conditions of employment, and such other facts as may be deemed of value to the industrial interests of the country, and there shall be printed one edition of not exceeding ten thousand copies of each issue of said bulletin for distribution by the Department of Labor. In accordance with the plan adopted the Bulletin has at least four regular departments of information in each issue, as follows: First. The results of original investigations conducted by the Bureau or its agents and experts. Second. A digest of State labor reports. Third. A digest of foreign labor and statistical documents. Fourth. The reproduction immediately after their passage or new laws that affect the interests of the working people, whether enacted by Congress or by State legislatures; and accompanying this there is the reproduction of the decisions of courts interpreting labor laws or passing upon any subject which involves the relations of employer and employee. Under the act approved February 14, 1903, establishing a new Executive Department, to be known as the Department of Commerce and Labor, it was provided that, among other offices, the existing Department of Labor be placed under the jurisdiction and supervision of the new Department, this provision to take effect and be in force July 1, 1903. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the former Department of Labor, on July 1, 1903, became a bureau of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Inasmuch as no provision was made for any change in its general design and duties, its work has been carried on during the past year along practically the same lines as formerly. II. OPERATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1908. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908, the Bureau issued its Twenty-second Annual Report-that for 1907. This report is entitled "Labor Laws of the United States, with Decisions of Courts. Relating Thereto," and is a compilation of the labor laws enacted by the legislatures of the various States and Territories in force at the close of the year 1907, and those enacted by Congress up to and including the session of 1907-8. Statutes which have received the interpretation of the courts are annotated by brief digests of such decisions. Laws relating to certain subjects are not given in full in the report, but are presented in the form of digests and summaries. These subjects are: Apprentices. Mechanics' liens. Protection of wages of employees, etc., of contractors. Earnings of married women. Exemption of mechanics from the requirement of procuring a peddler's Liability of stockholders of corporations for wage debts due employees. Right of action for injuries causing death. Hours of labor on public roads. Public printing to be done within the State. Legal holidays in the States and Territories. Seamen. An exhaustive index is also a part of the report. This is the fourth report relating to this subject published by the Bureau, the first being issued in 1892 as the Second Special Report, followed by a second and revised edition in 1896, and in 1904 revised again, being issued as the Tenth Special Report. During the past year the Bulletin of the Bureau was issued regularly every other month. The Bulletin has contained, in addition to one or more special articles in each number, digests of recent reports of State bureaus of labor statistics, digests of recent foreign official statistical publications, decisions of courts affecting labor, and laws of various States relating to labor. The special articles included in the Bulletin for the past year are as follows: Bulletin 71 contained "Wages and hours of labor in manufacturing industries, 1890 to 1906," and "Retail prices of food, 1890 to 1906." These two articles are in continuation of a regular series of Bulletin articles (begun in Bulletin 59) to be published annually, supplementing and continuing, respectively, the Nineteenth Annual Report, relating to wages and hours of labor, 1890 to 1903, and that portion of the Eighteenth Annual Report which relates to retail prices of food, 1890 to 1903. The work of the Bureau, so far as the preparation of Bulletin 71 was concerned, was limited to collecting and preparing for presentation, data for the year 1906. Data relative to wages and hours of labor in 1906 were secured, covering 338 occupations, and a total number of 4,034 establishments engaged in 41 industries. The compilation of retail prices of food included 6,176 schedules or statements of prices from 993 firms doing business in the principal industrial localities in 39 States, including the District of Columbia. Bulletin 72 contained "Italian, Slavic, and Hungarian unskilled immigrant laborers in the United States," and "Economic conditions of the Jews in Russia." The first article presents the results of a study of the distribution of the Italian, Slavic, and Hungarian laborers, the demand for their services, their wages, their methods and costs of living compared with American standards and costs of living, and their segregate system of living and employment, and its effect upon them and upon their assimilation. The second article is a study of the conditions under which the Jew lives and works in Russia-conditions which shape the physical, psychological, and economic status of the immigrant, and are decisive in determining the dimensions of the current of immigration from Russia to the United States. Bulletin 73 contained the text of the "Laws relating to the employment of women and children," and of the "Laws relating to factory inspection and the health and safety of employees." Both articles are annotated by court decisions. The articles were prepared especially to meet the needs of the agents engaged in the investigation of woman and child labor, which the Bureau is carrying on. Bulletin 74 contained the "Legal liability of employers for injuries to their employees, in the United States," and "Summary of foreign workmen's compensation acts." The first article is a discussion of the principles of the common law of employers' liability as interpreted