when but little work is done. The " average number employed by months " in- dicates, therefore, the extent to which workers cannot find a place in the industry for the entire year, .but conceals differences be- tween establishments and tells nothing as to the effect of seasonal irregularity on those workers who keep their places throughout the year. TABLE 5 CONFECTIONERY MASSACHUSETTS, 191 1 NUMBER OF ENTIRE DAYS LOST BY STEADY " WOMEN WORKERS THROUGH INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS (Adapted from Report of the Commission on Minimum Wage Boards, pp. 263-267) NUMBER WORK- ING DAYS LOST 1-6 7-12 13-18 19-24 25-30 31-36 37-42 43-48 49-54 55-60 61-90 1-90 23 Number losing . . 50 56 67 84 122 49 15 6 5 1 1 456 SHIFTING In J^ew York City, in the year studied by the Factory Investi- gating Commission, September 1912 to September 1913, 45 per cent, of the women stayed four weeks or less in the same place and a total of 66 per cent, less than three months; 13 per cent. 340 American Labor Legislation Review remained from three to six months and 8.3 per cent, over six months and less than eleven months. Only 12 per cent, held their places over eleven months. (See Chart XL) In Massachusetts in 1913-14, the Minimum Wage Commission found the number of months during which over 3,000 women in the fourteen largest factories had remained in the same establishment. All those leaving in less than four weeks were excluded and, considering the large numbers who leave after a few days' work, the showing is, in this way, made much more favorable. Even so, 36.9 per cent, stayed less than three months and only 21.8 per cent, more than eleven months. Twenty-three and a half per cent, re- mained three to six months and 17.8 per cent, from six to eleven months. An almost negligible percentage of the entire numbei found employment for the entire twelve months. There were, however, great differences between the different factories in respect to the steadiness of their employees. One establishment held 16 per cent, of its workers for the whole twelve months, whereas four kept no workers at all throughout the entire year. Those finding work for eleven months varied from 12 per cent, to over 70 per cent. By occupations the differences were not so marked. The skilled dippers were most permanent in tenure, as might be expected, and the absolutely unskilled floor-girls the least, but in general the different occupations ran pretty closely together. Like evidence, though from a slightly different point of view, comes from the results of a federal investigation made in 1911 in the two widely separated states of Maryland and California, The average number of weeks' employment yearly for all women candy workers was thirty-nine in the one state and forty-five in the other. Allowing for the fact that some of these workers must have been steady throughout the year, many others must have been able to find work for very short periods only. Those who are dismissed on account of the slack season must find it especially difficult to obtain other work, since they lose their places after Christmas and in the summer, when most other women's trades are dull. And in Massachusetts, in 1911, out of about 850 such changes from factory to factory, 22 per cent, were said by the women changing to have been made on account of slack work. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 341 DC LJ m 2 LJ t LJ ^g CD |LJ LJ ZCM 05 o LJ L. z o o zS urr t Id DC ogoi ,-OOUI m OD w^ ^ ^-a^ CO i UJ CO *t CO C>CM; oTui CO CO o CO Ul Ul 10 342 American Labor Legislation Review VARIATION IN EARNINGS The effect of irregular employment upon income remains to be considered. How much do steady workers lose on account of dull seasons ? Do short period workers also lose ? Do time-workers succeed in making their nominal rate of pay ? In comparing the fluctuations in the total amount of wages paid out in New York City, 1912-13, the percentage of difference between the largest and smallest amounts by months is but slightly larger than the monthly percentage of difference in numbers, 25 per cent, for wages and 23 per cent, for numbers. But when we examine the total sums paid out each week, we find a difference of over 35 per cent, between maximum and minimum, a variation considerably greater than the 25 per cent, difference in numbers employed by weeks. Slack work must account for the periods when the wage line dips far below the line for numbers. (See Chart X.) In Massachusetts, the Commission on Minimum Wage Boards made a study of losses in earnings among " steady " workers. The average weekly earnings of 469 women who remained with the same firm the entire year were found to be $5.33. The average weekly earnings for those weeks in which they worked was $5.97. Thus allowance was made for all absences for an entire week, though not for losses from short time within a week. But even this average weekly loss of 64 cents, excluding as it did part of the loss from seasonal irregularity, was more than 10 per cent, of the average weekly income. This loss was produced " largely by industrial causes " says the Commission. Most of the women employees in candy factories are time workers. This does not mean, however, that such workers who keep their places during the slack season really make their nominal weekly rate during that time. To illustrate this point the Massa- chusetts Minimum Wage Board selected a single wage sheet from one pay roll. It was a " typical sheet " selected at random and contained the names of forty-three time workers, at work for the factory an average of forty weeks during the year. That is, they were comparatively steady workers. On the average, they re- ceived their scheduled rate just a quarter of the time or ten weeks out of the forty. Their average exceeded the rate nine times and fell below it twenty-^one times. Not one received her rate for Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 343 half the time she worked, or earned more than her rate as often as she earned less. In every case the actual average earnings of these women if computed would have fallen below their rate. Both the report of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission and the New York State Factory Investigating Commission compare rates and earnings for women in the confectionery industry in 1913, and both show earnings falling below the rates, though the New York report took a week in the " normal " or busier season and the Massachusetts report considered average weekly earnings for the year. In New York City in the selected week only 19 per cent, of the women were working at a rate of under $5, but 30 per cent, actually took home such amounts in their pay en- velopes. In Massachusetts for the whole year 26 per cent, were rated under $5, but 49 per cent, actually earned such a sum. (See Chart XII.) A comparison between the possible hours based on full running time, and the hours actually worked by 1,115 female time-workers in three Massachusetts candy-factories during 1913, illustrates the conditions probably responsible for this discrepancy. (See Chart XIII.) In the first place the running time of the factories varies considerably from season to season, falling off in the summer and rising high before Christmas as the solid line shows. There are two different reasons for this variation ; both illustrative of differ- ent phases of industrial irregularity. The one is the great in- crease in the number employed during the busy season ; the other, the lengthening of the running time ten or fifteen per cent, at the same period. But in only two or three weeks during the busy season when overtime is undoubtedly worked, do the hours of actual work (represented by the broken line), exceed or even so much as equal this changing running time. For all the rest of the year hours worked fall decidedly below possible hours. Such a difference between actual and possible hours of work is found among all classes of employees, the skilled dippers and " fancy packers " as well as among the unskilled " plain packers." (See Chart XIV.) It is true that a better organization of the industry would require a somewhat smaller labor-force and a few women would thus be thrown entirely out of work if actual hours more nearly equalled possible hours. On the other hand full time 344 American Labor Legislation Review CHART XII CONFECTIONERY PER CENT OF -WOMEN AT SPECIFIED AMOUNTS 40k 40% MASS ACHUSET TS WEE (LY AYE RAG E 1913 307, 9T T %> t 20% 20X 1 x v x x N x MM I X -^ \. 40% NEW YC RKCITY 40% SELE CTED WEEK 1913 A / / \ s / t\ ,'t V \ ,' ' / \ *' / \ *v s* / ^ Irregular Employment and the Living \\'aye 345 CONFECTIONERY, MASSACHUSETTS 1913 FULL RUNNING TIME AND NUMBER OF HOURS ACTUALLY WORKED BY 1115 WOMEN IN THREE FACTORIES II ^ 8 S g 2' 2 i 2 2 1 Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 351 CHART XVI CONFECTIONERY NEW YORK CITY, WEEKLY WAGES OF THREE PIECE-WORKERS FOR THREE MONTHS $15- MARY V. MAh IE G NAN \ CYH \ V / 352 American Labor Legislation Review losses from irregular work are compensated in some way, there- fore, how can we but question the effectiveness of insuring the women in it a living income by the usual minimum wage rate ? But in any average or aggregate extreme differences are smoothed down and the greater fluctuations disappear. If we want to realize the human side of the problem, how individual girls are affected by these wage differences, we must select indi- vidual workers and find out what they get week by week. As was done in the section on the Paper Box Industry, six workers were chosen, three piece workers and three time workers. They were " steady representative workers," each employed nearly the whole year in different factories. The three piece workers, Mary and Nancy and Mamie had an average weekly wage of $7.10, $5.69, and $9.35, respectively. These averages conceal great differences from week to week as the 'Charts (XV and XVI) show. The first chart represents each girl's weekly wages averaged by months ; the second, her wages week by week for the third quarter of the year (which is not highly irregular) in order to show the fluctuations concealed by a monthly average. Mary received as little as $4.20 one week and as much as $10.01 another. Nancy received only fifty cents one week. The next week she did not work at all. However, excluding this as possibly caused by per- sonal reasons, another week she made $2.91, while her best week she received $8.79. Mamie's weekly wage varied between $3.27 and $14.37. Instead of the average 35 per cent, difference, we have 58 per cent., 66 per cent, and 72 per cent, as the difference between the largest and smallest weekly wages of these steady workers. The surprising fact to those unfamiliar with present day factory work, is that nearly as great a variation occurs in the wages of the three time workers as among the piece workers (see Chart XVII). Teresa is supposed to be paid $5.62 every week in the year. In reality, her highest weekly wage is $8.90 and her lowest $2.44, a difference of 72 per cent. Rose's rate is $7. She never gets more than this, but for two or three weeks, her actual wage falls as low as $4.67, just about a third below her rate. Anna with a rate of $6.50, gets a minimum of $3.79 and a maximum of $8.45, more than twice as much. Not one of the three " makes up in the busy season what she loses in the dull " Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 353 CHART XVII CONFECTIONERY NEW YORK CITY WEEKLY WAGES OF THREE TIME-WORKERS c O r- X M i 1 1 II Ul Ul H- cc ec \ \. I Ul Ul oe oe i I Ul Ul H- U ce oe c \ Ul f < ) Ul j i ic Ul Ul 1C i w Ul < Ul Ul ) ! i \ x x i \ r ( \ x j \. < i \ \ > ( ^-~^ \ ^ > i \ 1 '> 1 ! u * ti > 1 C9 y CO Ul oe Ul 1- k. z z 1 i\ % % $ S % S 8 354 American Labor Legislation Review as we are often told most workers do, for in each case the average weekly wage falls below the rate. Teresa drops below her rate an average of 24 cents weekly, Rose 58 cents, and Anna 63 cents. The average percentages lost weekly are 4 per cent., 8 per cent, and 9 per cent. Similar conditions among individual workers were found by the Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards. They considered the case of " Bridget G " typical. She was 2'6 years old and had wrapped candy for one firm nearly seven years. Her weekly rate was $6, but in 1911 industrial lay-offs brought her average weekly wage down to only $4.97, a loss from her meager full time earnings of 17 per cent. OVERTIME EARNINGS It is already evident from the constant deficit in earnings when compared with rates that the steady worker does not find her " gains from overtime " equalling her losses from undertime. There are two reasons for this. The first is simply that the dull season is longer than the busy one. A glance at the charts show- ing monthly changes in numbers and wages will confirm this. Roughly from these charts, the proportions of slack and rush work are 33 weeks to 17 weeks. Then also rate-workers always fall below their rate many more weeks than they climb above it. For instance, Teresa, one of those " representative workers " in New York City was 36 weeks below her rate and only 14 weeks above it. In the second place, not all employees work overtime; in California in 1911, a quarter of the candy workers did not and in Maryland in the same year a fifth did not. All facts point to the conclusion that it is not so easy to " gain from over- time and make up for the slack season/' even if the necessary long hours were thought desirable. SUMMARY Busy and dull seasons alternate in candy factories in the same way that they do in paper box factories. The industry is busiest in the fall, active before Easter and slack after Christmas and in the summer. On account of these seasonal variations, at least 25 per cent, of the whole number of women employed can find places in the trade only during the four fall months. Part of Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 355 the great flux of workers in the industry, therefore, is not the fault of the workers themselves The steady workers also lose in time and consequently in wages during the dull season, both through shorter hours and through the occasional closing of a de- partment or the whole factory for a few days. These losses in wages can he brought out in several different ways. There is a 35 per cent, variation in wages week by week in New York in con- trast to a 25 per cent, fluctuation in numbers. In individual cases the difference rises as high as 75 per cent. These fluctuations result in wage losses. A comparison between the average weekly rate and earnings of over a thousand rate workers in New York City show that 89 per cent, of them did not make their rate and that their average loss was about 15 per cent. The same state of affairs was found to exist among " annual " workers and among women employed for shorter periods in Massachusetts. The Minimum Wage Commission of that State has described a typical worker as " less than 25 years old, earns less than $6 a week ; works on an average less than 46 hours weekly, and is out of work twenty or more weeks during the year." We can come therefore to but one conclusion about a minimum wage in the confectionery industry. In view of the seasonal nature of the industry, a minimum flat rate without regard to the amount of employment will never give the girl in the candy factory a living wage. Yet large numbers of them look to this industry alone for their support. The Massachusetts Commis- sion, for example, reports that in spite of its irregularity, 68 per cent out of 900 workers questioned depended entirely on this one industry for a living. Nor can those girls who hold their places in the slack season well do otherwise, with the slack periods so scattered as they are, a day here and a day there; while, as has been said, the casual workers, dismissed after Christmas, have to hunt for work in a time when most other industries are also slack. A minimum wage in this industry, to give the women a " living income " must either build on a basis of greater regularity than exists at present, or make an adequate allowance for the losses from seasonal irregularity. CLOTHING INTRODUCTION The seasonal irregularity of the various " needle trades " is notorious. For this irregularity, it is hard to say whether we should hold climate or human nature responsible. We naturally need different clothing for winter and summer. At the same time the custom of " something new for Easter " and the ever changing styles, especially in woman's clothing, tend to increase the concentration of retail trade in two short seasons, spring and fall. Years ago retail buyers placed their orders for goods a long time before the selling season, and manufacturers, too, made up goods for stock, expecting to get orders when the season came around. This kept the employees at work the greater part of the time. Recently, however, the custom has become more and more prevalent for buyers to place their orders just before the selling season and frequently in smaller lots, at periods during the height of the season. Quick delivery is always expected. This produces a short rush season of overtime and overwork and then a long period of slack time with little or no work. A great num- ber of women are affected by this extreme irregularity, for the " needle trades " are well to the front among industries employ- ing women. That all garment workers alike suffer from this cause is evi- dent from the statistics of unemployment among union members in Massachusetts and New York. In Massachusetts the percent- age out of work on the last day of each quarter is reported. This percentage, for the years 1910-12, averaged 9.2 per cent, at the end of the first quarter, 11.7 per cent, at the end of the second, 20.1 per cent, at the end of the third, and 38.7 per cent, at the end of the fourth. The general average for the three years was 19.9 per cent. The New York figures for the same years run perhaps a little lower, but they are taken for the end of March and the end of September, when the trade dullness is by no means at its worst. Figures are also given to show that approximately 95 per cent. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 357 of all the unemployment in this industry in New York state is caused by slack work. For women union members, the average number of days employed quarterly in the first and third quarters of a year, is also given. The full number of working days in a quarter is about 75, but from 1910 to 1912, these women aver- aged only from 39 to 64 days of work in a quarter, while 55 days is a representative figure for a general average. Roughly speak- ing they lost not far from a quarter of their time. While idleness on account of trade conditions, therefore, is a burden to all garment workers, there is some difference in con- ditions between work on men's and women's clothing. The former includes the figures for such articles as bath-robes, rain- coats and smoking jackets, staple lines for which the demand varies little and which can be made for stock if necessary. The workers on these goods are therefore little troubled by seasonal differences, and this fact, together with a somewhat more steady demand without very sharp changes in style, causes somewhat less irregularity in the manufacture of men's clothing than women's. On this account the two divisions of the trade are considered separately. MEN'S CLOTHING GENERAL STATISTICS Few factory industries employ more women than does the manufacture of men's clothing. An average of 133,101 women, 16 years of age and over, were at work in this line in 1909, ac- cording to the United States Census of Manufactures. Ten years before the number had been only 99,000. Though the male workers were increasing somewhat more rapidly than the female and the proportion of women was therefore slightly de- creasing, yet the women were still in the majority, forming 55 per cent, of all wage earners. The states employing the largest numbers of women workers on December 15, 1909, were New York with 40,000, Illinois with 19,000, Pennsylvania with 16,- 000 and Maryland with 10,000. Other States employing over 2,000 adult women were Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin. New York held decidedly the first place, but the industry was fairly well scattered over the leading manufacturing states. 358 American Labor Legislation Review SEASONAL VARIATIONS For the most part the fluctuations in the trade follow the familiar course of busy in the fall and in the spring, dull after Christmas and in the summer. On the whole, the spring busy season is more active and lasts longer than in many other trades with a correspondingly later and slighter rush in the fall. In a few localities, as Philadelphia and Baltimore, the first half of the year is a good deal busier than the last half. In Kentucky in 1911, the " Commission on the Condition of Working Women" found that at least three months a year were slack. Some em- ployees are discharged as the slack season comes on, the rest work short hours, and on many days find the shop closed entirely, so that their earnings fall off. Sarah M. may represent the unlucky ones whom the industry cannot use all the year. She had been earning only $3.50 a week, and then one day work was slack and her employer turned her off. For three months she could not get work. " She had saved $6 and that partly paid for a place to sleep with a family about as poor as she was. She had lived for weeks on two cents worth of bread a day and a little tea, and after three months of this seemed surprised that she had ' queer feelings in the stomach ' and palpitation of the heart. Her landlady sometimes cooked a supper for her, charging only 10 cents, which barely covered the cost of the food, did her washing, and helped her in every way she could." 1 Thus by the kindness of the poor to the poor were the vicissitudes of seasonal industry endured. The case of Esther G. 2 illustrates the troubles of the worker who is not discharged outright in the slack season. But at that time she could get only enough work to bring her average weekly earnings of $1.96. This did not pay her expenses, so "her land- lady trusted her for her room rent, she used what little money she had to buy food, and when the busy season came again began to pay off the burden of debt which she had accumulated." 1 Women and Child Wage Earners, Vol. V., p. 67. 2 Ibid. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 359 AV 100'/. 90%. CHRT XVIII MEN'S CLOTHING ERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED BY MONTH (MAXIMUM- 100X) s. too*/. 90'X ap% 70* 100% 90% ^.^ / -.- ^- , -.- ^-^ -*" 100% 1 UN EN* HALE TED :LOTI AFE STA IINGi tALE TES I SHI 1909 ITS ./ ^- - -- - '^ 1 7 OX ME "C FEMA ruEf LOT LESC SEY (ING VER 1912 16 70% 100% 90% _../ x- _. -- ^. x X y '/" BON MA M ALLF 5SAC EN'S i ENAL HUS LOT ES ETT filNfi 1912 SO /. JAN FEB. 'MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. 360 American Labor Legislation Review STATISTICS OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT In the clothing trade the " average number of days in opera- tion yearly " are somewhat more significant of the actual situa- tion than usual because of the many days when the factories are entirely closed. In 1912, the average days in operation in Massachusetts was only 273 and in New Jersey, 233. That is, in Massachusetts the steady workers lost some 10 per cent, of their time from the closing of the whole factory for entire days and in New Jersey they lost nearly a quarter of their time in this way. Their full time earnings would be reduced proportion- ately from this one factor alone without allowing for all the short time on days when a little work is done. Variations in the " average number employed by months " have been given for the whole United States in 1909 and for Massachusetts and New Jersey in 1912. (See Chart XVIII.) The differences are not extreme, about 10 per cent, at the most, though half of this difference or 5 per cent, can find places for only three months out of the year. In this industry, the busy and slack seasons may not come at the same part of the year in different localities and different sorts of shops, and whenever this happens, the average smooths down the differences. This is often the case, as the diagram shows, for the variations in New Jersey do not correspond with those of the United States as a whole. Some figures from a federal report on the industry make this still more evident. The five leading centers for the trade are considered, New York, Chicago, Rochester, Philadel- phia and Baltimore, where altogether 68.2 per cent, of the men's clothing manufactured in the United States was turned out in 1909. Though according to the dates of the week when fewest and the week when most were employed the general tendency toward slack work in the summer and after Christmas and a busy season in the spring and late fall was clear, yet there was considerable variation between the different cities. Still more striking are the differences in steadiness of num- bers employed between the various cities and the various kinds of shops. (See Table 7.) The basis of comparison here used is the per cent, which the maximum and minimum numbers Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 361 form of the average number employed, instead of, as in other schedules, the per cent, which the smallest monthly average is of the greatest. In cities, Rochester, with only 16 per cent, differ- ence between this smallest and largest per cent, of the average number employed, forced less unemployment on its workers than Philadelphia with its difference of 29 per cent., and far less than Baltimore with its difference of 54 per cent. 'Since percentages are given for only one shop in New York, no general deductions can be made for that city. In Kentucky, the Commission on the Condition of Working Women found a 50 per cent, difference in 1911 between the numbers in the busy and in the slack season. This greater steadiness of the trade in Rochester is probably due to the fact that the " inside " shop prevails there, that is, the large factory where a single firm controls the manufacture from beginning to end. Regularity of work in the different kinds of shops may be com- pared from the Chicago figures. In the " inside shops," the difference between the largest and smallest number employed was only 8 per cent., a result similar to the general averages. But in two " contract shops/ 7 where a contractor has the clothing made up which he gets from an entrepreneur, the differences were naturally much greater, 17 per cent, and 32 per cent. Three " special order " shops were investigated, two in Chicago and one in New York. In a " special order shop " suits are made to in- dividual measure, but under factory conditions. Such a shop is the link between custom tailoring and ready made clothing. Since work is done as the orders happen to come in, the irregular- ity there was greatest of all. In the two Chicago shops, the fluctuations were 51 per cent, and 90 per cent., and in the one in New York City the difference was 73 per cent. In these last two shops more than half of the workers must have been thrown out of employment for a part of the year. This is quite a differ- ent story from the 10 per cent, of the general average, and goes to show once more how such averages may cover up the real con- ditions. 362 American Labor Legislation Review TABLE 7 MEN'S CLOTHING FIVE LEADING CENTERS OF THE INDUSTRY, 1907-8 FLUCTUATIONS IN NUMBERS EMPLOYED, WKEKLY PAYROLL AND AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS (Adapted from Woman and Child Wage-Earners, Vol. II, pp. 174-179) KIND OP SHOP PER CENT. OP AVERAGE NUMBER OP EMPLOYEES PER CENT. OF AVERAGE WEEKLY PAYROLL PER CENT. OP AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS Smallest Largest Smallest Largest Smallest Largest I. CHICAGO Large inside shops 95.3 103.6 85.9 112.9 85.0 112.5 " Contract vest shop," Scandinavian 88.6 120.0 67.5 112.6 76.2 112.3 " Contract coat shop," Bohemian 87 5 104 2 74 5 123 9 71 6 123 6 " Contract coat shop," German 56 5 135 9 Ready-made clothing .... 95.3 103.6 85.9 116.3 85.0 112.5 " Special order shop "... 74.2 125.8 42.6 166.7 29.7 171.9 " Special order shop "... 28.8 118.0 47.8 128.0 25.2 146.4 II. ROCHESTER All 1 93 8 109 9 Q9. a 119. 