The New York State Department of Labor has a Bureau of Factory Inspection and sends out a large force of inspectors to see that the laws for the protection of employees are en forced.
International Association of Factory In spection.— The International' Association of Factory Inspection was organized at Philadel phia in 1886 and includes Canada and the States of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and Indiana. Each of these several States holds an annual convention of its inspectors, who meet to compare notes of their work for the year and as their pro ceedings are made public, each State may know the advancement the other is making in its labor laws.
In 1876 an act was passed in Massachusetts prohibiting the employment of children under 10 years of age. In 1883 the limit was extended by providing that no child under 12 years of age should be employed during the hours in which the public schools were in session. In 1898 the limit was raised to 14 years, pro viding that no child under 14 years of age can be employed at any time in a factory, workshop or mercantile establishment and no child under 16 years of age can be employed in a factory, workshop or mercantile establishment unless the employer procures and keeps on file a cer tificate and posts near the principal entrance a list of all such children employed. States that have adopted the factory inspection system have similar child labor laws, differing as to their age, to the age limit when they can be employed.
The Fifty-Eight-Hour-Law.— In the State of Massachusetts children under 18 years and women cannot be legally employed more than 58 hours in a week in a factory, workshop or mer cantile establishment and every employer must post in a conspicuous place the number of work ing hours each day of the week, the hours al lowed for meals, the hours when starting and stopping work and it becomes a part of the in spector's business to see that this is faithfully complied with. This has been the law of the State since 1894. Other States have enacted similar legislation.
In 1912 the United States Congress estab fished a Commission on Industrial Relations to look into conditions in the principal industries of the country and to report upon all the prob lems growing out of the factory system. There is also a United States Bureau of Labor Sta tistics and, in 1916, 40 of the States maintained labor bureaus, many of which pattern their work after the Massachusetts Board of Labor and Industries. Eight-hour laws now exist in nearly all the States, providing for a limit of eight hours in work for State and in somi. oc cupations, as mining.
Sanitary Provisions in Factories and Workshops.— The laws of most States now provide the most rigid sanitary regulations in the interest of comfort, decency and health. These relate to factories, workshops, mercan tile establishments, offices, schoolhouses and public buildings. It is required that these buildings shall be kept free from all effluvia arising from drains and that they shall have a proper number of water-closets provided for persons of each sex. It is also provided that during working hours these buildings shall be ventilated, that the air may not become inju rious to the health of the persons employed therein. It also provides that all dust from the grinding or polishing of metals be carried away through suction pipes.
The Inspection of Boilers and Engineers' Licenses.— The Massachusetts law which has been copied in many States provides that It shall be unlawful for any person to have charge of, or to operate a steam-boiler or engine, ex cept boilers and engines of locomotive motor road vehicles, boilers in private residences, in apartment houses of less than five flats, boilers under the jurisdiction of the United States, boilers used for agricultural purposes exclu sively, boilers of less than eight horsepower and boilers used for heating purposes, limiting the pressure to 15 pounds to the square inch, other than these boilers above excepted; the person in charge must hold a license granted after a thorough examination by the inspectors appointed for this duty, who are expert engi The Sweatshop System.— With the intro duction of the sweating system in the United States came a revolution in the clothing indus try which has left in its wake destruction and poverty; for prior to the introductiOn of this system there was not, as a class, a better-paid people than those engaged in the ready-made clothing trade. Looking backward only a few
years we have the recollecton of a movement in spathy with a people who were being driven Russia and other European countries. The first duty upon arrival was to procure means to provide food and shelter for themselves and families, and, being without funds, the task be came a very complicated one. The inducement to learn a good trade was freely offered them, provided they would work cheap enough to war rant a sufficient return for the knowledge be stowed upon them. The custom in vogue was that the apprentice should 'give from one to three months at very small pay, giving from 12 to 16 hours as a day's work. The profit to contractors employing this class of help was, of course, enormous. The immense amount of available labor, of this class, has been di verted to a new method of employment which is called the task system, and to which the term system was aptly applied. The sweating system, if con ducted in workshops located in buildings de voted exclusively to manufacturing purposes, would never have obtained its present promi nence in the public mind; but the competition between the employers of labor under this sys tem resulted in a complete revision of condi tions; cheaper shops were secured; large quan tities of work per day were imposed upon the employed, until finally the tenement of the con tractor was made to answer the double purpose of home and shop. The crowded condition of these tenements, hardly sufficiently large for the accommodation of the family, was increased by the addition of the help to be employed. All traces Of home privacy were obliterated, sani tary conditions became unmentionable, filth and disease abounded and the health of the public became endangered. When these conditions were made plain to the people, fear overcame them and appeals to the State legislature for the prevention of this system of manufacture were made. These appeals led to the enact ment of laws tending to restrict the manufac ture of clothing in tenement-houses. The first law enacted, like most which tend to elevate the conditions of those who are obliged to labor for their living, emanated from the legislature of Massachusetts. This law provided that any house, room or place, used as a dwelling and also used for the purpose of manufacturing, should, within the meaning of the law, be deemed a workshop. The law defines a work shop as meaning any premises, room or place wherein manual labor is exercised by way of trade, or for purposes of gain, but the exercise of such labor in a private house by the family, if a majority of the persons therein employed are members of such family, shall not consti tute a workshop. The law also contained a pro vision which was intended to prevent the im portation into the State of garments which had been made under unhealthful conditions and this was enforced until similar laws were en acted in other States, particularly in the State of New York, from which the majority of this class of clothing was produced. The law also provides that any family desiring to do the work of making, repairing or finishing any coats, vests, trousers or wearing apparel of any de scription, in any room or apartment, in any tene ment or dwelling house, shall first procure a license, approved by the chief of the inspection department. Every room or apartment in which any garments are made shall be subject to the inspection and examination of the inspectors, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the rooms or apartments are clean and free from any contagious nature. If the inspector finds evidence of infectious disease present he shall report to the local board of health.
The laws of many States require that no building which is designed to be used above the second story as a factory, or workshop, or mer cantile or other establishment and has accom modations for 10 or more above the second story, and no building more than two stories in height, shall be erected until a copy of the plans thereof has been deposited with the inspectors. Such buildings shall not be erected without suf ficient egress or other means of escape from fire, properly located and constructed. Such inspector may require that proper appliances shall be provided in the floors, walls and par titions of such buildings to prevent the spread of fire.