C. TEN-HOUR WORKING DAY FOR MEN IN TEXTILE INDUSTRIES.

The commission considers it unnecessary to consider again the question of limiting the working day in the textile industries, since it is of opinion that the limitation of the working day of women necessarily involves the limitation of the working day of men.

It reserves the right, however, to take up the Lucerne resolution. again, at a later date, if experience should show that this is necessary.

D. WORKING DAY IN CONTINUOUS PROCESSES.

The delegates' meeting considers the 12-hour day, which is still the general custom in continuous processes, to be injurious to health. In particular, working periods of 18, 24, and even 36 hours (in changing shifts) are to be condemned.

The bureau is instructed to appoint a special commission as soon as possible and to present to it the material which is now available as well as any further material which may be secured through the aid of the national sections.

This commission shall report in particular on the following points: 1. On the best methods of arranging shifts

2. On the possibility of prohibiting the night work of adults in certain continuous processes or of regulating such work where for technical reasons work must be carried on at night.

3. On the necessity for the international regulation of this matter. The delegates' meeting expects this commission to prepare its report and proposals for reform as soon as possible, and at any rate in time for the next meeting. A subcommission may be appointed if necessary to investigate the conditions of certain industries, such as the iron and glass trades.

E. EIGHT-HOUR SHIFT IN MINES.

In pursuance of the resolutions of the fifth delegates' meeting of the Internatinal Association for Labor Legislation with regard to the definition of the 8-hour shift for workmen employed below ground in coal mines, the sixth delegates' meeting is of opinion that the length of a shift should be reckoned as the period between the time. when the first man of such shift leaves the surface until the time when the first man of the shift to return completes his ascent to the surface. The bureau is requested to recommend to the various States to take this definition as the basis of their legislation regulating the duration of shifts.

In applying the above definition, the sixth delegates' meeting reaffirms the Lucerne resolution of 1908, recommending the introduction by law of a maximum 8-hour shift for all underground workers in coal mines.

The delegates' meeting expresses the desire that the bureau will place upon the agenda of the next meeting the question of limiting the working day of men in specially dangerous and unhealthy indus

The delegates' meeting reaffirms the resolution 1906 and at the same time declares that it is desirable for the proper authorities to have legal power to regulate the daily period of employment in processes and trades especially dangerous to health.

VII. WORKMEN'S HOLIDAYS.

The question of holidays for workmen and employees shall be placed upon the agenda of the next delegates' meeting.

The bureau is instructed to prepare a summary of existing laws on this subject in the various countries and to draw up statistical tables showing the number of establishments in which holidays are allowed, and the numbers of workmen and employees affected.

VIII. HOME WORK.

A. GENERAL.

A. The delegates' meeting reaffirms the view of the delegates' meeting at Lucerne that bad conditions in home work are due primarily to inadequacy of wages, and that consequently it is of the first importance to find means of raising wages.

Having this end in view

I. The delegates' meeting recommends afresh the organization of home workers in trade-unions and the conclusion of collective agreements. The meeting regards the unfettered right of combination as the necessary basis of such collective agreements. In countries where collective agreements are not yet legally recognized under existing law recognition should be secured in such a manner as to insure their legal validity and their extension when required to home workers in the same occupations who were not originally concerned in the conclusion of the agreements. The delegates' meeting urges the national sections to get into touch with existing organizations of workers with a view to promoting the conclusion of collective agreements with employers and employers' federations.

II. The delegates' meeting recommends the adoption by legislation of the principle that wage agreements for insufficient amounts or of an usurious nature should be null and void and that the conclusion of such agreements should be subject to penalties. The meeting regards this principle as essential, but at the same time recognizes that the difficulties of its application are such as to prevent its adoption from being in any degree a practical solution of the problem.

III. The delegates' meeting is of opinion that at the present time the only effective remedy for the evils of home work is to be found in the establishment of wages boards such as those provided for in the British act. The meeting is of opinion that in setting up these wages boards the following principles should be observed:

(a) The boards should have to fix minimum rates of wages for home workers in certain industries and certain districts.

(b) The daily earnings of persons employed in workshops in the manufacture of the same articles should not fall below those of home workers paid under the conditions contemplated above.

(c) The delegates' meeting is of opinion that no legislation for fixing minimum rates of wages for home workers can be effective unless it provides for the imposition of penalties in cases where employers fail to pay the prescribed rates of wages.

