2. No female employee of ordinary ability shall be deemed inexperienced who has been employed in a retail store or stores for one year or more, after reaching the age of 18 years.

3. A female employee shall be deemed to have been employed in the industry for a year if her absences from her place or places of employment during 12 months, whether consecutive or nonconsecutive, have not been of unreasonable duration. 4. The wages of learners and apprentices may be less than the minimum prescribed for experienced employees, provided:

(a) That no female employee of ordinary ability who has reached the age of 18 years shall be employed at a rate of wages less than $7 a week.

(b) That no female employee of ordinary ability who has reached the age of 17 years shall be employed at a rate of wages less than $6 a week.

(c) That no other female employee of ordinary ability shall be paid at a rate of wages less than $5 a week.

5. A female employee of less than ordinary ability may be paid less than the prescribed minimum wage provided that the conditions of section 9, chapter 706, acts of 1912, are complied with.

6. These recommendations shall take effect on January 1, 1916, on which date all female employees of ordinary ability who have been employed in the industry for one year or more after reaching the age of 18 shall be deemed to have served an apprenticeship of one year, and all others shall be deemed to have begun their apprenticeship, and to be entitled to the rates as specified above.

In order to facilitate the enforcement of this order the commission recommends that a female employee on leaving her employment in any establishment receive a card showing the time she has worked in that establishment.

MINIMUM WAGE LAW OF KANSAS.

In an article on "Minimum-Wage Legislation, 1915," in the August issue of the MONTHLY REVIEW, it was stated that so far as was known at the time of that publication the legislature of the State of Arkansas was the only one that had enacted legislation on this subject during the year. It was subsequently learned that the legislature of Kansas passed a law at its 1915 session providing for the establishment of an industrial welfare commission with the duty of establishing standards of wages, hours, and conditions of labor for women, learners and apprentices, and minors employed within the State, thus making States having some form of minimum-wage law. The term "miners" as used in this act includes persons of both sexes under the age 18 years, while the term "women" applies to females above that age. The commission consists of the commissioner of labor and two persons appointed by the governor, one of whom must be a woman. The commission may act on its own initiative or upon the request of not less than 25 persons engaged in any occupation i which are employed persons of the classes coming within the purview

of the act. Authority is given to make such examination of the pay rolls and wage records and to call such witnesses as the commission may deem necessary; public hearings may also be had. If, after such investigation, the commission concludes that wages, hours, and sanitary or other conditions in the occupation are prejudicial to the health or welfare of any substantial number of persons embraced in the act, it may establish a board to take the matters complained of under advisement. This board is to consist of not less than three representatives of employers, three of employees, and one or more representatives of the public appointed by the commission. The commission makes rules and regulations for the selection of the various members and the modes of procedure of the board, and also has exclusive jurisdiction over all questions arising as to the validity of the procedure and of the determinations of the board. Members of the board are paid as jurors in the district courts, and witnesses are paid as witnesses in like courts.

The boards may recommend what they regard as a reasonable minimum wage to meet the necessary cost of living for a woman worker of ordinary ability, and also the number of hours and sanitary conditions necessary; also for learners and apprentices and for minors. Time and piece rates may be fixed, and also different rates and standards for different localities in the State if circumstances seem to warrant. The commission has authority to review and approve or disapprove all findings. If a determination is approved, a public hearing is to be given after four successive weeks of publication of notice, after which the order may be issued to become effective in 60 days. Cases may be reopened on request of either party in interest, and special licenses may be issued for persons who are physically defective, or crippled, or of less than ordinary ability, or for learners, apprentices, and minors where only a minimum time wage has been established. A less number of hours than the standard may also be fixed for such persons.

Any person in interest dissatisfied with any order or ruling of the commission may, within 30 days of the making thereof, commence an action in court on the ground that such order or ruling is unauthorized by law, confiscatory, or unreasonable. Such cases are to have precedence over other civil cases and are tried as other cases at law, the burden of proof being on the person bringing the action. Penalties are provided for violations of the act, and for the discharge of or other discrimination against any employee who joins in requesting an investigation or who gives testimonies at any hearing. Failure to comply with the act is punishable as a misdemeanor, the fine prescribed being not less than $25 nor more than $100 in each case.

BULLETIN OF THE NEW YORK STATE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION.

Beginning with October of this year the New York State Industrial Commission proposes to issue monthly a bulletin concerning the activities of the various bureaus and divisions subject to its adminis tration. The bulletin will be issued from the bureau of statistics and information of the department of labor.

It will be the aim of the bulletin to present concisely and in terms understandable to the average citizen, the various activities of the bureaus and divisions under the direction of the State Industrial Commission and these interest every man, woman, and child of the ten million inhabitants of the Empire State.

While from time to time, pamphlet bulletins dealing with matters directly interesting to those of a statistical turn of mind, have been issued by one or another of these bureaus, no publication has been issued covering all the activities of all the bureaus. It will be the mission of the bulletin to supply this deficiency. Besides, the rulings, decisions, and other official data which the commission should supply to the public will also appear in the bulletin.

