1 
 
 
 
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 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
 
 Frances Perkins, Secretary 
 
 DIVISION OF LABOR STANDARDS 
 
 Verne A. Zimmer, Director 
 
 Reports of Committees and Resolutions 
 
 Adopted by- 
 Third National Conference on Labor Legislation 
 
 November 9, 10, and 11, 1936 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 WASHINGTON : 1936 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Reports of Conference Committees — as adopted: p aB0 
 
 Committee on Industrial Health and Safety 1 
 
 Committee on Workmen's Compensation 3 
 
 Committee on Hours of Labor 5 
 
 Committee on Minimum Wage 7 
 
 Committee on Child Labor Standards 9 
 
 Committee on Apprentice Training H 
 
 Committee on Unemployment Compensation and Em- 
 ployment Service 12 
 
 Committee on Regulation of Private Employment Agencies. 1 6 
 
 Committee on Housing 19 
 
 Committee on Vacations with Pay 23 
 
 Committee on Cooperation between State and Federal 
 
 Departments of Labor 24 
 
 Committee on Resolutions 25 
 
 Reports of Continuing Committees — as adopted: 
 
 The Secretary's Advisory Committee on National and 
 
 State Labor Department Problems 30 
 
 Committee on Powers and Duties of State Labor Depart- 
 ments 32 
 
 Committee on Wage Payment and Wage Collection 33 
 
 Committee on Industrial Home work 36 
 
 in 
 
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REPORTS OF CONFERENCE COMMITTEES 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL HEALTH AND 
 
 SAFETY— as adopted 
 
 The committee 'endorses the recommendations on industrial safety 
 and health adopted at the Second National Conference held at Ashe- 
 ville in October 1935, and in addition or amplification of those 
 standards makes further recommendations as follows: 
 
 Industrial codes or rules, having the force and effect of law, have 
 proven more effective and are deemed more practicable than statute 
 enactments, and we recommend that the State departments admin- 
 istering the labor laws be authorized to adopt such rules or regu- 
 lations, in conformance with generally accepted standards, and with 
 the advice of technicians and of employer and employee representa- 
 tives. We recommend that special studies of health hazards be made 
 under the auspices of the labor departments and assisted in every 
 possible way by the United States Department of Labor. 
 
 This committee is impressed with the important work already 
 accomplished by many State labor departments through the develop- 
 ment and promulgation of safety and other codes for the protec- 
 tion of the wage earners. The committee recommends that the ap- 
 propriate officials in every State reexamine the possibilities of 
 strengthening their laws and procedure for the sound development 
 of this vitally essential administrative practice. 
 
 In order to further the cause of health and safety in industry 
 nationally, and to promote a better knowledge of practical methods 
 for eliminating industrial hazards to life, we recommend and urge 
 that the Federal Government, through the United States Depart- 
 ment of Labor, establish a safety laboratory in "Washington, and 
 that so far as practicable the benefits of such a laboratory be made 
 available to the several States through traveling exhibits. 
 
 -Recognizing that a reduction of industrial health and accident 
 disabilities requires a constant program of education under compe- 
 tent direction, we recommend that the labor departments of the 
 several States, or those State agencies having the responsibility for 
 the enforcement of labor laws and regulations, develop adequate 
 safety educational programs in cooperation and collaboration with 
 employers and employees. 
 
 As a major and basic factor in reduction of industrial accidents 
 and health casualties, the committee recommends the obligatory 
 
2 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 reporting of industrial injuries and diseases to the State agency 
 charged with the enforcement of labor laws. The committee recom- 
 mends that all States that have not yet adopted the standard sched- 
 ules for industrial accident reports be urged to do so at an early 
 date. 
 
 The committee further recommends that this conference urge the 
 early completion of the undertaking to standardize the method of 
 classifying causes of accidents, in order that experience may be 
 comparable in the several jurisdictions. 
 
 Believing that the State departments enforcing safety and health 
 laws and regulations, and having the duty to promote safety in every 
 proper way, should have the fullest possible information and data, 
 the committee recommends State laws requiring casualty companies 
 to file with the labor departments copies of all reports of inspections 
 as to health and safety hazards, including elevators, boilers, and 
 factory equipment and conditions. 
 
 The committee recommends that the Third National Conference 
 commend the Secretary of Labor for her constructive move in calling 
 a National Silicosis Conference and urges that the results be given to 
 State commissions and labor groups at the earliest possible moment. 
 
 Generally throughout the country legislation for protection against 
 occupational disease has lagged behind accident prevention, both in 
 respect to workmen's compensation and health regulations. Eecent 
 recognition of industrial health hazards, and their constant develop- 
 ment in new processes, make it essential that special facilities for 
 their detection and control be given to the labor law or other enforce- 
 ment agencies in the States. The committee recommends that Fed- 
 eral grants under the Social Security Act be utilized to the fullest 
 extent in setting up industrial hygiene services in the States, and that 
 such units should be directly in the departments charged with en- 
 forcement of laws for the protection of industrial workers, or in any 
 event, shall be available in all instances to the administrator of such 
 laws and for Avorkmen's compensation adjudication. 
 
 The committee, recognizing that the health and safety of millions 
 of industrial workers depend in great measure not only upon the 
 laws and regulations in the several States, but more particularly upon 
 the competency of the factory inspectors who enforce them, this com- 
 mittee recommends that States not having civil-service laws enact 
 them as soon as possible, and that meanwhile the personnel for fac- 
 tory inspection be selected by some practicable merit test. The com- 
 mittee commends the United States Department of Labor for its 
 development of factory inspection manuals and for sponsoring a 
 course of instruction for inspectors in collaboration with the States. 
 The committee further recommends the extension and continuance of 
 the plan, and if possible its utilization in furthering the selection, 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 3 
 
 training, and retention of competent inspectors in the States not 
 having adequate civil-service merit systems in operation. 
 
 Due to the constant development of new problems in the control of 
 industrial health hazards, as well as in administrative problems, a 
 standing committee should consider these subjects during the interim 
 and report to the next conference, and we recommend the appoint- 
 ment of such committee by the Secretary. 
 
 Chairman: Voyta Wrabetz, Chairman, Industrial Commission, Wisconsin. 
 A. L. Fletcher, Commissioner, Department of Labor, North Carolina. 
 Frank Wade, Commissioner of Labor, Michigan. 
 
 E. I. McKinley, Commissioner, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Arkansas. 
 John B. Andrews, Secretary, American Association for Labor Legislation, 
 
 New York. 
 David Fowler, President, District 21, United Mine Workers of America, 
 
 Oklahoma. 
 L. H. Jones, President, State Federation of Labor, Mississippi. 
 Ray Edmonson, President, District 12, United Mine Workers of America, 
 
 Illinois. 
 John J. Egan, Secretary, State Federation of Labor, Connecticut. 
 James Wilson, International Labor Office, Geneva, Switzerland. 
 J. A. Henry, Secretary-Treasurer, State Conference of Stonecutters, Ohio. 
 John F. Woods, Jr., Acting Chief Factory Inspector, Department of Labor, 
 
 West Virginia. 
 Ethel M. Johnson, International Labor Office, Washington, D. C. 
 Dr. M. G. Lloyd, National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C. 
 Verne A. Zimmer, Director, Division of Labor Standards, United States 
 
 Department of Labor. 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION— 
 
 as adopted 
 
 The committee made the following recommendations : 
 
 1. C Compensation. — Compulsory, with elective coverage for agri- 
 cultural workers and domestic servants. 
 
 2. Administration. — Commission, not court. 
 
 The cost of administration should be defrayed out of premium 
 income. 
 
 3. Insurance. — Exclusive State insurance fund. 
 
 Severe penalties on employers not complying with insurance re- 
 quirements desirable. 
 
 4. Coverage. — All industries and all employees, including State and 
 municipal. No exemptions of small employers or nonhazardous 
 industries. The right of the emploj^ee to waive compensation pro- 
 hibited. Extraterritorial workers to be included. In this connec- 
 tion, reciprocity and cooperation between States is very desirable. 
 All employees excluded from State jurisdictions by reason of being 
 
4 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 subject to Federal jurisdiction to be covered by a Federal workmen's 
 compensation law. 
 
 5. Injuries. — Define injuries to include occupational diseases. 
 "Blanket" coverage on occupational diseases rather than "schedule" 
 coverage. 
 
 6. Waiting period. — Not more than 7 days, nor less than 3. Retro- 
 active after 14 days to date of injury. 
 
 7. Medical service. — Unlimited medical and hospital service with- 
 out cost to injured employees. Choice of physician by employee. 
 
 8. Percentage. — For nonfatal cases, not less than 66% percent of 
 the injured employee's wage. In case of death, 35 percent for widow 
 without children, plus 15 percent for each child, the total not to 
 exceed the percentage for permanent total disability. 
 
 9. 'Weekly inasximum and minimum compensation. — Maximum 
 should recognize the rights of the higher-paid workers to a standard 
 of living above the subsistence level, and minimum should be not less 
 than the subsistence level, maintenance of standards of benefits in 
 case of permanent disability or death to be unaffected by abnormally 
 depressed employment or wage conditions. The wage basis should be 
 a normal full-time week. 
 
 10. Compensation period. — 
 
 Fatal cases : Benefits until death of widow or remarriage, in which 
 case not less than 2 years' compensation at time of remarriage; chil- 
 dren, to 18 years or thereafter, if physically incapacitated or mentally 
 retarded. 
 
 Permanent total disability : During life. 
 
 Temporary total disability: During disability. 
 
 Permanent partial disability : Compensation shall be calculated on 
 the basis of a percentage of permanent total disability and shall be 
 payable in addition to compensation for healing period (i. e., tempo- 
 rary disability). For administrative simplicity, there should be a 
 schedule of permanent partial disability benefits based upon the fore- 
 going principle. 
 
 11. Second injuries (e. g., loss of second eye). — Employer to be 
 charged as though for first injury, and balance to be paid out of 
 special-injury fund, both amounts not to exceed permanent total dis- 
 ability. 
 
 12. Second-injury fund and rehabilitation fund. — To be secured 
 from death benefit where there are no dependents, and from pay- 
 ments in first major injury cases. 
 
 13. Minors. — At least double compensation for minors illegally em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Expected future increase of earnings of minors to be taken into 
 consideration in fixing the compensation rates for permanent injuries 
 or death. The employer to be charged with primary liability for 
 
T1IIKI) NATIONAL CON I'KUKNC'K ON LABOR L KOI STATION 5 
 
 additional compensation. Approval by a competent State authority 
 of the expenditures of compensation granted 1" minors to assure t he 
 most desirable rehabilitation and education of the injured minor. 
 
 14. Commutation, — Workmen's compensation being in lieu of Losfi 
 of earning capacity, payments shall be made in installments. Com- 
 mutation of workmen's compensal ion si mil In- approved only for good 
 cause shown with proper safeguards as to the use of the funds so 
 commuted, with the besi interests of the workman or Ins dependents 
 in case of death being the primary consideration. 
 
 15. Insurance coverage guaranty. — That the problem arising from 
 insolvency of insurance carriers and self-insurers be solved by re- 
 quiring positive and adequate safeguards for the guaranteeing of the 
 payment of compensation to all injured employees. 
 
 16. Accident prevention y «<f<(/imf<- provision. — Reporting of all 
 disabling injuries, as well as occupational diseases, shall be compul- 
 sory. 
 