9. Q 4. IfU 9 III. PHILADELPHIA All . | 79 1 in A. A7 9 19*; 9 KA 1 117 ft IV. BALTIMORE All | 72 1 126 6 5* fi iai a fia 4 118 rt V. NEW YORK CITY " Special order shop "... 52.2 125.8 32.1 158.2 55.1 138.0 4 * Inside contract shop " . 63.6 117.7 Besides the entire closing of the shops, brought out by the statistics of " days in operation " and the smaller numbers em- ployed in the busy season, shown by the " number employed by months,'' there is the whole question of short-time which is much more common than might be thought. The government investiga- tion already referred to computed for a " representative week " the average weekly hours actually worked and the actual average weekly pay and compared the results with full time hours and full time rates of pay. (See Table 8-a.) The percentage of loss in hours and that of loss in wages is almost identical and forms one more proof of the absolute dependence of factory-workers' wages on the number of hours they work. There was a decided loss from full time hours and full time rates of pay in every city, varying from about 10 per cent, in Eochester to more than 20 per cent, in Baltimore and it must be remembered that this Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 363 period is supposed to be a " normal week " rather busy than dull. Once more we can see the ineffectiveness of a wage-rate as a measurement of the actual pay received. Furthermore, there was absolutely no uniformity about the weekly hours that differ- ent women worked. ('See Table 8-b.) In Chicago, in this same " representative week/ 7 7 per cent, of the women worked over- time, but 41 per cent, less than full time. In one establishment of that particularly irregular type, the " special order house," over a quarter of the women worked overtime yet nearly a third worked less than three days in the selected week. It is impos- sible then under present conditions of irregularity to assume that all the workers will gain from possible overtime at busy seasons or will be able to reach any one level of wages. TABLE 8 MEN'S CLOTHING FIVE LEADING CENTERS OF THE INDUSTRY, 1907-8 A. FULL-TIME AND ACTUAL WORKING TIME, FULL-TIME WAGES AND ACTUAL AVERAGE WAGES IN A " REPRESENTATIVE WEEK." WOMEN 16 AND OVER (Adapted from " Woman and Child Wage-Earners, Vol. II, pp. 107, 125 and 161) CITY Average regular weekly hours Average hours actually worked during week Per cent, time lost during week Per cent, wagea lost during week Computed full time earnings Average actual weekly earnings for the week Rochester 54 6 49 2 9 7 9 8 $7 68 56 93 Chicago 54.3 48 4 10 9 11 8 03 7 15 New York 57.2 49.9 12.7 12 6 6 57 5 74 Philadelphia 54 6 47 4 13 2 12 9 6 89 6 00 Baltimore 57 7 45 8 20 6 20 6 6 07 4 82 B. PER CENT. OF WOMEN IN CHICAGO, 1907-8, WORKING OVERTIME, FULL-TIME, AND SPECIFIED NUMBERS OF DATS PER WEEK IN A " REPRESENTATIVE WEEK." WOMEN 16 AND OVER (Adapted from " Woman and Child Wage-Earners, Vol. II, pp. 110-112) KIND OF SHOP Overtime Full time 5 days full time 3-5 days Less than 3 days All 7 5 50 8 11 7 20 9 9 1 " Special order " shop 27.1 11 3 2 2 28 1 31 3 " Ready-Made " establishment 3.4 59.0 13.8 19.1 4.7 SHIFTING This same federal report finds that only 18 per cent, of the workers stayed in the factories investigated for a whole year. (See Table 9.) Sixteen per cent, remained from fifteen to thirty weeks, and the same proportion from thirty to fifty weeks, 20 per cent, from five to fourteen weeks, and 28 per cent. 364 American Labor Legislation Review less than five weeks. Workers remained longest in Rochester, then Philadelphia, Chicago and Baltimore followed in the order named. These cities have the same rank in variations in the numbers employed. It seems probable, therefore, that many workers, after a few weeks' work were forced out of the garment trade into other work or into unemployment. TABLE 9 MEN'S CLOTHING FIVE LEADING CENTERS OF THE INDUSTRY, 1907-8 PBB CENT. OF EMPLOYEES REMAINING GIVEN NUMBERS OF WEEKS IN THE SAME FACTORY (From Woman and Child Wage-Earners, Vol. II, p. 166) NUMBER OP WEEKS IN SAME FACTORY Rochester Philadel- phia Chicago Baltimore Total Under 5 11.8 17.3 34 9 38 2 28 2 6-14 17.8 21.8 21.4 20.2 20 6 15-29 13.7 21.6 16.1 16.9 16.9 30-49 22 4 17 4 13 6 15 3 16 60 and over 34 3 21 9 14 9 4 18 3 VARIATION IN EARNINGS Finally we come to the more important point, the effect of this seasonal irregularity upon earnings. For such wage fluctuations, though we have no one general set of figures, yet we have a few for the different kinds of shops in the leading cities of the trade, figures which are comparable to those of the fluctuations in num- bers. First, this federal report gives the per cent, of difference between the largest and smallest total amount of wages paid out in different weeks during the year for all workers. Then, there is given also the percentage of variation between the largest and smallest average weekly wage. The latter may fairly be said to give an idea of the extent to which steady workers' earnings suffer from the irregularity of the trade. Except in Rochester, where there is only a 6 per cent, variation, these differences are always large. (See Table 7.) With these figures may be com- pared the results of investigation in Kentucky, where the Com- mission on the Condition of Working Women in 1911 found average weekly wages of $5-$ 6 in " normal " times, rising to $6- $7 during the busy season, but falling as low as $l-$4 for those having any work at all in slack periods. The other set of variations, differences in the total pay-roll, result both from differences in the numbers employed and from changes in the amounts earned by the steady workers as well. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 365 Naturally, then, fluctuations in wages are greater than the dif- ferences in numbers alone. (See Table 7.) In one instance, that of a " contract coat shop Bohemian " in Chicago, where the number of workers varied only 17 per cent, from season to sea- son, the wages varied 49 per cent., indicating the tremendous loss from slack time suffered by the steady workers. Another estimate of the loss in earnings from short time and seasonal irregularity was made by the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor for union members in 1913. Among garment workers, both men and women, the actual average yearly earnings were $432 and the computed full time yearly earnings $512. The difference is 15.7 per cent, and this loss occurred among both sexes, including men who being the more highly skilled workers gener- ally suffer less from irregularity, and among union members with whom trade conditions are always at their best. WOMEN'S CLOTHING GENERAL STATISTICS A very large number of adult women are also employed in the manufacture of all kinds of women's clothing. A decline in home dress-making is evident from the great increase in the number of women wage-earners in this industry an increase of 54 per cent, from the 56,000 employed in 1899 to the 97,000 employed in 1909. Proportionally, however, there was a slight tendency for men to replace women, but female employees were still decidedly in the majority in 1909, being 63 per cent, of the whole working force, though in 1899 they were about 68 per cent. The trade is extremely concentrated, centering in New York City, where nearly 59,000 over half the total number of women workers were found on December 15, 1909. The next state, Pennsylvania, was a long way behind with only 11,000 and Ohio came third with only 6,000. Conditions in New York City, then, may well be considered in detail. SEASONAL VARIATIONS There are no staple articles comparable to those in men's cloth- ing, made in the woman's clothing trade which feels the full effect of rapid changes in style and of an eager demand at two 366 American Labor Legislation Review short seasons of the year. In the spring as many employees as can be gotten together work long hours, frequently overtime, under high pressure. Then work drops off, till July can only be described as *' dead." The trade begins to pick up again in August and is busy through the fall, though hardly as intensely so as in the spring. By the end of November most women have bought their winter outfits, and everything is slack again till February. The result of these two busy and two dull sea- sons is that many women can find work only a small part of the year, and that the rest see their wages drop off and find the shops closed entirely for many days during the slack season. Dr. Woods Hutchinson, studying the situation in the dress and waist industry in New York City in 1910 described it as '* good work for four months, moderate for six, and very little for two months out of every year." The case of Rachel, a shirt-waist operative, cited by Mrs. Clark and Miss Wyatt in " Making Both Ends Meet/' illustrates how this affects a woman's wages. For four months she could get full time work and earned $14 or $15 a week. For three months she worked only five days a week, earning about $12. Four months more she worked three or four days and earned only $7-$ 10 weekly, and one month she could get no work at all. Her average weekly wage when the whole year was considered was little more than $10, a third less than what she could make with full-time work. STATISTICS OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT Many women are even worse off than Rachel, for she was en- tirely out of work only one month in the year. The general situ- ation is shown by the variation in numbers in the dress and waist industry in New York City in 1 1912. (See Chart XIX.) These figures show that in July half the employees in the industry were out of work and for three months more, June, August and Janu- ary, a quarter of the largest number employed could not find places. This situation is apparently worse than are conditions in those states where the trade is only slightly developed, since the variation from the maximum in the latter was smaller, only 15 per cent, in Wisconsin and New Jersey for two months a year, 1 U. S. Department of Labor, Bulletin No, 146, p. 150. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 367 CHART XIX DRESS AND WAIST INDUSTRY, NEW YORK CITY AVERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED AND TOTAL AW WAGES BY MONTHS. MALE AND FEMALE (MAXIMUM = 100%! ', 1912 OUNT 100* 60% 60% 40% 20% MONTH 100% / fi / \ \ \ ^\ 80% / // \+ N ^ / / \ ,\ \ 1 ' 1 it * \ \ I T i \ \ V 60%- \ \ \ I // \ \ \ \ \l / 40% 1 / ( ' \ / V 20%- MONTM JAN.. FEB. MARCH' APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. 368 American Labor Legislation Review and 25 per cent, in Massachusetts during two months. (See Chart XX.) The drop in wages was even greater than the drop in numbers, the difference, as has been said, indicating what the steadiest workers lose from slack time. Only 40 per cent, of the largest amount of wages was paid out in July and about 65 per cent, in January, June and August. These figures indicate a loss from short-time of not less than 10 per cent, or 15 per cent, of the wages of the steady workers. SUMMARY In the manufacture of clothing, the rush season is the spring and the slackest the summer. January is somewhat dull and the fall is busy. On the whole, the women's clothing industry is more irregular than the men's. The nation-wide variation in the num- ber employed from month to month is only 8 per cent. 1 in the latter, but a closer examination, week by week, of different sorts of shops and different localities, discloses differences of from 16 per cent, to 54 per cent. These figures bring out the large num- bers of women who are necessarily unemployed during part of the year; the still greater wage differences from season to season show that the steady workers lose from short time. In the manu- facture of women's clothing in New 'York City, the center of the industry, in 1913, the number of employees fell 45 per cent, in the dull season and wages fell 60 per cent. What is the result of this alternation of high pressure and lack of work on the women themselves on their lives as well as their wages ? It may be summed up in the words of an operator herself. "In the rush season," she said, "we worked from 8 o'clock in the morning till 9 o'clock at night. We only went from bed to work and from work to bed again, and sometimes if we sajt up a little while at home in the evening, we were so tired we could not speak to the rest and we hardly knew what they were talking about. And still, although there was nothing for us but bed and the machine, we could not earn enough to take care of ourselves through the slack season." 2 1 See Chart XVIII. 2 " Making Both Ends Meet " by Edith Wyatt and Sue Ainslee Clark, p. 132. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 369 CHART XX WOMEN'S CLOTHING AVERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED BY MONTHS. 100% 80% (MAXIMUM = 100% 100% 90% 80% 70% / /\ H '\ 7 ^ -** WISI ONS IN 19 09. 60% 1OO% 90%- FEMA ESO /ER1 60% 100% 90% / /^ X \ r \ * \ / 80% \ / 80% MAS SAC 1USE TTS 0f2. -- 70% 100% 90% ov ALL F EMAl ES 100% 90% 80% ~*\ ^ > ^ ---' v ^ NE1 'JER SEY 912. 70% JSn r EMA IRTM LESO V S E T |l 6 70% JAN. FEB. MARCH! APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. 370 American Labor Legislation Review All legal minimum wage rates in the United States thus far are weekly rates. How far this kind of wage award would come from providing a living wage to a garment worker is shown by the case of " Rachel," previously mentioned, who, though a steady, experienced worker, had an average weekly wage for the year falling a third below her full time rate. Any adequate minimum wage rate in the garment trades must make an allow- ance for this loss from slack work, and 25 per cent, would not be too high a figure for such an allowance. If, in this way, financial pressure was brought to bear upon the employer to give steady employment to perhaps fewer people and to end the tension and overwork of the busy season, not only the pocketbooks, but the health and nerves of the workers and thereby the community would profit greatly. SHIRT-MAKING GENERAL STATISTICS Owing to the steadier demand and more staple nature of the product, the making of shirts is one of the less seasonal of the industries grouped as " needle trades. " In the north the business varies considerably from season to season, but hardly to the same degree as do most other branches of clothing manufacture. In the latest United States Census of Manufactures, taken in 1909, the figures for " shirts " are combined with those for " men's clothing," so that exact statistics about the number of women wage-earners in the industry cannot be given. The census esti- mated, however, that there were about 48,000 wage-earners em- ployed in shirt-making and that probably three-quarters of those were women. New York is the leading state in the industry em- ploying about 22,000 females. STATISTICS OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT In Massachusetts in 1912 the " average number employed by months," showed a considerable drop in the number of women wage-earners in June, July and August. The numbers fell in August as much as 25 per cent, below the maximum. In New Jersey in the same year, there was a falling off of nearly 10 per cent, during the same three months. In Massachusetts, the num- bers during the rest of the year remained steady, but in New Jersey a higher level was reached during the first months of the year. A federal investigation in 1911 likewise found marked busy and slack seasons in California and Maryland factories. In New York state, according to the recent and extensive study of the trade carried on by the New York State Factory Investigating Commission for the year beginning December 15, 1912, the seasonal variation of the industry in New York City was not wholly identical with that in other parts of the state. This is due largely to the different lines of goods manufactured in the city and upstate. In New York City the principal prod- 372 American Labor Legislation Review uct is cheap work-shirts, a relatively staple product, so that the busy season is there distributed over a large part of the year, not following exactly the familiar course of busy in the fall and spring, slack after Christmas and in the summer. Upstate, however, the seasonal variations are greater and more frequent and the summer is distinctly dull. From this investigation the monthly and weekly fluctuations in numbers employed can be obtained. These statistics, together with the variation in amount of wages by months, are presented graphically in Chart XXI. In the city the numbers fell in March 13 per cent, below their highest point which came in November, while upstate the maximum number was also at work in November, but the smallest number of workers, 17 per cent, below the maximum, was found in August. As usual, the fluctu- ations by weeks were greater than by months. In the city, weekly variations were 15 per cent, instead of the 13 per cent, by months ; and upstate weekly variations were 31 per cent, while the greatest monthly variation was only 17 per cent. Interviews with selected women workers by the New York State Factory Investigating Commission showed in a large num- ber of cases, time lost for industrial reasons. While out of 94 women interviewed upstate, 10 lost no time whatever, among the remaining 84, there were 45 instances of loss of time for indus- trial reasons, averaging eleven days each. Among 177 women in New York City, 18 were entirely out of work for from one week to six months and 70 lost from one week to four months on account of slack work. There were 102 women who reported a loss of time from industrial reasons and their average loss of time was 34 days, over a tenth of the possible number of working days in the year. But since most of the workers are employed at piece-work, no variation in numbers is an adequate measure of the full extent of the irregularity. Shirt-making is another industry in which earnings must be studied in order to under- stand the full effect of seasonal irregularity. SHIFTING There is some evidence to show a similar flux of workers in the shirt-making industry to that found in so much other factory Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 373 CHART XXI SHIRT MAKING NEW YORK, DECEMBER 1912- DECEMBER 1913 AVERAGE NUMBER EMPLOYED AND. TOTAL AMOUNT WAGES BY MONTHS. MALE AND FEMALE 100% (MAXIMUM = 100%l 10OX \ /; ~?^ / \\ \ 90% 1 fcN r ^ \ 90% v >/ ' 80% 100% 90% NEV YORK CITY 80X 100% 90% ^ \ ^ ** \ -'- ^ I ;. /\ "s^ \ X X v" X X X \ V 1 eo'x \ / 80% X 1 \ i V ,0, UPS FATE ,0* JAN. FEB. MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUC SEPT. OCT NOV. DEC. 374 American Labor Legislation Review work. In one New York factory whose pay-rolls could be checked back for a year, the State Commission found that 17 per cent, of the workers had remained less than four weeks, 24 per cent, more, from five to sixteen weeks and but 29 per cent, had stayed 49 weeks or longer. VARIATIONS IN EARNINGS The most adequate measure of seasonal variations in shirt- making is therefore the fluctuations in wages. Both in New York City and up-state, the changes in the amount of wages paid out at different seasons are greater than the changes in numbers. By months, wages in the city were at their lowest point in April, when they were 12% per cent, below the maximum, while up- state the greatest decline was 23 per cent, in August (see Chart XXI). By weeks the differences are considerably larger, being approximately 19 per cent, for the city and very nearly 40 per cent for the rest of the state. The proportionately greater de- cline in wages than in numbers is of course mainly the result of short-time in reducing the wages of employees who remain on the pay-rolls during the dull seasons. Even in these totals, combining as they do many different es- tablishments, the extreme fluctuations in individual factories are undoubtedly smoothed out to a considerable extent. Such is the conclusion to be drawn from the large variation at different sea- sons in the average wage of women workers questioned on this point by the State Factory Investigating Commission. In New York City where the greatest weekly variation in wages was about 19 per cent, the average weekly wage of 197 women workers was $7.39 in rush seasons and only $5.13 in dull seasons, a dif- ference of 25 per cent Between dull and " normal " seasons alone there was a falling off of 6% per cent, in wages. Out of 85 women workers up-state, 14 reported no difference in their wages from season to season, but the others received average weekly wages which were 12 per cent, lower in dull than in " normal " times, twice as great a difference as in the city. No figures as to rush seasons were given. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 375 SUMMARY Shirt-making, then, is irregular like other needle trades, and this seasonal irregularity is reflected to some extent in the num- bers employed at different parts of the year. Fifteen per cent, fewer than the maximum were employed in New York City in the dullest week of 1913, and 31 per cent, fewer in the rest of the state. It is a study of earnings, however, which best brings out the extent of seasonal variations, for even those who hold their places during dull seasons suffer considerable wage-losses from short-time. Wages declined 19 per cent, in New York City in the dullest week of 1913 and very nearly 40 per cent, in the rest of the state. Under these conditions, the fixing of a minimum weekly wage rate alone would not necessarily provide an ade- quate annual income to the woman worker. MISCELLANEOUS NEEDLE TRADES INTRODUCTION The same causes a greatly increased demand at two seasons of the year, style changes, and a consequent reluctance on the retailer's part to place his orders far in advance, produce great seasonal irregularity in every subsidiary line connected with the manufacture of clothing. MEN'S FURNISHINGS There is the manufacture of " men's furnishings," so called, under which is included collars and cuffs, suspenders, belts, neck- ties, etc. Nearly 30,000 adult women found employment in this industry in 1909 and about half of these were in New York state. The evidence obtainable shows here, too, dull seasons after Christmas and through the early summer till the first of August. In Massachusetts during the six months of January, February, April, May, June, and July, 1912, the number of women employed fell off from a quarter to a third. March was comparatively busy. Besides this, the factories were open on the average only 273 days out of a possible 305, so that even the steadiest workers must have lost at least a tenth of their working time and full-time wages. A union official in New York City, 1 describing similar conditions among the women workers on men's neckwear in 1913, said that they have to expect slack work after Christmas and in the summer, amounting to at least nine weeks in all or a sixth of the whole year. At these periods what little work there is is divided equally among them, so they do not lose on an average quite a sixth of their wages, but of course in this slack season their pay falls far below its usual level. VEST MAKING In vest making women are employed only for the most un- skilled tasks. This condition differs from other work on men's garments and should therefore be considered separately. Most i Mary Dreier in Life and Labor, December, 1913, p. 358. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 377 of these women are out of work for three months every year, thus reducing by a quarter their already scanty wages of $5-$8 a week. DRESSMAKING This industry is one of the older occupations for women in which a very large number, estimated at 40,000 for New York City alone, are at work. Here in the city, the more important type of worker is no longer the dressmaker with two or three girls sewing for her, nor the " sewing women " going out to work by the day, but instead, the employee of the large custom dressmaking establishment or custom department of a big retail store. Much specialization and an absence of any personal contact exist in other words, factory conditions. The busy seasons in such shops are the usual ones, fall and spring, October and November, March and April. Particularly in the spring rush girls may be asked to take work home and finish it or to work at the shop two or three evenings a week. The reverse of the picture is more or less slack time after Christmas and, almost inevitably, unemployment during the summer. The better shops may tide things over in January, laying the women off in relays, or possibly not at all, but all firms alike turn off the great majority of their force in the summer. An investigation made in New York City in 1909 revealed the fact that a quarter of the dressmakers questioned had been out of work three months or more during the year. The following instances are typical. " Elsie, 1 a young, capable, energetic girl, was working in the same shop for the third season at $6 a week. She was laid off from July 4 to September 10. Mildred who had received special trade training, held her first position from February to June, getting $5 a week. Then she was idle about three months, ibut in September began work in another place at $7 a week, where she had to work overtime until 8 P. M. several days every week." Dressmakers are generally paid a flat weekly rate, so there is but little possibility of increasing their earnings by over- time work. Their nominal rate of pay is given as $5-$ 9 a week, but when allowance is made for the loss of from two to four months yearly, from a sixth to a quarter of their working lime. their real weekly rate is lowered to from $4 to $8 instead. i " Irregularity of Employment of Women/' by Louise C. Odencrantz, in the Survey, May 1, 1909, p. 207. 378 American Labor Legislation Review MILLINERY In the millinery trade the problem of irregularity of employ- ment is even more acute. There are nearly 125,000 women milliners in the United States and 16,000 in New York City alone according to the 1910 Census of Occupations. A large part of these women can get work in their trade for only half the year. An investigation of a large number of firms in Manhattan in 19 13 1 found that during the year, the number of employees was less than 25 per cent, below the maximum, only 25 weeks in the smaller retail establishments, 31 weeks in the larger ones, and 21 weeks in the wholesale houses. Naturally the busy season begins some- what earlier in the great wholesale establishments where hats are made and trimmed for the retail trade than in the retail shops themselves. Wholesale firms commence to make up felt hats as early as July and end their work usually by November or before ; work on summer hats begins the first of January and is generally over by the first of May. Work in retail stores begins and ends generally about a month later. This is well illustrated by the number employed monthly during 1913 by the Manhattan firms previously mentioned, where the range was from 259 to 591 in the retail trade and from 468 to 1,141 in the wholesale trade. (See Chart XXII.) The best months of the spring season for the wholesale firms were February and March but for the retail trade they were March and April. In the fall the wholesale trade was most active during August and September, whereas the retail houses were most active in September and October. Large as the differences are by months, they are even greater for separate weeks through the year. In both branches of the trade, the smallest num- ber at work in any one week was only 37 per cent, of the largest number. It is, however, very difficult for the girls in the wholesale houses, who are in the majority in numbers, to lengthen each season a month by going into retail shops. In the first place, the work is on a different basis. The retail worker is paid time wages and quality is emphasized, whereas most of the wholesale houses pay on a piece basis so that quantity of output becomes the im- *Made by the Committee on Women's Work of the Russell Sage Founda- tion in co-operation with the State Factory Investigating Commission. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 379 CHART XXII MILLINERY, SELECTED FIRMS, MANHATTAN, AVERAGE NUMBER FEMALES EMPLOYED > TOTAL AMOUNT OF THEIR WAGES, BY MON' (MAXIMUM = 100%) 1913. XND FHS. 100% 8O% 100% ' / /-- Il\- / A 80% '' I ''1 1 \ V. 2 --.