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And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C., and . 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.VY. or JOHN MENZJES & Co.,. 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow ; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. 1892. ['C.— 6795.— r-'x.] Pride 6d, ' <2 <0 / Ow r ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. : , • ' < : • : T »■ \ ... ‘ • ■ ' • SV «* : . • •; • . > » j \'c* , . . i 1 f ' - . ; ifi' , •: ■ 1 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN THE UNITED STATES. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page PREFACE. -SOURCES FROM WHICH THE INFORMATION INCORPORATED IN THIS REPORT IS DERIVED - - 3-4 a. Reports issued by the Department of Labour ----- 3 b. Reports issued by the State Bureaux of Labour ----- 3 c. Government publications --------4 cl. Other publications - - - - - - - - 4 DIVISION I.— TRADE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. A. — General Relations between Employers and Employed ------- 4_io 1. Attitude of employers ----------- 4 2. Unionist tactics - -- -- -.---.5 3. Picketing and blacklisting ----------- 6 4. History of employers’ associations --------- 6 5. General characteristics of labour organisations -------- 6 6 . History of labour organisations - - - - - - - - 7 a. Trades Unions — early period --------- 7 b. Trades Unions — later period - - - - - - - - 8 c. Organisations other than Trades Unions -------- 8 7. Present position of labour organisations -------- 10 B. — Causes of Strikes and Lock-outs ---------- 10-15 1. Wages ------------- 10 a. Advance or reduction ---------- 10 b. Introduction of machinery -------- - 10 c. Weekly payments ------- 11 d. The truck system ----------- 11 e. Houses or other allowances - - - - - - - - - 11 /. Fines or other deductions - - - - - - - - 12 (Excursus on some general statistics concerning wages) - - - - - 12 2. Hours ------------- 13 a. Reduction of hours - - - - - - - - - - -13 b. Normal hours - -- -- -- -- - -14 c. Overtime and nightwork ------- - .-14 d. Irregular work ----------- 14 e. Sunday work and holidays - - - - - - - - -15 3. Action of labour organisations ---------- 15 C. — Development, Organisation, and Conduct of Strikes and Lock-outs ----- 15-20 1. Number of strikes and lock-outs throughout the United States - - - - - 15 a. Distribution by States ---------- 15 b. Distribution by industries ---------- 16 2. Duration of strikes and lock-outs --------- 16 3. Important individual strikes --------- - 16 a. In the mining districts - -- -- -- ...16 b. On the railroads - -- -- -- - ...17 c. Amongst iron and steel workers, 1892 ----- - - - 19 d. Amongst telegraphers, 1883 19 e. Amongst longshoremen, 1887 - -----..- 20 D. — Cost and General Results or Strikes and Lock-outs ------- 20-21 1. Proportion of successful strikes and lock-outs -------- 20 2. Cost to the employers ----------- 20 3. Cost to the employed ----------- 20 E. — Prevention and Settlement of Strikes and Lock-outs ------- 21-23 1. Voluntary boards of arbitration or conciliation- - -- -- -- 21 2. State boards of arbitration or conciliation - -- -- -- - 22 3. Joint committees ------------22 4. Sliding scales - -- -- -- -...-23 F, 74099. A 2 Page DIVISION II.— CONDITIONS OF LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. A. Mining, Iron, Engineering, Hardware, Shipbuilding, and Cognate Trades - 1. Iron and steel workers ----------- a. Cost of production ----------- b. Wages in the United States, Great Britain, and the Continent of Europe c. Comparative efficiency of labour in the United States, Great Britain, and the Continent of Europe - -- -------- d. Cost of living in the United States, Great Britain, and Belgium - 2. Hardware, cutlery, and kindred industries -------- 3. Shipbuilding ------------ 4. Mining ------------- a. Wages and hours of labour --------- b. Organisations ----------- c. Effect of competition of foreign labour upon miners ------ d. Effect of railway ownership of mines - 23-25 23 23 24 24 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 25 B. — Transport and Agriculture ------ 1. Railroad labour ------- а. Wages ------- б . Hours of labour ----.. c. Accidents and employers’ liability - d. Relief funds ...... e. Rates ------- /. Influence on agriculture - 2. Dock and riverside labour ..... 3. Fisheries -------- 4. Tramways - 5. Agriculture ....... a. Existing depression and its causes ... b. Connexion of the currency question with agriculture c. Remedies proposed ------ d. Agricultural labour - 0. — Textile, Clothing, Chemical, Building, and Miscellaneous Trades 1. Textile, clothing, and miscellaneous trades - - - a. Women’s labour ------ b. Child labour ...... c. Education laws ------ d. The sweating system - e. Factory inspection ------ /. Textile workers ------ g. Clothing trades ------ h. Boot and shoe workers - i. Cigar makers ------ j. Bakers - - - 7c. Furniture workers - - - — l. Glass workers ------ m. Packing houses ------ n. Paper mills ------- 2. Building trades ------- - 26-30 26 26 26 26 26 27 27 27 28 28 28 28 29 29 29 - 30-34 30 30 31 31 32 32 32 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 DIVISION III.— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — Co-operation and Profit-sharing 1. Distributive co-operation ------- 2. Productive co-operation -------- 3. Co-operative building associations ...... 4. Co-operation amongst farmers -----.. 5. Profit-sharing - - - - - - - B. — Foreign Labour --------- C. — Convict Labour -------- D. — Municipal Employment -------- - 34-38 34 34 36 36 37 - 38-40 40 - 40-41 1. On public works ------------40 2. Provision for the unemployed by means of labour bureaux ------ 41 E. — The Eight Hours Movement - -- -- -- -- - 4i_42 APPENDIX A.-- TRUSTS IN THE UNITED STATES - 42-44 APPENDIX B.— ARBITRATION ACTS IN THE UNITED STATES 44-52 APPENDIX C.— BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS BEARING ON LABOUR QUESTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES NOW IN THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL COMMIS- SION ON LABOUR 52-55 Reports issued by the Depart ment of Labour. 3 PREFACE. Sources from which the Information incorporated in this Report is derived. The chief source of information with regard to the United States as a whole is to be found in the annual reports issued by the Commissioner of Labour. The Bureau of Labour at Washington, D.C., was created as an office in the Department of the Interior by Act of Congress, approved June 27th, 1884, and organized January 22nd, 1885, by the appointment of Carroll D. Wright, of Massachusetts, as commissioner. The functions of this bureau ceased June 13th, 1888, at which date the Act of Congress creating its successor, the Department of Labour, was approved. This Act was the result of a demand on the part of the Knights of Labour. The Department of Labour is independent of the Department of the Interior, and of all other departments, and hence deals directly with Congress and the President. The term of office of the commis- sioner is four years ; at the expiration of this period a re-appointment or a new appointment is made. The term of other employes is not so limited. The fiscal year begins on July 1st, and ends on June 30th, fol- lowing. The regular appropriations made by Congress have risen from §25,000 in 1884-5 to over §175,000 in 1891-2. Congress occasionally directs special inves- tigations to be made, and appropriates money for the purpose, as in the case of an inquiry into the statistics of marriage and divorce and into the industrial and technical school systems. It also provides by special Acts for the printing and binding of the annual reports. These are usually sent free of cost to all persons in the United States who apply for them if the supply admits. They arc also sent in exchange to all govern- ment officials or other persons in foreign countries, who have rendered the department a service by forwarding to it their own publications. Finally, if the supply is not exhausted, they are sent to other distinguished foreigners who express a wish for them. The reports hitherto issued deal with industrial depressions, convict labour, strikes and lock-outs, working women in large cities, railroad labour, and the cost of production in the case of ii'on, steel, coal, &c. The report now (1892) in preparation will deal with the cost of production in the cotton and woollen industries, and the department is also engaged in investigating “the effect of the tariff “ laws on the imports and exports, the growth, develop - “ ment, production, and prices of agricultural and “ manufactured articles at home and abroad, and upon “ wages, domestic and foreign.” The object of the department, as expressed in the Act which constituted it, is the “ acquiring and diffusing among the people “ of the United States useful information on subjects “ connected with labour in the most general and com- “ prehensive sense of the word, and especially upon its “ relation to capital, the hours of labour, the earnings “ of labouring men and women, and the means of “ promoting their material, social, intellectual, and “ moral prosperity.” Its permanent force consists of a commissioner, chief clerk, four statistical experts, twenty-nine clerks (including two stenographers and a translator), four copyists, and twenty special agents. (') According to Mr. Carroll D. Wright’s own state- ment : — “ The statistical illustrations of the various “ features . . . are the results of original inquiry, and “ these statistical illustrations, taken in connexion with “ others, which are all from most trustworthy sources, “ and from highest authorities, constitute a grouping “ of facts relative to conditions claiming the fullest “ attention.” Facts are collected by the agents of the department under the direction of the commissioner. These are arranged in tables, the tables summarised, and the summaries form the basis of the conclusions or the suggestions embodied in the report. “ Theoretical “ discussion has been avoided so far as possible. When “ speaking of certain influences resulting from the “ evolution of industrial forces* it is quite impossible “ to keep entirely outside of theoretical lines, nor is it “ always desirable, for the conclusions of one who has “ had the preparation of a report of this kind, and the “ opportunity to study closely the relations of all “ the facts presented, should, if impartially stated, “ have some value, even if they approach a theoretical “ basis.” ( 2 ) The department, in common with the State Bureaux of Labour, may adopt a threefold method of obtaining (') “The Working of the Department of Labour,” by Carroll D. Wright. ( 2 ) Report of the Commissioner of Labour, 1880, p. 7. the desired information. Uniform schedules of ques- tions may be issued to representative persons, whether employers or employed, evidence may be taken at public hearings, and special agents may be sent out. The first method has in the past proved comparatively useless in America, for it is impossible to regard many of the answers returned as really representative of facts. ( 3 ) In many cases the average showing obtained by sending out such bffinks is better than the average condition, for where employers send in returns, they do not in every case give the full range of wages, and where answers are desired from working men, it is, as a rule, only the most intelligent and most highly paid who take the trouble to fill up the schedules. When returns are received from unskilled labour, they are often mere sensational statements, unsupported by evi- dence. Where the method of public hearing is adopted, as in the case of legislative committees, the result is the collection of a mass of incongruous statements, often obtained from journalists and others not belonging to the class of either employers or employed. Such statements are not easily classified, and it must be admitted that very little is done by United States committees to present the outcome of their labours in a practical form. In some cases no summary of the evidence is given at all, and in the matters of arrange- ment and indexing, their publications leave much to be desired. Further, the practice of admitting reporters and allowing them to publish some part of the evidence months before any official copy of it is given to the public, leads to misrepresentations, and renders the information difficult to obtain. Though some of the evidence given before the committee of Congress, now (1892) investigating the sweating system, has appeared in the papers, no official copy of it is as yet forthcoming. ( J ) The sending out of special agents has proved the most reliable method, “ according to the “ experience of 19 years ; when it is desired to collect “ official statements and from official sources a special “ letter or blank is useful, and usefully accomplishes “ the desired end.” Even in this case the speed with which the reports are produced must make it difficult to sift the information gained by the agents as much as is necessary, in spite of the symmetrical appearance of the results. It is true that as the reports are presented to Congress and the public at the end of the year, whilst the fiscal year begins in July, each report is in preparation for 17 or 18 months. Nevertheless, the fact that in collecting details, for instance, as to the relative cost of living in Europe and America, the returns of 762 American families engaged in the pro- duction of pig-iron are compared with those of 11 families only in Belgium and 65 in Great Britain, leads to the conclusion that the comparison would be more valuable if the numbers were more equal. Again, the item of clothing, though given in the tables, is made of little account in the summary, and yet it con- stitutes an important difference in the relative cost of living in the two continents. Another important item, that of rent, which in the United States is very high, receives the attention due to it in the reports of the Department of Labour, but is somewhat neglected in those of the bureaux. These bureaux exist in 28 States and had their origin in Massachusetts. In 1865 a special unpaid commis- sion of five was selected “ to collect information and “ statistics in regard to the hours of labour and the “ condition and prospects of the industrial classes.” In 1867 they recommended the establishment of a bureau of statistics, and in 1869 the Massachusetts bureau was instituted, partly because the dominant party, which had just refused the petition of the Knights of St. Crispin for incorporation, feared to lose the labour vote. A complete list of the States having bureaux of labour, with the dates of their establishment, is as follows : — Massachusetts, 1869 ; Pennsylvania, 1872 ; Connecticut, 1873 (discontinued 1875, re-estab- lished 1885) ; Ohio, 1877 ; New Jersey, 1878; Missouri, 1879 ; Illinois, 1879 ; Indiana, 1879 ; New York, 1883 ; California, 1883 ; Michigan, 1883 ; Wisconsin, 1883 ; Iowa, 1884 ; Maryland, 1884 ; Kansas, 1885 ; Maine, 1887 ; Minnesota, 1887 ; Colorado, 1887 ; North Caro- lina, 1887 ; Rhode Island, 1887 ; Nebraska, 1887 ; North and South Dakota, 1890 ; Idaho, 1890 ; Utah, 1890 ; Tennessee, 1891 ; New Mexico, 1891 ; Texas, 1891. The constitution and methods of these bureaux are similar to those of the Central Bureau at Washing- ton, now the Department of Labour. Meagre appro- (■'*) “The Working of tlie Department of Labour,” by Carroll D. Wright. Massachusetts Report, 1870, pp. 315, 310. ( 5 ) The Report has since been received. Feb. 1893. A 2 Reports of the State Bureaux of Labour. 4 Reports issued by other De- partments of the Na- tional Go- vernment. pnations have, however, obliged them in many instances to confine their investigations to the simplest topics, and all their reports complain of lack of funds. As in the matter of labour legislation, so also in the method of presenting its reports, Massachusetts is ahead of any other State, and its results are so carefully sum- marised and indexed as to be immediately available for reference. The New York Bureau of Labour Statistics keeps a list of trades, on which to enter every item of information bearing upon a given trade. A strike book is also kept, as well as files of all trade and labour papers, but here again a special fund for the accumula- tion of the requisite literature is said to be much needed. The commissioner has power in this State to subpoena witnessess and examine them under oath ; it is a misdemeanour not to answer the questions, or to reply untruthfully, and the commissioner reports that this power has been of considerable advantage to him in collecting information. The reliable character of the New York statistics has, however, been called io question. The Indiana Bureau of Statistics has esta- blished weather service stations in 75 counties, from which monthly reports are made to the bureau and transmitted in a condensed form to the National Signal Service Department at Washington. In Dakota the distribution of supplies to the destitute in those parts of the State where the crops had failed devolved upon the officials of the bureau. Whilst recognising the impartial character of the reports of the Department of Labour and of some of the State bureaux, it is impossible not to remark the difference in the manner in which some of the reports treat the questions under consideration. It is admitted on all sides that politics should not enter into the administration of such offices, and that the staff should, therefore, as far as possible be permanent. Can- didates for the posts are not required to pass any examination and are chosen from various professions, blit of twenty commissioners and ex-commissioners attending the National Convention of the Officials of Bureaux of Labour Statistics, seven are or have been journalists, two are at the hea l of their State branch of the Knights of Labour, and o. third is a member of that organisation. But without adopting any definite political platform, the sensational manner in which some of the reports write of the relations between labour and capital and the effect upon the “toilers” of measures sanctioned by the Government is liable to misconstruction. This is especially the case in the more Western States, but such features are not altogether absent in the New York reports and are prominent in those of Ohio. A comparison between the treatment of the agricultural question in the Iowa and in the Pennsylvania reports will illustrate this difference in tone. One of the speakers at the convention stated that Bureaux of Labour were instituted that the working men might have an oppor- tunity of stating their side, and vehemently opposed the collection of any statistics with regard to the resources of the country or the state of trade, because in his opinion such information would be of more use to capitalists.! 1 ) Reference has also been made in several cases, whether directly or indirectly, to the reports published by Senate committees and committees of Congress appointed to investigate given subjects. First among these is the Senate Committee on Education and Labour, appointed in 1883, which has published four volumes of evidence, but no report. Two similar volumes were issued by the Select Committee of the House of Representatives appointed in 1879 to inquire into the causes of the general depression in labour and business. The select committee to investigate labour troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, and Illinois, after the great railroad strike of 1886, published a volume of evidence to which a report was prefixed, and the same course was adopted by the select committee to in- vestigate labour troubles in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania in 1887, and that to inquire into the alleged violation of the laws prohibiting the importation of contract labourers, paupers, convicts and other classes in 1889. Partial reports have been issued in 1892 by a committee of Congress appointed to inquire into the employment of Pinkerton detectives in con- nexion with the strike at Homestead, Pennsylvania, and by a Senate committee on finance, which have been used in compiling this report. The publications of the Bureau of Statistics attached to the Treasury, the Census Office, the Bureau of Edu- cation, and the Department of Agriculture have also (>) “The Working of the Department of Labour,” by Carroll D Wright. “Ninth Annual Convention of the Officials of Bureaux of Statistics of Labour,” pp. 34, 4t, 122-124. been consulted, as well as the papers relating to debates °n labour questions in Congress. Considerable use has been made of the publications of the American Economic Association and the American federation of Labour; these are enumerated in Appendix D, together with all other books and pam- phlets which have been consulted, and either directly or indirectly cited. Professor Ely’s “ Labour Movement in America,” of which considerable use has been made, appears to be not without a bias in favour of the labour party ; but it was warmly recommended both in official and private correspondence as the best authority avail- able on the history of American labour organisations. I— TRADE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. A. — General Relations between Employees and Employed. The relations between employers and employed in the United States have become more bitter of late years owing to the rapid growth of the factory system and the widening gulf which separates the individual manufacturer from his workmen. Many of the witnesses examined by the Senate Committee on Education and Labour, appointed in 1882, testify to a growing feeling of hostility between the two industrial parties (M Professor Ely in his labour movement in America regards this separation of the employer from the employed as the most serious feature of the labour question in America. ( 2 ) Instances occur in which employers refuse to recognise labour organisations, but chiefly those of recent formation, such as the Knights of Labour. Of this organisation, however, Professor Walker, a friend to the trade unions, has said that “ the full realisation of ” their professed purpose .... would be to “ institute a hideous and intolerable tyranny, which “ would be worse by 7 far than the tyranny which would “ result from unrestrained power on the part of the masterclass.’ Scvcial cases are mentioned in the reports of the Massachusetts Board of Arbitration in which employers refused to treat with members of this order, and the same course was adopted by the company in the great lailway strike on the Jay Gould system of railways in 1886 (see p. 18). f) The policy of non- recognition is net, however, entirely confined to the Knights, for several cases are quoted in the Reports of the New York State Board of Arbitration of its pursuit with regard to other organisations such as the National Journeymen Brewers’ Union, the International Cigar- makers’ Union, and the Union of Journeymen Bakers. ‘‘ Refusal to recognise labour organisations ” is given as the cause of 632 strikes amongst those enumerated by the New York Bureau of Statistics and Labour between 1885 and 1889. 0 Where there is reluctance on the part of employers to submit matters in dispute to arbitration, which in America is usually State arbitration, this reluctance is often connected with a refusal to recognise labour organisations. According to Professor Ely, “ the diffi- “ culties in the way of arbitration have come chiefly- “ from the side of employers, for it is a rare thing “ when labourers refuse to arbitrate their difficulties “ with their employers.” Many of these difficulties have, however, been occasioned by the Knights of Labour, and the very general refusal of arbitration by the companies in railway strikes is due in part to the fact that the organisations of railroad employes are connected with that Order.! 5 ) The New York Oom- Note— (i.) Throughout this Report exchange may be calculated at $4.35 per 11.. the rate fixed in the Report on the Earnings of Labour and Cost of Living in the Consular District of Chicago, issued by the Foreign Office. June 1892. (Miscellaneous .Series, No. 235.) ,ii.) The Reports of the different Bureaux of Statistics of Labour will be quoted under the name of the Stale, c.g.. New York Report, 1887. (‘) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour 1885. Vol. I., pp. 8, 49, 217-223. 357-361, 410, 416. 467, 576-579, 600, < 155 , 1088. Vol. II., pp. 21, 550, 840. The witnesses include members of the Executive Committee of the Knights of Labour, the General Secretaries of the Federation of Trades Unions, and the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, members of the Massachusetts Federation of Trades, and Chicago Trades Assembly, Mr. Jay Gould, Mr. Norvin Green President of the Western Union Telegraph Company, two other employers, Mr. Henry George, and a prominent New York clergyman. (b Ely, “ Labour Movement in America,” pp. 112, 113. ( 3 ) Reports of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1887, pp. 20,46; 1891, pp. 24, 120. Report of Select Committee to investigate Labour Troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, and Illinois, 1887, pp. 17, 41-66. Walker, “The Knights of Labour.” (Political Science’ Quarterly, June 1889, p. 207.) ( 4 ) Reports of New York Board of Arbitration. 1888. pp. 6, 27 44 308 ; 1889, pp. 2, 273, 394; 1890, pp. 68,6!) ; New York Repon. 18S9, p. 50. ( 5 ) Reports of New York Board of Arbitration, 1888, pp. q, 28- 1889, pp. 8, 262, Appendix, p. 15 ; 1890, pp. 74, 263, 264, 268, 285, 593! Report of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1887, p. 64 ; 1888, pp. 35, 78 ; 1891, p. 80 ; 1892, p. 22. Ely, “ Labour Movement in America,”’ Other publi cations. Gulf be- tween em- ployers and employed. Present attitude of employers. a. Towards the labour organisa- tions. b. Towards arbitration. 5 c. Towards individual workmen. (I. Towards strikes. e. Towards each other. Disadvan- tages attend- ing com- binations of employers. Advantages attending combina- tions of em- ployers. missioner states that employers show a growing desire to deal directly with their employes in labour disputes. (') A very large number of employers make use of various means for ensuring the dependence of the work- men. Such means are the imposition of the “ iron-clad oath,” whereby the workman binds himself not to join any labour organisation, the maintenance of the black list, the truck system of wages, the credit system, and the tenement system under which workmen are housed in cottages belonging to their employers (see p. 11). ( 2 ) The New York Bureau of Statistics of Labour, speak- ing of strikes, says that “a strike is not always a “ voluntary act on the part of the strikers ; it is some- “ time forced on them by design.” In some cases em- ployers, who wish to get rid of unionists from amongst their workmen, give notice of a reduction in wages and so force on a strike. In other cases the same policy is pursued with the object of getting rid of surplus stock and relieving an overcharged market. ( 3 ) This seems to have been at any rate one reason why the “ coal operators ” (owners) declared a lock-out in the an- thracite coal district of Pennsylvania in 1887 ( see p. 16)0 The individual employer is giving place more and more to the joint-stock corporation, and there is an increasing tendency both amongst corporations and amongst individual employers to form associations, the members of which are pledged to mutual support in the event of any difficulty with their workmen. This has been especially the case with the Shoe Manufacturers’ Associations in the Eastern States, and an extreme instance of the same spirit is recorded in Nebraska, where the master plumbers attempted to bring about a boycott of one of their number who refused to join the rest in decla”ing a lock-out by prevailing upon all dealers in plumbing materials to refuse to supply him.( 5 ) These associations are powerful agents In reducing the working man to submission, and where their influ- ence is directed towards increasing his dependence by the methods specified above, they have sometimes suc- ceeded in reducing him to such a condition of slavery as is described in the case of the anthracite miners of Pennsylvania ( see p. 25). ('’) In less extreme cases, where an individual employer has trouble with his workmen, the combination of manufacturers declare a general lock-out, and the firm chiefly concerned can make no terms with their employes without the consent of the Employers’ Association. The disastrous effects of such action amongst manufacturers upon employes on strike are pointed out by the Massachusetts Board of Arbitration. Prosecutions for conspiracy have also been undertaken by such associations of employ ers.(') On the other hand, where the employers combine for the sole purpose of protecting their own interests, their action may, as Mr. Carroll D. Wright, Chief Commis- sioner of the Department of Labour, says in his Report on Industrial Depressions, be of great value to the com- munity. “ If the employers in any industry would “ combine under an organisation that should have “ positive coherence, there would be no difficulty, so “ far as that industry is concerned, in regulating the “ volume of production in accordance with the de- “ mand.” It is also claimed that uniformity in the hours of work and rate of wages can be most effectually secured through such combinations, ( 8 ) and Mr. Jay Gould, late president of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, was of opinion that arbitration is most likely to be successful “when there are combinations on both sides, “ employers and employed.” ( !l ) j). lt«>. Colorado Report, 1887-1888, p. 15B. Illinois Report, 1886, p. 419, The excellent work done by the Illinois Labour Bureau makes it the more noteworthy that expressions occur in its reports, which inijrht suggest a bias in favour of the labour organisations, e.y., “ the acquiring ” of gains by means of enforced levies upon the meagre earnings of “ employes” as a definition of fining. Nebraska Report, 1887-3888, p. 118. ( J ) New York Report, 1889, p. 60. ( 2 ) Ely, "Labour Movement in America,” pp. 108-112. Illinois Re- port, 1886, pp. 327-332. Maine Report, 1889, pp. 48-56. Rhode Island Report, 18S8, p. 73. Missouri Reports, 1880, pp. 12. 14-66; 1891, pp. 9, 10. Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, Vol. I„ pp. 79, 80, 113, 114, 152, 153, 180, 198-200, 341, 651, 811 ; Vol. III., pp. 499 , 547. ( 3 ) New York Report, 1889, pp. 23-25. ( 4 ) Report of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Districts of Pennsylvania, 1887, pp. vii., exi., cxiv., cxvii. ( 5 ) New York Report, 1887, p. 28. Nebraska Report, 1889-90, p. 343 . Report of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1891, p. 22 . Report of New York Be ard of Arbitration, 1890, p. 401. .(“) Report of Select Committee 011 Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Districts of Pennsylvania. 1837, p. vi. ( 7 ) New York Report, 1887, pp. 28-29. Colorado Report, 1887-1868, p. 44 . Report of Massachusetts Board o: Arbitration, 1891, p. 9 . (*) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1885, p. 287. (®) Report of Select Committee to investigate Labour Troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, and Illinois, 1887, pp. 59 - 63 . That the good feeling necessary to produce this result Change for is present in many cases may be seen from the number i h, ^ lett ^. of establishments in which none but members of labour tudeofsome organisations are employed, and where the employers employers, adhere strictly to the rules of those organisations. The Connecticut Bureau of Statistics reports in 1890 that five years previously the National Association of Fur Hat Finishers and Makers actually invited “the manu- facturers to unite in an organisation to act in concert with our associations in the adoption of such measures as will tend to establish and maintain harmonious “ relations.” The manufacturers thereupon united, a committee was appointed to meet the delegates of the workmen’s association, and for five years agreements were annually made with regard to prices and wages. ( I0 ) A considerable improvement is also reported in the attitude of the employers towerds the Bureaux of Labour. Whilst a few years ago the agents of the Bureaux met with little but distrust or open opposition, the majority of manufacturers are now ready to give statistics concerning their pay-rolls, capital, and profits. Even where the employers are ready to give infor- mation, there is often considerable discrepancy between their statements and those of their employes, and in at least one case, that of a feather manufacturer in New York, the employer was found to be giving several of the highest rates as if they were the average. ( u ) On the other hand, it must be admitted that the 2. Unionist action of the labour organisations has often been such tactlcs - as to irritate employers. The New York Report for 1889 gives some valuable information with regard to unionist tactics. The New York unions are especially strong, but on the other hand the presence of a large foreign element, constantly recruited by immigration, constitutes a peculiar difficulty. The unions aim at converting all establishments in which their members work into “ union shops ” (where none but unionists are employed) ; hut there are individuals and agencies in New York who make a business of organising gangs of men to take the places of unionists on strike. Some- times these individuals contract to furnish employers with cheaper labour, on condition of themselves re- ceiving the post of foreman. They draw their supplies from the country towns and villages as well as from abroad ; and it is stated that employers who wish to replace unionists by this cheap labour, give notice of a reduction in wages, and so bring on a strike. If, how- ever, the establishment is then converted into a “ mixed shop,” the representatives of the union try to get employment in it, and, by mixing amongst the newly imported labour, and exercising their influence to bring matters back to their old condition. ( 12 ) The most effective instruments in the hands of the unions are the “ shop committees ” and the “ walking delegates.” The “ shop committee ” is a small body of workmen en- trusted with the care of the union’s interests, and empowered to watch with due observance of the union rules. They may call meetings of the employes, and have been known to do so during working hours, though this is not usual, The employers frequently complain of their action, and still more of that of the “walking delegates ” or inspectors appointed by the unions in industries such as building or house painting, which are carried on in many different places. A number of cases are reported by the New York Board of Arbi- tration in which men at work on buildings were ordered by a walking delegate to lay down their tools and quit work because of some infringement of union rules, or the presence amongst them of a non-unionist. ( w ) During 1890 one or more strikes ordered by these Examples, inspectors are said to have occurred in the building industry upon every working day. A strike ordered by the shop committee took place in a Rochester firm of coopers, where hoys had been employed to make a certain class of kegs. The establishment was a “ union shop,” and the dispute turned on whether the kegs in question were or were not to be included in the work which, according to agreement, was to be given to none but union men. A firm of silk weavers of Long Island, New York, also complain of the action of the shop committee in going round amongst the weavers during working hours to discuss the affairs of the union. (") Complaints are made of the action of the Freestone ( 10 ) Connecticut Report, 1890, p. 131. (") Report ol New Y'ork Board of Arbitration, 1889, p. 161. 0 2 ) Now V ork Report, 1890, pp. 52-54. Report oil the Importation of Contract Labour, 1889, pp. 5, 6, 57.200. P 3 ) New Y r ork Report, 1889, p. 604. Report of New York Board of Arbitration, 1890, pp. 80-48. (") Reporls of the New York Board of Arbitration, 1889, pp. 24-120, 402-404 ; 1890, p. 9. A 3 6 Cutters’ Union of Massachusetts which limits the number of its members and at the same time refuses to allow any but unionists to be employed. Its members are strong enough to enforce their w ishes and the em- ployers declare that there is a great scarcity of labour.! 1 ) One instance is given in the Connecticut Report for 1890 of a new union organised by the manufacturers amongst their employes for the purpose of defeating an older organisation, which refused to renew an existing agreement. The stratagem was successful and the older union came to terms.( 2 ) 3. Picketing Picketing accompanied by intimidation of the most futing***" aggravated character has been a frequent incident in American railroad strikes ( see p. 18). The report of the Select Committee of Investigation, appointed in 1886. contains abundant evidence of attempts to wreck trains, violence offered to employes remaining at work, the sending of threatening letters, attacks by armed mobs upon yards where labourers were at work, and noctur- nal visits to the houses of such labourers by gangs of masked intimidators.( 3 ) In Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, and Pennsylvania there are special laws with regard to railroad strikes, and Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, New' Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, and Wisconsin legislate also against intimidation in general.! 4 ) Besides the riots amongst miners and iron and steel workers ( see pp. 17, 19) mention is made in the Commissioner of Labour’s Report of a case in which “ the miners met and proceeded in a body to the “ dwelling-places of the new men, and succeeded in “ prevailing on the men to quit work ; the miners “ paying their expenses back to the places from which “ they came.”( 5 ) Similar measures were employed in 1890 by the members of the Boot and Shoe Workers’ International Union during a strike in Rochester, New York. New employes were met at the stations and offered their return fares or wages equivalent to those promised by the company. Where these means failed the strikers attempted to deter employes from entering the factory by abuse and threats of violence. Finally a general ■ ■ lock-out was declared by the Rochester Shoe Manufac- turers’ Association, in consequence, as they alleged, by the Boot and Shoe Workers’ International Union. ( 6 ) Laws against blacklisting exist in Massachusetts, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Oregon, Colorado, and Wiscon- sin,! 7 ) and there is little room to doubt that the practice has been and is widely prevalent. Mr. Carroll D. Wright, speaking of the manufacturers of Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1884, says, “ Other manu- “ facturers granted that the black list was in existence, “ and stated that its use was necessary to guard against “ strikes ; one saying, ‘ If we wanted to black list a “ ‘ a man we would undoubtedly do so.’ “ Another said, “ This (blacklisting) is done by a com- “ ‘mittee of the Manufacturers’ Board of Trade. A “ ‘man’s name is sent to this committee and they “ ‘ examine the list and take action on it. The black “ ‘ list is directed mostly towards the members of the “ ‘ Mule Spinners’ Union, for they cause us the most “ ‘ trouble. For our own protection we started a secret “ ‘service, and it has accomplished much good, as it “ ‘ gave us the names and occupations of the most pro- “ ‘minent in agitating strikes. There have been 26 “ ‘mule spinners black listed since last fall.” ( s ) The same practice is mentioned in connexion with the telegraphers’ strike in 1883, and it was admitted by one of the superintendents on the Missouri Pacific line before the Select Committee of Investigation that a list of discharged men had been kept by the Missouri Pacific Company, and sent monthly to every point on the line ; thought it was alleged that this list had been abandoned more than a year before the strike. In many other cases the employes believe the practice to exist, and the New York Report for 1889 says, “ The “ refusal to reinstate men who have gone out is too “ frequent to be passed without notice.” ( 9 ) 0) Report of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1891, pp, 56-70. ( J ) Connecticut Report, 1890, pp. 166, 167, 197-201. }») Report of Select Committee to investigate labour Troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, and Illinois, 1887, pp. xiii., 'xvii., xxi., 132-138, 185, 338-341. i *) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1887, pp. 1146-1164. 5 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour. 1887, p. 1102. 6 ) Report of New York Board of Arbitration, 1890, pp. 399, 513-526. ( 7 ) New Jersey Report, 1888, p. 350. Report of Commissioner of Labouo, 1887, p. 1163. Investigation of Senate Committee on Education ond Labour, 1885, Vol. III., p. 547. Report on Labour Laws of the United States, 1892. ( 8 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. I., p. 79. ( 9 > Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. I., pp. 113, 114, 152, 153, 180. Report of Select Committee to No detailed chronological account can bo given of 4. History employers’ associations, owing to the fact that "they are oleln " , for the most part merely local, and have been brought associations, into existence by the exigencies of some particular in- dustry at some particular time and place. Where difficulties, have been frequent in an industry, the em- ployers combine with the view, perhaps, of crushing a special labour organisation which has proved obnoxious to them. This was the case in 1872 with the shoe manufacturers of Lynn, in Massachusetts, who com- bined for the purpose of destroying the Order of the Knights of St. Crispin ( see page 8).( 10 ) As early as 1823 it is recorded that the master hattors of New York formed an association for the purpose of regulat- ing wages, and agreed not to employ any journeyman, who had left his last place because he was dissatisfied with his wages. In this case the action of the masters caused the journeymen to form a union of their own, but the order is often reversed, the manufacturers combining to protect themselves against what they consider to be the aggressions of the labour organisa- tions.! 11 ) Such was the origin of the Shoe Manu- facturers’ Association of Lynn, Massachusetts, of the Rochester Shoe Manufacturers’ Association, of the Leather Manufacturers’ Association of Woburn, Massa- chusetts, of the Haverhill (Massachusetts) Shoe and Leather Association, and of many others.! 12 ) Again, other associations, such as the Associated Employers of Northern Illinois, and the St. Louis Consolidated Coal Company, were organised for the sake of con- trolling production,! 13 ) and are instances of the present tendency in the United States “to bring the mnnu- “ factories under one common head through the agency “ of the trust.”! 14 ) In a few cases the employers’ associations have more than a merely local jurisdiction; for instance, the morocco manufacturers of Lynn, Massachusetts, belong to a national trade association. The comparative ab- sence of federated action on the part of employers is probably due to the fact that, in the words of the Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, it is only lately that “ employers have learned how to make combina- “ tions among themselves, and by so doing to oppose “ an effective barrier to combinations of labour.”! 15 ) According to the Illinois Bureau of Labour Statistics, 5. General the American trades unions owe their existence to the jstic"s of 61 "" growth of the factory system, and the consequent labour or- estrangement of the employer from his workmen.! 14 ) Ionisations They first came into prominence at the beginning of m meriea ' the present century in a period characterised by the same abuses in respect of long hours, low wages, in- sanitary conditions, and excessive labour exacted from women and children, as are recorded in England prior to the passing of the Factory Acts.( 17 ) But, in the opinion of several writers of authority, the history of trades unions has been less satisfactory in America than in England. Mr. Carroll D. Wright says, “The “ trades union in this country, while flourishing, has “ not attained any such magnitude or secured such “ influence as the like organisation of the old country. “ This results from various causes,” amongst which he instances “ the democratic character of the people, the “ mobility of labour, and the independence of the “ American mechanic.” Professor Sumner, again, is of opinion that the trades union in America is “ an exotic” and that “the institution does not flourish “ here as it would if it were in a thoroughly congenial “ environment.” This he attributes to two causes, the great mobility of the population and the strong position in the labour market of the American mechanic,! 18 ) There is reason to believe that the establishment of more benefit funds in connexion with the unions would give greater stability to the movement, and that a greater degree of success would be ensured by the rise of a class of labour leaders who would devote themselves more permanently to labour interests. Mr. J. Bleecker Miller, writing on “ Trade Organisa- tions in Politics,” says that American trades unions seem to be still seeking many things already gained in investigate Labour Troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, and Illinois, 1887, pp. 173, 174. New Y'ork Report, 1889, p. 86. (i°) Wright, '‘Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration,’’ p. 92. (») Colorado Report, 1887-1888, p. 44. ( 1J ) Report of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1891, pp. 21, 44. Wright, “ Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration,” p. 92. ( ,s ) Illinois Report. 18S9, pp. 114-117. (") Paper by T. V. Powderly, quoted in Rhode Island Report, 1888, p. 171. ( ls ) Report of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1891, p. 119. ( 16 1 Illinois Report, 18S6, p. 149. ! 17 ) Ely, " Labour Movement in America,” pp.45-50. ( ie ) Wright, “ An Historical i Sketch of the Knights of Labour,” p. 1 (pamphlet). Sumner, “What Social Classes owe to each other,” pp. 95, 96. 7 iiaw of con* soiracy. England, such as the abolition of the truck system and the complete legal recognition of the unions. (') Tho Pennsylvania Bureau of Industrial Statistics reports that American trades unions issue fewer publications than those in Great Britain, and attributes this to the comparative indifference of members. Branch unions sometimes repudiate the ordinary dues when called upon to pay them, preferring to be cut off from the main body; but in times of difficulty they have been known to return and to pay up arrears. ( 2 ) A fan- number of unions have established insurance and benefit funds, though in most cases friendly societies, where they do exist, have no connexion with labour organisations. For instance, masons have officially no friendly society, but a masons’ friendly society exists. All the unions amongst employes are in principle in favour of arbitration as a means of preventing strikes, but the strike expenditure is still very considerable. According to Professor Ely arbitration is less successful in America than in England, because the American trades unions are much weaker and less highly organised. ( :i ) Prior to 1830 conspiracy was not defined by statute, and the questions which arose with regard to the legality of the proceedings of the early trades unions were decided according to the principles of the common law inherited from England. All the leading con- spiracy prosecutions in America have grown out of shoemakers’ strikes, and in each case members of shoe- makers’ organisations were arraigned for striking against non-union labour. In the first three cases, that of the Philadelphia cordwainers in 1806, that of the Hew York cordwainers in 1809, and that of the Pitts- burgh shoemakers in 1815, the defendant workmen were convicted. The case of the People of New York v. Fisher in 1834 was tried after the revisers, who codified the common law in 1830, had made some important changes. The statute of conspiracy of 1830 in its final form contained the following sections : — “ Sect. 8. If two or more persons conspire . . . . to commit any act injurious to the public nealth, to public morals, or to trade or commerce, or for the perversion or obstruction of justice or the due administration of the laws, they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour. “ Sect. 9. No conspiracies, except such as are enu- merated in the last section, are punishable criminally.” Trade and labour combinations were, therefore, only punishable as acts injurious to trade or commerce, and the conviction of the defendants in the case of the People v. Fisher was based upon the view that in com- bining to fix a price for their labour and agreeing not to work for any employer who paid a workman below this rate, tho action of the defendants was injurious to trade. ( 4 ) A contrary decision was, however, given in Massa- chusetts in the case of the Commonwealth v. Hunt, 1845, when it was decided that a strike against non- unionists was not a criminal conspiracy unless it could be shown that the means employed were criminal. ( 5 ) In 1870 the New York Legislature took combinations to raise or maintain wages out of the category of conspiracies to commit acts injurious to trade or com- merce. In 1881 the Penal Code enacted in New York, added to the previous definition of criminal conspiracy a section defining it to be an agreement “ to prevent “ another from exercising a lawful trade or calling, or “ doing any other lawful act by force, threats, or intimi- “ dation, or by interfering or threatening to interfere “ with tools, implements, or property belonging to or “ used by another, or with the use and employment “ thereof.” In 1882 the following section was added : — Sect. 170. “No conspiracy is punishable criminally “ unless it is one of those enumerated in the last two “ sections, and the orderly and peaceable assembling or “ co-operation of persons employed in any calling, trade, “ or handicraft for the purpose of obtaining an advance “ of wages or compensation or of maintaining such rate “ is not a conspiracy.” A clause borrowed from the English statute (38 & 39 Viet. c. 86.) passed in 1875 after the gas stokers’ strike was also added : — Sect. 673, “ Endangering life by refusal to labour. A “ person who wilfully and maliciously, either alone or in “ combination with others, breaks a contract of service ( 1 ) Miller, " Trade Organisations in Politics,” p. 180. ( 2 ) Pennsylvania Report, 1888, G. !), 11. 0 Ely, “Labour Movement in America,” pp. 140-148. “ Problems of To-day,” p. 82. 'Wright, “An Historical Sketch of the Knights of Labour,” p. 28. California Report, 1887-1888, p. 154. ( 4 ) New York Report, 1887, pp. 564, 647-659, 677. Colorado Report, 1887 1888. pp. 48, 44. Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1887, p. 1111. ( 5 ) New York Report, 1887, p. 682. Ely, “ Labour Movement in America,” p. 54. “ or hiring, iknowing or having reasonable cause to believe “ that the possible consequences of his so doing will be “ to endanger human life, or to cause grievous bodily “ injury, or to expose valuable property to destruction, “ or serious injury, is guilty of a misdemeanor.” ( ,r ) In the case of the People ex rel. Gill and others in 1887 it was decided by Judge Barrett of New York that strikes are only permissible when wages are directly at issue, and then only if there be no turbulence Or disorder. In the opinion of the New York Bureau, therefore, the tendency of the legislation in that State concerning conspiracy has been retrograde, for the Penal Code comes near to recognising the principle of the old “conspiracy to injure or prejudice another” which was abandoned when the common law was revised in 1830.0 In Massachusetts also the Supreme Court intimated lately in the case of Carew v. Rutherford that a com- bination to compel an employer to pay money under threat of a strike was a criminal conspiracy. On the other hand, the same principle was turned against some Connecticut employers, who black-listed a workman in 1866, when the judge declared that “any conspiracy to “ prevent, obstruct, or hinder any man from putting his “ labour on the market is highly criminal at common “ law.” Twenty-four states of the Union have con- spiracy statutes, viz., Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansfls, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Yermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. ( 8 ) The law as it stands at present in these states is a subject of complaints on the part of working men, who hold that if strikes to enforce union rules are declared to be combinations in restraint of trade, trusts, pools, and other combinations of employers to raise prices or limit production should come under the same ruling. ( 9 ) “ There is nothing resembling a modern trades union “ to be found in the colonial period of American his- “ tory,” and it is only since the time of the Civil War that the labour organisations have attained to anything like their present importance. Unions, however, of some kind have existed since the beginning of the present century, but up to 1850 they were for the most part local in character and confined to the members of a special trade or industry. Hence their influence was small. Amongst other unions of this kind we find the New York Society of Journeymen Shipwrights, estab- lished in 1803; the Union of House Carpenters of the City of New York, founded in 1806; the New York Typographical Society, 1817 ; and the Columbian Charitable Society of Shipwrights and Caulkers of Boston and Charlestown, 1822. ( 10 ) The rules of some of these early organisations seem to have been sufficiently stringent. For example, in 1805 we find the Journeymen Cordwainers of New York agreeing to such rules as that no member of the society should work for an employer who employed journeymen or apprentices not belonging to the society; that every cordwainer coming to the city should be notified to join the society if competent to do so, and that a refusal to comply with such notice should be punished by the imposition of a fine.( u ) Boston and New York were the most prominent cities in the organisation of labour at this period. The first labour paper appeared in New York between 1825 and 1830, under the title of “ The Workingman’s Advocate,” and the year 1833 is remarkable for the beginning of a movement towards consolidating the different unions of a district shown by the gathering together of “ The “ General Ti-ades Unions of the City of New York.” General meetings were also held in Massachusetts, and a “ New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics, 1 ‘ and other Working Men” was established in 1832. The year 1845 witnessed the important decision by the Massachusetts courts in the case of the Common- wealth v. Hunt, mentioned above, which recognised the legality of the unions’ efforts to prevent the em- ployment of non-union labour. Between 1850 and 1861 we find a tendency to organise on a wider basis. The local unions begin to give plaqe to national or even international organisations. In 1850 the National Typographical Union was founded, which in 1869 became the International Typographical Union. The (°) New York Report., 1887, pp. 066-675. Colorado Report, 18S7-18SS . p. 51. ( 7 ) New York Report, 1887, pp. 533-518, 506-571, 670. ( 8 ) New York Report, 1S87, pp. 685, 686. 0 New York Report, 1887, pp. 570-575, 696, 700. (io) Ely, “ Labour Movement in America,” pp.,30-40. ( u ) New York Report, 1887, p. 650. A 4 6. History of labour organisa- tions. a. Trades Unions— early period 1800-1861. 8 b. Trades Unions — later period, 1801-1892. c. Organisa- tions other than Trades Unions. — The Patrons of Hus- bandry. National Trade Association of Hat Finishers, 1854, the Sons of Vulcan, 1858 (afterwards absorbed into the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, 1876), and the Iron Moulders’ Union of North America, 1859, date from this period.(‘) The excitement of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery gave a strong impetus to the movement in favour of organised labour. A large number of new unions were formed, old unions increased their mem- bership, and organisations on other than strict trades union lines sprang into existence. Amongst new unions may be mentioned the Brotherhood of the F oot- board, 1863, which in 1864 became the Grand Inter- national Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers ; the Cigar Makers’ National Union, 1864, which in 1867 became International; the Bricklayers’ and Masons’ International Union of America, 1865 ; the Conductors’ Brotherhood, 1868; the United States Wool Hat Finishers’ Association, 1869; the Trades Union of Furniture Workers. 1873, and the National Union of Horseshoers of the United States, 1875, both composed for the most part of Germans ; the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, 1873 ; the Amalgamated Associa- tion of Iron and Steel Workers, 1876, a combination of three earlier unions, the Sons of Vulcan, the Associated Brotherhood of Iron and Steel Heaters, and the Iron and Steel Roll Hands’ Union ; the Granite Cutters’ National Union of the United States, 1877 ; the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 1881 ; the Cigar Makers’ Progressive Union of America, 1882 ; the National Hat Makers. 1883 ; the Railroad Brake- men, 1884; and the Journeymen Bakers’ National Union of the United States, 1886. (-) Besides the purely American unions there are two English unions which have branches in America, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and the Amalga- mated Society of Carpenters and Joiners. The former society founded its American branch in l8ol, the lattei in 1860, and between them they have several thousand American members. The American branch of the engineers is under the control of an executive eom- mitte known as the American-Oanadian Council, composed of nine members who are nominated and elected by “ the aggregate vote of all the branches “ situated within a radius of 35 miles of New Pork “ City Hall.” This Council calls meetings, disburses the funds, levies contributions, and opens new branches. It issues a monthly report of its proceedings. The standard of payments in America is fixed by vote of all , members, but it must not m any case exceed the standard of payments in the United Kingdom by more than 50 -per cent. A general council of 30 members appointed by the general electoral districts is held every third year in which all branches in America and the United Kingdom are represented, and appeals from the decisions of the local executive council may be made to this body. ( :t ) ' , One of the chief organisations other than trades unions is the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry. It was established in 1866 by Mr. William Saunders, a member of the Agricultural Department in Wash- ington, and is sometimes known as the Granger movement from the name given to the branches. Local, State, and National Granges were organised, Mr. Saunders himself becoming the first master of the National Grange. The Order aimed at resisting the extortionate rates charged for freight by the railroads (see p. 27), at establishing a system of distributive co- operation and thus destroying the power of the middle- man, and at promoting the education of members by means of social gatherings, evening schools, and similar methods. ( 4 ) The members were persons directly or indirectly engaged in agricultural pursuits, and they succeeded in checking unjust discrimination on the part of the railroads, ( 5 ) in organising combinations by which the necessaries of life and the requisite agricul- tural implements could be procured by the farmer at a moderate cost ( see p. 36), and in improving the methods of farming by diffusing information on the subject and obliging members to house their implements and care for their stock. Though not strictly speaking labour organisations, both the Patrons of Husbandry and other unions amongst agriculturists have formed connections with the Knights of Labour. After the first few years (') Ely, “ Labour Movement in America,” pp. 41-60. Colorado Re- ort, 1 887-1 88S, pp. 54, 55. ( 2 ) Ely “Labour Movement in America, pp. 61-65. hi ElV “Labour Movement in America,” p. 67. Illinois Report, 386^ pp 155, 156, 166. Colorado Report, 1887-1888, pp. 73-76. Rules of Wleamated Society of Engineers, p. 49. „ (U Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States, pp. 33-36, 13-338. Ely, “ Labour Movement in America,” pp. 73-75, 129, 130, 177. (•>) Illinois Report, 1886, p. 864. the Patrons grew very rapidly. In 1871 there were two hundred local granges and six State granges ; in 1872 the local granges had increased to 1,300, in 1873 to 10,000, in 1874 to 20,000, in 1876 to 30,000. The majority of the granges are in the Western States, but New England in 1885 reported between 25,000 and 30,000 members in 350 granges. After 1878 there was a rapid decrease in the numbers, for which no cause is assigned in the Reports, but Professor Ely writing in 1890, said that “new life and vigour have of late been infused into the “ Patrons of Husbandry, and it is not improbable that “ their numbers exceed half-a-million, while there are “ over a million who have been members of the Grange “ and are under the influence of its ideas. (°) Another association amongst agriculturists is known National as the National Farmers’ Alliance and Industrial Union, Earmers’^^ It has been formed by the consolidation of three earlier theFa'iiurs’ societies, the Farmers’ Alliance which originated in League. Texas to protect farmers against cattle stealing, the Farmers’ Co-operative Union, which originated in Louisiana, and the Agricultural Wheel which had its origin in Arkansas. The Alliance has spread through- out the United States. Though at the outset its aims were chiefly ethical and social, its determination to obtain certain reforms from the Legislature has led to its entering the arena of politics, and it is now to a great extent a political party organised in the interest of the farmers. Reform in the currency, the reduc- tion of the rates for the transport of agricultural produce, as well as State ownership of railways (see p. 30), and greater protection for farmers are amongst its demands. There is also in the Northern States a Farmers’ League, which is less partisan than the Alliance, and less secret in its organisation, though in harmony with both the Alliance and the Grange. Like the Alliance it has local and State branches, but it is opposed to any special class legislation in favour of the farmers, and limits its demands to equal rights for all.(*j The Society of the Knights of St. Crispin, composed The Knights of shoemakers, was established at Lynn in Massa- of St, Cm- chusetts in the year 1868. The claim to entire control pm ‘ over the number of apprentices admitted into the trade was one of the special features of the organisation, and employers complained bitterly of the aggressive and unjust treatment, which they affirm that they had received from the Order in this and other matters. Some of the friends of the Knights admit that the rules of the Order were arbitrary, and that in the investigation of alleged grievances by their committee the employer often received but scant justice. In 1872 the manufacturers began to organise, and agreed to give no new work to any members “ of any organisa- “ tion claiming the power to interfere with any con- “ tract between employer and employe.” The Knights of St. Crispin were thus thrown out of employment; the finances of the Order were unable to sustain the severe strain to which they were subjected in the attempt to provide out-of-work pay for all members, and in 1873 the Order collapsed. There was a tempo- rary revival in 1875, but by 1878 the Order was extinct. ( 8 * ) The Order of the Sovereigns of Industry was a The Sove- secret society founded in 1874 by Mr. W. H. Earle, a reigns of fruit-grower of Worcester, Massachusetts. The object Industr ?- of the society was the furtherance of co-operative principles, and it established a number of stores which met with varying success (seep. 34). The Order came to an end in 1880.(‘ J ) One of the most important of the labour organisa- The Knights tions other than trades unions is the Order of the 0 a our ' Knights of Labour, ( 10 ) founded in 1869 by Uriah S. Stephens, a tailor of Philadelphia. It was a secret society designed at first merely to supplement an existing Garment Cutters’ Union, and “could not be “ considered as anything more than a trades union of “ the most exclusive kind ” (Powderly). For a year or more none but garment cutters were admitted, but after a time other members, known as “ sojourners,” were invited to join the Order, and were charged to make its existence and objects known in their own • ( 6 * ) Colorado Report, 1SS7-18SS, p. 66. North Carolina Report, 1SS7, pp. 224-229. (") McNeil, “The Labour Movement, the Problem of To-day,” pp. 596q.-596ff. (8) Wright, “ Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration,” pp. 77-97. Ely, “ Labour Movement in America,” pp. 67-69. McNeil, “ The Labour Movement, the Problem of To-day,” p. 201. ( 0 ) Bemis. “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 37-51. Elv, “ Labour Movement in America,” pp. 174-177. Colorado Report, 1887-1888, p. 69. , . , (io) Wright. “ An Historical Sketch of the Knights of Labour,” reprinted from the Quarterly Journal of Economics. January 1887. T. V. Powderly, “ Thirty years of Labour.” Ely, “ Labour Movement in America,” pp. 75-88. 9 trades, whilst taking all possible precautions to pre- serve the secrecy of the organisation. There is some difference of opinion as to the date of the admission of these “ sojourners.” Mr. Carroll D. Wright gives it as 1872; Mr. T. V. Powderly, head of the Knights of Labour, 'as 1870. In 1873 a committee “ on the good of the Order ” was appointed to control its growing business. A ritual was then devised, and every member took an oath of strictest secrecy with regard to the name, constitution, and aims of the Order. Officers were appointed under the titles of master workman, worthy foreman, venerable sage, recording secretary, financial secretary, treasurer, worthy in- spector, almoner, statistician, unknown knight, inside esquire, outside esquire, insurance solicitor, and trus- tees. Each industry has its own local assembly and its own officers ; the local assemblies are represented by delegates in district assemblies, and the district assemblies again send delegates to the general as- sembly. Officers in these bodies bear the same titles with the prefix “District” or “General,” but the master workman of the General Assembly, or head of the Order, is known as the Grand Master Workman. All officers, with the exception of the venerable sage, are elected annually by ballot. The General Assembly meets once a year, and its authority is final. The first General Assembly, which met in 1878, and represented eleven district assemblies, issued a preamble setting forth the objects of the Order. The strict secrecy ob- served at first was gradually relaxed under the influence of the Catholic Church, especially after the founder had resigned the office of Grand Master Workman in 1879. He was succeeded by Mr. Terence Y. Powderly, him- self a Catholic, and in 1881 the secret character of the Order was finally renounced. The object of the Society (') is the organisation of labour on a broad basis, irrespective of the interests of any given class of in- dustry. If all wage-earners are brought together into one association, measures affecting all can be intelli- gently discussed, and the members can gradually be educated in ideas which are subversive of the present wages-system. Consequently the Order advocates co- operation on the basis of shares which do not bear interest and are not redeemable until after a year at least from the date of subscription, but which the Order hope to repay in the course of a year or two out of the profits of the business. By these means they endeavour to avoid anything like the capitalist form of production and rtely upon pure disinterestedness to pro- vide the capital necessary for the start. The interests of women and children, and of unskilled labour generally, are its especial care, and several local assemblies have been organised amongst women only. In the Southern States it numbers many negroes amongst its members, but though so Catholic in its principles, it advocates the restriction of foreign immigration. A legal eight hours’ day, government control of the railways, the telegraph, and all branches of the public service, and the reform of the currency are also amongst the measures which it supports. The Knights arc strong advocates of temperance, and exclude from membership all those who live by making or selling intoxicating liquors, placing them in the same category with bankers, stock- brokers, professional gamblers, and lawyers, who are also excluded. The order is professedly non-political, and though it has been suspected of attempting to exercise an influence on politics, there is little direct evidence of such action, except in the case of the municipal elections in New York in 1886, when the Knights gave their support to Mr. Henry George, and carried all before them. This was the year of their greatest power, and their numbers were then estimated at from 300,000 to 300,000. Since 1886 the Order has been seriously embarrassed by internal dissensions, and Mr. Powderly’s influence seems of late to have waned. His refusal to allow the society to take an active part in the agitation for an eight hours’ day in the spring of that year alienated some of the members, and his strong opposition to a resolution protesting against the condemnation of the Chicago anarchists in 1887 led to a further division of opinion. But probably a lack of consistency in the policy of the Order with regard to strikes was the original cause of the trouble. In 1884 strikes and boycotts were formally renounced ; never- theless in 1886 Mr. Powderly assumed the control of the great strike on the South-western railways, of which Mr. Carroll D. Wright says, “ That this strike “ was ill-judged and without proper cause, has always (') Illinois Report, 1880, pp. 160-162. E 74099. “ been admitted by the best friends of the Knights, “ and its disastrous result and the lack of public “ sympathy displayed for the strikers, are in sharp “ contrast with the state of affairs one year previous ” (see page 18). ( 2 ) Again, in 1887, the increased number of strikes in New York is attributed by the Bureau to the aggressive action of the Knights of Labour, who “ placed themselves in an attitude of “ hostility, and manifested excessive activity whenever “ cause for interference was given.” ( :) ). There seems also to have been some obscure connexion between th ■ more extreme members of the Knights and the International Working-men’s Association, an anarchist body. It has been thought that the Knights were in their origin an offshoot from the International Association of Working-men organised in London in 1864 ; but that society cannot be shown to have ever had much influence in the United States, or to have organised any American branches, until after tho Knights of Labour had been established. Mr. Powderly repudiates the notion that his Order owes anything to any anarchist body, but his indignation against the supposed machinations of the International Working- men’s Association makes it clear that at any rate some of the Knights had come under their influence. It is certain that the first great secession from the Order took place at the time of tho agitation on behalf of the condemned anarchists. Though Mr. Powderly re- mained at the head of affairs, a provisional committee was appointed in 1887 to inquire into a charge of extravagance brought against the General Executive, and in 1889 a motion for reform and a return to secrecy in direct opposition to Mr. Powdcrly’s principles was brought forward by the treasurer of the Order. In 1890 a great strike took place on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad amongst Knights of Labour. Mr. Powderly disapproved of this measure, but apparently he was powerless to prevent it ( see page 18). (*). Besides the Order of the Knights of Labour, there have been other attempts made to organise the work- men of given districts irrespective of special interests. The bodies thus formed are variously named Central Labour Unions, Trades Assemblies, or Federations of Labour ; but the principle they all adhere to is that of the General Trades Unions of the city of New York, organised in 1833, viz., the promotion of tho welfare of labour as a whole. Such federations exist in most of the important cities of the United States. They are delegate bodies, composed of representatives of the local Unions. ( 5 ) In 1881 a “ Federation of Organised Trades and “ Labour Unions of the United States and Canada” was organised at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with which many of the trades unions were affiliated. Some of those who remained outside held a convention in 1886 at Columbus, Ohio, atthe time when the “ Federation ” was meeting at St. Louis. The Federation adjourned to Columbus and, together with the unions assembled there, formed the American Federation of Labour. This body, presided over by Mr. Samuel Gompers, holds annual conventions and is now by far the strongest workmen’s organisation in the United States. Its aggregate membership in 1891 was stated to be 618,000, and the total number of unions affiliated to it in 1891 was 62. Any bond fide trade union can be thus affiliated on the petition of seven members, endorsed by an organisation already affiliated. In 1890, however, tho request of the New York Central Labour Federation was rejected on the ground that the Social Labour Party was officially connected with, that organisation, and that the American Federation of Labour admits no political parties. The position adopted by the Federa- tion is midway between that of the earlier trade unions and that of the Knights of Labour, for it is based upon trade union principles, whilst abandoning any exclusive regard to the interests of a particular trade or trades. Its chief object is the formation and encouragement of national or international trade unions, “ the formation “ of public opinion by the agencies of platform, press, “ and legislation, and the furtherance of a civilisation “ based upon industrial progress, by securing to toilers “ a reduction in the daily hours of labour.” The Fede- ration has been specially prominent in the eight hours’ agitation (see p. 42) and attempts to influence legisla- ( 2 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1887, p. 32. ( 3 ) New York Report, 1887, p. 13. ( *) Report of New York Board of Arbitration, 1890. pp. 330-337. ( 5 ) Ely. “Labour Movement, in America,” pp. 88, 89. Illinois Re- port, 1886, p. 166, B Federations of labour. 10 Socialist and anarchist bodies. 7. Present position of the labour organisa- tions. tioy in other matters connected with the interests of labour. (') The Central Labour Union of New York takes open political action, and aims at securing the election of labour representatives as members of Congress and of the State Legislature. It advocates the principles of Mr. Henry George with regard to land reform, and con- siders capital to consist of “ unpaid labour in the shape “ of profits wrongfully extorted from the producer. ('-) Where the unions of a district have not been definitely federated, they are often, like the New England Free- stone Cutters, intimately connected and uphold each other in common practices, so that they are practically one body.( 3 ) Recently an attempt has been made by glass cutters, acting under the direction of the Knights of Labour, to form a Universal Federation of the Window Glass Workers of the World. This body has held four conventions, one in Pittsburgh, 1885 ; one in St. Helen’s (England), 1886 ; one in Charleroi, 1888, and one in Paris, 1890. Such federations, however, are based upon a share in a common industry, and are therefore more akin to the trades unions strictly so-called. ( 4 ) Whilst some of the above organisations have issued socialist programmes, the number of professedly socia- list and anarchist bodies is small and their influence slight compared with the other labour organisations. The Socialistic Labour Party includes socialists belong- ing to the educated classes. Its members wish for the concentration of the means of production in the hands of the people as a whole, and the substitution of co- operative for capitalist production and exchange. They aim at a social revolution brought about by peaceful methods. There are two anarchist societies, the International Working People’s Association and the International W orkmen’s Association. The first is composed for the most part of Germans, and is the more violent of the two. Both advocate the organisa- tion of society into independent groups, the abolition of all government, the free exchange of equivalent pro- ducts between productive organisations, a system of communism as regards property, and the employment of violence and terrorism if necessary to attain these objects. A small sect, known as the Boston Anarchists, repudiate the idea of independent groups and all com- munistic doctrines, preferring a system of pure indi- vidualism. The International Workmen’s Association is composed chiefly of English-speaking labourers and is strongest west of the Mississippi-! 5 ) The difference between the trades unions and the newer labour organisations is one of principle rather than of practice. The Knights of Labour have made a strenuous effort to enrol trade unionists in their ranks, but according to the Illinois Report of 1886, they only succeeded in attracting 17 per cent, of the unionists in that state. The older trades unions have been the most successful in maintaining the rate of wages, and can show the best record in the prevention of strikes ;( r ’) but, on the other hand, the rapid growth of trade unionism during the last decade seems to owe some- thing to the impetus given to the spirit of organisation by the still more rapid growth of the Knights of Labour. Of the 279 unions reported in Illinois in 1886, 226 had been established since 1880, and 140 of these in 1885 and the first half of 1886, so that during a period of eighteen months the number of trade unions increased a hundred fold, whilst three-fourths of the total number of the Knights of Labour had been initiated during the same period. ( 7 ) Similarly in Colorado the number of labour organisations increased from 12 to 112 between 1880 and 1888. In Colorado it is reported that between 1886 and 1888 a number of men left the Knights of Labour to join trades unions. Kansas also reports a greater increase amongst unionists than amongst Knights of Labour. ( 8 ) The number of Americans is relatively greater amongst the Knights of Labour than amongst the trade unionists, but the English, Scotch, and Scandinavians prefer the older associations. The best organised trades are those of the builders, cigar- makers, glass-blowers, brewers, liorse-shoors, lumber- men, printers, and locomotive engineers. ( 9 ) (') Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1SS5 Vol. I, pp. Ill, 551. Colorado Report, 18S7-1SS8, p. 6G. New York Report, 1890, pp. 108, 109. Kansas Report, 1890, p. 71. Pamphlets pub- lished by the American Ecdeijation of Labour ( see Appendix D.). h) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour. 1885, Vol. I., pn. 788, 793, 809, (*) Report of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1891, p. 71. (') Pennsylvania Report, 1888, E. 86. Colorado Report, 1887-1838, p. 61. ( 5 ) Ely. -‘Labour Movement in America, pp. 208-276. U) Illinois Report, 138G, pp. 102, 169, 368, 363. (•) Illinois Report, 1886, pp. 199-211. (S) Colorado Report, 1887-18S8, pp. 70, 30, 107. Kansas Report, 1889 p. 3 o Illinois Report, 1S86, pp. 133-181,229,230. Unions witli national or international affiliations discourage any adherence on the part of their members to other organisations.^ 0 ) B. — Causes of Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. Wages. The New York Bureau declares in its Report for 1889 that “ the codification of rules by the leading “ unions, the admitted impolicy of strikes for trivial “ causes, and tho universal recognition of organisation “ as a social fact have practically reduced the chief “ causes of strikes to the narrow limit of advance or “ reduction in wages or a tyrannical and unfair forc- “ man.”( n ) In support of this view we find that of all the establishments reporting strikes or lock-outs to tho Federal Bureau between 1881 and 1886, 42'32 per cent, ascribed the strike or look-out to a demand for increase of wages, and 7'77 per cent, to dissatisfaction with a proposed reduction. The difficulties of Half the estab- lishments, therefore, arose from this cause. ( 12 ) Again the Massachusetts Bureau, reporting on 159 strikes and lock-outs between 1825 and 1879, attributes 118 to a desire to advance wages, and shows the same cause to have operated in 351 out of 995 establishments where strikes occurred between 1881 and 1886. A similar statement is made with regard to 4,1 '54 per cent, of the establishments sending returns from Illinois, 52‘42 per cent, of those in Ohio, and 46'97 per cent, of those in Pennsylvania.! 13 ) During the same period there were 190 strikes in Connecticut for increase of wages and only 90 for other causes.( 14 ) Again, out of 78 strikes ordered by the Cigar-makers’ International Union between 1871 and 1875, 64 were against reduction of wages. It is noticeable that strikes for an increase of wages are more often successful than those for a reduc- tion of hours. In 65‘99 per cent, of the cases reported by the Central Bureau of Labour the strike was entirely successful, in 8'43 per cent, partially successful, and it only failed in 25'58 per cent. Strikes for a reduction of hours on tho other hand only succeeded entirely in 24'29 per cent., and partially in 22 - 24 per cent.( 15 ) Of the 351 Massachusetts strikes for increase of wages 72 - 65 per cent, were entirely, and 10’83 per cent, par- tially, successful. ( 16 ) The New York Bureau gives a record of strikes between 1885 and 1889, and reports that 43 per cent, of tho “general strikes” (involving several establishments) were for an increase of wages, of which 71 25 per cent, were successful. ( 17 ) Strikes for an advance or against a reduction in wages- are intimately associated with those against the introduction of machinery, since in many cases the advent of tho machine involves a reduction in the rate of payment. In the records of strikes there are several instances of resistance to labour-saving machinery, but this resistance is never definitely assigned as a cause, so that we can only conclude that such strikes have been classed under those against a proposed reduction in wages. The Pennsylvania lamp-chimney blowers struck in 1877 against the introduction of a new machine, which called for increased speed on the part of the hand workers without any corresponding increase in the rate of payment. The strike lasted 27 months and the men wero defeated. ( 18 ) Agaiu a typical instance is reported amongst the employes of the Cox Shoe Manu- facturing Company of Rochester, New York. The hoot and shoe industry has been revolutionised more than almost any other by the introduction of machinery. According to Mr. Carroll D. Wright, the facts collected by the agents of the Bureau of Labour at Washington in 1885 showed that one man could do the work which twenty years before required ten, whilst a Philadelphia firm testified that the introduction of new machinery within the preceding thirty years had displaced six times the amount of hand-labour required, and had reduced the cost of the product by one half.( 19 ) In this in- stance a new lasting machine was introduced, and the employes demanded that I, he workman working the machine should still do the whole of the lasting, and receive the same price per pair as for handwork until the machine had been long enough at work to allow a proper rate to be fixed. The employer rejected this ( !0 ) Kansas Report, 1890, p. 71. (") New York Report, 1889, p. 29. ( 12 ) Roporl of Commissioner of Labour, 1887. p. 17. ('* *) Massachusetts Report, 1889, pp. 5, 89, 111. ( u ) Connecticut Report, 1887, p. 3S5. ( u ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1887, pp. 17, 1058. ( lc ) Massachusetts Report, 1889, p. 89. ('“) New York Report. 1889, p. 10. (> 8 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1SS7, p. 1070. Pennsylvania Report, 1888, P. 5. ( 19 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1885, p. S2. Ail vane e or reduction. Introduc- tion of ma- chinery. 11 Weekly pay- ments. The truck system. proposal and a strike ensued. The company obtained other workmen, but the old employes carried on a system of picketing and intimidation, in consequence of which all the other firms in the Rochester Shoe Manu- facturers’ Association declared a general lock-out of all employes belonging to the Boot and Shoe Makers’ Inter- national Union. The men claimed that prices had been reduced below the rates paid by other firms for the same class of work ; the employers on the other hand held that the strike was entirely due to the introduction of the lasting machine. At the end of nine months a settlement was effected by the mediation of the New York State Board, of Arbitration, and a joint committee was appointed to settle future disputes. (') An instance of the way in which employers regard the introduction of machinery is to be found in a strike which occurred amongst the Haverhill boot and shoe workers in Massa- chusetts. There the firm refused to accept a new price- list offered them by the Boot and Shoe Workers’ International Union on the ground that though prices had been reduced, improved machinery caused wages to be higher than they had ever been.( 2 ) On the other hand, where questions on the subject have been addressed by the Bureau to the working-men, the answer is fre- quently received that the effect of machinery is to displace skilled labour, and consequently to lower the rate of wages. ( 3 ) The report of the Massachusetts Board of Arbitration for 1892 states that many contro- versies with regard to machinery arise from the fact that in fixing the price for machine-made work the manufacturers look to what the operatives may rea- sonably be expected to do after they have become used to the work ; in the meantime there is a temporary loss in wages, and much friction would be avoided if a temporary price were fixed to meet the difficulty, with a notice that after a certain date it would be reduced. A very large number of employes complain that wages are not paid even fortnightly or monthly. The law in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut provides for the weekly payment of wages by corporations,^) and in Maine and Pennsylvania all corporations must pay wages once a fortnight( s ) ; but there is no pro- vision regulating the practice of individual employers. A granite cutter beginning work on July 1st. states that he received no wages for July until August 25th. ( c ) A Rhode Island weaver says that “when it comes pay- “ day there is most two months’ pay in the company’s “ hands. ”(') Even corporations find many ways of evading the weekly payment law. One of the most common of these is said by the Chief Factory Inspector of New York to consist in posting up an announce- ment that all employes desirous of receiving their pay weekly can have it on application, at the same time allowing it to be understood that such applications are regarded with disfavour by the company. When in consequence no one applies, the corporation is enabled to meet the factory inspector’s inquiries with the state- ment that weekly payment is not desired by their employes. Again a number of corporations enter into a contract with their foreman or superintendent, by which it is agreed that the latter shall engage the work- men as a private individual on any terms that he pleases. A case of this kind is reported by the Factory Inspector in his fifth annual report, and he is of opinion that the law requires amendment to prevent such abuses. The surface railway companies are ex- cepted from the Act in New York, and their inclusion is also held to bo desirable. ( 8 ) The deferred payment or credit system is in many cases closely connected with the practice of paying wages in store orders instead of in cash. The “pluck me” store owned and conducted by the employer, whether individual or corporate, is another standing grievance amongst working men throughout the States. ( !l ) Com- plaints on the subject are frequent in many states, though in Illinois the evil is said to be confined chiefly to the mining regions, where labour organisations arc weak, and in Michigan it is said to be non-existent in many industries. In Massachusetts there is no truck (!) Report of New York Board of Arbitration, 189ft, pp. 400-578. ( 2 ) Report of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1801, p. 48. ( 3 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. 1 1., i). 505. Reportof Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, isoal pp. 7, 8. (■*) Reportof New York Factory Inspector, 1800, p. 97. Massachusetts Report, 1800. p. 47. Connecticut Report, 1888, p. 20. ( r, J Maine Report, 1890, p. 105. Pennsylvania, Report, 1,880. E. :19. ( r *) Rhode Island Report, 1888, p. 73. ( 7 ) Rhode Island Report, 1880, p. 153. Connecticut Report, 1888 p. 110. Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1887, p. 10(13. Michigan Report, 1885, p. 3(i. (“) Reportof New York 'factory Inspector, 1890, pp. 101 - 108 . Connec- ticut Report, 1888, p. 1 15. (°) Report of New York factory Inspector, 1890, p. 107. system. Only 6 per cent, of organised labour in. Illinois is paid in commodities. (‘") In Rhode Island, Maine, and Pennsylvania the truck system is widely prevalent, though here again miners are the greatest sufferers (see p. 25). (“) In the anthracite district of Pennsylvania an examination of pay-day balance-sheets revealed the fact that many men received no money at all,( K ) and a condition of tilings only slightly better was reported by a commission appointed to investigate the subject in tbe mining districts of Ohio in 1884. f 13 ) The prices at the employers’ stores are often in excess of those charged elsewhere for similar goods ; according to one miner they are as much as 20 to 25 per cent, higher, but most witnesses, including the Grand Secretary of the Knights of Labour, put the excess at about 10 per cent.( 14 ) It is common in the mining districts for the men to to be housed in shelters erected by the employers. These shelters are often sheds of the most wretched description in which the men, chiefly Poles, Italians, and Hungarians, are crowded together under the most insanitai’y conditions (see p. 25). Where the houses are better the rent charged is often high, and when a strike occurs the men are either evicted at once or allowed to get into debt for their rent, the amount of the debt being deducted from their wages when work is resumed. ( 15 ) Under the tenement house system of employment pre- valent in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and other large cities, the foreign employes live and work in houses owned by their employers, paying as much, sometimes, as from $30 to $36 a monthfor two rooms. ( 1S ) In other cases tenement houses are leased by the mill owners to tenants who contract to furnish so many operatives to the cotton mills. Tenements of this character are attached to factories and give the em- ployers a strong hold over their employes. Workmen who rent houses independently are, according to the evi- dence of a member of the Massachusetts Federation of Trades before the Senate Committee on Education and Labour, usually the first to he paid off in a dull season. Tenement houses of a better class attached to factories are to be found throughout New England. The Massa- chusetts Report for 1889 says that 1,022 manufacturers own 8,649 houses which are rented by their employes. Each house has on an average between one and two tenants, and about 3'81 per cent, of the population live in houses owned by manufacturers. The average rate charged for board in a boarding-house belonging to a manufacturing company is $3'66 for men and $2'72 for women. ( ,7 ) On the other hand 39 employers re- port that they have sold 117 houses to their employes and received full payment, 44 employers have sold 88 houses for which payment is still being made, and it should be remembered that a large number of workmen have become owners of houses by means of the co-operative building and loan associations (see p. 36). ( 1S ) Boarding-houses owned by employers are common in the baking industries, and one of the objects of the Bakers’ Union is to abolish the system under which journeymen either board and lodge with their employer or in a boarding-house under the em- ployer’s control.( 19 ) The same system is to be found amongst the coast seamen of tbe Pacific, where the boarding-house keepers undertake to find the necessary hands for the captains of coasting vessels. ( 2U ) Allow- ances are seldom mentioned in the reports of the States. Miners receive powder and lights, but at a fixed charge, and in Pennsylvania are allowed coal for which a de- duction is made from their wages. This is a subject of complaint amongst them, for they claim that the amount ( 10 ) Illinois Report, 1880, p. 320. Michigan Reports, 1800, p. xvi. ; 1891, p. xxiii. (”) Maine Report, 1890, pp. 61, 53. Rhode Island Report, 1888, pp. 73, 80. Pennsylvania Report. 1889, E. 39, 42, 44. («) Report of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1887, pp. vii. 487-491. (U) Ely, “Labour Movement m America,” p, 105, note. (U) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885. Vol. I., pp. 35, 342, 1154, III. 548. (is) Report- of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in (lie Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1887, p. vi. Report, on Importation of Con- tract Labour, 18S9, pp. 21(1, 211*. ( 1|; ) Report on the Importation of Contract Labour 1839, p. 211. Tbe figures appear startling, but they are borne out by the experience of the Committee of Congress, which investigated the Sweating System in 1892. See Report of Committee, 1893, pp. 00, 211. ( 17 ) Investigation of Senate Committee' on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. I., pp. 00-08; Vol. II., pp. 901, 1087. Massachusetts Report, 1.880, in 277. (i») Bemis. “ History of Co-operation in the United States, pp. 278- 207,350. New Jersey Report, 1888, pp. 572-578. Pennsylvania Report, 1888, pp. 00-95. Illinois Report, 1886, p. 248. Report of Commis- sioner of Labour, 1890, p. 015. Connecticut Report, 1888, p. 100. Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1888, pp. 15, 10, 18, 25, 65. Massachusetts Report, 1880, p. 282. (“) New York Report, 1888, p. 549. ( i0 ) California Report, 18S7-18S8, P. 341. B 2 Houses or other allow- ances. 12 Tines or other deduc- tions. Excursus on some general tatistics oncerning .rages. credited to them is more than they can use. In Illinois the charges vary very greatly ; some mines make them amount to 20'88 per cent, of the gross earnings, others only to 1'6 or 2T7 per cent. 50 cents per man per month are generally charged for tool sharpening, and there is a small charge for oil and powder amounting to about five and a half cents on each ton of coal.(') Agricultural labourers in most parts of the country receive their board ; according to the Pennsylvania Report of 1889 the usual wages for such labour are 75 cents a _day with board or $T25 to §1 '50 without board. ( 2 ) The Illinois Report for 1886 states, as the result of a special investigation into the subject of fines, “ that “ only women are fined ; that factories employing the “ largest number of females fine most ; and that the “ younger the employe, the severer the fines.” Men, it adds, are never fined, and older women rarely. ( 3 ) On the other hand, complaints with regard to fines are not absent in reports dealing with men. The Report of the New York State Board of Arbitration for 1889 mentions a penalty for being late in a silk-weaving factory, and states that tramcar drivers are fined for any damage suffered by their car unless they can bring witnesses to exonerate them. Instances arc also given of a charge in one case for the use of gas and electric light, and of a deduction of 10 per cent, made for paying wages in between the fortnightly pay-days. ( 4 ). According to a Massachusetts Act of 1891 no fines or deductions of wages may be exacted from weavers for imperfections in weaving, and prior to the passing of this Act such fines had been greatly restricted by a previous Act of 1887. ( r ‘) Deductions are made from the earnings of miners for small coal which falls through the “ screen,” for insufficient weight, or for too much slate mixed with the coal, and the absence in many cases of any clieck-weighman to represent the men leads to complaints of excessive charges . (°) It is difficult to get accurate statistics with regard to the fines imposed upon women and girls in factories. As the Illinois Report for 1886 says, “ the mis-statements “ made by employers are so manifest that they cannot “ be accepted for a moment,” and, on the other hand, the employes’ version doubtless contains some exaggera- tions. If, however, the latter are to be believed, the fines in some cases amount to 5 per cent, of the weekly earnings, and one girl reports that the charges made for thread varied so much in her case that they were $1 more when her week’s work was worth $24 than when it amounted to $25. One case is mentioned ia this report in which a miner was fined for neglecting to trade at his employers’ store. In shops and restau- rants the employes are subject to a number of fines for- breakages and similar offences. (’) The reports contain also a certain amount of general information with regard to wages and prices, which has no direct bearing on the causes of strikes and lock-outs. Attempts are made to draw comparisons between wages and cost of living iu England and in the United States. Mr. Carroll D. Wright, in his Report for 1890, gives the average family income in the iron and steel industry as $591.61 in the United States, and $456.86 in England. The average excess of income over expenditure for oil out of 762 families engaged in the pig-iron industry is $99.23 in the United States, whilst in Great Britain it is $47.02 for 30 out of 65 families. ( s ) On the other hand, Mr. Albert D. Shaw, United States’ consul at Manchester, gives the weekly wages for English cotton operatives at from $3.84 to $8.64, and those of the operatives of New England at from $4.62 to $8.73.( ,J ) The difference is, therefore, very slight, if, as another witness before the Senate Com- mittee states, the purchasing power of a dollar is higher in Great Britain than in New England. ( 10 ) All authori- ties, however, combine to deprecate any attempt to deter- (') Report of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Districts of Pennsylvania, 1887, p. vi. Report on Importation of Contract Labour, 1889, p. 209. Illinois Reports, 1886, pp. 327, 328 ; 1890, pp. lvi, lvii. ('-) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1883, Vol. II., p. 158. Pennsylvania Report, 1889, pp. 125-138. ( 3 ) Illinois Report, 1886, p. 525 (see note, , p. ). ( *) Reports of New York Board of Arbitration, 1889, pp. 423, App. 134 ; 1890, pp. 79, 115. Connecticut Report, 1SS8, p. 112. ( 5 ) Massachusetts Report, 1890, p. xxvi. ( f> ) Report of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1887, p. VI. Report on Importation of Con- tract Labour, 1SS9, p. 209. Pennsylvania Report, 1SS9, B. 2. (") Illinois Report, 1886. pp. 503-525. ( 8 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1890, pp. 012, 61 1. . ( 9 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 18S5, Vol. I., p. 635. ( ,0 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour. 1885, Vol. I., p. 67 ; Vol. II., p. 71. This is stated on the authority of Mr. Robert Howard, a mulespinner, who had made a, life study of the question, and was accepted by both employers and employed as an authority. mine an American rate of wages. ( n ) The utmost that can be done is to give the range in special industries, the approximate number receiving the different sums within that range, and only such averages as arc warranted by these calculations. Under such circumstances any general comparison between the two countries is liablo to lie misleading. In the Report of the Committee on Finance in 1892 English wages are compared with those in America for certain selected occupations in the month of September 1891 ; the result is to show that English wages average a little less than three-fourths of those in America. No comparison is made between the relative cost of living in the two countries. Taking the United States only, a number of the reports contain evidence of a gradual decrease in the purchasing power of wages, and in many cases of a fall in the rate of payment itself. Between 1878 and 1881 the average increase of wages in a number of selected industries was 6’9 per cent, whilst the average increase in the cost of living was 21 2 per cent. Mr. Carroll D. Wright gives the average increase of wages from 1860 to 1878 as 24'4 per cent., that of prices 'as 14 9 per cent., and the per-ccutagcs from 1878 to 1881 as stated above ; so that for the whole period there was an average increase of 31'2 per cent in wages, and 41 '3 per cent, in prices, and real wages suffered a reduction of 10 per cent.( 12 ) The Connecticut Report for 1888 compares the wages and prices of 1887 with those of 1860, and shows that the average advance in the wages of men during that period was 43 per cent, and of women 57 per cent. The price of groceries rose meanwhile 10‘5 per cent, and that of meat 36 per cent., whilst dry goods show a reduction of 39 per cent, and carpets of 36 per cent. The details for 1887 were obtained from budgets drawn up by working men for the bureau. Three-fourths of the families sending returns from month to month reported average savings of $34.91, and two-thirds of the families sending one month's budget only reported average savings of $12.41. In the opinion of a moulder “ provisions and all the “ necessaries of life went up when wages went up, and “ wages came down long before the necessaries came “ down.” ( u ) In the North-Western states the actual rate of payment has not been maintained. Between 1882 and 1886 wages in Illinois fell 5'7 per cent, in all classes, and in answer to questions addressed by tbo Bureau to the labour organisations, a material reduction in income is reported in 58 out of 114 industries. ( 14 ) In Michigan wages fell 10 to 25 per cent between 1883 and 1884, and 15 per cent of the working classes were out of employment. Between 1870 and 1880 the number of persons to every dwelling-house became greater than before 1860. The same report states that union men get considerably better wages than non-union men, and that fewer of them are idle.( 15 ) On the other hand, Mr. Carroll D. Wright, writing in 1885, says, that “ wages have about doubled in the “ United States in the last 50 years” ; and again in 1886, “ that while the extent of the existing industrial de- “ pression involves a crippling of the wage receiver s “ of the country, and a consequent crippling of the con- “ suming power of the people, the volume of business lias “ been fairly well preserved. ”( I(i ) This last statement is fully borne out, at least as far as New England is concerned, by statistics collected through the agents of the Massachusetts and Connecticut Bureaux. Com- paring 1885 with 1875 the Massachusetts Bureau reports an increase in capital invested, including credit capital, of 98’34 per cent., in stock used of 47'99 per cent., in total wages paid of 30'3 per cent., in goods made and work done of 27'56 per cent., in persons employed of 27.7 per cent., and in motive power of 66'23 per cent., whilst there were 38'32 per cent, more spindles used and 50'42 per cent, more power looms. ('") Again, whilst in 1880 a hundred manufacturing cities and towns con- tained 56'98 per cent, of the entire population of the State, the per-centage in 1885 was 59 24, and in 1890 as much as 60'71, showing an increase in the population of these towns of 3380 per cent, since 1880, and 1815 per cent, since 1885. The population of the rest of the state had only increased ll'll per cent, since 1885.( 18 ) ( n ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1885, p. 142. (12) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labcur. 1885, Vol. I., p. 58; Vol. II.. p. 558. Partial Report of tbo Committee of Finance, 1892, pp. iv-viii. (> 3 ) Connecticut Report, 1S88, pp. 90, 100, 116. ( M ) Illinois Report, 1886. p. 360. ( I5 ) Michigan Report. 1885, pp. 116, 262. i 16 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1885, p. 75. Report on the factory System of the United States, 1885, p. 51. ('') Massachusetts Report, 1SS9, pp. 400, 401. i 18 ) Massachusetts Report, 1890, pp. 166,167. p 9 ) Massachusetts Statistics of Manufactures, 1888, p. 116; 1889, pp. 27 t, 271: 1890 p. 38 1 : pp. 287-289. Indiana Report. 1885-1886, p. xxv. 13 The per-centage of increaso from year to year in capital devoted to production, in goods made, in stock used, in the number of persons employed, and their annual earnings, and in the proportion of business done as compared with the total capacity of the establish- ments considered, is given from 1887 to 1891 in the Massachusetts Animal Statistics of Manufactures, and may be roughly tabulated as follows, though it must be remembered that the numbor of establishments considered increases annually, and varies from 1,140 in 1888 to 3,745 in 1891. Increase in Capital devoted to Production as compared with the pre- ceding Year. Increase in Value of Goods made as com- pared with the preceding Year. Increase in Value of Stock used as com- pared with the preceding Year. Increase in Number of Persons employed as compared with the preceding Year. Average Annual Earnings of Proportion of Business done Year. At maximum Period of Employment. At minimum Period of Employment. For the whole Year. Persons in the Establishments considered. capacity of t ho Establishments considered. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. $ Per cent. 1887- - — — — — — — 394.79 78*24 1888- 0*25 .3 61 2-99 0-55 1*42 (decrease). - 402.45 77*42 1889- 1-44 (decrease). 2*45 — 0-06 3-82 0*89 419.17 76-74 1890- 5*C2 4-37 7*19 2-35 4-20 2*70 433.56 72-65 1891- 2-34 1 -33 2-77 GO urs of labour. fur, and other industries (see p. 42) attained the desired eight hours, and many more succeeded in reducing their working time from ten hours to nine. On May 15th, 1886, a large number of strikes took place through- out the country and 192,000 men gained the eight hours’ day. The movement which had begun in Chicago on May 1st was checked hy the anarchist disturbances of May 4th, but in the meantime 110,000 men had joined in the agitation and 47,500 obtained Concessions. In May 1890, the carpenters of New York and of Chicago organised a number of successful strikes for this object ; in Philadelphia the same attempt was made, but a compromise was effected in favour of nine hours. (') The movement in favour of the shorter working day began in the United States in 1832, when a meeting was held in New York to consider, amongst other matters, whether it was desirable to reduce the hours of labour. In 1834 a trades union procession took place in which banners with the inscription “ Ten hours a day ” played an important part.Q The ten hour system was introduced into the navy yard at Washington and into “all public establishments” by President Yan Buren in 1840, and his action did much to extend the system amongst private establishments. Prom 1845 to 1852 an agitation for the reduction of hours in factories was carried on in Massachusetts, and the employers finally conceded two hours in the week, making the working time 66 instead of 68 hours. ( 3 ) In 1868 the National Labour Union, which was founded in 1866 and became extinct in 1870, took up the question. An Eight Hours’ Act was passed in 1869 for government employes, which still remains on the federal statute book. This soon, however, became a dead letter, and it was not until the agitation of 1886 and 1890 that the supporters of the eight hours’ move- ment gained any decided success ( 4 ) (see p. 42). Still, “ the hours of labour as a whole have been diminished. “ In the factory ten hours have become customary in “ place of eleven hours or even twelve hours, the usual “ hours of work in textile factories forty or fifty years “ ago having been thirteen and even fourteen. In the “ building trades nine and ten hours have become “ customary in the place of eleven and twelve, or “ even morc.”('j This result has, however, been brought about more by the efforts of organised labour than by any legislation. Numerous Bills have indeed been passed regulating the working hours, but they have been of little value as far as the great mass of labourers arc concerned, and nearly all have contented themselves with declaring the legal day to be of a certain length unless otherwise determined by contract. In New York the legal day is now eight hours, but overtime by agreement is permitted. The same limit is fixed in Illinois for all except farm labourers, but with the same modification. In Connecticut eight hours are a lawful day’s work “ unless otherwise agreed,” and in New Mexico the value of a day’s labour is fixed at $4, provided that eight hours constitute the day’s work. Maine, Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska make ten hours the legal day, but in each case the time may be otherwise determined by contract, and though Mary- land appoints ten hours for miners, every miner is allowed to work “ a greater number of hours should he so desire.” Where, however, the legal day is thus fixed, extra hours must be computed as overtime and paid for accordingly. In Georgia the legal day is from from sunrise to sunset for all persons under 21 years of age,( 6 ) but in the majority of States which have legislated with regard to the employment of women and minors, their hours are fixed at ten a day or sixty a week ( see page 31). Dakota, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachu- setts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Yermont, and Wisconsin make this provision, and Connecticut fixes the daily hours at ten and the weekly hours at fifty-eight. The influence of this legislation has been to shorten the daily working time for men, for where many women and children are employed, as in the textile industries, employers find it convenient to close the factory at the end of ten hours. (') The Massachusetts Report of 1889 gives ten hours as the rule in 82'06 per cent, of all the manufacturing establishments in the State ; 6‘12 per cent, have shorter hours and only 6T6 per cent, a longer time. (') New York Report, 1890, pp. 108, 109. Illinois Report, 1880, pp. 479, 480. Pennsylvania Report, 1890, C. 1. ( 2 ) New York Report, 1890, pp. 107, 108. ( :l ) Ely “ Labour Movement in America,” pp. 50, 57. (') New York Report, 1890, p. 108. ( 5 ) New York Report, 1890, pp. 110, HI. («) New York Report, 1890, pp. 743-750. ( 7 ) “ Child Labour,” pamphlet published by the American Economic Association, p. 36. 7'42 per cent, state that their longest working time is more than ten hours, and 2 - 24 per cent, less than ten hours. This is also the shortest working day in 18'80 per cent., and only 1'32 per cent, give anthing exceed- ing those limits. ( s ) The effect of labour organisations upon the length of the working day is shown by a statement of the Illinois Bureau, which gives ten hours as the working time of 58 per cent, of the members of these organisations, less than that time for 35 per cent., and more for 7 per cent only.(‘ J ) The sweated industries, however, show a far worse record. The journeymen tailors of Rhode Island state that they have no regular hours but work by the piece, and that to earn a livelihood their working day must often reach sixteen hours. ( 10 ) According to the Report of the New York Factory Inspector for 1889 ninety hours a week arc often worked in the sweating dens under the most insanitary conditions. ( u ) Even in well-conducted factories there are many complaints that the ten hours’ law is evaded, and that women arc allowed to do work overtime, rather than that the employer should be obliged to engage extra hands. ( 12 ) (For hours in special trades, see under “ Certain Special Industries,” p. 23.) Allusion has already been made to the large amount of overtime allowed in many industries. As a cause of strikes it is of course intimately connected with re- duction of hours, and seldom appears except in that connexion. It played, however, a prominent part in the strikes on the New York and Brooklyn tramways in 1889. The controversy there turned on whether the driver should be allowed to run extra trips over and above the six which could possibly be included within the twelve hours’ day with the intervals for meals fixed by the Act of 1887. The Knights of Labour wished to make this overtime impossible, urging that it would he required of the men so frequently as to amount to a lengthening of the regular hours. As the company resisted, and refused to submit the matter to arbitra- tion, it was impossible to arrive at a satisfactory settlement. ( l:l ) Dissatisfaction with the regulations concerning night work contributed to bring about the telegraphers’ strike of 1883. One of the demands of the strikers was that eight hours should constitute a day’s work and seven hours a night’s work. They also complained that the night force got only one Sunday off’ in eight, whilst the day force only worked one Sunday in six.( w ) One of the grievances of the railway men who struck in 1886 (see p. 18), was that they were obliged when repairing bridges or doing similar work to work extra hours and to take long night journeys without extra pay, and in some cases without free transport back to their homes. ( 15 ) The New York bakers included amongst the objects for which their union was formed in 1886 the abolition of Saturday night work which sometimes led to twenty-three hours continuous labour. ( 1(! ) Complaints of the irregularity of employment are very frequent amongst miners. The average number of days worked in the Illinois mines during 1885 was only 225 out of a possible 306, in 1890 it decreased further to 213, and the figures for the intervening years varied between those limits. ( 17 ) The Pennsylvania anthracite mines were kept idle 51 days in 1881, 48 in 1882, 39 in 1883, 106 in 1884. The days actually worked were 167 in 1878, 243 in 1879, 174 in 1880, 198 in 1881, 206 in 1882, 227 in 1883, 191 in 1884, 220 in 1885, 233 in 1886, and 237 in 1887.( 18 ) In the North-Western States work is reported to be very irregular. Between 1883 and 1884 15 per cent, of the working men of Michigan were out of employment, and in 1891 the agricultural implement makers reported that they lost seven weeks a year on an average. ( 19 ) With regard to women’s work the Massachusetts Commissioner states that more than one-fifth of the women engaged in professions or indus- tries during 1885 were unemployed for a greater or less (*) (*) Massachusetts Report, 1SS9, pp. 516, 517. ( !l ) Illinois Report, 1886, p. 176. {">) Rhode Island Report, 1888, p. 91. New York Report, 1888, p. 563. (>■) Reports of New York Factory Inspector, 1SS9, p. 29, 1S90, p. 28. ( 12 ) Connecticut Reports, 1S87, p. 22; 1888. pp. 25-27. ( 13 ) Report of New York Board of Arbitration, 1889, App., pp. 39, 53 175, 1S5. (") Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885. Vol. I., PP- 109. 124. (•■"•) Report of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas. Texas, and Illinois, 1887, pp. xv, xxv, xxvii. ( 1G ) New York Report, 1S88. p. 549. (>') Illinois Reports, 1S86, pp. 31S, 319. 542 ; 1890, p. xxxiii. ( Is ) Report of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1S87, p. lxiv. (19) Illinois Report, 1886, pp. 318-320. Michigan Reports, 1S85, p. 117., 1891, 1 >. xv. Overtime and night work. Irregular work. 15 Sunday work and holidays. period during tlic year, and the Commissioner of Labour’s Report for the States as a whole in 1888 gives 36 days as the average time lost in a year.(') Irregularity of employment was definitely given as one of the causes of the railroad strikes of 1877, (see p. 17) “ Mon with families were permitted to work only three “ or four days pci: week, and two or three days of each “ week they were forced to spend away from home, at “ their own expense, often obliged to pay $1 per day “ for board at the company’s hotel, leaving them but 35 “ or 50 cents, for their families. ”( 2 ) The chief complaints with regard to Sunday work come from telegraphers and railroad employes. The telegraphers claimed in 1883 that Sunday work should bo reckoned as overtime, receive a corresponding rate of pay, and be considered voluntary. These concessions they obtained as the result of the strike (■’). In 1886 the How York legislature passed an Act enumerating the public holidays. These are six in number, viz. : New Year’s Day ; Washington’s birthday, Feb. 22nd ; Decoration day, May 30tli ; Independence day, July 4th ; Labour day, the first Monday in Sep- tember ; Christmas Day. Besides these every general election day and every Saturday after 12 o’clock were declared to be legalised holidays. No penalties, how- ever, attached to non-observance of the law, which like the Eight Hours’ Act was, in the words of the Governor of the State of New York, “ regarded as simply declara- tory of the public desire.” Consequently the Saturday half holiday is by no means universal even in the summer, and in 1888 a Bill was brought in to abolish it, which passed the Senate and Assembly but was vetoed by the Governor. Sunday observance is regulated by the Penal Code. Massachusetts reports the working time for all persons on Saturday to be less than ten hours only in 20'69 per cent, of her manufacturing establish- ments, and though there has long been a movement in favour of the early closing of shops at least one day in the week, its success has as yet been very limited. In 1885 the Central Labour Union of New York pledged its members to assist the agitation in favour of closing shops by eight o’clock and abolishing Sunday work as well as work on Saturday afternoon. The educated classes have taken the matter up, and the opinions of many leading men on the subject are quoted in the New York Report for 1890. According to the Rev. Hugh 0. Pentecost, one of the clergy of New York, “ America has the fewest holidays of all nations. ”( 4 ) It is noticeable that one very strong union, that of the glass-workers, who are subjected to very trying con- ditions of temperature in the course of their work, have obtained a recognised break of six weeks every year during the heat of the summer. ( 5 ) 3. Action of Labour Organisations. In 82 ' 24 per cent, of the establishments sending returns to the Central Bureau of Labour between 1881 and 1886 the strikes were ordered by labour organisa- tions, and 79'18 per cent, of the lock-outs were ordered by combinations of employers. Amongst the causes of strikes vve find “for increase of wages, and against the employment of non-union men,” “ in sympathy with strikes elsewhere,” “ against employment of non-union men, foremen, &c.,” “for increase of wages and recogni- tion of the Union,” “ for adoption of union scale of prices,” “ for increase of wages and enforcement of union indenture rules,” and “ for re-instatement of discharged employes, foremen, &c.” The strikes assigned to these causes amounted in all to 4‘9pcr cent, of the whole number, and, as will be seen from the statistics given above, labour organisations were very largely responsible for strikes in which the principles of unionism were less directly concerned. Indeed, the independent strikes are only 17'76 per cent, of the whole. ( c ) In Massachusetts during the same period 8T91 per cent, of the strikes and 91'84per cent, of the lock-outs were ordered by labour organisations and combinations of employers respectively. There were unsuccessful lock-outs against a demand for the discharge of non- unionists in forty-two establishments, and lock-outs against union men in fifty-eight, 92‘28 per cent, of which succeeded. ( 7 ) The Connecticut statistics for the same ( l ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1888, p. 07. Massachusetts Report, 1889, p. 000. (“) Report of Commissioner ot Labour, 1887, p. 1071. ( 3 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour 1885, Vol. i„ pp. 109, 124. ( ■) New York Report, 1S90, pp. 412-457. Massachusetts Report, 1SS9, p. 517. (?) Pennsylvania Report, 18,88, F. 12, 19, 27. (°) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1887, pp. 15, 17. (') Massachusetts Report, 1888, pp, S3, 90. years give 268 strikes, of which twenty were “ for rein- statement of discharged employes ” and eleven “ against non-unionists.” More than half of the strikes in that state, which were ordered by labour organisations, succeeded, whilst the proportion of successful inde- pendent strikes was less than one half. ( s ) Illinois had 2,768 establishments engaged in strikes between 1881 and 1886. In 2,324 cases the strike was ordered by a labour organisation, and in 55’76 per cent, of them it succeeded. 4F73 per cent, of the 127 lock-outs were ordered by combinations of employers, and 22‘04 per cent, of these failed. ( 1J ) C. Development, Organisation, and Conduct op Strikes and Lock-outs. The report of the Federal Bureau of Labour on “ Strikes and Lock-outs,” to which reference has already been made, was compiled in 1887, and sums up the strikes and lock-outs for the years 1881 to 1886 inclusive on the basis of the number of establishments involved. The total numbers of strikes for the separate years were as follows : — - Year. Strikes. Establishments. Employes. 1881 - 471 2,928 129,521 1882 - 454 2,105 254,671 1883 - 478 2,759 149,763 1884 - 443 2,367 147,054 ■ 1885 - 645 2,284 242,705 1886 - 1,411 9,861 499,489 Hence the average number of establishments engaged in every strike was 5'7, and on this supposition Mr. Carroll D. Wright computes that the 610 strikes, which, according to Mr. J. D. Weekes, took place in 1880, would involve 3,477 establishments. Similarly the 853 strikes reported for 1887 would involve 4,862 establish- ments. This calculation brings out the fact that more establishments were affected by strikes in 1880 than in any subsequent year except 1886 and 1887. Again, the strikes in 1887 were less numerous than in 1886, when the total number of establishments affected by strikes was 44 21 per cent, and that of establishments affected by lock-outs nearly 70 per cent, of the whole number for the six years ; the Commissioner therefore deduces the conclusion that 1886 was the turning point, and that the number of strikes is now on the decline.( 10 ) As no calculation has been since made embracing the States as a whole, it is impossible to verify this conclusion. The report of the New York Board of Arbitration for 1889 does, indeed, state that there has been “• a marked and “ gratifying diminution in the number of strikes and “ lock-outs as compared with previous years, as well as “ a change for the better in the character, duration, “ and consequences of such labour disturbances as have “ occurred ; ” but on the other hand the same board reports in 1890, that “ the number of strikes which “ have occurred in this State during the past year was “ much greater than in any preceding year since the “ creation of the board.”( u ) The fact that the eight hours’ agitation took an active form in 1886 and again in 1890 will probably be found to account for the increased number of strikes in those two years. ('j The largest number of establishments affected by strikes and lock-outs between 1881 and 1886 were in New York. In 9,247 there were strikes and in 1,528 there wore lock-outs. 6,075 of the establishments engaged in strikes belonged to the building trades ( see p. "33). Five states, viz., New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Illinois, together contained 74'84 per cent, of the establishments in which strikes occurred and 89'48 per cent, of those affected by lock- outs. These per-centages are larger than even the manufacturing importance of the states would have rendered probable, for they contain only 49 per cent, of the factories of the United States and 58 per cent, of the capital invested in manufactures. ('-) The number of establishments engaged in strikes in Massachusetts alone was 995, and 70'95 per cent, of these had strikes in 1886. Lock-outs occurred in 147 establishments, 8232 per cent, of these being in the same year. 555 of ( 8 ) Connecticut Report, 1S87, pp. 335, 390. ( 9 ) Illinois Report, 1888, pp. 212, 213, 233. ( 10 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1837, pp. 12, 1.3. C 1 ) Reports of New York Board of Arbitratio n 1889, p. x. ; 1890, lip. ix, x. ( I2 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, li 87, pp. 13, 14. B 4 1 . Numberof strikes and lock-outs throughout the United States. Distribution by states. 16 Distribution by states. 2. Duration of strikes and lock- outs. 3. Impor- tant indi- vidual strikes. ( a .) In the mining dis- tricts. the 995 establishments engaged in strikes were situated in Boston, and49'4 per cent, of these had strikes in 1886. S7'52 per cent, of all employes engaged in strikes were involved in 1886, 2613 per cent, in 1885, and 81'65 per cent of employes locked out were locked out in 1886. Of the whole number engaged in strikes for the six years 32 28 per cent, were women, and these also con- stituted 24 32 per cent, of the whole number of employes locked out.(*) The number of strikers in Connecticut during the same period was on an average 1,539 a year, or one in every 73 persons employed. One establish- ment in every hundred was affected by either a strike or a lock-out. Colorado gives 109 strikes, involving 11 .431 employes, and California 107 strikes involving 6,763.( 2 ) In New York between 1885 and 1889 the number of strikes was 9,384, including 598 threatened and 664 sympathetic strikes. The number of persons engaged was 338,926, comparatively few of whom were women. The report remarks that women rarely initiate a strike, but that where they work together with men, they are always ready to support any strike initiated by the men.f) The chief burden of the strikes and lock-outs through- out the States between 1881 and 1886 was borne by thirteen industries, which claim 89'48 per cent, of all the establishments involved. These industries are boots and shoes, brickmaking, building, clothing, cooperage, food preparations, furniture, lumber, metals and metallic goods, mining, stone cutting, tobacco and transport. The lock-outs in the five industries of boots and shoes, building, clothing, metals and tobacco amounted to 79 '54 per cent, of the total number.^) In Massachusetts the building trades have the most strikes, whilst lock-outs are most numerous in the boot and shoe industry, which is also second as regards the number of strikes. In Connecticut the industry most affected was that of metal-working, which had nearly one-third of the whole number of strikes. In Illinois the building trades again suffered most, having 710 strikes, whilst amongst miners there were 291 and amongst railway men 252. The latter industries are also prominent in Colorado, where there were 37 strikes in building and cognate trades, and 46 amongst miners. (’) The report of the Central Bureau states that 60 13 per cent, of the establishments affected by strikes, and 63’23 per cent, of those in which lock-outs occurred, were temporarily closed. The average duration of the suspension was 23 days in the case of strikes and 28 - 4 days in the case of lock-outs. (°) In Massachusetts 787 establishments were closed temporarily through strikes, and the average duration of such suspension of work was 24-5 days for each establishment, or 30-7 days for the strike as a whole. Eighty-three establishments were closed 35 days each by lock-outs, the average duration of the lock-out being 70 - 6 days. In Illinois 48 - 82 per cent, of the establishments were closed tem- porarily owing to lock-outs, and 81-21 percent, were closed by strikes in Ohio. In Connecticut the strikes as a whole were short ; 19 per cent, lasted one day only, 46 - 6 per cent, not more than five days, and 77 per cent, less than 193 days. In California 1,508 days were lost in all, and the average duration of the Colorado strikes was 23'9 diys.(') The anthracite coal districts of Pennsylvania have been the scene of a number of strikes. Though the production of anthracite coal has been subject to great fluctuations, its increase during the twenty years between 1849 and 1869 amounted to nearly 500 per cent. The consequent demand for labour attracted a large number of men of every nationality, and the want of a sense of common interest prevented the miners from organising themselves into a body strong enough to protect then- own interests. In 1868, however, the Working Men’s Benevolent Association of St. Clair was formed to counter-balance the Mahanoy Valley and Locust Moun- tain Coal Association established by the mine owners in 1867. In 1869 the Working Men’s Association attempted to fix a minimum price for mining coal, and proposed to meet the difficulty of possible over-production by “re- “ stricting miners to one car or mine-waggon of coal (>) Massachusetts Report. 1S8S, pp. 03, 64. 72, 80, 81. ( 2 ) Connecticut Report, 1S87, p. 387. Colorado Report, 1SS7-1S83, p. 133. California Report, 1887-1888, p. 131. ( :i ) New York Reports, 1889, pp. 10, 50, 130 ; 1890, p. 987. ( *) Report of Commissioner of Labour. 1887, p. 28. _( 5 ) Massachi setts Report, 1888, p. 81. Connecticut Report, 1SS7, p. 338. Colors io Report, ] 387-18SS, p. 133. Illinois Report, 1888, p. 2iS. ( 6 ) R-port of Commissioner of Labour, 1887. pp. 15, 10. ( 7 ) Massachusetts Report, 1888, pp. 81. 111. Connecticut Report, 1887, p. 339. California Report, 1887-1838, p. 151. Colorado Report 1887-1888 p 133. “ per day less than the usual day’s work, and work by “ the yard to be restricted proportionally.” The strike lasted four months, and the miners finally resumed work on the company’s terms, which included the adoption of a sliding scale (see p. 23), hut also a stipula- tion that the miners should drop all claims to fix a basis. The basis difficulty reappeared the next year, and at the beginning of April work was entirely suspended for four months. A compromise was at last effected ; but the long struggle had a most injurious effect upon the industry, and by the end of the year wages had fallen 24 J per cent, below the basis. In January 1871 there was another strike of miners and labourers against reduction of wages, which extended throughout the anthracite coal fields. It was ordered by the general council of the Working Men’s Benevolent Association, and continued until May, when the men of two counties, Luzerne and Lackawanna, came to terms. In the Schuylkill district, however, where the earlier strikes had taken place, the owners refused to treat with the workmen through the Association, and a dead- lock ensued. The Philadelphia and Beading Railroad Company undertook to compel a settlement of the dispute by raising the freight rates to such a point, that the collieries could not afford to work except under a common agreement. This company was just be- ginning to take an active share in mining enterprises and thus to lay the foundations of the monopoly, which it afterwards succeeded in completely establishing. Its “ interference was bitterly resented by both operators “ and miners, and the case brought before the judiciary “ committee of the state senate, which declared itself “ powerless to apply a remedy.” Through the inter- vention of an umpire the matter was temporarily settled and work was resumed ; but the miners remained dissatisfied, and disturbances were frequent. ( 8 ) Prom 1871 to 1887 the influence of the railway companies in the mining district was steadily on the increase. They bought up or leased almost the whole of the coal acreage, and by means of their agents under cover of the “ coal exchange ” fixed the selling price of coal which determined the rate of wages. The miners were without organisation, for the Working Men’s Benevolent Association had been finally crushed during a strike in 1875, when the men were beaten and only allowed to resume work on condition of abandoning all organisations. They were, therefore, subjected to the truck system and excessive deductions from wages, and were unable to offer any kind of effective resistance. In 1884, however, there was a revival of local associa- tions, and a general organisation was formed in connexion with the Knights of Labour. In 1886 the miners of the Lehigh and Schuylkill districts asked for an advance of 10 per cent, regardless of the basis system, but met with no response. In 1887 they proposed a new schedule of wages, and asked the owners either to negotiate with them, or to submit the matter to arbitration. A compromise was effected between owners and workmen in the Schuylkill district, hut the Lehigh owners ignored the request, and a strike was, therefore, ordered by a vote of the miners themselves in their local assemblies on September 10th, 1887. The Schuylkill compromise drawn up by the Beading Coal Company gave an advance of 8 per cent, to their minors up to January 1st, 1888 ; if by that time the Lehigh owners had come to no agreement, the company were to return temporarily to their okl basis, hut if an agreement had been made, they were to re- adjust their scale accordingly. Meanwhile the employes of the Beading Railroad Company wove, together witli other Knights of Labour, sending help to the Lehigh miners in the belief that such action was at anyratc not regarded unfavourably by the company, whose receipts were increased by the idleness of the Lehigh mines. The Lehigh miners were, therefore, enabled to hold cut in spite of great privations. At the end of the year the Reading Coal Company declared that as the Lehigh strike remained unsettled, their own miners were bound to return as agreed to the old basis of wages. This the miners refused to do, declaring that for their part they had placed no such interpretation upon the agreeement, and had only bound themselves to reconsider the situation at the beginning of 1888. A strike ensued which lasted nearly two months. In the meantime the employes of the Beading Railroad had discovered that the company, which was really identical with the Reading Coal Company, was helping to prolong the Lehigh strike by secretly supplying the Lehigh owners with coal. The railway employes there- f 8 ) Wright, “ Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration/* pp. 121, 132. Iloport of Commissioner of Labour, 1SS7, pp. 1053, 1051, 1057. 17 upon refused to load some barges with this coal, and a lock-out followed in spite of certain negotiations between the company’s manager and the Knights of Labour. The representatives of the Knights, John L. Lee and Jos. P. Cahill, promised to declare the threatened strike off, and in their evidence before the Select Committee appointed to investigate the labour troubles in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania, they affirm that telegrams ordering all railroad employes to report themselves for duty on the morning of the 27th of December were despatched by them according to agreement to the chief points on the line at 1 a.m. on the 27th. For some unexplained reason these were not delivered until noon, the men did not report themselves at the proper hour, and when they applied for work, they were told that their places had been filled. A strike or lock-out, therefore, followed, the coal traffic was suspended in mid-winter and 100,000 miners as well as 6,500 railway employes under the control of the Reading Railroad in its double character remained idle until the beginning of March, 1888. Then the miners resumed work on the old basis, but the charges for powder and other supplies were reduced to 10 per cent, above cost price. The places of the raih’oad employes on strike were filled by new men. 2,500 of the old employes being placed on the black list of the company. During the whole of the shrike serious violence occurred only at one point, Shenan- doah, where a riot, beginning with the snow-balling of the company’s police, ended in a more serious attack, upon which the police drew their revolvers and fired into the crowd wounding five persons. The Select Committee in their majority report throw the blame upon the company throughout ; but one member considers that “ in each case the strikers were without adequate “ grounds or excuse for stopping work, and, in my “ judgment, the stoppage was prolonged unjustifiably “ on the part of the employers for their own purposes.” The Pennsylvania Report for 1890 is also inclined to exonerate the company from the charge of unjustly reducing wages, but fails to notice that even if wages bore a fair proportion to prices, there is little doubt that prices were manipulated by the company. (‘) No less important-are the strikes amongst the miners of Ohio.' “Few strikes,” says Mr. Carroll D. Wright, “ that have occurred in the United States have attracted “ more attention, have better illustrated the operation “ of American trades unions, or have involved greater “ interference of the military than those occurring in “ the mining regions of Ohio between the years 1869 “ and 1881.” After a period of comparative prosperity in 1869 throughout the Tuscarawas -Valley, Ohio, the beginning of March, 1870, brought a notice that the price of mining would be reduced from §1, or 95 cents, to 80 cents a ton. A. general strike followed, and, though one company agreed to continue payment at the old rate, a few months later it shut down its mines at very short notice. The men held out till September, but were at length obliged to ask for work on the em- ployers’ terms, and, though some were placed on the black list, the majority secured employment. The result of the strike was in all respects unfavourable to the miners. Trade declined owing to the competition of other districts which had supplied the market during the strike, and wages were reduced, whilst 300 fresh hands had been introduced with whom the work had now to be shared. The Miners’ and Labourers’ Benevolent Association, which had been formed during the strike, attempted in 1872 to raise*the price of mining again to §1 a ton, and for a time succeeded. As the price of coal was still rising they demanded, and obtained, a further 10 cents at the beginning of winter. Encouraged by this success they began to take measures against the employment of non-unionists, and ordered a suspension of work in January, 1873, to aid the miners of the Mahoning district, who had not yet gained their price. With 1873 began a period of depression in the mining industry which lasted until 1879, and the miners found themselves face to face with a series of reductions. The owners began with 15 cents, which the miners were obliged to accept after a struggle of fourteen weeks, and the ruin of their association. At the end of the year wages were reduced 5 cents more, and with the advent of the Miners' National Organisation an attempt was made to settle disputes by arbitration. At the end of 1874 a further reduction of 20 cents was announced ; this was referred to Judge Andrews, of Cleveland, as arbitrator, and he decided in favour of a 19 cents reduction to take effect on January 1st, 1875. The miners were dissatis- (’) Report of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in thelAntliraeite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1S87, pp. i-exxvi. Pennsylvania Report, 1800. C. 1, 2. E 74009. fied, and the Crawford Coal Company, who were in- volved in a, dispute with their employes concerning the right of the miners to appoint a chock-weigbman, offered an advance of 9 cents a ton as well as the recog- nition of this right. Their willingness to pay 80 cents so soon after the arbitrator had decided in favour of 71 was really due to their indignation with another company, which, in spite of an agreement to close the mines rather than submit to a check-weighman ap- pointed by the miners, had acceded to the demands of its employes. The effect upon the miners, however, was to convince them that the arbitration had been unfair. The result was that a general struggle for the extra 9 cents was successfully carried through, and that the confidence which the friends of arbitration had hoped to create was destroyed. In August the price was again reduced to 75 cents, and a notice that on March 1st it would be still further lowered to 65 cents brought about the most disastrous strike ever known in the district. The miners refused to listen to a compromise of 70 cents proposed by their National Organisation, and stood out “ for 75 cents or nothing.” New hands were obtained, and the old employes met them at the entrance to the mine for the purpose of holding a meet- ing. A riot took place in which shots were fired, the manager of the mine was wounded, and the new em- ploye's driven away. Several of the rioters were arrested, the mine was placed under a guard of militia to protect the employes introduced, and the employers gave notice that the rate of payment would be further reduced to 60 cents a ton. At the end of two months the men were obliged to resume work on these terms. In 1878 there was further trouble owing to the intro- duction of the screen system for sifting the coal. Several local strikes occurred, but there was no general suspension of work until the end of 1879, when the miners demanded an advance of 25 cents a ton. The empdoyers consented to submit the matter to arbitra- tion, but stipulated that in fixing the price the screen system should be maintained. The strike which resulted lasted from December 1879 until May 1880, and ended, as before, in the defeat of the miners. Coloured labour had meanwhile been introduced, and soldiers posted to guard the mines, though no violence had occurred. The men were overawed, and the strike col lapsed. ( 2 ) In Idaho strained relations between union and non- union miners culminated in a riot in 1892. “The “ union miners gathered in the town, and marched in a “ body, well armed, towards the San Francisco mill, “ which stands just in front of the mine. They were “ scarcely within rifle range when they were greeted “ by a volley from the mill. They continued to “ advance, and a fight ensued, in which one miner and “ one non-union man were killed, and six others “ wounded. Meanwhile, a detachment of miners “ climbed the hills, and reached a position behind the “ San Francisco mine. Here they loaded a car with a “ quantity of giant powder, the form of dynamite used “ in blasting, and sent it down the track towards the “ San Francisco mine. The car rushed down the sharp “ decline, and struck the front of the mill. A tre- “ mendous explosion occurred, which nearly demolished “ the mill.” To prevent the advance of federal troops sent to aid the State militia in restoring peace, two railway bridges were blown up with dynamite, and twelve non-unionists, who were being conducted by unionists out of the country, arc reported to have been massacred. Of the fourteen miners indicted for out- rages during the strike, ten were acquitted, and four sentenced to terms of imprisonment of from fifteen months to two years each.( :i ) The strikes which have occurred amongst railway (6.) On the employes deserve especial attention not only because rai, - r °ads. they have been more widely extended than any other strikes in the United States, but also because of the effect which they have produced upon other industries and upon the business of the country as a whole. During the year 1877 strikes occurred on no less than fourteen of the principal railroads : the Baltimore and Ohio ; the Pennsylvania Central ; the Erie ; the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern ; the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago ; the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Saint Louis ; the Yandalia (Illinois) ; the Ohio and Mississippi ; the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianopolis ; the Philadelphia and Reading; the Phila- delphia and Erie ; the Erie and Pittsburgh ; the Chicago, ( 2 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 18S7, pp. 1087-1107. (*) “Trie Times,” July 12th and 22nd 1892. "National Economist,” October 15th 1892. No official account of this strike could be obtained -CL IL c 18 Alton, and Saint Louis ; and the Canada Southern. The difficulty began on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad at Martinsburgh, West Virginia, and arose from a reduction of 10 per cent, in the wages of all employes, followed in Pennsylvania by a reduction in the number of engine drivers and stokers employed. Irregular employment, deferred pay, increased work, and the liability of the employes for the cost of accidents were other grievances. The strike spread quickly to the other roads, affecting in most instances the freight trains only, and the strikers were joined by many employes in other industries. Bioting attended with destruction of property and, in at least three instances, with considerable loss of life, occurred at Martinsburgh, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and other places in Pennsylvania. The state militia were called out at Martinsburgh and Pittsburgh ; but at the latter place they showed their sympathy with the strikers by refusing to fire. It was necessary to send for United States’ troops from the eastern garrisons before the mob could be dispersed.. At Pittsburgh four soldiers were killed and several wounded, and in a fight which occurred at Beading the troops fired a volley upon the crowd killing eleven persons and wounding over fifty. The special police at Scranton were obliged on one occasion to fire upon a mob who were attacking the maj-or, and three of the ring- leaders were killed. No estimate has been made of the total loss to men thrown out of employment and to owners of property by these strikes; but the county officials of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, who were held responsible by the courts for most of the losses occasioned by the destruction of property during the riots, paid between 1877 and 1881 over $3,500,000. (') The years 1885 and 1886 witnessed the great strikes on the South-western or Gould system of railways in which the Knights of Labour played a prominent part. This system includes the Missouri Pacific Bailway Company, of which the late Mr. Jay Gould was the president, and certain lines worked in connexion with it, known as the Texas and Pacific, and Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific. In August 1886 a select committee of repre- sentatives was appointed to inquire into these strikes, and. according to evidence given before them, the strike of March 1885 was caused by the repeated reductions of wages, amounting to from 10 to 15 per cent., which had taken place since September 1884. During this period the business of the Missouri Pacific had in- creased, though that of the associated lines showed a falling off. The strike was conducted in an orderly fashion throughout, and was finally settled by the mediation of the governors of Missouri and Kansas, the company agreeing to restore the old rate of wages and to reinstate the strikers. During the next few months thero was a gradual reduction in the number of em- ployes, especially upon the Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific railroad, and the Knights of Labour, regarding this as a measure directed against their organisation, ordered a boycott of Wabash rolling stock. This the Missouri Pacific consented to countenance, although the Wabash Company was under their own control. Their action has, therefore, incurred the suspicion of having been prompted by a desire to depress Wabash stock ; but they themselves declare that they only consented under strong pressure put upon them by the Knights of Labour. The boycott was abandoned after a month, and the company reinstated all Knights of Labour who had quitted work. In March 1886 a foreman, by name C. A. Hall, belonging to the Order, was dismissed from the service of the Texas and Pacific. The Knights claimed that this discharge without notice was a breach of the agreement of 1885, though that agreement only provided for a certain period of notice in the event of a proposed reduction in wages. They demanded that he should be reinstated, and at the same time that the wages of unskilled labour should be raised to $1'50 a day, and that the hours of work should be reduced. In the meantime they quitted work on all the lines and attempted to prevent the carrying on of the freight traffic by removing portions of the machinery from the engines, and intimidating any employes who were will- ing to work. In one instance they provoked the police to fire, and a skirmish ensued in which three policemen and one of the strikers were killed. This violence, how- ever, was not sanctioned by the general or district executive of the Order. The directors of the Missouri Pacific urged that since the Texas and Pacific line was in the hands of a receiver, they were not responsible for its conduct. Negotiations were instituted between Mr. Jay Gould, the president, and Mr. Powder ly, Grand Master Workman of the Knights of Labour, which re- sulted in an order given by Mr. Powderly to resume work on the understanding that the dispute should bo submitted to arbitration, When, however, Mr. Hoxie, the superintendent, refused to recognise any but em- ployes actually at work as parties to the arbitration, the Knights considered this as equivalent to a refusal to recognise their order, and the strike was recommenced. Gradually, however, the men gave way and at the end of two months they returned to work. The general public showed little sympathy with the strikers, and Mr. Carroll B. Wright holds the strike to have been “ ill-judged and without proper cause.” In this view he is supported by the evidence of some of the members of the Order. On the other hand the Select Committee state that “there were grievances of which the labourers “ and working men of the roads had just cause to com- “ plain, and these may have extended and enlarged the “ strike.” These grievances included general oppres- sion of labourers by subordinate officials, extra work without extra pay, the use of the black list, and com- pulsory contributions to a badly organised hospital fund. The chairman of the district assembly of the Knights of Labour seems also to have been negligent in presenting complaints to the proper authorics, so that the men supposed the company unwilling to grant re- dress. The loss which the strike entailed upon those who took part in it is estimated, at $900,000, whilst others whom it prevented from working lost $500,000 and the company .$2,800,000. It is impossible to compute the loss to trade from the complete suspension of freight traffic for a month, but it has been put at 25 per cent, of the value of the goods, and some business at any rate was permanently diverted from St. Louis, the centre of the trouble in Missouri, to Chicago.( 2 ) In 1890 a strike occurred on the New York Central and Hudson Biver Bailroad Company’s lines between New York and Buffalo which lasted for over a? month.' The immediate cause was the discharge from time to time of 78 employes, many of whom were prominent Knights of Labour. The district assembly of the Order were anxious to declare a strike, believing that the company’s action menaced the existence of the Order amongst its employes. Mr. Powderly was strongly against such a measure, and urged delay at any rate until 1892, the year of the presidential election, or 1893, that of the World’s Pair, when the press of business would, he thought, give a more favourable opportunity. Nevertheless, the strike was declared at the instance of the district assembly, and it threatened to spread throughout the lines of the Vanderbilt system. The employes applied to the State Board of Arbitration, but the company held that they had nothing to arbi- trate upon, and that the various employes were in each case dismissed for individual reasons, not on account of their connexion with any organisation. Nevertheless, the evidence taken by the Board of Arbitration in the course of its inquiry showed the company to have been perfectly cognizant of the position of the discharged men in the Order. .The company in anticipation of violence hired a special force of armed men known as the “ Pinkerton specials,” but the only loss of life during the strike wis the result of accidents to trains owing to the disorganisation of the traffic. The strike resulted in favour of the company, and between 3,000 and 4,000 of the employes lost their situations. The total loss to the men in wages was from $300,000 to $400,000, that to the company $2,000,000, and that to the public almost impossible to compute.^) In August, 1892, a strike occurred amongst the switch- men (viz., men employed in shunting and making up trains) on the New York Lake Erie and Western, the Buffalo Creek and the Lehigh Valley Bailways. It originated in a reduction of wages brought about by the" passage of the Ten Hour Law in May, 1892. According to a previous agreement of 1888, the monthly wages of yard conductors were $65 on the day shift, and $70 on the night shift, whilst those of yard brakemen were respectively $60 and $65. An extra allowance for Sunday work was made in Buffalo and cities west, of it. The hours of work were nominally twelve for each shift, and included about eleven hours actual labour. After the passing of the Ten Hours’ Act the company offered to continue the old rate of pay but to make the payments by the hour, and at the same time gave notice of their intention to calculate the hourly rate by dividing the previous amount of a day’s pay by twelve, To this the ( 2 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 18S7, pp. 30-33. Report of Select Coirmitete to investigate Labour Troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, and Illinois, 1887, pp. i-xxx. ( 3 ) Report of New York Board of Arbitration, 1890, pp. xiii-xix. 290-381. (‘)l Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1887, pp. 1071-1079. 19 (c.)Among; iron and steel workers, 1892. loaders of the Switchmen’s Union objected on the ground that if ten hours is fixod as the legal working day, the hourly rate ought to l:o determined by taking a tenth oi the amount previously paid for a day. In effect they demanded the same amount of pay for a ten hours’ day as for one of twelve hours, and seem to have anticipated that the Act would bring with it no diminution of wages. When this demand was refused by the company, they called out their members on the three roads mentioned. The strike, which began on August 12th, spread on August 17th to the switchmen on the New York Central and Hudson River, and the West Shore roads, and was accompanied by incendiary fires and much destrubtion of property. Forty-five of the deputies appointed by the sheriff' refused to act against the strikers, and, as the force of militia available proved unable to protect the companies’ property, the National Guard of the State was called out, and arrived in Buffalo on August 19tli. On the 18th the New York State Board of Arbitration made an attempt to bring the two parties to consent to an arbitration, but the companies refused, on the grounds that they had filled the places of the strikers, that the latter were no longer their employes, and that no obstruction to traffic existed except that caused by lawless interference, which it was the business of the State to hold in check. An attempt was made by the switchmen’s union to persuade the other employes of the companies to show their sympathy by coming out on strike, but the union met with no response to their appeal, and were compelled to declare the strike at an end. It is alleged that the switchmen have opposed the introduction of safety appliances from a desire to make a certain degree of skill necessary in performing their work, and so to keep up the rate of wages, which tends to fall, owing to the immense supply of men always available for the railroad serviced * 1 ) In July, 1892, a serious difficulty arose in the iron and steel works of Messrs. Carnegie and Co., Home- stead, Pennsylvania. According to a writer in the “ Forum ” for September 1892, the members of this limited partnership or company possess almost a monopoly of the iron and steel manufacture in Pennsyl- vania, and exercise great influence at election times, both financially and otherwise, seeing that they employ 13,000 men. Wages have been for many years fixed in these works by a sliding-scale based upon the selling price of steel billots ; the details of the* scale are arranged between the company and the leaders of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers of the United States. ( 4 ) The wages are high, but a con- siderable degree of skill is required for the work, which also, in some cases, makes great demands upon the health and strength of the workers, owing to the high tempera- ture of the workshops, in which the molten iron has to be worked. The scale agreed upon in 1889 would expire on June 30, 1892; and when that date approached, the owners gave notice of a desire to reduce the basis from $26.50 a ton to $23, and to make the scale terminable at the beginning of January instead of at the beginning of July. To this the employes objected, because in the middle of winter they could not afford a cessation of work and would not be in a position to resist any unwelcome demands made by the employers. The delegates of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, therefore, in the name of the employes rejected the proposed scale. The employers retaliated by formally discharging all who refused their terms and announcing that they would hold no further negotiation with the Association as such. A virtual lock-out followed, for though the company had nominally severed all connexion with the discharged employes, they subsequently issued a notice that “ all the old “ hands who did not return by a certain date would “ lose their positions.” Further Messrs. Carnegie and Co. had provided against the contingency of a strike or lock-out during the previous six weeks by building a fence round the works three miles long and twelve feet high upon a parapet three feet in height. Having prepared the works to stand a siege, they proceeded to obtain a force of Pinkerton special constables to enable them to introduce non-union labour to take the place of the strikers. Negotiations for the supply of this force (') “ North American Review,” October 1892. ( 2 ) The constitution of this Association (lifters from that of similar societies 111 England as regards (lie regulations for I he other of president and for the arrangement o! the wages scale. The president takes a much more active and important pari in the organisation of the Society I lian in England, anil the members have a much larger share in both suggesting and ratifying the terms of ilio wages scale. This scale is apparently sometimes fixed by the workmen’s society independently of tlie employers to whom if is presented for acceptance in its completed form with the alternative of a strike. had boon begun even before tbe lock-out was declared, though the men were not introduced until after appli- cation had been made to the sheriff for a guard to protect the property of the company. The officials of the Amalgamated Association, on their [side, offered to provide such a guard ; but their offer was refused by the sheriff on the ground that though they might prevent destruction of property, they would not facilitate the introduction of non-union labour. Three hundred Pinkerton constables were brought by water to the works. They were introduced into the State unarmed, but brought arms and ammunition with them packed in boxes. On their way up the river these boxes were unpacked, so that when the force arrived at Homestead in tbe early morning they were fully armed. Nows of their coming had preceded them, and a large crowd of strikers were in waiting to prevent their landing. Tho testimony is conflicting as to which party fired first, but a skirmish ensued in which seven of the strikers were killed and many others wounded, whilst of the Pinkertons, three were killed, and several others severely wounded. The crowd also attempted to set fire to the barges by pouring burning oil upon the river, and finally the Pinkertons surrendered to the leaders of the Amalgamated Association, and were imprisoned in a rink until evening, when they were got away from the town by rail. On their way to the rink and to the station they were beaten and maltreated in spite of the efforts of the strike leaders to control the crowd, which was largely composed of Slavs, Hun- garians, and women. Troops were sent to Homestead by the Governor of Pennsylvania, some of tho leaders were arrested, and order was restored ; for though the manager, Mr. Frick, was afterwards shot at by a Russian named Berkmann, this act seems to have been quite independent of the men on strike. After about six weeks a large number of the strikers returned to work, but a number of new men were subsequently engaged by the company, and many of the strikers did not return. A committee of Congress, appointed to investigate the employment of Pinkerton detectives, held an enquiry at Pittsburg into the circumstances of the strike. The evidence given before them showed that a conviction prevailed among the men, that since the introduction of the McKinley tariff, the profits of the company had increased, and that there was, therefore, no occasion for any such reduction of wages as they proposed. Further the strength of the feeling against the employment of Pinkerton special constables found expression, especially in the evidence of Mr. Powderly, Grand Master Work- man of the Knights of Labour, who alleges that the Pinkertons are often men of dubious character, and that they are sometimes employed rather to foment than to allay disorder. On the other hand, the chiefs of the Pinkerton force affirm that they employ none but men of good character, and that they forbid their men on any account to use arms except when forced to do so for the defence of their lives, and after they have been duly sworn in as Sheriff’s deputies. In Massachusetts an Act prohibiting the employment of Pinkerton con- stables wtis passed in 1892, and a similar Act was passed in New Jersey during the same year.( 3 ) An extensive strike of telegraphers took place in 1883 by order of the Brotherhood of Telegraphers, a branch of the Knights of Labour, which though only formed in 1882, speedily numbered nearly 19.000 members. The strike was caused by dissatisfaction with the existing salaries, the regulations for Sunday work, the inequality of the salaries paid to men and women respectively, the length of the hours, and finally the refusal of the tele- graph companies to recognise the executive committee of the Brotherhood, or to treat with them when they presented a petition embodying their demands. The Western Union Company, to whom these grievances were submitted, had established a virtual monopoly. Four-fifths of all the telegraphing business of the country was in its hands, and in its efforts to absorb its rivals, it is affirmed by several witnesses before the Senate Committee on Education and Labour to have bought np all new inventions when possible, oven though it afterwards allowed some of them to lie idle. The employes complain that as this monopoly has increased, salaries have been gradually reduced from 30 to 40 per cent. In 1883 they averaged $54 a month, and $38 for railway telegraphers at country stations. ( 3 ) Report- of Select Committee In investigate the Employment of Pinkerton Detectives, 1H92; "Social Economist,” August, 1892’, pp. 108- 1 IH; ‘ Forum,” September 1892 ; “Review of Reviews,” October 1892; " Blackwood’s Magazine,” October 1892; ■‘Boston Labour Leader,” August 6tli, 1892: “National Economist,” October 15th, 1892; New Jersey Report, 1891, p. 582. C 2 d. Amongst telegraph- ers, 1883. 20 This is higher than the corresponding salaries in England, which, according to an English witness, himself a telegraph operator, average from 30s. to 21. a week, but he claims that the American rate is really the lower when compared with the cost of living. Women telegraphers in the United States get on an average about 25 per cent, less than the men. The telegraphers assert that members of the Brother- hood were often placed on the black list, and that those engaged in an earlier strike in 1870 wci’e only reinstated after binding themselves to have nothing further to do with any labour organisation. On the other hand the employers give the average salary of men and women telegraphers taken together as $65 a month, or $11 more than the employes’ estimate for men only. The best men by their account get $80, and the best women $70 ; but tne women’s work is in all cases said to be inferior to that of first class men, since “ the “ nervous system of the women will not stand the strain “ of working a heavy wire.” They also declare that the best English telegraphers only get about $24.20 a month, or 130Z. a year, and that the American salaries are, therefore, more than double those paid in England. As regards the charge of black listing, the employers admit that they do all in their power to discourage any organisations “ which assume the power of controlling “ the action of the operator in respect to his undertaking “ with us.” The strike lasted thirty -two days and ended in the defeat of the employes, whose loss amounted to $250,000. Of the three companies involved, the American Rapid made a provisional arrangement with its employes and carried on business during the strike, thus gaining 5.000Z., but the Western Union and Baltimore and Ohio Companies lost $909,300. As a result of the strike the Western Union slightly reduced the week-day hours, and agreed that Sunday work should be considered optional and receive an overtime rate of payment. (‘) [on A -.shore' St The strike of longshoremen in New York in 1887 men, 1887." arose out of sympathy with the coal-handlers of the ports on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, who were out on strike against a proposed reduction of 2 1 cents an hour in their wages. The longshoremen were also desirous of boycotting the Old Dominion Steamship Company, which had reduced wages to stevedores from 25 cents to 20 cents an hour, though at the same time guaranteeing their employes $12 a week in place of the former irregular employment. The longshoremen now claimed 30 cents an hour and '60 cents for night work. The result was a general strike ordered by the Knights of Labour in New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City, including 13,000 longshore- men, 1,000 boatmen, 12,000 grain handlers, 1,500 coal handlers, 400 bag sewers, in all 27,900 men. Public sympathy was with the coal handlers in their resistance to the proposed 2J cents reduction, because at the time of its imposition the price of coal had just been raised 50 cents a ton by the coal owners and railway companies, who were practically one {see p. 16). Their action in bringing about a coal famine in the middle of winter, as well as in importing a body of “ Pinkerton specials,” armed with revolvers, combined to make them un- popular with the public. When, however;, the coal handlers’ difficulty had been satisfactorily settled by the mediation of the Knights of Labour, the long- shoremen found themselves neglected, and the strike collapsed. Wages were for a time reduced, but they have since rised to the desired level through the action of the Longshor’emen’s Union. (-) Another strike among longshoremen is reported from California in 1887, where sailors known to belong to the Coast Seamen’s Union were discharged from the wharves and lumber yards of San Pedro. This action was taken by the Shipowners’ Association with the avowed object of increasing the somewhat inadecpiate supply of ocean going seamen by driving these men to sea. The seamen, believing that the existence of their union was threatened, declared a strike, in which they were joined by the Longshoremen and Lumbermen’s Association, and by a recently organised branch of the Knights of Labour. This branch was acting without the necessary authority from the higher organisation, and, though afterwards supported by the higher branch, had little chance of success. Arbitration was attempted but proved a failure, and at the end of a fortnight the strike collapsed. Very few of the longshoremen, how- ever, were reinstated. ( :! ) (') Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1887, pp. 28, 20 ; Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. I., pp. 101- 107. 382-402, 864-953. P) New York Reports. 18,37. pp. 327-385, IS, 38, p. 1021, ») California Report, 1887-1888, pp. 160-166. D. — Cost and General Result of Strikes and Lock-outs. According to the Commissioner of Labour’s Report, i. Propor- in 46 ‘52 per cent, of the establishments giving strikes suc ‘ between 1881 and 1886, the strikes succeeded entirely, strikes and in 1347 per cent, they succeeded partially, and in 39'95 lock-outs, p'or cent, they failed. Lock-outs were entirely suc- cessful in 25'47 per cent, of the establishments in which they occurred, partially successful in 8 58 per cent., and unsuccessful in 60'48 per cent. On the whole, therefore, strikes are more often successful than lock- outs, the per-centage of failures being more than 20 per cent, greater in the one case than in the otiier.f 1 ) The Massachusetts Report for 1888 gives the per-centage of establishments in which the strikes were more or less successful during the same period as 81’21 per cent., whilst there were failures in 18 /9 per cent. Lock-outs succeeded in 59'86 per cent, of the establishments and failed in 39.46 per cent. The per-centages vary very greatly in different years and in different trades. For instance, in .Massachusetts, the lock-outs for 1883 failed in every case, whilst in 1884 and 1885 every lock-out was successful. Again, all the lock-outs in the shipbuilding industry succeeded, as well as 94 87 per cent, of those in the clothing industry, and 91'67 per cent, of those amongst stone-cutters ; and, if on the other hand, the building trades pan show complete successes in no more than 9'55 per cent, of the cases recorded, they only failed entirely in 4‘67 per cent. In Illinois the per-centage of more or less successful strikes between 1881 and 1886 was 64'49 per cent., whilst in Ohio tlie per-centage of successful lock-outs was as high as 91'84.( 5 ) New York gives 9,384 strikes between 1885 and 1889, of which 62'5 per cent, were successful and 37 per cent, unsuccessful. ( 6 ) Of recent strikes, the Report of the Massachusetts Board of Arbitration for 1891, says, “ The strikes which have “ occurred in this state during the year just ended “ (1890) have been, almost without exception, disastrous “ to those who embarked in them, and in some “ instances, nearly destructive of the organisations “ with which the workmen were allied. Employers “ have learned how to make combinations among them- “ selves, and by so doing to oppose an effective barrier “ to combinations of labour . . . Some of the con- “ troversies of the year which have attracted much “ attention, have been struggles between associations of “ employers on the one band and unions of workmen “ on the other, when there appeared to be no possible “ solution except through a struggle which should test “ the powers of endurance of the respective parties. “ In cases of this sort . . . success lias not been “ on the side of the workmen ; and all such experiences “ have shown, as nothing else could . . . , how “ much trouble and distress might have been averted “ by pursuing the milder methods established by “ law.”( 7 ) The total loss to employers throughout the States 2 . Cost to : between 1881 and 1886 was $34,163,814. In Massa- chusetts alone, it amounted to $1,9/0,881 from strikes and $550,675 from lock-outs, in all $2,521,556. The greatest loss was in 1886, and the hoot and shoe, building, and textile industries suffered most. In Connecticut employers lost $357,290 by strikes, aud $197,200 by lock-outs ; in California the loss from strikes was $311,093, and in Colorado $164, 225. ( s ) The New York Report for 1889 says that it is difficult to arrive at a correct estimate of employers’ losses, for they often include possible contracts and other items which are equally uncertain in their returns. Between 1885 and 1889, 752 firms in that state reported losses amounting to $2,289,460. The loss from injury to goods or machinery is very small, and there are several instances recorded in which workmen finished the work upon which they were engaged, even after a strike had been declared, in order to save their em- ployer from loss.( 9 ) In estimating the cost to the employed two factors 3. Cost to must be taken into consideration, viz., the number of men who are not reinstated at the end of a strike, and the loss in wages even to those who regain their old places. The Commissioner of Labour’s report states that the number of employes in the establishments where strikes had occurred was found after the strikes to have ( ') Report of Commissioner of Labour. 18S7. p. 16. ( s ) Massachusetts Report. l.SSS. pp. S5-87, 111. (°) New York Report. 1889. p. 9. (') Report of Massachusetts Board of Arbitration, 1891, pp. !), 10. ( 8 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1SS7. p. 28. Massachusetts Report, 1888, p. 98. Connecticut Report. 1887, pp. 391,453. California Report. 1887-1888. p. 154. Colorado Report, 1S87-1888, p. 133. (-') New York Report, 1889, pp. 93, 116. 21 r 1. Volun- tary boards of arbitra- tion or con- ciliation. diminished by 25,788, and the number of now employes engaged after the strike was 6'20 per cent, of the total number employed before. The number employed diminished where lock-outs took place by 4,523, and the per-centage of new employes was 7’97 per cent, of the total force before the lock-outs. A certain amount of labour was therefore displaced. The per-centage of men engaged in successful strikes was 39T9 of the whole, 13'47 per cent, were partially successful, and 49'91 per cent., or nearly half, failed. The total loss in wages to all employes engaged in strikes or lock-outs amounted, as far as could be computed, to $59,972,440. This would give an average loss of $2,446 for each establishment and $40 for each individual. Even the successful strikes for advance of wages involved a loss to each employe of $20.42, which could only be made good by 76 days’ work at the increased rate of payment. The average loss in the partially successful strikes was $43.34 for each individual, and could only be made good by 361 days’ work. The assistance given to men on strike is probably understated ; as recorded, it amounts to 8‘38 per cent, of their loss.(') In Massa- chusetts, during the same period, 52.16 percent., or more than half of the strikers failed, whilst 34‘73 per cent, succeeded entirely, and 13'11 per cent, in part. Of the employes locked out, 5T63 per cent, gained their point, and 46’27 per cent, had to give way. On the whole, therefore, successes and failures were about equal in number. The loss to employes from strikes was $4,200,489, and from lock-outs it was $952,310. The total loss w-as, therefore, $5,152,799, or $54 for each individual. ( 2 ) In Connecticut the number of employes, after 268 strikes, had diminished by 380, and 19 per cent, of the strikers were replaced by new employes. The loss in wages was $460,782, and $53,219 was spent in assistance. To make this good the 9,236 men on strike would have to work 1,382 days, or over four years. The employes’ loss by lock-outs was $362,472. In Colorado the number of employes after the strikes was diminished by 76, the loss in wages amounted to $750,307, and $10,533 was spent in assistance. The loss to employes in California was $324, 629. 1 3 ) On the other hand, the New York Bureau is of opinion that “ on the “ whole the strike pays, for in a year or two the sum of “ all losses would be recovered, and the advance rates “ maintained.” Though the total loss ascertained for one year amounted to $6,305,957-, yet the gain in wages was $5,382,337. The trades, which advanced most in that state between 1885 and 1889, were those of the boilermakers and bakers and the different classes of builders. ( 4 ) E. Prevention and Settlement of Strikes and Lock-outs. One very early instance of arbitration is recorded at the beginning of the 18th century, when a copper arbi- tration board was established in the mines of Simsbury, now called East Granby, in Connecticut. These mines, however, were soon exhausted, and for a time were converted into a State prison. ( 5 ) The next recorded attempts at a peaceful settlement of industrial disputes were those made by the Sons of 'Vulcan between 1865 and 1876 to establish a sliding scale of wages. (See p 23). (") 1 In 1870 some of the shoe manufacturers of Massa- chusetts formed a committee of five to meet with the committee of the Knights of St. Crispin ( see p. 8), and to draw up a scale of wages for the ensuing year. This was the first board of ar bitration or conciliation in Massachusetts, and it was established in an industry which had been harassed more than any other by industrial conflicts. For a time the system worked well. Irr 1871 the committee met again to determine prices for the second year, birt during the year diffi- culties arose betweerr the employers and the Crispin organisation, and at the beginning of 1872 the manu- facturers returned no reply to the invitation of the Crispin committee. The collapse of the Order, following upon a prolonged strike, led, in 1875, to the formation of the Shoemakers’ League, which again established a board of arbitration ; but the League had so little influence, that at the end of the year it was dissolved by a unanimous vote. The next year witnessed a revival of the Knights of St. Crispin and of their board * (*) p- C) Report of Commissioner of Labbur, 18S7, pp. 18, 19, 28. (*) Massachusetts Report, 1888, pp. 90-93. (■’) Connecticut Report, 1887, pp. 391, 453. Colorado Report, 1887- 18S8 133. California Report, 1887-1888, p. 154. C) New York Report. 1889, pp. 38, 87. ( s ) Connecticut Report, 1887. p. 78. C 1 ) Wright “ Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration,” pp. 109-119. of arbitration, and to prevent a repetition of the previous troubles, it was determined that no strike should lie declared except by the vote of the board and the unanimous consent of the employes in the establish- ment concerned. In thirteen months the board settled over a hundred difficulties, and its working was regarded with favour by the manufacturers, although they took no active part in its proceedings. It was com- posed of eleven members, each representing a different branch of labour. The members were elected for one year, and chosen, as Mr. Carroll D. Wright says, “Not “ alone for their integrity and general intelligence, hut “ also because they were regarded as superior workmen, “ each being an expert in his branch of the business.” In cases referred to them for arbitration, the decision of the hoard was final, in other cases an appeal might be made to the lodge, or local branch of the Order. Meetings were held as often as required, generally twice a week. Members received no payment for evening attendance, but for time deducted from their working hours they were paid at the rate of 30 cents an hour. The Order gradually gave way before the Boot and Shoe Workers’ International Union, so that the attempt to substitute arbitration for strikes was not permanently successful. The work, however, accomplished by this board did much to show the value of the principle. ( 7 ) Allusion has already been made ( see p. 17) to the efforts of the Miners’ National Organisation to establish arbitration in the Tuscarawas Yalley, Ohio. Their intention was defeated by the action of the Crawford Coal Company immediately after the award of 1874. In 1887 a second attempt was made but it had little success. ( s ) In 1879 the firm of Straiten and Storm, cigar manufacturers of New York, established a board of conciliation amongst their employes. The constitu- tion of the board is in some respects peculiar. It consisted of two parts, a cigar makers’ board and a packers’ board, and each body chose a delegate from the other body to sit with them, the firm being repre- sented on both. The Cigar Makers’ Board of Arbitration, as finally constituted, consisted of four cigar makers, chosen out of fifteen delegates selected by the three departments, one packer elected from the packers’ board, three foremen appointed by the firm, and one mem- ber of the firm. The Packers’ Board of Arbitration, was composed of two packers, chosen out of seven selected by the packers as a whole, one cigar maker elected from the cigar makers’ board, the packer foreman, and one member of the firm. On both boards, therefore, the employes were in a majority, and one of their number was in a position to give the casting vote in case of a division of interests. Wages were twice advanced by order of this board in 1879, and a further advance was made in 1880, though the board did not then grant the full amount demanded. ( Weekes, “ Labour Difficulties and their Settlement.” pp. 51-54. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, Appendix, pp. 49, 50. For text of Arbitration Acts, see Appendix li. {") Maine Report, 1889, pp. 43, 44. 13; 1889. pp. ix xii ; 1890, pp. 596-600. New .Jersey Report, 1891, pp. 577-581. For text of Arbitration Acts, see Ap- pendix B. (P. Nebraska Report, 1887 1888, pp. 117-157. (•) Colorado Report, 1S87-1S8S, pp. 167-1S3. 3. Joint committees. 23 concerning wages ; but in so far as they drew up schedules of wages, their powers exceeded those of the English joint committee. A similar board existed amongst the coal employers and miners of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania, which was known as the Inter-State Board of Arbitration ftnd Conciliation. In 1888, however, the employers of northern Illinois with- drew, and in 1889 those of Indiana followed their example, believing that the scales fixed by the Board were more favourable to Pennsylvania and Ohio than to the other States. In the building trades of New York wages are settled by annual agreement between the employers and the union, and after the long strike in the cloakmaking industry of that State in 1890, it was finally arranged that no strike should hereafter be ordered until the grievance had been submitted to a joint board, composed of six members of the Amalgamated Board of Cutters, Contractors and Cloakmakers, and six members of the Cloak Manufacturers’ Association. The strike amongst the employes of the Cox Shoe Manufac- turing Company of Rochester in the same year also led to the appointment of a Joint Committee to settle further disputes. (') Sliding Allusion has already been made to the sliding scales ales. established by the Sons of Vulcan for the iron industry. In 1865 it was agreed that the price for smelting iron was to be $9 for every ton of 2,240 lbs. when iron sold at 81 cents a lb., and that the price for smelting was to be reduced 25 cents for every fall of a quarter of a cent in the selling price. Ninety days’ notice was required to terminate the scale from either side, but it only lasted a few months. In 1867, after a strike in which the men had been successful, another scale was drawn up. By this the price for smelting was to be $8 a ton when iron sold at five cents a lb., with a 25 cents reduction for every fall of a quarter of a cent in the price of iron. The agreement could be terminated with thirty days’ notice on either side. This scale remained in force for seven years, but was modified so as to allow of an advance in wages whenever the price of a lb. of iron varied by a tenth of a cent. It did not provide for any fall in that price below three cents a lb„ and when the price did fall below three cents the employers proposed a reduction of $1 a ton, and the employes one of 50 cents. After a four months’ strike the men were as before, successful, and resumed work on the 50 cents reduction. In 1876 the various classes of ironworkers united to form the “ Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin- “ workers of the United States,” and several scales were drawn up for different branches, wages rising or falling in most cases with every fluctuation of a tenth of a cent in price. The method of fixing wages by sliding scale has continued amongst ironworkers up to the present time (see p. 191. ( 2 ) The first scale amongst the anthracite coal miners of Pennsylvania was established in 1869. It took $3 a ton at Port Carbon as the basis price, and when coal sold at $3, wages for outside labour were to be $11, for platform men $11.50, for inside labour $12, and for miners $14 a week. For each advance of 25 cents in the selling price, wages were to be raised 50 cents a week, or for piece- workers five cents a waggon. In 1870 the Anthracite Board of Trade proposed to reduce the basis price to $2, and wages in proportion to $7.50 a week for outside labour, $8.50 for inside labour, and $10.50 for miners, with an advance of 5 per cent, for every rise of 50 cents in the selling price of coal. After much negoti- ation another scale, known as the “ Growen compromise,” was substituted, which again fixed the basis at $3 and gave 81 per cent, advance in wages for every rise of 25 cents in the selling price, and a reduction of 81 per cent, for every fall of 25 cents until the basis of $2 was reached. In 1871 the basis was reduced to $2.50, and outside wages were fixed at $9, inside wages at $10, and those of miners at $12 a week, with an advance or reduc- tion of 1 per cent, for every rise or fall of three cents in the price of coal. This third scale, however, led to many disputes, and the Working Men’s Benevolent Association repudiated the basis fixed by their own president without notice. Arbitration was tried, but some of the men refused to submit the wages question to the umpire, and it remained unsettled. At length a second arbitration fixed the basis at $2.75, and the weekly wages at $10 for outside labour, $11 for inside labour, and $13 for miners. When, however, coal fell below the basis price, the men refused to submit to the (') Illinois Report, 1889, pp. 111-116. New York Report, 1887, p. 33. Report of Now York Board of Arbitration, 1890, pp. 249, 576. (*) Wright, “Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration,” pp. 109-119 McNeil, “ The Labour Movement, the Problem of To-day,” pp. 301-306. Report of Select Committee to investigate the Employment of Pinkerton Detectives, 1892, pp, 18-28. corresponding reduction, and a strike followed. The men gave way, and in 1872 the basis was fixed at $2.50. In 1873 it rose to $2.75, hut in 1874 there was a further strike, which was followed by a reduction of 20 per cent. From that time up to the strike in 1887 the miners were in the hands of the Reading Company, and wages to day- labourers wore paid on the basis fixed in 1875, which was 15 per cent, lower than that of 1874. Piece-workers were paid at a still lower rate, and the price of coal upon which wages depended was controlled by the employers. An attempt to fix a scale of wages for coal minors in the Pittsburgh district of Pennsylvania was made in 1879 by a board of conciliation and arbitration formed amongst miners and employers. A similar hoard was organized about the same time in the Shenango Valley, but in both cases the attempt was a failure, because the miners’ representatives were not given full powers, and they would not agree with the employers about tho election of an umpire. ( 3 ) IT. CONDITIONS OP LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. A. Mining, Iron, Engineering, Hardware, Ship- building, and Cognate Trades. In the production of iron and steel the United States i. Iron and compare very favourably indeed both with Great Britain steo^work-^ and with the Continent of Europe. According to the production. Commissioner of Labour’s Report for 1890, the United States produced over 30 per cent, of the whole output of iron throughout the world in 1889, and 32 per cent, of the output of steel. Its production is only surpassed by that of Great Britain, and whereas the amount pro- duced in Great Britain decreased considerably during the eleven years preceding 1889, that of theUnited States almost doubled. Comparing Great Britain, the United States and Germany together, we find that between 1878 and 1889, when the amount of pig-iron produced throughout the world increased from 14,117,902 tons to 24,869,534 tons, the per-centage produced by Great Britain fell from 45'2 to 33T6, whilst that of the United States rose from 16'30 to 30’57, and that of Germany from 15'21 to 17'64. Again, whilst the amount of steel produced in the world during the same period increased from 3,021,093 tons to 10,513,977 tons, Great Britain’s per- centage fell from 36'41 to 34'9, and that of Germany from 18'88 to 17'71. The per-centage of the United States, on the other hand, rose from 24’23 to 32'2. In the production of iron ore and coal, Great Britain alone surpasses the United States ; the latter country produces 26'4per cent, of the world’s iron ore and 26'7 per cent, of its coal. Great Britain, therefore, stands first in the production of coal, iron ore, pig-iron, and steel, and the United States second ; but American progress in recent years has been greater in proportion than that of Great Britain. The two countries are now almost equal as regards the production of steel, and Mr. Carroll D. Wright states that since the preparation of the tables upon which the Report for 1890 is based, the United States have taken the lead in the production of pig iron. Special reports drawn up by an agent of the Treasury in 1892, report a great increase in the manu- facture of tin plates, especially since 1890 ; “ the time is “ not far distant when the United States will he the * * “ largest producer, as it is now the largest consumer, of “ tin plates of any nation in the world. ”( J ) The iron industry of the United States is chiefly con- fined to two districts, the Northern district, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, and tho Southern district, which includes Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. The ore of the Northern district contains the largest iier-centago of iron. The average proportion is 58 '9 per cent., and the daily product of a furnace is 86 6 tons, or about nine tons more than in the South, though the Southern furnaces are larger. The average proportion of iron in tho South is 45'5 per cent., and the daily product of a furnace is 77'8 tons. Tho cost of production, which is here taken to include the price of materials, the cost of repairs to plant and machinery, wages, taxes, and the salaries of clerks and officials, is greater in the North than in the South. In the North tho average cost of a ton of iron is $13,938, in the South it is $10,755. The cost of labour in producing tine materials for Bessemer :l ) Wright, “ Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration,” pp. 121-152. ‘) Report, of Commissioner to Labour, 1890, pp. 15-25. Special Reports to the Secretary of the Treasury by Ira Ayer, April and August 1892. C 4 Wages in the United States, Great Britain, and the Conti- nent. Compara- tive eili- eiency of labour in the United States, Great Britain, and the Conti- nent. Cost of living in the United States, Great Britain, and Belgium. 24 iron in the North is from 22 to 35 per cent, of the total cost of the materials. In the South the cost of the labour required for the quality of iron known as “run of furnace ” is from 46 to 81 per cent, of the cost of the materials. (') Comparing the United States with Great Britain and the Continent of Europe, we find the cost of production to be highest in the first-named country for all kinds of iron and steel products. The production of steel ingots, for instance, costs the United States $21'99 a ton, Great Britain $14'992, and the Continent $16'465. Again, bar iron costs $34'625 a ton in the United States, $24 882 on the Continent, and $23 975 in Great Britain. The cost of labour is also greatest in the United States. Six representative establishments give $24'666 as the net cost per ton of steel rails, and $11'597 of this is for labour. An establishment in Great Britain gives $18'614 as the total cost of rails, and $7'817 of this is for labour. In the United States there are no royalties to be paid to the Government. Minerals belong in every case to the owner of the land, and the owner of a mine is not taxed on any other basis than that which is applicable to other kinds of real estate. He may lease his mines on condition of receiving a royalty from the leaseholder; but his will be the only claim upon the output of the mine. ( 2 ) The average daily earnings for men engaged in the production of pig-iron range from $118§ to $2 03 in the Northern district of the United States. In the Southern district they range from $1'22 to ST 34 ; but the relation between the two is reversed when the average annual earnings are considered, for these are from $149 to $304 in the North and from $422 to $448 in the South. The average daily earnings in Great Britain are from 62 cents to $1'014, and the yearly earnings from $196 to $335. On the Continent, the range is from 64 to 70 cents a day and from $200 to $212 a year. For what is known in America as “ muck bar iron,’’ and in England as “ puddled bars,” the average daily earn- ings range from $1'914 to $2,602 in the United States, whilst in England they are given in one establishment as 93 cents. The most highly paid branch of the iron .and steel industry in America is that known as “ finished bar iron.” Workmen there get from $2'44 to $2'68£ a day, and from $365 to $479 a year, occasionally reaching as high an annual income as $784‘11. In Europe the steel industry is the best paid branch, but the labour required by European methods is more highly skilled than that employed on the same work in America. ( 3 ) Taking the average number of tons which each man produces, it will be found to show a wide range of effi- ciency.. For example, one keeper in the Northern district is returned as producing '392 tons an hour, and another 2'070. The greatest efficiency is found in the Northern district of the United States. There the average earnings of each workman engaged in the pig- iron industry range from $0'111 to $0'187 an hour. In the Southern district they range from $0'105 to $0'129, in Great Britain from $0'058 to$0'l, and on the Con- tinent from $0'045 to $0'059. For “ muck bar iron ” the range in the United States is from $0'204 to $0'25 an hour, in Great Britain it is from $0'105 to $0'137, and on the Continent it is $0'068. For steel ingots the hourly wages are from $0'174 to $0'202 in the United States, from $0’109 to$0'202 in Great Britain, and from $0'055 to $0'063 on the Continent. For steel rails the United States has $0T79, England $0'121, and the Con- tinent from $0'049 to $0'093. Mr. Carroll D. Wright con- cludes that “ on the whole there is a general tendency “ of efficiency and earnings to move together.”( 4 ) To ascertain whether the relation between the real wages of iron and steel workers in the United States, Great Britain, and the Continent was the same as that between the nominal wages, the Department of Labour collected budgets of family income and expenditure from 3,260 families engaged in the iron and steel industry, representing 16,581 individuals. The average income of the American husbands was $513'52. that of the family $59 1'61 or$117'43 for each individual member. In Belgium the family income averages $374'53, and in Great Britain $456'86. House rent in the United States is comparatively high. In Illinois it is as high as $87'94 a year, and the average rent paid amongst iron and steel workers throughout the States is $65'02. In Belgium house rent averages $31'72, and in Great (>) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1890, pp. 70-88. ( 2 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1890, pp. 100, 133, 158, 159, 173- 175. Sir Lowthian Bell, “The Iron and Steel Institute in America in 1890,” p. 47. ( 3 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1890, pp. 576-579, 615, ( 4 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1890, pp. 589, 590. Britain $38'35 a year. The difference in the cost of food is much less; on an average $243'6 5 is spent on food by each family in the United States, and $222'52 in Europe. The consumption of beef is nearly the same in the two hemispheres, being $29'47 for each family in Europe, and $30'57 in America. Taxes are highest in the United States, where they amount on an average to $5'59 for each family ; they vary, however, greatly in different States, being $12 28 in Ohio and only $1'46 in Georgia. In Great Britain taxes amount to $177 for each family, and in Belgium to $0'56. The average family expenditure for books and newspapers is almost the same in the United States and in England, being on an average $5'7 in the former and $5'1 in the latter. Subscriptions to labour organisations average $7 26 for each family in the United States, and only $3'72 and $3'67 in Great Britain and Belgium. “Amusements and vacation expenses ” are put at $1128 for the United States, and as high as $19 05 for Great Britain and $38 54 for Belgium. There is an extraordinary variation in the amounts assigned in the different States to intoxicating liquors. They range from $8 08 in Virginia and $8'05 in Georgia to $35T4 in New York and $6173 in Illinois. In Great Britain the average is $21 ’86 and in Belgium $9'66. The average excess of income over expenditure for 511 families in the United States was $99'23. and the average deficit of 249 families $64'75. In Belgium six families returned an average surplus of $22 24, and in Great Britain 30 families had an average surplus of $47'02, and two a deficit each of $4'97.( 5 ) The Connecticut Bureau collected statistics of expendi- ture from members of the labouring classes in 1888, and reports the average excess of income over expenditure in various industries. In the hardware industry this amounted to $8'55 for each head of a family sending in a budget, and $7'60 for an unmarried workman. Amongst brass workers, whose wages between 1860 and 1887 increased 39 percent., the excess was $41-25 for a head of a family and $138 65 for a single man ; in the plating industry the figures were respectively $104'64 and $136.73, and amongst machinists $25'81 and. $229'50. Cutlery showed an average deficiency of $13 79 for every head of a family, and an excess of $53 for each single workman. ( 6 ) The Michigan Report for 1891 gives some account of the conditions of labour amongst agricultural implement makers. Their daily working hours are ten, and they have work for 45' 7 weeks in the year on an average. More than half their number are native born, and more than three-fourths are the children of American parents. Of the foreigners the Scotchmen are the most successful and get the highest wages. A large number of boys between the ages of eleven and fifteen are employed, since it is lawful in Michigan to employ any who arc over ten years of age. Wages are in all cases paid in cash. Members of the Amalgamated Associa- tion of Iron and Steel Workers work eight hours a day in some of the steel mills, but the usual hours are ten.(') (For sliding scales in the iron industry, see p. 23.) The New York Report for 1888 gives details con- cerning the wages and hours of work of all the trades in the State. Machinists (i.e., those employed in the construction of machinery — engineers) receive $3.50 or $3 a day, and their hours are ten or twelve, with an hour or two less on Saturday. Machinists who are not mem- bers of some labour organisation are, for the most part, Germans or Swedes, and their wages are lower, some- times ordy amounting to $1.75 a day. Apprentices begin at 25 cents a day, and when they are skilled enough to become helpers they get $2. Pattern-makers get from 25 to 51 cents an hour, or from $2 to $5.50 a day. Their hours are nine in most cases, but sometimes ten. The hardware industry seems to employ both boys and girls, as well as adult workmen. Wages are from 41 § cents to $1 for boys, 50 cents to $1.50 for girls, and $1.50 to $4 for journeymen. The hours are for the most part ten, with nine on Saturday. In cutlery, a number of women and boys are also employed, and wages range from 50 and 75 cents to $2 and $2.50 a day, with the same hours as in the hardware industry. ( 8 ) The New York Report for 1888 gives the wages of shipbuilders as from 50 cents to $1.75 for apprentices, 66$ cents to $1 for boys, and from $1.50 to $4 for men. Hours are as a rule ten, and less than half the establishments sending in returns mention any re- duction on Saturday. The Maine Report for 1889 gives the wages of ship-carpenters at $2.75 a day. Men ( 5 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1890, pp. 611-617. ( 6 ) Connecticut Report, 1888, pp. 120, 121. ( 7 ) Michigan Report, 1891, pp. xiii-xxiii ; McNeil, “The Labour Movement, the Problem of To-day,” p. 297. ( s ) New York Report, 1888, pp. -208, 229, 244, 249. 2. General conditions of labour in hardware, cutlery, and kindred in- dustries. 3. Ship- building. \ 25 4. Mining. Wages and hours o£ labour. engaged on old work got 25 cents a day more than those engaged on new work.(') The chief mining districts of the United States are the anthracite coal district of Eastern Pennsylvania, the bituminous coal district, which includes Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, and the coal and iron mines of Colorado. A few mines are also to he found in the Southern States, and in California. The conditions under which the anthracite miners work have already been partially described in connexion with the strike of the Lehigh and Schuylkill miners in 1887 (see p. 16). Their wages are paid according to a sliding scale, and follow the fluctuations in the price of coal at Port Carbon. The miners are allowed no representatives to investigate the accuracy of the employers’ statements with regard to prices, and were then obliged to accept the reports of “ independent ” statisticians, whom the investigations of the select committee proved to be paid agents of the railway companies. Almost all the houses in the district belonged to the owners, and wages were largely paid in store orders. A deduction from the miners’ wages was made for a ton of coal a month, supplied to them regardless of the size of their families, and further deductions were made for powder, lights, and working outfit, sold to them, according to the evidence of some of the witnesses, at a profit of 100 per cent. The men were paid by the piece, the calculation being sometimes made by the number of car-loads, and sometimes by the number of yards mined. In the former case larger cars were gradually substituted without any change in the rate of payment ; in the latter no allowance was made for the varying depth of the seam of coal. The miners were allowed no check- weighman, and had, therefore, no means of ascertaining that the deductions made for slate, or insufficient weight, were correct. No labour organisations were recognised by the employers, and the employes could obtain no redress until by the strike of 1887 they obtained a few small concessions, including the supply of powder and other necessaries at not more than 10 per cent, above cost price. ( 2 ) In the bituminous coal district of Western Pennsylvania, the average earnings of 710 of the most skilful miners were $1.96 a day or $465.27 a year. The men work irregularly, and their earnings in some cases are restricted by the rule of the labour organisation, which limits them to four tons a day at 50 cents a ton. As compared with other industries, therefore, the wages of miners are low, and “ mining is not a very popular industry.”! 4 ) In Illinois the tonnage of coal mined in the State more than doubled between 1880 and 1890, but the number of employes did not increase in the same pro- portion. In 1880 there were 16,301 miners employed in raising 6.115,377 tons of coal, in 1890 the output was 12,638,364 tons, and the number of miners 28,574, or 1,502 less than in 1889. There has also been a gradual decline both in the value of coal and in the rate of wages; the former has fallen from $1.51 a ton in 1882 to $1.02 in 1890, and the latter from 80.2 cents a. ton in 1883 to 68.3 cents in 1890. This is now the price for hand mining, and about 80 per cent, of the coal is still mined by hand. Machine mining was not generally introduced until 1888, and is not as well paid as hand mining. Wages for machine cutters are from $2 to $2.50 for a day of ten hours ; drillers, blasters, and timbermen get $2, and labourers $1.75. Hand miners average $2.23 a day, whilst very few machine cutters get over $2, owing to the smaller amount of skill required in their work. The truck system of paying wages pre- vails to some extent, and deductions arc made for powder, lights, and tool sharpening. The falling of coal or slate from the roof of the mine is the most common cause of accidents ; explosions of firedamp cause fewer deaths than in England, but the excessive dryness of many of the mines makes the fine coal-dust become dangerously explosive. The Illinois mine inspectors recommend an amendment to the Mines Regulation Law, requiring all dry workings to be frequently sprinkled, restricting the amount of powder in the mine, and forbidding any holes to be charged with loose powder. The number of fatal accidents averages about fifty a year. There are complaints from Missouri that men are paid by checks not negotiable until a year after date, and therefore useless except at the employers’ stores. Miners are also obliged in many cases to sign O New York Report 1888. p. 314 ; Maine Report, 1889, p. 80. (®i Report of Select Committee on Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania. 1887, pp. i-cxxvi ; Report on Importation of Contract Labour, 1880, pp. 208-210, 213, 214. ( 3 ) Pennsylvania Report, 1888, B, i-iv. an agreement that they will keep aloof from all labour organisations, and their wages are subject to a deduction for the ‘ company’s doctor.’! 4 ) In Colorado coal mines are subject to Government inspection, but, according to the Report of 1887-88, attempts to establish the office of inspector of ore mines have proved a failure, apparently because the owners feared that the publication (if reliable information with regard to the gold, silver, and lead mines would check speculation. Even the inspec- tion of coal mines is defective, as the number of inspectors is not adequate to the size of the district, and the mines are very badly ventilated. Complaints on this score are al so made by the Maryland miners. Wages in ore mines range from $2.50 to $4 a day for miners, $3.50 to $5 for timbermen, and $1.50 to $2.50 for labourers. The hours are as a rule ten. but in the wet places, or where the work is very heavy, they are eight. Coal miners get from $15 to $21 a week, inside labourers from $10.50 to $19.25, and outside labourers $10.50 to $15.75. Their hours range from fifty-four to sixty a week.(°) In the Southern States mine owners find much difficulty in getting their miners to work regularly. The white men can live on as little as $1 a week, and do not care to exert themselves ; only about 50 per cent, work at a time, and, if coloured labour is introduced, they use every endeavour to drive it away. In California miners get about $3 a day. On the whole it would appear that the hours of miners in the United States are longer than in England, and that their wages do not compare so favourably with those paid in other industries in the former country as in the latter. ( r ’) The first national organisation amongst miners was Organisa- the American Miners’ Association, formed at Belleville, tl0ns ' Illinois, in 1861. In 1867 it became extinct. The National Association of Miners, mentioned in connexion with the Ohio strikes, was organised in 1873, but after two years it was dissolved. Later associations were formed in connexion with the Knights of Labour, and there is a National Federation of Miners and Mine Labourers, with branches in many districts. In Colorado there is a Coal Miners’ Federation, formed in 1886, which has been successful in preventing troubles. (') The fact that the wages of miners are kept low is due Effect of in part to the large supply of foreign labour, available „f fore^j 0 ” at the shortest notice, to fill the places of men on strike, labour upon A number of Poles, Hungarians, and Italians are em- miners, ployed in the Pennsylvania mines, they are housed in sheds belonging to the mine owners, and can live at a very small cost. According to a journalist who was examined before the Select Committee on the Impor- tation of Contract Labour in 1889 on the results of a special inquiry conducted by him into the condition of the miners, the effect of the rapid introduction of foreign labour into the mines had been to reduce wages 50 per cent., the foreign labourers receiving sometimes no more than from 40 to 50 cents aday.( 8 ) The introduction of foreign labour lias been most Effect of widely used in the mines owned by the railroad com- railway panics Since those companies began to engage in mining enterprises they have practically destroyed com- petition. According to an agreement made amongst themselves in 1876, it was stated “ that each transporting company shall be held responsible for the faithful “ adherence to these regulations on the part of all individual shippers using its lines to carry coal to competitive points.” The companies, which included the Philadelphia and Reading, the Jersey Central, the Delaware Lackawanna and Western, and the New York Lake Erie and Western, sometimes buy up the output of individual mines, or compel their owners to submit to terms by refusing the cars required for transport or raising the freight rates. In the same way cars are withheld from the workmen when the companies wish to restrict the output of coal for the sake of maintaining prices. So great did this evil become, that the Select Committee’s Report in 1887 advocates the removal or temporary suspension of the duty on bituminous coal, that the producers of anthracite may be forced to bring down their prices, and the prohibition by the Federal Government of mining and manufacturing enterprises carried on by interstate carriers. ( u ) (() Illinois Report, 1890, pp. xvii-lxx, 279-302 ; Missoni i Report. 1889 pp. 10-00. r ’ , (*) ^rado Report, 188 ?-1888, pp. 231, 237, 296-300 Maryland Report, 1ood-1oo7, pp. 24, 25. ( 6 ) California Report, 1885-1880, p. 142. 0 Colorado Report, 1887-1888, pp. 59, 60, 82, 83. •nt") Report °n Importation of Contract Labour, 1889, pp. 203-210, 213, C I iwporr 01 select committee on Labour Troubles in the Anthracit* Remons of Pennsylvania, 1887, pp. i-cxxvi. R 74099. T) 26 1. Railroad labour. W ages. Hours of labour. Accidents and em- ployers’ liability. B. Transport and Agriculture. The Commissioner of Labour’s Report for 1889 gives a number of statistics with regard to the railroads of the United States. An examination of the pay-rolls of the 60 railroads, shows that the average rate of wages for all employes is $1.64$ a day. Of the 224,570 employes enumerated under no fewer than 1,106 distinct titles, 63'87 per cent, receive less than the average daily rate, and only 3613 per cent, receive more. 78 98 per cent, are paid at rates ranging from $1 to $2 a day. Coming to annual earnings, 42'1 per cent, are found to earn $100 or less, 13'9 per cent, from $101 to $200, and 8’9 per cent, from $201 to $300 ; consequently the earnings of 64'9 per cent, of all the employes do not exceed $300. Again, 8'3 per cent, earn fron $301 to $400, and 8'5 per cent, from $401 to $500, so that the annual earnings of 8T7 per cent, do not exceed $500. Of the remainder 15.8 per cent, earn $1,000 a year or less, which4eaves only 2’5 per cent, whose earnings exceed $1,000. Wages for railroad service are not, therefore, high, when the risk incurred and the irregularity of employment are taken into account. 58 - 8 per cent., or considerably more than half the force, are employed for less than half the year, and only 21 '5 per cent, have regular employment throughout the year. The rate of payment, as well as the regularity cf employment, vary considerably in different parts of the States. Wages are highest in the Pacific States as far as the daily rate of payment is concerned, the South- western States come second in this respect, and New England third. On the other hand, greater steadiness of employment makes New England rank first in annual earnings. The group of States including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, stand fourth, and the North-Western States fifth ; but in the last-named group work is far from steady. The Southern States are last both as regards the rate of payment and the regularity of employment. Taking the States as a whole, we find that the daily wages are $3.22$ for engineers, $3’19 for enginemen, $2.63 for conductors, $2'45$ for masons, $2'19 for black- smiths, $2.18 for machinists, $1.98 for carpenters, $1.95 for painters, $1.88 for foremen, $1.79$ for firemen, $1.78 for brakemen, $1.63 and $1.51 for baggagemasters and baggagemen, $1.50$ for switchmen, $1.43$ for telegraph operators, $1.26 for labourers, and $1.13 for flagmen. (’) Comparing these rates with those paid in Great Britain, the Commissioner of Labour draws up the following table : — — Great Britain-! 2 ) The United States. Engineers ■5 c. $ 1 . 46 a day =457 a year $ c. $ 3 . 22 a day =1,007 a year Firemen 0 . 91 „ 285 „ l . 79i „ 562 „ Guards - 0 . 97 „ 304 „ 2 . 63 „ 824 „ Shunters 0 . 85 „ 266 „ 1 . 504 „ 471 „ Signalmen 0 . 81 „ 254 „ 1 . 13 „ 354 „ Mr. Carroll D. Wright considers that the general impression as to the hours which railway men spend on duty somewhat exaggerates their length. Where the daily hours appear excessive, it is often found that the number of rests and stoppages greatly diminish those actually spent on the train, and men are fre- quently off duty one day in every three. In one case, where the hours are given as twenty-four, it appears that only ten hours and twenty-five minutes are spent on the train, and this for two days only out of every three. Again, twenty-six hours fifteen minutes given in one case reduce themselves on investigation to seven hours and twenty minutes on the train for four days in each week. The longest number of hours spent on the train on any one day was fifteen hours thirty minutes on one road in the North-Western States. In a very large number of cases the hours do not exceed ten a day.( 3 ) The number of accidents on American railways is very large, and the majority of the victims are employes of the companies. According to the Third Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the number of persons killed and injured during the year ending June 30th, 1888, included 315 passengers killed and 2,138 injured, whilst of employes, 2,070 were killed and 20,148 injured. This report only covers 92’792 per cent, of the railroads, so that if the other roads were (>) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1889, pp. 61, 136-145. ( 2 ) The figures for Great Britain are accurately taken from the Report of the Commissioner of Labour, 188!*, p 145. G. 1). ( 3 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1S89, pp. 163-165. included and the same per-centage maintained, the numbers would be 2,233 employes killed and 21,730 injured. The census of 1880 spoke of an increasing danger, giving the number of employes killed as 1 in every 344, and of the ’employes injured as 1 in every 88. The record of the Brotherhood of Railroad Brake- men is still worse, for it states that 1 out of every 88 members is killed yearly, and that 1 in every 60 is either killed or permanently injured. Though the number of employes in the United Kingdom is 8 per cent, less and the passenger traffic double what it is in the States, the casualty rate since 1875 has been lower. In 1887 the Board of Trade reported a steady decrease in the number of accidents during the preceding 14 years, and gave the rate as 1 in 563 killed and 1 in 126 injured every year. The New Jersey Report for 1888 states that amongst those actually engaged on trains in New Jersey alone, 1 in every 218 was killed during 1887 and 1 in every 29 was injured. Brakemen and goods guards are said to be the greatest sufferers, a statement which accords with the experience of the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen. The great number of fatalities in America are in part attributable to the inferior character of the mechanical appliances in use there. It is not uncommon to find that guards attached to freight trains must either climb over the cars when they are in motion, or travel along a narrow running board, to adjust the brake. Level crossings are almost universal, and the condition of the track and of pro- visions for the public safety and convenience are far inferior to those in England. In New Jersey it is open to the coroner to hold an inquest or not, at his discretion, on the death of anyone killed on the railway. ( 4 ) Never- theless, although safety appliances have not as yet succeeded in proportionately reducing the accident rate, efforts are being made to introduce them, and a number of companies are seeking to diminish the risk by restricting the use of intoxicants amongst their servants, and affording them opportunities for improving their education. Insurance funds, too, have been established, and the principle of holding the employer liable for injury to any of his employes arising from his own negli- gence or from that of another employe, has done much to arouse greater vigilance. Formerly no employe could recover of his employer for injuries arising from the neglect of a fellow employe. The English Employers’ Liability Act of 1880 aroused attention in the United States. Agitation on the subject began in Massa- chusetts in 1882, and resulted in the Massachusetts Employers’ Liability Act of 1887, which provides against any evasion of his liability on the part of the employer by handing over the work to a sub-contractor, but allows the employer to protect himself by inducing his employes to insure themselves, and himself con- tributing to the insurance fund. A law had previously been passed in Alabama in 1885, making the employer responsible for injuries to his employes arising from accident or negligence on the part of the employer or his agents, and the States of Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, California, Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, and Wisconsin, subsequently legislated on the subject. In Wyoming and Wisconsin, however, the Acts have since been repealed. Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and Iowa do not allow the employer to make any contract which enables him to escape his liability, and the State of Minnesota provides that all companies shall be liable for injuries to employes, which result from labour for over eighteen hours in any one day.( 5 ) The investigation conducted by the Department of Labour in 1889 showed that nearly all the railway com- panies provide for the treatment of the injured, that many of them do something for the technical education of their employes, and that almost all support reading rooms, either alone or in conjunction with the railway branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association. Six of the companies pension the superannuated or per- manently disabled, others give them half-pay or other privileges, and 266 retain them in their employment to the number of 3.121. A fair proportion of the companies have organised relief funds in which employes may insure themselves ; in a few cases the company assist them to pay the necessary premiums. The Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen and other Associations amongst railway servants are suspicious of the companies’ attempts to organise funds of this nature. They regard such action as an indirect attack upon themselves, since the men’s wages will not admit of their subscribing to (*) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1889, pp. 41, 42 ; New Jersey Report, 1888. pp. 7. 8, 21-31 ; Acworth, " The Railways and the Traders, pp. 2111, 220, 230, 275. ( 5 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1889, pp. 42-57 ; New Jersey Report, 1S88, pp. 77-86, 100-110. Relief funds. 27 Rates. two associations. The employes, however, though opposed to anything like compulsory insurance, have no objection to funds organised on the principle of joint contributions from employer and employed. (') The alleged inequality of the American freight rates is a constant source of complaint throughout the reports. The Commissioner of Labour, in his report on the cost of production of iron and steel, says that steel rails manu- factured at Chicago are cheaper at San Francisco if they are sent by way of New York, than if they are forwarded direct from the factory by the shortest route. This arises from the fact that the rate from Chicago to San Francisco is $17.92 a ton, whilst from New York to San Francisco by water 'it is only $11.40, so that even when the $5 rate between Chicago and New York has been added, the rate only amounts- to $16.40. Steel rails in Chicago sell at $30 a ton, in San Francisco they would sell at $46.40 or $47.92, according to the route chosen ; but the rates for English rails are so low that, even including the duty, they can be sold at San Francisco for $39, and Chicago rails, therefore, suffer from English competition. It is sometimes asserted that ocean steamers and sailing vessels transport rails as ballast free of charge from Liverpool to New York and San Francisco, and the Commissioner of Labour repeats the assertion but does not gua- rantee its veracity. ( 2 ) A more serious charge than that of discrimination between different districts is, however, often brought against American rail- ways. It is said that the railway companies have granted exceptional rates to individuals, and have fostered monopolies. The case of the Standard Oil Company is quoted, where the vice-president of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, in giving evidence before a committee of investigation, stated that, as “ pool agent ” for the four great lines, the New York Central, the Erie, the Pennsylvania Central, and the Baltimoi’e and Ohio, he had between November 1878 and March 1879 paid $10,000,000 as rebate to the Standard Oil Company. These four companies had a mutual understanding with regard to the rates which they should charge, and agreed with the Standard Oil Company to pay back to them 80 cents a gallon out of the $1.20 which was the established rate. By this means the Standard Oil Company were enabled to establish a virtual monopoly of the production of oil.f) The railroad pool which controlled the pro- duction of anthracite in Pennsylvania has already been described. There the railroads can afford to charge heavy rates for the transportation of coal, because, being themselves the chief coalowners,the payment is apparent, not real, and at the same time it drives independent producers out of the field. A notice issued by the New York Joint Executive Committee of Railroad Men to the effect that rates are to be strictly maintained is quoted by the Michigan Report for 1885. ( 4 ) Where, however, there is real competition, an evil of a different kind makes its appearance in the form of competitive rate-cutting, leading to frequent and violent fluctuation in the charges and consequent injury to commerce. So excessive has this competition become, that rates have been reduced to a point which barely covers the cost of transporting the goods. The average rate for the carriage of a ton of goods a mile in the United States is ‘91 cents, or about one halfpenny, whereas the average rate for English goods traffic is lid. In the United States, however, the charge does not include the expense of collecting or delivering the goods, and a large pro- portion of the freight is carried at the owner’s risk. Competitive rate-cutting has, notwithstanding, reduced the profits on railway investments to an average of 3'10 per cent., and American railroads could not carry on their service at the price they receive, were it not that much of their traffic is over long distances, and that goods are for the most part transmitted in wholesale quantities. These circumstances lessen the expense of transport, but, on the other hand, they tend to the sub- ordination of local interests and of those of the retail trader. Where there are special rates for small quanti- ties and short distances, these are frequently higher than in England. Though, as a whole, the rates are lower in the United States, the station accommodation and transport facilities are inferior. Trains are fewer, and at busy seasons the companies have been known to (*) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1889, pp. 36, 37. ( 2 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1S!10. pp. 26S), 270. ( 3 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1835, Vol. II., pp. 1021-1032; Acwortb, "The Railways and the Traders,” pp. 330, 331. ( '*) Report of Select, Committee on Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1887, pp. xii, xliii-lx ; Michigan Report, 1885, p. 21. refuse goods which were offered to them for trans- mission. ( 6 ) The Massachusetts Report for 1889 gives the rates for that State in the form of percentages on the valueof the goods. For raw materials the freight rate is 1'88 per cent, of their value, for manufactured goods IT2 per cent. ; so that the rate for all manufactured products amounts altogether to 3 per cent, of their value. The cost of transportation to other parts of Massachusetts is less than one quarter of a cent a lb., to the neighbouring States it is less than one third of a cent, and to the Western States it is not quite half a cent. The average cost is, therefore, less than one third of a cent.( 6 ) It is in the agricultural districts of the West, where rates are lowest, that complaints of the injurious action of the railroads are most frequent. Their great power for good or for evil in a country, where they form almost the only means of communication, is undoubted, and is sufficiently proved by the fact that the railroad service in the United States attracts the best intellect of the country. As early as 1866 the farmers, who are entirely dependent upon railroad facilities to obtain access to Eastern markets, joined the order of the Patrons of Husbandry in order to protect themselves against railroad exactions. Many of the State legislatures inter- fered, and by inserting clauses in the charters granted to new companies, or passing Acts to limit the rates which existing companies might charge, they prevented the railroads from exercising unjust discrimination. (') The farmers in the Eastern States have, however, suffered from the policy which was designed to protect those of the West. The cutting down of long distance rates, whether due to State interference or to railroad wars of competition, has in many cases made Western produce cheaper in the Eastern markets than that of the East. It has encouraged the great wholesale meat industry, and reduced the profits of the individual raiser of sheep and cattle ; in a word, it has gone far to deprive the small farmer of any chance in the struggle for success. ( 8 ) But, in the opinion of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Labour, the rates which the railways charge to the Western farmers are determined less by the wishes of the railway, than by the competition of the water transportation, companies. In 1$88 the railways of the North-Western States paid only ‘52 per cent., in spite of having reduced their expenditure in every possible way. Further, the rates even for Eastern farmers have been greatly reduced, and the potatoes which in 1880 would not have been carried under 181 per cent, of their value, would, in 1890, pay only 12^ per cent. It is not, there- fore, the transportation companies who receive an undue advantage from the competition of the West; the real benefit is to the consumer, and is shared by every class in the community. Nor is it the exactions of the rail- roads which arc diminishing the profits of Western farmers. This diminution is rather to be attributed to the very conditions of their industry, or to the profits of the great elevator companies, who buy and handle the wheat of Minnesota and Dakota, and of the packing house companies to whom the farmers are obliged to sell their stock. ( 9 ) The New York Report for 1890 gives the wages paid to various classes of dock and riverside labourers. The annual earnings of pilots are $1,700 on an average in New York, whilst the Lake pilots at Buffalo get from $55 to $75 a month. A few years ago the latter class received as much as $85. The work is very severe, and often extends over a great number of hours. Coast seamen in Now York get at most $25 a month, and are on duty for fourteen hours, or sometimes for three watches of six hours each. Lake seamen at Buffalo get $2 for a day of twelve hours. The monthly wages of seamen in California average $32.50. Marine firemen get from $30 to $40 a month in New York, and $50 in California. From 1883 to 1886 members of the International Boat- men’s Union in New York received $1.50 for a day of twelve hours, but since 1886 they have received $2 for the same work. Unorganised boatmen receive $35 a month, or on an average $1.16 a day, and many of them are entirely unskilled. ( lu ) ( 5 ) Acwortb, “ The Railways and the Traders,” pp. 205 -208, 212-220. 232, 2-10-2-15; Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. II., pp. 973, 974. ( 6 ) Massachusetts Report, 1889, pp. 22G, 227. ( 7 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. I., pp. 1080, 1081, Vol. II., pp. 484, 502. 980, 1300 ; Bemis “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 807, 333, 336-338. ( 8 ) Acwort b, “ The Railways and the Traders,” pp. 220, 221, 240 ; " Agri- cultural Depression, its Causes and possible Remedies,” by J. M. Rusk. 1890 ; Report of the Secretary of Agriculture, 1891, p. 24. (S’) Pennsylvania Reports, 1S89, A. 1-7 ; 1890, A. 2. 7, 30-34, 38. (><>) New York Reports, 1888, pp. 909, 1000, 1020, 1027 ; 1890, pp. 350-353 California Report, 1885-1886, pp. 18, 19. D 2 Influence on agriculture. 2. Dock and riverside labour. 28 3. Fisheries. 4. Tram- ways. The question of the wages of stevedores and long- shoremen came to the front in connexion with the strike of 1887. (See p. 20.) That strike was mainly due to sympathy with the coal-handlers, and was undertaken in obedience to the orders of the Knights of Labour. The stevedores at the same time endeavoured to advance their wages, and resisted an attempt on the part ot the Old Dominion Steamship Company to pay them $12 a week regularly instead of 25 cents an hour. It was rather a question of the method of payment than of the amount paid, for they seldom gained more than the $12 offered. Now, however, they claimed 30 cents an hour with double pay for night work. The Company offered 30 cents for day and 35 cents for night work, but the men held out for the original rate demanded, and finally the strike collapsed. Through the efforts of the Long- shoremen’s Union, however, wages have since been raised to 40 cents an hour for day work, and 60 cents for night work. It is also a rule of the Union that no work shall be begun after 6 p.m., though work already begun may be continued up to any hour. Stevedores in California receive from 30 to 50 cents an hour, and longshoremen 45 cents an hour, or $4 for nine hours. The overtime rate is 75 cents an hour.(‘) (For wages and hours in Government dockyards, see under the Eight Hours’ Movement, p. 41.) In New England the fisheries are of some import- ance. The total capital engaged in this industry in Connecticut is returned as $774,823, the value of the catch and products is $617,449.24, 214 vessels are engaged, having 1,222 employes on board, and the wa^es paid amount to $175,362. The cultivation of oysters was begun off the Connecticut coast in 1844, and deep water planting was tried in 1869. From 1872 onwards large quantities of oysters have been sent to Europe, the Connecticut cultivators receiving 225,000Z. from this source alone in 1889. Oyster cultivation is also an important industry in Maryland. (') The wages paid on American street railways are given both in the New York and Connecticut Reports. In New York the efforts of the Knights of Labour have secured much more favourable conditions for “ street car employes ” than existed formerly. Where they formerly worked sixteen and eighteen hours, their working day is now reduced to twelve, including the intervals for meals. Unorganised men still work fifteen hours in some cases ; but a law of the State of New York passed in 1886 and amended in 188/ pro- vides that, except where previous contracts are still in force, the day s work for street railway employes shall be limited to twelve hours in any twenty-four, with half an hour for dinner. Extra labour for extra pay is permitted in case of an accident or unavoid- able stoppage. The wages of conductors and drivers are 25 cents a trip, or 14 to 15 cents an hour. If on full time their wages amount to from $1.50 to $2 a day. Ostlers receive from $1.14 to $1.75 a day, and trackmen from 84 cents to $2.25. In Connecticut wages for con- ductors and drivers are also given at from $1.50 to $2 a day ; on electric railways drivers receive §2.142 . Track- men average $1.50. The hours in this State have been very long, but the Bureau claims that since it began to investigate the matter they have been reduced in one case at least. On one road drivers and conductors work 15 i hours a day, exclusive of meal times, on other roads the hours are from eleven to thirteen, with some reduction of working time on Sundays. Special trips on holidays are generally paid for at an increased rate. The conductor, according to one set of rules in Connec- ticut, is held responsible for the car and must report any failure of duty on the part of the driver. ( ! ) The investigation of a strike on the Rochester City and Brighton Railroad before the New York State Board of Mediation and Arbitration in 1889 brought out the number of duties devolving upon the conductor on roads where he has sole charge of the car. He must, in the words of the Board, “ drive his horses, handle the “ break in running, stopping, and starting, make “ change for passengers, register the number of passen- “ gers, count through a glass the fares received and “ drop them into the drawer of the box, open and close “ the rear door by leverage in letting passengers on " and oft', adjust switches, regulate stove, answer in ■ “ quiries of passengers, remember streets where pas- “ sengers ask to be let off, remember half fares for (>) New York Reports, 1887, pp. 346, 347, 374; 1888, pp. 1021, 1022 ; 1800, pp. 350, 351 ; California Reports, 1885-1880, pp. 18, 10 ; 18S7-1888, p. 346. (*) Connecticut Report, 1889, pp. 01-94, 105, 106, 154. Maryland Report, 1S00 -1891, p. 13. ( 3 ) New York Report, 1888, pp. 041-003. Connecticut Report, 1800, pp. 69-98. “ registry, and at the end of every half trip take account “ of the registration shown by the dial, and make entry “ upon the register, while all the time keeping a look- “ out for passengers.” C 1 ) From all parts of the United States come reports of 5. Agricul- the depressed state of agriculture. Various causes are ture ’ alleged to account for the decline in the value of agri- predion and cultural produce, many of them only applicable to cer- Its causes, tain districts, but the chief cause, in the opinion of the Pennsylvania Bureau which considers the question at length, is to be found in over-production undertaken with a view to supplying the markets of Europe. At the same time European countries have been redoubling their efforts to produce what is required for home con- sumption, and the competition of India and of the South American States has continually increased. In the Eastern States farmers attribute their altered for- tunes to a large extent to the competition of the West, and are ready to lay the greatest blame upon what they consider to be the unjust discrimination of the railroads. It has, however, been shown that the rates for trans- portation even in the East have materially decreased, and, in answer to questions sent out by the Pennsyl- vania Bureau in 1889, farmers state that an increase in the number of railroads has on the whole increased the value of land, except in so far as the railways have enabled the West to compete with the East upon more favourable terms. p) The evil effects of such competi- tion are, according to many witnesses, apparent in the number* of abandoned farms to be ‘found throughout the New England States, but the reports of the Bureaux for Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut tend on the whole to show that the farmers’ losses are often exagge- rated. The abandoned farm land in Massachusetts represents 3'45 per cent, of the total farm acreage of the State, and its value is only 0'87 per cent, of the value of that acreage. Further, the Bureau reports that though the value of agricultural produce has declined in a few localities, this is so far counter- balanced by an increase in others that only one county fails to show an increase on the whole. Towns report- ing abandoned farms have not by any means all decreased in population or declined in prosperity, though this result has followed where there are no important manufacturing industries. (“) Again in the State of Connecticut the capital ini ested in agriculture in 1880 exceeded that employed in manu- factures by $14,705, 559, and the proceeds of dairy and poultry farming are stated to be very considerable. Out of 693 farms only 34'9 per cent, are mortgaged, and these for a third only of their value. If the living expenses of the farmer and his family are excluded, 650 farms make an average profit of $551.36, and 42 sustain an average loss of $232.45. Including the ex- penses of living, the average gain is '0042 of the capital invested, and without these expenses it is "0916, whilst the average profit of the manufacturer is only '0591 of his capital ('). The State of Maine is perhaps the most agricultural of all the New England States. Its capital invested in agriculture in 1880 was $123,805,039, whilst that employed in manufactures was $49,988,171. The average value of its farms is $2806.55 or $15.25 an acre. If expenses of living are included, 98 farms report an average profit of $233 and 270 an average loss of $310; excluding these expenses, 281 farms are found to make an average profit of $291, and 88 to lose on an average $141. Much of the State is especially fertile, and the potato and apple crops are large. There are flourishing starch factories and cheese fac- tories, especially in the Aroostook County, which has been largely colonized by Swedes. The total number of so-called abandoned farms is 3400 in round numbers, but many of them are composed of poor land which could scarcely repay cultivation in any case, and others are still used for grazing purposes, and the grass growing on them is cut every year, though nothing is done to improve the soil ( 8 ). In Pennsylvania, though farmers declare that wheat can scarcely be grown at a profit owing to the low prices that prevail, they admit that the raising of sheep is still profitable as far as the mutton is concerned. The general result of the in- vestigations of the Bureaux is to show that, even if the era of high prices and extensive speculation in wheat has been brought to an end by the pressure of Western competition, farming in the East has not ceased to be a profitable occupation, provided that the farmer is prepared to pay closer attention to the farm, to ( 4 ) Report of New York Board of Arbitration, 1889, p. 387. ( r> ) Pennsylvania Reports. 1889, A. 4-24, 1S90, A. 2-34. ( 6 ) Massachusetts Report. 1800, pp. 256, 257. (<) Connecticut Report, 1S88, pp. 139-146. ( 8 ) Maine Report, 1890, pp. 9, 14, 73-79, 06. 29 Connexion of the cur- rency ques- tion with agriculture diminish his expenditure, and to vary his methods. (‘) In the North-Western, or wheat-growing states, the earlier conditions of Eastern farming are repeating themselves, and whereas Eastern profits fell rapidly under western competition, Western profits are begin- ning to fall under the competition of South America and India. A scries of reports for Indiana show that, notwithstanding fluctuations and occasional recoveries, the wheat crop in that State is diminishing owing to the gradual deterioration of the soil. From 1850 to 1882, the cultivation of wheat more than kept, pace with the growth of the population. In 1850 it amounted to 6'30 bushels a head, whilst in 1880 it was 23’75 bushels. Indian corn, too, increased from 52’58 bushels to 58-39 bushels a head during the same period. In 1882 the crops of wheat, oats, maize, hay and pota- toes were all very large, but in 1883 wheat and maize showed a diminution. The Report for 1884 notes a decrease in the wheat acreage due to falling prices, as well as a decrease in the crop of maize. In 1885 the wheat crop again fell, but rose in 1886 only to fall again in 1887 owing to the severe and prolonged drought which distinguished that season. The Indiana Reports insist on the necessity of education for the farmer, if this tendency to deterioration in the soil is to be counteracted. The States of Minnesota and Wis- consin among the Western states each maintain a regular system of Farmers’ Institutes, with a super- intendent, and corps of competent instructors ; the reports and bulletins published by these institutes are distributed free of cost among the farmers of the States. There are also the associations already de- scribed (p. 8) in connection with societies amongst farmers, and much is being done by the Department of Agriculture, and the State-aided agricultural col- leges and experiment stations to diffuse a knowledge of improved methods and to introduce new products. The West is now suffering as the East suffered formerly from the over-rapid settlement of lands belonging to the railroads, and from the wasteful methods of cultiva- tion which rapid settlement brings with it. The use of fertilizers has been neglected, farmers have grown wheat in enormous quantities; and as hitherto the necessity of improved methods has not made itself keenly felt, the smaller economies of farming have been little practised. ( 2 ) A large party amongst the farmers, who are repre- sented politically by the “ National Farmers’ Alliance,” are inclined to attribute their misfortunes to what they consider to be the defects in the currency. They believe that the volume of money in the country is insufficient for the needs of the people, consequently they advocate the increased coinage of silver and the adoption of a bi-metallic standard. In many cases tbeir pecuniary difficulties date back to the period of depression, which succeeded the era of extravagant prices brought about by the war between the North and South. This depression was so prolonged and so universal as to produce a general conviction that the Resumption Act of 1875 had unduly contracted the currency. The result of this agitation was seen in the Act of 1878, which empowered the Treasury to pur- chase $2,000,000 worth of silver monthly and to issue silver dollars, and silver certificates. These last were at first only for large amounts and were not direct legal tender. The banks refused to hold the silver and paid all, which they received, into the Treasury in the form of Treasury dues ; nevertheless up to 1883 the new silver coinage circulated freely. The depres- sion of 1884 checked this circulation, and a large amount of dead silver accumulated in the Treasury vaults, whilst the supply of gold, in which the Treasury was pledged to meet all claims, diminished so rapidly that the banks were obliged to come to the assistance of the Government. In 1886 a re-action set in, and silver again circulated more freely. According to the Act of 1890 the Treasury was empowered to buy 4,500,000 ounces of silver every month, or about twice the previous quantity, and to issue Treasury notes redeem- able in either gold or silver at the discretion of the secretary. These notes were direct legal tender, and silver dollars were only to be coined as required for the redemption of the notes. This time the banks did not object to receive the new currency ; but it circulated 0) Pennsylvania Reports, 1889, A. 161; 1890, A. 34, 56. 76-78. North Carolina Report, 1301, pp. 18,21. " Agricultural Depression, its Causes and Possible Remedies, ' by •!. M. Rusk. 1890. ( a )' Indiana Reports, 1882, pp. vii ix, 2-7 ; 1.883, pp. 13-10 ; 1881, pp. ix-xix : 1885-1886, pp. xxvii-xl; 1887-1888. pp. xxxiv-liv. Dakota Report, 1390, pp. 70, 221. “ Work of the United States Department of Agriculture ” in 1889-18110-1891 . Iowa. Report, 1890, pp. I t, 59. Report of the Secretary of Agriculture, 1891, pp. 26, 66-81. slowly owing to tho commercial depression which prevailed at the end of 1890. Professor Taussig, writing on the question, is of opinion that the ex- pansion of the silver currency has in each case followed and not preceded a rise in prices, and that its further expansion would not, therefore, bring about the era of higher prices for agricultural produce, which the farmers anticipate. He holds that experience has shown that even the lesser amount issued prior to 1890 was excessive, and that it caused a departure of gold from the country and a consequent contraction ot credit due to the diminution of the public confidence in the ability of the Treasury to meet its obligations in gold. The farmers believe that the appreciation of gold presses hardly upon the debtor, and as very many of them have incurred obligations, they seek a remedy in the inflation of the silver currency and its elevation to a place beside gold as a monetary standard. But if the real causes of the existing agricultural depres- sion are to be found, as the Reports of the Bureaux suggest, in the extravagant liabilities incurred by farmers daring their period of prosperity, in the in- creased production of other countries, in the too rapid movement west, and in the exhaustion of the soil by too extensive farming, it follows that an increased silver coinage would be productive of no real or lasting benefit. In the words of the Pennsylvania Bureau, “the mere fact of issuing an additional amount of “ money has no necessary connexion with a new de- “ mand for commodities.” To lay stress on the silver question is, therefore, to lay stress on a remedy which cannot really touch economic ills, whilst at the same time to tamper with the currency is to produce an impression of commercial insecurity. ( :i ) But though deprecating the views of the silver advo- cates, the Pennsylvania Bureau has other remedies to suggest. It holds that the Eastern farmers especially have failed to reduce their expenditure in the propor- tion in which it might have been reduced by improved methods of farming and greater economy. They have failed to reap the full advantage of the low prices, which, even if a loss to producers, are a gain to con- sumers and to farmers amongst them. By employing less labour and doing more of the work themselves they might greatly increase their resources. W here other crops have been substituted for wheat, good results have been obtained ; but the farmers as a class are slow to recognise the advantages of the cultivation, for instance, of flax or beet, and, in the neighbourhood of manufacturing towns, of fruit and vegetables. Dairy products, too, do not receive full attention, and though their value is beginning to be recognised, the Connecti- cut Bureau is of opinion that more might be done in this direction. The fruit farms of California are prov- ing very profitable, and the same may be said of the cultivation of vegetables. In the north-west the in- creasing severity of the winters, due in part to the rapid destruction of the forests, has affected the culti- vation of fruit very seriously, and the Bureau recom- mends the planting of forest trees to mitigate the evil. The exclusive cultivation of fruit is little practised in the north-west, but its value as a bye-product should not be overlooked. Again, the Pennsylvania Bureau points out that the conversion of a product from one form into another will often increase its value, and that potatoes, which in a natural state bring in 30 cents a bushel, might be converted into 231bs. of starch at $1.62 a lb., or used as food for pigs, when they would produce 122lbs. of pork at $1.25 cents a lb. The Maine Report points out that though the practically unlimited grazing facilities of Australia and the Argen- tine Republic enable these countries to compete on favourable terms with the American grass-fed beef and mutton, in corn-fed beef and pork the United States hold the foremost place and should seek to retain it.( 4 ) Though the price of farm products has steadily declined, the same cannot be said of the wages of agricultural labour. Within 50 years they have almost doubled, and the rate of remuneration for farm labour in America can scarcely be approached by any other country except Australia. The annual rate in the United States is $282, as against $150 in Great Britain, $125 in France, $100 in Holland, $90 in Germany, $60 in Russia, $50 in Italy, and $30 in India. This high ( 3 ) Pennsylvania Report, 1890. A. 56, 72. Taussig, “The Silver “ Situation in the United States,” pamphlet published by the American Economic Associat ion. (>) Pennsylvania Report, 1890, A. 33-39, 75-78. Connection Report, 1888, pp. 140-142. Maine Report, 1889. p. 124. Uemis. “ History of Co- “ operation in the United States.” p. 307. California Report, 1885-1886, pp. 34, 35, 55, 57, 58. Nebraska Report, 1889-1890, pp. 923-925. Dakota Report, 1890. pp. 19-32. 1) 3 Remedies proposed. Agricultural labour. 30 rate may be partly attributed to the comparative scarcity of labour, for a large majority of the States report the supply as inadequate in a number of coun- ties. The wages for transient labour, employed in harvest time, are about 40 per cent, higher than at other seasons, but the wages of transient labour have declined altogether some 41 per cent, between 1866 and 1892. Agricultural wages vary greatly in different parts of the States. They are highest in the Pacific Coast States, where they average $36.15 a month without board, and $24.25 with board. The Mountain States come next with $32.16 and $21.28 respectively. Then follows New England, where labour is scarce and comparatively dear, and wages average $26.46, or $17.50 with board. The Middle States show averages of $23.83 and $15.78, the North-Western of $22.61 and $15.36, whilst the lowest wages, $14.86 and $10.02, are paid in the South. Here the cost of board is lowest, and the difference between the two averages is less than in the other districts. The lower wages also represent, roughly speaking, the wages paid to coloured as distinct from white labour. A comparison between statistics for 1866 and those for 1892 shows that the cost of living, as represented by the allowance for board, has decreased everywhere except in the Moun- tain States, which are the most recently developed ( J ). Details gained from the reports of separate State Bureaux show that the wages paid to agricul- tural labourers in Massachusetts in 1881 were $18 a month, or $4.50 a week with board, and $1.37 a day without board. The hours of work are long, often from sunrise to sunset, and a large proportion of the labourers are immigrants from Canada and Ireland. The Maine Report gives the wages of permanent labourers as $4.78 a week on an average, and those of migratory labourers as $6.97 ; but does not mention whether or not board is given in both cases. ( 2 ) In New Hampshire wages are from $20 to $25 a month with board for good hands, and hours are shorter than in the rest of New England. The Pennsylvania Bureau states that wages are lower now than formerly, and that they average 75 cents a day with board, and from $1.25 to $1.50 a day without board. In the West the the wages are lower, ranging as a rule from $12 to $16 a month with board, and the work is severe. White men on Californian farms are paid on an average $25 a month with board, and have work for two-tliirds of the year. A large amount of Chinese labour is em- ployed upon the farms, and the Chinese receive about $20 a month without board.( 3 ) In the Southern States the condition of the agricultural labourer pre- sents many peculiar features. Where wages are paid they range from $10 to $12 a month with board, houses and gardens free. On the other hand, a very large amount of labour is employed on what is known as the share or partnership system. By this arrangement the owner furnishes the team and the tools and divides the crop equally with the labourer. Sometimes the owner lets the land • to the labourer, and receives his rent in the form of so many bales of cotton, and where the labourer is not sufficiently advanced to hold the land on such terms immediately, the half-share system may be adopted. Here the owner obliges the labourer to plant a portion of the land, which he cultivates, in corn, hay, and potatoes, charging him a rent for this portion which he can pay out of his own half of-the cotton crop raised according to the share system on the remainder of the land. By these means it is hoped that the cha- racter of the Southern labour may be gradually im- proved ; but at present complaints of its unreliable character are loud and frequent. The wants of the people are so small that they have little incentive to steady and regular work, and seem scarcely yet to have attained any considerable degree of industry or self- reliance. Women are occasionally employed in the fields for very low wages, ranging from $5 to $6 a month. According to the French Report addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1890, a socialist league is being formed amongst the agricultural la- bourers in the States of the Mississippi, and especially in Kansas. Here land is cheap, but two things are required to make it of any value, viz., capital and railways. The inhabitants, who have to pay a high rate of interest and heavy railway charges, imagine that if the State increased the currency and controlled t 1 ) Wages of farm labour in the United States, 1892 (Department of Agriculture,' . ( 2 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. I., p. 51. Maine Report, 1890, p. 14. ( 3 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885, Vol. II.. p. 989 ; III., p. 247. Pennsylvania Report, 1889, A., 126- 138. California Report, 1885-18S6, pp, 44-47. the freight rates, their condition would be improved, and they also wish the State to become the purchaser of their produce. ( 4 ) C. Textile, Clothing, Chemical, Building, and Miscellaneous Trades. The trades included in this group employ a large number of women and children, and there is reason to suppose that the employment of female and child labour is on the increase in the United States. Accord- ing to statistics collected by the Massachusetts Bureau, the women engaged in industries and professions in 1875 formed 21 '33 per cent, of the entire female popula- tion ; in 1885 they had increased to 29 '82 per cent. The increase in the number of men employed during that period was 46'49 per cent, of the total increase, whilst that of women was 53'81 per cent. Again, com- paring the increase of men and women employed in industries with the growth of the population, men in industries are found to increase 1T6 times as fast as the male population, and women in industries 3'65 times as fast as the female population, and 3'18 times as fast as the men in industries. Consequently the pro- portion of women employed may be said to be consider- ably larger now than it was fifteen years ago, and there appears to be a growing tendency to substitute the labour of women for that of men.f) The report of the Commissioner of Labour for 1888 gives a number of statistics with regard to 17,427 working women employed in large cities. The average age at which they begin work is said to be fifteen years and four months, and the average age of the women employed when the investigation was made was twenty- two years seven months. It was highest where they are engaged as dressmakers and saleswomen, and lowest where they are employed chief! y as factory hands. Thus, in Charleston it was twenty-five years one month, and in Chicago only twenty years eight months. The Massa- chusetts Bureau states that 0T3 per cent, of the women emploj r ed in industry are from ten to thirteen years of age, 2319 per cent, arc from fourteen to nineteen, 41 '08 per cent, from twenty to twenty-nine, 15'05 per cent, from thirty to thirty-nine, and 20'55 per cent, are forty years old and upwards. The majority of women, therefore, abandon work before they are thirty years of age. According to the Commissioner of Labour the average period during which the women examined had been in their present occupations was 4 years 91 months, and more than half the number had had no previous occupation. On the other hand the Massa- chusetts Report states that women are often em- ployed very irregularly, and that more than one-fiftli of the working women of Massachusetts were un- employed for a greater or less period during 1885. Most of the women employed in industry arc reported by the Commissioner of Labour to be of native birth, and more than seven-eighths of them are unmarried, so that, taking the average age into consideration, it would appear that most women cease to work after they are married. The Massachusetts Bureau gives the proportion of unmarried women employed in industry as 88'29 per cent., but states that more married women were employed in 1885 than in 1875. About two-thirds of the whole number of women employed in that State are of native birth. As regards health statistics the Commissioner of Labour states that the health of 16,360 women was good when they began work, that of 882 was fair, and that of 185 was bad. After some years of work, 14,557 women report their health as still good, 2,385 as fair, and 485 as bad. On the whole, therefore, the effect of work upon health is not unfavourable to women, and, according to the Massachusetts Bureau, comparisons made with regard to the statistics of births, marriages, and deaths show that the presence of women in industry has not decreased the number of births or marriages nor increased the number of deaths. ( 6 ) Of the 17,427 women examined by the agents of the Commissioner of Labour, 373 earn less then $100 a year. The largest number earn from $200 to $250, and the next largest number from $250 to $300. The num- ber of women earning less than $150 or more than 8350 a year is comparatively small. The average weekly earnings for the whole number were $5.24. and similar results have been obtained by the various State Bureaux ( 4 ) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885. Vol. II.. 158, 163 ; IV., 18, 144, 555, 702. French Report, 1890. pp. 27-31. ( 5 ) Massachusetts Report, 1S89, pp. 598-601. ( 6 ) Report of Commisioner of Labour, 1888, pp. 61-67. Massa- chusetts Report, 18S9, pp. 598-601, 1. Textile, clothing, and miscel- laneous trades. Women’s labour. Wages and hours of working women. 31 Organisa- 1 ion of women. Child abour. which have investigated! the matter. Tho highest wages, !j?6.91 a week, are reported from San Francisco. The Rhode Island Report for 1889 gives the average weekly wages of all working women as $5.87, and those of domestic servants as $3.16 with hoard. In Ohio “ shoe girls ” were said in 1887 to make $1.50 a day, but early in 1888 their organisation was dissolved, and wages have since decreased. Shop women in that State get from $2 to $6 a week and work as a rule for ton hours a day. The Commissioner of Labour gives the annual expenses of working women as $162.06 for board and lodging, $79.06 for clothing and $38.08 for general expenses. The average expenditure amounts, therefore, to $279.2, and the incomes of the women making these returns average $295.54.(‘) The hours of work for women are restricted to ten in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Louisiana ; and to eight in Alabama and Wisconsin ; in Massachusetts they may not . exceed fifty- eight a week. The New York Factory Act only restricts the hours for women under twenty-one }'ears of age, and the North and South Dakota Acts for those under eighteen ; in Maine a woman over eighteen can contract to work longer hours, but if under twenty-one must have the consent of a parent or guardian. In all these cases overtime is permitted if its object is to shorten the working time on Saturday, but not more than sixty hours may be worked in any one week. Both the Con- necticut and Rhode Islands Reports, however, contain complaints of the evasion of these restrictions, and the Connecticut Report states that the Factory Acts are nowhere very thoroughly enforced except in Massa- chusetts. An Ohio Report gives the hours of work in laundries as from ten to fifteen a day, and those for waitresses in restaurants as from fourteen to sixteen . (-) Women are admitted to membership amongst the Knights of Labour, and some local assemblies are composed entirely of women. One, known as the “ Hannah Powderly ” Assembly, existed amongst the shoe-workers of Ohio, but in 1888 it was dissolved. A Uidon of Cooks is mentioned in Missouri, which requires that members kept at work till 9 p.m. shall have at least two hours to themselves earlier in the day. Efforts have also been made to form independent unions amongst women workers, such as the Feather Workers’ Union of New York, a branch of the Working Women’s Society. This society, including women of all social grades, forms unions amongst the members of different trades, and appeals to the courts for protection for women in difficulties with their employers. Each union, as soon as it is formed, becomes self-supporting, and has charge of its own affairs, though it is still connected with the Working Women’s Society. Other instances appear from time to time in the reports in which women of the upper classes have exerted them- selves to establish clubs and homes for working girls either independently or in connection with the Young Women’s Christian Association and kindred societies. In Boston, St. Louis, Buffalo, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Paul and New York, these societies have been specially active. Statistics giving the number of children employed in workshops and factories show that between 1870 and 1880 adult employes increased 47 per cent, and children 66 per cent. In 1870 one out of every 17 employes was under fifteen years of age, in 1880 the proportion had increased to one out of every 16. It varies in different states and different industries, being little above the normal percentage due to increase of population in Connecticut and Massachusetts, where Factory Acts have long been in existence, whilst in Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Iowa, and Ohio the increase between 1870 and 1880 was over 100 per cent. Child labour is employed most in the cotton mills, and in the cigar industry as carried on in tenement houses (see p. 33). In the first industry there is one child to every six adults, in the second 24,000 children are employed in New York city alone. The textile industries in Baltimore employ one child to every four adults ; in Augusta (Georgia) the proportion is one to three, in Allegheny (Pennsylvania) it is one to four ; in Brooklyn one to three ; in Lancaster (') Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1888, pp. (57-73. Rhode Island Report, 1889. p. 20. Ohio Report, 1889, pp. 42-49. Maryland Report, 1888-1889, p. 18. ( 2 ) Massachusetts Report, 1899, p. 5. Connecticut Report, 1888, p. 25. New Jersey Report, 1889, p. 12. Rhode Island Report, 1889, p. 155. Maine Report, 1890, p. 191. Ohio Report , 1889, pp. 4-1-49. Report °L, V r, York Factory Inspector, 1889. pp. 15, 10. Massachusetts Act, /•7' 011 Labour Laws of the United States, 1892. \ ) Ohio Report, 1889, pp. 42. 4.'i. Report of New York Board of Arbitration. 1889, pp. 1(55-1 U(i. Ely. “ Labour Movement in America,” pp. 78, 79, 82, 83. Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1888, pp. 31-57 . Missouri Report, 1891, pp, 49, 503-553. (Pennsylvania) iono to five ; and in Boston twelve to seventeen. Taking 225 such factories in the North Eastern states together, 17 per cent, of the employes are children, and in 36 Massachusetts factories tho per- centage of children is 20. Pennsylvania employs 5,300 boys and 4,300 girls in its textile manufactures, and New Jersey has 15,000 children similarly employed. In Rhode Island children form 12 per cent, of all textile workers, in North Carolina 13 per cent., whilst in Chicago they increased as much as 68 per cent, between 1880 and 1881, as against an increase of 18 per cent, amongst adults. Passing to the tobacco industry, the proportion of children to adults in Covington (Kentucky) is three to seven, in Louisville it is one to five, and in Richmond one to four. Out of 87,000 employes in the Pennsylvania coalfields 24,000 are minors ; on the other hand in the iron and steel industry employes under six- teen increased 216 per cent, between 1870 and 1880, whilst those over sixteen only increased 78 per cent. According to a Michigan Report of 1885 the whole number of persons engaged in trade and transportation throughout the United States increased 52 per cent, between 1870 and 1880, and the number of these between ten and fifteen years of age increased 98 per cent. ; again, the whole number engaged in mining and manu- facturing increased 42 per cent, and those between ten and fifteen years of age increased 76 per cent. Taking the city of Detroit alone, the increase of persons engaged in trade and transportation during the same period was 59 per cent., and in mining and manufacturing 61 per cent. ; but the increase amongst those between ten and fifteen years of age was no less than 2375 per cent, in the first case, and 1000 per cent, in the second. When we refer, however, to the actual number of children given (7 in 1870 and 173 in 1880) it would appeal' that no argument could be founded upon an increase which might be due to some special cause ; at the same time no explanation of the statement appears in the Report, and the number of children at work has since increased. ( 4 ) The age at which children may begin to work varies in different states. In Con- necticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin no child under thirteen may be employed ; in New York the minimum age is fourteen ; in Maine and Ohio it is twelve, and in New Jersey it is twelve for boys and fourteen for girls. Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Ten- nessee allow no child under twelve to he employed in a mine, whilst in Indiana twelve is the limit in some industries, and fourteen in a mine. The same limit is fixed in Colorado and Illinois for children in mines. The age below which children may not he employed at all is fixed at ten in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. In New Hampshire a child of twelve may not be employed unless it has attended school the whole of the last school year. A child of fourteen • must have attended school for six months, and one of sixteen for three months during the year preceding its employment, and all such children must he able to read and write. In Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mis- souri, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont children of fourteen must not be employed unless they have attended school for a period in the preceding year varying from 12 to 20 weeks in the different states. In Colorado, Kansas, Maine, and New Jersey there is a similar provision, in the first two states as regards children of sixteen, and in the last two as regards those of fifteen. The hours of labour for children are restricted to ten in Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massa- chusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, California, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, North and South Dakota, Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Vermont, and to eight in Connecticut, Alabama, and Wis- consin. In Massachusetts they may not exceed fifty- eight a week. Very many of the regulations concerning child labour are, however, ineffective, owing to a lack of sufficient and competent inspectors. Where the Acts are enforced, as in Massachusetts, the result is encou- raging. Between 1882 and 1890 the number of children under fourteen years of age employed in Massachusetts decreased fully 70 per cent., and a considerable reduc- tion was reported from Maine when the Act had been in force only one year.( s ) It would lie easier to prevent the employment of children below the legal age, if the compulsory educa- tion laws were amended and enforced. The New York Report for 1887 complains that many children who have been dismissed from factories do not go to school, (*) “Child Labour ” pamphlet published by the American Econo- mic Association, pp. 28-35. Michigan Report, 1885, p. 90. ( 5 ) "Child Labour,” pp. 3(5-40, (10. Massachusetts Act, 1892. New York Act, 1892. D 4 Education laws. 32 The sweat- ing system. Factory in- prction and that the law is practically a dead letter because, though school boards are empowered to cause the arrest of any parent or employer known to violate it, there is no money provision made for the expenses of its enforcement. An Indiana Report states that the school attendance is fair in rural districts, but far below what it ought to he in towns, and that where there are compulsory laws, it seems to be no one s business to see that they are enforced. Twenty-seven tates and territories have compulsory education laws, the exceptions being Maryland, Texas, Arizona, Penn- sylvania, Indiana, Iowa, Delaware, East and West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Caro- lina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Indian territory, and Washington. Maryland, Texas, and Arizona have had such laws on their statute books, but have repealed them or suffered them to lapse, and in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Iowa, bills on the subject have been introduced, but failed to pass the legislature. It is only in Massachusetts and Connecticut that the laws have been strictly enforced ; New York, Illinois, Ohio, Maine, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island claim that something has been done ; but in the remaining states the Acts have simply been a dead letter either through failure to appoint truant officers, or through the appointment of an insufficient number, or through the reluctance of these officers to prosecute their friends and fellow townsmen for neg- lecting to comply with the law. On the other hand the Bureau of Education points out that it is only a small proportion of the children of the United States who are affected for good or for evil by compulsory attendance laws, and upholds that the school popula- tion represents a satisfactory per-centage of the total number of children of school age. Still the combined evidence of all the reports which deal with the question goes far to show that that small proportion affected by compulsory laws is to be found outside the schools and often engaged in illegal employment, owing to the absence or ineffectiveness of legal provisions. (') Child labour under its worst aspect is to be found in the “ sweating shops” of New York. Brooklyn, Chicago, and other large cities. These workshops are often small confined rooms in the tenement houses, which, according to the report of a New \ork Factory In- spector, reproduce in an intensified form all the horrors of dirt and over-crowding to be found in European cities. Formerly cigar-making was largely carried on in these tenement houses, but the unhealthy character of the industry caused the Legislature to interfere and it was prohibited by an Act of 1884. Nevertheless the New York Report for 1888 speaks of the unorganized cigar makers as working still in tenement houses. The explanation of this seems to be that the strong op- position of the Manufacturers’ Association to the Act led to its being declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal in 1887. The manufacture of cheap clothing is carried on in badly ventilated and over-crowded rooms, and in defiance of the provisions of the Factory Acts. The Chief Inspector for New York in his fifth annual report, says, “ Summed up in a nutshell, the “ trouble with the “ sweater ” workshops of New “ York is this : The hours of labour are too long, being “ sometimes as high as ninety a week ; the ventilating “ and sanitary arrangements are nearly always vile to “ the last degree, and the work-rooms are excessively “ overcrowded. ”( 1 2 ) The evils just enumerated cannot be remedied without the appointment of a larger staff of factory inspectors. In this department of labour legislation the United States fall short of the English standard. Only fifteen states provide for factory inspection at all, viz., Mas- sachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Ohio, Michigan. Pennsylvania, Minne- sota, Louisiana, Missouri, West Virginia Nebraska, and Wisconsin, and according to the New Jersey Report for 1889 their Factory Acts are inferior to those in England ( 3 * ). They include, however, provisions touching the employment of children, whereby the in- spector is empowered to send away any whom he suspects to be below the legal age, and they require, every em- (1) Report of Bureau of Education, 1S89, pp. xvi.. 47«-528. New York Report. 1887, p. 31. Minnesota Report, 1890, pp. 12-18, 42, 50. Rhode Island Report. 1888. pp. 120, 121. , T , m Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour 1885, Vol. II., p. 669. New York Report, 1888, p. 605. Report of New York Factory Inspector, 1890, pp. 28, 77. (U New Jersey Report. 1889, p. 12. The Committee of Congress appointed to investigate the sweating system speak of the condition of the tenement house workers in the strongest terms, and declare that their work is often carried on under the most revolting conditions and is a fruitful source of disease throughout the community. No legislation has as yet availed to avert these evils even m Massachusetts. Report ot Committee, 1893, pp. iii-xxix. ployer of child labour to keep a register of the children in his employment and to obtain from the parents a sworn certificate of the age of each child. Employers must also ascertain that such children have reached the required educational standard. Unfortunately the parents, especially amongst the French Canadians in New England, frequently misstate the age of their children, and cases have been found where certificates were made to do duty for several children. The Acts include a number of provisions with regard to the protection of machinery, the inspection of elevators and boilers, and the erection of fire escapes. Every factory, more than three stories high, must be provided with a,n outside fire escape made after an approved pattern and con- sisting of iron stairways communicating with iron balconies on every floor. Factory doors must open out- wards and may not be locked during the hours of work. All employers are required to report the number of accidents which occur to the factory inspector, and any employer who wilfully permits a child to run the risk of physical or moral injur}- may be prosecuted for mis- demeanour. Iii New York such an employer can be indicted for manslaughter, should a fatal accident occur after the inspector’s orders for the protection of ma- chinery have been disregarded. A Massachusetts Act of 1891 provides for the inspection of clothing made in tenement houses, whether at home or abroad. In Mas- sachusetts the hours for young persons under eighteen employed in mercantile houses are restricted to ten, and seats must be provided for women in shops according to the laws of New York. Massachusetts, Colorado. Maryland, Nebraska. Now Jersey, Michigan, Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.(') The sanitation of work- shops and factories is defective in a large number of instances. The New York Factory Inspector states that “it is an unquestioned fact that the world “ contains no better regulated and healthier factories “ than New York city but it is also true that it “ has thousands of the vilest and most disreputable “ work-shops to be found anywhere on the globe.” The Commissioner of Labour’s Report on the con- ditions of labour for working women gives some particulars with regard to the sanitary condition of factories in the chief cities of the States. In Boston, Cleveland, Indianopolis, Louisville, Newark, St. Paul, and Savannah the factories are well-arranged, in Pro- vidence and Philadelphia their condition is fair, but in Atlanta, Baltimore, Brooklyn. Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Richmond, Saint Louis, and San Francisco, it is very bad. All the reports which deal with the question consider that stricter sanitary regulations are greatly needed, and that where Factory Acts are in existence, they should be more consistently enforced. New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania have women inspectors to visit the factories which employ large numbers of women and children, and consider the experiment a success. ( 5 (*) ) The wages of cotton operatives in Massachusetts are given as 94 cents a day for weavers working four looms, $1.12 a day for weavers working six looms, 95 cents for warpers, 89 cents for frame spinners, and $1.50 for mule spinners. The hours of work are sixty a week. These figures are quoted by a witness before the Senate Committee on Education and Labour in 1885, and are taken from the report of the United States Consul at Manchester. The New York Report for 1888 gives the wages of cotton operatives as from 90 cents to $1.50 for carders ; spinners from 70 cents to $1 ; tenders, 75 cents to $1.75 ; twisters, $1.12| to $1.40; warpers, 871 cents to $1.87f ; weavers, $1 to $1.20 ; and loom-fixers, $2.20 a day. Woollen opera- tives are paid at the rate of 47 cents to $1.50 for carders, 45 cents to $1.62J for spinners, and $1 to $2.25 for weavers. Amongst silk weavers the men get from $2.83 £ to $4.75, and the women from $1.16f to $1.50. Men weavers who are not members of any organisation, get only from $1 to $2 a day. The work- ing day in all these industries is from ten to ten and a half hours, with two or three hours less on Saturdays. In Philadelphia there is a flourishing carpet industry, and connected with it an industrial school where textile (*) New York Factory Inspector’s Reports, 1889, pp. 15-20, 42-53 ; 1890, pp. 13-18, 29-53. Reports of Chief of Massachusetts District, Police. 1889, pp. 5-13; 1890; pp. 5-28. Massachusetts Report, 1890. pp. 5. 8,9, 40,41.43,45,50,52. Wisconsin Reports. 1885-1886, pp. xliii.-xlviii ; 1887-1888. pp. x.-xii. Maryland Report. 1886-1887, pp. 15-20. Report on Labour Laws of the United States, 1892. ( 5 ) New York Factory Inspector’s Reports, 1889. pp. 56, 57 ; 1S90, pp. 69-95. Report of Chief of Massachusetts District Police, 1890. pp. 26- 33. Report of Commissioner of Labour. 1888. pp. 13-27. Massachusetts Report, 1890. pp. 57-63. Pennsylvania Report, 1890, X., pp. 6-20. Mary- land Report, 1888-1889, ]). 9. Textile workers. 33 Clothing trades. lioot and shoe workers. Cigar makers. Bakers. workers can be Instructed in every branch of then trade, including design. It is remarkable that no women are employed as designers in the carpet industry ('). The wages paid to journeymen tailors are kept very low by the competition of the tenement bouse work. The highest wages paid to first-class hands are from $10 to $12 a week ; women get on an average $5 or $0 and children from $1.50 to $3. Most tailors work at home, or in “outside shops,” i.e., workrooms which they rent in combination with others, and for which they have to pay individually from 75 cents to $1.25 a ■week. They take work for several firms and are paid as a rule by the piece. Where a good firm would pay as much as $12 for a coat made to order, a cheap clothier pays $2.25 for a garment made to look the same, and his competition tends to lower the rate of payment. There are no regular hours, but in the busy season most men must work from fourteen to sixteen hours a day to secure a living. Ten hours is the union time, but even unionists are obliged to work overtime. Mon-union tailors are for the most part Poles, Germans, Hunga- rians, or Irish, and many of them are Jews. It is from these Polish Jews and from the Italians that the employes in the sweating shops are recruited. Before their orga- nisation and the strike in 1888 they had to pay nearly $2 a week for the use of machines out of a weekly wage of from $7 to $8. Women often made only $1.50 or $2 a week, working for fifteen hours a day. Since the strike some improvement has been effected. The employers now furnish machines and pay a somewhat higher rate ; but after the settlement was made several employers stole away, owing each employe from $12 to $18. Women work at home, men in rooms provided by the employer. In 1890 there was a prolonged strike amongst cloak makers, which resulted in an advance of wages to $14 or $15 a week, and the appointment of a joint board to settle further disputes.( 2 ) The large number of strikes in the boot and shoe industry have already been mentioned. It is an in- dustry characterised by very great sub-division of labour, and the rate of wages has fluctuated greatly owing to the large and increasing use of machinery, and the comparative ease with which it can be worked by unskilled hands. Labour organisations have striven to maintain the rate of payment, and have succeeded to some extent. Wages arc paid by the piece and vary so much that it is difficult to state au average. $12 a week is said to be the highest wage received by non- unionists, most of them receiving only from $2 to $8. Hours are long, especially for men working a.t home. One labour organisation gives the average daily wage at from $1.50 to $3 for skilled mechanics, but most state that the rate varies in different establishments, and that the daily wages depend greatly on the skill and speed of the individual workman. ( 3 ) The New York cigar makers obtained the eight hours day in 1886, whilst in 1879, when they were first orga- nised, the hours of work were from ten to thirteen, the truck system was in full force, and wages only about half what they are now. All members of the International Cigar-makers' Union are restricted to eight hours a day ; they are paid by the 1,000 cigars, and get from $11 to $17 a thousand for first-class work, and from $7 to $10 for cheap goods. The average weekly wages are given by employers at from $8 or $9 to $11 and $12 a week. Unorganised cigar-makers often work on the tenement house system, and are for the most part Bohemians. They are paid from $3 to $4.50 a thousand, and have to work sixteen hours a day. A large number of women are employed in this industry. ( 4 ) The New York Report for 1888 states that the condition of the journeymen bakers had long been exceedingly bad. Most of the bakeries were in base- ments and their sanitary arrangements were most defec- tive ; the hours of work were excessive and included a large amount of night work. In 1886 the Bakers’ National Union was formed, and it succeeded in reduc- ing the hours of work in many cases to ten or eleven on five days and thirteen on Saturday. Wages vary greatly in different establishments ; the Union gives them as from $15 to $18 for first hands, $10 to $13 for second hands, and $8 to $10 for third hands. Further, the Union does not allow men to board with the employer, as was the custom formerly, and has intro- duced a label sanctioned by the American Federation (>) Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour. 1885, Vol. I. p. 53. New York Report, 1888. pp. 431-471. Pennsylvania Report, 1888, E. 1-11. ( 2 ) New York Reports. 1888, pp. 498-504; 1889, pp. 661-663. Report of New York Board of Arbitration, 1890, pp. 244-253. Rhode Island Report. 1888, pp. 93, 94. ( 3 ) New York Report, 1888, pp. 395-400. (*) New York Report, 1888, pp. 580-608, E 74099. of Trades to be put upon all loaves made in shops where their regulations arc observed. The result has been a considerable change for the better in the character of the workmen, and from 1885 to 1889 there was a continuous advance in wages amounting in all to $104,194 for 298 individuals. The highest wages paid to bakers are $16'30 at Los Angeles, California, and the lowest are $6'91 in Louisville, Kentucky.! 5 ) The furniture industry is carried on largely in Michigan, where about half the employe's are of foreign birth, coming chiefly from Germany and the Nether- lands. Wages are paid almost entirely in cash and amount to 35 per cent, of the value of the goods made. The working day is ten hours. In New York appren- tices receive from 50 cents to $1“25, boys from 50 cents to $1, and journeymen all rates from $1 to over $6 a day, though a large proportion receive from $2 '50 to $3'50. Their hours are as a rule ten, but in some departments they are only nine.( 6 ) In 1878 the National Union of glass workers was formed for the sake of regulating strikes which had been long and frequent in the industry. By its exer- tions a recognised stoppage of six weeks in the heat of the summer was secured. A bureau (registry) of labour has been established in the industry. The Knights of Labour have incorporated the glass cutters in their order, and are attempting to organise English and European workmen into a Universal Federation of the Window-glass Workers of the World. The branch in America is very strong, and has control over all the glass factories. Wages are high, ranging from $4 Co $9 a day for blowers, $2'50 to $5 for melters, $4 to $6'50 for cutters, $6 to $8 for flatteners.( 7 ) The great packing houses of Chicago and Kansas are said to have entered into a combination to keep down the prices paid to the farmers for their cattle, and to preserve to themselves the monopoly of the dressed beef industry. The price of cattle has certainly fallen, but this is due in part to the competition of the Argentine and Australian meat in European markets. Nevertheless the investigations of a Committee of Con- gress showed that the great packing houses were making enormous profits and rapidly driving all lesser dealers out of the field. On the other hand, Mr. Armour, the head of the principal firm, stated that the real benefit was only to the consumer, and that, owing to the fall in price of hides and tallow, his own profits only amounted to $1'22 on each head of cattle. ( s ) A Connecticut report mentions the length of the hours worked in paper mills, which amount often to seventy-two a week. Some of the New York firms report twelve hours as the length of the working day, but a large number give ten. A number of paper mills run night and day, employing two sets of hands, and only discontinuing work altogether on Sunday. ( 9 ) The building trades include bricklayers and their helpers, brickmakers, carpenters, contractors, derrick- men, framers, housesmiths, plasterers, plumbers, roofers, stone cutters, and house painters. There are strong unions in each separate branch, and the unions work well together. Except for a few migratory workmen, who come over for the summer and go hack when the dull season begins, they are comparatively independent of foreign competition. This fact, com- bined with the high degree of skill required for their work, enables them to maintain a high rate of wages. Though each trade preserves its independence, in matters of common interest they combine as one man, so that in New York, at any rate, their strikes are almost always successful, and their action determines to a great extent the conditions of all other industries. Wages are settled by annual agreement between the employers and the unions. In 1890 by threatening a general strike, which the carpenters actually inaugu- rated, the building trades as a whole secured the eight hours’ day and preserved their former rate of wages. This rate stood at $4 a day for skilled work- men, and $2'25 for unskilled labour. In some cases skilled workmen receive 45 cents an hour or $3'60 a day. Granite cutters receive considerably lower wages, averaging about 27 cents an hour, and their wages are not entirely paid in cash. The paving cutters have a strong union, as was shown by the fact that during a ( 5 ) New York Report, 1888, pp. 546-555. ( 6 ) Michigan Report, 1890, pp. xiv.-xx. New York Repoi t, 1888, pp. 295-313. ( 7 ) Pennsylvania Report, 1888, E. 1-37. New York Report, 1888, pp. 618-626. ( 8 ) Pennsylvania Report, 1890, A. 39-43, 72. Maine Report, 1889. pp 116-129. “Agricultural Depression ; its Causes and Possible Remedies,” by .T. M. Rusk, 1890. ( 9 ) Connecticut Report, 1888. p. 47. New York Report, 1888, pp. 654-667. E Furniture workers. Glass workers. Packing houses. Paper mills. 2. Building trades. 34 three months’ strike on Hurricane Island, Maine, no cutter, whether unionist or non-unionist, ventured to undertake any work on the island. The hours of work for granite and paving cutters vary from forty-eight to sixty a week in different districts. (*) III— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — CO-OPERATION AND PROMT-SHARING. l Distribu- The Pennsylvania Bureau, speaking of American ti’ve co- Co-operative Societies, says that they are few as corn- operation. pared with those in Great Britain and Prance, and that profit-sharing seems to be more successful. “ The co- “ operative idea . . . has not taken very deep root “ in this country. Prom time to time stores have been “ started for distributing merchandise ; but their his- “ tory too often has been brief. In more than one case “ the treasurer or manager has run away with the “ funds, or used the association for political purposes. “ Notwithstanding their brief life here, in Great “ Britain they have flourished during the last forty “ years, and while some mistakes of management have “ occurred there, defalcations or frauds among them “ have been exceedingly rare.” The Bureau goes on to sav that “ an explanation, in part, of the lack of “ vigilance and greater indifference among American “ working men is perhaps the less urgent need of such “ organisation here, anyhow the fact is that many of “ the co-operative concerns in this country have failed “ through mismanagement ; while in Great Britain they “ have thus suffered only on few occasions.” ( 2 ) But though the opinion of the Bureau is borne out by the history of many co-operative societies, a fair proportion are succeeding. The Working Men’s Pro- tective Union, which, after two years of existence, was converted in 1849 into the New England Protective Union, established a number of so-called co-operative stores. These were little more than associations of cash purchasers, who bought goods wholesale and sold them as near cost price as possible to members only. A very large number of such stores were established throughout the Eastern States ; but almost all failed ultimately owing either to a suicidal attempt to cut down prices and undersell other stores, or to the grant of credit, a measure foreign to their original principles. In some cases, too, a lack of business knowledge, show- ing itself in the choice of incompetent managers or in an “unnecessary expenditure upon advertisement and display,” proved their ruin. Three of these union stores still survive in New England. One is at Wor- cester, Massachusetts, but as it limits its membership to 130 shareholders and divides all the profits equally amongst them, it is more of the nature of a joint stock company than a co-operative society. Another union store survives at Salmon Falls, New Hampshire. It sells goods to stockholders two per cent, cheaper than to other purchasers, and requires references as to the character of would-be stockholders. The third union store at Natick, Massachusetts, was organised consider- ably later than the rest, and its success is due in a large measure to its avoidance of all unnecessary dis- play. Its capital consists of 600 shares of $10 each, held by 575 shareholders, and its annual trade amounts to $100,000. ( 3 ) The Order of the Sovereigns of Industry, founded in 1874, were warm advocates of co-operation on the Rochdale plan of paying dividends to purchasers, after setting aside a fixed rate of interest to capital and retaining a sufficient proportion of the profits to form a reserve fund. Their first store, established at Spring- field, Massachusetts, began on a very small scale, the members lending the necessary capital oi» the security of the council’s note. It was at first very successful, but its working expenses were allowed to become too great, and the depression of trade in 1879 brought about its dissolution. An earlier society conducted on the same principles at Philadelphia had met with a similar fate, and a number of the later stores esta- blished by the Sovereigns proved failures owing to the fact that in the hard times prior to 1879 they were in- duced to give credit. Their experience goes far to prove that working expenses should not be allowed to exceed one-twelfth of the annual trade, that all pur- chasers should be encouraged to become shareholders by a grant of the full dividend to anyone depositing P) New York Reports, 1889, pp. 28,67, 68; 1890, pp. 114-17S. Maine Report. 1889, PP- 8-56. (*) Pennsylvania Report, 1SS8. G. 2-5. Wisconsin Report, 1887- 1888, p. xxviii. (3) lieni is, “History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. ly-3u. even $1 towards a share, that every shareholder should have but one vote, and that the directors should be em- powered to prevent undue restriction of membership by withdrawing shares at their discretion from the holders of the largest number. If these conditions are observed distributive co-operative societies may be successfully conducted, though even then the advantages of such co-operation will be confined to the consumer. It is only productive co-operation that can be said to benefit the producer. Though the Order of the Sovereigns of Industry was dissolved, several of the stores which they established survive, together with a number of others conducted on similar principles. In some cases members receive a larger per-centage on their purchases than non-mem- bers, in other cases the per-centages are equal. The stores doing the largest business are at Webster, Mas- sachusetts ; New Britain, Connecticut ; and Phila- delphia. The number of shareholders in the Webster Society is given as 330, and the annual trade as $66,000 ; the New Britain Store has 200 members and an annual trade of $75,000, and the Industrial Co- operative Society of Philadelphia with a membership of 2,355 does business to the amount of $171,278, but its working expenses exceed the right proportion. Between 20 and 30 successful co-operative societies, conducted on the Rochdale system, are enumerated 'in the North- Eastern States, and two are reported from the South. One of these at Rugby, Tennessee, was founded by Mr. Thomas Hughes. ( 4 ) A co-operative society at Beverley, Massachusetts, which pays no dividend but sells at cost price, has 280 members and does an annual trade of $124,901. There are two co-operative societies in connexion with Har- vard and Yale Universities managed on similar princi- ples. Both pay no dividend but sell at cost price, and their annual trade amounts to $20,000 and $13,000 respectively. The Knights of Labour have also en- gaged in co-operation, though for the most part in its productive form. They have, however, established two distributive co-operative societies, one at Streator in Illinois and another at Laramie, Wyoming, which are conducted on the Rochdale plan, and which have proved successful. (“) (For Grange Stores, see Co-operation amongst Farmers, p. 36.) The early productive co-operative societies were con- 2 . Productive ducted on the principle of paying dividends to stock- co-opera- holders only, and the ordinary rate of wages to labour. tl0n- They were, therefore, really joint stock companies, which admitted workmen to membership and en- couraged them to become shareholders by allowing the stock to be divided into a large number of small shares. The first society of this kind recorded is the Boston Tailors’ Association Union founded in 1849, which sold goods only for cash, and divided the profits annually amongst the shareholders. The oldest surviving so- ciety is the Somerset Co-operative Foundry Company, established in 1867. It pays the same rate of wages to all employes, and only ten of them are not shareholders ; profits are divided amongst the shareholders, and the average dividend is $7’ 60 a share. There are a large number of shoe companies of this character in Massa- chusetts, which approach more or less closely to the co-operative ideal according to the proportion of em- ployes who are also shareholders. This proportion varies from rather less than half in one instance to four fifths, six sevenths and even in one establishment nine tenths. The worth of the annual product of these so- cieties varies from $20,000 to $150,000. Five other co- operative societies of the same kind are reported from New England ; in four of them more than three fourths of the employes are shareholders, whilst in the Co- operative Hat Company of South Norwalk, Connecticut, there are thirty-five shareholders and fifty-five ordinary employes. All arc moderately successful. Two societies in the State of New York, the Co-operative Stove Works of Troy and the Co-operative Foundry at Rochester, have a less favourable record. In the first, which proved a failure, there were 90 employes who were non- shareholders as against 35, who owned stock ; and the second, which formerly paid a dividend to labour, now employs 215 workmen who have no share in the busi- ness, whilst the shareholders only number 54. Three other productive associations in Pennsylvania and New York are said to be fairly prosperous. ( 6 ) ( 4 ) Beinis. “History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 37-69,141-155, 507. Wright. “Manual of Distributive Co-operation,” pp. 68-73. ( 5 ) Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 73-76, 4(10-109. ( 6 ) Bemis, " History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 77-84, 86-90, 156-162. 35 The most successful co-operative enterprises of a productive character are those existing amongst the coopers of Minneapolis. Between 1874 and 188G no fewer than nine associations have been formed there which conduct business on co-operative principles. As early as 1868 the experiment of renting a small shop and selling the product direct to the mills was tried by a few journeymen coopers ; they allowed themselves the ordinary rate of wages, calculated on the piece system, and then divided the profits in proportion to the work done. A suspension of trade in the flour mills caused the discontinuance of the enterprise, and on its resumption in 1870, it proved a financial success, but a failure from the co-operative point of view, owing to the determination of the treasurer, who had secured a large contract for himself instead of for the firm, to set up as a master cooper. The rapid increase of the milling industry and the consequent influx of coopers to supply the demand for barrels caused the labour market in Minneapolis to become overstocked ; the wages of coopers fell so low that the former co-operators decided in 1874 to renew their experiment. Having ob- tained the promise of a contract, the Co-operative Barrel Company was formally incorporated under the laws of Minnesota, and entered upon a prosperous career. There were 16 members at the outset, who were to be equal shareholders, and to receive a share of the profits in proportion to the work done by each. The membership increased rapidly, and by the spring of 1885 it had reached 120, besides 20 employes working for wages, whilst the paid-up capital amounted to $50,000. The introduction of machinery in that year caused some members to retire, as there was no longer sufficient work for all, and the numbers have since stood at 90. The assets of the company are $58,000 and the liabilities $18,000, so that the net value of its pro- perty amounts to $45,000, or $500 for each member. About three fourths of the members are married, and nine tenths of the married members own their own houses, so that according to the statement of the Presi- dent of the Association nearly all the members have property worth from $3,000 to $10,000. About 25 of them are of American birth, 35 are Scandinavians, and 20 Irish ; the rest being of various nationalities. The other establishments have had a similar history; all have been more or less successful, though in one case, that of the Twin City Barrel Company, the treasurer absconded with about $75, and his defalcation resulted in a great loss of mutual confidence amongst the mem- bers. A Co-operative Mercantile Company or distri- butive store has been started in connexion with the co- operative movement in Minneapolis, and most of the coopers are members. There is also a co-operative laundry as well as a furnishing company. A co-opera- tive shirt-making factory was stated, but proved a fail- ure owing to the inferiority of the work produced. (') Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri can all show instances of similar efforts at productive co-operation. Several mining companies have been started in Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois. The Indiana attempts were failures, chiefly owing to the opposition of the railways, but the Co-operative Coal Company of Peoria, Illinois, is said to be pr ospering, and the Mining Company of Bloomington, Illinois, is very successful. The Summit Co-operative Coal and Mining Company of Bevier, Mis- souri, incorporated in 1885 after a strike against negro labour, has an annual output worth $85,000, and has maintained satisfactory relations with the railroads. A large number of the miners hold shares. Furniture workers have established three co-operative factories in St. Louis, Missouri, one in Cincinnati, and one in Michigarr City, all of which are successful. Most of the shareholders arc actual workmen, but there arc a few independent persons who hold stock. The profits in each case go to the shareholders. The Carpenters’ Co-operative Association of Decatur, Illinois, has an annual product worth $90,000, the Cleveland Co-opera- tive Stove Company produces goods to the annual value of $400,000, and the Standard Co-operative Pottery Company’s annual product is worth $70,000. There are three or four other associations of the same kind doing a smaller business in the North-western states, and from San Francisco comes the report of a Union Work- ingmen’s Co-operative Boot and Shoe Manufacturing Company, which is said to be successful as far as busi- ness is concerned, but its members are decreasing in number. Besides these successful instances there have been a number of similar societies which have proved failures, owing, for the most part, to the want of the (') Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 199- 242, 263-273, 300, 301. spirit of subordination, or to reluctance to pay the wages which a really competent manager expects. ( 2 ) On the other hand, where productive co-operative societies pay a dividend to labour, difficulties of another kind appear, arising from the jealousy of the members. Nevertheless, these are the only co-operative societies proper, and it is this form of co-operation which has been specially advocated by the Knights of Labour. The most extreme amongst them advocate a “ soli- darity ” system, according to which individuals or labour organisations buy shares, which bear no interest and are redeemable after a year. The District Com- mittee manage the business, taking 25 per cent, of the profits after wages are paid to provide land for the workers, 25 per cent, for a reserve fund, and 50 per cent, for the extension of the business. A cigar factory and a Plumbers’ Co-operative Association, as well as other societies on these principles, have been established in New York, and the system has been introduced amongst the employes of the Leader Publishing Association, and the Concord Co-operative Printing Company of New York. After two years of existence these enterprises were, in 1888, reported to be succeeding. The Knights of Labour have, however, modified their principles sufficiently to establish several co-operative factories on the more ordinary basis of a certain per-centage of interest to be paid to shareholders as well as a propor- tionate dividend to labour. Two co-operative boot and shoe companies of that character are in existence in Massachusetts. All the workmen belong to the Order, and the business of the two firms together amounts to $90,000. An iron foundry company and an elastic fabric company, both successful, are also reported from New England. The^ainters’ and Decorators’ Co-opera- tive Association of Minneapolis is also connected with the Knights ; here the members allow themselves ordi- nary wages and then divide the surplus. A boot and shoe co-operative association at Detroit is said to be thoroughly co-operative and to be succeeding. There are two co-operative societies amongst women which have been largely assisted by the Knights of Labour. One of these, the Girls’ Co-operative Clothing Manufac- turing Company, was organised because of a lock-out, due to the fact that the girls had taken part in a labour parade on “ Labour Day,” September 6tli. The other, the Martha Washington Co-operative Association, em- ploys none but members, and is entirely managed by women. In California there was a co-operative watch repairing company, where every workman was obliged to hold two shares, and the profits were equally divided, but it failed owing to the lack of honesty amongst its members. Two successful tobacco factories, in one of which all the shareholders must be employes and Knights of Labour, whilst in the other profits are divided between capital and labour, are reported from Tennessee and North Carolina. The Knights of Labour have also several factories of different kinds in Mary- land, one in Kentucky, and one in East Virginia, all paying dividends to labour and at present moderately successful.( 3 ) Some system of co-operation seems to exist amongst the Chinese in San Francisco, but it is difficult to arrive at its details. It appears that the skilled Chinese labour is all included in one or other of several organisations ; that these organisations have boards of managers, and that discipline is very strictly maintained. The different co-operative groups work together so as to avoid overstocking the market and thus diminishing the rate of wages and profits. At the close of each year the books are balanced, each member receives his share of the profits ; the books are then burned and a new year begun. Other labour than that of the charter members is sometimes employed when business is plentiful at the ordinary rate of wages ; and all members must expect to be arbitrarily “ laid off” when the state of trade causes the managers to fear over-production . ( 4 ) Considering the immense area of the United States it cannot be said that there are a commensurate num- ber of co-operative institutions. Massachusetts has the best legislation with regard to the incorporation of companies, and it is in Massachusetts that co-operation is most flourishing. Her law limits capital stock to $100,000, and does not allow it to bo less than $1,000. No one shareholder may hold more than $1,000, or have more than one vote, however many his shares. Every company must reserve annually 10 per cent, of the net ( 2 ) Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States.” pp. 81- 83 409-422, 459-463. ( 3 ) Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 86- 92, 162-167, 189-192, 274-277, 302-305, 396-401, 422, 494-496. (0 Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 478- 481. E 2 36 3. Co opera- tive building associations. 4. Co-opera- tion amongst farmers. profits until a reserve fund is accumulated equal to 30 per cent, in excess of the capital stock. The capital of the distributive co-operative societies in Massachusetts increased from $71,279 in 1875 to $124,430 in 1886, and that of its productive co-operative societies from $73,250 in 1875 to $166,900 in 1885. The failures amongst co-operators throughout the States may be attributed to a large extent to a lack of suitable legis- lation, the absence of any participation on the part of leading minds in the co-operative movement, and the want of a tie to connect the different co-operative enter- prises into one whole. (*) Co-operative building or loan associations and State and mutual insurance societies to a large extent take the place of the friendly societies in England. Friendly societies exist in the United States, but they are not an important feature in social and economic life. Co- operative building associations were originally started in Philadelphia in 1831. They are in effect co-operative savings banks, which lend money chiefly on mortgages, and thus assist members to build or to buy houses. They can afford to pay good dividends, because their business requires no permanent buildings and then- working expenses are, therefore, small. They amount on an average to between $300 and $400, including the salary of the secretary. Every borrower must be a member and an investor. The usual arrangement made is that every member should contribute $1 a month on each share until the share reaches $200. The society is prepared to lend $200 on any share at any stage in the process ; and if there is a competition for these loans, borrowers bid a premium of so many cents on every share each month. This, together with $1 for interest, is added to the monthly dues, so that if the premium is, for example, 40 cents, the monthly contribution will be $2 ' 40 for each share. The sums accumulated by the payment of interest and premiums are reckoned as profits, and divided amongst members according to the amount of their shares ; but the society retains - these profits until the $200 shares have been so far paid up that the addition of the profits due brings them to maturity. Members' may withdraw their deposits at any time by giving 30 . days’ notice, and will then receive their due proportion of gains. If they have neither borrowed nor withdrawn, they receive $200 on each share when their shares mature. Members are usually charged a small entrance fee of five cents for the working expenses. Many societies have found it a good plan to require the treasurer to give security of from $4,000 to $5,000 for the faithful per- formance of his duties. The chief danger threatening these co-operative banks is that in about twelve years a number of shares may mature at once, and that the amount of money required to meet this call will not be immediately available, if other members should require to withdraw their shares about the same time. To provide against such a contingency the Massachusetts Legislature empowered the directors “ to retire, at “ their discretion and pursuant to the byelaws, the “ unpledged shares of any series, and to enforce their “ withdrawal at any time after four years from the “ date of issue.” In such a case members must receive the full value of their shares with profits up to date, and not only the amount paid in, as in the case of an ordinary withdrawal. In Pennsylvania,, where these societies originated, there are now about one thousand with assets of $84,000,000. Massachusetts in 1887 had 47 with 14,805 members and assets amounting to $3,229,072.20. Mew Jersey has 156 with assets of $9,349,517.46, and in Indiana there about 400. Indeed they are to be found in all the states and territories, and they have had especial success in Philadelphia and in St. Paul, Minnesota. Mutual insurance societies have been most successful in Massachusetts and New York. In Massachusetts they are in the charge of a special insurance department, and in New York they are carefully regulated by law. ( 1 2 ) According to the public land system of the United States grants of land for farms are large and of equal sizes, averaging about 160 acres in some districts and considerably more in others. The result of such a System is comparative isolation for the individual farmer and the absence for the most part of opportu- nities for the division of labour such as village life affords. In Iowa and Minnesota a great deal of this (1) Bemis, “History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 75, 102-106, 165, 422-426. McNeil, “ The Labour Movement, the Problem of To-day/* p. 529. ( 2 ) Bemis, “History of Co-operation in the United States, pp. 93- 101 183-1S8, 278-297,326, 327, 319, 508-575. Pennsylvania Report, 1888. A 1-124. New Jersey Report, 1888, pp. 451-617. Nebraska Report, 1889 - 1890 , pp. 93-99. Report of the Massachusetts Insurance Depart- ment, 1892. Laws of New York, chap. 690, land had been occupied in advance of the government surveyors, and in disregard of the laws forbidding settlement upon public lands unsurveyed and unsold. To protect themselves in their illegal occupation a number of farmers combined to form land leagues or claim associations, with the object of buying up the land, when it was put up to auction by the govern- ment, and preserving it to the original holders. They were remarkably successful in preventing outside bid- ding and thus securing their object, and though these leagues disappeared when the occasion for their existence had passed, they had laid the foundation upon which the Patrons of Husbandry or Grangers were afterwards to build. In the ten years, which succeeded the war, farmers suffered greatly from the low prices at which they were obliged to sell their produce and the ruinously high prices demanded by the retail traders for agricultural implements and machinery and for the necessaries of life. To remedy this evil the Grangers inaugurated a co-operative system whereby farmers might combine to obtain goods in large quantities direct from the manufacturers, or to contract with local merchants to supply them at reasonable prices. The so-called Grange stores arose in this way, for the purchasing and distributing agencies found it con- venient to have central warehouses and stores in which to conduct their growing business. Want of business knowledge and incompetent agents led to the collapse of many of these stores ; but a considerable number were successful and still continue to flourish. Many successful branches exist in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and the more agricultural parts of New England, though here the need for them is, perhaps, less keenly felt than further west. The Patrons’ Co- operative Corporation of Portland, Maine, has a capital of $40,000, and does an annual trade of $175,000. Most of these stores gell goods at low prices to members of the Grange, and divide the profits between the share- holders.^) In the North-Western States the Grange movement has had considerable influence, and there are a number of stores. The most successful is the Farmers’ Exchange at Grinnell, Iowa, founded in 1874. The membere ship is not now restricted to patrons of husbandry- ancl the profits are divided amongst the shareholders ; indeed no Grange store appears to have actually adopted the Rochdale principle of dividends to pur- chasers, though any purchaser of $20 worth of goods has recently been allowed an extra dollar’s worth at the Farmers’ Exchange. The history of the Farmers’ Protective Association of Des Moines, Iowa, is of some interest. In 1880 the Washburn and Moen Manufac- turing Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, had obtained a monopoly of the manufacture of barbed wire fencing, by buying up a number of the patents and then claiming the proprietorship of the principle of a barbed wire fence.( 4 ) Their claim was sustained by the decision of a Federal court sitting in Illinois, and they then formed a combination whereby forty establish- ments were licensed to make and sell a limited amount of barbed fencing at a fixed price, paying a royalty on each pound to the Washburn Moen Company. Retail prices were increased 40 per cent., and the farmers in revolt determined to employ an agent to secure the wire for them at a lower rate. The first agent was won over by the company, but a second was appointed who obtained the necessary supply from an unlicensed fac- tory at Grinnell. In 1883 the case was tried, and the claim of the company was disallowed. In 1885 a mono- poly in a special and favourite kind of wire was again sanctioned, and the Grinnell factory found itself obliged to close, whereupon the farmers established a factory of their own at Ues Moines, which regulates prices, though its own product is comparatively small. In Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kansas, and the West and South generally, Grange stores are to be found, though in Ohio they have been comparatively unsuccessful. The Co-operative Association of Patrons of Husbandry of Allegan City, Michigan, does an annual business of $161,000, and the Johnson City Co-operative Associa- tion, Kansas, has an annual trade of $210,588.79. The Texas Co-operative Association with 156 branch stores has achieved great results, and the trade of all the branches amounts to $1,977,579.90 every year.( 5 ) . ( 3 ) Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 33-36. (•>) A similar Association amongst millers known as the Millers’ Na- tional Association undertakes the defence of members against all claims on the part of patent holders, and also traces consignments of flour to prevent undue exactions or delay on the part of the transportation com- panies. ( 5 ) Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 33- 36, 263, 316, 317, 331-349, 367-393, 502-507. 37 In productive co-operation the best results have been achieved in co-operative creameries and cheese factories. There are a number of these in New England, especially in Massachusetts. One of them at Spring- field has a paid in capital of §22,000 in $20 shares. “ No one can own more than 50 shares, or have more “ than one share for each cow and eight-quart can of “ milk furnished daily to the association.” Ten per cent, of the profits go to a reserve fund Recording to the Massachusetts law, ten per cent, more is reserved for losses and depreciation of plant, and five per cent, for the stockholders. Any further profits go to the farmers in the form of higher prices for then- milk . At the outset it was necessary to buy out the old milkmen in order to secure their routes, and they were hired to sell for the new company. It was found, however, that they adulterated the milk, expecting to recover their old routes, and that customers were dropping off. Since these difficulties have been over- come the creamery has been successful. In 18S6 the combined business of the Massachusetts creameries amounted to $500,000. Ohio possesses a number of these creameries and cheese factories ; in the latter case the factories are generally rented to reliable tenants, who contract to manufacture the milk delivered daily into cheese at 75 cents for each cwt. Sometimes the dairy farmers allow the manufacturer so much for each hundred cheeses, and then divide the remaining pro- ceeds. There are similar establishments in Iowa, and indeed, in most agricultural districts. (') Several agricultural colonies on a co-operative basis have at different times existed in the States. The earliest was the Wisconsin Phalanx near Ripon in Pond Du Lac county founded in 1844. The members were paid for their services by the hour, and the net profits were divided in the proportion of three-fourths to labour and one-fourth to capital. All received exactly the same rate of wages, and there was little scope for the development of individual talent. In 1850 this first agricultural community was dissolved but a German colony founded at Amana in Iowa almost at the same time still continues to flourish. It consists of a number of families, all of which contributed their capital to the common stock. The members are for the most part engaged in agriculture, or in the woollen manufactories of the colony, whilst a few perform such carpenter’s and blacksmith’s work as the colony needs. Profits and losses in the different departments are divided equally between all the members of the colony. In both these cases the colony was organised in the interests of a special religious or social theory, and the same may be said of the form of co-operation which exists among the Mormons, and of several recent attempts at agricultural co-operation in California. By working together inroad-making, drainage, and irri- gation works, the Mormons have transformed the deserts of Utah into a comparatively fertile district. Every settler did work on the ditches and roads in pro- portion to the land which he intended to cultivate. In California the holders of socialist views have founded many communities, of which the most important is the Kaweah colony in Talare county. Here each settler secures a grant of Government land, and transfers it by deed to the community. These plots are adjacent, and the colony is thus securing a tract of nearly 60,000 acres at a nominal cost. It has been only a short time in existence, but a lumber industry is already in operation, and fruit and vines are being planted. ( 2 ) The Knights of Labour at Minneapolis organised a Co-operative Land Association in 1883, and in 1885 they purchased a piece of land near Mille Lacs in Crow Wing county to be cultivated by a Pioneer Co-operative Company. In 1886 the Company, then numbering seven men with their wives and children, took possession of the land. Want of capital makes progress slow at first, but the colony is likely to be successful. The Italian- Swiss Agricultural Colony at Asti in Sonoma County, California, is a good example of a number of co-operative enterprises in California, many of which cease to be co- operative after the land has been worked in common for a certain number of years. This colony was established in 1881 on the plan of the mutual loan or building associations. Members may pay for their shares in in- stalments of $1 a month, and there is no limit to the number of shares which may be held by one person, though no shareholder is entitled to more than one vote. 85^132^133* 34 ft •'ifws .'^., Co ' opcl ' ation in the Unitl;d States,” pp. 84, 31^350®^^^ 4^ a S C0 ' 0Perati0n ” the UnitCd Stat6S >” pp ' 313 ~ Any shareholder refusing or neglecting to pay his monthly dues for six successive months receive.) back what he has actually paid in, less fines and forfeitures, and must sever his connexion with the association. Part of the land was planted with vines and fruit trees, and the fruit crop has proved profitable. It was at first intend- ed that every labourer should be a stock-holder, but as many of the labourers employed proved too ignorant to appreciate the advantages of the scheme, it was thought best to pay them the ordinary wages, allowing them to become members whenever they so desired. Profits are divided amongst the shareholders in proportion to their shares. The colony is not connected with any labour organisation ; it is an independent industrial venture, employing no cheap foreign labour, and has been up till now financially successful. ( 3 ) Mr. Carroll D. Wright in his report on industrial de- 5. Profit pressions advocated profit-sharing, whether in its strict sharin S- sense or by the indirect method of establishing insur- ance funds, schools, libraries and improved dwellings for the working classes, as the best remedy for economic ills. In answer to questions sent out by the Massachu- setts Bureau with regard to this indirect form of profit- sharing, a hundred and one manufacturers from forty- nine cities and towns reply that relief funds exist amongst their workpeople, to which they themselves contribute. They admit, however, that such funds are few and scanty, and give as a reason the fact that the employers’ liability law provides for relief in important cases, and that public and private beneficence do the rest. They also state that comparatively few libraries or reading rooms have been established by manufacturers for the use of their employes, but assert that the large number of free public libraries and “ the extended social oppor- “ tunities of the working men ” make such institutions unnecessary. ( 4 ) The town of Pullman on the shores of Lake Calumet in Illinois is the best example of the provision made by employers for the comfort of their employes. Model dwellings have been erected with improved sanitary arrangements, which are let to the workmen at a slightly higher rent than that usually paid in the district. On the other hand, the Pullman Company’s employes re- ceive a correspondingly higher rate of wages and are required to pay no taxes but those which are strictly personal. According to a report of 1885 the Company owned both the dwellings and the public buildings, but it intended to sell land to workmen on easy terms and to assist them to buy or build their own homes. With this end in view it had established a savings’ bank.( 5 ) An early form of profit-sharing prevailed in the New England fisheries, according to which the owners fur- nished the vessel, provisions and gear, receiving in return half the value of the catch when expenses had been deducted. The other half was divided amongst the crew either equally or in proportion to the amount of fish caught by each man. In some cases the crew found the gear and provisions, and they then received three-fourths of the catch. The Peace Dale Manufac- turing Company of "Rhode Island introduced a system of profit-sharing in 1878, and in 1880 and 1881 they paid a bonus of five per cent, on the wages of each employfi ; in 1882 and 1883 the bonus was reduced to three per cent. The New England Granite Works of Westerly, Rhode Island, and Hartford, Connecticut, arranged in 1886 to pay four-ninths of their profits to the employes, and the Rumford Chemical Works at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1886 agreed to pay fixed bonuses calculated on the length of service. The firm of Brewster & Co., carriage manufacturers, New York, promised in 1869 to pay ten per cent, of the gross profits to the workmen, provided that no strike occurred in their factory. In 1872 a strike took place, and the experiment came to an end. A furniture manufacturer of Albany, Nev York, offered his employes half the profits in 1887, but his offer was combined with a reduction in hours and a consequent reduction in wages. It was, therefore, refused under the influence of the Knights of Labour. The Pillsbury Mills in Minnesota employ a large number of men, and in 1882 the owners offered a share in the profits to those who had been in their service five years. The offer was accepted, and though after four years the depression in the milling industry reduced profits to a minimum and no bonus was forthcoming, the employes accepted the position cheerfully. Other firms have ( 3 ) Bemis, “ History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 243-254, 447-459. ( 4 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1885, pp. 279-286. Massa- chusetts Report, 1889, pp. 234, 284, 285. ( 5 ) Michigan Report, 1885, pp. 424-438. E 3 38 adopted profit-sharing in some form, and in most in- stances the system has proved successful. ( l ) The Massachusetts Report for 1889 speaks of 83 private firms as sharing their profits with 159 employes, and 139 companies with 634 employes receiving a share. It mentions two instances, in which premiums are given for work of a high quality, this being in the opinion of the Commissioner the best form of profit- sharing. The Connecticut Report for 1890 describes an experiment made by the Tale and Towne Manufac- turing Company. They introducted a system of gain- sharing as distinct from profit-sharing, according to which the employes were to share in the gain resulting from their increased carefulness and efficiency, but not in the profits due to the business capacity of the man- agement nor in the losses of the firm. In 1887 the employes received one half of the gain, according to this definition, in the form of a per-centage on their wages. This gain was determined by fixing the average cost of production, and then at the end of the year deducting the cost of supplies, raw material and labour; any surplus would be considered as gain and divided amongst the employes. The basis fixed as cost of production and the regular wages were to be re-adjusted every five years, and though the bonus was only to be paid at the end of the year, a monthly statement of the amount gained up to date was to be posted up. Un- claimed dividends were to be devoted to the mutual benefit society’s fund. In 1890 the men struck because of the discharge of a man who was paid by the piece for breach of time rules. An offer on the part of the firm to overlook their action, if they returned to work, and to remit the forfeiture of the bonus which would otherwise ensue was refused. The Federation of Labour’ took the matter up and supported the men on strike in their endeavour to prevent the hiring of fresh hands. The men, however, gave way and were re- engaged, whilst the employers agreed to alter the time rule. The Federation of Labour were induced to take the men’s part because they believed that the gain- sharing system was made an excuse for annual reduc- tions of wages.Q The Massachusetts Bureau published in 1890 an elaborate statement of the profits made by the manu- factories of the State and of the relation which these profits bore to the wages of labour. It gives details with regard to 10,013 establishments representing 75 '45 per cent, of the grand aggregate of capital invested in manufactures in Massachusetts. 92'39 per cent, of these establishments made a profit, and 7'61 per cent, did not make a profit, the result for all industries being a net profit of 3'90 per cent, of the selling price and 4'83 on the capital invested. Each of the 257,656 employes in private firms receives average annual earnings amounting to §362.23, and each of the 12,588 partners receives §517 a year in return for the money he has invested. Again, each of the 162,310 workmen employed by companies receives on an average §333'22 a year whilst the 30,967 shareholders each receive $379 net profit. Consequently in private firms the per- centage of the average yearly earnings to the average net profit is 70'02, or a little more than seven-tenths, and in the case of companies it is 87'86 or a little more than seven-eighths. How, if the net profits were added to the wages fund and the whole sum divided equally amongst the employes, those in private firms would receive an increase of $37.47 or 10 34 per cent, a year, and those employed by companies an increase of $89.44 or 2684 per cent. Putting all employes together the aver- age advance in annual earnings would be $57.55 or 16'40 per cent. Again, if the gross profits were added to the wages fund, each employe would receive an annual income of $541.86, or $10.42 a week, and even under existing circumstances 38'79 per cent, of all employes in the manufacturing industries of Massachusetts receive more than $10 a week. On the other hand, if the claims of capital were taken into consideration, and the sum obtained by adding net profits and wages together were divided between employes and partners alike, the amount which each would receive would be $360.15 in the case of a private firm and $334' 57 in the case of a company. Taking the whole number of partners, shareholders, and employes together the share, of each would amount to $349.47 a year. So far, then, would such a system be from increasing the share of labour, that it would actually diminish the average annual earnings of employes by 0'44 per cent. ; at tho same time capital would be the gainer to the extent of 2'42 per cent, for every partner in a private firm and 2'87 per cent, for every shareholder in a company. The financial position of the employe would, therefore, be substantially the same as under the present wages system, with this one variation, that he would lose $1'55 a year. The statement of the Bureau concludes with the expression of an opinion that any material improvement in the condition of the working man must be sought by increasing not his nominal but his real wages, and that this will be best achieved through increased production and the low prices and greater consumption which will result. The Commis- sioner adds that this increase in consumption might be accelerated by a reduction in the hours of labour and a consequent rise in the standard of living.f) B. — Foreign Labour. “The two principal Acts regulating immigration, Legislation. “ exclusive of those with regard to the Chinese, arc “ those of 1882 and 1885. By the terms of the Act “ approved August 3rd 1882, it is made unlawful for “ any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to “ take care of himself or herself, without becoming a “ public charge to land in the United States.” The Act of February 26th, 1885, made it unlawful “ to pre- “ pay the transportation or in anywise assist or en- “ courage the importation of aliens into the United “ States under a contract to perform labour or service “ of any kind, except skilled workmen in a new indus- “ try when such workmen cannot be otherwise ob- “ tained.” These provisions were further strengthened by an Act of 1891, which excludes “ all idiots, insane “ persons, paupers, or persons likely to become a public “ charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or dange- “ rous contagious disease, persons who have been con- “ victed of a felony '. . polygamists, and “ also any person whose ticket or passage is paid for “ with the money of another, or who is assisted by “ others to come.” This Act is not intended to pre- vent persons living in the United States from sending for relatives and friends, who do not belong to any of the classes mentioned above, and who do not come as con- tract labourers. When immigrants land in United States ports, they are interrogated by duly appointed officials as to their nationality, occupation, and desti- nation, with a view to ascertaining whether or not they are qualified by law for admission. But in the opinion of the Committee appointed in 1888 to investigate the question of foreign immigration, the method of exami- ning immigrants is wholly inadequate. They consider that the testimony taken before them “conclusively “ shows that there are thousands of alien paupers, “ insane persons, and idiots annually landed in this “ country, who become a burden and a charge upon “ the States where they happen to gain a settlement, “ many of whom are aided and assisted to emigrate by “ the officials of the country from whence they came.” A large number of such persons obtain access to the States by way of Canada, and thus avoid all interroga- tion, since no provision has as yet been made for the inspection of immigrants along the Canadian frontier. “ In many instances immigrants coming by steamer to “ Quebec have, within 48 hours after their arrival “ there, been applicants for shelter in the almshouses “ of the State of New York.”( 4 ) Mr. Cabot Lodge, quoting from the “ Census Bulletin,” states that the foreign born citizens furnish more penitentiary convicts than are supplied by the entire native-born population, in spite of the relative numerical superiority of the native Americans. He also states that during the fourteen years ending 1891, nearly one half of the immigrants to the United States were persons avowedly without occu- pation or training, viz., unskilled labour of the lowest kind. It must, however, be borne in mind that of these 2,600,061 persons without occupation, 1,767,284 were women, and 537,007 were under fifteen years of age. There remain only 253,062 men over fifteen years of age to be classed as without occupation. According to the statistical abstracts of the United Nationality States, prepared in the Central Bureaii of Statistics, the number of immigrants arriving in the United States between 1874 and 1885 inclusive, was 4,602.915, of which 3,748,764 were from Europe, and 1,251,565 from the United Kingdom alone. The largest number from any one country came from Germany, which sent ( 3 ) Massachusetts Report. 1S90, pp. 628-630. ( l ) Bemis, “History of Co-operation in the United States,” pp. 107- (■* *) Report on Importation of Contract Labour, 1889, pp. 1-4. 125, 168-1*2, 255-262, 327-329, 523-528. Arrival of Alien Passengers and Immigrants in the United States from (*) Massachusetts Report, 1889, p. 269. Connecticut Report, 1890, 1820 to 1890, pp. II, 100, 105, 111. Speech by Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge pp. 223-257. in the House of Representatives, February 19th, 1891. . 39 Foretgn labour in the North- Eastern States. 1,304,868 ; Ireland comes next with 578,755 ; then England with 550,572, and then Sweden with 278,902. Taking the numbers for the year 1891 only, we find that Germany still stands first with 113,554. The second country is, however, Italy, which sent 72,704, a very great increase upon its record for 1885, when the number of Italian immigrants was only 13,599, whilst the total number for the twelve years from 1874 to 1885 was 148,756, or little more than double the number for 1891 alone. These Italian immigrants are declared by many witnesses to be the worst class landed in the United States, though in the opinion of others they were being raised in the social scale by the influx of a number of Russians and of French-Canadians of a still lower class, just as formerly the Irish immigrants improved on the advent of the Italians. Ireland stands third in order of numbers with 55,706, England fourth with 53,600, and Russia, which, since 1885, has con- siderably more than doubled the number of its emi- grants, fifth, with 42,145. No record exists since 1885 of the number of immigrants arriving from the British Worth- American possessions, but prior to 1885, the numbers were very large (60,584 in 1883, and 38,291 in 1884), and the reports of the New England States bear testimony to the severity of French- Canadian competi- tion('). The Massachusetts Report for 1888 states that the presence of an alien population affects all those who work for wages in so far as such a population can take no share in bringing about legislative reforms. The number of registered voters in Massachusetts repre- sent only 22'79 per cent, of the population. On the other hand, as many as 77'93 per cent, of the polls are legal voters, whilst 17'45 per cent., or rather more than one sixth, are aliens. Again, statistics show that though manufactures have grown, and there is a correspond- ingly larger foreign-born population, the proportion of aliens to the total population has not increased. The tendency of foreign labour to congregate in the cities is illustrated by the fact that Lowell, Lawrence, Holyoke, Taunton, Waltham, and Worcester, the seats of the textile industry, have the largest foreign vote, and that Fall River and Boston can also show a large alien popu- tion.( 2 ) Complaints of the injury done to American workmen by foreign competition are, however, more frequent in other states than in Massachusetts. In the textile mills of Rhode Island the employes are mainly foreign, and the proportion of French Canadians is very large. Both the Rhode Island and Maine Reports assert that these French Canadians come over the border for the summer and go back for the winter, spending as little as possible in the United States. In Maine they sometimes work near the frontier, whilst residing in Canada and thus avoiding all share in public burdens. The French Canadian cotton and woollen operatives are especially difficult to deal with in the matter of child labour ; in many cases they are careless about the education of their children, and em- ployers complain that they receive many false certifi- cates from Canadian parents concerning the ages of the children whom they are asked to engage, f) New York is the port through which the greatest number of foreign immigrants pass into the States, and a very large proportion remain behind in New York City, either altogether or for a considerable period. The Committee of 1888 made a prolonged investigation into the condition of the foreign population, and ascertained that over 500 immigrant paupers and insane persons were received at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in six years, the great majority of whom were admitted through the port of New York. It also elicited the fact that the agents of steamship companies in Europe had induced many people to emigrate to the United States through false representations, and that, in defiance of the con- tract labour law of 1885, a number of foreigners re- siding in the States make a practice of importing men for the purpose of contracting with them to perform service in railroad construction or in mines. The pre- sence of this large mass of dependent unskilled labour tends to lower the rate of wages and the standard of living for American workmen ; its effect upon the wages and conditions of life for miners has already been de- scribed^ 4 ) ( See pages 16 and 25.) (‘) Statistical Abstracts of the U niter! States, 1885. pp. 15!* *, 160; 1801, pp. 218, 210. Nebraska Report, 1889, pp. 59,06; Rhode Island Report, 1888, pp. 65, 67 ; Maine Report, 1890, p. 150. Wright, " Report on the Factory System of t he United States.” 188 1, p. 34. (*) Massachusetts Report, 1888, pp. 201-225. Maryland Report, 1886- 1887, pp. 15-20. ( 3 ) Rhode Island Report, 1888, pp. 76-78. Report on Importation of Contract Labour, 1889, p. 6. (') Report on Importation of Contract Labour, 1889, pp. 2-6. "Forum,” Sept. 1892. The very strong feeling in favour of the restriction of immigration, which prevails throughout the States, finds expression in the Wisconsin Report of 1885-86. Both employers and employed advocate the admission of none but those who bring with them money for two years’ subsistence. In many cases they advocate that all immigration should be prohibited for several years. The greater number of aliens in the North-Western States are Germans or Scandinavians ; the Scandi- navians are the most ready to become citizens, and the Germans are especially successful in agriculture. An Iowa report, however, complains that their success is purchased at the expense of their children, whom they keep from school and put to work on the farms. Out of 124 foreign workmen who sent in replies to questions issued by the Wisconsin Bureau 75 answer that they have bettered their condition by coming to the States, 13 say that they are faring worse, and 36 that there is no difference. Most of the immigrants come from the rural districts of Europe, but they are without means to purchase or cultivate land and congregate in the cities. The Wisconsin Commissioner is of opinion that those who aim chiefly at propagating anarchist and socialist views should be rigidly excluded. Four-fifths of the Illinois mechanics are of foreign birth, coming for the most part from Germany, Ireland, England, Scotland, Scandinavia, Poland, Bohemia, and Italy. Americans predominate in the railroad service, and constitute more than half the number of cigar-makers, iron moulders, gas and steam fitters, and typographical pressmen, but in other trades the foreign element is strongest, “ owing to the dislike of the native Ameri- cans to continue in one industry. ”( 5 ) The number of Chinese immigrants to the United States decreased very greatly from 1882 to 1889 owing to the legislation of that time, but since 1889 it has again increased and in 1891 it reached 2,836. In 1881 a treaty was made between the United States and China empowering the Federal Government to “ regulate, limit, or suspend,” the coming or residence of Chinese labourers in America, but not to prohibit it. This treaty was followed in 1882 by an Act suspending the coming of Chinese labourers into the United States for a period of ten years. This Act was further amended and made more stringent in 1884, and in 1888 another Act was passed declaring “ That from and after the “ passage of this Act, it shall be unlawful for any “ Chinese labourer who shall at any time heretofore “ have been, or who may now or hereafter be, a resident “ within the United States, and who shall have departed “ or shall depart therefrom, and shall not have re- “ turned before the passage of this Act, to return to “ or remain in the United States.” A bill to exclude the Chinese altogether was introduced into the Senate in 1892 but failed to become law. In spite of this legis- lation the Chinese are still to be found in the States in great numbers, and seem to make their entrance chiefly by way of British Columbia. Though most numerous in California, they are by no means confined to that State. In Idaho there were in 1886, 11,646 Chinese to every 100,000 whites, in Nevada the proportion is 10,113, in Oregon 5,832, in Montana 4,988, in Washington 4,741, in Wyoming 4,702, in Arizona 4,636, and in Colorado 320. A witness before the Committee in New York in 1888 stated that the Chinese Colony there was increasing every day. In San Francisco a quarter of the city known as China- town is entirely given up to them, and the overcrowding and utter disregard of every sanitary regulation pre- vailing there are described by those who have seen it in the very strongest terms. Many San Francisco doctors assert that the presence of the Chinese is, in their opinion, fraught with the greatest danger both to the health and the morals of the white population. The effect of Chinese competition has been to a large extent to drive women out of domestic service and out of numerous industries, such as the manufacture of clothing, cigar-making, and others. The Chinese spend little and can afford to take low wages ; their total ex- pense for board and lodging is from $7 to $9 a month, and 75 per cent, of their food is imported from foreign countries. They send 75 per cent, of their earnings out of the country every year, and look forward themselves to returning to China when their gains shall be suffi- cient. They are, therefore, unlikely to become American citizens, or to amalgamate with the native population, and in San Francisco complaints are frequent of their disregard for any law but that of their own organisa- ( 5 ) Wisconsin Report, 1885-1886, pp. 416-427. Iowa Report, 1899 pp 60, 64, 06, 87. Illinois Report, 1886, pp, 227-169. ‘ Forum ’ Sept. 1892, E 4 Foreign labour in the North Western States. Chinese labour in the Pacific States. 40 tions. They will work for as little as $4.50 a week in slipper manufactories, or $1 a day in fruit canneries, and in the latter industry they are supplanting white labour to a very large extent. (*) C. — Convict Labour. The prison population of the United States represents one in 930 of the ordinary population and one in 300 of the labouring population. Convict labour is organised on either the contract, the “piece-price,” the public account, or the lease system. In the first case, the contractor pays so much a day to the State for the labour of the convicts, in the second case, which is merely a modification of the first, he furnishes the materials and agrees to pay a given price for the manufactured articles. If the prison is worked on the public account system, the institution buys the raw material and conducts the manufacture, selling almost at cost price. According to the lease system, which exists only in some of the Southern States, the convicts are leased to a contractor for a specified sum, and the lessee undertakes to feed, clothe, and discipline them. The largest number, 15,670, are employed under the contract system, and 14,827 work under the public account system ; but though there is comparatively little difference between these numbers, the first set of convicts produced 62'94 per cent, of the total value of prison-made goods, whilst the second set only produced 14'21 per cent. This total value amounted in one year to $28,753,999' 13, and was due to the labours of 45,277 convicts. The same result could have been achieved by 35,534 free labourers, so that the work of one free labourer is equal to that of 1 '27 convicts, or that of one convict is equal to '78 of the work of one free labourer. This prison competition is a standing grievance with the workmen of the United States, and their dissatis- faction has recently taken active shape in the strike amongst miners at Nashville, Tennessee. The Commis- sioner of Labour, however, in his report on the subject, states that the product of the penal institutions only amounts to '54 per cent of the total manufactured product of the States, and that the competition is, therefore, inconsiderable except in given districts and industries. The boot and shoe industry suffers most, for about half the number of convicts employed in productive labour are engaged in shoemaking. The manufacture of clothing comes next, and then stone- cutting, farm labour, furniture making, and mining. ( 2 ) .Reports from the different States advocate the substi- tution of the public account for the contract system, the choice of a warden for the prison who has some business capacity, or the appointment of a business manager to assist the warden in carrying on the process of manufacture. Other suggestions which have been made with a view to diminishing competition are that the product should be sold in the State in which the prison is situated, that convicts should be employed upon public works only, that the number employed in each industry should be limited, and that their hours of work should be shortened. Some writers would have machinery excluded from prisons, and the Knights of Labour wish the convicts or their families to receive a share of the profits arising from their labour. In answer to these suggestions, the Commissioner admits, that though the contract system is the most prevalent and the most lucrative, and the one which best ensures the constant occupation of the convicts, it fosters the greatest competition, whilst the admission of the contractors’ officers as superintendents is injurious to the discipline of the prison. On the other hand, the public account system presents difficulties. Employ- ment is likely to be variable, since the prison, like any other factory, will be apt to suffer at times from over- production, and an efficient warden, who is also likely to succeed as a practical manufacturer, is difficult to secure. If convicts are employed upon public works only, the burden of their competition is not removed, but shifted on to the shoulders of unskilled labour, and if prison-made goods were only sold in the locality in which they are manufactured, local competition would be intensified. On the whole, therefore, Mr. Carroll D. Wright concludes that the disuse of machinery and the diversification of industries are the measures best fitted to minimise the evil of prison competition. All con- victs should work by hand within the prison walls at (!) California Report, 18S5-188G, pp. 80-117. Report on Importation of Contract Labour, 1889, pp. 213-215. . , ( 2 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour. 188G, pp. 288-295. No official information with regard to the Nashville strike could be obtained.— G.D. as many different trades as possible, and hand-made products of this kind will find a ready sale. This plan has already been adopted in Massachusetts, and the general tendency throughout the States is towards substituting the public account for the contract system. ( 3 ) D.— Municipal Employment. The advocates of municipal control of public works urge that competition has under existing circumstances little to do with determining the rates charged for water, lighting, street railways, and other public con- veniences. Only seven out of 1,402 towns have dupli- cate systems of waterworks, and though competition might be supposed to be more effective in regulating the price of gas, since other methods of lighting are available, it remains a fact that competition between rival companies soon gives place to combination, and that prices are mutually adjusted to float the consoli- dated stock. The gas companies of New York entered into such a • combination, and fixed prices, so that “ during 10 years in addition to the cost of gas and “ 10 per cent, on the shares or nominal capital of the “ companies named, there has been paid by the con- “ sumers of the city of New York about $9,000,000.” Again, the Philadelphia Gas Trust afforded a striking example of corrupt administration. 'The trustees had obtained entire control of the gas works of the city, and as early as 1857, it was found necessary to institute an investigation into their practices, and to censure them for misuse of public money. In 1860, complaints were again made that the bills of consumers of gas had of late been largely increased, and finally, in 1«80, a suit was commenced by the city against the gas company, based upon the report of a special committee, stating that there was gross maladministration of the gas trusts. “The vast purchases of supplies, made at “ excessive prices from favoured parties, without com- “ petition or advertisement (in some instances from the “ trustees themselves, in violation of the ordinance), “ the disbursement of enormous sums annually for “ these purchases in checks drawn to bearer, the fre- “ quent failure to produce any record of the supplies ‘‘ having been received or the work performed, the ‘‘ admission that, not content with paying bills rendered, ‘ ‘ the employees in some cases habitually made out the “ bills themselves, make some of the general features “ of the management.” Though nominally under the control of the city, the gas trustees were practically independent, since the city councils had no power over them until certain bonds were paid in July 1886. At one time, when the Democratic Party were in office, an Act was passed to elect six trustees over and above the six Republicans and six Democrats already in the trust, so that a Democratic majority might be secured. Political corruption of this kind is constantly brought forward as a danger attaching to municipal ownership of works, but, according to Pro- fessor Bemis, American experience goes far to show that it prevails to a greater extent, where the lighting of cities is let on contract to private companies than where the cities administer their own public works. It is no uncommon thing for private companies to pay large bribes to city councilmen to secure the contracts and to avert “ raids,” or reductions in the price of gas by the authority of the councils. In some states indirect control of the gas and water works is assumed by the government. For instance, Massachusetts has a gas commission of three men appointed by the governor, to whom all companies must report them- selves ; they are empowered to inspect the quality of the gas, the pressure, and the meters, and, if necessary, to reduce the price. In Ohio city councils are em- powered to make similar reductions. At present, nine cities own and administer their own gas works. These are Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Richmond, Alexandria, Danville, and Charlottesville (East Virginia), Wheeling (West Virginia), Henderson (Kentucky), Bellefontaine and Hamilton (Ohio). In the details of administration their works compare favourably with those of private companies. The average leakage is 12 per cent, as against rather more than 10 per cent, in private works, and it will probably diminish when the works are improved, for many of them were in an exceedingly bad condition when they were taken over by the cities. The price of gas sold direct by the municipalities is lower than that sold by the companies. The average charge under private ownership is $2 per 1,000 feet, under ( 3 ) Report of Commissioner of Labour, 1886, pp. 307-396. Massa- chusetts Report, 1890, pp. 68-71. 1. On public works. 41 ?.. Provision for the unemployed by means of labour bureaux. public ownership it is $1‘50 in live cities, $1'44 in one, $1 in two, and 75 cents in one, with a small addition if payment is deferred. The average candle powui in these nine cities is 17‘9, whilst with the private com- panies of Massachusetts it is only 17’79, though New 'fork, Baltimore, and some other large cities claim a greater power. The cost of labour is almost the same in both cases ; for though under public administration, labourers receive more, private companies pay higher salaries to officials. The cost of production is kept low in all the nine cities, with the exception of Alexandria, where through indifferent management it is allowed to reach 120'9 cents a metre. As a whole these cities appear to be free from political bias in the choice of a superintendent, though employes are largely chosen from the dominant political party, especially in Wheel- ing. Bay City, Michigan, purchased an electric light plant in 1886, and can now furnish light at $42 annually for each light, instead of the $100 which it paid formerly to the Swift Company. Five hundred and forty-four towns, including most of those which have more than 10,000 inhabitants, possess their own water- works, but no details as to the management of these works are at present forthcoming. No cities own their street railways. These are leased on contract for a term of years, and the companies are in most cases obliged to pave the streets and keep them in good repair. The Massachusetts Rapid Transit Commission, appointed in 1891 to consider the best means of improving the local railway service of Boston, advocated a large number of reforms, and the construction of elevated railways, either at the public charge, or by leasing the contracts to private capitalists. If the principle of public construction and public ownership were to pre- vail, they recommended that a commission should be appointed, armed with powers to extend and widen thoroughfares for rapid transit, and that the road, when completed, should be leased by the commission to the highest bidder, whilst, if no satisfactory- bid were made, the commission should build and manage the road itself. (*) As to the wages of municipal employes, a Connecticut report remarks that they are generally highest in purely manufacturing towns, where the working class vote preponderates. They are given for that State at $2 a day in manufacturing towns, and on an average $1’56 in other towns and districts. The hours of work are ten in summer and nine in winter, and very little pauper labour is employed ( 3 ). Ohio is the only State which has yet tried the experi- ment of establishing free public employment offices under Government control. By an Act passed April 28th, 1890, free public employment offices were ordered to be established “ in all cities of the first class “ and cities of the first or second grade of the second “ class in the State of Ohio.” These offices were to serve a threefold purpose. They were to act as agencies for the collection of industrial statistics for the State labour bureau, and thus to supplement the written information received by the bureau. Further it is claimed that by their action the number of the unem- ployed will be reduced to a minimum, that employers will by their means insure a constant supply of suitable labour, and that the State will in consequence be benefited. By superseding the private employment agencies, they will effect a saving to the working classes of $100,000 a year, formerly paid in fees to agents, whose only object in too many cases was to accumulate gain for themselves. The free employment office is to be a department of the bureau of labour under the control of the commissioner, and branches are to be established in all leading industrial centres. Every branch is to have a superintendent with one or more clerks, all appointed by the commissioner ; but the Act, as at present worded, gives the commissioner no power to dismiss any of these officials. Hitherto men have been appointed in each case as superintendents, and women as clerks, so that employes of both sexes may be represented. Each branch keeps a record of all employers who apply for assistants, as well as of all employes in search of a situation. These records are forwarded weekly to the Commissioner, who causes a complete list to be compiled and forwarded to each branch office, where it must be posted up in a prominent 0) Foote. “ Municipal Ownership of Quasi Public Works.” Pam- phlet read before the Taxpayers’ Association, Baltimore., 1891. Bemis “Municipal Ownership of Gas in the United States.” Pamphlet published by the American Economic Association, 1891. “ The Relation of Modern Municipalities to Quasi Public Works.” Pamphlet pub- lished by the American Economic Association, 1888. Report of the Rapid Transit Commission to the Massachusetts Legislature, 1892 pp. 96-103. ( 2 ) Connecticut Report, 1890, p. 120. E “74099, place. No fee whatsoever may be received by any official ; any breach of this rule renders the offender liable to a penalty of $50 or 30 days imprisonment. The financial position of these offices is not altogether satisfactory. The salaries of all officials are fixed and paid by the municipal governments, but such payment is optional. Hence the commissioner finds himself in the anomalous position of being required by law to establish employment offices, whilst the necessary funds may be given or withheld by the municipalities at will. Again, these municipalities can increase or diminish the salaries as they please, and there is, therefore, a danger lest the control of the officials should pass into their hands out of those of the commissioner. Further, no provision was made at first for general expenses, but it was subsequently arranged that these should be borne by the State, and that the grant to the bureau of labour should receive a proportionate addition. Finally, no adequate grant for the expenses involved in collecting statistics has yet been made. Though the office has had but a short existence, it may be pro- nounced a success from an economic point of view since its expenditure for the year only amounted to $5,000, one-fourth of the sum required by private agencies. It has found employent for 44’6 per cent, of the applicants, and provided suitable persons to fill 49'5 per cent, of the vacancies reported by employers. Want of funds and an inadequate staff has prevented the office from accomplishing much in the way of collecting statistics. Its promoters regard it as an attempt on the part of the State “ to fulfil its duty to its citizens by finding labour for them,” and as likely, therefore, to bring about an improvement in social conditions. The movement in its origin was non- political. Both parties voted for the measure, and the only disputed question was that of the incidence of the costs, which the House wished to make devolve upon the State, the Senate upon the municipalities. The result was the compromise already described. These offices are intended to serve the State as a whole, but, as at present constituted, there appears to be some risk of their being affected by the struggles of municipal parties. In view of this possible development, the commissioner of the Ohio Bureau of Labour and the Secretary of State for Ohio consider that the entire expense should be borne by the State. The Iowa Report for 1890 and the Missouri Report for 1891 advocate the establishment of similar institutions in the States of Iowa and Missouri. ( : ‘) E. — The Eionx Hours’ Movement. As early as 1868 an Act was passed by Congress enacting “ that eight hours shall constitute a day’s “ work for all labourers, workmen, and mechanics now “ employed, or who may hereafter be employed, by or “ on behalf of the Government of the United States.” It will be observed that the Act is silent on the question of wages ; nevertheless, though the debate, which took place in the Senate on the occasion of the Bill, makes it clear that those who introduced it did not contemplate any reduction, the employes in the Government dock- yards were informed that, whilst eight hours would suffice for a day’s work, only those who agreed to work ten hours would receive the full rate of pay. The agitation which ensued called forth a proclamation from the President in 1869, and from that time up to June 30th, 1877, a period of over eight years, the employes of the several navy yards and naval stations of the United States were only required to work eight hours to earn the full price of a day’s work. Further, an Appropriation Act was passed in May 1872 providing that all workmen whose wages had been reduced between the passing of the Eight Hour Law in 1868 and the President’s proclamation in 1869 should receive satisfaction of their claims. In 1877 the Secretary of the Navy issued the following order : — “ The department has fixed the rate of labour for “ mechanics, foremen, leading men, and labourers on * ‘ the basis of ten hours a day. All workmen electing “ to labour only eight hours per day will receive a “ proportionate reduction of their wages.” The men protested, and the secretary gave way so far as to make eight hours the regular working time from September to March with ten hours from March to September. In 1878 another order was issued, stating that “ the Depar ti- ff) Ohio Report, 1890, pp. 3-10. Iowa Report, 1890, p. 2. Missouri Report, 1891, p. 40. A later Report (Ohio, 1891) states that during 1891 work was found lor four out of every nine persons who applied lor it, but that the lack of employment for men during that year was very great, All the offices report that they met with great difficulty in their efforts to obtain statistics from the manufacturers. F Federal legislation. 42 Strikes fcr eight hours. “ inent will contract for the labour of mechanics, fore- men, leading men, and labourers on the basis of “ eight hours a day. All workmen electing to labour “ ten hours a day will receive a proportionate increase of wages.'’ Under this last order the men in all the navy yards and naval stations throughout the United States worked ten hours a day one half of the year for the five succeeding years, but have never received a dollar for the extra two hours work performed in each day during the whole period. The men, therefore, made a claim for their extra pay, and the Committee on Labour, in the report which they presented to Congress in 1890, hold that the Government cannot escape the responsibility of payment. They also took into consideration the case of the men employed in the Government arsenals. In compliance with a general order issued in 1877, a day’s work at the Rock Island arsenal was made to consist of nine and a half hours, the extra half hour being given to the men in consideration of the distance which they had to traverse in coming to their work. This order was almost simultaneous with that fixing ten hours for employes in the navy yards. In 1883, Secretary Lincoln put a stop to this violation of the Eight Hour Law by directing his subordinates to require the men to work only eight hours a day to earn their daily wages. The Committee’s report states that “ it had been the practice in some arsenals, after “ determining how much work of a particular class a “ man could perform to require him to work by the “ piece at a fixed price for each article, always “ fixing the price so that a man could only earn “ a standard price of a day’s work by working full ten “• hours. If it was found that more than the standard “ price of a day could be earned at the rate fixed, the “ rate would be changed so as to bring the wages down ‘ 1 to the standard price of a day’s work of ten hours ; " in other cases men have been obliged to accept stint “ work and task work on such a basis as to produce “ the same result. These are some of the ways and “ means resorted to by the officers of the Government “ to avoid the plain import of the Eight Horn- Law, “ and extort from the employes of the Government the same number of hours work per day as they performed “ before the passage of the Act constituting eight hours a day’s work, and without increase of pay, thus “ setting at naught a solemn enactment of the Congress “ of the United States, which has remained unre- “ pealed, and without an attempt to repeal it, for more “ than twenty-one years. Against all these unlawful “ proceedings on the part of the agents and officers of “ the Government, its employes have constantly and “ earnestly protested, as well to the officers who hired “ them as to the President and the Congress of the “ United States.” The Committee, therefore, holds that the claim of the men employed in Government arsenals for compensation, as well as the claim of those in the navy yards, has been thoroughly made out.(') Before the Federal Legislature took the matter into consideration, the President of the United Trades Assembly of San Francisco, California, had as early as as 1865 issued an appeal to the working classes to co- operate in obtaining an Eight Hour- Law. The bill was defeated by the introduction of an amendment providing for its going into effect “after New York and Massa- chusetts had passed a similar law.” At the State elections of 1867 the party which opposed it were turned out, and the bill was passed by a unanimous vote in 1868. However, the departments in Washing- ton “ held the law inoperative, because it was not a “ subject pertaining to legislative jurisdiction.” Eight Hour Laws have since been passed in New York, Illinois, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and New Mexico, but they are for the most part inoperative, since they make eight hours the legal day only where it is not “otherwise agreed.’’ ( 2 ) "in 1886 a number of strikes took place throughout the United States in the month of May, with the object of obtaining the eight hours’ day. The strikers were so far successful that 192,000 men reduced their working time to eight hours, whilst many more succeeded in obtaining a nine hours’ day. The trades which benefited chiefly were those of the cigar -makers, the furriers, the furniture workers, the engineers and metal-workers, the piano-makers, and some branches of the building trades. In Chicago the progress of the movement was checked by the anarchist disturbances of May 4th. In 1889 the Federation of Labour took the matter up, and it (') Report of Committee on Labour submitted to Congress, 1890. ■Vcw York Report , 1890, p. 108. ( 2 ) New York Report, 1890, pp. 109, 110, 713-750. California Report, 1885-1880, pp. 334-419. was agreed at the Convention held at St. Louis that a series of strikes should be inagurated by the Brother- hood of Carpenters in May 1890. The strike was immediately successful in New York, and resulted in the establishment of an eight hour day for the building trades generally. After a short struggle, the carpenters gained their point in 35 leading cities, both for them- selves and for other brances of the building trades, whilst in 240 cities their hours were reduced from ten to nine. It was arranged by the Federation that in 1891 the miners should inaugurate another series of strikes, but on the 1st of May, when the strike should have begun, the miners intimated their intention to abandon the movement. ( 3 ) The New York Bureau in 1890 obtained an expression of opinion from 40 loading citizens, 25 of whom were in favour of an eight hours’ day, whilst three opposed it, and two remained neutral. Most of the labour organizations advocate this reduction in the working hours, because they think that it would diminish the number of the unemployed. Where it has been intro- duced they report that their members have had more regular work, and that there has been an increase of 10 per cent, in the number employed. They fear, however, that the adoption of the shorter day T will stimulate immigration, unless it should at the same time be adopted in Europe. Some members, therefore, advocate the imposition of a heavier tax upon all immigrants. The Cigar Makers’ Union report a great increase in steadiness of work amongst their members, and attribute it to the adoption of the eight hours’ dav in 1886.(‘) APPENDIX A. Tkusts in tiie United States. (Professor Jenks in the “ Economic Journal,” March, 1892.) An agitation against that form of monopoly known as the “ Trust ” was vigorously carried on in the United States during the years 18»S and 1889. Laws directed against the system were passed by Congress and by the legislatures of Michigan, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kansas, and Texas, the general purport of which was to make all combination in trade illegal, and to visit all who engaged in such combination with severe penalties. These laws, if strictly inter- preted, would have prevented much legitimate business, but the Missouri Act has already been declared uncon- stitutional, and it seems probable that a like fate will befall the Acts in the other States. Further, the lead- ing trusts merely changed their form and re-organised as corporations pursuing substantially the same methods as before. In the opinion of many competent judges, the trust system is not without its economic advantages to the community. Many of the trust organisations assert that they were driven to form a combination to escape the financial ruin, to the verge of which they had been brought under a system of fierce and unrestricted com- petition. This combination is effected under the trust system by the surrender on the part of the stock- holders in the different establishments, which are to form the combination, of their shares of stock to a board of trustees. This board consequently holds a majority of votes in each one of the corporations com- bining, and can elect the officers of that corporation and direct its policy. The stockholders receive in return a trust certificate, entitling them to a pro rata share in the profits of all the corporations. As these are put into a common fund, it becomes the interest of all to allow only those establishments to remain open which can be run at a profit, and it is the common practice of trustees to close at once all the weaker es- tablishments. Thus, out of 80 distilleries which joined in the Whiskey Trust, all were closed within a year except 12 ; but these 12 ran at full capacity, whereas the 80 had never run at so much as half. By these means a saving is effected in capital and labour as well as in the expense of management, without reckoning the advantage accruing from the concentration of power in the hands of a few experts in place of its diffusion among a number of men of mediocre ability. ( 3 ) New York Report, 1890, pp. 107-112. Illinois Report, 1886. pp. 301, 305. Wisconsin Report. 1885-1886, pp. 311-371. Simmonds anrl lie Ennis. “ The Story of Labour,” pp. 461-463. (■>) New York Report, 1890, pp. 488-515, 529-C09, 705-725. Opinions of leading men and labour organisa- tions. 43 Further, even apart from the evils of special rates forced from the railroads, production and transmission in bulk effects a saving in the cost of transportation. Again, where production is on a large scale, “ side products ” can be utilised (cf. p. 33 of report), the establishments can afford to manufacture their own plant or their own raw material, and can afford to employ scientific experts to devise means of cheapening production. In all these ways the trust may prove a benefit to the community, since the diminished cost of production should result in reduced prices to the consumer. On the other hand, all those combinations, such as the Standard Oil Trust ( see p. 27 of the report), which maintain secret understandings with the railways, and by virtue of this secret arrangement are able to secure and maintain control of the industry, may exercise an exceedingly injurious influence upon that industry by keeping prices up to a high level and forcing compe- titors out of the field. Whether they have thus misused their power can best be ascertained by an investigation of prices ; in one case, at least, that of the Envelope Trust, prices were raised some 20 per cent. In the case of the Sugar Trust, which has been fiercely attacked by anti-monopolists, Professor Jenks gives figures to show that though prices did fall, on the whole the decrease was less rapid than might have been expected under normal conditions. Table I. — The Sugar Trust (organised October 1887). Prices in cents per pound of Refined and Raw Sugar in New York. Month 1886. 1887. 1888. 18S9. 1890. 1891. 1892. Refined. Raw. Refined. Raw. Refined. Raw. Refined. Raw. Refined. Raw. Refined. Raw. Refined. Raw. January — 515 4* 65 5A 7,V 455 65 5«°* 6 A 4R 4& 3A February - - 5* 4»\ 65 45 7 5A 6f? 55 6A 5A 45 3A March - - 5R 4i of 45* 7* 55 6* 5/4 6A 55 454 April - ' . - 5y ? o 4-H 6? 4R 8A 6A 65 451 45 3* 4s 24 May - - - 5? I3Y 6H 45; 8jV 632 61V 4t 4A m 4 A 24 J une - - 5R 4M m 8?* 6}J 6i 4-11 45 24 455 2 lb July - - - 5 i 5 71 o T V 9i* ff 7A 6A 4i 4A 215 4A 254 August - - 5R 4jj 7tV 5* 8 A 6i 6A 4££ 45 214 455 September - - - 6* 4£§ 5A 85 6A 5f 4A 3 5A 3aV October 51 4| 6& 4*5 7? 5R 751 5|i 61 5A 44 214 - - November - 5R 4A 6/;; 5 A- 7f 5* 655 45 6 A 5 4A 241 - — December - 51* 4* 6f 5f n 5},i 65 5 A 6A 4-A 41 3 - - According |to this table the difference representing the cost of refining and the profits was not far from 1£ cents per lb., and the saving effected by the trust should have reduced this cost slightly, instead of which it increased it within a year to 2J cents. Agitation against monopoly prices and the opening of some oppo- sition refineries reduced the price in 1889, and until February 1892 the difference between the prices of raw and refined sugar remained little above what it had been before the organisation of the trust. Since February it lias again increased. Again, the Standard Oil Trust seems to have checked the natural rate of decrease in the prices which would have followed upon cheapened production. “ From “ 1861-72 inclusive, i.e., before any trust whatever “ existed, the net average annual percentage of decrease “ in the price of refining oil and carrying it to tide- “ water was 10' 4332. From 1873 to 1881 inclusive, the “ trust’s infirm and formative period, the figure was “ 7' 3897. From 1882 to 1887 inclusive, the year of its “ full maturity and vigour, it was 2 '2879.” This, however, is to a large extent explained by the diminished outflow from the wells. Again, the following table shows that the whisky pools and trust regularly resulted in higher prices to the consumers, and that though a rise in the price of com in June 1890 forced up the price of alcohol, a much greater increase was made than was justified by the conditions. Table II. — Market Prices at Peoria for Alcohol and Corn fron 1881 to 1891 inclusive. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. 1886. Month. Alcohol. Corn. Alcohol. Corn. Alcohol. Corn. Alcohol. Corn. Alcohol. Corn. Alcohol. Cotn. January Per Gallon. $ Per Bushel. Cts. Per Gallon. 5 1' 15— 1'16 Per Bushel. Cts. 62 -59 Per Gallon. $ 1' 13— 1'14 Per Bushel. Cts. 444—504 Per Gallon. S 1*15 — l'l Per Bushel. Cts. 411—47 Per Gallon. § 1*12—1*14 Per Bushel. Cts. 341—40 I Pel- Gallon. S 1*10 Per Bushel. Cts. 33 —35 February - - 1*16— 1*17 581—54 1'14— 1'15 48 —551 1'16— 1'17 47 —42 1*14 381-361 1*10 34 —32? March - - 1'16 58 f — 664- 1'15 561—49 1'17 411—48 1*14 371—401 1*10 33 —341 April - - 1'17 661—751 1'15 471—521 1'17— 1'12 431—501 1*14 39J-471 1*10 33?— 321 May - - 1*13 — 1*17 75 —704 1'15 50 —53 1'12 48 —541 1*14 50 —45 1*10 33 —291 June - - I'll— 1'15 72 — rail 1*15 53 —471 1*08 50 —451 1*14 44 —471 1*10 29 —31 July - - I'll— 1' 14. 73 —751 1'15 48 —45 1*08 — 1'07 44 —49 1*14 47 — 43f 1*10—1*07 281—411 August - - 1'14 — 1*16 741—77 l'la 45 —51 1*05 471-501 1*14 451—421 1*09—1*11 401—39 September - - 1'16— 1'18 75 —591 1'15 491—46 1*10— 1*11 51 —45 1*05 ■131—401 1*11—1*13 38? — 36 October - - 1*16-1*18 61 —701 1'15 45 — 47 f 1*11 40 —53 1*04—1*09 421-381 1*13— 1'14 351—321 November I'll— 1-15 621—58 I'll— 1'15 70-1— (17 1'15 461—49 1*11— 1*12 42 —30 1*09 411—32 1*14 33?— 361 December - 1'15 584—62 1'13— 1'15 554—45 1'15 52 —45 1*12 301-35 1*09-1*10 331—311 1*14 351—331 F 2 44 Month. 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. Alcohol. Com. Alcohol. Com. Alcohol. Corn. Alcohol. Corn. Alcohol. Corn. Alcohol. Corn. January Per Gallon. $ 1-14 Per Bushel. Cts. 331—354 Per Gallon. $ 1*09 Per Bushel. Cts. 481—47 Per Gallon. $ 1*04 Per Bushel. Cts. 30 Per Gallon. S 1*03 Per Bushel. Cts. 27 Per Gallon. S 1*15 Per Bushel. Cts. 404 Per Gallon. 8 1*174 Per Bushel. Cts. 374 February 1-14 351- -331 1*09 47 —451 1*04 294 1*03 201 1*15 514 1*15 364 March 1-14 331—38 1*09 451—49 1*04 30 1*03 27 1*16 631 1*131 374 April 1'14 371—36 1*09 471-531 1*04 324 1*03 311 1*18 694 1*15 374 May 1 •14-1-05 37 —384 1*09—1*13 52 5 — 57^ 1*03 32 1*03 331 1*18 61} 1*134 « June 1-05— 1-09 381—36 1*13—1*14 531—464 1*03 334 1*10 331 1*17 50 1*15| 44& July rot 381—341 1*14 49 —434 1*03 35 1*11 39 1*17 59 1*15 49 August 1‘05 381—421 1*14 451-40 1*03 341 1*14 481 1*17 604 1*15 51 September l - 05 414-391 1*14 44 —404 1*03 321 1*14 47^ 1*18 57! 1*15 49 October ro5 394—411 1*14 391—44 103 31 1*141 491 1*18 55! — — November - 1*05 394-46 1*14 424—38 1*03 324 1*15. 53f 1*18 464 - - December 1*05 4-11—494 1*14 324—294 1*03 291 1*15 494 V18 414 _ Average Yield in Gallons of Alcohol per Bushel of Corn. Year. Yield per Bushel. Year. 1881 3 694 1884 1882 3*792 1885 1883 3*874 1886 Professor Jenks concludes that “the facts in the “ United States seem to lead to the conclusion regarding “ trusts and combines, so far as their effect on prices “ is concerned, that, while they have it in their power “ to make profits at somewhat lower rates of prices “ than would he possible under free competition, they “ nevertheless do probably check slightly the normal “ decrease in prices that comes with increasing facilities “ for manufacturing. At any rate they hold prices, so “ that they can make much better profits than under “ free competition. Competition, however, and the “ checked demand that would come with too high “ prices, generally in the long run prevent the prices “ from being much higher than under free compe- “ tition.” It cannot be said that the protective tariff is the cause of trusts ; it may have been an aid to them by enabling them to secure greater profits, but their source is to be found in excessive competition and the increased saving that comes from the combination of different establish- ments into one. So far “the industrial forces in the “ market have been sufficient to check the aggressions “ and to prevent complete monopoly of the market. appendix b. c . Arbitration Acts in the United States. 1. The Practical Working of the “Wallace Act” (Pennsylvania, 1883). (From the Conciliation Appendix to the Report of the New South Wales Commission on Strikes.) The practical operation of the “ Wallace Act” of Penn- sylvania is given in the two following letters. One is from an operator and capitalist, who served on the Coal Trade Tribunal of Arbitration in the Fifth District of Penn- sylvania ; the other is from John Flannery, a representative of a labour organisation and also a member of the same Tribunal. William A. McIntosh, the operator member, writes : — “ The Coal Trade Tribunal of the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania was licensed under the ‘Wallace Act,’ on the 19th May 1883, and consisted of five representatives of miners, five representatives of operators, and an umpire previously chosen by the other members of the Tribunal, and being, as required by the Act, their unanimous choice. “ The creation of this tribunal was during a strike ; the | Yield per Bushel. Year. Yield per Bushel. 3*895 1887 4*G20 4*070 1888 4*535 4*550 1889-91 4*600 estimated. operators offering 3 cents per bushel for mining, and the miners demanding 3J cents. “ After several lengthy discussions it became apparent that an agreement could not be arrived at without con- siderable delay ; and as an earnest of good intentions, it was ordered that the miners resume work immediately, at a price to be thereafter fixed by the tribunal, the price to date back to the time of the resumption of work. “ Work was generally resumed without delay. Com- mittees consisting of an equal number of each side were appointed to gather such statistics as might have a bearing on the question of prices of mining. These Committees reported at a meeting held June 11, the reports being epitomes of information obtained by the Committees, and showing average cost of production and selling price of coal during the three years immediately preceding. “ Several meetings of the tribunal were held : but failing to agree upon a price to be paid for mining, it was decided that the umpire be called in. The question in dispute was submitted to him; and after hearing the arguments of both sides, he made his award, viz., that the price to be paid for mining should be 3j cents per bushel. “ This award, while apparently a disappointment to both sides, was accepted and concurred in during the time it was intended to cover, viz., until October 1st, 1883. “ In September following this tribunal met for the pur- pose of fixing upon the price to be paid for mining from October 1, 1883, to April 1, 1884, the operators offering 3i cents, and the miners demanding 3£ cents per bushel. “ Being unable to agree, the services of the umpire were requested. After hearing the arguments on both sides, the umpire made his award, viz., that the price of mining should be 3J cents per bushel. This award did not appear to be satisfactory to all, but was accepted. “In March of 1884 several meetings of the tribunal were held to fix upon the price to be paid for mining from April 1, 1884, till October 1, 1884, resulting in the adoption of the rate of 3 cents per bushel without the aid of the umpire. To many miners this action was unsatis- factory, although the price was generally accepted ; and when the new tribunal was created, not one of the miners’ representatives on the first tribunal was accepted to serve on the second. “ This ended the work of the first tribunal ; and while there were many hard word tilts beiween miner and operator, I believe all were actuated with a sincere desire to do equal justice and that which would result in the mutual good of all concerned. While the awards of the tribunal were not entirely satisfactory to both sides, as indeed it is hardly to be expected that they always will be, 45 I believe the interests of both miners and operators were promoted, as strikes and lock-outs were avoided, and this is frequently of more importance than the matter of a small difference in price of mining. “ In consequence of unavoidable delays the present tribunal was not licensed until October 4, 1884, four of the operators’ representatives on the first tribunal being chosen on the second, but none of the former representatives of the miners. “ The present tribunal has decided that the price of mining in effect prior to October 1, 1884, shall continue indefinitely, and that the tribunal shall meet for the purpose of considering the question of price of mining whenever three of nine members signify that to be their wish. “ Having been connected with all efforts here to settle differences between employers and employes in the coal trade by arbitration, I would call your attention to one very valuable provision of the Wallace Act, one which I regard as essential to success, viz., the provision that the umpire shall be chosen before any other steps are taken, except the choosing of the members of the tribunal proper. “In all previous attempts at arbitration in the coal trade the plan has been to choose the representatives of the two sides, who, if they could not agree regarding the point at issue, were to choose the umpire to decide. “ The result in every case has been that the arbitrators failed to agree, and such a spirit of distrust was en- gendered that they would not agree upon an umpire ; hence failure. “ In order to insure success it is also necessary that all arbitrators should be fully empowered to do what they may deem best for all concerned without the fear of the displeasure of those they represent, in case the conclusions arrived at should not be in full harmony with the ideas of their constituents. “ I have an abiding faith that arbitration will grow to be the popular method of settling disputes between capital and labour ; and that while each unsuccessful attempt may render the next attempt more difficult, it will also serve to bring to light the obstacles in the way, which, being discerned, will be more readily overcome. Yours truly, “Wm. A. MTntosh.” John Flannery, Secretary of the Miners’ Union, under date of December 22, 1884, says : — “ In reply to yours of the 18th instant, on arbitration, its work, &c., I can say that it has operated here in accordance with the Act of 1883, known as the ‘Voluntary Trade Tribunal Act,’ and has done more good during the last 20 months for the railroad miners and operators than it gets credit for doing. There has been no strikes, where there used to be every summer, lasting from two to five months. There has been no ‘ exiles ’ made by being ‘ victimised,’ for taking active parts in strikes to keep wages up. The trade, though dull this year, has suffered none through uncertainty, and contracts have been kept that properly belong to the district. “ If justice were done to arbitration, which only can be where there is strong and systematic organisations on both sides, it would soon become a subject for national legisla- tion. I would favour a system that would make awards be enforced, instead of voluntary, but I have the name of an extremist in my advocacy of that system. “ The one great drawback is that any one horse-power employer may break the price awarded, and peaceable and fair employers must follow suit, or suffer to be underbid in the market and lose contracts to the gain of the adventurer and foe of peace and honesty in labour matters. “ Too much cannot be said favourable to this grand system when put into proper shape. If one could spare time to give you the figures to show the thousands sacri- ficed by capital to subjugate labour, and the fabulous amount lost by labour to outfight capital, not to speak of the suffering of innocent souls by hunger and cold, it would surprise you, just for this district alone. Then, what is gained ? There is no principle established to benefit trade or humanity; and the justice of the result established by a strike is always questionable, because it is might against right, with merit and justness left out of the controversy. “The great object is to enforce the awards, which cannot be done without a strong and well-disciplined organisation among workmen, and the same of employers who go in to do right, and to sit down summarily on wrong doing. An efficient agency established by national or State law is the great requisite of the day to aid in this work, to raise humanity out of the slough of strikes. “ Yours truly, John Flannery.” 