 17. Procedure. — Informal, "administrative", with adequate pro- 
 vision in law for the commission to have the power to check "ambu- 
 lance chasing", regulate attorney's and doctor's fees, etc. Appeals 
 from decrees should not be allowed except on questions of law and 
 should be carried direct to the highest court. 
 
 Chairman: Frank T. Starkey, Industrial Commission, Minnesota. 
 
 Howard E. Armstrong, Commissioner of Industries, Vermont. 
 
 Ralph G. Sims, Director, Department Industrial Relations, Georgia. 
 
 Daniel D. Carmell, Assistant Attorney General, Illinois. 
 
 W. C. Burrows, Commissioner, Industrial Relations, Kentucky. 
 
 John Dukes, Chairman, Industrial Commission, South Carolina. 
 
 J. Ney Miles, Chairman, Industrial Commission, Arizona. 
 
 B. D. Nebeker, Industrial Commission, Utah. 
 
 John J. Toohey, Jr., Commissioner, Department of Labor, New Jersey. 
 
 Stephen J. Lorenz, Deputy Commissioner of Compensation, Department of 
 
 Labor, New Jersey. 
 Charles F. Sharkey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 Marshall Dawson, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 R. E. Wenzel, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department of 
 
 Labor. 
 
 REPORT OR COMMITTEE ON HOURS— as adopted 
 
 With increased industrial activity, the value of manufactured 
 products, the volume of retail sales, and the income from the service 
 branches of industry have all increased in greater proportion than 
 have employment and pay rolls. Therefore, we believe even more 
 strongly than we did a year ago that the adoption of a schedule of 
 not more than 40 hours a week by State law in all States will promote 
 the welfare of the Nation. 
 
 106607—36 2 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 The increase in man-hour production in recent decades has released 
 vast numbers of employees who are not being absorbed in normal 
 industrial and economic processes. Shortened hours have in the past 
 been regarded largely as welfare legislation, but there is a rapidly 
 growing consciousness, not only in this country but all over the 
 world, as indicated by recent action of the International Labor Con- 
 ference, that a close relationship exists between efficiency and the 
 hours and earnings of the working population. This principle has 
 been demonstrated by the practices of progressive employers in va- 
 rious branches of industry over a period of years. Industry on the 
 whole was able to adjust itself to a 40-hour schedule under N. R. A. 
 codes, and there are still today large and important branches of 
 industry operating on this standard or on an even shorter work week. 
 
 In the light of these broad considerations, your committee recom- 
 mends the following more specific standards for State labor leg- 
 islation : 
 
 With the possible exception of agricultural employment and 
 domestic service, no employer shall employ any person for more 
 than 5 days in any 1 week or for more than 8 hours in any 1 day. 
 
 Since experience has proved that exceptions to an hours law tend 
 to make adequate enforcement impossible, exceptions should be 
 granted only by industry and only after public hearings held by the 
 State labor department. In no case should exceptions be granted 
 to individual employers nor to an industry for longer than a 
 48-hour week. 
 
 We urge the Senate to ratify all 40-hour conventions submitted 
 to this country by the International Labor Conference. 
 
 We recommend that the Secretary of Labor appoint a committee 
 to consider the provisions of the present standard hours bill to deter- 
 mine whether in the light of further experience revision is advisable. 
 
 Chairman : Elmer F. Andrews, Industrial Commissioner, Department of 
 Labor, New York. 
 
 Roseoe Cranor, State Senator, Louisiana. 
 
 Petricha E. Manchester, Executive Secretary, Consumers' League, Dela- 
 ware. 
 
 Herbert Woods, International Union of Operating Engineers, Washing- 
 ton, D. C 
 
 James F. Marsh, Deputy Minister of Labour, Ontario. 
 
 Lucy R. Mason, General Secretary, National Consumers' League, New 
 York. 
 
 John W. Nates, Commissioner, Department of Labor, South Carolina. 
 
 Ralph M. Bashore, Secretary, Department of Labor and Industry, Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 Mary Anderson, Director, Women's Bureau, United States Department of 
 Labor. 
 
 A. Louise Murphy, Division of Labor Standards, United States Depart- 
 ment of Labor. 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 7 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MINIMUM WAGE— as adopted 
 
 In light of recent studies of wages paid in various pari- of the 
 United Slates, your committee concludes thai the need for manda- 
 tory minimum-wage legislation to prevent the payment of sweat- 
 shop wages is as urgent as ever. Indeed, so urgent is this need that 
 the committee recommends that every effort be exerted by the States 
 and the Federal Government to draft minimum-wage legislat 
 which will conform to the present limitations imposed by the ( 
 stitution. Inasmuch as such legislation in the past has been declared 
 unconstitutional the committee urges that the conference also endorse 
 the proposal Unit the Federal Constitution be amended so as to per 
 mit minimum-wage and other social legislation. In the hope that 
 there may be modification of the Constitution in the future to permit 
 without question governmental regulation of wages, thought should 
 be given to the principles which should be incorporated in a model 
 minimum-wage law within the terms of this constitutional amend- 
 ment. 
 
 It is recommended therefore that the Secretary'- committee, ap- 
 pointed last August to coordinate the States' efforts to revise their 
 minimum-wage laws, and to explore the possibilities of drafting new 
 legislation in light of the expected decisions of the Supreme Court 
 in pending minimum-wage cases, continue its activities, and in coop- 
 eration with other interested groups, undertake a study of the ideal 
 principles which should form the basis of a model law under a pos- 
 sible constitutional amendment, and report its findings as early as 
 circumstances permit. 
 
 In the meantime, while solutions of these problems are being 
 sought, we recommend that States now operating under minimum- 
 wage laws administer those laws as they have in the past, and that 
 States without such laws institute wage investigations to show the 
 urgenc}^ of the situation. 
 
 Some States, which have not enacted minimum-wage laws are 
 without the right of entry and without power to inspect and tran- 
 scribe pay rolls — powers necessary if wage investigations and sur- 
 veys are to be made. It is therefore recommended that bills em- 
 powering the officials of State labor departments to enter place- of 
 employment and make such transcriptions be introduced into the 
 next sessions of the legislatures of such States. 
 
 When constitutional means have been devised for setting mini- 
 mum-wage standards, the committee recommends that States pass 
 as rapidly as possible minimum-wage laws for women and minors, 
 and, where the time seems ripe, for men as well. 
 
 The minimum- wage committee of the present conference endoi - s 
 the recommendations of previous conferences pertaining to effective 
 
8 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 administration of minimum-wage laws. These recommendations are 
 briefly as follows: 
 
 1. The administration of the minimum-wage law should be placed 
 under a responsible executive with an adequate trained staff. 
 
 2. The application of civil-service principles, which give proper 
 weight to practical experience, are essential to efficient administra- 
 tion. 
 
 3. Conferences of those persons administering minimum-wage laws 
 should be continued. 
 
 4. Recommendation for basic standards made by previous confer- 
 ences for administrative regulations, including the requirement that 
 wage payments be made in cash with no deductions, except for State 
 insurance, are reiterated. 
 
 5. State minimum- wage departments should carry on current 
 analyses of wage and employment trends in the industries covered by 
 wage orders in order to reveal the effects of minimum-wage laws. 
 
 6. Especial assistance in the interpretation of statistical and other 
 technical material presented to wage boards should be given by the 
 divisions of minimum wage to the labor members of such boards. 
 
 7. The Department of Labor is again requested to make a study 
 of the ways in which the divisions of minimum wage may secure the 
 most effective cooperation in matters of legal procedure and prose- 
 cutions. 
 
 8. Minimum-wage orders should be applied as promptly as possible 
 to home-work industries. 
 
 The present committee makes the following recommendations per- 
 taining to the matter of administration: 
 
 It is recommended that administration of minimum-wage and 
 workmen's-compensation and unemployment-insurance laws cooperate 
 to such an extent that their interpretation of what constitutes a wage 
 may result in the greatest benefit to the workers under each law. 
 
 In order that the collection of wages due employees covered by 
 minimum-wage orders be as effective as possible the closest coopera- 
 tion between the minimum- wage and wage-claims divisions of State 
 labor department is recommended. 
 
 The proper enforcement of minimum-wage laws requires minute 
 inspection of the hours worked by employees as well as wages re- 
 ceived. Both require careful investigation of pay rolls, time cards, 
 and posted hour schedules. Hour and minimum-wage laws apply 
 to minors as well as women. In the interest of efficient administra- 
 tion and enforcement, it is recommended, therefore, that wherever 
 feasible the administration of hour, minimum-wage, and child-labor 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 9 
 
 laws be placed under one director in a division of the department 
 of Labor. 
 
 Chairman: O. B. Chapman, Director Industrial Relations, Ohio. 
 .Maud Swell, Field Director, Industrial Commission, Wisconsin. 
 Kate O'Connor, Chief Supervisor, Division Minimum Wage, Departmenl of 
 
 Labor, Illinois. 
 Mabel ID. Kinney, Chief, Division of industrial Welfare, Department of 
 
 industrial Relations, California- 
 Frieda S. Miller, Director, Division of Women In industry and Minimum 
 
 Wage, Department of Labor, New York. 
 Anne s. Davis, Assistant chief. Minimum Wage Division, Department of 
 
 Labor, Illinois. 
 Lucy R. Mason, General Secretary, National Consumers' League, New York. 
 Petricha E. Manchester, Executive Secretary, Consumers' League, Delaware, 
 Louise Stitt, Women's Bureau, United stales Departmenl of Labor. 
 Marian Mel, Division of Labor Standards, United Slates Department Ql 
 
 Labor. 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CHILD LABOR STANDARDS— 
 
 as adopted 
 
 The following recommendations were adopted unanimously by the 
 committee : 
 
 CMLd Labor Amendment. — We are faced with evidence of increased 
 employment of children under 16 years of age since the invalidation 
 of the N. R. A. codes. Reports show that two and one-half times as 
 many 14- and 15-year-old children went to work in the first 5 months 
 of 1936 as did in the first 5 months of 1935, while the codes were still 
 in effect. This return of child labor shows that, in spite of the great 
 gains that have been made and in spite of the very sincere desire on 
 the part of many employers to maintain the standards of employment 
 which were established under the N. R. A., the lack of a national 
 uniform minimum age subjects them to the unfair competition of the 
 marginal group of employers who are willing to exploit the young 
 and inexperienced worker. Such exploitation of children for profit 
 is clearly contrary to the spirit of the American people today, and 
 we believe that it must be eliminated completely and permanently 
 from our national life. 
 
 In order to make possible the establishment of a national minimum 
 standard so obviously needed, the committee strongly urges that every 
 possible effort be put forth to secure the speedy ratification of the 
 child labor amendment by the 12 additional States necessary to make 
 it a part of the Constitution. 
 
 Government contract work. — "We commend the initiation of a Fed- 
 eral program, begun by the enactment of the Walsh-Healey Act in 
 1936, to guarantee minimum labor standards including prohibition of 
 child labor for employment on Government contract work. In order 
 
10 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 to further secure the protection of young workers, we recommend that 
 the Walsh-Healey Act be extended in its coverage to include employ- 
 ment on contracts of less than $10,000 and to include safeguards for 
 the employment of minors between 16 and 18 years of age by requir- 
 ing age certificates and by prohibiting employment in hazardous 
 occupations. 
 