^ \ / I \ 1(1 m \ ' 7 \ , \ 60% 40% 20% 100% BOX 60% / \ \ '' / \ \ \ \; 3 \ \ 40X \ W- *> --.'' -/ V 20* NUN IERS 1OO% X /'\ r*s, 60% / ^ \ 1 ^ // \ \ * / \ I r \- f V \ 60% / \ \ / ; \ 1 ; \ 2 \ \ 40% 20% a 4OX \ / 'V \ ,, v ._./ 20% WAG :s JAN. FEB. MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT OCT NOV. DEC 380 American Labor Legislation Review portant consideration. Then by the time the wholesaler is thrown out of work, the height of the season in retail houses is past, and a reduction in their force has already begun so that additional workers are seldom needed. It is true that milliners, like so many other women workers, make many changes from one position to another. Out of 3,983 women employed in the course of a year, this New York City in- vestigation of 1913 found that only 672 or 17 per cent, of the total number remained 40 weeks or more in the same position, 52 per cent, stayed eight weeks or less and 19 per cent., more than the number who stayed 40 weeks or over, were in the same position a fortnight or less. The lowest paid were found to change the most frequently. But it must be remembered that the highly paid designers and forewomen are by far the more likely to be retained during the dull season, and, knowing that from 60 to 75 out of every 100 milliners are necessarily unemployed during that time, we must lay the responsibility for most of this shifting to the short seasons of the trade and not to the restlessness or in- efficiency of the workers. The spring rush season, with everybody anxious for a new Easter hat, is the busiest time of the year. At that time late orders from customers in the retail trade frequently cause over- time and Sunday work which is seldom paid for. However, those few retail workers who keep their places throughout the year, being paid a flat rate, lose little from short-time. The Manhattan investigation of 1913 showed that the minimum amount of wages paid out week by week through the year to the retail workers studied was 33 per cent, of the maximum amount which is only slightly below the 37 per cent, difference in numbers. On the other hand, wholesale workers whose wages are on a piece basis of course gain from the rush to some extent, but even the minority who are kept on in the dull season suffer wage losses from short- time during that period. This is indicated by a fall in the total amount of wages to only 29 per cent, of the maximum while numbers fall to 37 per cent. ( See Chart XXII. ) But the average weekly returns of any woman milliner become very meager, when they are halved, as should be done to allow for a lack of work during half the year. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 381 The Alliance Employment Bureau in New York City, which has had wide experience in placing girls as milliners, considers that only 20 per cent, or less of all milliners can hope for steady work the year round. From the height of the season there is a gradual reduction, then at the end the few who are left are also laid off. The Bureau found in 1907 that only four out of fifty-seven trade school graduates were able to stay with the same firm a year or more without more than one month of enforced idleness. Finally, the industrial histories of two milliners, both girls with special training, will illustrate how this irregularity affects thousands of individual women, exposing them to all the diffi- culties and dangers of irregular work and uncertain pay. (See Table 10, A and B.) Ten positions in three years or six positions in little more than a year, with long periods of idleness into the bargain, represent that most undesirable and demoralizing con- dition, the life of the casual worker, and emphasize the con- clusion of the Manhattan investigation of 1913 that in order to provide a living income through the year for milliners, not only a weekly minimum wage rate, but also lengthened seasons are of paramount importance. TABLE 10 MILLINERY NEW YORK CITY A. TRADE HISTORY OF A MILLINER, 1907 * No. posi- tion Number months employed Trade Kind of work Weekly wage Reason for leaving 1... 2. . . 6 3 Millinery (retail, Patterson,N.J.) Millinery (whole- sale) Apprentice None $6 (piece) Family moved to N. Y. " Laid off " slack season 3 1 Millinery (retail) Learner $9 (time) " Laid off " slack season 4... 5... 2 4 Making handker- chiefs Millinery (whole- sale) f Learner \ Operator Maker $5.50 (time).. $5-$6 (piece).. J8-J10 (piece). >To return to millinery 6... 7.. . 2 3 Medicines Millinery (whole- sale) Wrapper, labeler. Maker $5 (time) $8-$ 14 (piece) To return to millinery 8 3 Medicines Wrapper, labeler. $5 (time) 9 4 Millinery Maker $8-814 (piece) 44 Laid off M slack season 10... 3 5 months Magazine bind- ery out of work Folder, etc 6 (time) Idle half of each month 1 From Annual Report of the Alliance Employment Bureau, 1907, p. 12. 382 American Labor Legislation Review B. TRADE HISTORY OF A MILLINER l No. posi- tion Dates employed Kind of Work Weekly wage Reason for leaving 1 Oct. 1-Nov. 15 Millinery $4 Slack work 2 Nov. 15-Dec. 1 Millinery $4 Slack work 3 1 month out of work. Jan. 1-Jan. 15 Millinery .. $5 To return to previous place 4 Jan. 15-May 1 Millinery. . . $5 Slack work 5 2 months out of work. Aug. 1 Nov. 1 Millinery . . . 19 Slack work 6 Nov 1 1 See " Irregularity of Employment of Women," by Louise C. Odencrantz, in the Survey, May 1, 1909, p. 199. ARTIFICIAL FLOWER MAKING Other sorts of manufacture connected with the millinery trade are likewise highly irregular. The making of artificial flowers and fancy feathers is concentrated in New York City, over nine- tenths of all the adult women employed being found here. Miss Van Kleeck's exhaustive study summarizes conditions as " three or four months of slack work every year, its varying extent de- pending on whether or not flowers are a fashionable trimming for winter hats. Then four girls out of five are out of work." 1 She found only 873 women employed in the slack season, 19.5 per cent, of the 4,470 working at the height of the season and even this small minority worked part time and at reduced rates. This last is an unusual method of reducing the amount of wages during the slack season. The average weekly wage for weeks worked for those women who had a year or more of trade experience was found by this investigation to be $7.76. On this basis their aver- age yearly income should be approximately $400. But as a matter of fact, half of these women had annual incomes of less than $300. The resulting wage-loss of $100, 25 per cent, of the computed full-time wage, must be ascribed mainly to slack work. But few gains from overtime are possible, since home-workers take most of the extra work during the busy season. The trade is least irregular when the manufacture of fancy feathers is combined with the flower making, but at the best " June is dull and the fall uncertain." 2 1 "Artificial Flower Makers/' by Mary Van Kleeck, p. 41. 2 Ibid, p. 54. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 383 STRAW SEWING Another branch of the trade is straw-sewing, by which is meant the sewing by machines of straw braids for hats. In this line a majority of the employees are women. Practically all the work is done in five months of the year, December, January, February, March and April and then almost all the force is dismissed. This is one of the most glaring examples of seasonal irregularity ex- istent, but the problem is made less acute by the comparatively small numbers involved and the high wage level. At present women operatives can average $15-$30 a week through the brief busy season though it is said a cut in wages is an ever present menace. FRENCH EDGE WORK With the present styles in millinery, many of the factories making straw hats have filled in during the spring and summer with " French edge work." This is the finishing of the rolled edges of velvet hats, and is highly skilled, highly paid machine work. The season for this is also about five months, closing a little before the straw-sewing begins. Unfortunately it often proves extremely difficult for the same operatives to master the knack of both these trades. FUR AND FELT HATS Only about a quarter of the wage-earners employed in the making of " fur and felt hats " are women. All figures combine the making of men's and of women's hats, and as the demand for men's hats is not concentrated in one part of the year to the same degree as that for women's, the irregularity of the trade is thus reduced. The statistics, however, show a decided drop in the number of women employed during the half of the year from April through August or September. In Massachusetts in 1912 this difference was about 25 per cent, in April, 66 per cent, in May, about 33 per cent, in June and July, and 25 per cent, in August and September. Moreover, in Massachusetts, the factories are entirely closed for many days yearly, which means a large loss of time and earnings to the steady workers. In 1912, there was an average loss of 53 working days or 15 per cent, of the 384 American Labor Legislation Review working year for each establishment, by this inadequate method of measurement alone. When we add to this the short time not brought out by these statistics but which almost always precedes the entire closing of any factory, we see that the steady worker as well as the casual one, must suffer seriously from seasonal irregularity. BOOK BINDING GENERAL STATISTICS The Census of Manufacturers for 1909, stated that an average of 57,926 women 16 years of age and over were employed in the printing and publishing business in 1909. This number was 22 per cent, of all the wage-earners in that industry. It repre- sents a slight proportional increase from 20 per cent, in 1899 and a large increase in numbers over the 39,868 women of that year. The number of women in the trade increased 45 per cent, during the deeade while the number of men increased but 32 per cent. According to figures of the Census, then, the women tend to dis- place the men workers to some extent. While bookbinding is but one of several lines of work included under this general head, it is in binderies that many of these women are employed, and as " bindery girls " they must be added to the long list of women workers whose employment is irregular. SEASONAL VARIATIONS These bindery girls suffer comparatively little, however, from the usual seasonal irregularity. There is likely to be an increase of work before Christmas and sometimes in the spring, while the summer is apt to be rather dull. Yet these changes are not sharply marked in many localities and classes of establishments, and, as a result, the number of workers does not vary very greatly during the year. Eight or nine out of every ten book-binders can hope to hold their places the whole year through. Irregularity in this industry comes through the erratic hours of the trade. The work is done just as the orders come in, so weekly or monthly in the case of periodicals, quarterly sometimes as with telephone directories, or at wholly irregular intervals will come a short period of long hours, of overtime, and perhaps night work, followed by another comparatively short interval of slack work or entire unemploy- ment. Both the "New York cases testing the constitutionality of the law prohibiting night-work for women, the Williams case in 386 American Labor Legislation Review 1907, and the present Schweinler Press case, involve bindery girls. This alternation of long hours with short ones, or no work at all, causes the women's wages to vary correspondingly, and the net result of it all, it can be shown, is a loss in both time and wages. Investigators have found like conditions in the trade in New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City. STATISTICS OF IB&EGHJLAB, EMPLOYMENT Under such industrial conditions, the measurement of trade irregularity, " number of days in operation yearly " is of no im- portance; 301 is the average number of days in operation yearly of all book-binding establishments in Massachusetts, 1912; for New Jersey in the same year the same figure is 300. This simply means that some variety of work done in these establishments is always going on and that some of the men and women are always employed. The varying numbers employed at different seasons of the year is much more significant in some parts of the country than in others. In New York City in 1910-11 this difference ran as high as 25 per cent, and in Kansas City in 191213, it was 20 per cent, but in Massachusetts in 1912 and in Philadelphia, 1914, it was only 12 per cent. In Massachusetts the smallest number were at work after Christmas and the largest number in the late summer; in Philadelphia the busiest period was before Christ- mas and the slackest during June and July. Seasonal irregu- larity and the resulting casual work are in some cases a rather important factor, but nowhere an adequate measurement of the entire extent of irregularity in the industry. In order to gain a more complete idea of its seriousness we must turn once more to short time and the consequent reduction of the earnings of the steady worker. While Miss Van Kleeck, in her study of book-binding in New York City, 1910-11, found, as has been said, that only 76 per cent, of the women workers could have places the year round, she also found that 73 per cent, of the workers lost more or less time from lack of work during the year. The entirely irregular char- acter of the losses, a few hours here and a few there, or an odd number of days, is reflected in the fact that a quarter of the women, the largest group suffering from unemployment, lost some Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 387 time, but could not tell how muck (See Table 11.) The report cities the instance of an " expert folder who helps to bind a com- mercial register issued quarterly " who was, during a year, at work: February 1st to March 7th; May 5th to July 15th; August 1st to Labor Day; November 15th to January 15th; idle: March 7th to May 15th; July 15th to August 1st; Labor Day to Novem- ber 15th. She had work little more than half the year. "It would have been better," she said, " to have had $6 a week steadily instead of earning $8 so irregularly." TABLE 11 WOMEN BOOKBINDERS IN NEW YORK CITY, 1910-11 NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES LOSING DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF TIME IN A YEAR (From Women in the Bookbinding Trade, by Mary Van Kleeck, p. 118) AMOUNT OF TIME LOST Number losing Per cent, losing No time 40 27.0 Less than 1 month 27 18.1 22 14 9 36 months 14 9.5 6 months or more Time of uncertain length . . . 8 37 5.4 25.0 Total 148 100.0 The prevalence of slack work is further shown by some figures from Philadelphia. It was found that 87 women out of 147 had changed from establishment to establishment, making 200 changes in all, and that 52 of these, very nearly a quarter, were due to dull or unsteady work. In Philadelphia 129 employees were asked how many months of the year they were not employed full time. More than half of them, it turned out, were on short time from one to eight months during the year. Twenty-five worked short time from six to eight months, 30 between three and six months, and 13, one or two months. The largest number were on short time, six months and four months, a half and a third of a year. This prevalence of short time causes us to turn to the hours worked. Where did this loss occur ? Again from the Philadelphia investi- gation, we have the 'average weekly working hours for 90 girls during a year. Full time for these girls was 48 hours a week, but only one girl reached this point, whereas two averaged only forty hours. Only 27 girls averaged from 45 to 48 weeks during 388 American Labor Legislation Review Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 389 the year, but 63 had average weekly hours between 40 and 44. Forty-three hours was the average reached by the greatest number. Full pay is obtained only for full-time work, so all these girls but one would fall below their nominal rate of wages for the year, 10 per cent, being the most frequent loss. These losses from full time conceal wide fluctuations in the hours of individual workers week by week as Chart XXIII illus- trates. This chart gives the actual hours worked each week dur- ing the year by a Philadelphia girl who is said to be a " typical worker." Aside from the two weeks when she had no work at all, this girl's weekly hours varied all the way from 8 to 64 and without doubt her wages went up and down correspondingly, being eight times as much in the longest as in the shortest week. Her average weekly hours for the whole year were 43, making her annual loss from the full time, 48 hour week, and consequently from the full time wage rate, about 10 per cent. VARIATION IN EARNINGS Bookbinding is another industry, then, in which wage-rates and earnings are not likely to be identical. To study this relation be- tween earnings and wage-rates, the weekly rates and actual average weekly earnings of 158 women who were personally interviewed, were taken from the pay-roll by the Philadelphia investigators. In every wage group above $5, with the exception of the four women at $11 and over, fewer women were found to receive given amounts than were rated at those sums. For instance, only eight women were rated at less than $5 a week, but 35 actually received these amounts; 31 were supposed to be paid between $7 and $8, but only 24 actually received such a sum; 43 had a rate of be- tween $8 and $9, whereas only 21 were really found in this wage group. TABLE 12 WOMAN BOOKBINDERS, PHILADELPHIA, 1912-13 NUMBER AT GIVEN RATES AND NUMBER WITH ACTUAL AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS (From " Occupations for Philadelphia Girls, No. 3, Bookbinding," pp. 43-46.) $2- $2 99 $3- $3 99 $4- $4 99 $5- $5S99 $6- $6 99 *^ $8- $8 99 $9- $9 99 $10- $10 99 $11- and over Total Number at rate 2 2 21 6 12 20 21 23 22 31 24 43 21 17 15 12 7 4 4 158 *149 Number with actual aver- age weekly earnings. . . *Actual average weekly earnings not given for nine women. 390 American Labor Legislation Review Miss Van KleecFs investigation in New York City shows a similar irregularity in earnings, week by week, and a similar loss from possible full time earnings, for workers supposed to be paid a flat rate. Two examples of wages each week for a month are cited as " typical." The first is a magazine binder. The first and second week of the month she received $12, the third week there was no work at -all, the fourth her pay was between $8 and $9. Her average weekly wage for the month was $8, only two-thirds of her maximum wage. A " learner " received $4, $5, $5.92 and $4.65 for the four weeks, making an average of $4.92 for the month, about five-sixths of her highest wage. Miss Van Kleeck sums up the losses of women book-binders in New York City by comparing their full-time and actual annual earnings for the year studied. Their average weekly earnings were $7.22. On this basis, annual earnings would be about $375. But in reality they were only $325. Thus there was an average loss of $50 yearly, almost a dollar a week or 14 per cent, of the weekly wage, caused by the alternation of long hours of work with slack time. SUMMARY Work in binderies is more likely to be good in the spring and before Christmas and slack in the summer. In consequence, there is a reduction of the working force of from 12 per cent, in Massa- chusetts and Philadelphia, to 23 per cent in New York City dur- ing the dull season. But in addition to these necessarily casual workers, all the women feel the effects of the variation of the work with orders, the result of this irregularity being an annual loss in hours and earnings. From all the evidence it would appear that on account of these irregular hours within short periods, unless the trade becomes more regular, any weekly wage- rate, which attempts to provide the worker with a living income, must be increased by a tenth (10 per cent) to a seventh (14 per cent), to make up for the loss in time and earnings suffered by the steady employees on account of this irregularity. SALESGIRLS GENERAL STATISTICS According to the volume on " Occupations " of the United States Census of 1910, 250,000 saleswomen were found em- ployed in retail establishments. In addition, of the 111,000 " clerks in stores," the larger proportion " were not engaged in clerical work but were also salespeople " says the census. Here is an industrial army of uncertain numbers, but approaching 300,000 women at the lowest estimate. Because we deal with them directly, few classes of workers are more in the public con- sciousness. The salesgirl's low wages with her necessarily higher expenses in maintaining a good personal appearance, have been the subject of much popular concern. On this account it ig particularly important to find out whether the average salesgirl is so steadily employed that a minimum wage rate, based on cost of living alone, would really provide her with an adequate " liv- ing " income. SEASONAL VARIATIONS It is frequently thought that the earnings of salesgirls are not affected by irregular employment, since the girls are paid by the week or sometimes by commissions on sales. Seldom if ever is a retail store or any part of it closed because trade is slack. Therefore, in contrast to manufacturing industries, it is true that the women who are so lucky as to keep their places all the year round suffer very slightly from seasonal irregularity. But all the facts at hand show that a very large percentage can find work only before Christmas and in the spring and are turned off after Christmas and in the summer. For these girls, retail trade is a highly seasonal employment. STATISTICS OF IRREGULAR EMPLOYMENT Taking up first the so-called " steady " workers, a District of Columbia inquiry made by the federal Bureau of Labor in 1912 392 American Labor Legislation Review showed considerable steadiness of employment. Over 200 women who had been wage earners for a year or more were questioned on the subject and 88 per cent, worked more than 40 weeks during the preceeding year. The average period of employment during the year for all of these women was very nearly 48 weeks. In Massachusetts, the Commission on Minimum Wage Boards in 1911 also came to the conclusion that the work is very regular except for some " forced vacations." A few women were compelled to take such " forced vacations " without pay in the summer or after Christmas. Only 5 per cent, of the steady workers staying throughout the year in a single store lost time from industrial reasons and these few lost an average of fifteen working days during the year. The Commission also found in still another group of workers whose average length of employ- ment in one position was 42 weeks out of the year, that only 6 per cent, lost time from this cause, though these few lost a large amount of time in this way 18 per cent, of their total period of employment or 46 working days. We do not, therefore, find evidence that the steady worker in retail stores is subject to any great loss of time or money on account of lack of work. But we still have to consider whether all employees can find steady employment throughout the year in retail stores. The facts about the varying numbers employed at different seasons are undoubtedly masked by the constantly chang- ing personnel of the working force of any large store. Yet con- siderable light is thrown on this point by the " number employed by months " which the New York State Factory Investigating Commission obtained for the eighteen largest department stores in New York City, and for department and five-cent and ten-cent stores in the rest of the state for the year 1913. In New York City stores, the largest, smallest, and average number employed is given for each establishment, the figures being given the Com- mission by the firms themselves. The table following shows that nearly 40 per cent, of the total number of employees were out of work at the slack time of the year. While in one store (No. 7) the difference was only 15 per cent., in another (No. 11) it was almost 50 per cent. In every instance the greatest number of employees was at work during the Christmas rush and the small- est number in the summer. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 393 TABLE 13 RETAIL STORES, NEW YORK CITY, 1913 NUMBER OP EMPLOYEES IN THE 18 LARGEST ESTABLISHMENTS FlBM Greatest number employed Least number employed Average number employed Per cent, least number is of greatest Dropped or left during year Added during year Number 1 5,724 3,999 4,296 69.8 5,950 5,979 2 3,672 3,075 3,497 83.7 540 875 3 884 416 533 47.0 538 611 4 1,863 1,252 1,460 67.2 2,657 2,605 5 5 187 2 888 3 500 55 6 8,750 8,155 6 5,743 3 283 3,750 57 10,382 12,159 7 2,205 1,879 1,979 85 2 1,795 1,839 8 928 459 664 49.4 g 3 125 1 669 2 359 50 2 10 2 095 1 518 896 72 4 11 2 369 1 190 760 50 2 12 5 340 3 483 272 65 2 6,712 6,809 13 1,250 735 800 58 8 746 1,025 14 1,497 1,020 ,085 68 9 477 477 15 2,100 1,570 ,800 74.7 16 1,318 642 864 48.7 1,250 1,286 17 2,887 1,644 2,313 56.9 2,539 2,967 18 7 400 4 600 5 000 62 1 5 500 Total.., 55,587 35.322 41.828 63.5 Like conditions existed in the up-state stores. (See Chart XXIV.) In the department stores, only 81 per cent, of the maximum number were at work in February, 81 per cent, in July and 76 per cent in August If we take the numbers week by week, instead of the monthly averages which smooth down the extreme variations, there was an even greater drop, to 70 per cent, during the third week in August. The fluctuation in the total amount of wages paid out monthly was very similar or a little less than the variation in numbers quite in contrast to the situation in factories, where wages drop below " number em- ployed " on account of the losses incurred by steady workers through short time. There is practically no such short time in stores, and the lower paid and less experienced girls are more likely to be discharged during the slack periods, causing the wage level for those who are left to rise higher at this time. The five-cent and ten-cent stores up-state showed in general the same state of affairs in regard to regularity of work and wages. Aver- age numbers employed fell off somewhat more, to 71 per cent, of the maximum in July and August, by monthly averages, and to 394 American Labor Legislation Review CHART XXIV NEW YORK, UPSTATE RETAIL STORES, 1913 AVERAGE NUMBER OF SALESGIRLS AND TOTAL AMOUNT OF THEIR WAGES BY MONTHS. (MAXIMUM = 100%) 100% DEP ARTMENT / / S TORE s ^ <'"'/ :- s^^ ^ -~*IT JM'BE R~S\ ^ '* // y ^y 100% 1 s jr&ic TORI s 1 j - V /? tl ^L >- :; c ^_ -/ ^ *s 60% ^*** si* ^Gfe 100% 90% 80* 60% 100% 90% Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 395 60 per cent, in one week in February when the number employed week by week was considered separately. Wages followed a like course, though the percentage of variation dropped somewhat below that for numbers employed during the first months of the year. Evidence as to similar irregularity comes from widely scattered points Baltimore, Kansas City and Portland, Oregon. In Baltimore, Miss Butler's investigation of 1909 showed that the larger retail stores employed only two-thirds as many women during the dull season as in busy times. In Kansas City over a tenth of the saleswomen questioned by the Board of Public Wel- fare in 1912-13 had lost time from unemployment during the previous year. In Portland, the report of the Social Survey Committee in 1912 found that only those girls who had been two years or more in the same place could be reasonably, sure of keep- ing their positions after the Christmas rush was over, and even then some girls who had been in the same store for several years were laid off. 