2. The Ohio Arritration Act (1885). The Constitution of Ohio confers power upon the Legislature to establish Courts of Arbitration and Con- ciliation, but they must be voluntary tribunals. Section 1.9, Article IV., says: — The General Assembly may establish Courts of Conciliation, and prescribe their powers and duties ; but such Courts shall not render final judgment in any case, except upon submission by the parties, of the matter in dispute, and their agreement to abide such judgment. The following is now the law in Ohio on this subject : — An Act to authorise the creation and to provide for the operation of tribunals of voluntary arbitration to adjust industrial disputes between employers and employed. Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that the Court of Common Pleas of each county, or a judge thereof in vacation, shall have the power, and upon the presentation of the petition, or of the agreement herein-after named, it shall be the duty of said Court, or a judge thereof in vacation, to issue in the form herein-after named, a license or authority for the establish- ment within and for each county of tribunals for voluntary arbitration and settlement of trade disputes between employers and employed in the manufacturing, mechanical, or mining industries. Section 2. The said petition or agreement shall be sub- stantially in the form herein-after given, and the petition shall be signed by at least 40 persons employed as work- men and by four or more separate firms, individuals, or corporations, within the county, or by at least four employers, each of whom shall employ at least 10 work- men, or by the representative of a firm, corporation, or individual employing not less than 40 men in their trade or industry, provided, that at the time the petition is pre- sented, the j udge before whom said petition is presented, may, upon motion, require testimony to be taken as to the representative character of said petitioners, and if it appears that the said petitioners do not represent the will of a majority, or at least one-half of each party to the dispute, the license for the establishment of the said tribunal may be denied, or may make such other order in this behalf as to him shall seem fair to both sides. Section 3. If the said petition shall be signed by the requisite number of both employers and workmen, and be in proper form and contain the names of the persons to compose the tribunal, being an equal number of employers and workmen, the judge shall forthwith cause to be issued a license substantially in the form herein-after given, authorising the existence of such tribunal, and fixing the time and place of the first meeting thereof ; and an entry of the license so granted shall be made upon the journal of the Court of Common Pleas of the county in which the petition originated. Section 4. Said tribunal shall continue in existence for one year from the date of the license creating it, and may take jurisdiction of any dispute between employers and workmen in any mechanical, manufacturing, or mining industry or business, who shall have petitioned for the tribunal, or have been represented in the petition therefor ; or may submit their disputes in writing to such tribunal for decision. Vacancies occurring in the membership of the tribunal shall be filled by the judge or court that licensed said tribunal from three names presented by the members of the tribunal remaining of that class in which the vacancies occur. The removal of any member to an adjoining county shall not cause a vacancy in either the tribunal or the post of umpire. Disputes occurring in one county may be referred to a tribunal already existing in an adjoining county. The place of umpire in any of the said tribunals, and vacancies occurring in such place, shall only be filled by the mutual choice of the whole of the representatives of both employers and workmen constituting the tribunal immediately upon the organisation of the same. The umpire shall be called upon to act after disagreement is manifested in the tribunal by failure during three meetings held and full discussion had. His award shall be final and conclusive upon such matters only as are submitted to him in writing and signed by the whole of the members of the tribunal, or uy parties submitting the same. Section 5. The said tribunal shall consist of not less than two employers, or their representatives, and two workmen. The exact number which s'naii in each case constitute the tribunal shall be inserted in the petition or agreement, and they shall be named in the license issued. The said tribunal, when convened, shall be organised by the selection of one of their number as chairman, and one F 3 46 as secretary, who shall be chosen by a majority of the members ; or if such majority cannot he had after two votes, then by secret ballot, or by lot. as they prefer. Section 6. The members of the tribunal shall receive no compensation for their services from rhe city or county, but the expenses of the tribunal, other than fuel, light, and the use of the room and furniture, may be paid by voluntary subscription, which the tribunal is authorised to receive and expend for such purposes. The sessions e f said tribunal shall be held at the county seat of the county where the petition for the same was presented, and a room in the Court-house for the use of the said tribunal shal be provided by the County Commissioners. Section 7- When no umpire is acting, the chairman oi the tribunal shall have power to administer oaths to ail witnesses who may be produced, and a majority of said tribunal may provide for the examination and investigation of books, documents, and accounts pertaining to the matters in hearing before the tribunal and belonging to either party to the dispute; provided that the tribunal may unanimously direct that instead of producing books, papers, and accounts before the tribunal, an accountant agreed upon by the entire, tribunal, may be appointed to examine such books, papers, and accounts ; and such accountant shall be sworn to well and truly examine such books, documents, and accounts as may he presented to him, and to report the results of such examination in writing to said tribunal. Before such examination the information desired and required by the tribunal shall be plainly stated in writing and presented to said accountant, which statement shall be signed by the members of said tribunal, or by a majority of each class thereof. Attorneys at law or other agents of either party to the dispute shall not be permitted to appear or take part in any of the proceedings of the tribunal, or before the umpire. Section 8. When the umpire is acting he shall preside, and he shall have all the powers of the chairman of the tribunal; and his determination upon all questions of evidence, or other questions, in conducting the inquiries then pending, shall be final. Committees of the tribunal consisting of an equal number of each class may be con- stituted to examine into any question in dispute between employers and workmen, which may have been referred to said committee by the tribunal, and such committee may hear and settle the same finally, when it can be done, by a unanimous vote ; otherwise the same shall be reported to the full tribunal, and there be heard, as if the question had not been referred. The said tribunal, in connexion with the umpire, shall have power to make, ordain, and enforce rules for the government of the body when in session, to enable the business to be proceeded with in order, and to fix its sessions and adjournments ; but such rules shall not conflict wiili this statute, nor with any of the pro- visions of the constitution and laws of Ohio. Section 9. Before the umpire shall proceed to act, the question or questions in dispute shall be plainly defined in writing, and signed by the members of the tribunal, or a majority thereof of each class, or by the parties sub- mitting the same ; and such writing shall contain the submission of the decision thereof to the umpire by name, and shall provide that his decision thereon, after hearing, shall be final. The umpire shall be sworn to impartially decide all questions that may be submitted to him during his term of office. The submission and his award may be made in the form herein -after given, and said umpire must make his award within ten days from the time the question or questions in dispute are submitted to him. Said award shall be made to the tribunal, and if the award is for a specific sum of money, said award may be made a matter of record by filing a copy thereof in the Court of Common Pleas of the county wherein the tribunal is in session. When so entered of record it shall be final and conclusive, and the proper court may, on motion of anyone interested, enter judgment thereon ; and when the award is for a specific sum of money, may issue final and other process to enforce the same. Section 10. The form of the joint petition or agreement praying for a tribunal under this Act shall be as follows : — To the Court of Common Pleas of County for to a judge thereof, as the case may be). To the subscribers hereto, being the number and having the qualifications required in this proceeding, being desirous of establishing a tribunal of voluntary arbitration for the settlement of disputes in the (here name the branch of industry) trade, and having agreed upon A, B, C, D, and E, representing the employers, and G, H, I, J, and K, representing the workmen, as members of said tribunal, who each are qualified to act thereon pray that a license for a tribunal in the trade may be issued to said persons named above. Employers. Names. Residence. Works. Number of Employees. 1 1 Employees. Names. Residence. By whom employed. Section 11. The license to be issued upon such petition, may be as follows : — State of Ohio, County Whereas, the joint petition and agreement of four em- ployers (or representatives of a firm, corporation, or indi- vidual employing forty men, as the case may be) and forty workmen has been presented to this court (or, if to judge in vacation, so state), praying the creation of a tribunal of voluntary arbitration for the settlement of disputes in trade within this county, and naming A, B, C, D, and E, representing the employers, and G, H, I, J, and K, representing the workmen. Now, in pursuance of the statute for such case made and provided, said named persons are hereby licensed and authorised to be and exist as a tribunal of voluntary arbitration for the settlement of disputes between employers and workmen, for the period of one year from this date, and they shall meet and organise on the day of a.d. at Signed, this day a.d. (, Signature ) Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of County. Section 12. When the tribunal agrees to submit a matter in controversy to the umpire, it may be in form as follows : — We, A, B, C, D, and E, representing employers, and G, H, I, J, and K, representing workmen, composing a tribunal of voluntary arbitration, hereby submit and refer unto the umpirage of L (the umpire of the tribunal of the trade), the following subject matter, namely. [Here state fully and clearly the matter submitted.] And we hereby agree that his decision and determination upon the same shall be binding upon us, and final and conclusive upon the question thus submitted ; and we pledge ourselves to abide by and carry out the decision of the umpire when made. Witness our names this day of A.D. ( Signature ) Section 13. The umpire shall make his award in writing to the tribunal stating distinctly his decisions on the subject matter submitted. And when the award is for a specific sum of money, the umpire shall forward a copy of the same to the clerk of the proper court. Section 14. This Act shall be in force from and after its passage. 3. Ax Act to provide for a State Board of Arbitration for the settlement of differences between employers and their employees (Massachusetts.— Chap ■ 263 of the Act of 1886 as amended by St. 1887, chap. 269; St. 1888, chap. 261 ; and St. 1890, chap. 385.) Section 1. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall, on or before the first day of July in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-six, appoint three competent persons to serve as a state board of arbitration and conciliation in the manner hereinafter provided. One of them shall be an employer or selected from some association representing employers of labour, 47 one of them shall be selected from some labor organi- zation and not an employer of labor, the third shall be appointed upon the recommendation of the other two : provided, however, that if the two appointed do not agree on the third man at the expiration of thirty days, he shall then be appointed by the governor. They shall hold office for one year or until their successors are appointed. On the first day of July in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint three members of said board in the manner above provided, one to serve for three years, one for two years and one for one year, or until their respective successors are appointed ; and on the first day of July in each year thereafter the governor shall in the same manner appoint one member of said board to succeed the member whose term then expires, and to serve for the term of three years or until his successor is appointed. If a vacancy occurs at any time, the governor shall in the same manner appoint some one to serve out the unexpired term ; and he may in like manner remove any member of said board. Each member of said board shall, before entering upon t'ae duties of his office, be sworn to a faithful discharge thereof. They shall at once organize by the choice of one of their number as chairman. Said board may appoint and remove a clerk of the board, who shall receive such salary as may be allowed by the board, but not exceeding twelve hundred dollars a year. Sect. 2. The board shall, as soon as possible after its organization, establish such rules of procedure as shall be approved by the governor and council. Sect. 3. Whenever any controversy or difference, not involving questions which may be the subject of a suit at law or bill in equity", exists between an employer, whether an individual, copartnership or corporation, and his employees, if at the time he employs not less than twenty-five persons in the same general line of business in any city or town in this Commonwealth, the board shall, upon application as hereinafter provided, and as soon as practicable thereafter, visit the locality of the dispute and make careful inquiry into the cause thereof, hear all persons interested therein who may come before them, advise the respective parties what, if anything, ought to be done or submitted to by either or both to adjust said dispute, and make a written decision thereof. This decision shall at once be made public, shall be recorded upon proper books of record to be kept by the secretary of said board, and a short statement thereof published in the annual report hereinafter provided for, and the said board shall cause a copy thereof to be filed with the clerk of the city or town where said business is carried ( n. Sect. 4. Said application shall be signed by said employer or by a majority of his employees in the de- partment of the business in which the controversy or difference exists, or their duly authorized agent, or by both parties, and shall contain a concise statement of the grievances complained of, and a promise to continue on in business or at work without any lock-out or strike until the decision of said board, if it shall be made within three weeks of the date of filing said application. When an application is signed by an agent claiming to represent a majority of such employees, the board shall satisfy itself that such agent is duly authorized in writing to represent such employees, but the names of the employees giving such authority shall be kept secret by said board. As soon as may be after the receipt of said application the secretary of said board shall cause public notice to be given of the time and place for the hearing thereon ; but public notice need not be given when both parties to the controversy join in the appli- cation and present therewith a written request that no public notice be given. When such request is made, notice shall be given to the parties interested in such manner as the board may order ; and the board may, at any stage of the proceedings, cause public notice to be given, notwithstanding such request. When notice has been given as aforesaid, each of the parties to the con- troversy. the employer on the one side, and the employees interested on the other side, may in writing nominate, and the board may appoint, one person to act in the case as expert assistant to the board. The two persons so appointed shall be skilled in and conversant with the business or trade concerning which the dispute has arisen. It shall be their duty under the direction of the hoard to obtain and report to the board information concerning the wages paid and the methods and grades of work prevailing in manufacturing establishments within the Commonwealth of a character similar to that in which the matters in dispute may have arisen. Said expert assistants shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duty ; such oath to be administered by any member of the board, and a record thereof shall be preserved with the record of the proceedings in the case. They shall be entitled to receive from the trea- sury of the Commonwealth such compensation as shall be allowed and certified by the board, together with all necessary travelling expenses. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the board from appointing such other additional expert assistant or assistants as it may deem necessary. Should the petitioner or peti- tioners fail to perform the promise made in said appli- cation, the board shall proceed no further thereupon without the written consent of the adverse party. The board shall have power to summon as witness any operative in the departments of business affected and any person w r ho keeps the records of wages earned in those departments, and to examine them under oath, and to require the production of books containing the record of wages paid. Summonses may be signed and oaths administered by any member of the board. Sect. 5. Upon the receipt of such application and after such notice the board shall proceed as before provided, and render a written decision, which shall be open to public inspection, shall be recorded upon the records of the board, and published at the dis- cretion of the same in an annual report to be made to the^general court on or before the first day of February in each year. Sect. 6 . Said decision shall be binding upon the parties who join in said application for six months, or until either party has given the other notice in writing of his intention not to be bound by the same at the expiration of sixty days therefrom. Said notice may be given to said employees by posting the same in three conspicuous places in the shop or factory where they work. Sect. 7. The parties to any controversy or difference as described in section three of this Act may submit the matters in dispute, in writing, to a local board of arbitration and conciliation ; such board may either be mutually agreed upon, or the employer may designate one of the arbitrators, the employees or their duly authorized agent another, and the two arbi- trators so designated may choose a third, who shall be chairman of the board. Such board shall, in respect to the matters referred to it, have and exercise all the powers which the state board might have and exercise, and its decision shall have whatever binding effect may be agreed by the parties to the controversy in the written submission. The jurisdiction of such board shall be exclusive in respect to the matters submitted to it, but it may ask and receive the advice and assistance of the state board. The decision of such board shall be rendered within ten days of the close of any hearing held by it ; such decision shall at once be filed with the clerk of the city or town in which the controversy or difference arose, and a copy thereof shall be forwarded to the state board. Each of such arbitrators shall be entitled to receive from the treasury of the city or town in which the controversy or difference that is the subject of the arbitration exists, if such payment is approved in writing by the mayor of such city or the board of selectmen of such town, the sum of three dollars for each day of actual service, not exceeding ten days for any one arbitration. Whenever it is made to appear to the mayor of a city or the board of selectmen of a town that a strike or lock-out such as described in section eight of this Act is seriously threatened or actually occurs, the mayor of such city or the board of selectmen of such town shall at once notify the state board of the facts. ISect. 8. Whenever it shall come to the knowledge of the state board, either by notice from the mayor of a city or the board of selectmen of a town, as provided in the preceding section or otherwise, that a strike or lock-out is seriously threatened or has actually occurred in any city or town of the Commonwealth, involving an employer and his present or past employees, if at the time he is employing, or up to the occurrence of the strike or lock-out was employing, not less than twenty-five pei sons in the same general line of business in any city or town in the Commonwealth, it shall be the duty of the state board to put itself in com- munication as soon as may be with such employer and employees, and endeavour by mediation to effect an amicable settlement between them, or to endeavour to persuade them, provided that a strike or lock out has not actually occurred or is not then continuing, to submit the matters in dispute to a local board of arbitration and conciliation, as above provided, or to the state board ; and said state board may, if it deems F 4 48 it advisable, investigate the cause or causes of such controversy, and ascertain which party thereto is mainly responsible or blameworthy for the existence or continuance of the same, and may make and publish a report finding such cause or causes, and assigning such responsibility or blame. The board shall have the same powers for the foregoing purposes as are given it by section three of this Act. Sect. 9. Witnesses summoned by the state board shall be allowed the sum of fifty cents for each attend- ance, and the further sum of twenty-five cents for each hour of attendance in excess of two hours, and shall be allowed five cents a mile for travel each way from their respective places of employment or business to the place where the board is in session. Each witness shall certify in writing the amount of his travel and attendance, and the amount due him shall be paid forthwith by the board, and for such purpose the board shall be entitled to draw from the treasury of the Com- monwealth, as provided for in chapter one hundred and seventy-nine of the Acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-four. Sect. 10. The members of said state board shall until the first day of July in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven be paid five dollars a day each for each day of actual service ; and on and after said date they shall each receive a salary at the rate of two thousand dollars a year, to be paid out of the treasury of the Commonwealth ; and both before and after said date they shall be allowed their necessary travelling and other expenses, which shall be paid out of the treasury of the Commonwealth. 4. An Act to provide for the amicable adjustment of grievances and disputes that may arise between employers and employes and to authorize the creation of a State Board of Mediation and Arbitration. (New Yorlc, Laws of 1887, Chap. 63.) The People of the State of Hew York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : Section 1. Whenever any grievance or dispute of any nature shall arise between any employer and his employes, it shall be lawful to submit the same in writing to a board of arbitrators for hearing and settle- ment. Said board shall consist of three persons. When the employes concerned are members in good standing of any labour organization, which is represented by one or more delegates in a central body, the said body shall have power to designate one of said arbitrators, and the employer shall have power to designate one other of said arbitrators, and the said two arbitrators shall designate a third person, as arbitrator, who shall be chairman of the board. In case the employes concerned in any grievance or dispute are members in good standing of a labor organization which is not represented in a central body, then the organization of which they are members shall have the power to select and designate one arbitrator for said board, and said board shall be organized as hereinbefore provided. And in case the employes concerned in any grievance or dispute are not members of any labor organization, then .a majority of said employes, at a meeting duly held for that purpose, shall designate one arbitrator for said board, and the said board shall be organized as hereinbefore provided. In all cases of arbitration the grievance or matter of dispute shall be succinctly and clearly stated in writing, signed by the parties to the arbiti’ation or some duly authorized person on their behalf, and submitted to such board of arbitration. § 2. Each arbitrator so selected shall sign a consent to act as such, and shall take and subscribe an oath before an officer duly authorized to administer oaths, to faithfully and impartially discharge his duties as such arbitrator, which consent and oath may be filed in the office of the clerk of the county where such dispute arises. When the said board is ready for the transaction of business it shall select one of its number to act as secretary, and the parties to the dispute shall receive notice of a time and place of hearing. The chairman shall have power to administer oaths and to issue subpoenas for the production of books and papers, and for the attendance of witnesses, to the same extent that such power is possessed by the courts of record or the judges thereof in this state. The board may make and enforce the rules for its government and the transaction of the business before it, and fix its sessions and adjourn- ment, and shall hear and examine such witnesses as may be brought before the board, and such other proof as may be given relative to the matter in dispute. § 3. After the matter has been fully heard, the said board, or a majority of its members, shall within ten days render a decision thereon, in writing, signed by them, giving such details as will clearly show the nature of the decision and the points disposed of. Such decision shall be a settlement of the matter referred to said arbitrators, unless an appeal is taken therefrom as is hereinafter provided. The decision shall be in duplicate, one copy of which shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county, and the other transmitted to the secretary of the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration, hereinafter mentioned, together with the testimony taken before said board. §4. When the said board shall have rendered its decision its power shall cease, unless there may be in existence at the time other similar grievances or disputes between the same classes of persons, and in such case such persons may submit their differences to the said board, which shall have power to act, and arbitrate and decide upon the same as fully as if said board was originally created for the settlement of such other difference or differences. § 5. Within three daj^s after the passage of this act, the governor shall, with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint a State Board of Mediation and Arbitra- tion, to consist of three competent persons, each of whom shall hold his office for the term of three years, to com- mence immediately upon the expiration of the term of office of the members of the present State Board of Arbi- tration, created under chapter four hundred and ten of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-six. One of said persons shall be selected from the party which at the last general election cast the greatest number of votes for governor of this state, and one of said persons shall be selected from the party which at the last general election cast the next greatest number of votes for governor of this state, and the other of said persons shall be selected from a bond fide labor organization of his state. If any vacancy happens by resignation or otherwise, he shall in the same manner appoint an arbitrator for the residue of the term. If the senate shall not be in session at the time any vacancj' shall occur or exist, the governor shall appoint an arbitrator to fill the vacancy, subject to the approval of the senate yhen convened. Said board shall have a clerk or secretary, who shall be appointed by the board, to serve three years, whose duty it shall be to keep a full and faithful record of the proceedings of the board, and also all documents and testimony forwarded by the local boards of arbitration, and perform such other duties as the said board may prescribe. He shall have power, under the direction of the board, to issue subpoenas, to administer oaths in all cases before said board, to call for and examine books, papers, and documents of any parties to the controversy, with the same authority to enforce their production as is possessed by the courts of record or the judges thereof, in this state. ” Such arbitra- tors and clerk shall take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office, and be sworn to the due and faithful performance of the duties of their respective offices before entering upon the discharge of the same. An office shall be set apart in the capitol by the person or persons having charge thereof, for the proper and convenient transaction of the business of said board. § 6. An appeal may be taken from the decision of any local board of arbitration, within ten days after the rendition and filing of such decision. It shall be the duty of said State Board of Mediation and Arbitration to hear and consider appeals from the decisions of local boards, and promptly to proceed to the investiga- tion of such cases, and the decision of said board thereon shall be final and conclusive in the premises, upon both parties to the arbitration. Such decision shall be in writing, and a copy thereof shall be furnished to each party. Any two of the arbitrators shall con- stitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and may hold meetings at any time or place within the state. Examinations or investigations ordered by the board may be held and taken by and before any one of their number, if so directed. But the proceedings and decision of any single arbitrator shall not be deemed conclusive until approved by the board or a majority thereof. Each arbitrator shall have power to administer oaths. § 7. Whenever any grievance or dispute of any nature shall arise between any employer and his employes, it shall be lawful for the parties to submit the same directly to said state board in the first instance, in case such parties elect to do so, and shall 49 jointly notify said board or its clerk, in writing, of such election. Whenever such notification to said board or its clerk is given, it shall be the duty of said board to proceed, with as little delay as possible, to the locality of such grievance or dispute, and inquire into the cause or causes of grievance or dispute. The parties to the grievance or dispute shall thereupon submit to said board, in writing, succinctly, clearly and in detail, their grievances and complaints, and the cause or causes thereof, and severally agree, in writing, to submit to the decision of said board as to matters so submitted, and a promise or agreement to continue on in business or at work, without a lock-out or strike, until the decision of said board, provided it shall be rendered within ten days after the completion of the investigation. The board shall thereupon proceed to fully investigate and inquire into the matters in controversy, and to take testimony, under oath, in relation thereto, and shall have power, by its chairman or clerk, to administer oaths, to issue subpoenas for the attendance of wit- nesses, the production of books and papers, to the same extent as such power is possessed by courts of record or the judges thereof in this state. § 8. After the matter has been fully heard, the said board, or a majority of its members shall, within ten days, render a decision thereon in writing, signed by them or a majority of them, stating such details as will clearly show the nature of the decision and the points disposed of by them. The decision shall be in triplicate, one copy of which shall be filed by the clerk of the board in the clerk’s office of the county where the con- troversy arose, and one copy shall be served on each of the parties to the controversy. § 9. Whenever a strike or lock-out shall occur, or is seriously threatened in any part of the state, and shall come to the knowledge of the board, it shall be its duty, and it is hereby directed to proceed, as soon as prac- ticable, to the locality of such strike or lock-out, and put themselves in communication with the parties to the controversy, and endeavour by mediation to effect an amicable settlement of such controversy ; and, if in their judgment it is deemed best, to inquire into the cause or causes of the controversy, and to that end the board is hereby authorised to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, and send for persons and papers, in like manner and with the same powers as it is authorised to do by section seven of this Act. § 10. The fees of witnesses shall be fifty cents for each day’s attendance, and four cents per mile travelled by the nearest route in getting to or returning from the place where attendance is required by the board. All subpoenas shall be signed by the secretary of the board, and may be served by any person of full age authorized by the board to serve the same. § 11. Said board shall make a yearly report to the legislature, and shall include therein such statements, facts and explanations as will disclose the actual working of the board, and such suggestions as to legislation as may seem to them conducive to har- monizing the relations of, and disputes between, employers and the wage-earning masses, and the improvement of the present system of production. § 12. Bach arbitrator shall be entitled to an annual salary of three thousand dollars, payable in quarterly instalments from the treasury of the state. The clerk or secretary shall receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars, payable in like manner. §13. Whenever the term “employer” or “em- ployers” is used in this act, it shall be held to include “ firm,” “ joint-stock association,” “ company ” or “ corporation,” as fully as if each of the last named terms was expressed in each place. § 14. This act shall take effect immediately. 5. An Act — To create boards of arbitration or commis- sion for settling controversies and differences between railroad corporations and other common carriers engaged in interstate and territorial transportation of property or passengers and their employes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States of America in Con- gress assembled, That whenever differences or controversies arise between railroad or other transportation companies engaged in the transportation of property or passengers between two or more states of the United States, between a territory or state, within the territories of the United States, or within the District of Columbia, and, the em- ployes of said railroad companies, which differences or controversies may hinder, impede, obstruct, interrupt, E 74099. or affect such transportation of property or passengers, if, upon the written proposition of either party to the controversy to submit their differences to arbitration, the other party shall accept the proposition, then and in such event the railroad company is hereby authorized to select and appoint one person, and such employe or employes, as the case may be, to select and appoint another person, and the two persons thus selected and appointed to select a third person, all three of whom shall be citizens of the United States and wholly im- partial and disinterested in respect to such differences or controversies ; and the three persons thus selected and appointed shall be, and they are hereby, created and constituted a board of arbitration, with the duties, powers, and privileges hereinafter set forth. Sect. 2. That the board of arbitration provided for in the first section of this act shall possess all the powers and authority in respect to administering oaths, sub- poenaing witnesses and compelling their attendance, preserving order during the sittings of the board, and requiring the production of papers and writings relating alone to the subject under investigation now possessed and belonging to United States commissioners appointed by the circuit court of the U nited States ; but in no case shall any witness be compelled to disclose the secrets or produce the records or proceedings of any labor organi- zation of which he may be an officer or member ; and said board of arbitration may appoint a clerk and employ a stenographer, and prescribe all reasonable rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the pro- visions of this act, looking to the speedy advancement of the differences and controversies submitted to them to a conclusion and determination. Each of said arbitrators shall take an oath to honestly, fairly and faithfully perform his duties, and that he is not personally interested in the subject-matter in contro- versy, which oath may be administered by any state or territorial officer authorized to adminster oaths. The third person so selected and appointed as aforesaid shall be the president of said board ; and any order, finding, conclusion or award made by a majority of such arbitrators shall be of the same force and effect as if all three of such arbitrators concurred therein or united in making the same. Sect. 3. That it shall be the duty of said board of arbitration, immediately upon their selection, to organize at the nearest practicable point to the place of the origin of the difficulty or controversy, and to hear and determine the matter of difference which may be sub- mitted to them in writing by all the parties, giving them full opportunity to be heard on oath, in person and by witnesses, and also granting them the right to be represented by counsel ; and after concluding its inves- tigation said board shall publicly announce its decision, which, with the findings of fact upon which it is based, shall be reduced to writing and signed by the arbitrators concurring therein, and, together with the testimony taken in tbe case, shall be filed with the Commissioner of Labor of the United States, who shall make such decision public as soon as the same shall have been received by him. Sect. 4. That it shall be the right of any employes engaged in the controversy to appoint, by designation in writing, one or more persons to act for them in the selection of an arbitrator to represent them upon the board of arbitration. Sect. 5. That each member of said tribunal of arbitra- tion shall receive a compensation of ten dollars a day for the time actually employed. That the clerk appointed by said tribunal of arbitration shall receive tbe same fees and compensation as clerks of United States circuit courts and district courts receive for like services. That the stenographer shall receive as full compensation for his services ten cents for each folio of a hundred words of testimony taken and reduced to writing before said arbitrators. That United States marshals or other persons serving the process of said tribunal of arbitration shall receive the same fees and compensation for such services as they would receive for like services upon process issued by United States commissioners. That witnesses attending before said tribunal of arbitration shall receive the same fees as witnesses attending before United States commissioners. That all of said fees and compensation shall be payable by the United States in like manner as fees and com- pensation are payable in criminal causes under existing laws : Provided, That the said tribunal of arbitration shall have power to limit the number of witnesses in each case where fees shall be paid by the United States : And provided further, That the fees and compensation of the arbitrators, clerks, stenographers, marshals, and others for service of process, and witnesses under this a 50 act shall be examined and certified by the United States district judge of the district in which the arbitration is held befqre they are presented to the accounting officers of the treasury department for settlement, and shall then be subject to the provisions of section eight hundred and forty-six of the Revised Statutes of the United States ; and a sufficient sum of money to pay all expenses under this act and to carry the same into effect is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated : And provided likewise, Not more than five thousand dollars shall be expended in defraying the costs of any single investi- gation by the commission hereinafter provided for. Sect. 6. That the president may select two commis- sioners, one of whom at least shall be a resident of the state or territory in which the controversy arises, who, together with the Commissioner of Labor, shall con- stitute a temporary commission for the purpose of examining the causes of the controversy, the conditions accompanying, and the best means of adjusting it ; the result of which examination shall be immediately re- ported to the president and congress, and on the rendering of such report the services of the two com- missioners shall cease. The services of the commission, to be ordered at the time by the president and con- stituted as herein provided, may be tendered by the president for the purpose of. settling a controversy such as contemplated, either upon his own motion, or upon the application of one of the parties to the controversy, or upon the application of the executive of a state. Sect. 7. That the commissioners provided in the preceding section shall be entitled to receive ten dollars each per day for each day’s service rendered, and the expenses absolutely incurred in the performance of their duties ; and the expenses of the Commissioner of Labor, acting as one of the commission, shall also be reimbursed to him. Such compensation and ex- penses shall be paid by the treasurer of the United States, on proper vouchers, certified to by the com- missioner of labor and approved by the secretary of the interior. Sect. 8. That upon the direction of the president, as herein-before provided, the commission shall visit the locality of the pending dispute, and shall have all the powers and authority given in section two to a board of arbitration, and shall make careful inquiry into the cause thereof, hear all persons interested therein who may come before it, advise the respective parties what, if anything, ought to be done or submitted to by either or both to adjust such dispute, and make a written decision thereof. This decision shall at once be made public, shall be recorded upon proper books of record to be kept in the office of the Commissioner of Labor, who shall cause a copy thereof to be filed with the secretary of the state or territory, or states or territories, in which the controversy exists. Sect. 9. That in each case the commissioners who may be selected as provided shall, before entering upon their duties, be sworn to the faithful discharge thereof. The Commissioner of Labor shall be chairman ex-officio of the commission, and may appoint one or more clerks or stenographers to act in each controversy only, which clerks or stenographers shall be compensated at a rate not exceeding six dollars per day each, and actual expenses incurred shall be reimbursed. Sect. 10. The Commissioner of Labor shall, as soon as possible after the passage of this act, establish such rules of procedure as shall be approved by the presi- dent ; but the commission shall permit each party to a controversy to appear in person or by counsel, r and to examine and cross-examine witnesses. AH its pro- ceedings shall be transacted in public, except when in consultation for the purpose of deciding upon the evidence and arguments laid before it. The chairman of the commission is hereby authorized to administer oaths to witnesses in all investigations conducted by the commission, and such witnesses shall be subpoenaed in the . same manner as witnesses are subpoenaed to appear before United States courts and commissioners, and they shall each receive the same fees as witnesses attending before United States com- missioners : Provided, That* .said temporary board of commissioners shall have power to limit the number of witnesses in each case where fees shall be paid by the United States. Sect. 11. All fees, expenses, and compensation of this commission shall be paid as herein-before provided in section five of this act. Passed the house of representatives April 18, 1888. Attest i JNO. B. CLARK, Clerk. 6. An Act to provide for the amicable adjustment of grievances and disputes that may arise between employers and employes, and to authorize the creation of a state board of arbitration. Enacted by the Legislature of New Jersey during the session of 1892. 1. That whenever any grievance or dispute of any nature growing out of the relation of employer and employes shall arise or exist between employer and employes, it shall be lawful to submit all matters respecting such grievance or dispute, in writing, to a board of arbitrators, to hear, adjudicate and determine the same ; said board shall consist of five persons ; when the employes concerned in any such grievance or dispute as aforesaid are members in good standing of any labor organization, which is represented by one or more delegates in a central body, the said central body shall have power to designate two of said arbitrators ; and the employer shall have the power to desig- nate two others of said arbitrators', and the said four arbitrators shall designate a fifth person, as arbitrator, who shall be chairman of the board ; in case the employes concerned in any such grievance or dispute as aforesaid are members in good standing of a labor organization which is not represented in a central body, then the organization of which they are members shall have the power to select and designate two arbitrators for said board, and said board shall ,be organized as hereinbefore provided ; and in case the employes con- cerned in any such grievance or dispute as aforesaid are not members of any labor organization, then a majority of said employes, at a meeting duly held for that purpose, shall designate two arbitrators for said board, and the said board shall be organized as herein- before provided. 2. That any boarc^as aforesaid selected may present a petition to the county judge of the county where such grievances or disputes to be arbitrated may arise, signed by at least a majority of said board, setting forth in brief terms the nature of the grievance or dispute between the parties to said arbitration, aud praying the license or order of such judge establishing and approving said board of arbitration ; upon the presentation of said petition it shall be the duty of the said judge to make an order establishing such board of arbitration and referring the matters in dispute to it for hearing, adjudication and determination ; the said petition and order or a copy thereof shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the said judge resides. 3. That the arbitrators so selected shall sign a con- sent to act as such, and shall take and subscribe an oath before an officer authorized to administer oaths, to faithfully and impartially discharge his duties as such arbitrator, which consent and oath shall be im- mediately filed in the office of the clerk of the county wherein such arbitrators are to act ; when the said board is ready for the transaction of business it shall select one its members to act as secretary, and the parties to the dispute shall receive notice of a time and place of hearing ; the chairman shall have power to administer oaths and to issue subpoenas for the produc- tion of books and papers, and for the attendance of witnesses, to the same extent that such power is pos- sessed by the courts of record or the judges thereof in this state ; the board may make and enforce the rules for its government and transaction of the business before it and fix its sessions and adjournments, and shall hear and examine such witnesses as may be brought before the board, and such other proof as may be given relative to the matters in dispute. f 4. That after the matter has been fully heard, the said board or a majority of its members shall within ten days render a decision thereon, in writing, signed by them, giving such details as will clearly show the nature of the decision and the matters adjudicated and determined ; such adjudication and determination shall be a settlement of the matter referred to said arbitrators, unless an appeal is taken therefrom as hereinafter pro- vided; the adjudication and determination shall be in duplicate, one copy of which shall be filed in the office of the clerk of ' the county, and the other transmitted to the secretary of the state board of arbitration herein- after mentioned, together with the testimony taken before said board. 5. That when the said board shall have rendered its adjudication and determination its power shall cease, unless there may be in existence at the time other similar grievances or disputes between the same classes of persons mentioned in section one, and in such case 51 such persons may submit their differences to the said board, which shall* have power to act and adjudicate and determine the same as fully as if said board was originally created for the settlement of such other difference or differences. 6. That within thirty days after the passage of this act the governor shall appoint a state board of arbitra- tion, to consist of three competent persons, each of whom shall hold his office for the term of five years ; one of the said persons shall be selected from a bond fide labor organisation of this state ; if any vacancy happens by resignation or otherwise the governor shall, in the same manner, appoint an arbitrator, for the residue of the term ; said board shall have a secretary, who shall be appointed by and hold office during the pleasure of the board, and whose duty shall be to keep a full and faithful record of the proceedings of the board and also possession of all documents and testi- mony forwarded by the local boards of arbitration, and perform such other duties as the said board may prescribe ; he shall have power, under the direction of the board, to issue subpoenas, to administer oaths in all cases before said board, to call for and examine books, papers and documents of any parties to the controversy, with the same authority to enforce their production as is possessed by the courts of record, or the judges thereof, in this state ; said arbitrators of said state board and the clerk thereof shall take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office, and be sworn to the due and faithful performance of the duties of their respective offices before entering upon the dis- charge of the same ; an office shall be set apart in the capitol by the person having charge thereof, for the proper and convenient transaction of the business of said board. 7. That an appeal may be taken from the decision of any local board of arbitration within ten days after the filing of its adjudication and determination of any case ; it shall be the duty of the said state board of arbitra- tion to hear and consider appeals from the decisions of local boards, and promptly to proceed to the in- vestigation of such cases, and the adjudication and determination of said board thereon shall be final and conclusive in the premises upon all parties to the arbitration ; such adjudications and determinations shall be in writing, and a copy thereof shall be fur- nished to each party ; any two of the state board of arbitrators shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business and may hold meetings at any time or place within the state ; examinations or investigations ordered by the state board may be held and taken by and before any one of their number, if so directed ; but the proceedings and decision of any single arbitrator shall not be deemed conclusive until approved by the board or a majority thereof ; each arbitrator shall have power to administer oaths. 8. That whenever any grievance or dispute of any nature shall arise between any employer and bis employes, it shall be lawful for the parties to submit the same directly to said state board in the first instance, in case such parties elect to do so, and shall jointly notify said board or its clerk, in writing, of such election ; whenever such notification to said board or its clerk is given, it shall be the duty of said boil'd to proceed, with as little delay as possible, to the locality of such grievance or dispute, and inquire into the 'cause or causes of grievance or dispute ; the parties to the grievance or dispute shall thereupon submit, to said board, in writing, succinctly, clearly and in detail, their grievances and complaints, and the cause or causes thereof, and severally agree, in writing, to submit to the decision of said board as to matters so submitted, and a promise or agreement to continue on in business or at work, without a lockout or strike until the decision of said board, provided it shall be rendered within ten days after the completion of the investiga- tion ; the board shall thereupon proceed to fully investigate and inquire into the matters in controversy, and to take testimony under oath in relation thereto, and shall have power by its chairman or clerk, to administer oaths, to issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses, the production of books and papers, to the same extent as such power is possessed by courts of record or the judges thereof, in this state. 9. That after the matter has been fully heard, the said board, or a majority of its members, shall within ten days render a decision thereon in writing, signed by them or a majority of them, stating such details as will clearly show the nature of the decision and the points disposed of by them ; the decision shall be iu triplicate, one copy of which shall be filed by the clerk of the board in the clerk’s office of the county where the controversy arose, and one copy shall be served on each of the parties to the controversy. 10. That whenever a strike or lockout shall occur, or is seriously threatened in any part of the state, and shall come to the knowledge of the board, it shall be its duty, and it is hereby directed to proceed, as soon as prac- ticable, to the locality of such strike or lockout and put themselves in communication with the parties to the controversy, and endeavor by mediation to effect an amicable settlement of such controversy ; and if in their judgment it is deemed best, to inquire into the cause or causes of the controversy, and to that end the board is hereby authorized to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, and send for persons and papers, in like manner and with the same powers as it is authorized to do by section eight of this act. 11. That the fees of witnesses of aforesaid state board shall be fifty cents for each day’s attendance and four cents per mile travelled by the nearest route in getting to or returning from the place where attendance is required by the board; all subpoenas shall be signed by the secretary of the board and may be served by any person of full age, authorized by the board to serve the same. 12. That said board shall annually report to the legislature, and shall include in their report such state : ments, facts and explanations as will disclose the actual working of the board, and snch suggestions with regard to legislation as may seem to them conducive to harmo- nizing the relations of, and disputes between employers and employes and the improvement of the present system of production by labor. 13. That each arbitrator of the state board and the Secretary thereof shall receive ten dollars for each and every day actually employed in the performance of their duties herein and actual expenses incurred, including such rates of mileage as are now provided by law, payable by the state treasurer on duly approved vouchers. 14. That whenever the term “employer” or “em- ployers ” is used in this act it shall be held to include “firm,” “joint stock association,” “company,” “cor- poration,” or “ individual and individuals ” as fully as if each of said terms was expressed in each place. 15. That this act shall take effect immediately. Approved March 24th, 1892. P. L., Chap. 137. 7. An Act to provide for a State Board of Arbitration for the Settlement of Differences between Employers and Employes, to define the duties of said Board, and to appropriate the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars therefor. [Approved March 10, 1891.] The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : Section 1. On or before the first day of May of each year, the Governor of the State shall appoint three com- petent persons to serve as a State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation. One shall represent the employers of labour, one shall represent labour employes, and the third member shall represent neither, and shall be chairman of the Board. They shall hold office for one year and until their successors are appointed and qualified. If a vacancy occurs, as soon as possible thereafter the Governor shall appoint Some one to serve the unexpired term; 'provided, however, that when the parties to any controversy or difference, as provided in section two of this Act, do not desire to submit their controversy to the State Board, they may by agreement each choose one person, and the two shall choose a third, who shall be chairman and umpire, and the three shall constitute a Board of Arbitration rand Conciliation for the special controversy submitted to it, and shall for that purpose have the same powers as the State Board The members of the said Board or Boards, before enter- ing upon the duties of their office, shall be sworn faith- fully to discharge the duties thereof. They shall adopt such rules of procedure as they may deem best to carry out the provisions of this Act. Section 2. Whenever any controversy or difference exists between an employer, whether an individual, co-partnership, or corporation, which, if not arbitrated, would involve a strike or lock-out, and his employes, the Board shall, upon application, as herein-after pro- vided, and as soon as practicable thereafter, visit, if necessary, the locality of the dispute and make careful G- 2 52 inquiry into the cause thereof , hear all persons interested therein who may come before them, advise the respec- tive parties what, if anything, ought to be done or submitted to by either, or both, to adjust said dispute, and make a written decision thereof. This decision shall at once be made public, and shall be recorded upon propei' books of record to be kept by the Board. Section 3. Said application shall be signed by said employer, or by a majority of his employes in the department of the business in which the controversy or difference exists, or their duly authorised agent, or by both parties, and shall contain a concise statement of the grievances complained of, and a promise to continue on in business or at work, without any lock-out or strike, until the decision of said Board, which must, if possible, be made within three weeks of the date of filing the application. Immediately upon receipt of said applica- tion, the chairman of said Board shall cause public notice to be given of the time and place for hearing. Should the petitioners fail to keep the promise made therein, the Board shall proceed no further thereupon without the written consent of the adverse party. And the party violating the contract shall pay the extra cost of the Board entailed thereby. The Board may then re-open the case and proceed to the final arbitration thereof as provided in section two hereof. Section 4. The decision rendered by the Board shall be binding upon the parties who join in the application for six months, or until either party has given the other a written notice of his intention not to be further bound by the conditions thereof after the expiration of sixty days or any time agreed upon by the parties, which agreement shall be entered as a part of the decision. Said notice may be given to the employes by posting a notice thereof in three conspicuous places in the shop or factory where they work. Section 5. Both employers and employes shall have the right at any time to submit to the Board complaints or grievances and ask for an investigation thereof. The Board shall decide whether the complaint is entitled to a public investigation, and if they decide in the affirma- tive, they shall proceed to hear testimony, after giving notice to all parties concerned, and publish the result of their investigations as soon as possible thereafter. Section 6. The arbitrators hereby created shall be paid five dollars per day for each day of actual service, and also their necessary travelling and other expenses incident to the duties of their office shall be paid out of the State Treasury ; but the expenses and salaries hereby authorised shall not exceed the sum of twenty- five hundred dollars for the two years. Section 7. The sum of twenty-five hundred dollars is hereby appropriated out of any money in the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the expenses of the Board for the first two years after its organisation. Section 8. This Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. APPENDIX C. Books and Pamphlets bearing on Labour Questions in the United States now in the Library of the Royal Commission on Labour, Third Biennial Report of the State Inspector of Coal Mines of the State of Colorado for 1887 and 1888. Fourth Biennial Report of the State Inspector of Coal Mines of the State of Colorado for 1889 and 1890. First Biennial Report of the Metalliferous Mines Inspector to the Government of Colorado, 1889-90. Seventh Annual Report of the Chamber of Com- merce and Board of Trade. Denver, Colorado, 1889. Eighth Annual Report of the Chamber of Com- merce and Board of Trade. Denver, Colorado, 1890. Connecticut : — Bureau of Labour Statistics. Third Annual Report, 1887. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Fourth Annual Report, 1888. Bureau of' Labour Statistics. Fifth Annual Report, 1889 (two copies). Bureau of Labour Statistics. Sixth Annual Report, 1890 (three copies). Bureau of Labour Statistics. Seventh Annual Report. Yols. I. and II., 1891. Dakota : — Commissioner of Agriculture and Labour. First Biennial Report, 1890. Illino is : — Bureau of Labour Statistics. Fourth Biennial Report, 1886. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Fourth Biennial Report, 1886 (advance sheets). Bureau of Labour Statistics. Fifth Biennial Report, 1888. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Sixth Biennial . Report, 1890 (3 copies). Bureau of Labour Statistics. Supplemental Report, “ Statistics of Coal in Illinois,” 1889. Indiana : — Bureau of Statistics. Fourth Annual Report, 1882. Bureau of Statistics. Fifth Annual Report, 1883. Bureau of Statistics. Sixth Annual Report, 1884. Bureau of Statistics. First Biennial Report, 1885-6. Bureau of Statistics. Second Biennial Report, 1887-8. Iowa : — Bureau of Labour Statistics. Fourth Biennial Report, 1890. Kansas : — Bureau of Labour. Fifth Annual Report, 1889. Bureau of Labour. Sixth Annual Report, 1890 (2 copies). Bureau of Labour. Seventh Annual Report, 1891. Maine : — Bureau of Industrial and Labour Statistics. Third Annual Report, 1889. Bureau of Industrial and Labour Statistics. Fourth Annual Report, 1890. Reports issued by the Department or Labour. “ Industrial Depressions,” 1885 “ Convict Labour,” 1886. “ Strikes and Lock-outs,” 1887. “ Working Women in Large Cities,’’ 1888. “ Railroad Labour,” 1889. “ Cost of Production : Iron, Steel, Coal, &c.,” 1890 (two copies). Reiorts issued by the Bureaux or Labour Statistics IN THE DIFFERENT STATES. California : — Bureau of Labour Statistics. Second Biennial Report, 1885-86. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Third Biennial Report, 1887-88. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Fourth Biennial Report, 1889-90. Colorado : — Bureau of Labour Statistics. First Biennial Report. 1887-88. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Third Biennial Report, 1891-92. Maryland : — Bureau of Industrial Statistics. Second Biennial Report, 1886-7. Bureau of Industrial Statistics. Third Biennial Report, 1888-9- Bureau of Industrial Statistics. Fourth Biennial Report, 1890-1. Massachusetts : — Annual Report of the State Board of Arbitration, 1887. Annual Report of the State Board of Arbitration, 1888. Annual Report of the State Board of Arbitration, 1891 (2 copies). Annual Report of the State Board of Arbitration, 1892 (2 copies). Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration. Carroll D. Wright. Annual Reports of the Chief of District Police, 1889 and 1890. Eighth Annual Report of the Civil Service Com- missioners, 1892 (2 copies). 53 Inspection of Factories and Public Buildings Extracts from Public Statutes, 1891. Statistics of Manufactures, 1888. „ „ 1889. „ „ 1890 (2 copies). „ „ 1891. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Second Annual Report, 1872. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Seventh Annual Report, 1876. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Nineteenth Animal Report, 1888. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Twentieth Annual Report, 1889. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Twenty-first Annual Report, 1890 (3 copies). Insurance Department (Fire and Marine). Thirty- seventh Report, 1892. Insurance Department (Life). Thirty-seventh Re- port, 1892. A Manual of Distributive Co-operation, 1886. Index to Reports. Twenty Years, 1870-1889. Condition of Employes (from Twentieth Annual Report), 1890. Acts and Resolves passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts, 1891, 1892. Report of the Rapid Transit Commission, 1892. Michigan : — Bureau of Labour Statistics. Second Annual Report, 1885 (2 copies). Bureau of Labour Statistics. Sixth Annual Report, 1889. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Seventh Annual Report, 1890. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Eighth Annual Report, 1891. Minnesota .- — Bureau of Labour. Second Biennial Report, 1890. Misssouri : — Bureau of Labour Statistics. Eleventh Annual Report, 1889. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Thirteenth Annual Report, 1891 . Nebraska : — Bureau of Industrial and Labour Statistics. First Biennial Report, 1887-8. Bureau of Industrial and Labour Statistics. Second Biennial Report, 1889-90. New Jersey : — Bureau of Statistics. Eleventh Annual Report, 1888. Bureau of Statistics. Twelfth Annual Report, 1889 (2 copies). Bureau of Statistics. Thirteenth Annual Report, 1890. Bureau of Statistics. Fourteenth Annual Report, 1891 (2 copies). New Ycyrh : — Second Annual Report of the Board of Mediation and Arbitration, 1888. Third Annual Report of the Board of Mediation and Arbitration, 1889 (2 copies). Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Mediation and Arbitration, 1890 (2 copies). Fourth Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors, 1889. Fifth Annual Report of the Factory Inspectors, 1890. Laws of New York. Chapter 690. Insurance Laws. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Fifth Annual Report, 1887. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Sixth Annual Report, 1888. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Seventh Annual Report, 1889 (2 copies). Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Eighth Annual Report, 1890 (Parts I. and II.) (2 copies). North Carolina : — Bureau of Labour. First Annual Report, 1887 (2 copies). Bureau of Labour. Second Annual Report, 1888 (2 copies). Bureau of Labour. Third Annual Report, 1889 (2 copies). Bureau of Labour. Fourth Annual Report, 1890 (2 copies). Bureau of Labour. Fifth Annual Report, 1891 (2 copies). Ohio : — Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Thirteenth Annual Report, 1889. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Fourteenth Annual Report, 1890. Bureau of Statistics of Labour. Fifteenth Annual Report, 1891. Sixth Annual Report of the Department of In- spection of Workshops and Factories, 1889. Pennsylvania Annual Report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs Part III. “ Industrial Statistics,” 1888. „ „ „ 1889. 1890. „ „ „ 1891. Reports of Inspectors of Coal Mines, Part Y., 1889. Rhode Island : — First Report of Industrial Statistics, 1887. Second „ Third „ Fourth „ Fifth Wisconsin : — ff Jf JJ 5> J> If J5 » 1888. 1889. (3 copies). 1890. 1891. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Second Biennial Report, 1885-6. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Third Biennial Report, 1887-8. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Fourth Biennial Report, 1888-9. Bureau of Labour Statistics. Fifth Biennial Report, 1891-2. Documents issued by Departments of the Federal Government other than the Department of Labour. Bureau of Education : — Report of the Commissioner of Education, 1888-9. Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue. C. A. Cutter. Promotions and Examinations in Graded Schools. E. E. White. Sanitary Conditions for School Houses. A. P. Marble. Higher Education in Indiana. J. A. Wood- burn, Ph.D. Fourth International Prison Congress. C. D. Randall. History of Higher Education in Michigan. A. C. McLaughlin. Biological Teaching in the Colleges of the United States. J. P. Campbell, Ph.D. H.B. Rise and Growth of the Normal School Idea in the . United States. J. P. Gordy. The World’s Educational Congress. W. T. Harris. School Statistics. Report of Committee of Superin- tendents, National Educational Association. The Philosophic Aspects of History. W. T. Harris. Display of School Statistics. The Relation of Invention to the Communication of Intelligence and the Diffusion of Knowledge by Newspaper and Book. W. T. Harris. Senate Committees and Committees of Congress : — Depression in Labour and Business. Investigation by a Select Committee, 1878 and 1879. Labour Troubles in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Illinois. Report of House of Representatives Part I. 1886. Labour and Capital. Investigation of Senate Committee on Education and Labour, 1885 (Vols. I.-IY.). Labour Troubles in the Anthracite Districts of Pennsylvania. Report (House of Representa- tives), 1887. Partial Report of the Committee on Finance (Senate) 1892. Report on Importation of Contract Labour, 1889. Investigation of the Employment of Pinkerton Deter tives. Report of Committee of Congress, 54 Report of the Committee on Manufactures (Con- gress) on the Sweating System, 1893. Report of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (Congress) on the Labour Laws of the United States, 1892. Consular Reports, 1884. Labour in Foreign Countries. Europe. (Yols. I. and II.) America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Polynesia. (Vol. III.) Reports from the Consuls of the United States to the Secretary of the Interior, 1891. Treasury Department .- — Bureau of Statistics. Special Report on Immigra- tion, 1871. Bureau of Statistics. Imports, Exports, Immigra- tion, and Navigation, 1891. Statistical Abstracts of the United States of America, 1878, 1885, 1891. (3 Yols.) Arrival of Alien Passengers and Immigrants in the United States. 1820-1890. Special Reports to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Manufacture of Tin and Terne Plates. By Ira Ayer. April and August, 1892. Department of Agriculture : — Report of the Secretary on Agriculture, 1891. Reports of the Statistician, United States Depart- ment of Agriculture. August, September, and ‘ October, 1892. Wages of Farm Labour in the United States, 1892. Agricultural Depression, its Causes, and Possible Remedies, by J. M. Rusk. Album of Agricultural Graphics, 1890. Work of the United States Department of Agricul- ture for the years 1889, 1890, 1891. Report on the Area of Corn, Potatoes, and Tobacco, and Condition of Growing Crops ; and on Freight Rates' of Transportation Companies, 1891. Department of the Interior : — Report of the Superintendent of Census, 1890. Report on the Factory System of the United States, by Carroll D. Wright, 1884. Miscellaneous Copies of Schedules (Eleventh Census of the United States). Statistics of Manufactures. Census Bulletin. August 1890. Mines and Mining. " Quicksilver,” Census Bulletin. August 1890. Mines and Mining. “ Slate.” Census Bulletin. August 1890. Production of , “ Pig-Iron,” Census Bulletin. October 1890. Production of “ Steel.” Census Bulletin. December 1890. Education. “ Preliminary Statistics.” Census Bulletin. January 1891. Mines and Mining. “ Anthracite Coal.” Census Bulletin. January 1891. Mines and Mining. Maryland. “ Coal.” Census Bulletin. January 1891. Mines and Mining. Alabama. “Coal.” Census Bulletin. February 1891. Education. “Sta- tistics.” Census Bulletin. March 1891. Agriculture. “Truck Farming.” Census Bulletin. March 1891. Agriculture. “Viti- culture.” ' Census Bulletin. March 1891. Mines and Mining. “Granite.” ' Census Bulletin. March 1891. Coal Product West of the Mississippi River. Census Bulletin. April 1891. Education “ Sta- tistics.” Census Bulletin. April 1891. “Public School Fi- nances.” Census Bulletin. April 1891. Agriculture. “Flori- culture.” Census Bulletin. April 1891. Mines and Mining. “ Precious Stones and Diamond Cutting.” Census Bulletin. May 1891. Mines and Mining. “ Bluestone.” Census Bulletin. May 1891. Mines and Mining. “ Bituminous Coal in Pennsylvania.” Census Bulletin. May 1891. Mines and Mining. “ Mica.” Census Bulletin. May 1891. Mines and Mining- “ Manganese.” Census Bulletin. June 1891. Mines and Mining. “ Coal Produc-t of Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.” Census Bulletin. June 1891. Mines and Mining. “ Sandstone.” Census Bulletin. September 1892. “ Population by Colour, Sex, and General Nationality,” 1890. Books and Pamphlets. Labour in Europe and America. E. Young, Ph.D., (2 copies). History of Co-operation in the United States. E. W. Bemis, Ph.D., and others. Taxation in American States and Cities. Prof. R. T. Ely, Ph.D. (assisted by J. H. Finley, A.B.). The Labour Movement in America. Prof. R. T. Ely, Ph.D. Problems of To-Day. A Discussion on Protective Tariffs, Taxation, and Monopolies. Prof. R. T. Ely. Ph.D. The Past and Present of Political Economy. Prof. R. T. Ely, Ph.D. The Story of Manual Labour in All Lands and Ages. John Cameron Simonds and John T. McEnnis. 1887. The Labour Movement, the Problem of To-Day. George E. McNeil. 1891. Thirty Years of Labour. T. Y. Powderly. An Historical Sketch of the Knights of Labour. Carroll D. Wright, A.M. The Evolution of Wage Statistics. Qarroll D. Wright, A.M. The Working of the Department of Labour. Carroll D. Wright, A.M. (7 copies). The Growth and Purposes of Bureaus of Labour. Carroll D. Wright, A.M. (2 copies). The Iron and Steel Institute in America in 1890. Sir Lowthian Bell (2 copies). Municipal Ownership of Industries. Allen R. Foote. (Paper written to be read before the American Economic Association.) Municipal Ownership of Quasi Public Works. ’ Allen R. Foote. (Paper read before the American Economic Association.) Municipal OwnershijJ of Quasi Public Works. Allen R. Foote. (Paper read before the Tax Payers’ Asso- ciation.) Labour Differences and their Settlement. J. D. Weekes. Boards of Conciliation. B. Samuelson. Immigration. Speech by Henry Cabot Lodge, 19th February, 1891. Catalogue of Books and Articles on Labour Questions in the Milwaukee Public Library (2 copies). Third National Convention of the Bureaus of Statistics of Labour, 1885. Fourth National Convention of the Bureaus of Sta- tistics of Labour, 1886. Fifth National Convention of the Bureaus of Statistics of Labour, 1887. Sixth National Convention of the Bureaus of Statistics of Labour, 1888. Seventh National Convention of the Bureaus of Statistics of Labour, 1889. Eighth National Convention of the ■ Bureaus of Statistics of Labour, 1890 (2 copies). Ninth National Convention of the Bureaus of Statistics of Labour, 1891 (2 copies). Wage Statistics. Richmond Mayo Smith. Statistical Atlas of the United States. Fletcher W. Hewes and Henry Gannett, 1883. Publications of the American Statistical Association, December, 1888. Publications of the American Statistical Association, December, 1890. Publications of the American Statistical Association, March, 1891. Publications of the American Statistical Association, June, 1891. Journal of Economics, January, 1892. Social Economist, August and September, 1892. Political Science Quarterly, September, 1892. Journal of Social Science, February, 1S90. Publications of the American Economic Association : — Vol. III. 1888-9. Contents. 1. Three Papers read at Meeting in Boston : Statistics in Colleges. By Carroll D. Wright. Sociology and Political Economy. F. H. (biddings. The Legal Tender Decisions. E. J. James. 2. Capital anil its Earnings. Prof. J. B. Clark, A.M. 3. The Manual Labouring Class. Gen. F. A. Walker. Mine Labour in the Hocking Valley. Prof. E. W. Bemis, Ph.D. Report of the Second Annual Meeting. Prof. R. T. Ely, Ph.D. 4 . and 5. Statistics and Economics. R. M. Smith, A.M. 6. The Stability of Prices. S. N. Patten, Ph.D. 55 Vol. IV., 1889. Contents. X. Theory of Wuges. By Stuart Wood, I’ll. I). 2. Possibility of a Scientific Law of Wages. J. B. Clark, A. M. 3. Socialism in England. Sidney Webb, LL.B. 4. lload Legislation for the American State. J. W. Jenks. Pll.D. 0. Roport of the Third Annual Meeting including opening address. Recent Progress of Political Economy in the United States. President P. A. Walker, LL.D. (>. Malthus and Ricardo. S. N. Patten, Pli.D. 7. The Study of Statistics. D. R. Dewey, Pli.D. 8. Analysis in Political Economy. W. W. Fohvell. 9. An honest Dollar. President E. B. Andrews. The Canal and the Railway, by Prof. E. J. James, Pli.D., with Canals and their Economic Relation to Transportation. Prof. L. M. Hampton, A.M.C.E. The Industrial Transition in Japan. Yeijiro Ono., Ph.D. Government Forestry Abroad. Gifford Pinchot. The Present Condition of the Forests on the Public Lands. E. A. Bowers. Practicability of an American Forest Administra- tion. B. E. Fernon. Child Labour. W. F. Willoughby, A.B., and Clare de Graffenried. The Educational Yalue of Political Economy. Prof. S. N. Patten, Ph.D. Municipal Ownership of Gas in the United States (two copies). Pi-of. E. W. Bemis, Ph.D. The Relation of Modern Municipalities to Quasi- Public Works, being a Report of the Committee on Public Finance to the Council of the American Economic Association. History of the New York Property Tax. J. C. Schwab, A.M., Ph.D. The Silver Situation in the United States. Prof. F. W. Taussig. Report of the Proceedings of the American Economic Association at the 4th Annual Meeting. 1890. Publications of the American Federation of Labour Antecedents, Origin, Progress, and Aims of the American Federation of Labour. (Leaflet.) President Gompers’ Report to the Eleventh Annual Convention of the Federation of Labour. Trade Unions. William Trant, M.A. Discussion at the Tenth Annual Convention of the Federation of Labour. Appeal to Local, National, and International Trade Unions. (Leaflet.) Report of Proceedings at the Tenth Annual Conven- tion. Report of Proceedings at the Eleventh Annual Con- vention. Directory of National and International Trade Unions. (Leaflet.) (2 copies.) Appeal to the Wage-workers of all Countries. (Leaflet.) (3 copies.) Annual Report of the Legislative Committee. The Eight Hour Primer. G. McNeil. The Economic and Social Importance of the Eight Hour Movement. G. Gunton. Histoi-y and Philosophy of the Eight Hour Move- ment. Lemuel Dari-yid. The Condition of Women Workers. Ida M. Yan Etten. Reports of American Federation of Labour, 1881 to 1889. Official Book issued for the Fourth Convention. Official Book issued for the Eleventh Convention. Papers. “ The Labour Leader.” Boston, August 6th, 1892. “ The National Economist.” Washington, September 17th, 24tli, October 1st, 8tli, 15th, 22nd, 1892. “ The Boston Commonwealth,” April 30th, 1892. f or r : • -J -A >.! • ■' \>? -1 , . ■ ' ■ : 'Olj • i.'.« O • «iw & ' ' k> o'? 1 ,-i .‘V' : ,^9'v^r/, - ' V ; .. ... A- • v‘ ' V' ‘ • •; a- • . : i: :.i \ .; I ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. FOREIGN REPORTS. Volume II. THE COLONIES AN® THE INDIAN EMPIRE. WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE MIGRATION OF LAROCR. UmrnMi to fiotf) i^oujseis of fJarliampnt f>L> (JTommantJ of iHajeotp* June 1892. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE. BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from ~ "RE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C., and 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W. ; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., i 2, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. [C. — 6795,-xi.] Price 2 s. 1893. TABLE OF CONTENTS. THE NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES • THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES THE CROWN COLONIES THE INDIAN EMPIRE APPENDIX ON THE MIGRATION OF LABOUR Page. 5 21 81 96 - 105 - 175 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. 44, Parliament Street, London, S.W., December 23rd, 1892. My Lord Duke, I have the honour to submit to you the report which I have been directed to draw up on the Labour Question in the Colonies. NOTE. The Commission has received a large number of documents from the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office . These have proved in some cases insufficient for the purposes of the Commission , and in other cases too voluminous to make it possible to publish them in the form received. The Secretary has therefore been directed to prepare Reports from these and from other sources for the use of the Commission. These Reports are to be published in connection with the proceedings of the Commission, but the Commission is in no way responsible for the statements of fact or of opinion which they contain. roucneci upon some ot the more salient facts, together with some of the opinions con- nected with the subject, and have given the text of the more important laws which have been passed thereon in those non-European countries from which information has been obtained by the Commission. I am, Your Grace’s obedient servant, GEOFFREY DRAGE, Secretary. To His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., Chairman of the Royal Commission on Labour. U 75209. Wt. 994. A 2 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND THE DOMINION OF CANADA. TABLE OF CONTENTS. DIVISION I.— TRADE DISPUTES BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. A. — General Relations between Employers and Employed ------ 1. Employers’ associations ------- 2. Labour organisations - -- -- -- -- - B. — Causes of Strikes -------- 1. Wages ------------ a. Advance or redaction ------- b. Infrequent payment --------- c. Method of payment ------- d. Fines or other deductions - - - - - • - 2. Hours ---------- a. Normal hours - -- -- -- - b. Reduction of hours ------- c. Overtime and night work --------- d. Irregular work and holidays ------- 3. Difficulties connected with labour organisations ------ C. — Development, Organisation, and Conduct of Strikes 1. Details concerning strikes -------- 2. Picketing and blacklisting - -- -- -- -- D. — Cost and General Result of Strikes ...... E. — Prevention and Settlement of Strikes ------- 1. By arbitration ----------- 2. By conciliation -------- page - 5-6 5 5 - 6-7 6 6 6 6 -6 6 6 7 7 7 7 - 7-8 7 7 8 8 8 8 DIVISION II.— CONDITIONS OF LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. A. Mining, Iron, Engineering, Hardware, Shipbuilding and Cognate Trades 1. Mining --------- 2. Iron works - -- -- -- -- -- 3. Stationary engineers - -- -- -- -- 4. Shipbuilding -------- B. — Transport and Agriculture --------- 1. Railway service --------- 2. Street railways ----------- 3. Dock and riverside labour ------- 4. The shipping industry --------- 5. Fisheries ------------ 6. Agriculture -------- C. — Textile, Clothing, Chemical, Building and Miscellaneous Trades - 1. Labour of women and children -------- 2. Factory inspection ---------- 3. Textile and clothing industries ------ 4. The building trades --------- 5. The lumber industry - - 6. Printers ----------- 7. Cigar makers -------- 8 9 9 9 - 9-11 9 10 10 10 10 10 - 11-12 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 DIVISION III.— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — Co-operation and Profit Sharing ----------12 B. — Foreign and Convict Labour - - - 12-13 C. — Condition of the Labouring Classes in the Dominion of Canada - - - - 13 APPENDIX A,— TEXT OF ARBITRATION ACTS - - 14-17 APPENDIX B.— AGRICULTURE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA ----- - 17-18 APPENDIX C.— BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS BEARING ON LABOUR QUESTIONS IN CANADA AND NEWFOUNDLAND NOW IN THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL COM- MISSION ON LABOUR --------- 18 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 1. Employ- ers’ Associa- tions. 2. Labour organisa- tions. I.— TRADE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. A. — General Relations between Employers and Employed. Such unfriendly relations between employers and employed as exist in the Dominion of Canada are attributed in the Report of the Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital, appointed in 1886, to the Yery rapid growth of the factory system since the introduction of the protective tariff in 1879. This report states that ‘ 1 in acquiring the industries at one “ bound, we have also become possessed just as quickly “ of the evils which accompany the factory system,'’ and again, that “there seems to be no idea of any “ obligation existing between the employer and his “ operatives, any more than the mere payment of “ wages.” The Commissioners also mention that a number of witnesses refused to permit the publication of their names and alleged as a reason their fear of being dismissed or blacklisted. Though the Commis- sion are of opinion that the majority of employers were quite willing that their hands should testify, yet the evidence taken sufficiently establishes the existence of the practice of blacklisting amongst Canadian manu- facturers (see p. 8). On the other hand the Report of the Ontario Bureau of Industries for 1889 states that the greater part of its agents speak of the general relations between employers and employed as most harmonious, and although as a rule the employed are more desirous of submitting disputed questions to arbitration than the employers, yet both parties show an increasing willingness to employ some form of con- ciliation. (') A number of employers’ associations have been formed in the Dominion of Canada. Some of them aim only at protecting the interests of employers from aggression on the part of those whom they employ, whilst others are more of the nature of the “ ring ” or “ trust,” and aim at maintaining prices and restricting competition. To the first class belongs the Association of Master Carpenters of Toronto, which, according to the evidence of one witness, aimed at destroying any union on the part of the men. A Builders’ Exchange was organised at London, Ontario, to con- sider the best means to be adopted towards men on strike, and the United Business Men’s Association of Chatham was organised to check the strength and power of the Knights of Labour. There is also in Quebec a Master Printers’ Association which was organised during a strike amongst printers. A com- bination amongst box manufacturers in Toronto was declared by a journeyman box-maker to have had a different object. The employers’ combination induced the men to join a labour organisation, and then circulated a statement that owing to the existence of this organisation there had been a rise in wages, and that the price of boxes would therefore be raised. They then discharged a number of the employes, whose places they were able to supply by the use of improved machinery. Other examples of associations of employers whose object is the mainten- ance of prices are the Cotton Manufacturers’ Associa- tion for the Dominion of Canada, the wholesale Grocers’ Association of Montreal, with various branches, the Undertakers’ Association of Montreal, and the Sugar Combination which has a Dominion guild and sub- ordinate branches. This trust provides the Canadian refiners with a list of the names of persons to whom they may sell. It is connected with the Grocers’ Association and controls the market, but the prices which it has fixed have not been exorbitant. ( 2 ) Indeed, the Canadian Law provides for the punishment of “ un- due ” exactions in prices, or “ undue ” compulsion brought to bear upon competitors in trade, and the in- terpretation of the word “ undue ’’ is left to the court. Canadian employers as a whole do not appear to be hostile to labour organisations, though there are a few instances in which workmen have been obliged to sign 0) Report: of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 7, 78, 87, 111. Report of the Ontario Bureau of Indust-iies, 1889, pp. 21, 22. ( 2 ) Evidence Riven before the Royal Commission on Labour, Ontario, pp. 82, 128, 263, 297, 363, 438, 620, 880, 1002 ; Quebec, pp. 612, 055, 929. Report of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 130-135. “ Trusts in the United States ” by Professor Jenks in the “ Economic Journal ” for March, 1892. documents pledging thomselves not to join any union of the kind. The Royal Commission is of opinion that since trade unions are legalised by the laws of the Dominion, any contract which binds the workman to abstain from attaching himself to one of these organisa- tions ought to be declared void and of no effect by law. The superintendent of the Toronto Street Railway stated in evidence before the Commission that “ before secur- “ ing work from the company men had to sign a paper “ pledging themselves that they will not join any “ labour organisation while in the employ of the com- “ pany.” He also said that “ the company had no “ objection to men belonging to anything but labour “ organisations.” Some employers, when asked if they would employ members of labour organisations, refused to answer the question, but on the other hand several expressed a conviction that the action of the unions was beneficial to trade. ( 3 ) The Royal Commission stated in 1889 that associa- tions of working men had spread very rapidly of late years, but the reports of the Ontario Bureau of Industries for 1888 and 1889 speak of a decrease. In 1888 there is said to be a decadence in numbers and energy at several places in the province, and a marked increase at three. In 1889 labour is said to be no longer organised to the same degree as prevailed a few years previously. ( 4 ) Besides the trades unions strictly so called, the Order of the Knights of Labour, which originated in the United States, has many adherents in Canada and has organised a number of local and district assemblies. The Patrons of Husbandry, or Grangers, who also belong to the United States, have at least one Canadian grange remaining at Southwold in Ontario. Some of the trades unions, as, for example, the Brotherhood of Carpenters, are branches of unions which have their head-quarters in the States, and the English unions of the Amalgamated Engineers and tho Amalgamated Carpenters have Canadian branches. The most highly organised and effective amongst the trade unions is that of the iron moulders, which has branches throughout the Dominion. The builders’ labourers and the painters are well organised, and there is a strong union amongst ship labourers, whose bye-laws have given great dissatisfaction to the merchants of Quebec ( see p. 10J. The Typographical Union has also considerable influence. The Ontario Bureau reports that, though attempts are made from time to time to introduce the principles of unionism amongst women, these attempts have met with very partial success. Hamilton and Toronto were the only two places in 1888 in which there were organisations composed exclusively of women, and in 1889 Toronto appears alone. These organisations are branches of the Knights of Labour, and some of the “mixed assemblies” belonging to this Order reckon women amongst their members. ( 5 ) Employers display more hostility towards the Knights of Labour than towards the older unions, though the testimony of the various witnesses tends to show that both the old and new labour organisations alike seek to substitute a peaceable method of settling disputes for the strikes and lock-outs which have hitherto prevailed. The report of the Royal Commission speaks warmly of the influence for good exercised by labour organisations in this matter, as well as of the benefits which they secure to their members. “ Slowly but surely are capital and “ labour becoming drawn more closely together as the “ aims and principles of united labour are better under - “ stood.” They state further that “ where labour organi- “ sations existed, very many of the largest employers of “ labour have endorsed what the men have stated in “ reference to their desires in this respect.” As regards the benefits which these organisations confer upon their members, the Commission is of opinion that their existence raises the rate of wages and maintains it throughout the year. ( 3 ) Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 80, 98, 111. Report, of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 134, 135. ( 4 ) Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, p. 16 ; 1889, p. 23. Report of Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, p. 82. ( 5 ) Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 16, 17 ; 1889, pp. 23-26. Evidence Riven before the Royal Commission on Labour : Ontario, pp. 260, 955, 395-398, 507, 794 ,865 ; Quebec, pp. 806, 810, 870, 1074, 1089 ; Nova Scotia, pp. 30-38, 102-106, 107-109. A 3 1 Wages. a. Advance or reduc- tion. b. Infrequent payment of wages. Most of the unions possess benefit funds, but very few are willing to make the conditions of these funds public. The agents of the Ontario Bureau profess their inability to obiain details, and many of the witnesses before the Commission express an opinion that such funds ought to be registered, and that the societies ought to have the power to put themselves under the control of the State as in England and France. A few give evidence as to the amount paid by their unions. The Moulders’ Union pay $4 a week sick benefit and $300 to the family in case of death. The Painters’ International Union give $3 a week sick benefit, and to six months' members $25 on the death of a wife, and $50 on the death of a husband. These death benefits are doubled after a year’s membership. Most labour organisations strive to promote temperance as well as thrift amongst their members, and the Royal Commission are of opinion that “in view of the good already accomplished, the “ increase of such societies should be encouraged by “ all legitimate means.’’ (') The Dominion Trades and Labour Congress, to which all the labour organisations send delegates, was organ- ised in 1873 on the model of the English Trades Union Congress. It continued to meet annually until 1877, when a spirit of indilference towards organised labour seems to have affected the country generally. Its meetings were dropped, and no congress of the kind was held until 1883, when the Toronto Trades and Labour Council summoned representatives of labour organisations to meet at Toronto. The next meeting was in 1886, when a permanent organisation was adopted under the title of the Trades and Labour Congress of the Dominion of Canada. Since that time the meetings have been annual, and the permanent executive have been entrusted with the duty of watching over the interests of labour, and of drawing up such petitions to the Federal Parliament, or the provincial legislatures, as seem to be necessary. ( 2 ) B. — Causes of Strikes and Lock-outs. Strikes are, as yet, few in the Dominion of Canada ; such as have occurred have been chiefly concerned with wage disputes. The Ontario Bureau of Indus- tries reports seven strikes during the year 1888, of which five were concerning wages. In 1889 the same bureau reports thirteen strikes, eight of which were for an advance, or against a reduction, in wages. Cotton operatives struck three times during the two years ; in two cases the difficulty arose from a pro- posed reduction in wages, and in the third case the weavers claimed that the “cuts” had been made longer without any increase of pay for the extra work. Fifteen out of twenty-six strikes mentioned in the evidence taken before the Royal Commission on Labour are also assigned to disputes about wages.) 3 ) A number of witnesses stated to the Commission that in the opinion of working men the weekly payment of wages would be for their advantage. On the other hand the Ontario Bureau of Industries reports a grow- ing tendency in the direction of fortnightly pay days, and states that railway servants are paid once a month. Employers urge that the adoption of the weekly pay- ment system would oblige them to keep a larger clerical staff, and would, therefore, involve them in more expense. Saturday is the usual pay day, though some firms pay on Friday and others on Monday or Tuesday. It is not unusual for the employer to retain a sum varying from two or three days’ to two weeks’ pay as security against the men’s leaving the factory without due notice. This is resented by the employes in many cases, for they regard it as a scheme “ to obtain money “ y\ ithout paying interest on it, and to carry on the busi- “ ness with capital belonging to the employes.” A strike took place amongst the men employed in a furniture factory at Listowel, Ontario, to obtain back wages due to them, whereupon the firm made an assignment, and the claim of the employes was paid through the assignees. The women employed in a Quebec knitting factory went on strike because they were asked to do more work for a certain rate of payment than they had been accustomed to do. On this the firm refused to give them the two weeks’ pay already earned which remained (') Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 9, 29, 34, 82, 111-114. Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 16, 17, 130-135, 144; 1889, pp. 23-26. ( 2 ) Report of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1889, pp. 60-76. ( 3 ) Reports of the Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 15, 16; 1889. 21-23. Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889 : Ontario, pp. 120, 178, 239, 288, 334, 338, 636, 679, 683, 795, 823, 1025 ; Quebec, pp. 955, 1300 ; Nova Scotia, pp. 144, 346-350, 416,459. in their hands. The evidence taken at Quebec contains several such instances, and the system of deferred pay- ment seems to be more common in that province than in Ontario. ( 4 ). The Royal Commission on Labour report that through- out the Dominion of Canada wages are almost always paid in cash. The truck, or store system, where it does exist, is to be found principally amongst miners and lumbermen, and is usually associated with a system of infrequent payments. The manager of a large mining store in Cape Breton stated in his evidence before the Commission that the goods which the com- pany furnish to their employes could be given at a cheaper rate, and the result of the system is often to involve the workman in debt to such an extent that, when the long deferred pay-day arrives, the balance is found to be against him. One method employed by an Ontario firm consisted in paying its employes by cheques and scrip, which, if tendered in payment at any other store but the Company’s, were liable to a heavy dis- count. Except in the mining districts of Nova Scotia, however, such instances are rare. There is no legisla- tion in Canada against the truck system, nor are employers compelled by law to pay their workpeople at any stated intervals, but most of the provinces have laws which give mechanics and labouring men a lien upon the products of their labour. In -view of the fact that working men sometimes have difficulty in obtain- ing their rights under these liens, the Commissioners recommend that liens for wages should form a first claim upon a building, or machinery, or any article upon which they can legally be placed, and that in case of the failure of a firm, three months wages of all operatives should rank as a preferential claim, to be settled in full by the assignee before he deals with the accounts of other creditors ( 5 ). The fining of employes is only practised in factories which employ women and children, and though the practice is not widely prevalent in Canada, fihe evidence given before the Commission shows that it is on the in- crease. In two factories under the same management a si4m of $2,706 was confiscated from the employes in one year; this was equal to one per cent, of ihe wages paid and over one-quarter of the ten per cent, dividend paid to the shareholders. The Government institutions are not free from the system. In the Quebec cartridge factory one boy had four cents left at the end of the week and another seven, the balance having gone in fines, and a case was mentioned in the same factory, where forty-five of the employes were fined five cents each for the loss of some articles valued at 50 cents belonging to one of them ; nevertheless the owner did not receive the price of her lost property. Fines are imposed upon railway servants at the discre- tion of the superintendents of the line. In the Quebec cigar factories the system is extensively practised. Coal miners in Nova Scotia are subject to deductions from their wages if the boxes into which they load the coal are not sufficiently full, or if there is more than a certain amount of stone amongst the coal sent up. The Royal Commission recommend that the garnish- ment of wages should be forbidden by law. It is the subject of complaint amongst working men throughout the Dominion, and, when combined with the heavy charges attending the collection of small debts, con- stitutes a serious burden upon the labouring classes. In one case a debt of $4 for groceries was swelled by these costs to $15. The man’s wages were seized at a time when his wife was ill, and in despair he took his own life. In another case recorded by the Commission a debt of $4.50 for house rent was made to amount to $13.18.( 6 ) The rule for mechanics and others having regular employment in Canada is that ten hours constitute the working day. In the province of Ontario, however, nine hours a day is far from uncommon, with a some- what shorter time on Saturdays. The working day in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick seldom exceeds ten hours, but from the province of Quebec much evidence of long continued labour came before the Commission. In some factories, where a number of children were employed, work began at 6.30 a.m., and was continued ( 4 ) Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 188S, p. 9 ; 1889, pp. 2-5. Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 63,’ 64 ' ini’ 102 . ( 5 ) Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1SS9, pp. 13. 80 S3 84, 100-102. ( 6 ) Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889. pp. 11, 73, 79, 83, 91, 117, 118. Report of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. Ill-lie! Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour. 1889. Nova Scotia, pp. 348, 357, 363, 369. c. Method of payment. d. Fines or other de- ductions. 2. Hours. a Normal hours. I b. Strikes for a reduc- tion of hours. c. Overtime and night work. d. Irregular work and holidays. till uoon, the hands resuming work after an interval of three-quarters of an hour, and going on till 7.30 p.m. , or on somo occasions even later, without any further interval. Some Montreal shops employ their clerks from 5.30 a.m. till 10 or 11 p.m., and at busy seasons dressmakers and milliners keep their workpeople from 8 a.m. till midnight. The opinion of the Commission is, however, that these instances are becoming more rare, and that the tendency is in favour of a nine hours’ day. The eight hours movement appears to have affected Canada but slightly as yet, though some of the witnesses before the Commission declare themselves to be in favour of such a reduction.^) The Ontario Bureau reports no strikes for a reduction of hours, whether in 1888 or 1889, but in the evidence of witnesses before the Commission a few such strikes are mentioned in earlier years. One was amongst the working men of Chatham, Ontario, to obtain a nine hours’ day on Saturdays, but it failed owing to the opposition of the United Business Men’s Association. The men were, however, granted a reduction of half an hour. Amongst printers there have been strikes con- nected with the question of hours. One of these, in 1872, resulted in the establishment of a ten hours’ day, and a later strike obtained the nine hours’ day fixed by the Typographical Union. In this case an advance of wages from $7 to $8 a week was also demanded, and in some instances gained. In Nova Scotia the bakers struck for a reduction of hours, one of their chief grievances being the very early hour in the morning at which they were obliged to begin work. Before the strike they began work at 3 a.m., or earlier, and in some cases did not leave off until late in the evening. The hours after the strike are given in one shop as from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.( 2 ) No strikes are attributed to these causes, but night work appears to be no unusual occurrence, even for women and children, especially in the province of Quebec. A worsted factory at St. Hyacinthe is run all night when there is a press of business, and the doors are locked to prevent any of the employes from leaving during the night. Children coming in to the factory at half past six in the evening were kept at work until half past six in the morning, without any interval except a few minutes to take some food. This seems to have been an exceptionally bad case, but the report of the Commission draws attention to other cases, in which women and children were employed until 9 and 10 in the evening, and comments upon the necessity of some legal restriction of their hours. In the milling and lumber industries work is continued night and day, one gang going on when the other comes off, and each working twelve hours. The men in charge of the locks on the Bideau Canal complain of the amount of night work required of them. One man stated that he had worked from twelve o’clock on Sunday night until half past one on Wednesday, with two hours’ sleep, f 3 ) A large proportion of the Ontario factories did not work full time in 1888 and 1889. Many are reported to have been closed for two or more months during the year, and in some cases where they remained open the number of hands was considerably reduced. The closing of the ports by ice in the winter seriously affects the mining industry, and the Nova Scotia miners are anxious to see an increase in railroad facilities for transporting coal. The Saturday afternoon holiday is recognised in some trades, but is often accompanied with the loss of half a day’s wages. In other cases the employes must work extra hours during the week or lose this pay, so that sixty hours is still the usual length of the working week. The movement in favour of this Saturday half-holiday has had most success in Toronto. In the Province of Quebec there are com- plaints that employes have been discharged for absent- ing themselves l'rom work on religious holidays, and the manager of the Quebec Worsted Company admitted that such had been the case in his establishment. The Commission recommend that one day in Septem- ber should be set aside as a statutory holiday and known as “ Labour Day.”( 4 ) (') Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 9, 37,38, 72, 80, 98-100. Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 116, 122 ; 1889, pp. 19-21. ( 2 ) Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, Ontario, pp. 109, 437, 441, 462; Quebec, pp. 923, 976; Nova Scotia, p. 179. ( 3 ) Report of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 96-99, 110-122. Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 37, 38. Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889. Quebec, pp. 1281 et seq. 0) Report of the Royal Commission on Labour 1889, pp. 12, 37, 38, 82, 114. Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 12-14, 101, 102; 1889, pp. 16-18. Three strikes out of twenty reported by tho agents of the Ontario Bureau during tho years 1888 and 1889 are attributed to difficulties with labour organisations, or to similar causes. The first was a lock-out amongst builders’ labourers at Hamilton, following upon a notification made by the master builders that unless members of unions connected with the building trades left their unions by a specified time, they would be dis- charged and non-union men secured. The result of this measure was that the employers found themselves almost without any assistance, and were at length obliged to give way. A strike of a similar character occurred on the Toronto Street Railways. According to the evi- dence of the secretary to the Ontario Bureau of Industry, the Street Railway Company forbade their employes to join the Knights of Labour or any labour association. Two hundred and seventy-five conductors and drivers struck, but the Company supplied their places with new men brought into the city, and the strikers were defeated. This account is based upon evidence collected by the agents of the Bureau from the employes ; the Company refused to state whether or not they had discharged men because they were members of labour organisations. There have been difficulties between unionists and non- unionists, which have originated amongst the men themselves, in five instances. The Ontario Bureau reports a “ riot between union and non-union sailors,” at Collingwood, because the latter worked for less wages. The Toronto carpenters inserted a clause into the demands which they addressed to the Master Builders’ and Master Carpenters’ Associations, stating that none but union men should be employed, and though this demand was afterwards withdrawn, the men insisted that unskilled labourers should not be engaged to do carpenters’ work, and that any man put to such work should receive a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour. The Quebec Ship-labourers’ Society passed a bye-law prohibiting the use of foreign crews in the loading of Canadian vessels, whereupon the Norwegian Consul, Mr. Falkenburgh, instituted proceedings against the Ship-labourers’ Society. They, in return, refused labour to all his ships and practically destroyed his business. A strike amongst stone-cutters took place in October, 1889, because .of the employment of a foreman who was obnoxious to the men, and the Cigar Makers’ Uniun ordered a strike in Montreal to protest against the system of searching the houses of the employes for stolen tobacco. ( 5 ) C. — Development, Organisation, and Conduct of Strikes. The Report of the Royal Commission on Labottr states that “Canada has not experienced the same “ disastrous results from trade disputes as have been “ felt in other lands. Strikes have not been as “ numerous nor as extensive with us as they have been “ with other nations working under somewhat similar “ trade conditions.” This is borne out by the reports of the Ontario Bureau of Industry, which only record twenty strikes in two years for the whole Province. The average duration of these twenty strikes was about five weeks each; one amongst iron moulders in Galt lasted for six months, and many of the men left the town to seek for work elsewhere. In the strike amongst the builders’ labourers at Hamilton the employers were brought to terms by the action of the architects, who began to make contracts with the men directly. ( 6 ) There are complaints both from Quebec and from St. John, New Brunswick, with regard to the action of members of the Ship-labourers’ Society. In the words of one witness, “these labourers have gone on the “ steamer by hundreds, completely crowding her and “ terrorising our men, who have quit work and left us, “ leaving the steamers perfectly idle.” The Federal Parliament passed an Act, known as the Quebec Act, in 1887 to meet such cases; it provides penalties and imprisonment with hard labour for a term not exceed- ing three months for any person who interferes with labourers about vessels or uses threats, but it does not prevent labourers from congregating in large numbers on the wharves near to such vessels. This is done both in Quebec and in St. John, and complaints are made that men are intimidated by these means. During the Toronto Street Railway Strike fears were ( 5 ) Reports of the Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 15, 16; 1889, pp. 22, 23. Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889 ; Ontario, pp. 78, 239 ; Quebec, pp. 129, 1017. (») Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, p. 93. Reports of tiie Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 15, 16 ; 1889, pp. 22, 23. A 4 3. Difficul- ties con- nected with labour organi- sations. I. Details concerning strikes. 2. Picketing and black- listing. 8 entertained that rioting and loss of life might result from the assembling of crowds in the streets to watch the proceedings of the strikers, but these fears were proved to be unfounded. The evidence taken before the Royal Commission in Ontario indicated that blacklisting was practised by some cotton manufacturers, shipowners, cigar manufac- turers, and iron manufacturers, and that a somewhat similar system was in use upon the railways. A cigar manufacturer testified that he knew many cigar makers who had been deservedly blacklisted, and that he kept such a list himself. Railway servants have little chance of obtaining employment unless they can show a certificate from their late employer, and they complain that these certificates are sometimes refused out of personal spite. The Quebec iron moulders testify to the existence of black-lists in their industry, and the Nova Scotia miners declare that miners have been black- listed because they have been prominent in labour organisations.^) D. — Cost and General Result of Strikes. Of the twenty strikes reported by the Ontario Bureau of Industries during 1888 and 1889. eight were entirely successful, four succeeded partially, and four were failures. In the other caset the result was not re- ported. Even where the strike succeeded the loss in wages was often very considerable, and the total loss recorded during the two years amounted to $38,658. In some cases it could not be estimated, because the strikers, failing to gain their point, dispersed about the country seeking work, and in other cases the dispute remained unsettled at the time of the publica- tion of the reports. No details are given as to the losses sustained by the employers, or by the community at large ( 1 2 ) E. — Prevention and Settlement of Strikes. l. By arbi- The Legislatures of Ontario and of Nova Scotia have tration. passed Acts to facilitate the settlement of industrial disputes. The Ontario Trades Arbitration Act was passed in 1873, but has proved entirely ineffective, owing to the introduction of the following section : — “ Section 28. — Nothing in this Act contained shall “ authorise the said board to establish a rate of wages, “ or price of labour, or workmanship, at which the “ workmen shall be paid.” The Royal Commission report that this act has never been used, and recommend that it should be amended or rescinded. In 1890 an Act to amend the Trades Arbitration Act was passed, providing that “ masters and workmen “ making the agreement or memorandum mentioned “ in section 3 of this Act, may by such memorandum “ or agreement authorise the said board to establish a “ rate of wages, or price of labour, or workmanship, “ at which the workmen shall in future be paid.” No details appear in the reports as to the working of the Act in its amended form. In Nova Scotia a Mines Arbitration Act was passed in 1888, which provided for the appointment of two arbitrators by the workmen, and one by the managers ; these three were to select a fourth ; three of the four were to constitute a quorum, and arbitration was to be compulsory. The Bill in its first form contained a clause providing that if the managers did not comply with the award of the arbitrators, they would be liable to forfeit their leases. That clause was, however, dropped, and the managers were made liable for fourteen days’ pay of all the men employed, the men on their side being made liable to a similar forfeiture should they fail to comply with the award. In 1890 the Act of 1888 was superseded by a new Mines Arbitration Act, appointing a board of arbitration, to consist of five persons, two “ appointed by the Governor in Council “ to hold office during pleasure,” and two to be ap- pointed from time to time by the two parties to the con- troversy. These two, representing the employers and the employed respectively, were to appoint the fifth member of the board. When a notice of arbitration has been received, the employer is to pay a sum equal to fourteen days’ pay of all his employes into a bank, and that sum will be forfeited by either party who fails to ( 1 ) Report of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 94, 133, 135. Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889 ; Quebec, pp. 310, 1278; Ontario, p. 78; Nova Scotia, p. 340; New Brunswick, p. 209. . ( 2 ) Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1884, pp. 15, 16 ; 1889, pp. 22, 23. accept tho award. The reports contain no mention of any arbitration in accordance with these Acts, but one' witness mentions that prior to 1888 arbitration was tried in two or three mining disputes, and that the result was satisfactory. A Bill for the establishment of a Bureau of Labour Statistics and in connection with this Bureau a Board of Conciliation and a Board of Arbitration was read for the first time in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia on February 6, 1893, and for the second time on the following day. The Halifax painters claim that they “ invariably go in for arbitration ” before sanctioning a strike ; the strike, therefore, only takes place where arbitration fails. An attempt was made to arbitrate the questions at issue between the Hamilton Builders’ Exchange and the builders’ labourers, but the employers refused to proceed unless the labourers abandoned .their unions. The tailors of London, Ontario, proposed arbitration in 1889, but, failing to come to any agreement with their employers, they went on strike and gained the rise in prices which they desired. In 1888 a strike amongst cotton mill operatives in Cornwall, Ontario, was settled by arbitration, and a similar strike during the same year was settled by negotiation between the two parties. ( 3 ) Besides this strike amongst cotton operatives, several 2 . By con- cases are mentioned in which strikes were terminated clliation - by negotiation or conciliation. The building strikes of 1888 ended in a compromise, and a strike amongst Cornwall weavers was settled by agreement between the manager and a committee of weavers. A strike amongst rivetters at Owen Sound was settled by conciliation, and two more instances are given by the Ontario Bureau of Industries in 1889. The Bureau states that “surveying the whole field, there appears “ to be a greater willingness than formerly on the part “ of both employers and workpeople to resort to the “ more conciliatory modes of settling disputes.” This is borne out by the evidence given before the Com- mission. A very large number of witnesses express themselves as in favour of arbitration, whether voluntary or compulsory. Some are of opinion that the arbitrator in each case should have professional knowledge of the industry concerned ; but, whatever method be adopted, all the labour organisations unite in urging the advisability of adopting the principle of arbitration. The Commission recommend the establish- ment of local and voluntary boards, reinforced by a permanent board connected with a Bureau of Labour Statistics for the Dominion, which should have power to send one of its members to intervene in any industrial dispute. If his mediation is unsuccessful, and his services as an arbitrator are refused, he should be empowered to present a report to the board as a whole, stating the facts of the case and the share of blame which, in his opinion, attaches to one or both of the parties. By these means the Royal Commission on Labour for the Dominion of Canada believe that trade disputes between employers and employed could be amicably settled. ( 4 ) II.— CONDITIONS OF LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. A.— Mining, Iron, Engineering, Hardware, Ship- building, and Cognate Trades. With the exception of some copper and silver mines 1. Mining, at Capetown, Quebec, mining in the Dominion of Canada is almost entirely confined to the province of Nova Scotia. British Columbia possesses great mineral wealth, but it is little worked ; in Nova Scotia, however, where there are gold, iron and coal mines, the industry is of considerable importance. The output of the gold mines in 1887 was 22,280 tons of quartz, yielding 21,211 ounces of gold, or an average of $19-worth to the ton, as against $5 in the Australian gold mines. The wages of the best miners are $1.50 for a day of ten hours, and the average wages are about $1.30. No children are employed under- ground, but a few are engaged above ground as drivers. In the Quebec copper and silver mines the employes ( 3 ) Report of tlie Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, p. 95. Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889. Nova Scotia, pp. 45, 273, 366. Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 15, 16, 131 ; 1889, pp. 22, 23, 70, 73. For texts of the Acts, see Appendix A. (■>) Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 80, 97. Reports of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 15, 16 ; 1889, pp. 22, 23. 9 seem to be well satisfied with the conditions of their labour. They work in three shifts of eight hours each, and earn from $35 to $40 a month. The rate of wages is $1.(55 a day, and the payments are monthly. Boys, who are employed in picking stones out of the ore, get from 40 to 60 cents a day according to their age. Wages are subject to no deduction, but the men sub- scribe to a benevolent fund of their own, which they manage themselves. If there is an excessive amount of sickness at any special time, the firm supplement the funds of the society, (jj In the Nova Scotia iron mines the men are paid both by the day and by the piece. In the latter case the miner contracts to get iron ore out at so much per ton, and the men prefer the contract system, as the wages which they can obtain by it are higher than the rate paid to day labourers. These receive either $1.19 or $1.28 a day, according to their skill. Contract miners average $1.50 a day, and are paid at different rates according to the quality of the ore. The mines are worked by two shifts, each shift being in the mine nine hours. Blast-furnacemen work in two shifts, nomi- nally of twelve hours each, but by a private arrangement amongst them one shift works ten hours and the other fourteen, alternating each week. They also work on Sun- days, but receive nothing beyond the ordinary daily rate. The table of wages paid at the Londonderry Iron Com- pany’s Ore Mines gives $1.62 as the average day’s pay for miners, §1.07, $1.15, and $1.35 for miners' labourers, and 30 or 90 cents for boys, according to age. Firemen get $1.25 and $1.15 and timbermen $1.36. Amongst furnaeemen, keepers get $2.30 for a day of twelve hours, and helpers® 1.25. Gasmen get$l. 80, engine keepers $1.63, and pig iron lifters $1.65 and $1.25. These are the average rates calculated for the three months ending December 31st, 1887. The wages of iron miners, which are paid monthly, are subject to a deduction of 45 cents a month for the doctor, and where the miners live in houses owned by the em- ployers, the rent is deducted before the wages are paid. The men are supplied with coal by the employers at the rate of $2.75 a ton, or, according io the employers’ statement, 25 cents less than the price paid by the public. A considerable number of boys of from twelve to fifteen years of age are employed. (-) Coal miners’ wages in Nova Scotia average from $1.40 to $1.60 a day ; a few of the miners who work by contract make $2, but this is a somewhat exceptional rate. In British Columbia wages are as high as from $3 to $3.50 a day. Boys employed to open and shut doors in the Nova Scotia mines get 45 cents a day, and boy-drivers get from 60 to 80 cents. Contract miners are paid by the box and are liable to deductions for short weight, or for too large a proportion of stone. There is some complaint that the lamps used give insufficient light, and that it is, therefore, difficult for the miner to see the stone. The men in one mine employ a check-weighman on their own account, paying him themselves, and though lie has no legal status and no recognised authority, his presence at the screen serves as a check upon excessive deductions. The miners buy their own powder and oil, in most instances from the companies, and in a lew cases they are expected to deal at the company’s store for other goods as well. Their wages are paid monthly, and, as in the ease of the iron mines, are subject to deductions of 45 cents a month for the doctor from married men, and 35 cents from single men. All miners over age are liable to this 35 cent deduction. Half a ton of coal is supplied to the men for 88 cents, and miners who are not ratepayers are charged for school and poll taxes. The chief complaints made by the miners refer to the inadequacy of the hoisting apparatus and the want of facilities for conveying the men and their tools to and from the mine. Their wages are, they say, often re- duced by their inability to get all the coal which they could cut conveyed to the surface, and they claim that fewer men should be employed, or that additional means of hoisting the coal should be supplied. Entrance to the mines is by n sloping road, and the miners have to walk and to carry their own tools, or else to ride upon the cars provided for the coal at their own risk, as the managers will not guarantee iheir safety if they choose this method of descent. The miners are of opinion that some safe means of conveyance might be found. ( :i ) (’) Evidence Riven before the Royal Commission' on Labour, 1889 : Quebec, pp. 1217-1261; Nova Scot in, pp. Si), HO. ( 2 ) Evidence Riven before the Roval Commission on Labour, 1889, Nova Scotia, pp. 26 -268. ( 3 ) Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 269-308, 335-370, 380-383, 407-185. Journal of the ltoyal Colonial Institute, March 1892, p. 223. TJ 75209. The earnings of puddlers are about $2.50 a day on an average ; they are paid by the ton, and to earn those wages must work from 10 to 12 hours a day. Their helpers receive $1.25 to $1.35; bar rollers get from $1.75 to $2, and train rollers from $4 to $6 a day, but their wages are subject to some deductions for the pay of their helpers. All these classes of iron workers are paid by the piece, but each shift must work for from ten to twelve hours. Amongst mechanics pattern makers get $1.75 a day, moulders from $1.50 to $2.10, machinists engineers) from $1.25 to $2, and general labourers from $1 to $1.25. In all these classes the 'day’s work is ten hours. Overtime for machinists is paid at the rate of one and a half. In the Nova Scotia steel works rollers get $4 to $5 a day, and heaters $2, subject to no deduction, the wages of steel rollers being the highest paid for this class of work in Canada. ( J ) A number of the engineers who gave evidence before the Commission spoke of the necessity of instituting some examination to test the skill of' men employed to take charge of engines and boilers. The presence of unskilled engineers is fraught with danger to the public, and the witnesses are of opinion that all en- gineers should be obliged to pass an examination, and that graded certificates of proficiency should be given, qualifying the bolder to fill posts of varying re- sponsibility and difficulty q 5 ) Ship carpenters in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, receive $2 a day ; in Kingston the wages of first-class shipwrights are given as $1.75, and of inferior workmen as $1.10. Caulkers in Fova Scotia get $2.70 a day, according to the evidence of one shipping master. ( 6 ) B. — Transport and Agriculture. Railway employes complain of the infrequency with which they receive their pay. On all the lines the men are paid monthly, and the companies retain fifteen days’ pay, not paying on the 1st of the next month for the month preceding, but waiting till the 15th. Garnish- ment of wages for debt is, therefore, common, and if it occurs twice in a man’s career, it ensures his dismissal from the company’s service. Freight conductors on the Grand Trunk Railway are paid $2.15 a day, and average from $60 to $70 a month. On the Intercolonial Railway, conductors work from six to seven hours a day and get $2.50 ; some of the oldest conductors also receive an extra $10 a month. Loco- motive engineers on that line get $2.75 a day after six years’ service, their wages being gradually advanced from about $2 a day. Firemen average $1.50 a day, and brakesmen $1.35. The usual hours for railway em- ployes are from eight to twelve a day, though in some cases baggage men and clerks are kept at work for seven- teen hours every day except Sundays. Sunday work is required on a number of the lines, and is not paid at any extra rate. The average day’s trip on the Grand Trunk and Michigan Central railways is about ten hours, hut both conductors and engine drivers testified before the Com- mission that they were often called upon to remain on duty for much longer periods, in some cases for twenty-four or thirty-sixhouis. Avery large numberof railway employes gave evidence with regard to the number of accidents occurring, and to the dangerous character of the present methods of coupling cars and of adjusting brakes. The running-hoards are often far too narrow, and freight cars are not provided with a rail, though the brakesmen have co pass over the tops of them when the train is in motion, and this in winter when the cars are often coated with ice. These dangers, and the accidents which they occasion, call attention co the defects of the law regarding employers’ liability in the Dominion of Canada. In Ontario the “ Workmen’s Compensation for Injuries Act," passed in 1886, affords a remedy in certain cases, but expressly excludes all railways which have established insurance and provident societies, and which contribute a sum in aid of the sick benefits' and allowances of such a society. The sum is not named, and though the Grand Trunk Company does subscribe $10,000 to the sick fund, it would he equally indemnified if its subscription were very much smaller, and the benefits accruing to the members of the Assurance and Provident Society are very much less than the compen- sation which the law would allot to them. The employes \ ) liwuniuc given UtJlortJ TilC pp. 246-252, 257-260, 309, 388- 398. 0 ) Report ol the Royal Commission on Labour, 18S9, pp 105 106 («) Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Labour, 18 Ontario, pp. 910, 998, 1056: Nova Scotia, pp. 227, 228. E/uiiii iftsiun on iuaoour B 2. Iron works. 3. Stationary engineers. 4. Ship- building. 1. Railway service. 10 2. Street railways. 3. Dock and riverside labour. 4. The ship- ping indus- try. on (ho Grand Trunk Railway are opposed to this system of compulsory insurance, whereby their money is deducted and paid into a fund over which they have no control. In the case of the Michigan Central Railway, a division superintendent stated in evidence that wo “ require our men going on duty on freight trains to “ sign an agreement that the company will not be held “ responsible or liable in case of accident to their person “ while on duty in regard to coupling cars. We tender “ to every man who is employed on a train to couple a “ safe made on purpose to reach in and take hold of the “ coupling and raise it up and enter it into the next “ drawhead, so that tho man himself will not have to go in between, and in that case we compel him to sign an “ agreement that he will not hold the company liable “ in case he is hurt in such-and-such duties.” Never- theless on this road there is no insurance system. In other industries the Ontario Act has proved of service, and the Royal Commission recommend the passing of similar Acts in other provinces, or of an Act by the Federal Parliament for the whole Dominion. At present actions can be brought in Quebec under the Napoleonic Code of 1804, which still remains the Civil Code for the province, but the delay and expense attend- ing that mode of procedure cause it to be little used. In the other provinces, workmen are still debarred by the doctrine of common employment from obtaining any redress.^) The average earnings of the employes on the Toronto Street Railway were given by the superintendent. Conductors get $10 for six days' work, or $1.66$ a day, and drivers get $1.50 a day. Stablemen are paid $8.50 a week, and have a certain amount of Sunday work. Labourers receive $1.33$ a day, or $8 a week. The average working day for drivers and conductors is 11^ hours ; though many cars run for longer, the later ones are worked by a second shift of men. Trips run over- time are paid for at the rate of three trips for two. Wages are paid weekly, and the only complaint which the men make against the company refers to its inveterate hostility to labour organisations of every kind. On the Quebec City Passenger Railway the condi- tions are less favourable. Wages even in summer only average $7 a week for drivers, $7.50 for conductors, and $b for ostlers. The hours of work are from lO.y to 111 for drivers and conductors, and though the working day is shorter in winter, wages are then reduced to from $4 to $5 a week for drivers and $5 for ostlers. The last class of men work in summer for fourteen, nineteen, and twenty-four hours on alternate days.(-) Longshoremen, including grain handlers, coal shovellers, and similar classes ol workmen in Montreal are paid at the rate of twenty cents an hour. They have no regular hours, but as it is tne practice of the stevedores, who hire them, to keep one gang at work upon a ship until the loading or unloading is finished, they often woric for very long periods, in several cases from thirty-six to forty consecutive hours. In Quebec, and in St. John, New Brunswick, unions of ship labourers have been organised. Tne Quebec Ship Labourers’ Society lias been, from time to time, in conflict with the Quebec Board of Trade, owing to certain regulations which the merchants hold responsible in part for the falling oil' in Quebec trade. These regulations fix the number of men which must be employed upon a ship, and oblige the owner to retain them all until the loading of the vessel has been completed. Members of the Ship Labourers’ Society must be paid $3 a day, and if em- ployed in the more dangerous kinds of work, such as the loading of timber, $4. If paid by the hour they get 37$ cents for day work and 56.1 for night work, be., any work performed after five in the evening, since eight hours is the limit of the working day according to the Society’s regulations. All the witnesses agree that there has been a falling off in the trade of Quebec, but, though many of the merchants attribute it to tho action of the Ship Labourers’ Society, other witnesses affirm that it is due to the improved racilities for navi- gation up to Montreal, wnereby vessels are induced to unload in a port which is so much nearer to the chief centres of industry than Quebec. ( ;t ) A number of witnesses came before the Commission to speak ol' the necessity of a better system of inspec- ( l ) Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 21, 40, 51, 102-i0u. Report of Ontario Bureau ol'industries, 188s, pp. 89, loa, 121. Evidence (riven before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889 : Ontario, pp. 510, 655, 571 ; Quebec, pp. 501, 626, 1220-1229 ; New Brunswick, pp. 242, 245, 311. (') Report of t lie Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 72, 73. Evidence (riven before the Royal Commission on Labour 1889 : Ontario, pp. 328-335. Report of Ontario Bureau ol Industries, isss, p. 122. lion for vessels trading between lake ports. They alleged that many of these vessels were old and unsea- worthy, and that they were frequently undermanned and overloaded. Many so-called sailors employed on them arc utterly ignorant of tho proper handling of a vessel, and much loss of life has resulted from their want of skill. Better provision is required for the accommodation of the crew ; the forecastles possess almost no means of ventilation, the food supplied is of the worst description, and the life-saving appliances are entirely inadequate. The Commission recommend that the Government should afford legislative protection to seamen engaged in inland waters. The hours during which seamen are kept on duty average sixteen a day. They are paid from ten to four- teen York shillings (about 5s. l$t l. to 7s. 2 id.) a day ac- cording to one witness, and from $1.50 to $3 according to another, most of the seamen getting from $1.50 to $2. The Quebec and Lewis Ferry Company pay their seamen from $12 to $20 a month with board. Ocean- going seamen in Halifax are paid on an average $18 a month to go to the West Indies, and $20 to go to Europe, or $25 if they are to be paid off on the other sided 4 ) The fishing industry is of great importance both in the Dominion of Canada and in Newfoundland. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are the Canadian provinces chiefly engaged in fishing, but at Windsor, Ontario, a thriving fishery was carried on in, the Detroit River only a few years ago. Several fishermen testified before the Commission that it had employed within their own time over a hundred men, and though the number had then fallen to thirty, they attributed this decline to remediable causes, such as the non-observance of a close time and the blocking of the river’s mouth by the nets used in Lake St. Clair. The alewives fishery in St. John, New Brunswick, employs 250 men and boys and brings in $45,000 a year, the shad fishery employs 100 hands and brings in $12,500, and the value of the salmon fishery is $155,000. Halifax is the chief seat of the Nova Scotia fishing industry, but year by year the fish are retreating further from the shore, and it is be- coming necessary to equip all fishing vessels for bank or deep sea fishing. Here the share system prevails, and the catch is generally divided in the proportion of half to tho owners of the vessel, 5 per cent, to the captain, and the rest to the crew. The value of each man’s share is from $200 to $400 for the season. Most of those engaged in the fishing industries are in pros- perous circumstances ; many own houses and property, and not a few have become owners of vessels. Lobster fishing and packing is said to be less profitable than formerly. Men employed in it get from $25 to $40 a mouth with board and lodging, women and boys $12 a month without board, and $8 with board and lodging. Can makers are employed all the year round at $2 a day ; in all cases the wages are paid in cash. In Newfoundland the truck system prevails, and the condition of the fishing population is much worse than in Canada. During the fishing season the fishermen are maintained by the merchants, and the cost of nets and gear is advanced to them ; hence at the end of the season they arc sometimes found to lie in debt to their masters, or, at any rate, to ho entitled to no balance in money. During the winter it is usually necessary for the Government to give them direct assistance, or to institute relief works for their support. lu a recent paper read before the Royal Colonial Institute, much was said of the wealth of fish to be found on the shores of British Columbia, and a scheme is on foot for settling those shores with the Scotch Crofters, who will, it is hoped, be able tc- develop the fishing industry to its full extent. Seul fishing and salmon canning are already carried on very largely, though difficulties with the United States have diminished the catch of seals. ( 5 ) The condition oi Canadian farmers appears on the whole to be prosperous. Prices have fallen as in the United States and in Europe, but the witnesses before (•*) Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889, pp. 88, 82, 110, 125. Evidence (riven before the Royal Commission on Labour, 1889: Quebec, pp. 741 759, 803-807, 870-899. Report of Ontario Bureau of I ndustries, 1888, pp. 119, 120. (fi Report of the Royal Commission on Labour, 1SS9, pp. 81, 108, 100. Evidence given before the Royal Commission on Lab mr, 1389 ; Quebec, p. 820 : Ontario, pp. 851,915, 984, 1030; Nova Scotia, pp. 55, 56, 22s’. deport of Ontario Bureau of Industries, 1888, pp. 137-141. The " York shilling ” was originally tin- Mexican " real ' (or " lit ”). the eighth part, in New York currency, of the Spanish dollar (8$. currency). The United States dollar, now the metallic standard in Canada- is worth 49.316 ) Montrose, “ Trade Unions," 188t>, p. .3. Trades Union Rules and Publications, South Australia. ( a ) Rules of Trade Unions. In most unions some provision is made for the ^ttitude adjustment of disputes. “ Shop committees ” are st°rTkes. S appointed to report all disputes in an establishment to the union, and in many cases, as for instance in the Coal-lumpers Union, it is a rule that no strike may be declared till every means of conciliation has been tried. The later trade unions, which were organised with the special object of dealing with disputes between employers and employed, have for the most part well- defined rules as to the way in which these disputes shall be conducted. It is usual to prohibit members from striking until a ballot has been taken in the union concerned, and in many unions there must be a majority of two-thirds in favour of a strike before it can be declared. Branch unions are forbidden to abandon work without the consent of the general body, and if these rules are disregarded, the off enders forfeit their strike allowance. Other unions, as for instance the Sea- men and the Building Trades’ Council have established boards of conciliation (sec p. 32) ; and where unions are affiliated to some central body, as is usually the case, matters in dispute are referred to the central council, though, except in important cases, this reference is discouraged. In the most recently formed unions, which frequently state that they aim at maintaining “the rights and privileges of labour,” provision for strikes undoubtedly takes precedence of the support of members in distress. No allowances of any kind are made by some, except to members on strike, whilst vigilance officers are appointed to protect members against their employers by interfering if they consider it necessary, or carrying the complaints of members before the officers of the council. Besides providing strike allowances, or sometimes rations in place of money, these unions assist other unions in difficulties with employers, either by granting aid to their mem- bers or by providing legal assistance. The necessary funds are supplied from the resources of the union, supplemented by contributions from other unions and a levy, usually limited to 5s., or to a fixed pro- portion of wages,- from members in work. As a means of making strikes effective, some unions, such as those of the Shearers, Miners, Smelters, Draymen, Trollymen, and Carriers, and Colliery and Marine Engineers, as well as the Co-operative Journeymen Bakers’ Society of South Australia, and the Limited Co-operative Bricklayers’ Trade Society of New South "Wales, impose a fine upon members who work with non -unionists. ( 2 ) Women in Australia have been slow to form them- 6 . Amcr.gs 6elves into organisations, partly owing to the strong womeri - opposition which they have had to encounter from their employers, and the serious consequences to them- selves which have often ensued. Mrs. Powell, a witness examined by the New South Wales Commission on Strikes, said that the President of the Tailoresses’ Union in Sydney had been discharged owing to her position in the organisation, and that girls were in consequence afraid to become members. In most of the large towns, however, there are now one or more unions amongst women, for the most part connected with the clothing trades. In Dunedin, a Tailoresses’ Union was the out- come of an inquiry into alleged cases of sweating made by a commission appointed by the “Daily Times.” Much difficulty was experienced in obtaining the recog- nition of employers, but this has now been surmounted on condition that the scale of charges should be drawn up by a joint committee of employers and employed, The union has now four branches and a membership of 900 ; it aims at embracing all the female workers in Dunedin, and establishing similar unions in other towns of New Zealand. There is also a trade union in South Australia embracing female workers in all branches of labour. Its principal object is to arrange for an amicable settlement of disputes by reference to a board of conciliation, composed of two representative members from each factory in the trade and one repre- sentative of each firm.) 3 ) The need for mutual support does not, as a rule, arise tionsofem among employers until powerful unions have been ployers. ( 3 ) Otago “Daily Times,” January 28, IS 89 - Report on Sweating System in Dunedin, 1889, p. 24. " Some Account of the Origin and History of the Tailoresses’ Union” (MS.) Rules of Unions. 23 formed amongst their employes. The frequent trade disputes which result call for combined action and a consistent policy on the part ol employers, and it will bo found that almost all employers’ associations in Australia were formed during a period of struggle, with the object of arriving at a settlement of trade dis- putes. Thus in the pastoral industry unions were only formed amongst the employers when the Shearers’ Unions had grown so strong as to insist that all shear- ing should be carried on according to the rules of the union. Prior to 1890, there were local associations of pasooralists, but the difficulties of that year (see page 29) led to the formation of the larger associations known as the .Pastoralists’ Union of Victoria, the Pastoralists’ Union of South Australia, the Pastoralists’ Union of New South Wales, and the United Pastoralists’ Association of Queensland. These unions aim at preventing strikes by agreeing amongst themselves upon what they consider to be just conditions of labour, and then ottering their terms for the consideration of the organised employes. Further, the United Pastoralists, as well as Australian employers in general, are striving to maintain “free- dom of contract,” or “ the right of each man, whether “ unionist or non-unionist, to work for whom he likes “ as long and for what wages he likes” ; whilst the labour organisations, on the other hand, are striving for the “recognition of unionism,” which they define as “ the right of any body of men following any trade “ or calling to organise themselves into a union for “ the protection of their rights and interests.” There is also in Australia a Steamship Owners’ Association, established as early as 1878, and representing eighteen companies. Its objects are the removal of hindrances and obstructions in the shipping trade and the advance- ment of matters of common interest to shipowners, as well as the determination of other matters where unity of action appears necessary or desirable. This associa- tion was not formed for the special purpose of dealing with labour troubles. (*) 4. Federa- As employers’ associations were comparatively rare a°Ofein. until the trade unions had established themselves pioyers. securely, and were approaching the period of federa- tion, it soon became necessary for such associations to form federations corresponding to the federations of labour. Hence, inmost of the Australian colonies there are General Employers’ Unions, comprising the em- ployers engaged in different industries. The Employers’ Union of New South Wales was formed in 1888 “ to “ secure to its members the advantage of unanimity of “ action.” Every member pays an annual subscription in proportion to the amount which he pays in wages ; this subscription varies between 1?. and 15 1. Mr. Bruce Smith, a former president of the Victorian Employers’ Union, took a prominent part in organising this union, in the hope that it would afford a means of settling strikes, by bringing together the employers and the employed as members of a voluntary board of concilia- tion eiected by the unions on both sides. Such a board had existed in Victoria in connexion with the Victorian Employers’ Union and the Trades’ Hall Council, or fede- ration of trade unions, and though this board had ceased to exist, the Employers’ Union still remained able to settle strikes by appointing members to meet delegates of the Trades’ Hall Council. In 1887 Mr. Bruce Smith claimed for the Victorian Employers’ Union that it had altered the attitude of the working classes in Melbourne towards employers, and established feelings of mutual goodwill and respect between the two industrial parties, whilst it had averted a number of conflicts by confer- ring with the Trades’ Hall Couucil, and had established a fund which was always ready to assist employers in difficulties with their workmen. Again, an organisa- tion of this kind enables employers to discuss any legislation in which their interests are concerned; thus, the report of the Victorian Union for 1885 criticised the Employers’ Liability Bill then before the Legis- lature, and pointed out that the absence of any restric- tion as to time or any limitation to the liability of the employers would prejudice the interests of its members. In South Australia there is also an Employers’ Union, which, together with the United Trades’ and Labour Council, has settled a number of disputes. Besides the federations of employers in different industries in one colony, there is also a federation of employers in (') " Strikes and their Cure,” New South Wales Employers’ Union, 1888, pp. 10-12, 17, 19. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Precis, p. 118 ; Appendix, p. 132. Report of Con- ference of Employers’ Union, Victoria, 1889, p. 4. Rules of Pastoralists’ Unions and of New South Wales Employers’ Union. OUicial Statement of Pastoralists’ Federal Council, pp. 10, 11, 21. 1 I different colonics belonging to one industry, that of the Pastoralists. The 1‘astoralist Unions already mentioned sent delegates to .Sydney in 1891, who organised a federal council to conduct the business of the industry. The rules of this council provide that if any member cannot settle any matter in dispute with his employes, he is to report the case to the secretary of the council, whereupon the council may appoint the secretary or another member to report on it. No member of this federation may ask an employe whether he is a unionist or a non-unionist. ( 2 ) Similarly, the movement towards federation amongst em ' the employed in Australia takes one of two forms. ' Either unions representing one industry in different colonies become federated, or the same process is repeated amongst unions belonging to different trades in one colony. Thus, on the one hand, there are the Federated Seamen’s Union of Australia, the General Labourers’ Union of Australia, called also the Australian Workers’ Union, and including men and women alike, and the Amalgamated Shearers’ Union ; whilst, on the other hand, we have the Trade and Labour Councils of New South Wales and of South Australia, the Trades’ Hall Council of Victoria, and in Queensland the Australian Labour Federation. The New South Wales Trade and Labour Council was established in 1871. About a hundred unions are affiliated to it, and the subscription is 1*'. 4 d. a year from each affiliated member. The council chiefly concerns itself with the settlement of disputes, but expects each affiliated union to endeavour to settle every question for itself without referring it to the council. The final step in the process of federation was taken in 1891 , when a scheme was drawn up for the constitution of the Australian Federation of Labour. Since 1883 annual meetings have been held between representatives of the most important trade societies, under the name of the Intercolonial Trades Union Con- gress. At this congress questions aff ecting labour were discussed and resolutions adopted to guide the action of the different societies, but it was felt that more could be accomplished by a closer system of federation, and at the congress held at Ballarat in 1891, a scheme was drawn up, prefaced by the following declaration: — “ The last great struggle has taught us that under our “ present system a single union or sectional gioup of “ unions might at any time involve every union in “ Australasia in what the majority might consider an “ unsought and impolitic conflict : there is no method “ of constant interdependence, consultation, and “ alliance. Recognising these imperfections in our “ present system, the Australian kabour Federation “ (Queensland) convened an Intercolonial Conference “ of Delegates to prepare a basis of federation, with a * ‘ view of formally instituting at the Seventh Trade and “ Labour Congress, an Australian Federation of “ Labour.” This federation aims at improving the condition of labour throughout Australasia, furthering and extend- ing the federation, preventing threatened strikes or maintaining the union involved, securing the direct representation of labour in Parliament, and a better advocacy of the principles and rights of labour through the press. According to its constitution every affiliated union pays to the district council 4cZ. a mouth for each of its financial members ; women’s unions are admitted on half payment. The general council is composed of one member from each district council, and is charged with the furtherance of the objects of the federation in accordance with the rules ; on any question relating to the government of the federation or its rules, a general vote of all the members may be taken. Each colony is known as a province and has a provincial council with rules of its own. The provincial presidents, together with a general president, secretary, and treasurer, elected by plebiscite, compose the executive. Districts may also be organised as shall seem desirable. In case of a dispute it is provided that each union must first endeavour to settle the matter peaceably, but failing such a settlement, it must submit the matter to the district executive, which will act in conjunction with a committee of the union. If a settlement is not arrived at by these means, the matter must be brought before the affiliated unions, and before the district council (*) Official Statement of Pastoralists’ Federal Council, 1891. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Appendix, p. 133. “ Strikes and their Cure,” 1888, pp. 8,10-12, 17, 19. Address of the President, Victorian Employers’ Union, 188?, p. 4. Repwt of Special Committee appointed by the Victorian Employers’ Union, 1886, p. 2. ) Report of Royal Commission on Shops and Factories, Queensland, 1891, pp. 243, 323. 312. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890. Appendix, p. Hi. (■’) Report of tho Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1891-2, pp. 7. 9. 11, 14. Royal Commission on Employes in Shops, Victoria, 1883’, Final Report, p. 138. Report of Royal Commission on Sweating, New Zealand, 1890, pp 10,39, 54. ( 6 ) Report of Royal Commission on Shops and Factories, Queensland, 1891, p. 207. ( 7 ) Report ol Royal Commission on Sweating, New Zealand, 1890, pp. 09, 78, D 2 28 In boot and shoe- making. In the building trades." In the pastoral industry. 1. Influence of the trade unions. 2. History of the great strike of 189'». a. Case of the shearers. In the boot and shoe-making industry hoys are sup- posed to be indentured, since this industry is highly organised and limits the number of apprentices ; never- theless they often throw aside their indentures, and there is no systematic method of teaching them their trade. They wait on the other workers at first, and receive from 2s. fid. to 15s. a week, according to the time they have been employed. Girls enter the trade as “tiers off,” to fasten off ends and paste the parts together ; they receive from 3s. to 10s. a week, and their term of probation is from three to four years. In 1870 the bootmakers of Sydney struck for thirteen weeks because boys out of their time as apprentices were not at once given rank as journeymen. Though the rule of the union is one apprentice to three journeymen it is not strictly followed, and in 1891 a factory proprietor, who had an excess, was asked to reduce the number. lie refused and was supported in his refusal by the masters’ association ; the union declared the shop “ black,” and a deadlock seemed imminent, when the union gave way on condition that the rule should be observed in future. The operative Bootmakers’ Union of South Australia have resolved that all boys employed in factories should be apprenticed, that the apprentices should be in the number of one boy to ten men, and that if the apprentice be under fifteen when he begins to work he shall serve live years, and if over fifteen four years. A firm, already well known in Victoria as employers of boy labour, estab- lished themselves in Adelaide in 1891, but when they attempted to carry on their business on the old lines the union protested and, as the proprietors refused to refer the matter to the permanent board of arbitration pro- vided by the union, all unionists were ordered to leave the establishment. (‘) The Building Trade Union have endeavoured to limit the number of boys employed and to insist that they shall be properly taught. The Bricklayers’ Trade Society limit the number of apprentices to one for each employer, and fix the term of apprenticeship at four or five years; sons of bricklayers may learn and practise the trade without apprenticeship. ( 2 ) The Shearers’ Union have protected themselves by limiting the number of apprentices, but the pastoralists state that the supply is not adequate to the demand, and that they are greatly inconvenienced. ( 3 ) C.— Development, Organisation, and Conduct of Stjkik.es. Strikes in Australasia are almost entirely directed by the officers of the trade unions and the associated trades. An independent strike amongst unorganised workmen is a thing unheard of, and from lack of funds would have little chance of success. The excellent discipline maintained by the unions ensures the obedi- ence of their members, and there is no record of a failure on the part of the men to come out on strike when ordered by their officers. The progress of the labour organisations towards federation has greatly increased the number of sympathetic strikes, but it has brought with it corresponding disadvantages to the strikers, since a wide-spread suspension of industrj^ and the public inconvenience which it entails are apt to alienate popular sympathy, and the strain upon the funds of the federation, when a number of unions strike together, is often too severe to be withstood. Add to this, the presence of a large number of men unemployed to take the places of the strikers, and it is clear that, in spite of the strength of the unions, many of the conditions of a successful strike are frequently absent in Australia. ( 4 ) The great strike of 1890, which paralysed Australian industry from August to October, originated in a difficulty between the pastoralists and the shearers touching the conditions of shearing. The pastoralists desired to conduct their industry according to rules of their own, whilst the shearers, on the other hand, had determined that none but union labour should be employed. In 1887 the Shearers’ Union first en- deavoured to enforce their rules, and by 1889 relations (‘) Report of Roval Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Appendix, p. 148 ; Precis, p. 259. Report of the Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1891-2, p. 7. Report of United Trade and Labour Council, South Australia, 1891, p. 2. Rules of the Operative Bootmakers’ Union. P) Report of Royal Commission ou Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Precis, p. 216. ( 3 ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Precis, pp. 63, 82. (*) “Strikes and their Cure,” New South Wales Employers’ Union, p. 6. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Appendix, p. 26. between them aud the pastoralists had become greatly strained. In that year a sub-committee of the Pastoralists’ Association of Queensland met a sub- committee of the Shearers’ Union at Blackail, and drew up an agreement, which was, nevertheless, rejected by the annual meeting of the Queensland Shearers’ Union in January 1890. The pastoralists, therefore, made private contracts with shearers for that season, but were alarmed by an announcement made at Young, iu May, by the president of the Amalgamated Shearers’ Union, that the shipment of wool shorn by non-unionists would be blocked. With some difficulty they entered into special agreements with the shipping companies for the shipment of iheir wool. In June a conference of shearers and pastoralists met at Pittsworth to try and settle the matter, and an agreement was drawn up only to be repudiated by the Shearers’ Union as a whole. In July the shearers issued a manifesto, which led some of the pastoralists to agree to employ unionists only, and induced certain shipping companies to declare that they could only ship a small quantity of non-union wool. Further conferences were proposed and attempted at Armidalc and Scone in August, and the president of the Shearers’ Union held an interview with the secretary of the Pastoralists’ Association in Sydney, but without result. The pastoralists asked that they should be allowed to shear under their own agreements at least for that season, but this was refused by the shearers, and as neither side would give way, all attempts at a settle- ment proved a failure. On the day on which this deadlock was announced (August • 8th) a resolution was received from the Wharf Labourers’ Union to the effect that ihey had pledged themselves to support the cause of unionism by refusing to handle wool shorn by non- unionists. A number of unions which desired to show their sympathy with the shearers had formed a strike committee, and decided to call out the wharf labourers on the 18th August. According to the statements of the men, notices were posted on the wharves before that date for free labourers at 12s. a day, and this action on the part of the employers brought about the crisis. Difficulties had also arisen in the shipping trade quite apart from the shearers’ dispute, owing to the discharge of a fireman named Magan from the steam- ship “ Corinna.” The unionists attributed his dischargo to the fact that he was a delegate of the Seamen’s Union, and called upon the employers for a conference, which was, however, refused. Great discontent had for some iime existed amongst the marine officers, owing to the lack of accommodation on board ship. In June 1890, they laid their complaints before their employers, and were promised a conference. In July, however, they were informed that no conference could be granted unless the marine officers of Melbourne broke oil' their connexion with the Trades Hall Council, and those of Sydney withdrew their application for affiliation with the Trade and Labour Council. It was alleged by the employers that affiliation with labour councils, and consequent meeting on equal terms with their subordinates, would destroy discipline on board ship, but the unionists regarded this action ou the part of the employers as an attack upon their organisations, and all negotiations were broken off’. In August, therefore, the marine officers struck work, the wharf labourers came out a few days later followed by the seamen and draymen, the Newcastle miners were locked out for refusing to hew coal which they believed to be intended for employers engaged in the strike, arid in September the shearers were ordered to join the others. The strike spread from Victoria to New South Wales, Queensland and New Zealand, aud there was a general cessation of trade. A labour defence or strike commitiee had been previously formed at a meeting held in Sydney on August 1 Ith, consisting of representatives of the Federated Seamen’s Union, the Cooks and Stewards’ Union, tbe Wharf Labourers’ Union, tbe Coal Lumpers’ Union, tbe Trolly aud Draymen’s Union, the Shearers’ Union, the Maritime Council, and the Trades and Labour Council. A brauch committee was also formed in Melbourne. The Mayor of Sydney and other gentlemen offered their services as mediators, but for some time with no success. The efforts of labour leaders were at first directed to keep other bodies of men, such as the gas- workers, from joining the strike, because they feared that the funds would prove inadequate if any addition was made to the number of strikers. 800 men, divided b. Case of the wharf labourers. c. Case of the seamen and marine officers. d. Conduct of the strike 29 8. History of the Shearers’ Strike of 1801. into gangs, were, appointed to watch tho wharves of Sydney, relieving each other evory four hours ; but in spite of their efforts many non-unionists reached the wharves, and were there provided with food and shelter that they might .avoid passing the pickets. Tho unionists were, however, successful in stopping almost all the steamer traffic, and agriculturists wore pre- vented from disposing of their produce. Food became very dear in consequence, and butter rose to as much as 2s. 9 il. a pound. It soon became evident that unless special precautions were taken, great disorder would ensue, and additional police were therefore drafted into the large towns, beginning with Brisbane. It was in .Newcastle that the first disturbance occurred. Here a dray of flour belonging to an unpopular employer was upset, and an attack was made upon the wharves of the Australian Agricultural Company, which was repelled by the police. Special constables were sworn in to the number of 700, and notices posted warning people that intimidation and inter- ference with men engaged in lawful occupations was punishable by law. In New Zealand a run for gold was made on the banks with the view of preventing bankers from assisting employers. As the strike went on, tho indignation of the unionists was continually increased by the sight of vessels loading with the help of non-unionists, and the free labourers were constantly assaulted when at work, or on their way thither, in spite of the protection afforded by additional police. On September 2nd, a gang attempting to unload the “ Chemnitz ” were so severely handled that they were obliged to leave work, and on the next day a party of free labourers returning from work were attacked in the streets and some of them seriously injured. In consequence of this organised intimidation carting through the streets was entirely stopped, and it became necessary for all labourers engaged to sleep on the wharves. In order to break the blockade several wool brokers secured volunteer drivers, and on September 19th nine trollies started from the Darling Harbour Yards with a guard of mounted troopers and police. A dense crowd gathered and a fight ensued, in which the drivers and some of the troopers were wounded. The trollies at length reached the Circular Quay, but there the disorder became so great that the Riot Act had to be read, and the crowd dispersed by means of the cavalry and the police. The labour leaders declared that the attempt to carry the wool was an ostentatious procession certain to provoke assault, but they attributed the attack, as well as the violence displayed on other occasions, to the unorganised mob and not to the unionists. After the attack upon the trollies such disturbances gradually ceased, and the rioters who bad been arrested were sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for terms varying from a few days to three weeks. In Queensland the strike was less serious than in Victoria and New South Wales, because the Queens- land Labour Federation ordered the execution of all existing contracts, and the shearers returned to work after being out only one week. In other trades it was found possible after some difficulty to obtain non-union labour, and by October the str ke was practically at an end throughout the colonies. (') In 1891 the shearing difficulty was renewed in Queensland and New South Wales, and a strike of much longer duration took place. At the end of 1890, the various Pastoralist Unions became federated and drew up an agreement, w r hich was rejected by the Shearers’ Unions in January 1891. The pastoralists, in consequence, procured free labour, and the Queens- land shearers went on strike for a period of five months. In June the Shearers’ Union of New South Wales refused to accept the pastoralists’ agreement, and resolved by ballot to take no part in shearing unless the employers would consent to dispense with free labour. This the employers refused. Victoria remained unaffected by the strike, and in South Australia a conference was called between the two unions, which decided to allow the use of free labour. In Queensland the shearers were enabled to hold out for five months by establishing free camps in the bush, where the men on strike could be maintained at the minimum of cost. Their funds were augmented by contributions from other districts and colonies, especially from South Australia. No measures were left untried to prevent the importation of free labour from Victoria. “ Obsta- (’) “Sydney Morning Herald,” November loth, 1800. Official State- ment of Pastoralists’ Federal Council. Report drawn up by Mr. Allan on tho Shearers’ Strike. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1800, Appendix, pp. 8-10 ; Pr6cis, pp. 27, 84, 130, 137, 138, “ clos wore placed in the way of trains, bridges wore “ weakened, armed mobs of men travelled about tho “ country burning and destroying tho property of the “ pastoralists.” It was soon found necessary to call out tho volunteers, and to draft troops and police to the disturbed districts to protect labourers on their way to work against the unionist patrols who watched tho borders of Queensland and New South Wales, and to secure the property of the pastoralists. At Augathella it was found necessary to read the Riot Act, and twenty-one men were arrested on charge of arson and conspiracy. In many places the grass was fired, fences destroyed, and attempts made to burn sheds and houses ; whilst at Barcaldine a thousand armed men were encamped, and incendiarism was openly advocated. The correspondence found in the office of the strike committee shows that organised bodies of strikers were told off to arrest free labourers and bring them to the camp. Armed resistance to the Government was advocated as preliminary to a general revolution throughout Australasia, and attempts were made to bring the railway servants, and even the military, over to the side of the strikers. Throughout March, April, May, and June arrests were frequent. Meanwhile, shearing was carried on by means of free labour, and since the strike could not accomplish its objects and funds were exhausted, it was declared off on June 15th. Iu New South Wales, where the shearing season falls later, many attempts were made to prevent the em- ployment of free labour, but in spite of intimidation and violence, men were despatched from Sidney and Melbourne, and the work was accomplished. The pastoralists, in their official statement, state their opinion that the failure of the strike shows clearly that unionism cannot overcome federation on the part of employers. ( 2 ) Strikes amongst miners have for the most part terminated favourably to the strikers. Mr. Spence, in his evidence before the New South Wales Commission on strikes, stated that out of twenty-nine strikes of which he was personally cognizant through his connexion with the Amalgamated Miners’ Association, only one had ter- minated adversely to the Association. These strikes in- cluded three for shorter hours, thirteen against reduction of wages, and two against the employment of Chinese labour. In 1890 a serious strike took place at the Grey Valley Mines, New Zealand, owing to a dispute abotlt the wages of the hewers. They had formerly received 4s. a ton of “ screened ” coal (coal separated from slack and waste) and now demanded 2s. lOd. a ton for un- screened coal. The Company were bound under heavy penalties to fulfil certain contracts, and therefore agreed to the c hange, but on finding subsequently that the mines were being worked at a loss, it proposed a reduction. Though the necessity of this reduction was proved by an inspection of the Company’s books, the men would not accept it. The Company applied to the Government for release from the payment of a royalty of 6d. a ton due from them, and for free freightage on the railways ; but these requests were refused and they thereupon stopped work. Negotiations were initiated at a general Labour Conference at Wellington, where the miners were r presented, with the result that the hewers agreed to cede 2d. a ton permanently and 3 d. pending the preparation of a report, on condition that no coal should be supplied to the steamers of the Union Steamship Company, then engaged in the maritime strike (p. 27). This steamship company had shares in the Grey Valley mines, and also a prior claim to the freightage of the coal. When, therefore, they had maimed their vessels with free labour and resumed work, they claimed their supply of coal, and notice was accordingly given to the miners. Upon this the miners stopped work by order of the Amalgamated Miners’ Labourers’ Association. As no settlement could be arr ived at, the Company obtained the services of 120 free men at 12s. a day ; but negotiations were then begun by one of the miners, which ended in an agree- ment to receive back any strikers who would apply in person for reinstatement. At the same time the Company agreed in six months’ time to convert the payment of 12s. a day into one of 2s. 3 d. a ton of un- screened coal, and the request of the miners that this change might not be delayed proves that they would not have suffered greatly by the Company’s proposed reduction. In consequence of the requests for special privileges mentioned above as made by this Company ( 2 ) Official Statement ot Pastoralists’ Federal Council. Report drawn up by Mr. Allan on the Shearers’ Strike. “ The Great Shearers’ Strike,” pamphlet issued by Pastoralists’ Association. D 3 4. Strikes amongst miners. 30 5. Strikes in the building trades. to the Government, a Commission was appointed to inquire into the working of the mine, with the result that it declared the concessions unnecessary, since the company could still pay a fair wage and yet work the mines at a profit. The sympathetic strike at the New- castle mines in 1890 has already been mentioned (p- 28). ( l ) In July 1892, a serious strike occurred amongst the Broken Hill silver miners of Now South Wales, caused by changes in the method of payment. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company, which is the most important of the mining companies in the locality, was formed in 1882 with a capital of 320.000J. It has already paid 6,216,0001. in dividends, but though in 1890 the value of its shares was stated to be 10.825.000L, owing to the depression in the mining industry they had sunk by 1892 to 3,120,000k The Broken Hill miners belonged to a very powerful organisation, which had succeeded in securing very favourable conditions of work for its members during the prosperous days of the company. Every man employed received 10s. a day irrespective of his skill, experience, or industry, and though the men were on duty for eight hours, it was alleged that they occupied themselves down in the mine in reading novels and newspapers, and seldom put in more than four hours’ work in the day. Consequently the cost of raising a ton of silver was found to be fifty per cent, greater than if they had worked steadily during the seven and a half hours usual in Australian mines, and the managers determined to substitute a contract system for the method of payment by the day. The announce- ment of this determination was the prelude to a general strike. Pickets of from five to ten men were stationed round the mine at intervals of 200 yards, assaults on the officers became frequent, and for a time no provisions could be taken to the garrison of the mine, or to the houses of the managers. Two attempts were made by the strike leaders to meet the directors, but a conference was refused until the pickets were withdrawn, and to this the miners would not consent. They received the moral and pecuniary support of other trade unionists in Australia, and continued to hold out. After some weeks the company began to import free labour to work on the terms rejected by the unionists, and a special train arrived from Adelaide on September 11th, bringing a contingent of miners under a strong police escort. A large crowd was assembled at the station to receive them, stones were thrown freely, and a few shots fired, and the police were obliged to mount guard with fixed bayonets until the non-unionists had been removed to a place of safety. On the next day a hundred additional police were sent to Broken Hill, and the contingents of free labour which arrived on succeeding days were allowed to pro- ceed to work unmolested. Many members of the union also began to accept employment on the company’s terms, though a minority still held out; by November the strike had entirely collapsed. On account of the outrages committed, the Government ordered the arrest of the defence or strike committee, which was said to have incited the men to breaches of the peace. Six of the leaders were brought to trial in September 1892 on a charge of inciting to riot, and condemned to imprisonment with hard labour for terms varying from three months to two years. These sentences were received with great indignation by unionists throughout the colonies, and it was proposed to send a deputation to Sir George Dibbs, Premier of New South Wales, to demand the release of the convicted strikers. Sir George Dibbs, however, refused to entertain any such proposal, and when a deputation of members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly actually waited upon the Minister of Justice, the Minister declined to comply with any request for the release of the prisoners. A demonstration held at Sydney also proved a complete failure. When the condemnation of their leaders was announced, the miners organised a night attack upon the non-unionists and the police, but they were repelled, and thirty- six of their number were arrested. It was estima- ted that the strikers lost 270,0001. in wages, whilst a large number were left out of employment at the end of the strike, and the mine owners emancipated themselves from the necessity of employing unionists only.( 2 ) Several strikes have taken place from time to time in the building trades. At a period of depression in (‘) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South “Wales, 189o, Precis, pp. 25, 26, 220. Report of Commission on Grey Valley Coal Mines, 1891, pp. 7-12. “ Sydney Morning Herald,” November 10, 1S90. ( 3 ) Contemporary Accounts in the English Press : “ Times,” Septem- ber 8th, 12th, loth, 17th, October 31st, 1892 ; “ Leeds Mercury,” Novem- ber 1st, 1892 ; “ Pall Mall Gazette,” October 31st, 1892 ; “ Echo,” October 31st, 1892 ; “People,” November 13th 1S92. Sydney, the wages of carpenters were reduced from 10s. to 9s. a day ; when they demanded a return to the old rate it was refused, and they struck for six weeks. Finally a conference was held, and a satisfactory con- clusion was reached. In 1890 the Masons and Brick- layers’ Union of South Australia secured a daily wage of 10s. for masons and bricklayers and 7s. for labourers by means of a strike, and in the same year the Sydney plasterers struck for a return to an old rate of wages. They were, however, obliged to give way, owing to the influx of new labour to take their place. ( 3 ) The existence of the practice of picketing in Australia is sufficiently proved by the details already given of the strikes of 1890, 1891, and 1892. With regard to the strike of 1890, it was said by papers taking the em- ployers’ side that the majority of the draymen and trollymen of Sydney did not at all desire to leave work, but that they were compelled to do so by the strong pressure brought to bear on them by other unions, and by threats of personal violence. Again, in l ho case of the Queensland shearers in 1891, it was said that many joined in the strike, or were forced into the union, much against their will, and that many stole from the camp at night and made their way unobserved to some pastoralist, with whom they could find employment. The Barcaldine strike committee were arrested in March, 1891, and brought to trial at .Rockhampton in May of that year, on the charge of conspiracy by threats, intimidation, and violence to induce labourers to “ depart from their hire, labourers to join the union, “ masters to reduce the number of their labourers, and “ masters to change the description of their labourers.” These acts were penal under an old statute, 6 George IV., repealed in England but technically still in force in the colonies. This Act really embodies the Common Law on the subject of threats and violence to workmen and others arising out of trade disturbances, and merely enables justices of the peace to deal summarily with such offences. The offences with which the ipembers of the committee were charged existed, therefore, indepen- dently of the Act, and were penal at Common Law. The members of the committee were convicted and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, as well as ordered to enter into recognisances for good behaviour for another year. Other less important offenders were condemned to shorter periods of imprisonment or fined. Beyond certain charges brought against employers of discharging female employes in the clothing trades because of their connexion with labour organisations, there is little evidence of black listing in Australia, but the labour organisations are loud in their complaints of the severity of the sentences passed upon strikers, and of the partiality of magistrates in a country “ ruled by wealth. ”(■') D. — Cost and General Result of Strikes. The Amalgamated Miners’ Association have been especially successful in the conduct of strikes, and have indeed only failed in one out of twenty-nine cases. Though other unions have been less fortunate, it may be said on the whole, that in the majority of cases the strikers have succeeded in securing part, if not the whole, of their demands. In a large number of industries strikes to obtain shorter hours have been successful, and again strikes to secure the right to form a union, or to raise wages, or to limit the number of apprentices have generally succeeded. On the other hand strikes to prevent the employment of non-unionists have for the most p3rt proved failures, and have only served to weaken the unions engaging in them. This was especially the case with the great strikes of 1890 and 1891, in which the unions were entirely defeated on the question of the employment of non-union labour. Indeed the testimony of employers is almost unanimous in declaring that since these strikes they have enjoyed graeter freedom in regulating the conditions of their business than almost ever before. Mr. Gain, a steve- dore, stated in evidence before the Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, that since the strike he had never inquired whether a roan was a unionist or not, and that he could now dismiss any defaulter without fear of losing the gang. Another employer stated that he had now complete freedom as to whom he should employ, whilst the Union Steamship p) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes. New South Wales, 1890, PrOeis, pp. 93. 221. Report of United Trades and Labour Council, South Australia, 1890, p. 8. (9 “Sydney Mornins Herald, November 10, 1890. Report drawn up hv Mr. Allan on the Shearers’ Strike. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Appendix, p. 11. 6. Picketing and black- listing. 1. General results. 31 2. Financial results. X. Boards of conciliation and arbitra- tion. a. Complete federation a necessary preliminary. Company have gone so far aS to say that they will employ no union labour. The chairman of the Steam- ship Owners’ Association testified that since tho strike captains have found their orders more readily and cheerfully obeyed, whilst, as far as the pastoral industry is concerned, the latest shearing agreements contain no word as to the employment of non-union or union labour. (‘) But whilst the strikes of 1890 and 1891 have secured to the employers the right to control their own business, the financial results have been disastrous to the em- ployers as well as to the employed and to the community at large. Wages were reduced in several industries, as for instance amongst seamen from Is. 6cl. to Is. an hour for overtime, and the number of men employed upon vessels has been considerably diminished. Further, the shock to public confidence caused a de- pression of trade. The rate of interest fell, and there was no demand for money, nor any capital available to develop new industries and thus to give employment to the numbers of unemployed. The returns of the shipping companies show a decrease in trade, amounting in the case of the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company to 25 percent. Whei'eas in January and February 1890, the Australian United Steamship Company exported 13,979 tons cf cargo, the amount for the same months in 1891 was only 10,717 tons. This company, together with that of Burns, Philip & Co., have laid up ten ships since the strike. A similar depression has affected the mining industry and is attributed by the manager of the Wallsend Colliery, New South Wales, to the falling olf in the foreign trade. He stated that before the strike the miners averaged eleven days a fort- night in full working time but that since the strike the average has diminished to eight. Again, the manager of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney states that since the strike a number of people pre'er the comparative security of a bank with its small rate of interest to risking their savings in industrial enterprise. In short the statistics gained from the issue of notes show that the circulation of money has decreased since the strike to the extent of l,50O,OOOZ. Though it is almost impossible to compute the general loss to the community, it can be estimated from the losses to individuals. These were in many cases large ; in the case of one pastoralist they amounted to 2,000Z. On the other hand pastoralists declare that the firm attitude which they adopted during the strike of 1891 in some measure restored public confidence, and led to the establishment of a more conciliatory spirit between employer and employed. ( 2 ) E. — Prevention and Settlement of Strikes. The establishment of boards of conciliation is continually advocated in Australia, though the utmost variety of opinion exists as to the constitution, methods of procedure, and functions of those boards. Mr. Bruce Smith expresses the general opinion as to the necessity of some such system when he says, “ the cure for strikes “ involves the bringing together the employer and the “ employee and inducing them to resume that relation- “ ship on terms acceptable, if not actually agreeable, “ to themselves,” and again, “the prevention of “ strikes and lock-outs involves the joint adoption by employer and employee of some scheme of reference by “ which, when such disputes arise, the relationship of “ employer and employee shall not cease abruptly but “ shall continue as before, the terms only on which “ that relationship shall exist being meanwhile referred “ to some jointly appointed and approved tribunal, “ whose decision shall be binding on the parties for a “ fixed timc.”( 3 ) A number of witnesses agree that boards of concilia- tion will be most likely to be successful, where both industrial parties are already completely organised (see p. 24). In a presidential address to the Employers’ Union of Victoria in 1887, Mr. Bruce Smith states that the existence of this union has greatly improved the state of feeling between employers and employed, and has led to the establishment of a board of concilia- tion in connexion with the Trades Hall Council, which has been the means of averting many strikes. Mr. Brennan, President of the Trades and Labour Council of Sydney,’ (•) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, 18!t0, Precis, nn. is 20 93. 117, 131, 203, 220 . Olficial Statement of Pastoralists’ Federal Council. ( 2 ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales 180 Prfois.pp. 107, 127, 133, 135, 208 , 200 . Report drawn up by Mr. Alla on the Shearers’ Strike. ( 3 ) " Centennial Magazine,” October 1883. said in 1889 that the only possible way to avoid future conflict was to secure the completo federation of labour and capital. It would then be probable that the two bodies of employers and employed would come to a voluntary agreement, by which each would abide. Again, Mr. Justice Windeyer, speaking in favour of boards of conciliation before the Now South Wales Commission on Strikes, says that their formation would be greatly facilitated by the complete federation of labour and capital. Mr. Lyell, a Melbourne accountant, considered that complete organisation and the better regulation of the unions would put an end to strikes, and stated that the Victorian Board of Con- ciliation failed, because, though it was recognised by the Trades Hall Council, it was not accepted by the subordinate unions, and the jurisdiction of the Council was not strong enough to compel their submission. ( 4 j The Royal Commission on Strikes in New South "W ales, 1890, examined forty-four persons, including both employers and employed, representing the industries of sheep-raising, mining, shipping, building, tailoring, engineering, and iron-smelting. They also examined three lawyers and politicians, three journalists, one judge, one clergyman, one solicitor, one accountant, and one bank manager. Of these fifty-five persons only four declared distinctly that they considered conciliation useless, and these four included two squatters, the chairman of the Southern Collieries’ Association, and a journalist of socialist opinions. They rejected con- ciliation on the grounds that a board would not possess the requisite knowledge, and that it would be better, therefore, for the employer to discuss the question with his men; that it would be impossible to find a chairman to please all parties ; and that there will be no cessation of industrial disputes until the labourers get the whole of the product of their labour. Three other witnesses remained neutral, but the rest, though showing a variety of opinion as to detail, agreed that conciliation in some form or other was a desirable remedy. ( 5 ) There was much disagreement amongst them as to whether the board should be appointed by Government, or left in the hands of the unions. Sir Samuel Griffiths, Premier of Queensland, did not believe in tho efficacy of boards appointed by the legislature, and Mr. McKillop, ex-president of the Wharf Labourers’ Union, as well as Mr. Johnson, a boilermaker, were of the same opinion. Mr. Thomas, manager of the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company, thought that a Government board would be of little use, and instanced Mr. Mundella’s Arbitration Act to prove his statement. He would prefer a scheme such as that of the London Chamber of Commerce. Only six witnesses were decidedly in favour of a Government board ; amongst them was Mr. Kingston, whose Bill to establish a State Board of Conciliation came before the House of Assembly, South Australia, in December 1890. Wit- nesses, however, who did not wish to have the board entirely appointed by the Government, were in favour of leaving the selection of a chairman to the Governor. The majority of the witnesses advocated the election of the members of the board by the employers and the employed. Mi’. Oliver, Registrar of Friendly Societies, insisted on the value of technical knowledge, and the necessity of a board for each trade, but considered that there might be a permanent board, composed of some 200 or 300 members, with a permanent chairman, and that only such members should serve in each case as were acquainted with the conditions of the industry concerned. Mr. Justice Windeyer also suggested that Government should appoint a chairman with two assessors, whilst the bulk of the members should be persons cognisant of the trade. On the other hand, Mr. Parkinson, a solicitor of New South Wales, was of opinion that the parties would not submit to the decision of a board, where the chairman was appointed by Government, and that both parties should have a voice in his selection. Mr AVilkinson, carpenter and joiner, suggested that the chairman should be selected from the board of conciliation by the members themselves, whilst Mr. Lyell thought that the outside public ought to be represented on the board, and that Government ought, therefore, to select several men suitable as chairman, from amongst whom (9 Presidential Address, Employers’ Union, Victoria. 1887. Report ot Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 189U, Precis, pp. 101, 159, 198, 197. ( 6 ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Conciliation Appendix, pp. 79-81. b. Views of witnesses before the New Sonth Wales Com- mission on boards of conciliation and arbitra- tion. Should the board be appointed by Govern- ment V D 4 32 The relative merits of conciliation and arbitia tion. Should boards be permanent or tem - porary P Should reference to the board be voluntary or compul- sory P Shall the award be enforcad P the board could elect as occasion arose. Mr. Spence dwelt on the advantage of having a chairman with a trained mind, such as a judge of the Supreme Court, but thought it best to leave the selection to the board, as any Government would be open to the charge of being influenced by party considerations. In this opinion other witnesses concurred. (*) Several witnesses were in favour of conciliation rather than arbitration, but in many cases they failed to give any reason for their views. Those in favour of arbitration generally advocated a previous attempt to settle the difficulty by conciliation. Mr. Brennan proposed the establishment of boards of conciliation, and, failing a settlement by those means, of a court of arbitration. He stated it as his opinion that the labour party would be willing to submit to the decision of such a court, and that its existence would have prevented the maritime strike. The court of arbi- tration should be composed of three judges or three impartial persons. Mr. Davis, a sailor, suggested that a judge of the Supreme Court should be at the head of the board of arbitration, and that he should be empowered to call in two others. Mr. Long, an engineer, stated than in nine cases out of ten work- men were willing to submit their case to arbitration, but the employers would not consent. Mr. Oliver suggested that in case of a dispute, the president, treasurer, and secretary on both sides should meet and try to settle the matter, and that in case of failure the dispute should be referred to a permanent board, of which these six should form part as assessors. Nine in all out of the fifty-five witnesses were decidedly in favour of some form of arbitration.! 2 ) With regard to the permanence or non-permanence of boards of conciliation, Mr. Bruce-Smith, who strongly advocated the establishment of voluntary boards, dwelt on the necessity of constituting them at a time when no angry feeling had been aroused. To accom- plish this they must be permanent, but other witnesses were as strongly opposed to permanent boards. Mr. Halloran, a pastoralist, said that he did not believe that many disputes would be submitted to the board, since one or other party would probably be dissatisfied with the first award. Mr. Oliver would prefer a permanent board as described above, whilst Mr. Parkinson proposed as a compromise that Government should appoint a paid chairman to hold office for five years, and that the rest of the board should be elected as occasion arose/ 3 ) Mr. Bruce Smith was of opinion that a compulsory Government board would be of little use, as even if its awards were enforced, they would be carried out with such reluctance that little result would be obtained. He would have boards established by federations on each side, to which reference should be voluntary. Mr. McKillop also thought that when one side could compel the other to come before a board, its decision would be of little value, and that the con- sent of both parties should be a necessary preliminary. Mr. Spence held iD the same way that unions should reserve the power of refusing to come before the board. Mr. Thompson, a mining agent, stated that if a court of arbitration was to be of practical use, it should be able to compel disputants to come before it, whilst Mr. Barton was in favour of a Government board, but thought that it should only act on the request of both parties. ( 4 ). Most of the witnesses were in favour of making the award compulsory, whilst some were confident that if the court were fairly appointed, no penalty would be needed to enforce its decision. Mr. Nicholson, general secretary to the Southern Miners, thought that the moral effect of an award would be sufficient, and that unions would not support members who refused to abide by it. Mr. Armstrong, an officer of the Stewards’ and Cooks’ Union, corroborated this view. On the other hand, Mr. Oliver held that boards should be empowered to make a levy on the funds of a union, whenever a dec : sion was not observed, whilst Mr. Burster, who represented the building trades, held that reference to the Board should be free, but that the award should be enforced by penalties against any party refusing compliance. ( 5 ) The Royal Commission on Strikes for New South Wales conclude from the evidence thus brought before them, and from the information obtained as to arbi- tration in other parts of the globe, that the difficulty in the way of one board is that those persons best qualified by nature for conciliation are not always equally well qualified for arbitration. An arbitrator must possess special judicial ability, but it i3 impossible to have a purely judicial court, since, if acquiescence in the award is to be voluntary, it is important that the court should be so constituted as to meet with the approval of the contending parties. Hence both em- ployers and employed must bo represented, and if so, the need for two boards becomes weakened, since that form of constitution is also fitted for the board of con- ciliation, and it is further inadvisable to be at the trouble and expense of going through the details of the cases a second time. On the whole, therefore, they recommend the formation of a single board elected from employers and employed, with a chairman ap- pointed by Government, which should only resort to arbitration, if all previous attempts to settle the diffi- culty by conciliation proved a failure. In cases of technical difficulty three experts chosen by each party might sit as assessors. ( 6 ) Boards of conciliation in connexion with trade unions have existed in several industries for many years. The Federated Seamen’s Union drew up a scheme for such a board, which was accepted by the Australasian Steam- ship Owners’ Association in 1884. The board consisted of four members elected by the Owners’ Association and four by the Seamen’s Union, with the addition of a chairman elected by the eight other members. Any decision given by the board might be appealed against after six months had elapsed, a month’s notice of such an appeal having been given. In case of failure to come to an agreement, the board is empowered to appoint two arbitrators. In 1886 the union refused to submit a case to the board, and the owners declared the agreement broken. The Boot Manufacturers’ Association and the Operative Boot Makers’ Union of South Australia have established a board of conciliation consisting of five employers and five employes elected by their respective associations for twelve months at a time. At the first meeting the members elect a president and vice-president from amongst themselves. When any members are absent from one side a corresponding number must refrain from voting on the other, and when the voting on any particular case is equal, a referee may be appointed, who must have the votes ol two-thirds of the board. A board of conciliation also exists in connexion with the Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners. Five workmen members meet five em- ployers and endeavour to arrange a settlement ; the union’s report for 1890 shows that some thirty disputes were settled in that year. In the building trades, if an isolated union fails to settle its difficulties by sending a deputation to the employer, the matter may be referred to arbitration, or to a board of conciliation ; where this course is not adopted, or where it proves a failure, a ballot is taken to test the wishes of members in regard to a strike. The conciliation board connected with the Building Trades Council and the Contractors’ Associa- tion put an end to a strike which arose during the building of the Hotel Australia, owing to an alteration in the hours of work without due notice. After hearing the representations of the board, the contractor agreed to defer the change for seven days ; when the men returned to work, however, he reduced this period of notice to forty-eight hours. (') Where no regular board of conciliation has been established, differences are sometimes adjusted by con- ferences between the two parties. In 1873 the master printers of Victoria entered into an agreement with t&eir employes to hold a series of conferences at regular intervals with satisfactory results. The demands ot the beamen’s Union in New South Wales weie met by a conference in 1890, and a further conference was held in September of that year between the marine engineers Shall thoro be two boards or one? e. Concilia- tion in con- nexion with trade unions. d. Con- ferences between em- ployers and labour or- ganisations. ( l ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890 : Conciliation Appendix, pp. 80, 81. Precis, pp. 47, 73, 154, 180. 280. (*) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1800 Conciliation Appendix, pp. 70-81. Prdeis, pp. 75, 79, 204. ( s ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890 : Prdcis, pp. 73, 80, 181. “ Strikes and their Cure,” 1888. p. 9. ( 4 ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890 : Precis, pp. 13, 151, 230. " Strikes and their Cure,” 1888, p. 19. (5) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890: Prdcis. pp. 3. 76, 105, 222. Conciliation Appendix pp. 79, SI. ( 6 ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1S90: P ’ I 7 ) Rules of the Seamen’s Union. Rules of the Boot Manufacturers’ Association. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890 ; Precis, p. 221 ; Appendix, p. 158. 33 e. Inter- vention of bodies repre- senting the federated unions. f. Written agreements. and the shipowners, which for the time settled their differences. (* *) The most frequent method, however, of settling disputes is by the intervention of bodies representing the federated unions in each colony. The majority of unions are now affiliated to some central body, and matters in dispute are accordingly referred to the central council when the lesser unions fail to effect a settlement (see p. 22). It then devolves on the officers of the council to intervene, and, either by sending a deputation to the employers, or by other forms of mediation, to put an end to the dispute. Should these efforts fail, the council again consults the individual unions as to the necessity of a strike. Thus the South Australian United Trades and Labour Council inter- vened in some fifteen disputes of a more or less serious character, and in nearly every instance succeeded in improving the position of their members. In one instance they called a conference and obtained an agreement providing for the closing of butchers’ shops at six on all week days except Saturday and abolish- ing Sunday work, except in the case of Government contracts. In two other instances they obtained re- ductions of working hours for carriers and for iron- workers. ( 2 ) Such conferences sometimes result in drawing up a written agreement as to the future conditions of labour, and this method of promoting social peace is strongly recommended by the New South Wales Commission on Strikes. In most industries there have as yet been no such agreements, and in the few cases in which the custom has obtained, the agreement has only lasted a few years. An agreement, known as the Newcastle agreement, was drawn up between several mining com- panies, united under the name of the Associated Masters and the Miners’ Association of the Hunter River district. It regulated the rate of wages and the hours of work, and provided for the appointment of a referee by the Chief Judge in Equity, to whom all matters in dispute could be submitted. The agreement was, however, broken during the great strike of 1890. Again, when a dispute occurred at the Illawari a mines, a conference was held and an agreement drawn up, which was adopted by the votes of the individual miners. It was known as the Barton agreement after the name of the chairman of the conference, and con- tinued in force for some years. A written agreement, concluded between wharf-labourers and their employers shortly before the great strike, was broken by the action of the labourers, or, as they alleged, by that of the employers, in issuing notices for free labourers before the strike was actually declared. Be this as it may, the action of the wharf labourers, together with the declaration of Mr. Spence and Mr. Brennan that where the principles of unionism are concerned an agreement may be rightly broken, did much to check attempts to settle difficulties by this method. The labour leaders oppose the conclusion of agreements between indi- viduals or between isolated unions and employers, but they regard such a system with favour where federa- tions on both sides are concerned. They consider that the moral obligation of such an agreement would be sufficiently strong to ensure its observance, and that if one union broke its faith, the others would refuse to support it. Mr. Brennan would have conferences held in every industry in December, and agreements drawn up to regulate the conditions of labour for the ensuing year. 8uch agreements, however, must respect trade customs, for, when they fail to do so, difficulties arise, as in the case of the building trades. Here the men became dissatisfied with ihe agreement, and, to test their position, took several cases into court, wheie the judge decided that, inasmuch as the agreement had only been signed by a few representatives, it was not binding upon any except those who actually signed it. Employers, therefore, suggest that agreements should be registered at the option of the parties, and the courts empowered to enforce their observance by means of a fine. Without some such provision these agreements will not ensure the avoidance of disputes, and even then hardship will be inflicted upon the innocent by the bad faith of a few. Still a number of authorities regard this system as the oest means available for avoiding dis- putes, and it has been adopted in the pastoral industry. (') Report of Royal Commission on Shops, Victoria, 1884, p. 31. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890 : Appendix, p. l ; Precis, p. 238. (*) Reports of the Trades and Labour Council, South Australia, 1890, 1891. U 75209. Mr. Kingston’s Conciliation Bill for South Australia, and the New Zealand Industrial Conciliation Bill, make provision for the registration of agreements. ( 3 ) In New South Wales there have been two Arbitration Acts, the first passed in 1867, “ to make arbitration more effectual,” and the second in 1891, to establish councils of conciliation and arbitration in accord- ance with the recommendations of the Royal Com- mission on Strikes of 1890. No other colony has as yet (1893) passed any Act on the subject, though a number of schemes have been prepared, and Bills have been introduced into the various legislatures. According to the New South Wales Act of 1867, when the parties have agreed to submit the matter to arbitration, they may either appoint an arbitrator, or, if they have omitted to do so, he may be appointed by a judge of the Supreme Court. The award must bo made within three months, unless the parties or the court extend the time, and pending the decision, the Supreme Court has power to stay all actions or suits in respect to the matter in dispute. Where application is made, the award may be remitted to the arbitrators for re- consideration. The Act of 1891 divides New South Wales into five industrial districts; in each of these a council of conciliation is to be formed, two members of which are to be appointed on the recommendation of the organised employers, and two on the recommenda- tion of the organised employes. The members are to hold office for two years. If it is desired, special councils, similarity constituted, may from time to time be appointed to deal with special disputes. A clerk of awards is appointed in each district, to receive the ap- plication for conciliation, convene the council, and summon witnesses. This application may be made either by joint agreement of the two parties or by either party singly. In case the council of conciliation fails to bring about a settlement, the clerk of awards must report the case to the president of the council of arbitra- tion. This council consists of three members, one selected from amongst the employers, one from amongst the em- ployed, and the third impartial. The last is the president of the council, and must be appointed by the governor from two candidates nominated by the other two members ; if they fail to nominate anyone, the governor may make the appointment. The members of this council serve for two years, whilst members of the court of conciliation may sit with them as assessors. If both parties agree to the award, it may be made a rule of the Supreme Court on the application of either party. The Act is to continue in force for four years, viz., till March 1895. At a meeting of the Trade and Labour Council of Sydney, held after the passing of the Act, to elect the nominees, a motion was brought forward to postpone such election until a compulsory clause was inserted in the Act, on the ground that with- out such a clause employers would nover agree to arbitration. The motion met with some approval, but was rejected, on the ground that it was necessary to test the Act before condemning it. The board thus con- stituted held its first meeting on October 13th, 1892, when the president, Dr. Garran, delivered an address on the general principles and procedure of the board, and expressed a doubt as to whether it would not be found necessary to amend the Act, so as to render recourse to the board compulsory in the case of every dispute. f) A Bill introduced into the New South Wales Parlia- ment in 1887 by Mr. Carruthers had many features in common with the Act of 1891, but differed from it in pro- viding that only three members should form the board of conciliation, and that these three should convert them- selves into a board of arbitration, by appointing two arbi- trators, one from either party, to sit together with the board. Further, disputes might be referred to the board by the governor, as well as by one or both of the parties involved, if the matter appeared to him to be of urgent public importance. Mr. Dibbs had previously brought forward a scheme in 1882, founded upon the French “ Oonseils de Prud’hommes.” This scheme was pub- lished in pamphlet form in 1890, and proposed that a joint committee of employers and employed should draw up a constitution, to be adopted by employers and by the unions. A council of 12 was then to be formed, half the members being elected from each party, with a chairman elected for a year, who should be an im- partial person and a citizen of Sydney. Pending the ( s ) Report of Roval Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890: Appendix, p. 1 ; Precis, pp. 26, 31, 33, 57, 70, 94, 95, 97, 100, 120, 132, 219. Official Statement of Pastoralists’ Federal Council, p. 10. («) For texts of these Acts, see Appendix pp .50-57. Sydney "Daily Telegraph,” October 14th, 1892. E Legislation actual and proposed. a. Acts, New Sout Wales b. Schemes. New South Wales. 34 c. Schemes, Victoria. d. Schemes ; South Australia. decision of t-lie council, work was in every case to be continued, and the council was only to have recourse to a formal decision when all efforts at conciliation had proved unavailing. In 1887 a joint committee of this kind, chosen by the New South Wales Employers’ Union and the Trade and Labour Council, drew up a scheme which fell through for want of support from the unions. According to this scheme a board of not more than eighteen or less than ten was to be elected by the two organisations, with power to add one or three additional and independent members when occasion arose. Permanent members were to serve for a year, '['he board was to deal only with disputes between members of the two organisations, and could only be set in motion by a joint request of two or more parties entitled to its assistance, between whom some dispute had arisen, which failed to reach a settlement through the respective secretaries of the organisations. Two months’ notice was to be given of all changes in wages, hours of work, or system of work demanded by either party, and no strike was to be declared until all other methods had been tried. (*) A similar scheme was drawn up by the Victorian Trades Hall Council and the Victorian Employers’ Union. It differed in that in this case the chairman was to be elected from amongst the members present on any given occasion, and was to hold office only until the termination of that particular inquiry. Every six months a committee of inquiry, composed of two members from each organisation, was to be appointed to investigate and settle informally any dispute referred to them ; but though at first the system was productive of good feeling between the two parties, it has not proved successful. In 1890 two Bills were introduced, one by Mr. Langridgc to establish an Industrial Labour Chamber, and the other by Mr. Richardson to establish Councils of Conciliation. According to Mr. Langridge’s Bill the Industrial Chamber was to examine into the conditions of industry and to set them forth in the form of a contract to be used at the option of the parties. The Chamber might also act as referee on the application of one of the parties and awai’d costs against either side. It was to consist of a president and twelve members, six chosen by the Employers’ Union and six by the trades unions, and these twelve should choose as president a Judge of the Supreme Court, or a county court judge. Mr. Richardson’s Bill emjiow- cred the Governor in Council to license councils of conciliation on the petition of any number of employers who have carried on trade in a district for six months, or of employes who have worked at their trade five years. The council was to consist of not less than two or more than ten members, with an independent chairman, chosen by the members themselves. Any dispute brought before the Council was to be referred first to a committee of two, one employer and one workman, and failing a settlement, to the council as a wbole.( 2 ) In 1890 Mr. Kingston introduced an “ Industrial Unions Bill ” into the South Australian House of Assembly, which empowered the governor to appoint a Minister of Industry and an Industrial Registrar with the necessary officers. The minister might then cause a conciliation hall to be built for the conduct of busi- ness, the expenses of which were to be defrayed wholly or partly by Parliament. Provision was made for the registration of unions and associations of unions, as well as of written industrial agreements. Such agree- ments when executed were to be binding on the parties for a term stated, which might not exceed five years. A fine of 500L in the case of an organisation, or 50 1. in the case of an individual, might be inflicted for breach of a registered agreement. Public and private boards of conciliation were to be established. The public boards included local boards and state boards. In the first case the jurisdiction was limited to par- ticular industries and localities, and the board might be constituted if “ generally desired” by the employers and employed of six months’ standing in any particular industry. It was to be composed of an equal number of representatives from both parties, who were to elect an independent chairman. In the second case the boards were to be appointed by the governor, and were to be composed of seven members, three recommended by each of the industrial parties and the president chosen by the governor. The governor on the recom- mendation of the minister might refer any dispute to (') Appendix, pp. 50-37. ( a ) Appendix, pp. 57-62. a board, and might also refer it from a local to a state board. The governor was also empowered to extend the operation of the Act to all trades unions in the colony, whether they have registered themselves volun- tarily or not. To enforce the awards, process may be issued against the property of any organisation, to the amount of l,000Z.,orof any individual member I o the amount of 10 1. A penalty also attaches to counselling or participating in a strike, for the settlement of which any board has jurisdiction. This scheme was re-introduced in 1892 with slight alterations. In its amended form salaries for the president and members of the con- ciliation boards were specified, the period necessary for voters to have practised the industry in the given district was shortened, and the governor was given the power to appoint technical assessors when necessary, as well as to compel parties in dispute at his discretion to submit their case to an inquiry, the results of which might be published. Another Bill introduced in 1892 into the legislative council provided for the appoint- ment of a permanent board which should undertake the functions of mediation and conciliation, but which should not give any authoritative decision except at the request of one of the parties concerned in the dispute. Application for the services of this board may be made or not at the pleasure of the parties in dispute.^) A Bill was introduced into th6 New Zealand Parlia- e. New ment in 1892 for the purpose of “ encouraging the “ formation of Industrial Unions and facilitating the “ settlement of Industrial Disputes.” Like the South Australian Bill it provides for the registration of associations both of employers and of employed as a necessary preliminary to any system of conciliation. This registration will render the association and all its members subject to the jurisdiction of courts of con- ciliation and arbitration to be appointed under the Bill if it became law. Councils representing any number of such unions are also empowered to register, and if regis- tered, all the subordinate unions and their members are made subj ect to the jurisdiction of the courts. The regu- lations regarding industrial agreements are the same as in the South Australian scheme, and there are like provisions for the appointment of a clerk of awards and for the convening of the board of conciliation. If this board fails to effect a settlement, it must report such failure to the clerk of awards, whereupon the parties concerned may require him to refer the matter to the conrt of arbitration for a decision. This court is composed of a representative from the employers and one from the employed, with an impartial president, all three appointed by the Governor. It must make its award within one month, and may give costs against either party to a reasonable amount. The Governor may on the recommendation of the Minister declare by proclamation that a dispute is to be referred to a district board of conciliation or court of arbitration, if it appears to him of sufficient importance. The Bill was, however, thrown oitt by the New Zealand Parlia- ment in September 1892. ( 4 ) DIVISION II.— CONDITIONS OP LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. A. — Mining and Engineering. The output from the gold mines throughout the Australian colonies shows an annual decrease. In 1856 the yield in Victoria amounted to 3,053,744 ounces, whilst in 1890 it was only 538,560 ounces in Victoria, 60,000 in Queensland, and 15,000 in South Australia. Efforts are being made to remedy this state of things by introducing better machinei’y and an improved method of crushing the quartz, as well as by the em- ployment of public money in developing new mines. The Minister of Mines in Victoria points out in his Report lor 1890 the great national advantage of dis- covering auriferous leads as a means of giving employ- ment to labourers, and reports finds made by the assistance of loans from the prospecting vote at Ballarat, Beechworth, Castlemaine, Grippsland, Maryborough, and Sandhurst. In Victoria 23,833 men are employed in gold mining, and the average product per miner is valued at 98L 15s. 7 d ; in New Scuth Wales it is only valued at 37 1. 13s. 8 d. Wages vary very much in different districts, but the report of the Minister for ( 4 ) Appendix, pp. 62-72. ( s ) Appendix, pp. 72-78. 35 b. Silver. c. Tin, cop- per, and iron. d. Coal output. Mines in Victoria gives the weekly averages for 1890 as 3 1. to 10Z. for a general manager, 21. 10s. to 3 Z. for an engine-driver, and 21. 2s. to 21. 10s. for a miner. Surface men receive on an average 11. 16s. to 21. 10s., boj's 1 5s. to 21., and Chinese labourers 1Z. to 1Z 10s. (') In 1882 two important discoveries of silver ore were made in the Bathurst and Barrier Range districts of New South Wales; in the second case the deposits extend over 2,500 square miles. In 1885 the Broken Hill Proprietary Company was formed to take over the property of a small syndicate then working the richest lode at Broken Hill. From that time until 1891 the company produced 25,750,000 ounces ol silver and 1,071,038 tons of lead, and paid dividends to the amount of 2,728,000/.., as well as bonuses amounting to 592,000/. During the year 1890-91 the number of men employed in the Broken Hill mines, which are in direct railway communication with Adelaide and are thus of importance to South Australia as well as to New South Wales, was 2,545. (For conditions of labour, see account of the strike, p. 30.) The prospects of silver mining are now attracting attention in Tasmania. Important discoveries have been made at Mount Zeehan and Mount Dundas on the west coast, and the output for 1890 is valued at 26,487/. Silver is also found in many places in New Zealand, but the deposits are little worked. The yield reached its highest point in 1871, when 80,272 ounces, valued at 23,145/., were ex- ported. (0 Tin has been found in great quantities in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania. The New South Wales mines have been worked since 1872, and in 1890 yielded a value of 179,057/. In 188] the output of the Queensland mines was valued at 2,168,790/., and in 1890, at 154,963/. Copper is found in New South Wales, Tasmania, New Zealand, and Queensland, but in the first-named colony its value fluctuates considerably, and in 1887, when the lowest point was reached, a number of mines were closed. Deposits of rich iron ore exist in many parts of New South Wales and are often found in the neighbourhood of coal and limestone, but the manufacture of iron has been comparatively neglected, and the only works are at Eskbank near Lithgow. In Queensland the iron ore is not worked, although the Government has offered a bonus of 5,000/. for the first 500 tons of marketable iron smelted in Queensland from native ore. and again in Tasmania and New Zealand attempts made to work the iron ore have hitherto proved unsuccessful, though a fair amount of capital has been invested in the under- taking. (*) By far the most important of the mining industries in Australasia is that of coal -mining, which is carried on in all the colonies, but especially in New South Wales. The New South Wales coalfields, divided into those of the southern, the western, and the northern districts, cover an area of 24,000 miles, and the output in 1891 amounted to 4,037,929 tons. Victoria produces compara- tively little coal. In 1890 the industry only employed 205 men, and the output only amounted to 14,601 tons, valued at 1,3899/. It was expected that the New South Wales strike in 1890 would give an impetus to Victorian coal mining, but such did not prove to be the case. Great difficulties have to be overcome owing to the dense forests and jungles, and the absence of roads ; but when these are surmounted a great increase is expected, especially in the districts of Korumburra and Jum- bunna. The principal coal beds already discovered in Queensland are at Ipswich near Brisbane, at Burrum, near Maryborough, and at Cooktown ; but these are supposed to form only a small proportion of the coal- producing area. In 1890 the output reached 338,344 tons. The amount of coal raised in Tasmania during the same year was 53,812 tons, three-fourths of which came from the Fingal Mines. It is estimated that the coalfields of New Zealand contain 500,000,000 tons of brown coal, the same amount of pitch coal, and 200,000,000 tons of bituminous coal. Brown coal is chiefly found in Auckland and Otago, pitch coal and bituminous coal in Nelson. Though the importation of foreign coal has not entirely ceased, since vessels returning from New South Wales sometimes bring it in default of other cargo, a considerable export trade is springing up. In 1890 647,397 tons worth 3,362,363 /. (') Victorian Year Book, 1890-1. Vol. II., p. 355.. Report of Minister of Mines, \ ictoria, pp. 7, li t, 110. ( 3 ) Imperial Institute Year Book, 18t>2, pp. 511. 681, 705. ( 3 ) Imperial Institute Year Book, 1802, pp. 511, 512, 013, G41, 663, 680, 681. wore raised in the colony ; 69,614 tons were oxported whilst 110,939 wore imported. ( 4 ) The wages of Australian miners are for the most part paid by the piece. In New South Wales the hewing rate is so arranged as to enable the miner to earn 9&\ or 10s. a day, and thus in the southern and western districts, where the coal is soft, it is 2s. 4 d. a ton, and in the northern district, where it is harder, 3s. 10 d. The thickness of the seam, the width of the drives, and the amount of extraneous matter in the coal have also to be taken into consideration. Where the seam is less than 5 feet thick, an allowance is made to the miner for every inch, and where drives are less than 8 yards wide he receives an allowance for every yard. Again, if there is a band of extraneous matter of more than 6 inches wide in a 5-feet seam, the miner is entitled to compensation. Engine-drivers in mines receive from 10s. to 12s. a day, firemen 7s. to 8s., blacksmiths 8s. 6 d. to 10s., mechanics 9s. 3d. to 10s. 6d.\ bankers-off 7s. 6cZ. to 8s. 6d., furnacemen 6s. 6d. to 7s. 6c/., stablemen 7s. to 7s. 6d., and boys 2s. 6>i. to 3s. 6d. In some mines the miners unite on what is called the “ tribute system,” and lease a portion of the mine from the proprietors, paying them a royalty on the output. The “ tributers ” then employ other men as day labourers, it is alleged at very low wages. In Victoria pitmen’s wages vary from 21. 5s. to 3Z. 10s. a week, and those of surface-men from 21. 2s. to 3/. The average wages of a hewer at the Grey Valley Coal Mines, New Zealand, are between 14s. and 15s. a day, but they range from 9s. 6d. to 15s. 5c/. Truckers, banksmen, and stokers receive 10s. a day, whilst about twenty- five youths and men are employed at from 7s. to 9s., and thirty-five boys at from 4s. to 6s. The New South Wales miners receive an allowance of from 4c/. to 9c/. a tub for slack. They are allowed as much coal as they need for the consumption of their families. Out of their earn- ings they have to provide tools, and, where blasting is necessary, powder and fuse. The amount of coal which a miner will hew in a day greatly depends upon his practical skill ; the men work in pairs, two in one “ bord,” and one pair will often get twice as much as another. Much also depends on the nature of the coal, and to equalise matters miners draw for their stations every three months. In the Hunter River collieries 2\ tons a day is the average amount, which gives an average wage of 9s. 7cZ. a day, or, deducting the cost of powder and fuse, 9s. 3c/.(’) The eight-hour system prevails in all the New South Wales collieries, and the hours are reckoned from the time that the men assemble at the mouth cf the pit, though sometimes they have to walk nearly a mile before they reach their “ bord.” Wheelers, screenmen, and others at the pit’s mouth, who are paid by the day, really work less than eight hours, since they cannot begin work until the coal comes up from the hewers. Every alternate Saturday is kept as a holiday, but in the Newcastle district the average time worked during 1891 was only six or seven days in the fortnight, which reduced the average wages to 33s. a week. By a regu- lation amongst the men themselves the maximum num- ber of “ skips ” (tubs) to be supplied to a miner each day is strictly limited, so that the output is kept in check and the chances of regular employment so far improved. At the Grey Valley Coal Mines in New Zealand the miners decided in March 1890 to reckon their eight hours from bank to bank. Thus the actual working time is only 6! hours, since half an hour is allowed for a meal. They have also attempted to limit the output, but the regulations are often evaded by the men themselves. ( ,; ) There is no system of apprenticeship for miners in New South Wales, but the same method of advancement obtains in most mines. A boy begins to work at fourteen , and is usually first in charge of the “ traps ” used in ventilating the mines. He has to open them, when a “skip” or miner passes, and to close them again so that the air is forced into the galleries where it is required. After one or two years of this work he becomes a driver or wheeler, and when about eighteen is put to work in a “bord” with his father or some ( 4 ) Report of Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1802, No. 11, pp. 2, 3. Report of Commissioner of Mines, Victoria, 1821, pp. 1, 2, 9. Imperial Institute Year Book, 1892, pp. 644, 681, 705. ( 5 ) Report of the Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1892, No. 11, pp. 0, 7, 8. Report of Commissioner of Mines, Victoria, 1891, p. 116. Report of Commission on the Grey Valley Coal Mines, 189Vp. 195. ( 6 ) Report of the Government. Statistician, New South Wales, 1892, No. 11, pp. 0, 7. Report of the Commissioners on the Grey Valley Coal Mines, 1891, p. 12. E 2 'Vagin. Hours. Methods of work. 36 Character ot the miners. Professional risks. 2. Engineer- ing. Boiler inspection. friend ; the older man in this case receives for a time the greater part of the joint earnings. Many men who are now foremen, and even a few who are managers, have begun in the mines as trappers. Miners consider that some preliminary training is necessary for their work, and agree that a provision to that effect should be inserted in the Mining Act.(') Miners for the most part live close to their work, in cottages one story high, built of wood, stone, or brick, and containing two or four rooms with a kitchen detached; these cottages are usually very comfortable. The report of the Government Statistician for 1891, speaking of coal mineis, says: “Anyone who travels “ in the mining district and mixes with the men will “ find them civil, obliging, and intelligent. In some “ matters, perhaps, their judgment is somewhat warped “ by class prejudices, and they may be rather too apt “ to look upon the capitalists as their enemies, but “ these prejudices are evidently fading away before “ the light of reason and truth. Miners, as a rule, are “ great readers; there are but few who do not take “ some newspaper regularly, and they are staunch “ supporters of the mechanics’ institutes and schools “ of art which abound. It is only necessary to look at “ the small amount of wages earned by these men for “ some time past, and it will be seen at once that only “ by the exercise of great thrift, foresight, and sobriety “ has it been possible for them to live at all. That “ they and their children and their homes are kept “ in so creditable a condition under the circum- “ stances speaks volumes for their prudence and self- “ restraint.”( 2 ) Different opinions prevail as to the effect of the miners’ work upon their health. The men urge that they are subject to great risks and suffer from being obliged to adopt unnatural positions while at work as well as from bad ventilation. The employers maintain, on the other hand, that the risks are no greater than in many other industries, and that an industry in which men often live to be seventy years of age, cannot be peculiarly unhealthy. The Mining Act obliges the owners to supply a certain quantity of air a minute for every man and every animal working in the mines; nevertheless, miners are specially subject to miners’ asthma, a disease brought on by breathing impure air and in- haling coal-dust. They are also subject to an affection of the eyes due to working in partial darkness, only illuminated by a light falling at an unnatural angle upon the optic nerve. The number of fatal accidents in the mines of New South Wales, where 10,820 men are employed, was twenty in 1891, whilst there were fifty-four casualties of a less serious character.( 3 ) Taking engineers to include men who make or manage engines, whether on board ship, on a train, or in a factory, mill, or mine, engineers connected with locomotive engines occupy the best position, since in most cases they must hold a certificate from the Marine Council or the Board of Trade. Wages for marine engineers were fixed in 1880 by the Institute of Marine Engineers, but the subsequent changes in machinery led the men to demand an advance in 1890. A con- ference was held with the result that in the case of engines up to 100 horse-power, no advance was made upon the old rates of 20/., 16/., 14/., and 12/. a month for first, second, third, and fourth engineers. An ad- vance of 21. to the chief engineer, and 1/. to the second and third, was granted for every increase of 50 horse- power, and it was agreed that the engineer should have a corresponding time off for all work performed after 5 o'clock, or beyond the custom of the trade. Mining engineers work eight hours a day, and receive from 21. 10s. to 4/. a week, according to the district rate. Engineers in foundries and pattern makers earn from 10s. to 12s. a day.( 4 ) The necessity of taking steps to prevent the frequent occurrence of explosions in connexion with boilers has been under serious consideration in Victoria and South Australia. These accidents have been exceedingly numerous ; for one explosion to 2,600 boilers in Great Britain, there is one to 330 in Victoria. This is due to the fact that no certificate is required to enable a man (0 Report of the Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1892, No. 11, p. 8. (*) Report of the Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1892, No. 11, p. 9. ( a ) Report of the Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1S92, No. 11, pp. 9-11. (*) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890. Precis, pp. 237-239. Report ot E. yal Commission on Shops and Factories, South Australia, 1892, pp. 326, 327. Report of Inspector of Factories. Victoria, 1887, p. 6. to take charge of a boiler, and that periodical inspec. tion by experts is not made compulsory. A mechanical engineer employed in the Government Locomotive Department suggested to the South Australian Com- mission on Shops and Factories that a competent board of engineers should issue rules to be observed by ail men in charge of boilers, and that periodical in- spection by a government inspector should bo com- pulsory. The Engineer Surveyor for the Marine Board of South Australia was of opinion that all boilers should be registered, and that the inspection of those near any dwelling-house or public road should be compulsory. He thought that all attendants should hold some certificate or be licensed, and explained that the third class certificate of the Marine Board only required a knowledge of writing and elementary arithmetic, and such technical knowledge as can be ac- quired in eighteen months m any shop for the making or repairing of boilers. Those, however, who like farmers employ machinery for only part of the year, complain that they cannot afford the services of an attendant possessed of even this degree of skill. (’) B. — Transport and Agriculture. Grievances exist among railway servants in New Zealand in connexion with wages, hours, and the number of apprentices. In 1890, the secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants presented a petition to the Royal Commission, then inquiring into sweating in New Zealand. It was stated in this petition that in the traffic department the hours of work were excessive, that Sunday work was not sufficiently remunerated, that the wages of shunters were too low, that signalmen were unfairly classified, that the whole department was unjustly deprived of holidays, and that the number of boys employed was out of proportion to the number of inen.f) The Railway Commissioners stated to the Sweating Commission that station masters were paid from 130/. to 300/. a year, with a house allowance of from 25/. to 50/. Guards and brakesmen received from 8s. to 10s. a day, porters 6s. 6d. to 7s. 6d., boy porters not under sixteen from 3s. In the locomotive department men in the shops received from 8s. to 10s. a day, whilst appren- tices, beginning between fourteen and seventeen years of age, received os. a week the first year and gradually advanced to 21s. in the seventh. Cleaners, who must not be under seventeen, received 5s. 6d. a day the first year and rose to 7s. in the fourth ; they are then promoted to be firemen and paid from 7s. 6d. to 9s. a day. Engine drivers must have first served as firemen and must have passed an examination to prove their fitness; they can then command from 10s. to 13s. a day. Cadets for the clerical staff, who must be between fourteen and seventeen years of age, received 30/. the first year rising to 110/. in the fifth. Men on the clerical and drafting staff received from 120/. to 250/. a year. The em- ployes objected strongly to the system of payment by the piece, on the ground that it appealed to the worst side of human nature, and that from the nature of the case it was difficult to frame a fair estimate, so that it tended to reduce wages. They further urged that its effect was to make men exert themselves to increase their earnings, but that when they were found to be earning more than a time and a quarter, calculated by the daily wages, the rate for piece-work was reduced. The Commissioners considered that piece-work afforded the necessary stimulus to industry, where a large number of workmen worked together ; but on the request of the employes they consented to diminish it as much as possible. They are now employing labourers on the line on a gang or contract system according to which the men combine in groups and choose their own foremen : each gang then divides the wages amongst its members. ( 7 ) The Railway Commissioners were of opinion that the hours of work for railway servants should be limited when possible to eight hours a day, except in the case of firemen and engine-drivers, whose hours of work must le ten. The railway servants, on the other hand, requested that no employe should work more than forty- eight hours a week unless absolutely necessary, and that all overtime should be paid at the rate of time and a ( 5 ) Report of Royal Commission on Shops and Factories, South Australia, 1892, pp. 247, 326, 357. ( 6 ) Report of Correspondence between Railway Commissioners and Employes, 1890, pp. 1, 5, 6. ( 7 ) Report on Petition of Railway Servants, 1890. pp. 12, 13. Report of t'nrespoudence between Railway Commissioners and Employes, 1890, pp. 36-40, 59. 1. Railways. Wages. Hours. 37 quarter for the first four hours and time and a half for anything further. They pointed out that engine-drivers, firemen, guards, porters and signalmen often worked fourteen or even sixteen hours a day to their own injury and the public danger. In their opinion no employe should be called upon to resume work without an interval of at least eight hours’ rest, ar.d they urged the special necessity for this interval in the case of engine-drivers, whom they alleged to be often called out after only five or six hours At the conference held between the Railway Commissioners and repre- sentatives of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants it was stated that eight hours was the rule of the service and that overtime was paid as such, but that time not actually spent in work, as for instance in the case of an engine-driver whose engine was standing at a suburban station, or of a porter employed at a small station, was deducted from the overtime calcula- tion. The employes, on the other hand, demanded that a man should be paid for all the time spent from home, whether in working or in waiting, and that labourers on the line should be paid for time occupied in going to work. This the Commissioners declared would involve great additional expense to the public service ; but finally a compromise was effected, whereby the maximum weekly hours were fixed at fifty- four, and it was decided that no time in which a man was temporarily oft' duty was to be deducted unless it exceeded three hours. ( l ) Apprentices. The excessive employment of boys, both in the loco- motive and traffic departments, was said by the peti- tioners to increase the responsibility of the men as well as to lower their wages. They requested that only one apprentice should be allowed for four adults in each department, and only one youth under twenty-one for every four labourers on full wages. They further requested that the number of cadets in the clerical service should be limited to one to every three station masters and clerks. The Commissioners consented to reduce the number gradually, but contended that they had never greatly exceeded it, and that cadets already fell short of the number fixed by the men.( 2 ) (See p. 27.) 2. Ship- The grievances of marine officers came to the front at pin Jl- • the time of the great strike of 1890, and included low officers. wages, long hours, and inadequate accommodation. Both officers and men on the steamships attributed the unfavourable conditions of their work to the excessive reduction of fares forced upon the steamship owners by competition. In 1889 the marine officers organised the Mercantile Marine Officers’ Association of Australia and New Zealand, with a view to improving their position. The Victorian Branch of this association became affili- ated with the Melbourne Trades Hall Council, whilst the New South Wales branch made application to be thus affiliated to the Trade and Labour Council in Svdney. To this affiliation the owners took exception.! 3 ) (Nee p. 28.) Wages. The wages of marine officers varied from 10k to 15 k a month, but as the seamen, cooks, and stewards had received an advance ; the officers demanded a similar concession. After the strike of 1890 they gained some advantages ; in one case wages were raised from 9k to 12i. a month. ( J ) Hours. Though it is true that the exigencies of the shipping industry render it impossible to adhere strictly to definite hours, it appears from the evidence given before the New South Wales Commission on Strikes that officers were frequently kept on duty so loDg as to injure iheir health and to endanger the safety of the vessel. This is especially the case when an officer is obliged to be con- tinuously at work whilst the vessel is in port, and yet must take his turn at the watch as soon as she sails. One officer stated that he had been in continuous employ- ment for thirty-one hours, and had worked fifty-six hours in three consecutive days. In another case an officer who had kept the morning watch whilst the vessel was entering Sydney, remained on duty throughout the day, and, indeed, until 5.30 p.m. on the next day, when the vessel left Sydney, after which he again kept the bridge for a time, as well as the watch from 8 to 12 p.m. It was further stated that officers frequently fell asleep when on duty, and the marine officers asked that every officer should be allowed certain free hours when in port, and four hours’ rest before going on watch. ( s ) The great reduction in freight rates and passenger fares and consequent diminution of profits keep the rate of wages low, and have from time to time occasioned great discontent among seamen The rate had been fixed by agreement in 1881, and in 1886 the owners made an unsuccessful attempt to reduce it by 1/.. a month. The average pay in 1890 was from 6k to 7k a month, with from Is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. an hour for overtime, according to the current rate of the port. Many men increased their earnings considerably by this overtime work, but others complained that such work was prac- tically compulsory, and that they would have preferred the time to themselves. The stewards and cooks of vessels formed a union in 1884, and their wages have since risen. After the strike of 1890 the owners announced that they would pay “bedroom stewards” hi. 10s., and “ pantry stewards” 61. a month. Actual wages are said to be 10s. less; and in the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s steamers a steward receives only 31. 10s., but makes considerably more out of per- quisites. On the steamers of the Newcastle Steamship Company stewards were paid by being allowed to man- age the bar on board, but the Union of Cooks and Stewards fined two members who undertook to do this. Deductions for losses and breakages are sometimes excessive, one man was charged 16s. 6d. in Melbourne, and again 1?. 7s. 6d. in Sydney, though the vessel had only sailed to Sydney and Cooktown and then back again to Sydney! 6 ; Both seamen and stewards complain of the length of their hours. The manager of the Hunter River New Steam Navigation Company acknowledged that the seamen had often very hard work, but alleged that this was due in a great measure to the demands of consignees to have their consignments out of the vessel with all possible despatch, to the perishable nature of freights, and to the excessive competition between the shipping companies. He stated that the employers would be willing to give shorter horns if possible. Again the great increase in the number of passengers, due to the reduction of fares, adds to the labours of the stewards, who are often kept at work, when in port, for eighteen hours a day. The increase in passengers has not been fol- lowed by an increase in hands, except in a few cases where the union has succeeded in making its influence felt. Marine engineers succeeded in obtaining an eight hours’ day by means of a conference in 1891. Seamen in 1890 demanded that any man who had kept watch for six hours at sea should only be on duty for two hours on shore.( 7 ) Stevedores in Australia are usually paid by the ton, but in some cases they are allowed a fixed salary by the shipping agents. One stevedore in Sydney stated that his average profits were 10k a week. Coal lumpers receive Is. 6d. an hour, and wharf labourers Is. with Is. 6d. for work between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. The average weekly wages of wharf labourers as given by the employers are from 11. 19s. to 2 1. 2s. without reckoning overtime; the labourers themselves reckon them at lk 17s. 6ok. 1890-1, Yol. It. p. 401. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales. 1899, Appendix p. 30 : Precis, pp. 103, 100. “ Reform” pamphlet by W. H. Buniley, 1889. ( 2 ) Imperial Institute Year Hook, 1892, p. 601. Victorian Year Book, 1890-1, Vol. II. pp. 316, 321. New Zealand “ Insurance, Minins and Finance Journal,” December 1891. ( 3 ) Official Statement of Pastoralists’ Federal Council, 1891. Report drawn up by Mr. Allan on the Shearers’ Strike. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890 : Precis pp. 100, 108. Victorian Year Book, 1SU0-1, Vol. II., pp. 290-301, 321, 327. Journal of the Royal Coloniaf Institute. March 1893. Perceval, “ Fann- ing and Labour in New Zealand,” pp. 3-29. and average from 70 to a 100 sheep in a full day’s shearing. According to the agreement drawn up at a conference in Sydney after tho strike of 1891 (seo [). 29), between the Federated Pastoralists and tho Amalgamated Shearers’ Union rations arc to be sup- plied to the shearers at not more than 10 par cent, above cost price. If a shearer is discharged before the end of tho season, he is to be paid in full for all sheep shorn, but 18s. a week may be deducted from his wages in payment for board supplied to him. The pastoralists state that the average weekly wages of shearers amount to 41. or 5 Z. 10s. a week. Mr. Glassey, of the Australian Labour Federation, in a speech delivered in the Queensland Legislative Assembly after the strike, quoted an employer as stating that the pastoralists intended to reduce wages for general labourers from 30s. to 25s. a week, and that, were it not for the labour unions, the wages of shearers would be at the rate of 3s. instead of 4s. a score, whilst those of general labourers would be 15s. instead of 30s. He did not, however, bring forward much evidence to prove his statement./ 4 ) 0. — Clothing and Miscellaneous Trades. Much attention has of recent years been directed to the condition of employes engaged in the clothing trades owing to repeated assertions of the existence of “sweating” in the great towns of Australia. Royal Commissions have inquired into the matter in Queens- land, South Australia, and New Zealand, whilst in Victoria an inquiry was made by the Chief Inspector of Factories. In New South Wales the Government Statistician is empowered by the Census and Industrial Returns Act of 1891 “ to inquire into the industrial condition of the people.” 1 he result of these various inquiries has been to establish the fact that sweating in what is called “ the London sense ” does not exist in Australia, but. that sweating, as defined by the Chief Inspector of Factories for Victoria, has reduced some workers in the clothing trades to a most unsatisfactory condition. His report defines sweating as “ taking “ advantage of the necessities of the poorer or more “ helpless class of workers by forcing them to work “ too hard, or too long, or under insanitary conditions, “ or for starvation wages, or exacting an undue profit “ out of their labour.”/") According to evidence given before the New South Wales Commission on Strikes, 1890, the low wages paid, and long hours worked, in the clothing trades result from the fact that work is undertaken by large firms, and then often sublet to individuals to be com- pleted by themselves or their employes. These work at home, and, consequently, for less pay and for longer hours than employes in factories. ( G ) The Commission appointed in 1892 to report on the condition of employes in shops and factories in South Australia, inquired especially into the condition of em- ployes in the clothing trades. Frequent charges of “ sweating” were brought by witnesses against special firms, but further investigation usually proved them to be groundless. The Commission were, however, of opinion that “working for rates of remuneration so “ low that hard work is necessitated to secure the “ barest existence ’! was not infrequent in Adelaide, especially amongst shirt-makers. On the other hand, they found that in the clothing trades generally the buildings used as factories or workshops were for the most part convenient and not overcrowded. The only serious complaint concerned the absence of any heating apparatus in many cases, but on this matter the wit- nesses displayed a curious apathy, acknowledging that though they suffered from the cold they had never complained, and that they did not suppose their em- ployers could alter the state of things if they wished. One witness declared that he knew of places in certain streets where employers engaged children as learners, kept them till they were fairly competent, and then dismissed them. The children never earned more than 4s. a month, and were kept for about six months. These cases were, however, not verified, and two mem- bers of the Commission were of opinion that there was no sweating in Adelaide./') (>) Ollicial Statement of Pastoralists’ Federal Council. Report drawn up by Mr. Allan on tlie Shearers’ Strike. Debates in the Legislative Assembly, July 9th. 1891. ( 5 ) Report of Royal Commission on Shops and Factories , South Australia, 1S92, p vi. Report of Royal Commission on Sweating, New Zealand, 1890, p. 3. Report of Royal Commission on Shops and Factories, Queensland, 1891, pp. xli., xlii. Reports of the Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1891-2, Nos. 1-7, p. 0. Report of Inspector of Factories on Sweating, Victoria, 1890, p. 4. ( 6 ) Report of the Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1891-2, Nos. 1-7. ( 7 ) Report of Uoval Commission on Shops and Factories, 1892, pp. 6 12, 00, 02, 154, 167. E 4 1. Too clothing trades. n. Sweating system. In New South Wales. In South Australia. 40 In Victoria 1 ! In 1885 a Factories’ and Shops’ Act was passed in Victoria requiring the registration of all factories and workrooms where six or more workpeople were em- ployed. It contained provisions with regard to the cubic space to be allowed, and the guarding and fencing of machinery. It further provided that a record must be kept of the names and ages of all employes, and that those under fifteen must obtain State school and medical certificates. The annual reports of the chief inspector appointed under this Act show that, on the whole, it works satisfactorily. The sanitary regulations, and the restrictions as regards hours of work, are complied with, and only a few firms take advantage of the per- mission to make application for leave to work overtime in the busy season. Fourteen out of forty factories where women are employed made such application during the year ending 31st December 1888. The regulations as to the employment of children have caused some difficulty. Many children pass the required standard at thirteen years of age, but before they can be engaged in a factory they need certificates for which their parents are either unable or unwilling to pay. Boys, therefore, become messengers, office boys, or newspaper sellers until they are fifteen years old, when they can go to work in a fac- tory without a certificate; employers, however, complain that they are then less easy to teach. In other cases children work in the factory until the visit of an in- spector makes it necessary to produce a certificate, when they leave. The existence of this system of factory inspection is, however, a check upon sweating, which can scarcely be shown to exist in Victoria, except, perhaps, in the bag-making and a few such industries. This industry employs unskilled labour at a miserable remuneration. One woman, who made rough canvas bags at 3 \d. a dozen, stated that by work- ing hard she could earn Is. 3d. a day. Another woman, who bound slippers at home, received Is. 3d. a dozen, and with the help of her daughter could only earn 11. a week. In these instances the women worked at home, and the chief inspector states that little can be done for outside workers until they have formed a union amongst themselves, and agreed not to accept less than a fair remuneration. At present about one-third of the workers arc not absolutely dependent upon their own exertions. Consequently they take work at rates which will not afford a decent livelihood to those who have no other means of support.(') In New j n consequence of a series of letters which appeared Zealand. dur i n g 1889 in the Otago “ Daily Times,’' a voluntary committee was appointed in Dunedin to inquire into the subject of sweating. It was found that female workers were very badly paid, and that this was the result of a gradual diminution in wages extending over a period of several years. The great competition between warehousemen, together with the existence of contractors and the over abundant supply of labour, made it difficult lo bring about a reform. The work was let to the contractors, and again sub-let by them to the workers on terms which hardly afforded the means of subsistence. After a vain attempt, to induce the warehousemen to accept a tariff, and to compel the contractors to adhere to it, the committee resolved to organise a union amongst working women, and to petition for legislation with regard to the conditions of their work. In 1890 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the matter in Dunedin, Christchurch, Auckland, and Wellington. Their investigations showed that in the larger factories and workshops the employes were well treated, but that in certain smaller factories very low wages were paid, and the provisions of the Employment of Females’ Act were evaded. This Act, passed in 1873, limited the hours of work for women to eight on five days in the week, with a half holiday on Saturday. Nevertheless, it was shown that in some establishments women were kept at work until four or five on Saturday afternoon in direct contra- vention of the Act. The inspector of factories stated before the Commission that the evil of forcing girls and women to take work home still existed, and that though such work was supposed to be voluntary, refusal to undertake it had resulted in dismissal. In Auckland especially the Act was said to be almost a dead letter. Many witnesses stated that the reduction in wages between 1885 and 1890 was to a large extent due to the outside workers, who were so anxious to get work that they went round to the manufacturers and offered to take it at very low prices. As in Victoria bag-making showed the lowest average of prices. The (>) Reports of the Chi'f Inspector of Factories, Victoria, 1888, pp. 3, 5 ; 1889, p. 5 ; 1890, pp. 4 (i, 8, 9. rate in 1889 varied from Is. 6cl. to 2s. 6 d. a gross according to the size, and the workers had to find their own cotton ; in 1890 the price was reduced 3d. a gross owing to competition. One woman engaged in the trade stated that she just made from 18s. to 1 1. clear profit in the week. On the whole, therefore, it would appear that, except in isolated instances, there is little ground for supposing that sweating is carried on in Australia. Though wages in the clothing trades are comparatively low, the con- ditions of labour are by no means such as are usually associated with the term “ sweating system. ”( 2 ) There are four unions in connexion with the tailoring j. Tailoring, trade in Sydney, the Cutters’ and Trimmers’ Union, the Amalgamated Journeymen Tailors’ Association, the Dressers’ Union, and the Tailoi esses’ Union. In the latter case great difficulties have been encountered in the process of organisation owing to the opposition of the employers. Employes complain that they have suffered dismissal because of their connexion with the union, while in other cases the employers are said to prevent their employes from attending the meetings by keeping them late or compelling them to take work home on those nights. A Working Women’s Trade Union, formed for South Australia in 1890, is said to have raised the wages of tailoresses.p) Wages are fixed in the tailoring trade by the “ logs ” Wages, of the Tailors’ Union and the'Tailoresses’ Union. In New South Wales the variation in pi ices affects the rate, and this variation is partly due to the keen competition between English and Australian-made goods. Imported goods meet with the readiest sale when they are of such a kind that the cost of making bears a high proportion to the total value, but where the material is more valuable, the local manufacturers hold their own. Purchasers are willing to pay from ten to fifteen per cent, above the English prices for home manufactured goods. The difference in cost of making between the two may be illustrated as follows : — s. d. s. d. A sac coat in London - 2 6 to 3 6 ,, ,, ,, Sydney - 6 6 7 0 Tweed trousers ,, London - 1 2 „ 1 6 ,, „ ,, Sydney - 1 9 „ 2 6 Tweed suits ,, London - 5 6 „ 6 6 ,, „ ,, Sydney - 10 6 „ 12 6 The grades of work are so numerous, and wages are paid according to so many different scales, that it is difficult to estimate the average earnings. For 1891-2, however, a tailor seems to have earned 21. 12s. for every week that he worked, but as there are at least eight weeks compulsory idleness in the year the average should be further reduced to 21. 4s. According to the evidence of Mr. Peter Strong, President of the Tailoresses’ Union, this idleness was often voluntary, especially amongst those who work for contractors. Mr. Strong, who had been a member of a committee appointed by the Journeymen Tailors’ Association to inquire into the sweating system, gave evidence of the existence of a class of Jews, who undertook work and employed women to perform it at wages much below those asked by members of the unions. This was especially the case with Government contracts, which were almost always let out to middlemen. Thus whilst a tailor employed in a factory would get 29s. for a military coat, a master sweater would get 12s., and would pay the actual maker only 8s. To make such a coat would require twenty-nine hours work, and the Tailors’ Union fixes wages at Is. an hour. Mr. Strong urged that Government should erect a factory and that all such contract work should be done under Government supervision. Again, though a pair of trousers was a good day’s work, women made them for 2s. or 2s. 6d. a pair ; railway porters’ trousers were made for Is. a pair, and one woman stated that she herself and two daughters could only make 2s. 8 d. a day by working twelve hours. The wages paid to women are often much lower than those paid to men. In one shop, which received Government contracts, the contractor paid his men 18s. to 21s. for military coats and 7s. for trousers, while a woman only received 2s. for trousers. Mrs. Powell, a tailoress, stated in evidence before the Commission on Strikes that girls were obliged to work several weeks before they received any wages. After- ( 2 ) Report of Royal Commission on Sweating, New Zealand, 1890, pp. iii., iv., 8, 15, 23. ( 3 ) Report of Royal Commission on Shops and Factories, South Australia, 1892, p. 158. Report of hoyal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890 : Precis, pp. 259, 277. 41 Hours. Sanitary conditions, wards they were paid 2g. 6d. and finally 5s. a week. The highest wages paid to tailoresses are 21. a week ; in a sweating shop the highest rate is 16s. It is two years before a tailoress is competent to make a coat, and during that time she never receives full wages. Home workers, who are for the most part women, average from 20s. to 22s. 6cZ. a week. According to the report of the Government Statistician complaints with regard to sweating are greatly exaggerated. A visit to eighteen of the so-called Jewish sweating dens showed that the wages of an apprentice ranged from 2s. 6) First Annual Report of Chief Inspector of Factories, Victoria, 18RG, p. 8. Report of Royal Commission on Shops and Factories, Queensland, 1891. p. xi. Report of Royal Commission on Shops and Factories, South Australia, 1892, p. V. ( 2 ) Rpport of Royal Commission on Employes in Shops, Victoria, 1883, p. 160. Special Report, 1884, pp. 3, 4, 5. ( 3 ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South AV ales, 1890 Precis, pp. 44, 113, 143-146, 178, 184, 256. witness stated that he had been a member of a co- operative boot manufactory, which had come to an end in nine months owing to lack of business knowledge on the part of the members. A scheme was drawn up for a co-operative union of wharf labourers in Sydney. Each member was to be paid a fixed or minimum wage, and the profits were to be divided amongst the members. The scheme was never put into execution, and one witness stated that it would be attended with much difficulty, owing to the inequality of the members’ work and the dissatisfaction which would consequently arise. The Mosgiel Woollen Factory at Ashburton, New Zealand, which is conducted upon co-operative principles, has proved a financial success ; in 1891 it paid a dividend of eight per cent, upon the share capital. But perhaps the greatest success in co-opera- tion that has as vet been achieved in Australia is that recorded by the Victorian butter factories and cream- eries, which were established with Government assis- tance in 1888 and which in 1891-92 exported 5,207,944 lbs of butter to England. The Government fitted up a travelling dairy and sent lecturers throughout the colony to give practical instruction; they also grant a bonus on every pound of exported butter, graduated on the price which the butter fetches in the London market. The farmers, thus encouraged, send their milk to a creamery or a butter factory in which they hold shares, and receive every fortnight the proportion duo to them according to the price of butter. There are 369 such factories now in existence in Victoria. ( 4 ) B. — Foreign Immigration. By an Immigration Act passed in 1892 any person resident and settled in Queensland may nominate a friend or relative resident in Great Britain or on the Continent of Europe for a free or assisted passage to Queensland. If the nominator is in a position to do so, he must contribute to the expenses of the passage ; as a rule his contribution is fixed at 31. Free or assisted passages are also granted by Government to other suitable immigrants, who are recommended by the Government lecturer, or about ivliom official inquiries have been made. The communication established between the Queensland Immigration Department and the Emigrants’ Information Office in London makes it possible for the Agent-General to obtain the required information as to intending emigrants. In 1886 it was found necessary to put some check upon the large number of artisaus and mechanics entering Queensland, and an Order in Council was issued requiring that all applications on behalf of immigrants should be sub- mitted to the Minister. By an Immigration Act Amendment Act passed in 1887, the payments to be made by nominators were increased, and free passages were entirely abolished. An Order in Council of the same year made mechanics and artisans ineligible for assisted passages. The returns of the Immigration Agent for Queensland show that the demand for agri- cultural labourers and domestic servants is always in excess of the supply, and that the total number of immigrants has decreased rapidly since 1886. In that year the number reached 11,879, of whom 2,368 were farm servants, and 2,395 female domestic servants. In 1887 the total number fell to 10,466, and there was a demand for 160 agricultural labourers, 84 plantation labourers and 590 female domestic servants in excess of the supply. In 1888 the total number fell to 9,171 ; in 1889 to 7,162, in 1890 to 3,758, and in 1891 to 2,333. Farm labourers in 1891 arrived in the colony to the number of 1,049, 335 of whom were Italians. ( 5 ) This deficiency of agricultural and plantation labour led in April 1892 to the revival of an Act legalising the introduction of Pacific Islanders to work on the sugar plantations in the northern part of Queensland. The employment of the Kanaka labour has attracted so much attention aud drawn forth so many ex parte statements that it is difficult to obtain an absolutely unbiassed opinion from those who possess the requisite information. It is generally advocated on the ground that white men are physically incapable of withstanding the heat and moisture inseparable from work upon the plantations. On the other hand some authorities state that the depression in the sugar industry and the inability of the sugar planters to pay the wages de- ( 4 ) Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South AVales, 1S90, Precis, pp. 10, 22, 256. "The New Zealand Insurance, Mining, and Finance Journal,"’ December 1st, 1891. “ Times."’ December 6th, 1S92. ( 5 ) Reports of the Queensland Immigration Agent, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891. Circular issued by the Emigrants’ Information Office, AA'estminster. July, 1892. Appendix on Migration of Labour, p. 201. 1. European labour. In Queens- land. 2. Pacific Island labour. Advantages of Kanaka labour. 45 Disadvan- tages of Kanaka labour. Conditions of labour. mandod l>y white labour are responsible for the em- ployment of Kanakas. Since 1880 the sugar industry has been greatly depressed, and plantations are already going out of cultivation. The cessation of this industry would retard the growth of the towns in North Queens- land, and would bring ruin upon a number of small farmers who live by supplying the planters. Conse- quently there is a strong desire to cheapen the pro- duction of sugar by employing a cheaper class of labour. ( l ) On the other hand the opponents of the introduction of Kanakas state that it is unnecessary, and that the Pacific islands are being depopulated by the exportation of the young and strong, whilst those left behind are unfairly deprived of the labour of their fellow tribes- men. It is also stated that the Kanakas are physically unfit for the hard work imposed upon them, and that they die in hundreds from overwork and unsuitable diet. The importation of such labour is moreover alleged to have been connected with terrible abuses in the past, and the like results are predicted if it is employed in the future. It is undeniable that the Kanaka labourers have often been treated with great cruelty, but there is much difference of opinion as to whether any such treatment can be shown to be of recent date, and as to whether it cannot be guarded against by suitable legislation. Even if it be provided that no Kanaka shall be employed, who does not of his own free will enter into a contract of service, it is almost impossible to ensure any such freedom. In the first place some twenty languages are spoken amongst the islanders, and it is very difficult to make them com- prehend the terms of their agreement. But even where no language difficulty exists, the Kanaka, who has no personal experience of the field labour, which is per- formed by women in his native islands, has little or no idea of what be is undertaking. Again it is said that men are often attracted on board ship by promises of red cloth and beads, and are then persuaded to go to Queensland, thinking that they will return in a “ few moons,” since the word “year” conveys nothing to their minds. A Queensland lady, signing herself Marion Disney, wrote to the “ Daily News,” stating that she had been informed by the Kanakas that they were enticed on board and given “fire-water,” and that when they woke the ship was far from their island. In other cases the chief, or even a man who has returned from Queensland, is bribed to supply the labour. Since 1880 the Government has laid down stringent regula- tions as to the food, clothing, and cubic space to be allowed to each native on board ship, and, were these regulations always carried out, their condition would be fairly comfortable. Before the regulations were issued great abuses prevailed, but, though it is not always possible to enforce them, the presence of a Government agent on board the vessels is a sufficient safeguard against any gross neglect of the Act.( 2 ) The conditions of labour in the sugar plantations are often of a very trying character. Work is carried on from dawn till 7 p.m., and consists of hoeing and weeding damp steaming ground between high rows of canes. The natives suffer much from the damp and chills of the early morning, and their dwellings are often of galvanised iron, which becomes unbearably hot in the sun. The food and clothes to be supplied to them are prescribed by Government on a liberal scale ; but meat forms a large item in the diet, and does not suit the islanders, who are unaccustomed to eat it. The mortality amongst them is said to be as high as 66 per 1,000, and this though they are only engaged for three years. Hospitals are provided, and the labourers are well cared for when sick ; but it is impossible to counteract the effects of the unhealthy conditions of work. The men are divided into gangs, and work under an overseer, upon whose treatment their comfort must mainly depend. Many authorities state that employers are not only bound by law to treat their labourers well, but that it is to their interest to do so, since a Kanaka, who is ill-treated, sulks and will scarcely do any work, whilst those who meet with kindness are industrious and cheerful. On the other hand it is maintained that the Kanakas are too ignorant and too lethargic to protect themselves, and frequently endure much personal ill-usage. Another difficulty arises when the term of the contract expires. Cases (*) “National Review,” July, 1892. “Daily Chronicle,” July 5th, 18! “Times,” July 8th, 1892. ( 2 ) “ Times,” June 6th, 1892. “Daily News,” August 16th, 18! Hobart Mercury,” May 14th, 1892. have occurred in which, whether through negligence or for the sake of avoiding trouble, a native has been put on shore at the wrong village, or even on the wrong island. In such a case he is liable to be captured by the enemies of his tribe and put to death, and though the Government have done all in their power to prevent such an occurrence, it is not as yet impossible. ( :i ) Even if perfect freedom of contract and uniformly Depopula- good treatment could be ensured to the Kanakas, Sir ^^ f s ‘ ho Arthur Gordon and others are of opinion that the Queensland Government is not justified in taking them from their homes. “ Every man has his appointed “ duty to perform towards the community; his de- “ parture leaves his share of work unprovided for, and “ his family a burden on others. The loss to a village “ of a number of men, means a diminution of its food “ supply, and of its powers of defence. An emigration “ agency which induced apprentices and soldiers to “ desert would not find much favour, even in the eyes of “ more civilised governments than those of the Pacific “ Islands.” The deficiency of labour might, in his ojiinion, be supplied by introducing coolies from India, and the strict regulations imposed by the Indian Government would be a safeguard against abuses. If Kanaka labour is still employed, he urges that it should be regulated by the Imperial Government, which will be less liable to be influenced by local and party con- siderations. Sir Arthur Gordon also argues that the depopulation which is already going on cannot be checked as long as the system of emigration is con- tinued, and that if recruiting is allowed in other islands, it will probably spread to New Guinea, the inhabitants of which are totally unsuited to hard work. Further, he says that the Government agents are in many cases men who have failed in other professions, and who are wanting in the exceptional qualities required to withstand the strain of an incessant struggle to secure the faithful observance of the law.( 4 ) A correspondent to the “Times” says that the em- Effect on ployment of Kanakas in Queensland is a means of labour gen- aimin? a blow at the system of slavery, or serfdom, the employ- trnder which the islanders live at home, whilst at the mentof same time raising them to the dignity and position of Kanakas - free labourers. This position is compared by another correspondent to that of the Irish labourers in England, with the proviso that greater attention is paid to the comfort of the Kanakas. The Bishop of Tasmania reports that on the vessels which he visited, the Kanakas were “happy and comfortable,” and that he found returned Kanakas exercising a civilising influence upon their countrymen. On the other hand, it is urged that there is no need for Kanaka labour, since “ there “ is plenty of labour unemployed, both black and “ white, if planters would give anything like fair “ wages. The time-expired blacks would be quite “ enough for them, but the planters want them newly imported, so that they can have them for 3s. a week “ and rations.” On this ground, and on the ground that they displace white labour, the trades unions of South Queensland are strongly opposed to the employ- ment of Kanakas. Stringent regulations have, how- ever, been laid down, limiting their employment to tropical or semi-tropical districts in which no white men can work, and Sir Samuel Griffiths is of opinion that without the Pacific Island labour the sugar planta- tions would have to be abandoned. ( 5 ) There is some desire in Queensland to introduce coolie Legislative labour from India, as was done in South Australia in restriction. 1882 ; but the Queensland Government declined to en- tertain the proposal on the ground that the restrictions imposed by the Indian Government might be irksome. The Indian Government would not sanction the employ- ment of the coolies imported into South Australia in mining, but limited them to agriculture, and after some difficulty, railroad construction. At least 40 per cent, of coolie emigrants must be women according to the Indian Government’s regulation. This action on the part of the Queensland Government has strengthened the hands of the opponents of Kanaka labour, who assert that the planters are anxious to employ only labourers, who have no recognised Government to pro- tect them. To meet this charge it has been proposed ( :i ) “ Daily News,” August 16th, 1892. “Glebe,” June 7th, 1892. “ Hobart Mercury,” May 14-th, 1892. “ Daily Graphic,” August 15th, 1892. “ Rail Mall Gazette,” May 25th, 1892. (*) “ Times,” June 7th 1892, Jan. 5th, 1893. ( 5 ) “ Daily Graphic,” September 9th, 1892. “ Manchester Courier,” May 17th, 1892. “ St. James’s Gazette,” May 25th, 1892. " Times,” June 8th, 1892. “ National Review,” July 1892. “ Observer,” November 28th 1892. F 3 46 that British protection should be extended to those islands over which no other European power has any influence, and that the Administrator of New Guinea should be charged to visit the islands frequently. The establishment of a depot in each island to which recruits may be drafted has also been proposed. Accord- ing to this scheme no recruit should be allowed to sail until he had been six months in such a depot, and could be proved to have a clear understanding of the nature of the duties which he was undertaking. The British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society have interested them- selves in this question for over twenty years, and it is no doubt partly due to their influence that frequent Acts have been passed to regulate the traffic in Kanaka labour. These Acts have been seven in all since 1872 ; the first two, in 1872 and 1875, were passed by the Imperial Parliament, and the others, in 1880, 1884, 1885; 1886 and 1892, by the Queensland Parliament. By the Act of 1872, all vessels engaged in recruiting must be licensed, and the master of the vessel must give a bond for 500Z. Anj 7 vessel carrying natives without a licence is liable to a fine of 500Z. Decoying natives against their will in order to remove them from their home, or in any way assisting to do so, is made a felony liable to be punished in any Supreme Court in the Australian Colonies. Provision is also made for the seizing and bringing in of vessels suspected of offending against the Act. In 1875 an Amendment Act was passed empowering Her Majesty in Council to appoint the High Commissioner to have jurisdiction over her subjects, within any islands and places in the Pacific Ocean, not being within her dominions, and to create Courts of Justice within such places. In 1880 the Imperial Polynesian Labourers’ Act was repealed, and a new Act of the Queensland Parliament came into force, whereby the Governor is empowered to appoint Inspectors of Pacific labourers, as well as Government agents to accompany vessels licensed to carry such labourers. The immigration agent is to issue licences to employ Kanaka labour, and the applicant must prove that he has made provision for engaging in tropical or semi-tropical agriculture, and must give a bond equal to 51 . for every islander imported. A payment of 30s. a head must also be made for the expenses of transport. Mi isters of vessels must also be licensed and must give a bond as under the Act of 1872. Such vessels must be 6 ft. 6 ins. high between decks, and 12 sq. ft. must be allowed for each passenger. Care is to be taken that passengers understand their agree- ments, and no native under sixteen is to be taken on board. Medical certificates must be procured on arrival for all labourers imported. These labourers may not be transferred from one employer to another without their own consent, or without that of the inspector or a police magistrate. Wages must be paid in the presence of an inspector, and the employer is responsible for the return voyage. Any labourer falling ill is to be sent to a hospital, which is supported by a capitation fee of 10s. for every labourer, paid by the employer. In 1884 this Act was further amended in detail, and in 1885 a Com- mission of three, two of whom were avowed opponents of the employment of natives, inquired into the matter, with the result that they ordered many of the islanders to be sent home on the ground that they had come un- willingly. The damages assigned to the planters and the expenses of the Commission amounted to 50,000Z. A fresh Commission, less biassed than the other, was then appointed and returned a more favourable report. Nevertheless an Act of 1885 provided that the importa- tion of Kanaka labour should cease after 1890, and raised the importation fee from 30s. to 31 ., and the hospital fee from 10s. to 11 . This Act was further amended in 1886, and in 1892 an Act was passed repeal- ing the clause in the Act of 1885 which forbade the importation of Kanaka labour after 1890, and directing employers to maintain time-expired labourers until an opportunity occurs for them to return. This Act further provides that money due to a native labourer shall, in case of his death, be expended in payment to his friends, or in the purchase of goods to be delivered to them in lieu of payment. Married women are allowed by regulation of the Governor and Council to accompany their husbands to Queensland, and the rations and clothes to be supplied to each man and women are specified. If possible the food to which they have been accustomed must be obtained.! 1 ) (') “ Times,” June 7tli, isfli, 1892. “ Leeds Mercury,” May 17th, 1892. “ National Review,” July, 1892. “St. James’s Gazette,” May 25th, 1892. Imperial and Colonial Acts relatine to the Recruiting of Pacific Islanders. Appendix on Migration of Labour, pp. 226-233. According to the latest returns there are in Australia and New Zealand 41,000 Chinese engaged for the most part in mining, agriculture, shopkeeping and furniture- making. In Victoria there are 9,377 Chinese, 2,994 of whom are engaged in gold mining at a weekly wage of from 1Z. to 11 . 10s. But the industry in which Chinese immigration is thought to have exercised the most un- favourable iufluence upon the position of the Australian workmen is that of furniture-making. A very large amount of Chinese labour is employed in this industry in Sydney, under conditions and for a rate of payment which Australian workmen would not accept. The work is carried on in the cheapest buildings, which can be hired for the purpose in total disregard of sanitary require- ments, and the Chinese workmen live closely-packed to- gether on the premises. In 1889, there were 23 furniture factories in Melbourne employing 320 Chinese. These factories were generally in back streets, with nothing to indicate their existence, and it was found very difficult to compel them to register themselves under the Shops and Factories Act. In 1888, the inspector of factories reported that li great complaint is made about the “ dirty rooms and closely-confined places in which “ Chinese work. But this would appear to be capable “ of alteration if the Health Act were strictly enforced “ against them by the Local Boards of Health.” Great difficulty was, however, experienced in making the Chinese understand the requirements of the Act. They were willing to pay the registration fee, but refused entirely to alter their premises, and when forced to vacate them often sold them to a compatriot without informing him that they had been declared unfit for occu- pation as a factory. Still, the number of Chinese factories in Melbourne is decreasing ; eleven closed in 1890, it was said, owing to the lack of demand for Chinese-made furniture amongst the working-classes, who had become impoverished through the strike. Many of the Chinese became insolvent and disappeared, leaving any small stock which they might possess to be seized by their creditors.! 2 ) In consequence of the recent restrictions upon Chinese immigration, wages have been raised, and Chinese labour can now command 25s. to 30s. a week, with board and lodging. In 1891, the Chinese cabinet-makers of Sydney struck for an advance in the price of piece-work and obtained an increase of 10 per cent. The strike also resulted in the formation of gi-oups of three or four amongst the employes, who then set up on their own account. Piece-workers pay 9s. or 10s. a week to their employer for board and lodging. As it is the aim of a Chinaman to save enough money to return rich to China, he spends as little as possible, whether for food or for recreation. The first consists for the most part of salt fish, rice, pork, cabbage and the less expensive kinds of tea. As for amusement the Chinaman finds it in playing cards or dominoes, or in opium smoking ; but anyone known to be addicted to the latter practice finds it hard to get employment, even on piece-work. The working hours are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in summer, and from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter, with half an hour for breakfast and the same time for dinner. Much longer hours are sometimes worked, and no payment is made for overtime. The Chinese workmen are very economical in their use of material, and will work up timber, which would be despised by an Australian workmen ; hence their success in competing with Australian labour. Never- theless, the profits of Chinese cabinet-makers have diminished owing to the increase of wages, and to the fact that the use of machinery enables some Australian firms to compete with them at their own prices. If a dispute arises between master and men, the question is first argued at length between the two parties, but should no satisfactory conclusion be reached, a deputa- tion of the workmen waits upon the employer. If the dispute still remains unsettled, the aggrieved party calls together a “ Ki Fong,” viz., issues invitations to the principal Chinese in business in the city, who meet at an appointed place, and after hearing the arguments on both sides, settle the matter by a vote of the majority. No witnesses are called, and the verdict is based upon the statements of the contending parties alone. ( :i ) The feeling in Australia against the Chinese is exceedingly strong, and there is a widespread desire to exclude them from the Colony. It is felt that they are an alien race and that they will always remain so, ( 2 ) Victorian Year Book, 1890-1, Vol. IT., p. 500. Report of Chief Inspector of Factories, Victoria, 1S87, pp. 7-10. Dilke, “ Problems of Greater Britain,” p. 529. Annual Report of Secretary for Mines, Victoria, 1890, p. 116. ( s ) Report of Government Statistician, New South Wales, 1891-2, pp. If. 15. 3. Chinese labour. Number and occu- pations of Chinese. Conditions of labour. Feeling in Australia against the Chinese. 47 Legislative restriction of Chinese immigra- tion. a. In Vic- toria. because they leave their wives and children at home and intend to return to them as soon as they shall have earned sufficient money, and because their way of living, their religion, moral code and physique are such as to render it impossible for them to blend with the native population. No length of residence among a population of European descent will cause Chinese immigrants to change the mode of life which they bring with them from China, and it is feared that if alien Chinese should at any time become as numerous as the other residents in a colony, “ they would ‘ ‘ attempt to establish institutions of a kind that would “ trench on the supremacy of the present legislative “ and administrative authorities, or they would tacitly “ accept an inferior social and political position, which “ would create a division of society on a racial dis- “ tinction, which would produce in the remainder of “ of society a degraded estimate of manual labour, “ similar to that which has always existed where “ African slavery has been permitted, and would “ thereby call into existence a class similar to the “ ‘ mean whites ’ of the Southern States of the American “ Union before the Civil War.” Again Sir Henry Parkes says of the Chinese, “ they are a superior set of “ people, belonging to a nation of an old and deep- “ rooted civilisation. We know the beautiful results “ of many of their handicrafts ; we know how wonderful “ are their powers of imagination, their endurance, and “ their patient labour. It is for these qualities I do “ not want them to come here. The influx of a few “ millions of Chinese would entirely change the “ character of this young Australian Commonwealth. “ It is because I believe the Chinese to be a powerful “ race, capable of taking a great hold upon the “ country, and because I wish to preserve the type of “ my own nation in these fair countries, that I am, “ and always have been, opposed to the influx of “ Chinese.”! 1 ) In 1852 the Chinese first began to arrive in Victoria, and at the census of 1854 they numbered 2,000. The fear that they would overrun the colony took shape in the Victorian Act of 1855 which defined a “Chinese immigrant” to mean any male native adult of China, or its dependencies, or of any islands in the Chinese seas, or any person born of Chinese parents. The Act provided that no vessel should bring more Chinese passengers than one for every ten tons of cargo, under a penalty of 10Z. for every passenger in excess, and that the Governor should levy such a sum from each immigrant as might be necessary for the payment of the officers employed in carrying out the Act. Between 1857 and 1864 five other Acts regulating Chinese immigration were passed, but have since been repealed. In the meantime the Chinese in Victoria had diminished owing to the rush in 1860 to the gold diggings of New South Wales. In 1859 the Chinese population was 42,000, and in 1861 it was 24,732. It has since again diminished, and in 1881 was only 12,128. Further Restriction Acts were passed in 1865, 1881, and 1888, which still remain in force. By the first the Governor in Council is empowered to appoint persons to carry out the provisions of the Act, and to regulate the registration of immigrants, as defined by the Act of 1855, on their arrival in any district, as well as their removal from the district if such a course be found necessary or desirable. The master of any ship bringing Chinese immigrants must state the fact on arrival in port. If any immigrant is sentenced to imprisonment or imprisonment with hard labour, the Governor in Council may direct where he shall be employed. No immigrant within the meaning of the Act, even if he hold a miner’s right or business licence, is entitled to vote at the election of members of any mining board. The Act of 1881 again limits the number of Chinese immigrants, who may be brought, to one for every hundred tons of the vessel, and orders the master of the vessel to pay 10Z. to the Collector of Customs on behalf of each immigrant, before such immigrant may land. Any Chinese immigrant, who is a British subject, is exempt from these provisions, as are also members of the crew, or persons not landed in any port of Victoria. No Chinese immigrant, who is not a naturalised or natural born subject of Her Majesty, may vote at parliamentary or municipal elections. The Act of 1888 makes further exceptions in favour of duly- accredited persons representing any government, or sent on a special mission by government, and limits (‘) Dilke, “ Problems of Greater Britain,” pp. 52!), 533 . “ Corre- spondence relating to Chinese Immigration into Australasian Colonies,” 1888, pp. 25, 26, 37, 38. the number of Chinese passengers to one for 500 tons. Vessels may be searched by inspectors if suspected of evading the Act, and any such evasion may be visited with a fine of 100Z. A Chinese immigrant entering Victoria by land without a permit from the Governoi in Council may be lined not less than 5 Z. and not more than 20Z., and may be removed to the colony from which he came.( 2 ) Chinese immigration is restricted in South Aus- tralia by Acts of 1881 and 1888. The provisions of the Act of 1881 are similar to those of the Victorian Act of that year, but add that all immigrants must be vac- cinated by a medical officer before landing, if they have not already been vaccinated. The Northern Territory is exempt from the provisions of the Act, but a Chinaman entering the Southern Territory from the Northern, is deemed to have arrived from beyond the province. The Act of 1888 is on the lines of the Victorian Act of 1888. The Act passed for New South Wales in 1888 is even more stringent than those for Victoria and South Australia. Certificates of naturalisation may not be granted on any ground to Chinese labourers, and all Chinese leaving the Colony for a time, except those who have already been naturalised, are subject on return to all the provisions of the Act. The sum to be paid for any Chinese immigrant coming by land or sea is put as high as 100Z. No Chinese labourers ar- riving after the passing of the Act are to be allowed to engage in any mining pursuit whatever without special authority from the Minister of Mines. Chinamen who can prove themselves British subjects are exempt from the provisions of the Act. Acts similar to those of Victoria have been passed in Queensland in 1890 and 1891, but the penalty for an immigrant entering the Colony by land without a per- mit is fixed at 500Z. In \ V estern Australia the number of Chinese passen- gers who may be lawfully carried is one to every 50 tons, and the sum to be paid for each immigrant is 10Z. A New Zealand Act of 1888 fixes the number at one to every 100 tons and requires the same payment ; the same provisions are contained in a Tasmanian ' Act of 1887. ( 3 ) ^ In 1887 a Chinese Commission visited the Australian Colonies to inquire into the condition of Chinese sub- jects residing there. The Chinese Minister at St. James’s subsequently called the attention of Lord Salisbury to the tact that his countrymen in Australia were the subjects of discriminating legislation, and were forced to pay a poll-tax of 10Z., from which the subjects of other powers were exempt. This he pronounced to be incompatible with Her Majesty’s international engagements.” The Imperial Govern- ment, however, found that anti-Chinese feeling ran too high in Australia to brook any interference. Lord Carrington, then Governor of New South Wales, wrote to the Foreign Office that “ if we have no voice in “ making treaties, it seems only just that our interests should be considered and protected by those who ‘‘ exercise that power. We learn that the United States Government have entered into a treaty with the Government of China, by which Chinese immi- gration into America is no longer permitted. We fail to see why Australia may not be similarly pro- tected.” Whilst the subject was still under con- sideration, a Hong Kong vessel called the “Afo-han” arrived at the Heads, Port Phillip, Victoria, with 268 Chinese passengers, of whom 60 were immigrants for the Colony. The number was greatly in excess of the legal proportion, and the immigrants sought to land bv declaring themselves British subjects. Forty-eio-ht produced naturalisation papers, which proved, upon examination, to have been issued to others than the present holders, and were therefore rejected. The vessel proceeded to Sydney, where no such law was then in force, but the Government resolved to prevent the landing of the immigrants, and were supported in their action by Parliament and by popular feelino- • indeed any other course would in all probability have been followed lay a riot. 1 he case was brought before the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and the action of the Government declared illegal, whereupon the pas- sengers holding exemption tickets were allowed to la41 C C 0 S e T d l8 n 88 e ^V 0 V CI ; in ' Se ink, Austra- usuin colonies, 188 h, pp. 71-72. Victorian Year Book, 1890-91, Vol. I. Colom^ritsfc^ into Australasian colonies, loso, pp. /o, oo, 84. lext of Acts. Acts of the PavUnmnnf of South Australia, 1888, No. 439 . ' ne ^ ailla muit of F 4 b. In South Australia. c. In New South Wales. d. In Queensland. e. In West- ern Aus- tralia. /. In New Zealand and Tasmania. N egotia- tions be- tween the Imperial and Colonial Govern- ments as to the Chinese. 48 land, but a clause indemnifying the Executive Govern- ment and all persons authorised by them to check the landing was introduced into the Chinese Restriction and Regulation Bill then before the New South Wales Parliament. This Bill became law in 1888. The Im- perial Government did not interfere in spite of a second remonstrance from the Chinese Minister, and Sir Henry Parkes declared that “ neither for Her “ Majesty’s ships of war, nor for Her Majesty’s representative on the spot, nor for Her Majesty’s “ Secretary of State for the Colonies, do we intend to “ turn aside from our purpose.” The excitement ran so high in Victoria, New South Wales, and New Zea- land that hostile demonstrations were feared, if the Chinese should attempt to land. Proclamations, first promulgated in 1876 declaring the Chinese Empire, Hong Kong, and Sumatra to be infected with small-pox and establishing quarantine, were republished without any alteration. The agitation bore fruit in the Acts of 1888, which have been found adequate to limit Chinese im migration. ('). C. — Public Provision for the Unemployed. Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand amongst the Australasian colonies have esta- blished bureaux of labour, and sought to make pro- vision for the large number of men out of employment. a . Victoria. This lack of work in Victoria is ascribed to the depression in industry following upon the strike of 1890. A labour registry was established in Melbourne by the Salvation Army at the beginning of 1892, which by March 10th had provided work for 1,500 applicants out of the 3,300 whose names were on its books. The Trades’ Hall Council opened an opposition bureau in March, but the Government, refused to recognise it, on the ground that the Salvation Army’s registry was “ more convenient.” This refusal occasioned much discontent amongst the unemployed, and one of their number was appointed to seek an interview with the Commissioner of Public Works, and to arrange for the reception of a deputation. He stated that the unem- ployed objected to registering their names at the Salvation Army’s bureau because “ impertinent ques- tions were asked about their religion.” On the refusal of the Commissioner to consider the establishment of a Government labour bureau, the crowd assembled round his offices attempted to force an entry, but were frus- trated and dispersed by the police. A few days later the Premier, Mr. Shiels, received a deputation from the unemployed, and promised that no time should be lost in bringing before the legislature a Bill for the establishment of a labour bureau. Public works, involving a large expenditure, were also set on foot, and that the number of men employed might be in- creased, part of the staff were put to work half time. The promised bureau was established by the Govern- ment in Melbourne at the end of March, and by the end of July 6,300 names had been registered, and situations found for over 1,000 men. The applications of employers for workmen have been numerous, but in some cases the small remuneration offered led the officials to refuse to consider the application. On the other hand the trade unions interfere to prevent men from accepting work if wages are at all below the union r ate. In one case, where two stonemasons were wanted at 2s. a day, no candidates for the work appeared throughout the day, though the bureau was crowded ; in the evening, however, two men applied stating that they dared not accept the work openly at less than the trades’ hall standard of wages. There is growing evidence of a desire on the part of farmers to give work at reduced wages ; several men have accepted employment at 10s. a week with board. A large amount of charitable aid has been bestowed upon the unemployed in Victoria. At a meeting of the com- mittee of the Salvation Aimiy’s free labour bureau, it was reported that over 250Z. had been received, 2,660 meals supplied, rations given to 220 families, 400 men sent to work, and 460 free railway passes issued. An association, known as the “ legion of relief,” was also formed to administer the money and food supplied for the use of the unemployed. Before August more than 1,000Z. had been expended, and three tons of flour, supplied by country mills, baked into bread and dis- tributed free of cost.( 2 ) (') Correspondence relatin'; to Chinese Immigration into Australasian Colonies, 1S8S, pp. 1, 3, 23. 42, 4(1, 49, 51, 53. Dilke, “ Problems of Greater Britain,” p. 531. Victorian Year Book, 1S90-1, Vol. I„ p. 243. ( 2 ) "St. James’s Gazette,” March 9th, 1S92. ‘‘Scottish Leader,” March 19th, 1892. “Evening News,” March 3rd, 1892. "Bradford In New South Wales the depression in the labour 4. New market has been as great as in Victoria. The Govern- §2 llth ment has, however, steadily resisted the pressure put ' Vales ‘ upon it to organise relief works, though it has assisted the unemployed as far as possible by establishing a labour bureau in February 1892. Every unemployed person who wishes to make use of the bureau must attend at the central office and register his name, age, and birthplace, as well as the work to which he has been accustomed, and, if possible, the references to character which he can produce. No fee is charged either to employers or employed, and the Government expressly state that they will not in any way interfere with the rate of wages offered or the hours of work, which are to be a matter of arrangement between the two parties. According to a progress report, showing the working of the bureau between February 18th and April 12th 1892, submitted to the colonial secretary in May. 7,300 persons registered themselves, 1 per cent, of whom were unable, either from physical defects or from old age, to perform hard manual labour. Employ- ment had been found during the same period for 1,855 men, free railway passes granted to 1,175, and steamer passes to 109. The number of married men registered was 2,840. The applicants for work were classified as follows : — Unskilled labourers . - 3,884 Tradesmen and mechanics . - 3,141 Clerks and collectors - _ 227 Professional men - . 48 Amongst them were about 150 professional loafers, 66 of whom, after registering themselves, were locked up for drunkenness. The report also stated that numerous letters had been received from employes and from employers, expressing satisfaction with the employment found, or with the labour supplied. On the other hand some men after engagement had made no attempt to reach their proper destination, and others had on arrival been dissatisfied with their wages, or with the conditions of their employment, and had refused to work. According to a half-yearly report published by Mr. Creer at the end of August, the total number of unemployed registered in the six months during which the bureau had been in existence was 13,447 ; work had been found for 5,767. There were among the applicants about 500 chronic loafers, who did not come to the bureau in the daytime to see what work was being offered, but used the place as a night shelter. The daily attendance of men willing and able to work ranged from 250 to 1,500, the average number being 400. Of the men wi o had obtained employment 63 per cent, were labourers, 27 per cent, tradesmen, and 8 per cent, clerks and professional men. lu several instances men, who had been provided with employ- ment in the country, had, after working for a time on wages, developed into employers, and given work in turn to many of their former associates in clearing, mining, and charcoal burning. There had been diffi- culty in obtaining boilermakers, saddlers and brick- layers at current rates. ( 3 ) The leaders of the labour party did not approve of the establishment of a Government bureau. It is said that in one instance a dozen men who had obtained employment through it were violently assaulted as they left work, and accused of being blacklegs. In conse- quence of this treatment, none of them appeared on the next day. During the discussion of the supple- mentary estimates in the Assembly, Mr. Rae accused the Government of making use of the bureau to play into the hands of employers, who were seeking to reduce wages, and to break up the unions in the country districts. It was also stated that the bureau was always “ haunted by the detectives of Sydney ” on the look out for discharged prisoners, whom they re- port to the officials of the bureau, and thus deprive of their last chance of earning an honest living. Accord- ing to the “ Bulletin ” : — “ The institution was created, at the cost of the nation, to furnish an equal chance of employment to any man who is willing to work. When it is used as an engine to prevent the reformation of a discharged criminal, then it becomes an outrage upon morality and an indelible disgrace to everyone concerned.”^) Observer,” April 2nd, 1S92. “ Morning Post,” April 2nd, May lGtli, 1892. Echo,” March 2fitli, 1892. “ Times,” April 18th, 1S92. “ Daily Chronicle,” August 15tli and 20th, 1S92. “Argus ” (Melbourne), May 5th. 1892. ( s ) “Sydney Mail,” February 20th, 1892. “British Australasian,” June 2nd, 1892. “ Syuney Morning Herald,” September 5th, 1892. ( 4 ) “ Sydney Bulletin,” March 9th, 1892. “ Morning Post,” April lltli, 1892. " Star,” May 3rd, 1892. 49 c. Queens- land. rl. In New Zealand. Agitation with regard to tho lack of employment began in Queensland as early as the autumn of 1886, when a Government labour bureau was established in Brisbane. Between October and December in that year, 6'24 men were sent with free passes either to work or to their friends. The shipping companies also agreed to convey passengers nominated by the bureau at two-thirds of the ordinary steerage faro. Tho im- migration agent, who conducted the bureau, was of opinion that the distress was more apparent than real, since work at reasonable wages met with insolent refusal. In one case a man, who had said to the chief secretary that “we are nothing but beggars, and beggars cannot be choosers,” refused work in his own calling at 70 1 . a year, because it was up country. Other men, who had borrowed tools from the bureau to begin work, never took the trouble to redeem the pledges given for themj 1 ) This labour bureau is still in existence, and is very active in the matter of assisting immigrants to find employment and preventing them from falling into the hands of the private registry offices, which charge ex- orbitant fees. The report, drawn from statistics sup- plied by assistant immigration agents and clerks of petty sessions for 1890 states that the total registered demand for labour was 3,758, and the total supply 2,855, the excess of demand over supply referring almost exclusively to farm labourers and female domestic servants. A great number of men were out of work in Brisbane during the early part of the present year. On the 16th of March the labour bureau was besieged by an excited crowd of women and children, who assembled to the number of 400 and demanded assistance, which the Government undertook to afford until employment could be provided. Belief was administered from the immigration depot, and free transit was provided across the river, so that all ap- plicants might reach the depot without expense. In May the Mayor of Brisbane stated that there were from 1,000 to 1,200 honest labouring men out of employment in that town alone. Many who had been working for 21 . 10s. a week were "glad to secure employment at 25s., whilst in other cases workmen had been obliged to mortgage their houses, and then to sell them in order to meet their liabilities. ( 2 ) In June, 1891, a Government Bureau of Industries was established in New Zealand with the object of collecting statistics and controlling the movements of labour so as to secure work for the unemployed. Between that date andMareh 1892, 2,400 persons were assisted to find work. Eight hundred of these were employed in constructing roads and railways, and in other public works on the gang or contract system, according to which one man is elected “ ganger ” or trustee, and deals with the Government on behalf of the rest. Small farms to be cultivated by working men in village settlements are also provided by Government. According to the report, “ A State farm is to comprise about 1,000 acres “ of land, fit for agricultural purposes, and to this “ farm will be drafted the surplus workmen of the “ towns. Many of the ‘ unemployed’ applying at the “ labour bureau are clerks, stewards, firemen, tailors, “ printers, &c., who, crowded out of their regular “ employments, are in a state of destitution ; these “ being in addition to a large number of general “ labourers, who, though used to the pick or shovel, “ have no knowledge of work upon farm or station. “ All these could be sent with advantage to seme farm “ or station, where, in return for some small wage, “ they could assist in the general work of a farm, and “ make its cultivation pay expenses, while, in the “ meantime, the workmen themselves were being “ trained to habits and duties fitting them for the “ general labour market. It is desired that buildings “ should be erected by the men themselves, with the “ help of some skilled assistance, that cottages should “ be built for married men with families, and that “ to those who show themselves most interested and “ capable, co-operative shares in the profits of the farm “ should be given.’’ The - system of co-operation, as established by the present government of New Zealand, has not given universal satisfaction. A serious attack was made upon it in the House of Bepresentatives in July 1892, by Mr. Fisher, who contended that the establishment of such a system attracted the surplus pauper population of New South Wales, whilst it did not check the emigration from New Zealand (*) Queensland Immigration Agent’s Report for 1886, 1889, and 1890. ( 2 ) “ British Austr alasian,” March 16th, 1892. “ The Western Press,” March 27th, 1892. U 75209. of people possessing skill or money. He also stated that in some parts of the Colony men working on the co-operative system received all the wages they claimed, whilst in other parts a deduction was made by the examining engineer. In proof of his statement he read a letter from one of his constituents complaining of the treatment which he and his fellow workmen had received. The writer was one of a gang of six men working on tho Woodville Bailway at Eketahuna. They began work on the 21st of December, 1892, and when they had cleared the timber, they received an instalment of wages ; 20k of this was spent in the purchase of rails and trucks without which the work could not proceed. The balance left was only 5s. for each man. A tally was kept of the number of yards cut each day. At the end of the second month 70 per cent, was paid on the work, 344. of which was spent in the purchase of a horse and cart and other necessaries. At the end of the third month the writer received enough money to enable him to go to Welling- ton to bring bis wife and children to Eketahuna ; while there he went to the Public Works Department, where be saw the under secretary, and was told that all expenses would be repaid when the work was finished. This action, he contends, annoyed the engineer, who from that time only paid 60 per cent, on the work done. When the contract was finished the cutting was not measured, and the full amount due to the men remained unpaid. They received no compensation except pay- ment for the two trucks bought. The acting engineer refused to employ the men on other work until they went lo Wellington and were sent down again by the bureau. On this last point, Mr. Fisher says: “In “ order to swell the bureau returns, the Government “ is prepared to go to the expense of paying the “ railway fare down to Wellington and back again, in “ order to get the men’s names through the books of “ the bureau. These co-operative works are set up, “ not for the benefit of the working man, but to “ establish political communities, where, under the “ one month provision in the Electoral Bill, these men “ can be kept contiguous to the boundaries on any two “ electorates, and may be shifted from camp to camp “ to be used as they may be required. ”( 3 ) APPENDIX A. Friendly Societies. Almost all the English friendly societies have branches in Australia. The Manchester Union of Odd- fellows, in particular, has 16,000 members in Victoria, 13,000 in New South Wales, and 12,000 in South Australia. The largest number of friendly societies is in Victoria, where, according to Sir Charles Dilke, there are 800 courts with 70,000 members, and an income of 25,000k This membership includes nearly all tho artisans in the Colony, as well as a considerable num- ber of the smaller shopkeepers. Though the increase during 1890 was less than in 1889 or 1888, the capital of the societies showed a considerable increase both in aggregate amount and in the amount for each effective member. Societies containing 51 per cent, of the total number of members are reported to have adopted adequate or nearly adequate contributions ; societies having 35 per cent, have increased their contributions more or less effectively, and only those containing 14 per cent, have made no increase. The tteport for 1890, however, states that the practice of misappropriating sick and funeral funds to medical and management purposes is on the increase. No provision is as yet made for granting old-age pensions. The Begistrar of Friendly Societies in Queensland reports that the returns of these societies continue to show a general improvement, and that they are steadily increasing. As much as 11'9 per cent, of cheir capital, however, remained uninvested in 1890, and the mis- application of benefit funds to management purposes continued to increase. The Begistrar for New Zealand reported in 1890 that there were a great number of Courts of B-echabites and other temperance societies in that Colony, and that the rate of mortality amongst the Bechabites was only 69 per cent, of that of the Foresters and other societies. The sickness rate in the friendly societies as a whole is stated to be 10 per cent, higher in New Zealand than in England. This is due in part to want ( 3 ) Report of Bureau of Industries, New Zealand, April, 1892. Speech delivered by Mr. G. Fisher, Julv 27th, 1892. The inspection of factories is a branch of the work of the Bureau. Gt 50 of care in investigating the health of candidates for membership; the statistics also show that very few of those members whose health is indifferent ever with- draw from the society, whilst withdrawals are frequent amongst those in sound health, especially during the age-period in which the number of entries is the largest. In New South Wales friendly societies are required to register themselves, hut their compliance with the Act is said by the Registrar to be very incomplete. The following statistics of friendly societies throughout Australasia are given in Mr. Hayter's Victorian Year-Book for 1890-1. Colony. Year. No. of Orders or Socie- ties. No. of Branches. No. of Members. Amount of Funds. Victoria 1890 32 1,003 88,134 £ 909,564 New South Wales - 1890 10 652 53,795 394,620 Queensland - 1889 15 203 15,165 102,914 South Australia 1888 9 344 30,289 249,832 Western Australia - 1888 4 17 771 9,301 Tasmania 1889 17 89 8,692 59,523 New Zealand 1889 13 364 26,013 430,544 Total 2,672 222,859 2,156,238 It is officially laid down by the executive of the societies that no candidate for membership is to be excluded on the ground of race, but Sir Charles Dilke states, that as a matter of fact, it is difficult to obtain the admission of aborigines or Chinese. Building societies are stronger throughout the colonies than in England, aud the life insurances in Australasia amount to a sum of some 45.000.000Z. In New Zealand the Government undertake life insurance and do far more business than any private company (*). APPENDIX B. Text of Acts, and Schemes foe Boards of Conciliation. 1. Conciliation, New South Wales. Constitution of the Board of Conciliation for the Colony of New South Wales. (Formed for the purpose of mediating in matters of dispute between employers and employees.) 1. The name of the Board shall he the Board of Con- ciliation for the Colony of New South Wales. 2. The objects of the said Board shall he to investigate such disputes between employers and employees as are duly and properly referred to it under the provisions of this Constitution, and in accordance with the several rules hereto attached ; and to recommend such terms of adjust- ment as may seem to and he declared by it to be fair and reasonable. 3. The said Board shall consist of not more than eigh- teen (18) and not less than ten (10) permanent members, half of whom shall be appointed by the Trades and Labour Council, and half by the executive of the New South Wales Employers’ Union ; and, when deemed necessary by such permanent members, such additional one (1) or three (3) members, as the said permanent members shall think fit to elect from without the before-mentioned bodies. 4. Every member of the said Board, appointed by either the Trades and Labour Council, or the Executive of the New South Wales Employers’ Union, shall, at the time of such appointment, be a member of either one of those two bodies. 5. Every member of the said Board, appointed by either of the two berein-before-mentioned bodies, shall, unless removed as herein-after provided, be and remain a member of the said Board during the whole period for which he sha'l have been appointed by either of the said bodies ; but in no case shall any such member be appointed at any one time for a longer period than twelve ( 12) months, and he shall be subject to removal at any time by resolution of the particular body by which he was originally appointed. (>) Annual Report of Registrar of Friendly Societies, New Zealand, 1890. Dilke “ Problems of Greater Britain,” pp. 539-542. Report of Royal Commission on Strikes, New South Wales, 1890, Evidence, p. 123. Annual Report of the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies, the United Kingdom, 1891, Appendix E., pp. 87, 88. fi. Every member of the said Board elected by the before-mentioned permanent members, as provided by clause 3, shall he and remain a member of the Board for such time only as he shall have been elected ; but in no case shall any such member be elected for a longer period than remains of the term of office of the latest appointed of the permanent members : Provided also, that any such outside member shall be subject to removal at any time by resolution carried by a majority of the permanent members of the Board present. 7. In every case in which a vacancy shall occur among the permanent members of the said Board, such vacancy shall be filled by appointment from the particular body by which the member whose seat has become so vacant had been filled. 8. A quorum of the said Board shall consist of not less than six (6) members, including at least three (3) perma- nent members appointed by each of the above-mentioned bodies : Provided that in the event of a larger number of those members appointed by the New South Wales Em- ployers’ Union being present than of those appointed by the Trades and Labour Council, or vice versa, arrangements shall be made before the Board proceeds to the conduct of its business by which the number in excess on the one side or the other shall, while possessing all the privileges of dis- cussion, abstain from voting upon any question which may be decided while such inequality exists. 9. All members of the said Board shall be eligible for re-election. 10. A vacancy shall occur in the said Board hy the happening of either of the following events, viz. : — Death, resignation, absence (without such reasons as are in the opinion of the Board satisfactory) from three (3) consecutive sittings ; or removal under clauses 5 and 6. 11. Every member of the said Board who, in the opinion of the majority of the remaining voting members present at any sitting of the Board, shall be interested in any question upon which the Board are about to adjudicate, shall, upon the passing of a resolution to that effect, be disqualified from taking any part in such adjudication. 12. A Chairman of such Board shall be appointed from among the members present at the time of any such ap- pointment, and shall when present continue to act as such chairman until the adjudication of the question under con- sideration has been fully disposed of by such Board ; and such Chairman shall have one vote only, hut no casting vote : Provided always that in the event of any such Chair- man appointed at a previous meeting being absent, the Board shall have power to appoint a substitute either for one sitting or only for the remainder of the time during which the subject under adjudication shall be continued. 13. The rights and powers of the said Board to adjudi- cate shall he limited to such definite issues as require settle- ment between two or more parties, being constituents of the Trades and Labour Council and of the New South Wales Employers’ Union Executive respectively, or of some affiliated body having duty subscribed to this constitution and the rules and regulations affixed thereto, but no ques- tion shall be referred to the said Board which may involve any proposal to increase the hours of labour beyond those which may be observed by the parties when this reference was made. 14. The said Board shall he moved to action only at the joint request of two or more parties entitled to the assist- ance of such Board, between whom some disputed question has arisen and has failed to reach a settlement through the respective secretaries of the Trades and Labour Council and New South Wales Employers’ Union ; and through the further intervention of the Committee of Inquiry provided by clause 21 : Provided that such joint request shall he in writing, addressed to the Secretary of the said Board, and endorsed hy the Secretaries of the Trades and Labour Council and New South Wales Employers’ Union, on behalf of and with the consent of their respective bodies. 15. The said Board shall conduct its deliberations at such place as its members, when called together, may from time to time deem most advantageous to all parties con- cerned. 16. The said Board shall from time to time, as it may think fit, appoint, suspend, or remove one or more secre- taries or amanuenses for the convenience of the Board, and such secretary or secretaries or amanuenses shall, if neces- sary, he remunerated hy the Trades and Labour Council and the New South Wales Employers’ Union jointly. 17. The said Board shall have power to examine, on oath or affirmation, all such persons as shall be presented as wit- nesses for the purpose of throwing light on any question which it may be engaged in adjudicating upon, or on any matters which, in the opinion of the Board, are calculated to elucidate such questions. 51 18. All questions which shall from time to time come before the said Board for adjudication or determination of whatsoever kind shall be decided by the majority of the members present (subject to clauses 8 and 12); and when any question shall have been so settled, such settlement shall be accepted and recognised by all members of the Board as the unanimous determination of finding thereof, 19. In each and every case in which it is deemed ad- visable or necessary by the Board to test the feeling of its members by voting, such voting shall be conducted by ballot. 20. The constitution and rules of the said Board may from time to time be altered by resolution of the Board carried for that purpose, approved and confirmed by the Trades and Labour Council and the New South Wales Employers’ Union Executive respectively. 21. The said Board shall appoint from among its per- manent members, every six (6) months, a Committee of Inquiry, consisting of four (4) members— two (2) from the Trades and Labour Council and two (2) from the New South Wales Employers’ Union Executive, two (2) to form a quorum (including one of the members appointed from each body aforesaid) ; and the duties of such Com- mittee shall consist in investigating f without formally taking evidence) and endeavouring to effect a settlement of any dispute which may be referred to it, under the pro- visions of clause 13. Such Committee shall be empowered ro take whatever steps for the above purposes it shall deem advisable. 22. All expenses incurred by the said Board (excepting such as are for the benefit of any particular person or per- sons, or subordinate body or bodies) shall, in the first place, be borne by the Trades and Labour Council and the New South Wales Employers’ Union in equal proportions. 23. So soon as the members of the said Board shall have been duly appointed, it shall be their duty to consider themselves as representing no particular side in any dispute upon the adjudication of which they may be engaged, but to regard themselves as arbitrators appointed to consider every interest concerned, and to act in the joint interest of all ; and it shall further be the duty of every such member to divest himself as much as possible of any disposition of feelings which may lead him to regard one side more favourably than another. Rules and Regulations incidental to and forming part of the Constitution of the Board of Conciliation : — The following Rules and Regulations shall be strictly observed by all bodies or organisations, and by all persons being constituent members of, or coming under the juris- diction of any such bodies or organisations as have, through their duly appointed representative or representatives, subscribed hereto : — 1. No alteration shall hereafter be demanded by either employers or employees, in the hour3 of work, the rate of wages, or system or conditions of working, except after two months' 1 notice in writing, by the person or persons desiring such alteration to the person or persons with whom such alteration is desired to be effected. 2. No strike or lock-out shall, under any circumstances whatever, be threatened or resorted to until all the follow- ing steps have been taken to procure a settlement of the question or questions at issue between the employer or employers and the employee or employees : — First. — The matter or matters in dispute have been referred to the secretaries of the Trades and Labour Council and the New South Wales Employers’ Union respectively, and they have failed to secure a settle- ment. Second. — The matter or matters in dispute have been referred to the Committee of Inquiry appointed for such a purpose under clause 21, and it has failed to secure a settlement. Third . — The matter or matters in dispute have been referred to the Board of Conciliation, and the decision of such Board has been refused recognition and obser- vance : Provided that such non-recognition or non- observance must in all cases be certified to in writing by the Committee of Inquiry before being deemed sufficient to justify such strike or lock-out. Provided that the restriction upon strikes and lock-outs imposed by this rule shall not be considered binding in any case in which one or two or more parties to any dispute refuses or neglects to refer the subject matter in dispute to the Board, after having been requested so to do by the Secretaries of the New South Wales Employers’ Union and the Trades and Labour Council, and such refusal or neglect has been certified to by the Committee of Inquiry. 3. In the event of a strike or lock-out being resorted to by any of the bodies or organisations having subscribed hereto, or by any person or persons members thereof, without the three events recorded under the last clause having taken place, every other body or organisation having subscribed hereto, and every member thereof, shall be in duty bound to refuse to any such body or organisation, or such member or members of the same, all sympathy or support of any kind whatsoever in its or their independent action 51 ° Victories, 1887 - Bill to provide for the establishment of Boards of Conciliation and Arbitration and labour disputes. for the settlement of trade Interpre- tation clause. [Mr. Carruthers; — 7 July 1887-] Whereas it is expedient that Boards of Conciliation Preamble, and Arbitration should be established for the settlement of trade and labour disputes Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legisla- tive Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows : — 1. In the construction of this Act unless the context shall otherwise indicate the following terms in inverted commas shall bear the meanings and include the things herein-after severally assigned to or set against them — “ Governor ” — Governor with the advice of the Executive Council. “ Employer ” — Any person or partnership of persons or company registered under any existing Act or otherwise employing the services or labour or work of any other persons to the number cf not less than five persons otherwise than as domestic servants. “Employees” — Any persons employed by or working for any employer under any contract express or implied oral or in writing on any work or labour other than domestic service. “ Board ” — A Board of Conciliation or Board of Arbitra- tion according as the context indicates. “ Public advertisement ’’—Advertisement in “ Gazette ” and in such daily papers as may be deemed necessary by the Board. 2. A Board of Conciliation shall consist of three members namely the Chairman who shall be appointed by the Governor one member who shall be elected by the employers and one member who shall be elected by the employees in manner herein-after directed. 3. On the passing of this Act the Governor shall within thirty days thereafter appoint the first Chairman of the Board. 4. Such Chairman shall thereupon by public advertise- ment call upon all employers and employees to register themselves as such within thirty days from a date to be mentioned in such advertisement And for the purpose of such registration the Chairman shall keep a book to be termed the register of trades Provided that the Chairman may refuse to register any person whom be may deem not duly qualified as an employer or employee within the meaning of this Act. 5. Upon completion of such registration the Chairman shall by public advertisement invite the persons so regis- tered as employers before a date not less than fourteen days nor more than twenty-eight days after publication of such advertisement to nominate in writing one person being a male elector of the Colony to serve as a member of such Board And likewise shall invite the employees to nominate such a person to serve as a member of such Board And every nomination shall be made in writing and signed by two or more voters And in the event of only one person being nominated for each or either of the said offices such person shall be declared by such Chairman to be duly elected And in case more than one person shall he nominated then a ballot shall be taken within seven days from the last day fixed for nominations and at a time and at such convenient places and in manner to be duly notified by public advertisement as the Chairman may fix and direct And the Chairman shall appoint such scrutineers and assistants as he may require to act with him in taking such ballot and upon such ballot being taken and held the person receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected to such office as member of the Board Provided that at such and all other elections the register of trades shall be the roll of persons entitled to vote. 6. The members of such first Board shall hold office for a term from the day of election up to the thirty-first day of March one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one and members of all subsequent Boards shall hold office for a term of three years from date of election Provided that G 2 Board of Concilia- tion; its composi- tion. First chair- man. First election. Registra- tion of voter. Nomination of candi- dates for seats on Board. Ballot in case of more nomina- tions than one. Period of office. 52 Vacancies, how sup- plied. In default of nomi- nations Governor may ap- point. Future elections ; how con- ducted. Colony may be divided into dis- tricts. Member of Board unfit may be removed. Subjects of jurisdiction of Board. Power to view locali- ties, to summon witnesses, &c. Proceed- ings of Board. Penalty for obstructing Board. Conduct of proceed- ings. Award. How matters may be referred. all members shall on their ceasing to hold office he eligible for re-election or re-appointment. 7. Any vacancies occurring in such Board from time to time before the period limited for the existence of such Board shall he tilled up by election in manner as in original elections save and except in case of Chairman when a successor shall be appointed by the Governor. 8. In case no nominations are made of a person to fill a vacancy or to act as member of the Board on behalf of the employers and employees then in such case the Governor shall appoint a person to fill such vacancy 01 1 to act as such member. 9. After the first election all future elections shall be conducted in manner following namely — ( 1 ) The register of trades shall be deemed to be the roll of persons entitled to vote at such elections. ( 11 ) Every employer of labour and every employee shall in the month of January in each year cause his name to be entered on such roll with particulars of the business or trade engaged in. (in) The employers and employees of labour shall as a body each on or before the fourteenth day of February one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one and likewise in every third succeeding year nominate persons to serve as members of such Boards and in case of more than one being nominated a ballot shall be taken within four- teen days and the persons so elected by a majority at such ballot or by unopposed nomi- nation shall sene as a member of such Board. (iv) The collection of such register of trades and the conduct of such election shall in all cases be in the hands of the Chairman of such Board for the time being. 10. It shall be lawful for the Governor at any time and from time to time by proclamation duly notified in the “ Government Gazette” to divide the Colony into districts and to limit the jurisdiction of Boards of Conciliation to such districts and to establish such Boards for each of such districts and the provisions of this Act. 11. It shall be lawful for the Governor at any time to remove from office any person holding office as a member of such Board upon any grounds which show that he is manifestly unfit or incapable of performing the duties of such office. 12. Such Board of Conciliation shall have power to inquire into any matters referred to it relating to any dis- pute that may have arisen or that may arise in regard to any matters affecting the relations existing between em- ployers and employees either as regards rate of wages hours of labour terms and conditions of employment pro- vision for safety of employees and objections to class of labour employed and otherwise. 13. And for the purpose of making such inquiry effective such Board shall be and is hereby empowered to visit enter and view any works workshops mines factories or other places of business or localities where the matter referred shall have arisen And to summon and on oath to examine any witnesses on such matter And to order the production of any books referring to or relating to the matter so referred And generally to take such action as may appear necessary for the thorough investigation into the matter referred to such Board And any person neglecting or refusing to obey any summons or any order under this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds. 14. The proceedings of sucli Board shall be of an open and public character and any person shall be permitted to appear and represent either or any of the parties in the matter referred as an advocate. 15. In case any person shall in any way obstruct or im- pede the Board in the course of any inquiry he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two pounds and in default imprisonment not more than seven days. 16. The proceedings of such Board shall be conducted with all reasonable despatch and shall be governed by rules of justice and good conscience without regard to technical or legal rules of evidence. 17. After due inquiry made in accoi dance with the pro- visions of this Act it shall be lawful for such Board to make such award for the adjustment of the matters referred to as it may deem exjiedient on the merits of the matters and such award may be made under seal subject to payment of any fees ordered to be paid thereon. 18. Matters may be referred to the Board in manner following namely — ( 1 ) By petition of all of the parties to the matter so referred such petition setting forth clearly the nature of the matter referred for award and signed by them or some person appointed by them for that purpose. fn) By petition in like manner of one of the parties namely the employers or a majority of the employees and signed in like manner. ( 111 ) By the Governor in cases where the settlement of the matter in dispute is deemed one of urgent public importance and where the parties have failed to refer it by their own petition. 19. In all such cases where matters are referred to such Board under the preceding section it shall be lawful for such Board to call the parties before it by summons and to direct such parties forthwith or within seven days to submit their respective cases in writing to such Board and to state likewise in writing whether they agree or do not agree to be bound by the decision of such Board to be given after due inquiry as in manner herein-before provided Any person failing to comply with such summons shall be liable to a penalty of not tpore than forty pounds And further in case of default of any party to appear to such summons the other parties duly appearing and slating their case the Board may proceed ex parte to enquire and make its award on the matter referred to it. 20. In all cases where the parties shall agree to be bound by the decision of such award of the Board the same may be made a rule of the Supreme Court on the applica- tion of any of the parties and any person after such agreement made failing to comply with such award whether made a rule of Court or not shall be liable to a penalty of not exceeding one hundred pounds if an employer and Jive pounds if an employee. 21. No award shall be subject to enforcement under the preceding section for a period over three months after the date thereof. 22. It shall be lawful for any of the parties to any matter referred to such Board either by the petitions mentioned in section sixteen or by the statements required in section seventeen to require two arbitrators named by such parties to act on their behalf jointly with such Board in the inquiry in the matter referred. And thereupon such Board shall call upon the other party to the matter referred within seven days to nominate and appoint two other arbitrators to act on their behalf and in case of failure to nominate two such arbitrators the Board shall nominate two to act on their behalf And thereupon a Board of seven members shall be constituted to inquire into and decide upon the merits of the matter so referred And such Board shall be termed a Board of Arbitration and shall conduct the inquiry and make its award in like manner and have the like power as the Board of Concilia- tion under the provisions of this Act Provided that the award of such Board of Arbitration may in all cases be made a rule of the Supreme Court of New South Wales on the application of either party and in cases where each party has duly nominated arbitrators the award of such Board of Arbitration shall be complied with by all parties for a period of at least three months thereafter and any person failing so to comply with such award shall be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred pounds for any employer and not more than five pounds for any employee. 23. The award of a majority of any Board of Conciliation or Arbitration shall be deemed to be the award of the Board. 24. There shall be payable under the provisions of this Act the fees set out in the Schedule heieto and all such fees shall be paid into some bank in the city of Sydney to the credit of a fund to be called the Trades Conciliation Act Fund for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act and all payments made on account of this Act shall be by cheques on the said bank signed by the Chairman of such Board. 25. The Chairman of such Board shall apply the moneys received under this Act in the following manner that is to say on the payment of all authorised expenses and charges incurred in carrying into effect the provisions of this Act. 26. The members of such Board shall be paid out of the fees received as follows namely Chairman four pounds four shillings per diem for every sitting and other members of the Board three pounds three shillings per diem for every sitting And in addition thereto the Chairman shall be allowed an additional sum of not exceeding two hundred pounds per annum out of the fees received for conducting and managing ail elections and business under this Act And it shall be lawful for such Board if it shall deem it necessary to appoint officers to assist in the business of such Board at such salaries payable oat of the fees receiv- able under this Act as it may fix. 27. All members of such Board and all its officers shall have the right of free travelling on all Government rail- ways or Government conveyances in the performance of Cases to be submitted. Enforce- ment of awards in certain cases. Time for enforce- ment. Boards of Arbitration. Award of majority. Fees, &e« Appliea- t ion of moneys. Fees pay- able to members of Board. Free travel- ling and use of public buildings to Board, 53 Recovery o[ penalties. Disposal of penalties. Short title. Preamble. Industrial districts, &c. Office of clerk of awards. its duties and shall so far as other public business will permit have the free use of any Government buildings in any city or town for the purpose of holding its sitting's and transacting its business in the course ol any inquiry. 28. All fines penalties and forfeitures under this Act may be recovered in a summary way in the nearest Court of Petty Sessions. 29. All fines penalties and sums of money and all other income received or recovered under this Act shall be paid to the Chairman of the Board who shall keep accounts of the same. 30. This Act shall he styled and may he cited as the “Trades Conciliation Act of 1887.” The Schedule. Fees payable under this Act. £ s. d. From every employer on registering in Trades Register For every ten employees employed by him to be paid by him On lodging petition - And half sum sufficient to cover fees of Board during sittings to he fixed by them. On lodging statement in reply to peti- tion .... And half such fees as aforesaid of party not petitioning. On taking up award fees fixed by Board .... Copies of evidence or other pro- ceedings - For each subpoena required by parties New South Wales. Anno quinquagesimo quinto Victoria Reginae. No. XXIX. An Act to provide for the establishment of councils of conciliation and of arbitration for the settlement of industrial disputes. [Assented to, 31st March 1892.] Whereas it is believed that the establishment of councils of conciliation and of arbitration for the settlement of disputes between employers and em- ployees would conduce to the cultivation and mainten- ance of better relations, and more active sympathies, between employers and their employees, and would be of great benefit, in the public interest, by providing simple methods for the prevention of strikes, and other disputes, from the effects of which industrial operations may suffer serious and lasting injury, and the welfare and peaceful government of the country be imperilled : Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: — Establishment of Industrial Districts, Sfc. 1. The Governor shall, within three months after the passing of this Act, cause New South Wales to bo divided into industrial districts for the purposes of this Act, not exceeding five in number ; or, at his discre- tion, instead of so dividing the Colony, he may treat it as one industrial district for the said purposes. If the Colony shall be divided into industrial districts, every such district shall be notified in the “ Gazette and in the notilication shall be specified the designation and the limits of such district. By a like notification the Governor may abolish, alter, subdivide, or modify the boundaries of any such district, or unite any two or more districts, and may, from time to time and in like manner, exercise any of the said powers, as he may think fit. 2. In and for every industrial district, or in and for the Colony (if undivided into districts), there shall be a clerk of awards, who shall be appointed by the Gover- nor, and be paid such salary or remuneration as Parlia- ment may provide. The position of clerk of awards may be held separately, or in conjunction with any other position in the public service, as the Governor may determine. The clerk of awards shall, in the pre- scribed manner, report to the president of the council of arbitration all proceedings and matters commenced, taken, or done by or before him, and shall be provided with an office. 3. It shall be the duty of the clerk of awards to receive and register, and, subject to the provisions of this Act, to doal with all applications within his district lodged by employers or employees, or on their behalf, for reference to the council of conciliation for the district, or to the council of arbitration, of any dispute or claim within the meaning of this Act ; to convene any such council for the purpose of dealing with any such dispute or claim ; to keep a register in which shall be entered the particulars of all references and settlements of disputes and claims made to and by the council of conciliation, and of all references and awards made to and by the council of arbitration ; and generally to do all such things and take all such proceed- ings as may be required in the performance of his duties in accordance with the regulations. The clerk of awards shall be the officer to issue all summonses to witnesses to attend to give evidence, with or without the production of papers and documents, before any such council, and to issue all notices and perform all other acts in connexion with the sittings of such council in the prescribed manner. Councils of Conciliation. 4. In and for every industrial district there shall be a council of conciliation for the settlement of disputes and claims pursuant to this Act, which council shall consist of four members, two to be appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the organisation, or a majority of the organisations representing the interests of employees and registered according to the law regulating the registration of trades unions or friendly societies which have a registered office or offices within such district, and two to be appointed by him on the recommendation of the organisation or a majority of the organisations representing the interests of employers and registered according to the law regu- lating the registration of trades unions or friendly societies which have a registered office or offices within such district ; and each such organisation or majority as aforesaid is herein-after referred to as a recommend- ing authority. If, and so long as, the Colony shall not be divided into industrial districts, there shall be a council of conciliation for the whole Colony, which shall consist of not fewer than twelve nor more than eighteen members ; and of the entire number (which shall in every case be some number divisible by two) one-half shall be appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of each of the several recommending authorities. The procedure for the purposes of making out lists of such organisations and of ascertaining and giving eff ect to the recommendations of such recommending authorities shall be prescribed by regulations to be made pursuant to this Act : Provided that if and so long as the Colon} 7 is not divided ■ into industrial districts, such regulations shall be so framed as to pro- vide, as far as may be practicable, that the council of conciliation appointed for the whole Colony shall be fairly representative of all large centres of industry in the Colony. (i.) As soon as practicable after a full council shall have been appointed for any district, or for the entire Colony (as the case may be), the names of the members of such council shall be notified in the “ Gazette ” by the Minister, (ii.) The names and addresses of every member of a council of conciliation shall be registered in the prescribed manner, and the register of such names and addresses shall be open to the inspection of any person during office hours, without payment of any fee. 5. — (i.) The appointment for any district, or for the entire Colony, of a council of conciliation under the provisions hereinbefore contained, shall not prevent the appointment, from time to time, as occasion may require, of a council of four conciliators, two by each party to any dispute or claim, by or on behalf of any employer or the employees of any employer, for the purpose of dealing specially with any reference of such dispute or claim. And the members of any such council shall, for ail purposes of this Act, except in respect of the duration of their office, be deemed to be and to possess all the powers and to be entitled to the remuneration of members of a council of conciliation appointed as hereinbefore provided. (ii.) If in any case there be no council of conciliation G 3 0 1 0 0 l 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 10 per folio. 0 1 0 Duties, See. of clerk of awards. Establish- ment of councils of conciliation. Special councils of conciliation. 54 Remunera- tion cf mem- bers of coun- cil of con- ciliation. Duration of office of member of council of conciliation. Extraordi- nary vacan- cies. Certain dis- abilities. Council in certain cases. How dis- putes, &c. referred to council of conciliation. appointed by the Governor, pursuant to recommenda- tion under this Act, or none available for the purpose of dealing with any dispute or claim within the mean- ing of this Act, and if either party to such dispute or claim so desires, the dispute or claim shall be referred to conciliators for settlement, and a council of four con- ciliators appointed by both parties, two members of such council being selected by each party, shall be a council of conciliation for all purposes of this Act as aforesaid : Provided that any appointments under this section shall not take effect until after the approval thereof by the Governor. 6. Every member of any such council of conciliation whilst engaged in the adjustment of any dispute, shall be remunerated for his services in a manner and accord- ing to a scale of payment to be fixed and provided for by Parliament. 7. The duration of the office of a member of a council of conciliation shall, except in the case of members appointed under section five of this Act, be two years, at the end of which term and of every successive term of two years, a fresh appointment of members shall be made by the Governor upon recommendation pursuant to section four of this Act. Any person who has held office as a member of such council shall, if duly recom- mended, be eligible for reappointment. 8. Any vacancy in such council arising through the death or resignation of any member thereof, shall be filled by the Governor upon recommendation made pur- suant to the provisions of section four of this Act. 9. If any member of such council shall be disabled from illness or other cause from attending to his duties as such member, the Governor, on the recommendation of the proper recommending authorities, may appoint a person to act in his place for the period of such dis- ability. And such person shall, upon such appointment, be deemed for all purposes of this Act to be a member of such council during such period. 10. If a council of conciliation shall be appointed for the entire Colony, the parties to any reference to a council of conciliation may each select two members of such council, so that the council to deal with such reference shall consist of four persons, or, at their dis- cretion, may each appoint two persons, not being members of such first-mentioned council appointed pur- suant to section four of this Act ; and every such council so appointed shall have the powers and be entitled to the remuneration herein-before mentioned. Procedure for Conciliation. 11. Any dispute or claim within the meaniug of this Act may be referred for settlement to a council of con- ciliation in manner following : — (i.) The parties to such dispute or claim may jointly agree, in the prescribed manner, to refer such dispute or claim for settlement to a council of conciliation. (ii.) Either party to such dispute or claim may, in the prescribed manner, lodge an application with the clerk of awards requesting that such dispute or claim be referred for settle- ment to a council of conciliation. (iii.) Either party to a dispute or claim may, for the purposes of this Act, be represented by one or more persons (not exceeding three) authorised in writing by such party to represent him or them, and shall be bound by the acts of every such representative or representatives. And where the persons interested in any such dis- pute or claim, as a party, number more than 20, they may appoint or elect, in such manner as they may think proper, any one or more persons (not exceeding three) to represent them as aforesaid. And such person or per- sons may be designated the manager or managers of the case. (iv.) The clerk of awards, on receipt of any such agreement or application for a reference to a council of conciliation, shall forthwith lay the same before the council mentioned in such agreement or application at a meeting of such council to be convened by him in the prescribed manner, and, subject to the pro- visions of this Act and the regulations, shall carry out all directions of the said council, in order to effect a settlement of the dispute or claim referred to it. (v.) The clerk of awards shall transmit a report of the result of every such reference, certified under the hands of the members of the council of conciliation, together with all papers relat- ing to the reference, to the President of the council of arbitration, which report and papers shall be filed of record by such President. 12. If the council of conciliation shall, by writing signed by the members thereof, report to the clerk of awards that they have been unable to bring about any settlement or adjustment of any dispute or claim re- ferred to them satisfactory to the parties thereto [and it shall be the duty of such council in every such case to make such report], the clerk of awards on the receipt of such report shall transmit a copy (certified by him) of such report to each party to the dispute or claim, whereupon either party may, in the prescribed manner, require the clerk of awards to refer the said dispute or claim to the council of arbitration for settlement by award. The clerk of awards shall thereupon transmit all the papers in the reference to the President of the council of arbitration in the prescribed manner. The Council of Arbitration. 13. There shall be one council of arbitration for the settlement by award of disputes and claims pursuant to this Act. Such council shall consist of three mem- bers, one to be appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the recommending authority in the fourth section of this Act described representing the employees, and one to be appointed by him on the recommendation of the recommending authority in the said fourth section described representing the employers, and, in each case, in accordance with the regulations to be made in pursuance of this Act. The third member, who shall be the president of the council, shall be appointed in manner following, namely : The two mem- bers so appointed may, within twenty-one days after their appointment, submit to the minister the name of some impartial person for the position of president. And in case of failure so to do on the part of the said two members, then the Governor shall appoint as pre- sident an impartial person not personally connected with or interested in any trade or industry, or likely by reason of his former occupation, business, vocation, or other influence, to be biassed in favour of or against employers or employees. As soon as practicable after a full council shall have been appointed by the Governor, the names of the members of the council of arbitration so appointed shall be notified in the “ Gazette ” by the minister. 14. Every member of the council of arbitration shall be remunerated for his services in such manner and according to such rate of payment as the Governor shall appoint, but subject to parliamentary provision being made therefor. 15. — (i.) The term of office of a member of such council shall be two years, at the end of which term and of every successive term of two years a fresh appointment of members shall be made pursuant to this Act. (ii.) Every member of such council shall be eligible, after the expiry or other termination of his term of office, for reappointment for a like term. (iii.) If the president of such council shall be declared a bankrupt, or shall make a composition with his creditors, or make an assignment of his property or salary for the benefit of his creditors, he shall be deemed thereby to have vacated his office of president. (iv.) The president shall hold office during ability and good behaviour, subject to the limitation of the term of office herein declared. (v.) The president shall not engage during his term of office in any employment outside the duties of such office. 16. — (i.) Any vacancy in such council arising through the death, resignation, or disqualification of any member thereof shall be filled by the Governor for the term of office or the residue of such term (as the case may be), in accordance with the respective methods prescribed by this Act. (ii.) The Governor may appoint a person to be acting president of the council of arbitration in case the presi- dent of such council shall be unable to act as such from illness or other temporary disability. And such acting president shall, upon such appointment, have all the powers and perform all the duties conferred and imposed by this Act upon the president. (iii.) If any member of such council other than the president shall, from illness or from any other disability Council to report failure to bring about settlement, whereupon either party may proceed to arbitra- tion. Establish- ment of council of arbitration. Remunera- tion of members of council of arbitration. Duration, tenure, and vacation of office of members of council of arbitration, &c. Vacancies, disabilities, &c. 55 Members of council of conciliation may sit as assessors to council of arbitration. References to arbitra- tion, how made, &c. Council of arbitration to sit in open court, &c. 4. ward, how to be made. When award may be enforced by legal pro- cess. howsoever arising, be unable to perform tho duties of his office in respect to any dispute or claim hereunder, the parties thereto may consent, in writing under their respective hands, to the appointment, by tho Governor, of a member to act for and in the place of the member during such disability ; and the Governor may appoint tho person so nominated, who shall thereupon be deemed a member of such council for all purposes relating to such dispute or claim, and to tho hearing and determination thereof. 17. In any case where the council of conciliation has, upon a reference to it of any dispute or claim under this Act, been unable to bring about a settlement or adjustment of the same ; and thereupon such dispute or claim has, pursuant to the provisions herein-before contained, been referred to the council of arbitration for its award, it shall be lawful for the members of such council of conciliation, subject to the consent in writing of both parties to the said dispute or claim having been first obtained, to sit as assessors upon such reference to the council of arbitration, two members of the council of conciliation on behalf of each such party: Provided always that no such assessor shall take any part in the hearing or determination of the reference other than as an assessor sitting to inform the council of arbitration when called upon to do so, and that no such member sitting as an assessor shall be entitled to more than half fees for so sitting. 18. Any dispute or claim within the meaning of this Act may be referred to the council of arbitration for its hearing and determination in any of the following ways (i.) On application in the prescribed manner to the clerk of awards by either party to a dispute or claim which, having been referred to a council of conciliation, has not been settled or adjusted by such council. (ii.) On application in like manner to the clerk of awards by both parties to a dispute or claim within the meaning of this Act which has not been so referred as aforesaid. Provided that if the award of the council of arbitration shall not be complied with or carried out by the parties to any dispute or claim as aforesaid, or for any reason shall have proved abortive, the parties to the reference or either of them shall not thereby be precluded from referring the same to the council of conciliation, or from making a second reference to such council where a former reference has already been made to it. 19. The council of arbitration shall sit and conduct its proceedings as in open court, and in making its decisions shall be governed as far as practicable by the principles of equity and good conscience. The president shall, for the purpose of preserving order during any sitting of the council, have all the powers of a judge of a superior court of record : Provided that no party to any proceedings either before the council of conciliation or the council of arbitration shall he represented bj r counsel or attorney or by any paid agent other than one or more of the persons between whom the dispute or claim has arisen. 20. The award of the council of arbitration shall be made by the president within one month after such council shall have completed its sittings for the hearing of any reference, and shall be by and under the hands of a majority of the members of the council, and the official seal of the council shall he attached thereto. Every such award shall be published in the “ Gazette,” and in one or more newspapers circulating in the indus- trial district within which the claim or dispute, tho subject of such award, arose. A copy of the award, certified under the hand of the president of the said council, shall be deposited in the office of the said council and also of the Registrar of Trade Unions, and shall be open to inspection without charge during office hours. 21. Either party to a reference to the council of arbitration may, at any time before award made by writing under the hands of such party in the prescribed manner, agree to be bound by the award of the council upon such reference in the same manner as parties are bound upon an award made pursuant to a reference to arbitration or the order of the Supreme Court or of any judge thereof. Every agreement so to be bound shall be laid before the other party to the reference by the clerk of awards, and if such other party also agree in like manner to he bound by the said award, then the said award may be made a rule of the Supreme Court on the application of either party. General and Miscellaneous Provisions. 22. — (i.) It shall be lawful for a council of conciliation, and such council is hereby authorised and required by its clerk of awards, or any member of such council, at the request in writing of any of the parties, and for tho president of the council of arbitration, to summon any witness or witnesses to appear and give evidence on oath or affirmation as may be necessary before such council, respectively, at the time and place appointed for hearing and determining any dispute or claim under this Act (which time and place shall be specified in the summons) ; and if any person so summoned shall not appear before such council at the time and place speci- fied in such summons, or give some reasonable excuse for the default, or, appearing according to such sum- mons, shall not submit to bo examined as a witness, and give evidence before such council touching the matter of such dispute or claim, provided reasonable travelling expenses have been tendered to such witness by the party at whose instance the summons is issued, then it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace, and he is hereby authorised (proof on oath, in the case of any person not appearing according to such summons, having been first made before such justice of the due service of such summons on every such person by delivering the same to him, or by leaving the same at the usual place of abode of such person), by warrant under the hands of any such justice, to commit any such person so making default in appearing, or appearing and refusing to give evidence, to some prison or place of detention for any time not exceeding two calendar months, or until such person shall submit himself to be examined and give his evidence before such council as aforesaid ; provided always, that in case such dispute or claim shall be heard and determined before such offender shall submit to he examined and give evidence as aforesaid, then such offender may be imprisoned for the full term of such commitmen t. (ii.) It shall be lawful for a council of conciliation, and for the council of arbitration, and for any member of any such council without any other warrant than this Act, at any time to enter upon any manufactory, building, workshop, factory, mine, mine workings, shed or premises of any kind whatsoever, wherein or in respect of which any work is being, or has been done, or commenced, or any matter or thing is taking or has taken place, which has been made the subject of a reference to such council ; and to inspect and view any work, material, machinery, appliances, matter, or thing whatsoever being in such manufactory, building, work- shop, factory, mine, mine workings, shed, or premises. And any person who shall hinder or obstruct any other person in the exercise of any power conferred on such last-mentioned person by this section, or who shall refuse to such person entrance during any such time as aforesaid to any such manufactory, building, workshop, factory, mine, mine workings, shed, or premises, shall for every such offence incur a penalty not exceeding five hundred pounds, to be recovered in a summary way before any stipendiary or police magistrate. 23. A claim or dispute under this Act shall include any matter as to which there is a disagreement between any employer and his employees respecting — (i.) The price to be paid for work done, or in course of being done, whether such disagreement shall have arisen with respect to wages as agreed upon, or the hours or times of working as agreed upon. (ii.) Damage alleged to have been done to the work, delay in finishing the same, not finishing the same in a good and workmanlike manner, or according to agreement, or with respect to materials supplied to employees and alleged to be had, or unfit, or unsuitable. (iii.) The price to be paid for winning any material or substance mined, or obtained by mining, hewing, quarrying, or other process ; the allowances, if any, to he made for hands, refuse, faults, or other causes whereby the mining of the mineral or substance is im- peded. (iv.) The performance or non-performance of any stipulation or matter alleged to have been embodied in any agreement whether in writing or not. (v.) Insufficient or unwholesome food supplied to employees where there is an agreement to victual them, or to supply them with pro- visions or stores of any kind. G 4 Enforcing attendance of witnesses. Powers of entry for purpose of viewing. Claims and disputes explained. 56 Provisions as to parties ancl repre- sentatives. Regulations. Expenses of Act, how defrayed. Interpreta- tion of terms. Short title. (vi.'i Ill-ventilated, or dangerous workings, or places in mines, or unwholesome or insanitary rooms, or other places of accommodation, in which work is being performed, or want of necessary conveniences in connexion with such rooms or places. (vii.) Any established custom, or usage of tiny indus try. employment, or district. (viii.) The dismissal or employment under agreement of any employees or number of employees. 24. No claim or dispute shall be the subject of concili- ation or arbitration under this Act, in any case in which the employees affected by such claim or dispute shall be fewer in number than ten. And in every case referred to a council of arbitration, such council shall have power to require any party to the claim or dispute so referred to name not more than three persons, who upon their consent in writing, shall for all purposes of the reference betaken to represent such party. 25. The Governor may make regulations for the purpose of giving effect to any of the provisions or requirements of this Act. And all such regulations not being inconsistent with this Act shall have the full effect of law on publication in the ‘•Gazette.'’ Every such regulation shall be laid before Parliament within 14 days after it has been published in the “ (iazelte,” if Parliament be then in session ; but if not, or if Parlia- ment be in recess, then such regulation shall be laid before it, within 14 days from the date of the fi - st day of the ensuing session or reassembling of Parliament. 26. All expenses connected with the administration of this Act not herein-before provided for, exclusive of the expenses of the parties and witnesses concerned in any dispute or matter referred either to a council of concili- ation or the council of arbitration, shall be defrayed from such annual appropriations ns Parliament shall make in that behalf. 27. In the construction and for the purposes of this Act, the expression “Governor” means Governor with the advice of the executive council ; “ Minister ” means the responsible Minister charged with the administra- tion of this Act ; “ prescribed ” means prescribed by any Regulation made under this Act. 28. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the “ Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892,” and shall continue in force for four years from the commencement thereof and no longer. Supplement to tue New South Wales Government Gazette, Friday, 24th June 1892. Attorney General’s Office, Sydney, 23rd June 1892. The following regulations have been made by his Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the execu- tive council : — Regulations under the “ Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892,” prescribing the pro- cedure for the purposes of making out lists of organisations representing the interests of employes and employers respectively, and in order to give effect to the provisions and requirements of the said Act with reference to the appointment of a council of conciliation for the whole colony, and also of a council of Arbitration pursuant to the said Act. 1. It shall be the duty of the Registrar of Friendly Societies, as soon as practicable after the gazetting of these regulations, to prepare lists of all organisations registered in his office according to the law regulating the registration of trade unions or friendly societies, and representing the interests of employes. Such organisations shall be arranged under eight classes, as follows, viz., organisations whose members are em- ployed on, or in connexion with — I. Shipping. II. Railway and road construction and general labour. III. Mining and machinery in connexion with mines. 1Y. Traffic on roads, railways and tramways. Y. Building, building materials, construction, and work in wood and iron. YI. Food, drink, clothing, and work in leather. VII. Printing and kindred occupations. VIII. Miscellaneous trades and callings. All organisations which have a registered office or offices within some one of the five districts hereinafter specified, viz. : — The Metropolitan District, the Northern District, the Southern District, the Western District, and the Broken Hill District, shall be arranged under and for the appropriate class and district. It shall also be the duty of the said registrar at the same time to prepare lists of all organisations repre- senting the interests of employers, and registered in his office according to the law regulating the registration of trade unions or friendly societies, and, if practicable, to arrange such organisations in like manner as in the case of organisations representing the interests of employees. The lists so to be prepared shall give the last known registered office or address of each such organisation, and shall be published in the “ Gazette.” 2. Within 14 days after the publication of such lists in the “ Gazette,” some person authorised by the Minister (hereinafter termed the “ authorised officer ”), shall transmit by post to the address of each trade union and of each friendly society (if any) specified in such lists as aforesaid, a voting-paper for the purpose of re- commending a member of the council of conciliation to represent the employees or employers (as the case may be) in and for the class of trades or callings therein specified, and such voting-paper may be in the form contained in Schedule A. or Schedule B. to these regu- lations, and shall bo prepared so as to show on the face of it the particular class of organisations in respect of which, as well as the district within or in respect of which, the vote is to be recorded on such voting-paper. At the same time the authorised officer shall also trans- mit by post to the address of each trade union and of each friendly society (if any) specified in such lists as aforesaid, a voting-paper for the purpose of recommend- ing a member of the council of arbitration to represent generally the employees or employers (as the case may be), and not in respect of any particular class of trades or callings, and such voting- paper may be in the form of Schedule C. to these regulations. 3. Every such voting-paper, purporting to be authen- ticated by the signature of the president or vice-presi- dent of the trade union or friendly society to which it has been transmitted, or in the absence of such president or vice-president by any office bearer cf such union or society other than the secretary thereof, and also to be countersigned by the secretary or acting secretary thereof, or in the absence of such secretary or acting- secretary by any two members of such union or society not being office-bearers, shall be conclusive evidence that the person whose name is entered in such voting- paper has been recommended as a member of the council of conciliation or of arbitration, as the case may be, pursuant to the said “ Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892,” and to these regulations. 4. Every such voting-paper shall be forwarded by some person on behalf of the trade union or friendly society to which it has been sent, in its enclosing enve- lope, to the Registrar of Friendly Societies, Sydney, so as to be received by him on or before the 15th day of August, in the year 1892. 5. Every voting-paper received by the said registrar after the time limited for the receipt of voting-papers by the last preceding regulation shall have no effect or validity . 6. The registrar of friendly societies shall forthwith, on the receipt of such voting-papers, count the recom- mendations thereby recorded for members of the council of conciliation, and also for a member of the council of arbitration, and as well by or on behalf of the organi- sations representing the interests of employees as by or on behalf of those representing the interests of em- ployers, and shall forward the same in separate batches to (he Minister, together with his report thereon, and the Minister shall, upon being satisfied of the accuracy of such report, publish in the “ Gazette ” the results of such recommendations, and declare at the same time in like manner the names of the persons appointed by the Governor on the footing of such recommendations, to be members of the council of conciliation and members or the council of arbitration respectively. 7. The voting-papers shall in all cases be contained within the fold of a stamped envelope, addressed to the Registrar of Friendly Societies, Sydney, and endorsed, “ Voting Paper under the Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892.” Schedule A. Voting-paper of organisation representing the interests of Employees, pursuant to the provisions of the “ Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892.” 1892. On behalf of the trade union [or society as the case may he], having a registered office at , and placed under Class District, 57 in the notico appearing in tho “ Government Gazette, ’ of , 1892, the person named below is hereby recommended to bo appointed a member of the council of conciliation to be established in pursuance of the said “ Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892.” President.* Secretary.* Name of Person recommended. Address. Schedule B. Voting-paper of organisation representing the interests of employers pursuant to the provisions of the “ Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892. ’ 1892. On behalf of the trade union [or society as the case may he], having a registered office at , and placed in the District, in the notice appearing in the “ Government Gazette ’’ of 1892, the persons named below are hereby recommended to be appointed members of the council of conciliation to be established in pursuance of the said ‘‘ Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892.” President..* Secretary.* — Name of Person recommended. Address Class 1.— Shipping - - - 2.— Railway and road construc- tion and general labour. >* k S. — Mining and machinery in connexion with mines. 4 . — Traffic on roads, railways, and tramways. n 5. — Building, building materials and construction, and work in wood and iron. n 6. — Food, drink, clothing, and work in leather. 7. — Printing and kindred occu- pations. » 8. — Miscellaneous Schedule C. Voting-paper of organisation representing the interests of employees (or employers) pursuant to the provi- sions of the ‘‘Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892.” 1892. On behalf of the trade union [or society as the case may he ], having a registered office at , the person named below is hereby recommended to be appointed a member of the council of arbitration to be established in pursuance of the said “ Trade Disputes Conciliation and Arbitration, Act, 1892.” President.* Secretary.* Name of Person recommended. Address. By His Excellency’s Command, Edmund Barton. * In the absence of the President or Secretary the authentication tnav be as provided by ragulatiou 3. 2. Conciliation, Victoria. The Victorian System, 1887. Abridged from an article entitled “Strikes and their Cure,” by the Hon. Bruce Smith M.L.A., published in the “ Centennial Magazine,” October, 1888, and reprinted in pamphlet form by the New South Wales Employers’ Union. In Victoria there are about 70 different Trade Unions, and for each trade each of these Unions has its separate funds, its separate office-bearers, and its separate rules. Each of these Unions, again, is represented on the Trades Hall Council, which consists of about 70 or 100 members. The Trades Hal! Council indirectly represents every Unionist, in the colony of Victoria, numbering in all about 25,00(1 to 30,000 men and women. I'he Trades Hall Council holds ii s meeting in the Trades Hall, a handsome building in the city of Melbourne, which cost about 10,000/. or 12,000/. This building contains committee rooms, lecture rooms, offices, and an extremely handsom end elaborately decorated council chamber, formed on the model of our Parliaments, with richly upholstered seats for 70 to 100 delegates, a visitors’ gallery, a speaker’s chair, and with the usual “table” dividing the two si 'es. In it sit weekly the delegates of the various Unions, and in the course of its debates many interests are dismissed from the Trades Unionists’ point of view On the other hand, there exists the Employers’ Union, having the names of 500 or more firms and limited companies upon its register, and having upon its executive the elected delegates from 75 distinct industries. The capital represented in the Employers’ Union of Victoria has lately been estimated at twenty-seven millions of money. The Union has its handsome suite of rooms, its library, its club, its Indemnity Insurance Company (for mutually securing employers against the monetary conse- quences of actions brought by their employees), and, like the Trades Hall Council, its traditions, somewhat modem though they be. When the latter body had been in existence about a year, a meeting was arranged between a number of its executive and an equal number of the members of the Trades Hall Council, with the result that a Board of Conciliation was established, which the Secretary thereof somewhat enthusiastically and inaccurately describes as “the first, and up to the nresent time the only Board of Conciliation in the world.” Three months were occupied in frequent meetings for the purpose of drawing up a comprehensive constitution. It was provided that when a matter came before the Board the inquiry should extend to the whole of the surrounding circumstances, and that it should be in the power of the Board to not only pronounce the new demand as unreasonable, but to even go back on the previously existing conditions, and alter them to what the Board thought “ fair and reasonable ” under all the circumstances of the labour market. This provision was designed in order to check frivolous and unnecessarily frequent demands. It was further provided that all the differert bodies subscribing to that constitution, and all the different individuals represented in those bodies (whose office-bearers have so subscribed on behalf of such bodies), bind themselves to abide, to use all legitimate influence to induce their fellows to abide, and to refuse directly or indirectly to offer any assistance to any of their fellows who refuse to abide, by the decision of such Board. Such a constitution would be subscribed by the President of every one of the different Unions represented on the Trades Hall Council; and it would also be subscribed by every one of the Presidents of different Associations represented in the Employers’ Union. If the Trade Union or the Employers’ Association in any particular industry declined to subscribe, the scheme would nevertheless be effectual so far as those who had subscribed were con- cerned. The other clauses of the constitution are similar to those described below in connexion with the scheme drawn up by the Joint Committee of the New South Wales Employers’ Union and Trades and Labour Council of Sydney, which is practically identical with the Victorian scheme. Constitution of the Board op Conciliation for the Colony op Victoria. Formed f or the Purpose of Mediating in Matters of Dispute between Employers and Employes. 