 State legislation. — We heartily commend all efforts by States to im- 
 prove the standards of their child-labor laws and urge that every 
 effort be made to incorporate in all State child-labor laws the follow- 
 ing standards: 
 
 1. A minimum age of 16 years for employment in all gainful 
 occupations, including industrialized agriculture away from the 
 home farm. 
 
 2. The regulation of employment of young persons 16 to 18 years 
 of age, as follows: 
 
 (a) Hours of work not to exceed 8 hours per day and 40 hours 
 per week; or not to exceed those of adults in the industry in which 
 employed, whichever is the lesser. Night work to be prohibited 
 between 6 p. m. and 7 a, m. 
 
 (b) Prohibition of employment of persons under 18 in hazardous 
 occupations, the State department of labor or industrial board to 
 have authority to classify occupations as hazardous for this age 
 group. 
 
 (c) Employment certificates to be required for the legal employ- 
 ment of minors under 18 years of age. 
 
 Workmen's compensation. — We recommend provision for at least 
 double compensation for injured minors illegally employed, the 
 employer to be charged with primary liability for the payment of 
 such compensation; and the basing of compensation for permanent 
 disability, whether the employment was legal or illegal, upon the 
 probable adult earning capacity of such minor. Compensation lawsj 
 should provide for approval by a competent State authority of the 
 expenditure of the compensation granted to assure the most desirable 
 rehabilitation and education of the injured minor. 
 
 School attendance. — We urge that every effort be made to revise 
 upward State school attendance laws to conform with the higher 
 minimum age and employment certificate requirements recommended 
 for State child-labor laws and to emphasize also the need for the 1 
 provision by the schools of an enriched and varied school program 
 to meet the needs of all young people. 
 
 Industrial home work. — We wish to emphasize our conviction that 
 industrial home work, that is, the sending of factory work to be 
 done in the home, serves not only to exploit the child worker but 
 also to break clown labor standards in general through the reintro- 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 11 
 
 duction of the sweatshop, and urge therefore the speedy enactment 
 of legislation looking to its abolition. 
 
 Then 1 are certain problems relating to child labor for which no 
 remedies have been suggested, such as the interstate shipment of 
 goods for work in homes. The committee recommends that there 
 be study of further methods of national control for the solution of 
 this and similar problems. 
 
 Chairman- Joseph Uossano, State Federal ion of Labor, Virginia. 
 
 W. K. Jacobs, Commissioner of Labor, Tennessee. 
 
 James T. Moriarty, Commissioner, Department of Labor and Industries, 
 
 Massachusetts. 
 Dr. Wortli Tippy, Federal Council of Churches, New York. 
 W. C. Hushing, American Federation of Labor, Wasbinyton, D. C. 
 Henry Lay Duer, Commissioner of Labor and Statistics, Maryland. 
 Courtney Dinwiddle, National Labor Committee, New York. 
 Thomas Crenshaw, State Federation of Labor, South Carolina. 
 Beatrice McConnell, Children's Bureau, United States Department of Labor. 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON APPRENTICE TRAINING— as adopted 
 
 The committee wishes to bring before the Conference in the strong- 
 est terms the need of establishing a stabilized program of apprentice- 
 ship throughout the country. It recognizes the value to youth, to 
 employers and employees, and to the public, of a program to stimu- 
 late and encourage the training of young people to become thor- 
 oughly trained and responsible workers in the skilled trades. A con- 
 structive and sound plan of apprenticeship must be developed for all 
 branches of the skilled crafts instead of the loose system of helpers 
 and learners now prevailing in numerous industries. A training 
 structure to correct the evils of this haphazard system should be built 
 up, which will provide, on an intelligently planned and carefully pro- 
 tected basis, a program developed under accepted labor standards. 
 The committee's concern is with the setting up of these labor stand- 
 ards — standards to protect the apprentice, the entire labor group, the 
 employer, and the public. The committee believes that this end can 
 best be attained through the enactment of sound legislation on 
 apprenticeship in the various States. 
 
 The committee, therefore, recommends that the Secretary of Labor 
 appoint a representative committee to draft suggested standards for 
 incorporation in State apprenticeship legislation. These standards 
 should include provision for placing the administration of the law 
 and the control of the labor standards aspects of apprenticeship in 
 the State department of labor. The problems of apprenticeship are 
 so closelv connected with the labor situation that it is a waste of re- 
 sources not to have the closest possible connection with these depart- 
 
12 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 ments of labor since they have the information in regard to such 
 matters as employment opportunities, the types of work for which it 
 might be worth while to train apprentices, the increase or decrease in 
 employment openings, and the general industrial conditions in differ- 
 ent industries. 
 
 It is important that State labor departments understand and act 
 upon the pressing need to cooperate with all the agencies interested in 
 this field. Particularly will it be necessary to insure cooperation 
 with State departments of vocational education, with all State and 
 national organizations interested in the educational aspects of ap- 
 prenticeship programs and with State employment services. 
 
 The committee recommends that the Federal Committee on 
 Apprentice Training be requested to furnish advice and help to the 
 States in their effort to secure adequate standards for apprentice 
 training and that the campaign of education for the development of 
 adequate programs which has been carried on by that committee and 
 the State committees on apprentice training be continued with in- 
 creasing vigor. It recommends that funds for the continuance of the 
 work of the Federal committee be provided through the Federal 
 Department of Labor. 
 
 Chairman : W. A. Pat Murphy, State Labor Commissioner, Oklahoma. 
 
 John S. B. Davie, Commissioner of Labor, New Hampshire. 
 
 Mary Edna Cruzen, Commissioner of Labor, Missouri. 
 
 Elmer Spahr, President, Pennsylvania Conference of Bricklayers, Masons, 
 
 and Plasterers. 
 John Lloyd, 7th Vice President, Journeymen Barbers' International Union 
 
 of America, Indiana. 
 Ella Merritt, Children's Bureau, United States Department of Labor. 
 Wm. F. Patterson, Executive Secretary, Federal Committee on Apprentice 
 
 Training. 
 Michael O'Connor, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION AND 
 EMPLOYMENT SERVICES— as adopted 
 
 Part I. — Employment Service 
 
 The committee made the following recommendations : 
 That the members of the conference present from the five States 
 whose legislatures have not accepted the provisions of the Wagner- 
 Peyser Act — Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana — pro- 
 mote the introduction and enactment of legislation in their respective 
 States accepting the provisions of the act at the next meeting of their 
 legislatures. 
 
 That the Wagner-Peyser Act be amended to include Puerto Rico. 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 13 
 
 That in the operation of the State employment services affiliated 
 with the United States Employment Service special emphasis be 
 given to their long-time programs. 
 
 That the members of the conference promote the introduction and 
 
 the enactment of legislation for the State regulation of private em- 
 ployment agencies, and Federal legislation for regulation of their 
 interstate activities. 
 
 That the State employment services develop plans, including ade- 
 quate budgets and training programs for a permanent State-wide 
 employment service that will adequately serve the unemployment- 
 insurance program of their respective States. 
 
 That this conference recommend to such governors who contem- 
 plate appointing commissions in connection with the development of 
 plans for unemployment compensation, the inclusion of a representa- 
 tive of the interests of public employment services in the member- 
 ship of such commissions. 
 
 That Congress be urged to appropriate funds adequate to enable 
 regional organization of the United States Employment Service in 
 order to make available to the State employment services Federal 
 assistance for the development along the lines necessary to handle the 
 work under the unemployment-compensation laws. 
 
 That the conference promote in every way possible the securing of 
 adequate appropriations for the State employment service-;. 
 
 Part II. — Unemployment Compensation 
 
 The legislatures of the following 15 States and the Congress of 
 the United States have enacted unemployment-compensation laws 
 
 that comply with the Federal Social Security Act: 
 
 Alabama. New Hampshire. 
 
 California. New York. 
 
 District of Columbia. Oregon. 
 
 Idaho. Rhode Island. 
 
 Indiana. South Carolina. 
 
 Louisiana. Texas. 
 
 Massachusetts. Utah. 
 
 Mississippi. Wisconsin. 
 
 Your committee recommends that this conference place itself on 
 record as commending this prompt action. 
 
 In order that t lie workers in the remaining States and Territories 
 may be afforded protection against unemployment, we recommend 
 and urge that such States and Territories should at the earliest 
 opportunity, through special sessions or otherwise, enact unemploy- 
 ment-compensation laws which will qualify such States and Terri- 
 
 106607 — 36 3 
 
14 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 tories to receive Federal aid and tax credits under the Social Secur- 
 ity Act. 
 
 We urge that the proper authorities undertake to secure an 
 amendment of the Social Security Act by the Congress to provide 
 the benefits of the Social Security Act to the workers of Puerto Rico 
 and all other territory comprising the United States of America. 
 
 State laws, while they should be designed to permit the proper co- 
 ordination of their provisions with the Social Security Act, should 
 be so drafted as to remain operative independently of the Federal 
 act. The laws of those States whose operation has in any way been 
 made contingent upon the continued operation of the Federal act 
 should be so amended as to stand on their own feet. 
 
 The various States welcome the advice of the Social Security Board 
 in drafting unemployment-compensation laws or in amending exist- 
 ing ones so that they will meet the requirements of the Social Security 
 Act and will assure efficient and economical State administration. 
 The success of unemployment compensation will depend in major 
 part on the efficiency of its administration and the cooperation of the 
 several States, and this in turn will depend upon the competence and 
 integrity of the State administrative personnel. We, therefore, 
 strongly urge that the State authorities vested with the administra- 
 tion of unemployment compensation classify the personnel and for- 
 mulate personnel and salary standards with the assistance of the 
 Social Security Board. We urge that the Social Security Board rec- 
 ommend to the several States adequate minimum standards for the 
 waiting period, rate of benefits, and duration of benefits. 
 
 In the field of workmen's compensation, many abuses have devel- 
 oped out of the superfluous representation of claimants by expensive 
 counsel. To avoid this same development in unemployment compen- 
 sation we recommend that the Social Security Board advise the sev- 
 eral States to include in their laws specific provisions to minimize 
 this danger. While we are not prepared at this time to recommend 
 the content of such provisions we nevertheless suggest that the claims 
 procedures be made as simple as possible and that consideration be 
 given to restricting the right of attorneys to practice before unem- 
 ployment-compensation commissions and to the rigid control of attor- 
 ney's fees by the commissions. 
 
 It is recommended that the workers covered by the unemployment- 
 compensation acts of the various States and Territories should not be 
 required to contribute to the unemployment-compensation funds of 
 their respective jurisdictions. 
 
 The Board should recommend and the States should adopt in their 
 laws a uniform and broader basis of coverage to avoid such conflicts 
 in State jurisdiction as have occurred in the field of accident compen- 
 sation. Your committee believes that the State in which the major- 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFEBENCK ON LABOi; LKOISLATIOH 15 
 
 ity of the work is done should lie the only one to cover (he worker 
 
 mikI pay him benefits. Where an employee works in a number of 
 States but docs not spend the majority of his working time in any 
 one, he should come under the law of the State in which the contract 
 of employment is made. This will prevent multiple taxation on the 
 employer; i. e., only one State should receive contributions from an 
 employer, for a particular employee. Workers should in no case 
 he haired from benefits by any residence requirement. We further 
 recommend that the Federal act be amended to provide a broader 
 basis of employee coverage, and that the individual State- enact laws 
 or amend their existing laws to secure the greatest possible employee 
 coverage. 
 
