WORK OF THE BUREAUS.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

Created by act of Congress approved June 27, 1884, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (at first called the "Bureau of Labor," then the "Department of Labor," again the "Bureau of Labor," and finally the "Bureau of Labor Statistics," as previously explained in this report) was the nucleus for the congressional legislation which culminated nearly 30 years later in the creation of the present Department of Labor. The oldest bureau in this Department, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is with one exception also the largest.

ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS HERETOFORE.

When first organized, January, 1885, the Bureau of Labor was under the direction of Carroll D. Wright as Commissioner of Labor. By the act of its creation the commissioner was required to "collect information on the subject of labor, its relation to capital, the hours of labor and the earnings of laboring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, intellectual, and moral prosperity." Its policy was formally declared (Feb. 4, 1885) soon after its original organization, in a letter addressed by the Commissioner of Labor to the Secretary of the Interior, as follows:

It should be remembered that a bureau of labor can not solve industrial or social problems, nor can it bring direct returns in a material way to the citizens of the country; but its work must be classed among educational efforts, and by judicious investigations and the fearless publication thereof it may and should enable the people to comprehend more clearly and more fully many of the problems which now vex them.

During the four years after its organization in the Department of the Interior, this bureau issued four annual reports covering the information collected and collated as required by its organic act. The act of Congress which at the end of that period made the bureau independent of any of the executive departments, under the name of the Department of Labor but without representation in the Cabinet, provided:

That there shall be at the seat of government a Department of Labor, the general design and duties of which shall be to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with labor, in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and especially upon its relation to capital, the hours of labor, the material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity.

Under that act, approved June 13, 1888, the Department of Labor, as this bureau was then named, issued 14 annual reports and 9 special reports, and between July 1, 1903, and July 1, 1912, as a bureau of the Department of Commerce and Labor, it issued 7

annual and 3 special reports. A number of miscellaneous reports, many of which were made in compliance with the special direction of Congress, have also been issued by the bureau.

In November, 1895, the department began the publication of a bulletin under an act approved March 2 of the same year. This bulletin was published bimonthly up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912. Its general departments of information were as follows: (1) Results of original investigations; (2) digests of State labor reports; (3) digests of foreign labor and statistical documents; and (4) current decisions of courts interpreting labor laws or passing upon any subject involving the relations of employer and employee, and the reproduction at the end of each year of new laws affecting the interests of wage workers, whether enacted by Congress or by State legislatures.

The publication of the series of annual and special reports and of bimonthly bulletins having been discontinued at the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, a bulletin has since then been published at irregular intervals. Each number is devoted to one of a series of general subjects. Thus far these have been as follows: Wholesale prices, Retail prices and cost of living, Wages and hours of labor, Women in industry, Workmen's insurance and compensation (including laws relating thereto), Industrial accidents and hygiene, Conciliation and arbitration (including strikes and lockouts), Labor laws of the United States (including decisions of courts relating to labor), Foreign labor laws, and Miscellaneous series.

As previously explained in this report the former Department of Labor became, July 1, 1903, a bureau of the Department of Commerce and Labor, its name being altered to "Bureau of Labor." Inasmuch, however, as no provision was made for any change in its general design and function, its work was continued along practically the same lines as formerly. The act approved March 4, 1913, establishing the present executive Department of Labor, which transferred the Bureau of Labor from the Department of Commerce and Labor to this new department, naming it the "Bureau of Labor Statistics," provides that all the powers and duties theretofore possessed by the Commissioner of Labor shall be retained and exercised by the Commissioner of Labor Statistics.

OPERATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1913.

Reports published.-Having at the close of the last fiscal year been under the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor for less than four months, the annual report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics relates to the administration of the Department of Commerce and Labor for the eight months immediately preceding. It has to do with the administration of the Department of Labor only for the period from March 4 to June 30, 1913.

During the entire fiscal year, however, it has published (besides 17 bulletins) six volumes of reports-four of the "Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United States," 1 and two of the "Report on Conditions of Employment in the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States." These six volumes embody portions of the results of two investigations made in compliance with acts of Congress. They complete the bureau's reports on the subjects investigated.

The first part of Volume XIII of the "Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United States," entitled "Infant Mortality and Its Relation to the Employment of Mothers," is a statistical study of infant mortality in Massachusetts. It shows the relation between the existing mortality among infants and the industrial employment of mothers. The second part is a study of infant mortality in Fall River during one year, with special reference to the work of the mother before and after childbirth. Volume XIV, entitled "Causes of Death Among Woman and Child Cotton-Mill Operatives," is a study of the causes of death among cotton-mill operatives in three New England cotton-mill cities-Fall River, Manchester, and Pawtucket. This volume, though dealing with all the causes of death, gives particular attention to tuberculosis and its relation to cotton-mill employment. Volume XVIII, entitled "Employment of Women and Children in Selected Industries," is a study of 23 industries largely employing women and children. It relates to the character and regularity of the work done in each industry, to competition between the sexes, to general sanitary conditions, and to the occupations, age, race, conjugal condition, hours of labor, and earnings of employees. Volume XIX, entitled "Labor Laws and Factory Conditions," is a study of legislation relative to the employment of women and children and to the health, safety, and working conditions of workers in factories. It also includes the results of an investigation of 563 establishments, representing 58 industries, on existing conditions with reference to matters commonly regulated by legislative enactment.

