EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS, establish ments, whether private or public, at which those seeking employment are put into communication with those who are offering it. Private em ployment bureaus are found in every large city, but they are often conducted without judgment, sometimes have been accused of dishonesty, in many cases are mercenary, and their usefulness is at least problematical. In order to correct the evils arising from the practice of these bureaus, much remedial legislation has been passed. No agency is now allowed to charge a fee before informing an applicant of a situa tion that is actually open to him, and should such position, through no fault of the applicant, be found not open to him as understood when the fee was paid, such fee is required to be returned promptly. All employment bureaus are under the supervision of some State bureau, while some cities impose license fees and bonds of varying amounts and limit the amounts of the fees to be charged for registration, also requiring the return of fees should applicants fail to secure positions within a prescribed time, Public bureaus, opened by the national or city government, are non-mercenary and the motive that has prompted their establishment is a sound humanitarian and political motive. Such bureaus have two practical objects. They are a means of communication between employer and employee— labor exchanges, as they are called in France. In the second place they do something toward settling the wage question, by giving quotations of the amount offered and asked. Ohio was the pioneer in the movement for free public employment offices in the United States, instituting hers in 1890, and the move ment has spread so that 19 States now have more or less effective systems of public employ ment offices in about 60 different cities, the offices usually being under the supervision of a superintendent of free employment offices, or some other State official, such as the commis sioner of labor or the chief of the bureau of statistics. These offices find employment annually for about 300,000 wage-earners at exceedingly low cost, ranging from four cents for unskilled workers in Seattle to $2 or more in some small offices. With two exceptions the various laws stipulate that there shall be no charge to employer or employee for the service rendered. Municipal bureaus are operated in
dependently in seven States. In 1914 the United States Department of Labor, through a bureau called the Federal Employment Bureau, began the establishment of 38 branch offices in various parts of the country and subsequently broad ened the scope of the work so as to include a woman's division. The country is divided into 18 zones of distribution, each with head quarters in a large city; besides the station headquarters there are 80 sub-branches.
The public governmental employment bureau 'originated in France. In 1848 one such bureau was established in each of the mairies of Paris. The institution languished and in 1851 a meas ure submitted to the legislative assembly for the establishment of a comprehensive system of employment bureaus throughout the country failed to be adopted and nothing of importance was accomplished until 1888 when the Bourse de Travail was opened at Paris, which institu tion received a subsidy of 150,000 francs from the government. In 1892 a large building was erected and became the headquarters of labor syndicates, but a year later this was closed because of a dispute between the government and the labor syndicates. In 1896 it was re opened under the management of a cothmission appointed jointly by the government and the labor syndicates. There are also numerous bu reaus in France operated and managed by unions of labor syndicates whose chief endeavor is to place members of syndicates but who may aid other workmen in the hope that they will join the syndicate. In order to equalize the supply of labor in the various sections of the country, a national bureau was established, but though this received government aid in 1900, such aid has since been withdrawn because the bureau endeavored to restrain workers from entering districts wherein strikes were in prog ress. About 50 cities have labor bureaus of some sort. Belgium established such a system in 1870; Switzerland followed suit with a labor bureau at Bern in and with another at Basel in 1889; and since that time Italy has developed a system, the most important ex change being at Milan.