 The various States should in their own laws authorize reciprocal 
 agreements on such features of unemployment compensation as that 
 of providing for the registration of and payments of benefits to 
 workers becoming unemployed in States distant from the one from 
 which their benefits are due and from preventing workers from losing 
 their benefits because of their transfer from a job in one State to a 
 job in another. Interstate comity should prevail in this field. 
 
 Your committee wishes to emphasize that unemployment-compen- 
 sation legislation is primarily concerned with and directly affects 
 conditions of labor in industry. We. therefore, strongly urge upon 
 the States the desirability of placing the administration of State 
 unemployment compensation in the State agency generally respon- 
 sible for the administration of labor legislation. 
 
 We recognize and commend the admirable work that lias l>een 
 done by the Social Security Board and its fine spirit of cooperation, 
 but in view of the necessity of close coordination between the ac- 
 tivities of the United States Employment Service and the adminis- 
 tration of the unemployment-compensation titles of the Social 
 Security Act we recommend and urge that the administration of the 
 unemployment-compensation titles of that act be made an integral 
 part of the United States Department of Labor. 
 
 We recommend a continuing committee to study the subject of how 
 unemployment-compensation benefits can be made more adequate. 
 
 Chairman, Alex E. Gordon, Secretary. Federated Labor Publishing Associa- 
 tion, Indiana. 
 
 W. H. Young, Chairman, Industrial Commission, Colorado. 
 
 L. L. Wheeless, Chairman, Unemployment Compensation Commission, 
 Mississippi. 
 
 M. L. Lyden, President, State Federation of Labor, Ohio. 
 
 Grace Abbott, School of Social Service. University of Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 Prudencio Martinez. Commissioner of Labor. Puerto Rico. 
 
 John Hopkins Hall. Commissioner, Department of Labor ami Industry, 
 Virginia. 
 
 Frank E. Wenig, Commissioner of Labor, Iowa. 
 
 Paul U. Kellogg, Survey Associates, New York. 
 
16 THIED NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 Gordon R. Wagenet, Director, Bureau of Unemployment Compensation, 
 
 Social Security Board. 
 B. G. Soderstrom, President, State Federation of Labor, Illinois. 
 Alice Norwood Spearman, Works Progress Administration, South Carolina. 
 Peter Campbell, Secretary, State Federation of Labor, Kentucky. 
 W. Frank Persons, Director, United States Employment Service, United 
 
 States Department of Labor. 
 Isador Lubin, Commissioner of Labor Statistics, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 Charles L. Hodge, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON REGULATION OF PRIVATE 
 EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES— as adopted 
 
 The evils present in the operation of private employment agencies 
 have been the subject of study and investigation over a period of 
 years, and are well known to persons associated with the administra- 
 tion of labor laws. Among the most common practices which make 
 the regulation of fee-charging agencies desirable are misrepresenta- 
 tion of jobs, collections of fees when no employment is furnished, 
 charging of exorbitant fees, fee splitting, and the sending of workers 
 across State lines, only to be left stranded, penniless, and jobless. 
 That the licensing and regulation of private employment agencies is 
 a matter within the proper concern of the State is settled. The com- 
 mittee has endeavored to evolve a number of standards which it feels 
 are desirable in a law to license and control private employment 
 agencies. These standards are not recommended with the thought 
 that they include all desirable features of a definitive or model bill. 
 Rather the committee has endeavored to ascertain those provisions 
 which may be applicable generally without regard to any peculiar 
 local conditions which may require specific treatment. 
 
 A bill to regulate private employment offices should apply to all 
 fee-charging agencies, and should be State-wide in its application. 
 The law should be administered by the State department of labor. 
 The commissioner of labor should be given well-defined but broad 
 rule-making power to insure the effective administration of the law. 
 
 Both the employment agencies and their individual employees 
 should be licensed. Licensing of the agencies should be on an annual 
 basis with a fee sufficiently large to keep out financially irresponsible 
 persons, and also to provide adequate amounts sufficient for the ad- 
 ministration of the law. The committee feels that in no case should 
 such fee be less than $25 and that it is highly desirable that it be 
 fixed at a much higher rate. Licenses of placement clerks should be 
 granted for an indefinite period, to terminate only upon revocation 
 or upon the placement clerk leaving the employ of the agency. The 
 fee should be a nominal amount. 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 17 
 
 The committee feels that it is necessary thai the bill provide for 
 the bonding of employment agents in such a way as to insure the full 
 protection of the workers. The department of labor should be 
 
 authorized to approve the form of the bond, and -1 1<I be granted 
 
 the right to sue on the bond and collect for workers. In order to 
 speed the payment of claims against the bond, the time for filing 
 claims should be shortened to '.>() days from the date of the receipt for 
 the fee. Under present State laws, a bonding company may refuse 
 to pay any claims against a bond until the statute of limitations has 
 run which usually requires at least 5 years. The bond should be 
 conditioned for the return of fees and for the payment by the em- 
 ployment agent of damages to any person having a just claim against 
 him. The amount of the bond should be graduated with a minimum 
 of $1,000 and a maximum to be set at least as high as $3,000, the scale 
 being based upon the geographic location and the number of agency 
 employees or some other measure of the volume of business. 
 
 Before any license is issued to an agency a careful investigation 
 of both the suitability of the premises and the character and repu- 
 tation of the employment agent should be required. A similar inves- 
 tigation should be required of the character of placement clerks be- 
 fore the issuance of a license. The commissioner should be given 
 the power to suspend and revoke licenses for cause. 
 
 Both by the provisions of the bill and under the rule-making power 
 granted to the commissioner, there should be prohibited the various 
 acts which have been found by experience to constitute evil practices. 
 The bill should set forth the most common of these practices with 
 authority in the commissioner to enlarge the field of the prohibitions. 
 The following should be prohibited: Fee splitting, false advertising 
 and false representation, placement of women and minors in specified 
 prohibited kinds of work, operating of employment agencies in rooms 
 used for living purposes, operation by licensees of lodging houses or 
 labor camps, sending of workers to plants on strike without notifi- 
 cation thereof, and the making of placements in violation of other 
 State labor laws. 
 
 The bill should also regulate certain practices in connection with 
 the charging of fees. ^Registration fees should be prohibited except 
 that some States may desire to allow agencies placing teachers and 
 professional workers to charge registration fees upon the securing 
 of a permit to do so from the department of labor. Fees should 
 be charged only on the basis of cash wages received from placements 
 directly resulting from the employment agencies' activities. The 
 assignment of wages, the execution of notes authorizing the confes- 
 sion of judgment, and the giving of powers of attorney to the agency 
 should be prohibited. Also, the agent should be required to file with 
 the commissioner and to post the schedule of fees to be charged, and 
 
18 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 should be prohibited from charging or receiving any fees not speci- 
 fied therein or in excess of such schedule. 
 
 The employment agency should be required to file with the com- 
 missioner, for his approval, copies of all forms, blanks, and contracts 
 to be used by such agency. 
 
 A receipt in a form to be prescribed by the commissioner of labor 
 should be required to be given in every case where a fee is paid. 
 The receipt should include a statement of the office at which a worker 
 may register any complaint, the time for filing such claims against 
 the bond, and any other information which the commissioner may 
 deem desirable. 
 
 The committee has not attempted to make recommendations as 
 to the administrative features and enforcement powers of such a bill. 
 However, it is pointed out that in adopting any such bill for use in 
 a particular State care should be taken to see that the commissioner 
 has the necessary investigational and inquisitorial powers, and that 
 there are provisions requiring the keeping of records, etc. 
 
 The committee also desires to raise for discussion the question as 
 to whether or not this conference feels that such a bill should at- 
 tempt to regulate and control schools which advertise a placement 
 service as an inducement to enrollment therein. 
 
 The committee recommends that the continuing committee on the 
 regulation of private employment agencies, heretofore appointed by 
 the Secretary, shall in cooperation with the United States Depart- 
 ment of Labor, draft a bill containing suggested language covering 
 the points above mentioned, and that a study be made of existing 
 State laws to determine those provisions which have been found most 
 desirable in practice. It is felt that such a bill should be drafted 
 so as to be generally applicable to any State, with the understanding 
 that changes may be made and additional provisions may be in- 
 serted as found necessary to meet the needs of the local situation. 
 It is also recommended that the committee, after drafting the bill 
 for State use, should turn its attention to the problem of drafting 
 a Federal bill for the control of agencies making interstate place- 
 ments. 
 
 Chairman: Martin Cannon, Deputy Inspector, Division of Private Employ- 
 ment Agencies, Department of Labor, Illinois. 
 
 Harry R. McLogan, Commissioner, Industrial Commission, Wisconsin. 
 
 Morgan R. Mooney, Deputy Commissioner of Labor, Department of Labor 
 and Factory Inspection, Connecticut. 
 
 James Fitzgerald, Commissioner of Labor, Nevada. 
 
 Henry D. Sayer, Industrial and Workmen's Compensation Service, New 
 York. 
 
 David Y. Campbell, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department 
 of Labor. 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOB LEGISLATION 19 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON HOUSING— as adopted 
 
 The formulation of an adequate and comprehensive housing pro- 
 gram is an immediate public responsibility. The acute housing 
 shortage now rapidly developing throughoul the country is sub- 
 jecting low-income families to especial hardships, and makee the 
 provision of new dwellings for them an urgent necessity. 
 
 The housing problem is concerned with the provision of aii ade- 
 quate supply of decent modern shelter, well located in relation to 
 employment and community facilities, protected from blight, prop- 
 erly designed for the families which are to use it. and available at 
 prices within the means of these families. The housing problem 
 also includes the reclamation of slums and blighted areas, hot h 
 urban and rural, and the safeguarding of undeveloped areas in the 
 suburbs of our cities from spoliation by uncontrolled and unplanned 
 jerry-building. 
 
 The increase and proper distribution of the national income would 
 solve a major portion of the housing problem. However, a sound 
 housing program will itself greatly aid in increasing the national 
 income through the provision of employment in the construction, 
 building material, and allied industries, and through the elimina- 
 tion of the great wastes now incurred in speculative subdivision 
 and building. 
 
 The solution of the housing problem demands bold and coura- 
 geous policies on the part of governments, both local. State and 
 Federal. The programs adopted must be broadly conceived and 
 have permanent and continuing foundations. It is impossible to 
 cope with the long-term problems of housing on a temporary and 
 emergency basis. 
 
 Planning and control of hind used and housing. — The planning 
 of city growth and the control and stabilization of neighborhoods 
 are essential both for economical housing and livable cities. The 
 responsibility for planning future developments and the reclama- 
 tion of slums and blighted areas must rest primarily with municipal 
 and county authorities. In every city a planning commission should 
 be established which will boldly envision the best possible uses of 
 all the land areas both in the city and in its adjoining suburbs. 
 Such planning must go far beyond the safeguarding of existing 
 realty values and the mere provision of streets, utilities, and parks 
 for the amelioration of present bad land uses. Zoning must be 
 made an effective weapon to guide growth and protect neighborhood- 
 rather than to legitimatize present speculative values. 
 