1. The name of the board shall be the Board of Conciliation for the Colony of Victoria. 2. The objects of the said board shall be to investigate such disputes between employers and employes as are duly and properly referred to it under the provisions of this constitution, and in accordance with the several rules hereto attached ; and to recommend such terms of H U 75209. 58 adjustment as may seem to and be declared by it to be fair and reasonable. 3. The said board shall consist of not more than eighteen (18) and not less than ten (10) permanent members, half of whom shall be appointed by the Trades’ Hall Council and half by the executive of the Victorian Employers’ Union, and, when deemed necessary by such permanent members, such additional one (1) or three (3) members, as the said permanent members shall think fit to elect from without the before-mentioned bodies. 4. Every member of the said board, appointed by either the Trades’ Hall Council or the executive of the Victorian Employers’ Union, shall, at the time of such appointment, be a member of either one of those two bodies. 5. Every member of the said board, appointed by either of the two hereinbefore-mentioned bodies, shall, unless removed as hereinafter provided, be and remain a member of the said board during the whole period for which he shall have been appointed by either of the said bodies ; but in no case shall any such member be appointed at any one time for a longer period than twelve (12) months, and he shall be subject to removal at any time, by the resolution of the particular body by which he was originally appointed. 6. Every member of the said board elected by the before-mentioned permanent members, as provided by clause 3, shall be and remain a member of the board, for such time only as he shall hare been elected ; but iu no case shall any such member be elected for a longer period than remains of the term of office of the latest appointed of the permanent members. Provided also, that any such outside member shall be subject to removal at any time by resolution, carried by a majority of the permanent members of the board present. 7. In every case in which a vacancy shall occur among the permanent members of the said board, such vacancy shall be filled by appointment from the par- ticular body by which the member whose seat has become so vacant had been filled. 8. A quorum of the said board shall consist of not less than six (6) members, including at least three (3) permanent members appointed by each of the above- mentioned bodies. Provided that in the event of a larger number of those members appointed by the Victorian Employers’ Union being present than of those appointed by the Trades’ Hall Council or vice versa, arrangements shall be made before the board proceeds to the conduct of its business, by which the number in excess on the one side or on the other shall, while possessing all the privileges of discussion, abstain from voting upon any question which may be decided while such inequality exists. 9. All members of the said board shall be eligible for re-election. 10. A vacancy shall occur in the said board by the happening of either of the following events, viz. : — Death, resignation, absence (without such reasons as are in the opinion of the board satisfactory) from three (3) consecutive sittings ; or removal under clauses 5 and 6. 11. Every member of the said board, who, in the opinion of the majority of the remaining voting mem- bers present at any sitting of the board, shall be interested in any question upon which the board are about to adjudicate, shall upon the passing of a reso- lution to that effect, be disqualified from taking any part in such adjudication. 12. A chairman of such board shall be appointed from among the members present at the time of any such appointment, and shall, when present, continue to act as such chairman until the adjudication of the question under consideration has been finally disposed of by such board ; and such chairman shall have one vote only, but no casting vote. Provided always that in the event of any such chairman appointed at a previous meeting, being absent;, the board shall have the power to appoint a substitute either for one sitting or only for the remainder of the time during which the subject under adjudication shall be continued. 13. The rights and powers of the said board to ad- judicate shall be limited to such definite issues as require settlement between two or more parties, being constituents of the Trades’ Hall Council and of the Victorian Employers’ Union executive respectively, or of some affiliated body having duly subscribed to this constitution and the rules and regulations affixed thereto, but no question shall be referred to the said board which may involve any proposal to increase the hours of labour beyond those which may be observed by the parties when this reference was made. 14. The said board shall be moved to action only at the joint request of two or more parties entitled to the assistance of such board, between whom some disputed question has arisen, and has failed to reach a settlement through the respective secretaries of the Trades’ Hall Council and Victorian Employers’ Union ; and through the further intervention of the committee of inquiry provided by clause 21. Provided that such joint request shall be in writing, addressed to the secretary of the said board, and endorsed by the secretaries of the Trades’ Hali Council and Victorian Employers’ Union on behalf of, and with the consent of their respective bodies. 15. The said board shall conduct it3 deliberations at such place as its members when called together may from time to time deem most advantageous to all parties concerned. 16. The said board shall from time to time, as it may think fit, appoint, suspend, or remove one or more secretaries or amanuenses for the convenience of the board, and such secretary or secretaries or amanuenses shall, if necessary, be remunerated by the Trades’ Hall Council and the Victorian Employers’ Union jointly. 17. The said board shall have power to examine, on oath or affirmation, all such persons as shall be pre- sented as witnesses for the purpose of throwing light on any questions which it may be engaged in adjudi- cating upon, or on any matters which, in the opinion of the board, are calculated to elucidate such question. 18. All questions which shall from time to time come before the said board for adjudication or determination of whatsoever kind, shall be decided by the majority of the members present (subject to clauses 8 and 12), and when any question shall have been so settled, such settlement shall be accepted and recognised by all members of the board as the unanimous determination or finding thereof. 19. In each and every case in which it is deemed advisable or necessary by the board to test the feeling of its members by voting, such voting shall be conducted by ballot. 20. The constitution and rules of the said board may from time to time be altered by resolution of the board carried for that purpose, approved and confirmed by the Trades’ Hall Council and the Victorian Employers’ Union Executive respectively. 21. The said board shall appoint from among its per- manent members every six (6) months a committee of inquiry, consisting of four (4) members, two (2) from the Trades’ Hall Council and (2) from the Victorian Employers’ Union Executive, two (2) to form a quorum (including one of the members appointed from each body aforesaid) ; and the duties of such committee shall consist in investigating (without formally taking evidence) and endeavouring to effect a settlement of any dispute which may be referred to it, under the pro- visions of clause 13. Such committee shall be em- powered to take whatever steps for the above purposes it shall deem advisable. 22. All expenses incurred by the said board (excepting such as are for the benefit of any particular person or persons, or subordinate body or bodies) shall in the first place be born by the Trades’ Hall Council and the Victorian Employers’ Union in equal proportions. 23. So soon as the members of the said board shall have been duly appointed, it shall be their duty to consider themselves as representing no particular side in any dispute upon the adjudication of which they may be engaged ; but to regard themselves as arbitrators appointed to consider every interest concerned, aud to act in the joint interest of all ; and it shall further be the duty of every such member to divest himself as much as possible of any disposition or feelings which may lead him to regard one side more favourably than another. Rules and Regulations. Incidental to and forming part of the Constitution of the Board of Conciliation. The following rules and regulations shall be strictly observed by all bodies or organisations, and by all persons being constituted members of, or coming under the jurisdiction of any such bodies or organisations as have, through their duly appointed representative or representatives, subscribed hereto : — 1. No alteration shall hereafter be demanded by either employers or employes, in the hours of work, the rate of wages, or system or conditions of working, 59 except after two months’ notico in writing, by the person or persons desiriug such alteration to the person or persons with whom such alteration is desired to bo effected. 2. No striko or lock-out shall, under any circum- stances whatever, be throatoned or resorted to until all the following steps have been taken to procure a settle- ment of the question or questions at issue between the employer or employers and the employe or employes : — First — The matter or matters in dispute have been referred to the secretaries of the Trades’ Hall Council and the Victorian Employers’ Union respectively, and they have failed to secure a settlement. Second — The matter or matters in dispute have been referred to the committee of inquiry ap- pointed for such a purpose under clause 21, and it has failed to secure a settlement. Third — The matter or matters in dispute have been referred to the board of conciliation, and the decision of such board has been refused recog- nition and observance. Provided that such non- recognition or non-observance must in all cases be certified to in writing by the committee of inquiry before being deemed sufficient to justify such strike or lock-out. Provided that the restriction upon strikes and locks-out imposed by this rule shall not be con- sidered binding in any case in which one of two or moi'c parties to any dispute refuses or neglects to refer the subject matter in dispute to the board, after having been requested so to do by the secretaries of the Victorian Employers’ Union and the Trades’ Hall Council, and such refusal or neglect has been certified to by the committee of inquiry. 3. In the event of a strike or lock-out being resorted to by any of the bodies or organisations having sub- scribed hereto, or by any person or persons members thereof, without the three events recorded under the last clause having taken place, every other body or organisation having subscribed hereto, and every mem- ber thereof, shall bo in duty bound to refuse to any such body or organisation, or such member or members of the same, all sympathy or support of any kind what, soever in its or their independent action. 4. In the event of any body or organisation having subscribed hereto, or any member or members thereof, having refused or neglected to submit to the board any matter or matters of dispute which may have arisen between him or them and any other party or parties hereto, and which that other party or those other parties desire to have so referred, then the whole of the remaining bodies or organisations, and the whole of the members thereof, shall, upon such refusal or neglect having been certified to by the committee of inquiry, forthwith refuse to such body or organisation, or member or members thereof, all sympathy or support of any kind whatsoever, and further use, individually and collectively, every lawful means in their power to assist the party or parties having desired such reference. 5. In the event of any body or organisation having subscribed hereto, or any member or members thereof, refusing or failing to abide by or act in accordance with the decision of the said board, the whole of the remaining bodies or organisations having subscribed hereto, and the whole of tho members thereof, shall, upon the publication of tho certificate of the committee of inquiry to that effect, forthwith refuse to any such body or organisation, or member or members thereof, all sympathy or support of any kind whatsoever in his or their independent action, and further use, indi- vidually and collectively, every lawful means in their power to cause such body or organisation or members thereof to conform to such decision. 6. Each of tho bodies subscribing to this constitution shall use every endeavour to assist in adjudications by bringing before the board such evidence as tho board may desire, and which may be obtainable. Victorian Legislative Assemrly. Read 1° 25 June 1890. [Brought in by Mr. Richardson and Mr. Kirton.] A Bill to establish Councils of Conciliation. Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows (that is to say) : — 1. This Act may for all purposes be cited as the “ Councils of Conciliation Act, 1890,” and shall commence and come into operation on the first day of one thousand eight hundred and 2. For the purposes of this Act — The word “ district” shall be taken to mean in the case of the city of Melbourne the area comprised in a circle the radius of which as taken from the General Post Office shall be of the length of ten miles, and in all other cases a circle the radius of which as taken from the municipal buildings of the town at which the council is proposed to meet shall be of the length of twenty miles ; The word “ Clerk ” shall mean Clerk of a Council of Conciliation ; The word “ Council ” shall mean Council of Concilia- tion. 3. If any number of employers and workmen in any particular trade or trades, occupation, or employment, and who being employers in such trades have carried on the same in any district for six months previous to the signing of such petition, or who being workmen are now working at their trade or calling within such district have worked at their trade or calling for five years previous to the signing of such petition at a meeting specially convened for that purpose agree to form a Council of Conciliation for such district, and jointly petition the Governor in Council to grant them a licence to form such Council of Conciliation, and in such petition shall set forth the number of such Council, and also the names, occupation, and residence of the petitioners, and the place at which the Council pro- poses to meet, and the manner in which the expenses of such Council and of the registry herein-after directed are to be provided, for it shall then he lawful for the Governor in Council to grant such licence, provided notice of such petition for such licence has been published in the “ Government Gazette,” and in one or more newspapers circulating in the locality whence such petition emanates. 4. The said Council shall consist of not less than two employers and two workmen, nor more than ten employers and ten workmen and a Chairman ; and the number to constitute the said Council shall be inserted in the licence and no uncertificated insolvent or person convicted of felony, perjury, or other infamous crime shall be qualified to be or to continue to be a member of the Council. 5. For the purposes of this Act the persons whose names, occupations, and abodes are attached to the petition pray- ing for a licence shall and they are hereby authorised to proceed to the appointment of a Council from among themselves within thirty days after such grant of licence, and the said Council shall remain in office until the appointment of a new Council in its stead. 6. Every Council shall have power to appoint their own Chairman, Clerk, and such other officer or officers as they may deem requisite. 7. The Chairman of the Council shall be some person unconnected with the particular trade of the Council of which he is appointed Chairman, and shall be appointed Chairman at their first meeting after obtaining such licence as aforesaid. He shall preside at all meetings of the Council, may take part in all deliberations of the Council, but shall have no vote. 8. When any matter in dispute or difference between employer and workmen is brought before any Council it shall be in the first place referred to a Committee of Con- ciliation, consisting of one employer and one workman member of such council, who shall from time to time be appointed by the Council to act as such Committee, and such Committee shall endeavour to reconcile the parties in difference. 9. If such Committee be unable to effect such recon- ciliation they shall refer the same to the Council as a con- tested matter. 10. Such contested matter shall be heard by the Council of Conciliation at a meeting at which a quorum is present. 11. Such quorum shall consist of at least half the mem- bers of the Council and the Chairman, and shall comprise equal numbers of employers and workmen members of the Council. 12. At the hearing of such contested matter, evidence on both sides may be given on oath or affirmation (such oath or affirmation to be administered by the Chairman) in the presence of all parties or such of the parties as may appear to the Council sufficiently to represent all the parties inte- rested, or without oath or affirmation as to such Council may seem fit, and books and papers may be called for, and every means used to show to the parties in difference what ought to be done in the matter in dispute, and such Council H 2 Short title and com- mencement. Interpre- tation. Power to Governor in Council to license Councils of Conciliation. 30 & 31 Viet, c. 105. s. 1. Councils to consist of not less than two nor more than ten em- ployers and workmen and a Chair- man. Petitioners for Council to elect first Council. Ib. s. 3. Powers, Ac. of Councils. Chairman. Duties of Council. Committee of Con- ciliation, If Commit- tee unable to reconcile reference to Council. To be heard by the Council. Quorum of Council. Duties of Council in contested matter. 60 When Coun- cil may refer to arbitra- tion. Powers of Arbitrator. Award. To be con- clusive. ■Wilful re- fusal to obey award a mis- demeanour. No counsel, Ac., to attend hear- ings without consent. 30 A 31 Viet, c. 105. a. 7. Council to be elected lor one year. Jb. s. 8. Case of va- cancy, Ac. Qualifica- tion of electors. Eegister of voters to be kept. Ib. s. 10. Meetings of employers and work- men to elect the Council. lb. a. 11. may make any written suggestion and recommendation in the matter they may deem advisable. 13. If, notwithstanding such endeavour by the Council, the parties in difference are still unreconciled, and such Council shall, at any subsequent meeting to he called specially for that purpose, determine by a vote of three- fourths of the members present that such contested matter is a matter proper for arbitration such Council may by any instrument in writing signed by the Chairman refer the matter in dispute to the arbitration and award of some in- different person appointed by the Council at that or any subsequent meeting of the Council. 14. Such Arbitrator shall have all the powers given to an Arbitrator appointed under the provisions of the “ Supreme Court Act, 1890,” as if such Arbitrator had been appointed by or in pursuance of a rule of Court or Judge’s order. 15. The Arbitrator shall deliver his award by forwarding the same to the Clerk of the Council, who shall lay the same before the Council of Conciliation at their next meet- ing, but if there is no meeting to be held within seven days after receipt of the award by the Clerk he shall call a special meeting of the Council to beheld not more than seven days from the date of such receipt, 15. The Council shall, on receipt by them of the award, inform the person or persons interested therein or so many of them as may reasonably be considered by them to repre- sent all the parties interested of the purport and effect of such award, and any such person or persons may take ex- tracts from or a copy thereof, and such award shall, from the time of the receipt thereof by the Clerk, be final and conclusive upon all the parties in difference and affected thereby without being subject to review or challenge by any Court or authority whatsoever. 17. Any person in difference with another whore difference has been referred to arbitration as above pro- vided who shall wilfully disregard such award or who shall wilfully refuse to obey or who shall disobey any order or requirement contained in such award shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and may be punished therefor by any competent Court by fine or imprisonment. 18. No counsel, attorneys, or agents shall be allowed to attend at any hearing before a Committee of Conciliation nor before a Council of Conciliation unless both parties consent thereto. 19. On the first Monday in the month of November next after the first appointment of the Council and on the first Monday in November in each succeeding year a Council and Chairman shall be appointed, who shall remain in office until the appointment of a new Council and Chairman : and in case of vacancies arising betwixt the fixed days of election in each year caused by the death, removal from the district, or disqualification of any member or the death or disqualification of the Chairman, an election shall take place within fourteen days, and another member shall be elected to fill up the said vacancy from the class to which the member so dying or removed belonged, and a new Chairman may be appointed, and the member or Chairman so elected shall serve until the time appointed for the appointment of a new Council and Chairman. 20. All persons qualified as above mentioned to sign a petition for a Council of' Conciliation shall be entitled to be registered as voters for the election of such Council, and shall he qualified to be elected as members of such Council, hut the employers shall appoint their own portion of the Council and the workmen elect their portion of such Council. 21. The Clerk of each Council shall keep a register of every person recognised by any body of workmen con- nected with the trade or trades and claiming to have his name inscribed on the register as a voter for the Council whether employer cr workman (but distinct from each other!, and the said register shall contain the name, occupation, and abode of each person engaged in the particular trade or occupation as set forth in the licence permitting the formation of such Council; and the said Clerk shall register the same immediately or be liable to be fined for neglect, and the said fine shall be applied to the funds of such Council ; and every such Council is hereby empowered to fix and determine the amount of such fine : Provided that in case it appear to any such Council that any person ought not to be so registered such Council shall strike the name of such person off such register. 22. The Clerk of each Council shall for the purposes of this Act be the Returning Officer at elections of members of each such Council ; he shall convene meetings of employers and meetings of workmen by advertisement fourteen clear days previous to the first day of November and each body of employers and body of workmen shall at such meetings proceed to nominate and elect members to such Council for the year next ensuing, 23. If the number of candidates exceed the number to be elected an election shall be held not later than fourteen days from the day of nomination according to regulations to be passed by the Governor in Council, and such election shall be by ballot. 24. The clerk shall within seven days after the day of nomination where there has been no contest and within three days where a poll has been taken declare the number of votes given to each candidate, and those having received the largest number of votes shall be declared duly elected. 25. The clerk appointed by each Council of Conciliation shall continue in office until a new appointment be made in his stead, and shall keep a record of all their proceedings and do and perform such other duties as this Act may authorise or such Council may require. 26. Every such Council may hold their sittings in any public room used for conducting public business with the permission of the Minister. 27. For the purpose of attendance of witnesses before a Council the Chairman may use any of the forms of sum- monses, warrants, or other proceedings contained in the Second Schedule to the “Justices Act, 1890,” or to the like effect, and when signed by the Chairman the same shall have a like force and (ffect and bo enforceable in the like manner as if they had been signed by a Justice of the Peace acting within the bailiwick for which he was appointed to act in a matter in which he had jurisdiction. 28. Every Council of Conciliation elected under this Act shall from time to time make out a list of fees which shall be charged for any proceeding and other expenses under this Act, and shall make such byelaws, rules, and regula- tions for the guidance of their officers, and for the taking and scrutiny of the votes given for the election of members of the Council, and also for the despatch of business as they may deem necessary. Such byelaws, rules, regulations, and fees shall not be deemed legal and binding in law unless and until they have been submitted to and approved by the Governor in Council. 29. The Governor in Council may at any time enlarge or contract the area over which a Council may extend, hut no such enlargement or contraction shall take place except upon a petition of a majority of the employers and work- men engaged in the trade of the Council to be affected thereby. In case a poll is de- manded Council to appoint time and place. 3U A 31 Viet, c. 105. s. 12. Election to be declared within seven days of nomination. lb. s. 13. Appoint- ment of Clerk. lb. s. 1 1. Place of meeting. lb. s. 15. To make li t of fees by- laws, Ac. lb. s. 17. Power of Governor in Council. Conciliation Scheme by the Chief Secretary. (From the “ Argus ” of November 29th, 1890.) The late Mr. Fangridge, Chief Secretary, (') informed his constituents at Collingwood recently, that he intended to gi.e close attention to the subject of the settlement of labour disputes, with a view to, if possible, devising means to prevent strikes and lock-outs. He has since formulated his views, which are as follows : — While it is agreed on all sides that the necessities of modern times require that some means should be devised, and that speedily, in order to afford a modus vivendi between the opposing interests of labour and capital, the struggles between which are increasing in extent, duration, and intensity every day, yet the difficulty of secuiing a means to that end is not hss apparent. The whole ques- tion seems to bristle with obstacles to a settlement. On the one side the position of employers is unassailable. This is a free country, and it would be neither politic nor feasible for any third party to be in such a position to say to them, “ You shall employ certain persons, and those “ only; and you shall give them certain wages, and for “ certain times.” Should the employers refuse to continue to expend and invest their capital under these conditions, there can be no power to compel them to do so. Under such circumstances trade would stagnate, and the general prosperity of the country would decline rapidly and ruinously. On the other side, the position of the em- ployees is equallv strong and logically defensible. No man can be compelled to work when he does not wish to do so, and he is free to choose his own employer and his own terms. In his case, also, no third party can interfere by way of compulsion. Yet the result of a general abstention from work by the labourer is equally disastrous to ihe country. It seems, therefore, certainly at present, useless to hope for the discovery of a perfectly satisfactory and equitable method of settling disputes between the two forces, and therefore the best and, indeed, the only policy available at the present stage is to devise the best means of approaching as near as possible the desired end. The main difficulty is to give the body which it is sought to establish such a locus standi or such a defined position as will endow 61 its decisions with such weight as will cause them to be submitted to by the parties interested, and this can only be done by indirect means. Now, the world is ruled at the present day by public opinion. And in these days no law, no body of men, no ride, no practice or custom, and no person can stand against its full force. And public opinion in the long run, though it may be temporarily led away, inevitably swings round to the side of that which is just and right. If then, we could by any legislative action give to a body of men standing high in the public confidence some legal basis upon which they could work, and which would give them the right to interfere in the case of differ- ences, we should have taken a considerable step in advance towards the settlement of this pressing question. The decisions of such a body would necessarily commend them- selves to the community, and would carry with them the whole weight of public opinion, and in this way at least would operate as a means of settlement. The result of all attempts in the past to establish a tribunal for the purpose of settling labour troubles has not been satisfactory. The difficulty of enforcing the decisions of a body to which neither party is bound to submit will always occur when that body has no legal position. Then, again, the position of a body that is in existence before a dispute springs up and one which is appointed to meet 6ome particular exigency after a cjuarrel has arisen, must be sharply distinguished. The interference of the latter lias seldom resulted in good. When men’s minds are heated by dispute they are not in a mood to listen to argument or make concessions. Conciliation Boards and such-like bodies, as they exist at the present day, are not of much use. It is believed that the permanent chamber proposed in the following scheme will possess many advantages over such bodies. In proposing any scheme it should be borne in mind that it is very easy to find objections. The proper course, however, for critics in such a case as this, where the necessity for action is so pressing, is, not to find objections, but to propose something better. If such can be found, well and good, but till that is discovered the wisest course would seem to be to adopt the best scheme available. The following is a rough draft of the scheme proposed : — Industrial Labour Chamber. A body, to be called “ The Industrial Labour Chamber of Victoria,” to be established by Act of Parliament, with the following powers : — 1. To investigate the existing conditions of labour in the various trades, and to ascertain and set out the rates of wages, hours, privilege-!, and conditions, &c., as settled at present between employers and employees. 2. To set out such wages, hours, conditions, &c., in a form of contract, which form can be used at the option of the parties, and embodied in any agree- ment which may be entered into between the respective parties. 3. In all cases where the form of contract as settled by the Chamber has been adopted by the respective parties to have power, on the application of one of the parties, to investigate and adjudicate on any dispute between them which may arise, and to award costs against either party should it seem just to the Chamber to do so. 4. To have power to compel the attendance of witnesses, to examine them on oath, and to require the pro- duction of all books, papers, or other evidence that it may think necessary, and to enter any premises for the purpose of inspecting the same. 5. To report to Parliament on all industrial questions which may be referred to it by the Legislature. C. To make an annual report to Parliament, drawing attention to any question of importance which has come under their notice during the past year. The Act constituting the body to provide, — (a.) That in every case where an agreement is entered into between employers and employees, the rates, conditions, &c., as fixed by the Chamber, shall be deemed to be embodied in such agree- ment, unless expressly stated io the contrary. (b.) That when once the Chamber’s form of contract has been accepted by the respective parties, no cessation of work, nor any alteration in such rates, conditions, &c., shall take place at the instance of either employer or emoloyees with- out the consent and approval of the Chamber, (c.) That any contract or agreement made in any form sanctioned by the Chamber shall be enforced in any Court of law. ( d .) That in any contract entered into between any employer and employee, unless otherwise ex- pressly stated to the contrary, the hours of labour shall be understood as eight hours per diem, provided that this section shall not apply to contracts of persons in farm, domestic, or sea service, nor to contracts by the year or month. Constitution. The Chamber to consist of a president and 12 members, six to be chosen by the Employers’ Unions, and six by the Trade Unions. The twelve so elected to choose the President, who shall be one of the Judges of the Supreme Court or a County Court Judge. Should the members not agree in their selection of a President, the Governor in Council to nominate. How and by whom elected. The mode of election shall be as follows : — The Minister administering the Act shall cause to be kept a register, in which shall be inscribed the name, &c., of every union, association, &c., whether of workmen or employers, who may desire to be enrolled on proof to bis satisfaction of its bona fdts and of its containing one hundred members in active connexion therewith. Each of such unions shall elect a delegate, and the delegates of each class separately shall choose by ballot the six members of the Chamber. There must be an absolute majority of the delegates at the first ballot, but a relative majority in the second or sub- sequent one. Procedure. The Chamber, subject to the approval of the Governor in Council, to make rules for its procedure, and for the admission of the Press and the public to its deliberations. Payment. The president being a Judge would not require payment, but the elected members to be paid such fees as might be appropriated for the purpose. Officers. On the nomination of the Chamber, the Governor-in- Council to appoint the necessary officers and servants. Lcnyth of Tenure. Two members of each side to retire each year, two of the first members on each side to sit for one year only, two for two years, and two for three years. The president to sit for five years. The first essential condition of success is that the new body must have a legal existence, so that in the same way it should be entitled to intervene between the two parties. It is contended that the power to fix a form of contract which shall be enforceable in a Court of law will enable it to do this, in addilion to the powers provided in (a), (b), (c), and (d). Provision (b) is one of the most important in the scheme, as it will prevent any hasty strike or lock-out. The fact of the employers nominating their own men, and the employees theirs, will cause the new Chamber to be popular with both parties. The object of causing the members to retire at irregular intervals is to prevent the election of all the members taking place in the midst of some industrial difficulty like the late one. It is considered that one of the most valuable provisions of the above is that which places the election in the hands of the individual unions, and not in that of a central body. The latter is elected for other purposes, while in the case of the elections of the members of the Chamber the delegates to be chosen for the purpose of nominating their members will be selected for the particular purpose, and for that only. The utility of provision 5, it is hoped, will be apparent. In such a position of affairs as thativhich recently occurred, when the mind of Parliament and of the public was unsettled in regard to the merits of the points at issue between the respective parties, it would have been of immense advantage to have had such a tribunal as that which it is proposed to establish to which to refer for a conclusive and impartial statement of the actual facts at issue. In such a Chamber Parliament would have at all times ready to its hand an instrument by means of which it could arrive at a just appreciation of the facts, and such a statement of facts from such a body could admit of no dispute. H 3 62 Preamble. Short title. Commence* ment. Interpre- tation. Tarts. The above, of course, is only a mere sketch, but the details could be easily elaborated. The advantages of the scheme maybe briefly summarised as follows : — The Chamber will have a legal existence ; it will have all the authority and weight of a tribunal created by Parliament. If composed of the right men, its decisions will carry with them the whole weight of public opinion. If it does, the conflicting parties must give way to it sooner or later. As soon as it gets established, its authority and influ- ence will continue to increase, from the mere lapse of time and the force of custom. It may, perhaps, be admitted that the above scheme has many objections, but the reply to such an assertion would be comparatively easy ; the objections could be answered by requesting the objectors to find a better one. It is, at all events, comparatively simple in its constitu- tion and machinery. Failing a perfect scheme, the above, or something analogous thereto, should be tried. Once we can get the disputants to respect the tribunal, and to submit their differences to it, the practice would grow until it became universal, and such a submission would become recognised as the only appropriate and satisfactory method of dealing with industrial difficulties. 3. Conciliation, South Australia. House of Assembly, South Australia. [As laid upon the Table, read a first time, and ordered to be printed, December 1 2th, 1890.] [Prepared by Hon. C. C. Kingston.] 1890. A Bill for an Act to encourage the formation of Indus- trial Unions and Associations, and to facilitate the settlement of Industrial Disputes. Whereas it is desirable to encourage the formation of Industrial Unions and Associations, and to facilitate the settlement of industrial disputes — Be it enacted by the Governor of the Province of South Australia, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of the said province, in this present Parlia- ment assembled, as follows, that is to say : — 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the “ Industrial Unions Act, 1890.” 2. This Act shall come into force on the first day of July, 1891. 3. In the construction of this Act the following words shall have the following meanings, that is to say : — “ Industry ” means any avocation, business, trade, undertaking, calling, or employment : “ Industrial matters ” includes all matters relating to pay, wages, hours, privileges, rights, or duties of employers or employees in any industry : “ Industrial agreement ” means an industrial agreement made pursuant to this Act : “ Industrial award” means an industrial award made by a Board of Conciliation pursuant to this Act : “ Minister” means the Minister of Industry : " Registrar” means the Industrial Registrar : “ Union ” means an Industrial Union registered pur- suant to this Act : “ Committee ” means the Committee of any Union : “ Secretary ” means Secretary of a Union : “Association” means any Association of Unions re- gistered pursuant to this Act : “ Chairman ” means Chairman of an Association : “ Council ” means the Council of any Association : “ Organisation ” means any LTnion or Association : “ Prescribed ” means prescribed by regulation made pursuant to this Act : “ Certified ” means certified in manner prescribed : “Public notice” means notice by advertisement pub- lished in the “ Government Gazette ” : “Person” includes every person. Company, and cor- porate body : “ Conciliation purposes ” means the holding of meetings for the purpose or in the course of the settlement of industrial disputes, and whether of the disputing parties or their delegates or representatives, or Boards of Conciliation, committees, or otherwise. 4. This Act is divided into ten parts, as follows : Part i. The Minister and Registrar : Part ii. Conciliation Hall : Part iii. Registration of Unions: Part iv. Registration of Associations: Part v. Industrial Agreements Part vi. Boards of Conciliation- Part vii. Compulsory Conciliation : Part viii. Enforcement of Industrial Awards and Agreements : Part ix. Penalties on certain Lock-outs and Strikes : Part x. Miscellaneous. Part I. The Minister and Registrar. 5. The Governor shall appoint some Member of the Executive Council to be a Minister of Industry. 6. The Minister shall vacate his office whenever he shall cease to be a member of the Executive Council. 7. The Governor shall also appoint an Industrial Regis- trar and such other officers as shall be required to carry out the purposes of this Act, and shall assign to such Registrar and officers such duties as he shall think fit. Part II. Conciliation Hall. 8. It shall be lawful for the Governor, by proclamation published in the “ Government Gazette,” to set apart any suitable land, the property of the Crown, in or near the City of Adelaide as a site for a building to be erected thereon, and to be called Conciliation Hall. 9. The Minister may cause the expense of the erection of Conciliation Hall to be defrayed wholly or in part out of any moneys which may be voted by Parliament for the purpose. 10. The land and buildings shall be under the sole con- trol of the Minister, who shall permit the use of the hall for conciliation purposes in manner prescribed, and subject thereto shall permit the use of the premises, or any part thereof, to any organisations for the holding of meetings, or for offices, or otherwise in connexion with the manage- ment of their affairs or the conduct of their business, upon such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed. 11. In the event of any organisation subscribing to the funds required for the erection of Conciliation Hall, regard shall be had by the Minister to the fact of such subscrip- tion and the amount thereof in prescribing the right of such organisation to the use of the premises, or any part thereof ; but so that no subscription shall be considered so as to secure to organisations representative of employers any rights in excess of those secured to organisations representative of employees, or vice versa. 12. Subject to the preceding section the right of all organisations to the use of the premises shall be prescribed with the object of accommodating all in accordance with their probable actual requirements. 13. Ii shall be lawful for the Minister, out of such moneys as shall hereafter be voted by Parliament for the purpose, to provide the use of rooms, and such other temporary accommodation as may be required for concilia- tion purposes ; and the Minister may also permit any Government building to be temporarily used for concilia- tion purposes, free of any charge. Part III. Registration of Unions. 14. Any number of persons lawfully associated for the purpose of protecting or furthering the interests of em- ployers or employees in or in connexion with any industry may register their Society as an Industrial Union pursuant to this Act in manner prescribed, and in compliance with the following requisites : — - 1. An application for registration shall be forwarded to the Registrar signed two or more officers of the Society : 2. Such application shall be accompanied by a statement of the name by which it is desired that the Union shall be registered, and by a copy of the rules by which it is desired that the affairs of the Union shall be regulated : 3. Such rules shall specify the purposes for which the Union is formed and shall provide for — a. The appointment and continuance of a Com- mittee of Management and Secretary : b. The powers of the Committee, and the control of the Committee by general meetings, and the mode of the exercise of the powers of the Committee, and of the control of general meetings, and the mode in which industrial agreements shall be made and executed on behalf of the Union : Part L Minister of Industry. Vacation of office. Industrial Registrar. Part II. Conciliation Hall. Expense of eroction. Control. Rights of subscribers. Use of premises. Temporary accommo- dation. Part III. A pplica- tions for registration. 63 Rules. Name. Registra- tion. Mode of registration. Effect of registration. Cancellation of registra- tion. Enforce- ment cf rules. Part IV. Applica- tions for registration. c. The mode in which persons shall become or cease to be members, and so that no mem- ber shall discontinue his membership without giving at least three calendar months pre- vious written notice to the Secretary of intention so to do. d. The conduct of the business of the Union at some convenient address to be specified, and to be called the registered office of the Union. 15. The rules may also provide for any other matters not contrary to the law desired by the persons making the application for registration, and the rules may provide for their repeal or alteration, hut so that the requisites of sub- division 3 of the preceding paragraph shall always be provided for. lfi. In the name of every Industrial Union the word employers or employees shall be introduced according to whether such Union shall be a Union of employers or employees. 1 7- On compliance with the requisites to an application for registration, the Registrar shall give public notice of the receipt of such application and of his intention to comply therewith ; and unless within six weeks after the giving of such notice he shall lie satisfied that it is not the desire of a majority of the members of the Society that the registration should proceed, he shall register the Society as an Industrial Union pursuant to the application, but if he shall be so satisfied he shall take no further steps in the matter. 18. Registration shall be effected by the publication in the “ Government Gazette ” of a notice signed by the Registrar in the form in Schedule A., and such notice shall he conclusive evidence of the fact of such registration and of the validity thereof. 19. The effect of registration shall be to render the Union, and all persons then or thereafter members thereof, subject to the jurisdiction hereby given to the Boards of Conciliation, and liable to all the provisions of this Act, and bound — a. By the rules of the Union during the continuance of the membership : h. By all industrial agreements and industrial awards made by or affecting the Union at any time during the membership. 20. Any Union may at any time through the committee apply to the Registrar in manner prescribed for a cancel- lation of the registration thereof, and the Registrar, after giving six weeks’ public notice of his intention, may cancel such registration, by the publication in the “ Government Gazette ” of a notice in the form contained in Schedule B. to this Act : Provided always that no registration shall be cancelled unless the Registrar shall be satisfied that the cancellation is desired by a majority of the members of the Union, and no cancellation of any registration shall relieve any Union, or any member thereof, from the obligation of any industrial agreement or industrial award. 21. If any person whilst bound by the rules of any Union shall in any particular make default in compliance therewith, he shall for every such default he guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by fine not exceeding 10Z., or such lesser sum as shall be fixed by the rules of the Union. Part IV. Registration of Associations. 22. Any number of Unions may register themselves as an Industrial Association pursuant to this Act in manner prescribed, and on compliance with the following requi- ites — 1. An application for registration shall be forwarded to the Registrar, signed by a majority of the members of the committee of each Union desiring to be asso- ciated : 2. Such application shall be accompanied by a statement of the name by which it is desired that the Unions shall be associated, and by a copy of the rules bv which it is desired that the affairs of the Association shall be regulated : 3. Such rules shall specify the purposes for which the Association is formed, and shall provide for — a. The appointment and continuance of Council of Management and Chairman : b. The powers of the Council, and the control of the Council by general meetings, and the mode of the exercise of the powers of the Council, and of the control of general meetings, and the mode in which industrial agreements shall be made and executed on behalf of the As- sociation : c. The inode in which Unions shall become or cease to he members, hut so that no Union shall discontinue their membership without giving at least six calendar months’ previous written notice to the Chairman of intention so to do : d. The conduct of the business of the Association at some convenient address to be specified, and to be called the registered office of the Association. 23. The rules may also provide for any other matters not contrary to law desired by the persons making the application for registration, and the rules may provide for their repeal or alteration, but so that the requisites of subdivision 3 of the preceding paragraph shall always be provided for. 24. In the name of every Industrial Association the word employers or employees shall he introduced accord- ing to whether such Associations shall he a Union of employers or employees. 25. On compliance with the requisites to an application for registration the Registrar shall give public notice of the receipt of such application, and of his intention to comply therewith ; and at the expiration of six weeks after the giving of such notice he shall register the Unions applying for association as an Industrial Association pursuant to their application, but so that he shall except from sucli registration any Union in respect to which he shall be satisfied that a majority of the members thereof do not desire such association. 26. Registration shall be effected by the publication in the “Government Gazette” of a notice signed by the Registrar in the form in Schedule B., and such notice shall he conclusive evidence of the fact of such registration and of the validity thereof. 27. The effect of registration shall be to render the Association and all Unions and persons then or thereafter members thereof, or of any Associated Union subject to the jurisdiction hereby given to Boards of Conciliation and liable to all the provisions of this Act, and bound— a. By the rules of the Association during the continu- ance of the membership. b. By all industrial agreements and industrial awards made or affecting the Association at any time during the membership. 28. Any Union desiring to withdraw from any Associa- tion may, on compliance with the rules of the Association relating to withdrawal, procure from the Registrar a certi- ficate of withdrawal. 29. Any Association may at any time, through the Council, apply to the Registrar in manner prescribed for a cancellation of the registration thereof, and the Registrar after giving six weeks’ public notice of his intention may cancel such registration by the publication in the “ Government Gazette ” of a notice in the form contained in Schedule of this Act : Provided always that no registra- tion shall be cancelled unless the Registrar shall be satisfied that the cancellation is desired by a majority of the mem- bers of each associated Union ; and no cancellation of any registration shall relieve any Association or Associated Union, or any member thereof, from the obligation of any industrial agreement or industrial award. 30. If any Union or person whilst bound by the rules of any Association shall in particular make default in compliance therewith, such Union or person shall, for every such default, be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a fine in the case of a Union not exceeding one hundred pounds, and in the case of an individual not exceeding ten pounds, or in either case such less sum as shall be fixed by the rules of the Association. Part V. Industrial Agreements. 31. Industrial agreements may be made between organi- sations, or between organisations and any other persons, or between any persons whomsoever, regulating or in relation to industrial matters, or for the prevention or settlement of disputes and differences in anywise relating thereto. 32. Every industrial agreement shall he for a term to he specified therein, not exceeding five years from the date of the making thereof, and shall be in a form com- mencing as follows : — “ This Industrial Agreement made in pursuance of the Industrial Unions Act, 1890, this day of Between ” and the date of the making of such agreement shall be the date when such agreement shall be first executed by any party thereto, and such date and the names of all organi- sations or persons parties to such agreement shall be truly stated therein. Rules. Name. Registra- tion. Mode of registrati m Effect of registration With- drawal, Cancella- tion. Enforce- ment of rules. Part V. Industrial agreements. Term and form. H 4 64 Duplicate to be filed. Kffect of in dustrial agree raent. Alteration. Enforce- ment. Part VI. Boards of Conciliation. Private Boards. Local Boards. 33. A duplicate of every industrial agreement shall be filed in the office of the Registrar within thirty days of the making thereof, and the Registrar, if thereunto re- quired by any person interested therein, shall investigate the matter in such manner as he shall think fit, and if satisfied that the same has been duly made and executed pursuant to this Act, by or on behalf of the parties thereto, shall give a certificate to that effect, which certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the fact. 34. Every industrial agreement duly made and executed shall be binding on the parties thereto and on every person at any time during the term of such agreement, a member of any organisation party thereto, and on every person who in manner prescribed shall signify to the Registrar concurrence therein, and all such persons shall be entitled to the benefit thereof. 35. Any industrial agreement may he varied, renewed, or cancelled, hv any subsequent industrial agreement made by any persons bound thereby, but so that no person shall be deprived of the benefit of any industrial agreement by any subsequent industrial agreement by which he shall not be bound. 36. If any organisation or person hound by any indus- trial agreement shall in any particular make default in compliance therewith such organisation or person shall for every such default be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a fine not- exceeding such amount as shall he fixed by such industrial agreement ; and if no amount shall be so fixed then in the case of an organisation not exceeding five hundred pounds, and in the case of an individual not exceeding fifty pounds. Part VI. Boards of Conciliation. 37. For the purpose of this Act, Boards of Conciliation shall be of two classes, as follows : — 1. Private Boards of Conciliation; 2. Public Boards of Conciliation ; and Public Boards of Conciliation shall be of two kinds, as follows ; — a. Local Boards of Conciliation : b. The State Board of Conciliation : 38. Private Boards of Conciliation shall be constituted by industrial agreement, and shall have such jurisdiction for the settlement of industrial disputes between the organisations and persons bound by such industrial agree- ment as shall be confided to them by such agreement, and, except so far as shall be negatived or modified by such agreement, shall exercise such jurisdiction in such manner, and within the limits of such jurisdiction shall have the same powers and discretions as Public Boards of Conciliation. 39. Local Boards of Conciliation may be constituted in manner prescribed for particular localities and for particular industries, and shall have jurisdiction for the settlement of industrial disputes occurring in such localities, and industries, or referred to them by way of compulsory con- ciliation, or by industrial agreement. Compliance with the following requisites shall be essential to the con- jtitution of a Local Board of Conciliation : — 1. The limits of the locality in which the Board shall have jurisdiction shall be the limits of one or more municipalities or District Councils. 2. No Board shall be constituted except in pursuance of a petition to the Minister in manner prescribed praying for the constitution thereof, and a licence from the Governor authorising the constitution thereof, and no such licence shall be granted unless proof shall have been previously given in manner prescribed, and to the satisfaction of the Registrar that the constitution of a Local Board of Con- ciliation in the particular locality and industry is generally desired by the employers and employees engaged in such industry in such locality, and the Registrar shall have certified the Minister to that effect. 3. No licence shall be granted until the expiration of at least six weeks after public notice shall have been given by the Minister that the Registrar has certified as required by the preceding section. 4 . The licence shall fix the number of the Board, and the locality and industry in which the Roard shall have jurisdiction, and such licence shall be in duplicate, and one part shall be retained by the Registrar and the other shall be delivered to the petitioners, and a copy of every such licence shall forthwith after its issue be published in the “ Got eminent Gazette.” 5. The members of the Board, except the Chairman, shall be elected annually in manner prescribed by the employers and employees engaged in the particular industry and locality, employers and employees separately voting for and electing an equal number of such members. 6. The persons so elected shall, at their first meeting, elect some other person altogether unconnected with the particular industry, to be Chairman of the Board, and any casual vacancy in the chairmanship shall be supplied in the same manner at some subsequent meeting. Every Chairman shall hold office until resignation or removal. 7. Electoral rolls, containing the names and addresses of all persons entitled to vote at the election of members of Board, shall be compiled and kept in manner prescribed. The rolls of employers and employees being kept separate and distinct, and no person whose name does not appear on the electoral roll shall be entitled to vote at any such election. 8. No person shall be entitled to have his name entered on an electoral roll unless, being an employer, he shall have been engaged in the particular industry and locality for at least six months immediately preceding the lime of such entry, nor unless, being an employee, he shall have followed the occupation of an employee in such industry and locality for at least the same time, and the name of any person entered on any such electoral roll shall be liable to be struck off if at any time he shall, for a period of at least six months, cease to be engaged as an employer in the particular industry and locality, or to follow the occupation of an employee in such industry and locality. 9. The Registrar may correct any electoral roll in any manner which he shall think fit, and his decision shall be conclusive as to the right of any person to be entered as a voter on any electoral roll. 40. The State Board shall have jurisdiction for the settlement of all such industrial disputes as shall be referred to it by way of compulsory conciliation pursuant to section 52, or by the Minister pursuant to section 53, or by industrial agreement. 41. The State Board shall be appointed by the Governor, and shall consist of seven members, of whom three may be recommended to the Governor by organisations repre- sentative of employers, and three by organisations representative of employees. 42. No recommendation shall be received from any organisation in respect of the remaining member of the State Board, and such remaining member shall also be President of the Board. 43. Every member of the State Board shall hold office until resignation or removal, and any casual vacancy occurring in the membership shall he supplied in the same manner as the original appointment was made. 44. Every public Board of Conciliation shall, in such manner as it shall think fit, carefully and expeditiously inquire into and investigate any industrial dispute of which it shall have cognizance, and all matters affecting the merits of such dispute or the right settlement thereof. 45. In the course of such inquiry and investigation the Board shall make all such suggestions and do all such things as shall appear to them as right and proper to be made or done for securing a fair and amicable settlement of the matters in dispute by agreement between the parties, and if no such settlement shall be arrived at, shall decide the question according to the merits and substantial justice of the case. 46. In particular, but without limiting the general power given to Ihe Board by the preceding section, it shall be lawful for the Board to temporarily refer the matters to a committee of their number, consisting of an equal number of representatives of employers and em- ployees, who shall endeavour to reconcile the parties. 47. In all matters coming before any Public Board of Conciliation, the decision of the Board shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present, exclusive of the President or Chairman, except in the case of an equality of such votes, in which case only the President or Chairman shall vote, and his vote shall decide the question. 48. Three-fourths of the total number of the members of a Board of Conciliation shall be necessary to constitute a quorum. 49. Every Board of Conciliation shall have full powers for requiring and compelling the attendance and examina- tion of witnesses, and such powers shall be exercised in such manner as may be prescribed. 50. It shall be lawful for the Minister, by any writing under his hand, in the event of the period of office of the member of any Public Board expiring whilst such Board shall be seized of any matters in dispute, to continue such member in office for any time not exceeding altogether State Board. Mode of ap- pointment. President. Tenure cf ollice. Procedure. Settlement. Reference to snb-eora- mittee. Voting. Qu; rum. Boards may compel wit- nesses to attend. &o. Power to continue member in office. 65 Part VII. Inquiry by Minister. Compulsory reference. Reference from Local to State Board. Part VIII. Terms of awards. Parties bound. Duplicate to be filed. Registrar to enforce. Courts to act in aid of Registrar. Limitation of liability under award. Process against pro- perty of or- ganisations. Fees. Application of moneys received under pro- cess. one month, in order to enable such member to take part in the settlement of such matters in dispute. Part YII. Compulsory Conciliation. 51. If any industrial dispute shall hereafter arise between any organisations, it shall be lawful for the Minister to inquire into the nature and extent of such dispute, in such manner as he shall think fit, for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not it should be settled by compulsory con- ciliation. 52. If after such inquiry the Minister shall certify to the Governor that the dispute is one which should be settled by means of compulsory conciliation, it shall be lawful for the Governor, by proclamation published in the “Government Gazette,” to declare that all matters in dispute between the organisations, to be mentioned in such proclamation, or any of such matters, to be specified in such proclamation, shall be referred to any Public Board of Conciliation, to be mentioned in such proclama- tion for settlement, and the same shall stand referred accordingly. 53. If at any time it shall be made to appear to the Minister that any industrial dispute which would otherwise come before or be settled by any Local Board of Concilia- tion is likely to be more satisfactorily disposed of by the State Board of Conciliation, it shall be lawful for the Minister, by any writing under his hand, to refer such dispute to the State Board for settlement, and the same shall stand referred accordingly. Part VIII. Enforcement of Awards and Agreements. 54. Every award shall specify the organisations and persons on which it is intended that it shall be binding, and the period not exceeding five years from the making thereof, during which its provisions may be enforced. 55. Unless otherwise expressed therein the award of every Local Board of Conciliation and of the State Board of Conciliation in the matter of any dispute referred to the State Board from a Local Board by the Minister pursuant to section 53 shall be binding during the period thereof on all employers and employees in the particular locality and industry for which the Local Board is constituted. 56. A duplicate of every award shall be filed in the office of the Registrar, and thereafter during the period during which its provisions may be enforced it shall be binding upon all organisations and persons upon which it shall be declared that it shall be binding, and upon all members of such organisations. 5 7. The Registrar, at the instance of any organisation or person interested, shall do all things necessary for enforcing any award against any organisation or person bound thereby. 58. Every Court of the province and every officer thereof shall Act in aid of the Registrar in enforcing compliance of the award as fully and effectually, and to all intents and purposes as if such award were a decree, order, or judgment of every such Court duly made and given, and such award shall be deemed to be a decree, order, or judgment of every such Court, and the process of every such Court as shall be required by the Registrar shall be issued and executed for enforcing such compliance in like manner as upon the decree, order, or judgment of such Court. 59. Unless otherwise ordered by the award or sanctioned by the Minister, no process shall be issued for the enforce- ment of any award By the payment from any organisation or person of a greater sum than one thousand pounds, or from any individual, on account of his membership of an organisation, of any greater sum than ten pounds. 60. For the purpose of enforcing compliance with any award, process may be issued and executed against the property of any organisation, or in which any organisation shall have any beneficial interest, and whether vested in trustees or howsoever otherwise, the same may be held in the same manner as if such organisation was an incorpo- rated Company, and the absolute owner of such property or interest. 61. No fees of Court shall be charged for the issue or execution of any process for compelling compliance with any award. 62. All moneys that shall be received by virtue of any process for enforcing compliance with any award shall be applied in such manner as the award may direct, and in default of or subject to any such direction in sucli manner as the Registrar may decide, for the benefit of those interested in the performance of the award. TJ 75209. 63 . Any person wilfully making default in compliance with any award, unless such award shall otherwise direct, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding 2 0/., or by imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding three calendar months. 64. All provisions herein-before in this part of this Act contained with reference to the enforcement of awards shall apply to the enforcement of industrial agreements in like manner as if agreements had been mentioned in such provisions whenever awards are referred to. Part IX. Penalties on Certain Lock-Outs and Strikes. 65. If any organisation of employers or any member thereof shall counsel, take part in, support, or assist directly or indirectly any lock-out on account of any industrial dispute for the settlement of which any Board of Con- ciliation shall have jurisdiction, such organisation or member shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a fine in the case of an organisation not exceeding 500Z., or in the case of an individual not exceeding 20/. 66. If any organisation of employees or any member thereof shall counsel, take part in, support, or assist directly or iudirectly any strike on account of any industrial dispute for the settlement of which any Board of Conciliation shall have jurisdiction, such organisation or member shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable as mentioned in the preceding section. Part X. Miscellaneous. 67. It shall be lawful for the Governor, by a proclama- tion published in the “ Government Gazette,” to declare that the provisions of this Act shall apply to all Trades Unions or Employers Unions, or to any Trades Union or Employers’ Union to be specified in such proclamation, and thereupon every such Union and every member thereof shall become subject to the jurisdiction conferred on Boards of Conciliation by this Act in like manner as if such Union were a Union registered pursuant to the provisions of this Act. 68. It shall be lawful for the Governor, by proclamation published in the “ Government Gazette,” to declare that no Trade or Employers’ Union shall hereafter be formed or registered unless it shall be registered as an Industrial Union pursuant to this Act, and every such proclamation shall have the force of law. 69. No proclamation shall be issued by the Governor pursuant to section 67 or 68 unless he shall previously have received addresses from both Houses of Parliament in the same session thereof, praying him to issue the same. 70. Every half-year, in the months of March and Septem- ber, there shall be forwarded to the Registrar a certified list of the Unions constituting the Association. 71. Every half-year in the same months, there shall be forwarded to the Registrar a certified list of the members of every Union. 72. Certified copies of all alterations of the rules of any organisation shall forthwith, as such alterations are made, be forwarded to the Registrar. 73. Every organisation making default in forwarding to the Registrar any list or copy required to be forwarded by sections 70, 71, or 72, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a fine not exceeding 21. for every day during which such default continues ; and every mem- ber of the Council or Committee of any such organisation who wilfully permits such default shall be guilty of a similar offence, punishable by a fine not exceeding 5s. for every day during which he wilfully permits such default. /4. The Registrar, on the request of any person interested, shall investigate and decide in such manner as he shall think fit, any matter relating to the rule or appeal, or alteration of the rules, or membership or cesser of member- ship of any organisation, and any certificate of the Registrar dealing with any such question shall be conclusive evidence of the matter therein stated, unless such certificate shall be varied by a subsequent certificate of the Registrar, in which case the subsequent certificate shall prevail. 75. The Registrar shall only once reopen for the purpose of varying any matter which he shall have disposed of by a certificate, and then only with the previous written consent of the Minister. 76. The Minister may review, annul, rescind, or vary any act or decision of the Registrar in any manner which he shall think fit, and if the Minister shall annul, rescind, or vary any such act or decision he shall, within fourteen days I Enforce- ment of award. Provision for enforce- ment of awards to apply. Part IX. Penalty on lock-out. Penalty on strike. Part X. Act may be extended by Proclama- tion. Trade Unions may be required to register as associa- tions. Requisites to Procla- mation. Half-yearly lists of Unions. Half-yearly lists of members. Alterations of rules. Penalty on non-com- pliance. Matters may be decided by Re- gistrar. Reopening of matters decided by Registrar. Minister may review decision of Registrar 66 Removal by Minister. Proceeding of Board not to be quashed. Regulations. Publication of regula- tions Penalty on persuading to commis- sion of offence. How organi- sations may sue. Rules may define default. Summary jurisdiction. Appenls. thereafter, if Parliament be then sitting, or if Parliament be not then sitting, then within fourteen clays after the first meeting of Parliament thereafter, lay before both Houses of Parliament a return showing the mode in which he lias an- nulled, rescinded, or varied such act or decision, and his reasons for such annulment, rescission, or variation. 77. It shall be lawful for tlie Minister, by any writing under bis hand, to remove from office any member of any Board of Conciliation who shall be proved to the satisfac- tion of the Minister to, have misconducted himself in such office, or to be unfit to discharge the duties thereof, or to have refused, neglected, or delayed to discharge any such duties. 78. No award or proceeding of any Board of Conciliation shall be liable to be challenged, appealed against, reviewed, quashed, or called in question by any Court on any account whatsoever. 79. The Governor may make all such regulations not in- consistent with this Act, either applicable generally or to meet particular cases, as may be necessary or desirable to carry out the objects and purposes, or as he may consider convenient for the administration and execution thereof. 80. All such regulations shall be published in the “ Government Gazette,” and within fourteen days after the making thereof shall be laid before both Houses of Parlia- ment, if Parliament be then sitting, and if Parliament be not then sitting, then within fourteen days after the begin- ning of the next session of Parliament, and shall have the focre of law from the date of such publication. 81. Every person who shall persuade or endeavour to persuade any other person to commit an offence against this Act shall himself be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by the penalty attached to the first-mentioned offence. 82. Any organisation may sue or he sued for the purposes of this Act, or otherwise, in the name by which it is regis • tered, and service of any process on the Chairman or Secre- tary, or at the registered office of the organisation, shall he sufficient for all purposes. 83. The rules of any Association or any industrial agree- ment or award may fix and determine what shall constitute a default by an organisation within the meaning of this Act. 84. Every proceeding for any offence against this Act maybe had and taken before, and he heard and determined in a summary way by any special magistrate or two Justices of the Peace, under the provisions of an Ordinance of the Governor and Legislative Council, No. 6 of 1850, intituled “ An Ordinance to facilitate the performance of the duties “ of Justices of the Peace out of sessions with respect to “ summary convictions and orders,” or of any Act now in force or hereafter to he in force, relating to the duties of Justices of the Peace with respect to summary convictions and orders, and all convictions and orders made by such magistrate or Justices may be enforced, as in the said Ordinance, or in any other Act as aforesaid is or shall be provided. 85. There shall be an appeal to the Local Court of Adelaide of full jurisdiction only from every conviction by any special Magistrate or Justices for any offence against this Act, and from every order dismissing any information or complaint, or from every order dismissing any information or complaint, or from any other order made by such Magis- trate or Justices under this Act ; and the proceedings on such appeal shall be conducted in manner appointed by the said Ordinance, No. (i of 1850, for appeals to Local Courts, or any Act to be hereafter in force regulating such appeals ; but the Local Court of Adelaide aforesaid shall have power to make such order as to the payment of the costs of the appeal as it shall think fit, although such costs may exceed ten pounds. No. IX. A Bill for an Act to Facilitate the Settlement of Indus- trial Disputes. Preamble. Whereas it is desirable to facilitate the settlement of industrial disputes. — Be it enacted by the Governor of the Province of South Australia, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of the said province, in this present Parlia- ment assembled, as follows, that is to say : — Short title. 1. This Act may he cited for all purposes as the “ Conciliation Act, 1892.” Commence- 2. This Act shall come into force on the first day of ment, January 1893. 3. In the construction of this Act the following interpret*- words have the following meanings, that is to tion. say “ Industry ” means any avocation, business, trade, undertaking, calling, or employment : “Industrial matters” includes all matters relating to pay, wages, hours, privileges, rights, or duties of employers or employees in any industry : “ Industrial disputes ” includes all disputes relating to industrial matters : “Industrial agreement” means an industrial agree- ment made pursuant to this Act : “ Industrial award*’ means an industrial award made by a board of conciliation pursuant to this Act : “ Minister” means the Minister of Industry : “ Registrar” means the Industrial Registrar: “Union” means an Industrial Union registered pursuant to this Act : “ Committee ” means the committee of any union : “ Secretary ” means secretary of a union : “ Association ” means any association of unions registered pursuant to this Act : “ Chairman ” means chairman of an association : “ Council ” means the council of any association : “ Organisation ” means any union or association : “ Prescribed ” means prescribed by regulation made pursuant to this Act : “ Certified ” means certified in manner prescribed : “Public notice” means notice by advertisement published in the “ Government Gazette “ Person” includes every person, company, and cor- porate body : “ Conciliation purposes ” means the holding of meet- ings for the purpose or in the course of the settlement of industrial disputes, and whether of the disputing parties or their delegates or representatives, or hoards of conciliation, com- mittees, or otherwise. 4. This Act is divided into 11 parts, as follows : — Parts. Part I.— -The Minister and Registrar : Part II. — Conciliation Hall : Part III. — Registration of Unions : Part IV. — Registration of Associations : Part V. — Industrial Agreements : Part VI. — Boards of Conciliation : Part VII. — Compulsory Conciliation : Part VIII . — Enforcement of Industrial Awards and Agreements : Part IX. — Penalties on certain Lockouts and Strikes : Part X. — Reports on Industrial Disputes. Part XI. — Miscellaneous. Part I. The Minister and Registrar. 5. The Governor shall appoint some member of the Minister of Executive Council to be Minister of Industry. industry. 6. The Minister shall vacate his office whenever he Vacation of shall cease to be a member of the Executive Council. office. 7. The Governor shall also appoint an industrial Industrial registrar and such other officers as shall he required re S istrar - to carry out the purposes of this Act, and shall assign to such registrar and officers such duties as he shall think fit. Part II. Conciliation Hall. 8. It shall he lawful for the Governor, by proelama- Conciliation tion published in the “ Government Gazette,” to set haH. apart any suitable land, the property of the Crown, in or near the city of Adelaide as a site for a building for the purposes of a conciliation hall : Provided that no such, proclamation shall be issued until plans and descriptions of the laud shall have been laid before both Houses of Parliament for not less than fourteen days. 9. The Minister may cause the expense of the erection Expense of of conciliation hall to be defrayed out of any monej r s erection, which may be voted by Parliament for the purpose. 10. The land and buildings shall he under the sole control, control of the minister, who shall permit the free use of the hall for conciliation or other purposes in manner prescribed, and subject thereto shall permit the use of the premises, or any part thereof, to any organisations for the holding of meetings, or for offices, or otherwise in connexion with the management of their affairs or the conduct of their business, upon such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed. Use of premises. Temporary accommo- dation. Applications for regis- tration. Rules. Name. Registra- tion. Mode of re- gistration. Effect of re- gistration. a 7 11. The right of all organisations to the use ol the premises shall Ire prescribed with the object of accom- modating all in accordance with their probable actual requirements, and subject thereto, with a view ol securing equal rights to organisations representative of employers and to organisations representative of employes. 12. It shall he lawful for the Minister, out of such moneys as shall hereafter be voted by Parliament lor the purpose, to provide the use of rooms, and such other temporary accommodation as may be required for conciliation purposes ; and the Minister may also permit any Government building to be temporarily used for conciliation purposes, free of any charge. Part III. .Registration of Unions. 13. Any number of persons lawfully associated for the purpose of protecting or furthering the interests of employers or employes in, or in connexion with any industry, may register their society as an industrial union pursuant to this Act in manner prescribed, and in compliance with the following requisites — 1. An application for registration shall be forwarded to the registrar signed by two or more officers of the society. 2. Such application shall be accompanied by a state- ment of the name by which it is desired that the union shall he registered, and by a copy of the rules by which it is desired that the affairs of the union shall be regulated. 3. Such rules shall be approved by the registrar and shall specify the purposes for which the union is formed, and shall provide for — a. The appointment and continuance of a com- mittee of management and secretary : b. The powers of the committee, and the control of the committee by general meetings, and the mode of the exercise of the powers of the com- mittee, and of the control of general meetings, and the mode in which industrial agreements shall be made and executed on behalf of the union : c. The mode in which persons shall become or cease to be members and shall pay the mem- bership subscriptions, and so that no member shall discontinue his membership without giving at least three calendar months’ previous written notice to the secretary of intention so to do : d. The conduct of the business of the union at some convenient address to be specified, and to be called the registered office of the union. 14. The rules may also provide for any other matters not contrary to law desired by the persons making the application for registration, and the rules may provide for their repeal or alteration, hut so that the requisites of subdivision 3 of the preceding section shall always he provided for. 15. In the name of every industrial union the word employers or employes shall be introduced according to whether such union shall be a union of employers or employes. 16. On compliance with the requisites to an appli- cation for registration, the registiar shall give public notice of the receipt of such application ; and if within six weeks after the giving of such notice he shall be satisfied that it is the desire of at least two-thirds of the members of the society that the registration should proceed, he shall register the society as an industrial union pursuant to the application, but if he shall not be so satisfied he shall Take no fnrther steps in the matter. 17. Registration shall he effected by the publication in the “ Government Gazette ” of a notice signed by the registrar in the form in Schedule A., and such notice shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of such registration and of the validity thereof. 18. The effect of registration shall be to render the union, and all persons then or thereafter members thereof, subject to the jurisdiction hereby given to boards of conciliation, and liable to all the provisions of this Act, and bound — a. By the rules of the union during the continuance of the membership : b. By all industrial agreements and industrial awards made by or affecting the union at any time during the membership. Cancellation of registra- tion. Enforce- ment of rules. Applications for regis- tration. 19. Any union n ay at any time through the com- mittee apply to the registrar in manner prescribed for a cancellation of the registration thereof, and the registrar, after giving six weeks' , public notice of his intention, may cancel such registration, by the publi- cation in the “ Government Gazette ” of a notice in the form contained in Schedule B. to this Act : Provided always that no registration shall he cancelled unless the registrar shall be satisfied that the cancellation is desired by at least two-thirds of the members of the union, and no cancellation of any registration shall relieve any union, or any member thereof, from the obligation of any industrial agreement or industrial award. 20. If any person whilst bound by the rules of any union shall in any particular make default in compliance therewith, he shall for every such default be guilty of an offence agaiust this Act, punishable by a fine not exceeding ten pounds, or such lesser sum as shall he fixed by the rules of the union. Part IV. Registration of Associations . 1 21. Any number of unions may register themselves as an industrial association pursuant to this Act in manner prescribed, and on compliance with the fol- lowing requisites — 1. An application for registration shall be forwarded to the registrar, signed by a majority of the members of the committee of each union desiring to be associated. 2. Such application shall be accompanied by a state- ment of the name by which it is desired that the unions shall be associated, and by a copy of the rules by which it is desired that the affairs of the association shall be regulated. 3. Such rules shall be approved by the registrar, and shall specify the purposes for which the asso- ciation is formed, and shall provide for — a. The appointment and continuance of council of management and chairman : b. The powers of the council, and the control of the council by general meetings, and the mode of the exercise of the powers of the council, and of the control of general meetings, and the mode in which industrial agreements shall be made and executed on behalf of the Asso- ciation : c. The mode in which unions shall become or cease to be members, and shall pay their member- ship subscriptions, hut so that no union shall discontinue their membership without giving at least six calendar months’ previous written notice to the chairman of intention so to do : d. The conduct of the business of the association at some convenient address to be specified, and to called the registered office of the Asso- ciation. 22. The rules may also provide for any other matters Rules, not contrary to law desired by the persons making the application for registration, and the rules may provide for their repeal or alteration, but so that the requisites of sub-division 3 of the preceding section shall always be provided for. 23. In the name of every industrial association the Name, word employers or employes shall be introduced ac- cording to whether such associations shall be a union of employers or employes. 24. On compliance with the requisites to an appli- cation for registration the registrar shall give public notice of the receipt of such application, and at the expiration of six weeks after the giving of such notice he shall register the unions applying for association as an industrial association pursuant to their application, but so that he shall exc> pt from such registration any union in respect to which he shall not he satisfied that at least two-thirds of the members thereof desire such association. 25. Registration shall he effected by the publication Mode of re in the “ Government Gazette ” of a notice signed by (hstration. the registrar in the form in Schedule A., and such notice shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of such registration and of the validity thereof. 26. The effect of registration shall be to render the association and all unions and persons then or thereafter gls lon " bers thereof, or of any associated union subject to I 2 Registra- tion. 68 "With- drawal. Cancel- lation. Enforce- ment of rules. Industrial agreements. the jurisdiction hereby given to boards of conciliation and liable to all the provisions of this Act, and bound— a. By the rules of the association during the con- tinuance of the membership : b. By all industrial agreements and industrial awards ' made or affecting the association at any time during the membership. 27. Any union desiring to withdraw from any association may, on compliance with the rules of the association relating to withdrawal, procure from the registrar a certificate of withdrawal. 28. Any association may at any time, through the council, apply to the registrar in manner prescribed for a cancellation of the registration thereof, and the registrar, after giving six weeks’ public notice of his intention, may cancel such registration by the publication m the “ Government Gazette ” of a notice in the form contained in Schedule B. of this Act : Provided always that no registration shall be cancelled unless the registrar snail be satisfied that the cancellation is desired by at least two-thirds of the members of each associated union ; and no cancellation of any registration shall relieve any association or associated union, or any member thereof, from the obligation of any industiial agreement or industrial award. 29. If any union or person whilst, bound by the rules of any association, shall in any particular make default in compliance therewith, such union or person shall, for every such default, be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a fine in the case of a union not exceeding one hundred pounds, and in the case of an individual not exceeding ten pounds, or in either case such lesser sum as shall be fixed by the rules ol the association. Part Y. Industrial Agreements. 30. Industrial agreements may be made between organisations, or between organisations and any other Term and torm. Duplicate to be filed. Effect of industrial ageement. Alteration. Enforce- ment. persons, or Derween an y pcjauno whomsoever, regu- lating or in relation to industrial matters, or for the prevention or settlement ot disputes and differences in anywise relating thereto. 31. Every industrial agreement shall be for a term to be specified therein, not exceeding five years from the date of the making thereof, and shall be in a form commencing as follows This Industrial Agreement “ made in pursuance of the 4 Conciliation Act, loyi, “ this day “ Between ” and the date of the making of such agreement shall be the date when such agreement shall be first executed by any party thereto, and such date and the names of all organisations or persons parties to such agreement shall be truly stated therein. 32 A duplicate of every industrial agreement shall be filed in the office of the registrar, and of every organisation affected thereby, within 30 days of the making thereof, and shall be open to inspection, and the registrar, if thereunto required by any person in- terested therein, shall investigate the matter, in such manner as he shall think fit, and if satisfied that the same has been duly made and executed pursuant to this Act, by or on behalf of the parties thereto, shall give a certificate to that effect, which certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the fact. 33. Every industrial agreement duly made and executed shall be binding on the parties thereto and on everv person at any time during Ihe term of such agreement a member of any organisation party thereto, and on every person who in manner prescribed shall signify to the registrar concurrence therein, and all such persons shall be entitled to the benefit thereof. 34 Any industrial agreement may be varied, renewed, or cancelled by any subsequent industrial agreement made by any persons bound thereby, but so that no person shall be deprived of the benefit of any industrial agreement by any subsequent industrial agreement by which he shall not be bound. 35 If any organisation or person bound by any industrial agreement shall in any particular make default in compliance therewith such organisation or person shall for every such default be guilty ot an offence against this Act, punishable by a fine not exceeding such amount as shall be fixed by such industrial agreement ; and if no amount shall be so fixed, then in the case of an organisation not exc eeding five hundred pounds, and in the case of an individual not exceeding fifty pounds. Part YI. Boards of Conciliation. 36. For the purpose of this Act, boards of conciliation shall be of two classes, as follows : — 1. Private boards of conciliation ; 2. Public boards of conciliation ; and public boards of conciliation shall be of two kinds, as follows : a. Local boards of conciliation ; b. The State board of conciliation. 37. Private boards of conciliation shall be constituted by industrial agreement, and shall have such juris- diction for the settlement of industrial disputes between the organisations and persons bound by such industrial agreement as shall be confided to them by such agree- ment, and, except so far as shall be negatived or modified by such agreement, shall exercise such jurisdiction in such manner, and within the limits of such jurisdiction shall have the same powers and discretions as public boards of conciliation. 38. Local boards of conciliation may be constituted in manner prescribed for particular localities and for particular industries, and shall have jurisdiction for the settlement of industrial disputes occurring iu such localities and industries-, or referred to them by way of compulsory conciliation or by industrial agreement. Compliance with the following requisites shall be essential to the constitution of a local board of conciliation : — 1. The limits of the locality in which the board shall have jurisdiction shall be the limits of one or more municipalities or district councils. 2. No board shall be constituted except in pursuance of a petition to the Minister in manner prescribed praying for the constitution thereof, and a licence from the Governor authorising the constitution thereof, and no such licence shall be granted unless proof shall have been previously given in manner prescribed, and to the satisfaction of the registrar that the constitution of a local board of conciliation in the particular locality and industry is desired by at least two-thirds respectively of the employers and employes engaged in such industry in such locality, and the registrar shall have certified the Minister to that efiect. 3. No licence shall be granted until the expiration of at least six weeks after public notice shall have been given by the Minister that the registrar has certified as required by the preceding section. 4. The licence shall fix the number of the members of the board, and the locality and industry in which the board shall have jurisdiction, and such licence shall be in duplicate, and one part shall be retained by the registrar and the other shall be delivered to the petitioners, and a copy of every such licence shall forthwith after its issue be published in the “ Government Gazette.” 5. The members of the board, except the chairman, shall be elected annually in manner prescribed by the employers and employes engaged in the particular industry and locality, employers and employes separately voting for, and electing an equal number of such members. 6. The persons so elected shall, at their first meeting, elect Rome other person altogether unconnected with the particular industry, to be chairman of the board, and any casual vacancy in the chairmanship shall be supplied in the same manner at some subsequent meeting. Every chairman shall hold office until resignation or removal. 7. Electoral rolls, containing the names and addresses of all persons entitled and desiring to vote at the election of members of the board, shall be compiled and kept in manner prescribed ; the rolls of employers and employes being kept separate and distinct, and no person whose name does not appear on the electoral roll shall be entitled to vote at any such election, and no person whose name is entered as a voter shall be entitled to have his name removed, except on giving at least one calendar month’s notice in manner prescribed. 8. No person shall be entitled to have his name entered on an electoral roll unless, being an employer, he shall have been engaged in the particular industry and locality for at least one month immediately preceding the time of such entry, nor unless, being an employe, he shall have Boards of conciliation. Private boards. Local boards. 69 State board. Mode of ap- pointment. President. Tenure of office. Governor may appoint other persons to be members of the Board. Procedure. Settlement of dispute. Reference to sub-commit- tee. followed the occupation of an employe in such industry and locality for at least the same time, and the name of any person entered on any such electoral roll shall be liable to be struck off if at any time he shall, for a period of at least twelve months, cease to be engaged as an employer in the particular industry and locality, or to follow the occupation of an employd in such industry and locality : 9. The registrar may correct any electoral roll in any manner which be shall think fit, and his decision shall be conclusive as to the right of any person to be entered as a voter on any electoral roll. 39. The State board shall have jurisdiction for the settlement of all such industrial disputes as shall be referred to it by way of compulsory conciliation pur- suant to section 53, or by the president pursuant to section 54, or by industrial agreement. 40. The State board shall be appointed by the Governor, and shall consist of seven members, of whom three may be recommended to the Governor by organisations representative of employers and three by organisations representative of employes. Until there shall be an organisation representative of em- ployers and an organisation representative of employes, the recommendations mentioned in this section may be made by the Employers’ Union of South Australia on behalf of employers, and by the Trades and Labour Council of South Australia on behalf of employes. 41. No recommendation shall be received from any organisation in respect cf the remaining member of the State board, and such remaining member shall also be president of the board. The president of the State board shall receive an annual salary not exceeding one thousand five hundred pounds, to be fixed by the Governor, and shall be entitled to hold office during good behaviour for five years, and shall be eligible for re-appointment, and shall not be liable to removal except on addresses to the G ovemor from both Houses of Parliament during one session thereof praying for his removal. The president of the Stato board of conciliation shall be charged with the duty at all times, by all lawful ways and means, of reconciling the parties to industrial disputes in all cases in which it shall appear to him that his mediation is desirable in the public interest. 42. Every member of the State board, other than the President, shall receive an annual salary or allowance not exceeding two hundred pounds, to be fixed by the Governor, and shall hold office until resignation or removal, and any casual vacancy occurring in the membership shall be supplied in the same manner as the original appointment was made. 43. If by reason of special knowledge required, or from any cause, it shall appear to the President that the state board of conciliation, for the purposes of any investigation, report, or award, should be constituted either wholly or partially of other members than the ordinary members, the Governor, on receiving the certificate of the president to that effect, may appoint other persons to be members of the state board in the places of all or any of the ordinary members, but for the purposes only of such investigation, report, or award, but so that the equal representation of em- ployers and employes shall always be maintained, and the right to recommend the appointment of representa- tives shall apply to appointments under this section as well as to original appointments. 44. Every public board of conciliation shall, in such manner as it shall think fit, carefully and expeditiously inquire into and investigate any industrial dispute of which it shall have cognizance, and all matters affect- ing the merits of such dispute or the right settlement thereof. 45. In the course of such inquiry and investigation, the board shall make all such suggestions and do all such things as shall appear to them as right and proper to be made or done for securing a fair and amicable settlement of the matters in dispute by agreement be- tween the parties, and if no such settlement shall be arrived at, shall, by an award, decide the question according to the merits and substantial justice of the case. 46. In particular, but without limiting the general power given to the board by the preceding section, it shall be lawful for the board to temporarily refer the matters to a committee of their number, consisting of an equal number of representatives of employers and employes, who shall endeavour to reconcile the parties. 47. In all matters coming before any public board of Voting, conciliation the decision of the board shall be deter- mined by a majority of the votes of the members present, exclusive of the president or chairman, except in the case of an equality of such votes, in which case only the president or chairman shall vote, and his vote shall decide the question. 48. Five members of a board of conciliation shall be Quorum, necessary to constitute a quorum. 49. Every board of conciliation shall have full powers Boards may for requiring and compelling the attendance and compel t wit ‘ examination of witnesses, and such powers shall be attend,* c . exercised in such manner as may be prescribed. 50. It shall be lawful for the Minister, by any writing Power to under his hand, in the event of the period of office of member in the member of any public board expiring whilst such office. m board shall be seized of any matters in dispute, to con- tinue such member in office for any time not exceeding altogether one month, in order to enable such member to take part in the settlement of such matters in dispute. 51. All salaries and allowances fixed by the Gover- Salaries and nor under the provisions of this Act shall be paid by the ti easurer out of the general revenue. by Treasurer out of gene- ral revenue. Past VII. Compulsory Conciliation. 52. If any industrial dispute shall hereafter arise Inquiry by between any organisations it shall be lawful for the P resldent - president to inquire into the nature and extent of such dispute, in such manner as he shall think fit, for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not it should be settled by compulsory conciliation. 53. If after such inquiry the president shall certify Compulsory to the Governor that the dispute is one which should be referunce - settled by means of compulsory conciliation, it shall be lawful for the Governor, by proclamation published in the “ Government Gazette ” to declare that all matters in dispute between the organisations, to be mentioned in such proclamation, or any of such matters to be specified in such proclamation, shall be referred to any public board of conciliation to be mentioned in such proclamation for settlement, and the same shall stand referred accordingly. 54. If at any time it shall be made to appear to the Reference president that any industrial dispute which would ^ 0 "l^° cal otherwise come before or be settled by any local board Board. 6 of conciliation is likely to be more satisfactorily dis- posed of by the State board of conciliation, it shall be lawful for the president, by any writing under his hand, to refer such dispute to the state board for settle- ment, and the same shall stand referred accordingly. Part VIII. Enforcement of Awards and Agreements. 55. Every award shall specify the organisations and Terms of persons on which it is intended that it shall be binding, awards - and the period not exceeding three years from the making thereof, during which its provisions may be enforced. 56. Unless otherwise expressed therein the award of Parties every local board of conciliation and of the State board bound - of conciliation in the matter of any dispute referred to the state board from a local board by the president pursuant to section 53 shall be binding during the period thereof on all employers and employes in the particular locality and industry for which the local board is constituted, and whose names are entered as voters on the electoral roll of the local board at the time of the making of the award. 57. A duplicate of every award shall be filed in the Duplicate to office of the registrar, and of every organisation bedlod - affected, and thereafter during the period during which its provisions may be enforced it shall be binding upon all organisations and persons upon which it shall be declared that it shall be binding and upon all members of such organisations. 58. The registrar, at the instance of any organisation Registrar to or person interested, shall do all things necessary for enforce - enforcing any award against any organisation or person bound thereby. 59. Every court of the province and every officer pourtstoact thereof shall act in aid of the registrar in enforcing re^strar. I 3 70 Limitation of liability under award. Process against pro- perty of or- ganisations. Fees. Application of moneys received under pro- cess. Enforce- ment of award. Provision for enforce- ment of awards to apply. Penalty on lock-out. Penalty on strike. Industrial report. Procedure for investi- gation. Investiga- tion and report. compliance of the award as fully and effectually, and to all intents and purposes as if such award were a decree, order, or judgment of every such court duly made and given, and such award shall be deemed to be a decree, order, or judgment of every such court, and the process of every such court as shall be required by the registrar shall be issued and executed for enforcing such com- pliance in like manner as upon the decree, order, or judgment of such court. 60. Unless otherwise ordered by the award or sanc- tioned by the president, no process shall be issued for the enforcement of any award by a payment from any organisation or person of a greater sum than one thou- sand pounds, or from any individual, on account of his membership of an organisation, of any greater sum than ten pounds. 61. For the purpose of enforcing compliance with any award process may be issued and executed against the property of any organisation, or in which any or- ganisation shall have any beneficial interest, and whether vested in trustees or howsoever otherwise the same may be held in the same manner as if such organi- sation was an incorporated company and the absolute owner of such property or interest. 62. No fees of court shall be charged for the issue or execution of any process for compelling compliance with any award. 63. All moneys which shall be received by virtue of any process for enforcing compliance with any award shall be applied in such manner as the award may direct, and in default of or subject to any such direc- tion in such manner as the registrar may decide, for the benefit of those interested in the performance of the award. 64. Any person wilfully making default in compliance with any award, unless such award shall otherwise direct, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable on summary conviction by a fine not ex- ceeding twenty pounds, or by imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding three calendar months. 65. All provisions hereinbefore in this part of this Act contained with reference to the enforcement of awards shall apply to the enforcement of industrial agreements in like manner as if agreements had been mentioned in such provisions whenever awards are referred to. Part IX. Penalties on certain Lock-outs and Strikes. 66. If any organisation of employers or any member thereof shall counsel, take part in, support, or assist directly or indirectly any lock-out on account of any industrial dispute for the settlement- of which any board of conciliation shall have jurisdiction, such organisation or member shall be guilty of an offence against this act, punishable by a fine in the case of an organisation not exceeding five hundred pounds, or in the case of an individual not exceeding twenty pounds. 67. If any organisation of employes or any member thereof shall counsel, take part in, support, or assist directly or indirectly any strike on account of any in- dustrial dispute for the settlement of which any board of conciliation shall have jurisdiction, such organisation or member shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable as mentioned in the preceding section. Part X. Reports on Industrial Disputes. 68. If any industrial dispute shall hereafter arise it shall be lawful for the president to inquire into the nature and extent of such dispute for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not it should lie investigated and reported upon by a public board of conciliation. 69. If after such inquiry the President shall certify that the dispute is one which should be investigated and reported upon by a public board ef oouciliation, it shall be lawful for the Governor, by pro lamation pub- lished in the “ Government Gazette,” „o declare that all matters in dispute specified in such proclamation shall be referred to a public board of conciliation to be mentioned in such proclamation for investigation and report, and the same shall stand referred accordingly. 70. The public board of conciliation to whom any matters may be referred pursuant to the preceding section, shall have and exercise all the powers and functions of a public board of conciliation sitting for tho settlement of an industrial dispute, except that they shall have no power to mako an award, but they shall decide the question according to the merits and sub- stantial justice of the case by a report which shall not bo enforceable, but shall be forwarded to the Minister, and by him be laid before Parliament and made public in manner prescribed. 71. In any case in which it shall appear to a hoard of conciliation having authority to make an award for the settlement of an industrial dispute that such a course is preferable, it shall be lawful for such board to refrain from making an award, and to decide the question according to the merits and substantial justice of the case by a report which shall not be enforceable, but shall be published as directed by the board or in manner prescribed. Part XI. Miscellaneous. 72. Every half year, in the months of March and September, there shall be forwarded to the registrar a certified list of the unions constituting the association. 73. Every half year, in the same months, there shall be forwarded to the registrar a certified list of the members of every union. 74. Certified copies of all alterations of the rules of any organisation shall forthwith, as such alterations are made, be forwarded to the registrar. 75. Every organisation making default in forwarding to the registrar any list or copy required to be for- warded by sections 71, 72, or 73, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a fine not ex- ceeding two pounds for every day during which such default continues ; and every member of the council or committee of any such organisation who wilfully permits such default shall he guilty of a similar offence, punishable by a fine not exceeding five shillings for every day during which he wilfully permits such default. 76. The registrar, on the request of auy person inter- ested, shall investigate and decide in such manner as he shall think fit any matter relating to the rule or appeal, or alteration of the rules, or membership or cesser of membership of any organisation, and any certificate of the registrar dealing with auy such ques- tion shall be conclusive evidence of the matter therein stated, unless such certificate shall be varied by a subsequent certificate of the registrar, in which case the subsequent certificate shall prevail. 77. The registrar shall only once re-open for the purpose of varying any matter which he shall have disposed of by a certificate, and then only with the previous written consent of the president. 78. The president may review, rescind, annul, or vary any Act or decision of the registrar in any manner which he shall think fit, and if the president shall annul, rescind, or vary any such Act or decision he shall, within fourteen days thereafter, if Parliament be then sitting, or if Parliament be not then sitting, then within fourteen days after the first meeting of Parliament thereafter, lay before both Houses of Parliament a return showing the mode in which he has annulled, rescinded, or varied such Act or decisions and his reasons for such annulment, rescission, or variation. 79. It shall be lawful for the Minister by any writing under his hand to remove from office any member of any board of conciliation who shall he proved to the satisfaction of the Minister to have misconducted him- self in such office, or to be unfit to discharge the duties thereof, or to have refused, neglected, or delayed to discharge any such duties. 80. Xo award or proceeding of any board of concilia- tion shall be liable to be challenged, appealed against, reviewed, quashed, or called in question by any court r on any account whatsoever. 81. The Governor may make all such regulations not inconsistent with this Act, either applicable generally or to meet particular cases, as may be necessary or desirable to carry out the objects and purposes, or as he may consider convenient for the administration and execution thereof. 82. All such regulations shall he published in the “ Government Gazette,” and within fourteen days after Report may be made instead of award. Half-yearly lists of unions. Half-yearly lists of members. Alterations of rules. Penalty on non-compli- ance. Matters may be decided by registrar. Re-opening of matters decided by registrar. President may review decision of registrar. Removals by Minister. Proceedings of board not to be quashed. Regulations. Publication of regula- tions. .71 Penalty on persuading to commis- sion of offence. How organi- sations may sue. Rules may define de- fault. Summary jurisdiction. Appeals. Preamble. Short title. Commence- ment. the making thereof shall he laid before both Houses of Parliament if Parliament be then sitting, and if Parlia- ment be not then sitting then within fourteen days after the beginning of the next session of Parliament, and shall have the force of law from the date of such publi- cation. 83. Every person who shall persuade or endeavour to persuade any other person to commit an offence against this Act shall himself be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by the penalty attached to the first mentioned offence. 84. Any organisation may sue or be sued for the purposes of this Act or otherwise in the name, by which it is registered, and service of any process on the chair- man or secretary, or at the registered office of the organisation, shall be sufficient for all purposes. 85. The rules of any association or any industrial agreement or award may fix and determine what shall constitute a default by an organisation within the meaning of this Act. 86. Every proceeding for any offence against this Act may be had and taken before, and be heard and deter- mined in a summary way by any special magistrate or two justices of the peace, under the provisions of an ordinance of the Governor and Legislative Council, Ho. 6 of 1850, intituled “ An Ordinance to facilitate the “ performance of the duties of Justices of the Peace out “ of sessions with respect to Summary Convictions “ and Orders,” or of any Act now in force or hereafter to be in force, relating to the duties of justices of the peace with respect to summary convictions and orders, and all convictions and orders made by such magistrate or justices may be enforced as in the said ordinance or in any other Act as aforesaid is or shall be provided. 87. There shall be an appeal to the Local Court of Adelaide of full jurisdiction only from every convic- tion by any special magistrate or justices for any offence against this Act, and from every order dismissing any information or complaint, or from any other order made by such magistrate or justices under this Act ; and the proceedings on such appeal shall be con- ducted in manner appointed by the said Ordinance, Ho. 6 of 1850, for appeals to local courts, or any Act to be hereafter in force regulating such appeals ; but the Local Court of Adelaide aforesaid shall have power to make such order as to the payment of the costs of the appeal as it shall think fit, although such costs may exceed ten pounds. Schedules. Schedule A. Conciliation Act, 1891. The [here insert name of union or association ] indus- trial union (or association) is registered as an industrial union (or association), pursuant to the above Act. Dated this day of , 18 . A.B., Industrial Registrar. Schedule B. Conciliation Act , 1891. The registration of [here insert name of union or association ] industrial union (or association) as an industrial union (or association), pursuant to the above Act, is hereby cancelled. Dated this day of , 18 . A.B., Industrial Registrar. A Bill for an Act to facilitate Conciliation and en- courage Co-operation in Industrial Affairs. Whereas it is desirable to facilitate conciliation and encourage co-operation in- industrial affairs — Be it ■therefore enacted by the Governor of the Province of South Australia, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of the said province, in this present Parliament assembled, as follows : 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the “ Conciliation and Co-operation Act, 1892.” 2. This Act shall come into force on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three. 3. In the construction of this Act the following words have the following meanings, that is to say : — “Co-operation” means any system or business arrangement whereby the employes engaged in any industry, or an appreciable portion of such employes, shall receive, in addition to their salary or wages, some pecuniary advantage, prospective or immediate, to be paid out of the net profits of such industry : “Industry” means any avocation, business, trade, undertaking, calling, or employment: “ Labour disputes ” means all disputes relating to pay, wages, hours, privileges, rights, or duties of employers or employes in any industry. Board of Conciliation. 4. There shall bo a Board of Conciliation, consisting of three members, to be appointed from time to time by the Governor. 5. Every member of the Board shall hold office for three years, but may be re-appointed. 6. Every member shall be remunerated for his services in a manner and according to a scale of payment to be fixed and provided for by Parliament : Provided always that the remuneration shall not exceed per annum for any member. 7. The duties of the Board shall be as follows : — (a) To promote amicable methods of settling labour disputes and the prevention of strikes and lock- outs generally, and also especially in the following methods : — (1) The Board shall, in the first instance, invite both parties to the dispute to a friendly con- ference with each other. The members of the Board can be present at this conference or otherwise, at the pleasure of the dis- I nitants : (2) Iu the event of the disputants not being able to arrive at a settlement between themselves they shall be invited to lay their respective cases before the Board, with a view to receiving their advice or assistance. Or, should the disputants prefer it, the Board shall assist them in selecting arbitrators to whom the question at issue shall be referred for decision : (3) The utmost efforts of the Board shall, in the meantime and in all cases, be exerted to prevent, if possible, the occurrence or con- tinuance of a strike, lock-out, intimidation, violence, irritating or dictatorial language, or other conduct or language likely to cause ill feeling : (4) The Board shall obtain and lay before the disputants any reliablo and authentic infor- mation which hears on the question of dispute, and which may appear likely to bring about a settlement. 8. The board may call to its aid, in any particular dispute requiring special or technical knowledge to understand, experts to assist it in endeavouring to settle such dispute. 9. The Beard shall nob act as arbitrators between the parties except at the express desire of both disputants, to be signified in writing ; but shall, in preference, induce the disputants to agree to the appointment of other arbitrators, should they desire to refer the matter to arbitration. 10. In all matters coming before the Board the decision of the board shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members. 11. It shall not be obligatory on the board to act in any dispute in any case in which the workmen or employes affected are less than ten (10), but it may act in any case on the written request of both disputants. 12. Ho person not a party to or directly interested in the dispute shall appear before or be heard by the Board, and especially no counsel, solicitor, or member of Parliament shall so appear or be heard unless he is a party or interested as aforesaid. 13. The Board shall have the power of requiring and compelling the attendance and examination of witnesses, the production of documents, and the obtaining of any information it may require. 14. It shall be lawful for any member of the Board, without any other warrant than this Act, at any time, between sunrise and sunset, to enter upon anv mann- I 4 Interpreta- tion. Board. Tenure of office. Remunera- tion. Duties. Board may call in experts. Not to act as arbitra- tors if it can be avoided. Votes. Board not called upon to act in unimport- ant disputes. No person not interest ed in dis- pute shall appear be- fore Board. Witnesses. Inspection, 72 Power given to corpora- tions. com- panies, or partner- ships to establish co- operation. How powers to be exer- cised. Form of lummong. Offences against Act punishable by fine. Expenses of administer- ing Act. Summary jurisdiction. Appeals. factory, building, workshop, factory, mine, shed, or remises where or in respect of which any work is eing or has been done which is the subject matter of any labour dispute, and to inspect any work, material, machinery, matter, or thing therein. Co-operation. 15. Notwithstanding the want of express powers or words to the contrary effect in any charter, deed of settlement, memorandum of association, or other docu- ment incorporating, forming, or regulating any cor- poration, association, or company, or in any deed or articles of partnership, or other document forming or regulating any partnership, any corporation, associa- tion, company, or partnership may establish and regulate any system of co-operation. 16. The powers given in the last preceding section may be exercised in the manner and subject to the provisions regulating the exercise of the ordinary powers given to the corporation, association, company, or partnership by its charter, deed of settlement, memorandum of association, deed or articles of partner- ship, or other document as aforesaid, or contained therein : Provided always that the sanction of a general meeting of the members of any corporation or company shall be first obtained. Miscellaneous. 17. A summons to a witness will be signed by two members of the Board ; otherwise the form of summons and scale of payment to witnesses shall as nearly as possible be the same as if the summons had issued out of a local court. 18. Any person who shall refuse to attend or to be examined as a witness or to produce documents, or who shall hinder or obstruct any member of the Board in the exercise of any of the powers conferred on him by the Act, or who shall otherwise offend against, disre- gard, or neglect any of the provisions of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a fine not exceeding twenty pounds. 19. A.11 expenses connected with the administration of this Act shall be defrayed from such annual appro- priations as Parliament shall make in that behalf. 20. Every proceeding for any offence against this Act may be had and taken before, and be heard and determined in a summary way by, any special magis- trate or two justices of the Peace, under the provisions of an Ordinance of the Governor and Legislative Council, No. 6 of 1850, intituled “An Ordinance to facilitate the performance of the duties of Justices of the Peace out of sessions with respect to Summary Convictions and Orders,” or of any Act now in force or hereafter to be in force relating to the duties of Justices of the Peace with respect to summary convic- tions and orders ; and all convictions and orders made by such magistrate or justices may be enforced as in the said Ordinance or in any other Act as aforesaid is or shall be provided. 21. There shall be an appeal to the Local Court of Adelaide of full jurisdiction only from every conviction by any special magistrate or justices for any offence against this Act, and from every order dismissing any information or complaint, and the proceedings on such appeal shall be conducted in manner appointed by the said Ordinance, No. 6 of 1850, for appeals to Local Courts, or any Act to be hereafter in force regulating such appeals ; but the Local Court of Adelaide aforesaid shall have power to make such order as to the payment of the costs of the appeal as it shall think fit, although such costs may exceed ten pounds. IV. — Conciliation, New Zealand. Hon. Mr. Reeves. Industrial Conciliation. Analysis. Title. Preamble. 1. Short Title. Commencement. 2. Act not to affect “ Trade Union Act. 1878.” 3. Interpretation. Part I. Registration of Unions. 4. Application for registration. Rules. 5. Name. 6. Registration. 7. Trade unions may be registered under this Act. 8. No unions to be registered by similar names. 9. Effect of registration. 10. Cancellation of registration. 11. Enforcement of rules. Part II. Registration of Associations. 12. Application for registration. Rules. 13. Name. 14. Registration. 15. Effect of registration. 16. Withdrawal. 17. Cancellation. 18. Enforcement of rules. Part III. Industrial Agreements. 19. Industrial agreements. 20. Term and form. 21. Duplicate to be filed. 22. Effect of industrial agreement. 23. Alteration of agreement. 24. Enforcement of agreement. 25. Rules may define a default. Part IV. Boards of Conciliation. 26. Boards of conciliation. 27. Trade boards for industries. 28. Constitution by industrial agreement. 29. Quorum. Decisions. 30. Jurisdiction of trade boards. 31. District boards for provincial districts. 32. Quorum. Decision of questions. 33. Disqualification. Casual vacancies. 34. Procedure. Boards may compel witnesses to attend, &c. 35. Settlement of dispute. 36. Reference to sub-committee or to court of arbitra- tion. 37. Power to continue member in office. 38. Constitution of boards to be notified to Supreme Court. 39. Existing boards of conciliation may come under Act. 40. Decision of boards subject to review by court of arbitration. Part V. Courts of Arritration. 41. Courts of arbitration established. 42. Constitution of Courts. Mode of appointment. 43. Tenure of office. 44. Jurisdiction of courts. 45. Fixing of time and place for settlement of dispute. Procedure. 46. President to have power to administer oaths and affirmations. 47. Powers of president. 48. Voting at meetings of board. 49. Non-attendance at board meetings. 50. Adjournment of meeting. 51. Appearance of parties concerned. Witnesses. 52. Court may refer matters for inquiry by any board of conciliation. 53. Court may dismiss frivolous matters with costs. 54. Award. 55. Costs. 56. Validity of award. 57. Proceedings of court under this Act not to be im- peached. No abatement. Part VI. Government Railways. 58. Railway Commissioners to be subject to jurisdic- tions of courts of arbitration. 59. On petition court may compel Commissioners to submit to arbitration. Part VII. Compulsory Arbitration. 60. Inquiry by minister. 61. Compulsory reference, 73 Title. Preamble. Short title. Commence- ment. Act not to affect “ Trade Union Act. 1878.” Interpreta- tion. Part VIII. Enforcement of Awards and Agreements. 62. Terms of awards. 63. Court may order duplicate to be filed. 64. Limitation of liability under award. 65. Process against property of unions or associations. 66. Application of moneys received under process. 67. Enforcement of award. 68. Provision for enforcement of awards to apply. Part IX. Miscellaneous. 69. Half-yearly lists of associations. 70. Half-yearly lists of unions. 71. Alterations of rules. 72. Penalty of non-compliance. 73. Matters may be decided by registrar. 74. Reopening of matters decided by registrar. 75. Minister may review decision of registrar. 76. Regulations. Publication of regulations. 77. How unions or associations may sue. 78. Summary jurisdiction. 79. Application of penalties. A Bill intituled an Act to encourage the formation of industrial unions and associations, and to facili- tate the settlement of industrial disputes. Whereas it is desirable to provide for adjustment of labour disputes and for the settlement of differences between employers and employed : Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — 1. The short title of this Act is “ The Industrial Con- ciliation Act, 1891.” It shall come into force on the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one. 2. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to repeal or in any way affect or supersede any pro- visions of “ The Trade Union Act, 1878.” 3. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, — “Association” means any association of unions registered pursuant to this Act : “ Certified ” means certified in manner prescribed : “Committee” means the committee of any union : “ Council” means the eouncil of any association : “ Court ” means a court of arbitration constituted under this Act, and, where a particular court is referred to, means the court for the provincial district wherein any matter in dispute arises : “ Industrial agreement ” means an industrial agree- ment made pursuant to this Act : “ Industrial award ” means an industrial award made pursuant to this Act: “ Industrial dispute ” means any dispute arising between employers and employes in relation to industrial matters as herein defined : “ Industrial matters ’’ includes all matters relating to pay, wages, hours of employment, sex or age of employes, the employment of children or young persons, dismissals, refusals to employ any par- ticular persons or class of persons, nature of work, privileges, rights, or duties of employers or employes in any industry : “Industry” means any business, trade, undertaking, calling, or employment of an industrial character : “ Minister ” means the Colonial Secretary : “ Person ” includes every person, company, and cor- porate body : “ Prescribed ” means prescribed by regulations made pursuant to this Act : “President” means the president of any court of arbitration constituted under this Act: “ Public notice means a notice by advertisement published in the Government “ Gazette ” : “Registrar” means the Registrar of Friendly So- cieties : “ Secretary ” means secretary of a union : “ Supreme Court office ” means the Supreme Court office in the judicial district wherein any matter arises; and where there are two such offices it means that one of such offices which is nearest to the place or locality wherein any such matter arises : “Union” means an industrial union registered pur- suant to this Act. U 75209. Words in this Act referring to any court, person, officer, office, place, locality, union, association, or other matter or thing shall be construed distributively as referring to each court, person, officer, office, place, locality, union, association, or matter or thing to whom or to which the provision is applicable. Part I. Registration of Unions. 4. Any number of persons residing within the Colony lawfully associated for the purpose of protecting or furthering the interests of employers or employes in or in connexion with any industry in the Colony may register their society as an industrial union pursuant to this Act in manner prescribed, and in compliance with the following requisites : — (1.) An application for registration shall be forwarded to the registrar signed by two or more officers of the society. (2.) Such application shall be accompanied by a state- ment of the name by which it is desired that the union shall be registered, and by a copy of the rules by which it is desired that the affairs of the union shall be regulated. (3.) Such rules shall specify the purposes for which the union is formed, and shall provide for — (a.) The appointment and continuance of a com- mittee of management and a chairman and secretary, and the supplying any vacancy oc- curring through any cause prescribed by the rules, or by death or resignation ; (b.) The powers of the committee, and the control of the committee by general meetings, and the mode of the exercise of the powers of the com- mittee, and of the control of general meetings, and the mode in which industrial agreements and any other deeds or documents respectively shall be made and by whom executed on behalf of the union : (c.) The mode in which persons shall become or cease to be members, and so that no member shall discontinue his membership without giving at least three months’ previous written notice to the secretary of intention so to do, nor until such member has paid all fees or other dues payable by him to the union under its rules : ( d .) The conduct of the business of the union at some convenient address to be specified, and to be called the registered office of the union. The rules may also provide for any other matters not contrary to law desired by the persons making the application for registration, and the rules may provide for their repeal or alteration, but so that the requisites of subsection three of this section shall always be pro- vided for. 5. There shall be inserted in the registered name of every industrial union the word employers or employes, according to whether such union shall be a union of employers or employes. 6. On being satisfied that the provisions of section four in relation to an application for registration have been complied with, the registrar shall register the society, without fee, as an industrial union pursuant to the application, and shall issue a certificate of registry, which, unless proved to have been cancelled, shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of such registration and of the validity thereof. 7. Any trade union registered under “The Trade Union Act, 1878,” may be registered by the same name under this Act by making a formal application to the registrar for the purpose, without complying with the requirements of section four of this Act ; and the registrar shall register such trade union accordingly, and issue a certificate of registration forthwith. 8. No industrial union shall be registered under a name identical with that by which any other industrial union has been registered under this Act, or by which any trade union has been registered under “ The Trade Union Act, 1878,” or so nearly resembling any such name as to be likely to deceive the members or the public. No trade union may make an industrial agreement under this Act unless such union is registered under this Act. notwithstanding its registration under “The Trade Union Act, 1878.” For the purposes of this Act, every branch of a trade union shall be considered a distinct union, and may be separately registered under this Act. K Applications for registra- tion. Rules. Name, Registra- tion. Trade unions may be registered under this Act. No unions to be registered by similar names. 74 Effect of registration. Cancellation of registra- tion. Enforce- ment of rules. Application for registra- tion. Rules. Name. Registra- tion. 9. The effect of registration shall be to render the union, and all persons who may be members thereof at the time of registration, or who may thereafter become members thereof, subject to the jurisdiction hereby given to boards of conciliation and courts of arbitration respectively, and liable to all the provisions of this Act, and bound — (a.) By the rules of the union during the continuance of the membership ; (b.) By all industrial agreements and industrial awards made by or affecting the union at any time during the membership. 10. Any union may at any time through the com- mittee apply to the registrar in maimer prescribed for a cancellation of the registration thereof, and the registrar, after giving six weeks’ public notice of his intention so to do, may cancel such registration ; but no registration shall be cancelled during the progress of any conciliation or arbitration affecting such union until the board or court has made its decision or award ; nor in any case unless the registrar shall be satisfied that the cancellation is desired by a majority of the members of the union, and no cancellation of any registration shall relieve any union, or any member thereof, from the obligation of any industrial agreement or industrial award. 11. If any person whilst bound by the rules of any union shall in any particular make default in com- pliance therewith, he shall for every such default be gesilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, or such lesser sum as shall be fixed by the rules of the union. Part II. Registration of Associations. 12. Any council representing any number of unions established within the Colony may register itself as an industrial association, pursuant to this Act in manner prescribed, and on compliance with the following requisites : — (1.) An application for registration shall be forwarded to the registrar, signed by a majority of the mem- bers of such council. (2.) Such application shall be accompanied by a state- ment of the name by which it is desired that the unions shall be associated, and by a copy of the rules by which it is desired that the affairs of the association shall be regulated. (3.) Such rules shall specify the purposes for which the association is formed, and shall provide for — (a.) The appointment and continuance of council of management and chairman, secretary, or other officers ; and the supplying any vacancy occurring through any cause prescribed by the rules, or by death or resignation : (b.) The powers of the council, and the control of the council by general meetings, and the mode of the exercise of the powers of the council, and of the control of general meetings, and the mode in which industrial agreements and any other deeds or documents respectively shall be made and by whom executed on behalf of the association : (c.) The mode in which unions shall become or cease to be members, but so that no union shall discontinue their membership without giving at least six months’ previous written notice to the chairman of intention so to do, nor until such union has paid ail fees or other dues payable by it to the association under the rules thereof : (d.) The conduct of the business of the association at some convenient address to be specified, and to be called the registered office of the association. The rules may also provide for any other matters not contrary to law desired by the persons making the application for registration, aud the rules may provide for their repeal or alteration, but so that the requisites of subsection 3 of this section shall always be provided for. 13. There shall he inserted in the registered name of every industrial association the word employers or employes, according to whether such associations shall be a union of employers or employes. 14. On being satisfied that the provisions of section 12 in relation to an application for registration have been complied with, the registrar shall register, without fee, the council representing the unions applying for association as an industrial association pursuant to their application ; and shall issue a. certificate of registry which, unless proved to have been cancelled, shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of such registration and of the validity thereof. 15. The effect of registration shall be to render the association and all unions and all persons who may be members thereof at the time of registration, or who may thereafter become members thereof, or of any associated union, subject to the jurisdiction hereby given to boards of conciliation and courts of arbitration respectively, and liable to all the provisions of this Act, and bound — (a.) By the rules of the association during the con- tinuance of the membership ; (b.) By all industrial agreements and industrial awards made or affecting the association at any time during the membership. 16. Any union desiring to withdraw from any asso- ciation may, on compliance with the rules of the asso- ciation relating to withdrawal, procure from the registrar a certificate of withdrawal. 17. Any association may at any time, through the coun- cil, apply to the registrar in manner prescribed for a can- cellation of the registration thereof, and the registrar, after giving six weeks’ public notice of his intention so to do, may cancel such registration ; but no registration shall be cancelled during the progress of any conciliation or arbitration affecting such association until the board or court has made its decision or award, nor in any case unless the registrar shall be satisfied that the cancellation is desired Ity a majority of the members of the associated unions ; and no cancellation of any registration shall relieve any association or associated union, or any member thereof, from the obligation of any industrial agreement or industrial award. 18. If any union or person, whilst bound by the rules of any association, shall in any particular make default in compliance therewith, such union or person shall for every such default be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a penalty, in the case of a union, not exceeding one hundred pounds, and in the case of an individual not exceeding ten pounds, or in either case such lesser sum as shall be fixed by the rules of the association. Part III. Industrial Agreements. 19. Industrial agreements may be made between unions and associations, or between unions or associa- tions and any other persons, regulating or in relation to industrial matters, or for the prevention or settle- ment of disputes and differences in any wise relating thereto, or for any other object or purpose for which any industrial agreement may be made under this Act. 20. Every industrial agreement shall be for a term to be specified therein, not exceeding five years from the date of the making thereof, and shall be in a form com- mencing as follows : — “ This industrial agreement made “ in pursuance of ‘ The Industrial Conciliation Act, “ 1891,’ this day of , between,” and the date of the making of such agreement shall be the date when such agreement shall be first executed by any party thereto, and such date and the names of all unions, associations, or persons parties to such agreement shall be truly stated therein. 21. A duplicate of every industrial agreement shall be filed in the Supreme Court office of the district within 30 days of the making thereof, and a fee of five shillings shall be paid in respect of every agreement so filed. 22. Every industrial agreement duly made and exe- cuted shall be binding on the parties thereto and on every person who at any time during the term of such agreement is a member of any union or association party thereto, and on every person who in manner pre- scribed shall signify to the registrar of the Supreme Court where such agreement is filed concurrence therein, and all such persons shall be entitled to the benefit thereof. 23. Every industrial agreement may be varied, re- newed, or cancelled by any subsequent industrial agreement made by the persons bound thereby, but so that no person shall be deprived of the benefit of any industrial agreement by any subsequent industrial agreement by which he shall not be bound. Effect of registration. Withdrawal. Cancella- tion. Enforce- ment of rules. Industrial agreements. Term and form. Duplicate to be filed. Effect of in- dustrial agreement. Alteration of agreement. 75 Enforce- ment of agreement. Rules may define a de- fault. Boards of conciliation. Trade boards for Industries. Constitution by indus- trial agree- ment. Quorum. Decision?. Jurisdiction of trade bo~.rds. District boards for provincial districts. 24. If any union or association or person bound by any industrial agreement shall in any particular make default in compliance therewith, or commit or suffer a breach thereof, such union or association or person shall for every such default or breach be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a penalty not exceeding such amount tts shall bo fixed by such industrial agree- ment ; and if no amount shall be so fixed, then in the case of a union or association not exceeding five hun- dred pounds, and in the case of an individual not exceeding fifty pounds. Nothing herein contained shall deprive any person who may be damnified of his right of action for redress or compensation in respect of any default or breach of an agreement. 25. The rules of any association or any industrial agreement or award may fix and determine what shall constitute a default or breach of an agreement by a union or association within the meaning of this Act. Part IY. Boards of Conciliation. 26. For the purpose of this Act, boards of conciliation shall bo of two classes, as follows : — (1.) Trade boards of conciliation for the settlement of disputes arising in relation to any one and the same industry ; and (2.) District boards of conciliation for the settlement of disputes arising in relation to several different industries. 27. Trade boards of conciliation shall be constituted by industrial agreement, and shall consist of any number of persons, one-half to be appointed respectively by the employers and the unions or union of employes engaged in the particular industry. The persons so chosen shall, at their first meeting, elect one of their number to be chairman of the board, and any casual vacancy in the chairmanship shall be supplied in the same manner at some subsequent meet- ing. livery chairman shall hold office for so long as he continues a member of the board, unless he shall by letter addressed to the board sooner resign the chair. 28. Any industrial agreement may provide for the constitution or alteration of a trade board, and the term of office of its members, and for supplying vacancies thereon, and for all matters necessary to give effect to the last preceding section. 29. The presence of the chairman and not less than one-half in number of the other members of a trade board of conciliation, shall be necessary to constitute a meeting, and in all questions the decision of the board shall be determined by a majority of their votes ; and in case of equality of votes the chairman shall have a second or casting vote. 30. Every trade board of conciliation shall have such jurisdiction for the settlement of industrial disputes between the persons and unions bound by such in- dustrial agreement as shall be confided to them by such agreement, and, except so far as shall be negatived or modified by such agreement, shall exercise such juris- diction in such manner, and within the limits of such jurisdiction shall have the same powers and discretions as district boards of conciliation. 31. District boards of conciliation may be constituted in manner prescribed within provincial districts and for all industries carried on therein, and shall have juris- diction for the settlement of industrial disputes occur- ing in such districts, or referred to them by industrial agreement. (1.) On the petition of any number of unions of employers and employes respectively, in a provincial district where no district board of conciliation exists, the Governor by warrant may direct a district board to be constituted for such district. (2.) Every district board shall consist of persons chosen by the unions of employers and of em- ployes respectively in the provincial district. (3.) The membeis of the board shall hold office for three years, and shall be elected triennially in manner prescribed by the unions of employers and employes engaged in industries in the dis- trict, such unions separately voting for and electing an equal number of such members. (4.) The persons so chosen shall, at their first meet- ing, elect some person, not being one of their number, to be chairman of the hoard, and any casual vacancy in the chairmanship shall be supplied in the same manner at some subse- quent meeting. Every chairman shall hold office for three years from the date of his elec- tion, subject to section 33. 32. The presence of the chairman and of not less than one-half in number of the other members of a district board of conciliation shall bo necessary to constitute a quorum. In all matters coming before any district board of conciliation the decision of the board shall be de- termined by a majority of the votes of the members present, exclusive of the chairman, except in the case of an equality of such votes, in which case only the chairman shall vote, and his vote shall decide the question. 33. The following persons shall be disqualified from being appointed or elected as members or chairmen of any trade or district board, and if so elected shall be incapable of continuing to be such members or chair- men : — (1.) A bankrupt or insolvent who has not obtained his final order of discharge ; (2.) Any person convicted of perjury or any felony ; or (3.) Any person of unsound mind. Any casual vacancy occurring among the members of any board by death, disqualification, or resignation by letter addressed to the board, shall be supplied in the same manner as the original appointment or election was made, and the person so appointed or elected shall hold office in the board only for the residue of the term of his predecessor therein. 31. Every board of conciliation shall, in such manner ns it shall think fit, carefully and expeditiously inquire into and investigate auy industrial dispute of which it shall have cognisance, and all matters affecting the merits of such dispute or the right settlement thereof ; and, for the purposes of any such inquiry, shall have all the powers of a board of commissioners appointed by the Governor in Council under “The Commissioners’ Powers Act, 1867.” 35. In the course of any such inquiry and investiga- tion the board shall make all such suggestions and do all such things as shall appear to them as right and proper to be made or done for securing a fair and amic- able settlement of the matters in dispute by agreement between the parties; and, if no such settlement shall be arrived at, shall decide the question according to the merits and substantial justice of the case, and make their recommendation or decision in writing, which shall be under the hand of the chairman of the board. 36. In particular; but without limiting the general power given boards generally by the last-preceding section, any district board may — (1.) Temporarily refer the matters in dispute to a committee of their number, consisting of an equal number of representatives of employers and employes, who shall endeavour to reconcile the parties ; or (2.) Absolutely refer any matter before them for settlement by the court of arbitration. 37. The Minister, by any writing under his hand, in the event of the period of office of the member of any district board expiring whilst such board shall be seized of any matters in dispute, may continue such member in office for any time not exceeding altogether one month, in order to enable such member to take part in the settlement of such matters in dispute. 38. The chairman of every trade or district board shall deposit in the supreme court office forthwith after his own election to the board a statutory declaration of his election and of the appointment of the members constituting the said board. For every such deposit there shall be paid to the Supreme Court a fee of two shillings and sixpence. 39. Upon a resolution of the majority of any board of conciliation, or other board of a similar nature established at any time previous to the commencement of this Act, and upon the registration under this Act of all the unions represented by such board, and upon the chairman of the said board satisfying the Minister that the requirements of section 27 and 31 (whichever is applicable to the board) have been duly complied with in respect of the constitution of the board, the chairman of the said board may deposit in the supreme court office a statutory declaration of his election and of the appointment of the members constituting the said board ; and thereupon such board shall be deemed to K 2 Quorum. Decision ol questions. Disqualifica- tion, Casual vacancies. Procedure. Boards may compel wit- nesses to at- tend, &c. Settlement of dispute. Reference to sub-com- mittee or to court of ar- bitration. Power to continue member in office. Constitution of boards to bo notified to Supreme Court, Existing boards of conciliation may come under Act. 76 be constituted under this Act, and subject to the pro- visions thereof. boards°sub- 40. If any union or association is dissatisfied with the ject to re- decision of any board of conciliation on any matter court of arbi. brought before such board under the provisions herein- tration. before contained, such union or association may bring such matter before the court by petition, and such court shall have power and jurisdiction to review such decision, in the same manner as if the original question on which such decision was given had been initiated in the said court by industrial agreement. Courts of ar- bitration established. Constitution ef courts. Mode of ap- pointment. Tenure of office. Jurisdiction of courts. Fixing of time and place for settlement of dispute. Procedure. President to have power to ad- minister oaths and affirmations. Powers of president. Voting at meetings of board. pakt y. Courts of Arbitration. 41. For every provincial district within the colony there shall be established a court for the purposes of this Act, which shall be called “the Court of Arbitra- tion.” 42. The court for each provincial district shall be appointed by the Governor in Council. It shall consist of a president and two other members (herein called assessors). Of the assessors, one may be recommended to the Governor in Council by unions or associations repre- sentative of employers, and one by unions or associa- tions representative of employes, within such provincial district ; but no recommendation shall be received from any unions or associations in respect of the president of the conrt. 43. Every member of the court shall hold office for three years from the date of his appointment, and shall be eligible for reappointment, and any casual vacancy occurring in the membership by death, mental inca- pacity, bankruptcy, conviction for perjury or felony, resignation, or removal shall be supplied in the same manner as the original appointment was made. The Governor may remove any member of the court from office, for any reason he shall think sufficient, or for continued absence from the meetings of the court. 44. The court of arbitration shall have jurisdiction for the settlement of all such industrial disputes as shall be referred to it by any board of conciliation, or by any industrial association, or by petitions under sections 40 or 59, or by way of compulsory arbitra- tion pursuant to section 61, or by industrial agree- ment. 45. Within five days after any dispute has been referred to the court the president thereof shall fix a suitable time and place for the court to meet to hear and determine the dispute, and shall give at least forty-eight hours’ written notice to the assessors of such time and place. The court shall have full and exclusive jurisdiction to determine the matters in dispute, and it shall pro- ceed to hear, consider, and determine such matters in such manner and time as it thinks fit, with full power to adjourn the consideration of any matter, wholly or in part, for any period, or without stating any period. 46. The president shall have power to administer oaths and affirmations to all witnesses who shall appear before the said court, and all wilful false shear- ing or false affirmation in any proceedings in the court under this Act shall be deemed and held to be wilful perjury, and shall be indictable and punishable as such ; and on any indictment it shall be sufficient to prove that the oath or affirmation was administered by the person acting as president aforesaid. 47. For the purpose of enabling the court to carry out the provisions and intention of this Act, the presi- dent shall, in relation to the requiring and compelling the attendance of any person to appear before it, the requiring and compelling of the attendance of witnesses and the receiving or hearing of evidence, the punish- ment of contempt, and the enforcement of the orders of the court, be deemed to have and may exercise all the powers and duties of a resident magistrate under “The Resident Magistrates Act, 1867, ’’"and “ The Resident Magistrates’ Evidence Act, 1870 and the provisions of the said Acts, mutatis mutandis, shall be applicable to all proceedings in courts of arbitration under this Act. 48. The assessors shall sit along with the presi- dent, and the majority of the members of the court present may decide and finally determine the said matters or any of them in such manner as they shall find to stand with equity and good conscience. 49. If cither of the assessors shall neglect or fail to attend a meeting of the court without good cause shown to the satisfaction of the president, the assessor present and the president may nevertheless act as fully as if both the assessors were present. 50. In the absence of the president any assessor may from time to time adjourn any meeting of the court to such time and place as he may deem proper. 51. Either party to the dispute may appear per- sonally or by agent, or, with the consent of all the parties, by counsel or solicitor, and may produce before the court such witnesses, books, and documents as such party may think proper ; and the president shall have power to summon any person to give evi- dence before the court, or to produce any books, papers, and documents before the court. The court shall be at liberty to receive or require any such evidence as it shall think fit, whether the same shall be strictly legal evidence or not. 52. The court may refer any matters referred to them from time to time to a trade or district board of conciliation for investigation and report, where it shall think such board may arrive more easily at a settle- ment thereof, and the award of the court shall be based on the report of such board. 53. The court may at any time dismiss any matter referred to it which it shall think frivolous or trivial, and any award in such case shall be limited to an order upon the party bringing the matter before the court for payment of all costs of bringing the same. 54. After hearing evidence, the court shall make an award, in writing, stating the settlement of the dispute heard and determined, and such award shall be under the hand of the president. 55. The court in its award may order either party to pay to the other party costs and expenses as it may deem reasonable, and the same or any other costs ordered by the court to be paid may be recovered as a debt by the party entitled thereto under the award of the court from the party liable therefor. 56. In all legal and other proceedings it shall be sufficient to produce the award and prove the signature of the president, and it shall not be necessary to prove any conditions precedent entitling the court or president to make such award. 57. Proceedings in any court of arbitration under this Act shall not be impeached or held bad for want of form, nor shall the same be removable to any court by certiorari or otherwise ; and no award or proceed- ing of any court of arbitration shall be liable to be challenged, appealed against, reviewed, quashed, or called in question by any court on any account whatsoever. No proceedings in any court shall abate by reason of the death of any member of the court or of any party to such proceedings, but the same may be continued and disposed of by the successor in office of such member or representative of the party so dying. Part VI. Govlrnment Railways. 58. The management of Government railways under “The Government Railways Act, 1887,” shall be deemed to be an industry within the meaning of this Act ; and, notwithstanding anything contained in the Act in this section first mentioned, tbe Railway Commissioners ap- pointed thereunder may make an industrial agreement with the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, and either the said Commissioners or the said Society may refer any dispute between them to a court of arbitration established under Part V. of this Act; and the said Commissioners, notwithstanding as aforesaid, may give effect to any terms of an award made by such court. The said society may be registered as a union under this Act ; and the Commissioners shall be deemed to be employers within the meaning and for the purposes of this Act. 59. In case the Commissioners shall neglect or refuse to agree with the said society to refer an}- matter in dispute to a court of arbitration as aforesaid, the society may petition the court within the provincial district where any dispute arises to hear and determine such dispute, and the court, upon such petition, shall issue a summons to the Commissioners requiring them to appear before such court, and to submit the matters Non-attend- ance at board meet- ings. Adjourn- ment of meeting. Appearance of parties concerned. Witnesses. Courts may refer matters for inquiry by any board of concilia- tion. Court may dismiss frivolous matters with costs. Award. Costs. Validity of award. Proceeding of court under this Act not to be im- peached. No aba*e- ment. Railway commis- sioners to bo subject to jurisdiction of courts of arbitration. On petition court may compel com- missioners to submit to arbitration. 77 Inquiry by Minister. Compulsory reference. Terms of awards. Court may order dupli- cate to be filed. Limitation of liability under award. Process against property of unions or associations. Application of moneys received under process. Enforce- ment of award. Provision for enforce ment of awards to apply. in dispute to the decision of the court, and may compel the attendance of the said Commissioners for such purpose. Part VII. Compulsory Arbitration. 60. If any industrial dispute shall hereafter arise between any unions and associations, or between any employer and any union, the Minister may inquiry into the nature and extent of such dispute, in such manner as he shall think fit, for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not it should be settled by compulsory arbitration. 61. If after such inquiry the Minister shall certify to the Governor that the dispute is one which should be settled by means of compulsory arbitration, the Go- vernor, by proclamation published in the “Govern nent Gazette,” may declare thatall mattersin dispute asafore- said, to be mentioned in such proclamation, or any of such matters to be specified in such proclamation, shall be referred to a trade or district board of conciliation, or to a court of arbitration to be mentioned in such proclamation for settlement, and the same shall stand referred accordingly. In every such case all the provisions of the parts of this Act respectively applicable to the proceedings before a board of conciliation or a court of arbitration shall extend and apply accordingly as fully as if the matter had been originally referred to such board or court under the foregoing provisions of this Act. Part VIII. Enforcements of Awards and Agreements. 62. Every award of a court shall specify the unions, associations, and persons on which it is intended that it shall be binding, and the period, not exceeding five years from the making thereof, during which its pro- visions may be enforced. 63. A court may order that a duplicate of any award shall be filed in the office of the Supreme Court, and, by leave of that court or a judge thereof, such award may be enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order of the Supreme Court to the same effect, and such court or judge shall have full power to make such orders and give such directions a3 may be necessary to give effect to this enactment. Thereafter, during the period within which its pro- visions may be enforced, such award shall be binding upon all unions, associations, and persons upon which it shall be declared that it shall be binding, and upon all members of such unions and associations. 64 No process shall be issued for the enforcement of any such award by a payment from any union, associa- tion. or person of a greater sum than five hundred pounds, or from any individual on account of his mem- bership of a union or association of any greater sum than ten pounds. 65. For the purpose of enforcing compliance with any such award and subsisting order or direction of the Supreme Court, or a judge thereof, process may be issued and executed against the properly of any union or association, or in which any union or association shall have any beneficial interest, and whether vested in trustees or howsoever otherwise the same may be held, in the same manner as if such union or association was an incorporated company and the absolute owner of such property or interest. 66. All moneys which shall lie received by virtue of any process for enforcing compliance with any award shall be applied in such manner as the award may direct, and, in default of or subject to any such direc- tion, in such manner as the president of the court of arbitration in the provincial district may decide, for the benefit of those interested in the performance of the award. 67. Any person wilfully making default in compliance with any award, unless such award Ftball otherwise direct, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable on summary conviction by a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds. 68. All provisions herein before in this part of this Act contained with reference to the enforcement of awards shall apply to the enforcement of industrial agreements and of penalties thereunder in like manner as if agreements had been mentioned in such provisions whenever awards are referred to. Part IX. Miscellaneous. 69. Every half-year, in the months of April and October, there shall be forwarded to the registrar by every association a certified list of the unions constitu- ting such association. 70 Every half year, in the same months, there shall he forwarded to the registrar by every union a certified list of the members of such union. 71. Certified copies of all alterations of the rules of any union or association shall forthwith aa such altera- tions are made be forwarded to the registrar. 72. Every association or union making default in for- warding to the registrar any list or copy required to he forwarded by either of the three last preceding sections shall he guilty of an offence against this Act, punishable by a penalty not exceeding two pounds for every day during which such default continues ; and every mem- ber of the council of any such association or committee of any such union who wilfully permits such default shall he guilty of a similar offence, punishable by a penalty not exceeding five shillings for even 7 day during which he wilfully permits such default. 73. The registrar, on the request of any person interested, shall investigate and decide in such manner as he shall think fit any matter relating to the rules, or repeal or alteration of the rules, or any membership or cesser of membership of any union or association, and a certificate of the registrar dealing with any such question shall be conclusive evidence of the matter therein stated, unless such certificate shall he varied by a subsequent certificate of the registrar, in which case the subsequent certificate shall prevail. 74. The registrar shall only once re-open, for the pur- pose of vary ing, any matter which he shall have disposed of by a certificate, and then only with the previous written consent of the M nis'er. 75. The Minister may review, annul, rescind, or vary any act or decision, of the registrar in any manner which he shall think fit, and if the Minister shall annul, rescind, or vary any such act or decision he shall, within four- teen days thereafter, if Parliament he then sitting, or if Parliament he not then sitting, then within fourteen days after the first meeting of Parliament thereafter, lay before both Houses of Parliament a return showing the mode in which he has annul led, rescinded, or varied such act or decision, and his reasons for such annul- ment, rescission, or variation. 76. The Governor from time to time may make all such rules or regulations not inconsistent with this Act either applicable generally, or to meet particular cases, as may he necessary or desirable to carry out the objects and purposes, or as he may consider convenient for the administration and execution thereof, or for establish- ing district hoards of conciliation ; and by any such regulations may prescribe such fees to he paid (including fees to presidents and assessors of courts of arbitration, and by whom the same shall he paid) in relation to such administration as he shall think fit. Nothing herein shall supersede any fees for the time being in force in the Supreme Court in relation to any proceedings or filing documents therein, otherwise than as is herein expressly provided. All such regulations shall he published in the “ Govern- ment Gazette,” and within fourteen days after the making thereof shall he laid before both Houses of Parliament, if Parliament, ho th Q n sitting, and if Parliament be not then sitting, then within fourteen days after the begin- ning of the next session of Parliament, and shall have the force of law from the date of such publication. 77. Any union or association may sue or be sued for the purposes of this Act or otherwise in the name by which it is registered, and service of any process on the chairman or secretary, or at the registered office of the union or association shall be sufficient for all purposes. 78. Every proceeding for any offence against this Act, not being an indictable offence, may he had and taken before and be heard and determined in a summary way by any resident magistrate or two justices of the peace under the provisions of “ The Justices of the Peace Act, 1882.” 79. All penalties recovered under sections 11 and 18 shall, after deducting therefrom all costs and expenses of recovering the same, be paid to the union or aseociatien in respect of which the default arose for K 3 Half-yearly lists of associations. Half-yearly lists of unions. Alterations of rules. Penalty on non-com- pliance. Matters may be decided by registrar. Ee -opening of matters decided by registrar. Minister may review decision of registrar. Eegulations. Publication of regula- tions. How unions or associa- tions may sue. Summary jurisdiction. Application of penalties. 78 which the penalty was inflicted ; and all other penalties recovered under this Act shall be paid into the Public Account and form part of the Consolidated Fund. APPENDIX C. Books and Pamphlets beaking on Laboub Questions in Australia and New Zealand now in the Library of the Royal Commission on Labour. I. — General. 1. Problems of Greater Britain, bv Sir Charles Dilke. 2. Royal Colonial Institute : Proceedings, vol. xxii., 1890-1. Monthly Journal, Jan.-Dee., 1892. Jan. -Mar., 1893. 3. Imperial Institute Year-Book, 1892. 4. Australasia. Correspondence relating to Chinese Immigration into the Australasian Colonies, with a return of Acts passed by the Legislatures of those Colonies and of Canada and British Columbia on the subject, 1888. 5. Australian Pastoralists’ Review, June, 1891. 6. Report of Second Inter- colonial Trades Union Congress, 1884. 7. Combined Circular for Canada, Australasia, and South Africa, issued by the Emigrants’ Informa- tion Office, July 1892. 8. Return showing Hours of Adult Labour in the Colonies. 9. Use and Abuse of Trades Unionism. (Pamphlet.) II. — Victoria. 1. Royal Commission on Employe's in Shops, 1882. (Progress Report, Second Progress Report, Report, and Final Report with Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, &c.) 2. Report on the Employment of Barmaids, 1884. 3. Report on the operation of the Victorian Factory Act, 1874 (with Minutes of Evidence, Appendix, &c). 4. Reports of the Chief Inspector of Factories, Work- rooms, and Shops, 1887-1891. 5. Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories on the Sweating System in conncximr with the Clothing Trade, Victoria, 1890. 6. Victorian Year-Book, 1890-1 (2 vols.). 7. Fifth Annual Report of the Proceedings of the Government Statist in connexion with Trade Unions for 1890 (with Appendix). 8. Anmial Report of the Secretary of Mines, 1890. 9. Relations of Capital and Labour. (A pamphlet issued by the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce.) 10. Constitution of the Board of Conciliation for the Colony of Victoria. 11. Sixth Annual Report of the Victorian Employers’ Union, 1891. 12. Report of the Conference of the Employers’ Unions held at Melbourne, 6th Nov. 1889. 13. Victorian Employers’ Union. Report of the Special Committee to consider the Employers’ Liability Bill, 1885. 14. Victorian Employers’ Union. President’s Address, March 10th, 1887. 15. General Conference of the Iron Trades of Victoria. Report of Proceedings, September 1891. 16. A Voice for ‘‘Peace with Honour,” by a citizen, 1890. 17. Trades Unions : Labour Strikes and their Remedies, by C. O. Montrose, Melbourne, 188 18. Manifesto of the Amalgamated Shearers’ Union of Australia. Creswick, 1890. 19. Rules of the Pastoralists’ Association of Victoria. 20 Act to consolidate Laws relating to Trade Unions, 1890. 21. Act to consolidate Laws relating to Supervision of Shops and Factories. 111. — New South Wales. 1. Royal Commission on Strikes. (Report 1891, Precis of Evidence, Appendices, and Tndex.) 2. Strikes and their Cure. (A pamphlet issued by the New South Wales Employers’ Union, Sydney, 1888.) 3. The Pastoralists’ Federal Council of Australia. Official Statement, Sydney, 1891. 4. Rules of the Pastoralists’ Union of New South W ales, 5. The Labour Question. Address by B. R. Wise. 6. Sydney Quarterly, September 1891. Article on “ What Parliament can do for Labour,” by B. R. Wise. 7. Reports of Government Statistician concerning Census and Industrial Returns Act for 1891, 1892. 8. Conciliation and Arbitration Act, 1892. (Text and Regulations.) 9. Parliamentary Debates. Session 1891-2. 10. Ethics of New Unionism. W. G. Spence. 11. Annual Report of Railway Commissioners, 1891. 12. Act to repeal the Chinese Immigration Act of 1881, and to provide for the Protection of the Colony from disturbances, and the National dangers of Chinese Immigration. IV. — Queensland. 1. Strike of Shearers and Bush- workers. Report by W. Allan, President of the United Pastoralists’ Association for presentation to the Royal Com- mission on Labour, 1891 (two copies) 2. Rules of the United Pastoralists’ Association. 3. The Immigrant Agent’s Reports for the years 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890 (two copies). 4. Shops, Factories, and Workshops. Royal Commis- sion of Inquiry, 1891 (three copies). 5. Circular Memorandum from Immigration Office (two copies). 6. Return showing the condition of the Labour Market (two copies). 7. Circular Memorandum from Immigration Office to the Clerk of the Petty Sessions (two copies). 8. Bill to amend Chinese Immigration Restriction Act, 1888. 9. Act for further Restriction of Chinese Immigration,, 1890. 10. Imperial and Colonial Acts relating to the Re- cruiting of Pacific Island Labourers. 11. Trade Union Act. 12. Memorandum from the Solicitor-General on the prosecution of the Shearers’ Strike Committee, 1891. V. —South Australia. 1. Report of Shops and Factories Commission. South Australia, 1892 (two copies). 2. Rules of Working Women’s Trade Unions. South Australia, 1890. 3. Rules of Federated Seamen’s Union. South Australia, 1890. 4. Rules of Saw Mills and Timber Yard Workers. South Australia, 1890. 5. Rules of Masons and Bricklayers’ Union. South Australia, 1883. 6. Rules of Dry Creek Smelters’ Association and Accident Fund. 7. Rules of Adelaide, Suburban, and Port Road Drivers’ Association. 8. Rules of Retail Assistants’ Union. Adelaide. 9. Rules of Amalgamated Eight Horn's’ Celebration Union. 10. Rules of Railway and Tramway Service Union. 11. Rules of Typographical Society. 12. Rules of United Trades aDd Labour Council of South Australia. 13. Rules of Operative Journeymen Bakers' Society. 14. Rules of Port Adelaide Working Men’s Association, 1881. 15. Rules of General Labourers’ Union. 16. Rules of Operative Boot Makers’ Union, 1887. 17. Rules of Pastoralists’ Union. South Australia. 18. Report and Balance Sheet of United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia, 1890, 1891, 1892. 19. South Australian Waterside Strike Fund. Balance Sheet. 20. Scheme of Federation. 21. Reform, Land. Education, Trades Unions. (Pam- phlet by W. II. Bundey, Judge of the Supremo Court of South Australia.) Adelaide, 1889. 22. Lecture on Direct Representation of Labour in Parliament. W. A. Robinson. 23. The Rights of Labour and How to obtain them. 24. Lecture on New Unionism. Charleston, 1890. 25. Act to amend Chinese Immigration Restriction Act, 1888. Assented to, 1889. 26. Act further to amend Chinese Immigration Re-trie- tion Act, 1888. Assented to, 189U. 27. Act to continue Chinese Immigration Restriction Act, 1888. Assented to, 1891. 79 28. Coolie Labour for Northern Territory, 1882. 29. Acts of the Parliament of South Australia, 1888. VT. — Western Australia. 1. An Act for Registration of Chinese Immigration, 1889. 2. Report of Census. April 1891. VII. — New Zealand. 1. Labour Conference. Report of Proceedings, 1890, and Report, 1891. 2. Grey Valley Coal Mines Commission. Report with Minutes of Proceedings, Evidence, and Appen- dix, 1891. 3. Statistics of the Colony of New Zealand, 1889, with Abstracts from the Agricultural Statistics of 1890. 4. Statistics of the Colony of New Zealand, 1890, Part III., Trade and Interchange. 5. Sweating Commission, Report 1890 (2 copies). 0. Return of the Expenses of the Sweating Commis- sion, 1890. 7. Report of the Royal Commission appointed to in- quire into the working of the “ Employment of Eemales Acts,” 1878. 8. Immigration. Reports of Mr. C. Holloway to the Agricultuial Labourers’ Union, 1875. 9. List of Public Works on which Unemployed are engaged, 1889. 10. Legislative Council, 1887. Return of works on which Unemployed were engaged. 11. Memorandum relative to the Numbers of Unem- ployed who have applied for work, 1884. 12. Returns showing Number of Men employed upon Relief Works, 1889, 1890. 13. Thirteenth Annual Report by the Registrar of Friendly Societies, 1890. 14. Petition of Railway Employes, 1882. 15. Railway Employes. Correspondence concerning Conditions of Employment, 1890. Id. Correspondence relating to the Labour Dispute on the West Coast of Middle Island, 1890. 17. Industrial Conciliation Bill, 1892. 18. New' Zealand Factories Act, 1891. 19. Report of New Zealand Bureau of Industries, 1892 (two copies). 20. Statement concerning New Zealand Bureau of Industries, 1892 (four copies). 21. Copies of three Speeches delivered by Mr. Fisher in the House of Representatives, dated 29th June, July 7th and 27th, 1892. 22. An Act to amend “Chinese Immigrants Act, 1891. ” 23. Chinese Immigrants Act Amendment Act Con- tinuance, 1889. 24. Truck Act. New Zealand. 25. Report on the Sweating System in Dunedin, Jan- uary 1889. 26. Rules of Tailoresses’ Union, New Zealand. 27. New Zealand Journal of Insurance, Mining, and Finance. 28. The Factories Act Amendment Act, 1892. 29. The Shops and Shop Assistants Act, 1892. 30. The Contractors’ and Workmens’ Lien Act, 1892. 31. The Employers’ Liability Act Amendment Act, 1892. 32. The Mining Act Amendment Act, 1892. 33. The Aliens Act Amendment Act, 1892. 34. The Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1877. 35. The Friendly Societies Act, 1882, Amendment Act, 1892. 36. The Trade Union Act. 1878. 37. The Dairy Industry Act, 1892. 38. Farming and Labour in New Zealand, by Westby Brook Perceval, Agent General for New Zealand. K 4 80 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN CAPE COLONY AND NATAL. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGB. A. — Special Characteristics of the Labour Question in South Africa - - - 81 1. Demand for labour ... . .. . *-81 2. Preference for native labour ... . .... - 81 3. State regulation of labour - - - - - - - -81 B. — Legislation - - - - .... .... 8i_82 1. Regulation of labour contracts in Cape Colony - - - . . - 81 a. Masters and Servants Act, 1856 - - - - - - - 81 b. Petition for its Amendment, 1891 - - - - - ’ - -81 2. Regulation of labour contracts in Natal - ... . - - 82 a. The bonus system - - - - - - *82 b. Introduction of native labour - - - - - - - -82 3. Employers’ Liability Act, Cape Colony - - ..... -82 4. Apprenticeship laws, Cape Colony - - - - - - - 82 5. Law regulating native locations, Cape Colony - - - - - - -82 C. — Conditions of Labour --------- 83 1. Wages - - - - - * - ... 83 a. Of town labourers - - - - - - - - -83 b. Of agricultural labourers - ..... - - 83 c. On public works ------- - ..-83 d. Of miners - - - - - - - - -83 e. Of employe's in Natal - - - - ----- 83 2. Hours - -- -.-----83 3. Cost of living - - - - - - - - --83 D. — Diamond Mining in Kimberley - ... . . . 83-86 1. Mining statistics - - - - - - - - - -83 2. Conditions of the industry - - - - - - - - 84 3. Causes of the depression in the industry - - ... ..84 a. Diversion of trade - - - - - - - -84 b. The compound system - - - - - - - - 84 c. Surplus labour - - - ... - - ..84 d. Monopoly of the De Beers’ Company - - - - - - - 85 4. Remedies - - - - - - - - - -85 a. Drafting of surplus labour to other districts - - - - - - £5 b. Relief work - - .... . . - - 85 c. Debris washing and the opening of fresh mines - - - - - 85 5. Report of the Select Committee - - - - - -85 6. Employment bureau .... - - 85 7. Mining laws in Natal - - - - - - - ..86 E. — Scarcity of Farm: Labour 86-88 1. Employment of farm labour on Government works - - - . 86 2. Refusal of natives to work - - - - - - . -87 3. Remedies proposed - - - - ... - -87 4. Report of Select Committee - - - .... -87 5. Native labour - - ..... . - --87 a. Views of the committee - - - - - - - -87 b. Attempts to introduce native labour - .... - --87 c. Complaints of natives - - - - - ----- 88 d. Excessive drinking on the part of natives - - - - - - 88 P. — Immigration - - - - - - - - 88 a. To Cape Colony - - - - ... . - 88 b. To Natal ------- ----- 88 G. — Friendly Societies - - - - - - - - - - 88-89 a. Number of friendly societies - - - - 88 b. Report of select committee - - - - - - - 88 c. Entrance fees - - - - - --88 d. Benefits ... - . . . . - - 89 e. Financial position - - - - - - - -89 f. Legislation - ..... - . - - - 89 APPENDICES 1— TEXT OF FRIENDLY SOCIETIES’ ACT - - - - - 89-94 2 —BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS ON LABOUR QUESTIONS IN CAPE COLONY AND NATAL NOW IN THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR 94 1. Demand for labour. 2. Prefer- ence for native la- bour. 3. State regulation labour. 1. Regula- tion of la- bour con- tracts in Cape Colony. 81 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN CAPE COLONY AND NATAL. A. — Special Characteristic op the Labour Question in South Africa. Industrial problems in South Africa are of a very different, character from those which have arisen in Western Europe or in Australia. This is due to the employment of a large amount of black or native labourers, who cannot work under the same conditions as Europeans, but must usually be treated more or less as children. Further, labour in many parts of Cape Colony is scarce, instead of being over-plentiful, as in Europe and Ansti'alia, so that the problem to be solved is often, not how to provide work, but how to procure workmen. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Cape Colony resemble those of Australia in appealing to the State to interfere whenever the condition of labour in any district appears unsatisfactory. (*) In most parts of British South Africa there iH a demand for the labour of skilled artizans ; wages are therefore high, and employes are able to maintain a good position. So far they have scarcely formed unions, because they have had no struggle to defend their interests against those of their employers. Unskilled manual work is almost entirely performed by natives, and there is a constant demand for their labour. This demand is met by the “ Cape Boys ” (i.e., natives already resident in the colony), Kaffirs, or natives from Delagoa Bay, Mozambique, or India, who are induced to come to the Cape and Natal to work for a fixed period, and who do so in order to procure money to buy cattle or a wife.) 2 ) Employers will not, as a rule, engage Europeans to do work which can be performed by natives, as the latter accept - more wages and are more easily con- trolled. Natives are almost always provided with food and dwellings on the farms. Those who work at the diamond mines are kept in “ compounds,” from which they arc only allowed to go out when the term of their service expires; their employers supply stores, where they can buy all the necessaries of life. The only Europeans for whom employment is not readily found at the Cape are clerks and shopkeepers, or men who have learnt no trade or profession, and cannot afford lo acquire land. Many cf these hope to secure work in the diamond or gold mines, but this occupation has now become skilled, and they are often disappointed.) 3 ) The resident magistrate i.s the final authority in all disputes which arise between an employer and his servants or workpeople, and the details of labour con- tracts are carefully regulated by law. This is the more necessary as the introduction of half-civilised natives into Gape Colony and Natal has frequently resulted in theii- complete demoralisation. They are entirely deficient in self control, and are easily led into excesses, especially when supplied b}’ storekeepers with unlimited drink. To prevent the disorder and inconvenience to employers resulting from excesses which render their employes incapable of working for days together, it has been proposed to prohibit the sale of intoxicating drinks to natives ; but without adopting so stringent a measure, and confounding civilised property-holders with “ raw ” natives, much may be done by conferring special powers upon magistrates, and maintaining a semi- paternal relationship between the authorities and the native labourers. ( J ) B. — Legislation. The relations between employers and employed have consequently been the subject of frequent legislation P) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualam tti'st, lS.il, p. xiv„ pp. 230, 343. Appendix to Report of Selec Committee on Labour Question, Cape C >lony, is ; 0 , pp. i and 11 . (*) Circular from Emigrants’ Information Office, Minute fro-i Ministers of Cape Colony to His Excellency, the Governor, datei February 22nd, 1892. Report of Select Committee on Trade am Business, Gnqualand West, 1891, p. 344. Report of Select Committee on Labour Question, Cape Colony, 1892, pp. 7, !). ( 3 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualam West, 1891. p. 433. Circular from Emigrants’ Information Office. (*) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualam West, 1891, pp. 15, 115. Report of Select Committee on Labour Questior Cape Colony, 1892, p. (17. IT 75209. a! the Cape. In 1856, previous Acts dealing with the labour contract were repealed, and a new law passed, of which the following are the chief provisions : — L No contract entered into without the colony is binding within the colony unless it be in writing, or unless satisfactory proof of it can be given before a magistrate. 2. Where the time is not specified, a contract is binding for only one month. 3. An oral contract is not binding for more than one year. 4. A written contract is not binding for more than one year, unless signed in the presence of a magistrate. 5. No contract is binding for more than five years. 6. When a servant is hired to reside on the premises, food and lodging is to be supplied unless otherwise stipulated. 7. If the wages to be paid are not specified in the contract, the magistrate is to fix them according to the current rate. 8. In the case of sickness a master is to provide for his servant during one month exactly as if he were stiU working. If he continues incapable for two months, the contract may be considered at an end ; during the second month, only food and lodging, as provided for in the contract, need be supplied ; no wages need be paid. For an employe engaged to work at any trade or handicraft, only food and lodging, according to the contract, are to be provided during sickness. 9. A contract is to determine one month after the death or insolvency of the master. 10. If an employe or apprentice dies, his legal representatives may claim his wages 11 If an employer moves any gr eater distance than two miles from the place where he engaged an employe to work for him, the latter may consider the agreement at an end, unless special stipu- lations have been made to the contrary, or unless the employe shall have performed work at the new residence or place of trade or business of the master. 12. The resident magistrate has jurisdiction for all cases arising between masters and servants in his district. 13. Wages, or articles stipulated for in the contract, can be recovered by civil action. Process on behalf of a poor servant is to be issued and executed at the public charge. 14. In the case of an appeal, it is the duty of the Attorney-General, when the matter is brought before the Supreme Court, and of the Clerk of the Peace, when the matter is brought before a circuit court, to conduct the case for the employe free of cost. 15. Any person endeavouring by threats or violence to force another to depart from his work, or to refrain from accepting work, or to belong to any club or association, or who shall endeavour to force any employer to increase or limit the number of his employes, is to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding three months. This clause is not to be construed to the detriment of persons meeting together to determine what wages they shall demand for their services, or what wages they shall pay to their employes.) 5 ) In 1891 a petition was presented to the House of Assembly by the agriculturists of Malmesbury and other districts asking for an amendment of the laws relating to masters and servants. They stated that farm labourers, especially the coloured races, were in the habit of obtaining money from employers under a promise of performing work at stipulated times, which promise was not fulfilled, as their services were claimed by another farmer to whom they were pre- viously engaged. By the Act of 1873, a contract is not valid unless it is stipulated to begin not later than one month from ( 5 ) Text of Masters and Servants Act, 1856. L a. Masters and Ser- vants Act. 1856. b. Petition for its amend- ment, 1891. 82 2. Retalia- tion of la- bour con- tracts in Natal. a. The bonus system. b. Intro- duction of native la- bour. 3. Employ - ers’Liability Act, Cape Colony. the time of entering on the contract. The farmers state that they are obliged to make a contract beforehand with their men for ploughing and reaping, so as to be sure of them ; but that they cannot fix a date, as they do not know when the rain will come to enable them to plough, or when the corn will be ripe. They advance money to the men whom they engage in order to secure the services, of which they are nevertheless deprived. The petilioners suggested as a remedy that no one should be allowed to engage any servant or labourer, unless the latter could produce a certificate from his late master or some other fit person, proving him to be free from obligation of service to any other employer. It was further proposed that all labourers should be regularly engaged by written contract, and that a list of such contracts should be kept at the magistrates’ court, which should show the wages paid to each employe. If all native servants were registered, none would be able to obtain employment without showing a good character. (‘) It is customary in Natal for an employer engaging a servant to pay him a bonus. To ensure the fulfilment of the contract it was provided in 1871 that such bonuses should be paid to the magistrate before whom the contract was signed, and placed by him in the Government savings bank, to be handed over to the servant on the expiration of the term of serviced 2 ) In the country districts, labour is often scarce. Magistrates are therefore empowered by the same Act to receive applications from masters needing employes, and employes needing work, and to put the two in communication. When the resident magistrate re- ports a considerable deficiency of employes in any district, the Lieutenant-Governor is empowered to introduce natives from beyond the colony, and to provide for their return after at least one year’s service ; the applicant for labour must sign an undertaking to pay the expenses of the introduction of such workmen into the colony. In some cases natives residing on the land of private owners engage to work themselves, or to supply labour, instead of paying rent. This gives room for disputes unless the amount of work to be done, and the terms on which it is to be done, are very carefully defined. Resident magistrates are empowered to attest such contracts, but where the employer is not careful to have this done, he must bear the burden of proving that the contractor understood the terms of the contract. No one may introduce labourers from beyond the borders of the colony without a licence from the Lieutenant-Governor, but such licences are granted, free of charge, to suitable persons, who thus undertake the functions of labour agents. Any person contract- ing to supply labour is liable for damages in case of failure to carry out the contract. Verbal contracts to undertake service, or to supply labour, are not binding for longer than a year, and written contracts are not binding for longer than three years. ( :i ) In Pietermaritzburg and Durban the town councils have been empowered to appoint registries for natives and to enact byelaws for their control. All natives employed or seeking employment in these towns must be registered. Any person employing a native who has not received a registration ticket, is liable to a fine not exceeding 21., or to seven days’ imprison ment.( 4 ) In 1886 an “Employers’ Liability Act ” was passed for the Cape. It enacts that whenever any personal injury is caused — (1 .) By any defect in the condition of the ways, works, or machinery used in the business of an employer ; (2.) By the negligence of the employer, or any per- son under him to whose orders the workman is subject, or of any person in the service of the employer who has charge or control of any signal, points, locomotive engine, train on a line, or any machinery or hauling gear in or about a mine ; the workman, or, in case of his death, his legal repre- sentatives, have the same right of compensation and remedies against the employer as if the workman had (') Appendix to Report of Select Committee on Labour Question, Cape Colony, 1890. p. iii. (-) Law of Masters and Servants, No. 13, 1871. (») Lav/ to facilitate the obtaining of labour. Natal. (•*) Law to facilitate the registration of native servants, Natal, No. 21, 1888. Appendix on Migration of Labour, pp. 224, 225. not been in his service. If the defect in the machinery montioned above does not arise from any negligence on tbe part of the employer, or of any person in his employ, or if the workman knew of any defect or negli- gence, and failed to give notice, tbe employer is not held responsible. The compensation is not to exceed a sum equal to three years’ earnings of a person in the same grade, employed in the same service and in the same district in which the workman is employed at the time of injury. ( 5 ) The law relating to apprentices, which came into force in 1856, not only lays down the terms on which appren- tices may be bound, but also makes provision for desti- tute children. All contracts relating to apprenticeships must be made in writing. No contract of apprenticeship by which a girl under sixteen, or a boy under eighteen, are apprenticed as agricultural labourers, are valid after they have attained the ages of sixteen and eighteen respectively. Children above the age of ten and under that of sixteen, may be apprenticed by their fathers, mothers, or guardians, full provision being made for their maintenance, clothing, and instruction ; but the deed of apprenticeship is not binding unless signed in the presence of a magistrate, and attested by him. A person of the age of sixteen cannot be apprenticed without his own consent. The resident magistrate is the ex officio guardian of destitute children within his district. When a destitute child is found he is brought to the magistrate, who takes steps to discover if he has any relations to whom he can bo apprenticed, and if any such can be found he may bind him to the most fitting. If none can be found the child is apprenticed, as soon as possible, to some other fit person, in the case of a boy un- til his eighteenth year, and of a girl until her sixteenth year. Provision must be made for the maintenance, clothing, and instruction of such children, and suitable wages stipulated for. Until recent years employers in the country were constantly in tiie habit of giving some instruction to the ignorant native labourers whom they engaged, but since schools have been established in most districts this practice has been discontinued. ( 6 ) In 1881 an Act was passed “ to provide for the more “ effectual supervision and management of ‘ native loca- “ tions,’ and for the more easy collection of the hut “ tax.” Native locations are thus defined : — ‘ ‘ By a ‘ native location on private property ’ is meant any number of huts or dwellings, on any one farm, occupied by three or more male adults, being Kaffirs, Pingoes, Basutos, Hottentots, Bushmen, and the like, such occupants not being in the bond fide and continuous employment of the owner of such land, either as his domestic servants, or in or about farmiug operations, or any trade, business, or handicraft by him carried on upon such land.” “ By a ‘native location on Crown lands’ is meant any number of huts or dwellings, occupied by any of the native races, such as Kafirs, Dingoes, Basutos, Hottentots, Bushmen and the like, on certain Crown lands reserved for the location of native tribes within the Colony.” Any private proprietor desiring to establish a native location on his property must apply for permission to the Governor. The Governor may appoint an inspector to supervise native locations. A hut tax of 10s. a year must be paid for each hut situated on private pro- perty ; the owner of the property is liable for the pay- ment. The inspector must keep a register of the number of huts and dwellings on every location, with the names and occupations of the occupants, and the number, marks, and description of the horses, horned cattle, sheep and goats, belonging to each. The in- spector must also be kept informed by each inhabitant of a location of any horses, horned cattle, sheep or goats, which from time to time have come into hi - possession, and of the way in which he acquired them, and of the death of any person in the dwelling of such an inhabitant. The inspector may seize and impound unregistered horses and cattle. Any person found in a native location without having auy right or authority to be there, may be directed to be removed from it by an order in writing signed by the resident magistrate of the district. (') ( 5 ) Employers’ Liability Act, Cape Colony. ( 6 ) Report of Select Committee on Labour Question. Cape Colony, 181)0. p. 51. Act regulating the telative Rights and Duties of Masters, Servants and Apprentices, No. 15, 1850. ( 7 ) Acts of Parliament of tbe Colony of tbe Cape of Good Hope, 188 1 , Act to provide for the better and more effectual supervision and management of Native Locations. 4. Appren- ticeship laws, Cape Colony. 5. Law regu- lating Na- tive loca- tions, Cape Colony. 83 X. Wages. a. Of town labourers. b. Of agri cultural labourers. c. On public works. d. Of miners. e. Of em - plnyes in Natal. 0. — Conditions of Labour. The wages of white labour at the Capo have been hitherto so high that there has never been any need for any efforts to raise them, and there arc hardly any trade unions. An attempt was made to form an asso- ciation in the building trades at Cape Town, hut it came to no,thing.(‘) The following wages of Cape Colony : — Bakers Bookbinders - Boot trade Bricklayers Butchers Drapers’ assistants Engineers Domestic servants Storemen Compositors - Machine printers are paid in the principal towns 61. to 15?. a month. 36s. to 21. 10s. a week. 1?. 4s. to 3?. 10s. a week. 8s. to 15s. a day. 8?. to 15? a month with board. 3?. to 20Z. a month. 3?. to 71. a week. 2?. to 10?. a month with board. 8?. to 17?. a month. 1?. to 36s. a week. 5?. to 71. a week. 0 Agricultural labourers are generally natives and receive food, clothing, and lodging as well as wages. The rate of payment varies very much in different parts of the country, according to whether labour is plentiful or the reverse. A house, garden, and food are usually allowed, and sometimes the farmer gives cattle and poultry also. The money wage varies very much, but the most usual payment where labour is scarce is 2s. or 3s. a day. One farmer states that his men are abundantly satisfied with Is. a day ; others pay only 15s. or 25s. a month. Most wine farmers also allow wine ; some of them give it three times a day. The great aim of a Kaffir is to get sheep and cattle, which he can take back to his own land and pasture there, or afterwards exchange for a wife. Wages are, therefore, often paid in kind ; the employe is allowed to choose a sheep or an ox from his master’s flock, at stated in- tervals. ( :! ) The natives employed on public works receive from 3s. to 6s. a day, and this employment is so popular that the Port Elizabeth merchants have to pay 8s. a day to natives for landing goods on the beach, owing to the scarcity of labour. ( 4 ) It is contended by the farmers of the Western Province that the Government of Cape Colony, by pay- ing this rate to labourers engaged on public works, have raised wages throughout the Colony. Farmers were accustomed to pay from Is. to Is. 6d. a day, but are now always obliged to give from 2s. to 3s. They are desirous that the rate of wages paid to Govern- ment emplojffis should be reduced to a level with the rate paid by private employers. On the other hand, it must be remembered that the difference between the wages of farm labourers and employes in Government works is not in reality as great as it appears, since the former receive food, clothing and lodging, in addition to the money payment. ( 5 ) The native miners employed by the De Beer’s Com- pany are contracted for at 15s. a week, but often receive higher wages. 0 Convicts employed in the mines receive 5 cl. a day, and their guards 4?. a week. White free labourers receive from 41. to 5?. a week, with payment for overtime, which often amounts to 41. or 5?. in addition. Debris washers pay natives whom they employ 17s. 6c?. a week, and white men 3?. a week. In 1890, the number of Europeans employed in the mines was 2,509, and of natives 5,890. In the Du Toit Pan and Bultfontein Mines white men were paid from 21. 15s. to 6?., and natives from 18s. to 25s. a week. The latter are always supplied with lodging, medical attendance, wood and water. (*) Wages in Natal are high. Skilled employes of almost every class receive from 8s. 6d. to 12s. a day. Miners are paid 16?. to 20?. a month, wharf labourers 5s. to 6s. a day, and dressmakers 2s. 6c?. to 3s. with food.( s ) P) Minute from Ministers, Cape Town, to His Excellency the Gover- nor, February 22nd, 1892. ( 2 ) Circular from Emigrants’ Information Office, p. 7. ( 3 ) Circular from Emigrants’ Information Office. Reports of Select Committee on Labour Question, Cape Colony, 1800, pp,2, 4, 5, 8, 13, 18, 10, 24 ; 1802, p. 59. (p lteportof Select Committee on Labour Question, Cape Colony, 1890, pp. 27, 34. (9 Report of Select Committee on Labour Question, Cape Colony, 1800 pp. 3, 10, 11, 17, 20, 21, 27, 37. ( c j Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1891, pp. 410, 425. Report of Inspector of Diamond Mines, 1890. pp. 4^8. ( 7 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1891, pp. 419, 425. Report of Inspector of Diamond Mines, 1890, pp. 4-8. ( 8 ) Circular from Emigrants’ Information Office. Nine hours is the usual duration of a day’s work at 2 . Hours, the Cape, but agricultural labourers work from sunrise to sunset all through the year. Thus in the ploughing season their hours are from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Labourers employed by Government work from 7 to 5 in the winter, and 6 to 6 in the summer, with two hours interval ; those engaged at the wharves work from 7 to 5 in the winter, and 8 to 5 in the summer, with one hour’s interval. ( 9 ) House-rent and servants’ wages in the towns of Cape •jt Coat of Colony are dearer than in England. Labourers’ x^use-rent cottages, with a garden, can be rented for 20s. or 30s. a and wages, month ; a mechanic pays 30s. or 40s. a month for his house. At Kimberley, where wages have been very high until the last two years, it is necessary to pay from 70s. to 90s. a month. Provisions vary greatly in price; in places which are easily accessible, they cost much the same as in England, but where they cannot be delivered by railway, they are dearer. Meat is always cheap, varying from 4c?. to 7 cl. a pound ; bread is 3c?. or 4c?. a pound, fresh butter from Is. 6d. to 4s. a pound, milk from 4c?. to 6c?. a quart, potatoes from lc?. to 2c?. a pound. (0 Prices in Kimberley are very high. No meal can be Prices in obtained at a restaurant for less than Is., and 7s. 6d. or 8s. a day is the least sum on which a white man can live. The rent of a single room is 5s. or 6s. a week.( n ) D.- — Diamond Mining in Kimberley. Diamond mining is one of the chief industries of 1. Mining Cape Colony. The four mines of most importance are statistics, the Kimberley, the De Beer’s, the Du Toit’s Pan, and the Bultfontein Mines. Diamonds were first procured by quarrying a few feet below the surface of the earth. A miner was allowed to mark out a space within which to work, on condition of paying a royalty to Government on the diamonds which he found. When the surface soil was exhausted it became necessary to sink shafts, and as the work gradually passed from the system of quarrying in the open to that of mining underground, the expenses of working increased yearly, and the necessary capital could only be provided by the formation of large com- panies. Of these the De Beer’s Company has been the most successful, and now holds the greater part of the four mines mentioned above. ( 12 ) Below the red surface soil, in which diamonds were Methods first found, is yellow rock, which is very friable, and 0t " 01 lnK * from which the diamonds are easily won. This was hauled up from the mines and treated at once in the washing machines ; but by 1881 this stratum was passed through in all four mines, and the “blue” ground below had to be worked. As it is very hard, it must be exposed to the air for a month or two before it can be broken up. It is therefore raised from the mine and deposited on floors set apart for the purpose. When sufficiently friable, it is passed through the washing machines, during which process some diamonds are discovered ; it is then brought to the sorting tables to be thoroughly examined. From time to time sub- sidences of the main reef have taken place. While subsiding, it undergoes combustion, as it contains much sulphur pyrites, and the fumes cause great suffering to persons engaged in the work. In 1883 the first experiments in real underground mining were made in the Kimberley mine, and from that date the process had been continually extended. ( 13 ) During 1887 and 1888, most important amalgamations Amalgama- of companies took place, with the result, at first, of companies giving a great impulse to the industry. After 1883 the British United Company, the Gordon Company, and the North-Eastern Bultfontein Company were the only ones besides the De Beer’s Company which carried on any important work. The Gordon Company, and the North-Eastern Bultfontein Company have since been suspended.! 14 ) i/iuie, nuuiemsiii uivaie. ..umm, u£tL . mittee oil Labour Question, 1S90, pp. 17, 27, 29, 40. ( ,0 ) Circular No. I from Emigrants’ Information Office, pp. 6 and 7. (») Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1891, pp. 48, 167. (> 2 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqunl md West, 1891, p. xui., Evidence, pp. IS, 20, 34, 167. Report of Inspector of Diamond Mines, 1889, pp. 3, 4, 31, 32. ( 13 ) Report of Inspector of Diamond Mines, 1889, pp. 3, 4,6, 10. ( u ) Reports of Inspector of Diamond Mines, 1S89, pp. 24, 27, 31 ; L 2 84 Out-put of diamonds. !. Condi- tions of till industry. Convict labour. Illicit dia- mond sell- ing. Strikes. According to the statistical register, the output lrorn the above mines in 1885 was 2,287,261 carats, valued at 11. Os. 5 d. per carat; in 1888, the output was 3.565,116 carats, valued at 1 L Is. per carat; in 1890, no returns of the yield were made, but the export was 2,504,730 carats, valued at 1 l. 13s. 3d. per carat. (*) The De Beer’s Company have arranged with Govern- ment to employ a number of convicts on the floor of the mine, and a convict station has therefore been estab- lished in the neighbourhood. In 1888 they employed 300 of these men, bearing the cost of their maintenance and paying 2d. a day for each man. In 1889 they arranged to employ 400 men at 3d. a day. In 1890, 700 convicts were employed in breaking up lumps and filling the trucks at Bel. a day. This convict labour is reported to cost the company 28 1. for each man a year. Seventy white guards are employed, receiving 41. each a week. The company prefer convict labour, because the supply is steady and the men arc easily controlled, but the employment of these men was made .a cause of complaint to the Select Committee on Trade and Business appointed in 1891. {See p. 85.) Some wit- nesses desired that the company should be obliged to discontinue it, but it was contended, on the other hand, that white men would not do the work performed by these native convicts, and that therefore the unem- ployed would be in no way benefited. It was also stated that the company put a “ premium on dis- honesty ” by paying convicts a bonus on their finds, so that some of them, on leaving, had a considerable sum of money in their possession. The company, however, consider such a system necessary since the greatest difficulty connected with diamond mining is the prevention of theft. In spite of all precautions a considerable illicit trade in diamonds is still carried on. In 1S83 a search system was established under G-overnment administration. Search houses were placed at certain points on the margin of each mine through which the employes had to pass, but the system was not satisfactory. It was therefore re- commended in 1885 that the companies should under- take the entire control of their employes or should establish compounds, in which the natives could live entirely during their term of employment. This system was introduced and it is said to have succeeded a dmirably, since the difficulty of conveying diamonds out of the compounds prevents their illicit sale! 2 ) The De Beer’s Company experience great difficulties in regard to discipline in tie mines. Kaffirs are accused of continually disobeying orders by placing lighted candles in dangerous positions, and it is also stated that assaults by native employes are not infre- quent. The sentences passed by magistrates are no deterrent, as “hard labour” is lighter than under- ground work, and prison fare better than that in which a Kaffir indulges as a free man. Dismissal would only encourage crime, as it affords an opportunity for dis- posing of stolen diamonds. The directors, therefore, consider that a special magistrate should be appointed to deal with mining cases, who should be ready to visit the scene of any offence and inflict summary punish- ment. (■*) In 1883 a strike of the white miners took place owing to four men being searched, and the authorities vir- tually surrendered the point. In April 1884, a large number of employes struck owing to the searching regulations, and were locked out pending submission. The civil commissioners telegraphed for troops, and all guns and ammunition were taken from the shops. On the 29th a body of 300 white men, followed by about 1,000 or 1,500 Capo Boys and Kaffirs, marched to the De Beer’s Mine and arrested all operations. They then proceeded to the Central and French Companies’ Works at the same mine. A company of police were drawn up there and trucks were arranged as barricades. Tho rioters charged the position in order to get possession of the water gear and flood the mine. They were fired upon and six were killed, whereupon they retreated and the riot was quelled. Three hundred white men were dismissed, and by May 7th full work was re- sumed! 4 ) ( l ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 891, p. xv. (*) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business. Griqualand West, 1391. pp. 1."). 103, 289, 313, -118, 419, 423, -120. Report of Inspector of Diamond Mines. 18s9, p. 21. ( 3 ) Report of Inspector of Diamond Mines, 1S89, pp. 3, 5. (<) Report of Inspector of Diamond Mines, 1889, pp. 11, 12. The diamond industry in Griqualand West has, from 3 . Causes of various causes, become greatly depressed of late years, thede- The towns of Beaconsfkld and Kimberley, which have t'heTie' 1 '™ grown up in the neighbourhood of the mines, and the dustry. inhabitants of which are all engaged in mining or in supplying the wants of miners, have been so greatly distressed that a Select Committee on Trade and Busi- ness for Griqualand West was appointed to inquire into the causes of the great lack of employment. They examined a number of witnesses, and obtained a large amount of conflicting testimony as to the causes and extent of the preceding depression. ( 5 ) Whilst it could be shown that no important redne- a. Diversion tion of the numbers of men employed in mining bad of trade, occurred, it was not denied by witnesses that many people were out of work 111 Kimberley and Beacons- fleld, and that a great shrinkage of trade had taken place. This was attributed first of all to the fact that Kimberley formerly did a great business in forwarding goods into the country, which it bad lost since the ex- tension of the railway from Port Elizabeth to Bloem- fontein. In former days also, much share speculation, which has now almost entii ely ceased, was carried on at Kimberley ; but the speculators and the clerks whom they employed, have now no occupation! 6 ) Tho falling off in- the trade of shops in Kimberley 4. The may be in part attributed to the establishment of the £y“,‘e 1 ° 1 ull<1 “ compound system ” for the natives employed in the * b ’ De Beer’s Company’s mines. It was found that when the natives were free from control, they gave way con- stantly to excessive drinking, which induced much crime and made them incapable of work for days together! 7 ) The Company have therefore established “com- pounds ” where the natives employed by them must live during their term of service, and where stores are established at which they can buy anything they want, except intoxicating drinks. This system serves the two-fold purpose of keeping the natives sober and of checking diamond stealing. On the other band, it has doubtless deprived the shopkeepers of Kimberley, and especially those who kept drinking saloons, of a large part of their trade. The Company state that they buy everything that they can in Kimberley, but even in that case they purchase at wholesale and not at retail prices. This Company have also caused much discontent amongst the inhabitants of Kimberley by building a model village for their European workmen outside the town. Their reason for doing this was that the bouses in Kimberley in which their employes lived were very uncomfortable. Many of them were only of galvanized iron, which became unbearably hot during tbe day, so that the men, who worked at night, found it difficult to rest in them. Tbe workmen ihemselves have certainly benefited by the building of this village, for they have not only good houses, but gardens, and recreation and reading-rooms. O 11 the other band many houses are left empty in Kimberley, and this has combined with other causes to bring about a deteriora- tion in the value of house property. Tbe mayor of Kimberley stated that there had recently been 250 unoccupied houses in tbe towu, and that many people who had been depiivtd of their means of livelihood were occupying houses which they wo.ild have to leave, unless some measure for assisting them were set on foot. Another witness stated that he was paying 41. for a house, for which he had formerly paid 8 Z. He was a builder and had employed 200 men, but at tbe time of the inquiry had abandoned his business as it did not pay. Wages bad also been greatly reduced. It was stated that a man had to do for 5 1. work for which he would formerly have received 25 1. Two boys who had been earning cl. were obliged by the difficulty of finding employment to do night-work for 12 s. a week.( s ) Some of the witnesses were of opinion that the Surplus amount of distress which prevailed was greatly ex- labour, aggerated, and that its oause was to be found rather in the fact that people had been attracted in increasing numbers to Kimberley by the high wages which had been paid, than in the fact that tho amount of employ- ment had much decreased. Archdeacon Gaul stated that many of those wh 1 came to him for assistance had only recently arrived in Kimberley, and had never ( 5 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1891. ( G ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Busii ess, Griqualand West. 191, pp. x.. xi., 97. ( 7 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1891, pp. 37. ( 8 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1891, pp. ti, 41, 50, 107, 114, 115, 130, ISO, 1S7. d. Mono- poly of the De Beer’s Company. t. Remedies. a. Drafting of surplus labour to other dis- tricts. b. Relief- work. c. Debris washing and the opening of fresh mines. been engaged in mining before, but bad eome up, hoping to securo employment of some kind. He mentioned four men who came to him after being in Kimberley three months, three weeks, a year, and eight months respectively. (‘) The secretary of the De Beer’s Consolidated Mining Company attributed the distress to over-speculation in gold shares, but a number of witnesses allege that the monopoly which that company have gradually acquired is responsible for the luck of employment. Within recent years the De Beer's Company has succeeded in getting nearly all the mines into its own hands; the British United Company have still some claims in the Du Toit Pan Mines, and the North-Eastern Bultfontein Company work part of the Bultfontein mines. The De Beer’s Company, however, practically control the dia- mond market, and when the greater part of the Du Toit Pau and Bultfontein mines passed into their hands, they closed them down. The result of this has been, in the opinion of the people of Kimberley, to throw hundr.ds out of work, but the company, on the other hand, declare that the number of Europeans employed in the mines is almost as great as at any former time. They support their statement by a referen 'o to the Statistical Register, which shows that in 1887 the number emp'oyed was 2,970, in 1888, 2,730, in 1889, 2,323, and in 1890, 2,509. The statement of one witness that the number employed had really decreased by 1,000 appeared to the Committee to be a great exaggeration. (-) The obvious remedy for such a state of things seemed to be the drafting of surplus labour to other parts of the cob ny, where employes, more especially artisans and mechanics, arc much needed. This, however, was what the people of Beaconsfield and Kimberley were most anxious to prevent, as they felt that if a large emigration took place the towns would be entirely destroyed. A further difficulty arises when the men in question have large families whom it would be expen- sive to move about the country. ( 3 ) The managers of the De Beer’s mines stated that they were willing to give work to any man of good character, and that they were employing many men whose services they did not actually need, at seven or eight shillings a day. The secretary said that out of liO men to whom employment had been given at Kenil- worth (the model village), oidy 50 came regularly to work. Employment had been offered to Mr. McArthur, one of the leaders of the agitation at 8s. a day, but he had refused to take it. The secretary stated further that white men, as a rule, did not want to work, hut wished for posts as overseers, where they could sit and watch natives. On the other hand, the Rev. A. P. Kiel and other witnesses stated that men had applied for work to the company and failed to receive it. One man applied eight times in a fortnight, with good letters of recommendation, but was put off by the manager ; two of his friends were treated in the same way.( 4 ) The remedies most desired by the people out of work were that they should be allowed to wash debris, that the Wesselton Mine should be opened as a public mine, and that work should be resumed in the Du Toit Pan and Bultfontein mines, either by the company, or by in- dividual claim -holders. They further wished that natives should be permitted to leave the compounds at stated times, so as to buy their goods in Kimberley, and that the De Beer’s Company should be prohibited front building any more houses outside the borough. Two difficulties arose in regard to the first proposals. Since diamonds derive their value from the fact that there are only a limited quantity in the market, it appeared very possible that the washing of debris and the working of several additional mines, might not only reduce the price below the cost of production, but also induce the classes who buy diamonds because their possession confers distinction, to cease from purchasing them.(’) There is round the mines a mass of waste material, some of which has been put through the washing-machines, while it has not been thought worth while to examine the rest. Diamonds arc often found in this waste, and when the price of diamonds is high it becomes profitable to wash it. ,(') Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1891, pp. 240, 241. ( 2 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqua- land West. 1M>1, pp. viii., ix„ 2, 3. 40, 105. 108. 115. 1S5, 205, 210, 253, 305. Report ol Inspector of Diamond Mines, 1880. pp. 24, 31. 32. I 1 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1831, pp. x., 115, 185, 414. C) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand West, 1831, pp. 101. 102, 1S5, 205. ,, f 5 ) Report of Select Committee on Trade and Business, Griqualand W’est, 1831, pp. 115, 124, 127, 130, 141, 412, 413. The outlay required to enter upon washing debris varies from 300Z. to 1,OOOZ.( 6 ) Though it appeared improbable that the washing of this debris would reiiove the existing distress, the Do Beer’s Company granted licenses for 100 machines; and the Municipal Council also permitted a fixed amount of washing in their debris. This, however, did not satisfy those who de- sired State interference, as they thought that debris washing ought practically to be permitted to all apply- ing for licences. The great objection to such a course is that it would probably so reduce the price cf diamonds as to make their production unprofitable. ( 7 ) The profits from debris-washing vary very much. The cost is about 12L a week, and not 40 per cent, of those washing on the Council’s ground were believed to find 121. worth of diamonds. In four weeks the finds of washers varied in value from 21. 15s. to 91. The largest find was worth 651., but that was exceptional. Conse- quently many of the washers could barely earn a liveli- hood, and very few made much by this means of living, though they preferred it to any other that was offered. This preference appeared, however, to be partly due to the strong feeling roused by the monopolist system of the De Beer's Company, and to the desire to invoke Government interference. The Mayor of Beaconsfield stated that the Debris Washers’ Association desired to be allowed to wash debris, not because the members were poor, but because they wished to uphold therigtts of the people. ( 8 ) The evidence given before the Select Committee brought out the fact that even if new r mines were opened individual claim-holders could not work them, since the value of diamonds had already diminished, and if syndicates were formed the new mines would soon he absorbed by one great company as the old one had been. With regard to the abolition of the com- pound system, it appeared to them to have been of the greatest benefit to the natives and to the town, nor could they assent to the proposal that natives should be allowed to leave the compound from time to time, as that would deprive the system of its advantages. They held, further, that it would be impossible to pro- hibit the company from building on its own land. The proposals of the Select Committee to provide other remedies, such as allowing free passes on the railway to men going to work in other parts of the- colony, or opening up new industries, were not favourably received. The Committee also pointed out that* at present the Cape imported almost all the necessities of life, and that much land might profitably be cultivated in Griqualand. The answer to these proposals was always that men could not move from Kimberley and Beaconsfield with their families. It was evident that the one thing desired was an increased opening of the diamond industry, regardless of the fact that such a course might be its ruin. A labour bureau was esta- blished by private individuals, but men for whom work was provided at a distance were found to return to Kimberley, apparently because diamond mining pos- sesses a fascination found in no other occupation, except, perhaps, gold digging. The Select Committee finally came to the conclusion that as the distress arose from natural causes it must be loft to natural remedies, more especially as additional labour was much needed in some other parts of the colony. The minority report stated that Government, having expended much capital in the townships of Kimberley and Beaconsfield, should interfere to prevent their extinction by compelling the working of the mines which have been closed down, the opening of the Wesselton Mines, and the washing of debris. ( nd pull down buildings and again rebuild, and no purchaser, assignee, mortgagee, or tenant shall be bound to inquire as to the authority for any sale, exchange, mortgage, or lease by the trustees, and the receipt of the trustees shall be a discharge for all moneys arising from, or in connexion with, such sale, mortgage, or lease ; provided that no moneys shall be expended in the purchase, as aforesaid, of any land, or in building, pulling down, altering, or rebuilding any building forming part of any fund that was not specially contributed for that purpose, unless out of a clear surplus of such fund over and above the sum of 10Z. for every person interested therein, or forming part of any fund applicable lor any of the purposes of section three, sub-section (c) of this Act, unless out of a clear surplus of such fund over and above the sum of 1Z. for every 2Z. payable on the death of all the persons for the time being interested therein ; provided, further, that the provisions of this section shall not affect or apply to any funds of any friendly society already invested at the time of the taking effect of this Act, unless and until such funds shall again be uninvested. 18. The treasurer of every friendly society established under this Act, or any other officer who is required by the rules to give security, shall, before he take upon himself the execution of his office, become bound, with one or more sufficient sureties, in a bond as near as may M 2 Property to 1)0 vested in Trustees. Trustees to bring and defend actions. Liability of trustees. Investment of society’s funds. Treasurer to give security. 92 Treasurer to render accounts to Trustees. Audit. Annual Returns. be to the form set forth in Schedule C. to this Act, in such penal sum as the society or committee of manage- ment shall direct and appoint; and every such bond shall be given to the trustee or trustees of the said Bociety for the time being, and shall be, by him or them, duly registered. And if the said bond shall become forfeited, it shall be lawful for such trustee or trustees to sue upon such bond for the use of such society. 19. Every such treasurer or other officer, at such time as, by the rules of such society, he should render such account as is herein-after mentioned, or upon being required so to do by the trustee or trustees ol such society, or by a majority of the said committee ot management, or by a majority of the members present at a meeting of the said society, called for that purpose within seven days after such recpiisition, shall rendei to the trustee or trustees of the society, or the said committee of management, or to the members of such society at a meeting of the society, a just and true account of all moneys received and paid by him since his appointment, or since he last rendered an account, and of the balance then remaining in his hands, and of all bonds or securities of such society, which account the said trustee or trustees, or committee of manage- ment, shall cause to be audited by some fit and piopei person or persons by them to he appointed ; and such treasurer thereunto required, upon said accounts being audited, shall forthwith hand over to the said trustee or trustees the balance which, on such audit, shall appear to be due from bim ; and shall also, if required, hand over to such trustee or trustees all securities and effects, books, papers, and property of the said society in his possession or custody ; ana if he fail to do so, the trustee or trustees of the said society may sue upon tho bond aforesaid, or may sue such treasurer in any court having jurisdiction, for the balance appearing to have been due from him, and for all moneys received by him on account of said society and not paid over, and for me securities and efieejs, books, papers, and properties in his possession or custody, leaving him to set off in such action the sums, if any, which he may have paid on account of said society, and in such action, the trustee or trustees shall be entitled to recover their full cost of suit, to be taxed as between attorney and client. 20. Every friendly society registered under this Act shall — (1) Once every year submit its accounts for audit to two or more persons appointed as the rules of tho society provide, such auditors to have access to all the books and accounts of the society and to examine the general statement of the receipts and expendi- ture’, funds, and effects of the society, and verify the same with the accounts and vouchers relating thereto, and either to sign the same as found by them to be correct duly vouched and in accordance with law, or specially report to the society in what respects they find it incorrect, unvouched or not in accordance with law. Such audit in every case where practicable to include an examination and comparison of the entries on tho. pence cards of the members with the corresponding entries in the receipt or cash book of the society, and the auditors to state in their report whether such examination and comparison have been made and with what result. (2) At least once in every year before the 1st day of June send to the Registrar a general statement (to be called the annual return) of the receipts and expenditure, funds, and effects of the society as audited, which shall show separately the expendi- ture in respect of the several objects of the society, and shall be made out to the hist December, then last inclusively, and a copy of the auditors’ report shall accompany such annual return, and such annual return shall state the name, address, and calling or profession of the auditors and the manner in which and the authority under which they were respectively appointed ; and there shall also be sent with such general statement a list of the members of the society, together with the age of each, and the periods of sickness, the deaths and other contingencies in respect of which benefits are given by the society, experienced by the society duriug the year ending as aforesaid, specifying the members in respect of whom such sickness, deaths, or contingencies have been experienced, and such other information as the Registrar, with the ap- proval of the Minister, may from time to time prescribe. (3) Once at least in overy five years furnish to the Quiiiquen- registrav full statistical information, to enable him J‘ l j l n . va la to make, or cause to be made, an actuarial valuation of the liabilities and assets of the society. After such valuation has been made the registrar shall send a statement of the results with a full report thereon to he circulated by the officers of the society amongst its members. (4) Allow any member or person having an interest in Inspection the funds of the society to inspect the books during 0 tl0 ° b ' business houi s at the registered office of the society or at any place where the same are kept. (5) Supply gratuitously every member or person Supplying interested in the funds of the society, on his appli- ^nual°re- cation, with a copy of the last annual returns of the turns, society for the time being. (6) Keep a copy of the last annual balance sheet for the time being, and of the last quinquennial valua- tion for the time being, together with a report of the auditors, if any, always hung up in a con- spicuous place at tho registered office of the society. 21. Every annual, quinquennial or other return, Returns to abstract of valuation, and other document required for the purposes of this Act shall be made in such form and form, shall contain such particulars as the Registrar shall, subject to the approval of the minister, from time to time prescribe. 22. A person under the age of twenty-one may be elected and admitted a member of any society esta- 0 f society. Wished under this Act, the rules of which do not prohibit such election, and may, and he is hereby empowered., to execute all necessary instruments, and to give all necessary acquittances : Provided that, during minority, ho shall not be competent to bold any office of trustee or treasurer of such society. 23. In any society in which a sum of money may be J^penses of insured, payable on the death of a child under ten years child under of age, it shall not be lav.'ful to pay any sum for the funeral expenses of such child, except upon production required be- of a certificate signed by a qualified medical prac- fore pay- titioner, stating the probable cause of death; and no mento1, trustee or officer of any society, upon an insurance of a sum for the funeral expenses of any child, shall know- ingly pay a sum which shall raise the whole amount receivable from one or more than one society for the funeral expenses of a child under ten years to a sum exceeding six pounds : and any such trustee or officer who shall make any payment otherwise than as afore- said, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds upon the conviction thereof before the resident magistrate of the district in which such death shall have taken place. 24. The trustee or trustees of any friendly society Power of registered under this Act may, out of the funds thereof , subscwibe'to subscribe to any hospital, infirmary, charitable or other hospitals, provident institution, such annual or other sum as may &c - be agreed upon by the committee of management, or by a majority of the members at a meeting called for that purpose, in consideration of any member of such society, his wife, child, or other persons nominated, being eligible to receive the benefits of such hospital or other institution, according to the rules thereof. 25. Every dispute between any member or members Decision of of any society registered under this Act, or any person tween rnem- claiming through or under a member, or under the bers and rules of such society, and the trustee, treasurer, or other officer, or the committee thereof, shall be decided in manner directed by the rules of such society ; but an appeal from any such decision may be made to the court or to the resident magistrate’s court of the district within which the usual or principal place of business of the society in this colony shall be situated. 26. Application for the removal of any trustee, or for any other relief, order, or direction, or for the settle- cases, ment of disputes, that may have arisen in any society, the rules of which do not prescribe any other mode of settling such disputes, or to enforce the decision of any arbitrators, or to hear or determine any dispute, if no arbitrator shall have been appointed, or if no decision shall have been made by the said arbitrator within forty days after application has been made by the member or person claiming through or under a mem- ber, or under the rules of the society, may be made to the court, or to the resident magistrate’s court of the district within which the usual or principal place of business of the society in this colony shall be situated ; and the court, or resident magistrate’s court, shall, upon the application of any person interested in the matter entertain such application ; and either of the Dissolution of society- powers of members for. Prosecution of person misappro- priating society s funds. Penalties. 93 said courts, as the case may be, may give such relief, and make such order and direction in relation to the matter of such application as may be necessary, and the circumstances of the case may require. 27. It shall be lawful for the members of any friendly society established under this Act at some meeting of such society to be specially called in that behalf, to dissolve and determine the said society by consent : provided that no society established under this Act shall he dissolved or determined, without obtaining the votes of five-sixths in value of the then existing mem- . hers, and, for the purpose of ascertaining the votes of five-sixths in value of the members as aforesaid, every member shall ho entitled to one vote, and an additional vote for every five years that he may have been a member of said society ; hut no one member shall have more than five votes in the whole ; and such society shall not he determined and dissolved, unless all persons then receiving or entitled to receive any relief, annuity, or other benefit from the funds thereof, shall first have testified under their hands that such claim is duly satisfied to the satisfaction of the Registrar or unless adequate provision is made for satisfying such claim. And the intended appropriation or division of the funds or other property shall be fairly and distinctly stated in the agreement for dissolution, prior to such consent being given : and the agreement for such dissolution, accompanied with a declaration by one of the trustees, that the provision? of the Act have been complied with, shall he transmitted to the Registrar to he by him filed with the rules : and such agreement shall thereupon he an effectual discharge to the trustees, treasurer, and other officers of such society, and operate as a release from all the members of the society to such trustees, treasurers and other officers : and it shall not he lawful in any society to direct a division or appropriation of any part of the stock thereof, except for the purpose of carrying out the general objects declared in the rules, as originally certified, unless the claim of every member is duly satisfied, or adequate provision be made for satisfying such claim, and in case any member of any such society shall he dissatisfied with such provision, it shall he lawful for him to apply to the Court, upon motion for relief or other order, and such court shall make such order or direction in relation thereto as the nature of the case may require. 28. If aay officer, member, or other person repre- senting himself to be a member of any Friendly Society established under this Act, or the nominee, executor, administrator, or assignee of a member thereof, or any person whatsoever, by false representation or imposition, shall obtain possession of any moneys, securities, books, papers, or other effects of such society, or, having the same in his possession, shall withhold or misapply tho same, or shall wilfully apply any part of the same to purposes other than those expressed or directed in the rules of the society, or any part thereof, the person so complained of may upon the complaint or information of the trustees, or any officer or member of the society, he prosecuted before the resident magistrate’s court, having jurisdiction over the locality where the offence may have been committed ; and if the magistrate presiding shall determine the said complaint proved against such person, he shall order such person to deliver up all such moneys, securities, books, papers, or other effects to the society, or to repay the amount of money applied improperly, and to pay, if he should think fit, a further sum of money, not exceeding twenty pounds sterling, together with necessary costs, and in default of such delivery of effects, or repayment of such amount of money, or payment of such penalty and costs, the person so convicted maybe imprisoned with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding three months : Provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent the said party from being proceeded against by indictment : Provided also, that no person shall be proceeded against by indictment, if a conviction shall have been previously obtained for the same offence under the provisions of this Act. 29. If any friendly society registered under this Act shall- ot) Fail to give any notice, send any return or document, or do, or allow to he done, any act or thing which the society is by this Act required to give, send, do, or allow to be done ; (h) Wilfully neglect or refuse to do any act or thing, or to furnish any information required for the purposes of this Act, by the Registrar or other person authorised under this Act, or do any act or thing forbidden by this Act ; (c) Make a return or wilfully furnish information in any respect false or insufficient; such society shall be liable to a fine of not less than one pound and not more than five pounds, recoverable at the suit of the registrar. 30. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act the Registrar shall from time to time, with the approval of the minister (1) Prepare or cause to he prepared, and cause to ho Prepara- circulated for the use of friendly societies, model forms of accounts, balance sheets, and valuations, forms. (2) Collect from the returns under this Act and from Circulation other sources, and publish and circulate either "j f ( ” llorma " generally or in any particular district, or otherwise make known such information on tbe subject of the statistics of life and sickness, and the appli- cation thereof to the busiuess of friendly societies, and from time to time publish generally or in particular districts such particulars of their returns and valuations and such other information useful to the members of and the persons interested in friendly societies, whether registered or not, as the Registrar shall from time to time think fit. (3) Cause to he constructed and published tables for Construc- the payment of sums of money on death, in tior. of sickness or old age or on any other contingency forming the subject of an assurance authorised under this Act, which may appear to he calculable. Such tables shall he calculated so as to show the minimum contributions which should be charged for the various kinds of benefits, and no society shall be admitted to registration unless it adopts such tables or some other tables which do not show lower rates of contribution, in the case of ail members admitted subsequent to the date of registration. 31. All rules, documents, &c., which have been R U i eS) & c „ lodged with the Registrar of Deeds by societies under Act registered under the Act of 1882 shall, as soon as ^.^ferretl 5 practicable, after the registration under this Act of to Regis- the societies to which they relate, he transferred to the trar - custody of the Registrar appointed under this Act. 32. There shall not he paid by any Friendly Society t rat io n registered under this Act, any fee for such registration 16r ' s ia 1 or for anything done by the Registrar in pursuance of this Act. 33. This Act may he cited as “ The Friendly Societies short title. Act, 1892.” Schedule A. Form of Certificate of Registration of Society . The Society is registered a3 a Friendly Society under the Friendly Societies Act, 1892, this day of A.B., Registrar of Friendly Societies. Schedule B. Form of Certificate of Registration of Amendments of Rules. The foregoing amendment of tho rules of the Society is registered under the Friendly Societies Act, 1892, this day of A.B., Registrar of Friendly Societies. Schedule C. Form of Bond. Know all men by these presents, that we A.B., of treasurer (or other officer) of the society established at , in the district of , and C.D. of (as surety on behalf of the said A.B.) are jointly and severally held and firmly bound to E.F., of , and G.IL, of the trustees of the said society, in the sum of to be paid to the said E.F. and G.H. as such trustees, or their successors, trustees for the time being, or their certain attorney, for which payment to be well and M 3 94 truly made we jointly and severally bind ourselves, and each of us, our heirs, executors, and administrators as well as our and each of our property according to law, renouncing as we hereby renounce all and every exception which may by any law or custom be made by sureties or otherwise. This done at , this day of , 18 A.B. C.D. Witnesses : I.K. L.M. Whereas the above bounden A.B. has been duly appointed treasurer (or other officer) of the society, established as aforesaid, and he, together with the above bounden C.D., as surety and co-principal debtor, have entered into the above-written bond, subject to the conditions hereinafter contained. Now, therefore, the condition of the above-written bond is such that if the said A.B. shall do and faith- fully execute his office of treasurer (or other officer) of the said society, established as aforesaid, and shall make and render a just and true account of the moneys received and paid by him, and shall do and pay over all the moneys remaining in his hands and assign and transfer, or deliver all securities and effects, books, papers and property of or belonging to the said society, in his hands or custody, to such person or persons as the said society shall appoint, according to the rules of the said society, together with the proper or legal receipts or vouchers for such payments ; and likewise shall and do in all respects well and truly perform and fulfil his office of treasurer (or other officer) to the said society according to the rules thereof, then the above-written bond shall be void and of no effect, but otherwise shall be in full force and effect. A.B. C.D. Witnesses : I.K. L.M. APPENDIX B. Books and Pampulets bearing on Labour (Questions in Cape Colony and Natal, now in the Library of the Royal Commission on Labour. Laws. Natal. No. 18, 1862. „ 23, 1865. ,, 15, 1871. ., 17, 1882. „ 12, 1885. „ 34, 1887. „ 21, 1888. ., 3, 1891. Masters and servants. Obtaining labour. Masters and servants. 3. 1870. Burial of servants. Registration of native servants. Masters and servants. Government Notices. Natal. 391, 1889. Regulations dealing with Safe- Mining. 705! 1889. Further regulations. 377, 1890. Further regulations. Natal Ordinances, Laws, and Proclamations, 1843- 4. Memorandum by the Secretary for Native Affairs in respect to “ Native Labour,” 1891. 5. Reports of the Select Committee on the Labour Question, Cape Colony, 1890, 1892. 6. Reports on the Management and Discipline of Convict Stations and Prisons, 1889. 7. Reports by the Inspector of Diamond Mines in Griqualand West, 1839 and 1890. 8. Employers’ Liability Act. Cape of Good Hope, 1886. 9. Report of the Select Committee on Griqualand West Trade and Business, 1891. 10. Acts of Parliament of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 1884. 11. Reports by the Government Actuary upon Friendly Societies, 1890. 12. Text of Bill to repeal Friendly Societies Act of 1882, and to make other provisions in lieu thereof. 13. Masters and Servants Act. Cape Colony, November, 15th, 1856. 14. Masters and Servants Act. Cape Colony, November 18th, 1873. 15. Act to Amalgamate the Law relating to Masters, Servants, and Apprentices, November 28th, 1874. 16. Masters and Servants Act, November 7th, 1875. 17. Law to Consolidate Law as to Mining, Natal No 34, 1888. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN THE CROWN COLONIES TABLE OF CONTENTS. P I. — Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, North Borneo, and the Fiji Islands . 96 1. Importation of labour ........... 2. Methods of importation — a. Of Indian labour into Ceylon - - - - - - - ... b. Of Indian labour into the Straits Settlements and North Borneo .... c. Of Chinese labour into the Straits Settlements and North Borneo - - ... d. Of natives of Java and of the Malay peninsula into the Straits Settlements 3. Wages and conditions of labour ....... ... 4. Complaints of employers of coolie labour ........ 5. Remedies proposed— a. By the Commission of 1890 in the Straits Settlements --.... 1. By the Commission of 1878 in Ceylon - - - - - - ... 6 . Legislation ............ II. — British Guiana, British Honduras, and the West Indian Islands ..... 99 . 1. Industries requiring an increased supply of labour ....... 2. Terms of the labour contract - • - - - - - ... 3. Wages and conditions of labour- ......... 4. Views of employers on a. Causes of scarcity of labour ......... b. Character of labour ........ .. c. Conditions of labour .......... 5. Recommendations ........ . ... III. — British East and West Africa .......... ’AGE i— 99 96 96 96 96 97 97 98 98 98 99 -102 99 99 100 100 101 101 101 102 9G 1. Importa- tion of labour. 2. Methods of importa- tion. (a.) Of In- dian labour into Ceylon, (6.) Of In- dian labour into the Straits Settlements and North Borneo. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN THE CROWN COLONIES. I. —CEYLON, THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, NORTH BORNEO AND THE FIJI ISLANDS. Labour on tea and coffee plantations in Ceylon, in the mines or on the estates of the Straits Settlements and North Borneo, and in the sugar and fruit planta- tions of the Fiji Islands is largely carried on by Coolies, imported into Ceylon from India, into the East Indian Colonies from India, China and Java, and into the Fiji Islands from India and the Islands of Polynesia. These imported labourers are in some cases free and in others bound by contract for a certain term of years. Coolie immigrants in Ceylon are free to terminate their en- gagement at a month's notice, and there is a constant stream of Tamil coolies passing between that island and Southern India. In 1890, the immigrants num- bered 52,769 and the emigrants numbered 46,085. In the Straits Settlements and in Northern Borneo the majority of the imported labourers arc engaged on the contract system, receive their passage money in advance, and are bound to their employers for a term which may be extended if they have not discharged their indebtedness. Such of the labourers as are free receive better wages than the rest and are thought to do a greater amount of work ; but on the other band employers cannot secure a sufficient number of them nor rely on their services for any length of time.(‘) The methods of importing coolie labour vary very little in the different colonies, and are in all cases liable to the same abuses, especiall}' where contract labour is concerned. According to the investigations of a Commission appointed in 1878. employers in Ceylon engage a coolie returning for a time to India to act as a “kangany,” or recruiting agent, and to bring back a fresh supply of labour. The exact number of men required is not stated, but the kangany is en- trusted with a certain sum of money to be expended in advances to coolies, which advances are afterwards recovered out of the wages of their labour. According to the evidence of some witnesses a considerable portion of this sum never reached the coolies at all, but was paid by the kangany to the Ceylon bazaar keepers, to whom he was usually in debt. On the other hand an employer stated that large sums reached India, but that they were often paid to the friends of the coolies rather than to the coolies themselves. Similarly the agents and brokers employed in the Straits Settlements and in Northern Borneo to engage coolie labour in China are often obliged to bribe parents to permit the departure of their sons as well as to make presents to Mandarins and their officers, to induce them to connive at the practice of recruiting. ( 2 ) Indian emigration to the Straits Settlements dates from the beginning of the present century and prior to 1857 it was unfettered by legal restrictions. The Acts of 1857 and 1859 provided against the overcrowding of emigrant ships, and an Act of 1864 made it illegal to advance passage money on conditions of service. Nevertheless, emigration on the contract system was continued up to 1870, and though it was suspended from 1870 to 1872 through the action of the Madras Government, the exemption of the Straits Settlements from the operation of the Emigration Acts led to its resumption in 1872. In that year, however, recruiting agents were required to bring all coolies whom they engaged before a magistrate at Negapatam and to state all particulars as to the mode in which the passage money was to be repaid, the diet to be given during the voyage, the wages to be paid, the nature of the work to be performed, the duration of the engagement and the provision made for the coolie’s return to his home. Emigration was restricted to certain ports approved by the Madras Government ; an emigration agent was appointed for each port by the Government of the Straits Settlements, as well as a Protector of Emigrants by the Government of Madras. No recruit- ing was allowed except by persons holding the protector’s licences, and written contracts specifying (p Report of the Commission on Labour in the Straits Settlements, J890, up. 10, 11. Imperial Institute Year Book, 1892, p. 453. ( s ) Report of Commission on Coolie Labour in Ce.vlon, 1878, p. vi. Minutes of Evidence, pp. 10, 11, 13, 16, 19, 29, 32, 36, 42, 46. Report of Commission on Labour in the Straits Settlements, 1890 : Evidence pp. 8, 11,14. the minimum wages and the maximum term of em- ployment were required in every case. A Protector of Immigrants, nominated by the Governor of Madras, was also appointed in the Straits Settlements, but these regulations were gradually relaxed as the Indian Government became convinced that the reports of the ill-treatment of coolies were greatly exaggerated, and that the welfare pf Indian emigrants to the Straits Settlements was best left in the hands of the Straits Government. By an ordinance of 1884, issued by that Government, no contract could be concluded with any coolie until he arrived in the Settlement. Since that time the Straits Government have subsidised a line of steamers from Negapatam with the object of securing good accommodation at reasonable rates for intending immigrants. A Government depot was opened in Negapatam in 1890, and a strict medical inspection of all emigrants instituted, with the result that the phy- sique of the labourers arriving in the Settlements has greatly improved. Under existing regulations the agents of large firms, licensed by a qualified magistrate to engage in recruiting, collect the coolies, who are then drafted to the Government depot to undergo medical inspection. After being passed bj- the medical inspector the coolie is further examined by the Protec- tor of Emigrants for the purpose of ascertaining whether he is leaving of his own free will. On arrival at Penang the coolies are again examined by the Indian Immigration Agent or his assistant, and free coolies are dismissed with the caution that they must not proceed to Sumatra or to any other eountrj- which has made no convention with the Indian Government concerning emigration. Coolies whose passage money has been advanced are detained in the depots until they have signed their contracts, and are then handed over to their employer’s agents to be conducted to the estates on which they are to work. In spite, however, of all these regulations it is doubtful whether all the coolies engaged have any clear understanding of the terms of their contract, and it is often alleged that recruiting agents obtain their consent by making false representa- tions, or even employ force to bring them over. North Borneo has receutly been recognised by the Indian Government as a place for which labour may be re- cruited in India, but little use has as yet been made of the permission. The cost of importing coolies from India into the Straits Settlements is $20, of which $8 are recoverable ; the other $12 represent the agent’s expenses and commission. ( 3 ) The question of the treatment of Chinese immigrants M Of Chi-, was brought to the notice of the Straits Government in tho° Ur 1872 and 1873 by petitions from Chinese merchants Straits and citizens to protest against the kidnapping of newly andNoit'h arrived immigrants and the overcrowding of the vessels Borneo, which brought them to Singapore. Police regulations were accordingly issued, and a system of registration instituted j but abuses still continued, and in 1877 the Chinese interpreter laid before the Council a report “ revealing a scandalous state of things.” An ordinance in council was issued in consequence appointing a Pro- tector and an Assistant Protector of Chinese, and authorising the establishment of depots for the recep- tion of Sin-Khehs, or newly arrived Chinese im- migrants, and for the registration of labour contracts. A second ordinance of the same year imposed a penalty on all who by force or fraud induced any labourers to leave the colony for service elsewhere ; this ordinance was designed to protect Chinese labourers from being carried off against their will to work in Penang or Sumatra. According to an ordinance of 1880 immi- grants who have not paid their passage money, or had it paid for them by their future employer, must on arrival in Singapore be placed in depots under Govern- ment supervision, and may be detained there for a period of ten days, until they have obtained employ- ment and the employer has paid the passage. This ordinance was designed to prevent brokers from bring- ing over coolies as a speculation and involving the coolies in heavy obligations far exceeding the cost of transport and requiring years of service to discharge. A legal decision of 1890 interpreted this ordinance as ( 3 ) Report, of Commission on Labour in the Straits Settlements, 1890 pp. 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 44 : Evidence, pp. 182, 195. 97 ( work ” except the repairing, examining and (cl.) ] cleaning of the machinery, which is sometimes done out of the usual hours. (e.) Sunday, or some native holiday instead, is always a holiday. (a.) Work is regular throughout the year. (b.) Accidents are rare. We work only by daylight ; cleanliness is particularly attended to ; good latrines are provided. (c.) Compensation for accidents. See under the head- ing of “ Allowances.” (/.) Men are employed to attend the machines driven by power, women to attend reels worked by hand. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. There is occasional friction between employer and the hands, but nothing that might be dignified by the name of “strike or lock-out”; such disputes never extend beyond a single department at once and are usually settled in a short time, the hands either return- ing to work, or a number of them, with some new hands to replace those that leave. IY. — General Questions. (1.) No such system exists in this district, nor is there any necessity for such, there being no serious disputes. (2.) Such is foreign to the ideas of the natives of India. (3.) There are no Government factories in this dis- trict. (4.) There is no agency, but there is plenty of work for all who wish to apply for it. (5.) No. The statistics of imports and exports of cotton and yarn are now registered in the Custom House. (6.) No means are called for, the relations between capital and labour are, on the whole, good in this district. (7.) The only suggestion we would make for the infor- mation of the Commission is that the age at which a boy may work full time be reduced from 14 to 12 as formerly. Our reasons are: — (1.) A Hindu boy from 12 to 14 years is much “ older ” than an English boy of the same age. (2.) Lads nearing 14 decline to earn half-wages and go to school half the day ; therefore, they simply must leave the comparative comfort of indoor work and good wages of the factory and go to hard work in the fields and less pay, while their elder brothers, who have attained 14 years, enjoy good pay and easy and regular work in the factory. The so- called “ friends ” of Indian children are thus their worst enemies. (Signed) A. & F. Harvey. From the Secretaries, Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving Company, Limited, to the Chiep Secre- tary to Government, dated Coimbatore, 5th May 1892. We have the honour to return to you your questions regarding condition of labour in the textile trades of India. 2. Our manager has by mistake given marginal answers to all, but as we are not troubled with trade unions or associations of employers, there should have been no answers to questions under Sections A. and C. 3. We have little to remark to Government, except that since this mill was started, no work (except occa- sional absolutely necessary mechanic’s work) has been done on Sunday. 4. In addition to this weekly day of rest, native feasts numbering about 13 in the year are holidays in this mill. 5. Our grievance is the new Factory Act, which will press very heavily on some poor people who want to work. 6. Several hands have had to be dismissed and many boys will not work for half a day, and think it a great hardship that they should not be allowed to work full time. 7. The work in these Indian mills is very light com- pared to the work in an English mill, and we do not think the position of mill-hands in this country is at all parallel to the position of mill-hands at home, and it seems to us iniquitous that an English Act should be forced on the labourers of this country just to satisfy Manchester agitators ! 8. Many unemployed boys of 12 years of age could find work in mills which at present are obliged to refuse to engage them. (Signed) T. Stanes & Co. Enclosure. Syllabus. B.— Questions addressed to Employers. T. — Introductory. Questions. 1. Will you state the business or businesses in which your firm is engaged, and where its works are situated ? 2. What number of work-people are there engaged in your firm, particularised as follows : — Male ? Female ? Young persons ? 3. Is your firm connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions ? U 75209. Answers. Cotton-spinning only. Coimbatore, Madras Presidency. 200 . 150. Half timers 360. No. P 114 Wages. Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions op Labour. Questions. What representations or information do you desire to offer for the consideration of the Commission under any of the following heads : — Mode of payment — (1) By the hour, day, or week P (2) By the piece ? (3) By the task P Payment through sub-contractor ? Deductions by fines or other forms of stoppage P Truck or payment in kind P Allowances in form of — Bonus P Deferred pay, such as sick, accident, pension, or other insurance system ? Free house, land, food, clothing, or other allow- ance or advantage ? Length of notice for ending engagement ? Ordinary or standard hours of labour p Overtime and its remuneration P Night-shifts and their remuneration ? Sunday work and its remuneration ? Weekly half holiday or other holiday without payment ? Irregularity of employment through seasonal or other causes F Safety of employment, and the lighting, sanitation, and inspection of workplaces P Employment of foreigners ? Dismissal of representative delegates, refusal of unionists to work with non-unionists, use of black list, and mutual relations of employers and trade unions generally ? Answers. All monthly. Yes. No. No. Deduction only for not attending work. No. No. No. Free house only to foremen. One month. From 6.0 to 12.0 and from 1.0 to 7.0. Only mechanics ; they should get timc-and-halt. Do. do. do. Do. do. do. Native feast without pay. Cannot be regulated. By factory inspector. Olily recommend the employment of English. Not required. HI. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. Can you state how many strikes and lock-outs there have been in connexion with your works in each of the 10 years 1881-90, and in the current year up to date ? 2. Have such disputes been, during that period, more frequent than formerly, or less so ? 3. Can you enumerate the important disputes and furnish particulars in regard to each such dispute under the following heads : — Date of commencement and termination ? The chief immediate causes of each such dispute ? Number of workers in your employment directly engaged in each dispute ? Number of persons in your employment who have been thrown out of work thereby, but who have not been directly engaged in the dispute p Attitude of associated employers towards the dispute P Mode of settlement ? Advance or reduction of wages or other result of each dispute P Estimated loss to firm, direct or indirect, occa- sioned by dispute ? One. No. May 10th to May 12th, 1891. Because one man struck another. 300. 200 . None. Employes came to work of their own accord. None. Yery little loss. IY. — General Questions. 1. Does any system exist in your trade in your district providing for conciliation, arbitration, sliding scales, or other means of preventing or arranging trade disputes ? 2. Has any system of co-operative production, indus- trial partnership, or profit-sharing been attempted by your firm, and, if so, with what results ? 3. Are the Government, or local authorities, employers of labour in your trade and district, and if so, with what results as to remuneration and other conditions of employment P 4. Can you supply information as to any a gency in your district for finding or providing work for the unem- ployed P 5. Have you any suggestions to make as to the statis- tical and Other information relating to your trade which is, or, in your opinion, should be, collected and published by Government ? 6. Can you suggest any means of avoiding or arranging strikes and promoting cordial relations between capital and labour P 7. Have you any other statement or suggestion to make for the information of the Commission P None. None. No Only the tanneries and cotton and coffee works. No. No. 115 From Secretaries and Treasurers, Madras United Spinning and Weaving Mills Company (Limited), to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras, dated Bombay, 19th May 1892. With reference to your printed circular, No. 723-A, of the 13th day of April last, forwarding us for our answer a copy of the syllabus of subjects to which the Committee C. of the Royal Commission on Labour will devote particular attention as regards competition of India with Lancashire in the textile trades, we have the honour to lay before the Government such information regarding the condition of the said labour as bears upon our trade of the textile fabrics in the Presidency. Such of the subjects in the said syllabus as are not dealt with by us in the present representation are not within the province of our individual trade upon which we can offer any comments for the guidance of the said Committee in their deliberation as being foreign, as far as we know, to the said trade in general. 2. There are in fact, unlike those of Lancashire, ever extant either in this Presidency or on this side of India, where we have at work several cotton mills, no trades’ differences between the employers and the employed, as originating from causes affecting several questions that are framed in the said syllabus as bearing con- nexion with the subject of trades’ differences in the textile fabrics in general. Since the mill industry was imported into India, it has never been brought to our knowledge that the scale of wages, and the mode of their payment, hours of labour and the continuity of employment, distribution and classification of work and such other matters as come under clauses D, E, F, G, H, I. J, K, L, M, and N, of the said subject, have ever given rise to a complaint on the part of the labourers to strike work or go for the settlement of disputes and differences between them and the em- ployers in regard thereto or any of them to their or the Employers’ Trades Associations or combinations dealing with the labour questions and which such associations or combinations do not owe any existence in the Presidency. 3. Upon questions falling under the category B. of the said syllabus as questions addressed to the em- ployers, it may be observed that this company is an incorporated body, having been registered under the Indian Companies Act, with a cotton manufacturing mill at Madras working daily on an average with 667 males and 38 females. The company had never had before, nor have at any time now, any connexion whatever with any organisation of the employers dealing with the labour question, inasmuch as the very fact as to the necessity or otherwise as to the formation of such a body is entirely unknown to the traders of the Presidency, in consequence of there having arisen no serious problems on labour question ever presented themselves for solution to the employers in general. Under the system at present in vogue, our mill- labourers are, as monthly servants, paid by us regularly every month and not through any sub-contractor, whose agency we have had no occasion to resort to. Deduc- tions are, however, made from such monthly payments on account of fines, and when there are stoppages for more than the usual monthly holidays allowed to them, such monthly payments being regulated by a calcu- lation wrought out from the probable quantity of work a particular labourer or a class of labourers is capable of doing during so many days the mill works ; but provision, however, being made to grant them some- times a bonus, and in case of his or their meeting with an accident, while in the performance of works, a deferred pay in the shape of compensation ; but save as herein-before mentioned, no such allowances are given them as are enumerated under clauses 2 and 3 of the Class (/), Sub-division II. of tho Subject B. of the said syllabus. The Indian Factories Act XV of 1881 as amended by Act XI. of 1891 of the Legislative Council of the Government of India has made such ample pro- visions in that behalf for the regulation of hours and condition of labour as to render it on our part quite super- fluous to advance any further information consistent with the present condition of the textile labours in the Presidency. During tho period intervening between 1881 and 1890, there have been no strikes or lock-outs in connexion with our works, so that several questions bearing on this subject can call for any answer on our part. 4. The second paragraph of the present representation deals out fully the reasons as to non-existence of trades’ diilercnces, as a necessary sequence for the solution of problems arising troin labour questions between the employers and the employed, as to which any system providing conciliation, arbitration, or other means of preventing or arranging disputes can owe its origin. No such system of co-operative production, industrial partnership or profit-sharing has ever been worked by us in co-operation with others similarly posted in the trade like ourselves as any result, either profitable or other- wise, accruing therefrom, can be brought home to the knowledge of the Government in order that the true condition of the trade in textile fabrics can be arrived at. We do not know whether the Government or any of the local authorities have ever acted as employers of labour in our trade or district, and with our limited knowledge no suggestion of remedy can be given or supply of information can be made leading the Govern- ment to find out an opening for the unemployed to find works. Within our business experience of so many years it is established beyond doubt that whenever either in a town or district there rises a mill-industry, there comes from the surrounding places, as a neces- sary result, an influx of labouring classes to seek in the mill and employment which, by reason of procuring them more comforts and easy mode of life, seems to them more lucrative than the indigent and unrernu- nerative works they get in their native place. 5. In order that a country may be made properous commercially and with a view that the traders may have within their reach for their guidance, those statistics as bear particular relation to the trade they are engaged in, it is our belief that there should be published, every year, from such of the departments of the Government upon whom such a duty is cast, (a) a forecast in the begin- ning of the season, giving the area of the land cultivated, the future condition of the crop, and the approximate quantity such a crop would yield by the area of such land cultivated at the end'of the season, aud ( l > ) at the end of the year, a comparative statement setting forth, so far as the information at the disposal of the Govern- ment is concerned, the actual outturn the said crop yielded, giving reasons as to increase or decrease thereof as compared with the past years, and setting forth also the quantity used by mills and other handi- craft works of the Presidency and exported into the foreign parts, and such other information as the nature of the trade requires and which the Government deems necessary in the interest of the trade to embody therein. 6. We submit that there appears no reason why India — and particularly this Presidency — should compete with Lancashire in foreign markets in the trade of textile fabrics so far as the spinning of finer yarn and cloth by the latter is concerned. Whatever motion that might have been made by them on the subject of this competition must have its origin out of a selfish motive on their part to hamper India in its legitimate trade, and must have been based upon exaggerated facts and statistics which, in the absence of their not forthcoming before us, we are unable to meet with in the present representation. (Signed) Mooljee, Jaitita and Co., Secretaries and Treasurers. From the Chairman, Madras Trades’ Association, Mad- ras, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated 201, Mount Road, 16th May 1892. I have the honour to state that your letter of tho 12th April 1892 on the subject of the textile trades of India, with regard to their competition with Lanca- shire, has been placed before the members of the Association, and that no information is forthcoming, owing to the fact that they are in no way connected. I have also to state that the object of the association is for the promotion of unanimity of purpose amongst its members on all subjects involving tho interests of the trade. No industries arc represented save working in metals and coach-building. With regard to wages, men are paid by piece or by the day, payments in most cases being made fortnightly. Strikes and lock- outs are happily unknown to the members. (Signed) C. Seton, Chairman. From the Officiating Deputy Secretary to the Govern- ment of India, Home Department (Judicial), dated Simla, 10th June 1892, No. 776. From tho Manager of the Malarar Spinning Company, Katuparamba, Calicut, to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated Calicut, 13th June 1892. The Malabar Spinning and Weaving Company’s Mills aro situate at Katuparamba, three miles from Calient. Spinning and reeling alone are carried on at these F 2 116 "Wages. mills. The number of spindles working are 17,000, and the total number of hands employed at the mills is 580, as follows : — Adults - - - 400 Females - - 33 Boys and learners - 70 Unskilled labourers - 77 2. The owners are not connected with any organisa- tion of employers. 3. The hands are paid part of them by piece and part by fixed wages, viz., the card-room hands and reeling- room hands are paid by piece, whereas the remainder of the hands including spinning department are paid by day wage and paid also for days when the mill is stopped. The reeling-hands are paid each fortnight or twice a month, viz., on the 8th and 20th of the month, whereas the rest of the mill hands are paid on the 15th of each month, and are paid by myself, the manager. 4. Advances are made to the hands between payments according to my own discretion. The average amount paid in wages monthly at these mills is about Its. 4,850. 5. Our daily outturn of yarn is from 6,000 to 6.500 lbs. mixed counts or equal to 5,700 lbs. average 20s. 6. The hours we work are not fixed, but from daylight to dark is the time. 7. This mill has been working now four years, and up to date no dispute of any mention between masters and men has taken place. 8. I beg to apologise for my not complying sooner, bnt I have been unable owing to sickness. Trusting this will suit your requirements for the present — I beg to remain, &c. (Signed) A. Ashworth, Mill Manager, Calicut. From the Secretaries and Treasurers of the Bellary Spinning and Weaving Company (Limited), to the Chief Secretary to Government, dated Bellary, 16th June 1892. With reference to your letter, No. 723-A, dated 12th April 1892, we respectfully beg to submit our answers 1 to a series of questions addressed to us as employers of labour (Section B of your letter). 2. We exceedingly regret that owing to the absence of the senior member of our firm and his indisposition for some time past, we were not able to reply to your letter earlier, for which we beg to apologise. (Signed) A. Sabafathy Moodeliar. Enclosures. Questions with reference to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Madras’ letter, No. 723-A., dated the 12th April 1892, answered. Employers. I. — Introductory. (1) Spinning and weaving are the businesses in which our firm is engaged. It is situated in Bellary — 16,392 spindles for spinning. 110 looms for weaving. (2) Number of workpeople engaged in our firm, par- ticularised as follows : — (a) Male 382 (b) Female - - 62 (e) Apprentices, &o. - - - 20 (d) Unskilled labourers - - 15 ' Total - 479 (3) Our firm is not connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. (a) Wages, which are paid monthly, range from — Rs. 6 to 30 a month (male). 4 99 10 (female). 3 9 9 6 ,. apprentices and young persons. 6 7^ „ unskilled labourers. 60 9 9 150 spinning, carding and weaving masters, each. 300 9 9 manager. 150 9 9 300 engineer. There have been no fluctuations in wages. 1 Sent sepurai ely by b> ok post duly registered. (h) (I) Most of the hands are paid monthly. This mode of payment is the one generally preferred by the workpeople and employers. Some are paid by day. Only in case of overtime the workmen are paid by hour. (2) By the piece. (3) No task-work system is in vogue. (c) No payment is made through sub-contractor as this system is against the interest of both the em- ployers and the workpeople. (d) Fines are inflicted when absolutely necessary. Absence without leave for one day is punishable with stoppage of two days’ wages except under medical cer- tificate from the company’s medical officer, when only one day’s wages is deducted for the day’s absence. (e) Payment is always made in specie and not in kind. (/) ( 1 ) No allowances in the form of bonus. (2) - In case of accidents the wages or pay, as the case may be is continued until discharged from the hospital. In case of severe hurt or serious accident which render the operative unfit for further service to which he is accustomed, he is given light work on a lower salary. No pension or insurance system or any other ad- vantage fpr the servants. (3) Free honse is allowed to all covenanted servants and to workmen coming from distant places. No food, clothing or any other allowance or advan- rage except tree medical aid, ( g ) One full month" previous notice for ending the service is insisted on. This course is found absolutely necessary. (a) IO 5 hours a day ordinarily, with an interval of one Hours of hour’s leisure in the midday. labour. (b) Overtime is always paid by hour at the workmen’s usual rate of wages or salary per day. (c) No night-shifts. ( d ) Our mill is not closed on Sundays, but it is closed on the “ Shandy ” or fair day generally. No remunera- tion is paid on holidays to those who do piece-work on work days and to the day labourers if the mill is closed the whole day. No deductions are made in the case of persons who are paid by month and who form the majority of the mill operatives. (e) When half-holiday is allowed, remuneration is paid for the whole day for day labourers. (a) The work is carried on throughout the year ; but Condition* the labourers, who are drawn mostly from the agri- of labour, cultural classes as a rule, absent themselves for long periods, especially during sowing and harvesting seasons. Their places are taken up by others. (b) Guards are employed to protect the persons of mill operatives who work near belting, shafting, &c., in the mill. The work is carried on only between sunrise and sun- set. When urgent repairs have to be done during nights, proper lighting is kept up, no mineral oil being used on any account. Sanitation is looked after by a medical officer in the service of the mill. The work place is periodically inspected by a local magistrate who is ex-officio Inspector of Factories in this district. He sees that sanitation is maintained and he also inquires into the grievances, if any, of the mill servants. In short, this Government official satisfies himself that everything is done in the mill in con- formity with the Factory Act. (c.) In case of accidents, the persons hurt are paid their usual pay or wages as long as they are under the surgical treatment in the hospital. If in consequence of the accident, the men — i.e., workpeople — became unfit for further service, they are given light work and put on lower pay. ( d .) Blacksmiths, carpenters, moulders, fitters, tinkers, turners, cobblers work short hours on salaries ranging from Rs. 10 to 30 per mensem. (e.) A workshop is attached to the mill. Nearly all work required for the mill is done here. No work is given to the workpeople to be done at their homes. (/.) Children between the ages of seven and twelve are worked not more than nine hours a day. (, g ,) Apprentices are taken in all departments of the mill including workshop and foundry on salaries ranging from Rs. 3 to Rs. 6 a month. They are at liberty to leave the work when they become fair work- men and not bound to serve the company for any stated period. ( h .) Foreigners are employed when equally able and skilled natives could not be had. 117 (i.) Every opportunity is seized to introduce cheap and efficient labour-saving machinery, such as thread extractor, &c. (j.) Always materials, machinery and plant of ap- proved quality alone are supplied. (7c.) iN o trade unions; no hlack list. Relations between employers and tradesmen are always good. (7.) Disputes arise when the Hindu and Muhamma- dan festivals are not recognised as holidays by employers, so these festival days are always recognised as holidays. As a rule, for the convenience of the mill- owners, all Hindus are allowed holidays on nearly all the important festival days of the Muhammadans and the Muhammadans on all the important Hindu festival days. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. impossible to place one on special duty — desirable though it would have been — with a view to collect the desired information. It has therefore been obtained through the various collectors of districts and other officers, and I am to add that, looking to the hurried nature of the inquiry and the means at the disposal of this Government for making it, it is not desirable to put too much confidence in the accuracy, as a whole, of the results. Replies to Questions set by the Royal Commission on Labour concerning the Condition of Labour in the Textile Trades of India. With a succinct Memorandum summarising the replies. The Ahmedabad Cotton Mills. 1. There had been no strikes or lock-outs in the history of the mill since it commenced work in 1883 up to date. 2. Nil, i.e., no disputes. 3. Nil. A to L— Nil. IY. — General Questions. 1. Trade disputes are generally settled by arbitration or conciliation, but such are very scarce. 2. No co-operative production, industrial partnership or profit-sharing system has been attempted. 3. Government and railway company are employers of labour in this district but not in our trade. Results as to remuneration are more satisfactory in the mill than with Government or railway servants. 4. We know of no agency for finding work for the unemployed in this district except emigrant agencies. 5. Government collects and publishes statistical and other information relating to our trade, but they are not easily available. 6. Cordial relations between capital and labour could be maintained by kind treatment, such as liberal and regular payments, some holidays with or without re- muneration or pay, medical aid, provision in case of accidents and some sort of Government supervision. 7. All spinning and weaving companies and other factories coming under the operation of the Indian Factory Act should be compelled by Government to make provision for the maintenance of persons rendered unfit for further work by accident to their person while in discharge of their duty in the mill premises. Provision must also be made for supply of medical aid for all the workpeople in factories coming under the Factory Act. Order— dated 6th July 1892, No. 1243, Judicial. The following letter will be despatched to the Govern- ment of India. 2. The thanks of Government will be conveyed to the gentlemen who have furnished information. [Here enter No. 1244, dated 6th July 1892.] (True extract.) J. F. Price, Exd. A. Raitt. Chief Secretary. No. 3,249, dated Bombay Castle, the 12th September 1892. From T. T. Mackenzie, Esq., Chief Secretary to the Government of Bombay, General Department, to the Secretary to the Government of India, Home Department. No. 7 Statistics, dated 4th February 1892. Adverting to your letter No. 368, dated 14th March . forwarding copies of a despatch from Her Ma- jesty s Secretary of State giving cover to a letter with enclosures from the Royal Commission on Labour, in which mformahon is requested concerning the condi- tion of labour in the textile trades of India, and asking that arrangements might be made to record answers to as many as possible of the questions marked A, B fu re 3 ™ ! hat , a succmct memorandum summarising the different replies might be appended to them, I am directed to submit for the information of the Govern- wJT ° In fS P rn ] ted copies of such answers as have 1 re c°rded, and of a memorandum thereof prepared J 9 w A iL tlnS r Ch,eF dns P ec for of Factories, Bomba^. tnl™ h + r , eferencc to paragraph 2 of your letter, I am owinTtn th he regr f ° fhis Excellency in Council that, ° to the paucity of officers available, it was found Answers to Questions drawn up by Royal Commission on Labour in Regular Succession. I. — Introduction. 1. The company I represent is engaged in spinning and weaving cotton, and the works are situated in Shahapur Division of the city of Ahmedabad. 2. The number of workpeople engaged are : — (a.) 1,307 males. (b.) 158 females. (c.) No learners. 3. Our firm is not connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. (a.) The monthly amount fluctuates from Rs. 13,000 to Rs. 14,000. ( b .) Mode of payment : — (1.) By the week and month. (2.) By piece-work. (3.) Not by task. (c.) No sub-contractor. (d.) Fines for absence and bad work are deducted. (e.) No paj'ment in kind. ( /.) Allowances in form of — (1.) Bonus is paid. (2.) Sickness is paid for two days in a month only and when it arises from accident in the Mill. No pension. No insurance system. (3.) Free house, land and medical allowance allowed to European workmen only. (g.) One week’s notice is required for all hands before the engagement is ended. (a.) From sunrise to sunset. (b.) Overtime is allowed for night work at ordinary rate of wages. (c.) No night shifts. (d.) Sunday work is paid as overtime at above- mentioned rate. (e.) No weekly half-holiday. (a.) Tn short days according to season sunrise is from 6.45 a.m. to 5.45 p.m. In long days from 5.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. (b.) In our judgment there is no risk whatever to employes in the mill. No artificial lighting is done. Sanitation fair. Inspection is being done every three months. (c.) No compensation for accidents allowed except payment of wages until he or she is fit for labour. (at.) In some processes there is sub-division of labour, as in mule spinning. (c.) I cannot understand the question. (/.) There is distribution of labour as between men, women and children according to the nature of work. (g.) No apprenticeship. ( h .) Foreigners are employed as overlookers of de- partments and engineers. (i.) Machinery for labour-saving is introduced. (j.) Raw material is obtained on the spot ; machinery and stores are obtained from England. (7c.) There is no trade union and no delegates. (7.) The causes of dispute are irregularity of atten- dance and fining for bad work. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. In connexion with the mill there have been no lock-outs or strikes in the last 10 years in the sense in which they take place in England. Occasionally the hands stop away for a day or so, when they are fined for absence or bad work, or when a reduction in wages is attempted. 2. Such disputes are of more frequent occurrence lately, owing to new mills being started in the locality. P 3 Wagei. Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. 118 Waffet. Hours of labour. Condi- tions of labour. ( i ■) Machinery for labour-saving is introduced. O’.) Saw material is obtained on the spot. Machinory and stores are obtained from England. (7c.) There is no trade union and no delegates. (7.) The causes of disputes are irregularity of attend- ance and fining for bad work. III. — Stkik.es and Lock-outs. (1.) In connexion with the mill there have been no lock-outs or strikes in the last 10 years, in the sense in which they take place in England. Occasionally the hands stop away for a day or so, when they are fined for absence or bad work, or when a reduction in wages is attempted. (2.) Such disputes are of more frequent occurrence lately owing to new mills being started in the city. (3.) As the disputes have never lasted for more than one day we have not the particulars recorded. (a.) No records are kept, their occurrence being so rare and their duration being short. (6.), (c.), (cl.), (e.), (/.), (g.), (h.). Information on these points cannot be supplied as mill hands havo not yet learnt to organise themselves into trade unions. IV. — General Questions. (1.) No. (2.) No such attempt has yet boen made. (3.) Not in our industry as far as we know. (4.) None. (5.) English cotton trade statistics should be of great use to Indian millowners, if Government would kindly publish them for general information. (6.) No. (7.) No. JUMNABIIAI BhAGUBITAI, for Munsukiibhai Biiagubuai. Answers to Questions drawn ur by Royal Commission on Labour in regular. Succession. 3. As the disputes have never lasted for more than one day we have not the particulars recorded : — (a.) No records are kept, their occurrence being ; o rare and their duration being never more than a few hours. (6.), (c.), ( d .), (e.), (/.), (g.), (h.). Information on these points cannot be supplied, as mill hands have not yet learnt to organise themselves into trade unions. IV. — General Questions. 3. No. 2. No such attempt has yet been made. 3. Not in our industry as far as we know. 4. None. 5. English cotton trade statistics should be of great use to Indian mill owners if Government would kindly publish them for general information. 6. Union of interests of the employers and employed would not, in our opinion, give rise to strikes ; but in our district there are no organised strikes and so very little experience of them. 7. No. Runchorelal Ciiotalal, for Madhowlal Runchorelal, General Manager, Ahmedabad Cotton Mills. The Gujarat Ginning and Manufacturing Company, Limited, Ahmedabad, 24th June 1892. Answers to Questions drawn up by Royal Commission on Labour in regular Succession. I. — Introduction. 1. The company I represent is engaged in spinning and weaving cotton, and the works are situated outside Kalupur Gate in the city of Ahmedabad. 2. (a.) 913 males. (b.) 219 females. (c.) No learners. 3. Our firm is not connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions oe Labour. (a.) The monthly amount fluctuates from Rs. 11,000 to Rs. 12,000. (b.) Mode of payment — 1. By the week and month. 2. By piece-work. 3. Not by task. (c.) No sub-contractors. ( d .) Fines for absence and bad work are deducted. (e.) No payment in kind. (/.) Allowance in form of — 1. Bonus is paid. 2. Servants on monthly salary are allowed three days’ pay in a month in cases of sickness ; and all servants and labourers are allowed eight days’ pay in cases of sickness arising from accidents. No pension and no insurance system. 3. Free house and medical attendance allowed to European workers. (g.) One week’s notice is required for all hands for ending the engagement. (a.) From sunrise to sunset. (b.) Overtime is allowed for night work at ordinary rate of wages. (c.) No night shifts. (d.) Sunday work is paid as overtime at above-men- tioned rate. (e.) No weekly half-holiday. (a.) In short days according to season sunrise is from 6.45 a.m. to 5.45 p.m., and in long days from 5.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. (5.) In our judgment there is no risk whatever to employes in the mill. Sanitation, fair ; inspection is being done every three months. (c.) No compensation for accidents allowed except payment of wages. (d.) In some processes there is subdivision of labour, as in mule-spinning. (e.) I cannot understand the question. (/.) There is distribution of labour as between men, women, and children according to the nature of work. (g.) No apprenticeship. (h.) Foreigners are employed as overlookers of depart- ment and as engineers. I. — Introductory. (1.) The company I represent is engaged in spinning and weaving cotton and the same is situated outside the Jumalpore Gate in the city of Ahmedabad. (2.) The number of workpeople engaged are : — 685 males. 110 females. None learners. (3.) Our firm is not connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. (a.) The monthly amount fluctuates from 7,000 to v ' agC3, 9,000 rupees. (b.) Mode of payment : — (1.) By week and month. (2.) By piece-work. (3.) Not by task, (c.) No sub- contractor. (d.) Fines for bad work and absenco are deducted. (/.) Allowances inform of — (1.) Bonus is paid. (2.) Sickness is paid for two weeks, half wages, when it arises from accident in the mill. No pension. No insurance system. (3.) Free house, land and medical allowance al- lowed to European workmen only. (g.) One week’s notice is required from hands paid weekly, and one fortnight’s notice from hands paid monthly. (p.) From sunrise to sunset. (b.) Overtime is allowed for night work at ordinary rate of wages. (c.) No night shifts. (cl.) Sunday work is paid as overtime at above-men- tioned rate. (e.) No weekly half holiday. (a.) In short days according to season 3unrise is from 6.45 a.m. to 5.45 p.m., in long days from 5.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. (5.) In our judgment there is no risk whatever to employes in the mill. No artificial lighting is done. Sanitation fair. Inspection is being done every three months. (c.) No compensation for accidents allowed except payment of wages until he or she is lit for labour. (, 7.) In some processes there is subdivision of labour, as in mule-spinning. 119 («.) I cannot understand tho question of labour according to the nature of work. (/.) There is distribution of labour as between men, women, and children, according to the nature of work. ((/.) No apprenticeship. (A.) Foreigners are employed as overlookers of de- partments and engineers. ( i .) Machinery for labour-saving is introduced. (j.) Raw material is obtained on the spot, machinery and stores are obtained from England. (7c.) There is no trade union and no delegates. (1.) The causes of dispute are irregularity of attend- ance and fining for bad work. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. In connexion with the mill there have been no lock-outs and strikes in the last six years in the sense in which they take place in England. Occasionally the hands stop away for a day or so, when they are fined for absence or bad work, or when a reduction in wages is attempted. 2. Such disputes are of more frequent occurrence lately owing to new mills being started in the locality. 3. As the disputes have never lasted for more than one day, we have not the particulars recorded. {a.) No records are kept ; their occurrence being so rare and their duration being never more than a few hours. (M 1 (c.) I (d.) | Information on these points cannot be sup- (e.) )> plied as mill hands have not yet learnt to (/.) I organise themselves into trade unions. (ff.) I (h.) J IV. — General Questions. 1. No. 2. No such attempt has yet been made. * 3. Not in our industry as far as we know. 4. None. 5. .English cotton trade statistics should be of great use to Indian millowners, if Government would kindly publish them for general information. 6. Union of interest of employers and employed would not in our opinion give rise to strikes, but in our district there are no organised strikes and so very- little experience of them. 7. No. Choonilal Jaychand, Secretary, the Ahmedabad Manufacturing and Calico Printing Company, Limited. Ahmedabad, 18th June 1892. Memorandum. I. — Introductory. 1. My answers to the questions addressed to the em- ployers of labour in India by the Royal Commission and my general remarks are based on an experience of 32 years in connexion with cotton as a grower, picker, ginned prcsser, spinner and manufacturer. .My works aro at Viramgam, Ranpur, Dholera and Pipli. In the spinning mill wo employ about 600 hands — (a.) Men 500. (b.) Women 100. In the gins and presses directly are employed about — (a.) Men 180. (b.) Women 160. Indirectly in picking and cleaning cotton aro em- ployed — (5.) Some 650 women. (c.) None. II. — Wages. (a.) For labourers they vary from 5 annas to 8 annas per day. For muccaduins from 10 to 70 rupees per month in the factories. Little or no present fluctuations. (b.) by the month, fortnightly, and by tho week or by the day. Wages for tho mills are by the task, the piece, and by the day. By the task the earnings vary from 6 to 17 rupees per month. By the piece from 9 to 30 rupees, and by the day (outdoor labour) from 4 annas to 6 annas. (c.) No. (d.) None. (e.) None. (/.) None. 1. Bonus. None. 2. Deferred pay. Nono. 3. Free quarters. None save for muccadums. (g.) Notice when required is usually two weeks. (a.) In tho mill — men from light to dark, women according to the limitation of the Factory Act. In the gin and press factories — men and women (season work) nominally for 14 hours. (b.) Overtime is usually remunerated by double pay. (c.) Double pay. (d.) Sunday work double in tho mill. In the factories (season work) Sunday counts as an ordinary day. (e.) Inside workpeople receive pay ; outside no pay. (a.) In the mill, constant. In the factories and presses, irregular, varying from ono to 3J months in the year. (b.) In the mill, the usual security. In the factories and presses, no danger beyond that surrounding the ordinary labourer in his ordinary avocation. . Lighting by electric and natural oil as distinguished from artificial light. Sanitation by departmental inspection ; tho usual latrine, and disinfectant in the factories. Inspection under the Act for mill. (c.) Compensation for accidents. Any injured work- man or woman is restored to health at the expense of the employer. Accidents, results in deaths, depend on the circumstances of it. (d.) Does not seem to apply. (e.) Factories, men and women. Workshops, men. (/.) Men are confined mostly to work that physically suits them, though often they do women’s labour. Women are confined to light work, and children to such duties as children may be supposed to carry out. (g.) None. (A.) None. (i.) Wherever and whenever possible. (j.) Always of the best. (1c.) Not applicable. (7.) A question not yet needed in this country. III.— Strikes and Lock-outs. Know nothing about them, and have had no expe- rience of them. IV. — General Questions. 1 . 1 2. I 3. V 5. | 6. J 7. Yes. The questions above propounded aro unsuited to the condition of the people and the country, and are ex- tremely mischievous. India is a country that is yet blessed with a large amount of honest simplicity, and still retains an un- corrupted civilization. It is, therefore, hard to comprehend how or in what way it is proposed to benefit this people by the intro- duction of questions on the relation of capital and labour strikes, agitations, and combinations. These are the excrescence of an over-hasty civilization, and are as far from a good purpose in this country, or a kindness to its people, as the east is from the west. It would scarcely be right to propound from the back slum vocabulary of Ratcliff Highway, or from any other vocabulary, questions on the Sixth Commandment to bo asked by parents to their children of six years. It is no more right to ask tho questions propounded above. They will possibly be asked soon enough, and start tho germ of a pestilence that will decimate India. If by any process of thought some scheme could be devised not suggested by the most offensive form of modern life, but by Nature’s purer laws, that would hold the native to the good that is in him, and there is much of it, the scheme would be worth the most careful attention of tho highest Commission. But this is not within the possibilities. On the con- trary, the modern genius seems to rush after that which is most striking in Iris own civilization, and, therefore, often after its weaknesses and in all unfitness, applies them to his Aryan brother. Such courses are much to be deprecated. The scriptural saying that he who seizes the plough and looks back is lost, is not applicable to the natural life of this country. It should bo read, he who seizes the plough, and does not look back, is a curse to those he rules. Questions should be adapted to circum- stances, the question to the questioned — to act other- P 4 Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. 120 Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. wise is to commit as great an offence against the moral law as the planting of cabbages wrong end up would be against the physical law. It is desirable to begin at the beginning, and propound only ideas that will suit the people and the times we are dealing with. At present India would best solve the questions raised in this paper by being left alone. In the ordinary course of nature she will grow into a worse life, for the teachers of the bad are roaming about, seeking how they may devour her, or draw her from the good she possesses to the bad she presently knows not of. G. T. Whittle. Viramgam, 19th June 1892. N.B. — 14 hours is nominally the ginning factory’s working day, but a gin is usually the property of a family, and as such is worked by it. I have a gin behind which a mother has brought up a family of eight children, and she holds possession. G. T. Whittle. The Ahmedabad Millowners’ Association. hours; sanitation fair and Government inspectors in- spect the mills every three months or oftener, as they like. (c.) No compensation for accidents is allowed. (d.), ( e .), (/.) I cannot understand the drift of these questions. (g.) There is no system of regular apprenticeship. (h.) Foreigners, meaning by it Englishmen, are em- ployed as heads of inside departments, such as carding, spinning, weaving, engineering department in most of the mills. (i.) Most of the machinery is labour-saving, and any new machinery that saves labour is speedily brought into use. (j.) Cotton used in mills is generally Indian and mostly bought in the city. It is not so good as the Egyptian and American cottons. Most of the mills use wood instead of coal. Wood is abo bought in the city or its neighbourhood. Stores and machinery is all English and comes from England. (7c.), (7-) None of these things have any existence in our district. To C. E. Frost, Esquire, Collector, Ahmedabad. Sin, Ahmedabad, 21st June 1892. In reply to your office No. 1522 of 1892, dated the 5th instant, desiring me to give replies to questions drawn up by the Royal Commission on Labour, 1 beg to say that our association is yet in its infant condition, and conse- quently we are not yet in a position to answer most of the questions drawn up satisfactorily. I am asked by our association to answer such of the questions under the head of “ C — Questions addressed to Employers’ Associations ” as is possible to answer. The replies are sent herewith with the printed ques- tions as desired. I beg, &c. G. G. Pandit, Secretary. Replies. I.— Introductory. 1. Cotton spinning and weaving. 2. To the City of Ahmedabad and its neighbourhood. 3. Nine. 4. About 8,000 workpeople. 5. I am not prepared to answer this question at this stage of the life of our association. 6. No occasion has as yet arisen for the association to deal directly or indirectly with matters of difference arising between associated employers and their work- people. 7. No, not yet. II. — Wages, Hours and Conditions of Labour. 1. (a.) Monthly wages, where they are paid, remain the same throughout the year ; so is also the case with weekly wages, but the rate of piece-work labour fluctuates. (b.) Overtime work is paid by the hour. We pay some workpeople by the month, some by tbe week, and some by piece-work. (c.) We have no system of paying by sub-contraetor. ( d .) Sometimes wages are stopped for bad work, bad conduct., or for absence from work. (e.) We have no system of truck or payment in kind. (/.) (1.) Bonus is given to workpeople for excellence of work or for extra production. (2.) When a person is injured while working, he is paid his wages till he comes back to his work. .There is no system of pension or any other in- surance system. (3.) To European employes free house, light and fuel are allowed, but to other workpeople nothing of the sort is given. ( g .) One week’s notice. (a.) Ordinary hours of labour for male adults are from sunrise to sunset. For females and children under 14 the working hours are regulated by law. (b.) If overtime work is taken, the workpeople are paid according to their ordinary rate. (c.) We have no night-shifts. (d.) Ordinary engine, boilers and mechanic shop- people are required to work on Sundays, and generally they are not paid any extra money for their work. (e.) We have no system of weekly half-holidays. (a.) Employment is pretty regular throughout the year, except when there is a big breakdown. (b.) All parts of the machinery are safely guarded. There is generally plenty of light during the working III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. There have been no general strikes in our part of the country. If the workpeople of any of the depart- ments strike work, it is only for a day at most. When- ever these slight strikes, as they may be called, take place, the invariable cause of them is fining on the part of the employers for bad work or attempting on the part of the employers to reduce their wages. But such disputes are always amicably settled, and so, I am humbly of opinion, the information required under the heads 1, 2 and 3 cannot be supplied. IV. — General Questions. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No resolutions of the kind have been passed. 5. It will be a very good thing if Government should collect information regarding cotton spinning and weaving as it is carried on in England, and publish the same for the information of traders in the same line in India. 6. As far as our Indian workpeople are concerned, the occasions for strikes are very rare and far between ; and even then they are not general. Even these few and far-between strikes can be avoided if employers of labour in the cotton-spinning industry are more sympa- thetic than they are at present and pay more attention to the improvement of the condition of the workpeople. 7. No. G. G. Pandit, Secretary, Ahmedabad Millowners’ Association. No. 255 of 1892. From Mir Gulam Baba, Khan Bahadur, C.I.E., Chair- man, Gulam Baba S. & W. Co., Limited, Surat, to F. S. P. Lely, Esquire, Collector, Surat. Sir, Surat Palace, 30th June 1892. With reference to your memoranda Nos. 1467, 1628, 1666, I beg to submit herewith replies to the ques- tions referred to therein. B set of questions is herewith returned. I have, &c., Mir Gulam Baba Kuan, Chairman, Gulam Baba S. & W. Co., Limited. I. — Introductory. Cotton Spinning opposite to the Railway Station. Surat. (a.) Males 338 and 80 boys. (b.) Females 156 and 68 girls. (c.) None. (d.) None. Our firm is connected with the Bombay Millowners’ Association. II. — Wages, Hours and Conditions of Labour. (a.) From two annas to eight annas per day. (b.) Mode of payment — (1) . Monthly payment. (2) . By the piece-work. (3) . By the task. (c.) Nil. (d.) Deductions by fines. (e.) None. Wages 121 Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. (f.) Allowances in form of bonus, pension or houses. (1.) Nil. (2 ) We pay in case of accident and sickness. (3.) Nil. (g.) One month’s notice. (a.) Ordinary hours of labour. (b.) Nil. (c.) Nil. (d.) Nil. (e.) Fortnightly quarter day and other holidays without payment. (a.) Many irregularities. (b.) Yes. (c.) No. (d.) No. (e.) No. (/.) Yes. (g.) No. (/<..) No. (t.) Nil. (j.) The question is rather unintelligible when the same is taken with the heading Conditions of labour ” (k.) None. (1.) None. 111. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. There were two strikes in the year 1882. 2. No. 3. Yes, so far as we can. (a.) The first strike commenced on the 13th Novem- ber 1882 and terminated on the 14th November 1882, and the second commenced on the 19th December and terminated on the 24th Decem- ber 1882. (b.) Dissatisfaction with the manager. (c.) Cannot answer accurately, as nothing is on record. (d.) No. (e.) Quiet and peaceable. (/.) Returned to work voluntarily. (g.) Nothing. ( h .) Estimated loss about nine hundred rupees on account of two strikes. IV.— General Questions. 1. No. 2. Yes ; as there are 20 gins attached to the mill, the Company occasionally joins the Cotton Gin Associa- tion of Surat ; the results being that during those years we get a profit ranging from about Rs. 900 to Rs. 3,300. 3. No. 4. No. 5. At present we have no suggestion to make for the purpose referred to in this question. 6. Good management. 7. Yes; we would suggest for the information of the Commission that the present restriction under the amended Factory Act of 1891 as to the time of labour of females and children should be entirely removed, because we are of opinion that the labour should be free, that is, there should be no restriction to the work- ing hours of females and children, for that restriction will reduce them to poverty in time and also be detri- mental to the prospects of the mill industry. Mir Gulam Bara Khan. To F. S. P. Lely, Esquire, Collector of Surat. Sir, As required by your endorsement No. 1467, dated 3rd ultimo, on the back of the extract of Government Resolution No. 1779, dated 30th May last, I have the honour to submit ihe following observations : — 1. The firm or rather the joint stock company with which I am connected as one of its directors buys raw cotton and manufactures yarn and cloth of various descriptions, and it3 works are situated at Begamwari in Surat. 2. The average number of workpeople engaged daily in the Company’s works are as under : — Males, adults .... 410 Do. children - - - - 51 Females, adults - - - - - 138 Do. children - - - - 41 Apprentices 0 Unskilled labourers - - - - 15 U 75i09. 3. The Company is connected with the Bombay Millowners' Association, which deals with labour questions at times, as a member of it. On the second head of Wages, &c., I have no repre- sentation to make to the Commission ; but if the state of things which prevail in the Company’s mill be of any use to them, 1 submit them as under: — With few exceptions of fixed monthly salaries, piece- work forms the general feature of wages here. As it affects the employers and employed alike, it is the most approved system of payment for labour employed. Their rates vary according to quality and worth of work performed by the employes and fluctuate under the ordinary rule of demand and supply. Payments are invariably made monthly and individu- ally, and people are well satisfied with them. Sub-contract system does not prevail, as it seldom finds favour with both the employers and employed. Deductions are made for defaults and absence without leave for preservation of discipline. No system of payment in kind or bonus exists, nor free house, food, or clothing are supplied. In cases of sufferings from accidents only, half the wages are allowed for such times as the patient becomes unfit for work. A month’s notice for ending engagement on either side is necessary, misdemeanours excepted. The ordinary hours of labour for adults are from 11 to 13, according to the length of the day throughout the year with three-quarters of an hour’s recess in the midst. This rule applied to females and children alike before the new Factory Act came into force. The reduction in the hours of labour in the case of the latter under the Act has been a source of much annoy- ance, dissatisfaction, and disadvantage to employers and employed alike. The Company lose a great deal by decrease of production anil increased labour, and the hands sutler from insufficient wages, more particu- larly those that are paid by piece-work. Overtime is only allowed to monthly-paid hands in cases of repairs, &c., executed during extra hours. The other part under this head calls for no remark, as most of the questions referred to relate rather to incidents of English or home mills than those of an Indian mill. There has been no strike in the ] roper sense of the word in connexion with our work at any time. One or two secessions there were, but they w ere only partial and for slight reductions in wages, and were very soon got over. I am unable to give every particular under this head, as the incidents occurred long ago. The questions referred to in the last and fourth head can only be answered in the negative, as there never existed any co-operative societies or constitutional organisation to manage the affairs and further tho interests of trade in this district. Yours, &c. ISHWARDAS JAGJIVANDAS STORE. B. — Answers. I. — Introductory. 1. Our firm manages the Svadeshi Mills Company, Limited, situated at Kurla, in the Thana District, nine miles by rail from the city of Bombay. It works all through the year and manufactures yarn and weaves cloth. 2. The number of workpeople employed at the mills are as under : — (a.) 1,572 males. (b.) 514 females. (c.) 9 apprentices and 345 young persons, of whom 10 are females. (d.) 108 unskilled labourers. 3. Our firm is not connected with any employers’ organisation dealing with labour questions. II. — Wages, Hours and Conditions op Labour. As the mill is situated a little away from the Bombay wages, mill district labour is not only clearer but on some occasions the supply is not equal to the demand. At any rate during the first three years, after the mill was purchased by us from auction in 1887, we experienced difficulty in getting an adequate number of operatives to mind our machines. The supply, however, has improve! during ti e past two years. Q 122 Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. (a.) Wages paid at the mills amount to Rs. 26,000 per month : — Rs. a. A spinner earns per month - - 25 0 A weaver winding two looms - 16 8 A weaver winding one loom - 10 8 A reeler (woman) - - 9 8 A doffer (boys and girls) above age 6 0 A doffer (boys and girls) under age 3 8 A winder (woman) - - - 10 8 (l>.) (1.), (2.) Generally payment is made by the month. Wages of children are fixed by the month, while those of adults are regulated by piece-work, save in a few cases. (3.) None by the task. (c.) None. ( d .) Fines are inflicted mostly for bad work, but they are trifling in amount. Infringement of the rules in force for operatives is also punished by fines. They are about 1 per cent, of the total amount of wages paid in a month. (e). None. (/•) (1.) None. (2.) It is customary, in case of accident to an opera- tive, to allow him full wages while he is laid up and until he is able to resume work. In the case of those who are disabled from doing the work they did before the accident, other suitable employment is found in the mill. As to persons dying by reason of accidents, their nearest relations are given a com- pensation ; and the children, if of a workable age, and willing, are offered emplovment in the mill. (3.) None. (g.) Thirty days’ notice is given and required to terminate an engagement. (a.) The average duration of work all through the year is 111 hours per diem, statutory Sundays and certain specified holidays excluded. Male adults work for the regular hours, with half an hour’s rest at midday ; female adults and all children work in terms of the provisions prescribed under the Factory Act. (b.) None for ordinary workpeople. (c.) None. (i d .) None. (e.) None. (a.) None. (6.) Machinery is well fenced and guarded. No artificial lighting is used. Latrines and drinking water are adequately provided. Mill premises are well ventilated and regularly whitewashed at stated periods under the Act. Inspection is done by factory inspectors. (c.) Vide answer to 1. (/.) (2) on wages. (i d .) None. (e.) None. (/•) Women only work on reels and winding machines ; children doff and piece. The rest of the branches of the mills are attended to by men. (g.) We receive a limited number of apprentices who may have passed either the university entrance exami- nation or the seventh standard of public schools. They are bound for three years, with two years’ further service at the option of the company, on terms and conditions mentioned in the accompanying form marked A. It may be here observed that no such conditions of apprenticeship prevail elsewhere in Bombay. The usual practice seems to be for the apprentice to bind himself for two years to a carder or spinner, or engineer in a mill, on the payment of an honorarium mutually agreed upon, generally ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000, according to the reputation of the master to whom he is apprenticed. (h.) Two Europeans are employed at the mills. (i.) Every labour-saving machinery that could be practically put to work is employed. (j.) Raw cotton and such country stores as could be provided by local markets. Other stores indented from European markets. Machinery and plant wholly imported from Europe. (k.) Unknown here as there are no trade unions. (J.) None. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. There was one strike in 1887, which had its origin in alleged inadequacy of the rate of wages in the card and weaving rooms. It lasted three days. We are not personally aware of the strikes prior to 1887 in the Kurla District, as our firm was not connected with the mills from 1880 to 1887. 2. We cannot say, but we believe they are rare. 3. No. IV. — General Questions. 1 . None exists. 2. None attempted. 3. No. 4. There is no agency in Kurla ; but some few months ago the Salvation Army, which has its head-quarters in Bombay City, offered us a few unemployed operatives, but the trial was hardly satisfactory. The Salvationists hare, we believe, made known tothe public the existence of their “ Labour Bureau.” 5. All statistical and other information relating to industry is collected and recorded by the Bombay Mill- owners’ Association, a copy of which is furnished to the local government. Independently of this, the Govern- ment of Bombay annually collects certain statistics. And the Government of India’s annual publication of the statistics of agriculture, arts, manufactures and industries contains all requisite information. This publication is officially known as “The Statistical Abstract.” 6. No occasion has arisen yet. As a rule, the relations subsisting between capital and labour are of a cordial character. 7. We have no other statement or suggestions to make for the information of the commission. Tata and Sons, Agents. A. Articles of agreement, made this flay of one thousand eight hundred and ninety between the Svadeslii Mills Company, Limited, of Bombay, registered under Companies’ Act, 1882, and carrying on its business in Bombay, of the one part and of of the other part. Witness that the said apprentice of his own free will doth by these presents put, place and bind himself unto the said company for the term of three years from the date hereof as a working apprentice or operative to serve the company in their mills at Kurla or in any other mills or factories which may belong to the said company or be under their management in any other part of India. And the said apprentice hereby covenants that during such term of three years he will truly and faithfully serve the said company, obey their lawful commands, keep their secrets, diligently and carefully learn and perform such work and business as may be entrusted to him, give to the said company when required, true and correct account of the goods and monies which may be committed to his charge or come into his hands, and attend to and remain at his work regularly and steadily at and during such hours as may be prescribed by the regulations of the said company or by the custom for the time being prevailing. And, further, the said apprentice covenants that he will not during the said term knowingly or intently do any damage to the machinery, 'goods or any other property belonging to the said company or consent to any such damage being done by others, but will, if possible, prevent the same and give warning thereof and will not embezzle or waste the property or goods of the said company, nor give or lend the same to others, nor absent himself from its service without leave. In con- sideration of rendering it service in the manner afore- said the said company hereby covenants with the said apprentice that its officers and workpeople will do their best to make him learn and perform such work and business as he may be put to in all or any of the departments of its mill, and that it shall allow him during the first three years of the aforesaid period of three years, a monthly salary of Rs. (10) ten every month. Provided that if during the first two years of his service the said apprentice learn and perform his work and otherwise conduct himself to the entire satisfaction of the agents or the chief responsible officer at the mill, the said company shall at the expiration of the second year of his engagements grant him a bonus of Rs. (125) one hundred and twenty-five. And further if the said apprentice similarly learn to efficiently perform his work and satisfactorily conduct himself during the third year of his service the said company shall at the end of the said third year grant him a bonus of Rs. (250) two hundred and fifty. Provided also that if the agents are desirous of terminating the service of the said apprentice at the expiration of the third year it shall be dawful for them to do so upon giving the said apprentice ( 15 ) fifteen days’ previous 123 Wages. Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. notice, either verbally or in writing, and thereupon this agreement shall absolutely cease and determine, not- withstanding anything to the contrary herein contained. Provided also that if the agents aie willing to retain the service of the said apprentice after the expiration of the said period of three years, the said apprentice shall continue to serve the said company for a further period of two years truly and faithfully in accordance with the stipulations hereinbefore contained, and the said company shall during such continued service pay him every mouth a salary of Rs. (30) thirty. Provided further that if the said apprentice commit a breach or refuse or neglect to perform or observe any of the covenants, agreement or stipulations hereinbefore con- tained, or on his part to be observed or performed, then and in such default the said apprentice shall forthwith refund to the said company all the monej^s paid to him by the said company, whether by way of salary, bonus or in any other manner whatsoever, such refund shall be considered and held to be as and for liquidated damages, and the agreement hereby entered into and the unexpired period of his engagement shall thereupon cease and determine. In witness whereof the said parties have hereunto affixed their hands the day and year above written. Witnesses : Replies of the Manager, Kurla Spinning and Weaving Mills. I. — Introductory. Q. — 1 . Will you state the business or businesses in which your firm is engaged, and where its works are situated? A. — Cotton-spinning and weaving. The factory is situated at Kurla. Q.— 2. What number of work people are there en- gaged in your firm, particularised as follows P A. — a. Male 1,043. b. Female 279. c. Apprentices or other learners or young persons 2. d. Unskilled labourers 6. Q. — 3. Is your firm connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions ? A . — None. II. — Wages, Hours and Conditions of Labour. What representations or information do you desire to offer for the consideration of the Commission under any of the following heads ? Q.— 23rd June 1892. Herewith I beg to return your list of questions on this subject, answered as far as they appear to relate to our business. I have, &c. (Signed) J. M. Kerr. B. — Questions addressed to Employers. I. — Introductory. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. IY. — General Questions. I. — Introductory. 1. \\ ill you state the business or businesses in which your firm is engaged, and where its works are situated ? —A. Cotton spinning in the Belgaum District, Gokak Falls. 2. What number of workpeople are there engaged in your firm, particularised as follows : (a.) Male ? A. — 350. (b.) Female ? A. — 305. (c.) Apprentices or other learners or young persons ? A. — 464. (d.) Unskilled labourers ? J.— On new mill con- struction and other improvements 470. Increas- ing daily. 3. Is your firm connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions p A. — No. II- — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. What representations or information do you desire to offer for the consideration of the Commission under any of the following heads : — (a.) Their amount and fluctuations. (6.) Mode of payment — (1.) By the hour, day or week P A . — Partly by the day. (2 ) By the piece ? A . — Partly by piece. (3.) By the task p A. — None. (r.) Payment through sub-contractor ? A. — None. (d.) Deductions by fines or other forms of stoppage. ( e .) Truck or payment in kind p A None. (/.) Allowances in form of— (1.) Bonus? A. — None. (2.) Deferred pay, such as sick, accident, pension or other insurance system ? A. — None. (3.) Free house, land, food, clothing or other allowance or advantage ? A . — Free houses. (g-) Length of notice for ending engagement ? A. 15 days. Wages. 127 Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. (a.) Ordinary or standard hours of labour ? A. — Sunrise to sunset, with interv hours of labour? A . — (b.) Overtime and its remit als according to law. (c.) Night-shifts and their neration ? A.-— None. (d.) Sunday work and its remuneration? A. — None, (e.) Weekly half-holiday remuneration ? A.— -None, without payment ? or other holiday with or (a.) Irregularity of employment through seasonal or other causes ? A. — None. (b.) Safety of employment, and the lighting, sanita- tion and inspection of workplaces ? A . — Carefully attended to. (c.) Compensation for accidents ? A . — The question has never arisen. (d.) Subdivision of labour as between different trades ? A. — None. (e.) Distribution of labour as between factories, work- shops and homes ? A. — None. (/.) Distribution of labour as between men, women and children. (q.) Apprenticeship ? A. — None. (h.) Employment of foreigners P A. — None. ( i .) Introduction of labour-saving machinery. (j.) Supply and quality of materials, machinery or other plant ? A . — As required. (k.) Dismissal of representative delegates, refusal of unionists to work with non-unionists, use of black list, and mutual relations of employers and trade unions generally ? A. — None. (1.) Other causes of dispute ? A. — None. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. Can you state how many strikes and lock-outs there have been in connexion with your works in each of the 10 years 1881-1890 and in the current year up to date? A. — None. 2. Have such disputes been, during that period, more frequent than formerly or less so ? A. — None. 3. Can you enumerate the important disputes and furnish particulars in regard to each such dispute under the following heads : — (a.) Date of commencement and termination ? A . — None. (b.) The chief immediate causes of each such dispute ? A. — None. (c.) Number of workers in 3 r our employment directly engaged in each dispute ? A. — None. (d.) Number of persons in your employment who have been thrown out of work thereby, but who have not been directly' engaged in the dispute? A. — None. (e.) Attitude of associated employers towards the dispute? A. — None. (/.) Mode of settlement ? A. — None. (g.) Advance or reduction of wages or other result of each dispute ? A. — None. ( h .) Estimated loss to firm, direct or indirect, occasioned by dispute ? A. — None. IY. — General Questions. 1. Does any system exist in your trade in your district providing for conciliation, arbitration, sliding scales, or other means of preventing or arranging trade disputes ? A. — None. 2. Has any system of co-operative production, industrial partnership, or profit-sharing been attempted by your firm, and, if so, with what results P A . — None. 3. Are the Government, or local authorities, em- ployers of labour in your trade and district, and, if so, with what results as to remuneration and other con- ditions of employment? A. — None. 4. Can you supply information as to any agency in your district for finding or providing work for the unemployed ? A. — None. 5. Have you any suggestions to make as to the statistical and other information relating to your trade which is, or, in your opinion, should be, collected and published by Government? A. — None. 6. Can you suggest any means of avoiding or arranging strikes and promoting cordial relations between capital and labour? A. — None. 7. Have you any other statement or suggestion to make for the information of the Commission? A. None. To J. F. Fleet, Esq., C.I.E., 'Acting Commissioner, R. D. Belgaum. Sir, Hubli, 11th July 1892. We have the honour to enclose herewith our answers to the questions regarding Royal Commission on Labour. We have, &c., For Ralli Brothers’ Agency, (Signed) P. F. Acatos, Agent. I. — Introductory. 1. We are engaged in the pu 'chase of kappas, which we gin by steam machinery, cotton and food-grain and oil-seeds, and the sale of lcerosine oil. Onr works are situated in Hubli ; we have also sub- agencies in Gadag and Davangeri and temporary agencies in the districts during the busy seasons. 2. The number of workpeople that are engaged by us are : — (a.) 69 males. (b.) 65 females. (c.) Apprentices, none. (cl.) Unskilled labourers, 100. 3. We are not connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. (a.) Skilled hands from Rs. 15 to Rs. 150 per month, unskilled labourers from Rs. 6 to Rs. 10, i.e. 3 to 5 annas a day. (b.) 1. Skilled hands bythemonth, unskilled labourers by the day. 2. Manipulating cotton and carting by piece-work. 3. No work by the task. (c.) We pay for piece-work to the contractors. (d.) We very seldom make any. (e.) We do not pay by the truck system or in kind. (/. j Allowances we give are : — (1.) Bonus in case of accidents. (2.) Sick pay. (3.) Free house in some cases. (4.) Travelling allowance and railway fare when on business. ( g .) Length of notice for ending engagement is one month. (a.) Working hours are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with intervals of 1J hour midday meal. (b.) We allow overtime at ordinary remuneration. (c.) We have separate gangs on ordinary remunera- tion rates. (d.) We work half-day at times at ordinary remu- neration rates on Sundays, but try to avoid working on Sundays. (e.) Our monthly staff are given a fortnight yearly on full pay. Day labourers are not paid for holidays. (a.) All our staff excepting 27 are employed irre- gularly through seasonal causes. (b.) All the dangerous parts of the machinery are railed off ; the lighting is in accordance with the stipulations required by the Fire Insurance Companies ; the working is periodically inspected by the Govern- ment Inspector and the sanitation is in accordance with the municipal rules. (c.) We give compensation for accidents. (d.) The labour is subdivided between different trades, such as engineers, fitters, blacksmiths, and carpenters. (e.) There is no distribution of labour as between our factories and our employes’ homes. (/.) Men are employed for all heavy work, such as moving merchandise in bulk and work requiring mus- cular exertion ; women for manipulating cotton and kappas, &c., loose, cleaning, picking, &c., and other light work. (g.) No apprentices. (h.) No foreigners employed. (i.) Our machinery is all labour-saving. (j.) We have got a boiler of 100 lbs. pressure to drive an engine of 30 nominal horse-power. The engine is connected with automatic expansion gear. The engine is of rope gear driving with 6 ropes 13 double roller gins of Platt (Macarthy) gins make. The working parts of our engine are railed right round. Our gins are placed side by side with upper shafting to drive them. The gins are fitted in such a way that unskilled workmen are prevented from going near the working parts of the machinery, and only the skilled ones have access thereto. The ginned cotton falls underneath the platform where no machiner is working. We get Q 4 Wages. Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. 128 our machinery from England and tho petty spare articles and stores are for the most part bought locally in Bombay. (k.) None of our employes have any connexion -with trade unions. (1.) We have no disputes. Ill — S trikes and Lock-outs. There have been no strikes or lock-outs in connexion with our factory. IV. — General Questions. (1.) No such system exists. (2.) No such system has been attempted. (3,) The Government and local authorities are not employers of labour in our trade. (4.) There is no agency in our district f rr finding or providing work for the unemployed. (5.) We have no suggestion to make. (6.) As stated before we have had no experience of st’-ikes. (7.) We have no other statement or suggestion to make. For Ralli Brothers’ Agency, (Signed) P. F. Acatos, Agent No. F 4 ' r ‘ of 1892. From the Collector of Land Revenue, Customs, and Opium to The Chief Secretary to Government, General Department. Bombay Collector’s Office, Sir, 26th July 1892. In obedience to Government Resolution No. 982, of 25th March 1892, I have the honour to forward the answers obtained by the Chief Inspector of Factories to the questions circulated by’ the Labour Commission. 2. The attempt to secure replies representative of tin different factory interests has only partly succeeded. The Chief Inspector’s summary and review of the different answers seem to me judicious and correct. 3. The general remarks on wages in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the answers furnished by Mr. Moos, the In- spector of Factories, seem to me written under some misconception of the conditions of the wage question in Bombay. Mr. Moos holds that during the last 20 years, while other wages have increased, factory wages have remained unchanged and that, therefore, the state of Bombay mill hands is not good but bad. As regards the sameness in the rates of Bombay factory wages during the last 30 years, it is to be remembered that the early mill hands en joyed a monopoly of skill, and that, therefore, factory wages started on a monopoly level. Considering that for some years past nearly a lakh of of qualified workers have been available, it says much for the unchecked prosperity and the rapid spread of the Bombay mill industry, that the original monopoly rates have been maintained. If profits are not sufficient to tempt to the opening of new mills, it seems probable that, unless they can by some means combine to prevent it in the early future, the present rapid and unchecked increase in their numbers will force the workpeople to accept lower wages. 4. As regards Wage Unions, I understand the chief influence of the unnamed and unwritten bond of union, to which in his paragraph 1 the Senior Inspector of Boilers refers, to be by the threat of boycotting to pre- vent individual workmen in any branch of factory labour consenting to accept wages lower than what that form of labour has hitherto commanded. This secret influence, though little more than in the air, is powerful. I believe it has had much to do with the prolonged maintenance of what seems to me a monopoly or almost a monopoly wage. That if the steady fail in profits from 15 pies the pound of cotton in 1872 to 4 pies the pound in 1892 continues, the present rate of wages can be maintained seems well nigh impossible. Hitherto the maintenance of the high level of wages has prevented any serious wage dispute. Even though short time reduces receipts, it leaves the workers rate of wages unharmed. If the shrinkage of profit drives capital to cut down wages, the unformed common feel- in" among workers is not unlikely to take shape in some powerful and widespread union. Already union methods are in practice. Individual workers allow their wages to be cut for objects which their caste or community hold worthy of support. A meeting is called and sub- scriptions collected to repair a rest-house, dig a well or reBhrine a god in some up-country village. The workers pay willingly. They understand the object; they trust the agency. They hold aloof from similar subscriptions for wage purposes. They have no experience of an influence that can unite stranger and unconnected workers. They wisely feel they have no ground to trust and no means to control the volunteer leaders who are certain to take their funds, and only perhaps to fight their battles. So long as wages maintain their present level the workers seem to me to show both shrewdness and sense in refusing to commit themselves to the burden of a general combination. At the same time any attempt at a wide-spread lowering of wages seems to me not unlikely to overcome this distrust. If leaders are forthcoming a widespread and resolute com- bination seems to me not improbable. Unless losses have beforehand closed several mills and abnormally increased the competition for work, the opposition to any general reduction of wages seems likely to be general and to prove hard to overcome. 5. I regret I cannot share Mr. Moos’ opinion that during the last 30 years the Bombay mill-workers are worse off than they were, because their wages have been constant and the buying power of their wages has dwindled. Except in the matter of house-rent I se« no reason to suppose that during the last 30 years in Bom- bay the buying power of wages has fallen. Food, water and clothes are all either cheaper or better than they were 30 years ago. At the beginning of these 30 years the much praised and widely used luxuries — ice, sedawater and tea — were unknown to mill-workers. Even in the matter of house-rents tho supply has recenLly been in excess of the demand, and many rooms are empty or let at reduced rates. Apart from the purchasing power of the money, it is to be remembered that the present great army of mill-workers have not always been mill- workers on their present high wages. The force has been steadily recruited irom labourers, small cultiva- tors, hand-loom weavers, and petty craftsmen, all of whom may safely be said to have increased their earn- ings 30,50, 100, 200 per cent, by laking to mill work. Except in the matter of house accommodation, which in many cases is exceedingly poor, the Bombay mill- workers seem to me well fed and clothed, cheerful, and healthy. 6. To establish his point that while Bombay factory wages have been constant other wages have increased, Mr. Moos (paragraph 3) gives two quotations. One is from Lord Brassey, who says that the outlay in making railways has m the districts traversed raised wages 10U per cent. Lord Brassey ’s remark was confined to the effect on local wages while the lines were under con- struction. In Western India it may, I think, safely be said that since the construction ceased railways have not appreciably raised wages above their former level. The quotation from Sir Bartle Frere is beside the present question. The doubling of wages refers to the 30 years ending in 1860, not to the 30 years ending in 1890. The monthly wages, Rs. 30 for skilled and Rs. 11 for unskilled labour, quoted in 1860, are as high as I believe they are considerably higher than the corresponding rates during the past year. 1 The point which Mr. Moos seems to me to missis that though factory wages have not risen they have continued greatly in excess of the wages the worker recruits have been earning or can earn in any other em- ployment. The rail-borne shoals of Lucknow, Cawnpur and Delhi Inlaka or Musulman hand loom weavers have found occupation in Bombay mills at rates too probably in many cases three times their previous hand-loom earnings. 7. I do not know on what authority Mr. Moos (para- graph 6) states that agriculture is daily losing its hold on the rural population, and is becoming less and less pleasant and i emunerative. The remark reads as if it had been originally applied to the existing conditions in England, not in India. It is true the Bombay mills are largely recruited from the cultivating classes. This change is not because field labour is harder or worse paid than it was. It is because Bombay mill wages are at once higher and more certain than the wages of field labour have ever been. 8. The facts that since 1872, without reduction in wages, Bombay mill-workers have increased from 10,000 to 80,000, and that during the same time mill profits have fallen from 15 to 4, or even, which is perhaps a more correct estimate, from 12 to 6, instead of support- ing it. seems a coDlcu-ive answer to Mr. Moos’ com- plaint (paragraph 7), that during the last 30 years the 1892 Kates. i Unskilled - - - 11- Mason - - - 27‘8 129 bargain between capital and labour has all along boon in favour of the employer. 9. Mr. Moos (paragraph 7) holds it impossible to con- ceive that wages at a rate double of what is required for support are consistent with a thriving condition. I can- not agree that a hundred- per cent, surplus is inconsis- tent with prosperity, especially when the wages of the men are largely supplemented by the earnings of women and children. The bulk of the Bombay mill-workers are industrious, sober and frugal. It is beyond question that every year very large sums leave Bombay, sent by mill-workers to their families to support the sick and aged, to meet marriage, death and other charges, to free the family land from mortgage and to widen its borders, even to rebuild and furnish temples, rest- houses and wells. 10. In his paragraph 9 Mr. Moos refers to a practice which, if at all common, seems to me a serious evil and injustice. I refer to the alleged failure of mills to pay wages within two months after they are due. Many difficulties stand in the way of prompt payments. The calculations necessitated by the practice of piece-work require a week to ten days to complete. Still any delay in excess of the Association limit of six weeks seems to me an injustice that should not continue. Even a six weeks’ limit seems to me excessive and should be brought down to a month. I believe that in the Calcutta and North-Western Province mills, weekly payments are the practice and that in Gujarat, some Ahmedabad mills pay once a week and that in none of the other Ahmedabad, Kaira, Broach or Surat factories is the limit of one month ever exceeded. Mr. Lokhande, the chairman of the mill-hands’ association, has com- plained to me that in Bombay delays of over two months are almost universal. Mr. Moos limits his charge to five or six mills and to them only occasion- ally. Such inquiries as I have been able to make seem to show that with few exceptions the association limit of six weeks is the rule. Considering the hardship and the great temptation to Indian workers to run into debt when their wages are in arrears, this question of prompt jiayments seems to me the most important practical point the present inquiry has raised. It further seems to me a point in which workmen may fairly claim the assistance of Government. The ques- tion is one of much practical difficulty. Certain of the best managed Bombay mills started a system of prompt payments, but were unable to continue it. The subject seems to me well suited for special inquiry. 11. I accept the chief inspector’s explanation of the charge made in Mr. Moos’ paragraph 15, regarding dismissal without warning. It appears that the prac- tice of summary dismissal is limited to dismissal on account of misbehaviour. 12. In his paragraph 17 Mr. Moos complains that the Indian mill-hand takes 12 hours to do what might be done in six. If Mr. Moos means what an European might do in six he may be correct. If Mr. Moos means the Indian mill-hand takes twelve hours to do what if he chose, he could do in six, I cannot accept the charge as well-founded. 13. In his paragraph 20 Mr. Moos complains that up- country the Act works hardship by lowering the hours of women’s work at gins and presses whose five or six months’ season furnishes the workers whole year support. With this question I have no official concern. Still I cannot think that as a rule, workers at gins and presses are idle during the seven off months, "in any case there is no reason why they should idle. I think in gins and other seasonal factories some curtailment of the hours of women’s work was necessary, that suit- able restrictions need cause no serious hardship, and that existing restrictions should be maintained. 14. Mr. Moos’ paragraph 23 seems to me to give a wrong impression of the amount of work thrown on the women of mill-working families. In by no means every house, probably not in one-fourth of the houses, does the whole burden of the cocking and house-work fall on women who also work full factory time. Very many mill-workers’ houses have some old woman, half grown girl, or handy lad to bear or share the burden of the house-work. And among Mahomedan mill-workers, not only have many of the men more than one wife, but a great share, perhaps the bulk, of the food is bought cooked. Even in the exceptional case of a young woman working in a mill all day and having the house cooking and tidying when the mill-work is over, few fail to finish their house-work by half past eight; except in times ef sickness or of merrymaking none need bo awake after nine. The seven or eight hours of rest that follow are supplemented by an hour or an hour U 75209. and a half in the middle of the day. A chance weakling or sloven may bo seen ; but the mass of the women- workers go and come from the mills laughing and cheery, well fed, well dressed and tidy. The rule en- forcing a midday rest is not liked by the women. They would prefer to come an hour later or leave an hour earlier ; but for this the rules do not provide. On the whole, in spite of Mr. Moos’ paragraphs 28 and 29, I incline to the opinion that the relations between masters and men are on the whole cordial and un- strained. I think relations are likely to continue satisfactory so long as the present rates of wages are maintained. I further think the common feeling among workers is strong enough to prevent any genera] lowering of rates. 15. I have criticised Mr. Moos’ remarks somewhat freely, because they seem to me haphazard and mis- leading. At the same time I think it commendable that Mr. Moos should feel that his duties as factory inspector to some extent constitute him the mill- workers’ guardian. Had it not been for Mr. Moos, the failure of Mr. Lokhande to aid us would have left the workers’ case almost unrepresented. 16. I would draw attention to Mr. Tata’s useful in- troduction of apprenticeships and to his benevolent system of prizes and of old age and accident pensions and gratuities. To attempt such improvements is the privilege of a wealthy and independent millowner. Should (he improvements turn out a financial and practical success the leading companies may in time afford to adopt them. 17. In the whole matter of Bombay Factory labour three blemishes strike me — (a.) The delay of wage payments. (b.) The evil housing of workers. (c.) The floating residuum of mill-hands. For the floating residuum of mill-hands, which the senior inspector of boilers puts at the startling total of 25,000, no remedy seems apparent. Many, perhaps two-thirds of this great total, are respectable, brained workmen for a time thrown out of regular employment by ill-health or family business. Others are incom- pletely trained and in time will secure fixed employ- ment. There remain perhaps 5,000 to 6,000 wasters, as they are called in Lancashire, wanderers from factory to factory, overfond of pleasure, too much given to drink. That with the chance of steady, highly paid work, so large a share of workers should turn out failures is both sad and surprising. For this the employers can in no way be blamed, nor can the second blemish of evil housing be ranked among the sins of capital. The workers crowd to save rent: they soil their surroundings to save trouble. Still the result is evil, a grimy squalor unknown in Bombay’s fore- factory days. Mr. Tata has done much to better the lot of his workers. Perhaps some other independent millowner may lead the way to lessen the contrast between model lodgings and the dismal chal or barrack, a room which is all the bulk of Bombay mill-hands have as their home. 18, Of the three blemishes the undue delay in paying- wages seems to me the one point on which Government may fairly call for help from the public spirit of the better class of millowners. It is, I believe, the case that not only is a delay of over two months the excep- tion, but that in the few cases of such excessive delay the workers claim and obtain extra rates of wage. Even though a two months delay is the exception, even though so great delay implies a special wage conces- sion, I venture to think such excessive delays should cease. Further, I venture to think that in spite of difficulties and inconvenience to the employers, a month’s delay should become tho extreme concession ; and that the principle should be accepted and gradually introduced, that delays in excess of a fortnight are an unjust burden from which the Bombay mill-workers should by degrees be set free. I have, &c., (Signed) J. M. CAMPBELL, Collector of Land Revenue, Customs and Opium. The Millowners’ Association. The Chief Inspector of Factories, Bombay. ® IR > . Bombay, 14th July 1892. I am directed by the committee of the Bombay Millowners’ Association to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 67 of 4th April 1892, with accompani- ments, relating to certain information required by the Royal Commission on Labour, concerning the condition R 130 of the t 'ctile trades in Bombay, which yon solicit the assistant- - of the association in compiling. 2. lu reply, I am directed to inform you that my committee are not aware of any other employer’s association in Bombay in connexion with textile manu- factures, nor do they believe any trade unions exist to which you could apply for information of the character required. 3. Under the circumstances, the only group of questions to which the association is in a position to reply is — C. — Questions addressed to Employers’ Associations. To these I am directed to reply as far as practicable, as follows • I. — Introductory. (1.) This association represents cotton spinning and weaving. (2.) The association has members in various parts of India, but with the exception of factory legislation, concerns itself more immediately with matters appertaining to the industry in the Bombay Presidency. (3.) The number of mills connected with the associa- tion is 67. (4.) The average number of workpeople employed by these mills is estimated at 67,647 (5.) The membership of the association is open to all persons owning mills, or in any way interested in spinning and weaving concerns, within the limits of this Presidency or any other part of India, as well as any other users of steam or water power. The general objects are to encourage friendly feeling and unanimity among millowners and users of steam and water power, on all subjects involving their common good, to promote and protect in any way which may seem best the interests of millowners and users of steam and waterpower, specially of those who may be members of this association, to collect and classify information on all matters of general interest, to obtain the removal, as far as this society can by all legitimate means, of all acknowledged grievances affecting millowners and users of steam and water power as a body, to receive and decide references on matters in dispute, which may be laid before the association for arbitration, and to communicate with the public authorities, and with any individual or corporation, when it may be needful to do so, on all subjects of general interest to members of the association. (6.) The association has never yet dealt directly or indirectly with matters of difference between employers and their workpeople, but there is nothing in the objects of the association to prohibit it so doing, should occasion arise. (7.) There is nothing in the constitution of the a; so: iation which would permit of its imposing on its members compulsory rules for fixing rates of wages, regulating hours of labour, or generally prescribing conditions of service. The utmost the association has attempted in this direction lias been the compilation of a set of general rules for service (copy of which is annexed), which the committee have recommended for general adoption, but their adoption even by members of the association is quite optional. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. Under this head the association has no information at its disposal as a body. (l.) Waj'-s. Kates of wages are very various, depending on the situation of the mill, the class of material operated upon, and the general regulations under which the mills are worked. Information on this point would be better obtained by a reference to some of the members of the association direct, selecting special mills in different parts of the island. The association has no record of the scales of wages paid, n-.ursnf These are practically the hours permitted by the labour. Factory Act, and the mode of observing this law recommended by the rules suggested by the association is that observed by the majority of the mills in the island. Conditions (a. ) As a rule, employment in the textile trades is °‘ !abo "‘ 1- quite regular and subject to no seasonable fluctuation. ( b .) Is thoroughly provided for under the regulations of the Factory Act. (c.) No rules exist for compensation for accidents. This entirely depends upon employers’ generosity. (cl.) The association has no information on this point. (<3.) Labour is entirely confined to factories, (/.) The association cannot give any special informa- tion. (g.) No system of apprenticeship prevails. (h.) Employment, with the exception of European supervisors, is entirely confined to natives of India. (i.) The association is unable to say anything respect- ing the introduction of labour-saving machinery beyond that the whole system of textile manufacturing is the application of labour-saving machinery from beginning to end. (j.) Machinery, as a rule, is of the highest class and of the most modern make. The supply of materials is abundant. ( Ic .) As no trade unions exists, there is nothing to be said under this head nor under l. III. — Strikes and Lock-Outs. So far as this association is aware there have been no strikes or lock-outs, or what would be known as such in Europo, IY. — General Questions. (1.) This association does not intervene in trade disputes, nor, so far, have there been any trade disputes to deal with. (2.) So far as ‘the association is aware, there is no system of co-operative production, industrial partner- ship, or profit-sharing in connexion with textile labour in Bombay. (3.) The only Government labour employed in con- nexion with the trade is a small amount of weaving carried on in the local jails, but this is too insignificant to have any effect on the trade generally. (4.) With the exceptions of the rules which have been suggested, as previously mentioned, there have been no resolutions passed recommending alterations in the laws affecting labour. (5.) This Association collects all its own statistical and other information, as anything of this kind supplied by Government is, as a rule, out of date before it is made public. (6 and 7.) The Association has no suggestions to make respecting these classes. I have, &c. (Signed) John Marshall, Secretary. Bombay Millowners’ Association. General Kules agreed to by the Millowners with Regard to Attendance, Wages, and Discipline op Operatives at all Mills. Every person employed in the factory shall be bound to acquaint himself with the following rules, and shall be considered to have accepted employment in the factory subject to, and to have agreed to be bound by, the following rules. I. — Attendance. 1. Every person employed in the factory shall punc- tually attend to and commence and cease his respective work at the respective hours which may from time to time bo fixed for those purposes by the Bombay Mill- owners’ Association. 2. The opening and closing of the factory will be signalled by means of a whistle, bell, or gong. Persons employed in the factory shall enter by such gate or gates only as may be directed or notified by the manager. 3. No person shall, under any circumstances, absent himself from the factory during working hours without leave of the manager, and (subject to Rule 9) any person who shall absent himself for four consecutive days without such leave, shall be considered to have left his employment without notice and shall forfeit all wages due to him. II. — Wages. 4. No person will be employed by the month but, unless employed on piece-work, shall be employed on fixed daily wages. All persons, whether employed on daily wages or on piece-work, will be paid their re- spective wages once in every month. Those who receive fixed daily wages shall be entitled to receive payment only for the number of days they may have worked in such month. Out of the wages payable to every person employed at the factory, eighteen days’ wages may be deducted and kept in arrear as security or guarantee for the proper and faith- ful discharge of his duties, and for his obedience to all lawful orders, rules, and regulations from time to time in force in that behalf, and the amount of any fine or 131 forfeiture which any such person shall have incurred by reason of any breach or infringement of such orders, rules, or regulations may bo deducted out of the wages payable to him. 5. Any dispute or complaint regarding wages shall be brought to the notice of the manager immediately after the receipt by or tender to the complainant of the wages appearing to be payable to him, and it shall be the duty of the manager, or the person appointed in that behalf, to attend to such complaint and adjudicate thereon forthwith. 6. Persons desirous of leaving their employment shall five one month’s previous notice to the manager of their intention to leave ; such notice must be given on the 1st or 15th of the month, subject to Rule 9 ; every per- son who shall leave his employment without having given such notice shall forfeit all arrears of wages then due to him. 7. The manager, on behalf of the company, shall also give one month’s previous notice, either on the 1st or the 15th of the month, to any person whose services he may think fit to dispense with, or in default of such notice shall pay to such person one month’s wages in lieu of notice. Provided always, that in case any person shall misconduct himself, or disobey orders, or in any manner act negligently, incompetently, disorderly, intemperately, or fraudulently, the manager may dis- miss him summarily, and the person so dismissed shall thereupon forfeit all wages due to him. 8. Wages to substitutes shall under no circumstances be payable day by day, but shall be payable only on one of the regular pay-days. 9. Except in cases where the factory requires to be stopped for more than 30 consecutive days the stoppage of the factory, from whatever cause, shall not entitle any person employed to be absent without leave. If the factory requires to be stopped for more than 30 con- secutive days, the manager, on behalf of the company, shall forthwith give notice to that effect, in which case it shall not be necessary for persons absenting them- selves to obtain the leave required by Rule 3, and, moreover, they shall be entitled to leave the company’s service without notice, and to receive their wages up to the time of the stoppage of the factory. 10. In any Suit or action for wages brought against the company by any person, the company shall be entitled to set off against the claim in such action or suit the amount of any fines or forfeitures which the plaintiff in such action or suit may have incurred under these rules. III. — Fines, Foreeithkes, and Dismissals. 11. Persons committing theft or robbery in regard to any article or property belonging to the company, or aiding or abetting in any such act, and all persons com- mitting any fraud on the company shall forfeit all wages which may have accrued due to them, or as an alternative shall submit to such fine as the manager shall think proper, and shall also be liable to be prose- cuted. 12. Persons soliciting, enticing, intimidating, or conspiring with other persons employed in the factory to leave the service of the company, may be summarily dismissed, and shall be liable to forfeit all wages then accrued due to them, and also to be prosecuted. 13. Persons striking work, or intimidating or con- spiring with other persons employed in the factory to strike work, may be summarily dismissed, and shall be liable to forfeit all wages then accrued duo to them, and also to be prosecuted. 14. Persons found taking bribes from, or giving bribes to, other persons employed in the factory, or from or to any other individual having dealings with the company, as a motive or reward for doing, or omitting to do, any act the performance or omission whereof would be prejudical to the interests of the company, will be liable to summary dismissal, and to the forfeiture of all wages. 15. Smoking is strictly prohibited, except at the places set apart for that purpose, and every person found smoking within any part of the mill premises, except at the places set apart for that purpose, shall be liable to fine or dismissal, or both, at the discretion of the manager ; separate places in the mill compound will be provided for those in the habit of smoking. General. 16. The mill manager shall see that all the compulsory provisions of the Factories Act, 1881 (as amended by Act XI. of 1891), and all rules from time to time passed by the Governor- General in Council, or by the Local Government in regard thereto, are strictly and faithfully carried out so far as the company audits mill operatives are concerned ; and that the superior officers and heads of departments in the factory are made thoroughly acquainted with what is required of them. Under the said Act and rules the jobbers should in their turn also be directed to carry out, and, so far as may be, to enforce obedience to such parts of the said Act and rules as relate to matters coming under their immediate notice or supervision. For Women. Regulations under the Indian Factories Act, No. XY. of 1881, as modified in 1891, and which comes into force on the 1st day of January 1892. In accordance with section 10, sub-section (1), and section 6, subjections (1), (2), and (3) of the said Act, I hereby give the following notice, showing the times during which attendance of women employed at this mill is required, and the interval of rest sanctioned: — 1. Every woman shall attend the mill not earlier than 6 a.m., and leave the mill not later than 6.30 p.m. 2. Every woman will have an afternoon recess of one hour and a half from 12 noon to 1.30 p.m. For Children. Regulations under the Indian Factories Act, No. XY. of 1881, as modified in 1891, and which comes into force on the 1st day of January 1892. In accordance with section 10, sub-section (1), and section 7, sub-sections (1), (2), (3), and (4) of the said Act, I hereby give the following notice showing the times during which attendance of children (who are above 9 years and under 14 years, and who shall hold a certificate to that effect from the certifying factory surgeon) employed at this mill is required, and the interval of rest sanctioned. To meet the exigencies of work carried on in the mill the children employed at the mill will be divided into two shifts, and each shift will work as follows : No. 1 shift will attend the mill not earlier than 5.15 a m., and will work till 8.30 a.m. (they will then attend the school attached to the mill till noon, and have recess till 12.30 p.m.), and will again work from 12.30 to 3.45 p.m., when they will go home. No. 2 shift will attend the mill not eariler than 8.30 a.m., and will work till 12 noon (they will then have recess till 12.30, when they will attend the school attached to the mill till 3.45 p.m.), and will again work from 3.45 to 6.45 p.m. Thus each set of children will actually work not more than 64 hours. The two sets will exchange their hours of attendance on the 1st day of each month. Holidays. The following holidays are sanctioned during the year 1892 at the above mills under section 5 B(‘) and under provision of sub-section 2(b) of the Indian Fac- tories Act of 1881, as modified in 1891, and which come into force on the 1st day of January 1892 : — January 3rd Sunday. 13th W ednesday. (Makar Sankraant.) 17th Sunday. 24th Sunday. 31st Sunday. February 7th Sunday. 14th Sunday. 21st Sunday. 26th Friday. (Maha Shivaratri.) March 6th Sunday. 13th 14th Sunday. Monday. j- (Holi Holidays.) 21st Monday. ( Jamshedi Naoroz.) 27th Sunday. April 5th Tuesday. (Ram Navmi.) 10th Sunday. 17th Sunday. 24th Sunday. May 1st Sunday. 8th Sunday. 15th Sunday. 22nd Sunday. (Adurgan Jasan.) 29th Sunday. 132 Answers. June 5th Sunday. 12th Sunday. 19th Suuday. 26th Sunday. Tuesday. July 5 th (Ashadi Ekadashi.) 10th Sunday. 17th Sunday. 24th Sunday. 29th Friday. (Nag Panchami.) (Tabut.) August 4th Thursday. 8th Monday. (Narli Purnima.) 16th Tuesday. (Gocul Ashtami.) 26th Friday. (Ganesh Ckaturthi.) 31st Wednesday. (Gowri Yisarjun.) S eptember 4th Sunday. 3 o’clock. 11th Sunday. 16th Friday. (Parsi New Year Day.) 22nd Thursday. (Valava.) October 1st Saturday. (Dasara.) 9th Sunday. 16th Sunday. 20th 21st Thursday. Friday. j- (Divali Holidays.) 30th Sunday. N ovember 6th Sunday. 13th Sunday. 20th Sunday. 27th Sunday. December 4th Snnday. 11th Sunday. 18th Sunday. 25th Sunday. The mill shall stop every day under Section 5-A(’) from 12 to 12.30. The day previous to every alternate stopping day the mill will stop at 3.30 p.m. between 1st October and 31st March, and at 4 p.m. from 1st April to 30th September, when hands are expected to clean the machinery. N.B. — Any alterations in the above holidays will be notified by circulars issued one day previous. A. 1. The institution known to Western nations as a trade union, with its printed rules and regulations, its subscriptions and regular accounts, is represented here by an unnamed and unwritten bond of union among the workers peculiar to the people. 2 The above statement applies to the Island of Bombay. 3. Very nearly a lakh of workers are engaged in the textile trades in Bombay, of which number about 20,000 are women. Of the total number of a lakh, about twenty-five thousand have only irregular employment, taking the place of absentees and so forth. 4. Wages are paid in accordance with out-turn of work, the best worker thus earning far more than the worst one. (a) Each mill has a special sliding-scale of prices for each description and class of goods ; the prices are lowest for the coarsest and heaviest yarns and cloths. ( b .) The scale is so arranged that the monthly wages shown on the annexed list represents fairly the earnings of the operatives on an average. (c.) All wages arc paid direct to the worker, with the exception of the money earned in baling and bundling. In this department a contractor is employed between the workers and the mill company. The contractor receives from the company a fixed rate per bale, and makes his own arrangements with the bundlers and balers. (■ d .) Eines are common, but very light, and rarely in- judiciously inflicted. Stoppages as understood in Europe are almost unknown, but the workers among themselves voluntarily take on themselves stoppages amounting to a considerable sum monthly from their wages (of which no account is ever asked or given) under innumerable guises, towards their ideas of mutual aid. (e.) Payment in kind, or truck in any form, is unknown here. (/.) Sick pay, pension, accident and allowance, free house, land, food, clothing, or other allowance or ad- vantage are as a rule not allowed to workers, but the heads of departments have generally all of the above ; no insurance system exists. The Bombay Millowners’ Association rules, annexed hereto, is a fair representation of the terms under which the work is done. ig) A month’s notice is required on either side. 5. The ordinary hours of labour extend from daylight to dusk, making 13f hours in summer and Ilf hours in winter. (a.) There are no standard hours of labour ; each mill works as many hours as daylight allows them to ; the number of hours varies with variations in lighting and processes in different mills ; the new mills, long, high, and narrow, with nearly half of their walls filled with windows, make much better time than the old dark mills do. ( b .) Overtime is not made. (e.) Night shifts not made. (d.) Sunday is a holiday as a rule, but if a native holiday be within three days of Sunday, then Sunday counts as .an ordinary working day. (e.) There is no weekly half-holiday. 6. (a.) The employment is regular. (b.) The only dangerous work is mounting belts on running pulleys, and that work is as much safeguarded as work of the same nature is in Europe. The sanitary condition in some of the old mills is bad, but such is not the case in the newer mills. All factories driven by power are regularly inspected by a Government inspector. (c.) The payment of any compensation in cases of accident is optional with the owners ; as a rule nothing is clone, though there are odd mills which relieve the injured. (d.)_ The system is the ordinary cotton spinning and weaving, being sub-division of labour itself. (e.) The whole of the work is done in the mill. (/.) Men do everything except reeling, winding, piecing, and doffing. Women do reeling and winding ; boys and girls do piecing and doffing. [g.) There is no system of apprenticeship among the workers themselves, but among the mechanics there is. (h.) There is no restriction against employment of foreigners ; in fact 95 per cent, of the workers are not natives of Bombay. (i.) The whole machinery answers this description. (j.) There is no scarcity of either materials or plant. (fc.) All workers here are unionists, so the difficulty here referred to does not exist ; the mutual relations of the employers and the employed is most cordial. (1.) None that I am aware of. 7. 1. Strikes, as understood among Western nations, not one ; but strikes closing single mills, or depart- ments of mills, many. 2. Such disputes are rarer than formerly. 3. The disputes were generally regarding the rate paid for a particular grade of production. (a.) Such strikes generally lasted from one to three days. (6.) No such information is available. (c.) Generally about 500 people. (d.) Probably 100 more. (e.) Generally reasonable. (/.) Compromise by arbitration. {(/.) In nearly every case advance. (h.) On an average 1,000 rupees. 10. 1. Yes, our sliding-scales are all fixed by mutual arrangement. 11. 2. No such system has come to my knowledge. 12. 3. Practically no ; there is spinning, weaving, &c. 13. 4. The casual hands passing from mill to mill are utilised to convey information concerning pending vacancies. 14. 5. No. 15. 6. No agency exists other than the mutual aid union herein referred to. 16. 7. No resolutions. 17. 8. No. 18. 9. By non-interference. 19. 10. No. Tom Dkewet, Senior Inspector of Steam Boilers. Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. Strikes and lock-outs. General questions. 133 Post. I Approximate Post. Approximate Amount per Month. Amount per Month. Rs. Rs. Manager - 450 to 000 Doffers 9 Carding master - 150 to 200 Oilers “ <) Spinning master 150 to 200 Creelers ... 8 Weaving master 100 to 200 Bobbin carriers “ 1 7 Engineer, 1st Class • 100 to 400 Engineer, 2nd Class 45 Sele-acting Mules. Fireman, each 16 Jobber - - - 80 Mixing room 15 Assistant jobbers 30 Spinners 20 Scutching Room. Creelers .... 7 Jobber - 15 to 25 Piecers .... 7 Lap earner - 9 Bobbin carriers 10 Double scutcher attendant - 9 Cop do. 8 Single do. 9 Oiler .... 9 Opener do. 9 Belt piecer 12 Oilman do. - - 9 Sweeper - 8 Reeling Machines. Carding Room. Cop reelers - 8 Jobber .... - 50 Bobbin reelers “ 7 Assistant jobbers - 30 Grinders .... 14 Winding Frames. Strippers .... 12 Winders .... “ 8 Lap carriers - 10 Ply gatherers - 9 Warping Machine. Card attendants - 7 Warpers .... " 14 Frames. Sizing Machine. Jobber - 45 to 55 Front attendant - - _ 20 Assistant jobbers ... 25 Back do. - - - 14 Drawing frames 10 Help .... 12 Slubbing do. 11 Intermediate frames 12 Roving do. 13 Weaving Department. Doffers .... 6 Jobbers .... - 50 to 75 Ring Frames. Assistant jobbers 30 Jobber .... - 60 Weavers .... * 1G Assistant jobbers ... - 30 Helps .... ■ 9 Doffer jobbers - • ■ - 20 Beam carriers 12 Piecers 12 Cloth do. ... 10 Bombay Millowners’ Association. General Rules agreed to by the Millowners with regard to Attendance, Wages and Discipline of Operatives at all Mills. Every person employed in the factory shall be bound to acquaint himself with the following rules and shall be considered to have accepted employment in the factory subject to and to have agreed to be bound by the following rules. I. — Attendance. 1. Every person employed in the factory shall punc- tually attend to and commence and cease his respective work at the respective hours which may from time to time be fixed for those purposes by the Bombay Mill- owners’ Association. 2. The opening and closing of the factory will be signalled by means of a whistle, bell or gong. Persons employed in the factory shall enter by such gate or gates only as may be directed or notified by the manager. 3. No person shall under any circumstances absent himself from the factory during working hours without leave of the manager, and (subject to Rule 9) any person who shall absent himself for four consecutive days without such leave shall be considered to have left his employment without notice and shall forfeit all wages due to him. II. — Wages. 4. No person will be employed by the month but, unless employed on piece-work, shall be employed on fixed daily wages. All persons whether employed on daily wages or on piece-work will be paid their respec- tive wages once in every month. Those who receive fixed daily wages shall be entitled to receive payment only for the number of days they may have worked in such month. Out of the wages payable to every person employed at the factory, eighteen days’ wages may be deducted and kept in arrear as security or guarantee for the proper and faithful discharge of his duties and for his obedience to all lawful orders, rules and regula- tions from time to time in force in that behalf, and the amount of any fine or forfeiture which any such person shall have incurred by reason of any breach or infringement of such orders, rules or regulations, may be deducted out of the wages payable to him. 5. Any dispute or complaint regarding wages shall be brought to the notice of the manager immediately after the receipt by or tender to the complainant of the wages appearing to be payable to him, and it shall be the duty of the manager or the person appointed in that behalf to attend to such complaint and adjudicate thereon forthwith. R 3 184 ? 6. Persons desirous of leaving their employment shall give one month’s previous notice to the manager of their intention to leave ; such notice must be given on the 1st or 15th of the month subject to Rule 9 ; every person who shall leave his employment without having given such notice shall forfeit all arrears of wages then due to him. 7. The manager, on behalf of the company, shall also give one month’s previous notice, either on the 1st or the 15th of the month, to any person whose services he may think fit to dispense wi th, or in default of such notice shall pay to such person one month’s wages in lieu of notice. Provided always that in case any person shall misconduct himself or disobey orders or in any manner act negligently, incompetently, disorderly, in- temperately, or fraudulently, the manager may dismiss him summarily and the person so dismissed shall thereupon forfeit all wages to him. 8. Wages to substitutes shall under no circumstances be payable day by day, but shall be payable only on one of the regular pay days. 9. Except in cases where the factory requires to be stopped for more than 30 consecutive days the stop- page of the factory, from whatever cause, shall not entitle any person employed to be stopped for more than 30 consecutive days, the manager, on behalf of the company, shall forthwith give notice to that effect, in which case it shall not be necessary for persons absenting themselves to obtain the leave required by Rule 3 and moreover they shall be entitled to leave the company’s service without notice and to receive their wages unto the time of the stoppage of the factory. 10. In any suit or action for wages brought against the company by any person, the company shall be entitled to set off against the claim in such action or suit the amount of any fines or forfeitures which the plaintiff in such action or suit may have incurred under these rules. III. — Fines, Forfeitures, and Dismissals. 11. Persons committing theft or robbery in regard to any article or property belonging to the company, or aiding or abetting in any such act and all persons committing any fraud on the company shall forfeit all . wages which may have accrued due to them or as an alternative shall submit to such fine as the manager shall think proper and shall also be liable to be prosecuted. 12. Persons soliciting, enticing, intimidating or con- spiring with other persons employed in the factory to leave the service of the company, may be summarily dismissed and shall be liable to forfeit all wages then accrued due to them and also to be prosecuted. 13. Persons striking work or intimidating or con- spiring with other persons employed in the factory to strike work, may be summarily dismissed and shall be liable to forfeit all wages then accrued due to them and also to be prosecuted. 14. Persons found taking bribes from or giving bribes to other persons employed in the factory or from or to any other individual having dealings with the company, as a motive or reward for doing or omitting to do any act the performance or omission whereof would be pre- judicial to the interests of the company, will be liable to summary dismissal and to the forfeiture of all wages. 15. Smoking is strictly prohibited, except at the places set apart for that purpose, and every person found smoking within any part of the mill premises, except at the places set apart for that purpose, shall be liable to fine or dismissal or both at the discretion of the manager ; separate places in the mill compound will be provided for those in the habit of smoking. General. 16. The mill manager shall see that all the com- pulsory provisions of the Factories Act, 1881 (as amended by Act XI. of 1891) and all rules from time to time passed by the Governor-General in Council or by the Local Government in regard thereto, are strictly and faithfully carried out so far as the company and its mill operatives are concerned ; and that the superior officers and heads of departments in the factory are made thoroughly acquainted with what is required of them. Under the said Act and rules the jobbers should in their turn also be directed to carry out and so far as may be to enforce obedience to such parts of the said Act and rules as relate to matters coming under their immediate notice or supervision. Note by Mr. N. A. Moos. 1 . The average rates of wages in the trade are as follows : — Male Females Children - J obbers Officers Rs. 12 9 5 50 200 Rates for wages. The majority (95 per cent.) of the workmen being paid by the piece, it is well also to note the average rates of wages for production of 100 lbs. of yarn, Mule spinner 3ij annas, piecer 2£ annas, weaver 12 rupees. 2. The most peculiar circumstance about th.e rates of wages is that there seems to have been no very sensible fluctuation for the last 25 or 30 years. Carrying thus our retrospect to so far back as two or three decades, we cannot help being struck with the all along sameness of wages in the textile trade. 3. Bearing in mind that the education and moral condition of the employes has in no way made any material progress, whereas the purchasing power of money during the period has steadily and considerably decreased, the condition of the mill operatives in respect of happiness and of some degree of opulence and comfort seems evidently to have been more retrograde than progressive. “ Since 1853,’’ says Lord Brassey in his ‘ Work and Wages,’ “ we (England) have subscribed no less than “ 40,000, 000Z. for Indian railways. A considerable “ portion of this has been paid to native labourers and “ the result has been that in the districts traversed by “ these railways wages have increased within a short “ time no less than 100 per cent. The price of labour “ has increased to an extent still more marvellous in ‘ ‘ Bombay.’ ’ In a paper furnished by Sir Bartle Frere to the Select Committee on East India Finance the remarkable rise in wages in consequence of increased competition is shown as follows : — 1830. 1860. Rupees 15 Rupees 30, wages of a carpenter. ,, 7 ,, 14 ,, coolie. Fluctua- tions, absence of. 98 per cent, of the opera- tives do not know how to read or write. The figures are old, but they are reliable, and show that within a period of 30 years wages had almost doubled. The fact (of keen competition doubling the wages of labour in other trades) taken side by side with the almost uniform wages in the textile trade, where the competition has been and is by no means less keen, brings us to the consideration of other factors which regulate and influence the rate of wages. “ It is not the actual greatness of natural Wealth but ‘ ‘ its continual increase which occasions a rise in the “ wages of labour.”* Within the last 30 years the capital engrossed in the trade has increased about twelve times, and Bombay has become what it is, almost the first town in India, comparatively low in the scale as it was 30 years ago. It is as well not to omit that a certain per-centage of the above capital has gone to provide for the recuperation of the waste of machi- nery, including daily wear and tear and absolute renouncement. 4. The margin of profit for every pound of production in the trade in 1872 was from 1 to 1| annas, which in 1892 has gone down to almost z to \ anna. The actual production has only increased in such proportion as to make the absolute profit of the employer suffer in the same ratio as the margin of profit. This can be easily seen by a comparison of the proportion of output in 1892 and in 1872 to that of the pound profits in 1892 and 1872. f It is as well to note here that so far as the undersigned is informed, all that the Bombay mills have done during the period under discussion to remedy over-production and the consequent glutting of the market has been to work short hours or rather short days in the week for some three months in 1878 and about as many in 1890. A reduction in the hours of labour, it must be noted, does not necessarily result in reduced production. A little more diligence will easily enable workmen, who as a class in India are known * In 1892 the capital absorbed amounts to almost 58 millions rupees (5,80,000,000). In 1872 it was about 50 lakhs, rupees 50,000,000. 