'SHIFTING Necessarily, then, on account of the varying number of sales- girls required at different seasons, some women can remain in their places for only short periods. But an intensive analysis of the labor force made in a single large department store in Boston reveals more clearly the actual situation in regard to the very small proportion of steady workers. (See Chart XXV.) In this investigation of all the women earning $8 a week or less, who were 91.7 per cent, of the whole number, all specials, emergency and Christmas help were excluded, yet just about one- half the women remained in the establishment less than three months. Only about a quarter remained the whole year. The -amount of shifting in ISTew York City stores mounts up to almost incredible numbers. (See Table 13.) In all the twelve stores together for which the number added and left during the year could be ascertained, the number of changes was greater than the largest number employed at any one time. Firm No. 6 had only 5,700 employees at the maximum and 3,200 at the mini- mum, yet 10,000 employees left during the year, voluntarily and 396 American Labor Legislation Review Ill |_-y ^O !SS 0(0 n CO rr ui cr o CNI Ctf-l CM< LU(D 1 UJ ^ UJ QJ CO 0> 00 Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 397 involuntarily, and 12,000 were taken on, more than twice as many as the largest number employed. In four of the other stores, for which these facts could be ascertained, Nos. 4, 5, 12 and 17, the number shifting through the establishment during the year was larger than the greatest number at work at any one time. In each of the stores, there was a difference of from 35 per cent, to 45 per cent, between the smallest and largest num- ber employed at any one time. With Firm No. 2, where there was only a 17 per cent, difference in numbers, it is noticeable that the flux of workers was also lowest in proportion to the total numbers employed; 3,600 were employed in the busiest sea- son, 3,000 in the dullest, and only 540 left and 875 new em- ployees were hired during the year. Up-state, a large depart- ment store employed 1,777 persons during the year. Of this number 5.9 per cent, remained less than a single week. About a quarter, 25.9 per cent, stayed from one to four weeks, and over half, or 50.2 per cent, less than three months. Only 12.2 per cent., less than an eighth, held their places eleven months or more out of the year. On the other side of the continent, in the state of Washington, a survey made by the Industrial Welfare Commission showed that a quarter of the 1,268 women employees in mercantile estab- lishments who were questioned, had been in their present posi- tions three months or less. While it is difficult to get reliable evidence as to the cause of this great flux of workers and how far it is due to conditions over which they have no control, yet the results of a few in- quiries may be noted here. The 1911 Massachusetts 'Commis- sion on Minimum Wage Boards, in investigating the trade his- tories of 2,726 salesgirls, found that 26 per cent, or over a quarter of the shifts among the 1,885 women who had changed from one place to another were on account of " slack work or none." A larger proportion of saleswomen in this industry made changes for this reason than workers in the admittedly ir- regular confectionary industry. Another investigation concern- ing the incomes and expenses of 500 Boston working women was made by Miss Louise Bosworth in 1907-9. The saleswomen con- sidered had nominally an average yearly income of $382.92. But their loss from slack work and unemployment almost en- 398 American Labor Legislation Review tirely from the latter caused them a loss of 8 per cent., bring- ing their average yearly income down to $356. Lastly we must keep in mind the facts previously given as to the varying numbers employed at different parts of the year. Almost a quarter of the saleswomen in New York State, outside the city and over a third in New York City alone, could not possibly keep one place all the year round, however much they wished to. It is not denied that personal reasons are an im- portant factor in causing a large proportion of the changes, but the industry itself cannot evade entire responsibility for this demoralizing drift, so fatal to steadiness and efficiency. Retail trade must stand convicted, then, as one more occupation which has a share in creating a casual labor force, with all the attend- ant evils to the human beings that compose it. SPECIAL PROBLEMS A special problem in connection with most retail stores is pre- sented by the development of a separate department for making up clothing for customers or altering ready-made garments. These " alteration hands " sell no goods and their work is prac- tically dress-making. It is not surprising therefore, that they should suffer from irregularity of employment as dressmakers do. They are very busy three months in the spring and three months in the fall. For the time between there is almost nothing to do, and the great majority of these women are discharged or forced to take unpaid vacations or hunt for other work for several months. Such was the state of affairs found in Massachusetts and Connecticut, by state investigating commissions in 1911 and 1913 and in Baltimore through an investigation made by Miss Butler in 1909, where one-third of the stores discharged all such workers at the beginning of the dull season. Another special problem connected with irregularity of em- ployment in retail stores is that of the " special " who works during the rush hours of the day, or in the evening, or on the heavy days of the week. How large a proportion of the whole selling force they form is uncertain, but their use is undoubtedly increasing. Estimates have been made of 8 per cent, in Boston, 4 per cent, in Baltimore, and 6 per cent, in Kansas City. Natur- ally since these women work only a part of the time they are paid Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 399 only part time wages. Theoretically, students, married women, or others whose chief duties are elsewhere, get a chance in this way to earn a little extra money, but there seems to be a good deal of danger that needy workers who cannot get anything else will depend on these positions for their entire income. Nor is it clear how this can be avoided. A third important point to be remembered in connection with retail stores is that there is even less chance in stores than in other lines that " overtime will make up for undertime " or unemployment in this instance. " There is more after hour work in stores than the public is aware of " says the Massachu- setts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards. There are the long hours before Christmas, for instance, and moreover, prac- tically all the caring for stock must be done after selling hours. Such overtime is almost never paid for. Some stores give " sup- per money" -35 cents is a typical amount when girls are kept after seven o'clock in the evening. Sometimes a bonus is paid on sales during December when the hours are longest, but that is all. 'So the girl in the store who works through the Christmas rush and is then discharged, seldom has the slight chance of her sister in the factory to make a little extra to help her through the dull season. The great decrease in numbers also, found everywhere in mid-winter and during the summer, gives a girl discharged by one store very slight opportunity to find work in another or in some different occupation, since these are the slack times for almost all " women employing " trades. SUMMARY We must, then, add retail stores to the long list of industries where the workers suffer from seasonal variations in employ- ment. It is not those few women who succeed in keeping their places all year who suffer materially from unemployment or short time work with reduced wages, but once more we find present in large numbers the casual worker for whom the in- dustry does not provide a place all the year round. How many of such workers there are is uncertain. According to the New York City figures they mount up to two-fifths of the whole num- ber employed. Certainly there are enough of them to form a serious problem in establishing a real living wage. LAUNDRIES GENERAL, STATISTICS Like so many other one-time household activities, much of the washing of clothes has gone outside the home into large estab- lishments with the factory characteristics of machinery and ex- tensive division of labor. According to the latest census of manu- factures in 1909, laundries gave employment to an average num- ber of 77,330 women wage earners over 16 in the United States 70.6 per cent, of the whole number of wage earners engaged in this trade. Since this is the first time figures for this in- dustry were collected, no comparisons with previous census periods can be made, but undoubtedly the industry is a growing one. Steam laundries are well scattered throughout the country, furnishing employment to the largest numbers, naturally, in the states having large percentages of urban population. SEASONAL VARIATIONS The question whether any great amount of involuntary ir- regularity of employment exists in laundries and whether earn- ings are greatly reduced by industrial causes cannot, it must be acknowledged, be answered with any degree of certainty from any reliable information at present available. A steam laundry is kept open throughout the entire year and there is but slight variation in the numbers employed by months through the year. In the whole United States there was about a 10 per cent, increase in the number of laundry workers dur- ing the months of July, August and September, 1909, when more wash-clothing is in use, while the smallest numbers are em- ployed in January and February. In the larger establishments in urban centers where much linen is washed for hotels, steam- ships and Pullman cars, the work is very steady from season to season. In such laundries hours vary from day to day according to the receipts of work to be done; an unusual number of visitors in Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 401 town, a convention, the arrival of several steamships will cause the working of overtime, while in any kind of steam laundry hours are likely to be irregular from day to day over a weekly period. The average laundry employee begins late on Monday morning, because the work cannot be collected and sorted before that time. She is likely to work till late Friday evening and not at all or only a few hours on Saturday since the custom is to get each week's work out of the way by Saturday night. For the same reason overtime is almost always worked the evening before a holiday. The weekly total of hours is not likely to be high but there are one or two long days every week. STATISTICS OF IEREGULAB EMPLOYMENT Steady workers in laundries undoubtedly suffer very little from the lack of employment. The Massachusetts Commis^ sion of 1911 questioned on this point 593 workers remaining the whole year with the same firm and 1,049 " part of the year workers " who stayed in the same place an average period of 36 weeks. Of the former only 1.5 per cent, lost time from " en- forced idleness," being out but 4 days each, on the average, from this cause. Only 1.8 per cent, of the latter lost time in this way, though these few lost a considerable amount, an average of 30.6 days each or 14.1 per cent, of their whole period of employment. It is the same state of affairs as was found among the " steady " group of salesgirls. The same investigation compares the aver- age weekly earnings of 539 " annual workers " for the weeks they had work with 1/52 of their annual earnings. The differ- ence between the two is very small, only 18 cents a week, amount- ing to 21/2 per cent, of their annual earnings. Absence for per- sonal reasons might readily account for all of this. In candy factories for instance the weekly loss computed on the same basis, was 10 per cent. SHIFTING But it is a very small portion of the women in laundries who are such steady workers. For the most part the labor force is of a particularly shifting character. The testimony of employers before the Washington Minimum Wage Commission in 1913 makes this very clear. The proprietor 402 American Labor Legislation Review of a laundry in Tacoma said " 60 to 90 days eliminates a crew com- pletely. Some of the girls work but a few days." Another from Spokane admitted that " 75 per cent, of the women coming to his plant did not stick." A third said that he developed one com- petent laundress out of every ten who start in. On the other side of the continent, in Massachusetts, the same conditions prevail. In 1911 the Commission on Minimum Wage Boards found that in one laundry, 57 per cent, of the workers remained less than three months. In another 76 per cent, had left by the end of that time (see Chart XXVI). Only 19 per cent, in the former and 7 per cent, in the latter were permanent " annual " workers. In 1914 the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission again studied the length of time that nearly 3,000 women workers had stayed in the same establishment. Not quite one-half remained four months or less. There were however great differences be- tween the 36 laundries studied. In two laundries, 30 per cent, of the women kept their places the whole year while in four others only 2 per cent, did so. Between the various occupations the dif- ferences are likewise marked. Workers are least permanent in the least skilled, lowest paid lines of work. For instance, a woman is likely to become "shaker" when she first enters a laundry. All day long she shakes out the wet linen which has been packed into solid masses by the whirl of the washing machines. Only 3 per cent, of these workers remained the whole year, whereas 22 per cent, of the hand washers did so, and 23 per cent, of the " bosom pressers," who iron the bosoms of men's stiff shirts, an operation requiring much skill. Now the question is, what is the cause of this flux of workers ? Is it the nature of the work, exhausting yet little skilled, carried on mostly in the midst of heat and steam and for low wages ? Or is some portion of the shifting due to slack work and therefore involuntary on the part of the workers ? It is difficult to answer these questions with the information thus far available about the industry. The Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commis- sion, which has made the most recent and most searching investi- gation of the laundry industry, says that " the material which could be obtained * * * was not a matter of record and appeared highly unreliable." Evidence as to the partial responsibility of the industry for Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 403 Zu CE LJ o z s 01 ri I uj 404 American Labor Legislation Review this flux of workers was found by the Massachusetts Commission on Minimum Wage Boards in 1911 when it questioned 1,045 women laundry workers, as to their reasons for changing posi- tions. Twenty-one per cent, had always been in the same place, but 21 per cent, of the changes made by those who had shifted were on account of " slack work or none." This percentage is just about as large as the proportion changing for the same reason in the admittedly irregular confectionery industry. On the other hand, in Milwaukee, in the years 191112, a federal in- vestigation of women workers in power laundries disclosed the fact that " the fluctuations of trade do not cause an average loss of more than one month in twelve." 1 This is not great as indus- tries go. The strongest proof of the personal causes behind the shifting, however, is found in this same 1914 report of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission on wages of women in laundries. They found the percentage of the total number of employees studied who were out of work each week during the year. This percentage varied very little throughout the whole period, and showed therefore nearly the same number entering and leaving positions each week. Hence the Commission, believes that " in- dustrial causes proper play but a small part in the fluctuation of employment " and, weighing all the evidence, this seems to be the only conclusion to draw as to the situation. VARIATION IN EARNINGS There appears to be, therefore, little forced unemployment among laundry workers, only slight variation in the numbers employed at different seasons, and but little closing for entire days. Morever, most laundry workers are paid a flat rate often with overtime pay for the extra hours of the long day. It might then be thought that weekly earnings would equal weekly rates of pay, or even rise above them. But this is seldom the case. The 1914 investigation of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commis- sion showed that as in so many other industries, weekly rates rose above weekly earnings. Twenty-nine and six tenths per cent. i Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin No. 122, p. 79. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 405 of the 3,000 women employees covered by the investigation were scheduled at less than $6 a week. In reality over half, 51.5 per cent, received less than that sum. In addition only half as many really received the larger weekly earnings as were rated at these sums; 16 per cent, had weekly rates of $9 and over, but only 8.2 per cent, actually averaged this amount. (See Chart XXVII.) Short time and not entire days' or weeks' absence is the cause of most of this discrepancy between rates and earnings according to a table correlating average weekly hours and earnings in this same investigation. There is, therefore, a considerable amount of short-time and this holds true not only in Massachusetts but in other localities as well. In Washington, 19.4 per cent, of the laundry workers studied by the Industrial Welfare 'Commission worked 40 hours or less weekly, and 19.3 per cent, worked less than 5 days a week. In Massachusetts in the seven laundries where records of weekly hours were kept, 9.1 per cent, of the women worked less than 40 hours a week and 14.4 per cent, more worked less than 46 hours. Short time exists, then, in laundries just as in so many other industries and time wages fall off as do the hours worked. Women in laundries, like so many other workers are paid almost " by the minute." The earlier Massachusetts investigation, in 1911, noted a " tendency to pay the worker only for the hours during which she was employed," thus " paring down the labor cost at the expense of labor." This meant only small losses day by day, a half hour here and an hour there. But such small intervals cannot be made up with other work and the loss runs up to a considerable sum in the course of a year. On the other hand many employers insist that most of the short time is due to the personal preference of the employees. The later 1914 Massachusetts in- vestigation finds this difference of opinion and is obliged to leave the point open. " What amount of this loss " (in earnings cord- pared with rates) " is due to compulsory short time and what to the preference of the employee is a matter about which the Com- mission was not furnished material with which to form an im- partial judgment." But one thing is certain, rates and earnings are far from identical. A minimum wage rate would not mean an adequate income to many laundry workers. 406 American Labor Legislation Review 12 Q / i Z \ / co i \ 55 < | \ o iii / / 8 in S|ih :J / 0) i 5co < x r w Es i x R tcssi ** UJ ui "i J 8? ; / i CHART MASSACHUS OMEN WORKI (WEEKLY AVERAGE THE MASSACHUSETTS MIN IN MASSACHUSETTS e' \ I ,'* i b <' A \> x Q 5 * x \ >v LJ , ^ 1 N X X \. ah i N ^ ^l 1 u z fc (0 U ^ X N s x . I u x x^ X cc ! \ * e ? 3 i ! 1 \ \ r Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 407 SUMMARY Except in the larger and more modern establishments, much of the work in laundries is extremely disagreeable, carried on in rooms filled with heat, steam and moisture, and under conditions involving considerable physical exertion for extended periods of time all of which is apt to cause the more inexperienced worker great fatigue or even illness. Wages, except for the older, steady workers are low. It can scarcely be a matter of surprise therefore that the amount of shifting in laundries is very great, although fairly steady employment seems to be offered. This situation presents a peculiar problem for minimum wage boards. If it is the intention really to provide a living wage, should not a higher rate be allowed for this industry where the physical exposure of the worker is so much greater? Any employer who objects to this higher rate has, of course, the option of bettering the con- ditions of work by removing the causes of excessive physical strain and unhealthful conditions. In this way he will take away the objections of many employees to his work and will secure for him- self a more steady and reliable set of workers. CANNING AND PRESERVING The canning of fruits, vegetables, and fish is # prosperous and growing industry in the United States. Few industries exhibit a greater seasonal variation in the numbers employed month by month during the year. According to the latest United States Census of Manufactures taken in 1909, the maximum number of wage earners, 154,800, was employed on September 15th. The minimum number, 19,998, employed on January 15th was only 12.9 per cent of the maximum number. Moreover, very nearly half of the whole number of wage earners were women sixteen and over. The number of women at work on a " repre- sentative day " in 1909 was 77,593, 49.8 per cent, of the whole number of wage earners. The industry is, therefore, one characterized by extreme seasonal variation and providing employ- ment for large numbers of women workers for short periods of time. Two types of canneries must be distinguished. One is- generally found in large cities. It uses not only a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables drawn from a considerable territory, but also it may prepare baked beans, pickles, various ketchups and sauces, plum puddings, and so on. In that case such an establish- ment may . run the whole year round, though its work will be much heavier in the late summer and early fall than at other seasons. Under these conditions, the problem of irregularity is chiefly one of reducing excessive hours of overtime for the women workers during the busy season through the legal regulation of their hours of labor. The other type of cannery is generally found in small towns or in the open country, and puts up one or a few kinds of fruit and vegetables raised nearby. It is open only a few weeks in the late summer or early fall, the period lengthening out if several different kinds of products are used. The working force may be whole families, largely foreigners, who have come out from the cities for the season ; or it may be the people of the neighborhood, including many married women, school girls and children who Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 409 are not regular wage earners, or it may be any mixture of these two classes. Thus apart from the usual currents of industrial life many serious abuses may flourish, such as the work of young children, bad sanitary conditions and over-crowding and in- credibly long hours with frequent night- work. It is to child labor laws, the sanitary regulation of labor camps, and laws regulating women's hours of labor that we must look for the cor- rection of these evils. The adjustment of a minimum wage rate in such canning fac- tories should require, therefore, not so much an allowance for the reduction in earnings from short time and unemployment, but a consideration of a fair wage level for an industry that runs only a part of the year, during which time a certain number of hours' work may reasonably be expected. In Australia, similar work is thought of as an " expedition " and the wage is calculated on the basis of a fair return for unskilled labor for the trip as a whole, making allowance for " the short periods of employment, the expenditure of money and of time in getting to the work, the broken time of the employees, the fact that they are paid by the hours of actual work." 1 These conditions are identical with the conditions of employment in this second type of cannery in the United States, where the problem has not been taken up. Yet in New York where these " country canneries " are of great im- portance, it would be an important and difficult question for any Minimum Wage Board. Reports of the Commonwealth Arbitration Court of Australia, Vol. 6, p. 81. MISCELLANEOUS The industries already described by no means exhaust the list of those in which women workers suffer from irregular employ- ment. So little attention has been paid to the special problem of irregular and casual labor for women in the United States that it is impossible to get hold of its entire extent. Scattering bits of evidence, however, indicate that the following industries give rise to considerable irregularity of work with the resulting loss of earnings. The list is admittedly incomplete, but may serve to emphasize further the seriousness of the problem. Separately each one is not of relatively great importance as an employer of women, but altogether in the ones for which separate figures can be obtained, over 20,000 adult women wage earners are found. This number does not include " dyeing and cleaning," " tin cans " and " leaf tobacco " treated below, since the number of wage earners is not given separately in the census for those occu- pational groups. AWNINGS The busy season in this industry is at most April, May, June and July. " With the first warm days, all the customers order at once." 1 In Pittsburgh in 1907 it was found that during the rest of the year only a quarter or half of the force was kept on hand. The same state of affairs existed in Kansas City in 1912-13, according to the Board of Public Welfare. In Massa- chusetts in 1912, also, work was only good for these same four months. According to the Statistics of Manufacture for that year, the largest number were employed in June, nearly as many in April, May, and July, and only 55 per cent, to 65 per cent, of the maximum during the rest of the year. Evidently a large pro- portion of these women must get their living through some other sort of work for eight months a year or remain unemployed. Nor do steady workers entirely escape these effects of seasonal irregularity. The Massachusetts establishments were entirely i" Women and the Trades," by Elizabeth B. Butler, p. 151. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 411 closed an average of thirty working days during 1912, therefore reducing the time and earnings of the steady workers 10 per cent, in this way alone. BUTTONS Probably on account of its connection with the various gar- ment trades the manufacture of buttons fluctuates as do the garment trades in regard to the number of women employed. There is a slight rise of numbers in the spring, a very low drop during the summer, the climb to the highest point in the late fall, and a decline after Christmas. In Massachusetts only 80 per cent, of the women in 1912 could keep their places the year round. In New Jersey the manufacture of pearl buttons, which is not especially seasonal, is classified separately from that of metal buttons. In the latter in 1912 there were places for only 55 per cent, of the women employees for the entire twelve months, while curiously enough, the number of men employees, who com- pose about half of all wage earners, varied but little at different parts of the year. In New York City in 1913, the State Factory Investigating Commission found that in the manufacture of covered and celluloid buttons, four large establishments em- ployed a maximum of 360 and a minimum of 178 workers or only 49.8 per cent, of the largest number. The Commission states that while the best workers have almost continuous em- ployment, the average button-maker works only six or eight months a year. The steady workers, too, lost considerable time during the year, since in 1912, in both Massachusetts and New Jersey, the factories even according to the inadequate figures on " average number of days in operation yearly " were entirely closed two weeks out of the year. Undoubtedly in addition to this loss they suffered from short time and an additional reduction in earnings, for these conditions have been found to go together wherever more extended investigations have been made. Such a situation is indicated by the fact that in New York City in 1913, the State Factory Investigating Commission found that half the women workers were rated at $7.50 or more weekly, but that in the 412 American Labor Legislation Review selected week in which their wages were studied, over half re- ceived less than $7. In addition, the figures available show fluctuations in the in- dustry from year to year, probably due to the greater or lesser use of buttons as dress trimmings. In 1910 in Massachusetts there was considerably more irregularity than in 1912, since in the former year the minimum number of women employees was only 60 per cent, of the largest number, instead of the 80 per cent of the latter year, and the establishments were closed an average of 49 working days during 1910, which meant a loss of no less than eight weeks to the steady workers. In New Jersey in the same year, the average length of time entirely lost by each establishment was nearly four weeks. The number of women employees remained comparatively even during the year, but the largest number was about the same as the smallest num- ber in 1912, indicating a stagnant condition in the industry at that time. BRUSHES In Massachusetts in 1913, perhaps on account of the competi- tion of prison labor, the State Minimum Wage Commission found brush making to be a " stagnant trade " in which short time weekly was the rule. Out of 489 workers for whom data as to average weekly hours were available, 27.1 per cent, worked an average of less than 42 hours weekly, and 54.8 per cent. over half worked less than 46 hours weekly. Only 13 women worked 50 hours a week or more. Though some of the manufacturers claimed that this working of short time and consequent reduction of wages was voluntary on the part of the employees, since this condition existed among time workers as well as among piece workers, the Commission felt that it indicated lack of work. The Commission found, however, that no great seasonal varia- tions existed. Nearly the same number of the steady workers were unemployed each week in the year, except for short periods in June and August, and the Commission thought that the in- creased number of absences in these times might easily be ac- counted for by vacations. In Pittsburgh, on the contrary, in 1907, Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 413 marked seasonal irregularity in the trade was discovered. 