 It is possible that the increasing public ownership of land, either 
 by municipalities or housing authorities, will be found to be the 
 most realistic solution of the problem of planning and control. 
 Such tracts of publicly owned land could either be developed with 
 
20 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 public housing for low-income groups or rented on long-term lease 
 for building under proper control by private enterprise or coopera- 
 tive groups. Public acquisition, making use of the powers of emi- 
 nent domain, seems the most promising solution for the reclamation 
 of blighted areas and slums. 
 
 State legislation will be necessary to strengthen the planning and 
 zoning powers of municipalities, and to extend these powers beyond 
 the city limits so as to cover entire metropolitan areas. State legisla- 
 tion will also be necessary to enable municipalities and counties to 
 acquire and develop land either directly or through housing authori- 
 ties. The power of condemnation for housing as a public purpose 
 (which has recently been upheld in the highest court of the State of 
 New York) must be delegated to municipalities and local housing 
 authorities. 
 
 The Federal Government must actively and courageously promote 
 research and thought on the problems of planning and control. It 
 must be prepared to give advice and counsel and lend experts to 
 local authorities requesting such aid. Above all it must insist when 
 it extends financial aid through the insurance or guarantee of mort- 
 gages, or through loans or grants, that proper planning and control 
 be a condition precedent to such aid. 
 
 Financial aid and public housing. — The residential building indus- 
 try as presently organized is a speculative business looking to quick 
 turn-over and immediate profits rather than long-term investment. 
 We cannot get good housing for workers by continuing this industry's 
 practice of building most of our new houses for the wealthy and 
 well-to-do, while handing down obsolete and dilapidated houses to 
 lower-income groups. Our greatest need is for new houses built 
 directly for workers, in neighborhoods convenient to employment and 
 protected from blight, and designed especially for low-income 
 families. 
 
 Through better building practices and with lower interest rates 
 based on long-term investment in stabilized neighborhoods, private 
 enterprise could extend its field of operations to lower-income groups 
 than those which it now serves. If the Federal insurance of private 
 mortgages through the F. H. A. is to be continued increased emphasis 
 should be placed on reducing financing charges and interest rates, and 
 on avoiding any underwriting of speculative values. 
 
 A still further extension of housing construction for lower-income 
 groups can be obtained by placing public credit or governmental 
 loans at low-interest rates at the disposal of limited dividend com- 
 panies or cooperative groups. 
 
 It must, however, be frankly realized that families in the lowest 
 third of the income range cannot afford to pay the full economic cost 
 of decent and adequate shelter. For the housing of these groups we 
 must look to public housing aided by governmental subsidy. In the 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOB LIKUSLATION 21 
 
 planning of such housing ii is essential to realize nil possible econo- 
 mies through stable neighborhoods, sound construction and simple 
 planning. Public housing so planned, ami restricted to families 
 which need such aid, will in nowise constitute a threat to private 
 enterprise serving higher-income groups. 
 
 The initiation, planning, construction, and management of public 
 housing is primarily a function of Local governments, acting either 
 directly or through local housing authorities, and in close cooperation 
 with the State and Federal Governments. The organization of local 
 instrumentalities, adequately financed, properly staffed with techni- 
 cal experts, and with the power to acquire land through condemnation 
 and to incur financial obligations, is urgently necessary. 
 
 Further State legislation is needed to authorize public housing by 
 local governments, and to regulate and supervise their activities in 
 this field. In States with sufficient financial resources based on in- 
 come taxation, subsidies should be granted to local authorities. In all 
 
 States there should be provision for the guaranteeing of h s made 
 
 by local authorities in order to secure the lowest possible interest rates. 
 
 Under our present system of taxation we must look to the Federal 
 Government for the major part of the subsidies necessary for public 
 housing. In addition to such grants, whether in lump sums or on an 
 annual basis, the Federal Government should also be in the position 
 to make loans at low interest rates to local authorities or guarantee 
 their mortgage obligations. The Federal Government should also 
 provide expert advice and counsel in connection with the initiation, 
 planning, construction, and management of housing. In all cases 
 where aid is granted by the Federal Government there must be ef- 
 fective control of the planning of neighborhoods in connection with 
 the city and regional plan, and the future use of public housing for 
 the income groups for which it is designed must also be safeguarded. 
 
 The Wagner bill, which was passed by the Senate at the last ses- 
 sion of the Congress, but which for lack of time failed of passage in 
 the House, provides a sound scheme of Federal aid for public hous- 
 ing on a long-term, permanent basis. The provisions for financing 
 and for Federal demonstration projects should be more liberal than 
 those contained in Senator Wagner's bill as originally introduced 
 in the Senate last year. Provision should also be made for Federal 
 aid in the acquisition of land for housing in advance of immediate 
 needs. It is strongly recommended that legislation of this character 
 be adopted by the next Congress. 
 
 Labor's interest in housing. — Labor has a vital interest in the hous- 
 ing problem. As producers, labor is concerned with the construction 
 of homes and the manufacture of building materials. As consumers, 
 labor is deeply interested in raising the standards of housing for all 
 families to adequate levels. As citizens, labor has the right to plan 
 beautiful, livable, and healthful communities. 
 
22 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 The workers of the Nation, as they become fully aware of the in- 
 adequacy of our housing and its serious effects on their lives, will 
 increasingly demand decent homes with modern conveniences at prices 
 within their means. Many low-income families are forced to pay 
 upward of 30 percent of their incomes for their present inadequate 
 housing, forcing drastic curtailment of other necessary family ex- 
 penditures and in particular reducing food consumption to starva- 
 tion levels. Labor insists that adequate housing must be available 
 to all families at not more than 20 percent of their incomes. 
 
 Labor should be accorded prevailing rates of wages on all housing 
 construction. It is a fallacy to assume that the ultimate cost of hous- 
 ing can be reduced by attacks on wage levels. Sound construction 
 with good materials and skilled labor is far cheaper than jerry- 
 building with labor at depressed wages. Intelligent contractors have 
 long since found that it pays better to employ skilled labor at pre- 
 vailing rates rather than less experienced mechanics at lower wages. 
 The principle of prevailing wages embodied in the Davis-Bacon Act 
 for Federal construction, and in the Walsh-Healey Act for Federal 
 purchases should be insisted on in connection with all construction 
 financed through Federal guaranties, loans, or grants, and on all new 
 construction aided through F. H. A. mortgage insurance. 
 
 Because of the interest of labor in the housing problem it is rec- 
 ommended that the United States Department of Labor be ready to 
 give aid and counsel to labor in the formulation of housing policies 
 and local, State, and Federal legislation. 
 
 Progress in the solution of the housing problem will be made only 
 in response to the demand of informed public opinion. The Federal 
 Government through its research and studies and through demonstra- 
 tion projects is advancing housing education throughout the country. 
 Labor as a whole must take the leadership in arousing local interest 
 and civic responsibility for a comprehensive and permanent housing 
 program. 
 
 Chairman : R. S. McCann, President, State Federation of Labor, Tennessee. 
 
 Claude R. Boland, President, Building Trades Council, South Carolina. 
 
 Helen Hall, Henry Street Settlement, New York. 
 
 Elsie D. Harper, National Board, Y. W. C. A., New York. 
 
 T. Arnold Hill, National Urban League, New York. 
 
 Spencer Miller, Director, Workers' Education Bureau of America, New York. 
 
 Oliver Peterson, Workers' Education Division, Works Progress Administra- 
 tion, Washington, D. C. 
 
 John A. Phillips, President, State Federation of Labor, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Boris Shishkin, Labor Housing Conference, Washington. D. C. 
 
 Warren Jay Vinton. Suburban Resettlement Division, Resettlement Admin- 
 istration, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Bruce Greene, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department of 
 Labor. 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 23 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON VACATIONS WITH PAY— as adopted 
 
 The question of vacations with pay has not been considered here- 
 tofore in the United States in any concerted, public fashion. Al- 
 though there lias been a Limited recognition of the need for such 
 
 provision in private industries and by certain trade unions, no 
 State has Legislation covering this subject. This is not the e ;l se else- 
 where in the world. 
 
 Some 30 countries have laws under which some groups of workers 
 enjoy the benefits of annual vacations with pay. In many of these 
 countries industry has not developed to such an extent as to bring 
 about the repetition, speed, and monotony which are found in in- 
 dustries in the United States. Especially because of our advanced 
 technological development, it is imperative that we provide for 
 American workers the protection to health and efficiency new guar- 
 anteed by law to many workers throughout the world. 
 
 Your committee on Vacations with Pay, having considered the 
 draft convention on this subject adopted by the International Labor 
 Conference meeting in Geneva in 1936 with an affirmative vote by 
 all delegates from the United States, recommends that the Third 
 National Conference on Labor Legislation in the United States go 
 on record as endorsing the principles set forth in tins draft conven- 
 tion and the recommendations accompanying it. These principles 
 provide, in brief: 
 
 1. That after 1 full year of service every employee shall have a 
 vacation with pay of at least 1 full and continuous working week, 
 with appropriate increases for length of service; 
 
 2. That this provision shall apply to as many forms of employ- 
 ment as possible; 
 
 3. That the vacation time here specified shall constitute a mini- 
 mum and shall not interfere with any collective agreement now 7 in 
 force or hereafter entered into, or with any private employment 
 policies insofar as these provide for higher standards on this subject. 
 
 Your committee further recommends that the Secretary of Labor 
 be asked by this conference to continue the committee and instruct 
 it to explore further the possibilities of promoting legislation in 
 this field in the United States and to draft a bill on vacations with 
 pay for the use of States in furthering such legislation. 
 
 Chairman: Joseph M. Tone. State Labor Commissioner. Connecticut. 
 
 W. I). Johnson, National Legislative Representative, Order of Railway Con- 
 ductors. Washington, D. C. 
 
 J. A. Farquharson, National Legislative Representative, Brotherhood of 
 Railroad Trainmen. Washington, D. C. 
 
 Mary Pidgeon, Women's Bureau, United Slates Department of Labor. 
 
 Ruth Scandrett, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department of 
 Labor. 
 
24 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON COOPERATION BETWEEN STATE 
 AND FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR— as adopted 
 
 Your Committee on Cooperation between State and Federal De- 
 partments of Labor believes that national and regional conferences 
 of representatives of State departments of labor, organized labor, 
 State federations of labor, and organizations interested in the im- 
 provement of labor standards are an effective stimulant to the im- 
 provement of labor legislation. It is urged that the United States 
 Department of Labor continue to hold such conferences and make 
 suitable arrangements with the Governors of the several States so 
 that all States may be represented. 
 
 Your committee has reviewed the activities of the Division of 
 Labor Standards which was established in the United States Depart- 
 ment of Labor in accordance with the recommendations of the First 
 National Conference on Labor Legislation. The committee appreci- 
 ates and approves the work done by this Division in holding con- 
 ferences on various phases of labor legislation and administration, 
 in promoting safety and health standards, in helping to train factory 
 inspectors, in consulting and advising State labor departments con- 
 cerning the best methods of administering labor laws, and in pro- 
 viding a bill-drafting service available to the State federations of 
 ]abor and other interested groups which has greatly assisted labor 
 in its efforts to improve working conditions. 
 