Volume III of the "Report of Conditions of Employment in the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States," entitled "Working Conditions and the Relation of Employers and Employees," is a study of the working conditions in American steel mills with special reference to the health and efficiency of the working force. The physical conditions and requirements of various occupations, the 7-day week, the 12-hour day, the relations of employers and workmen, working conditions and efficiency as affected by heat and by speed and severity of the work, overtime, irregularity of employment,

1 S. Doc. No. 645, 61st Cong., 2d sess.

2 S. Doc. No. 110, 62d Cong., 1st sess.

etc., are among the subjects studied in detail. Volume IV, entitled "Accidents and Accident Prevention," is a statistical presentation of accident experience in the iron and steel industry. Causes of accidents, the nature of injuries, and the extent of disabilities are studied. There is also a presentation and an extended discussion of the development and organization of the safety movement and the methods of accident prevention in the industry.

Of the 17 bulletins issued during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1913, each is devoted to one of a series of general subjects. In the series "Wholesale prices," one bulletin continues the statistics annually published by the bureau on the subject of wholesale prices and covers the years 1890 to 1912, inclusive. In the series "Retail prices and cost of living" six bulletins present for each of 39 of the most important industrial cities in the various sections of the United States the retail prices of the principal articles of food, the retail prices of anthracite and bituminous coal for household use, and the net price of gas for household use.

The first bulletin of the series "Women in industry" is a study of the hours of labor, earnings, and duration of employment of wageearning women in the District of Columbia. The second is a study of the working hours of women in the pea canneries of Wisconsin, relating especially to the difficulty of adjusting hours of labor to legal standards during canning seasons.

Of four bulletins issued during the fiscal year in the series on "Workmen's insurance and compensation," the first is entitled "Care of tuberculous wage earners in Germany." The second is a reprint, preceded by a brief analysis, of the British national insurance act of 1911. The third translates and analyzes the Federal law of Switzerland relating to sickness and accident insurance; while the fourth translates, analyzes, and gives a history of the Imperial law of Germany relating to insurance of salaried employees.

The only bulletin issued during the fiscal year in the series "Industrial accidents and hygiene" is a study of lead poisoning in potteries, tile works, and porcelain-enameled sanitary ware factories in the United States, with appendixes showing conditions in Great Britain, Austria, and Germany.

Two bulletins were issued in the series "Labor laws of the United States." The first presents a review of labor legislation in the United States during 1912, together with the text of laws relating to labor enacted by the various States and by the United States during the year. The second reviews for 1912 the decisions of courts and opinions of the Attorney General affecting labor.

In the "Miscellaneous" series the one bulletin issued during the fiscal year presents such statistics of employment offices and unemployment in the United States as were available.

Reports transmitted. In addition to the above reports and bulletins issued, several bulletins were sent to the printer before the end of the fiscal year, but not in time to complete the necessary proof reading. These are on "Retail prices, 1890 to April, 1913," "Sugar prices, from refiner to consumer," "Wages and hours of labor in the cotton, woolen, and silk industries, 1890 to 1912," "Wages and hours of labor in the lumber, millwork, and furniture industries, 1890 to 1912," "Employment of women in power laundries in Milwaukee," "Hygiene of the painters' trade," "Conciliation and arbitration in the building trades of Greater New York," "Prohibition of night work of young persons," "Ten-hour maximum working day for women and young persons," and "Employers' welfare work."

Reports in course of preparation.-Additional bulletins in course of preparation at the end of the fiscal year relate to prices; wages and hours of labor; workmen's compensation laws; dangers to workmen; hygiene; occupational diseases; accidents; mortality; industrial agreements; conciliation and arbitration; labor laws; factory inspection; civil-service retirement; and woman and child wage

earners.

Compensation for injuries.—An especially important function of the Bureau of Labor Statistics relates to claims by employees of the Government for injuries sustained in the service. This bureau was invested with that function by an act of Congress of May 30, 1908, which, as amended, provides:

Any person employed by the United States as an artisan or laborer in any of its manufacturing establishments, arsenals, or navy yards, or in the construction of river and harbor or fortification work or in hazardous employment on construction work in the reclamation of arid lands or the management and control of the same, or any employment under the Isthmian Canal Commission, or hazardous work under the Bureau of Mines or in the Forestry or Lighthouse Service, is injured in the course of such employment, such employee shall be entitled to receive for one year thereafter, unless such employee, in the opinion of the Secretary of Labor, be sooner able to resume work, the same pay as if he continued to be employed, such payment to be made under such regulations as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe.

That if any artisan or laborer so employed shall die during the said year by reason of such injury received in the course of such employment, leaving a widow, or a child or children under sixteen years of age, or a dependent parent, such widow and child or children and dependent parent shall be entitled to receive, in such portions and under such regulations as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe, the same amount for the remainder of the said year, that said artisan or laborer would be entitled to receive as pay if such employee were alive and continued to be employed: Provided, That if the widow shall die at any time during the said year her portion of said amount shall be added to the amount to be paid to the remaining beneficiaries under the provisions of this section, if there be any.

Under that act the Bureau of Labor Statistics received during the whole fiscal year 3,363 claims for compensation on account of injury and 58 claims for compensation on account of deaths of employees. This is an increase over the number received during the year ended