1872. 1S92. Cotton. Cotton. Cwts. Cwts. t Consumption about 200,000 3,100.000 Pound profit. Pound profit. 1872. 1892. Pies 15 4 135 Tending to lessen the price of labour. Reduction in the waxes contem- plated. to be lazy and never to do their day’s work without repeated intervals of idleness, smoking, &c., to put in as much work iri 9 hours as in 11. 5. The China and Japan bazars have all along steadily responded and absorbed the products of our mills. Only on two or three occasions, and those for about two or three months only at a time during the long period of 30 years and more, the trade apparently seemed to be depressed and slack. But there has always been a rebound which has more than made up for the temporary depression, and the undersigned inclines to think that at no time was the hold of Bombay products stronger on the above markets than it is now, and is likely to remain for some years to come. The position is secure notwithstanding the “ diminished profit ” and “ working at a loss ” cry of interested persons. It is a curious fact to note that there was and is an under-current of feeling amongst the mill- owners against the compulsory stoppage of factories on Sundays. Over-production, therefore, is not what the owners dread or have dreaded. The competition is very keen indeed and it is known to everyone that such mills, and there are many, as cannot turn out superior quality of yarn, try by increased production to make up their average profit. Improved machinery and greater speed now than there used to be in 1872 ought to have had considerable influence on the products turned out in respect both of quality and quantity, greater in the former than in the latter, as the average turn-out per man every day is greater now than it was in 1872 (about 10 per cent.). 6. In the consideration of the above factors we must not forget to note the important bearing of and .the side-light thrown by the following figures and facts : — (1.) The number of operatives employed daily in 1872 was about 10,000, in 1892 it is 80,000. (2.) Agriculture in India is daily losing its hold upon the rural population. It is becoming less and less pleasant and remunerative. (3.) Coolie and other ordinary kinds of labour admit of female labour as in the textile industry. (4.) The proportion of increase of capital in other trades is smaller than in the textile trade. 7. From all that is stated above is it not reasonable to infer that the bargain between capital and labour has for the last 30 years been all along in the favour of the employers ? The mill hands, as remarked else- where, are a mild and suffering lot of men, and if there has not been one serious strike (as will be shown here- after) during the period under examination, is it not safer to ascribe the non-existence of such combination against the masters, and of discontent for their own lot, to their illiterate and patiently suffering nature than, as others would make out, their thriving con- dition ? Is it possible to conceive that they could be in a thriving condition when the average wages* are about twice the amount necessary for the bare suste- nance and clothing of one person ? In making the assertion it is not forgotten that the wages of the man are in some cases supplemented by the wages of his wife and daughter and son. This supplementary help, it must be noted, is always counted upon in the rural districts in agricultural pursuits, and a man with a large family ought certainly to be better off in the textile trade and be possibly in a thriving condition.! But this is rare when early marriages and other social circumstances surrounding the Indian labourer keep a constant drain upon the limited resources of the head of the family. 8. It is now generally felt by all millowners that wages should undergo diminution. What the result of such reduction will be one cannot foresee. The under- signed, however, is of opinion that competition being very keen no such attempt will be made, and, if made’ will prove abortive. Concerted action on the part of all millowner 3 alone could, if the combination was possible, and I have grave doubts of its possibility, affect and reduce the wages. It must be admitted that if capital has increased in the textile trade it is because that trad© is*more remunera- tive than others, or because it partakes of the general increase of capital. If the former, it must mean that tho profits in that trade have increased or fallen in , * Average wages twice the natural wages. It requires above Rs. ( per month foi the sustenance, clothing, &c. for one person. VicU Report, Price Commission, page 85-80 ^ + The practice of women sharing in the manual labour of men is t< oUeviate hB ° aUS0 V<3ry P0VCrty Whi0h ifc is its chief aim R other trades ; if the latter, it means that tho old hoard- ings have been let loose in the country under a benign Government,??^ that foreign capital has also been im- ported. In any case if capital has increased in the textile trade there would be in ordinary course more to spare for the labourers unless the industry in its transi- tional state has for some years to ui.ik a large part of its capital in fixed capital. If there is more to spare* for the labourers, and we have seen that there is, and wages have not increased, it is either because the demand for labour has been met by a proportionate increase of supply o that textile labourers are more ignorant than other labourers, and therefore their ignorance outweighs whatever force competition among employers might exercise in the labour market. 9. The majority are paid by the piece. Piece-work has been a popular institution amongst the operatives, and the undersigned feels diffident to offer any sugges- tion , strongly as he may feel in agreeing with Thornton and others that some modified system of payment should be introduced, especially in a country like India, where almost all operatives are illiterate and not able to take care of themselves, who are virtually incapable of entertaining any prospective ideas of life, men who live for the present, leaving the future to take care of itself. Under the head of Payment the undersigned is reluct- antly compelled to allude to the practice, happily not followed by all, of keeping the wages for over two months in arrears. In a special circular letter the Millowners’ Association enjoined upon the employers to pay the operatives before 15th of the following month. To what greater hardship could the employes, who always live from hand to mouth, are never thrifty, and never make any provision for the future, be subjected than the pay- ment of wages two months after they are due p About half a dozen mills can be mentioned as now and again keeping back the wages for over two months. The Hindustan Mill, a well-conducted and long - 1 stablish H factory, it is said, did not pay the wages of April till the 5th June. The undersigned is glad to admit, however, that the practice is certainly and by no means universal, nor followed as a rule month after month, but all the same as one mill on an average employs a thousand operatives, the distress must be great indeed, and the system must be strongly deprecated. 10. The system is not followed in any of the factories in Bombay though something like 300,000 rupees on an average annually for each factory change hands. 11. Deductions are frequent in the shape of fines. In a few well-conducted mills the fines are collected and directed to a kind of reserve fund for the benefit of the employes. In majority of the mills the fines collected pass to the pocket of the employers. Ho remuneration is given to the operatives for acci- dental stoppage of the mills on odd days or hours. 12. In a few mills the practice of giving bonus and prizes generally to tho officials rarely to the mill hands is adopted. Mr. J. N. Tata’s mills have a regular system of bonus, &c., but such well-conducted and' well- established factories are very rare and, so far as the undersigned is informed, there are only four such factories in the Presidency including Mr. Tata’s. No mill, except those of Mr. Tata, has a system of insurance and accident fund. The usual practice is to pay the wages of the operative when disabled from accident for tho time he is in hospital. No proper and adequate returns are made to the operative in case of an accident physically incapacitating him for work, or to the family when the accident proves fatal to the workman. Tho Millowners’ Association ought to move in such humane object, and introduce, or at least suggest, a proper system for the amelioration of the condition of the poor, an example of which has been set by men like Mr. Tata. 13. When the conflict between labour and capital is unequal and one-sided, it is idle to expect equal terms of notices for the ending of engagement in either side. No notice whatever is given to the operatives. Tho dismissal is almost sudden, and in many cases with the forfeiture of pay. On the other hand, if any operative wishes to leave he cannot do so without a fortnight’s or * Probably now the diminished profits may show that there is not much to spare to the labourers. We are, however, talking of a period of almost 30 years, and the absolute profits being much larger formerly than now, a just inference could bo drawn that more could have been spared to the operatives. Supply has been greater than the demand, R 4 Payment. Payment through sub-con- tractor. Deduction, fines, &c. Allowances, bonus, &c. Length of not ice for ending of engagement. 136 Hours of labour. Overtime and its remunera- tion. Night shifts. Holidays without remunera- tion. Condition of Labour. — Irregularity of employ- ment through seasonal or other causes. Safety, &c. Compensa- tion for accidents. Distribution of labour between factories and homes. Distribution of labour between men, women, and children. Apprentice* ship. tation here do take apprentices, but the undersigned does not know of any regular and organised system. 26. Europeans are in many cases employed as mana- Employ- gers, engineers, &c., and the undersigned feels it neces- foreigners, sary to say that all the best-conducted mills, with a few exceptions, are managed by Europeans. 27. From time to time labour-saving machinery and Introduc- maehinery with higher speed and finer finish have been introduced, but on that account there has never been a saving dispute raised between the employers and the employed, machinery 28. Refusal of men of one caste to work with those of the other has singularly been rare in the textile trade. No trade unions, so called, exist. There is a kind of mill -hands’ association, but it is quite in its infancy — a factor which can hardly influence the relation between the employer and the employed in any way, at least for the present. 29. The chairman, a man of some intelligence, himself told the undersigned that he could barely command the people to take interest in their own welfare by giving him all the assistance and informa- tion he may be in need of. The inherent respect and dread cf the masses for rhe employers is all-powerful yet, and the 'so-called association of mill-bands has hardly any influence over the the masses to make the combination of the mill-hands powerful enough to cope with the employers’ association for years to come. 30. There being always a greater supply of labour than the demand, loclc-onts are unknown here. Strikes have been many, two should be put down every year for each factory, but all of them have been short-lived, and in the end. it is always the operatives who have given in, in some cases with fines, and in some cases with loss of arrears of wages. The reasons leading the men to strike are mostly the temporary reduction of wages without any notice whatever, sometimes the men have clamoured for higher rates on account of price for food-grain, &c. going up, but in no case have they proved successful to dictate their terms to the owners. The undersigned, besides, has not heard of any strike resulting in the absolute stoppage of a mill even for a day. 31. The relation between the employers and the em- ployed is said to be cordial. True, they do get on smoothly and well, but good feelings arising from equality of give and take do not form the basis of the understanding. Power on one side and ignorance and mildness on the other are the basis on which the present relations, and the relations are quiet, rest. 32. Incase of difference, the weaker side gives in; there is nothing like specified modes of settling differ- ences, &c. How could there be when the employers are able enough to dictate their own terms ? month’s notice, and even that with the risk of losing all his arrear wages. 14. In passing it must be mentioned that the principle of giving notice beforehand is never practised by the millowncrs even in the case of temporary reduction of wages, a fertile and almost the main cause, as will be shown hereafter, of the frequent half-hearted and abor- tive strikes of the mill operatives. 17. There are no standard hours of labour for male adults, the new Factory Act restricting the hours for women to 11, and for children between fourteen and nine to seven. The undersigned thinks the legislature sufficient. Whatever reasons there may he to restrict the hours of labour of male adults in Europe, no such restriction is needed in India. The English labourer, not taking into consideration the physical factor of capability of doing work, never idles or dawdles over his work as the Indian does, the latter performing, though numerical precision is difficult to arrive at in such cases, about six hours of work only for the twelve he is employed daily in the factories. 18. Payment for overtime is almost unknown in Bombay. The undersigned has actually seen women employed in some of the mofussil ginning factories for 17 hours at a stretch, without any portion of the labour being counted as overtime work. In the Bombay mills, except in the case of fitters and jobbers in the workshops, it is not practised. The overtime remuneration is poor indeed, 10 hours of (overtime) work constituting a day’s pay. 19. In some of the flour mills there are night shifts, and the undersigned understands the remuneration to he the same as of other shifts employed during the day. Now and again to equalise severity of work the night shifts and day shifts change place. No weekly half-holiday or any holiday carries re- muneration with it. The mills in Bombay close on Saturdays two or three hours earlier than usual, and all the operatives are employed during the period in cleaning the machinery. No remuneration is given for this work. 20. In the Bombay mills the employment is regular, and fairly throughout the year the operatives are kept in work. But such is, unfortunately, not the case in the mofussil. In outlying districts, where only ginning and pressing factories could he erected, and which work probably not more than from four to five months in the year, the operatives have actually to earn their yearly wages during the short working season. Under the circumstance to restrict the hours of labour, even of women, is a great hardship. The majority of these people are abjectly poor, and the undersigned considers the Act pressing severely upon the female operatives of the seasonal factories. 21. All the dangerous portion of the machinery in the Bombay mills, the undersigned thinks, is guarded, and in lighting and sanitation the factories are fairly well off. In the Bombay cotton presses and in some flour mills means will have to be adopted to artificially ventilate the premises. The dust raised from the openers and from the grinding machines is so very thick that it is difficult in some mills to enter the premises without a sensation of suffocation. 22. Answered. 23. Generally, if not always, the wife participates in earning wages for her family with her husband. The women generally leave home at about 6 a.m. and return at about 6 p.m., after which they do the day’s cooking for the night and the next day, in addition to other duties. The women, therefore, practically have about six to seven hours of rest only. The whole brunt of household drudgery falls upon the shoulder of women, the husband never volunteering to participate in home work. 24. Males are generally employed in spinning and weaving departments. Reeling, winding are attended to by women, and throstles and ring-frames by children. In the mofussil, women were employed on frames, but the restriction of their hours by the new Act has driven them away from the department, making room for adults who can work without such restriction. 25. No regular system of apprenticeship is known here. At Nagpur, in Mr. Tata’s mill, there is a regular and organised system of taking apprentices, and it has been found to work very effic iently. Apprentices from the mills are managers and officers of several local mills. The carding and weaving masters of good repu- From the Honourable Nowrosjee N. Wadia, C.I.E., Tardeo, Bombay, to J. M. Campbell, Esq., C.S., Collector of Land Revenue, Customs, and Opium, Bombay. Sir, Bombay, 14th June, 1892. I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your communication, No. 100 of the 26th May, forward- ing a copy of a despatch from Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India, giving cover to a letter with enclo- sures from the Royal Commission on Labour, and as requested therein, I have now the pleasure to forward, for information of Government, my answers to questions for employers so far as they relate to Bombay. I have, &c. (Signed) Nowrosjee N. Wadia. Answers to Questions addressed to Employers by Nowrosjee Wadia and Sons. 1. My firm is engaged in managing the cotton mills belonging to Sir Dinshaw Manekji Petit, Bart. We are also agents for a number of machinists in England. 2. The number of people employed is as per Appen- dix A., showing the number of males, females, young persons, and unskilled labourers. The appendix also shows distribution of labour as between men, women, and children, referred to under Conditions of Labour.” 3. There is no association in Bombay dealing with labour questions, hut the Bombay Millowner's Associa- tion, which has been formed for the purpose of gene- rally looking after the interests of the “ textile trade,” 137 Wages. Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. Strikes and lock-outs. Number of persons employed. lias had brought bcforo thorn any questions which may tend to the general benefit of the employers. Adults (males), Rs. 10 to Rs. 15. ,, (females), Rs. 7 to Rs. 12. Children, Rs. 4 to Rs. 6. Native supervisors, Rs. 15 to Rs. 100. (6.) Payment is made by a rate on out-put^ or by fixed monthly wages, a month being taken of 26 days. In case of women, where fixed wages are paid, payment is by task. (c.) There is no system of sub-contracting. ( d .) Pines are levied for neglect of duty and for absence without leave. (e.) There is no payment in kind. (/.) On occasions bonus is paid, but not as a rule. There is no accident, pension, or other compensation system for times of accident or sickness, but we have a fund from which payments are made in case of accidents. There is no free house, land, food, clothing, or other allowance. Free house furnished is only provided for European employes. ( g .) Length of notice for ending the engagement is usually of 15 days. (a.) Hours of labour are from sunrise to sunset, which in long days amount to 13|- hours, and in short days 11J hours. ( b .) Overtime remuneration is only paid to the mechanics but not to the operatives, as the latter are never required to work overtime. (c.) There is no system of night shifts. ( d .) Sunday work is prohibited by the Factory Act except in cases of native holidays intervening during the week. Mechanics attend for repairs on these days and are paid extra for same. (e.) There is no weekly half holiday. (a.) There is far more irregularity of attendance amongst the operatives in India than in Europe, more particularly so during the rainy season. (b.) Safety of employment, lighting, and sanitation is well looked after ; in fact the cotton mills as regards sanitation are far in advance of the dwelling-houses of the workpeople. (c.) Compensation is invariably granted in cases of accidents. (d.) There is no sub-division of labour. (/.) This is answered in Appendix A. (g.) No apprentices are engaged. ( h .) As a rule engineers and card and spinning over- lookers are Europeans, though of late natives are beginning to take their places. ( i .) Machinery of the very best quality which money can procure, is generally purchased. (;'.) Machinery and other plant is brought out from England. 0c.) There are no representative delegates, and there- fore no black lists in existence. 1. We have have had two strikes the last 10 years. Disputes are easily settled, unless the employer does not use tact when settlement is delayed. They principally result from curtailment of wages. General. 1. It is already answered in “ Introductory 3.” 2. There is no system of paying on co-operative production, industrial partnership or profit-sharing. 3. Government are invariably employers of labour in the various districts, but the operatives earn far more in textile trades than in Government employment. The other questions do not require any answer, as the present arrangements are sufficient. APPENDIX A. Males . - 5,346 Females • • 1,128 Children - . . 636 Unskilled labourers • - 277 Total - 7,387 Per-centages of males employed, 72 per cent. Do. females do. 15 do. Do. children do. 9 do. Do. unskilled labourers 4 do. (Signed) Ncwrosjee Wadia and Sons. To J. M. Campbell, Esquire, C.S., Collector of Land Revenue, Customs, and Opium, Bombay. Sir, Bombay, 21st June 1892. I have the honour to forward herewith my answers to the questions marked A., B., and C. in the copy enclosure from the Royal Commission on Labour, which accompanied your letter No. 101 of the 26th May last. Trusting they will be found in order. I have, &c. (Signed) Jamsetji N. Tata. Answers. A. As no trade unions exist in Bombay I have nothing to reply to under this head. B. I . — Introductory. 1. My firm manages the Svadeshi Mills Company, Limited, in Coorla, Thana District, situated 9 miles by rail from Bombay City, and the Central India Spin- ning and Weaving Company, Limited, at Nagpur in the Central Provinces. Both manufacture yarn and weave cloth, and are worked throughout the year ; but the latter also owns small cotton ginning factories at Wardha, Shirpur and Powna in the Wardha District, which are worked for about five months in the year. 2. At the Svadeshi Mills the number of workpeople employed are as under : — (a.) 1,572 males. (6.) 514 females. (c.) 9 apprentices and 345 young persons, of whom 10 are females. (d.) 108 unskilled labourers. At the Nagpur Mills the workpeople employed are as under : — (a.) 2,145 males. (b.) 477 females. (c.) 220 boys and 44 girls under 14 and above 9 years. ( d .) 228 unskilled labourers. For purposes of the Wardha Ginning Factories there are employed (a.) 169 males, and (b.) 125 females, of whom ( d .) 175 are unskilled labourers. 3. My firm is not connected with any employers’ organisation dealing with labour questions. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. I may generally observe that the new cotton mills, which have sprung up in Bombay during the last six or seven years, have to pay a comparatively higher rate of wages to the workpeople, as trained hands from the older mills had to be employed. But it is universally felt that wages should undergo a diminution now. In fact the local millowner’ association considered the subject some time ago. And as far as my knowledge goes a few mills have already made a reduction all round in the wages of operatives, while many more are about to fall on the same course. (a.) Wages paid at the Svadeshi mills amount to Rs. 26,000 per month, while at the Nagpur mills they come to Rs. 21,220. At the former — A spinner - - earns per month Rs. 25 A weaver - - ,, „ 16-8 (for minding 2 looms.) A weaver - - - earns per month Rs. 18-8 (for minding 1 loom.) A reeler (woman) - earns per month Rs. 9-8 A doffer (boys and girls) above age - , , ,, 6 A doffer (boys and girls) under age ,, ,, 3-8 A winder (woman) - „ „ 10-8 ( b .) (1 and 2.) Generally, payment is by the month while the wages of adults are regulated by piece-work, save in a few cases. (3.) None by the task. (c.) None. (d.) Fines are inflicted mostly for bad work, but they are trifling in amount. Infringement of the rules in force for operatives is also punished by fines. They are about one per cent, of the total amount of wages paid in a month. (e.) None. (/.) (1.) At the Nagpur mills there has been esta- blished for many years past a system of awarding bonus or prizes. There is a monthly competition in the different departments for regularity in attendance, S .. Wages. U z 75209. 138 Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. efficiency of work, and so on. The results of the com- petition are recorded, and at the end of the year those who have shown the greatest regularity in attendance, skill in work, &c. are awarded money prizes. (/.) (2.) At the Nagpur mills there is instituted a scheme of pension, particulars of which are annexed herewith marked (A.) At both mills it is customary, in case of accidents to an operative, to allow him full wages while he is laid up and until he is able to resume work, in the case of those who are disabled from doing the work they did before the accident, other suitable employment is found in the mill. As to persons dying by reason of accident, their nearest relations are given a compensation ; and the children, if of a workable age and willing, are ottered employment in the mills. (/.) (3.) None. (t/.) Fifteen days’ notice at the Svadeshi and 30 at the Nagpur mills is given and required for ending engage- ment. (a.) The average duration of work all through the year is 11^ hours per diem at both the mills, statutory Sundays and certain specified holidays excluded. Male adults work for the regular hours, with half an hour’s rest at midday ; female adults and all children work in terms of the provisions prescribed under the Factory Act. (6.) None for ordinary workpeople. (c.) None. (d.) None. (e.) None. (a.) None. (b.) Machinery at both the mills is well fenced and guarded. No artificial lighting used. Latrines and drinking water adequately provided. Mill premises well ventilated and regularly whitewashed at stated periods under the Acts. Inspection is done by factory inspectors. (c.) Vide answer to (1.) (f.) (3.) on wages. (d.) None. (e.) None. (/.) Women only work on reels and winding machines, children doff and piece. The rest of the branches of the mill are attended to by men. (y.) Both mills receive a limited number of appren- tices who may have passed either the University entrance examination or the seventh standard of public schools. They are bound for three years with two years’ further service at the option of the company on terms and conditions mentioned in the accompanying form marked (B.) It may be here observed that no such conditions of apprenticeship prevail elsewhere in Bom- bay. The usual practice seems to be for the apprentice to bind himself for two years to a carder or spinner or engineer in a mill on the payment of a honorarium mutually agreed upon, generally ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000, according to the reputation of the master to whom he is apprenticed. (h.) Two Europeans are employed at each of the mills. (i.) Every labour-saving machinery that could be practically put to work is employed. (j.) Raw cotton and such country stores as could be provided by local markets, other stores indented from European markets ; machinery and plant wholly im- ported from Europe. (k.) Unknown here, as there are no trade unions. (1.) None. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. There was one strike at the Svadeshi in 1887 which had its origin in alleged inadequacy of the rate of wages in the card and weaving rooms. It lasted three days. I am not personally aware of the strikes prior to 1887, as my firm were not connected with the mills from 1881 to 1887. 2. I cannot say, but I believe they are rare. 3. None. IY. — General Questions. 1 . None exists. 2. None attempted. 3. None. 4. There is no agbncy in Coorla, neither at Nagpur, but some few months ago the Salvation Army, which has its head-quarters in Bombay city, offered us a few un- employed operatives. But the trial was hardly satisfac- tory. The Salvationists have, I believe, made known to the public the existence of their labour bureau. 5. All statistical and other information relating to the industry is collected and recorded by the Bombay Millowners’ Association, a copy of which is forwarded to the Local Government. Independently of this the Government of Bombay annually collects certain statis- tics. And the Government of India’s annual publica- tion of the statistics of agricultures, arts, manufactures and industries contains all requisite information. This publication is officially known as “the Statistical Abstract.” 6. No occasion has arisen yet. Asa rule the relations existing between capital and labour are of a cordial character. 7. I have no other statement or suggestion to make for the information of the Commission. Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manueacturing Company, Limited. The Empress Mills, Nagpur. 1. The directors of this company have been pleased to open a gratuitous pension fund for the benefit of workpeople employed at the Empress Mills, Nagpur. They intend to add to it, from time to time, such sums as to them may appear fit. 2. The object of the fund is to pay, at the discretion of the directors, to those workpeople, both male and female, who have completed 30 years’ service, and are no longer able to work, a pension equal to half the average monthly earnings, during the last two years of such service, but not more than a maximum pension of Rs. 5 per month will, in any case, be paid. 3. From the same fund it is intended to pay, at the discretion of the directors, to those workpeople who have completed 25 years’ service, an increase of an eighth of the average monthly earnings, for the last year of such service, but not more than the maximum of Rs. 1J per month in the shape of such increase will, in any case, be paid. 4. A printed certificate, signed by the manager, will be given to every person who shall have completed five years’ service ; all such certificates should be retained by such person, and produced when claiming the benefit of the increase of pay or of the pension as above provided. 5. It is to be distinctly understood that the pension will only be granted to such workpeople as are after 30 years’ service proved, to the satisfaction of the directors, to be incapable of working any longer at the mill and worthy of support. 6. The increase of wages, on account of 25 years’ service, will continue to be paid, even after the expira- tion of 30 years’ service, so long as the person entitled to it remains in the service of the company. 7. All leave of absence granted to the workpeople, not exceeding in the aggregate six months in every five consecutive years, will be considered as part of service. All leave in excess of such six months in five years will not be reckoned as part of service. If a person leaves the service and rejoins it, the term of service for the purpose of the above provisions will count from the day lie rejoins or last rejoined. 8. It must be understood that the creation of the fund in question will not confer any legal right upon any employe of the company to participate in the benefit thereof, and that the directors may, at their sole discretion, at any time withdraw the said fund, or reduce it, or appropriate it otherwise than here provided. 9. The directors also reserve absolute authority from time to time and at all times to add to and alter the conditions on which the employes of the company shall have the benefit of the said fund. Jamsetjee N. Tata, Managing Director. (Similar Form in use by the Central India Spinning and Weaving Company, Limited, of Nagpur). Articles of Agreement, made this day of 1890, between the Svadeshi Mills Company, Limited, of Bombay, registered under Companies Act, 1882, and carrying on its business in Bombay, of the one part and of of the other part. Witness that the said apprentice of his own free will doth by these presents put, place and bind himself unto the said company for the term of three years from the date hereof as a working appren- tice or operative to serve the company in their mills at Coorla or in any other mills or factories which may belong to the said company or be under their manage- ment in any other part of India. And the said apprentice hereby covenants that during such terra of 139 tbreo years lio will truly and faithfully serve the said company, obey their lawful commands, keep their secrets, diligently and carefully learn and perform such work and business as may be entrusted to him, give to the said company, when required, true and correct account of the goods and moneys which may be com- mitted to his charge or come into his hands, and attend to and remain at his work regularly and steadily at and during such hours as may be prescribed by the regulations of the said company or by the custom for the time being prevailing. And, further, the said apprentice covenants that he will not during the said term knowingly or intently do any damage to the machinery, goods or any other property belonging to the said company or consent to any such damage being done by others, but will, if possible, prevent the same and give warning thereof and will not embezzle or waste the property or goods of the said company, nor give or lend the same to others, nor absent himself from its service without leave. In consideration of rendering it service in the manner aforesaid the said company hereby covenants with the said apprentice that its officers and workpeople will do their best to make him learn and perform such work and business as he may be put to in all or any of the departments of its mill, and that it shall allow him during the first three years of the aforesaid period of three years a monthly salary of rupees (10) ten every month. Provided that if during the first two years of his service the said apprentice learn and perform his work and otherwise conduct himself to the entire satisfaction of the agents or the chief responsible officer at the mill, the said company shall at the expiration of the second year of his engagement grant him a bonus of rupees (125) one hundred and twenty-five. And, further, if the said apprentice similarly learn to efficiently perform his woi’k and satisfactorily conduct himself during the third year of his service the said company shall at the end of the said third year grant him a bonus of rupees (250) two hundred and fifty. Provided also that if the agents are desirous of terminating the service of the said apprentice at the expiration of the third year, it shall be lawful for them to do so upon giving the said apprentice (15) fifteen days’ previous notice, either verbally or in writing, and thereupon this agreement shall absolutely cease and determine notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein contained. Provided also that if the agents are willing to retain the service of the said apprentice after the expiration of the said period of three years, the said apprentice shall continue to serve the said company for a further period of two years truly and faithfully in accordance with the stipulations hereinbefore contained, and the said company shall during such continued service pay him every month a salary of rupees (30) thirty. Provided further that if the said apprentice commit a breach or refuse or neglect to perform or observe any of the covenants, agreement or stipulations hereinbefore con- tained, or on his part to be observed or performed, then and in such default the said apprentice shall forthwith refund to the said company all the moneys paid to him by the said company whether by way of salary, bonus or in any other manner whatsoever, such refund shall be considered and held to be as and for liquidated damages, and the agreement hereby entered into and the unexpired period of his engagement shall there- upon cease and determine. In witness whereof the said parties have hereunto affixed their hands the day and year above written. Witnesses : I.— Intro- ductory. — 1. The business and the locality of the factories regarding which in- formation has been received. Summary of Replies to Labour Commission. Answers have been received in the Northern Division from three spinning and weaving, one spinning and one ginning factory in Ahmedabad; from one spinning, and one spinning and weaving factory in Surat ; and from two spinning and weaving factories in Thana. In the Central Division, from two spinning and weaving mills, one in Khandesh, the other in ShoMpur, and in the Southern Division from a spinning mill in Belgaum and from a ginning factory in Dharwar. The Bombay city information includes answers from the Millowners’ Association, representing 67 spinning and weaving mdis; from Mr. Wadia representing the owners of three Bombay mills, and from Mr. Tata representing two mills and several ginning factories outside of Bombay. They also include answers from Mr. Moos, the acting factory inspector, and from Mr. Drewet, the senior inspector of boilers, a former manager of one of the leading Bombay mills. I The following summarises the succinct narratives prepared for each of the divisions and for Bombay city. In the Northern Division the number of workers employed in the mills for which answers arc available is: males from 680 to 1,572, females from 110 to 910; boys from 51 to 335, and girls from 10 to 68. Except 108 in one mill unskilled labourers are not employed. In the Central Division the answer refer to 1,468 males, 366 females, 53 young people and 71 unskilled labourers. In the Southern Division to 419 males, 370 females, 464 young people and children, and 570 unskilled labourers. The Bombay answers refer to a total of 67,647 workpeople. The Bombay millowners from w-hom answers have been received belong to the Bomba}" Millowners’ Association. Except two in the northern division, none of the other firms belong to that or to any similar institution. In the northern division daily wages vary from 2 annas to 4 annas, and monthly wages from Rs. 7-8-0 to Rs. 70 ; in the central division wages are said to vary from Rs. 5 to Rs. 70 ; in the southern division skilled labour varies from Rs. 15 to Rs. 150, and un- skilled from Rs. 6 to Rs. 10. In Bombay the wages — Rs. Of spinners vary from - - 20 to 25-0-0 ,, weavers from - - 16 „ 16-8-0 ,, reelers (females) - - 8 ,, 9-8-0 „ winders (females - 8 ,, 10-8-0 , , doff ers (children) full time - 6 ,, ,, and half time 3-8-0 In the northern division, except skilled labourers, who are paid by the week or the month, daily pay- ments are the rule. Piece-work is common, and task work rare. In the central division wages are paid by the month, and both piece and task works are enforced. In the southern division skilled labour is paid by the month and unskilled by the day. Piece-work is in use and task-work is unknown. In Bombay, payments are made monthly generally by the piece, and in some cases by the task. In the northern division payment is seldom, and in the central division never, made through contractors. Payment through contractors is the practice in one of the two southern division factories, and in Bombay occasionally in the case of balers and bundlers. In the northern and central divisions, fines are im- posed for absence and for bad work ; in the southern division, fines are rare ; in Bombay fines are light, but not uncommon. In some mills stoppages are enforced, and the amounts credited to a workman’s fund. In no part of the Presidency is truck or payment in kind in force. In the northern division and southern division, bonuses are said to be given, and in Bombay bonuses are paid to the heads of departments. In. the northern division, no provision exists for pension or other insurance. No sick allowances are paid. In the case of accidents, some payment is made, and in one mill, in the case of fatal accidents, provision is made for the dependents of those who have lost their lives. In the central division, allowances are made in the case of accidents ; in one of the southern division mills payments in cases of accident, and some sick pay are allowed; in Bombay, such allowances are unknown. In the northern division, except in the case of grave fault, the term of notice for ending an engagement varies from a week to a month. In the central division, one month’s notice is the rule ; in the southern division, from 15 days to a month ; and in Bombay, from 14 days to a month. In the northern division, according to the season, the labour of adult workers varies from 11 to 13 hours ; in the central and southern divisions, the term is 12 hours, that is, from sunrise to sunset; in Bombay, from daybreak to dusk, Ilf hours in the short and 13f in the long days. In all parts of the Presidency the standard hours for women and children are those sanctioned by the Act. In. the northern division overtime is rare. When required it is sometimes paid at ordinary, sometimes at double rates ; in the central division, except in con- nexion with the erpair of machinery, overtime is unknown ; in the southern division, the spinning mill has no overtime, and the ginning factory has overtime at the usual rate of wages. In Bombay, as none of the S 2 2. Number of work- people. 3. Is your firm con- nected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions ? II. Wages— (a.) The amount. II Waees — (6.) Mode of payment. II. Wages— ( c .) Is pay- ment made through a sub-con- tractor V (d.) Deduc- tions by fines or other stoppages. (e.) Truck, or payment in kind. (/.) Special allow- ances — (1.) Bonus. (2.) Sick, accident, pension. Length of notice ending an engagement. Hours of labour— (a.) Ordin- ary or standaid. (b.) Over- time and its remunera- tion. 140 (r.) Night sliifts. ( d .) Sunday work. (e.) Weekly halt-holiday or other holiday. Conditions of labour — (a.) Irregu- larity. (6.) Safety, lighting, sanitation, and inspec- tion. (c.) Com- pensation for acci- dents. (d.) Sub- division of labour as between different trades. (e.) Distri- bution of labour between factories, workshops, and homes. (/.) Distri- bution between men, women, and children. ( All modes in practice. ( 3 .) J (c.) None (i.e., payment through sub-contractors). (d.) Fines of small amounts imposed in cases of des- truction of goods or property wantonly or through carlessness only. No other form of stoppage is in force. (e.) No such system (i.e., truck or payment in kind.) (/.) 1. Frequently (allowances in form of bonus). 2. None (allowances in form of deferred pay, &c.). 3. Sixty hands in connexion with works have free houses. No other allowances or advant- ages. (g.) Fifteen days (length of notice for ending engage- ment). (a) Average 10 hours per day. (b.) Overtime worked only occasionally, and as a rule on special remuneration. (c.) No night shift worked. ( d .) No Sunday work. (e.) A weekly half holiday is given, with payment in the case of time workers. There are on an average six other holidays yearly. {a.) Employment fairly regular at all seasons. (b.) Perfectly safe, lighting and sanitation as perfect as possible, the latter under tho supervision of a certified medical practitioner employed exclusively by the company. Answers. 1. Business — Spinners and manufacturers of woollen, worsted and hosiery works, situated at Dhariwal in the district of Gurdaspur, Punjab. 2. (a.) Male, 540. (b.) Female, 80. Apprentices — (c.) Question inapplicable — “ Young person ” is not designated in Indian Factory Act. Hbourer^ } ^ Q ucs ^ on inapplicable. 3. No. (c.) Allowed when accident occurs through fault of employer. (d.) Question inapplicable (refers to subdivision of labour). (e.) Work mainly performed within the works, but certain kinds are regularly done in the home. (/.) Carding, weaving, milling, dyeing, finishing, knitting, labouring, &c. done by men. Wool-picking and yarn-winding by hand, done by women. Spinning and yarn-winding by machinery and hand, done by boys. (g.) Inapplicable (apprenticeship). ( h .) Inapplicable (employment of foreigners). ( i ■) Done wherever possible (introduction of labour- saving machinery). (j.) Satisfactory (supply and quality of materials). (7c.) Question inapplicable (refers to unionists and delegates). (7.) Question inapplicable (refers to causes of dispute). III.— Strikes andLock-outs. 2 - l There have been no strikes or lockouts, other g" j questions inapplicable. IY. — General Questions. to ( Inapplicable (the questions refer to arbitration, (; [ co-operative production, unions, &c.). 7. None (refers to recommendations for alteration of the laws affecting labour). The New Egerton Woollen Mills Co., Limited, Per Wm. Milne, Dhariwal, 16th May 1892. Manager. U 2 Compensa- tion. 156 1. Wages. Hours o { labour. Conditions of labour. Delhi Cotton Mills Company, Limited, Sabzi Mandi, Delhi. Questions addressed to Employers. I. — Introductory. Questions. 1. Will you state the business or businesses in which your firm is engaged and where its works are situated ? 2. What number of workpeople are there engaged in your firm, particularised as follows ? — (a.) Male - (£>.) Female ------ (c.) Apprentices or other learners or young persons ( d .) Unskilled labourers - 3. Is your firm connected with any organization of employers dealing with labour questions ? Answers. Our business is cotton spinning only, and the works are situated at Sabzi Mandi, Delhi. 230. 17. 50. 14. No. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. What representation or information do you desire to offer for the consideration of the Commission under any of the following heads ? — (a ) Their amount and fluctuation. (b.) Mode of payment — 1. By the day, hour, or week. 2. By the piece. 3. By the task. (c.) Payment by sub-contractor. (d.) Deductions by fines or other forms of stoppage. (e.) Truck or payment in kind. (/.) Allowances in form of — (1.) Bonus. (2.) Deferred pay, such as sick, accident, pension or other insurance system. (3.) The house, land, food, or other allowance or advantage. ( g .) Length of notice for ending engagement. (a.) Ordinary or standard hours of labour. (5.) Overtime and its remuneration. (c.) Night shifts and their remuneration. (d.) Sunday work and its remuneration. (e.) Weekly half-holiday or other holiday work or without payment. (a.) Irregularity of employment through seasons or other causes. (b.) Safety of employment and the lighting, sani- tation, and inspection of workplaces. (c.) Compensation for accidents. (d.) Sub-division of labour as between different trades. (e.) Distribution of labour as between factories, workshops, and houses. (f.) Distribution of labour as between men, women, and children. Card-room. Head mistri Per month. Rs. A. - 60 0 Under mistri . 15-20 0 Roving tenters - 9 8 Intermediate - 10 8 Slubbing - 9 0 Drawing - 9 0 Monthly hands - 7 8 Sweepers and Doffers - 3 8 Spinning-room. Head mistri ... Rs. A. - 60 0 Under mistri . - 26 0 Spinners or winders - - 22 0 Big piecers - - 12 0 Small piecers - - 7 8 Creelers • - 6 0 Sweepers - - 3 8 We pay monthly. We pay on the amount of work done. We have no contractors. Fines for bad work and insubordination are levied. There are no other stoppages. We pay all in cash. Bounty is paid on out-turn to the head mistris. It averages about Us. 10 per month each. In case of accident full pay is given during absence from work. In sickness, steady deserving men or hands receive full pay, but we have no pension or insurance system. Steady, good workpeople have houses rent free. One month required and given. Thirteen hours all the year round. One hour for din- ner is allowed at midday. For time over 13 hours, mistris receive R. 1 per month and workmen 8 annas, women and children under 11 years of age are not allowed to work overtime. We have no night work. We do not work on Sunday; all cleaning is done on Sunday mornings. All recognised holidays are given. Monthly hands receive full pay. We have so far worked steadily all the year through. The machinery is of the latest and is well guarded. The inspector seems satisfied with the lighting, ven- tilation and other sanitary arrangements. Full pay is given during absence from work. All our work is done on the premises. Men do the special and heavy work. Women and chil- dren, the lighter, such as reeling, creeling, sweeping, &c. 157 Questions. . (rj.) Apprenticeship'. (h.) Employment of foreigners. (i.) Introduction of labour-saving machinery. (j.) Supply and quality of materials, machinery, or other plant. (7c.) Dismissal of representative delegates, refusal of unionists to work with non-unionists, use of black list, and mutual relations of em- ployers and trades unions generally'. (7.) Other causes of disputes. Answers. Wo have learners, but no apprentices. We have none in our employment. We have no experience, as yet, of the points inquired about. We have no disputes, any that do occur are trivial, and are easily settled by the manager. III.— Strikes and Lock-outs. The mill was started only on 6th October 1890, and we have had no experience of these so far. IY. — General Questions. 1 . Does any system exist in your trade in your district providing for conciliation, arbitration, sliding scales, or other means of preventing or arranging trade disputes ? 2. lias any system of co-operative production, in- dustrial partnership, or profit-sharing been attempted by your firm, and, if so, with what result ? 3. Are the Government or local authorities employers of labour in your trade and district, and, if so, with what results as to remuneration and other conditions of employment ? 4. Can you supply information as to any agency in your district fur finding or providing work for the unemployed P 5. Have you any suggestions to make as to the sta- tistical and other information relative to your trade which is, or in your opinion should be, collected and published by Government ? 6. Can you suggest any means of avoiding or arranging strikes and promoting cordial relations between capital and labour ? 7. Have you any other statement or suggestion to make for the information of the Commission? There seems to be no necessity for these as yet. In the case of this firm, no ; and I am not aware of any firm having tried the plan. Ho. No. One of our greatest difficulties is to find labour management to keep all our machinery running. No. Our experience in cotton-spinning is barely of two years’ duration. We have had no experience of strikes. No. Delhi, 13th Juno 1892. William Wilson, Managing Agent. Delhi Cloth and General Mills Company, Limited. B. — Questions addressed to Employers. I. — Introductory. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. By piece-work. III.— Strikes and Lock-outs. Not known here. IV — General Questions. I.— Introductory. Questions. Answers. 1. Will you state the business or businesses in which your firm is engaged, and where its works are situated ? 2. What number of workpeople are there engaged in your firm, particularised as follows ? — {a.) Males - - - (6.) Females - - - - Children - (c.) Apprentices or other learners or young per- sons. (d.) Unskilled labourers. 3. Is your firm connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions ? Spinning, weaving, and manufacturing, Delhi. 354. 59. 50. Hone. No. U 3 II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour, Questions. Answers , What representations or information do 3 on desire to offer for the consideration of the Commission under any of the following heads ? — 1. Wages — fa.) Their amount and fluctuations. (b.) Mode of payment — (1.) By the hour, day, or week, (2.) By the picco. (3.) By the task. (c.) Payment through sub-contractor. (d.) Deductions b_y fines or other form of stoppage only through insubordination. (e ) Track, or payment in kind. (/.) Allowance in form of — (1.) Bonus. (2.) Deferred pay, such as sick, accident, pen- sion, or other insurance system. 3. Free house, land, food, clothing, or other allowance or advantage. (y.) Length of notice for ending engagement. Hours of labour. (a.) Ordinary or standard hours of labour. (b.) Overtime and its remuneration. (c.) Night shift and its remuneration, (d.) Sunday work and its remuneration. (e.) Weekly half-holiday or holiday with or without payment. Conditions of labour — (a.) Irregularity of employment through seasonal or other causes. (b.) Safety of employment and the lighting, sanita- tion, and inspection of work-places. (c.) Compensation for accident. ( d .) Sub-division of labour as between different trades. (e.) Distribution of labour as between factories., workshop, and homes. (/.) Bistribution of labour as between men, women, and children. (rj.) Apprentices. (li.) Employment of foreigners. (i.) Introduction of labour-saving machinery. (j.) Supply and quality of materials, machinery, or other plant. (7c.) Dismissal of representative delegates, refusal of unionists to work with non-unionists, use of black list, and material relations of employers and trade union generally. (I.) Other causes of dispute. By piece-work. Monthly. Yes. None. No. No. No. Left to manager. None. 15 days. Sunrise to sunset. Sunrise to sunset. None. None. None. No deduction made for holidays. None. Passed by inspector as good. Yes. None. None. None. None. Indian-European supervision. Made principally for cotton spinnin Not known here. Settled by manager. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1. Can you state how many strikes and lock-outs thero None, have been in connexion with your works in each of the 10 years 1881-1890, and in the current year up to date ? 2. Have such disputes been, during that period, moro None, frequent than formerly, or lees so. IV. — General Questions. 1. Does any system exist in your trade and district pro- viding for conciliation, arbiti-ation, sliding scales, or othermeans of preventing or arranging trade disputes? 2. Has any system of co-operation, production, indus- trial partnership, or profit-sharing been attempted by your firm, and, if so, with what result ? 3. Are the Government or local authorities employers of labour in your trade and district, and, if so, with what result as to remuneration and other conditions of employment P 4. Can you supply information as to any agency in your district for finding or providing work for the unem- ployed ? ■ 5. Have you any suggestion to make as to the statistical and other information rclatiug to your trade which is, or in your opinion should be, collected and pub- lished by Government ? 6. Can you suggest any means of a voiding or arranging strikes, and promoting cordial relations between capital and labour? 7. Have you any other statement or suggestion to make for the information of the Commission P No. No. Limited liabilities. No. No. No. No. 159 Report on the manu- facture of cotton. Suppjy and consump- tion of raw cotton. Questions. Answers. Can you enumerate the important disputes and furnish particulars in regard to each dispute under the , following heads P ^ (a.) Dato of commencement and termination. (b.) The chief immediate cause of each such dispute. (c.) Number of workers in your employment directly engaged in such dispute. (d.) Number of persons in your employment who have been thrown out of work thereby, but who have not been directly engaged in the i AH these settled by the manager and the workpeople dispute. ( up to date ; no strike of any description. (e.) Attitude of associated employers towards the dispute. ( f . ) Mode of settlement. K g.) Advance or reduction of wages or other results of each dispute. ( h .) Estimated loss to firm, direct or indirect, occasioned by dispute. J Abraham Marshall, Manager, Delhi Cloth and General Mills Company, Limited, Delhi. No. 611, dated Lahore, the 5th December 1884. From R. G. Thomson, Esq., Officiating Junior Secretary to Government, Punjab and its Dependencies, to J. A. Grant, Esq., Junior Secretary to Financial Commissioner, Punjab. I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 1066, dated 19th September 1884, containing a report on the cotton manufacture in the Punjab for the year 1883-84, and to convey the thanks of the Lieutenant-Governor to the Financial Commissioner for the admirable manner in which the paper has been prepared. 2. His Honour has read the account of the cotton industry of the province with great interest, and it appears to him to fulfil most completely the purposes for which the compilation of these monographs was initiated. The report is lucid, brief and sensible, and seems to comprise all the information that is likely to be necessary on the subject. 3. With reference to the concluding paragraph of your letter under reply, I am to ask that arrangements may be made to deposit the collection of cloths in the Lahore Museum, and it is desirable that copies of the monograph should be widely circulated. No. 1066, dated Lahore, the 19th September 1884. From E. B. Francis, Esq., Officiating Junior Secretary to Financial Commissioner, Punjab, to C. L. Tupper, Esq., Secretary to Government, Punjab. In accordance with the orders of Government con- tained in the eighth paragraph of the Review of the Internal Trade Report for 1882-83 and subsequent correspondence, it has been arranged that the returns and report relating to manufactures which have hitherto accompanied the annual report on the internal trade of the province should be discontinued, and that in place of these a separate report should each year be prepared on some particular manufacture to be chosen for that year. In accordance with this arrangement the manufacture of cotton has been selected as the subject for the present year’s inquiry, and I am now directed by the Officiating Financial Commissioner to submit the following report on that industry. 2. The area of land in which cotton was cultivated in the Punjab was shown as follows in the Revenue Administration Reports of the last four years : Acres. 1879- 80 - 1880- 81 1881-82 - 1882-83 • - 777,041 - 785,834 - 890,037 - 860,631 and the returns for 1883-84 show an area of 802,534 acres. In the Cotton Reports of the same years somewhat different figures were shown as follows : — Acres. 1879-80 - m - 806,380 1880-81 - 761,729 1881-82 - * - 918,265 1882-83 - - 898,818 The discrepancy is probably due to the exclusion in some cases, and the inclusion in others, of lands which were sown with cotton, but of which the crop failed to come to maturity. It may be assumed, however, that the average under cotton in the Punjab amounts in most years to somewhat over 800,000 acres, and also that it is tending to increase. The out-turn per acre of cleaned cotton was shown in the last three Cotton Reports as 96 lbs. and 103 lbs. The figures entered in statement No. XXIX. of the statements accompanying the Revenue Administration Report are higher, but in some cases they appear to represent the yield of uncleaned cotton, and they are certainly not so accurate as the above. The total yield of the province was shown in the last four Cotton Reports as follows : — 1879-80 - Cwts. - 644,483 1880-81 - - - 653,917 1881-82 - - - - 787,581 1882-83 - - - 804,917 giving an average of 722,724 cwts., or 1,011,815 maunds annually. In the same reports the excess of exports of raw cotton from the province over imports into it from other provinces was shown to amount on the average to about 110,000 cwts., or 154,000 maunds. This result is corroborated by the returns of the external and internal trade of the province, which show that the cotton exported is sent to the seaports of Calcutta, Bombay and Karachi in nearly equal quantities, and that about 9,000 maunds on the average are exported to foreign countries beyond our northern and w r estcrn frontiers. The average exports from the province by rail and river for the years 1880-81 to 1883-84 were 137,384 maunds, and the average imports from other provinces were 22,926 maunds ; but it is known that, owing to the high rate charged by the railways for the carriage of unpressed cotton, a large quantity is conveyed by cart. Therefore the figures given in the Cotton Reports do not appear to be too high. It thus appears that 857,000 maunds of raw cotton, or 84 per cent, of the whole yield of the province, are locally consumed. 3. Cotton is picked about November and December. The pods do not all ripen at the same time, and it is therefore necessary to go over the field several times. This work is chiefly performed by women. They are usually paid by giving them a portion, generally one- tenth, of the cotton they pick. The pods are exposed to the sun and beaten to make the husks ( doda ) separate from the fibre. 4. The seed to which the fibre is attached is then extracted by a small hand machine, which takes the place of the cotton gin. This consists of two rollers, one of which is generally of iron and smaller than the other, which is of wood : but in some districts both rollers are stated to bo of wood. By means of a spiral turn at the end of the iron roller, which engages a projection of the wooden roller, the two are made to revolve in opposite directions when the handle attached to one of them is turned. The fibre(rMr) is then drawn through the rollers while the seed ( blnola or vareina), which cannot pass between them, is left behind. This machine, which is called belna, is cauable U 4 Preparation of raw cotton for spinning. Ginning. 160 Character of staple. Scutching. Spinning. an anna a day. The above is the highest rate quoted in any of the reports. That of the Rawalpindi district states that the pay is only 5 pice a seer, and the Jullun- dur report estimates the earnings of a spinner at only Rs. 3-12-7 a year. The difference between the average values of cotton and of cotton thread is only about 3 annas a seer. In the census tables 199,164 women and 273 men are returned as cotton spinners. At the rate of li chitdlcs a day each person would be able to produce less than one maund of thread in a year, so that if 800,000 maunds of cotton are annually converted into thread, as would appear from foregoing statistics to be the case, a much larger number than the census shows must really employ themselves in spinning. That is to say, a great number of females who habitually spin failed to describe themselves as spinners by occupation. The bulk of the country yarn ( sut ) is very uneven in thickness, and unfit for anything but the coarsest cloth. Comparatively few persons can produce fine and even thread, and many of these spin only for the use of their own households. There is comparatively little trade in. country yarn. The exports of the province amounted on the average for the last four years to no more than 10,681 maunds annually, and the imports to 5,559 maunds. The tariff value adopted in the trade reports is Rs. 22 a maund. This is sufficient as an average rate for the coarse yarns which are most commonly bought and sold, but thread suitable for the better class of native cloth will fetch about double this price. A little thread is used for rope-making, but with this exception it all goes to the weaver. 8. Owing to the imperfections of the native product, the weavers of the finer fabrics, such as susi, Mies, or any cloth having a pattern in it, show a decided pre- ference for European yarn. The imports of this article amounted on the average of the last three years to 33,199 maunds a year, of which on the average 3,872 maunds were passed on to foreign countries. The imported thread is fine, clean, and even, and can be had in a variety of attractive colours. It is much dearer than the native yarn, but efforts are apparently being made to supply cheaper descriptions suitable to the means of the native community. The tariff rate adopted in the trade reports, which was Rs. 100 three years ago, has now been reduced to Rs. 65 per maund. It must, how- ever, be admitted that the quantity imported has not risen to an extent proportionate to the fall in price. The imports for the last four years have been as follows : — Maunds. 1880- 81 - - - 38,207 1881- 82 - - - 30,482 1882- 83 - - - 29,800 1883- 84 - - - 34,286 European yarn. of ginning about 12 seers of cotton in the day. At Multan a steam cotton gin has been established by Sidhu Ram, Rangu Ram & Co., which employs 70 persons. In the Hazara district there are at Pakhli some belnas worked by water power. The belna worker is commonly paid by receiving the cotton seed which he extracts, but he is sometimes paid in cash. This operation is also very frequently performed by members of the household of the person to whom the cotton belongs. In the census tables 3,257 men and 1,345 women are recorded as cotton ginners, but these figures do not represent the numbers really so employed. The cleaned cotton fibre usually weighs one-third, and the seed two-thirds, of the whole contents of the pod', but with inferior cotton the fibre is sometimes only one- fourth of the whole. 5. The cotton of the Punjab has a short, but strong fibre. Improved varieties exist in some districts. Among them may be mentioned the Miadir, or riverain, cotton of the Delhi division, and the narma cotton of the Rawalpindi and neighbouring districts. This cotton, according to the report of the Deputy Com- missioner of Jhang, is believed to be of Egyptian origin. It is stated to have a red flower and a greenish seed, distinguishing it from the commoner variety of which the flower is yellow and the seed grey. In the report for the Shahpur district the finer stapled cotton is called Tcliurni and the commoner kind bagar. The latter name seems to indicate the stock as having come from the Hissar district, and as being the same as what is known at Delhi as hdridna cotton. The ordinary cotton is hardy, and can be cultivated under circumstances where exotic descriptions would probably not succeed. 6. Having been freed from the seed the cotton next undergoes a process to divide the fibre, which, in the pod, clings together in tufts. This is analogous in object to the English process known as carding, but from the manner in which it is effected seems to be more correctly described as scutching. It is performed by subjecting the cotton to vibration produced by a bow-string. A large bow is suspended from the roof so as to hang at a convenient height above the pile of loose cotton. The string of the bow is then twanged with a wooded catch, so as to strike a small portion of the cotton, the fibre of which is scattered by the impact and thrown off in an uniform condition of soft fluff. At the same time, any dirt which is entangled in the fibre falls out. The cotton is then made up into conveniently sized balls or rolls and handed over to the spinner. Scutching is a special trade practised by men, known as pin j a or nadaf. Their numbers are shown in the census tables as 32,268, and 4,395 women also are there shown as following the occupation of cotton scutching. It is stated in some of the district reports that women who spin cotton sometimes scutch it for themselves with a bow like the pinjds, but of smaller size. The wages of a pinja are 3 pice, or sometimes 1 anna, for each seer of cotton that he scutches, and he can usually turn out about four seers in the day. A considerable quantity of cotton is used in padding jackets for winter wear, but by far the larger part is spun into thread. 7. Before cotton is spun, it is made into small rolls of about one or two tolas in weight, called punis. The process of spinning is performed by the wheel and spindle, which seem to be of almost universal use where spinning is done by hand. In the Punjab, the wheel (called charkhi) is small, about 15 or 18 inches in diameter. It is formed of two parallel discs, the cir- cumferences of which are connected by threads, and over the drum so formed passes a driving-band, also made of thread, which communicates a rapid motion to the axis of the spindle. The end of a puni is pre- sented to the point of the spindle, w'hich seizes the fibre and spins a thread, the puni being drawn away, as the thread forms, as far as the spinner’s arm will reach. Then the thread is slackened and allowed to coil itself on the body of the spindle until the spindle is full, when it is removed. A spindle of thread is called a challi or mudha. These are wound into skeins called atis on a small frame called ateran, and in this form the thread is sold. In the ati the threads are crossed over and over in a figure-of-8 form, so that they will not readily tangle. Spinning is the domestic employment, during the greater part of their leisure time, of women of all classes, and like most of such employments it is very ill-paid. A woman cannot spin more than one cliitak or two ounces daily, unless the thread be coarse, when she may accomplish two chitdlcs, and her remuneration is only from 4 to 8 annas a seer, so that she earns but half Much thread is also being produced by steam spinning mills in Bombay and other places in India, which is almost equal to the imported article, and is frequently confused with it. In the Ludhiana district it is re- ported that about half the yarn used is imported, the well-known Ludhiana cloth being all made of English thread. It is largely used also in Delhi, EToshiarpur, Sialkot, Ferozepore, Multan, and for the handsome lungis and turbans of Peshawar and Kohat. European thread is very generally used for sewing, except for the roughest kinds of work. The above statistics of import and export include both twist and yarn. The process of dyeing yarn will be described, together with that of dyeing cloth. 9. In the census returns -weavers have been dis- Weaving, tinguished as weavers of coarse and weavers of fine fabrics. The former class numbered 329,107 men and 97,158 women. The latter numbered only 6,119 men and 325 women. Ordinary weaving of plain coarse fabrics is in fact one of the common occupations of the great caste of Cliamars. Professional weavers, on the other hand, are much less numerous, and those who can make fancy cloths are scarce. The first process towards weaving cloth is to stretch out the warp, or longitudinal threads (tana). This work may be done either by the women of the weaver’s family or by others. The thread is first transferred from the skeins to a reel (ura). Two reels are fixed at the ends of sticks on a pivot on which they can revolve. A double row of sticks or reeds is then planted in the ground at intervals of about two yards, extending either in a straight line or in a loop, to the length which the piece of cloth is to have. The warp-layer then takes a stick and reel in each hand and walks along the line, dropping the threads one inside and the other outside the upright sticks alternately, so that the two Cross each other 161 between each pair. Having got to the end of the line, she returns in the same way, and so on, up and down, until enough threads have been laid to make the re- quired width of the fabric. If the cloth is to have a longitudinal stripe or a check, reels of different colours must bo used, and the proper number of threads must be laid with each colour. The common native coarse cloth Icliadar or gar ha con- tains 250 or 300 threads in the warp, and the stuff' is about three-quarters of a yard wide. Different names are given to the cloth with reference to the number of threads. That containing 250 threads is called adhisa ; that with 300 threads tisa or trisa. Finer cloth con- taining 400 threads is named chaunsi. In the same way, painsi has 500, clihisi 600, atlisi 800, and hazdri ] ( 000 threads in the warp. The higher numbers are uncommon. The next process is to size the warp. For this a paste made from baked meal, either barley or wheaten, is used. The warp is soaked in this. It is then stretched out on a line of trestles, and brushed with a brush made of hhas grass until it is dry. The brushing removes superfluous size, and fixes down any stray fibres of the yarn. Then the warp is mounted on the loom. The loom (lchaddi) is in its essentials much the same as the hand-looms used in other countries. The weaver works sitting with his feet in a hole in the ground, with the warp which is to be filled up extend- ing horizontally from in front of him to a peg fixed in the ground some yards off. As the cloth is made it is wound up on a roller at the near end, the farther end being slackened at the same time by letting go a rope which runs round the farther peg, and returns to •within the workman’s reach. The warp is controlled by means of peddles (rack), of which for plain weaving there is one pair. The peddles consist of vertical frames of the width of the loom, each of them carrying half as many loops, made of thread, as there are strands in the warp. Strands Nos. 1, 3, 5, &c., are wove through the loops of the one peddle, and pass loosely through open spaces in the other one, whilst strands Nos. 2, 4, 6, &c., are carried through the loops of the second peddle and through the open spaces of the first one. The lowering of one peddle thus pulls down all the threads in the odd places without affecting the remainder, while the lowering of the other has the same effect on the threads in the even places. The peddles are suspended from the roof, and are worked by treddles on which the weaver places his feet. Where a twill, check, or damask pattern, as in the favourite stuff called lches, has to be produced, there are two or more pair of peddles, and the threads of the warp, instead of always rising and falling alternately, follow a more complex rhythm, on which the pattern depends. For some of the more intricate designs of the ghamsan lches, it is said that as many as eight pairs of the peddles are employed. The yarn for the woof or weft (bana) is wetted, and wound on small hollow spools, generally straws. The shuttle is shaped like a small boat, pointed at each end, and having the intermediate space open. In this space the spool of yarn is placed, and revolves on a wire which runs through it lengthwise. The end of the yarn passes out through a hole in the side of the shuttle. One of the peddles being depressed, the shuttle is thrown from one side to the other of the warp, passing over one set of strands and under the other, and the yarn which it leaves behind it forms one thread of the woof. The position of the peddles is then reversed, and the shuttle is thrown back, passing this time (in plain weaving) over those threads of the warp which it before passed under and vice versa. The threads of the woof are pressed home by a heavy comb (hanghi) which, like the peddles, is suspended from the roof. Niwar (tape) is woven by a simpler arrangement, the threads of the warp being struck up and down by hand, and the place of the comb being taken by a blunt wooden knife. Daris (carpets) also are woven on a simplified loom, in which the warp is regulated by hand. The com- pression of the woof is done with metal combs, of the width of 10 or 12 threads, several men working side by side. But in a dari the woof is of much less thickness than the warp, the warp is kept tight while the woof is laid somewhat loosely with the shuttle, and is then so driven home with the comb that each thread is made to touch the last thread but one, and none of the warp is left exposed. A similar principle is adopted in a few other fabrics in which only the woof is shown. U 76209. At the census only 634 men and 58 women were re- turned as carpet weavers, and only 48 men and 43 women as weavers of webbing (or niwar). Tlio carpet weavers would include the persons who make cotton pile carpets. These are mostly produced at Multan. The colours are blue and white. A weaver can complete about 10 or 12 yards of the coarser and looser fabrics in a day, and 3 or 4 yards of the finer ones. He is paid various rates according to the nature of the work, and these result in his being generally able to earn about 4 annas a day. The spools are filled for him by the women of his family. The average value of Indian piece goods assumed for the trade returns is Its. 40 per maund, or Rs. 18 per maund more than the average value of yarn. Supposing 750,000 maunds of thread to be woven annually, the margin available for the payment of the weaver and his assistants would be 165 lakhs of rupees, which at the rate of 4 annas a day, or say Rs. 75 a year, would suffice to maintain 220,000 men the whole year round; this number is considerably less than that shown in the census returns. But the weaver’s of the common sort have other alternative occupations of many kinds, and most of them probably do not earn nearly so much as 4 annas a day by weaving only. 10. The dyes in common use in the Punjab for cotton Dyeing, yarn and cloth have not a very great variety. The common cloth {hhadar, garlia, gazi, &c.) is generally worn uncoloured. Dye is more commonly applied to thin cloths for women’s wear. But the more esteemed coloured fabrics are woven in patterns from variously coloured yarns. The lches has very often a red or blue check introduced in the weaving. Lnngis, especially on the frontier, are dyed blue or khaki, but the handsomest specimens are those which are woven in colours. The commonest colours for all cotton stuffs are indigo blue, madder or safflower red, and yellow. To dye with indigo, the indigo is ground with water, and the impurities strained off. It is then mixed with sajji (an impure carbonate of soda obtained by burning plants of the salsola tribe) gur (or crude sugar), and a sufficient quantity of water, and allowed to stand for several days, when some sort of decomposition takes place. The cloth or yarn dipped in this dye comes out yellow at first, but assumes the deep blue of indigo on exposure to the air. To give a dark tint several dip- pings are necessary. A further application of an in- fusion of naspal (pomegranate rind) will convert the blue colour to a green, light or dark, according to the quantity of indigo. Nasjial may also be used by itself to dye yellow. In this case the stuff, after being dyed, is dipped in alum water to fix the colour. Turmeric will also give a yellow dye called basanti, but this is not permanent. The same remark applies to a yellow ochre ( bard matti), and to the brick-red colour given by red ochre (gem). Harsingliar (the flowers of nyctanthes arbortristis) give a rich yellow dye. A temporary orange colour may be obtained from the flowers of the T)halc (batea frondosa). A series of beautiful scarlet and crimson tints are pro- duced from safflower (lcasumbha) , either used alone or with the addition of yellow and blue dyes, but the colour is not permanent. Sulphate of copper (nila tutya ) gives a pretty peacock blue. When madder ( majit ) is used the cloth is first steeped in an infusion of main, which is the galls of the/aras7i (tamarix orientalis). It is then boiled with pounded madder. Finally, a solution of alum is used to fix the dye. The result is a deep red. Brown colours are pi’oduced with catechu {hath), and also sometimes with oxide of iron, the stuff being after- wards treated withilime-water. Khaki (drab or grey can be dyed in this way, and also with an infusion of the pods of the lcihar ( acacia arabica). Kishta or Ichatta (vegetable acid, generally an in- fusion of raw mangoes or of limes) is used to brighten some of the dyes, especially reds. In some places aniline dyes are now coming into fashion. As used by the native dyers at least, they are not fast colours. Lilacs(soswf Icasni) are either produced with these dyes, or with indigo combined with safflower. The number of cotton dyers entered in the census registers was 26,844, besides, 6,149 women. 11 . The cloths which are printed or stamped in colours p r j n ting. are generally women’s head coverings (chadars and ornis) and those intended for quilts (lihafs). The pattern is most commonly produced in madder red, with or without the addition of black. The cloth is first dipped in an infusion of galls. Then a wooden stamp, on which the pattern is cut in relief, is dipped in X 1G2 Kinds of cloth pro- duced. alum water and applied to the cloth in the proper places. The cloth is then boiled in madder. When this has been done it is subjected to a bleaching process, by being moistened and spread in the sun for some days. The effect of this is to remove the dye except from those places to which the alum water was applied by the raised face of the stamp. Thus the pattern comes out in deep red on a pale ground. A black pattern is pro- duced on the same stuff before the boiling process by using a stamp dipped in water in which iron rust has been steeped and fermented with flour. The chemical action of the gall infusion on the oxide of iron, which is similar to that by which common English writing ink is made, produces a full black wherever the stamp is applied. A pattern can be produced on the same principle with any dye stuff to the permanence of which alum or other mordant is necessary by stamping the pattern with a block dipped in the mordant and then dipping the cloth in the dye. Those parts to which the mordant has not been applied will bleach out or become paler than the rest. Yellow and green can be applied to the uncoloured portions of the cloth by laying on the usual dyes with a brush in the proper places ; but these colours have not the permanence of the red and black above described. Another method is to protect the printed parts by a layer of thick paste and then dip the whole cloth in dye of the second colour. Thick cotton cloths are very neatly printed in four or more colours at Kot Kamalia in the Montgomery district, and the patterns are sufficiently artistic to attract European customers who use the stuff as hangings. A sort of pattern of variegation is produced by tying small knots at intervals in a piece of cloth which is to be dyed. The knotted places being protected from the dye show pale rings when the knots are untied. There is a mode of producing a pattern in gold or silver which is used for decorating women’s shawls or veils. The pattern is stamped in glue or size to which gold or silver leaf is afterwards applied. In Peshawar a peculiar kind of cloth ornamentation is prepared for the Afridi women, a raised pattern being laid on in wetted lac. At the census 10,199 men and 1,105 women were returned as following the occupation of cotton printing. Cotton printers form a caste, known as chimba or chipi, distinct from the dyers ( rangrez ), but many persons called chimbas follow no higher branch of their art than that of washing. 12. The cloths woven in the Punjab consist for the most part of garha or kahdar of several varieties, allied to which is gazi, and also chaunsi and painsi. These together make up perhaps five-sixths of the whole quantity that is woven. They are coarse cloths, of com- mon yarn, but are closely woven and last well. Dliotar or odhotar is a thin loosely woven stuff of the same sort of thread. Another kind of cheap, thin stuff is known as pagri, being made for use as turbans for the poorer classes. These stuffs are worth from Rs. 4 to Rs. 6 a hundred yards, excepting chaunsi and painsi which are worth about Its. 8. After these the cloth most largely made is susi, a striped stuff used for women’s trousers. This is made of fine thread, and is one of the fabrics in which English thread is now largely used. It is much more valuable than the foregoing, costing Rs. 15 or Rs. 20 per hundred yards. Khes is a thick cloth woven with a diagonal pattern which is produced by taking up the warp threads two at a time, one of which is dropped, and another on the other side taken up, at each passage of the shuttle. It is used as a wrapper by the well-to-do peasantry throughout the Punjab. Khes, as already remarked, is frequently made with blue or red stripes in the border, the former colour being generally used by Mussulmans and the latter by Hindus. Of the same character as khes are the thick cloths known as dotahi and chautahi, which are used as counterpanes as the names imply. Dotahi will cover an ordinary native bed when folded double, and chautahi when folded four times. These cloths are not generally woven in one breadth, but in two or three, which are afterwards sewn together. Dolara is a coarse stuff used as a floorcloth. Salara is a thin cloth used for women’s head-coverings or chadars. Dosuti is a cloth of which the threads of both warp and woof are double. It is a A'ery durable cloth, but it is not made to a large extent. There is also a cloth made in which the threads are quadruple, and which is therefore called chdrsuti. Chhisi, atlisi, &c., have already been described as finer varieties of the common cloth. Ghdti is a fine cloth, of a close texture ; in Jullundur it is also called andras. The cloths made from English thread at Ludhiana are mostly imitations of imported fabrics. They comprise a great variety of checks, especially of the kind called gambroons. Ludhiana lungis are well known. They are generally of blue or khaki in imitation, probably of the Peshawar lungis. Dusters, towels, handkerchiefs, &c. are also made for the use of Europeans. Pagris of good quality are made in Delhi, and a limited quantity of very good specimens of the same stuff is produced in the Robtak district. Weaving has attained considerable perfection in the towns of Kasur, Khemkaran, and Sur Singh in the South of the Lahore district, a result to which the institution of the Kasur school of industry may have contributed. Handsome lungis are made in Shahpur and the Multan division in which red, yellow, and pale green colours predominate. English thread is in many places used to make a stuff known as nahli (or imitation) daryai, being a plain fine stuff supposed to be similar to the true daryai which is of silk. Daryai is generally made of a yellow or light green colour. The silk fabric called gulbadan, the peculiarity of which is its narrow stripes, is also imitated in English cotton thread. These stuffs are glazed with gum after they are woven. As a rule native stuffs receive no finish, but are sent to market just as they leave the loom. In some of the western districts various kinds of fancy cloths appear to bo described generally as Idcha. In Gurdas- pur a special cloth known as garbi loi is made which has attained some reputation. It is said to be exported to Cawnpore, Mirzapur, and even to Calcutta. Some other varieties are mentioned in the district reports, but they seem to be exceptional and of no great commercial importance. The Peshawar and Kohat lungis have been mentioned, but the ornamental ends of these lungis, which give them their value, are not of cotton, but of silk or gold and silver thread. The cotton part of the fabric is plain blue or grey. 13. Most of the district officers have endeavoured to furnish estimates of the quantities of cloth of each kind produced in their districts. Their results, however, are not all calculated in the same way. In some cases the value and in others the measure only of the cloth is stated. In many cases two or more kinds of cloth have been jointly estimated. Some deputy commissioners again profess themselves unable, in the absence of regular statistics, to furnish any estimates at all of the extent of the out-turn. By adding together the figures which have been given, affixing values so far as possible where only quantities are given, and making a rateable addition for those districts which have not submitted returns, the following estimate has been prepared, -which may perhaps be accepted as fairly representing the value of the annual out-turn of the province : — Khadar Rs. 8,200,000 Garha - 1,400,000 Gazi 300,000 Pagri - 500,000 Dhoti 100,000 Dliotar 700,000 Khes 600,000 Dotahi and chautahi 600,000 Dolara 300,000 Chaunsi 1,800,000 Painsi 1,400,000 Chhisi, &c. 600,000 Susi 2,300,000 Lungis 1,200,000 Salara 200,000 Miscellaneous 800,000 Total - 22,000,000 This estimate seems to be rather under than over the mark. If 750,000 maunds of cotton be made into cloth and the cloth be worth on the average Rs. 40 a maund, the value of the out-turn would be three crores of rupees. But the above tariff rate is probably too high for the majority of coarse cloths made for home use. In the manufacture return of 1881-82 (the last which was printed with the Internal Trade Report) the com- puted value of the whole out-turn is shown for each district, and the aggregate of these sums is 278 lakhs of rupees. The manufacture in all its stages is conducted by single operatives working at their own homes. With the exception of the steam cotton-gin at Multan thA'e is not an establishment in the province that employs 20 hands. . Indian piece-goods are both imported into the Punjab and exported from it, but the exports exceed the im- ports. The imports amount on the average of the last Amount of cloth manu- factured. 1G3 four years to 53,259 maunds annually. They come principally from Bombay and tlie North-Western 1 ro- vinccs. None of the district reports except those of the frontier districts, .Etissar and «Sirsa, mention any large imports of native cloth from other provinces. . It is mentioned that nearly the whole of the imports into Hissar and Sirsa are re-exported to Bikanir, and a large part of the stuff sent to the frontier is certainly exported to Afghanistan. Country cloth was exported from the Punjab m the last four years to the average extent of 139,911 maunds a year, of which 93,056 maunds were conveyed by rail or river to other parts of India and the remainder 46,855 maunds, went to foreign countries beyond the western and north-western frontier. It may lie assumed that about one- third of these exports were the produce of other provinces, and two-thirds were of Punjab manufacture. The internal export trade is mostly with Rajputana, which takes a large proportion of the goods made at Delhi. As much as half of th epagris woven in that district are exported. A large business in weav- ing cotton goods for Afghanistan and adjoining countries is done in the districts of Shahpur, Jhang, and Multan. These consist of fabrics of all sorts but mostly of the common country cloth. The cotton cloth of Girot in the Shahpur district has so widespread a repute that the dealers of that town use a stamp to distinguish their products, and it is said that cloth js brought in from the surrounding country to Girot in order to receive this mark and pass as Girot-made. There is also a considerable trade with Kashmir from the districts of Lahore, Gnrdaspur and Sialkot. After deducting exports, the amount of country cloth retained for consumption in the province would appear to be about 670,000 maunds, worth probably about 225 lakhs of rupees. Competition 14. The above amount of native cotton cloth, how- of European ever, by no means suffices for the wants of the popula- piece-Roods. tj ou . European piece-goods are imported to an enormous extent. The weight of the imports of these goods for the last four years averaged 448,489 maunds. A variable quantity, which in the last four years averaged 52,767 maunds, was re-exported to other pro- vinces by rail or boat, and 42,011 maunds were des- patched to foreign territory beyond the north-western frontier. On the average therefore the Punjab consumes annually 353,711 maunds of European cotton goods, worth, at the standard valuation of Rs. 85 per rnaund, no less than Rs. 30,065,435. As in the case of twist and yarn, the English manufacturers appear to be gradually cheapening their goods, and so bringing them more and more within the reach of the mass of the population. But on a comparison of the figures of the last four years their use does not seem to be extend- ing very rapidly in the Punjab. The excess of the imports over the exports in these years was as follows : — 1880-81 1881-82 1882- 83 1883- 84 Maunds. 353,444 324,820 353,702 382,881 Value, Rs. 29,879,033 28,270,376 29,310,139 32,017,375 This rate of increase seems to be hardly so large as would be accounted for by the growth of the purchasing power of the people. It seems probable that, notwithstanding the competition of Manchester, the Punjabi weaver’s trade is rather extending than diminishing, and that there is still plenty of room for both. The great mass of the population of this part of India require for their ordinary Avorking garments a plain substantial stuff containing a good weight of strong cotton, and it is not in the power of the European manufacturer to supply such stuffs to them at a rate which rvould command their custom, all the advantages derivable from the use of machinery being in the case of such goods more than neutralised by the cost of transporting the material. Some of the finer native fabrics, however, are un- doubtedly being replaced by imported stuff. The fine calico, called by the native dealers khasa, is preferred by the better classes to ghati, chliisi, athsi, &c. An English-made kind of s usi, known hei’e as bokhdra is, by reason of its bright and varied colours and its better texture, supplanting the native stuff to some extent in the towns. Malmal can hardly be said to have ever been made to any important extent in this province, but what demand there was for this article is probably now satisfied by English muslin. The figured and spotted muslins which are now so popular are a neAv thing altogether and do not usurp the place of any native product. English chintz, which is imported in endless varieties, has probably diminished the demand for the handiwork of the clihisi. Where regularity and precision are of importance machine-made goods will, of course, always excel those made by hand, both in cheapness and in appearance, and it is better for the Punjab to import goods from England than to make them locally at a higher cost. The displacement of labour will cause no harm if it be not too sudden, and from the above-quoted figures it certainly does not appear that it is taking place with revolutionary rapidity. Taking together both country-made and im- ported goods it appears that the people of the Punjab expend on cotton fabrics an annual sum of about 525 lakhs of rupees or about Rs. 2-12 for each head of the population, and the fact that they are able to do this seems to speak well for the general prosperity of the province. 15. The district reports which were due to Commis- sioner’s offices on the 1st of June' were most of them punctually submitted, though exceptions must be noted in the case of the Dera Ghazi Khan and Hoshiar- pur districts, the reports for which were not sent in till the 12th and 27th of August respectively. Particularly good and complete reports have been re- ceived from the districts of Shahpur (by Mr. S. leP. T. Clifford, Extra Judicial Assistant), Jhang (by R. Clarke, Deputy Commissioner), and Hazara (by Mr. P. W. R. Eryer, Deputy Commissioner). The reports from Rohtak, Hoshiarpur, Jullundur, Gurdaspur, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, and Muzaffargarh are also good ones, and a good report by Jowala Parshad, officiating Tahsildar of Kasur, has been sent up by the Deputy Commis- sioner. 16. Patterns of the various kinds of cloth usually made have been forwarded from each district, and from these a selection has been made which accompanies this report. This collection might perhaps be deposited in the Lahore Museum for general references. The patterns sent from the Ludhiana, Jullundur, and Shahpur dis- tricts are especially good and well arranged, the Lud- hiana patterns comprising a great variety of the checks and gambroons made in that town. These patterns exhibit both the quality of the fabrics and the colours and patterns with which they are dyed and printed. I have, &c., (Signed) E. B. Francis, Offg. Junior Secretary to the Financial Commissioner, Punjab. No. 3142, dated Nagpur, the 12th May 1892. From C. E. B. Critchley, Esq., Assistant Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Central Provinces, to the Secretary to the Government of India, Home Department. I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 6, Judicial, 322, dated the 14tli March last, forwarding a copy of a Despatch, No. 7 (Statistical), dated the 4th February 1892, from Her Majesty’s Se- cretary of State, which gives cover to a letter (with enclosures) from the Royal Commission on Labour, and requesting that a succinct memorandum may, after proper inquiry, be drawn up and submitted to the Government of India, setting forth the information which the questions of the Commission are designed to elicit so far as they are applicable to the employment of labour on the preparation of textile fabrics in factories in the Central Provinces. 2. In reply, I am to forward you a memorandum containing the information required, together with the replies of the mill companies in the Central Provinces to inquiries made on the subject. Memorandum on the Conditions of Labour employed in the preparation of Textile Fabrics in Factories in the Central Provinces. There are the following factories in the Central Provinces at which labourers are employed in the preparation of textile fabrics : — (1.) The “ Empress Mills ” (Central India Spinning, Weaving, and Manufacturing Company), Nagpur. (2.) The “ Swadeshi Mills,” Nagpur. (3.) The Hingangliat Mill, Wardlia District. (4.) The “ Golkul Dass Ballabh Dass Cotton Manu- facturing Company,” Jubbulpore. All of these are cotton-spinning mills. X 2 164 2. The number of workpeople engaged in each of these mills is shown below : — — Male. Female. Apprentices, &e. Unskilled Labourers. Empress Mills 2,145 477 24 (included in foregoing) . 228 Swadeshi „ 530 185 Nil 690 Hinganghat „ 584 191 2 290 Gokul Dass „ 379 129 3 49 The “ Empress Mills ” and the Hinganghat Mill Company have ginning factories in the Wardha District. The “ Swadeshi Mills,” Nagpur, have only recently been opened ; which is perhaps the reason why so large a number of the hands are set down as “ unskilled.” 3. None of the mill companies is connected with any organisation of emploj*ers dealing with labour questions. 4. The Empress Mills, Nagpur, does not desire to offer any representations or information regarding wages, hours, and conditions of labour. At the same time the Company append to their reply a printed pro- spectus of a gratuitous pension fund started for their labourers. The Swadeshi Mills represent that recent legislation has done more harm than good to the working people by limiting the earning power of women and children. The Hinganghat Mill Company proposes that the hours of women be from 5.30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with 11 hour’s interval ; and that on holidays workpeople receive half pay. The Gokul Dass Miils Company make no representations, but simply recite ( inter alia) that in their mills workpeople are paid monthly or by the piece according to the department of work ; that males earn on the average Rs. 7 monthly ; females, Rs. 5 ; and children Rs. 3 ; that wages are direct, with no stoppages except small fines for damage on bad work ; that adult males work from daylight to dark, and women from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., with half an hour’s interval at midday ; and that children between 9 and 14 years of age are employed for 6| hours daily. Holidays are allowed on “ festive occasions ” in addi- tion to those prescribed by the Act : and full pay is given on these occasions. 5. The only mill in which there have been strikes is the Hinganghat Mill. On four occasions the work- people struck for three days at a time on account of disagreement with the spinning master. When the spinning master resigned the people returned to work. The loss is estimated at Rs. 1,000 a day. 6. In answer to the general questions, the Hinganghat Mill suggests that Government should publish informa- tion as to the supplies and places of production of oil- seeds, jute, indigo, &c. in the Central Provinces. All the other questions under Head IV. arc answered in the negative by all the mill companies. (Signed) L. K. Laukie, Officiating Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Central Provinces. Central India Spinning, Weaving, and Manufacturing Company, Limited. “ The Empress Mills,” Nagpur, 5th April 1892. 1. — Introductory. 1. Ours is a joint stock company, registered in Bombay. We have a cotton spinning and weaving mill in Nagpur, which is worked all throughout the year, and small cotton ginning factories in Wardha, Shir- pore, and Polina, all in the Wardha District, which are worked for about five months in the year. 2. We have at the mills — (a.) Males, 2,145. (6.) Females, 477. (c.) Of whom 24 are apprentices or learners. 44 girls under 14 years and above 9 years, working half time. 220 boys under 14 years and above 9 years, working half time. (d.) 228 unskilled labourers. And in the district ginning factories and other works, such as buying, stacking, baling, weighing and carry- ing cotton or cotton with seed, we have — (a.) 169 Males. (1.) 125 females, of whom about ( d .) 175 are unskilled labourers. 3. Our firm is not connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. We desire to make no representation under any of the heads in this section. The subject has been fully considered and reported on by the late Indian Factory Commission and dealt with by the Legislature. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. We have had no strikes or lock-outs during the whole period mentioned. IV. — General Questions. 1. No system exists in our district providing for conciliation, arbitration, sliding scales, or other means of preventing or arranging trade disputes, and none has as yet become necessary. 2. No systepi of co-operative production, industrial partnership or profit-sharing has been attempted by our company, but a pension system has been adopted, the particulars of which have been embodied in the attached printed paper. 3. Government or local authorities are not employers of labour in our trade and district. 4. No agency exists in our district for finding or providing work for the unemployed. 5. We have no suggestions to make as to the collection and publishing by Government, of statistical and other information relating to our trade. 6. So far, cordial relations have been maintained between capital and labour in our district, and we have no suggestions to make for avoiding strikes and promoting cordial relations between capital and labour. 7. We have no other statement or suggestion to make for the information of the Commission. Bagnia Dadabhoy, Manager. Central India Spinning, Weaving, and Manufacturing Company, Limited. The Empress Mill, Nagpur. 1. The directors of this company have been pleased to open a gratuitous pension fund for the benefit of workpeople employed at the Empress Mills, Nagpur. They intend to add to it, from time to time, such sums as to them may appear fit. 2. The object of the fund is to pay, at the discretion of the directors, to those workpeople, both male and female, who have completed 30 years’ service, and are no longer able to work, a pension equal to half the average monthly earnings, during the last two years of such service, but not more than a maximum pension of Rs. 5 per month will, in any case, be paid. 3. From the same fund it is intended to pay, at the discretion of the directors, to those workpeople who have completed 25 years’ service, an increase of an eighth of the average monthly earnings, for the last year of such service, but not more than the maximum of Rs. 1£ per month in the shape of such increase will, in any case, be paid. 4. A printed certificate, signed by the manager, will be given to every person who shall have completed five years’ service ; all such certificates should be retained by such person, and produced when claiming the benefit of the increase of pay or of the pension as above provided. 5. It is to be distinctly understood that the pension will only be granted to such workpeople as are, after 30 years’ service, proved to the satisfaction of the directors to be incapable of working any longer at the mill and worthy of support. 6. The increase of wages, on account of 25 years’ service, will continue to be paid, even after the ex- piration of 30 years’ service, so long as the person entitled to it remains in the service of the company. 7. All leave of absence granted to the workpeople, not exceeding in the aggregate six months in every five consecutive years, will be considered as part of service. All leave in excess of such six months in five years will not be reckoned as part of service. If a person leaves 165 Wages. Hours of labour. Conditions of labour. the service and rejoins it, the term of service for the purpose of the above provisions will count from the day he rejoins or last rejoined. 8. It must be understood that the creation of the fund in question will not confer any legal right upon any employe of the company to participate in the benefit thereof, and that the directors may, at their sole discretion, at any time withdraw the said fund, or reduce it, or appropriate it otherwise than here provided. 9. The directors also reserve absolute authority from time to time and at all times to add to and alter the conditions on which the employes of the company shall have the benefit of the said fund. Jamsetjee N. Tata, Managing Director. “ Swadeshi Mills,” Nagpur. B . — Questions addressed to Employers. Answers. I. — Introductory. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. IV. — General Questions. I . — Introductor Y. 1. Will you state the business or businesses in which your firm is engaged and where its works are situated ? 2. What number of workpeople are there engaged in your firm, particularised as follows P — (a.) Male. (b.) Female. (c.) Apprentices or other learners or young persons. (d.) Unskilled labourers. 3. Is your firm connected with any organisation of employers dealing with labour questions P Spinning oonon. Near Khandoba’s Temple, Nagpur. g®} about. Nil. About 690. No. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. What representation or information do you desire to oiler for the consideration of the Commission under any of the following heads P — (a.) Their amount and fluctuations. (b.) Mode of payment — (i.) By the hour, day, or week. (ii.) By the piece. (iii.) By the task. (c.) Payment through sub-contractor. (d.) Deductions by fines or other forms of stoppage, (e.) Truck or payment in kind. (/.) Allowance in form of — (i.) Bonus. (ii.) Deferred pay, such as sick, accident, pension, or other insurance system. (iii.) Free house, land, food, clothing or other . allowance or advantage. (g.) Length of notice ending engagement. (a.) Ordinary or standard hours of labour. ( b .) Overtime and its remuneration. (c.) Night shifts, and their remuneration. (d.) Sunday work, and its remuneration. (e.) Weekly half holiday or other holiday with or without payment. (a.) Irregularity of employment through seasonal or other causes. (h.) Safety of employment, and the lighting, sani- tation, and inspection of work-places. (c.) Compensation for accidents. ( d .) Sub-division of labour as between different trades. (e.) Distribution of labour as between factories, workshops, and homes. (/.) Distribution of labour as between men, women, and children. (g.) Apprenticeship. ( h .) Employment of foreigners. (i.) Introduction of labour-saving machinery. (.?’•) Supply and quality of materials, machinery, or other plant. (7c.) Dismissal of representative delegates, refusal of unionists to work with non-unionists, use of black list, and mutual relations of employers and trade unions generally. ( l ■) Other causes of dispute. As this factory has commenced to work only since January last, we are not in a position to make any suggestions in detail on the various points noted in the question. But from the little experience that we have gained we find that the change in the law regu- lating labour in factories has done more harm than good to the workpeople for whose benefit it was apparently intended to be made. Working boys over 7 and below 9 have now been thrown out of work, and those over 12 and below 14 now get less wages than formerly ; because they are not now allowed to work for more than six hours. Women, who are generally paid by piece-work, now get less wages than before, because their working-time has been reduced by one hour, and therefore they turn out less work than before the new Factory Act was passed. X 3 166 III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. Questions. 1. Can you state how many strikes and lock-outs there have been in connexion with your works iu each of the 10 years, 1881-1890, and in the current year up to date ? 2. Have such disputes been during that period more frequent than formerly or less so ? 3. Can you enumerate the important disputes, and furnish particulars in regard to each such dispute under the following heads ? — (a.) Date of commencement and termination. (6.) The chief immediate causes of each such dispute. (c.) Number of workers in your employment directly engaged in each dispute. (d.) Number of persons in your employment who have been thrown out of work thereby, but who have not been directly engaged in the dispute. (e.) Attitude of associated employers towards the dispute. (/.) Mode of settlement. (y.) Advances or reduction of wages or other result of each dispute. (h.) Estimated loss to firm, direct or indirect, occasioned by dispute. Answers. This is a new mill, and working since January 1892, and no strikes. Nil. Nil. Nil. Nil. Nil. Nil. Nil. Nil. IV. — General Questions. 1. Does any system exist in your trade in your district providing for conciliation, arbitration, sliding scales, or other means of preventing or arranging trade disputes ? 2. Has any system of co-operative production, indus- trial partnership, or profit-sharing been attempted by your firm, and, if so, with what results ? 3. Are the Government or local authorities emplojmrs of labour in your trade and district, and, if so, with what results as to remuneration, and other con- ditions of employment ? 4. Can you supply information as to any agency in your district for finding or providing work for the unemployed ? 6. Have you any suggestions to make as to the statisti- cal and other information relating to your trade which is, or in your opinion should be, collected and published by Government ? 6. Can you suggest any means of avoiding or arranging Strikes and promoting cordial relations between capital and labour ? 7 . Have you any other statement or suggestion to make for the information of the Commission ? No such system exists in this mill as it has just now started. New mill. No such system has been introduced yet. None. No such agency exists as far as is known. Nothing in particular, as our mill is a newly-started concern. No ; we cannot do at present until some experience is gained. Nothing for the present. Damodar Atmaram Kalak, Manager. Sours of labour. The Hinganghat Mill, Wardha District. Questions answered, with reply against each, addressed to employers. I.— Introductory. 1. Will you state the business or businesses in which your firm is engaged, and where its works are situated ? 2 . What number of workpeople are there engaged in your firm, particularised as follows ? — (a.) Male. (b.) Female. (c.) Apprentices or other learners or young persons. (d.) Unskilled labourers. 3 . Is your firm connected with any organisation of em- ployers dealing with labour questions ? 1. Hingaiighat: spinning mill, gin factory, and oil mill. Kapse : ginning factory. 584-1 19 2 l 1,073. 296 J The firm has connexion with the Mill-owners’ Associa- tion of Bombay. II.— Wages, Hours, and Conditions or Labour. What representatations or information do yotl desire to offer for the consideration of the Commission under any of the following heads P — ( g .) Length of notice for ending engagement. (ft.) Ordinary of standard hours of labour. For females we propose from 5.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. with 1<} hour's intervals. (e.) Weekly half-holiday or other holiday with or We propose that holidays may be paid half, without payment. 167 Wages. III.— Strikes and Lock-outs. Questions. 1. Can yon state how many strikes and lock-outs there have been in connexion with your works in each of 10 years, 1881-1890, and in the current year up to date p 3. Can you enumerate the important disputes and furnish particulars in regard to each such dispute under the following heads P — (a.) Date of commencement and termination. (1.) The chief immediate causes of each such dispute. (/.) Mode of settlement. (h.) Estimated loss to firm, direct or indirect, occasioned by dispute. Answers, There were four strikes since 1891 to 1890. None, 1st strike, December 26th to December 28th, 1886. 2nd strike, April 27th to April 29th, 1887. 3rd strike, March 26th to March 30th, 1888. 4tli strike, November 25th to November 28th, 1889. Only one strike occurred in my time, and that was on 25th November 1889, which lasted for three days. The chief immediate cause of it was that the spinning- master and the workpeople did not agree with each other. As soon as the spinning-master resigned his appoint- ment the workpeople returned to work. The profit which would have been gained by the firm on the produce, if the work had not been stopped, was lost, and cost of establishment, &c. had to be borne, and which may be estimated to, say, Rs. 1,000 per day. IV. — General Questions. 1. Does any system exist in your trade in your district providing for conciliation, arbitration, sliding scales, or other means of preventing or arranging trade disputes p 2. Has any system of co-operative production, industrial partnership, or profit-sharing been attempted by your firm, and if so, with what results ? 3. Are the Government or local authorities employers of labour in your trade and district, and if so, with what results as to remuneration and other conditions of employment P 4. Can you supply information as to any agency in your district for finding or providing work for the unem- ployed ? 5. Have you any suggestions to make as to the statis- tical and other information relating to your trade which is, or in your opinion should be, collected and published by Government ? No such system exists. No, No. No. I would suggest that if Government published informa- tion re cotton, oil-seeds, jute, indigo, &c., varieties of each article, out-turn, and the places where the com- modities are produced in Central Provinces, it would he of great advantage for the trade. Keshro Sheoram, Secretary and Manager, Hinganghat Mill Company, Limited, The “ Gokul Dass Ballabh Dass Cotton Manufacturing Company,” Jubbulpore. I. — Introductory. 1st. — In the manufacture of cotton yarn and piece- goods ; the works being situated at Ranital, Juhbul- pore. 2nd. — There are in all 638 hands employed- fa.) Male, 379. (6.) Female, 129. (c.) Apprentices or other learners, or young per- sons, 3. ( d .) Unskilled labourers, 49. 3rd— No. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour, (a.) The average wages earned monthly by an adult male may be taken at Rs. 7, by a female at Rs. 5, and by a child at Rs. 3 ; the fluctuations being inconsiderable, the main cause being irregularity on the part of the workmen in their attendance. ( b .) Mode of payment — (1), (2), (3). — Two systems are in vogue, pay- ment by the piece, and the monthly wage. In certain departments of the works, it is found necessary to adopt the former system, while in other departments the hands have to be paid by the month. (c.) The hands are paid monthly by the firm direct, and not through a contractor or sub-contractor. ( d .) Nominal fines are levied on those of tho work- men who may have carelessly broken their machines or produced very faulty work. The average total of fines per mensem would amount to about Rs. 20. No other stoppages are made from the wages of the workpeople. (e.) Payment in money. (/.) (1), (2), (3) — Allowances in form of a bonus are sometimes made in order to incite work- people to produce as much from the machines as they have been designed to do. In case of acci- dent to a workman he continues to draw the full amount of his salary until such time as he has been pronounced fit for duty by the local hospital authorities. No pay is given in cases of ordinary sickness where a man remains away from his duties ; nor has any system of pension or in- surance been adopted. Certain of the hands are housed in the mill compound free of rent, in return for which they are expected to render any assistance they can in case of fire or other emer- gency occurring either throughout the day or night. Besides this, they have no allowances or privileges of any kind. (g.) One month’s notice is required before a work- man can leave the service ; at the expiration of X 4 168 Hours of labour . Conditions o f labour. his notice he is paid up promptly, and in full of all his claims. (a.) As regards male adults, there are no fixed hours of attendance at and cessation from work, they being employed from daylight to dark throughout the year, excepting Sundays, on which they are allowed leave, or some other day in lieu. Women are employed from 7 a.m. to !j p.m., with an interval of half an hour at midday for meals. Children between nine and 14 years of age are employed for 6J hours daily. (h.) When any of the workpeople are employed overtime they are paid according to the number of hours they may put in, the length of day at the time being the standard. (c.) No regular night work in shifts is done. (d.) No extra remuneration is allowed for working on Sunday. ( e .) No weekly holidays are allowed excepting those enjoined by the Act ; other holidays are allowed on festive occasions, but all monthly hands are allowed to draw pay for such days. (a.) Employment is continuous throughout the year. ( b .) Every precaution is taken to protect life and health, and the lighting, sanitation, and general inspection is attended to by the Government Inspector of Factories. (c.) Pull pay is allowed to all who may become incapacitated through accident. (d.), (e.), (/.), (h.), {{.), (_/.), (7c.), (/.) — These clauses do not apply to the conditions of labour in these Provinces. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. There have been no strikes in connexion with these mills since they were started. IV. — General Questions. 1. — No. 2. — Nothing of the kind attempted. 3. — No. 4. — No. 5. — No. 6. — No. 7. — No. Lanital, 9th April 1892. Arthur Wright, Manager, Gokul Dass Bullabh Dass Cotton Manufacturing Company, Limited. No. 33 of 1892. Government of India — Home Department (Judicial). To the Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley, K.G., Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India. My Lord, Calcutta, 28tli December, 1892. In continuation of our Despatch No. 21 (Judicial), dated the 28th September last, we have the honour to forward a copy of a letter 1 from the Government of Bombay, and of its enclosures, which include the replies given by Mr. N. M. Loklmnday, secretary to the Mill- hands’ Association, to the C. set of questions framed by the Royal Commission on Labour, and a memorandum by the Chief Inspector of Factories, as well as a letter from Mr. J. M. Campbell, collector of land revenue, customs, and opium at Bombay, dealing with the points raised by Mr. Loklmnday. 2. The only question raised in the papers now for- warded which requires notice from us is that of the interval of rest for women employed in factories. Mr. Campbell's proposal that part of the rest required for women should be given before their day’s work begins or after it has ended is inconsistent with the language of clause (3), section 6, of the Indian Factories Act, 1881, as amended by Act XI. of 1891, and the intentions of the legislature. Mr. Campbell himself admits the inconsistency, and we see no grounds for altering the law, which proceeds on the view that half an hour’s rest is insufficient for a female operative during a day’s work of 11 hours. We have, &c., Lansdowne. Roberts. P. P. Hutchins. A. E. Miller. H. Brackenbury. C. B. Pritchard. No. 4,328. dated Bombay Castle, the 26th November, 1892. From W. L. Harvey, Esq., Under Secretary to the Government of Bombay, General Department, to the Secretary to the Government of India, Home Department. In continuation of my letter No. 3,249, dated 12th September 1892, I am directed to forward herewith, for the information of the Government of India, a letter, dated 29th idem, and its accompaniments, from Mr. N. M. Loklmnday, secretary to the Mill-hands’ Association, which contain the replies of that gentleman to the C. set of questions framed by the Royal Commission on Labour and circulated with your letter No. 368, dated 14th March 1892. I am also directed to enclose copies of a Memorandum No. 191, dated the 3rd ultimo, from the chief inspector of factories, Bombay, and of a letter No. F. I. -24, dated the 1st instant, from the collector of land revenue, customs, and opium, Bombay, com- menting on Mr. Lokhunday’s letter and to recommend for favourable consideration by the Government of India the suggestion made by Mr. Campbell in the concluding portion of his letter quoted above on the subject of the interval of rest for women. Dated Bombay, the 29th September 1892. Demi-official from N. M. Lokiiunday, Esq., Secretary to the Mill-hands' Association, to the Chief Factory Inspector, Bombay. I have the honour to forward herewith my replies to the questions addressed by the Royal Commission on “ Labour Question,” and to request that you will be so good as to transmit them to the Government of Bombay. Answers to Questions marked “ C.” addressed to Employers’ Association. I. — Introduction. 1. Cotton industry. 2. Bombay City. 3. 4, 5, and 6. The Association I represent is composed solely of poor mill-hands. The day seems distant when from among these poor operatives any “employers” are likely to arise and found establishments for the class to which they owe their opulence. Many mill- hands are unwilling to be known as connected with our association for fear of losing their employment, so jealous are the employers of labour here of any com- bination among the workers for their mutual benefit. 7. No. II. — Wages, Hours, and Conditions of Labour. ( a ) No uniform system obtains in the mills. In Wages. Appendix “A.” are given a few figures showing fluctuations. (b.) The system here is to pay either monthly wages or by piece-work, the payment in both cases is supposed to be made after the lapse of a month, but actually it is rarely made before two months have passed. I am strongly of opinion, looking to the poverty of the operatives, who are mostly in debt, that payment should be made weekly. This is the more necessary, as, under existing factory rules, a mill-hand, if absent through sickness or otherwise for three consecutive days, forfeits all his accumulated wages for two months. The deduc- tion of pies from the pay earned by the operatives is common even now in majority of the mills. (e.) Not the practice here. ( d .) I would suggest that recoveries on account of fines and forfeited wages should be reserved as a fuud for the benefit of mill-hands. 1 No. 4,328. dated 26th November 1S92. 169 Hours of labour. Condi- tions of labour. (e.) Not the practice here. (/.) 1. Bonus. Only headmen of each department get it, and this in a few mills only. 2. Sick pay not allowed. Pension and insurance arrangements nil. It is desirable that these concessions should bo accorded. 3. None allowed. It is highly desirable that cheap lodgings, and shops for sale ot provisions, &c., at market rates as well as dispensaries and schools, should be provided as near the mill or factories as possible. (g.) Thirty days’ notice is given. I think 15 days’ notice is sufficient for either party. But the present practice is that no notice is ever given to the operative by the employer if they want to discharge him. (a.) The existing arrangement is from dawn to dusk. I would suggest a uniform standard from 6 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. (&.), (c.), and (d.) If working on Sundays or at night, double the rate of wages payable during ordinary working day is allowed. This I think is fair. (e.) For holidays allowed no wages are paid to piece workers. (a.) The irregularities arise mainly through break- down of engine, boiler or shafting, &c. On such occa- sions, though the accident is well known to the manage- ment, yet the workmen, the bulk of whom travel daily from long distances, are required to attend the mill and to pass sometimes the whole day doing nothing and receiving nothing. This is done merely with the object of preventing them from seeking employment elsewhere. This is a hardship, and I think operatives should not be called on such occasions. (b.) A large number of accidents are due to the placing of straps on pulleys being entrusted to un- skilful hands, and this despite the words of warning addressed to employers by coroner's jury. This should be prevented and only experts should be asked to do this particular work. The fencing of machinery is inadequate in many cases, and should attract greater attention of the factory inspectors. As to lighting and sanitation there is much room for improvement ; but this is not possible so long as the official inspection is not more frequent and the visits paid without previous intimation. The inspection as it is performed at present does not serve the purposes for which it is intended. There must be an experienced inspector with four assis- tants under him. An assistant collector is not the proper person to inspect mills satisfactorily. He has multifarious duties to perform in addition to his own, and it would be too much to expect him to do this work in addition to them. He has moreover seldom any knowledge of mill industry. The work of in- pection therefore, as is done at present, is of a cursory character and hence many defects pass unno- ticed. I would suggest that, as in the case of the boiler inspector, Government should charge each mill Rs. 100 per year to meet the expenses consequent upon the appointment of a separate inspector and his estab- lishment. (c.) Compensation in the shape of full pay is allowed for a few days, and after that a nominal amount is paid until recovery of person from injuries sustained ; but some suitable monthly provision is absolutely necessary in cases where workmen are maimed for life or for the support of widows or orphans in cases of deaths. The accumulation of fines and forfeited wages should, I think, be utilised for this purpose. (d.) No remarks. (e.) Factories 13 to 14£ hours; workshops 7J hours and home 8 to 9 hours. (/.) Men 13 to 14£ hours ; women 11 hours ; children \ hours. (g.) Custom does not obtain here. ( h .) No foreigners employed except in the highest appointments, such as managers, engineers, and spin- ning and weaving masters. (/.) Supply not defective. As regards quality of materials I can say that the cotton used in the Bombay mills is of a short staple and hence arises the misunder- standing that an operative in England can do three times the work of an operative in India. The machinery used in old mills does not belong to new invention. But it is here and there changed for new ones. The new mills are furnished with newly invented machinery. (k.) and ( l .) This country unfortunately is not ripe yet for the adoption of any of these several methods for forcing the hands of employers in the interests of the employes. I would here draw your attention to my introductory remarks. The causes of dispute are low wages, want of holidays, and general bad managements. III. — Strikes and Lock-outs. 1, 2 and 3. — The strikes are of frequent occurrence in every one of the mills in this city. The chief cause is the reduction of wages on the day of payment without — (a.), (b.) Any previous intimation to workmen of the contemplated change. These strikes sometimes last for four days. (c.) to (h.) I would here draw your attention to my introductory remarks. IV.— General Questions. 1. No. 2. None attempted. 3. No remarks. 4. A copy of petition addressed to His Excellency Lord Lansdowne, Viceroy and Governor -General of India, on the factory labour question is annexed. Also a copy of my minutes on the subject is submitted. 5. No remarks. 6. The Indian mill-hands are a law-abiding and peaceable race ; and, as a rule, more prone to suffer patiently under wrong than to seek it righted, or to dispute the authority of their employers. If, therefore, the employers observed strictly the factory laws, and only paid them regularly exactly the sum due for their labour, and reduced their wages only when necessary, and that after a proper timely notice beforehand, and conceded some of the points touched upon in my replies above, there is no reason why the most cordial relation- ship. should not subsist between the employers and the employed in this country. 7. The mill-hands of this country, notwithstanding the roseate accounts given by interested parties of their prosperity, are, as a class, not at all thriving, owing to their extreme ignorance and addiction to the vices of a city life, specially drink. Primary education, assisted by occasional payment of honorariums for good be- haviour, and efficiency in service, will go a good way towards ameliorating their condition. It would be greatly to the ultimate advantage of mill-owners to offer these inducements to their employes. It would also be worth while inquiring into whether the 15 per cent, of the operatives who are daily absent from the mills absent themselves from illness or other causes. From my own information, I can affirm that when Sunday holidays are enforced by the new Act of 1892, the cause of the absence of such alarming per-centage will be found due to nothing but illness. This view will be supported by the fact that generally the opera- tives working in the mills are under 40 than over 40 years of age. An uniform 11 hours’ work per diem is another much-needed reform for the consideration of the Commission. (Signed) N. M. Lokhunday. Bombay, 28th September 1892. U 75209. Y 170 Mixing - - Blowing ... Carding - Throstle’s piecer ,, doffer ,, ,, under age Frame doffer Drawing frame tenter paid on hanks at Slubbing frame Intermediate - Roving - Mule spinner at ,, piecer ,, - , , assist yy - ~ Creeler - Keeler at Winder - Warper ... Sizer ... Drawer and assistant drawer at Heald knitter 99 9 9 Weaver up to 20" ,, from 2 1 " to 30" - ,, „ 31” upward at Afpendix A. Old Mills’ Rates. New Mills’ Rates. Rs. 10 to 15 per month - - Rs. 10 to 11 - - Rs. 10 to 13 Rs. 9 to 10 ,, Rs. 6 per month - Rs. 4 ,, - - Rs. 5 to 6 „ ■ 10 pies per hank - 14 „ „ - - - - 15 „ „ - 16 „ „ - - - 3 ans. per 100 lb. of 20 s. - 2 „ - - - 0 22 pies of 20 s. Rs. 11 per month Rs. 1-8 per 100 doffs of 20 s. - - 5 ans. per 100 lbs. Rs. 3-3 per 100 lb. 15 ans. per 1,000 lb. Rs. 1-6 per 1.000 ends. Rs. 1-4 per sett. By hand. 10 pies ,, By machine. 5* pies per lb. 5 pies „ \\ pies Rs. 12 to 15 per month. Rs. 10 to 11 yy Rs. 10 to 13 Rs. 9 to 13 ,, Ks. 6 to 13 ,, Rs. 4 to 13 ,, Rs. 6 to 13 ,, 2J pies per hank. 11 12 11 * 9 9 99 2 ans. 8 pie per 100 lb. Ian. 6 pie ,, lan. 5 pie ,, Rs. 6 per month. 4 ans. for 20 doffs. To His Excellency the most Honourable the Marquis of Lansdowne, G.M.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.M.I.E., Viceroy and Governor-General of India. The humble petition of the undersigned operatives employed in the spinning and weaving mills in the city of Bombay, Respectfully sheweth, — That your Lordship’s humble petitioners have watched with keen interest the discus- sion that is being carried on at present in the matter of affording relief by legislative enactment to the thou- sands of operatives — men, women, and children — employed in the mills in this city, and who do stand in need of protection from the State in several respects. They are grateful to Government and to those philanthropic gentlemen who are working in their behalf to improve their condition. 2. That your Lordship’s petitioners have learnt with great concern that it has been attempted in some quarters to misrepresent their exact wants, and to insinuate that your petitioners are either indifferent to or do not feel the necessity of any direct measures of protection against their employers. Tour humble petitioners, therefore, respectfully venture to approach your Lordship with the following few lines which they most respectfully beg that your Lordship will be graciously pleased to lay before the Secretary of State. 3. That the following resolutions were unanimously adopted by the mill-hands of Bombay at a public meet- ing held on the 23rd and 26th September 1884, giving expression to their grievances : — I. That all mill-hands be allowed one complete day of rest every Sunday. II. That half-an-hour’s recess be allowed them at noon every working day. III. That work in mills should commence at 6.30 a.m. and cease at sunset. IV. That payment of wages be made not later than the 15th of the month following that for which they have been earned. V. That a workman sustaining serious injury in the course of his work at the mill, which may disable him for a time, should receive full wages until he recovers, and that in case of his being maimed for life suitable provision be made for his livelihood. 4. That these resolutions were laid before the Factory Commission then sitting in Bombay, who, after due inquiry considered the prayers of your Lordship’s petitioners reasonable, and therefore supported them in their report. The Government of Bombay were also pleased, in forwarding the report to the Government of India, to give their approval to the recommendations of the Commiss on n which the grievances briefly set forth above weio recognised. 5- With reference to the foregoing resolutions your petitioners submitted the following few observations explanatory of the views entertained by the meeting respecting the concessions prayed for, and they now beg leave to recapitulate the same here. 6. Your Lordship’s petitioners submit that the con- cession for weekly rest asked for is a moderate demand, and will, your Lordship’s petitioners are sanguine, prove advantageous to both the employers and the employes : (1.) The employers would derive benefit by securing a body of healthier operatives, who, working with energy, would turn out work satisfactorily both as to quantity and quality. (2.) The prayer contained in the first resolution, if granted, would further afford the workmen the much needed opportunity of attending to their household duties, for which they have no time at present, notably for making purchases in the market which the present unseasonable hours of attendance prevent them from doing. The result of this is that the necessaries of life are bought from hawkers who charge exorbi- tant prices and supply inferior articles. (3.) The loss to millowners from over-taxing the energies oL their servants by the unnatural system of incessant work for nearly 13 to 14 hours a day is far greater than they are aware of. (4.) In the whole of British India, Sunday is con- sidered a privileged holiday. The mill opera- tives not obtaining leave on that day cannot afford to meet their relatives or friends, who are otherwise employed, and who enjoy rest on these days. (5.) It has been alleged in certain quarters that there is no necessity for giving regular holidays in the month to the mill operatives, as they have many days of rest during their caste festivals, and that their work is limited to about 300 days in the year. This your petitioners humbly submit is an exaggeration, and is wholly incorrect. At the most, the operatives enjoy about 11 days in the year on account of their religious festivals. (6.) A painful fact to relate is that if, on account of sickness or any other cause such as buying provisions on receipt of their wages, an opera- tive absents himself from work, he loses for one day’s absence two days’ pay under the mill regulations, a statement which can be easily verified by a reference to the muster rolls kept in the mills. 7. With regard to the second resolution your petitioners would submit that, although the so-called half-an-hour’s recess at mid-day already obtains in the mills, yet it is granted grudgingly, and when it comes to be closely looked into, the grace is found to consist of from 15 to 20 minutes only. Much of this scanty recess is again taken up by the present system of delivering up tickets at the time. This latter in- convenience can, your petitioners humbly submit, be avoided by dispensing with the noon-day delivery of tickets, and substituting for it the checking of ticket 171 numbers off the muster-roll by the timekeeper going the round among the operatives at work. 8. The uncertainty at present prevailing in regard to the hour for starting work is embarrassing to a degree, and is the source of great inconvenience and discomfort to your petitioners. A fixed and uniform hour of attendance is therefore greatly needed. 9. A fixed time for the payment of wages has been suggested in order to obviate the great hardship felt by the operatives, who as a rule save nothing and are mostly involved in debt. The great delay in the pay- ment of wages adds largely to their embarrassments. Your lordship’s petitioners respectfully submit that if the millowners desire to have a sort of hold on their servants — to prevent desertion, for instance — the ne- cessities of the case would be fully met by their retaining in their hands a fortnight’s pay of the men in arrears. Speaking about wages, your petitioners feel constrained to remark passingly that cases in which the employers illegally withhold the hard-earned pay of the poor are so frequent that a reference to the Court of Small Causes will convince Government that wages are in many cases recovered only by recourse to the courts. But hundreds of operatives forego their wages on account of the trouble involved in appealing to the judges. The many strikes in the mills will, on inquiry, be found to be attributable either to the withholding of the wages in this manner, or to threatened reductions in them. 10. It has been said, to the detriment of your petitioners, that an Indian mill operative is not as hard working as his brother workman in England, and that a mill operative in England does the work of three men employed on the same work in an Indian mill. It is extremely discouraging to find such an opinion held by those to w r hom the workmen look up for the amelioration of their condition. The real cause of this, your lord- ship’s petitioners submit, is the bad machinery and the bad raw material used in the mills. It is true that three men are required to manage a machine, but these three men, it should be borne in mind, do their work for long hours without intermission, and in an enervating climate, on poor wages, equal — taking all the circum- stances of the two countries into consideration — to one- third the earnings of the European workman, and perform their task without the many facilities afforded in England calculated to lessen the burden of workmen and to preserve their constitution against a premature breakdown. The breakage in the thread, for instance, is so continuous here on account of the bad quality of the cotton that millowners are compelled to employ more men. If the cotton were of good quality and the con- cessions which are given to the English mill-hand were granted here, one man could manage a machine as well as an English operative. 11. Lastly, in regard to accidents, the claim is urged in the interests of humanity. The distress brought about by a person being maimed for life or even for a few months is insufferable, and some relief to mitigate the sufferings and hardships seems needed, and your lordship’s petitioners humbly submit for consideration whether the amounts of mulcts and forfeited wages cannot advantageously and with propriety be appro- priated for this humane purpose. The necessity for this is, your petitioners are glad to mention, recognised in some mills, where the sufferers are adequately provided for. Among a people not yet alive to the advantages of provident funds of mutual benefit societies, some arrangement for affording relief to the cripples is, your petitioners submit, much needed. 12. That in thus laying before your lordship their humble prayers, your petitioners are conscious that they have far from adequately represented their wants. They have hopes, however, that your lordship, with the real facts before you, will make allowance if this humble representation fails in completeness. What your petitioners pray for especially is sympathy and fairness towards the poor workmen who are ill able to make themselves heard against the influential voice of their powerful employers. The solicitude of Govern- ment in instituting the present inquiries into the real condition of the operatives gives your lordship’s petitioners confidence that their interests will be carefully watched in the course of amendum the Factory Act. And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray. Bombay, the 24th October 1889. Appendix. Opinion of Mr. 1ST. M. Lokhunday, Local Member of the Factory Commission for the Bombay Presidency, and President of the Mill-hands’ Association. From the evidence of the mill-hands before the Factory Commission, it can bo safely gathered that the operatives almost all agree that they necessarily re- quired leave every Sunday, both for their convenience as well as for the benefit of their health. The want of one day's rest in every week tells on their health, and consequently they are obliged to remain at home without leave frequently. This voluntary absence costs them two days’ wrnges. The millowners, in their report of last year, admit that mill-hands on an average attend to the work only 300 days during the year. The mill- hands, too, admit that they absent themselves 60 to 65 days in the year. From this it can be gathered that they exact from the millowners the leave not granted them willingly, though it causes them to lose two days’ wages for one day’s absence. I therefore do not see any objection to granting one day’s rest in every week to the mill-hands to prevent hardship to either parties. Moreover, the Millowners’ Association, in their reply to the letter of the mill-hands’ president and secretary, dated the 13tli June 1890, said that the association have resolved to close their mills every Sunday, and for the cleaning machinery they will stop their mills every Saturday at 4 p.m. I beg to copy here the whole letter for the information of Government : — To D. C. Athaide, Esq., N. M. Lokhunday, Esq., Bombay. The Millowners’ Association, Dear Sirs, Bombay, 13th June 1890. I ah directed by the committee of the Bombay Millowners’ Association to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd April last, and to subjoin, for the information of the memorialists, a copy of the resolution passed at a general meeting of the members of the association held on the 10th instant. “ That the chairman and secretary of the mill operatives’ meeting, held on the 20th of April 1890, be informed that the association cannot comply with the request in their memorial to cancel the resolution to close the mills for eight days per month for three months ; but that on the expiration of the three months, the members of this association think it desirable to close their mills for one day in every seven, such day to be Sunday in each week, unless some native festival intervenes of such interest to the majority of the operatives that it is desirable to observe it as a holiday in lieu of Sunday. Further, that on the day preceding the weekly holiday, the mills will close two hours earlier than an ordinary working day, for the purpose of cleaning the machinery.” I am, &c. (Signed) John Marshall, Secretary. As regards convenience, the mill-hands, like other people, have to see their relatives and friends and to buy their provisions. Dockyards, printing presses, railw r ay workshops, Government workshops, and mer- chants’ offices, .) — The question of preventing these accidents is at present under consideration. The fencing of the machinery is seldom defective ; the machines are pro- vided with guards when they are sent out from England, and the inspector has chiefly to see that these are replaced when worn out. The insinuation that the factory inspector at present gives previous intimation of his visit to the managers of the mills is absolutely untrue. Mr. Lokhunday does not point out in what way the present inspection “ does not serve the purpose for which it was intended.” He says it would be too much to expect the assistant col- lector to do this work of inspection, nevertheless, it is expected, and is done. The only point in which assis- tant collector is at a disadvantage is that he is not able to pay surprise visits at all times of the day ; this part of the work is therefore chiefly done by the special factory inspector. As regards Mr. Lokhunday’s proposed five inspectors I have only to remark that there are only about 120 factories in Bombay that are liable to inspection. As regards the attached petition to his Excellency the Viceroy, the first two demands made in paragraph 3 have been granted by the Factories Act of 1891. As regards Mr. Lokhunday’s Memorandum of 8 th November 1890, 1 may remark that the mill-hands now, under the Act of 1891, get one day’s rest a week and half an hour’s rest between 12 noon and 2 p.m. every day ; that children between 9 and 14 -work half time only; and women work for 11 hours only, bdvc n 5 a.m. and 8 p.m., with a rest of 1£ hours. (Signed) A. M. T. Jackson, Chief Inspector of Factories, Bombay. F. I. No. 24 > dated Bombay, the 1st November 1892. From J. M. Campbell, Esq., Collector of Land Kevenue, Customs, and Opium, to the Under Secretary to the Government of Bombay, General Department. Tn forwarding the answers received from the Presi- dent of the Mill-hands’ Association, I have the honour to note that it would have been both more natural and more convenient if Mr. Lokhunday’s answers had been given under class A., questions addressed to Trades’ Unions and not under class C., questions addressed to Employers’ Associations. If this course had been adopted, Mr. Lokhunday’s somewhat unsuitable introductory remarks would have been avoided. 2. Mr. Lokhunday accounts for the small number of mill-hands who belong to his association by the workers’ dread that to join the association means to incur the displeasure of. the millowners. 1 have no knowledge of any instance in which the fact of belong- ing to Mr. Lokliunday’s association has been made ground for the threatened loss of employment. My information is that to describe the mill-hands who at times consult Mr. Lokhunday as an association is somewhat misleading. I understand there is no body of members united by the payment of a regular subscription or by any fellowship in considering questions of importance to mill-hands. Workers out of employment or who feel aggrieved come to Mr. Lokhunday and consult him. Beyond coming to Mr. Lokhunday for advice, I believe there has hitherto been no common bond of union or association. 3. As I ventured to suggest in paragraph 4 of my F. I. letter of 26th July 1892, the explanation of the fact that mill-hands have not hitherto formed them- selves into unions or associations, as those terms are ordinarily understood, seems to be — 1st. — That the maintenance of high wages by amicable arrangement has hitherto prevented the need for combined action among the workers. 2nd. — That the mill-hands are not yet prepared to trust the management of their interests to strangers over whom they feel they have no sufficient hold or control. 4. II. 1, 6. Belay in 'paying wages. — As noticed in paragraph 10 of my report I find the charge that wages are not paid till two months after they are due, to be an overstatement; at the same time, as noticed in paragraphs 10 and 18 of my report, I agree with Mr. Lokhunday that the existing delay of five or six weeks in paying wages is excessive ; that it tends to force new hands, and hands returning from leave, into debt — an evil of extreme gravity ; and that in spite of difficulties, such arrangements should be introduced as are in force in up-country factories and in Bombay foundries and many mills, other than spinning and weaving mills, for securing the payment of wages a fortnight after they fall due. 5. With regard to Mr. Lokhunday’s remarks under D, advocating the setting apart of fines as a mill-hands’ fund and under / 2 recommending the institution of pension and insurance funds, cheap lodgings, shops, dispensaries, and schools, as stated in paragraph 16 of my report, I venture to think that arrangements of this class cannot either wisely or fairly be demanded from the owners of mills. 6. As in England, and in Mr. Tata’s mills in the Central Provinces, a beginning in such matters must be left to wealthy and independent millowners. If the changes are found to work without involving an undue financial burden, the managers of other mills might be invited, perhaps in time they might be compelled, to introduce similar institutions. In the present state of the Bombay mill industry I do not think it advisable, either in the interests of the mill- owners or of the workers, to insist on elaborate arrangements which would be costly and difficult to work, and at the same time prove an easy source of mismanagement and fraud. 7. It is natural that reading of the success of such institutions in countries with a higher standard of comfort and of forethought among the workers, and of duty among the employers, Mr. Lokhunday and others in his position should long to see the introduction into Bombay of pensions, insurance, and model lodgings ; I see no reason to suppose that such changes can with advantage be introduced either suddenly or under compulsion. In considering the urgency or even the feasibleness of such changes, it is to be remembered that no corresponding provisions or special arrange- ments exist in connexion with any other occupation open to the class to which the mill-hands belong. It is true that home-work has advantages over factory work, and that as a set-off it is proper that factory hands should enjoy countervailing advantages. A beginning has been made with schools and to a smaller extent with medical aid. Still in the present state of the Bombay mill industry, I venture to think it premature to consider the endowment by millowners of pension and insurance funds or the establishment of model houses, shops or dispensaries other than counsels of perfection. 8. Length of notice for ending engagement. — Mr. Lok- hunday thinks the term of notice to be given by a worker should be reduced from 30 to 15 days. He states that no notice is ever given to an operative by his employer if the employer wants to discharge him. As regards summary dismissal, it appears (paragraph 11 ot my report) that summary dismissal, except for misbehaviour, is unknown. The conditions have hitherto been such that dismissal on other grounds than misbehaviour has been contrary to the employer’s Y 3 174 interest. There seems to be fairness in Mr. Lokhun- day’s contention that, apart from misbehaviour, ■porkers should be entitled to the same length of warning which employers enforce in their own interests. 9. Hours of Labour . — Instead of the present practice of working from dawn to dusk, Mr. Lokhunday would prefer to limit the hours of labour to between (5 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. The advantage of certainty as to the hour of beginning work, which the proposal would secure, seems to be outweighed by the freedom from waste of working time, which the present rule of working from dawn to dusk ensures. With the compulsory rest of half-an-hour a day and one day a week in the case of adult males, no further shortening of the working day seems to me advisable. So far as I can judge, any fresh lessening of the hours of work would be contrary to the interest of the workers even more than of the employers. 10. Conditions of Labour . — Under (a) Mr. Lokhunday complains that when a breakdown of machinery occurs, instead of being told not to come, workers are expected to attend the factory. Mr. Lokhunday assigns as the reason - for this rule that the mill managers are afraid that if not called to the mill the workers will go else- where. Seeing that if workers left under such circumstances, they would, according to his own showing, forfeit more than two months’ back pay, Mr. Lokhunday’s explanation seems somewhat wide of the mark. The facts that there is generally room for a day’s work in polishing and cleaning, and that in most breakdowns the hope remains that the machinery may promptly be put to rights, seem sufficient explana- tion of the practice requiring the workpeople to attend before the repairs are completed. I do not think any interference on this point is wanted or that . a rule forbidding the attendance of workers during the repairs of machinery could be enforced. 11. ( b ) Accidents . — As noticed in the Chief Inspector’s forwarding memorandum, the question of accidents from replacing straps has been receiving attention. The cause of accidents is generally the rashness of the workers. As the millowners are anxious to introduce the necessary rules and restrictions, an early settlement may be expected. Mr. Lokhunday’s remarks that the fencing of machinery is not cared for, must, I think, be due to some misunderstanding. The proper fencing of machinery has for years received constant and careful sujtervision, with such success that the Keturns of Accidents show that during the past five years no accident has occurred from insufficient fencing. Suit- able arrangements are in progress, to establish a proper standard for sanitation and lighting. Under these heads nothing further seems required. I do not agree with Mr. Lokhunday that the First Assistant Collector is not specially suited to be Chief Inspector of Factories. Besides the recommendation of economy, it is of the greatest benefit to factory inspection to have the check and supervision of an officer of the standing and training of the First Assis- tant Collector. The fitness of the First Assistant Collector for the office has now for several years been fully borne out by the efficient and painstaking super- vision exercised by a series of first assistants. The necessity for mid-day visits, to which the new rest rules give rise, has been met by the appointment of a factory inspector subordinate to the Chief Inspector. I see no call for any further outlay on establishment, and do not think it either necessary or advisable to levy a fee ou each factory to be paid in salaries to a staff of assistant inspectors. My proposals in this matter are before Government. 12. Strikes. — Mr. Lokhunday says strikes are of frequent occurrence in every mill owing to reduction in wages without a warning. I understand that the explanation of the apparent contradiction between Mr. Lokhunday’s statement and those which I had the honour to submit in my previous letter is that Mr. Lokhunday ranks as strikes the refusal to work for a day or two of a section of the operatives in a mill — a practice to which they resort on many trivial grounds. This practice does not affect the accuracy of the statement that any general stoppage among all the workers of a factory, still more any organised refusal to work among the operatives of several factories at the same time, is of very rare occurrence. 13. General (Questions. — (7.) 1 trust I have proved in my report — First, that compared with other members of the class of the community to which they belong, the mill population is thriving ; and second, that as a class mill-workers are not justly open to the censure either of extreme ignorance or of viciousness. The bulk of them are landowners and tenants who keep up a close connexion with their lands and villages, sending large sums yearly to free their lands from burdens and to add to their holdings. Mr. Lokhunday seems to hold that the pressure of their work tells so severely on the mill-hands that on an average 15 per cent, of the number stay away sick, and the bulk die or are past work at forty. My informa- tion is that the reason for the former large proportion of absentees was partly lengthened absences at their homes and partly when in Bombay, that as they worked on Sunday they could afford to take a day’s rest when it suited them. If, as Mr. Lokhunday states, it is the fact that since the weekly rest-day has been enforced, the practice of staying away has ceased, the reason seems to be not improvement in health, but the fact that the withdrawal of pay for 52 days in the year makes their absence on other days a serious considera- tion to the workpeople. As regards the disappearance of elderly workers, I regret I am not in a position to say how far the average age of adult workers is abnormally low. My informa- tion is that the average age is not notably lower than in English factories. If the average is abnormally low, one strong influence which makes for this result is not the too early exhaustion of the workers’ powers, but because the larger number of the operatives, being nearly as much field-workers as mill-workers, they look forward to retiring and ending their days as culti- vators in their native villages. 14. Mr. Lokhunday proposes a uniform day’s work of 11 hours. In the case of adult males, I see no justification for an interference which would imply very serious loss both to the millowners and to the workers. In the case of women workers I would strongly favour the introduction of an arrangement by which the li hour’s rest required by the Act on the full 11 hours’ day might be divided, so that the mid-day rest would be reduced to half-an-hour and the one hour remaining be deducted either half at the beginning and half at the end of the day or the whole hour be allowed at the end of the day. This alteration would be welcomed by the mass of workers, both male and female. The women find 1£ hours in the middle of the day an unnecessary and inconveniently long interrup- tion, and both men and women know how greatly their comfort would be increased if the women could reach their homes an hour before their husbands. It may be said a practical objection to this proposal is the difficulty of enforcing the grant of an hour’s rest at the close of the day. So long, it may be urged, as mills cease to work at dusk, and use no artificial light, the danger of overtime working is slight. But if under the rules women are allowed to leave an hour before dark, the enforcing of this concession will require stringent inspection. In reply it is to be noted that a similar difficulty exists in the way of enforcing the full hour or hour-and-half mid-day rest. In fact, the difficulty of enforcing the 1| hour's mid-day rest is much greater, since in the middle of the day, so soon as the first half hour is over, the women are anxious to resume work, while the bulk of them would object to be kept at work in the evening after they had a right to leave. In these circumstances could I have thought it con- formable to the Act to allow a portion of the rest time to be granted either at the beginning or at the close of the day, I would have submitted the proposal for the favourable consideration of Government. I therefore take advantage of this opportunity to express the opinion that it would be in accord, both with the wishes and with the interest of the women workers if they were allowed to limit their mid-day rest to half-an-hour and to enjoy the remainder of the rest either at the beginning or at the end of the day. 175 APPENDIX ON THE MIGRATION OP LABOUR. TABLE OF CONTENTS. A. Introduction -------- 1. Comparatively recent origin of the immigration question 2. Demand for labour, and different methods of procuring it - (a.) Importation of coolie labour - ----- (b.) Other methods 3. Growth of feeling in favour of restriction of immigration 4. Counter movement of immigrants back to the countries from which they came B. Experience op the United States ------ 1. Early period. Encouragement of immigration - 2. Later period. Restriction of immigration ----- (a.) Chinese immigrants (6.) European and Canadian immigrants - - - - - 3. Number of immigrants ------ 4. Character of immigration ...... 5. Effect of immigration ------ (a.) Political -------- ( b .) Economic ....... (c.) Social -------- 6. Restrictive legislation ------ (a.) Federal (b.) State -------- C. Experience of South America and Mexico - 1. Rise of the immigration question - 2. Measures adopted for inducing immigration - (a.) Into Brazil ....... ( b .) Into the Argentine Republic ------ (c.) Into Uruguay, Chili, and Peru - (d.) Into Mexico 3. Treatment of immigrants on arrival ----- 4. Nationality of immigrants ------ 5. Statistics of immigration ------ D. Experience of the Self-governing Colonies - 1. General view with regard to immigration .... 2. Anti-Chinese feeling ------- (a.) Statistics of Chinese population ----- (b.) Anti-Chinese legislation ------ 3. Objections to other classes of immigration - 4. Assisted emigration ------- 5. Colonisation schemes ...... 6. The trades unions and immigration ----- E. Experience of India and the Crown Colonies - 1. Number of coolies emigrating to the colonies - 2. Government regulation of this emigration - 3. General emigration and immigration statistics - F. Legislation -------- I. Acts regulating alien immigration into the United States - - - (a.) Federal ....... 1. Act of 1878 -------- 2. Act of 1882 -------- 3. Act of 1885 and Amendment Act of 1887 - 4. Act of 1891 ------- 5. Act of 1893 -------- ( b .) State - ...... 1. Massachusetts Act of 1882 ------ 2. Virginia Act of 1887 ------- 3. Wyoming Article of Constitution - 4. Indiana Act of 1889 ------- 5. Idaho Article of Constitution ------ 6. Illinois Act of 1889 ------- II. Acts regulating Chinese immigration into the United States (a.) Federal ........ 1. Act of 1882 ....... 2. Act of 1884 -------- 3. Act of 1888 ....... ( b .) State -------- 1. Californian Constitution. Article 19, with extracts from the political and penal codes the same -------- 2. Nevada Act, 1885 ------- 3. Oregon Act, 1887 ------- III. Acts regulating alien immigration into the self-governing colonies (a.) Chinese immigration into the Dominion of Canada 1. Dominion Act of 1885, with Amendment Act of 1887 2. British Columbian Acts of 1878, 1884, and 1885 .... (b.) Chinese immigration into Australasia - 1. Victorian A.cts of 1865 and 1881, with a clause from an Act to amend the Factories Act, 1887 2. Queensland Act of 1877 and 1884 ------ 3. New South Wales Act of 1888 ----- 4. Queensland Act of 1690 - - - - (c.) Native labour in Natal ------ 1. Law to facilitate the obtaining of labour, 1871 - 2. Law to facilitate the registration of native servants, 1888 (d.) Kanaka labour in Queensland - 1. Acts of 1880-92 -------- IV. Acts regulating alien emigration and immigration in the Crown Colonies 1. Indian Emigration Act of 1883 - - 2. Straits Settlements Ordinance of 1891 ----- o. St. Lucia Consolidated Immigration Ordinance of 1891 ... bearing on Page 176-177 - 176 - 176 - 176 - 176 - 176 - 177 •177-196 - 177 - 177 - 177 - 178 - 178 - 193 - 194 - 194 - 194 - 195 - 195 - 195 - 196 196-199 - 196 - 196 - 196 - 197 - 197 - 197 - 198 - 198 - 199 199-202 - 199 - 200 - 200 200 - 201 - 201 - 202 - 202 202-204 - 202 - 203 - 203 - 204-256 - 204 - 204 - 204 - 204 - 205 - 206 - 207 - 208 - 208 - 208 - 208 - 208 - 208 - 208 - 209 - 209 - 209 - 210 - 211 212 and Shops 212 212 212 213 213 213 214 218 218 219 221 222 224 224 225 226 226 233 233 242 244 Y 4 176 1. Compara- tively recent origin of the immigration question. 2. Demand for labour, and different methods of procuring it. A. — INTRODUCTION. Professor Schonberg has distinguished between im- migration and colonisation by pointing out that whereas colonists help to establish a commonwealth, immi- grants come into a commonwealth already established. Further, if this commonwealth is established in the midst of an alien race, the colonist proper will main- tain his nationality, language, and institutions, whilst the immigrant must be prepared to adopt those of the country in which he intends to reside. If this dis- tinction is to be maintained, it follows that the begin- ning of immigration proper, as far as the United States are concerned, cannot be placed further than a century back, and that in the case of some of the colonies the immigration period has been as yet of very short duration, and in others can hardly be said to have commenced. Whilst the colonial period lasted, the only interest at stake was that of the countries sending out colonists, and the only question for economists was whether the relief afforded to congested districts, the expansion of trade by the creation of fresh markets, and the fresh outlets for the investment of the accumu- lated capital of Europe counterbalanced the drain upon her effective population caused by the migration of a large part of her citizens at the most productive period of their existence. German economists especially have pointed out that the large pcr-centage of men amongst emigrants is a serious loss to the industrial as well as to the military power of a country, and that it has not been shown either that emigration takes place for the most part from the thickly-populated districts, or that it constitutes any permanent remedy for over-popula- tion. On the contrary, though the sudden migration of any considerable number of inhabitants will effect a temporary amelioration in the condition of those remain- ing, as, for example, in Ireland after the potato famine, the increase in the birth rate due to improved industrial conditions in most cases speedily ensures a return to the previous condition. This accelerated increase of popu- lation has been especially remarkable where there has been an outflow of population sufficiently steady to afford a basis for forecasting the industrial conditions likely to ensue. The expansion of trade, and the con- sequent stimulus given to home industries by increased foreign and colonial consumption, remains, therefore, the main ground for regarding the migration of popu- lation as an advantage to the countries sending out emigrants, and it is clear that the nation sending them to its own colonies will reap a larger share of those economic advantages than the nation whose subjects become citizens of an alien country. Leaving, how- ever, the countries from which the emigrants come to be dealt with from this point of view in later reports, the question of colonisation or immigration is here touched on only’ from the point of view of the countries to which they go. With regard to these it will be clear that as long as a commonwealth is in process of establish- ment the demand for labour will be sufficiently great to absorb almost every class of immigrant, skilled and unskilled alike. It is not until the colonial period has been left behind and the immigration period consider- ably advanced that there appears a tendency to discri- minate between different classes of immigrants and to demand certain restrictions upon immigration in the interests of the nationalities receiving it. It is in this sense that Professor Mayo Smith has said that immi- gration is a question belonging exclusively to the latter part of the nineteenth century. (‘) In the early period, whether of American or colonial history, there was less question as to the kind of labour required than as to the methods of procuring labour of any kind In tropical or sub-tropical colonies, such as the West Indies and Guiana, the abolition of slave labour necessitated the importation of coolie labour to take its place ; in the United States, and still more in South America, the long continuance of slavery deferred that necessity until the country had reached a stage of political and industrial development which scarcely admitted of such a remedy’. In the more temperate climates, for which coolie labour would have been ill adapted, the demand for labour led to the employment of convicts, as in Australia ; to the system of indented servants, as in Canada, and at an early period in (•) Mayo Smith, " Emigration and Immigration,” 1890. Roscher and Jnnnasch, “ Kolonien, Kolonialpolitik und Auswanderung,” 1885, pp. 311, 335. Schonberg, “ Handbuch der Politischen Oekonomie,” 1886, Vo). II., pp. 959-967. Lerov-Beaulieu. " De la Colonisation chez les Peu- ples Modernes,” 1891, pp. 230, 621, 627, G37, 776, 783. Godio, “ L’ America ne’ suoi primi fattori, la Colonisazziono e l’Emigrazione,” 1893, pp. 177 et seg. R Z the United States ; to the granting of free or assisted passages ; and finally, where these methods had been wholly or partially abandoned, to the encouragement of free immigration by means of promises of emplov- ment or of facilities for the taking up of land. The first of these methods, i.e., the importation of ( a .) The free or contract coolie labour, stands, as lias already importation been indicated, on a somewhat different footing to the labour! 6 others. Considerations of climate induce a permanent demand for non-European labour to work in the sugar plantations and other industries of sub-tropical coun- tries, a demand which finds a ready supply in the densely-populated countries of India and China. It is, therefore, of less importance to consider the advantages of employing such labour than to note the necessity for its due regulation, if the abuses often consequent upon its employment are to be prevented. In the case of Indian labour the Indian Government steps in and claims the right to watch over the interests of its coolie subjects in any colony to which they may elect to go, and even to forbid their going to any country where their welfare is in its opinion not assured ( see p. 203). The uniformity of its regulations, and the hold which it thus maintains over the labour of countries as widely separated as the East and West Indies, Natal and Fiji, form an interesting link between India and the lesser colonies. The importance, from this point of view, of the Government of India is one of the main features of the immigration question in the Crown Colonies. The efforts made by the Chinese Government to protect its subjects have proved effective in the Straits Settlements, but Chinese labour, unlike that of India, is not confined to the lesser colonies, and the strong opposition offered to the Chinese in North America and Australasia has forced the Chinese Govern- ment to relinquish any attempt to exercise a power similar to that of the Government of India. The presence of Chinese labour in both the Crown and self-governing colonies is not, however, the only point of contact between the two groups. In Northern Queensland the employment of Kanaka or Pacific Island labour has raised the questions already involved in the employment of coolie labour in other tropical countries, with the further complication that beside the difficulty of pro- viding for the due protection of the Kanakas, the oppo- sition of Australian white labour has to be faced. In a less degree the presence of Indian coolies in Natal has raised the same difficulties there. In the self-governing colonies, however, which lie for (&.) Other i the most part in a latitude where white labour can be met,lods - advantageously employed, the difficulties connected with immigration are of a different character. A.s has been already stated, the deficiency of labour in early stages was remedied by the introduction of convict labour and of indented servants or persons brought over at the cost of their future employer, and bound to him until the expenditure incurred had been repaid. The strong feeling, which soon showed itself against these methods, resulted in the substitution of different schemes for attracting immigrants, whether by granting excep- tional facilities for taking up land, by giving free or assisted passages, or by diffusing information of an at- tractive kind concerning the countries requiring the labour ( 2 ) The experience of the different countries, however, as 3 . Growth of stated below, with the exception of Mexico and the South feeling in American Republic shows a gradual movement in favour restriction of the restriction of immigration within narrower and ofimmigra- narrower limits. This movement has been marked at tion - times by outbursts of almost fanatical opposition to certain races and classes, but its guiding principle has, in the main, been the desire to exclude all those immi- grants whose competition with native labour was likely to lower the rate of wages and the standard of living. Beginning with the Chinese, and, in Australia, with convict labour, the exclusion of both have been de- manded on moral and social grounds, but also on the ground of economic advantage. It is on this ground that exception has been taken to assisted emigration generally, and more especially to emigration assisted out of the poor rates of European countries. The gradual discontinuance of any kind of assistance to immigrants on the part of colonial governments and the demand on the part of the United States for a pro- perty qualification in intending immigrants mark the economic stage reached in the matter and bring the question to the point at which it becomes essentially a part of the general labour question. It is the effect likely to be exercised by the competition of lower class ( s ) See pp. 201, 202 . 177 4. Counter movement of immi- grants back to the coun- tries from which they come. 1. Early period. En- couragement of immigra- tion. labour, or even of high class labour where, in the opinion of the Americans and colonists, the supply is already adequate to the demand, upon the existing rate of wages and standard of living, which has made the question of the restriction of immigration take such a prominent place. The demand for the restriction, or for the absolute exclusion of alien immigration becomes most urgent, where, as in the United States, working men have reason to think that the possibility of obtaining a supply of foreign labour to take the place of men on Strike has led to their defeat in industrial conflicts, or that the facilities for importing cheap labour under contract has led to reductions in wages and the dis- placement of American workmen .(') Those who have in consequence advocated the adop- tion of stringent measures with regard to the immigra- tion of aliens, and especially of alien contract labour have sometimes failed to give due weight to the counter movement from America to the countries of Europe, to which attention is drawn by Signor Bodio, Director General of Statistics, in his official statistics of emigration for 1890, by Dr. Giffen in his report to the Board of Trade in 1892, and by other writers. Dr. Giffen’s report states that in 1891 the number of British and Irish immigrants into the United Kingdom from non- European countries was 103,037, in 1890 it was 109,470, and in 1889 103,070. In 1892 the number was 97,780. These figures, however, unlike those given for Italy, include cabin passengers, who, amongst emigrants, amount to 24 per cent, of the total number. The Italian statistics of returning immigrants give the number for 1889 as 35,103, for 1890 as 55,523, and for 1891 as 75,245. Nor is this movement confined to the States and the self-governing colonies, for the statis- tics of the Indian Empire show a strong back ward current of returning immigration ( see p. 203). As Dr. Giffen has pointed out in the case of trans-oceanic migration between Europe and America, there is reason to suppose that both in immigration and emigra- tion “ an upward and downward movement can be “ traced, the maxima and minima of the first being “ some two or three years later than those of the “ second.” Further, he considers that in each case there is trace of a cyclical movement, the recurrence of which may or may not be determinable, but which is at least so far connected with xhe periodic waves of general trade prosperity and depression that the oscillations should be carefully observed. The question of the migration of population cannot, therefore, be usefully considered apart from the general social and industrial problems of which it forms a part. Further, in the face of this double movement outwards and inwards, the question of reciprocal action must at some period be given due consideration by the countries demanding the restric- tion or exclusion of immigration. The various phases of the question in the United States and other non- European countries will be considered more in detail. ( 2 ) B. — Experience op the United States. ( 3 ) Professor Richmond Mayo Smith divides the period of colonisation from the period of immigration in the United States at the year 1783, when the American commonwealth was in his opinion sufficiently esta- blished to be in no further need of colonists in the stricter sense of the term. Immigrants, however, or new-comers who were prepared to make their home in the States and to adopt the language and institutions of the people they found there, were in the earlier part of the immigration period of the very greatest value to the American commonwealth. In Professor Mayo Smith’s opinion immigration has been one of the chief factors in the industrial development of the States. The large proportion of men to be found amongst all immi- grants to a new country increased the productive labour power ; the immigrants took up land, developed the mining industry and furnished the necessary manual labour for the construction of railroads. Again the supply of labour which they afforded was instrumental in developing the manufacturing industries, and with- out their presence in handicrafts it would have been difficult for American workmen to satisfy the needs of a rapidly increasing population. So strongly was this P) See pp. 194-100. See also Foreign Reports, Vol. I. The United States, pp. 38-40, and authorities there cited. ( 2 ) 7’on.rd of Trade Reports on Emigration and Immigration, 1891, 1892, 1893. ( 3 ) See also Foreign Reports, Vol. I. The United States, pp. 38-40, and authorities there cited. 75209. felt that in 1864 towards the close of the war numerous State bureaux were established to encourage immigra- tion by spreading information about the resources of the country and the terms upon which land could be acquired. A movement of a similar kind is still to be found in the Southern States, especially in Tcxas.( 4 ) Up to a certain point, therefore, the coming of alien immigrants was an unmixed advantage to the States. The immigrants were welcomed, and the United States in their negotiations with foreign Powers on the subject gave free expression to the doctrine of the absolute equality of all men and “the inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance.” The only immigration which was prohibited was the im- portation of coolie labour under contract, and the grounds for this prohibition were sought in the injury to free and democratic institutions likely to result from such a practice! 5 ) The first suggestions of any feeling adverse to free and unrestricted immigration came from the Pacific States, where as early as 1855 an agitation was begun against the coming of the Chinese. Various Acts directed against them were passed by the Californian legislature, but the majority of these Acts were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of California, and the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the prohibition or even regulation of immigration was a regulation of commerce, involving international relations, and therefore belonging exclusively to Con- gress. The Californians next appealed for national legislation on the subject, with the result that Commit- tees of Congress were appointed to inquire into the conditions of Chinese labour in America. The value of this Chinese labour from a purely economic stand- point in the development of a new State affording room for both white and Mongolian labour was little insisted on in the evidence, which was to a large extent of a one- sided character. No mention was made of the fact that, though the Chinese filled subordinate positions iu agriculture and in industry, the superior posts were filled almost invariably by white men, who had also a monopoly of the more highly skilled and better paid industries. The only serious _ charge substantiated against the desirability of Chinese immigration was that the Chinese did not assimilate with the native population! 6 ) With 1876 began the period of gradual restriction of immigration, arising in the first instance from the peri?d? r strength of the anti-Chinese feeling in the Western Restriction States, and, according to Professor Mayo Smith, from t i f 0 ‘™ misra ' the desire of politicians of both parties to catch the (a.) Chinese Western vote. In 1879 a Bill to restrict Chinese immi- immigrants, gration passed both Houses, but was vetoed by the President as a violation of the Burlingame treaty of 1868, which had promised that “ the subjects of China “ shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities, and “ exemptions iu respect to travel and residence as may be enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the most favoured nation.” This treaty was, however, super- seded by the treaty of 1880, which provided that “ the United States may regulate, limit, or suspend the “ coming or residence (of Chinese subjects), but may “ not absolutely prohibit it.” The Act of 1882, follow- ing this treaty, suspended the coining of Chinese immi- grants for a period of ten years, and provided that Chinese labourers already in the States should obtain a certificate on leaving the country, without which they would not be re-admitted. A further Act of 1884 extended this provision to Chinamen of every class. Between 1885 and 1888 a number of outrages were com- mitted upon Chinese subjects resident in the States, and the remonstrances of the Chinese Minister led to neo-o- tiations for a fresh treaty to supersede the treaty of 18110. According to the terms of the new treaty the immigra- tion of Chinese labourers was absolutely prohibiteef for twenty years, and no Chinese labourer who at that time resided in the Stales, or who had departed with a certificate entitling him to return, was to be allowed to re-enter the country, if he should leave or had left it. The only exception made was in favour of Chinese labourers “ having lawful wife, child, or parent, or pro- “ perty to the amount of 1,000 dollars in the United “ States.” The ratification of this treaty was delayed, and in the meanwhile Congress passed an Act absolutely excluding all Chinese labourers from entering or re- entering the States. This Act, afterwards declared (‘) Mayo Smith, “ Emigration and Immigration,” 1890, pp. 11 - 15 , 35 - 62, 194, 195. ( 5 ) JVlayo Smith, “ Emigration and Immigration.” 1890, pp. 228-234. ( 6 ) Mayo Smith “ Emigration and Immigration,” 1890, pp. 236-250. z 178 (i ) Euro- pean and Canadian mmigrants. 3. Numberof immigrants. constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in spite of the violation of the treaty of 1880, was approved hy the President on October 1st, 1888. (For text of the Acts concerning Chinese immigration see pp. 209-212). (') Various causes had led during the latter half of the nineteenth century to a great increase in the number of European and Canadian immigrants into the States. These causes included the improvement in transport facilities and the cheapening of fares which resulted from competition between rival transportation com- panies. This same competition induced the companies to make greater efforts to secure passengers, and their agents and advertisements, as well as the communica- tions of friends already settled in the States, led to a wide diffusion of information as to the prospects of work for immigrants and the means of transportation.) 2 ) Between 1821 and 1855 inclusive the number of alien passengers including immigrants arriving in the United States was 4,212,624; between 1856 and 1890 the num- ber of immigrants alone was 11,188,556. Of these, 5,246,613, or not much less than half, arrived during the decade 1880-90. But besides this large increase in the actual number of immigrants, there has been a decided change in their nationality. Though the English or German element is still predominant amongst the immigrants, the relative number from Norway and Sweden, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia is constantly increasing. The figures for the P) Mayo Smith, “ Emigration and Immigration,” 1890, pp. 250-265. Arrival of Alien Passengers and Immigrants in the United States. 1820-1890, pp. 92- 94, 102-105, 110. Godio, “ V America ne’ suoi primi fattori, la Colonisazzione e l’Emigrazione,” 1893, pp. 199-220. ( ! ) Mayo Smith, “ Emigration and Immigration,” 1890, pp. 45-52. years 1869 to 1892, and again those for 1892 as com- pared with those for 1890 and 1891 are given at length in the tables on pages 178 to 192 : — ( 3 ) A careful examination of these statistics brings out the fact that in spite of the passing of the stringent Alien Contract Labour Act of March, 1891 (seep. 20), alien immigration into the United States up to June 30th, 1892, showed a constant increase. The figures given by both the United States Bureau of Statistics and the Superin- tendent of Immigration appointed under the Act of 1891 do not include immigrants who land at Canadian ports en route to the United States. The official report of the Canadian Minister of Agriculture, however, gives the number of such immigrants during the calendar year 1891 as 105,213, and as the Superinten- dent of Immigration states that the provision made in the Act of 1891 for supervision of immigration from Canada has been practically inoperative, it is reasonable to suppose that most of the immigrants landing in Canadian ports reached the States. Taking such immi- grants only as landed in United States ports the figures of the Bureau of Statistics give an increase of 62,765 for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1892, and though the Superintendent of Immigration gives no totals which can be compared with those of the Bureau he apparently has arrived at the same result, since he gives 63,000 as the increase in round numbers for the same period. It may be noticed in passing that the figures given by the two authorities for the period July 1st, 1891, to June 30th, 1892, differ considerably in ( 3 ) Arrival of Alien Passengers anti Immigrants in the United States from 1S20-1890, pp. 7, 22-31. Annual Report of Chief of Bureau of Statistics upon Foreign Commerce, 1892, pp. 89, 128-130. Statement of Foreign Commerce and Immigration for December 1892, Bureau of Statistics, p. 11. Annual Report of the Superintendent of Immigration, 1892, p. 7. No. I.— Immigration to the United States in the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1892, and in the calendar year ending December 31st, 1892, as computed by the United Staies Bureau of Statistics and the Superintendent of Immigration, and compared with the statistics for the corresponding periods in preceding years collected by the United States Bureau of Statistics. Year ending June 30th. Bureau of Statistics. 1 fiQO Six months ending Twelve months ending December 31st, December 31st, Country. 1890. 1891. Bureau of Statistics. Superin- tendent of Immigra 1891. 1892. 1891. 1892. tion. Austria-Hungary : Bohemia - 4,508 11,758 — 8,278 3,817 2,646 11,079 7,361 Hungary - 22,059 28,366 — 35,724 11,578 7,025 27,548 32,683 Other Austria (except Po and) 29, Gil 30,918 — 32,935 14,241 9,755 32,084 29,882 Total - 56,178 71,042 80,136 76,937 29,636 19,426 70,711 69,926 Denmark 9,342 10,659 10,593 10,125 3,530 3,180 10,466 10,128 France - 6,584 6,770 6,521 4,678 3,588 2,406 6,527 5,337 Germany - 92,409 113,554 130,758 119,168 57,446 45,102 123,401 118,278 Great Britain and Ireland : England and Wales - - 57,392 54,048 50,527 35,038 28,140 23,452 52,350 45,494 Scotland - 12,028 12,577 11,520 7,177 5,298 5,044 12,484 11,251 Ireland - 56,923 55,706 55,467 51,383 20,827 15,886 55,888 50,440 Total - 122,343 122,311 117,514 93,598 54,265 44,382 120,722 107,185 Italy - 51,789 76,055 62,137 61,631 18,854 18,167 68,481 60,257 Netherlands - 4,326 5,206 7,260 6,141 1,590 2,089 5,364 7,758 Poland - 11,073 | 74,923 11 7,692 | 40,536 14,863 8,592 31,285 26,889 Russia (except Poland) - 35,574 81,511 46,710 14,689 73,177 52,267 Sweden and Norway - 40,895 49,448 57,709 56,170 21,143 19,264 52,262 55,274 Switzerland , 6,992 6,811 7,408 6,886 3,181 2,370 6,928 6,591 All other Europe All other countries : | 13,714 j 7,206 16,334 10,744 14,592 13,495 (No figures | 10,553 9,859 21,342 23,597 given.) 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(M os GO CO CO CQ l 1 CM CM CM CM 1-1 CQ CQ CM CO (M CO rH N in oo CO rH rH in H CO CO CO OS OS m os OO H* © OS OS © -H in cq § r-* o 4 rH H OO CO o oo CS O os Oi o in 69 l 1 CM CO CO H< H CM CM rH rH 1-1 CO H< m H P o OS rH h» o x>. 1 ^ 1 00 CQ GO H» 1 1 rH 1 1 rH CO H« (M 1 - CO rH l CO rH ! 1 •* 1 o os OO CO l 1 1 1 1 H» CM CO CO OS ® 1 rH 00 H» 1 « 1 CQ CO 10 m m l 1 OS o CM CO H» m CO iH. 00 r— x^ OS O rH 00 OO »oocm©© CMIQCOCMCOCOCMCM CO 00 »Q CO CM CM CM CM CM CM I I CO 05 CO cs CM CM CM CM VS IQ VS CO S I I CO CO CM CO 00 IQ CO 00 co oo oo 3- 05 05 00 >0 »Q IQ CM © I I CO CM © CM CO CO © 00 rH 00 CO ©^ CM 00 IQ CO cm" CO CO CM CO CO iq co © co CO CO CM CM CO 00 »0 CM IQ CO CM CO 00 © CO CO IQ CM CM CM CM CO CM 00 CO © VS CO CO CO GO IQ co oo co co co vs vs io © © CM CO O »Q IQ CO CO CM CO CO IQ IQ 00 © © CO vs vs ~ I CO VS 05 00 ©CMiQCOCOiQCOrHrHrH ID 'C C CO © © CO N CO ^ COCOCOCOCMCMCMSMCMCO © CM CO VS © CM CO CM CM CM CM VS CO CM CO CO CO CO © rH CM I I co io © oo IQ IQ CO CO »0 GO ^ © © CO (O 00 CO CO © co © ^ © ^ *> CO © CM 00 rH IQ 00 VS GO IQ © CM IQ CO CO 1111 1111 I I I I ooaoaoaoooooooco ©©«-HCMCO^iOCO 00 © © rH CM 1^00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ©©© oocoooooaooooooooooooooooooo 1 Includes Azores, 777, and Greenland, 5, in all former tables included in “all other countries.” No. ix. — Statement showing the Number, Sex, and Nationality of Immigrants arrived in the United States during each Year ending June 30th, from 1869 to 1892, inclusive continued 183 I I 111! C3 $» CO 00 CO COCOO303C3O3COO5 1111 ° £ Hr O ss a » sj SS 3 *>• CO 00 05 CO 03 03 CO 05 r-H I I 03 03 03 03 I" t— 00 00 00 00 00 00 COOOC0 00 30QOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQO OO oo 00 05 OO OO OO 00 Z 4 Immigrants from the British North American Possessions and Mexico not included since July 1st, 1885. No. If— S tatement showing the Number, 8ex, and Nationality of Immigrants arrived in the United States during each Year ending June 30th, from 1869 to 1892, inclusive— continued. 184 No. II.— Statement showing the Number, Sex, and Nationality of Immigrants arrived in the United States during each Year ending June 30th, from 1869 to 1892, inclusive— continued. 185 CO OO rr 1—1 ©3 ©3 OO CO rH r-l ©3 I I I I CO ©c eo CO I I I I I t I I i I I I I I I I I I I 00 ©3 *>. 03 00 CO 00 in ca $$ § i 1 oi co oa oo oj co oi co a co I i I I co oo ©3 m a oo co oa rH ® r-» S3 £ 00 QO ©3 03 uo CO 03 CO I I till 2 I I I I I I I I I I I I I rH 00 CO 00 CO CO 00 GO OO OC UO 00 CO CO 00 00 oo oo A a U 75209, No. II.— Statement showing the Number, Sex, and Nationality of Immigrants arrived in the United States during each Year ending June 30th, from 1869 to 1892, inclusive continued. No. II.— Statement showing the Numbek, Sex, and Nationality of Immigrants arrived in the Unites States during each Year ending June 30th, from 1869 to 1892, inclusive— continued. 187 a s ss i I I i i i 05 OO CO © 05 »© co »o cd ©a *>. CO »© 00 CO ©a co co co I I CO CO CO s a I I »© 00 CO CO I I I I 3 S? I I I I S S3 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I GO CO 00 00 ooaoooooaoaoaoaooooooo rH,— .COIOCOrH I I I W I CO OS *>• »H *» CO I 1 III! 2 I I I CO CO 05 I I I I CO CO fH I I CO CO 05 05 CO IQ CO CO (M CO (M OJ iq CO co *o 05 05 CO *0 CO CO CO CO 05 CO CO 05 CO CO CO IQ IQ CO CO OO 00 IQ OO IQ CO CO O t- CO CO 00 05 CO CO co co t> © I I QO co 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 OO No. II— Statement showing the Number, Sex, and Nationality of Immigrants arrived in the United States during the Year ending June 30th, from 1869 to 1892, inclusive— continued. 191 S3 5 S S “ S3 3 ( f nor more than five hundjfd dollars for each and every alien labourer, mechanic or artisan so brought as aforesaid, and may also be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months. Sect. 5. That nothing in this Act shall be so con- strued as to prevent any citizen or subject of any foreign country temporarily residing in the United States, either in private or official capacity, from en- gaging, under contract or otherwise, persons not resi- dents or citizens of the United States to act as private secretaries, servants, or domestics for such foreigner temporarily residing in the United States as aforesaid ; nor shall this Act be so construed as to prevent any person, or persons, partnership, or corporation from engaging under contract or agreement, skilled workmen in foreign countries to perform labour in the United States in or upon any new industry not at present establised in the United States. Provided that skilled labour for that purpose cannot be otherwise obtained ; nor shall the provisions of this Act apply to professional actors, artists, lecturers or singers, nor to persons em- ployed strictly as personal or domestic servants. Pro- vided that nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting any individual from assisting any member of his family or any relative or personal friend to migrate from any foreign country to the United States for the purpose of settlement here. Sect. 6. That all laws or parts of laws conflicting herewith be, and the same are hereby, repealed. Approved, February 26, 1885 (23 Stat., 332). Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- tatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That an Act to prohibit the importation and immigration of foreigners, and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labour in the United States, its territories, and the district of Columbia, approved February 26, 1885, and to provide for the enforcement thereof, be amended by adding the following : “ Sect. 6. That the Secretary of the Treasury is here- by charged with the duty of executing the provisions of this Act, and for that purpose he shall have power to enter into contracts with such State commission, board, or officers as may be designated for that purpose by the governor of any State to take charge of the local affairs of immigration in the ports within said State, under the rules and regulations to be prescribed by said secretary ; and it shall be the duty of such State commission, board or officers so designated to examine into the condition of passengers arriving at the ports within such State, in any ship or vessel, and for that purpose all or any of such commissioners or officers, or such other person or persons as the> shall appoint, shall be authorised to go on board of and through any such ship or vessel ; and if, in such examination, there should be found among such passengers any person included in the prohibition in this Act, they shall report the same in writing to the collector of such port, and such person shall not be per- mitted to land. “ Sect. 7. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall establish such regulations and. rules, and issue from time to time such instructions, not inconsistent with law, as ho shall deem best calc ulated for carrying out the provisions of this Act; and he shall prescribe all forms of bonds, entries and other papers to be used under and in the enforcement of the various provisions of this Act. “ Sect. 8. That all persons included in the prohibition in this Act, upon arrival, shall be sent back to the nations to which they belong and from whence the}' came. The Secretary of the Treasury may designate the State board of charities of any State in which such board shall exist by law, or any commission in any State, or any person or persons in any State whose duty it shall be to execute the provisions of this section, and shall be entitled to reasonable compensation therefor to be fixed by regulation prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe regulations for the return of the aforesaid persons to the countries from whence they came, and shall furnish instructions to the board, commission, or persons charged with the execution of the provisions ot this section as to the time of procedure in respect thereto, and may change such instructions from time to time. The expense of such return of the aforesaid persons not permitted to land shall be borne by the owners of the vessels in which they came. And any vessel refusing to pay such expenses shall not there- after be permitted to land at or clear from any port of the United States. And such expenses shall be a lien on said vessel. That the necessary expense in the execution of this Act for the present fiscal year shall be Cc 3 206 paid out of any mojiey in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. “ Sect. 9. That all Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed. “ Sect. 10. That this Act shall take effect at the ex- piration of thirty days after its passage.” Approved, February 23, 1887 (24 Stat., 414). 4. Act of 1891. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United States, in accordance with the existing Acts regulating immigra- tion, other than those concerning Chinese labourers. All idiots, insane persons, paupers, or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease, persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime, or misdemeanor, involving moral turpitude, polygamists, and also any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with the monej r of another, or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown on special inquiry that such person does not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes, or to the class of contract labourers excluded by the Act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, but this section shall not be held to exclude persons living in the United States from sending for a relative or friend who is not of the excluded classes under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. Provided, that nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to or exclude persons convicted of a political offence, notwithstanding said political offence may be designated as a “ felony, “ crime, infamous crime, or misdemeanor, receiving “ moral turpitude ” by laws of the land whence he came, or by the court convicting. Sect. 2. That no suit or proceeding for violations of said Act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, prohibiting the importation and migration of foreigners under contract or agree- ment to perform labour, shall be settled, compromised, or discontinued without the consent of the court entered of record with reasons therefor. Sect. 3. That it shall be deemed a violation of said Act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, to assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien by promise of employment through advertisements printed and published in any foreign country ; and any alien coming to this country in consequence of such an advertisement shall be treated as coming under a contract as contemplated by such Act ; and the penalties by said Act imposed shall be applicable in such a case. Provided, this section shall not apply to States and immigration bureaus f of States advertising the inducements they offer for immigration to such States. Sect. 4. That no steamship or transportation company or owners of vessels shall directly, or through agents, either by writing, printing, or oral representations, solicit, invite, or encourage the immigration of any alien into the United States except by ordinary com- mercial letters, circulars, advertisements, or oral representations, stating the sailings of their vessels ancl the terms and facilities of transportation company, and any such owners of vessels, and the agent by them employed, shall be subjected to the penalties imposed by the third section of said Act of February twenty- sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, for violations of the provision of the first section of said Act. Sect. 5. That section five of said Act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, shall be, and hereby is, amended by adding to the second proviso in said section the words “ nor to “ ministers of any religious denomination, nor persons “ belonging to any recognised profession, nor professors “ for colleges and seminaries,” and by excluding from the second proviso of said section the words “ or any relative or personal friend.” Sect. 7. That any person who shall bring into or land in the United States, by vessel or otherwise, or who shall aid to bring into or land in the United States by vessel or otherwise, any alien not lawfully entitled to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of mis- demeanor, and shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Sect. 7. That the office of superintendent of immigra- tion is hereby created and established, and the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate is authorised and directed to appoint such officer, whose salary shall be four thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly. The superintendent of immigration shall be an officer in the Treasury Department, under the control and supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom he shall make annual reports, in writing of the transactions of his office, together with such special reports in writing as the Secretary of the Treasury shall require. The Secretary shall provide the superintendent with a suitably furnished office in the city of Washington, and with such books of record and facilities for the discharge of the duties of his office as may be necessary. He shall have a chief clerk, at a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, and two first class clerks. Sect. 8. That upon the arrival by water at any place within the United States of any alien immigrants it shall be the duty of the commanding officer and the agents of the steam or sailing vessel by which they came to report the name, nationality, last residence, and destination of every such alien, before any of them are landed to the proper inspection officers, who shall thereupon go or send competent assistants on board such vessel and there inspect all such aliens, or the inspection officers may order a temporay removal of such aliens for examination at a designated time and place, and then and there detain them until a thorough inspection is made. But such removal shall not be considered a landing during the pendency of such examination. The medical examination shall be made by surgeons of the Marine Hospital Service. In cases where the services of a Marine Hospital surgeon cannot be obtained without causing unreasonable delay the inspector may cause an alien to be examined by a civil surgeon and the Secretary of the Treasury shall fix the compensation for such ex- amination. The inspection officers and their assis- tants shall have power to administer oaths, and to take and consider testimony touching the right of any such aliens to enter the United States, all of which sail bo entered of record. During such inspection after temporary removal the superintendent shall cause such aliens to be properly housed, fed, and cared for, and also, in his discretion, such as are delayed in proceeding to their destination after inspection. All decisions made by the inspection officers, or their assistants touching the right of any alien to land, when adverse to such rights, shall be final unless appeal be taken to the superintendent of immigration, whose action shall be subject to review by the Secretary of the Treasury. It shall be the duty of the aforesaid officers and agents of such vessel to adopt due pre- cautions to prevent the landing of any alien immigrant at any place or time other than that designated by the inspection officers, and any such officer or agent or person in charge of such vessel who shall either know- ingly or negligently land or permit to land any alien immigrant at any time or place other than that desig- nated by the inspection officers, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and im- prisonment. That the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe rules for inspection along the borders of Canada, British Columbia, and Mexico so as not to obstruct or unneces- sarily delay, impede, or annoy passengers in ordinary travel between said countries. Provided, that not ex- ceeding one inspector shall be appointed for each customs district, and whose salary shall not exceed twelve hundred dollars per year. All duties imposed and powers conferred by the second section of the Act of August third, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, upon State commissioners, boards, or officers acting under contract with the Secretary of the Treasury shall be performed and exer- cised, as occasion may arise, by the inspection officers of the United States. Sect. 9. That for the preservation of the peace and in order that arrests may be made for crimes under the laws of the States where the various United States im- migrant stations arc located, the officials in charge of such stations as occasion may require shall admit there- in the proper State and municipal officers charged with the enforcement of such laws, and for the purposes of this section the jurisdiction of such officers and of the local courts shall extend over such stations. Sect. 10. That all aliens who may unlawfully come to the United States shall, if practicable be immediately sent back on the vessel, by which they were brought in. 207 The cost of their maintenance while on land, as well as the expense of the return of such aliens, shall be borne by the owner or owners of the vessel on which such aliens came ; if any master, agent, consignee, or owner of such vessel shall refuse to receive back on board the vessels such aliens, or shall neglect to detain them thereon, or shall refuse or neglect to return them to the port from which they came, or to pay the cost of their maintenance while on land, such master, agent, con- signee, or owner shall be deemed guilty of a mis- demeanor, and shall be punished by a line not less than three hundred dollars for each and every offence ; and any such vessel shall not have clearance from any port in the United States while any such fine is unpaid. Sect. 11. That any alien who shall come into the United States in violation of law may be returned as by law provided, at any time within one year thereafter, at the expense of the person or persons, vessel, trans- portation company, or corporation bringing such alien into the United States, and if that can not be done, then at the expense of the United States ; and any alien who becomes a public charge within one year after his arrival in the United States from causes existing prior to his landing therein, shall be deemed to have come in violation of tb » law, and shall be returned as aforesaid. Sect. 12. That nothing contained in this Act shall he construed to affect any prosecution or other proceeding, criminal or civil, begun under any existing Act or Acts hereby amended, but such prosecution or other pro- ceedings, criminal or civil, shall proceed as if this Act had not been passed. Sect. 12. That the circuit and district courts of the United States are hereby invested with full and con- current jurisdiction of ail causes, civil and criminal, arising under any of the provisions of this Act; and this Act shall go into effect on the first day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-one. Approved, March 3, 1891. 5. Act of 1893. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- tatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in addition to conforming to all present requirements of law, upon the arrival of any alien immigrants by water at any port within the United States, it shall be the duty of the master or command- ing officer of the steamer or sailing vessel having said immigrants on board to deliver to the proper inspector of immigration at the port lists or manifests made at the time and place of embarkation of such alien immi- grants on board such steamer or vessel, which shall, in answer to questions at the top of said lists, state as to each immigrant the full name, age, and sex, whether married or single, the calling or occupation, whether able to read or write, the nationality, the last residence, the seaport for landing in the United States ; the final destination, if any, beyond the seaport of landing ; whether having a ticket through to such final destina- tion ; whether the immigrant has paid his own passage or whether it has been paid by other persons or by any corporation, society, municipality, or government ; whether in possession of money, and if so, whether upwards of thirty dollars and how much if thirty dollars or less ; whether going to join a relative, and if so, what relative and his name and address ; whether ever before in the United States, and if so, when and where ; whether ever in prison or almshouse or supported by charity ; whether a polygamist ; whether under con- tract, express or implied, to perform labour in the United States ; and what is the immigrant’s condition of health, mentally and physically, and whether deformed or crippled, and if so, from what cause. 2. That the immigrants shall be listed in convenient groups, and no one list or manifest shall contain more than thirty names. To each immigrant or head of a family shall be given a ticket on which shall bo written his name, a number or letter designating the list, and his number on the list, for convenience of identification on arrival. Each list or manifest shall be verified by the signature and the oath or affirmation of the master or commanding officer or of the officer first or second below him in command, taken before the United States consul or consular agent at the port of departure, before the sailing of said vessel, to the effect that he has made a personal examination of each and all of the passengers named therein, and that he has caused the surgeon of said vessel sailing therewith to make a physical exami- nation of each of the said passengers, and that from lii3 personal inspection and the report of said surgeon, he believes that no one of said passengers is an idiot or insane person, or a pauper or likely to become a publio charge, or suffering from a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, or a person who has been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanour involving moral turpitude, or a polygamist, or under a contract or agreement, express or implied, to perform labour in the United States, and that also, according to the best of his knowdeclge and belief, the information in said list or manifest concerning each of said passengers named therein is correct and true. 3. That the surgeon of said vessel sailing therewith shall also sign each of said lists or manifests before the departure of said vessel, and make oath or affirmation in like manner before said consular agent, stating his professional experience and qualifications as a physician and surgeon, and that he has made a personal examina- tion of each of the passengers named therein, and that said list or manifest, according to the best of his know- ledge and belief is full, correct, and true in all particu- lars relative to the mental and physical condition of said passengers. If no surgeon sails with any vessel bringing alien immigrants, the mental and physical examinations and the verification of the lists or manifests may be made by some competent surgeon employed by the owners of the vessel. 4. That in the case of the failure of said master or commanding officer of said vessel to deliver to the said inspector of immigration lists or manifests, verified as aforesaid, containing the information above required as to all alien immigrants on board, there shall be paid to the collector of customs at the poi’t of arrival the sum of ten dollars for each immigrant qualified to enter the United States concerning whom the above information is not contained in any list as aforesaid, or said immi- grant shall not be permitted so to enter the United States, but shall be returned like other excluded persons. 5. That it shall be the duty of every inspector of arriving alien immigrants to detain for a special inquiry, under section one of the Immigration Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, every person who may not appear to him to be clearly and beyond doubt entitled to admission, and all special inquiries shall be conducted by not less than four officials acting as inspectors, to be designated in writing by the Secretary of the Treasury or the Superintendent of Immigration, for conducting special inquiries ; and no immigrant shall be admitted upon special inquiry except after a favourable decision made by at least three of said inspectors ; and any decision to admit shall be subject to appeal by any dissenting inspector to the Superintendent of Immigration, whose actiou shall be subject to review by the Secretary of the Treasury, as provided in section of said Immigration Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one. 6. That Section five of the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety -one, “ in amendment of “ the various Acts relative to immigration and the im- “ portation of aliens under contract or agreement to “ perform labour,” is hereby amended by striking out the words “second proviso” where they first occur in said section, and inserting the words “ first proviso” in their place ; and section eight of said Act is hereby so amended that the medical examinations of arriving im- migrants to be made by surgeons of the marine hospital service may be made by any regular medical officer of such marine hospital service, detailed therefore by the Secretary of the Treasury ; and civil surgeons shall only be employed temporarily from time to time for specific emergencies. 7 . That no bond or guaranty, written or oral, that an alien immigrant shall not become a public charge shall be received from any person, company, corporation, charitable or benevolent society or association, unless authority to receive the same shall in each special case be given by the Superintendent of Immigration, with the written approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. 8. That all steamship or transportation companies, and other owners of vessels, regularly engaged in transporting alien immigrants to the United States, shall twice a year file a certificate with the Secretary of the Treasury that they have furnished to be kept 0 c 4 208 conspicuously exposed to view in the office of each of their agents in foreign countries authorised to sell emigrant tickets, a copy of the law of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and of all subsequent laws of this country relative to immigration, printed in large letters in the language of the country, where the copy of the law is to be exposed to view, and that they have instructed their agents to call the attention thereto of persons contemplating emigration before selling tickets to them; and in case of the failure for sixty days of any such company or any such owners to file such a certificate, or in case they file a false certificate, they shall pay a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars, to be recovered in the proper United States Court, and said fine shall also be a lien upon any vessel of said company or owners found within the United States. 9. That after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety -three, all exclusive privileges of exchanging money, transporting passengers or baggage, or keeping c-ating-liouses, and all other like privileges in connection with the Ellis Island Immigrant Station, shall be disposed of after public competition, subject to such conditions and limitations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. 10. That this Act shall not apply to Chinese persons; and shall take effect as to vessels departing from foreign ports for ports within the United States alter sixty days from the passage of this Act. Approved, 3 March 1893. (b.) State. 1. Massachusetts Public Statutes of i 882. Chapter 18, Sect. 12. Section 12. Every corporation which brings into this commonwealth any person net having a settlement therein, or by whose means, or at whose instigation, any such person is so brought, for the purpose of per- forming labour for such corporation, shall give a bond to the commonwealth, to be delivered to the State board (of health, lunacy, and charity) in the sum of three hundred dollars, conditioned that neither such person, nor any one legally dependent on him for support, shall within two years become a city, town, or State charge. 2. Virginia Code of 1887. Chapter 6, Sect. 44. Section 44. A contract for labour, for a term of service, not exceeding two years, made in a foreign country, with a person who shall immigrate to this State, and duly attested by the United States consul or commercial agent at the port where such immigrant shall embark, shall be respected and enforced to the same extent and in the same manner as if made within the State. 3 Wyoming. Constitution Article 19 Revised Statutes, Title 10, Sects. 1075-77. Section 1. No person not a citizen of the United States, or who has not declared his intention to become such, shall be employed upon or in connexion with any State, county, or municipal works or employment. Sect. 2. The legislature shall, by appropriate legis- lation, see that the provisions of the foregoing section are enforced. Sect. 1075. No contract made for labour or services with any alien or foreigner previous to the time that such alien or foreigner may come into the territory, shall be enforced within this territory for any period after six months from the date of such contract. Sect. 1076. Any alien or foreigner who shall hereafter perform labour or services for any person or persons, company or corporation within the territory shall be entitled to lecover from such person or persons, com- pany or corporation, a reasonable compensation for such labour or services, notwithstanding such person or persons, company or corporation, may have paid any other party or parties tor the same ; and in actions for the price of such labour or services no defence shall be admitted to the eflect that the defendant or defendants had contracted with other parties, who had. or pretended to have, power or authority to hire out the labour or services ot such party or paities, or to receive the pa or price for such labour or services. Sect. 1077. Any person, whether he or she, acts for himself or herself, or as agent, attorney or employe for another or others, who shall, in pursuance of, or by virtue of, any contract made with any alien or foreigner made before such alien or foreigner came into the territory, receive or offer to receive any money, pay, or remuneration for the labour or services of any alien or foreigner, excepting the pci son so performing such labour or services, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- demeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined in a sum not less than five hundred dollars, and not more than five thousand dollars, and imprisoned in the county jail for not less than three nor more than twelve months, for each and every offence. 4. Indiana Elliott’s Supplement of 1889. Chapter 7, Sect. 438-441. Section -138. . . . It shall be unlawful for any person, company, partnership or corporation, in any manner whatsoever, to prepay transportation or in way assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien or aliens, any foreigner or foreigners, into the State of Indiana under contract or agreement, parol or special, express or implied, made previous to the importation or migration of such aliens, foreigner or foreigners, to perform labour or service of any kind in this State. Sect. 439. . . . All contracts or agreements, express or implied, parol or special, w'hich may hereafter be made by and between any person, company, partnership or corporation, and any foreigner or foreigners, alien or aliens, to perform labour or service, or having reference to the performance of labour or service, by any person in the Slate of Indiana previous to the migration or importation of the person or persons whose labour or service is contracted for, into the United States, shall be utterly void and of no effect. Sect. 440. For every violation of any of the provisions of . . . this Act, the person, partnership, company or corporation violating the same by knowingly assisting, encouragingor solicitingmigration or importation ofany alien or aliens, or of any foreigner or foreigners into the State of’Indiana to perform labour or service of any kind under contract or agreement, express or implied, parol or special, with such alien or aliens, foreigner or foreigners, previous to becoming residents or citizens of the United States, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than five thousand dollars. Sect. 441. Nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to prevent any citizen or subject of any foreign country temporarily residing in the Unitea States, either in a private or official capacity, from engaging under contract or otherwise, persons not residents or citizens of the United States, to act as private secretaries, servants, or domestics for such foreigner temporarily residing in the United States, nor shall this Act be so construed as to prevent any person or persons, partnership or corporation, from engaging, under contract or agreement, skilled workmen in foreign countries to perform labour in the States of Indiana, in or upon any new industry not at present established in the State : Provided, that skilled labour for that purpose cannot otherwise be obtained ; nor shall the provisions of this Act apply to professional actors, artists, lecturers, or singers, nor to persons employed strictly as personal or domestic servants : Provided, that nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting any individual from assisting any member of his family, or relative, or personal friend to migrate from any foreign country to the State for the purpose of settlement here. 5. Idaho. Constitution Article 13. Section 5. No person not a citizen of the United States, or w T ho has not declared his intention to become such, shall be employed upon or in connexion with any State or municipal works. 6. Illinois Act of 1889. Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any board or commission, or any officer or other person acting for the State, or for any county, township, city, village, district, or other municipality in the State, or any contractor or sub-contractor, under any or either of said municipalities, to employ any person or persons, other than native-born or naturalised citizens or those who have in good faith, declared their intentions to become citizens of the United Slates, when such employes are to be paid, in whole or in part, ilirectly or indirectly, out of any funds raised by taxation. 209 Sect. 2. It shall be the duty of any person or persons employing labour or other services, to be paid for, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, out of any funds raised by taxation to file with the treasurer or dis- bursing officer of such funds a certificate showing to the best of his knowledge and belief that the persons so employed . . . are citizens of the United States, or have in good faith declared their intentions to become such citizens, or are of such age or sex that they cannot declare their intentions to become citizens, or cannot be formally declared to be citizens by an order of a court of record. Sect. 5. Whenever any employer, contractor or sub- contractor, by written or oral information, or from any source has reason to believe that he has in his employ persons other than native or naturalised citizens, or those who have in good faith declared their intentions to become citizens, whose pay is to be drawn in whole or in part, directly or indirectly from such public funds, he shall at once investigate the matter, and if he shall find said information to have been correct, he shall discharge such employe or employes, and a failure to do so shall render him liable to the municipality . . . for any of such funds paid to such alien . . , Sect. 6. In all cases where an alien after filing his declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States, shall, for the space of three months after he could lawfully do so, fail to take out his final papers and complete his citizenship, such failure shall be primd facie evidence that his declaration of intentions was not made in good faith. II. — Acts regulating Chinese Immigration into the United States. (a.) Federal. 1. Act of 1882. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this Act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this Act, the coming of Chinese labourers to the United States he, and the same is hereby, suspended ; and during such suspension it shall not he lawful for any Chinese labourer to come, or, having so come, after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain within the United States. Sect. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States on such vessel, and land, or permit to be landed, any Chinese labourer, from any foreign port orplace, shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese labourer so brought, and may be also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year. Sect. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not apply to Chinese labourers who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this Act, and who shall produce to such master before going on board such vessel, and shall produce to the collector of the port in the United States at which such vessel shall arrive, the evidence herein-after in this Act, required of his being one of the labourers in this section mentioned; nor shall the two foregoing sections apply to the case of any master whose vessel being bound to a port not within the United States, shall come within the jurisdiction of the United States, by reason of being in distress, or in stress of weather, or touching at any port of the United States on its voyage to any foreign port or place : Provided, that all Chinese labourers brought on such vessel shall depart with the vessel on leaving port. Sect. 4. That for the purpose of properly identifying Chinese labourers who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this Act, and in order to furnish them with the proper evidence of their right to go from and come to the United States of their free will and accord, as provided by the treaty between the United States and China, dated November seventeenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, the collector of customs of the district from which any such Chinese labourer shall depart from the United States, shall in person or by deputy, go on hoard each vessel having on hoard any such Chinese labourer, and cleared, or about to sail from his district for a foreign port, and on such vessel make list of all such Chinese labourers, which shall he entered in registry books to be kept for that purpose, in which shall be stated the U 75209. name, ago, occupation, last place of residence, physical marks or peculiarities, and all facts necessary for the identification of each of such Chinese labourers, which books shall lie safely kept in the custom-house ; and every such Chinese labourer so departing from the United States, shall be entitled to, and shall receive free of any charge or cost upon application therefor, from the collector or his deputy at the time such list is taken a certificate, signed by the collector or his deputy, and attested by his seal of office, in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, which certificate shall contain a statement, name, age, occupation, i; st place of resi- dence, personal description, and facts of identification of the Chinese labourer to whom the certificate is issued, corresponding with the said list and registry in all particulars. In case any Chinese labourer after having received such certificate, shall leave such vessel before her departure, he shall deliver his certificate to the master of the vessel, and if such Chinese labourer shall fail to return to such vessel before her departure from port, the certificate shall be delivered by the master to the collector of customs for cancellation. The certificate herein provided for shall entitle the Chinese labourer to whom the same is issued, to return to, and re-enter the United States upon producing and delivering the same to the collector of customs of the district at which such Chinese labourer shall seek to re-enter ; and upon delivery of such certificate by such Chinese labourer to the collector of customs at the time of re-entry in the United States, said collector shall cause the same to be filed in the custom-house and duly cancelled. Sect. 5. That any Chinese labourer mentioned in section four of this Act, being in the United States, and desiring to depart from the United States by land, shall have the right to demand and receive, free of charge or cost, a certificate of identification similar to that provided for in section four of this Act, to be issued to such Chinese labourers as may desire to leave the United States by water ; and it is hereby made the duty of the collector of customs of the district next adjoining the foreign country to which said Chinese labourer desires to go, to issue such certificate, free of charge or cost, upon application by such Chinese labourer, and to enter the same in registry books to be kept by him for the purpose, as provided for in section four of this Act. Sect. 6. That in order to the faithful execution of articles one and two of the treaty in this Act before mentioned, every Chinese person other than a labourer who may be entitled by said treaty and this Act to come within the United States, and who shall be about to come to the United States, shall be identified as so entitled by the Chinese Government in each case, such identity to be evidenced shall be in the English language or (if not in the English language) accompanied by a translation into English, stating such right to come, and which certificate shall state the name, title, or official rank, if any, the age, height, and all physical peculiarities, former and present occupation or profes- sion, and place of residence in China of the person to whom the certificate is issued, and that such person is entitled conformably to the treaty in this Act men- tioned to come within the United States. Such certifi- cate shall b e primd facie evidence of the fact set forth therein and shall be produced to the collector of customs, or his deputy, of the port in the distinct in the United States at which the person named therein shall arrive. Sect. 7. That any person who shall knowingly and falsely alter or substitute any name for the name written in such certificate or forge any such certificate, or knowingly utter any forged or fraudulent certificate, or falsely personate any person named in such certifi- cate, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisoned in a penitentiary for a term of not more than five years. Sect. 8. That the master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or place shall at the same time he delivers a manifest of the cargo, and if there be no cargo, then at the time of making a report of the entry of the vessel pursuant to the law, in addition to the other matter required to be reported, and before landing or permitting to land, any Chinese passengers, deliver and report to the collector of customs of the district in which such vessels shall have arrived a separate list of all such passengers on board his vessel at any foreign port or place, and all such passengers on board the vessel at that time. Such list shall show the names of such passengers (and if D d 210 accredited officers of the Chinese Government travelling on business of that Government, or their servants, with a note of such facts) and the names and other particulars, as shown by their respective certificates ; and such list shall be sworn to by the master in the manner required by law in relation to the manifest of the cargo. Any wilful refusal or neglect of any such master to comply with the provisions of this section shall incur the same penalties and forfeiture as are provided for a refusal or neglect to report and deliver a manifest of the cargo. Sect. 9. That before any Chinese passengers are landed from any such vessel, the collector, or his deputy, shall proceed to examine such passengers, comparing the certificates with the list and with the passengers ; and no passenger shall be allowed to land in the United States from such vessel in violation of law. Sect. 10. That every vessel whose master shall know- ingly violate any of the provisions of this Act shall be deemed forfeited to the United States, and shall be liable to seizure and condemnation in any district of the United States into which such vessel may enter, or in which she may be found. Sect. 11. That any person who shall knowingly bring or cause to be brought into the United States by land, or who shall knowingly aid or abet the same, or aid or abet the landing in the United States from any vessel of any Chinese person not lawfully entitled to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year. Sect. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States by land without producing to the proper officer of customs the certificate in this Act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel. And any Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to be removed therefrom to the country from whence he came by direction of the President of the United States, and at the cost of the United States, after being brought before some justice judge, or commissioner of a court of the United States, and found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the United States. Sect. 13. That this Act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the Chinese Government travel- ling upon the business of that Government, whose cre- dentials shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this Act mentioned, and shall exempt them and their body and household servants from the provisions of this Act as to other Chinese persons. Sect. 14. That hereafter no State court, or court of the United States, shall admit Chinese to citizenship ; and all laws in conflict with this Act are hereby re- pealed. Sect. 15. That the words “Chinese labourers,” wher- ever used in this Act, shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled labourers and Chinese employed in mining. Approved, May 6, 1892. 2. Act of 1834. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- tatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section one of the Act entitled “ An “ Act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to “ Chinese,” approved May sixth, eighteen hundred and eiglity-two, is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “Whereas in the opinion of the Government of the United States, the coming of Chinese labourers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof ; therefor, “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this Act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this Act, the coming of Chinese labourers to the United States be, and the same is hereby sus- pended, and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese labourer to come from any foreign port or place, or having so come to remain within the United States.” Section two of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “ Sect. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States on such vessel, and land, or attempt to land, or permit to be landed, any Chineselabourer, from any foreign port or place, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more thny five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese labourer so brought, and may also be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.” Section three of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “ Sect. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not apply to Chinese labourers who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of the Act to which this Act is amendatory, nor shall said sections apply to Chinese labourers who shall produce to such master before going on board such vessel, and shall produce to the collector of the port in the United States at which such vessel shall arrive, the evidence herein-after in this Act required, of his being one of the labourers in this section mentioned ; nor shall the two foregoing sections apply to the case of any master whose vessel, being bound to a port not within the United States, shall come within the jurisdiction of the United States by reason of being in distress or in stress of weather, or touching at any port of the United States on its voyage to any port or place. Provided, that all Chinese labourers brought on such vessel shall not be permitted to land except in case of absolute necessity, and must depart with the vessel on leaving port.” Section four of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “ Sect. 4. That for the purpose of properly identify- ing Chinese labourers who were in the United States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into the same before the expii'ation of ninety days next after the passage of the Act to which this Act is amendatory, and in order to furnish them with the proper evidence of their right to go from and come to the United States as provided by the said Act and the treaty between the United States and China dated November seventeenth, eighteen hundred and eighty, the collector of customs of the district from which any Chinese labourer shall depart from the United States shall, in person or by deputy, go on board each vessel having on board any such Chinese labourer, and cleared or about to sail from his district for a foreign port, and on such vessel make a list of all such Chinese labourers, which shall be entered in registry books to be kept for that purpose, in which shall be stated the individual, family, and tribal name in full, the age, occupation, when and where followed, last place of resilience, physical marks or peculiarities, and all facts necessary for the identification of each of such Chinese labourers, which books shall be safely kept in the custom-house ; and every such Chinese labourer so departing from the United States shall be entitled to and shall receive, free of charge or cost upon application therefor, from the collector or his deputy, in the name of the said collector and attested by said collector's seal of office, at the time such list is taken, a certificate, signed by the collector or his deputy and attested by his seal of office, in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, which certificate shall contain a statement of the individual, family, and tribal name in full, age, occupation, when and where followed, of the Chinese labourer to whom the certificate is issued, corresponding with the said list and registry in all particulars. In case any Chinese labourer after having received such certificate shall leave such vessel before her departure, he shall deliver his certificate to the master of the vessel ; and if such Chinese labourer shall fail to return to such vessel before her departure from port the certificate shall be delivered by the master to the collector of customs for cancellation. The certi- ficate herein provided for shall entitle the Chinese labourer to whom the same is issued to return to and re-enter the United States upon producing and deliver- ing the same to the collector of customs of the district at which such Chinese labourer shall seek to re-enter, and said certificate shall be the only evidence per- missible to establish his right of re-entry ; and upon delivering of such certificate by such Chinese labourer to the collector of customs at the time of re-entry in the United States said collector shall cause the same to be filed in the custom-house and duly canceled.” Section six of the said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : Sect. 6. That, in order of the faithful execution of the provisions of this Act, every Chinese person, other than a labourer, who may be entitled by said treaty or this Act to come within the United States shall obtain permission of and be identified as so entitled 211 by the Chinese Government, or of such other foreign Government, of which at the time such Chinese person shall be a subject, in each case to be evidenced by a certificate issued by such Government, which certi- ficate shall be in the English language, and shall show such permission, with the name of the permitted person in his or her proper signature, and which certificate shall state the individual, family, and tribal name in full, title or official rank, if any, the age, height, and all physical peculiarities, former and present occupation or profession, when and where and how long pursued and place of residence of the person to whom the certificate is issued, and that such person is entitled by this Act to come within the United States. If the person so applying for a certificate shall be merchant, said certificate shall, in addition to above requirements, state the nature, character, and estimated value of the business canned on by him prior to and at the time of his application as aforesaid : Provided, that nothing in this Act nor in said treaty shall be construed as embracing within the meaning of the word “merchant,” huckster, peddlers, or those engaged in taking, drying or other- wise preserving shell or other fish for home consump- tion or exportation. If the certificate be sought for the purpose of travel for curiosity, it shall also state whether the applicant intends to pass through or travel within the United States, together with his financial standing in the country from which such certificate is desired. The certificate provided for in this Act, and the identity of the person named therein shall, before such person goes on board any vessel to proceed to the United States, be vided by the indorsement of the diplomatic representatives of the United States in the foreign country from which said certificate issues, or of the consular representative of the United States at the port or place from which the person named in the certificate is about to depart ; and such diplomatic repre- sentative or consular representative whose indorsement is so required is hereby empowered, and it shall be his duty, before indorsing such certificate as aforesaid, to examine into the truth of the statements set forth in said certificate, and if he shall find upon examination that said or any of the statements therein contained are untrue it shall be his duty to refuse to indorse the same. Such certificate vised as aforesaid shall be p vivid facie evidence of the facts set forth therein, and shall be produced to the collector of customs of the port in the district in the United States at which the person named therein shall arrive, and afterwards produced to the proper authorities of the United States whenever lawfully demanded, and shall be the sole evidence permissable on the part of the person so producing the same to establish a right of entry into the United States'; but said certificate may be con- troverted and the facts therein stated disproved by the United States authorities.” Section eight of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “ Sect. 8. That the master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or place, shall at the same time he delivers a manifest of the cargo, and if there be no cargo, then at the time, of making a report of the entry of the vessel pursuant to law, in addition to the other matter required to be reported, and before landing or permitting to land, any Chinese passengers, deliver and report to the collector of customs of the district in which such vessels shall have arrived a separate list of all Chinese passengers taken on board his vessel at any foreign port or place and all such passengers taken on board the vessel at that time. Such list shall show the names of such passengers (and if accredited officers of the Chinese or of any other foreign Government, travelling on the business of that Government, or their servants, with a note of such facts), and the names and other particulars as shown by their respective certificates ; and such list shall be sworn to by the master in the manner required by law in relation to the manifest of the cargo. Any refusal or wilful neglect of any such master to comply with the provisions of this section shall incur the same penalties and forfeiture as are provided for a refusal or neglect to report and deliver a manifest of the cargo.” Section ten of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “ Sect. 10. That every vessel whose master shall knowingly violate any of the provisions of this Act shall be deemed forfeited to the United States, and shall be liable to seizure and condemnation in any district of the United States into which such vessel may enter or in which she may be found.” Section eleven of the said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : ‘‘Sect. 11. That any person who shall knowingly bring into or cause to be brought into the United States by land, or who shall aid or abet the same, or aid or abet the landing in the United States from any vessel, of any Chinese person not lawfully entitled to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.” Section twelve of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “Sect. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter the United States by land without producing to the proper officer of customs the certificate in this Act required of Chinese persons seeking to land from a vessel. And any Chinese person found unlawfully within the United States shall be caused to be removed therefrom to the country from whence he came, and at the cost of the United States, after being brought before some justice, judge, or commissioner of a court of the United States, and found to be one not lawfully entitled to be or to remain in the United States, and in all such cases the person who brought or aided in bringing such person to the United States shall be liable to the Government of the United States for all necessary expenses incurred in such investigation and removal; and all peace officers of the United States and territories of the United States are hereby invested with the same authority as a marshal or United States marshal in reference to carrying out the provisions of this Act, or the Act of which this is amendatory as a marshal or deputy marshal of the United States, and shall be entitled to a like compensation to be audited and paid by the same officers. And the United States shall pay all costs and charges for the maintenance and return of any Chinese person having the certificate prescribed by law as entitling such Chinese person to come into the United States who may have been permitted to land from any vessel by reason of any of the provisions of thisAct.” Section thirteen of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “ Sect. 13. That this Act shall not apply to diplomatic and other officers of the Chinese or other Governments travelling upon the business of that Government, whoso credentials shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate in this Act mentioned, and shall exempt them and their body and household servants from the provisions of this Act to other Chinese persons.” Section fifteen of said Act is hereby amended so as to read as follows : “ Sect. 15. That the provisions of this Act shall apply to all subjects of China and Chinese, whether subjects of China or any other foreign Power ; and the words Chinese labourers, whenever used in this Act, shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled labourers and Chinese employed in mining.” Sect. 16. That any violation of any of the provisions of this Act or of the Act of which this is amendatory, the punishment of which is not otherwise herein pro- vided for, shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and shall be punishable by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment. Sect. 17. That nothing contained in this Act shall bo construed to affect any prosecution or other proceeding, criminal or civil, begun under the Act of which this is amendatory; but such prosecution or other proceeding, criminal or civil, shall proceed as if this Act had not been passed. Approved, July 5, 1884. 3. Act of 1888. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- tatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this Act, it shall be unlawful for any Chinese labourer who shall at any time heretofore have been or who may now or hereafter be, a resident within the United States, and who shall have departed, or shall depart therefrom, and shall not have returned before the passage of this Act, to return to, or remain in, the United States. Sect. 2. That no certificate of identify provided for in the fourth and fifth sections of the Act to which this is a supplement shall hereafter be issued ; and every cer- tificate heretofore issued in pursuance thereof, is hereby declared void and of no effect, and the Chinese labourer claiming admission by virtue thereof shall not be per- mitted to enter the United States. Dd2 212 Sect. 3. That all the duties prescribed, liabilities, penalties and forfeitures imposed, and the powers con- ferred by the second, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth sections of the Act to which this is a supplement, are hereby extended and made applicable to the provisions of this Act. Sect. 4. That all such part or parts of the Act to which this is a supplement as arc inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. Approved October 1, 1888. (b.) State. 1. Californian Constitution. Article 19. Political Code sect. 3235, Penal Code sects. 178, 179. Sect. 2. No corporation now existing or hereafter formed under the laws of this State shall, after the adoption of this constitution employ, directly or in- directly, in any capacity, any Chinese or Mongolian . (Note. — The above section, and sections 178 and 179 of the Penal Code, which were enacted to give effect, were adjudged by the circuit code of the United States to be in conflict with the Treaty of the United States with China and to be therefore void. See “ In re Tiburcio Parrot, 5 Pac. C.L.J., Supplement.”) Sect. 3. No Chinese shall be employed on any State, county, municipal, or other public work, except in punishment for crime. Sect. 4. The presence of foreigners ineligible to be- come citizens of the United States is declared to be dangerous to the well-being of the State, and the legislature shall discourage their imigration by all the means within its powers. Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is for ever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labour shall be void. All companies or corporation whether formed in the country or any foreign country, for the importation of such labour, shall be subject to such penalties as the legislature may prescribe. The legislation shall delegate all necessary power to the incorporated cities and towns of this State for the removal of Chinese without the limits of such cities, towns, or for their location within prescribed portions of those limits, and it shall also provide the necessary legislation to pro- hibit the introduction into this State of Chinese after the adoption of this constitution. This section shall be enforced by appropriate legislation. Sect. 3235. (Added by chap. 153, Acts of 1887.) No supplies of any kind or character, “ for the benefit of the “ State or to be paid for by any moneys appropriated or to “ be appropriated by the State,” manufactured or grown in this State, which are in whole or in part the pro- duct of Mongolian labour, shall be purchased by the officials for the State having control of any public insti- tution under the control of the State, or of any county, city and county, city, or town thereof. Sect. 178. Any officer, director, manager, member, stockholder, clerk, agent, servant, attorney, employe, assignee, or contractor of any corporation now existing, or hereafter formed under the laws of this State, who shall employ, in any manner or capacity, upon any work or business of such corporation any Chinese or Mongolian, is guilty of a misdeameanor and is punish- able by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred days, or by both such fine and imprisonment ; provided, that no director of a corporation shall be deemed guilty under this section who refuses to assent to such employment, and has such dissent recorded in the minutes of the board of directors. 1. Every person who, having been convicted for vio- lating the provisions of this section, commits any sub- sequent violation thereof after such conviction is punishable as follows : 2. For each subsequent conviction such person shall be fined not less than five hundred nor nore than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not less than two hundred and fifty days, nor more than two years or by both such fine and imprisonment. Sect. 179- Any corporation now existing, or hereafter formed under the laws of this State, that shall employ, directly or indirectly in any capacity, any Chinese or Mongolian, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall for the first offence be fined not less than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars, and upon the second conviction shall, in ad- dition to said penalty, forfeit its charter and franchise, and all its corporate right and privileges, and it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General to take the neces- sary steps to enforce such forfeiture. (Note. — The above sections, and section 2 of article 19 of the constitution of the State, which they were enacted to give effect to, were adjudged by the circuit court of the United States to be in conflict with the Treaty of the United States with China, and to be, therefore, void. See “ In re Tiburcio Parrot, 5 Pac. C.L.J., Supplement.”) 2. Nevada General Statutes of 1885. Chapters 22 and 23. Preamble. — Whereas all Chinese who come to this coast arrive here under a contract to labour for a term of years, and are bound by such contract, not only bv the superstitions of their peculiar religions, but by leaving their blood relations, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, or cousins, as hostages, in China for the fulfilment of their part of the contract ; and, whereas, such slave labour and involuntary servitude is opposed to the genius of our institutions, opposed to the pre- vailing spirit of the age, as well as to humanity and Christianity, and degrades the dignity of labour, which is the foundation of republican institutions; and, whereas, section 17 of article one' of the constitution of the State of Nevada reads as follows : — “ Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude unless for the “ punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this “ State ; ” Therefore, The people of the State of Nevada ... do enact as follows : Sect. 4764. The immigration to this State of all slaves and other people bound by contract to involun- tary servitude for a term of years, is hereby prohibited. Sect. 1765. It shall be unlawful for any company, person or persons, to collect wages or compensation for the labour of the persons described in the first section of this Act. Sect. 4766. It shall be unlawful for any corporation, company, person or persons, to pay to any owner, or agent of the owner of any such persons mentioned in section 1 of this Act, any wages or compensation fer the labour of such slaves, or persons so bound by said contract to involuntary servitude. Sect. 4767. Any violation of any of the provisions of this Act shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than three hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term of not leBS than three months or more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Sect. 4947. From and aftor the passage of this Act, no Chinaman or Mongolian shall be employed directly or indirectly, in any capacity, or any public works, or in or about any buildings or institutions, or grounds, under the control of this State. Sect. 4948. Hereafter no right of way or charter or other privileges for the construction of any public works by any railroad or other corporation or associa- tion shall be granted to such corporation or association, except upon the express condition, that no Mongolian or Chinese shall be employed on or about the construc- tion of such work in any capacity. Sect. 4949. Any violation of the conditions of this Act shall work a forfeiture of all lights, privileges and franchise, granted to such corporation or association. 3. Oregon Miscellaneous Laws of 1887. Chapter 87. Sect. 4235. ... It shall be unlawful to employ any Chinese labourers on any street or part of street of any city or incorporated town of this State, or any public works or public improvement of any character, except as a punishment for crime ; and all contracts which any person or corporation may have for the improve- ment of any such street or part of street, or public works or improvements of any character, shall be null and void from and after the date of any employment of Chinese labourers thereon by the contractor. . . . Note. — The above section has been held void by the United States circuit court in Baker v. Portland, 5 Saw. 566. In city of Portland v. Baker, the circuit court of the State for the fourth district held the section valid. An appeal was taken to the supreme court of the State, but the case was decided in that court upon other points. (City of Portland v. Baker, 8 Oregon, 356.) 213 Preamble. Interpreta- tion. Master. Vessel. Tonnage. Chinese. immigrant. Controller. Powers of Governor in Council. Appoint- ments. Present Officers. Duties. Remunera- tion. Publication of appoint- ments. Duty pay- able by Chinese immigrants. Exceptions. Certificate proving exemption. Term " merchant” limited. Number of Chinese immigrants in any vessel. Liability and duty of masters of vessels for contraven- tion. III. — Acts regulating Alien Immigration into Self-Governing Colonies. (a.) Chinese Immigration into the Dominion of Canada. 1. Dominion Acts. (i.) — An Act to restrict and regulate Chinese Immigra- tion into Canada. [ Assented to '20th July, 1885.] Whereas it is expedient to make provision for restricting the number of Chinese immigrants coming into the Dominion, and to regulate such immigration ; and whereas it is further expedient to provide a system of registration and control over Chinese immigrants residing in Canada : Therefore Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows : — 1. In this Act, unless the context otherwise re- quires, — The expression “ master ” means any person in com- mand of any vessel ; The expression “ vessel ” means any sea-going craft of any kind or description capable of carrying pas- sengers ; The expression “ tonnage ” means tonnage according to the measurement fixed by the Merchants’ Shipping Acts of the Imperial Parliament ; The expression “ Chinese immigrant ” means any person of Chinese origin entering Canada and not en- titled to the privilege of exemption provided for by Section 4 of this Act ; The expression “controller” means any officer charged with the duty of carrying the provisions of this Act into effect. 2. The Governor in Council may, — Appoint one or more persons to carry the provisions of this Act into effect ; Assign any duty in connection therewith to any officer or person in the employ of the Government of the Dominion of Canada ; Define and prescribe the duty or duties of such officer or person ; Fix the salary or remuneration to be allowed to such officer or person. 3. All appointments made under this Act shallbe published in the “ Canada Gazette.” 4. Subject to the provisions of section thirteen of this Act every person of Chinese origin shall pay into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada, on entering Canada, at the port or other place of entry, the sum of fifty dollars, except the following persons, who shall be exempt from such payment ; that is to say, first : the members of the Diplomatic Corps, or other Govern- ment representatives and their suite and their servants, consuls and consular agents ; and second : tourists, mer- chants, men of science and students, who are bearers of certificates of identity, specifying their occupation and their object in coming into Canada, or other similar documents issued by the Chinese Government or other Government whose subjects they are ; and every such certificate or other document shall be in the English or French language, and shall be examined and indorsed [vise) by a British Consul or Charge d’Affaires or other accredited representative of Her Majesty, at the place where the same is granted, or at the port or place of departure : but nothing in this Act shall be construed as embracing within the meaning of the word “ mer- chant,” any huckster, pedlar, or person engaged in taking, drying, or otherwise preserving shell or other fish for home consumption or exportation. 5. Ho vessel carrying Chinese immigrants to any port in Canada shall carry more than one such immigrant for every fifty tons of its tonnage ; and the owner of any such vessel who carries any number in excess of the number allowed by this section shall be liable to a penalty of fifty dollars for each person so carried in excess. 6. Every master of any vessel bringing Chinese im- migrants to any port in Canada shall be personally liable to Her Majesty for the payment of the fee im- posed by section four of this Act in respect of any im- migrant carried by such vessel, and shall deliver, together with the total amount of such fee, to the con- troller, immediately on his arrival in port and before any of his passengers or crew shall have disembarked, a complete and accurate list of his crew and passengers, showing their names in full, the country and place of their birth, and the occupation and last place of domicile of each passenger. 7. Every master of any vessel who lands or allows to Penalty for be landed oft' or from any vessel any Chinese immigrant Jand'ngany before the duty payable under the provisions of this before duty Act has been duly paid, or who wilfully makes any false > s paid, &c. statement respecting the number of persons on board his vessel shall in addition to the amount of the fee mentioned in the next preceding section, be liable to a penalty of not less than five hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars for every such offence, and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, and such vessel shall be forfeited to Her Majesty, and shall be seized by any Forfe j (ure 0 f officer charged with the duty of carrying this Act into vessel, effect and dealt with accordingly. 8. No master of any vessel carrying Chinese immi- Nopas- grants shall land any passenger or permit any passenger senger to to land from such vessel, until a permit to do so, stating that the provisions of this Act have been complied with, obtained, has been granted to the master of such vessel by the controller, under a penalty of one hundred dollars. Penalty. 9. No controller at any port shall grant a permit allowing Chinese immigrants to land, until the quaran- tine officer has granted a bill of health and has certified, after due examination, that no leprosy or infectious or contagioixs disease exists among them on board such vessel ; and no permit to land shall be granted to any Chinese immigrant who is suffering from leprosy or from any infectious or contagious disease, or to any Chinese woman who is known to be a prostitute. 10. The controller shall deliver to each Chinese immi- grant who has been permitted to land, and in respect of whom the duty has been paid as hereinbefore provided, a certificate containing a description of such individual, the date of his arrival, the name of the port of his landing, and an acknowledgment that the duty has been duly paid; and such certificate shall be prim a facie evidence of the right of the person presenting the same to enter the Dominion of Canada; but the same may be contested by the Government of Canada, or by any officer charged with the duty of carrying this Act into effect, if there is reason to doubt the validity or authen- ticity of such certificate, or of any statement therein contained ; and such contestation shall be heard and determined in a summary manner by and before any judge of a Superior Court of any Province of Canada where such certificate is produced. Bill of health lo be obtained. No permit in certain cases. Certificate to be delivered to immigrant permitted to land. Its effect, but may be contested. How decided. 11. The controller shall keep a register of all persons certificates to whom certificates of entry have been granted. 12. Every Chinese immigrant subject to pay the duty A a ,0 imposed by section four of this Act who enters Canada Sin™ otherwise than by disembarking from any vessel, shall otherwise forthwith make declaration of his entry to the controller, ^^,j by or, in the absence of such officer, to the Customs officer of the nearest or most convenient place, and shall forthwith pay to such controller or officer the duty of fifty dollars imposed by this Act, and the controller or officer shall grant a certificate of such entry and payment, in conformity with the provisions of section ten of this Act ; and if the declaration is made to a Report to Customs officer he shall report the fact to the controller contioller at the principal seaport of the Province into which such sucl1 case ' Chinese immigrant has come, and the controller shall record the same in the register of certificates of entry kept by him. 13. The entrance fee or duty payable under this Act Duty not to shall not apply to any Chinese person residing or being chinesenow within Canada at the time of the coming into force of resident, this Act, but every such Chinese person who desires to remain in Canada may obtain, within twelve months after the passing of this Act, and upon the payment of Certificate a fee of fifty cents., a certificate of such residence from in such ease, the controller, or from a judge of a Superior Court, a justice of the peace, a police magistrate, a stipendiary - magistrate, a recorder, or from the mayor or secretary- treasurer of the municipality in which he resides, or from any officer charged with the duty of carrying this Act into effect ; and the person granting such certificate shall report the fact to the controller at the principal seaport of the Province in which such Chinese person resides. 14. Every Chinese person who wishes to leave Canada, Certificate with the intention of returning thereto, shall give leavingand notice of such intention to the controller at the port Canada or place whence he proposes to sail or depart, and shall J."turn' nB 4 ° surrender to the said officer his certificate of entry or D .1 3 214 Effect of such certificate. Provision if certificate is lost. Statement for Pro- vincial Secretary by controller. Penalty on Chinese for evading this Act. And for aiding in evasion. Penalty for taking part in organis- ing unlawful court, as to offences by Chinese. Proviso. Penalty for molesting officers. Penalty for other con- traventions. Application of dues, penalties, Ac. Chinese interpreter. Before whom suits may be brought. of residence, and shall receive in lieu thereof, on payment of a fee of one dollar, a certificate of leave to depart and return ; and the persons to whom such certificate is granted shall he entitled, on presentation of the same on his return, to receive from the controller the amount of the entrance fee paid by him on such return, and to have his original certificate of entry or residence returned to him. 2. In case of the loss of such return certificate, and on proof of such loss to the satisfaction of the controller, the person to whom such certificate was granted, and who has paid the entrance fee imposed by sec- tion four of this Act a second time, shall be entitled to have his second entrance fee returned to him, together with his first certificate of entry or residence. 15. The controller shall, on the first day of January in each year, send to the Provincial Secretary of the Province wherein certificates of entry have been granted a certified list of all Chinese immigrants to whom such certificates have been granted during the year next preceding. 16. Every Chinese person who wilfully evades or attempts to evade any of the provisions of this Act as respects the payment of duty, by personating any other individual, or who wilfully makes use of any forged or fraudulent certificate to evade the provisions of this Act, and every person who wilfully aids or abets any such Chinese person in any evasion or attempt at evasion of any of the provisions of this Act, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, or to a penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars, or to both. 17. Every person who takes part in the organisation of any sort of court of tribunal, composed of Chinese persons, for the hearing and determination of any offence committed by a Chinese person, or in carrying on any such organisation, or who takes part in any of its proceedings, or who gives evidence before any sncli court or tribunal, or assists in carrying into effect any decision or decree or order of any such court or tribunal, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding twelve months, or to a penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars, or to both : but nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent Chinese immigrants from sub- mitting any differences or disputes to arbitration, provided such submission be not contrary to the laws in force in the Province in which such submission is made. 18. Every person who molests, persecutes, or hinders any officer or person appointed to carry the provisions of this Act into effect is guilty of a misdemeanour, and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, or to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or to both. 19. Every person who contravenes any provision of this Act, for which no special punishment is herein provided, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and liable to a penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars, or impri- sonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, or to both, in the discretion of the court before which convic- tion is had.- 20. All dues, pecuniary penalties, and other sources of revenue under this Act shall he paid into and form part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada ; but one-fourth part of all entry dues paid by Chinese immi- grants shall, at the end of every fiscal year, he paid out of such fund to the Province wherein the same were collected. 21. The Governor in Council may engage and pay an interpreter, skilled in the English and Chinese languages, at a salary of not more than three thousand dollars per annum, to reside in the Province of British Columbia, and may assign to him such duties as he deems meet. 22. All suits or actions for the recovery of dues under this Act and all prosecutions for offences under this Act which are not therein declared to be misdemeanours, shall he tried before one or more justices of the peace, or before the recorder, police magistrate, or stipendiary magistrate having jurisdiction where such dues are exigible or where the offence Was committed. 23. This Act, as respects any vessel sailing from a port in the continent of North America, shall come into force one month after the passing thereof, and as re- spects other vessels and other matters, the same shall come into force on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six, except that certificates under section thirteen may he granted, in accordance with the terms of the said section, and that controllers may be appointed at any time after the passing hereof. 24. This Act shall be cited as the “ Chinese Immi- gration Act, 1885.” (ii.) An Act to amend “ The Chinese Immigration Act.” [ Assented to 2 3rd June, 1887.] Whereas it is expedient to amend “The Chinese Immigration Act:” Therefore Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows : — 1. No duty shall be payable under “The Chinese Immigration Act,” in respect of any woman of Chinese origin who is the wife of a person who is not of Chinese origin ; but, for the purposes of the said Act, such woman shall be deemed to be of the same nationality as her husband. 2. Persons of Chinese origin may pass through Canada by railway, in transitu, from one port or place out of Canada to another port or place out of Canada, without payment of the entry dues provided for under section eight of “ The Chinese Immigration Act,” provided that such passage is made in accordance with, and under such regulations, as are made by the Minister of Customs for such purpose; and any railway company which undertakes to transport any such persons through Canada, and fails to comply with such regulations, or to take such persons out of Canada at the designated port of exit and within the time specified in the undertaking shall, in addition to the entry dues, payable under the said section eight of the Act hereinbefore cited, be liable to the penalty or forfeiture provided by law for non-com- pliance with Customs bonding regulations. 3. Section fifteen of “ The Chinese Immigration Act,” is hereby repealed and the following substituted there- for : — “ 15. All duties, pecuniary penalties, and revenue from other sources und this Act shall be paid into and form part of the Consolidated Revenue fund of Canada ; but one-fourth part of the net proceeds of all entry dues paid by Chinese immigrants shall, at the end of every fiscal year, be paid out of such fund to the Province wherein the same were collected.” 4. Section twenty of “ The Chinese Immigration Act ” is hereby amended by striking out therefrom the words “ or to both.” 2. British Columbian Acts. (i.) — An Act to provide for the better collection of Pro- vincial Taxes from Chinese. [2nd September, 1878.] W hereas Acts are in force in the Province providing for the collection of taxes on real and personal property, on income, on unoccupied land, and also for the collec- tion of a separate tax for the maintenance of the school system. And whereas large numbers of Chinese evade the payment of such taxes by reason of the provisions of the said Acts not being applicable for the collection of taxes from Chinese : And whereas it is advisable, in order that all should contribute to the general revenue, that a more simple method should be adopted for the collection of taxes from Chiuese : When the provisions of this Act shall come into force. Short title. Preamble. R.S.C., c. G7. Exemption from duty in a certain case. Conditions as to pas- sagetlirough Canada. Penalty for failure to fulfil con- ditions. Section 15, repealed ; new section. Application of duties, Ac, Section 20 amended. Preamble. 215 Certain Tax Acts not to apply to Chinese. Every Chinese porson over 12 years of age to take out a licence every three months. Lieutenant- Governor in council to appoint collectors. Duties of collectors. Employers of Chinese labour to furnish lists of employe's to collector. Penalty for failure to furnish list, and for making false state- ment in list. Licence how levied by collector. Chinese persons not in posses- sion of law- fully issued licence to be subject to certain penalties. What aver- ment of such licence being law- fully issued shall suffice. Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows : — 1. The provisions of the “Assessment Act, 1876,” and of the “ School Tax Act, 1876, ’ shall not apply to Chinese, but in lieu thereof the following provisions shall be substituted. 2. Every Chinese person over twelve years of ago shall take out a licence every three months, for which he shall pay the sum of ten dollars, in advance, unto and to the use of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and such licence may be in the form A. in the schedule hereto. 3. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall from time to time appoint persons to act, during pleasure, as collectors under the provisions of this Act, or any portion thereof, and may require from such person such security as he may think fit, and allow the collector such percentage upon the amount of his collections as may seem reasonable and just upon the gross amount col- lected in any one year, and the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may further allow such additional sum, by way of expenses, as may be necessary and reasonable for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act. 4. Every collector shall collect the tax from each per- son liable to pay the same, and shall, as soon after and as may be, pay over the amount to the officer in charge of the Treasury, or to such other person as the Lieutenant- Governor in Council may direct. 5. Every merchant, farmer, trader, or employer of Chinese labour shall furnish to the collector, when requested by him so to do, from time to time, a list of all Chinamen in his employ or indirectly employed by him, liable to pay the said tax ; but no such statement shall bind the collector, nor shall excuse him from making due inquiry to ascertain its correctness. 6. In case any person fails to deliver to the collector the list mentioned in the preceding section, when re- quired. so to do, or knowingly states anything falsely therein, such person shall, on complaint of the collector and upon conviction before a justice of the peace having jurisdiction within the district wherein the merchant, farmer, trader, or employer carries on his business, forfeit any pay a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for every Chinese person in his employ, to be recovered by distress of the goods and chattels of the person failing to pay the same, or in lieu thereof shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not less than one month and not exceeding two calendar months. 7. The collector may, by himself or by his agent, levy the amount of the quarterly licence from any Chinese person not being in lawful possession of a licence, with costs, by distress of the goods and chattels of the person who ought to pay the same, or of any goods and chattels in his possession, wherever the same may be found, or of any goods or chattels found on the premises, the property of or in the possession of any other occupant of the premises ; and the costs chargeable shall not exceed those usually payable under warrant of distress for rent. It shall be sufficient authority for the collector to levy as aforesaid on the non-production of the quarterly receipt ; proof of the lawful possession of such receipt shall lie on the person whose goods are distrained. 8. Any Chinese person who shall not have in his possession a licence lawfully issued to him, and any person who shall employ any Chinese person who has not in his possession a licence lawfully issued to him, shall, on conviction thereof, forfeit and pay a sum not exceed- ing one hundred dollars, and in default of immediate payment the amount oE such penalty shall be levied by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the persons contravening the provisions of this Act, or if sufficient distress be not found, shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any period not exceeding two months and not less than one month. 9. In any prosecution for the infraction of any of the provisions of this Act the averment in the information that any person named therein had not in his possession, at the time of the alleged infraction, a licence lawfully issued to him, shall be sufficient proof that such person had not such licence unless the defendant shall prove the contrary. 10. Any information for any infraction of tho provi- sions of this Act, may be hoard and determined by any mayor, warden, or any justice of peace, and the same may bn heard and determined in a summary manner at any locality where the accused shall be found. 11. Every employer of a Chinese person shall demand from every such person in his employ his quarterly licence, and shall retain the same in his possession during the time such person is in his employ, and shall return the same to him when he leaves his service ; and every employer as aforesaid shall produce to the collector, whenever required so to do, such licence for his inspection. 12. Every Chinese person who neglects, refuses, or is unable to take out the said quarterly licence, shall be liable, at the instance of the collector, to perform labour on public roads and works in lieu thereof. The cost of food, five per cent, of the wages of the overseer herein- after mentioned, and five per cent, on the amount of the quarterly licence for cost of wear and tear of tools, shall be added to the quarterly sum of ten dollars, and shall be deemed to be payable by every Chinese person performing such labour in addition to the amount of his quarterly licence. A day’s labour duly performed shall be equivalent to 50 cents, and each Chinese person shall perform the work required of him continuously until an amount of work equivalent to the whole sum due by by him has been performed. On the completion of such amount of work as aforesaid, the overseer shall give to each Chinese person performing the same a licence for the quarter, calculated from the time such Chinese person commenced to work, and such licence may be in the form B. in the schedule hereto. 13. Every Chinese person performing such labour as aforesaid, shall be at the place appointed by the overseer at 7 o’clock in the morning to begin his labour, and shall labour from the said hour of 7 a.m. until 6 o’clock in the evening, doing such work as shall be directed by the overseer or his agent, in a proper and workmanlike manner. One hour shall be allowed at mid-day for food. 14. If any Chinese person liable to perform the labour aforesaid, shall fail, refuse^ or neglect to perform the said labour at the time and place appointed, or if, when present, shall decline, neglect, or refuse to labour in a proper and workmanlike manner, or to do such work as as he is directed by the overseer, he shall be liable for each day’s default or neglect to perform two days’ labour instead of one, or in default thereof may be im- prisoned, with hard labour for any term not exceeding six months, on conviction in a summary way before a justice of the peace; and if any person shall obstruct or cause to be obstructed others in the performance of their duties, or shall do anything calculated to obstruct the due performance of the labour shall, on conviction thereof in a summary way before a justice of the peace, be im- prisoned with hard labour for a period not exceeding six months. The overseer is hereby empowered and required to prosecute in such cases. 15. It shall be lawful for the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to appoint such persons from time to time, as he may think fit, to be overseers under this Act, with such remuneration as he shall think fit, and also to pre- scribe the duties of such overseers. 16. The toll collector at Yale and at Telegraph Creek, Cassair, shall before allowing any Chinese person to pass through either toll gate, demand from such person the production of his licence, and until the same is pro- duced, such person shall not be allowed to proceed through the toll gate, 17. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to Chinese actually employed in the cannaries of this Pro- vince until the 1st day of November a.d. 1878. 18. The provisions contained in sections 8, 11, 12, 13, and 14, shall not be enforceable or have any effect until after the expiration of one month from the passage of this Act. 19. This Act may be cited as the “ Chinese Tax Act, 1878.” Dp 4 Who to hear and determine information for infrac- tion of pro- visions of this Act. Employer of a Chinese person to demand his quarterly licence. Chinese persons refusing, neglecting, or being unable to take out licences to be liable to perform labour on public roads and works in lieu thereof. Hours of labour. Penalty for refusing to perform labour. Lieutenant- Governor in Council to appoint overseers. Chinese persons passing through certain toll-gates to produce licenses. Act not to apply to certain personsuntil 1st Novem- ber 1878. Certain sec- tions not to apply for one month after passing of Act. Short title. 216 Chinese not to record or acquire Crown lands. Such record or grant to be void. Meaning of “ Chinese.” Preamble. Short title. Meaning of “ Chinese.” Imposes annual tax of 10 dollars on every Chinese. Appoint- ment of Chinese collectors, Penalty for not having a licence. Penalty on collector, &e. for dis- obeying the provisions of this Act. (ii.) — All Act to prevent Chinese from acquiring Crown Lands. [18 tli February, 1884.] Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows : 1. It shall not be lawful for a Commissioner, as de- fined by the “ Land Act, 1884,” or any other person, to issue a pre-emption record of any Crown land, or sell any portion thereof, to any Chinese, nor grant authority under the said Act to any Chinese to record or divert any water from the natural channel of any stream, lake, or river in this Province. 2. Any record or grant made contrary to the provi- sions of this Act shall be void and of no effect. 3. The term Chinese in this Act shall mean any native of the Chinese Empire or its dependencies, and shall include any person of the Chinese race. (iii.) — An Act to regulate the Chinese population of British Columbia. [18th February, 1884.] Whereas the incoming of Chinese to British Columbia largely exceeds that of any other class of immigrant, and the population so introduced are fast becoming superior in number to our own race ; are not disposed to he governed by our laws ; are dissimilar in habits and occupation from our people ; evade the payment of taxes justly due to the Government; are governed by pestilential habits; are useless in instances of emer- gency ; habitually desecrate graveyards by the removal of bodies therefrom ; and generally the laws governing the whites are found to be inapplicable to Chinese, and such Chinese are inclined to habits subversive of the comfort and well-being of the community : And whereas it is expedient to pass special laws for the Government of Chinese : Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows : — 1. This Act shall be cited as the “ Chinese Regulation Act, 1884.” 2. The term “Chinese” wherever used in this Act shall mean any native of the Chinese Empire or its dependencies not horn of British parents, and shall in- clude any person of the Chinese race. 3. From and after the passage of this Act there shall be payable and paid by every Chinese in British Columbia, above the age of fourteen years, unto and for the use of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, the sum of ten dollars, and thereafter on the 1st day of June in each and every year there shall be likewise payable and paid by such Chinese person a further sum of ten dollars. 4. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall imme- diately upon the passage of this Act, and from time to time thereafter as occasion may require, appoint in each electoral district one or more person or persons to be called Chinese collectors, to collect and receive such pay- ments from Chinese, and such collector or collectors immediately upon such payment shall issue and deliver to the person paying the same a license in the form con- tained in the schedule hereto, and the Lieutenant- Governor in Council may require from the collectors so to be appointed such security as he may see fit and may allow them such percentage upon the amount of collec- tions as may seem reasonable and just, and the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may further allow such additional sum by way of expenses as may he necessary and reasonable for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act. 5. Any Chinese who shall he found within the Province not having in his possession a licence issued under the provisions of this Act. lawfully issued to him, shall on conviction thereof forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding forty dollars. 6. Any collector or Government servant wilfully dis- obeying any of the provisions of this Act shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars. 7. Every collector shall collect the tax from each Taxes col- Chinese, and shall as soon afterwards as may be pay over lected to bo the amount to the officer in charge of the Treasury, or to Teaslu-y* 1116 such other person as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may from time to time direct. 8. Every employer of Chinese shall furnish to the List of collector, when requested by him so to do, from time to employes to time, a list of all Chinese in his employ, or indirectly befumished. employed by him ; hut no such statement shall hind the collector, nor shall excuse him from making due inquiry to ascertain its correctness. 9. In case any employer of Chinese fails to deliver to Penalty for the collector the list mentioned in the preceding section, such fist when required so to do, or knowingly states anything or S for C ' lb falsely therein, such employer shall, on complaint of the making false collector and upon conviction before a justice of the statemell,s - peace having jurisdiction within the district wherein such employer carries on his business, forfeit and pay a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for every Chinese in his employ, to be recovered by distress of the goods and chattels of such employer failing to pay the same, or in lieu thereof shall be liable to imprison- ment for a period not less than one month and not exceeding two calendar months. 10. The collector may, by himself or his agent, levy Collector the amount of the licence from any Chinese not being tram for the in lawful possession of a licence, with costs, by distress amount of of his goods and chattels, or of any goods and chattels Htth costs 6 .’ which may he in the possession of the delinquent, or which may be upon or in any premises (whether the ° 0 f 0 ]^]he goods of tiie delinquent or not) for the time being in the distress may possession or occupation of such delinquent Chinese, and he had. for the purposes of this section premises shall be deemed to be in the possession or occupation of any Chinese when it can be shown to the satisfaction of the tribuna* having cognizance of the matter — (a.) That such Chinese habitually frequents such premises with the assent of the owner. (b.) That he is the owner or one of the owners of the premises, or has control either alone or jointly with another or others of such premises or some part thereof. (c.) That he has passed the night or slept upon such premises at any time within a week of the levy. It shall be sufficient authority for the collector to levy as aforesaid on the non-production of the licence. Proof of the lawful possession of such receipt shall lie on the person whose goods are distrained. 11. Every employer of Chinese shall demand from Licence to every such Chinese in his employ his licence, and shall be de- retain the same in his possession during the time such ’'rn p b lyw- r >y Chinese is in his employ, and shall return the same to and rc- him when he leaves his service ; and every employer as t amed aforesaid shall produce to the collector, whenever re- service, quired so to do, such licence for his inspection. 12. The toll collector at any and every toll gate which Tollcollec- may exist in the Province from time to time, shall, tors not to before allowing any Chinese to pass through any toll Chinese to gate, demand from such Chinese the production of his pass unless licence, and, until the same is produced, such Chinese pro ' shall not be allowed to proceed through the toll gate. 13. It shall be unlawful for any person to employ any Unlicensed Chinese who has not in his possession the licence re- quired by this Act, and any person guilty of an infrac- employed, tion of the provisions of this section shall forfeit and pay a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for every Chinese so employed. 14. The sum payable by a Chinese for a free miner’s Fee for free certificate shall be fifteen dollars for each year during miner’s which the same is to be in force instead of five dollars, ^Chhmse to as by the present mining laws provided, atid no free be 15 dollars, miner’s certificate shall hereafter be issued to any Chinese except upon payment of the said sum of fifteen dollars. 15. Any Chinese who shall he found mining for gold ^mine DOt and precious metals, or following the ordinary occu- without pation of a free miner, whether on his own account or Not'twbe" for others, without having in his possession a free employed miner’s certificate, lawfully issued to him subsequently in mining to the passage of this Act, and any person who shall certificate, employ any Chinese in and about gold mining who has Penalty for so doing. 217 Amends •* Licences Oi dinance, 186V.” Lead bodies of Chinese not io be exhumed or removed without per- mission. Prohibits the use of opium, except for medicinal purposes. ■Recovery of penalties. not in his possession such a certificate, shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding thirty dollars. 16. Suit-section (i.) of the Schedule A. to the “ Licences Ordinance, 1867,” is hereby amended by adding thereto the following words : “ but no licence shall be issued to any Chinese.” 17. Without the permission in writing of the Pro- vincial Secretary or Government agent of the district or place where the permission is sought it shall be unlawful to remove the remains of any dead Chinese from any cemetery or place where such dead Chinese may have been interred, or to exhume the bodies or remains of any dead Chinese, and any person guilty of an infraction of this section shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars. 18. The use of opium (except for medicinal or surgical purposes) is hereby prohibited, and any person who shall use or consume, or have in his possession any opium, except for the purposes aforesaid, shall forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars, and the onus of proof shall lie upon the party charged of showing that such opium was used, or consumed, or in his possession for medicinal or surgical purposes. 19. Any pecuniary penalty by this Act imposed may be sued for and recovered in a summary way before any justice of the peace having jurisdiction in the locality where the charge is made, and in default of immediate payment of any such penalty the same may be recovered by distress and sale of the goods of the offender, and failing sufficient distress, the offender shall suffer a term of imprisonment not exceeding three calendar months. Convictions not to be quashed tor want of form. Appeal to the county court. Security for costs, &e. of appeal. Penalty for lending or using borrowed licences, &c. Proof as to age and nationality of Chinese. Sanitary provisions affecting buildings let to Chinese. Penalty for infraction of the provisions of Section 23. 20. No conviction for any offence shall be quashed for want of form, and no conviction shall be removed into any of Her Majesty’s Courts by certiorari or reruewed in any manner except by appeal in manner hereinafter stated, that is to say : Any Chinese convicted of an offence against the provisions of this Act may appeal to the county 00111 ^ nearest to the place of conviction, provided he shall, within four days after such con- viction, have given notice in writing to the convicting magistrate of his intention to appeal, and shall have furnished security in the sum of one hundred dollars, conditioned to abide by the decision of the Appellate Court, and shall have also deposited with the convicting magistrate a sum of money sufficient in the opinion of suedi magistrate to pay the costs and expenses of a jury to try such appeal, and such appeal shall be heard and tried before the county court with or without a jury of five, at the option of the parties, and notwithstanding any defect in the proceedings, the appeal shall be heard and decided on the merits, and if the conviction be affirmed the appellant shall be punished according to the conviction, and shall pay the costs of the appeal, and if the appeal he allowed, it shall be lawful for the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to issue his warrant to the treasurer for the repayment to the appellant of the money paid by him for jury process. 21. Any Chinese who shall lend his licence or free miner’s certificate to another Chinese, and any Chinese who shall utter or pass off upon any collector or other person any licence or free miner’s certificate other than his own, with intent himself to avoid payment of the licence fee payable under this Act (and the onus of proving that such was not his intent shall rest upon the person charged,) shall forfeit and pay a penalty of not less than twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars. 22. The tribunal having cognizance of any matter under the provisions of this Act may decide, upon its own view and judgment, whether any person is a Chinese, and whether any person found by the Court to be a Chinese be of the age of fourteen years. 23. It shall not be lawful to let or occupy, or suffer to be occupied, as a dwelling, any room unless the following requirements are complied with, that is to say : — (a.) Unless such room contains at all times at least 384 cubic feet of space for each person occu- pying the same : (b.) Unless such room has a window, made to open, at least two feet square. 24. Any person who lets, occupies, or knowingly suffers to be occupied, any room contrary to the pro- visions of Section 23, shall be liable for every offence to a penalty not exceeding fifty dollars. U 72509. 25. Any room in which any person passes the night Interpre- shall be deemed to be occupied as a dwelling within the •'occupied meaning of this Act. as a dwelling.” 26. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may, by any Rides, &c. general regulation, direct that any persons imprisoned ™a(tetorthe in respect of any infraction against the provisions of manage- this Act shall be worked and employed at such places and on such public works, or local works for the public pfpersems benefit or convenience, and may make such rules and imprisoned regulations, and may alter or annul the same, for the fractions of safe custody, control, and general management of such this Act. prisoners, as the said Lieutenant-Governor may from time to time deem advisable. 27. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may also And for make such rules and regulations, not inconsistent here- carrying out with, as may from time to time appear necessary for { llis* At-tV* °* carrying out the true intent and meaning of this Act. 28. For the purpose of any proceeding taken under Burden of the provisions of this Act, the burden shall lie on the tLie^UUe?- defendant of proving that he is exempt from the ope- a ant.' ' ' ration of any of its provisions, and it shall not be necessary in any information, summons, or conviction, or other document, to state or negative any exception in or exemption under this Act or in contemplation of law. 29. This Act shall not come into operation until one Operation year from the passage hereof. postponed 30. This Act may be cited as the “ Chinese Regu- SUort lation Act, 1884.” (iv.) — An Act to prevent the Immigration of Chinese. [9th March 1885.] Whereas by the British North America Act, 1867,” Section 95, it is enacted as follows : — “ In each Province the Legislature may make laws in relation to agriculture in the Province and to immi- gration into the Province, and it is hereby declared that the Parliament of Canada may from time to time make laws in relation to agriculture in all or any of the Provinces, and to immigration into any or all of the Provinces ; and any law of the Legislature of a Province relative to agriculture or to immigration shall have effect in and for the Province as long and as far only as it is not repugnant to any Act of the Parliament of Canada : ” And whereas it is expedient to prevent the immi- gration of Chinese into British Columbia : And whereas the provisions hereinafter contained are not repugnant to any Act of the Parliament of Canada : Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows : — 1. The word “ Chinese ” in this Act shall mean and include any native of China or its dependencies, or of any islands in the Chinese seas, not born of British parents or any person born of Chinese parents. 2. It shall be unlawful for any Chinese to come into the Province of British Columbia, or any part thereof. Any Chinese who hereafter shall come into British Columbia shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dollars, to be recovered in a summary way before any justice of the peace, and in default of payment shall suffer im- prisonment, with hard labour, for any period not ex- ceeding six months. The Chinese convicted shall remain liable to the payment of the said sum of fifty dollars, until he Rhall have paid the same, notwith- standing he may undergo such imprisonment ; and so long as such sum remains unpaid, any collector of pro- vincial revenue tax, or any constable may, without warrant, levy such sum by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the Chinese convicted, Any Chinese who shall come into British Columbia may be arrested, without warrant, by any constable, and brought before any justice of the peace to be dealt with according to law E e Preamble. I nterpreta- tion of 11 Chinese. Chinese immigiath n prohibited. Penalty of 50 dollars on every Chinese coming into the province. 218 Penalty on persons assisting in bringing in Chinese. Arrests may be made without warrant for violation of this Act. Not to apply to Chinese ' employed on vessels. Provisions to enable Chinese residents leaving the province to return. Provisions to enable return of Chinese residents now absent. Fees. Justice may decide on his own view whether person pro- duced is a Chinese. 3. Any master of a ship, officer, or other person who shall bring, or assist in bringing, into British Columbia, any Chinese, or who shall assist in any way any Chinese in coming into British Columbia, shall forfeit and pay, in respect of each such Chinese, the sum of two hundred dollars, to be recovered in a summary way before any justice of the peace, and in default of payment shall be liable to be imprisoned for any period not exceeding six months. 4. Any person who shall be found violating the pro- visions of the next preceding section may be arrested, without warrant, by any constable, and brought before any justice of the peace to be dealt with accord- ing to this Act. 5. Nothing in this Act shall apply to any Chinese actually employed as seaman, cook, steward, or waiter upon any vessel wherein the number of Chinese so em- ployed shall not exceed twenty. 6. It shall be lawful for the Provincial Secretary, or any person authorised by him, upon the application of any Chinese, and upon being satisfied that such Chinese was, at the time of the passing of this Act, or had been previously, a bona fide resident of the Province, and that he desires to be absent therefrom for a temporary purpose only, to grant to such Chinese a certificate that lie is exempt from the provisions of this Act for a term to be specified in such certificate, and during the time so specified the holder of such certificate shall be exempt from the provisions of this Act : Provided that, before such certificate shall be granted, the Chinese shall have his photograph taken, at his own expense, by some photographer nominated by the officer granting the certificate, and a copy* of the photograph shall be retained and marked with a number corresponding with the number of the certificate. Each certificate shall be numbered and shall state the name, age, and general description and appearance of the applicant. 7. Notwithstanding anything in this Act contained it shall be lawful for the Provincial Secretary, upon proof to his satisfaction that any Chinese who, at any time, within one year prior to the passing of this Act, had been a stated resident of the Province, but who at the time of such passage was temporarily absent, to issue a certificate to such Chinese, exempting him from the provisions of this Act. 8. It shall be lawful to impose a fee not exceeding $5 for every certificate to be granted under the pro- visions of this Act, which fee shall form part of the Provincial Eevenue. 9. At the hearing of any prosecution under this Act, the justice may decide, upon his own view and judg- ment, whether any person charged or produced before him is a Chinese within the meaning of this Act. (b.) Chinese Immigration into Australasia. 1 . Victorian Acts. (i.) — An Act to amend the Laws affecting the Chinese immigrating to or resident in Victoria. Title of Act. Repeal of Act. Schedule. Interpre- tation. Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows that is to say 1. This Act shall be called and may be cited as the “Chinese Immigrants Statute 1865. 2. Prom and after the passing of this Act the Act mentioned in the Schedule hereto shall be and the same is hereby repealed but nothing herein shall affect any act regulation appointment or order lawfully done or made or any penalty incurred before the passing of this Act. 3. In the interpretation and for the purposes of the provisions of this Act the following -words shall unless inconsistent with or repugnant to the context have the respective meanings hereby assigned to them that is to say— The word “master” shall be held to apply to any person in command of any vessel. The word “ ship ” shall mean any soa-going vessel of any kind or description. And the word “ immigrant ’’ shall mean any male adult native of China or its dependencies or of any islands in the Chinese seas not bom of British parents or any person born of Chinese parents. 4. The Governor in Council may appoint such and so many persons to carry out the provisions of this Act with such designations as to the Governor in Council shall seem necessary or desirable. 5. The Governor in Council may make such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary for defining the duties and conduct of the officers to be appointed under the authority of this Act the registration of immigrants on their arrival at the district or place to which they may proceed the removal from such district of all or any of such immigrants if it shall be found necessary or desirable to do so the circumstances under which any such registration or removal shall be required the period for which such registry or removal is to last and the mode time and place of any such registration or removal also for the protection of immigrants and the adjustment of disputes between them and generally for the management and good government of immigrants and any such rules and regulations may alter vary or annul and substitute others as occasion may require and any immigrant or other person who shall be wilfully guilty of any breach or infringement of any such rule or regulation shall forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding five pounds. 6. The master of every ship upon arrival at any port in Victoria having passengers on board shall distinctly specify and state in the list of passengers required by any Act now or hereafter in force relating to passengers arriving in Victoria to be exhibited or delivered to the collector or other chief officer of customs at the port of arrival whether any and which of such passengers are immigrants within the meaning of this Act and in default of his delivering such list without so specifying as aforesaid such master shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding two hundred pounds. 7. If any person shall hinder molest obstruct or assault any person appointed under this Act or any person acting under his authority or under any power or authority given by this Act every such person shall on conviction forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding ten pounds. 8. The Governor in Council whenever any immigrants are sentenced to imprisonment or imprisonment and hard labor may direct that such immigrants so sentenced shall be worked and employed at such places and on such public work or local work for the public benefit or convenience and may make such rules and regulations and may alter or annul the same for the safe custody control and general management of such immigrants so sentenced as aforesaid as the Governor in Council shall deem desirable. 9. All offences under this Act shall be heard and determined and all penalties recovered in a summary manner before any two or more justices and at the hearing of any case the justices adjudicating shall decide upon their own view and judgment whether any person charged before them is or is not an immigrant within the meaning of this Act. 10. No immigrant within the meaning of this Act notwithstanding that he holds a miner’s right or business license or other document under any Act now or here- after in force relative to the goldfields shall be entitled to vote at the election of members for any mining board, Governor in Council to appoint officers. Governor may make rules and regulations. Passengers’ list to state whether immigrant s as denned by this Act are aboard or not. Penalty for obstructing officers. Immigrants imprisoned may be set to labour on local works approved of by the Governor. Penalties recovered in a summary manner. Immigrant not to vote at elections formining boards. (ii.) — An Act to amend “The Chinese Immigrants Statute 1865.” [24f7t December 1881.] Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this 219 Title and commence- ment of Act. No. 250. Number of Chinese immigrants to be brought to Colony by vessel. Ten pounds to be paid for each Chinese immigrant arriving by vessel. Penalty. Penalty on not paying or having had paid fee for entrance to the Colony. Exemption of Chinese immigrants who are British subjects. Exemption of certain officials, &c. Exemption of crews. Provision against evading Act by tran- shipping Chinese into other vessels. Burden of proof. present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to say) : — ] . This Act shall be called and may be cited as “ The Chinese Act 1881,'’ and shall be read and construed as one with “ The Chinese Immigrants Statute 1865, and shall commence and come into operation on the first day of April one thousand eight hundred and eighty- two. 2. If any vessel having on board a greater number of immigrants (within the meaning of the Act INo. 259) than in the proportion of one such immigrant to every hundred tons of the tonnage of such vessel shall arrive at any time in any port in Victoria the owner master or charterer of such vessel shall be liable on conviction to a penalty of one hundred pounds for each immigrant so carried in excess of the foregoing limitation. For the purposes of this Act the tonnage of a vessel shall be ascertained in the manner prescribed by “ The Passengers, Harbors and Navigation Statute 1865.” 3. Before any immigrant arriving from parts beyond Victoria shall be permitted to land from any vessel at any port or place in Victoria and before making any entry at the customs the master of the vessel by which such immigrant shall so arrive shall pay to the collector or other principal officer of customs the sum of ten pounds for every such immigrant, and no entry shall be deemed to have any legal effect until such payment shall have been made and such immigrant for whom such sum has been paid shall receive from the said collector or other principal officer a certificate to that effect. If any master shall neglect to pay any such sum or shall land or permit to land or suffer to land or to escape from such vessel at any port or place in Victoria any immigrant before such sum shall have been paid by such master or his agent or before such list shall have been delivered such master shall be liable for every such offence to a penalty* of fifty pounds for each immigrant so landed or permitted or suffered to land or to escape and in addition to such penalty shall also pay the sum hereby required to be paid for each such im- migrant. 4. If any immigrant shall enter or attempt to enter this Colony by sea tvho shall not have paid or had paid for him the said sum of ten pounds he shall be liable to a penalty of ten pounds and on default of payment of such penalty shall be liable to imprisonment for twelve months unless such penalty be sooner paid and may be apprehended and taken before any justice to be dealt with in due course of law. 5. Notwithstanding anything in this Act contained any immigrant arriving in Victoria who produces evidence to the satisfaction of the collector or other principal officer of customs or other duly authorised officer that he is a British subject shall be wholly exempt from the operation of this Act and a certificate of the Governor of any British colony shall on being verified to the satisfaction of such collector or other officer be sufficient evidence of the claim of such immigrant to exemption under this section. 6. The aforesaid sum of ten pounds shall not be payable by or for any immigrant duly accredited to this Colony by the Government of China or by or under the authority of the Imperial Government on any special mission. 7. The penalties and restrictions imposed by this Act shall not nor shall any of them be held to be applicable in the case of any immigrant being one of the crew of any vessel arriving in any port in Victoria and no such immigrant being one of such crew shall be discharged and landed from such vessel within Victoria or shall at any time go on shore except in the performance of his duties in connexion with such vessel, and every such immigrant so discharged and landed or so going on shore shall be liable to a penalty of twenty pounds. 8. Any vessel on board which immigrants shall be transhipped from another vessel and be brought to any port or place in this Colony shall be deemed to be a vessel bringing immigrants into the said Colony from parts beyond the said Colony and shall be subject to all the requirements and provisions of this Act, and all immigrants so transhipped and brought to such port or place shall be deemed to be immigrants arriving from parts beyond Victoria. 9. For the purposes of any proceeding taken under any of the provisions of this Act or the Act No. 259 the burden shall lie on the defendant of proving that he is exempt from the operation of any of such provisions, and it shall not be necessary in any information summons of conviction or other document to state or negative any exception in or exemption under the said Acts. 10. The Governor in Council may make such rules and regulations not inconsistent herewith as may lie necessary for carrying out the provisions of this Act. 11. The tenth section of “ The Chinese Immigrants “ Statute 1865 ’’ shall be and is hereby amended as follows by adding after the last word in such section the words following : — “ nor at any municipal or parliamen- “ tary election (notwithstanding that such immigrant is “ a ratepayer) unless such immigrant is a naturalized or *•’ natural-born subject of Her Majesty*.” 12. The collectors of the city of Melbourne and of the town of Geelong and the town clerk of every city and borough and the secretary of every shire shall when preparing the citizen burgess or voters’ list for such city town borough' or shire as the case may be omit there- from the names of all immigrants who are not known to such collectors town clerk or secretary to be natural- born or naturalized subjects of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and every such collector town clerk or secretary shall for such purpose decide upon his own belief or view or knowledge or judgment whether any ratepayer is or is not such an alien immigrant. To each and every* immigrant so omitted from any such citizen burgess or voters’ list every* such collector town clerk or secretary* shall send a notice in the form of the Schedule hereto or to the like effect. In any proceedings taken for the insertion of such immigrant’s name upon the ratepayers’ roll no costs shall be given against any such collector town clerk or secretary by reason of such omission. 13. Every* court for revising the citizen or burgess lists of the city of Melbourne or town of Geelong and every* revision court of every municipal district shall expunge from the citizen burgess or voters’ list as the case may be the names of all immigrants against whom objections shall have been lodged unless such immigrants prove to the satisfaction of the Court that they are natural-born or naturalized subjects of Her Majesty. (iii.) — An Act to amend “ The Factories and Shops Act, 1885.” [17f7t December 1887.] ****** 3. If not inconsistent with the context or subject matter, any office building or place in which Chinese are engaged directly or indirectly in working for hire or re- ward in any handicraft or in preparing or manufacturing articles for trade or sale shall be deemed a factory or workroom within the meaning of the principal Act and any Act for the time being in force amending it. 2. Queensland Acts prior to 1888. (i.) — An Act to regulate the Immigration of Chinese and to make provision against their becoming a charge upon the Colony*. [Assented to 20 th August 1877.] Whereas it is expedient to regulate the immigration of Chinese into the Colony of Queensland and to obtain security for the payment of any expenses that may be incurred in respect of such immigrants and of any dues or penalties imposed upon them Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows — 1. For the purposes of this Act the following words in inverted commas shall unless the context otherwise in- dicate bear the meanings set against them respectively “Chinese” — Any native of the Chinese Empire or its dependencies not born of British parents. E e 2 Regulations. Amendment of section 10 of Act No. 259. Collectors town clerk or secretary to omit Chinese name from citizen burgess or voters’ lists unless such Chinese be known to be a natural- born or naturalized subject. 6 Viet., No. 7, s. 15. No. 506, s. 77. Revision court to strike out alien Chinese. 6 Viet., No. 7 s. 17. No. 506, s. SO. Factories employing Chinese workmen open to inspection. Preamble. Interpreta- tion. 220 Master oil arrival to give list of Chinese aboard. Number of Chinese ships may carry. Penalty. Ten pounds to be paid for each Chinese arriving by vessel. Penalty. Vessel forfeited. Like sum for Chinese arriving otherwise. Certificate of sum paid to be given to Chinese and to be evidence. Modp of application of payments. “Vessel” — Any ship or other sea-going vessel of whatsoever kind or description. “ Master ’’ — The person other than a pilot for the time being in actual command of any such vessel. 2. The master of every vessel having Chinese onboard shall immediately on his arrival from beyond the Colony in any port of the Colony and before making any entry at the Customs deliver to the collector or other principal officer of Customs a list of such Chinese specifying the name the place of birth the apparent ago the ordinary place of residence the place and date of shipment and the calling or occupation of each such Chinese And for each default herein such master shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding two hundred pounds. 3. If any vessel shall arrive in any port in Queensland having on board a greater number of Chinese passengers than in the proportion of one to every ten tons of the tonnage of such vessel according to the registry thereof if British and if not then according to the measurement defined by “The Merchant Shipping Act 1854” the owner charterer or master of such vessel shall be liable on conviction to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds for each Chinese passenger so carried in excess. 4. Before any Chinese arriving from beyond the Colony shall be permitted to land from any vessel and before making any entry at the Customs the master of the vessel shall pay to such collector or other principal officer the sum of ten pounds for every such Chinese to be applied in manner hereinafter provided and no entry shall be deemed to have been legally made or to have any legal effect until such payment shall have been made. And if any master shall neglect to pay any such sum or shall land or permit to land any Chinese at any place in the Colony before such sum shall have been paid for or by him or before such list shall have been delivered such master shall be liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds for each Chinese so landed or permitted to land in addition to the amount of such sum. And in every such case in addition to any such penalty the vessel shall be forfeited and may be seized con- demned and disposed of in like manner as ships forfeited for a breach of any law relating to the Customs. 5. Every Chinese arriving in the Colony after the passing of this Act otherwise than by any vessel shall pay or have paid for him to some officer whom the Governor in Council may appoint at any places on or near the borders of the Colony or otherwise conveniently situate for that purpose a like sum of ten pounds. 6. The Collector or other officer receiving such sum from or for any Chinese shall without demand forthwith give him a certificate in writing under his hand of the payment of such sum which certificate shall be in a form to be prescribed by the Governor in Council. And such certificate whensoever and wheresoever produced by such Chinese shall be conclusive evidence on behalf of him- self and of any other person who may have paid such sum for him that such sum has been duly paid. 7. All sums so paid by or on behalf of any Chinese shall he paid over to the Colonial Treasurer and be by him applied in manner following that is to say — If at any time within three years from the date of the landing or arrival of any Chinese in respect of whom such sums shall have been paid such Chinese shall depart from the Colony to parts beyond the seas and shall before his departure prove to the satisfaction of the Colonial Treasurer that during his residence in the Colony he has not been confined to any gaol or lock- up after conviction of any offence and that he has paid all fines and penalties imposed upon him under the provisions of any Act in force in the Colony and that he has paid all expenses incurred in respect of his con- finement or medical treatment in any public hospital benevolent asylum lunatic asylum or other place for the care treatment or cure of the sick poor or insane and that no expense or charge has fallen upon the revenue for his support then upon production to the collector or other principal officer of Customs at the port of em- barkation of the certificate given to such Chinese on his arrival the amount so paid in respect of such Chinese shall be repaid to him on board of the ship by which he shall so depart But if he shall fail to make such proof within the period aforesaid the amount shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue. 8. If any Chinese shall enter or attempt to enter the Colony without paying or having paid for him the sum of ten pounds aforesaid he shall besides such sum be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds and may be apprehended and taken before any justice of the peace who may take sufficient bail for his appearance at the next court of petty sessions or remand him to such court as to such justice shall seem fit unless and until such Chinese shall produce a certificate of pay- ment as aforesaid. 9. At the hearing of any prosecution under this Act the justices may decide upon their own view and judg- ment whether any person charged or produced before them is a Chinese within the meaning of this Act. 10. It shall be lawful for the Colonial Treasurer or any poi son authorised by him upon the application of any Chinese and upon being satisfied that such Chinese was at the time of the passing of this Act a bon > fide resident of the Colony and that he desires to be absent therefrom for a temporary purpose only to grant to such Chinese a certificate that he is exempt from the provisions of this Act for a time to he specified in suen certificate and during the time so specified the holder of such certificate shall be exempt from all payments under this Act. 11. The sum of ten pounds aforesaid shall not be payable by or in respect of any Chinese who is one of the crew of any vessel unless he shall land from such vessel. 12. All penalties and forfeitures imposed by this Act shall be sued for prosecuted and recovered in the name of some officer of Customs or other person thereunto authorised by the Governor in Council. 13. This Act shall be styled and may be cited as “ The Chinese Immigrants Regulation Act of 1877.” (ii.) — An Act to amend “ The Chinese Immigrants Regulation Act of 1877.” [ Assented to 10th March 1884.] Whereas it is desirable to make more effectual pro- vision for restricting the immigration of Chinese into the Colony of Queensland : Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — 1. This Act shall be read and construed with and as an amendment of “ The Chinese Immigrants Regula- tion Act of 1877,” hereinafter called the principal Act. 2. The third, sixth, and seventh sections of the prin- cipal Act are hereby repealed : But such repeal shall not affect the liability of any person to any penalty for the violation of any of the provisions of the said sec- tions, or the right of any Chinese already arrived in the Colony to the repayment to him of the sum of ten pounds upon fulfilment of the conditions in the said seventh section specified. 3. If any vessel shall arrive at any port in Queens- land having on board a greater number of Chinese passengers than in the proportion of one to every fifty tons of the tonnage of such vessel, according to the registry thereof if British, and if not, then according to the measurement defined by “ The Merchant Shipping Act 1854,” the owner, charterer, and master of such vessel shall each be liable, on conviction, to a penalty not exceeding thirty pounds for each Chinese passenger so carried in excess. 4. The sum to be paid in respect of every Chinese arriving from beyond the Colony shall be thirty pounds instead of ten pounds as heretofore. The penally for entering or attempting to enter the Colony without payment of such sum shall be thirty pounds instead of not exceeding ten pounds as hereto- fore : And the fourth, fifth, eighth, and eleventh sections of the principal Act shall be read as if the sum of thirty Penalty on not paying or having had paid fee for entrance to the Colony. Evidence of person being a Chinese. Certiiicateof exemption may be granted in certain cases. Act not to apply to crew. Penalties how recovered. Short title. Preamble. Act to be read with 41. Viet., No. 8. Repeal of ss. 3, 6, and 7 of principal Act. Ships not to carry more than one Chinese passenger for every fifty tons register. Thirty pounds to l e paid for i at h Chinese arriving in Colony. 221 Money to be paid into Consolida- ted Revenue Recovery of penalties. Short title. Preamble. Repeal of 45 Vie. No. 11 . Members of Government ndemnified. Proviso. Naturaliza- tion of Chinese not allowed. Chinese leaving Colony to be subject on returning to provisions of Act. Master on arrival to give list of Chinese on board. pounds had been mentioned therein respectively instead of the sum of ton pounds, or twenty pounds, wherever either of those sums is now therein mentioned. 5. All -sums paid by or on behalf of any Chinese upon entering the Colony shall be p lid into tlic Consolidated Revenue. (j. All pecuniary penalties imposed by the principal Act or this Act may be recovered in a summary way before two justices ot' the peace. 7. This Act may be cited as “ The Chinese Immi- grants Regulation Act Amendment Act of 1884,’ and shall commence and take effect at the expiration of thirty days from the signification of the Royal Assent thereto. 3. New South Wales Act. An Act to repeal the “ Influx of Chinese Restriction Act of 1881”; to provide for the protection of the Colony from the disturbances and national dangers of Chinese immigration, to provide specially for the regu- lation of Chinese at present resident within the Colony, and to indemnify the Government for all acts done by Executive or Ministerial authority in relation to Chinese immigrants, or vessels carrying such immigrants, since the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight. [Assented to 11th July 1888.] Whereas it is expedient to provide for the protection of the Colony of New South Wales from the disturbances and national dangers which may arise from the influx of Chinese under restrictions hitherto existing, and also to provide for the regulation of Chinese resident within the said Colony : And whereas it is just and expedient to indemnify the Executive Government for all acts done by any member thereof in relation to Chinese immigrants, or any ship carrying such immigrants, since the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight : Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: — 1. The Act, entitled “ An Act to Restrict the Influx of Chinese into New South Wales,” forty-fifth Victoria number eleven, is hereby repealed. But the repeal hereby enacted shall not affect the past operation of the said Act, or the rights of any Chinese resident in this Colony at the time of the passing of this Act, or any offence committed, penalty incurred, or proceeding taken under or pursuant to the said repealed Act before the passing of this Act. 2. All Members of the Executive Government, or any Member thereof, and all persons duly authorised by the said Executive Government, or any Member thereof in that behalf who may have committed any act in pre- venting the landing of Chinese, or otherwise in relation to Chinese immigrants, or to vessels carrying such immigrants since the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, are hereby fully indemnified, and shall in all Courts of Law in New South Wales and elsewhere he held harmless in respect thereof. Provided that nothing in this Act shall he taken to deprive any person or corporation whatsoever of any right or cause of action against the Government of New South Wales which, by reason of any such acts, exists or shall have accrued before the passing of this Act. 3. After the passing of this Act no certificate of naturalisation shall he issued to any Chinese on any ground whatever, and all Chinese leaving the Colony except those who have been naturalized therein shall on returning be subject to all the provisions of this Act. 4. The master of every vessel upon arrival at any port or place in this Colony from parts beyond the Colony having Chinese on board shall, before making any entry at the customs, deliver to the Collector, or other principal officer of the Customs, a list of such Chinese, specifying to the best of his knowledge the name, the place of birth, the apparent age, the ordinary place of residence, the place and date of shipment, and the calling or occupation of each such Chinese, under a penalty for not delivering such list not exceeding two hundred pounds. 5. If any vessel having on board a greater number of Chinese than in the proportion of one Chinese to every three hundred tons of the tonnage of such vessel shall arrive at any time in any port in this Colony, the owner, master, or charterer of such vessel shall be liable on conviction to a penalty of five hundred pounds for each Chinese carried in excess of the foregoing limitation unless the defendant shall show that the Chinese so carried is by birth a British subject or one of the crew, or has not been landed in the Colony, and is not intended to be so landed, or who shall prove to the satisfaction of the Collector of Customs or other duly authorised officer, that he is the bona fide holder of a certificate of naturalization in New South Wales, or of an exemption certificate duly granted under the pro- visions of the “Influx of Chinese Restriction Act of 1881.” For the purposes of this Act the tonnage of a vessel shall be ascertained (if she be a British ship) by her certificate of registry, and, if not, or if the said certificate shall not be produced, then according to the rules of measurement prescribed by the “ Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,” being the Act of the Imperial Legislature seventeenth and eighteenth Victoria, chapter one hnndred and four. 6. Before any Chinese arriving from parts beyond this Colony shall be permitted to land from any vessel at any port or place in the said Colony, and before making any entry at the Customs, the master of the vessel by which such Chinese shall so arrive shall pay to the said Col- lector or other principal officer the sum of one hundred pounds for every such Chinese, and no entry shall be deemed to have any legal effect until such payment shall have been made, and such Chinese for whom such sum has been paid shall receive from the said Collector or other principal officer a certificate to that effect. And if any master shall neglect to pay any such sum or shall land, or permit to land, or suffer to land, or to escape from such vessel at any port or place in the said Colony any Chinese before such sum shall have been paid by such master or his agent, or before such list shall have been delivered, such master shall be liable for every such offence to a penalty of five hundred pounds for each Chinese so landed, or permitted, or suffered to land, or to escape, and in addition to such penalty shall also pay the sum hereby required to he paid for each such Chinese. 7. Every Chinese arriving in this Colony after the passing of this Act, otherwise than by a vessel shall pay, or there shall be paid for him, to some officer whom and at such places as the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, may appoint at, on, or near the borders of the Colony, or otherwise conveniently situated for that purpose, the sum of one hundred pounds. 8. If any Chinese shall enter or attempt to enter this Colony who shall not have paid or had paid for him the said sum of one hundred pounds, he shall be liable to a penalty of fifty pounds, and to the payment in addition thereto of the said sum of one hundred pounds required to be paid by section six hereof, and on default of pay- ment of such penalty and sum shall be liable to imprison- ment for two years, unless such penalty and sum be sooner paid, and may he apprehended and taken before any Justice of the Peace to be dealt with in due course of law. 9. All penalties and all moneys ordered to be paid or being the proceeds of any sale made under the authority of this Act shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue. 10. For the purposes of all proceedings under this Act, the Stipendiary or Police Magistrate or the Justices may decide, upon his or their own view and judgment, whether any person produced before them is a Chinese within the meaning of this Act. 11. No Chinese who shall arrive in this Colony after the passing of this Act shall be permitted to engage in the work of any gold, silver, or other mine, or in any mining pursuit whatever, without express authority under the hand and seal of the Minister in charge of the Department of Mines. 12. The provisions of this Act shall not be applicable to any Chinese duly accredited to this Colony by the Government of China, or by or under the authority of the Imperial Government on any special mission. E e 3 Number of ( 'li i nese to be brought to Colony by vessel. Penalty. One hun- dred pounds to be paid for each Chinese arriving in vessel. Penalty. The like sum to be paid for Chinese arriving otherwise than by vessel. Penalty on not paying or having had paid for entrance to the Colony. Appropria- tion of penalties and pay- ments under Act Evidence person being a Chinese. Not to be allowed to engage in mining. Exemption ot certain officials, &c. 222 Exemption of crews. Penalties how recovered. Exemption of Chinese who are British subjects. Provision against evading Act by tran- shipping Chinese into other vessels. Power to make regu- lations. Interpreta- tions. 13. The penalties and restrictions imposed by this Act shall not, nor shall any of them, be held to be applicable in respect of any Chinese being one of the crew of any vessel arriving in any port in New South Wales, and who shall not be discharged therefrom or land, except in the performance of his duties in connec- tion with such vessel. 14. All penalties and sums of money recoverable under this Act shall be recovered in a summary way at the suit of some officer of Customs authorised by the Colonial Treasurer, or of other officers appointed for such purpose, by like authority before any Stipendiary or Police Magistrate or two or more Justices of the Peace, in accordance with the provisions of the Acts regulating proceedings on summary conviction. And it shall be lawful for the Colonial Treasurer, by writing under his hand, to authorise any officer to detain any vessel, the master whereof shall, in the opinion of the Treasurer, have committed an offence, or be a defaulter under this Act. Such detention may be either at the port or place where such vessel is found, or at any port or place to which the said Treasurer may order such vessel to be brought. For the purposes of such deten- tion the officer so authorised shall be entitled to obtain in the customary manner such writ of assistance or other aid and assistance in and about the detention of or other lawful dealing with such vessel as are by law provided under the Act or Acts regulating Customs with reference to seizure of vessels or goods. But such detention shall be for safe custody only, and shall cease and be discon- tinued if a bond with two sufficient sureties be given by such master for the payment of the amount of such penalty and others sums as may be adjudged to be paid under the provisions of this Act. Provided that if de- fault be made in payment of any such penalty incurred by such master in terms of any conviction adjudging the payment thereof it shall be lawful for such officer to seize such vessel and for him and any other officer or person duly authorised or empowered in that behalf to take all such proceedings for the purpose of procuring the condemnation and sale of such vessel as are pro- vided by law in case of condemnation or forfeiture of a vessel for a breach of the Customs Laws of the said Colony. Provided that the proceeds of sale of any such vessel shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue, and after payment of the amount of such penalty and of all costs incurred in and about such sale and the proceed- ings leading thereto, the balance shall be placed by the Colonial Treasurer to a trust account, and be held in trust for the owners of or other persons lawfully entitled to the vessel so condemned and sold. 15. Notwithstanding anything in this Act contained, any Chinese arriving in the Colony who produces evidence to the Collector of Customs or other duly authorised officer that he is by birth a British subject shall be wholly' exempt from the operation of this Act, and a certificate of the Governor of any British Colony or of a British Consul shall be sufficient evidence of the claim of such Chinese to exemption under this section, nor shall anything in this Act apply to any Chinese who shall prove to the satisfaction of the Collector of Cus- toms, or other duly authorised officer, that he is the bond fide holder of a certificate of naturalisation in New South Wales, or of an exemption certificate duly granted under the provisions of the “ Influx of Chinese Restric- tion Act of 1881.” 16. Any vessel on board which Chinese shall be tran- shipped from another vessel and be brought to any port or place in this Colony shall be deemed to be a vessel bringing Chinese into the said Colony from parts be- yond the said Colony, and shall be subject to the provi- sions of this Act. 17. The Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, may make regulations for carrying out the provisions of this Act. A copy of such regulations shall, within fourteen days, be laid before both Houses of Parliament, if Parliament be then in Session, and if not then in Session, within fourteen days after the commencement of the next Session ; and if disapproval of such regulations is not expressed by resolution within fourteen days thereafter, they shall have the force of law. 18. For the purposes of this Act the following words in inverted commas shall, unless the context otherwise indicate, bear the meanings set against them re- spectively : — “ Chinese,” any 1 person of the Chinese race. “Vessel,” any ship or vessel of whatsoever kind or description. “ Master,” the person (other than a pilot) for the time being in actual command or charge of any vessel. 19. This Act may be cited as the “ Chinese Restriction and Regulation Act of 1888.” In the name and on behalf of Her Majesty I assent to this Act, without prejudice to Her Majesty’s power of disallowance, should she sec fit to exorcise the same. Government House, Sydney, Carrinaion. 11 July 1888. J ■ 4. Queensland Act of 1890. An Art for the further Restriction of Chinese Immigration. [Reserved. Her il fajesty's Assent Proclaimed btli February, 1890.] Whereas at a meeting of representatives of Austra- lasian Governments, held at Sydney in the month o June, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, it was amongst other things resolved that it is desirable that uniform Australasian legislation should be adopted for the restriction of Chinese immigration : And whereas the provisions of this Act were approved of by such representatives as the basis of such uniform legis- lation : And whereas it it desirable to legislate on such basis accordingly : Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — 1. In the construction of this Act the following words shall have the following meanings : — “ Chinese ” shall include every person of Chinese race not exempted from the provisions of this Act; “ Ship ” shall include every steamer, ship, boat, or other vessel, whether propelled by steam or sails or by both ; “ Master ” shall include every person, other than a pilot, for the time being in command or charge of any ship ; “Collector” — The Collector or Sub-collector of Customs or other officer of Customs at any port. 2. “ The Chinese Immigrants Regulation Act of 1877 ” and “ The Chinese Immigrants Regulation Act Amendment Act of 1884 ” are hereby repealed, but such repeal shall not affect any act or thing lawfully done, or commenced or contracted to be done, under the provisions of such repealed Acts : Provided that any offence already committed, or any penalties or for- feitures already incurred, may be punishable and re- coverable under the said Acts as if the same had not been repealed. 3. This Act shall not apply — (1.) To any person duly accredited to any Aus- tralasian Colony as the representative of, or on any special mission from, any Government ; (2.) To any person born in Queensland; '3.) To any person, or any class of persons, who for the time being are exempted from the pro- visions hereof. 4. It shall be lawful for the Governor in Council from time to time, by proclamation published in the “ Gazette,” to declare that the provisions of this Act shall not apply to any person or anj' class of persons mentioned in such proclamation, either generally or for any time fixed by such proclamation. Any such proclamation may be revoked by the Governor in Council by proclamation published in the “ Gazette.” 5. No ship shall enter any port or place in the Colony having on board a greater number of Chinese pas- sengers than in the proportion of one Chinese to every five hundred tons of the tonnage of such ship. The tonnage shall, if the ship be of British registry, Short tille. Preamble. Interpreta- tion. Repeal of 41 Vic. No. S and 47 Vic. No. 13. Exemptions. Exemptions to be de- clared by proclama- tion. Number of Chinese restricted to one for every 500 tons of ship’s registered tonnage. 223 Master of ship arriv- ing with Chinese to report to Customs. Master to muster crew before clearance. Penalty for unauthor- ised landing. Chinese entering Colony borderwise. Penalty to remain due till paid. ho ascertained by her certificate of registry, and if otherwise, or if such certificate be not produced, then according to the rules of measurement provided by “ The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854.'' If any ship enters any port or place in the Colony, having on board any Chinese passengers in excess of such number, the owner, master, or charterer of the ship shall, on conviction, be liable to a penalty of five hundred pounds, the amount whereof shall not be re- duced by the justices, for each Chinese passenger in excess of such number ; and in default of payment shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for the period of twelve months. 6. Before any person shall be permitted to land from any ship arriving at any port or place in this Colony from parts beyond the Colony, and having any Chinese on hoard, and before making any entry at the Customs, the master shall deliver to the Collector a list showing the number and names of all the Chinese on board such ship, including the crew of the ship. In this list shall be clearly stated the place of ship- ment and the destination, and the calling or occupation ot each such Chinese, distinguishing crew, passengers, and stowaways (if any), and for the purposes of this Act any stowaway being a Chinese shall be deemed to be a Chinese passenger. The master on delivery of the list shall, if required by the Collector, produce the ship’s articles, and muster the whole of the crew and passengers of the ship for examination by the Collector, and it shall be lawful for the Collector to search or cause a search to be made in every part of such ship with the view of ascertaining whether any Chinese have been introduced contrary to the provisions of this Act ; and the master of every ship shall afford to the Collector every facility for making the search. For any default in the observance of the provisions of this section the master shall on conviction be liable to a penalty of one hundred pounds. 7. The master of every ship arriving in any port of the Colony having Chinese on board such ship shall, before being permitted to clear from such port, cause the whole of the Chinese crew and passengers of the ship to be mustered in the presence of the Collector or any Police officer. The names and number of the crew present at such muster shall be carefully checked with the names and number appearing on the ship’s articles, and on the list hereinbefore required to be delivered by the master to the Collector on arrival. If, on mustering the Chinese Crew on board of any ship before clearance, it be found that any Chinese who arrived at the port, and who formed part of the crew of the ship, is not present at such muster, every Chinese so absent shall be deemed to be a Chinese passenger who has been introduced into the Colony contrary to the provisions of this Act, and the owner, master, or charterer of the ship, to the crew of which any such Chinese so belonged, shall be liable to the penalty pro- vided in this Act for bringing to the Colony Chinese passengers in excess of the number which by this Act may lawfully be brought. 8. Any Chinese who enters the Colony by water, otherwise than by a ship duly entered at the Customs, and not having on board a greater number of Chinese passengers than in the proportion of one Chinese to every five hundred tons of the tonnage of such ship, shall be liable to a penalty of fifty pounds, the amount whereof shall not he reduced by the justices, and in default of payment shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for the period of six months. 9. Any Chinese who enters this Colony by land without obtaining a permit in writing from some person appointed by the Governor in Council to grant the same, shall bo liable to a penalty of fifty pounds, the amount whereof shall not he reduced by the justices, and in default of payment shall lie liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for the period of six months, and shall further be liable, pursuant to any warrant or order of the justices, to bo removed or deported to the Colony from which he has come. 10. Proceedings for the recovery of a penalty for an offence against the provisions of either of the two last preceding sections may he taken from time to time, and as often as may be necessary, and notwithstanding that a period of six months may have elapsed from the com- mission of the offence, until the whole amount penalty is paid. And, until such payment, it shall not bo an answer to proceedings for the recovery of the penalty or any unpaid portion thereof that the defendant has already been convicted of the same offence, or that he has suffered imprisonment for default of payment of the penalty or any part thereof. 11. Every ship, on board of which Chinese are train" Ship Iran- shipped from any other ship and brought to any port or s hi^pm g place in this Colony, shall be deemed to he a ship f rom any- bringing Chinese into the Colony from parts beyond the other ship. Colony, and shall be subject to the provisions of this Act. 18. The Colonial Treasurer may, by writing under his Treasurer hand, authorise the Collector or any officer of Police to may order detain any ship, the master whereof has, ill the opinion of the Colonial Treasurer, committed an offence or is a defaulter under this Act. Such detention may be either at the port or place where the ship is found, or at any port or place to which the Colonial Treasurer may order the ship to be brought. For the purposes of such detention, the Collector or officer officer so authorised, shall be entitled to obtain in the detaining customary manner, such writ of assistance or other aid and '™ : ' t ° ol ' assistance, in and about the detention of, or other lawful assistance, dealing with such ship, as are by law provided under the Act or Acts regulating Customs with reference to seizure of ships or goods. Such detention shall be for safe custody only, and Ship may be shall cease and be discontinued if a bond with two master'' 1 ' sufficient sureties he given by the master for the pay- entering ment of the amount of such penalty and other sums as into bond may be adjudged to be paid under the provisions of this Act- Provided that if default be made in payment of the Ship may be penalty incurred by the master in terms of any of conviction adjudging the payment thereof, it shall be payment of lawful for the Collector or such officer of Police to seize penalty, the ship, and for him and any other officer or person duly authorised or empowered in that behalf, to take all such proceedings for procuring the condemnation and sale of the ship as by law are provided for the con- demnation or forfeiture of a ship for a breach of the Customs laws of the Colony. The proceeds of the sale of any ship so condemned Proceeds of shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue, and, after sale of ship payment of the amount of the penalty and of all costs toCou- incurred in and about such sale and the proceedings solidated leading thereto, the balance shall be placed by the Re ' enue - Colonial Treasurer to a trust account, and be held in trust for the owners of the ship'or other persons lawfully entitled thereto. 13. The Governor in Council may make regulations Governor in for carrying out the provisions of this Act. Council A copy of such regulations shall, within fourteen days thereafter, be laid before both Houses of Parliament if r Parliament he then in Session, and if not then in Session, within fourteen days after the commencement of the next Session. If disapproval of such regulations is not expressed by resolution of the Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly within fourteen days thereafter, they shall, after publication in the “ Gazette,’’ have the force of law. 14. For the purposes of anj* proceedings under this p roof of Act, the justices adjudicating may decide, upon their persons own view and judgment, whether any person produced Chinese before them is a Chinese within the meaning of this Act, or not ; and the averment in any information or other proceedings fora breach of this Act that a person named or referred to therein is a Chinese, shall he sufficient proof thereof until the contrary be shown. 15. All penalties and forfeitures imposed for breaches Penalties of the provisions of this Act shall be recovered in a how ., summary way belore any two or more justices ot the peace at the suit of some officer of Customs or other person authorised by the Colonial Treasurer to sue for the same. 16. All penalties and all moneys ordered to be paid, or Disposal of being the proceeds of any sale made under the authority P ena tles - of this Act, shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue of the Colony. 17. This Act may be cited for all purposes as “The Chinese Immigration Restriction Act, 1888.” E e 4 224 Preamble. Repeal of Law 13, 185!), as to over- land intro- duction of labourers. Employer’s bonus to labourer (where agreed to be paid) to be received by olticer attesting contract. and deposi- ted in Government Savings Bank. On com- pletion of service to be paid over to servant, failing objection by master. In event of disputes between master and servant, the Resident Magistrate may decide as to award- ing bonus. Requisitions for servants may be made to Resident Magistrate, who shall inform natives. Servants’ applications to be entered. Labour Returns. (c.) Native Labour in Natal. (i.) Law to facilitate the obtaining of labour, 1871. Whereas it is expedient that Masters and Servants should have greater facilities for entering into con- tracts with each other, that servants should have better opportunities for obtaining employment, and that when more servants are wanted they may be obtained from neighbouring countries, and for that purpose to repeal a portion of Law No. 13, 1859, and make suitable provisions in this law. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant Governor of Natal, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows : — 1. That Law No. 13, 1859, shall be, and tho same is hereby repealed, as far as regards the introduction of labourers overland. 2. When and so often as it shall be stipulated as a, condition of any contract of service, that any sum of money shall be paid as a bonus by the employer to any labourer before, or at the time of, signing the contract of service, the Resident Magistrate or other officer empowered thereto shall be required to receive on account of such labourer, such sum of money, or such part thereof, as he may be requested by the contracting parties to receive. All such contracts shall be duly registered by the Resident Magistrate or other officer as aforesaid in a book to be kept for that purpose. 3. All such sums of money so received as aforesaid shall be deposited with the Resident Magistrate of the district, and be paid by him into the Government Savings Bank, to be invested at interest, for the purpose hereinafter mentioned. 4. That on the expiration of the term of the said contract, the Resident Magistrate shall, on the appli- cation of the servant, pay T over to him the amount of the bonus, with interest then due thereon, provided no objection thereto shall have been previously given, in writing, to the Resident Magistrate by the said master. 5. If any dispute should arise between the said master and the said servant, and such dispute be referred to the Resident Magistrate for adjudication thereon, and if the Resident Magistrate should annul the contract of service, or if, at the expiration of the contract time, the master should object to the servant receiving the bonus and interest as aforesaid, the Resident Magistrate shall decide whether the said sum of money and interest, or how much thereof, if any, shall be paid to the said servant ; and whatever amount is not paid to the said servant shall forthwith be paid to the said master : Provided that the receipt of such money by the said master shall not in any way interfere with his right of action at law for damages caused by breach of contract. 6. That any person in want of servants may make application, in writing, to the Resident Magistrate of the district in which such person resides, and such application shall state what number of servants are required by such person, for what period, and at what rate of wages he wishes to hire them : And the Resident Magistrate shall enter such application in a book to be kept for that purpose. 7. On receipt of any such application by any Resident Magistrate, he shall take sufficient steps to inform the natives residing in Ins district that they can obtain employment on making application at his office. 8. That when a servant makes application for em- ployment to a Resident Magistrate, such application shall be entered by the Resident Magistrate in a book to be kept for that pur pose : And the Resident Magis- trate shall cause the said servant to be told the names of the persens who have made application for servants, and the conditions on which such persons wish to engage servants. 9. Tnat returns shall be sent, on the first day of each month, or as near thereto as possible, by the Resident Magistrates to the Colonial Secretary, stating the number of servants who have applied for masters and the number of masters who have applied for servants, and, stating also how many masters and servants have entered into contracts during the month. 10. Should such return show that the applicants for labour or for servants are in excess of the supply at more than one of the Resident Magistrates’ offices, the Colonial Secretary shall forthwith publish in the “ Government Gazette,” and in each of the newspapers, a statement showing at which of the Resident Magis- trates’ offices such excess exists, and to what extent, and each Resident Magistrate shall on application supply to masters and servants all information in his possession respecting such excess of applications for labour or for servants, as the case may be. 11. When the returns from the Resident Magis- trates show a considerable deficiency of servants, it shall and may be lawful for the Lieutenant Governor to in- troduce the required number of servants from the countries beyond the borders of the Colony, and provide for the return of such servants to their respective countries, provided such servants shall have worked not less than one year in Natal. 12. One calendar month before sending for such servants the Lieutenant Governor shall cause to be announced, once in the “ Government Gazette,” and once in" all the local newspapers, his intention to send for such servants. 13. That special application may be made to the Resident Magistrate by such employers as wish to have such servants sent for as before provided, such applications to be made by form, as in Schedule A., hereunto annexed ; and it shall not be lawful for the Resident Magistrate to register such application unless he receives theiewith a sum of ten shillings for each servant applied for in such application, which sum may be expended in the introduction of such servants, but such sum, or any portion thereof, not being so expended, shall be, within six months from the time of such application, returned to the said applicant. 14. Before any of the said applications are complied with the said master making such applications shall sign an undertaking, in the form provided in Schedule B., hereunto annexed. 15. It shall, and may be, lawful for the Lieutenant Governor to grant a license, free of charge, to such persons as he may approve, to introduce labourers overland from countries beyond the borders of the Colony, on application being made to the Secretary for Native affairs to that effect, and such license shall state the rate ol wages to be given. Any person so introducing labourers from beyond the borders of the colony, without such written jiermission, shall be liable, on conviction, to a penalty not exceeding £50, or, in default thereof, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding four months. 16. Any labourers introduced into the Colony under the license of the Lieutenant-Governor shall, as soon as they have entered the Colony, and until they shall have entered into contracts of service in manner hereafter provided, be considered the servants of persons so introducing them, and shall come under the provisions of Ordinance No. 2, 1850, except as affected by the pro- visions of this law. 17. Each person so introducing such labourers shall proceed to the office of the nearest Resident Magistrate, who. on the application of such person, shall furnish, at the expense of such applicant as many native mes- sengers as may be deemed necessary for the safe conduct of such labourers to the office of the Resident Magistrate of the county in which their services are required, and such labourers may enter into a contract of service with the person for whom they have been introduced under Ordinance No. 2, 1850, before the Resident Magistrate last mentioned. 18. The two last preceding clauses shall also apply to labourers when introduced overland by the Government. 19. If any labourer or labourers, after being brought to the office of the Resident Magistrate of the district in which his or their labour is required, should choose to enter into the service of any employer other than those who agreed with the agent for their introduction, such employer shall be bound to pay to the aforesaid agent such cost of introduction as shall have been previously agreed upon, and in addition, ten per cent, upon such Where demand and supply unequal at more than one majes- trac.v, state- ment to bo published. In event of considerable deficiency of servants arising, Lieut. Governor to introduce servants from beyond the Co lony, and pre- viously pub- licly notify hisnitention of so doing. Special applications to be re- ceived and registered. Applicant to sign un- dertaking to pay expense of introduc- tion. Lieut. Governor may grant license to approved persons to introduce labourers overland. Labourers to be deemed servants of introducer, until they have con- tracted with other per- sons. Resident Magistrate to supply messengers for safe conduct of labour-ers to destined Magistracy. Sections 1G and 17 ap- plicable to labourers in - traduced by Government overland. Person in- troducing, immigrants to receive compensa- tion, if they enter into contract with some other person. 225 Contracts to supply native labour in lieu of land rent, requisites of. Wages thereunder to be paid to thelabourers unless other- wise agreed. Liability of person to whom labour is to be given thereunder defined. Liability of persons con- tracting to supply such labour defined. Action for damages under said contracts, when and how insti- tuted. cost, to bo paid to the person or persons who agreed with the agent for the introduction of such labourer or labourers but havo not obtained the number or proportion agreed upon. 20. And whereas it is further necessary to provide for the regulation of cases in which labour is agreed to be supplied in lieu of rent by natives residing on lands, the private property of any individual, that when and so often as a contract is entered into to supply other labour than that of the contractor, or in addition to the labour of the contractor, the number of servants to-be supplied, the time during which each servant is to be employed, the amount of wages to be paid to each servant, and whether rations are to be given to each servant, shall be specified in such contract, and it shall be lawful for a Resident Magistrate to attest such contracts, but the attestation of a Resident Magistrate shall not be neces- sary to the validity of such contract, or for the validity of any other contract mentioned or contemplated by this law, but the person contracting to employ the labour specified in any such contract shall, in the absence of such attestation, be held responsible for reasonable proof that the contract was fully and correctly explained to the other contracting party. 21. All wages agreed to be paid by contracts under this law shall be paid to the servant actually working, unless otherwise provided in the contract. 22. Any person contracting for a supply of labour as provided for in clause 20 of this law shall be liable for the whole of the wages he may have contracted to pay, and rations he may have contracted to supply, notwith- standing lie may not employ the whole or any part of the labour mentioned in the contract, but should any servant neglect or refuse to offer his or her services at the time specified in the contract, or should be willing to engage him or herself to any other employer, such person shall not be liable to employ or pay wages or supply rations to such servant. 23. The person or persons contracting to supply labour shall be liable for all damages caused by his or their failing to supply the number or class of servants mentioned in such contract at the time specified therein. 24. Any action for damages instituted by or on behalf of either of the said contracting parties, in respect of any breach of such contract, shall be instituted and tried in the Court of the Resident Magistrate having jurisdiction, but such action shall not be sustained unless it is commenced within three calendar months from the date when the cause of action arose. Such damages against con- tractors re- coverable as rent, to extent of £ 10 . Duration of verbal and written con- tracts respectively. 25. Whenever a contract to supply labour shall be accepted by the owner or occupier of land, in whole or in part, as rent for the use of land by the person contracting to supply such labour, and when damages shall have been awarded, and when the sum so awarded shall not exceed ten pounds sterling, the said sum shall be considered rent and be recoverable as such, and when the snm so awarded shall exceed ten pounds, that amount only shall be considered rent, and the balance may be recovered in the usual way. 26. Verbal contracts of service or to supply labour shall not be binding for a longer period than one year, and written contracts of service or to supply labour for a longer period than three years. 31. The term “ Magistrate ” occurring in this law interpret!. • shall mean the Residont Magistrate or Assistant Resi- tion clause. dent Magistrate and no other, and the term “ officer ” shall mean any person appointed by the Lieutenant Governor for the purposes of this law. 32. This law shall commence and take effect from and after the promulgation thereof in the “ Government law. Gazette.” No. 21, 1888. (Signed) A. F. Havelock, Governor. (ii.) Law to facilitate the Registration of Native Servants. Whereas it is desirable to assist the Town Councils of Preamble, the Boroughs of Pietermaritzburg and Durban to effect a registration of Native Servants and Servants belonging to Uncivilised Races within the said Boroughs. Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of Natal, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows : — 1. In construing this law the term “ Native ” shall Interpreta- mean a Native as defined in the Law No. 14, 1888. tl0n * The term “Uncivilised Races” shall include all bar- barous or semi-barbarous races, and all Indians intro- duced into this Colony as indentured labourers, but who shall not at the time being be serving under such in- denture or a renewal thereof. 2. The Town Councils of the Boroughs of Pieter- TowmCoun- maritzburg and Durban, constituted under Law No. 19, termaritz- 1872, shall be and the same are hereby authorised to burg and establish a system of registration of Natives, or persons belonging to uncivilised races, resident, and employed system of by the day or month, or any longer period, or seeking registration employment, within their respective boroughs. 3. Such system of registration shall be by Bye-laws, ^ 1 ^ l hs ^ ste “ l to be made and confirmed as other Bye-laws of the said B ye ?i a \vs. Boroughs, under the provisions of the “ Municipal Corporations Law, 1872.” 4. Any person contravening any of the Bye-laws made Penalty for under the provisions of this law shall be liable to pay a ing B ye . fine not exceeding £2, or in default of payment to be laws, imprisoned with or without hard labour for any period not exeeding two months. 5. All prosecutions for any such contraventions may Prosecution, be instituted before the Magistrate having jurisdiction in such Borough, by or on behalf of the Town Council. 6. The police or other proper officers of the Borough Arrest ot are hereby empowered summarily to arrest all persons 11 enlei3 ‘ contravening any of the said bye-laws, and to lodge them in the station-house of the Borough for the purpose of being brought to trial at the first available opportunity, such period not to exceed 24 hours : Provided that it shall be lawful for such police or other officers to release any person from such custody upon reasonable bail to appear and answer to the charge to b6 brought against him. 7. Provision may be made by the said Bye-laws for Charge for such a reasonable charge for each entry in the register register, as shall be approved by the Governor in Council. Illegal clauses not to vitiate contract. Disputes between natives thereunder triable under Native Law. Construc- tion of this law as regards existing laws. 27. Should one or more of the stipulations of any contract entered into for the supply of labour be judged illegal, the remaining clauses thereof shall not be thereby invalidated. 28. Any dispute arising between native and native, with reference to any such contract, and brought before a Resident Magistrate, shall be adjudicated upon by such Resident Magistrate in his capacity as Adminis- trator of Native Law, and not otherwise, and such adjudication shall not be liable to review, except before the Supreme Chief. 29. The provisions of this law shall have full force and effect, anything in Ordinance No. 2, 1850, in Ordi- nance No. 13, 1852, in Ordinance No. 4, 1855, in Law No. 18, 1862, and in Law No. 23, 1865, to the contrary notwithstanding. Governor iu 30. The Lieutenant Governor in Council shall make C RE have P°^ er to P ass : and Publish in the “ Government Gazette,’ and from time to time to alter, amend, vary, or annul regulations for carrying out the provisions of this law, which regulations shall, after such publication, have the same force and effect as if verbatim embodied in this law. 8. Provision may be made by the said Bye-laws for the registration of contracts between masters and servants who may wish to register such contracts. 9. Any person residing where this law is in opera- tion, employing a Native, or person belonging to any uncivilised race, not provided with a registration ticket, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ,£ J 2, or in default of payment to imprisonment for seven days. Contracts between masters and servants may be registered. Penalty for employing servants not provided with regis- tration ticket. 10. All fines and money penalties taken under the provisions of this law shall form a portion of the revenues of the respective boroughs. 11. The cost of maintaining in prison any person im- prisoned under the provisions of the fourth section of this law shall be defrayed by the respective Corporations. 12. None of the provisions of this law shall apply to European servants or servants of European descent. Given at Government House, Natal, this Twenty- fourth day of October, 1888. By command of His Excellency the Governor, (Signed) F. S. Haden. Colonial Secretary. Fines and penalties to form part of the borough revenues. Cost of maintaining offenders in prison to be defrayed by Corporation. This Law not to apply to European servants or servants European descent. Ff U 75209, 226 (d.) Kanaka Labour in New Zealand. (i.) An Act to make provision for Regulating and Con- trolling the Introduction and Treatment of Labourers from the Pacific Islands. [. Assented to 18th November, 1880.] Preamble. Be it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament Assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — PART I. Preliminary. Repeal of “ Polynesian Labourers Act of 1868.” 1. “ The Polynesian Labourers Act of 1868 ” is hereby repealed, but nothing herein contained shall affect any Act or thing lawfully done, or commenced, or con- tracted to be done, under the authority of the said Act. Definition of terms. 2. In this Act the following terms shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the several meanings set against them respectively, that is to say, — “Pacific Islander,” or “ Islander ”* * * § * *— A native, not of European extraction, of any island in the Pacific Ocean which is not in Her Majesty’s domi- nions, nor within the jurisdiction of any civilised power. “ Native passenger,” or “ passenger.” — An islander being conveyed on board of any vessel licensed to carry islanders under the authority of this Act. “ Labourer.” f — A Pacific Islander who has been brought to Queensland, and the stipulated time for whose return to his native island has not arrived. “ Inspector.” J — An Inspector appointed under this Act. “ Employer.”— An employer of a Pacific Islander or labourer, or the manager or overseer of such employer, or any person having the actual charge of an estate or place where an islander or labourer is employed. “ Tropical or semi-tropical agriculture.” § — The business of cultivating sugar-cane, cotton, tea, coffee, rice, spices, or other tropical or semi- tropical productions or fruits, and of rendering the products thereof marketable. “Minister.” — The Colonial Secretary, or other minister charged with the execution of this Act. “ Immigration agent.” — The Immigration Agent at Brisbane, or the Assistant Immigration Agent at any other port. Not lawful to introduce Pacific Island labourers except under this Act. 3. No person shall hereafter introduce islanders into the Colony of Queensland, except under the provisions of this Act. Act to apply to employers and labourers at time of passing 4. The provisions of this Act shall, so far as the same are applicable, be applied to all Pacific Island labourers introduced into this colony before the passing of this Act, and to their employers, but shall not apply to any Pacific Island labourers now or hereafter employed solely in pearl or beche-de-mer fisheries || on the Queens- land coast. * By section 2 of the Amendment Act of 1880 the term “Pacific Islander ” or “ Islander” is declared to mean and include, and, so far as regards islanders already in Queensland, to be deemed to have always meant and included, a native, not of European extraction, of any island in the Pacific Ocean, which was not on the eighteenth of November, one thousand eight hundred and eighty, within Her Majesty’s dominions or within the jurisdiction of any civilised power. t By section I of the Amendment Act of 1884 it is enacted that the term “ labourer,” when used in the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Parts of this Act, shall include all islanders, whether the stipulated time for their return to their native islands has arrived or not, t By section 3 of the Amendment Act of 1885 the term “ Inspector ” in this Act and in the Amendment Act of 1884 is made to include “ Assistant Inspector.” § By section 2 of the Amendment Act of 1884 the term “ Tropical or semi-tropical agriculture ” in the Principal Act, and that Act is defined to mean Field work in connection with the cultivation of sugar-cane, cotton, tea, coffee, rice, spices or other tropical or semi-tiopical pioductions or fruits ; but not including — (a) The business of engineers, engine-drivers, engine fitters, black- smiths, wheelwrights, farriers, sugar-boilers, carpenters, sawyers, splitters, fencers, bullock-drivers, or mechanics ; Appointment of Inspectors. 5. The Governor in Council may from time to time appoint fit and proper persons to be Inspectors of Pacific Islanders and labourers for the purposes of this Act. Appointment of Government Agents. 6. The Governor in Council may from time to time appoint fit and proper persons to be Government Agents, to accompany vessels 'licensed to carry Pacific Islanders under the provisions of this Act. PART II. The Introduction of Pacific Islanders. Form of application. — Schedule A. 7. Any person desirous of introducing Pacific Island* ers shall make application to the Immigration Agent in the form in Schedule A. to this Act, or to the like effect, for a license to introduce such islanders, stating the number proposed to be introduced and the estate or place where they are intended to be employed. License not to issue to others than those engaged in tropical or semi-tropical agriculture. - But no such license shall be granted unless the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Minister that he is engaged or has made provision for engaging in tropical or semi-tropical agriculture, and that the islanders whom he desires to introduce are intended to be employed in such agriculture only.^f Application to be accompanied by bond. — Schedule E . 8. Such application shall be accompanied by a bond in the form in Schedule B. to this Act, for a sum equal to five pounds for every islander proposed to be intro- duced, for the purpose of providing for the return passage of such islander to his native island at the expiration of his term of service. Such bond must be executed by the applicant and two sureties, to be ap- proved by the Immigration Agent.** Applicant for license to pay capitation fee. Every applicant shall, previous to the issue of a license, pay to the Immigration Agent the sum of thirty shillings ff for each islander proposed to be intro- duced. Such sum shall be appropriated to defray the expenses incurred by the Immigration Agent in super- vising the introduction of the islanders and their sub- sequent return to their native islands. License may issue. — Schedule C. A license in the form in Schedule C. to this Act may then be issued, authorising the applicant to introduce the number of islanders mentioned in the application, or any less number. Refund on islanders short shipped. In the event of a less number being introduced tnan the license authorises, the amount paid by the applicant in excess of a sum equal to thirty shillings for every islander actually introduced may be refunded to him. Master to execute bond prior to proceeding to recruit islanders. — Schedule D. 9. The master of any ship intended to carry native passengers from the Pacific Islands to Queensland shall make application to the Immigration Agent for a license for such ship. Such application shall be (b) The business of grooms or coachmen ; (e) The business of horse-driving or carting, except in field work or (d) Domestic or household service : And by section 4 of the Extension Act of 1802 it is declared to include Ihe work of handling sugar cane and megass.but not to include any work in connection with the cultivation of maize, or the work of ploughing, or, except as aforesaid, any work done within a sugar factory or sugar refinery. || By section 17 of the Amendment Act of 1884 it is provided that, notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the provisions of section 42 of this Act, relating to the supply of intoxicants to labourers and islanders, shall extend and apply to all islanders, whether employed in pearl or b.ehe-de-mer fisheries on the Queensland coast or not. If By section 11 of the Amendment Act of 1885 it was provided that no license to introduce islanders should be granted after the Slst December, 1890, but the section referred to is repealed by section 3 of tiie Extension Act of 1892. ** By section 9 of the Amendment Act of 1S85 it is provided that all moneys recovered in respect of any bond given under this Act shall be paid into the Treasury, to the credit of “ The Pacific Islanders Fund." ft By section 5 of the Amendment Act of 1885 the amount of the capita- tion fee here prescribed is increased to three pounds. For " thirty shillings ” read " three pounds,” see section 5 of Amend- ment Act of 1S85. 227 accompanied by a bond for five hundred pounds in the form in Schedule D. to this Act, made by the master with two sufficient sureties.* License to be issued. — Schedule E. Upon the approval by the Minister of such appli* cation and of the proposed sureties, a license in the form of Schedule E. to this Act shall be granted by the Minister, authorising such ship to be employed in introducing islanders under this Act. Such license shall specify the number of passengers, not being greater than the number hereinafter prescribed, which such ship may carry. Bond to be signed by master for return of islanders to their proper islands . — Schedule F. 10. The master or owner of any ship intended to convey passengers from Queensland to the Pacific Islands shall enter into a bond in the sum of five hundred pounds, in the form of Schedule F. to this Act, to provide for the return of such passengers to their native villages on their respective islands ; and no islander shall be permitted to embark in any ship for the purpose of his return to his native island until such bond has been duly executed.* Number of passengers. ( Vide Imperial Act 18 and 19 Vic. c. 110.) 11. No ship shall be authorised to carry a greater number of passengers than in the proportion of one statute adult to every twelve clear superficial feet of space allotted to their use ; and the height between decks shall not be less than six feet six inches from deck to deck. Provided that when the height between decks exceeds six feet six inches, a greater number may be taken, but not in the whole a number exceeding one adult for every seventy-eight cubic feet of space. Penalty for obstructing a Government Agent. (3.) The master shall not obstruct or attempt to obstruct the Government Agent in the discharge of his duty, and shall not bring on board, or allow to be brought on board, or remove, or allow to be removed from the ship, any passenger, without the consent of the Government Agent. Age of labourers. (4.) No passenger shall be introduced who, in the opinion of the Government Agent, is less then sixteen years of age. Water on the voyage. (5.) Three quarts of water daily during the voyage shall be allowed to each passenger, exclusive of the quantity used for cooking purposes. Provisions on the voyage. (6.)f Provisions shall be issued to each passenger during the voyage according to the following scale, namely, — Daily Provisions for Each Passenger. Yams or potatoes . lbs. - 5 oz. 0 Or rice 9 - 2 0 Tea - - 0 04 Sugar ... - - 0 2 Tobacco per week - - 0 14 Pipes per week - - - one. (7.)f The undermentioned clothing shall be sup- plied to each passenger immediately on embarka- tion in advance, namely: — Males. Females. 1 flannel shirt 1 pair serge trousers 1 double blanket 1 winsey dress 1 flannel petticoat 1 double blanket. Proportion of passengers to deck area. But no ship, whatever her tonnage or superficial space of passenger deck, shall be authorised to carry a greater number of passengers in the whole than in the proportion of one statute adult to every five superficial feet clear for exercise on the upper deck or poop or on any roundhouse or deckhouse properly secured and fitted on the top with a railing or guard. In computing the superficial area of that portion of a ship’s between decks which is allotted to the passengers’ use, the average beam measurement of such portion shall be taken midway between the upper and lower decks. Every ship shall be fitted with open berths or sleeping places in not, more than two tiers, and the lowest tier shall be raised six inches at the least from the lower deck, and the interval between the two tiers of berths shall not be less than two feet six inches. All labourers shall be berthed between decks or in deckhouses. Length of voyage. 13. The length of the voyage to or from the South Sea Islands shall be computed at thirty days for sailing vessels and fifteen days for steamers. PART 111 + The Employment of Pacific Islanders in the Colony. § Agreements to be completed on board ship. — Schedule G. 14. All agreements for service made with Pacific Islanders shall be in the form in Schedule G|| to this Act, or to the like effect, and shall be completed in duplicate on board the ship, and attested by the Immi- gration Agent or an Inspector, before the landing of the passengers. One copy of every agreement shall be retained by the Immigration Agent or Inspector. Conditions of license. 12. Every shipmaster’s license shall be issued subject to the following conditions, that is to say, — Master to provide for Government Agent. (1.) The master shall provide for the Govern- ment Agent, free of cost, first-class cabin accommo- dation, and the usual cabin fare at the master’s table, exclusive of wine, beer, and spirits. Vessel to be properly found in medicines, Sfc. (2.) The owner or charterer shall provide for the use of the passengers, and to the satisfaction of the Government medical officer at the port of embarka- tion, a supply of medicines, medical comforts, in- struments, and other appliances necessary for diseases and accidents incidental to a sea voyage, and for the medical treatment of the passengers during the voyage, including an adequate supply of disinfectants, together with printed directions for the use of the same respectively ; and such medi- cines, medical comforts, instruments, and appliances shall be properly packed and placed under the joint charge of the captain and Government Agent, to be used at their discretion. * By section 9 of the Amendment Act of 1885 it is provided that all moneys recovered in respect of any bond given under this Act shall be paid into the Treasury, to the credit of “ The Pacific Islanders Fund.” Master of vessel to report arrival, Sfc. — Schedule H. 15. The master of every ship arriving at any port in Queensland with native passengers under the provisions of this Act shall forthwith report to the Immigration Agent or Inspector — (a) The number of such passengers, and (b) The names of their licensed employers. The master shall not land any of such passengers until he has been granted by the Immigration Agent or Inspector at such port a certificate in the form of Sche- dule H to this Act. Before granting such certificate the Immigration Agent or Inspector shall require, — t By section 6 of the Extension Act of 1892 it is provided that the scales of clot hing and provisions here provided may be varied by the regulations. t By section 4 of the Amendment Act of 1884 the term “ labourer ” when used in this part of the Act, is made to include all islanders, whether the stipulated time for their return to their native islands has arrived or not. but by section 11 of that Act it is provided that certain islanders shall be exempted from the foregoing provisions. § By section lit of the Amendment Act of 1884 it is provided that from and after the 1st September 1884 it shall not be lawful to employ any islander except under a duly attested agreement for service, nor except in tropical or semi-tropical agriculture, but by section 11 of that Act certain islanders are exempted from the foregoing provision. || By section 3 of the Amendment Act of 1884 it is provided that all agreements for service made with islanders, whether the stipulated time for their return to their native islands has arrived or not, shall be made in the form above prescribed ; but by section 11 of the same Act certain islanders are exempted from the foregoing provision, F f 2 228 Master of vessel to produce certificate. — Schedule I. (1) The production by the master of a certificate or certificates in the form in Schedule I to this Act signed by the Government Agent attached to the ship, that all the passengers have voluntarily en- gaged themselves and entered into their agree- ment with a full knowledge and understanding of the nature and conditions thereof, and that when they were engaged they were not known to bo afflicted with any disease, and were neither maimed, halt, blind, deaf, dumb, idiotic, nor insane. Employers to produce licenses . — Schedule G. (2.) The production by every employer for whoni the islanders have been engaged of the license in the form in Schedule C to this Act, authorising their introduction. Passengers to understand their agreements. (3) Proof, to his satisfaction, by means of oral explanations, questions and inquiries amongst the passengers, that they have a proper understanding of the conditions of their agreements, and that they voluntarily entered into tho same. Completion of agreements. (4) The completion of the agreements in the prescribed form. Master to provide certificate of health. (5) The production by the master of a certificate from the health or medical officer at the port of arrival that the whole of the passengers intended to be landed are in sound bodily and mental health, and are physically fitted to perform the work for which they have been introduced. Certificate of health. 