 In order to assure the continuance of these activities, the com- 
 mittee recommends that this conference record itself in favor of the 
 establishment of the Division of Labor Standards as a permanent 
 bureau in the United States Department of Labor with an appropri- 
 ation that will enable it to carry on these and other activities for 
 the purpose of raising labor standards and bringing about a greater 
 degree of uniformity as to basic minimum standards. 
 
 Your committee recommends that studies be made by the United 
 States Department of Labor of the following problems of particular 
 interest to the States : 
 
 The problem of discrimination against older workers in industry. 
 
 The problem of the extent to which gainfully employed workers 
 are not covered by workmen's compensation laws and the consequent 
 competitive advantage, real or alleged, enjoyed by employers. 
 
 The problem of enforcement of prison-labor legislation. 
 
 Your committee recommends that the State departments of labor 
 cooperate with the Federal Department of Labor in the enforcement 
 of the Walsh-Healey Act. 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 25 
 
 Your committee recommends that the Department of Labor be 
 requested to develop standards for accident reporting, record keep- 
 ing, and general inspection procedure and that the States be urged 
 to adopt these standards. 
 
 We further recommend that State departments furnish promptly 
 statistics and other information when requested by the United States 
 Department of Labor, with particular reference to the man-hours of 
 exposure in each employment class to the end that the Bureau of 
 Labor Statistics may have accurate data as to the frequency and 
 severity of industrial accidents. 
 
 Finally we recommend that a copy of the proceedings of this con- 
 ference be sent to the Governors of the various States, their official 
 representatives, secretaries of all national labor organizations, secre- 
 taries of State federations of labor, and secretaries of the transporta- 
 tion brotherhoods. 
 
 Chairman : Robert J. Watt, Secretary-Treasurer, State Federation of Labor, 
 
 Massachusetts. 
 Charles H. Gram, Commissioner of Labor, Oregon. 
 Clarence L. Jarrett, Commissioner of Labor, West Virginia. 
 Carl Mullen, President, State Federation of Labor, Indiana. 
 A. Steve Nance, President, State Federation of Labor, Georgia. 
 L. Metcalfe Walling, Director of Labor, Rhode Island. 
 T. E. Cunningham, President, State Federation of Labor, Minnesota. 
 Martin P. Durkin, Director of Labor, Illinois. 
 
 I. H. Helander, Vice President, State Federation of Labor, South Dakota. 
 O. E. Perry, Secretary, State Federation of Labor, Georgia. 
 Bertha M. Nienburg, Women's Bureau, United States Department of Labor. 
 Sidney W. Wilcox, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 Clara M. Beyer, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS— as adopted 
 
 Part I. — General Conference Program 
 
 Resolved, That this conference extend its thanks to the President of 
 the United States for his message of greeting, and for the charge 
 which he has placed upon the delegates to proceed along the lines 
 established by the sessions of the National Conference on Labor Leg- 
 islation in 1934 and 193-5, for assuring working people throughout the 
 Nation and in every State adequate labor standards. Specifically, 
 the President sets before us the goal of assuring decent working con- 
 ditions, including safe and healthful places of work; adequate care 
 and support of workers when incapacitated by reason of accident, 
 industrial disease, unemployment, or old age ; reasonably short work- 
 
26 THIED NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 ing hours; adequate annual incomes; proper housing; and elimina- 
 tion of child labor. In undertaking responsibility for State action, 
 we are encouraged by the assurance contained in the President's letter 
 that the Federal Government is willing to do its part in making these 
 standards effective and in supplementing the efforts of the States 
 when problems assume an interstate or a national character. 
 
 Encouraged by the progress that has been made since the First 
 Conference on Labor Legislation was called in 1934, and impressed 
 with the need for vigorous action to place necessary legislation on the 
 statute books at the coming sessions of Congress and the State legis- 
 latures, the conference pledges itself specifically to the following 
 major objectives, which have been more fully set forth in reports of 
 committees adopted by the conference : 
 
 1. State departments of labor. — The conference urges the develop- 
 ment of an adequate foundation for State labor law administration 
 through State labor departments with broad powers and adequate 
 appropriations to perform both fact-finding and administrative func- 
 tions, and to suggest programs of labor legislation. Provision 
 should be made in the budgets of State labor departments for co- 
 operation with the United States Department of Labor in the pro- 
 motion of labor standards through participation in national and 
 regional conferences and in other ways. 
 
 2. United /States Department of Labor. — The conference recom- 
 mends adequate appropriations for the United States Department 
 of Labor, and consolidation in this Department of Federal admin- 
 istrative functions involving leadership and cooperation with the 
 States in matters affecting labor. 
 
 3. International Labor Office. — The conference urges continuing 
 full participation of the United States) in the work of the Interna- 
 tional Labor Conference and the International Labor Office as essen- 
 tial agencies for raising standards of labor legislation throughout 
 the World, and appropriations by Congress of the full amount re- 
 quired for such participation. 
 
 4. Child labor. — The conference urges Federal cooperation with 
 the States in the enforcement and maintenance of a 16-vear minimum 
 for entrance into industry, with special protection against employ- 
 ment in hazardous occupations up to the age of 18 years ; completion 
 of ratification of the child labor amendment, as an essential step in 
 this direction, by the 12 States whose action is still required. 
 
 5. Minimum wage. — The conference urges that every effort be 
 made by the States and the Federal Government to develop adequate 
 mandatory minimum-wage laws and endorses the proposal of an 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 27 
 
 amendment to the Constitution to permit without question effective 
 8tate and Federal minimum-wage legislation. 
 
 6. Hours. — The conference endorses the 8-hour day and 40-hour 
 week as a maximum standard for all workers. 
 
 7. Health and safety. — The conference urges that State depart- 
 ments responsible for the administration of labor laws be clothed 
 with adequate powers and facilities for the promotion of industrial 
 health and safety, and that the United States Department of Labor 
 establish a safety laboratory. 
 
 8. Workmen's compensation. — The conference recommends compul- 
 sory coverage of all gainfully employed workers under compensation 
 laws, with exclusive State funds, complete blanket coverage of occu- 
 pational diseases, and the commission (not court) form of adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 9. Unemployment compensation and employment services. — The 
 conference urges States and Territories to enact unemployment com- 
 pensation laws which will qualify such States and Territories for 
 Federal aid and tax credits under the Social Security Act, will more 
 broadly and more uniformly cover gainfully employed workers, will 
 stand independently of the Federal act, will not require the worker 
 to contribute, and will be administered by the State agency generally 
 responsible for administering State labor laws. The conference rec- 
 ommends that the administration of the unemployment-compensation 
 provisions of the Social Security Act be made an integral part of 
 the United States Department of Labor. It urges amendment of 
 the Federal act to provide social-security benefits for the workers of 
 Puerto Rico and all other territory comprising the United States of 
 America. 
 
 The conference recommends completion of the program for a 
 Nation-wide system of Federal- State employment service by means 
 of acceptance of the Wagner-Peyser Act by the five remaining States. 
 It believes that this program should be closely integrated with the 
 State program for unemployment compensation. 
 
 The conference believes there should be State-wide effective regu- 
 lation of private employment offices under the jurisdiction of the 
 State departments of labor, with Federal legislation for the regula- 
 tion of interstate activities. 
 
 10. Industrial home work. — The conference records itself as urging 
 the elimination of industrial home work through the passage of State 
 and Federal legislation with adequate provision for enforcement. 
 
 11. Wage payment and ivage collection. — The conference urges leg- 
 islation conferring upon State labor commissioners the power to take 
 assignment of wage claims and to collect and, furthermore, urges the 
 adoption of laws providing for weekly or semimonthly payment of 
 wages by all employers in States that do not yet have them. 
 
28 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 Part II 
 
 The following resolutions were submitted and adopted : 
 
 Prevailing wages. — (This resolution was recommended by the com- 
 mittee as a substitute for a resolution submitted by Edward L. Nolan y 
 Labor Commissioner of California.) 
 
 Whereas the legislatures of many States have enacted into law 
 statutes to provide for the payment of the prevailing rate of wages on 
 public works; and 
 
 Whereas the Federal Congress has likewise established a policy of 
 maintaining the prevailing rate of wages and in pursuance of that 
 policy enacted into law the Davis-Bacon Act applying to public 
 works and public buildings and included the prevailing rate of wage 
 principle in other public-works statutes ; and 
 
 Whereas cooperation between these various agencies, both in the 
 determination of the wage rates and in general enforcement, is neces- 
 sary in order to accomplish the purpose of these laws : Therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, That the Department of Labor make a study as to the 
 methods of administration of these laws and the relationship between 
 Federal and State agencies charged with their administration. 
 
 State-use system for prison-made goods. — 
 
 Whereas some States have not yet adopted the principle of restric- 
 tion of production by prison labor to the State-use system; and 
 
 Whereas this system has been widely advocated in order to keep 
 convict-made goods from undercutting free labor on the open market : 
 Therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, That this conference urge the States to adopt legislation 
 providing for the State-use system, and that the United States De- 
 partment of Labor compile and distribute information as a basis for 
 such legislation. 
 
 Poll-tax voting requirement. — 
 
 Whereas the payment of a poll tax as a prerequisite to voting exists 
 in many States; 
 
 Whereas this conference is considering and endorsing a broad and 
 progressive program of labor legislation; and 
 
 Whereas this requirement has the undoubted effect of restricting 
 the labor electorate, thus reducing the popular support upon which 
 progress in labor legislation depends : Be it 
 
 Resolved, That the conference favors the elimination of such lim- 
 itations as the poll tax upon the right to vote, and, furthermore, that 
 it request the United States Department of Labor to inquire into the 
 extent of such restrictions and ask it to cooperate with the State 
 federations of labor and other groups interested in their elimination. 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 29 
 
 Industrial relations. — 
 
 Be it resolved, that in the interest of industrial peace and the pro- 
 motion of better employer and employee relations, this conference 
 respectfully requests the Secretary of Labor to appoint a committee 
 to investigate ways and means of accomplishing these purposes. It 
 is suggested that the following subjects would be appropriate for this 
 committee to investigate: Collective bargaining; the use of injunc- 
 tions in labor disputes; "yellow dog" contracts; use of strikebreak- 
 ers and labor spies; conciliation and arbitration functions; and re- 
 lated subjects. 
 
 Chairman: Edward F. Nolan, Labor Commissioner, California. 
 
 Elizabeth Eastman, National Board, Young Women's Christian Association, 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 E. I. McKinley, Commissioner, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Arkansas. 
 Elizabeth Christman, National Women's Trade Union League, Washington, 
 
 D. C. 
 Fred E. Gastrow, Executive Board Member, State Federation of Labor, 
 
 Wisconsin. 
 Katharine Lenroot, Chief, Children's Bureau, United States Department of 
 
 La bor. 
 Jean A. Flexner, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 
 The following resolution was introduced from the floor, adopted, 
 and signed by the delegates to the Third National Conference on 
 Labor Legislation : 
 
 We, the delegates to the Third Annual National Conference on Labor Legis- 
 lation, held at Washington, D. C, November 9, 10, and 11, 1936, wish to express 
 cur appreciation of the inspiring and far-visioned leadership of Secretary of 
 Labor Frances Perkins in initiating the policy of holding these national and 
 regional meetings from time to time. Such gatherings have been responsible 
 for direct and substantial gains to millions of wage earners through the enact- 
 ment of a broad program of legislation in the States which has brought about 
 needed and desirable improvement in the working conditions of so many 
 Americans. 
 