by the state and federal courts and of the statutes enacted relating to the subject. The second article presents in summary form for each of twenty-two foreign states the provisions of the laws which embody the principle that the workman is entitled to compensation for injuries received in the course of his employment. Bulletin 75 contains "Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1907," and "Industrial hygiene." The article on "Wholesale prices" brings down to the end of 1907 the results of the study of the subject, the publication of which was begun in the Bulletin of March, 1902, and continued in the corresponding Bulletin of each subsequent year. The study covers 258 series of quotations, representing all classes of staple commodities. The second article is a study of the relation of certain occupations to the health of workers, the sources of the dangers in various occupations, and the means of minimizing or entirely avoiding them. Bulletin 76 contained "Canadian industrial disputes investigation act of 1907," and "What is done for the unemployed in European countries." The first article presents the results of a special study of the workings of the Canadian law for the prevention of industrial disputes by conciliation and investigation and publicity. The second article is a comprehensive study of the various means which have been developed in European countries, by public and private agencies, for the relief of the several classes of the unemployed. During the year data for 1907 were collected from manufacturers relative to wages and hours of labor in manufacturing industries and from retail merchants in regard to retail prices of the principal articles of food. The results of these investigations were published in the Bulletin for July, 1908 (No. 77), in continuation of the reports already made covering the period 1890 to 1906. In addition to the preparation and compilation of the report and bulletins described, which are the publications of the last fiscal year, the force of the Bureau has been engaged in the collection and preparation of data for a number of future reports and bulletins. The annual report for 1908 will relate to workingmen's insurance and employers' liability, both in European countries and the United States. INVESTIGATION OF WOMAN AND CHILD LABOR. The investigation into the condition of woman and child wageearners, which was authorized and directed by Congress, was taken up at the beginning of the fiscal year. A considerable portion of the regular force of the Bureau was at once assigned to the work, and after some delay, due to the requirements of the law that all new appointees on this investigation should be secured through the Civil Service Commission, some ninety special appointees were also added to the field force. With this large force the work has been actively prosecuted throughout the year, and the field work, with the office work necessary for the preparation of the report, will employ the Bureau throughout the current fiscal year. The most important feature of the investigation is a study of the conditions of employment of women and children in four of the leading industries which largely employ women and children, namely, cotton textiles, men's clothing, silk, and glass. The localities selected for carrying on the investigation were: Cotton textile. industry, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island in the North, and North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama in the South; the men's clothing industry, New York City, Rochester, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Baltimore; silk industry, Paterson, N. J., and Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, Pa.; glass industry, practically all glass factories in the United States, except the few in California and Colorado. The field work relating to these four industries is practically finished, and the tabulation of the large mass of material and the preparation of the reports will be carried forward as rapidly as possible. In addition to the study of these four important industries, special lines of investigation relating to the employment of women and children are now being developed. COMPENSATION FOR INJURIES TO CERTAIN EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED STATES. The act of Congress, granting compensation for injuries to certain classes of artisans and laborers employed by the Government of the United States, which was approved May 30, 1908, and in effect August 1, charged the Department with the preparation of the necessary forms and regulations and the examination and approval of claims under the law. The Commissioner of Labor, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, has outlined a method of procedure and prepared a series of blanks and regulations for use in making reports and filing claims, with the view of simplifying the procedure as much as possible and at the same time effectually safeguarding the interests of the Government. In order that full data may be available in regard to accidents to all classes of employees, should any question arise at any time in the future as to the extension of the principle of the act to all government employees, the regulations provide for reports of injuries to all classes of government employees, regardless of the right to compensation under the act, when the injury occurs in the course of the employment and is of such a nature as to prevent the employee from performing work for one day or longer. Information as to the duration of the disability is to be secured by a report of the time of return to work in all cases. Under the provisions of the act and the regulations prepared, compensation is paid, after the approval of the claim by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, as a continuation of the pay, upon the presentation of a physician's certificate of continuing disability approved by the official superior of the injured employee. Respectfully, To Hon. OSCAR S. STRAUS, Secretary of Commerce and Labor. CHAS. P. NEILL, Commissioner. |