16. If the health or medical officer at the port of arrival certifies that any islander introduced is physi- cally unfit for labour in the colony, the master or owner of the ship by which such islander was introduced shall return him Ito the island from which he was obtained ; and any master or owner failing to return such islander when required by an Inspector to do so shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds nor less than five pounds. Labourers to be registered on arrival. 17. Every labourer shall, on arrival, be registered in the Immigration Office at Brisbane, or at the office of the Assistant Immigration agent at any other port. In the latter case, the Assistant Immigration Agent shall forthwith forward a copy of the register to the immigra- tion Agent at Brisbane. Employers to provide for labourers on arrival. 18. Every labourer shall be taken from the ship by and at the expense of his employer. If from any cause it is necessary to take a passenger from the ship to an Immigration Depot or to a hospital, the cost of his removal thereto, and of his maintenance therein, shall be borne by the master of the ship. Such cost may be recovered in a summary manner before two justices, at the suit of any Inspector. Transfer of labourer. — Schedule J. 19. No transfer of the services of a labourer shall be made except with the full consent of the transferror, the labourer, and the Inspector or a police magistrate, nor until a bond for five pounds for each labourer in- tended to be transferred, in the form in Schedule J to this Act, executed by the traDsferreo and two sufficient sureties* approved by the Inspector has been given, to provide for the return passage of such labourer to his native island at the expiration of the agreement. Schedule K. Every agreement for such transfer shall be in the form in Schedule K to this Act, and shall be signed by the transferror, the transferree, and the labourer, in the * By section 9 of the Amendment Act of 18S5 it is provided that all moneys recovered in respect of any hond given under this Act shall he paid into the Treasury, to the credit of " The Pacific Islanders’ Fluid.” presence of and attested by an Inspector, who shall before attestation explain to such labourer the full meaning and effect of such agreement. No transfers to other than those engaged in tropical or semi-tropical agriculture. No transfer of the services of any labourer shall be permitted, unless the Inspector or a police magistrate is satisfied that the proposed transferree is engaged in tropical or semi-tropical agriculture, and that such labourer is intended to be employed in such agriculture only, and at a place to be specified in the application for transfer. Transfer to be registered. No labourer shall leave the transferror’s employment until the agreement for transfer has been registered in the books of the Inspector attesting the transfer, or in the Immigration Office at Brisbane. Employers not to remove labourers without permission. 20. No employer or other person, except in pursuance of a transfer duly registered, shall remove a labourer from the estate or place on which he was intended to be employed, as stated in the application for license or transfer, without the written permission of an Inspector, nor shall employ such labourer elsewhere than on such estate or place without like permission. Any employer or other person who so removes or employs a labourer without such permission, except under a transfer duly registered, shall be liable on conviction to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds for every labourer so removed or employed. Wages to be paid in presence of Inspector. 21. The wages of every labourer shall be paid at the expiration of each six months of his engagement, in current coin of the realm, and in the presence of an Inspector or police magistrate; and no payment of wages to a labourer shall be of any force or effect unless the same has been made in the presence of an Inspector or police magistrate. Wages paid during currency of agreement not to be deducted. No employer shall deduct any sum from the wages of a labourer, in respect of moneys paid during his term of service, unless such moneys have been paid in the pre- sence of and with the consent of an Inspector or police magistrate. Store accounts not to be deducted from wages. No employer of a labourer shall charge him with the payment of any moneys on account of stores sup- plied to such labourer, or deduct any sum in respect thereof from the wages due to him. Wages of labourers to be recovered by Inspector. 22. If the wages payable to a labourer are due, an Inspector may demand payment of the same from the employer ; and if such wages remain unpaid for a period of fourteen days after demand has been so made, the Inspector may sue for and recover the same on behalf of the labourer, in a summary way, before two justices of the peace. Employer to provide return passage. 23. At the expiration of the engagement of any labourer, his employer shall either cause him to be returned to his native island, or if the labourer does not then desire to return, pay the sum of five pounds to the Immigration Agent, to be applied in defraying the cost of the return passage of said labourer when required by him.f t The payment of the return passage money of an islander entering into a fresh engagement for service with a new employer, after the expiration of the agreement with his preceding employer, was provided for bv Section 5 of the Amendment Act of 1SS5, but that section is repealed by section 3 of the Extension Act of 1S92, by section 5 of which Act an employer is bound, at the expiration of an agreement with an islander, to maintain the islander until he has an opportunity of return- ing to his native island or enters into a fresh agreement. 220 PART IV.* * * § * * The Cake and Treatment of Labourers when sick. Employers to provide labourers with medical attendance. 24. Every employer shall provide his labourers with proper medicine and medical attendance during disease or illness; and any employer who neglects to provide a labourer, when sick, with such medicine and medical attendance, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and not less than five pounds, and shall further be liable to pay any reasonable expense incurred by an Inspector in pro- viding such medicine and medical attendance. f Inspector may order labourer to immigration depot or hospital. 25. An Inspector, if he thinks fit, may order a labourer to be taken to the nearest Immigration Depot or Hospital for medical examination or treatment, or for any other purpose deemed necessary by the Inspector. An em- ployer who refuses to allow a labourer to proceed to, or when so ordered refuses to send or convey a labourer to such Immigration Depot or Hospital, shall be liable on conviction of the offence to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds. Expenses incurred by Government chargeable to the employers in certain cases. 26. All expenses incurred in affording hospital relief to a sick labourer, or by reason of bis detention in an Immigration Depot while awaiting shipment to his native island, shall be chargeable to the employer or last employer of such labourer, and may be recovered in a summary manner before any two justices at the suit of any inspector. Districts may be proclaimed in which hospitals are to be established. 27. The Governor in Council may from time to time, by proclamation in the Gazette, declare any district in which Pacific Islanders or labourers are employed, to be a district in which a hospital for such islanders and labourers shall be established. Employers to contribute towards maintenance of hospital. 28. Upon the proclamation of any such district every employer of labourers therein, and every employer of labourers introduced under the provisions of this Act, shall pay in advance to the nearest Inspector a hospital capitation fee at the rate of ten shillings* per annum for every labourer in his employment, or any less sum in proportion to the time less than one year which any such labourer has to serve, for the purpose of providing hospital relief for sick labourers employed in such district. § Penalty for failing to pay capitation fee. Any employer failing to pay the hospital capitation fee on account of any labourer when required so to do by an Inspector shall, in addition to the amount of such capitation fee, be liable to a penalty of ten shillings for every labourer on whose account default in payment has been made. On proclamation of district, hospital to be erected. 29. On the proclamation of a district as aforesaid, the Minister may cause to be erected, in some central and convenient position in the district, a hospital building or buildings to which labourers or islanders employed in the district may be sent for treatment when sick ; and the cost of erecting such hospital building or buildings shall be defrayed from the “Pacific Islanders’ Fund,” hereinafter mentioned. * By section 4 of the Amendment Act of 1884 the term “ labourer,” when used in this part of the Act. is made to include all islanders, whether the stipulated time for their return to their native islands has arrived or not, but by section 11 of that Act. certain islanders are exempted from the foregoing provision. t By section 4 of the Amendment Act of 188G the i revisions of this section are made to apply to islanders who are. registered as exempt from the provisions of sections 3, 4, and 10 of the Amendment Act of 1884, as well as to other islanders. t Hospital capitation fee increased to twenty shillings by section G of the Amendment Act of 1885. § As to time for payment of capitation fee, and as regards pro- portionate payments for periods of less than one year, see section G of the Amendment Act of 1885, Appointment of resident surgeon to hospital. 30. On the erection of such hospital building the Governor in Council may appoint, to be resident sur- geon of such hospital, some legally qualified medical practitioner, who shall be empowered, subject to the approval of the Minister, to engage such attendants and nurses as are required for the proper management of such hospital ; and such surgeon shall, virtute officii, be an Inspector of Pacific Islanders. Employers may send labourers to hospital. 31. Every employer in such district shall be entitled to send auy of his labourers or islanders, when sick, to such hospital for treatment ; and the cost of the treat- ment and maintenance of any labourer, as well as the salaries and allowances of the surgeon and attendants of such hospital, shall be defrayed from the “ Pacific Islanders’ Fund,’’ hereinafter mentioned. The cost of the treatment and maintenance of any islanders, not being a labourer within the meaning of this Act, shall be borne by his employer. Penalty for failing to send labourers to hospital when sich • 42. Any employer in such district who fails to send any of his labourers to such hospital for treatment when sick shall be liable, on conviction, to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds nor less than five pounds. PART V.|| Miscellaneous Provisions. Wages of deceased labourers to be paid to inspector or immigration agent. 33. *jf Notwithstanding anything to the contrary con- tained in “ The Intestacy Act of 1877,” in the event of a labourer or islander dying during his term of service, the employer shall pay to the nearest inspector, or to the immigration agent, the whole of the wages which would be payable to such labourer or islander up to the date of his death, as if such wages had accrued due from day to day, as the amount so paid shall be placed to the credit of the “Pacific Islanders’ Fund,’’ herein- after mentioned.** Register to be hept by employer. 34. Every employer shall keep a register of his labourers in the form in Schedule L to this Act, which shall be open for the inspection of any inspector or justice. No entry except as to the condition of the labourers on inspection shall be made in the regisLer of the employer, unless from a document of hiring, transfer, death, or desertion, countersigned by the immigration agent or an inspector. Deaths or desertion to be reported immediately. 35. All deaths or desertions of labourers or islanders shall be immediately reported by the employer to the nearest inspector or to the immigration agent, and in case of death a medical certificate of the cause thereof shall be forwarded with the death report to the immi- gration agent. If no such medical certificate can be obtained, an inquiry under “ Tbe Inquests of Death Act of 1869 ”ff shall be held into tbe cause of the death of such labourer or islander. Nominal return to be sent at expiration of each quarter.%X 36. Every employer shall ouce in every six months make a return to the immigration agent in the form, and giving the particulars specified in Schedule M to this Act. || By section 4 of the Amendment Act of 1884 the term '• labourer.” when used in this part of the Act, is made to include all islanders, whether the stipulated time for their return to their native islands has arrived or not, but by section 11 of that Act certain islanders are exempted from the foregoing; provision. 1 As to disposal of moneys in Savings Bank, see Amendment Act of 1885, s. 8. ** As to payment of burial expenses of deceased islanders, see section 5 of Amendment Act of 188G. tt Sic in Gazette, but semble " The Inquests of Death Act of 1866.” It Heading misleading ; read the section. ¥ f 3 230 Quarterly return of cases to be forwarded by bench to immigration agent. 07. At the end of every quarter the police magistrate or bench of magistrates in each district where labourers or islanders are employed shall forward to the immigra- tion agent a return of all cases adjudicated upon in which such labourer or islander were concerned. Such return shall specify the names of employers and labourers or islanders, the nature of the offences, and the decision in each case. Engagements subject to 25 Viet. No. 11. 38. All agreements heretofore made, or hereafter to be made, with Pacific Island labourers, are hereby ex- pressly declared to be subject to the provisions of the Act twenty-five Victoria, number eleven, “ The Masters and Servants Act of 1861.” Penalty for evasion of Act. 39. If any islander is introduced into the colony by sea contrary to the provisions of this Act, the master and owner of the ship by which such islander is intro- duced shall each be liable to a penalty of twenty pounds for every islander so introduced, and in default of im- mediate payment the ship by which such islander is so introduced shall be absolutely' forfeited to Her Majesty. Labourer not be removed out of the Colony without 'permission or consent. 40. Any person who, without the consent of a labourer, and the written permission of the Minister, removes, or attempts to remove, such labourer out of the Colony of Queensland, except for the purpose of his return to his native island, shall be liable to a penalty of twenty pounds for every labourer so removed, or attempted to bt^removed, and it shall be lawful for the Minister in any case to prevent the removal of such labourer except for the purpose of his return to his native island as aforesaid. Penalty for obstructing Inspector. 41. Any person who obstructs or attempts to obstruct, any inspector in the discharge of his duty, and any employer who refuses to assemble his labourers for inspection when requested so to do by an inspector, shall be liable on conviction to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds. Labourers and islanders not to be supplied wich spirituous liquors • 42. * Any person who sells, supplies, or gives to a labourer or islander any fermented or spirituous liquor, or any liquor part whereof is fermented or spirituous, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds. Breaches of this Act punishable by fine. 43. f Any person who offends against any of the pro- visions of this Act for which no penalty is herein specially provided shall be liable for the first offence to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, and for a second or subsequent offence of a like nature to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds nor less that five pounds. Inspector may sue on behalf of Islander. 44. An inspector may institute aud prosecute any proceedings in any court of justice in the name and on behalf of any islander for any relief to which such islander is by law entitled. Onus of proof that Labourer is not a Pacific Islander. 45. The averment in any information under this Act that any person named therein is a labourer, islander, or passenger, shall be sufficient proof thereof until the contrary is shown. Trust Fund to be established. 46. All moneys heretofore received by the immigra- tion agent under “ The Polynesian Labourers Act of 1868,” and all moneys hereafter received by the immigra- tion agent or any inpector under the provisions of this Act, andall fines and penalties recovered under the provisions of this Act shall be paid into the Treasury and placed • By section 17 of the Amendment Act of 1881 it is provided that, not- withstanding the provisions of section 1 of the Principal Act, the pro- visions of this section shall extend and apply to all islanders, whether employed in pearl or li che-de-mer fisheries on the Queensland coast or not. t As to mode of prosecution and recovery of penalties, see sections 14 and 16 of Amendment Act of 1884. to a separate fund to be called the “ Pacific Islanders’ Fund,” and shall be available for catrying out the pro- visions of this Act and for no other purpose.* Power to make Regulations. 47. The Governor in Council may make regulations not inconsistent with tho provisions of this Act for the due aud effectual execution thereof, and respecting any matter or thing necessary to give effect to the objects of this Act,f and all such regulations shall forthwith be published in the “ Gazette,” and shall thereafter have the force of law. Short Title. 48. This Act may be cited as “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880.” (ii.) An Act to amend “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880.” \_Assenled to 10 th March, 1884.] Be it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — Act to be read with 44 Vic. No. 17. 1. This Act shall be read and construed with and as an amendment of “The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880,” hereinafter referred to as the Principal Act, and the several terms thereby defined shall in this Act, except as hereinafter otherwise provided, have the same meanings as are therein assigned to them respectively. Definition of “ tropical or semi-tropical agriculture." 2. J In the Principal Act and this Act the term “tropical or semi-tropical agriculture” shall mean field work in connection with the cultivation of sugar- cane, cotton, tea, coffee, rice, spices, or other tropical or semi-tropical productions or fruits ; but shall not include — (a) The business of engineers, engine-drivers, engine-fitters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, farriers, sugar-boilers, carpenters, sawyers, splitters, fencers, bullock-drivers, or mechanics ; (b) The business of grooms or coachmen ; (c) The business of horse-driving or carting, except in field work ; or (d) Domestic or household service. All agreements to be inform in Schedule G. to Principal Act. 3. All agreements for service made with islanders, whether the stipulated time for their return to their native islands has arrived or not, shall be in the form in Schedule G. to the Principal Act or to the like effect, and shall be made in duplicate, and attested by the immigration agent or an inspector, who shall retain one copy of the agreement, provided that the term of service specified in any such agreement may be any period not exceeding three years. Term “ labourer" in parts 3, 4, and 5 of Principal Act to include all Islanders. 4. The term “labourer.” when used in the third, fourth, and fifth parts of the Principal Act, shall include all islanders, whether the stipulated time for their return to their native islands has arrived or not. * By section 9 of the Amendment Act of 1885 it is provided that all moneys recovered in respect of any bond given under this Act shall also lie paid into the fund hereby established. t See also power to make regulations for certain other purposes con- ferred by section 6 of the Extension Act of 1892. t By section 4 of the Extension Act of 1892 the term " tropical or semi- tropical agriculture ” is declared to include the work of handling sugar- cane and megass, but not to include any work in connection with the cultivation of maize, or the work of ploughing, or. except as aforesaid, any work done within a sugar factory or sugar refinery. 231 New employers to pay return passage money to former employers. 5. * When at the expiration of the engagement of any islander he enters into a fresh engagement for service, then if — (a) The sum of five pounds has been paid by his first employer to the immigration agent to defray the cost of his return passage ; or (i b) That sum has been paid by his then last em- ployer to a former employer under the provisions of this section ; the sum so paid shall be recouped by the new employer to the next preceding employer by whom it was so paid. Officers of labour ships and recruiting agents to be approved by Ministers. 6. No person shall be employed as the master, or as a m^te, of a ship intended to carry native passengers from the Pacific Islands to Queensland, or as the agent of an intending employer on board of any such ship, unless he has been approved by the Minister as a fit person to be so employed. Persons employed in labour ships to be paid fixed wages. 7. No person shall pay or give, or agree to pay or give, to the master of any ship employed in carrying passengers from the Pacific Islands to Queensland, or any other person employed thereon, any sum of money or other valuable consideration, the amount whereof is dependent either in whole or in part upon the num- ber of passengers conveyed to Queensland : But the remuneration of the master of every such ship, and of every other person employed thereon, shall be at a fixed rate, either for the voyage, or dependent wholly upon the time occupied in the voyage. Penalties. If the provisions of this section are violated in respect of any ship, whether by the owner, charterer, master, or any other person employed thereon, the ship, her tackle, apparel, and furniture, shall be forfeited to Her Majesty, and the person offending shall also be liable to a penalty of one hundred pounds. Detailed statement of accounts to be sent in. 8. A detailed statement of all expenditure incurred in and about every voyage of a ship employed in carrying passengers from the Pacific Islands, verified by the solemn declaration of the owner, charterer, or agent, shall be transmitted within four weeks after the arrival of the ship in Queensland to the immigration agent : For every breach of the provisions of this section the owner, charterer, and agent shall each be liable to a penalty of five hundred pounds. Firearms or ammunition not to be supplied to Islanders. 9. It shall not be lawful to sell, supply, or give to any islander any firearms, bullets, leaden shot, gunpowder, or other explosive substance. Islanders not to be employed except in certain occupations. 10. From and after the first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four, it shall not be lawful to employ any islander, except under an agreement for service attested as hereinbefore provided, nor except in tropical or semi-tropical agriculture. Exemption of certain Islanders. 11. t The provisions of the third and fourth sections of this Act and of the last preceding section shall not apply to islanders employed as part of the crew of a vessel, or as attendants at a depot or hospital for islanders; nor to any islander with respect to whom it shall, before the first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four, be proved to the satisfaction of the Minister that he has been con- tinuously in the colony for a period of not less than five years. * This section is repealed by section 3 of the Extension Act of 1892. t As to payment of hospital expenses of islanders registered as exempt from 3rd and 4th sections of this Act see section 7 of Amendment Act of 885 ; by section 4 of the Amendment Act of 1886 the provisions of section 24 of the principal Act are made to apply to islanders who are registered as exempt from the 3rd, 4th, and 10th sections of this Act, as well as to other islanders. It pon such proof being made in respect of any lslanaer, he shall bo registered by the immigration agent as exempt from the aforesaid provisions. A certificate under the hand of the immigration agent that any islander named in the certificate is so exempt shall be sufficient evidence in all courts of justice of the fact of such exemption. Penalties. 12. Any person offending against any of the pro- visions of this Act shall, when no other penalty is expressly provided, be liable, upon conviction, to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds and not less than five pounds. Evidence. 13. Proof that any islander is found engaged in any occupation upon any premises shall be sufficient evi- dence of the employment of such islander in such occuption by the owner or other person having the principal management or charge of such premises Mode of prosecut ion. 14. All offences against the Principal Act or this Act may be prosecuted in a summary way before two justices of the peace, and the accused person, or the wife or husband of an accused person, shall be a com- petent witness on his or her behalf. Recovery of penalties. lo. I enalties for offences against the provisions of the tenth section of this Act may be sued for and recovered at the suit of any person. Penalties for offences against any of the other provisions of this Act, or of the Principal Act. may be sued for anti recovered at the suit of an inspector or any other person authorised in that behalf by rhe Minister. Half penalty to be paid to the informer. 16. One-half of every penalty recovered under this Act and of the proceeds of every vessel forfeited for breach of the provisions thereof shall be paid to the person on whose information such penalty of forfeiture was recovered or enforced. Prohibition against selling liquor to apply to Islanders engaged in fisheries. 17. Notwithstanding the provisions of the fourth sec- tion of the Principal Act, the provisions of the forty- second section of that Act shall extend and apply to all islanders, whether employed in pearl or b che-de-mer fisheries on the Queensland coast or not. Short title. 18. This Act may be cited as “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 Amendment Act of 1884.” (iii.) An Act to further amend the Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880, and to put a limit to its Operation. \Assented to 10th November, 1885.] Preamble. Whereas the amounts contributed by employers of Pacific Islanders under “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 ” are insufficient to defray the expenses of the administration of that Act, and it is expedient that such amounts should be increased, and that the said Act should be amended in other respects : And whereas it is further expedient that the introduction of labourers from the Pacific Islands should not be continued after the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety : Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — F f 4 232 Act to be read with 44 Vic. No. 17. 1. This Act shall be read and construed with and as an amendment of “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880,” hereinafter called the Principal Act. Short Title. 2. This Act may be cited as “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 Amendment Act of 1885.” The principal Act and “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 Amendment Act of 1884,” and this Act may together be cited as “ The Pacific Island Labourers’ Acts, 1880-1885.” Assistant Inspector. 3. The term “Inspector” in the said Acts includes “Assistant Inspector,” and the Governor in Council may from time to time appoint fit and proper persons to be Assistant Inspectors of Pacific Islanders and Labourers for the purposes of the said Acts. Any such appointment heretofore made is hereby declared to be and to have been valid. Annexation of islands by Her Majesty or other civilised power not to exclude application of Acts. 4. In any case in which, after the introduction of an islander into Queensland, the island of which he is a native comes or has come to be within Her Majesty’s dominions or within the jurisdiction of any other civilised power, the provisions of “ The Pacific Island Labourers’ Acts, 1880-1885” shall nevertheless continue to apply to such islander so long as he remains within the Colony. Capitation fee increased to 31. 5. The sum to be paid by an applicant to the Immi- gration Agent under the provisions of the eighth section of the Principal Act shall be three pounds for each islander proposed to be introduced, instead of thirty shillings as therein provided. And the said eighth section of the Principal Act shall hereafter be read as if the sum of three pounds were therein mentioned instead of thirty shillings, whenever the latter sum is therein mentioned. Hospital capitation fee increased to 1Z. per annum. 6. Every employer of islanders in a district in which a hospital for islanders and labourers has been established shall pay a hospital capitatiou fee] at the rate of twenty shillings per annum for every islander in his employment, instead of at the rate of ten shillings for every labourer as provided by the 28th section of the Principal Act ; and the said section shall be read and construed as amended to that effect accordingly. When payable. Such sum shall be payable on the first day of January in every year, in respect of every islander then in the employment of an employer. Provided that if the term of an engagement of an islander will expire before the first day of July following one-half that sum only shall be payable. The like sum of twenty shillings shall be payable by every employer in respect of every islander engaged by him between the first day of January and the thirtieth day of June inclusive in auy year, and one-half that sum shall be payable in respect of every islander engaged by him between the first day of July and the thirty-first day of December inclusive. Such sums shall be payable upon the engagement of the islander. Upon the first establishment of a hospital in a district the hospital capitation fee shall be immediately payable in respect of every islander then emplojmd in the district, and shall be at the rate of twenty shillings for each islander so employed, unless the time of such establishment is after the thirtieth day of June, or the term of engagement of an islander will expire within six months from the time of such establishment, in either of which cases the fee payable in respect of all the islanders, or of the islanders whose engagements will so expire, as the case may be, shall be at the rate of ten shillings only. When the time of the establishment of the hospital is after the thirtieth day of June, and the term of engagement of an islander will expii’e within six months from the time of such establishment, no further fee shall be payable in respect of such islander on the first d&v of January following. Exempt labourers not to be maintained in liospitali except at expense of employer. 7. No hospital capitation fee shall be payable in respect of islanders who are registered as exempt from the provisions of the third and fourth sections of “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 Amendment Act of 1884,” and the cost of the treatment and maintenance in a hospital of any islander so registered shall be borne by his employer. Moneys of deceased islanders to be paid to “ The Pacific Islanders' Fund." 8. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary con- tained in “ The Intestacy Act of 1877,” when an islander dies intestate all moneys which are then to his credit in the Government Savings Eank, or which are received by the Curator of Intestate Estates, shall be paid into the Treasury to the credit of “ The Pacific Islanders’ Fund.” But the Minister shall nevertheless apply such moneys in a due course of administration, in payment of any debts due by the deceased islander, and may pay the surplus or any part thereof to any person proved to his satisfaction to be the next-of-kin or one of the next-of- kin of the deceased islander. Money recovered on bonds to be paid to “ Pacific Islanders Fund." 9. All moneys recovered in respect of any bond given under the Principal Act shall be paid into the Treasury to the credit of “ The Pacific Islanders’ Fund.” Application of “ Pacific Islanders’ Fund." 10. The money standing to the credit of “ The Pacific Islanders’ Fund ” shall be available, and may be applied by order of the Governor in Council, for the payment of any expenses lawfully incurred in and about the execution of any of the provisions of the “ Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1885,” or in and about any act or thing done by the Minister for the protection or benefit of any islanders. Limit to Period for Introduction of Islanders. No license to be granted after 1890. 11. * After the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and ninety no license to intro- duce islanders shall be granted. (iv.) An Act to further Amend The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880.” \_Assented to 4 th September 1886.] Preamble. Whereas by “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880,” it is declared that the term “ Pacific Islander ” or “Islander” shall mean a native not of European extraction, of any island in the Pacific Ocean which is not in Her Majesty’s dominions, nor within the juris- diction of any civilised power : And whereas by reason of the recent acquisition of territory in the Pacific Ocean by civilised powers it is necessary that the said definition should be amended : Aud whereas it is de- sirable to amend “ The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1885 ” in other respects : Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — Act to be read with “ Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1 885. ’ ’ — Short title. 1. This Act shall be read and construed with, and as an amendment of, “ The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1885,” and the said Acts, and this Act may together be cited as “The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1886.” Amended definition of term “ Pacific Islander ” or “Islander." 2. In “ The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1886,” the term “ Pacific Islander ” or “ Islander ” shall mean and include, and shall, so far as regards islanders al- ready in Queensland, be deemed to have always meant and included, a native, not of European extraction, of any island in the Pacific Ocean, which w r as not on the * This section is repealed by Section 8 of the Extension Act of 1892. 233 eighteenth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and eighty, within Her Majesty s Dominions or within the jurisdiction of any civilised Power. Burden of proof 3. Whenever a question arises whether at the date last mentioned any island in the Pacific Ocean was within the jurisdiction of any civilised Power, the burden of proof shall lie upon the person alleging fhe fact that such island was at that date within such jurisdiction. Employers to provide all labourers with medical attendance. 4. The provisions of the twenty-fourth section of “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 shall apply to islanders who are registered as exempt from the provisions of the third, fourth, and tenth sections of “ The. Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 Amendment Act of 1884,” as well as to other islanders. Cost of burial to be paid by employer. 5. The cost of burial of any islander dying while under engagement shall be paid by his employer ; and if such cost is defrayed in the first instance by an officer of police or any other person, an inspector may , on his behalf, sue for and recover the same from the employer in a summary way before any two justices ; but the em- ployer shall be entitled to be recouped the reasonable amount of such cost out of the personal estate, if any, of the islander. Saving. 6. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to impose any liability upon any person for any act lawfully done before the passing of this Act. (v.) An Act to further Amend “ The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1885.” [ Assented to Vith April, 1892.] Be it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legisla- tive Council and Legislative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — Act to be read with 44 Vic. No. 17 and amending Ads. 1. This Act shall be read and construed with and as an amendment of “ The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1885. Short title. 2. This Act may be cited as “ The Pacific Island Labourers (Extension) Act of 1892.” “The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1885,” and this Act may together be cited as “ The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1892.” Repeal of 47 Vic. No. 12, s. 5, and 49 Vic. No. 17, s. 11. 3. The fifth section of “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 Amendment Act of 1881 ’’ and the eleventh section of “ The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880 Amendment Act of 1885 ” are hereby repealed. Amendment of definitions. 4. In “ The Pacific Island Labourers Acts, 1880-1892,” the term “tropical or semi-tropical agriculture” in- cludes the work of handling sugar-cane and megass, but docs not include any work in connection with the cultivation of maize, or the work of ploughing, or, except as aforesaid, any work done within a sugar factory or sugar refinery. Maintenance of islanders when term of service has expired. 5. At the expiration of the engagement of a labourer, his employer shall be bound to maintain him until he has an opportunity of returning to his native island, or enters into a fresh agreement with the same or some other employer to serve in tropical or semi- tropical agriculture. U 75209. If an employer fails so to maintain a labourer, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds, and shall also be liablo to pay the actual cost of tho maintenance of the labourer, which may be recovered by summary proceedings at the suit of an Inspector. Payment of relatives of islanders who die during term of service. 6. The Regulations may provide that when a labourer or islander dies during the term of his engagement, any part of the moneys standing to his credit in the Government Savings Bank, or any part of the wages payable to him at the time of his death, shall be applied in payment to his friends or relatives upon his native island, or in the purchase of goods to be delivered to such friends or relatives. Any such Regulation shall be valid, and any moneys authorised by the Regulations to be so applied may be paid out of “ The Pacific Islanders’ Fund ” for the purposes so authorised. Scales of clothing and provisions. The scales of clothing and provisions prescribed by “The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880” to be supplied to islanders may be varied by the Regulations. IV.— Acts regulating Alien Emigration and Immi- gration in the Crown Colonies. 1. Indian Emigration Act of 1883. An Act to amend the law relating to the Emigration of Natives of India. [As modified up to the 1st December 1890.] Whereas it is expedient to amend the law relating to the emigration of Natives of India ; it is hereby enacted as follows : — CHAPTER I. Preliminary. 1. (1.) This Act may be called the Indian Emigration Act, 1883. (2.) It extends to the whole of British India. 2. Nothing in this Act or in any rule made under this Act shall apply to an} r vessel belonging to, or in the service of, Her Majesty or of the Government of India. 3. Except as to the power to make rules, this Act shall come into force on such day (*) as the Governor General in Council, by notification in the Gazette of India, appoints. 4. On and from the day on which this Act comes into force, the Indian Emigration Act, 1871, and Act No. XIV. of 1872 (to exempt the Straits Settlements from the Indian Emigration Act, 1871) shall be repealed. 5. All notifications issued, contracts entered into> rules and appointments made, and licenses granted under any enactment hereby repealed, and in force on the day on which this Act comes into force, shall (so far as they are consistent with this Act) be deemed to have been respectively issued, entered into, made and granted under this Act. 6. In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context — (1) “ Emigrate ” and “ emigration ’’ denote the depar- ture by sea out of British India of a Native of India under an agreement to labour for hire in some country beyond the limits of India other than the island of Ceylon or the Straits Settlements : Provided that a domestic servant when accompanying his employer shall not be deemed to emigrate within the meaning of the above definition : (2) “Emigrant” means any Native of India who emigrates, or has emigrated, within the meaning of the above definition, or who has been registered under this Act as an emigrant, and includes any dependent of an emigrant : * Act XXI. of 18S3 has been declared in force in the Sonthal Pergun- nalis — see Regulation III. of 1872, Schedule, as amended by Regulation III. of 1886, s. 6. [Bengal Code, Ed. 1889, Vol. I„ p. 606.] t The 1st April, 1886— seo Gazette of India, 1886, Part I., p. 258. G g Short title and extent. Exemption of Govern- mentvessels. Commence- ment. Repeal of enactments. Saving for proceedings under repealed enactments. Definitions. 234 Ports from which emigration is lawful. Countries to which emigration is lawful. Power for Governor General in Council to prohibit emigration to any country. (3) “Dependent ” means any of the following persons accompanying any emigrant, namely : (a) Any woman who has not entered into an agreement to emigrate under this Act ; ( b ) Any child in whose name and on whose behalf any such agreement has not been entered into ; and (c) Any aged or incapacitated relative or friend : (4) “Magistrate” means, in the Presidency towns, a Presidency Magistrate, and elsewhere a District Magis- trate or a Sub-divisional Magistrate, and includes also any person appointed by the Local Government, by name or by virtue of his office, to perform in any local area the functions of a Magistrate under this Act : (5.) “ Registering Officer ” means any person ap- pointed by the Local Government, by name or by virtue of his office, to perform in any local area the functions of a Registering Officer under this Act : (6.) “ Recruiter ” includes a head recruiter or other person who collects or receives emigrants recruited by other persons : (7.) “ Vessel” includes anything made for the con- veyance by water of human beings or property : (8.) “ Emigrant-vessel ” means a vessel the master of which is licensed under this Act to carry emigrants therein ; and (9.) “Master” means any person (except a pilot or harbour-master) having for the time being control or charge of a vessel. CHAPTER II. Poets from which, and Countries to which, Emigeation is Lawful. 7 . — (1.) Emigration shall not be lawful except from the ports of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, and from such other ports as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette of India, declares to be ports from which emigration is lawful. (2.) The Governor General in Council may at any time, by a like notification, revoke any notification issued under this section. (3.) The Local Government may, from time to time, by notification in the official Gazette, fix for the purposes of this Act the limits of any port from which emigration is lawful. 8. — (1.) Emigration shall not be lawful except to the countries specified in the first schedule hereto annexed, and to such other countries as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette of India, declares to be countries to which emigration is lawful. (2.) Every notification under this section must contain a declaration that the Governor General in Council has been duly certified that the Government of the country to which the notication refers has made such laws and other provision as the Governor General in Council thinks sufficient for the protection of emigrants to that country during their residence therein. 9. — (1.) Whenever the Governor General in Council has reason to believe that any of the grounds, herein- after mentioned, for prohibiting emigration to any country to which emigration is lawful, exists, he may, by notification in the Gazette of India, declare that emigration to that country shall cease to be lawful from a day specified in the notification ; and from that day emigration to that country shall accordingly cease to be lawful. (2.) The grounds referred to in sub-section (1) of this section are — (а) That the plague or any other epidemic disease dangerous to human life has broken out in the country ; (б) That the mortality among emigrants in the country is excessive ; (c) That proper measures have not been taken for the protection of emigrants immediately on their arrival in the country or during their residence therein ; (d) That the agreements made with emigrants, as such, before their departure from India are not duly enforced by the Government of the country ; and (e.) That the Governor General in Council, having, either directly or through the Secretary of State for India in Council, addressed the Govern- ment of the country with a view to obtain information regarding the condition or treatment of emigrants therein, has not within a reasonable time received the information asked for. 10. — -(1 .) Whenever the Local Government has reason to believe, that in any country to which emigration is lawful, the plague or other epidemic disease dangerous to human life has broken out, and that emigrants, if allowed to emigrate to that country, would be exposed to serious risk of life on arrival there, it may, bv notification in the official Gazette, declare that emigration to that country from any port in the territories -administered by it shall cease to be lawful pending a reference to the Governor General in. Council. (2.) The Local Government shall at once report the publication of a notification under this section, with the reasons for it, to the Governor Genera] in Council, who shall thereupon publish a notification in the “ Gazette of India” confirming or cancelling the noti- fication published by the Local Government, ' 11. Whenever the Governor General in Council is satisfied that the ground on which a notification has been published by hitn under either of the two last foregoing sections with respect to any country has ceased to exist, he may, by notification in the “ Gazette of India,” declare that emigration to that country shall again be lawful from a day to be specified in the notification. 12. — (1.) The Local Government may, with the previous sanction of the Governor General in Council, by notification in the official Gazette, prohibit from a day specified in the notification, all Natives of India or any specified class of Natives, from emigrating from the whole or any specified part of the territories under its administration to any specified country. (2.) The Local Government may, with the like sanction, in like manner, vary or cancel any notification published under this section. 13. The publication of a notification under any of the four last foregoing sections shall not affect any act done, offence committed or proceedings commenced before the publication. CHAPTER III. Emigeation Agents. 14. — (1.) The Government of every country to which emigration is lawful may, from time to time, appoint a person to be Emigration Agent in any port from which emigration is lawful, and may suspend or remove any person so appointed. (2.) An ajopointment under this section shall not take effect until the Local Government, by notification in the official Gazette, has declared its approval of the appointment. 15. The remuneration to be given to an Emigration Agent shall not depend on, or be regulated by, the number of emigrants sent by him, but shall be in the nature of a fixed salary : Provided that the Governor General in Council may, from time to time, authorise the payment to specified Emigration Agents of special fees for occasional work. CHAPTER IV. Pegtectobs of Emigrants and Medical IxsrECTOES. 16. — (1.) The Local Government may, from time to time, appoint a proper person to be the Protector of Emigrants for any port within the territories adminis- tered by it from which emigration is lawful. (2.) The Governor General in Council may, from time to time, define the local area to which the authority of any Protector of Emigrants so appointed shall extend. (3.) Ever} T Protector of Emigrants may be suspended or removed by the Local Government which appointed him. Power for Local Go- vernment to suspend emigration pending reference to Governor General in Council. Revocation of prohibi- tion. Power for Local Go- vernment to prohibit emigration to specified country from the whole or any speci- fied part of its terri- tories. Saving for acts done before pub- lication of notification. Appoint- ment of Emigration Agents. Remunera- tion of Agents, Appoint- ment of Protectors of Emi- grants. 235 XLV. of 1860. General duties of Protector. Appoint- ment o f Medical Inspector XLV.oflSGO. Protector and Medical Inspector to have facilities for Inspection. Protector of Emigrants to license recruiters. Porm of license. . Duration of license. Counter- signature of license. (4.) Every Protector of Emigrants shall he a public servant within tho meaning of the Indian Penal. Code.* 17. Every Protector of Emigrants, in addition to tho special duties assigned to him by this Act or tho rules made under this Act, shall— (a) protect and aid with his advice all emi- grants ; ( b ) cause, so far as he can, all the provisions of this Act and of the rules made under this Act to be complied with ; (c) inspect, on arrival, all vessels bringing return-emigrants to the port for which he is Pro- tector ; (cl) enquire into the treatment received by the return-emigrants both during the period of their service in the country to which they emi- grated, and also during the return voyage, and report thereon to the Local Government ; and (i e ) aid and advise the return-emigrants so far as he reasonably can. 18. — (1.) The Local Government may, from time to time, appoint a Medical Inspector of Emigrants at each port from which emigration is lawful, and may suspend or remove him. (2.) Every Medical Inspector of Emigrants shall be a public servant within the moaning of the Indian Penal Code.* 19. Every Emigration Agent, and all persons in charge of, or employed in, any depot established under this Aet,t or in charge of, or employed in, any emi- grant-vessel, shall give the Protector of Emigrants and the Medical Inspector of Emigrants every facility for making such inspections, examinations and surveys as are required by this Act or by the rules made under this Act, or as those officers may deem necessary or proper, and shall afford them all such information as they may reasonably require. CHAPTER Y. Recruiters. 20. — (1.) The Protector of Emigrants at each of the ports from which emigration is lawful shall, on the application of the Emigration Agent for any country to which emigration is lawful, grant licenses to so many fit persons as to tho Protector seems necessary to be recruiters of emigrants within the local area to which the authority of the Protector extends. (2.) A person shall not, unless he holds a license granted under this chapter,— (а) enter into, or attempt to enter into, any agreement with any person purporting to bind him to emigrate, or (б) in consideration of any hire or reward, in- duce, or attempt to induce, any person to leave any place for the purpose of emigrating, or (c) act or bo employed in any other respect as a recruiter of emigrants. (3.) Every recruiter shall produce his license when called upon to do so by any Magistrate or officer in charge of a Police-station. 21. Every license granted under this chapter shall specify the particular country for which, and the local area within which, tho holder is licensed to recruit, and may he in the form set forth in the second schedule hereto annexed. 22. — (1.) A license granted under this chapter shall not be in force for a longer period than one year from the day on which it comes into force. (2.) The Protector of Emigrants may, on the ground of misconduct, cancel any license granted by him under this chapter before the expiration of the period for which it is in force. 23. — (1.) A recruiter shall not, in any place beyond tho limits of a port from which emigration is lawful, enter, or attempt to enter, into any agreement with any person purporting to bind him to emigrate, or induce or assist, or attempt to induce or assist, any person to leave any place for tho purpose of emigrating, or act or be employed in any other respect as a recruiter of emi- grants, unless his license bears tho countersignature of the District Magistrate. * for Act XLV. of l8i;o, sco tho revised edition as modified up to 1 st August, 1800 , published by the Legislative Department. t See Chapter VI 1 ., infra. (2*.) If a District Magistrate has satisfied himself, after such enquiry as he thinks necessary, that the licensee is, by character or from any other cause, un- fitted to ho a recruiter under this Act, he may refuse to countersign a recruiter’s license. (3.) If a District Magistrate has satisfied himself, after such enquiry as aforesaid, that sufficient and proper accommodation has not been provided in a suitable place, or is not available, for such intending emigrants or emigrants as may be collected by the re- cruiter pending their registration or removal to the depot at the port of embarkation, he may refuse to countersign a recruiter’s license or to decide whether he will countersign his license until after the expiration of such time as may in his opinion be reasonable. (4.) Before a Magistrate refuses to countersign, or defers his countersignature of, a recruiter’s license, he shall record in writing his reasons for so doing. 24. If any Magistrate, having countersigned a re- ^agfstrate cruiter’s license, afterwards finds reason to think that to cancel the licensee is, by character or from any other cause, counter- ^ unfitted to be a recruiter under this Act, or that the certain™ ™ accommodation provided for intending emigrants or cases, emigrants collected by him has become unsuitable or has ceased to be available, he may require the licensee to produce his license, and may cancel the counter- signature on it, or may impound the license and send it for cancellation to the Protector of Emigrants who granted it. 25. When a Magistrate countersigns, or refuses to Notice to countersign, a recruiter’s license, or cancels the countersignature on it, he shall at once report the o/counter- countersignaturo, or the refusal or cancellation, and signature, the grounds of the refusal or cancellation, to the Pro- countersign tector of Emigrants who granted the license. or cancella- tion of counter- signature. 26. — (1.) The Emigration Agent on whose applica- Recruiter to tion any recruiter is licensed shall supply the recruiter with a written or printed statement, signed by the ment of Agent, and countersigned by the Protector of Emi- terms of grants, of the terms of agreement which the recruiter hlTs C author- is authorised to offer on behalf of the Agent to intend- ised to offer, ing emigrants. (2.) The statement shall he both in English and in the Vernacular language or languages of the local area within which the recruiter is licensed to recruit. (3.) The recruiter shall give a true copy of tho state- ment to every person whom ho invites to emigrate, and shall produce the statement for the information of any Magistrate or officer in charge of a Police-station, when called upon to do so by the Magistrate or officer. 27. (1.) Every recruiter shall provide sufficient and Aecom- proper accommodation in a suitable place for such in- modation to tending emigrants or emigrants as may be collected by meruit”- him pending their registration or removal to the port of er«. embarkation. (2.) Tho place where the accommodation is provided shall have a board fixed in some conspicuous position specifying the purpose for which the place is used. (3) Evei’y District Magistrate, or any subordinate Magistrate or officer of Police authorised in this behalf by a rule made under this Act, shall have, for the super- vision and regulation of tho places where accommodation is provided under this section, tho same powers as are by this Act* conferred on a Protector of Emigrants in respect of depots at the port of embarkation. (4.) All recruiters or other persons in charge of these places shall afford every Magistrate and any officer of Police authorised as aforesaid in this behalf every facility for visiting and inspecting them. CHAPTER VI. Registration of Emigrants and Execution of Agreements to Emigrate. 28. The Local Government may, from time to time, Power for appoint any person, by name or by virtue of his office, Government to perform in a specified local area, hut subject to the to appoint control of the District Magistrate or such other officer |^^ riUK as the Local Government .appoints, by name or by virtue of his office, in this behalf, tho functions of a register- ing officer under this Act. * See Chapter VII., infra. G g 2 236 Execution of agreements. Appearance of intending emigrants before Registering Officer. Examina- tion and registration of emigrant. Power to refuse registration in case of married worm. l. Examina- tion of dependent. Record of reasons for refusal to register. Execution and attesta- tion of agreement. 29. Every agreement to emigrate entered into by any person must — (a) if executed within the limits of any port from which emigration is lawful, be executed in the presence of the Protector ; (b) if executed elsewhere, be executed in the pre- sence of a Registering Officer. 30. Every recruiter who desires to engage any person to emigrate shall appear before a Registering Officer or the Protector of Emigrants (as the case may be) with that person, find with any persons intending to ac- company that person as his dependents. 31. (1.) The Registering Officer or Protector shall thereupon examine the person, apart from the recruiter, with reference to his intended agreement ; and, if it appears that he is competent and willing to enter into the agreement and understands its nature, that he has not been induced to enter into it by any coercion, undue influence, fraud, misrepresentation or mistake and * that its terms are in conformity with law, and are such as, according to the statement furnished to the recruiter under section 26, he was authorised to offer, shall, subject to the provisions of section 33, register in a book to be kept for the purpose, in such form as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by rules made under this Act. prescribes, the name, sex, name of the father, caste, occupation and age of the intending emigrant, and the name of the village or place of which he is a resident, and such other particulars (if any) concerning him and his dependents (if any) as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by rules made under this Act prescribes. 32. (1.) Notwithstanding anything contained in the last foregoing section, the Registering Officer or Pro- tector may refuse to register any married woman under that section if he finds that her husband does not consent to her emigrating. (2.) The Registering Officer or Protector may also, in the case of any woman whom he believes to be married, refuse to decide whether he will register her until after the expiration of such time, not exceeding ten days, as he thinks fit. 33. (1.) When any person appears before a Registering Officer or Protector under section 30 as a dependent of an intending emigrant, the Registering Officer or Pro- tector shall, if tho person is able to give intelligent answers to questions, examine him, apart from the recruiter, as to his dependence on the intending emigrant whom he is about to accompany and as to his willingness to emigrate. (2.) Where the Registering Officer or Protector sees reason to doubt the existence of the dependence or willingness, he may, if he thinks fit, refuse to register the intending emigrant unless the name of the dependent is omitted from the register. 34. Whenever the Registering Officer or Protector refuses to register any intending emigrant, be shall record his reasons for the refusal. 35. (1.) When the particulars concerning any intend- ing emigrant and his dependents (if any) have been registered, the Registering Officer or Protector shall cause an agreement to be prepared f in duplicate, t and shall call on the recruiter and the intending emigrant to execute the agreement + in duplicate f in his presence, and, if they execute it, shall attest the execution with his signature. f2.) An agreement to emigrate shall not be of any effect until the particulars concerning the intending emigrant and his dependents (if any) have been regis- tered, and the agreement has been executed and attested under this Act. (3.) When the particulars concerning any intending emigrant and his dependents (if any) have been regis- tered and an agreement has been executed and attested under this Act, the intending emigrant shall be deemed to be registered under this Act as an emigrant. + (4.) Any number of intending emigrants appear- ing with the same recruiter before the Registering Officer or Protector at the same time, and desiring to emigrate on the same terms to the same country, may, with the permission of the Registering Officer or Pro- tector (as the case may be), execute one instrument of agreement under this section, instead of each of such intending emigrants executing a separate instrument. 36. Every agreement to emigrate shall contain a copy of the particulars registered concerning the intending emigrant and his dependents (if any) under section 31, and on the reverso such particulars concerning the nature, duration and term of service and the remunera- tion of the emigrant, and such other matters (if any) as the Governor General in Council from time to time, by rules made under this Act, prescribes. * 37. When the agreement has been executed and attested — (а) one of the copies thereof shall be delivered to the emigrant, and the other shall be retained by the Protector or sent by the Registering Officer to him, and (б) a certified copy of the particulars registered under section 31 concerning the emigrant or emigrants by whom the agreement was execu- ted, and concerning his or their dependents (if any), shall bo delivered to the recruiter for transmission to the Emigration Agent. 38. For the preparation of every agreement under this- chapter tho recruiter or Emigration Agent shall pay such fee as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette of India, prescribes : Provided that the Governor General in Council may at any time, by like notification, declare that the fee payable under this section shall be consolidated, either generally or in any specified local area, with the fee payable under section 73. 39. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Indian Contract Act, 1872 f it shall be lawful for any person of the age of sixteen years or upwards to enter in manner in this Act provided into an agreement to emigrate to any place to which emigration is lawful. 40. Any person entering into an agreement to emigrate, and being the parent or guardian of a child under the age of sixteen years and above the age of ten years, may, in the name of and on behalf of the child, enter into an agreement in manner in this Act pro- vided binding the child to emigrate with him. CHAPTER VII. Emigration Depots. 41. Every Emigration Agent shall establish at the port for which he is appointed a suitable depot for the reception and lodging of emigrants before embarkation for the country for which he is Emigration Agent, and shall provide all necessary food and clothing for all emigrants during their stay at the depot. 42. (1.) A depot established under the last foregoing section shall not be used for the reception and lodging of emigrants until it has been inspected and approved by the Protector of Emigrants and the Medical Inspec- tor of Emigrants, and a license for its use has been granted by the Protector. (2.) A license undor this section shall not be granted for a longer period than one year from the day on which it comes into force. (3.) The Protector of Emigrants may at any time cancel a license undor this section — (a) If he considers that the depot for which it was granted is unhealthy, or has in any respect become unsuitable for the purpose for which it was established, or (b) if the Emigration Agent fails, after reasonable notice, to comply with any of the requirements of this Act or of the rules made under this Act. 43. The Protector of Emigrants and the Medical Inspector shall, from time to time, and at least once in every week during which any emigrants may be kept in any depot at the port for which they are Pro- tector and" Medical Inspector, respectively, inspect the emigrants in that depot, and examine the state of the * This word “and” was inserted in s. 31 by Act XVIII. of 1890, s. 1. t These words in s. 35 were substituted for the original words by Act XVIII. of 1890, s. 2 (1). t Sub-section (4) was added to s. 35 by Act XVIII. of 1890, s. 2 (2). * This section was substituted for the original s. 37 by Act XVIII. of 1890. s. 3. t Printed, General Acts, 18G7-76, Ed. 1887, p. 319. Contents of agreement. Record of registrations and agree- ments. Fee for preparation of agree- ment. Power to make agree- ment if over 10 . IX. of 1872. Power to make agree- ment on behalf of child or ward. I)ep6ts to be established at ports of embark- ation. Licensing of depots. Inspection by protector and medical inspector. 237 Report by Medical Inspector. Treatment of emigrant suffering from disease. Emigrant not to be removed before regis- tration. Conveyance of emigrant to depot. Report of arrival at depot. Examina- tion by Medical Inspector. Power for Protector to order payment of expenses of return of emigrant in certain cases. depot, and the maimer in which the emigrants therein are lodged, fed, clothed, and otherwise provided for and attended to. 44. The Medical Inspector shall report to the Pre- tector of Emigrants any circumstance that may come to his knowledge showing that any depot is not suit- able for its purpose, or that the emigrants lodged therein are treated with any oppression or neglect. 45. (1.) The Medical Inspector may, if he thinks fit, direct that any emigrant suffering from any disease likely to be dangerous to his neighbours shall be isolated or excluded from the depot. (2.) The Medical Inspector may, if he thinks fit, order the removal of any emigrant so suffering to a proper hospital for treatment at the expense of the Emigration Agent ; and the expense (if any) incurred by the Protector of Emigrants in respect of the removal of the emigrant and his treatment in the hospital shall be recoverable from the Emigration Agent by the Protector of Emigrants, with interest thereon at the rate' of six per centum per annum from the date on which the expense was incurred. CHAPTER VIII. Conveyance op Emigrants to Depots and Procedure on Arrival. 46. A recruiter shall not remove or attempt to remove any intending emigrant to a depot, or induce or attempt to induce him to go to a depot, or to leave the local limits of the j urisdiction of the Magistrate by whom the recruiter’s license has been countersigned, or aid him in going to a depot, or in leaving any such local limits, until the intending emigrant has been registered under this Act as an emigrant. 47. (1.) Every emigrant must, after he has been registered under this Act, he conveyed with all con- venient despatch, by or under the orders of the recruiter or Emigration Agent, to the depot established at the port of embarkation by the Emigration Agent on whose application the recruiter has been licensed. (2.) When an emigrant has been registered at a place beyond the limits of the port of embarkation, he must, While proceeding to the depot, be accompanied through- out the journey either by the recruiter himself, or by a competent person appointed by him with the approval of a Magistrate. (3.) The Magistrate shall give to the person so ap- pointed a certificate signed by him stating that he has been appointed for the journey to the depot. (4.) The recruiter or the person so appointed shall, throughout the journey, provide the emigrant with proper and sufficient food and lodging. 48. The arrival at a depot of each emigrant must immediately be reported by the person in charge of the depot to the Emigration Agent, and by the Agent to the Protector of Emigrants. 49. (1 ) The copy of the * particulars registered under section 31 * received by the recruiter from the Registering Officer or Protector must, as soon as con- veniently may be after the arrival of the emigrant at the depot, be shown by the Emigration Agent to the Medical Inspector of Emigrants. (2.) The Medical Inspector shall examine each emigrant entered in the * said copy * to ascertain whether ho is fit, having regard to his age and state of health, to undertake the journey to the country to which he has agreed to emigrate. (3.) The Medical Inspector, if satisfied of his fitness, shall give a certificate to that effect to the Emigration Agent. If not so satisfied, he shall give a certificate to that effect to the Protector of Emigrants. 50. (1.) In any of the following cases, namely : — (a) if the Medical Inspector of Emigrants finds that an emigrant is, or has become, unfit to undertake the journey to the country to which he has agreed to emigrate, and if the Protector of Emigrants considers that the * These words in sub-sections ( 1 ) and (2) of section for the original words by Act XVIII. of 181)0, s. 4. 49 were substituted emigrant has not dishonestly represented himself as fit to undertake tho journey, or (6) if the Protector finds that any such irregularity lias occurred in the recruitment or treatment by the recruiter of any emigrant as makes it just to rescind the agreement to emigrate, or (c) if tho Emigration Agent refuses to fulfil the agreement entered into with the emigrant, the Protector may order the Emigration Agent to pay to the emigrant such sum as the Protector deems reason- able as compensation, and when the emigrant has been registered at a place beyond the limits of the port of embarkation, such reasonable sum as is necessary to enable him to return to the place at which he was registered, and may take any steps which he thinks necessary for the conveyance of the emigrant to that place. (2.) Any emigrant who has been registered at any place beyond the limits of the port of embarkation, and who from his state of health is, in the opinion of the Medical Inspector of Emigrants, unfit to undertake at once the return journey to the place at which he was registered, shall be entitled to be fed, lodged, clothed, and attended to at the depot at the expense of the Emigration Agent until he is reported by the Medical Inspector fit to undertake the return-journey. 51. (1.) When any order is made under the last fore- going section with reference to any emigrant who was registered at any place beyond the limits of the port of embarkation, any emigrant who has been registered as his dependent, or any emigrant who, not being a dependent, is the father, mother, wife, husband, son, daughter, brother, sister, guardian or ward of the emigrant, shall be en- titled — (a) to be conveyed at the expense of the Emigration Agent with the emigrant to the place at which he was registered ; and (b) if the emigrant is unable to travel, to be lodged, fed, and clothed in the depot at the expense of the Emigration Agent until the emigrant is able to travel. (2.) The Protector of Emigrants may include any expenses incurred under this section in an order made under the last foregoing section with respect to tho emigrant. 52. If it appears that during the journey to the depot any emigrant has suffered any ill-treatment, or that, in the case of any emigrant who has been regis- tered at a place beyond the limits of the port of em- barkation, the provisions of section 47 have not been complied with, tho Protector of Emigrants may order the Emigration Agent to pay — (a) to the emigrant a reasonable sum by way of compensation, and (l) if any expenses have been incurred by or under the orders of the Protector on behalf of the emigrant by reason of the neglect to comply with the provisions of section 47, to the Pro- tector tho expenses so incurred. 53. (1.) On failure of the Emigration Agent for twenty-four hours to comply with an order of the Pro- tector for tho payment of any sum to an emigrant under any of the last three foregoing sections, the Protector may pay the same to the emigrant. (2.) Every sum paid by the Protector to ail emigrant under sub-section (1), and, on failure of the Emigration Agent for twenty-four hours to comply with an order for payment thereof under the last foregoing section, every sum which the Protector may have ordered the Emigration Agent to pay to him under that section, shall be recoverable from the Emigration Agent with interest thereon at the rate of six per centum per annum from the date of payment. (3) Further proof shall not be required by any Court in any such case than that the Protector gave the Emi- gration Agent an order to pay the sum, and that the Emigration Agent for twenty-four hours failed to comply with the order. Gg 3 Payment of expenses of dependents and rela- tives. Compensa- tion to emigrant for ill-treat- ment on journey. Power for Protector to pay and recover expenses incurred on behalf of emigrant. 238 Master of emigrant- vessel to be licensed. Application for license. Survey and licensing of vessel. VII. of 1884 Accom- modation required on board emigrant- 1 vessel. Rules as to space on board emigrant- vessel. Provisions, clothing, fuel, and water. Surgeons, attendants, medicines, and stores. CHAPTER IX. Emigrant-vessels. 54. It shall not be lawful to receive any emigrant on board any vessel unless a license to carry emigrants m the vessel has been obtained from the Local Govern- ment. 55. (1.) When the master or owner of any vessel desires to obtain a license to carry emigrants in Ins vessel, be shall apply in writing through the Protector of Emigrants to the Local Government for the license. (2.) The application must state the number of emi- grants which, according to the rules as to space con- tained in this chapter, the applicant deems the vessel capable of carrying, and the tonnage and such other particulars respecting the vessel as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by rules mado under this Act, prescribes. 56. (1.) The Protector of Emigrants shall cause the vessel to be surveyed by a competent person at the cost of the master or owner, with a view to ascertain her seaworthiness, and the extent and nature of her accom- modation for emigrants, and to ascertain that she is properly ventilated, and is supplied with all the tackle, apparel and furniture requisite for her intended voyage : * Provided that, if the vessel is a steam- ship having a certificate of survey granted by the Board of Trade or any British Colonial Government or under the Indian Steamships Act, 1884, f and in force and applicable to her intended voyage, the survey under this sub- section with a view to ascertain her seaworthiness shall not extend to her hull or machinery unless the Protector of Emigrants has reason to believe that, since the grant of the certificate, her hull or machinery lias sustained injury or damage or has otherwise become inefficient. (2.) If the Local Government is of opinion that the vessel is in all respects suitable for the carrying of emigrants under this Act, and is properly manned and officered, it shall give to the master of _ the vessel a license to carry emigrants therein specifying the num- ber of emigrants which may be received on board. 57. (1.) A license shall not be granted under the last foregoing section unless — (a) there is provided for the emigrants, either be- tween decks or, subject to the approval of the Protector of Emigrants and the Medical Inspector, in cabins on the upper deck, a space devoted to the exclusive use of the emigrants having in every part a height of not less than six feet ; (b) a separate place is fitted up for a hospital ; and (c) such arrangements are made for the separation of women (married or single) and children from the other emigrants as the Governor General in Council, from time to time by rules made under this Act, prescribes. (2 ) The cabins on the upper deck provided under clause (a) of this section must be firmly secured and entirely covered in. 58 Every emigrant vessel must contain within the space referred to in clause (al of the last foregoing section at least twelve superficial feet and seventy-two cubic feet of space for each emigrant : Provided that two emigrants under the age of ten years shall for the purposes of this section count as one only. 59 There must be on board every emigrant-vessel, at the time of departure of the vessel from the port at which they embark, provisions, clothing, fuel and water for the emigrants (over and above the supply for the master, officers and crew, and ot the cabin and other passengers, if any), in such quantity and of such des- cription and quality as the Governor General m Council, from time to time, by rules made under this Act pre- scribes. 60. Every emigrant- vessel, must, at the time of departure of the vessel from the port at which the emigrants embark, have on board, and must carry with her,°a properly qualified surgeon, and also such com- pounders, interpreters and attendants subordinate to the surgeon, and such medicines and other stores, in * This proviso was added to sub-section (1) of s. 50 by Act XVIII. oflSnins.^t yjj 0 j 1881 , gee the revised edition ns modified up to 1st July, istio, published by the Legislative Department. such quantity and of such quality as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by rules made under this Act, prescribes. 61. The Protector of emigrants and the Medical Inspector of emigrants shall see personally that all the provisions of the last two foregoing sections are com- plied with. 62. (1.) Every master licensed under this Act, shall on the requisition of the Protector of Emigrants, and before any emigrant embarks on board his vessel, execute to the Protector, in duplicate, a bond, in such form as the Local Government, from time to time, pre- scribes, binding himself and the owner of the vessel in a penal sum of ten thousand rupees, to perform the duties imposed by this Act or any rule made under this Act on a master and owner respectively. (2.) The Protector of Emigrants shall forward cne copy of the bond to such officer as may be appointed in this behalf by the Government of the country to which the emigrants are to he conveyed, or, in the case of a foreign colony, to the British Consular Agent, and the other copy to the Local Government. CHAPTER X. Embarkation and Departure. 63. An emigrant shall not embark, except with the permission of the Protector of Emigrants, until seven days have elapsed from the date of his arrival at the depot. 64. (1.) An emigrant-vessel shall not sail from any port in British India — (a) to any country west of the Cape of Good Hope, except at such seasons as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by rules mado under this Act, prescribes as seasons during which it shall be lawful for emigrant-vessels generally, or of a class to which the vessel belongs, to sail to that country ; (b) to any country during any season which the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette of India, declares to be a season during which the sailing of emigrant-vessels to that country is prohibited. 65. If any emigrant without sufficient cause refuses or neglects to embark when called on by the Emigra- tion Agent to do so, it shall not he lawful to compel the emigrant to embark; but nothing in this section shall affect the civil or criminal liabilities which an emigrant incurs by reason or in respect of any such refusal or neglect. 66. (1.) When any emigrants are about to embark on hoard any vessel, the Emigration Agent shall supply the master of the vessel with four copies of a list, specify- ing as accurately as may be, the names, ages and occupations of the emigrants, and the names of their respective fathers. (2.) The master shall not receive any emigrant on hoard unless he is provided with a pass, signed by the Emigration Agent, and countersigned by the Protector, stating the name and age of the emigrant, the name of his father, and the country to which he has agreed to emigrate, and certifying that he is in a fit state of health to undertake the voyage to that country. (3.) Every emigrant shall on embarkation deliver the pass to the master. (4.) The master shall compare the emigrants who embark and the passes delivered by them with the list supplied by the Emigration Agent ; and. if the list appears to be correct and to correspond with the passes delivered and with the emigrants embarked, the master shall sign the four copies of the list. (5.) The master shall not permit any emigrant to remain on hoard who has not delivered up his pass to the master or is not mentioned in the list. 67. (1.) When the copies of the list have been signed, the master shall give two of the copies to the Protector of Emigrants, who shall sign them if he believes them to he correct. (2.) The Protector shall send one of the copies so Puty of Protector and Medical Inspector with respect to enforce- ment of foregoing sections. Bond to be executed by master of emigrant- vessel. Time of em- barkation after arrival. Time at which emigrant- vessels may leave India. Procedure if emigrant refuses to embark. List of, and passes for, emigrants. Disposal of the two copies of list to be given by master to Protector. 239 Disposal of tho two copies of list to be given by master to Emigration Agent. Examina- tion of emisrants by Med ical Inspector. Certificates from Pro- tector of Emigrants and Emigra- tion Agent. Copies of Act and rules to be kept on board. Pee for each embarked emigrant. signed by him by tho vessel which carries the emigrants to such officer as may be appointed in this behalf by the Government of tlie country to which the emigrants have agreed to emigrate, or, in the case of a foreign colony, to the British Consular Agent, and shall file the other copy in his own office. 68. (1.) The master shall give to the Emigration Agent tho two remaining copies of the list. (2.) The Emigration Agent shall thereupon sign the copies, and shall return one of them to the master. (3.) The master shall, on the arrival of the vessel at the country to which the emigrants have agreed to emigrate, and before their disembarkation, deliver the copy so returned to him to such officer as may be appointed in this behalf by the Government of the country, or, in the case of a foreign colony, to the British Consular Agent. 69. (1.) The Medical Inspector shall be present at the embarkation of all emigrants, and shall examine each emigrant to ascertain if he is in a fit state of health to undertake the voyage to the country to which he has agreed to emigrate ; and, if he finds that he is not fit to undertake the voyage, he shall inform the Protector ac- cordingly. (2.) The Protector may thereupon refuse to permit the ©migrant to embark ; and any emigrant, registered as a dependent of an emigrant whom the Protector has refused to permit to embark, or any emigrant who, not being a dependent, is the father, mother, wife, husband, son, daughter, brother, sister, guardian or ward of the emigrant, may, notwithstanding anything in this Act, refuse to embark. (3.) The provisions of sections 50, 51 and 53 shall apply to emigrants who under this section are not per- mitted to embark, and to any emigrants who under this section refuse to embark, and to the recovery of ex- penses incurred under this Act in respect of them. 70. [Emigration Agent to deliver agreements to emigrate to master .] — Repealed by Act XVIli. of 1890, s. 6. 71. Before any emigrant-vessel clears out of any port, the master of the vessel shall obtain from the Protector of Emigrants at the port, and from the Emigration Agent for the country to which the emigrants are to be conveyed, certificates signed by tlie Protector and Emigration Agent, respectively, to the effect that the Protector and. Agent have, in respect of all the emigrants embarking at that port in the vessel, done all that is required by the foregoing provisions of this Act, or by the rules made under this Act, to be done on the part of the Protector and Agent, respectively, and that all the directions for the security, well-being and protection of emigrants which are contained in this Act or in the rules made under this Act have in the case of that vessel been complied with. 72. The master of every emigrant-vessel shall keep on board the vessel during the whole voyage two copies of this Act, arid of all rules made under this Act, and two copies of a translation of this Act, and of those rules, in such language or languages as the Local Government directs, and shall, on request made at any reasonable time, produce oue of those copies to any emigrant for his perusal. 73. For each emigrant who embarks on board an emigrant-vessel the Emigration Agent shall pay to the Protector of Emigrants a fee of such amount as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by notification in the “ Gazette ” of India, prescribes: Provided as follows : — (a) the fee payable under this section shall not be more than is, in the opinion of the Governor General in Council, sufficient to raise the total income from fees under this Act to an amount which will cover the cost of any establishment or supervision which the Governor General in Council thinks necessary to provide for the control of emigration : (5) if it appears to the Governor General in Council expedient to provide, in the case of any country, any special establishment or ex- penditure for the protection of Indian emigrants to that country, the Governor General in Council may increase the fee payable in the case of emigrants to that country to an amount sufficient, in his opinion, to cover the cost of the special establishment or expenditure. 74. It shall be the duty of every master licensed under this Act to see that all the provisions of this Act and the rules made under this Act are observed on board his vessel during the voyage from British India to the country to which the emigrants are to be conveyed. 75. The master shall return his pass to each emigrant before he disembarks in the country to which he has agreed to emigrate. Special Provisions as to Vessels sailing from Calcutta. 76. The master of every vessel carrying emigrants from the port of Calcutta shall proceed ou his voyage and depart with his vessel from Garden Reach within twenty-four hours after the embarkation of such of the emigrants as have first embarked. 77. Every sailing-vessel leaving the port of Calcutta with emigrants shall proceed from Garden Reach to sea under tow of a steamer declared to be competent by such officer as the Local Government appoints in this behalf. 78. (1.) When an emigrant -vessel leaves the port of Calcutta, if during her passage down the river, and while between Garden Reach and Diamond Harbour, the disease of measles, scarlet-fever or small -pox ap- pears on board, the master shall, if so required by the surgeon in charge of the emigrants, send to the hospital at Diamond Harbour all emigrants suffering from the disease, with any emigrants registered as their depen- dents, and any emigrant who, not being a dependent, is the father, mother, wife, husband, son, daughter, brother, sister, guardian or ward of any such emigrant and who wishes to accompany him or her, and shall at once inform the Protector of Emigrants at Calcutta of the number and names of the emigrants so sent to hospital. „ (2.) The provisions of sections 50, 51 and 53 shall, so lar as may be, apply to emigrants landed under this section, and to the recovery of expenses incurred in respect of them. i9. (1.) In the event of cholera in an epidemic form appearing among the emigrants on board any such vessel carrying emigrants from the port of Calcutta, the surgeon in charge of the emigrants may require the master to land all the emigrants on board the vessel at Diamond Harbour. (2.) The master shall at once comply with the request of the surgeon, and shall immediately give notice of his having done so to the Protector of Emigrants at Calcutta, who shall take such action thereon as the Governor General in Council, from time to time, by rules made under this Act, prescribes. CHAPTER XI. Rules. 80. (1.) The Governor General in Council may, from time to time, make rules consistent with this Act — (a) to provide for the supervision and regulation of places of accommodation provided under this Act, and to define the classes of Magistrates and the officers of Police to he authorized to visit and inspect those places ; (b) to prescribe the form of the register required under this Act, and the particulars to be entered therein, and to regulate the control to be exercised over Registering Officers by the District Magistrate or officer (if any) appointed in this behalf under this Act ; (c) to prescribe the forms of the agreements to be made under this Act, and the particulars to be contained therein and the language or languages in which agreements must be ex- pressed ; (d) to prescribe the conditions on which licenses for the establishment of depots under this A.ct may be given, to provide for the super- vision and regulation of depots, and for the medical care of the emigrants during their residence there, and the measures to be taken Duty of master to seo to observance of Act and rules on board his vessel. Return of pass to emigrant. Emigrant- vesselsailing from Calcutta to depart within twenty-four hours of embarka- tion. Emigrant- vessel sailing from Calcutta to be towed to sea. Power of surgeon of emigrant- vessel leaving Calcutta to require sick emigrants to be sent to hospital. Power of surgeon of emigrant - vessel leaving Calcutta to require all emigrants to he landed when cholera appears. Power for Governor General in Council to make rules. Gg 4 240 Publication of drafts and rules. on the outbreak of any epidemic or infectious disease there ; (e) to prescribe the forms to be supplied by Emi- gration Agents and recruiters for the purposes of this Act ; (/) to prescribe the particulars which the owner or master of a vessel applying for a license to carry emigrants in his vessel must state ; ( rami f? ra nt. within the meaning of this Ordinance, shall be held by a magistrate without the intervention of a jury, who shall sum np the evidence and make and sign an order thereupon ; and every such order shall be equivalent in all respects to a verdict signed by a coroner’s jury and countersigned by a coroner. (2.) Every such magistrate shall, on transmitting the inquisition to the Governor, transmit to the protector of immigrants a statement of such particulars in respect to the identity of the immigrant and the cause of his death, as he may be able to ascertain on such inquest. 148. It shall be the duty of the protector of immi- Property of grants to collect and take possession of the property of any immigrant who may die in the Colony without immigrant, making a will and without a relation in the Colony, and with the sanction of the Governor, to convert the said property into money and pay the proceeds info the Colonial Treasury, in order that it may be remitted to the person or persons in India or elsewhere who may be entitled thereto. 149. All legal proceedings under this Ordinance shall, Mode, time, where it is not otherwise provided, be taken in the name &c - of ' ef:a j of the treasurer: Provided that every prosecution for a pl0cee ing! ’' penalty under this Ordinace shall be commenced within six months after the commission of the offence by reason of which such penalty has been incurred, unless other- wise provided : Provided also that no fees shall be re- quired by any public officer from the treasurer in respect of any proceeding instituted under this Ordinance. Passed the Legislative Council, this 4th day of February 1891. T. F. Meagher, Acting Clerk of Councils. ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. FOREIGN REPORTS. Volume III. HOLLAND. flrmntetJ to fcotf) igouaro of parliament CTommanO of ?t?rr if^ajeatp* June 1893. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST' EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C., and 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W. ; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. [C. — 7063.-VI.] Price 3 \d. 1893. ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. 44, Parliament Street, London, S.W., June 24th, 1893. My Lord Duke, I have the honour to submit to you the report which I have been directed to draw up on the Labour Question in Holland. The report was commenced at the end of the year 1891 but as the information in the possession of the Commission was incomplete, I was directed to proceed to the Hague and obtain what was wanting. The information thus obtained has been supplemented by subsequent official and other publications. For much kindness and courtesy shown to me as Secretary of this Commission during my visit to Holland, I am deeply indebted to Sir Horace Rumbold, H.M. Minister at the Hague, and to the officials of the Ministry of Justice, especially Baron Snyder van Wissenkerke. The report now laid before the Commission represents, I believe, the only complete statement up to date with regard to the Labour Question in Holland embodying as it does the information contained in the 20 folio volumes published by the Dutch Royal Commission which was appointed in 1890, and ceased to take evidence in September 1892. I am, Your Grace’s obedient servant, GEOFFREY DRAGE, Secretary* To His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., Chairman of the Royal Commission on Labour. U 77240. Wt. 994. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN HOLLAND. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Preface. — Special Features. (a.) Of the Dutch character - -- -- -.-..5 (b.) Of Dutch industry - .5 Labour Legislation - -- -- -- -....5 DIVISION I.— TRADE DISPUTES. A. — General Relations between Employers and Employed. 1. Attitude of employers _6 2. Employers’ Associations - -- -- -....7 3. Workmen’s Societies --------- .7 .4, Socialist Societies - -- -- -- ....9 B. — Causes of Strikes. 1. Wages : a. Advance or reduction - -- -- ....-9 b. Introduction of machinery - ------- -10 e. Payment in German money - - -- ....-10 d. The bonus system - -------- -10 e. Fines or other deductions - - -- -- -- -10 /. The truck system - - - - ' - . . . . -10 Excursus on wages in general - -- -- -- -- 11 2. Hours : a. Overtime ---------- r- - 12 b. Church festivals - - - - - - - - ' *' - - ’ -12 Excursus on some general statistics concerning hours - - - - - -12 The eight hours’ day - -- -- -- -- -13 Intervals for meals - - -- -- -- -- 13 Sunday work - -- -- -- -- - -13 3. Other conditions - - -- -- -...-13 C. — Development, Organisation and Conduct of Strikes. a. Strikes in the cotton mills at Enschede and Almelo - - - - - -14 b. Amongst peat workers ---------- 14 c. Amongst dock labourers at Rotterdam and Amsterdam - - - -15 Prevention and Settlement of Strikes - - - - - . - - 16 DIVISION II.— CONDITIONS OF LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. A. — Mining, Iron, Engineering, Shipbuilding and Cognate Trades. a. Mines - - - - - - - - - -17 b. Dockyards and arsenals - - - - - - - .17 B. —Transport and Agriculture. 1. Railways - -- -- -- -- -- - 17 a. Wages - -- -- -- -- -- -17 b. Hours - - -- -- -- -- --18 c. Other conditions - -- -- -- -- - -18 2. Tramways - -- -- -- -- -- -19 3. Dock labour (Rotterdam and Amsterdam) ------ - -19 4. Peat industry - -- -- -- ...--21 5. Work of navvies on canals, dykes, &c. - - - - - - -22 C. — Textile Clothing, Building, and Miscellaneous Trades. 1. Textile trades - - - - - - - - -22 a. Labour of women and children - - - - - - -22 b. Inspection - - - - - - - - -22 c. The cotton trade - - - - - - - - -23 d. The linen trade - - - - - - - - -25 e. The woollen trade - - - - - - - - -25 2. Miscellaneous trades : a. Glass workers - - - - - - - - -25 b. Cigar makers - -- -- -- -- 26 c. Windmills - - - - - - - - - -26 d. Beetroot sugar makers - - - - - - - -26 e. Diamond industry - - - - - - - - -27 DIVISION III.— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — Co-operation and Profit Sharing - - - - - - - 27 B. — Friendly Societies, Pension Funds and Savings Banks - - - - - 28 C. — Provision for the Unemployed. a. Labour registries - - - - - - - - -31 b. The Home Labour Colonies - - - - - - - -31 D. — Education. a. Elementary - -------- 32 b. Technical - - - - - - - - - -33 E. — Workmen’s Dwellings ----- - ...34 APPENDIX. Recommendations of the Second Division of the Labour Commission ----- 35 Books and Pamphlets on the Labour Question in Holland used in th preparation of this Report. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN HOLLAND. PREFACE. Special Features. (a.) Of the Dutch Character. Certain prominent features of Dutch industrial life require to be regarded in connexion with the main elements of the national character. The Dutch workman is thorough and steady, but not remarkable for speed in his work, hence the long hours of labour which prevail in most occupations are not felt to be burdensome, provided that the labourer may work in the leisurely fashion that suits him best. The infrequency of strikes also becomes more intelligible when we bear in mind the frugal, cleanly habits which enable the working classes to live on a florin a day (*), their home-loving pro- pensities, and the contented disposition which is satisfied with a very moderate degree of well-being. Invention, resource, taste, or even a high degree of skill are qualities for which the nation in general is not distinguished, but in place of these there is a sturdy common sense which prevents its possessors from being led away by any schemes not of a distinctly practical kind. This lack of excitability, says Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis, which makes the Dutch hard to rouse, also makes them staunch adherents of any cause which really enlists their reason and sympathies. ( 2 ) The love of freedom, which formerly made Spanish dominion so intolerable, is manifested at the present day in the distrust with which the people regard State in- terference in social matters. The extremely recent date of Dutch labour legislation is no doubt partly due to this independent spirit. State interference with labour has, however, at last been permitted, and the influence of modern ideas may be traced in many other directions. The old forms of religious belief, closely bound up as they are with the moral ideals of the people, are already losing their hold on the national life. There can be little doubt that the clergy of the various Protestant bodies are partly responsible for this decline. Their position of narrow orthodoxy has kept them aloof from the current of thought which they stigmatise as “ freethinking,” and except in the performance of their official duties they come little into contact with the life of the people. ( 3 ) The place which religious motives have till lately held in popular esteem is now left vacant altogether, or is being filled, either by socialism, properly so called, or by the development of the Roman Catholic Church in the direc- tion of what, in other countries would be called Christian socialism. The devotion displayed by the Catholic clergy to the interests of the working classes and the great powers of organisation which they possess, render a wide extension of their influence probable in the near future. ( 4 ) (6.) Of Dutch Industry. M. Legrand, in his report on the conditions of labour in Holland, draws attention to the fact that manufacturing industries, though important, are by no means the only source of wealth. Agriculture, navigation, and fishing also afford occupation to a large number of hands. The comparative absence of great industrial centres is, he says, another reason why Dutch workmen have so few of the characteristics of a separate class. Industrial districts, with the exception of Amsterdam and one or two other large towns, still retain certain elements of agricul- tural life. Factory hands build their own houses and cultivate their field or garden during their hours of leisure. Other industries, such as the linen trade, bring agricul- tural work into clt.te contact with manufacturing industries, the employes frequently passing Irom the field to the factory. In spire also of the recent development of large industries the great mass of the people are still employed in small factories, in home industries, or in workshops where the employer works by the side of his men.( 5 ) t 1 ) 1 11. = Is. 8 d. 12 11. = about 1 1. ( 2 ) Neup Zeit, vol. I., No. 2, 1890-1. ( :i ) EnquCte, Groningen, 1184. Groningen Veenkolonien, 3452. ( 4 ) Foreign OIIice Reports, 1892. Miscellaneous Series, No. 224, p. 12. ( 5 ) “ Conditions du Travail duns les Pays-Bas,” pp. 5-0. Legislation. A quarter of a century ago, the existence of a labour question in Holland would hardly have been recognised. But during the last 20 years laws have been passed with regard to the employment of women and children, and this legislation has served to direct public attention to the con- sideration of the conditions of labour in general in this direction. In 1873, Mr. van Houten, one of the Liberal deputies Law of 1874. for Groningen, introduced a Bill in the Second Chamber of c f . p. 17. the States General, with the object of prohibiting the em- ployment of children under 12 years of age, and the law of 18/4, which was the result of his proposals, made it illegal to employ children below that age except in field labour or domestic service. These exceptions were found to be capable of very various interpretations, and to open ttie way for practices which virtually made the law ineffective. Proposals were made to amend it, but they met with no support in Parliament because it was generally felt that any attempts at further legislation were useless while the information with regard to the condition of the working classes throughout the country was imperfect. Accordingly in 1886 a Commission was appointed consisting of nine members to inquire into the working of the law of Sep- tember 19th, 1874. The object of the Commission was to ascertain what were the effects of this law and how far it had failed to accomplish the purposes for which it was passed ; it also investigated the condition of factories and workshops with regard to their provisions for the health and safety of the employes. The labours of the Commis- sion were cut short by the dissolution of the Second Chamber in August 1887, but the report which it drew up (herein-after referred to as Report of Enquiry of 1887) con- tained several recommendations on the subject of female and child labour. A further step in labour legislation was the law of 1889, Law of 1S89, which may be regarded as the direct outcome of the enquiry of 1887- By this law the employment of children under 12 years of age, except in agriculture, was absolutely prohibited, and State protection was for the first time extended to women and to young persons of both sexes between the ages of 12 and 16. Protected persons, i.e., women and persons of either sex below the age of 16, are now forbidden to begin work earlier than 5 a.m., or to continue at work after 7 p.m., nor can their work exceed 11 hours a day in all. An interval for rest is to be allowed between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., which is not to be spent in the factory if work is going on there. In exceptional circumstances the gover- nor of the province ( Commissaris des Kernings) may grant permission to extend the working hours of protected persons from 11 to 13 hours, but only for a limited number of days or for alternate days. Sunday work by protected persons is absolutely forbidden. Cards showing the name, age, &c. of each protected person are to be issued by the burgomaster, and to be produced by the head or manager of the factory whenever required. This law came int" operation on January 1st, 1890, and Rival was followed in July 1891 by a Royal Decree issued in Hscree, execution of section 4 of the Law of 1889, which provided 1S91 ‘ that certain kinds of labour endangering life or health might be forbidden by executive enactment. Section 1 of the Royal Decree forbids the employment of protected persons in the cleaning, oiling, or repairing of machinery in motion, and section 2 absolutely forbids underground work in mines by protected persons. As the mines of Holland at present only employ some 300 persons, cf. p. 17. this section is of future rather than of present importance. The execution of the law of 1889 is entrusted to three inspectors who enjoy very extensive powers ; and the country is divided into three areas for purposes of inspection. The first inspectoral district is situated in the southern part of the kingdom, and includes the provinces of North Brabant, Limburg, Zeeland, and those portions of Gelder- land and South Holland which are situated to the south of the Rhine, the Leek, and the Maas. The second district includes Gelderland north of the Rhine, and the provinces of Friesland, Overijssel, Groningen, and Drenthe, A 3 6 Labour Commission. The third area of inspection comprises South Holland north of the Leek and Maas, together with the provinces of North Holland and Utrecht. The four chief cities of the kingdom, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, and Utrecht, are thus situated within its limits. It must be observed that though these districts are very large, l he number of inspectors stdl remains the same as in 1890, viz., one for each district. 1 he reports ol the inspectors for 1890 and 1891 have been published, and repeated reference has been made to them in drawing up this report. The discussions which took place in Parliament on the law of 1889 showed that adequate information with regard to the conditions of labour in the country was not accessible. In order, therefore, to obtain such informa- tion, the above law was followed by the law of January 19th, 1890, instituting the State Commission of Inquiry on Labour. This Commission lias not yet completed its task, but it ceased to take evidence on September 30th, 1892, and, though the final report has not yet appeared, 20 volumes of evidence have been published, and, in a few cases, reports or summaries of the evidence have also been issued.* These volumes form the principal source of information from which the facts given in this report have been gathered. The Commission is empowered to investigate the conditions oi labour, not only in the manufacturing industries, but in all manual trades, trans- port trades, fisheries, and the peat industry, besides the question of insurance against accidents, pension funds, and the condition of workmen’s dwellings. It is composed of 13 members, who are divided into three divisional committees, each committee having one of the inspectoral districts as its sphere of activity. This arrangement has enabled the com- missioners to take evidence in the dis^r.ct to which the witnesses belong, and also to visit the principal factories and workshops concerning which evidence has been given. The facts thus obtained constitute the most authentic, recent, and complete body of information procurable oil the labour question in Holland. The work of the Commission was preceded by an inquiry made throughout the factories and workshops of the kingdom which employed more than 10 persons or were worked by steam power. This inquiry was intrusted to Mm. Btkaar and Struve, two distinguished engineers, and their report, completed early in 1890, formed the foun- dation of the work which lias since been carried out by the Labour Commission. (') I.— TRADE DISPUTES, A. — Relations between Employers and Employed. The relations between employers and employed in Holland are geneially speaking peaceful and friendly. Dr. R. Meyer says, “ It is a noteworthy fact that Dutcli “ employers are as a rule very liberal towards their men. “ The workpeople have only to state their demands, and, “ provided these are not unreasonable, they are generally “ granted by the employers without further difficulty. i~) Not only have Dutch employers frequently granted the requests of their men, but they have often taken the initiative in providing for their physical and moral welfare. Two employers who are conspicuous for their efforts to improve the condition of their workpeople are Messrs. Stork & Co., engine makers of Hengelo (Twenthe), and Mr. van Marken, yeast and spirit manufacturer of Delft. Messrs. Stork & Co. start from the principle that a close collaboration between labour and capital is necessary to the success of an undertaking. Great care is exercised in the selection of the staff, hut when once engaged no one is ever dismissed except for incapacity or lack of energy. ( :i ) The same principles have actuated Mr. van Marken, and “ his factory certainly presents the most complete example “ of an institution ' for improving the position of the “ workers to he found in Holland. ”( 4 ) Many other cases might be mentioned in which em- ployers have either established sick, funeral, and pension funds for their employes, or have provided them with libraries, baths, waiting-rooms, Ac. Instances also occur, though these are fewer in number, in which the work- pi Foreign Office Reports. Miscellaneous Series, 1892, Nos. 221, pp. 1-6, 224, p. 2. “Conditions du Travail dans los Pays Has." pp. 170-1. Vnorloopig Versing betrefl'enrlc die opriviiDmr van Kamers van Arbeid (Preliminary report on the institution of Labour Chambers), p. 1. (*) " Emaneipations-Kamp des vierten Stand is." Dr. Rudolph Meyer, ' ( 3 ) “Conditions du Travail dans les Pays lias, 1 ’ pp. 136-45. (*) lb., p. 13.3. * The report of the Second Divisional Committee of the Commission lias since been received. August, 1893. people have been allowed to share in their employers’ profits. ( 5 ) In spite, however, of these generally favourable relations between capitalists and their workmen, causes are at work which tend to dissever the close bonds of common interest which formerly united the two classes. These are firstly, the development of large industries and the consequent increase of the factory system. A witness before the Dutch Labour Commission goes so far as to state that the breach between employers and employed grows daily wider, and that there is an entire lack of confidence between the two parties ( zij vertrouwen elkaar niet meer).( r ') Secondly, as the number of men in the service of any one employer increases, the powers of managers and foremen also increase, and we find that almost invariably the subordinate officials are unworthy of their position of trust. The complaints made against them for arbitrary, harsh, and partial behaviour are innumerable. (") Thirdly, the depressed condition of agriculture in Eiiesland and Groningi n has a disturbing effect upon the conditions of the labour market generally. The peasants of the north lave left their homes in the hope of finding wotk in the larger centres of population, and in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, and Arnhem the town artisans are feeling the effect of this migration in want of work and lower wages. ( s ) The Dutch working classes, as will appear later on, are as yet very imperfectly organist d, but in so far as trades unions exist at all they are a source of irritation to em- ployers in general. Exceptional cases naturally occur in which employers state that organisation on the part of the rnen is desirable even from an employer's point of view.( 9 ) As a rule, however, capitalists regard trades unions with suspicion, ar.d instances are not wanting in which em- ployers have refused to hold any communication with a workmen’s organisation. ('") The dislike manifested by employers to corporate action on the part of their men is partly due to the idea that workmen’s unions are neces- sarily tainted with socialism. The mere fact that the men have 6ombined to secure certain advantages is enough to make some employers accuse them of socialism. ( n ) In dealing with real socialists employers have generally main- tained an attitude of firm resistance ; they prohibit the distribution of the socialist newspaper, Recht voor alien within their premises, forbid their men to attend socialist meetings, and dismiss those who are known to belong to the Social Democratic Federation. In 1873, 1,600 cigar makers were locked out because they were members of the Internationale, and refused to leave it at the bidding of their employers. C 2 ) The relations between employers and employed are frequently found to he influenced by the conditions of labour prevailing in particular districts. At Amsterdam most of the skilled workmen are members of labour organisations and are often better educated and more progressive in their ideas than are the same classes in the provinces. Hence it follows that small acts of injustice, which would he borne in silence elsewhere, are not tolerated in that town.( 13 ) In the Valley of the Zaan the relations between the two parties are stated to be uniformly good because employers are always accessible to their men and frequently work side by side with them.( w ) The general relations in the cotton district of Twenthe were compared by a manufacturer at Enschede to the state of things which prevailed in Lancashire fifty years ago. This position of mutual hostility is partly ascribed to the pressure brought, to bear by employers on the religious and political freedom of their men.( 15 ) The woollen dis- trict in and around Tilburg presents a strong contrast to that of Twenthe. The general well-being and orderly spirit of the factory hands at Tilburg is said to be in a great measure due to the beneficial influence of the Roman Catholic clergy, this statement is borne out by the fact that even in recent times, when the industry of the place has been drooping, owing to Belgian competition, the workmen have shown no inclination to resort to strikes for an improvement of their condition. ( lr j ( 5 ) EnquOte, Nijmegen, 7953-88. Twenthe, 7879-80, 10,682-5. ( 6 ) EnquOte, Amsterdam, 6286. (') EnquOte, Groningen. 5221. Los-en-Laadwerk, 1S34, 1628. Leiden, 2618-23. 2982, 4738. ( s ) EnquOte, Haarlem, 1841. ( 9 ) EnquOte, ’s Gravenhage, 1181. ( 10 ) EnquOte, Amsterdam, 2857. ( n ) 74., 829. ’s Gravenhage, 1233-4. ( 12 ) “ Emancipations-Kampf des vierten Standes.” Dr. R. Meyer, p. 108. j 13 ) EnquOte, Amsterdam, 6290. (>>) EnquOte, De Zaankant, 284, 459-60, 760-1, S16, 2299-303, 2814. ( 13 j EnquOte, Twenthe, 379-80, 758, 1152, 1202-4, 1407-8, 1964. (>«) Report of Inquiry of 18S7, 10,434. Attitude of employers towards labour organisa- tions. Relations between em- ployers and employed in different districts. 7 2. Em- ployers’ associations 3. Work- men’s so- cieties. Combina- tion Laws. Labour organisations have not hitherto touncl their counterpart in associations of employers. Some lew em- ployers’ associations exist, but they generally confine them- selves to promoting the interests of their own members and make no provision for corporate action in ease of difficulties with their men. Among such associations may he men- tioned the Diamantnijverheid of Amsterdam, the object of which is to circulate information of value to the trade, and to suppress the dishonest practices of middlemen. (') Two associations of master bakers are to be found in Amsterdam, one of which aims at checking the destructive competition which prevails in the trade, and which is sup- ported by the practice of giving presents to customers. ( 2 ) The Cargadoors Vereenigmg (Freighters’ Union), at Rot- terdam, belongs to the smaller class of associations which aim at promoting peaceful relations between employers and employed. Its object is to receive information of the grievances existing among dock labourers, and the Rotter- dam Dockers’ Union, the Nederlandsche Vlag, co-operates with it in this respect. ( 3 ) An association exists among peat owners which has been found to be a powerful agent in reducing the labourers to absolute dependence on their employers. This association, which is called the“ Laweijs-Contract ” (laweiis, an old Dutch word meaning uproar, disturbance), was established in 18/6 as a society for mutual insurance against fire, but after the strike of peat labourers in 1888 it extended its operations to questions of labour and wages. It now meets at the beginning of each season and fixes the rate of wages for the ensuing year by vote, without any consultation with the work- people. The members bind themselves not to lake any man into their service between the beginning of January and the end of the peat season, unless he is provided with a letter of dismissal from his last employer. This rule is connected with the custom of shopkeeping by employers, which prevails in the peat districts, and is intended to pro- tect employers from the loss they would sustain if men, who had obtained credit at ttieir shops during the winter, were not thus obliged to stay and work off their debt.( 4 ) Working men’s associations are very widespread in Holland. The report of the first committee of the Labour Commission on sick funds, old age, and accident insurance mentions some 840 societies of different kinds. These include : (1) general unions of workmen, (2) trades unions, (3) federations, (4) friendly societies, (5) insurance societies. The general unions of workmen which admit working men to membership without regard to their occupation, have arisen during the present generation. The aim of these unions is generally the moral, social, and material elevation of the working classes as a whole. The means to this end are most various both in kind and extent ; some associations having libraries, schools, dramatic societies, pension funds, and a variety of other institutions, while others, which are to be found chiefly in the North, confine themselves to the one object of promoting the regular attendance of children at school. Besides these there are also many societies whose aims are purely social and recreative. Pecuniary assistance in these unions is a means to the attainment of the higher, and more general ends, rather than an aim in itself; and unions exist which have no benefit funds. During the first five years of its existence the Rotterdam branch of the Algemeen Nederlandsche IVerk- liedenverbond had no benefit funds, and the desire of the members “to get something for their money” was opposed by the committee of management as tending to undermine the principles of the union. The relief now given bv this society consists of sick and funeral benefit. f) Unions without funds are generally based on co-opera- tive principles, and take the form of building societies or distributive agencies. Trades unions are all of very recent date, for the law prohibiting meetings of more than 20 workmen (Penal Code, sections 414-6) was not revoked until 1872. Up to that time, workmen who stopped work, who prevented others from working, or who agitated for an advance of wages, were liable to imprisonment of not less than one month or more than three months. The leaders of such an agitation might be placed under police supervision for from two to five years. “However just the demands of working men might be, any union among them was “ illegal.” This law remained in force till so recent a date, because the working classes were for the most part indifferent about it, and statesmen looked upon unions as (■) EnquGte, Amsterdam, 1285, 3935, ( 2 ) lb., 3843. d) EnquOte, Los.en-Laadwerk, 81, M3-4, JJ) VociuUnjfqi (Pent Mosses), 5(Kn, 2R"t s, .ww-p, Ofi-p-A now 41 1 (*) I'omlsf.nTImiHM.p. Yepln,?, jtp, p, p, disturbing to the public peace. The nm-ssiiy ol doing something to mitigate the existing law was first ielt in the years 1850-69, during which time 126 persons were tried for breach of section 415 of the Conspiracy Act. The question was taken up by Mr. S. van Ifouten, member of Parliament for Groningen, and the law repealing sections 414-6 of the Conspiracy Act was passed in April 1872 C). Many trades unions are mere survivals of the mediaeval Trades guilds, their only object being to provide benefit funds for Unions, the members of their own trade. Some unions set before themselves the amelioration of the condition of the working classes in general, and others confine themselves to efforts for the improvement of their own trade. The function of the trades union as a fighting body, or at least as a means of negotiation between employers and employed, is scarcely understood at all in Holland. A tendency in this direc- tion is however beginning to show itself, and is regarded as “ one of the most remarkable indications of the spirit of “ the times. ”(') A union of ships’ carpenters (the Eandracht) at Amster- dam has a strike fund, and undertakes to support members who have been unjustly dismissed by their employers. During a strike, in which 200 out of the 600 ships’ car- penters in Amsterdam were concerned, 1 11. a day was paid to members out of this fund.( 8 ) The Roman Catholic Union of Factory Workers in 1’wenthe has for its object the social improvement of factory workers generally, and in particular the peaceable settlement of differences and disputes between employers and employed. Amstel's IVerkman, a general union, founded in 1887, has a court of arbitration for the settlement of differences between masteis and men. At Vlaardingen, a union of journeymen coopers was established in 1890, and a union of carpenters in 1891, the rules of which give directions for the settlement of wages disputes and other grievances, and further provide that, if the union cannot succeed in making peace, the matter is to be referred to a committee of employers and employed. Similar provisions are found in the rules of a tailors’ union at Amsterdam, founded in 18,70, the Dock Labourers’ Union at Rotterdam (De Nederlandsche Vlag), founded lifter the dock strike in 1889, also in a general union at Oude-Pekela.( 9 ) 'l'he aim of the Nederlandsche Vlag is to avoid strikes and to prevent any suspicion of socialism from attach- ing to the dock labourers at Rotterdam. The president of the union stated that having noticed that most of the money collected for the men on strike came from socialists, he thought it advisable to form an organisa- tion which, in future struggles, might he indepen- dent of such help. The union was also at first in opposi- tion to the extravagant demands of the labour union. It received a subsidy of 200 fi. from the. Cargadoors ’ (Freighters’) Union during the first year of its existence, with the promise that a similar sum should be contributed in the following year. (*°) 'l’he Labour Union, ( u ) founded on the lines of the English Dockers’ Union, was also established immediately after the strike. Its object was to oppose the unjust dealings of the foremen, and at the beginning of its career it numbered as many as 1,200 members. The strictness of its rules, however, which prevented the members from working with non-unionists, soon reduced the numbers to 200; the membership rose again to about 500, but the socialistic ten- dencies of the society frightened the more cautious men, and the union has now ceased to exist. ( 13 ) Another extinct union is the Volharding, of Amsterdam, which was founded on October 1, 1889. Discord existed amongst the members from the first, as one section, with Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis at its head, wished to affiliate with the English Dockers’ Union, whilst another urged the different circumstances of the two countries as a reason for remaining independent. The union gradually fell into decay, owing to the pressure put on the members by em- ployers.!^ 3 ) ( 6 ) “ Bijdrage tot de Leer van hot Arbeidsloon.” Ph. Falkenberg. (Contributions to the Study of the Wages Question), pp. 287, 323-G. ('I Pondsen-Enqufcte, Versing, p. 35. ( 8 ) Fondsen-Enqufite, Part 1.. 9(193 ; Part IT., 15,522-30. ('■*) Fondsen-Euquiste, Versing, p. 35. (>") Enquete, Los-en Lnadwerk. 154-0, 393-5, 41(1, 429. (“) The following letter, dated May 19th, 1893; was addressed to the Secretary with regard to the above unions : — Dear Sir, I x reply to your favour, dated 19tb, 1 beg to inform you that a branch of our union was instituted in Rotterdam just after the London dock strike of 1889, but principally owing to the strenuous efforts put forward against the movement by their government officials and Hie capitalistic fraternity the men became disorganised. Their connexion with us only lasted a few months, and the Labour Union mentioned by you is not connected with us m any way wha tever.' No sten- have been 'taken by us officially, or otherwise, to affiliate with tRo ' f r t>! hard Inn Un'on of Amsterdam, -Yours faithfully. Hen TimiBtt. i ”4 Knaurto. hos-en-Luiflwerk, 8iH>, 135 U. 198-9, 429, V) /*a 1193-0, 184(1, 277*1. 4 4 8 Federations. Organisation has hitherto chiefly prospered in the print- ing and tobacco and cigar trades. The Hague has no fewer than nine unions of printers and 42 unions of cigar makers ; while the number of tobacco and cigar workers’ unions at Rotterdam amounts to 21. The Dutch Diamond Workers’ Union is a branch of an international federation which has its head quarters at St. Claude in the Jura Mountains, and has branches at Antwerp, Paris, Hanau. and in some rural districts of France. The “ Adamas,” the organ of the federation, is published in French, German, Dutch, and Flemish. Shortly after the founding of the Amsterdam union in 188!) the number of members was 800 or 900, but in 1891 this number was reduced to 200 or 300, as, on account of the depression in trade, the members fell into arrears with their contributions. The aim of the union is to maintain the present rate of wages and to improve the general conditions of employment in the trade. ( l ) The Diamond Cutters’ Union exists only in name, and the Polishers’ Union has entirely ceased to exist, with the result that work is now done at prices which are 60 and 80 per cent, lower than those stated in the tariff. The lack of success which has attended these unions is ascribed by one witness to their socialist tendencies, and to the absence of any feeling of community of interest amongst diamond workers^ 2 ) The term federation includes federations of the various unions in one trade, as well as the federations which are not confined to a particular trade, and which promote more general objects. Among trade federations the most important are the General Typographical Association of the Netherlands, and the Netherlands and International Federation of Cigar Makers and Tobacco Workers. The former was founded in 1866, and has now upwards of 350 members ; its objects include the establishment of a normal day’s labour, a uniform wages tariff, and the promotion of co-operative printing. ( 3 ) All contributions used to he the property of the central fund, but latterly, in order to promote the growth of local branches, each branch has been allowed to have its own fund, which may be applied to the support of strikes, universal suffrage, normal hours of labour, &c.( 4 ) The first strike that took place in Holland was organised by the United Typographical Associations^ 5 * ) The Amsterdam branch of the federation has an out-of-work fund to which all members are obliged to contribute. Every member of one year’s standing is entitled to 6 11. a week for six weeks. The society has agents in all printing shops, who inform the managing committee of any vacancies which occur, and the committee places this information at the disposal of members who are unemployed. The society has a superannuation fund for members over 55, which gives a minimum pension of 2 fl. a week; it has also a sick fund, subscription to which is not com- pulsory. Other unions in the printing trade are Voorzorg en Genoegen (Providence and Pleasure) with from 90 to 100 members, the Nederlandsche Drukpers with about 200, and the Voorwuarts with 100 members. Nearly all the printers in Amsterdam belong to one or another of these unions. 'Fhe Voorwuarts was formerly known as the Social Demo- cratic Typographical Federation, but was obliged to change its name because the Amsterdam branch of the Social Democratic Federation does not include trades unions. (°) These federations are conducted on radical and inter- national, if not socialistic, principles; the Tobacco Workers’ Federation mentioned above has an international strike fund. The Netherlands Tailors’ Federation and the Metal- workers’ Federation are both affiliated to the Social Demo- cratic Federation. The Netherlands Union of Cork Cutters states in its programme that “ the emancipation of labour must be “ the work of the labouiing classes, compared with “ whom the other classes, of society are a mere “ reactionary mass.”( 7 ) More important than the trade federations are the general federations of workmen The General Federation of Dutch Workmen (Algemeen Neder- landsche Werkliedenverbond) has its centre at Amsterdam and includes 21 local branches with a total membership of 3,500 persons. The Amsterdam branch includes eight trades unions, and the Rotterdam and Arnhem branches each have three trades unions. Its general aim is the (*) Knquete, Amsterdam, 1056-95. ( 3 ) lb., 1278-Si. ‘1589. 3 ) Fondsen-Enquftte, Verslag, p. 13. ') EnqmHo, Amsterdam, 2, 0784. ™( 5 ) EuquOte, 's Gtravenhage, 084. (°) Enqu&te, Amsterdam, 67S2-S. ( 7 J Fondsen-EnquOte, Verslag (Report), pp. 16,17. amelioration of the condition of the working classes on the principles of self-help and independence. Its rules encou- rage co-operation and organisation of every kind, and provide for the settlement of labour differences by arbi- tration or by the mediation of government or local authorities. Among the particular objects which the federation strives to attain are the improvement of workmen’s dwellings, the promotion of sanitary conditions in factories and work- shops, the abolition of Sunday labour, the restriction of the working hours of adult male labourers and the legal regulation of apprenticeship. It favours the introduction of compulsory education up to the age of 14 years, and also the creation of State chambers of labour and industry. The Werkman’s Bode (Workman’s Messenger), which is published weekly at the Hague, is the organ of the society. ( 8 ) The Patrimonium, a union conducted on Pro- testant and conservative principles, was founded in 1880, and in 1892 had 122 branches and some 10,000 members. Its members are not drawn exclusively from the working classes, employers and others interested in the welfare of working men are admitted as honorary members. The means through which the work of the union is carried on are very various ; 22 branches have founded libraries, in nine there are sick funds, one branch has established a building society and another a labour registry. The organ of the society is the “ Workman’s Friend. ”( 9 ) The Roman Catholic People’s Federation ( Roomsch Katholieke Volksbond ) has seven branches, mostly situated within the see of Haarlem. The Amsterdam branch has 2,300, of whom some 1,700 belong to the working classes, and the branch at the Hague has a membership of 1,700, of whom about 1,000 are working people. The society strives to improve the position of working men and of the lower middle class, and to counteract the socialist tendencies of the present time “ in the spirit, and “ according to the principles of the Roman Catholic “ Church.” It seeks to realise these aims by means of lec- tures and assemblies for recreation ; it has also a library of 1 ,000 volumes, and a labour registry which is said to work well. The registry was founded in 1890, and in March 1891 was obliged to remove to a larger building. Several trades unions have been formed in connexion with the federation which work in union with the labour registry and promote the revival of the apprentice system. Among these may be mentioned the St. Joseph’s Union for journeymen carpenters, the tailors', metal workers’, stone workers’, and confectioners’ Unions. The local branches have their own relief funds, but membership in these is not compulsory. ("') Some federations have a distinctly political object, as, for example, the National Union ( Nationale Vereeniging), whose object is to promote loyalty to the royal family and respect for the laws of the country, or the Orange Federation ( Oranjebond ), which endeavours to keep alive a spirit of devotion to the House of Orange.( n ) At present much energy is wasted owing to want of union among the various trade societies. To take one instance, there are only some 5,000 carpenters in Am- sterdam, and yet five separate trades unions exist. These are the carpenters’ union in connexion with the Patri- monium with 170 members, the S. Joseph’s Union, which is a branch of the R. K. Volksbond, Concordia inter Nos with 150 members, Const antia, connected with the Social Democratic Federation, and Door Eendracht Verbetering, with 800 or 900 members. The last-mentioned union is progressive in its aims, but repudiates any connexion with the social democrats. The advance in wages to 20 cents per hour, which took place in 1890, was obtained chiefly through the efforts of Concordia inter Nos. These unions are now kept apart by religious and political differences, but the leaders generally acknowledge that amalgamation, if practicable, would greatly increase their strength. ( 12 ) No women’s trades unions exist in Holland, and even the unions of factory workers are, in general, formed without regard to the women who are so largely engaged in factory work. Among the few exceptions to this rule may be men- tioned a union at Hilversum, which, though it excludes widows andnmried women, admits single women as mem- bers. The position of women in mixed unions is, however, very inferior to that of the male members. They have no votes, and cannot be elected to the com- mittee of management. Trades unions benefit funds are, {«) Fondsen-EnquOte, Verslag (Report), pp. 17,18. “Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Has.” pp. 159 -TV ( 9 ) Fondsen-Enqufete (Eijlage) Appendix, pp. 6, 7. (10) Fondsen-Enqufete, Vcrslag (Report), p. 17. EnquCte, Amsterdam, 118 . 180-6, 668. Enquftte, ’s Gravenhagr, 269-74, 281-6, 326. (“) Fondsen-EnquOte, Versing (Report), p. 17. (U) Enqufite Amsterdam, 990, 1001, 3263, 3729-33, 4112-8, 6009-12. 66S4. ■Women’s unions. 0 (4.) Socialist societies. as a rule, destined only for the relief of male members, except in the case of medicine funds, which usually include the wife and family. Many friendly societies, on the other hand, provide for the admission of women, either by accepting the widow in the place of her deceasul hush nd, or by fix ng a higher rat^ of subscription for married men who desire to secure sick benefit for their wives. Other societies, again, are open to “ married or unmarried persons without distinction of s x.” A sick benefit society for women only exists at Knnswerd in Friesland. Corresponding to the geneial unions for men, w r e find two unions at Rotterdam confined ex- clusively to women. One is a branch of the Algemeen Nederlandsche Werlcliedennerbond, the other, De Zorgvuld- ige Huisvrouw, is open to women of respectable character between the ages of 19 and 50 years. ( l ) The social democratic movement obtained no footing in Holland until after it had become firmly established i r i lie other countries of Western Europe. Dr. 11. Meyer, writing in 1875, attributes this to the absence in Holland of large manufacturing centres, and to the phlegmatic character of the Dutch people. He also points out that religious sentiment is still comparatively strong in Holland, and calls attention to the fact that the orthodox church party was the first to t ike up the labour question. The co-operative societies and building societies which it founded, together with its efforts to advance the movement in favour of Sunday rest, occupied much of the ground which in other countries was left open to the social democrats. ( 2 ) The movement first reached Holland in 18(>9, when a branch of the Internationale was founded at Amsterdam, and a socialist newspaper, the Standaard des Volks, was started. In 1872 The Internationale held a congress at the Hague, hut after the first enthusiasm was over the move- ment made little progress until 1879, when the newspaper, Rerht voor Allen (Right for All), was founded. This publication, which at first appeared only once a week, is now a daily paper. In 1880, chiefly as a test of public opinion, the social democrats put forward candidates for the parliamentary elections, and Mr. Domela Nieuwenlmis was elected. In 1888, after the extension of the franchise, two socialist candidates were returned, a fact which is worthy of notice, considering the very high property qualification of elecfors.( 3 ) In 1889 the Social Democratic League held a con- ference at the Hague to prepare for the congress in favour of the eight hours’ day, which was held in Paris in the following year. The constitution and objects of the league, which were then made known, are the following: — The league consists of branches and individual members, it may also admit secret members. When any branch in- cludes 15 members of the same trade they are to form a trades union. Branches must observe the general princi- ples of the league, hut are free to manage their own internal affairs, and to fix the rate of contribution per member. Every member is, however, obliged to pay one cent, a w'eek to the central fund, and to subscribe to Recht voor Allen. A general meeting is held every year, if poss'ble at Christmas, to which all the branches send representatives. Branches with from one to 50 members have one vote, with from 50 to 100 members two votes, branches with more than 100 members have one vote for every additional 100 or part of 100. The seven members who form the central committee are elected at the annual meeting which also fixes the place of meeting for the ensuing year. Among the principal objects s u t forth in the programme of the league may be mentioned : — Legislation directly by the people. Separation of Church and State. Establishment of free, compulsory, secular, education. Ah ilition of the capitalist, and organisation of labour by the people ( volksweerbarheit ).( 4 ) 1 he means by which the league proposes to realise its objects are threefold — (1.) The propaganda and discussion of socialist ideas by ^ means of books, papeis, meetings, &c. (2.) The organisation of labour and intervention in conflicts between capital and labour. (5.) i he support of political agitation, and especially of the demand for universal suffrage (kies-en stem- recht). 0 TfOndsen-EiKiuMc, Verslag (Report), pp. 22-3. P nil , reconcile labour and capita 1 , which is regaided by socialists as impossible. The official centre of the league is at the Hague, and it has many adherents in Amsterdam also, but its stronghold is to he found in the northern provinces of Friesland and Groningen, which have been the chief scene of Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis’s activity. He himself says that on his first tour through the northern provinces he was received with absolute indifference, in the following year the people appeared to take little interest, but in the third “the victory was won.” A socialist society has been formed by railway servants which now includes 2,000 members, and a socialist union for teachers is said to flourish. Among the chief local organs for the spread of socialist opinions may he mentioned Het radicaal H eekblad ( I he Rubral Weekly) at Amsterdam, Be Klok (The Bell) at W.; I vega in Friesland, Het Friesche Volksbhd (Ihe Frisian People’s Paper) at Leeuwarden, and several trade journals such as “ The Cigarmaker,” “The Carpenter,' and the “ Signal” ( Seingever ), the organ of the Railway Servants’ Society. ( 5 ) i he evidence taken by the Dutch Labour Commission tends to show that, except in the district of Twenthe, socialism is not gaining ground. In the valley of the Zaan it is stated that socialists have done much to disturb the friendly relations which formerly existed between labour and capital, but, according to one witness, the people are now beginning to place less faith in “ the “ things that Domela Nieuwenlmis talks about. ”( b ) The same feeling exists in the Peat Mosses of Friesland and Groningen, where the socialist leaders, Messrs, van Eimnenes and Stienstra, were very active in organising the strikes of 1888-90. The fact that no strike took place in 1891 is ascribed by one witness to the failure of the socialist leaders to carry out the promises made by them in the preceding years, while another witness stated that “ the “ belief in the infallibility of Domela Nieuwenlmis was “ rapidly diminishing. ”(') At Kampen, which possesses a large working-class popu- lation, no socialist agitator has ever appeared. ( s ) B. — Causes of Strikes. 1 . Wages. Conflicts between lahourand capital are not very frequent in Holland, hut their number has lately tended to increase. The principal cause of nearly all the more recent strikes has been either the demand for an advance of wages or dissatisfaction with a proposed reduction. The strikes which took place in the cotton mills of Twenthe from 1 88G to 1890 were chiefly due to a reduction in wages. In 188fi a general reduction of 10 per cent, was proposed by the employers at Enschede, but on receiving representations from the men, they consented to accept a reduction of 5 per cent. One firm insisted, however, on exacting the lull reduction, and a strike of 2 fi days’ duration was the con- sequence. Other strikes were connected with the reduction of the wages paid for certain articles of manufacture only. {‘ J j Only three strikes are reported from Friesland, two of which took place in brickfields and were not of much im- portance. The other, in which some members of the Patri- moniurn were concerned, occurred amongst the fen drainers at Tjalleberd, whose wages had been brought down to two cents per square metre by a contractor who had accepted the work at too low an estimate^ 10 ) In 1890 the women employed in a flax spinning mill at Groningen struck against a reduction of wages. They had been accustomed to work till 9 p.m., but in accordance with the law of 1889 their hours were reduced to 11 per day and a proportionate diminution in their wages took place at the same time. The women’s work was necessary as a preparation for the work done by the male hands ; when, therefore, the women came out a general stoppage followed which lasted three weeks. The employer admitted that other causes of dis- content existed, viz., the system of fines and the rough behaviour of the overseer, in both of which an improvement took place after the strike. (“) A disturbance, which did ( s ) Mr. D. Nieuwenhuis, in “ Neue Zeit,” No. 2, 1890. (“) EnquOte, De Zaankant (Valley of the Zaan), 3731. 6269-70. ( 7 ) linqiuHe, Veenclerijen (Peat Mosses), 189. 4726. ( 8 ) UnquOte, Deventer, Zwolle, Kampen, 2354. ( ,J ) Enqnete, Twenthe. 962-4, 3731, 3816. ( 10 ) Enqnete, Eriesland, 1789-60. ( ") Enqnete, Groningen, 5158-60. B (a.) Ad- vance or reduction. 10 (6.) Intro- duction of machinery, (c.) Against payment in German money. (d.) The bonus sj’stem. not, however, result in an actual strike, took place among the employed in an iron foundry at Martenshoek (Groningen) because wages were reduced in consequence of short time during the slack season. (') A small strike took place among the artizans of Hengelo for an advance in wages from 13 to 15 cents an hour. It was, however, almost immediately concluded by the em- ployers’ offer of 14 cents an hour, which was accepted. ( 2 ) A strike among the brick makers at Dieren (Gelderland) took place four years ago for an advance of wages. The strike was unsuccessful at the time, but afterwards, when the trade improved, a small advance was given. ( 3 ) In Gelderland, north of the Rhine wages, are generally low. The workpeople in the district of Aalten, both in textile and iron factories, earn on an average, about 5 fl. a week, but they nearly all cultivate a small piece of ground and keep pigs or cows ; one strike for higher wages is reported from this district. Twenty-two of the workpeople employed at a bleaching mill at Eibergen addressed a letter to their employer demanding an advance of wages and reduction of hours. After a 14 days’ strike they received an advance of 1 cent per hour, and the hours were re- duced by half-an-hour a day.( 4 ) A strike which took place in 1882 in the Leiden Cotton Company’s works was caused by an alleged reduction of wages and a demand for a general advance of 10 per cent. The strike lasted for 10 days, but no breach of the peace took place, and at the end of this time all the strikers went back to work at the former rate of wages. (d Delay m the payment of wages was the cause of a strike at the Haarlem Printing Com- pany’s works in the spring of 1891. The men had con- stantly to wait a fortnight for their week’s wages, and on this occasion the delay had lasted four weeks. ( c ) In 1873 a strike of diamond cutters took place at the works of an Amsterdam firm because the employers wished to reduce wages. The Diamond Cutters’ Union did not understand the state of the trade, and encouraged the men to oppose the reduction. After hesitating for some time the firm took on fresh hands, but the workpeople were rot sufficiently well organised to prevent this, and numbers of new men were taken on at the old rate of wages. It is stated that since the strike wages have steadily declined. (') Strikes against a reduction of wages are intimately con- nected with those against the introduction of machinery, since in many cases the advent of the machine involves a reduction in the rate of wages. In one case a machine was introduced at Goor (Iwenthe) which increased the output 20 per cent, and the employers therefore gave notice of a reduction of the piece-work rate. The men struck against the reduction for three or four days, but when they found that the total earnings wculd not be affected they resumed work at the reduced rate per piece. ( 8 ) A large amount of German money is in circulation in the towns on the frontiers of Twenthe and Germanv, and many employers have long been accustomed to pay their wages in German coin. 'Ihe shopkeepers, however, require to be paid in Dutch money and the factory hands lose some trifling sum in the exchange. After tlie Franco-German war the rate of discount became very high, and the work- people often lost as much as 10 cents in a gulder. Two strikes in the Twenthe district were ascribed to this cause, and in another strike the payment of wages, given in German money, was stated as a contributory cause. ( 9 ) In the towns on the German frontier of North Gelderland wages are reckoned in Dutch and paid in German money. Very little Dutch coin circulates in this district, and shop- keepers do not object to take German money. Dutch money is, however, necessary for postal payments and for the payment of rent, and when the workpeople wish it, the employers state that they change their money for them without deducting any discount. No strikes have arisen from this cause, but a feeling of dissatisfaction prevails, and, according to the workpeople, a man who insisted on being paid in Dutch money would be dismissed. ( 10 ) The payment of bonuses for extra work appears as the cause of two strikes at Haaksbergen and Stad- Almelo. The men complained that some hands received premiums out of the money paid by others as fines and that premiums were (‘ (* 31, 12 ( 3 ) :j (°) o ( s ) h ( io i Enqufete, Groningen Veenkolonien, 259. , Enqufete, Twenthe, 10,498-500, 12,197-202, 12,244-6. 12,285-8, 12.32 Gelderland, 2835-6. Enqufete, Gelderland, 5048-9, 5090-2, 5124-5, 515S. 5231, 5401, 5725- Enquete, Leiden, 68, 3245-6. Enqufete, Haarlem, 5641-7, 7111 . Enqufete, Amsterdam, 1275-7. Enqufete, Twenthe, 92S2. 76., 5012-6, 5112, 7840, 8684-8. Enqufete, Gelderland, 4375, 4963-6, 5030-4, 5589-90, 5659. higher in certain departments than in others.! 11 ) A strike in favour or the bonus system took place in May 1890 at a glass factory at Culenborg (Gelderland). A bonus bad been given bv the employer to the placers to compensate them for the loss they would otherwise have incurred on the introduction of a new system of working. When the new system was thoroughly established and work was plentiful the bonus was withdrawn. The placers therefore struck work and demanded the restoration of the bonus and an advance of wages besides. Some concessions were granted and the strike was settled in the course of a day.( 12 ) The imposition of fines for trifling offences and at the discretion of the foreman is one of the standing grievances of the working classes. This was one of the causes which led to the strike at Ter Kuile and M orsman’s at Enschede ; it was also a grievance among the flax workers at Groningen and was remedied to some extent by the strike of 18.90. Deductions are made from wages for various reasons, such as contributions to sick funds, insurance societies, &c. A deduction of 2 cents in the gulder introduced in an iron-foundry at Gaanderen in North Gelderland was the cause of a strike. The deduction was made to pay for the tools and thereby to ensure their careful use ; it did not, however, profit the employer but was given to the sick fund. The men objected to this, because the fund was managed by the masters, and struck work. After a conference with the employer it was arranged that the deduction should con- tinue Imt that the sick fund should be managed by the men.( 13 ) The truck system is still carried on more or less directly in Holland. Wages are seldom actually paid in kind, but either the employer, his foreman, or his near relations keep a shop at which the employes are expected to deal. This practice is most general in the district of Nijmegen and in the peat mosses, where it is mentioned as one of the causes of the strikes which took place in 1888 and 1889. ( 14 ) In the district of Nijmegen the custom has long pre- vailed among the jute and linen manufacturers of paying their workpeople by means of coupons. These coupons or store orders may be payable at anv shop, or, more fre- quently, only at the one in which the employer has an interest. In some cases employe state that they are not absolutely obliged to deal at the employers’ shops, but they prefer to do so lest they should he kept waiting for yarn, supplied with yarn of an inferior quality, or even dismissed altogether. Employers, on the other hand, affirm that no undue pressure is ever brought to bear upon men who prefer to deal at a “free shop,” and one employer stated that he should prefer to pay in money, but believed that this system would be less advantageous for the workpeople. The articles supplied by the factory shops are, according to the statements both of employers and employed, of the same quality as those sold in other shops in the same neighbourhood ; as to price, the factory shops are ac- knowledged to be a little dearer than the free shops, but this disadvantage is counterbalanced by the fact that credit is more easily obtained. Credit is, on the other hand, regarded by some witnesses as the curse of the working classes and the cause of their unthrifty habits. ( 15 ) An institution known as the botermijn (butter mine) prevails among the peasants in this district. The peasants sell their batter by auction once or twice a week, and their customers are the shopkeepers of the neighbourhood. It is accordingly the object of both buyer and seller that the butter should fetch as high a price as possible, because then the peasant lays out his profits at bis customer’s shop, and the shopkeeper indemnifies himself by charging extortionate prices and giving short weight and bad quality. ( 1G ) In the peat mosses employers’ shops are a regular insti- tion. In some parishes there is not a single “free shop a witness from Lemsterland stated that he did not know one master ( veenbaas ) who was without a shop, and even such things as the master does not sell himself he compels the labourers to procure through his agency. The system of deferred payment of wages which prevails in the peat mosses makes it impossible for the labourers to pay ready money. The low rate of wages again, which leaves them at the end of the season with, at most, some 50 to 100 fl. with which to face the winter, obliges them to ask credit at their shops. As far as the employers’ shops meet this difficulty they must he regarded as a necessity, but there is (ii) Enqufete, Twenthe, 7840, 7897. (>*) Enqufete, N iimegea, 4536-9. ( 13 ) Enqufete, Gelderland, 5733, 5759-64, 5816-9. (U) Enqufete, Yeenderijen (Peat Mosses), 3856. ( > 5 ) Enqufete, Nijmegen, 819 et seq., 3832-48, 3S62-74, G107. (is) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1S01 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), pp. 144-6. (e.) Fines or other deductions. (/.) Truck system. 11 abundant evidence to show that shop-keeping hy employers is not only a convenience to the labourers hut a most profitable source of income to the employers. One case is mentioned in which an employer madg;5,000 fl. a’ year by his shdp.(’) That this is not nn extraordinary case will appear from the fact that prices in employers’ shops are stated to be 10, 20, and even 30 per cent, higher than elsewhere, Bread provided by the master (veenbaas) costs 4 cents more per 10 lbs. than at an ordinary baker’s. Rice, coffee, soap, and oil are sold at prices 25 per cent, higher than the market price. The difference is in fact so great that one witness stated that he would rather be paid 80 cents per rood and be free to deal where he liked, than receive 05 cents per rood and be obliged to spend it in the employers’ shop.( 2 ) Similar abuses ex'st in bakeries where the journeymen are expected to take a certain quantity of bread every day in partial payment of their wages. The bread is of the same quality as that delivered to customers, but is unsaleable through some defect in shape or colour ; some instances occur in which the men are expected to take stale bread, but these are exceptions. An employer stated with regard to this custom, that though he had never dismissed a man for refusing to take bread, he considered that his men were morally bound to buy their bread from their employer. One instance occurred in which a man was suspended from work for eight days for refusing to take his employer’s bread.; 3 ) An attempt made to remedy these abuses by legislation was made by Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis, but without success. The question was taken up in July 1888 by the Governors of the Provinces ( Commissar issen des Kernings), who instituted an inquiry as to how far compulsory shop- ping (gedwongene winkelnering) prevailed in different districts, and in May 188!) a Bill “ to secure to the work- “ man the free disposal of his earnings ” ( bepalingen tot waarborging van de vrije beschikking door werklieden over hun verdiend loon) was laid before the second chamber by the Minister of Justice. This bill aims at making the payment of wages in public houses illegal, and further provides that wages shall be paid in coin, and at least once a week, unless there are special circumstances, for which exemption may be granted by the Minister of Justice. ( 4 ) cf. p. General As, however, strikes are comparatively rare in Holland, excursus on nruch of the information as to wages obtained by the Labour Commission has no direct bearing on the causes of strikes and lock-outs. That the wages of the skilled artizan are in general very low may be judged from the fact that the building trades unions in Haarlem had con- siderable difficulty in 1880 in getting their employers to agree to a general minimum wage of 18 cents an hour.) 5 ) The carpenters of Amsterdam obtained a standard wage of 20 cents an hour in the spring of 1890, but small em- ployers still continue to pay 18, 16, or even 14 cents an hour. The local board ( gemeenteraud ) is stated to be an obstacle in the way of advance in wages, because it makes 20 cents its maximum and pays less to less skilful men.f'j An inquiry has, however, been set on foot by the local board with a view to introducing a fixed minimum wage. Tlie unions in the building and allied trades at Amster- dam have sent in returns to this committee of inquiry with regard to the wages earned by their members, .and on these returns the following calculation is based. It was estimated that in 1891 carpenters earned from 18 to 20 cents an hour and an average weekly wage of 12 fl. 50. Masons earned from 18 to 22 cents an hour and 12 fl. 60 per week. Stonecutters 20 to 22 cents an hour and 14 fl. 50 per week. Painters 18 cents an hour and II fl. a week. Ironworkers and smiths 17 to 19 cents an hour and 14 fl. a week. Twenty-five cents an hour is stated to be the wage which the union wish to obtain. (') In December 1891 the Ministry of Waterstaat and Com- merce published regulations as to the minimum wages to be paid, and the maximum number of hours to be worked during the next year on certain public buildings, the property of the State, at the Hague. ( 8 ) The wages in the various bakeries of Amsterdam vary from 9 to 13 fl. a week.! 9 ) At Arnhem the highest wage for artizans is 16 cents per hour, and in the budding trades, which are at present (’) Enqnftte, Veendcrijen (Peat Mosses), 201. 3196, 3517, 1347, 4758-60. ( 2 ) lb., 594, 1155, 2701, 3176. ( 3 ) Enquete, ’s Gravenhage, 6237-0, 6378-81, 6470-80. (‘) “ Hijrtrage tot de Leer van liot Arhridsloon ” (Contributions to the Study of i he Wages Question), pp. 360-70. ( 5 ) Enqufete, Haarlem, .307 1 1, 1012-3. 1151, 1322-3. (°) Enquete, Amsterdam, 165, 1006-10, 25/0. ( 7 ) EnquCt", Amsterdam. 163, 1006-10, 2570, 3251. ( 8 ) This information is contained in letters from Sir Horace Rumhnld, English Ambassador at the Hague. Nos. 86 and 87. Com- mercial, 1891. ( a ) EnquCtc, Amsterdam, Appendix B. 1. in a state of depression, the average wage is only 14 cents) 10 ) At Eibergen (Gelderland) the general rate of wages varies from 70 to 100 cents per day of 10 hours. ( u ) The wages of permanent men employed as dock labourers at Rotterdam are said to compare favourably with those of messengers in counting-houses ( kantoorbedier.de ), few of whom get as much as 1,000 fl. a year.( 12 ) At Nijmegen wages are not more than 7 fl- a week during the best part of the year, anti out of this it is impossible for the workman to pay off the debts which he contracted during the winter.) 13 ) Speaking generally, it may he stated that the wages of the skilled artizans, including factory hands, range from 18 to 22 cents an hour in large towns, whilst in rural districts the skilled workman gets a minimum wage of 10 cents and the unskilled workman of 8 or 9 cents an hour.; 11 ) Witnesses from nearly all trades, however, stated that the wages in their particular industry have risen during the last 10 or 20 years. This is particularly the case in the textile industries, where the introduction of machinery has revolutionised the trade.) 15 ) On the other hand, wages are stated to be lower now than formerly in the agricultural districts and in the peat mosses ; the labourers are consequently leaving the country to crowd into the towns, and the effect of this migration is feit in declining rates of wages. The effect of the competition of country labourers in forcing down wages has been particularly felt at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Arnhem. ( 16 ) A beetroot sugar manufacturer at Etten (N. Brabant) stated that in his opinion the condition of the people is worse than 25 years ago, because, although wages have risen, the standard of living amongst the working classes has risen in a more than equal proportion. He mentions the money spent in railway and tram fares as an instance of the kind of expenses which are now general among people to whom they were formerly unknown ( 17 ) The standard of living among the working classes in general cannot, however, he called high ; the food con- sumed is seldom of a nourishing kind and is sometimes deficient in quantity. The use of meat, is almost unknown ; even the prosperous factory workers of Twenthe cannot afford animal food more than once or twice a week, and in less favoured districts bread and potatoes constitute the staple diet of the people. A clergyman at Heerenveen stated that he knew families whose three daily meals consisted of nothing but potatoes. That peas, beans, oatmeal, and other cheap and nourishing articles of food are little used may be accounted for by the fact that Dutcli women, especially those who have always worked in factories, are not adepts in economical cookery. Of late years some improvement in this respect has been effected by societies for teaching cookery, such as the Cooking School at the Hague. ( 18 ) The president of the B. K. Volksbond at Amsterdam stated that, according to his calculations, a single working man cannot live on less than 5 fl 75 per week, even if he spends nothing on drink or in recreation. When other necessary expenses, such as contributions to a sick or burial fund, are added, it will be seen that the average earnings of some 12 (1. a week are utterly inadequate to the wants of a family. ( 19 ) The unsatisfactory nature of the food generally consumed among the working classes is probably as much the cause as the effect of low wages. Mr. Falkenburg draws atten- tion to the fact that a working man cannot maintain a proper condition of health and efficiency on food of such a kind and quantity. In support of this opinion he quotes from two workmen’s budgets which were published in the Societal Weekblad for 1889. In the first case the family consisted of the man, a smith, his wife and five children. The man’s wages were 8 fl. a week, out of which, when rent, &c. had been paid, 3 11. 50 remained over for food. The expenditure on bread came to 2 11. 64, so that the mid-day meal for seven persons during the whole week had to be provided for 1 fl. 31. ( I0 ) Enquete, Geldertancl, 836, 1644. ( u ) lb., Appendix 1., 1. a. ( IS ) Enquete, !.os-en Laadwerk, 31.3. ( i3 j Enquete, Nijmegen, 3668. ( 14 ) “Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bus,” p. 18. ( 15 ) The report of the Second Divisional Committee of the Labour Commission (p. 471) states that wages at Hengelo and Enschede have doubled during the last 25 years. ( w ) Enquete, Los-en Laadwerk, 525,1428,1612, 2700, 2179; Deventer, Zwolle, Kampen, 3794: Gelderland, 2. (> 7 ) Enquete,!® Arbeids-Inspeetie (vervolg) (First, Inspectoral Dis- trict (continued)), 1904-12. ( 18 ) Enqufite. Groninger Veenkolonien. 434; Vepnderijen (Peat Mosses), 85. EnquOte, Twenthe, 326, 10S4, 1252-4. “Bijdrage tot de Leer van het Arbeidsloon,” Ph. Falkenburg. (Contributions to the Study of the Wages Question), p. 165. ) 19 ) Enqufete, Amsterdam, 187. B 2 Average wages. 12 (o.) Over- time. (5.) Church festivals. The second case was that of a family at Amsterdam, where the husband was a cigar-maker, the wife a char- woman, and where there were three children. Out of the joint income of some 10 fl., 6 ii., .38 was spent on food. Bread came to 3 fh 16, potatoes and greens to 1 fl. 47, coffee and milk to 1 fl. 5, meat to 70 cents. “This family,” says Mr. I'alkenburg, “ though better off “ than the fi’-st one, spent very little on meat and nothing “ on peas, beans, bacon, or batter.” An extra glass of milk or an egg for a sick child are considered luxuries quite beyond the reach of a working class family. (') M. Legrund estimates the average weekly wages of town workmen at about!) fl., with the exception of Amsterdam, where they may rise to 12 6., while in the country the average wage is probably not more than 6 fl. per week.( 2 ) In conclusion, it may lie added that several witnesses, when asked whether a workman could pay his way on wages such as these, replied that, with good health, regular work, and a careful wife, a sober man might expect to secure for himself a moderate share of the necessaries of existence. (*) 2. Hours. The question of hours has hitherto played a subordinate part in labour difficulties in lloiland, and consequently few strikes have arisen from this cause. The employed in an iron foundry at Gaanderen were locked out because they refused to do a considerable amount of overtime in the busy season. At 7 p.m. they went home instead of remaining at work, and the next morning they were locked out. The same day they nearly all found employment in the iron works at Ulft, where some of them remained for a week and others as long as seven or eight weeks. ( 4 ) The excessive hours required from the men employed at the municipal gas works at Leiden was the cause of an attempted strike in 188.0. Up to May 1800 the permanent stokers worked 12 hours a day and had only one free day in eight weeks, and the season hands, who worked for periods varying from two to six months, never had a free day. In the beginning of 1880 new “ generating furnaces ” were introduced, which made the work lighter, but short- ened the pauses between each charge. With the old furnaces the stokers had been able to rest for 45 minutes between the charges, and this time was now diminished to 15 minutes. General discontent among the stokers was the result of this change, and the man, Duijverman, who put himself at the head of the movement, wrote a letter to the director with the consent and approval of the other stokers, asking him “to put an end to this unceasing “ labour which might better be called slavery,” to grant one free day in the week, and to assure to the stokers a minimum wage of 12 tl. per week. These requests were not granted, and Duijverman was dismissed as an agitator who might at any time cause trouble in the works. He had been for some time suspected of socialist tendencies, and had been forbidden by the manager to bring “ Recht voor Allen ” inside the works, or to mention the subject of socialism to his fellow workmen. After his dismissal, and apparently in consequence of his representations, a new rule was introduced which gave the permanent stokers one free day every fortnight. According to the evidence of Duijverman himself, he was rather the suppressor than the instigator of disturbance. The other stokers had wished to demand an advance of 3 fl., and proposed to strike if this was refused, while Duijverman had suggested a letter to the director instead. ( 5 ) In Enschede, where the minority of the persons employed in the textile mills are Unman Catholics, work is as a rule continued on Church festivals, and much discontent is thus created among the workpeople who are prevented from performing their religious duties. The Protestants in Overijssel, who are expected to observe two days in March and November ( bid-en dank dagen), are not allowed the necessary holidays. In some factories both Catholics and Protestants who ask for time to go to church are granted a short interval, in others this privilege is confined to the hands who had already enjoyed it prior to the year 1880, and no new hands are engaged unless they agree to work on festival days. The employers stated that general holidays on the six or seven Catholic festivals would be a serious interruption to their work, and if such stoppage were forced upon them (*) “ Bijdrage tot de Leer van het Arbeidsloon.” (Contributions to the Study of the Wattes Question), pp. Kil-5. ( 2 ) “ Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” pp. 31-2. ( 3 ) EnquOte, Leiden, 225-0 ; De Zaankant. 1502. («) EnquOte, Gelderland, 5749-58, 5811-5. 605(H). ( 5 ) Enquete, Leiden, 1791 826, 5012, 5023-8. 5039. 5161, 3177. 5185, 5195. they would be obliged to refuse employment to Catholics altogether. Holidays on the Protestant festivals had been discontinued because it was found that they were not observed in a religious manner, but were spent in ordinary work at home or in the public-houses. In Almelo, Oldenzaal and Nijverdal, where most of the people are Catholics, an arrangement bas been made be- tween the clergy and the employers, whereby holidays are given on a certain number of Catholic festivals, and the friendly feeling which there prevails among masters and men is ascribed by one witness to this cause. Protestants in this district are not allowed a whole holiday, but time is given them to attend church. ( 6 ) In the Zaan district the majority of the employers do not allow their men to observe the Catholic festivals, and at Amsterdam an employer, who was himself a Catholic, worked till 12 p.m. on the night before the festival and began three hours earlier on the following morning. ( 7 ) Although few strikes have been caused by grievances connected with the hours of labour, there is undoubtedly a growing desire on the part of the working classes to secure more time for rest and recreation. The working day is in general very long an arrangement wh’ch agrees in the main with the habits of the working people, who prefer a long day of leisurely work to shorter hours of more strenu- ous.exertion. The Minister ot Justice gave the following statement in 1890 with regard to the hours of labour in the principal Dutch industries between the months of April and October. In brickfields the hours varied from 12 to 15i in Groningen, in Friesland from 9 to 13, in South Holland from 10 to 12. In the textile trades the longest hours mentioned were 13A, the shortest 9g, while the general average was 1 0.1. Cigar makers work from 101- to 12 hours, printers from 10 to 11 hours, shipyard hands from 11 to 12 hours on an average, and in Overijssel as much as 13£ hours. The hours in the seed-crushing mills in Friesland are stated to be 11| to 14 and in Drenthe 12 to 13£, the shortest hours, viz. 11, are worked in N. Brabant. The average hours in paper mills are from about 10 to 111. (*) The hours of bakers are still excessively long. The report published by the Commission to inquire into the working of the law of 1874 as to the employment of children states that the workmen in small bakeries at Amsterdam worked 100 hours a week, and the workmen in. large bread factories as much as !)2. The evidence given before the Labour Commission in 1891-2 does not point to any great improvement in this respect : bakers at Amster- dam and the Hague are said to work 84 or 90 hours a week, and ir. Friesland cases of more than 100 hours are given. (’>) Laundries are specially mentioned by the inspector of the third district as having excessive hours of work. In these establishments work used to begin at 5 a.m. and continue, with intervals amounting in all to about U hours, till 8 or 9 p.m. ; the introduction of the 11 hours day for women met with much opposition. ( I0 ) This law has, however, done much to effect a reduction in the hours of labour not only of protected persons but also of male adult workers. In textile mills especially, where the work of the women is necessary as a preparation for the men’s work, the law has been the means of limiting the general working day to 1 1 hours. The movement in favour of shorter hours has found many supporters amongst the employers, and several instances are given of manufacturers who have reduced their working hours and at the same time have increased their output. The firm of Tjeenk Willink, printers and bookbinders of Zwolle, reduced their hours at the beginning of 1891, from 11£ or 1H to 9 per day, and do not find that the quantity of work turned out has diminished, while the workmen are satisfied with the wages they earn.(“) (See also under Cotton Trade.) The woollen manufacturers of Tilburg, who previous to the law of 188!) were accustomed to work 14 hours a day, have not been able to effect any further reductions than those imposed upon them by law. They state that the division of the cotton industry at Twenthe into weaving and spinning enables the manufacturers to benefit by a reduction of hours, because long hours are impossible in work such as weaving which requires continuous attention. At Tilburg, however, weaving and spinning, carding, and all the other processes of the industry, are carried on under ( 6 j Enquete, Twenthe, 663. 9S0, 1200, 1208, 1725 7, 1762. 2317, 2422,3015, 71. 3727. 4301 3, 5113-1. 7684, 9732. (7) Enqu(He. De Zaankant. 964. 3030; Enquete. Amsterdam, 5531-3. ( a ) “Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” p. 92. (9) Enqutte of 1SS7, Report, p. 13. Enquete, Amsterdam, 2762; En- ifete, ’s Gravenhage, 6422. EnquOte, Friesland, 739. ( 10) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid ever 1890 (Labour ispectors’ Reports), p. 261. (11) EnqnOte, Zwolle, Deventer. Katnpen, 814-o. Excursus on some general statistics concern in hours. 13 Eight hours’ day. Intervals for meals. Sunday work. ■the: same roof, and it would therefore be impossible to work shorter hours in any on© branch without stopping the machinery all through the mill. The Dutch woollen trade is already suffering from the competition of Belgium (Venders), Saxony, and other districts where hours are long and labour cheap, and manufacturers state that in the present condition of the trade any reduction of hours is impossible^ 1 ) The building trades of Amsterdam are now trying to secure a 10 hours’ day, and this is stated to he the time which would satisfy moderate men in all trades. The car- penters’, cabinet-makers’, masons’ and tailors’ trades unions all make mention in their rules of the 10 hours’ day ; in fact all unions which concern themselves in any degree with economic progress make the attainment of the 10 hours one of their objects. They do not mean to prohibit all work after the 10 hours’ limit has been reached, hut simply to make 10 hours the recognised standard and to secure extra pay for work done after that time.( 2 ) The local hoard of Amsterdam, as already mentioned, have set on foot an inquiry into the wages and hours of the building and allied trades in that town, with a view to introducing a minimum rate of payment and a maximum number of hours ; this maximum is to he fixed at 10 hours. The Amsterdam branch of the Algemeen Nederlandsche IVerlcliedenverbond is in favour of a gradual reduction from 13 hours to 12, from 12 to 1 1, and from 11 to 10, while the president of the Tgpografenbond stated that his union wished to see the hours of labour fixed by law.( 3 ) The reduction of the working hours is opposed by many of the employed in provincial towns and rural districts, on the ground that it would reduce wages, which are now barely sufficient for the needs of the labourer. Employers oppose reduction as injurious to trade and to the character of the working classes, who would, the employers think, spend their increased leisure in public houses or other undesirable places. The eight hours’ day is at present regarded as outside the range of possibilities except by socialists and a few of the more advanced members of trades unions. These per- sons maintain that it would absorb the unemployed and thereby came an advance of wages, hut they do not all recommend its adoption in all trades irrespective of the nature of the work. The Typograt'enbond lias an annual demonstration in favour of the eight hours, and meetings are held to promote it by other socialistic unions, hut as yet no practical improvement of any importance has been effected except by the founders of the Volharding, a co- operative bakery at the Hague. The object of' this bakery was to introduce the eight hours’ system together with a minimum wage of 15 fl. per week. In the former of these objects it has succeeded ; the change from a twelve to an eight hours’ day was effected by employing three shifts of men instead of two. Each shift now works 55 hours in the week, or about eight hours a day, and a pause of 10 or 15 minutes is allowed during this time.( 4 ) The intervals for meals or rest during work in Holland are on the whole satisfactory in duration. The local board inquiry at Amsterdam found that the pauses ranged from one to two-and-a-half hours for the building trades, and that the shorter time was generally coupled with a shorter working day. The intervals for meals may in general he regarded as sufficient except in the case of bakers, diamond cutters, and those artisans and factory workers who live too far from their work to go home to dinner. (See also under Special Industries, p. 24.) ( 5 ) A law enjoining the observance of Sunday and other generally recognised Christian festivals was passed in 1815, hut its provisions have been interpreted so liberally that it has become practically inoperative. A Bill to promote the observance of Sunday rest on social grounds was introduced in 188(i by the then Minister of Justice, Baron du Tour, hut it was not passed owing to the religious difficulties with which the question is beset. The labour la v of May 18811 prohibits the employment of women and young persons in factories or workshops on Sunday. Exemptions may, however, be granted to young persons over 14 either by the burgomaster or by a royal decree. In spite, however, of the absence of definite legal prohibitions Sunday is generally observed in Holland as a day of rest. The principal railway companies have introduced regulations which minimise the transport of (') Report of Inquiry of 1SS7. 10,523- G, 10,501-73. ( ’) Enquftte, Amsterdam, 1072, 0341. Enquftto, ’s Gnivenhiigc, 1030 ( ;1 ) Unquote, Amsterdam, 2501, 3218, 0838. (*) Enquftte, Amsterdam, 0341, 68(2. Enquftte, ’s G ravenhage 741 Km 1050-93, 1233-4, 6272-7. ' ' ( 5 ) Enquftte, Amsterdam. 32S3, goods on Sunday, and the workshops art Haarlem, belong- ing to the Holland Railway, are closed on that day. Arrangements are also made which enable the staff to enjoy ail entirely free Sunday at certain intervals. Similar measures have been adapted by the Post Office Deportment ; towns with a population of more than 15,000 persons have one delivery of letters on Sunday, where the population exceeds this number there are two deliveries, except at Amsterdam, where letters are delivered three instead of seven times as on week days. Post offices in villages are open only two hours in the day ; in towns with a population of 15,000, three hours ; where the population is 50,000 and upwards for five hours in the day. The telegraphic service is similarly confined within the shortest number of hours possible; only 15 out of the total number of 422 offices are open all day, and 56 are closed altogether. (”) The Sunday Observance Society ( Vereeniging tot bevordering van Zondagsrust ) states that Sunday is observed fairly well at Amsterdam, except in certain industries. The exceptions named include waiters, bakers, and confectioners. The society has made a special inquiry as to Sunday work in bakeries, and has found that out of 200 shops there were in 1890 scarcely 10 which were closed the whole day on Sunday. The increased demand at Christmas, Whitsuntide, and other festivals was found to prevent bakers and confectioners from taking any holiday. The society has not met with much success in its efforts to reduce the hours of labour on Sunday in these trades, hut it lias improved the condition of omnibus men in this respect. ( 7 ) The manager of a candle factory at Gouda (Utrecht) stated that, in compliance with public opinion and the wishes of the workpeople, Sunday work had now been abolished, and without any increase of hands the same output was obtained with six days’ work as formerly with seven ( 8 ) A glass manufacturer at Culenborg abolished Sunday work in 1890, and granted a day’s holiday at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. ('■') On the other hand, it must be stated that the employed do not always co-operate with their masters in this respect. The director of a large bakery at the Hague stated that when lie gave his men the choice of a free Sunday or higher wages for Sunday work, they chose the latter. (’") The decay of religion and the advance of socialism are stated to be causes of discontent in various districts, but socialist agitation is in general a subsidiary rather than a direct cause of strikes. The dismissal of individual work- men, which appears as the cause of one or two strikes, is closely connected with socialism or with some other grievance which was the original cause of discontent. The generally peaceful relations between employers and employed in the Groningen Fen districts ( Veenkolonien ) have lately been somewhat disturbed by socialist influences. No serious strikes have occurred, but disturbances have been threatened, and in one or two cases work has ceased. A bruslimaker at Foxnam, who was prevented by his em- ployers from attending the meetings of Ins union, gave notice to leave, thinking that it would not he accepted. He was, however, allowed to go, and then stirred up the other workpeople to demand higher wages and shorter hours. (") At a meeting of the Iron and Metal Workers’ Union, held at Fijenoord in 1889, it was resolved to demand a working day of 12 hours, together with a 50 per cent, advance of wages. A man employed at the works of the Dutch Steamboat Company, who was present at the meet- ing, was dismissed in consequence. His fellow workmen then struck under the influence of agitators from Amster- dam, the strike did not, however, become general, and work was soon resumed. ( 12 ) A disturbance, arising from the dismissal of a workman, took place in a shipyard at lloogezand, hut no strike occurred. ( l3 ) At Arnhem, a socialist workman in the em- ployment of a gaslitter incited his fellow workmen to un- punctuality, because he disapproved of the rule by which those who were 10 minutes late were required to pay a fine of 20 cents. The late comers were locked out, and the next day they arrived in time. The leader of the dis- turbance was afterwards dismissed. ( H ) ( 6 ) “ Com] itiuns du Travail (Ians les I’ays-Bas," pp. G3-73. (~) Enquftte, Amsterdam, 3815-41. ( 8 ) Enquftte, \s Gravenhage. 5915-s. ( ,J ) Enquftte, Nijmegen, 1555. ( Iu ) Enquftte, ’s Gravenhage, (142(5. ( 11 ) Enquftte, Groninger Veenkolonien, 82(1-7, 1458-9, 1502-7. 1544-8. ( 12 ) Enquftte, le Arbeids-lnspectie (vervolg) ( First Inspectoral Dis- trict ( Pont.), 2869, 2917, 3055-8, 5616. ( 1 1 ) Enquftte, Groninger Veenkolonien, 826, 869. (,") Enquftte, Gelderland, 1049-51, 1036-9. 1082, 1093-4. B 3 3. Other conditions. 14 (a.) In the cotton trade. The dismissal of a workman was the cause of a strike in a cigar factory at Culenborg in 1891. A letter was ad- dressed to the employer, requesting an advance in wages, and complaining of the “inhuman treatment ” which the men received at his hands. (This was explained to refer simply to his habit of swearing.) An improvement took place in both of these respects, but a man (Wammes) who had taken a leading part in the agitation, found that the material afterwards supplied to him was of such inferior quality that his wages were considerably diminished. The other men agreed that if Wammes were dismissed they would all come out on strike. Wammes was unwilling to involve them in the dispute, and asked for half a day’s leave to go in search of work at other factories. He was then informed that if he left he would not he required again, and in consequence of his dismissal the other men came out on strike. Before the end of the day, however, the difficulty was settled by mediation, and Wammes was reinstated. (*) About 30 of the men employed by the Haarlem Cotton Company came out on strike for one day in 1889. They wanted a higher rate of wages for piece-work, hut the fore- man declined to discuss the matter with the men in a body, and asked them to appoint a deputation. This they refused to do, and he then dismissed them all. The advance was granted after the strike. ( 3 ) The dismissal of a workman was the occasion of the general lock-out at Enschede in 18815, and was the sole cause of another strike, which took place in the town at about the same time. Two men were dismissed for disobedience to the foreman, and in conse- quence all the piecers ( aanlappers)% stopped work.f) C. — Individual Strikes and Lock-Outs. A strike at the firm of Ter Kuile and Morsman, at En- schede, which ultimately involved the stoppage of all the cotton factories in the town, began on the 19th of April 1890. The immediate occasion of the strike was the dis- missal of a workman named Roskamp, but the discontent which then found expression was the result of many accu- mulated grievances, and was aggravated by the socialist agitation then going on in the town, The “ Vooruit,” a socialist union, had made rapid progress in Enschede, and its president and secretary were both employed at Ter Kuile and Morsman’s factory. The alleged grievances were that no compensation was given when wages were reduced through the inferior quality of the materials supplied, that wages in some departments were very low, that fines were arbitrarily inflicted by the foremen, and that the fac- tory rules which had been recently introduced were too strict. Roskamp was dismissed because he came to work in a state of intoxication. His fellow workmen required him to be reinstated, and when the firm refused they all struck work. A meeting was then held at which the men formu- lated three demands, viz. : (1) that the dismissed man should be reinstated ; (2) that the system of fines should be modified ; (3) that a 10 per cent, advance of wages should be given in certain departments. The employers replied that they could not under any circumstances re-instate Roskamp, but that if the strikers would resume work their other demands should receive consideration after the lapse of 14 days. The men, however, persisted in their first request, and no further negotiations were possible. After a few weeks the employers were obliged to bring in fresh men to carry on their work ; they also gave the strikers to understand that the old hands would not be taken back in a body, and that the two leaders of the “ Vooruit ” would be prevented from obtaining work at any factory in the town. The question of the dismissed man was then dropped, and the taking back of the old hands became the central point during the negotiations winch followed. Three attempts to mediate between the two parties were made by one of the townsmen, certain members of the Patrimonium, of the Roman Catholic Workmen’s Union, and of the “ Vo omit,” but every effort ended in failure. The associated employers then decided to try a severe remedy, viz., to work only four days a week, and if the strikers remained obdurate to stop work altogether. All the factories in the town were accordingly stopped for two days. The strikers became thoroughly alarmed at the prospect before them, and a last attempt at peace was made by the Roman Catholic Workmen’s Union. Th» Union met the strikers, and induced them to forego their demand to betaken back, promising that they should be supported until work was found for them elsewhere. The employers, on their patt, agreed to send away the new weavers, and to grant some other concessions desired by the workpeople, and on this understanding the strike came to an end. This (*-) En quote, Nijmegen, SOUS- 102, 8151. ( J ) UnquOte, Haarlem, 5745-7. ( s ) Enqufete, Twenthc, 2109. t Annlapper is the female assistant who works a canting machine. lock-out was generally looked upon as a very severe measure, and in one instance a manufacturer refused to comply with the directions of the association, and continued his work. He was afterwards expelled from the Employers’ Associa- tion. Those among the strikers who had not resumed work before May 5th, 1890, were not taken back until after May 5th, 1891. Much intimidation took place during the course of the strike. The strikers threatened the houses of those who remained at work, and created such terror that police pro- tection was found insufficient, and the militia were called in. The police endeavoured as far as possible to prevent the collections on behalf of the strikers which were made in the other mills of the town. Two socialist meetings were dispersed by the burgomaster, and the public-houses where they were held were closed by his order. This action led to a question being asked on the subject in the House. Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis complained that the closing of public meetings was a breach of the law ; but the Minister of the Interior upheld the action of the burgomaster, and replied that unless severe measures had been taken the public peace would have been seriously disturbed. U) A strike at Almelo, in which two firms were involved, lasted from 9th Jan. to 12ih April 1888, and was caused by a reduction of wages. In one of these firms the use of im- proved machinery which had been introduced a few weeks before the strike took place, increased the discontent of the workers. The weavers did not find that the advantages of the new machinery counterbalanced the loss occasioned by the lower rate of wages In the other firm no alteration was made in the machinery, and hence no cause appeared for the reduction of wages. The men’s demands fur a return to the old rate of wages were refused, and the attempts at mediation undertaken by the burgomaster of Stad Almelo and by Mr. Van Marken, of Delft, met with no better success. The strikers were supported by the contributions of the general public and of the social- democrats, and so liberal was the help from these sources that when the strike came to an end a surplus remained from both funds. The remainder of the fund collected by the public was distributed amongst the workpeople. The socialist contributions were devoted to the purchase of a co- operative bakery in which the workmen who had been dismissed might be employed. According to one witness, the long duration of the strike was caused by the abuses connected with the co-operative shop kept by the em- ployers. The men ultimately obtained an advance of wages, the sick fund benefit was raised, and the amount which the workpeople were obliged to invest in the co- operative shop was reduced by one-half.( 5 ) The peat mosses of Friesland, Groningen, and Overijssel have been the scene of a number of strikes. Strikes on wages questions recur with unfailing regularity at the beginning of each season. Asa rule no contract exists between the fen owner and his labourers, but work is begun on the assumption that wages will be the same as in the previous year. The practice among the labourers has been to demand an advance of wages suddenly and to cease work for one or two days. The owners, on their part, have generally waited until work was begun to announce a reduction, and thus every year cessations of work, accompanied by more or lets disturbance, have taken place all over the peat districts. These strikes seldom left any serious consequences behind them, and were regarded simply as a means of settling wages ; lately, however, under the influence of the socialists, they have assumed a graver aspect. It is stated that while the disorder and drunkenness which used to characterise these strikes have diminished under the influence of the social democrats, the strikes at the same time have lasted longer and have been more widely extended. (°) The most important of these strikes took place in the years 1888-90. The low rate of wages then prevailing was the chief cause of the strike of 1888. The strikers com- pelled all their fellows to join them and went about stirring up discontent in villages which had hitherto been contented. The socialist leaders, Mr. Domela Nieuwenhuis and Mr. Van Emmenes, addressed several meetings, hut though the p“ >1 1 1 assembled in large numbers no disturbances took place. The strikers themselves requested that the public- houses might be shut, and took effectual steps for the prevention and punishment of drunkenness. In the *“ high ” lens the excessive amount of work required was the chief cause of the strike. The f“sfo£” had been gra- ( 4 ) Enqufete, Twenthe, 25-37, 34(!-S. 580-6, 732-5. 1154-63, 1267-76. 15011-7, 3278-83, 3640-53, 3680-90, 3734-41, 3146-7. “ Conditions du Travail dans les Pavs-Bas,” p. 49. (5) Enqufete, Twenthe, 4963-74, 5112, 5149-63, 5460-5, 5503-7, 5547-55. 5675-81. 5740-7, 5783-6, 5828-31, 5S41-43, 5866-70, 7162-71. ( r ') Enqufete, Yeendcrijen (Peat Mosses), 605-8, 100 , 1661, 1712, 1SG0, 2074. 2332-5, 34S4-5, 4153. * t For the explanation of these terms see p. 21. Peat mosses. Strike of 188S. 16 Strike of 1S90. dually raised from 21 to 25 hand breadths, and tins amount was beyond the strength of all but the best workers. The strike began at Appelscha and gradually spread to other districts. The men assembled on April 17th, 1888 in large numbers, and compelled the fen owners to sign an agree- ment to the effect that the stok should he reduced to its former length, and that wages should be raised 1 cent per stok. The owners yielded and signed the agreement, but afterwards withdrew their promise on the ground that it had been extorted from them by compulsion. They offered, however, to meet the strikers and confer with them as to any changes which were practicable, and as a result of this conference wages were raised, but the stok remained un- altered. (') The strike known as the “reserve fund” strike took place in the winter of 1838-9. The reserve fund ( armen - (jeld or reservekas), to which all fen owners are obliged to contribute, is a fund set apart for the purpose of providing employment for peat labourers when out of work, in order to prevent their becoming chargeable to the parish. The work provided is generally wood-cutting, or some other outdoor work which can be done in the winter. This fund was administered at Appelscha by Mr. Van del Bosch, who paid from 25 cents to 50 or 40 cents for a day’s work. The men refused to work for this sum and struck for higher wages. The following winter wages were raised to 50 cents, which was considered a satisfactory sum, but difficul- ties were raised about the hours. The usual hours were from sunrise to 3 p.m., but some of ihe less diligent hands wished to stop an hour earlier in order to make the time the same as that worked by the peat labourers. The men made no attempt to gain their ends peaceably, but simply laid down their tools and ceased work. A conference was held later on, but no arrangement satisfactory to both parties could be made, and the strike resulted in the retire- ment of the directors cf the fund, which has since been in the hands of the local board (r/emeentebestaur). The fund is still administered for the benetifc of the unemployed, but no work is provided and poverty has consequently much increased in the district. ( 2 ) A general strike took place in 1890 throughout the “ low ” fen districts. The cause of the s Tike was the same everywhere, but its circumstances and results varied in different localities. Work had been begun as usual without any definite agreement as to wages, or in some districts contracts had been made with the peat makers, but not with the season hands. After work had been in progress for a fortnight the diggers demanded that wages should be advanced from 80 to 90 cents per rood, and the peat makers who had signed an agreement to work for 85 cents joined in the demand. In some districts the request for an advance originated with the peat makers who were incited to break their agreement hy the know- ledge that wages were not uniform throughout the fens, but that some owners were paying a higher price. The spirit of discontent was fanned by socialist speakers ; M. Doinela Nieuwenhuis and Mr. Stienstra addressed meetings of workmen, which in some cases were attended with slight disturbances. Those who wished to continue work were prevented from doing so, and the loading of boats was brought to a standstill. In some places conferences were held with the owners in which the Patrimonium took a leading part, and the strike was concluded within a week, in other districts it lasted fourteen clays or three weeks, but in nearly all cases the 'advance demanded was granted by the owners and written agreements were introduced which have been instrumental in preventing the occurrence of similar disturbances. ( 3 ) the strike in the “high” fens in the same year was begun by the women, who demanded 25 cents more for drying 40 stok of peat. The men supported them and the cessation of work became general. New hands imported from other districts to load the boats were obliged to work under military protection, and the houses of those who wished to remain at work had to be guarded by the police. On April 14th the strikers, to the number of four or five hundred, went in procession to Hoogeveen to demand a uniform system of payment and a general advance of wages. The procession started with a red flag, of which they scarcely knew the significance, but were persuaded to change it for the national colours, which were put into their hands by a fen owner. At Hoogeveen they met the employers and explained their grievances, viz., the exces- sive amount of work required of them, the low wages of the women, and the unequal wages paid for the same work to season and permanent hands. ( peat Mosses), 487-96, 3425, 4250-8, 4408, r, 17 ’ b ' 127 ’ 0042-62, 9391-4, 10,182. (?) 4519, 4781-0, 5630-8, 5854. 1458 vviii^i wii T' 5 ,, 8 ; 353 - ™4-9, 1000-4, 1120,1259-61, 1340, 1394, 14j8, 1.I.J0, 1970-5, 2072-9, 2444-50, 2541, 2606, 2653-6, 2886, 2833, 3601-3, Permanent men often receive considerably less money than the season hands, because their dependence on the foremen for houses and the other necessaries of life prevent them from disposing of their labour to the best advantage. The result of the conference was satisfactory, the old measurements were restored, a uniform system of wages was promised, and advances were given for some kinds of work. These strikes seem to have settled the grievances of the peat workers in general, though one or two strikes are reported in 1891, and complaints are still made as to the very laborious nature of the work.( 4 ) The immediate cause of the dock strike at Rotterdam in Rotterdam 1889 is involved in some obscurity. Some witnesses dock strike, ascribed it to the presence of Belgian agitators, others to an attack made hy the police on some inoffensive dockers, in which several men were wounded. Probably the success of the dock strike in England was not without effect on the demands made by the Dutch strikers. But although the immediate occasion of the strike is unknown, the grievances which caused such widespread discontent are the subject of frequent reference. Chief amongst these stands the “blood-sucking” middleman system, of which the workmen were the victims. Other causes of complaint were Sunday work, the payment of wages in public-houses, the length of exposure to the weather in winter, the question of wages, and the number of hours of continuous work, the employment of youths under 18 on the steam cranes, and the use of recommendation cards ( aanbevelings kaarten). This last grievance consists in the system followed by some ships’ freighters of employing certain stevedores to whom they give letters of recommendation for the captains, so that other stevedores who have no such r. 'commendation are obliged to undersell them, and then to indemnify themselves, by beating down the wages of the men they employ. ( 5 ) On the 20th September 1889 a pamphlet embodying the demands of the labourers was issued, which stated that unless these demands were granted a general strike would take place on the 26th instant. 'These demands were as follows : — (1.) 'That the wages of casual labourers and time workers be raised from 21 ) to 25 cents an hour ; that men who work for any part of the morning shall be paid as for a whole morning’s work, and the same with regard to the afternoon and night. (2.) That grain workers receive 32J cents per ton instead of 25 cents. (3.) That the wages of coalheavers be raised from 99 cents to 1 florin 10 cents per kiel.( r ') (4.) Double wages for Sunday work for all classes of labourers. (') 'The men did not seek any interview with the employers, but when the 26th arrived those among them who wished to strike paraded the quays, and many who would otherwise have been willing to work were induced through fear to join the strikers. Police protection was necessary for those who remained at work, but the number of policemen who were at first on duty was insufficient to cope with the strikers. Struggles between the two parties took place on the Boompjes, in which stones were thrown, and some of the mob were wounded hy the police. Parties of strikers also forced their way on board some of the vessels lying in the harbour and forced the men to stop work ; in one instance, viz., that of the British steamer, “ John Redhead,” they cut down the tackle and hauled down trie English flag In consequence of this riotous behaviour pressure was put upon the burgomaster to take more stringent measures for the preservation of life and property, and the civic guard (schutterij) consisting of about 1,400 men and 150 marines were posted in detachments along the quays. A meeting of dock labourers was held the same evening in the Verkooplokaal, at which it was resolved to continue the strike unless the above demands were conceded. The men employed by the Great Eastern Railway Company had already iesumed work, but matters remained stationary as to the rest from Friday the 27th to the following Monday, when a meeting of shipowners and freighters was held. The owners expressed their readiness to consider the grievances of the men, and, in consequence, a protracted meeting was held on Tuesday, and continued again on Thursday from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. The agreement arrived at was considered satisfactory and work was resumed the ( 4 ) EnquOte, Yeenderi.jen (Peat Mosses), Appendix 40, 4649, 4689, 4710, 1718-36, 5707, 5490-6, 8562,9000-14, 9162, 9253, 9386. ( 5 ) Enquete, Los- n Laadwerk, 75, 268, 375-8, 531, 897, 1000. 1051, 1289, ' 1321, 13! 2, 2336, 23s5. ( c ) For the explanation of this term sec p. 20. ( 7 ) Consular Reports, No. 147, 1889, and Losen-Laadwerk, 222, 387, 624, 728, 994. B 4 i 16 Labour councils. same day, the strike having lasted exactly one week. The concessions granted included the raising of time wages from 20 to 25 cents an hour, an advance of about 10 cents per kiel to coalheavers, double pay for Sunday work, whilst a maximum of 1 fl. was assured to all workmen who were engaged for only a few hours daily. It was further agreed that if nightwork were slopped, by stress of weather or other accident, for a shorter period than six hours, wages were to be paid for the time of stoppage. The payment of wages in public-houses was to cease, and boys under 18 were not to work at the winch. The strike was considered successful by the men in general, as the only matter in which no concession was obtained was the wages of the iron and copper ore men, and these, as has been said, were already much higher than those of other classes of labourers. Some witnesses, how- ever, were of opinion that the results of the strike had not equalled their expectations, and others stated that some of the foremen were already beginning to depart from the conditions of the agreement. (') The agitation at Rotterdam spread to Amsterdam, where discontent was already widely felt because a circular demanding an advance of wages issued by the Volharding, a union ot dock labourers, in the previous April, had been ignored by the majority of the employers. The strikers at Amsterdam demanded 10 hours’ work a day instead of 14, and 10 fl. per boot (40 kiel) for unloading coal. Imported hands were employed to continue the work, and thus the strike was not so completely successful as in Rotterdam. The concessions obtained were the reduction of the working hours to 12 per day and the payment of 10 florins 25 for a boot containing 43 kiel. The payment of wages in public-houses is stated to be less frequent now than before the strike, but the general relations between the workmen and their employers are much worse. The Chamber of Commerce and Manufacture was of opinion that the trade of the city had suffered from the interruption of work during the strike. ( 2 ) Settlement of Strikes. No legally authorised body for the prevention of strikes, such as the French and Belgian Conseils de Prud’hommes, at present exists in Holland. Strikes are for the most part settled by conferences between employers and employed, as in the case of the Rotterdam dock strike, or by mediation as at Enschede. Certain large factories have constituted courts of arbitra- tion from amongst their own members. The best example of such a court is to be found in the factory of Mr. van Marken of Delft. The arbitrators are four in number, with a president ; two of the arbitrators are employers and chosen by the directors of the factory, whilst the other two are workpeople elected by the votes of their fellows. The president, who is chosen by the four arbitrators, must be neither an employer nor a workman, and must have been resident in Delft, or the neighbourhood, for three years. The decisions of the arbitrators are not binding, as the court trusts to the good sense of both parties to carry out the awards. The court has, however, never been called into operation. ( 3 ) At present the attempts made by various public bodies to mediate in disputes have not been attended with much success. In May 1883 the Chamber of Commerce at the Hague appointed a committee to settle the differences then existing between the cigar manu- facturers and their men. Their efforts, however, ended in failure, because the employers remained firm in their first decision not to employ any men who adheres to the cigar makers’ union. At Leiden, where a strike of some duration had occurred at the factory of Messrs. Heyder & Co., the mediation of three members of the Vereeniging tot Bevordering van Fabrieks-en Handwerksnijverheul, who had offered them- selves as arbitrators, was refused. During the strike of fishermen at Scheveningen in May 1887, the Chamber of Commerce at the Hague undertook to mediate between the owners and the men and submitted a proposal to the management of the owners’ union. This was refused, and the strike was ultimately settled through the intervention of the burgomaster of the Hague. ( 4 ) The desirability of labour councils iri different districts is one of the questions which the Dutch Labour Commission is at present considering. The witnesses have expressed opinions on both sides of the question, but the majority (•) Enqufete, Los-en Laaclwerk, 75, 375-6, 389, 105, 540-1, 642, 779, 1096.-7 ; Appendix 4, II. e. (-) UnquOte, Los-en Laadwerk, 13 r '3, 1499-503, 1611, 1836, 2705-10; Appendix ; Amsterdam, 7 II. e. ( 3 ) " Hijdrnge tot de Leer van liet Arbeidsloon,” Pli. Ualkenburg. (Contributions to the Study of the Wages Question), p. 422. ( 4 ) lb., pp. 421-3. approve of the idea and only differ as to the scope and constitution of the proposed chambers. Two Bills on the subject have lately been laid before the Second Chamber of the Dutch States General. One which is proposed by Mr. Pijttersen. is for the creation of chambers ot labour and indust; y ( Kamers van arbeid en nijverheid) ; the other, which is limited to chambers of labour, is introduced by Mr. Schimmelpenninck van der Oye. It may be mentioned in passing that two leading members of workmen’s unions at Amsterdam expressed a preference for the former Bill. In the debates which followed the proposal of these measures members who did not approve of the Bills urged that the working classes themselves do not really care about labour councils, and that the proposers were misled by tbe demands of a few labour leaders, who had taken up the question in a party spirit. They further maintained that such a law would be a piece of class legislation of the most unnecessary kind. Workmen have already the right of free assembly, of petition, and of appeal to the press, hence further legislation is unnecessary. Even supposing that labour councils may be desirable at some future date, the time is not ripe for them now, the state of labour in the country is too little known, and as regards other countries no definite information can be obtained. Arbitration has not received the sanction of the State in England, and the Conseils et de I’Tndustrie et de Travail founded in 188!), in Belgium, have not existed suffi- ciently long to give any guarantee as to the effects of their working. The Conseils de Priid’hommes, it is true, have enjoyed a long existence in Belgium, but these are stated to be out of harmony with Dutch institutions. It is also feared that labour councils, if established, would prove useless, at any rate in the more complicated industries, because the ordinary workman has no knowledge of economics and no means of judging as to the state of trade. To these objections it is replied that the Labour Commission has collected so vast an amount of information that it is impossible any longer to plead ignorance of the conditions of labour ; that the existing labour councils at the Hague, at Bolsward and Franeker, which have been founded by unions of working men, prove that the demand for such chambers expresses a real need ; and finally that whatever rights the working man may possess in theory, he is generally at a disadvantage in disposing of his labour. A more real difficulty, and one which is fully felt by the advocates of the scheme, is the constitution of the proposed chambers, whether they shall consist of employers and employed, or of workmen only. Again, if both sides are represented, should these representatives meet separately or in a joint committee ? Some witnesses from the side of the employed stated before the Labour Commission that working men would be afraid to express themselves freely before their employers, and that employers by their superior strength and knowledge, would be able to overcome any resistance made by the opposite party. On the other hand, it is urged that a council consisting of the representatives of one side only would thereby lose the character of a mediating body.( 5 ) '! he kind of questions to be submitted to the proposed labour chambers is a matter still to be settled, as also is the question whether the chambers sh mid confine their decisions to past disputes or be empowered to lay down rules for the future. ( I! ) The two Bills introduced by Mr. Pijttersen and Mr. Schimmelpenninck van der Oye have been amalgamated, and the references to sections in the following quotations are from the amalgamated form of the Bill ( gemeensekappe - lijk voorstel) Section 1 proposes that every district wishing to create a labour chamber shall have the power to do so if applica- tion be made by the commune or district ( gemeente ) by the local authorities ( gemeentebestuur ) or by employers. Different districts can join to form one chamber. The functions of the chambers will be to promote the common interests of employers and employed, to collect and publish information respecting labour, and to prevent or settle by arbitration any disputes which arise between employers and employed (section 2). When more trades than one are represented in any chamber, the chamber can be divided into as many di- visions as there are trades represented (section 4). Each division consists of an equal number of employers and employed (section 5). Employers are elected by the em- ployee in the trades represented in the division, and the workmen members by their fellows in the same trade (section 9). Members are elected for three years, and on the expiry of that time are immediately eligible for re-election (sec- tion 10). ( 5 ) Voorstel van Wet betreffende de oprichting Van Kamers ran Arbeid. Voorloopig Verslajr. pp. 1-12. ( 6 ) Enqufete, T wen the, 849-52. 17 (a.) Mines. (7.) Dock- yards. Each division is to appoint a committee of conciliation ( verzoeninys bureau ) from amongst its members, which is to consist of an equal number of employers and employed. This committee elects a president out of the remaining members of ihe division. The members thus appointed remain in office for one } ear (sec. ion 23). The conciliation committee meets once a month to consider the disputes submitted to it (section 24). When- ever a dispute is threatening in any trade, both parties to the dispute are to send in written information with regard to the disputed question to the conciliation committee, which is to meet as soon as possible after receiving the information. If the conciliation committee fails to effect a settlement, the committee of management of the chamber can offer to decide the dispute by arbitration (sec, ions 26-8). With the approval of Parliament the Government will contribute annually to the expenses provided in the budgets of the chambers, such budgets having previously received the approval of Parliament (section 34). f 1 ) It will be observed that no penalties are provided in case the parties concerned refuse to accept ihe awards, and there is there- fore no sanction attached to the Bill other than such as rriry be constituted by a dread of public opinion. It may be interesting to compare with this Bill the constitution of one of the private labour chambers now existing. At Bolsward in Friesland a labour chamber has been founded by ihe local branches of the Algemeen Ksderlandscke Werhlitden- verbond, of the Catholic Workmen’s Union, and, on the side of the employers, by the Society for the Promotion cf Trade and Industry Its aim is to promote good relations between capital and labour, to prevent disputes or settle them by peaceable means, and to promote the interests of both employers and employed as far as lies in its power. The chamber consists of four employers, four workpeople, and three impartial persons not belonging to either class. (-') II.— CONDITIONS OF LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. A. — Mining, Ikon, Engineering, Shipbuilding, a.' d Cognate Trades. As Holland is not a mining country, the coal and iron trades do not rank among its more important industries. The only coal mines worked at present in Holland are two pits at Kerkrade in Limburg, near the Prussian frontier. Recent researches have however shown that much coal exists in the immediate neighbourhood of these mines, and as application has already been made for several concessions, a great extension of the mining industry is expected. Section 2 of the Royal Decree of July 15th, 1891, which prohibits protected persons from working underground, was inserted with a view to this approaching development of the mining industry. (*) The Kerkrade mines are the property of the State ; they employ some 300 hands, 216 of whom are underground workers. In 1889 the underground men were paid 2 fl. 7 a day, and the other hands 1 fl. 50. A collier’s wages for the year are estimated at about 449 H. The working day is seldom more than eight hours. ( 4 ) The geographical position of Holland, however, necessi- tates a considerable trade in shipbuilding. Three govern- ment dockyards exist, the largest of which, that at Amster- dam, employs 1 ,000 hands. Five private companies are also engaged in shipbuilding and boiiermaking, some 1,000 men are employed at Amsterdam by ihe Royal Steamship Com- pany, and 600 by the Atlas Company. The Dutch Steam- boat Company at Fijenoord employs as many as 1,400 men in busy seasons. The “ Maas ” Company at Delfshaven has 500, and the “ Schelde ” works at Flushing employ 700 or 800. Wages in these establishments are fairly good and have advanced lately. A workman at Fijenoord stated that the average for the lust year or two varied from 13 to 23 cents an hour, and a highly skilled man at the Flushing works earned 27 cents an hour.( 5 ) The usual working day was stated by one witness to be too long. Work begins at 6 a.m. and continues till 8 p.m., and is so arranged that in the afternoon the men work 61 consecutive hours. He was of opinion that the same out- put could be attained with 10 hours’ work, and quoted ihe example of England and America in support of his views. He allowed, however, that the conditions in England, at Glasgow, Sunderland, and Cardiff, for instance, were some- what different, for there the division of labour is strictly 0) Gemeenschappelijk nader Voor.-tel van Wet tot installing van learners van Arbeid. ( 2 ) Unquote, Friesland, 2941-2. ( 3 ) Consular Reports, No. 221, p. (i, ( 4 ) “ Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bns,” p. 29. ( 5 ) lb., pp. 13-14. U 77240. carried out, and the men are able to attain a higher degree of speed than is possible to Dutch workmen who pass con- tinually from one kind of work to another. C 1 ) B. — Transport and Agriculture. 1. Railways. On the Holland Railway their wages vary from 1 fl. 20 c. to 1 fl. 50 c. per day with a bonus of 20c. per 10 kilometres. On the Rhenish Railway the wages of brakesmen are 1 fl. 20 c. a day without any bonus. Head guards on the State Railway are paid at the rate of 600 fl. a year with a bonus of 16 fl. a month, and ordinary guards are paid 450 fl. a year with a bonus of 1 1 or 12 fl. a month. On the Holland Railway head guards get from 1 fl. 70c. to 2 fl. a day with a bonus of from 8 fl. to 10 fl. a month, and ordinary guards make from 1 fl. 40 c. to 1 fl. 55 c. a day, with a bonus varying between 7 A- and 10 fl. a month. Head guards on the Rhenish Railway receive 1 fl. 45 c. a day with a bonus of 10 fl. a month, and ordinary guards 1 fl. 15 c. a day with a bonus of from 8 fl. to 10 fl. a month. Guards are not paid extra for night work. The wages of the various classes of workmen and la- bourers employed on the lines and at the stations average from 90 c. to 1 fl. 70 c. a day, the pointsmen, for instance, on the State Railway get from 1 fl. to 1 fl. 60 c. per day with a bonus of from 3 fl. to 4 fl. a month. ( s ) On the State Railway wages have, for the last 10 tears, been paid monthly, with the exception of the workshop and station hands who are paid fortnightly. Nearly all the witnesses who were paid by the month disliked the system and wished for more frequent payments. The Holland Railway pays its hands every fortnight and the Rhenish Railway tias weekly payments. Workshop hands are everywhere paid by the week and the labourers on the line (weynrbeiders) on the State Railway receive their wages every six days, oveitime work being paid for separately. Labourers on the line are paid according to the length of line under their care, workshop hands by the piece, engine- drivers, stokers, and guards by the day. Bonuses are given to nearly all railway servants and in many cases these extra earnings form a large addition to the regular wages. Engine-drivers receive a bonus for ( c ) Enqufite, l c Arbeirls Inspeclie (vervolg), 3177-83. ( 7 ) Enqufite, Spcorwegeu (Railways), 165, 884-6, 9H!i, 1483, 155S, 2414- 62. (“) Verslagvan Arbeidsenqufete betreffende de Spoorwegcn (Report on Railways), p. 13. c The report of the Labour Commission on the conditions of labour on Dutch railways deals mainly with the three principal lines, the State railway (worked by a Compagnie d’Exploitation), the Holland Railway, and the Dutch Rhenish Railway. The evidence of the numerous witnesses examined by tlie Commission tends to show that railway servants are generally well satisfied with their wages and with the con- ditions of their work. Some witnesses were of opinion that the position of engine-drivers, stokers, and pointsmen compared favourably with that of factory workers, and it was generally agreed that the men employed in watching and mending the permanent way (wtya.i b eiders) are better off than the agricultural labourers of the same district. The relations between the men and their immediate superiors are good without exception, and the only symj tem of discontent is to be found in the existence of the " Seivyever,” a socialist newspaper, whicli has a con- liderable circulation, especially in the north. ( 7 ) The following figures are taken from the table of wages («.) Wages' in the Report of the Commission. Engine-drivers of the first class on the State Railway are paid at the rate of 2 fl. 50 c. a day, with a bonus of from 15 to 30 fl. a month, and an additional bonus of from 10 fl. to 12 fl. for eight months. On the Rhenish Railway they receive 2 fl. 50 c. per day, plus a monthly premium of from 25 to 40 fl. Third class engine-drivers on the Holland Railway earn 2 fl. and a daily bonus of 20 cents. No particulars with regard to second class men are given. Stokers get from 1 fl. 75 c. to 2 fl. a day, with a bonus of 2 fl. a month on the State Railway, On the Holland Railway they are paid at the rate of l fl. 50 c. a day with a bonus of from 8 fl. to 10 fl. a month. On the Rhenish Railway their wages are 1 fl. 50 c. a day with a bonus of 6 fl. a month. Brakesmen on the State Railway receive 1 fl. a day with a bonus of from 9 fl. to 10 fl. a month. 18 saving in coals, oil, and grease, or for the number of miles the engine runs without needing repairs. Guards receive a bonus for the punctual arrival of trains, but this system has its disadvantages, for sometimes the guard loses his bonus owing to circumstances over which he has no control, such as the late arrival of some other train which is to join his. (*) The number of railway servants who live in houses be- longing to the companies is not large, though there is an increasing tendency to provide a larger number of dwell- ings. The regular labourers ( personeel van weg en werken ) on the State Railway are provided with dwellings for the sum of 10 cents per day, unless the wife also serves the company in the capacity of watcher, when no rent is charged. Such houses as are provided are for the most part well built and in good condition, and have in many cases a piece of land adjoining where a pig or goat can be kept. ( 2 ) Among other advantages enjoyed by the servants of railway companies may be mentioned the free passes given to school children, and the weekly or fortnightly ticket allowed to the wives of labourers who wish to go to market. Coal in certain quantities (not less than 10,000 kilos) may be conveyed free of charge from the German or Belgian frontier, and potatoes are likewise carried free when ordered in sufficient quantities. ( 3 ) The State Railway which formerly supplied its servants with uniform now gives an allowance of 1 fl. a month instead, whicli sum is not considered sufficient. The brakesmen and guards on the State Railway still receive clothing and declare themselves well satisfied with it ; those who make their clothes last longer than the usual time receive a prize in money amounting to half the value of the clothes. The less highly-paid men on the Holland Railway are provided with underclothing, blankets, and fuel in winter out of a sustentation fund devoted to that purpose. The widows of deceased railway servants are employed to make these articles. ( 4 ) The engine-drivers and stokers on the Holland Railway receive three blouses and a cap every year with an overcoat every other year. Women are employed either in cleaning the carriages or as watchers on the line ; in the former capacity they earn from 1 fl. to 1 n. 30 c. per day, and in the latter about 25 cents a day. These women who are employed as watchers are, how- ever, the wives of permanent way men and are not dependent simply on their own earnings. The wage is considered by some witnesses to be insufficient in places where there is much traffic. These families nevertheless have the advan- tage of free houses and a plot of ground, and with the joint earnings of husband and wife (the man receiving 90 c. a day for night duty) contrive to live more com- fortably than the majority of the rural population. Children are chiefly employed in the workshops where they earn one or two florins a week. They are occasionally allowed to do light work on the permanent way and are paid at the rate of 75 c. or 80 c. In the appointment of new hands preference is always given to the children of the companies’ servants, and as the railway service is very popular, parents are glad to let their children begin work early. (°) The hours of railway servants are less satisfactory. An attempt to secure to them a sufficient number of free hours was made by section 113 of the Royal Decree of 27th October 1875 which provided that, except under unfore- seen circumstances, railway servants on day duty should have a clear eight hours’ rest at night, and that those on night duty should rest for ten hours during the day. The law lfas, however, proved ineffective. As it is not ex- pressly stated that eight hours’ rest is to be given once in every 24 hours, the law is held to be kept if not more than 16 hours’ work is required during the 24 hours. The expression “ unforeseen circumstances” has also been so liberally interpreted as to include excursion trains which were advertised eight days beforehand. Section 116 de- fines night as the time between sunrise and sunset, and in winter a large proportion of the staff have partly day and partly night work, so that the rule of section 113 as to eight hours’ unbroken rest cannot be strictly carried out. One witness wished to see the English system introduced, which fixes the maximum number of working hours and the minimum number of free hours; others, again, were in favour of the present system if properly carried out.( 6 ) (!) Verslag van Arbeidsenqufete betreft'ende de Spoorwegen (Report on Railways), pp. 11-14. (») 76., pp. 15, 22. (») lb., pp. 15, IS. <9 76.,p. 15. ( 5 ) 76., p.20. (») 76., p. 1. I he chief objection to the hours as at present arranged is their irregularity ; very long hours one day are followed hy short hours or an entirely free day. Many witnesses complained that they were sometimes so many hours on duty that they were unable to give proper attention to their work, and though the free day is much appreciated, the general feeling seems in fa /our of greater uniformity of hours. Engine drivers and stokers are frequently on duty for (&•) Hours. 17, 18, or 20 hours consecutively, and one case occurred in which a man was at work for 20 hours with scarcely 3j hours rest before he began work again. Guards work ir°m 17 to 18s hours daily, and pointsmen about 20 hours. 1 he hours of permanent way men and bridge-keepers vary from 10 to 16 per day, and signalmen maybe kept on duty 16 or 17 hours a day without ever getting a day free. Engine drivers and stokers always work the same engine, so that if their work were decreased it would be necessary not only to augment the staff but also to increase the num- ber of engines, an expenditure to which the companies would strongly object. For the other classes of workmen long hours on duty do not necessarily imply continuous work, a signalman, for instance, who is on night duty may have only three or four goods trains passing all the night through ; brakesmen, also, who travel 19 hours in a day, spend some hours quietly in the various stations. (') Sufficient intervals for rest are allowed to the men em- ployed on the lines, in summer they have 2^ hours free out of a 13 hours’ day, and in winter one hour’s rest in a day of eight hours. Engine drivers, on the other hand, seldom have any definite time for meals and guards are not able to go home for their meals more than once or twice in a week. Overtime work is very frequent, and results from a variety of causes : either some of the staff are ill or away on leave, and the rest must work overtime in their place, or the particular season brings extra traffic, or special trains are required. No reserve staff is kept to meet these emer- gencies, and the consequence is that the regular men are overworked or lose their free days. Regular night work is confined to night stokers and to those line watchers whose wives take the day duty. Passen- ger trains do not run at night, and therefore engine drivers, stokers, and guards ( treinpersoneel ) have no night work unless they are in charge of goods trains, when they do duty on alternate nights for three or four months at a time.( 8 ) The arrangements with regard to free days are generally satisfactory. On the State Railway the permanent staff is allowed eight days’ leave during the year at the expense of the company. Guards get one free day in every five or six days. The staff at the stations of the Holland Railway have one free day in 12, with an occasional Sunday besides, and on trie Rhenish Railway the station employes at Amsterdam have a free evening every three days. Sunday work is more common than is desirable ; guards and engine drivers seldom have a free Sunday during the summer months ; the line watchers ( spoorweg wachters) on the State Railway never have a Sunday off duty, while luggage porters and brakesmen onlv get one Sunday out of four. The permanent way men on the State Railway are not employed on Sunday, and on the Holland Railway they have two free Sundays out of three. No work is done on Sunday in railway workshops. Some witnesses were of opinion that the only way of decreasing Sunday work would be to stop the running of goods trains on that day as far as possible. (°) The sanitary condition of railway workshops is, as a rule, (c.) Other excellent, very few complaints are made of smoke or ex- C0Ul 1 ' ons ' cessive heat or cold, and the health of the men in every department of the service is satisfactory. One witness stated that out of the 500 men under his orders the pro- portion of sick did not exceed two per cent. Accidents rarely occur, and every possible precaution is taken for the prevention of fire and accidents due to machinery. Some complaints are made as to the want of comfortable rooms where guards, brakesmen, &c., may spend their times of enforced leisure at distant stations. In many cases the rooms prov ided are dark, dirty, and wanting in furniture, and the men are therefore obliged to go to an inn. Drunkenness, however, is not a common vice among rail- way servants. The use of strong drink is strictly forbidden to all persons on duty, and the first breach of this regula- tion involves the loss of a week’s wages, while a second offence almost invariably leads to dismissal. Promotion is generally very slow, and some complaints of favouritism occur, but the service on the whole is extremely popular, as ( 7 ) 76., pp. 2, 5. ( 7 > 76., pp. 3, 5. ( 9 ) 76., p. 45. 19 Steam I id horse umways. it affords the great advantage of permanent work, ami regular earnings all the year round. (*) A supplementary repurt deals with the conditions of labour on the Netherlands Central and the North Brabant and German Railways. The wages on these linos are somewhat lower than on the three principal lines. Engine drivers on the Netherlands Central get 2 11. 25 c. per day with a bonus of 20 fl. a month, while on the North Brabant and German line they have 2 fl. 50 c. per day without any bonus. Labourers on the line get extra pay when their overtime work amounts to several hours, hut engine drivers and stokers from whom a considerable amount of overtime is expected, get no extra pay.( 2 ) The hours of work are long for all classes of labourers. Engine drivers are on duty from 14 to 18 hours a day. Stokers have equally long hours, but both engine drivers and stokers are better off than formerly, when they were frequently required to work for .35 hours consecutively. Guards and workmen at stations on both lines have an average day’s duty of from 15 to 17 hours, and one case was mentioned in which a pointsman on the North Brabant Railway worked 17 hours a day for four days in the week. Both lines require a great deal of overtime work from their servants, who are consequently often de- prived of their free day. On the North Brabant line there are 30 or 40 excursion trains for pilgrims during the summer, and in the winter extra trains are required for the carriage of coal. The engine drivers and stokers on this line have almost continuous overtime work in consequence of the small number of men on the staff.( 3 ) All the principal Dutch towns are amply provided with tramways, and steam tramways connect neighbouring localities such as Haarlem and Leiden, or Armhem and Wageningen. Witnesses from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, &c., gave evidence before the Commission and con- sequently considerable allowance must be made for local differences in any statement regarding the conditions of labour of tramway employes generally. The wages of drivers vary from 10 t> 14 fl. a week, the conductors of the Amsterdam Omnibus Company make from 10 to 13 fl. a week, while those employed on provincial lines earn in some case&as little as 7 fl. Carriage builders get 15 fl. a week. Engine drivers on. steam tramways get on an average 14 fl. a week ; those employed on the Rotterdam line get from 12 to 15 fl. ; plus a monthly bonus. Conductors’ wages vary between 7 fl- a week on the South Netherlands line, and 1 1 .90 fl. on the Naarden-Bussum-Huizen line. Houses are very seldom provided, but most companies allow their servants a certain amount of clothing in the year. Breach of the companies’ rules is punished by fine or by the withholding of holidays. p 1 ) The ordinary working day of men employed on the Amsterdam trams comprises 17 hours, from 7.30 a.m till midnight, with two breaks of 40 minutes each for meals. Every fourth day the hours arc only from noon till 4.30 or 5 p.m., and once in 17 days the men are supposed to get a whole day free. Practically, however, this seldom happens, as the men are constantly required to take the places of others absent through illness : several witnesses stated that they had been four, five, or six weeks without having an entirely free day. Sunday is always considered an ordinary work- ing day, and on some lines — SchCveningen and the Hague, for instance, the trams are more frequented on Sundays than on other days. The work of tramway, employes, and especially that of drivers, is stated to he very hard and trying to health. The long hours, exposure to the weather, and the many exacting rules imposed by the companies combine to make the service unpleasant. Drivers and conductors are obliged to stand the whole day ; they may never sit down inside the car for a moment, nor take any food whilst on duty. They are forbidden to accept a cup of coffee from a passenger at the stopping places, and may not nse the trams when returning to their homes, even if they pay for their tickets. In order to be near their work the men are obliged < 0 li\ e close to the tram stations, where they pay high rents, and are frequently overcrowded. A driver who^iived in the Park Straat, in Amsterdam, paid 2 fl. 75 c. for rooms on the third floor, besides 7 fl. a year in taxes. (■"’) (') Report on Railways, pp. 8-10, 21, 21. r) lb. (continued), pp. l, 3. ( :i ) lb., pp. l. 2. HorL V and!teM (Report- • (•’) JSnqufete. Horse and Steam Tramways, 2, 1986, 221 1 , 2254-6. The power of summary dismissal exercised by the direc- tors is felt to lie a grievance. One witness complained that he had been dismissed at a day’s notice after 14 years’ service. Another that he had been obliged to leave on account of an unjust accusation brought against him by a passenger. It must, however, he added that the directors maintain that men are never dismissed without due cause. The enormous number of men eager to obtain employment as tramway conductors, and the fact that the work requires no special training, accounts for the readiness of the companies to change their staff. The conductors and stablemen are recruited from the dregs of the popula- tion ; drivers and carriage builders, who are skilled work- men, are regarded with more respect, and hold their situations for longer periods. The hours and general con- ditions of labour in the workshops are more favourable than on the lines, and the carriage builders are the most con- tented men in the serviced 8 ) The investigations of the Commission at Amsterdam and Rotterdam were chiefly devoted to questions relating to the load.ng and discharging of sea-going vessels. The inquiry extended to all classes of the seafaring community, and included snipowners and freighters ( cargadoors ), corn, timber and coal agents, ships’ contractors < scheepsaanemers), and stevedores, together with all classes of dock labourers, porters, lightermen, and others. The Commission found great difficulty in summing up the results of its inquiry, owing to the unorganised con- dition of labour at Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Many of the industries concerned are interdependent, but present very striking individual differences, and all are subject to seasonal circumstances which are beyond control. After explaining the special functions of the freighters, contractors, and stevedores, & c., the report of the Com- mission mentions two shipping corporations engaged in dock work. These are the Vriesseveem at Rotterdam, originally a kind of guild, which is chiefly engaged in the warehousing, sampling, and forwarding of goods, and the Bliiuwhoedenveim at Amsterdam, a corporation which attends to the discharging and loading of vessels, and is said somewhat to resemble the English Dock Companies. The dock labourers may be divided into — (1.) Vast Volk (permanent men) who work for one em- ployer and can reckon on fixed wages. (2.) Los-vastvolk (preference men), who are not employed exclusively by one employer, but are the first to be engaged when work occurs. (3.) Los volk (casual men), who take work wherever it is to be had. Dock work is as a rule given out to master stevedores ( siuuwersbaasen ), who undertake the work at a given price and engage the different men required. Some employers, and especially the regular shipping lines, keep these master stevedores in their service permanently, while the firms or companies which have regular work, keep gangs of perma- nent labourers who are supplemented by preference and casual hands ivhen occasion requires. Where no regular work exists there is not even a trace of any permanently organised labour. Only in exceptional cases is the whole of the work required by a firm performed by a permanent gang engaged by an employe of the firm, but this practice lias been adopted by Messrs. Otten and Son, of Amsterdam, in consequence of doubts which they entertained as to the honesty of the master stevedores in their dealings with the men.(“) The importance or Rotterdam as a seaport is increasing, while the traffic of Amsterdam remains almost stationary. 4,05!) steamships and 488 sailing vessels, with a total gross tonnage of 11,571,743 cubic metres, visited Rotterdam in 1880, as against the 1,575 vessels, with a gross tonnage of 3,824,384 cubic metres, which entered Amsterdam in 1888. In 1880, Rotterdam represented about 42 per cent, of the seaborne trade of the whole country, while in 1889 the proportion had risen to 49i per cent. The report of the Commission states that this progress may be expected to continue.^) No general statement as to the earnings of dock labourers can pretend to more than approximate accuracy, firstly because the statements made by masters and men present suc.h serious discrepancies that it is impossible to reconcile them ; secondly, because many witnesses had not kept any account of their earnings; and thirdly, because of the great fluctuations and differences in both wages and hours of labour. Except in the case of men with permanent work, wages are paid by the hour or by the kiel (a kiel represents 2H ( ) lb., 2, 2051 74, 2391-400, 2875. Report on Horse and Steam Tram- ways, p. 20. ( 7 ) Los-en Laadwerk bij Zeesebepen, Versing (Report), pp r-3 EnquOte, Los-en Laadwerk, 661, 822, 1226, 1521, 1581. 1084, 1784, 22^6 2409 ( 8 ) EnquOte, Los-en Laadwerk bij Zeeschepen, 1 , 33 - 6 , 1355. c 2 3. Dock labour at Amsterdam and Rotter- dam. (a.) Wages. 20 i,ons of coal) by the boot (a boot, i.e. boat — 40 kiel or about 850 tons), or by measurement. ( Last is the term used in measuring grain cargoes, staandard being applied to timber cargoes, and ton to "all other goods.) In some cases, dis charging is paid for by weight and loading by the hour. The casual hands are much worse off than the preference or permanent men, where a casual hand will barely earn 4 fl. 50 c. in a week, a preference man connected with one of the regular lines can make an average 15 11. According to one witness a good workman at Rotterdam ought to make a weekly average of 10 fl. or 1 2 H. On the whole, the rate of wages since the strike of 1880 may be stated as from 20 to 25 cents per hour. For some lines, e.g., the Harwich line and the permanent men in the service of the Rotterdamsche Lloyd, the rate of pay still falls below this standard (for these lines only 20 cents an hour). A partner in the Harwich company stated that any definite agreement was impossible, and it was better to leave every employer free to settle with his own men for a “ fair wage.”( l ) The following are some statements of average wages given : — The men employed in loading coal on the Rotter- damsche Lloyd earn 12 fl. to 22 fl. a week ; on the Leith boats the permanent men earn from 20 fl. to 50 fl. and the casual men from 6 fl. to 14 fl. ; on the Hull boats per- manent men get from 20 fl. to 26 6., and the casual men 6 fl. to 14 fl. On all these lines the men do nor. get on an average more than two or three days’ work in a week. It will thus be seen that permanent men make good wages. The position of the preference and casual men is much less satis- factory, the director of the Blauwhoedenveem stated that no definite average of the wages made by his men could be given because some weeks they made 20 fl. or more, and then again, weeks passed in which they earned nothing.( 3 ) Work on the iron and copper ore and grain boats is paid at a higher rate, a gang of preference men made 12 fl. 10 c. in 27 hours when discharging a metal cargo, and the aver- age rate per hour on grain boats is 40 c ents. Good workmen on these boats can easily earn 20 fl. a week, and one em- ployer stated that he had 100 men in his own service who made this sum weekly. Lightermen’s wages are very low, in some cases not more than 1 fl. 50 c per day, plus the 1 fl. allowance for the freight carried. Most foremen contract with their men fora definite wage for definite work, one ship contractor, however, paid his men a fixed sum of 12 fl. a week, and gave extra payment for overtime. Dock labourers are seldom able to make any extra earn- ings ; no bonus system exists and few cases ofgratuities are mentioned. One witness stated that when permanent men had been required to make exceptional exertions they received a small gratuity, and the Dutch American Com- pany give their permanent hands zo cents an hour extra when they have worked more than one night in the week. The statements of the witnesses on the whole seem to indicate that the great evil of dock labour is its irregularity. The sudden transition from heavy work and high wages to enforced idleness and want has a most injurious effect upon the character of the labourers, and many of the men stated that they would prefer a lower rate of wages if they could be sure of receiving it regularly. (■') (b) Hours With regard to the hours oflabouralso.it is equally impossible to make any statement which will hold good generally. The work depends entirely on the time when ships arrive and the size of the cargoes they bring. In spite of this inevitable irregularity, many witnesses referred to what they considered a normal day’s labour. The director of the Rotterdamsche Lloyd stated that his perma- nent men worked as a rule from 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. for six days in the week. If, however, a vessel arrived late, 24 or 56 hours’ continuous work was necessary, or again, once in a fortnight the men might have a whole day with nothing to do. On the Harwich line, which has a daily service of boats, three out of four gangs are always at work. When there is a press of work th-y are taken on at 5, 6, or 7 a.m., and dismissed about 8 or i) p.m. The “ Netherland ” Company at Amsterdam works regularly from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.. with one interval of 20 minutes, and the Netherland-American Company begins at 6 a.m. and ceases work at 8 or 10 p.m., out. uf which time only one hour is allowed for meals. In general, on the regular lines, the hours are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with an interval of 2A hours’ rest. On Fridays the hours are frequently longer, for if boats must be dispatched on Saturday, 24 and even 56 hours of consecutive work are necessary. (1) lb. 181-3, 237, 316, 578, 681, 911, 13S7, 1130, 1619, 1781, 2750. (2) lb., 253, 500, 1825-6. (3) Enqufite, Los-en Laadwerk, 119-50, 150. 337. 341-3.1710,1805,1825. 1881-3. 2344. 2516. The longest continuous time mentioned in the evidence is 48 hours, with 5 hours’ rest, divided into six periods of 50 minutes each.(') On iron ore boats and colliers the hours are extremely variable ; one employer stated that his maximum hours never exceeded 24, and another said that taking an average of 500 days the length of each day was 18 hours. The normal day’s work on coal boats was stated to be 14 hours, with LV or 2£ hours’ rest. On grain boats, the work in summer averages from 12 to 15 hours, and in winter about 8r> hours. If, however, the work has to be done at “ full speed,” the men may be employed for two or three days and nights together, with two hours’ rest three times in every 24 hours. When little business is being done in the corn trade, the boat is used as a warehouse, and the men who were engaged to unload it are kept idle, and at the same time prevented from seeking work elsewhere. Again, when men have been prevented from working in the day by heavy rain, they are informed at 5 or 4 in the afternoon that they will be required to work all night. The extra pay for night work is frequently withheld, and if the men demand it they are discharged, and fresh hands taken on. These grievances are, according to one witness, a sufficient reason for the outbreak of a strike at any time. Some witnesses complained of excessive hours, especially on the iron and copper ore boats ; others, again, preferred hard work and high wages, and were glad of any oppor- tunity of honest earnings when there were so many days when no work was to be had.( * 5 ) As a rule, dock labourers have from 1 to 1^ hours free in the middle of the day, and in the morning and after- noon they may also get short intervals of about 15 minutes. These intervals are not, however, always permitted, and may at any time be withheld at the discretion of the fore- man ; casual men get practically no regular rest. La- bourers in the timber trade, as a rule, give up half an hour of their 2| hours’ rest in consideration of extra pay. Warehousemen, lightermen, and draymen nave no time for meals ; speed is the first requisite of their trade, and not “ until the co-operation of all Europe ” is secured can they expect any improvement in this respect. The mid- day rest is seldom long enough to allow the men to go home, and one employer stated that a proper interval of two hours would necessitate an increase in his staff of 25 per cent. O’) As no regular hours are recognised there can be no overtime, extra pay is, however, given in some cases when the usual time is exceeded. ( 7 ) Night work is the exception rather than the rule, and is generally due to unforeseen circumstances. The necessity, however, of getting boats away on Saturday causes regular Friday night work on one or two lines. Extra pay for night work is by no means general. The burgomaster of Rotterdam stated that Sunday work was very general in that port, and that employers applied for leave to work nearly every Sunday. No increase of Sunday work is, however, taking place, as permission is not now given without reasonable cause, and the 50 per cent, extra pay for Sunday work, which was gained by the strike of 1889, has been very effectual in keeping down Sunday labour. The president of the dock labourers’ union, “ De Nederlandsche Vlay," said that it behoved Holland not to fall behind the practice of England in this respect. ( 8 ) Dock labourers are frequently engaged and paid in ( c .) other public-houses. The reasons given for this practice are conditions, that the shipping agents’ offices are not large enough for the purpose, that the tavern is conveniently near, and that change cun easily be obtained from the publican. Some- times when the foreman is unavoidably absent, wages are even paid directly by the publican. Some master steve- dores have either a direct or indirect interest in public houses. The president of the Rotterdam branch of the R. K. Volksbond states that the publican, in paying wages, first of ali retains the sum due to him for drink, which amounts sometimes to as much as 10 fl. out of 20 fl. Dock labourers are also dependent on the publican’s aid in getting wojk ; ‘‘with some stevedores the men must “ spend one-third of their wages in the public-house “ before they can get work,’’ and one witness goes so far as to state that “ the worst drunkards are the first to get work.”( 9 ) The lack of comfortable rooms in which the men can remain while awaiting the arrival of vessels is ( >) lb., 216, 270, 193 7, 663-8, 1H7. 1521, 1695, 1707. ( 5 ) lb . , 213, 219, 325, 731, 1516, 1637, 1991, 2262, 2530. ( 6 ) lb., 98, 170-3, 215, 365, 678-9, 1863-1, 1892, 1925, 2111. (•) lb., 1 159, 1150, 2169. (*) Ib„ 11, 12, 222. 563, 612, 1161. 1531, 1699, 1871, 2096. (”) Enquire. Los-en-LaJul werk, 188-93, 292-3, 383, 767. 881, 1088, 1180. 2149. 21 4. Peat industry. another cause of the drunkenness which prevails amongst the dock population. A few coffee-houses which have been open- ed by the People’s Temperance Federation are much fre- quented, and a movement for providing proper accommoda- tion has been set on foot by the leading shipowners both in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The facility with which spirits can be obtained from ships in the harbour at Rotterdam is mentioned as a great and insuperable evil. These opportunities do not exist to the same extent at Amsterdam, where the police are much more vigilant than at Rotterdam. (*) Altogether, the position of dock labourers at Rotterdam and Amsterdam seems far from satisfactory, and every effort at improvement which has hitherto been either made or suggested seems 10 be attended with great difficulties. The cause of this unsatisfactory state of things is to be sought first of all in the number of men who are unable to find employment at the docks. As a rule, there are from 100 to 150 men unemployed at Rotterdam ; this number is rather increasing than decreasing. At Amsterdam, also, the rural population of Friesland and Groningen are attracted by the comparatively high wages to seek employ- ment in the capital. ( 2 ) Another great grievance, and one which employers take no steps to remedy, is the middleman system. These middlemen or contractors are allowed full liberty by the employers as to the conditions on which they engage labourers, financial considerations being the only matter with which employers concern themselves. One employer stated explicitly that what shipowners wanted was cheap labour, and if that was secured the middlemen might strike any bargain they pleased with the men. The following are some of the malpractices alleged against the middlemen : — In one case where a job was undertaken by a gang of six men, a man was discharged, and a boy or infirm labourer put in his place, who was content with lower wages. On another occasion, when the contractor under- took to discharge a vessel with .30 men, he only employed 25, and pocketed the difference in the wages. The excess of the labour supply renders the men entirely dependent on the pleasure of the foreman, and makes complaints as to these abuses unavailing. ( 3 ) These various difficulties and grievances combine to make the relations between employers and employed any- thing but friendly. Little contact takes place between the actual employer and his men, and as a rule the fear of dismissal prevents the men from bringing their grievances to the knowledge either of the employer or his foreman. ( 4 ) A great step would be made if the number of casual hands could be minimised as far as possible. An attempt in this direction has been made by the Netherland-American Company, but with very small success. If a fixed wage were assured to certain gangs whether vessels arrived or not, probably these gangs would be recruited from the worst labourers in the port. Another difficulty consists in the unorganised condition of the employers themselves, and thorough co-operation between all shipowners and agents would be one of the first requisites of the scheme. The introduction of a normal day's labour is stated to be impossible in the face of existing competition, and the payment of fixed weekly wages is considered by employers to involve too great a risk, taking the extreme irregularity of the work into account. ( 5 ) The peat mosses of Holland are situated in the north- west of Friesland, in Drenthe, and in the north of Overijssel. The Fens of Friesland are principally of the kind called “low” ( lage ) fens, while the “high” (hooge) fens are found in Drenthe and Overijssel. 'lhe low fens comprise 3,000 hectares, and employ some 6,000 hands, whilst the area of the high fens is 45,000 hectares, and the number of persons employed is 12,000. ( 6 ) Work in the low fens is carried on by two classes of workmen, those who dig up the turf and those who dry and prepare it for use. The digging of the turf is performed by two men called diggers ( trekkers or baggelaars ) and mixers (mengers) . The digger and mixer work together and form a span, the former digs up the turf and throws it into a trough ( bak ) where it is ground into powder by the mixer, the digger then throws in water and the mixer makes the ground turf into a pulp. They then throw the pulp out on to the land to dry, in layers varying in thickness according to the kind of peat required. The next process, which is performed by the peatinaker ( tvrfmaker ) proper, consists in cutting the layers, which have now become hard, into blocks and piling them up to dry. They are then finally stored in barns, or delivered to the boats which transport them to their destination. (') The first process is very laborious but requires little skill, whereas the cutting and drying need considerable experience, and peatmakers may, therefore, be regarded as skilled labourers. (*) The “ high ” fens are lands which are being worked for the first time, and here the necessary operations are divided into three processes. First, the removal of the surface soil (postgraven), secondly, the removal of the second layer ( tweevoudsgraven ), and thirdly, the ordinary peat cutting (gewoon graven). 'I’he first process is performed by a digger and three men, or two men and a woman, with wheelbarrows in which to take the turf away. The barrows have to be wheeled up and down a steep plank, and consequently the work is of a very laborious nature. In the second process the slope is less steep and the work only requires two wheelbarrows, while the third process, or ordinary digging, is generally performed by a man who cuts the turf and a woman who wheels it away.( 9 ) The peat cutting season begins about the end of March or the early part of April and lasts till the middle of July ; peatmaking continues from March to December, and the first three months of the year are sometimes occupied in preparing the ground for cutting, so that peatmakers have almost continuous work the whole year round. Work begins as soon as it is light in the morning and goes on till about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, with three intervals for meals, but as the work is done by the piece every worker is free to choose his own times. Only five days’ work is done in the week ; most of the diggers live at some distance from the fen, they, therefore, go home on Friday evening and return on Sunday evening. Sunday work occasionally takes place when digging is done on Saturday, as sometimes happens in the early part of the year ; it is not, however, of frequent occurrence or long duration. Peatmakers are not able to work so regularly as diggers because their work depends so much on the weather, but in the season their hours are as far as possible the same as those of the diggers. ( 10 ) Digging and mixing is work which can only be done by men, but there is a certain amount of lighter work in con- nexion with the after processes for which women and children can be employed. The peatmaker generally works with the assistance of his wife and family, and fore- men are said to give preference to men with large families. In this way children obtain a knowledge of the work, which has, in fact, become an hereditary craft, seldom or never carried on but by men who learnt it from their fathers. The peatinaker’s work is of extreme importance to the fen owner, because any neglect on the part of the former, as for instance not cutting the peat into pieces of the right size, or not getting it thoroughly dried before the frost comes, will destroy the value of the whole year’s output. The peatmaker has also to count the peat before it is shipped, and in a large field might very easily cheat the owner ; it is, therefore, most important that he should be trustworthy, and that good relations should subsist between him and the owner. (") Work is everywhere paid by the piece, but different districts and different kinds of fen have different measures. The standard of measurement in the “ low ” fens is either tlie short rood, which consists of 12 square metres, or the long rood of 16 square metres. In the “ high ” fens the standard of measurement is the stoic (stick), which used to measure 24 handbreadths, but which has now been raised to 25 handbreadths or metres. There are about 300 pieces of peat in one stoic, and 40 or 45 stole constitutes the measure called “ a day’s work.”( 12 ) The wages of diggers vary from 75 to .00 cents per rood, and the best workmen do five or six roods a day per spun-, th us men who do 200 roods in the season earn some 150 fl., or 2 fl. per man per day. The highest earnings in this process are about 300 fl., the average 150 rl. or 170 fl., and the lowest 100 fl. Lodging and food for the five working days of the week are also provided at the employer's expense. (See p. 34.) A peatmaker working alone does on an average aboujt 300 roods, for which he receives 270 fl., with the help of (*) lb., 10-7, 22, 119, 352-0, 572, 382, .550, 774, S37, 1214. 1325-8, 1760-8, ( 2 ) Ih„ 525, 627, 1428, 2179, 2686. ( 3 ) lb., 57, 64, 67, 185, 239, 853, 1381, 2301. (*) It)., 235, 512, 856, 1459. 1678. f 5 ) lb., 635, 718-9, 817, 832, 1435, 1827-30. ( 6 ) "Conditions du Travail dans les Pays- Has,” p. 16. (') Enqu6te. Veenderijen. Appendix 1. ( 8 ) Appendixl i°) Appendix 18,19. Q. 5745, 6291. 0°) Appendixl. Q. 938-41, 1052, 1822-3, 5020-2. (”) Appendixl. Q. 118. 285. 779. ( ,2 ) Appendixl. Q. 819, 4366, 7400-4. C 3 22 his wife he is able to do another 50 or 60 roods, and with the assistance of two or three children he can do 600 roods or more.(’) A peatmaker from Oudehacke earned higher wages than any other witness in this industry who appeared before the Commission. He worked with the assistance of three grown-up sons and did 1,100 roods in the year, for which lie received 1,0-45 fl. ( (i) 2 3 ) In the “ high ” fens peat is cut into large and small pieces which are designed respectively for factory and house consumption. The makers of large peat earn about 19 cents per stole, those who make small peat about 18 cents. In deep digging ( postgraven ) 12 fl. are paid for 40 stole, but a gang of four workers cannot do more than 20 stole in a day. The second process ( ttveevoudsgraven ) is paid at the rate of 10 fl. per 40 stole, an amount which it takes three men more than two days to perform. The ordinary digging ( gewoon graven) is paid at the rate of 8 fl. per 40 stole. The average wage of the diggers in this process is T50, and that of the wheelbarrow men 1 fl. per_day. The earnings of the diggers for the whole season range from 120 to 100 or 90 fl. Women employed to dry the peat make from 40 to 45 fl. during the season. The loading of boats is paid •according to the quantity of peat the boat holds ; persons loading a boat which holds 40 stole receive 50 cents per day, and those who load boats holding 80 stole 70 cents per day.( :! ) Peatmakers have free houses or houses at a reduced rent, fuel, either for the whole year or during the summer months, and in many rases enough land to graze a sheep or cow. Opportunities for extra earnings are afforded to those who load the boats or cut the rushes used for thatching the peat stacks. The preparation of the soil for digging which takes place in the early part of the year is paid at the rate of 75 cents a day, but though this also helps to swell the total earnings of the year, the peat maker is often deeply in debt to his employer at the beginning of the new season. ( 4 ) The season hands (losse arbeiders) whose work is con- fined to the three spring months, find such employment as they can in mowing, haymaking, harvesting, and wood cutting. They are, however, seldom able to get through the year without applying for poor relief, and cases of starvation and suicide are not unknown among them.( 5 ) Wages are generally paid in Dutch coin, though in a few instances orders payable at the foreman’s shop are substi- tuted for money. A small sum is paid at the end of each week, and what remains out of the whole sum earned is paid at the end of the season. ( 6 7 ) No satisfactory method of fixing the price per rood exists. In some cases the owner determines what price he means to give and advertises for labourers at that price, but generally nothing is said about wages until the men have been a week or two at work. In this case it is assumed that the price per rood will be the same as that of the previous year, in the absence, however, of any contract to this effect the employer is free to lower his price, or the workmen can, and generally do, strike for a higher sum. One employer who fixed the price per rood in conference with his workpeople stated that no strikes had ever occurred in his fen. Some complaints are made as to unfair measurements, over which the workers have no control, because the land is not always measured in their presence. (' j The low wages and irregular work mentioned above are not the only cause of the poverty which is now so general among peat workers. Friesland, which fifty years ago was one of the most prosperous provinces of Holland, is now losing the chief source of its wealth. The peat mosses are becoming exhausted, and since 1874 poverty and want of work have rapidly increased. At Gorredijk, where six years ago 80,000 roods of peat were made in the year, scarcely 55,000 roods are now made. This diminution of the output has done nothing tc raise wages, for peat has now to compete against imported coal and coke, and the reduced profits of fen owners have been another factor in bringing down the wages of labour. So un- profitable have the peat mosses become that the large pro- prietors are giving place to labourers with a little capital, who buy and work a small piece of ground and then carry round their peat for sale as hawkers. ( 8 ) The workers hope to see employment brought back to them by thorough draining of the exhausted mosses, such as would render them fit for cultivation. The capital (i) Appendix 1. Q. 1064, 1230-2, 2177, 2664. (>) Q. 2561. (3) Appendix 12, 29§, 13. Q. 7324, 7839, 7407-12, 7513. (♦) Q. 709-13, 1171-4, 1227-9, 4016-24. (5) Q. 61-2, 1029, 1278, 5772. 6154-5, 6509.' (6) Q. 361-2,588-90,959-61,1117,1406-7. (7) Q. 1055-80, 112, 1509-12. 2026-32, 3436, 3674. (*) 6. 121, 146-7, 1260, 4267-70, 1378. necessary for such an undertaking already partly exists in the stijlcgeld or draining fund, to which all fen owners are obliged by law to contribute. A request for powers to take in hand the draining of the peat mosses has been made to the States Deputies, but no action has been taken by them in the matter. ( ,J ) Engineering work in Holland is chiefly confined to the making and repairing of the dykes which protect the low- lying coasts from inundations, to the draining of polders, and to the dredging and pumping operations continually carried on throughout the network of canals with which the country is intersected. The wages earned by the men engaged in these works are fairly good ; navvies ( aardwerkees ) make from 12 fl. to 16 fl.a week, and pumping station hands about 12 fl. Men whose work depends on the tide have very long hours, viz , from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., but are never employed continuously ; indeed, the work is described by a con- tractor as consisting rather in standing than working. ( 10 ) C. — Textile, Clothing, Glass, Building, and Miscellaneous Trades. 1 . Textile Trades. The, trades included in this group employ a considerable number of women and children, and it is here that the effects of the law of 1889 have been most felt. The inspectors state that women are largely employed in laundries, in chocolate and cocoa factories, in the prepara- tion of preserved meats, fruit, & c., in fish curing establish- ments, the cultivation of oysters, in making straw wrappers and metallic capsules for bottles, as well as in most branches of the textile trade. The effect of the law of 1889 has been on the whole to decrease the number of protected persons so employed. In the beetroot sugar factories, glass factories, brickfields, &e., where it is impossible to limit the day’s work to 11 hours, or where work is carried on in day and night shifts, employers have in some cases ceased to employ protected persons. ( n ) Mr. Kuyper, the inspector of the first district, in com- paring the number of protected persons engaged in indus- trial pursuits in 1890 and the previous years, says that though their number is not decreasing, yet comnared with the number cf adult males it does not show any increase, ( 12 ) In the second inspectoral district the number of women employed in 1891 was four less than in 1890, while the number of young persons had decreased by 69; this calculation, however, omits the cotton district of Twenthe, where the number of women and children had increased. ( 13 ) - In the third district the decrease in the number of women of O'. 4 per cent.( 14 ) The inspectors found that on the whole the law is fairly well observed, their first reports show that its provisions were not complied with all at once, but x’ney r were in- structed to proceed leniently against offenders, and the number of prosecutions for 1890 was only 311 for the whole country, In 1891, when the law was enforced with greater strictness, this number rose to 491. 1 1 ’) The number of factories and workshops visited in 1890 was, in the first district, 401 ; in the second, 413 ; and in the third, 423. In the following year these numbers had risen to 513, 508, and 497 respectively.! 16 ) The districts of Tilburg and Limburg, though situated within the area of the first district, were not included in Mr. Kuyper’s report, because they were specially reported upon by MM. Bekaar and Struve in the preliminary inquiry on labour with which they were entrusted in 1888.( 17 ) Employers are obliged to keep a register of the children in their employment, and to obtain from the parents a certificate of the age of each child. Unfortunately the parents sometimes misstate the ajre of their children, or make the certificate of an elder child do duly fur a younger.( ls ) All employers are required to report the number of accidents which occur to the burgomaster, and the numbers reuorted for 1890 in the three districts (») Q. 1024. 1100, 1159, 1445. 15SS-9, 1800-10,2105, 2243-7, 2429-33, 2814- 22. 3447-55. ( 10 ) Enqufete, ’s Gravenhage. 4376, 43S1, 4675, 4681-2, 4696, 4713. (U) Verslagon van de Inspecteuts van den Arbeid over 1890 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), pp. 308-9. (U) /6..p. 16. ( ls ) Verslagen van de Jnspecteur van den Arbeid over 1891, pp. 180-1. (M) lb., p. 268. (> 5 ) lb., pp. 11, 169, 291. ( 16 ) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1890, pp. 2, 131, 255 ; over 1891, pp. 1, 160, 263. < 17 ) EnquOte, l c Arbeids-lnspectie (vervolgr), 5851. ( 18 ) Report of Enquiry of 1887, 8823. 5. Canals, dykes, &c. (a.) Labou of women and child- ren (6.) Inspec- tion. ( c .) Cotton ti ado. Cp. pp,2S,30. 23 are 411 in the first district, 15 of which proved fatal ; 227 in the second district, of which 9 resulted in death, and 8/1 in the third district, including 17 fatal cases.j 1 ) 1891 the number of accidents in the first district had fallen to 330, including 10 cases of death ; in the second district it had risen to 305, the number of deaths being 1 1 ; and in the third district there were 1 ,285 accidents and 30 deaths. ( 2 ) The sanitation of factories and workshops is stated to be good on the whole, and great improvements are being introduced into the newer buildings, but in the older factories the inspectors still report many cases where space, ventilation, light, and the supply of water are very unsatisfactory. ( :i ) Laundries and millinery and dress- making establishments were at first very unwilling to reduce their hours from the customary 13 or 14 to the 11 hours required by the law. By dint of repeated prosecu- tions, however, Mr. Struve, the inspector of the third district, states that he succeeded in reducing the laun- dries in his district to obedience, and that without any neglect of work or reduction in the earnings of the workers. ( 4 ) In very few industries indeed has the shorter working day had an injurious effect upon trade, but amongst the exceptions to this rule must be mentioned the woollen trade of Tilburg. The woollen yarn used by the Tilburg weavers is not strong enough to bear the strain of the increased speed at which the machinery must be driven in order to make up for shorter hours. It is also stated that the prohibition of night work by women and children makes it increasingly difficult for manufacturers to com- pete with their Belgian rivals. ( 5 ) Many objections of more or less weight are urged against the law by employers attached to the old system of working. The most im- portant of these seems to be the prohibition of work by protected persons after 7 p.m. Employers maintain that it is inhuman to expect women and children to begin work at 5 a.m. in the winter, and that it would be better to begin later and work later in the evening.( G ) Considerable stress was also laid by several witnesses on the pernicious effect of turning out the younger hands into the streets an hour or more before their fathers were able to leave work.(M The cotton trade is the most important branch of textile manufacture which is carried on in Holland. Cotton mills are to be found in Leiden, Amersfoort, Veenendaal, Hil- versum, and at Winterswijk in Gelderland, lmt the chief centre is the district of Twenthe, in the east of Overijssel, where the little towns of Enschede (population 15,000), Almelo, Oldenzaal, Hengelo, &c. are almost entirely ab- sorbed in this trade. The general condition of the cotton operatives in this district is stated to be good. Wages are fairly high, the hours of work are not excessive, and many of the em- ployers have done much to promote the interests of their workpeople. Twenthe is the only district in Holland where factory schools have been instituted, and the degree of cultivation attained by the factory workers is in con- sequence superior to that of persons similarly employed in other parts of the country. An employer at Hilvsersum states that his workmen who came from Twenthe were morally superior to the workpeople of the district. A witness who had worked at the Leiden Cotton Company’s works from 1872 to 1886, and had previously been em- ployed at Hengelo, compared the two places to the dis- advantage of Leiden in nearly every particular. Wages, he stated, were about the same in both towns, but the cost of living was less at Hengelo ; the employers were more accessible and took more interest in their men, and the workpeople themselves were far better educated. ( 8 ) At Winterswijk the general rate of wages is also lower than in Twenthe, but the people are not entirely dependent on their earnings, as they all cultivate a little land, and many own their own houses. At Ulft two-thirds of the factory population live in houses they have bought for them- selves. ( 9 ) Wages throughout the trade are generally paid by the piece, except in the case of foremen and tradesmen, who receive a fixed time wage, with or without a bonus. This bonus consists of a per-centage, either on the wholi amount paid in wages in any particular factory, or on the amount of work turned out within a given time. The P) Verslagen van de Inspeeteurs van den Arbeid over 1890, nn. 102-3 212-3,326-7. (*) Verslagen van de Inspeeteurs van den Arbeid, pp. 124-3, 232-3, ( 3 ) lb., p. 299. ( l ) Verslagen van de Inspeeteurs van den Arbeid over 1S90, p. 262. ( 5 ) Foreign Oltice Reports, 1892, Miscellaneous Series, No. 224, p 12 (“) EnquOte, Groningen, 5521. ( 7 ) EnquOte, Nijmegen, 3997. Verslagen van de Inspeeteurs van den ArbOid over 1890, p. 12. ( 8 ) EnquOte, Leiden, 321-325 ; ’s Gravenhage, 4783-4. ( 9 ) EnquOte, Gelderland, 4784-8, 4816-7, 5007, 5221-3, 5973-4. bonus for extra production, which was once general in the Twenthe mills, increased the quantity of goods produced at the expense of their quality, and has therefore been discontinued. A bonus is still paid in several factories in Leiden for an extra quantity of work, which must be faultless, but the system was not always approved of even by those who admitted it. ( 10 ) The bonus system is still in force at Veenendaal, where it has not been found to result in bad work.( u ) It is also urged against the bonus system that if the yarn happens to be of inferior quality the best workman may be unable to earn his premium, and that without any fault of his own. Further, if the maximum quantity of work, which must be completed before the extra work, for which a bonus is given begins, is fixed too high, the bonus system may in actual practice become a system of fines. The following are a few examples of the wages earned by different classes of workers throughout the trade. At Enschede a good weaver with four looms and an assistant can make on an average 9 tt. a week, and some make as much as 1 1 fl. At Almelo the wages for the same class of worker vary from 7 to 10 11. per week. Sizers (sterkers) earn at Enschede 12 fl. 50 ; at Almelo 8 fl. to 8 fl. 50 ; at Hengelo, 9 fl. 25 to 9 fl. 75. Spinners get from 12 to 13 fl. a week, and the wages of piecers ( aardappers ), who are paid by the spinner, are variously stated as 5, 6, 7, and 8 fl. Some receive a fixed wage, and others are paid according to what the spinner makes. Carding room hands make about 6 or 7 fl. Foremen and overseers, on an average, earn 13 11. 50, exclusive of the bonus. At Winterswijk weavers with two looms get from 6 to 7 fl. a week, and spinners from 6 fl. to 6 fl. 30. At Leiden handloom weavers make from 6 fl. to 12 fl. a week, and machine weavers (women) from 4 fl. to 5 fl. ; spinners make from 6fl. to 8 fl. At Hilversum male weavers with four looms can make 10 fl. a week ; women earn ^ fl. 50 with three looms, and 5 fl. with two looms. ( 12 ) Frequent complaints are made about the loss of time occasioned to weavers by their being kept waiting for material, and also about the inferior quality of the yarn supplied, ('p.) Fines are imposed for unpunctuality, disorderly be- haviour, bad work, and badly cleaned looms. They are generally imposed by the foreman, or, in cases of un- punctuality, by the timekeeper, but, if the fine is con- sidered as unmerited, appeal can always be made to the employer. As a rule the money collected in fines is given to the factory sick funds, or to some other institution for the benefit of the employes. ( 14 ) A schoolmaster at Leiden (whose school contained chil- dren belonging to 380 different families, 162 of which were families employed in the cotton mills) stated that on the whole a sober man with regular wages could get on very well provided he was able to keep free from sickness. In comparison with other artisans factory operatives may be considered well off. ( 13 ) In the district of Twenthe both employers and employed agree that though the rate per piece has not increased during the last 20 years, the total earnings of the workers are much higher than formerly. The increase in the pro- ductiveness of labour is ascribed to the use of better materials, the introduction of improved machinery and the increased quickness and diligence of the workers. An employer states that at the present time H million florins are paid annually in wages at Enschede, and another employer gives the average earnings of the 1,268 persons in his mills as 7 fl. 10 c. per head, counting men, women, and children together. He also states that though the hours of labour have decreased, the rate of wages has risen 20 per cent, since 1870.( ll j “The hands have of course “ had to accommodate themselves to the speed of the “ engines . . . and given the leisurely method of “ work so generally obtaining in this country, the results “ arrived at are decidedly instructive, and have attracted “ a good deal of attention. ’( 17 ) In the spinning mills of Twenthe the usual hours are 1 1 per day for the first live days of the week, while on ( 10 ) EnquMe, Twenthe, 1097-1100, 1817, 1918-21, 2301, 2116 . EnqtiOte, Leiden, Versing (Report), p. 7. ( u ) EnquOte, ’s Gravenhage, 2875-7. ( 12 ) EnquOte, Twenthe, 326-7, 448-9, 706, 1103-8, 1178-9, 2011, 5621, 0635, 6679-84, 9469 ; Gelderland, 4218, 4275-9, 4381-3 ; ’s Giavenhaire, 4785-6 («) Twenthe, 346, 361, 582-4, 2664. (“) lb., 410-2, 569-74, 1142-7, 1816-21, 2281-7, 3024, 3526-9,4568, 5975-8. ( lr * ) Leiden, 225-6. ( 10 ) Enqu&te, Twenthe, 749,818, 1101. (V ) Foreign Office Reports. Miscellaneous Series, 1S92, No. 224, p. 5. C 4 24 Saturday the engines are stopped at 1 or 2 p.m., and the workpeople stay for about an hour longer to clean their looms. (*) In weaving, dyeing, and bleaching mills the usual day’s work consists of 1CH hours; some factories stop at noon on Saturdays, others not till 4 or 5 p.m., after which the looms have to he cleaned. (*) At Leiden the factory hours vary from 10 to 11^ per day exclusive of meal times. Work begins at (i or 0.30 a.m., and continues till 7 or 8 in the evening. ( 1 * 3 ) The factory system and the introduction of machinery is stated to have had a very beneficial influence in shortening the hours of labour, as the old handloom weavers sometimes worked from three in the morning till 10 at night. The question as to whether the state of the trade would admit of any further reduction, and whether such a reduc- tion would be an advantage to the workpeople, met with very various answers. Some employers were of opinion that the hours might be reduced in weaving mills without any injury to trade, but that 1 1 hours must remain the minimum for spinning mills. Other employers affirmed that any reduction in the hours would mean a corres- ponding diminution in the output. Manufacturers at Oldenzaal on the German frontier, already competing with their German rivals who are working 12 hours a day, naturally oppose any measure likely to increase their difficulties. On the other hand a shorter day has already been introduced in more than one instance. The firm of J. S. Scholten and Sons (Ensched^), who have reduced their hours to 9if, stated that they have now a larger output than when the day was an hour longer. The firm of J. C. Zaalberg at Leiden has reduced the hours to scarcely 9£, and according to one witness the change may have made a little difference, but has not cost the firm much.( 4 ) A reduction from 12 to 1 1 hours a day has taken place at Driessen in Gelderland, where it was accompanied by a change from time to piece-work, with the result that both the output and the wages of the piece-workers have increased. ( 5 * ) In a weaving mill at Winterswijk in Gelderland, where 245 hands are employed, the hours have been reduced from 11 to lOJ on the first five days of the week, and on Saturday the factory stops at 4 so that the looms may be cleaned and everything put in order before Sunday. Another employer who has reduced his hours to 10£ in summer and 10 in winter, states that as much work is done during the shorter day as during the longer. In neither case have wages or output suffered any dimi- nution. ( c ) In a large factory at Veenendaal, where nearly 800 hands are employed, the hours have been reduced from 72 to 62J, while the output has increased 20 per cent. No new machinery has been introduced, and the change is due simply to the increased speed at which the people work.(') The time allowed for the mid-day meal in the spinning mills at Twenthe is seldom more than one hour, while in other branches of the trade an hour is the exception and the usual time is If or If hours. Where the longer time is allowed the workpeople who live near the factories are able to take their meal at home, and some employers allow 10 minutes’ grace to late comers who live too far off to be back punctually. Those whose homes are at any con siderable distance generally dine with a neighbour, as few factories are provided with rooms where the workpeople can spend an hour in comfort. At Leiden the chief complaint with regard to meal times is that they are different in different factories, and thus the members of one family who work in different mills are not able to meet at dinner time. The time allowed is generally If hours, except at the Leiden Cotton Company’s works, where the interval hardly lasts from 12 till 1. Short rests of a few minutes’ duration are everywhere allowed during the course of the morning and afternoon. ( 8 * * ) In the spinning mills at Enschede girls are accustomed to remain in the mill during the mid-day meal-time twice in the week in order to clean their looms. The workers prefer this to staying later in the evening, and the em- ployers state that this custom is not a breach of the law which forbids work during meal-times, because the work intended is work done while the engine is running. (1) EnquOte, Twenthe, 73S), 1094, 1704, 2017, 2098, 3193, 4170, 8482, 8018. ( 2 ) 76., 1484, 4249, 4387, 7532-4. ( 3 ) EnquQte, Leiden, 2002, 2792, 2809, 3073, 3290. (■*) Enquete, Twenthe, 740, 950-1, 1095, 1291, 1303, 2374, 2774, 3094, 4472. Leiden, 2002, 2020, 2028. ( 5 ) Enqut'te, Gelderland, 4700, 4804, 4940, (<') Enqut'te, Gelderland, 4273, 4573, 4687-9. ( 7 ) Enquete, ’s Gravenhage, 2869-72. ( 8 ) Enqutte, Twenthe, 522, 755-6, 950, 2018, 2099. 2206, 3222, 3498. 4249, 5286-7, 5629-33, 6148-50. Leiden, 2239, 3450. Sometimes witnesses, on the other hand, complain that the presence of young people in the mills during the absence of the foreman tends to encourage immorality. ( IJ ) Factory hands are never required to work on Sundays except the tradesmen and overlooker, the former are occasionally oldiged lo make repairs on Sundays, and the latter are in some firms regularly required to come on Sunday morning to see that the looms are properly cleaned. Enginemen and boiler cleaners are obliged to work on Sunday because the boilers are not cool enough to be cleaned on Saturday night. ( ,H ) Overtime and night-work are also very exceptional, but of more frequent occurrence in spinning than in weaving mills. At Leiden the engineman who comes for an hour to clean his machine is the only person employed on Sunday. ( u ) • The condition of factories and workshops with regard to the health and safety of the workmen is stated to be on the whole satisfactory. The chief matters of complaint are the. insufficient means of ventilation, the heat and moistness of the air caused by steaming, the crowding of machinery, the fact that weavers are obliged to carry heavy beams and place them in the looms, and in a few cases the lack of proper sanitary accommodation. The exhausters, fans, open windows, and other means of ventilation in use are not found to be perfectly efficient in carrying away the dust arising from the cotton. On the whole the injury to the workers amounts to little more than inconvenience except in the carding room (kraskarner), where they nearly all suffer from asthma. The weavers as a rule do not complain of the dust, and their health is generally good.f 2 ) In some factories where English yarns are used no steaming is required, but where the more brittle home- made yarns are employed steaming is necessary in -warm weather. The use of steam causes a degree of heat which is sometimes excessive ; one factory is said to keep up a regular temperature of from 80 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and in another, which is lighted by gas, the temperature in winter evenings reached 90 or 100 degrees Fahrenheit . Some factories use an apparatus (waterstuiftoestellen) which moistens the air without heating it, but it has not been generally adopted, and opinions differ as to its value. The crowding of machinery is one of the points men- tioned in the written answers sent in by the Enschede and Lonneker branch of the Patrimonium , but the witnesses examined could not point to any accidents arising from this cause, and one employer stated that his looms were placed so far apart that an Englishman, who visited the factory, drew attention to the “waste of space.” In some factories the beams ( boomen ) which weigh 250 pounds, are brought to the looms on trollies, and the men have only to put them in position, in other cases the space between the looms is too small to admit of the trollies coming close up, and then the heavy beams have to be carried by the men.( l;t ) Some cases are mentioned where girls who work the throstle machines become crooked from stooping over their work, .but this is in most instances ascribed by doctors to other causes. Sanitary accommodation is stated to be generally good and sufficient; improvement is desirable in some cases, and one instance was reported in which it was extremely bad. Factories are generally cleaned every week and white- washed once a year.( u ) The inspector of the second district states that the water used for drinking purposes in factories is now for the most part wholesome. In his first report (1890) he mentions a factory where the use of impure water had led to an out- break of typhoid fever. Out of the 508 factories and work- shops visited by him in 1891, 204 were provided with good water from wells, in 16 filtered rain-water was obtainable, in 50 the water had to be brought from elsewhere, and in the remaining cases the workpeople were obliged to drink rain water or even canal and river water. ( IS ) At Enschede the drinking water in several factories is unpleasant to the taste, owing to the presence of iron in solution. One employer at Hengelo, whose water is unwholesome, provides tea.( lC ) ( ,J Enquete, Twenthe 004-7, 1210-3. 1308-14, 1552, 1500-2,1713-4 1705-8' 1916-8, 2026-35, 2107-10, 2181-2, 2251-3, 2379, 2884-7, 3194-6 3->25 7 3410- 20, 3452-54. (»’) 76., 530, Oil, 1320, 1910, 1912. ( 11 ) 76., GOO, 1175-7, 1600-1, 2037-9, 3011-6, 4251-3. Leiden, 3590. ( 12 ) 76., 147, 8160-2. 6369-74, 8243. P) 76., 511-4, 727, 1390-4, 1991. 2440, 2559, 2367, 8244-5,8289-90, 8277, 10,203-4. Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1891 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), p. 194. P) Enquete, Twenthe, 182, 1546, 2191. P) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1891, p. 228 (Inspectors’ Reports for 1891). ( 16 ) EnquOte, Twenthe, 149, 2130, 2190, 2326-7, 2307, 7237-S, 7319. 25 ( <1 .) Linen trade. (e.) Woollen trade. The chief centres of the flax trade are Groningen, Fries- land, Zeeland, South Holland, and North Brabant. Some 15,000 hectares of land are devoted to the cultivation of flax, and from 15,000 to 18,000 persons are employed in the various branches of the industry. (') The field work, including tin cutting, spreading, and io : iing of the flax takes place during the summer, whilst the heating and bundle-making, which is carried on during the winter, does not provide occupation for all the workers who are required during the summer. In Groningen, however, no difficulty arises on this ground because the population is not large ; the regular hands are employed during the winter, and in summer extra hands are recruited from the farms and fisheries of Friesland In the district of Tilburg (N. Brabant) flax-beating begins in December and lasts till April, and the persons employed during the winter generally find occupation during the summer as agricul- tural labourers, and in the autumn at ti e beetroot sugar factories. The short duration of the flax season and the change to a healthy occupation is probably the reason why comparatively few flax-bea») lb., 10,073-83, 10,254-60, 10,278-86, 10,493-503, 10,564-8, 10,611-23 11,032-44. ( n ) Enquete of 1887, 10,515-6, 10,519-22, 10,623-6. Vprslag (Report), p. 47. (> 2 ) EnquOte, Zwolle, Deventer, Karapen, 2129-35, 2941-57 ; ’s Graven- hage, 3621 9, 3665-70, 3684-5. D (a.) Glass workers. 26 (6.) Cigar makers. from the clay and the use of white lead for glazing. It appears, however, that all possible measures are taken to secure thorough ventilation, and the workrooms are cleaned three times a week. The health of the workpeople is nevertheless anything but good, and the mortality amongst them excessively high. The injurious conditions of work have so undermined the constitutions of the whole population that the director of the Societe Ceramique stated that he found great difficulty in procuring strong and healthy workmen. Very serious complaints were made by the workmen of Messrs. Regout as to the weight of the saggers ( casselten ) they had to draw, and especially with regard to the in- tolerable heat to which they were exposed in emptying the ovens. The gloves and cuffs which the men wear to protect themselves are frequently burnt, and that the cloths they spread over their heads are scorched with the heat. The length of time they remain in the ovens was stated by one man to be at most five minutes, while another said they could work in the ovens for as long as 15 minutes. The overlooker on the other hand stated that the ovens were always allowed at least 48 hours in which to cool, but he acknowledged that the temperature was not tested before the men were sent in, and that if they complained of heat they would possibly have to go home and lose their day’s wages. No such complaints were made with regard to the Societe Ceramique, where the temperature of the ovens is always tested and men are not allowed to enter them until they can do so with perfect corn fort. (* *) The glass factories of Nieuw-Buinen employ between 500 and 600 workpeople and the town itself dates from about 1838 when the works were first started. A large number of children are employed and manufacturers complain of the restrictions laid upon them by the law of 1889. Glass blowers are paid by the piece, and the payment takes place once in four weeks, but each worker may receive a certain sum per week in advance ; wages vary from 40 fl. to 60 fl. for the four weeks. Glass cutters are paid once a fortnight and earn on an average 10 fl. per week. The blowers work in alternate day and night shifts, the cutters from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and women in the packing room eight hours a day at the most.( 2 ) A new method of silvering glass for mirrors has now been in use for 12 years in a glass factory at Dordrecht. By this process the use of mercury, which is very injurious to the health of the workers, is avoided. The secret is jealously guarded by its inventor, and the mirror factory at Amsterdam is still worked on the old method. ( 3 ) Painted tiles in imitation of old Delft ware are much in demand and are exported to France, England, Germany and America. A clever painter able to use any colour can make as much as 2 fl. 25 cents per day.( 4 ) Factories for the manufacture of tobacco and cigars are to be found in most towns in Holland, whilst large establishments, employing 200 or 300 workmen, exist at the Hague, at Kampen, and at Eindhoven. Cigar makers are employed both at home and in factories, most employers however prefer the factory system as it enables them to maintain stricter discipline and ensures cleanliness. Tobacco-stripping and wrapper-making is generally done by boys who aie employed and paid by the cigar maker. Women are also employed as assistants. Children are not admitted to the factories until they are 14 years of age, and tobacco strippers are forbidden to employ their children at home. The usual hours for factory hands are 1 1 1 per day. Wages vary considerably in different localities ana depend both on the quality and shape of the cigars. Inferior kinds are made for as little as 2 fl. 25 per 1,000, while those who make the better kinds earn 12 fl. per 1,000. Hand-made cigar makers are better paid than those who work with moulds, but moulders can turn out more work in the same time. An ordinary worker can make about 2,500 cigars in a week, for which he receives from 4 fl. 50 up to 6 or 7 A. according to the kind of work. Some manufacturers fix a maximum number of cigars as a week’s work, and this number may not be exceeded. The helpers receive from 2 fl. 50 to 3 fl. 50 per week. Some manufacturers make a small deduction each week for light and room, and home workers are expected to provide for themselves such machinery as they require. The packing of cigars is paid either by the piece or by the day, in the first case a good worker can earn 1 fl. 50 per (i) Report of Inquiry of 1887, 5213, 5305, 5544, 5831, 0200, 6562-9, 6616, 6724-5, 6880-91, 7087-80. 7660, 7688-92. (*) KnquOte, Groningen Veenkolonien, 2663-5, 2670-3, 2862, 2873, 3081, 3117, 3125-6. ( s ) EnquOte, le Arbeids-Inspectie (vervolg) (First Inspectoral Dis- trict (continued)), 2256-70. ( 4 ) Enquftte, Friesland, 21S5, 2642. day and in the second from 1 fl. to 1 fl. 30. The sanitary condition of many cigar factories, as reported by the inspectors, is very unsatisfactory. The workrooms are low and badly ventilated and the drying-rooms where children are employed, were found in some cases to show a tempera- ture of 108°, 124°, 132°, and in one instance 150° F. In one place 18 boys were employed in a room containing only 45 cubic metres, and in another 16 persons were at work in a garret 2 m. 30 high. This room was on the fourth story, and was reached by a steep ladder unprotected by any handrail. ( 5 )j Windmills, though by no means confined to any one part of Holland, form a special element in industrial life on the banks of the Zaan (North Holland). Some idea of the configuration of the country is necessary to understand the local conditions of labour, as these are affected by geographical considerations. The river Zaan is bordered on both sides by roads, and at right angles to the roads there are lanes leading into the open country beyond. The houses of the working classes are in the lanes, and those of manufacturers and shopkeepers stand along the roads facing the river. A large number of windmills lie in the open fields at some distance from the the workmen’s houses, and thus the men are frequently obliged to spend a whole week at the mills, because the journey backwards and forwards would occupy too much time. Some mills, principally colour mills, rice and starch mills, stand by the riverside, while those which are commonly placed further inland are seed-crushing ( oliemolens ), peeling (pelmolens) , and saw mills. ( 6 ) The great disadvantage of dependence on wind power is, of course, its inevitable irregularity. This drawback, however, does not exist in the same degree for all kinds of mills. Seed-crushing mills, which require less motive power than any others, work on an average 250 to 300 days in a year, peeling mills average 181 to 200 days, and saw mills, which need more force than either of the former, can work, according to one witness, for two-thirds of the year. It is in saw mills especially that steam is gradually taking the place of wind. Wind can, however, still be used to advantage in mills when less force is necessary, and groat peeling ( gortpeUerijen ) has hitherto been found quite unadapted to steam power mills. Though steam power is on the whole coming more and more into use, windmills still exist in large numbers, and one instance is mentioned in which a paper manufacturer, on buying a steam power mill, converted it into a wind- mill. The number of men required to work a windmill is small, some four or five, as compared with the staff of a mill driven hy steam, which may have as many as 20.(') Some witnesses preferred work in windmills as affording more variety and independence, others found more advantage in the regular work and steady earnings of steam mills. Windmills have no regular hours ; when the wind blows, the men work 12, 16, 18, or even 20 hours consecutively, and if the wind rises suddenly, they are liable to be summoned to work at any hour of the night. In factories where steam power is used the average day is from 6 a.m. till 6 or 7 p.m., with regular rests of about two hours in the day, whereas the intervals for rest in windmills are exceedingly irregular. Sunday work in windmills has diminished considerably of late years ; it is now the exception for mills to work on Sunday, except in March and April. ( 8 ) Wages are generally paid by time, except in the case of seed-crushers ( olieslagers ), who are paid according to the number of cakes produced. When the mills are obliged to stand still for lack of wind, some employers pay “ standing money ” ( staangeld ) which amounts to about two-thirds of the usual wages. Wood sawyers have no fixed standard of wages, but the wages in steam mills are higher than those in windmills, because the work is harder and there is more difficulty in getting men. One employer who had mills of both kinds paid from 9 fl. 35 to 16 fl. 35 a week in the factory and from 6 fl. 30 to 12 fl. 75 in the windmill. Wages in paper mills are generally very low, and the whole trade is suffering from the pressure of German competition^ 9 ) The manufacture of beetroot sugar is an important in- dustry in South Holland, the “ Sucreries de Breda et de Bergen-op-Zoom ” is the largest factory in Holland or ( 5 ) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1891 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), pp. 31-2, 217, 225, 299-300; EnquCte, Zwolle, De- venter, Kampen, 1080, 2245, 2252, 2269, 2733, Appendix 5. Enqufetc, 1st Arbeids-Inspectie (vervolg), 2621-6, 2699-723. ( 6 ) Enqufite, De Zaankant (Zaan 1 alley), 229. Versing (Report) p. 2. (?) De Zaankant, Verslag (Zaan Valley, Report), p. 2. ( 8 ) 76.,pp. 3-9. (») lb., pp. 10, 32. (c.) Wind- mills. ( d .) Beetroot sugar makers. 27 Belgium. These works employ 450 season and 70 per- manent hands. The labour inspector states that most of the factories are large, well-built, and airy. It is impossible to prevent the temperature being high, but, as a rule, the maximum allowance of 30° Celsius is not exceeded. Electric light is now being introduced into these factories, and a diminution of heat is expected in consequence. Work is carried on by day and night shifts, and therefore, few women or young persons are employed ; some women who are engaged in sack-sewing, cleaning, &c., are however indispensable, and their place is supplied at night as far as possible by men. The periods of restare generally satisfactory as to number and duration, but as the piece-work system is in vogue, no definite times are arranged. The inspector considers that this custom is liable to abuse and recommends the adoption of definite intervals. Wages are fairly good, but they are regulated rather by the philanthropy of employers than by strict considerations of supply and demand. If this latter principle were acted upon a considerable diminution would be the result, for 500 or 600 labourers applied for work during the season of 1892 where only 180 were engaged. The season of 1892 was, however, exceptionally bad, owing to the failure of the harvest and to the new law, which imposes an excise duty upon all beetroot above a certain quantity (37 million kilos). In consequence of this duty, the season of 1892 lasted only 44 days as compared with 104 days four years ago.(') (e.)Diamond The diamond industry at Amsterdam is carried on by industry. employers ( juweliers ) who own factories but do not em- ploy their workpeople directly. The work is, with one exception, given out to contractors by whom the workpeople are employed. Diamonds in their rough state are bought in the London market, and are worked first by “cleavers,” who break up the large stones with flaws in them into smaller flawless pieces. The second process is performed by the cutter ( snijdrr ), and the third by the polisher (slijper), who works with the assistance of a placer ( versteller ) and a boy. Men only are employed for brilliant cutting, but in finer work the so-called “ rosecutting ” ( roosjessnijden ) women are employed both as cutters and polishers. Mills, i.e., machines driven by steam power, are required for the polishing process, and the polisher hires these mills in any factory he pleases at a rate varying from 60 cents to 1 fl. 52 per day. The trade was formerly a Jewish monopoly, but of late years, since more small work has been done, it has passed to a great extent into the hands of Gentiles, with whom it has become a home industrv.( 2 ) Work is very irregular owing to the fluctuations of the market, and all classes of men employed in the trade expect to be out of work for two or three months in the year. It is, therefore, difficult to estimate the yearly incomes earned by diamond workers, but they are probably not high, although the weekly earnings are fairly good. Cleavers, who are, however, a small class, sometimes earn 300 fl. a week or even more, but their work is very irregular and their average earnings for a year are stated to amount to not more than 2,000 fl. The best cutters, at a factory, where wages are said to be high, earn about 2,000 fl. a year and the less skilful men about 1,000 fl. There are, however, other workshops where the wages are as low as 15 fl., 16 fl., or 20 fl. a week, and where the annual earnings are only some 600 fl. or 700 fl. per man. Heme workers, who work as many hours as they please, can of course earn more. Polishers’ work is more regular than that of cutters, and a master polisher who docs large work makes between 2,000 and 3,000 fl. in the year. Polishers’ men are paid either by the piece or by time ; where the latter system prevails, they are engaged by the day or the half day. Men employed on large work ( grofwerkers ) are generally paid by time wages, and their average earnings amount to 20 fl. or 25 fl. a week, while the maximum wage for a good workman is 40 fl. a week. Small work is generally sublet to the men at the same price at which the master polisher has contracted to do it, but certain deductions are made for the use of the mill and other requisites which amount to from 2 fl. 50 to 4 fl. a day. Good placers are much in demand ; they earn from 4 to 6 fl. per mill and attend to seven or eight mills. ( 3 ) The diamond industry is not now so profitable or flourishing as formerly. After the discovery of the South (‘) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1891 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), pp. 29-31; EnquOte, 1° Arbeids-Inspectie, 1738 183(5 ; (vervolg), 1743, 1833-7, 1859, 1911. ( 2 ) EnquOte, Amsterdam, 1099-103, 1115-6, 1339. ( 3 ) lb., 1150-60, 1225, 099-6101. African mines the number of workmen available fell far below the demand. Wages rose in consequence, and at one time reached as much as 61. or 71. a week. The increase of competition, however, soon brought them down, and now they are on the whole very low, and several witnesses from the employed admitted that the men were thereby driven to dishonest practices, such as the substitu- tion of inferior stones in the place of those which were entrusted to them to work.( 4 ) Deductions from wages are made for several purposes. There is firstly, the so-called meidengeld, a deduction of 1 per cent, which is taken from the wages of all classes of workers. It was formerly made with the object of paying the women who cleaned the factories, but the money is now appropriated by the employers. Again, diamonds are given out to the polishers embedded in a kind of plate ( boort ), which they are obliged to buy from the employers at a price more than double that which is charged in the open market.( 5 ) Another grievance consists in the fact that employers who have old factories where the machinery and general accommodation are inferior to that of the newer buildings, bribe the contractors to compel their men to hire mills in these old and unhealthy factories. The sum paid varies from 25 to 40 cents a day per mill, and some contractors are stated to make as much as 10,000 or 12,000 fl. a year by this practice. ( 6 ) The hours of labour are 12 per day without any regular intervals for rest. The men pause now and then to eat their boterham (sandwich), but have not time to wash their hands, which are covered with diamond dust and white of lead. During the parliamentary inquiry of 1887 it was found that 80 per cent, of the diamond workers showed signs of lead poisoning. The long consecutive hours are also very injurious to the sight, especially in the case of the placers who work nearly all day by the light of a gas flame. Out of the 4,093 persons treated for ophthalmia in Amsterdam from January to September 1890, 41 per cent, were diamond polishers. ( 7 ) Jewish employers only work 4j or 5 days a week, but where Jews and Christians work together the engine men are on duty every day in the week. The new factories are stated to be clean and commodious and well provided with water, but many complaints are made about the older factories, both as regards lack of cleanliness and the inconvenient and dangerous machinery. ( 8 ) III— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — Co-operation and Profit-sharing. Dutch co-operative associations are subject to a special law passed in 1876, which determines their scope and constitution. Several co-operative associations existed before this law was passed, but their number has since been considerably increased. The co-operative form of association has been applied to building societies and credit banks as well as to the more usual forms of distribution and production. The principal productive societies are two printing establishments situated respectively at the Hague and at Leeuwarden, the co-operative bakery “ Volharding ” at the Hague, and another at Amsterdam. ( 9 ) The Leeuwarden printing establishment has been in existence for 17 yaers, during which time it has paid an annual dividend of from 7 to 10 per cent, over and above the 5 per cent, interest on share capital. Some 10 work- men out of a staff of 38 are shareholders. ( 10 ) The Volharding bakery at the Hague is managed chiefly by socialists, though the socialist party as such has nothing to do with it. The workmen’s wages at this bakery are higher than elsewhere, and the hours are much shorter ; there is no Sunday work and the hours per day are only eight. In 1890 the bakery paid a dividend of 11 percent., in 1891 of 10 per cent., and in 1892 the price of bread was reduced 1 cent per kilogramme. (") A co-operative bakery at Amsterdam was established in 1887 by the Amsterdamsche Arbeids-maatschappij , but it has not hitherto been a profitable concern, because it is not supported by socialists, and is, nevertheless, mistrusted by the working classes generally on account of its socialist tendencies. ( I! ) (‘) lb., 1170-2, 1553, 1547-51, 2196-9, 4620. ( 5 ) /*., 1095, 1303-7. ( 6 ) lb., 1162-9, 4575-50. ( 7 ) lb., 2105-11, 4354. ( 8 ) lb., 1345-56, 1415, 1608-13, 1629-32, 1758-64, 1877, 4570-4. ('■') “ Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” pp. 77, 117. ( 10 ) EnquOte, Friesland, 680-8. i 11 ) EnquOte, ’s Gravenhage, 1050-96. ( ,2 ) EnquOte, Amsterdam, 6646. D 2 28 Proflt- ■h&ring. It will be seen from these instances that co-operative production has not up to the present assumed a position of any importance. The bakeries are all more or less under socialist influence, and the Leeuwarden printing establishment, which has proved undeniably successful, probably owes its prosperity in a large degree to the preponderating influence allowed to capitalists. Co-operation has succeeded better where it has confined its efforts to retail distribution. In 1886 the number of these associations was stated as 33, and co-operative shops are now to be found at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Haarlem, Leiden, and many other towns and villages. The most important among distributive societies, that, namely, known as the Eigen Hulp, was founded at the Hague in 1887 with the object of supplying the working classes with the necessaries of life at very moderate prices. It has, however, lately developed into what is practically a joint stock supply association, with branches in all the large towns and drawing its customers chiefly from the upper classes. The “ Social Interest Society ” was formed to counteract the aristocratic tendencies of the Eigen Hulp. (‘) The rise of co-operation in Haarlem is attributed to the discussions which took place among working men during the congress of the Internationale at the Hague in 1872. The employes of the Holland Railway (Jo. at Haarlem soon saw that the projects of the socialists were somewhat visionary, and as a step towards more practical results they formed an association for the purchase of coal, potatoes, rice, &c. on co-operative principles. The numerous building societies which now exist in Haarlem are the result of this beginning. ( 2 ) A co-operative shop at Veenendaal is stated to be now working well in spite of the opposition which it met with on its first establishment from private shopkeepers. ( :l ) The Verbruiks-Vereeniging of Rotterdam was founded in 1874. Every member must hold a share of the value of 25 fl. The accounts are made up quarterly, and the net profits divided among the members in proportion to the value of their purchases. ( 4 ) A prosperous society under the name of Helpt Uzelven exists at Zaandam ; it has two shops and a bakery and also provides fuel for winter use. The Co-operative Association of Leiden, which was founded some four years ago, has not yet enrolled more than 136 members, owing to the hostility of the pvAate shopkeepers. This cause, combined with the improvidence of working women, who prefer to buy inferior articles at a higher price provided that long credit is allowed, explains the small degree of success which has attended co-operative ventures. ( 5 ) It will be observed that all these societies are strictly local and that no central organisation exists. The principal employers who have established co-opera- tive shops for their workmen are Mr. van Marken at Delft, Messrs. Stork at Hengelo, and Messrs. Scholten at Almelo. The goods supplied by the co-operative shop at Almelo are stated to be of a superior quality and no dearer than those sold elsewhere, whilst members have the further benefit of a bonus of some f) or 10 per cent. ( fi ) In a model factory mentioned by the inspector of the first district the workmen have established a co-operative shop with the approval of the employer for providing themselves with coals and flour. ( 7 ) Profit-sharing is at present confined to a few firms, but where it has been introduced it has been found most efficacious in giving the workmen an interest in their work and in increasing the profits both of employers and employed. Messrs. Stork of Hengelo and Mr. van Marken of Defft have led the way here as in other institutions for the benefit of the working classes. All the employed at Messrs. Stork’s factory are admitted to a share in the profits of the concern, but they do not receive their share in money ; the greater part is set aside to augment the superannuation fund and savings bank, the rest is devoted to some of the many institutions existing at the factory for the benefit of the employed. ( 8 ) Mr. van Marken introduced piecework wages with a bonus for extra work as long ago as 1874, and in 1878 he adopted the profit-sharing system in order to give his men a still closer interest in the prosperity of his business. The regulations approved by the Kern in a general meeting held in 1881 give the following provisions as to profit- sharing. Of the entire net profits for any one year not (* *) "Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” p. 119. (*) Knqufite, Haarlem, 2379. ( 3 ) Enqufcte, ’s Gravenhage, 2675-94. ( >) Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” p. 118. ( 5 ) Knqufite, De Zaankant, 223, 2666, 2669-70, 2709. Leiden, 6273-4. 0280, 4891. ( e ) Enqufite, T wen the, 5007-8, 5655-65, 5834-43. ( 7 ) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1890 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), pp. 80-2. (») “ Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” pp, 130-7. more than one quarter can be expended on institutions for the benefit of the staff in general. The remaining three- quarters are to be divided amongst all the members of the staff in proportion to the wages which they have earned during that year. ( 9 ) A master-baker at Haarlem, who has introduced the system of profit-sharing into his bakeries states that it has greatly increased his profits and makes supervision on his part unnecessary. The system was at first confined to the managers and was then extended to the men ; the employer now receives 42^ per cent., the managers 42| per cent., and the men 15 per cent, of the profits. ( 10 ) B. — Friendly Societies, Pension Funds and Savings Banks. The friendly societies of Holland belong to an earlier date than its trades unions. They include some 433 sick, burial and life insurance societies ; and funds for the same purposes are also established by private speculators or speculative companies. The management of these speculative funds seems in many cases most unsatisfactory ; the director looks upon the capital of the society as his own property, and in case of bankruptcy the members have no claim upon the assets. The genuine benefit societies, which will now be consi- dered, are not open to these objections. ( u ) An important society which has branches all over the kingdom, but which is not exclusively confined to the working classes is the General Benevolent Society ( tot Nut van V Algemeen), which was founded at Edam in 1784. The central body consists of 12 members, elected by the annual meeting ; the local branches generally possess sick and burial funds. The General Sick Fund ( Algemeen Ziekenfonds), the headquarters of which are at Amsterdam, has 64,000 members in its sick fund division, and 5,708 members in its burial fund. A branch of the Ancient Order of Foresters is to be found at Amsterdam, which gives sick, burial, and widow and orphan benefits. Another popular form of sick insurance is the medicine club, which provides its members with free medicine and medical assistance. These privileges, however, seem liable to abuse, as the club doctors complain that their patients send for them for very trilling ailments. The older burial societies, which date from the 16th and 17th centuries, have very simple constitutions, the only obligation of the members being to follow their dead com- rades to the grave and “to show the last honours to the departed.” The Guild of S. George at Tilburg, originally an archers’ guild, which received the confirmation of its privileges in 1590, is a society of this kind. Similar obligations are binding on members of the guild of S. Sebastien (Tilburg 1652), who also make a levy of 5 fl. each on the death of a member. Many of these associa- tions are still to be found, especially in Friesland, but in other parts of the country they are gradually giving place to the more modern form of the burial fund, in which members can insure the payment of a certain sum at death. ( 12 ) In some districts burial funds are more or less directly connected with the poor law guardians. The Friesland General Burial Fund ( Algemeen Friesche Begrafenisfonds) is under the supervision of the burgomaster and magistrate who appoint accountants to examine its books every two months. The benefit paid by this society varies according to the age of the member and the class of funeral required. A contribution of 1 cent, a week by a person of 45 years of age secures a payment at death of 25 fl. In October 1881 this society had 6,863 members and during the 40 years of its existence had accumulated a reserve fund of 46,000 fl. A burial fund at Ijsselmonde, in which the burgomaster and magistrate are members of the council, has worked so effectually that since its establishment hardly anyone has been buried at the expense of the parish. ( l:! ) The number of sick funds in connexion with individual industrial enterprises is comparatively small ; this may be accounted for by the fact that a large number of workmen belong to the local branches of the Maatscliappij tot Nut van ’t Algemeen or depend upon the sick funds of their trades union. The inspector of the first district states, nevertheless, that most undertakings of any importance, ( 9 ) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1891 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), pp. 385-6. ( lu ) Knqufite, Haarlem, 7072-91. (U) Congrfis International des Accidents du Travail. Berne, 1891, pp. 425-9. (> s ) Eondsen-Enqufite, Verslag, p, 51. (M) lb., p, 05-8, 29 have sick funds, the beetroot sugar factories and the brickfields, where the men are only engaged for a part of the year, forming the only exceptions. (’) In the second inspectoral district only 41 of the factories visited in 1890 had sick funds. In 21, however, of the factories visited the full wage was paid to men absent through illness, in 8 sick workmen received half their regular wage, and in 36 the employers granted aid in proportion to the requirements of the family. In 1891 the number of em- ployers, who paid either the whole or part of the usual wage, had risen to 105. ( 2 ) The inspector of the third district mentions 50 factory sick funds and 19 other sick funds sup- ported and managed by the workmen alone. Thirty-five em- ployers in this district pay either the whole or part of their usual wages to workpeople absent through illness, and the firm of Van Houten and Son at Weesp gives full wages to married, and half wages to unmarried workmen in addition to free medical assistance for themselves and their families. ( 3 ) The sick fund for the employes of Messrs. Regout & Co., porcelain manufacturers, of Maastricht, includes some 1,400 members. The receipts of the fund for 1891 amounted to 25,164 fl., of which 14,418 fl. were contributed by the firm. The fund acts practically as a pension fund, as continued relief is given to all incapacitated members without regard to time. Thus in 1892 there were 58 persons between the ages of 60 and 70, and 19 persons over 70 in receipt of relief, and for whom light work was also provided.! 4 ) The sum total annually subscribed to burial funds by the working classes is upwards of four million florins, of which only 50 per cent, is returned to them in benefits. The conclusion to be drawn from these facts seems to be that the contributions are in most cases too high. The life insurance expert employed by the Ministry of the Interior stated, however, that a high rate of contribution was safer than a low rate, and that the great objection to burial funds was not that their contributions were too high or the benefits too small, but that their reserve funds were too low, and that the benefit given gratis to parents on the death of uninsured children led them to neglect their chil- dren. One fund was mentioned which had only 1 fl. per member in the reserve fund, and another society of 50 years’ standing which had scarcely 4 fl. per member in reserve. Burial funds, sick and medicine funds are not included under the Itoyal Decree of 1833 which regulates life in- surance societies.! 5 ). Both burial and life insurance funds, when strictly local and founded on principles of mutual liability are, according to the common consent of the witnesses examined, in a solvent condition, and of the greatest value to the working classes. Very few funds have become bankrupt of late years, and the complaints made as to their insecurity were, with one exception, mere vague reports or charges without foundation. The single case of bankruptcy which was proved concerned a bogus company and not a genuine society.! 6 ) The benefit given by some burial societies on the death of children, whose parents are members of the society though the child is not insured, is stated by some witnesses to tend towards the increase of infant mortality. This charge, however, is also refuted by a number of witnesses, and the only witness who gave any evidence on anyel- mnking (baby-farming) was unable to adduce definite facts.( 7 ) The principal societies for insurance against accidents are the First Netherlands ( Eerste Nederlandsche Maat- schappij op het Leven en regen Invaliditeit en Ongevallen), the Utrecht Life Insurance Society, the Mutual Insurance Society of the Amsterdam Building Society f A maters Bouw- kring ) and three new societies which have been founded since the Labour Commission began its investigations. Two foreign societies, Die Winterthur and the Royale Beige, have also enrolled members in Holland. ( s ) Workmen, whose illness is caused by injuries incurred during work, are very frequently supported by their em- ployers. From the Labour Inspectors’ Reports for 1890, it appears that in the second inspectoral district, out of the 413 factories and workshops visited, there were 40 in which injured workmen received the full amount of their wages and 100 in which the employers granted relief according to the necessities of the family in question. In 15 factories the employer had insured his workmen against accidents, 0) Verslagen van do Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1890 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), 109-110. ( 2 ) lb., p. 2311. ( 3 ) lb., pp. .'110-1. ( 4 ) Enquftte, l e Arbeids Inspectie (vcivolg) (First Inspectoral Dis- trict (continued)), 5814, 5871!. ( s ) Fond son- EnquCte, 11,511! 7,11,529-34. ('■•) Fondsen-Enqufcte, verslag, p. 72. 0) Foudsen-Enqufite, versing, p, 88, (*) lb,, p, 90, and in six, surgical appliances were kept in readiness on the premises. ( !l ) The report for the following year states that though employers, in general, have a growing sense of the moral obligation which rests upon them with regard to the men injured in th6ir service, many continue to disregard it. This is especially true of the building trades.!" 1 ) Pension funds are as yet a novelty in Holland ; they are few in number and owe their existence for the most part to the initiative of employers. The working classes them- selves are either ignorant of the advantages which pension funds provide, or the subscription to a sick fund is all that they are able to spare from their small wages. In some cases the indifference with which pension funds are re- garded is the fault of the pension societies themselves, whose premiums are too high, and their advantages too uncertain to be of service to the classes they seek to benefit. Workmen, especially in the more unhealthy trades, feel that it is useless for them to waste money on a pension which they cannot claim till they are 60 years of age. The opinion that pensions are a matter to be left to employers or to the State is also very general. In spite of this, how- ever, the desire to secure some provision for old age is becoming more and more general, and workmen’s pension societies have been founded to meet the demand. The Netherlands Pension Association for Workmen (Nederlandsche Pensioen Vereeniging voor Werklieden) which received State recognition in 1883, has now 24 branches, and up to 1388 had issued 1,468 policies.! 11 ) To this society is affiliated a funeral benefit and pension fund for the working classes of Wageningen. This society was founded in 1891 through the efforts of the local branch of the Maatschappij tot nut van t'Algemeen, but very few in- surances were effected by working people, and even these were for funeral benefits, not for pensions. Another union for promoting pension insurance was then formed which undertakes to assist workmen when the payment of the pension premium is beyond their means. From the first annual report, it appears that out of the 16 persons who had effected insurances, five had required the assist- ance of the society, three had paid the premium without any help, and in the other cases the employers had raised wages in order to meet the extra expenditure. By January 1, 1892, 241 insurances bad been effected, of which 206 were for funeral benefits, six for the payment of a lump sum at the age of 60 or at death, 15 were for pensions alone, and 12 for pensions and funeral benefit. The sum received in premiums in 1891 amounted to 199,826 fl. The age at which a pension is obtainable is 60, both in the Netherlands Association and in the Wageningen branch, but as most of the members at Wageningen are employed in the unhealthy trade of cigar- making, provision has been made that those who die before reaching that age shall be entitled to a funeral benefit. The. yearly premium in this fund is 2 fl. 50 and upwards.! 12 ) A local pension fund exists at Tilburg and another in the district of Wonseradeel. The former is really a sick benefit fund which spends its surplus income in gifts to its aged members. The Wonseradeel fund was established to counteract the discontent resulting from socialist agitation. The desirability of securing the working classes against poverty in old age was manifest, but the premiums required by existing societies were so high as to be prohibitive. This society therefore established a fund for paying two- thirds of the premium, so that workmen who paid the re- maining one-third might be entitled at the age of 60 to a pension of 3 fl. a week. Members are only admitted between the ages of 20 and 40. The premium for persons between 20 and 30 years of age is 10£ cents a week, of which sum they themselves pay only 2 cents. Persons between 30 and 35 pay 13i cents a week, their own con- tribution to this premium being three cents. The premium for members between 35 and 40 years of age rises to 16,| cents a week, towards which they pay 4 cents. The society has now 210 members, only four of whom, however, are assisted in the payment of their premiums ( begunstigde leden). The income of the society is 1,400 fl. Trades unions have hitherto ignored the necessity of providing for their members in old age, or have confined themselves to remitting the contributions of members over 60 years of age. A few unions, such as the Carpenters’ Union of Amsterdam, have gone further than tbis, and grant old age benefits “ when the funds of the Union are “ in a condition to allow of extra expenditure.” The sum ('■’) Verslagen van tie Inspecteurs van lira Arbeid over 1890 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), p. 235 EnquCte, 1st Arbeids-Inspectie, 1889. ( 10 ) Labour Inspectors’ Reports for 1891, p. 331. ( 11 ) Fondsen-EnquCte, verslag, p. ill, and “ Conditions du Travail daps les Pays lias,” pp. 131 2. Enquftte, Nijmegen, 382-9. ( 1J ) Fondseh-Enqtifete, 16,765-815 and Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Vrbeid over lsqi (Labour Tnspqetors’ Reports), pp, 256-7. D 3 Pension funds. allotted is in most cases very small, ranging from 50 cents to 4 fl. per week. The Dordrecht Painters’ Union fixes its superannuation benefit at 2 fl. 50 a week or 130 fl. in the year, and the same 3um is allowed by the Rotterdam Carpenters’ Union to members over 50 if they have been members of the Union for 15 years (*) The Dordrecht branch of the General Typographical Association gives a pension of 2 fl. 50 per week to members over 70 “ when the condition of the funds permits. ”( 2 ) The tendency to leave the question of provision for old age entirely to employers is at present very general. The director of the National Life Insurance Bank at Rotterdam states that nearly all the pension policies under his manage- ment are taken out by employers, and mostly by large employers. ( 3 ) The Amsterdam branch of the Employers’ Association commenced its operations on the 1st April 1889. The committee of management for each local branch of the union is assisted by a committee consisting of three work- ing men chosen by the workmen of the three largest local establishments. This committee is empowered to attend the meetings of the local branch, to give advice, to propose resolutions, and to examine the accounts of the committee of management at the end of each year.( J ) Among pension societies founded and sustained by employers alone may be mentioned the Netherlands Em- ployers’ Association, which was constituted in the year 1888. The associated employers aim at providing a pension of at least 3 fl. a week after their sixtieth year for every workman now or hereafter to be employed by a contribution on the part of the employers of at least 15 cents a week per man on the condition that the workmen will insure them- selves in the Netherlands Pension Fund or some other society approved by the employers. The workmen may claim their pension at the age of 50, in which case the amount paid is less than 3 fl., or they may increase the amount by deferring their claim when over 60 years of age. A large number of employers have founded clubs in connexion with their own works to which the workmen pay a small weekly subscription. These institutions, though undoubtedly fruitful in good results, have laid themselves open to certain objections. One of these is that, depending as they do upon the solvency of a par- ticular firm, they are necessarily wanting in stability and cannot guarantee the performance of their promises with absolute certainty. Another objection is that very few of them calculate their benefits on a strictly scientific basis, the premiums are fixed too low and a deficit in the fund is the natural consequence. ( 5 ) One of the most important and prosperous of these factory funds is the Enschede and Lonneker Rick Fund founded in 1867 by the textile manufacturers of the dis- trict. The fund is managed by a director, a committee of five employers, and 12 workpeople, who are elected by their fellow workmen, and is supported by the contri- butions of the workpeople, the subscriptions of the em- ployers, and by the money collected as fines. In 1882 a pension fund was added to the sick fund ; part of the necessary capital was provided by a donation from an employer of 25,000 fl., and the rest is collected in small weekly sums from the workpeople. Pensions are given to all members over 70 years of age, but the management has the right to grant them to persons over 60 if their health renders it desirable. 'I he sick fund is popular among the workpeople, but the subscription to the pension fund was regarded as a burden by many witnesses. ( fi ) An already existing pension fund at Oldenzaal (Twenthe) has been recently enriched by a donation from the em- ployer of 30,000 fl. Members of this fund are entitled to a pension of 1 fl. 50 per week when over 60 years of age, 2 fl. at the age of 65, 2 fl. 50 at 70, and 3 fl. on reaching the age of 75. The number of persons now in receipt of pensions is 38, and the maximum number allowed by the firm is 50.( 7 ) At a factory at Almelo, the employed are obliged to leave 5 per cent, of their wages untouched as a contribu- tion to the pension fund, and on the amount thus accu- mulated they receive 4 per cent, interest. The contribu- tions of the firm are kept separate, and if a man leaves before the age at winch he is entitle ! to a pension (60) he ( * 1 ) Fondsen-EnquOte, 12,462-9,13,264-309. ( 2 ) lb., verslag, pp. 43-4. (’) lb., 16,538. (>) “ Conditions du Travail dans les Pays-Bas,” pp. 132-3. i 5 ) /&., pp. 130-1. («) EnquOte, Twenthe, 163-71, 242-3, 641-5, 682-5, 829-33, 1443-62, 2687, 3493. (’) lb., 4539-45. receives back his own contributions, but forfeits his claim to those of the employer. No pension has as yet been granted by this fund, but on the death of a member the amount standing to his credit has been frequently trans- ferred to his next-of-kin. ( 8 ) A similar fund exists at Hengelo in which membership is confined to males over 16 and under 30 years of age.( 9 ) The firm of W. E. J. Tjeenk Willink, printers and bookbinders, of Zwolle, have a provident fund supported by the contributions of employers and employed, which grants support to members over 60 years of age.( 10 ) The inspector of the third district found only five pension funds in the 423 factories which he visited in the year 1890; in 1891 this number had increased to eight, excluding undertakings carrieil on by the Government or by local authorities. According to the law of 18th July 1890 all permanent employes in the service of the State are entitled to a pension when they reach their 60th year, provided that they have been 20 years in government employment. The pension is reckoned at the rate of ^ dth. of the usual wages for each year’s service up to 40 years. No account is taken of service beyond 40 years. Local authorities are now in many cases following the example of the Govern- ment. The North and South Holland Steam Tramway Com- pany gives pensions to workmen over 60 years of age without requiring them to pay any part of the pre- miums. ( u ) The above-mentioned association for promoting the interests of the workmen employed in the engine factory of Messrs. Stork & Co. at Hengelo undertakes the fol- lowing objects : — Provision for the sick, for burial ex- penses, for the old and infirm, for widows and orphans, and for the maintenance of a library which supplies books to members gratis. All persons employed in the factory are members of the association, and from their ranks a certain number are elected to form “ the kern,” a committee through which the company maintains a good understanding with all the employes. The income of the association consists of — (1.) Payments by all members of 5^ per cent, of their full weekly wage. (2.) The annual contributions of the firm. (3.) Donations. All members receive sick pay amounting to half or four-fifths of their usual weekly wages for a period of three months, besides free medical assistance. On the death of a member bis nearest relations receive 50 fl. for the expenses of his funeral. Pensions are granted to members, or old members, who are incapacitated from performing their usual work, or who have reached the age of 60 and have ceased to work.( 12 ) The pension fund connected with the factory of Mr. van Marken at Delft provides pensions for all the per- manent employes of the firm when they reach the age of 60. Workmen who leave or are dismissed retain their right to a pension unless the directors with the advice of the kern ” decide to the contiary. The contributions of the firm to the pension fund amounted, in 1890, to 19,000 fl.('s) In the model factory described by the inspector of the first district, the employer contributes at least 15 cents a week towards the pension premium of all his workpeople, who are insured for a pension of not less than 3 fl. a week at the age of 60. The money and valuables belonging to the fund are taken care of by the factory, which gives an annual report as to their management and condition. In 1890, 44 persons were insured, one of whom was a single woman ( u ) The diamond polishers employed by the firm of M. E. Coster, of Amsterdam, receive pensions in case of in- capacity and old age. The pensions are limited to work- men who have been five years in the service of the firm, and vary from 2 fl. 50 to 4 fl. a week according to the size of the family. During the last five years 4,300 fl. have been paid in pensions and other forms of relief. The fund was oiiginally formed out of the money received from the workpeople for the hire of diamond mills, but in July 1890 the capital was handed over to the employed, and the fund placed under their management under the con- ( 8 ) lb., 6788-92, 6820-21. ( 9 ) lb., 11,353-5, 11,382-8, 11,455-63. ( 10 ) EnquOte, Zwolle, Deventer, Kampen, 426. (a) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van denlArbeid over 1891 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), pp. 331-3. ( I2 ) Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1890 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), pp. 242-52. («) lb„ pp. 346-7. ( M ) lb., pp. 81-2. 81 Savings banks. (a.) Labour registries. dition that they would pay a yearly contribution towards its maintenance. The number of members is not large, thopgh the workmen acknowledge the usefulness of the fund. Mr. W. A. Scholten, of Groningen, founded a pension fund for all his workmen on the occasion of his jubilee as a manufacturer. The men are not called upon to contri- bute to this fund, and are entitled to a pension at the age of 65, or sooner if disabled by accidents incurred during work.(') Savings banks, like sick and pension funds, are fre- quently connected with particular factories where they are generally maintained by the assistance of the firm as well as by the contributions of the employes. Savings banks ( spaorkassen ) of this kind exist at Hengelo and Oldenzaal; the workpeople have no share in the management of the funds, and the employers are responsible for their solvency. Messrs. Stork & Co. have instituted a savings bank (spaarlcas), which includes some 200 members, and has a total deposit of 20,000 fl. ; the rate of interest allowed is 5 per cent.f) Credit banks ( hulpbanken ) are intended to advance small sums to working men at the low rate of 2\ per cent, interest. In 188b, 51 banks of this kind existed which had advanced altogether 868,000 fl.( 3 ) Savings banks are, however, more used by the lower middle class than by working men, as their low earnings do not as a rule allow much scope for saving. C. — Provision for tiif. Unemployed. Allusion has already been made to the large number of men who are unable to find work at Rotfirdim. It is also stated that in certain trades at Amsterdam the proportion of unemployed increases year by year.C) Measures to prevent this increase, so far as it can be prevented by bringing employers into contact with those who are seeking work, have been taken by some o: the unions of the capital. The labour registry of the Roman Catholic People’s Union has already been mentioned ; another registry ( arheidsbeurs ) was started in 1887 by the Maatschappij voor den Werkenden Stand. According to the rules of this registry workmen applicants pay an entrance fee of '2\ cents, and 10 cents in addition on being given the address of an employer. An applicant who is unable to obtain a situation has nine cents of this fee returned to him. Employers pay a fee of 25 cents. During the first 16 months of its existence 686 persons found situations through the agency of the registry. ( 5 ) It is, however, stated that its usefulness is greatly diminished by the fact that the employer receives no information about the character or capability of the man he engages. ( 6 ) The chief object of the confectioners’ union at Amsterdam is to supply information regarding work to its travelling members. This society supplies information free of charge both to employers and employed. (') In rural districts and provincial towns Uek of work is chiefly confined to the winter months. The reservekas,a fund for providing work for peat labourers in winter, has already been mentioned. A society for providing work exists at Hilversum, which employs men during the winter in reclaiming heath land and in mat making. In the winter of 18.90-1, it found daily employment for 100 men at a wage of from 70 to 80 cents, a day. Local boards have often no more regular work to offer to the unemployed than the clearing away of snow in winter. Some districts, however, provide employment in mat and basket making, chopping firewood, and other occupations requiring little skill. ( 8 ) At Krommenie (N. Holland), a society for providing work is maintained partly by the local board and partly by private enterprise. Applicants for work are employed in making towelling ( dweildoek ), sacks, firelighters and any other commodity which does not compete with ■ he manu- factures of the district. Food is supplied to the applicants and their families. Women are satisfied with the working of the institution, but the men complain that their earnings are too small ( 9 ). The above institutions, all on a small scale, are mostly of recent date, but the oldest and most (* *) Verslaj? van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1890 (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), p. 288, 347. (*) EnquOte, Twenthe, 4549-55, 4781, 10,284-42, 10,667-72, 11,054, 11,101, 11,252-5. ( 3 ) ‘Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” pp. 134-5. ()) Enqufite, Amsterdam, 224. , .y) “Bijdragetot do Leer van het Arbeidsloon,”Ph. Falkeiibure (Con- tributions to the study of the Wages Question), p. 250. ( 6 ) EnquOte, Amsterdam, 179, 3883-9, 4110. ( 7 ) Unquote, ’s Gravenhage, 3078-86. ( 8 ) Unquote, Zwolle, Deventer, Kampen, 1299. ( 9 ) EnquOte, Do Zaankant (Valley of the Zaan), 6141-6. compreh Ti ;ive endeavour to deal with the question of the unemployed and of pauperism generally is that known as the Labour Colonies. The Dutch Labour Colonies were founded in 1818 by the Maatschappij van Weldadighed (Beneficent Society), with the object of preventing pauperism by providing agricultural employment for the able-bodied poor. The originator of the scheme was General van den Bosch, and through his exertions a permanent Kommissie der Weldadighed was formed under the presidency of Prince Frederick. The Society was composed of a number of districts all over the country, each entitled to have in the colonies as many households as it had subscribed sums of 1,700 A- The first colony called Frederiksoord, after the president, was estab- lished on the heath land near Steenwijk and before the end of 1821 two more colonies were added, Willemsoord and Wilhelminasoord. The first colonists comprised families, boarders, and orphans. The families consisted either of labourers or free farmers, and were employed in agriculture, forestry, and in industrial pursuits as far as these were necessary to supply the wants of the colony. The principle of the society was to set before each new colonist the pros- pect of becoming the absolute master of the lands occupied by him. In order to achieve this he had first to pay off his debts to the society for his house, land, and stock, and then to support himself by his own labour. As soon as the first four Free Colonies were fairly established the Society turned its attention to the foundation of beggar colonies. “ By the law of Holland begging is an offence punishable “ by imprisonment, and it was resolved that able-bodied “ poor persons found guilty of mendicancy . . “ should be permitted, instead of beeng imprisoned, to “ commute the sentence for residence during a certain “ number of years in the forced or pauper colonies,” where they would enjoy healthy out-door labour, good food, and moral surroundings. ( I0 ) A grant of some 735 hectares at Ommen in Overijssel was made by the Government, and a second and larger estate was bought near Assen in Drenthe. Besides paupers, veteran soldiers, orphans, and foundlings were admitted, and in 1827 the population of the two colonies, Ommerschans and Veenhuizcn, numbered 4,518 souls. The lands of these colonies were divided into farms of about 80 acres, to each of which were attached 40 or 50 colonists. Each colonist was provided with a book in which was entered the work done each day, and if his earnings exceeded the cost of his maintenance, the two-thirds of the surplus was credited to him, and the remaining third retained to meet the contin- gent expenses of the colony. A first-timer, having behaved weU and earned 25 fl. above the cost of his maintenance, was entitled to his discharge after one year. A second-timer could not be discharged before at least two years, whilst a third-timer was obliged to stay three years. Up to 1829 the Society prospered fairly well, but from that time forwards its difficulties increased until they cul- minated in the liquidation of 1859. Bad harvests and the absence of General van den Bosch in India were partly responsible for these misfortunes, but the more serious difficulties were incident to the very nature of the under- taking. The inhabitants both of the free and beggar colonies were characterised by a general absence of economical and industrious habits ; their maintenance was secured to them, and therefore it was found that about 15 colonists were required to do the work of one good day labourer. As many of the colonists were entirely ignorant of agricultural labour, several industrial enterprises were started, but though the manufactures appeared to flourish, if the products had been sold in the open market the result would have been a loss instead of a gain. The accounts of the colonies were also kept in a most unsatisfactorymanner.no general ledger existed nor any balance sheet of the affairs of the Society as a whole. The result of these various evils was th at in 1859 the Society was burdened with a debt of 7,250,000 fl. and entirely new arrangements became inevi- table. According to the terms of the reconstitution, the Government took over the Beggar Colonies and at the same time relieved the Society of a great part of its debt. The Society, thus delivered from the least self-supporting of its institutions, was free to devote itself to the im- provement of the Free Colonies. The principal changes then made are as follows : — (1.) The farming operations, which had been badly managed, were reorganised ; six large model farms are now in existence on which the work is stated to be good. (2.) The principal non-farming work was formerly weaving, which was carried on at a loss for the Government. This ("') '■ ; . 'eumt Pauper Colonies in Holland," 1853. M'Neill. D 4 (S.) Horne labour colonies. 32 has been discontinued and better manufactures substituted. (3.) 400 hectares of fir and oak plantations have been added to the forestry department. (4.) Colonists are allowed to keep all they earn and ordinary coinage has been substituted for token money. (5.) Piece-work has taken the place of time work. Great care is now taken in the selection of cases, families are preferred to single indivi- duals, and no person is admitted unless he has some knowledge of agricultural work or is acquainted with a trade. On his first arrival the head of a family is employed as a labourer, and paid the market rate of wages ; he is also pro- vided with a house and garden, clothes, tools, and furniture, and after from two to five years may become a free farmer. He is then provided with a farm, i.e., about 7$ acres of land, a cow, with fodder for the first five months, and a supply of potatoes, seed and manure. For this he pays from 31. to 6Z. a year as rent, about 12s. 6d. for the pur- chase hire of his cow, and other small sums to the medical fund and for the insurance of furniture. Industrial occupation is afforded in the forge, the carpenter’s shop, and in factories where brooms, sacks, mats and all kinds of wicker-work are made. No steam power is used. Education is compulsory and is very thorough and efficient ; the majority of the children go out as domestic servants or become basket-makers. The number of children placed out in the ten years between 1878 and 1888 was 253. As the Society receives and spends large sums every year beyond the amount of its earnings, it cannot he considered successful from a financial point of view. Even the free farmers are not altogether self-supporting ; this may be gathered from the fact that up to 1887 they had never been able to pay the full amount of their rent, nor had they laid by any savings. This state of things is however no worse, it is said, than that of many an estate under an indulgent landlord, and the social results maybe found to compensate for the lack of financial success. Judged by the standard of social improvement, the results are certainly more satisfactory. The colonists, when once accepted, are never discharged, the aged and infirm are pensioned, and the able-bodied become industrious con- tented men. The colonies are reported to be in good order, “ there are no signs of slovenly work, and the general “ aspect of the place is that of a district cultivated and “ inhabited by well-to-do small farmers.” One great disadvantage, however, resulting from the permanent nature of the colony, is that scarcely half-a- dozen new families can be admitted each year. The expediency of keeping up this great institution in order to benefit six fresh families a year seems doubtful, especially when we find that even this small number are not always admitted. Various causes contribute to this : in the first place, those who would make the best colonists cannot get rid of the idea that there is some disgrace attached to entering the colony ; again tow nsmen, who are the class most in need of help, are generally unsuited to agricultural work. The districts also do not work as zealously as they might in sending up proper cases ; the district of the Hague, which has the right to nominate to 35 farms, had in 1888 only filled 28 of them. If this state of things con- tinues the colonies will become extinct merely for lack of candidates. The results obtained by the Beggar Colonies are even less satisfactory ; between 3,000 and 4,000 persons are now maintained in these institutions, but so far from being self-supporting the balance which remained to be paid in 1886 by the Department of Justice amounted to 386,00011. As to the social results it is true that a beggar is a rare sight in Holland, but it cannot be said that this is due to the deterrent influence exercised by the Beggar Colonies. On the contrary, paupers have no dread of the place, nor is there any reason why they should dislike it. “The work exacted “ is not hard and it is paid for, the food is sufficient, the “ clothing warm and comfortable, and little or no restriction “ is placed upon social intercourse. This regime cannot in- “ spire fear nor does it exercise any reforming influence.” The Assistant-Director states that the persons discharged after periods varying from six months to three years are no better when they leave than on their arrival, and many of them return to the colony over and over again. (*) private, and sectarian, are to be found everywhere, in which the cost of education is very low — some 25 cents a month — and free schools exist for the children of the very poor. In 1887, 1,088 infant schools (beu acirscholen) existed with 1 10,076 pupils ; these schools, when properly managed, are stated to afford a valuable preparation for the elementary schools ( 2 ) The system of elementary education is so arranged that children should be able to pass through the highest class before they reach the age of 12. Many children, however, fail to do so, either because they attend irregularly, or leave school too soon. The following instances show that when children are absent from school they are generally at work contrary to the law. The Veendam branch of the association,” Volksonderwijs ” l Popular. Education) states that in August, September, and October, 1889 (harvest time), more than 50 per cent, of the children who ought to have been at school were absent. A school inspector at Winschoten found that the average number of absentees during the potato season, i.e., Sep- tember and October, of 1889 varied from 32 to 56 per cent. The potato harvest affords work for whole families whose joint earnings from this source amount to a considerable sum, and would be greatly diminished by any measure which prohibited children from assisting their parents at this season. ( :i ) In some districts local orders exist to prevent children under 12 from beginning work, and where these regula- tions are absent school attendance is in general unsatis- factory. At Groningen, for instance, only 12 per cent, of the children who leave school have passed through the highest class. At Foxhol (Groningen) the inspector states that he observed children leaving school before the lesson was over to carry dinner to their fathers in the factory. ( 4 ) Neglect of school is more noticeable in the agricultural districts of the north than elsewhere, but several cases occurred in which the factory workers in the district of Nijmegen could not sign the evidence which they gave before the Labour Commission, and some of them declared their inability even to read. These were all young persons between the ages of 16 and 25, ( 5 ) Tilburg presents a favouiable exception in the matter of education, as well as in other respects. It is stated that the Van Houten law of 1874 was unnecessary in Tilburg, as, thanks to the efforts of Monseigneur Swijzen, formerly a priest in the town, children under 12 had already been ex- cluded from the factories. The Catholic clergy make it a rule not to receive children to their first Communion un- less they can read and write, and instruction is given gratis in the parochial schools. The five parish schools are frequented by some 5,000 children, 3,500 of whom receive free instruction, and according to one of the masters, not three of them are habitually absent. He considered that the school attendance in Tilburg was unequalled by that of any other town in Holland. Besides the Catholic schools there are five other schools public (openbure scholen ) with some 660 pupils, 130 of whom receive their education free of charge. (“) Associations have been formed for the special purpose of promoting regular attendance at school by a system of house-to-house visitation, and by giving prizes and treats, but these inducements have hitherto been found inadequate. The very poor are glad of even the few cents a week which a child can earn, or if the children’s earnings are of minor importance, the presence of the elder children is necessary at home to look after the younger ones while the mothers are at work. In view of these circumstances, compulsory education is becoming an urgent question. The point was raised m .1889, during the debate on the labour law, and defeated by 46 votes against 38. A large number of witnesses before the Labour Commission have, however, expressed them- selves in favour of the measure, while they recognise the great difficulties with which such a law would have to Qontend.('). The proposal that children should not be allowed to begin work till the age of 14 years is supported by those who maintain that children are stunted in their physical development as well as deprived of educational oppor- tunities by being sent to work too early.( 8 ) Several a.) El«- lentary D. — Education. Education is not compulsory in Holland, but according to the law of 1889 children are not allowed to begin work below the age of 12 years. Elementary schools, public, (’) “ Dutch Home Labour Colonies,” by Ti. G. Willink. “ Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Pas,” pp. 14(1 50. ‘ Foreign Office Reports, Annual Series, 1892, No. 1127, pp. 16-19. ( 2 ) " Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” pp. 124-5. EnquOte, Friesland, 135-7. ( 3 ) EnquOte, Groniger Veenkolonien, 4188, 4523, and Appendix 1, I c. (■>) EnquOte, Groningen, 124, 187. ( 5 ) Unquote, Nijmegen, 4464-5, 4915, 5014-9. Enquete l c , Arbeids- Inspeetie (vervolg), (First Inspectoral District (continued)), 5315. (») Inquiry of 1SS7. 10.038-40, 10,058-60, 10.240-5, 10,872-3, 1O.S06, 11,154. ( r ) “Conditions du Travail dans les Pays Bas,” p. 125. Enquete, Groninger Veenkolonien, Appendix 10, 1. c. ( s ) Enquete, Leiden, 1250-4. 33 Factory schools. employers, and particularly the woollen manufacturers of Tilburg, state that no objection to such a measure would be raised on their side. They would, indeed, prefer not to employ children under 14, as they are seldom strong enough for their work, or sufficiently steady to make their labour of any value ; (* *) on the other hand, it is urged that the greater part of the occupations in which young children are now engaged are neither la- borious nor injurious to health, and that, therefore, it would be unjust to deprive parents of the earnings of their children just when they are most needed. Again, it is maintained that if children were prevented from working they would not necessarily be kept at school, and that probably the two years between leaving school and be- ginning work would be spent in idleness. Employers in many cases oppose the raising of the age on the ground that children who begin work at 14 years of age would never acquire the necessary skill and deftness. ( 2 ) The factory schools supported by the associated em- ployers in the district of Twenthe have had a most bene- ficial effect upon education. Attendance at these schools is obligatory upon all the young persons employed, and the necessity of passing the entrance examination acts with the same force as legal compulsion. The factory schools at Enschede are divided into five classes, and the hours of attendance are from 7 a.m. till 3 p.m. daily. Children in the lowest classes are obliged to receive five lessons of two hours each every week ; in the higher classes the number of lessons gradually decreases until in the highest class only two lessons of two hours each are required. The course includes reading, writing, and arithmetic, with occasional lessons in history and geography, and in needlework for the girls. The school has 750 pupils, and is maintained at an annual cost of 7 500 fl. to 8,000 fl. A library is attached to it vvhich is much appreciated by the children, but some complaints are made as to the injudicious choice of books. More advanced pupils can continue their education in the factory night school, where a course of instruction extend- ing over three years is given. The principal subjects taught are arithmetic and drawing. Employers extend the same care to the religious irstruction of their employes, and furnish the clergy with lists of all the young persons in their employment. ( 3 ) The witnesses were divided in their opinion as to the working of these schools. Some wished to see the atten- dance ma le optional, or, at any rate, only compulsory on those who attended no other school. The absence of the children during factory hours causes some loss and incon- venience to the weavers, who therefore suggested that the age for beginning work should be raised to 14. Up to that age it is proposed that children should be obliged to attend the ordinary elementary schools, and afterwards be free from all educational obligations. Employers, on the other hand, maintain that unless work is begun at an early age, children cannot acquire the necessary speed and deftness. Some witnesses alleged as a further objection to the system, that occasion was given for impropriety by the mingling of young persons of both sexes up to the age of 17 both at school and on their way home.(^) At Hengelo each factory has its own school at which attendance is compulsory, and no children are admitted to the factories unless they have passed the factory examination, the stan- dard of which is so high that children are obliged to attend school regularly up to their 13th year in order to pass it. Girls are also required to prove that they possess a satisfactory knowledge of needlework.( s ) At Oldenzaal one firm makes the passing of a factory examination and subsequent attendance at the night school the condition of employment. Another firm requires the girls in their em- ployment to receive instruction in needlework until they reach their 18th year ; this teaching is given by the Fianciscan nuns. The attendance at the elementary schools in the town is satisfactory, but the country districts show a large proportion of absences. (°) The cotton manufacturers at Winterswijk in North Geluerland have also agreed to make the passing of an examination the condition of employment. At present the standard of the examination is low, but even thus many children fail to pass it, and the employers are obliged to accept them without any qualification. The preference, however, is always given to those who have passed, and in this way the employers hope gradually to raise tne standard of examination and of education in the district generally. A local order, prohibiting the employ- ment ol children under 12 years of age, was passed in October 1891 with a most beneficial effect as regards school attendance. Similar local orders exist at Aalten and at Neede.( 7 ) According to section 16 of the law of 1878 on elementary education every parish ( gemeente ) with a population of more than 10,000 persons is obliged to maintain continua- tion schools, open in the day-time as well as a night school. Of the 36 parishes which fulfilled this condition only five established day schools, and the instruction given in them was found to be so inadequate to the requirements of the people that four schools were given up and only the school at Leeuwarden remains. Night schools prosper better, and in 1884 there were 39 such schools with 3,987 pupils. (In 1890, according to the figures given by M. Legrand, the number of these schools had sunk to 37.) The principal defects in these schools are stated to be the fact that no children are admitted unless they have passed the highest class of the elementary schools, and that the instruction given is too theoretical, 1’he curriculum in most schools comprises the Dutch language, the elements of chemistry qnd physics (natuurkunde ) , book-keeping, drawing, and designing, “ consequently a boy may attend school for two years and “ learn nothing of his trade. ”( 8 ) Both the day and night schools at Leeuwarden ai’e well attended, each having its full number of 50 scholars. The night school is only held in the winter and is open on five days of the week from 6 to 9, and on Saturdays from 6 to 8 p.m. Leeuwarden has also a technical school where carpentry, cabinet-making, dyeing, and smiths’ work are taught. The master of this school stated, in answer to the objection that technical education was too theoretical, that after the school had existed for 10 years he had sent out letters to all the old pupils. From the answers received it appeared that 80 per cent, of the pupils were able to earn their own living in two years after leaving the school, 23 per cent, became independent in the course of a year, and six per cent, were able to maintain themselves at once. About 20 old pupils had settled in Leeuwarden, but the majority had gone to Haarlem and Amsterdam, where wages were higher. ( 9 ) In spite of this it remains true that the Dutch artisan falls behind the French or English workman, both as regards taste and skill, and this is largely to be ascribed to the lack of technical education. The State has hitherto done little to encourage the popular demand for better technical instruction.’ Two exceptions must, however, be mentioned, the State School ot Art and Industry at Amsterdam ( Rijkschoolvoor Kunst- nijverheid) , which was founded by the State, and the Mechanics’ School (Machinistenschool) , to which the State gives a large grant. Private enterprise has been more active, and among the institutions founded by individuals the following are worthy of remark In 1879 Mr. A. Groeneveld, with the asssist- ance of the Society of Popular Instruction (Vereeniging voor Vollcsonderwijs), started a course of lectures for teachers. In 1881 and 1882 similar courses were held at Amster- dam under the auspices of the Maatschappij tot Nut van ’t Algemeen. The same society now gives technical instruc- tion in 1 7 different parishes (gemeente) . The institution founded by Dr. Van Cooth at Breda, in 1885, is described as a model technical school. Boys are admitted between the ages of 12 and 18 and receive the instruction necessary to equip them as smiths, carpenters, cabinet-makers, or dyers. Pile Society for the Promotion of Manual Instruction (' Vereenining tot be/ordering van het Onderwijs in Handen- arbeid), which was one of the earliest technical institutions, held exhibitions at Arnhem in 1885 and at Amsterdam in 1887. ( 10 ) Instances are not wanting of employers who have sought to supply the lack of technical education by an improved system of apprenticeship. The Holland Railway Company introduced a system of apprenticeship into its workshops in 1883, by which, on the payment of 50 fl. as security, boys can be bound for four years and receive full instruction in all branches of their trade. Between 1883 and 1891 133 apprentices passed through this course, which was stated to be an excellent training for boys who meant to i ¥ 18 *7. itWO-S, 10,245, 10,483. * FnquOte, Twenthe, 112-4, 1334, 1923-6. 974-5, 1016-2lf’i032-5 ’ ’ ’ 88 " 6> 336 ~ 6 ’ 49 °- 7 > 551 " 4 ’ 782-5, 922, (<) lb., 490-5, 547, 599-601, 777-82, 825-8, 868-73 ( ) lb., 9869, 10,021-3, 10,307-20 («) /*., 4265-9, 4515-24, 4891-3, 4910-28. U 77240 . 0 £nqu6te, Gelderland, 4439, 4556-01, 4580-8, 4031,4658-9. 4898, 5073 ( ) Bijdrage tot de Leer van het Arbeidsloon,” Ph. Falkenburi (Contributions to the Study of the Wages Question), p 174 ( ,J ) EnquOie, Friesland, 260, 269, 278-9, 272, 285-9. (>“) “Bijdrage tot de Leer van het Arbeidsloon.” Ph. Falkenburi (Contributions to the Study of the Wages Question), pp. 175-9. E Continua- tion schools. ( b .) Tech- nical. 34 remain in the railway service, but not so well adapted for the ordinary artisan. (') In the machine factory of Messrs. Stork & Co., at Hengelo, special attention is given to the training of apprentices. A separate workshop is set apart for them in the foundry, where they work under the direction of a clever foreman who has a pecuniary interest in the work they turn out. In the turning-room, boiler factory , &c., the same attention is paid and the best workmen are selected to teach them.( 2 ) Apprentices are also taken by Mr. C. T. Begeer, silver- smith, of Utrecht. The period of apprenticeship is five years, and every week during this time 25 cents are deducted from the wages of the apprentice; these sums are placed in the savings bank, and returned to the apprentice at the end of his time. Systems of apprenticeship have also been introduced at Mr. Van Marken’s factory at Delft, in the railway workshops at Amsterdam, and at a gun-making establishment at Delft, where boys are under indentures for nine years. ( 3 ) Very various opinions were expressed by the witnesses be- fore the Labour Commission as to the desirability of making apprenticeship compulsory, but the Commission appointed especially to investigate this question reported in favour of legal apprenticeship. This Commission was appointed by the Society for the Promotion of Mechanical and Manual Industries ( Vereeniijing tot bevordering van Fabrielcs-en Handuierks-nijverheid ) and three other Unions including the General Association of Dutch Workmen (Algemeen Nederlandsche Werlcliedenverbond). In August 1889 it addressed its report to the Minister of Justice, in which it recommended that apprentices should be bound by a written contract for a term of years, and that the employer should bind himself to give his apprentice at least 10 hours’ instruction during the week.) 4 ) E. — Workmen’s Dwellings. The general condition of the dwellings occupied by the working classes in Holland is unsatisfactory. The houses are frequently too small, sometimes consisting of only one room, and wanting in light, ventilation, and drainage, even when more serious defects are absent. In the older parts of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the houses of the working classes are situated in narrow back streets and close courts, where high walls keep out both air and snn. Many of these houses are very high ( hemelhoog ) and are inhabited by numbers of different families. They are seldom visited "by the town scavengers ( stadsreiniging ) and the accumulations of rubbish under the windows make the street almost impassable. ( 5 ) A similar state of things prevails at Leiden. In 186/ a commission appointed by the Public Health Association ( Vereeniging voor Volksgezondheid) visited 2,200 dwellings, and out of this number 850 were declared unfit for human habitation. Considerable improvements have since been effected, but the architect to the local board stated that there were still many dwellings which ought to be declared uninhabitable, either on account of their dilapidated con- dition, because they had no water supply, or on the ground that drainage was completely lacking. Dwellings consisting of one room, and inhabited by families of seven or eight persons, cost from 1 fl. to 1 fl. 25 c. a week ; two rooms cost from 2 fl. to 2 fl. 50 c. per week.(°) At Maastricht “ most workmen have only one room, even “ the best have only two or three,” and these dwellings are rented at rates which give the owners of the property 20 to 25 per cent, interest. Cottages in the rural districts are seldom more satisfactory than town dwellings. The villagers of the Groningen fen colonies gave most lamentable accounts of their houses. At Hoogezand the labourer’s cottage generally consists of one room about 13 feet square, and so low that a man cannot stand upright. The window seldom opens, and as the old-fashioned hearth has now in most places given way to stoves, no means of ventilation remains except the door. Drainage is unknown.! 7 ) The average workmen’s dwellings in Tilburg are far superior to those of most large towns. Nearly all possess two or three rooms and a kitchen. Many have a garden, where potatoes can be cultivated, and the houses are so (•) EnquOte, Haarlem, 4247, 6369. ( a ) Unquote, Twenthe, 11,241. ( 3 ) “ Verslagen van delrsprvteiu-s van den Arbeidover 1891,” (Labour Inspectors’ Reports), p. 830. (t) “ Bijdrage tot do Le "r van lint Arbeidsloon,” p. 189. ( 5 ) “Bijdrage tot de l.eer van bet, Arbeidsloon,” Ph. Talkonburg (Contributions to the Study of the M ages Question), pp. 187-8. En- quite, Amsterdam, 203. (“) Enqu0te, Leiden, 860-5, 1054, 1360. p) EnquOte, Groninger Veenkolonien, 66, 329, 376-9. built as to allow a current of air to pass right through them. The large barrack-like houses of other towns are unknown, and in general each family has its own house. Some of the factory hands have laid by enough to buy or build their own houses, and when this is the case, they frequently possess a small piece of land in addition.! 8 ) Houses provided by employers are generally more satis- factory, but cases occur in which they are no better than ordinary dwellings. Some 50 dwellings, built by the firm of Xiestern and Te Velde at Martenshoek, are a case in point. Each dwelling consists of one small room and the water supply is bad; for this the workmen pay 1 fl. a week.( 9 ) In certain industries where the men employed are obliged to live on the spot, the employers are accustomed to provide them with lodging. These dwellings generally consist of one large room which serves as a dormitory by night, and in which the men cook and take their meals during the day. The men engaged in making and repairing the dykes at Sliedrecht in the Hoek of Holland are housed in a hut thatched with reeds, through which rain and snow find a re.idy entrance. The food provided consists of bread, and an evening meal of vegetables with a little bacon ; the cost of board and lodging for the week varies from 3 fl. to 4 fl. 50 c.(' 0 ) The temporary hands engaged during the summer in brickfields and peat mosses are generally housed in shelters provided by the employers. The shelters (feint! Luisen) in brickfields are of the simplest description, but in Groningen and Friesland they are in a fairly sanitary condition.! 11 ) The “ fen tent ” provided by peat owners is a mere shed made of roughly joined wooden planks. The smoke from the peat fire has no other outlet than the holes in the roof and walls, and the straw which serves as bedding is seldom renewed.! 12 ) The permanent hands employed in brickfields are often lodged in houses belonging to their employer ; fore- men receive their houses and fuel gratis, but the other hands pay a small rent. These houses generally consist of one or two rooms. ( 13 ) Journeymen bakers when unmarried are generally lodged and boarded bv their employer, and this practice brings down their actual money wage to some 80 or 100 fl. a year. The accommodation and food pro- vided is said to be good throughout the whole of the second inspectoral district, but cases of a very unsatisfactory nature are reported from Amsterdam and the Hague. ( H ) Girls employed in laundries also receive board and lodging in addition to their wages, but the accommodation provided is often insufficient. The inspector of the second district states in his report for 1890 that he found three beds in a garret where linen was dried by steam, and where work was done by one of the men as late as 12 or 1, the beds not being screened off in any way.( 15 ) Working-class houses are not, however, all of the above unsatisfactory description. The newer suburbs of Amster- dam consist largely of rows of small houses only two storeys high, and each house has a yard or garden. These houses are much appreciated by the working classes of Holland, who, unlike the other nations of the continent, like to have their bouses to themselves. ( lfi ) In the valley of the Zaan the working population live for the most part in wooden houses, which are usually in a satisfactory condition, and have greatly improved of late years. Strict police regulations are in force in this district as to the sanitary condition of dwelling houses, and at Zaandam new houses have to conform to a certain standard as to area, water supply, and sanitary accommodation. The ordinary houses in this district, consisting of two rooms and an attic, with a drying ground attached, cost from 80 c. to 2 fl., or 2 fl. 25 c., according to the size and number of the rooms.! 1 ') The houses in the factory towns of Twenthe are on the whole fairly good. At Enschede the new houses are in good condition, but the older ones are small and frequently out of repair ; at Hengelo the houses are stated to be satis- (8) Inquiry of 1887, 10.205-9. 10,290-1 ,'10,438-41, 10,511-3, 10,546, 10,909- 11 . ( 9 ) EnquOte, Groninger Veenkolonien, 958-65. (*°) EnquOte, ’s Gravenhage, 4900, 5025, 5118, 5137-78. ( u ) EnquOte, Friesland. 2, 1779, 1911, 1945, 2955. Groninger Veenkolonien, 2, 4100-8, 5568-72. (>2) Veenderijen (Peat Mosses), 2, 338, 621, 664, 891, 1087, 1560,2156, 2860, 3069, 3335. 3711, 4244. ( 13 ) Friesland, 1831, 1860-5. Gelderland ben-den Rhine, 2. 2876. ( 14 ) EnquOte, Amsterdam, Appendix B. e: Friesland. 2,746; Deven- ter, Zwolle, Ivampen, 2, 70S ; Groningen, 2, 3522, 3661,3671; Gelderland, 1248. ( 15 ) Gelderland, 1804-6, 2372. Verslagen van den Inspecteurs van den Arbeid over 1890 ( Inspectors’ Reports), p. 232. (' 6 ) “Bijdrage tot de Leer van bet Arbeidsloon.” Ph. Falkenburg (Contributions to the Study of the M’ages Question), p. 1G7. ( W) EnquOte, De Zaankant (The Zaan Valley), 35-45, 263, 555, 1906 2745-7, 2819. factory, except as regards sleeping accommodation, which is too limited. (') The houses built by employers for their permanent bands arc generally of a superior kind. The model dwellings, known as the Agneta Park, belonging to Mr. van Marken, of Delft, are well built and situated in an open space. Messrs. Palthe, of Altnelo (Twenthe) have built a number of houses, each consisting of a living room, kitchen, bedroom, cellar, and attic. These houses are let for 90 c. a week, whilst those occupiers who pay 1 11. 60 c. per week become the owners of their houses in the course of 10| years. (*) The Central Railway (Central Spoorweg) has built 100 dwellings for railway servants, but only 42 are inhabited by railway servants and 25 were standing empty at the time when the railway report of the Labour Commission was drawn up. The men seemed to think that living in the company’s bouses interferes with their liberty, and more- over they dislike the idea of a railway colony.( :l ) Several associations for providing good and cheap dwell- ings for workmen have been formed of late years, some of these are philanthropic, others are genuine co-operative, societies. The first co-operative building society was founded at Amsterdam in 1868, under the title of De Maatschappij tot Verkrijging van eigen tVoningen, and has now 900 members. ( 4 ) P) Enquete, Twfenthe, 205, 635, 9S54. (") “ Bijdrage tot de Leer van het Arbeidsloon,” Pli. Falkenburg (Contributions to the Study of the Wages Question), p. 169. ( 3 ) De Spoorwegen, Verslag, p. 15. ( >) “ Bijdrage tot de Leer van het Arbeidsloon, p. 170. Haarlem possesses several co-operative building societies, of which the oldest is the “ Volharding ” ; then follow the “ Voorzorg,” the “ Vooruit,” the “ kVerkmunsrust,’’ the “ Toekomst,” and lastly, the ‘‘ Tehuis” ; 465 dwellings have been erected by these various unions. (•’’) A co-operative society at Nijmegen, called “ Hulpbetoon,” has lately built good houses for the working classes, who were formerly very badly off for house accommodation. ('■) The greatest number of building societies is to be found in Friesland. Tne society called “ Help u zelven,” at Leeuwarden, lias built 154 dwellings, each with three rooms and an attic, which are let to members for 1 fl. 25 c.,and to non-members for l fl. 80 c.a week.p) The Kampen branch of the Patrimonium has a building society, and the union “ De Eendracht,” at Deventer, founded a similar society in 1883. ( 8 ) At the Hague, two co-operative societies, both called “ Vooruit have been very successful in their operations, and the Nederlandsche Nationale Vereeniging has built 77 dwellings, which are let for from 1 fl. 85 c. to 2 fl. 20 c. each.( !l ) The example of these societies has done much to improve the condition of workmen’s houses in general, but very much still remains to be clone. ( 5 ) Enquete, Haarlem, 2377-81. ( 6 ) EnquAte, Nijmegen, 4772. ( T ) Enquftte, Friesland, 487-95. ( s ) EnquAte, Zwolle, Deventer, Kampen, 1424, 1693. ( 9 ) EnquAte, ’s Gravenhage, 897-914. APPENDIX. Labour law of 1889. Prohibition of child labour in peat mosses. Age at which children should begin work. Labour of married women. Recommendations of the Second Divisional Committee of the Labour Commission. The report of the Second Committee of the Labour Commission is the only one which has yet been received (August 1893); it considers the principal subjects which have been dealt with in this report in their connexion with legislation, and suggests the various amendments or extensions of the present law which the Committee thinks advisable. The Committee pronounces a favourable opinion upon the general operation of the law of 1889, hut considers that it might he still further extended with good results. In the first place it wishes to prohibit children from work in the peat mosses, which is unsuited to their age and physical powers. The peat drying, in which they are usually occupied in the low fens, is not, in general, too hard for children of 12 years, hut the wheeling away of piled up harrows in the high fens puts far too great a strain on their strength. Much, of course, depends on the weight of the load, and hence children who work under their own parents are not, as a rule, over-burdened, but where the peat maker only consults his own interest the work becomes most exhausting and injurious. The manager of a large fen affirmed that life-long injuries might easily be caused by one season’s excessive toil. T’be employment of children, and especially of girls, in the loading of peat boats is also much to lie deprecated on grounds of morality as well as of health. In view of these facts, the Committee recommends that the Legislature should prohibit the employment of children under 14 years of age in peat mosses, except in the light work connected with the drying process. (') The Committee expresses no definite opinion as to the age at which children should begin work, but does not support those witnesses who wish to raise the age to 14 in certain special industries. If children were excluded from machine factories, for instance, they would spend Hie time between their 13th and 14th years in some other factory, and the restriction w< uld practically put a premium upon those industries which were not subject to this regula- tion.^) The general consensus of evidence on the labour of married women points to the conclusion that if women are employed outside their own homes their families inevitably suffer. “ Where the wife is employed in a factory the “ cleanliness of the home and the cooking of the meals i 1 ) Yerslag vsir. de Tweede Afdeeling der Staatscommissie van Arheitsenqufete (Report of the Second Divisional Committee of the Labour Commission), pp, 470-6. ( 2 ) lb., p. 479. , U 77240, “ leave very much to be desired. There is no time for “ making or mending clothes, and the children are “ neglected, all in order that the wife may spend more on “ herself, and the husband may have money to waste in “ the alehouse.” These serious and undeniable evils lead the Committee to hope that the employment of women in factories, workshops, and peat mosses may be prevented by law. It does not, however, look to direct legislation for the attainment of this end, which it believes could he better effected by indirect means. If parents were obliged to send their children to school they could not employ them in household duties, and the mother would neces- sanly take her right place at home without any legal interference with her liberty. ( :) ) The Committee is divided on the subject of compulsory Compulsory education. The minority is disposed to respect the scruples educdtl °n- of parents who cannot conscientiously comply with the conditions of a compulsory system of education. Many parents who prefer religious education would be obliged to send their children to the State ( openbare ) school if no school in which religious instruction was given ( Obrist - rlijke school) was within their reach. Again, the public secular schools make vaccination a condition of admission, and many persons object to this both on religious and hygienic grounds. In view of these objections, and the practical difficulties which beset the matter in country places, the minority of the Commission decides against the introduction of compulsory education. The majority, on the other hand, is of opinion that the necessity of providing a suitable education for the children of the working classes is so great as to outweigh the minor difficulties which are urged against it. They maintain that it is the duty of the State to protect children from the consequences of their parents’ neglect, and they would meet the religious difficulty by allowing parents to educate their children at home or in voluntary schools, provided that the education given did not fall below the standard of that given in the State school. In places where no voluntary schools existed, children would nevertheless be obliged to attend the State schools. Practical difficulties could be diminished by making exceptions in the case of the children of persons leading an itinerant life or living at a great distance from any town or village. In rural districts, again, the holidays should be so arranged as to coincide with the time when the demand for field labour was most pressing. Children should not be allowed to leave school F ( :i ) Ib„ pp. 480-3, 1 36 directly they reached their 12th year, hut should be obliged to remain until they passed through the class or standard in which they then were.(’) Contirma- Education which stops short at 12 or 13 years of age tion schools. call not be considered satisfactory or complete. In many trades a knowledge of drawing is indispensable to boys, and girls require further instruction in needlework, which ought to he placed on an equal footing with the other branches of their education. But the Committee is again unable to come to a unanimous conclusion as to the advis- ability of securing these ends by legal enactment. The majority thinks that the example set by the factory schools of Twenthe might be generally followed, but that no further compulsion can be safely attempted. Children who are part of the day at work should attend school for a certain number of hours during the week up to their lGth year. The legislature need not in any way define the nature of the instruction to be given, as local require- ments will prove the best guide. Employers should be held responsible for the attendance at continuation schools of all young persons in their employment. The Committee further proposes that the working hours of young persons under 16 years of age should not exceed nine per day, inclusive of the time spent at school. For the convenience of employers, they recommend that young persons should be allowed to work after 7 p.m., provided that they never work at night or more than 11 hours a day. The minority objects to legislative interference, because it is useless for the la ,v to impose upon the people a much higher standard than that now sanctioned by popular custom. “A law far in advance of the customs of the people can do no good” ; evasions would be constantly practised, and the impossibility of controlling the smaller workshops would soon render the law a dead letter.