REPORTS OF CONTINUING COMMITTEES 
 
 EEPOBT OF THE SECBETABY OP LABOR'S ADVISOEY COMMITTEE 
 ON NATIONAL AND STATE LABOR DEPAETMENT PEOBLEMS— 
 as adopted 
 
 As a result of a resolution adopted by the Second National Labor 
 Conference, held last year at Asheville, N. C, an advisory commit- 
 tee on National and State Labor Department problems was appointed 
 by the Secretary of Labor. It was suggested at the last conference 
 that such a committee might be of aid to the Secretary in developing 
 close cooperation between the Federal and State labor departments. 
 
 The committee met in Washington on May 5, 1936, at which time 
 a wide range of subjects were considered and various recommenda- 
 tions made. Among the more important were the suggestions, based 
 upon experience with two earlier national conferences on labor legis- 
 lation, that this year's conference should be held in Washington and 
 should be scheduled for 3 days, instead of 2, in order to allow more 
 time for the formulation and discussion of committee reports. These 
 suggestions have been carried out in the planning of the program 
 for this conference. 
 
 It was agreed that regional conferences were of real value in stimu- 
 lating interest in improving labor legislation and that further con- 
 ferences of this sort should be called whenever the work of the 
 Department permits it. It was thought advisable to hold the next 
 such conference in Texas to cover the States in the southwestern 
 area. This conference was planned for late September, but the com- 
 mitments of the Secretary made it impossible for her to attend, so 
 it has been postponed until January 1937. 
 
 The committee received reports of the activities of the special com- 
 mittees engaged in drafting industrial homework legislation and 
 legislation on the subject of wage payment and wage collection in 
 accordance with the instructions of the Asheville Conference, and 
 suggested the appointment of a committee to consider the regulation 
 of private employment agencies, a committee to draw up suggested 
 language for the powers and duties of State labor departments, and 
 a committee to develop a manual for factory inspection that would 
 combine the best procedures of a number of State labor departments. 
 These various committees were appointed and are now functioning. 
 We shall have reports on progress during this conference. 
 30 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 31 
 
 Consideration was given to the results obtained at the factory 
 inspectors' training school, held in Baltimore for 10 days during Feb- 
 ruary, 193G, in which the factory inspectors from four States par- 
 ticipated. All of the labor commissioners present expressed interest 
 in having such an experience made available to their own inspection 
 staffs. It was hoped that the United States Department of Labor 
 might find ways and means to continue the program for the benefit 
 of any States wishing to participate. 
 
 The need for better clearance of information concerning interesting 
 new developments in State labor departments was discussed, and it 
 was strongly urged that State labor commissioners send in news items 
 and press releases, or any sort of informal account, of their activities 
 to the Division of Labor Standards for possible incorporation in the 
 Survey of Labor Law Administration. 
 
 The need for additional funds for promoting the Federal appren- 
 tice-training program and the desirability of putting it on a perma- 
 nent basis were discussed. 
 
 Consideration was given to the place of the State labor depart- 
 ments in the development of the Social Security program. It was 
 generally agreed that the place for unemployment compensation and 
 employment service administration is together, and both belong in 
 the State departments of labor. 
 
 In addition to the suggestions made at this particular meeting, the 
 various members of the committee have advised with the Division of 
 Labor Standards from time to time as to ways and means of improv- 
 ing service to the States. The committee feels that real progress has 
 been made in bringing about a better understanding between the 
 State labor departments and the Federal Department of Labor during 
 this past year and sincerely hopes that this understanding and coop- 
 erative relationship can be developed still further. 
 
 Chairman : Wendell C. Heaton, Chairman, Industrial Commission, Florida. 
 Elmer Andrews, Industrial Commissioner, Department of Labor, New York. 
 G. Clay Baker, Chairman, Department of Labor and Industry, Kansas. 
 Martin P. Durkin, Director, Department of Labor, Illinois. 
 George Googe, Southern Representative, American Federation of Labor, 
 
 Georgia. 
 Carl Mullen, President, State Federation of Labor, Indiana. 
 Rose Schneiderman, President, National Women's Trade Union League, 
 
 New York. 
 Joseph M. Tone, Commissioner of Labor, Connecticut. 
 L. Metcalfe Walling, Director of Labor, Rhode Island. 
 
32 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON POWERS AND DUTIES OF STATE LABOR 
 
 DEPARTMENTS— as adopted 
 
 The committee has drafted suggested language for the creation of a 
 State labor department. Inasmuch as the bill in its final form was 
 approved at a meeting held just prior to the opening of this con- 
 ference, there has not been an opportunity to obtain mimeographed 
 copies for distribution to the conference. 
 
 In drafting this bill, the committee contemplated that it should 
 be drawn to meet the needs of States having no labor departments 
 functioning at present, and those States desiring to reorganize and 
 strengthen existing departments. 
 
 While the bill creates a State department of labor under the 
 supervision of a single commissioner, the committee recognizes in its 
 accompanying memorandum that a multiple-headed commission may 
 be found to be more satisfactory under certain conditions. 
 
 All labor functions in the State, insofar as practicable, are com- 
 bined and placed under the jurisdiction of the labor department. 
 The commissioner is granted the necessary powers of enforcement: 
 To make inspections, to examine records and premises, to require 
 information and subpena testimony, to administer oaths, and to 
 prosecute violations. 
 
 In addition the commissioner is given the power to make general 
 orders for the safety and health of employees and the public, and 
 to issue variations in cases of undue hardship. In preparing safety 
 and health requirements, the commissioner has the power to utilize 
 the voluntary services of technical advisers. A procedure for the 
 adoption of such orders is created, providing for notice and public 
 hearing, approval by the industrial council, and publication. The* 
 industrial council, just mentioned, is also created by the bill. It is 
 composed of three persons representing employers, employees, and 
 the public, with the commissioner as an ex-officio member without 
 vote. Its functions consist of advising the commissioner generally 
 on the administration of the Department and passing on general 
 orders and variations relating to safety and health. 
 
 There is imposed on employers and owners of places of employ- 
 ment, public buildings, and places of public assembly the duty to 
 provide adequate protection for the safety and health of employees 
 and the public. It is this duty which serves as the basis for the 
 power of the commissioner to issue general orders, above mentioned. 
 
 Violations of the bill or of any order of the commissioner, or 
 obstructing the commissioner in the performance of his duties, is 
 made a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment. In lieu 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 33 
 
 of such criminal actions, the fines may be recovered in a civil action 
 in the name of the State, in the nature of an action for debt. 
 
 Chairman : Martin P. Durkin, Director, Department of Labor, Illinois. 
 Elmer F. Andrews, Industrial Commissioner, Department of Labor, New 
 
 York. 
 A. L. Fletcher, Commissioner, Department of Labor, North Carolina. 
 C. L. Jarrett, Commissioner of Labor, West Virginia. 
 James T. Moriarty, Commissioner, Department of Labor and Industries, 
 
 Massachusetts. 
 F. E. Nichols, Commissioner of Labor, Texas. 
 
 Edwin E. Witte, Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin. 
 David Y. Campbell, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 Clara M. Beyer, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department of 
 
 Labor. 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON WAGE PAYMENT AND WAGE 
 COLLECTION— as adopted 
 
 At the Second National Conference on Labor Legislation at Ashe- 
 ville, N. C, last year, the problem of unpaid wages was called to the 
 attention of the conference. The failure of many employers to pay 
 wages earned, the inability of the individual wage earner to settle 
 disputes on wages due or to collect the sums owing to him through 
 existing legal machinery resulted, in many States, in wage earners 
 bringing their complaints to the labor commissioners. Wherever the 
 labor commissioner had some legal authority to proceed, they were 
 able to collect very large sums; but even in States where the laws 
 were weak or not explicit, persuasion was often used and many cases 
 settled in favor of the employee. After 1 this problem and the exist- 
 ing legal remedies had been discussed by a conference committee, a 
 report brought in by that committee was adopted, requesting the 
 Secretary of Labor to form a committee of inquiry to develop proper 
 types of legislative remedy and, in cooperation with other interested 
 groups, to prepare an act to serve as a model for State laws. The 
 Secretary's committee was subsequently combined with a committee 
 appointed by the president of the International Association of Gov- 
 ernmental Labor Officials, and the joint committee then consisted of 
 Morgan Mooney (Deputy Labor Commissioner, Connecticut) ; W- A. 
 Pat Murphy (Labor Commissioner, Oklahoma) ; Harry R. McLogan 
 (Member, Industrial Commission, Wisconsin) ; O. B. Chapman 
 (Director, Department of Industrial Relations, Ohio) ; and E. I. 
 McKinley (Commissioner, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Arkansas) 
 as chairman. 
 
 The committee met for 4 days at the United States Department 
 of Labor the end of January of this year, and again at the Topeka 
 
34 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 meeting of the International Association of Governmental Labor 
 Officials in September. It has prepared and is presenting to you 
 now for your approval suggested language for a State wage pay- 
 ment and wage collection law. This language has received the en- 
 dorsement of the International Association of Governmental Labor 
 Officials; and probably most of those present from State labor 
 departments and State federations of labor have already received 
 copies of this bill, since it has been sent out with a covering letter by 
 the president of the International Association of Governmental 
 Labor Officials. However, for the benefit of those who are not 
 familiar with the draft, I shall briefly summarize its main provisions : 
 
 SUMMARY OF BILL 
 
 The bill provides that every employer doing business in the 
 State — whether an individual employer or a corporation — must pay 
 his employees wages earned semimonthly, on clays to be designated 
 in advance by the employer as the regular pay clays ; it provides that 
 such wages shall be paid in full, in lawful money, or bank checks 
 convertible into cash at full face value. Employees who are dis- 
 charged shall be paid within 24 hours; employees who quit volun- 
 tarily shall be paid within 72 hours of quitting, or of giving notice; 
 in the event of a suspension of work due to an industrial dispute, 
 wages shall be paid at next regular pay day. The bill provides for 
 enforcement by the labor commissioner, who is also empowered to 
 hold hearings which would create an opportunity for the settlement 
 of disputes without court action, and to compel the attendance of 
 witnesses as well as the production of books, accounts, pay rolls, and 
 similar material. The commissioner is authorized and instructed to 
 cooperate with any employee in. the enforcement of any just and 
 valid claim against an employer or contractor, and to that end he may 
 take assignments of wage claims, mechanics' and other workers' liens, 
 not exceeding $200 per claim. In addition, he may prosecute all 
 necessary actions to collect, without having to advance court costs 
 or to give bond or security. 
 
 There are also sections in the bill providing for notifying the 
 employees of time and place of payment, of their rate of wages, and 
 of the terms of the law; providing that an employer may become 
 civilly liable to the employees of his subcontractors. The penalty 
 sections provide for penalties of varying degrees of severity, in 
 order to allow the enforcing official some discretion, depending on 
 the character and standing of the employer who violates the act. 
 
 The standards embodied in this draft are minimum standards. 
 Some States have more rigorous requirements than those which are 
 here recommended. But in most jurisdictions all these minimum 
 requirements do not exist. For those States which have attained or 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 35 
 
 surpassed these standards they are a basis from which to work in a 
 continued effort to remedy any defects which may arise. For other 
 jurisdictions these standards are a goal toward which to work in 
 order to protect the wage earner and enable him to obtain wages 
 due him. 
 