(d) The delegates' meeting is of opinion that inspectors should be appointed to enforce the payment of the prescribed rates of wages. (e) Trade associations of employers and workers should have power to take part in legal proceedings arising out of the legislation contemplated above.

B. The meeting reiterates and reaffirms the measures recommended at Geneva and Lucerne (compulsory registration, publication of wages lists, extension of inspection, social insurance, sanitary regulations, promotion of trade organization, consumers' leagues, etc.).

C. The sections shall report to the bureau every year on June 1 on the organization of wages boards, the methods of determining rates of wages, and the consequent results, as well as on the realization of the resolutions of the delegates' meetings at Basle, Geneva, and Lucerne. The bureau shall then compile a comparative report and incorporate the same with future editions of the comparative report on the administration of labor laws.

D. The delegates' meeting congratulates the British Government and Parliament on their successful initiative in the matter of the protection of home workers. In addition the bureau is instructed. to express to the British Board of Trade the warmest thanks of the association for the memorandum on the trade boards act presented to the meeting.

B. MACHINE-MADE SWISS EMBROIDERY.

The delegates' meeting considers that it is desirable for hours of work in the machine-made swiss embroidery trade where carried on as a home industry to be uniformly regulated in all the countries concerned.

The board is instructed to approach the interested parties through the medium of the sections, and to convene, if possible, within a year, a meeting of a special commission (consisting in the first place of representatives of Germany, Austria, Italy, France, and Switzerland) appointed to report to the next delegates' meeting on appropriate measures to be adopted on this matter, including transitory provisions. The sections concerned are requested, within their respective spheres, to take such steps as may seem good to them to secure the adoption of a uniform system of regulation and to promote at the same time measures for the protection of the home industry in question, and, in particular, the institution or encouragement of so-called crisis funds, which could be secured, for instance, by an agreement between Switzerland and the district of the Vorarlberg where the industry is carried on.

Should the special commission agree in the meantime upon such uniform regulations, the bureau shall have authority, in its discretion, to submit the same to the Governments concerned.

IX. INDUSTRIAL POISONS.

A. WHITE PHOSPHORUS.

(See I, International Labor Conventions, 3 and 4.)

B. LEAD.

(a) PAINTING AND DECORATING. The delegates' meeting is of opinion that the time has come to prohibit the use of lead paints and colors for interior work and to require that all receptacles containing such colors shall be clearly marked to that effect. The bureau is instructed to approach the national sections on the matter, being guided by the principles set forth in the petition submitted to the meeting. The sections are requested to give the petition their active support on its presentation to their Governments.

(b) CERAMIC INDUSTRY.-The delegates' meeting resolves to recommend to the Governments, by means of a petition presented by the bureau, the following principles for the regulation of hygienic conditions in the ceramic industry:

PRINCIPLES FOR THE REGULATION OF HYGIENIC CONDITIONS IN THE CERAMIC INDUSTRY.

I. The Governments should take steps toward the abolition of the use of lead in the ceramic industry.

To this end the following measures should be adopted:

1. In the manufacture of china and earthenware fired at a high temperature the use of lead glaze should be prohibited.

2. As regards the manufacture of earthenware fired at a low temperature a provisional list of articles should be drawn up which can, at the present time, be manufactured without lead. This list, which would be subject to extension, should contain articles of common use such as pots, washing basins, dishes, mugs, bowls, etc., electrical insulators, etc.

3. As regards the manufacture of common pottery and plain stove tiles fired at a low temperature, such as are manufactured on the Continent both in small workshops and in the workers' homes, litharge and red lead should be replaced by galena or any other less dangerous glaze. The preparation and use of unfritted glazes and the fritting process should be prohibited in such works.

The following measures would tend to encourage the gradual adoption of leadless glazes in the ceramic industry:

(a) The instruction and assistance of all occupiers in the industry wishing to make a practical trial of the use of leadless glazes.

(b) The strict enforcement of hygienic regulations in works using lead glazes. II. Existing regulations for factories and workshops should alone apply to establishments where leadless glazes are exclusively and permanently used.

Factory inspectors should have power to take, for purposes of analysis at any stage and at any time, samples of glaze and of the substances used in the preparation of the

same.