( 2 ) Technical The Committee makes no definite recommendations on education. the subject of technical education, and though deploring the lack of all adequate industrial training, it considers that the re-establishraent of the guild system would be a reactionary movement. ( 3 ) Legal regu- The Committee views with approval the tendency towards lation of the shorter hours which has become manifest within the last labour^ few years. It reminds the workers, however, that their well-being deoends as much on reasonable wages as on the enjoyment of leisure, and that these cannot be attained unless the output of the present shorter hours is as great as during the longer hours which were formerly in vogue. It declares that the State is not in a position to judge how far the same output can he attained during a shorter working day in any particular trade. To do this it must know not only the conditions of every trade throughout the kingdom, but also the energy and capabilities of every individual worker; and as this is clearly impossible, the State must refuse to fix the hours of labour by legislation. The Committee believes, however, that the working day will tend to become shorter if the output is not thereby diminished, for no employer wishes to keep his men on the premises longer than is necessary to attain a given output. Hence shorter hours and higher industrial skill will go hand in hand. The Committee does not appear to have considered the possibility of over-production. Night work. The labour law of 1889 prohibits night work for hoys under 16 years of age, but the Committee desires to see this prohibition extended to boys under 18. It under- stands as night work, work between 9 p.m. and .5 a.m. Exceptions might be made for certain industries, and these should be stated in the law. Sunday Provisions for the better observance of Sunday rest are work. unsuitable to a general law on labour, and should rather form the subject of a separate law which would enforce the cf. p. is. obsolete Act of 1815. Such a law would forbid work in the majority of factories using steam power, and would provide that the employes in factories not subject to the law should have a free Sunday every two or three weeks. ( 4 ) The question of minimum wages as well as of maximum hours has only been considered in connexion with public contracts. The evils of the lowest tender system were dwelt upon by many witnesses, and the Committee acknow- ledges that the contract system, without any such palliative as a fixed minimum wage would afford, acts very unfavour- ably for the majority of workmen. It does not. however, suggest that a minimum wage system should be adopted, (') 7ft., pp. 484-S. ( i ) 7ft., pp. 485-8. ( s ) 7ft., pp. 488-9. (*) 76., pp. 489-94. as it considers that the information obtained on this point has been too scanty to justify such an inference. ( & ) It is a well-known fact that the working classes are Payment of prevented in every possible wav from enjoying the free the truck disposal of their earnings. This was established by the system, special inquiry of 1888, which resulted in the Bill on the subject which has been since withdrawn (cf. p. 1 1 ), and the evidence taken by the Labour Commission has only served to confirm it. One of the chief grievances complained of is payment in foreign money ( see p. 10). This practice was prohibited by section 8 of the law of March 28th, 1877, hut in the eastern frontier of Holland the law has become a dead letter, and more stringent legislation is now neces- sary. Another abuse, to which allusion lias already been made, is the custom of compelling workpeople to deal at shops kept by their employers. The Committee considers that any attempt to put down this evil by direct legislation would be useless, as the practice would be kept up in a. number of indirect ways without any open breach of the law. A considerable improvement might, however, be effected by a law which should prohibit the payment of wages in anything but coin, food, fuel, house-room, or such other means as may fairly be considered an advantage to the workmen. The payment of wages in shops and public-houses is again an indirect means of compelling the workmen to lay out his wages in commodities or in drink. Tiie majority of the Committee is in favour of a legal prohibition both as regards public-houses and shops ; the minority would prohibit public-houses only. In view of the abuses which occasionally arise from the Pines, unrestricted right of employers to fine and dismiss their t^tory^. men, the legislature is recommended to regulate the mutual ru ’ * relations and obligations of employers, foremen, journeymen, factory operatives, and casual labourers. These regulations should specify the causes for which fines and deductions may be made, the length and obligations of labour con- tracts, and reasons for dismissal.! 6 ) The Committee, while fully acknowledging the excellent work done by the inspectors appointed under the law of 1889, regrets that their sphere of action is so limited. By the terms of their appointment they are only required to interfere in matters which endanger the health and safety of women and children ; the prevention of accidents, for which purpose they are authorised to act in the interests of all classes, forms the only exception to this rule. Ex- perience now shows that only good would result if their powers were extended to the protection of all classes of operatives, adult males as well as women and young per- sons. Within their limited sphere their authority is, on the other hand, somewhat too great, and a law which pre- vents employers from appealing against the decisions of inspectors cannot lie regarded as satisfactory. The reports of the inspectors show that much has been done to improve the condition of factories and workshops both as regards safety and sanitation, but it is evident that much still remains to be done. Many accidents occur which might he prevented by the use of shuttle-guards, the fencing of circular saws, or by more care in the handling of driving bands and machinery in motion. The inspection of steam boilers has been found very beneficial, and should be extended to steam cylinders and all other apparatus in which explosions are possible. More might also lie done to remove the dust arising from the working of flax, cow hair, cotton, and other textiles, and improvement in the means of ventilation is nearly everywhere desirable. Increased attention should be paid to sanitary accommodation, and greater clean- liness should be generally recommended. Faults of construction are responsible for many short- comings, and these are difficult to remedy in existing factories, but the law ought to empower the local authorities to forbid the erection or enlargement of any factory which did not satisfy its requirements (') The task of dealing with the insurance question, as a whole, was entrusted to the First Divisional Committee of the Commission ; the Second Committee, therefore, only reports on the funds connected with particular industries in its district, and from the limited nature of the infot- matiun it received, it has no recommendations to offer. It states that the general impression it gained from the facts brought before it was that permanent men in large concerns were, as a rule, well cared for. In small con- cerns, on the contrary, aged workpeople were frequently Inspection : Condition of workshops, &c. i j I i Accident, sick, and old age insurance. ( 5 ) 7ft., pp. 494-7. ( 6 ) 7ft., pp. 590-505. c ( 7 ) 7ft., pp. 505-9. 37 Workmen's dwellings. Labour cliatnbers. left to the care of the parish, and no provision was made for casual labourers either by large or small employers. (') The provision of suitable dwellings for the working classes should he promoted by compulsory evacuation of the miserable huts ( krotten ) and tenements which now abound both in towns and rural districts. Some parishes already have the power to declare dwellings unfit for human habitation, but the question of compensation to the owners gives rise to constant difficulties. Their task would be much simplified if they were authorised to offer a certain sum in compensation for the value of the house apart from the ground, and if the owner were obliged either to accept this offer, or contend his claim to a higher sum in a court of law. The ground should remain in the hands of the owner, who would be free to sell it or build new houses, which must comply with the conditions laid down by the local authorities. Local boards should also promote the sale of land in small holdings, as the possession or enjoyment of land by factory operatives has proved most valuable in advancing their well-being. Local boards should also be empowered to compel fen owners and brickmakers to provide decent accommodation for their workpeople ; the condition, of the shelters now existing demands immediate attention. Very little care is at present taken to ensure the safety of scaffolding, ladders, &c., and the frequent accidents in the building trades prove that more efficient provisions are necessary to ensure the safety and life of the work- people^ 2 ) The Committee refrains from expressing an opinion as to the desirability of Labour Chambers, as the subject has now been taken up by the States General. ( 3 ) Books and Pamphlets bearing on the Labour Question in Holland. I. Enquete betreffende Werking en Uitbreiding der Wet van 19 Sept. 1874. (Staadsblad No. 130) I.-V.) Inquiry into the Working and Extension of the law of Sept 19tti, 1874 (on the employment of children). II. Enquete gehouden door de Staatscommissie benoemd krachtens de Wet van 19 Jan. 1890. (Staatsblad No. 1.) Inquiry into the condition of the working classes, held by the State Commission appointed by virtue of the law of Jan. 19, 1890. (State Papers No. 1.) Eerste Adfeeling. (Part I.) 1-3. Zieken-Begrafenis-en andere Verzekerings-en Onderstandsfondsen, (Sick, Funeral and other Insurance and Benefit Funds.) 4a. Spoorwegen. ( Railways). 5b. Spoorwegen. Stoom-en Paardentramwegen. (Rail- ways, steam trams, and horse trains.) 6. Onderscheidene Takken van Bedrijf (Nijmegen). (Different branches of Industry, Nijmegen.) 7. Onderscheidene Takken van Bedrijf (vervolg.) (Different branches of Industry, continued). ( 1 1 lb., p. 509. ( 2 ) lb., pp. 511-3. ( 3 j lb., p. 498. Tweede Afdeeling. (Part II.) 1 . Friesland . 2. Groningen. 3. Groninger Veenkolonien. 4. Zwolle, Deventer, Kampen. 5. Twenthe. fi. Gelderland benoorden den Rhin. 7- Veenderijen (Peat Industry). Derde Adfeeling. (Part III.) 1. Amsterdam. 2. Los-en Laadwerken bij Zeeschepen te Rotterdam en Amsterdam. (Loading and unloading of ships at Rotterdam and Amsterdam.) 3. Haarlem. 4. Leiden. 5. De Zaankant (Valley of the Zoan). ti. Bedrijven in onderscheiden gemeente der Derde Arbeids-Inspectie. (Trades in different parishes of the Third Inspectoral District.) III. Digests of the above have been received referring to : — Part I., 1-3 (2 vols.) 4-5 (4 vols.) 6 (1 vol.) Part II., 5 (1 vol.) Part III., 2, 4, 5, 6 (4 vols.). IV. Verslag van de Tweede Afdeeling der Staatscom- messil van Arbeidsenquete. ( Report of the Second Division of the State Commission on Labour). V. Verslagen van de Inspecteurs van den Arbeid in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, over 1890 en 1891. (Reports of the Inspectors of Labour in the Netherlands for 1890 and 1891.) VI. Voorstelien van Weten (Proposed Laws). Session 1891-2, No. 151. „ No. 153. Session 1892-3, Nos. 28 and 29. VII. Bijdrage tot de Leer van het Arbeidsloon,” door Mr. Ph. Falkenburg. (Contributions to the Study of the Wages Question.) ^ HI- Mede-Lijden en Mede-Werken. Mededeelingen omtrent ongelukken bij den Arbeid. (Information on Accidents incurred during work.) IX. De Verplichte Verzekering tegen Ongekuken (overgedrukt uit “ Vragen des Tijds ”). (Compulsory Insurance against Accidents, reprinted from “ Questions of the Time.”) X. Sociaal Weekblad.” Nos. 8, 10, 11, 12, 15. XI. “ 1 he Dutch Home Labour Colonies, their origin and development.” H. G. Willink. 188.9. XII. Bij d rage n van het Statistisch Institute. No. 3,1892. (Publications of the Statistical Institute.) XIII. Foreign Office Reports, 1889, No. 147; 1892 Nos. 220, 221, 224, 248, 1127. XI \ . Recueil des Rapports sur les Conditions du Travail dans les Pays etrangers, adresses au Ministre des Affaires etrangeres : Les Pays Bas. 1891. r . . •'» .»■ " ' ^ ^ " ,r ► • >'■ • 7 J ' ' : 9 RHfrJia #1 I *’1 •• ' * ' , XI - - 1 . . ' » . .. N 0 T E. The. Commission has received a large number of documents from the Foreign Office. These have proved in some cases insufficient for the purposes o f the Commission, and in other cases too voluminous to make it 'possible to publish them in the form received. . The Secretary has therefore been directed to prepare Reports from these and from other sources for the use of the Commission. These Reports are to be published in connection with the proceedings of the Commission, but the Commission is in no way responsible for the statements of fact or of opinion which they contain. / mi ' / " ' ' • • ■ •* . . i - , ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR FOREIGN REPORTS. Volume IV. BE1G11I M. IPrcarntetJ to Uotf) ?£ou0f0 of Darliammt tv tffommaniJ of ?f?rr iHdairsty, June 1893. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER. MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO TEE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from El RE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.G. : and 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W. ; or JOHN MENZIES & Co.. 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow ; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. [C. — 7063. -viil] Price Qd. 1893. ROYAL COMMIS SION ON LABOUR. 44, Parliament Street, London, S.W. My Lord Duke, July 25th, 1893. I have the honour to submit to you the Report which I have been directed to draw up on the Labour Question in Belgium. As the information in the possession of the Commission was incomplete, I was directed to proceed to Brussels at Easter 1892. The facts then obtained have been from time to time supplemented by correspondence with many friends in Belgium. To these, and especially to Monsieur Sainctelette, President of the Belgian Labour Commission, the Count de Lalaing, now Belgian Minister at Rio Janeiro, and Dr. Armand Julin, of the Belgian Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works, I am deeply indebted. I should also like to express my thanks to Mr. Martin Gosselin, Charge d’Affaires of Her Majesty’s Legation at Brussels, for much courtesy shewn to me as Secretary of this Commission, and to Mr. de Courcy-Perry, H.M. Consul at Antwerp, for information with regard to that city. I am, Your Grace’s obedient servant, GEOFFREY DRAGE, Secretary. To His Grace The Duke of Devonshire, K.G., Chairman of the Royal Commission on Labour. - ' « ;u xju uoiwiiiTp ' »J •.» 1 1 .11 , 5 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN BELGIUM. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Preface. — Sources from which the Information Incorporated in this Report is derived. a. Publications issued by the Labour Commission ....... 7 b. Recent Laws, Bills, and Decrees • - - - ■■ - - - 7 c. Official publications ......--.--7 d. Private publications -...--.----7 DIVISION I.— TRADE DISPUTES BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. A. — General Relations between Employers and Employed. 1. Socialism ------ ...... 7 (a.) The Internationale -.--------.7 ( 6 .) The Labour Party ----------- 8 (c.) Universal Suffrage ...-.--.-.-8 2. Attitude of Employers - ------ .... 8 (a.) Towards individual workmen --------- 8 ( 6 .) Towards workmen’s associations --------- 9 3. Associations of Employers and Employed -------- 9 (1.) Employers’ associations - -- -- -- -..9 (a.) Early period - .- -- -- -...9 (b.) Later associations .-------..9 (2.) Joint associations --------...9 (3.) Workmen’s associations .... ..-.-.9 (a.) Trade associations generally --------- 9 (&.) Individual trade associations - - - - - - - - -11 (c.) Other labour organisations - - - - - - - - - 13 (4.) Catholic associations --------..14 B. — Causes of Strikes. 1. Wages - -- -- -- -- -- --15 (a.) Advance - -- -- -- -- -- .15 ( 6 .) Reduction ------- - - -- -15 (c.) Minimum wage - -- -- -- -...45 2. Hours - -- -- -- -- -..-15 (a.) Increase or reduction - -- -- -- -- - 45 (b.) Eight hours’ day - - - - - - - - - - -45 3. Other Conditions -----------.45 (a.) Mode of working - -- -- -- -- --45 (b.) Obnoxious officials - --------- - 45 (c.) Difficulties connected with unionism - - - - . . . -45 (cl.) Political strikes - -- -- -- -- --45 (Comparison of strikes in the various industries.) C. — Development, Organisation, and Conduct of Strikes. 1. Important individual strikes - -- -- - -- ..46 D. — Prevention and Settlement of Strikes. 4. Councils of prud’ homines. - -- -- -- ...48 2. Councils of conciliation and arbitration - -- -- --20 3. Councils of industry and labour "'■------21 DIVISION II.— CONDITIONS OF LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. A. — Mines, Quarries, and Me tals. 1. Coal Mines ------------ 23 (a.) Number of mines, output, and cost of production - - - - - - - 23 ( b .) Number of workpeople ---------- 23 (g.) Wages - -- -- -- -- -- - 25 (d.) Hours - - - - - - - - - - - - 25 (e.) Safety of employment and accidents - - - - - - - -26 (/.) Material condition of miners - - - - - - - - - 27 2. Quarries .------------27 (a.) Number of quarries and production - - - - - - - - 27 (b.) Number of workpeople - - ... ----- 27 (c.) Wages - 27 (d.) Hours 27 (e.) Accidents - ... 27 E 78030. Wt. 994 A3 6 3. Ore Mines ...... (a.) Number of mines, production, and cost of production (b.) Number of workpeople .... (c.) Wages ...... (d.) Accidents ...... 4. Metals ..... - (».' Number of works and output ( b .) Number of workpeople .... < e .) Wages ...... (d.) Hours ...... (e.) Accidents - ... B. — Transport (including Docks) and Agriculture. 1. Transport ...... 2. Docks ....... (a.) Accommodation and traffic - (b.) Number of workpeople .... (c ) W ages ...... (i d .) Hours ...... (e.) Foreign labour ..... (/.) Safety of employment 3. Agriculture ...... (a.) Situation of industry and number of workers (b.) Wages and hours ..... (c.) Other conditions ..... C. — Building, Glass, Printing, Textile, and other Trades. (a.) Situation of the various industries - (b.) Number of works and production (c.) Number of workpeople - (d.) Wages ...... (e.) Hours - - * - (/.) Apprentices ------- (g.) Sweating system ..... Page. 27 28 29 29 29 29 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 32 32 32 32 33 34 34 DIVISION III.— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — Co-operation and Profit Sharing - - - - - - - - - - 34 B. — Friendly Societies ...-.-.---.-37 C. — Labour Exchanges - ........... 38 D. — Higher Council of Labour ------- - 39 E. — Employers’ Liability ..-----....39 F. — Workmen’s Budgets ------------ 40 G. — Workmen’s Dwellings ----------- 42 H. —Technical Education ...........42 Appendix A. 1. Programme and Rules of the Labour Party 2. Table of Trade Associations - - - - Appendix B. • Text of certain recent Laws and Bills - 44 46 I 4 51 Appendix C. Books and Pamphlets bearing on Labour Questions in Belgium, used in compiling this Report - 62 7 Labour ( 'orarnis- sion. Recent laws, Bills, and decrees. Official pub- lications. Causes of present feeling. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN BELGIUM. SOURCES PROM WHICH THE INFORMATION INCORPORATED IN THIS REPORT IS DERIVED. The most important works respecting the condition of labour in Belgium, as a whole, are the publications of the Labour Commission, instituted by a Royal decree of April 15th, 1886. The first volume contains the answers received to the schedules of questions issued by the Commission, respecting labour, the relations of labour and capital, and the material, moral, and intellectual condition of the employed. The second volume embodies the oral enquiries instituted in the six districts into which the country was divided for the purpose ; the third volume contains the reports of the various sub-committees, and the con- clusions or recommendations of the Commission ; and in the fourth ar,c included the reports of the plenary sessions of the Commission, between April 1886 and June 1887, and various other reports, memoranda, and letters. The following subjects were dealt with by the Commission in its recommendations : — Councils of conciliation. Regulation of labour. Workmen’s dwellings (two sessions). Re-building of districts in towns expropriated for improvement. Payment of wages. Savings banks. Trade associations. Drunkenness. Technical schools. Mutual aid societies. Personal military service. Councils of prud’hommes. House-keeping schools for girls. Insurance against labour accidents. Friendly, provident, and pension funds. Co-operative societies. A considerable number of laws have since been passed, mainly as a result of these deliberations. Some of the most imporran are those of August 16th. 1887, regulating the payment of workmen's wages ; August 16th, 18-57. instituting the councils of industry and labour ; May 5th, 1888, providing for proper factory inspection ; July 31st, 1889, revising the law on the councils of prud’hommes ; and December 13th, 1889, regulating the labour of women, young persons, and children in industrial establishments. Among the Bills which are at the present time before the Chamber of Representatives, the most important are those relating to State recognition of trade associations, engagement of workpeople and domestic servants, and employers' liability. A number of Royal decrees have also been issued, defining the application of the various laws. Official statistics on production and the state of trade have as yet only been published for the mining, metal, and glass industries. Valuable information respecting the labour of women and children, in -almost all industries, is contained in the report of the first session of the higher council of labour, established by a Royal decree of April 1892. Statistics of wages, hours, and workmen’s budgets were compiled for ihe month of April 1891 by the councils of industry and labour. Information on other points has been obtained from private publications. DIVISION 1— TRADE DISPUTES BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. A. — General Relations between Employers and Employed. The relations between employers and workmen vary greatly in the different industries throughout the country, and in individual establishments, but, as a rule, they leave much to be desired. In bis Report on trade association.-, M. Prins ascribes this unsettled feeling, m the first place, to the abolition of the old guilds, the members of which respected the rights of others, while themselves striving tor the recognition ol their own. As a second cause, he mentions the introduction of machinery, which minimises the distinction between good and bad workers. A third cause is the trans- formation of the system of production, and the change from small to large industries, in which the former close intercourse between masters and men is no longer possible. (’) This change has taken place in Belgium more gradually than in some other countries, as, for instance, in the United States, but almost the only trades which have escaped its influence in the present day are those concerned with shoemaking, carpenter- ing, glass, and jewellery. The great increase in foreign competition during recent years also makes it difficult for the old friendly relations between capital and labour to continue, for employers are bound, in their own interest, to produce as much as possible at the lowest possible cost, and workmen are forced in self defence to prevent their wages from being reduced below a fixed minimum. ( 2 ) As a consequence of this estrangement between capital and labour, socialism has of recent years attained considerable development in Belgium. Early in the latter half of the present century, socialist prin- ciples bad been preached, mainly by De Potter, Bartels, Jottrand, and De Kats, in the hope of remedying the crying abuses that then existed in the country. ( 3 ) In 1865, the introduction of the society known as the “ Internationale ” into Belgium gave new life to socialist doctrines ; branches were established at Liege and else- where, in 1866. and large numbers of workmen became members. At the congress held by this society at Lau- sanne in 1867, De Paepe stated that there was a very active section at Brussels, which had been joined by the societies at Ghent and Antwerp. The weavers at Ghent, whose society was the first in that town to join the Inter- nationale, bad until that time taken no Dart in the socialist movement, and still bore on their banner the motto “ God and tie Law ” (God en de Wet). In 1868 the first congress of the Internationale in Belgium was held at Brussels. Previous to this date, the congress of Lausanne had passed a vote that railways should become the property of the State. But, in spite of the col- lectivist principles advocated by De Paepe, the congress of Lausanne did not express any desire for the suppres- sion of individual property, and even showed much distrust of co-operative societies, as tending to establish a fourth estate, below which there would be a still more miserable fifth estate. At the Brussels Congress, De Paepe’s principles were adopted by a large majority. From this time the objects of the Internationale were completely transformed, and henceforth its aim was to abolish the paid workmen class (salaried), and transfer the ownership of tools and land to the community (collectivite). This change, however, was to he cfi'ected by the natural process of evolution, not by revolutionary means. Communism, which even Proudhon’s demon- stration had shown to be impracticable, had few or no adherents in the Internationale, hut the party called “ mutuellists,” headed by Tolain, opposed the doctrines of De Paepe. At the congress held at Basle in 1869, De Paepe again secured the votes of a strong majority, and the opposition of the mutuellists came to an end. The intervention of the State was desired by the socialists of the old school, as well as by the later academic socialists (socialistes de la, chaire), whereas the internationalists avoided even men- tioning the word “ State,” and spoke only of the “ collectivity ’’ ; their ideal appears to have been a federation of independent co-operative societies. The Russian anarchist Bakouniu made his first appearance at the congress of Basle. In his opinion, the sole object to he desired was “ pandestruction,’’ or the com- plete abolition of the present conditions of society, and its reorganisation on a communistic basis. At the same congress, De Paepe presented an exhaustive report which shows the radical difference between collectivism and communism. In the former, (') Commission du Travail, III. p. 54. ( 2 ) Morisseaux. “ Conseils tie Tlndustrir et du Travail.” pp. 52-70. ( s ) Meyer. " Her Emancipationskampf des vierten Statutes,” I. p. 49. A 4 l.-Socialims. («.) The Interna- tionale. Collectivism and com- munism. Extension and decline of the Inter- nationale. (ft.) The Labour Party. S the supreme ownership is vested in the State or “ collec- tivity,” but the direction of labour is in the hands of co- operative societies working under certain conditions. The communist principle is exemplified in the case of the Belgian railways, where the State is at once pro- prietor and director, while the Italian railways, owned by the State, and worked by private companies, form an example of collectivism. As regards the remuneration of labour, communists desire strict equality, whereas the object of collectivists is to assure to each individual complete enjoyment of the production of his own labour. Again, communism abolishes the right of succession, and is incompatible with the existence of family life as we now understand it, while collectivists allow the continuance of individual families, and of the right of succession, except in the case of property owned by the State. The right of succession was strongly advocated at the congress of Basle, by De Paepe and other repre- sentatives of collectivism, and the motion for its abolition was rejected by 68 votes against 32. Between 1868 and 1870, the Internationale extended rapidly in Belgium. In 1868 it was joined by the Free Workers ( Francs ouvriers) in the woollen industry at Verviers, several miners’ societies in Hainault, and many other associations. A number of strikes occurred in the next year throughout Europe ; one of the most important was at Seraing. As a consequence of the strikes, the Internationale received numerous adherents, who hoped to receive support from its funds. During 1870 its power continued to increase, but after that time internal dissensions, and especially the hostility between Marx and Bakounin, quickly brought about its disorgani- sation. The society received its death blow at the Congress of The Hague in 1872, which decreed the exclusion of Bakounin, and Guillaume, the leader of the “autonomists.” The Belgian internationalists were opposed to the exclusion of Bakounin, although they did not countenance his doctrines, which were of an openlc anarchist character. After the congress at The Hague, the general council of the Internationale was removed to New York, and in a short time it lost all influence in Belginm, as in the rest of Europe. The autonomists, retaining the name of the Internationale, held several congresses, but there was nothing inter- national about them beyond the name. In 1877 a “ Universal Congress of Socialists ” was held at Ghent ; after some discussion the anarchists declared that their views and those of the autonomists could not be re- conciled, and the second Internationale was brought to an end like the first. When the power of the Inter- nationale in Belgium was at its height it included eight federations, situated respectively at Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Liege, the districts of the Yesdre Valley, Borinage, the Centre of Hainault, and Charleroi. The organisation of the society was more complete in Belgium than elsewhere. The exact number of members has never been ascertained, but it has been variously stated as 100,000 and 200,000. (') After the fall of the Internationale, the Belgian socialists endeavoured to reconstitute themselves on a national basis. Various societies were formed, which occupied themselves with socialist propaganda, especially the co-operative society “ Vooruit,’’ estab- lished in 1880. ( 2 ) The Vooruit and the Federation of Workmen’s Leagues and Democratic Societies were mainly instrumental in establishing the Labour Party (Parti ouvrier ) in 1885, which is now the centre of the socialist movement in Belgium. ( 3 ) The Labour Party, the programme and rules of which are given in full in the Appendix, ( 4 ) is engaged in vigorous propaganda of socialist principles. At the fifth annual congress held at Jolimont in 1889, the reporter stated that during the past year the general council had organised 284 meetings and conferences, as well as several demonstrations. He added that the Party “ had succeeded in rallying around the banner of “ socialism all the intelligence and activity included “ in the Belgian proletariate.” ( 5 ) Among the questions discussed at the congress of the Labour Party, were the establishment of a minimum wage, an eight hours’ day, universal suffrage, international legis- lation on labour, the formation of a league or federation of friendly societies under the protection of the Labour Party, the federation of co-operative societies, (') Laveleye. “Le Socialisms contemporain,” pp. 168-223, 253-4. Die neueZeit,” IX. Jahrgang, I. Band, No. 24, pp. 759-66. (*) See p. 35. ( 3 ) See p. 14. (■*) See p. 44. ( 5 ) Oompte-rendu dn 5'"' Congrfcs annuel, p. 20. and propaganda among workers in all occupations, including the army, where this work is carried on chiefly by the “ Jeune garde socialiste.' , The abolition of conscription, and the institution of voluntary per- sonal service in the army, is strongly desired by the Labour Party, in view of the distress frequently caused by the present system. The advocates of this reform argue that it is unfair to allow young men in the upper classes of society to pay for a substitute, since working men cannot afford to do so, and are obliged to serve in the army during those years when they could best acquire knowledge of any industry. It may be noted, however, that one witness in 1886 spoke in favour of the system of substitution, stating that it was advantageous to agriculture, “ for many young men “ have served as substitutes and afterwards set up “ with the money which they thus obtained. ”( ii ) The movement in favour of universal suffrage has taken a peculiar form in Belgium. As early as 1883, demonstrations were held in favour of an enlargement of the franchise, and in 1887 the workmen in the Walloon districts of Liege, Charleroi, Borinage, and the Centre of Hainault came out on strike, demanding universal suffrage. Other strikes followed, resulting in the appointment of a commission to revise the existing qualification for voters. Before the revision in May 1893, suffrage in Belgium was narrowly restricted. To be entitled to vote for members of the Chamber of Representatives, and of the Senate, it was necessary to be a Belgian subject by birth or full (grande) naturalisation, over 21 years of age, and to pay direct taxes to the treasury, amounting to at least 42 francs 32 centimes. Electors for the provincial or communal councils must be Belgian subjects by birth or naturalisation, over 21 years of age, and pay taxes of not less than 20 francs and 10 francs respec- tively. The Labour Party resolved that, in the event of the rejection of the Bill for universal suffrage, a general strike should be declared throughout the country. The proposal of M. Janson was that uni- versal suffrage should be established for men over 21 years of age. In consequence of the rejection of this proposal, a disastrous strike broke out in all parts of the country, (') and it is stated that a revolution was only avoided by the adoption of M. Nyssen’s scheme of plural voting. This scheme established universal suffrage at 25 years of age, allowing an additional vote to married men over 35 years of age, and to those possessing property of a certain value, as well as to those who can prove that they have received education up to a certain standard. No person, however, may have more than three votes. As there are in Belgium about 1,400,000 men over 25 years of age, the total number of votes on the new system is estimated at about 1,900,000. On learning that this scheme had been accepted, the Labour Party at once ordered work to be resumed, and declared that the propaganda for universal suffrage at 21 years of age must henceforth be conducted by peaceful means. In 1891 , the Labour Party organised the first really international socialist congress that has been held in Belgium. Roughly speaking, Belgian socialists of the present day may be grouped into two classes : the majority follow the programme of the Labour Party, and desire to get possession of power by means of universal suffrage ; the minority, represented by the newspaper “ Le Mira- beau,” adopt the principles of the anarchist Bakounin, and aim at the complete abolition of the existing state of society. ( s ) Many employers have established and support clubs and societies of various kinds, .and endeavour in other ways to improve the condition of their men. The Cockerill, Val-St.-Lambert, Yieille-Montagne, Mariemont. and Bascoup Companies are among the foremost in providing for the material and moral welfare of all parsons in their employment. Several employers have instituted store-shops (economots) for supplying their workmen with good provisions and clothing at moderate prices, and some have built model workmen’s dwellings. In giving evidence before the Belgian Commission, many witnesses complained that all communications with their employers had to be addressed first to the foremen, who sometimes altered the whole matter in reporting it to the employer. On the other hand, the relations between masters and men ( c ) Commission du Travail. V. p. 19. (') See p. IS. ( s ) Parti ouvrier beige. Compte rendu du 5 me CongrOs annuel, pp. 31. 53. Id. 6“ 1 ' CongrPs annuel, pp. 37, 51, 70. Bourse. “Bps Con- ditions du Travail,” pp. 20-22. ” Les Chevaliers du Travail,” I. No. 18 ; II. No. 1. " La lteforme,” April 15th, 19th, 20th, 1893. ( c .) Uni- versal suffrage. 2. Attitude of employ- ers. (a.) Towards individual workmen. 9 (6.) Towards workmen’s associations. 3. Associa- tions of employers and em- ployed. (1.) Em- ployers’ associations, (rt.) Early period. “ Ambaclit- en.’’ Offices.” ( 6 .) Later associations. A. Mines. in many establishments Were stated to be Very good — the employers were always ready to hear :my complaints or suggestions that might be made by the men. A weaver at Dinant declared that his employer was “a “father to his workmen,’’ and a quarryman stated that the Lessines quarry- owners were “ capital fellows " ( braves gens).( l ) In some industries very favourable relations exist between employers and the labour associations. Thus, M. Yandervelde states that in one large establishment at Brussels, all workmen are required to furnish a certi- ficate showing that they are members of the Metal- workers’ Federation.! 2 ) In the cabinet-making trade, in 1886, the relations were so friendly that a foreman in one establishment had allowed his son to become a member of the workmen’s society, but in another case, though an employer stated that he allowed his men to join as many societies as they chose, he would only deal directly with the men themselves. On the other hand, in- stances of less fav ourable relations are not wanting. Many witnesses before the Belgian Labour Commission com- plained of the hostility shown by the employers towards their societies; for instance, a smelter at Brussels declared that, although he had been ten years in the works, he had been dismissed because he was a member of the Workmen’s League ( Ligue ouvriere), and wished to establish a provident society. A dyer and cleaner in the same town stated that he had been discharged for taking part in a workmen’s congress. Several delegates from printers’ societies deposed that many of their fellow workmen were obliged to conceal their connection with their society, on account of the hostility of their employers. ( 3 ) A few years after the publication, in Belgium, of the decree of 17 Brumaire, in the year IY.,( 4 ) which abolished the old guilds, a considerable number of associations {Ambachten and Offices) reappeared. A few of these still survive, chiefly at Bruges. The Master Bakers’ Asso- ciation ( Communaute des boulangers ) is the most important survival of the “'Ambachten.” Since the establishment at Bruges of a socialist co-operative bakery, even this is in a very precarious condition, because the members of the association are obliged to conform to the tariff which fixes the price of bread at 60 centimes a loaf, while the co-operative bakery sells it at 26 centimes. In 1891 the association numbered 80 members, out of about 125 bakers at Bruges. Unlike the other surviving Ambachten, it still admits none but master bakers. In the last century it possessed seven or eight almshouses and a chapel, but it has now only three houses, called the “Rente des Boulangers,” fj which serve as a refuge for superannuated members. The re- maining Ambachten are now merely friendly societies. ( r j The few “ Offices ” which still survive are all con- nected with the transport industry, and have very similar customs and rules. None but master-workers are admitted to the Offices ; journeymen and assistants are rigorously excluded. Strict equality is generally observed in the division of profits. The principal Offices are those of the beer, corn, sack, and other carriers at Bruges, Furnes, Lierre, and Malines, and the Stulcwerlcers at Ghent, who are employed in un- loading vessels. All are now in a state of decadence. ( 7 ) Yery little information is to be obtained respecting employers’ associations of the present day. There are a considerable number in the various industries, but the details of their working are often kept secret. As a rule, they appear to have been instituted after the men’s unions, in order to protect employers from the excessive demands that might be made by strongly Organised bodies of workmen. At Charleroi there is an association of employers representing all the coal-mines in the district. It deals with all commercial and other questions connected with the coal industry, except those that relate to labour and wages, which are decided by each member for his own mine. The association also helps to support the indus- trial school at Charleroi. Each mine has a right to a representative, and the members elect a president, vice-president, paid secretary, and managing com- mittee. Another union was formed in 1891 by the p. xo. (') Weiler. “Les Institutions ouvriOres tie Mariemont,” Commission du Travail, II. C. pp. 142. 218. ( 2 ) “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I. p. 170 . ( 3 ) Commission du Travail, II. IL pp. 13, 30 , 44 , 49 ; d. p. Ill; HI. p. 09. ( 4 ) November 8 th, 1795. ( 5 ) Since 1857 these have been nominally the property of the monas- teries {hospices). ( 6 ) See p. 37. ( 7 ) Vandervelde. “Les Associations professionnelles,” I. II. pp. 12-18. pp. 1 - 10 ; E 78030. directors of the coal mines in Hainault, with the object of indemnifying the companies in case of a striked 8 ) The “ Nations ” at Antwerp must be classed among employers’ rather than workmen’s associations. There are about fifty Nations in Antwerp, some of recent date, but the majority very old, in several cases even older than the sixteenth century. Each numbers from twenty to thirty, or, in a few cases, sixty members ( chefs de nation). Until the establishment of the dockers’ unions, the Nations had the monopoly of all transport, loading, and unloading of vessels in the port of Antwerp. Membership is obtained by purchasing the share of a deceased or reti-ing member, the price of such share varying from two or three hundred to 40,000 francs. All members must be able to read aud write. Formerly the work was done by the members themselves, but now they usually only superintend gangs of workmen whom they employ for a fixed wage. The large Nations possess a considerable number of horses, waggons, machines, and other property, and their capital has been roughly estimated at from 500,000 to 1,000,000 francs. Each Nation is governed by a dean, sub-dean, and committee of five, elected annually. At the end of each month the profits are divided equally amongst the members, who are bound to secrecy concerning the amount of profit realised, the decisions made at their meetings, and other matters connected with the Nation. ( 9 ) The Master Builders’ Associations at Ghent and Verviers, instituted after the strikes in 1867 and 1871, have both succeeded in arranging disputes amicably with workmen. The association in the brick trade was established about 1880. Each member has a list of the men employed at other establishments, and agrees not to employ those who have broken their engagements. This institution has, it is stated, an excellent moral effect on both masters and men, and is consequently beneficial to the industry. The Master Glass-workers’ Association ( Association des w litres de verreries beiges) at Charleroi, established in 1831, has, according to the statement of its members, merely commercial objects. Its action is mainly con- fined to informing members of the state of the various markets, in order that they may be able to fix the selling price. In 1884 the Master Glass-workers’ Committee ( Comite vender) was formed for trade pur- poses, and afterwards became a protective society. It now endeavours to regulate production, and in 1891 it was decided to form a union for the sale of all glass made in the country. In 1871 the Master Flax-spinners’ Association at Ghent was instituted to regulate the rate of wages for the same kind of work in the various establishments, taking for a standard the highest rates that were paid.! 11 ’) In the present day, joint associations of employers and men have been formed in a few industries only. In the clock trade at Brussels, a joint society was established in 1886, with the object of raising the price of labour, and improving the relations between masters and men. There were about 60 members in the society in July 1886. The tapestry workers ( brodeurs tapissiers) in Brussels also have a joint society, in which each side can discuss its own interests.! 11 ) According to M. Yandervelde, trade unions in Belgium are developed from the old trade benefit societies ( mutualite's professionnelles), which arose towards the end of the eighteenth century. These were joint associations of masters and men in the same trade, with the object of maintaining friendly relations, of assisting all members incapacitated by age or infirmity, and celebrating religious festivals. With the rise of the large industries, and the spread of socialism, these societies suffered many changes. The religious institu- tions were abolished, the employers resigned their membership, and both employers and men formed separate associations to protect their own interests. Thus, for example, the Hatmakers’ Benevolent Union ( Union philanthropigue des chapeliers), which was originally a trade friendly society, dating from the end of the eighteenth century, was transformed in 1838 into a protective society ( societe de maintien de prix or de resistance). This is the only association which can ( 8 ) Commission du Travail, I. p. 419. Vandervelde. “ Les Associa- tions professionnelles,” II. p. 71. ( 9 ) Vandervelde. “Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp. 10 and 11 ; II. p. 17. Van den Boyaut. “CoraitO de Patronage des Habita- tions ouvribres.” Report, pp. 253-60. Report on Docks and Quays at Antwerp, by H.M. Consul De Courcy-Perry. ( 10 ) Commission du Travail, I.' pp. 416-22; II. B. pp. 7, 47; E. p. 125. Vandervelde. “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp. 121-9. (") Commission du Travail, II. B. pp.l, 11 . B B. Trans- port. C. Building glass, and textile trades. (2.) Joint associations. (3.) Work- men’s asso- ciations. (a.) Trade associations generally. ® History of the associations. 10 be directly traced from the old “ mutualites.” In 1865 a few small employers still retained their member- ship in it, whereas it had then for some time been resisting the large manufacturers. The Free Typo- graphical Association ( Association Libre des typogr allies), established in 1842, adopted the rides of the Hatniakers’ Union, and these rules became a model for those of all later societies. Next in order were the Jewellers’ and Goldsmiths’ Society ( Societe des orfevres-bijuutiers) in 1852, and the Tailors' Brotherhood ( Association fraternelle des tailleurs) in 1855. The factory workers were much later in forming organisations, the earliest societies being the spinners’, weavers’, and metal- workers’ at Ghent, established in 1857('). j3. Chavac- So far as they have escaped the influence of the fac- associations Tories, these societies are characterised by complex institutions, providing, in addition to strike pay, sup- port for members who are out of work or sick. The typographic and lithographic printers, glove and hat makers, and bronze workers also grant aid to super- annuated members. Several societies have also labour registries, workshops for the unemployed, and technical schools. Candidates for membership must be good workmen, and able to earn the minimum wage esta- blished in the trade, and members are not allowed to work with non-unionists ( sarrazins ). The number of apprentices is usually restricted, and in some cases, as, for instance, in the dyers’, glovemakers’, and hat- makers’ societies, only the sons of members are allowed to become apprentices. Politics are generally forbidden as a subject of discussion, and the societies have no political objects, although most of their members are individually affiliated to the Labour Party ( Parti ouvrier) which has decidedly political objects, and adopts a somewhat hostile attitude towards religious institutions. It may lie noted, however, that some of their members profess the Catholic religion, while others have adopted the views of the extreme anarchists. The spread of factories and the substitution of machine for hand work tend to bring about the abolition in these societies of all but the strike funds, and special societies are formed to provide assistance in other cases of necessity. Branch societies are formed iu the provinces, socialist principles are introduced, and the unions generallv become affiliated to the Labour Party as a body, and have recourse to political action. Midway between the trade unions in their original form and the societies affiliated to the Labour Party come those which are connected with the Belgian Knights of Labour ( Ordre des Chevaliers du travail beiges). These have funds for various purposes, and regulate apprenticeship, but in other respects they resemble the societies affiliated to the Labour Party, rather than the original trade unions. On the other hand, the societies affiliated to the Labour Party have usually only a strike fund, and, owing to the large preponderance of factory workers, they have no regulations restricting the number of apprentices. Candidates for membership need not have served any apprenticeship, and in some cases members of other trades are admitted ; thus, the secretary of the Miners’ Federation is a printer, and “the Miners’ Union at “ Hornu, the best organised in the Borinage district, “ admits agricultural labourers, and obliges the neigh- “ homing' tradesmen to contribute to it, under penalty “ of being boycotted.” These societies follow the pro- gramme of the Labour Party, aiming at universal suffrage, the separation of Church and State, and other political objects. As is noted by M. Yandervelde, “ wherever the organisation of' the Labour Party is “ sufficiently advanced, the trade union is now merely “ an organ, incapable not only of satisfying its own “ needs, but also of independent existence and action. “ The organism is the federation, an aggregate of “ benefit, trade, co-operative, and political institutions, “ and this corporate body tends to replace the old “ guild. It may be said that the Federation of Ghent “ alone adequately realises this type of organisation.” This is due partly to the personality of the leading members, and partly to the preponderance of the textile industries at Ghent. “ In Brussels, on the contrary, “ where factory industries are less developed, and “ trades (corps de metier) are very numerous, the fusion *• of the various societies presents considerable diffi- “ rulties,” The federated societies usually provide for their own government, and retain full control over their own funds, unlike the Fnglish amalgamated societies, in which all money is generally paid into one central fund.( 2 ) C) “ T.rs Associations professionnelles,” II. pp. 18-34. (-) Vandervelde. “Les Associations professionnelles,” I. p. 182; II. pp. 28-50, 57-72. Three important classes of workers are up to tho y. Member- present time almost entirely unorganised — women, sll ‘ p ’ domestic servants ( ouvriers rendant les services per- sonnels), aud agricultural labourers. Women are ad- mitted to membership iu the General Association of Journeymen Tailors ( Association generate des ouvriers tailleurs) at Brussels, and some of the societies in the textile trade at Ghent. Agricultural labourers have still absolutely no trade association at all ; and domestic servants had none until May 1891, when a Coffee-house Waiters’ Union was instituted in Brussels The total number of members in the various trade associations has been estimated at about 70,000 men, or rather more than one tenth of the whole adult male working population of the country, without including domestic servants and agricultural labourers Of this number, 50,000 were in May 1891 enrolled in the Miners Federation, and rather more than 24,000 were affiliated to the Knights of Labour.( :i ) The societies affiliated to the Labour Party, with the approximate number of members of each society, are given in the Appendix. (’) Many of the associations have had considerable in- s ■ Effect of fluence on the conditions under which their members [f 0 e n ^ S0Cla ’ work, as also on tho general relations between capital and labour. Thus, for instance, the Printers’ Free Association claims to have raised the rate of wages from 3 francs in 1841, to a minimum of 5 francs 50 centimes for men on the establishment. In 1892, on the proposal of the Association, the Provincial Council of Brabant resolved by a majority of 41 that a minimum wage should be included in all print- ing contracts to be executed in the province. The association has obtained an arrangement fixing the number of apprentices allowed to a specified number of journeymen, and in 1883 it was mainly instrumental in inducing the Chamber of Representatives to pass a law abolishing the necessity for workmen to furnish certificates from their late employer. By restricting the number of apprentices, the associations secure a limited number of good workmen, and a possibility of work for all duly qualified men. The associations at Mariemont and Bascoup, especially, have an excellent effect on the relations between the men and their employers. Contracts between the companies and representatives of the men are drawn up, according to which the men undertake to do thd work for a fixed price, and to repair and keep the machines in order at their own expense. By this system the interests of capital and labour are rendered identical; the men work both well and quickly, wages have risen about 20 per cent, since the introduction of the system, the net cost has been reduced as much or even more, and the hours of labour have been materially shortened. In 1888 the associations, at Mariemont and Bascoup had already obtained the complete abolition of women’s labour in the mines. f) Difficulties that occur in the execution of contracts are referred to the Chambers of Explanations ( Chambres d’ explications), which are established in each department, and are very beneficial in preventing friction, and producing a good feeling between em- ployers and mcn.('j The Metal Workers’ Federation may also be mentioned as having a good effect on the relations between members and employers ; very often the delegates of the federation prove that the em- ployers are in the right in a disputed question. As most of the associations admit none but persons of good character, refuse to aid drunkards and other persons of immoral life, and punish those who bring discredit on their society by their conduct, they tend to raise the moral and intellectual standard of workers in the trade, to accustom them to discipline and • respect for the laws, and to develop in them unselfish- ness and a spirit of order and economy. ( 7 ) Tho need for State recognition ( personnijication e. State civile) is felt by most workmen’s associations. This recognition, says M. Vandervelde, is scarcely needed so long as the association is purely aggressive in character, but it becomes indispensable as soon as it desires to develop, and to create practical institutions. Many witnesses before the Commission urged the necessity of such recognition, and M. Prins in his Report put forward many arguments in favour of such a measure. State recognition would confer the right to appear in court ( ester en justice), to hold, transfer ( 3 ) Id., I. pp. 7-10, 157. ( 4 ) See p. 46. ( 5 ) /Seep. 23. ( 6 ) See p. 20. ( 7 ) Weiler. “L’Esprit des Institutions ouvriOres de Mariemont,” p. 15. Bollaert. “Les Institutions ouvriOres de Mariemont et de Bascoup,” i>. 28. Vandervelde. “Les Associations professionelles,” I. pp. 91, 179. Commission du Travail, III. pp. 06 -70. 11 {!>.) Indi- vidual trade associations. A. Mines, quarries, and metals, a. Mines. (transiger), sell, buy, or mortgage real, property, and it would also secure t.ho amount ol the mombers contributions. As the law stands at present, the workmen’s associations can be deprived ol their property without being able to take steps for redress. A most flagrant instance of such deprivation was afforded by the tailors’ society called the Brother- hood (Fraternelle), whose funds, amounting^ to 600 francs, were seined by the local authorities in 1884. Since the association was not legally recognised, no means of recovery were possible, and it was dissolved. The Labour Commission recommended that State recognition should be granted to associations of either employers or workmen, or joint associations of em- ployers and workmen engaged in the same trade, provided that the associations should consist of a minimum number of members, combined for trade objects. Foreigners might be admitted after two years’ residence in the country, so long as their number did not exceed one-tenth of the Belgian members, but they were to be disqualified from sitting on the council of management. All recognised associations should take a name which would distinguish them from any that previously existed, and should send a copy of their rules to the Registry for publication in the official journal, and furnish annually a statement of their finances, and of any alterations that might be made in their rules. They should agree to respect the freedom of labour, and, in cases of dispute, try to arrange all questions by conciliation, and they should guarantee that their funds should not be used for any but trade purposes. During the session of 1888-9 a Bill em- bodying these demands was presented by the Government to the Chamber of Representatives, but it has not yet been passed. (*) In the opinion of M. Vandervelde, it should be supplemented by the addition of a clause imposing penalties on persons who interfere with the liberty of unionists, and by the repeal of article 310 of the Criminal Code referring to attacks on the freedom of labour.f) So far from M. Yandervelde’s desire having been fulfilled, on May 30th, 1892, a law was passed increasing the penalties to he imposed on persons convicted of attacks on the freedom of labour, including picketing and intimidation. Such action is now punished by imprisonment varying from one month to two years, and fines ranging from 50 to 100 francs, or by one of these penalties only. In the mining and metal industries, according to M. Vandervelde, “the proportion of unionists is very “ considerable. It may he said that since 1886 there “ are very few workers in quarries and coal mines who “ have not at some time or other belonged to a pro “ tective society. But, at the present day, the quarry- “ men’s associations number scarcely 200 or 300 men. “ On the other hand, the Miners’ Federation has “ extended very largely, and in May 1891 more than “ 50,000 men were enrolled in it.” Previous to the establishment of this federation in 1889, many attempts had been made to organise the workers in coal mines. In 1869 many sections of the Internationale existed in the district, and in 1886 numerous workmen’s leagues ( lic/ues ouvri'eres) were formed ; but from want of a central organisation they were soon dissolved. The National Federation includes the four local federations of Charleroi, the Centre of Hainault, Borinage, and Liege. The last two of these are very unstable, but the organisation of the Charleroi and Centre of Hainault federations is stated to be excellent. In the Charleroi district 23,000 colliers out of a total of 30,000 are affili- ated to the Knights of Labour (Ordre des Chevaliers du travailbelges). The Federation of the Centre consists of a number oi trade (syndicates), friendly ( mutuellistes ), and political associations, grouped round the large co- operative society at Jolimont. The Federation is governed by an executive committee consisting of two delegates from each district, and holds a congress half- yearly. It has a central strike fund, supported by a monthly contribution of 5 centimes from each member, and “ the rules of the Federation plainly show that its “ sole object is to organise and regulate strikes in the “ coal industry.” The International Miners’ Federation was constituted in 1890 at the Congress of Jolimont, and the rules were definitely adopted at Paris in 1891. ( :i ) ( 1 ) The text of this Bill is given in full in the Appendix. See p. 55. { "■) “Les Associations professionnelles,” I. p. loo ; II. pp. 113-16. Commission du Travail, III. pp. 71-0. 217-50, 599 ; IV. pp. 17, 85-99, (9 “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp. 180-!)+. In the metal tirade there are a large number of unions, of which the Metal-workers’ Federation (Federa- tion des metallurgistes) is by far the most important. As early as 1862 there was an association at Brussels, which in 1870 contained over 2,000 members, and in Hainault the “ Trades Union ’’ (Union des metiers) was established in 1871 ; it soon numbered 1,500 members, but it was ruined by the strike in 1873. ( 4 ) Almost all the societies which now exist are of recent date. The federation was established in 1886, and in 1887 19 societies, numbering 2,118 members in all, were affiliated to it, but in 1888 for various reasons most of the affiliated societies withdrew. In 1889, however, it was reconstituted, and in 1891 it had affiliated to it 21 societies of workers in all branches of the trade. The object of the Federation is to render strikes fewer, and generally to carry out the programme of the Labour Party, to which it and all other societies in the trade are affiliated. Like most of the other societies it has only a strike fund, into which all the members’ contributions are paid. The Bronze-workers’ Federation (Federation dn bronze) consists of five associations, a friendly society, three protective societies, and a choral society. After a strike in 1873, the first protective society, established in 1865, split into three independent societies of workers in the three branches of the trade, hut in 1885 the federation was formed, in consequence of the crisis which prevailed at that time. Persons who wish to join the chasers’ and moulders’ societies must have worked four years at the trade, and pay an entrance fee of 5 francs. The objects of the federated societies are to obtain the abolition of overtime, and to maintain the rate of wages and the system of apprenticeship. No religious or political questions may be discussed at the meetings, but only matters connected with the interests of the trade. In recent years, however, the eight hours’ day and electoral reform have been in- cluded in matters of trade interest. Aicl is granted to superannuated members, and an attempt has been made to form a co-operative society, but no practical result has yet been attained. The Goldsmiths’ and Jewellers’ Free Association (Association libre des orfevres-bijoutiers), established in 1852, numbered in 1890 only 125 members out of a total of 500. Persons who wish to join the association must have worked at the trade four years, and be earning at least 4 francs a day. The association is not connected with any political party, although the majority of its members are socialists, and the secretary is the leader of the Brussels anarchists. It has an out-of-work fund, a labour registry (permanence), and a co-operative tool shop. In 1886 a Syndical Chamber was appointed to discuss trade interests with the employers' delegates, and act as a committee of instruction (comite d’etndes). The association is managed by a committee of seven. ( 5 ) As railway workers are not organised in Belgium, the dockers’ unions, which were established about 1889, arc the only societies under the head of “Transport,” in addition to the “ Nations,” which are classed with em- ployers' associations. (°) The report of the general council of the Labour Party at the Congress of Louvain in 1890 stated that the dockers’ union ( syndic, at des dockers) was then very powerful. (') There are a number of large and generally well organised federations in the third group, which includes the building and miscellaneous trades. The Stone- workers' Federation (Federation de la pierre), established in 1891, is comparatively small, but the Woodworkers’ Federation (Federation dn hois), founded in 1884, in- cluded eight societies in 1891 , and had enrolled about 2,000 members. The most important of the federated societies is the Carpenters and Joiners’ Association (Association des mennisiers et charpevMers) at Brussels, which was established in 1866, and reconstituted in 1884. It provides strike and sick benefits, and has a labour registry ([ jermanence ) and a tool-shop. A work- shop for the unemployed ( atelier de chomage) was in- stituted iu 1886, but was given up two years later. In 1891 the association numbered about 400 members, out of a total of nearly 10,000 workers in Brussels. ( s ) In 1890 the Cigar- Makers’ Federation (Federation des cigariers) was formed, including the local asso- ciations at Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liege, and ( 4 ) See p. 16 . ( s ) “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp.ltiS-79; 35-50 ( G ) See p. 9. ( : ) pp. 16 and 17. ( 8 ) Vandervelde. “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp. 146-55) B 2 ft. Mel al workers. y. Bronze- workers. S. Gold- smiths and jewellers. I!. Trans- port. C. Building, glass, print- ing, textile, and other trades. a. Builders. ft. Cigar- makers. 12 Tumhout. The Cigar-Makers’ Union (Union des cigariers) at Brussels, established in 1868, which may be taken as a type, desires to maintain the standard rate of wages, to find work for the unemployed, and to secure the general welfare of its members. It provides strike, emigration, and out-of-work benefits, and for- bids its members to work with non-unionists, or to help them to get employment. Out of a little over one hundred rules, about thirty are concerned with fines or exclusion, and one regulation states that “ the freedom “ of members consists of the right to work in any “ factory where they obtain the wages fixed by the “ association, and includes 'whatever is not forbidden “ them by the laws of society (lots sociales).’’ In 1870 the Union numbered about 400 members, but in 1891 it had only 150, and the funds, which once amounted to nearly 15,000 francs, had then fallen to less than 8,000 francs. Workshops for the unemployed have been established at Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent. (') v- Clothing The Amalgamated Glovemakers’ Society ( Collectivite Glove * * * 8 -’ de.s gantiers) at Brussels is a federation of the four pro- makers. tective societies of skin-dressers (megissiers) , softeners ( palissonneurs enblanc), dyers (ieinturiers en peaux) , and glove-makers (gantiers). The sole object of the first two societies is to support strikes, but assistance when out nf work is granted by the dyers and glove-makers, and the latter have also accident, sick, and superannuation funds. Only about half of the workers in the trade belong to the skin-dressers’ and softeners’ societies, but almost all the dyers and glove-makers are unionists, and have forced the employers in all the shops but one to agree to the exclusion of non-society men (sarrazins). In the glove-makers’ society the entrance fee is fixed at 15 francs. No person but the son of a member may become an apprentice in the dyeing and glove- making trades, and no member may take less than the established minimum wage. The softeners and dyers are affiliated to the Labour Party, but the Glove-makers’ Union (Union des gantiers ) refuses all connection with it, and is also the only trade society at Brussels that has opposed the establishment of the Labour Exchange (Bourse du travail ).( 2 ) Hat-makeis. In the straw hat trade at Brussels there is no im- portant society, but all the felt and silk hat makers, almost 150 in number, are members of the Hat-makers’ Benevolent Union ( Union philanthropique des cliapeliers), first established in 1838. It was originally a joint asso- ciation of employers and men, but since about 1865 it has consisted of journeymen only. Many attempts have been made to induce the factory workers to join the Union, but without success ; but they have recently formed a society of their own, which is affiliated to the Labour Party. Those who wish to join the Benevolent Union must have served a regular apprenticeship, and must pay an entrance fee of 100 francs. In 1885 the funds amounted to 30,000 francs, but had fallen in 1890 to 22,000 francs. The rules forbid members to work with non-unionists, and allow none but sons or brothers of members to become apprentices ; all engagements must be made through the medium of the Union. Aid from the funds is granted to members out of work, travelling, sick, or infirm ; it is also given in cases of accident or death. No political question may be dis- cussed at the meetings. The Union is governed by a committee of sixteen members representing the various branches of the trade. ( 3 ) Tailors. The National Tailors’ Federation (Federation nationals des tailleurs), established in 1890, comprises five asso- ciations at Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and Malines, of which the Journeymen Tailors’ Union (Union syndicate des ouvriers tailleurs) at Brussels is a local federation having two other societies affiliated to it. Before 1830 there were tailors’ societies at Brussels, the most im- portant of which, the Brotherhood (La Fraternelle), was reconstructed in 1855 as a protective society (societe de maintien de prix). After the disastrous strike in 1867 j 4 ) many dissensions arose among the members, who were thenceforth divided into the “ poor ” and the “ aristo- crats.” In 1880 the “aristocrats” left the Brother- hood, and established the Tailors’ Union (Union syndicate). In 1884 the funds of the Brotherhood were taken from it, and it was dissolved ; and in 1886 its members joined the Tailors’ Union. The objects of the federation are to suppress home work and piece-work, and to substitute the system of working a limited (■) “ Les Associations professionnelles,” pp. 131-46. H Id., I. pp. 50-8. (>) Id., I. pp. 24-35. ( 4 ) See p. 17. number of hours in a shop (atelier). As yet, the factory workers (ouvriers des confections) have not joined the federation, although invited to do so.( 5 ) The Confectioners’ Society (Societe des confiseurs), «. Confec- established in 1885, numbered 70 members in 1891, out tioners. of a total of about 150 workers, including apprentices. Previous to its establishment, there was only a friendly society, “ La Ruche mutuelle,” and the formation of the trade society was due to the rising influence of the Labour Party (Parti ouvrier), to which it became affiliated in 1886. Several members resigned after this date, and although the numbers were rapidly increased in 1887 in consequence of the strike, the membership was so far reduced in 1890 that the society was only saved by establishing a co-operative pro- ductive society, all the profits of which are paid into the central fund.f 6 ) The society grants strike, out-of- work, and travelling benefits, and it has a labour registry (bureau de placement) controlled by six mem- bers in the various branches of the trade. No regu- lations respecting non-unionists are contained in the rules, but almost all apprentices are sons or nephews of confectioners, and women .and non-unionists are only employed in one establishment. The society is governed by a committee of five, elected annually. (‘) About 1850 the first society was formed in the glass e G| trade, and in 1868 there were three sections of the workers. Internationale composed of glassworkers only, but these had disappeared before 1870. In consequence of a circular published in 1883 by the president of the Master Glassworkers’ Committee (Comite verrier), the blowers established the Glassworkers’ Union (Union verriere). After the strike in 1884, all the other branches of the trade joined the Union, which then numbered 2,700 members, and in the same year, after many difficulties and reverses, it joined the English, French, and American societies in forming the first international trade federation. The federated societies are financially independent, but must assist one another in case of a strike. In 1891 the Glassworkers’ Union contained 1,120 members. Its objects are those of the Order of the Knights of Labour, to which it is affiliated, and until 1886 it was the centre of all organisation in the district of Charleroi, but since the strike in that year its power has greatly diminished. It assists mem- bers on strike or out of work, or when emigrating, and has founded a society which provides its members with sick and funeral benefits. All members must have served an apprenticeship varying from three to seven years, and pay an entrance fee of 5 francs. The government is in the hands of a president, paid secre- tary, and eight councilmen, four of whom are chosen by the president, and four by the general meeting.( K ) The Typographic Federation (Federation typogra- £ printers. phique), formed in 1868, includes the large societies of Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, and Liege, besides a number of smaller associations. The principal objects of the federation are to find work for the unemployed, to raise the rate of wages, and further the general welfare of members of the trade. Each federated society manages its own government, and is otherwise inde- pendent, but none may become affiliated to any society which has not for its sole object the advancement of professional interests. ( 9 ) The federated societies are bound to furnish annual statistics bearing on the state of the trade, to oppose the employment of women as compositors, to regulate apprenticeship, and to join in all movements connected with wages and other ques- tions. A monthly contribution of 10 centimes a mem- ber is paid into the central fund, which must never fall below 2,0()0 francs. The federation is governed by a central committee of five, including a president, vice- president, and secretary, and a congress of delegates . from the federated associations is held annually. In 1880 the first International Typographic Congress was held at Brussels under the management of the Belgian Federation. By far the most important of the federated societies Brussels is the Free Association of Typographic Compositors t\on° C ' a and Printers (Association libre des compositeurs et im- primeurs typograplies) at Brussels. The Free Associa- tion of Compositors, to which only compositors earn- ing three francs a day were admitted, was established ( 5 ) “Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp. 155-65. ( 6 ) See p. 34. ( 7 ) “ Les Associations professionnelles,” pp. 58-65. 8 ) Id., I. pp. 111-28. ( 9 ) In consequence of this rule, three societies in the book trade which are affiliated to the Labour Party cannot be admitted. “ La F£d6ration tvposrsphiquc belgre ” February 1st, 1898. 13 Institu- tions. in 1842 by eleven compositors dismissed from the office of the “ Globe ” for resisting a reduction of wages. In spite of determined opposition on the part of many employers, the imorisonment of the leading members, and many other difficulties, the number of members rapidly increased. In 1863 the Association appointed a committee of ten to fix a tariff of prices, and in the next year the master printers formed the Belgian Typographic Union (Cercle typographique beige), which also drew up a tariff. After many negotiations, and a strike in the offices which would not accept the tariff of the association, the matter was settled by arbitration, and the tariff was adopted. In 1859 the association was affiliated to the United Workmen’s General Association (Association generate des ouvriers reunis ), but left it after a few years because of the introduction of political principles. For the same reason it refused in 1867 to become affiliated to the Internationale. At the end of 1868, some employers who were hostile to the association established the Brotherhood (F rater nelle), which was joined by many members of the association ; and the latter was further weakened by several strikes which took place at the same time. Prior to 1869 the association consisted exclusively of compositors, but in that year the Free Association and the printers’ association, founded in 1847, but with funds amounting in 1869 to 2,000 francs, were fused into one, under the title of the Free Association of Typographic Composi- tors and Printers. In 1874 an advance of wages of 50 centimes a day for men on the establishment was demanded, and granted almost immediately by 28 offices out of 32, but the attempt to secure an advance for the piece-workers two years later was followed by a disastrous strike.) 1 ) Another society. “ La Solidarite ,” was established in 1886, and in consequence of the strike in 1890 this was fused with the association, which in 1891 numbered over 1,000 members. ( 2 ) In the same year the total receipts amounted to 52,935 francs, and the total expenses to 55.888 francs. All printers and compositors who wish to join the association must be 20 years of age, and have worked at the trade for five years, and they must pass a theoretical and practical examina- tion before they are admitted. The entrance fee is 5 francs, in addition to a sum varying from 2 to 5 francs according to age, which is paid to the superannuation fund [caisse de retraite), and the contribution is 2 francs 50 centimes a month. No member on the establishment may work for less than 55 centimes an hour, and journalists must receive at least 5 francs 50 centimes a day. Non-unionists are not tolerated in any office. The association provides benefits for its members as follows : — Dispute benefit : 5 francs a day for three months. Out-of-work benefit : Not more than 200 francs the 1st year. „ 150 ,, 2nd' ,, ,, 150 ,, 3rd ,, 100 ,, 4th „ Superannuation benefit : Not more than 1 franc a day, according to the receipts of the previous year. Travelling benefit : From 5 to 25 francs, according to distance travelled. The association possesses a library, established in 1862, which in 1891 contained 1,440 works, a news- paper, “La Federation typographique,” and a school for apprentices. This school was opened in 1889, and was in 1891 attended by 67 pupils. About 40 employers send their apprentices to the school, and pay their ex- penses. The total annual expenditure amounts to about 5,000 francs. No attempt has as yet been made by the association to establish a co-operative printing society, although the question has been discussed on several occasions. The objects of the association are non- political, and it refuses to become affiliated to the Labour Party (Parti ouvrier), but in 1882 a society for electoral reform, “ En Avant,” was established, and was joined by 417 members of the association. This has been for several years affiliated to the Labour Party. Since 1890 the association has taken part in the demon- stration for the eight hours’ day, but not in that for universal suffrage. The association is governed by & council of 25, including a president, two vice-presidents (a compositor and a printer), a secretary, and a trea- surer, who are elected annually, and a permanent delegate, who receives 175 francs a month. After the strike in 1890, an additional section ( section des adhe- (') See p. 17. ( 2 ) See p. 17, rents) was formed of compositors ami printers who are not eligible for membership in the Free Association. In 1892 the section numbered over 300 members. All who wish to join it must have worked two years at the trado, and be between 16 and 25 years of age ; they must pay a fee of 1 franc on entrance, and a monthly contribution of 50 centimes Aid from the funds is granted to members who are “ victimised ” or out of work. The section is governed by a committee of 13, eight of whom are members of the Free Association.) 3 ) The Ghent Federation ( Federation gantoise ), which was formed in 1860 by the union of the three societies of cotton-spinners, weavers, and metal-workers, includes the friendly society “ Bond-Moyson,” ten protective societies (societes de resistance), of which those in the flax and cotton industries are the most important, the co-operative societies “ Vooruit ” and “ Be Werkman ” and various other associations ( cercles d’etudes et de propagande). After the disastrous strike at the Gras- Fabriek in 1861, the metal-workers left the federation, the spinners’ society was dissolved, and only the weavers remained.) 4 ) Soon after, a socialist minority in the weavers’ society formed another union, and both be- came affiliated to the Internationale in 1867. The cotton spinners’ society was reconstituted in 1876, and in 1891 it numbered 630 members out of a total of 1,200 workers, but the weavers’ society, which iu 1886 had enrolled 1,800 members, had in 1891 only 650 out of about 3,500 workers. The weavers’ society grants aid to members on strike, or travelling in search of work, and in cases of sickness or death ; women are admitted on the same terms as men, and may read the books in the library of the association without any pay- ment. The principal objects of these societies are to obtain an advancement of the rate of wages, and re- duction of hours, and to assist all other associations during a strike.) 5 ) The Federation of the Yesdre Valley ( Federation dela vallee de la Vesdre) consists of the local federations of Yerviers, Ensival, and Dison, most of the members of which are engaged in the woollen industry. The earliest protective societies in the valley were contemporary with the Internationale. In 1867 the Society of Free Workmen ( Francs Ouvriers ) was established, and this founded the Federation of Protective Societies (Federa- tion des caisses de resistance), chiefly composed of workers in the woollen industry, affiliated to the Inter- nationale. There was also a local federation at Verviers, but the crisis in 1870 swept away the whole of this organisation. In 1872 sixteen spinners’ societies formed a federation, and the weavers established the Federated Weavers’ Protective Society (Resistance des tisserands federes), which in 1873 became affiliated to the Inter- nationale at Verviers, but after the strike in that year the sections of the Internationale in the Yesdre valley were completely disorganised. About 1884 the Verviers Federation was reconstituted, but it was again dis- organised in 1887, and the present societies were only founded about 1889. Although a large number of workmen in the district are socialists, not more than 1,000 are affiliated to the Labour Party, and the associa- tions are propagandist ( cercles de propagande ) rather than protective societies (societes de resistance). ( e ) The Order of the Knights of Labour (Ordre des Chevaliers du travail beiges) was introduced into Belgium by delegates from the American glassworkers’ union, which had aided the Belgian glassworkers in the strike in 1884.) 7 ) The example of the Glassworkers’ Union (Union verri'ere) in becoming affiliated to the Order was rapidly followed by the glovemakers’, miners’, metal- workers’, and many other societies, and in 1887 the first State Assembly (Assemblee d'Etat beige) was held at Brussels. In 1886 the Knights of Labour, together with the Labour Party, organised a demonstration at Charleroi of more than 4,000 men, demanding universal suffrage, and pardon for the victims of the events of the previous March. After several strikes) 3 ) in the various sections of the Order, a meeting was held at Charleroi- Nord in 1890, at which it was decided that the Belgian Order should henceforth be quite distinct from the American. Since the decline of the Glassworkers’ Union, the head-quarters of the Order are in the mining districts of Charleroi , Bor inage, and the Centre of Hainault, where in spite of much hostility on the part of employers, strikes, and other difficulties, the number ( 3 ) Vandervelde. " Les Associations professionnelles.” I. pp. 66-103. Hubert. “ Historique de 1’ Association libre des Compositeurs et Im primenrs typographes de Bruxelles,” passim. (♦) See p. 18. ( 5 ) “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp. 194 -218, ( B ) Id., I. pp. 219-30. ( 7 ) See p.17. ( 8 ) See p. 17. J4 * n. Textile Cotton and flax. Wool. (c.) Other labour organisa- tions. a. Knights of Labour f). Labour Party. Origin. Composite ami w ork. (I.) Catholic associations. 14 of members lias so far increased that 23,000 colliers out of 30,000 were enrolled in the Order in 1891. According to the rules of the Order, only working men can be admitted as members, consequently the re- peated requests of a considerable number of tradesmen to be admitted, could not be granted, but the Order has helped to establish tradesmen’s unions ( unions de com- mercants ) in several localities. These associations agreed to support the political and other claims of the working class, and, in return, the Order undertook not to establish new co-operative societies, but to support those which already existed. The principal objects of the Knights of Labour are to secure the establishment of a Department of Labour Statistics ( Bureau du statist iques du travail ), the repeal of all laws which un- duly favour capitalists, the recognition of trade unions and other labour organisations, tho establishment of courts of arbitration for the settlement of disputes, an eight hours’ day, and other measures for the moral, intellectual, and social welfare of the working classes. (‘) The history of the Labour Party ( Parti ouvrier) is inseparably connected with the development of socialism in Belgium (see above). Before its establishment, there existed in Brussels a group of associations called the Federation of Workmen’s Leagues and Democratic Societies, which included political, rationalist, demo- cratic, republican, and socialist elements. There were also the socialist associations of the Internationale, and of the Chamber of Labour. At certain rimes all these elements united to organise demonstrations in favour of universal suffrage, and on behalf of the unemployed. The Federation instituted workmen’s leagues ( ligues ouvrieres) in all the suburbs of Brussels, and it was decided that an attempt should be made to group together all classes of workers who had hitherto re- mained outside the pale of labour associations. At Easter 1885 a congress was held at Brussels to discuss the feasibility of the proposed institution. Some dis- cussion arose as to the name which the society should bear : the Flemish and Braban 9 on socialists wished to adopt the name “Socialist Party” ( Parti socialiste), but the Brussels Federation preferred the title “ Labour Party ” (Parti ouvrier), which was finally decided upon. The Labour Party is composed of a number of inde- pendent federations, of which those having their head- quarters at Gfhent, Brussels, and Jolimont are the most important. These federations are almost all identical in their organisation. They consist of a number of mutual aid, trade, political, educational, and other societies, connected by one or more large co-operative societies. The various groups also form special federa- tions, of which the chief are those of metal-workers, wood-workers, and painters, the federations of the co-operative and mutual aid societies, and the Socialist Student’s Federation. Within one year from the date of its establishment, the Labour Party supported the strike which occurred in the spring of 1886, demanding universal suffrage and a reform of the constitution, and in August 1886 an important demonstration in favour of universal suffrage was held at Brussels. The Labour Party has supported a number of other important strikes and movements for social reform, organising meetings and conferences, and employing various other means of propaganda. ( 2 ) In 1891 the first really international socialist congress was organised in Brussels by the Labour Party. This congress was attended by some of the most eminent representatives of foreign science and socialism. M. Voldcrs states that the influence of tho Party has already been immense, and that it was mainly instrumental in obtaining the appointment of the commission to revise the constitution. The programme setting forth the objects of tbc Party, and the rules by which it is governed, arc given in full detail in tbc Appendix, which also contains a list of the principal trade associations, specifying those which are affiliated to the Labour Party.! 1 ) A number of Catholic associations have existed in Belgium for many years. They had at first a purely religious character, but most of them have in recent years added economic institutions to their original organisations. One of the most important is the Holy Family (Saint Famille ) established at Liege in 1844. Others that may be mentioned are the societies of St. John the Baptist, instituted at Client in 1858. the society St. Vincent de Paul, established at Brussels in 1845, of St. Francis Xavier in 1854, and of St. Francis (') “Los Associations professionnelles,” I. p. 185. “ Les Chevaliers du Travail,” Nos 1-5, of. Vo). I., pp. 8, 1). (-) See pp. 8, 18. ( 3 ) Volders. “ Le Parti ouvrier beige.” " La Revue socialiste,” Deo. 181)2, pp. 076-82. Vandervelde. “ Histoiredu Parli ouvrier beige," Societe liherale. 2 me s5rie. Bulletin No. 7. Regis, which is chiefly occupied in facilitating tho marriage of the poor. Since 1886 the Catholics have organised religious guilds (corporations chrdtiennes) to counteract tho socialist principles disseminated by the Labour Party and other associations. The Guild of Industries anil I radcs oi Louvain (Glide dev avibclcJiten en ner ingen van Loren) is composed of persons engaged ill various occupations, and includes a certain number of religious guilds. It is a joint association ot em- ployers and employed, and consists of employers, journeymen, tradesmen, other workers not included in the above categories, honorary members, and patrons (membres protecteurs) . The entrance fee varies from 1 to 5 francs, and the subscription from 5 centimes to 3 francs, a month, according to the position of the member. Tho guild is managed by a council of twelve, eleven of whom arc selected by the various categories ol members. A provost (prevot) is chosen by the members of the council from among the priest's of Louvain, and the whole council elects a dean, arbitrator, secretary, and treasurer. When the members of the guild include ten employers in the same industry, they may form a special guild, the rules (keure) of which must be approved by the council. The provost and dean take part in ihe government of each of these guilds. In 1891 guilds ot this kind had been established among wood-workers, bakers, painters, clerks, and maltere. The guild has instituted sick and funeral lipids, a savings bank, and a society for the purchase of workmen’s houses. The objects of the guild are to afford mutual assistance to members, to re-establish the system of working by hand, to develop industry in general, and to maintain good relations between em- ployers and workmen. Mention may lie made of the guild “ Eerlijk en Werlczaam” at Bruges, which has recently been established on the model of that at Louvain, and of the Fishermen’s Guild at Ostend, “ T’zal u-el gaan” instituted in 1887. In the same year the “ Maison des Ouvriers ” was founded at Brussels. In consists of ordinary members and as- sociates ; the latter are employers and other persons interested in the work of the society. In 1891 it numbered 1,141 members. The guild iias established a mutual aid society, a lending fund and savings bank, and a labour registry. In 1890 it instituted a co-operative bakery in opposition to the “ Maison du Pduple.” All these guilds consist only of persons engaged in small industries. Thoir rules are modelled on those of the old Ambuchten, but the resemblance is merely superficial, and they have more in common with the labour associations of the present day than with the old guilds whpse name they have adopted. Employers and workmen form two distinct classes, paying different contributions, and having special representation in the council of management. No restrictions exist as to the number or occupation of persons who may he admitted. Tho guilds are principally distinguished from other associations by their religious objects, and by the admission of both employers and employed. The chief object of the catholic guilds is to induce a reaction against the propaganda of the Labour Party, the “Vooruit,” and other socialist unions. As M. Vander- velde says, “every time that the socialist workmen “build a “Maison du Penple.” form a syndicate, or “ establish a co-Operative soeietj 7 , the managers (of the “religious guilds; found in opposition a “ Maison des “ Ouvrier s,’’ a guild, or stores.” ( J ) Up to the present time their efforts have met with only partial success, bat their position shows signs of improvement. M. “ Vandervelde believes that “ in a few years the “ greater number of workmen in Belgium will be affili- “ ated to an organisation of some kind, either socialist or “ religious, and thatin all districts where small industries “ (V Industrie de metier), religious traditions, and more or “ less patriarchial relations between employers and “ workmen exist side by side, they (the religions societies) “ will recruit their members from among Ihcsc thousands “ of workers, now scattered as the dust, and entirelv “ unaffected by socialist propaganda. ”( ’) B. — Causes of Strikes. From the fact that no official or other statistics of strikes in Belgium have hitherto been published, it has been impossible to obtain adequate information on the subject. The majority appear to have been due to questions of wages— for an advance or against a reduction. Thus, in 1879, a strike of miners took place in Borinage in consequence of an advance spontaneously “ Les Associations professionnelles,” II. pjjj.. Id., I. pp. 231-7 ; II. 51-li. Me.ver. “ Der Emancipationskampf des vierten Standes,” II. p. 260. Commission du Travail T1 H pp. 57. 107, 121 : R. pp. 30. 73. 02. HP. Till. Character of the guilds. 1. Wages — (a.) for advance. 15 (6.) against reduction. (c.) Mini- mum wage. 2. Hours. («.) In- crease or red uetion. (S.) Eight hours’ day. 3. Other conditions , (a.) Mode of working. offered, by the employer, but which the miners thought insufficient. Other strikes of miners occurred in 1888 and 1889. The Borinage miners, it is stated, took part in the political strikes of 1891 and 1893, in the hope of obtaining an advanced rate of wages, rather than from any political motives. The strikes of bronze-workers in 1873, of quarrymen in West Flanders in 1886, carpenters and joiners at Brussels in 1872, marble-workers in 1871, cabinet-maker;, in 1881, tailors in 1 867, sugar refiners in 1876, printers in 1869 and 1877, and cotton weavers in 1 870, wore principal iy for tin advance ol wages. Since l.hi establishment of t lie Bronze-workers’ Federation in 1885. it. has organised a number ot strikes, almost all of which hare been successful. Some miners in Borinage struck in 1885 against ^.reduc- tion of ouc franc, and were successful in inducing the employers to accept a reduction of 75 centimes instead. Other strikes that may be mentioned are those of the men in the Cockerill ironworks at Scraing in 1891, the lace makers at Brussels, and printers at Liege in 1881, the glass-workers in 1884, and the weavers at Turnhout in 1872, and at Roulers in 1893. In August, 1893, disputes occurred in a hat-making establishment at Cureghem, with respect to a reduction of 40 per cent, in the piece- work rate. The reduction was not maintained, and work was resumed after five days. A few strikes have occurred for the establishment of a minimum wage. This was the cause of the printers’ strikes at Liege in 1868, and in 1864, 1877, and 1890 at Brussels. One of the demands of the gun-makers in the Yesdre Valley in 1886 was for a minimum wage. In July 1893 some colliers at Wasmes struck against deductions from wages for the funds of a provident society, and there was a lock-out of ninety-one slate quarrymen at Alle owing to a dispute with regard to a new price list.! 1 ) The miners’ strike at Amercoeur in 1886 was to prevent an increase in the number of hours in the mine. Between 1871 and 1872 strikes occurred among cigar- makers, flax and cotton spinners, weavers, engine- makers, and house painters, principally with the object of obtaining a reduction of the daily hours of labour to 10. The quarrymen’s and engine -makers’ strikes in 1886 and 1870 were partly to obtain a reduction of hours, as were also the miners’ strikes in 1886 and 1890. The eight hours movement has gained considerable ground in Belgium during the last few years. At the Fifth annual congress of the Labour Party it was proposed that the latter should undertake active propaganda in favour of an eight hours’ day, and in April 1890 the Sixth congress decided that a demonstration should be held on May 1st of the same year. A proposal for establishing an eight hours’ day from bank to bank was brought forward at the First International Miners’ Con- gress held at Jolimont in the same year. After much discussion the French, German, and Belgian delegates unanimously passed a resolution in favour of obtaining the eight hours by Act of Parliament ; at the Fourth Congress in Brussels in 1893 the resolution in favour of a legal eight hours’ day underground was carried by 994,000 against 100,000. At the Third International Miners’ Congress in London, 1892, the Belgian, French, German, and Austrian delegates desired to extend the eight hours’ day to surface workers, and at the Fourth Congress at Brussels in 1893 the motion was carried by a large majority, the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain remaining neutral. The proposal at tho First Congress that, unless the resolution in favour of an eight hours’ day became law before May 1st, 1891, a general strike should be declared , only met with partial support : at the Fourth Congress it was carried by a large majority, though opposed by the delegates from Durham, North- umberland, and WalesJ 2 ) Though the strikes in 1891 and 1893 were mainly for political objects, the miners also demanded an eight hours’ day. Since 1886 the Metal-workers’ Federation has s upported a certain number of successful strikes to obtain the abolition of the system of piece-work called “abattoirs ” by the workmen. The only strike ever supported by the Lithographic Printers’ Association occurred in July 1890, with the object of restricting the number of apprentices, but it resulted in failure. In the cigar industry the excessive employment of apprentices and the competition of women and children are frequent sources of dispute. In 1885 the cotton spinners at Ghent P) "Labour Gazette,” August 1893, p. 93, Sept. p. 118. w Parti ouvrier beige. Compte Rendu riu 5 me Congrfes annuel P- ;'?•>• , L‘. 6""> CongrCs annuel, pp. 32-0. Report of the 1st Inter- national Miners Congress, pp. 15 , Gazette,” June 1893, p. 3(1. struck against the introduction of a new system of working. A strike of engine-fitters at Ensival-lez- Vcrviers from a similar cause is mentioned in the report of the Labour Commission. The introduction of machinery is mentioned as a cause of dispute between employers and workmen in the cigar industry. In 1873 a strike took place at two large establishments in tho metal industry in the Centre of HainaUlt, to prevent a reduction of the staff, owing to tho crisis in the trade at that time. Many complaints were made before the Commission of tho conduct of foremen and overmen (contremaitres and porio%$). In 1872 a strike of blacksmiths occurred at La Croyere, in order to obtain the dismissal of a fore- man ; the men were successful after the struggle had lasted seven months. One of the most grievous com- plaints in connection with some of these officials was that they frequently kept shops and stores, at which they compelled the workmen to deal. Three forms of this truck system, were at that time in vogue. In some cases the shop was kept by the employer himself, or by his foremen or overmen, very frequently also by some relatives or friends of the employer or foreman. The result was, however, practically the same in all cases. It often happened that a workman received little or none of his wages in money, biit was paid in goods which he might not require, and which were not of the best quality. It was stated that at one colliery iu Borinage the son-in-law of the manager was a brewer and wholesale gin merchant, two other relatives were grocers and drapers, and the mother of the snb-manager also kept a shop. The witness declared that similar practices prevailed in other establishments. Those miners who dealt at the “ bons endroits,” as these shops were called, were allowed privileges from which their fellow-workmen were excluded.! 3 ) One of the causes of the strike ef quarrymen in West Flanders in 1886 was the obligation to buy at certain shops. About the same time the gun-makers in the Yesdre Valley went out on strike ; they demanded a minimum wage and the complete abolition of the shops kept by em- ployers. Since the publication of the law of December •5th, 1887, regulating the payment of workmen’s wages, this abuse has been greatly checked, although it hasuot yet been entirely abolished. ( 4 ) A few instances are mentioned of strikes which have been caused by the dismissal of members of trade asso- ciations. In 1872 a society of workmen engaged in the manufacture of lighting apparatus was established to demand an advance of wages. The employers met, and agreed not to employ any members of this society : the men struck, and were out for 100 days. A strike of confectioners took place in 1887, in consequence of tho dismissal of the vice-president of the association. The printers at Ghent struck against the employment of a man who had worked against the association, and for two years the establishment was closed to members of the association. In 1887 the glove-makers at Brussels organised a successful strike to obtain the dismissal of non-unionists. Some of the men employed at the Six- honniers colliery left work for two days in 1887 in consequence of a strike at the Marihaye and Cockerill mines at Serving. The management of the colliery was reorganised as a result of the strike. No strikes arc recorded from political causes previous to 1886, but since that date strikes of miners, more or less important, have occurred almost every year. In May 1887 35,000 miners in the districts of the Centre, Borinage, and Charleroi went out on strike for purely political objects. Other general and local strikes took place in 1888, 1889, and 1890, and in May 1891 a gene- ral strike occurred which embraced the four mining districts. The recent strike of May 1893, in which workmen from a number of different industries were concerned, was one of the most important strikes that have ever taken place in Belgium. The statistics necessary for a comparison of the number of strikes that have occurred in the various industries are wanting, but it will be seen that im- portant strikes are most frequent among miners. Thus between 1869 and 1890 the following strikes occurred : Borinage, 47 strikes, 10 of which were general, or extended over a large part of the district ; Charleroi, 68 strikes, eight of which were general, or extended over a large part of the district ; Centre, 28 strikes, five of which were general, or extended to a large part of the district; Liege, 27 strikes, only one or two of which were widely extended. The very fre- quent occurrence of strikes in this industry is in greai ( a ) Commission du Travail, II. , E. p. 17. (■*) Seep. 61. B 4 (It.) Oil- noxious officials. (c.) Diffi- culties connected with union- ism. (d.) Politi- cal strikes. Comparison ot strikes in the various industries. 16 pari due to the low wages generally earned by miners. A number of important strikes have taken place in the printing trade, many of which have been successful. The most noteworthy result attained by printers’ strikes is the advance of the average rate of wages from 3 to 5.50 francs. In the cigar industry small strikes occur very frequently, but are generally local and of short duration. ( l ) Among jewellers, goldsmiths, and agricultural labourers’ strikes are unknown.! 2 ) C. — Development, Organisation, and Conduct of Strikes. 1. Important The following are some of the most important strikes individual which have occurred of recent years, arranged according to the various industries. A. Mines, In November 1886, an important strike occurred and'metals. among the miners at Amercoeur, owing to an order *. Coal from the management for an amount of work which mines. would be impossible, unless the men remained seventeen or eighteen hours in the mine. The Miners’ Union, which conducted the strike, made several unsuccessful attempts to obtain a settlement by arbitration or con- ciliation. For two months all went well, assistance was received from all parts of Belgium, and even from America, and the continuance of the strike was unanimously voted at all meetings. Subsequently, however, the number of men imported from Flanders and other provinces to work in the mines increased daily, and in February 1887, after the strike had lasted three months, the men resumed work. About 140 remained unemployed for some time, but the greater number gradually returned to their former posts, with the exception of the leading members of the Miners’ Union, most of whom were victimised.! 2 ) In April 1888 the councils of conciliation and arbitra- tion at Mariemont and Bascoup received a demand for an advance in wages ; an agreement was made that when the state of the market improved, the advance should be granted A few months later a further advance of 10 per cent, was demanded, half of which was immediately conceded, and all difficulty appeared to be at an end. It was, however, found necessary to vary the advance according to the different classes of men, and thus a misunderstanding arose, which, according to the statement of M. Weiler, there was some reason to believe was fomented by the leaders of the anarchist and socialist parties. Numerous meetings were held, in which anarchist speakers persuaded the miners to ask for an advance of 20 and even 40 pet cent., and declared that there were 300,000 Belgians in France who only awaited a signal to march to their assistance. The councils endeavoured to arrange a settlement, and after a few days only 350 men out of 6,000 were absent from work, “ in spite of violent “ agitation on the part of the anarchists, who saw their “ plans defeated for the second time.”!' 1 ) Another strike occurred in December 1889 in the district of Charleroi, to obtain a nine hours’ day below ground, and an advance in wages of 15 per cent. Within a few days the strike had become general throughout the district, and the number of men out had increased from 15,000 to 27,000. The strike was conducted by the president of the Miners’ Union, and after many negotiations a compromise favourable to the workmen was effected in January 1890. Two managers, however, stated the next day that they rejected the com] romise, and the strike at these two mines con- tinued for another week, when the miners employed there resumed work under the old conditions. During 1890 a large number of miners were dismissed in the district of Charleroi, in defiance of the terms of the compromise, and blacklisting was apparently resorted to, since the men who were dismissed were unable to get work. A State Assembly of the Knights of Labour was held, and a letter was addressed to the directors, asking that the men should be allowed to cease work one day in each week, and that those miners who had been dismissed should be taken on again. No reply was made to this request, and, as further reductions of wages followed, a strike was inevitable. On May 1st, 1891, a demonstration of more than 25,000 men was held at Charleroi, and the next day, in accordance with a unanimous resolution of the delegates to the Miners’ Federation, a general strike was declared in the four ( J ) Necpp. 10, 17. p) Commission du Travail, I. pp. 390-408; II., A. pp. 49, 91: B. pp. 37, 45 ; 1 j. pp. 9, 20, 81, 49 ; D. pp. 50, 96, 164 ; E. p. IS ; and passim. Vandervelde. “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp. 42, 91, 138, 180-94. E. O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 214. pp. 7-10. P) “ Les Chevaliers du Travail,” I. Nos. 1-2. (•>) Weiler. “ La GrOve de Mariemont,” pp. G-ll. minin g districts. The men demanded universal suffrage and a eight hours’ day. Several attempts were made to arrive at a settlement by means of conciliation or arbitration, but without result ; the struggle continued for 72 days, when the men were forced to resume work under worse conditions than before. For several months nearly 840 men remained unemployed, and in many cases attempts were made by the employers to weaken the Order of the Knights of Labour, by forcing the men to resign their membership, under penalty of dismissal. Considerable assistance was sent by the English associations, and divided amongst the victims of the strike in the four mining districts. On August 15th, 1893, the Miners’ Federation issued a manifesto, calling attention to the state of affairs in the English coal-fields, and pointing out that it was incumbent on Belgian miners and other workmen to prevent the exportation of coal to England. A further manifesto on August 24th advised them to demand an advance in wages of 10 per cent. The Borinage Union endeavoured to organise a general strike in sympathy with the English miners, but the majority of the men desired to profit by the improved situation due to the t increased production caused by the exportation of coal to England. On September 22nd the directors of the mines in the Borinage district agreed to grant an advance very shortly, but two days later the Miners’ Union decided that a general strike should be declared on September 25th. p) In January 1889 the joint-stock company of the por- Quarries, phyry quarries at Quenast dismissed seventeen grinders (repasseurs) . The company stated that it was necessary to reduce the production, but the men considered the action aggressive, and about 300 left work, throwing a large number of other workmen out of employment. The public authorities were obliged to interpose, to prevent attacks being made on the freedom of labour, and in a skirmish which took place between the men on strike and some gendarmes, one workman was killed. In February a Royal decree was published, instituting a council of industry and labour! 5 ) at Quenast, in iho hope that a settlement might be made by means of conciliation, but before the council was regularly con- stituted an arrangement was concluded between the managers and the men on strike. In May, however, the struggle was renewed, and the question was submitted to the council of industry and labour, which decided in favour of the workmen. In July the strike was ended by a fresh agreement between the workmen and the company. Several societies, including the metal-workers at Tubize and the printers at Liege, assisted the men on strike. They were also supported by some of the university students at Brussels, and by the Labour Party ( Parti ouvrier), which sent more than 60,000 kilogrammes of bread, and other assistance. ( 7 1 Owing to the crisis in the metal industry in 1873, y ■ Metals, some employers in Hainault dismissed several of their workmen. In order to protest against such dismissals, the men employed in the two largest establishments came out on strike, and were supported by the “ Trades Union ” ( Union des metiers). A large number of other societies sent aid, but the only result of the three weeks’ strike was the ruin of the association. The total cost exceeded 20,000 francs. In 1870 a strike of engine-makers ( me'caniciens ) took En^ine- place for a reduction of the hours of labour, the abolition maker8, of fines, the payment of night work and overtime as time and a half, and the suppression of benefit funds in shops. The strike was at first local, but quickly became general, and was conducted by the Engine- makers’ General Association. Other societies, including the Internationale, lent considerable pecuniary support, and all workmen who required aid received 15 francs a week as strike pay. After three weeks the strike ended in a complete victory for the men. Instead of working overtime, the employers took on additional hands, which was what the men desired. There was very little loss to either side, and production did not suffer, as the employers took advantage of the cessation of work to have necessary repairs executed. No establishment was blocked. A few workmen were victimised in Brussels, but they left the country for a short time, and afterwards returned. ( s ) ( 5 ) “Les Chevaliers du Travail,” Nos. 3-6. Vandervelde. “Les Associations professionnelles,” I. pp. 186-7. “ Labour Gazette,” Sept., 1893, p. 11S. “ Standard,” Sept. 23 and 25. ( 6 ) See p. 21. (') Parti ouvrier beige. Compte-rendu du 6 me CongrOs annuel, 1889, p. 20. Vandervelde. "Les Associations professionnelles, I. pp. ix., 102, 175. “ De la Conciliation et de l’Arbitrage en France et a l’Etranarer,” p. 456. ( s ) Vandervelde, I. pp. 170, 173. Commission du Travail, I. p. 402. 17 Iron. B. Trans- port and agriculture. C. Huilding, glass, print- ing, textile, and other trades. a.Carpenters and joiners. p. Marble workers. y. Cigar- makers. 3. Cloth- ing trades. Glove- makers. Tailors. r. Case- workers. Early in 1891 the men employed in the Cockerill iron- works at Seraing struck against a reduction in wages of 5 percent. The question was referred to the council of industry and labour, (’) and the reduction was accepted, on condition that the men who had taken part in the strike should not in any way suffer lor their action, On the other hand, the employers guaranteed that the reduction should only last until trade improved. ( 2 ) No information has been obtained respecting strikes in the transport and agricultural industries. In 1872 the carpenters and joiners in one of the largest establishments in Brussels requested the com- mittee of the association to demand in their name an advance in wages of 10 centimes an hour. The em- ployers refused to treat with the association, and the whole of the men came out. Perceiving that the move- ment would extend, seven other employers immediately declared a lock-out. The strike lasted a month, and was settled by an agreement that 5 centimes advance should be granted at once, and 5 centimes more within six months, f) In 1871, in consequence of the improved state of the trade, the employers in the marble works at Brussels decided to grant an advance in wages of 10 per cent. The next day the men held a meeting, and determined to ask for an advance of 25 per cent. This was refused, and a strike was declared. It was organised chiefly by Belgians who had worked in Paris and become affiliated to the Internationale, which lent them support. After 22 weeks it ended in a victory for the men, but, in con- sequence of this advance, the importation into Brussels of marble from abroad and from the provinces was much increased, to avoid paying at so high a rate for work done at home.( 4 ) No important strike of cigar makers has ever occurred, although small local strikes are very frequent. The principal points of difference with the employers are the introduction of machinery, an increase in the number of apprentices, the competition of women and children, and the reduction of wages. In April 1893, a strike broke out in the Tinchant tobacco factory at Antwerp. It was, however, brought to an end after one day by the employers agreeing that the workmen’s syndicate should “ conduct the search for tobacco or “ cigars in cases where workmen or workwomen were “ suspected of smuggling them out of the factory. ”( 5 ) After the glove-makers’ strike in 1884 all the em- ployers, with one exception, agreed to employ hence- forward none but men who belonged to the Glove- makers’ Union. In 1887 several employers disregarded this agreement, and engaged a number of men at a lower price than that fixed by the tariff’ of the associa- tion. The other workers struck, and demanded the dismissal of the non-unionists. This was conceded, but one of the men thus dismissed lodged a complaint against the leaders of the association, on the ground of interference with freedom of labour. They were acquitted by the magistrates, but found guilty by the Higher Court at Brussels in 1888. In 1867 an important strike of tailors broke out simultaneously at Paris and Brussels. Its object was to force the employers to accept a tariff raising the rate of wages, which had been stationary for 20 years, and to make this advanced rate applicable to the whole of the year. The strike was supported by the Brotherhood (Fraternelle) , and lasted for a month; about 40 em- ployers accepted the tariff, whilst others obstinately rejected it. Their firmness was afterwards discovered to be due to the fact that' a number of men professedly on strike, and receiving strike pay, were working at night for high wages. ( n ) The most important strikes in the glass industry took place in 1884 and 1886. In January 1884 the Master Glass-workers’ Committee determined to have 37 furnaces extinguished, and tried to reduce the wages of the men employed in the other furnaces. The Glass- workers’ Union declared that the crisis was much exaggerated by the employers, and decided that the men thrown out of work by the extinction of the furnaces should be taken on to work with those who still retained employment, and should receive half the wages of the latter ( travail a deux pour un). The majority of the employers refused to allow this mode of working, and (’) See p,21. ( 2 ) "Bo la Conciliation et de l’Arbitrago en France et&l’Etranger,” p.459. ( 3 ) Vandervelde, I., p. 153. ‘) Commission du travail, II. B., p. 20. 5 ) Vandervelde. " Les Associations professionnelles,” I.,p. 139. Labour Gazette,” I„ No. 1, p. 21. ( 6 ) Vandervelde, I. pp. 57, 160. E 78030. in March a strike was declared. Most of the men on strike had entered into long engagements with their employers, who seized their wages and the deposits they had made, and brought an action against them to recover damages. In addition to the amount of the confiscated wages and deposits, the expenditure of the Glass-workers’ Union reached a total of 14,422 francs 92 centimes. Large sums of money were sent from abroad for the support of the men on strike, and the American union sent its president and a member of its committee to organise an international union. In this way the Order of the Knights of Labour was introduced into Belgium, since the American Glass-workers’ Union was affiliated to that body.( 7 ) The American delegates informed the Union that there were vacancies in the United States for about 700 workmen, and that a free passage would be provided for those who emigrated there; others returned to their old employers, and thus the strike was brought to an end. After this strike the number of members in the Union largely increased, but in 1885 there was a fresh crisis, which resulted in further reductions of wages. In 1886 many disturb- ances broke out respecting the rate of wages and the introduction of a new kind of furnaces, especially into the works of M. Baudoux at Charleroi, who had taken a number of colliers’ sons as apprentices. On March 25th thousands of miners attacked and completely sacked these and other glass works. The glass-workers took scarcely any part in the riot, but, in spite of their abstention, the secretary of the Union and several other members were tried and declared guilty of having instigated the pillage. ( rt ) A large number of strikes have occurred at different £ p r i n . periods in the printing trade. One very important ters. strike broke out in January 1869 in ten offices at Brussels, in consequence of the employers’ refusal to grant the men’s demand for an advance of wages, to which thirty-eight offices had acceded. The Free As- sociation supported the men on strike, and several foreign associations, as well as some sections of the In- ternationale, sent considerable sums to assist them. By the end of January the strike was practically at an end, although it lasted for some time longer in a few offices, including that of the “ Moniteur.” The strike cost more than 20,000 francs, and had only a partial success, as some employers persisted in their refusal to acknow- ledge the tariff. In consequence of this strike, one of the most important offices in Brussels was closed against members of the association. In January 1877, after an unsuccessful attempt to obtain an advance of 5 centimes a day for piece- workers, the Free Association published an appeal to non-unionists, with the result that more than 200 at once joined the association, and demanded the rate of wages which it had fixed as the standard. Y7here this was refused, the men came out ; a strike committee was appointed, and in a week the majority of the offices had accepted the new tariff. A few resisted firmly, and in a short time about 200 men were out, each of whom, with the exception of the apprentices, received 4 francs a day from the association. The societies of London and Paris and the president of the Free Association contri- buted generously to the support of the strike, but after two months, although a few offices still reiused to come to terms, the association was forced to declare the strike at an end. The total cost of the strike amounted to 60,000 francs. Another important strike occurred in 1890. At this time apprentices were employed in a number of offices, in the place of experienced workmen, at a sum equal to not more than half the wage fixed by the tariff' of the association. On November 16th about fifty of these apprentices ( demi-ouvriers ) struck in the office of M. Mertens, and on the 20th the Free Association and a society called “ La Solidarity ” united in demanding the acceptance of the association's tariff in all offices where it was not recognised. A few employers accepted the tariff, but the greater number obstinately resisted ; two days later the strike had become general, and nearly 400 men were out. A number of foreign and provincial associations contributed largely to the support of the association, which was further strengthened by its fusion with “ La Solidarity. ” After six weeks the strike ended in a complete victory for the association, which gained about thirty offices, in addition to the fifty in which the tariff was already accepted. During this period more than 15,000 francs had been expended, ( 7 ) See p. 13. (") Commission du Travail, II. E., pp. 110, 127. “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I., p. 122. “ Les Chevaliers du Travail,” I. No. 1. c 7/. Textile trades. Cotton. W oollen. General strike, 1893. IS and 182 men still continued to receive support from the funds. Between November 1890 and the end of 1891, the total outlay caused by this strike amounted to over 50,000 francs, and the receipts during the same period to over 30,000 francs. (') Since the great strike in the factory of Parmentier Van-Hogaerden & Co. ( Gras Fabriek) at Brussels in 1861, the most important strike in recent years in the cotton industry is that which broke out in the same establishment in 1885. It was caused by the dismissal of four spinners for refusing to obey the managers, who had decided to do away with one helper for each pair of mules t supprimer un aide par couple de metiers a filer). This mode of working did not affect the rate of wages, but required closer attention on the part of the men. The weavers came out in sympathy with the spinners, and both were supported by the Vooruit. The strike lasted five weeks, and resulted in a compromise, which the workmen considered as a victory. It was arranged that the four men who had been dismissed should not be taken back, but that the helpers at the other mules should continue to be employed for three years. Ninety-two new members joined the spinners’ society after the strike. In August 1873 a strike occurred amongst workmen engaged in the woollen mills of M. Lejeune-Yincent at Yerviers, because the director had instituted a regula- tion that the men must come to work at a fixed hour, although they worked by the piece. The men retaliated by coming to work at eight o’clock instead of six, and declared that unless the regulation was abolished all the members of the Internationale would withdraw. In a few days 126 men were out, and the weavers’ society, all the Belgian, and several foreign sections of the Inter- nationale promised their support. The strike lingered on until November, but from the first there were defec- tions among the men. Twenty-nine resumed work almost immediately after they had received the first week’s pay, and by the 13th of September 88 men had returned. The failure of this strike completely dis- organised the Internationale in the Vesdre Yalley. No other important strike has since occurred, with the -xception of a strike at La Lainiere in 1882, against a reduction of wages of 20 per cent. The strike was con- ducted by the society “ En Avant it lasted fourteen weeks, and resulted in a compromised 2 ] In June 1893 a strike occurred in the district of Verviers, which affected about 1,600 weavers and 250 spinners. The pattern weavers, who work by contract for the manufacturers, reduced the wages of the opera- tives in their employment. The latter struck, and were soon followed by the factory workers. A list was drawn up by the employers, and at last accepted by the opera- tives, subject to certain conditions, which were agreed to by all the pattern weavers, and all the manufacturers but seven. At the end of June, 630 operatives were still out. The burgomaster at Dison tried to effect a settlement by conciliatory means, and after several interviews between employers and employed, the majority of the Dison operatives resumed work on July 11th. In some cases an advanced rate of wages was secured. In others, all the men on strike were not re- admitted to the factories, and some removed to France on July 25th, when the strike came to an end.( 3 ) The general strike ordered by the Labour Party [Parti ouvrier) in April 1893, was mainly due to the rejection of M. Janson’s Bill for universal suffrage in the Chamber of Representatives on April 11th. In the Borinage district, however, the strike was declared on grounds of economics as much as on those of politics, since the miners’ society there had previously determined to declare a strike for an advance in wages cf 10 per cent, for all colliers without distinc- tion, an eight hours’ day for all employed below ground, a cessation of work on Mondays to prevent over-production, and the abolition of “ redoublage,” a system of working overtime. The general excitement in the district was at such a height on the 10th of April that a collier “ roused indescribable enthusiasm by “ urging his fellow-workers to go the next day to “ Brussels, and prevent the Chamber from adjourning “ until they had voted for universal suffrage.” On the rejection of the Bill by a majority of 89, the Labour Party at once declared a general strike, and issued a (>) Vandervelde, I., p. SI. Hubert. “ Historique de 1’ Association libre,” pp. 137-265. ( 2 ) Vandervelde. “Les Associations professionnelles,” I., pp. 208. 228. Commission du Travail, I., p. 398 ; II. B., p. 37. ( 3 ) “ Labour Gazette,” July 1893, p. 69 ; August, p. 92. manifesto appealing to the nation. The next day 17,000 miners went out on strike in the Borinage dis- trict, and large numbers of painters, lithographic printers, weavers, builders, and others followed their example. The total number is not mentione'd in the Belgian papers, but according to the statement of M. V olders,( 4 ) 200,000 men wore already out on April 11th. Serious disturbances attended with considerable loss of life soon followed, and the arrest of M. Voldors, the leader of the Labour Party, and two others, was followed by fresh outrages. Windows were broken, and other damage done to houses, shops, and public buildings ; the loss thus occasioned amounted on one day to 100,000 francs in Brussels alone. The action of the burgomaster, M. Buis, in prohibiting open air meetings and processions on April 14th, only provoked Iresh exasperation, which was further increased by the order to close the “ Maison du Peuple,’’ the head quarters of the Labour Party. In spite of every effort on the part of the leaders of the Labour Party, serious encounters with the civic guards, police, and gendarmes took place in Brussels, Quaregnon, Mons, Antwerp, Borgerhout, Jolimont, and many other localities, in which numbers of men, women, and even children were shot down, and many mortally wounded. An attack was made on M. Buis and other authorities, demonstrations were held in several localities, large sums were contributed towards the expenses of the strike, and the agitation grew to such a height that a revolution appeared imminent. On April 18th, how- ever, the Chamber by a large majority passed the Bill for a plural vote, proposed by M. Nyssens, and the general council of the Labour Party immediately ordered work to be resumed, and the struggle for universal suffrage and political equality to be hence- forward carried on by means of propaganda. The next day the strike was practically ended, but in the Borinage district, where it was due, as has been already stated, to economic rather than political causes, it continued for a few days longer. Shortly before it ended, the members of the Typographic Compositors’ and Printers’ Free Association at Brussels, the rules of which do not allow of any parti- cipation in purely political movements, decided by a majority of 80 to join the Labour Party in the demand for universal suffrage, but they returned to work before the morning was over.( 5 ) Tb — P revention and Settlement of Strikes. Disputes between individual employers and work- i- Councils people, or between one workman and another, relating homines to the execution of contracts and agreements, come within the jurisdiction of the councils of prud’hommes. These are district boards composed of employers and employed in equal numbers, representing the various industries in the locality. They were originally created by the 1 reneh law of March 18, 1806, but completely remodelled by the law of February 7, 1859. This was a (l.) Law of great improvement on the previous law, but many 1859 ‘ complaints of partiality and injustice were laid before the Labour Commission, which thoroughly investigated the constitution of the councils. Under the law of 1859, provisional lists of electors were drawn up by the communal authorities, and submitted for revision to the permanent committees of each province. All electors must belong to the class of employers of labour ( chefs d'industrie) or workmen, be Belgian sub- jects by birth or naturalisation, and domiciled within the jurisdiction of the council. They must be over 25 years of age, must have exercised their calling for at least four years in the given district, and be able to read and write. Inscription on the electoral lists could only be claimed as an absolute right by those who had received the special distinction for skill and good character instituted in 1847, or who had invested at least 100 francs in a savings bank or pension fund, or had been granted a reward for bravery by a Royal decree. The investigation of the Commission showed that “ the communal authorities, before drawing up “ the electoral lists, applied, as a rule, to the police, “ who, in their turn, derived their information from “ the employers of labour.” Thus, the employers could practically nominate those of their staff whom they considered worthy to represent their fellow- workmen. Another grievance alleged by the workmen was that foremen and overmen (contremaitres and porions ) were classed with workmen, whereas they (*) “ Pall Mall Gazette,” April 24th, 1893. ( 5 ) “ La Rdforme,” Nos. 102-15. “ L’lnd^pendance beige,” Nos. 105-10. (2.) Law of 1889. a. Electo- ] ate. p. Con- stitution. in really represented, the interests of the employer, rather than those of the men. In several cases, also, impor- tant industries were not represented on the councils. For instance, the printers at Ghent stated that sugar refining, an industry which was almost extinct at Ghent, was represented, whereas other branches of in- dustry in greater activity, such as printing, had no representative. The prud’hommes were also frequently unacquainted with the trades in which disputes had arisen, and could not understand the technical terms. The presence of innkeepers in severa 1 councils constituted a further abuse, as these men were suspected of turning their position on the council to their own advantage. For these reasons the mass of the working classes took very little interest in the councils, as may be seen from the returns cited by M. Sabatier in his Report : In 1881 at Dour, out of 735 electors only 116 voted ; at Paturages, out of 578 electors only 75 voted. In 1884 at Dour, out of 842 electors only 119 voted ; at Paturages, out of 658 electors only 49 voted. In short, as M. Sabatier states, there was general indiffe- rence, although in some coal mines the managers insisted that the men should go and vote.j 1 ) The employers, on the other hand, were not satisfied with the existing conditions, which they declared were too favourable to the men. Article 38 of the law stipulated that if a question was brought before the council, and the number of employers’ and workmen’s representatives were not equal, it should bo deferred to a subsequent sitting. At the second sitting it could be decided, provided that four prud'hommes were present, even though the representation might still be unequal. In consequence of the report published by the Labour Commission, the Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works laid a Bill embodying most df the recommendations of the Commission before the Cham- ber in December 1887. A lengthy discussion in the Senate and in the Chamber followed the introduction of the Bill, but, after certain modifications had been made, it became law on July 31st, 1889. According to article 3 of this law all councils of prud’hommes must be established by a special law, which determines the district of the council. Special councils for certain industries, or groups of industries, can be established in one district, provided that the industries are of sufficient importance, or special chambers can be established in one and the same council. The number of members, and the composition of each council and of the chambers, are determined by a Royal decree, after the opinion of the communal councils in the district, and of the permanent provincial committees has been obtained. Each council consists of at least six mem- bers, without including the president and vice-president, unless they are chosen from the members of the council, and each chamber must comprise at least four members. Half of the members of the council and chambers are chosen by the employers, and half by the men. At least four deputy-members, chosen in the same manner, are attached to each council. The communal authorities are now obliged to register upon the electoral lists all persons who satisfy the following conditions : They must be bond, jiclc employers or workmen, and be Belgian subjects over 25 years of age, domiciled for at least one year within the district of the council, and they must have followed their calling there for at least four years. Persons who have practised their calling in the district for at least four years without living there may be permitted to be inscribed on the list. The reading and writing test is altogether abolished. Contrary to the recommendation of the Commission, and to the original form of the Bill, foremen are still included in the category of workmen. Criminals, bankrupts, and persons of notoriously bad character cannot be registered on the lists. Electors over 30 years of age are eligible as prud’hommes. Retired employers and workmen who fulfil the other necessary conditions are also eligible, but these, as well as foremen and shipmasters, may not exceed one-fourth of the total number of members of the council. Inn-keepers and retailers of spirits are ineligible ; two employers belonging to the same firm, two men in the same workshop, or two persons nearly related cannot belong to the same council. The em- ployers and men each hold meetings to elect their several representatives, voting by ballot. Half of the representatives of the employers and employed respec- 0) Commission du Travail, III., pp, 4,27-40 tively retire every three years, but may be re-elected. The president and vice-president, one of whom must be au employer and the other a workman, are appointed by Royal decree from the members of the council, or from a double list of candidates chosen by employers and employed. Where several chambers are included in a council, they elect their own presidents and vice- presidents. Kaoh council appoints from among its members a Board of Conciliation ( Bureau do con- ciliation) composed of one employer and one workman. An election is held quarterly, when the same members can be re-elected. The board meets at least once a week, and considers all matters in dispute before they are brought before the council, to which they must be referred if the board fails to arrange them. The clerk (greffier) of the council attends the meetings of the board. The council meets at least twice a month, and can only sit when an equal number of employers’ and of workmen’s representatives are present, two of each forming a quorum. These cannot include the president and vice-president, unless they were appointed from among the members of the council. If the council is unable to hold a session, owing to the absence of any member from two consecutive meetings, such member is summoned before the court of appeal in the district, and sentenced to a fine of from 26 to 200 francs, and from three to eight days’ imprisonment, or to one only of these penalties. The councils deal with disputes between workpeople, or between employers and work- people, arising in connection with labour and wages. Without prejudice to tne proceedings before the ordinary tribunals, they may also punish breaches of contract, and conduct tending to a breach of the peace. The punishment in such cases may not exceed a fine of 25 francs, and an appeal maybe made within eight days to the civil court of first instance in the district. Matters outside the jurisdiction of the councils, such as disputes between employers, may, with the consent of both parties, be brought before them. The prud’- hommes pronounce judgment without appeal for sums not exceeding 200 fraDCs ; above that sum, appeal may be made to the tribunal of commerce, or, in matters relating to mines, to the civil tribunal of first instance. The clerk of the council gives one day’s notice to the parties of the place, date, and hour when they are bound to appear, together with their w itne sses. Should either party fail to appear, judgment is given by default, but in certain cases the parties may be repre- sented by proxy. No lawyers are employed. In cases of equality, the president has a casting vote. One or more prud'hommes may be deputed by the council and board to visit the spot for the purpose of verifying alleged circumstances, and, if necessary, examining witnesses. “ The expenditure incurred by the councils of prud’ hommes is met by all the communes comprised in the council's districts, in proportion to the number of workmen employed in each commune, according to a scheme of distribution drawn up by the permanent provincial committee ; the court-rooms and colls for prisoners are also provided by the communal autho- rities." The salaries of the ushers (huiasiers), and the sums allowed to experts and witnesses, are fixed by a Royal decree. The clerks’ salaries vary from 600 to 1,700 francs, and are paid by the Government. In the estimates for the Department of Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works for 1891 a vote of 23,400 francs was asked for this service. The expenditure of the Brussels council of prud -hommes in 1890 was as follows : — ( 2 ) — Authorised Expenditure. Actual Expenditure. 1. Salaries (jetons de presence) - 2. Travelling expenses 3. Indemnity for experts and witnesses - 4. Expenses for lighting, &c. 5. Sundry expenses ; — a. Messengers’ wages - b. Correspondence c. Library .... cl. Printing .... e. Unforeseen expenses Fr. c. 3*400 0 100 0 J00 0 500 0 1,200 0 100 0 150 0 125 0 100 0 Fr. c. 3,065 0 0 0 10 0 400 0 1,200 0 65 85 137 45 100 0 7 0 5,775 0 4,994 30 4,994 30 Unexpended balance 780 70 (-) Commission du Tiavail, I., pp. 428-48; HI., pp. 427-40: Loi organique des Conseils de Prud'-hotnmes, 31 .1 ml let 1889. Foreign Office, Miscellaneous Series, No. 198. Bourne. “ Les Conditions du Travail en Belgique,” pp. 52-5. C 2 y. Meet- ings and procedure. 8. Finances. 20 ,” pp. 82-207 ( 2 ) See p. 16. (“) “ Labour Gazette,” June 1893, p. 45. (*) Statistique dcs mines, &c., 1891, p. 13 , E 78030. most collieries boys under 16 and girls under 21 were only employed in very small numbers, except for cleaning the lamps (service p o J- o s a & Underg round. Above ground. | General Average of all Workers above and under ground. ■ Number of Days worked. Underground. Above ground. General Average of all Workers above and under ground. Number of Days worked. Underground. ^ > Average per Worker o c* of all Categories, i § ° p.® General Average of all Workers above and under ground. Average per Hewer. Per Worker of all Categories. Average per Worker | of all Categories. _ Average per Hewer. Per Worker of all Categories. Average per worker of all Categories. Average per Hewer. Per Worker of all Categories. Borinage - 299 2-50 0*66 2*52 0-52 294 2*39 0*61 2*53 0*49 286 2*36 0*60. 2*33 0*48 Centre 302 3*02 0*89 2*51 0*66 300 3*42 0*85 2*37 0*62 294 3*45 0*83 2*48 0*62 Charleroi - 289 3*81 0*92 2*34 0*66 287 3*70 0*91 2*42 0*G6 276 3*59 0*89 2*25 0*64 Namur 287 3*12 0*90 2*26 0*65 288 2*63 0*76 2*17 0*56 282 2*73 0*83 2*18 0*59 Lidge 297 3*72 0*82 2*89 0*64 293 3*76 0*79 2*78 0*61 288 3*59 0*76 2*61 0*58 General average - 295 3*35 0*82 2*55 0*62 293 3*23 0*78 2*51 0*59 286 3*16 0*76 2*40 0*58 («.) Safety of employ- ment and accidents. Great improvements in ventilation and sanitation have been introduced of recent years. In spite of the fact that almost all mines now contain fire-damp, and that the working has been largely extended, it is stated that anaemia, chronic bronchitis, and other maladies from which miners formerly suffered scarcely exist at the present time. Until 1869, all miners except those who produced a doctor's certificate of weakness were obliged to descend and ascend by means of ladders; since that date cages have been universally employed. Ventilation on a large scale was introduced in 1858, supplying fresh air at the rate of 15 to 20 cubic metres a second. In 1891 the supply was 35 to 50 or more cubic metres a second. As a general rule, miners are now strong and healthy, although rather paler than workers in other occupations. Of recent years the number of those who reach the age of 65 or 70 has rnucn increased. In 1886 a demand was first formu- lated for the establishment of a committee of inspection composed of working men, but no practical result has yet been attained. ( 2 ) The following tabic shows the .number of accidents in coal mines durito- 1889 1800 and 1891 ,( 3 ) ’ J. — Table of Accidents in Coal Mines, showing the Numbers of Killed and Injured. ( 4 ) District. 1889. 1S90. 1891. Number of Workers. Underground. Above ground. Number of Workers. Underground. Above ground. £ 3 •V- O 3 rQ a £ Underground. Above ground. Accidents. I Killed. Injured. Accidents. Killed. Injured. Accidents. Killed. Injured. Accidents. Killed. Injured. Accidents. Killed. Injured. Accidents. Killed. Injured. Hainault - 79,860 162 102 S3 G 5 1 85,440 143 133 37 10 7 • 3 86,800 137 124 • 9 7 2 Namur 2,513 r O 3 - - - 3,322 7 6 2 1 i - 3,279 7 « 1 1 Lidgo 26,009 42 36 13 3 2 1 28,017 40 35 6 1 — 1 28.904 •39 27 16 4 4 : — Total 108,382 209 140 99 9 7 2 116,779 190 174 45 12 8 4 118,983 183 156 66 14 11 3 K. — Comparative Statement of Accidents in Coal Mines during the period 1882-91, ( 5 ) Belgium. France. Great Britain. Prussia. Years. Number of Workpeople employed. Number killed. Number of Workpeople employed. Number killed. Number of Workpeople employed. Number killed. Number of Workpeople employed. Number killed. 1882 - 103,701 214 104,995 153 503,987 1,126 172,397 587 1883 - 106,252 227 109,547 170 514,993 1,054 184,099 601 1884 - 105,582 236 106,323 169 520,376 942 190,707 567 188.5 - 103,095 189 98,600 169 520,632 1,150 193,948 695 1886 - 100,282 133 99,386 131 519,970 953 192,080 490 1887 - 100,739 28G 99,997 170 526,277 995 191,379 513 1888 - 103,477 181 102,070 184 534,945 888 198,963 544 1889 - 108,382 147 107,941 331 563.735 1,064 213,158 553 1890 - 116,779 182 107,259 308 613,233 1,160 234,572 618 1891 - 118,983 167 128,757 218 618,450 979 253,035 731 Average 106,727*2 196*2 107,690*2 200*3 546,653*8 1,031*1 202,433*8 589 * 9 Proportion per 10,000 j workpeople - J j 10,000 18*38 10,000 18*60 10,000 18*86 10,000 29*14 (>) Statistique des mines, Ac., 181)0, p. 10 ; 1891, p. 10 ; 1802, p. G. ( a ) “ Les Chevaliers du T ravail,” I., Nos. 1, 21. ( ;l ) Statistique des mines. Sea., 1SJ0. p. 38 ; 18,11, p. 60 ; 1892, p. 32. The statistics given inelude only workers whoseinjuvies occasioned death, or prevented them from again fqllqwing their occupation. ( 5 ) Statistique des mines, Ac, 1892, p, 31. 27 ( /’.) Material •ondition ol miners. 2. Quarries («.) Num- ber of quarries worked. (4.) Num- ber of work- people. It will be seen from the abovo statements that Belgium compares favourably with other mining countries, so far as concerns tho proportion of deaths due to accident, and that whereas a far larger number of workers are employed now than formerly, the number of accidents has much decreased. This result may be attributed to the efforts of employers to ensure safety for their workmen, to tho extension of technical instruction, and to the scientific and other improve- ments recently introduced. There are a number of private and other provident societies(') which assist the victims of accidents in mines. The only statistics that have been obtained respect- ing the number of workers in open quarries are those for Hainault and South Brabant : — ('*) Men and boys. Age over 16 - - 11,380 ,, 14 to 16 - - 1,210 „ 12 10 14 - 59 Women and gil ls. Age over 21 - 54 „ 16 to 21 - 65 „ 12 to 16 - 12 Tho material condition of miners has greatly im- proved of recent years. Their houses are infinitely superior to those of the labouring classes in most towns, and they often have small gardens attached, where they can grow vegetables for the use of their household. In many parts, however, especially in the Borinage district, their condition is still very bad, as compared with miners in England and France. ( 2 ) The quarrying districts of Belgium arc situated in the provinces of Brabant, Hainault, Limburg, Liege, Namur, and Luxemburg. In 1891 the number of quarries worked was 1,666, in 586 of which the work was carried on underground, while in 1,291 the work was in the open air. 1,701 quarries were worked in 1890, of which 1,413 were in the open air, and 547 underground, and in 1889 the total number was 1,812. In 1891 624 steam-engines of a total horse power of 11,051 were employed. The principal varieties of underground quarries are those of slate in Luxemburg and Namur, plastic fire-proof clay in Andenne, Hautrage, and other localities, marl and phosphate of lime in Mens and Hesbaye, spar in Fleurus, and the white stone quarries of Brabant. Blue stone and porphyry for paving are worked in open quarries. In 1891 the value of the total production was 37,818,000 francs, as compared with 39,280,000 francs and 36,537,000 francs in 1890 and 1889 respectively. The decrease since 1890 was principally in plastic clay and phosphate of lime ; in lime, paving-stones, slate, flint, and heavy spar, the production had slightly increased. The total number of workers employed in 1891 was 25,717, of whom 4,429 worked underground ; in 1890 and 1889 the totals were respectively 31,681 and 30,292. Slate, phosphate of lime, and white stone are the only underground quarries where a proportionately large number of workers are also employed above ground. The following table shows the number of the various categories of workers above and below ground in and about subterranean quarries in 1891. ( 3 ) L — Table showing Number of Workers in 1891. Hainault and Brabant. Namur and Luxem- berg. Lidge. The whole Kingdom. Under ground. Men Age over 16 - 601 1,025 503 2,129 and 1 „ 1 4 to 16 • 76 36 288 400 Boys. „ 12 to 14 - — 5 6 11 Women „ over 21 - 3 — 16 19 and j „ Hi to 21- — i 23 24 Girls. - „ 12 to 16- — — 22 22 680 1,067 858 2.605 Above ground. Men ' Age over 16 - 489 616 74 1,179 and „ 14 to 16- 102 80 11 193 Boys. - . 12 to 14 - 10 37 2 49 Women r „ over 21 - 11 — 133 144 and „ 16 to 21- 13 — 179 192 Girls. 1 „ 14 to 16- 1 — 66 07 626 733 465 1,824 1,306 1,800 1,323 4,429 0) See p. 38. ( 2 ) Sabatier. “ Travail dans les Mines et Creation d’une Direction gdndrale du Travail,” pp. 20, 21, 44. 53. Conseil supdrieur du Travail. Premiere session, 1892, A., pp. 109-34 ; I!., pp. 57-03. Vandervclde. “Les Associations professionnelles,” I., pp. 180-92. Annuaire statistique de la Belgique, 1892, p. 285. Bollaert. “Les Institutions ouvridres de Mariemont et de Bascoup,” p. 29. Weiler. “ L’Esprit des Institutions ouvridres de Mariemont, p. 14. ( 3 ) Statistique des mines, minidres, carridres, 1892, p. to. Total - - 1 2,780 It will be seen from the above table that, except in Women the province of Liege, the number of women, girls, and clul boys under 14 is very small. In the freestone quarries of Hainault women are not employed, and the boys under 16 who work there are apprenticed to stone- cutters, and are under the direction of their relations or an overman ( clief-ouvrier ). In the phosphate of lime quarries at La Hesbaye, women, girls, and boys arc employed in larger numbers. No general statement is given of the wages of quarry- (r.) Wages, men, but in 1891 the councils: of industry and labour of Jodoignc and Quenast stated respectively that the daily wages of miners averaged T75 and 2'75 francs. Stone-cutters at Jodoigue received 2'20 and miners’ labourers 1'50 francs. The navvies and day labourers at Quenast gained 2’50 francs, and the wages of other classes of workmen over 21 years of age engaged upon the stone varied from 3'50 to 3'75 francs. In the Hainault stone quarries payment is by the task. The hours of labour in 1891 were stated by the W Hours, council of industry and labour at Jodoigne to be uniformly 11 for stone-cutters, miners, and labourers. Stone-cutters, who form about half of the total number of workers employed at the quarries iu Hainault, are not bound to fixed hours. Other categories of workers are employed from 8 to 12 hours a day, according to the season. A rest of 10 minutes is allowed in every three hours, and included in the time paid for. In the province of Liege the hours vary from 7 to 12. The hours of women and children are regulated by the Royal decree of 1893. (“) Night work is very exceptional, anti is only employed when there is a great demand for certain stones to be cut, and in the case of adits (machines d’exhaure) and sawing machines, which are worked night and day by a double shife. Only men over 21 are employed at night. The same rule applies to Sunday work, which is always arranged so as to allow the workmen time for their religious duties. In some quarries men working by the task are forbidden to work on Sunday. In 1891 10 accidents occurred in underground quarries, («•) Acci- in which nine persons were killed and two seriously dents- injured ; 12 accidents, in which the number of killed and injured were respectively ten and three, occurred in 1890, and 4 in 1889, when one was killed and five injured. ( 0 ) The provinces of Liege, Namur, Luxemburg, Lim- 3. Ore. burg, and Hainault contain a considerable number of mlnes ' ore mines. The law of 1810 distinguishes between iron ber ofmiues mines and iron quarries ( miniercs ), which include the worked, alluvial iron ores obtained by open workings, or by small shafts which cannot be considered as regular workings. Only very few iron mines are conceded in Belgium ; since the separation from Holland in 1830 no new concessions have been made.(') In 1891 the num- ber of mines worked under concession was seven, occupying 1,527 workers of all categories. It is not clear from the statistics whether the “ sieges d’exploita~ tion,” nine of which are mentioned in mines worked under concession, and twenty in free mines, are shafts or distinct mines. The production of ores during 1891 was as follows : — ( 8 ) Tons. Value in Francs. Iron ore ----- 202,204 1,172,700 Lead ore ----- - 70 8,100 Zinc ore - - - - - 14,280 1,053,400 Pyrites ----- 1,990 19,100 Manganese * 18,498 254,600 2,507,900 ( 4 ) Statistique des mines, minidres, carridres, &c„ 1892, p. 20. ( r, l_See p. 53. ( 6 ) "Statistique des mines, &c., 1890, pp. 22, 30; 1891, pp. 4/6, 65 ; 1892, pp. 19, 30. Conseil supdrieur du Travail, A., pp. 97-9. “ Salaires et Budgets ouvriers,” pp. 62-3. ( 7 ) Fourth Report of the Royal Commission on Mining Royalties p. 132. (*) Statistique des mines, minidres, &c., 1892, p. 16. D 2 Thirty-nine machines o! a total horse-power of 1,578 were employed in working the mines in 1891 : the total expenses of mines worked under concession ( mines concedees ) amounted to 1,085,271 francs, and the profit was estimated at 410,029 francs, as compared with 004,000 and 080,000 francs in 1890 and 1889. The situation of the industry between 1881 and 1891 is shown in the following table : — (*) Situation of the indus- try. M. — Table showing Annual Production of Ore Mines in 1881-1891. Year. Iron Ore (including Manganese). Lead Ore. Zinc Ore. Pyrites. Total Value in Francs. Number of Work- Tons. Value in Francs. Tons. Value in Francs. Tons. Value in Francs. Tons. Value in Francs. people employed. 1881 - 224,882 1,817,000 3,741 657,000 23,553 1,195,000 2,965 49,000 3,718,000 2,750 1882 - 209,212 1,593,000 2,918 486,000 20,443 707,000 2,555 21,000 2,807,000 2,312 1883 - 216,490 1,497,000 1,749 311,000 20,738 750,000 1,623 18,000 2,576,000 2,100 1884 - 176,755 1,280,000 1,796 257,000 27,606 1,014,000 2,243 35,000 2,586,000 1,926 1885 . 187,118 1,311,000 1,299 187,000 18,185 680,000 4,533 65,000 2,243,000 1,788 1886 - 153,378 955,000 1,292 194,000 19,042 762,000 3,209 31,000 1,942,000 1,498 18S7 - 185,186 1,183,000 548 92,000 20,879 897,000 3,490 32,000 2,204,000 1,537 1888 - 213, »27 1,402,000 414 44,000 24,537 1,161,000 3,916 41,000 2,648,000 1,682 1889 - 202,431 1,363,000 194 20,000 21,184 1,296,000 5,051 43,000 2,722,000 1,601 1890 - 186,546 1,259,000 150 16,000 15,410 1,200,000 2,980 28,000 2,503,000 1,427 1891 - 220,702 1,427,309 70 8,100 14,280 1 ,053,4u0 1,990 19,100 2,507,900 1,527 It will be seen from the above table that the production has much declined since 1881 ; this will be shown still more clearly by a comparison with the averages of the four previous decades. ('*) N. — Table showing Average Production in the Decades 1841-1890. Period. Iron Ore (including Manganese). Lead Ore. Zinc Ore. Pyrites. Total Value in Francs. Number of Work- people employed. Tons. Value in Francs. Tons. Value in Francs. Tons. Value in Francs. Tons. Value in Francs. 1841-50 3,437,940 30,521,000 23,034 . 3,387,000 373,503 18,437,000 31,108 347,000 52,692,000 ? 1851-63 7,118,869 68,886,000 72,815 9,880,000 770,887 37,522,000 200,090 3,487,000 119,783,000 9,988 1861-70 7,853,158 75,660,000 1 40,9G4 23,478,000 G38.459 30,426,000 391,134 8,548,000 138,112,000 10,316 1871 -SO 4,271,831 39,956,000 108,433 17,436,000 454,548 27,219,000 274,480 6,547,000 91,168,000 5,607 1881-90 1 ,955,325 13,660,090 14,10) 2,264,000 211,577 9,662,000 32,565 363,000 25,949,000 1,861 The most productive period was, therefore, the decade 1861-70, when on an average more than 10,300 workers were employed annually. The total number of workpeople employed in 1891 was 1,527, of whom 767 were engaged in mines worked (j.) Nun- under concession, and 760 in free ironworks ( exploita - fce 0 1 r ^ 1 , s tions lib res de minerals de fcr). The various categories are shown in the following table: — ( 3 ) O. — Table showing Number of Workers in 1891. Liege. Namur. Luxemburg. Hainault. Limburg. The whole Kingdom. Underground. Men Age over 16 - - - 631 255 45 4 — 935 and t „ 14 to 16 T - 5 — — — — 5 Bovs, j „ 12 to 14 - - — — — — — — Women I ,, 21 - - - — — — — — — and J „ 16 to 21 - - — — — — — — Girls. „ 14 to 16 “ “ — — — — — — 636 255 45 4 — 940 Above ground. Men [ Age over 16 - - - 333 47 20 8 43 451 and „ 14 to 16 - - 47 15 — 62 Boys. „ 12 to 14 - - 32 — — — 32 Women „ 21 - - - 22 — — — — 22 and 16 to 21 - - 20 — 20 Girls. l_ „ 12 to 16 “ “ — — — — — — 454 62 20 8 43 587 Total i - - 1,090 317 65 12 43 1,527 (9 Statistique des mines, minidres, &c., 1891, p. -12 ; 1892, p, 16, (*) Id., 1891, p. 43. ( s ) Id., 1892, p. 16, (c.) Wages. 5 per cent, of the articles manufactured in the rolling mills are sent abroad. a. Pig-iron. in 1891 19 iron foundries and 28 blast furnaces were in activity, as compared with 19 foundries and 36 furnaces in 1890, and 18 foundries and 34 furnaces in 1889. The total output of pig-iron during the three years 1889-1891 was as follows : — — — Value. Average Value per Ton. Tons. TVs. Frs. 1883 - 832,226 44,491,000 53-46 1890 - - 787,836 50,073,000 63 * 56 1891 - 684,126 38,318,000 56*01 In 1891 1,539,504 tons of ore were consumed for the production of pig-iron, of which 1,386,639 tons were imported. 13 Wrought I 11 the manufacture of wrought iron, 64 foundries and iron. 911 furnaces of various kinds were in activity in 1S91, in 1890 62 foundries and 949 furnaces were engaged, and in 1889 the numbers were 65 and 1,016 respectively. The following table shows the total production during 1889-1891 __ — Value. Average Value per Ton. 1389 - . . Tons. 577,204 Frs. 80,819,000 Frs. 140*02 1890 - - • 514,311 82,988,000 161-36 1891 - 497,380 72,602,000 145-99 546,337 tons of pig-iron were consumed in 1891, 51,526 of which came from abroad. The manufacture of steel by the Bessemer process was first introduced at the Cockerill works in 1864. Drior to its introduction 1,500 or 3,000 tons of puddled steel were produced annually. The M.artin process was introduced at Sclessin in 1872, and the Thomas- Gilchrist 7 years later at Angleur. In 1891 nine works and 54 furnaces were engaged in the manufacture of steel, 8 works were active in 1890 and in 1889, when the numbers of furnaces were respec- tively 62 and 53. The production of wrought steel in 1889, 1890, and 1891 was as follows — Value. Average Value per Ton. Tons. Frs. Frs. 1S89 - * 214,561 29.178,000 135*99 1890 - 201, S17 31,278,000 154-98 1891 - 206,305 29,111,000 141-11 For the production of wrought steel in 1891, 244,041 tons of ingots were consumed, 3,167 of which were imported. The manufacture of zinc is confined to the province (2.) Zin. of Liege, with the exception of one comparatively unimportant foundry in Antwerp. 11 foundries and 307 furnaces were active in 1891 ; in 1890 and 1889 the numbers were respectively 10 foundries and 288 furnaces, and 10 foundries and 282 furnaces. The • average number of crucibles in activity was 24,208 in 1891. 20,008 tons of Belgian, and 199,623 tons of foreign ore were consumed for the production of unwrought zinc in that year. The following statement a. Un- shows the production in 1889, 1890, and 1891 : — - wrought — — Value. Average Value per Ton. Tons. Frs. Frs. 1S89 - 82,526 38,401,000 465 * 32 1S90 - - 82,701 46,212,000 558-79 1891 - 85,999 48,271,000 561-30 In 1891 the production of rolled zinc in Liege was p. Rolled 28,713 tons, valued at 17,510,150 francs, showing an nc. increase of 1,903 tons on 1890. Lead and silver are manufactured only in the (g.) Lead province of Liege, 3 foundries and 23 furnaces of and silver, various kinds were employed in 1891, the same number as in 1889 and 1890. 211 tens of Belgian, and 15,025 tons of foreign ore were employed in 1891. The production from 1889-1891 was as follows : — Lead. — — Value. Average Value per Ton. Tons. Frs. Frs. 1889 - 9,412 2,923,000 310-56 1890 - 9,617 3,139,000 826-40 1891 - 12,698 3,895,000 306-74 Silver. — — Value. Average Value per Unit. Kilogrammes. Frs. Frs. 1889 - 24,622 3,844,000 156-12 1890 - 33,083 5,806,000 175-50 1891 - 33,950 5,562,000 163-82 The above statements show that in the case of iron and steel the output, with the total value, has decreased ra ar .v of P r0 * since 1889, while the average value per ton is raised. uctlon * Zinc, lead, and silver show an increase in each item, with the exception of the average vaiue of lead per ton, which has fallen nearly 4 francs. ( :i ) P) Statistique des mines, minieres, &t-., 1890, pp. 19, 20, 30; 1891, pp. 41-5, 65 ; 1892, pp. 15, 16, 30. (*) Id.. 1892, p. 26. ( 3 ) Statistique des mines, minieres, &c., 1890, pp. 24r-31 ; 1891, pp. 49- 58. 1892, pp. 21-5. 30 (6.) Num- ber of workpeople. ■Women and children. (e.) Wages. Iron, steel, zinc, engi- neering, hardware. Bronze workers. Jewellers. (d.) Hours. The iotal number of workpeople employed in the manufacture of iron, steel, zinc, lead, and silver in 1891 was 26,827. The following table shows the numbers employed in the various industries with the average daily wage. (‘) — Pig Iron. Wrought Iron. Steel. Zinc. Lead and Silver. Number of workers Average daily wage in francs. 2,827 2-85 10,227 3-17 3,124 3'48 4,103 3'51 546 2*01 From returns furnished by some of the Hainault and Brabant iron-works, employing 10,743 workers, the following result has been obtained : — ( 2 ) Men and hoys. Age over 16 - - 9,0751 „ 14 to 16 - - 857 1 10.489 „ 12 to 14 - 557 J Women and girls. Age over 21 45 1 ,, 16 to 21 - - 163 > 254. „ 12 to 17 - 46 J In some other works only persons over 16 are employed. The proportion of women of every age employed in the iron industry in 1886 was 1 per cent, in the district of Charleroi, and 17 per cent at Seraing. No mention is made of married women in the Charleroi district, but at Seraing 6 per cent, of the total number were married. At certain works about 20 per cent ol the total number of workers are women, who are engaged in working the trollies. The proportion of women and children is smaller in the zinc than in the iron industry. In 1886, out of a total of 2,505 work- people, 128, or about 5 per cent., were persons who would now be protected by the law of 1889, 1’2 per cent of whom were girls or women, and 3'8 per cent, boys and youths. The returns of the councils of industry and labour in April 1891 are not sufficiently complete to allow of the compilation of a detailed statement of the average daily wages of metal-workers, but the following statistics have been gathered : — Blast furnace heaters (chauffeurs) receive from 2 - 86 to 8’30 francs a day : rolling mill heaters from 3 42 to 712 francs. The various classes of founders (fondeurs and mouleu/rs ) receive from 3'20 to 4'75 francs, engineers ( machinistes ) from 2'50 to 4'60 francs, fillers ( cliargeurs ) from 2'68 to 4 50 francs, boiler-makers ( chaudronniers ) from 3 to 4'25 francs. Fitters ( ajusteurs ) vary from 3 to 4'50 francs ; borers ( forcurs ) average from 2'70 to 4 francs. The wages of smiths (forgerons) vary between 4 and 4'95 francs, and the highest wage mentioned is attained by the forgers { marteleurs ) at Seraing, who average 9 francs. According to the statement of M. Yandervelde, the wages of bronze workers vary between 40 and 70 cen- times, averaging 50 centimes an hour. Jewellers vary between 4 and 10 francs, setters (sertisseurs) between 5 and 10 francs, goldsmiths be- tween 4 and 6, and polishers (women) between 3 and 4 francs. According to the returns of the councils of industry and labour in 1891, the hours of metal-workers vary from 9 to 12, broken by intervals of rest amounting in all to 1 or li hours. The average is between 10 and 11 hours for workers of all categories. In blast furnaces and other metal works, where large furnaces must be kept going night and day, the workers are generally divided into two shifts, who work 12 hours night and day in alternate weeks. Night work is also customary in the gun trade. Where there are no large furnaces necessitating continuous fire, night work is exceptional, at least for persons protected by the law of December 13tb, 1889. This statement applies also to Sunday labour, which is exceptional in all industries except those in which work is continuous night and day, as in blast furnaces. In rolling mills and in engineering it is only employed in case of repairs, and when absolutely necessary. Where it is employed the hours are usually arranged so as to allow the workers time for their religious duties. By the Boyal decree of March 15th. 1893, boys under 16 and women and girls under 21 f 1 ) Annuaire statistique, 1892, pp. 286-7. ( 2 ) Statistique des mines. &c„ 1892, p. 26. must have one clear day’s rest each fortnight.^) As a general rule, the sections of the councils did not con- sider the normal hours too long, except in the case of children under 14. The sections at Morlanwelz and Braine-le-Comte demanded a reduction to eight hours. It was aiso proposed that in blast-furnaces persons protected by the law of 1889 should be divided into three shifts of 8 hours, corresponding with the two shifts of 12 hours now worked by adults. The number of accidents in metal-works in 1891 was 7, in which 6 persons were killed, and 4 injured; 13 accidents occurred in 1890, in which 9 were killed and 4 injured, and in 1889 there were 18 accidents in which the numbers of killed and injured were respectively 12 and 6. In 1891 6 explosions or other accidents from steam-engines occurred, in which 3 persons were killed and 4 injured. f) B. — Transport (including Docks) and Agriculture. With the exception of dock labourers, very little in- formation has been obtained respecting the industries connected with transport. The returns of the councils of industry and labour show that in April 1891 the wages of drivers, carriers, and carters at Brussels averaged 4 francs a day, drivers working 14 hours, carriers and carters 12. At Liege, tram drivers and conductors received 4 francs, working 141 hours a day, watermen 3'50 francs for 12 hours’ work.f) In March 1891 the maximum working time on the Belgian State railways for engine-drivers, stokers, and brakesmen was fixed at 15 hours, including stoppages, and balf-an-hour before starting, and the same period after returning the engine to the shed. Men employed in the stations and sheds work 10 to 12 hours, ticket-col- lectors, porters, watchmen, permanent way men, points- men, and signalmen 12 ; where there is no regular night stall' longer hours arc worked, and extra pay is allowed in proportion to the extra work done. Mr. Gosselin states that a minimum rest of eight hours is given to drivers and stokers between two consecutive runs, and “ it is hoped that the same regulation may shortly be “ applied to the brakesmen.” The railway department has as far as possible abolished the system of running goods trains on Sundays, and every effort is made to allow all railway servants a holiday on alternate Sundays. When em- ployed on Sunday, they are always allowed two hours off duty to enable them to attend to their religious duties. In 1891 not more than 3 per cent, of the whole staff were employed on Sundays in the Government railway workshops in Brussels. Sunday labour has also been restricted in the post offices. The general post office (administration centrale) is closed on Sundays, and in those offices which are opened arrangements are made so that each man employed can attend to his religious duties. Post offices are generally closed on Sundays at noon at the latest; some of the chief offices at 1 p.m. The number of Sunday deliveries has been greatly reduced, and special postmen ( agents dominicaux) have been enrolled to lighten the duties of the regular staff. In October 1891, 2,125 postmen were free on Sundays, 1,110, including sorters, postmen, and drivers, still had to work on Sundays, but had at least one day in every ten free.f) The principal maritime ports of Belgium are Ant- werp, Ghent, and Ostend. At Antwerp, which is by far the most important, the total length of the docks and the quays along the Scheldt is 15,950 yards, and it is estimated that 220 large ships can be accommodated at one time in the docks and at the quays. There are, in addition, several dry docks for the repair of vessels. The railway stations at Antwerp are divided into two groups, one for the traffic of the river quays, and one for the dock quays. The total length of the r ailways round the docks is 24 miles, and 12 miles along the river quays. In 1891. according to the “ Annuaire statistique 4,464 vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 4,665,337 entered the port of Antwerp. The Consul- General estimates the number as 4.893, with a tonnage of 4,776,000. About 28,448 small vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 3,071,577 frequented Ihe port during that year. The average number of workpeople employed daily at the docks is estimated at 30,000, including black- ( 3 ) See p. 53. . . (■>) Statistique des mines, nuniOres, &c., 1890,1pp. 24-36 ; 1891,pp.4S-G5; 1S92, pp. 20-30. Conseil superieur tlu Travail. Premiere session. 1892, A., pp. 59-62. 71-96, 141-2; B., pp. 37-40,79-98. “ Salaires et Budgets ouvriers en Belgique,” pp. 30-207. Vandervelde. "Les Associations professionnelles,” 1.. pp. 35, 42-8, 177. ( 5 ) “ Salaires et Budgets ouvriers,” pp. 60-1, 192-5. ( 6 ) F.O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 214. pp. 35-8. (e.) Acci- dents. 1. Trans- port. Wages and hours. Sunday work and holidays. 2. Docks. (a.) Accom- modation and traffic. (J.) Num- ber of work- people. 31 (<".) Wages. Overtime, Sundays and holi- days. Mode of payment. (d.) Hours. (c.) Foreign labour. (/.) Safety of employ- ment: in- spection, sanitation. 3. Agricul- ture. ( a .) Situa- tion of in- dustry and number of workers. smiths, machinists, engine-drivers, and others, hut the actual dock labourers number 27,000 or 28,000. The number of workers employed depends upon the number of ships in the port, and the amount of traffic. About 14,000 men are employed daily by the Nations, ( l ) and the town authorities engage about 250 in connection with the town and port. A considerable number of women work at the docks and adjacent warehouses. Workmen employed by the Nations receive from 2'40 to 4 francs a day, those employed by the stuk- werlcersQ) at Ghent, are paid from 2'50 to 3 francs. The stukwerlcers themselves earn twice or three times as much. Porters at the wharves and railway stations at Antwerp are paid from 12'5 centimes to 4 francs a sack, according to distance : thus they earn from 5 to 7 francs a day. The town authorities pay monthly wages as follows : — Lock-keepers and carpenters Head mechanical engineers Machinists Enginemen Stokers Greasers Superintending crane men Chief „ ,, Crane drivers - Boilermakers - Foremen of workshops Frs. Frs. 87-5 to 137-5 200 „ 287-5 132-5 „ 200 100 „ 137-5 115 „ 130 112-5 „ 117-5 150 „ 100 „ 125 82-5 „ 125 111-2 ., 125 ., 187-5 Casual labourers paid by the hour vary from 30 cen- times to 1 -75 francs. Women receive from 1 to 1-50 francs a day. Overtime is paid at the rate of 50 cen- times an hour. Work on Sundays and holidays is paid at the same rate as on week days, but the hours are shorter. No labourer may receive less than half a day’s wages. Stevedores usually pay their men daily in a neigh- bouring inn, all payments are made in cash, and no deductions are allowed on any pretext. The truck system is unknown in Antwerp, but an attempt is being made to compel employers to pay the men in an office. The usual hours of dock labourers are 10 in the summer and 8 in the winter, but they are not restricted in any way : the men frequently work 36 hours con- secutively, and then remain idle for several days. On Sundays and holidays one hour less is worked than on ordinary days. Labourers can always be obtained without difficulty on Sundays and holidays. Only a very small number of foreigners are employed at the docks, and, as these are chiefly Dutchmen, they are not molested. The whole of the machinery in use at the docks and quays is the property of the town authorities, and is carefully inspected at frequent intervals. In 1892 no accident had occurred through the breaking of machinery for many years. Stevedores’ workmen pay 1 per cent, of their daily wage to a fund from which, in case of accidents, they are allowed compensation equal to half their daily earnings, for net more than six months. The sanitary condition of the sheds is stated to be excellent. Rags, which are exported from Antwerp, are rarely allowed to bo deposited in sheds before shipping.(- ( ) No information with regard to the conditions of agricultural labour has been obtained of more recent date than the investigations of the Labour Commission in 1886. At that time agriculture, in common with most industries in the country, was undergoing a severe crisis. According to the statements of the majority of the witnesses, this crisis pressed more heavily on the tenant farmers than on the workmen they employed, but a large number of men could not obtain work in the country, and were obliged to migrate to the towns. The principal causes of the agricultural crisis were stated to be “ bad times ” and the extensive importation of cattle, especially from Holland. Many witnesses complained that foreign stock, corn and other produce, were brought into Belgium free of duty, whereas Belgian exports were heavily taxed before they were admitted into other countries. As a remedy to the under-selling thus caused, most of the witnesses demanded that au import duty should bo levied on all foreign produce. (') Agricultural statistics are at pre- sent collected by the Government only once in every ten years, and the most recent which have as yet been published are those for the year 1880. At that date the total number of men and women engaged in agri- culture throughout the kingdom was 1,199,319, or 2 1 * 77 per cent, of the whole population of tho coun- try. 44 "02 per cent, of the persons employed were women, f) P. — Table showing Average Daily Wages of Agri- cultural Labourers in 1880. ( 6 ) Province. Without Food. With Food. Men. Women. Men. Women. Frs. Frs. Frs. Frs. Antwerp 1-50 1- 1- *60 Brabant 1-74 1*09 1-03 •67 West Flanders 1-83 1*10 *98 *G4 East Flanders 1-65 1-07 • 83 •53 Hainault 2-41 1-24 1-37 •74 Li6ge - 2-46 IMS 1-52 •87 Limburg 1-62 1-11 •88 *55 Luxemburg - 2-48 1-62 1*54 •92 Namur 2-67 1-44 1-70 •86 With regard to the above statements, it must be noted that the wages of agricultural labourers vary greatly according to the season. In harvest time, a good workman earns from 5 to 7 francs a day, working by the task, but in winter it is often difficult to obtain one franc a day. The method of payment differs in the case of the various classes of workers. Farm ser- vants of both sexes ( domestiques and servantes) are generally paid by the month, labourers (journaliers ) by the day or by the piece. ( 7 ) The governor of West Flanders stated in 1886 that payment by the day or by contract was being abandoned for payment by the hour and by the piece. In his opinion, piece-work was the most satisfactory arrangement for all parties. Sheaves are generally bound by women, and an active woman could bind 1,600 in one day, at 25 centimes per 100 sheaves, thus earning 4 francs, whereas a woman work- ing by the day at 1 franc or 1 franc 25 centimes would not bind more than 600 or 800. ( s ) As is shown by the above table, the truck system was extensively practised among agricultural labourers before the law of 1887 was passed regulating the payment of workmen’s wages. A resolution for the establishment of a mini- mum wage for agricultural labourers was voted at the Congress of Marseilles in October 1892. ( lJ ) No statis- tics have been obtained with regard to the hours worked by agricultural labourers. According to the statements of a few witnesses before the Labour Com- mission, the hours of actual labour vary from 11 to 12 in summer, and are 10 in winter. During harvest time longer hours are worked. One witness demanded that the Sunday labour in connection with public works should be prohibited, as in Holland, on the ground that it encouraged intemperance. ( lB ) It was stated by many witnesses, that, with the excep- tion of horse-ploughs and steam threshing-machines, machinery was scarcely employed in this industry. The methods of culture in 1886 were similar to those in practice fifty or a hundred years ago. Generally speaking, the relations between employer and em- ployed are more cordial in this than in any other industry, owing, doubtless, to the close intercourse which usually exists between them. One witness stated that in his district the relations were excellent. The men were always engaged for a year, and if they did not remain until their contract expired, they were blamed by their fellow workmen. Some, he stated, spent their whole lives in the same employment. The material condition of agricultural labourers, when in regular employment, compares very favourably with that of persons engaged in industrial production. ( 1 ) See p. 9. ( 2 ) See p. 9. ( 3 ) Report on docks and quays at Antwerp, By H.M. Consul-General. Van den Boyaut. Comitd de patronage des Habitations ouvriCres. Rapport, pp. 255-0). yanderveide, " Les Associations professionnelles,” I., P, 9, ' ( 4 ) Commission du Travail. V., pp. 11, 24, 33, 133. ( 5 ) Annuaire statistique, 1892, p. 246. ( fi ) Id., p.247. (') Commission du Travail, V., pp. 17. 69, 72. (*) Id., I., p. 187. ( 9 ) “ Les Chevaliers du Travail,” I., No. 16. ( ln ) Commission du Travail, V., pp. 18, 97. 142. D 4 (b.) Wages ami hours. (c.) Other conditions. (a.) Lo- cality and position of industries ; competition. a. Buildup; and kindred trades. p. Cigar t rade. y. Clothing trades. 5 .Glass trade. £. Match trade. £. Printing trade. V. Textile tradps. 32 Their dwellings were stated to be generally satisfactory from a hygienic point of view, and in some localities most of the labourers lived in their own houses. With the exception of glass-workers, agricultural labourers are the only class of Belgians who emigrate to any extent. Since the Franco-German war they have emigrated to the United States, and it was stated that the majority of them have been successful. They generally keep up their connection with their native country , and some even return to choose a Belgian wifc.(') C. — Building, Glass, Pointing, Textile, and other Trades. The marble industry is principally concentrated in Brussels, where about 300 workers are engaged. This industry is much affected by the competition of the provinces and of piece-workers ( ouvriers afapon). Until quite recently the cigar industry was entirely confined to Brussels, Ghent, and Antwerp, but since the introduction of machinery a considerable part of the industry has been transferred to towns of secondary importance, such as Turnhout, Grammont, and Saint Nicholas. Brussels is the centre of the glove and hat-making industries. The manufacture of felt hats was intro- duced at Lokeren about 1790 by some workers from France. Thence it soon spread to Bruges, Saint Nicholas, and Brussels. The introduction of machines, especially since 1885, has had a considerable effect on the number of workers and the rate of wages. One of the most important industries in Belgium is glass-making, for which a number of works are estab- lished in the provinces of Hainault, Namur, and Liege, but principally in the district of Charleroi. In spite of the important development which it has attained of recent years, it has preserved certain characteristics of small industries. As a general rule, the glass-workers initiate their own children into the various processes, which are thus handed down from father to son. The manu- facture of shpet and moulded glass ( glace and verve coule) has had a disastrous effect on the window-glass industry (verve a vitre) since 1865. Before that period not more than 600,000 square metres of sheet glass were manufac- tured throughout Belgium, in 1888 the production exceeded 2,000,000, without including the production of moulded glass (verve coule). The competition of the United States has also caused many modifications to be made in the method of production, in order to reduce the cost price as far as possible. Many complaints arc made that the measure used iD blowing glass is con- stantly increased, thus causing an indirect reduction of wages, and increased production. In consequence, a large number of glass-workers have emigrated of recent years. ( 2 ) At the present time (September. 1893). great distress prevails among the lucifer match makers at Grammont, owing, it is stated, to German competition. A letter recently published in the newspapers demanded an increased import duty on German matches, and the establishment of a minimum wage for the various branches of the industry. ( :l ) In the lithographic printing trade, according to M. Yandcrvelde, the most formidable competition is that of the “layers on’’ (margeurs), who frequently become machine managers. To check this competition, women are employed in many offices. ( J ) In typographic print- ing, on the other hand, it is stated that through the employment of women and girls apprentices are unable to learn the management of the machines, and that the number of good machine managers in Belgium has become so small that in certain cases workmen have been imported from France ana England. (’) The cotton, flax, and linen industries are principally centralised at Ghent, but since the reduction of the import duties on cotton in 1884 a number of factories have been established in the provinces. The competi- tion of these factories has been a source of loss to the Ghent industry. For some time past, the introduction of the four-loom system lias been a source of difference between the weavers and their employers. The demands of the operatives have now been partially accepted by one of the largest companies in the town. The chief demands of the workme n are that no weaver shall be dismissed on account of the new system, and that no old weaver, who continues to work two looms, shall have his wages reduced. ( c ) Terriers is the headquarters of the (') Commission du travail, V., pp. 39, 74, 246-7. ( 2 ) “ Los Chevaliers du Travail,” 1., Nos. 8, 11. 15. 21. (fi “ Labour Gazette.” August, 1893, p. 93. ; September, p. 118. (*) “ Les Associations professionnelles,” I., p. 1 06. ( ■■) Cnnscii supOrieur flu Travail. 1 " session, A., p. 11. t B ) “ Labour Gazette.” September, 1893, p. US. woollen industry, which is practically confined to the Yesdre Valley. At Vervicrs alone, there are 75 carding mills, employing about 10,000 workpeople, and annually producing 15,000.000 kilogrammes of yarn, valued approximately at 70,000,000 francs. There are also at, Y erviers 8 wool-combing mills, which produce about 3.000. 000 kilogrammes, of an estimated value of 20.000. 000 francs. The only statistics obtained respecting the total number of works and the production, in any of the industries classed in this group, are those for the glass industry (verve a vitre), which are included in the reports of the Director-General of Mines. 53 works were active in 1891, containing 614 furnaces and 77 mills. In that year, 133 steam engines were employed, of a total horse- power of 10,055. The total value of the production was 55,374,000 francs, showing a diminution of 2,966,000 francs on 1890. The state of the industry during the last four decades was as follows : — (') Period. Average Number of Workpeople. Total Value of Production. Prs. 1851-60 .... 4,691 127,566,000 1861-70 - 7,280 207,454,000 1871-80 .... 10,855 391,090,000 1881-90 .... 15,939 487,155,000 In 1891 the total number of workers in the glass industry was 20,257, being 407 less than in the previous year. The Report of M. Castelein in 1892 shows that a con- siderable number of children are employed by bakers. In the building and kindred industries, the employ- ment of women and children is only exceptional ; in the cigar and clothing trades, they are engaged in large numbers. The actual manufacture of glass is exclu- sively confined to men, but a number of women and children are employed in subordinate work. About 437 boys under 14, and 540 between 14 and 16 years of age are employed in the principal glass works for the manufacture of hollow, sheet, and fireproof glass (gdble- terie, glaces et produits refractaires) : the Yal-Saint- Lambert Company alone employs 597 boys between 12 and 16. In the window-glass industry (verve a vitre), women and about 2,000 children are employed. Con- siderable numbers of women and children are engaged in the printing industry. Complaints are made of the employment of women and girls as “ layers on ” (mar- geuses). In a few offices, women are also employed as compositors. A large number of women and children are employed in the textile industries. According to the returns of the councils of industry and labour in 1891, the average wages in the building' and kindred trades at Brussels are as follows : — Stone- carvers, 6'50 francs a day ; masons, 3'7o; stone-cutters and paviors. 4 ; builders’ labourers, 2'50 ; carpenters and joiners, 3'60 and 3'80 ; wood carvers, 6; painters and decorators, 3'50 to 6 francs, according to the kind of work done. At Liege, marble-workers and polishers gain 4 and 3'60 francs respectively ; masons 4, and builders’ labourers, 3 ; carpenters and joiners, 4 and 3'75 ; cabinet-makers, 3 to 3'50 francs; painters and decorators, 38 to 50 centimes an hour. M. Yandcrvelde states that the wages of marble-workers are far lower in the provinces, ranging from 2'60 to 2'75 francs, Cigar-makers at Liege earn from 2'50 to 3'75 francs. M. Vandervelde states that the average weekly wage of the women employed in this industry at Liege is 10'50 francs, while in Brussels from 15 to 20 francs are paid. Before the extension of provincial competition, workers by hand earned considerably over 20 francs a week. The average wage of skin-dressers, the least skilled workers in the glove industry, is 3 to 3'50 francs ; cutters average 5'30 francs. Y7omen receive 1'80 francs. Felt-hat makers earn 2'50 to 6 francs ; women 2 francs. Silk-hat makers, 2 to 5; women, 1'50 francs; straw-hat makers, 3'75to5; women, 3 francs. Shoemakers at Liege average 2 75 francs ; tailors, 5 francs ; at Brussels, tailors receive 3'50 to 4'50 francs. In the glass trade the averages are as follows : — Blowers. 14'50 to 17'50 francs; spreaders, 7'50 to 8'50; cutters, 3'75 to 5T4 ; engravers, 4'20. The following table shows the average wages of printers and bookbinders : — ( 7 ) Statistique ck-s mines, Ac., 1891, p. GI. (b.) Num- her of works ; production. (c.) Num- ber of work- people. Women and children. (d.) Wages. (1.) Daily average, a. Building . and kindred - trades. p. Cigar- makers. y. Clothing trades. 8. Glass workers. e. Printing and book trades. ■ - - (2.) How calculated, (e.) Hours. a. Daily average. I 33 Typographic Lithographic Compositors. Machine Managers. Type Founders. Engravers and Designers. Machine Managers. Transferrers. Book Binders. Frs. Frs. Frs. Frs. Frs. Frs. Frs. Brussels - - 1 5 ‘50 (stab) 3-3-50 (piece) 1 5 • 50-6 • 50 3 • 50-6 5 15 6 5-50 3-50 Ghent - - - 2 • 50-3 3-6 — — 2-50-7 2-50-5-50 2-25-4-50 Liege 3-75 5 — — 5-50 5 2-50-3-50 Newspaper compositors at Brussels earn 5'50 francs a day ; makers-up, 6 ; pocket-book makers, 4'50. Litho- graphic engravers and designers are, as a rule, only employed for about 7 months in the year. The daily average of piece-workers varies greatly. It is stated that the men frequently work only 3 or 4 hours a day, owing to delays caused by the distribution of copy, and other difficulties. In the textile industries, the average wages are as follows : — Cotton (Ghent). Spinners. Carders. Twisters. Warpers. W inders. Weavers. 4-33 *2-25 4-65 & *2-35 *2-75 *2 ' 60 2-85 Flax and Linen. — Combers. Carders. Spinners. Warpers. Winders. Weavers. Courtrai - - — — — 2-90 4 4 Ghent - -{ 2-28-2-76 2-16-2-76 *1-68-1-92 *1-98 *1-32-1-56 *1-80-2-10 | 3-34 & *3 *2-50 2- 65 Liege - 3-10 3-30 *1-30 — — — Wool. • Sorters. Combers. Spinners. Warpers. Winders. Weavers. Brussels - - - 4-10 3 & *2 3-60 & *1-85 3*45 *1-75 3 & *2-60 Liege ... — — 5 2*70 — 2-75 In the above table wages earned by women are denoted by.* In the woollen industry at Liege, weavers of both sexes are paid alike. The amount given for cotton weavers is the average of all categories, including men, women, and apprentices. The first column of flax-spinners’ wages at Ghent shows the workmen’s statement, the second that of the employers. Information as to the mode of calculating wages in the various trades included in the third group is very incomplete. Payment by the piece is practised in some of the industries connected with building, and in some of the clothing trades, especially in the manufacture of ready-made clothes. In the glass industry( verre a vitre), all workers except the gatherers ( cueilleurs ) are paid by the piece. Printers are paid either by the day or by the piece ; payment by the piece is employed in some of the textile industries. In 1886, the truck system was prevalent in the provinces of Liege and East Flanders, especially in the case of masons, car- penters, straw-plaiters, sail-makers, and weavers.(') Bakers at Ghent work 12 hours a day, from 3 a. in. until noon, in private bakeries, according to the state- ment of the council of industry and labour. In the co-operative bakeries the work is continuous, and there are no fixed hours of rest An eight hours’ day has for some time been established in the co-operative bakery at Jolimont. At Brussels the average is 10 hours for all workers in building and connected trades ; car- penters at Liege woik 10 hours, joiners, cabinet-makers, and masons 11, and marble-workers of all categories (') "Salaires et Budgets ouvriers,” pp. 30-207. “I.es Associations profcssionnelles,” I., passim. P.O, Miscellaneous Series, No. 214. p. x. F, 78030, 12 hours. Cigar-makers at Liege work 10 hours a day. Glove and hat-makers average 10 hours at Brussels, 12 in Flanders ; tailors 10 and 11, and shoemakers 12 hours. The average hours of glass- workers are as follows in the different districts : — Blowers, 9 to 11 hours ; spreaders, 12; cutters, 10 to 11 hours. Lace-makcrs work 10 hours a day. At Brussels, compositors by the piece, lithographic designers, newspaper compositors, and typefounders work 6, 7, 9, and 11 hours respectively; bookbinders at Ghent average 11 hours. The remain- ing workers in the printing industry, whose wages are stated above, average 10 hours. Cotton-spinners of all categories work from 114 to 12 hours ; warpers, winders, and weavers, 9, 10, and 11£ respectively. Linen- weavers average 104- hours at Ghent, 12 at Courtrai ; flax-spinners work 12 hours. In the woollen industry, the average is 101 hours at Liege, and 11 hours in Brussels. The councils of industry and labour at Brussels and Ghent stated in 1892 that small employers and in- dependent workmen, in the building and kindred industries, obliged children in their employment, including their own children, to work 14 or 15 hours daily. In the clothing trade, children and young girls frequently worked from 15 to 18 hours consecutively, and on Sunday they were employed until late in the afternoon. In the co-operative bakeries (brood-fabrie- ken) at Ghent, work continues uninterruptedly day and night. The staff is divided into day and night shifts, each working 12 hours. Night work is very excep- tional in the building and kindred industries ; in the cigar trade it is unknown. Tailors and dressmakers, including children of both sexes under 14 years of age, E (. Textile trades. IS. Overtime and night work. y. Sunday work. (/.) Appren- tices. (<7-) Sweat- ing system. (a.) History of co-opera- tion in Belgium. 34 are frequently obliged to work at night without any intervals oi rest. Makers of under-linen, gloves, and hat- makers are never employed at night, shoemakers are rarely so employed. In the glass industry, es- pecially in the making of window glass (verve a vitre), where the furnaces are in continous operation, night work is a necessity, the hours being the same as during the day. It is only exceptionally employed in the printing and bookbinding trades. As a rule, only compositors are concerned in cases when it is necessary. In the cotton, flax, and jute industries night work is unknown, or very rare ; in the woollen industry a considerable number of workers are habitually engaged at night. "Workers in the co-operative bakeries at Ghent arc employed on Sundays the same number of hours as on ordinary week days. In most cases, attention to their religious duties is impossible. It is stated that, as a general rule, the abolition of Sunday work in this industry would be beneficial. In the building and kindred industries, Sunday work is exceptional ; when employed, the hours are so arranged as to permit of attention to religious duties. Sunday work is unknown in the cigar, glove, and hat making industries. Shoe- makers, tailors, and dressmakers frequently work on Sundays, makers of under-linen do so only excep- tionally ; in the glass industry it is the general rule, as the furnaces are kept up night and day. In the printing and book trades, Sunday work is rare, except in the case of papers issued every day in the week. In some offices this difficulty is overcome by printing the Sunday number late on Saturday evening. The returns for the textile industries show that very little work is performed on Sundays. In June 1893, the operatives in the clothing establishments at Ghent united in petitioning the employers to close at noon on Sundays and public holidays, and a league was formed at Morlanwelz to induce the large manufac- turers in the Centre of Hainault to agree to Sunday closing. At Antwerp, the hat and cap establishments decided to close at 2 p.m. on Sundays, and in August it was stated that the employes in various other industries were agitating for early closing on Sunday. The printers’ associations complain of the excessive number of apprentices at present employed; thus, at Liege there are about 250 for 175 men, and the report of the Ghent association for 1889 stated that the large number of printers out of work was due to the exces- sive employment of ajiprentices. Complaints are also made that apprentices in the carpentering and other wood-working industries are frequently not taught the trade, but are sent on errands for employers or workmen. In large establishments this abuse is due mainly to the system of piece-work, since the workmen cannot afford the loss of time that would be caused by teaching an apprentice. M. Yandervelde states that the sweating system is in vogue among employers of piece-workers (ouvriers a fagori) in the marble industry. In the clothing trade also, according to the returns of the councils of industry and labour, the labour of women and children is frequently abused, and the sweating system is practised, especially in establishments for the manu- ture of ready-made clothes ( maisons de confections) .(') DIVISION III.— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — Co-operation and Profit- si larino. The beginning of the cooperative movement in Belgium was simultaneous with the formation in Paris, after the revolution of 1848, of a large number of pro- ductive co-operative societies. Contrary to the ex- perience of most other countries, the earliest co-opera- tive societies in Belgium were not distributive, but productive. A considerable number of tailors’, shoe- makers', and printers’ co-operative societies were estab- lished in Brussels and Ghent, but these, like the Paris societies, were, with one exception, shortly afterwards dissolved. The first distributive societies were the co- operative bakeries established in 1854 at Ghent and Antwerp, but these also enjoyed only a brief existence. A certain number of societies for the purchase of stores for the winter were established a little later, chiefly P) “ Labour Gazette,” 1893, July, p. 69; August, p. 93. Conseil sup6- rieur du Travail, L ,c session. A., pp. 1-58, 63-70, 101-8. 135-40 ; B., pp. 1-36, 45-56, 66-78, 99. Statistique des mines, &c. 1891, p. 60; 1891, p. 17. Vandefveldc. “ Ifcs Associations pmfessionnelles,” 1 .. pp. . " Les Chevaliers du Travail,” 1„ No. 14. among the members of friendly societies ; in 1865 twelve of these societies were in existence, but, accord- ing to M. Bertrand, the number has since considerably diminished. Between 1864, when the first “ people’s bank ” was instituted at Liege, and 1873, a large number of societies were established, mainly through the influence of the I ntumcitionci Lc. The lack of recog- nition and protection by the law, as well as of proper organisation among the working classes, and in some cases the bad management and dishonesty on the part of the managers, brought about the dissolution, by 1873, of almost all these societies, with the exception of the various distributive societies established in 1869 at the Maricmont and Bascoup collieries. In 1867 M. Anspach, the burgomaster of Brussels, established cheap dining rooms (restaurants ecouovniques) for work- ing men, one of which still remains in Brussels, i n 1871 M. Bara brought forward a Bill for the recog- nition of co-operative societies, which became law in 1873. and, with certain slight modifications introduced in 1886, still remains in force. In January 1878 there existed only 13 co-operative societies established in accordance with this law, and of these, 10 were people’s banks. Eight more were instituted between that date and January 1880, but the co-operative movement has spread rapidly since 1885. This increase is ascribed by M. Bertrand mainly to the influence of the Labour Party ( Parti ouvrier), established in that year, and also to the institution, since January 1882, of people’s drug stores,” as well as to the large number of co- operative societies formed by Government employes since 1885. Between this date and the end oi 1892. 303 societies were established, whereas only 45 were instituted between 1873 and 1884. At present, no general federation of co-opcrativc societies has been formed in Belgium. In 1869 a fede- ration of people’s banks was established, which holds an annual congress, and in 1887 the question of federa- tion was debated at a congress of delegates from co- operative distributive Societies, convoked by the “ Vooruit,” and a provisional committee was appointed. It was found necessary to adopt the form of a joint- stock company, as the law of 1873 does not mention the possibility of forming any s'uch federation. Copies of the proposed rules were circulated among the co-opera- tive societies, but only a few of the smallest expressed a wish to join, and the scheme proved a failure. At the annual congress of the Labour Party in 1890 the question was again introduced, and a few days later a federal council was established at Ghent. About the same time, the co-operative societies of Government employes instituted a federation, to which thirteen societies of employes are now (1893) affiliated. A local federation of co-operative societies was established at Liege about 1891. Belgian co-operative societies have many peculiar difficulties to contend with, owing to the opposition of tradesmen and others who consider them a source, of danger to existing institutions. In 1891 a law was passed, obliging co-operative societies to pay a licence in proportion to the scale of their business. This iaw especially affects the large bakeiies, such as the Vooruit at Ghent, which pays 6,000 francs a year more than before the law was passed. By the law of 1873, co-ojierative societies acquire legal recognition, the freedom of the city, the right to possess real property, and exemption from stamp and registration duties for all documents and publications. Unless otherwise determined by their constitution, the societies have a duration not exceeding 10 years, and are managed by a director and a committee of three, who need not be members of the society. The number of members and the rate of contributions are variable ; no shares are transferable. In most cases, the share paid by a new member is only 1 franc, which is de- ducted from the first profits realised after the member’s entry. Each member remaius personally liable, for five years after his resignation or exclusion, for all engage- ments contracted by the society during the year in w hich he withdrew. With the exception of the societies of Government employes, the co-operative societies are generally affiliated to the Labour Party, and spend a considerable portion of their income on socialist propaganda.! 1 ) Four kinds of co-operative productive societies are mentioned by M. Bertrand. In those of the first class, only members are employed, the second employ work- (-) Bertrand. " La Co-operation,” pp.7-40, 138-18. Law of 1873 Federation. i Law of 1S91| (5.) Position and charac- ter of co- operative societies. 1. Produc- tive so- cieties. 2. Produc- tion and distribution combined. “ Maison du Peuple,” Brussels. Constitu- tion. 35 men arid pay them wages, the third allow such work- men, although not members, to receive a share ol tnc profits, and the fourth variety includes those ormed by workmen’s associations ior the benefit of all thou ™ eni hers. 'The Typographic Alliance, established in 184. , be- long to the second class. In 1887 this society numbered only 81 members.* Between 1867 and 18/4 several Societies ot marble-workers, printers, pocket-book makers, skin-dressers and softeners were established at Brussels, but were all dissolved after a short time. Within the last ten years, in addition to the co-opera- tive society of the newspaper “ Le Peuple,” societies ol printers at Ixclles, tailors at Ghent, and confectioners at Brussels have been established ; the last ol these is developing' considerably. Workshops for the Unem- ployed ( ateliers de cliomage) have been instituted by several workmen’s societies. In these workshops the members are employed for the whole or part oL' each day until they obtain work, and so actually earn part or even the whole of the benefit allowed them by then- association. Since the law of 1873 was passed, most of the Nations (') at Antwerp have made their rules conform to those of co-operative societies, but, like the society for sugar refining at Laeken, they have nothing in common with co-operation beyond the name. (-) The co-operative bakeries, which sell bread of their own manufacture, belong at once to the two classes of productive and distributive societies. These bakeries are very numerous, and exist in all the large towns. The establishment of the “ Vooruit ” at Ghent and the “ Maison du Peuple” at Brussels, was followed in 1884 by a bakery and mill worked by machinery at Yerviers. Bakeries were instituted in 1885 at Ouesmes, Jemappes, Frameries, Paturages, and Wasmes in Borinage, and the next year eight mOTe were established in the same district. In 1887 a number of bakeries were formed in the district of Charleroi, and in other localities. The most important societies are those at Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liege, Louvain, Charleroi, Namur, Verviers, La Louviere, and “ Le Progr'es” at Jolimont. In in- dustrial centres such as Charleroi, Borinage, and the Centre of Hainault, the co-operative society began by selling flour and butter, but it was soon found that a co-operative bakery could produce bread far more cheaply than it could be produced by each family for their own consumption. With the exception of the co-operative society at Jolimont, where bread is sold at the lowest possible price, these societies have almost all adopted the system ol' the Pioneers of Rochdale, selling at the current trade prices, and dividing the profits realised at the end of a certain period, generally a year or six months. For the establishment of a co-operative bakery, a capital of 300 or 400 francs is sufficient, with a daily production of 150 loaves. The great society “ La Maison du Peuple” at Brussels began under such conditions in 1882; it was legally established in 1888, and at the present time (1893) it numbers 10,000 members, and manufactures more than 100,000 loaves a week. It possesses real property, having a tool-store, a library, and other premises, worth in all several hundred thousand francs. The objects of the society are to establish and work bakeries, and, as the funds allow, to establish butchers’ shops, restaurants, co- operative workshops, general provision shops, libraries, reading-rooms, and other institutions. Its duration is fixed at 30 years from July 1st, 1888. The minimum capital of the society is 16,000 francs, and its liability is limited to the amount of the assets. Each share is worth 10 francs, payable in four half-yearly instalments. Persons who wish to join the society must purchase a share and adhere to the programme of the Labour Party {Peril ouvrier), to which it is affiliated. Members who deal for one month elsewhere than at the society’s establishments, or otherwise infringe the rules, may be excluded by the council of management and a majority of two-thirds at the general meeting. A member who has resigned or been excluded receives his share, and the dividends to which he is entitled, in bread or other goods sold by the society, except in special eases, when he may he paid in cash. General meetings are convoked quarterly by the council of management, which meets at least twice a month, and consist^ of members of all the sections. An executive committee, to carry out the decisions of the council and * This society lias no connection with the Free Association ot Typo- graphic Printers. i 1 ) See p. 9. ( 2 ) “ La Co-operation,” pp. 56-72. the sections, is composed of one member from each section. The sections consist of six members, five elected by the general meeting, and one by the men employed (■ personnel ) in that branch ; the bakery sec- tion is composed of nine members, two of whom repre- sent the men employed. Deductions from the half- yearly dividends are made of 2J per cent, for the stall, and of 25 per cent, for a reserve fund, at least half of which is employed for socialist propaganda, and the remainder is added to the funds. Each member pays 5 centimes a week to the provident fund, from which he is allowed, in case of sickness, seven loaves weekly for two years. In 1890 a medical aid society ( Service mcdico-pharmaceutique ) was established, which, for a weekly payment of 5 centimes for each person, provides members of the co-operative society and. of the Brussels federation of the Labour Party with medical attendance and medicine gratis. In 1892, the Vooruit numbered more than 5,000 “Vooruit,” members, and had established, in addition to the bakery, Ghent, three drug stores, and shops for the sale of coal, clothes, haberdashery, tobacco, cigars, and colonial produce. A certain number of co-operative workshops — cigar-makers, shoemakers, and metal-workers — are . connected with the society, and supply it with their manufactures. The library contained 5,000 volumes in 1886. The funds are employed in establishing friendly societies, especially in small towns, and in propagating socialist doctrines. An anti-socialist co-operative bakery, the “ V olhsbelang ,” was established at Ghent in 1887, and has had considerable success. ( :i ) In Belgium, as in other countries, distributive co- 3, Distribu- operation is the form which has made the most progress, rive especially during recent years. A considerable number socie 1Cb ‘ of societies for the preparation of food, for consumption on the premises or otherwise, have been established in large towns and industrial centres, such as Liege, Namur, and Brussels. The society “ Le s Ateliers reunis ” at Brussels has instituted several “ people’s restaurants,” where for 55 centimes members can pur- chase a dinner of soup, meat, bread, vegetables, beer, and coffee. Owing to the large capital required, from 15,000 to 20,000 francs, and the close supervision that is necessary, it has not yet been possible for workmen to establish societies of this kind without assistance. A few employers have formed stores ( economats ) for the use of their workmen, hut, in consequence of the abuses to which such institutions have frequently given rise, ( 4 ) the men generally look upon them with distrust, and they have had hut little success, unless they have been entirely given over to the men, and have become actual co-operative societies, as in the glass-works at Yal-Saant-Lambert. In 1881 a certain number of affiliated- friendly societies established a society for the supply of medicine and drugs to their members at reasonable prices. The two first drug stores were established in 1882, and in six years they had realised a profit of 125,000 francs, although they sold below the current prices. This sum was divided among the members of the friendly societies in the ratio of their purchases. At the preseut time (1893), the “ people’s drug stores ” at Brussels possess eight laboratories, and the question of establishing more is under discus- sion. Drug stores have also been established by the co-operative societies at Antwerp, Liege, Mons, Yer- viers, the Vooruit at Ghent, the “ Progr'es” at Joli- mont, and others. There are a very few instances of Tradesmen’s societies of tradesmen for the manufacture or purchase socie ries. of certain articles. At Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, and Liege there are bakers’ societies of this species, but they are not legally recognised. Others that may be mentioned are the Fishmongers’ Society and the Union to forward the Development of Trade and Industry, both at Brussels, the United Millers at Snoenkerke, and the Gas Finishers at Antwerp. The co-operative society of dealers in poultry, game, fruit, and vegetables at Brussels, which was reconstituted in 1891, numbers 39 members, each of whom contributes 500 francs to the funds. The profits are divided among the members, after a deduction of 5 per cent, for the reserve fund, and 7£ per cent, for the council of management. In 1864 the first “people's bank” was instituted at 4. Lending Liege, after the model of the German societies established («?) Veoplo’s on the initiative of Herr Schulze Delitzsch in 1859. banks. These “ people’s hanks ” perform for their members all the functions of ordinary banks, discounting drafts, ad- ( 3 ) “La Co-opCrotion,” pp. La Maisdii du People. Hides. Service m6dico-pharmaceutique. Rules. ( l ) /Seep. 75. E 2 36 At Liege. vanciug money from the funds, lending on security, and opening credit accounts. By the law of 1873, the members’ liability may be either limited or unlimited, but that of the St. Nicholas bank alone is unlimited. In the case of the other banks, the amount of liability varies from 200 to 5,000 francs. The rate of discount is 1 per cent, higher than that of the National Bank. These societies are authorised by their rules to act as savings banks, and to receive deposits from members and other persons. They are also empowered to borrow sums not exceeding the half of their funds, for which all the members are liable, to the amount of 4,000 francs a head. The duration of the bank at Liege, which is the oldest and the most important of all, is fixed at 30 years, dating from 1874, when it became legally recog- nised, but it may be dissolved previously, with the approval of two-thirds of the members. The minimum funds are 3,000 francs. Each new member must pay an entrance fee, and deposit a capital of 200 francs, which may be paid in monthly or weekly instalments. This sum remains the personal property of the member, but cannot be withdrawn while he remains in the society. The bank is directed by a council of manage- ment consisting of fifteen members, under the super- vision of three commissioners and an executive com- mittee, which is composed of the president, director, and treasurer of the council. The sums advanced to each member are determined by the council, according to the state of the funds, but they must not be less than 10 or over 4,000 francs, and are lent for a period not exceeding three months, except by permission of the council. The rate of interest varies from 3 to 6, but is usually 4 per cent., with an additional i per cent, for each month. In 1887 the Liege bank num- bered 2,706 members belonging to 132 different pro- fessions, and that at Verviers 2,545 belonging to 111 professions. On June 30, 1892, the total number of members of “ people’s banks ” amounted to 10,356, and the capital deposited exceeded 2,000,000 francs. The reserve fund amounted to 270,000 francs ; the state- ment of accounts to 4,500,000 francs. In 1869 a federation, which holds an annual con- gress, was established under the presidency of M. Leon d’Andrimont, the deputy for the district of Verviers. In 1884 a law was passed for the establishment of people’s banks in agricultural districts, but no practical results have yet been attained. Q. — Table showing the Situation of seventeen- of the Banks in December 1891 : — (‘) Name. Date of Establishment. Number of Members. Business in 1889. Dividends in 1891. Liege - - - - - 1864 2,394 12,864,409 3 p.c. Huy ..... - 1865 712 1,058,748 5 and 4 p.c. Verviers ..... - 1865 2,598 30,417,380 6 p.c. Ghent .... - 1866 1,264 31,717,070 7 p.c. Namur ..... - 1869 674 9,482,634 4 p.c. St. Nicholas - ... - 1869 305 1,081,918 6 p.c. Antwerp - - - 1873 464 31,072,982 6 p.c. Dinant - - - 1873 274 1,049,313 2 p.c. Chatelet ..... - 1873 414 2,811,641 7 p.c. Malines - ... - 1874 265 1,219,708 5 p.c. Andenne - .... 1874 392 4,666,767 5 p.c. Termonde (dist.) .... - 1875 85 814,963 3 p.c. Alost - ... - 1886 68 1,565,627 5 p.c. Goe - - ... - 1888 85 291,817 5 p.c. Antwerp (dist.) .... - 1889 256 — 3 p.c. Argenteau - - 1889 36 163,734 4 p.c. Jumet - - - - 1890 70 — 3 p.c. 10,356 130,278,711 . Cred - t In addition to the people’s banks, there are at present societies. in Belgium seven loan associations ( unions du credit) ; those at Liege, Verviers, Charleroi, and Tournai are co-operative in form. A similar association at Antwerp was dissolved in 1889. The functions of these associa- tions are identical with those of the people’s banks. ( 2 ) 5 . Building In 1887, after several enquiries had been held into the societies. condition of workmen’s dwellings, an attempt was made to establish building societies in Belgium, but little could be done until the law of 1889 was passed, au- thorising the General Savings Bank (Caisse generate d'epargne) to advance a portion of its funds to public administrations, to individuals, or to societies esta- blished for the purpose of building workmen’s houses. ( 3 ) This law permits the societies to be either joint-stock or co-operative in form. In 1890 the first building society (M Annuaire statistique, 1892, p. 170; “ La Co-operation,” pp. 170-1. ( 2 ) D’Andrimont. " La Co-operation ouvriere, pp. 66-94. “ La Co- operation,” pp. 47-8, 74-8. (») See p. 42. was established at Brussels, and the next year another was founded at Louvain. This form of co-operation is therefore of too recent establishment in Belgium for its results to be estimated. The first co-operative insurance society in Belgium societies?™ 6 was the “ Urbaine beige,” instituted in 1888. The minimum capital of the society, which extends its operations to foreign countries, is fixed at 2,000,000 francs, divided into 4,000 shares of a nominal value of 500 francs ; no member may take more than ten. On December 31st, 1892. the society numbered 485 members, who had subscribed for 2,513 shares of 500 francs. In 1892, the receipts were 1,100,000 francs, and 630,000 francs were paid as compensation. The total amount of compensation paid since the establishment of the society is 1,300,000 francs. The following table shows the condition of the society during the first four years after its establishment. ( 4 ) ( 4 ) “ La Co-operation,” p. 106. 37 7. Agricul- tural societies. (c.) Effects of co-opera- tion. (< l .) Profit- sharing. (a.) Early period. Trade benefit societies. Year. Receipts. Revenue. Dividends. 1888-9 - 245,214 40,000 8,138 1890 - 541,703 130,000 10,433 1891 - 806,079 190,000 15,173 1892 - 1,100,000 300,000 20,000 Agricultural co-operative societies in Belgium date from 1885, when the first was established at Landen. Others exist at Perck, Tirlemont, Ghent, Marche, Genappe, Hasselt, Liege, Tongres, Namur, Grivegnee, Virginal, Jodoigne-Perwez, Cerexhe-Melin, and Bree ; the last of these was instituted in 1890. All these so- cieties were founded by large landowners and farmers. With the exception of the two la3t mentioned, their object is to purchase and retail to members fodder, corn, and other articles. The co-operative dairy at Cerexhe- Melin, established in 1889, is the earliest instance of an agricultural productive society in Belgium. At the end of the same year another co-operative dairy was in- stituted at Peuthy, with a minimum capital of 2,000 francs, divided into eighty shares of 25 francs. Twenty shares have been purchased by purveyors of milk, the remainder by other persons admitted to membership. Each member is paid according to the quality of the milk supplied by him, after a slight deduction has been made for the expenses of the dairy. The dairy at Bree, established in 1890, has now (1893) eleven members, all farmers, and works satisfactorily. (') The material and moral effects of co-operation are, according to M. Bertrand, enormous. Food and clothing can be bought at a reduction of 15 or 20 per cent., and in bakeries the manufacture is on such a large scale that bread can be supplied at 25 per cent, below the trade price. The co-operative bakeries have revolutionised the manufacture of bread in Belgium, by the employ- ment of the newest kinds of ovens, and the introduction of kneading by machinery. The ordinary tradesmen are also obliged, by the competition of the co-operative societies, to lower their prices, as has been done by the bakers at Ghent and Brussels ; consequently the general public, as well as the members, have gained by the esta- blishment of the societies. By supplying good food and other necessaries at moderate prices, and in most cases admitting to membership none but persons of good character, the societies tend to raise the moral standard of the working classes, and to encourage habits of economy and temperance. Some of the largest societies, the Vooruit at Ghent, for instance, do not allow the sale of intoxicants on the premises. ( 2 ) The results of the system of profit-sharing established at the Mariemont and Bascoup collieries are stated to be equally satisfactory. With the exception of the collieries of M. Bourg at Bois-du-Luc, almost the only other instances of profit-sharing occur in the steelworks of M. Boel at La Louviere, and in one jute-spinning establishment at Ghent. The system was introduced at M. Boel’s works in 1888, and in 1891 the sum of 39,000 francs was divided amongst the workmen, about 550 in number. In 1892 the profit realised was considerably less.( :i ) B. — Friendly Societies. The earliest friendly societies in Belgium were the trade benefit societies (mutualites professionelles) , which were formed towards the end of the eighteenth century. These were joint associations of employers and journey- men engaged in the same industry ; at the beginning of this century they were very numerous, but they are now found only at Lierre, Turnhout, Ghent, Bruges, and a few other towns in Flanders. Most of the surviving “ Ambachten,” ( 4 ) which were originally associations of employers, adopted this form at the beginning of the present century, and now admit employers and workmen on equal terms. Other societies, which were originally composed only of (>) “La Co-opGration,” pp. 106-23. ( 2 ) Bertrand. " La Oo-op6ration,” pp. 20-5. Il’Andrimont. “La Co- operation ouvriGre en Belgique,” pp. 10-20. Id.,“Le CrGdit agricole. ” Commission du Travail, I ,.pp. 152, 373; II., B., p. 10; b., p. 10; C„ p. 20; D., pp. 115, 103, 207 ; E., pp. 17, 50. “ Sozialpolitisches Centralbiatt,” I., p. 208. ( 3 ) Weiler. “ L’Esprit dos Institutions ouvriOres de Mariemont,” pp. 10-11. Bollaert. “ Les Institutions ouvriGres de Mariemont et de Bas- coup,” pp. 10-13. “ SociGtOliberale,” Bulletins. Nos. 1,1, 7,13. Demeure. “Note sur les Chambres duplications de Mariemont et de Bascoup,” p. 8. “ La ROforme sociale,” 1892, Jan. 1st, p. 82 ; March 1st, pp. 310-53, (pNeep. 9. journeymen, such as the carpenters’ society at Bruges, “ Timmerliens Oni/er stand Maatsclmppij,” established in 1753, have admitted employers since the suppression of the guilds. Some of the later trade benefit societies have copied the constitution of these old associations. This is the case at Bruges, where there are three societies of tailors, of which one is the old “ Ambacht ; ” another, originally a society of journeymen re-con- stituted in 1803, and the third, an offshoot of the latter society, established in 1870. All admit employers and journeymen without distinction. A similar society worthy of mention is the gold and silversmiths’ and jewellers’ society established at Brussels in 1830. All these old trade benefit societies were at first religious in character, and organised festivals on certain saints’ days, as well as masses for deceased members. Of recent years they have lost their religious character, and .tend to become less exclusive. Thus, in the woollen weavers’ society at Bruges, only 25 members out of 200 are engaged in the industry ; and the “ Servetenwevers ” society consists of persons employed in all kinds of industries, except that indicated by the name. In most cases, employers are not admitted ; at Brussels there were 14 trade benefit societies in 1885, all of which had lost their religious character, and consisted exclusively of journeymen. In 1851 a law was passed conferring legal recogni- tion upon mutual aid societies, under certain condi- tions. A permanent commission was established by a Royal decree in the same year, and by a further decree of 1862 triennial meetings were instituted ; the number of societies did not, however, increase as rapidly as had been anticipated. Several clauses in the law of 1851 caused much dissatisfaction, and in 1890 a Bill containing important modifications was introduced hy the Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works. This Bill, which is now (in 1893) before the Chamber of Representatives, includes a larger variety of associations in the list of those which may have legal recognition, and facilitates the means of securing it. The clause empowering the burgomaster to be present at meetings of the societies is suppressed. The ar- rangements as to dissolution and liquidation are hence- forward tc be controlled entirely by the members, whereas, by the law of 1851, all the funds of a society reverted in case of its dissolution to similar institutions, or to the Charity Organisation office ( bureau de bien- faisance). It is also provided that temporary assistance granted to a member or to his family cannot be trans- ferred or distrained. Many of these societies ori- ginally formed to provide insurance against sickness were re-organised as protective societies ( societes de maintien de prix or de resistance), which, according to M. Vandervelde, were the origin of the trade associa- tions of the present day. ( 5 ) Others have retained their benefit institutions, but have lost their professional character, and, like the more recent mutual aid societies, admit members of all trades, while employers are excluded. The proportion of members of mutual aid societies is greater in Bruges than in any other town in Belgium. In 1884, out of 46,000 inhabitants, 1,402 were affiliated to recognised, and 4,970 to un- lecognised societies. Only about 1,000 women through- out the country were affiliated to friendly societies in 1886. The total number of recognised societies in Belgium in 1889 was 332, with a membership of 46,368. The following table shows the comparative numbers of trade and other friendly societies established before 1885 : — Late of Establishment. Trade Benefit Societies. Other Societies. Before 1800 .... 10 0 1800 20 25 5 1820-40 22 33 1840-60 .... 40 117 Total in 1860 - 103 155 Total in 1885 - - - ' - 100 559 In 1890 the Socialist Federation of Mutual Aid Societies was established, mainly on the initiative of the “Bond Moyson.” At Verviers there is a similar federation of mutual aid societies, which in 1891 ( s ) See a. 9. E 3 Change in the charac- ter of trade benefit societies. Law of 1851. Bill of 1890. (6.) Later period. Mutual aid societies. Federation. 38 numbered. 2,500 members, but this is unconnected with the socialist movement, and is not affiliated to the Labour Party. In May 1892 the committee of inspec- tion at Namur endeavoured to establish a federation of the mutual aid societies in Namur and the neighbour- hood. In the district of Charleroi, the Catholic mutual aid societies were engaged in a similar attempt at the same time. (') 1. Provident A number of societies for insurance against accidents societies. and sickness ( caisses de prevoyance) have been formed in Belgium, especially among miners. One of the most important of these societies is that in Couchant de Mons, to which 18 establishments were affiliated in October 1891. In that year the rales of the society were revised, and the accident and superannuation funds were divided into two distinct sections. The total amount of receipts of the miners’ general societies (i caisses communes de prevoyance), including contributions from employers and employed, and subsidies from the Government, was nearly 2,716,080 francs in 1891, and the expenses, including pensions and other assistance to members, amounted to 2,140,164 francs. The total receipts of the private societies in 1891 were 1,918,305 francs, of which 1,561,895 francs were paid by the employers, and the expenses amounted to 1,900,877 francs. Mention may also be made of the Belgian Brotherhood (La Eraternelle beige) established at Brussels in 1852, and recognised in 1877. In 1886 the “Bond Moyson” was established at Ghent by a congress of socialist mutual aid societies, for the purpose of securing medical attendance for their members, on the payment of two centimes a week. Two years later it was resolved at another congress to merge all the existing sick funds into one general fund under the direction of the Bond Moyson, which in 1890 numbered more than 10,000 members, and in that year was instrumental in establishing the Socialist Federation of Mutual Aid Societies. In addition to its functions as a friendly society, the Bond Moyson is engaged in socialist propaganda. ( 2 ) 2. Pension The State pension fund ( Caisse de retraite de VEtat) funds. was in existence fourteen years before the law of 1865 State fund. was p assef ] j instituting the general savings bank and pension fund. Its object was to secure a pension for workmen by the payment of small sums of not less than 1 franc. Each member can determine the age at which he prefers to enter upon the enjoyment of the pension, which in case of his death may be paid to his wife or family. The total number of members amounted to 13,300 in January 1892. A society was established at Ghent in 1888 with the sole object of inducing affiliation to the fund. In 1891 it numbered 332 members and paid to the fund the sum of 4,714 francs. Private Some of the larger establishments have instituted funds. private funds for their own workmen. One of the most generous is the Vieille-Montagne Company, which in 1892 purchased a farm, where super- annuated workmen might live, on payment of a small part of the pension allotted to them. In several cases, as, for instance, in the printing office of M. Hoste at Ghent, and the tanning works of MM. Baugnies at Peruwelz, employers who had private funds for the benefit of their workmen have induced the latter to enter the State fund. The affiliation of M. Hoste’s office took place in 1883, on the demand of the workmen, and since 1886 subscription to the fund has been obligatory for all workmen and apprentices. 126 workers in this office were affiliated to the fund in 1892. Each member determines the amount of pension which he desires to receive, and the age at which it shall commence. The deduction from the members’ wages varies from 1 to 6 per cent., according to the pension they desire to receive. The management of the fund is entirely in the hands of the workmen. M. Varlez states, however, that, as a general rule, the workmen do not look with favour on the idea of affiliation to the State fund. Another society which deserves mention is the Pension Fund for the Belgian medical staff (Corps des pensions du corps medical beige), established to secure pensions for doctors, druggists, veterinary surgeons, and their widows and children. ( 3 ) The earliest savings banks in Belgium were estab- lished as branches of loan societies (societe's de credit). The savings bank at Huy is of this type. It was estab- lished in 1857 under the direction of the bank at Seraing, and in 1875 the management of it was taken over by the bank at Huy. This form of savings bank has caused much discontent, and is now not often adopted. The General Society and the Bank of Bel- gium ( Societe generate and Banque de Belgique) were the first large savings banks established in this form ; they were both rained by the crises in 1838 and 1848. In 1859 M. Frere-Orban introduced a Bill which became law in 1865, establishing the General State savings bank (Caisse generate d’epargne d’Etat). This savings bank is' controlled by a general council, a council of management, and a general director ; it is under the supervision of the State, which appoints the officers, and may remove them. There is no maximum for deposits, but precautions have been taken to secure the savin us bank from any danger, that might arise. Since 1881, large sums are allowed interest only at the rate of 2 or 1 '50 per cent., instead of 3 percent. Investments may be made in Belgian State funds, in loans to provinces, towns, and communes, mortgages, agricultural loans, the bonds of certain societies, advances on security (escomptes et avarices sur garanties) and in foreign bonds. Tim stability of the general savings bank was proved during the crisis caused by the Franco-German war in 1870, when in a few days the bank had more than 18,000,000 francs at its disposal, or two-thirds of the deposits at that time. In December 1891, the number of savings bank books was 800,074, representing deposits to the amount of 333,428,732 fr ancs.( 4 ) In addition to savings banks under the direction of the communal administrations, such as those in the towns of Alost, Malines, Nivelles, and Tournai, a number of private savings banks exist in different parts of the country. Such are the General Society for the Advancement of National Industry, the Liege savings bank, and those instituted by the Cockerill and Yielle- Montagne joint-stock companies. Among others may be mentioned the “ Minerva ” at Hasselt, and the society in M. Ad. Hoste’s printing office at Ghent. Savings banks have been instituted in a number of schools, for the benefit of the children attending them. In 1891, out of 7,753 schools, 5,027 had established savings banks, in which 172,629 children of both sexes had made deposits to the amount of over 4,307,1 76 francs. ( 5 ) A number of clubs for providing instruction, recrea- tion, and amusement for working men have been esta- blished throughout the country. The society “ Bans Nom non sans Coeur ” at Ghent deserves especial men- tion. It was established in 1855 as a friendly society, affording aid to persons in distress through accident, sickness, death, or want of employment, and to these functions it has added the establishment and support of institutions tending to the moral and material welfare of the working classes. ( fi ) C. — Labour Exchanges. At the congress of the Internationale at Brussels in 1868, De Paepe expressed a desire for the establishment of a labour exchange, but this wish remained unfulfilled until February 1888, when the first labour exchange in Belgium was established at Liege.( 7 ) Since the begin- ning of 1892, it has been exclusively under the direc- tion of the Chamber of Commerce. It is governed by a committee of six members appointed by the Chamber of Commerce, and one delegate from the town of Liege ; three workmen’s representatives may also be appointed by the members of the councils of prud’hommes, and of industry and labour, and by the friendly societies. The members of the committee appoint by co-option a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. Meetings of the committee are held at least once a ( J ) Vandervelde, “ Les Associations professionnelles,” L, pp. 18-27, 40, 184, 223. Commission du Travail, II., A., pp. 30, 3S, 89; B. pp., 20-6, 50; b., pp. 82, 188 ; C., pp. 57, 238 ; 1)., p. 208. Chambre des Repr6sentants, Projet de loi aur les Societfo de Secours mutuels. “ La Reforme sociale,” June 16,1892, p. 913. Weiler. " Les Institutions ouvribresde Mariemont,” pp. 4-14. Bollaert. “Les Institutions ouvrieres Re Mariemont et de Baseoup,” pp. 13-26. Bouree. “Les Conditions du Travail en Belgique,” pp. 68, 70. ( 2 ) Caisse de Prevoyance A Mons en faveur des ouvriers nnneurs. Rapports. 1890, 1891. Annales des Travaux publics en Belgique, II., 1892, p. 291. Vandervelde. “Les Associations’professionnelles,” I.,p.l94. Exposition universelle internationale de 1S89 A Paris. Rapports, Groupe de l’Economie sociale, I., pp. 451-3. ( :i ) Varlez. “ Les Pensions de Retraite en 1892.” “ Societe liberale,” Bulletins. Nos. 5, 9, 10, 15. “La Reforme sociale,” March 16, 1S92, pp. 467-9. Exposition universelle internationale de 1889 a Paris. Rapports, Groupe d’Economie sociale, I., p. 453. OAnnuaire statistique, 1892, p. 164. ( 5 ) “ Revue sociale et politique.” III., No. I.,pp. 20 52. Exposition uni- verselle internationale de 1889 A Paris. Rapports, Groupe de TEeonomie sociale, I., pp. LXX VII-LXXX VI. : II.. pp. 56-8. 7S-S3. Annuaire sta- tistique, 1892, pp. 164-9. Commission du Travail, II., A., pp. 34, 3S , B., 20-6. D’Andrimont. “ Le Crddit agrieole.” p. 79. (°) Exposition universelle internationale de 1SS9 a Paris. Rapports, Groupe de l’Economie sociale, II., p. 246. ( 7 ) De Paepe. “ Les Services publics,” p. 6. 3. Savings banks. State savings bank. Private an other savings banks. 4. Clubs for working men. 1. At Li6ge. .39 2. At Brus- sels. Results. 3. Federa- tion. 4. Private registries. (a.) Consti-' tution. J month. The ollice is open daily from IS a.m. to 6 p.tn. ; workmen are registered without charge. It is mainly supported by the Chamber of Commerce and the stock- exchange (Bourse industrielle). The establishment of the Brussels exchauge was due to the charitable association “ Oeuvre die Travail,'’ which has no political or party interests, but aims at improving the condition of the unemployed, and saving them from pauperism by facilitating the finding of employment. To this end it has instituted, in addition to the Labour Exchange, a workshop ( comptoir du travail), and schools for apprentices (ateliers d’appren- tissage), where unskilled workers of both sexes may be taught some industry. An attempt to found an exchange had been made in 1886 by M. Buis, the burgo- master, but his scheme failed, owing to differences of opinion between the joint syndicates nominated by employers and employed. In April 1889 the exchange was established as a municipal organisation where applications for situations or for workers are received. It is managed by a committee consisting of a president, secretary, and treasurer. In order to secure the direct co-operation of employers and employed, a consultative committee (commission d’ etudes) has been formed of two representatives of associations of employers, one of associations of workmen, and one of associations of clerks. The burgomaster presides over the committee, which considers all questions of interest to the labour market in general. Information as to demands for employment is supplied, by order of the burgomaster, through the commissioners of police, and a correspon- dence is kept up with other exchanges in Belgium and abroad. The funds mainly consist of the subscriptions of the members of the Oeuvre du Travail ; no regis- tration fee is paid by either employers or employed. The total expenses amount to about 6,400 francs, includ- ing the clerks’ salaries and office expenses. The town of Brussels supplies the office and keeps it in repair at its own cost, whilst the necessary police supervision is provided at the expense of the commune. Between March 1890 and March 1891, 5, 361 applications were made by workpeople, and 4,091 by employers ; and between March 1891 and March 1892, the totals were 5,338 and 3,206 respectively. The number of workpeople during the last-mentioned period included representatives of 201 different occupations. The pro- portion for whom situations were found cannot be ascertained, as many did not return the tickets issued to them by the exchange. The labour market (marche du travail), instituted in May 1891, where employers may place themselves in direct communication with workmen, is open daily from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Between May 1891 and March 1892, it was visited by 1,880 work- men and 403 employers. In February 1892, a federation of labour exchanges throughout the country was formed to facilitate means of finding work for the unemployed in any part of Belgium, to study questions relating to the organisation of labour exchanges or markets, and to establish new exchanges. Several trade associations have instituted private labour registries for their members. Mention may also be made of a society for the benefit of the unemployed formed at Wiers in 1885, which acts as a labour exchange. (*) D. — Higher Council of Labour. To complete the organisation of the councils of industry and labour( 2 ), a Higher council of labour was instituted at Brussels by two Royal decrees of April 7th, 1892. The council is a consultative body, whose duty it is to prepare questions for submission to the various councils of industry, and to present to the Government general proposals embodying their wishes. Questions relating to apprenticeship, technical educa- tion, workshop regulations, the measures to be taken to ensure the proper sanitation and safety of industrial establishments, the organisation of insurance against accidents, strikes and lock-outs, and legislation on trade contracts come within the jurisdiction of the council. It is organised on a basis analogous to that of the Higher councils of commerce, industry, and agricul- ture, and, like them, its business is to discuss questions submitted to it by the Government, to provide infor- mation respecting all labour questions, and to draft C) Bourse du Travail. Li6ge. Expose de son Organisation. Bruxelles. Rapports, 181)1, 1802. "Bulletin du Travail,” Nos.3-7. Miscellaneous Series, No. 249, pp. 1-4. Commission du Travail, C., pp. 58, 65. (*) fire p. 21. Id., F.O. II., Bills for submission to the Legislature. When autho- rised by the Minister, it also deliberates <>n questions initiated by its own members. The council con- sists of 48 members, 16 of whom represent the em- ployers, 16 the employed, and 16 are other persons who have a special knowledge of economic and social questions. The first members were appointed by the Government for four years ; after that period the representatives of the employers and employed are to be elected by the councils of industry and labour throughout the country. The council draws up rules for its own management ; it is governed by a board consisting of a president, three vice-presidents, and a secretary. It has power to form one or more sections for certain functions ; the president, senior vice-presi- dent, and secretary are members of each section. The council classifies the matters submitted to it, and determines the order and method of its labours and discussions. All questions are decided by an absolute majority, and in case of an equality of votes, the motion is considered lost. No resolution can be taken, unless at least half of the members are present. Each member receives 6 francs for every meeting which he attends. The first question submitted to the council was the application of articles 4, 6, and 7 of the law of December 13th, 1889, respecting the labour of young men, women, and children in industrial establishments. At its first session, May 18th, 1892, the council divided its mem- bers into three sections, for the consideration of this question in the various industries. The first section comprised mines, quarries, metals, the manufacture of machines, glass-making, pottery, and transport; the second, clothing and textile industries ; and the third, building and kindred trades, chemical and artistic in- dustries, and those connected with the supply of food. Twenty sessions were held between May and November, to discuss the reports of the councils of industry and labour convoked by a Royal decree on March 20th for the consideration of this question. ( 3 ) hive sessions of the whole council were held in October and November 1892, in which the conclusions arrived at were dis- cussed. The propositions of the council were submitted to the permanent provincial committees, by which they were unanimously adopted, with the exception of a few details, and the same propositions were published as the Royal decrees of December 26th and 31st, 1892. (h E. — Employers’ Liability. The question of employers’ liability has been con- siuerably discussed in Belgium of recent years. It was thoroughly investigated by the Labour Commission, and formed the subject of several interesting reports. ( s ) Up to the present time the question is still regulated by articles 1382 to 1384 of the Civil Code: — “If a “ person be injured through any action whatever of “ another person, it is obligatory for the person “ through whose fault the injury occurred to make “ reparation. Each person is responsible for injury “ caused not only by his action, but also by negligence “ or imprudence on his part. He is responsible not “ only for injury due to his personal action, but also “ for that caused by the action of persons for whom he “ is responsible, or by objects in his keeping. Em- “ ployers and heads of departments (commettants) are “ responsible for injury caused by their servants and “ foremen ( preposes ) in the performance of duties in “ which the latter have been employed by them.” It is incumbent on the workmen to prove that the accident was due to the fault, negligence, or imprudence of the employer or foreman, otherwise, should the cause of the accident be unknown, or should it be due to unavoid- able circumstances ( force m ajeure), no reparation can be demanded from the employed. The injustice of this system is apparent, and various remedies havo been proposed. The inversion of the proof, strongly advocated by M. Saihctelettc, assumes that the employer’s responsibility does hot result from articles 1382 to 1384 of the Civil Code, but that it exists by virtue of the contract of engagement (contra t do lounge de service). In accordance with M. Sainctelette’s scheme, instead of the workman having to prove that the accident was due to the employer’s fault, the employer would be bound to pay compensation, unless he could prove that it was due to some cause uncon- nected with himself, such as disobedience on the ( 3 ) See p. 22. ( 4 ) Conseil superieur du Travail. Premiere session, 1892. "Monitour beige,” Jan. 1.4th and Feb. 12th, 1893. F.O. Miscellaneous Series, No. " I/Association catholitrae,” Felt 15th, 1893, p. 229. ( ■) Commission du Travail, III., pp. 209-42, 255-83, 505. E 4 (b.) Work. (a.) Present state of law (&.) Pro- posed remedies. 40 Bills. Women and girls. Purchasing power of wages. workman’s part, or unavoidable circumstances (force m ijeure). Another system proposed is that the indivi- dual responsibility of the employer should be replaced by the responsibility of an insurance society, which would grant compensation to injured persons, whatever might have been the cause of the accident, unless it was evidently due to premeditated action on the part of employer or employed. The Commission appointed to draw up a Bill regu- lating the engagement of workpeople and domestic servants adopted a system which is very similar to M. Sainctelette’s proposal, (') but in some points is more favourable to the injured persons, as it does not leave them to bear all the results of accidents which the employer proves to have arisen from unavoidable circumstances. Before the introduction of the Bill embodying the conclusions of the Commission in April 1891, MM. Janson, Casse, Hanssens, and Houzeau brought forward in July 1890 a Bill on compulsory insurance. ( 1 2 ) The complete text of the two Bills is given in the Appendix. ( 3 ) F. — Workmen’s Budgets. One of the points on which the councils of industry and labour were required by the Royal decrees of April and May 1891 to furnish information was the question of workmen’s budgets. The statistics furnished by the various sections were taken for the month of April 1891, but in several cases, where the actual expenditure during that period was not ascertained, only an ap- proximate average of the monthly expenses could be arrived at, by dividing the yearly total by twelve. 188 workmen’s budgets were obtained, but as only 30 councils were in operation at the time, adequate information on the subject could not be furnished throughout the whole of Belgium. The prices of food, coal, oil. and other articles of consumption were also collected in 129 instances. A few examples of the budgets of families in 15 industries are given below, taken from the returns of the councils of industry and labour.( 7 ) The cost of beer, tobacco, theatre tickets, and losses from gambling are included under the head- ing ‘‘expenditure on luxuries and resulting from improvidence.” Assistance in money or in kind from the employers and from charitable institutions, interest on savings bank deposits, or receipts from any property, and any money earned by casual employment are included among “ other sources.” (See next page, Table R.) S. — Table showing Number of Persons in Family, with Proportion of various Receipts and Expenses to the whole. Occupation. Number of Budget. Proportion to Total Receipts of Number of Persons composing the Family. Proportion to Total Expenditure. Wages of Other Resources Adults of 16 Years and upwards. Children under 16 Years. Food. Rent, Clothing, and Household Expenses. Subscrip- tions, Deposits, and Religious Expenses. Luxury and Improvi- dence. Father. Mother. Sons. Daughters. Collier 188 60 18‘7 21‘1 0-2 3 3 79 16*8 0*3 3*9 Founder - 87 100 - - - - 2 4 58-7 36*2 0*8 4-3 Tram conductor 177 100 - - - - 2 3 44' 9 54 1*1 - Dock-worker 64 61-4 - 37‘8 - 0‘8 3 3 *58 30 5-7 5*8 Baker 69 73‘ 2‘3 24*4 - 0‘3 3 3 61‘9 29 5*1 4 Mason 15 50 14‘2 35‘8 -- - 3 3 53‘6 32*8 1*4 12*2 Joiner 151 75‘3 - 7'1 - 17‘6 4 4 70 26*6 0*3 3*1 Tigar-rnaker 66 61 ‘9 31 35 - - 3 3 64'9 26*7 3*6 4*9 Glove-maker 18 100 - - - - 2 4 60‘6 28*7 3*7 7 Hat-maker 16 58 - 42 - - 2 4 62'4 35*7 0*9 1 Tailor - 11 72‘8 - 18‘2 9 - 3 3 50*8 43*6 1 4*6 lass-worker - 180 84‘5 - 9’4 - 6‘1 4 - 66-6 23*4 8*4 1*6 printer 4 73 3 - 26‘7 - - 3 3 59*5 35*1 2*1 3*3 Cotton-spinner 53 69 - 19‘2 - 11*8 2 4 76*8 22*4 0*8 - Cotton-weaver 58 57‘1 — 42‘9 ~ 3 3 62*1 34*6 3*2 0*1 * It will be noted that there is a slight error in this calculation. The above table shows that the labour of women and girls contributes in a very small degree to the total receipts. In the whole of the budgets col- lected by the councils of industry and labour, there is no instance of a married woman employed in manu- facture ; the greater number of those who work outside their own homes are charwomen ( journalieres ). Thus, it appears that in most industries the working classes would lose little by the total prohibition of women’s and girls’ labour in manufacturing establishments. ( 4 ) M. Armand Julin( 5 ) gives the following table, show- ing the number of days that must be worked to obtain 483 kilogrammes 088 grammes of wheaten bread, or 32 kilogrammes 850 grammes of albumine, substances which, according to Beaunis, constitute 75 per cent, of the annual consumption. The table should be com- pared with that quoted above, ( 6 ) stating the average wage in the same twenty-four industries in 1846 and 1891 at Brussels. (1) See Articles 13-16, p. .17. ( 2 ) De Quaker, “ Etudes sur les Questions ouvrieres,” pp. 47-85. Bourse. “ Les Conditions du Travail,” p. 45. Chambre des Repr6- sentants. Commission du Oontrat de Louage, pp. 317-27- ( 3 ) See pp. 55, 67. (*\ Armand Julin. “ La Rdforme sociale,” Nov. 1, 1892, pp. 680-6. ( 5 ) “ La R6forme sociale.” Oct. 16, 1892, p. 569. ( 6 ) Sf.r p. 22, T. — Table showing the Number of Days worked in 1846 as compared with 1891. Industry. Days of Woik. 1846. 1891. Masons .... ’ 105*2 43'8 Stonecutters 99*8 41-06 Carpenters * 93*2 43-2 Plasterers - - - 05'07 469 Moulders in piaster 80*S 41-6 House painters 105*2 43-8 Cabinet-makers and carvers 90*26 32-85 Turners (wood) - • - 96*6 41-06 Blacksmiths 102*1 36-5 „ (shoesmiths) S9 '36 36*5 ' Locksmiths and stove-makers - 75-09 36-5 Turners (iron) - 97-1 36-5 (") “ Salaires et Budgets ouvHers,” pp. 232-485. ■Table showing Total Expenditure and Receipts during the Month of April 1891. 41 H> O 33 o o •c S & s? t>c *03 p H — 6 a £ Ot3 ^3 •£ o3 S 0> £ ”^3 o ■g S b b2 H *-»a "Sg.Sii^Sio o°t -.S ' -1 > =j lslfl3S2£ k 5 i p, " d ci 06.901 © Cl to d Cl OS. 901 Cl 00 rH 08.6X1 i © 00 © to rH © to io §Q © © © a 09.0 1 1 1 •O Cl © ] © Cl 1 1 I 1 1 i 1 © to to Cl § © to © 1 1 s* © Cl to © © 4 1 © k CO ■3< © 4 to 1 1 1 i to 1 1 i i i 1 i 1 04 Cl © © © CO in © © Cl in t- 00 !>• © © © 00 © © © | is d Cl © ib © 3 © to 04 to to © © 00 •o GO © x>- -Jt © r f 5 © © © © © © to Cl © to Cl © © CO o o.2 e a.S > 73 £ P 02 M (3 -o o C =■.58:5 ° o g*g.-a| ra ° i - «3 o ^i-h 2 P I P3 ®-2 ►> 33 a 0 V « A 1 o & o E 78030. This sum is not counted in the total, as it is provided by a co-operative bakery to which this family is affiliated. 42 Industry. Days of Work. ) 1846. 1891. Tanners - UO'3 39-3 Skin dressers 80- 41-06 Glovemakers 44-68 30-99 Hat makers (felt) 80-8 34-57 „ (straw) 99-3 39 -6 Typefounders 95-07 36-5 Printers 71-5 30- Bookbinders 89-36 46-9 Goldsmiths 70*09 36-5 Jewellers - - 70-09 27-37 Watchmakers 81-2 27-37 Engravers - 85-1 36'5 A further comparison is also given by M. Julin, showing the purchasing power of a coal hewer’s wages in 1853, 1866, and 1891. In 1853 a hewer averaged 2"40 francs : and at this time certain articles of consumption were at famine price. Quantity. Article of Food. Price. Pays of Work. 100 kilo. Wheaten bread Frs. 35- 14'60 50 Potatoes 6* 2-50 10 Beef 10* 4-16 30 lit. - Milk 6* 2-50 7 kilo. - Butter - 18-20 7'58 2 „ - Coffee 5-60 2-33 33 ’67 days. In 1886 the average wage of a hewer in Borinage was 3T0 francs. Quantity. Article of Food. Price. Days of Work. Frs. 100 kilo. Wheaten bread 27- 8-71 50 Potatoes 4- 1-29 10 Beef 17* 5-48 30 lit. - Milk 0* 1-91 7 kilo. - Butter • 19-95 6-43 2 „ - Coffee 4-22 1*36 25*21 days. In 1891 the average wage of a hewer in Borinage was 4.37 francs. The purchasing power of wages was as follows : — Quantity. Article of Food. Price. Days of Work. Frs. 100 kilo. Wheaten bread 30- 6-86 50 Potatoes 6-50 1-48 10 Beef 17- 3-88 30 lit. - Milk 6* 1-37 7 kilo. • Butter - 20-86 4-54 2 „ - Coffee 5-30 1'21 19 "34 days. Thus, in order to procure the same quantity, 33 ’ 67 days must be worked in 1853, 25 ‘ 21 in 1886, and 19 ' 34 in 1891 . The purchasing power of wages in these years may be shown as follows : — (') Purchasing power in 1853 = 100. „ 1886 = 125 • 12. „ 1891 — 142 ’ 56. (') “ La Roionne socia!e,” pp, 571-2. G. — Workmen’s Dwellings. The question of workmen’s dwellings has been a sub- Coramissio j ect of discussion in Belgium for many years. Tho 1843 - publication in 1846 of the reports of the Commission appointed in 1843, to investigate the condition of the working classes in connection with child labour, showed that, as a general rule, workmen’s houses and lodgings were in a deplorable state. Brussels contained 30,550 families at that time, of whom 13,721 lived in one room, 6,825 in two, and 10,004 in three or more rooms. The state of dwellings in other towns was as bad or even worse. The higher council of public health held a congress in 1852, at which the question was discussed, and five years later it brought forward a proposal for the formation of a society for building workmen’s dwellings in Brussels. This project could not be carried out, since the law on associations did not per- mit the establishment of building societies under a joint-stock form. In 1866 the Minister of the Interior Law, 1867. introduced a Bill extending the application of the law Jj* p ™ plia ' of 1858 on expropriation by zones, and, after much z ' 0 " ea ; debate, the Bill became law in the following year. Owing to the omission of a clause stipulating that workmen’s dwellings should be rebuilt on the expro- priated sites, the enforcement of this law only increased the misery of the poorer working classes. They were obliged to take refuge in other quarters equally poor, which soon became as overcrowded as those from which they were expelled. In 1861 a law was passed granting Joint-stock a joint-stock form ( anonymcit ) to the society at Yerviers Societies for building and letting workmen’s dwellings, and six years later, in consequence of the epidemic of cholera, a Bill empowering the Government to grant the same form to any such societies was unanimously passed. Joint-stock societies were almost immediately formed at Liege, Antwerp, and Brussels, followed by others at Tournai and Saint Nicholas. The Liege society has been the most successful of these : between 1867 and and 1874 it built two hundred houses. In 1869 a Commission Commission was appointed to investigate the general 186y - condition of miners and metal workers, including their dwellings. It was then stated that many coal com- panies had built houses, which were let to married workmen. Single men generally lived in lodgings, which in most cases were in a miserable state. The enquiry of 1869 was not followed by any practical result, and the terrible revelations made to the Labour Commission Commission in 1886 showed that little or no improve- 1886 . ment had been made since the publication of the report of 1846. In March 1888, the Government introduced a Bill which became law on August 9th, 1889. This law Law, 1889. provides for the institution of committees of inspection Committees (comites de patronage), which can empower the savings °ion! SPe< bank to lend part of its funds for the building or pur- chase of workmen’s houses, and regulate the conditions under which expropriation by zones should be carried out.(') In Ghent, where the number of persons in each house is lower than in any other town in Belgium, the society “ Eigen Heerd is goud weerd ” makes similar loans. The 1890 report of the Brussels committee, established by virtue of the law of 1889, shows that 491 families occupied a whole house, 1,371 three or more rooms, 8,058 two rooms, 6,978 one room, 2,186 a garret, and 200 a cellar. Of the families living in one room, 1,511 consisted of more than five persons. ( 3 ) The first co-operative building society was established at Brussels in 1890. ( 3 ) In 1891 a decision of the general council of the savings bank, approved by a Royal decree, provided that the loans for building should not be made to the workmen directly, but through the medium of a society. On November 25, 1892, advances had been made from the general savings bank and pension fund to 23 joint-stock and 4 co-operative societies at the rate of interest of 2£ per cent., and at 3 per cent, to 10 joint-stock and 2 co-operative societies. The capital of the ioint-stock societies amounted to 3,265,000 francs. 4 H. — Technical Education. Industrial and technical education are considerably developed in Belgium. Three distinct classes of schools (M See p. 36. ( 2 ) Lagasse and Queker. Ville de Bruxelles. EnquGte sur les habita- tions ouvriferes en 1890, p. 38. ( 3 ) See p. 36. ( 4 ) Bertrand. “ Le Logement de l’Ouvrier et du Pauvre en Belgique.” pp.74-32ft. Loi relative aux Habitations ouvriOres et A l’Institutiou des Comites de Patronage, August 9, 1889. Annuaire statistique de la Bel- gique, 1S92, p. 178. “SociOte libfirale.” Bulletins, No. 2. 2 me S6rie, Nos. 4. 6, 6, 8, 11, 12, 15. Commission du Travail. III., pp. 77-92, 441 ; IV., pp. 55-69, 167-72. “ Revue soeiale et politique,” III., No. 1, pp. 26-52. 43 i 1. Industrial and tech- nical 1 schools. 2. Work- shops for apprentices and weaving schools. have been established ; industrial and technical schools, weaving schools and workshops for apprentices, and housekeeping schools for girls. Workers of all ages attend the industrial and technical schools, where the classes are generally held in the evening. As a rule, the instruction is theoretical, including arithmetic, algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry, elementary mechanics, drawing, and industrial economy. The ordinary courses are supplemented by instruction in mining, the manufacture of machines, weaving, spin- ning, or whatever industries may be practised in the locality. In 1887, when the number of technical schools was 35, the Government proposed to the legislature that an additional subsidy of 200,000 francs should be voted, in order to facilitate the establishment of new schools, and the development of those that already existed. Since this subsidy was granted, a number of new schools have been instituted, and in 1891 the total was 56, attended by 16,302 pupils of both sexes. The schools have also assumed a more distinctly technical character. M. Bouree stated in 1890 that there were at that time three tailors’ schools, where pupils over 12 years of age were thoroughly instructed in the trade, and that at Ghent and Tournai the teaching was as much practical as theoretical. The schools of St. Luke are somewhat different from the ordinary technical schools. They are established with the object of forming artistic workmen. In addition to drawing, the course includes theoretical instruction on the materials employed in each industry. Technical schools for girls have also been established, where they are taught sewing, the manufacture of artificial flowers, painting on china, and many other subjects. The earliest workshops for apprentices were estab- lished in 1847, when weaving by machinery was first introduced into Flanders. At these schools, the manu- facture of fabrics which require the employment of hand looms, is taught. Children over 10 years of age are admitted, and elementary education is combined with technical instruction. Since 1888, the Government has endeavoured to substitute weaving schools for these workshops, where the course of education is more com- plete, including geometry and mechanics, as well as instruction in the trade. Children arc only admitted to these schools when over 12 years of age. In 1891 there were 33 schools of apprentices in Belgium, which were attended by 1,003 pupils. The number of weaving schools was eight, in December 1891. A few trade associations have established workshops for apprentices and technical schools. (‘) Housekeeping schools and classes for girls in Belgium were first established in 1874 on the initiative of the Prince de Chimay, who was at that time governor of Hainault. The earliest instance was the school estab- lished by M. Smits, director of a factory at Couillet, for the benefit of the girls employed there. In 1878 the subsidies from the Government were withdrawn, and the schools were suppressed, but in 1889 fresh subsidies were granted. On the proposal of the Minister of Agri- culture, Industry, and Public Works, Royal decrees were issued in June 1889 and July 1890, establishing com- mittees at Brussels and in the provinces to facilitate the institution of housekeeping schools. These com- mittees are composed of ladies, without distinction of creed, under the presidency of the Countess of Flanders. The result of the decrees was satisfactory; 84 new schools were established between July 1889 and July 1890. The object of the schools is to furnish girls of the working class with theoretical and practical instruc- tion on all matters connected with the management of a house. Special arrangements are made for teaching them to cook, sew, and wash clothes. ( 2 ) P) See p. 10. ( 2 ) Bourse, “ Les Conditions du Travail,” pp. 59-67. Commission du Travail, III., pp. 395-9, 451-9. Annuaire statistique de la Belgique, 1892, pp. 267-8. Arrfitd royal, 26 Juin, 1889. Id., 0 Juillet, 1890. F 2 3. House- keeping schools and classes. 44 APPENDIX A. 1. Programme of the Belgian Labook Pakty (Parti ouvrier beige). Preamble. A Party lias been established amongst the Belgian labour associations, with the object of obtaining for workmen the political rights and material well-being of which they have hitherto been deprived. Seeing that workmen only acquire these rights, and this well-being through their own strength, the Party will consist exclusively of labour associations ; Seeing that workmen have to contend against sickness and involuntary stoppage of work, and to secure their wages, the Labour Party will endeavour to obtain the greatest possible advantages for associations instituted with this aim, and to found similar associations in localities where they do not yet exist; Seeing that workmen, like the rest of the world, have a right to the greatest possible liberty, the widest in- struction. a good education, and all the enjoyments of an advanced civilization, the Party will work zealously to attain this end ; Seeing that workmen, in spite of all sacrifices, cannot succeed in instituting pension funds, disablement funds, or funds for assistance in case of sickness, rich enough to pension all old workmen, and effectually to support those who are slick or in distress ; Seeing that the majority of workmen possess neither the material nor the tools for agriculture or industry ; Finally, seeing that they have absolutely no part in the management of factories, mines or workshops, and are consequently powerless and helpless against indus- trial and commercial crises, which affect them so terribly ; The Labour Party is of opinion that the State should intervene to assure the fate of the workman during the period of work, sickness, and old age. To this end, the Labour Party will not be satisfied with founding funds for assistance in case of sickness, co- operative societies, and protective societies, but it will also take the character of a political party, in order to obtain from the State the support necessary for the perfect well-being of the working classes. Seeing that Governments conclude international, commercial, postal, and maritime conventions ; Seeing that the interests of workmen are everywhere identical, and in order to prevent strikers from being supplanted by other workmen in times of difficulty, the Labour Party declares that it wishes to place itself in sympathetic relations with the associated workmen in every country, who share its views. Seeing that ihe cause of the misery aud dependence of the masses is due to the method of working, since the greater part of the workmen do not possess the tools necessary for their work, ihe Labour Party will endeav- our to replace this system of capitalistic production by a mode of working which has for its foundation the common possession of the soil, the sub-soil, and the necessary tools. In addition to these general objects, and in order to attain its final aim, the Labour Party demands the reforms set forth in the following programme: I. — Political Programme. 1. Universal suffrage; direct legislation by the people, that is to say, popular sanction and initiative in legislative matters, secret and compulsory voting ; elections held on Sunday. 2. Secular, compulsory and complete education for all children, to be conducted at the cost of the com- munity, represented by the State or the communes. Higher instruction by means of classes for adults. 3. The separation of Church and State, religion being considered as a private matter, the suppression of religious expenses, and the return to the nation of property “in mortmain ”, both personal and real, per- taining to religious corporations, as well as all the industrial and commercial property of these corpora- tions. 4. The application, to all cases, of the system of trial by jury, and of settlement by councils of arbitration elected by universal suffrage. Free administration of justice, and the revision, in an equitable sense, of the articles of the code which establish tbe political or civil inferiority of workmen, women and natural children. o. I he abolition of conscription, and of the system of substitutes. The equality of military commissions, and the reduction of war expenses. The abolition of standing armies: and the decision of peace and war by the people. (1 The investment of the communes with the control of their own administration, their budget, police, and all their public officers. The nomination by the electors of the burgomaster and sheriffs. 7. A law according State recognition to workmen’s syndicates (including amongst other privileges the right to hold property and plead in court). II. — Economic Programme. 8. A rest of one day in each week ; employers to be forbidden to cause work to be done on more than six days out of seven. 9. A law limiting the age at which any person may work, and the duration of such work, in the following manner: (a) The abolition of work for children below 12 years of age : (b) a combination of work and instruction, and the abolition of all night work for young persons from 12 to 16 years of age; (c) the abolition of the em- ployment of women in all industries in which their employment would be incompatible with morality and health ; (d) the establishment by law of a normal working day for adults of both sexes. 10. A commission elected by workmen, and paid by the State, to introduce healthy and sale conditions into workshops. The sanitary supervision of dwellings. 1 1 . The real responsibility of employers in cases of accidents in connection with work, by a law stipulating that it devolves upon the employer to prove, if necessary, that an accident was due to malice on the part of the workman. 12. The regulation of convict labour, so as to put an end to ihe competition now made with free labour, and to allow prisoners, at ihe time of their release, means of finding employment, to avoid falling back into crime. 13. Workmen, and, by preference, labour associations, to have a share in the government of workshops. The suppression of fines and deductions from wages. The suppression of benefit funds regulated by employers. The reversal of the management of these funds to the workmen themselves. 14. The re-organisation of councils of prud’hommes on a basis of equality. Employers to be forbidden to require testimonials and certificates. 15. The gradual transformation of public charity into one vast system of insurance by the State, the provinces, and the communes. 16. The abolition of all taxes on articles of consump- tion. The abolition of customs, and a progressive tax on net income. 17. The abolition of all contracts and laws alienating public property (such as the national bank, railways, mines, communal property), and the return of this property to the community, represented, according to the case, by tbe State or the commune. 18. The abolition of all laws made in favour of em- ployers at the expense of workmen. Rules of the Belgian Labour Party (Parti ouvrier beige). Aim and Organisation. 1. The Belgian Labour Party has been founded with the object of uniting all the resources of labour through- out the country, in order to ameliorate the condition of the working classes, by a mutual understanding. 2. In order to accomplish this task, and eventually to realise ils highest aim — the complete emancipation of workmen — it will be organised on a political and economic basis. 3. All protective societies (societes de resistance ou maintien de prix) may belong to the Labour Party, as well as mutual aid societies, co-operative societies, associations for instruction and propaganda, and, generally, all groups of workmen who accept the pro- gramme and rules of the Party. 45 4. The Labour Party follows in most particulars the constitution of labour associations and their federations. It will especially support the federation of associations of the same trade throughout the country, und. will endeavour to place them in relation with similar societies in other countries. 5. It is governed by a general council, appointed an- nually at the congress. This general council will be chosen by preference in towns where there already exists a local federation of members of the Party. 6. Each affiliated society pays one centime weekly, for each member, to the strike fund, and ten centimes a year, for each member, towards the expenses of corres- pondence and propaganda, incurred by the general council. Contribution to the strike fund is only compulsory in the case of protective societies, which alone will directly benefit from it. The subscriptions are payable, in advance, either at the beginning of the social year, for twelve months, or half-yearly. In case of necessity, the subscription to the strike fund may be increased. 7. Each year, in congress, the general council must present a report on the moral and financial situation of the Party. The accounts of the general council must be audited by a commit tee of at least three members, nominated by the congress. 8. The Labour Party undertakes to respect all banners. 9. Associations affiliated to the Labour Party shall not become connected with other associations, except on the condition of maintaining their programme intact. The General Council. 10. The general council of the Labour Party is com- posed of six members appointed at each annual congress, and a delegate appointed by each local federation and each trade federation. 11. The general council undertakes the correspon- dence with all the affiliated societies : and propaganda by means of meetings, conferences, manifestoes, pamph- lets, etc., wherever necessary. Congresses. 12. A congress takes place annually, at the time and place fixed by the preceding congress. All the affili- ated societies are bound, except under unavoidable circumstances, to send one or more delegates to re- present them at the congress. After having taken the opinion of the federation, a delegate may represent several groups, but those societies of which he is not a member should transmit to him their votes on the order cf the day in writing. An extraordinary congress may be summoned by the general council, in case of necessity. 18. Each society may cause to be entered on the agenda of the congress, at least one month before the date fixed, the questions which it desires to have dis- cussed there. Notwithstanding, the congress is always free to regulate the order of the day. 14. Votes are taken by a roll-call of the societies, each society having one vote. 15. All decisions of the congress have the force of law, and are binding on the federated associations. 16. The organisation of the work of the congress, including the formation of committees, is regulated by the congress itself, according to the custom adopted in all labour congresses. Strikes. 17. In accordance with article 6, a special fund is formed for supporting strikes. This fund is controlled by the general council, and may not be employed for other purposes, except by a decision of a majority of two-thirds of the protective societies, taken in congress. 18. All affiliated protective societies, in order to secure the right of sharing in the strike funds, must immediately inform the general council of any dispute which may arise with employers, and ask for its advice. The general council can only refuse support if this decision be taken by a majority of two-thirds of the votes. 19. The allowance to be made is determined accor- ding to the state of the funds. 20. In order to be able to claim the financial support of the Party, the society on strike must have been affiliated for at least one year, and have paid the contributions. Notwithstanding, the general council, after having taken the advice of the protective societies, will determine whether financial support shall be given. Propaganda. 21. In order to propagate its opinions, and work for the organisation of labour (des forces ouvrieres), the Party will arrange meetings and conferences in all localities where it shall deem necessary. It will also employ the services of the Press. “ Le Peuple,” “ Vooruit,” “ Be Toehomst,” “ De Werlcer,” “ L' Avenir,” and “ L’ Emancipation" (Liege), arc recommended as the organs of the Party. Revision of Rules. 22. The present rules may only be revised in congress, and the question must be regularly introduced among the orders of the day. All proposals for the revision of the rules must obtain two-thirds of the votes, in order to be admitted. •Mines, Quarries, and Metals. 4t> "o 5 2 O k CS — ~ 3= c3 *2 < O w a a, O o „ y A ~ o - . - o Va 'rHfc . oj c O 55 o U c s - s •£ •£ h= -5 G G C P O O o O £S = S -■ 0 > m o> Dh C. ^ P- - M G 0) o 0 > a * CO iO I o Ph Ph a £> P CVo w cv. CV. £V. (V, fcv. cv. cv. CV. | j o o o o CO AO 1 I of 1 * I *o 1 *3 — c g « - = bp 42 o 5 Ti 5 a c "2 '5 'll « 5 a « • ~ w a 2 £>'1 2.2 £, .£ oCO Cfa g ^ S.C0 a, B^S o^.s *3 C T3 2.2 c fc 2 2 ? nd PH tO w t-t c a. cs •U -2 %r 5 k* O - C/5 G ~ ~ o a> TO iP r; ^ € H 1 < m CZ' 1 ' G 2 +* .S x k. S .2 o *r ( m _ o c ?*- x g c; 9 *T3 CG i •- .G « „ 2 T3 -C ^ O C - ^ a' 2 ; .s (=i r « s c s 'Tec 1 * ? W *SK w $u So 5- G ' — 1 x *73 a> 5 a 'o> sa G "S 5 x *) x cc C3 « '0/ O d •'T G v 5 S ' a . no o G O kCG ^ „ CG « 2 i C rG s CS , rG o k — In ’re ' C 3 X ’O a s d i ! “ c 3 "jg ^ 'c § "a . r- — ^ 53 f- G 5 *" G O s U fa g t S -a 2 S r 77 ^ .9 G ^ c 3 , a ?- i f S Oj ft T n pH V r & x • r « c d G g^- - - B s u. SP a H r S H O ^ TO — O pej § H S hi H Pn ^ m d ... . _ „ k— ^ 2 ” % B &cg 7 V, >-, « 3 « o; Is £ fa, 2 as « 2 2 ° ^ o ° - 0 g a j^'S ^ 'S 52 o 2 v g "3 £ "2 S^g'°.'8^ 8 CO CO c ~ „ a: X x „ t-< f-* rj d a p O fe ^ Pi O C G (s if c IIS'S U o ® !. Table of Tkade Associations — continued. 47 s o ^ •5-SS 2 .m O X 2; 5 • (A „ O a; 'Z i* „ « “r-l o o 25 2; s o 2 ; c o 2 ; w a p 'A ■< rt « P O’ o P-I £> ~ a ! £ ^ a C3 2 ; PQ bo g 2 a C co '« Jj Sb s oa 0 ) 02 c? £ W N J=r x ^ 3-2 ^ 3 s~^r3 Sis d 3 02 02 P & £ x .5 bO ‘§>v a? *- a £<« S3 -a .3 § S hH 02 a t- 02 d S a 8 £ d3 rd ^ g > c_> \£ d 3 o ■tf-S S 3 J- rt.2 ^ ♦» t3 " " V0> P 02 1* ^ ”"> F id ^ Ki w s-i . o • 7} 02 a .2 be *C2 — Ph *o o X ’d C) .3 ’d — 02 "d 02 § d 02 3 d C m *oo d « s 7} 02 ti V a a M 0) o 02 r o d d X a HH 02 d 44 (-1 o a o d O d X ^d o X ft p a ^ o ,7) -.2 x d * j^’3 .2 ® o » o CO , n /. X Jh r- 02 s ^ 3 o 2 * as 5 Ph O x j2 v* 4 s-. ^ 3 ^ Q* * PJ H £ *5 N x s d d 33 _, r— < ^ l < 2 d &4 d s w2 2oS E-i 02 . § g6' d 02 i> JK** x o ^ a .«£ -r ca pq PQ 3 ► o ° O a, u +i 43 d o nd S 3 CO a CO c3 5 ° ■-§ 1 g, 3 . CO gi“s III Q P d> PQ A PM o I— ( H o i-3 a H X w Eh O o - ~ 25 " * 0> rs -N >H “ " ^ 3 «v. £V. iC N W ?£> i>- GO CO CO 00 00 00 d3 o CO Ph cd 2i O >— i H Q Pd 25 O O — 2 ; H 55 5h - rH 55 5h : >h o • i © © i 1 1 l 1 l i l 1 1 C® 05 ^ , ^ © o ^ ^. ^ ^ © © 1 1 © 1 © 1 1 1 l 1 c® _ !5 >< >5 - ' * - 'jMfc 55 55 - 8 s ^!5 © - S8 A I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 c« _ c® © *s ^ ^ © O © ^ n n 55 - “ 'H555- * “•* 1 1 © 5^ © Yes - 1 No >* Yes No © fl © o £ S © a , © ?: © | % © t a I ^ <2 ^ 1 a * fc- e^ X * M ^ ^ iS © © r d « | * * O, O- P- © © © © »o ~ H 3 fa 3 £ P © m Ph 0 ) _fl u 0) ala w t- CO Ph c o © o o _ o o © o O ft N rjT H o o o o C © o fa 00'l9C5 0550lOmf-N O ^ J'" Oi IM N (N (M to W •C tH. — < in Tf X X X X -.HOO'flCiCO't i^asxoix^xx xxxxxxxx 50 *C oo o X X X CO °0 X X X X X X X X X CO °0 X X X X x 00 M H o p o H M w H o -S c 023 3,3 5® 9? 3 >-» CO f-> .3 1) o ;g rO '3 3 - 3 rfl bo c3 P 3 £ Jr? 5» f2 '— -M © fl % a p 03 © -3 ^5 S © C® a * g p > ^ c3 ,C53 *o M 3 *a» p< fl " g ?5 g c® .p 3 fa .2 05 3 *3 ~ fa 3 eg 3 05 t- .3 © o 3 O . »Os a Pm C® fl ' 2 t» a> 2 ’3 Pj- © «T O <« ■33 3 fa ’ ■*-> 3 O 3 r© O Jj to t* ""fl —> fl ■ r< ?) ^Cj ° © r* a ■.3 3C« £ n© © ^ © O C/5 fa 05 9 3 © ® g W © © © rfl fl .fl . , C/5 O fa © C ^'05 §'®’rSO 3 >.- p .- " “M'S >-.> BOAI ®® y . " >» O BjiiVai fl C/5 05 g ^ 3 « S S P © TP rr '3 -S S o 3 -J Q 'W fa t® O P3 •- w © 5 » Q - r O ^ rg ^ ^ 3 S'2'g.o^ T 3 V© © □ S -H / - ^ 15 < p © >-> © * u © a (5 < D S5 « "s X 3 c o if 8 S S 2 o £ 3 5 6 i ® S i O *J O a> w O- cs JC V 3 -r t: c o P C3 O w a« • ^ a’S 5! | ! 3 3 • © ~ ©o a CUO-- 6 c® Z 3 JjJ Pd .2 ^ © © .2 3 o fl p > +2 >* O n, © % 'f C/5 05 ^ 3 s y>-.. '.. ?„ “ a^t , , 2 (8 •/: fcflj o ;3 g « .S3 3 $ rs 'O ^ r* © C53 3 j-j ^ y E^booh a CO W a -*s PS H S V W j :s»- §r6§-j.? ^1*^3 1| E i>>-5.2 p co'g © -^ O © "d P fa .a C/5 O £3 ^ fl fl O ^ 05 ^ £ ,3 fl O c® ^ © © © bc^ ?r, ® > fa ^ 3 e 6 be s a 55. P « n H O S a 5a»2 B 3 a|o a v ®Qcoa ® s « ' h q a a « co -® fl !a3 3 1§ ^.’1 cocfico | ■g ) S II" O ■Textile, Clothing, Printing, Building, and Miscellaneous Trades — continued. 49 c« -2 c" -ti o „ o "ft O o ^5 = - & K H r* % - ia> O O ’'kH ~ O 03 /H O 03 O O a fl P=< pO g a £ S3 ^ E 78030. teas a ‘3 c o “ o a<23 7 3 5; a- p- £■< fl „ rfl o a u © ta O I ! O 5; fl ^ . — i 03 • •— , >— 1 73 | 8 «> fc a § fl -fl .2 03 fl £ C / 3 -4-j a* a £ rfl fl O W -a a r d o rn ** C/2 u di rn _ SP fl a) ' 73 S 0 5 a >r S AS vw a « ' m ►, a> Cj C/1 ^ fl ^ 08 £ B - W d bo 5 a ^ O J-J 03 73 O t/3 r fl CD fl >» Q0 fl r*~J C£ fl o pH 03 ' CJ 1 t-< O r*v ^03 «H CJ S5 o CC W P . 2 h fl w ^ « _, C/3 ''rfl 03 be d *cc « C h) fl fl Eh E- •*i\ 03 H 3 fl o 5 O rfl o x ^3 05 H ^3 CO H CO O ■-< P P o O a/ .fl > T3 §8, .2 co O 03 ' w ' fl fl .2 O nfl 'fl C £ £ oo .. fl W w "2 a P Cd 55 'aa' H 2 5 Cfl £ -fl w ^3 fl a % M w ee W P <1 P3 Eh W O c pp p S3 < o S5 Eh S3 3 pH p . r— 1 73 fl 03 A- „ fl c/3 r 1 tH bC o o II pa 03 - £?'■§ 3 boja °~ a p> ^ W rco w p- ◄ £ o H Eh ^ fl ;>> Cfl "rfl A< fl Sd o rfl bJ) 03 ^ _ O -*-3 Hfl fl r* fl , , 3 S. 2 a 7-0 w 3 S® ^ ..!>! s “ - cAi .fl 03 03 02 03 P n « os m s ., “ - '<3 S .2 fl k ja pee co c os „ . r< a; (-< v) : sp > fch OiO« e5 h! PW rfl , Oh I G 2. Table oe Trade Associations — continued . ■Textile, Clothing, Printing, Building, and Miscellaneous Trades — continued . 50 se >-* £ < £ pH a: o £ o O Ph o ; ^ 'rt q o o co r3 q d CO O c n .. >* si rZ I | rZ ' =3 ? H £ o» W 1 •J s CO q q a , co i s 51 APPENDIX B. Text of certain recent La wi and Biles. 1. Law regulating the Payment of Workmen’s Wages. Leopold II., King of the Belgians, to all present and to come, greeting. The Chambers have adopted, and We sanction, as follows : — Article 1. The payment of workmen’s wages must be in coin or notes possessing legal currency All pay- ments effected under any other form are null and void. 2. An employer of labour may, however, deduct from his workmen’s wages, charges for the supply of (a) lodging ; (b) the enjoyment of a plot of land ; (c) the tools or implements necessary for their work, and keeping the same in repair ; (d) goods or materials necessary for the work, of which the work- men have charge, according to custom, or the terms of their engagement ; (e) such uniform or special dress as the workmen may be compelled to wear. The objects comprised under (c), (d), and (e) may not be placed to the account of the workmen at a charge exceeding the cost price. 3. The permanent provincial committees may authorise employers of labour to deduct from their workmen’s wages charges for the supply of food, clothing, and fuel, provided that these goods are supplied at cost price. They also determine the other conditions to which this authorisation is subject. Should there be a council of industry and labour in the district, these conditions must be first submitted to its consideration, or that of a competent section. The authorisation is always revocable in case of abuse, at the instance of the council of industry and labour, or of the section. In the event of the authorisation being refused or revoked, an appeal lies to the King, within one month from the date of the notification of the decision of the permanent provincial committee to the parties concerned. 4. Workmen’s wages may not be paid in inns, public houses, stores, shops, or in any adjacent buildings. 5. Wages not exceeding five francs a day must be paid at least twice a month, at intervals of not more than sixteen days. For work by the piece or by con- tract, a partial or final payment shall be made once in each month. 6. With the exception of the cases provided for by (c), (d), and (e) of article 2, employers of labour, managers, foremen, overseers, clerks in a public or private business, contractors or sub-contractors, are forbidden to impose on workmen in their employment such con- ditions as would prevent them from freely disposing of their wages. Nevertheless, lodging, or the enjoyment of a plot of ground, as pi-ovided for in [a) and (b) of article 2, may be leased by employers of labour, managers, foremen, overseers, clerks in a public or private business, con- tractors, or sub-contractors, to the workmen, provided that the agreement be freely entered upon. 7. No deductions of wages may be made, except in the following cases — (a). On account of fines incurred under the rules regularly posted up in the establishment. ( b .) On account of subscriptions due from the work- man io benevolent or provident funds. (c.) On account of charges authorised by articles 2 and 3 of this act. ( d .) On account of advances made in money, not ex- ceeding one-fifth of the amount of the wages. The price of building plots sold by the employer to workmen is considered as money advanced. 8. An action brought by an employer of labour, manager, foreman, overseer, clerk in a public or private business, by a contractor or sub-contractor, to obtain payment for supplies furnished under other conditions than those indicated in articles 2 and 3 of this act, is not admissible, except for supplies connected with the business carried on by the workman. 9. Unless the contrary be proved, it is presumed that all goods iurnished by the wife or children of such employer, manager, foreman, overseer, clerk in a public or private, business, contractor, or sub-contractor, have been furnished by the employer, I he manager, foreman, overseer, clerk, contractor, or sub-contractor in person. Further, all goods delivered to the wife of a workman, or to hia children living with him, are presumed to have been supplied to the workman himself. 10. A fine of 50 to 2,000 francs shall be inflicted upon any employer who shall have infringed, or caused bis agents or representatives to infringe, any of the pro- visions of articles 1 to 7 inclusive. Managers, foremen, overseers, clerks in a public or private business, con- tractors or sub-contractors, guilty of the same offence, shall be liable to the same penalty. Nevertheless, should they have acted by order of their employer or overseer, and without having any personal interest in the matter, they shall be liable to a fine of from 26 to 100 francs only, to obtain the payment of which an action may be brought at the employers’ expense, reserving his power of recovery from the person actually liable. All actions on account of infringements provided against by the present law must be brought within a period of six months from the date of the day on which such infringement was committed. 11. The first book of the Criminal Code, including chapter VII., and article 85, shall apply to infringe- ments such as those above mentioned. 12. The present law does not affect agricultural labourers, nor domestic servants, nor, as a general rule, workmen lodged and boarded by their employers. 13. The present law shall come into force on December 31st, 1887. Given at Ostend, August 16th, 1887, Leo fold. 2. Royal Decree concerning the Execution of the Law of August 16th, 1887, regulating the Pay- ment of Workmen’s Wages. Leopold II., King of the Belgians, to all present and to come, greeting. In view of the law of August 16th, 1887, regulating the payment of workmen’s wages, and especially articles 3 and 6 of the same law ; In view of the law of August 16th, 1887, instituting councils of industry and labour ; On the proposition of our Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works ; We have decreed and decree as follows : — Article 1. Every demand made to the permanent provincial committee for an authorisation in accor- dance with article 3 of the law of August 16th, 1887, regulaling the payment of wages, shall state — (a.) The name of the industrial establishment or employer whence the request emanates ; (6.) The nature of the supplies to be sold to work- men ; (e.) The object of such sale. The receipt shall not form part of this document. 2. The permanent provincial committee may demand snch other information, or prescribe such other direc- tions, as it shall deem necessary. 3. Requests for advice, to be eventually submitted to the councils of industry and labour, for their opinion thereon, shall be sent to the president of the competent section. This section shall be convoked within a week, and the required opinion shall be given within the follow- ing week. 4. The decision of the permanent committee shall be pronounced within one month from the receipt of the demand, unless the permanent committee prolong the period by a decree stating the motives for delay. Such prolongation shall not exceed one month. 5. The permanent committee, whether spontaneously, or on the complaint of the parties interested, may re- voke the authorisation, in case of abuse. The opinion of the competent section of the council of industry and labour shall be pronounced within the period stated above in article 3 of this decree. 6. The decisions of the permanent committee, whether granting, refusing, or revoking such authorisa- tion, shall be embodied in a decree ; they shall be read at a public session, and notified to those interested by a registered letter. G 2 52 7. The appeal to the King, authorised by (e) of article 3 of the above law, shall be made by a declara- tion forwarded to the clerk of the provincial council, for which he shall give a receipt. The appeal may be made until two months shall have elapsed. 8. Our Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works is charged with the execution of the present decree. Given at Brussels, December 5th, 1887, Leopold. 3. — Law concerning the Labour of Women, Young Persons, and Children in Industrial Establish- ments. Leopold II., King of the Belgians, to all present and to come, greeting. The Chambers have adopted, and We sanction, as follows: — Article 1. The present law refers to labour executed — (a.) In mines, quarries, and yards. ( b .) In works and factories. (c.) In establishments classed as dangerous, un- healthy, or inconvenient, as well as those in which work is performed by means of steam boilers or mechanical motive power. (d.) In ports, landing-stages, and stations. yc.) In transport by land or water. The provisions of the law apply to public as well as to private establishments, including those for technical instruction, or of a charitable nature. An exception is made in the case of work carried on in establishments where only the members of one family are employed, under the direction of the father or mother, or of a guardian, provided that these establish- ments are not classed as dangerous, unhealthy, or inconvenient, or that work is not performed by means of steam boilers or mechanical motive power. 2. The employment of children under 12 years of age is prohibited. 3. The King may, in the manner determined by article 8, forbid the employment of children or youths under 16 years of age, as well as of girls and women between the ages of 16 and 21 years, in work beyond their strength, or which would be attended with danger for them. In the same manner, the King may forbid, or only authorise for a certain number of hours each day, for a certain number of days, or under certain conditions, the employment of children or youths below the age of 16 years, as well as of girls and women between the ages of 16 and 21 years, in work recognised as unhealthy. 4. Within a period of three years from the publi- cation of the present law, the King shall regulate the duration of the daily hours of work, as well as the duration and conditions of hours of rest, so far as con- cerns children and youths below 16 years of age, as well as girls and women between 16 and 21 years of age, according to the nature of the occupations in which they may be employed, and the requirements of the industry, profession, or trade. Children and youths below 16 years of age, as well as girls and women between 16 and 21 years of age, shall not be employed at work for more than twelve hours a day, divided by intervals of repose, the total duration of which shall not be less than one and a half hours. 5. Women shall not be employed at work until four weeks after their confinement. 5. Children and youths below 16 years of age, as well as girls and women between 16 and 21 years of age, shall not be employed after 9 p.m. or before 5 a.m. The King may authorise, whether unconditionally or under certain conditions, the employment of youths over 14 years of age, as well as ot' girls and women between the ages of 16 and 21, after 9 p.m. or before 5 am., in work which, from its nature, cannot be inter- rupted or delayed, or can only be performed at stated hours. So far as concerns labour in mines, the King may further authorise the employment at night of certain classes of workers, over 14 years of age, as well as the employment after 4 a.m. of children of the male sex who have completed their twelfth year. Such authorisation may be granted for a fixed period by the provincial governors, on the report of a com- petent inspector, for any industry or trade, in case of a stoppage caused by accident or exceptional circum- stances. The decree of the governor will cease to take effect, if it be not approved, within 10 days, by the minister to whom the supervision of the industry is entrusted. The authorisation may be granted, in accordance with the two preceding paragraphs, for a period not exceed- ing two months ; it may be renewed, with the consent of a competent inspector. 1 he present article shall come into force on January 1st, 1892. 7. Children and youths below 16 year's of age, as well as girls and women between 16 and 21 years of age, shall not be employed at work for more than six days in each week. Nevertheless, so far as concerns those industries in which the nature of the work does not permit of inter- ruption or delay, the King may authorise the employ- ment of children over 14 years of age, as well as girls and women below 21 years of age, during seven days in each week, whether habitually, or for a certain period, or under certain conditions. The decrees pronounced by virtue of the preceding paragraph shall in all cases secure to them the time necessary for attention to their religious duties once in each week, as well as one complete day’s rest in each fortnight. In case of necessity, inspectors, burgomasters, and governors may authorise the employment of children and youths below 16 years of age, as well as of girls and women between 16 and 21 years of age, on a seventh day, in all industries. They must give notice of this authorisation to the minister entrusted with the supervision of the industry. In case of necessity, the authorisation may be granted by the minister for several consecutive weeks, on the report of the inspector, so far as concerns girls and women between the ages of 16 and 21 years, fora period not exceeding six weeks. 8. For the exercise of the power conferred by articles 3, 4, 6, and 7, the King shall consult : — (a.) The councils of industry and labour, or the sec- tions of these councils representing the in- dustry, business, or trade concerned. (£>.) The permanent committee of the provincial council. (c.) The higher council of public health, or a technical committee. They shall forward their opinion within two months from the date of the request, in default of which it shall be disregarded. The decrees shall be published in the “ Moniteur.” 9. On and after January 1st, 1892, girls and women below 21 years of age shall not be employed in under- ground labour in mines and quarries. Nevertheless, the present provision shall not apply to girls and women employed in the said work before the date above mentioned. 10. Children and youths below 16 years of age, as well as girls and women between 16 and 21 years of age, shall bear a certificate, which shall be furnished gratuitously by the communal administration of the locality in which their domicile is situated, or in default of known domicile, of the locality in which they reside, stating their surname and Christian names, the date and place of their birth, their domicile, and the sur- names and Christian names of their father and mother, or of their guardian. The certificate shall be drawn up after a model determined by a Royal decree. Extracts from the Civil Registers, and all others necessary for tilling up the certificate, shall be supplied free of cost. Employers oflabour or managers shall keep a register, in which the particulars enumerated in the first para- graph of the present article shall be entered. 11. Employers of labour and managers shall cause the provisions of the present law, the general regu- lations adopted for its execution, the special regu- lations concerning their industry, and the rules in force in their own establishment, to be posted up in a con- spicuous place in their workshops. This last document shall be lodged with the clerk of the council of prud’- hommes, the secretary of the council of industry and labour, and the secretary of the commune in which their establishment is situated. 12. Officials appointed by the Government shall superintend the execution of the present law. Their powers shall be defined by a Royal decree. 53 1. Daily hours of labour. 13. The officials appointed in accordance with the preceding article are free to enter all establishments mentioned in article 1 . They arc authorised to require the production o* tho certificates and register prescribed by article 10. Employers, managers, foremen, and workpeople are compelled to supply the inspectors with any informa- tion which they may demand, in order to ensure the observance of the law. In case of an infringement of the law, the inspectors shall draw up a report, which shall be accepted as fact until the contrary be proved. A copy of the report shall be sent to the offender within 48 hours, on pain of nullity. 14. Employers, directors, and managers, who shall have knowingly infringed the provisions of the present law, and the decree relative to its execution, shall be liable to a fine of from 26 to 100 francs. Tho penalty will be exacted for each person employed in contravention of the law or the decrees, with the exception that the total amount of the fine shall not exceed 1,000 francs. In case of a repetition of the offence, within 12 months of a previous conviction, the penalties shall be doubled, except that the total fine shall not exceed 2,000 francs. 15. Employers, proprietors, directors, and managers who shall have obstructed the inspection organised in accordance with the present law, shall be liable to a fine of from 26 to 100 francs, without prejudice to the enforcement of penalties incurred under articles 269 to 274 of the Criminal Code. In case of a repetition of the offence within 12 months of a previous conviction, the penalty shall be doubled. 16. Employers are liable at civil law for the payment of fines incurred by their directors or managers. 17. A father, mother, or guardian who shall have allowed or caused a child or ward to work contrary to the provisions of the present law, shall be liable to a fine of from 1 to 25 francs. In case of a repetition of the offence within 12 months of a previous conviction, the penalty may be doubled. 18. By a modification of article 1 00 of the Criminal Code, chapter VII. and article 85 of book I. of this Code are applicable to the infringements provided against by the present law. 19. Public prosecutions, resulting from an infringe- ment of the provisions of the present law, cannot be brought after the lapse of one year from the day on which the infringement was committed. 20. The present law shall come into force one year after publication. Every three years the Government shall report to the Chambers on the execution and effect of the law. Temporary Provision 21. So far as concerns the glass industry, the Govern- ment, on the report of the inspectors and permanent committees, may delay the application of the law for one year. Given at Laeken, December 13th, 1889, Leopold. 4. — Summary of the Royal Decrees of December 26th and 31st, 1892, and March 15th, 1893. The following summary contains the main points of the Royal decrees published in accordance with articles 4, 6, and 7 of the law of December 13th, 1889, concerning the labour of women, young persons, and children in industrial establishments. In coal and ore mines, 101 hours from bank to bank are the maximum for youths under 13 employed under- ground; during 1893 the maximum is 11 hours. Women and girls under 21 may not work more than 11 hours. Above ground, the maximum is 1'0| hours for workers of all categories. In quarries, tho regulations for underground workers are the same as in mines. In open quarries, the maximum is 10 hours, and 10.| in workshops for repairing tools ; in workshops for stone- entting, it is eight hours for boys under 16. In the manufacture of coke and charcoal, and in metal foundries, it is 10^ for all categories. Children under 14 must not work more than 10, and other categories of workers more than 11 hours, in works for the manufacture of machines (construction mecanique). In zinc rolling-mills, children under 14 may not exceed 5 hours, other categories of workers 10 hours. The hours in the building industry are 8 from November to February inclusive, and 10 during the rest of the year ; in trades connected with building, 9 from October to March, 10 for the remainder of the year. In the cigar and tobacco trade, the maximum is 10 hours, and 6 for children under 14; in some of the clothing and kindred industries, the hours are 10, in others 11. The maximum in the manufacture of the various kinds of glass, is 10, 10J, and 10£ ; in matchmaking, 10J, paper-making and pottery 10; tile and brickmaking 12 hours from April to Septem- ber, 8 from October to March; for boys under 14, and girls under 16, 8 hours. In the printing trade the maximum is 10 hours, and 8 for young persons under 16 engaged in type founding , the maximum is 10£ in sugar making, llj hours are the maximum in the woollen industry, in the other textile industries, children under 13 may not be employed for more than 6, other workers, lit hours. In coal and ore mines, boys between 14 and 16 may work underground for 10 hours after 9 p.m. and before 5 a.m. ; girls and women between 16 and 21 may be employed in cleaning the lamps 10J hours after 9 p.m. and before 5 a.m. A special decree for the Mariemont colliery permits boys between 14 and 16 to work under- ground from 9 to 12 p.m., and women and girls between 16 and 21 to be employed at the sorting machines ( au triage mecanique) between 9 and 12 p.m. for 9 hours. In metal works, boys between 14 and 16, and women between 16 and 21 may be employed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Boys between 14 and 16 may work the same hours in the manufacture of coke and of paper, and in the glass and sugar industries, the same permission is granted to boys between 14 and 16, and women and girls between 16 and 21. 2. Night- work. Boys between 14 and 16 may be employed on a 3. Sunday seventh day once in a fortnight, in the manufacture of work - cole and moulded glass, and in metal works; women and girls between 16 and 21, and boys between 14 and 16 may work in the manufacture of window glass. In each instance but the last, it is expressly stated that the workers must be allowed leisure for their religious duties. The above-stated hours of work are divided by 4. Rest, intervals of rest, the total duration of which must not be less than 1J hours, or one-eighth of the time worked. 5. — Law relating to Workmen’s Dwellings and tiie Institution of Committees of Inspection (Comite s de patronage). Leopold II., King of the Belgians, to all present and to come, greeting. The Chambers have adopted, and We sanction as follows : — Article 1. There shall be established in each admini- strative district, one or more committees charged — (a.) To assist in the building and letting of healthy dwellings for workmen, and their sale to workmen for ready money, or yearly payments. (b.) To study all matters that relate to the healthiness of houses inhabited by the working classes, and the hygiene of the localities in which they are especially situated. (c.) To encourage the development of thrift and assurance, as well as lending societies and institutions for mutual aid and pensions. These committees shall receive the name of com- mittees of inspection (comites da patronage), and shall be composed of not less than five, nor more than eighteen members, nominated for three years ; that is to say, from three to ten by the permanent committee of the provincial council, and from two to eight by the Government. They can be subdivided into sections. The committees and. their sections shall have a secretary nominated by the permanent committee. The method of working for these committees, and their relations with the Government, the provincial and communal administrations, and tho medical commissions, shall be regulated by a Royal decree, without infringing upon the powers of these administrations in the matter of hygiene and public health. 2. The committees of inspection shall be empowered to establish and to distribute rewards for order, cleanliness, and thrift. They can receive, for this purpose, dona- tions and legacies of personal property, and subsidies from the public authorities. 3. The committees of inspection, or their members delegated for this purpose, shall indicate to the communal administration, or to the provincial authority, or to G 3 54 the Government, such measures as they shall think desirable. They shall address a report of their proceedings to the Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Public W )rks. This report shall be communicated to the higher co mcil of health, and each commune shall receive a co , >y of the passage which concerns it. 4. Before decreeing expropriation by zones in quarters especially inhabited by the working classes, the Go- vernment shal 1 take the advice of the committee of inspection as to the conditions to be imposed upon the resale of ground included in the expropriation. 5. The general savings bank and pension fund is autho- rised to employ a part of the funds at its disposal in loans made to facilitate the building or purchase of workmen’s houses, after having previously asked the advice of the committee of inspection. These loans will be assimilated, according to their form and duration, to provisional investments or to permanent investments of the bank. 6. 'The general council of the savings bank shall deter- mine the rates and conditions of the said loans, which must receive the approval of the Minister of Finances. 7. In default of payment, at the fixed time, of the sums due to the bank, the realisation of the security which shall have been supplied will be pursued conformably with articles 4 to 9 of the law of May 5th, 1872. The demand shall be forwarded to the president of the court of first instance. This court shall take cog- nisance of opposition to the order, and legal notices shall be served to the clerk of civil law. 8. The general savings bank and pension fund is autho- rised to negotiate transactions for life assurance, with the object of ensuring the repayment at the time deter- mined, or on the death of the person assured, should it occur before the rime determined, of the loans granted for the building or purchase of a dwelling. The general conditions, as well as the rate of such assurances, shall be submitted for the Royal sanction. The Royal decree shall mention the table of mortality, the rate of interest, and the previous deduction for the expenses of manage- ment, which shall have served as a basis for the esta- blishment of these rates. 9. The provinces, communes, hospitals, and charity organisations may receive donations and legacies, with a view to the building of workmen’s dwellings. 10. Exemption from personal contribution, and from all analogous provincial and communal taxes, in proportion to their rental value, upon doors, windows, and furni- ture, is granted to dwellings occupied by workmen, if the latter are not owners of real property other than that in which they dwell, and if they do not cultivate, for their own advantage, more than 45 acres of ground, that is to say : — In communes numbering less than 30,u00 inhabitants, dwellings having a registered income below 102 francs. In communes numbering 30,000 to 60,000 inhabitants, dwellings having a registered income below 114 francs. In communes numbering 60,000 inhabitants or more, dwellings having a registered income below 132 francs. For the application of these provisions, the communes are classified according to the total population ascer- tained at each decennial census, and the registered income of the dwellings, not yet registered, or not registered in detail, is determined as in the matter of land tax. 11. Societies which have for their exclusive object the building, purchase, sale, or letting of dwellings destined for the working classes, may take the joint- stock or co-operative form, without losing their civil character, by observing, in the first case, the regula- tions of section iv., in the second those of section vi., and in both cases those of section viii. of the law of May 18th, 1873. modified bv the law of May 22nd, 1886. 12. The deeds and official reports bearing upon the formation, modification, or dissolution of societies having for their object the operations enumerated in article 11, are exempt from stamp duty, and are regis- tered free of cost, unless they include regulations subject to the proportional duties of registration. Extracts, copies, and transcripts of these acts and official reports are likewise exempt from stamp duty. The clerk is not entitled to any fee or perquisite on account of any such extracts or copies. 13. Exemption from stamp duty, and from the formality of registration, is granted to all deeds under private signature, which do not come under the terms of the preceding regulation, and all registers exclusively con- cerning social administration, as well as the powers of attorney given by the members in their relations with the society. 14. Sales and adjudications to the societies above mentioned, or to public administrations, of real property destined for workmen's dwellings, are only subject to a registration fee of 2'70 francs per cent., and to a fee of 0 • 65 francs per cent., for registration of the mortgage. The same reduction is applicable to sales and adjudica- tions to workmen of real property destined to serve them as dwellings, or for the building of a dwelling, provided that the extent of the ground built upon or not built upon shall not exceed 25 acres. The position of the workman and the object of the purchase must be stated by a certificate from the committee of inspection, which shall remain affixed to the deed. When necessary, the building of the house must be effected within one year from the date of the deed. 15. The deeds of sale or contract treated of in the pre- ceding article are registered and debited ( enreqistres et transcrits en debet). The debtor may pay off in five annual instalments the fees liquidated upon the deeds made by him in the course of each year. The first will fall due on March 1st in the following year. Sums not paid off by a society at the time of its dissolution will become im- mediately demandable. The seller remains responsible for fees due from the purchaser. 16. The deeds of loan, or opening of credit on account of the societies above mentioned, or of 'public administra- tions, made with a view to the building or purchase of real property destined for workmen's dwellings, are registered for, a fee of 0 ’ 30 francs per cent,, if they are contracts for not more than one year, or for a fee of 0 ' 65 francs per cent. , if they are contracts for more than one year, even in the case where a security may be furnished by a third party. The receipts of sums lent are subject to a duty of 0 ' 30 francs per cent. These provisions are applicable to loans and bills of credit made for the benefit of persons belonging to the working classes, but under the following conditions : 1st. The sums must be exclusively destined for the purchase or building of a house which already serves, or will serve, as a dwelling to the purchaser, or for the purchase of ground for the same object. 2nd. In the latter case, the house must be built within 18 months from the purchase of the land. 3rd. A certificate from the committee of inspection, certifying the object of the operation, and the position of the borrower, must be annexed to the deed. The deeds of loan and bills of credit must mention the destination of the loan, and, when required, the position of the borrower or creditor. The acknowledgments of sums remitted by the creditor to the debtor are exempt from stamp and registration fees. 17. In the case mentioned in the second paragraph of article 14, and No. 2 of the third paragraph of article 16, if the house is not built within the given time, it will be subject to the usual duties of estate transfer, and of registration, loan, or bills of credit, and the payment of the fees, or of the supplementary fees, must take place within two months from the expiration of the interval above mentioned. Action on the part of the treasury will not be pre- scribed until two years have elapsed after the expira- tion of the same interval. 18. The stamp duty upon shares and bonds issued by the societies mentioned in article 11 is fixed as follows : — 5 centimes for those of 50 francs and under, 10 „ ,, from 50 to 100 francs, 20 ,, ,, 100 to 200 francs, and so on, 10 centimes for each 100 francs between 200 and 400 francs. 19. The documents of the committees of inspection, including the certificates delivered to workmen, but excluding deeds of borrowing or loan, are exempt from stamp and registration fees. 20. Article 6 of the law of July 5th, 1871, is repealed ; nevertheless, dwellings built before January 1st, 1889, by joint-stock companies having for their object the building, purchase, sale, or letting of dwellings destined for the working classes, shall continue to enjoy the privilege of the exemptions granted by articles 1 and 55 2 of the law of March 28th,'l828. The law of August 12th. 18(52, concui'uing the they lor registration (droit d’mre gi s trewoen t et de transcription h ypothccaire) , and tiie law of June 20th, 1867, relating to the joint-stock character of the societies connected with woikiuen s dwellings, are repealed. 21. The personal contribution, so far as concerns the two last quarters of the year 1889. including the pro- vincial and communal taxes, will not be collected from the taxpayers, who in consequence of article 10 will cease to owe it, or will be restored to those who shall have paid it. The tax will be considered null and void, and it will not be taken into account in drawing up the Electoral Census. The restitution will be made officially. Given at Laeken, August 9th, 1889, Leopold. 6,-j — Bill Poe the State Becognition of Trade Asso- ciations ( Per so unification civile accordee aux unions profession! Lelies ) . Leopold II., King of the Belgians, to all present and to come, greeting. On the proposal of our Minister of Justice, We have decreed and decree : — Our Minister of Justice is charged to present in Our name to the Legislative Chambers a Bill, the tenor of which is as follows : — Article 1. Associations formed exclusively for the study and defence of their professional interests, between persons engaged in industry, commerce, or agriculture, either in the same profession or the same trade, or in professions or trades similar or connected, enjoy re- cognition by the State ( personnification civile), within the limits, and under the conditions, which follow from the provisions of the present law. Professions and trades which co-operate to the same industrial product are held to be connected. 2. The Government shall institute a special office for registering the statutes of trade associations; the registration will take place on the presentation of two copies of the registers ( actes ) ; one of these two copies shall remain deposited among the records of the office. Trade associations only enjoy recognition from the date of their registration. 3. The rules are required — 1 . To mention the name adopted by the association and the locality of its head office. 2. To indicate the object for which the association has been formed. 3. To determine the method of nominating persons charged with the direction of the association, and the management of its property. 4. In case of withdrawal of the State recognition, or of dissolution, to regulate the liquidation of the association’s property. 5. To mention that the members of the association bind themselves to submit to arbitration all disputes relating to the conditions of labour, provided that the opposite party shall comply with this regulation. 4. The direction of trade associations enjoying recogni- tion by the State can only be entrusted to Belgian subjects by birth or naturalisation, resident in Belgium, and chosen by the association itself from among its members. The prohibition mentioned in articles 31 and 33 of the Criminal Code entails the forfeiture of the right to take part in the direction of an association enjoying recognition by the State. 5. A list of the persons, who, by any right whatever, shall take part in the direction of the association, shall be annexed to the rules. Opposite to the name of each person, his residence, occupation, and nationality shall be stated. The list will remain deposited among the records in the registration office. 6. Each document which shall cause a modification of the rules shall be registered within eight days; each document causing a change in the officials charged with the direction of the association, shall be deposited in the registration office within the same period ; for infringe- ment of this rule, a fine of 16 to 2u0 francs shall be imposed upon each of the directors of the association. 7. The trade associations cannot possess, as owners or otherwise, real property other than that which is neces- sary for their meetings, offices, technical schools, libraries, museums ( collections ), laboratories, and for experiments (champs d’ experience). 8. The dispositions from living persons, or by will, for the benefit of trade associations, shall have effect only so far as they shall be authorised conformably with article 76 of the communal law. The decree which authorised, for the benefit of a trade association, acceptance of a donation in which real property is included, fixes, if necessary, the time within which such property must be alienated. 9. An annual tax will be levied, for the benefit of the State, on real property belonging to trade associations, to stand instead of fees for transfer between living persons, and by will of the deceased. This tax will be calculated at the rate of 15 centimes per franc of the capital of the land tax. The forms prescribed for the assessment and recovery of the land tax will be followed for the establishment and collection of the said tax. 10. Each person affiliated to an association enjoying State recognition can withdraw at any moment, not- withstanding every stipulation to the contrary, and his retirement shall not necessitate for him the loss of any right that he may have acquired by contributions, or deposits of funds, in a friendly society, or any other institution whatever, dependent on the association. 11. The forfeiture of State recognition may be pro- nounced by Government, if the property of the associa- tion be employed contrary to the regulations of the present law. This regulation holds good also in case of the infringement of article 4 of the present law. When the forfeiture is pronounced, the real property acquired by the association reverts to the persons from whom it derived, their heirs, or assignees, if coming from a donation. If the acquisition of the property was burdened with certain conditions, it is sold lit the suit of the public authorities, and the price is paid into the Government deposit and consignment office. 12. Every false declaration relating to the rules, or to the deeds mentioned in article 6 of the present law, as to the names and professions of the directors and managers, their nationality, or their residence, will be punished by a fine of 16 to 500 francs. Given at Laeken, January 28tb, 1893, Leopold. 7. — Bill on Assurance against Accidents. Article 1. Employers are bound to assure their work- people of both sexes against accidents, to the risks of which they are exposed during the performance of their work. 2. The assurance shall be effected by associations (collectivites) of employers in the same or similar in- dustries, connected by common interests ; these asso- ciations shall be formed by Government, at the instance of the councils of industry and labour of that district, in which are the workpeople whose assurance is in question. 3. Employers shall, nevertheless, have the power of assuring their workpeople in any assurance society whatever, provided that the same shall have satisfied the requirements of the present law, and deposited in the State funds a minimum security of 100,000 francs ; this security shall yield interest at the rate of 31 per cent. 4. Each association shall compriso at least 10,000 workpeople. Should it be impossible for one associa- tion to attain this number, it shall be supplemented by groups of associations. 5. By a modification of articles 2 and 4, it shall be allowable for factories, workshops, and yards, in which the number of workmen exceeds 2,000, to effect their own assurance, on obtaining an authorisation from the Government. Nevertheless, should one-third of the workpeople in a factory, workshop, or works, in which the number of employed exceeds 2,000, demand affilia- tion to an association, the employer shall comply with their request. In order to guarantee the financial management of tho assurance, in cases in which the employers make use of this power, the latter shall deposit in the State funds a minimum security of 50,000 francs, or a sum equal to 10 francs for each workman employed, should the number exceed 5,000, not including fractions of 1,000 francs. G 4 56 This security will yield interest at the rate of 3£ per cent., if paid in cash; if in public bonds, the entrance fee shall be determined by the state of the money market on the day of the settlement of such security. Only State, provincial, or communal bonds, or bonds guaranteed by the State, can be accepted. Such security shall be applied, by privilege, to ensure the management of the assurance. 6. Each association shall provide for the formation of its assurance funds. It shall determine the amount of the premium for each workman assured, taking into account the number of days and hours of work, the nature of the industry, and the degree of security established in the factories or workshops. The rule fixing the amount of the premium should be approved by a Royal decree. This Royal decree may increase the amount of the premium, if necessary. Seven-tenths of this premium shall be defrayed by the employers, one-tenth by the Charity Organisation (bureau de bienfaisance), from which the workman is entitled by domicile to receive assistance, or in default of such Organisation, by the State ; the remaining fifth shall be at the charge of the workman. 7. No workman shall be entitled to any compensation, should it be evident that the accident was entirely due to his own negligence or serious imprudence, or to felonies or misdemeanour of which he may be guilty. 8. In cases in which the accident was clearly caused by the fault or serious neglect of the employer, the asso- ciation may bring an action against him for damages, in the names of the workmen affected by the accident. Such damages shall be used to increase the compensa- tion allowed under the present law to the victims of the accident, in such measure as shall be determined by the beard of arbitration. The surplus shall be paid to the assurance funds. 9. Medical aid shall be furnished gratuitously to the injured persons in all cases, whatever may have been the cause of the accident. 10. Pecuniary compensation shall be regulated as ollows : — (a.) In case of total incapacity to work, the injured person shall be allowed 80 per cent, of his average daily wage during the past year ; ( b .) In case of death resulting from accident, 35 per cent, shall be allowed to the widow, and, in addition, to each child not above the age of fourteen years, 10 per cent, of the average daily wage received by the deceased during the past year, provided that the total compensation allowed to the widow and children shall not exceed 65 per cent, of such wage. Should the widow marry again, she shall cease to enjoy such compensation. In the event of the deceased having been unmarried, or a widower without children, but the support of his family, the latter shall be allowed compensation not exceeding 40 per cent, of his wages. A father, mother, brothers, or sisters are considered as a family. (c.) In case of permanent partial incapacity to work, the injured person shall be allowed from 10 to 50 per cent, of his daily wage, according to the nature and degree of the injury. (d.) In cases of temporary incapacity to work, an allowance of 65 per cent, of the daily wage shall be made during the continuation of such incapacity. Compensation shall be due from the day following that on which the accident took place. 11. Prom the time at which the present law shall come into force, every employer who shall have neglected to assure, or cause to be assured, one or more of his work- people, shall be liable to pay the compensation above- stated, should any of them be killed or injured during work, precisely as though the workpeople had been assured. Such workpeople shall not be compelled to prove anything beyond the fact of the accident, and its injurious effects, reserving to the employer the right to prove that the case is one in which the assurance does not apply to the workman, under the terms of the nresent law. 12. Employers who have not fulfilled thereauiremonts of the present law within one year after its publication, shall be liable to a fine of from 100 to 500 francs. Employers newly established in business, shall be liable to the same penalty one year after the commencement of their business. 13. The associations formed in accordance with the present law, shall enjoy civil rights, with the exception that they may not acquire real property. Under the authorisation of the Government, they may receive dona- tions or legacies of personal and even real property, on condition of its being converted into personal property. A council of management, composed of five persons, three of whom must be employers, and two workmen chosen by the members of each association from their own numbers, shall control the finances of the asso- ciation. The council shall also be required to consider means of assuring safety in the performance of work, and of preventing accidents. It shall annually address a report to the Government, setting forth the provisions requisite to be made by law or by a Royal decree, in order to assure healthy and safe conditions of employ- ment. 14. In connection with each association, a board of arbitration shall be established, composed of actual (titulaires) members, and an equal number to act as substitutes, half of whom shall be elected from among the employers, and half from among the workmen. A president and vioe-president shall be nominated by the Government from persons unconnected with the association. The duties of this board of arbitration shall be aSi follows : — (a.) To arrange disputes which may arise between employers and workmen, or between workmen and the association charged with the assur- ance, in execution of the present law. (b.) To determine the distribution of the compensa- tion provided for by article 9. 15. Workmen who are members of the council of management or of the board of arbitration, shall be entitled to receive a salary. 16. The provisions of this law are applicable to all persons employed, whose salary does not exceed 1,800 francs a year, and who, from the nature of their occu- pation, are exposed to any accidents which may occur in the industry in which they are employed. 17. Employers who have, by preference, assured their workmen in an assurance society, or who have effected this assurance themselves, should, in case of a dispute with their workmen, submit the matter to the decision of one of the boards of arbitration in connection with their industry : the costs shall be at their own charge, whatever may be the award. 18. Proceedings before the boards of arbitration shall be absolutely free of cost. The application shall be made by means of a request addressed to the board of arbitration. The parties concerned shall be summoned by means of a registered letter. They will be heard in person, and may employ the assistance of a counsel. All sessions will be public. The reasons for the award shall be given, and a copy shall be sent in a registered letter to the parties interested. Should the latter fail to appear, they shall be summoned a second time by a registered letter. The awards given cannot be disputed, and are not subject to appeal. 19. The award will be null and void, (a) if the persons concerned have not been summoned in accordance with the provisions of the present law ; (b) if the grounds of the award are not given ; (c) if it has not been pro- nounced at a public session. In this case, the award shall be annulled on a written request upon unstamped paper, addressed to the court of first instance in the district by the party demanding the revocation of the award. If the award be annulled, the court shall send the case and the parties interested before another board of arbitration. 20. In calculating the premiums to be paid by the workmen or persons employed, in order to be entitled to compensation or to a pension, the wage or salary must not be reckoned at more than six francs a day. The day shall be reckoned as ten working hours, and the year as three hundred days. 21. The premiums paid by employers, as well as those paid by workpeople and other persons employed, may be increased or reduced, according to the extent of the charges which the funds will be required to meet. For this purpose, the council of management shall every year examine the assurance funds, and the financial position of the association. This position shall be taken into account in fixing the premiums. Tho application of the funds of the association shall be determined by the council of management ; in vest- ments upon Government securities or deposits m the o-eneral savings bank, or advances made on security for building workmen’s dwellings (constructions ouvri'eres), will necessarily be included. 22. In addition to assurance against accidents, asso- ciations may form — (a.) A sick benefit fund ; (b.) A superannuation fund. . In this case, the various funds shall be quite distinct. The rules which govern them should be approved by a Royal decree. 23. Illnesses contracted in consequence of work are placed in the same category as accidents. 24. The State, provinces, communes, and public estab- lishments must assure their workpeople, in accordance with the present law. 25. Employers, whose workpeople are assured in accordance with the present law, are freed from all other responsibility towards those of their workpeople, who are victims of accidents in the course of their employ- ment. 26 Associations formed in execution of the present law, are empowered to receive subsidies from the State, the province, communes, hospitals, ( ’harity Organisa- tions, or the Labour fund (caisse clu travail). Account will be taken of the subsidies, as well as of donations and legacies, in determining the rate of the assurance premium. 27. Those provisions of the Civil Code determining that, in the event of a man dying intestate, his relatives beyond the sixth degree shall inherit his property, are abrogated. Successions falling to the State, by virtue of the provisions of the Civil Code and of the present law, shall be especially applied to the charges imposed thereon by the same law, and to the subsidies treated in article 25. Paul Janson. A. Casse. L. Hanssens. A. Houzeatj de Leuaie. 8. Bill on the Engagement oe Workpeople and Domestic Servants. Chapter I. — General Regulations. Article 1. The engagement of workpeople and domestic servants is a contract by which they under- take to accomplish work, or perform service under the authority, direction and superintendence of an employer of labour, or the head of a household, in return for a remuneration from the latter. 2. The contract is made merely by the consent of the parties, and may be concluded in writing or verbally. In the latter case, the proof of the conditions and execution of the contract may be made by' witnesses, ever, should a value of more than one hundred and fifty francs be in question. 3. The rules formulated by employers of labour, or by beads of households, with a view to determining the conditions of the engagement, must be and remain posted up in the most conspicuous places in the work- shops, works, or premises. A copy shall be delivered to the workman or servant, at the time of the engage- ment, in return for an acknowledgment bearing his signature, or, should he be unable ti write, the signatures of two witnesses, selected from the persons in the employment of the employer or head of the household. Where these regulations have been com- plied with, the rules in question remain binding upon the parties during the whole period of the engagement. Nevertheless, such rules as threaten workpeople or domestic servants with civil fines, for any other cause than for bad workmanship, or for damage of raw material, cannot be enforced, so far as concerns these penalties, their assessment and their application, until they have received the approval of the permanent committee, or of the King, in the form sot forth by article 89. 4. Should the total amount of remuneration due for the work or service not have been expressly stipulated in the agreement, the parties should have recourse, as regards this point, to the custom of the locality, or, at need, to the arbitration of a judge. E 78U30. 5. No person may pledge his work or services, except for a certain period, or for a given undertaking. 6. When not determined by the agreement, or by the nature of the work or service, the duration oi the contract is regulated by the usages of the locality. 7. When the engagement is of indefinite duration, each party has the right of withdrawal from the contract, on giving notice to the other party, and observing the interval prescribed by the custom of the locality, or, in default of all custom, an interval of at least eight days. 8. In no case can a workman or servant be compelled to finish the work, or to continue his services, except to answer for damages towards the other party, if he cannot prove a legitimate cause for breach of contract. Under the same conditions, the other party may put an end to the work or service, without previous notice. 9. Workmen or servants are required : — (a.) To accomplish the work or service promised by them, at the time, m the place, and under the conditions determined by the agreement. (b.) To act in conformit}' with the orders and instruc- tions of the other party, respecting the execution of the work or service, within tho limits of the agreement, the laws and the regulations. (c.) To abstain from every action which might endanger their own safety, that of their fellow workmen, or of other persons, and generally conduct themselves in such a manner as to avoid entailing civil or criminal responsibility on an employer or the head of a household, by reason of injury, whether to persons or things. 10. Employers of labour or heads of households are required : — («.) To provide the remuneration due to the other party, conformably with the agreement, the usage of the locality, or the arbitration of a judge, in accordance with the provisions of article 4, conforming in all cases to the law of August 16th. 1887, on the payment of work- men’s wages. (b.) To put, in all due time, at the disposal of the workmen or servants, such assistants, tools, and material as may be necessary for the accomplishment of the work or service, in accordance with the agreement, custom, or circumstances. (c.) To take, with due diligence ( avec la diligence d’un bon p ere de famille), all proper measures for ensuring, as far as possible, that the safety of workmen or servants shall not be endangered, during the execution of the work or service, proportioning such measures to the dangers, greater or less, which the execution of such work or service may present, as well as to the age or length of apprenticeship of the workmen or servants. 11. An employer of labour, or head of a household, is answerable, as for his own deed, for injury inflicted on the workman or servant by his overseers, or other workmen or servants, if the action in question bo included among the duties, labour, or services with which tho latter are charged. 12. The damages due to the party who establishes against the other party, a charge of non-performance of the obligations imposed by articles 9 and 10, aro regulated conformably with articles 1149 to 1151, and 1153 to 1155' of the Civil Code. Except in the case provided for by article 30, article 1152 cf the Civil Code is also applicable. 13. In addition to the obligations imposed on them by article 10 (c), the execution of which is guaranteed by article 12, employers engage by the contract to pay the compensation fixed by the thirty-seventh and following articles, to a workman, or the family of a workman, who has been accidentally killed or injured during the performance of his work. They are only freed from this obligation by proving that the accident was occasioned by natural causes, independent of the work or its performance, or by the action of persons for whom they are not answerable, or by an action which is no part of the duties, work, or services with which their overseers, workmen, or servants are charged, or, finally, by the fault of the injured person himself. 14. Domestic servants may appeal to the provisions of article 13, should it be proved that the service, in the performance of which they were killed or injured, as H 58 . •well as the mode of performance of such service, was imposed upon them by the contract, or was expressly ordered by the head of the household, or by some of -his foremen, authorised so to do. In this latter case, the amount of compensation is fixed by the one- hundredth and following articles. 15. In the application of articles 13 and 14, such slight and accidental errors (maladresses) as may be due to age, or to the conditions under which the work or service has to be performed, do not constitute a fault on the part of the injured person. 16. Employers of labour ami heads of households are only liable to make the reparation provided for in articles 13 and 14, and fixed by the thirty-seventh and following articles, or by the hundredth and following articles, even in cases when the accident might have been avoided, or rendered less serious, by certain arrangements or precautions, if the omission or insuffi- ciency of such arrangements or precautions do not constitute neglect of the essential duties imposed upon them by article 10 (c). 17. Damages and compensation due fi om employers or heads of households, to workmen, domestic servants, or their families, for bodily injuries incurred during the work or service, may not be transferred or distrained (cedes ni snisis), except under the conditions indicated by articles 1 and 3 of the law of August 18th. 1887. 18. Article 19 of the law of December 19th, 1851, is extended to the damages and compensation mentioned in the preceding article. The lien (privilege) ranks next after that of persons who have supplied means of subsistence to the debtor and his family. Should the damages or compensation be payable in the form of pensions, the lien extends to an amount of capital determined conformably with article 28. 19. In cases where employers or heads of households are assured in their own names, and for their own advan- tage, in order to guarantee themselves against risks resulting from the obligations which they assume towards their workmen, domestic servants, or the families of the latter, in accordance with the provisions of articles 13 to 16 inclusive, the claim of the parties interested ranks first against employers or heads of households, for all sums due to the latter from the assurer. On the request of the workmen, domestic ser- vants, or their families, the assurer is bound, within the limits of the contract of assurance, to pay directly to them the pensions allowed as compensation, at the cost of the employers or heads of households. 20. An employer or the head of a household may take out an assurance, whether individually or collectively, on account of, and for the profit of, his workmen and servants, even without the consent of the latter. Tn order to render the provisions of article 22 legally effec- tive, such assurance must be accomplished entirely at the expense of the employer or the head of a household ; it must also cover all risks defined by articles 13 to 16 inclusive, and guarantee to the beneficiaries of the assurance the payment or service of the compensation or pensions fixed by chapter II., section 2, or by chapter III. 21. Article 29 must be applied, in order to determine whether, in this last respect, the assurance accomplished by the employer or head of a household satisfies the law. 22. When the assurance treated of in article 20 is in accordance with the requirements of the present law, and of the law concerning the assurance of workmen, employers or heads of households are freed from the obligations imposed on them by the provisions of articles 13 to 16 inclusive, and the person injured is only empowered to bring an action against the assurer. 23. The assurer may recover from the employer or head of a household the sums paid to workmen, servants, or their families, if he proves that the accident was caused by a fault which may be personally imputed to the latter, in accordance with the provisions of this law, but he may not, on account of these circumstances, either refuse or delay the payment of the compensation or pensions guaranteed to the workmen, servants, or their families. 24. In the same case, the person injured, or his family, has the right of claiming from the employer or head of a household complete reparation for the injury, in accordance with the provisions of article 12, subject, nevertheless, to deduction of any indemnity that he may have obtained, whether under the head of assurance or by the application of article 29. 25. The assurer is freed from all obligations towards the person injured, and the family of the latter, should he prove that the accident was due to one of the causes named in article 13, section 2. 26. Should no assurance have been effected by the em- ployers or heads of households to cover the risks named in articles 19 and 20, should the assurance have lapsed or be deemed insufficient, on the demand of the work- men, servants, or their families, they are bound to pay into a State bank, or a bank guaranteed by the State, whether as a security, or a final discharge, the capital necessary to ensure the payment of the pensions allowed by the judge. Ihey may, however, be exempt from making this pay ment, on furnishing a mortgage on property free of all other charges, a guarantee on any articles of value admitted as investments by the State savings bank ana pension fund, or an investment in Government securities (inscription de rentes sur I’JEtut ), in the names of the workmen or servants, or their families. The court may finally authorise employers or heads of households to substitute one of these two last guaran- tees for a mortgage which should have beeu made. -j 7. Workmen, domestic servants, or the members of their families, to whom a pension has been granted as damages, in accordance with articles 10 (c) and 12, have powei to claim the guarantees specified in the precedin'* article. 1 28. The assessment of the cajjital necessary for the pay- ment or the guarantee of life annuities, is made, accord- ing to the age of the injured person at the time of the accident, by a table of mortality, and at a rate of interest determined by a Royal decree. Should the annuity be granted to a member of the family , regard is had to liis age at the time of the acci- dent, if the death of the injured person took place im- mediately, or cu the day of his decease, in the contrary case. 29. Irom the total amount of the damages or compen- sation due to workmen, domestic servants, or the members of their family, a deduction shall be made of any sums of money or annuities which they are entitled to claim from relief funds, mutual aid societies, or similar in- stitutions, on account of bodily injuries incurred during their work or service ; the wiiole amount should be de- ducted, if the subscriptions required by such funds or institutions are exclusively defrayed by employers or heads of households, or a due ' proportion, if such expenses liaie been only partially borne by them. 30. All agreements concluded beforehand are void, which have for their object, contrary to the provisions of the present law, whether to limit the obligations and en- gagements of employers or heads of households, in what concerns the personal safety of cheir workmen or domestic servants, or to reduce the amount of the damages or compensation due in the case when such safety has been affected. 31. The prescription of an action brought by workmen or domestic servants for payment of compensation due to them, is regulated by the provisions of sub-section IV., section V., of chapter XX. of the Civil Code. Unless an acknowledgment has been made of the debt, whether verbal or otherwise, workmen, domestic servants, or their families, forfeit their right to bring an action for compensation against employers or heads of households, on account of bodily injuries accidentally sustained during their work or service, if such action be not brought within the interval of one year from the day of the accident. Other actions arising from the engagement, whether for the advantage of workmen and domestic servants, or of employers or heads of households, are limited to three years. 32. The contract of engagement is terminated — (a.) By the expiration of' the term of the engage- ment, or the accomplishment of the work or service ; (b.) By the death of the workman or domestic servant. Chapter II.— Special Regulations for Workmen. Concerning Persons who are comprised among Work- men, or who are classed with them. 33. Foremen and overseers (chefs ouvriers , chefs d’ atelier, et contre-mnitres ) are included among the workmen. Section 1. 59 Section II. 34. The employes or subordinate clerical assistants, (commis d’ exploitation), engaged in the workshops, yards, or works, who, like the workmen, are exposed to the accidents in the course of their work, arc classed with them. 35. Those domestic servants, who take even a temporary and accidental part in industrial or agricultural work, in addition to their service in the house or farm, are also classed with the workmen. 36. Unless a particular exception be made, the pre- visions of the present law are applicable to workmen employed under the direct orders of tho State, the provinces, the communes, and public institutions. Concerning the Compensation due to Workmen from Employers in accordance with Article 13. 37. When the accident has resulted in an absolute tem- porary incapacity to work, of a duration of more than fifteen days, the injured person may claim a daily pay- ment equal to sixty-five per cent, of his average daily wages. Nevertheless, the employer is exempt from the obligation of paying the above-stated compensation to the injured person, during the first three months following the accident, if able to prove — («,.) That he has formed, with or without the con- currence of his workpeople, special relief funds for the sick, or if he has associated them, at his own expense, to mutual aid societies recognised by law. (b.) That such funds, or societies are obliged to pay, in addition to medical expenses, compensation equal to at least sixty-five per cent, of the wages, whether during the whole continuance of the illness, or at least during the three first months. 38. Should such incapacity to work become permanent, this indemnity, is transformed into a life annuity, calculated on the same basis. 39. In case of permanent partial incapacity to work, the amount of the life annuity varies between ten and fifty per cent, of the average daily wage, according to the nature and extent of the incapacity. 40. In the case of death resulting from an accident, the following compensation is allowed : — To the husband or wife who is neither separated nor divorced, up to the time of another marriage, a life annuity equal to twenty per cent, of the average daily wage ol the deceased ; a widower is not entitled to this pension, unless he be impotent and incapable of supporting himself. For each legitimate, or recognised natural child, up to the age of 14 years, a life annuity equal to ten per cent, of the same wage. To each relative in the ascending line, brother or sister, of whom the deceased was the sole support, should the latter have left no child entitled to com- pensation, a life annuity of 10 per cent., calculated as above. The husband or wife and the children, or the husband or wife, the relatives in the ascending line, and brother and sisters, may not together receive more than 50 per cent, of the average daily wage of the deceased. The husband or wife and the natural children of the deceased are only entitled to the annuity, if the marriage or the recognition took place before the accident. Should death not have immediately followed upon the accident from which it resulted, the heirs of the deceased are entitled to claim such part of the compensation allotted to him by article 37, as may not have been paid. 41 . The representatives of a foreigner, who, at the time ol the accident, were not habitually resident in Belgian territory, are not permitted to claim the annuities provided for m article 40, unless it be proved that Belgians enjoy Ihis same advantage, without conditions of residence, m that country from which such foreigner derives. * 42. Ihe amount of temporary compensation or life annuities may be reduced by the judge to a maximum of 10 per cent., should the employer prove that the results ol the injuries produced by the accident have been aggravated by the advanced age of the injured person, by predisposition to disease {predispositions morbid es) , or by a previous injury. The two circumstances last mentioned are only to bo taken into consideration if they are in no way connected with the exercise of the industry in the works where the accident took place. 43. When the person injured is entitled to an indem- nity or annuity, in accordance with the preceding articles, the employer must in addition pay the medical expenses, to an amount not exceeding 100 francs, and funeral expenses, according to the custom of the locality, not exceeding fifty francs. 44. By the average daily wage, is meant that which the injured person has gained during the year preceding the accident, in those works m which the accident occurred. Ihe annual earnings which determine the amount of the life annuity due in the case of permanent incapacity to work, or on account of the death of the injuied person, are equal to three hundred times the average daily wage. 45. In order to fix the average daily wage, account must be taken of that part of the wage paid in kind. The valuation of the goods supplied must be made by the judge, at the current prices of the locality. 46. Workmen employed during less than one year in the works in which the accident took place, are treated, as far as concerns the rate of their average daily wage, in the same manner as workmen who have been employed in the same work, or at least in work of a similar nature, during the whole year. 47. When, from its nature, the industry in which the accident has occurred can only be carried on during a part of the year, the average daily wage during the period of work serves to determine the earnings of the injured person during the entire year. 48. The average daily wage assigned to an apprentice, or to a workman below twenty years of age, must not be inferior to the lowest wage paid to a workman above twenty years of age, for similar work, in the same part of the works. 49. Lemporary compensation and life annuities, due either to an injured person for permanent incapacity to work, or to his family, in case of the immediate death of the injured person, are dated from the day of the accident. Should death not follow immediately upon the accident, the annuity due to the family is reckoned from the day ol the injured person s death. A life annuity, to be reckoned from the day on which, whether by the proceedings treated of in article 68, or by subsequent proceedings agreed upon between the parties, or by a definite judgment, it is established that the incapacity to work is of a permanent character, a life annuity is substituted for the temporary compensation which was at first paid to the injured person. 50. Temporary compensation shall be paid at the time adopted for paying wages, according to agreement and custom. Life annuities are payable monthly in advance, on the production of a certificate of life. .Medical and funeral expenses must be repaid within one week from the end of the attendance, or from the date of decease, on the production of the accounts duly receipted. J Temporary compensation and life annuities, as well as medical and funeral expenses, constitute claims maintainable by law (creances querables). 51. Employers should regularly keep a special book, in which to enter the days on which work has been carried on, tho names of the workmen engaged, as well as the wages earned by each. Concerning Compulsory Assurance. 52. The following must be assured against accidents resulting from work : — Workmen, employes, or clerical assistants classed with workpeople who are employed : In quarries, mines, or other underground works. In railway works and in navigation, whether inland or maritime. In factories, workshops, yards, and works in which machinery moved by compressed air, hot air, steam, gas, electricity, or any elemental motive power is used. In industries or works in which explosive substances are employed or produced. 53. So far as concerns agriculture or forestry, the compulsory assurance set forth in the preceding article, on account of the employment of machinery, does not H 2 60 extend to workmen who, by reason of the organisation of the work, and of the premises, cannot be exposed to ary danger resulting from the employment of such machinery. 54. Workmen employed for, and under the direct orders of the State, the provinces, the communes, and public institutions, are not subject to compulsory assurance. 55. The Government is authorised to enforce assurance in other industries than those named in article 52. Its decision, taken in the form of an order of the Admini- stration, and preceded by a report to the King, shall be immediately communicated to the Legislative Chambers, and shall not come into force until the first of January next following its publication in the “ Moniteur.” 56. The compulsory assurance of workmen or employes, or clerical assistants classed with workmen , is contracted under the conditions set forth in article 20. Articles 21 to 25 inclusive apply in the matter of compulsory assurance. 57. The law respecting the assurance of workmen determines the different methods of assurance between which the employer, who is bound to assure his workmen, is empowered to choose, the form and arrangement of the assurance, as well as its conditions and results, in so far as these last are not determined by the present law. Section IV. Concerning the Proof of Accidents. 58. The employer, or. in his absence, or where a company is concerned, the manager, must declare to the local police, within twenty-four hours, every case of death, or injury entailing either death, or incapacity 1o work of more than three days’ duration, which may occur in the establishment or works. 59. The declaration shall be made in writing, and a copy shall be taken. A doctor's certificate must be attached. A receipt shall he given to the person making the declaration. 60. Within twenty-four hours of the declaration, the burgomaster or commissioner of police must furnish a report of the nature and probable causes of the acci- dent, the names, rank, domicile, and occupation of the persons injured, the locality to which they have been removed, the nature of the injuries which they have sustained, and the probable duration of their incapa- city to work. The report must also show as far as possible, (a) the daily wage of the injured persous, whether according to the wage-book prescribed by article 51, or according to other documents or infor- mation ; (i) the names and domicile of any persons partially or entirely supported by the injured persons; (c) the associations, relief funds, mutual aid societies, or other institutions from which the injured persons appear to be entitled to claim assistance, on account of accidents resulting from work. 61. Should it appear from the first statement, that the accident may be attributed to the nature of the work, aud that it has been followed either by death, or by injury which may occasion death or absolute incapacity to work of more than 15 days’ duration, the burgo- master or commissioner of police shall immediately forward to the justice of the peace one copy of the declaration, the doctor’s certificate, and a copy of the report prepared in accordance with article 60. 62. The justice of the peace, accompanied by his clerk , shall immediately visit the spot where the accident occurred, to enquire into and establish all facts which may serve to make known the truth, and especially these indicated in article 60. He shall hear witnesses, ancl, at need, obtain the services of experts and doctors, in order to determine the causes of the accident, and the extent of the injuries sustained by the injured persons. Where Government establishments are concerned, experts must be chosen from amongst the Government officials, excluding any who may be held responsible for the affair, on account of their share in the manage- ment or control. Except in Government establishments, the justice of the peace is empowered to order the performance of any work necessary in order to establish the nature and causes of the accident, and to requisition the workmen necessary for this purpose. 63. In all proceedings at the spot where the accident occurred, as well as for the continuation of the enquiry, the justice of Lite peace must observe the forms pre- scribed in chapters VII. and \ III. of book I. of the Code of Civil Procedure. In all cases, however, a report must be made of the examination of witnesses, and the other proceedings of the magistrate. 64. Employers, injured persons, the members oi their families, in cases under article 40, or their representa- tives, have the right to be present during the proceed- ings of the local police, as also of the justice of the peace, in order to make their own statements and observations. The same permission is granted to the assurers, banks, societies, or institutions mentioned in article 60. 65. The expenses of the examination made by the justice of the peace, and of the proceedings ordered by him, as well as the expenses of the experts’ enquiry, are defrayed by the State, and assessed as in a criminal case. Nevertheless, the State may recover the same from the employer, if the latter be afterwards sentenced, on account of the accident, to a criminal or correctional penalty, or to damages according ro the terms of article 12 of the present law. 66. The examination must be finished with as little delay as possible. When the enquiry is terminated, ihe justice of the peace shall inform all the parties interested, that the documents have been deposited in the office, and are at their disposal, to be perused or copied at their own expense. 67. One week after this notice, the justice of the peace shall summon, by a letter delivered through the post, all the parties interested, to appear before him at three clear days’ notice, whether in person, or through a special representative charged with a power of attorney duly registered under a private seal. 68. On the appointed day, the justice of the peace, assisted by his clerk, shall endeavour to conciliate the parties, having regard to the claims of each. Should an agreement be made between their , a report of their decision shall he drawn up, to serve the workman, or the members of bis family, in the cases provided for by article 40, as a writ of execution against those persons who are recognised as debtors for damages, or compen- sation, on account of injuries sustained through or at the time of their employment. 69. Should the parties, or certain among them, fail to agree, the justice of the peace shall dismiss them, to sue at law, according to the regulations hereafter set forth. 70. When the justice of the peace has not been charged with the examination of the matter, according to the provisions of articles 61 to 66, the workmen, or, in the cases provided for by article 40, the members of their family, are empowered to apply to the said justice of the peace, to endeavour to effect a settlement by means of conciliation. The justice of the peace must proceed according to articles 67, 68, and 69 on the verbal statement merely of the parties making the request. Concerning Jurisdiction and the Mode of Procedure Section V. in the Matter of Accidents. 71. The justice of the peace for the district in which the accident occurred, has.coguisance, as a court of final appeal, of actions brought by an injured person to obtain the payment of compensation for temporary incapacity to work, due from employers by virtue of article 13. 72. If an assurance has been effected in the interests of the workmen, whether individually or collectively, for the causes indicated in article 71, the assurers may be summoned by the injured person before the justice of the peace, together with the employers. The sentence is equally without appeal, so far as regards the assurers. 73. Other actions based upon article 13, as well as actions to obtain damages for bodily injuries, for which employers are responsible, in accordance with articles 10 (c.) and 12, are referred to the court of first instance in the neighbourhood in which the accident occurred. The first paragraph of article 72 is applicable. 74. The court of first instance gives sentence {statue), finally or with liberty to appeal, according to the dis- tinction established by the law of March 25th, 1876. Nevertheless, in order to determine the value of the 61 suit, iu case of a life annuity, the rules prescribed by the Royal decree, referred to in article 28, must be observed. 75. The justice of the peace, and the court cl hist, instance, are empowered to hear the case (sont saisis de la contestation), on the request of the injured person, or the members ol his family, as defined in article 40.. This request must state summarily the facts of the case, and indicate the surnames, Christian names, occupation, and domicile of the defendants. The formalities of a stamp and registration are dis- pensed with. - . The signature of the plaintiffs must be authenticated, without charge, by the burgomaster, or by another member of the college of sheriffs in the locality of' their domicile or residence. 76. If occasion offers, the justice of the peace, or the court of first instance, sitting in the council chamber, shall give an order, written at the foot of the request, by which the persons named as defendants are required to present themselves for a public hearing at eight clear days’ notice. The clerk must immediately inform them of this order, by means of a registered letter. The order is exempt from stamp registration and fee (greffe). 77. The justice of the peace, or the court of first in- stance, after having heard the statements of the plaintiffs and defendants, appearing either in person or by attorney, must allow the plaintiffs freely to state the value ol their claims, provided that their pretensions be .not obviously without foundation. Before courts of first instance', the opinion of the public department {minis- ter e public) is heard. A foreigner may claim the privilege of gratuitous procedure, should a treaty have been concluded with his native country, conferring the same privilege on Belgian subjects. The judgment granting or refusing the privilege of gratuitous procedure is not liable to opposition, or to appeal . 78. Proceedings are taken before the court of appeal, in accordance with articles 4 and 5 of the law of July 30th. 1889. 79. The execution of the judgment or order of court granting the privilege of a free trial is regulated by the provisions of the said law. 80. Before all tribunals, the case must be examined and deemed urgent, and it shall take precedence of other business. Before the courts of first instance and of appeal, the procedure is summary. It may, however, be ordered that the enquiry shall be held before a.n assessor ( juge-commissaire ). 81. The execution of judgments and orders of court may be carried out against the condemned Darties in spite of opposition or appeal, and without bail. 82. Should the magistrate deem the case not fully pre- pared, and consider that there is cause to require proofs, either as regards the nature of the occurrence which produced the injury, or the nature and results of the injury itself, if the claims of the plaintiffs are based upon actual facts which render it probable, he may sentence the defendants to pay to them provision- ally a temporary pension, the amount of which shall not exceed that indicated in articles 37, 39, or 40, according to the circumstances of the case. 83. The appeal against the judgments of the courts of first instance shall be lodged within eight days of its notification to the party, if it concerns a point of law (jugement contrndictoire) , and of the day on which the power of contesting lapsed, if it is a case of judg- ment by default. 84. In the case of an appeal for the reversal of a judg- ment {pour le pourvoi en cassation), either of a justice of the peace or of the courts of first instance, or the orders of the court of appeal, the interval is 15 days. 85. Except in so far as concerns jurisdiction, appeals may only be received against judgments or orders of the court, which do not pronounce definitely on the point of law, after, and within the same time as against the decision on the facts of the case (foncl). 86. The parties interested may obtain the reversal of the final judgments or orders of court, which allowed damages, compensation, or life annuities, on proving that the injury sustained by the injured person has entailed consequences more or less serious than those held to be permanent by the said judgments or orders of court, from the point of view whether of the life of the injured person, or of the temporary or permanent, partial, or absolute nature of the incapacity to work. 87. The request must be submitted to the judge who has pronounced the decision, the reversal of which is required. It can only be entertained if, at the time of the decision, the judge has formerly reserved to the party the power of making it, and if it is made within an interval of not more than one year from the date of the judgment or final order of court. When the reservation of the power of appeal is made by the injured person, the decision which empowers him must name a doctor, to make a report on the bodily condition and capacity to work of the injured person, after the expiration of six months from the time of the decision. The report of the doctor must be placed in the office, and be submitted to the judge at the time of the hearing of the appeal. 88. Under the consent of the other party, and without prejudice to the methods of proof, the revision may only be granted on fresh information from skilled men, commissioned by the judge to form an opinion on the cause, nature, and importance of the modifications which, according to the statement, have been produced in the health of the injured person, or in his capacity to work. Means of preventing Accidents and Penalties (sanctions penales). 89. Employers who make use of machinery, and habitually employ at least ten workmen, must establish regulations for the management (sur la police du travail) of their work, especially in so far as concerns the use of machinery, engines, and tools, and the precautionary measures to be imposed on the workmen. These regulations must be submitted to the per- manent committee of the provincial council, which may refuse to ratify them, or may introduce modifications. Before coming to a determination, the committee may require the advice of the officials charged with the inspection and supervision of works in the same cate- gory ; it may also require the advice of the competent council of industry and labour. Employers, as well as the provincial governor, have the right to appeal to the King, in the form and within I, he intervals set forth in article 8 of the Royal decree of January 29th, 1863. 90. After being ratified by the permanent committee, or by the King, the regulations required by article 89 shall be printed in large type, and posted up in the most conspicuous places in the establishment or works. A copy shall be given to each workman at the time of his engagement. 91. The permanent committee is entitled at any time to withdraw its ratification of the regulations drawn up by employers, or to make such ratification upon other conditions. 92. The employers designated in article 89 shall cause to be posted up, in the most suitable places, in their establishments or works, the text of the present law, printed in clear type. 93. The burgomasters or commissioners of police, and , justices of the peace, shall send to the provincial governor a copy of the reports which they have drawn up, in accordance with articles 60 and 62. The clerks of the justices of the peace, the courts of first instance, and the courts of appeal, shall respec- tively transmit to the same official copies of the articles of conciliation agreed upon in accordance with article 68. and of the judgments or final orders of court pronounced on the subject of damages, temporary compensation, or life annuities, claimed on account of bodily injuries incurred by the workman through or at the time of his employment. Once in each quarter, the governor shall transmit the documents in question, with a recapitulary statement, to the Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Public Works. 94. Employers who infringe any of the provisions of articles 51, 58, 89, 90, and 92 are liable to a fine of from 26 to 100 francs. In the case of a second offence, the minimum penalty is fixed at 1 00 francs, and may be raised to 500 francs. 95. Employers who do not conform to the requirements of the present law, so far as concerns the compulsory assurance of their workmen, are liable to a penalty of from 50 to 500 francs. For a second offence, the penalty is from 200 to 2,000 francs. Section VI. H 3 02 Section I. 96. Every false affirmation or intentional suppression on the part of an employer, in connection with the state- ment required from him by article 58, when it concerns a circumstance of material importance, is punishable by a fine of from 100 to 1,000 francs. Any change brought about by the employer in the arrangements, whether of the place in which the acci- dent took place, or of the machines, engines, or tools employed, is punishable by the same penalty, if the object of such change was to prevent the discovery. of the real causes of the accident. In case of a repetition of the offence, the penalty is from 500 to 3,000 francs. 97. It is reckoned a second offence, if the perpetrator has already been condemned for the same action within the five preceding years. 98. Employers are responsible at civil law for penalties pronounced against their directors or managers. 99. The first book of the Criminal Code, including chapter VII., and article 85, is applicable to breaches of law provided against in articles 94, 95, and 96. Chapter III. — Special Regulations for Domestic Servants. Concerning the Compensation due to Domestic Ser- vants from Heads of Households, in execution of article 14. 100. Domestic servants who have the right of claiming, under the head of damages, the temporary compensa- tion, and life annuities, accorded to workmen, under the same circumstances, by articles 37, 38, and 39, may require the application of article 14, on account of bodily injuries incurred during the fulfilment of their service. 101. Articles 40 and 41 equally apply to the family of a domestic servant whose death has been caused by accident, 102. Nevertheless, the compensation, or life annuities, granted to the injured person, for absolute incapacity to work, shall not exceed the rate of 2 francs 60 cen- times a day. Life annuities on account of permanent partial incapacity to work, as well as the total amount of the annuities allowed to the family, shall not exceed the sum of 2 francs a day. 103. Medical and funeral expenses shall be defrayed by the head of the household, in accordance with article 43. 104. Temporary compensation, and life annuities, paid in accordance with articles 100 and 101, are calculated upon the average daily wage, and the yearly earnings, of the injured person. By the average daily wage, is meant that which the injured person has earned, during the year preceding the accident, in the house or on the farm where such accident took place, The annual earnings correspond to three hundred and sixty-five times the average daily wage. 105. The domestic servant who has been in the service of his employer for less than one year, is reckoned to have gained during the whole year the average of the daily wages obtained during the time of the duration of the engagement. 106. The average daily wage includes the allowances mentioned in article 45. Should the domestic servant be lodged and boarded in the house or farm, these advantages must be valued by the judge, in the manner defined by the article cited above. Such allowances shall only be taken into considera- tion, in order to determine the amount of compensation or life annuities due to the injured person himself. 107. Articles 48, 49, and 50 are applicable to the compensation and life annuities claimed by domestic servants and their families. 108. The head of the household is freed from all obligation to pay compensation on account of temporary incapacity to work, which also would include medical expenses, should he undertake at his own cost the care and support of the servant until his recovery. The head of a household may be exempted by the magistrate from the payment of life annuities due in case of permanent incapacity to work, should he offer to undertake, under the same conditions, the care and support of a servant permanently disabled, or to retain in his employment a servant suffering from partial incapacity, at the wages stipulated at the time of the last engagement. The head of a household may at any time withdraw his offer, on the request of the servant. The magis- trate is equally empowered at any time to withdraw the exemption which he has granted to the head of the household. Jurisdiction, Procedure, Preventive Measures, S( Penalties ( sanctions joereedes). 109. Articles 70, and 71 to 88, are applicable to claims for damages or compensation made by domestic servants, on account of bodily injuries sustained during the fulfilment of their service. 110. Articles 93, 96, sections 2 and 3, .97, and 99, are also applicable. For the Commission — A. Van Berchem, President. Ad. Prins, Secretary. APPENDIX C. Books and Pamphlets bearing on Labour Questions in Belgium. a. Publications issued by the Labour Commission. Commission du Travail (Labour Commission), 1886- 1887. I. Reponses. (Answers to Questions.! II. Proces-verbeaux. (Digest of Evidence.) III. Rapports. (Reports.) IV. Comptes rendus des seances plenieres. (Re- ports of the Commission sitting as a whole). V. Enquete agricole. (Enquiry into conditions of agricultural labour.) [Digest of Evidence.] b. Recent Laws, Bills and Decrees. Loi portant repression den atteintes a la liberte du travail. 30 Mai 1892. (Law restricting Attacks on the Freedom of Labour. May 30th, 1892.) Loi organique des conscils de prud’hommes. 31 Juillet 1889. (Law instituting the Councils of Prud’hommes. July 31st, 1889.) Execution de la loi du 31 Juillet 1889 organique des conseils do prud’hemmes. Circulaire aux gonver- neurs. 7 Oct. 1889. (Circular to the Provincial Governors respecting the Execution of the above Law. Oct. 7th, 1889.) Regie mentation du payement des salaries aux ouv- riers. Loi du 16 Auut 1887. (Law regulating the Payment of Workmen’s Wages. August 16th, 1887.) Do. Arrete du 5 Dec. 1887- (Do. Decree of Decem- ber 5th, 1887.) Le travail des femmes, des adolescents, etdes enfants dans les etablissements industriels. Loidu 13 Dec. 1889. (Law regulating the Labour of Women, Young Persons, and Children in Industrial Esta- blishments. Dec. 13th, 1889.) Do. Arrete du 24 Dec. 1890. i Do. Decree of Dec. 24th, 1890.) Do. Arretes du 26 Dec. 1892. (Do. Decrees of Dec. 26th, 1892.) Do. Arrete du 31 Dec. 1892. (Do. Decree of Dec. 31st, 1892.) Do. Arretes du 15 Mars, 1893. (Do. Decrees of March 15th, 1893.) Louage de services des ouvriers et des domestiques. Expose. Projet de loi. 13 Aofit, 1891. (Rill on the Engagement of Workpeople and Domestic Servants. Aug. 13th, 1891.) Assurances contre les accidents du travail. Deve- loppements. Proposition de loi. 15 Juillet 1890. (Bill on Insurance against Accidents incurred during the Performance of Work. July 15th, 1890.) Revision de la loi du 3 Avril 1851 sur les societes de secours mutuels. Expose. Projet de loi. 16 Mai 1890. (Bill on Revision of the Law of April 3rd, 1891. respecting Mutual Aid Societies. May 16th, 1890.) Conseils de l’industrie et du travail. Arrete du 15 Aout, 1889. (Councils of Industry and Labour. Decree of Aug. 15th, 1889.) Conseil superieur du travail. Arretes du 7 Avril, 1892. (Higher Council of Labour. Decrees of April 7th, 1892.) Loi du 5 Mai 1888 relative a l’inspection des 5tablis- sements dangereux, insalubres et incommodes, et a la surveillance des machines et chaudieres a vapeur. (Law of May 5th. 1888, regulating the G8 Inspection of Dangerous, Unhealthy, and Incon- venient Establishments, and the Supervision of Machinery and Steam Boilers.) Loi relative aux habitations ouvri feres, et a l’institution de comites do patronage. 9 Aoftt 1889. (Law re- specting Workmen’s Dwellings, and the Establish- ment of Committees of Inspection. Aug. 9th, 1889.) Personnification civile accordee aux unions profes- sionuelles. Projet de loi. 28 Jan. 1893. (Bill on the State Recognition of Trade Associations. Jan. . 28th, 1893.) Ecoles menagferes. Circulaire. Rapport. Arrfetes, 26 Juin 1889, 6 Juillet 1890. (Housekeeping Schools. Circular. Report. Decrees. June 26th, 1889, July 6th, 1890.1 . Official publications. 1. Publications of the Belgian Government. Annuaire statistique dela Belgique, 1892. (Belgian Statistical Year Book, 1892.) Machines a vapeur. Reglement de police et instruc- tions. 1884. (Regulations and Instructions respecting Steam-engines. 1884.) Mines. Reglement general de police. 1884. (General Regulations respecting Mines. 1884.) Statistique des mines, miniferes, carrieres, usiues metallnrgiques et appareils a vapeur pour l’annee 1889. (Statistics of Mines, Quarries, Metal Works, and Steam-engines for the year 1889.) E. Harze. 1890. Do. 1890. E. Harze. 1891. Do. 1891. E. Harze. 1892. Annales des travaux publics de Belgique. (Annual Returns of the Public Works in Belgium.) I., Part II., 1892. Salaires et budgets ouvriers au mois d’avril 1891. (Workmen’s Wages and Budgets in the Month of April, 1891. 1892.) Chambre des Representants. Avant-projet d’une loi da contrat de louage des ouvriers et des do- mestiques. Proces-verbeaux. Projet. Rapport. 17 Nov. 1891. (Chamber of Representatives. Bill on the Engagement of Workpeople and Domestic Servants. Report of Debate. Nov. 17th, 1891.) Chambre des Representants. Travail dans les mines et creation d’une direction generale du travail. Rapport. 30 Juillet 1891. (Do. Report on the Debate concerning Labour in Mines and the Institution of a Labour Department. July 30th, 1891.) G. Sabatier. Conseil superieur du travail. Premifere session. (Report of the First Session of the Higher Council of Labour.) 1892. Caisses de prevoyance en faveur des ouvriers minenrs. Examen des comptes de l’annee 1890. (Miners’ Provident Societies. Accounts for the year 1890.) 1892. 2. Publications of the provincial authorities. Province of Hainaul.t. Rapport du directeur de la l rc division des mines. Annee 1890. (Report of the Director of the First Mining District for the year 1890.) 1891. Do. Annee 1891. (Do. for the year 1891.) 1892. Caisse de prevoyance a Mons en faveur des ouvriers mineurs. Rapport annuel de 1890. . (Annual Report for 1890 of the Miners’ Provi- dent Society at Mons.) 1891. Do. Rapport de 1891. (Do. Report for 1891.) 1892. Province of Namur. Situation de l’industrie mincrale de Namur. Annee 1890. (Condition of the Mineral In- dustry of Namur in the year 1890). Do. 1891. Province of Liege. Situation de l’industrie minerale et me'tallurgique de Liege. Annee 1890. (Condition of the Mineral and Metal Industry of Liege in the year 1890). Do. 1891. 3. Publications of the municipal authorities. Brussels. Bourse du travail. Rapport 1890-91. (Report on the Labour Exchange, 1890-91.) Do. 189 L— 92. Les ouvriers sans travail. (The Unemployed.) M. Buis. 1893. • Enquete sur les habitations ouvriferes en 1890. (Enquiry into the Condition of Workmen’s Dwellings in 1890.) Ch. Lagasse and Cb. de Queker. Antwerp. donate de patronage des habitations ouvriferes. Rapport 1891. (Report for 1891 of the Com- mittee for the Inspection of Workmen’s Dwellings). Colonel van den Boyaut. (Extract referring to the “Nations.”) Liege. Bourse du travail. Expose. (Account of the Labour Exchange.) 1892. 4. Publications of the Frerich Government. De la conciliation et de l’arbifrage en France et a l’Etranger. (Conciliation and Arbitration in France and Other Countries). 1893. Exposition universelle internaliouale de 1889 a Paris. Rapports. Groupe de l’economie sociale. l le partie. (Report on the Universal International Exhibition of Paris in 1889. Section of Social Economy. Part I.) 1891. Do. 2 me partie. (Do. Part II.) 1892. 5. Foreign Office Miscellaneous Series. No. 214. Report on the Present State of the Labour Question in Belgium. M. Gosselin. 1891. No. 198. Report on the Belgian Councils of Prud’- hommes and Councils of Industry and Labour. M. Gosselin. 1891. No. 233. Report on the Creation and Constitution of a Higher Council of Labour. M. Gosselin. 1892. No. 144. Report on Belgian Mining Industry during the year 1887. M. Gosselin. 1889. No. 188. Report on the Coal Industry of Liege in 1889. "Vice-Consul Menzies. 1890. No. 259. Report on the forthcoming Ghent Agri- cultural Exhibition. Vice-Consul Hallett. 1892. No. 249. Report on the Brussels Labour Exchange. C. Greene. 1892. No. 110. Report on recent Belgian Legislation affecting Economic and Labour Questions. M. Gosselin. 1888. d. Private Publications and Reports. 1. Boohs and Pamphlets. Les conditions du travail en Belgique. (The Conditions of Labour in Belgium.) M. A. Bouree 1890. Les socialisme contemporain. (Contemporary Socialism.) E. do Laveleye. 1891. Les services publics. (The Public Service.) C. do Paepe. Le rachat des charbonnages. (The Redemption of Coal Mines.) G. Degreef. 1886. Der Emancipationskamp des vierten Standes. (The Struggle of the Working Classes for Inde- pendence.) R. Meyer, 1882. 2 vols. Enquete sur les associations professionnellcs d’artisans et ouvriers en Belgique. (Enquiry into the Trade Associations of Artisans and Workmen in Belgium.) E. Vandervelde. 1891 2 vols. Historique de l’association libre des compositeurs et imprimeurs typographies de Bruxelles. (Historical Account of the Free Association of Typographic Compositors and Printers in Brussels.) E. Hubert. 1892. Parti ouvrier beige. Compte rendu du 5™ e congrfes annuel. (Report of the Fifth Annual Congress of the Belgian Labour Party.) 1889. Do. 6 rae congrfes annuel. (Do. Sixth Annual Congress.) 1890. Les institutions ouvriferes de Mariemont et de Bascoup. (The Workmen’s Institutions at Mariemont and Bascoup.) F. Bollaert. 1884. L’esprit des institutions ouvriferes de Mariemont. (The Spirit of the Workmen’s Institutions at Mariemont.) J. Weiler. 1888. Note sur les chambres d’explications de Marie- mont et de Bascoup. (Notes on the Chambers of Explanations at Mariemont and Bascoup.) A. Demeure. 1887. Conseil de conciliation et d’ arbitrage des char- bonnages de Mariemont. Reglement. (Rules of the Council of Conciliation and Arbitration at the Mariemont Colliery.) 1888. Do. Rapports sur les travaux des exercices 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891. (Do. Reports for the years 1888-91.) 1892. H 4 64 Oonseil de conciliation et d’arbitrage des eharbon- nages dc Bascoup. Rapport sur les travaux de Fannie 1888. La grove dc Mariemont et les conseils de conciliation et d’arbitrage. (Repor t of the Council at Bascoup for the year 1888. “ The Mariemont Strike and the Councils of Conciliation and Arbitration.”) J. Weiler. 1889. Do. 1889. Necessity de la conciliation indus- trielle. (Do. 1889. “ The Necessity for Indus- trial Conciliation.”) J. Weiler. 1890. Do. 1890. L’arbitrage industriel devant la science economique.) Do. 1890. “ Industrial Arbitration in its Relations with Economic Science.”) J. Weiler. 1891. Do. 1891. La conciliation industrielle et le role desmeneurs. (Do. 1891. Industrial Concilia- tion and its Promoters.”) J. Weiler. 1892. Arbitrage et conciliation entre patrons et onvriers. (Arbitration and Conciliation between Employers and Employed.) J. Weiler. 1886. L’Arbitrage entre patrons et ouvriers. Lettrc a M. Passy. (Arbitration between Employers and Employed. Letter to M. Passy. 1880. Conseils de l’industrie et du travail. (Councils of Industry and Labour.) Ch. Morisseaux. 1890. Tourneur-mecaniciep de Seraing. (Turners at Seraing.) U. Guerin. 1887. Coutelier de Namur. (Cutlers at Namur.) Ch. Genart. 1892. Peeli cur- cotter d'Heyst. (Coast-fisheimen at Heyst.) Ch. Tallin. 1888. Tisserand de Gaud. (Weavers at Ghent.) Count F. Van den Steen de Jehay. 1891. Report of the First International Mineis’ Congress. 1890. Do. Third International Mineis' Congress. 1892. Report on the Docks and Quays at Antwerp. Con- sul General De Courcy-Pei ry. 1892. La Co-oper alien. (Co-operation.) L. Bcitrand. La Co-operation ouvriere en Belgique. (Co-opera- tion among the Working Classes in Belgium.) L. D’Andrimont. 1876. La Maison du Peuple. Statuts. (Rules of the “ Maison du Peuple.”) 1893. Boularigerie co-operative ouvriere de Bruxelles. Service medico-pharmaceutique. Eeglement, (Rules of the Medical Aid Fund established in connection with the Co-operative Bakery for Working Men at Brussels.) 1891. Le credit agricole. (Agricultural Loans.) L. D’Andrimont. Les pensions de retraite en 1892. (Superannuation Funds in 1892.) L. Varlcz. 1892. Les accidents du travail. (Accidents in connection with Labour.) Ch. Sainctelette. 1890. De la responsabilite et de la garantie. (Employers’ Liability.) Ch. Sainctelette. i884. Le logement de Founder et du pauvre en Belgique. (Workmen’s Dwellings in Belgium). L. Bertrand. 1888. Etudes sur les questions ouvrieres. (Studies on Labour Questions.) Ch. dc Queker. 1892. Das Staatsrecht des Konigreichs Belgien. (The Legislation of the Kingdom of Belgium.) M. Vauthier. 1892. Louagc de Services. Projet du Gouvernement. (Analysis of the Government Bill on the Engage- ment of Workpeople.) Ch. Sainctelette. 1893. 2. Payers and Periodicals. Lcs Chevaliers du travail beiges. (The Belgian Knights of Labour.) Vol. I., Nos. 1-21 : Vol. II., Nos. 1-19. 1892-3. La Federation typographique beige. (The Belgian Typographic Federation.) Feb. and March 1893. La Rlforme. (The Reformer.) Nos. 91-115. April 1 893. L’Independance beige. (The Belgian Independent.) Nos. 105 110. April 1893. La Societe liberale. Bulletins. (1 he Liberal Society. Reports.) 1st series, Nos. 1-20 ; 2nd series, Nos. 1-15. Bulletin du travail. (The Labour Review.) Nos. 3-7, Aug. 1890-Jan. 1892. La Reforme sociale. (The Social Reformer). 1892, Jan. to June, Oct., Nov. 1st; 1893, May 16. La Revue socialiste. (The Socialist Review.) 1892. Nos. 87, 92, 94, 95, 96. The Labour Gazette. 1., Nos. 1-5. Die Neue Zeit. ix. Jahrgang. No. 24. (IbeNcw Times, Vol. IX., No. 24. / Revue sociale et politique. (The Social and Political Review.) 1893, No. 1. L’Association catholiquc. ('The Catholic Associa- tion.) 15 Feb. 1893.; ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. FOREIGN REPOETS. Volume V. a e it ii \ \ v. UmnttrU to fiotf) potters of lUarliamrnt CTommanH of 3£er majostp. June 1893. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.O., and 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W.; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. [C. — 7063-vn.] Price 1a. Id. 1893. , N O T E. Ihe Commission has received a large number of documents from the Foreign Office. These have proved in some cases insufficient for the purposes of the Commission, and in other cases too voluminous to make it possible to publish them in the form received. The Secretary has therefore been directed to prepare Reports from these and from other sources for the use of the Commission. These Reports are to be published in connection with the proceedings of the Commission, but the Commission is in no way responsible for the statements of fact or of opinion which they contain. i 78420. 3 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. 44, Parliament Street, London, S.W., My Lord Duke, • September 21st, 1893. I have the honour to submit to you the report which I have been directed to draw up on the Labour Question in Germany, in which I have incorporated much of the information I have collected with regard to the International Labour Movement. In January 1892 I was directed to proceed to Germany to obtain certain information in connection with the report, but it will be obvious that, as in the case of the previous reports of this series, years of previous travel and study have been necessary for its preparation. For much kindness and courtesy shown to me as Secretary of this Commission I am deeply indebted, not for the first time, to Sir Edward Malet. Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Berlin, to Mr. Whitehead, Secretary of the Embassy, and to Mr. Dundas, H.M. Consul General at Hamburg. But I may also be permitted here to express my thanks to Count Metternich, Prince Schonberg, and Baron Heintze of the German Embassy in London as well as to Privy Councillor von Gneist, Dr. Lohmann Under Secretary of State, Dr. Koenigs of the Imperial Ministry of Commerce, Professor von Marquardsen Member of the Imperial Parliament, Professor Brentano, Professor Schmoller, Professor von Miaskowski, Herr Gerhardt von Schulze Gaevernitz, and to the many other German diplomatists, officials, statesmen, and learned men who have furnished me with valuable information for different sections of the Report. To Dr. Adler I am indebted for the proof sheets of his articles in Lexis’ Dictionary of Political Science. I may perhaps call attention to the immense mass of material that has been treated in the present report and the great difficulty that has been experienced in dealing with the necessarily complicated statistical information, a difficulty which is enhanced by the frequent absence of summarised tables. With regard to the International Labour Question, I should add that I was directed to attend the Socialist Congress at Zurich in August 1893, and that I have to express my thanks to Mr. H. Angst, H.M. Consul at Zurich for his attentions on that occasion and for his courtesy in subsequently procuring and forwarding to me many valuable books and pamphlets not then published. I am, Your Grace’s obedient servant, GEOFFREY DRAGE, Secretary. To His Grace The Duke of Devonshire, K.G., Chairman of the Royal Commission on Labour. A 2 i 78420. Wt. 994. REPORT ON TilE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. f) REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. TABLE OF CONTENTS. DIVISION I.— TRADE DISPUTES. A. — General Relations retween Employers and Employed. 