1 No obvious reason appears why brushes are not just as much needed at one season as at another, yet in Pittsburgh there was a markedly busy season with overtime from April to August and a very slack period from August through the fall. DYEING AND CLEANING In Pittsburgh in dyeing and cleaning shops it was discovered 2 that overtime work occurred three to five nights weekly from March to May. Then during the summer when well to do people are out of town and more wash clothes are worn, there was a slack season during which the majority of the women employees were dismissed. GLASS The majority of the women in glass factories are employed in the decorating, finishing and packing departments of plants that manufacture fancy glassware. A federal investigation 3 made in 1907-8, states that a third (31 per cent.) of all the women wage earners worked overtime during the fall months of the year in- vestigated. They worked one, two or three hours several evenings a week, the time mounting up to an average of thirteen working days for each one doing this overtime work. Then in the sum- mer almost every factory was shut down through July and August. In this way all the women would have their annual wages reduced by a sixth while only a third had a chance to gain anything by overtime. This fact in itself tends to discredit the wage-rate as a measurement of earnings for the 80 per cent, who are time workers. Other figures emphasize the same fact. First a " normal week " was selected and the number of days worked by each woman in the finishing department was found. Half did not work full time. Then their computed weekly full-time earnings and actual earnings were compared; 8 per cent, were supposed to earn less than $4 a week, but in reality 33 per cent, actually received that sum. In each wage group above $4, fewer women were found than were nominally at that rate. 1 " Women and the Trades," by Elizabeth B. Butler, p. 255. 2 Ibid, p. 205. * Woman and Child Wage Earners, Vol. HI. 4:14 American Labor Legislation Review TABLE 14 GLASS SELECTED FACTORIES, 1907-8 (From Woman and Child Wage Earners, Vol. Ill, pp. 404 and 405) A. NUMBEBS AND PERCENTAGES WORKING DIFFERENT NUMBERS OF DATS WEEKLY IN A " NORMAL WEEK " WOMEN 16 AND OVER DAYS WORKED Number Per cent. Full time, 6 days ... . 1 386 50 6-6 days 627 22 6 45 days 358 12 9 3-4 days 239 8 6 Less than 3 days 164 5.9 Total 2,774 100.0 B. FULL TIME AND ACTUAL WEEKLY EARNINGS IN A "NORMAL WEEK" ALL FEMALES Under $2 $2- $2.99 $3- 3.99 228 $4- 4.99 $5- 5.99 $6- 6.99 $7- 7.99 $8- 8.99 $9- 9.99 $10- 11.99 $12- 13.99 $14- and over Total Number earning given amounts Computed full time earnings 1 852 -'-U .693 559 196 96 66 76 54 ' 42 20 11 2,774 Actual earnings 120 218 462 767 30.7 545 25.0 19.6 346 20.2 144 7.1 32 T 14 6 2,774 Percent, earning given amounts. Computed full time earnings (') 8.2 3.5 2.7 0.7 0.4 100.0 Actual earnings 4.3 7.9 16.7 27.6 12.5 5.2 2.4 l.fl 1.2 0.5 0.2 100.0 i Less than 1/10 of 1 %. PAINT A few women are employed, not in the making of paint itself, but in labeling cans. It is low grade, totally unskilled work and the employees are of a shifting character. They are busy through February, March and April, and again in September and October. Between times "half the force is dismissed when the spring and fall seasons of house repairing are over." 1 PAPER BAGS In Kansas City it was reported by the Board of Public Wel- fare in 1912 that while the factories making paper bags are busy during the summer and fall, work is slack for the first five months of the year. The number of women was decreased by a fifth dur- ing this dull season, and those left at work had their earnings reduced on account of short time. TANNERIES The women who work in tanneries suffer from both short time and lack of work. In Massachusetts, during the first seven months of 1912 their numbers were a quarter less than in the latter part i" Women and the Trades," by Elizabeth B. Butler, p. 268. Irregular Employment and the Living Wage 415 of the year. An investigation of women workers in Milwaukee tanneries in 1908, 1 showed that for them "undertime was the great factor in reducing wages." For example, in one factory 68 women were employed during one fortnightly pay period, but only 16 of them worked full time and their average working hours were 119 instead of 130. The amount of work done in the two weeks would have provided 63 instead of 68 women with full-time employment. Again 66 girls were at work through a ten-day pay-period. Only 17 worked full time, and their aver- age actual working hours for the ten days were 88. The full time hours were 100. Fifty-nine women, all on full time, could have done the work. A multitude of similar cases established the general conclusion. TIN CANS The manufacture of tin cans resembles that of paper boxes in that the cans are of little value in proportion to their bulk and are difficult to store. They are therefore usually made just as orders come in. Plants doing a general business are thus fairly steady, but those working for any seasonal industry are them- selves highly seasonal. An example of the latter is one plant in a state prominent in fruit and vegetable canning which works for a canning factory. 2 Statistics show that for this establishment, from the middle of April till after the end of September, a force of 1,200 men, women and children are hard at work, often with overtime. Then the business 'drops down to practically nothing, and all the workers except perhaps 100 are discharged. TOBACCO Most work connected with the manufacture of tobacco is fairly steady. But in one line, the preparation of leaf tobacco for cigar manufacturers in warehouse factories in the South " the work begins in January and lasts for only about four months." 3 Thus the women employed, (whose number cannot be determined since in all the statistics this process is included with others) must find work somewhere else during the greater part of the year. 1 " Women Workers in Milwaukee Tanneries," by Irene Osgood, p. 1059. Part VII of the Report of the Wisconsin Bureau of Labor & Industrial Statis- tics, 1907-8. 2 Woman and Child Wage Earners, Vol. XVIII, p. 57. s Ibid, p. 308. 416 American Labor Legislation Review S II A f! L. |l .SS Age 1 1 a s e *&j as It jtn rilill o .S .-2^-^-3 -s.fig'S^ffl 5? III! Irregular Employmeni and the Living Wage 41 7 a II 111 111 g .s II slftilriJfa 1 l. Sll s II llsl.P.iil llliisl-l 2 I S-S-B^aS- flll ilii l^li r-fil 418 American Labor Legislation Review 11 3 !- *. p 00 wW: ^ Sj li ooW s 8 5 = " P eith ther " Such class of occupation or employment as re- quires to be learned by " I Telephone and establishments hone and lishments , r, fil- check- cleri- ind in at- IV PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT Presiding Officer: HENRY BRUERE Chamberlain NEW YORK CITY OPENING ADDRESS GEORGE W. NORRIS Director of Wharves, Docks, and Ferries, City of Philadelphia I am here primarily this evening to present the apologies and regrets of Mayor Blankenburg that he is confined to his house and is compelled to forego the pleasure he had anticipated of being here this evening and participating in this meeting. The subject of unemployment is, of course, one of tremendous importance, when we realize that the vast majority of our people, particularly here in this industrial section of the east, are wage- earners, and it requires no art to prove that regularity of employ- ment is one of the things most essential to prosperity and success, and even to the safety and life of the community. I am extremely glad to see that the particular question that you are going to discuss this evening is not the whole general subject of unemployment, but particularly the prevention of unemploy- ment, because that particular branch of the subject is in line with the whole of the best thought and effort of the present day along various lines. We have in all lines of effort gotten beyond the mere matter of palliation, and we are getting down to roots and causes and removing the cause which produces the bad results. On this question of the prevention of unemployment there are two things that I want to mention. First, it seems to me that the community is to be protected from the refusal of the worker to work in good times, and from the refusal of the employer to employ in dull times. But it seems to me those rights and obligations are reciprocal. The conditions in most of our large cities to-day are acute. I have heard manufacturers say privately : "Why should we greatly concern ourselves about the present unemployment? Why should we lie awake at nights and exert ourselves to find work for men who are temporarily out of work what will their attitude be when work becomes plentiful and we are looking for workers? If we exert ourselves to find work for them now while they want 422 American Labor Legislation Review work, will they, when work becomes active, exert themselves to do more work, or better work for us? No! They will, on the contrary, when those conditions arise, want to do less work and be paid higher wages for doing it." That is the point of view of certain employers. You may say it is a narrow, or a brutal point of view, but it is a point of view, nevertheless, and has to be taken into consideration. Therefore I say that in all the deliberations and discussions on this subject of unemployment and its prevention the rights and the duties of both employer and employed should always be fairly and fully con- sidered. Second, I have heard it stated that one of the reasons why Ger- many has been able to continue, with as much success at it has, the industrial life of the nation during the present tremendous struggle in which it is now engaged, is because the German gov- ernment had practically a card catalogue of all the workers in Germany. It knew not only how many men would be taken out of productive industry for war purposes, but it knew exactly what trades these men would be taken out of and how many out of each trade. It knew also which trades would be paralyzed, which would be crippled, and which would be stimulated by the war; and there- fore the moment the call had gone forth for millions of men to go to the front there was an immediate readjustment of workers in all industries. In other words, the industrial army of Germany was mobilized with the same promptness and with the same pre- cision that attended the mobilization of its military army. Now of course that, if it be a fact, is the product of a very highly organized and centralized government or state of society, and whether we can ever attain to that here, or whether it is desirable that we should, I do not know. But manifestly, between that per- fection of detail and the absurd lack of anything approaching that information or organization in this country, there is a wide margin and an opportunity for great improvement on our part. It seems to me perfectly clear that there should be in this country a very much better knowledge of industrial conditions than now prevails, and that there should be better facilities for the transfer of workers from one trade to another or from one locality to another. WHAT THE AWAKENED EMPLOYER IS THINKING ON UNEMPLOYMENT RORERT G. VALENTINE Industrial Counselor, Boston, Mass. What I want to make clear to you not to prove, but to make clear, so that it will be fair mark for vigorous discussion is the proposition which awakened employers are thinking about, that, in these very days in which we live, the business world, and the labor world, and the consumer's world, are distinctly faced with the choice between two lines of action. In simple form, the pro- position is that either we must advance rapidly toward a state-wide socialistic control of the bulk of individual action, or else we must make our present freedom of individual action socially legitimate by thoroughgoing organization of social responsibilities ; of which the most significant feature would deal with the evils of unem- ployment. Imagine for a few minutes that the whole world is one work- shop just one group of factory buildings. This is no special feat of the imagination. Those of us who remember our geography have a clearer idea of the industrial unity of the world than most of us here would have of the unity of a big machine shop, if we stood within one. Such a shop is really much more complex from the point of view of actually grasping its functions than are all the industrial, agricultural, mining and transportation problems of the world looked at in the large. It is only when we become really intensive, it is only when we face all the intricacies of detail in a minute portion of existence that the thing becomes muddled, and the mind puzzled. A drop of water under the miscroscope is a vastly more complex thing than the ocean. It is not only comparatively easy, therefore, to conceive of the world as one workshop, but it is very desirable, because in the world we can see the great crude forces that move affairs. The drift of peoples from one land to another is even more obvious than the 424 American Labor Legislation Review moves within one shop of employees between job and job. Sim- ilarly, we understand the drifts of economic pressure for food and housing and clothing, even for happiness. If we once grasp these bigger, simpler, forces which move life, which are in their way as elemental as the moral principles which we are apt to neglect when we get into the intensive field like, for example, the things that we all admit in the large, such as the duty to tell the truth, to be forceful, and to be kind if we have these things clearly grasped in the large, we shall be less likely to lose our way when we come to the attempt to build them into the in- tensive field. It is in that field that exact truth telling, and being highly forceful, and being surely kind, become not only no longer easy but practically impossible. There we can only approximate them, no matter how much we may care about them, and because of our human fallibility in this, we must be largely charitable. The present chaotic conditions of industry we are accustomed to accept as inevitable when they are a part of the individual problem each of us is trying to solve; but when we see them making up a world-wide and continuing situation, they become intolerable and absurd. It is a sound historical truth that men are willing to sacrifice as far as they see the need. It will be true, then, that when men see that the private ownership of industry is endangered by present lack of organized social responsibility, they will accept the remedy with any immediate sacrifice that may be involved. If we turn from a view of the state or the world as one great workshop, and look at one particular factory here in the city, we see that that factory can only approximate the condition that would be possible if it were built on the big, simple lines of the whole world. We can easily conceive world production, regulated, dis- tributed and consumed with due regard to the needs of each, and to the limitations of all the people in it. But in any particular part of this world in any particular factory it has, in the past at least, not even been dreamt of that that factory could in any way be certain of work 305 days in the year for a constant number of em- ployees, through an attempt to find itself among the larger forces in which it is set. A few concerns have approximated this. These are the ones that realize that the sales end is the big imaginative field in in- dustry to-day. It is the sales end through which we come in contact The Azvakened Employer and Unemployment 425 with all the great irregular forces of the world, such as styles, seasons, periods, and days, and the different peaks of the load dur- ing the day. We have mastered the art of regular production when we can get regularity of orders. We have, in principle, solved the "big problems of production. But we have only peeked into the problem of selling and the allied problem of social education and consumption. The problem of regularizing sales presents grave difficulties of which the greatest is our insistence on competitive and private industry as a sound basis both of individual and social life. Private industry, whether for the individual or for groups of individuals, means necessarily, a very flexible world. It means the ability to move suddenly and quickly in any direction, filling what a moment before was a vacuum, leaving another vacuum behind. It means the irregularity of life which makes people different and worth while to one another. We are afraid, if we lose it, that we shall lose the zest of life which is what lies at the bottom even of the greed for money, as well as of all the better greeds. If we are willing to give up this flexible form of existence, it would be possible enough to do away with all the overlappings and gaps which it produces, ot which unemployment, underemployment, overemploy- ment, are world wide examples. It would be possible enough in a state, thoroughly controlled from top to bottom and planet 'round, to cut out all irregularities, to plan the world so that all that was needed was mined, raised, and manufactured; to proportion all the lines of distribution, to see that every person, both as to body and mind, was fed to the fullest extent of all his needs, without robbing any other person. On the simple principles of an all-powerful state, it would be an easier matter to regulate the world than it is now for an individual who has a bank account and gumption to regulate himself. But to some of us it seems that the very springs of life are in these great forces of competition which have produced modern industry. We feel that if a choice had to be made between a world where these forces had free play and a world where they were chained up, we should choose the competitive world with all its havoc and distress, and with its hope and its possibilities. But that choice we do not consider it necessary to make we see a third course which seems to us possible and practicable. We see 426 American Labor Legislation Review that the great forces of individual freedom and initiative, like any other powerful thing, are infinitely valuable and infinitely dan- gerous. We think that to deny either the value or the danger is to head for stagnation or for disaster. We say that the value must be preserved and the danger safeguarded against, and that the in- evitable risk remaining must be carried by all of us. If private industry and the forces of competition benefit society and the individual, then there is an inevitable duty resting on us. Society at large must see to it that the flexibility of the world and the freedom of the individual, which society desires to continue, shall be paid for by the beneficiaries, and not by the individual person or the individual group, whether of workers or employers or consumers. In a word, employers are beginning to see that the social problems of industry must be solved and that they must contribute to the solution that unemployment insurance in a state of private industry is one of the necessary guaranties against the extermination of private industry. If private industry is to con- tinue to exist, it must, both as a good moral and a good business proposition (for they are intrinsically inseparable), organize through all its factors, both of employer, worker, and consumer, to pro- tect the competing individual and the competing group from des- tructive forces for which they are not in any individual way re- sponsible. It should be pointed out that even this combination of social insurance and competitive conditions, however necessary competi- tive conditions may be in the interests of individual freedom and individual initiative, nevertheless does not do away with many of the social wastes of competition. It merely so distributes the load that society as a whole bears the wastes, and not the guiltless indi- vidual or group whether of workers or business men or consumers. In other words, if we decide that we are benefited by the wastes of competition that they are legitimate wastes, as the wastes of the killed-out trees and shrubs of the forests make the mould in which the successful trees best grow then it is only just that we should distribute the payment for the wastes fairly over its bene- ficiaries; namely, society as a whole. This means organization. First, the unemployable must be entirely separated from the un- employed. The unemployable must be taken care of by whatever The Awakened Employer and Unemployment 427 methods shall prove wisest both for their greatest usefulness and happiness and for the greatest safety of the community, and this means that they must be taken out of the competitive market until they are able to return. Second, the unemployed must at all times be provided for through unemployment insurance, contributed to, first by the state, because unemployment insurance will make the consumer infinitely more efficient; second, by the employer, because it will make production infinitely more efficient; third, by the worker, because it will make him infinitely more efficient be- cause it will make it impossible that he should, under any circum- stances, be forced to subsidize the state and the consumer and the employer out of his body and soul. It is important to provide the most careful machinery for re- ducing the amount of instability connected with industrial and com- petitive business; and to this end, machinery must be devised in labor exchanges and in regularization of production. Regulariza- tion of production lies in stability of individual business within it- self, in cooperation between private industries where the ebb and flow come at different times, and in cooperation with both these activities by properly placed public works. Finally, it lies in the stabilization of all the sales machinery of the world by which the procurement of the sales through advertising and all lines of competitive devices shall be worked out within reasonable rules. I have no delusions. What I am pleading for involves a tough problem of administration. It is intricate and vast. Party spirit, sectional and class prejudices will, of course, stall in front of it. But the imaginations of our people once touched by its challenge will ride over these obstacles, and vision and patient marshalling of detail will win through and achieve. Macgregor, in his Evolution of Industry, points out in words which have rung in my memory ever since I read them, how our standards of industry are medieval as compared with our standards of law and our standards of civics. He tells how, in the middle of the eighteenth century, a no-account Englishman got lost in the streets of Constantinople, and Lord Palmerston either did send, or was ready to send, the whole English fleet to dig him up. How- ever useless the man himself was as a citizen, he nevertheless stood for the sacred right of a British subject to be safe anywhere in the world. And out of the punch of this incident as showing the 428 American Labor Legislation Review rights that the individual would really have in a properly socialized society, Macgregor draws the wonderful statement: "Not till the case of John Brown, unemployed, raises the same social anger as does the case of this no-account Englishman lost in the dives of Constantinople, or the case of Captain Dreyfus, wrongly con- demned, not till then, will the standards of industry be on a level with the standards of law and the standards of civics." This whole thing, the whole direction that I have tried to sug- gest, will seem to many of you idealistic. But would you have be- lieved six months ago that Europe could have organized hundreds of miles of fighting front as it has today? These tremendous forces of organization have been woven with infinite care out of the strands of the ruthless passions of men, and for destructive purposes. Eu- rope has done it because the powers of war have touched its im- agination. The crimes of peace are infinitely greater than the crimes of war. This war does not create the suffering and the squalor that the industrial organization of society causes to-day. If this fact can once grip our imaginations we shall find it possible to organize in such ways as to establish for every man, woman and child in the world minimum conditions of health and happiness be- low which no one, in his own interests, and in the interests of society, will be allowed to fall. THE WORKERS AND UNEMPLOYMENT JOHN F. TOBIN General President, Boot and Shoe Workers' Union Unemployment is a problem for which I have no solution. I do not believe there is any complete solution which will prevent periods of stagnation and consequent unemployment, under our present economic system. As a trade unionist, and speaking for the workers who are the real sufferers during periods of industrial depression, I can only venture a partial solution of the question. It is my opinion if that the vast sums now expended by manufac- turers, merchants and employers generally in the effort to prevent organization among workers, and in the attempt to destroy existing unions, were turned into a wage making fund, many of the extreme cases of suffering under unemployment would be avoided. It is common knowledge that throughout this country there exist hundreds of so called detective agencies which frequently cir- cularize employers with a view to rousing their fears to the end that the employer may accept the offered services which promise to keep the employer frequently and accurately informed as to the doings of employees both at work and at other times. These agencies agree to furnish men skilled in all of the crafts and call- ings, who are to be employed in the works on the regular pay roll and by close association with the other employees learn their doings and report to the agency, which in turn reports to the employers. For this service a fixed sum is charged, less the wages paid to the detective or spy so employed. No accurate information is obtainable as to how many employers are the victims of such services ; but there is abundant evidence that the number is great and that large sums of money are wasted in this fruitless field. Souvenir book advertising is a mild form of blackmail as compared to this form of detective agency. In the first place, it is the business of such agencies to alarm the em- ployers as to the dangers threatening them, and by this means to secure their subscription to the services. Then, after the men have 43 American Labor Legislation Review been assigned for the purpose of reporting, it is the especial business of such men to furnish their chiefs with the kind of information which will stimulate the services to the fullest