 While every effort lias been made to keep the language of this bill 
 brief, simple, and nontechnical, it has also been carefully worded 
 in order to make sure of accomplishing the ends in view, and that 
 is not always easy to achieve. For instance, the section on payment 
 of wages as it now stands would prevent the undesirable practice of 
 withholding wages for a considerable period of time, although 
 withholding wages is not specifically mentioned. 
 
 The committee feels that the bill may still require changes or 
 amendments from time to time, but that these can best be made after 
 there has accumulated some further administrative experience under 
 a law of this type. 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS 
 
 The committee recommends that this committee be continued for 
 another year in order to keep in touch with the situation and con- 
 sider any amendments that may prove desirable. For this purpose, 
 if the committee is continued, I would urge that some arrangement 
 be made whereby the committee can learn about the problems that 
 arise in getting this bill adopted, as well as the administrative 
 experience after it is adopted. 
 
 It is asked that the Division of Labor Standards, which has been 
 assisting the committee in its work, be made the clearing house for 
 this information. 
 
 The committee presents this bill to you for your endorsement, and 
 urges that the conference record itself as recommending to the 
 States enactment of this bill. 
 
 Chairman, E. I. McKinley, commissioner, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 
 
 Arkansas ; 
 Morgan Mooney, Deputy Commissioner of Labor, Connecticut ; 
 W. A. Pat Murphy, Commissioner of Labor, Oklahoma ; 
 Harry R. McLogan, Member of Industrial Commission, Wisconsin ; 
 O. B. Chapman, Director, Department of Industrial Relations, Ohio ; 
 Jean A. Flexner, United States Department of Labor ; 
 Henry Lehmann, United States Department of Labor. 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK— 
 
 as adopted 
 
 The Industrial Home Work Committee which was appointed after 
 the Asheville conference has been working along two rather distinct 
 but complementary lines. It has been working on a draft of a stand- 
 
36 THIRD NATIONAL, CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 ard State bill and it has been attempting to work out some machin- 
 ery to control the growing, difficult situation arising from interstate 
 traffic in home work. I am glad to report that so far as a standard 
 bill for the control of industrial home work in the States is con- 
 cerned, the committee has something drafted which is here, ready 
 for distribution among you. This bill, we believe, does point toward 
 the elimination of home work within the States, which is the com- 
 mittee's definite objective. 
 
 The more you know about industrial home work the more certain 
 you are that complete elimination is what you ought to go after. You 
 are certain of that, both because of the very bad conditions which 
 you find as you attempt to control it, and because of the difficulties 
 that are inherent in the administration of a statute for the control 
 of home work. The committee's bill, a copy of which you can get 
 here, was drafted by Mr. Gellhorn, of the Columbia University Law 
 School, who acts as legal adviser to the committee, and was endorsed 
 in Topeka by the recent session of the International Association of 
 Governmental Labor Officials. It does prohibit home work out and 
 out in a number of types of industry, where there is a special hazard 
 to health or to safety : Any home work on food or drink ; home work 
 on articles used in connection with serving of food or drink; home 
 work on wearing apparel for infants and for children 10 years of 
 age or under; toys, dolls; tobacco; drugs and poisons; bandages and 
 sanitary goods; explosives and fireworks and articles of like charac- 
 ter. Obviously, we don't want explosives and fireworks manufac- 
 tured where people live, where their families and children are con- 
 gregated. You don't want shelled nuts or sippers for drinks, or 
 things of that sort, that were made under tenement-house conditions, 
 coming into your home for use, and so prohibition is the obviously 
 reasonable thing to provide. 
 
 Then the bill goes on to provide that the labor commissioner shall 
 have the power to prohibit where the continuance of industrial home 
 Avork either causes injury to the health or welfare of the home worker, 
 or where it makes especially difficult the maintenance of existing labor 
 standards or the observance and enforcement of labor law protection 
 for factory workers. Those of us who have been studying homework 
 conditions, those States which have had a lot of it close at home for 
 some time, like New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, know that 
 it is a menace to factory conditions ; that the woman — and it usually 
 is a woman who works at home — is least able to bargain for the main- 
 tenance of her labor standards; that she doesn't know what other 
 people are paid ; that she can't get together with her fellow workers 
 and say, "We will none of us do this sort of work unless we get decent 
 returns for the work we do." 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 37 
 
 We know, when we issue a certificate to a home worker to do a cer- 
 tain piece of work herself that when she is told to get it back the 
 next morning she lets her children help, or she calls in the neigh- 
 bors, regardless of the conditions on her certificate which make such 
 assistance illegal; and we know that it would take a staff of in- 
 spectors larger than any of the States or, I take it, the Federal Gov- 
 ernment could support, to see that during the busy season these things 
 don't happen. 
 
 Therefore, your committee is definitely in favor of prohibiting in- 
 dustrial home work. It recognizes that prohibition means continued 
 checking up on the sources of home work which are with us constantly 
 because home work does mean that the manufacturer shifts a good 
 deal of his cost and can take advantage of the worker's inability to 
 maintain her equality with factory standards. 
 
 The committee's bill provides that the employer must have a per- 
 mit if he is to give out home work and that he must pay for that per- 
 mit annually according to the number of home workers he has. Since 
 the International Association of Governmental Labor Officials meet- 
 ing in Topeka there has been added to the bill a section which pro- 
 vides for a home worker's certificate, because we find that that does 
 help to educate the home worker as to her rights and responsibilities 
 and that it helps the department of labor to check up. 
 
 The bill also provides that the manufacturer who gives out home 
 work shall pay quarterly a tax on every home worker he employs. 
 Where there is a good deal of home work such a provision means 
 revenue for the maintenance of the inspection service, but it is a 
 provision which perhaps would mean too costly a set-up where home 
 work is not a general problem. The tax provision, however, is a 
 separable part of the bill. 
 
 Your committee feels very strongly that where home work is al- 
 lowed to continue, and there is a minimum-wage law, the provisions 
 of the minimum-wage law should be applied as promptly and as 
 broadly as possible to home work industries. We would like to point 
 out also that even where you have no minimum-wage law the standard 
 bill makes possible the prohibition of industrial home work when 
 it is found that the pay of home workers is less than the factory 
 workers, and that an aim of the draft is to help bring up the earn- 
 ings, the income of the home worker. 
 
 Three States have recently enacted home-work legislation that has 
 the same general objective as this new standard bill — Connecticut, 
 Rhode Island, and New York. Some of us have felt that just as 
 we profited greatly in our minimum-wage legislation by having con- 
 ferences on methods of administration so, as the roster of States 
 having similar home-work legislation grows, we might well confer 
 
38 THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 
 
 on administrative practices in this field also. They are difficult and 
 complex and leave us with many questions unsolved. 
 
 Now, on an interesting aspect, an earlier conference recommended 
 that the Federal Department of Labor begin to study the transit of 
 industrial home work in interstate commerce and so those States 
 which require licensing have been reporting to each other where 
 they thought that manufacturers were sending work across State 
 lines. Copies of the reports have cleared through the United States 
 Department of Labor, and we have for the first time a partial picture 
 of what is happening. I don't think I can emphasize sufficiently 
 how partial that picture is, because most of us in the States feel that 
 we cannot push to hard on getting the information and seeking to 
 control wages outside of the State borders. For instance, we in New 
 York may report that a manufacturer has several hundred or a 
 thousand home workers of whom 50 are outside of New York State, 
 but we don't know from his register whether those are individual 
 home workers or whether they are contractors who in turn may be 
 distributors, perhaps in an interstate area. 
 
 Mrs. Beyer and I have been having a lively correspondence about 
 somebody down in Baltimore who was reported on one of our regis- 
 ters. We found to my astonishment that that man wasn't doing 
 home work at all but that he was sending materials into Pennsylvania. 
 Our records had not given us the whole picture. 
 
 Actually six States have been clearing through the United States 
 Department of Labor and several additional States have reported 
 that so far as they know, no industrial home work has crossed their 
 borders, either coming in or going out. The six States that have 
 reported actual passage of home work are Delaware, Maine, Massachu- 
 setts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. And New York, I 
 know, and the records say, is the source of most of that home work. 
 One hundred and seventy-one manufacturers in New York State 
 have been sending out home work into 16 States and Puerto Rico; 
 160 of them sent work into one State only; 153 of those cases were 
 home work going into New Jersey. Seven of the States — Delaware, 
 Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, and West 
 Virginia — into which New York materials were going, have no laws 
 regulating industrial home work. Much of the outgoing New York 
 home work consisted of infants' sacks and bootees, and so forth, and in 
 these seven States it is a matter of nobody's concern whether there is 
 disease in the homes where the women work at the rate of 3 cents an 
 hour, or whether children are working on the materials, or whether 
 the work is being performed under any of the other characteristic 
 conditions of home work. 
 
 A substantial proportion of the materials which pass in interstate 
 commerce were found to be distributed through the contract system. 
 
THIRD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LABOR LEGISLATION 39 
 
 At least 56 of the 171 New York firms sent materials to contractors 
 or distributors operating in other States and the reports listed 92 
 New Jersey contractors and 3 contractors living in Pennsylvania 
 who were acting as local distributors for New York manufacturers. 
 From these 171 New York manufacturers we have specific reports of 
 1,451 home workers in other States and the exact number of home 
 workers to whom 50 of the local distributors give out work is as yet 
 unknown. 
 
 This also is significant : Thirty-six percent of the home workers who 
 were receiving work from New York lived in States where there are 
 no industrial home work laws and I want to emphasize again that 
 the bulk of the work was intended for the use of infants and children. 
 
 Our committee is working on the problem of what to do about 
 this passage of industrial home work across State lines. Mr. Gell- 
 horn feels that it is important to recommend not only that the Fed- 
 eral Government have some authority in the control of interstate 
 passage of home work, but that the States shall be able to stop home 
 work from coming in if it is going to have an adverse effect on 
 State standards. We are waiting for a decision of the Supreme 
 Court in connection with existing legislation which prohibits the 
 shipment of prison-made goods into States where its sale is forbid- 
 den. If that statute is upheld, Mr. Gellhorn feels that he can then 
 recommend much more intelligently to the committee the direction 
 which we should take with regard to interstate passage of home- 
 work goods. This, therefore, is one of the important lines of 
 activity to be continued. We further recommend that all of you 
 consider what is coming into your States from these chief distribu- 
 tion centers of home work and the possibility that we get together so 
 that we may have the benefit of all experience in the administration 
 of the new home-work laws. 
 
 Chairman, Frieda S. Miller, Director, Division of Women in Industry and 
 
 Minimum Wage, Department of Labor, New York. 
 Anne S. Davis, Assistant Chief, Minimum Wage Division, Department of 
 
 Labor, Illinois. 
 W. E. Jacobs, Commissioner of Labor, Tennessee. 
 W. A. Pat Murphy, Commissioner of Labor, Oklahoma. 
 John J. Toohey, Jr., Commissioner of Labor, New Jersey. 
 Beatrice McConnell, Children's Bureau, United States Department of Labor. 
 Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, Women's Bureau, United States Department of 
 
 Labor. 
 A. Louise Murphy, Division of Labor Standards, United States Department 
 
 of Labor. 
 
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UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 
 
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