1. General introduction ------ (a.) Preliminary considerations ------ (b.) Distinction between east and west - - - - < c .) Complicated political history - ... ( d .) Religious differences - (e.) Feeling between the two industrial parties - 2. Influence of the Socialist party upon the labour movement (a.) Origin and history of German Socialism in three periods (i.) 1840-1852 ... - (ii.) 1862-1878 (iii.) 1878-1893 - ( b .) Development of the Socialist programme - (c.) International and Anarchist tendencies - ' - (i.) History of the “ International ” - (ii.) Influence of the “ International ” upon German Socialism (iii.) The Anarchist “ International ” - (iv.) Later German Anarchists - (v.) Intei’national Congresses ------ (cl.) Attitude of the educated classes towards Socialism (i.) Older Academic Socialists - (ii.) Newer Academic Socialists - - - - (iii.) Intellectual proletariate - - - (e.) Attitude of the Church towards Socialism - - - (i.) Catholic Socialists ------ (ii.) Protestant Socialists - ( /.) Attitude of the State towards Socialism .... (i.) Conservative Socialists - (ii.) State Socialists ------- (y.) Present position and influence of Socialist parties 3. Trade Associations -------- (a.) Of employers - (i.) Guilds ( Innungen ) ...... (ii.) Trade associations ( B c rufseje no'ssenschaften) (iii.) Other associations - - (b.) Of employed - - - - - (i.) Trade unions ( Gcwerkvereine ) ----- (ii.) Workmen’s associations ( Gcwerlcsclwften ) (iii.) Catholic and Protestant workmen’s associations (iv.) Co-operative and mutual aid societies, loan and credit associations (v.) Workmen’s committees ...... B. — Causes of Trade Disputes. 1. Periods in the strike movement - 2. Wages - - ------- 3. Hours ------- 4. Influence of labour organisations ------ 5. Other Causes ...... C. — Development, Organisation, and Conduct of Trade Disputes 1. In general - - - 2. Important individual strikes or lock-outs (a.) Miners - (b.) Metal workers - (c.) Printers - - - - ( d .) Textile workers - (e.) Building trades - ... D. — Prevention and Settlement of Trade Disputes. 1. Industrial courts - 2. Voluntary boards of arbitration and conciliation 3. Mediation ----- Pago - 9 - 9 - 9 - 9 9 - 9 - 10 - 10 - 10 - 10 - 11 - 11 - 13 13 - 14 ‘ - 14 - 15 - 15 - 17 - 17 - 17 - 18 - 18 - 18 - 18 - 19 - 19 - 19 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 23 - 23 - 26 - 28 - 28 - 28 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 30 - 31 - 31 - 32 - 32 - 33 ■ 34 - 35 - 35 - 35 - 38 - 38 DIVISION II. — CONDITIONS OF LABOUR IN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. Introduction. (a.) Industrial protective legislation - - - - - - - - 38 (i.) Historical development ...... . - - 38 (ii.) Present state of the law ---------- 39 (b.) Women’s labour - - - - - - - - -40 (i.) Number of women employed - - - - - -- -40 (ii.) Wages - - -------- -41 (iii.) General condition - - - , - - - - 42 (c.) Child labour - - r - - - - - - 43 A 3 Page A. — Mining, Ikon, Engineering, Shipbuilding, and Cognate Trades. 1. Mining - - - . - - . . . -44 (a.) Mining laws 44 (i.) The law previous to the Mining Code of 1865 - - - - - 44 (ii.) The Prussian Mining Code of 1865 - ...... 45 (iii.) The Saxon Mining Law of 1868 - - • - - - 45 ( b .) Statistics of Production .......... 45 (i.) Coal - . - . . . - . -45 (ii.) Metals ........... 46 (iii.) Other minerals - - • - - - .. - 46 (c.) Conditions of labour .......... 47 (i.) Wages - - - - - - - - -47 (ii.) Hours ...........48 (iii.) Other conditions - .... - . - 49 2. Iron, Engineering, Shipbuilding, and Cognate Trades - - - - - -49 (i.) Wages in 1890, 1891, and 1892 - - - . - - 49 (ii.) Hours - ..... ...... 50 (iii.) Other conditions - - - - - . - .50 B. — Transport, Agriculture, and Forestry. 1. Transport - - - - - - . - . - 50 {a.) Railways - - - - - - - - - - - - 50 (i.) Attitude of the State ....... . - 50 (ii.) Railway staff - - - - - - - - - - 51 (iii.) Accidents - - - - - - - - 51 ( 6 .) Docks (Hamburg) ....... - --52 (i.) Extent ...... . . . -52 (ii.) Conditions of employment - - - - - - - - 52 (c.) Tramway and omnibus employes (Berlin) - - - - - - 52 2. Agriculture - -- ..-.-.--.52 (a.) The agrarian question - - - - - - - -53 (&.) Status of the agricultural labourer - - - - - - - -53 (i.) In Western Germany - - - - - - - 53 (ii.) In Southern Germany - - - - - - - - -53 (iii.) In Mid-Germany - - - - - - - -53 (iv.) In Eastern Germany - - - - - - - - - 53 (c.) Wages of agricultural labour - - - - - - - 54 (d.) General condition of the labourer - - - - - - - -55 3. Forestry . - . . -55 (a.) Persons employed - -........55 (5.) Wages - - - - - - - - - 55 (c.) Other conditions - - - - - ..-.55 C. — Textile, Clothing, Printing, Building, Chemical, and Miscellaneous Trades. 1. Textile trades - - ... ...... 56 (a.) General character of the industry ... . . . - 56 ( 6 .) Persons employed - - - - - - - - -56 (c.) Wages and hours ........ - -57 2. Printing and bookbinding - - - - - -- --58 (a.) Wages and hours - - - - - - - -58 ( b .) Other conditions - - * - ....-58 3. Building industries - - - - - - - - - 59 (a.) Bricklayers and builders’ labourers - - - 59 ( b .) Brick ma kers - - - - - - - - -59 (c.) Carpenters and joiners - - - - - - - -59 ( d .) House painters ------- - - -61 4. Makers of mechanical instruments - - - - - - - 61 5. Chemical workers ........... 61 6 . Millers - - - - - - - - - - 62 7. Bakers and confectioners - -- -- -..--62 8 . Shop assistants - - - - - - - - - 63 DIVISION III.— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — Co-operation, Profit-Sharing, and Industrial Partnership. 1. Co-operation ------------ 66 (a.) Introductory sketch - - - - - - - - 66 ( b .) Legal position of co-operative societies - - - - - - - - 66 (c.) Distributive co-operation - - - - - - - - 67 ( d .) Productive co-operation ---------- 67 (e.) Credit and loan associations - - - - - - - 68 (i.) Objects and constitution - - - - - - - - - 68 (ii.) History and statistics - - - - - - - 68 (/.) Building societies -----------69 ( g .) Co-operation in agriculture - - - - - - - 70 2. Profit-sharing and industrial partnership - - - - - - - - 70 B. — Workmen’s Insurance. 1. Insurance funds prior to 1883 - - - - - - - - 71 (a.) Guild benefit funds ------- - - ■ 71 (l.) Early legislation for special industries - - - - - - 71 (c.) Other benefit funds ------- - - - 71 (i.j Factory and artisans’ funds in Prussia - - - - - 71 (ii.) Factory and artisans’ funds in other German States - - - - - 72 (iii.) Special funds for railway servants - - - - - 72 (iv.) Trade union funds 72 (■ d .) Causes immediately leading up to the compulsory insurance laws of 1883, 1884, and 1889 - 73 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 7 2. Compulsory insurance laws - (a.) Sick insurance ------- (i.) Persons subject to the law ------- (ii.) Organisation of funds ..... (iii.) Conditions of membership ------- (iv.) Benefits ------- (v.) Constitution of funds ------- (vi.) Statistics ------ (6.) Accident insurance -------- (i.) Development of the law - (ii.) Persons included -------- (iii.) Organisation and membership - (iv.) Benefits --------- (v.) Constitution and expenditure of funds (vi.) Cost of insurance and degree of risk in different industries (vii.) General statistics - - (c.) Invalidity and old age insurance ------- (i.) Development of the law - (ii.) Persons included -------- (iii.) Organisation - - - - - - (iv.) Benefits ... ------ (v.) Constitution of funds - (vi.) Administration - -- -- -- - (vii.) Transitory provisions - (viii.) Present working of the scheme - - - (ix.) Difficulties incidental to the scheme - - - - (x.) Views of employers and of employed - (xi.) Effect of the law upon wages and upon the cost of poor law administration 0. — Poor Law Administration. (a.) Connexion with insurance laws - - - - - (b.) Historical development of the German poor law system (c.) Account of the Elberfeld system - (d.) Statistical results of the Elberfeld system - (e.) Application of the system to other towns - - - (/.) Connexion of poor law administration with charitable societies ( g .) General criticism of the poor law system D. — Provision for the Unemployed. (a.) Workmen’s shelters - ( b .) Labour registries ------- (c.) Workmen’s colonies - E. — Municipal Employment of Laeour - F. — Migration of Population. 1. Extent of migration -------- (a.) Emigration statistics - - (i.) Total emigration ------- (ii.) Proportion from different States and provinces - (iii.) Age and sex of emigrants ------ (iv.) Emigration by families or otherwise - - - (v.) Ports through which emigrants pass - (b.) Inter-migration statistics - (i.) Loss and gain of various States and provinces through migration (ii.) Counter immigration movement 2. Causes of migration -------- 3. Effect of migration ------ 4. Attitude of the State towards migration - (a.) Protection of emigration - - - - - (b.) Colonial policy -------- (c.) Inland colonisation ----- 5. Polish colonies - G. — Cost and General Conditions of Living. (a.) Workmen’s budgets (6.) Housing of the working classes Page - - 73 . - 73 - - 73 - - 74 - - 74 _ - 74 _ - 75 - - 75 - - 75 _ 75 _ - 76 - . 76 - - 76 - - 76 - . 77 - - 78 - - 79 _ _ 79 _ - 79 - . 79 - - 80 - - 81 - - 81 - - 82 - - 82 - - 83 - - 84 - - 84 - - 85 - - 85 - - 85 - - 86 - - 87 - - 87 - - 88 - - 88 - - 90 - - 90 - - 91 - - 92 - - 92 - - 92 - - 93 - - 94 CM . - yu* - 94 . - 95 - - 95 - - 97 - - 98 - - 98 - - 99 - - 99 - - 100 - - 100 - - 101 - - 101 - 104 APPENDICES. A. — List of books and pamphlets consulted in the preparation of the Report on the Labour Question in Germany ------------- 106 B. — Statement of the Regular Salaries and Extraordinary Allowances, together with their increase according to Length of Service, for Officials of the Prussian State Railways for 1893-94 - - 110 C. — Map illustrating Gain or Loss by Migration during the Census period, 1885-1890 - 111 * REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY", !J REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. (a.) Pre- liminary considera- tions. (h.) Dis- linction between east and west. (c.) Com- plicated political history. DIVISION I.— TRADE DISPUTES. A. — General Relations between Employees and Employed. 1. General Introduction. Throughout the following report a general knowledge of the formation of the present German Empire has been assumed. It is necessary, therefore, to keep in mind the steps, which it has been thought unnecessary to enumerate, by which a country consisting of 26 principalities, together with one first-rate power, the Kingdom of Prussia , became in 1869 the North German Confederation and, in 1870, the German Em] lire. In addition to the geographical and political difficulties which were involved in this process of unification, it must also be remembered that in the north there is a strong Danish and a Swedish element, in the east a large Polish or Slav population, and in Alsace-Lorraine a strong intermixture of the French ; nor is it to be forgotten that beyond the boundaries of the Empire there exists in Austria proper a population which in race, language, and political history has long been bound by ties of sympathy to Southern Germany, whatever may have been its varying relation to the Prussian centre. It has also been thought unnecessary to do more than allude in passing to the religious differences inseparable from the existence of a Protes- tant royal house in Prussia, and a royal house formerly Protestant, but now Catholic, in Saxony, whilst a Catholic line rules over Bavaria, the largest State of Southern Germany. The variety of creeds existing, throughout the population of the Empire, as well as amongst the rulers, is an important factor in German life, and these difficulties of race, of politics, and of religion must not be for a moment overlooked, since in connexion with a report on the labour question in a country so lately consolidated, they assume an aspect almost of imperial importance as compared with the comparatively insignificant part which they play in the countries referred to in previous reports. Any general considerations with regard to the labour question in Germany must in the first place be largely modified by the very great difference which exists between the eastern and the western provinces. Whilst the east is primarily agricultural, and 011 I 3 ' industrial in so far as a few large towns are concerned, the west is the seat of the mining and manufacturing industries, and as a rule combines agriculture with home industries. The labour question, therefore, as ordinarily under- stood, might almost be said to be confined to the western, central, and southern districts; the east is occupied with the solution of agrarian difficulties, and the political and racial complications to which those difficulties give rise It follows that until very recently the organisation of labour and the spread of social democratic principles have produced so little effect in the east as to be barely perceptible, though the elec- tions of 1893 give some reason for supposing that this condition of things is drawing to a close. (') In the second place the complicated political history of Germany and the consequent intricacy of its laws render the task of reviewing its industrial development one of extraordinary difficulty. It is necessary to keep in mind that, as Dr. Loening has expressed it, the present German Empire “ has not been evolved out of “ the older German Empire, but out of the territorial “ States, and therefore its present administration is “ not linked to the old Imperial institutions, but to “ those of the territorial electorates.” These institu- tions were remarkably simple, since the electors confined themselves for the most part to the military and judicial functions of sovereignty. Their immediate court constituted both their judiciary and their legisla- tive council, and these court officials ( Hnfbeamten ) were at the same time landholders bound by ties of persona] service to the territorial sovereign (Landes- herr). Gradually the old Crown rights attaching to the Archduke of Austria, as head of the Holy Roman (') See the treatment of this subject in the 53-55, 92-101, and authorities there cited, body of the Report, pp. 20, i 78420. Empire, were ceded to the electors, and after 1806 his nominal supremacy ceased altogether, and he took the title of Emperor of Austria. The history of Germany in the 19tli century, therefore, has been a history of individual and independent principalities, gradually becoming conscious of the necessity of uniting to defend their common interests, influ- enced by the growing power of Prussia, and of the men who, in 1870, brought about the unity of the present German Empire. Recent Imperial legislation, whilst incorporating the great mass of the earlier legislation of the federated States, has yet left much uncodified and, though fallen into disuse, unrepealed. Hence the variety, for instance, between the mining laws of different States, and, again, the numerous provi- sions for the protection of female and child labour, which existed prior to their inclusion and codification in the industrial code. A general similarity between the laws of the various States was as a rule recognisable ; where one State took the lead another frequently followed, as in the factory legislation just cited. Conse- quently under the Empire, when the organisation of such a matter of common interest as railway com- munication is left to the different States, there appears to be no difficulty in securing uniformity. A good instance of this process of imitation is to be found in the development of the criminal laws, which, as well as the commercial and the industrial laws, have been codified for the Empire. The civil law, on the other hand, as it has been handed down by the territorial governments, still remains side by side with the imperial constitution, and constitutes a fruitful source of confu- sion to the uninitiated. Throughout this report, where it is not otherwise stated, the Empire must be taken to mean the present federated German Empire, and the States the territorial sovereignties now forming the German Federation. ( 2 ) But besides the economic, historical, and legislative () Schulze-Gaevernitz, "Her Grossbetrieb, eine Studie nuf dem Gebiete dor Baumwollindustrie,” 1892, pp. 204-207. Gohre, “Ilrei [donate Fabrikarbeiter,” 1891. 10 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : 2. Influence of the Socialist, ‘party upon the labour movement „ (a.) Origin amt history of German Socialism, (i.) First period, 1840-1852. Three periods can lie clenrty traced in the history of German Socialism, the first from 1840 to 1852, the second from 1862 to the passing of the law against the Socialists in 1878, and the third from 1878 down to the present time. During the first period the Socialist movement, though owing much to the inspiration of German leaders, such as Weitling, Friedrich Engels, and Karl Marx, was of an international and communist character. Its sphere of action was rather England, France, and Switzerland than Germany, and it owed not a little to the influence of Louis Blanc. Inasmuch, however, as Karl Marx was the leading spirit of the movement, the Socialism of 1840 to 1852 may be rightly described as German in origin, though its further development belongs more strictly to the history of internationalism (see p. 13). The failure of the hopes which had been based by Karl Marx and his friends on the French Revolution of 1848 forced them to retire for a time into obscurity, and in 1852 Socialism was generally regarded as dead. Still its re-appearance was only a question of time, and when it did re-appear, it was as a German movement on German soil under the leadership of Ferdinand Lassalle. The appearance of Lassalle as a Socialist leader bad been preceded in Germany by a period of philanthropic activity, which showed itself in the formation of a central union for promoting the welfare of the working- classes and in the establishment of numerous benefit funds and co-operative undertakings. In the last, Herr Sc-hulze-Delitzsch took the lead, with the support of those German economists who adopted the principles of the Manchester school. The connexion of these economists with the Liberal or Progressist party in politics drew upon Herr Schulze the enmity of several German Governments, and especially of that of Prussia, then engaged in a struggle with the Liberals on the question of increasing the army. The Catholic Church also regarded the independent and materialist teaching of the Manchester school with marked disfavour, and thus it came to pass that when Lassalle appeared as the champion of the working classes against Schulze- Delitzsch and the bourgeoisie, and as the advocate of national unity and of a Socialist monarchy, he was looked upon with favour by Prince Bismarck on the one hand, and by Monsignor de Ketteler, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Mayence on the other. (') (ii ) Second ^’his fortunate conjunction of circumstances, period, combined with his own fire and eloquence, brought 1862-1878. Lassalle Lis rapid success. The indecision of the Progressists on such questions as universal suffrage had aroused discontent amongst the working classes, who looked to them for a definite policy. When Lassalle appeared with his economic refutation of the adequacy of Schulze-Delitzsch’s principle of self-help, and his advocacy of universal suffrage, the substitution of direct for indirect taxation, the extension of educational facilities and the establishment of productive co- operation at the State charge, his success was immediate and overwhelming. In 1861 he had embodied these principles, together with a declaration of the inherent right of the working classes to sovereign power, in a workmen’s programme. This he followed up in 1862 by the formation of a General Association of German Working Men, which in 1863 had gained more than 10.000 members. His early death in a duel in 1864 was followed by a split in his party. He had nominated Herr Becker as his successor, but the association, regarding the choice as ill-advised, elected Herr von Schweitzer, the future organiser of the German Gewerkschaften or workmen’s associations ( see p. 26), This election was not accepted by the Countess Hatz- feldt, an ardent supporter of Lassalle, and she succeeded in gathering a small party round herself, though the majority remained faithful to Herr von Schweitzer. Difficulties continued to arise within the party, especially after the formation in London in 1864 of the International Association of Working Men under the leadership of Karl Marx, and the subsequent or- ganization in 1865 of the Social Democratic Workmen’s ( 1 ) Lavollee, " Les Classes Ouvriertes en Europe,” 1884, Vol. I, np. 230-281. Lexis, " Handworterbuch der Staatswissensehaften,” Vol. IV., p. 965. Art. “ Lassalle,” Diehl. Engels, “ Der Sozialismus in Deutschland,’ Neue Zeit, 1891-2, No. 19. Kautsky, “Das Erfurter Programm,” 1892, p. 243. Wolf. “ Sozialismus und Kapitalistische Gesellschaftsordnung,” 1892, pp. 43-50. Laveleye, “ Le Socialisme Con- temporain,” 1891, pp. 22-25. Kirkup, “History of Socialism,” 1892, pp. 69, 7o. Graham. “Socialism. New and Old,” 1891. pp. 125-127. Meyer. ‘ Der Emancipations kampl des vierten Sjtandcs," 1882, Vol. 1., pp. 194-229. party in Germany under Herr Liebknecht and Herr Bebel, disciples of Karl Marx.f) From 1865, therefore, until 1875 there were two pai ties ot Socialists or Social Democrats in Germany, the Lassallians under Herr von Schweitzer with their head-quarters at Berlin, and the Marxists, under Herr Liebknecht and Herr Bebel, with their head-quarters in Saxony, and their strongest following in South Germany generally. The first party was purely national, the second, at any rate at first, directly connected with the International under Marx. The economic difference between the two is more difficult to define, and seems to have been one ot method of treatment rather than ol principle ; for though the form which Lassalle gives to his theory of wages differs somewhat from that of Marx, both agree in regarding labour as the sole source of wealth, and the labourer as entitled to the whole amount which be produces, not merely to that part of it represented by wages. Lassalle preferred to state what he regarded as the inevitable outcome of the existing social order, under the form of “ the iron law of wages,” whereas Marx considered that this form of statement did not go to the root of the matter, and himself laj-.s greater stress upon the doctrine of “ surplus value or the natural history of capital.” According to Lassalle, wages must inevilably tend to fall to a point at which the workman can barely obtain the means of subsistence. If they rise above this point, the consequent increase in population will inevitably drag them down to their former level ; if they fall below, the decrease in population due to starvation will raise them again. The only escape from the dominion of this law appeared to Lassalle to be the inauguration of a system of pro- ductive co-operation, the necessary funds for which should ho supplied by the State. If this system were combined with the widest diffusion of political power, the State, or rather its individual members, would become the owners of the means of production ; hut Lassalle s national and monarchical tendencies would, as Prince Bismarck said of him, have led him to regard a beneficent autocracy as equally consistent with his sj’s tern of co-operative production. It is on the question ot the remedy for existing economic evils that Karl Marx joins issue with Lassalle. With regard to the cause of these evils they are, as has been stated, to a certain extent at one, except that where “ Lassalle insists chiefly on the small share of the produce of “ labour which goes to the labourer, Marx traces the history of the share called surplus value, which goes “ to the capitalist.” AIL capital is derived, according to Marx, from the surplus value conferred by the la- bourers upon the raw mate-rial. All value other than that of raw material is the creation of labour ; con- sequently the share of value retained by the capitalist is wrongfully withheld from its creators. Further, the inevitable tendency of industrial development is to force small industries to give way more and more to large industries, where capital is increasingly needed, and where the workman is, therefore, more and more divorced from his rightful ownership of the means of production. Nothing short of collective ownership by the community as a whole can obviate the evils of a rapidly increasing proletariate and a constantly dimi- nishing number of persons possessed of complete power over the lives of their fellows. Productive co-operation in the Lassallian sense is regarded by Marx as entirely inadequate, and he is impatient both of all attempts to introduce reforms within the existing State and of such an imperfect representation of his doctrine as Lassalle’s “ Iron Law of Wages. ”( 3 ) It will he seen, therefore, that apart from the con- troversy which existed as to the mutual obligations of Marx and Lassalle, and as to the extent to which either had borrowed his economic doctrines from the other, Marx is essentially the deeper thinker, and that the prin- ciples of the party which recognised him as its founder were of a more far-reaching character than those of the followers of Lassalle. Herr Rudolf Meyer has, however, ( 2 ) Lavollee, “ Les Classes Ouvrferes en Europe.' 1884, Vol. I, pp. 230- 281. Wagner, “Das neue Sozialdemokratisehe Programm,” 1892, pp. 6-17. Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissensehaften,” Vol. IV., p. 965. Art. “ Lassalle,” Diehl. Engels, “ Der Sozialismus in Deut- schland,” Neue Zeit, 1891-2, No. 19. Kirkup, “History of Socialism,” 1892, pp. 75-85. Meyer, " Der Emanzipaticnskampf des vierten Standes,” 1882, Vol. I., pp. 220-249. v. Schonberg, “Handbuch der Politischen Oekonomie,” 1885, Vol. 1, pp. 118-121. ( 3 ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissensehaften, Vol. IV., p. 965, Art. “ Lassalle,” Diehl, p. 1130, Art. “ Marx,” Engels. Also Vol. V, pn.707, 769, A rts. “ Die Sozialdsmokratie,” and “ Sozialismus und Kommunisnnis,” Adler. Wagner, "Das neue Sozialdemokratisehe Programm,” 1892,, pp 6-17. Laveleye, “ Le Socialisme Contemporain,” 1891 , pp. 17-47, 67-92. Kirkup, “ History of Socialism,” 1892, pp. 90- 116, 128-154. v. Schonberg, "Handbuch dir Politischen Oekonomie,” 1885, Vol. 1., pp. llo 118 . Graham, "Socialism. New and Old,” 1891 lip. 138-151. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. (iii.) Third period, 1878-1893. pointed out that the leading doctrines both of Marx andLassalle are to be found in the works of Rodbertus- Jagetzow, Prussian Minister of Agriculture in 1848. Rodbortus took no active part in the formation of a Socialist party, nevertheless, he may be justly regarded as the economic founder of modern German socialism. Social Democracy, as advocated by Herr Bobel and Heir Liebknecht, and as embodied in the Eisenach pro- gramme of 1869, is especially remarkable for the claim which it makes to a strictly scientific foundation, for its repudiation of all ideal elements, and its rejection of State socialism of every kind, and of all proposals to introduce any reform within the existing economic order. The “ State ” to the Social Democrats represents always the “ State of the future”; for the State as it now exists they have nothing but contempt. The leaders of the party were, however, too wise to give open expression at first to their remoter aims, except in countries which they regarded as sufficiently advanced to be able to receive them. In Germany, at any rate, the Internationalists adopted a cautious policy ; they con- tented themselves with inciting the workmen to strike and inducing them to become members of organisations ( Internationale Gewerlcsgenossenschaften) , see p. 26), which could be employed as means of propagating social democratic principles. Up to 1871, the growth of either socialist body was slow, but the disorganisation of political parties, consequent upon the financial crises succeeding the Franco-German war. and the introduction by Prince Bismarck of the laws against Catholics, gave the Socialists their opportunity. After 1872 they ad- vanced with rapid strides. In 1871 they had scarcely been able to return two representatives to the Reichstag, in 1874 the Lassallians gained three seats and the Internationalists seven, whilst the combined Socialist vote amounted to 375,000. or five per cent, of the whole number of voters. In 1875 a reconciliation took place between the two Socialist bodies, and in 1877 they succeeded in returning 12 members to the Reichstag ; three to the Saxon Landtag, and many others to municipal bodies, whilst the Socialist vote amounted to 485,122. In 1878, in spite of the disadvantages under which they were placed by the attempts which had been made upon the life of the Emperor, they returned nine members and secured 600,000 votes. (') On October 21st, 1878, a law was passed by a majority of 72, “against the generally dangerous efforts of Social Democracy,” by which the magistrates were empowered to prohibit “societies which aim at the “ subversion of the existing political and social order by “ Social Democratic, Socialist or Communist efforts.” The magistrates were also empowered to take the control of suspected societies and to issue a prohibition at any subsequent time when it should appear to be necessary. They might also order the dissolution of Socialist meet- ings, and prohibit the publication of Socialist prints. Membership in a prohibited society, attendance at a prohibited meeting, and the further publication of a prohibited print were made punishable by fine or imprisonment ; persons presiding at such a meeting or placing rooms at the disposal of the organisers of such a meeting were liable to imprisonment without the option of a fine. Professional agitators were liable to have their place of residence circumscribed and to be punished by imprisonment; if of foreign birth, they were liable to banishment from the federal territory. There is awide divergence of opinion as to the influence exercised by this law upon the development of the Social Democratic Party. Its immediate effect upon the party organisation was disastrous ; but after the first shock had passed strenuous efforts were made to carry on the desired propaganda by means of a secret instead of an open organisation. A committee was formed by Herr Rebel at Leipzig, nominally for the purpose of assisting the families of exiled Socialists, but in reality with the object of maintaining the party organisation. Similar committees were formed in other large towns by means of which funds were collected and Socialist literature distributed. Clubs were also estab- lished under the management of a standing committee pledged to carry out their orders. These clubs met at private houses, but not more than about 10 members attended each meeting for fear of rousing the suspicions of the police. By these means and by the formation of local unions in separate trades (Fachvereirie), which took no open part in politics, the Social Democrats not (>) Wolf, “ Sozialismus and kapitulistisehe Gesellschiillsordnung ” 1892, pp. 45-50. Lavollde, “ I.es Classes Ouvrifcres eu Europe,” 1881, Vol. I., pp. 230-287. Engels, “ Der Sozialismus in Deutschland,” Neue Zeit, 1891-2, No. 19. Hausen, “ Der deutsehe Arbeiter und die Sozial- deniokratie,” 1891, pp. 47-52. Meyer, " Der Emanzipotionskampf des vierteu Standcs,” 1882, Vol. I„ pp. 57, 249-272, only maintained but increased their membership to such an extent that Dr. Schaffle feels himself compelled to state that the law against the Socialists rather increased than diminished the belief of a large section of the nation in the possibility of a reformation of society upon social democratic lines. Indeed, Dr. Schaffle is of opinion that though the law against the Socialists proved effective in putting an end to the violent expressions of opinion and the “terrorist” principles openly avowed by the party in 1878, it rather strengthened than weakened the disposition of the German working classes to believe in the desirability of replacing the existing order of things by the Socialist State. Further, the law did not prove successful in preventing the dissemination of Socialist principles, since, apart from the facilities for informal communi- cation afforded by the massing together of workmen under the factory system, the secret organisation of the party enabled the distribution of literature, printed abroad, to be continued. The necessity for caution also taught the agitators to adopt more practical and more effective methods of agitation. Nor does Dr. Schaffle consider that the banishment of the leaders was any check to the growth of the party, since it was impossible to prevent communications between the exiles and those remaining in Germany ; in his opinion “ the exiles were only made less responsible and there- fore less easy to control.” If the aim of the promoters of the law was to divert the popular mind from its almost superstitious faith in the all-saving power of Social Democracy, Dr. Schaffle argues that that aim was to a great extent defeated by the necessity of periodically extending the law. It was originally passed for a term of three years only, but in 1881 it was extended until 1884, in 1884 until 1887, and in 18S7 until 1890, when it was finally allowed to lapse. With the removal of the necessity for secrecy in their organi- sation and principles, the Socialist Party immediately began to take steps for the issue of a new official programme. A congress was held at Halle in October 1890, which was attended by 400 delegates. This congress decided that the leaders of the party should be empowered to draw up a programme to be submitted to the members arid finally adopted or rejected at a further congress to be held at Erfurt in October 1891. ( 2 ) The Erfurt programme is the third which has been officially issued by the party. That issued at Eisenach in 1869 still showed traces of the influence of Lassallc, but was in the main characteristic of the rising Marxist or International section, whilst the Gotha programme, issued in 1875, the year of the reconciliation between the followers of Lassalle and those of Marx, was to a great extent a compromise. As such it was fiercely denounced at the time by Karl Marx himself in a letter to the Socialist leaders, which, however, they thought it wise to suppress. Thus it was not until the Halle Congress of 1890 that the bulk of the party learned that the programme upon which they had based their faith for 15 years had been designated by their most revered leader as “ thoroughly reprehensible and demoralising.” A comparison between the Eisenach, Gotha, and Erfurt programmes brings out several important differences. The three programmes all agree in asserting the fundamental injustice and in- iquity of existing economic and social conditions, especially of private ownership of the means of pro- duction, the necessary connexion of economic with political freedom, and the consequent obligation resting upon all Social Democrats to strive with all their might to obtain equal rights for all, and the abolition of all class privileges and class government. The Gotha and Erfurt programmes, however, go far beyond that of Eisenach in the definiteness with which they state both the grounds upon which these propositions are based and the means of obtaining these ends, whilst there is again a wide difference between the two in tone and in the general handling of the question. The Gotha pro- gramme relies mainly upon a demonstration of the right of society to the products of labour and the necessity of social regulation of production with dis- tribution of products according to reasonable needs. It states that the working men of Germany should strive by all legal means to establish a free Socialist State and to frustrate the working of the iron law of ( 2 ) Lexis, “ Haiulworterbueh der Staatswissenschaften.” Vol. I., p.988. Art. “ Das Ausnahmegesetz,” Dusse. Krieter, " Die Geheime Organisation der Sozialdemokratischen Partei,” 1887. Schaflle. “ Die Eekampfung; der Sozialdemokratie olme Ausuahmegesetz,” 1890, pp. 19-24. Hansen, ‘‘Der deutsehe Arbeiter und die Sozialdemo- kratie," 1S91, pp. 51-80. Wagner, “Das neue Sozialdemokratische Programm,” 1892, pp. 0-19. Sciliillle, ‘ Die Aussichtslosigkeit der Sozial- demokratie,” 1891, p. V, B 2 (6.) Develop- ment of the Socialist program 1-2 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : wages by the subversion of the present wages system and the substitution of State-aided productive co- operation. it concludes its theoretical statement of principles by a general assertion of the necessity of removing all political and social inequalities, and of its intention, in view of the international character of the labour movement, to use every effort to promote the brotherhood of humanity even whilst acting within strictly national limits. In this last clause, as well as in the reference to the iron law of wages, the influence of Lassallian doctrines makes itself clearly felt, for the Eisenach programme had definitely affirmed the ad- herence of the Social Democrats to the International Labour Party. The Erfurt programme has reverted to the original position, and contains an explicit recog- nition of the identity of interests between the working men of every land, and of the unity of action with which they should pursue their common objects. The theoretical portion of this last programme consists of a rigorously scientific deduction of the consequences arising from the existing economic system. It is far more uncompromising than its predecessors, and omits all reference to any such remedy as productive co- operation, all allusion to the iron law of wages and any restriction of its freedom of action, such as was before expressed by the clause “by all legal means.” It is very explicit as to the increase and probable fate of the proletariate, and points out clearly to the lower middle classes their inevitable descent into its ranks, nor will it admit of any remedy other than the establishment of the Socialist State. Each of the three programmes passes from a theoretical statement of principles to a statement of objects remote and immediate which the party are to pursue. These are substantially the same in all three cases, but it is noteworthy that a gradual advance takes place in the scope and definiteness of the demands. For instance, where the Eisenach programme requires direct legislation by the people, the Gotha programme adds “ in questions of war and peace,” and the Erfurt programme adds further “ by means of the' right of initiative and of veto.” It also demands “ choice of magistrates by the people with popular right of control,” and requires that all international dis- putes should be submitted to arbitration. Again, where the Eisenach programme demands the suffrage for all men over 20 years of age, the Gotha programme substitutes tLe indefinite word “ subjects,” and the Erfurt programme ‘‘subjects without distinction of sex.” So, too, with the question of education. The Eisenach programme asks that it shall be separated from the church, the Gotha programme that religion shall be regarded as a private matter, and the Erfurt programme that education shall be entirely secular, while to the previous demand for free education the Erfurt programme adds free provision of the necessary apparatus and free maintenance for children at school. The statement in full of the Erfurt programme of October 1891 will, however, best illustrate the present position of Social Democracy : — “The economic development of industrial society tends inevitably to the ruin of small industries, which arc based upon the workman’s private ownership of the means of production. It separates him from these means of production and converts him into a destitute member of tho proletariate, whilst a comparatively small number of capitalists and great landowners obtain a monopoly of the means of production. “ Hand in hand with, this growing monopoly goes the crushing out of existence of these shattered small industries by industries of colossal growth, the develop- ment of tho tool into the machine, and a gigantic increase in the productiveness of human labour. But all the advantages of this revolution are monopolised by the capitalists and great landowners. To the proletariate and to the rapidly sinking middle classes, the small tradesmen of the towns and the peasant proprietors (Hauer), it brings an increasing uncertainty of' existence, increasing misery, oppression, servitude, degiadation, and exploitation (Ausbeutung). “ Ever greater grows the mass of the proletariate, ever vaster the army of the unemployed, ever sharper the contrast between oppressors and oppressed, ever fiercer that war of classes between bourgeoisie and proletariate, which divides modern society iirto two hostile camps and is the common characteristic of every industrial country. The gulf between the propertied classes and the destitute is widened by the crises arising from capitalist production, which becomes daily more comprehensive and omnipotent, which make universal uncertainty the normal condition of society, and which furnish a proof that the forces of production have outgrown tho existing social order, and that private ownership of the means of production has become incompatible with their full development and their proper application. “ Private ownership of the means of production, formerly the means of securing his product to the producer, has now become the means of buying out the peasant proprietors, the artisans and the small trades- men, and placing the non-producers, the capitalists and large landowners, in possession of the products of labour. Nothing but the conversion of capitalist private ownership of the means of production — the earth and its fruits, mines and quarries, raw material, tools, machines, means of exchange — into social ownor- sliip, and the substitution of socialist production carried on by and for society cau effect such a revolution that, instead of large industries and the steadily growing capacities of common production being, as hitherto, a source of misery and oppression to the classes whom they have despoiled, they may become a source of the highest well-being and of the most perfect and comprehensive harmony. “ ’Phis social revolution involves the emancipation not merely of the proletariate, but of the whole human race, which is suffering under existing conditions. But this emancipation can be achieved by the working class alone, because all other classes, in spite of their mutual division of interests, take their stand upon the principle of private ownership of the means of produc- tion and have a common interest in maintaining the existing social order. “ The struggle of the working classes against capitalist exploitation must of necessity be a political struggle. The working classes can neither carry on their economic struggle nor develop their economic organisation without political rights. They cannot effect the transfer of the means of production to the community without being first invested with political power. “ It must be the aim of Social Democracy to give conscious unanimity to this struggle of the working i lasses and to indicate the inevitable goal. “ The interests of the working classes are identical in all lands governed by capitalist methods of production. The extension of the world's commerce and production for the world’s markets make the position of the workman in any one counti'y daily more dependent upon that of the workmen in other countries. There- fore the emancipation of labour is a task in which the workmen of all civilised lands have a share. Recognis- ing this, the Social Democrats of Germany feel and declare themselves at one with the workmen of every land, who are conscious of the destinies of their class. “ The German Social Democrats are not, therefore, fighting for new class privileges and rights, but for the abolition of class government and even of classes them- selves, and for universal equality in rights and duties without distinction of sex or rank. Holding these views, they are not merely fighting against the ex- ploitation and oppression of the wage earners in the existing social order, but against every kind of exploita- tion and oppression, whether directed against class, party, sex, or race. “ Starting from these principles the German Social Democrats demand : — “ 1. Universal, equal, and direct suffrage by ballot in all elections for all subjects of the Empire over 20 years of age, without distinction of sex. Proportional representation, and. until this system has been introduced, fresh division of electoral districts by law after each census. Two years’ duration of the legislature. Holding of elections on a legal day of rest. Payment of the repre- sentatives elected. Removal of all restriction upon political rights, except in the case of persons under age. “ 2. Direct legislation by the people by means of the right of initiative and of veto. Self-government by tho people in Empire, State, province, and commune. Election of magistrates by the people, with the right of holding them responsible. Annual assessment of taxes. “ 3. Universal military education. Substitution of militia for a standing army. Decision by the popular representatives of questions of peace and war. Decisions of all international disputes by arbitration. “ 4. Abolition of all laws which restrict or suppress free expression of opinion and the right of meeting or association. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY, 13 (e.) Intrr- nntionalist untl Anar- chist ten- dencies. (i.) History “ 5. Abolition of all laws which place the woman, whether in a private or in a public capacity, at a disadvantage as compared with the man. “ 6. Declaration that religion is it private matter. Abolition of all expenditure from public funds upon ecclesiastical and religious objects. Eccle- siastical and religious bodies arc to be regarded as private associations which order their affairs independently. “ 7. Secularisation of education. Compulsory at- tendance at public national schools. Free educa- tion, free supply of educational apparatus and free maintenance to children in schools, and to such pupils, male and female, in higher educational institutions as are judged to be fitted for further education. “ 8. Free administration of the law and free legal assistance. Administration of the law by judges elected by the people. Appeal in criminal cases. Compensation to persons accused, imprisoned, or condemned unjustly. Abolition of capital punishment. “ 9. Free medical assistance, aud free supply of remedies. Free burial of the dead. “ 10. Graduated income and property tax to meet all public expenses, which are to be met by taxation. Self-assessment. Succession duties, graduated according to the extent of the inheritance and the degree of relationship. Abolition of all indirect taxation, customs duties, and other economic measures, which sacrifice the interests of the community to the interests of a privileged minority. “ For the protection of labour the German Social Democrats also demand: — “ 1. An effective national and international system of protective legislation on the following pi'in' ciples : — “ a. The fixing of a normal working day, which shall not exceed eight hours. “ b. Prohibition of the employment of children under 14. “ c. Prohibition of night work, except in those branches of industry which, from their nature and for technical reasons or reasons of public welfare, require night work. “ cl. An unbroken rest of at least 36 hours for every workman every week. “ e. Prohibition of the truck system. “ 2. The supervision of all industrial establishments, together with the investigation and regulation of the conditions of labour in town and country by an Imperial labour department, district labour bureaux, and chambers of labour. A thorough system of industrial sanitary regulation. “ 3. Legal equality of agricultural labourers and domestic servants with industrial labourers ; repeal of the laws concerning masters and servants. “ 4. Confirmation of the right of association. “ 5. The taking over by the Imperial Government of the whole system of workmen’s insurance, though giving the workmen a certain share in its administration.” It will be seen that this, the latest utterance of the German Socialist Party, lays especial stress upon the equal rights to be given to women, and omits all reference to women’s labour, though the restriction of such labour had formed part of the earlier programmes. The programme lays down no rules as to conditions of membership, but the leaders of the Social Democrats have found it necessary to make some regulations, and in spite of the claim to absolute freedom to impose some 3ort of discipline. According to the “ scheme of organisation for the Social Democratic Party in Ger- many ” any person may be a member “ who gives his “ adhesion to the party programme and continues to “ afford the party material support.” A member, who after joining does not fulfil these conditions, may be excluded by the branch to which he belongs. (') The influence exercised by Karl Marx upon the development of Social Democracy accounts for the formation within the party of an Internationalist and even of an Anarchist section. Nevertheless, it is abundantly clear from the history of the rise and fall 0) "Wagner, "Das n -ne Sozialdemokrutische Programm,” pp. 17-30. 49-51. Kautsky, "Das lirfurter Programm," 1892.’ Hebei’ " Die Frau uml der Sozialismus,” 1892. Hansen, “ Derdeutsehe Arbeiter und die Soxialdemokratie," 1S91, p. 58. Scliaflle, “ Die Aus«icht*losigkeit der Sozialdemokratie,” 1891, pp. 4, 5. of the famous association that the principles of this () rthe“In. latter s Mition were directly opposed by Karl Marx ternational.’ himself. In its best known form the International was the outcome of the International Exhibition in London in 1862, but it had been preceded by a secret society of exiled German Socialists calling themselves the ‘‘League of the Just” ( Bund der Gerecbten). This league had its headquarters in London, and was allied with a non-secret association professing Communist principles, called at first the Communist Association for the education of the Working Classes, and after- wards simply the Communist League. In 1847 this league, which was directed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, published a manifesto, afeerwards printed in all the chief languages of Europe, and designed to rouse the working classes both in Europe and America. It advocated the abolition of private property, the centralisation of all credit in a State or national bank, agriculture on a large scale and on scientific principles, and industry carried on in national workshops. This transformation of society must, in the words of the manifesto, be effected by the working classes as a whole, and the manifesto closed with an appeal, which still remains one of the watchwords of German Social Democ- racy, “ Proletarians of every land unite.” A scheme for federating the workmen's associations throughout the world was set on foot, and it was decided to hold an international labour congress at Brussels; but the disastrous results of the Communist experiments in Paris in 1848 led to the abandonment of the project. It was revived in 1862, when the French workmen sent over by the French Government to the International Exhibition were entertained by the English workmen, and a proposal was made to form workmen’s committees for the exchange of correspondence upon questions of international industry. Two years later the Inter- national Association of Working Men was organised, under the direction of a general council, amongst whom Marx became the leading spirit. At its outset the association included representatives of England, France, Italy, Poland, and Switzerland to the number of about 50, whilst its available funds amounted only to 3 1. As sketched out by Marx the association was to consist of sections composed of workmen belonging to one locality or to one trade. These sections were to form federations, and these federations were to be united into national associations, a degree of organisation which was never attained. The sections and federa- tions were to establish bureaux, which should send a monthly report of the condition of the sectional affairs to the general council, elected by the representatives of the federation at the annual congress. A large amount of individual freedom was to be allowed to the separate bodies, with the object, if possible, of affiliating all workmen's associations throughout the world to the International. Nothing wa3 required of members but adherence to the principles of the association and the payment of a small subscription, which, neverthe- less, the International found itself subsequently unable to enforce. This was not the only difficulty which beset the association. From the first, widely different conceptions of its nature and objects were cherished by different sections. To the English members it appeared in the character of a magnified trade union, formed for the purpose of obtaining better conditions of labour, and assuming an international form for the sake of preventing the defeat of strikers by the importation of foreign labour. To the revolutionary Anarchists of Italy, Spain, and the Jura (see p. 14), it appeared as a means of bringing about that social conflagration which they regarded as the necessary precursor of the new era. While the English Internationalists, therefore, looked to the association to aid them in maintaining the rate of wages, the continental Internationalists expected it to abolish the wages system altogether. These extreme tendencies were for a time kept in check by the influence of Marx, and the International at first confined itself to its original object, the support of strikes. Up to 1867 its progress was slow, but iu that year its power began to be felt, and it succeeded both in terrifying the employers in the Paris bronze industry into granting the demands of their employes, and in persuading a large number of foreign workmen im- ported into England to return to their homes. The result was a great increase in the number of adherents. In Germany especially the recruiting of members, which had hitherto made slow progress, and which had been . almost entirely stopped by the war between Germany and Austria, proceeded with greater rapidity, and in 1868 a hundred workmen’s societies assembled at Nuremberg declared their adhesion to the International. Similar B 3 14 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : declarations were made by bodies of workmen in other countries, as, for instance, by 800,000 workmen in the United States, but too often these adherents brought only moral support to the association and did not, as M.’ de Laveleye says, supply “either authority or money.” Consequently the International, though numbering its members by millions, was unable even to furnish the necessary support to members on strike ; “the most insignificant English trade union had a “ better furnished treasury.” With the consequent decline of the prestige which at first attached to the association and led employers to magnify its strength, its power to restrain the revolutionary tendencies of some of the continental sections diminished, and it only required the outbreak of the Franco-German war and the excesses of the Commune to complete its ruin. Prior to the war the congress at Bale in 1869 had published an emphatic expression of disapproval, declaring the struggle to be a civil war in favour of Russia, and calling upon labour in all lauds to testify to its abhorrence of hostilities by a universal strike. Similar manifestoes were issued from time to time during the war. The German Social Democrats held a congress at Brunswick, in which they protested against the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine, with the result that the General in command of the district committed the leaders to prison. Though the International itself as a body is guiltless of any share in the initiation of the Commune, many of the Paris Communists were members of the association, and a manifesto sub- sequently issued by Karl Marx declared that “ its “ martyrs will be for ever enshrined in the great heart “ of the working classes” and that “history has “ already nailed its destroyers to the pillory, from “ which all the prayers of priests are powerless to “ release them.” These utterances resulted in a great secession of English trade unionists, whilst the national enthusiasm excited in Germany by the success of the army diminished the German membership in an association which regarded military glory with abhor- rence. Meanwhile troubles were increasing within the association. In 1868 an “ International Alliance of “ Social Democrats,” known afterwards as the Federa- tion of the Jura, had been organised at Ncufchatel by Bakounin. an exiled Russian noble and the leader of the European Anarchists. This alliance obtained a certain following in Italy. Spain, and the Jnra district, and at its own request was in 1869 affiliated to the Inter- national. "No centralisation, no State, not even a “ revolutionary dictatorship, and above all no autho- “ rity ” were the watchwords of the alliance, which had also made a specific declaration of atheism. The General Council of the International saw their associa- tion in danger of being shaken to its foundations. At the Bale Congress of 1869, Bakounin declared that his only aim was the radical destruction of the existing order of things. “ I demand.” said he, “ the destruction “ of all national and territorial governments and the “ construction upon their ruins of the International “ State of the millions of workers.” In the face ol this difficulty the General Council of the International sought an enlargement of their powers, whilst on the other hand the sections of the Jura protested against the dictatorship of Marx. Matters came to a crisis at the congress held in 1872 at the Hague. James Guillaume, the leader of the Jura sections, attacked Marx to his face. “ We have heard it said.” said he, “ that the International was the invention of a clever “ man endowed with infallibility in all social and “ political matters, and whom no one has a right to “ oppose . . . But in our opinion the International “ was the spontaneous outcome of existing economic “ conditions, and we wish for no chief who constitutes “ himself a judge of heresies.” The majority, however, were still with Marx, and instead of abolishing the General Council they conferred upon it the right of suspending sections and even federations, subject to a right of appeal to the annual congress. This power was immediately exercised by the exclusion ol Bakounin and Guillaume, after which Marx declared that the head-quarters of the association should be removed to New York, in the hope of thus withdrawing it from the disturbing influences which menaced it in Europe. But the association only survived its transportation one year. After a final congress at Geneva in 1873, it practically came to an end, though its last remaining members in America did not vote its final dissolution (ii.) Influ- ence of the “ Interna- tional ” upon until 1876. (‘) The importance of the International Association in the development of German Socialism is two-fold. In the first place, it brought to the front the underlying Anarchist tendencies as well as the exaggerated indi- German vidualism which lie close to the extremer forms of oualsm - Socialism. In the second place, and herein lios its main significance as far as Germany is concerned, it afforded Marx an opportunity for the propagation of his Inter- national and Communist principles on a scale which would scarcely have been possible in any other way. The real successors of the International are to be found not among the body of Anarchists who call themselves Internationalists, and whose further history belongs rather to Russia, to Spain, and to the United States than to Germany, but in the party from whom emanated the Erfurt programme of 18fil with its assertion of the injustice of private property, the necessity for inter- national arbitration, the intimate relationship between the wage-earners of all lands, and the common obligation which lies upon them to effect the re-constitution of society. If the International in Europe ceased to exist in 1873, its spirit lives again in the Social Democrats of 1893 ( (i) 2 ). The so-called International Association which imme- «jj.) q lie diately succeeded that of Marx was formed amongst the Anarchist followers of Bakounin, and would have been better de- national, scribed as an association of revolutionary Anarchists. This modern Anarchist Party had been preceded by an older society of German Anarchists connected more or less closely with teachers who had drawn their inspi- ration from France. Proudhon may claim to have been the founder of the theory, since the famous treatise ‘‘Qu’est-ce que la propriety?” in which he answered, on lines afterwards adopted by Karl Marx, “La pro- priety, e’est le vol,” also contains a description of an ideal society, wherein the individual is freed from all external restraint and enabled to follow his own incli- nations. The theory of capital, which afterwards led Marx to collectivism, led Proudhon, therefore, to the extreme of individualism. His principles were adopted in Germany by Moses Hess, who, in a work published in 18-13, preached the negation of all authority, whether in the spiritual or the social sphere, and the consequent abolition of Church and State. Another writer, Karl Grim, declared that in the future each man’s work and enjoyment would be regulated by his individual needs alone. Socialist doctrines of an Anarchist type were widelv diffused amongst the educated classes between 1812 and 1845. In Switzerland an Anarchist association was founded amongst German exiles, under the leader- ship of Wilhelm Marx, which contented itself with advocating the purely negative doctrine of the de- struction of Church. State, property, and the institution of marriage, together with the one positive tenet of “a bloody and fearful revenge upon the rich and powerful.” In 1845 this association nas suppressed by the police. The efforts of these early Anarchists, however, fade into comparative insignificance when compared with the influence exerted by the Russian exile Bakounin, according to Laveleye, the inspirer of all the revolutionary Socialism of Europe since 1865. Born and bred in Russia, he had early contracted an inveterate hate of despotism, and at 32 years of age he left his native country for Germany, where he became a source of revolutionary excitement amongst the more extreme members of the Hegelian school of philosophy, in the following year he went to Paris, and came under the influence of Proudhon. Being expelled from that city, probably, as M. de Laveleye says, on account of the violence of his speeches, lie returned to Germany, and took part in the insurrections of the spiing of 1849. He was taken prisoner and condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted to perpetual imprisonment, and he was handed over to the Russian Government to undergo the penalty. In 1857 the Government of Alexander II. sent him to Siberia, whence he contrived to escape, and to embark to Japan, journeying afterwards by way of America to England, where he" landed in 1861. In 1865 he began an agitation amongst the Italian peasants, and in 1868 '"'he organised the Alliance of the Jura. His doctrines centred round the principle of enmity against every form of the State. The State, he said, implied government, and government postulated the existence of the governed ; consequently every State was a destroyer of true freedom. Society should be composed of small independent groups of producers, constituted and dis- (i) Lexis " Handworterbucli tier Staatswissenscliaften,” Vol. IV. p 591 ArV " Die Internationale.” Adler. Laveleye. “ Le Soeialisme Conteni pornin,” 1S90, pp. 16S-222. Lavollfe, " Lcs Classes Ouvriers en Europe,” 1S3), Vol. I., pp. 267-271. Kirkup. " History of Socialism.” 1.S62 pp’. ir.5-182. v. Sclionberg “ Handbucli dev Politisclien Oekonomie,” lSS-A Vol. I., pp. 107-129. Meyer, “ Der Enmnzipationskampf des vierten Standes,” 18S2, t ol. I., pp. 116-193. (-) Wagner, " Das Sozial-demokratische Programm,” 1892. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 15 (iv.) Later German Anarchists. solved at the pleasure of the individual members, but not endowed with the right of coercing a single pro- ducer. The immediate object of the social reformer must be the establishment of anarchy “ in the sense of “ the unloositfg of all the passions now called evil and “ the destruction of what the same class of speakers “ call public order.” Though Bakounin himself depre- cated the taking of human life, his clear declaration that the social revolution could not be accomplished by secret societies, but demanded the _ convincing power of facts, was easily interpreted by his followers, especially by Netschaief, the apostle of Russian Nihilism, into a justification of the “ propaganda of deed,” explained in the “Revolutionary Catechism.” This catechism defines the revolutionist as a man who has broken with all that might else have made life dear. “ If his existence in this world is prolonged, it is only “ to make destruction more certain. To him there is “ but one joy, one comfort, one solace, one reward — “ the success of revolution. Ray and night he must “ cherish but one thought, one aim— inexorable de- “ struction Whilst we permit no “ other activity than that of destruction, we recognise “ that the form in which this activity is exercised may “■ be manifold; poison, the dagger, the rope, all alike “ are hallowed by the spirit of revolution.” Indeed, Netschaief went further, and, in common with some of the later Anarchists, advocated wholesale assassination, and similar means of sti iking terror into the ranks. of the bourgeoisie as desirable in themselves quite in- dependently of the advantages likely to accrue from the removal of the individual victims. In the words of Dr. Paul Brousse, a person of weight in the Federation of the Jura, “ deeds provoke universal comment; masses “ of people hitherto indifferent rouse themselves to “ inquire into the causes of the deeds, pay attention to “ the new doctrine and discuss it. When they have “ advanced to that point it is not difficult to make “ converts amongst them.” In 1874 the Anarchist seceders from the International called a general assembly at Brussels, which was chiefly remarkable for the ‘address presented to it by the Italian Social Revolutionary Committee, in which they declared their conviction that the “ secret path alone could conduct “ them to their goal— the social revolution.” The number of delegates taking part in the Brussels Congress did not exceed 20, and with three exceptions all were natives of Belgium. A congress held at Berne in 1870 was not more international in character, for it was mainly composed of delegates from the Federation of the Jura. In 1877 a Universal Congress of Socialists was held in Belgium, which was attended by Herr Liebknecht. Here the Anarchists were out- voted, and the second International came to an end (‘). The German Anarchists under Johann Most formed originally the extreme left wing of the Socialist Party, and were organised in connexion with the Federation of the Jura between 1872 and 1876. After the passing of the law against the Socialists in 1878, they adopted an independent attitude and advocated abstention from political life or from taking part in elections, and secret preparation for the revolution. Most was expelled from Berlin and carried his organ, the “ Freiheit,” to London, where he continued to urge the necessity of energetic and secret agitation, combined with revolu- tionary outbursts and attempts at assassination. For this he was formally expelled from the Socialist Party, which he had persistently attacked ; hut ho retained a certain number of supporters, at the most 200, divided into a few dozen Anarchist/ 1 groups.” For his violent articles in the “ Freiheit,” after the assassination of the Czar, Alexander II., he was prosecuted in England and sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment. After the “ Freiheit” had been the subject of a second prosecu- tion and conviction no publisher could bo found for it in London, and Most transferred it to America in 1882. There he continued to advocate what he called “guerilla warfare,” anduuderthe title of “ revolutionary tactics ” to publish recipes for the manufacture of nitroglycerine, infernal machines, poisons, and explosives of every kind. From thence, also, he continued to attack the German Social Democrats, who have never relaxed in their effort to discreditAnarchist principles and practices amongst the German working classes. In 1886 the Chicago Anarchists decided to support the general strike on May 1st for an eight hours' day. On May 3rd there was a collision between the strikers C) Laveleye, “ LeSocialisme Contemporain,” 1891, pp. 214-284. Lexus, “ Hnndworterbuch dor Staatswisscnscliaften,” Vol. 1., p. 252. Art “Anarchismus,” Adler. Vol. IV., p. 561. Art. “Die Internationale’’ Adler. Kirkup, " History of Socialism.” 1892, pp. 176-215 and the police, resulting in the death of several strikers. An evening meeting was held the next night by the Anarchists, in which they resolved upon revenge, and during a second disturbance, which took place at the close of the meeting, a bomb shell was thrown among the police, killing several and wounding a large number. The result was a strong reaction of feeling against the Anaichists; the leaders who were known to have advised resort to force were arrested, and four of them were executed. Most himself was condemned to a year's imprisonment. For a time the party became completely disorganised; several of the clubs were disbanded, and the Chicago Anarchist newspapers passed into the hands of the Social Democrats. There lias since been some recovery, and the propagandists have had con- siderable success among the Polish Jews; but the utterances of the party have become much milder, and both in England, in Germany, and in America the Anarchists arc numerically unimportant as compared with the Socialists/ 2 ) Recently there have been signs of a movement (v.) Inter* towards Internationalism amongst both English trade "^^resses. unionists and continental Socialists, though the failure of the latter to understand the position of the former has led to a considerable amount of friction at the different congresses which have been held. In 1883 a conference of English, Spanish, Italian, and French representatives was held in Paris, and this was followed up by an International Trade Union Congress at Paris, in 1866, which was attended by one representative of German Socialism. The German Socialist created disorder by making an attack upon the English trade unionists in the person of Mr. Broadhurst, “who voted “ in favour of coercion in Ireland, and accepted 35,000 “ francs a year to be a member of a capitalist Cabinet. “ . . . Such a scandal, said Herr Grimpe, would “ not be tolerated in Germany.” The small represen- tation of Germany at this congress was explained by Herr Grimpe to be due to the existence of the law against the Socialists, which entitled the Chancellor to prohibit all foreign (and therefore international) societies, and rendered the collection of funds for the furtherance of Socialist or Communist efforts illegal. Consequently bond fide working men could not be assisted by their comrades to attend the congresses, and trade unionists dared not do so for fear of bringing their unions under the prohibitory clauses. The result of this was the exclusion of the would-be representatives of Germany from the International Trade Union Congress held in London in 1888, to which, according to the regulations of the Parliamentary Committee of the English Trade Union Congress, none but bond fi.de representatives of labour organisations were admitted. The proposed delegates consisted for the most part of the editors of German Socialist papers, and of members of what is known in Germany as “ the Intellectual Proletariate.” Mr. Shipton declared to the congress that no delegates had ever been proposed by Germany or Austria who had at any time been workmen and members of trade unions, and the records of this and of subsequent congresses show the continental represen- tatives to belong in almost every care to the Socialist Party. The view held by these continental repre- sentatives of the English trade unionists is thus ex- pressed in one of their pamphlets: — “Abroad strong “ opinions arc entertained that the leaders of the “ English trade unions have wasted the best oppor- “ tunities the working classes have ever possessed. “ Nowhere are the working class organisations so free “ and so strong as in England; nowhere have they “ achieved so little ; nowhere are the workmen in “ theory and practice so far removed from any definite “ solution of the labour problems. When by the side “ of this it is seen that the English working class “ leaders, instead of being imprisoned and prosecuted, “ are, on the contrary, in the receipt of all manner of “ favours at the hands of the middle class and capitalist “ Governments, the foreign workmen, fresh from police “ prosecution and from prison, conclude that the “ English leaders cannot be leading in such a manner “ as to menace and endanger the position of their “ adversaries.” At the International Labour Congress held in Paris on the occassion of the hundredth anniversary of the taking of the Bastille, July 14th, 1889, Germany was more largely represented than in previous congresses. Eighty-one delegates were present from all parts of the Empire, with the exception of the province of Posen ; ; 2 ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswisserisehaften,” Vol. L, p. 252. Art, “Anarchismus,” Adler. See al&fj Royal Commission on Labour. Foreign Reports, Vol. I„ pp. 9, 10. B 4 16 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: whore the strict enforcement of the law against the Socialists made open election impossible, lists were circulated in factories and workshops, and, on the whole, it was stated that as many votes were recorded as in the election of deputies to the Reichstag. Herr Liebknecht in his opening speech disclaimed any share in the national antagonism between France and Germany on the part of the Social Democrats, and anticipated the best results from an international parliament of labour. He declared that “ no one should be excluded who wished to co-operate in the work of liberation,” a state- ment which has since been considerably modified owing to the attitude of the Anarchists in subsequent con- gresses. Alluding to the International Association of Working Men, he declared that he regarded the Paris congress and all similar movements as the direct result of its influence, though it had been extinct for over 15 years. The chief resolutions passed at this congress were in favour of the substitution of militia for a standing army, agitation for increased protection for labour, and an international demonstration on May 1st, to be organised in each country in such a manner as the national leaders of the Socialist Party might decide. A proposal to bind every nation to a universal strike in favour of eight hours was opposed by Herr Liebknecht, on the ground that the labour organisations were not yet sufficiently strong to bring such a movement to a successful issue. He also opposed a resolution demand- ing a general amnesty for persons convicted of political offences, basing his opposition on the fact that, whilst the German Government maintained its hostile attitude, any such demand on the part of the German Socialists would savour of cowardice. In August 1891 a further International Congress of Socialist Working Men was held at Brussels, and attended by 42 German delegates, including two women. The necessary credentials were declared to be adhesion to the Socialist Party, belief in the necessity of the organisation of labour, and a recognition of the advantages of political action and State intervention. By this last clause the Anarchists were definitely excluded ; at the Paris congress two years before they had not been excluded until they disturbed the debates. The resolutions passed at the Brussels congress were very similar to those passed at Paris. The congress declared itself in favour of the establishment of a permanent labour department in each country to inquire into the condition of the work- ing classes, and it refused to commit itself to any definite statement touching the attitude to be adopted by Socialists on the question of the persecution of the Jews. Otherwise it decided in favour of the better organisation of labour and the formation of international associations, and against war and such international relations as were likely to provoke it. It asserted the equality of the sexes and demanded the abolition of all legal disqualifications attaching to women. It con- demned the system of piece-work and passed a resolution in favour of an international demonstration on the 1st of May almost precisely similar to that passed at Paris in 1889. The International Socialist Congress held at Zurich in August 1893 differed little from those which preceded it in so far as the resolutions adopted were concerned, but was especially remarkable fer the strength of the German and English representation, the determined attitude adopted towards the Anarchist Party, and the pre- dominance which, under the influence of the Germans, was given to the followers of Karl Marx. Though almost all nationalities were nominally represented, neither here nor at any previous congress was there any real representation of the Russian working classes. The total number of delegates was 416, including 65 from Great Britain, 1 from Australia, 139 from Austria (including 5 Czechs), 18 from Belgium, 2 from Denmark, 2 from Spain, 3 from America, 38 from France, 6 from Holland, 10 from Hungary, 5 from Roumania, 1 from Russia, 1 from Servia, 1 from Norway, 92 from Germany, 9 from Poland, 2 from Bulgaria, and 21 from Italy. As the result of the second day's voting, and owing mainly to the action of the English trade unionists and the German Social Democrats, it was decided, though not without a free fight, that the Anarchists should be excluded, and on the motion of Herr Bebel that the recognition of the necessity of political action, to which delegates were required to subscribe, should be interpreted to mean parliamentary political action. Throughout the deliberations of the congress two things were especially noticeable, the superior business capacity of the English delegates and the way in which they came to the front when it was necessary to take definite action in any one of the sections. Further, the need of a sworn official interpreter to enablo the delegates to arrive at a better mutual understanding was strongly felt, especially in the case of the English. From the opening speech of Mr. Hobson onwards, it appeared to be too often the case that the translators seized upon a single sentence, and then used it as a text, and appending to it in jterfect good faith a series of their own opinions, which did not in the least represent what the speaker had actually said. A resolution was passed in favour of an eight hours’ day, coupled with a suggestion for the summoning of an international conference at the instance of the various European Governments. The German delegates opposed a motion brought forward by the Norwegian delegates and supported by M. Niewenhuis for Holland, in favour 'of a general strike against war in the event of the declaration of hostilities, on the ground that any such action on the part of the German Social Democrats would be to place Europe at the mercy of Russia. Similar views have been expressed by German Social Democrats in connexion with a possible war between Germany and France An amendment submitted on behalf of the Belgian delegates was accepted, which pledged working men to do all in their power to prevent the further extension of militarism by withholding supplies wher- ever possible. The First of May celebrations were discussed, and Herr Bebel pointed out that any general suspension of work on that day was impossible in Germany, because of the laws against breach of con- tract. The congress also affirmed the necessity of extending the organisation of labour, and of achieving political ends by means of electoral campaigns and parliamentary action, as . well as the advisability of introducing direct legislation by the people by means of the right of initiative and of veto. Protective legisltion for women was recommended, in spite of the attempt of Mr. Bernard Shaw, an English delegate, to introduce an amendment repudiating all legislation for women which did not also apply to men. On the last day a woman was the president, and it was finally decided that the next congress should be held in London in 1896. At the close of the congress, Herr Engels, the former colleague of Karl Marx,j appeared and addressed the congress, which finally separated “ amidst cheers for Internationalism “ and the singing of the Marseillaise.” Apart from the general sittings of the congress, minor meetings were organised amongst the members of certain industries, including railway servants, textile workers, tailors, shoemakers, metal workers, and workers in wood, with a view to the formation of international associations. The Congress of Railway Servants was attended by delegates from England, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Austria, Hungary, and Calicia. The Italians proposed an agitation for a minimum wage of four francs a day, but withdrew their proposal. Other proposals in favour of a minimum pension, and a commission of inquiry into the possibility of the nationalisation of railways were also withdrawn, and it was decided that the association should limit itself to such practical ques- tions as the yearly number of rest days, the eight hours’ shift, and the reduction of Sunday traffic, especially in goods. As a result of the conference an international secretary was appointed, with an office in Holland. The textile workers instituted a similar asso- ciation, with its head-quarters at Stuttgart. Twenty- one delegates attended their conference, drawn from Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, England, and Switzerland. A resolution was passed in favour of the formation of strong organisations, so that a successful resistance might be made to the encroach- ments of capitalism. The congress declared against piece-work and professed itself ready to support strikes and to give aid to victimised members and to members in search of work. At the Trades Union Congress at Belfast the English delegates to Zurich reported that “ the first throe days were spent in purging the congress of delegates representing purely Anarchist “ sccietie-v The resolutions passed were of a general “ character, and the British delegation gave a unani- “ mous invitation to the congress to hold its next “ sitting in London, which it agreed to accept, and “ decided that the same should be held in 1896.” There was some difference of opinion as to these terms, but an nmendmentjo omit the reference to the Anarchists was lost.) 1 ) (>) Pamphlets circulated at the Zurich Congress, 1893. and eontem- porar.v press accounts. Reports of International Labour Conferences, Paris, 188G, 1889, London, 1SSS, Brussels, 1891. Critical Essay on the London Congress by Adolf Smith. Reports of International Miners’ Congresses, Jolimont, 1890, Paris, 1891, London, 1892. Current numbers of ,‘ Die Neue Zeit,” 1893, Proceedings of Trade Union Congress, 1893, REPORT ON TIIE LABOU^ QUESTION IN GERMANY. 17 cl. Attitude of the educated classes towards Socialism. (i.) Older Academic Socialists. The majority of German economists since 1870 have adopted a sympathetic attitude towards tho labour question, and though they are strongly opposed to the extreme views held by the Social Democrats, they are equally opposed to the laissez faire principles of their predecessors of the school of Schulze Delitzsch. The modified support which they have afforded to the principle of “ State aid” as against the earlier principle of “ Self help,’’ gained for them the name of “ Academic Socialists ” ( Kathedersozialisten ), a name first applied to them in mockery by Herr Oppenheim, in an article in the “ National-Zeitung ” in 1871. According to Lange, one of the earliest of these Academic Socialists, the main principle of the preceding “Manchester” school was the restriction of State interference within the narrowest bounds, from which followed the doctrine of free trade as an indispensable condition of national wealth and the doctrine of freedom of migration. To the working classes it was pointed out that by the exercise of intelligence and self-control they might materially improve their condition, and that it was possible for each individual to work his way up into the ranks of the employers, whilst as a means to this material improvement Herr Schulze Delitzsch, a friend of the working classes, exerted himself in tho establishment of co-operative undertakings (see p. 28). This theory of economics, as has been already indicated, was intimately connected with the views of the national liberals in politics. According to Lange, “ State aid granted from above ” was deprecated “ from a fear of strengthening the Conservative party, “ State aid extorted from below, from terror of the “ democratic self-confidence of the labouring classes, “ which such a victory would involve ; in short, State “ aid of any kind was avoided lest it should encroach “ upon a region in which capitalist rule had held “ uncontested sway.” On the the other hand, the economists, called by von Schonberg the “party of social reform,” maintained against the Manchester school the “ absolute necessity of a positive and far reaching “ policy of interference on the part of the State with “ the object of promoting the welfare of the labouring “ classes,” and against Socialism “ the principle that “ the individual is mainly responsible for his economic “ status, and that the State should only intervene to “ supplement the efforts of individual, class, or society, “ when those efforts alone would not suffice to obtain “ the desired and desirable economic and moral “ conditions.” With this difference in the conception of the State was joined a difference in the method of approaching economic subjects. The older economists preferred the abstract and deductive method, the newer econo- mists the historical method ; hence whilst the first tended to consider the labour question in itself, with perhaps too little regard to existing conditions, the second regarded it as inseparable from the chief social and political conditions of the time. From this point of view the newer economists were struck by the growing contrast between the increase of national wealth in the aggregate and the miserable condition of a large proportion of the individuals composing the nation. (’) Regarding, as they did, all institutions as justified only in so far as they were adapted to a given state of society, they were prepared to take a different view of the rights and duties attaching to property from that held by the “ orthodox economists.” As M. de Laveleye says, “ The great problem of our days, which is called “ the social question,” appeared to them “a question of re-distribution.” Starting from this general con- ception, the economists, who in 1873 united to form the Economic Club (Vcrein fur Sozialicolitilc), differed considerably in matters of detail, and in the conclusions which they drew from their general premises. This association, of which Professor von Gneist was the first president, included, amongst others. Professors Schmoller Roscher, Brentano, Adolf Wagner, Lange, SchatHe, von Schonberg, Adolf Held, Nasse, Conrad, Knies. Knapp, von Holtzendcrf and Neumann. It held a preliminary meeting at Eisenach in July 1872, and a larger meeting, which was attended by 158 members, in November of the same year. In 1873 the association was definitely constituted, and the meetings have since been held annually. At the November meeting of 1872 an inaugural address was delivered by Professor Schmoller, in which he thus described the principles of the society: (‘) The German practice of transferring professors at frequent intervals from one university to another gave the Academic Socialists the opportunity of acquiring a wide knowledge of economic conditions. Thus, i'or instance. Professor Brentano and Professor Adolf W agner have between them taught at Strasburg, at Munich, at Leipzig, at Vienna, at Dorpat and in Berlin. i 78420. “ We do not demand either the suppression of industrial “ freedom or the abolition of the wages system, but we “ are not willing, out of deference to abstract principles, “ to allow the most crying abuses to become daily more “ crying, whilst so-called freedom of contract de- “ generates into the exploitation of labour. We do “ not ask the State to advance money to workmen for “ the sake of making experiments which are foredoomed “ to inevitable failure, but we do demand that it “ should occupy itself in a very different fashion from “ that in which it now occupies itself, with the instruc- “ tion and education of the working classes, and that “ it should see to it that their labour is not carried on “ under conditions which must inevitably tend to “ their degradation.” Very many of the members of the Association, in common with the more recent Academic Socialists, looked to the development of the labour question in England as affording a historical example of the lines upon which any German movement towards the emancipation of labour nmst proceed. Several of the valuable reports drawn up by individual members and published under the auspices of the Association deal with English industrial institutions. On the whole, the Academic Socialists represent the moderate party, whether in politics or in social science, the party which, while recognising the value of State intervention, recognises also that “self-help” is an absolutely indispensable condition of economic progress, and to these two principles adds a third, that of the aid of society (GeseUschaftsliilfe) or “ the free exercise “ of the beneficent and educating influence which “ belongs to the cultivated classes. ”(') This last principle is given especial prominence by the younger and contemporary school of Academic Socialists, represented by such names as Dr. Herkner, Dr. von Schulze-Gavernitz, Dr. Max Sering, Herr Golire, Professor von Philippovich and others, and in more or or less close conjunction with the later developments of Protestant Christian Socialism ( Evangelischsozialisten ). These writers recognise the great advance which has been made by the more violent form of Social Democracy, and hold that the danger can best be met by a greater diffusion of reliable information upon economic questions, and a more strenuous effort to bring the benefits of education within the reach of the classes called by the Socialists the proletariate. They lay stress upon the necessity, insisted upon by Lange especially amongst the older Academic Socialists, of not separating the material improvement of the working classes from their intellectual and moral improvement and of viewing economic developments in the light of contemporary thought. Herr Golire, the General Secretary of the Christian Socialist Congress, goes further and urges the necessity of combating the inherent materialism of Social Democracy with the aid of the Church. He regards the labour question as less a “ bread and wages question ” than an “ educational and religious question,” and though in his opinion “ con- temporary Social Democracy can be as little uprooted as the modern labour movement,” it “ is possible, “ desirable, and indeed indispensable that it should be “ educated and ennobled.” On the economic side these writers regard with approval the attempt to form associations in Germany on the lines of the English trade unions, and the introduction of legislative reforms. “ That social reforms,” says Dr. Herkner, “ can bring “ about a reconciliation between the working classes “ and the existing Government, may be learned from the “ examplesof England, Switzerland, Australiaand North “ America. In all these countries there is no Socialist “ party of any importance. . . . The watchword “ for the future must be the formation of a new and “ broader middle class through the gradual rise of the “ working classes. Englaud proves that this goal is not ‘ ‘ unattainable, for there the members of the so-called old “ trade unions form a new middle class atid a strong “ Conservative force.” On the other hand, the leaders of the Social Democrats regard the Academic Socialists with indifference if not with contempt. “ Social De- “ mocracy can afford to look quietly on. In one way or “ another it will attain its ends.” Still the efforts made by the educated classes are regarded as indicating the growing importance of the party. “ The writings of Herr “ Herkner and others,” says a Socialist writer in the “ ‘ Neue Zeit,” “ are remarkable signs of the times. “ Only compare them with the literature of Academic (') Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV. p. 667. Art. “ Kathedersoziali. sinus,” Lexis. Laveleye, “ Le Socialisme Contein- porain,” 1891, pp. 336-333. v. Schonberg, “ Handbuch der Politischen Oekonomie,” 1885, vol. II. pp. 562-567. Lange, "Die Arbeiterfrage,” 1865, pp. 336-392. Kirkup, “ History of Socialism,” 1892, p. 267. Meyer, “ Der Emanzipations-kampf des vierten Standes,” 1882, vol. I. pp. 57, 71, 78, 216. Q (ii.) Newer Academic Socialists. 18 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : (iii.) The intellectual proletariate. e. Attitude of the Church towards Socialism. (i.) Catholic Socialists- dency of Baron von Schovlemer-Alst, a member of the Catholic party of the Centre, and a vehement opponent of the anti-Cathoiic policy of Prince Bismarck. From this time, the Catholic or Christian socialist associa- tions, under various names and with different objects, developed not only into a strong religious and economic, but into a strong political party, able when occasion served to throw the whole weight of its influence and of the powerful organisation which belongs to the Catholic Church, into the scale of conservative socialism. Of its earlier leaders, Herr Moufang, a canon of the Cathedral of Mayence, is the most important after Monsignor von Ketteler ; in later times Herr Wengel- Bamberg has taken a prominent part. The number and variety of the Catholic organisations makes an exhaustive list almost impossible ; but Herr Rudolf Meyer enumerates amongst others, employers’ unions, apprentices’ unions, artisans’ unions, unions for young factory operatives, miners’ unions, peasants’ unions both in Bavaria and Westphalia, Christian socialist unions, Catholic workmen’s unions, Catholic work- men's benefit societies, artisans’ productive co-operative societies, Catholic unions for servants and working women, unions for the dissemination of Catholic literature, credit and loan associations and building societies. The number of Catholic daily papers in 1882 was nine, and the number of deputies sent by the party to the Reichstag, 110. In 1891 a further National Association for Catholic Germany was founded under the auspices of the Archbishop of Cologne, and now numbers over 156,000 members. The party has not hesitated to ally itself at times with the Social Democrats ; iu 1878 the Catholic deputies voted in a body against the Socialist laws, and in the struggle with Prince Bismarck Catholics and Social Democrats joined forces at elections. The programme most I’ecently issued (1893) by a body of Catholic clergy, has much in common with Social Democracy and affirms the “ right to labour ” in the form of a remunerative, assured, and gradually rising scale of employment to be secured by law to the working classes. Hours arc at the same time to l>e reduced, the factor}' laws are to be amended, and the right of workmen to form associations to be fully recognised. (') To counterbalance the influence of the Catholic (ii.) Church and to strengthen the popular affection for the * monarchy, a Protestant Socialist movement was in- augurated in 1877 by Pastor Todt and Pastor Stocker, Court Chaplain at Berlin. Two associations were founded, the Central Association for Social Reform (Central Verein filr Soxialreform ) by Pastor Todt, and the Christian Socialist Labour Party (Cliristlich- soziale Arbeiterpartei ), by Pastor Stocker. The first was composed of employers, professors, pastors, and men of education, the second of working men. Politically this party was opposed to the Liberals and the Manchester School, hut unlike the Catholic Socialists it warmly supported Prince Bismarck and the Government. “ The social question exists and can “ only be solved by a strong and monarchical govern- “ ment based on the religious and moral elements in “ the life of the nation.” Consequently the party advocated definite legislative reforms such as the creation of compulsory guilds for the protection of artisans, compulsory insurance, prohibition of child labour and of the labour of married women, a normal working day, increased taxation of luxuries, and similar measures, its organ was the “ Staats-sozialist,” and at least in its earlier form it had much in common with Bismarckian State socialism. The action of Pastor Stocker resulted in alienating many of his supporters. He became a warm supporter of Anti- Semitism, a movement which, according to Prince Bismarck, acts as a lightning conductor to the Socialist hatred of capitalists, and after some six years of existence under his leadership the first Protestant Socialist Party became discredited. Christian socialism has since been developed by the newer Protestant Socialists (Evangel isch-sozialisten) in conjunction with the younger academic Socialists, and represents a growing force in the social life of Germany. Its object is to show that the social question is in the main a moral question, not to be solved on the lines of Social Democracy, and that “ if ‘ Socialism in the seventies. Compared with the “ proposals then made and the motives then prevail- “ ing the present writings of the Academic social re- “ formers, with whom the Church and the bureaucracy “ have formed an alliance, may be called revolutionary. “ And yet barely half a generation has passed away.”(‘) The more advanced among the Social Democrats regard with disfavour all attempts to indicate any road to°social peace which does not proceed by way of a social revolution, and stigmatise as " mere trades unionism ” ( Nurgewerkschaftlerei ) the attempt to form, as they call it, “ an aristocracy of labour.” Far from regarding it as probable that various sections of workmen may gradually he raised from the ranks of the proletariate, they are entirely convinced that those ranks are the inevitable destination of the existing middle classes. They point especially to the existence of an intellectual proletariate ( das gebildete Proletariat ) in proof of their assertion. Education, they declare, has now become a commodity, subject like other commodities to the law of supply and demand. Nor is it any longer a rare commodity. The demand of the social re- formers, and especially of the Academic Socialists, for its diffusion has resulted in the growth of a large and increasing class of persons, both men and women, whose intellectual capacities are their only provision for the struggle of existence. These artists, musicians, writers, officials and others are described by a writer in the “ Neue Zeit ” as “ the poorest of all the German proletarians,” not the less poor “ because whether from wilfulness or from ignorance they are sometimes unconscious of their position.” Nevertheless, as has been said by a non-Socialist writer, Dr. Maurus, “ The “ necessities and the discontent, especially of the so ” called intellectual proletariate, render them at least “ as dangerous to the State as the genuine wage-earners, “ indeed more dangerous because of the greater “ influence which higher culture and increased. “ political activity enable them to exercise.” A large number of the Socialist leaders are recruited from amongst their ranks. At the first Congress of the International Workmen’s Association, held at Geneva in 1866, a proposal for their exclusion, brought forward by the French delegates, was negatived on the ground that it would deprive the labouring classes of the greatest of their leaders, and that the intellectual proletariate suffered as much from the pressure of capital as any other class of workers. ( 2 ) The Catholic Church in Westphalia and the Rhine provinces early adopted a sympathetic attitude towards socialism, though it is strongly opposed to much of the teaching of the Social Democratic Party. In 1863, Dr. Dollinger advocated that the Church should con- cern itself with the social question, and in 1864 Monsignor von Ketteler, the bishop of Mayence, pub- lished a work, in which he plainly showed his sympathy with the doctrines of Lassalle. As a result of this teaching, associations were formed with the object of promoting the economic and moral welfare of the working classes. In 1868 three of these “ Associations of Christian Socialists ” held a meeting at Crefeld, and adopted as their organ a journal known as “Die Ohristlich-Soziale Blatter.” By 1869 the number of associations was largely increased, and a “ permanent section ” was appointed, including one of the leaders of the Ultramontane Party in Parliament, to preside over the existing associations and to encourage the* formation of new ones. In 1870 the organisation of the Party was finally completed and the statutes of the associations drawn up. All were to he directly con- nected with the Church and under the patronage of St. Joseph ; but the administration was to ^be in the hands of laymen. No member of a social democratic association could be admitted amongst the Christian socialists. In 1872, the numbers were largely aug- mented by the adhesion of the Catholic Artisans’ Unions, organised in 1847 by an artisan named Kolping, and in 1872 numbering over 70,000 members. Certain unions of peasants in Westphalia, whose main object was the reduction of the term of military service, were in 1871 dissolved by a Ministerial decree, on the ground that they were political societies prohibited by law They were immediately reconstituted under the presi- (P Schulze-Gavemitz, “ Zum Sozialen Frieden,” 1890, vol. I., pp vii -xiii Gohre, " Drei Jlonnte Fabrikarbeiter,” 1S91, pp. 212-222. Philippovich, “ Wirtschaftlicher Fortschritt und Kulturentwick- lutig ’ 1892 Herkner, “Die Soziale Reform als Gebot des wirt- schaftlichen Fortschrittes,” 1891, pp. 96-112. “Die Neue Zeit,” 1891-2, N (*) 5 ’Kautsky, “ Das Erfurter Programm,” 1892, pp. 48-56. “ Neue Zeit ” 1891-2 No 1. Maurus, “ Die L isuag der Arbeiterfrage aus dem Rechtsstand’nunkte,” 1890, pp. 60, 61. Kirkup, “History of Socialism,” 1892 p 170 Laveleye," Le Socialisme Contemporain,” 1891, p. 178. (i) Laveleye, “ Le Socialisme Contemporaiu,” 1891, pp. 131-167 LavollOe, “ Les Classes OuvriOres en Europe,” 1884, vol. I., pp. 313-322 Meyer, “Der Emanzipationskampf des vierten Standes,” 1882. vol. I. pp.‘ 85-94, 347-368. Kirkup, “ History of Socialism,” 1892, pp. 269,270 “ Arbeiterwohl,” No. 10, 11, 12, 1S91. Lexis, “ Handworterbuch del Staatswissenschaften,” vol. V. Art. “ Die Katholisch-soziale Bestre- burnren,” Brilll. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. II. 1892-3, p. 543. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. I!) f. Attitude of tlie State towards Socialism, (i.) Con- servative Socialists. (ii.) State Socialists. “ the Church is to fulfil her mission in the social “ sphefe, she must not stand aloof from those efforts “ directed towards social peace which in many cases “ may open the way for her work.” To this end tho Protestant Socialist Party have established tramp colonies, institutions for the protection of women, kindergartens for poor children, sewing schools, boys’ clubs, lodging-houses for workmen out of employment, clubs for working men with insurance and benefit funds attached to them, and a number of similar institutions, which aim at the education of the working classes. A Protestant Socialist Congress has been hold every year since 1890, and a scheme set on foot for the publication of a paper which shall combine theology and economics. The union of the two is the party’s special characteristic, and it is said that Dr. Paul Gohre, the general secretary of the Congress, hesitated for some months as to which he should study, and finally decided to study them both.(’) Conservative socialism in Germany was to a great extent the outcome of two separate movements, one amongst agriculturists and the other amongst artisans and small employers of labour. The period of com- mercial prosperity which succeeded the Franco-German war was in its turn succeeded by a period of com- mercial depression, the result of the extravagant speculation of the great capitalists. A strong anti- capitalist feeling was in consequence aroused in classes little inclined in any other respects to the principles of Social Democracy. The great landowners found it impossible to obtain the capital they needed to develop their estates, and the constant stream of migration from the country to the towns deprived them of the necessary labour. Similarly the small industrial employers were at a disadvantage compared with the great factory' owners, and in common with the agricul- turists they demanded that the Government should protect their industries by limiting freedom of trade. Both parties entered the lists against the liberal free- traders, the agriculturists in 1873, with an agrarian league whifch demanded equality of taxation, pro- gressive reduction of indirect taxation and abolition of duties prejudicial to agriculture, together with an increase in the taxes upon capital and manufactured products. Their programme also included State owner- ship of railways, and a legal penalty for breach of the labour contract. The artisans for their part demanded the re-establishment of the guilds, the formation of industrial chambers, and the reform of industrial legislation, especially as regards provision for the maintenance of harmony between employers and employed. Whether on the agricultural or on the industrial side, therefore, Conservative socialism may be regarded as a re-action against the principles of liberalism. It has little in common with socialism strictly so-called except the demand for the extension of State activity, and far from aiming at the abolition of class legislation, it really requires the State to intervene for the protection of particular classes. According to Herr Rudolf Meyer, one of the chief exponents of Conservative socialism, the State should regulate the distribution of wealth in accordance with justice. To this end some limit ought to be placed to the amount of interest which may he exacted by capital, manufacturers’ and bankers’ profits should be heavily taxed, and the laws against usury should be revived. The State should compel manufacturers to build houses for their workpeople, it should limit the hours of labour, and pay high wages to its workmen, at the same time undertaking the control of as many industries as possible so that it may become the universal regulator of wages. It should also establish councils of prud’hommes for the settlement of in- dustrial disputes. ( 2 ) The State Socialists of the Bismarckian bureaucracy, together with the older academic and Protestant Socialists, acted on the principle that Social Democracy (’) Laveleye, “ Le Socialisme Contemporain,” 1891, pp. 112-1; Lavnllee, “ Les Classes Omri&res en Europe,” 1881, vol. T. pn 322- Kirkup, “History of Socialism,” 1892, p. 270. Wagner, “ Das Sozi rtemokratische Programra,” 1892. Meyer, " Der Emanzipatioiiskainpf d y le f te ° Standes,” 1882, vol. I. p. 95. “ The New World,” December 18! Alt. : 1 lie Church in Germany,” by ,T. Graham Brooks. Jahrbu fur Gesetzgebune,’ vol. XVII. No. 1. Art.: “ Die Evangelisch-sozi: , e wegnng in Deutschland.” Grossmann. Lexis, “ Handworterbu der Staatswissenschaften.” vol. V.pp. 758, 7(12. Arts. : Evamrelisch-sozi; Bestreoungen, Uhlhorn ; and “ Neuere Evangelisch-soziale Besti bungen, Baumgarten. oon'«o‘'«29 6e T " I ? s Cla ; sses OuvriCres enEurope,” 1884, vol. I. pp. 28 7'. ,’ '7? , • laveleye, ‘ Le Socialisme Contemporain,” 1891, pp. 9 III. Kir kup, History of Socialism,” 1892, pp. 274, 275. Meyer. “D Lmanzmatmnskam pf des vierten Standes,’ 1882, vol. T, pp. 363 4: " Internationale Sozialpolitik,” 1889, p. 0. ; could best be combated by a policy of social reform, conceived and carried out by authority, but not necessarily involving any participation on the part of the workmen themselves. To this end the elaborate system of insurance against sickness, accidents, old age, and infirmity was introduced, the guild system was enlarged and improved (see p. 21), and Prince Bismarck declared in the Reichstag that he “ would “ favour every effort which had a positive tendency “ towards the amelioration of the lot of the working “ classes.’’ Since the retirement of Prince Bismarck from public affairs there has been a greater tendency to encourage the organisation of workmen and to allow a larger degree of freedom to the labour movement. Besides permitting the law against the Socialists to lapse, the Emperor William II. took the lead in organising an International Labour Congress in 1890, and on the occasion of the great miners’ strike in Westphalia, he interposed in person for the purpose of effecting a settlement. The Congress resulted in fresh legislation for the protection of labour, more particularly the labour of women and children. But as it did not effect any general limitation of working hours, except on Sundays, it was regarded by the Socialists as of little account. Indeed it does not yet appear that the Social Democratic Party has done very much to meet the advances of the Government, or that the hold which that party has upon the German working classes has been in any way weakened. On the contrary, the party seems to be rapidly increasing in strength, and it may be that, in the words of Herr Rudolf Meyer, “ German Social Democracy will accept “ every concession without any thanks and will convert “ it into a fresh weapon against the giver.” This, however, applies rather to the criticisms directed by the Socialist press against the Government’s labour legislation than to the general attitude of the party. This legislation is the main hope of the new bureau- cracy, who show, perhaps, a greater inclination to overrate its beneficent character, and to underrate its manifold defects (see p. 83) than might be expected from a less interested body of critics. Still the present policy of the German Government is unmistakeably in favour of a moderate amount of liberty of organisation for the working classes, together with the introduction from time to time of measures for the promotion of their welfare. (') The position and influence of Socialist parties in g. Present Germany at the present day has been clearly indicated during 1893, both by the results of the elections of the enceof Reichstag and by the determined and conservative Socialist attitude adopted by the German delegates at the paltie3 ‘ Zurich Congress. The dissolution of the Reichstag on its refusal to pass the Army Bills introduced by the Government necessarily made the question of national defence one of primary importance during the elections of June 1893 ; but the struggle was mainly remarkable for the number of side issues introduced, the promi- nence given to Anti-Semitism, and the widespread disintegration occasioned amongst the older political parties. The extent to which this subdivision was carried is clear from the fact that Social Democracy, with an aggregate vote of 1,800,000 out of a male popu- lation some fifteen times as great, could claim to be the strongest individual party in the empire. The increase of the Socialist vote from 780,000 in 1887 to 1,427,000 in 1890, and 1,800,000 in 1893, is ascribed by the leaders of the party mainly to the multiplication of their adherents in the larger towns. In the report which they presented to the Zurich Congress they give the following statistics of the relative votes in 1878, 1890, and 1893 Place. 1878. 1890. 1893. Berlin - 51,164 123,317 151,122 Hamburg - - - 29,629 67,303 70,552 Breslau - 13,065 21,555 26,205 Munich - - - 5,249 28,218 29,907 Dresden - 17,303 25,079 29,455 Leipzig - - - 5,822 12,921 11,784 Cologne - - - 2,189 10,646 12,093 Magdeburg 6,253 17,261 16,633 Frankfurt-am-Main 4,080 12,663 13,482 Konigsberg 1,108 12,370 10,964 (*) Lavoll6e, “Les Classes Ouvriferes en Europe, 1884, vol. I. pp. 328- 341. Laveleye, “Le’ Socialisme Contemporain,” 1891. pp. 93-111. Meyer, “Der Emanzipationskampf des vierten Standes,” 1882, vol. I. p. 476. Report of the Brussels International Congress, 1891. Report of the Berlin Conference, 1890. C 2 20 Royal commission on labour: Place. 1878. 1890. 1893. Hanover 6,588 15,789 19,538 Stuttgart 4,136 10,446 13,340 Bremen - - - 6,304 14,843 14,572 Diisseldorf 486 8,228 9,367 Nuremberg 10,162 17,045 18,015 Danzig - 114 3,525 4,265 Strassburg 141 4,773 6,206 Chemnitz 9,899 24,641 23,296 Elberfeld-Barmen 11,325 18,473 19,005 Altona - 11,662 19,533 20,448 Stettin - - - 914 7,759 9,586 Aix-la-Cliapelle 909 1,744 3,029 Krefeld - 467 3,030 3,730 Brunswick - - - 7,876 13,621 15,470 Halle 1,046 12,808 12,991 Ltibeck - - - 1,588 6,393 7,339 Districts which, under the Socialist law, were de- clared to he in the so-called “ minor state of siege,” ( hleiner Belagerungszustand) voted as follows : — Electoral District. 1878. 1890. 1893. Niederbarnim (Branden- 2,775 13,362 17,044 -burg). Charlottenburg (Berlin) - 4,763 19,169 31,424 Potsdam-Spandau — 3,977 10,140 Harburg 1,763 6,860 9,055 Oltensen-Pinneberg 5,452 10,820 13,097 Lauenburg 347 2,072 3,287 Leipzig (district) 11,253 30,127 33,349 Offenbach-am-Main 5,557 10,343 11,063 Spremberg 1,242 5,610 6,542 The leaders of the party claim that, though the increase has been greatest in the large towns and their immediate neighbourhood, the elections of 1893 are also remarkable for the advance which they show in the purely rural districts. The following statistics are given for the more agricultural provinces : — Province. 1878. 1890. 1893. Brandenburg (exclusive 15,009 83,331 12 8,606 of Berlin). Pomerania (in 1881) 1,069 20,631 37,308 Mecklenburg 2,070 28,235 32,220 Bavaria - 22,532 101,100 12 5,952 Alsace Lorraine HI 19,157 44,885 Neither Bavaria nor Alsace-Lorraine can be described as purely agricultural, but 80 per cent, of the Bavarian population belong to the class of small peasant farmers, and that class is also numerously represented in Alsace- Lorraine. The Social Democrats are especially gratified by their success in these two provinces, because they regard it as an indication of the diminution of the power of the Catholic Church over the labouring classes. In the same spirit they rejoice over the grow- ing adhesion of the miners in Western Germany, which had. previously been largely under Catholic influence. They point out also, that at the time of year at which the elections took place, the population of the agricul- tural provinces is considerably less than it would be in the winter, owing to the fact that numbers of agricul- tural labourers migrate during the summer to the North-Western provinces. The successes of the party in Saxony during the elections to the Reichstag lead its supporters to anticipate a considerable increase in the number of representatives to be elected to the Saxon Landtag at the forthcoming elections. In June 1893, the Social Democratic vote was 273,000, and the Anti-Semitic vote 116,013, whilst Conservatives, National Liberals and Radicals together only numbered 200.000. The Socialists gained five seats at the elections to the Bavarian Landtag, and it is expected that they will gain one if not two in Baden. The numerical strength of the party in the Reichstag has increased from 11 in 1878 to 36 in 1890, and 44 in 1893. It is not, however, the numerical strength alone of Social Democracy which constitutes its peculiar im- portance in contemporary German politics ; it is the steadying influence which the strict discipline and organisation necessitated by Prince Bismarck’s repres- sive policy exercise upon the German workmen. The conservative attitude of Herr Liebknecht, Hen- Bebel, and the Socialist leaders generally, could not be more clearly proved than by the fact that they have drawn upon themselves the same charges of cowardice and lukewarmness in the cause of the proletariate which, at an earlier stage, the Continental Socialists generally brought against the English trade unionists. Though the main body of the German socialists render the most implicit obedience to their leaders, and, as the Zurich Congress showed, are prepared to vote against all violent and revolutionary measures, a small section of malcontents with Anarchist leanings, known as the “ Jungen,” complain bitterly that “ the chiefs of the “ Social Democratic party, who are idolised beyond “ measure by their credulous companions, have so “ corrupted the old movement of the proletariate that “ it has degenerated into a mere parliamentary policy “ of reform, which is in itself ridiculous.” The cautious attitude of the leaders with regard to the 1st of May demonstrations, both in 1892 and 1893, is especially obnoxous to the “ Jungen,” and they speak scornfully of a party “ which counts its progress by its successes at the elections.” These “Jungen” were formally expelled from the party at the Erfurt Congress of 1891, on the ground that they had brought libellous accusations against the leaders, which they were unable or unwilling to prove. Nothing can be clearer from the action of the party as a whole than that it desires to dissociate itself from all Anarchist principles, and this attitude was consistently maintained at the Zurich Con- gress. There is, therefore, every reason to believe that the consolidation, begun under Prince Bismarck’s repressive legislation, which was, in my opinion, as necessary in its time as the subsequent liberal policy of his suc- cessor, will be continued under the present Government. That Herr Bebel, in the interests of his party, will exercise his influence in the saflrie direction appears more than probable from the tone which he adopted at the Congress. But, in the face of the principles enun- ciated in the Erfurt programme, and in view of the recent successes of the party at the polls, it is abun- dantly clear that all the non-Social ist elements in Germany will find themselves obliged to combine, and that here, as elsewhere, the political, as well as the social, struggle of the future will be between a united Conservative, or non-Socialist, Party on the one hand, and the Social Democratic, or Radical, Party on the other. As far as it is yet possible to trace the under- lying tendencies in the economic development of Ger- many, it appears probable that the organisation of labour will proceed upon Socialist, and at the same time non-revolutionary, lines ; but that the growing power of Socialism amongst the German working men will of necessity put an end to the present disintegration of religious and political parties. (') 3 . — Trade Associations. Though, at first sight, the classification of trade associations in Germany appears a task of peculiar difficulty, owing to the number and variety of the forms which they assume, the foregoing survey of the social and political aspects of the labour question throws some light upon the development of the asso- ciations. Three main factors can be distinguished in the movement towards the organisation of labour, the “ Conservative ” desire to erect bulwarks against the dangers 'which threaten Church or State, the “ Liberal ” desire to foster the growth of organisations as a means of attaining complete economic development, and the anxiety on the part of the Social Democratic, or revo- lutionary, party to use every means in their power to bring about a reconstitution of society. To the first of (>) Reports presented to the Zurich Congress, 1893. Renort of the Brussels Congress, 1891. Herr Bebel himself stated at the Zurich Congress, in so many words, that it was the repressive policy of Prince Bismarck which had driven him and his friends to forsake revolutionary tactics for their present policy of Parliamentary action. The movement on the part of the Ultramontane members for Alsace- Lorraine towards a formal fusion with the party of the Centre in the Reichstag mentioned in the "Times” of October 23rd 1893, is an incidental confirmation of the view here stated,— G. D. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 21 a. Associa- tions of employers, (i.) The Guilds. Early history. these factors Germany owes the revival by the Con- servative, or State Socialist, Party of the mediaeval guilds with their unsuccessful attempt to arrest the inevitable decay of the lesser industries, and the formation by the Catholic and Protestant Socialists alike of societies which strive to effect social reforms within the pale of the Church. To the second, or Liberal, factor were due the co-operative societies and loan and benefit funds, the first attempt to organise working men on other than mediaeval lines, and though the reproach has been brought against Herr Schultze- Delitzsch and his followers that their principle of “ self- help ” and non-interference on the part of the State tended rather to the protection of the manufacturer than to that of the workman, this cannot be urged in the case of the trade unions (Gewerkvereine) on the English model, or of the workmen's committees organised by the more progressive Liberals, and favoured by the Academic Socialists. The third, or revolutionary, factor has resulted in the formation of the workmen’s associations ( Gewerkschaften ), the local unions ( Fachvereine ), and the Socialist clubs, which together constitute apparently the most powerful element in the present labour movement. With regard to the relative importance of the other two factors, there are, as has been stated, indications that the Con- servative tendency, at any rate amongst the State and the Protestant Socialists, is giving way. Certainly the combination of socialist with individualist principles is the leading characteristic of the younger school of economists, who are most in sympathy with the present tendencies both of the German Church and the German Government. Viewed in this light, the existence of mediaeval guilds side by side with associations of Social Democrats, and of combinations of employers framed on the lines of State Socialist protective legislation in conjunction with trade unions avowedly organised on the principle of English individualism, finds adequate explanation. At the same time it is clear that this division of parties and of interests is responsible for the fact that no one form of organisation in Germany has attained to anything like the importance or the strengh of the English trade unions and employers’ associations, and that organised labour bears a far smaller propor- tion than in England to the total labour force of the country.( l ) The mediaeval guilds ( Ziinfte ), the predecessors of the present guilds (Innungen), were divested of their exclusive character under the Government of Frederick William I., who was convinced that the existence of monopolies and of privileged corporations was preju- dicial to trade. The tendency of Prussian and German legislation throughout the 18th century was towards industrial freedom. The Prussian law of 1794, which regulated handicrafts and guilds, confined the right of granting a concession for a new manufactory to the State, and thus deprived the guilds of one of their most ancient privileges. In .1806 an Order in Council proclaimed the abolition of all guilds and cor- porations in the linen and cotton weaving industries of East, West, and North-East Prussia, anl a further Order of 1813 annulled all contracts inconsistent with industrial freedom. Though existing guilds were left untouched, membership was made optional by a law of There were, however, many reactions in favour of the limitation of industrial freedom, especially amongst employers. The Prussian Industrial Code of 1845, which only recognised the guilds as voluntary trade associations, met with strong opposition. Congresses of employers were held at Hamburg and at Frankfurt- am-Main to protest against the Code, and to demand the repeal of the existing industrial legislation, the establishment of compulsory guilds, the narrower re- striction of the rights of employes, and the stricter regulation of manufactures, On the other hand, a Workmen’s Congress held the same year, demanded industrial freedom, security of work, a responsible Minister of Labour, Chambers of Commerce, the aboli- tion of internal customs dues and of the guild system, a working-day of 12 hours including meal-times, and a fixe l minimum wage. In consequence of these demands the Government appointed a Commission to consider the matter, and issued an Order in Council establishing district Councils of Industry to protect the interests ('). ranees on pp. 21-27 and authorities there cited; alto Worishorfer, ‘ Die Sociale Lage der Fabrikarbeiter in Mannheim,” 1891, pp. 340-383. of trade. These Councils proved unsuccessful, and were soon abolished. In the remaining German States the guild system was gradually modified, and between 1860 and 1870 industrial codes, founded upon the principle of industrial freedom, were generally adopted, in 1889 the North German Industrial Code, now known as the Reichs-Gewerbe-Ordnung, was passed by the North German Reichstag, and in 1872 it was extended to the whole German Empire. It included regulations for existing guilds, but these guilds were composed entirely of small, independent employers (Meister). The movement in favour of including the employed ( Gesellen ) began in Hamburg in 1874 with the avowed object of improving the relations between the two industrial parties. A guild of dyers was accordingly founded in Hamburg, to be governed by a committee, on the principle of the English joint committees, consisting of an equal number of repre- sentatives of the employers and employed with equal rights. This attempt was followed by others, but the fear which the employers entertained of the results likely to follow from the numerical superiority of the employed resulted in the failure of this method of conciliation. The idea was for the time abandoned, though it re-appeared in another form in the provi- sions of the law of 1881, which enjoin the formation of workmen’s committees to represent the employed before the guild. (') According to the Industrial Code of 1869 all existing p rov isioiis guilds are confirmed and placed on a voluntary basis, of the Code Members may leave the guild at will, and none but of 1869 - those who have been permanently or temporarily de- prived of civic rights can be refused admission, provided that they are prepared to pay the entrance fee and to submit themselves to any tests of efficiency instituted by the guilds. The entrance fee must be uniform for all members, but if it exceeds five thalers it requires the authorisation of the district authorities. The guild is represented by its committee of management, and this committee has complete control over its affairs, subject to the approval of the communal authorities in questions concerning real property. These authorities decide disputed questions, and have the right to be represented at important guild meetings. For any change of statutes or for the dissolution of the guild the authority of the district administration is required, and in the latter case all property other than that derived from the contributions of members reverts to the commune, unless otherwise determined by statute, to be applied by the commune to the discharge of the guild’s liabilities, the maintenance of any institu- tions which the guild has established, and similar pur poses. ( 2 ) In 1881 the gradual decaj' of the handicrafts and the Provisions difficulties connected with apprenticeship led to an Amendment attempt to resuscitate the guild organisations, which Act of 1881. had fallen into neglect. This measure was advocated by the friends of the lesser industries on the ground that nothing less could afford these industries the necessary protection against factory competition. Though the Government refused to introduce an extreme measure such as the establishment of com- pulsory guilds on the ground of their tendency to impose artificial checks upon the natural course of industrial development, the additions made to the Industrial Code by the law of July 18th, 1881, were intended to encourage the formation of voluntary guilds, and to convert them into instruments of in- dustrial self-government. Though no remedy could be provided for the disastrous effect upon small industries of factory competition, it was hoped that the fuller privileges granted to the guilds would ensure the better regulation of apprenticeship, and thus maintain the standard of the handicrafts. The Amendment Act of 1881, therefore, provided that, in addition to the old guilds, new guilds might be formed with the fourfold object of maintaining the standard of work in an in- dustry and promoting its interests, establishing har- monious relations between employers and employed, regulating contracts with apprentices and providing for their technical education, and deciding disputes between members and their apprentices. Besides the pursuit of these main objects, the guilds are empowered to perform certain subsidiary functions. They may (>) Braun, “ Arbeiter-schutzgesetze der Europiischen Staaten,” 1890;. pp. 1-49. Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. .180. Art, ; “ Die Innungen,” Stieda. ( 2 ) Jacobi, “ Die Innungen,” 1882, pp. 10-16. Reiclis - Gewerbe - Ordnung, Titel VI., sects. 81-96, pp. 90-100. C 3 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Present position of the Guilds. 22 institute technical schools for the education not only of apprentices but of masters and journeymen ; they may establish examinations, and give certificates of pro- ficiency ; and they are further entitled to introduce common industrial regulations binding upon their members. Sick funds may be established tor the benefit of members as well as of their workmen and apprentices, and the guilds are specially charged with the duty of forming boards of arbitration. The work- men, though not eligible for guild membership, are to be represented in dealings with the guild. In the model statutes drawn up officially this was provided for by means of a workman’s committee, to negotiate with the guild committee on all disputed points as to the conditions of work, express the views of the workmen on important points, such as the management of funds for their benefit, and criticise any bye-laws affecting their interests. The guilds may be either trade guilds ( Fachinnungen ) or mixed guilds (Gemischte-innungen). The latter were constituted in districts where the members of a given trade were too few to support a separate guild, and where, therefore, several trades combined to their common advantage in the mainte- nance of sick-funds, technical schools, shelters for the unemployed, and similar guild institutions. Where there are several guilds in one locality the law of 1881 enables them to place themselves under a common administration by forming a joint guild committee ( Innungs-auschuss ) which conducts the general business of the guilds. The powers of such a committee are not fixed by statute ; they depend upon the authority delegated to the committee by the separate guilds electing it. In order to consolidate the guild system still further the law provides for associations (Innungs verbancle), either of guild 1 - belonging to one industry in different trades, or of guilds belonging to different in- dustries in one district. The Boards of Arbitration to be constituted by the guilds must consist of a president and at least two assessors representing respectively the employers and the employed, and elected by those whom they represent. The parties elected cannot refuse to serve except on grounds which would render them ineligible for trusteeship of any kind. So fai the authority of the new guilds was confined to the control of their own members, but by certain further provisions of the law this authority might, in some special in- stances, be extended to non-members. Guilds, which confine their activity to the regulation of apprentice- ship and have achieved success in this line of action, may be given permission by the district authorities to decide a dispute between a master and an apprentice, when appealed to by either of the disputants, even where the master is not a member of the guild. These guilds may also be empowered to subject all apprentices within their district to an examination conducted by a board, half the members of which are elected by the guild and half by the district authorities. These pro- visions have been the subject of severe criticism on the part of the friends of industrial freedom, but the BO-called compulsory powers which they give to the guilds are, it will be observed, confined within exceedingly narrow limits. (') Statistics show that the guild form of organisation finds more supporters in the north of Germany than in the south. Out of 10,223 guilds with 321.219 members in the German Empire as a whole. 7,823, with 226,049 members, belong to Prussia. These guilds include, according to the Kosen Congress of Artisans, about onc-tentli of all the artisans of Germany. In South and West Germany there is a decided inclination in favour of mixed guilds, but the General Association of German Artisans at Berlin regards mixed guilds with disfavour. Their advantages in small and thinly populated districts are, however, undeniable. The further step in organisation required for the formation of guild committees had, by December 1st, 1887, been taken in 63 cases ; by December 1st. 1890, the number of these committees had risen to 133, but their forma- tion is said to be slow, owing to the uncertainty attaching to their powers. The Central Committee of the Union of Associated Guilds tries to promote their formation by supplying model rules free of cost. Associations of trade guilds in one industry, such as the “ Germania ” Association of Bakers, which includes 860 towns, are 25 in number. The greater power due to the larger means and wider sphere gained by association is incidentally shown by the fact that the 11 Germania ” has succeeded in making apprenticeship compulsory. The “ Siichsischer Innnngsverband,” es- tablished on January 18th, 1888, which includes 252 guilds, with 10,600 members, is a good example of the territorial form of association. An official inquiry made in 1890 into the working of the law of 1881 in Prussia brought out the fact that almost all existing guilds had provided for the representation of the interests of their workmen by means of a workman’s committee, and the effect of this measure in introducing a better under- standing between employers and employed in small industries must not be overlooked. A certain section amongst employers in small industries still desire to see the formation of guilds as well as of the further associations provided for by the law of 1881 made compulsory. They desire also the creation of chambers of guilds and of an Imperial Guild Office to control the whole set of institutions. These proposals, however, to invoke State support for industries, which are losing ground through natural causes, do not meet with any large measure of favour even amongst those who practise these industries, and were repudiated by the Artisans’ Congress in 1892J 1 ) In accordance with the Accident Insurance Law of (*'.) Trade July 1884, and the further amendments of May 1885, May 1886, and July 1887, employers are united into genossens- trade associations (Berufsgenossenschaften) for mutual connexion" 1 insurance with respect to the payment of the indem- with the nities to which workmen, who meet with any injury J.^ urance not deliberately self-inflicted, are entitled. Under the original law ot 1884, 62 such associations were formed amongst employers in manufacturing and transport industries ; 28 of these were for the German Empire as a whole, whilst the remainder were more local in character. Thus, whilst employers in certain in- dustries, such as that of mining, are all united in one national association, other trades are represented by a number of local associations, the textile trades, in particular, by seven. The extension of the law in 1886 to agriculture and forestry called into existance a number of agricultural associations, 22 in 1888 and 26 in 1889. These associations are, for the most part, limited to smaller districts than those controlled by the industrial associations ; in Prussia the sphere of their operations is confined to the district ( kreis ). The Amendment Act of 1887 created a Marine Association and an association of well diggers, so that the total number of industrial associations at present in existence is 64, and that of agricultural associations 48. The former class include about 360.000 establishments, employing 4,500,000 workmen, and the latter class nearly 4,000.000 establishments with more than 8,000,000 workmen insured. Membership in these associations is compulsory, and begins for every employer on the day on which he opens his establishment or takes possession of his farm. The associations are under the control of the Imperial Insurance Office, but enjoy a large share of self-government. There must be a Committee of Management and a general meeting, either of all the members or of their delegates ; large associations may be sub-divided into sections, with sectional committees, sectional meetings, and trustees. At the present time the number of general committees is 112, of sectional committees 915, and of trustees 16,000. (For details as to the contributions levied and indemnities paid, see pp. 75-79.) The associations may' issue regulations regarding the protection of machinery and the adoption of certain appliances, or of working rules, for the prevention of accidents. Many have availed themselves of this privilege to a large extent ; the regulations of the Rhenish Westphalian Blast - furnacemen aud Iron Smelters’ Association extend to 213 paragraphs, and those of the Ironworkers’ Association of South-West Germany form a pamphlet of 70 pages. Employers who do not conform to the associations’ regulations may be punished by the exaction of higher contribu- tions, whilst workmen neglecting them are liable to a fine. The insurance law provided for the representation of the employed in connexion with these associations, as well as for the establishment of boards of arbitration. It is only amongst industrial employers, however, that there has been any determined effort to comply with these regulations. Representatives of the workmen P) Reiehs-Gewerfoe-Ordnung, Titel VI., sects. 2 «'>. : 17 1 0 1 . pp. 100-133. Jacobi. "Die Innungen,” py. 1 7-.il. Lexis, “ Hnndw&rterlmch tier (') Lexis, “ H:mdwdrterbiichderStaatswissenschaften,"voI. IV., p.586. Sta&tswissenschaften, vol. IV., y. 586. Art. : “ Die Innungen,” Stieda.j Art. : “ Die Innungen,” Stieda. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY, 23 (iii.) Other associations. chosen from the Committee of Management of the Sick Insurance Fund ( se< ' p. 74) are elected to serve as assessors on the boards ot arbitration, to sanction the measures adopted for the prevention of accident-, and to take part in the election of members for the Imperial Insurance Office from every association or section ot an association. The b lards of arbitration are composed of a permanent president, who must be a Government official appointed by the central authorities ot the district and four assessors, two elected by the associa- tion and two by the representatives ol the workmen. Appeal from the decisions of this board may be made to the Imperial Insurance Office. The number ot boards of arbitration at present constituted is 999, whilst the number of workmen’s representatives with a voice in the affairs of the trade associations is 4,000. When the Insurance Law was passed it was regarded by many of the friends of the labour movement in Germany as likely to result in the growth of a spirit of conciliation amongst employers and employed. To this end the representation of the workmen was insisted on, and in the constitution of the Imperial Insurance Office itself such representation was recognised. Over and above four temporary members elected by the Federal Council and certain permanent members, the office includes representatives of the Trade Associations and of the insured workmen. This conjunction of the two industrial parties, together with the provision made for the representation of workmen in the separate Associations, was intended to prepare the way for handing over to the Associations the control of a number of matters connected with labour, such as insurance against old age and infirmity, health regula- tions, the restriction of the labour of women and children, and the supervision of factory regulations. These expectations have, however, been so far disap- pointed, and the Associations do not as yet control anything beyond the accident insurance funds. (') Combinations of employers for the purpose of mutual defence against workmen on strike have been formed in certain districts of Germany. The earliest example is that of the master printers who, as early as 1848, formed themselves into an organisation for the purpose of resisting the demands of the first National Union of Printers. This organisation appears, however, to have been of an informal ancl temporary character, and the first formal employers association called into existence by the attitude of the organisations amongst the em- ployed was the National Association of Master Printers founded in 1869. In 1873, this association declared a general lock-out of unionist printers, but the lock-out was only partially carried out, and eventually (see p. 25) the two parties came' to an agreement on the question of wages which was in dispute. This National Associa- tion of Master Printers aims, according to certain resolutions passed at Frankfort in 1874, at the promotion of the material and moral interests of German printers, both employers and employed. It undertakes to repre- sent the trade in connexion with the fetate and the general public, and to. regulate the relations between employers and employed by means of joint boards of conciliation. Its other objects include the regulation of apprenticeship and the establishment of technical schools, as well as the maintenance of a fund for necessitous master printers or their widows and orphans, and together with the workmen of sick, widows, and travelling benefit funds. Every owner or responsible manager of a printing establishment ot 1 type foundry may become a member on assenting to the rules and paying a definite entrance fee. The management is in the hands of an executive committee of three members, and of the president of the district associations. The executive committee conducts the correspondence and keeps the accounts of the association, and may under- take obligations on behalf of the whole body. There is a general meeting once a year at which all members of the association may be present; but the right of voting is confined to the executive committee, and to the delegates of the district associations. Between 1877 and 1885, the Master Printers’ Association decreased in numbers and in influence, but after the passing of the Imperial Accident Insurance Law of 1884, the interest of its members revived. The master printers were the first to organise themselves into the trade association (’) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. II., p. 40S. Art.: “ Berufsgenossenscliaften,” Bodiker. Fascicule l„ 1892, p. u. MinistCre du Commerce et de lTndustrie, OHice du Travail, France. Pfafferoth, “ Fuhrer durch die gesammte Arbeiterversicherung,” 1891, pp. 38, 49, 100-102. The Workmen’s Insurance of the German Empire, Guide prepared for the Chicago Exhibition, 1893, pp. 10 et seq. (Berufsganossenschaft) required by the law, and their members have since made a determined attempt to put an end to the competition of small employers, and to the undue multiplication of apprentices. The member- ship of the association has increased rapidly, but it is still unable to secure universal observance of its rules on the part of members. (') Similar though less powerful combinations have been formed amongst employers in other industries. The period 1888-9 is especially remarkable in this respect, and was characterised by an increasing number of lock- outs. Employers in the engineering trade had become organised much earlier, and were especially active in black-listing strikers about 1875. The United Iron- masters locked out their men in 1889, and a similar policy has been adopted by employers in other in- dustries. After a widespread strike in February 1890, the woollen manufacturers of Cottbus, in Prussia, entered into an agreement to close their factories simul- taneously in the event of any fresh trouble, and not to re-open them until some general settlement had been agreed upon. A guarantee, proportioned to the amount of looms in his mill, was required lrom every manu- facturer, and the total sum thus deposited amounted to 25,000/. The men were notified of this decision amongst the employers by means of placards posted in the factories. Similar combinations of employers were formed in most of the industrial centres of the province of Brandenburg about the same period ; but few cases occurred in which they were called upon to take action against the men. A strike of 600 leather workers in Barmen during March 1890, for the abolition of piece work, a maximum day of 10 hours and a minimum wage of 18s. a week, induced the employers to combine, and the men were obliged to return to work on less favourable terms. (-) The establishment of trade unions in Germany on any extended scale was due to the admiration felt for their English prototypes by the school of Liberal econo- mists and friends of the labour party represented by Dr. Max Hirsch, who stood in 1868 midway between the Social Democrats on the one hand, and the bureau- cracy or Conservative Socialists on the other. Two trade unions had, however, been previously esta- blished by Herr Fritzsche, a follower of Lassalle, namely the German Union of Tobacco Workers in 1865, and the Union of German printers in 1866. In 1868 Dr. Max Hirsch published the result of an inquiry which he had made in person into the con- stitution and procedure of the English trade unions, with a view to initiating a movement in favour of similar organisations in Germany. Before, however, Dr. Hirsch had had time to proceed further, the fol- lowers of Lassalle under Herr von Schweitzer and Herr Fritzsche, who had been already active in the matter of organisation, issued a notice for a German Labour Congress to be held at Berlin in September 1868, to discuss all matters connected with strikes. At this Congress the Socialist leaders advocated the formation of workmen’s associations iGewerlcscliaften, seep. 26), for the purposes of propagating the principles of Social Democracy, and organising wide-spread strikes for the attainment of its objects. The delegates sent by the Berlin engineers, who were opposed to such organisa- tions, were refused a hearing and turned out of the Congress, whereupon they were followed by the repre- sentatives of the Berlin painters aud Danzig engineers, and together drew up an indignant protest against this “ appeal to force in the name of freedom.” Two days later a meeting of w'orking men. called together by Dr. Hirsch and Herr Duncker, adopted Dr. Hirscli’s scheme for the establishment of trade unions, and appointed a Commission composed of 70 delegates to prepare model rules. In November a number of local branches were formed in Berlin, Magdeburg, and Danzig, and before the end of the year the first German trade union, that of the engineers and metal workers, was formed. At the Easter Congress of 1869, it was announced that four trade unions had been organised, and shortly afterwards the ‘‘Association of Hirseh- Duncker trade unions” was formed with five affiliated unions. By the end of the year the number had in- creased to 12, with 267 branches in 141 different localities, and a membership of about 30,000. The rapid progress of the movement, however, received a P) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. I.,p. GIG. Art, : “ Arbeitseinstellungen in Deutschland,” Oldenberg. Schriften des Vereins fur Socialpolitik, 1899, vol. XLV., pp. 354, 361-403, 127, 428. ( 2 ) F.O. Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 212, 1891, p. 20. Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. I., p. 616. Ait. : “ Arheitsfeinstellungen in Deutschland,” Oldenberg. C 4 b. Associa- tions of employed, (i.) Trade unions ( Gewerk- vereine). Early history. 24 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: Organisa- tion. check. The failure of the trade unionists to gain cheir point in a number of wage disputes into which they had entered, cooled the ardour of the members, and the political events of 1870-1 diverted attention from labour questions. At the second Congress, in 1871, the number of members was found to have fallen to 10,000. Public feeling in Germany was still strongly against the trade unions, which were almost universally re- garded as associations fostered by the Liberals or Pro- gressists ( Fortschritts-Partei ) for the promotion of strikes, and the disastrous result of the Waldenburg strike ( see p. 32), which the unionists had supported with enthusiasm, further alienated public sympathy. The interference of the Social Democrats worked the ruin of several local branches, and even of three of the most important unions, and the influence of this party appeared to the trade unionists to be so' injurious to their interests, that since 1876 they have required every candidate for membership to sign a declaration that he is not a Social Democrat. In the year 1878, the year of the special edict against the Socialists, the trade unions gained official recognition for their benefit funds, and from that time their numbers began to increase, At the end of 1885 there were 17 unions, with 953 branches and 51,000 members; in the spring of 1891 the number of branches had increased to 1382, and the number of members to 63,571; but after the secession of the porcelain workers in November, the total mem- bership fell to 58,000, of whom 22,000 belong to the Engineers’ Union. The three unionist papers, including the official organ, the “ Trade Union,” have a circulation of about 40,000. (') According to the constitutions of these trade unions the local branches enjoy a large measure of inde- pendence, and administer the funds subject to the control of the General Committee of the Union. This General Committee is elected every three or five years, by a general meeting of the members. The unions are again represented in the Central Council of the Association of German Trade Unions, the members of which are elected for three ‘years at the triennial Trade Union Congress. This Central Committee propagates trade union principles, decides disputes, intervenes or gives advice when necessary, and accumulates a general fund, which now amounts to about 66,000 marks. Dr. Hirsch, who edits the “ Trade Union,” and holds the post of Counsel to the Association, is still the life and soul of the movement. If the branch unions are involved in any serious difficulty, or are threatened with a strike, they must refer the matter to the General Committee of the Union, and failing a settlement by these means, the General Committee must refer it to the Central Committee of the Association. No strike may take place without this double reference, and the Central Committee must decide whether such a measure is advisable in the existing state of trade, and whether the union funds can support the strain. In any case the strike is regarded as an exceptional remedy, and the main object of the unions is to secure industrial peace. Indeed, up to the present time, the German trade unions have really accomplished more in the direction of education than in the direction of obtaining better conditions of labour for their members. Over and above the general educational influence exercised by any association upon its individual members, the unions have established libraries and arranged for lectures and courses of instruction. They have collected statistics, with regard to wages and other conditions of labour, which have been published from time to time, and are of considerable value. They have also instituted benefit funds to educate the members in thrift. Every union grants sick and funeral benefits, and the Engineers’ Union provides pensions for those who have become infirm. Some of the more flourishing unions have funds for the support of members thrown out of work by depression of trade, for procuring professional assistance for members involved in legal proceedings, for supplying travelling expenses to members in search of work, and for establishing some form of labour registry. The absence, however, of any effective endeavour on the part of the unions to secure better conditions of labour for their members has given an advantage to the more aggressive Socialist organisations, and is mainly responsible for the slow rate of progress which characterises trade unionism in Germany. In 1891 a spirit of discontent showed itself amongst the members, and a general agitation for the dissolution of the Central Association resulted in the above-mentioned secession of the Union of Porcelain Workers. Members of other unions have also frequently expressed the opinion that it would be advisable to adopt a moro decided line of action against the employers, and to join forces with other bodies of working men for the purpose of attaining the ends desired by all. I he statistics published by the Hirsch Duncker Trade Unions in September 1893 on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of their inauguration give the present membership as follows: — | 2 . 3. 4. 5. 6 . 7. 8 . 9. 10 . 11 . 12 . 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Local Branches. Members. Engineers and metal workers 403 23,129 Factory workers and manual labourers - - 229 10,100 Cabinet - makers and cognate trades - - 113 4,593 Shoemakers and leather workers 108 3,823 Textile workers - - 67 3,328 Tailors and cognate trades Builders and masons f ^, ow J members of Carpenters - -1 buil ? in S l trades. i 72 1 2,585 } M 1,772 Painters, decorators, and cognate trades ... 45 1,546 Cigar-makers and tobacco workers 30 1,176 Potters and other workers 28 843 Miners and (juarrymen 43 608 Ship carpenters and cognate trades 9 174 Coppersmiths ( Klempncr ) and metal workers - 54 2,360 Stonecutters and cognate trades - 8 209 Shop assistants - - - 33 4,322 Confectioners and cognate trades 12 412 Ropemakers (Danzig) and gilders (Berlin) ... 2 59 1,341 ! 61,034 It is only the first of these societies which really affords any adequate parallel to an English trade union. The engineers and metal workers have conducted several strikes for an advance of wages in different districts, but the other unions are not strong enough to extend their activity beyond the establishment of benefit funds. The financial records of the trade unions between 1869 and 1892 show a total income of 16,250,000 marks, and a total expenditure of 14,250,000 marks; this includes 2,200,000 marks for legal aid to members, travelling mcney, out-of-work pay, and assistance in special cases, 8,400,000 marks for sick and funeral allowances, and 1,200,000 marks for pensions. The reserve fund deposited for the most part in the Imperial Bank amounts to 2,000,000 marks. (’) The one trade union in Germany which really bears a close resemblence to the English unions is wholly unconnected with the movement initiated by Dr. Hirsch and Herr Duncker. At the outset it owed something to the influence of Herr Fritzsche, a disciple of Lassalle, but the elements of an organisation were already in existence, and the independent attitude which this union has maintained for more than twenty-five years with regard to all political parties distinguishes it alike from the Socialist organisations and from the trade unions of the Liberal party. The Printers’ Union can without difficulty be traced back to the seventeenth century, by which time the trade, at first the exclusive possession of certain families, had become an organised guild, t < i The German Printers’ Union (Dei- Unter- stiitzungs- verein deutscher Buch- driicker). (>) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV.. p. 19. Art.: “ Die Gewerkvereine in Deutschland,” Schmole. Hirsch, "Die Deutschen Gewerkvereine,” 1879. (') Lexis, “Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 19. Art.: “ Die Gewerkvereine in Deutschland,” Schmole. Hirsch, " Dio Deutschen Gewerkvereine,” 1879. Sozialpolitisches iCentralblatt, vol. III., 1893, p. 30. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 25 divided into throe clases, masters, journeymen and apprentices. Under the control of the general guild there was a special association or brotherhood of journey- men known as the “ Postulat ” from the name given to the act of receiving a new member. This Postulat watched over the interests of members, exercised a certain amount of jurisdiction over them, and provided assistance for members in search of employment or incapacitated from supporting themselves by illness or old age. The journeymen, however, became dissatisfied with the limited powers possessed by the Postulat ; they began to hold secret meetings and even to organise strikes. In consequence of these disturbances a decree of 1731 curtailed the powers of the Postulat, but in Saxony it continued to administer the benefit funds. Its meetings were carried on until 1810, when it was abolished by a decree of the King, and all meetings of journeymen were forbidden. The journeymen’s associations in other parts of Germany were suppressed at the same time, and from 1810 to 1818 journeymen became mere dependents of the guild. The system of travelling benefits was, however, retained to relieve the labour market, which had become overstocked through the large number of apprentices employed after the introduction of steam presses ; this served to keep alive the remembrance of the old Postulat and to rouse a feeling of common interest amongst, printers throughout the country, Between 1830 and 1840 several local associations were formed ostensibly for the better education of printers, but really for the purpose of maintaining a spirit of organisation. The celebration in 1840 of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of printing gave an impetus to the movement ; the employers regarded the formation of Beading Unions amongst the working printers with favour, and in 184fi a newspaper appeared devoted to the interests of the trade. In 1848 this was superseded by the “Gutenberg,” and in June of the same year the Gutenberg National Union of Printers was formed with its headquarters at Prankfurt. This Union had been preceded by a strike in Berlin which lasted only a few weeks, but the attempt of the employers to force their men to sign a paper expressing regret for the strike and undertaking to abstain from such a course of action in the future led to a further difficulty. The Conference at Mainz, where the Union \> as first organised, drew up regulations concerning wages, hours of work, the number of apprentices to be allowed and the compensa- tion to be paid to workmen kept waiting for work. All employers and workmen were invited to join the Union, but the majority of the employers refused to accept the invitation, and formed themselves into a counter organi- sation to resist the demands of the workmen, A strike took place in August in many establishments where the regulations drawn up by the Mainz Congress were not accepted ; but owing to dissensions amongst the members of the Union the strike was not universal and resulted in favour of the employers. The men were obliged to resume work on the employers’ terms or were replaced by non-strikers, and the National Union broke up into a number of local and provincial unions. A fresh attempt to re-unite these into an association known as the Gutenberg League was made in 1849, but in 1850 it was suppressed by the police, the “Gutenberg” newspaper was prohibited and its editor imprisoned. There was no further attempt to form a national union until 1806, the year succeeding the great strike amongst the Leipzig printers. The Berlin Printers’ Union had gained an advance of wages for their members in 1865, and the Leipzig Union made a similar demand, which was refused by the majority of the employers. A strike of nine weeks resulted only in a compromise, and in 1866 a general congress of printers was held to consider the matter. As a result the National Printers’ Trade Union was organised and began its operations on January 1st 1867. In 1868 a further Congress at Berlin drew up rules for the Union, which stated its objects to be the improve- ment of the material conditions and the mental cultivation of its members. The Congress also divided the organisation into local branches ( Ortsvereine ) and smaller and larger district associations (Bexirksvereine and Gauverbande) ; of the latter there are now 22. The Congress placed the whole under the direc- tion of a committee consisting of a president and five members . The number of persons composing the committee has since been increased to seven ; they are elected every three years by the Congress of German printers. Before 1873 the Printers’ Union included more than half of the working printers in Germany ; its membership at the present time is about 13,000. The Union obtained its greatest success in 1873, when it established a wages list for the whole of Germany and gained general recognition for the principle of a 10 hours day. In the following year boards of arbitration were established for the settlement of further dis- putes concerning wages and hours, but the difficulties of the Union were by no means at an end. A Master Printers’ Association, founded in 1874, had superseded an older combination of employers ( see p. 23), and its action showed that the master printers were not yet prepared to abandon the old patriarchal system nor yet to keep faith with the Union. The masters at- tempted to keep the control of the out-of-work and travelling funds, and, though they had agreed with the Union to support the boards of arbitration, many of the first cases brought before those boards proved the insincerity of such an agreement. These cases arose chiefly from the refusal of the employers to observe the wages list, and where the decision was given against them, they repudiated the award. So determined were the employers to free themselves from the wages list that an association was actually formed in Berlin amongst employers and non-unionist work- men with the avowed object of upsetting it, though a number of these employers belonged to the Master Printers’ Association, and had therefore subscribed to it. In 1876 and 1878 new lists were drawn up, and in the latter year the boards of conciliation were abolished and a wages committee substituted, which was sup- ported by the Printers’ Union, but received little assistance from the employers. When the special edict was passed in 1878 against the Social Democrats (sea p. 11), a Leipzig master printer denounced the Printers’ Union to the authorities, and its leaders were pro- secuted. As it could not, however, be proved that the Union took any part in political matters, it could not be prohibited directly, especially as it had changed its name to that of the German Printers’ Benefit Society (Unterstiitxungsverein der deutsclien B uclulr ticker) . It was, however, declared illegal in Saxony, and con- sequently its head-quarters were removed from Leipzig to Stuttgart. Since that time strikes concerning wages have not been infrequent, and in 1891-2 there was a prolonged strike amongst printers throughout Germany for a nine hours’ day. (For the further establishment of boards of arbitration, see p. 36.) Though the Printers’ Union can by no means show an unbroken record of successes, it has gained more advantages for its members than any other labour organisation in Germany. The record of the contribu- tions paid into its funds, illustrated by the following table, shows the great advances which it has made since 1866, the year of its foundation : — Year. General Fund. Sick Fund. Pension Fund. 1866 - Marks. 3,187 Marks. Marks. 1868 - 5,000 — — 1 888 - 10,116 11,118 8,002 1889 - 15,210 14,416 12,725 1891 - - -j over \ 17,000 J — — At the end of 1890 its financial standing was as follows : — Marks. General fund 412,411.92 Central sick fund 272,024.14 Central pension fund 994,645.60 (Including the Bavarian \ fund) - - J 1,707,079.76 i 78420. D (ii.) Work- men’s Asso- ciations ( Gewerk • schaften ) . History before the Special Law. 26 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : The amount paid out of the funds of the Union as a whole, between 1868 and 1890 inclusive, has been 5,612,069 marks ; if the sums paid out by the local and district branches are added, the total would be about 10,000,000 marks. The expenditure for 1883 and 1889 is shown in the following table(') : — Year. Travel- ling. Un- employed. Support of Wages List. Sick. Funeral. Pensions. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. 1883 132,191 28,532 22,024 215,305 11,622 8,882 1SS9 62,421 - 53,512 17,604 280,103 14,274 78,648 The movement towards the formation of workmen’s associations of a socialist type was, as has been already stated ( see p. 10), initiated by the followers of Lassalle. Lassalle had himself founded a General Association of German Working Men (Allgemeiner Deutscher Ar- beiterverein) in 1863, and a proposal was made by Herr von Schweitzer to the annual meeting of that association at Hamburg in 1868, that unions should be formed amongst workmen of the same trades with the object of gaining material advantages for the workmen, and thus attaching them to the Social Democratic party. The proposal received no support from the Hamburg Congress, who regarded any amelioration of the conditions of labour under the present economic system as an injury to the cause of Social Democracy. In September of the same year, however, a special workmen’s congress, summoned by Herr von Schweitzer aud Herr Fritzsche to Berlin, expressed the strongest approval of the scheme, and proceeded to organise workmen’s associations (Gewerkschaften) with model statutes drawn up by Herr von Schweitzer. The violence of the members hurried their leaders into premature and ill-considered strikes, the strikes re- sulted in failure, and the whole movement was in danger of proving abortive. To prevent such a catas- trophe Herr von Schweitzer united all the associations into a General Workmen’s Benefit Association, with himself as president ; but this association speedily dwindled from 35,000 to 4,257 members, and never exercised any appreciable influence upon the labour movement. A few of the followers of Lassalle at- tempted to follow up the movement thus initiated, by founding local associations and endeavouring to amal- gamate them into central unions, but it was not until new vigour was infused into their efforts by an alliance with the followers of Karl Marx that anything worthy of note was accomplished. As early as 1869 the Eisenach Congress, held by the followers of Karl Marx, had sanctioned the formation and maintenance of workmen’s associations (Gew eric schaften.) The Internationalist Workmen’s Congress at Bale took the same view, and the result was the formation of inter- national associations of working men, known as the “ Internationale Gewerksgenossenschaften.” Herr Bebel was especially prominent in the formation of these associations, which sprang up for the most part in South or West Germany. The number of members was small, and the management, as a rule, feeble, so much so that Herr Schmoele says of them that they served for the most part as object lessons of the impossibility of gaining any advantage for the working men under the present organisation of society. Some few neglected the preaching of Socialism, and concen- trated their attention upon the education and the amelioration of the material condition of their members. These met with a greater share of success ; by 1874 they had dropped the high-sounding title at first adopted, and as simple “ Gewerkschaftcn ” were en- deavouring to discountenance strikes, establishing benefit funds, and using every means to promote a sense of community of interest amongst members. By these indirect methods the wisest amongst the Socialist leaders advanced the interests of their party far more than they could have done by direct propaganda, since the German working men came gradually to (') Lexis, “ Handworterbucli der Staatswissenscliaften,” vol. I., p. 61G. Art. “ Arbeitseinstellungeu in Deutschland,” Oldenberg, vol. IV., p. 19. Art. "Die Gewerkvereine in Deutschland,” Schmole. “ Schriften des Verems fur Sozialpolitik,” vol. XLV„ 1890, pp. 329-467.- Throughout this Report the German mark (= 100 pfennige) may be taken as equivalent to the English shilling. identify Social Democracy with those persons who were seeking to obtain material benefits for them. The Gewerkschaften have, however, always kept in view their original principle that the organisation of labour is a means to the gradual reconstitution of society upon Socialist lines. In 1875 an alliance was effected between the followers of Lassalle and those of Karl Marx, and by 1878 the number of general associations was 29, of branch associations 1,300, and of members 58,000, whilst there were 15 papers devoted to the interests of the associations. The Special Law of 1878 prohibiting all ‘‘ societies After the “ which aim at the subversion of the existing political Special “ or social order by social democratic, socialist or LttW - “ communist efforts,” inflicted a serious injury ujton the workmen’s associations. For the time being they seemed to be entirely destroyed. A large number, both of the central and branch associations were directly prohibited, others voted their own dissolution, whilst others again followed the example of the Printers’ Union, and saved their funds by placing themselves at the disposal of the police and inviting Government regulation. Nevertheless the principles of the Gewerkschaften were not abandoned, and in 1880 a new form of organisation was introduced by means of carefully worded articles in papers devoted to the interests of special trades, which advocated the formation of local unions in these special trades (Fachvereine). Those local unions, whose statutes enjoined abstention from politics, were enabled to form central associations, and even after a time associations for the whole of Germany. The movement grew rapidly in spite of the hindrances offered by the police. In Berlin the local organisation was especially strong and fulfilled all the functions of the old Gewerk- schaften. The law prohibiting the distribution of Socialist literature was frequently evaded, and the associations ( Fachvereine ) became the most important instruments in the hands of the Social Democrats, though politics were as far as possible kept out of sight. The greater necessity for this reserve on the part of associations with a wide area gave the smaller and more local associations a temporary superiority. No association could, however, concern itself directly with strikes without provoking police interference. To avoid this difficulty in districts where the police were specially active, a system of representation by means of trustees ( Vertrauensmdnner ) was introduced. These representatives were elected at public meetings of the members of a trade, and were empowered to represent the trade, to collect strike funds and organise strikes, either alone or in conjunction more or less avowed with the Gewerkschaften. Special strike committees were sometimes appointed, so that the associations themselves might not appear to be directing the strike. A few of these associations have been formed amongst women, others admit women to mem- bership. In November 1887, a provisional General Committee was established for all the German work- men’s associations to give uniformity to the movement and to regulate strikes. According to resolutions adopted at the General Congress of German Work- men’s Associations ( Deutscher Gewerkschaftskongress) held at Halberstadt in 1892, members are to en- deavour to form central associations and are to issue cai'ds to branch unions of cognate trades with this end in view. Unions which possess these cards in common are pledged to mutual support in case of strikes and lock-outs, the mutual grant of travelling money, simultaneous agitation for common objects, the collection of common statistics, the establishment of central shelters for unemployed members and labour registries, the publication of a common trade organ, an d the provision of facilities for transferring members from one association to another. The General Com- mittee of all the German Gewerkschaften undertakes to carry on an agitation in trades and districts which are not yet organised, to work out a uniform method of collecting statistics and to collect them from the central associations, to publish periodical strike statis- tics, to conduct a general newspaper and to establish international relations where possible. Every central association must pay 5 pf. for each member to the general committee and failure to pay involves exclu- sion from the Congress. All strikes must be reported to the committee as well as all statistics collected by any association. Central associations with less than 1,500 members send one delegate to the Congress, larger associations one for every 1,500 members. A REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 27 certain latitude is allowed to individual associations in carrying out these resolutions adopted by the Congress, but their aim is to bring about a uniform and strongly centralised system of organisation for all the Gewerk- schaften. According to the latest account published in the Sozialpolilitisches Central-blatt for October 23rd, 1893, by Ilerr Carl Legien, President of the General Committee, the Gewcrkschaften are suffering at present from the general depression of trade. Their member- ship and financial standing are best in times of prosperity, when the organisations are able to secure better wages and more favourable conditions of labour for their members. It is only the associations with benefit funds and able to give out-of-work pay, which can maintain their membership at its normal level in periods of depression, such as that from which Germany has been suffering for the last three years. In 1892 12 out of the 57 central organisations gave out-of-work pay and the amount expended reached the sum of 357,087 marks in addition to 236,964 marks paid to victimised members, and 382,607 marks paid by 33 cen- tral organisations in travelling money. The total membership of the Gewerkschaften appears to have decreased from 278,029 in 1891 to 244,934 in 1892, including 237.244 in central associations and 7,640 in local unions. The last number is less than the actual membership since no statistics are available from shop assistants, waiters, stokers, seamen, butchers, builders, and other trades. The total membership of 244,934 has suffered a further decrease by the defection of 22,400 members of the miners’ association in the Saar district since the disastrous strike of 1892-3. The decrease during 1892 was also due in part to the great fall in the membership of the Westphalian miners’ association, which decreased from 45,000 in 1891 to 15,300 in 1892. On the other hand, the Gewerkschaften were strengthened in January 1893 by the adhesion of the porcelain workers, who had formerly belonged to the Hirsch Duncker trade unions. At the end of 1892 there were 57 central organisations as against 61 in- cluded in the statistics for 1891, together with four local associations represented by trustees. The membership of the separate associations was as follows : — — 1891. 1892. 1 . Bakers 1,200 1,210 2. Barbers " GOO 515 8. Builders’ labourers 2,500 2,000 4. Miners (Westphalia) - 45,000 15,300 5. „ (Saxony) - 7,500 7,206 G. „ (Saar district) 22,400 (since dissolved). 7. Stone cutters " 2,976 2,806 8. Coopers - - - - 5,000 4,200 9. Brewers - 1,300 3,590 10. Bookbinders - 3,250 2,752 1 1 . Printers - 17,000 16,000 12. Brushmakers 1,356 858 1 3. Cigar sorters - 650 480 14. Turners - 2,589 2,288 15. Framers and paperkangers - 550 450 1G. Moulders - 1,785 2,437 17. Gardeners - 1,100 986 18. Glaziers - 1,700 1,500 19 Glass workers - 1,561 1,944 20. Glovemakers - | 2,300 2,216 21. Gold and silver smiths - - 2,200 1,934 22. Workers in wood - 500 608 23. Ilatters - 3,000 2,665 24. Confectioners - 400 395 25. Basketmakers - 1,400 1,106 2G. Coppersmiths - 2,600 2,630 27. Leather workers - 1,883 — 1891. 1892. 28. Lithographers - - 4,425 3,919 29. Painters - - 6,603 4,767 30. Builders - - 10,215 11,842 31. Metalworkers - - 23,158 26,121 32. Millers - - 1,200 1,150 33. Loners (women) - - 100 100 34. Porcelain workers - - — 5,1 12 35. Lace makers - - 530 154 36. Saddlers - 1,450 1,102 37. Shipbuilders - - — 1,994 38. Ship carpenters - - 1,203 1,354 39. Smiths - - 2,500 1,700 40. Tailors - - 7,700 6,272 41. Shoemakers - - 9,500 10,150 42. Ropemakers - - 500 270 43. Jewel setters - - 1.941 1,926 44. Wheelwrights - - 600 475 45. Plasterers - - 1,860 400 46. Tobacco workers - - — 11,079 47. Upholsterers - - 1,100 1,044 48. Textile workers - - 3,500 6,515 49. Cabinetmakers - - 16,600 18,092 50. Gilders - - 1,100 555 51. Women and girls - - — 200 52. Carpenters - - 9,800 9,371 53. Roofers - 571 No statistics. 54. Factory workers and shop assistants - - 2,000 »> 55. Furriers - - 1,000 >> 56. Stonemasons - - 2,000 57. Potters - - 4,700 The only increase in 1892 is amongst the members of 11 organisations, those of the brewers, moulders, glass workers, wood carvers, coppersmiths, builders, metal workers, ship carpenters, shoemakers, textile workers, and cabinetmakers. The absolute increase has been greatest amongst textile workers, but the brewers show a greater proportionate increase. In 1893 the unions of turners, brushmakers, wheelwrights, and cabinet- makers became amalgamated with that of the workers in wood, and the union of the Saar miners collapsed; the number of central organisations was thus reduced to 52. The bakers, brewers, confectioners, and millers are planning a similar amalgamation. The printers pay the highest annual contribution, 4P61 marks a year for each member. The hatters follow with 30'16 marks, the glovemakers with 23'80 marks, and the porcelain workers with 20'46 marks. With the excep- tion of these four unions the contributions are on a much lower scale. The Saxon miners onlv pay 2'16 marks a year, and the shipbuilders and seamen only 1'69 marks; even this is often intermittent, owing to the frequency with which the men are out of work. 46 organisations return their income as 2,031,922 marks which would involve an average contribution of 9'37 marks for each member. Besides the expenditure for members out of work, already stated, the 52 central organisations report 285,475 marks for the trade paper, 33,452 marks for agitation, 44,943 marks for strikes, 9,705 marks for legal aid to members, 21,972 marks for pensions, and 25,284 for special assistance. The total expenditure is reckoned at 1,786,271 marks as against an income of 2,031,922 marks. There are 56 news- papers with a circulation of 220,000, devoted to the interests of workmen’s associations, as against three with a circulation of 40,000 devoted to the trade unions. A tendency towards international affiliation is noticeable amongst the associations of miners, inotn.l workers, cigar makers, workers in wood, glass workers and textile workers ; if this is followed i 784 20. E 28 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR I (iii.i Catho- lic and Protestant workmen’s associa- tions. (iv.) Co- operatrvi. and mutual aid nocieties, loan and credit asso- ciations. (v.) Work- men’s Com- mit tee. up, the movement in favour of workmen’s associations will have entered upon a new stage. (') Allusion has already been made in the account given of the attitude of the Church in Germany towards Socialism ( see p. 18), of the part taken by Catholics and Protestants alike in the organisation of labour. The activity of the Catholic Church in this direction preceded that of the Protestant ; indeed in its first beginnings it dates hack to the time of the French Revolution of 1789. when secret societies and distri- butive co-operative associations were formed under its auspices amongst the working classes in the Rhine provinces. From 1815 to 1 8 1 5 the Catholic clergy were specially active in the formation of unions amongst workmen and amongst apprentices for educational pur- poses. In 1817 the “ Catholic Unions of Companions” were founded by an artisan named Kolping, and since 1860 the social activity of the Catholic Church has been widely extended. The Catholic associations are strongest in Westphalia and the Rhine provinces and in Bavaria. In 1893 they were said to number about 250, with 75,000 members ; the Westphalian Peasant Farmers’ Union alone has a membership of 25,000. The Protestant associations, which are of comparatively recent date (see p. 19), and for the most part educational in character, numbered in 1893 some 44.000 members in Central Associations, including about 25.000 in those of the Rhine Provinces and Westphalia, 5,528 in those of Mid-Germany, 2,127 in Baden. 1, 784- in the Rhenish Palatinate, 1,728 in Wiirtemberg, 1,440 in the Southern districts of the Rhine, 1,007 in Hesse, and 5,867 in 19 individual associations in different dis- tricts. There are besides 49 associations in those Rhine Provinces and Westphalia with 12,274 members, 56 in Bavaria with about 12,000 members, and -12 in the rest of Germany, with 6,306 members. ( 2 ) The chief importance of the co-operative and mutual aid societies, and the loan and credit associations from the point of view of the organisation of labour consists in the fact that their establishment preceded, and to a certain extent, prepared the way for the formation of the trade unions and workmen's associations. In 1849 Herr Schulze Delitzsch established the first association for granting credit to individual members on the security of the members as a body. The move- ment thus inaugurated spread rapidly, and by 1856 a large number of these associations had been formed for the most part amongst small employers and artisans. Encouraged by this success he proceeded to the forma- tion of "loan' associations, distributive co-oper.rtive societies, associations for the supply of raw material for manufactures, workmen’s mutual improvement societies, and finally friendly societies, which imme- diately preceded the trade unions of Dr. Hirsch. The aim of all these associations was to educate the working man in habits of thrift and self-reliance, and they have been, to a great extent, superseded by the labour organisations already described. (For a further account of these and other co-operative and friendly societies, see under Co-operation, pp. 66-71) ( 3 ). The form of local organisation represented by workmen’s committees in particular factories has, according to Dr. Max Sering, proved successful in a number of instances in preserving friendly relations between employers and employed. These committees are composed of workmen in the various factories, the majority of whom are elected by their fellows, whilst a few in some cases are nominated by the employers. As a rule uo workman is eligible who has not worked in the factory for a stated period, in most cases three years. The powers of the committees differ in different factories. In some cases they are merely consultative bodies, who represent the views of the employed; in other cases they are entrusted with the management * (*) (>) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Stuatswissenscliaften, vol. I\ .. p. 19. Art ” Gewerkv- reine in Deutschland.” Schmolc. S^zialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. I., 1891-2, pp. 10, 65. Vol. III., 1892-3, p. 40. (*) LavollC-e. “ Les Classes Ouvrieres en Europe,” 1834, vol. I., pp. 313- 328. Meyer, “Der Emanzipationskampf des vierten Standes,” 1882, Vol. I., pp. 359-364. Lexis, "Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaf- ten,” vol. V., p. 750. Arts. “ Katholisch-uud Evaneelisch Soziale Bestrebungen,” Biull, Uhlhorn and Baumgarteu. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. 1 1., 1892-3, 1>. 543. Vol. 1 1 L, 1893, p. 31. (’) von Broicli, “Sozialretorra und Genossenschaftswesen,” 1890, pp. 24-30. Lavoilbe, “ Les Classes ouvrieres en Europe,” 1884, vol. I., pp. 234-243. Meyer, “ Her Emanzipations-kampf des vierten Standes,” 1882. vol. 1., pp. 197-215. of any benefit funds attached to the factory, whilst in others, again, their powers are even larger, and extend to the maintenance of discipline, the exercise of a moral censorship, the drawing up of the factory regulations, and in, at any rate, one instance the fixing of wages. In no case, however, are they concerned with the administration of the details of the business; they merely constitute, as Dr. Max Sering says, “a source of local self-government in matters “ pertaining to labour.” In several instances they have been the outcome of strikes in an industry. Since the great Westphalian disturbances of 1889 (see p. 32), a number of these committees have been formed amongst miners, and another was established in a large weaving mill in Alsace-Lorraine on the conclusion of a serious strike in the same year. The clause in .the Amendment to the Industrial Code passed in 1891, which requires employers to allow their workmen an opportunity of expressing their opinion upon the rules of a factory, especially recognises the existence of these committees, and accepts the approval of a committee as equivalent to that of the whole body of workmen. Women are, in some factories, admitted to membership in these committees, and their admission is reported by the Government Factory Inspector to have been a success. On the whole, Ur. Max Sering con- cludes that “ the voluntary admission of the employed “ to a share in the management of an establishment “ appears likely to lead (to the promotion of a sense “ of community of interest with their employers, and “ to the maintenance of friendly relations) more rapidly “ and more surely than the social development of “ England, which culminated in the formation of large “ organisations embracing the employers and the “ employed in a whole industry. Nevertheless, just “ as the English associations could not dispense with “ the aid of local and subsidiary organisations, it is “ probable that in Germany, on the contrary, the “ workmen’s committees will require supplementing “ by larger organisations But these larger “ organisations, if they are an outgrowth of the smaller “ ones will be more of a conciliatory than of a combative “ character, for not only will the smaller associations “ have brought employers and employed into closer “ and more personal relations, but also the experience “ of management thus gained will have accustomed “• the employed to take account of existing conditions “ and of the difficulties in their path.”(') B. Causes of 'Trade Disputes. Trade disputes of the modern type in Germany may be said, speaking generally, to date from about the middle of the century. Three peiiods in their history maybe roughly distinguished, the first from 1844 to 1868, when German workmen were still struggling to obtain a recognition of the right of combination, the second from 1868 to 1878, when the rival organisations of Trade Unionists and Social Democrats were seeking to establish their hold upon the working classes by initiating struggles for higher wages, and the third from 1878 down to the present time marked by less open activity on the part of the Social Democrats, but by an increasing number of strikes, for the most part unsuccessful. Indeed, the labour conflicts since 1868, or during the last two periods, far exceed the total number during the first two - thirds of the century, and this increase is attributed by Dr. Olden- berg mainly to the violent fluctuations of trade occasioned by political conditions and to the consequent necessity fur frequent re-adjustments of wages. Prior to 1868 a large proportion of strikes were connected with the desire to assert the right of combination, as yet unrecognised by the majority of German governments. In 1861 this right was, indeed, conceded by the Kingdom of Saxony, but though its example was followed in some of the lesser States, it was not until 1869 that Prussian working men obtained the right, afterwards confirmed to them by Imperial legislation. According to Section 152 of the Industrial Code of the Empire “ All prohibitions “ and penalties against industrialists, industrial “ assistants, journeymen or factory operatives on (q Sehriften des Vereins fin- Sozialpolitik, vol. XXVI., 1890, pp.|l-26. Reichs-Gewerbe-Ordnung, § 134 a. 1. Periods in the strike movement. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 20 2. Wages. “ ftccount of agreements ( Verahredungen ) and associa- “ lions ( V ercinigungen) for the purpose of obtaining “ favourable wages and conditions of labour, “ especially by means of the suspension of labour or “ the dismissal of workmen, are repealed. Every “ party to such associations or agreements is free to “ withdraw, and no action [Kluge) or plea f Winrede ) “ can lie against him on account of such withdrawal.'’ With the recognition of the right of combination, the strike movement entered upon another phase. The beginning of the period from 1868 to 1878 is marked by the rise of organisations, and the era of high prices and large profits which succeeded the Franco-German war afforded a favourable opportunity for their activity. As Dr. Oldenberg says, “ The rise in prices “ made higher wages necessary, the favourable “ condition of trade made them possible, and the “ demand lor labour brought with it the power to “ enforce them.’’ Consequently, the majority of the strikes during this period, including the great strikes amongst miners in the Waldenburg and Essen districts in 1869 and 1872, were for an advance in wages, combined in some instances with the shortening of working hours. Both Trade - Unionists and Social Democrals were anxious to form a labour party, and to show their zeal in the war against the great capitalists. In 1872 “strikes had become a terror to the country, “ and a constant subject of public discussion.’’ Up to 1873 they were, for the most part, successful. Wages rose from 20 to 100 per cent., working hours were reduced in a large number of industries from 11 to 10 or even 9|, though in several cases the workmen had to submit to the substitution of payment by the hour for payment by the day, and they struggled in vain against the growing prevalence of the system of piece-work. Further, the employers had learned by experience the value of organisation, and the frequent local strikes were met by equally frequent lock-outs. The ebb in the strike movement soon began to make itself felt, and the blow struck at the Socialist organisa- tions by the law of 1878 combined with the depression in trade to produce an almost total absence of strikes between 1879 and 1882. In 1882 a fresh movement began, which it required the most strenuous efforts on the part of the labour organisations to hold in check. Wages had fallen during the bad times, and a de.-ire was widely prevalent to strike for an advance. This third phase of the strike movement is remarkable for the tendency on the part of the labour organisations towards consolidation, in so far as they were not hindered by the Socialist law. This consolidation was the more necessary, inasmuch as it was the only means of preventing a number of purposeless or mutually destructive strikes. Its importance in the development of trade disputes is two-fold; on the one hand, as the organisations themselves claim, it makes for peace by its tendency to prevent the hasty or thoughtless declaration of strikes ; on the other hand, the local strike under its influence gives way to the district or national strike, so that if strikes are perhaps fewer in number, their area is more widely extended. In Germany, however, this movement towards consolida- tion or federation, whether amongst the labour organisations or the associations of employers, can only be said to be in its infancy. Since 1888, it has led to a renewal of the policy of lock-outs on the part of the employers, whom the factory inspector for the Leipzig district regards as forced by the “general “ disturbance of industry through demands for an “ advance of wages at a time when trade is in an unsatis- “ factory condition (1891) to defend their own interests “ by common action. ”(M As has already been indicated, the great majority of strikes in Germany are directly connected with the question of wages in one form or in another. Thus, in Alsace-Lorraine, nine out of thirteen strikes in 1891 arc assigned by the factory inspector to differences concerning wages. Where the question at issue is not a direct demand for an advance or resistance to a reduction, objection is often made to piece-work, to the introduction of machinery, and to certain systems of fining, that is to say to methods of calculation which the workmen regard as likely to lower the rate of wages. All these causes, together with the demand for a fixed minimum wage, are enumerated by the factory inspectors in their annual reports on the strikes in (.*•) Lexis, “ Ha’HhvurtPi'lvuch der Staatswissenschaften, vol. I., p. filb. Art. : " Arbeitgeinslelhmgen,’' Olileriberg. Amtliehe Mitteilungen atis den Jahres lienchten der Fitbrik- Aufsichts-Beiunten, 1891 , p. l-jp. their districts. Thus, in 1888 the majority of the strikes are said to be duo to demands for higher wages and especially for a minimum wage, whilst a number of strikes against piece-work are also recorded. In 1889 the same causes are enumerated with the addition of the introduction of machinery, and in 1880 the method of fining is further added to the list. The women engaged in a factory in the Hesse district struck in 1888 against the system of payment by the piece, because they found that “ according to the new “ method of calculation they did not obtain the former “ weekly wages.” Though they were obliged by the communal authorities to return to work and to complete their contract, the employers consented to restore the old method of payment. Strikes for higher wages occurred in the same district amongst brickmakers a ad printers, in both cases without success. An advance in wages and the abolition of piece-work were the cl ief demands of the engineers of the Howalelt factory, in Dietrichsdorf, Schleswig, who struck in 1888, whilst a number of builders at Kiel struck in April of the same year fora minimum wage and remained on strike until August, when a compromise was effected. Workmen employed in the potteries of Coswig struck for higher weekly wages and shorter hours of work, in spite of the fact that some of ihe strike leaders were earning more than 30 marks a week. A large number of strikes took place during this year in Hamburg, for the most part to obtain a shorter working day ; but the strikers included in their demands a minimum wage of 40 pf. (5 d.) an hour with 25 per cent, for overtime, and 50 per cent, for night work. As the average daily wages in Hamburg amounted to 3.50 marks, and the se of skilled workmen engaged on piece-work to as much as 6.50 marks the employers objected not so mi eh to the amount demanded as to the demand for a minimum wage at all. Consequently, though the better class of workmen in many industries obtained better wages as the result of the strikes, the minimum wage was only granted in the case of the paper-hangers, who secured 22 80 marks a week with 33 per cent, increase for overtime ('). The year 1889, is remarkable for the strikes occasioned by the introduction of machinery. The ironmoulders of Hanover struck because, as they declared, their employers had broken the peace by introducing machines, which would enable unskilled labour to drive skilled artisans out of the industry. A similar agitation was caused amongst the workmen in a shoe-making factory in the Palatinate, by the introduction of finishing machines, which enabled 14 workmen to do the work of 30. Since, however, the demand for labour kept pace with the supply, and the workmen employed on the machines were found to be in a better financial position than before, the excitement soon subsided. Strikes in 1890 were concerned rather with the shortening of working hours, than with a desired advance in wages; nqt in some cases, as for instance in that of the Ravensberg spinners in the district of Minden-Munster, the two demands were made simultaneously. Strikes occurred amongst file-cutters and knife-grinders in the Diisseldorf and Solingen districts, in both cases for an advance of wages. In the case of the knife-grinders the struggle was very severe, and for four months the efforts of the authorities and of the committees of both organisations to effect a compromise were unavailing. Finally, the two parties came to an agreement, and a Chamber of Conciliation ( VergJ eichska/miner) was appointed to settle future wage disputes. The weavers in the cloth factories of Lambrecht in the Palatinate struck for higher wages and shorter hours, and the employers retaliated by closing all the mills. It was finally agreed that all the employers should pay the highest piece wages paid hitherto, and that if higher wages were paid in competing towns, the employers should engage to pay up the difference. This, however, was not found to be necessary. The textile industry of Alsace-Lorraine ( see p. 35) was greatly disturbed throughout the year, but an advance in wages constituted only a small part of the demands of the strikers. An alteration in the basis of the wages scale formed one of the articles in the demand presented by the German Union of Printers to the employers in 1891, and a change in the method of calculating piece wages was demanded by the workmen in an elastic band factory in the Diisseldorf district. (') Amtliehe Mitteilungen mis den Jahres Berichten der Fabric Aufsichts-Beaniten, 18S8, pp. 107 109, E 2 30 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: 3. Hours. 4. Influence of labour orminisii- t.ons. Weekly payment of wages and the posting up of tho wages-list stamped by the firm in a public place were demanded by the Mannheim corn-porters in a strike which soon resulted in the success of the strikers. An increase of wages has formed part of the demands in all the important miners’ strikes, both those of 1 869 and 1872 and those of 1889 and 1892. In 1889 a general advance of 15 per cent, was demanded and rejected by the mine owners on tho ground that the wages in Westphalia were already higher than in other parts of Germany, and that they could not be further increased except in the case of the older land steadier workmen. (‘) The desire to reduce the length of the working day has produced more strikes in Germany than any other cause except the desire to obtain higher wages. Working hours in Germany are, as a rule, very long, though they vary very considerably in different places and in different industries. According to the Bavarian factory inspector, “ in many factories the “ time of labour is not every year nor even day by day “ the same, but for different reasons, and on more “ or less urgent grounds it is subject to manifold “ changes.” The usual hours of work ar e reported to exceed 15 in 5‘2 per cent, of the localities in South Germany investigated by the German Imperial Com- mission on Labour Statistics, whilst the percentage in Central Germany, Saxony, and the Thuringian States is 17T, in the Prussian Provinces of North-East Germany, exclusive of Saxony and Brandenburg, 22'8. and in North-West Germany 368. From 11 to 12 hours actual work is required in many industries; in some the hours are still longer, and though the system of a ten-hours, and in some trades, such as printing, of a nine-hours day, is decidedly gaining ground, this advance has only been obtained by means of a large number of strikes. Between 1863 and 1878 a strong protest was made by the labour organisations against Sunday work, and in favour of the abolition of overtime. Sunday and night work is mentioned by the factory inspectors as one of the causes of strikes in 1889, 1890, and 1891. An important strike occurred amongst builders in the Hesse district for a reduction of hours from 11 to 10, with an increase of 25 per cent, in the rate of payment for overtime. The strikes which occurred in Hamburg during the same year (see p. 34) aimed at obtaining a working day of nine hours or nine hours and a half, with extra payment for overtime. The cotton spinners of Linden, in Hanover, struck for an 11 hours day, which they obtained; directly this success had been achieved they made a further demand for 10 hours, but were induced by the burgomaster to resume work. A reduction of working hours from 11 to 10 formed part of the demand of the Ravensberg cotton-spinners, whilst the Lambrecht cloth weavers in the Palatinate and the textile workers in Alsace Lorraine desired an 11 hours’ day in place of the 12 hours usually worked. The Mannheim corn-porters in 1891 demanded only 10 hours actual work a day exclusive of intervals, and the Printers’ Union struck in the autumn of the same year for a nine-hours’ day. The eight-hours’ movement seems to have made little progress in Germany except amongst miners. At the International Miners’ Congresses, proposals for a universal strike in support of an eight- hours day have been frequently made and received with approval by the Continental delegates generally, and by the Germans amongst them ; but, so far, little has been actually done beyond in- cluding a demand for an eight-hours shift from bank to bank in the terms presented to the coalowners by the miners in 1889. The owners, however, refused to concede more than that the working time under- ground, not including the ascent and descent of the miners, should not exceed eight hours.! 2 ) The influence of labour organisations upon strikes has been less marked in Germany than in many other countries, owing to the early failure of the trade unions in this respect and the disabilities which from 1878 to 1890 attached to the Socialist organisations. Indeed the slow progress of trade unionism in Germany is attributed by Herr Schrnoele in a large measure to the ( 1 ) Amtliche Mitteilungen aus den Jahresberichten der Fabrik- Aufsichts-beamten, 1889, pp. 137-143, 1891, pp. 112-122, 1891, pp. 125-129. ( 3 ) A.Titliche Mitteilungen and den Jahres-Berichten der Fabrik- Aufsichts Beamten. 1888 pp. 101-109, 1889. pp. 137-141, 1890, pp. 112-133, 1891, pp. 125-129. Lesis, " Handworterbuch der Staat.swissenschaflen,” yol 1„ p. 616. Art. ■' Arbeitseinstellnngen,” Oldenberg, reluctance of the unions to organise strikes with a view to obtaining better conditions of labour. According to the recent factory inspectors’ reports the influence of organisations upon strikes in Germany shows itself most plainly in one of two forms, either the attempt to force employers to engage workmen only through a labour registry controlled by the men themselves, or, according to the Dresden factory inspector, the prevalence of a spirit of discontent and of hostility to particular firms, which in the last resort can be traced to the misrepresentations of the Social Democrats ( see p. 31). Further, the demand for a minimum wage, already mentioned as a frequent cause of strikes, is°in itself an article in the Socialist programme, and tho factory inspector for the Schleswig district remarks in his report for 1888 that he has invariably found this demand to proceed from the younger and inferior workmen, upon whom the Social Democrats have the greatest hold. An important strike connected with a labour registry occurred amongst the irQnmoulders of Brunswick in the autumn of 1888. An employer who had engaged a workman without the assistance of the registry established by the Moulders’ Union was served with a notice, signed “ Brunswick Ironmoulders Labour Registry,” requesting him to discharge the moulder and threatening recourse to other measures in case of a refusal. The employer refused to comply with the request of the committee, and 34 moulders in his establishment immediately quitted work. This action was approved by a general assembly of the moulders of the district, in which it was also decided that the men should strike in all foundries where moulders were employed, who had not been engaged through the labour registry. The firms affected attempted to introduce fresh hands, but their efforts were largely frustrated by the energy and watchfulness of the strikers. The employers retaliated by refusiug to make use of the registry at all, and the Union of Brunswick Metal Manufacturers declared their deter- mination to employ no moulders except such as would repudiate the resolution passed at the meeting. At the end of the year 1888 the difficulty remained unsettled and the strike did not terminate until March 1890, when a labour registry was opened under the direction of an impartial person acceptable to both employers and employed. A similar strike, which began amongst the iron-moulders of Hamburg in December 1888, was not officially declared at an end until July 1890. In this case the ironmasters formed an association the members of which pledged themselves to give employ- ment to no workman who had been discharged or had left his work because of a strike (see p. 23). A strike occurred in 1889 amongst the cigar-makers of Magdeburg, instigated by delegates from the German Tobacco Workers’ Mutual Aid Association ( Unterstut - zungsverein deutscher Tobakarbeiter), one of the earliest and strongest of the workmen’s associations initiated by the followers of Lassalle. The chief object of the strike was to obtain recognition for a labour registry, and, as in the case of the Brunswick iron- moulders, the employers were threatened with the alternative of a suspension of work. The men’s terms included a clause stating that “ every employer may “ only reject two out of the workmen sent to him", “ unless he has anything to urge against the usefulness “ ot their work; the third workman he must engage, “ or else no more workmen will be sent to him. " The “ labour registry will only send workmen to those “ manufacturers who pay not less than 5.50 marks ‘ to rollers. 2.75 marks to ‘bunch makers ’( Wickler) “ using ribbed filling, and 3 marks to those using “ unribbed filling.” The employers replied that they would on no account recognise the labour registry, and that if a strike occurred in any establishment they would declare a general lock-out. Finally a compromise was effected through the exertions of the factory inspector ; the employers granted the advance in wages, and the employes withdrew their demand for the recognition of the labour registry. A similar strike in flalberstadt resulted in favour of the employers. Strikes are mentioned in Alsace and in Wiirtemberg in 1891, which were due to the discharge of members of one of the Socialist unions ( Fachvereine ) and the workmen in a glove factory at Liegnitz struck because they had reason to believe that goods were being supplied by the firm to a foreign firm whose employes were out on strike. The factory inspectors’ reports bear out the statement made by Herr Schrnoele that strikes are most numerous in the districts in which Social Democracy has the strongest REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 31 5. Other causes. hold. In Saxony, which has long been the head- quarters of the Marxist form of Socialism the relations between employers and employed are said to be especially unsatisfactory, and instances are given by the inspectors of cases in which the misrepresentations of the Socialist Press had directly conduced to strikes. The same result was barely averted in one case by the timely publication on the part, of the factory inspector of the facts ascertained by him with regard to the conditions of labour in a large chair factory situated in the neighbourhood of Dresden. This factory had been the subject of a misleading report issued by a committee of cabinet-makers appointed to inquire into the industry in that district. The chairman of this committee declared to a meeting, at which the factory inspector was present, that the work was so distributed in the given factory as to enable unskilled labourers working at machines to do the work properly belonging to skilled artisans. Further, he stated that the average wages of the men employed, including 20 cabinet- makers and 100 ordinary artisans, were only 221 Pf. (about 2f A.) an hour, whilst those of the women averaged 11 Pf. (l£d.). Finally he declared that the machinery was unprotected and the workrooms so badly ventilated that the men employed in bending the wood had to work in a temperature of 30 J Reaumur (99-2° Fahr.), whilst the boilers were so small that they had to be over-heated to obtain the necessary power. In consequence of these statements the factory inspector made a thorough examination of the establishment in question and communicated the results to a meeting of cabinet-makers. According to his evidence only the rougher parts of the work were done by machinery, which was adequately protected. The wages of three cabinet-makers working on time wages were in one case 20 marks a week, but in two others only 25 Pf. (3d.) and 28 Pf. (3 \d.) an hour. Most of the cabinet-makers, however, worked on the piece system, and earned from 20 to 24 marks a week ; the wages of chair-makers were from 15 to 20 marks and those of women from 10 to 14 marks a week, according to the quality of the work. The inspector also ascertained that there was great competition to obtain work in this factory, and that half the employes had worked therefor 10 years past, whilst the other half had all been engaged for periods of three years or more.(') Amongst minor causes of strikes mentioned in the factory inspectors’ reports the arbitrary or oppressive action of foremen and other officials, dislike to particular factory regulations, and misunderstanding of the action of employers are the most frequent. In 1888 strikes occurred in Nuremberg and in Diisscldorf against particular factory regulations, more especially those desigued to prevent the workmen from taking Monday as a holiday to be spent in drinking. The Mannheim corn porters in their second strike in 1891 demanded the discharge of the foremen, and the inspector for tho district of Saxe-Altenburg remarks that “many a difference would be solved, or indeed “ would never have arisen, if the factory officials, and “ especially the foremen, who have themselves risen “ from the ranks of the workmen, would adopt a more “ conciliatory attitude.” It is also alleged that the miners’ Btrike of 1889 in Westphalia was largely due to “ the brutality and recklessness of the colliery officials.” One strike, which occurred amongt blast furnacemen in the neighbourhood of Treves in 1889, is attributed by the inspector to general discontent occasioned by the change of a list stating tho prices lor piece-work, which for several years bad been in use in the works but had become obsolete through changes in the methods of working. Though the workmen were not the losers, they were no longer able to calculate the sum which they ought to receive. The experience of another furnace owner shows, as the inspector remarks, “that a strike is not always due to any “ definite demand, but that discontent often seeks “ some kind of outlet without any regard to the “ material injury which this may inflict upon the “ employer.” One of the workmen had been dismissed for refusing to pay a fine incurred, and on the Monday following all the men stopped work suddenly at six in the evening, just when the liquid metal in the furnace was ready for casting, so that to save the furnace it (>) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenscliaften,” vol. L, p. Hlfi, Art. “ Arbeitseinstellungen," Oldenberg. vol. IV.. p. 19, Art. “ Gewcrkvereine in Deutschland,” Schmoele. Amtlicho Mitteiluneen nus den .Tnhres-Borichten der Fahrik-Aufsichts-Iieamten, 18SS, pp. 101-9 ; 1889, pp. 137-41 ; 1890, pp. 1 12-23 ; 1891, pp. 125-9. had to be run off into the ground. “ Tho result was “ a serious loss to the employer and not the slightest “ gain to anyone concerned. ”(') D. Development and Conduct of Strikes. According to Dr. Oldenberg there is reason to believe *• In that, as has been already indicated, strikes are most Bener * 1 ' frequent where Social Democracy is most powerful. “ East Prussia, as far as the Elbe, Thuringia, and parts “ of Rhenish Westphalia, are almost exempt, whilst “ Saxony, Franconia, and Hesse on the one side, and “ the district of the Lower Elbe on the other, formerly “ Lassallian and Marxist territories, are now the scene “ of numerous strikes. The chief centres of agitation “ in the southern district are Leipzig, Nuremberg, “ Frankfurt-0 ffenbach, and Munich, in the north “ Hamburg and Berlin. A relic of Lassalle's dictator- “ ship survives in the north in the form of the mutually “ destructive rivalry between Hamburg and Berlin. “ Hamburg is now to the front, and possesses far the “ strongest workmen's associations in Germany; “ Berlin, which is ac variance with both North and “ South, is making a party of its own, and doing more “ harm to the cause of organisation than the law “ against the Socialists.” It does not appear from the official statistics that wages are especially low in the districts where strikes are most frequent. With regard to the general course of strikes in Germany, Dr. Olden- berg says tha't they usually begin in the spring, when the seasonal trades are making fresh adjustments of wages. A wages committee is elected and an advance demanded. The employers rarely consent to negotiate ; according to some statistics collected by a labour paper, out of 576 attempts at negotiation only 41 were suc- cessful. in 109 cases tho proceedings were fruitless, and in 426 the employers refused to receive the deputations sent by the workmen. As a rule, work is suspended on the Monday following ; there is a more or less open attempt to induce those who remain at work to join the strikers, whilst some of the unemployod are transferred to other districts with means furnished by the strike funds. After about the second week tho remainder receive a small allowance, which is slightly increased in the case of fathers of families. Gradually both parties begin to give way. Workmen who resume work under the new conditions pay part of their wages for a time into the strike fund ; foreign workmen in- troduced during the strike are as soon as possible “enlightened” (ct/uf geld art) by the strikers who have returned to work, and given free fares home. Chance comers are treated in the same way, and it is said that workmen have been known to come to the scene of a strike for the sake of such “ enlightenment ” and the travelling money which it involves. At the end of every week the number of strikers determined to hold out diminishes, and ns a rule when the funds fall short tho two parties agree upon a compromise. The member- ship of the local Socialist Union ( Fachverein ) involved generally shows a great increase just before the strike, and an equally rapid decrease immediately after. This, according to Dr. Oldenberg. may be regarded as the typical course of a strike in Germany, and he adds that the trades most affected are those in which skilled labour is employed, and which accordingly have in- herited the strongest traditions of association from the mediaeval guilds. Women in an industry are, as a rule, a hindrance to organisation, and it is only quite recently that, in trades like cigar-making, they have taken any direct partin the strike movement. With the exception of the minor and local difficulties customary at harvest time, agriculture remains untouched, and in trades such as that of the bakers, in which the assistants often live with the employer and look forward them- selves to becoming employers, they show no great readiness to strike. The State h anagemcnt of railways is a check upon railroad strikes, and the existence of old-established friendly societies with well-organised benefit funds preserves the ore-mining districts from the difficulties which have always beset ceal'-mining.( 2 ) Attention lias been already drawn (sec p 29) to the widening area of individual strikes due to the increasing (■) Arntliche Mitteilungen aus den Jahres-Berichten der Fabrik- Aufsichts-Beamten, 1888, pp. 101-9; 1889, pp. 137-41; 1890, pp. 112-23; 1891, pp. 125-9. Eschenbach, “ Die Lehre dfis Bergwerksstrikcs vom Mai, 1889,” p. 44. ( a ) Lexis Handworterbuch derStaatswissenschaften," vol. I., p. file. Art. “ Arbcitseinstellungen,” Oldenberg. N 3 32 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : success of attempts to convert local into national or even international associations. This movement towards federation in the form of mutual support during strikes is especially noticeable amongst miners, metal- workers, cigar-makers, glass workers, textile workers, and workers in wood ; it is strorgest in the first two industries, which have also been characterised by a very large number of serious and prolonged labour conflicts. In the mining districts, as elsewhere, it is noticed by the factory inspectors and others that stiikes are supported most strongly by the younger workers ; out of 70 employes who struck for higher wages in an establishment at Mulheim in the district of Cologne and Coblenz 25 were under age. In this connexion -'t maybe noticed that the Socialist leaders state openly their desire to see the ago at which the franchise may be exercised lowered so that the Socialist vote may be increased. The fact that military service begins at the age of 20 leads them to believe that the army is per- meated by Socialist opinions. (‘) As a rule, strikes in Germany are peaceably con- ducted. Where the strikers render themselves liable to legal penalties, it is rather by disregarding the notice required before termination of the labour con- tract than by resorting to violence and intimidation. According to Sections 122 to 125 of the Industrial Code of the Empire, neither party to the contract can terminate it, except under exceptional circumstances, ( s ) without giving 14 days’ notice to the other party concerned. A workman or an employer contravening this provision of the Code renders himself liable to an action for damages. As Professor Brentano says, it is easier for the employer to avail himself of this remedy than for the employed, but. nevertheless, the evidence of the factory inspectors points to the conclusion that the notice is very rarely given before declaring a strike. The Emperor William II. censured the miners for their disregard of this legal formality in 1889, stating that their strike was “ an illegal one, : ince they had com- mitted a breach of contract by a cessation of work " without giving 14 days’ notice. W it h regard to intimidation and violence, Section 153 of tlic Code states that “ Whoever by the use of bodily force, by “ threats, insults (Eheverlctzunqen), or boycotting ( Vcr - “ yufs^rlcJixTun g) induces or attempts to induce others “ to take part in such combinations^) (Verabredungen) “ or endeavours to ensure their success, or by the same “ means hinders or attempts to hinder others from “ withdrawing from such combinations, is liable to “ imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, “ unless he has incurred a severer penalty under the “ Geneial Criminal Code ” ( Allgeimeines Strafgesetzbuch). Some few instances are recorded of violence in con- nexion with strikes, the most notable being the case of the Silesian miners in 1889 (see p. 33), but such instances are the exception rather than the rule. In connexion with the miners’ strike of 1889 it was decided by the Imperial Courts that Section 110 of the Criminal Code is applicable to open incitement to breach of contract. This section runs “ Any one who publicly “ before a crowd of people, or anyone who by distribut- “ mg or publicly posting or publicly exhibiting writings “ or°other representations, invites disobedience to the *• laws or valid ordinances, or to the directions issued “ by the magistrates within their competence, shall be ‘ 'punished by a fine up to 6u0 shillings or by imprison- “ ment with labour up to two years. v 4 ) (>) Lexis, " Handworterbueh tier Staatswissenschnflen,” vol. L, i) tile Art . “ Arbeitseinstellun!?™,” Oldenberg, vol. IV., p. 19. Art. " Gewerkvercinc in Deutschland,” Soli mode. Amtliclie Mitteilur.iren ims den Jahres-Berichten dec Pabrik-Aufsichts-Beamten, 1S!)0, p. IBS. Ensrels : “ Dor Sozialismus in Deutschland, ' Neue 7c, t.. No. 19, 1891-92. m These include cases in which the employer or employe has been RU il(Y 0 f offences against the law or against public morality, cases in which either party has grossly insulted the other, whether by act or word cases in which either party has incited otlu rs to such acts, cases of incapacity, whether through illness, pecuniary Iosshs, or similar causes to complete the contract, cases in which the employe is found to have falsified his previous labour record, or in which the employer does not pay the waxes agreed upon or exacts more work than Ins due. Further, neglect to observe prescribed precautions against fire, un- authorised abandonment of unfinished work or obstinate refusal to obey regulations, entitle the employer lo break contract, whilst tho workman may do so if to continue at work is to expose himself to dangers unforeseen when he entered upon the contract. G. D. (*) combinations to obtain higher wages and more favourable conditions of labour, see Section 152 and p. 28 of this report. («) Lexis “ Handworterbueh der Stnatswissenchaften,” vol. I., p. 610. Art “ Arbeitseinstellungon,” Oldenbcrg, “ Arbeitsvertragsbruch,” Loe'ning Kschenbach “ Die Lehren des Bergwerksstrikes vom Mai, 1889 Reichs-Gewerlie-Ordnung, Sections 122-152, 153. Schriften des Vereins fiir Sccialpolitik. vol. VIL, 1871, pp. 183-141, Reichs-Str ifgesetz- buch, section no. The miiiirg strikes of 1869-70, 1889, and 1892-3 have been amongst tho most extensive and most important of German trade disputes. The first, known as tiie Waldenburg strike, is ascribed by most authorities to the activity of the trade unionists who were anxious to gain a footing in Silesin, hitherto a stronghold of the Lassallian party. The Waldenburg district offered a promising field for agitation, since the relations between the miners and their employers had long been of the most unfriendly character. Under the influence of the General Committee of tho Hirsch-Duncker trade unions the miners presented a demand for higher wages and shorter hours, to which the employers replied by dismissing the men and giving them notice to quit their houses. Consequently on December 1st, 6.409 out of the 7,413 miners employed abandoned work, and tho employers gave out that they would not again employ any active members of the Union. In taking this step they were actuated by a desire to prevent what they regarded as the interference of outsiders, and it is clear that they did not believe the movement to be anything but the work “ of a handful of agitators from Berlin.” Assistance was offered to the strikers by Herr Bebel and the Internationalists ; but at the insti- gation of Dr. Hirsch this offer was refused, and an appeal made to the National Liberal party to support the cause of trade unionism. A sum of 26,000 thalers was subscribed in response, but the funds were soon exhausted, and on January 3rd, 1870, after the failure of an appeal made by Dr. Hirsch and his friends to the Crown Prince and tlic Prussian Government to give the strikers employment in the State coal-mines, the trade unionists could do nothing but advise uncon- ditional surrender, in spite of the fact that such a course involved the dissolution of the Union. The complete failure of this hasty and ill-advised strike was a great blow to the trade unionists, and no further attempt to obtain better conditions of labour was possible for several years. (‘) In 1889 there occurred a general strike of German miners, which began as a local strike at the Hibernia colliery, in Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia, but rapidly extended throughout the mining districts of Westphalia, the Rhine Provinces, Lorraine, the Palatinate, Upper and Lower Silesia, and Saxony. A general meeting of miners held as early as April 7th, had formulated the demands to be made in case of a general strike. These included an advance of 15 per cent, in wages, an eight-hours shift from bank to bank, the filling of the waggons up to a certain line and the rejection of not more than ten waggons ir. all for the whole number of men in each shift on the score of in- sufficient weight. The miner s demanded further that the timber wanted should be delivered in the pit, that wages should be paid twice a month regularly on the 1st and 15th, that the fines imposed by the foreman should bo limited to 25 pfennige (3d.), and that a record should be kept of all fines imposed. They also stipulated that no delegates or strikers should he victimised, that the workmen who had received their discharge papers should be immediately re-instated, that overtime shifts should be abolished, that work should not begin on Sundays before 1 1 p.m., that house coal should be supplied to miners at a fixed price, and that oil. powder, and other necessaries should be supplied at cost price. On the 3rd of May 5.000 miners went on strike, by the 6th there were 30,000 more, and on May 11th the total number of strikers in Westphalia alone exceeded 100.000. In Silesia the strikers numbered 26,000, in Saxony, 5,000, and in the Saar district, over 13,000. Even collieries which had offered a liberal increase of wagesjjwere included, and very few of the pitmen in any district withstood the pressure brought to bear upon them to abandon work. With the exception of some slight disturbances at the outset, the strike in Westphalia was peaceably conducted. In Silesia, however, the scene of the previous Waldenburg strike of 1869. where there is a large Polish and Slav popu- lation, great disorder prevailed. The managers of tne Westphalian mines called a meeting at which they condemned the action of the men in suspending work without giving the usual notice and rejected the pro- posals for a general increase of wages and for an inclusive eight-hours shift. At the same time they promised to consider reasonable claims for an advance (') Lexis, “Handworterbueh der Stastswissenschaften,” vol. I., p. filfi. Art. “Arbeitseinstellungen,” Oldenberg. Meyer, “ Der Emanzi- pations-Kampf des vierten Standes,” 18S2, vol. I., pp. 290-99. 2. Important individual strikes. (a.) Miners, REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY". 38 as soon as tho men had resumed work. On May 14th, a deputation from the miners on strike sought and obtained an audience from the Emperor at which the spokesman of tho deputation stated that the miners claimed the eight-hour shift which they had inherited from their fathers, and did not attach so much importance to the increase of wages, but required the right of con- ferring with the colliery managers. The Emperor’s reply laid stress upon the illegal action of the miners in leaving work without notice, and in employing force and threats to prevent others from remaining at, work. He promised to examine into the justice of their demands, but warned the deputation that, “ in case “ disturbances of the public peace should take place, “ or any connexion appear between their movement “ and Social Democracy, I should not be able to consider “ your wishes with my royal favour. For in my eyes “ every Social Democrat is equivalent to an enemy of “ the empire and the fatherland. If, therefore, I observe any tendency towards Social Democracy or “ resistance to the law in your movement, I shall “ intervene with relentless severity and bring- the “ whole power at my disposal, and it is no small one, “ into action against you.” Two days later a depu- tation from the employers was received by the Emperor, who told them that the miners had made a good im- pression upon him, and that he was satisfied of their non-adherence to tho Social Democrats. The Emperor added, “ I wish, on this occasion, urgently to recom- “ mend all concerned in their interests to secure that “ the mining companies and their representatives shall “ be in future, as much as possible in touch with the “ workmen in order that such movements may not “ escape your notice, seeing that the strike cannot “ jjossibly have been developed unexpectedly. . . “ I wish you, therefore, to see that opportunity should “ be given to the workmen ro formulate their wishes, “ and above all things to keep in view that their duty “ towards the State and the communities concerned “ enjoins upon all companies, which employ a great “ number of my subjects, to provide to the best of “ their power for the welfare of their workmen, and “ especially to prevent the population of an entire “ province from being involved in such difficulties.” On May 18th, the Coal Association at Essen agreed that eight hours “at the face,” as opposed to “ eight “ hours from bank to bank,” should be the limit of a shift, though extra shifts might be worked under ex- ceptional circumstances when this was agreed upon between the miners and the managers. The employers also promised that no compulsion should be used to obtain overtime work, that the discharge papers given to miners should be so worded as not to interfere with their chance of earning a livelihood, that powder and oil should be supplied at cost price where the miners wished it, and that the miners on resuming work should not be made to suffer for the strike at the hands of the colliery managers. The strike leaders decided to resume work on these terms on May 22nd, but owing to misunderstandings between the two parties with regard to the inclusion in the eight-hours shift of the time occupied in arriving at the face, this return to work was not universal. A stormy meeting was held at Bochum by the malcontents on May 24th, and a continuance of the strike proclaimed from May 27th. In consequence of speeches made at the meeting the members of the Central Strike Committee were arrested, and by the end of the month the strike was at an end. During the earlier part of the strike, public sympathy inclined strongly to the Westphalian miners, and this fact combined with tho peaceful way in which they conducted the strike accounts for the greater willing- ness of the Westphalian, than of the Saxon or Silesian, employers to submit to a compromise. Nevertheless the Emperor’s suggestion of some permanent method of arriving at a mutual understanding, such as the formation of standing committees of workmen autho- rised to treat with the employers (see p. 28), has only been followed up in a few cases. (*) In the summer of 1892 signs were not wanting of the advent of fresh disturbances. The “ Gliickauf ” the organ of the Westphalian quarry owners, contained constant references to the necessity of discharging more men, whilst the discharges actually made roused the resentment of the miners. In the Saar district the discontent was even more active, though here reductions in wages rather thantho dismissal of workmen formed the chief cause of complaint. Considerable dissatisfaction wassaid to be artificially 1 promoted by the Catholic section of the party of the Centre for the purpose of weakening the influence of the Social Democrats upon the miners. No actual disturbance occurred until December 29th, when a strike was suddenly declared by tho men em- ployed in the State coal mines of the Saar district. The immediate cause of the strike was the announce- ment that a new code of regulations was about to be introduced in accordance with the amendment to the Prussian Mining Laws of 1892. On December 8th a meeting of miners was held and a strike resol vt-d upon for January 1st. This decision was public, and the miners regarded it as equivalent to a formal notice of their intention to abandon work. Meanwhile petitions calling upon the Minister of Commerce to reconsider the regulations were freely circulated amongst the miners. On December 29th from 3,000 to 4,000 men suspended work, but the mining officials contented themselves with publishing the following notice : — “ Several meetings of miners yesterday resolved upon “ a general strike. We warn them most seriously “ against any suspension of work, and shall meet all “ attempts to strike in the most determined manner. “ Whoever abandons work in spite of the warning must “ take the consequences of his action upon himself.” On the next day, however, 14,000 miners were out, and by January 4th 21.000. The leaders, Warken and Schillo, were imprisoned, but the strikers declared their intention of holding out. Both the military and civil authorities, as well as the Bishop of Treves, enjoined them to refrain from any breach of the peace, and this injunction was on the whole observed. The meetings held during the strike were very numerously attended, and the large proportion of women present was re- marked as a new feature in mining strikes. In some cases women addressed the meetings. The Westphalian mine owners afforded warm support to the mining officials of the Saar district, and, on the other hand, an appeal made to the Westphalian miners by the Saar miners on strike not only produced financial support, but induced the Westphalian miners to declare a sym- pathetic strike, which by the middle of January included id, 000 men. The hostility of the mining officials to all organisation on the part of the men was evinced by their refusal to receive the strike committee or any other deputation, and by their determination to prevent any- one who had taken a leading part in the organisations from obtaining further employment in any of the mines. The strikers were gradually obliged to give way both in the Saar district and in Westphalia, and as a result of the strike all the members of the Socialist Legal Aid Society (Rechtssclmtzvereiv) , to the number of 500, were discharged from the Saar mines. Thirty-one leading members, or “elders” of the Miners' Friendly Society ( Rnajppschalftsiiltesta ) and 11 members of the workmen’s committee were also discharged ; the majority of these were agents for the Legal Aid Society. In Westphalia the number of strikers dismissed amounted to 2,500. A large number of arrests were made, and fines for abandonment of work without notice imposed upon the strikers. (*) Allusion has already been made to the prolonged (b.) Metal strikes amongst ironmoulders in recent years, and from workers, the first the whole group of metal workers have taken a prominent part in the labour movement. The first organisation of metal workers in Central Germany included smiths, locksmiths, smelters, moulders, gold and silver smiths and others, and was under the leader- ship of the Lassallians. Berlin, where Dr. Hirsch had great influence, had an organisation of its own, and the Internationalists succeeded in forming a small asso- ciation which came to an end in 1877. Local associa- tions, such as that of the Hamburg Ironmoulders, fared little better, and the lack of any strong central association had an unfavourable influence upon strikes. These were very numerous, but resulted almost uni- versally in favour of the employers. Berlin, Hamburg, Liineburg, Barmen, Remscheid, Aix-la-Chapelle, Offen- bach, Darmstadt, Mannheim, and Chemnitz were remarkable for the number of strikes amongst iron- founders and mechanical engineers ; Ratisbon, Cologne, and Breslau for those amongst manufacturers of railway plant, whilst the locksmiths had the greatest difficulties in Bremen, Eilpe (Westphalia), Frankfurt-am-Main, and Nuremberg. Between 1869 and 1874 a series of (■) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaffcen, ’ vol. I., p. 610 Art. “ Arbeitseinstellungen,” Oldenberg. Eschenbach, "Die (*) fazialpolitsches Central-blatt, vol, I., p. 372 ; vol. II., Nos. 15-20. LehrendesBergwerksstrikesvom Mai, 1889.” F.O. Report, Miscellaneous Schulze, “ Die Lage der Bergarbeiter in den Hauptkohlen-bezirken Series, No. 135, 1889. Deutschland*,” 1893, E 4 34 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: strikes occurred in Hamburg ; one, in 1872-3, which lasted for 38 weeks, resulted in the ruin of the establish- ment concerned. A great strike of 2,000 workmen engaged in some railway works in Berlin occurred in the autumn of 1872, with the object of securing certain demands drawn up by the Social Democratic Asso- ciation and approved by Max Hirsch’s trade union. The strike lasted for two months, and though the firm was constantly on the verge of liquidation, it contrived to obtain assistance, so that the strike ended in the total defeat of the men. For some time afterwards the Manufacturers’ Association “reigned supreme, and “ crushed all attempts to renew the conflict by the “ relentless use of the black list.” After 1880 a large number of Socialist local unions (Fachvereine) were formed in all parts of Germany. At a congress held at Gera in 1884 a General Metalworkers’ Union was formed, to which a number of the local unions became affiliated. At the end of 1885, however, this union was prohibited by the police. The local organisations soon recovered from the blow, and though they have not since established a central union, in March 1888 there were 91 local unions more or less closely connected. Between 1884 and 1889 there were about 60 strikes with varying results. One at Fiirth. in 1887. is especially remarkable as an instance of the combination of employers and employed for the purpose of forcing the wholesale dealers to lower their prices. A hundred and two employes in all remained idle for seven weeks, and the reduction in prices which was obtained enabled the employers to grant the men better conditions of labour. The strikes which occurred amongst irontnoulders between 1888 and 1890 are an example of the present tendency to substitute national for local strikes. Though the moulders have no national association, the various local strikes may be traced to the resolutions passed at a Moulders’ Congress at Magdeburg in the spring of 1888, and at the time of the strikes a central fund was formed for the support of the strikers. In Berlin the moulders sought and obtained an advance in wages, but in Grabow, near Stettin, this advance was refused, and a strike ensued. In Hamburg and Brunswick, as men- tioned above, strikes to enforce the recognition of the unions’ labour registries were declared at the same time. The Congress of Ironmasters which met at Hamburg in 1889 resolved to do castings for members whose employes were out on strike at cost price ; but in many cases the moulders who had remained at work showed their sympathy with the strikers by refusing to undertake this casting, and the attempt to enforce the order produced a further strike at Wolfenbuttel In Altoua some of the manufacturers seized the occasion to boycott (in Verruf erklaren) the local union, and pro- duced a strike involving 60 men. During the summer of 1889 smaller strikes occurred at Linden in Hanover, Bayreuth, and Bernburg. The moulders on strike received large contributions from other districts, and the employers’ attempts to introduce fresh hands from Bohemia, Silesia, and East Prussia proved futile in spite of police protection, owing to the influence which the strikers brought to bear upon the new comers. In some cases, as at Grabow, the employers agreed to a compromise, but for the most part the}’ regarded the strike as concerned with a matter of primary im- portance, and refused to give way. In Brunswick, Hamburg, and Altoua the strikes soon resolved them- selves into lock-outs of all unionists, and the formation of an “Ironmasters” union for a similar purpose in the province of Hanover was answered by a suspension of work in all the foundries ; the actions brought by the manufacturers resulted in a verdict for the men. Finally, in 1890, after a resistance of 16 months at an immense cost to the employers, a compromise was effected, by which the organisations were recognised and a joint registry established by employers and em- ployed. The total cost of the strikes to the workmen up to April 1890 was, according to the “ Correspond- enzblatt,” a workmen’s paper, 179,327 marks, but in spite of the compromise the difficulties were not at an end, and in one form or other the struggle continued until the end of the summer of 1891, in all nearly three years. The “ Correspondenzblatt ” gives the total cost as 182,208 marks. (“) In addition to the early strikes amongst printers (see p. 25) a number of strikes are recorded in the (i) Lexis, “ llnndworterbuch del- Staatswissoischaften,” vol. I., p. fil6. \rl ' Afb'eitseinstellungcn,” Oldenberg, Sozialpolitisehes Ceutral- blfttt. vol. 1., 18H-2, p. 419. year 1886, undertaken with the object of securing a general increase of 6 per cent, upon the wages scale agreed to in 1878. In Leipzig and Oldenburg these strikes were successful; but a five months’ strike amongst six hundred printers in the Rhine provinces and Westphalia brought no definite advantages, and cost the Printers' Union 2tX),000 marks. Latterly the efforts of the Union have been concentrated upon the attainment of a nine-hours day, in the belief that this reform, together with a desired reduction in the number of apprentices allowed, will restore the balance between the supply of labour and the demand. In the autumn of 1891 an extensive strike occurred amongst members of the Printers’ Union, with the object of obtaining a nine-hours day and a revision of the wages scale. The strike, which extended to almost all parts of Germany, with the exception of the Cologne and Coblentz, Aix-la-Chapelle and Treves, and Saxe- Coburg-Gotha districts, attracted a large share of public interest mainly from the fact that it was re- garded as a preparatory step towards an agitation for a general eight-hours day. The existing wages scale was to expire on 1st January 1892, but as January and February are regarded as a slack season, the Printers’ Union decided that a strike for an advance in the scale would have a better chance of success if declared in the autumn than if postponed until the expiration of the scale. Consequently they drew up a demand for a reduction of hours from ten to nine, and an advance of 10 per cent, in the basis of the scale. Since wages in the trade were reckoned by the hour, this advance in the rate of payment, if combined with the reduction of hours which was their main object, would not affect the total daily earnings. Further if, as they claimed, greater efficiency would compensate for shorter hours, the employers would suffer no financial loss by thus raising the rate of payment so as to bring the wages for nine hours up to tbe existing level for ten hours. The printers’ demands were brought before the Wages Board, which met at Leipzig at the beginning of October 1891, but the employers would agree to nothing more than an increase of 7i per cent, in the basis of the scale. Consequently the employes gave notice of their intention to strike, but postponed the actual abandonment of work. On October 22nd meetings were held simultaneously throughout the country', and it was unanimously resolved to give notice of the proposed strike on October 24th. The proper term of notice was scrupulously observed, and the printers employed the interval in attempting to gain public sympathy for their cause by publishing statistics of the diseases inci- dental to their calling and bringing together all the information attainable as to the effect of the long hours of work upon the health of the workmen. Further, they pointed to the number of workmen unemployed in the industry who, it was anticipated, would find employment in the event of a shorter day. The incon- sistency of this anticipation with the previous statement that increased efficiency on the part of the workmen already employed would suffice to maintain production at the existing level is pointed out by Dr. Adolf Braun, who suggests that the true method of reducing the number of the unemployed is to be found in a stricter regulation of apprenticeship. Of the 15,000 printers who had announced their intention of striking, 5,000 received a satisfactory reply to their demands, and therefore continued at work, but the remaining 10,000 went out on strike and remained out for seven weeks. The printers regarded the demand for labour occasioned by the necessity for publishing parliamentary and other papers without delay as an element in their favour, since such work does not admit of transference to foreign workmen. They miscalculated, however, the numbers of the “ reserve army” of unemployed, and they neglected the obvious precaution of sending dele- gates to the chief printing centres in Austria and Switzerland to prevent the departure of workmen to take the places of the strikers. This, together with the general depression of trade at the time of the strike, contributed largely to its failure, since the Union incurred great expense in sending back foreign work- men, who would probably never have come to Germany, had they understood the position of affairs. The strike was conducted throughout in the most peaceable manner, and such great efforts were made on the part of the strikers to avoid any illegal action that prosecu- tions were comparatively few. An allowance of 14 marks a week was made from the cential fund to every striker, and support was sent by the workmen of other countries, though in many cases it was accompanied with expressions of regret that the strikers refused to REPORT ON TJ7E IABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 35 ( d .) Textile workers. ally themselvos with the Socialist party. In spite of the law-abiding character of tho striko leaders the Prussian Government exercised the authority which it possessed over the Union's funds (see p. 25) to prevent further suppott being given to the strikers, and the Wiirtemburg Government confiscated tho Stuttgart sick fund. The result of these measures was a gradual collapse of the strike. In Stettin and Breslau the strikers surrendered unconditionally, but in Berlin, Halle, Hamburg, Munich, Mainz, Nord- lingen, Oldenburg, Erfurt, and other cities they resolved to remain out, even though the funds at their disposal had been .so sensibly diminished. They still relied upon the contributions from other countries and from workmen of other trades, but though these were considerable, amounting it is said to 188,110 marks, including 70.000 marks' from England and 8,000 marks from the United States, it was obvious that a strike thus supported could not be long continued. On January 10th, 1892, after two months’ resistance, the strikers called meetings in all the principal towns, and by January 14th the strike was at an end. The victory of the employers was complete, since the men were obliged to return to work under the old conditions as to wages and hours, and the long struggle had weakened the men’s organisation and exhausted its available funds. Consequently since the strike the employers have adopted an attitude of aggression, and, according to Dr. Braun, have been untiring in their efforts to obtain a further reduction of wages and to destroy the Printers’ Union. To this end they have advocated the formation by the employers of benefit funds to sup- plant the Union’s- funds, the establishment of labour registries under the control of the employers, and the appointment of workmen acceptable to the employers as members of the Wages Board. In these and in similar measures they have met with firm resistance on the part of the employed, but the result has been, as Dr. Braun says, to cause the relations between employers and employed to be even more unfriendly than before the striked * 1 ) The textile industry of Alsace-Lorraine was dis- turbed by numerous strikes in 189U ; indeed in Upper Alsace few mills remained unaffected except those which had immediately acceded to the demands of their employes. These demands included an advance in wages, a reduction in hours, and the lengthening of the intervals for meals. The movement began in MiAlhausen with a strike in a cotton printing mill, which was followed by a demonstration, on Good Friday, of 150 workmen who had remained away from work against the wishes of their employers, and marched in procession through the town to assert their right to a Good Friday rest. Either in consequence of this demonstration or merely because of a scarcity of work, 29 carders (ansetzer) in a worsted spinning mill were discharged and the petition of the other employes for a reversal of this decision on the ground of the difficulty of obtaining work was rejected. The result was a strike of serioirs dimensions ; the demands of the strikers included a 12-hours’ shift with an hour-and-a- half for dinner and a quarter of an hour i'or breakfast, and the same wages as had previously been paid for a day of 13 hours and a half. From day to day fresh establishments joined in the strike, the employes for the most part making similar demands. The weavers, who are mainly women, complained that whereas formerly they earned 33.6 marks a fortnight for mind- ing two looms, they -were now only getting 27 marks for three looms. In one weaving establishment the women demanded the return of the former manager, declaring that they had received better treatment from him than from his successor. The strike spread to the dyeing an l printing works, and the mechanical engineers, builders, and iron-workers came forward with similar demands for shorter hours, longer inter- vals, and higher wages. In some factories fortnightly payment ol wages was demanded in place of monthly payment, together with restriction of piece-work and higher payments for overtime ; in other factories com- plaints were frequent of the extent to which the employes were fined. It was stated that one girl had been fined 18 marks, which reduced her wages for a fortnight s work to 4 marks. The strikes were peaceably conducted in Miilhausen, and there was no attempt to prevent non-strikers from continuing to (p Lexis, ’ 1 1 andwort erbuch tier Staatswissenschaften,” vol J p. OlB. Art. “Arbeitseiiistellungen,” Oldenberg. Anitliehe - Mitfei-’ i li n jre ! i aus uon Jahres-Berichten der Fabrik-Aufsichts-Beamten, 1891 pp. 125, 125. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. 1., 1892 , pp. 8, 22 , 37, 51 , 458. i 78420. work ; on the other hand, none of the employes in- volved gave the; legal notice before abandoning work. In the Thann district some disturbances occurred. After about 10 days the Mulhausen strikes ended in a compromise, by which the employes agreed to resume work on condition that the employers overlooked their breach of contract, examined into their grievances, reduced the hours of work from 12 to 11, and granted a mid-day pause of an hour-and-a-half and a fixed interval of from a quarter to half hour for breakfast. This agreement served as a model to the surrounding districts, although in some places, especially high up in the valleys, there was considerably less reduction of the working time.(') A successful strike occurred amongst Berlin work- men in the pottery trade in 1892, in spite of the general depression prevailing that year in industry. The strike was connected neither with wages nor hours, but was due to dissatisfaction with the arrangements as regards sanitation in the industry. For years back the work- men engaged in doing potters’ work in newly-built houses have been. urging upon the master builders the necessity of glazing the windows at a comparatively early stage in the work ; otherwise workmen engaged upon inside work are exposed to currents of air blowing through the house with, as they allege, serious con- sequences to their health. The builders resisted on the ground that the panes of glass were liable to be broken if work was still proceeding in the house. A strike in 1890 to obtain the concession desired was partially successful. In j 89 1 the potters gained the support of the painters and plasterers, and this, together with their own strong organisation, contributed to Ihe success of their efforts. From the middle of October 1891 until April 1st, 1892, the potters refused to work in buildings where the windows were unglazed; though the painters and plasterers took no active part in the struggle, they afforded the potters all the help in their power. At the same time all kinds of workmen engaged inside buildings were protesting against the practice of putting open coke fires in to dry newly-built houses, so that inside workmen were obliged to work in rooms filled with the poisonous gases emitted by the burning coke. Through the efforts of the potters’ organisation this evil was remedied. A petition was sent to the head of the Berlin police, asking him to prohibit the use of open coke-burners ; he demanded proof of the injurious effects of such a practice, and upon receipt of this proof issued a notice prohibiting work in rooms, in which open coke-burners had been placed. The example of the Berlin potters with regard to work in buildings with unglazed windows was followed by the potters of Hamburg and Altona and their neighbourhood. In October," 1892, the Berlin potters followed up their partial success of the previous year by a strike to secure the recognition of their demands. On October 21st the number of strikers was 490 ; by the 28th it had increased to 541. After lasting a month the strike ended in a complete victory for the strikers.! 2 ) D. — Pbevention and Settlement of Stbikes. Special courts for the settlement of industrial dis- putes have in some form or other been provided for by the German law since the beginning of the century, though at no period have the persons concerned appeared eager to avail themselves of the provision. The incorporation into France of the left bank of the Rhine during the Napoleonic wars brought the Rhine provinces under the Napoleonic Code, which provided for the formation of Conseils de Prudhommes to decide industrial disputes. Councils of this kind were insti- tuted in 1808 for Aix-Ia-Chapelle and Burtscheid, and in 1811 for Crefeld and Cologne ; when the provinces reverted to Prussia the councils were left intact, and an effort was made to extend the system to other parts of the country. Between 1835 and 1844 councils on the French model were established at Gladbach, Elberfeld, Barmen, Solingen, Lennep, Remscheid, Burscheid,' and Diisseldorf, and in 1857 a similar council was formed at Miilheim. By an Order in Council of August 7th, 1846, they were called “ Royal Councils,” and empowered to deal with all disputes arising between manufacturers and their foremen, workmen, and apprentices ; home workers were also included under their jurisdiction. In 1815 a special Factory (') Amtliche Mitteilungen aus den jiaihres-Beriehten der Fabrik- Aufsichts-Beamten, 1890, pp. no, 120. ( 2 ) Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. II., 1892-3, p. 129. F (e.) Build- ing trades. 1. Industrial courts : (a ) Prior to 1809. ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR 3 fi Court ( Ft i br i kenge.r ichf) was formed at Berlin to deal with disputes between factory owners or managers nod their employes. The Berlin Court seems to have accomplished little, and the example of the capital was not followed in any other district with the excep- tion of Westphalia, where so-called “ Courts of Factory Deputies ” were established by decree in November, 1829. They were only formed, however, in Altena, Hagen, Iserlohn. and in the districts of Ludenscheid and Siegen. The restriction of the power of the guilds effected by the Prussian Industrial Code of 1845 (see p. 21) led to dissatisfaction amongst artisans with the legal provisions for settling industrial disputes. The tendency of Prussian legislation appeared to be in the direction of relegating all disputes to the ordinary courts, whilst the artisans demanded special industrial courts on the model of those existing in the Rhine provinces. A committee of employers and employed summoned by the Government to Berlin to consider the matter, drew up a Bill for the establishment of industrial Courts, which became law on February 2nd, 1849. Only 11 courts were established under the Act at Magdeburg, Halle, Stettin, Breslau, Schwedt, Miriden, Liegnitz, Gorlitz, Ratisbor, Sagan, and in the district of Wernigerode. The procedure of these courts was not laid down with any exactness, and their constitution was not very clearly defined in the Act; these defects, combined with the delay attending their decisions, go far to account for their compara- tively small success. In Saxony a law to establish industrial courts was passed in 1861. but only one single insignificant court was ever established. Of the other German States. Saxe-Gotha alone made any efforts in this direction. In 1849 courts were esta- blished at Ohrdruf, Waltevshausen, and Ichtershausen, consisting of the masters of the guild and a committee of conciliation composed of members of the guild. Disputes of a personal character were referred to this committee, and where they failed to arrive at a settle- ment, to an industrial court, formed of delegates from the Chamber of Commerced 1 ) ( h .) From The Industrial Code of 1869, which regulated the 1 869 to 1690. j nc ! U st r i eS of the Empire, contained a section, since repealed by the Act of 1890, which enacted that “ disputes between independent industrial employers “ and their workmen respecting the commencement, “ continuation, or termination of the labour contract, “ their mutual obligations under it, and the granting or contents of certificates must be submitted to “ specially appointed authorities in so far as such “ exist. Where such authorities do not exist, the “ matter must come before the regular communal 66 authorities, against whose decision an appeal .can “ be made at law By local statutory regulations “ courts of arbitration may be instituted by the “ communal authorities for the settlement of such “ disputes, the members of these courts being chosen “ from among the employers and the employed in “ equal numbers.’’ In 1870 the Prussian Minister ot Commerce addressed a circular letter to the provincial authorities, recommending them to give effect to this section by establishing courts of arbitration ; but in spite of these efforts on the part of the Government, the industrial classes maintained the same attitude of indifference which has characterised them with regard to Arbitration Acts in England and other countries. In 1869 one court was established, in 1870 four; but whilst the numbers rose in 1871 and 1872 to 19 and 21, they fell again to 7 and 4 in 1873 and 1874. At the end of 1889 only 74 in all had been created, and of these only 14 were formed between 1880 and 1889. Even amongst those nominally created some .were never definitely organised owing to lack of business, “ and it is worthy of note that whilst several cities of “ small importance instituted courts of arbitration, “ great cities in many cases did nothing in consequence “ of the difficulties which they experienced in electing “ members. xYnd as the small localities had consulted “ the dictates of authority more than the needs of the inhabitants, the courts speedily came to an end. Amongst the courts which were really active the greatest diversity existed as to constitution and pro- cedure. In two points, however, all were agreed ; some legal knowledge was regarded as an indispensable qualification for the office of president, and the. repre- sentation of employers and employed was required to be equal. Although the authors of section 108 of the (>) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staaxs\vi#s«nschaften,” vol. III., p. a 50, Art. “ Gewerbegericht,” Stieda. Industrial Code had had in view the formation of courts, which should intervene in collective disputes, the statutes of most of the tribunals actuallj established only empowered them to deal with individual matters. Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Berlin were exceptions to the general rule; the statutes of these courts directed the tribunal “to intervene as aboard of conciliation “ whenever a strike was threatened or had already “ been declared, or whenever difficulties arose with “ regard to proposed wages or other conditions of “ labour.” In Leipzig and Frankfurt this intervention could only take place on the request of both parties to the dispute ; in Berlin it was sufficient that one should request the services of the court. It does not, however, appear that any use was made of these powers, and no instance can be found of any strike which was settled by the arbitration of any State court. In individual disputes the Stuttgart court can show the most successful record. The factory inspector for the district reports in 1889 that the Court had succeeded in gaining the confidence of the workpeople in a high degree ; 468 complaints were brought before it during the year as against 526 in 1888, and 77'6 per cent, of these were arranged without a definite judgment by the court. In 202 cases a compromise was effected, in 89 the complaint was withdrawn, and in 122 the matter was settled without a formal decision. Of the cases decided by the court in its formal sessions, 86 were settled after hearing both sides and only 15 by judgment delivered in the absence of one party. In one case experts were summoned as assessors, and in 11 cases an appeal was made against the decision of the court. The subjects of complaint were : — “ Commencement, continuation, or termination of the “ labour contract in 53 cases, wages or other payments “ connected with the labour contract in 428 cases, “ questions relating to certificates and workmen’s “ pass-books (see p. 39) in 30 cases, repayment of sick “ fund contributions levied in excess in nine cases, “ continuation and termination of apprenticeship in “ five cases, and payments connected with apprentice- “ ships in seven cases. In 176 cases the complaint “ was settled on the first day, in 139 on the second, “ in 86 on the third, and in 45 on the fourth. In the “ matter of the election of assessors the workmen “ showed far greater interest and activity than the “ employers.”^) In the amendment to the Industrial Code of 1881 concerning the guilds, provision was made for the establishment of courts of arbitration, for the settle- ment of disputes between members of the guild and their journeymen or apprentices, and a further amend- ment of 1887 extended the jurisdiction of these courts in some cases to non-members (see p. 22). Further, the Insurance Laws of 1883 and 1884 (see pp. 73-79) pro- vided for arbitration in disputes between employers and their workpeople with regard to the amount which the employers should contribute to the sick funds, or the compensation due under the Accident Insurance Law. On the whole, however, the State provision for arbitra- tion and conciliation in Germany has proved ineffective, and the advocates of this method of settling industrial disputes have, ever since 1873, made repeated efforts to secure additional powers. Bills on the subject were introduced into the Reichstag in 1873, 1874, and 1878, but without success. In 1886 a resolution was passed “ To request the Chancellor of the Empire to introduce “ a Bill for the compulsory establishment of industrial “ courts, with the condition that the assessors in such “ courts shall be elected in equal numbers by employers “ and employed separately, and by ballot.” The insertion of the word “ compulsory ” was due in a great measure to the influence of the Socialist members, and it was omitted in the further resolution passed in 1889.0 The law, finally passed on July 29th, 1890, which (c.) Law of came into effect on April 1st 1891, holds to the old 1890 ' principle of leaving the institution of industrial courts in the main to the communal authorities. It differs from the sections of the Industrial Code, which it supplants, by including a series of provisions for the formation, under certain circumstances, of a board of conciliation. The preamble states that “ in many recent (i) “ Amtliche-Mitteilungen aus den Jahres-Beriohten der: Fabrik- Anfsichts-Beamten, 1889,” pp. 145, 14G. (-’) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissensehaften,” vol. III., p. 950. Art., “ Gewerbegericlit,” Stieda, Stieda, “ Das Gewerbegericht,” 1890, pp. 50-69, Das Reichsgesetz betr : die Gewerbegerichte, 1890, pp.' 5-10. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION! IN GERMANY. 87 (<7.) Work- i is of tlie 1 i\v of 1890. strikes it has been felt that, although both sides were “ ready to treat, negotiations could not bo initiated “ vvitliout long delay, because no regular and authorita- “ tivo body existed which could undertake the conduct “ of such negotiations. The present law attempts to “ establish a body of tliis kind, which may be able to “ facilitate the amicable settlement of differences “ between employers and employed on points concern- “ ing the labour contract, and so to obviate the heavy “ losses entailed on both parties by strikes, or to bring “ the latter to a speedy conclusion where they have “ actually broken out. It is hoped that the constitution “ of the industrial courts, which ensures special “ knowledge and unbiassed judgment, may command “ the confidence of both employers and employed." The authorities of a commune, or of a number of com- munes combined, may establish such a court ; should they prove remiss, the employers and workmen con- cerned may appeal to the Central Government to order the establishment of a court. All expenses not covered by fees, costs, and fines must be met by the commune. The court consists of a president, nominated by the communal authorities and approved by the Government, and at least two assessors ; but, whatever be the number, half must represent the employers and half the employed. They are elected by ballot, and must be over 30 years of age; neither paupers nor persons under any legal disability are eligible, and all persons elected must have resided or been employed for two years in tho district. Women may neither vote nor be elected. The elec- torate includes all persons over 25 years of age, who possess the qualifications required for assessors. The assessors, who cannot refuse election, except for special reasons, are compensated for travelling expenses and for loss of time. The contending parties may not be represented by lawyers, or by persons who are profes- sionally engaged In legal proceedings. The courts may take the evidence on oath both of the parties concerned and of witnesses or experts. If the matter in dispute exceeds the value of 1(X) marks 15 1.), an appeal may be made against the decision of the court to the regular courts of the district. Any industrial court may convert itself into a board of conciliation when appealed to by both parties. In this case the President nominates four assessors, two from each side, and the parties are represented by a limited number of delegates, as a rule three from each side; each party may also elect further assessors, provided that equality of representation is preserved. The decisions of the court, when acting as a board of conciliation, are not legally binding, and cannot be enforced; in other cases the court notifies its decision to the parties concerned, who must declare within a given time whether they accept it or not. If the assessors cannot come to an agreement, the president may withold his vote, and simply declare that no judgment can be given. In any case, the result of the negotiations must be public. The court must give its opinion on industrial questions when required to do so by the Government or the communal authorities, and it is empowered to make suggestions to these authorities on matters relating to the persons or esta- blishments under its jurisdiction. The law recognises the existing rights of the guilds and their courts, but calls upon all other industrial courts to revise their constitution before April 1st, 1892, and to remodel it in accordance with the existing law.(*) So far 179 courts have been formed in the six largest German States, or 133 m Prussia, 13 in Bavaria, 13 in Saxony, 9 in Wiirtemberg, 7 in Balen, an 1 4 in Hesse. Alsace and i Lorraine, in spite of their great industrial development, have as yet taken no advantage of the Act, and the fact that Saxony ha3 no more courts than Bavaria seems to show that there is no definite relation between the provision for arbitration an l the probable need of it. East of the Elbe there are 81 courts, but excluding the Potsdam an l Schleswig districts only 52. The official statistics for Wiirt onberg. state that up t > tho end of 1892, one court, that at Geisslingen, had not yet taken any action. During 1892, the remaining eight courts emsidered 160 complaints brought by employers against their workpeople, and 1,320 com- plaints brought by workmen against their employers. The percentage of cases originating with the em- ployers appears to be much larger in Wiirtemberg than in most other parts of Germany. A. judgment was given in 410 of the 1,480 cases, 711 were settled ( l ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der .Staatswissenschaften,” vol. III., P- 050. Art., “Gewerbegericht,” Stieda. Das Reichsgesetz betr : die Gewerbegerichte, 1 1890. by compromise, 291 were withdrawn, and 68 were pending at the end of the year. Thus the cases settled by compromise amounted to about 50 per cent, of the whole, whilst those in which a judgment was given were only 2 j p >r cent. A very large proportion of the cases were settled within a. week. The industrial court of Hanau-am-Main considered 61- cases during the official year 1892-3, as against 104 in the preceding year. Fifty-five of these originated with the workmen, and nine with the employers. Fifty-three cases were settled without a formal sitting of the court, and of the 11 cases considered by the court, five were settled bv compromise, five by a definite judgment, and one was withdrawn. In some districts, where the establishment of industrial courts is of more than ordinary import- ance, there has been considerable delay in carrying out the law. In Berlin, the election of assessors only took place on February 20th, 1893, although the law came into force on April 1st, 1891. An attempt had been made to establish an industrial court for Berlin previous to the passing of the law, at the instance of Herr Tutzauer, a Social Democrat ; but his scheme, which gave a vote to all workpeople over 21 years of age including women.deprived the guilds of their exceptional position, empowered the courts to administer oaths and made their decisions final, was rejected by the lord lieutenant ( Obevprasident ), in October 1889. The statutes drawn up since the passing of the law have perforce omitted the previous provisions concerning women, and adopted the higher legal age fixed by the law ; but they have given greater definiteness to the provision concerning the payment of assessors by fixing such payment at 4 marks a day, and providing that it should be paid at once, and not only at the end of each quarter. The Berlin court consists of 420 assessors, 210 from each side ; and the statutes provide that the pre- sident, nominated by the magistrate, and confirmed by the lord lieutenant (Oberprasident), must summon two assessors to each meeting. These assessors should, as far as possible, according to the statutes, be persons of the same trade as the disputants, or of a cognate trade ; but this arrangement seems likely to lead to confusion and delay, since the number of cases considered in one day would involve either the summoning of a number of assessors, or the postponement of cases until there were enough in a given trade to occupy the court for one day. Dr. Max Quarck draws attention to this point, and also suggests the division of the court into branches for each quarter of the city-, as a means of accelerating business. The method of electing assessors adopted in Berlin appears open to objection, and contrasts unfavourably with the simpler method in use at Frankfurt. Here each voter must merely prove his right to vote on the election day itself, whilst in Berlin voters are required to register their names on lists in the various electoral districts before a given date. The result of this has been, that in spite of repeated postponements of the date, only 34,388 out of the 280,000 workmen, and 3,047 out of the 80,000 employers qualified to vote registered their names, and the election was in the hands of a weli organised minority. All the workmen elected, and nine of the employers, belonged to the Social Democrats, who possess 219 votes against 201 in the court as finally constituted.! 1 ) In the mining districts, the expense of organising the industrial courts is boi-ne by the State instead of by the communal authorities, in accordance with the section of the law which provides that “ any “ division of the administrative districts for a special “ purpose must be carried out after a uniform plan by “ the central authorities ( Landesbehorden ) in place of the local authorities.” When the Chamber of Deputies was asked to vote the necessary funds the Conservative party offered strong opposition. Accord- ing to a writer in the “ Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt ” of March 13th, 1893, this opposition was due in a great measure to the fears entertained by the great land- owners that the proposal to establish courts in the agricultural districts, which has already been made in the Reichstag by some of the members from Poland, may in the end be adopted. In spite ot' the opposition the necessary funds were voted, and on April 1st, 1893, five courts were instituted for the mining districts, two of which were for Silesia, and one each for Westphalia, the Aix la Chapelle, and the Saarbriick districts.! 2 ) (*) "Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt,” vol. I., 18J2, pp. 73-75; vol. II, 1892-3, pp. 143, 231, 235, 352, 387. (“) “ Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt,” vol. II., 1892-3, pi. 207, 241, 2S8, 494. F 2 KOVAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : 2. Volun- tary boards of arbitra- tion and concilia- tion. 38 The “ Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt ” calls attention to the very few cases in which industrial courts have exercised the power given to them by the Act of' resolving themselves into boards of conciliation. One successful instance is, however, recorded in Kiel, in September, 1892, when a pending dispute between brewers and their workpeople was averted. The Leipzig court has established an information office ( Ausicunfts- Bureau ) which furnishes advice gratis to workmen. The assessors attend in turns and give the workmen the benefit of their experience ; and though the office has lately been in difficulties owing to the complaints of the unorganised workmen that its benefits were confined to those who were organised, it continues to exist and to do useful work. It was established in April, 1890, and in the first year of its activity gave advice to over 1,000 workmen. (') Efforts have been made from time to time in Germany to organise voluntary boards of arbitration and con- ciliation in the different industries, but except in the printing trade little has been achieved in this direction. In 1873 the Economic Club (Verein fiir Sozialpolitih) issued a report on the subject, and presented a petition to the Reichstag praying for the “ speedy promulga- “ tion of a (normal) law authorising boards of concilia- “ tion.’’ The trade unions were in favour of establish- ing such boards, and, about 1870, boards seem to have been formed in Griinberg, Guben, Danzig, Berlin, Stralsund, Barth and Zingst, Rostock, Offenbach and Biebrich. The details recorded of these boards are both meagre and contradictory ; and their history does not appear to have contributed much to the records of successful arbitration. In 1872 the attempt to establish such an institution in the Berlin building trades failed owing to the resistance of the workmen, and though a temporary board put an end to a strike in May 1872, the workmen did not carry out the award. The tailoring industry in Berlin had the same experience, and in 1889 the trade unions were still only in the stage of anticipating good results from the future formation of boards of conciliation. In the printing trade aboard for the whole of Germany was established in 1873, after a prolonged succession of strikes concerning wages (see p. 25). The board consisted of 24 members, 12 from each side, who were elected for three years and empowered to take action in the event of any proposal to alter the wages list. Their decisions were to be submitted to the employers and employed in the 12 main centres of the industry, who might accept or reject them as they stood, but were not entitled to amend them. The board might also consider local variations of wages, and acted as a court of appeal against the decisions of the local boards. These were constituted in each of the 12 centres, and empowered to decide all minor disputes arising out of the terms of the labour contract. They were composed of three employers and three workmen, who held office for a year. ' The printers’ board did not, however, meet with lasting recognition amongst all the members of the industry. The election of members was not in every case above suspicion, and the employers in many in- stances refused to accept the decision of the board. After a time the workmen followed their example, and in 1878 the board was abolished and a wages committee established in its place. In 1886 the old local organisa- tion was revived, and courts of arbitration established in Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich, Karlsruhe, Berlin, Dresden, and Breslau in connexion with the wages committee. The disastrous strike of 1891-2 inflicted a serious blow upon the printers’ organisation, and at present Germany cannot be said to contain any very successful example of a voluntary board for a whole industry, though there are some instances of councils of conciliation in particular factories, such as the Schulthoiss Brass Foundry and the Freese Blind Factory at Berlin. These councils are more of the nature of workmen’s consultative committees than of boards of conciliation. In the Schultheiss Brass Foundry each class of workmen elects two, three, or four represen- tatives, according to the number of workmen in the class. The managers consult the committee thus formed on questions affecting the workmen, and have several times granted an advance of wages in accordance with the committee’s wish. Herr Rosiclce, the chairman of the company and a member of the Reichstag, is mainly responsible for the liberal views of the management. In Herr Freese’s blind factory the committee of con- ciliation consists of 15 members, four appointed by (’) “Sc 2 ialpolitisches Centralulatt,” vol. II., 1892-3, p. 22. the chairman and 11 elected by the workmen. All the workmen have a vote, and are eligible for election after they have been six months in the factory. Elec- tions are held annually, and in 1892 the manager nominated a woman as one of his representatives. The council meets once every quarter, and oftener if neces- sary; after every meeting any workman is at liberty to come before it and state any grievance which lie may have experienced or observed. Herr Freese regards this provision as one of the most fruitful in preventing ill-feeling. (') In Germany, as in Austria, the inspectors of factories occupy a very prominent position in the industrial world, and the facilities for obtaining reliable informa- tion inseparable from their work render them peculiarly fitted to exercise a conciliatory influence upon both employers, and employed. This influence they fre- quently exercise in the capacity of mediators, and their activity in this direction might be even more beneficial, could they but overcome the distrust with which they are sometimes regarded by the working classes. The inspector for the Zwickau district of Saxony in 1889 reported that he had in one instance consented to act as mediator between workmen on strike and their employers, and that during the year he had given 635 written opinions on points connected with factory labour. It has been proposed that the Government inspectors should be appointed presidents of the in- dustrial courts, but besides the difficulty of finding a sufficient number, the inspectors are already fully occupied, and it would be necessary to appoint a large additional staff should this proposal be seriously considered. One remarkable instance of mediation has been already mentioned ( see p. 33), namely, the intervention of the Emperor on the occasion^ of the Westphalian strike of 1889. Such intervention necessarily differs from the mediation of a private individual, in that it is impossible entirely to divest the action of the head of the State of a somewhat compulsory character. It cannot, however, be doubted that the Emperor’s expres- sions of opinion contributed largely to the speedy termination of the strike. ( 2 ) DIVISION II.— CONDITIONS OF LABOUR LN CERTAIN SPECIAL INDUSTRIES. Introduction. Protective legislation for labour, as now understood, dates in Prussia from the regulation ( Begulativ ) of March 9th, 1839, promulgated by a Rescript ( Kabinets - ordre) of April 6th, which prohibited the regular employment of children under nine years of age in mines, factories, stamping mills, or blast-furnaces, limited the maximum working day for yOung persons under 16 to 10 hours, and prohibited their em- ployment at night, or on Sundays and festivals. The General Industrial Code of January 17th, 1845, added further regulations with regard to the proper treatment of workmen and apprentices, and the provision to be made for their physical and moral welfare, and an Order in Council of February' 9th, 1849, which pro- vided for the establishment of industrial councils, also declared that no work was to be compulsory on Sundays or festivals, and that the employes in workshops and factories were to have a voice in fixing the limits of the working day. A law of May' 16th, 1853, in- troduced some emendations into the rules laid down in 1839. The minimum age at which children might be employed was raised to 12, and the hours for children under 14 were restricted to six, with three hours school attendance. Finally, factory inspectors were to be appointed “where necessary.” An Order in Council of September 22nd, 1867, extended these provisions to the recently acquired Prussian territories, and the Industrial Code adopted by the North German Con- federation in 1869 embodied the earlier provisions of the Prussian law with very slight changes, and ex- tended them to all the federated States. This code contained the farther provision that every employer was bound to erect and maintain, at his own expense, all necessary appliances for securing the health and safety' of his workpeople. The provisions concerning factory labour were extended to mines, quarries, and subsidiary works. Similar legislation had been adopted (>) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaf ten,” vol . III., p. 37. Art.. " Einiirungsamter,” Stieda. “Schriften des Vereins fiir Sozial- politik,” vol! XLV. 1890. pp. 403-467. De la Conciliation et de l’Arbitrage, Paris, Office du Travail, 1S93, pp. 480, 481. “Schriften des Vereins fur Sozialpolitik,” vol. II., 1873. ( 2 ) Amtliche Mitteilungen aus den Jahres-Berichten der Pabrik- Aufsicbts-Beamten, 1889, p. 8. Eschenbach, “Die Lehre des Berg- vverksstrikes vom Mai, 1889,” pp. 45, 46. 3. Media- tion. a. Indus- trial protec- tive legis- lation. (i.) Histori- cal develop- ment. REPORT ON THE LABOUR (QUESTION IN GERMANY. (ii.) Present state of the law. Sunday work. 39 in other parts oi Germany. The Bavarian Government had issued an Order in Council on January 15tli, 1840, with regard to the protection of children. '1 he regular employment of child labour in factories, mines, blast- furnaces, and foundries was prohibited ; c hildren over nine could only be employed it certified to bo sufficiently strong and to have reached a certain educational standard, and children under 12 could not be employed at night or for more than 10 hours a day. An Order of July 16th, 1854, strengthened the regulations in force for the maintenance of the health and the preservation of the moral standard amongst children, raised the minimum age to 10, and restricted their hours to nine, with three hours school attendance. Safeguards tor machinery and sanitary regulations were left to the police, though some specially dangerous industries were regulated by an Order in Council of April 8th, 1863. In the kingdom of Saxony the truck system was prohibited by an Order of October 22nd, 1849, and a further Order of December 18th, 1855. The Saxon Industrial Code of October 15th, 1861, continued this prohibition, and added many other provisions for the protection of labour. The employment of children under 10 was forbidden, and in 1865 the age was raised to 12. This clause applied only to factories employing more than 20 workpeople, where the regular hours for children under 14 were limited to 10. Employers were obliged to erect safeguards to their machinery, and to provide proper sanitary appliances; but the liberty of contract was, in the main, unrestricted as far as adult labour was concerned. The AViirtemberg Industrial Code of February 12th, 1861, included similar pro- visions with regard to sanitation and the guarding of machinery ; it prohibited the truck system, and pro- vided that children and young persons under 18 years of age could only be employed, when such employment did not interfere with their health, their education, and their religious duties. In the Grand Duchy of Baden an Order of March 4th, 1840, provided that, up to the age of 11, children could not be released from attending the national schools, and, if engaged in a factory, must be allowed two hours for school attendance. The time spent in work and at school must not exceed 12 hours in all, exclusive of work carried on in the open air. Work at night or on Sundays and holidays was for- bidden to children and young persons. The Baden Industrial Code of Septemb r 20th, 1862, embodied these earlier regulations, obliged the employer to provide for the health and safety of his workmen, and ordered him to post up a code of factory rules where his workmen could see it. In the other German States there was little attempt at protective legislation before the introduction of the North German Industrial Code in 1869. What provisions there were mainly concerned the regulation of apprenticeship, and the precautions to be observed in dangerous or unhealthy industries, such as match-making. After the unity of the German Empire was an accomplished fact, the North German Industrial Code, now become the Industrial Code of the Empire, was extended on January 1st, 1871, to Southern Hesse, on January 1st, 1872, to Wurtomberg and Baden, on January 1st, 1873, to Bavaria, and on January 1st, 1889, to Alsace-Lorraine. This code vra; amended in 1878, when the appointment of factory inspectors was made obligatory, and the factory laws extended to all industries emploving steam power, to blast furnaces, building operations, and dockyards. In 1884 a special Act was passed to regulate match factories, and in the same year the duties of employers with regard to the provision of safety appliances and the prevention of accidents were further defined by the Accident Insurance Law ( see p. 76). The code was again amended in 1891. in accordance with the recom- mendations of the Berlin Conference, by the introduc- tion of fresh regulations with regard to Sunday labour and the labour of women and children. (') As the law now stands, employers cannot oblige their workpeople to perform work on Sundays and holidays except such as from the nature of the case cannot lie suspended. Holidays are determined by the State Governments in accordance with local custom or religious belief. Persons employed on a Sunday or holiday for necessary work must be given corresponding time off on some other day, and double time off if obliged to work at Christmas, Easter, or Whitsuntide. Except in cases not admitting of delay the hours of work must be so fixed as to allow of attendance at t 1 ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenscliaften,” vol. I. p. 401. Art ,, " Die Arbeiterschutzgesetzsebung in Deutschland,” Landmann. divine service. If Sunday employment cannot be so fixed and exceeds eight hours, a rest of 36 hours must be given every third Sunday, or the workpeople must be free every second Sunday between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Exceptions may be made in certain cases by the higher local authorities or the Federal Council. Employers are obliged both to pay wages and to Truck reckon them in Imperial currency. It is illegal for s y stem> an employer to supply commodities on credit to his employes; but these provisions do not exclude the reckoning of board, lodging, firing, lights, the use of land, medicine and medical assistance, tools, and material within the wages paid. Such food and necessaries must, however, be valued at the average cost price. Contracts upon any other basis than that here laid down may be declared null and void, and no agreement between a workman and his employer, which obliges the workman to make his purchases at any given establishment, can be held to be binding. Wages may not be paid in shops or public-houses without the permission of the local authorities. Wages must also be paid at stated intervals, which may be fixed by the authorities of the commune, or group of communes, for all industries within its limits. These intervals must not be less than one week or more than one month. Any breach of this law renders the em- ployer liable to a fine not exceeding 2,000 marks, or in default to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months. Workmen leaving the service of an employer are entitled to demand a certificate (Arbeitszeugniss) stating the nature and duration of their employment. It may also state the manner in which the workman has conducted himself, if he so desire. The certificate is then stamped by the local police magistrate. Refusal to give a certificate renders the employer liable to no penalty, but he may be proceeded against in a civil court. Dangerous industries, such as gunpowder factories P r °t® ction chemical works, and forges, must be conducted health and according to the regulations of the local authorities, morals of and the same applies to industries employing steam ^, TO k ' boilers. Failure to observe these regulations entails fine or imprisonment. Employers in all industries are obliged to erect and maintain all appliances regarded by the authorities as necessary to preserve health and prevent accidents. The Federal Council has power to define these appliances, and has extended this clause to cover the drawing up of factory rules (Fabriksorclnuncjen) defining what the workman maj- or may not do, excluding delicate workmen from certain classes of work, and prov’d ng for constant medical superintendence and similar matters. The latest amendments to the code particularise the sanitary precautions to be observed in respect of fresh air and cleanliness. They also insist upon the separation of the sexes as far as possible whilst at work, and the provision of separate dressing-rooms. Minor points are left to the control o! the local authorities, and measures for the prevention of accidents to th e em- ployers’ accident insurance associations. Special regu- lations are made for certain industries, which are regarded as unhealthy ; for instance, the hours of work in lead factories were restricted by the Federal Council in 1886. Employers are given a certain term of grace to carry out structural changes or to provide safe- guards ordered by the local police magistrates. Failure to comply may be punished by a fine not exceeding 300 marks, or in extreme cases by the closing of the factory. ■ Labour Every workman, before he can be regarded as fully passports, qualified by age for employment, must be provided with a labour passport (Arbeitsbuch). This must con- tain his name, with the day, year, and place of birth. Any employer engaging a workman under 21 years of age must demand such a passport, must keep it subject at any time to official inspection, and must restore it to the workman at the end of his engagement, after entering the dates on which the engagement began and ended, and the nature of the work upon which the workman has been engaged in his service. These entries must be made in ink and signed by the em- ployer, who is forbidden to add any note or sign which may convey information with regard to the workman’s character or conduct. The passport must be stamped by the local magistrate. An employer losing or misusing it must provide another at his own expense. The insertion of any special mark is punishable by fine or imprisonment. F 3 40 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Working rules. Women’s labour. Every factory or workshop employing regularly more than 20 operatives must have a code of working rules (Arbeitsordnung), and the same provision applies to blast furnaces, timber yards, and other building estab- lishments, dockyards, brickyards, and open quarries, except those in which the work is merely temporary. These rules must be dated and sigued, and hung up in some place in which they are easily accessible to the workmen two weeks before they come into force, so as to admit of the consideration of objections. Afterwards a copy must be supplied to every workman entering the establishment. The rules muse state the times for beginning work and leaving it, the intervals for adult workmen, the mode of reckoning wages and the times of payment, the notice of termination of engagement to be given on either side, the grounds upon which this may be dispensed with, the nature and amount of penalties, the method of fixing them, and the way in which money is expended which is obtained by fines, or by the retention of the wages of persons breaking contract. Any other provisions agreed upon by the managers and the workmen’s committee ( see p. 28) may be added. Eines must always be devoted to some purpose which benefits the workmen generally, and they must be registered on a schedule hung up in a public place stating the persons fined, the ofi'ence, and the date. Both parties are bound at law to observe these regulations as soon as they have come into force; but before that time all workmen of full age in the factory must be given an opportunity for expressing their opinion, either through their standing committee, or, if there is no such institu- tion, at a special meeting. The employer is not obliged to do mere than listen to such an expression of opinion, and the local authorities cannot refuse their sanction to the proposed rules, unless these contain anything illegal. Girls and women, irrespective of age, may not be employed in factories at night between the hours of 8.30 p.m. and 5.30 a.m., and must be free on the eves of holidays by 5.30 p.m. The hours for those over 1G years of age must not exceed 11 a day and 10 on the eves of holidays. The midday rest for women must not be less than one hour, and where such women manage a household they must be allowed one hour and a half. Women may not work for four weeks after their confinement, and this period must be further extended to six weeks, unless their fitness for work can be certified by a doctor. All factories intending to employ girls and women must notify the fact to the local authorities, together with the days and hours during which they will be employed. Overtime to the extent of 13 hours work a day for a fortnight at a time may be sanctioned by the authorities, provided that such overtime does not exceed 80 hours in a year. Women may not be employed at all in underground operations, and by the regulations of the Federal Council they may not be employed in smelting works and forges, nor in connexion with furnaces in glass works. Their employment in lead factories, cigar factories, gutta-percha factories, and wire-drawing works is also restricted. Children under 13 years of age cannot be employed in factories, and even if over 13 years of age they can only be employed if freed from the necessity for school attendance. The hours for children under 14 years of age must not exceed six a day, with a pause of at least half-an-hour, and young persons between 14 and 16 must not work in factories more than 10 hours a day, with one hour’s interval in the middle of the day, and half-an-hour in the morning and afternoon. Young persons must not be employed on Sundays or holidays, nor during the hours fixed for religious instruction by the authorised priest or pastor. In the country, chil- dren over 10 may be partially exempted from school attendance, and allowed to assist in open-air work, such as minding cattle ; but this partial exemption is in the hands of the school inspectors, and is not, as a rule, granted .until the completion of the 11th or 12th year. Employers must allow employes under 18 time to attend secondary schools ( FortbUdungsschulen ) if they desire to do so, or if they are obliged to do so by local statute. Special regulations have been drawn up by the Federal Council for the protection of boys em- ployed in smelting works and forges, glass works, spinning mills, wire-drawing factories, lead factories, cigar factories, and gutta-percha manufactories. Boys under 14 may not be employed in underground mining, and the legal power to employ young persons for 10 hours a day is restricted in many directions by the police, who limit the hours in certain classes of work, and require medical certificates of fitness in others. As in the case of women and girls, employers who intend to use boy labour must notify the fact to the local authorities. No child may be employed until a labour card (Arbeitsharte), stamped by the authorities, has been given to the employer stating the name, day, and year of birth, and denomination to which the child belongs, the name, calling, and residence of the father or guardian, and the extent to which the child is still obliged to attend school. A list of all the children employed must be kept in every factory, and hung up, together with a statement of their hours, in the rooms in which they work. The Industrial Code obliges the State Governments to appoint factory inspectors to ensure the carrying out of the provisions respecting female and child labour, and to see that due precautions are <»bserved for the maintenance of the health and safety of all factory workers. The jurisdiction of these inspectors extends to workshops employing steam power, blast furnaces, building yards, dockyards, mines, salt works, and underground quarries. Mine inspectors, however, form a separate class. In districts where there are no factories the appointment of inspectors may be dis- pensed with; but this is only the case in Mecklenburg Strelitz, Lippe Detmold, and Schaumburg Lippe.('). The latest complete statistics with regard to the extent of women’s labour available for Germany are those contained in the Statistics of Occupations of June 5th, 1882. These are compared with sipiilar statistics for other countries in the subjoined table : — Table A 1. Country. Total Female Engaged in Professions, Industry, Agriculture, or Commerce. Domestic Servants. Total Percentage of Working Women to Total Female Population. Population. Absolute. Percentage of Female Population. Absolute. Percentage of Female Population. German Empire (June 5, 1882) 23,071,000 4,259,000 18-5 1,282,000 5-6 24 1 Austria (December 31, 1880) 11,325,000 3,897,000 34-4 572,000 51 39 • 5 Hungary (December 31, 1880) 7,939,000 1,590,000 20-0 384,000 4-8 24-8 Italy (December 31, 1871) 13,329,000 4,708,000 35-3 695,000 5 * 2 40-5 Switzerland (December 1, 1870) 1,364,000 387,000 23*4 86,000 6’3 34-7 France (December 18, 1886) 18,789,000 2,855,000 20-6 1,507,000 8-0 28-6 England and Wales (April 4, 1881) 13,335,000 2,172,000 16-3 1,231,000 9-2 25 • 5 England and Wales (April 1, 1891) 14,949,000 2,256,000 15’ 1 1,759,000 11-7 26-8 Scotland (April 4, 1881) - 1,9.36,000 351,000 18' 1 133,000 6-9 25-0 Ireland (April 4, 1881) 2,642,000 541,000 20-5 233,000 8-8 29-3 Denmark (February 1, 1880) 1,007,000 71,000 7-0 122,000 12-1 19-1 Norway (January 1, 1876) 930,000 80,000 8-6 115,000 12-0 20-6 Sweden (December 31, 18701 2,152,000 218,000 10- 1 l98,0u0 9-2 19-3 United States (July 1, 1880) 24.637,000 1,708,000 6-9 939,000 3-8 10-7 Note. — Throughout the. Reports the tables are numbered according to subjects, those referring to one subject being distinguished as A . 1, A. 2, &c. (') Lexis. “ Kandxvorterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vot. I., p. 401. Art., “Die Arbeitersclmtzgesetzgebung in Deutschland,” Landmann. “Das Arbeiterschutz-Gesetz,” official pamphlet, 1891. Berlin Labour Conference, Parliamentary Paper, June 1891, pp. 21-28. Education Department, Report of Departmental Committee, July 1898, pp. 81-32. Child labour and the labour ot young persons. Factory inspection. b. Women’s labour. (i.) Number of women employed. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 41 Those statistics arc given in round numbers ; the actual figures for Germany show a total female popula- tion of 23,071,364- as against a total male population of 22,150,749. Of t-lie female population 4,259,103 are engaged in professions, in industry, in commerce, or in agriculture, and 1,282.414 are domestic servants. The total number engaged in agricultural pursuits, forestry, and fishing, is 2,534.909, or more than half of all the women with definite occupations. Industry claims 1,126,994, or rather more than one-fourth ; trade and commerce, including serving in inr.s and restau- rants, 298.110; domestic pursuits carried on indifferent houses ( e.g ., charwomen), 183,836 ; and liberal profes- sions, 115,272. With regard to individual trades or pursuits, women in industry are most numerous in the manufacture and cleaning of clothing, where they form 43'8 per cent, of the total number of persons employed. In the textile industries 39'8 per cent, of the employes are women, whilst the percentage of women serving in restaurants is 45 per cent., in paper making it is 3T2 per cent., in shops 22 per cent., in food industries 13 percent., in gardening 16'5per cent., in peat cutting 23'3 per cent., in the working up of metals, exclusive of iron, 16'1 per cent., in the chemical industries 10'3 per cent., and in the typographic and lithographic industries 13'6 per cent. Minor industries employ a large percentage of female labour; in gold and silver wire-drawing it is 66'5 per cent., in steel pen making 68'8 per cent., in match making 56'7 per cent., and in vermicelli and maccaroni making 59'9 per cent. The proportion of female labour in home industries is very considerable; for Germany as a whole it is 43 - 9 percent. , but in the large towns it rises to 66 per cent. Certain branches are almost entirely confined to women. In silk spinning, stocking weaving, making and bleaching lace and embroidery, and hosiery, the proportion is between 90 and 100 per cent., whilst in other branches of the minor textile industries, the bent wood industries, and the gold and silver wire industries, it is between 80 and 90 per cent. Married women only represented 16’95 per cent, of those employed in work in 1882, whilst 19'95 per cent, were widows, and 63 1 per cent, single. According to the Report of the Commission appointed in connexion with the proposed amendment of the Industrial Code in 1891, the total number of married women employed in factories in the middle of August 1890 was 130,079: excluding those in spinning mills and brickyards (Ziegeleien), it was 103,798, of whom 42,761, or more than one-third, were employed in Prussia, and 21,900, or more than one-fifth, in Saxony. The proportion of married women to the total number of workpeople employed was 10 per cent, for the Empire as a whole ; the smallest proportion, 5 per cent., was in the Lower Rhino provinces, and tho largest, 1 4‘5 per cent., in Brunswick. The cigar fac- tories of Baden employ an unusually large number of married women ; 9,866, or 68 per cent, of the total number of employes are women over 16 years of ago, and 37’4 per cent, of these are married. In these factories, however, the work is paid by the piece, and there are no fixed hours. Tho textile industries of Alsace-Lorraine show an increase ir. the employment of married women ; in 1875 they were 27'7 per cent, of the female employees, and in 1889 they were 46'5 per cent. The subjoined table gives the proportionate number per 1,000 of working men and women, exclusive of domestic servants, at various age periods : — — Men. Women. Under 15 years Per 1,000. 39-9 Per 1,000. 17-9 From 15-20 - 891-5 451-9 „ 20-30 - 963-4 319-8 „ 30-40 - 976*1 185-0 „ 40-50 - 970-4 219-7 „ 50-60 - 936-8 258-1 „ 60-70 - 798-0 227-1 Over 70 - 464-8 132-6 The great decrease in the number of middle-aged women employed is probably due to marriage, and the subsequent increase to the number of widows who are obliged to work for a livelihood. Between 1875 and 1882 the employment of female labour showed a much greater proportionate increase than that of male labour. Men in industry increased from 5,463,856 to 5,815,139, or 6’4 percent. ; but women increased from 1,116,095 to 1,506,743, or 35 per cent. In small industries, where competition is fiercest, the figures are still more re- markable, for here the increase amongst the men employed was only 1 per cent., whilst amongst women it was 40"2 per cent. In large industries men increased 15'8 per cent., and women 26T per cent.(') General statistics with regard to women’s wages are very difficult to obtain, but the details given for Berlin and Breslau in the Statistics of Occupations, collected in 1882, have been tabulated, together with some of the results obtained for other towns in the inquiry into the wages of women employed in the clothing industries in 1887, and the Berlin general statistics for September 1891. (') Lexis. “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. III., (>. <>41. Art., “ Frnuenarbeit und Frauenfrage,” Pierstorff. Kaempfe. “ Die Tape der iudustriell-thatigen Arbeiterinnen in Deutschland,” 1889. Census of England and Wales, 1891, vol. III., 1893, p. 7. Table A 2. Women’s Wages in various Industries reckoned by tho week. Industries. Berlin. Breslau. Stettin. Posen. ! Mill hausen. Stuttgart. Baden (Home Industries), 1882. 1891. 1882. 1887. 18S7. 1887. 1887. 1892. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Clothing industries 9-11 6-9 4-80-7-20 12-15 (piece- work).* j Making of underlinen — — — 7-20-9-60 f — — Women’s wearing apparel (piece- work). 3-0-3-60 C 3 * 60 (stockings, &o.) 4-50-9-0 or 9 " 0 | (piece- 4 - 7*56 4 2"50 (gloves, corsets, (. and embroidery). Men’s „ „ — -— » } 3-60-6-0 | work). — 7-32 Boy’s - - — 3-0 J !. — — Millinery 5 - — — — — — Artificial flowers 4-50 — — — — - — — 3. Apron makers 3-4 — — — — — — Buttonhole and cravat makers 4-5 — — — _ — — Straw plaiting - — 3-50-4-50 — — — — 1-4 (usually 1-1-50). Lace making - — 3 — — — — Buttons and passementerie 6-7 — — — — Textile trades 8-9 11-26 5-6 Spinners — — 4-80 — 10-20-12-0 — Weavers - - — — — 7-20-14-40 — 4-5. Weavers’ assistants - — — — — 8-40-S'SO — - Calico printers — — — — 4-0-7-20 Chemical industries 9-11 — _ German silver work 9-11 — — Book-binding and printing 9-11 14-70 - - - - ~ * The wages here gained in Posen involved from 18 to 20 hours’ work, F 4 (ii.) Wages. 42 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Industries. Berlin. Breslau. 1882. Stettin. 1887. Posen. 1887. M ulhausen. 1887. Stuttgart. 1887. Baden (Home Industries), 1892. 1882. 1891. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Small stationery 9-10 13-04 — — — 5-7 (cardboard boxes). Food industries 9-10 12-12 6-8 - - — - Bonbon and chocolate making 6-7 - - - - - Working in wood 9-10 12-34 - - - Glass manufacture 9-10 - - - - Metal work .... 9-10 11-76-12-0 - - - - Cigarette packing - - * 4-50 - - Laundry work 6-7 - - - - Mother-of-pearl work 6-7 — The result would appear to show a general rise in women’s wages in Berlin ; outside Berlin, textile workers in Mill hausen receive the highest wages. Any com- narison between Berlin and Breslau must take into account the difference in cost of living. Kent in Breslau is from 45 to 50 per cent, less than in Berlin, and the necessaries of life are considerably cheaper. According to the investigations made by Frau Minna Wettstein- Adelt in Chemnitz and its neighbourhood, the average wages still paid to women inS-ixony accord more nearly with those given for Berlin and Breslau in 1882 than with the present Berlin wages. The same result will appear from the tables given below for Mannheim, which have been compiled by Herr Worishoffer, chief inspector of factories for Baden. Frau Minna Wettstein- Adelt, who herself worked for several months in several factories, states that the wages paid to stocking sgwers averaged from five to six marks a week; the best workwomen at busy seasons could make nine marks. In weaving mills girls earned on an average from 10 to 12 marks a week, and sometimes as much as 18 marks; in the country mills the average wages were as high as from 10 to 18 marks. Herr Worishoffer gives the wages earned by men in 47 of the Mannheim factories, and by women in 19 factories as follows : -~ Table A 3. Class of Workers. Over 5 Marks. 5 to 6 Marks. 6 to 8 Marks. 8 to 10 10 to 12 Marks. . Marks. 12 to 15 Marks. 15 to 18 Marks. 18 to 21 Marks. 21 to 24 Marks. 24 to 27 Marks. 27 to 30 Marks. 30 to 35 Marks. Over 35 Marks. Total. Men and boys, total number 147 85 131 152 269 932 1 646 1,658 1,291 798 403 495 122 8,189 Women and girls, total number. 48 57 458 286 129 56 6 1 — — — 1 — 1,042 Men and boys, percentage of tota 1. 1-80 1'03 1-59 1-80 3-28 11-38 20-11 20-27 15-76 9-75 5*6j 6-04 1-48 — Women and girls, per- centage of total. 4*62 5-47 43-96 27 * 45 12-38 5-38 (1-58 0-08 0-08 Taking wages above 24 marks a week as high, those between 15 marks and 24 marks as medium, and those below 15 marks as low, it will be found that the pro- portion of men, women, and of both together in these three classes is as follows : — Low Wages. Medium W ages. High W ages Men and women together Per cent. 29-8 Per cent. 49-8 Per cent. 20-4 Men alone 20-9 56-2 22-9 Women alone 99-2 0-7 0- 1 Almost all the women, therefore, are in receipt of low wages, and of the 99 '2 per cent., only 19 '76 per cent, receive more than 10 marks a week. More than 70 per cent, receive less than 10 marks, or according to Dr. Worishoffer, “ a miserable pittance ; ” and as many as 54 '05 per cent., or more than half, earn less even than eight marks. ('). When it is remembered that the cost of board and lodging for a single woman amounts in Mannheim, at any rate, to about five marks a week, it is clear that a weekly wage of from six to eight marks leaves little margin for clothes, or for sickness and unforeseen expenses. The temptations to which girls with such narrow means are exposed, are strongly insisted upon by Herr Bebel and the socialist writers generally, and used as an argument to prove the false basis upon which in their opinion society and the institution of the family rest. Without entirely accepting the very strong statements made as to the general level of morality amongst factory women in Germany by (•) Kaempfe, “ Die Lage tier Industriell-thatigen Arbeiterinnen in Deutschland,” ISsi, op. li l t. Wetutein Adelti “ lit Monate Fabrik- arbeiteriu,” ISM. pp. s 17. Worishoffer, "Die Lage de.r Fnbrikarbeiter in Mannheim,” is 12. pp. 110-115. " Die Lohnverhaltnisse in Berlin im September 1801.” Imperial Ollice of Statistics, 1892. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. II., 1802-3, p. 514. writers of a pronounced socialist tendency such as Frau Minna Wettstein-Adelt, it must be admitted that the evidence of the factory inspectors, and especially of so careful a writer as Herr Worishoffer, indicates a deplor- able state of things. The want of proper separation of the sexes whilst at work, the inadequacy of accom- modation in factories, and the overcrowding in the workmen’s dwellings, which makes it possible for working girls to lodge with a family inhabiting one or two rooms only and taking other lodgers of both sexes, have all contributed to produce the want of self-respect which characterises large sections of the women factory workers in Germany. Though the girls in the town factories present the roughest exterior, the moral level is said to be lowest amongst those working in country factories in the neighbourhood of large towns. Com- paratively few women of the working classes belong to the Social Democratic party ; according to Frau Minna Wettstein-Adelt, such as there are are drawn from amongst the married women. Efforts are being made, however, by women of the upper and middle classes to disseminate the more advanced views of the socialists with regard to the position of women amongst the factory workers. According to these views, which find their fullest expression in Herr Bebel’s “ Women and Socialism” ( Die Frau und dor Sozialismus) the existence of a society based upon competition and recognising only one form of legitimate marriage, drives women with diminishing earnings to support themselves by immorality, whdst, on the other hand, it postpones the period at which a man can undertake the support of a wife and family to an age far later than is dictated by nature. “ Prostitution is, therefore, “ an inevitable consequence of the bourgeois con- “ stitution of society.” Further, the absolute equality of the sexes, which the socialists maintain, points in their opinion to a free union terminable at will on either side, whenever circumstances or intellectual development require it. as the proper substitute for the present institution of the family. The desire for “ legitimate ” heirs is, according to Herr Bebel, a mere result of the “capitalist” organisation of society; when private property is superseded by collective REPORT ON T11E LAI JOUlt QUESTION IN GERMANY. 43 (<-.) Child labour. ownership, and there is, therefore, nothing for a man to bequeath to his children individually, it will, he thinks, appear that legitimacy and illegitimacy are terms merely relative to the reasonableness and appro- priateness of the relation between the sexes which is to be regarded as a “ personal matter only.” In the society of the future “ the woman is to be completely “ free, and her children, if she has any, can in no way “ diminish her freedom, but merely add to her “ pleasure.” She is to have the right “ to seek fulness of life in whatever way seems best to her,” and as the socialist writers declare “ only where love is completely “ free and the distinction between the legitimate and “ the illegitimate is abolished ” will society witness a return to the true principles upon which the relation of the sexes should be based. Family claims may be left out of account, because in the “ state of the future ” these details will be undertaken by the community, and apparently the moral restraint at present afforded by such responsibilities will be superseded by an in- tangible duty to the community. It is at least satis- factory to find that a period of previous education is commonly regarded as necessary ; but it is difficult to see how this necessity is to be met, when such principles are propounded to hearers on the intellectual and moral level of the majority of factory women in Germany. (') The employment of child labour in Germany shows a considerable proportionate decrease as compared with the middle of the century, but at the same time a decided increase during the last few years. In 1853 the number of children employed in Prussian factories was 32,000 ; 8,000 were between 9 and 12 years of age, and 24,000 between 12 and 14. In 1888 and 1890 no children under 12 were to be found in Prussian factories, and the numbers of those between 12 and 14 were only 6,225 and 6,636. The abuses attendant upon the employment of children in the middle of the century have been described by Professor Thun, who states that in the textile industries of Gladbach and Aix-la-Chapelle it was not unusual to find children employed at only five or six years of age, and that the profits to be drawn from child labour of this kind were an encouragement to early marriages. In 1875, when an enquiry was made by the Federal Council into the question of the labour of women and children, the number of children employed throughout the German empire was 88,000, 24 per cent, of whom were between 12 and 14, and 76 per cent, between 14 and 16. The proportion of child to adult labour was about 1 to 10. The weekly wages of children between 12 and 14 varied from 1 mark to 9 marks, those of children between 14 and 16 from li marks to 13J marks ; the average wage of the first class was 3 marks and that of the second 5 marks. No complete or continuous statistics of child labour in Germany are available, but its fluctuations can be traced in various districts. In Berlin, for instance, the number of children employed between 12 and 16 years of age increased from 1,998 in 1874 to 2,579 in 1879 ; the percentage of child labour to the total labour employed was 3'1 in the first year, and 4'6 in the last. In Baden the following figures were given : — Year. Children from 12 to 14 Young Persons from 14 to 16. 1874 2,883 6,932 1877 1,957 4,736 1880 1,332 5,511 1883 1,664 6,975 1886 1,603 7,619 1888 1,589 9,010 1889 2,215 1 0,436 1890 2,330 1 1 ,569 The Statistics of Occupations collected in 1882 give the proportion of children employed in that year in the following table : — w > WOnshoffer, Die Lage der Fabrikarbeiter in Mannheim,” 189 Y ettstem-Adelt, 3£ Monate Fabrikarbeiterin,” 1893. Kaempfe, " Di ,• ? KO f ,., r ladustriell-tliatdgen Arbeiterinnen in Deutschland,” 188! Amtliche Mitteilungen aus den Jahres-berichten der Fabrik-Aufsiclit JiZ m i te Nn w VsqF'o ’ £\ 3 ' Neuo Zeit '” Nos. 30 and » 1890 1, No. 17, 1891 2. Bebel, Die Frau und der Sozialismus,” 1892. i 78420. Table B. 1. Division by Occupations. Children Young Persons from 15 to 20. Percentage of all Persons employed in these Occupations. Children under 15. Young Persona from 15 to 20. 1. Agriculture, care of animals, and gardening. 291,289 1,497,621 3-59 18 - 44 2. Forestry, hunting, and fishing. 834 9,279 0‘72 8-00 3. Manufactures, including mining and building. 143,262 1,114,303 2’24 17-42 4. Trade and transport, in- cluding inn-keeping, &c. 16,033 167,114 1-02 i(r<>4 5. Household service and different kinds of work for wages. 4,948 30,885 1-24 7-77 6. State, communal, or Church employment. 4,108 54,113 0-71 6*55 Total 460,474 2,873,317 2' 61 16-30 The comparative employment of child labour in Italy, England and Wales, and the United States, at about the same period appears from the following table : — Table B. 2. Country. Children under 1 5. Proportion to Total Number of Persons engaged in Occupations. Germany (June 5, 1882) - 524,158 2-76 Italy (December 31, 1881) - 1,072,397 7-08 England and Wales (April 4, 1881). 531,663 4-76 The United States (June 1, 1880). 1,118,356 6-43 Since 1882 the extent to which child labour is employed can be computed from the reports of the factory inspectors, which give the following results : — Table B . 3. Year. Children from 12 to 14. Young Persons from 14 to 16. Total. 1882 14,600 123,543 138,143 1883 18,935 143,805 162,740 1884 18,882 135,477 154,359 1886 21,035 134,589 155,642 1888 22,913 169,252 192,165 1890 27,485 214,252 241,737 The great increase noticeable in 1890 is due in part to the inclusion of Alsace-Lorraine in that year, but even disregarding the 1,071 children and 10,168 young persons employed in those provinces, the record for the nme years shows an increase of 80 per cent, in the employment of children, and 65 2 per cent, in that of young persons. The factory inspectors state that on the whole this increase is not disproportionate to that of adult labour, but Dr. Stieda is of opinion that adult labour has scarcely advanced at so rapid a rate. The amount of child labour employed in certain specific industries between 1883 and 1890 is given in the following table : — G 44 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: a. Minng laws. (i.) The law previous to the Mining Code of 1865. Table B. 4. Groups of Trades. 1883. 1884. 1888. 1890. Children from 12 to 14. Young Persons from 14 to 16. Children from 12 to 14. Young Persons from 14 to 16. Children from 12 to 14. Young Persons from 14 to 16. Children from 12 to 14. Young Persons from 14 to 16. Mining 1,076 16,075 964 15,920 889 18,078 843 22,730 Quarries 1,500 11,713 1,585 12,956 2,416 17,619 3,173 21,686 Metals 947 13,611 1,080 15,664 1,275 18,986 1,566 25,101 Machines 520 9,842 498 10,033 811 14,892 934 21,489 Chemical works 413 1,453 425 1,764 338 2,304 360 3,515 Heating and lighting 45 370 43 403 30 595 52 853 apparatus. Textile 6,943 34,748 6,906 37,671 8,004 46,024 9,404 58,038 Paper and leather 714 7,672 706 7,908 1,012 10,347 1,314 11,930 Wood cutting 686 3,901 669 4,522 1,229 6,650 1,358 8,771 Pood products 4,306 12,972 4,308 4,264 5,287 17,836 6,340 20,517 Clothing and cleaning 520 4,126 796 5,288 904 6,797 1,212 8,398 Polygraphic 449 4,133 472 4,471 563 6,170 681 7,188 Different trades 276 3,789 251 3,418 155 2,954 248 4,066 Total 18,395 124,275 18,703 134,282 22,913 169,252 27,485 214,252 The districts in which there has been the greatest increase in the employment of children and young persons between 1888 and 1890 are Oppeln, Hesse, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Reuss, Magdeburg, Lii- beck, and Hamburg, whilst the Posen, Breslau - Liegnitz, Hohenzollern. Leipzig, Neckar, and Upper Hesse districts show a considerable decrease. Nowhere do such abuses appear in connexion witli child labour as in the region of home industries, and nowhere is it more difficult to arrive at the real extent of child labour. It is, however, known that amongst the silk and velvet weavers on the left bank of the Rhine, children are employed almost entirely as winders. In the Thiiringian toy industry children are set to work to paint the toys and to do similar work as soon as they come out of school, and are often employed until night. The net makers and glove makers in the Taunus villages employ children from three years old and up- wards for two or three hours a day in threading needles and putting on elastic bands. The inspector for the Zwickau district reports that he found young children at work up to half-past eight in the evening, many of whom were below the age at which they could be employed in a factory. It is very difficult to obtain facts with regard to work often carried on in the parents’ homes ; but there is every reason to conclude that though some reforms have been effected, child labour is still very largely employed in all industries of this kind. Dr. Emanuel Sax reported, that amongst the Thiiringian match-makers children had been kept at work from midday on Saturday until 2 a.m. on Sunday, and after two hours’ rest had been obliged to continue work until 8 a.m. or 10 a.m., when they were set free to go to church. The teachers in the Thiiringian schools complained that after half-an-hour in school the children fell asleep, and that they were incapable of learning anything. In the same district children were employed from four in the morning till 11 in the evening, and that for a merely nominal wage. The result of such employment appears in the health statistics for military service ; in the Miilhausen district only 207 out of 1,000 persons, who had reached the required age, or about 1 in 50, could be accepted as fit to serve. Where less than 20 hands are employed the factory inspectors have no jurisdiction, and the suggestion made in the Reichstag in 1891 to extend the new provisions of the Industrial Code to home industries was not carried out. Dr. Stieda points out that until some such extension comes into force there is reason to fear that the children now excluded from factories will press into the home industries, since there is nothing to prevent them but the necessity of school attendance, and this can bs combined with a considerable number of hours of work.(') A — Mining, Ibon, Engineering, Shipbuilding and Cognate Trades. 1. Mining. In the present German Empire, as in Austria and Switzerland, mines were originally regarded as the (i ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. II.. p. 395. Art. : " Beruf und Berufstatistik," v. Scheel, IV. p. 630. Art.: “Jugend- liche Arbeiter,” Stieda. Ziegler, " Die Sozialpolitisehen Aufgaben auf dem Gebiete der llausindustrie,” 1890, pp. 74-81. property of the State ; the ownership of the surface by private individuals carried with it no right to the subsoil, or to any minerals which it might contain. Under the older German Empire, of which the Grand Duke of Austria had become the head, the Imperial rights had been ceded to the Electoral princes ( Territorial — or Landesherren ) , and according to the older German Common Law ( Gemeinrecht ), the latter were entitled to royalties from the persons working the mines This royalty carried with it the exclusive right to grant concessions to work mineral or salt mines; there was no inherent right of working attaching either to the landowner or to the discoverer of the mineral deposit. Indeed, the mining laws still simply represent a declaration on the part of the territorial sovereign, granting the right of prospecting for minerals and working a mine under certain definite conditions, but these conditions have been modified and minimised by successive codes The common law allowed no con- cessions to be granted for working salt, and where the common law has not yet been superseded, as in Mecklenburg, salt mining remains a State monopoly. In most concessions salt was specially excluded, and formerly all concessions contained a proviso that the occupant of the soil was at liberty to work the mine only when the State did not desire to reserve the working of that particular district for itself. The State mines at Saarbriicken and Stassfurt, and in Upper Silesia and the Harz Mountains remain to testify to the use made of that proviso. Mines worked by private individuals were still obliged to pay 10 per cent, of their gross produce to the State as the price of a concession. Mining by private individuals was also subject to State control in a number of details. The State regulated the engagement and discharge of miners, the fixing of wages, and the reckoning of profits and losses The Saxon Mining Code of 1851, and the Austrian Mining Code of 1854 influenced the law and practice of other German States, and paved the way for the Prussian Mining Codes of 1860 and 1865. Both the Saxon and Austrian Codes preserved the State monopoly of salt, and the right of the State to reserve to itself any special mining area. With these exceptions, and with the exception of minerals paying a royalty, any person might obtain a right to prospect, and this right conferred a prior claim to a concession empowering him to work any mineral wealth which he might discover in his prospecting area. Mining was not any longer subjected to State control, except in so far as was necessary to ensure the safety of the miners. In Prussia, between 1851 and 1865, the dues payable to the State by persons working mines gradually declined from 10 per cent, to 2 per cent, of the gross produce, whilst for iron ore they were abolished altogether. In 1860 a law was passed limiting State control to the enforcing of regulations for the safety of miners, and the prevention of so-called illicit encroach- ments {Baubbau). Finally, the Prussian Mining Code of June 24th, 1865, was passed, and has been since adopted in 12 out of the 26 States of the Empire, comprising eight-ninths of the surface, and nine-tenths of the mineral output. The States are Alsace-Lorraine, Anhalt, Bavaria, Brunswick, Hesse-Darmstadt, Trussia, REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 45 (ii.) The Prussian Mining Code of 1805. 1 Beuss (younger branch), Saxo- Alten burg, Suxe-Ooburg- Gotha (for Gotha only), Saxe-Meiningen, Waldeck- Pyrmont, and Wiirtemberg, The Grand Duchy of Saxe -Weimar and the Principality of Schwarzburg- Sondershausen follow the Saxon Code, and in the remaining States, which are unimportant for mining purposes, a more or less modified form of the old common law remains in force.! 1 ) The Prussian Mining Code of June 24th 1865 “is “ founded on the principle of the liberty of working “ mines by the first occupant, and treats such mines as “ are within the scope of the Act as being free from “ control on the part of the owner of the soil ; it gives “ the free right of search to everyone and everywhere “ (subject to certain restrictions for the protection of “ buildings), and gives the exclusive right of working “ either to the first finder or to the first petitioner. 1 ' This right is continued “ subject to regulations and “ inspection, unless some motivf of public interest “ justifies interference. The following table shows the “ general division and rights of property in, and to “ rents of, minerals in Prussia, and in German States “ following the Prussian Mining Code ” : — Mines. Ownership. Taxes and Royalties, to whom payable. Remarks. * I 1 fiii.) The Saxon Mining Law of 1868. I. Gold, silver, mercury, iron (with the exception of iron found in marshes), lead, copper, tin, zinc, cobalt, nickel, arsenic, manganese, antimony, sulphur, aluminous and vitriolic minerals, coal, lignite and graphite, salt, and salt springs. II. All other metals and minerals. Usually in the first finder or claimant (instituted by the Government) or his assigns. In Pomerania this only refers to salt and salt springs. In surface owner - To the Government, ordi- narily 2 per cent, on the gross produce of the mine. Certain payments have also to be made to the miners’ benefit funds ( Knappschaftskassen ). In some instances royalties are payable to private individuals under old laws kept in force by the modern Mining Acts. If let, to the owner of the surface. This is the general effect of the Prussian Milling Lav of 24th June 1865, which has been followed in most of the important mining States in Germany. In some such States, however, the rents are reserved on different principles, e.g., in Bavaria, where a small fixed rent of about 3d. per hectare is reserved, and the tax or revenue from mines is valued and collected in the same manner as the tax on incomes from other sources, and in the Duchy of Saxe-Coturg-Gotha, where the rent varies as regaids manganese, whilst all other mines pay 4 per cent, on the gross products. The gross produce or output, upon which the royalty of 2 per cent, due to the State is reckoned, includes all produce of the mine actually sold, as well as what is used for the consumption of the mine itself, or by the owners. According to Mr. Mulvany, Her Majesty’s Consul at Diisseldorf, there is some reason to think that this tax will be shortly abolished. The law gives the person working a mine the right to occupy any land necessary to his working, with the exception of residences, private buildings, and courts, at an annual rent. The surface owner cannot be forced to sell, but, on the other hand, he can oblige the person working the mine to buy the land, if it is occupied, or certain to be occupied, for more than three years. Where the occupation is only temporary, the worker of the mine may be required to give security against permanent damage. He is responsible for all damage caused to the surface by his workings, whether by his fault or not. Concessions may be forfeited, if such a procedure appears to be necessary in the pnblic interest, as, for instance, in the case of mines which are no longer being worked by the present holders ; but though the number of sucli mines is considerable, and there has been a demand for the application of this clause, the Prussian Government have not made any use of it for 20 years. Special provisions are made for the safety of the works, the protection of life and health of the workmen, the protection of the surface, and protection against workings which might be detrimental to the public interests. ( 2 ) The Saxon Mining Code of 1851 lias been superseded by a law of 1868, which differs from the Prussian Mining Code, in leaving to the surface owner the right of working coal and lignite. This right can only be exercised after receiving permission from the Govern- ment; but this permission cannot be refused, unless the working area is insufficient. By a law of October 10th, 1864, the tax payable to the State was fixed at 3 francs 75 centimes per hectare for mines of gold and silver, and 2 francs 50 centimes per hectare for other mines. In Saxe-Weimar and Schwarzburg-Sonder- shausen, on the contrary, the mines have to pay a tax on the gross produce, at the rate of 5 per cent. According to the Saxon Law concessions are granted, not to the first finder, but to the first claimant, and if (') Le.xis, “ Handworterbuch der S taats w i ssenschaften,” vol. II., p. 368. Art.: “ Bergbau (allegemeinrechtliche und polizeiliche Verhaltnisse),” Arndt, several claimants present themselves simultaneously the concession is granted to them in common. (*) Until 1870, Germany stood second only to the United Kingdom amongst the coal-producing countries of the world ; but since that period it has been surpassed by the United States, and now stands third in order, whilst France follows at a considerable interval. I he following table shows the comparative productiqn and its value for the eight chief coal-producing countries of the world : — Table C. 1. — Production of Bituminous and Anthracite Coal (Steinkohl). d € & O) Year. P O 03 l/l XS D 'a P Germany. France. Belgium. • •g c Russia. New Sout: . Wales. I.— Amount in Millions of Tons.(D 1850 - 64*66+ — 5*18 4*43 5*82 0*58 0*05 0*17 1860 80*04 15*20 12*35 8*31 9*61 1*95 0*13 0*37 1870 - - 110*43 32*86 26*10 13*33 13*70 4*30 0*68 0*87 1875 - ■ 131*87 47*43 37*14 16*50 15*01 5*19 1*68 1*33 1880 140*82 70*48 46*97 18*80 16*89 0*70 3*25 1*47 1885 - 159*35 99*07 58*32 19*07 17*14 8*34 4*23 2*88 1887 - 162*12 116*05 00*33 20*81 18*38 8*58 — 2*92 II. -Value in Millions of Pounds Sterling. (§) 1850 16*17 — 1*52 — 1*85 0*24 — 0*02 1860 20*01 3*95 - 4*28 0*60 0*23 1870 27*61 - 8*17 - 5*94 1*70 0*32 1875 46*16 - 11*87 - 9*19 2*15 - 0*82 1880 6*2*10 -- 12*28 9*65 0*78 2*35 0*62 1885 11*1111 31*80 15*14 8*97 6*18 2*72 1*34 1887 39*09 36*51 15*55 8*87 5*90 2*(J() ~ 1*35 (*) Including also lignite or peat coal. (t) Reckoning the ton as 1,000 kilo, except in Great Britain, where it is 1,016 kilo, and in the United States, where it is 1,016'96 kilo. (t) These figures are for 1S54. (§) These values have been reduced to the same denomination on the assumption that £1 = 20 m. = 23 francs = 10 gulden. (II) A new method of valuation was introduced in is82. ( 2 ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. II., p. 368. Art.: “ Bergbau (allegemeinrechtliche und polizeiliche Verhaltnisse),” Arndt. Report of Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 1893, Appendix C. pp. 150-157. (‘) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. II., p 368 Art.: “Bergbau (allegemeinrechtliche und polizeiliche Verhaltnisse),’" Arndt. Report of Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 18a3 Appendix C. p. 152. b. Statistics of produc- tion. (i.) Coal. G 2 46 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : The total output of bituminous and anthracite coal, classed together as mineral coal in Germany, amounted to 65 386,100 tons in 1888, of which 59,472,500 tons came from Prussia. The Prussian output increased in 1889 to 61,436,991 tons and in 1890 to 64,373,816 tons. The subjoined table shows the proportion produced in each of the chief mining districts of Prussia in 1888 and 1889 : — Table C 2. District, Year. Tons. Year. Tons. Breslau 1888 17,642,284 1889 - 19,000,875 Halle Klausthal ” 22,594 497,295 25,469 572,993 Dovtmund - - 33,223,614 •• .33,855,110 Bonn ” 8,086,713 " 7,982,544 Prom this it appears that the Dortmund district is bv far the most productive and most important, win 1st the Silesian coalfields come second, and the Bonn district, which includes the Aix la Chapelle mines and the Saarbriicken State mines, is third. The average price of coal at the pit s mouth m the Dortmund district is given in the following table Table C 3. Year. Marks. 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 Per Ton. 8-59 10-95 10- 98 7- 21 6-09 4-94 4-45 415 4-57 4-58 4-19 4- 60 5- 54 5-38 5-44 5-43 5-93 8- 50 11- 47 10-04 The fi mires for 1872-84 inclusive are taken from the returns of the Mining Association ( Berglauverein ), an association of mine owners, which states that m most collieries the selling price between 187^ and 1882 was below the cost of production The figures for 1884-91 are taken from the returns of the Chamber of Commerce. The 'fi mires for the same district illustrate the degree m which” the output per man has been increased by the 1857 1862 1867 1872 1877 1882 1883 1884 1888 1889 1890 1891 Year. Product per Miner. Tons. _ - 129 - - 191 _ - 220 - - 209 _ - - 241 _ - - 290 - - ■ - 307 _ - 305 _ - - 314-60 _ - - 308-22 _ - - 290-32 - - 265-00 “ The falling off since 1889 is attributed to the strike “ and to the increased contract prices for work ” ( see below, p. 48). . Besides the more valuable mineral coal a large amount of peat or lignite coal isproduced in Germany ; indeed Germany stands first among European countries in this respect, and it is impossible to compare its product with that of the United States, since the American statistics do not distinguish this kind of coal from others. The following table gives the comparative statistics for the four chief European countries producing this inferior coal : — Table 0,4. — Output of Lignite Coal. Year. Germany. Austria. Hungary. France. I.— Amount in Millions or Tons. 1850 1-52 0-36 — — 1860 4-38 1-31 0-24 - 1870 7-61 3-46 0-54 - 1875 10-37 6-85 0-82 0*45 1880 12-14 8-42 1-01 0*58 1885 15*36 10-51 1-59 0-44 1890 15-90 11-57 1-72 0-48 II.— Value in Millions of Founds Sterling. 1850 0-20 o-io - - 1860 0-66 0-30 0-05 - 1870 1-10 0-77 0-24 - 1875 1-84 1-54 0-26 - 1880 1-83 1-53 0-27 0-21 1885 2-02 1-82 0-45 0-18 1890 2-01 1-89 0-50 0-17 The total production of metals in Germany for the year 1887 is shown in the following table : — Table C 5. Metal. Output in Tons. Value in Marks. Iron : — Iron ore - 9,351,100 34,005,272 Pig iron - - 4,023,953 166,442,606 Copper : — 507,587 14,551,715 Copper ore Copper - - 21,264 18,344,912 Lead : — Lead ore 157,570 15,923,240 Lead - - 99,366 23,538,779 Zinc : — Zinc ore - 900,712 10,022,099 Zinc 130,494 36,597,406 Tin Tin ore - - - 126 165,002 Tin - - - 422 744,236 Silver and gold : — Silver and gold ore 25,726 4,177,720 Silver - 367,633 (kilos. 7 48,158,010 Gold 2,251 ( „ ) 6,281,480 Manganese and antimony - Ore 38,387 ■ 1 1,022,926 Nickel 711 3,896,197 Antimony 57 59,323 In metal-mining, as in coal-mining, the increase m the product is much greater in proportion than that in the number of miners employed. Between 1861 and 1865 the average number of men employed in iron mines was 23,952 ; in 1887 it was 32,969. an increase of 37 '6 per cent., as against an almost fourfold increase in the output. Zinc miners increased by 39'8 per cent, during the same period, whilst the total product of zinc increased threefold. In the copper ^mines three times as many men were employed in 1887 as in 1865, but the product was four times as great. The average number of miners employed in 1887, excluding coal miners, was 90,869, and the total product was 12.640,400 tons, givinsr a per capita product of 139 tons ; between 1861 and 1865 the average number employed was 68,839, the total product 3,272.900 tons, and the product per miner only 48 tons. ... The total product of salt and other minerals in Germany during the year 1887 is given in the following table (‘) : — m Lexis “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. II., p. 376. •t ■ “ Bergbaustatistik.” Fr.incke. Reoort of Royal Commission on ining Royalties, 1893, Appendix C. pp. 160, 161. (ii.) Metals. (iii.) Other minerals. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 47 ► c. Condi- tions of labour. (i.) Wages. Actual wages. Table 0 6. Mineral. Product in Tons Value in Marks. Rock salt - 405,400 1,862,000 Nitrate of potash - - 1,080,100 12,846,000 Sulphur - 2,286 242,098 Graphite - 2,960 186,342 According to the Report furnished by Mr. Mulvany, Her Majesty’s Consul at Diisseldorf, to the Royal Com- mission on Mining Royalties, “the greater part of the “ work, as in England, is done by contract, the prices “ varying according to local circumstances, the capa- “ bilities of the men, and the state of trade; there is “ no fixed general principle upon which the prices are “ determined, nor is there as yet any . . . rising “ and falling scale in proportion to the market prices “ of the minerals.” Mr. Mulvany further states that “ the wages of miners in mines, the property of and “ worked by the State, are somewhat better than in “ those of companies or private parties.” He adds, however, that “ it is to be doubted that the economic “ position on the whole is better, and, to judge from “ the strikes of late years, the miners are just as dis- “ contented and difficult to deal with under Govern- “ ment management as under that of private parties.” The general discontent felt by German miners with their wages found expression in the important general strike of May 1889, and in the Government mines, especially in the subsequent strike of December 1892. The subjoined Table D 1, compiled in 1890 from official sources, gives the average wages paid during the first quarter of that year, and represents, therefore, the increased rate obtained in all the principal districts ajfter the strike of 1889 Table D 1. — Average Wages and Hours of the Separate Classes of Workmen per Working Day or Shift in the Chief Mining Districts during the First Quarter of 1890. Mining District of Miners proper employed under- ground. Other Workmen employed under- ground. Male Adults working over- ground . Boys under 16 years of Age. Female Work- people. Hours of Underground Workmen .f I. Breslau: — M. M. M. M. M. 1. Mineral coal mining in Upper Silesia. 2-62 2-27 2-02 0-85 0-87 10 per cent. 8 hours ; 33 per cent. 10 hours ; 57 per cent. 12 hours, from bank to bank. 2. Mineral coal mining in Lower Silesia. II. Halle:— 2-62 2-47 2-14 1 04 1 '27 12 per cent. 8 hours ; 88 per cent. 10 hours, from hank to bank. 1 . Peat coal mining - 2-65 2-34 2-17 1 -28 1-26 1 1 • 6 hours from bank to bank. 2. Cupriferous slate mining 3-27 2-81 2-90 1-45 — 9 hours „ ,, 3. Rock salt mining - 3 '42 3-38 3-10 1 • 25 — 8 - 4 hours. III. Klausthal* : — 1. State ore mining in the 2-29 2-49 1-69 0-62 — 10 - 3 hours from bank to bank Upper Harz. IV. Dortmund : — 1. Mineral coal mining V. Bonn : — 4-00 2-89 2-79 1 23 — 8 hours at the face (6 hours in very hot places). 1 . State mineral coal mining 3-89 3-07 2-86 1-48 8 hours at the face. near Saarbriicken. 2. Mineral coal mining in 3-32 2 64 2-40 1-12 1-26 9 • 6 hours from bank to bank. Aix-la-Chapelle. 3. Ore mining right of 2-80 2-64 2-13 1-21 111 8 • 6 hours. Rhine. 4. Ore mining left of Rhine 2 ■ 41 2-49 2-12 0-95 0-90 8 • 9 hours. * Flour worth on an average 0- 14 per shift is given in addition to wages in this district, f The working hours overground are, in general, 10' 12 hours, including meal times. From this it would appear that the conditions, both with regard to remuneration and to working hours, are most favourable in the Dortmund, or Westphalian dis- trict, which has already been shown ( see p. 44) to lie by far the most productive. This table scarcely bears out Mr. Mulvany’s view that the Government pay better wages to their employes than are paid by private companies, but the State mines at Saarbriicken do not fall far below Dortmund as regards the wages of miners proper, and show some advance in the case of other classes of workers. It will appear also from Table D 3, and from subsequent information, that the average wages paid at Saarbriicken are higher than those in the Dortmund district. The great difference noticeable between the wages paid in Silesia and those in the chief coal-producing districts of Western Germany must be considered in connexion with the statement made in the “ Journal of the Royal Prussian Statistical Office ” to the effect that the prices of food in Silesia are far lower than those in Westphalia and Saarbriicken. The real wages, therefore, approximate more closely to those of the better organised districts than the nominal wages, but still the Silesian miners are remarkable for the lowness of their educational standard and their utter want of organisation. The migration statistics given in Table W 4, p. 97, point to the presence amongst them of a large number of Austrian Poles. Women are, apparently, employed only in the districts paying comparatively low wages to above-ground workers, and are not employed at all in connexion with the State mines. The wages paid to salt tniners in the Halle district are comparatively high, and, indeed, come first in the comparison of annual wages in certain disti'icts for several previous years, as indicated in the subjoined table : — Table D 2. — Annual Wages of Underground Workers in Prussian Mines. 1 District. 1885. 1886. 1887. 1888. M. M. M. M. Mineral coal mines in Upper — 536 537 565 Silesia. Lignite or peat coal mines in 719 714 695 721 Halle district. Copper mines in Halle district - Salt mines in Halle district 861 748 718 779 968 958 928 905 State ore mines in the LTpper 682 662 669 670 Harz. Mineral coal mines in Dort- — 848 886 936 mund district. State mineral coal mines at Saarbriicken. 863 836 857 885 (’) These figures represent the net annual wage, after deducting the contributions to the sick funds and the charges for powder, &t; Or 3 48 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Method or fixing. These wages do not, however, represent the present Silesian mines on the other, comes out very clearly in rate in the coal districts, since they are prior to the the subjoined table giving the proportion of workers in strike of 1889. The difference between the Westphalian each wage class in the month of March 1889 : — and Saarbriicken mines on the one hand, and the Table D 3. — Classified Wages per Shift in the Dortmund and Saarbriicken Districts, and in Upper and Lower Silesia, with Percentage of Workmen in each Wage Class. District. From 5-50 Marks to 6 Marks. From .3 Marks to 5-50 Marks. From 4-50 Marks to 5 Marks. From 4 Marks to 4‘ 50 Marks. From 3-50 Marks to 4 Marks. From 3 Marks to 3’50 Marks. From 2-50 Marks to 3 Marks. From 2 Marks to 2 • 50 Marks. F’rom 1-50 Marks to 2 Marks. From 1 Mark to 1 • 50 Marks. From 0-50 Marks to 1 Mark. 1. Dortmund — V 1 Y~ ) March 1889 7 •1 18-3 24-2 19-8 23-1 7-5 — — July 1889 - 25 •3 20-1 15.-5 19-3 15-7 4-1 V 2. Saarbriicken — March 1889 0-02 0-58 1-85 8-54 22-08 31-00 19-93 10-13 5-00 0 87 3. Upper Silesia — March 1889 o-oo 0-00 0-06 1-14 1-14 4-93 14-72 19-02 31-16 17-61 11-02 4. Lower Silesia — March 1889 o-oi 0-04 0-04 0-38 0-38 2-97 18-52 31-39 34-46 9-39 2*74 Note. The figures for the Dortmund district show the advance granted after the strike of May 1889. According to these statistics 49'6 per cent., or prac- tically half,' of the Dortmund miners earned more than 3s. a day in March 1889 ; and 69 4 per cent., or more than two-thirds, earned more than 2s. 6d. The record of the Saarbriicken mines is more favourable ; here the proportion earning over 3s. was 64‘09 per cent., or nearly two-thirds, whilst 10‘99 per cent, earned 4s. and more. In Upper Silesia, on the other hand, no fewer than 93‘53 per cent, earned a daily wage of less than 3s., whilst in Lower Silesia the percentage was as great as 96-50. In Upper Silesia 18 - 63 per cent, earned less than Is. 6d. a day, and in Lower Silesia 12T3 per cent. The advance granted in the Dortmund district after the strike of 1889 is very clearly indicated by the great increase in the percentage of miners in the higher wage classes. In place of 49 6 per cent, earning over 3s. a day, the proportion in July 1889 was 60' 9 per cent., or about three-fifths, whilst the percentage earning 2s. 6d. and over had risen from 69 4 per cent, to 80 2 per cent. About ore-fourth of the men employed earned over 4s. a day. Similar figures are, unfortunately, not attain- able in the Saarbriicken district, but official records show that in October 1892 the average wage for all workers in the State mines was 3'90 marks a day, whilst the hewers received on an average 4 55 marks. Since the proportion in March 1889 earning over 3'50 marks was only 33-07 per cent., the general advance must have been considerable. In Silesia there has been a gradual rise since 1879, although the standard is still very far below that in the other mining districts. (*) The evidence given before the Royal Commission to inquire into the condition of the miners in the coal industry, appointed by the German Emperor in 1890, indicates a widespread feeling of discontent with the method of fixing wages. As a rule mining is carried on on the contract system, and payment is arranged by the piece. Thus “ a body of miners agree with the 66 mining officials on the spot to do a particular piece “ of work, measured either by volume or weight, at a “ particular price. The amount of the contract price - 1 varies with the greater or less difficulty of working “ the coal in this particular locality . . . the ruling <£ temperature, and also the general advantages and dis- •• advantages of the working place.” The contracts are, as a rule, for one month ; but before the strike of 1889, what were known as “ main contracts ” ( Uawptgedinge ) were often made for three months, and in the Saar- briicken State mines, at any rate, sold by auction to the body of miners offering to undertake the work at the lowest price. The result was an undue depression of wages, and since 1889 the custom has been abolished. Complaints were made in the Dortmund district that in the smaller mines the agreements were often merely verbal, and that in the larger mines the general manager found it impossible to go down into all the shafts’ on the first day of the month, so that the con- tracts were concluded with subordinates. Then when the manager, in the course of the month, came to (') Denkschrift fiber die UntersuchunR der Arbeitor und Betriebs- verhsiltnis.se in den Steinkohlen"- Be/.irken, 1890. Report of Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 1893, Appendix C„ pp. 155-197. Schulze, “ Die Lage der Bergarbeiter,” 1893, p. 8. examine them, he did not hesitate to alter them, so that it was impossible for the miners to know before- hand what they would be likely to receive. The Commission were of opinion that written contracts should he substituted for verbal ones, and that they should be entered in a book, to which every miner could have immediate access. This system is already in use in Lower Silesia. (’) (i; Denkschrift fiber din Untersuchung der Arbeiter und Betriehs- verlialtnisse in den Steinkohlen - Bezirken, 1890. Report of Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 1893. Appendix C. pt>. Hil-169. (P Denkschrift fiber die Untersuehune der Arbeiter und Betriebs- verhaltnisse in den Steinkohlen-Bnzirken, 1890. Report of Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 1893, Appendix C., pp. 162-169. In the Saarbriicken and Aix-la-Chapelle districts it Deductions is customary to make a deduction from the wages of the younger workers in a shift, whether haulers (Schlepper) , as at Saarbriicken, or hewers (Lehr haver), as at Aix-la-Chapelle. The sum deducted is divided amongst the elder members of the shift, so that the employers gain nothing; but the abolition of the system has been demanded by a party amongst the miners. Deductions arc made for powder and lights, and the amount of these deductions, as well as of the fines inflicted, formed one of the grievances of the strikers in 1889. On the termination of that strike the employers agreed to furnish necessaries at cost price, and the evidence given before the Commission of 1890 showed that the average deductions from the wages of underground workmen in the Dortmund district was 16 pf., or about 2d. per shift, and in the Saarbriicken district 12 pf., or about 1 \d. Deductions are also made for the subscriptions to the Miners’ Friendly Societies in accordance with the Sick Insur- ance Law of 1883, and the Old Age and Invalid Insurance Law of 1889 ( see pp 73-85). It does not appear that the fines inflicted have been really excessive, though complaints to that effect have frequently been made by the miners. It is, however, admitted that the infliction of fines has sometimes been left to sub- ordinate officials. In the Dortmund district the fines rarely exceed 3s., though larger amounts have occa- sionally been deducted for habitual absence from work. At Saarbriicken and Aix-la-Cbapelle, as well as in Lower Silesia, the maximum fine is 6s., but at Aix-la- Chapelle it is said to be rare to exact more than 6d . ; whilst in Lower Silesia the average is from Is. to Is. 6d. In all the districts tines are paid over to the benefit funds. The grant of coal for the men’s own consump- tion is nowhere taken into account in fixing the wages ; but in Lower Silesia the miners receive, as a rule, 8 cwt. a month, and in other districts it is supplied to them at a reduced price. ( 3 ) The normal hours of work in the various districts (ii.) Hours, have already been indicated in Table D 1 (seep. 47). The shortest working day is to be found in the districts paying the highest wages, the longest in Upper Silesia, where the wages are lowest. With a very few excep- tions, due tomnusual conditions of temperature, eight hours at the face represents the shortest duration of the shift in the coal mines of the Dortmund and Saar- briicken districts, and the miners have as yet failed to obtain the eight hours from bank to bank, for which REPORT ON THE LABOUR OUESTIGN IN GERMANY. 4!) Overtime. Tim) lost. (iii.) Other co lditions. they struck in 1889. Before that strike, however, shifts of 8£, 9, and 9.^ hours were to be met with even in the Dortmund district. Both here and in Lower Silesia the inspectors have issued a regulation prohibiting more than six hours’ work where the temperature exceeds 29 Celsius (Fahr. 84'2). In the Saxon coal mines the hours of a shift vary from eight to 12 in the different mines, with longer or shorter pauses; but an eight hours shift at the face, including a half-hour’s interval, is the most usual. In metal mines the hours vary from six to 12; in peat-coal mines they are 12 from bank to bank.(') In all the mining districts there is a large amount of overtime work known technically as “ extra shifts ” ( TJeberschichten ). Between October 1888 and April 1889 most of the coal mines in the Dortmund district worked from two to four extra shifts a week, in many cases six. The duration of such an extra shift is as a rule from two to four hours, but it is sometimes prolonged to six or eight. In Upper and Lower Silesia overtime work is of such frequent occurrence as to have become confused with the normal hours, and some extreme cases are reported from LTpper Silesia. In one instance the hewers, after working 12 hours, were obliged to continue for another seven, and in another case the Sunday night shift’s work was prolonged until six o’clock on Monday evening. This overtime work does not appear to be entirely voluntary in any of the districts. The mine owners professed ignorance before the Commission of any compulsion, but the Commission were on the whole of opinion that the evidence gave indications of pressure put upon unwilling miners by a refusal to allow them to ascend without a written permission, and by the imposition in some cases of fines. Further, the conditions under which extra shifts are allowed by the mining regulations are often so vaguely expressed as to admit of a very wide interpretation. In every district they have been made to cover not only emergencies arising from accident, but also any occasion on which there was a special demand for coal. The mine owners urge, on the other hand, that if they could not meet the increased demand of the winter season by a certain number of extra shifts, they would be compelled to employ extra hands, who would be without work in the summer and whose want of experi- ence would constitute a special source of danger.f) A large amount of time is lost by individual miners, since it is the custom of very many to miss a shift after Sundays, pay-days and holidays. Thus between January and April 1889 no fewer than 1,267 shifts were missed in the mine Friedrich der Grosse, and the managers, finding that the infliction of fines failed to check the evil, offered a premium of 5s. a month to any miner working all the shifts and earning over 100 marks. In another mine in the Dortmund district 2,480 shifts were lost in five months, whilst in a Silesian mine 1,185 were lost in three months. ( :i ) Fourteen days’ notice is required for the termination of the contract between workman and employer, and failure to give this notice in the event of a strike renders the miners liable an action for damages (see p. 32). There is a general inspector of mines with subordinate mining boards in each of the chief mining districts. The boards are composed of experts trained for this particular service and required to pass graduated examinations. The detailed supervision of the mines is carried out by subordinate inspectors. Every serious or fatal accident must be immediately reported to the inspector, who investigates the case on the spot and then reports to the Mining Board. This Board has extensive powers and may issue regulations prohibiting the use of explosives, prescribing safety lamps, suspending the working of dangerous seams, or even closing a mine altogether. The board also decides the number and strength of the pillars which must be left standing, and many other practical details of the work. The inspectors are required to test all mechanical appliances and to make frequent investigations into the ventilation of the mines. The Saxon mines are specially dangerous and accidents are very numerous, but the proportion of fatal accidents is said to be small. In the Saarbriicken mines accidents are reported to be very frequent. (Jut of 30,000 members of the Miners’ Friendly Society for the district 3,578, or more than P) Denkschrift uber die Untersuchung der Arbeiter und Betriebs- verhaltnisse in den Steinkohlen - Be/.irken, 1890. Report of Royal Commission on Minins Royalties, 1893, pp. 162-169. ( 2 ) Denkschrift uber die Untersuchung der Arbeiter und Betriebs- verhaltnisse in den Steinkohlen • Bezirken, 1890. Report of Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 1893, Appendix C. pp. 162-169. ( 3 ) Report of Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 1893, Appendix C. pp. 162-169. Denkschrift uber die Untersuchung der Arbeiter und Betriebs-verhiiltnisse in den Steinkohlen-Bezirken, 1890. one in ten, was injured more or less severely during the year. A great deal of the work in these mines has to be carried on in a recumbent position, and the impos- sibility of avoidiug the falling coal under such circumstances leads to a number of casualties. With regard to the housing of the miners an official report states that the mine owners are growing more solicitous for the welfare of their men, and are, therefore, more careful to see that there is a supply of suitable houses. In the Saarbriicken district a very large number of the miners own their own houses, whilst in the Harz and Halle districts there are a fair number of house owners, though the proportion is less than half as great. In Westphalia the mine owners have provided a very large number of dwellings. (‘) 2. Iron, (Engineering , Ship-building and Cognate Trades. According to the Reports of the Factory Inspectors (i.) Wages 1891 was a prosperous year for the metal industries generally, and especially for the iron ship-builders of 1392 ! Liibeck. In the Bremen district, however, aud in the province of Schleswig generally, the ship-building industry was in a depressed condition, and there were many complaints of the scarcity of good workmen. Owing to the absence of any general system of collect- ing wage statistics for the empire at large it is almost impossible to give an accurate statement of the average wages in any particular industry. The nearest approach to a general statement with any pretensions to exactitude is to be found in the statistics collected by the employers’ trade associations for the purposes of accident insurance ; but the wages are here given for the year, and no statement is made of the amount of time worked, nor is there any classification of the workmen according to age, sex, kind of work, or amount earned by each. Detailed statements of the wages paid in Berlin during September 1891, have been published by the Imperial Office of Statistics, and the Factory Inspector for the Oppeln district has compiled a table of wages in the metal industry for 1890 and 1891. Any comparison between these different sets of figures has, however, only a very relative value, since it is impossible to ascertain whether they are calculated on a similar basis. According to the Accident Insurance Statistics the annual wages may be estimated as follows ; — M. Rhenish Westphalian forges and rolling mills ----- 1,002 Rhenish Westphalian machine factories 894 North Western iron and steel industry - 984 North-Eastern iron aud steel industry - 884 South-Western iron industry - - 843 Southern iron and steel industry - 837 Saxon Thuringia iron and steel industry 828 South German fine and base metal industry - 753 North German fine and base metal industry' ... - 748 Silesian iron and steel industry - 606 With regard to these figures it may be remarked that, just as in the mining industry, the wages paid in Silesia are lower than those for the rest of Germany. This appears, further, in the following rough comparison of the wages paid in the Oppelu district and in Berlin : — District. * Journey- men. +La- bourers. Women. Boys. Girls. M. M. M. M. M. Oppeln — First half 1890 - 422-57 260-90 1 62 * 56 149-59 — „ „ 1891 • Average per week 1891 - 455-35 277'12 154’Ui 147-95 — 17-51 10-65 5-93 5 - 69 — Berlin — Metal workers per week, 22-18 17-98 11-97 8-82 7-00 Sept. 1891. Engineers, per week. Sept. 1891. 21-00 17*44 11-07 5-36 9-00 From these figures it would appear that in the Oppeln district, where the arithmetic mean between the highest and lowest wages has been taken for the half-year and then divided by 26 to obtain the weekly average, the wages of women are only about half as much * Berlin" Skilled labour.” t Berlin “ Unskilled labour.” ( 1 ) Denkschrift uber die Untersuchung der Arbeiter und Betriebs- verhaltnisse in den Steinkohlen - Bezirken, 1890. Report of Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 1893, Appendix C. pp. 155-157. 209. Schulze. “ Die I-age der Bergarbeiter,” 1893, pp. 9-11. Zeitschrif fur das Berg Hiitten-und Salinemvesen im preussischen Staatc, 1892. G 1 50 ROVAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : (ii.) Hours. (iii.) Other conditions. a. Railways, (i.) Attitude of the State. as those paid to male unskilled labourers and ap- proximate very closely to the wages of boys. In Berlin, on the other hand, women's wages are about two-thirds of those paid to unskilled labour, and twice as much as those of boys. Skilled labour in Silesia appears only to command the same wages as unskilled labour in Berlin. The wages of women and boys are found to have declined between 1890 and 1891, whilst those of men have risen during the same period. A more detailed statement of the wages obtained in Berlin iu September 1891, abstracted out of the general tables given by the Imperial Office of Statistics, is here appended : — (‘) Table E. Class of Workmen. Weekly Average Wages as given by Private Establishments. Guilds, j Sick Funds. 1 Unions. Government Works. M. M. M. M. M. Gold and silversmiths - - 25-50-27-15 21 11-50-23-50 17-18 Ironfounders - 2411 24 20 18 19-68 Iron moulders - - 28-73 — 20 22-50-30-00 Coppersmiths ... - 22 • 28 24 — 24 19-68 Tinsmiths - - 22-28 24 — 18-21 16-68 Smiths - 24- — — — 16-68-19-68 Locksmiths ... - 22-92-27-95 21 18 22 16-68-19-68 Cutlers .... “ 19-08-20-02 — 1 Note. — The wages paid in Government works wherever they appear in the Berlin statistics appear to average less than in other establishments. The hours of work in the metal and ship-building industries appear to vary between 10 and 12, but in the smaller workshops this limit is sometimes exceeded. Iu the Magdeburg district 15 factories were said to work over 12 hours, 16 over 11 hours, and the rest from 10 to 11 hours. Iu the Diisseldorf district the hours are similar, but shifts in small workshops are said to be, as a rule, 14 hours, with from 12 to 12J hours’ actual labour, and in exceptional cases even 16 hours, with from 14 to 15 hours’ labour. The work in large foundries is performed in two shifts, changing, as a rule, every 12 hours. In the forges of Aix-la-Chapelle a 12-hour shift is the rule, but the working hours in the metal workshops and factories are from 10 to ll.( (i) 2 ) The employment of boys in the metal industries is deprecated by the factory inspector for Sieginaringen, on the ground that the work makes too great demands upon their strength, and that the conditions of tem- perature are such as they are not calculated to with- stand. The employment of women appears to be on the increase in some districts, in spite of the dangerous character of the work. In the Cassel district 559 women and 136 girls between the ages of 14 and 16 were employed in 1891, a proportion of about one in nine as compared with the men and boys of that age. Accidents are reported to be very numerous and severe, and the inspectors urge that the men should be careful to wear clothing as little inflammable as possible, in view of the large number of cases in which their clothes have caught fire.( 3 ) B — Transport, Agriculture and Forestry. 1. Transport. Up to 1870 private ownership of railways was the rule in Germany, and State ownership was the excep- tion ; but the difficulties experienced in effecting the necessary transport of troops during the Franco- German war gave birth to the idea, which has since gained ground, that the State should not only control the railway lines but take them over and work them in the public interest. Railways in Germany have not been included amongst Imperial means of transport, and for the most part the individual States are allowed the exclusive exercise of sovereign rights ( Hoheitsrechte ) with respect to them. According to the constitution of the German Empire, however ("Art. 4, sect. 8), railways are declared subject to Imperial control and regulation, and Division VII. of the constitution recognises a number of important principles with regard to the establishment of a uniform system of government for railways throughout the Empire. These have not yet been embodied in any Act. In the matter of granting concessions for new railways the State Governments are left entirely free from Imperial intervention with the following exceptions. The Imperial Government, with the consent of the Federal Council and the Reichstag, may establish new lines of railway, to be either worked by the State or conceded to private companies. This can only be done by passing a special Act, and in cases (i) T\<). Report, Misc. Series. No. 283, 1893, pp. 4-7. ( a ) Audliehe Mitteilungen aus den Jahres-Berichten del- Fabrik - Aufsichts-Beamten. 1891, pp. 19, 50. 81. 158.] 139. where such a measure is demanded in the interests of national defence or for the facilitation of general traffic. In Bavaria the power of the Imperial Government to pass such an Act is limited to the first class of cases. All existing railways must allow their lines to be connected with those of new railways at the expense of the latter. No company may be granted a prohibitive right against the laying of parallel or competing lines. With regard to uniformity of working, Article 42 of the constitution of the Empire states that “ the federal “ governments (Bundesregierungeu) pledge themselves “ to administer the German railways as a uniform “ system in the interests of general traffic.” The Imperial Government is not given power to put this provision into practice ; that is reserved for the federated governments which, according to Articles 43 and 46, “ must, as soon as possible, draw up uniform working “ rules, and, in particular, introduce similar police “ regulations'’ ( Bahnpolizeireglement ). How this mutual agreement is to be brought about and enforced is not clear from the constitution. Certainly it is not a matter of Imperial jurisdiction, nor does it belong to the Federal Council. Nevertheless, by Article 43, “the “ Imperial Government must see that the railway “ administrators keep the roads, at all times, in the “ requisite state of safety, and provide them with “ rolling stock equal to the demands of the traffic.” For the carrying out of this provision the Imperial Government may appoint commissioners and inspectors responsible to the Imperial Railway Department, established in 1873, which, in its turn, is answerable to the Chancellor of the Empire. Article 45 gives the Empire the control over the tariff system, but does not give it the right to impose any special tariff. The clause, therefore, is only expressive of a wish, which cannot be carried out except with the co-operation of the State Governments and the railway directors. The desire of the Imperial Government is f urther expressed in the following clause: — “The Empire will, therefore, “ strive to bring about the greatest possible equality “ and reduction in the rates, and especially to procure “ a porportionately moderate rate for the transport of “ coal, coke, wood, ore, stone, salt, pig iron, manure, “ and similar commodities needed in manufactures and “ agriculture ; indeed, as soon as possible, the one “ pfennig rate should be introduced.” Except in Bavaria, railways are obliged, in times of special need, to convey food commodities at reduced rates, and throughout the Empire, including Bavaria, troops and military supplies must be conveyed at special rates, even in time of peace. As a matter of fact, in spite of the efforts of Prince Bismarck to introduce a uniform tariff, special rates have been found necessary to redress the balance caused by relieving the short distance traffic at the expense of the long distance traffic. The policy of charging the same mileage rate for any distance made it impossible for German goods to bear the cost of transit from the interior to the frontier. Conse- quently an elaborate system of special export rates was (') ”I)ie Lohnverhaltnisse im Berlin im S-ptember 1891,” Imperial Ollier of Statistics, 1892. " Amtliche Mitteilungen aus den Jahres- Bericht n der Fabrik-Aufsichts-Beamten,” 1891." p. 113 and table in Appendix. F.O. Report, Misc. Series, No. 283, 1893, p. 30. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 51 introduced, and in 1890 quite 50 per cent, of the tonnage, returning 39 per cent, of the revenue, was carried at special rates. It was not until some years after the institution of the Railway Department and the recognition of imperial control that any attempt was made on an extensive scale by the State Governments to acquire possession of their railways. In the Middle German States the principle of State ownership had received an earlier recognition. The Baden and Wiirtemberg Governments became owners of their railways almost from the moment of their construction. The Bavarian railways on the right bank of the Rhine have belonged to the State since 1875, but private ownership prevails to a certain degree in the rest of Bavaria. The Saxon Government began to purchase their railways in 1876, and are now owners of a complete railway system. In Oldenburg all the railways belong to the State, whilst in Hesse Darmstadt State ownership and private ownerside exist side by side. Mecklenburg has a curious record. It began with private ownership, but front 1869 to 1870 the Grand Duke ( Landesherr ) bought up the nrivate lines only to transfer them in 1873 to a private compan} 7 . In 1889 the Government purchased six of the leading lines, and the principle of State ownership has since been predominant. In the Kingdom of Prussia, State ownership of railways has been of gradual growth. Under the influence of von der Heydt’s Ministry in 1848 a number of railways were constructed by the State, and the control of the Government over private lines was greatly strengthened. Between 1860 and 1870 the State railways of Hanover, Nassau and Hesse passed into the possession of Prussia, but it was not until 1879, when von Maybach was Minister of Commerce, that the Prussian Government set to work to acquire the private lines. Six of the Table P 1. At the Close of the | Working Year. Total. State Railways. Private Rai lways. Propor- tion per 1,000 kilo. Surface. Average Increase per Year of Mileage. 1871 - Kilo. 21,471 Kilo. 9,902 Kilo. 1 1,569 Kilo. 39-7 1872 - 22,426 10,293 12,133 41'5 4'4 1873 - 23,890 10,445 13,445 44-2 6*5 1874 - 25,487 10,812 14,675 47'1 6’7 1875 - 27.970 12,332 15,638 51-7 9'7 1873 - 29,305 13,853 15,452 54’2 4'8 1877-78 30,718 14,770 15,918 56-8 4-8 1878-79 31 .471 15,480 15,991 58'2 5*5 1879-80 33,250 20,433 12,817 61 '5 5’7 1880-81 33,645 22,021 11,624 U2‘2 — 1881-82 34,182 22,548 11,634 63-2 1-6 1882-83 34,846 25,112 9,734 64 - 5 1*9 1883-84 35,743 29,152 6,591 66-1 2‘6 1884-85 3(5,457 .31,148 5,309 67-4 2-0 1885-86 37,189 31,901 5,288 68-8 2-0 1886-87 37,967 32,600 5,367 70 '2 2'1 1887-88 39,082 33,934 5,148 72'3 2’9 1888-89 40.008 34,738 5,270 74-0 2-4 1889-90 40,981 36,584 4,397 75-7 2’4 largest companies were bought out in 1879 and 1880, the Government acquired seven more lines in 1882, ten in 1884, and fifteen between 1885 and 1890. The pro- portion of State to private railways in the German Empire generally and the gradual increase of the first at the expense of the second is shown in the preceding table : — (') The railway staff on the State railways is composed (“•) Bait of Government officials of the first, second, and third way h classes, together with a number of workmen paid by the day. These are employed in the less skilled kinds of work, such as repairing the line, and loading goods trains. On the private railways the same division holds good between officials and labourers, the officials standing in closer relation to the directors than the day labourers. A number of posts on the State railways, which do not require special technical training, must be filled with soldiers of the reserve. The higher posts can only be filled by officials who have passed the qualifying examinations. The total force employed on all railways amounts in round numbers to 110,000 officials and 200,000 labourers. A regular day’s work is understood tfo be the period between two entirely free spells of at least eight hours each, or in the case' of railway servants employed on trains, such as guards, drivers, stokers, or brakesmen, of 10 or six hours according as it is spent at home or not. Line- keepers, where there is a day service only, must not as a rule be on duty for more than 14 hours; where the work is exceptionally light this time may be extended to 16 hours. Thirteen hours is the limit where there is a night service with occasionally 14 hours. Time occupied in walking to and from work is included. Pointsmen on lines with frequent trains are on duty eight hours, on other lines 12, or where trains are very infrequent 14, hours. Sixteen hours may be worked in a day in exceptional cases, if a four hours’ interval is allowed after the first eight hours. Out door station work in busy stations is limited to eight hours, in other cases to 12, 14, or 16 hours. Telegraph clerks whose work is uninterrupted must not be on duty more than eight hours. Shunting masters work 10, 12 or 14 hours according to the amount of work, and rolling stock inspectors 12 or 14 hours. Drivers, stokers, guards, and brakesmen must not be on duty on an average more than 11 hours a day in each month ; single periods of duty may be extended to 16 hours, if intervals of rest are included, and if such work is followed by a long period of rest. The regular time spent on an engine while the train is running must not exceed 10 hours. The hours for workmen in the railway workshops are given in one set of working rules as from 6.50 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. with an interval of 1 hour and 40 minutes at mid-day. As a rule the actual working hours are 10. Wages are paid twice a month and in cash only. Men employed as porters or in inferior posts on the railways are not supplied with working clothes. (For wages see also Appendix B.) ( 2 ) The total number of accidents occurring on the German railways is given in the following table: ( :l ) (iii.) Acci- dents. Table F 2. Number of Accidents. Number of Persons meeting with Accidents (exclusive of Suicides). Working Year. Trains Colli- Other Total. Killed. Wounded. Total. the lines. sions. Causes. Inclusive. Passengers. Inclusive. Passengers. Inclusive. Passengers. 1880-81 483 482 2,539 3,504 454 26 2,208 138 2,662 164 1881-82 388 410 2,548 3,346 470 18 2,129 90 2,599 108 1882-83 445 346 2,524 3,315 556 78 2,383 376 2,939 454 1883-84 450 345 2,592 3,387 564 24 2,113 87 2,677 in 1884-85 400 324 2,524 3,248 507 49 2,138 121 2*645 170 1885-86 389 263 2,847 3,499 503 22 2,362 68 2,865 90 1886-87 448 259 2,934 3,641 520 43 2,554 141 3,074 184 1887-88 508 249 1,764 2,521 463 27 1,334 107 1,797 134 1888-89 393 251 1,905 2,549 562 31 1,447 123 2,009 154 1889-90 423 304 2,361 3,088 602 40 2,112 174 2*714 214 (‘) Lexis, “ Handworterbueh der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. III., p. 147. Arts “ Eisenbnhen ” Cohn i,j„„ t „„„„ at , 155-m h A A“orth! P “The iT PP - 341 ' 343 ' “ Das StaatsWes DeutschSches ” • ( } - eX1S ’ d "' !!■ , 15 , 9 -, A, '!l Eisenbahnrecht,” Tritzsche Stengel, “ Worterbuch des Deutschon Rules of Berlin Railway Works, 1892. F.O. Report, Annual Series, Verwaltuugsrechts,” Vol. I., p. Weim.' No. 1,222, 1893. ( 3 ) Lexis, " Handworterbueh der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. III., p. 212, Art..’.‘‘Eisenbahnstatistik,” Krause l 78420. H ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: l. Rocks. ( Ham- burg ) . (i.) Extent, (ii.) Con- ditions of employ- ment. Wages. Hours. Other con- ditions. c. Tram- way and omnibus employes (Berlin). J 52 “ The docks and quays of the city of Hamburg are “ the property of the Hamburg State ” and the man- agement, with the exception of [a portion leased to the Hamburg American Steam Navigation Company, is carried on by the municipality. “ Some idea of the “ extent of the docks and quays, and of the amount of “ work done throughout their length and breadth, may “ be formed from the fact that 8,176 vessels, with an “ aggregate registered tonnage of 5,202,825 tons, “ entered and cleared from these docks and quays “ during the year 1890, to say nothing of the vast and “ nondescript number of river craft. . . . The total “ length of the docks and quays affording accommoda- “ tion to from 200 to 250 vessels is 12,528 yards.” (‘) The number of workmen permanently employed is about 1,600, and in addition to these, assistant labourers are engaged as required ; the maximum number employed is 300. Even the permanent labourers are out of work on an average from 15 to 20 days in a year.( 2 ) Wages are reckoned both by the day and by the amount of work done, and average 3.60 marks for permanent; hands, and from 3 to 3.30 marks for assistant labourers. Overtime is paid at the rate of 45 pfennige an hour, and after midnight 50 pfennige. Crane-drivers receive 4.20 marks a day. The subjoined table gives the wages paid by the Hamburg- American Company : — M. pf. Sworn scalesmen - - - _ 4 40 Foremen - - 4 20 Measuring clerks and men repairing bags 4 0 Permanent labourers - - 3 HO Assistant labourers " 3 50 Crane attendants ... 4 20 Assistant labourers receive 4cZ. an hour for overtime, and all other classes 5 Id., with 6d. after midnight. Men employed in discharging steamships by steam winches are paid by the ton, and can make in a year from 79/. to 110L Lightermen get 4 marks a day for week-days and 4.80 marks for Sundays. Their annual wages in 1891 averaged 82 1.( 2 ) Work begins at 6 a.m. and continues until 6 p.m., with half an hour for breakfast and an hour and a half for dinner. On Sundays and festivals no work is done between 9.30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Where overtime and night work are required, an interval of an hour or half an hour is given for supper at 6 p.m.. and there is an hour’s rest at midnight. Except in urgent cases, work ceases at midnight. A workman who has been engaged on night work is not obliged to work the following day. The amount of Sunday and holiday work isnot very great ; during 1891 it was only per- formed on 45 vessels. ( 2 ) Very minute regulations have been drawn up by the Hamburg Government, for the guidance of the per- manent labourers. These relate to the care of goods and tools, conduct towards fellow-workmen, the refer- ence of general complaints to the workmen’s committee, the dress of workmen, the hours of rest, holidays, fines, and sick leave, f}- The official statistics for Berlin in September, 1891, give the wages paid by the Berlin General Omnibus Company, the Berlin New Omnibus and Carmen’s Company, and the Steam Tramway and Omnibus Com- pany. Omnibus drivers in one company received on an average 23.85 marks a week, in two others 82 and 90 marks a month. Conductors ( Gondudeure ) received 19.65 marks a week from one company and stablemen 16.35 marks, [n two other cases, conductors or guards ( Scliuffner ), received 75 and 82.50 marks a month, and stablemen 67.50. Carmen receive 78 marks a month as drivers, 77.50 for accompanying the drivers to deliver parcels (Schaffner) and 65 as stablemen. Collectors of parcels receive 54 marks a month, and men delivering them on foot 75 marks. The monthly wages of drivers of steam tramways ( Maschinisten ) were 137.50 marks. Drivers of hackney carriages earn 18 marks a week, and 9 marks whilst they are employed as apprentices. They work from 5 a.m. until 8.30 p.m. with about 1J hour's rest. The hours of omnibus and tramway men vary greatly ; in some cases they are given as twelve, in others as from eight to twelve, and ( ') Report of H.M. Consul at Hamburg to the Foreign Office for the use of the Royal Commission on Labour. Sec ulso Foreign Office Reports, Miscellaneous Series. No. 272, 1893. ( 2 ) Idem. again as from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m., with about two hours’ interval. (') (9 “ Die Lohnverhaltnisse in Berlin im September, 1891,” pp. Gl, 62. Imperial Office of Statistics, 1892. (-) Schriften des Yereins fur Sozialpolitik. vols. L1I., LIII., LIY., LY.. LVI., LVIIL, “Die Neue Zeit,” No. 33, 1892-3. Article by Dr. Rudolf Meyer. 2. Agriculture. The agrarian question, as at present understood in («•) The Germany, is to a great extent the outcome of the last Question twenty years, and is by no means co-incident with the period of lowest wages and least amount of material prosperity for the agricultural labourer. Indeed, as Dr. Kaerger has expressed it, the agrarian question exists rather from the standpoint of the employer than from that of the employed, and springs from the scarcity of agricultural labour more than from any necessity for improvement in the condition of the labourer. 