extent. In other words, the men assigned to a particular duty are expected to fur- nish reports which will be calculated, when conveyed to the employer through the agency, to convince such employer that he is getting good service, which would have the effect of continuing the income of the agency. If the detective assigned to the particular place does not furnish reports calculated to continue the services, he is considered inefficient ; and understanding what his duties are, he seeks the highest efficiency in order to maintain his own employment. This is not mere guess work on my part, as I have personal acquaintance with a number of such cases, and I know of men who have been discharged from the service because they were not able truthfully to report business which would be interesting to the agency and calculated to impress the employer; but I have never known of a case where anyone was discharged for giving false reports, and that false reports are very largely in the majority there is conclusive proof in thousands of instances. I confidently make the assertion that if employers would refuse to be bled by such methods and in- stead decide to give full and complete recognition to the right of employees to organize and to bargain collectively for their wages through a legitimate and properly managed trade union many of the evils now existing in industry would be avoided. Employers do not hesitate to assert their own right to organize while they go to great extremes in denying the equivalent right to employees. Lawlessness and the use of legal forces by employers wherever possible is a common method of preventing organization and of resisting the demands of organized labor. Naturally this method is followed by retaliation and a resort to similar methods as a means of resisting the encroachments of employers. If the right of the workers to organize was fully conceded and fairly recognized, the radicalism of the I. W. W. would be im- possible. The workers, being put on their honor in business deal- ings with the employer, would be found fully capable of dealing as fairly and as honestly with the problems occurring between the employer and the employee as any other class of citizens, and the waste which is now incident to labor wars could be diverted to a fund available for both wages and profits. The Workers and Unemployment 431 In the shoe trade we have worked out a very satisfactory plan of collective agreements which covers many of the largest shoe factories in the country. For over fifteen years this plan has worked successfully and strikes are almost unknown in the shoe trade where such agreements are in force. The relations between the employer and employee are much better; there is not that degree of suspicion and retaliation for real or fancied wrongs which existed a few years ago. We are surely and steadily building up mutual respect and confidence and I am entirely within the truth when I say that shoe manufacturers generally have the utmost confidence in the integrity of our contracts and in our ability and disposition to enforce them. I might also say without stretching the truth that our members enjoy the highest wages paid in the shoe trade and that at the same time the manufacturers with whom we have business dealings are the most successful and their busi- nesses the most profitable. We attribute this paradox to the fact that all of the waste incident to strikes and lockouts is saved to the wage fund, and employers doing business with our union have no necessity for contributing to the detective agency to keep them in a state of unrest regarding their employees. Manufacturers with whom we deal frequently say that they can sleep comfortably at night without any fears of a labor war in the factory the next morning. If full and complete recognition is given to the workers' right to organize to the end that he may receive higher wages and shorter hours, if he is held responsible for his conduct as an em- ployee, and is made to feel that through his organization he can, instead of being a mere clod to be browbeaten and frightened into submission and into a state of revengeful retaliation, become con- structive and dependable, in this frame of mind he would naturally provide against periods of unemployment. As it is a well established fact that the sufferings through unemployment are most noticeable among unorganized workers, it naturally follows that the organi- zations of labor provide against periods of unemployment and take care of their members at such times. Under existing con- ditions much of the strength and resources of organized labor have to be used in defending themselves against employers who vainly hope to destroy organization and who by making constant attacks upon unions seek to dissipate their financial resources and thus dis- courage them to their final dissolution. 43 2 American Labor Legislation Review The record of the labor movement and its constant growth un- der adverse circumstances would seem to indicate the folly of such tactics. The far sighted employer of to-day freely gives voice to the statement that "Inasmuch as labor organizations are here to stay, and since we must deal with organized labor of some sort, let us deal with that which seems safest and whose contracts can be relied upon." If the course which I have suggested is followed by employers I venture the prediction that many of the evils attending business stagnation will be less acute, and with some plan of scientifically distributing labor where Work is to be had many of the ills due to unemployment which are now present will be avoided. There can be no doubt but that the policy of protection to American industries which excluded the products of foreign labor while it admitted the foreign laborer without restriction and even stimulated the bringing of armies of foreign workers to over- crowd the labor market has been a potent factor in increasing the problem of unemployment. Nearly every industry has contributed its share of human derelicts through the labor markets being over- crowded and average wages being kept below a fair living standard. The present national policy of low duties or no duties and still free and unrestricted open ports to cheap labor has not improved the situation, but has added further complications. If the policy of protection is right and I believe it is then in like measure labor should be protected, else we are not consistent. RESPONSIBILITY AND OPPORTUNITY OF THE CITY IN THE PREVENTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT MORRIS L. COOKE Director of Public Works, City of Philadelphia In a crisis like the present our great warm-hearted American public is always tempted to put the emphasis on ways and means for relieving the distress of the moment rather than on a study of underlying causes. This is fine, and just as it should be. But it seems to me that out of such a period as this where the evi- dences of suffering due to unemployment are multiplied and wide- spread, the community should rise determined to remove some of the incentives to this particular form of industrial inefficiency. The problem of unemployment is not one primarily of dull times. Any community which attacks the problem of interrupted employment in good times will suffer the minimum of distress in bad times. In the absence of exact information as to the wages paid to the industrial workers of Philadelphia, no definite statement can be made as to our losses due to unemployment, but they undoubt- edly total in this city alone not far from $50,000,000 annually even in good times. The largest part of this great waste can be re- covered, if, as a community, we assume that the problem is one capable of solution. Quite remarkable and unexpected results in the elimination of casual and interrupted employment have been brought about in individual manufacturing plants. There is no reason why those same results cannot be secured for the com- munity as a whole. In fact the larger the number of workers involved, the greater is the opportunity for giving steady em- ployment. It is in becoming a model employer that the city will make its most definite contribution to the solution of this problem. The relations at present existing between the city as employer and those who serve it are archaic and in some respects inhuman, and are 434 American Labor Legislation Review everywhere hampered by checks which make for inefficiency. In our muncipalities we know little about the great movement initiated in the industries during the present generation to minimize the causes of the interruption of employment such as injuries, illness, inebriety, distress and what not. I have never heard of a shop physician, a factory nurse, or a social worker employed by a city. Practically nothing has been done toward teaching our employees how to do more than one thing. And yet this is one of the most efficient safeguards against unemployment. Heretofore we, in Philadelphia, always laid off our road repair forces in the winter. This laying off at the one season in the year when it is most diffi- cult to find employment, and when it costs the most to live, has always seemed to me the quintessence of cruelty. We are going to keep our men on this year, not because we believe it will be possible for them to make full time, but because we think it is a move in the right direction and will at least set a good example. In the not distant future our cities will learn to look ahead in such matters and to have other work for these men to do during the eight or ten winter weeks when work on repairing and rebuild- ing highways cannot be done advantageously. Prior to this ad- ministration the street cleaning forces employed by the contractors were paid by the hour, and under the specifications worked only during fair weather. Even in industrial plants where most work is apt to be rush work an increasing effort is being made by the selling forces to balance orders for different kinds of work so as to provide steady work for all regular employees and reduce the necessity for taking on extra hands. In the manifold undertakings of a city, many of which are not pressing for an immediate con- clusion, there is a wonderful opportunity for this kind of planning. Much as the city can accomplish directly in this matter by setting a good example in providing continuous work for all its employees, much more can be accomplished by providing the leadership for the work of others. Unemployment in this or in any other community must be looked upon as abnormal, and studied like any other disease. At a time when the federal government distributes free of charge tracts on the diseases of the honey bee and on the cultivation of cran- berry bogs, have we not the right to demand of the city as well as of the state and nation help in the study of 'this insidious form of social maladjustment? Because it is not mentioned in the news- Responsibility and Opportunity of the City 435 papers does not mean that there is no unemployment. In certain industries such as shoemaking and building construction the un- employment even in normal times will average twelve to fifteen weeks in a year. In every city some branch of the government should be definitely charged with the responsibility for pursuing this matter. Where it is not possible to assign it to an existing arm of the administration, one should be created. To conduct a municipal employment agency should of course be part of the work of such a bureau. One great obstacle to a proper control of the employment situa- tion is the entire absence of reliable data. There is absolutely no measure anywhere to-day of either distress or unemployment. In this city one man's guess is about as good as another's as to the number of unemployed men and women. One of the first moves in a municipal campaign against unemployment would be the establishment of an agency which can supply this information regularly for the community as a whole and for each of the in- dustries. The duty of our city government is to increase the amount of employment during periods of industrial depression such as the present by every possible means. Just how far this can be car- ried will of course depend on circumstances. There is a great deal that can be done in this direction as a matter of routine. An emer- gency procedure can probably be designed so as to release even larger amounts of work at the peak of the distress. A conservative estimate of the number of our unemployed this winter places it at over twice the normal. If we assume the ex- cess to be 50,000, and further assume that they could all be utilized on public improvements and paid the current rate for unskilled labor of $2 a day, it would require $2,500,000 a month to keep them engaged. Obviously this is an amount of money which in comparison with our normal annual expenditures proves the task is too big for the municipality to attempt without the aid of the industries. When we have accurate reports as to conditions, I feel that municipal work can be most advantageously used to ease off peak conditions ; used, in other words, when there is the greatest amount of unemployment and when it is of a character to cause the greatest distress. Thus it will be seen that even under the most advantageous cir- 436 American Labor Legislation Review cumstances the number of people which a city itself can employ during an industrial depression will always be small as compared with the possibilities of employment afforded by the community as a whole. The municipality can and must do a great deal to educate its industries to their responsibilities in this matter. There must be a constant fight waged to reduce the total of unemployment in good times as well as in bad, as a means of prosperity. This must be done to save the loss due to changing employers as well as the loss due directly to unemployment. There are some plants that hire an entire new staff of employees once in two years. Some I imagine change even more frequently. This involves a tremen- dous economic waste. There is great room for educational work among employers in all these matters. In this work the munici- pality should take the lead by instituting courses of lectures in in- dustrial schools, by keeping close track of conditions, and by other means. Personally I should like to see a chair on unemployment established at the University of Pennsylvania. If we could accurately estimate the damage done to a city by a period of industrial depression, I feel sure we would break through the maze of red tape and politics and inertia and hopelessness and conquer one more influence which bears hardest on the weakest members of the community. The slogan for every American city should be, "Any man who wants work and will work shall have work!" This goal appears to be possible for most of our cities most of the time, if the neces- sary punch, foresightedness and cooperative efforts are put into the campaign. RELATION OF THE STATE TO UNEMPLOYMENT JOHN PRICE JACKSON Pennsylvania Commissioner of Labor and Industry The problem of unemployment presents many phases for con- sideration. Thus, it brings up the proposition that the man who wants work should be permitted to work, and it opens up numerous possibilities and avenues for relieving suffering and want. But more particularly pertinent is the concrete, practical problem of economic efficiency. Every unit added to the percentage of em- ployment during the year of each man, or, if you will, the man- employment factor, means the conservation of human resources, with resultant improved prosperity for the people. When this lat- ter view of the subject is taken, the purely theoretic is entirely eliminated, and only the practical effect on business, commerce, and industry need be considered. The economic importance of this problem to business and to in- dustry, as well as to the individual employee may be gathered by consideration of the financial loss shown by some of the figures collected by the bureau of statistics of the Pennsylvania Depart- ment of Labor and Industry. Thus, for instance, out of 570 odd plants, having about 212,000 employees, on December i, 1914, there were approximately 70,000 fewer employees than would be demanded in times of plant activity. Furthermore, of the num- ber employed about 77,000 were working full time; 19,000 were working 90 per cent of full time; 21,000, 80 per cent; 56,000, 70 per cent; 16,000, 60 per cent; 19,000, 50 per cent; and the remainder still lower percentages. The majority of the employers indicated that, in their judgment, there would probably be but little change during the twelve weeeks following December i. The industrial establishments from which data were obtained cover all parts of the commonwealth, and represent all of the principal industries. The number of employees in the 570 plants represents about one- fifth of those for whom reports have been received, indicating American Labor Legislation Review very similar conditions. Figuring the loss of productiveness of the persons idle through short hours per week, or through entire non-employment in these industries, for twelve weeks, at the as- sumed rate of $2 a day, gives the enormous total of over $70,000,- ooo, which, in turn, for a year would amount to nearly a quarter of a billion of dollars. Inasmuch as these figures are based only upon the employees, numbering over 1,000,000, concerning whom the department has direct reports of one kind or another, and does not include the mining industries, the public utilities industries, and the great number of very small establishments, the large econ- omic loss to this one commonwealth on account of present un- employment becomes glaringly evident. From informal reports there is reason to believe that conditions are but little better in the manufacturing industries of other commonwealths, so the sum total loss for the country must be written in many figures. It must not be understood from the above figures that the writer considers it possible in any short space of time so to adjust the industrial relations of the country that all enforced unemploy- ment can be done away with. They are given rather to indicate how even a small improvement over present conditions may make large savings. The writer also does not wish to have these fig- ures interpreted as indicating long continued depression, since many reports have been received which would lead to the belief that the country is gradually moving toward a renewal of pros- perous conditions. The unemployed may readily be divided into two great classes. The first includes the permanently deficient or partially deficient, the sick, the injured, the unwilling, and those serving jail sen- tences; the second, with which we are more interested, comprises the ablebodied and willing. This second class may be conveniently subdivided into five parts, which include those not working, or working only part of the time, due to depressed business conditions ; those subjected to periodical loss of employment by variation of employment in seasonal industries; those who lose work through labor troubles; children just out of school who fail to find suitable permanent work; and those who suffer loss of time when positions are changed, by reason of a lack of facilities quickly to bring posi- tion and worker together. The first class has long been recognized as an important govern- Relation of the State to Unemployment 439 mental responsibility. Thus in Pennsylvania there are scores of great state institutions caring for the deficient, and much larger numbers of private or semiprivate hospitals and similar institutions receiving state aid. In passing, I may with propriety interject the statement that the state aid furnished for the latter has been the subject of severe and scathing criticism. My own expression is that this large number of private and semiprivate institutions represents most valuable activity. The time, money, and brains voluntarily given by worthy and benevolent citizens to them amounts to far more, when reckoned in dollars and cents, or in any other way, than the aid paid out of the state treasury. State aid when it can be given without injuring the state work proper, which thus encourages the individual sense of responsibility of our people for the care of the "halt and blind," cannot but be good in principle. This kind of cooperation between the state and private individuals or corporations can be handled and directed in a manner both effective and efficient. If a system, as beneficient as that in Penn- sylvania, has not as yet reached perfection in all details, attention should be given to correcting the weaknesses rather than to the destruction of the excellent framework. Every state should, of course, see to it that the proper machinery is available for caring for all deficient classes. Further, those who are partly wanting in mind, body, or character, may, in some cases, by proper organization of our public, private and semiprivate in- stitutions, be given the opportunity to be of some productive value, without in any way involving either inhumane methods or econ- omic injury to others. Certainly it is a business project, devolving upon the government of the people to direct our methods and processes whether of state, local, or private character in such a way as to accomplish this result in the largest possible measure. The state can reduce unemployment due to accidents by the pro- mulgation of reasonable safety standards and methods; and then by putting them into force largely through the medium of coopera- tion of employers and employees, both using the processes of law where essential. Though the new department of labor and industry in Pennsylvania, which has vigorously pushed this kind of work through its short life of a year and a half, has not yet gathered full statistics as to the saving accomplished, such data as it has obtained from individual plants show reduction in accidents by 44 American Labor Legislation Review this kind of activity from 15 to 60 per cent. When it is considered that the department's bureau of statistics received in the last twelve or fifteen months reports of about 50,000 accidents, resulting in the loss of some millions of dollars of productiveness, as well as pro- ducing enormous suffering and hardship, such percentages of sav- ings as those named above are significant. Improvement in this direction can be greatly advanced by a state's adopting industrial compensation laws, so devised as to make it emphatically advanta- geous to both employer and employee to take a hand in the project of reducing accidents in every reasonable manner. Such laws, reasonably administered, should prove a boon to labor and to in- dustry. Loss of employment through disease or sickness incurred in the workplace can, by similar activity on the part of the state govern- ment, be reduced, with resultant large additions in productiveness. The second class of unemployed, those of able body and mind, possibly are uppermost in most persons' minds, by reason of the greater problem presented. State governments have not, until re- cently, assumed large measure of responsibility for this great class of unemployed, and, therefore, we are entering into a new field of study and procedure, unguided by extensive past experience and precedents. It is undoubtedly a physiological necessity that men who labor have many and generous breaks in their employment. The extent and number of these vacations is dependent partly upon the characteristics of the worker and partly upon the employ- ment. Enforced vacations, however, not needed for recupera- tion, and not desired by the worker, tend toward physical, mental and moral deterioration, and represent an even more inexcusable waste of our resources than the useless consumption of fuel or the destruction of forests. The engineers of the country give tremendous energy and thought to the project of saving but a small fraction of a pound of coal per horsepower hour, because accom- plishment means immediately increased prosperity to the business affected. Such work is in the line of excellent conservation of natural resources. Likewise, much scientific study has been ap- plied in recent years to making the man and the machine, while at work, efficient, for the same personal reason. On the other hand, the enormous waste in human resources, with the resultant jnjury to the public as a commonwealth and to the individual worker. Relation of the State to Unemployment 441 caused by enforced unemployment in its various forms, has been given but little scientific or engineering attention. Probably the first step of prime importance which a state can take toward reducing this waste and increasing each worker's work-em- ployment factor is the establishment of methods whereby there can be obtained a quick, businesslike contact between employers needing employees and employees needing work. If such a system was established, say, in Pennsylvania, which saved only a week's time of enforced, undesired employment to as few as 50,000 em- ployees, there would be a saving in human productiveness to the state of not less than $600,000, which would amount to a 200 per cent profit on a very generous estimated cost for operating such a business. European experience and that of some of our other .states give evidence that far better results than those suggested above are obtainable. Such a system would naturally consist of bureaus for labor and industry located in the centres of industry in the various commonwealths. But these bureaus would be con- nected by state bureaus, and the several state bureaus by a national bureau. The most important functions of the bureaus would be to register those out -of employment and looking for work ; to keep on file applications for various workmen received from employers in the districts in which the bureaus are located; and to bring to- gether the registered employees and applying employers. By reason of the fact that our national and state constitutions are based upon the wise general proposition that local communities shall, as far as they can, govern themselves, it is well that the local bureaus in industrial centres be, as far as possible, managed and controlled by the local people. In order, however, that there may be effective cooperation between the several local bureaus and with the central state bureau, it is desirable that state governments main- tain some direction over all of the local bureaus. In the writer's judgment, this can be well obtained by a method common in our public school systems, whereby the local communities elect their own boards of directors, who manage their own schools, but where the state assists the local communities financially, and at the same time requires them to maintain their schools in accordance with given standards. Thus, the state might set aside funds for the establishment and maintenance of a central state labor and in- dustrial bureau, and funds for part of the maintenance and opera- 44 2 American Labor Legislation Review tion of the local bureaus. The central bureau might then be given the power to promulgate and enforce such regulations as would be necessary to obtain coordination and produce satisfactory results. The system I have thus briefly outlined largely represents the methods which have been so effectively used in Germany. In the Dresden bureau, which I examined at some length, the processes are quite simple. A long building is provided, on one side of which are a series of waiting rooms, each designated for workmen of a particular trade or business. At the other side of the building, and communicating with the first row of rooms, are offices in which the clerical work of registering and filing is carried on. In still another set of offices communication is maintained with employers as to their need for workers. The machinery of these two sets of offices is so adjusted that the registered employee is quickly brought into contact with the employer calling for labor. This Dresden office is bound to the many others in the industrial centers of Germany through the medium of a central office in Berlin. Bureaus for labor and industry make possible not only the saving of great sums of money annually to the commonwealth through improved methods of employment, but also create machinery which can be made of material value with little extra expense as a medium for providing information concerning markets, methods of