SUMMARY.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics was established in 1883, and until recently its work had been confined principally to the gathering and compilation of statistics. Only four laws contained any provision for their enforcement by the officers of the Bureau and as a result the bulk of the labor laws of our State remained dead letters. Under the present administration the Bureau has departed from the old-fashioned ideas and time-worn methods pursued by similar Bureaus, and has placed a new interpretation on the purposes for which such a Bureau should be maintained. We have undertaken the enforcement of all laws affecting labor, even though no provision has been made for this work and we have endeavored to cover as much of the field as our limited funds would permit.

For the first time in the history of this State. the working men and women have a place to go to tell their story and obtain advice and assistance without cost when they have been deprived of the wages they have honestly earned; when they have been defrauded by schemers or unscrupulous employers; when they have been shuttlecocked about the country through misrepresentations by employment agents and others, or when they have been made the victims of a multitude of other abuses.

The men and women who must earn their living by the sweat of their brow have not the time or money to resort to the courts in order to obtain redress from such wrongs. Therefore, the Bureau has in reality become, in a degree, a poor man's court; a place where he can be heard and where his case can be disposed of quickly and without cost.

In carrying out this work, the Bureau stands as one of the most important institutions tending to the social betterment of the people of this State. It tends to prevent men who have been denied their wages by employers after having earned them, from becoming embittered against society in general, and from being forced, by lack of money, to commit crime. It tends to prevent the working girls and women from being cast out upon the community without funds, and their being forced into a life of shame.

The Bureau in all this work has adopted a policy of absolute fairness in deciding questions between employer and employee, and it has always been the aim to have both parties go away with the conviction that they have had a square deal, and with a better understanding of their obligation toward each other.

The Bureau has wiped out the pay check evil as it formerly existed in this State. To-day every man and woman employed must be paid in coin or negotiable paper, payable upon demand without discount at some bank or other established place of business. No longer can employers pay off in time checks, payable in one or two, or sometimes, six months; or discount their own checks for ten or twenty per cent when cash is

desired; or compel men to cash their pay checks in saloons owned or controlled by the employer. The firms that were most notorious for these practices and who defied the courts, to-day pay their employees full wages regularly, and if a dispute arises, they answer the citations of the commissioner promptly and abide by his decisions.

The wage collection agencies have been practically driven out of business and to-day, when men and women have wages due them, they get the entire amount, not ten or twenty per cent of it, as was formerly the case, when the collection agent would charge fifty per cent for collecting wages and make the employee pay the cost and expenses. The Bureau has compelled the payment of wages in amounts as small as sixty cents and as large as $300.00. While sixty cents may seem trifling, it was sufficient to keep a man from starving or seeking charity. In the past year the Bureau has collected upwards of $25,000 in wages for the working people of this State.

The Bureau has brought the employment agencies absolutely under its control, and now a person seeking employment need have no fear that he or she is going to be fleeced by such agents. If any employment agent misrepresents conditions to a person seeking employment, he is compelled to return the fee paid and the expense incurred. During the past year, the Commissioner has ordered the return of over $1,500.00 in fees and expenses for misrepresentations to persons looking for employment. In addition to this the agents have been ordered to furnish other positions without charge, in several hundred cases.

The theatrical booking agencies have been brought under control and one of the most vicious practices has been practically wiped out, namely, the stranding of chorus girls and actresses in strange towns, without funds or friends to take care of them.

The eight hour law for women has been enforced to such a degree that few employers in this State will now take a chance of violating it. By the strict enforcement of this law, the working women of our State have been raised to a higher plane than their sisters in the other states of the Union.

Under the present administration the child labor law was for the first time placed upon a sound foundation, and the work that has been done during the past year will for all time to come, prevent child labor from getting a foothold in this State. The child has been practically eliminated from the factory, workshop and store, and the school attendance has been swelling as a consequence. During the year ending June 30, 1912, the attendance in the public schools of the State increased 20,147. A firm respect for the child labor law has been instilled into the minds of employers, and no one would care to be accused of employing child labor.

Since the Bureau has undertaken the enforcement of the laws requir ing temporary floors in buildings under course of construction, the number of deaths caused by falls, in the ranks of structural ironworkers, has been reduced seventy-five per cent.

As stated before, the Bureau has undertaken the enforcement of all labor laws upon the statute books of this State, notwithstanding the fact that only in four instances is any provision made for their enforce

ment.

In order to accomplish all these things and to enforce the laws so that they would be of real benefit to the people, the Bureau was obliged to undertake 173 prosecutions during the past year, in addition to the many thousands of cases where the evils were corrected by warnings.

In turning our attention to the enforcement of labor laws, we have not neglected the gathering and compilation of statistics, or the inspection of factories and stores, as will be shown by a perusal of part two of this report, which is devoted to statistical tables.

The following tables are submitted in order to show at a glance what has been done in the enforcement of laws by this Bureau during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, the present commissioner having taken office March 1, 1911.

Record of Prosecutions by this Bureau during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912.

*These cases were against newsboys, and this Bureau did not desire to obtain convictions against the boys. The arrests were made more in the nature of a warning.

Record of Complaints filed in Bureau and investigated during fiscal year ending June 30, 1912.

Disposition of Claims filed for non-payment of wages for year ending June 30, 1912.

*This only represents individual claims and does not include groups involving large sums, which would swell the total to over $50,000.

Disposition of Claims against employment agencies for year ending June 30, 1912

*In addition, several hundred new positions were ordered furnished, in cases where there was a slight misunderstanding, and no record was kept of these, as they were settled by telephone.