III. The following regulations should be adopted in the case of works using lead glazes:

1. The proper authorities shall require where necessary, the glazes used to be modified in order to prevent injury to the health of workmen employed in contact with the same.

2. The mixing, grinding, and transportation of lead glazes as well as the lead used in their preparation, shall be effected either in a thoroughly damp state or in apparatus which permits no dust to escape.

1 Within the meaning of these provisions leadless nonpoisonous glazes shall mean all compositions or frits used for glazing in the ceramic industry which contain not more than 1 per cent of lead. Compositions containing no lead compound other than galena shall be held to be leadless. All other glazes shall be held to contain lead within the meaning of these provisions.

3. Frit kilns must be so arranged that the molten frit can flow off into water, and frits must always be drawn off in such a manner.

4. Calcining shall be effected in a place separated from all the other work places, and exhaust ventilation in good working order shall be placed over the openings of

the furnace.

5. Effective exhaust ventilation shall be applied in a suitable manner at all points where dust is generated, such as the openings of grinding and mixing apparatus, of transport apparatus, and of frit kilns and benches where glazes are applied in a dry manner, where glazes or colors are applied by dusting, or where ware cleaning is carried on.

All places where lead glazes or the lead used in their preparation are handled must be at least 3.5 meters [11.5 feet] in height and 15 cubic meters [530 cubic feet] of air space shall be allowed for each workman.

The floor must be solid and washable, and the walls covered to a height of 2 meters [6.6 feet] with a smooth and washable coating or paint.

6. No glazes shall be manufactured or used in living or sleeping rooms, and no lead glazes or lead used in their preparation, or pottery covered with unfired glaze, shall be brought into or stored in such rooms.

Where more than five persons are employed full time in an undertaking the said processes shall not be carried on in living or sleeping rooms or in rooms where other work is carried on, nor shall glazes, the lead used in their preparation, or pottery covered with unfired glaze be brought into or stored in such places.

7. No women or young persons under 18 shall be employed in any circumstances in the calcining process or in cleaning places where the above-mentioned substances or objects covered with unfired glaze have been manipulated or stored.

On the conclusion of a suitable period of transition no female person shall in any circumstances be employed in any kind of work whatsoever which would bring her into contact with unfired lead glazes or compounds or with the lead used in their preparation. No male young persons under 18 years of age shall be employed in such work except in so far as may be necessary for the purposes of learning the trade.

8. Hours of work shall be reduced for all persons employed in the processes mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, and especially in the case of workmen in the calcining process, who shall not be so employed continuously.

9. All workpeople employed in the manufacture of glazes containing lead, as well as those who come into contact with raw glazes or the lead used in their preparation, shall wear special working clothes.

10. The employer shall supply without charge a sufficient quantity of suitable working clothes, drinking and washing water, glasses, soap, and towels. The employer shall provide for the washing of the said working clothes and towels.

11. No person shall eat, drink, or smoke in, or bring any food, drink, or tobacco into places where lead glazes or the lead used in their preparation are handled, or which are used for storing these substances or for storing pottery covered with unfired glazes. 12. Thework people in question shall be examined every three months by a medical practitioner, approved by the State authorities. The result of the examinations shall be entered in a suitable register which shall be open to inspection by the inspector of factories.

13. No workman who is suffering from lead poisoning, or who has been found by the medical practitioner named in section 12 to be unfit on medical grounds for work in contact with lead, shall be employed in the above-mentioned branches of the trade, or in rooms where such work is carried on, during such period as may be fixed by the medical practitioner, but the employer shall employ him elsewhere.

14. Two cloakrooms shall be provided, one for working and one for outdoor clothes, with a suitable lavatory and bathroom between the two. A mess room shall also be provided.

In small undertaking there shall be provided at least dust-proof cupboards where the workers' outdoor and working clothes shall be kept separately, and lavatory accommo

dation.

15. Employers shall give all workpeople contemplated in paragraph 9 on their entering the employment printed instructions as to the dangers of lead poisoning and its prevention, and shall affix such instructions in the work places.

16. In the case of establishments using lead glazes so composed that the consequent risk to health is small, temporary exemptions from the preceding provisions may be allowed by the authorities in exceptional circumstances.

(c) POLYGRAPHIC INDUSTRY.-The delegates' meeting resolves to recommend to the Governments by means of a petition presented by the bureau, the following principles for the regulation of hygienic conditions in the polyphic industry.