manu- facture, prices, costs, and other items. Further, it must be borne in mind when considering this subject that the agricultural industry, which stands in particular need of suitable employment aids, can be materially benefited. It has been found that there are an ap- preciable number of men especially foreigners in our cities, suited by training and inclination for farm work, who can be induced to go to the country through the medium of such state activity as is being here considered. Some have thought, at times, that such a system of employment offices would be used unfairly in the settlement of labor troubles. In Germany this has not proven to be the case, nor has there been difficulty in our own states where such systems have been in op- eration. The difficulty is readily avoided by properly drawing the legislation upon which the system is based. State governments, through the medium of their departments of labor and industry, and through suitably constituted scientific ex- perimental stations, can do much toward developing methods for Relation of the State to Unemployment 443 reducing seasonal unemployment. There are many cases where employers, through their own initiative and activity, have been able to regularize their industries for themselves to a large extent. If the work was fathered and pushed by the state, much could be done to raise the yearly man-employment factor. This statement is not based merely upon theory, but upon what has been accom- plished in many industries. There is also a chance, with suitable labor bureaus as described, to reduce seasonal unemployment through enabling unskilled labor to be shifted from one occupation to another without serious delay. In times of serious depression, there must undoubtedly be loss of human energy and suffering. Nevertheless, the local and state governments can do much in the way of reducing this waste. This can be accomplished, by the state, through advancing or quickening work upon the highways, harbors, public buildings, and the like, and in municipalities by the same or similar methods. It may be of interest to note that while the writer was in Europe this summer, both the German and English governments were giv- ing apparently through necessity practical and earnest consider- ation to the problem of the unemployed, and were, by the kind of activity spoken of, succeeding in relieving a very difficult situation. I might add that possibly the greatest force, however, for reliev- ing unemployment in times of depression can be applied by private individuals and corporations through means similar to those advocated above for the state. Thus if the farmers or householders will all, as many now do, when they find much labor is idle, make repairs, extensions and changes which under any conditions must soon be made, and if the corporations will do likewise, an enormous sum total of work may be made quickly available, even though the individual project of any single person or corporation be small. This is a form of charity, if you will, which costs little, and is most profitable to both the state and the workers. Indeed, by rea- son of the fact that during times of depression wages and material prices are apt to be low, the chances are that there will be no extra financial cost whatever. One of the best ways in which the state government can reduce unemployment for the future is to have the local school-districts establish systems of practical continuation schools, where young people who must leave school at an early age and enter the ranks American Labor Legislation Review of labor can for a few hours each week learn the scientific rudi- ments of their business; become acquainted with arithmetic as ap- plied to their life's work; obtain an improved working knowledge of spoken and of written English ; learn the proper attitude toward work and industrial organization; study practical methods of living in their communities and their duties as citizens ; obtain information as to the care of health; and, in general, gain early in life in a scientific, effective manner, information of the utmost value for making them skilled, intelligent employees. Without such schools this information may never come to them, leaving them in the casual worker's class or, at best, it must come in a haphazard, disjointed manner during a long period of years, and must be obtained through the hard knocks of experience. The last state of activity which I will touch upon with reference to the great subject of unemployment has to do with loss of work during labor difficulties. It is a proposition susceptible of ready proof that labor differences can be settled as easily before they have reached the point of a strike or lockout as is possible afterward, provided that both sides to the controversy can be brought to the point of dealing fairly and frankly one with another. In the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry it has been found, through a year and a half of experience, with a very small avail- able force, that it has been possible to prevent or settle many labor troubles and to shorten stoppage ot worK occasioned thereby to a marked degree. This experience is such as to lead me to consider that the establishment of an effective mediation and conciliation bureau is of great economic importance to any commonwealth, and it has proved that such governmental agencies bring returns in added productiveness, or, if you will, in the avoidance of human labor waste, to an extent many times the amount involved in the cost of such bureaus. In closing, I desire to call your attention to the fact that though I have touched upon many governmental activities, there has been nothing suggested which should be construed as in the nature of paternalism or as involving any material centralization of state government by the addition of many office holders. To the con- trary, it has been my aim to develop clearly the serious importance of unemployment as a state and a national economic problem which pan be dealt with largely, with excellent hope of valuable results,. Relation of the State to Unemployment 445 by already existing arms of the government and the local com- munities. Only a small increase in payments from the state treas- ury is contemplated, and no increase whatever in state paternalism. Indeed, as a citizen, I should earnestly deplore any governmental move which would cause us to tread the paternalistic or bureau- cratic paths followed during the past score of years by a sister country, which have led to such a reduction in individual self-reliance and to such overburdened payrolls that even some of the officials themselves decry the system. It must be understood, nevertheless, that this attitude does not preclude governmental activity in sup- porting, and possibly in some measure directing, beneficial or insur- ance associations, lodges, or unions of employers or employees or both, which are designed to protect the employees from want during enforced unemployment. This country is watching closely the work being done in England along these lines, and though her methods probably will not prove to be wholly suited to this country, it is likely that our state government will eventually do much to forward the accomplishment of the same purpose, while avoiding any ten- dency to weaken the magnificient individual self reliance and sense of responsibility of our people. I must add one further sentence, namely, that the suggestions I have made would prove helpful not only to the workmen but also to their employers and to the country as a whole. THE NATION AND THE PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT MEYER LONDON Congressman-Elect, New York City Very few men have the courage to deal with the problem of un- employment. Unemployment is inevitable under the present system of production. It is not an accident, it is a feature of our pre- vailing methods of production and distribution; and when men in public life speak so glibly of competition as the very essence of our civilization they forget that competition cannot exist unless there is an unemployed man to take the place of the employed man. Com- petition in industry between employer and employer must be based upon competition between worker and worker for a job. It neces- sarily involves the presence of a number of men who are out of employment of a number of men who are willing to work for a smaller wage. The adoption of modern inventions, of better methods and of new devices, temporarily causes unemployment, so that there is a constant reserve of unemployed. Competition in those industries which have not yet reached the stage of a monopoly involves constant shifting of unemployment. What does competition mean? It means a struggle between employer and employer; it means the extinction of some, the supremacy of others. The collapse of the defeated employer means loss of employment to his workers. In those industries which have reached a stage of monopoly, labor is absolutely powerless, the unions amount to nothing, their resistance is nil. The employers maintain large armies in a con- dition of semi-starvation ; they distribute employment as best suits their purpose. Some seasonal industries serve the demands of fashion. Woe to the man whose employment and whose job de- pend upon the caprices and insanities of fashion. In the seasonal industries unemployment is a feature. A bad harvest means un- employment. A new machine, a new device, means the displacing of labor. And that process goes on continuously, and there is The Nation and the Problem of Unemployment 447 always a continuous shifting of the men who have jobs into the position of jobless men. The unemployment problem is therefore a permanent and chronic disease of society. Of course it is easy to say that the man who- wants to work should have a job. I was very much surprised when a representative of a large international union had the cour- age here on this platform, to say and I do not want to criticise him that he did not know how to tackle that proposition; that as a matter of fact he did not give any serious thought to it! Presidents of the United States may neglect that problem, but organized labor men must take it up as a pro'blem involving their very existence. I admit I have no suggestions to make as to how to solve the problem at once, but I hope to do something a little later. In Congress they will first get scared when I take my seat; they will think I am going to upset the social system at once, al- though I promised not to bring about the social revolution during my first term. I fully realize that we cannot make the change in a day. We have not yet fully recognized the existence of a social problem. The fact that you are here, that the American Association for Labor Legislation has gathered this splendid conference, is in itself a step forward. It is a thing that was impossible ten years ago, for the reason that there was no awakening of the social conscience the social problem was not recognized in the United States. Our poli- tical economists, our professors, denied the existence of a social problem. But recently men and women have become interested in the great social problems of the day. One can hardly expect, how- ever, that Congress or the nation will do anything in the very near future. Unemployment is a national problem. Of course it is the duty of every municipality to do something, to send a good and eloquent speaker who will declare that a man who wants to work has a right to work! It is the duty of the state to send a representative to give us statistics. A municipality can do something, and should do something. A state can do something, and should do something, undoubtedly. The nation must do a great deal. The people of the United States realized that they were a nation when con- fronted with the curse of chattel slavery. It is only as a nation that they can grapple with the problem of unemployment, which is inseparable from wage slavery. 448 American Labor Legislation Review Labor exchanges must be established; you must learn the extent of the problem, you must know the variations of unemployment. Knowledge must precede all legislation, all action. As a matter of fact, people overestimate the power of the legislator for good and underestimate his power for mischief. The acquisition, the systematizing of knowledge on a subject, is of course a preliminary step ; in the establishment of national labor exchanges you will have made the first step in the direction of studying the problem and of discovering the real character of the difficulties. But let me say right here that the mere establishment of labor exchanges will not furnish jobs. On the very day when you will establish a national system of labor exchanges, the board of direc- tors of some corporation which controls an industry will discharge 25,000 men, will separate 25,000 men from their jobs. So the mere establishment of a national labor exchange will not secure jobs for the jobless. If it be true that unemployment is inseparable from the present state of society, and if it is a permanent evil, we must adopt a permanent cure. And what is that cure? We have grown enough in most civilized states to realize the necessity of compensation to a man who is injured and suffers loss because of an accident while in employ- ment. None of our compensation laws are perfect, none are suffi- cient. Most of them exclude the loss and the damage done by occupational diseases, and that is a very serious matter. However, we have grown to realize the importance of compensation in ac- cidents. Now we know that unemployment is a permanent accident, and with the knowledge that it is ever present, what is the solution ? To secure ourselves against that loss we must devise some method of insurance against it. And who shall do it? The municipality? Yes, in a small way; but the municipality is necessarily limited in its opportunity. This is primarily the work of the nation. It is the nation whose duty it is to provide for a national compulsory insurance law cover- ing unemployment. Such a law should be national and compulsory because I do not want to rely upon the kindness of the employer, not because I do not consider the employer a man of honor. I know that the employer and the employee are made of the same stuff. God in His supreme wisdom divided stupidity between both classes. But our modern system of production is such that the good and The Nation and the Problem of Unemployment 449 noble employer is punished for being kind and noble. Take the case of two employers under different influences. One of them has been attending a course in ethics, and really takes it seriously. He goes to his factory and says : "It is mean for me to employ my peo- ple such long hours ; the wages I pay are too small. It is wrong ; I am going to pay bigger wages and reduce the hours, and improve the sanitary conditions; and I am going to provide against unemploy- ment." His competitor, who has attended a lecture at the em- ployers' association and listened to an efficiency expert, concludes otherwise. The efficiency man tells him, "You introduce a new device; it will save you 20 per cent of the number of employees. You will not have to use so many machines. It will speed up the plant and the product will be bigger." Now we have one employer under the influence of ethical culture and one under the influence of the employers' association, and while one decreases the hours of labor and increases the wages, the other increases the hours and decreases the number of employees. Which of these two men will survive? The man who is a man will perish, under our pres- ent system of production. Under that system we have the survival of the meanest, most brutal men, of the men who work their work- ers as though they were automatons and machines, and not human beings at all. I do not place my trust in the kindness of the em- ployer, because our present system of production is such that it punishes the good employer who has the instincts of humanity and follows them. In England they have the compulsory insurance act of 1911. While that act is not perfect, while it is still young, it is a courageous step. We have the other European countries aiding the municipali- ties and the various subdivisions of the state. It is no longer a mere theory of doctrinaires, it is now a practice, and this seems to be the only way to relieve unemployment, permanently. The modern system of production is absurd and the future his- torian will designate it as the period of chaos. GENERAL DISCUSSION THERESA S. McMAHON, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.: The unemployed are generally classified into two groups, namely, those unable to hold jobs because of physical or mental deficiency and whose number seem to increase in periods of in- dustrial depression; and those workers capable of holding jobs when jobs are to be had. We are primarily concerned with the latter group, which fur- ther divides itself into two divisions: (i) workers willing to work at any price even though the price offered for their labor is less than a living wage, and (2) workers unwilling to work unless they receive a fair wage for their services. On the Pacific coast these two groups of workers are attempt- ing to solve the problem of unemployment in a characteristically western way. They are trying to help themselves rather than looking to philanthropic institutions for charity. The first group, under the leadership of Henry Pauly, were given the use of an abandoned hospital building and accepted all kinds of odd jobs for which they received food supplies and anything that could be used in maintaining their comfort in this building. Unmarketable bread, small potatoes and unmarketable dried fish and other supplies formed the nucleus of their bill of fare. Con- tracts for clearing land near Seattle were accepted at low figures, the men tided over the winter and the land owners got their land cleared at a low cost. This winter a similar group under Pauly is continuing the same cooperative struggle against great odds. The second group of willing and efficient workers out of work protest vigorously against any scheme which calls upon them to do a necessary part of the world's work for a fractional part of its real value. This second group is composed of willing and able workers but they demand a decent day's wage for a decent day's work. In other words, they demand a just wage. The times are out of joint through no fault of theirs. They argue that the workers have produced plenty for all and are willing to continue to produce but have not the opportunity. They refuse General Discussion 451 to beg. They demand work, and failing to obtain it at a fair wage they quietly walk into the restaurants, order a meal and walk out with the suggestion that society pay the bill. The people of the state of Washington are not indifferent to the problem of unemployment nor do they show any tendency to offer charitable panaceas as a permanent remedy. They are try- ing to work out some constructive policy, and as a preliminary step have made it illegal for employment offices to charge fees for jobs. A bill will be presented to the next legislature for the establish- ment of a network of public employment offices all over the state. This will make possible the complete organization of the labor market, which we hope is the first step toward the organization of industry itself. The aggressive attitude of the leaders among the workers has impressed upon the minds of the people the fact that the problem will have to be met in another way than by providing food and clothing for a period of distress such as we are passing through at the present time. I believe that this attitude on the part of the working people, which is characteristically western, will do more towards the solution of this problem than perhaps we, who discuss it in a theoretical way, can accomplish. They do have some plan of action, and some definite program. Either we shall have to work out some program of ultimate solution of unemployment, or we will have to accept the solution they are offering us. The one they are offering us is socialism. MRS. JAMES P. WARBASSE, Brooklyn Committee on Unemploy- ment: In discussing the prevention of unemployment I speak not only for myself but for several members attending this session in expressing surprise that no mention has been made of the most ob- vious and essential remedy work. When a man is out of a job it does him little good to know that there is, or should be, a complete system of employment exchanges all of which admit that they cannot usually supply one-thirtieth of the applicants with the thing they now seek work. To be sure, they also exist to collect and distribute information, but desirable as this latter function is to the student of the problem, the man out of a job needs more than information, he needs work. 45 2 American Labor Legislation Review Many years hence, when confidence in these exchanges has been established among workers and employers, they may be able ad- equately to connect up the job and the worker. To-day, they only tabulate the misery they cannot relieve. We should look for more than this in attempting to solve the unemployment problem to-day, and so we turn to consider the next most oft-repeated solution of the problem presented at this conference. That is unemployment insurance a purely palliative measure championed in many quarters, it is true, but seldom by the unem- ployed themselves. We feel it is a reflection on the self-respect of a man who is eager and willing to work and to produce those things needed by society, in return for which he hopes to support independently himself and family, to offer him a pittance seven shillings a week, as is offered in England. All the world knows this must be supplemented by charity. Figures show us that un- employment is not a condition that exists for a week now and then through the year. Two and a half million lost four to six months, 3,000,000 lost one to three months each year, according to the United States Census report of 1900. Infinitely greater would be the figures to-day. Who can live for months at a time solely on such unemployment insurance as has ever been advocated or tried? A man who can and will work should not be subsidized to remain in idleness. Our courts, reformatories and prisons all indicate the relation between crime and idleness. Sooner or later idleness through lack of work will bring about the same evils that result from voluntary idleness. Unemployment tends to demoral- ize the worker, and for that reason insurance as a substitute for employment is only a makeshift remedy. A far more worthy goal in the prevention of unemployment is the attempt to get our states and municipalities to undertake con- templated public works and to project new ones. Every effort should be made to stimulate this program. Even this solution, however, is most inadequate. No scheme that fails to take into account the work of women can cover the situation. Women are a permanent feature of our industrial life and their unemployment is a serious phase of the unemployment problem. The office girl, the factory hand, the saleswoman are not comprehended in any plan of work on public roads and sewers. Many men suffering through unemployment are General Discussion 453 equally unfitted for this heaviest type of manual labor, the only kind usually endorsed for relief work. Let us face, then, the problem of what work to give the unem- ployed in the city to-day. There are in the downtown sections of Manhattan, especially in the Broome and Greene Street district, and in the I4th and 23rd Street district, vacant loft buildings suitable for manufacturing pur- poses, and now renting at one-half their usual rental, sufficient in number, as one prominent real estate man put it, "to employ an army." And this is exactly what we have on our hands an army of unemployed able-bodied men and their destitute wives and chil- dren. Undoubtedly such empty buildings are available in all large cities. These loft buildings should be filled with the unemployed work- ers, both men and women, among whom would be found tailors, shoe makers, garment workers, hatters, carpenters, cabinet makers, bakers, cooks, waiters and probably members of every other trade necessary to manufacture for themselves clothing, food, and house- hold furniture and utensils. A number of buildings could be set apart as living quarters for the homeless men and part of their wages paid in lodgings and meals at a central building designated for that purpose. This form of work need not compete with existing trades but should stimulate business in the city and would create a demand for raw material used in the manufacture of clothing and furniture. Such workers would not compete with or displace other workers, for the unemployed are now neither producers nor consumers to any extent, and when their wants are supplied by their own labor, the surplus product instead of being sold in the open market could be purchased, at prices based on cost of production, by popular sub- scription and sent to meet any great emergency, as for example, that of the Belgian refugees. Of course, in such work the present public employment exchanges, state and municipal, would be utiliz- ed and all applicants for employment would be obliged to register and prove their residence in the city before securing this temporary work. The elasticity of such a plan must be apparent, as the number of workers employed would necessarily expand and contract in accordance with the conditions of the labor market. 