The bulletin is issued in quarto form with double columns. The first number contains a directory of the commission and the industrial council, accounts of the activities of the bureau of compensation. bureau of statistics, bureau of inspection, legal bureau, the bureau of mediation and arbitration, employment bureau, bureau of industries and immigration, bureau of legal code, together with a statement concerning the State fund for workmen's compensation, a summary of the movement of the labor market, and a summary of the work of the commission.

The following statement concerning the industrial commission of New York State is reproduced from page 10 of the first issue of the bulletin:

The industrial commission is the administrative head of the department of labor of New York State. As a matter of fact, it is the labor department, but the labor department is a constitutional entis and so the title had to be retained in the law creating the industrai commission.

The New York State Industrial Commission administers a coneldation and reorganization of the State labor department, with various bureaus and ramifications; the workmen's compenstor commission and the administration of the State fund, and the N York State employment bureau. These departments and baras are subdivided into:

Bureau of inspection, covering inspection of factories, mer. establishments, and other places where labor is employed, as to prevention, fire hazards, safety of life and limb, sanitary conditions This is subdivided into divisions of factory inspection, merani inspection, homework inspection, industrial hygiene, section ( medical inspection, and supervising inspection districts.

Bureau of statistics and information, subdivided into divisions of general labor statistics, industrial directory, industrial accidents and diseases, special investigations, and printing and publication.

Bureau of State employment, designed to bring employers and unemployed together for mutual benefit. This bureau has branch offices in all the important labor centers of the State.

Bureau of mediation and arbitration, designed to afford a ready means of adjustment of disputes regarding industrial relations.

Bureau of workmen's compensation, which administers the workmen's compensation law and the State insurance fund. This was formerly a State department in itself.

Bureau of industries and immigration, which is clothed with power to make full inquiry, examination, and investigation into the condition, welfare, and industrial opportunities of all aliens arriving and being within the State.

Moreover, the New York State Industrial Commission succeeds to the powers and duties of the industrial board in formulating an industrial code as well as framing rules and regulations for the conduct of employers and employees which have full force and effect of laws when the legislature is not in session; and also to many of the powers and duties of the abolished State fire marshal's office.

It can be readily seen that the industrial commission is a body clothed with great powers and invested with tremendous responsibilities which affect well-nigh every one of the nearly ten million inhabitants of New York State.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS.

Under authority granted by act of Congress of August 23, 1912, creating and defining the duties of the Commission on Industrial Relations, the President appointed as commissioners Messrs. Frank P. Walsh, of Missouri, chairman; John R. Commons, of Wisconsin; F. A. Delano, of Illinois; Harris Weinstock, of California; S. Thurston Ballard, of Kentucky; John B. Lennon, of Illinois; James O'Connell, of the District of Columbia; Austin B. Garretson, of Iowa; and Mrs. Florence J. Harriman, of New York. The general public was represented by Commissioners Walsh, Commons, and Harriman; the employers by Commissioners Weinstock, Delano, and Ballard; and organized labor by Commissioners Lennon, O'Connell, and Garret

son.

On March 17, 1915, owing to the resignation of Mr. Delano, the President appointed Mr. R. H. Aishton, of Illinois, in his stead.

The findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the commission are contained in a report of 448 pages issued under date of August 23, 1915. Two hundred and forty-five pages of this report were prepared by Basil M. Manly, director of research and investigation for the commission, and include conclusions and recommendations based upon both the vast amount of testimony heard in widely separated parts of the country and the individual reports of a staff of 21 inves tigators detailed by the commission to make special studies of specific questions bearing upon industrial conditions. To this portion of the report Commissioners Walsh, Lennon, O'Connell, and Garretson subscribe their names, although each dissents from specific recommendations contained therein. Commissioners Commons, Harriman, Weinstock, Ballard, and Aishton submit a separate report, including recommendations, and here again specific recommendations are dissented from by three of the signers-Messrs. Weinstock, Ballard, and Aishtonwho present a report embodying their objections and reasons therefor. Supplemental statements are presented by Commissioners Walsh, Garretson,3 Lennon and O'Connell, and Ballard. A somewhat extended report on vocational education," by Commissioner Lennon, is included, which is approved by five of the commission, Commissioners Harriman, Aishton, Weinstock, and Commons withholding their signatures.

In the act of Congress creating the commission, section 4 named 11 questions into which inquiry was specifically directed. The soction is as follows:

1 Report, p. 407.

2 Report, p. 297.

* Report, p. 291.

Report, p. 289.

Concurred in by Commissioners Lennon and O'Connell. Report, p. 289.

Concurred in as to certain particulars by Commissioners Lennon and O'Comm2,

Report, p. 279. Concurred in as to certain particulars by Commissioner Garretson. Report, p. 91

Report, p. 443.

Report, p. 265.