454 American Labor Legislation Review This, in general, is the plan. The details will have to be worked out by competent executives. As to the problem of financing such work, if the state needed these men in case of war, how long would it take the city and the state of New York, or the nation, to employ them at an expense in the field of from $3 to $5 a day, in purely destructive work, at the same time supporting the wives and children at home? What the state can do in time of war, can it not do by employing these men in wealth-producing labor, and is not the obligation to do it at least as great? If however, the city or state officials should be advised by their counsel that there are legal obstacles, it is a simple matter to secure immediate legislation when the will to do the thing is present and the people demand it. I am not unmindful of the immensity of such a proposition, but let us come together seriously and try to grapple with this huge public disaster, for thus we must designate wholesale destitution whether it result from fire, flood, war or unemployment. FRANCIS D. TYSON, University of Pittsburgh: I will just try to sum up a little. Mr. Valentine's constructive paper reminded me that Thomas Carlyle had gone to the heart of this thing when he said, "You cannot lead a fighting world unregimented. Can you any more, then, lead a working world unregimented?" In fact, we have seen to-night that as every social advance, as every combined human endeavor in the world, has at some stage of its development needed organization, so industry now needs it. Our much talking about unemployment has at least led us to see how complex is this industrial problem, and how many-sided and long-ranged must be our program of solution. We must go back to the central problem of the readjustment of industry, and we must consider too the whole problem of the increase in in- dustrial efficiency. If we are to develop any constructive plan of unemployment insurance, we must realize that we must have a high grade of cooperative activity between employer and employee. When we consider the negative aspects of the absolutism presented by Mr. Tobin, and the critical attitude of Mr. London, we see that this stage of cooperation is not yet, and that perhaps we must face a thorough campaign extending over a long period of public educa- General Discussion 455 for industrial efficiency. Mr. Jackson pointed out that in this democratic America we have what I might call a trend toward a bureaucratic state mechanism, and it seemed to me that this is what we must consider, at least, in moving forward with our program of labor exchanges. On the other hand we have made great progress by coming to realize the social cost of our industrial policy of laissez-faire. I have just been going over the first batch of schedules of a little study of unemployment in a Pennsylvania steel town, wherein is told the sad story of the using up of scanty savings, of the plung- ing of families into debt and the attendant misfortunes. So per- haps we have now reached the place where we must seek to harness this monstrous mechanism, and we are this winter in a position where we may go forward to face experiments with practical forms of public labor exchanges and of public work, in an endeavor to find a solution for this last great human problem the problem of industry. ELIZABETH S. KITE, New Jersey Department of Charities and Corrections: The habitually unemployed class is recognized to be the inefficient class. The scientific instruments to-day available enable us to penetrate the cause of this inefficiency and to learn that -it lies primarily in a lack of intelligence, that is to say in an intelligence that has never developed the higher faculties of judg- ment, reason, the power of control, and adaptability, but which remains permanently childlike in character, without initiative or ability for independent action. This class retained within competitive ranks has precisely the same effects upon wages as child labor. By lowering the standard of work and the amount produced, the value of labor is lessened for the whole group. Only by eliminating this class can normal wage conditions be secured. Very insufficient studies have so far been made upon the men- tality of the habitually unemployed class, but it is highly probable that the majority have the mental development of children from eight to twelve years of age. This development is sufficient for ac- quiring most of the trades, but does not insure the ability to carry them forward with success. The childlike mentality is lacking in judgment, tends to slight work, and cannot relate the part to the 456 American Labor Legislation Review whole. Workers of this class are easily discouraged, take offense at a "yes" or a "no," and throw up their jobs without warning. The responsibilities of life fail to rouse them to effort because their lack of judgment prevents their realizing responsibility. Teaching or preaching avail nothing, for the lack is fundamental there is literally nothing there to be roused. The remedy for these evils seems to be segregation. Since the mentality of this class suffices for unskilled labor and for the trades, it is only necessary to supply direction and supervision. Colonized upon waste land, this class can be made to contribute largely to its own support. Once recognized to be only children in mind, responsibilities beyond their power will no longer be placed upon these dependents nor permitted to them. Being children they can easily be made happy and their comfort assured at a cost not exceeding what is at present so ineffectively expended upon them by charity organizations, while the benefit to society at large and to the labor problem in particular will be immeasurable. V SUPPLEMENTAL SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ON UNEMPLOYMENT BRIEF LIST OF REFERENCES ON UNEMPLOYMENT, EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES AND UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE SUPPLEMENTAL SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ON UNEMPLOYMENT The growing interest in the subject of unemployment since the publication of our first Select Bibliography on Unemployment in the AMERICAN LABOR LEGISLATION REVIEW for May, 1914, has made advisable the compilation of the supplemental bibliography herewith presented. The period has been too short for the appearance of many new noteworthy books on the subject, and the literature listed is there- fore for the most part pamphlet and magazine material. Through it all, however, is manifest the fact that the problem is being ap- proached in a serious, business like way, as one calling for per- manent, constructive effort and not for mere temporary relief. Copies of publications on the subject are still requested, in order that this bibliography may be continually amplified and revised to meet the growing needs of students of and workers on the problem. BIBLIOGRAPHIES Massachusetts. Bureau of statistics. Labor bibliography. Bost9n, 1913 . Contains annually lists of literature on unemployment and related subjects, in United States and abroad. Schanz, G. In Elster's Woerterbuch des Volkswirtschaft, Jena, Fischer, Bibliographies of German authorities on unemployment and related subjects, in surance (p. 211), and employment bureaus (P. 221). GENERAL WORKS American association for labor legis- iation. Unemployment. (American labor legislation review, Oct. 1914, V 4 '484-486 ) 'Review of 'legislation on unemployment and on employment agencies in the United States m 1914. ing wage for women. (American labor legislation review, June, 1915* v. 5:287-418.) Income-losses of women workers through unemployment and underemployment. Andrews, John B. A practical pro- for the prevention of unem- " V. 4:600-608.) Activities of International association^ on unemployment and of American section; work of Chicago unemployment commission; ISew York state legislation on public employ- ment bureaus. ^ Andrews, Irene OsgOOd. The relation of irregular employment to the liv- A number of constructive, practical sug- Re stions looking to the prevention of unem- p l oy ment through the establishment of public employment exchanges, systematic distribu- tion of pu bli c work, regularization of in- dustry, unemployment insurance, and other helpful measures including constructive care of the unemployable. 460 American Labor Legislation Review Barnes, Charles B. Unemployment and public responsibility. (Survey, Oct. 10, 1914, v, 33:48-50.) General treatment of the subject. Bedford, A. Unemployed problem. (Overland, n. s., July, 1914, v. 64: 92-99.) Interesting first hand account of ex- periences of an itinerant worker. Beveridge, W. H. The problem of the unemployed. (Sociological pa- pers, v. 3 1323 -344.) London, 1007. Brief scientific treatment of problem and of practical measures for solution. Bruere, Henry. A proposal in refer- ence to unemployment in the winter of 1914 for consideration, by his hon- or the mayor of the city of New York. New York, 1914. 8 p. A progressive program against unemploy- ment. California. Commission of immigra- tion and housing. Report on unem- ployment. iState printing office, 1914- 73 P. Supplement to first annual report. Recom- mendations for the elimination of unemploy- ment, including state labor exchanges, regulation of private employment agencies, housing regulation, unemployment insurance, rural credits, state land bureau and other points. Chicago's city grocery store for un- employed. (Survey, Mar. 14, 1914, v. 3i:735.) One branch of Chicago's relief program. ...... ..memorial hotel for the unem- ployed, Rufus F. Dawes hotel. (Lit- erary digest, Jan. 3, 1914, v. 48:208- 209. > The Churches, the city and the "army of the unemployed" in New York. (Survey, Mar. 28, 1914, v. 31:792- 795-) The situation in New York city. Cooke, Morris L. Responsibility and opportunity of the city in the pre- vention of unemployment. (Ameri- can labor legislation review, June, 1915, v. 5:433-436.) Plea for city activity. Crissey, P. and Wilhelm. D. Human scrap heap. (Technical world, Jan. 1914, v. 20:759-764.) Fate of aged unskilled workers. Diagnosis of workless. (Literary di- gest, May 16, 1914, v. 48: 1200.) Account of New York investigation. Fitch, John A. Employment agencies, socialism and minimum wage on the stand. (Survey, May 30, 1914, v. 32: 230-231.) The longshoremen's case. (Survey, June 20, .1914, v. 32:320- 321.) Class fighters and a hobo who solved a problem. (Survey, Sept. 5, 1914, v. 32:559-56o.) Unemployment, charity and the minimum wage. (Survey, Sept. 12, 1914, v. 32:593-594.) Interesting reports of hearings before United States Commission on industrial relations. Great Britain. Local government board. Report to president of the board on dock labor in relation to the poor law relief, by Gerald Walsh. London, 1908. yaluable in connection with R. Williams' "First year's workings of the Liverpool docks scheme." Hart, J. K. The problem of unem- ployment. (Welfare, May 1914, v. 2, no. 3:18-22.) General discussion of problem and pro- posed remedies. How to tell a hobo from a mission stiff. (Survey, Mar. 21, 1914, v. 31: 78i.) Account of International brotherhood wel- fare association. Holmes, John Haynes. Tannenbaum in the large. (Survey, Apr. 25, 1914, v. 32:94-95.) Discussion of Tannenbaum's invasion of New York churches. Hourwich, I. A. Immigration and labor. New York, Putnam, 1914. "Unemployment," p. 114-147. Treats of causes of unemployment; im- migration; statistical tables. International association on unem- ployment. Quarterly bulletin of the International association on unem- ployment; edited by Max Lazard. Paris, 1911 Contains articles by European and Amer- ican specialists, in English, French and Ger- man. The issues which have appeared in 1914 have dealt with the following topics: No. 1, international reports on the operation of unemployment insurance systems, reports on unemployment and public works; no. 2, working of unemployment insurance in England, equilibrium between production and consumption, international statistics on un- employment. Jackson, John Price. Relation of the state to unemployment. (American labor legislation review, June, 1915, v. 5:437-445.) Estimate of economic loss through unem- ployment and description of preventive meth- ods open to the state. Kellor, Frances A. Is unemployment a municipal problem? (National General Works 461 municipal review, Apr. 1914, v. 3, no. 2.) Scientific discussion of limitations and possibilities of municipal employment bur- eaus. Out of work. New York, Put- nam, 1915. =69 p. Discussion of the extent of unemployment in America, unemployment among women and children, employment agencies, unem- ployment insurance, criticism of remedies proposed, and a program. London, Meyer. The nation and the problem of unemployment. (Amer- ican labor legislation review, June, 1915, v. 5: 446-449.) Unemployment an inevitable result of our present industrial system; a national prob- lem; need of labor exchanges and unem- ployment insurance. Mason, G. Jobless man and the state. (Harper's weekly, Mar. 28, 1914, v. 58:28.) Popular presentation of unemployment, its causes and remedies. McKibben, W. K. Idle men on idle land. (Welfare, Aug. 1914, v. 2:10- n.) Work of Henry Pauly's Hotel de gink workers on a tract of land. Meeting unemployment in .Canada. (Survey, Nov. 14, 1914, v. 33:165.) Unemployment caused by the war in Canada. Municipal plans for the unemployed. (Survey, Feb. 21, 1914, v. 31:633- 635-) Efforts of various cities in behalf of un- employed. O'Hara, Frank. Unemployment in Oregon, its nature, extent and rem- edies. Portland, 1914. 39 p. Treats of practical measures designed to minimize or to counteract unemployment. Redistribution of public work in Oregon. (American labor legis- lation review, June, 1915, v. 5:238- 244.) . Feasibility of shifting a considerable amount to dull years and seasons. Oregon plan for reducing unemploy- ment. (Survey, Oct. 17. 1914, v. 33: 59-) Measures to prevent recurrence of severe unemployment. Pigou, Arthur Cecil. Unemployment. New York, Holt, 1913. 256 p. Popular discussion of unemployment, its extent, causes, and proposed remedies. Poindexter, Miles. The industrial army of the United States. (Wel- fare, May, 1914, v. 2, no. 3: 18.) Remarks on Poindexter industrial army bill. Protest of working women of New York. (Survey, Feb. 14, 1914, v. 31: 605-606.) Protest meeting under auspices of Woman's trad^e Bunion league. Provision for unemployed in Boston and Portland, Oregon. (Survey, Mar. 28, 1914, v. 31:796.) Conditions of employment and provisions for unemployment in cities named. Public works and unemployment. (American city, Sept. 1914, v. II, 185-190.) Editorial "Let the armies of construction go forward!" urging continuation of municipal public works in spite of the war; collection of opinion on subject by mayors of 21 cities. Richter, F. Ernest. Seasonal fluctua- tions in public works. (American labor legislation review, June, I9i5> v. 5:245-264.) Study of conditions in Boston metropoli- tan district. Rowntree, B. S. Way to industrial peace and the problem of unemploy- ment. London, Unwin, 1914. "Prob- blem of Unemployment," p. 127-182. Popular statement of casual labor, the unemployables and unemployment, with sug- gested remedies. Seattle citizens' committee on unem- ployment. (Welfare, May, 1914, v. 2, no. 3:22.) Smith, Rufus D. Canada's new policy of deporting the unemployed. (Sur- vey, Aug. 15, 1914. v.32:498.) Relation of unemployment to Canada's immigration campaign; deportation as remedy for unemployment. Soziale Praxis und Archiv fur Volks- wohlfart. Berlin. Weekly paper devoted to discussion of labor questions. Frequent articles on unemploy- ment and related subjects. Stern, Leon. Unemployment problem of the southwest. (Survey, Nov. i, 1913, v. 31:136.) Account of conditions causing drifting, with solution of pro'blem suggested. Talbott, E. Guy. The armies of the unemployed in California. (Survey, Aug. 22, 1914, v. 32:523-) Account of experiences of unemployed ;n California. Unemployment in Chicago due to war. (Survey, Oct. 17, 1914, v. 33:59-6-) Public works and municipal lodging houses as remedies for unemployment. Unemployment in New York. (Out- look, Mar. 4, 1914, v. 106:567-569.) Conditions in New York city. United States. Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics. Unemployment in New York City, New York. (Its Bulletin, no. 172.) 462 American Labor Legislation Review Report of a study Conducted in February, 1915, resulting in an estimate of 398,000 unemployed in that city alone at that time. United States. Commission on indus- trial relations. First annual report. Washington, Govt. print, off., 1914. "Unemployment," p. 55-57- Outline of investigations. Valentine, Robert G. What the awak- ened employer is thinking on un- employment. (American labor legis- lation review, June, 1915, v. 5:423- 428.) Necessity of protecting worker from ef- fects of unavoidable unemployment through some system of insurance, if present com- petitive system, with its advantages, is to be retained. Vorse, Mary Heaton. The case of Adolf. (Outlook, May 2, 1914, v. 107: 27-31.) Account of event in New York demonstra- tion among the unemployed. Webb, Sidney. The war and the workers. Fabian tract no. 176. London, 1914. Handbook of some immediate measures to prevent unemployment and to relieve distress. Deals with keeping up the volume of employment during war .times by means of necessary works of public utility, ratker than by relief works. Woehlke, W. V. Porterhouse heaven and the hobo. (Technical world, Aug., 1914, v. 2i:8o8 : 8i3.) Discussion of hobo question. Wood, Arthur E. A study of the un- employed. (Reed college record, Social science bulletin no. 18.) Port- land, 1914. Study of conditions of unemployment in Portland during the winter of 1913-1914. EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES Anders, E. Employment agencies in Portland, Oregon. (Survey, July 11, 1914, v. 32: 400-) Andrews, John B. A national system of labor exchanges. (New republic, Dec. 26, 1914, v. i; no. 8, part 2, 8 p.) Causes leading to demand for a national system; plan of organization for same; his- tory of the Murdock bill; selected critical bibliography. Barnes, Charles B. Public employment bureaus organization and opera- tion. (American labor legislation review, Tune, 1915, v. 5:195-202.) Need of public employment bureaus and growing public interest in them. Practical suggestions for their conduct. Beveridge, W. H. Seventeenth cen- tury labor exchanges. (Economic journal, Sept. 1914, v. 24: 371-376.) Interesting account of early labor exchange established by Henry Robinson in London, 1635. Beveridge, W. H. and Key, C. F. Labor exchanges in the United Kingdom (Quarterly bulletin of the international association on unem- ployment, July, 1913, v. 3, no. 3:767- 825.) Authoritative description of British em- ployment exchange system and its methods of operation. Bringing the jobless man to the man- less job. (Literary digest, Feb. 28, 1914, v. 48:419-420.) Collection of expressions from various sources. Chicago's special measures for unem- ployed. (Survey, Jan. 17, 1914, v. 31: 457.) Report of opening of Chicago's free employ- ment bureau. Cincinnati labor exchanges for handi- capped. (Survey, May 16, 1914, v. 32: 189-190.) Special department established for handi- capped workers. Courtney, W. L. New labor ex- change. Nineteenth century, Sept. 1914, v. 76:631-637.) Occupations open to unemployed women. Department of public welfare provided by (Seattle) charter revision com- mission. (Welfare, May, 1914, v. 2, no. 3:23.) Provisions for free public employment offices. Employment bureaus in schools. (Sur- vey, Sept. 12, 1914, v. 32:587.) Latest development in Wisconsin social center movement. Gardner, G. Job-finding and man- hunting. (Technical world, Oct. 1914, v. 22: 176-183.) Need for a national system of labor ex- changes. Gompers, Samuel. The perverted Wisconsin commission. (American Federationist, Sept. 1913, v. 20: 745-) Criticism of work of Wisconsin free em- ployment bureaus. Halsey, Olga S. Directing the work life of English children. (Survey, May 16, 1914, v. 32: 195-196.) Service of labor exchanges in diverting juvenile labor from blind alley industries. Employment Exchanges 463 Human side of job finding. (Literary digest, Mar. 14, 1914, v. 48: 592.) Incidents occuriing in Illinois free em- ployment bureaus. Kandel, I. L. Elementary education in England, with special reference to London, Liverpool, and Manchester. (United States Bureau of education, bulletin 1913 no. 57, whole no. 568.) Washington, Govt. print, off., 1914. 161 p. "Juvenile employment," p. 1511-158- Discussion of problems of juvenile em- ployment based on experience of juvenile departments of English labor exchanges. Kavanaugh, J. F. Civil service for private employment. (American city, Mar. 1914, v. 10: 238-240.) Use of civil service examinations in con- nection with public employment bureaus. Kellor, Frances A. Three bills to distribute labor and reduce unem^ ployment. (Survey, Mar. 7, 1914. v. 31:694.) Discussion of three bills pending before congress. Leiserson, W. M. Theory of public employment offices and the prin- ciples of their practical administra- tion. (Political science quarterly, Mar. 1914, v. 29:28-46.) Thorough scientific treatment of the subject. Washington state's employ- ment agency referendum. (Survey, Oct. 24, 1914, v. 33:87.) Public employment bureaus properly or- ganized as substitute for private agencies Man and the job. (Outlook, Jan. 17 1914, v. 106: 1113-114.) Advocates public employment bureaus. National employment bureau. Hear- ings before the Committee on labor, (United States) House of represen- tatives, 63d congress, 2d session. Washington, Govt. print, off., 1914. 112 p. Three parts; hearings on June 5, Tune 12. and July 13, 1914 on the Murdock and Mac- Donald bills. Spender, C. M. Humanity of the labor exchange. (Contemporary, May, 1914, v. 105:698-703.) Operation of English labor exchanges. Tarbell, Ida. The golden rule in bus- iness. (American, Dec. 1914, v. 78: 24-29.) Suggestions for organization in labor market and in industry to overcome evils of seasonal trades. Ueland, Elsa. Juvenile enployment ex- changes. (American labor legislation review, June, 1915, v. 5:203-237.) A dilemma; typical juvenile exchanges in the United States and Europe; suggestions for organization and administration. Williams, R. First year's working of the Liverpool docks scheme. Lon- don, King, 1914. 192 p. Account of a successful attempt to abolish casual labor on the docks of Liverpool; the high water mark of efforts in this direction. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE Bailward, W. A. Some impressions of the first six months' working of compulsory insurance against unem- ployment in England. (Quarterly bulletin of the International associa- tion on unemployment, April 1914, v. 4, no. 2: 489-499.) Interesting study of operation of English act and of problems arising under it. Beveridge, W. H. and Key, C. F. State unemployment insurance in the United Kingdom. (Quarterly bulletin of the International associa- tion on unemployment, Jan. 1914, v. 4, no. i: 129-187.) Detailed statistical study of operations un- der the act. Coman, Katherine. Social insurance, pensions and poor relief. (Survey, May 9, 1914, v. 32: 187-188.) Distinguishing features of each brought out. Unemployment insurance in France. (Survey, June 6, 1914, v. 32: 281.) What will the war mean for social insurance in Europe? (Survey, Oct. 17, 1914, v. 33: 74-75.) Probable results in Europe. Fehlinger, Hans. Unemployment in- surance in Bavaria. (American fed- erationist, Apr. 1914, v. 31: 333-334-) Halsey, Olga S. Compulsory unem- ployment insurance in Great Britain. (American labor legislation review, June, 1915, v. 5:265-278.) Workings of English act. Pigou, Arthur Cecil. Unemployment. New York, Holt, 1913. 256 p. "Un- employment insurance," p. 203-228. Popular statement of subject. THE AMERICAN LABOR LEGISLATION REVIEW The only Scientific Labor Magazine in America Four numbers yearly, devoted to : Reports of National Conferences Industrial Hygiene, Social Insurance, Unemployment, and kindred topics of immediate importance. Proceedings of Annual Meetings expert opin- ions of leaders in industrial thought. Annual Summary of New Labor Laws im- mediately after adjournment of legislative sessions. Proposed Legislation economic facts for legis- lative action. Illustrated with maps, charts, tables and photo- graphs. Special bibliographies. Characterized by : Expert, unbiased opinion. Progressive, scientific spirit. Indispensable to writers, lecturers, progressive em- ployers, students of the Labor Problem, and to all who take an intelligent interest in improving the conditions of labor. Published Quarterly $1 per copy $3 per year AMERICAN ASSOCIATION TOR LABOR LEGISLATION 131 East 23d Street, New York, N. Y. Annual subscription includes individual membership in the Association, special Legislative Reports, free use of information Bureau, etc. PUBLICATIONS American Association for Labor Legislation .No. i : Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting, 1907. No. 2: Proceedings of the Second Annual Meeting, 1908.* No. 3: Report of the General Administrative Council, 1909.* No. 4: (Legislative Review No. i) Review of Labor Legislation of 1909. No. 5: (Legislative Review No. 2) Industrial Education, 1909. No. 6: (Legislative Review No. 3) Administration of Labor Laws, 1909.* No. 7: (Legislative Review No. 4) Woman's Work, 1909.* No. 8: (Legislative Review No. 5) Child Labor, 1910. No. 9: Proceedings of the Third Annual Meeting, 1909.* No. 10 : Proceedings of the First National Conference on Industrial Dis- eases, 1910.* No. ii : (Legislative Review No. 6) Review of Labor Legislation of 1910. No. 12: (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. I, No. i.) Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting, 1910. No. 13: (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. I, No. 2.) Comfort, Health and Safety in Factories. No. 14: (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. I, No. 3.) Review of Labor Legislation of 1911. No. 15: (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. I, No. 4.) Prevention and Reporting of Industrial Injuries. Scientific Accident Prevention, John Calder. Practical Safety Devices, Robert J. Young. The Wisconsin Industrial Commission, John R. Commons. Safety Inspection in Illinois, Edgar T. Davies. The Massackusetts Board of Boiler Rules, Joseph H. McNeill. The Beginning of Occupational Disease Reports, John B. Andrews. Accident Reports in Minnesota, Don D. Lescohier. Advantages of Standard Accident Schedules, Edson S. Lott. A Plan for Uniform Accident Reports, Leonard W. Hatch. No. 16: (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. II, No. i.) Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Meeting, 1911.* Relation of State to Federal Workmen's Compensation and Insurance Legislation: Introductory Address, Henry R. Seager. Compulsory State Insurance from the Workman's Viewpoint, John H. Wallace. Accident Compensation for Federal Employees, I. M. Rubinow. Constitutional Status of Workmen's Compensation, Ernst Freund. Uniform Reporting of Industrial Injuries: Report of Special Committee on Standard Schedules, Leonard W. Hatch. Unemployment Problem in America: Introductory Address, Charles Nagel. Unemployment as a Coming Issue, William Hard. Experience of the National Employment Exchange, E. W. Carpenter. Recent Advances in the Struggle against Unemployment, C. R. Henderson. Safety and Health in the Mining Industry: Introductory Address, Walter Fisher. Publication out of print. Work of the United States Bureau of Mines, J. A. Holmes. Occupational Diseases in the Mining Industry, S. C. Hotchkiss. A Federal Mining Commission, John R. Haynes. No. 17: (American Labor Legislation Review Vol. II, No. 2.) Proceedings of the Second National Conference on Indus trial Diseases, 1912* Symposium on Industrial Diseases: Classification of Occupational Diseases, W. Oilman Thompson. Compressed-Air Illness, Frederick L. Keays. * Occupational Skin Diseases, John A. Fordyce. Occupational Nervous and Mental Diseases, Charles L. Dana. Occupational Eye Diseases, Ellice Alger. Industrial Poisoning, David L. Edsall. The Need of Cooperation in Promoting Industrial Hygiene, Henry R. Seager. Investigation of Industrial Diseases: Intensive Investigations in Industrial Hygiene, Frederick L. Hoffman. Compulsory Reporting by Physicians, Leonard W. Hatch. Lead Poisoning in New York City, Edward E. Pratt. Health Problems in Modern Industry: The Function of Hospitals and Clinics in the Prevention of Industrial Disease,, Richard Cabot. Temperature and Humidity in Factories, C.-E. A. Winslow. Air Impurities Dusts, Fumes, and Gases, Charles Baskerville. Effects of Confined Air upon the Health of Workers, George M. Price. State Promotion of Industrial Hygiene: Education for the Prevention of Industrial Diseases, M. G. Overlock. Notification of Occupational Diseases, Cressy L. Wilbur. Medical Inspection of Factories in Illinois, Harold K. Gibson. Compressed-Air Illness in Caisson Work, L. M. Ryan. Legal Protection for Workers in Unhealthful Trades, Jokn B. Andrews. Bibliography on Industrial Hygiene: American Titles. Titles Other Than American. No. 18: (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. II, No. 3.) Review of Labor Legislation of 1912. No. 19: (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. II, No. 4.) Immediate Legislative Program. One Day of Rest in Seven, Prevention of Lead Poisoning, Reporting of Accidents and Diseases, Workmen's Compensation, Investigation of Industrial Hygiene, Protection for Working Women, Enforcement of Labor Laws. No. 20: (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. Ill, No. I.) Proceed- ings of the Sixth Annual Meeting, 1912. The Minimum Wage: The Theory of the Minimum Wage, Henry R. Seager. Factory Inspection and Labor Law Enforcement: How the Wisconsin Industrial Commission Works, John R. Commons. A Laborer's View of Factory Inspection, Henry Sterling. An Employer's View of Factory Inspection, Charles Sumner Bird. The Efficiency of Present Factory Inspection Machinery in the United States, Edward F. Brown. Discussion of Immediate Legislative Program: The Need of a New Federal Employee's Accident Compensation Law, Charles Earl. Rest Periods for the Continuous Industries, John A. Fitch. Proposed Regulations for the Protection of Lead Workers, Lillian Erskine. Needed Legislative Changes Requiring the Notification of Accidents and Dis- eases, Robert E. Chaddock. No. 21 : (American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. Ill, No. 2.) Proceed- ings of the First American Conference on Social Insurance, 1913.- Next Steps in Social Insurance: The Problem of Social Insurance: An Analysis, William F. Willoughby. Sickness Insurance, I. M. Rubinow. Insurance against Unemployment, Charles R. Henderson. RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date. DUE AS STAMPED BELOW .HIM 132000 12,000(11/95) YC 8/799 Unemployment is one of the most perplex ing and urgent of industrial problems. It represents not a want to be satisfied but a disease to be eradicated