8ince the beginning of the present century agriculture in Germany has passed through three main stages. Up to 1830 the destruction caused by the Na- poleonic wars was still severely felt; 80 per cent, of the great estates in Prussia came into the market, and the price of land fell to half of its taxable value. The ruin of so many of the landed aristocracy was the opportunity of the merchant classes, who became pur- chasers of land on a very extensive scale. The rising price of corn and the capital at the disposal of the new landowners brought about an era of prosperity which continued until 1870. The great landowners, both on account of their superior knowledge and the compara- tive ease with which they could obtain the necessary credit, took the lead in introducing improved methods of cultivation. Many of the smaller holdings ( Bauer - hofe) were bought up, and the small farmers as well as the better class of agricultural labourers emigrated in consequence to America. Shortly after 1870 came the re-action. Prices fell, agricultural labour became scarce, the influence of the higher wages obtainable in the building and factory industries began to make itself felt, and the present agrarian difficulty first made its appearance. For a time the Agrarian, or Conserva- tive Socialist party, to which the great landowners belonged, was wholly in favour of re-actionary measures, such as the limitation of the right of free migration, higher protective duties upon foreign pro- duce, and more stringent legislation against breach of contract on the part of domestic servants and farm labourers. Both the older and newer schools of Academic Socialists, however, who have made a study of the land question, lay greater stress upon its social aspects and point out that if the agricultural labourer is to be attached to the soil it must be by providing him with some means of satisfying his demand for a fuller recognition of his independence, and a more favourable prospect of realising his social aspira. tions. They support their view by showing that, except in a few isolated cases, the general consensus of opinion in the country as a whole indicates a very great change for the better in the economic condition of the labourer during the last ten or twenty years. He is better fed and better clothed, better educated and better able to procure the means of recreation ; never- theless the migration statistics ( see p. 95) indicate a continuous movement of the population from the agricultural east to the industrial west. Except in a few southern districts, such as Bavaria, where peculiar conditions prevail, the agrarian question proper, inter- preted in Germany to mean the difficulty of procuring a sufficient supply of labour, scarcely exists in the west. With regard to the east, on the contrary. Dr. Weber points out ( see p. 100) that unless some means can be adopted for checking the outflow of the German population, there is every reason to fear that their places will be supplied by an inroad of Slavs, and that thus an element of disintegration already existing will be increased. The causes of this movement will be further treated under the heading “ Migration of Labour ” (see pp. 92-101), but the inquiry instituted in 1892 by the Economic Club (Verein fur Sozialpolitik) has brought out clearly the predominant influence of the social over the economic factor’s in agrarian dis- content. The gulf which separates the employer from the employed in the east, and the lack of opportunity for acquiring land are, in the opinion of the members of the Economic Club reporting on the subject, mainly responsible for its depopulation. Up to the present time it has appeared almost impossible to supply the remedy, though the great landowners are sufficiently ready to divide much of their land into small holdings, if this or any other measure would secure them a permanent supply of suitable labour. ( 2 ) REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN HERMAN Y. 53 (5.) Status oft he iiRri- cultural labourer. (i.) In Western Germany. (ii.) Tn Southern Germany. (iii.) In Mill Germany. In Westphalia and Oldenburg the agricultural labourer rents a small plot of ground from his em- ployer on condition of giving him a certain number of days’ work in return for a lower rate of wages than would otherwise be paid in the district. The labourer ( Heuerling ) is a small cultivator on his own account, not as a rule rich enough to possess a team of horses, but allowed the use of his employer’s team when necessary, and receiving other assistance in kind. The relations between the two parties are reported to be more favourable than in any other part of Germany ; Jffie employer is secure of a sufficient amount of labour, "and the labourer in most cases contrives to amass con- siderable savings. Many families remain for centuries upon the same farms, and although their holdings are only on short leases renewable at will they come to regard them as their own property. Many of them add to their income by home industries, such as weaving, and occasionally when there is little for them to do at home they cross the border into Holland for a few months and work for wages. It has been pro- posed to transfer the Heuerling system to Eastern Germany, but Dr. Knapp points out that the predomi- nance of small or medium-sized farms rather than the conditions of labour must be held to account for the satisfactory relations between the labourer and his employer. It is the Bauer, or small farmer scarcely removed from the peasant, for whom the Heuerling works in Westphalia ; he stands “ shoulder to shoulder “ with his employer, and sits at the same table with “ him. The two differ so little in speech and manners “ that a townsman would scarcely perceive any social “ distinction.” The labourer has, therefore, no sense of compulsory service ; he regards himself as merely a voluntary helper, whose interests are really identical with those of the farmer. Indeed the connexion between the two classes is often one of blood relation- ship, for the farms are handed on from father to son undivided, and the younger members of a family, unless they forsake the pursuit of agriculture alto- gether, must descend into the ranks of the labourers. Family quarrels not unfrequently result, but on the whole the system tends to bind the two classes closer together, and to obliterate any sort of social distinction other than that of property. In Sou them Germany the same system of small hoi dings prevails, but here the labourer is himself a small free- holder, whe ekes out the scanty resources of his own property by performing service for the farmers (Bauer) with more land than they can cultivate themselves. This becomes the more necessary, because on the death of the small freeholder any land which he has accumulated does not pass intact to his appointed heir as in Westphalia. It is, as a rule, subdivided amongst his children, who must recommence the laborious process of saving if they are ever to be in a position of independence. Where they are unwilling to do this, they sell their inheritance, and their places are taken by immigrants from the eastern provinces, Sweden, and Switzerland, who in their turn betake themselves to town and factory life and give place to others. The result is an absence of any permanent class of native agricultural labourers. In the villages of Hesse, Wiii-- temberg, and the Rhine provinces they do not regard regard themselves as entering upon a real contract of service, though they work as day labourers for the larger proprietors. Longer contracts would be con- sidered equivalent to servitude, but they are some- times willing to give assistance “ on neighbourly principles ” in return for certain wages. Where pride forbids this, and their own land is inadequate for their support, their only resource is emigration, and the emigration statistics (see pp. 92-97) indicate the extent to which this remedy is adopted. Still here, as in Western Germany, it is the economic rather than the social aspect of the agrarian question which is the most prominent, and it is the poverty born of too great sub- division of land and a too intensive system of cultivation which must be held mainly responsible for the migration of the southern agriculturist Mid Germany, i.e., the district between the Weser and Elbe, is the home of the different classes of peasant farmers (Bo Acer), and of what are known as free labourers (freie Landarbeiter) . These are drawn from different classes of the village population, possessing larger or smaller plots of land held on different systems of tenure handed down from feudal times, and known as Kotter, Brinksitzer. Hausler, or Anbauer. To the larger farmer (Bauer), or to the large landed proprietor (G.utsbesitzer) , they are all merely day-labourers in the strictest sense of the term, taking service first with one employer and then with another, but entering into engagements by the day only. Throughout this district, however, agriculture is only carried on in conjunction with other pursuits ; the “ free labourers ” have a definite status in the village or commune, and have reason to be definitely attached to the land. The agrarian question, therefore, holds a much more subordinate place than it occupies east of the Elbe, and such difficulties as exist are chiefly occasioned by the wandering immigrants known as “ Sachsengiinger,” who come from the eastern provinces to take service during the harvest in the more western districts. In the wide expanse of territory east of the Elbe the (iv.) I» contract between the agricultural labourer and his Eastern employer takes a great variety of forms ; but in what rerman . v ' Professor Knapp calls the most typical districts, where great estates (Bitter g liter) are numerous and settle- ments of peasant farmers ( Bcmerndorfer ) few, the most usual form has hitherto been that known as soccage- tenancy (Instenwesen). Here “ the landowner enters “ into a contract for a lengthened period which assures “ him of the services, not of an individual merely, but “ of a family. The family is settled in a cottage upon “ the landlord’s estate and must be prepared to provide ‘■'a man and an assistant — a so-called soccager “ (Seharwerlcer)— to perform the agricultural labour “ required upon the estate. A very small daily wage “is paid in return; the soccage tenant generally “ receives a portion of garden ground for his own use “ in addition to his house, and a few acres of land are “ cultivated for him within the estate; whatever these “ produce, whether corn, other kinds of produce, or “ potatoes, belongs to the soccage tenant (Inste). “ Finally, the soccage tenant has a right to thresh his “ landlord’s corn during the winter in return for a “ certain proportion of the yield.” This remuneration in kind is often more than he can use, but he is at liberty to soli it, and the proceeds, together with a very small daily wage, represent the extent of his pecuniary resources. As a rule he owns a cow ora few sheep, and in all cases he keeps one or two pigs. As far as health and good nourishment are concerned the condition of such a labourer leaves little to be desired, and lately much has been done to remedy the miserable character of the cottages. At first sight the Inste appears to have much in co nmon with the contract labourer in the western provinces ; both enter into a lasting en- gagement and both are remunerated primarily in kind and only secondarily in money. But whereas the Westphalian labourer has a holding of his own to cultivate at will, the labourer east of the Elbe merely receives the product of a few acres, winch are not dis- tinguished from the rest of the estate, and with the cultivation of which he has nothing to do. Except for the fact that he is allowed a little garden ground there is nothing to distinguish him from a day-labourer, remunerated in kind, a so-called Deputatiste. Besides the tendency in Eastern Germany is to depart further and further from any form of labour contract which can recall that of Westphalia and the adjacent provinces. Since the introduction of threshing machines the labourer’s share of the yield has been gradually diminished ; it is now not uncommon to abandon the custom of giving him the proceeds of any part of the land, and instead of allowing him stabling for a cow of his own, to add a certain portion of milk to his daily wa"es. His interest in the land and in the general prosperity of his landlord is, therefore, decreasing, and he is fast degenerating into an ordinary day- labourer, who has to contend in many districts with the cheaper labour and lower standard of living of the Russian and Austrian Poles. The result is thus ex- pressed by Dr. Weber: — “ Agriculture on the grand “ scale carried on on patriarchal principles preserved “ the standard of living of the labourers and their “ military efficiency, but the existing organisation of “ agriculture on capitalist principles is only maintained “ at the expense of the standard of living, the nation- “ alityand the defensive capacity of Eastern Germany.” Where there are still settlements of peasant farmers, as in the Crown lands (Domanien) of Mecklenburg Schwerin and Mecklenburg Strelitz, it has been found practicable ro establish the same system of small holdings (Htius- lereien) as has existed for centuries in Prussian Saxony and other districts of Mid-Germany, but in the provinces further east such a remedy would be difficult to apply owing to the absence of the peasant farmers, or of any intermediate class between the great landlords and the labourers, and more particularly owing to the absence of villages. Any attempt in this direction must be by way of colonisation, a process attended with H 2 54 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : difficulty, but reported to be in a fair way to success in certain cases ( see below, p. 100). As Dr. Knapp points out, the status of the agricultural labourer is too indissolubly connected with the different forms of land tenure to admit of the substitution of the form of contract prevailing in one district for the form prevail- ing in another, unless at the same time a complete change is effected in the conditions of tenure. “ The “ contract labourer (Heuermann) belongs to the single “ farm ; the small freeholder (Hdusler), in his character “ of independent labourer, is dependent upon the village “ (Bauerndorf ) , and the soccage tenant ( Inste ) belongs “ to the great estate (1 littergut), which extends through “ the length and breadth of the district, and excludes “ the possibility of neighbouring peasant farms.” Without, therefore, some system of breaking up the large estates it will scarcely be possible to transfer the West German labour contracts to the district east of the Elbe.(') The members of the Economic Club ( Verein fiir ( c .) Wages Sozialpolitik, who conducted the inquiry into the of agri- condition of the agricultural labourer in 1892, have fabou™ 1 included tables of wages in their reports, which have been summarised, as far as possible, in the following table -. — ■ Table G. — Daily Wages of Agricultural Labourers in Germany. ( 2 ) Men. Women. Permanently employed. Temporarily employed. Permanently employed. District. Summer. Winter. Summer. Winter. Summer. Winter. Summer. Winter. ior me economic Club (Verein Without 1 Board. With Board. Without i Board. ] With Board. Without ! Board. dZV ? <-• c: Without j Board. With Board. Without Board. Without Board. With Board. o*g 'S fZ. o With Board. Without Board. With Board. fiir Sozialpolitik) by 1. Oldenburg M. 2'75 M. 1'87 M. 1*62 M. 1*0 M. 3*60 M. 1*87 M. 2*50 M. 1*05 M. 1*75 M. 1*12 M. 1*50 M. 0*75 M. 1*25 M. 0*87 M. 1*27 M. 0*75 2. East Friesland 2T2 1'17 1*40 0*87 2*12 3*30 2*0 0*75 1*10 0*75 0*80 0*50 1*80 1*25 0*87 0*50 3. Lippe Detmold 1-75 1'12 1*25 0*75 2*12 1*17 1*50 0*75 1*10 0*65 0*80 0*35 1*12 0*70 1*15 0*65 4. Westphalia 2-25 1'35 1*75 1*12 3*70 2*30 2*37 1*45 1*42 0*85 1*37 0*75 1*55 0*95 1*25 0*65 -Dr. Kaerger. 5. Waldeck 1-85 1'50 1*60 1*12 2*25 1*25 1*20 0*90 1*10 0*95 0*90 0*75 0*90 0*62 0*90 0*55 6. Hanover (North) - 2-50 1'62 1*65 1*05 **75 1*75 1*75 1*25 1*30 0*87 1*05 0*75 1*52 1*2 1*25 0*75 J 7. Baden 2'60 1'35 2*0 0*95 2*70 1*85 2*0 1*0 1*37 0*85 1*15 0*67 1*40 1*0 1*15 0*60 T 8. Wiirtemberg 2'0 1'30 1*60 1*10 2*55 1*65 1*65 0*95 1*50 1*0 1*30 0*70 1*02 0*90 1*45 0*70 [•Dr. H. Loscli. " 9. Alsace Lorraine - 1-60 1'35 1*50 0*95 2*60 1*55 1*75 1*15 1*35 0*85 1*15 0*85 1*35 1*15 1*10 0*65 J 10. The Rhine Pro- 2-20 1'35 1*75 0*90 3*0 2*10 1*90 1*37 1*30 0*65 1*15 0*55 1*75 1*25 1*25 0*82 Dr. Otto Anhagen. vinces. 11. Hoheuzollern 2-20 1'42 1*50 0*95 2*70 1*65 2*0 1*25 1*55 0*97 1*10 0*87 1*85 1*25 1*10 0*96 1 12. Hesse Nassau 2 '10 1"22 1*50 1*0 2*60 1*85 1*87 1*10 1*05 0*70 0*90 0*65 1*40 1*0 1*0 0*65 1 13. Thiiringian States 2'0 1*50 1*27 0*87 2*60 2*50 1*55 1*0 1*10 0*75 0*90 0*50 1*40 0*87 0*95 0*50 14. Bavaria 1'75 1*0 1*30 0*90 2*60 1*15 1*65 0*70 1*15 0*80 0*90 0*55 1*20 0*85 0*75 0*65 * Dr. Ivuno Frank- enstein. 15. Hesse-Darmstadt - 2'05 1*15 1*40 0*85 2*15 1 *65 1*55 0*96 1*27 0*85 0*90 0*65 1*15 1*0 1*05 0*65 16. Kingdom of Saxony 2'25 1*40 1*40 1*05 2*25 2*0 1*35 1*35 1*37 1*0 1*05 0*70 1*40 1*0 0*95 0*70 17. Schelswig-Holstein 2*45 1*95 2*10 1*30 3*60 2*60 1*95 1*35 1*50 1*05 1*05 0*70 1*40 1*25 1*0 0*60 (West & North). 18. Prussian Saxony - 2'87 1*45 1*40 0*95 2*10 1*80 2*10 1*25 1*10 0*80 0*92 0*57 0*95 0*82 0*85 0*60 19. Anhalt 1'50 1*50 1*62 1*25 *2*25 1*75 1*62 — 0*92 0*67 0*80 0*50 2*0 1*02 0*95 0*60 ■Herr Friedrich 20. Brunswick 1'85 1*0 1 *05 0*95 2*25 1*50 1*72 0*82 1*10 0*80 1*0 0*70 1*30 0*75 0*90 0*65 Grossmann. 21. Hanover (South) - 1'85 1*37 1*50 0*97 2*50 1*75 1*75 1*40 1*05 0*70 0*97 0*65 1*15 0*95 1*10 0*70 22. East Prussia 2'0 1*15 1*25 0*60 1*75 1*50 1*50 0*82 1*10 0*75 0*70 0*40 1*50 0*85 0*70 0*40 23. W est Prussia 2 '25 1*50 1*25 0*62 2*75 1*75 1*55 0*87 1*&0 0*65 0*75 0*50 1*05 0*87 0*75 0*60 24. Pomerania 2'25 1*75 1*37 0*87 2*50 1*75 1*37 1*0 1*34 0*75 0*75 0*50 1*67 0*87 1*0 0*62 25. Posen 1'90 1*25 1*0 0*65 2*25 1*62 1*25 0*75 0*95 0*77 0*90 0*42 1*25 1*05 0*65 0*40 26. Silesia 1'50 1*0 1*20 0*60 2*15 1*75 1*35 1*15 0*70 0*50 0*55 0*45 1*0 0*70 0*72 0*45 •Dr. Max Weber. 27. Brandenburg 1*75 1*25 1*37 1*0 2*50 1*62 1*37 1*0 1*50 0*82 0*95 0*50 1*30 0*70 1*12 0*60 28. Mecklenburg- 2'25 2*0 1*39 1*25* 2*62 2*0 1*40 1*25 _ 1*0 0*75 Strelitz. 29. Mecklenburg • 2'12 2*0 1*62 1*25 3*0 2*0 1*50 1*0 1*50 0*56 0*87 0*40 1*37 1*0 1*12 0*37 Schwerin. 30. Schleswig-Holstein 2'15 1*50 1*40 0*90 1*90 1*40 1*30 1*10 — — — — 1*10 — — — (East). Temporarily employed. Authority. Inquiry made Note. — The figures for every district have been obtained by taking the arithmetic mean of the detailed wages given by communes ( Gemeinden ) and groups of communes ( Kreise ) which were collectedlfor the Economic Club ( Verein fiir Sozialpolitik) , in 1892, and which cover nearly 200 pages. It will be noticed that on the whole temporary labourers are remunerated at a higher rate than those permanently employed. This is due in a great measure to the fact that the high wages paid in harvest time are included in the average figures for temporary labour. The result for East Friesland is curious, but the very high wages in addition to board, paid to the migratory labourers during the summer are accounted for by the great scarcity of harvest labour in certain districts. Oldenburg and the greater part of Schleswig-Holstein are remarkable for the high rate of wages, whilst Silesia is equally noticeable in the opposite respect, and. indeed, is said by Dr. Weber to rank lowest in material prosperity and in standard of living. This fact has already been noted in connexion with other industries (see pp. 47, 49). The wages paid to women are always far below those paid to men ; in considerably more than half the cases the average is below 1 mark a day, and it never reaches 2 marks, except in Anhalt. Men’s wages, on the other hand, only fall below an average of 1 mark in 28 out of 240 cases, or iather (') Schrit'teu des Yereins fur Sozialpolitik, vol. LYIII., pp. 0-23, 02 - 86 . ( 2 ) See Sehriften des Yereins fiir Sozialpolitik— Vol. LI II., pp. 222-239, 384-395, 430-4,33. „ LI V., pp. 366-399, 626-649, 748-765. „ LV„ pp. 806-891. ( d , .) General condition Of the labourer. t (a.) Persona employed. (6.) Wages. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 55 comparison between these figures and the average district rate for general labour. Table H. — Comparative Table of Wages paid to Forest Labourers in Germany.! 1 ) Wages paid for ordinary Handwork to Day Labourers Schedule drawn up in 1885-86 by the Minister of Agriculture, Crown Lands, and Forests. District. (Men) during the Winter Wood-cutting Season of 1888. Local Average Daily Wage for Men. Average Daily Wage for Men engaged in Forestry. 1. Kbnigsberg From M. To M. 1*0 M. 1*15 M. ro 2 . Gumbianen 0-75 1*0 1*05 0*90 3. Danzig — 1*0 1*25 1*0 4. Marienwerder — 1*0 1*10 1 *05 5. Potsdam — 1*50 1*50 1*38 6. Frankfurt am Oder — 1*10 1 * 15 1*05 7. Stettin 1-20 1*30 1*25 1*25 8. Koslin — 1*15 1*02 0*90 9. Stralsund 1-0 1 *20 1*48 1*50 10. Posen 0*60 0*90 0*S5 0*80 11. Bromberg — 1*0 0*90 1*05 12. Breslau — 1*0 1*10 0*95 13. Liegnitz — 1*20 1*10 1*15 14. Oppeln — 0*80 0*90 0*90 15. Magdeburg 1*25 1*50 1 '95 1*85 1(5. Merseburg — 1*25 1-50 1*40 17. Erfurt 1*20 1*25 1*60 1*90 18. Schleswig — 1*80 1*60 1*70 19. Hanover — 1*50 1*65 1*68 20. Hildesheim 1*40 1’70 1*50 1*75 21. Liineburg - - - 1*40 1*50 1*75 1*60 22. Stade — 1*50 1*75 1*60 23. Osnabriick — 1*50 1*55 l ’ 65 24. Munster — — — — 25. Minden 1*40 1*50 1*35 1*25 26. A rnsberg — 1*80 1*85 2*0 27. Cassel 1*20 1‘50 1*50 1 *45 28. Wiesbaden 1*50 2*0 1*70 1 '50 29. Ooblenz — 1*40 1*65 1*60 30. Diisseldorf — 1*80 1*70 1*85 31. Cologne — 1*60 1*65 1*50 32. TrSves — 1*80 1*85 1*88 33. Aix-la-Chapelle — 1*60 2*0 2*0 more than one-tenth of tho whole, whilst they exceed 2 marks in 66 cases, or rather more than one-fourth. The rates are higher in districts such as Westphalia, Hanover, Baden, Wiirtemberg, the kingdom of Saxony and the Rhine Provinces, where agriculture comes in contact with industry, and lower in the purely agricultural provinces of Mid and Eastern Germany. Great stress is laid by many of the writers of the reports to the Economic Club upon the moral deteriora- tion, which has, in their opinion, been the first result of the contact between the agricultural labourers and the workers in factories. There is some difference of opinion on the subject, but the general impression of the writers appears to be that whereas externally the subsequent change in dress, manners, and way of living is all for the better, the lowered standard of morality amonst the women and the increase of drinking habits amongst the men are distinctly changes for the worse. Attention is especially called to these features in the reports for Hesse-hTassau, Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg, and Bavaria, whilst in Silesia the very low standard of morality is to a large extent attributed by Dr. Weber to the condition of the dwellings and the very low level of intelligence. The extent of the emigration from agricultural Bavaria is especially noticed, and it is stated that in some districts land is actually going out of cultivation owing to the scarcity of labour . Throughout Western Germany the shorter hours and comparatively greater freedom attaching to mining and factory labour draw a number of the younger men and girls away from work in the fields, and the tendency throughout the empire appears to be in the direction of breaking down the barriers between the different kinds of labour and the gradual dis- appearance of any special agricultural class. This is coincident with an increase in the amount of migratory labour employed, and the conditions under which this labour is performed are not always conducive to the maintenance of a high moral standard It is, however, contended by Dr. Kaerger that of late there has been considerable improvement in the arrangements for housing these “ Sachsengiinger,” or wandering labourers, and that the result can be seen in their increased self- respect. He also regards the contact with a higher standard of living as a factor in the education of labourers from Silesia, and others equally ignorant, and considers that the interchange of experience be- tween east and west is likely to improve eastern methods of cultivation. On the other hand, he does not deny that there are grave evils attendant upon the congregating together of a large and mixed mass of labourers of both sexes, and Dr. Weber points out further that though at present these wandering la- bourers are regarded with contempt by the permanent hands, it is probable that at any rate in the eastern districts this feeling will give way, and that the assimilation of the native and foreign labourers will represent a real danger to the standard of cultured 1 ) 3. Forestry. In forestry, as in agriculture, considerable difficulty is experienced in securing a sufficient supply of suitable labour. The men employed are largely drawn from other industries and take work in the forests during the winter, or when the chances of employment in other trades are comparatively few. The migration from the country to the towns has had its effect upon forest labour, and it is far more difficult than formerly to secure the regular services of men living in the neighbourhood and betaking themselves, as a matter of course, to the forests for a livelihood, when agricul- tural operations are practically at a standstill. The men employed in forestry are divided into permanent and temporary labourers. The first class includes men who have passed through a certain period of probation, and have subsequently entered into a contract in writing. They subscribe for the most part to sick funds, and are thus in more intimate association both with their employers and with each other than the temporary labourers. Permanent labour of this kind, however, can only be employed in forests where work is carried on without intermission except in harvest time. ( 2 ) The wages of forest labourers in 1885-86 and 1888 are given in the following table, together with a (') Schriften des Vereins fur Sozialpolitik, Vols. LIII., LIV., and LVIII. Lexis, “ Handwiirterbuch der Staatswissenschafien,” Vol. V., p.473. Art. " Sachsengiingerei.’* Kaerger. ( 2 ) Jahrbuch fur Gesetzgebung, verwaltnng und Volkswirtschaft, Vol. XV., No. 3. Art. by M. Wagner. The rate in East and West Prussia, Pomerania, Posen, and Brandenburg is below that for other dis- tricts, and the amount of timber obtained from the forests in these provinces is below the average. Wages arc reckoned by the piece, and as the workmen work in gangs their wages are as a rule paid over in a lump sum to the gang. The amount varies according to the quality of the timber, its comparative hardness, age and length, the kind of labour required, the nature of the ground upon which the work has to be carried on, and the incidental difficulties thus occasioned, the amount of daylight, the distance of the workmen’s dwellings from the place where they work, and finally the efficiency of their labour. There is some complaint of want of uniformity in fixing the rates, but as a rule it is reckoned that wood cutters ought to receive from 20 to 30 per cent, more than the average daily wage of the district, and that the wages of other workmen must bear a constant proportion to those of the wood cutters, and must be adjusted to the length of the working day. ( 2 ) (>) “ Jahrbuch fur Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft,” Vol. XV., No. 3, p. 180. ( s ) Idem. H 3 The work makes great demands upon the workmen's (-■,) Other strength and endurance ; it involves much exposure to conditions, the weather and is carried on for the most part during the coldest season of the year. Though the distance which the men have to traverse is often exceedingly long, and the conditions under which they live very far from healthy, it has been found that they prefer returning to their homes in the forest villages to spending the night in the shelters which have in many cases been provided in the forests. The houses in the mountain villages are specially objectionable from a sanitary point of view ; home industries are largely practised, and it is not unusual to find that one moderate-sized room without any ventilation serves a whole family for both workshop, living room, and sleeping place. The men are not accustomed to much beyond a vegetable diet, at any rate on week-days, because in spite of the fact that provisions in Eastern 5G ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: (a.) General character of theindustry. Germany are comparatively cheap, the wages are pro- portionately low. (‘) C.— Textile, Clothing, Building, Chemical, and Miscellaneous Trades. 1. Textile Trades. According to Dr. von Schulze-Giivernitz the German cotton industry is now at the stage which the Eng- lish cotton industry had attained in the thirties. It is still spread over a wide area and thus loses many of the advantages which extreme concentration has obtained for the Lancashire textile trade. South Germany, and in particular Swabia, Baden, and Alsace, is the seat of the plain cotton goods manufacture, North Germany, and especially the Rhine Provinces and Prussian Saxony, that of the manufacture of printed goods. The inquiry into the condition of the German cotton industry, made in 1878, showed that since 1859 the number of spindles to each establish- ment had risen from 15,000 to 21,000, whilst the avetage number of looms was 287. Such figures, however, only represent the firms sending in returns to the Commis- sioners, and as these are the largest and most important, their condition cannot be taken as representative of the average throughout the country. The same reserva- tion must be made with the statistics for Alsace- Lorraine in 1890, which give au average of 25,800 spindles and 380 power-looms for each spinning and weaving mill. In Saxony it is certainly not uncommon to find establishments with only a few hundred spindles, and the statistics of occupations of 1882 showed that this very industry, which is more highly organised than almost any other in Germany, can also show the widest development in the direction of small industries. In 1885 the English cotton mills had an average staff of 191 workpeople, whilst in Germany the average was only ten. In 1882 42 per cent, of all textile workers were engaged in establishments em- ploying less than five persons, and only 38 per cent, in really large factories, i.e., factories employing more than 50 hands. The relative proportion of factory and home work in the three main branches of the textile trades was as follows : — 1 | F actory Workers. I Homo Workers. Spinning ... 103,750 28,391 Weaving - - 171,095 178,060 Embroidery and lace 23,077 68,248 Total 297,922 274,699 There were, therefore, considerably more persons weaving at home than in factories, whilst home work in embroidery and lace-making shows a vast prepon- derance. Lack of organisation in the system of procuring raw material obliges tbe German millowner to buy his cotton months in advance instead of weekly as in England ; he is thus far more at the mercy of the fluctuations of the market, without reckoning the loss of interest. Further, English mills confine them- selves as a rule to one, or at the most two, specialities, but the German manufacturer has a hundred patterns, which involve frequent re-adjustments of the machinery and the changes in the work of the operatives. Hence an increase in the costs of production and a decrease in the amount of the product. Similarly in Germany, spinning and weaving are often carried on in one and the same establishment. The absence of concentration and organisation in the work has hindered the growth of a factory population, such as that of Lancashire, de- voted almost exclusively to the particular industry and developing a hereditary aptitude for it of untold value to the manufacturer. The German millowners com- plain of the lack of a permanent supply of skilled labour, and state that the workpeople often leave the mills and take to agriculture, domestic service, or artisan’s work. The result is a loss of the skill already acquired and a complete absence of *' the factory tradi- tion.” Alsace shows greater concentration than the rest of Germany, and it is here alone that any attempt has been made to establish works for the sole produc- tion of the machinery required in the textile trades. P) Idem. These works are not, however, sufficient to supply the rest of Germany, which remains for the most part dependent upon England. The only corresponding advantage, besides the doubtiul benefit of lower wages, which Germany derives from the diffusion of its textile industry is the large supply of water power ; but even this is being greatly neutralised by the almost universal substitution of steam as a motive power. In the selling department, again, the German manufacturer loses by being his own agent and commercial traveller, and dealing often with small retail tradesmen, whose security is doubtful and who buy almost universally on credit. The general result of the difference of organisation is that both in the costs of establishment and in the costs of production Germany is far behind England. Where in England the average cost of establishing a business is 21s. per spindle, in Germany it is from 45 to 55 marks, and where the English cost per loom is 350 marks or less, the German is 666 marks for light printed cottons (B ruck ness el) and 1,500 marks for glazed, twilled or patterned cottons. The cheaper coal helps the German manufacturer as far as the relative amount of the working expenses is con- cerned ; but in the purchase of the raw material the advantage is entirely on the side of England. The same applies to the rate at which capital can be obtained in the two countries ; the German millowner must pay 5 per cent, where the English owner pays from ‘2J per cent, to 3 per cent. As regards coarse yarns, however, Germany has proved able to compete successfully with England, and even before 1878 had done much to drive the English coarse yarns out of the German markets. In fine yarns, on the other hand, England in 1891 still produced 75‘5 per cent, of those used in Germany, whilst 7'5 per cent, came from Switzerland, and only 17 per cent, were of native manufacture. (*) The difficulty of procuring an adequate supply of (*.) Persons skilled labour has already been pointed out, and the em P Io .red. factory inspectors report a distinct increase in the employment of women and children in various districts. The more important textile districts show, on the con- trary, a decrease in the matter of child labour. In the neighbourhood of Diisseldorf, the children and young people employed in 1891 diminished by 89 and 1,038 respectively as compared with 1890. In Lower Alsace child labour diminished by 50 per cent., and in Upper Alsace by 41 per cent. The number of young persons employed throughout Saxony in 1890 was 20,000, and in 1891 only 18,573. The chief increase appears to have taken place in the district of Minden-Miinster. The employment of women has increased in the Oassel, Zwickau, Leipzig, Bautzen, and Meissen districts, and decreased in the Breslau-Liegnitz, Palatinate, and Chemnitz districts. Compared with the English textile workers, the German operatives are certainly less efficient, even when all allowances have been made for the inferior machinery often used in Germany. A German manufacturer stated before the German Com- mission of 1878 that where in England the spindles ran 95 per cent, of the possible time, in Wiirtemberg, though the rate of speed was 10 per cent, less, the time lost through the breaking of threads was 5 per cent, greater. In Alsace, the actual product was said to be only 80 per cent, of the possible product. The follow- ing table shows the comparative efficiency of the labour in India and the chief textile countries of Europe : — Bombay - - 25 workmen per 1,000 spindles. Italy • 13 „ Alsace - 9-5 Miilhausen - 7*5 Germany, 1861 - 20 „ 1882 - 8-9 Englaud, 1837 - 7 1887 - 3 l 1 ) Schulze - Gavernitz “Der Grossbetrieb, eine Studie auf deni Gebiete der Baumwollindustrie,” 1892, pp. 105-112. 195-205. Dr. von Schulze Gavernitz states, with regard to the inferior efficiency of German workmen, that they have so far availed themselves little of the provisions made in Germany for technical education. Though Germany has made very great progress upon the theoretic side, the manual part of technical education is still comparatively neglected by the classes for whom it is specially intended. This view is confirmed by Dr. Karl von Mangoldt, writing in the Sozialpolitisclies Centralhlatt for April 26th and May 15th, 1893. He states that Wurtemherg, Baden, and Saxony have paid more attention to the question than Prussia, hut that Prussia between 1888 and 1S92 spent over 900.000 marks upon technical education, exclusive of its higher branches and of the mining schools. The artisans’ schools in Berlin were attended by 2,000 persons in the winter of 1890-91, those of Magdeburg by 1,055, and t hose of Hanover by 1272. The Dresden livening School is also said to be succeeding, and there appears to be a general tendency amongst tbe v orking classes to make greater use than they have hitherto done of the provisions lafforded, both by the State and by private schools, for technical instruction. See v. Schulze Gavernitz, “ Der Gross-betrieb.” 1892, p. 185. Sozialpolitisclies Centralhlatt, Vol. II., 1892-93, pp. SS9, 399, REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 57 The number varies greatly in the different districts of Germany, for whereas in 1878 it, was only 6 in Baden and Swabia, in Silesia it was 14 75. According' to figures collected by Dr. von. Schulze- Gavernitz, the proportion in 1891 and 1892 for various countries was as follows : — Switzerland - 6 "2 workmen per 1,000 spindles. Mlilhausen - 5'8 Baden and Wiir- temberg - - 6'2 Bavaria - 6'8 Saxony - 7"2 Vosges district - 8'9 Even in the south-west, therefore, where the industry has been longest established and the degree of skill is presumably greatest, the efficiency is only about half of what it is in Lancashire. The saving of labour effected in England in comparison with Ger- many appears from the following figures : — Table I. 1. Details. Oldham. Mhlhausen. Vosges. Number of spindles in the 70,000 32,000 56,000 mill. Hands employed in mixing 2 men 2' 3 men Hands employed in loosen- 4 men and 7 ' 6 men and 1.120 work- ing threads. women. women. [ people. Hands employed in carding 7 men 15'5 men > Hands employed in draw- 7 women 12'6 women 59 workpeople ing. Hands employed in slub- 43 women and 44*3 women 202 bingand roving (Vorspi- children. and girls. workpeople. nnen). Hands employed in spin- 95 men and 87 men and — ning (Feinspinnen). boys. boys. Hands employed as over- 3 4 — seers. Hands employed as packers 6 12 117 Total 167 185'3 498 Percentage per 1,000 spindles 2'4 5*8 8'9 The number of overseers required in Germany is far greater than in England ; the German proportion, even under the most favourable circumstances, is one to 15,000 spindles, whilst in England one man takes charge of from 60,000 to 80,000. In weaving the difference between the two countries is almost as striking as in spinning. An English weaver working lapidly loses on an average only 16 ‘6 per cent, of the possible time through he breaking of threads and other accidents ; if he works at a less rate he loses about 8 per cent. An Alsatian weaver, on the other hand, will lose from 20 to 30 per cent., though he works 30 per cent, slower than the English- man. Thus, in spite of the 15 per cent, shorter hours in England, the weekly production per weaver is greater. Again, a good English weaver will manage four looms at once, or, in a few cases, sis, whereas in Germany one man seldom takes more than two, or in exceptional cases three. In Silesia it has been found most economical to have a weaver to each loom.^) According to figures collected by Herr Schoenhof in 1888, the relation between the wages and hours for weavers in Germany, England, and America, and between the relative cost of production is as follows : — Country. Weekly Product per Weaver. Cost per Yard. Daily Hours of Work. Weekly Wages. Switzerland and Germany 406 0'303 12 11-8 England 706 0-275 9 16-3 America 1,200 0-2 10 20-3 The wages for Germany have shown a great increase since 1850, in some cases as much as 60 per cent., and the cost of production has not been sensibly increased. This is attributed to the substitution of two looms per weaver for one, the increased speed of the new looms, the introduction of payment by the piece, and of labour- saving machinery. Spinners’ wages in Germany are only about half what they are in England, whilst the daily hours are 11 or 11^ as against 8 in the English textile trades. A comparison between the industries in the two countries is given in the following table for different kinds of yarn ( 2 ) : — Table I. 2. — The Cotton Spinning Industry in Germany and in England. No. of Yam. District. No. of Spindles per Pair of Self- Acting Mules. No. of Workpeople. Length of Stretch. Seconds re- quired for one Stretch. Weekly Work- ing Time. Weekly Product per Pair of Self- Acting Mules. Wages of Spinners in Pfennige. Weekly Wages of Spinners in Marks. A verage Weekly Wages of Assistants in Marks. Number of Spindles to each Overseer. Weekly- Wages of Overseers in Marks. Spin- ners. Assist- ants. • Metres. Hours. Kilo. Per kilo. No. 12 Vosges 1,272 2 3 1-6 13 66 1,900 3.9 21 10.80 10,000-20,000 35-40 Mlilhausen 1,280 1 3 1-55 12-5 66 2,050 3.15 24 13.50 <• No. 28 Vosges 1,272 2 2 1-6 15 06 900 8.89 21 10.80 10,000-20,000 35-40 Mlilhausen 1,280 1 3 1*55 14 66 740 7.02 24 13.50 Lbs. In. (Eng.) (Eng.) Per lb. No. 20 Bavaria 1,568 1 3 64 15 65 2,420 1.9 18 10.70 15,000 27 Wiirtomberg - 1,200 1 4 65 15 65 1,900 2.6 21 10.50 Saxony - 2,000 1 4 68 14 64 3,600 1.7 22 11 10,000 35 Oldham 2,208 1 2 66 13 55 3,432-5 1.8 45 15.25 - - No. 30 South Germany 1,472 1 3 63-8 16 65 1,340 3.37 21 7-70 15,000 20-30 Bolton 2,064 1 2 64 14-6 55 2,200 3.25 46 12.75 - - No. 36 South Germany 1,472 1 3 63-8 19 65 1,095-5 4 21 7.70 15,000 20-30 Switzerland 1,200 1 2 65 17 65 850 3.0 18 7.50 11,400 21-60 ( 1,704 1 3 65 - 2 15 65 1,550 3.35 21 8-13 5,000 20-25 Saxony - - < 2,000 1 3 68 14 64 1,800 3.2 22 9-13 10,000 3 „ f 2,376 1 2 67 13 55 2,182 3.25 38 17.75 ' ’ _ Oldham - -2 l 2,688 1 3 67 13 55 2,723-6 2.88 40.15 12.9 — — cl. s. d. s. d. No. 40 Oldham - 1,560 1 2 65 13 55 1,222 0.6 33 5 14 2* — — Oldham - 2,400 1 2 64 13 55 1,650 0.5 36 0 16 4 - — Pf. M. M. No. 60 Alsaco 1,248 1 2 60 22 69 530 9.75 21 12.50 12,000-15,0 0 28-50 Bolton 1,632 1 2 60 17-7 55 633-3 9.75 40 11 - - No. 120 Alsace 1,764 1 3 65 28 69 258 22.75 21.60 10.33 8, 00 2S-5 Bolton 2,280 1 3 58 21 55 333-3 22.28 43 11 — — (') Schulze-Gavemitz, “Der Grossbetrieb,” 1892, pp. 112-153. Amtliche Mitteilungen aus den Jahres-Berichten der Fabrik-Aufsichts Beamten,” 1891, pp. 42-51, 81-88. (“) Schulze-G Avernitz “ Der Grossbetrieb,” 1892, pp. 138, 139, 151. (c.) Wages and hours. H 4 58 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: 2. Printing and Bookbinding. (a.) Wages The efforts of German printers to obtain a uniform and hours. tariff, the result of a joint agreement between the representatives of the employers and of the employed, have already been described in connection with the strike of 1891-92 (see p. 114). The failure of that strike to ohtain any advance upon the scale of 1890 leaves wages at appoint which, according to Dr. Zalin, is inadequate to meet the average expenses of a moderate family. The scale of 1890 gave a minimum wage of 20.50 marks a week, with local variations of from 5 per cent, to 25 per cent. more. The highest wages paid would not, therefore, amount to more than 25.62 marks, whereas, according to a compositor’s budget ill 1886. the necessary expenses of a man with a wife and two children of school age amounted to 26.21 marks. In 1890 these expenses, even in cheap districts, were estimated by the manager of a printing office at 32 marks, and in other districts at 45 marks. Taking into account that from 9 to 10 per cent, of the German compositors are regularly out of work, and that their annual wages must therefore suffer a 10 per cent, reduction, it is clear that the conditions of the industry are far from satisfactory. Further, the number of unemployed is continually increasing, owing to the rapid substitution of steam presses for hand presses, which enable boys and girls to perform much of the work formerly restricted to men. In February 1892, after the strike, more than one-fifth of the Berlin printers were out of work, and in the three months, July, August and September of that same year the amount of support granted from the benefit funds was equal to an average allowance for 7 6 days to every member. More than one-third of the members actually came upon the funds. The proportion in the corre- sponding period of 1891 had been 4'2 days per member, and the number of the members on the fund 23 per cent., or rather over one-fifth. In November and December, when the busy season usually commences, the allowances granted in 1892 still amounLed to an average of 2 4 days per member, whilst in 1890 the proportion had been only IT day, or less than half as great. The actual weekly wages paid in Berlin in September 1891 are given as follows : — Highest. Lowest. Average. M. M. M. Overseers - SO 30 48.40 Foremen GO 27 36.36 Journeymen : — State printing works - 37.60 21.90 29.75 Other (50 15 34.31 Assistants : State printing works 36.30 21 28.95 Other 18 10 14 Women : State printing works 20.10 9.30 14.70 Other 38.00 6 12.32 Apprentices : Piece-work 15 10 12 Other 10.50 3 5.52 Boys - 16 8 9.85 Girls - 8 7 — For special classes of typographic and lithographic work, the Berlin statistics give the following figures : — Highest. Lowest. Average. M. M. M. Printers : Pressmen ( Mnschinen- 57 18 32.33 meister ) . Compositors : ( Schrift setzer ) 54.50 25 32.13 On piece-work - 00 19 35.53 Lithographers 54 15 26 Typefounders - 50 18 26.3(5 The German Bookbinders’ Benefit Society (Unterstiit- zungsverband deutscher Buchbinder (lias published some statistics collected in the winter of 1891-92, from 1,574 workshops, employing 14,745 workpeople, or an average of 9'3 to each workshop. Of these 434 per cent, wore journeymen binders, 6'2 per cent, assistants, 41 per cent, women, and 9'4 per cent, apprentices. About 74 per cent, of the journeymen were on day wages, and earned amounts varying from 6 marks to 50 marks a week ; but the figures below 10 marks or over 20 marks must be regarded as exceptional, the average earnings being between 15 marks and 20 marks. Journeymen on piece-work varied between the same extremes, but earned, as a rule, from 15 marks to 25 marks. Women’s wages on piece-work varied between 3 marks and 22 marks a week ; when paid by time they varied from 2 marks to 24 marks. In seven districts 70 hours’ work a week only brought the women 4 marks, in nine districts 3 marks, and in two (Hamburg and Pforzheim) only 2 marks ; a few women on piece-work earned 15 marks, but very many were in an even worse position than those earning day wages. 11 per cent, of the women were married, and at least 31 per cent, of the journeymen, and 32 per cent, of the assistants. About 38'4 per cent, of the men belonged to a labour organisation, but only 5'7 per cent, of the women. The Leipzig local union gave the wages for May 1891, in 55 bookbinders’ establishments, employing 1,200 hands, and the figures correspond, in the main, with those given by the Central Society. The average weekly wages were 19.82 marks, or 20.75 marks on piece-work. Boys received as a rule 6.75 marks a week, assistants 16.50 marks, and women 8.75 marks, or 8.40 marks on piece-work. The wages of women were, therefore, higher than in many other districts. In Berlin the following figures are given for men employed in book- binding : — Average iveekly Wages, reckoned by Time. Average Weekly Wages, piece- work. Bookbinders - - 22-07 25*65 In album factories - - 26-45 28 Pressers - 27 - Gilders - - 23 - Gold-leaf cutters - - 24-17 31-61 Leather workers - - 27 - The hours of work for printers are, as a rule, ten ; the effort made in 1891-92 to secure a nine-hours day proved unsuccessful. During the strike instances of overtime, required from workmen remaining at work, and from apprentices, are mentioned by the factory inspectors an of not unfrequent occurrence. In one instance, boys were kept at work from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m., and numerous employers appear to have regarded this overtime for young persons and apprentices as justified by the press of work arising out of the strike. Night-work for women is also mentioned in some districts. The hours in the bookbinding trade vary, as a rule, from 10 to 12 ; m Leipzig they are only 92-.(’) It is frequently contended that the printing industry (jq other is peculiarly unhealthy, owing to the heat, the dust conditions, engendered, and the prolonged standing, especially at night. According to statistics collected by Schiiler and Burckhardt from the various sick funds, the fre- quency of disease is calculated in nine industries as follows : — — No. of Cases per 1,000 employes. Cotton spinning _ 235-4 Cotton weaving - - 285-7 Silk weaving - 205-1 Embroidery - 307-6 Cotton printing - 257-7 Dyeing and lead works 282-1 Paper making - - 343-7 Printing and bookbinding - 180-3 Mechanical workshops - 419-8 Normal proportion 292-7 According to this calculation the risk in printing falls far below that in many other industries; but the (>) “Die Lohnverhaltnisse in Berlin, 1891,” pp. 68-81. Imperial OHice of Statistics, 1892. Schriften des Yeroins fur Sozialpolitik, Vol. XI.V.. 1890, pp. 451, 453. Sozialpolit isclies Centralblatt, 1891-92, Vol, I., p. S., Vol. 11., 1892-93, pp. 7, 321. “Amtliche Mitteilungcn nus dm J allies Berichten der Fabrik Aufsiehts-Beamten,” 1891, pp. 57, 58, tio, 82, 91, 92. REPOBT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 59 (a.) Brick- layers’ and builders’ labourers. (').) Brick- makers. different branches of the trade taken separately show a more serious record. Here the proportion is — Typefounders and type-setters - - 304'7 Printers - ' - - - 2500 Book-binders - - - 98‘9 Various branches - - - 62' 6 Taking 292'7 as the normal rate, it will be found that amongst typefounders and type-setters, it is exceeded by 12 per cent., and that this occupation ranks fourth in degree of risk. As regards diseases of the respira- tory organs alone it ranks third, and out of the total number of deaths amongst printers, 60'96 per cent, are assigned to this cause. The largest proportion die between the ages of 20 and 30. (’) 3. Building Industries . Statistics with regard to bricklayers ( Maurer ) in Germany, in 1890, have been published by the Brick- layers’ Congress, and though the number of districts sending in returns was far from exhaustive, the Con- gress was successful in obtaining replies from 7,221 builders in 202 localities. The average income was said to be 858'46 marks, which is higher than the figures given for the building industries as a whole in the Accident Insurance statistics. There the annual wages in the building industry are given in the Hamburg district as 749 marks, those of the North- Eastern district as 645 marks, of the South-Western as 643 marks, of the Wiirtemberg as 568 marks, of the Hesse-Nassau as 545 marks, of the Bavarian as 527 marks, of the Thiiringian as 455 marks, of the Silesian as 449 marks, of the Hanoverian as 313 marks, and of the Magdeburg as 263 marks. A yearly income of 405 marks is given to brick-making. In 150 districts the yearly earnings of bricklayers were below the average of 853'46 marks, and in 51 they were above it, sometimes rising to as much as 1,400 marks. The daily wages in the 48 districts, in which wages were reckoned by the day, varied from 2 marks to 5'50 marks ; where payment was by the hour the rate varied from 15 pf. to 60 pf. The daily working hours were from 9 to 13, with half-an-hour’s interval for breakfast, and from one to two hours for dinner. In most districts wages were paid weekly, but in a few cases payment was once a fortnight, in two instances only once a month. In Lauenburg, on tne Elbe, the hourly rate of payment in 1891 was 35 pf., giving an average of 2'62 marks a day, and 863'25 a year. In Berlin bricklayers’ wages in six establishments are given as from 30 to 36 marks a week, or on an average 33'41 marks. In one establishment they are from 90 to 100 marks a month. The wages in subsidiary in- dustries connected with building are given as from 22'50 marks to 39 marks, with an average of 30 marks. Builders' labourers in Harburg state that their work, which can only be carried on for nine months in each year and is paid at the rate of 40 pf. an hour, brings in an average yearly income of 928 marks. Out of this they reckon that 180 marks go fur house rent, 52 marks for firing, 5 '20 marks for lights, 4 80 marks for invalid insurance, 23'40 marks for sick insurance, 4 marks for the trade journal, 4'20 marks for taxes, 3'60 marks for subscriptions to the trade union, and 60 marks for clothing and boots and shies. This leaves 590'80 marks a year to feed an average family of five persons, or, excluding fractions, 11'36 marks a week. On this calculation the food for each person must not cost more than 32 pf. a day, or 2'27 marks a week. A comparison of this sum with the labourers’ estimate of the cost of absolute necessaries results in an annual deficit of 302'60 marks, which can only be met by further deprivations, or by the labour of the wife and children. ( 2 ) Until the amendment to the Industrial Code was passed in 1891, the conditions of labour in brickyards were of the most unsatisfactory character. Great use was made of the labour of women and children, and the previous provisions of the Code for their protection were inapplicable to yards in which no steam power was employed. Consequently day shifts often worked from sunrise to sunset, and seldom for less than 13 or 14 hours, with only a break of from 10 to 15 minutes morning and afternoon, and in the most favourable cases an hour for dinner. Women were given work far beyond their strength, and men were frequently allowed to sleep on boards in close proximity to the (’) Jahrbuch fur Gesetzgebnmr, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschnft, voi. XV., No. 2, pp. 213-239, Article by Albrecht. Amtliche Mitteilun- gen aus den Jahres-Berichten der ' Fabrik-Aufsiehts Beamten, 1891, pp. 196, 214. ( 2 ) Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. I., 1891 2, pp. 156, 227, 311. “ liic Lohnverhattnisse in Berlin im September 1891,” p. 80, Imperial Office of Statistics, 1892. i 78420. kilns. The factory inspectors also report many breaches of the law against the truck system, and in- stances of the employment of children under 12 years of age, even in heavy work such as carrying stones or in dangerous work in connection with the kilns. Regula- tions for restricting the labour of women and children in this industry have, however, recently been published by the Federal Council. (') The different classes of carpenters and joiners, including carpenters proper (Zimmerer), joiners and cabinet-makers ( Schreiner and Tischler ) , who appear from the Berlin statistics to be sometimes included in the building trades, and turners ( Drechsler ) have all recently published statistics with regard to their industries. The wages of carpenters (Zimmerer) in different districts are classified as follows : — Number of Districts sending in Be turns. Year in which the Returns were made. Daily Wages. 1885. 1887. 1888. 1889. 1890. 1891. Under 2 marks 10 5 10 7 — — 2-3 marks 88 34 70 07 57 45 3-4 „ 33 28 43 44 SI 93 4-5 2 8 9 19 25 25 5 marks and over 1 3 3 4 15 15 Total 134 78 141 141 178 178 Up to 1889, therefore, the most usual wage was from 2 to 3 marks a week, but in 1890 and 1891 the largest number of districts appear to pay between 3 and 4 marks. The daily working hours are distributed as follows : — Number of Districts sending in Returns. Length of the Working Day. Year in which th» Returns were made. 1885. 18S8. 1889. 1891. Under 10 hours 41 2 1 — „ 10 11 hours 7 39 69 113 „ 11-12 „ . - . 60 47 71 64 12 hours and over 20 - 6 3 Tofal 131 88 147 180 Restriction of hours has, therefore, coincided with advance of wages, since up to 1889 the usual working time was from 11 to 12 hours, whilst in 1891 most districts worked an hour less. It is also noticeable that the districts paying the highest wages coincide with those working the shortest hours. According to the workmen’s paper “ Der Zimmerer” (No. 40, 1892) — M. 19,361 carpenters working 60 hours earn 23' 10 a week. 10,135 ,, 66 18'11 ,, 529 ,• 72 1 6'56 ,, 5 ,, 78 14-82 ,, The average rise in the daily wages between 1885 and 1891, taking all districts together, is 86 pf. a day, or from 2’88 marks to 3'74 marks a week. In the districts which, even in 1885, were paying the highest wages, the rise is still greater, viz., from 314 marks to 4'39 marks. This rise is attributed to the impetus given to the industry by speculative building rather than to any special degree of organisation. In the larger towns, where the higher wages are paid, there is great fluctua- tion of employment, whereas in the smaller places a man will often work all his life for the same employer a,nd receive a house and garden in addition to wages. A carpenter stated that he had worked in Quedlinburg (Prussian Saxony) for 2 '50 marks, then in Magdeburg l'or 4 marks, and finally in Hamburg for 6 marks without being able to make any appreciable difference in his manner of living. In Berlin carpenters’ wages are given as from 25 marks to 36 marks a week, with an average of 33 marks, whilst those of carpenters’ as- sistants are from 22'50 marks to 36 marks, with an average of 27'95 marks. The Carpenters’ Union gives the averages as 27 marks and 24 marks respectively, (') Sozialoolitisches Centralblatt, 1S91-2, vol. I., pp. 192, 298. Gazette, J une 1893. I Labour ( c .) Car pent era and joiners. 60 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: According to the statistics collected in 1891 from 44,642 joiners (Schreiner) and cabinet-makers (Tischler) 56'7 per cent, of the whole number are on piece-work, as against 53'9 per cent, in 1889, and 43‘3 per cent, are paid by the day as against 46' 1 per cent, in the earlier year. The average hourly wages of joiners on piece- work was 33 - 86 pf. in 1889, and 30 82 pf. in 1891 ; the rates for day-work were 29'62 pf. in 1889 and 29'96 pf. in 1891. In 1889 the average yearly income was 944’40 marks, and in 1891 it was 937"50 marks. The decrease is partly accounted for by the inclusion of a large number of small towns in the returns for 1891. The close connexion between shorter hours and higher wages appears from the following table : — Table J. No. of Workmen. No. of Hours per Week. Average length of Working Week. Wages per Hour on Wages per Week on Day-work. Piece-work. Average. Day-work. Piece-work. Average. Hours. Hours. Pf. Pf. Pf. M. M. M. 7,805 Up to57 56-43 39’1 373 38'1 22-04 21-06 21-48 19,979 57-60 69-82 3U5 33 '1 32-2 18-82 19'83 19-29 6,4115 60-63 62-48 27-4 29-1 28*2 17-10 18-17 17-65 7,871 63-66 65-29 2P2 25'1 24-8 15-70 16-38 16-16 1,293 66-72 68-59 21-5 21‘0 2U7 14-73 la’Oo 14-91 VVorkmen receiving board and lodging in addition to wages, and paid on the same scale, earn, including the value of board and lodging : — P. M. For 57 hours work, 30'7 an hour and 17’50 a week. „ 57-60 99 26-9 5 5 16-11 „ 60-63 9 9 27-7 99 17-30 „ 63-66 5 9 21-5 9 9 14-13 „ 66-72 5 5 19-5 5 9 13-76 „ 78 9 J 15-7 9 » 12-25 The Berlin official statistics give a higher rate of wages than any included in the statistics of wages of the Cabinet-makers’ Union. The average weekly wages paid are as follows : — On Piece-work. On Day Wages. Joiners merely M. 26-86 M. 23-22 Cabinet-makers 36-40 16-68 (Government service.) 31-26 Assistants 29-47 19-68 (Government service.) 21-99 General average “ ” 30-60 — The proportion of men out of employment in the trade may be estimated from the statistics of the Cabinet-makers’ Union, which state that during 1891 oue out of every five members was given travelling money in order to seek employment, and that this proportion showed an increase of 257 per cent, since 1889. The allowances given to men out of work increased during the same period from 3,778 marks to 21,902 marks, an advance of 479 per cent. Instances of very long hours for apprentices are given in some districts ; in Magdeburg they were said to be 75 a week, in Kirchheim, Schkeuditz (Prussian Saxony), and Stettin, 72, and in Wittenberg, 84. A strike in Upper Silesia succeeded in reducing the weekly hours worked at Beuthen by 15, and the overtime by 75 per cent. A ccording to the statistics published by the Central Association of Turners the usual working hours are stated to be from 6 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m., with pauses, amounting in all to 1£ hours. The hours of actual work averaged 10' 15 or 11 '20 for workmen boarding with the employers. Bather more than one-fourth of the men worked from 11 to 13 hours a day. The average weekly wages were 16 '82 marks for Germany as a whole, as against 18 ' 39 marks in 1890. Their local variations are exhibited in the following table ; — 1890. 1892. Berlin M. 21-20 M. 21-10 Brunswick - - - 16-71 16-50 Breslau - - - 13-16 13-15 Cassel - - - - 18-34 14-44 Chemnitz - - - 19-30 17-25 Cologne - - - 19-40 19-28 Dortmund - - - 17-25 17-0 Dresden - - - 17-67 18-75 Esslingen - - - 17-0 15-98 Halle - - - - 17-61 19-14 Hamburg - - - 22-02 22-37 Hanover - - - 18-80 17-34 Harburg - - - 21 -70 22-37 Leipzig - - - - 20-66 19-32 Liegnitz - - - 14-40 13-67 Offenbach - - - 17-60 16-19 Stuttgart - - - 18-08 18-66 Wiesbaden - “ ” 18-70 16-60 The relations between hours and wages is thus indicated : — 467 workmen working 11 to 1 U hours a day earn 13 ' 98 marks a week. 914 workmen working 10 to 10? hours a day earn 16 ' 79 marks a week. 488 workmen working 9 to 9f hours a day earn 20 ' 95 marks a week. The 139 journeymen boarding with their employers earned between 3 marks and 10 marks a week in money, and averaged 5 ' 95 marks. As regards methods of payment 1,212 workmen paid by the piece averaged 16 ' 38 marks a week, whilst 476 working by the day averaged 18 ‘ 07 marks ; 147 home workers earned 12 ' 51 marks a week. It was necessary for the wife to supplement the husband’s wages by taking work in 49 per cent, of the total number of cases investigated. Forty-two per cent, of the men earned less than the average wages. The relation of expenditure to income appears from the following table of sums expended : — Income. Food. House Rent. Other Necessaries. Average Total Expendi- ture. Deficit. Range of Income. Average Amount. Average Expenditure. Per cent, of Total Expenditure. Average Expenditure. Per cent, of Total Expendi- ture. Average Expendi- ture. Per cent, of Total Expendi- ture. Average. Per cent, of Income. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. 600 to 800 717 580 73'6 80-4 10-2 127-7 16-2 788-1 71-1 10 801 to 900 840-8 579-5 06*5 104-4 11-9 186-7 2U6 870-6 29-8 3-5 901 and over 1,138-3 739-3 63-5 166- 7 14-5 252-8 22-0 1,149-8 11-5 1 Statistics collected by the turners ( Drechsler ), of Dresden give the wages paid as from 8'50 marks to 28'88 marks a week. These include an average in — The furniture branch of ,, walking stick branch of ,, carving branch of Different branches M. 17'62 15-15 22'20 19-31 REFORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 61 (d.) House painters. In Berlin the avorago weekly wages paid are given as follows : — (*) On Piece-work. On Day Wages. M. M. Turners - 23-03 21-98 Carvers - 21-0 21-0 Polishers - - 22-0 21-0 Walking-stick makers 22-0 18-0 Brush and pencil makers 23-83 19-26 Furniture polishers 23-17 23-24 The statistics collected in 1887 by a local union of house painters and workmen in kindred trades, such as ‘gilders and varnishers, give the highest yearly income of an individual as 1,700 marks in Mannheim and the lowest as 350 marks in Harburg, The highest average incomes are 900 marks in Mannheim, 86 1 marks in Altona, and 819 marks in Hanover. In 1887 Sunday labour was still usual in the trade. The wages returned for Berlin for the corresponding in- dustries in September 1891 give the following weekly averages ( 2 ) On Piece-work. On Day Wages. M. M. Painters - — 24 Painters’ assistants 24 — White washers 26-50 — Varnishers - - 27-20 23-82 16-68 (Government work.) Gilders ... — 22-50 4. Makers of Mechanical Instruments ( Feinmechanik ). According to statistics prepared by the Berlin Office of Statistics from material collected from the Accident Insurance Associations the proportion of workmen in various wage classes is given for every 1,000 workmen in the following table : — Table K 1. Daily Wages. Proportion per 1,000 Men, Proportion per 1,000 Women. Up to 0-75 marks d 2-0] 10 From 0-75-1-0 - >68 ' 5 8-0 j „ 1-0 -1-25 „ 1-25-1-50 » >> 30- 1 178- -208 „ 1-50-1-75 - 19-6'j 317- ' -463 „ 1-75-2-0 - 19-0 146 „ 2-0-2-25 J) - 18-8 -248-6 103- ) f - 195 „ 2 ■ 25-2 • 50 - 33 5 92- „ 2-50-2-75 >y - 33-9 53- \ 75 „ 2-75-3-0 - 55-3 22- J „ 3-0 -3-25 a - 64-G’l 27- ~] „ 3 • 25-3 • 50 - 90-0 .337-5 12- „ 3-50-3-75 - 94-1 4- „ 3-75-4-0 - 88-8. 4- „ 4-0 -4-25 - 76-3) „ 4-25-4-50 ) > - 64-6 „ 4-50-4-75 - 54-5 [• 49 „ 4-75-50 - 50-0 ,, 5 ' 0 -5 '25 - 42-3 (-413-9 2- „ 5-25-5-50 - 32-8 „ 5 ■ 50-5 ■ 75 - 24 2 „ 5-75-6-0 - 19-0 Over 6-0 “ 50-2 According to this table, whilst only about 25 per cent, of the men in the mechanical industry are in (’) SozialpolitischesCentralblatt, vol. II., 1892-93, pp. 213, 272, 359, 511. “ Die Lohnverhitltnisse in Berlin im September, 1891,” pp. G8-81, Imperial Office of Statistics, 1892. ( 2 ) “Die Neue Zeit,” 1889, No. 5, “Dio Lohnverlialtnisse in Berlin im September 1891, pp. (19-81, Imperial Office of Statistics, 1892. receipt of less than 3 marks a day, the proportion amongst the women amounts to 95 per cent., and whilst amongst the men less than 7 per cent, earn below 1'50 marks a day, the daily wages of nearly 22 per cent, of the women fall below that limit. From 3 to 4 marks is earned by 34 per cent, of the men, but only by about 4£ per cent, of the women. Two-fifths of the men, or 41 per cent., earn over 4 marks, 17 per cent, over 5 marks and 5 per cent, over 6 marks ; but the percentage of women earning over 4 marks does not exceed 0"2 per cent. The exceptionally high wages paid in this industry as compared with others find their natural explanation in the great preponderance of highly skilled labour. Low as the women’s wages are when compared with those of the men, they are considerably above the general level of women’s wages in other trades ( see p. 41). On the other hand, it is stated that only 19 per cent, of the men and 2’5 per cent, of the women are engaged for 300 days in every year, whilst the percentage of men engaged for 276 days is 33, and of women 13. Seven per cent, of the male staff employed were boys between 14 and 16, and 6 per cent, of the female staff’ were girls of the same age. The boys do not earn more than 2'50 marks a day, and about half of them earn less than 1 mark. The per- centage of men in the various classes earning under a certain sum is given in the following table : — Table K 2. Daily Earnings. Age Classes. Below 3 M. Below 4 M. Below 5 M. Below 6 M. Over 6M. 17-20 55 88 98 100 0 21-25 17 62 88 98 2 26-30 11 47 79 94 6 31-35 7 39 72 91 9 36-40 6 34 68 88 12 41-45 8 35 68 88 12 46-50 7 37 68 88 12 51-60 15 40 71 88 12 Over 60 - - - 25 59 82 92 8 Total percentage in all Age 7 Classes - - ) 25 59 84 95 5 Note . — In the above table the percentages in the four first columns must each be taken to include those in the preceding columns. Amongst women it is easier to calculate the pro- portion in each class earning over 2 marks a day. The result gives the following percentages : — Age. Percentage. 17-20 - 27 21-25 - 41 26-30 - 38 31-40 - 44 Over 40 - 36 An examination of these tables shows that amongsi men wages tend to rise until the 50th year is past ; after that period the percentage in the lower wage classes increases. With women the decline comes apparently earlier, but the number of women included in the table is too small to admit of very exact conclusions. (*) 5. Chemical Workers. Similar statistics have been compiled by the Berlin Office of Statistics for the Berlin chemical industries. The wage tables for the men and women employed give the following proportions per 1,000 in each class : — (■) Sozialpolitisehes Centralblatt, vol. II., 1892-3, p. 392. I 2 62 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Table L. Daily Wages. Proportion per 1,000 Men. Proportion per 1,000 Women. Up to 0-75 marks - h 4'1 5r } From 0 ‘75-1 ■ 1) marks „ 1-0 -1-25 „ ■ ^9-4“, 52- J 155- ► 416 „ 1-25-1 -50 „ - . 261- „ 1-50-1-75 „ - 20-7 274- 1 ► 398 „ U75-2-0 „ - 24-6 > 433 • 4 124- J „ 20-2-25 „ - 33-2 62- 93 ., 2-25-2-50 „ - 54 2 31- J „ 2-50-2-75 „ - 97-4 25-1 ► 29 „ 2-75-3 0 „ - 1 53 • 9 J 4’ . ., 3 0 -3 -25 „ - 147 • 6^ •0 „ 3-25-3-50 „ - 125-0 >417-1 2- „ 3-50-3-75 „ - 82-7 1- „ 3-75-4-0 „ - 61 •8 J 1- ,. 4-0 -4-25 „ - 40-2" „ 4-25-4-50 „ - 23-5 „ 4-50-4-75 „ - 17-2 r- 8 ., 4-75-5-0 „ - 18-2 ,, 5-0 -5-25 ,, - 9-4 149-5 3 „ 5-25-5-50 „ - 8-0 ,, 5-50-5-75 „ - 5-1 „ 5-75-6-0 „ - 7-0 Over C-0 marks ■ 20-9 Amongst the men employed 43 per cent, earn less than 3 marks a day, whilst the proportion amongst the women is 99'2 per cent. Only about 5 per cent, of the men earn under U50 marks, as against over 47 per cent, or nearly half the women. Nearly 42 per cent, of the men earn between 3 and 4 marks and 14 per cent, over 4 marks. Of the women only 0'3 per cent, earn 4 marks and only 05 per cent, over 3 marks. Work is more regular than amongst the makers of mechanical instru- ments, which is a partial compensation for the lower wages ; a large proportion of the labour employed is unskilled. 38 per cent, of the men and 20 per cent, of the women worked 300 days in the year, whilst 44 per cent, and 30 per cent, respectively worked 276 days. Here again, as in the more skilled industry, the uncer- tainty of women's work is apparently much greater than that of men. 419 men and 17 women are re- ported to have worked over 350 days in the year, whilst 179 men and 3 women worked between 326 and 350 days. (‘) 6. Millers. The statistics published with the help of the German Millers' Union in 1891 show that this industry is still very low down in the scale of organisation. The average annual earnings in 1889 were 609 marks, in 1890 only 596 marks. J.n some districts the yearly income was as low as 397 marks in 1889, and 361 marks in 1890, whilst in one of the seventeen sections distin- guished under the Accident Insurance Law for this industry, it rose to 754 marks in 1889 and 784 marks in 1890. Five of the sections showed a rise of from 2 to 30 marks during this period, but on the other hand wages fell in twelve sections by amounts varying from 5 to 49 marks. Some millers pay their assistants no fixed wages at all, but allow them to be mainly depen- dent upon the gratuities of customers. Throughout the industry it is usual to give board and lodging in lieu of wages, or with a very small pecuniary addition, and the board and lodging provided are frequently of the most wretched description. The length of the working day is often excessive. Only 12 per cent, of the mills sending in returns limited the hours of work to twelve in addition to overtime, 14 per cent, worked 14 hours. 11£ per cent, from 15 to 16, 45 per cent, from 17 to 18, 8 per cent, from 19 to 20, and in 7 per cent, it was not unusual for 36 hours to be worked at a stretch. Only about one mill in nine ceased work on Sundays, two-thirds worked as long on Sundays as on weekdays, and in the remainder work was carried on for periods varying from 6 to 12 hours. The Factory Inspector for East and West Prussia reports that, when questioning members of the trade as to the hours of work, he was told that “ it would be a poor miller who needed more than four hours’ sleep.’’ Similar reports were received from the inspector fur Posen. The Millers’ Union demand a 12 hours’ working day, Sun- day rest, the abolition of payment in kind, or where that is not attainable a reform in the quality of the board and lodging provided, the inspection of mills, prohibition of night work for apprentices, and a (') “ Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt,” vol. II., 1892-3, pp. 202, 392. restriction in the number of apprentices to a certain proportion of the adult workmen employed. Their organisation is as yet too weak to enforce its demands, and in the Kingdom of Saxony it has been denied the right of legal personality. (') 7. Balcei .► and Confectioners. Very complete statistics with regard to the working hours of bakers and confectioners were collected in 1892 by the Imperial Office of Statistics in consequence of the attention aroused by the publication in 1890 of the results of a private inquiry conducted by Herr Bebel. This inquiry had elicited the following sta- tistics for regular daily work : — Table M 1. Week Bays. No. of Establishments. No. of Hours. Percentage of Total Number investigated. 7 9 1 20 10 38 11 > 23-2 89 12 „ 89 13 141 14 CO 91 15 76 16 1 62 17 30 18 28-7 16 19 4 20 j Sundays. No. of Establishments. No. of Hours. Percentage of Tctal Number investigated. 18 None 2-8 4 4 1 4 5 5 6 5 7 r 15-3 22 8 21 9 40 10 J 41 11 1 93 12 34-3 94 13 101 14 72 15 r 27-9 54 16 "I 46 17 22 18 >• 20-6 10 19 8 20 Overtime is not included in these figures, nor, as a rule, the time employed in getting the work ready, which would, as a rule, increase the hours by at least one. The largest cities are especially remarkable for the length of the working hours in bakeries. In Berlin, Herr Bebel stated that 86‘6 per cent, of the establishments worked over 14 hours a day ; in Frank- furt -am-Main, the percentage was 85‘3 ; in Offenburg, 84'6; in Altona, 68 ; in Dresden, 59 ; in Leipzig, 58'7 ; and in Hamburg, 52'2. The official inquiry instituted in 1892 took in the smaller towns and country districts to a much greater extent than had been done by Herr Bebel, and pursued its investigations I with great minuteness. The chief results are given in Table M 2 (see pp. 64 and 65), which represents a summary of four tables published by the Imperial Office of Statistics, and arranged on various principles, but, wiih some difficulty, admitting of a uniform arrangement. According to these statistics, work in 42'6 per cent, of the ordinary bakeries begins before midnight ; if the large towns are taken alone, the percentage rises to 77 9. South Germany includes the largest number of cases, and Mid-Germany the fewest ; the respective percentages are 53'2 per cent, and 18 - 6 per cent. In rather more than half the establishments working at night the daily hours, including intervals, do not exceed 12 ; the employers give the percentage as 59‘4, and the employed as 47. The conditions are most un- favourable in this respect in North-West Germany, (>) “Sozialpolitisches Centialblatt,” Vol. I., 1891-2, p. 7. Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 283, 1893, pp. 8, 9. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 63 and most favourable in Mid-Germany. The percentage of establishments working long hours appears to rise in proportion to the size of the towns, and it is stated that the larger establishments work longer than those employing only one or two hands. Regular overtime is worked in about 30 per cent, of all the ordinary bakeries on one or two days in the week for two hours or more, and before festivals and on similar occasions 7d ner cent, work overtime. 35 per cent, of the bakeries professing to work by day only begin before 5.30 a.m., and thus encroach upon the hours included under night work by the Industrial Code. The daily hours dcTnot exceed 12 in 76 per cent, of these bakeries ; according to the employed the percentage should be 72T, and according to the employers, 81'8. North- Eastern and Southern Germany return the shortest hours, Mid-Germany the longest. Regular overtime is worked in 36’4 per-cent, of the day bakeries, and overtime on special occasions in 66'7 per cent. Sunday work is only reported in 22 '4 per cent., whilst in ordinary night bakeries the percentage is 93'7. The hours in confectioners’ bakeries are very similar to those of day bakeries ; in 65’3 per cent, they do not exceed 12. In Mid and South Germany the average working day is shorter than in North Germany ; Sunday is the day upon which there is the greatest demand for confectioners’ wares, and 89 7 per cent, of their bakeries are busy on Sunday. The following table gives the hours in the retail branches of the trade, and at the same time calls attention to the large number of women employed, and the length of time during which they are kept at work. Table M 3. Homis of Work in Bakers’ and Confectioners’ Shops. Morking Hours in Retail Shops. Bakers. Confectioners. Establishments grouped according to Districts and Per-centage of Establishments in which Per-centage of Establishments having a Selling Time of Per- centage of The Selling Hours are The Selling Time begins before 5.30 a.m. Per- centage More than Information. of Women employed. 11 Hours or less. More than All Establish- ments. Establish- Women employed. 14 Hours or less. 11 to 16 Hours. 16 Hours. ments employing Women. 14 to 16 Hours. 16 Hours. German Empire 97 - 0 7’4 56*7 35'9 51-8 49-8 90-1 32-9 61 "7 6-1 Large towns 98-1 6*6 48-9 41-5 54’4 52-9 86-3 31-9 57*5 10-6 Medium towns 96'1 5'6 62-2 32'2 54'9 52’4 95-0 35-7 63-1 1-2 Small towns 93 '9 19’2 57'5 23-3 39'7 37-0 97-2 28-1 65’6 6-3 Places with less than 5,000 inhabitants. 100‘0 - 79-4 20'6 35-3 35'3 lOO'O - ioo-o - According to— Employers 97 - 3 9-5 58'0 32-5 48-2 46-9 93-1 33-6 63*5 2*9 Employed 96-7 4*9 55-2 39-9 55-9 53-1 88'7 30-9 60*0 9-1 In half the bakers’ establishments the women begin work before 5.30 a.m., in more than half their hours are from 14 to 16, and in more than one-third that limit is exceeded. In confectioners’ shops the con- ditions are better, and the percentage in which they exceed 16 is only 61. The wages of bakers have not been collected and classified with their hours, and it is not, therefore, possible to give them for Germany as a whole. In Bremen, however, 128 journeymen gave their wages as follows : — 28 earned 10 to 13 marks a week with board. 24 „ 9 19 „ 8 20 ,, 7 32 „ 6 3 „ 5 2 ,, 4 ,, ,, ,, 14 ,, 60-65 ,, month without board. In Berlin 12 marks a week is said to be the average, with 18 marks for foremen ; in a number of cases, how- ever, the weekly earnings do not exceed 8 or 9 marks. Confectioners’ wages are somewhat higher, and the average is about 16 marks a week (*). 8. Shop Assistants. The conditions of labour for shop assistants have been made the subject of a Government inquiry, the results of which were published in 1893. Out of 8,235 esta- blishments investigated, 45 per cent, gave their hours as 14, 15, 16, or more ; but only 42 per cent, stated that they opened before 7 a.m., and 38 per cent, that they closed after 9 p.m. In 45 per cent, of the establish- ments there was no definite mid-day interval, and in the remaining 55 per cent, it appeared that some persons were left on duty whilst the others rested. Where the assistants were boarded in, the hours were often longer, and there was a strong feeling in favour of the abolition of the practice. Definite overtime was ('.) Erhcbung fiber die Arbeitszeit in Biickereien und Conditoreien, September 1892. Rebel, “ Zur Lage der Arbeitcr in den Backereien,” 1890. “Die Lohn verbal tnisse in Berlin im September 1891,” p. 70, Imperial Office of Statistics, 1892. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. I , 1891-2., p. 202 ; vol. II., 1892-3, p. 209, only found in 36 per cent., but in this connexion it should be noted that the hours were often so long already as to make overtime improbable, if not im- possible. Men’s hours are considerably longer than those of women, a fact due to a great extent to the difference in the class of establishments, since the men are chiefly employed in grocers’ shops, and shops doing an evening as well as a day trade, women in drapers’ and milliners’ shops, which, as a rule, close earlier. Men’s hours were over 15 in 26 per cent, of the esta- blishments investigated, from 14 to 15 in 13 per cent., from 13 to 14 in 13 per cent., and below 13 in less than half the total number. Only 22 per cent, of the establishments keep the women they employ at work over 14 hours, 12 per cent, from 13 to 14, and the majority less than 13 hours ; but 37 per cent, of the shop-girls had no regular mid-day interval. Appren- tices wero in an even worse case, for they were allowed no definite interval in 54 per cent, of the establish- ments, in 16 per cent, they worked from 14 to 15 hours, in 26 per cent, from 15 to 16 hours, and in 8 per cent, over 16 hours. Here again the girls fared better than the boys, for their hours wero over 14 in only 17 per cent, of the establishments, and in 75 per cent, they are allowed a regular mid-day interval. Only 30 per cent, of the employers sent their appren- tices to any secondary school. The inquiry brings out the fact that any improvement in the conditions of labour is in inverse proportion to the size of the establishment and of the town in which it is situated. The largest towns return the shortest hours ; only 5'8 per cent, of the establishments in large towns keep their employes at work more than 16 hours, whilst the per-centage in country towns is 14 per cent. Again, 8 per cent, of the establishments employing one assistant only work 16 hours, whilst the percentage in those employing from four to nine assistants is three, and in those employing more than 10 assistants a 16 hours’ working day does not appear at all. Some attempt is being made by the Government to supple- ment the returns from the establishments by obtaining oral information from the employes, but the results are not yet published. I 3 64 llOYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR Table Hours of Work for Rakers and Confectioners in Germany as Branches of the Industry according to Districts and Localities, and according to Returns received from Employers and from Employed. i Percentage of Establishments Working on Sundays. bC a *& Week-day Working Hours p< g w i a . Percentage of Establish- Begins 1 Ends. Lasts Including Pauses .g c3 top? ga Cm cE v a Ph Before After Before After 12 hours and less. More than 12 to 14 hours. More than 14 to 16 hours. More than 16 hours. An indefinite number of hours. 5.30 a.m. or Midnight (*) .8.30 p.m. oi- Mid-day. (') I.— Bakeries Working in the Day. German Empire - - - 22'4 85-0 35'2 64' 5 96'7 2-2 64‘5 28'9 4-4 !-l 1-1 Including — North-Eastern Germany 31-8 95*5 31 '0 69'0 100-0 - 71-4 26'2 2'4 - - North-Western Germany 16'6 83'9 38'5 61'0 96-3 2-1 6f7 28'3 3'8 1-6 1-6 Mid Germany - ... 24-2 87’9 17 '2 82'8 96-6 3-4 48-3 37-9 13 '8 - - South Germany 61'9 71-4 40' 0 60'0 93-3 6'7 j 75*3 26' 7 - - Or including— Large towns - - - - 30-6 91-7 30'3 69'7 97 '0 3-0 57-6 33'3 6-1 3-0 - Medium towns ... 22 ’1 93-0 30'0 68'8 95-0 2-5 67-5 26*3 3-7 - 2-5 Small towns .... 2P4 81'0 41 '2 58'8 98-6 1-5 79-4 16-2 4*4 - - Country towns ... 13' 1 78'7 89'6 60'4 97-9 2-1 39-6 47'9 8-3 4-2 - Places with less than 2,000 inhabitants - 29 '6 81'5 34-1 65-9 95-5 2-3 68-2 29*5 - - 2-3 According to— Employers ... 19-4 80-6 32-1 67-1 96-4 2-2 64-2 28 '5 4-4 1-5 1-4 Employed ... - 25'8 90'1 38'2 61-8 97'1 2-2 64-7 29'4 4-4 0-8 0-7 11.— Bakeries Working at Night. German Empire 93'7 90'3 42'5 57 '5 71-2 28-8 60' 7 25-5 10-5 2-2 1-1 Including— North-Eastern Germany 100 '0 87'8 51 ‘6 48'4 79-2 20-8 58'4 28*4 W4 1-7 1-1 North-Western Germany 77'7 93*9 35’3 64‘7 53-4 46*6 54'2 27'6 13-2 8-0 2-1 Mid Germany - - - • 99'5 91'6 18'6 81-4 69-6 30-4 73'5 20'6 4-4 0'8 0-7 South Germany 99*4 88'8 531 46'9 80-8 19-2 62' 1 23'5 11-3 2'9 0-2 Or including— Large towns ... - 95'9 92 '9 77-9 22-1 81-2 18-8 40' 1 39'0 17-6 2-6 0'7 Medium towns 91'9 91*8 37 '2 62'8 66-2 33-8 63' 1 22'7 9-9 2-8 1-5 Small towns .... 93'6 87-0 22'3 77'7 68-0 32-0 73' 4 18'9 5-5 1-3 0-9 Country towns 97'0 88'1 16'5 83' 5 72-2 27-8 76-9 15-6 5‘4 1-8 0-3 Places with less than 2,000 inhabitants • 90' 8 80'6 16'3 84'7 71-6 28-4 75 '9 17'7 6-7 0-7 - According to— ■ Employers - ... 93'7 88’9 41'3 58'7 75-3 24-7 66*3 23*9 7-1 1-7 1-0 Employed - 93' 6 91'7 43'8 56'2 66*9 33-1 54*9 27-1 14-1 2-8 1-1 III.— Confectioners’ Bakeries. German Empire - - • 89’7 85 ’5 6'7 92'6 96'8 0-2 1 54' 7 41*9 0-2 0-2 3-0 Including— North-Eastern Germany - 95-8 93'3 17-1 81'1 95*5 - 40*5 55'0 - - 4*5 North-Western Germany 84'8 77'5 4'7 95'3 96'3 - 48'6 45'8 0-9 0-9 3-8 Mid Germany ... • 88'3 90'0 1-9 98'1 98'1 1-9 61'1 38'9 - - - South Germany - 89'9 84'8 1*5 97'8 97-8 - 68 '7 | -29'1 - 2-2 Or including— Large towns - 87'4 84*4 13 '2 86'8 100-0 ( 61 '4 37-7 0-9 - - Medium towns .... - 93'7 90'6 1-7 97 '7 95 ’4 0'6 50*3 ! 45'1 - 1 0*6 4*0 Small towns ... - 89'4 79'7 5'1 93'9 96*9 57 '1 39'8 - 31 Country towns - 71'4 76'2 18-8 75'0 87-5 - 37 '5 50'0 - 12’5 Places with less than 2,000 inhabitants ■ - 80'0 100 '0 20'0 80'0 100 '0 - 60'0 40'0 - — — According to— Employers ... - 88 '2 84'0 6'0 93-5 96-0 0*5 5V0 41*5 - - 3'5 Employed - ... 911 86'9 7'8 ill *7 97 '6 — 54 -1 ' 42 2 0 5 0'5 1 2'4 (*) The alternatives “Midnight ” and “ Mid-day” apply only to the second-class of bakeries. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 65 M 2. published by the Imperial Office of Statistics iu 1892*0 of Journeymen Bakers. ments in which work Out of every 100 establishments Ovortimo is worked Regularly on certain Week-days, viz., Before Festivals, &e. on Lasts. Oi 1 or 2 lays. On 3 or 4 days. On an indefinite number of days. 8 to 14 days. 15 to 21 days. Excluding Pauses Including Subsidiary Work and Excluding Pauses. C 10 hours and less. More than 10 to 12 hours. More than 12 to 14 hours. More than 14 hours. An indefinite number of IIUUIS. 12 hours and less. More than 12 to 14 hours. More than 14 to 16 hours. More than 16 hours. An indefinite number of liuilis. Up to 2 hours. More than 2 hours. I' ! Up to 2 hours. More than 2 hours. Up to 2 hours. More than 2 hours. Indefinite num- ber of hours. 7 days and less. 50*6 31*1 13*9 3*3 1*1 76*9 16*5 5*1 0*4 1*1 6*5 10*0 0*9 1*6 1*6 4*0 5*0 36*4 15*6 2*5 52*4 38*1 9*5 — — 88*1 9*5 2*4 — — — 6*8 — 2*3 — 2*3 4*5 9*1 13*6 2*3 54*0 27*8 13*9 2*7 1*6 77*0 16*6 4*3 0*5 1*6 9*4 12*6 1*3 1*3 1*3 4*5 5*4 42*2 15*2 2*2 27*6 37*9 20*7 13*8 - 55*2 27*6 17*2 - - - 3*0 - 3*0 6*1 6*1 3*0 27*3 27*3 6*1 46*7 40*0 13*3 — — 86*7 13*3 — — — — — — — — 4*8 47*6 4*8 - 30*3 51*5 15*2 3*0 — 78*8 15*1 6*1 — — 11*1 — — — 2*8 8*3 27*8 8*3 51*3 28*7 17*5 - 2*5 77*5 20*0 -- - 2*5 2*3 19*8 2*3 2*3 1*2 3*5 3*5 33*7 16*3 3*5 00*3 29*4 5*9 4*4 - 83*8 7*4 8*8 - - 8*3 6*0 1*2 1*2 2*4 4*8 7*1 38*1 19*0 2*4 41*7 25*0 22*9 10*4 - 60*4 25*0 12*5 2*1 - 4*9 8*2 - 1*6 3*3 8*6 1*6 36*1 21*3 3*3 59*1 29*5 9*1 — 2*3 81-8 15*9 — — 2*3 9*3 9*3 — 1*9 - 1*9 5*6 44*4 7*4 1*9 48*2 36*5 10*9 2*9 1*5 81*8 12*4 3*6 0*7 6*9 5*9 9*4 — 2*9 2*9 2*9 5*3 32*4 14*1 4*1 53*0 25*7 16*9 3*7 0*7 72*1 20*6 6*6 — 0*7 7*3 10*6 2*0 — — 5*3 4*6 41*1 17*2 0*7 46*6 31*2 15*9 5*2 1*1 53*3 28*6 13*2 3*8 1*1 7*8 9*9 0*8 1*6 2*1 2*5 5*3 39*6 25*3 5*1 46*6 31*0 15*8 5*5 1*1 50*6 31*2 13*5 3*6 1*1 8*6 7*8 0*5 2*1 2*9 3*0 6*3 35*5 37*1 4*7 37*0 35*9 17*8 7*1 2*2 44*7 31*8 16*0 5*4 2*1 7*1 16*6 1*3 1*8 3*1 2*9 6*6 52*9 14*7 4*9 51*9 32*1 13*2 2*2 0*6 69*0 21*8 7*3 1*3 0*6 9*0 11*0 - 1*5 0*6 2*6 6*3 19*9 52*8 13*1 52*6 26*7 15*6 4‘9 0*2 55*7 26*8 13*3 4*0 0*2 7*1 5*6 1*1 0*9 1*4 1*6 2*9 41*7 9*9 1*8 30*0 38*9 23*5 6*9 0*7 32*9 40*5 20*3 5*6 0*7 9*9 8*3 0*6 1*0 2*4 1*6 5*5 40*0 23*7 4*1 47*7 30*0 15*2 5*6 1.5 55*1 26*4 12*8 4'2 1*5 8*4 11*5 0*7 2*1 2*4 3*1 6*2 38*1 26*3 5*7 57*8 27 *G 9*7 4*0 0*9 65*6 23*4 8*0 2*1 0*9 6*0 11*3 1*8 1*4 2*0 2*2 4*6 40*7 23*0 5*5 01*1 24*5 10*5 3*6 0*3 74*2 16*8 6*9 1*8 0*3 6*1 10*0 - 1*6 0*5 2*9 3*2 36*1 31*7 6*6 59*6 24*1 15*6 0*7 — 66*7 24*1 7*8 1*4 — 2*9 9*7 — 0*6 1*7 2*9 3*4 5.3*1 24*0 1*7 54*9 30*5 11*5 2*1 1*0 59*4 28*4 8*8 2*4 1*0 7*4 9*0 0*6 i*i 2*0 2*3 5*3 41*0 25*2 3*9 38*0 31*9 20*4 8*6 1*1 47*0 28*9 17*7 5*3 1*1 8*3 10*9 1*0 2*0 2*2 2*7 5*3 38*1 25*3 6*5 15*0 53*9 27*6 0*5 3*0 65*3 30*5 1*2 - 3*0 3*2 4*4 - 0*4 2*1 3*2 18*7 11*2 12*0 9*3 18*0 88*8 38*7 — 4*5 55*9 38*7 0*9 — 4*5 0*8 4*2 — 0*8 0*8 3*4 25*2 12*6 10*9 10*1 1( 10.3 50*5 33*6 1*9 3*7 56*1 37*4 2*8 - 3*7 8*0 5*8 - - 3*6 5*1 19*6 15*2 13*8 10*1 S 18*5 63*0 18*5 - - 74*1 24*1 1*8 - - 1*7 3*3 - - 3*3 3*3 15*0 11*7 13*3 1*7 3 14*9 65*7 17*2 — 2*2 76*9 20*9 — 2*2 1*3 3*8 — o*c 1*3 1*3 14*6 6*3 10*8 10*8 11 16*7 56*1 26*3 0*9 — 71*0 27*2 1*8 - — 5*9 5*9 — 0*7 2*2 4*4 19*3 12*6 11*8 13*3 8 14*5 50*3 30*6 0*6 4*0 61*3 33*5 1*2 - 4*0 3*7 3*7 - — 2*6 2*1 24*1 12*0 10*5 7*3 8 12*2 60*2 24*5 - 3*1 66*3 30*6 - - 3*1 - 2*4 - 0*8 0*8 3*3 12*2 8*9 14*6 8*9 11 25*0 37*5 25*0 - 12*5 56*3 25*0 6*2 12*5 14*3 - — 4*8 — 9*5 4*8 14*3 4*8 9 20*0 60*0 20*0 — 80*0 20*0 — — — — — - 20*0 - >0*0 - - - 17*0 54*5 25*0 — 3*5 69*0 26*5 1*0 — 3*5 2*5 3*4 — 0*4 2*5 2*5 20*2 12*2 15*1 11*8 8 13*1 53*4 30*1 1*0 2*4 61*6 14*5 1*5 2*4 3*8 5*5 0*4 1*7 3*8 17*3 10*1 8*9 6*8 10 6-8 0'4 4-8 5-6 2-3 1-9 2’4 0'7 1- 3 2 - 0 3-2 o-o 1*5 1*8 2*0 0*8 2*3 1*5 2*0 0*3 1*6 3*4 1.3*6 1*8 3*0 10*4 3*5 1*0 2*9 4*0 2*9 3*1 5*1 2*2 1*1 3*0 3*2 2*7 2*4 1*1 1*9 4*0 30*9 7*2 9*1 7*6 3*0 4*8 5*6 9*3 8*3 6*6 3*7 8*2 6*0 3*4 5-5 4*3 2*9 0*9 3*9 3*5 3*3 2*4 0*6 3*4 3*4 12*8 30*3 15*1 31*2 11*6 26*7 13*3 32*9 12*0 27*4 34*0 26*8 38*1 80*0 26*5 10*5 I 35*4 11*8 13*1 13*8 14*3 15*5 10*1 ( 2 ) See Erhebung fiber die Arbeitszeit in Biickereien und Konditoreien, September 1892. Indefinite number of days. Cl) ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : (fir.) Intro- il uctorj sketch. Statistics collected from the women employed as shop assistants in Berlin, apart from the Government inquiry, show that almost all are unmarried, anil that 54 per cent, are between 18 and 25 years of age. Very few are drawn from the labouring classes ; the majority are the daughters of tradesmen and subordinate officials, and more than a third have lost one or both parents. Very few have been taught any special trade, and so few are able to draw that the preparation of fashion plates and other departments of mantle-making and dressmaking, which are highly paid, are almost exclusively in the hands of men. Their earnings rise from 41 marks to 114 marks a month in the sixteenth or nineteenth year of service ; after this period they begin to diminish. Fbrty per cent, of the saleswomen after from three to six months of apprenticeship can earn from 1 0 to 15 marks a month ; book-keepers are, as a rule, rather better paid. Out of these wages 51 marks a month ought, according to Dr. Meyer, to go for board and lodging, and 10 marks for clothes, so that 60 marks a month, or more than many of the girls earn, would be required for their current expenditure. Their working hours are, as a rule, from to 10j, exclusive of the mid-day interval of from 14 to 2 hours. In thcairtumn and up to Christ- mas a great deal of overtime is worked, and in some establishments, which close early, the mid-day interval is greatly curtailed. Women employed as shop as- sistants are much less securely placed than men, for only one-tliird of the women are entitled to the six weeks’ notice before the end of the quarter which is given to men; 22 per cent, are liable to dismissal with onlj' a month s notice, 34 per cent, with a fortnight’s notice, 5 per cent, with eight days’ notice, and 3 per cent, without any notice at all. The Government inquiry gave the percentage of men liable to dismissal at less than a quarter’s notice at 20, and that of women at 45 ( 2 j. DIVISION III.— CERTAIN SPECIAL SUBJECTS. A. — CO-OPERATION, PROFIT-SHARING, AND INDUSTRIAL Partnership. 1. Co-operation. Co-operation was defined by Huber, “the pioneer of the co-operative movement in Germany,’ - as “the asso- “ ciation of the isolated units constituting the working “ classes in a common effort for the amelioration of “ their condition.” Whereas this definition emphasises the social and ethical aspects of the movement, its economic aspect is put forward more clearly in the German Law of May 1st, 1889. Here co-operative societies are defined as “ Associations with an un- “ restricted membership which aim at increasing the “ profits or diminishing the expenditure of their “ members by conducting their business on a common “ basis.” These associations may be divided into distributive societies and productive societies. The first class includes all associations which ensure to their members the economic advantages of trade carried on on a large scale, and may be sub-divided into retail co-operative stores, wholesale stores for the purchase of raw material, loan associations, and “ building associations. Productive co-operation, on the other hand, involves the actual conduct of an industry by the members in common, and so far has had but an inconsiderable development in Germany. Indeed the co-operative movement as a whole began much later in that country than in England or France, and in its first beginning it took a different form. England had made a start with distributive co-operation from the point of view of cheapening the necessaries of life, and France had begun with productive co-operation amongst labourers and small artisans, but the first attempts at co-operation in Germany arose from the desire on the part of the artisan class to relieve the distress due to factory competition, by obtaining the credit and the raw material necessary for their work at a more reasonable cost. In 1848 certain loan associations, or people’s banks (Earlehnskassenvereine) were established, but as they lent money without interest, and were subsidised by philanthropic outsiders they soon came to be regarded by the artisans as mere charitable associations, and were held in small esteem. In 1849 Herr Schulze-Delitzsoh, who for years was the life and soul of the co-operative movement in Germany, founded the first co-operative society for the purchase of raw material amongst thirteen cabinet makers in Delitzscli, his native town. A shoemakers’ co-operative society soon followed, and the results of these two first ( 2 .) Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. II., 1S92-3, pp. 210, 461, 513. attempts were so favourable that during the next few years a considerable number of such societies were formed in the neighbouring towns. In 1850 Herr Schulze founded the first of his loan associations ( Vorschussvereine ), which differed from the earlier banks in that the persons to whom loans could be granted must themselves be members of the association paying regular monthly contributions. They thus themselves indirectly furnished the security for the credit afforded them. After a time both the societies for procuring raw material and the loan associations were federated, and the security thus afforded by the unlimited liability of all the members of all the asso- ciations for the obligations of any one association rendered it- easy to procure the necessary capital. Though the societies for procuring raw material form the necessary basis for productive co-operation, the highest development of the co-operative idea, their expansion was less rapid than that of the loan asso- ciations which had been founded later. Productive co- operation itself scarcely appears at all, and indeed, as has been already stated, it has at no time been able to show a very successful record in Germany. Herr Schulze himself was averse to premature effort in this direction, and held that success must be preceded by a long preliminary education in other forms of co-opera- tion. Between 1860 and 1870 a movement was set on foot for the establishment of retail distributive societies ( Konsumvereine ), and the attention of the working classes was attracted to these stores by the quarrel which resulted between Schulze and Lassaile. The history of co-operation in Germany has since been a continuous progress. It has not yet been possible to establish a wholesale society, but the rapidly increasing number of distributive societies are strongly in favour of such a measure, and Dr. Criiger speaks of its early adoption as probable. The movement has spread from industry to agriculture. The necessity of economy in procuring the requisite stock and implements, it agri- culture is to be pursued at a profit, is now generally recognised, and co-operative societies for the purchase of agricultural necessaries, co-operative dairies, co- operative workshops, and agricultural banks or loan associations, are exceedingly numerous. Co-operative societies for the settlement of estates in the Eastern Provinces are the latest development ( see p. 70), and co-operation as applied to the actual working of the land is regarded by many authorities in Germany as likely to be productive of most important results (see below, p. 100). Much of the success of co-operation in Germany may be ascribed, according to Dr. Criiger, to the fact that at a very early period the individual societies were organised into larger associations, and thus enabled to profit by each other’s experience and to afford each other necessary support. In 1859 a congress of members of loan associations was summoned by Herr Schulze to Weimar; here a central committee was appointed, with Herr Schulze at the head, which in 1864 developed into the General Association of German Co-operative Societies ( Alhjemeiner Verbancl Deutscher Erwerbs und Wirtschaftsyenossenschaften), including all forms of co-operation within its limits. At the end of March 1890, this association included 1,012 credit associations ( Ereditvereine ), 262 distributive societies (Konsumvereine), and 56 other co-operative societies. The secretary of the association publishes a yearly report of the financial position of the societies, with a critical account of the progress of the various forms of co-operation. The association is subdivided into 33 minor associations, some for certain provinces or districts, others for particular trades. The directors of the smaller associations constitute the committee of the general association, whose duty is to advise the secretary in all important matters. The secretary is himself elected at the annual meeting of the association. The agricultural co-operative societies possess a similar organisation, founded with Herr Schulze’s assistance in 1883, and known as the German Agricultural Co- operative Union ( Vereinigung der landwirtscliajtliclien Geuossenschaften des Dbutschen Iteichs). In 1889 it included 1,730 credit associations, 975 associations for procuring raw material, 931 co-operative dairies, and 101 other co-operative societies. The peasants’ land banks founded by Dr. Raiffeisen ( see p. 68), have an association of their own, and there are other smaller federations of co-operative societies. (') During its earlier stages the co-operative movement had to face a considerable amount of opposition from (*) (*) Lexis. “ Handworterbueh der Staatswissenschafien,’' vol. IV.. p. SOS, Art. : " Erwerbs und tVirtschafts-Renossensehaften,” Criiger! “ Sozialreform und Genossenschaftsivesen,” edited by von Broicb, 1890 pp. 9-36. (6.) Legal position of co-operative societies. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 07 (d.) Pro- ductive co- operation. the various governments. In some of the States the loan associations were required to have a concession, and this was often refused on the ground that their formation was unnecessary. The idea had been widely accepted that the societies were political in character, and that they were designed by the Liberal party for the furtherance of Liberal principles. It needed all the influence of Herr Schulze and his strenuous efforts to exclude politics from the sphere of their activity, to win even tolerance for the co-operators from the Clerical and Conservative parries. Professor Huber, himself a Conservative, complained bitter of the hostility displayed towards the movement by his party, and it was not until I860, when the exigencies of the political situation rendered it expedient for the Clerical party to take up the cause of the workmen, that the formation of loan associations became part of the Catholic pro- gramme. These associations were at the same time founded in the Conservative interest and more or less openly manipulated for party purposes. Hr. Criiger states that loans were sometimes avowedly granted or withheld according to the political views of the applicant ; but the attempts thus made to discredit Herr Schulze’s societies met with small success. He himself adhered closely to the principle of self-help and disavowed any desire for State aid or any intention of giving a political colour to the movement. Indeed, the discouraging attitude of the co-operative societies towards the Commission appointed by the Government in 1865 to enquire into tho best means of furthering co-operation was one of the main causes of Herr Schulze’s quarrel with Lassalle. In 1867 a law was passed for Prussia regulating the constitution of co- operative societies, and in 1868 the North German Confederation passed a similar law. Both were super- seded by the law of May 1st, 1889, which enacts that every co-operative society must be registered and must have a minimum membership of 17. The amount of the shares and the maximum number which may be held by one member must be fixed by the statutes of the society. Every member must deposit at least, one- tenth of the value of a share, but there is no other provision as to the initial capital of tho society. The directors must be chosen from amongst the members, and are responsible for any losses occasioned by anv lapse of duty on their part. The liability of the members may be either limited or unlimited. ' In legal matters the society is represented by its directors. The accounts must be audited at least once a year, and must be checked by an officer known as the revisor. Three months’ notice must be given of intended with- drawal from the society and liability continues after withdrawal for a period of two years. (') The extent of distributive co-operation in Germany may be seen from the following statistics : — N. I. Year. Number of Societies. Societies sending in Returns. Member- ship. Shares in 1,000 marks. Reserve Fund in 1,000 marks. Funds derived from other sources in 1,000 marks. Business done in 1,000 marks. Nett profit in 1,000 marks. Money applied to educational purposes in marks. By Societies in their own stores. By Con- tractors. 1865 157 34 6,647 67 8 50 860 65 28 1870 354 111 45,761 319 151 546 8,693 315 451 1875 618 179 98,050 2,912 503 2,430 19,580 3,125 1.258 1880 615 195 94,366 3,177 1,036 2,88 5 27,090 3,278 2,048 25,701 1885 682 162 120,150 3,319 1,736 2,892 31,015 4,122 3,027 32,544 1890-1 984 263 215,120 4,301 2,237 2,691 48,716 8,328 5,078 21,909 1891-2 1,122 302 — — — — — — 1892-3 1,283 344 243,529 4,804 2,473 5,520 58,246 8,954 5,876 67,782 Note— These statistics, as well as those for the other forms of co-operation, are admittedly imperfect, owing to the comparatively small number of societies sending in returns. The members of 244 out of the 263 societies existing in 1892, included 74,088 factory operatives, 5,951 shop assistants, 13,529 subordinate officials, and 25,815 artisans. It is clear, therefore, that the benefits of the societies are for the most part enjoyed by the classes for which they were originally intended, though a contrary state of things has often been alleged to exist.(') With the exception of certain forms of co-operative agriculture ( see below) productive co-operation in Germany is rather a matter of the future than of the past. An attempt in that direction was made by Lassalle with the help of Prince Bismarck and sup- ported by funds out of the private income of the Crown, but it did not succeed, and the growing influence of the Marxist party forced “ productive co-operation based on State credit ” out of the Social Democratic programme. It has, however, always remained one of the objects of the trade unions (Gewerkvereine), though the Trades Union Congress at Mannheim in 1892 resolved that the unions must confine themselves to moral support of co-operative ventures. The Co-opera- tive Congress held the same year at Munich urged upon its members the founding of productive associa- tions, but only where the prospective associates possessed the requisite knowledge of business and previous education in co-operative principles. Tho following statistics with regard to the extent of produc- tive co-operation in Germany are given in the annual report of the secretary to the General Association of German Co-operative Societies, but they are avowedly imperfect, owing to the failure of many societies to send in returns. Table N. 2. Year. Number of Societies. Societies sending in Returns. Membership. Assets drawn from the Business. Reserve Fund. Funds from External Sources. Business done. Nett Profits. ' M. M. M. M. M. 1865 26 1 14 3,546 — 3,090 27,492 2,178 1870 29 7 160 77,988 3,285 50,274 226,554 26,463 1875 199 14 689 233,57 1 16,109 110,663 733,092 59,192 1880 131 10 693 199,052 83,932 701,470 666,355 57,478 1885 148 7 529 156,017 95,783 300,478 340,692 33,337 1890 151 12 1,808 226,553 82,389 353,531 884,124 41,058 Sixteen of the 151 societies in 1890 were amongst carpenters, 12 amongst textile workers, 11 amongst printers and lithographers, 8 amongst tailors, 4 amongst shoemakers, 6 amongst cigar-makers, 9 amongst buil- ders’ labourers, 3 amongst watchmakers, 3 amongst potters, 3 amongst gilders, 2 amongst mechanical engineers, and 3 amongst brush and comb makers. Many of the societies scarcely deserved the name of (■) Lexis, “Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 838. Art: “ Konsumvereine,” Criiger. “ Sozialreform und Genos- senschaftswesen ” edited by von Broieh, 1890, p. 90. Sozialpolitisclins Centralblatt, vol. II., 1892-3, p. 008, Lubqup Qs^ette, July 1893. i 784?0, co-operative, since the method of dividing the profits fell far below the true standard of productive co-opera- tion. Two associations of printers, one at Breslau and one at Hanover, are among the most successful. There are a fair number of co-operative bakeries in connexion with distributive stores. ( 2 ) (*) Lexis, “ Handwdrtorbucb der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. III., p. 308. Art: “Erwerhs und WirtchaftsgenoBsenschaften,” Criigor.’ " Rapport sur les SoctetOs Co-opOratives,” 1892. (*) Lexis, “Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” Vol. V., p. 285. Art. : “ Produktivigonossensehaften,” Criiger, “ Sozial reform und Genossenschaftswesen,” edited by von Broieh, 1890, pp. 297-305. K (e.) Dis- tributive co-opera- tion. 68 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : ( e .) Credit and loan associations, (i.) Objects and con- stitution. There are two main kinds of credit and loan associa- tions in Germany of a co-operative character ; those already described, as founded by Herr Schulze-Delitzsch for all classes of workmen, both industrial and agricul- tural, and those founded by Dr. Raiffeisen for agri- culturists only. The Sclmlzc-Delitzsch banks date from 1850, those of Raiffeisen from almost the same period. In both the main object is to found an association which grants credit to persons who would otherwise scarcely be able to procure it, except at an exorbitant rate on the security of funds composed of small regular contributions made by all the members. Before the passing of the law of 1889 loans were sometimes made to non-members, but the law forbade this extension of the business of the associations on the ground that it destroyed their co-operative character. Since 1889 also the liability of the members has been no longer universally unlimited; but according to Dr. Criiger experience has shown that associations with limited liability have not always proved able to pro- cure the necessary capital. On the whole he regards it as probable that, in the future, loan associations, which do not possess any very large capital, will be organised on the basis of unlimited liability, unless local circumstances determine them to adopt the con- trary principle. Though agreeing in their main object, the Schulze-Delitzsch and Raiffeisen banks differ con- siderably in constitution and method of procedure. The first associations admit members of every class or profession and regard this as a safeguard against a run upon the bank, since it is improbable that a demand for money will occur in every industry at once. The Raiffeisen banks, on the other hand, confine their . advantages to agriculture, and do not insist on all the members acquiring shares by paying regular contribu- tions. This they regard as an impossibility for persons engaged in agricultural pursuits, although the large number of agriculturists who belong to the Sclmltze- Delitzsch associations find the means to make their payments. The directors of the Schultze-Delitzseh banks are paid for their services, those of the Raiffeisen banks are merely honorary officials. The credit given by the first is restricted to a short period, as a rule three months, with the possibility of an extension ; that given by the second is usually for a term of from one to ten years or more, but is subject to withdrawal at four weeks’ notice. This is regarded by many authorities as a weak point in the Raiffeisen system, for such a sudden demand for the repayment of a loan would, it i3 urged, be the ruin of any agriculturist. On the other hand the advocates of the Raiffeisen system argue that short credit is comparatively useless in agriculture, and yet that it is necessary to maintain some hold over the money lent. Further, the Schultze- Delitzseh banks, by exacting from 8 per cent, to 12 per cent, interest on loans, pay high dividends, with a view to encouraging thrift, whilst the rules of the Raiffeisen banks expressly exclude any payment of the kind. Nevertheless, the advocates of the Raiffeisen system affirm, that whilst the Schultze-Delitzseh are the more purely commercial, the Raiffeisen banks are the more distinctly ethical in tendency. They profess to “aim “ at improving both the material and moral condition “ of their members,” and it is to this end that they have limited membership to the one pursuit of agricul- ture, and also restricted the area within which any one bank may exercise its activity. The members must as far as possible be persons living under the same con- ditions, animated by a common spirit, and capable of a fellow-feeling with each other's necessities. Each association, therefore, is to be for a district with an average population of 1,500. The savings of non- members will be received, and a fixed rate of interest paid to such depositors. At first Dr. Raiffeisen re- pudiated the share system, but the difficulty of carrying on the associations ou any other basis, as well as the judicial interpretation of the law with regard to co- operative societies, convinced him of its necessity. Every member must now take a share, payable in instalments, but no member may possess more than one share, and must only receive the same rate of interest as is exacted from the debtors. No other privilege is allowed to members except the privilege of borrowing; surplus money is added to the reserve instead of forming a dividend fund, as in the Schulze- Delitzsch banks. Members must borrow only lor a specific purpose, and as they are under the eyes of their colleagues, if the money is misapplied, it is promptly called in. Each associition is controlled by a manager, and these managers arc subordinate to the Administrative Council, whilst the general meeting of members is the supreme authority and appoints both manager and Administrative Council. Every four years the books must be audited by an accountant, who must not be an official of the association, and must be bound over in a certain sum ; he is the only person who receives any salary. The surplus funds of the association are to be employed in the furtherance of distributive co-operation in connexion with agricul- ture. A connexion between the various associations is maintained by means of the Central Agricultural Bank for Germany founded iu 1874, and uniting three earlier institutions. The shareholders in this bank are the various district loan associations, and the interest is paid on the shares at the rate of 10 per cent. The number of shares for each association is fixed at five. The “General Secretary’s Uni m of German Agricul- tural Co-operative Societies” (“ GeneralanwciUsclmfts Verband Llindlicher GenossensrJi-iften far Deutsch- land ”), at Neuwied, presided over by Dr. Raiffeisen himself until his death in 1888, and now directed by bis son, is intended to extend the system by founding new banks, and supporting those already in existence. Its most important duty consists in the general super- vision of the solvency of the associations. The total number of associations under its supervision in 1889 was 508. The firm of Raiffeisen and Co. was finally established as a means of supplementing the funds of the associations and rendering them independent of the subsidies hitherto granted by the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture and the Provincial Administration of Diisseldorf. The firm conducts the printing required for the associations and brings out a journal known as the “Co-operative News” (Genossenschaftsblatt) ; it also manages a Savings Bank and Life Insurance Association. The banks in Baden, Hesse, Bavaria, Wiirtembcrg, Westphalia, Hanover, Silesia, and East Prussia have associations of their own. (') The following table gives the number of credit and loan associations of every kind, together with details as to membership, funds and activity of the Schulze- Delitzsch banks. The figures given in the column “ Total Number ” include all associations ; those in other columns only the Schulze-Delitzsch associations: — I 1 ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” Vol. II., p. 906 Art.: “ Darlehnskassenvereine,” Marehet. Vol. IV., p, 8S0. Art. : “ Kredit-ger.ossenschaften,” Criiger. Table N 3. Year. Total Number. Associations sending in Returns. Membership. Funds derived from Contributions of Members, in 1,000 marks. Reserve Fund, in 1,000 marks. Funds from other sources, in 1,000 marks. Advances, including renewals, in 1,000 marks. Expenditure • for Educational Purposes, in marks. 1860 - 300 133 31,603 1,386 201 7.177 25,435 1865 - 839 498 169,595 13,329 1,229 52,970 202,710 1870 - 1,272 740 314,656 40,3 47 3,643 137,997 622,855 1875 - 1,726 815 418,251 83,542 8,428 330,165 1,495,648 1880 - 1,895 906 460,656 102,029 16,393 364,450 1,447,526 39,881 1885 2,1 18 896 458,080 107,841 21,582 401,801 1,533,841 34,674 1890 - 3,910 1,072 5 IS, 003 117,080 28,475 453,826 1,641,574 40,588 1891-2 4,401 1.076 — — — — 1,561,610 1892-3 4,791 1,075 512,509 116,304 31,121 434,248 I', 539, 034 47,660 (ii.) History and statistics. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. On May 1st, 1891, 8,746, or about 95'8 per cent, of the whole number of credit and loan associations were based on the principle of unlimited liability; in 148 the liability was limited ; whilst in 18, founded by Ilerr von Broich, there was an unlimited liability to be called upon to make subsidiary payments. The number of bankruptcies among loan associations between 1876 and 1886 was only 36. With regard to the Raiffeisen banks, Dr. Criiger reports that in 1800 361 of these associations, with 33,166 members, had assets worth 17,184,362 marks, and liabilities amounting to 17,011.439. The net profits were 172.590 marks and the reserve fund about 822,000 marks. In 1891 the 735 banks belonging to the Neuwied associa- tion, with 70,000 members, did business to the extent of 30,000,000 marks. In 1892-3 the assets of 635 banks amounted to 27,182,348 marks, and their liabilities to 27,122,036 marks. Banks on the Raiffeisen system are most numerous in the Rhine Provinces, Westphalia, Baden, Wiirtemberg, Franconia, Silesia, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Those in Baden and Hesse differ somewhat from the others- in paying interest on the shares and in remunerating the officials. In Baden, Hesse, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Westphalia there are federations of these banks, distinct from the Neuwied Association. The Baden banks in 1888 numbered 77, with 9,247 members. The business done in 1887 amounted to 9,300,000 marks and the reserve fund to 133,632 marks. The Hesse banks iu 1889 numbered 238, 99 of which belonged to the association for the Duchy. In 1888 this association included 86 banks, with a, membership of 8,072, assets worth 9,361,655 marks, and liabilities amounting to 9,312,301 marks. The nett profit for the year was 49,354 marks. In June 1890 the Bavarian banks numbered 105; in 1888 they were 71, with a membership of 4,119. The Wiirtemberg Asso- ciation numbered 276 banks in 1890, with a member- ship of 19,000; that of Westphalia 190 banks, with 20,239 members. (') (ABuildin, Building societies as they are understood in England socu. ies. c | 0 uo t ex^t in Germany, but certain associations have been formed with the primary object of improving the dwellings of the working classes, and gradually putting the members in a position to purchase their own houses. In other cases tho societies are content to let the houses which they have built, or even to buy existing houses and let them on moderate terms. The aim of all these associations, however, is rather to supply better houses than to afford a means of investing the savings of the workmen. The great difficulty in their way was the large amount of capital required for building operations. lo meet this difficulty Herr Schulze-Delitzsch proposed in 1871 that in each case two societies should be established, a joint stock company to undertake the building and a co-operative association of customers, whose joint credit should enable them to become by' degrees owners of the houses built by the company. The movement, however, has not succeeded widely, as is shown by the following statistics of the number of societies : — Y ear. Societies. Year. Societies. 1869 2 1879 46 1870 3 1880 36 1871 17 1881 34 1872 30 1882 35 1873 41 1883 33 1874 48 1884 33 1875 52 1885 33 1876 54 1886 35 1877 50 1887 35 1878 49 1888 28 During this period 46 societies have gone into liquida- tion, 10 in 1879, and two have become bankrupt. The difference between 1887 and 1888 is explained by tho fact that certain societies appear in the returns for 1887 which were already defunct, and that this error was rectified in 1888. The societies are of two kinds, those which build houses for well-to-do officials, and those which limit their activity to workmen’s dwellings. The first class included three societies at Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, and Gotha, the results of which appear in the following table : — Table 1ST. 4. Name of Society. Year of Establishment;. Number of Years in existence. Member- ship. Houses built. Average price of Houses. Payments on Account. Annuities. Societies liquidated. 1. Karlsruhe Building So- ciety. 1870 15 12 12 26,000 10 per cent. 10 per cent. ? 2. Stuttgart Building So- ciety. 1876 15 7 7 25,000 50 f 18S3 3. Gotha Building Society 1873 20 14 u 18,000 5 » The rest in quar- terly instalments. — The societies for building workmen’s houses show the following results: — Table N. 5. Year. Number of Societies. Societies sending in Returns. Members. Houses built. Price of Building. Share Capital. Reserve Fund. Capital derived from other Sources. I860 o 1 93 M. 2,997 -M. 1,830 M. M. 6,950 1872 30 G 1,235 21 438,845 181,172 18,210 G) 308,430 ( r >) 1874 48 18 1,774 34 663,947 458,930 41,529 1,724,962 1877 50 5 884 29 143,010 167,140 39,457 958,222 1881 34 2 84(') 3 15,399 26,296 C) 23,746 (>) 296,848 (*) 1884 3? 2 73 O 3 15,699 32,629 (') 18,472 (>) 291,573 (') 1888 28 5 1,589 20 191,438 202,224 ('*) 31,503 (>) 498,047 Note . — The small figures enclosed in brackets indicate the number of reports of societies from which the figures are taken. The total result of the movement, therefore, is in- significant, especially as it cannot be assumed that the societies which make no returns have been active in building. On the contrary, many of them are little but a name ; some have only one or two bouses, and others merely let old houses which they have bought. There have been no conspicuous successes except, perhaps, the C) Lexis, “ Handworterbufth dor Slantswisscnsehaften,” vol. Tb, p. 1)06. Art., “Darlehnskassenvercine,” Marchet, vol. IV., p. 880. Art., “ Kreditgenosscnschaften,” Criiger. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. ii., 1892-3, p. G08, Labour Gazette, July 1893. Flensburg Building Society, founded in 1877, with 180 members, and in 1888 numbering 1,105 members, and possessing assets amounting to 147,000 marks, a reserve fund of 8,400 marks, and 31 houses. The members of this society are bound for ten years, and must pay weekly contributions of 40 pf. (about 5 db The pay- ments for a bouse are spread over a period of 20 years, and the houses cost from 4,000 to 7,000 marks. At the end of ten years a member, who does not wish to acquire a house, can draw out the amount he lias deposited with interest, bub very few members availed themselves K 2 70 HOYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : (.7.) Co- . o|»ei at ion in agriculture. of this privilege in 1888, The Berlin Building Society has also achieved good results. It started in 1886 with 28 members, but in January 1889 it had already 261 and in 1890 as many as 350. In 1889 16 houses were built, and in 1890 plans were made for 40. The price of the houses is from 6,000 to 8,000 marks, and the rent is fixed at six per cent, of the selling price. The members contribute 40 pf. a week, and the shares are fixed at 200 marks. (‘) In addition to the Raiffeisen banks already described co-operation has in recent years been utilised in agri- culture in a variety of ways. The establishment in 1884 of the German Agricultural Oo-operative Union ( Vere - inigung der deutsclien landwirtschaftlichen Genossen- chaften) gave an impetus to the movement,- and since then the number of co-operative societies has greatly increased. The report of the secretary for 1891 enumerates 4,374 societies, or 749 more than in the preceding year. These included 2,647 loan associations, 708 associations for the purchase of raw material, 869 co-operative dairies, and 150 other societies. The associations for the purchase of raw material were established with a view to supplying farmers with seeds, fodder, manure, and machinery at wholesale prices. A central association in Berlin was established in 1 890 for the purchase of agricultural produce on a large scale. In Saxony there is a society for the pur- chase of machinery which is afterwards let out for the use of members. The amount of business done by this society in 1889 amounted to 6,077 marks 30 pf., and in 1891 to as much as 481,198 marks. There are also a number of societies for selling horses, cattle, milk, cheese, fruit, vegetables, and all kinds of produce, which are reported to be succeeding. Productive co- operation in agriculture is mainly represented by co-operative dairies. There are also a few co-operative breweries in Brandenburg and Pomerania ; starch factories exist to the number of ten, and sugar refineries to the number of 26. A factory for the repair of machinery was established at Jarmen, near Greisswald, in 1890 on co-operative principles, but no detailed account is available of its results. The latest experi- ments in co-operative agriculture have been made in connection with the schemes for inland colonisation described below (see p. 100.) Here an association of landowners purchase an estate and assign to each a portion for his individual cultivation. The uuassigned land is cultivated in common. When the shares are fully paid up, the holders become proprietors of the land allotted to them. The total extent of the co- operative movement in Germany at the present time is illustrated by the subjoined table, which is taken from the Report of the Secretary of the General Association of German Co-operative Societies for 1893 (*)• Table N. 6. Co-operative Societies, Kinds of. In existence on May 31, 1891. In existence on May 31, 1892. In existence on May 31, 1893. Constitution as regards Liability of Members. Unlimited Liability. Limited Liability. Unlimited calls for subsidiary payments. Not Registered. May 31, 1892. May 31, 1893. May 31, 1892. May 31, 1893. May 31, 1892. May 31, 1893. May 31, 1892. May 31, 1893. Credit and loan associations - 3,910 4,401 4,791 4,019 4,406 210 241 22 22 150 122 Distributive societies 984 1.122 1,283 503 483 469 679 5 6 142 113 Societies for supplying the raw ■ i r material to manufacturers - 110 64 52 45 4 51 11 Societies for supplying the raw material to agriculturists 1,020 1,008 810 816 7 2 104 1 1 137 97 Retail industrial associations - 59 48 28 28 8 11 1 1 22 8 Retail agricultural associations Industrial productive societies y 2,664- 7 151 4 128 3 80 3 65 46 55 — 2 4 25 1 6 Agricultural productive societies 1,087 1,196 879 13G 121 176 25 39 62 45 Societies for carrying on work ( IVerkgenoss mschnften) 13 14 11 12 1 1 1 1 — — Societies for co-operative agri- | J 299 208 4G 46 16 17 — — 237 145 Building societies - 50 55 77 17 16 36 60 2 1 2. Profit-sharing and Industrial Partnership. Profit-sharing and industrial partnership have much in common with productive co-operation, and their history in Germany shows an almost equally small degree of success. Both require a high standard of intelligence on the part of the workmen, and it appears that this standard is seldom attained. According to statistics collected in 1886 and brought up to date in 1891 there are only 18 firms in Germany, as against 73 in Great Britain and Ireland and 84 in France, which have given their workmen a share in the profits of their business. In no case have the workmen any share in the management of the business ; a certain percentage of the profits are merely distributed amongst them, or expended by the employer upon benefit funds and other institutions for their welfare. There is, there- fore, no real industrial partnership in Germany at all ; nothing but various methods of giving the workmen an interest, either direct or indirect, in the success of the business. The first to introduce the system were the firm of Steinheil, Dieterlen, & Co., cotton spinners, of Rothau, in Alsace. In 1847 they decided to hand over one-tenth of their profits to their workmen by giving this sum to the benevolent funds in connection with the establishment, on the condition that these funds were to bear one-tenth of any losses sustained in less fortunate years. In 1868 they reduced this contri- bution to 7 per cent, but at the same time divided 5 per cent, of the profits amongst the men directly. From 1868 to 1872 the cotton industry in Alsace suffered so severely that the workmen were quite unable to support their share of the losses, and in 1872 the system of loss- sharing was abandoned. The establishment was then (') Lexis, “ Handworterbuch tier Staatswissenschaften,” vol. II., 1 >. 281. Art. “ Baugenossenschaften,” Criiger. converted into a joint-stock company" and it was arranged that the shareholders were to receive 5 per cent, interest, and each of the directors a minimum sum of 200Z. Six- sevenths of the remaining profits were to go to the shareholders in the form of a dividend and to form a reserve fund, whilst the remaining seventh, or 10 per cent, of the nett profits, was to be paid to the workmen. Three-fifths of the workmen’s share was to go to the benevolent institutions and two- fifths to the men themselves. Between 1875 and 1884 the total average share of the employed was 330Z. a year. As the number of hands employed is about 600, the average amount paid to each man direct would be about 4s. 5 d. a year. A second cotton mill in Alsace, the bleaching and dyeing establishment of Schaeffer, Lalance, & Co., in Pfastadt, introduced a system of profit-sharing in 1874 for the foremen and the better class of workmen. The firm fixes the amount to be distributed each year and pays out one-third in cash, one-third is credited at 5 per cent, interest, and the remaining third also invested at 5 per cent, and paid out together with the first third of the succeeding year’s share. In 1874 the number of workmen receiv- ing a share was 112, in 1883 it was 349. Wages rose during the same period from 4.550Z. to 14.000Z. and the workmen’s share of the ^profits from 455 Z. to 840Z. During the first ten years 6,6277. were distributed in this way, and the firm writes, “ We have attained the “ object of making our staff of workmen more perma- “ nent . . . The moral effect of the arrangement “ is excellent; nobody remains away from work with- “ out a valid excuse, and in general we have very little (‘) Lexis, “Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV. p. 944. Art. “ Landwirtschnftliches Genossenschaftswesen,” von Mendel Steinfels, vol. V., p. 285. Art. Produktiv-genossenschalten,” Criiger. Sozialpolitisclies Centralblatt, vol. ii., 1892-3, p. 608. Labour Gazette, J uly 1893. REPORT ON THE LA HOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 71 (a.) Guild benefit funds. “ cause for complaint.’’ Another successful instance of profit-sharing is reported from the llsede Ironworks, at Gross-Ilsede, in Hanover. The system was intro- duced in 1809 for the depositors in the factory savings’ bank. When the profits of the firm exceed 5 per cent, a corresponding addition is made to the 5 per cent, interest on deposits up to a maximum of 20 per cent. This maximum was reached in the years 1873-4 and 1880-3. In the last year the total number of depositors was 566 and the total savings 25,850?. There is also a workmen’s bank in connection with the factory sup- ported by contributions equal to 6 per cent, of the wages, payable half by the men and half by the firm. In 1883 this bank possessed a capital of 15,000Z. “ The “ pasteboard and lithographic works of George Adler, “ in Buchholz (Saxony), employing about 280 men and “ 30 women, also has a system of profit-sharing. The “ workmen’s share in the profits is fixed by the firm “ for each year according to the result of the year’s “ business. Each man’s share is deposited in the “ municipal savings’ bank and cannot be withdrawn “ till the man leaves the service of the firm.” No men are admitted to the benefits of the system until they have worked a year in the establishment, whilst for women the term of probation is fixed at three years. The employer states that the system has had a good effect upon the work and character of the men. Four instances are mentioned by Dr. Frommer of profit-sharing in agriculture ; but in two cases the system appears to have been abandoned. On the estates of Herr Thunen, at Tellow, in Mecklenburg- Schwerin, and Her Neumann, at Posegnick, in East Prussia, it was introduced in 1847 and 1854 respectively, and remains in force. In the first case the labourers receive half of any surplus remaining after a certain definite sum has been taken from the receipts for the employer’s profits. The labourers’ share is deposited in a savings’ bank, but the interest on it is paid directly to the men themselves. In the second case the men receive 8 per cent, of the nett profits, one-third directly and two-thirds in the form of an account to their credit in a savings bank. Besides the 18 firms mentioned two fresh instances are reported by the factory inspector for Hanover in 1890, one at a large wool-combing factory at Blumenthal, and the other in some saw-mills at Nienburg ('). B. Workmen’s Insurance. 1. Insurance Funds prior to 1883. The earliest form of workmen’s insurance in Germany is to be found in the provision made by the mediaeval guilds for the support of members incapacitated by any cause from supporting themselves. Both the guilds of handicraftsmen and the associations of journeymen provided for the care of the sick, the poorer guilds by subscribing to the hospitals attached to the religious houses and the richer guilds by building and main- taining hospitals of their own. All these societies provided for the burial of the dead, and bestowed a sum of money upon the survivors for the payment of necessary expenses. The widow of a master craftsman remained in possession of his business, and was entitled to choose two of the most efficient of the journeymen to conduct her affairs. In spite of the loss of their independence, the guilds maintained their funds for the support of members in distress, subject to certain modifications introduced by the Universal Code for the Prussian States for the sake of preventing abuses. A journeyman falling ill, whether at work or on his travels, was entitled to receive medical care at the expense of the journeymen’s fund, formed by the compulsory con- tributions of the journeymen employed at the given place. If this did not suffice the trade fund, or the property of the guild, was called into requisition, and failing this, the local poor fund, or, iu the last resort, the city treasury. Associations of journeymen were at this period forbidden by law ( see p. 25) ; but the journeymen might, if they wished it, elect a so-called “Elder” (Altc/eseUe), and put him in charge of a fund formed by themselves for the relief of distressed journeymen. This fund was subject to the control of the guild. These benefit funds did nothing to assist factory workers ; their advantages were confined to artisans, and the rise of the factory system made it necessary to supplement the action of the guilds ( 2 ). I 1 ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 49. An ., “ Gewinnbeteiligung,” Wirminghaus. Gilman und Katscher, “DieTeiiung des Ge*ch;iftsgewmns,” 1891. Frommer, “DieGewinnbe- teiligung,” 188(1. F. O. Report, Misc., Series, No. 212, 1891. Amtliche- Mitteilungen aus den Jahres-berichten der Fabrik-Aufsiclitsbeainten, 1890, p. 244. ( 2 ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Stuntsvvissenschaflen, vol. I., p. 519. Art., “ Arbeiterversicherung,” (Deutschland), Honigmimn. Til certain industries provision had already been made for the needs of the workmen; the miners had their friendly societies, and the interests of seamen, domestic servants, and agricultural labourers were the subject of legal regulation. Any seaman falling ill before entering upon a voyage for which he was engaged was entitled to a fourth part of his hire or a month’s paj r ; if he fell ill on the voyago, all expenses must be paid by his employer. If he died, his heirs were entitled to a quarter, half, or the whole of the hire ; or pay for one, two, or four months according to whether the death occurred before sailing, on the voyage out, or on the voyage back. Domestic servants contracting any disease through their work must be cared for by their employer until they were again able to earn their bread ; in other cases they received tem- porary care, but their employers were entitled to deduct the expense from their wages. Agricultural labourers bonded to an estate and the orphan children of such labourers must be supported by the landowner. The miners’ friendly societies (Bruderladen or Knapp- schaften) were called into existence very early by the necessity of some provision against the dangers of that industry. Associations for mutual aid supported by regular contributions from the miners, certain sums arising from a tax upon the raw produce, and other contributions on the part of the mine-owners arose at a very early period ; indeed, there is already mention of them at the end of the thirteenth century. The Prussian Code of 1794 laid down that all mining companies should reserve two free shares for the benefit of the sick and poor funds ; sick miners were to receive their wages for the first four to eight weeks of their sickness ; after this period they must be supported by the friendly society’s fund, which must also pay all medical or funeral expenses. The chief duty of the friendly society consisted, however, in the support of the permanently disabled, and of the widows and orphans of deceased members. Other allowances were sometimes made in exceptional cases. These societies, at first voluntary, were made compulsory by a Prussian law of 1854 for all the mines, blast furnaces, smelting works, and salt works belonging to the Prussian State. The funds were administered at first by the mining officials ; afterwards the miners themselves were ad- mitted to a share in their administration, but the officials still possessed a right of control. The Prussian Mining Law of 1865 restricted the power of the officials and gave greater powers of self-government to the societies. It also distinguished between fully qualified and partially qualified members, the fully qualified being those who have belonged to the society for a certain period, have not exceeded a certain age, and have not committed any criminal act, or contracted any disease likely to induce premature infirmity. These members are entitled to free medical aid in case of sickness, a sick allowance, a funeral allowance, a life-long pension if invalided through no obvious fault of their own, an allowance to the widow until her death, unless she marries again, and an allowance for the education of children up to fourteen years of age. Workmen and employers must contribute regularly to the fund, and the contributions of the employers must be at least half those of the workmen. These pro- visions, as will appear hereafter, have been modified and elaborated in detail by subsequent Imperial legis- lation. At the beginning of 1873 the number of miners’ societies was 91, including 2,820 mines. The total membership was about 235,000, more than half of which was drawn from the mines of Silesia, Westphalia, the Khine provinces, and the Saarbriick district. The total income of the societies was over 8,000,000 marks, and the untaxed capital over 15,000,000 marks (')• The tendency of Prussian legislation in the middle of the present century was, on the whole, towards the removal of legislative restrictions. Freedom of trade, freedom of migration, and freedom of combination would appear consistent with a voluntary system of insurance, but, except in a very few German States, friendly societies and insurance funds were never com- pletely freed from State control. In Prussia the complete liability of masters for their servants was removed, and the abolition of compulsory guilds brought with it the abolition of the obligation formerly resting upon non-guild members to provide for sick workmen. The consequent dissolution of many of the (M Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol I., p. 519. Art., “Arbeiterversicherung” (Deutschland), Honigmann, vol. IV., Art., " Knnppschaftskassen,” Emminghaus. Rosin, “ Das Rrcht der Arbeiterversicherung,” 1893, pp. 1-9. Tolle, “ Die Lage der Berg und Hutten Arbeiter im Oberharze, 1892. K 3 (A.) Early legislation for special industries. (c.) Other benefit funds. (i.) Factory andartisans’ funds in Prussia. 72 ItOYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUlt : guilds, and the breaking-up of the journeymen’s benefit funds led to such an immense increase in the burden imposed upon the communes for the support of the poor that the Industrial Code of 1845 empowered the com- munes to make byelaws compelling all workmen to subscribe to provident insurance funds. An Order in Council of 1849 gave the communes the additional right of calling upon the employers to organise such funds and to support them by contributing a sum equal to half that contributed by the workmen ; the employers might also make advance payments into the fund on behalf of the workmen, and deduct the sum from their wages at the next pay day. These measures were to be adopted in the case of factory owners and factory hands as well as in that of artisans and their employers. A further law of 1854 declared the principle of local compulsion to be applicable to the formation of provident funds and friendly societies. It gave such societies the right of legal personality, and declared that the claims of persons entitled to benefits were not transferable. Half the expenses of administration might be borne by the communes. The previous regulations had been received with little intelligence and much indifference by many of the local authorities, and had encountered stubborn resistance on the part of the manufacturers. In spite of the publication by the Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Public Works of numerous instructions, explanations, and model regulations, the communes refused to see the advantages which they would derive from a diminntion of the number of persons likely to become a State charge. Up to the end of 1853 only 226 communes had submitted the statutes of provident funds for approval, and only 58 of these statutes made any provision for contributions on the part of the employer. After the passing of the Law of 1854 the movement advanced more rapidly. By the end of 1863 there were 3,724 funds in the old provinces of Prussia, including 2,355 for artisans, with 282,925 members and a capital of 720,543 marks ; 1,257 for factory workers, with 315,311 members, and a capital of 4,494,312 marks, and 112 for journeymen and factory workers, combined with 29,431 members and a capital of 146,115 marks. In the new provinces there were 974 funds, with 60,345 members, and a capital of 510,387 marks. In Schleswig Holstein the mutual aid societies, which had originated in the days of the guilds, were many of them still in existence ; Hanover had established insurance funds, supported by workmen alone, by a law of 1848, and in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, compulsory funds for artisans had been established as early as 1816. There was great variety amongst these different funds with regard to their statutes and the amount contributed to their support by the employers. In 1868 the employers in the new provinces only contributed five per cent, of the total sum required, whilst in the old provinces their contribution to the artisans’ funds amounted to seven per cent., and to the factory funds to 35 per cent, of the whole. The statistics taken in 1874 show an increase throughout the old provinces of 237 in the number of funds, 87,210 in the number of members, and 6,000,000 marks in the capital, whilst in the new provinces the funds had decreased by 58, but the members had in- creased by 20,061, and the capital by 450,000 marks. The artisans’ funds were sometimes confined to one industry and at other times included members of different industries ; the factory funds were sometimes for a single establishment, or for the different establish- ments belonging to one employer, and at other times included establishments belonging to various employers. 'Women were admitted to membership. In some cases sick and burial funds were kept distinct, in others the two were combined, and in a lew cases pension funds and allowances to widows and children were added after the example of the miners’ societies. The members’ contributions in the case of the artisans’ and journey- men’s funds were, aS a rule, the same for all ; in the factory funds they were often graduated according to age, sex, family standing, and average wages. The extent and duration of the benefits given varied greatly in the case of different funds. The administration, the share given to the employers, the expenses of manage- ment, and the financial position of the funds also admitted of great variety ; in some cases there was a large reserve fund, in others scarcely any capital at all. (’) (ii.) Factory The majority of the other German States found that, funds' Vn anS as * n Prussia, the surviving guild and journeymen’s other funds, after the removal of the old limitations on German industry, required to be supplemented by some system States. of compulsory subscription to. provident and insurance (') Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, vol. I., p. 519, Art., Arbeiterversicherung (Deutschland),” Honigmann. funds, though the compulsory formation of these funds was only undertaken in a few instances, as, for example in Oldenburg. A Saxon law of 1862, amended in 1868, obliged journeymen and factory workers to contribnte to a sick and burial fund which must fulfil certain conditions as to security. Employers were empowered to deduct the contribui ions due from the workmen from their wages ; where funds did not exist the autho- rities might constitute them, and include all workmen who did not already subscribe to a voluntary fund. Similar laws existed in Thuringia, Brunswick, and other States; hut there is no information as to the extent to Avhich they were observed. In Mecklenburg, journey- men and apprentices were obliged either to subscribe to the fund' formerly belonging to their trade, or to some other voluntary fund controlled by the communal authorities, whilst the Hamburg Industrial Code of 1864 provided that every “ workman employed in trade ” ( Goscliaftsa/rbeiter ) must contribute to a fund. The employer is made responsible for obedience to the law on the part of the employed, and must provide all necessaries for sick workmen, and pay the funeral expenses of those who die, if they are either non- contributors to a fund or are in arrears with their payments. In the South German States the care of sick workmen devolved upon the poor law administra- tors ; but they in return were entitled to levy a charge upon those who availed themselves of this provision. The employers might advance these payments on behalf of the workmen, but were not obliged to make any contribution on their own account. Both in Bavaria and in Wiirtemberg, however, largo employers were required to form special funds for the insurance of workmen in their factories, and to contribute a pro- portion of the necessary capital. (') As early as 1848 special funds were formed for rail- (in.) Special way servants on the Prussian railways. The movement funds for originated partly with the men themselves, aided by the servants directors and authorities. In 1848 and the following year provident societies were formed amongst the men employed in the Berlin workshops as well as amongst the permanent employes at certain stations. A Cabinet Order of August 31st, 1859, established funds for the employes on the State railways, and in the subsidiary workshops and factories, which furnished aid in sickness, funeral allowances, pensions for permanent invalids, and allowances for widows and orphans. Two- thirds of the sum required were contributed by the employes, and the remaining third by the railway fund. In some cases the workmen had already established funds of their own and resisted the attempt on the part of the State to supersede these by a State fund. The establishment of the State fund had, therefore, to he delayed, but gradually funds of some kind were formed on all lines, and a clause was frequently introduced into new concessions requiring the company to organise a relief fund. By the end of 1874, 20 funds had been formed on the State railways with 18,078 mem- bers, six on private railway lines under State control with 20,964 members, and 39 on private lines with 26,818 members ; their respective capital amounted to 9,750,000 marks, 10,800,000 marks and 19,750,000 marks. ( 2 ) The co-incidence of the formation of the German (iv.) Trade Empire with the great increase in the movement union fund.' towards the organisation of labour caused the attitude of the Imperial Government towards the question of the uniform regulation of insurance funds and friendly societies to he favourable to the free or voluntary system. Both the trade unions and the Socialist work- men’s associations attached much importance to the formation of benefit funds, and the Goverment was disposed to further the formation of such voluntary associations. The Printers’ Union had already a well- organised fund for giving assistance to members in sickness or permanently invalided, Lassalle’s General Association of German working men had proposed the formation of a German Workmen’s Insurance Society, and the Iiirsch-Duncker trade unions were promoting the formation of national mutual aid societies for the difierent trades on the principles of self-government. Consequently the trade unionists desired a standard law only, allowing free scope for individual variations hut giving their funds a definite legal position. The Industrial Code of 1869 compromised the matter by upholding the local and compulsory regulations of the various States, hut exempting all workmen who could be shown to subscribe to any voluntary fund. A (>) Lexis, " Handworterbuch tier Staatswissenschaften, vol. I., I>. 519, Art-,' “Arbeiterversicherung (Deutschland),” Honigmann. (-) Lexis. “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaftin ” vol. I., p. 519. Art., “Arbeiterversicherung (Deutchland),” Honigmann. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 73 ( d .) Causes immediately leading up to the Compulsory Insurance Laws of 1883, 1884, and 1889. difficulty then arose as to whether subscription to any fund exempted a workman from the obligation to subscribe to a compulsory fund, or whether the voluntary fund chosen must he one whose rules had received State approval. The magistrates (Behorden) decided in favour of the latter alternative, the courts ( Geriojvfe ) in favour of the former, and the uncertainty prevailing increased the general desire for a legal standard. The result was the law of 187G, amending the Industrial Code, but still preserving the intermediate position of maintaining compulsory funds, whilst permitting those who chose to subscribe to any registered voluntary fund which fulfilled certain conditions laid down by the law with regard to local administration, expenditure of funds, extent of benefits allowed, and contributions required, and separation of all benefit funds from the general funds of a trade union or other society. Existing funds might either modify their rules so as to obtain registration or continue to exist as 1 ‘ unauthorised funds” ( wilde Rassen). The Ilirsch Dunckcr trade unions profited by this legislation, since by converting all their funds into registered funds they obtained definite legal recognition. Their membership showed some increase, but the great bulk of the German work- men still turned in preference to the Socialist asso- ciations, whose numbers advanced rapidly up to the passing of the law of 1878. Very few communes availed themselves of the power afforded to them by the law of forming compulsory funds. Up to the end of 1880 there were only ‘278 in Prussia, and 20 in the rest of Germany. At the same date there were in Prussia 559 workmen’s sick funds with 123,000 members which had obtaiued registration ; 112 of these were formed after 1876 ; the remainder had re-modelled their statutes. The old Prussian compulsory funds, formed under the previous legislation, survived to Ihe number of 4,312 with 716,738 members. In 1881 64 local compulsory funds were formed and 430 registered, of which 288 were new and 142 rc-modelled. Of the 400 new funds only 152 were the result of the free initiative of the members, and only half of these were exclusively composed of workmen. The resuscitation of the Guilds and their funds iri 1881 did something to extend the system of insurance ; but in very few cases did either these or the trade unions provide anything beyond sick and funeral benefits. The Printers’ Union, indeed, the Union of Engineers and Metal Workers and a general German Associated Invalid Fund, formed by Dr. Hirseh in 1869, gave pensions to members, and some of the Socialist associations made efforts in this direction. For the rest provision for the infirm and aged was left in the main to the poor law, to private beneficence, and to the action of certain private Societies. A special fund formed by the Crown Prince Frederick and known as the Emperor William's Fund was applied to this pur- pose, hut the proposal made in the Reichstag to introduce compulsory insurance against old age and infirmity was rejected in favour of leaving this question to be solved by private associations or individuals. (*) Various causes combined to induce the Imperial Government in 1881 to adopt a more decided line of action with regard to workmen’s insurance than had characterised its previous policy. It has been shown that from the middle of the century onwards there had been a decided tendency on the part of the Prussian and German Governments to supplement the voluntary system by compulsion, hut as long as there appeared to be any hope of achieving the desired result by means of private associations or local methods, the Imperial Government appears to have been reluctant to put forward any uniform or far-reaching scheme. The law of 1876 had not, however, produced the results which were expected of it ; the communes were slow to act, and as Dr. Rosin says, “ the desire to join sick funds “ of their own free will is certainly not present to “ any great extent amongst (German) workmen.” Then again, even apart from the Government’s desire to provide some counter weight to the repressive measures against the Socialists, the actual dissolution of a number of funds belonging to their organisations made an appreciable difference in the necessity for the formation of fresh compulsory funds. Further, there was strong feeling amongst the supporters of workmen’s insurance that the existing law was both anomalous and inadequate. Local variations, unimportant at a time when there was little migrating either from one locality or from one industry to another, became a hardship in a period of frequent changes, both of pro- fession and of residence. A wide-spread desire for (') Lexis, “ Handwortertmch der Staatswisscuschaftcn,” vol. I., p. 519. A rl “ Arbeiteiversieherung ( Deutschland),” Honigtnann. some provision for the infirm and aged other than that afforded by the poor law found expression in such proposals as that made to the Reichstag in 1876, and the demand for reform in the law as regards the liability of employers was a still more potent factor in preparing the public mind for an advance. As the law stood prior to 1874 the burden of proof in the case of a demand for compensation for injuries received in mines, quarries, or factories rested upon the injured workman, who was only entitled to relief if he coulcl show the accident to he due to the fault or negligence of the employer or his officials. An employe injured on a railroad was entitled to compensation, unless the employers could plead circumstances beyond their control ( vis major) or fault on the part of the injured person. The expense incurred in such actions for compensation deterred the workmen from bringing them, whilst on the other hand the satisfaction of just claims was often a heavy burden upon the individual employer, and the whole working of the law was a source of growing bitterness between employer and employed. Since the passage of the Accident In- surance Law it is stated that litigation has greatly decreased. The necessity for reform in these directions helped to influence the legislative proposals of the Government, though the Imperial message of 1881 leaves no doubt that the desire to afford some positive evidence of their goodwill towards the working classes, and thus to counterbalance the Socialist propaganda was the paramount object of the framers of the insurance laws. In the words of the message “ the “ healing of social ills cannot he effected entirely by “ repressing the excesses of Social Democrats, but “ must be equally sought by positive endeavour to “ promote the welfare of the working classes. ”(') 2. Compulsory Insurance Laws. By the law of June 15th, 1883, supplemented by the amendment laws of May 28th, 1885, May 5th, 1886, and April 10th, 1892, insurance against sickness is made compulsory upon the persons, specified in five classes, under the Amendment Act of 1892. These classes comprise, first, persons engaged in mines, salt- works, factories, blast furnaces, transport by rail, trans- port by river or canal, dockyards, building and kindred industries; second, persons engaged in commerce or handicrafts ; third, clerks in lawyers’ offices and courts of justice, or in the service of insurance companies ; fourth, persons engaged in industries employing steam as a motive power ; and, finally, all persons engaged in the postal and telegraph services and in naval or military administration. The Amendment Act ot 1885 specially included persons engaged in packing goods, loading ships, commissariat, and other subsidiary in- dustries. whilst the Amendment Act of 1886 made the sick insurance laws applicable to workmen engaged in agriculture and forestry, though such an extension could only he made by statutory regulation on the part of the local authorities, or special enactment of the Imperial Chancellor. It has been made in Hesse, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Baden, and Saxony, in the case of agricultural and forest labourers per- manently engaged, domestic servants and factory officials not earning more than 100Z. a year. In Bavaria and Wurtemberg servants and agricultural and forest labourers receive assistance from the poor law as mentioned above (see p. 72). Persons engaged in in- dustries for which insurance is compulsory are exempted from the operation of the law if their term of engage- ment is for a shorter period than one week, or if, as in the case of soldiers or civil servants, their contract of service entitles them to benefits equal to those which they would receive under the sick insurance law. The crews of sea-going ships are also exempt since they are already provided for under the Commercial Code and the Shipping Act of 1871 ( see p. 71). Further, apothecaries’ assistants and apprentices are exempt, as well as all clerks and officials of the prescribed classes whose salaries exceed 6f marks a day, or 2.000 marks a year. Persons incapacitated by injury, physical defects, chronic disease, or old age, from any hut partial and temporary employment, may he ex- empted ou their own petition, subject to the approval of the poor-law union concerned, and similar exemption may be granted to persons having a legal claim upon their employers equal in extent to the amount which (>) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaflasn,” Vol. L, p. 519. Art., “ Arbeiterversioherung (Deutschland)," lloniirmaun, Vol. V. Art.. “ Unl'allversicherune,” Zaeher. Schoent'elil. “ Les Principles Na- tionals de 1’ Assurance, OuvriSre.” Rosin, “ Das Reclit der Arbeiterver- sicherung,” 1893, pp. 15-19. Boss? und von Woedtke, “ lnval|ditats mill Altersversicherung,” 1893, up. 3. 4. Forum. Sept. 1893. Art., liy J. Graham Brooks, p. 121. K 4 (a.) Sick insurance, (i.) Persons subject to the' law. 74 . ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: (ii.) Organi- sation ol funds. (iii.) Con- ditions of member- ship. they would tecoivo under the sick insurance laws, pro- vided that the employer’s capacity to satisfy such claim is assured. Further, apprentices having a claim upon their emp’oyers for maintenance in sickness during a period of 13 weeks may be exempted upon the petition of the employer, and a like exemption may be claimed by the managers of workmen’s colonies for the un- employed workmen temporarily employed by them. Statutory insurance similar to that in force for agri- cultural and forest labourers may be extended to persons engaged for less than one week, and therefore otherwise exempt, persons employed by the communes, members of an employer’s family assisting him in his occupation, workers at home, commercial assistants, and apprentices. Domestic servants and persons with incomes under 2,000 marks, engaged in industries in which insurance is obligatory, though not themselves subject to the law are by law allowed to contribute to communal sick funds, and this permission may be extended by local statute to other persons whose incomes do not exceed the legal limit. (') The organisation of the sick insurance funds is purely local in character, and the law interfered as little as possible with existing institutions. The guiding prin- ciple adopted was that of the grouping of the insured persons in local associations according to their respec- tive industries, and it was desired to leave these local associations as far as possible to the government of the employers and workmen concerned. Local sick funds were, therefore, to be formed by the members of a given industry, provided the number of persons insured in such a fund did not fall below a hundred. Where each industry is feebly represented different industries may, with the consent of the district authorities, unite to form one fund with rules drawn up by the communes concerned. These funds are controlled by a committee and by a general meeting of all the members ; the employers must be represented on both these bodies in proportion to the extent of their contributions. Different funds may combine for specific purposes affecting their common interests. Besides these local or district funds special funds may be formed by employers for the workmen in their factories, provided that such workmen are not less than 50 in number. The commune, or the committee of the local sick fund, may oblige an employer to form such a fund, if he employs more than 50 workmen, or if the industry is a specially unhealthy one. The persons insured in such a fund must have a voice in drawing up its rules, but the employer may reserve to himself the post of chair- man of the general meeting, and must be responsible for the costs of auditing and managing the funds. Special building funds for the workmen employed by large building firms may be formed by the district authorities on the lines of the factory funds. The existing guild and miners’ friendly societies’ funds are recognised by the law, but must afford the measure of relief which it prescribes. Finally, a system of com- munal insurance has been instituted for the benefit Gf all persons not included in any of the other funds. It may be conducted by such commune individually, or by a number of communes collectively ; the latter alternative is to be adopted when the number of persons to be insured is small. Free insurance funds are recognised when they afford the prescribed minimum of relief and have registered their rules as laid down by the law of 1876. The Imperial Insurance Office exercises a right of control over the whole series of funds, and may at anytime order the dissolution of any fund which does not comply with the law, or which has not a sufficient number of subscribers to ensure security. ('-) Every person entering upon an industry in which insurance is compulsory becomes ipso facto a member of the sick fund established for that industry in the given district. Employers are required to give notice within three days of all persons engaged by them who are not contributors to a sick insurance fund, and notice must also be given by the managers of all voluntary funds of all persons ceasing to subscribe to the bands, or descending into a lower wage category. The obli- gation to subscribe to a fund ceases on the abandonment of an industry for which insurance is compulsory, (■) Lexis," Handworterbuch der Staatswissenehaften,” vol. IV., p.858. Art., " Krankenversicherung,” Van der Borght. Bellom, “ Assurance contre la Maladie,” 1892, pp. 12-21. “The Workmen’s Insurance of the German Empire.” Chicago Guide. 1893. Rosin, “Das Recht der Arbeiterversicherung,” 1893, pp. 490-500. Ffatleroth, “ Fulmer durcli die Gesammte Arbeiterversicherung.” ( 2 ) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 858. Art., " Krankenversicherung,” Van der Borght. Bellom, “ L’ Assurance contre la Maladie,” 1892, pp. 28-34. “ The Workmen’s Insurance of the German Empire,” Chicago Guide, 1893. Rosin, “ Das Recht der Arbeiterversicherung,” 1893, p. 30. Pfafferoth “ Fiihrer durcli die Gesammte Arbeiterversicherung.” though if such abandonment is for a temporary cause such as naval or military service or periodic suspension of work incidental to the industry, the insured person becomes entitled to the full benefits of the fund on resumption of payments without the necessity of making up arrears or paying a fresh entrance fee. Workmen out of employment, who have been members of a fund for at least three weeks, are entitled to the benefits of the fund, if they fall sick within three weeks after they have lost their employment. Any person insured in a communal sick fund, who relinquishes work for which insurance is compulsory without entering upon any other work, may continue to be a member of the fund as long as he pays the proper contributions and remains in the same district. Members of non-communal sick funds may prolong their membership, although they no longer belong to the given industry, if they give notice of their intention within a week, or on the first occasion when payments are due. In the case of building and factory funds such members are allowed no voice in the control of the funds. Any member of a compulsory fund may at any time leave it, and become a member of a voluntary fund, by giving notice three months beforehand of his intention and indicating the voluntary fund of which he intends to become a member. A member of any fund who has not paid his subscriptions for two successive periods loses his right to the benefits of the fund.(‘) The benefits to which subscribers are entitled include (iv.) Bone- free medical aid and an allowance during sickness, as fits- well as, in certain funds, an allowance to women during their confinement, and an allowance for funeral expenses in the case of a member, his wife, or child. Free medical attendance and all remedies needed are sup- plied to persons insured in any fund for the whole period of their illness, or at least for thirteen weeks ; if it is so directed by the statutes of that fund, this aid may be extended to the families of members. Certain of the voluntary funds do not give free aid in kind, but allow three-fourths of the average daily wages instead of one-half. The sick allowance begins from the third day after the beginning of the illness and continues throughout the period of disability, provided that that period does not exceed thirteen weeks. It is usually calculated at 50 per cent, of the usual daily wage for the district in the case of communal funds, and "at 50 per cent, of the average daily wage of the class of persons to which the insured person belongs in the case of other funds, provided that that wage does not exceed three marks a day. In special cases the limit of wages may be fixed by statute at four marks. Payment for the first three days of the illness and for Sundays and holidays may be made by special permission of the directors of the funds. Funds other than communal funds may continue the sick allowance beyond thirteen weeks, and even for as long as a year, and they may increase the amount from half to three-fourths of the average daily wage. Treatment in a hospital may be substituted for the grant of free medical and sick pay ; in the case of persons with families this is as a rule only done with their own consent, unless the illness is one which cannot be properly treated at home, or unless the patient has transgressed the rules of the fund and requires special supervision. In the case of persons without families treatment in a hospital is obligatory. The families of members in hospital, if dependent upon their work, are entitled to receive half the sick allow- ance. The statutes of any fund may determine that a member who has already received aid for 13 weeks within the calendar year shall, if he again falls ill of the same disease, be entitled only to the legal minimum of support. They may also withhold support, entirely or partially for a year, from persons who have forfeited civil rights, and from persons who have brought on a disease by their own excesses, for the period of the disease. The assistance afforded to persons insured in more than one fund may also be curtailed when, if granted in full by the various funds, it would exceed the average wages. Members of funds, who are not legally compelled to insure themselves, are often only entitled to receive assistance after six weeks’ member- ship ; in some cases this period is extended to six months. The allowance to women during their con- finement is paid by all funds, except communal funds, to women who have been members for six months. It can also be given, if the statutes so direct, to the wives (’) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 358. Art., " Krankenversicherung,” van der Borght. Bellom, “ L’Assurance contre la Maladie,” 1892, pp. 44-62. Rosin, “ Das Recht der Arbeiterversicherung,” 1893, p. 30. “Workmen’s Insurance of the German Empire,” Chicago Guide, 1803. Pfalleroth, “ Fiihrer durch die Gesammte Arbeiterversicherung.” REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 75 of members who are not themselves members, and is reckoned in the same way as the sick allowance. It is usually paid for four weeks, but in some cases the time is extended to six weeks. Burial money is also paid by all but communal funds, and is reckoned at 20 times, or in some funds 10 times, the average daily wage. In some cases two-thirds of this sum is paid at the death of a member’s wife, and half at the death of a child, which is not itself insured. Some funds make a con- valescent allowance in certain cases in addition to their other benefits ; but the communal funds confine them- selves to the legal minimum free medical aid, and half the usual wages for 13 weeks. (') (v.) Con- The general principle on which the contributions to "of* funds all funds, excepting those of the miners’ friendly societies, are assessed is that two-thirds must be paid by the persons insured, and one-third by their employers. Small employers employing no more than two workmen liable to insurance may be exempted from contributing by a special resolution of the commune. As a rule, the contributions amount in all to 1J per cent, of the average daily wages, 1 per cent, paid by the workman and i per cent, by the employer. With the consent of the district; authorities, however, the amount may be raised even in the case of communal insurance to 2 per cent., and in the case of funds belonging to special trades, the percentage may be higher and may be graduated for different classes of workmen. It may not exceed 4£ per cent, in all, 3 per cent for the workman and 1$ per cent, for the employer. The relation between receipts and expenses must be re-adjusted annually, and if the balance is found to be on the wrong side the contributions are either raised or the benefits diminished. If, on the other hand, the receipls exceed the expenses to a greater extent than is required for the reserve fund, the benefits may be increased or the contributions diminished. Every fund is obliged to maintain a reserve equal to one-tenth of the annual contributions, or to one year’s average expenditure. All funds except communal funds may also exact an entrance fee, not exceeding the sum of six weeks’ contributions. This entrance fee is paid by the workman alone, but is, as a rule, advanced by the employer. The employer also pays the workmen’s contributions and deducts the amount from their wages. If a new member has within the last 13 weeks been a member of another fund, he cannot be asked to pay an entrance fee ; the same rule holds good in the case of military service, and in the other cases mentioned above (see p 73). Where assistance has been given out of sick funds to persons chargeable upon the poor law, or having legal claims upon the individuals, the amount can be recovered from the indi- viduals or from the poor-law administrators. Similarly the latter can recover from the managers of the sick funds any assist ince which they have afforded to insured persons entitled to benefits. (*) The statistics collected by the Imperial Insurance (yi.) Statis- Office for 1885-1890, together with those for 1892, are tios " given in the following tables Table 0 1. SICK INSURANCE STATISTICS. Total Result, 1885-1892. (*) N umber of Funds. Number of Members. Cases of Sickness. Duration of Sickness. Contribu- Total Expen- diture. Year. Com- munal Funds. Local Trade Funds. Factory Funds. Building Funds. Guild Funds Voluntary Funds. Special Statutory Funds. tions and Entrance Fees. Total Receipts. 1885 - 18,942 545,200 1,161,200 1,201,400 11,400 15,800 656,000 136,300 1,804,800 Days. 25,301,200 Marks. 59,135,100 Marks. 66,100,300 Marks. 52,646,800 1880 - 19,357 580,500 1,532,000 1,268,800 13,100 27,100 741,000 145,500 1,712,700 26,281,400 62,128,500 72,966,400 5S, 745, 500 1887 - 19,715 623,500 1,699,800 1,320,500 12,100 34,600 724,200 145,300 1,738,900 27,112,700 67,283,000 78,928,300 61,068,300 1888 - 20,408 625,200 1,905,500 1.378,100 17,300 43,900 722,300 140,800 1,762,500 29,628,800 74,849,100 91,914,400 68,588,700 1889 - 20,822 886,000 2,218,500 1,462,700 27,700 51,500 755,800 143,400 2,042,100 33,428,700 84,301,900 102,529,800 78,553,000 1890 - 21,173 994,000 2,449,700 1,611,800 21,400 53,600 786,000 144,100 2,422,300 39,176,700 91,229,700 114,558,300 92,709,600 1891 - 21,498 1,041,193 2,568,132 1,693,517 10,644 61,875 819,403 140,036 2,397,826 - 96,700,000 - 98,800,000 1892 - 22,000 7,723,000 2,752,000 43,500,000 132,000,000 124,000,000 110,000,000 (*) Lexis, “ Handworterlmch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 865. Art., “ Krankenversioherung,” van der Borght. "Workmen’s Insurance of the German Empire,” Chicago Guide, Imperial Insurance Office, Berlin. Official Statistics for 1891. Table 0 2. Average Result, 1885-1890.(f) Marks per annum per Person Insured. Per case of Sickness. Relief per 100 Insured. Relief per 100 Marks. Contributions of Expenses of Sick Days. Sick Persons. Sick Pay. Medi- cine. Child- birth. Em- ployers. Em- ployed. Relief. Manage- ment. Funds. Exponscs. Male. Female. Total. Doctor. Hospital. Burial. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. 369 10’99 11-77 0’81 9"72 15’7 32-41 37-4 31-8 36-3 47-91 19-97 16-04 10-49 4-28 1-31 (t) “ Workmen’s Insurance of the German Empire,” Chicago Guide, Imperial Insurance Office, Berlin. {b ) Accident The reco g n i se< l necessity for an amendment in the insurance. 1 ' law regarding employers’ liability induced the Imperial (i.) Develop- Government to introduce a Bill on the subject in 1881. mentofthe Though, in the end, the sick insurance law was passed first, this was merely due to the fact that the pro- visions of the accident insurance law gave rise to considerable difference of opinion, and that in the course of discussion it became clear that it would he impossible to define the limits of an employers’ liability unless the whole system of aid afforded to workmen during incapacity to work underwent a thorough revision The .Bill on accident insurance introduced in 1881 embodied the principle finally adopted in 1884, of making the employer liable for all injuries to the workmen not deliberately self- caused. The insurance was to be effected in one central fund (9 Lexis, " Hand wort erbuch tier Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 868. Art., “ Krankenversicherung,” van der Borght. Rosin, “ Das Recht der Arbeiterversicherung,” 1893, pp. 31, 484, 497-500. Bellom, “ L’ Assurance contre la Maladie,” 1892. pp. 27-31. "Work- men’s insurance of tlie German Empire,” Chicago Guide, 1893. Pfafleroth, “ Fiihrer durclt die Gesammte Arboitcrveisicherung.” (>) Lexis, “ Hanrtworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 858. Art., “ Krankenversicherung,” van der Borght. Itosin, "Das fteclit der Arbeiterversicherung,” 1893, p. 31. Beliom, “ L’Assuranee centre la Maladie,” 1892, pp. 75-83. “ Workmen’s Insurance of tho Gorman i Empire,” Chicago Guide, 1893. Pfafferoth, “ Fuhror dureh die Gesammte Arbeiterversicherung.’’ i 78420. L 7 (i ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : (li.) Persons included. (iii.) Organi- sation and member- ship. under impjri.il control, and the premiums were to be paid by State, employer, and employed in definite pro- portions. The Bill in that form failed to pass the Reichstag, and it was re-introduced in 1882 with various changes. The probationary period during which the injured workman was to he left to the care of sick insurance societies was prolonged from 4 to 13 weeks, but, on the other hand, 75 per cent, of the whole expense of insurance against accidents was made to devolve upon the employers, and the remaining 25 per cent, upon the State. Much greater importance was also given to the principle of corporate insurance, the Bill providing that employers in the same industry in each district should be formed into groups for the administration of the law. The Bill was referred to a committee, which was directed to present an oral report on the subject ; but up to the end of the session the report had not been presented, and the matter was left to stand over to a future date. The session of 1883 was occupied with the sick insurance law, and it was not until 1884 that the law in its present form was finally passed. It has since been amended in 1885, 1886, and 1887, by the successive inclusion under its provisions of employes in the postal and telegraph, naval and military services, agricultural and forest labourers, factory officials, seamen, and builders’ labourers. (‘) In its final form the legislation with regard to accident insurance obliges all employers to insure their workpeople and clerical staff not receiving more than 2,000 marks a year against all accidents, which may occur to them in the pursuit of their calling. The obligation holds good even where the employment is merely temporary and unpaid. The comprehensive scope of the law becomes apparent when it is seen that the only classes of wage-earners not entitled to its benefits are fishermen, artisans, domestic servants, messengers, and travelling mer- chants. All industries employing wind, water, steam, gas, or hot air as a motive power are included, as well as mining, working in metals, working in stone, well- digging, transport, loading and packing of goods and subsidiary industries of every kind. Captains of vessels, as well as agricultural and building employers, are allowed to insure themselves as well as their men, provided that the yearly income which they derive from their profession, does not exceed 2,000 marks. The obligation may also be extended by local statute to foremen or factory officials earning more than 2,000 marks, as well as to agricultural employers and their families, and builders not employing regular labourers. Employers may also obtain special powers by statute entitling them to insure themselves and other persons, even where their incomes exceed the legal limit. ( 2 ) For insurance purposes the employers in an industry are obliged to form themselves into a trade association ( Berufsgenossenschaft , see p. 22) which may extend throughout the Empire, or be confined to a particular district. Thus, in some industries, as for instance in mining, there is only one such association, whilst in others, as for instance in the textile industry, there are several. The total number of industrial associations at present organised is 64, including those of seamen and builders, whilst the agricultural associations number 48. This recognition of trade responsibility is regarded by Mr. Graham Brooks as one of the most valuable features of the law. The territorial principle of division is adopted for agriculture. Every employer becomes, ipso facto, a member of an association from the moment that he enters upon a given industry, or begins to administer a landed estate. The associations are divided into sections [with sectional committees, and their local affairs are carried on by trustees (Vertrauensmdnner). The statutes of every association must be approved by the Imperial Insurance Office, and the affairs of the association conducted by the Committee subject to the control of the office. Representatives must be elected amongst the workmen employed by the members of every association, and these must be given a voice in all matters affecting the workmen’s interests, especially in the matter of the means to be adopted for guarding machinery and preventing accidents. Courts of arbi- tration are to be established by every association or section of an association, consisting of a president and (') Rosin, “Das ltecht tier Arbeiterversicherung,” 1893, pp. 19-44. Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. VI., Art., “Unfallv Tsicheruntr,” Zacher. (-) Plafferoth, “ Fiihrer duveh die Gosammte A rbeiterversicherunir.” “ Etude Statist ique d* s Accidents du Travail." Paris. Oltiie du Travail, 1 S'.»2, i p. ‘.ML Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” Vol. VI. Ait., “ Unfallversicherunjr,” Zacher. four assessors, two of whom are to be chosen from amongst the representatives of the workmen. An appeal may be made from the decisions of these courts to the Imperial Insurance Office. Considerable delay is said to result from these appeals owing to the presure of work in the Imperial Insurance Office. In the case of builders, well-diggers and engineers, a special insti- tution exists for the insurance of workmen employed for less than six days, administered by the communal authorities instead of the individual employers. These authorities reckon the amount of premium due from each individual employer and recover from him the sum advanced by them on his behalf for the insurance of the workmen. In the case of postal and telegraph employes, employes -in the service of the naval and military administration, and workmen employed upon Govern- ment or Municipal buildings and public works generally, the place of the trade association is taken by the corre- sponding public body, and the duties of the association fulfilled by the executive of that public body.) 1 ). The benefits to which persons insured under the (i v ) Bene- Accident Insurance Laws are entitled include medical fits, treatment and remedies free and an allowance during the period of total or partial inability to work. For the first 13 weeks alter the accident the injured person remains a charge upon the fund to which he subscribes according to the sick insurance laws, but from the four- teenth week onward the Accident Insurance funds must provide the required medical aid and pay the injured workman, if totally disabled, a daily allowance equal to two-thirds of his average daily earnings. If the work- man is only partially disabled he receives a smaller allowance, fixed in each individual case by the association responsible. In case of death the survivors receive a sum equal to twenty days’ pay of the deceased workman for the funeral expenses ; the widow, until her re- marriage, is given an allowance equal to 20 per cent, of her husband’s wages, whilst 15 per cent, is allowed for every child under 15. who has lost one parent, and 20 per cent, if it has lost both. Other relations entirely dependent upon the deceased receive an allowance equal to 20 per cent, of his wages. The allowances made to widow and children must not exceed in all 60 per cent, of the wages of the deceased. In the case of industrial workmen the actual wages are taken as the basis of calculation, and the amount earned by the man during the last year ot work is divided by 365 to find the daily wage. Eor agricultural and forest labourers the average district wage is taken, because there is as a rule so little variation in individual cases ; the average w.age is also taken as a basis in the case of seamen but for a different reason, the variety of wages being here so great that it would be very difficult to ascertain a sailor’s actual earnings during the previous year. Foreigners injured in Germany are entitled to the benefits of insurance, but in case of disability likely to continue the associa- tion in question may discharge its liabilities by capital- ising the indemnity due and paying the sum down to the injured workman. If a foreign workman is killed, his relations have no claim to any pension unless they reside in Germany ( 2 ). As stated above, the total cost of insurance against (v.) Con- accidents in Germany is borne by the employers coilec- stitutionand tivelv. The sums due to persons entitled to compensa- of funds. 1 ” 6 tion are paid monthly through the post offices, and the trade associations liable repay the postal authorities at the end of five months. In addition to the payment of indemnities every association must form a reserve fund, the nucleus of which is a sum deposited at the end of the first year of its existence and equal to 300 per cent, of the total amount of indemnities paid during the year. At the end of the second year 200 per cent, of the indemnities paid during that year must be added, at the end of the third year 150 per cent., of the fourth year 100 per cent., of the fifth year 80 per cent., of the sixth year 60 per cent., and so on to the end of the eleventh year, diminishing each year by 10 per cent. From the twelfth year onwards the reserve fund is not augmented except by the addition of the interest ou the accumulating capital composing it. The cost of administration, which is very considerable and includes expenses involved in investigation, the costs of the arbitration courts, expenses incurred in the prevention t 1 ) Pfafteroth, “ Fiihrer (lurch die Gesammtc Arbeiterversicherung.” “ Etude Statistique des Accidents du Travail.” Paris. Office du Travail, 1993. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, 1891-2, vol. I., p. 427. Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenvchaften,” votVI., Art. " Unfallver- sicherung,” Zacher. Forum, Sept. 1893, Art. by J. Graham Brooks. ( 2 ) Pfafteroth “ Fiihrer durch die Gesannnte Arbeiterversicherung.” “ Itesultats Financiers de 1’ Assurance Obligatoire contre les Accidents du Travail.” Pans, Office du Travail, 1892. Lexis, Handworter- buch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. VI., Al t. “ Unfallversiehcrung,” Zacher. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 77 of accident?, current costs of administration and the expenses of establishing the association must be added to the total liabilities of the associations. “ Der Zim- merer," a workman’s paper, gives the costs for the Hamburg building trade at 21,689 marks, whilst the sum paid in indemnities was only 20,858 marks. Those total liabilities are distributed at the end of each year between the individual members in proportion to the amount of wages they pay to workmen in their employment. The subscriptions due from members of associations are calculated according to the degree of risk attaching to the particular industry, being much higher in some associations than in others. Every association is directed by the Imperial Insurance Office to revise its tariff every five years since, until the period is reached at which the pensions terminating in each year are equal to those originating and a balance can consequently be struck between receipts and expenditure, it is impossible to assign a fixed co-efficient of risk to each industry. At present the expenses are increasing annually ; between 1885 and 1890 the indemnities paid multiplied by nine times and a half, the costs of investigation rose from 0 ' 8 per cent, of the total expenditure to 1 ' 5 per cent., whilst the expense incurred in the prevention of accidents in- creased fivefold. On the other hand the costs of administration show little variation, and the propor- tion which they bear to the total sum' of wages paid shows a slight diminution. To meet this increased cost it lias been necessary to increase the contributions to be paid by employers, which constitute by far the largest part of the total receipts. These include, besides the sum in hand at the beginning of each year, the fines paid by employers for neglecting to observe the rules drawn up by the association to which they belong with a view to the prevention of accidents, interest and small contributions from various sources ; but the employers’ contributions have fur- nished sums varying from 98| per cent, in 1886 to 83-§ per cent, in 1890 of the total income of the associa- tions. Since 1888 the reserve fund of the associations as a whole has exceeded the expenditure. (') The contributions payable by the members of different (vl.) Cost of associations vary in proportion to the degree of risk insurance attaching to the industry and the cost of administra- o^ri^nT 6 tion. The statistics for 1890 show that taking these different two kinds of expenses together the carriage-drivers’ industries, association was assessed at the highest rate, viz., 913 marks per 1,000 marks of wages paid, whilst the association of brewers was next highest with 19T2 marks. On the other hand, taking indemnities alone, the order of the two was reversed. The following table shows the relative cost of insurance as well as the degree of risk in the various industries. .With regard to the place occupied by maritime navigation, it must be borne in mind that insurance was extended to that industry two years later than to others, and that the cost is therefore as yet proportionately less. It is also noticeable that the costs of administration in industries such as driving and chimney sweeping are proportion- ately greater than in more centralised industries. t 1 ) Pfafferoth, “ Fuhrer clurch die gessammte Arbeiterversichenuig.” “ RAsultats Financiers de l’Assurance Obligateiro centre les Accidents du Travail,” Paris, Office du Travail, 1892. Lexis, “ Handworter- buch der Staatswisscnschaften,” vol. VI. Art., “ Unfallversicherung,” Zacher. “ Der Zimmerer,” June 10, 1898. Table P 1. Classification of Industries according to Cost of Insurance and Bisk.* Industry. Total Cost of Insurance, including Compensation and Administration. Total Amount paid in Compensation, Total Number of Fatal Accidents. Total Number of Accidents for which Compensation was paid. Amount per 1,000 Marks in Wages. Order. Amount per 1,000 Marks in Wages. Order. Number per 1,000 insured. Order. Number per 1000 insured. Order. Driving of vehicles 19 13 i 8 91 2 2-26 1 9 41 3 Brewing - - 19 12 2 9 30 1 1-32 6 10 75 1 Flour mills - - 19 04 3 7 87 6 1 '05 9 7 20 5 Quarries - - 17 44 4 8 72 3 1-19 8 4 46 12 Mining - - 16 81 5 8 52 4 2-18 2 7 69 4 Packing and despatch of goods - 15 77 6 7 36 7 1-49 5 10 09 2 Paper making - - 14 94 7 7 14 8 0'80 13 7 04 6 River navigation - - 14 22 8 6 30 10 2'07 3 4 30 15 Maritime navigation - 13 73 9 4 36 17 1-91 4 1 96 26 Well digging ... - 13 32 in 8 31 5 0'78 14 4 58 11 Railways (private companies) - 13 11 li 6 70 9 1-21 7 5 39 9 Sugar refining ... - 12 99 12 6 29 11 0-49 19 ,3 26 19 Chimney sweeping - - 12 85 13 3 59 19 0-84 11 3 44 18 Building - ... - 12 38 14 6 27 12 0'83 12 4 28 16 Distilling - 12 33 15 5 39 15 0-66 15 4 35 13 Workers in wood - 11 75 16 5 59 14 0-52 18 6 05 7 Chemical industries - 11 74 17 5 91 13 0-90 10 5 26 10 Iron and steel - - - 9 88 18 4 58 16 0-56 17 5 83 8 Gas and water works - 9 23 19 4 10 18 0-65 16 3 80 17 Tramways ... - 7 34 20 3 25 20 0-29 22 2 13 24 Brick and tile making - 7 23 21 3 10 21 0-35 21 2 07 25 Food purveying ... - 7 01 22 3 01 22 0'25 23 4 31 14 Leather manufacture - 6 35 23 2 86 23 0 38 20 2 85 20 Glass manufacture _ 5 20 24 2 40 24 0-21 24 i 83 27 Textile trades ... - 4 39 25 2 04 25 0'19 25 2 16 23 Manufacture of musical instruments - 4 24 26 1 71 26 0'09 29 1 29 29 Metal work (precious and other metals) - 4 09 27 1 68 27 O' 11 2 7 2 55 21 Stationery - 4 05 28 1 46 28 o-io 28 2 37 22 Manufacture of mechanical instruments 3 87 29 1 29 30 0' 11 27 2 16 23 Potteries ... - 3 13 30 1 36 29 0'15 26 1 16 30 Printing .... - 2 77 31 1 09 31 0'07 30 1 07 31 Manufacture of clothing - - 2 27 32 0 97 32 O' 04 32 0 37 32 Manufacture of silk - - - 1 60 33 0 69 33 0-05 31 1 40 28 Manufacture of tobacco “ 1 35 34 0 43 34 0'03 33 0 36 33 (*) “Etude Statistique des Accidents du Travail,” Paris Office du Travail, 1892, “ Resultats Financiers de l’Assurance Obligatoire contre les Accidents du Travail,” Paris, Office du Travail, 1892. L 2 78 ROYAL COMMISSI OX ON LABOUR: Table P2. Statistics for Different Industries 1891. (') INDUSTRT. fl 0) 'd There- are besides four members chosen by the Federal Council and holding office for four years, two representatives of employers chosen by the employers’ trade associations under the Accident Insurance Law, two for agricultural associations, and two for those of seamen, whilst a similar number of workmen’s representatives are elected for the three classes of associations. These twelve representatives have thirty deputies. The duties of the office consist for the most part in drawing up regulations to supplement the general provisions of the Act, in interpreting doubtful clauses, deciding appeals, and publishing statistics. Its decision is final in all cases excepting refusal to certify the rules of an insurance association, when an appeal can be made to the Federal Council. (') The benefits secured to the insured persons include an allowance during invalidity and old age, and in the case of persons not subject to the Sick Insurance Laws medical care during sickness with a view to preventing permanent invalidity. The administrators of the Old Age and Invalidity law may require the sick insurance funds to provide more extensive aid for all subscribers to those funds ; but in that case they must be prepared to meet at least half of the cost. Any subscriber refusing to submit to the precautionary measures prescribed by the Old Age and Invalidity Insurance institutes loses his claim to an invalid allowance, if his illness results in permanent infirmity. In the event of the death of a subscriber before he becomes entitled to either the invalid or old-age pension, his widow or children under fifteen years of age may claim the return of all premiums paid by the deceased himself provided that those payments have extended over a term of five years. The same claim is allowed in the case of a woman who marries before she becomes entitled to a pension ; but the insurance office does not in either case return the contributions which have been paid by the employers. The allowances to insured persons, whether in old age or in invalidity, are in the great majority of cases paidin money only ; an exception to this rule may be made by local statute, where wages are as a rule paid in kind, as in the case of agricultural and forest labourers. For insurance purposes all German workmen are divided into four wage classes, those earning less than 350 marks a year, those earning from 350 to 550 marks, those earning from 550 to 850 marks, and those whose annual earnings exceed 850 marks. The average wage is put at 300 marks in Class I., 500 marks in Class II., 720 marks in Class III., and 960 marks in Class IV., and the premiums payable by the insured persons are correspondingly gradu ited ( see below). To obtain an invalid pension it is necessary to have been a subscriber to the fund for five contributory years, a contributory year being reckoned as 47 weeks, leaving a margin of five weeks for want of employment and similar contin- gencies. The term of subscription for an old-age pension is put at thirty contributory years, but the payments may be to a certain extent intermittent in either case. (•) Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenehaften,” vol. IV., p. 59S, Art., “ Invalidilats und Altersvursicherung,” v. Wocdtke, vol., V, p. 407, Art., “ Reichsversieheruiigsamt,” Bodiker. JBosse'und v. Woedtke, “ Invaliditats und A ltersvursieherung,” 1891, pp. 132-9. Spender, “ Tim State and Pensions in Old Age,” 1892, pp. 78-80. No attention is paid to intervals due to military service or to illness for which the patient is not directly responsible, but if the insured person fails for any other cause to make at least forty-seven contributions in four consecutive calendar years his right to a pension is forfeited and can only be recovered by a subsequent contribution for five years instead of four. By paying a premium in each week of the calendar year the insured person may materially diminish the period which must elapse before he is entitled to a pension, since the contributory years may be reckoned consecutively ; the five years required for the invalid pension may be thus reduced to four years and twenty-seven weeks, or just over four and a half years, and the thirty years for the old-age pension to twenty-seven years and six weeks. (Qualification for an old-age pension does not, however, remove the obligation to insurance, since the old-age pension is regarded merely “ as an addition to wages.’’ A workman who has made the necessary payments begins to receive this allowance as soon as he has completed his seventieth year ; but unless he is totally unable to work, and therefore qualified for an invalid pension, he must continue to pay the premium required in the wage class to which he belongs. An invalid pension may be granted at any age, provided that the necessary payments have been made, and that the illness is not self caused ; but the insurance institute must be further convinced that the disability is genuine and that it extends to any kind of work, not only to the special trade of the individual. Clearly, therefore, this disability is likely to be difficult of proof, and com- plaints have been made by the Socialist Deputies to the Reichstag that invalid pensions have as yet been scarcely ever granted. Statistics up to June 1892 give tho number of old-age pensions granted at once as about 77 - lC per cent of those claimed, whilst in the case of invalids only about 2815 per cent, of the claims were granted immediately. On the other hand, it must be admitted that in view of the probable increase of ma- lingering it is necessary to observe the utmost precaution , An invalid pension already granted may be afterwards withdrawn, if any change takes place in the circum- stances of the recipient, which appears likely to modify his total disability to work. Illness induced by an accident only constitutes a claim to an invalid pension, if the sufferer is not already entitled to an allowance under the Accident Insurance Law. Invalidity is further defined as inability to earn one-third of the average wages of the class to which the workman has belonged for the five previous contributory years, though this definition does not remove the difficulty of establish- ing such invalidity. As has been already stated the amount of the pen- sion payable whether in invalidity or in old age varies according to the premiums paid by the person insured, and these again vary according to the wage-class to which he belongs. As finally constituted the invalid pensions consists of a fixed sum of 50 marks paid by the State, and a fixed contribution of 60 marks paid by the district insurance institute, augmented by a weekly proportion of the premiums paid by the person insured for the whole time during which he has contributed. This proportion is calculated as follows : — In Class 1. 2 pf. or about \d. a week. ,, IT. 6 pf. or about f d. a week. ,, III. 9 pf or about lrf. a week. ,, IY. 13 pf. or about 1J<2. a week. Thus if a workman has remained entirely in one wage class the lowest invalid pension, to which he could be entitled after five contributory years, would be reckoned for each Wage class as follows: Class I. 50 M = 60 M +2 pf. x 47 X 5 = 114'70 marks. Class II. 50M+60M + 6 pf. x 47x5 = 124T0 IY1 Sil'ks Class III. 50 M +60 M + 9 pf. X 47 X 5 = 13115 marks. Cla«s IV. 50 M + 60 M + 13 pf. X 47 X 5 = 140+5 marks. The subjoined table gives the annual allowances in English money after contributory periods varying from five to fifty years — Class Class II. Class III. Class 1Y. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. rf. a 14 Si 0 4 u 6 ii it 7 0 3 10 5 19 t*i 6 18 24 7 12 34 8 11 l£ 20 0 8 9i 8 6 4i 9 14 7t 11 12 2* 30 6 IS 24 9 14 71 a 16 lot 14 13 St 40 7 7 7 1 n 2 9’j 13 19 2i 17 14 4t 50 7 17 0 12 11 0 16 1 6 20 15 6 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. SI (v.) Con- stitution cf funds. If during the period preceding invalidity the work- man has been in various wage classes, his pension will receive a corresponding increase. Thus, for example, a workman who has paid l • >0 contributions whilst in Class I., 130 in Class II., 60 in Glass III., and 10 in Class IV. would receive 50 in. + 60 m. + 150 X 2 pf. + 130 X 6 pf. + 60 x 9 pf. + 10 X 13 pf. = 127 50 marks or 61. 7s. 6d. For the old-age pensions the State contribution is the same ; the insurance institutes, however, contribute no fixed sum, but a proportion only of the contributions paid during those 1,410 weeks (30 years of 47 weeks each) in which the workman has been gaining the highest wages' Any contributory period beyond 1,410 weeks is disregarded. This proportion is regulated as follows : — - In Class I. 4 pf. or about id. a week. In Class II. 6 pf. or about f d. a week. In Class III. 8 pf. or about I d. a week. In Class IV. 10 pf. or about ljd. a week. Thus the total amount obtainable in each separate class would amount to : — In Class I. 50 m. + 4pf. X 1,410 = 106 40 = 5 1. 6s. bd. ,, II. 50 m. + 6 pf. X 1,410 = 134 60 = 61. 14s. Id. ,, III. 50 m. + 8 pf. X 1 ,410 = 162-80 = 8'. 2s. 1(W. ., TV. 50m. + lOpf. X 1,410 = 191-00 -91. Us Od. In almost every individual case the pension received will fall between one or other of these classes, but 5 Z. 6s. bd. and 91. 11s. represent the extreme limits of the annual allowance. This is not regarded by the framers of the law as representing a competence, since “ it was never the intention of the Act to provide aged “ and invalid persons with a sufficient income for in- “ dependent livelihood, but simply to aid them by an “ augmentation to any other provision or assistance they “ might possess or be able to secure.” The Old-Age and Invalid Insurance Law cannot, therefore, in any way obviate the necessity for some public provision for” the needy, though a longer trial may, perhaps, diminish the burden hitherto thrown upon the poor-law administration. An incidental confirmation of the inadequacy of the pensions is given in the letter of an Alsace employer quoted; by Mr. (Spender, which states that “ workmen would come much worse off under the new pension scheme than formerly, if employers were “ to make no more than the legal contribution to work- “ men’s pensions.” Further, it must be noted that a pro- vision for old age which does not come into effect until after the completion of the seventieth year, appears to the working classes a benefit too long deferred to possess any special attraction. The framers of the law clearly did not anticipate that any large number of annuitants would be found other than those totally unable to work, since they calculated that 96 per cent, of the cost of insurance must be devoted to a provision for the totally disabled and only 4 per cent, to any pro- vision for those over seventy years of age but still able to work. The proportion, therefore, of annuitants able to supplement their allowance to any appreciable extent by their own exertions would according to this calculation be excessively small as compared with those who must rely upon a further provision from either private orpublic sources. Experience has, however, shown that the number of claimants for old-age pen- sions exceed the original estimate. (’) The funds necessary to meet the extensive obligations involved in the insurance of eleven million persons are derived by the employers, from the employed and from the Rtate. The State subsidy of 50 marks to every pension is intended to be temporary, and to tide over the inevitable difficulty arising from the immediate introduction of a system of insurance, which does not restrict its benefits to the rising generation. It has been calculated that a period of 80 years must elapse before a balance can be struck between the number of allow- ances payable and the capital accumulated for liabilities. The State subsidy, which was estimated at 320,000Z. in the first year, rising to 3,450,000Z. in the 80th year, is then to be gradually extinguished, but there seems little security for anticipating that the whole burden of the allowances, which, according to the estimates, will have then reached 12,520.000?., can be borne by the persons insured and their employers. Still it w r as the (q Lexis, “ Handwdrterbuoh. der Staats\vis«enschaften,” vol. IV., p. 698. Art., “ lnvaliilitats and Altersversicherung,” von Woedtke. Bosse'imd von Woedtke," Invalidities und Altersversicherung,” 1891, pp. 130— 1 15. Spender “ The State and Pensions m Old Ape,” 1892, pp. 80 -97. Young, "The German Law of Insurance against Inv .lidity and Old Age,” 1891, pp. 22-31. Sozialpolitisclies Centralblatt, vol. I., p. 370, vol. IL, p. 299. The number of claims for old age pensions made up to the middle of 1893 was 245,0 13, of which 193,114 were admitted, 42,984 rejected, and 8,810 left undecided. The claims for invalid pensions were 59,247, of which 34,740 were admitted. 15,938 rejected, and 5,722 left undecided. Sec Sozialpolitisclies Centralblatt, vol. II., 1892-3, p. 541. intention of the framers of the law that the scheme should ultimately be self-supporting. The premiums payable by employers and employed in eqiiil shares were fixed for the first teu years by the law ; they are to be re-adj listed at the end of that period by each insurance institute, and subsequent re-adjustments are to take place every five years. Tho charges levied must be assessed so as to cover tho costs of administration, provide a reserve fund, meet the expense likely to arise from ihe repayment of contributions, and secure the payment by the insurance institutes of their share of the allowances which will in all probability require to be granted during tho period in question. For the first ten years the weekly premiums were fixed at ; — Class I. 14 pf. , or about l|d. j Half from the Class II. 20 pf., or about 2d. I employer and Class III. 24 pf., or about 2 \d. f half. from the Class IV. 30 pf., or about 3d. J insured. The highest rate of contribution after the lapse of 80 years has been estimated as not exceeding — 2 ^d. in Class I. 4d. .in Class II. 6d. in Class III. 7f d. in Class IV. The sums necessary to provide the reserve fund are to be so fixed for the first contributory period as to prove equivalent at its close to one-fifth of the estimated capital needful to supply the payment of the probable allowances that will fall due from the insurance institutes during that term. Any deficiency in the reserve fund at the end of the first period must be met in the ensuing contributory period, and any special institute may frame a bye-law determining that the reserve fund shall be increased to twice the amount prescribed by the Act. The rate of interest on the reserve fund is calculate ! at 34 per cent., but it has been pointed out by critics of the scheme that though this is at present a fair estimate of the rate obtainable on good security ” as the capital accumulated under the law increases and additional purchases of stock . . . require to be made, the price . . . will successively rise, and the rate of interest obtained will consequently diminish.” This consideration must to a certain extent modify the estimate of the period at which the reserve fund will have attained the necessary level. All calculations made ns to the probable amount of invalidity and the probable mortality before the age of 70 has been reached are based upon Behrn’s tables relating to railway workers, as compared with the invalidity statistics for different occupations included in the census of occiq ations for 1882. The effect of this method of calculation will be considered below (‘) The payment of the contributions due from the (vi.) Ad- empioyers and the employed is effected by a system of affixing special stamps to a receipt card, divided into 47 spaces, one for each week in a contributory year. These cards bear the day and year of issue, and must be numbered in regular succession for every insured person. The stamps are affixed by the employer on the regular pay-days, and half their value is deducted from the workmen’s wages. When full the cards are returned to the insurance institute by which they were issued to be preserved until required for tho substantiation of a claim. The existing postal arrangements were utilised by the framers of the law with a view to diminishing the costs of administra- tion, and the receipt cards and stamps can lie obtained from the local post-offices. The second card purchased - by an insured person must always bear a number and reference to the previous card, and in this way the history of each individual can be traced and the proportion due to him from each institute determined, in case he should have migrated from one district to another. Severe penalties are enacted against employers or other persons convicted of putting special and private marks upon a card with a view to conveying informa- tion about the person insured. The insertion of these penal clauses was rendered necessary owing to the fears entertained by the workmen that facilities for — detecting persons often engaged in strikes would be increased. When the pension becomes due and the claim has been substantiated the district post-office is (q Lexis, “ Handworterlmch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV., p. 598, Art., “ Invaliditiits und Altersversicherung,” v. Woedtke. Bos.se und v. Woedtke, ''Invaliditiits und Altersversicherung,” 1891, pp. 145, 148. Young. “The German Law of Insurance against Invalidity and Old Age,” 1891, pp. 17-20. Spender ” The State and Pensions in Old Age,” 1892, pp. 80 83. L 4 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: fvii.) Tran- sitory provisions. 82 notified of the fact and advances the allowance in specified instalments, recovering the amount at the end of the year from the insurance institutes. No allowance may legally be mortgaged or transferred to third parties, nor can it be seized for other claims than those of a wife and legitimate children, and those of communes or poor-law unions entitled to repayment, (seep. 75). Personsclaimingold-ageandinvalid pensions must give notice to the district authorities and produce the receipt cards and documents supporting their claim. If an invalid pension is claimed the local officials are required to examine into the case and to report to the district authorities, who finally transmit all the documents to the last insurance institute to which the applicant has contributed. The directors of this institute examine the claim and unless it is summarily rejected require the production of the former receipt cards before it can be finally established and the rate of allowance decided. An appeal lies with the petitioner to the arbitration court in respect of rejected claims or the settlement of the rate of allowance, and either party may appeal to the Imperial Insurance Office against the decision of the court of arbitration. The rate of allowance for non-contributory periods included in the period of probation is reckoned accoi ding to the rate for the second wage-class, and where these non-contributory periods are due to military service the' State compensates the insurance institutes for the loss of the contributions^ Foreigners entitled to a, pension may receive its capita] value instead. (‘) In order to hasten the beneficial effects of the scheme, provision was made in the Act for extending its advantages immediately to persons whose age and circumstances would have qualified them for pensions had the scheme been already iu force. It was laid down that persons who should become invalids within the first five, or septuagenarians within the first thirty years, after the Act came into force might be treated as having paid the proper contributions, provided that they had been employed in a trade or business included under the Act. This employment must have continued five years before invalidity to qualify the person for an invalid pension, and for three years before the passing of the law to qualify him for an old-age pension. Wage class 1. is the basis for reckoning the average rate of wages during the time by which the probationary period is shortened in the case of invalid pensions, whilst for old-age pensions the actual rate of wages is taken into consideration. In order to substantiate a claim under the transitory provisions the applicant must provide himself with certificates showing the duration of all em- ployments since 1886, the duration of the interruptions, if any, and the causes of them, the rate of wages since 1888, the duration of every illness entailing incapacity to work and the duration of all military or naval service after January 1st, 1886. Persons claiming invalid pensions must also prove that they had paid the necessary premiums for the space of one year. (*) The Act has as yet been scarcely long enough in force ( v iii.) to admit of the preparation of complete statistics, but Present the figures for 1891 and 1892 are given as far as possible in the following tables : — working of the scheme. INVALIDITY AND OLD AGE INSURANCE OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. * Table 0 L— Total Result, 1892. Organisation of insurance. N umber. Persons insured. Persons pensioned. Receipts. Expenses. Slate Subsidies. Funds. Insurance Institutes 31 10,690,000 183,650 Marks. 92,000,000 Marks. 17,130,000 Marks. '9,020,000 Marks. 151,540,000 Special Organs 9 510,000 4,150 7,000,000 550,000 180,000 11,310,000 Total 40 1 1 ,200,000 187, 80D 99,000,000 17.680,000 9,200,000 162,850,000 * “ The Workmen’s Insurance of the German Empire,” Chicago Guide, published by the Imperial Insurance Office. Berlin, 1893. Table Q 2. — Average Result. Financial xear. Marks per Persons insured. Yearly Pension. Pensioners per 100 insured. Pension per 100 Marks. Contribu- tion. State subsidy. Pension. Manage- ment. Funds. In- validity. Old Age. validity. 01d A ^- Total. In- validity. Old Age. In the 1st year 8-21 0-54 1-36 0-40 7-09 Marks. 11351 Marks. 125-08 0*00 1*20 l 1-20 0-00 100-00 In the 60th year 19'00 6-00 27'34 0-40 125*33 225-60 135-00 11-40 : 1-20 j 12'60 94-07 5-93 Table Q 3. — Normal Payments. In the Wage Classes I.— -IV. with yearly earnings. I. Up to 350 Marks. II. Up to 550 Marks. III. Up to 850 Marks. IV. Over 850 Marks. Weekly contribution payable half by employer and Marks. Marks. Marks. Marks. half by employed - 0-14 0-20 0-24 0-30 Total contribution of the ’ the 5 waiting years 16-45 23-50 28-20 35-25 insured in 50 calendar years 227-50 347-10 438-10 566-80 Yearly pension with State subsidy of 50 marks each : (a.) For invalids (per- f the 5 waiting years 115-20 124-20 131-40 141-00 sons unfit for work)- after 50 calendar years 162-00 266-40 344 40 448-20 (6.) For persons 70 years old, still able to work - 106-80 135-00 163-20 191-40 (>) Lexis. Handworterbuch der Staatswissenchaften,” vol. IV.. p. 598, Art.: “ Invaliditats und Altersversicherung,” v. Woedtke. Bosse und v. Woedtke, “ Invaliditats und Altersversicherung,” 1891, Young, “ The German Law of Insurance against Invalidity and Old Age,” 1891, pp. 21-32. Spender, “The State and Pension's in 01d|Age," 1892, pp. 82-84. P) Lexis, ' Handworterbuch der Staatswissensclmften.” vol. IV., p. 598. Art., *■ Invaliditats und Altersversicherung,” v. Woedtke. Bosse und v. Woedtke, “ Invaliditats und Altersversicherung,” 1891. pp. 57-161. Young, ‘‘ The German Law of Insurance against Invalidity and Old Age,” 1891, p. 32. Spender, “ The State and Pensions in Old Age,” 1892, pp. 82, REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMAN V. 83 Table Q 4. — Summary of Results, 1891 and 1802. Porsons insured. Persons relieved, Receipts. Expenses. Aceumu- Relief per Case. Charges per Person Insured.* Year. Employers’ Contribu- tions. Contribu- tions of Employed. Total from all sources. Relief. Costs of Adminis- tration. Total of all kinds. lated Eu nds. 1891 -• 124,833 44,443,480 44,443,480 170,214,845 9,049,086 3,722,882 97,178,087 73,030,757 72-4 - 1S92 11,200,090 187,800 47,375,000 17,375,000 108,20'L000 22, 400, OOOt 4,480,000 108,200,000 102,830,000 120 9 * Average amount paid in per head of insured, t This great increase is probably due to the fact that no invalid pensions were granted until 1892. Table Q 5. — Proportionate Cost of Administration. Year. Percentage of total amount contributed by Employers and Insured. Percentage of total amount paid in relief. In Marks per head of Insured ( see Table Q 2.) Percentage of Costs per head of Insured to pension per head of insured (see Table Q 2.) 1891 4-19 41-14 0-40 2-94 1892 - 4-72 20-00 -- — After 50 years - — — 0-40 1-4 The first three of these tables are taken from the Guide “ to the Insurance Laws prepared by the Imperial Insurance Office for the Chicago Exhibition. Unfor- tunately no account is given of the methods employed in estimating the average result for the 50th year as stated m Table Q. 2. It is remarkable that no increase is a*iticipated in the proportionate cost of management in view of the facts illustrated by Table Q 4, that between 1891 and 1892 there was an absolute increase in the cost of management, and that that increase was relatively greater than the increase in the total amount contributed. On the other hand, according to Table Q 4, the costs of management show a proportionate decrease during the same period as compared with the total amount paid in relief. This result may perhaps be partially explained by the great increase in that amount in 1892, due to the fact that no invalid pensions were paid before November 1891 ; but it does not appear certain that this consideration would afford an adequate explanation of the fact that the increase in the amount paid in relief, as well as in the relief per case, was so much larger in proportion than that in the number of persons relieved. Table Q 4 presents some minor difficulties, as, for instance, the apparent decrease in the total receipts for 1892. This may be due, perhaps, to the adoption of a different method of estimating receipts ; further the method adopted in 1892 in estimating the charges per person insured is not clear and receives no explanation in the guide from which the figures for 1892 are taken. But the main difficulty still consists in the anticipated stationary character, or even large propor- tionate decrease (see Tables Q 2 and Q 5) of the per capita costs of management. Table Q 2 estimates that from the first year to the fiftieth there will be a great increase in the contributions payable per head. This might be duo either to increased cost of management, or to an increasing number of persons to be relieved, or to a great increase in the amount of the pension. Either alternative presents difficulties. Increased cost of management is ex liypothesi excluded, nevertheless, an increasing number of persons to be relieved could hardly exist side by side with stationary or diminishing costs, especially when the labour involved in re- adjusting contributions is taken into account. A great increase in the amount of the pension, unless met by a State subsidy, would impose a heavier proportionate burden upon succeeding generations, whereas the German scheme professes to adjust the burden equally for each generation and looks forward to the gradual extinction of the State subsidy. However that may be, the increase both in the amount of the pensions and the contributions payable, indicated by Table Q 2, can scarcely be without an effect upon wages, which will require consideration. The percentages given in Table Q 5 are obtained from the figures in 'Tables Q 2 and Q 4, and can only be taken with the reservation which applies to the earlier tables and which arises from the impossibility of basing really instructive conclusions upon so short an experience, .especially in ignorance of the methods i 78420. whereby the average figures issued by the insurance officials are obtained. Though it is still too early to pronounce any final judgment on the scheme as a whole, certain incidental difficulties, both of a financial and of an administrative character, become clear upon examination. In the first place doubts have been expressed as to the reliability of infirmity statistics based largely upon the experience of one industry, that of railway workers. Even if experience should confirm the value of the calculations made on this basis, it is clear that the degree of invalidity required by the law will be very difficult to forecast and will introduce an element of uncertainty. Nevertheless, as the conditions have to be assessed in advance so as to cover allowances and expenses of every kind, it will be absolutely necessary to make a fairly accurate estimate of probable liabilities. Further, even if the contributions can be satisfactorily adjusted, it is impossible to rely upon their regularity when this is liable to disturbance by sickness, military service, and lack of employment. Though the first two disturbing elements may admit of calculation beforehand, except in the contingency of a war, the same cannot be said of the third. Even if the non-contributory intervals are of short duration and arc afterwards made up, the insurance institutes will of necessity suffer a loss iu respect of interest, greater or less according to the period of life at which the interval occurs. Again it is admitted by the authors of the memorandum upon which the law was based, that the statistics available with regard to the probable invalidity or mortality of women are deficient, and they have, therefore, used the relative values ascertained for men in the case of women, though without giving any explanation of the grounds for this assumption. It has been calculated that the costs of management will not materially increase, but it is difficult to see the security for this expectation in view of the fact that an increasing number of persons insured, and of claimants for pensions, will entail increased labour upon the officials and a probable increase of staff. This probability seems strengthened by the consideration of the labour involved in the periodical readjustment of contributions. The admin- istrative difficulties are scarcely less important than the financial. In its present form the Act affords an almost endless number of opportunities for litigation, and the machinery provided appears needlessly cumbrous and expensive.* The individual insurer “may appeal “ in the first instance against inclusion under the Act at “ ail, and if he loses his case in a lower court he may “ take it to a higher. He may protest against the “ calculations made from time to time on his insurance “ cards, and here also he has the right of appeal. Or if “ his claim to an allowance either fer old age or infirmity * Din ing six months oi 1893 no fewer than 1,824 rases came before the Imperial Insurance Office, in addition to 1,238 standing over from the previous year. Nee Soidalpolilisches Centraiblatt, vol. II., 185)2-3, p. 031. (ix.) Diffi- culties inci- dental to the scheme. 84 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: “ i 3 rejected by the Institute he may take his case to the “ arbitration court, aud once again both parties have a “ legal right of revision in respect to the court’s decision. “ Disputes may arise not only between individuals and “ the Insurance Institutes, but between the Institutes “ and the Sick or Accident Insurance Societies provided “ by previous legislation, and these also entail litigation. “ Or finally, there may be conflicts between the “Insurance Institutes and the Poor Law authorities. ” Experience has already proved the danger of such exceptional facilities for litigation, aud it seems probable that a simplification of procedure would be both advantageous and economical. Many districts have found themselves face to face with the practical difficulty involved in procuring the necessary staff of officials. Employers complain of the great strain upon their clerical staff occasioned by the system of stamp- sticking, and in the eastern provinces, where the duties connected with the issuing and booking up of the receipt cards fall upon persons holding honorary posts, great dissatisfaction is fell. It is regarded as probable that these honorary officials will have to be replaced by a professional bureaucracy, and in the face of this probable increase in an official class, already large, it seems impossible not to suppose that the cost of administration will be very largely increased. In view, also, of the increase in “ malingering, ’’ already alluded to as one of the effects of the law, it is scarcely likely that the system of official surveillance will be relaxed. Indeed it has been proposed that special hospitals should be established for the supervision of doubtful cases. Actual storage room for the cards and documents constitutes another practical difficulty ; in Berlin it has already been found necessary both to construct a special building and to enlarge it. But perhaps a more serious defect in the scheme, from the point of view of national insurance, consists in the fact that it excludes so large a proportion of the classes which constitute the chief burden upon the poor law. The scheme presupposes regular contributions extended over a lengthened period, which it seems impossible to expect from the large class of casual workers forming the lower strata of the population. It excludes married women and widows, yet the last are specially in need of some such provision, and in every country are largely in receipt of poor relief. Even to the classes which it reaches the benefit is comparatively slight, and the opinion seems to be widely expressed in Germany that as at present constituted “ the pension “ is too small, and the age of seventy too far advanced, “ to make tho scheme a really remedial measure for the “ poverty of old age.” (') , Cx) views On the whole however, public opinion in Germany of employers is in favour of giving the law a longer trial before and of passing a final judgment. Its repeal has been employe!. aug g este( j to the Reichstag by the Liberal party, but they do not seem to have pressed the matter; and the Social Democrats, though regarding the provision afforded as grossly inadequate, are in favour of any measure which recognises the claim of members of the State to public support. Nevertheless a petition against the law in Bavaria received more than 250,000 signa- tures, including many Social Democrats. Amongst German employers complaints are very frequent that the burden imposed upon industry will be greater than it can bear; but on the other hand, a statement made in the Reichstag by a Conservative member that the employers’ contributions were only 1 per cent of the wages paid in agricultural districts, and even less in industrial districts was allowed to pass unquestioned. There is considerable difference of opinion as to the class which really bears the burden of insurance. According to the statistics ot the Imperial Insurance Office, published in the “ Guide to the Chicago Exhibi- tion ” the total amount paid by employers towards the expenses of insurance against sickness, accidents, and old age and invalidity was 132,375,000 marks, and the total amount paid by the employed was 124,875,000 marks. The difference between these two sums is inconsiderable, but they appear rather to represent each party’s legal share in the total contribution than what each actually contributes. In this connection, therefore, a statement made by a firm of Stuttgart manufacturers should be mentioned. “We pay the whole contribution “ due from our workmen ; the deduction of any part of “ it so embitters the workpeople against the State pro- “ vision and renders them so little sensible of its benefits “ that it entirely neutralises the advantages of the law.” The same employers urge an amalgation of the three forms of insurance, on the ground that tho reduction in cost which they anticipate from the simplification of procedure, will be absolutely necessary, if the costs of production in manufacture are not to swallow up all the employers’ profits. On the other hand, it is con- tended by the Social Democrats that the total cost of insurance falls upon the workmen, since besides their own contributions they bear the burden of the increased taxation upon commodities necessary to furnish the Imperial subsidy, whilst the employers indemnifiy themselves for their enforced contribution by reducing wages or by raising the price of the goods they produce. From this point of view the Social Democrats regard the Insurance Law as an unsatisfactory substitute for the Poor Law, which derived its funds to a greater extent from the upper and'niiddle c lasses, and which pro- vided larger allowances. It is not, however, possible to lay down any general proposition as to the attitude of employers towards the new legislation. It appears sufficiently clear that whilst many content themselves with contributing the legal minimum, cases are found in which the employers are ready to pay at a higher rate in order to ensure a fuller provision for their infirm and aged workmen ; but it remains an open question whether in the course of time competition between employers will not tend to reduce all to the same level, and whether the enforced payment of compulsory con- tributions will not deter those, who would otherwise have been benevolently disposed, from making any private efforts for the good of their workpeople. With regard to the general attitude of the employed it has already been characterised as one of distrust, if not of absolute hostility. According to Herr Bebel the law was received by the working classes with silent discontent, owing to the belief that it was a concession wrung from a reluctant Govennent. On the other baud, the unexpectedly large number of persons who have applied for old age pensions seems in some measure to contradict the gloomy view taken by Herr Bebel and his friends of the attitude of the working classes ('). The actual effect of the law upon the rate of wages is difficult to ascertain. The reports of the factory in- spectors for Baden and Wiirtemberg contain statements to the effect that the recipients of pensions have suffered a reduction of wages. The inspector for the Danube and Black Forest district writes that “ workmen over “ seventy years of age, and in receipt of old age pensions, “ were met with, still at work in certain large and small “ factories, but for the most part with lower wages than “ they received before the grant of a pension.” Again the inspector for Baden states that “ a sugar refinery “ in Mannheim reduced the wages of an old man seventy- “ one years of age from 2 marks to 1'50 marks as soon “ as he received his pension. Thus his total income “ suffered a slight reduction.” Difficulties have arisen in connection with the insurance of seamen. It is stated that foreign sailors frequently refuse to allow the required deductions to be made from their wages and they are supported in this refusal by foreign author- ities. It is also stated that these foreign seamen are seldom long enough in German employment to receive any return for their contributions, and that seamen in general betake themselves as a rule to other occupations before the age at which they can qualify for a pension. Consequently the Nordeutsche Lloyd and the German Hansa steamship companies have applied for an ex- emption of Lascars, Chinamen and other coloured sea- men from the insurance law, but in spite of their statement that owing to climatic considerations there can be little or no competition between these men and German sailors, the fear has been expressed that the removal of the burdep of insurance in the case of the former will have a prejudicial effect upon the employ- ment and rate of wages of the latter. Dr. Schoenfeld believes that the effect of the insurance laws will be to reduce the number of strikes, since the workmen will be unwilling to face the loss involved in suspending the payment of contributions, but this view has not as yet, been confirmed by facts. The effect of the new insurance laws upon the costs of poor law administration is still uncertain. A Cologne Report for 1890-1 states that the poor law costs havo rather increased than diminished, owing to the amount of work entailed in ascertaining the claims which each applicant for poor law relief may have upon the insurance fundsi This is rendered the more difficult by the multiplication of funds and of authorities with the l 1 ) Young “The German Lawof Insurance against Invalidity and Old Age,” 1891. PP- 34-61. Spender “The Stare and Pensions in Old Age,” 1 892’, pp. 86-97. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. I .p. 400. (>) Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt, 1891-3, Vcl. I, pp. 96, 220, 400;Vol.lII., p. 299. “ Neue Zeit,” Sept. 18S9, article by Bebel. Porum September 1893. Art. by J. Graham Brooks, p. 124. (xi.) Effect ol the law upon wage and upon the cost of poor law administra- tion. (a.) con- nexion with insurance laws. (5.) Histori- cal develop- ment of the German Poor haw system. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION fN GERMANY. 85 inevitable result of increasing the expense. In Leipzig, for instance, the necessity for adjusting the relative liabilities of the sick funds and the old age and invalid insurance institutes has increased the cost of sick insurance by 2 per cent. On the other hand, the Berlin poor law authorities announce an annual saving of 8,200 marks since the Insurance Laws came into effect, against which statement must be placed the fact that in Berlin, as in the other large cities of Germany, the work of adjusting conflicting claims is simplified by the comparatively small number of persons who attain the age necessary for an old age pension. Still allowing for all disadvantages Mr. Graham Brooks, who has made a special study of the whole question, is of opinion that the best results are to be anticipated from the diffusion of accurate knowledge by means of the publication of insurance statistics, and the increased care of the sick and injured which it will be in the interests of employers to promote. (') C.— Poor Law Administration. Dr. Freund of the Imperial Insurance Office, Bei lin, has summed up both the direction and the degree in which the poor law administration in Germany has to supplement the action of the Insurance Laws. “ Both the indoor and outdoor relief of the sick is especially affected by the Sick Insurance Law, the maintenance of widows and orphans by the Accident Insurance Law, and the granting of allowances by the old Age and Invalidity Law. The full benefit of these laws can. however, only be felt, if the results of the insurance are adequate and if the organisation works with certainty and rapidity. In both these respects there are manifest defects. For instance, in sick insurance, medical aid and remedies are as a rule present in due proportion, but it is otherwise with sick allowances. Half the average wages may be enough for unmarried workmen, but not for those who have a wile and chil- dren. If the sick man is taken to the hospital, his family receive only a quarter of his daily wages ; in most cases, of course, the Poor Law must supply their need ; and so, too, with regard to the duration of the relief ; in many cases it docs not exceed the legal minimum of thirteen weeks, and the Poor Law must again step in. So, too, with insurance against old age and invalidity ; the recipients of old age pensions often remain either wholly or partially chargeable to the poor law funds, because of the inadequacy of their pensions. According to the latest statistics of the Berlin poor law adminis- tration, 88 out of 449 holders of pensions are in receipt of poor relief. . .But poor relief must not only supple- ment insurance, it must often replace it, and this because of the imperfect organisation of the insurance funds. The procedure in insurance against accidents is far too cumbrous for prompt action. . .so that in many cases the Poor Law must intervene. . .These evils detract greatly from the social effect of the laws. How does the workman gain, if he is forced to take the degrading steps necessary to obtain poor relief, and to leave it to the poor law authorities to obtain compensation from the insurance funds ? ” The necessity, therefore, of a system of poor relief is scarcely touched by the passage of the Insurance Laws ; it remains only to consider the nature of the relief afforded ( : ). Before the passing of the law of free migration ( Freiziigigkeit ) by the North German Confederation in 1867, each State possessed the right of expelling desti- tute persons from its territory, though by the Eisenach Agreement of 1853 the State was obliged to relieve destitute persons requiring medical assistance until they were fit to be removed to their place of domicile. But by the Act of 1867 every German has the light to reside where he pleases within the German dominions, and “though permission to settle may be refused in “ certain cases, as, for instance, to confirmed beggars and “ vagrants, possible or prospective poverty is not to be “ considered a bar to settlement.’’ The conditions under which a settlement could be gained were still different in the different States, and to remedy this want of uniformity the Law of Relief Domicile f Gesetz iiber den Unterstntzungs-wohnsitz) was passed in 1870. It provided that every German should be treated alike, so far as poor relief was concerned, by every State in the German dominions, and established general principles as to settlement and chargeability, whilst leaving every State free to adopt any system of poor law administration it pleased. The areas of chargeability and administration (') Soaialpolitisches Centralblatt, I S!)l 3. Vol. I. pp, 27,42, 25G, 281. Vol. II., p. 349. Schoenfeld “ Les Principes Rat ionnels de l’Assurance Ouvriere, ” ls!)3, p. si. Forum September, 189.!, Art. by Graham Brooks. (-) Freund. "Address to the Committee appointed to consider the effect of the new social legislation upon Poor Law and Poor Relief.” are the local anions ( Ortsurmenvarhdnde ), consisting of one or more communes or manors (Gutsb tzirJcd) , or of combinations of communes or manors, and the district unions (Landarmenverbande), including either the whole State or an area coincident with a number of local unions and fixed by the Government of the State. Every destitute person who has no settlement in a local union is chargeable to the district union, and the Government of each State must decide as to the financial relations between the two, and as to the conditions under which they are to relievo destitute persons. “Settlement may be gained in any union by residence, “ by inheritance, or by marriage. The period for obtaining “ a settlement by residence is fixed at two years. The “ residence must be continuous and voluntary, and must “ be after the age of twenty- four. A settlement is lost by “ two years’ absence under the same conditions. Widows, “ deserted wives, and women living separate from their ‘ ‘ husbands, can obtai n a settlement by residence, provided “that they are able-bodied. Wives take the settlement “of their husbands, legitimate children that of their “father, and illegitimate that of their mother. ” Every destitute German must be relieved by the union in which he becomes destitute until such time as he can bo removed to the union to which he belongs. The relief which is given may be recovered according to a fixed scale from the union of his settlement. Each State has its own supplementary law; but the want of admin- istrative uniformity thus engendered, and the absence of any central control, have given rise to a desire for further reform. “ Greater uniformity of administration “ with better statistics, and some method of putting the “ results of experience at the service of the poor law “ authorities,” are thechiel desiderata, and many practical administrators are of opinion that the power of removal should be abolished, both as the logical consequence of the law of free residence and with a view of avoiding the labour involved in investigating the settlement of paupers (')• Amongst the various systems of poor law dministra- tion in Germany, the system which takes its name from the town of Elberfeld has attracted the most attention and has served as a model for the poor law adminis- tration of many of the largest cities, including Berlin. A similar system was brought into operation in Hamburg in 1788, but it is in Elberfeld that it has been brought to the greatect perfection. Here it has been of gradual growth. In 1800 the first attempt was made at poor law organisation. Six administrators of poor relief were appointed and in the next year the number was raised to 12. Their duties involved not only investigation and the distribution of relief, but also the collection of the voluntary contributions which were the only available funds. With these they purchased a building in which they gave employment to the able-bodied poor. Written reports (Abhorbogen) were kept of each case and the labour involved obliged them to appoint visitors ( Pfleger ), 32 in number, to visit the 32 sections into which the town was divided. With the growth of the population the average number of cases intrusted to each visitor rose from 11 in 1802 to from 40 to 50 in 1811. During the next few years, therefore, 30 more visitors were appointed. The duties of the visitors were limited to investigation, the power of granting relief being entirely confined to the 12 administrators, half of whom were concerned with indoor and half with outdoor relief. Hp to 1843 the system of voluntary contributions had continued, and the deficiencies, which were of frequent occurrence, were made up by the municipal authorities. In this year the town council decided to raise the funds required for poor relief by means of taxation, but the disproportionate increase in the number of paupers and the failure of crops combined, with an epidemic of cholera, to produce a state of pauperism with which the authorities appeared powerless to deal. An attempt was made to hand over the relief of the poor to the religious communities, but as this proved unsatisfactory the system still in existence was organised in 1854. The poor law administration consist of nine members, chosen by the Municipal Council and including the Mayor (Oherbnrgermeister,) four members of the council and four citizens. The town is divided into 26 districts and each district into 14 sections. Every district has an overseer (Bezirksvor steher) and every section a visitor (Armenpfleger) ; these (') Lexis, ” I-Iandworterbuch tier Staatswissenscharaen,” vol. I., p. 842, Art: “ Armengesetzgebung in Deutschland.' Krech. Elbsrfe’d 1‘oor Law System, Report of English Commissioners. 1888, up. 3-11. Rcitzenstein, “ L’Assistnnce des Etrangers en Alleinagr.e.” 1893, pp. 6-24. (<*.) The Elberfeld system. M 2 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: 8'(j offices are compulsory and unpaid, the only grounds of exemption being permanent illness, business involving frequent or long-continued absence age exceeding sixty years, holding another public office, or any legal or valid excuse recognised as such by the municipal assembly. Full written reports are made of every case and preserved for a period of two years, when a new report is made out and attached to the old one, thus giving a complete history of the case for four years/ District meetings take place fortnightly and the minutes are preserved at the head office, which is thus kept informed of all relief granted. The head committee also meets every fortnight, and its meetings are attended by the 26 overseers and the visitors of the particular district under revision on that occasion. The district overseers receive the money which it is estimated that they will require for the ensuing fortnight, and the cases for one district are thus gone through, so that the chairman, who has previously made himself acquainted with them, may make any remarks which he thinks desirable. The scale of relief is as follows : — s. d. 3 0 for head of family. 2 0 for his wife. 2 0 for child 15 years and over. 1 9i for child 10 to 15 years. 1 3J for child 5 to 10 years. 1 1J for child 1 to 5 years. 9| for child under 1 year. 12 0 Total for above family, and 3s. for a single person. This scale represents the maximum allowance and any earnings are deducted from it ; only two-thirds of the wages of children are taken into account on the gronnd that children at work ougb t to be well fed. The visitors are also directed to exert themselves to the utmost to find relations who ought to maintain any of the applicants for relief, and to obtain even the smallest weekly sums from such relations. Thus, for instance, the five children of a parent applying for relief were assessed at the rate of Is. 3|d., 9 d., 3d., 1 \d. and l^d. respectively. Relief is given as a rule in money, but it may be given in kind ; indeed the individual visitors are allowed considerable discretion, and the poor law funds may be used for any form of adequate relief with a view to the prevention of pauperism. Persons receiving relief from the religious bodies are not further relieved by the poor law administrators. The Table whole system is based upon the principle of individual care, involving close personal intercourse between the administrator and the recipient of relief. To this end each visitor is, as a rule, entrusted with no more than two cases at a time, and it is contended that the result is a great saving in the amount expended and a suitable adjustment of the relief afforded to the necessities of the case. It must however, bo pointed out that Elberfeld is peculiarly adapted for such a system, since the poor are distributed throughout the town and the total popu- lation does not greatly exceed 100,000. Where, as in London or Berlin, there is a wide separation between the quarters in which rich and poor reside, it is obvious that the system will be more difficult of application (see p. 88). But besides providing for outdoor relief, a large proportion of the help afforded to the poor in Elberfeld is given by admission to the various in- stitutions maintained by the municipality. “ The pro- “ portion of this indoor relief (Gescldossene Armenpflege) “ is larger than the average in England, and larger even “ than the proportion in the manufacturing districts.” The municipal establishments include the poor house ( Armenhaus ), schools for orphan and deserted children, the town hospital, and a shelter for the homeless ( Haus fiir die Obdachlose). The poorhouse in Germany must be distinguished from the workhouse (Arbeitsliaus ) ; this is always a house of correction under police control to which beggars, idlers, drunkards, and women of bad character are committed for a definite term of imprison- ment by the courts. In some unions these workhouses are made subsidiary to the purely poor law administra- tion in dealing with able-bodied applicants for relief, but as a rule the “ workhouse test, ” as applied in England, is not in use in Germany. The poorhouse is intended for the admission of old and infirm persons, or single persons who cannot well he cared for outside. The institution has nothing of a penal character, the inmates are largely sick persons or imbeciles, and such as are able-bodied are allowed to work for private employers, who pay their wages to the credit of the poor law administrators. In some towns houseless and destitute families are dealt with by the police, even though they have not brought themselves within the scope of the laws against begging and vagrancy, but in Elberfeld and elsewhere a shelter is provided for them by the poor law authorities in return for which each inmate is expected to do two hours work. The general results of the Elberfeld system appear ( a .) Statis- from the following tables : — ^ c ^J esults , , . system in ( R- 1- Elberfeld. Year. Expenditure. Receipts. Remainder to be covered by Communal Rates. No. of Population. Communal Rates payable per Head of Population. Marks Pf. Marks Pf. Marks Pf. 1856 204,296 31 37,635 39 166,600 92 51,632 3 23 1857 186,107 46 42,017 43 144,090 03 52,590 2 74 1858 226,387 64 42,518 91 183,868 73 53,375 3 44 1859 214,398 86 41,714 05 171,195 66 53,495 3 20 1860 214,025 94 47,429 16 163,925 80 54,002 3 03 1861 221,192 96 51,187 73 168,051 98 56,277 2 99 1862 224,139 66 55,460 05 168,529 61 57,937 2 91 1863 21.8,294 04 56,887 82 161,406 22 59,774 2 50 1864 254,834 1 81 73,559 48 179,686 96 61,995 2 90 1865 258,352 30 86,611 21 163,909 61 63,686 2 58 1866 274,321 94 80,753 61 187,696 12 64,963 2 89 1867 295,567 02 98,672 34 188,340 03 65,321 2 88 1868 288,300 6G 108,900 02 171,831 90 67,000 2 57 1869 266,532 19 118,035 75 143,609 03 71,000 2 03 1870 292,481 01 11 1,692 26 165,298 98 52,000 2 43 1871 314,083 24 121,496 14 186,625 59 51,775 2 60 1872 325,900 96 130,204 99 188,646 12 54,000 2 55 1873 345,599 35 138,121 58 201,029 18 78,000 2 58 1874 387,563 92 157,265 42 223,975 30 81,000 2 7 6 1875 385,568 54 168,939 79 206,765 71 80,599 2 57 1876 393,569 25 189,559 95 197,506 41 83,600 2 36 1877-78 418,051 42 219,597 63 197,850 44 86,100 2 30 1878-79 454,211 86 287,814 79 166,309 95 90,000 1 85 1879-80 469,319 54 235,138 40 231,829 47 93,530 2 48 1 880-81 519,792 53 240,912 66 277,816 46 93,600 2 97 1881-82 495,968 42 256,352 18 239,468 24 96,600 2 50 1882-83 496,820 66 272,298 30 223,763 — 99,100 2 26 1883-84 507,548 90 275,348 42 231,568 08 101,000 2 29 1884-85 527,334 03 274,006 14 249,034 29 103,200 i 2 41 1885 S6 536,274 30 280,109 04 253,373 07 106,700 2 37 jgg6_87 539,964 — 297,589 98 234,556 44 109,600 2 14 1887-88 567,309 99 318,322 13 247,145 94 113,000 2 19 m lexis “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” Vol. III., p. 227, Art: “ Elberfelder Armenpflege System,” Munsterberg, « Elberfeld Poor Law System,” Report of English Commissioners 1888.”*! REPORT ON TFIE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 87 Table R. 2. Year. Average Number of Cases granted out-door relief. Number of the Population. Proportion of cases per 1,000 Inhabitants. 1855 902 51,259 17-6 185G 738 51,632 14 '3 1857 615 52,590 11-7 1858 708 53,375 144 1859 651 53,495 12-2 1 860 618 54,002 11-4 18G1 598 56,277 10-6 18G2 568 57,937 9-8 1863 565 59,774 9-1 1864 531 61,995 8-6 1865 545 63,686 8-9 1866 591 64,963 9-1 1867 629 65,321 9-6 1868 584 67,000 8-7 1869 458 71,000 6 * 5 1870 493 72,000 6-8 1871 489 71,775 6-8 1872 450 74,000 6-1 1878 437 78,000 56 1874 469 80,000 5-9 1875 476 80,599 5-9 1876 526 S3,600 6-3 1877-78 675 86,100 7-8 1878-79 736 90,000 8-2 1879-80 769 93,530 8-2 1880-81 830 93,600 8-9 1881-82 843 96,600 8'8 1882-83 829 99,100 8-4 1883-84 867 101,000 8*6 1884-85 826 103,200 8-0 1885-86 S39 106, 700 7'9 1886-87 841 109,600 7 • 7 1887-88 840 113,000 7-4 1888-89 844 119,200 7*1 e. Applica- The financial re'Sults of the Elberfeld administration tionof the attracted the attention of the poor law authorities in other towns, other cities, in particular Duisburg, Barmen, Krefeld, Essen, and Cologne. Dresden, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Kbnigsberg, Frankfurt-am-Main, Stuttgart, Bremen, Cassel, Posen, Dortmund, Bochum, and Freiburg- in - Breslau have a similar system, as well as the smaller towns of Landsberg, Gotha, Stendal, Schwelm, and Hamm. Jn Altona and in Berlin itself slight dif- ferences exist, but on the whole the system adopted is that of personal investigation specially associated with Elberfeld, whilst in Hamburg a similar method of procedure has been in use for upwards of a century. Altona is specially interesting because the Elberfeld system is here supplemented by a workhouse in the English sense, used as a test for applicants whose cases are unsatisfactory, and as a refuge for the entirely destitute. All applications for relief must here be made in the first instance to the overseer, and he selects any visitor in the district to make inquiry as to the case. The overseers are themselves selected from among the most experienced visitors. Orphan children are boarded out instead of being kept in special schools as at Elberfeld, and the infirm and aged are provided for in two poorhouses. The workhouse supplies the place of a shelter for the homeless, and is situated on a farm outside the town. In Bremen, besides the work- house under police control, there is also a voluntary workhouse (Freiwilliges Arheitshaus) started “to enable “ ablebodied people who apply for relief to earn their “ own living, and to compel the idle to labour.” The poor who work in it are paid wages for piece-work, and, as they are not counted as paupers, they can retain their civil rights. The wages are fixed somewhat lower than the earnings of ordinary labourers in private employment, but no information is given as to the effect of this upon the general rate of wages. In Berlin, as at Elberfeld, the governing body in poor law matters is closely identified with the municipality. The city is divided into 213 poor law districts of such a size that the monthly expenditure for poor relief in each district is not more than from 50 1. to 75 1. Each district is under a committee, consisting of the overseer of the municipal ward ( Stadtbezirh ), certain members of the town council, and from six to 20 almoners or visitors nominated for six years by the council. As in Elber- feld the office of almoner is compulsory and unpaid. Recipients of relief are divided into three classes : permanent cases, women who receive an allowance for the maintenance of their children, and casual cases. Relief is sometimes given to the permanent cases for a year, contrary to the Elberfeld principle of restricting it to a fortnight, but in these cases it is fixed at first at the low rate of 3s. a month, and may be withdrawn with any alteration in the circumstances of the patient. Homeless and destitute cases are sent to the refuge for the homeless (. Asyl fur Obdachlose), where they are kept for five days ; if before the end of that period they have not provided themselves with lodgings and work, they may be proceeded against under the Penal Code. There is no direct evidence available as to the extent to which this provision is enforced, but the convictions for vagrancy and cognate offences are very numerous. The available statistics of pauperism in Berlin do not point to any great success in (he admi- nistration of the poor law, but they were drawn up as long ago as 1884-85. They show that whereas the population of Berlin had increased in rather more than 10 years by 37“2 per cent., the number of permanent paupers had increased 83‘1 per cent., the number of children for whom allowances were paid 76'9 per cent., and the cases of extra relief 128 - 8 per cent. The amount paid in relief increased in about the same proportion ( 1 ). The distinction between poor law administration and /. Con- charitable work is much less marked in Germany than in England. The Elberfeld regulations state the administra- proper objects of poor law administration to be “the Ron with “ development of a ‘care of the poor’ in their own societies. 0 “ homes, the individualising of the work, which assigns “ to each almoner as limited an area as possible, the “ endeavour to help without arresting the active “ impulse to self-support, and, as a consequence, the “ accurate and continually repeated scrutiny of the “ wants of the applicant, and constant test of his “ powers of work.” In Germany, therefore, the distress, which the poor law relieves, is regarded as an abnormal condition to be cured by this agency and by the method of individualising; in England such a view seems to belong rather to charitable institutions. In spite, however, of the far-reaching character of the German poor law administration, there still remain fields of enterprise for private benevolence. No woman can in Germany be a visitor under the poor law, or take any official part in poor law administration. Accord- ingly, the women of Germany have formed themselves into associations ( Fraucnvereine ) for carrying on such work as falls especially within their province, the care of the sick, the education of orphan children, and the management of various institutions for the benefit of women. The Frauenverein of Elberfeld is described as “ an association of ladies of all classes and confessions, “ which has for its object to help and supplement the “ public care of the poor. According to its means it “ grants assistance in cases of extraordinary and urgent “ need in which the town administration cannot inter- “ vene. It aims especially at preventing pauperism “ by well-devised plans and promoting self-support and “ civil independence. It also represses mendicity.” For purposes of administration it adopts the poor law districts, and appoints a woman overseer for each district, with assistant women visitors. The committee of management consists of these overseers and their chairman, a woman, together with four members of the poor law administration. The association has esta- blished a creche, and an invalid kitchen ; it also grants aid in money or in articles of clothing and bedding to persons in need, and has expended considerable sums on medical treatment and change of air for sick children. Similar associations exist all over Germany. During the wars with Austria and with France they organised a band of nurses, and sent medical aid to the wounded. Some of the associations are active in training nurses, others undertake the care of boarded-out children, the supervision of kindergartens, the training of kinder- garten teachers, and the management of homes, hospitals, and other institutions. There are also charitable societies composed of men as well as women, which assist the work of the poor law. Chief amongst these are the society for the care of the poor and tor charity ( Verein fiir Armenpflego ancl Woliltlidtigheit), the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism ( Verein gegen Verarmung) in Berlin, and various societies in connexion with the different churches. The first of (') Lexis “ Haudworterbuch der Staatswissensclmften,” Vol. III., )>. 227. Art. : “ Elberfelder Armenpflege system," Miinsterberg. Elber- feld Poor Law System, Report of English Commissioners, 18S8, lip. 30- 40, 118-137. M 3 88 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : g. General criticism of poor law system. these societies holds congresses to consider questions connected with poor relief, and decided at the congress held in 1892 that a closer connexion was needed between official and non-official relief. In 1893 it issued a circular to the various poor law unions asking for returns which should enable it to decide whether the recent insurance legislation has lightened the burden of poor law administration, or whether this relief has not been counterbalanced by the quickened energy of the poor law administrators, and the increased aid which they grant. The aid given by private benevolence to the unemployed is treated below under the heading of “ Workmen’s Colonies. ”(') There is a strong feeling in Germany that in the country districts especially, some reform is required in the poor law organisation. A report drawn up by the Society for the Care of the Poor and for Charity, states that there is a consensus of opinion in favour of the view that the real ground of the inadequate relief afforded in country districts is to be found in the small- ness of the areas required to be self-supporting. It is easy to understand that poor law districts, containing only a hundred or a few hundred souls readily succumb to the temptation to exhibit the meanest selfishness in their dealings with the poor. The result of this dread of incurring financial burdens shows itself in an obstinate refusal to grant any support out of the public funds, eveii in cases of well-known inability to work, and still more commonly in a tacit recommendation, in some rare cases even openly expressed, to seek an alternative in begging. “ Thus, if in towns the Elber- “ feld system ensures a sufficient degree of activity in “ the care of the poor, in the country the scanty “ resources of many communes, combined with the too “ great interest which the individual members have in “ adopting the narrowest course of action, often reduce “ the assistance given to an inadequate amount, falling “ far short of the measure of the need.” In the towns, on the other hand, the danger seems to lie rather in the direction of increasing pauperism, and at the same time in the breaking down of the principle of out-door relief, so strongly insisted upon by the advocates of the Elberfeld system. Even in Elber- feld the statistics of pauperism compare unfavourably with those of England. It is true that the average number of out-door paupers in England during 1887, was 21’6 per 1,000 of the population, and in Elberfeld only 20'7, whilst the numbers of in-door paupers were respectively 29 and 28'4.( 2 ) But the average for- England is much higher than the proportion in manufacturing districts, which afford a better parallel ; in Bradford the number in 1887 was only 15 per 1,000. In Berlin the increase is still more serious ; between 1874-75 and 1884-85 the recipients of out-door relief increased 114‘5 per cent , whilst the increase of the whole popula- tion was only 37’2 per cent. Whether these unsatis- factory figures are to be explained by the difficulty of administering a system requiring a vast amount of personal supervision in so large a city remains uncertain ; it may be partly explained, perhaps, by the difficulty of dealing with apparently hopeless cases, under a system which aims chiefly at out-door relief. Its result is to be seen in the necessity, under which the poor law administrators find themselves, of restricting the amount given in aid to a minimum sum, which Mr. Loch characterises in his report as “ruinous to the people and extravagant.” The alternative policy of exclusion from relief by some test, such as admission to a poorhouse, is contrary to the spirit of the present administration ; nevertheless, signs are not wanting, that indoor relief is on the increase, and that it is likely to increase still further. In a report drawn up by the Berlin Court of Aldermen, in September, 1880, the court, after stating that the number of citizens em- ployed in administering the law has made it possible to avoid the English workhouse system, go on to admit that in the last 30 years, the number of persons in need of help, who could only be assisted by admission to an institution, has increased. The instructions issued by the Minister of the Interior in 1871 also direct that indoor relief is to be given “if it be a fit case.” The danger of injuring poorer wage-earners, by allowing persons housed in a poorhouse to compete with them, and by giving scraps of outdoor relief as an addition to wages, have already been indicated. It would ( 1 ) Elberfeld Poor Law System, Report of English Commis- missioners, 1888, pp. 29, 69, 85. Schmollcr, “ Jahrhuch fur Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft,” 1892, Art., by Miinsterberg, p. 187. Leaflet of Verein fur Armenpflege und Wohlthatigkeit, June 1893. ( 2 ) These figures refer to individuals, those m Table R 2, to eases, a family apparently being reckoned ns one case. See Report of English Commissioners, 1888, pp. 28, 66. certainly require the careful scrutiny characteristic of the Elberfeld system to counteract the evils which may result. On the whole, it must be said of the German poor law system that it requires a very high standard of citizenship to ensure the carrying out of so large an amount of burdensome and unpaid work. The political education acquired by this means may partially com- pensate the overseers and visitors, but it is clear that without a strong sense of civic duty a man would hardly make so great a sacrifice of time as is involved in work, which in Berlin occupies, it is said, two hours a day(‘). D. Provision for the Unemployed. Provision for workmen migrating from one part of the country to another in search of work has been made in Germany on a somewhat extended scale by means of the workmen’s shelters ( Naturulverpflegungs-stationen ) established at intervals of about halt a day’s journey along all the main routes to the great industrial centres. These shelters are maintained by the authorities of groups of communes, in some cases with the assistance of the provincial authorities. Where any of the 400 lodging-houses or temporary houses ( Herbergen zur Helmut) established by the Catholic or Protestant Church are in existence, these lodging-houses are as a rule utilised as a shelter ; where there is no such house a special one is built for the purpose by the authorities. All workmen are admitted without distinction of creed, unless they are ill or intoxicated ; in the former case they are conveyed to a hospital. Supper, bed. breakfast, and dinner are provided for the inmates, and in return they must do half a day’s work in the workshops attached to the shelter. All the inmates are expected to respect the property of the house, and any damage done is charged to the account of all unless the offender is discovered. The use of all alcoholic drinks is forbidden, and a short religious service is held in the evening, but the attendance of the men is optional. Workmen discovered to possess more than 3 marks are charged a small sum for their board and lodging. On leaving the shelter every workman is provided with a passport, on which is marked the hour at which he arrived at the shelter and the hour of his departure. The passport also indicates the route to the next shelter, and any workman found begging or wandering on bye- roads without visible means of subsistence is liable to be arrested as a vagabond. Workmen refusing to leave the shelter at the appointed time may be ejected by the police, and if workmen refuse to perform the appointed task their names are put on a black list, and they are no longer received at any shelter. On Sundays both work and travelling are suspended. A labour registry is attached to many of these stations, and workmen are advised as to the best route to adopt in order to obtain work and as to the state of the labour market in different districts. The following table shows the number of shelters established up to 1890, and marks a corresponding decrease in the number of convictions for vagabondage : — Table S 1. Year. No. of Shelters. Shelters established. Shelters with or without Labour Registry. Shelters with or without compulsory Work. No. of Annual Convictions for Vagabondage. bi JJ V & O.S r-b£j l " H c In Christian Lodging-houses. Elsewhere. With. Without. With. Without. 1882 - - - - - - - - 23,808 1883 - - - - - - - - 20,833 1S84 595 385 ? 201 277 31S 189 406 18,157 1885 915 518 ? 397 479 436 507 408 15,727 1887 917 401 130 386 514 334 652 239 15,166 1890 951 370 176 405 587 364 719 232 8,605 (>) Elberfeld Poor Law System: Report of English Commissioners 1888, pp. 28, 62, 67, 88, 93. v. Reitzenstein, “ Zur intemationalen Be- liamllung der Armenfrage,” 1893, p. 22. “Die landliche Armenpflege und ilire Reform,” 1887, p. 7. a. Work- men’s shel- ters. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 89 Table S 2. — Table showing the Number and Importance ot' the Shelters in the different States of the G-erman Empire in 1890. No. of Shelters Vi S- Extent by IleJp distributed. X, in Inha- bitants. No. States. A r Jl Square Kilo- 1,000 1 100,000 Scale. e+-i O meters. Sq. Dinners. Suppers. Lodgings. Breakfasts. 6 Kilom. 1 • Kingdom of Prussia - 951 348,354-29 29,957,302 2-7 3-17 603,067 1,065,328 1,076,466 1,033,837 2 Kingdom of Bavaria - 239 75,859-71 5,589,382 3-1 4-27 1 14,474 220,139 237,798 170,994 3 Kingdom of Saxony - 144 14,992-94 3,500,513 9-6 4-11 58,350 107,732 111,118 94,039 4 Kingdom of Wiirtem- 130 19,503-69 2,035,443 6-8 6-50 23,723 80,330 83,618 67,692 berg. 5 Grand Duchy of Baden 3.35 15,081 • 13 1,656,817 22-2 19-71 62,334 139,034 163,314 100,910 6 Grand Duchy of Hesse 40 7,681-83 994,614 5-2 4-00 9,074 51,550 60,446 39,996 7 Grand Duchy of Meek- — 13,303-77 578,565 — — — — — — lenbu rg-Sch werin. 8 Grand Duchy of Meek- 7 2,929-50 97,978 2-4 7-00 12,198 13,997 14,053 13,975 lenburg-Strelitz. 9 Grand Duchy of Saxe- 31 3,594-86 325,824 8-6 10-33 21,248 45,851 47,143 20,781 Weimar-Eisenach. 10 Grand Duchy of Olden- 3 6,422-52 355,000 0-5 O’ "5 3,713 4,515 4,941 4,715 burg.(') 11 Anhalt - 9 2,347-35 271,759 3-9 3-00 28,345 30,668 31,429 25,838 12 Brunswick 8 3,690-43 403,029 2 * 2 2-00 1,636 4,935 10,233 4,790 13 Saxe-Altenburg 14 1,323-75 170,867 10-7 7-00 8,221 31,251 20,470 19,534 14 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha - 18 1,956-51 206,329 9-0 9-00 11,597 19,822 19,295 9,732 15 Saxe-Meiningen 3 2,468-37 223,920 1-2 1-50 1,309 6,122 6,174 6,218 16 Lippe - - - 5 1,215-20 128,414 4-2 5-00 3,684 6,076 6,076 5,273 17 Schaumburg-Lippe 1 339-71 39,183 3-3 3-00 802 1,970 1 ,635 1,635 18 Reuss (elder line) — 316-39 62.759 — — — — — — 19 Reuss (younger line) - 3 825-67 119,555 3-8 3-00 18 6,055 5,872 6,503 20 Schwarzburg - Rudol- 5 940-42 85,838 5-6 5-00 1,237 7,640 7,746 7,664 stadt. 21 Schwarzburg - Bonders- 5 862-10 75,514 5-6 6-50 1,725 10,676 10,663 10,668 hausen. 22 Waldeck 4 1,121 • 05 57,283 3-6 8-00 465 3,663 3,452 3,663 23 Bremen - 1 255-56 180,309 3' 3 8-50 5,150 13,687 13,739 13,739 24 Hamburg — 409-78 624,199 — — — — — — 25 Liibeck - — 297-70 76,459 — — — — — — 26 Alsace-Lorraine 1 14,509-41 1,603,987 0- 1 0-06 120 350 410 410 German Empire, 1 Total - - J j 1,957 54,603-64 49,420,842 3-6 3-96 972,490 1,871,591 1,936,091 1,662,606 (0 The Duchy of Oldenburg properldoes not possess a single shelter. Table S 3. — Table showing Expenses and Average Population of the Shelters in 1890. No. States. Gross Expenses, including General Expenses. Proceeds of Work done in the Workshops of the Shelters. Expenses. Nett. | Population declared at the Shelters on the Night of the 1 5th to the 16th Dec. 1890. Average Number of Individuals received each Hay. Average Expense of living for each Individual. For the whole Country Average per Shelter. For the whole Country. Per Shelter. Per Year. Per Day. Ers. Frs. Frs. Frs. c. i Cents. 1 Prussia - 991,084 60,386 930,698 5,516 5-80 2,949-22 3- 10 315 60 86-46 2 Bavaria _ 179,952 10,911 169,04 1 925 3-87 651-50 2-73 259 26 71-02 3 Saxony 89,240 2,432 86,808 502 3-49 304-43 2-11 285 55 78-23 4 Wurtemhurg - 51,460 304 51,156 488 3-75 229-09 1-76 223 39 61-30 5 Baden - 127,894 93 127,801 692 2-07 447-44 1-33 285 89 75-82 6 Hesse 38,621 6 38,615 232 5-80 165-61 4-14 232 62 63-73 7 Mecklenbu rg-Sch werin — — — — — — — — — 8 Meek lenburg-Strelitz - 14,635 594 14,041 82 11-71 38-50 5’ 50 237 46 97-90 9 Saxe- W eimar-Eisenach - 32,754 662 32,095 243 8-00 12916 4-17 248 77 68-16 10 Oldenburg - 6,717 81 6,636 21 7-00 13-54 4-11 474 01 128-86 11 Anhalt _ 27,937 2,701 25,236 109 12-11 86-11 9-57 292 27 77-57 12 Brunswick - 7,630 386 7,244 37 4-63 28-04 3-51 258 70 70-87 13 Saxe-Altenburg - 18,757 — 18,757 ft 5 4-64 56-08 4-02 334 95 91-76 14 Saxe-Goburg-Gntha 14,645 977 13,668 97 5-39 52-86 2 94 257 87 70-65 15 Saxe-Meiningen - 3,366 — 3,366 7 2-33 16-91 5 64 198 01 54-25 16 Lippe - 7,500 2,500 5,000 53 1060 16-65 3-33 294 11 80-57 17 Schaumburg-Lippe - 2,587 — 2,587 22 22-00 4-48 4 -48 646 87 177-22 18 Reuss (elder line) - — — — — — — — — — 19 Reuss (younger line) - 4,585 — 4,585 13 4-3.3 16-09 5-36 286 56 78-51 20 Schwarzburg - 4,916 — 4,916 37 7-40 21-22 4-24 234 It 6416 21 Schwarzburg - 6,463 — 6,463 32 6-40 29-21 5-84 222 89 61-06 22 Waldeck - 2,769 11 2,758 14 3-50 9-46 2 73 306 39 83 • 93 23 Bremen - 12,526 2,363 10,160 24 24 00 37-64 37-64 267 36 73-25 24 Hamburg - — — — — — — — — — 25 Lubeck - — — — — — — — — — 26 Alsace-Lorraine - 399 — 399 5 5-00 1-12 1-12 398 75 109-25 Total German Empire - 1,646,437 84,407 1,562,030 9,216 4-71 5,304-36 2-71 294 46 80-67 M 4 90 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : 6. Labour registries. The chief danger arising from this method of lodging travelling workmen consists in the encouragement there!)}' afforded to workmen of migratory tendencies to throw up their employment for slight causes, and to resort to the larger towns in preference to the country districts. The development of a class of professional tramps (Walzbriider) is regarded by many as a not improbable consequence of a system, which secures board and lodging to the traveller in return for only half a day’s work (')■ Besides a large number of private registry offices, labour registries for artisans have been established by some of the guilds, and similar institutions exist in connexion with the trades unions and workmen’s associations. These have in some cases given rise to disputes, since in the one case the members of the guilds complain that they are restricted in their choice of workmen by being compelled to use the guild re- gistry, and in the other case an attempt on the part of the labour associations to compel the employers to make use of their registry has occasioned strikes and lock-outs of considerable duration (see above p. 34). Further the number of registries working at cross- purposes has prevented any effective scheme for dealing with the question of the unemployed. In a few cases an attempt has been made to remedy this evil by the formation of associations aiming at the common good of the working classes rather than at the interests of any special industry. A society for promoting the welfare of the working classes ( Qentralverein fur das Wolil der arbeitenden Klassen ) was established in Stuttgart, and in I 860 it joined with two other philan- thropic societies in setting up a labour registry. This office was at first on a very small scale, and confined itself to furnishing employment to workingmen. As its funds increased assistance was given to artisans, and the management of the travelling funds connected with the different associations of artisans was under- taken by the officials of the labour registry. During the Franco-German war the office supplied funds to labourers ordered on active service, and did good work in supplying farmers with the necessary labour, and in finding men to work on fortifications, earthworks, and Government buildings. Its official programme is now fourfold. It undertakes : — 1 . To satisfy applications from employers for workmen and apprentices. 2. To satisfy applications from workmen and appren- tices for work. 3. To provide assistance to journeymen in need of funds for the road. 4. To supply information of all sorts gratis with respect to the several branches of labour. The fees charged are 40 pf. for employers residing in Germany and 50 pf. for foreign employers ; these fees are lowered to regular subscribers of not less than 2 marks a year. Workmen are charged 20 pf. and provided with a ticket of introduction to an employer ; if engaged, they receive back 10 pf. on presenting themselves at the office with the signed ticket, and if not engaged the whole of the fee is returned. Work- men, who have not the money to pay the requisite fee, may deposit their papers instead, and can receive them back after they have obtained a situation by paying 10 pf. The office aims at establishing separate regis- tries for every trade, and each trade has the power of appointing a representative to control its interests. Since 1883the office has been independent ofthe financial aid of the three societies, which were instrumental in establishing it. In 1888-89 applications were received from 6,676 employers and 7,823 workmen in search of work. In 1892 the applications from employers w r cre 6,539, and from workmen 8,443. Since its first estab- lishment the registry has dealt with 479,450 applications and obtained work abroad for 14,107 persons. The bulk of the applications refer to skilled labour, and female labour is not admitted. In 1883 a Central Association for Registering Labour (Centra herein fur Arbeitsnachweis) was finally established in Berlin. Workmen applying are charged an entrance fee of 20 pf., and a further fee of 30 pf. for the use of the registry; this is not returned if they are unsuccessful, but carried on to their credit whilst they are sent to apply for another situation. Since 1886 no fees have been charged to employers ; but the institution is not self-supporting. Applications are not received from women or from apprentices. In 1888 the number of (!) Lexis, "Handworterbuch der Stnatswissciisc-haften.” vol. I., p. 395, Art. “ Arbeiterkolonien,” Bcrthold. “ I /Assistance Pratique donn<$e en Allemagne aux Ouvriors sans Travail,” by M. de Quaker* 1893, pp. 9-23. applicants for work was 10,308, and that of employers seeking workmen, 7,365; the number of workmen supplied was 6,007: a decrease on former years, due, probably, to the increasing number of registry offices established for particular trades. During 1892 the number of applicants for work was 11,672, and the number of persons placed 7,552. In 1891 the numbers were respectively 13,459 and 7,376. The majority of the applicants are unskilled labourers. A registry for casual labour has been opened at Hamburg since April, 1893. A registry established at Breslau by the society for the prevention of pauperism received 1,806 appli- cations from employers in 1891, and 1,600 in 1892. The applicants for work were 2,356 in 1891, and 2,075 in 1892, including 1 ,107 men, and 968 women. Work was found for 1,099 men and 548 women, or 2,047 out of the 2,075 applicants. This work was permanent in 926 cases. The majority of the applicants were un- skilled and below the age of 50. Allusion has already been made to the labour registries in connexion with the workmen’s shelters ; these have achieved good results, and their efforts to detach workmen from an idle and wandering life have been further supple- mented by the workmen’s colonies. A scheme is on foot for the establishment of a municipal labour registry at Stuttgart to find work for both men and women. Its working expenses, which are estimated at 250Z. a year, will be defrayed by the Municipality, and no assistance will be given by the poor law authorities unless the registry is unable to furnish the applicant with work. Sixteen free municipal labour registries has been established in the Liegnitz district of Silesia. As the applicants are chiefly agricultural labourers it is proposed to establish branch offices in the country districts ('). The establishment of workmen’s colonies was due to c. Work the efforts made by Pastor von Bodelschwingh between ™f” n j[ os 1870 and 1880, to arouse general interest in favour of some provision for workmen out of employment. The idea had been mooted 30 years earlier by Pastor Hel- dring and others, but it had not met with a sufficiently wide acceptance to justify the establishment of any colonies. In 1882, the first colony, that of Wilhelms- dorf, near Bielefeld, was founded, and the number quickly grew until by the end of 1892 it had reached 25, scattered about in different parts of the German Em- pire. These colonies are the outcome of private benevolence ; they are governed on certain general principles agreed upon by the directors, and the history of one is to a great extent the history of all. Able- bodied working men, who are out of employment, find admission without distinction of creed, nor are dis- charged prisoners refused, since the aim of the founders of the colonies is the reclamation of the inmates, and the revival in them of the spirit of industry. A dis- tinctly religious character is given to the institutions, though dire allowance is made for differences of creeds. In ail the colonies life is regulated by certain common rules. Labour is paid for, but at a somewhat lower rate than that current in the district ; the winter wages must not exceed 25 pf. a day, and the summer wages 40 pf. To leave the Berlin colony with any balance in his favour, the colonist must earn on an average 6 s. a week. Colonists from the neighbourhood have the preference, if there is a scarcity of room, and those who have been dismissed from another colony cannot be received without the approval of the authorities of the colony from which they have come. Every colony is managed by a local committee, and the direct personal supervision is entrusted to an officer with the title of “ Hausvater,” assisted by two “ brothers ” or members of an association for training philanthropic workers. A Central Board of Management in Berlin directs the whole undertaking. The majority of the colonies are farm colonies, and the work done is mainly agricultural ; little is manufactured except articles actually needed for use on the farm, or for the personal requirements of the colonists. There are, however, some city colonies, as, for instance, in Berlin where brush and mat-making, straw work, book-binding, and similar industries are carried on. These colonies are open to the objection that they interfere with outside workmen in these industries, but Mr. Graham Brooks, who has made a special study of the question, is of opinion that except in the case of a few isolated trades, (q Lexis “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenscliaften,” vol. I., p. 731, Art., “ Arbeitsnachweis,” von Reitzenstein. Foreign Office Report, Mis- cellaneous Series. A'o. 89, of 1SS3. “Le Placement des Ouvriers,” Paris, Office du Travail, 1803, pp. 681-633. Labour Gazette, June 3, Septem- ber S, October, 1893. Sozialpolitisehes Centralblatt, vol. II., 1S32-3, p. 590. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY'. 91 this competition is insignificant since the work done in the colonies is often of an inferior character, and where it has been made to yield a profit, care is taken not to undersell the outside workers. The details collected by a deputation sent by the Glasgow Association for improving the condition of the people with regard to the colony of Friedrichswille, ; near Reppen, in the province of Brandenburg, will serve as a sample of the colonies generally. This is a farm colony under the direction of a “ Hausvater,’’ or inspector, with a salary of 1.200 marks a year, and an assistant to superintend outdoor operations with a salary of 210 marks, and board. There are also four “ brothers ” trained at the Rauehaus, a training college in Ham- burg, and these six control a number of colonists varying from 110 in the summer to 200 in the winter. Every colonist admitted must remain at least three days, and before admission a colonist must answer a number of questions as to birth, parentage, creed, trade, number of relations dependent upon him, number in a position to support him, past life, immu- nity or not from military service, and similar matters. Invalids, inebriates, or persons coming from infected districts are not admitted. Most of the colonists are single men, and the majority are between 30 and 50 years of age. They remain on an average three or four months, none longer than a year; and about 50 per cent, return after having been away a'fow months. Only two men wore discharged for misconduct in 1891. Four meals a day arc given of a substantial nature, but not including meat except bacon and sausages ; beer is given only on feast days. Services are held every morning and evening, at which attendance is com- pulsory for Catholics as well as Protestants ; on Sundays Catholics are allowed to go to their own churches outside the colony. The total cost including expenses of management is reckoned at Wilhelmsdorf at 1*5 marks a day. The colonies are not as a rule self- supporting, that at Friedrichswille requires an annual grant of 1,200Z. in cash, and 130Z. in materials from the parent society. The Berlin colony lias from time to time required help from the municipality, and has received timely donations from the Emperor and Empress and from private individuals. Its chief income is. however, derived from the sale of its products, which realised in 1891-2 a sum of 103,154 marks. The total receipts for that year were 192,679, and the expenses, 192.316 ; the receipts included a donation of 8,000 marks from the municipality. A house-to-house collection is made annually in Berlin under the supervision of the colony’s chaplain. Details with regard to the number of colonies, tho inmates, and the success of efforts to find them perma- nent work are given in the following table : — ( l ) Table T 1. — Statistics of the Workmen’s Colonies in Germany at the end of December 1892. No. Names of the Colonies. Dates of Opening. Colonists admitted since the Opening. Colonists admitted within the last Month. Actual Population. No. of Places at a normal Period. Colonists left since the Opening. Colonists left within the last Month. 1 Wilhelmsdorf 22 Mar. 1882 6,579 40 244 236 6,335 20 2 Ivastorf 24 .Tune 1883 3,890 15 201 150 3,689 15 3 Rickling 10 Oct. 1883 4,255 9 149 150 4,106 10 4 Friedrichswille 13 Nov. 1883 5,015 35 194 175 4,821 26 5 Dornahof 15 Nov. 1883 3,346 30 95 100 3,251 23 6 Seyda - 14 Dec. 1883 4,204 12 198 200 4,006 14 7 Dauelsberg 8 Feb. 1884 1,645 11 51 50 1,594 10 8 W unscha 14 July 1884 2,434 26 117 100 2,317 17 9 Meierei 25 July 1884 2,904 18 139 150 2,765 13 10 Carlshof - - - 15 Oct. 1884 4,611 180 369 250 4,242 51 11 Berlin 1 Dec. 1884 3,769 51 212 260 3,557 48 12 Ankenbuck 26 Feb. 1885 1,545 16 82 76 1,463 12 13 Neu-Ulrichstein - 1 July 1885 2,1 16 16 120 130 2,026 16 14 Liihlerheim 1 5 Feb. 1886 2,199 5 123 124 2,076 5 15 Schneckengrun 22 Feb. 1886 2,519 11 120 1 22 2,399 6 16 Elkenroth 20 Oct. 1886 1,068 6 63 50 1,005 1 17 Simonshof 1 May 1888 1,850 23 104 104 1,746 22 18 Maria- Veen 1 Oet. 1888 1,689 12 141 125 1,548 18 19 Alt-Latzig 26 Oct. 1888 779 7 72 45 707 7 20 Magdeburg 23 Nov. 1888 1,147 25 52 56 1,095 24 21 Geilsdorf 28 July 1889 907 12 75 80 832 13 22 Erlach - - - 1 Apr. 1891 508 13 81 100 427 20 23 Hohenhof 2 Jan. 1892 114 6 62 65 52 6 24 Hilmarshof 17 Jan. 1892 283 33 60 40 223 27 25 Hamburg 1 Dec. 1891 224 29 66 86 148 11 Total - 59,619 641 3,189 3,124 56,430 435 E. Municipal Employment of Labour. Yery many German cities conduct their own gas and water works, and thus give direct employment to a large number of their citizens. The tendency on the part of German municipalities to take over these indus- tries, which were formerly entrusted to a large extent to private companies, is due in part to the desire to utilise such a fruitful source of income, but also to secure the public against undue extortion with regard to the necessaries of life. Further, it has been pointed out that these industries are peculiarly adapted to serve as types, owing to the comparatively uniform character of the skill required and the steadiness of the demand for their product ; so that in regulating the conditions of labour for the persons employed in them, the municipalities are establishing a standard for ordinary labour. Of the 44 largest towns in Germany, 29, or about two-th'rds, own their own gasworks : the largest of these works, measured by the amount of gas produced, are the three for the city of Berlin, which produce annually 29,500,000, 29,300,000, and 22,400,000 cubic i 78420. metres of gas. The profit arising from this industry may be illustrated by the fact that in Leipzig the gasworks return an annual sum of over 1,000,000 marks (56.000Z.), whilst in Breslau the nett profit is 416,835 marks (20,841Z. 15s.). Berlin is especially remarkable for the extent of its municipal industries, and the admirable financial results which it achieves. As early as J847 the city began to establish its own gasworks, and for a time used all the surplus proceeds for the extension of the works. In 1868 when the municipal funds showed a, deficit of about 3,000,000 marks, the surplus income of the gasworks was paid into the common treasury. The practice has since been continued, and the sum paid over rose from 863,235 marks in 1868 to 2,382,574 marks in 1874, 4,727,916 marks in 1883-4 (or deducting the amount paid by the city for the lighting of public buildings 3,370,794 marks), and 5,320,450 marks in (') Lexis, “ HandwSrterbucli 8 9 1881 - 35,978 . Per cent. 31'9 Per cent. 3'2'7 64'6 Per cent. 26 '6 Per cent. 8'8 35*4 1882 32,030 29'2 32 2 61'4 28*0 10'G 3S'6 1883 - 26,452 28 0 Si'4 59*4 28 '5 12'1 40 '6 1884 23,093 28'4 31'4 59'8 28'1 12'1 40-2 1885 - 16,152 26 8 31'3 68-1 27*1 14' 8 41'9 1886 10,609 23*2 27 '6 50*8 31'5 17'7 49' 2 1887 - 14,055 23'1 27'1 50*2 3'2'6 17 '2 49'8 1888 14,624 24'7 28 '6 52 '5 30 '3 16'4 47 '5 Apparently between 1881 and 1885 the proportion of families emigrating was even greater, but since 1883 it Table V 6. — Emigration (German and Foreign) through — In the Months. Hamburg. Bremen. 1890. 1 1891. 1892. 1890. 1891. 1892. January 2,850 3,541 6,279 4,884 6,169 4,949 February - 4,180 5,539 7,852 6,666 7,773 7,288 March 9,451 10,512 17,152 12,484 14,955 19,519 April 9,1S7 13,532 13,788 14,714 24,022 19,527 May - 13,075 16,616 19,383 15,335 17,069 21,281 J une 9,833 15,280 13,548 8,813 9,9SS 12,527 July - 9,200 17,013 14,770 9,455 9,648 9,360 August 11,271 16,202 12,225 13,196 10,593 10,490 September 7,693 16,725 1,034 14,401 12,802 5,690 October 9,539 11,842 452 18,741 11.04S 4,615 November 8,646 11,168 2,292 15,891 9,916 6,724 December - 4,503 6,266 2,973 6,S45 5,838 7,418 Total 99,328 144,239 10S.74S 141,425 139,821 129,118 m Royal Commission on Labour. Foreign Reports, vol. I., pp. 3S-40 ; vol 11 PP 176-204. Lexis, “ Hundwbrterbuch tier Staatswissen- seh'aften ” vol I p) 1018, Art., “ Die Auswanderung aus Deutschland,” V. Philippovich. “ Die iiberseeische Auswanderung in 1892,” Imperial °?q e p[J^res S (Ba\vn up by Imperial Office of Statistics. Jahrbiicher der Breinisclien Statistik, 1890, 1891, 1892. (v.) Ports through which emi- grants pass. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY 95 (6.) Inter- migration statistics, (i.) Loss and pain through in igratiou of various States and provinces. The results of the Census of 1890, as worked up by the Imperial Office of Statistics, bring out some remarkable facts with regard to the changes which have taken place in the population of the German States and territories between 1885 and 1890. These are given in detail in the following table : — Table W 1. — Inter-migration and Emigration. — Orange in the Population of the German States and Territories between 1885 and 1890.* 1 Resident Population. Increase ( + ) and Decrease ( — ). Excess of Births over Deaths. Loss ( — ) or Gain ( + ) by Migration. States and Territories. December 1 , 1890. December 1 , 1885. Absolute. Annual Proportion per 1,000 of the Mean Population. Absolute. Annual Proportion per 1,000 of the Mean Population. Absolute. Annual Proportion per 1,000 of the Mean Population. 1. Prussia, including : 29,955,281 28,318,470 + 1,636,811 + 1 1 ‘ 24 1,933,541 13-27 -296,730 -2-04 n. East Prussia - 1,958,663 1,959,475 -812 -0-08 130,921 13-37 -131,733 -1345 b. West Prussia - 1,433,681 1,408,229 + 25,452 + 3-58 123,902 17-44 -98,450 -13*86 c. City of Berlin- 1,578,794 1,315,287 + 263,507 + 36 42 77,669 10-73 + 185,838 + 25-69 d. Brandenburg - 2,541,783 2,342,411 + 199,372 + 16-33 139,100 11-39 + 60,272 + 4*94 e. Pomerania 1,520,889 1,505,575 + 15,314 + 2-02 106,618 14-09 -91,304 -12-07 f. Posen 1,751,642 1,715,618 + 36,024 + 4- 16 155,295 17-92 -119,271 -13-76 g. Silesia 4,224,458 4,112,219 + 112,239 + 5-39 237,756 11-41 -125,517 -6-02 /(. Saxony 2,580,010 2,428,367 + 151,643 + 12-11 177,615 1419 -25,972 -2-07 i. Schleswig Hol- stein. 1,217,437 1,150,306 + 67,131 + 11-34 70,848 11-97 -3,717 -0-63 j. Hanover 2,278,361 2,172,702 + 105,659 + 9-50 127,240 11-43 -21,581 -1-94 k. Westphalia 2,428,661 2,204,580 + 224,081 + 19-35 185,613 16-02 + 38,468 + 3-32 /. Hesse Nassau - 1,664,426 1,592,454 + 71,972 + 8-84 79,672 9-79 -7,700 -0-95 vi. Rhine Province 4,710,391 4,344,527 + 365,864 + 1616 319,079 14-10 + 46,785 + 2-07 n. Hohenzollern - 66,085 66,720 -635 — 1-91 2,213 6-67 -2,848 -8-58 2. Bavaria 5,594,982 5,420,199 + 174,783 + 6-35 229,725 8-34 -54,942 -2-00 .3. Saxony 3,502,684 3,182,003 J- 320,681 + 19-19 240,607 14-40 + 80,074 + 4-79 4. Wurtemberg 2,036,522 1,995,185 + 41,337 + 4-10 97,668 9-69 -56,331 -5-59 5. Baden 1,657,867 1,601,255 + 56,612 + 6-95 73,861 9-07 -17,249 -2-12 6. Hesse 992,883 956,611 + 36,272 + 7 ' 44 45,155 9-26 -8,883 - 1-82 7. Mecklenburg - Schwerin. 578,342 575,152 + 3,190 + i-ii 27,841 9-65 -24,651 -8-55 8. Saxe Weimar 326,091 313,946 -1 12,145 + 7-59 1 7,556 10-97 -5,411 -3-38 9. Mecklenburg-Stre- litz. 97,978 98,371 -393 -0-80 4,725 9-63 -5,118 -10-43 10. Oldenburg - 354,968 341,525 + 13,443 + 7-72 20,710 11-89 -7,267 -4*17 1 1 . Brunswick 403,773 372,452 + 31,321 + 16-14 23,048 11-88 + 8,273 + 4-26 12. Saxe-Meiningen - 223,832 214,884 + 8,948 + 8-16 14,646 13-35 -5,698 -5-20 13. Saxe-Altenburg - 170,864 161,460 + 9,404 + 11-32 9,997 12-03 -593 -0-71 14. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 206,513 198,829 + 7,684 + 7-58 11,721 11-57 -4,037 -3-98 15. Anhalt 271,963 248,166 + 23,797 + 18-30 19,884 15-29 + 3,913 + 3-01 1 G. Schwarzburg-Son- dershausen. 75,510 73,606 + 1,904 + 511 4,680 12-55 -2,776 -7-45 17. Schwarzburg - Ru- dolstadt. 85,863 83,836 + 2,027 + 4-78 5,565 1312 -3,538 -8-34 IS. Waldeck - 57,281 56,575 + 706 + 2-48 3,186 11-19 -2,480 -8-71 19. Reuss (Elder Line) 62,754 55,904 + 6,850 + 23-09 5,173 17-44 + 1,677 + 5-65 20 Reuss (Younger Line). 119,811 110,598 + 9,213 + 15-99 7,874 13-67 + 1,339 + 2-32 21. Schaumburg-Lippe 39,163 37,204 + 1,959 + 10-26 2,824 14-79 -865 -4-53 22. Lippe 128,495 123,212 + 5,283 + 8-40 9,159 14-55 -3,876 -6-16 23. Liibeck 76,485 67,658 + 8,827 + 24-49 3,875 10-75 + 4,952 + 13-74 24. Bremen 180,443 165,628 + 14,815 + 17-12 8,764 10-13 + 6,051 + 6-99 25. Hamburg 622,530 518,620 + 103,910 + 36-42 27,708 9-71 + 76,202 + 26-71 26. Alsace-Lorraine - 1,603,506 1,564,355 + 39,151 + 4-94 52,383 6-61 -13,232 -1-67 German Empire - 49,426,384 46,855,704 + 2,570,680 + 10-68 2,901,876 12-06 -331,196 -1-38 * Compiled from table drawn up in Imperial Office of Statistics, and based on Census Returns for 181)0. See “ Schriften des Vereins fur Socialpolitik,” vol. LVIII., 1893, pp. 29, 30, and table in Appendix. See also map. Appendix C. According to this table, Germany as a whole has lost 331,196 inhabitants by emigration since 1885. As against this loss, a certain allowance must be made for the gains by immigration, of which this table takes no account. They might, however, be computed from the figures given for the absolute increase, and for the natural increase of population. These show a loss of 151,196, and as the absolute loss amounts to more than twice that number, the balance, 180,000, would appear to represent the gain by immigration for the whole period, giving, therefore, an annual immigration of 36,000 for the whole of Germany. This figure receives incidental confirmation from the totals given below in Table W 4 for the immigration from Austria and Russia into the eastern provinces, which constitutes the main part of the total foreign immigration. Apart, however, from the general loss to Germany by migration, the figures given for the different pro- vinces have a special interest as showing the extent of the migration from the country districts to the towns, and from the eastern provinces to the west. Though only East Prussia, Hohenzollern, and Mecklenburg- Strelitz show an absolute decrease of population, the proportion showing a loss by migration is extraordi- narily large. Indeed, as the following table, compiled from the same figures by Dr. Max Sering, shows, it is only Berlin, the Hanseatic towns, the district of Pots- dam, and the manufacturing districts of Saxony and the Rhine which can show an increase : — n :> 96 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: Table W 2. — Abstracted from Table W 1, with Districts Grouped according to Gain or Loss by Migration.* Districts. Excess of Births over Deaths in the Period between December 1, 1885, and December 1, 1890. Increase in Population between December 1, 1885, and December 1, 1890. Loss throng! Migration. Gain through Migration. Heads. Percentage of the Excess of Births. Heads. Percentage of the Excess of Births. East Prussia 130,910 -812 131,722 100-62 The two Mecklenburgs - 32,566 3,583 28,983 89-17 — — Pomerania - - 106,615 15,314 91,301 85-64 — — West Prussia - 123,894 25,452 98,442 79-51 — Posen - . 155,229 36,024 1 19,205 76-80 — District of Erankfurt-am-Oder - 64,885 20,866 44,019 67-93 — — Silesia - - 237,671 112,239 125,432 52-79 — -- Group I. - - 851,770 212,666 639,104 75-04 — — Schleswig Holstein 70,856 67,131 3,725 5*26 Hanover, Oldenburg, and Brunswick 170,914 150,423 20,491 11-99 — — Province of Saxony - 177,613 151,643 25,970 14-62 — — Hesse Nassau - - - 79,654 71,972 7,682 9-65 — — Mid German States - 112,501 89,920 22,581 20-07 — — Group II. - 611,538 531,089 80,449 13-15 — — Grand Duchv of Hesse 45,155 36,272 8,883 19-69 Bavaria (right bank of Rhine) - 184,789 142,819 41,970 22*72 — — Baden - - - - - 73,661 56,612 17,049 23-16 — Alsace-Lorraine - - 52,383 39,151 13,232 25-30 — — Bavarian Palatinate - 44,918 31,964 12,954 28-85 — — Wtirtemberg - - 97,668 41,337 56,331 57-71 — — Hohenzollern ... - 2,213 -635 2,848 129-45 — — Group III. - - 500,787 347,520 153,267 30-61 — — Berlin .... 77,635 263,507 185,872 239-52 District of Potsdam - 74,223 178,506 — — 104,283 140-54 Hanseatic towns ... - 40,546 127,552 — — 87,006 214-82 Kingdom of Saxony - 240,607 320,681 — — 80,074 33-28 Rhine Provinces - 319,099 365,864 — — 46,765 14-65 Westphalia - - - - 185,578 224,081 — — 38,503 20-75 Group IV. - 937,688 1,480,191 — — 542,503 57-86 1 | Summary op Forf.going Grot JPS. Group I. - - 851,770 212,666 639,104 75-04 — — Group II. - 611,538 531,089 80,449 13-15 — — Group III. - 500,787 347,520 153,267 30-61 — — Total I.-III. - - 1,964,095 1,091,275 872,820 — — Group IV. ... - 937,688 1,480,191 — — 542,503 57-86 Total — German Empire - 2,901,783 2,571,466 330,317 11-38 * Schriften (les Vereins fur Socialpolitik, vol. LVI., 1893, p. 6. The total loss by migration is here given at a some- what lower figure than in Table W 1, as the absolute increase of population is placed rather higher ; but the difference between the two sets of figures is too incon- siderable to affect the general conclusions warranted by the state of things they disclose. According to Table W 2, East Prussia, Silesia, and Posen, are the greatest losers by migration in point of numbers, whilst West Prussia and Pomerania follow close behind. The proportionate loss, as compared with the natural increase of population, is greatest in East Prussia, where it exceeds 100 per cent., and gradually decreases through the eastern provinces until, in Silesia, it is 52‘79 per cent. The figures for the east are only rivalled by those for Hohenzollern, which appears to be losing at the enormous rate of 129 '45 per cent., and for Wiirtemberg, which loses 57'71 per cent. On the other hand. Berlin has gained 239'52 per cent., and the Hanseatic towns 214'82 per cent. The following table, compiled from the same census returns, gives the total loss of East and South Germany by inter-migration only as 8’9 and 0‘2 per 1,000 of the native population, whereas Western Germany has gained 8T per 1,000 since 1885. The enormous migration into Hamburg and Bremen may, perhaps, be due to the temporary settlement in those cities of intending emigrants. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 97 (ii.) Coun- ter-immi- gration movement. Table W 3. — Fluctuation in the Native Population of different parts of Germany due to Internal Migrai urn, according to the Census of 1890.* Drawn from other parts of the Empire. Diverted to other parts of tlie Empire. Gain ( + ) or loss ( — ) by Internal Migration. Divisions. Absolute. Percentage of the existing Population. Absolute. Percentage of the Native Population. Absolute. Percentage of the Native Population. Eastern Germany. East Prussia West Prussia Posen - - - .Silesia - - - Pomerania - - - The two Mecklenburgs Schleswig, Holstein, and Liibeck Hamburg Brandenburg and Berlin Hanover and the two Lippes Oldenburg ... Bremen - Saxony, Brunswick, and Anhalt - Kingdom of Saxony Thuringia - Hesse-Nassau and Waldeck Westphalia ... Rhine Provinces - - - 53,331 27-4 324,351 141,692 99-4 243,133 136,128 78-1 321,319 143,275 34-3 475,866 118,956 78-4 282,876 55,601 82-5 135,716 175,418 138*6 156,223 294,174 485*8 47,674 997,582 244*3 285,131 Western Germany. 246,783 101*5 296,890 49,093 139*1 57,488 70,890 400*4 20,238 372,105 114*7 517,591 348,451 101*5 155,230 134,097 105*9 204,778 205,356 120*2 233,326 307,130 127*3 228,034 386,733 83*3 248,039 146*1 -271,020 -122' 1 159*3 -101,441 -66*5 166*7 -185,191 -96*1 105*5 -332,591 -7.3*7 168*3 -163,920 -97*5 180*1 -80,115 -106*3 125*3 + 19,195 + 15*4 132*8 + 246,500 + 686*5 84-6 + 712,451 + 211*3 119*6 -50,107 -20-2 159*2 -8,395 -23-2 160*1 + 50,652 + 400-7 152-7 -145,486 -42-9 47-9 + 193,221 + 59-7 153-2 -70,681 -52-9 134-3 -27,970 -16-1 97-7 + 79,096 + 33-9 55-0 + 138,694 + 30-8 Southern Germany. Hesse - - 101,693 102-9 107,374 108-1 -5,681 -5-7 Bavarian-Palatinate - 45,496 62-7 79,412 104-6 -33,916 -44-7 Alsace-Lorraine - - 169,774 109-1 36,494 25-6 + 133,280 + 93-7 Baden - - 120,512 73-5 106,167 65-4 + 14,345 + 8-8 Wiirtemberg and Ilohenzollern - 60,308 28-9 147,069 67-6 -86,761 -39-9 Bavaria (right bank of Rhine) “ 127,456 26-9 151,615 31-4 -24,159 -5*0 * Schriften des Vereins fur Socialpolitik, vol. LVIII., 1893, p. 55. A comparative table has been constructed from figures given by the Imperial Office of Statistics show- ing the loss, by temporary migration and by emigration, to the various industries of East and West Prussia, Posen, and Silesia, in 1891 and 1892, and the extent to which the places of emigrants are supplied by immi- grants from Austria and Russia. It is difficult to obtain accurate statistics as to the amount of temporary migration, known as “ Sachsengangerei,” from the fact that Saxony was the goal to wliich the poverty- stricken labourers of the east first directed their steps. 'The previous tables, based upon the Census returns, necessarily under-estimate it, since those returns are made in the winter, when the majority of these temporary migrants have returned to their homes. Table W 4. — Loss of Population in the Eastern Provinces of Pnusia due to Internal Migration and to Emigration of Native Labourers, as Compared with Gain due to Immigration of Labourers from Austria and Russia, for the Years 1891 and 1892.* Loss through temporary Migration. fg gi 5 & Loss through Emigration. o u o & llmmigration from Russia. from Immigration from Austria. from from Provinces. Agriculture. Industry. Mining. aoS O d I-3 e Sh . 47 3. Art., “ Sachsenaangerei,” Kaerger. Schriften des Vereins fur Soeialpolitik, vol. LVIII., 1893, pp. 37-48, 70-72. anything else to the increased migration. Neverthe- less, as has been well pointed out by Herr Lindig, neither the efforts of unscrupulous agents, nor the representations of friends and relations, would have sufficed to induce such an immense number of persons to forsake their homes, if the economic condition of the German labourer had been satisfactory. Low wages, lack of employment, the decay of the lesser industries, and the too rapid influx of would-be factory-workers into the towns, combine to produce a state of things compared with which the United States appear to have everything to offer. As Professor von Philippovich has said, the tide of emigration can only be stemmed in States which seek “ to make home home-like to the “ wanderers by raising their economic and social con- “ ditions.” ’ On the other hand, the economic and political conditions of the countries to which the emigrants go may in the future be expected to exercise a still greater influence ; and it is not improbable that the attitude now adopted by the United States towards immigration, combined with the increasing difficult}' of obtaining land, may have a deterrent effect upon Ger- man emigration. For, in the main, this emigration is an agricultural emigration, and all writers on the sub- ject are agreed that the dearest wish of the agricultural labourer in Germany is to become a landowner, on however small a scale. It is this desire, uniting as it does the economic, social, and political factors already distinguished, which is mainly responsible for the migration of population in Germany. Statistics have shown that there are two main districts from which the emigrants go — the south-west and the north-east. In the one case, the population has outgrown both the land supply and the supply of supplementary employ- ment ; in the other, the conditions of labour on the great estates render it more and more difficult for the labourer to emancipate himself from his state of servi- tude. (See p. 53.) Even apart from the difficulty of securing a small plot of ground in a country of great estates, the agricultural labourer cannot, under existing conditions, acquire the purchase money even by years of saving ; so that, as Dr. Lindig has said, “ the agri- “ cultural question is first and foremost a question of “ wages. . . . The small receipts, and the im- “ possibility of saving anything which can help him to “ rise in the social scale, causes the labourer to seek “ conditions which afford a better prospect. These he “ finds in factory labour at home, or in emigration to “ America, where wages are high and the price of land “ proportionately small ; there he may hope to attain “ the goal of his ambition and to become independent, “ whereas here it is hard, indeed, even for the most “ skilled and most diligent, to save enough for the “ purchase money of a piece of land.” At the same time, it must be pointed out to those who regard small holdings as the universal and unfailing remedy, that of late a large number of small German proprietors have found themselves forced, by the continued depression of prices, to give up their holdings, and to emigrate. This is due largely to the poverty of the land which the great landowners had given for settlement, but it is a fact worthy of notice by the advocates of rural colonisation. (') To ascertain the exact economic effect of the migra- tion of labour is, if possible, still more difficult than to determine its causes. On the one hand, the mother country gains by the settlement of lands which afford fresh markets for her products, and by the employment even over the seas of her surplus population. On the other hand, emigration beyond certain reasonable limits involves a drain upon the productive and mili- tary force of the country, and the relief afforded to the labour market may easily be neutralised bj the presence of an excessive number of old men and children. The last objection applies, perhaps, less to an emigration so largely composed of families ; but the investigations of specialists like Dr. Krieg, in Bavaria, leave little room for doubt that the proportion of young men amongst the emigrants is decidedly ex- cessive. Further, Dr. Sering draws attention to the breaking off of personal relations between employers and employed as an evil inseparable from frequent migration, and deplores the effect which he foresees upon the labour question in Germany. The advantages and disadvantages of the movement of population require, however, to be very differently estimated in different parts of Germany. In the thickly-populated districts of the west and south the loss from emi- gration is certainly smaller, and the gain may even (') Schriften des Vereins fur Socialpolitik, vols. LII„ I/VI., LVIII. 1892, 1893. For a more detailed account of agricultural conditions, see above, pp. 52-65, and authorities there cited. 3. Effect of migration. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 99 be said to predominate. In the vast plains of the east and north, on the other hand, the loss is so striking as to outweigh any possibility of gain, and the rapid movement west only serves to augment the over- crowding of tiie towns and the manufacturing districts to a degree which can scarcely find an adequate outlet even in the extensive trans-oceanic migration. The general situation is thus graphically described by Dr. Max Rering: — “ Whilst a rapidly increasing re- “ serve army is pressing into the already overcrowded ‘ * 1 quarters of the large towns and the manufacturing “ districts to such an extent that even at the very “ busiest seasons it can scarcely find full employment, “ and only succeeds in lowering the general standard <• of living, the wide plains of the oast are barren of “ men to sow the corn and reap the harvest, and “ thousands of country cottages are standing empty. “ The scarcity of good labour has reached a point at “ which the rational pursuit of agriculture becomes “ impossible. In many places corn growing has been “ forced to give way to the sowing of grass. It is a “ phenomenon of annual recurrence that the harvest “ cannot be got in at the right time, that the hay rots “ in the meadows, and that the potatoes lie long “ overdue in the earth. In some districts the labour “ supply is insufficient even in the winter . “ The physical aud moral health of our nation, as well “ as its military strength, suffer the most grievous “ injury from over-rapid pressing into city and factory “ life, and from trans-oceanic migration.” In proof of his statements Dr. Sering brings forward the fact that in 1890 more than 6.000 labourers’ cottages were standing empty in East Prussia, and that year by year the great landowners are forced to introduce labour from Russia and Austria, and in Mecklenburg from Sweden, in order to accomplish even the most ordinary agricultural operations. According to many persons this remedy is worse than the disease. The labourers introduced are largely Poles of a low standard of intelligence and accustomed to a low standard of living. The Polish labourer competes not only with the German labourer but with the German labourer’s family; the landowner is under no obligation to sup- port him when out of work, as he must then return to his own country, and if he appears likely to give trouble a hint to the district authorities is sufficient to ensure his rapid transit across the frontier. Under these conditions it is hardly strange that in an era of agricultural depression the great landowners are glad of any excuse for employing this cheaper labour, and that the last stale of the German agricultural labourer is worse than the first. On the olher hand, the present economic conditions point to a more intensive system of farming as the only sure remedy for agricultural depression, yet without some means of' obtaining a constant supply of labour this remedy is inapplicable. The agricultural conditions of the east do not, however, repeat themselves in anything like the same degree in the west and south. It is true that even here agriculturists are found to complain of the growing desire for town life, which draws away the best of their labour ; but there are many districts where the subdivision of the land and the density of the population produce a permanent distress, which only finds inadequate relief in emigration. In the agricultural parts of Bavaria, in Baden, in Wiirtemberg, and in some of the Thuringian states, emigration is not only an advantage, it is a positive necessity. Here the plots of land are too small to support the families of the individual proprietors, and the “ great distance “ from the coal-fields, the insufficient or uncertain “ supply of water power, combined with the lack of “ communication with commercial centres .and with “ the more important consuming districts,” render it impossible to multiply the opportunities of supple- mentary employment. On the whole, it seems clear that though the eastern provinces suffer greatly from the drain upon agricultural labour, the inhabitants of more thickly peopled districts, and the representatives of the decaying small industries, would be in an even worse condition than at present were it not for the facilities afforded for migration! 1 ). The attitude of the State towards migration must, therefore, be twofold. On the oi.e hand emigration needs direction and protection ; on the other hand, some remedy must be found to check the disastrous (') Sehriften des Vereins fur Social politik, vols. LII., LVI. LVI1I., 1892 ami 1893. Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswisseuschaften,” vol. I., p. 1018, Art., “Die Auswanderung aus Deutschland,” von Philippovirh. The scarcity of labour is said to have been less in 1893, and the emigration from German ports has diminished. Nee Sozialpoli- tisches Centralblntt, vol. II„ 1892-3, p. 539. Vol. III., 1893-4, p. 0. i 78420. outflow of the agricultural population. In the ful- filment of the first of these duties the German Government has, in the opinion of l’rofossor von Philippovich and others, shown itself singularly de- ficient. Though at a comparatively early date the Governments of many of the States, as, for instance, of Bavaria, YVui temberg, Saxony, Mecklenburg, and others, took an active part in furthering emigration as the most effective remedy for the general economic distress which prevailed in Germany in the middle of the century, in later times the idea gained ground amongst economists that emigration meant only so much loss of labour-power to a country, and the atti- tude of the State became one of passive opposition to any movement of the population outside its borders. Forgetful of the compensating advantages the State, as Professor von Philippovich says, “ remembered only “ the unfortunate simile in which M. Say compared “ the 100,000 emigrants which Germany sends forth “ yearly to a well-equipped army passing over the “ border and immediately vanishing into space.” In individual States the comrol of emigration agents, the regulation of the means of transport, the diffusion of reliable information with regard to foreign countries, and the care of German subjects even beyond the seas, have been long regarded as legitimate channels for Government activity ; but the Imperial Government has until recent years been content with a mere recog- nition of the light of migration, and some provisions with regard to the acquisition or loss of citizenship, combined with a few transport regulations, and a clause iu the penal code against persons liable for military service who leave the kingdom without permission from the authorities. Any positive provision for the welfare of emigrants, or intending emigrants, other than regulations for their safety on board ship, is entirely wanting, though the State is face to face “ with an elementary social factor,” which, because elementary, it is powerless to remove, but which it might well be supposed to guide in the right direction. Futile attempts were made both in 1848 and in 1850 to get the Prussian Government to move in the matter, and a proposal put forward in 1856 by Bavaria, for a national regulation of emigration, led to no result. Meanwhile German subjects were suffering severely. Many had been induced to go to Brazil and to the South and Central American Republics under false pretences, only to find on arrival that the conditions under which they were bound to the soil resembled the system of American slave labour. In Brazil the emigrants worked on the half-share system, but the employer's half of the produce was largely augmented by the sums exacted from the emigrants in repayment of advances made through agents to cover the cost of passage. Exorbitant interest was frequently charged for these advances, and even where the colonist landed with money of his own and proceeded to take up land, the insecurity of tenure, the general disregai d of law on the part of the South American Governments, and the inadequacy of the system of marking out claims, led to numerous abuses, and greatly hampered the success of the German colonies. The German Governments contented themselves with prohibiting emigration to Brazil, and thus checking the career of what Dr. Roscher regards as a promising colonial enterprise. It was not until 1868 that the North German Federation appointed a Commissioner of Emigration, and sub- sequent efforts to introduce Bills into the Reichstag providing for the effective control of emigration have, in every case, proved a failure. The Imperial Govern- ment have continued the appointment of the commis- sioner, who is stationed at Hamburg, but for the enforcement of his orders he has to rely upon the local statutes. In this city, as in all the Hanseatic towns,! 1 ) any person may set up as an emigration agent wbo resides in the given town and is in possession of civic rights. The agent require s no special license, but is obliged to deposit a sum of money, and the steamship company which employs him must see that the emi- grant ships satisfy certain conditions as to safety and sanitary arrangements. Before sailing every ship must be inspected by the authorities, and the recent legislation in the United States makes it to the interest of the owners to see fhat this inspection is more than a form. By the laws of Prussia, Hanover, Hesse, Saxony, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Baden, emigration agents must be licensed, and can only carry on their (') A new emigration law is under consideration lor Bremen requiring that agents should be resident in Bremen and German subjects, and that they should deposit 30,0(10 M. as caution money. Sozinlpolitisches Centralblatt, vol. II., 1892-3, p. 499. 4. Attitude of tiie State towards migration. (a.) Protec- tion of emigration . 0 100 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : business within the particular Staie for which their license holds good. The absence of uniformity, how- ever. in ti e matter of the control of emigration goes far to neutralise the good effects of the existing statutes. (') (6.) Colonial The attitude of the Imperial Government is, in the policy. opinion of several writers, the more to be regretted as it tends to limit the c ) lonial expansion of Germany and thus to diminish the commercial advantages which she might derive from her vast transoceanic migration. The statistics given above show that over 90 per cent, of the emigrants go to the United States, and, there- fore, become to a great extent absorbed in an alien nation. Even though in certain parts of the States, where the Teutonic element is strong,' the German language and the German nationality resist the influences of the surroundings to a degree which draws forth expressions of alarm from American writers, it is clear that so long as English is the official language and the English and Americans form the dominant class there can be no German nation in North America. In the southern parts of Brazil, and in all the temperate regions of South America, a sphere is offered for German colonisation ; but, though some success has been already achieved in the provinces of Bio Grande del Sul, Santa Catharina and Parana, the political conditions of South America must for some time, at any rate, retard its economic development. Never- theless, Professor Roscher gives an encouraging account of the Brazilian colonies. There are already 180,000 Germans settled there, the climate of that part of Brazil is healthy, the soil fertile, and the conditions as to wood and water favourable to that intensive cultivation of small holdings in which the German colonists excel. The colony of Santa Cruz, founded in 1849, numbered 14,000 inhabitants in 1880, and pos- sessed 15 churches, 26 schools, 2,000 dwelling-houses, and 28 commercial establishments. Besides the cul- tivation of the cereals belonging to temperate zones the colonists grew large quantities of maize, potatoes, tapioca, sugar-cane, vines, tobacco, and gourds. The success of Santa Cruz is by no means exceptional, and may fairly be taken as representative of the results of most of the colonies. It is especially noticeable that the colonists have succeeded in preserving their national language and institutions; this Professor Roscher attributes to the fact that they have formed compact settlements instead of scattering abroad through the province. South Africa affords the only other pro- mising field for German colonial enterprise. The influence of the Dutch and the English is, according to Dr. Roscher, not as yet sufficiently overwhelming to exclude the possibility of the Teutonic race establishing an ascendancy. This may be questioned in view of the comparatively small emigration from Germany to Africa, but it is an undoubted fact that great efforts are being made by private companies to supply what they regard as the deficiencies of the German Govern- ment in developing the South African settlements. ( (i) 2 ) ( C> ) Inland To pass to the attitude of the Government towards colonisation, checking the emigration, which represents a positive loss to the mother country, it is clear that the efforts of the State must chiefly ho directed to remedying the conditions of agricultural labour in the eastern pro- vinces. Both on national and on economic grounds the Government have been anxious to find some means of attaching the German labourer to his native land, and thus preventing either the conversion of the East into a desert, or the advent of Russians and Poles to a. degree which would involve “ a difference of race “ between the landlords and their labourers, and this “ in territories formerly purely Teutonic.” It has been well pointed out by Dr. Weber that the first result of such a state of things would he a divergence of political interests between employers and employed, and that the further and more serious result from a national point of view would be the gradual approxi- mation of the interests of the German landlords to those of their Polish labourers. Nor is the interest of the Catholic Church any less involved than that of the German Government in maintaining the national barriers, since the loss of a German and Catholic Poland would be the loss of her only safeguard against the advance of the orthodox Greek Church of Russia. An attempt has been made by the Government since (i) Lexis, “Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschuru-u, pp. iuirf, 1041, Arts, "Die Auswanderunp; aus Deutschland,” v. Philippovich and “ Auswanderungsuntemehmungen,” Meyer. Schriften des Yereins fur Sccialpolitik, vul. 1,11.. 1KU2. Roscher and Jamiasch, " Kolonien, Itolonialpolitik und Auswanderung.” 1885. (a) Roscher and Jannasch. " IColonien, Kolonialpohtik und Answan- xiering," 1885. Lexis, "II dxvorterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. IV, p’72. Art, “Kolonien und Kolonialpolitik.” Hallo, Royal Com- mission on Labour, Foreign Reports, vol. II., pp. 176-204. 1886 to establish colonies both of labourers (Arbeitor) and of small proprietors (Bauer) throughout the eastern provinces. This “ inland colonisation ” is regarded by Dr. Sering as only a further step in a process which has been going on for centuries and which was an original characteristic of the development of the Germanic races. The movement in its more modern form appears in the latter part of the 17th century in the establishment of the so-called moor colonies on a plan borrowed from Holland. In Friesland, Oldenburg, and Hanover great stretches of moorland were cleared of the peat-moss which covered them, and the money obtained .for this moss was expended in manuring and tilling the cleared ground and establishing colonies with the aid of the State. Similar settlements were made on the moors and in the marshes of Pomerania and Prussia, and during the 17th and 18th centuries numerous colonies were founded in Posen and West Prussia for the most part of labourers from Silesia. A Prussian law, passed in 1845 and amended in 1853, empowered private individuals to found colonies upon their estates, with the approval of the authorities, and thus to secure for themselves a permanent supply of labour. In 1886 the growing scarcity of labour and the alarming increase of Polish immigration led to the passing of a law for the promotion of Gorman settle- ments in West Prussia and Posen. By this law the State devoted a sum of 100,(100,000 marks to the buying of land for establishing settlements of German labourers and small proprietors, and thus strengthening the Teutonic element in the provinces peculiarly liable to the invasion of the Slavs. A Commission was ap- pointed and empowered to purchase suitable land, to select colonists from South and West Germany, to mark out the land into suitable divisions, to determine the proper relations of the new colony to the communal and provincial authorities, and to give such moderate aid to the colonists as should be required to establish them in their new life. Crown lands were to be used where possible, but private lands suitable for the pur- pose might be acquired. These lands were to be divided into holdings of varying size, suitable either for small farmers ( Bauernhofe ) or for labourers’ allotments (Arbeiterstellen ) . The separate holdings might be transferred to the colonists for their capital value, or they might he leased for short periods. The income which the Government would thus derive is to be allowed to accumulate up to 1907, and to form a fund for colonisation puiposes ; afterwards it will simply form part of the ordinary revenue. The work of the Commission between 1886 and 1891 has been made the subject of an exhaustive criticism by Dr. Max Sering. He is of opinion that the attempts both of the Govern- ment and of private individuals to establish colonies of labourers only have proved a failure. Where, as in the case of private individuals, the labourers are restricted to service on the one estate, the owner has, indeed, succeeded in securing a sufficient and constant supply of labour, but the dependence of the colonists is even greater than that of the ordinary day labourers. On the other hand, where the labourers can take service as they please, they are just as ready to migrate to other districts for the summer months as the rest of Ihe surrounding population. Colonies of this kind, therefore, afford no adequate remedy for the evils arising from scarcity of labour. Dr. Weber points out that their only effect is to create a potato-eating instead of a corn-eating population, and to establish the worst of all proletariates, “ a proletariate of landowners, to whom their holdings have become a curse.” The reason, in Dr. Sering's opinion, is the lack of sufficient incentive to industry. Where all are on a level, and there is no prospect of a rise in the social scale, the best workmen merely wait until the} - have saved a little money, and then emigrate, like others, to America. A. colony to succeed must be composed of holdings of various sizes, so that the labourer may, by successive stages, become the small farmer. “ In the case of “ small holdings, it is of the utmost importance that “ they should never be established except in connexion ‘ with villages,” i.e., in connexion with larger holdings. Labourers’ colonies ( Arbeiterkolonien ) pure and simple have proved a failure, but the success of the Commis- sioners with the colonies of small farmers ( BauerTcol - nien) has been considerable, and would have been even greater but for certain errors in their earlier procedure which tx r c:ience may correct. The political tendencies of the law of 1886 restricted them at first to the pur- chase of Polish estates. Consequently, prices were raised artificially, and the Commissioners often found themselves possessed of land which was unsuitable for their purpose ; hence a heavy expenditure for drainage and other preparatory works. Further, they were REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 10 J 5. Polish colonies. obliged to select as colonists, labourers and small fanners of German nationality, and not already holding land in the provinces, whereas private experience had shown that the enlargement of existing holdings and tho grant of land to labourers already on the spot was a cheaper method and one which obviated the delay and difficulty inseparable from settling persons from a distance in a strange country. Further, the expense incurred in erecting unnecessarily substantial buildings might have been avoided either by substituting log lints or by making more use of land with buildings already in existence. On the whole, however, their efforts have met with success. They have been exceptionally happy in the difficult task of selecting suitable colonists, and up to 1891 they had established about 900 families, numbering altogether between 4,000 and 5,000 persons. The houses and land have been well arranged ; two-thirds of the holdings comprise between 5 hectares and 20 hec- tares (12^ to 50 acres), one-fourth are over 20 hectares, and the rest are labourers’ allotments. About 5 per cent, of the land acquired remains common property, chapels and schools have been built at the Government expense, and teachers and . clergy appointed and paid by the Commission. The colonists were allowed at first to incur too heavy liabilities for machinery and buildings, and in some cases took up more land than they were able to cultivate. The seasons, too, and. the low prices obtainable for agricultural produce have been agaiust them, but, on the whole, they are reported to be suc- ceeding, and to be in a fair way to pay the interest due from them for the building and drainage works carried out by the Commission. Three years’ grace is allowed to leaseholders, who have to erect their farm buildings, before any rent is required from them ; after- wards, the average payments to be made including interest on advances for buildings and drainage and instalments of the sums advanced amount to 30 marks a hectare. (‘). The action of the German Government has stirred up the friends of the Poles to undertake to establish corresponding colonies of Polish labourers upon German soil. In July 1888 an “ Agricultural and Credit Asso- ciation ” was formed with the object of founding such a colony, by pledging the credit of the members as a whole. Some of them were intending colonists, whilst others had merely a financial interest in the scheme. A bank was established at Posen, and an estate pur- chased in the Stargard district of West Prussia, which had been previously refused by the Settlement Com- mission both because it belonged to German owners and because they regarded the land as unsuitable for 0) Sering, “ Arbeiterfragc und Kolonisation,” 1892. Schriften des Vereins fur Socialpolitik, vols. LII., LVI., LVIII., 1892, 1893. Lexis, “ Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften,” vol. I., pp. 291, 311. Arts., “ Ansiedelung,” Meitzen, and “ Ansiedelungsgesetz,” Schmiedeck, vol. V., p. 421. Art., “ Rentengiiter,” Sering. their purposes. In spite of some preliminary diffi- culties tho colony was established and the land divided into holdings, only 10 of which exceeded 20 hectares (50 acros). The nature of the land is such, however, that smaller holdings scarcely suffice to support a family, and the result has been that though Polish families can maintain themselves where a German family could not, and, therefore, as far as nationality is concerned, the founders of the colony have succeeded in accomplishing their object, from an economic point of view the colony is anything but a success. It has degenerated into a mere labourers’ colony, and the men are obliged to migrate to other districts, and even to Westphalia, for the summer so as to supplement their scanty produce by the wages which they can earn. The houses present a good external appearance, but they are often overcrowded ; in some cases two or three families inhabit one house. In 1891 the potato harvest failed, and the settlers were unable to discharge their obligations. In short, as Dr. Max Sering says, the founders of the colony have merely established “ a pauper village.” Another colony has been established at Waidon, in the Kuhn district, but no details are forthcoming as to its results. (*) G. Cost and General Conditions of Living. In comparing the standard of living of the English and German workmen, Dr. von Schulze-Gaevernitz points out that the best selected workmen’s budgets compiled up to the present time show an expenditure which in almost every case is nearly equal to the receipts. Indeed, a very large number of cases “ show “ a deficiency which must be made up by charity, by “ Poor-law relief or too often by prostitution, and “ always by misery or want.” Even amongst skilled workmen, the standard of living is of necessity far lower than in England ; potatoes and rye bread are the staple articles of food, meat and wheaten bread being articles of luxury. In very many districts the whole of the weekly wages are required for the actual neces- saries of food and drink, whilst little or nothing remains for clothing, literature, recreation, or similar purposes. These statements made by Dr. von Schulze- Gaeveruitz receive abundant confirmation from the statistics collected amongst the Leipzig printers, the in- vestigations of the Economic section of the Free German Institution ( Freie Deutsche Hoclistift), at Frankfurt- am-Main, the more recent investigations of Herr Worishoffer in Mannheim, and Dr. von Schulze- Gaevernitz’ own researches amongst the weavers of North-Western Germany. The gradual advance in the sum required for the weekiy expenses of a printer’s household is shown in the following table : — (P Schriften des Veroins fiir Socialpolitik. vol. LVI., 1893, pp. 243-268. Table X. 1. — Printer’s Weekly Budgets, Leipzig, 1857, 1886, and 1890. Budget, 1857, per week. Budget, 1886, per week. Budget, 1890, in districts with high prices and in districts with low prices. Thai. Gros. pf. M. M. M. Board of printer with wife and 3 0 0 Coffee (including one breakfast) 1 - 08 Rent - - 4’50 2’0 two children of school age. Rent at 24 thal. a year 0 15 0 Two breakfasts 2'10 Heating and lighting 2’0 I’50 Shoes for year 4 thal. 20 gros. 0 5 81 Dinner .... 4'21 Rates and taxes 0’80 0-40 Clothes .... 0 5 0 Tea ... 2'10 Contributions to funds 2’70 P80 Lights - - - - 0 i 0 Supper .... 2’8I Medical aid and medicine 0’50 0’50 Wood for fires 0 4 0 Clothes for husband 0'77 School-money, newspapers, and 1 *50 1’0 occasional expenses. Coals ... 0 2 5 „ „ wife 0-58 Furniture and household neces- 2’0 2’0 saries. School money, school materials - 0 5 0 „ „ two children - 0*35 Clothes, shoes, Ac. 3’25 2 ’50 Washing of linen 0 1 6t Shoes for four 0’97 Linen - ... 1’75 1*50 Soap - - ... 0 1 2 Linen - - - - 0’70 Washing - - - - 1’0 (T80 Blacking .... 0 0 6 Washing .... 0’50 Fire insurance, travelling ex- 0’50 0*50 penses, repairs to house, &c. Matches - ... 0 0 3 Rent ... 3'84 Breakfast and tea 6-0 4*0 Taxes - - - - 0 i 2 Healing - - - - ro Dinner - - - - 9 ’59 7*0 Contributions to sick and pension 0 <> 0 Lighting - Cl’23 Supper 4’0 2*50 funds. Extra firing required in winter - 0 7 2 Contributions to funds 2’31 Beer, tobacco, and cigars 3’0 2*50 Taxes .... 0’19 Recreation 2’0 1*50 Rates • ... 0-34 Minor expenses (including beer. 1-53 tobacco, books, Ac.) d 9.rt K or 14 m. 05 pf. Total 26-21 Total 45 0 32 0 Note. —These three budgets are calculated by three different people, and this fact must be remembered in drawing comparisons. The value in marks of the first is given as stated on the authority from which the table is taken. O 2 (a.) Work- men’s budgets. 102 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : In all three cases a wife and three children are reckoned in addition to the man himself, and by the tariff of 1890 the normal wages of a printer do not, even under the most favourable circumstances, exceed 25 -62 marks a week. “ To make up the yearly deficit “ the wife must take her share of wage-labour, and the “ children in warm weather must go bare foot to save “• shoo-i.” The contraction of the homo market which must result from the small consuming power of such a large section of the population, is even more clearly indicated by the following series of budgets : — Table X. 2. — Workmen’s Budgets in Frankfoukt am Main, 1888. Receipts. Expenditure. Employe* Chemical Odd Man Employ6 in Govern- Chemical Odd Man Sources whence derived (by in Govern- ment Railway Works. Worker employed Items of Expenditure for the Worker employed months). in large Factory. about Houses. whole A ear. Railway Works. in large Factory. about Houses. M. M. M. M. M. M. January. — Wages 57-08 80-0 42-65 Meat. — Best .... 40-48 40-08 1 „ Cash in hand on 1st - 8-17 - „ Inferior 27-53 | 9-94 [• 00-71 „ Overtime - - 1-20 - „ Mincemeat - 2-15 J „ Other Receipts - - 0'91 - „ Sausages 66-27 19-90 18-55 „ Bacon 0-55 — — February.— Wages - 83-18 78-50 61-0 Fish 0-95 _ 6-46 „ Other Receipts — 21-80 Bread.— Rye Bread 98-11 140-77 18-25* March.— Wages - S5-69 80-0 35-0 „ Rolls 78-33 21-25 - ,. Other Receipts - 2-0 - „ Biscuits - 2-13 — — „ Grant from Lutherans • 5-0 - - „ Meal 15 'SO 7-58 5-64 „ Overtime - 0-80 - Cheese - - - - 2-94 5-55 7-03 Eggs 164 11-28 13-87 April.— Wages • 37-70 80-0 3f75 Dried Vegetables 13-43 4-15 1 Loan from Charitable io-o — — Green Vegetables - Society. 3-24 11-96 „ Overtime — 1-20 Potatoes 29-33 24-14 - 25-15 „ Other Receipts — 8-50 Pickled Vegetables - G'59 - May.— Wages 03-30 80‘0 38-50 Vermicelli ( OemusmuieVn ) 0-87 - J „ Drawn from Provident 1-90 — — Butter and Honey 8'31 10-12 - Fund. „ Other Receipts •- 8-0 - Sausage Fat (Wurstfett) 7-45 [■ 28-83 Lard ( Schmalzfctt ) 26-94 ) June. — Wages 171-86 ioo-o 54-0 Oil 5 ’60 10-66 'I „ Grant from Lutherans 5-0 — ' Vinegar 1-98 A 1 1 J- 14-78f „ Overtime — 8-50 — Salt ..... 2-79 1 !> 11-46 „ Other Receipts — 3-50 “ Spices --- - 2-72 1 J 1 J July. — Wages - 80-0 62-0 Coffee .... 42-60 33-88 19-22f „ Overtime - 0-40 - Chicory .... 10'98 1-85 — Sugar ... 11-48 19-09 — August.— Wages - 106-02 80-0 49-0 Gravy - ... 2-72 14-12 - „ Other Receipts • — 0-54 Meals out of the House (Man or 4-80 95-02 Children). 5-26 8'08 September. — Wages 107-33 ioo-o 86-0 Fruit - ... „ Overtime - 9-10 - Drinks.— Milk 31-48 50-45 — „ Other Receipts 1-60 3-05 - „ Beer ... 19-60 ] „ Wine and Cyder - 1-S2 > 21-11 40-95 October.— Wages 172-17 80-0 71-0 „ Brandy - 4*44 J „ Overtime - — 3-30 — „ Seltzer Water - 0-30 — — „ Other Receipts — 16-0 — Heating and Lighting.— Petroleum 20-05 A 8-11 „ Grant from Lutherans - 5-0 — ~ „ ,, Wood 4-90 November. — Wages - 80-0 76-0 „ „ Coals 33-0 > 53-25 [ 31-87 1 „ Overtime — 26-20 - „ „ Fir Cones 2-50 | „ Other Receipts - 1-20 - „ „ Matches - 0-40 J J Cleaning (Soda, Soap, &c.) 20-97 24-34 7-26 December.— Wages - 140-24 97-0 63-0 Education .... 9-05 20-99 — „ Other Receipts S-50 20-0 — Shoes.— New ... 26-15 i 63-70 39*95 ,, Rent of Rooms let (for — — 138-0 „ Mending 28-10 yea,r). ) Linen ----- 6-65 — — Clothes. — New - 12-80 >• 83-45 14-12 | „ Mending - 10-30 J ,xr;. — (i.) The family of the Government employe received assistance in kind from charitable societies, including coals, potatoes, and a considerable amount of clothing. . , , .. (2.) “Other Receipts” include such items as money gained by selling rags, Ac., stray earnings, gifts at Christmas and New tear gratuities, money won at cards, &c. * Including Whoaten Bread. t Including Sugar. t Including Tea. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 103 Table X. 2. — Workmen’s .Budgets in Fkankfourt am Main, 1888 — continued . Receipts. Expenditure. Source.! whence derived (by Months). Employes in Govern- ment Railway \V orks. Chemical Worker in large Factory. Odd Man employed about Houses. Items of Expenditure for the whole Year. Em ploy 0 in Govern- ment Railway Works. Chemical Worker in large Factory. Odd Man employed about Houses. M. M. M. Household Articles. — New „ „ Mending M. 15-23 1-55 M. | 23-23 M. io-o Cigars and Tobacco 20-35 45-26 3-31 Medicine 13-29 - 11-30 Rent ..... 168-0 166-50 324'0 Contributions to Insurance Funds 47-36 - - Subscriptions to Trade Unions - io-o 13-80 - Paying off Debts 1-80 - - Recreation, Papers, Ac. - - 12-55 - Taxes ... - - 1-30 6-0 Sundry Minor Expenses - 6-40 38-89 29-38 Unforeseen Expenses 8-15 — _ Total Receipts 1,056-41 1,173-87 806-90 Sewing Materials 4-83 - 6-08 Total Expenditure - 1,045-14 1,148-53 745-92 Savings 0-50 - - Balance of Receipts over Expenditure. 11-27 25-34 60-98 Total .... 1,045-14 1,148-53 745-92 Here three typical instances have been taken, and the details collected' with every possible precaution. Each man’s budget shows a balance in hand at the end of the year, but in the case of the Government employe this result is only obtained with the help of charitable societies, and by means of numerous gifts of old clothes. The total expenditure of the man and his wife with their four children for clothing only amounts to 23"10 marks in the year, and it was said to be 15 years since a complete suit of clothes had been bought for any member of the family. The second budget shows a better result for a family of the same size, but the father is said to be in an exceptionally well-managed factory, and one in which the employers themselves contribute to the workmen’s savings by taking upon themselves the whole cost of both sick and old-age insurance. None of the budgets given, either in this or in any subsequent tables, relate to cases of excep- tional poverty ; all may be taken as representative of the better class of workmen’s households, and afford, therefore, a striking picture of the limited consuming power of German workmen as a class. Passing to Mannheim, and there taking two examples of highly skilled labour, comparatively favourably situated, and one of less skilled labour in the neigh- bouring country district, it appears that at the end of the year the respective savings amount to 120, 90, and 10 marks. The first two families are each five in number, including three children besides the parents ; the last family numbers the husband and wife, four children, and the husband’s mother. Table X. 3. — Yearly Budgets of Mannheim Factory Workers. Income. Expenditure. Sources. Iron Moulder in Agricul- tural Implement Works. Iron Turner in Engineering Works. Glass Polisher in Factory living in Country. Items. Iron Moulder in Agricul- tural Implement Works. Iron Turner in Engineering Works. G lass Polisher in Factory- living in Country. M. M. M. M. M. M. Anuual earnings of husband - 1,875 1,510 1,190 Housekeeping.— Including - 990 980 840 „ „ of wife by dress- — 100 „ Rye Bread 183 116 183 making. „ „ of boy of 14 — 180 — „ W beaten Bread - 06 54 98 Rent received for sub-letting rooms 65 240 „ Meat and 160 252 145 Sausages. „ Fish — 5 — „ Potatoes 55 52 Grows his own. „ Meal, &c. - 31 53 23 „ Dried Vegetables 10 81 4 „ Green Vegetables 16 50 Grows his and Fruit. own. „ Butter 58 55 32 „ Lard, &c. - 40 32 43 „ Cheese 7 15 12 „ Milk 141 66 57 (buys part only). Eggs - 13 30 29 „ Beer 70 57 70 „ Brandy and 12 — — Spirits. „ Coffee, sugar, salt, 104 90 126 Groceries, &c. „ Minor expenses - 24 22 18 Rent .... 276 450 Lives rent free. Heating and Lighting - 75 63 52 O 3 104 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Table X. 3. — Yearly Budgets oe Mannheim Factory Workers — continual . Incomb. Expenditure. Sources. Iron Modifier in Agricul- tural Implement Works. Iron Turner in Engineering Works. Glass Polisher in Factory living in Country. Items. I ron Moulder in Agricul- tural Implement Works. Iron Turner in Engineering Works. Glass Polisher in Factory living in Country. M. m. M. M. M. M. Clothes.— New 105 55 90 „ Repairing Done by 20 10 wife. * Shoes.— New 50 50 £0 ' „ Repairing 17 28 15 Linen and Repairing 21 22 1!) Furniture and Repairs 15 50 u Soap, Washing, &e. 16 16 16 School Money and Books 6 35 2 Sunday recreation 55 78 2 Cigars and Tobacoo 21 20 ^ — Subscriptions to Unions, Lectures, 12 12 &c. Sick Insurance and Life Insurance 115 54 42 Total 1,940 2,030 1,190 Taxes - 10 9 10 Espendii are 1,820 1,940 1,180 Minor unforeseen Expenses - 86 18 11 Balance 120 90 10 Total 1,820 1,940 1,180 The three budgets show considerable variety in detail, but the total amount paid for food is much the same in the first two cases, and the great diminution in the third finds at any rate a partial explanation in the produce- of the garden. The much larger amount spent by the town operatives on recreation deserves notice. The weaver's budget given by Dr. von Sehulze- Gaevernitz is as follows : — (') ( 1 ) v. Schulze-Gaevernitz, “I>er Gross-betrieb, eino Studio auf dem Gebiete der Baumwoll-iudustric,” 1892, pp. 244-248. Schriften des Vereins fill- Sozialpolitik, Vol. XLV., 1890, pp. 468-470. Worishoffer, “ Die Luge der Fabrikarbeitor in Mannheim.” 18IM, pp. 2-45 291. “Frankfurter Arbei- terlradgets,” lSilO. Table X. 4. — Weekly Budget of North German Weaver with Wife and Four Children. Income. Expenditure. M. M. Wages of Father - - - 15 42 lbs. Rye-bread (Second quality) - 5-60 30 pints Potatoes 1-80 Amount paid by Children for Board and Lodging 7 2 lbs. Rolls - - - 2-0 2 lbs. Meal (Second quality") 0-40 f lbs. Meat (Sunday) - - 1 4 Suet - - - - j 0 * 4o Vegetables - 3 • 40 Coffee - - - 0-20 2^ lbs. Butter - - - 3-40 6 pints Skimmed Milk - 0-60 Rent ----- 3-20 Sick and Old Age Insurance 0-65 School Money 0-15 Total - 22 Total - 21-85 ).) Housing The great lack of suitable dwellings for the working t he ' classes in the large towns of Germany, the degree of lar>es 8 overcrowding that exists, and the heavy rents, which must be paid, have been illustrated by a series of tables compiled by Herr Triidinger, of the Tubingen University. Table Z. 1. — Character of Dwellings in Six of the Large Cities of Germany. City. Year. Number of Dwellings. Proportion per 1.000 with the possibility of heating Proportion per 1,000 situated in No Rooms. One Room. Two Rooms. More than two Rooms. Cellars. Ground Floor. Attics. Other Floors. Berlin .... 1880 255,929 18 498 265 224 91 146 163 589 Hamburg 88,826 10 393 284 300 65 204 56 546 Breslau „ 60,615 6 590 217 187 41 132 122 688 Dresden „ 49,833 2 693 204 241 29 148 170 604 Leipzig „ 28,510 1 285 272 442 20 157 135 682 Frankfurt am Main 27,763 1 236 222 541 1 174 43 715 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 1 05 Table Z. 2. — Proportion of the Population living under the above Conditions. City. Year. Proportion per 1,000 Inhabitants living in Dwellings situated in Proportion per 1,000 Dwellings. Average number of Inhabitants in Dwellings, with possibility of heating Cellars. Ground Floor. Attics. Other Floors. Small. Of these very over- ciowded. No Rooms. One Room . Two Rooms. Berlin .... 1880 92 148 155 587 776 115 3‘1 3‘7 4*5 Hamburg - „ 61 194 54 492 687 107 3‘5 3'7 4’5 Breslau - „ 38 128 m 698 813 144 3‘5 3‘8 4*4 Dresden „ 27 147 168 '578 756 125 2‘2 3‘6 4‘4 Leipzig - - - - » 17 151 145 673 558 - 2‘4 3‘8 5* 1 Frankfurt am Main 1 167 36 692 459 27 2‘4 S‘5 4 3 In Berlin the conditions are specially bad, and the average number of persons inhabiting one tenement (Grundstiiclc) has risen from 60'7 in 1880 to 66’0 in 1885. Sub-letting was shown by the census of 1880 to be exceedingly frequent, 7'1 per cent, of the population took in persons who boarded and lodged with them, and 15'3 per cent, took in persons to sleep ( Schafleute ). One instance is given of a household taking 34 such night lodgers, in another case there were eleven, including two women. Thirty-eight per cent, of the families taking night lodgers lived in a sin'gle room ; one instance is mentioned in which a man and his wife with a family shared their one room with seven men and one woman. Though the worst kind of night shelters, known as “ Pennen,” have now been suppressed by the police, it is still “the opinion of experienced observers . . . that the evils existing in the large towns of England are less crying than in Germany.” According to a table constructed by Herr Trunin ger the proportion borne by house rent to income in live of the chief towns of Germany was as follows : — Table Z. 3. Percentage of house rent to income in Income. » M. Berlin 1876 (6,170 cases). 1868 (13,059 cases). Hamburg. 1874 (14,691 cases). 1882 (17,289 cases). Breslau 1880 (34,897 cases). Leipzig 1875 (4,02 1 cases). Dresden 1880 (30,825 cases). Under 600 - 22-3 24-2 26-5 28 7 29 • 9 26-8 601—1,200 - - 24 7 18-8 20*9 23‘5 21 0 21 -2 18‘4 1,201—1,800 - 21-8 19-9 21*1 18*9 20 8 19-7 16'3 1,801—2,400 - - 21-6 20-3 20-9 19*5 19 1 20-4 15‘9 2,401—3,000 - 18-6 19-5 19-2 18-8 19 7 18-3 15-4 3,001 — 3,600 - - 21-3 19-6 19‘0 17*9 19 8 16-9 15'3 3,601—4,800 - 18-6 191 17*8 17*8 18 3 15-5 15-4 4,801—6,000 - - 17*9 18*6 17‘4 18-3 18 3 15*4 14-6 6,001—12,000 - 15-0 16-0 15‘5 16-7 13 7 13-1 13-0 12,001 — 30,000 - - 11-7 11-5 10*8 12*2 8 9 8-4 9-9 30,001—60,000 - 8‘8 6*7 7‘4 8-1 3 6 5*5 7-1 Over 60,000 “ 3 • 6 3-7 3-8 3-9 3 4 1-9 3 9 The poorest classes therefore must pay a house rent the actual monthly rents payable in 1890 appear from equal to about a quarter of their income. In Berlin the following table (’) : — Table Z. 4. District. One room. One room with kitchen. Two rooms with kitchen. Outer circle (except Western District) - Inner circle and Western District .... Centre ----------- M. 7*50— 12*50 14' 0 — 18*0 Up to 20' 50 M. 15*0—25*0 25-0— 28 75 Up to 35 • 0 M. 18*75—28-75 Up to 35-0 Up to 45*0 (') Truriinger, ‘‘Die Arbeiterwohnungsfrage,” 1888. Albrecht, “Die Wohnungsnot in den Grossstadten,” 1891. Freund und Malachowski, ‘ Zur Berliner Arbeiterwohnungsfrazo, 1892. ft 4 106 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : APPENDIX A. Catalogue of Literature Consulted in the Preparation of the Report on the Labour Question in Germant. I. — Laws. 1. Das Reichsgesetz betreffend die Gewerbegerichte. (The Law on Trade Tribunals.) L. Mugdan. 1891. 2. Reichs-Gewerbe-Ordung. (The Industrial Code.) T. P. Berger, 1891. 3. Die Gesetze iiber den Unterstiitzungswohnsitz. (The Laws of Relief Domicile.) C. Hahn. 1872. 4. Fiihrer durch die gesammte Arbeiterversicherung. (A Guide to the Laws on Insurance against Sickness, Accidents, Infirmity and Old Age.) 1891. C. Pfafferoth. 5. Normalstatut fiir Berufsgenossenschaften. (Nor- mal Rules for Trade Associations.) 1885. II. Official Publications. 1. Statistik der Krankenversicherung der Arbeiter im Jahre 1890. (Statistics of Workmen’s Sick Insurance in 1890.) Berlin, 1892. 2. Rechnungsergebnisse der Berufsgenossenschaften, Nachweisung fiir das Jahr 1891. (Returns of the Trade Associations. Report for 1891 on Accident Insurance.) Berlin, 1892. 3. Nachweisung der gesammten Gesehiifts und Rechnungsergebnisse der Invaliditats und Alters- versicherungs - anstalten fiir das Jahr, 1891. (Report on the Financial and Statistical Results of the Invalidity and Old-age Insurance Institutes for 1891.) Berlin, 1892. 4. Die iiberseeische Auswanderung im Jahre, 1892. (Transoceanic migration in 1892.) 5. Die Lohn-verhaltnisse in Berlin im Sept. 1889 and 1891. (Wages in Berlin during the month of September 1889 and 1891.) 1890 and 1892. 6. Erhebung fiber die Arbeitszeit in Biickereien und Conditoreien. (Enquiry into the Hours of Labour in Bakers and Confectioners’ establishments.) 1892. 7. Amtliche Mitteilungen aus den Jahres-Berichten der mit Beaufsichtigung der Fabriken betrauten Beamten. (Official Extracts from the Annual Reports of the Factory Inspectors for 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891.) 8. Jalires - Berichte der Koniglich-Preussischen Gewerberathe und Bergbehorden. (Annual Re- ports of the Royal Prussian Industrial Councillors and Mining Authorities for 1889, 1890, 1891.) 9. Denkschrift fiber die Untcrsuchung der Arbeiter und Betriebs-Verhaltnisse in den Steinkohlen- Bezirken. (Memorandum on the Conditions of Labour in the Coal Mining Districts after the Strike.) 1890. 10. Zeitschrift fiir das Berg, Hfitten, und Salinen- Wesen im Preussischen Slaate, mit einem Atlas. (Miners’ Dwellings in Prussia, with Diagrams.) 1892. 11. Die Wolmungsverhaltnisse der Berg-und Salinenarbeiter im Obergamtsbezirke Halle. (The Conditions of Residence amongst Miners and Salt Workers in the Halle District.) Otto Taeglichsbeth, 1892. III. Publications of the Verein fiir Sozialpolitik (Economic Club). 1. Vol. II. Ueber Fabrikgestzgebung, Schiedsge- richte und Eigungsamter. (The working of the Factory Laws and the Establishment of Courts of Arbitration and Boards of Conciliation.) Jacobi and others, 1873. 2. Vol. VII. Ueber Bestrafung des Arbeitsvertrags- bruches. (On Punishment for Breaches of the Labour Contract.) Brentano and others, 1874. 3. Vol. X. Die Reform des Lchrlingswesens. (The Reform of Apprenticeship.) 18/5. 4. Vol XIX. Die Haftpflichtfrage. (The Liability of Employers in Various Countries.) 1880. 5. Vol. XXVII. Agrarische Zustande in Frankreich und England. (The Condition of Agriculture in France and England) Von Reitzenstein and Nasse. 1884. 6. Vols. XXXIX. XLII. XLVIII. Die deutscho Hausindustrie. (German Home Industries.) 5 vols. 1889 and 1891. 7. Vol. XLV. Arbeitseinstellungen und Fortbildung des Arbeitsvertrags. (Strikes and the Gradual Development of the Labour Contract.) Brentano and others, 1890. 8. Vol. XL VI. Arbeiter- Auschfisse in der deutschen Ind strie. (“ Workmen’s Committees in German Ind-stries. ”) Max Soring. 1890. 9. Vo's. XLVII. and LVIII. Verhandlungen von 189 und 1893. (Proceedings in 1890 and 1893.) 10. Vol. LII. Auswanderung und Auswanderungs- politik in Deutschland. (Emigration and Emigration policy in Germany.) v. Philippovich, 1892. 11. Vols. LIII. LIV. LV. Verhiiltnisse der Llindar- beiter. (Condition of the Agricultural Labourer.) 1892. (3 vols.) 12. Vol. LVI. Die innere Kolonisation im osfclichen Deutschland. (Internal Colonisation in Eastern Germany.,) Max Sering. 1893. IV. Dictionaries. 1. Handworterbuch der Staatswissenschaften. (Dic- tionary of Political Science edited by Conrad, Lexis and others.) 5 vols. 1890, 1892, 1893. 2. Worterbuch des Deutschen Verwaltungsrechts. (Dictionary of German, Administrative Law.) Edited by Dr. Karl Freiherr von Stengel. 1890, 1892. 3. Mfihlbrecht’s Wegweiser. (Muhlbrecht’s Guide to Economic Literature.) 1893. V. German Literature on the Labour Question. 1. Die Geschichte der Berliner Bewegung. (The History of the Berlin Movement ) Max. Schon. 1889. 2. Sozialreform und Genossenschaftswesen. (Social Reform and Co-operation.) Freiherr von Broich. 1890. 3. Die Teilung des Geschaftsgewinns. (Profit- sharing.) N. P. Gilman and L. Katscher. 1891. 4. Arbeiterfrage und Kolonisation. (The Labour Question and Colonisation in East Prussia.) Dr. Sering. 1892. 5. Kolonien, Kolonialpolitik und Auswanderung. (Colonies, Colonial Policy and Emigration.) Wilhem Roscher and Robert Jannasch. 1885. 6. Der Kampf des preussischen Konigthums um die Erhaltung des Bauernstands. (The Struggle of the Prussian Government to Preserve the Class of Peasant Farmers.) Extract from Year Book for Legislation, &c. Vol. XII. G. Sclimoller. 7. Ueber Auswanderung. (Emigration.) Fried- rich Kapp. 1871. 8. Zur Social und Gewerbepolitik der Gegenwart. (A Contribution to the Social and Industrial Question in the Present Day.) G. Sclimoller. 1890. 9. Der Emanzipationskampf des vierten Standes. ^Socialism and Trade Unionism in Germany and Other Countries.) Dr. R. Meyer. 1882. 10. Das Reichsgesetz betreffend die Invaliditats und Altersversichcrung. (The Imperial Invalid and Old- age Insurance Law.) Bosse and vou Woedtke. 1891. 11. Das Reclit der Arbeiterversicherung. (The Law of Workmen’s Insurance.) Rosin. 189“-* 12. Das Erfurter Programm. (The Erfurt Pro- gramme.) K . Kautsky. 1892. 13. Der Hungerschutz. (Legal Insurance against Hunger.) H. Rosenthal. 1888. 14. Arbeiterstimmen fiber Unfall. u. Krankheitsver- hfitung. (Working Men’s Views on the Prevention of Accidents and Illness.) Dr. Hirsch. 1889. 15. Die Sozialpolitische Bewegang in Deutschland. (The Social Movement in Germany from 1863 to 1890.) Dr. E. Heitz. 1891. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 107 16. Leitfaden zur Arbeiter-Yersicherung des Deut- schen Reiclis. (Guide to the Workmen’s Insurance of the German Empire. In German and in English.) 1893. 17. Die Offentliche Fiirsorge fur die Unverschuldet- Arbcitslosen. (Public Provision for the Deserving Unemployed.) 1890. 18. Die Quintessenz des Sozxalismus. (The Quint- essence of Socialism.) Dr. Schaffle. 1891. 19. Die Haushaltung der Arbeitenden Klassen. (Household Expenses of the Working Classes.) I. Gruber. 1887. 20. Drei Monate Eabrikarbeiter. (Three Months as a Factory Worker.! P. Gohre. 1891. 21. 31 Monate Fabrik Arbeiter-in. (Three Months as a Factory Girl.) Frau Dr. Minna Wettstein Adelt. 1893. 22. Zur Organisation der Amtlichen Lohnstatistik im Deutschen Reiche. (The Organisation of Official Wage Statistics in Germany.) Kuno Frankenstein. 1889. 23. Musterstiitten Personlicher Fiirsorge von Arbeit- gebern fiir ihre Geschaftsangehorigen. Yol. II. Die erwachsenen Arbeiter. (Examples of the Personal Care of Employers for those they Employ. Vol. II. Adult Workmen.) 1893. Post and Albrecht. 24. Die Liindliche Armenpflege und ihre Reform. (Rural Poor-law Administration and its Reform.) Frhr. v. Reitzenstein. 1887. 25. Das Staatsrecht des Konigreichs Bayern. (The Law of the Kingdom of Bavaria.) Dr. Max. Sendel. 1888. 26. Das Staatsrecht des Deutschen Reiches. (The Law of-the German Empire.) Dr. P. Laband. 1883. 27. Das Staatsrecht des Konigreichs Preussen. (The Law of the Kingdom of Prussia.) Schulze. 1884. 28. Das Staatsrecht des Konigreichs Sachsen. (The Law of the Kingdom of Saxony.) Leuthold. 1884. 29. Des Staatsrecht der Staate Hamburg, Liibeck, Bremen. (The Law of the Hanseatic Towns.) Dr. Kliigmann and others. 1884. 30. Die Arbeiterschutzgesetze der Europaiselien Staaten. (Legislation for the Protection of Work- men in Europe.) Part I. The German Empire. Dr. Adolf Braun. 1880. 31. Die Gemeindefinanzen von Berlin und Paris. (The Municipal Finances of Berlin and Paris.) Leo. S. Rowe. 1893. 32. Schutz dem Arbeiter. (The Protection of the Workman.) F. Hitze. 1890. 33. Geschichte der Preussischen Fabrikgesetzgebung. (History of the Prussian Factory Legislation.) Gunther K. Anton. 1891. 34. Die Maxime des Arbeiterschutzes. (The Prin- ciple:^ of Protective Legislation.) 1890. 35. Arbeits-Ordnungen. (Factory Rules.) Paul Dehn. 1891. 36. Arbeiterschutz, insbesondere Maximalarbeitstag. (The Protection of the Workman and the Maximum Day as regarded by German Trade Unions.) Dr. Max. Hirsch. 1890. 37. Die Nachsten Aufgaben einer Deutschen Arbeiter - schutz Reform. (The First Stops to the Reform of Labour Protection in Germany.) Max. Quarck. 1890. 38. Soziale W ohlfahrts-Eiriricntungen . (Benevolent Institutions in the State, the Parish and the Factory.) E. H. Zander. 1890. 39 Die Sociale Lage der Fabrikarbciter in Mannheim. (The Condition of Factory Workers in Mannheim.) Worishoffer. 1891. 40. Die Lage der Berg und Hiittenarbeiter im Oberharze. (The Condition of Miners and Blast- furnacemen in the Upper Harz.) Karl August Tolle. 1892. 41. Frankfurter Arboiterbudgets, published by the “ Freic Deutsche Hochstift.” (Budget of a Frankfort Working, Man.) 1890. 42. Die Lehren des Bergwerksstrikes vom Mai. 1889. (The Lessons of the Miners’ Strike of 1889.) A. Eschenbach. 1890. 43. Die Lage der Bergarbeiter in dem Haupt- Kohlenbezirken Deutsehlands. (The Condition of the Miners in the Chief Coal Districts of Germany.) Adolph Schulze. 1893. 44 Sollon wir unseren Borgbau verstaatlicb.cn ? (Nationalization of Mines.) G. Gothein. 1890. 45. Reichszuschuss fiir Arbeitorkinder mit einer Uebersicht des Grundkapitals und Reingewinns der Deutschen Aktiengesollschaften. (Imperial 78420. Grant for the Children of Working Men and a Survey of the Capital and Profits of German Joint-Stock Companies.) H. O. Lehmann. 1890. 46. Das Arbeiterschutz - Gesetz. (The Proposed Amendment to the Industrial Code.) 1891. 47. Die Deutsche Sozialgesetzgebung. (Socia l Legis- lation in Germany.) C. Bornhak. 1890. 48. Betrachtungen zur Deutschen Socialen Gesetz- gebung. (An. Employer’s Views on German Social Legislation.) 1889. 49. Die Industrie des Sachsischen Voigtlandes. (The Industries of the Saxon Voigtland.) Parts I. and II. Dr. Louis Bein. 1884. 50. Die Lage der Industriell-thatigen Arbeiterinnen in Deutschland. (The Position of Working Women in Germany.) E. J. H. Kaempfe. 1889. 51. Zur Lage der Arbeiter in den Backereien. (The Position of Journeymen Bakers in Germany.) August Bebel. 1891. 52. Die Berliner Vollkszahlung von 1890. (The Census of Berlin in 1890.) 1891. 53. Arbeit und Boden. (Land and Labour.) O. Effertz. 1891. 54. Ueber die TJrsachen der Heutigen Socialen Noth. (On the Causes of Present Social Distress.) L. Brentano. 1889. 55. Der Normalarbeitstag. (The Normal Working day.) Dr. E. Jager. 1890. 56. Die Arbeiterfrage. (The Labour Question.) W. Oechelhauser. 1886. 57. Der Deutsche und der Englische Arbeiter. (The English and German Working Man.) Sidney Whitman. 1891. 58. Die Ausbeutung der Arbeiter u. die. TJrsachen ihrer Verarmung. (The Exploitation of the Working Man and the Causes of his Poverty.) 1891. 59. Verwaltung, Justiz, Rechtsweg. (Administrative, Criminal and Civil LawJiDr. Rudolf vonGneist. 1869. 60. Lehrbuch des Deutschen Verwaltungsrechts. (Manual of German Administrative Law.) Dr. Loening. 1884. 61. Das Arbeifcs'verhaltniss gemass dem Heutigen Rceht. (The Relation of Labour to the Law of To-day.) L. Brentano. 1876. 62. Das Unternehmen, der Unternehmergewmn und die Beteiligung der Arbeiter am Unteruehmerge- winn. (Profit-sharing and the Earnings of Management.) Dr. A. Wirminghaus. 1886. 63. Die Arbeit in den Gefangnissen. (Prison Labour.) Dr. Falkner. 1888. 64. Ueber Erziehung, Bildung und Volksinteresse in Deutschland und England. (Education, Culture and National Interests In England and Germany.) Dr. M. Arnold Scliroer. 1891. 65. Wirtschaftlicher Fortschritt und Kulturentwick- lung. (Economic Progress and the Evolution of Culture.) von Philippovich. 1892. 66. Die Arbeiterfrage. (The Labour Question.) Dr. Lange. 1865. 67. A rbeiterwohnungsnotfrage. (The Improvement of Workmen’s Dwellings.) 0. Trudinger. 1888. 68. Die Wohnungsnot in den Gross-stadten. (The Improvement of Workmen’s dwellings in Large Towns.) H. Albrecht. 1891. 69. “ Die Verbesserung der Wohnungen,” Central- stelle fiir Wohlfahrtseinrichtungen. (The Improve- ment of Dwellings. Central Office for Philanthropic Institutions.) 1892. 70. Zur Berliner Arbeiterwohnungsfrage. (The Berlin Workmen’s Dwellings.) Freund and Malachowski. 1892. 71. Die Gewinnbeteiligung. (Profit-Sharing.) H. Frommer. 1886. 72. Zur Internationalen Behandlung der Armenfragen (The International Treatment of the Poor Law Question and other pamphlets.) Fr. von Reitzen- stein. 1893. 73. In Welcher Weise die Neuere Sociale Gesetzge- bung aufdie Aufgaben der Armengesetzgebung und Armenpflege einwirkte. (The Method in which the New Social Legislation influences the Poor-law System.) 1893. 74. Die Hausindustrie in Thurin'gen. (Home Indus- tries in Thuringia.) I., II., III. Dr. E. Sax, 1884, 1885, 1888. 75. Die Sozialpolithchen Aufgaben auf dem Gebiete der Hausindustrie. (Reforms necessary in Home Industries.) Dr. F. Ziegler. 1890. 76. Socialismus und Kapitalistische Gosellschafts ordnung. (Socialism and the Capitalist Social Order.) Dr. Julius Wolf. 1892. P 10S ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : 77. Die sociale Reform als Gebot des wirtschaftliehcn Fortscbrittes. (Social Beform a necessity to Economic Progress.) Dr. H. Herkuer, 18 ill. 78. Sozialdemokratische Zukunftsbilder. (A Satire on S >cial Democracy.) E. Bichter. 1892. 79. Das neue Sozialdemokratische Programm. (The new programme of the Social Democrats.) Dr. Adolph Wagner. 1892. 80. Der Sozialdemokratische Zukunftsstaat. (The Socialist State of the Future.) 1893. 81. Internationale Sozialpolitik. (Internationalism in Social Questions.) .T. Wolf. 1889. 82. Die Frau und der Sozialismus. (Woman and Socialism.) A. Bebel. 1892. 83. Der Deutsche Arbeiter und die Sozialdemokratie. ( The German Working Man and Social Democracy.) G. Hansen. 1891. 84. Die Aussichtslosigkeit der Socialdemockratie. (The Impracticability of Social Democracy as the basis of Society.) Dr. Schaffle. 1891. 85. Die Geheime Organisation der Sozialdemokra- tischen Partei. (The Secret Organisation of the Social Democrats.) W. Krieter. 1887. 86. Die Bekimpfung der Sozialdemokratie ohne Ausnahmegesetz. (The Repression of Social De- mocracy without Special Legislation.) Dr. Schaffle. 1890. 87 Dielnnungen. (The Guilds.) L. Jacobi. 1881. 88. Die Deutschen Gewerkvereine. (German Trade Unions.) Hugo Polke. (Two Editions, 1875 .and 1879.) 89. Das Gewerbegericht. (Industrial Courts in Germany.) Dr. W. Stieda. 1890. 90. Nationale Produktion und Nationale Berufs- gliederung. (National Production and National Division of Labour.) Dr. Hermann Losch. 1892. 91. Die Losung der Arbeiterfrage aus dera Rechts. standpunkte. (The Solution of the Labour Question from the point of view of Law.) Dr. H. Maurus. 1890. 92. Das Nationale System der Politischen Oekonomie. (The National System of Political Economy.) Friedrich List. 1883. 93. Das Rechtauf Arbeit. (The Right to Labour.) G. 0. Lowe. 1891. 94. Das Recht auf Arbeit. (The Right to Labour.) F. J. Hann. 1889. 95. Der Natiirliche Arbeitslohn. (The Normal Wages of Labour.) Dr. Conrad Schmidt. 1887. 96. Aus der Praxis der Handelskammern. (The Proceedings of Chambers of Commerce.) Dr. R. Stegemam. 1892. 97 Vertragsbruch im Arbeits und Dienstverhriltniss, (Breach of Contract in Labour and Service.) E Dietz. 1890. 98. Volkswirtschaftliche Aufsiitze. (Essays on Economic Subjects.) G. Cohn. 1882. 99. Das Recht auf den vollen Arbeitsertra g. (The Right to the Full Product of Labour.) Dr. Anton Monger. 1891, 100. Das eherne Lohngesetz. (The Iron Law of Wages.) K. Pleyn. 1890. 101. Ein Wort zur Arbeiterfrage, nach den Kaiser- lichen Erlassen von 1890. (A Word on the Labour Question after the Imperial Decrees of 1890.) 102. Handbuch der Politischen Oekonomie. (Manual of Political Economy.) Dr. G. von Schonberg. 3 vols. 1885, 1886. 103. Die Ausbiidung der hoheren Verwaltungsbeam- ten in Preussen und ihre Stellung zur Staatseisen- bahn-Nerwaltung (The Education of the Higher Prussian Administrative Officials and their Relation to the Railway Administration.) Franz. U. Ulrich. 1893. 104. Pamphlets prepared for the Zurich Interna- tional Socialist Congress, 1893. (In German, French, and English.) 105. Report of the Paris International Congress, 1889. (In German.) VI . — French Literature on the German Labour Question. 1. Problemes agraires'en Allemagneet en Angleterre. (Agrarian Questions in Germany and England.) Auguste de Miaskowski. 1890 . 2. L’Assistance des fitrangers en Allemagne. (Relief of Foreigners in Germany.) Le Baron de Reitzenstein. 1893. 3. L’assistance Pratique donnee en Allemagne aux. ouvriers sans travail. (Practical aid of the Unem- ployed in Germany.) Oh. de Queker. 1893. 4. Notices et Comptes Rendus : 1. Etude Statistique des Accidents du Travail. 2. Resultats Financiers de l’assurance obligatoire contre les accidents du travail en Allemagne et en Autriche. (Returns giving Statistics and 1 inancial Results concerning Compulsory Insurance against Accidents in Germany and Austria.) Paris Labour Department. 1892. 5. Les Principes Rationnels de L’assurance Ouvriere (The Rational Method of Workmen’s Insurance.) Dr. H. Schoenfeld. 1893. 6. Les Conditions du Travail. iThe Conditions of Labour.) Report of the French Representative in Germany. 1890. / . Les Lois d Assurance Ouvriere a l'Etranger. 1. Assurance Contre la Maladie. (The Law of V orkmen s Insurance Abroad 1. Sick Insurance.) Maurico Bellom. 1892. 8. Le Placement des Ouvriers. (Labour Registries.) Paris Labour Department, 1893. 9. De la C onciliation et de 1 Arbitrage. Conciliation and Arbitration. Paris Labour Department. 1893. 10. Les Classes Ouvrieres en Eroupe. (The Working Classes in Europe.) Rene Lavollee. 1884. (2 vols°) VII. — English Literature on the German Labour Question. 1. The German Law of Insurance against Invalidity and Old Age. By T. E. Young. 1891. 2. Workmen’s Insurance and the Chicago Exhibition. John Graham Brooks. 1893. 3. The Criminal Code of the German Empire. G. Drage. 1885. 4. Bismarck and State Socialism. W. H. Dawson. 1890. 5. Ferdinand Lassalle as a Social Reformer. E. Bernstein. 1893. 6. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. July 1892. 7. The Economic Journal. F. Y. Edgeworth. 1891. 8. The National Review. May 1893. 9. The State and Pensions in Old Age. J. A. Spender. 1892. 10. Socialism New and Old. William Graham. 1891. 11. History of Socialism. Thomas Kirkup. 1892. 12. Nineteenth Century. July 1878. 13. Journal of the Institute of Actuaries. 1891. 14. Report on Labour Colonies. James Mavor and others. 1892. 15. Systems of Land Tenure in Various Countries. Cobden Club. 1881. VIII. — German Periodicals. 1. Arbeiterwohl. (The Welfare of the Working Man.) Monthly Publication of the Association of Catholic Manufacturers and friends of the Working Man. 1891 and 1892. 2. Die Neue Zeit. (The New Era) Socialist Review. 1889, 1890, 1891-2, 1892-3. 3. Preussische Jalirbiicher. (Prussian Year Books.) Hans Delbriick. 4. Jahrbucli fur Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im Deutschen Reich. Gustav Schmoller. (Year book for Legislation, Administra- tion and Economics in Germany.) 1885, 1887, 1891, 1892. 5. Deutsclier Verein fiir Armenpflege und Wohlthiitigkeit. (German Association for the Care of the Poor and for Charity,) 1893. 6. Deutches Wochenblatt. (German Weekly Review.) July 1893. 7. Sozialpolitisches Centralblatt. (social and Political Journal.) Dr. Heinrich Braun. 1891-2, 1892-3, 1893. 8. Beilage zur Allegemeinen Zeitung. (Supplement to the Universal News.) 1893. 9. Deutsche Berg-und Hiittenarbeiter - zeitung. (German Miners and Blast Furnacemen’s Journal.) 1893. 10. “Vorwiirts,” Berliner Volksblatt. “Onward.” (Berlin Workmen’s Paper.) June 1893. 11. Deutsche Metall-Arbeiter-Zeitung. (The German Metal Workers’ Journal.) June 1893. 12. Neue Tischler-Zeitung. (New Cabinet-makers Journal.) June 1893. 13. Der Grundstein. (The Corner Stone.) June 1893. 14. Der Zimmerer. (The Carpenter.) June 1893. 15. Correspondent fiir Deutschlands Buchdriicker und Schriftgiesser. (The German Printers’ and Typefounders’ Correspondent.) June 1893. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN GERMANY. 109 16. Correspondenzblatt der Generalkommission der Gewerkschafben Dentschlaads. (The Correspondent of the General Committee of German Workmen’s Associations.) June 1891. 17. Das HandelsrMuscum. The Commercial News. January to June, 1893. 18. At-chiv fiir Soziale Gesctzgebung u. Statistik (Review of Social Legislation and Statistics.) 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892. 19. Vierteljahrschrift fiir Yolkswirtschaft, Politik und Kulturgeschichte. (Quarterly Review of Economics, Politics and Education.) Karl Braun, 1892. IX.— English Blue Boolcs and Parliamentry Reports. 1. Reports on the Elberfeld Poor Law System and German Workmen’s Colonies, 1888. 2. Reports from Her Majesty’s Representatives Abroad relative to the Recommendations of the Berlin Labour Conference, 1891. 3. Correspondence respecting the Proposed Labour Conference at Berlin, 1890. 4. Further correspondence respecting the Interna- tional Labour Conference at Berlin, 1890. 5. Fourth Report of the Royal Commission appointed to Inquire into the Snbject of Mining Royalties. 1893. 6. Royal Commission on Labour. Foreign Reports, Vols. I. and II., 1893. 7. Foreign Office Reports, Miscellaneous Series. The Condition of Trade in Saxony, Ho. 23, 1886. The Working Men’s Colony at Dornahof, Ho. 74, 1887. A Registry Office for Labour at Stuttgart, Ho. 89, 1888. On the Law of 1887 Relating to Insurance Against Accidents for Persons Engaged in Maritime Callings, Ho. 107, 1888. On the Recent Strike of Westphalian Miners, Ho. 135, 1889. On the Trade of Hamburg, with the West Coast of Africa, Ho. 145, 1889. On the Transitory Provisions of the Law of Insurance against Old Age and Infirmity, Ho. 161, 1890. Summary of Reports of Bavarian Inspectors of Factories for 1891, Ho. 234, 1892. On Prussian Income-tax Returns for the Finan- cial Year 1892-93, Ho. 268, 1892. On the Administration of Docks and Quays at Hamburg, Ho. 272, 1893. 8. Foreign Office Reports, Annual Series. On the Trade, etc., of the District of the Consu- late-general of Frankfort, and Review of German Commercial Policy, Hos. 1,082 and 1,241, 1892, 1893. On the Trade of Dantzig, Ho. 1 ,126, 1892. On the Finances of Bavaria. Ho. 1,133, 1893. On the Trade of the Grand Duchy of Baden, Ho. 1,236, 1893. Budget of the Kingdom of Prussia for the year 1*93-4, together with particulars of Pay, &c. of the State Railway officials. Ho. 1,222, 1893. On the trade of Stettin and District, Ho. 1,297, 1893. X.— German Literature bearing on the English Labour Question. 1. Zum Sozialen Frieden. (The Road to Social Peace.) Dr. von Schulze Gaevernitz, 1890. 2. Zwei Bucher zur Socialen Geschichte Englands. (Two chapters in the Economic History of England, chiefly from the end of the 18th century.) Adolf Held, 1881. 3. Der Grossbetrieb, eine Studie auf dem Gebiete der Baumwollindustrie. (Large Industries : a Study of the Cotton Industry). Dr. Gerhart von Schulze Gavernitz, 1892. 4. Berichte der von Industriellen und Wirthschaft- liclien Yereinen nach England entsendeten Kom- mission zur Untersuchung der Dortigen Arbeiter- verh.'iltnisse. (Reports of the Commission sent by Trade and Economic Associations to study the Labour Question in England), 1890. 5. Das Englische Arbeiterversicherungswesen. (Insurance of Working Mon in England.) Dr. Hasbach, 1883. 6. Die Arbeitszeit der Englischen Eisenbahnbedien- steten auf Grund der amtlichen Materialen erortert. (The working hours of English Railway Servants from Official Sources.) Gustav Cohn. 7. Die Christlich Soziale Bewegung in England. (The Christian Socialist Movement in England), Brentano, 1883. 8. Die Landliche Arbeiterfrage. (The Agricultural Labourer.) Kablukow, 1889. APPEHDIX B. Statement of the Regular Salaries and Extra- ordinary Allowances, together with their Increase according to Lengt? of Service, for Officials of the Prussian State Railways for 1893-4 (see p. 110.) APPEHDIX C. 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The Secretary has therefore been directed to prepare Reports from these and from other sources for the use of the Commission. These Reports are to be published in connection with ■ the proceedings of the Commission, but the Commission is in no way responsible for the statements of fact or of opinion which they contain. ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR FOREIGN REPORTS. Volume VI. FRANCE. Prmntelr to fiott) 3£ou0f0 of Parliament tip (ffommanti of Jttajeistp. June 1893. L ONDON: PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY EYRE AND SPOTTISWOODE, PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE and SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C., and 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W. ; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow ; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. [0.— 7063.-ix.] Price 2 s. Id. 1893. ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. 44, Parliament Street, London, S.W., October 21st, 1893. My Lord Duke, I have the honour to submit to you the Report which I have been directed to draw up on the Labour Question in France. At Easter 1892 I was directed to proceed to Paris to explain, for the information of Her Majesty’s Ambassador, the exact details of the facts which were required by the Commission, and to place at the disposal of the Embassy a precis of some of the literature in the possession of the Commission which was likely to be of use. The result of my mission was the report of Mr. Condie Stephen, of which mention is -made in the following pages. Early in 1893 further information was, however, considered requisite. It was gradually collected, and in August 1893 I was again directed to proceed to Paris to obtain the latest official data and incorporate them in my report. It was intended to reserve the maps as far as possible for the final volume of this series, but it has been found necessary, from the extremely complicated nature of the questions here treated, to make a considerable use of maps as well as diagrams. An attempt has been made to utilise for the purposes of the report the large masses of official statistics which have been collected from various sources, and this has considerably added to the labour of preparing it. I may be permitted here to express my thanks to the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Paris, and the different members of the staff of the Embassy, especially Sir Joseph Crowe, for the courtesy which they have at all times shown to me as Secretary of this Commission. I should also like to acknowledge the kindness which the Director and staff of the Office du Travail, especially Monsieur Fontaine and Monsieur Focque, have shown in forwarding to me official information as to the Labour Question in France. To Monsieur Dubois, Secretary of the Comite de Legislation Etrangere at the Ministry of Commerce, to Monsieur Paul de Rousiers, Monsieur Glasson, Monsieur Charles Robert, Monsieur de Boyve, and many friends in different parts of France, I am deeply indebted for books and pamphlets and information which I should not have been able to obtain without their assistance. I am, Your Grace’s obedient servant, GEOFFREY DRAGE, To Secretary. His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., Chairman of the Royal Commission on Labour. A 2 U 78419. Wt. 994. 5 ii • ; ' <■ <<0 ’ • J ' l ' ‘ ■ . W ' r \ . ’ < V. J » j .> U . . ;:/A Ion bModil 1 ' ‘ ‘ REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Authorities consulted in drawing ur the Report - - - ----- DIVISION I.— TRADE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. A. — Introduction to the Labour Question. (i.) Distinct phase of the labour question ...... (ii.) The official attitude - - - (iii.) The socialist and the labour movements ...... (iv.) Origin of the approximation of the movements ....... (v.) Christian socialism ......... (vi.) “Bourgeois legislation ’ and class antagonism - - .... (vii.) The “ depopulation ” of France and foreign immigration .... (viii.) Agricultural and industrial life ------- - (ix.) Part taken by women in the labour movement in France - Women and the civil code ...... B. — Relations between Employers and Employed. 1. Right of industrial association and the rise of the syndicates : (i.) Denotation of the term “ syndicate ” - (ii.) Overthrow of the guild system - ------- (iii.) The law of May 25, 1864 ........ (iv.) The law of March 21, 1884 -----■* . (v.) Actual distribution of syndicates ...... 2. Employers’ syndicates : (i.) Services rendered by - -- -- -- .. ■» (ii.) Distribution by towns - (iii.) ,, by trades - 3. Workmen’s syndicates : (i.) Position and membership of --------- (ii.) Attitude of working men to -------- (iii.) Attitude of the capitalists to- - -- -- -- (iv.) Objects of - (v.) Distribution by towns - - . (vi.) Distribution by trades ...... (vii.) Comparative strength of organisation - 4 Joint or mixed syndicates : (i.) V”ork and scope of----- - - - (ii.) Relation to Catholic socialism ....... (iii.) Model of rules (iv.) Statistics concerning ... ..... 5. Agricultural syndicates : (i.) Progress and character of - ...... (ii.) Arbitration and conciliation - - ....... (iii.) Co-operation - (iv.) Education - - ....... (v.) Federation - 6. Federations and unions of trade syndicates : (i.) Legal position (ii.) Classes of federations - ------- (iii.) Statistics - - ....... 7. Labour exchanges : (i.) Meaning and aim of - -- -- -- -- - (ii.) Numbers and relation to the municipalities - - (iii.) Statistics relating to foundation and constitution - (iv.) History of - (v.) Regulations of the chief exchanges - - - - - - - (vi.) Services attempted by - (vii.) Possible future of----..-. 8. Relations of associated and lion-associated industrial forces : (i.) Freedom of labour in France - - . . . . (ii.) Decisions of civil, industrial and commercial courts ■ - - (iii.) The Bovier Lapierre Bill ...... C. — Causes of Strikes and Lock-outs. 1 . During the years 1852-1889 2. During 189b, - ........ 3. During 1891 4. During 1892 - - ....... 5. During 1893 D. — Development of Strikes. 1. Distribution by departments and trades - . . . . . 2. Important individual strikes ........ (a.) Mining : (i.) Colliers’ strike at Anziu, 1884 ...... (ii.) „ ,, Decazeville, 1886 ------ (iii.) ,, ,, Saint Etienne, 1888 - (iv.) ,, ,, Lens, 1889 - - - - - - - (v.) General miners’ strike, May 1890 ------ (vi-) ,, ,, November 1891 - - - - - (vii.) Carmaux miners’ strike, 1892 ...... A 3 Page. 9 9 9 10 11 11 11 12 16 17 17 17 17 17 18 18 19 20 20 21 21 21 21 21 22 23 23 23 23 24 26 26 26 27 27 27 27 28 29 29 29 31 31 31 32 32 33 33 33 34 34 35 35 36 38 38 39 39 40 40 40 40 D. — Development of Strikes— cont. 2. Important individual strikes — cont. (&.) Transport and allied industries : (i.) Strike of railway servants, 1891 - (ii.) Omnibus strike at Paris, May 1891 (iii.) Strike of Paris navvies, 1888 - (iv.) Strike of navvies on the Drives and Limoges Railway, 1888 (v.) Strike of Paris navvies, 1891 - (c.) Textile, clothing, glass, and miscellaneous : (i.) Stocking weavers’ strike, August 1888 (ii.) Textile operatives’ strike at Roubaix, May 1890 (iii.) Strikes in the textiles trades in 1891 ... (iv.) Strike of working tailors, Paris 1885 - (v.) Strike of glassworkers at La Mulatiere in 1886 - (vi.) Strike of bakers at St. Ouen and St. Denis, 1888 (vii.) Strike of bakers at Marseilles, 1893 - (viii.) Matchmakers’ strike (Government factories), April 1893 3. General results of strikes : (a.) Results from 1888 to 1891 ..... (b.) Results from 1852 to 1889 - - E. — Prevention and Settlement of Strikes : 1. Councils of experts. (Conseils de prucVliommes). (i.) Nature and uses of the institution - (ii.) Division of functions ..... (iii.) The committee of conciliation - (iv.) ,, ,, judgment .... (v.) Election of the councils - (vi.) Abuses in elections - .... (vii.) Decrease in per-centage of cases conciliated (viii.) Origin of the councils ..... (ix.) Proposed codification and modification of the law - • 2. Voluntary arbitration and conciliation committees in certain trades : (a.) Provisions of workmen’s syndicates .... (i ) The syndical chamber of working house-painters (ii.) The federation of workers in the book trade (iii.) The national syndicate of workers in artistic industries - (5.) Provisions of joint committees : (i.) The mixed syndical council for the paper trade - (ii.) Joint committee of typographers at Rouen - (iii.) Joint arbitration committees for laundries 3. The new law of arbitration : (a.) The law of December 27, 1892, its character (b.) Ministerial circular to the Prefects .... (c.) ,, ,, to the Attorney-General 4. Employers’ institutions : (a.) As an indirect remedy - - - (b.) National sentiment in favour of personal relations DIVISION II.— CONDITIONS OF LABOUR IN VARIOUS INDUSTRIES. (I.)— Introduction. Laws regulating the Conditions of Labour in Industrial Establishments. 1. Laws before November 2, 1892 2. Law of September 9, 1848 (12 hours' day) ..... 3. Law of May 19, 1874 (child and girl labour) - 4. Law of November 2, 1892 (child and women’s labour) ... 5. Law of June 12th, 1893 (hygiene and safety of industrial establishments) (II.) — (a.) Conditions of Labour in Mines and Quarries. (i.) Royal Commission on Mining Royalties - (ii.) Mining laws in France (iii.) State regulation of safety in mines ..... (iv.) Delegues mineurs ...... (v.) The great mining and quarrying districts ..... (vi.) Organisation of miners’ work ..... (vii.) Wages ........ (viii.) Allowances ....... (ix.) Hours - (x.) Conditions in mines other than coal ...... (xi.) Accidents ....... (xii.) Concessions granted to miners ...... (xiii.) Supplementary note on employers’ institutions .... ( b .) Transport and Agriculture. (1.) Transport: (i.) The docks at Havre and Marseilles ..... (ii.) Havre. Wages, hours, &c. - (iii.) Marseilles. Wages, hours, &c. ..... (iv.) The Messageries Maritim.es ..... (v.) The railway employe in France ..... (2.) Agriculture : (i.) General statistics as to sub-division of land (ii.) The peasant proprietor ...... (iii.) Subdivision of tenure and the work of association .... (iv.) General character of agricultural populations - - (v.) Agricultural burdens. Tne impot fonder .... 7 ( b .) Transport and Agriculture — cont. 2. Agriculture — cont. (vi.) Migrations in France .... (vii.) Distinctions between agricultural life in the north and in tho south (viii.) Relations between agriculture and industries (ix.) The Bouches-du-Rhone department .... (x.) The Gard department .... (xi.) The Haute-Garonne department .... (xii.) Moral traits in the peasantry of tho south-west (xiii.) The Haute Loire department .... (xiv.) The Sarthe Department - (xv.) The Indre-et-Loire department .... (xvi.) North-west of France .... (xvii.) Normandy and Brittany compared - (xviii.) Land tenure in Brittany .... (c.) Textiles and Miscellaneous Industries. 1. Wages : (a.) The inquiry of tho Office du Travail (b.) Earlier inquiries ...... 2. Hours ....... 3. Inspectors’ reports : (i.) Night-work ...... (ii.) Sunday and holiday labour - ... (iii.) Infringements of factory laws .... (iv.) Inspection in 1891 ..... (v.) Report of the inspector for the IXth District (Amiens) - (vi.) Table showing numbers employed in various industries 4. Cabinet makers, Paris - ..... 5. Glass works, Baccarat ... .... 6. The Gas Company of Paris .... - 1’ age. - 62 - 64 - 64 - 64 64 - 65 - 65 - 65 - 66 - 66 - 66 - 67 - 68 - 68 - 68 - 68 - 70 - 70 - 70 - 71 - 71 - 72 - 72 - 72 - 73 DIVISION III.— SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 1. — Co-operation and Profit-sharing in France. (a.) Origin and progress of the co-operative movement : (i.) The Act of 1867 ..... (ii.) The circular of 1888 ..... (iii.) Separation from the socialists - (iv.) Productive building and credit societies (v.) Workers’ mining societies - (vi.) The Familistere cle Guise .... (vii.) Distributive Societies - La Societe du XVIII'. Arrondissement - La Moissoneuse .... - La Federation des Employes du P.L.M. ... L’Abeille Nimoise - ( b .) Profit-sharing (i.) The system of M.M. Mame et Fils - - (ii.) The Maison Chaix - (iii.) The Maison Leclerc - (c.) Legislation ------- 2. — Workmen’s Superannuation or Pension Funds (Caissbs de Retraites Ouvrieres). (i.) Commission of inquiry, 1893 - - ... (ii.) Justification of State interference .... (iii.) The mutual aid societies ..... (iv.) The employers’ funds for workmen .... (v.) National insurance funds ..... (vi.) Alternatives before the Commission .... (vii.) Modifications necessary - - - . 3. — Employers’ Liability and Compulsory Insurance. (i.) Commissions of inquiry - .... (ii.) Actual state of the law ..... (iii.) Views of the Commission of 1892 - - (iv.) General scheme of insurance - - - - - 4. — The State and Organisation of Poor Relief (L’Assistance Publique). (i.) Principles for relief of the indigent in France - (ii.) Departmental relief ...... (iii.) Communal relief (iv.) Relief in the Paris and Lyons Communes (v.) Tables showing actual working of relief in France (vi.) New law providing free medical assistance 5. — The Higher Council of Labour. (i.) Institution of the Council and opposition to - (ii.) Institution of the Labour Office - - 6. — Labour Agencies (Bureaux de Placement) and the Engagement of Workers. (i.) Ministerial circular of May 25, 1893 .... (ii.) Investigations by the Higher Council and the Labour Office (iii.) Tables showing the work of the various agencies - - , (iv.) Rise of tho labour agencies - - - - 73 - 73 - 74 - 74 - 75 - 76 g - 77 - 77 - 77 - 77 - 77 - 78 - 79 - 79 - 79 - 79 - 80 - 81 - 81 - 81 - 81 - 81 - 82 - 83 - 83 - 83 - 83 - 84 - 85 - 85 - 85 - 86 - 89 - 89 - 90 - 90 - 90 - 91 - 92 1’ase. 8 7. — State and Municipal Employment oe Labouk. (i.) State monopolies - (ii.) The municipalities and labour contracts (iii.) Account of the national workshops 8. — Savings Banks - APPENDICES. Appendix I. — Catalogue of authorities ------- ,, II. — Law of August 8, 1893, regulating stay of foreigners in France „ III. — Law of March 21, 1884, relating to trade syndicates - „ IV. — Government Bill relating to the organisation of councils of experts. (Conseils de prud'hommes) -------- ,, Y. — Law of December 27, 1892, providing for conciliation and arbitration - ,, VI. — Summary of a Ministerial circular of January 23, 1893, addressed to the Prefects on the application of the law of arbitration - - - - - - ,, VII. — Law of November 2, 1892, regulating the work of children, young girls, and women in industrial establishments ------- ,, VIII. — Decrees of Mav 3rd, May 13th, and July 15th, 1893, regulating application of the law of November 2, 1892 -------- ,, IX. — Law of June 12, 1893, regulating hygiene and safety of industrial establishments ,, X. — Extract from the Statistiquo Mineralc showing miners’ wages - - - „ XI. — Law of July 8, 1890, providing for delegates for the safety of working miners ,, XII. — Summary of Draft Bill regulating workmen's associations - ,, XIII. — Draft Bill prepared by the Commission on Labour (Commission du Travail) for the creation of a national provident fund for industrial workers - - - - „ XIV. — Pension scheme of MM. Constans and Rouvier - „ XV. — Pension scheme of M. Chassaing and others - .... ,, XVI. — Draft Bill on employers’ liability and compulsory insurance against accidents - ,, XVII. — Law of July 18, 1893, providing for free medical assistance - - - - ,, XVIII. — Official account of strikes in 1892 ------ „ XIX. — Explanations of certain legal and political terms not already given in the text ,, XX.— Decree of March 25, 1852, regulating Bureaux de Placement - - - ,, XXI. — Note on industrial and agricultural technical education - - - ,, XXII. — Regulations drawn up by M. Emile Thomas for the national workshops in 1848 „ XXIII. — Report on certain miners’ syndicates addressed to the Minister of Justice by the Procureur General of Douai - -- -- -- -- - MAPS AND DIAGRAMS. Map of France, illustrating foreign immigration - - - - to face page ,, showing chief towns and the mining districts - - - - ,, Diagram A., showing numbers of miners in chief mines ,, B., ,, ,, quarrymen ------- ,, Map of France, showing emigration and immigration 1866-86 ---->, „ „ numbers employed in great industries, exclusive of mining, and in small industries ------- ,, 92 93 94 95 96 98 99 100 104 105 106 108 110 112 120 121 123 125 126 126 132 134 137 139 139 140 143 14 55 55 55 62 68 9 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. AUTHORITIES. State and other Documents on which the matter CONTAINED IN THIS RETORT IS BASED. The form of a report on the labour question . in France is determined in a special way by the existing state of the literature to be consulted. For large parts of the subject there is as yet no philosophical literature at all. So far- as French writers themselves are con- cerned the history of the modern labour movement lias yet to be written, and the primary authorities are the Statutes, Parliamentary Bills {; projets et propositions de loi ), and Reports of State Commissions and Parlia- mentary Committees ; while so far as writers in other countries are concerned the inquiry has not been carried beyond the main turning point in the movement. These statements are most strikingly illustrated by the fact that the inquirer into the economic development of modern trade organisations has no later text-book than the treatise of Dr. Lexis on Gewerkvereine unci JJnternehmer- verbande, while this work was published just before legal recognition was given to the syndicates by the law of March 21st, 1884. Since that date the whole movement towards organisation has developed a new character, and the strength of it may be partially gauged by a glance at the table on page 18. Notable exceptions to these statements must also be acknowledged, and the new works on agricultural syndicates, which form so essential a factor in the labour situation in France, still remain to be fully made use of ; the small but excel- lent volume of the Comte de Rocquigny was published after the section on this part of the report had been written from the large semi-commercial and statistical volume of M. Hautefeuille. In general the statistical data for the sections on syndicates and strikes are already voluminous and are steadily being issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry or other State Departments, and. by the special courtesy of the direc- tor of the Office clu Travail, use has been made in an Appendix of the advance sheets of a forthcoming re- port on strikes in 1892. If these documents and the statistics they contain were more carefully analysed throughout, they would be of the very highest value ; the year-hook of trade syndicates, for example, would furnish all that the statesman or economist could require if it contained even a slight indication of the aims and constitutions of the most important associa- tions. The tables relating to syndicates on pp. 24-5 and 28, and the tables relating to labour exchanges on pp. 29-30 are instances of the attempts here made to summarise the available materials. Difficulties have arisen in more than one instance through discrepancies as between stated totals or averages and the detailed figures on which they are based, e.g., those relative to strikes on p. 32 ; the averages given in the table of children’s wages. Appendix X., pp. 114-6, may be cited as another example. (’) A series of special departmental publications, such as the reports of the higher council of labour, and volumes setting forth results of special inquiries by the Office du Travail make important ad- ditions to the material for the contemporary economic historian. The volumes on the Bureaux de Placement and on conciliation and arbitration before the passing of the law of December 27th, 1892, form the basis of the sections on these subjects in this report. The results of the great inquiry into wages and hours yet re- main to be added to the other statistical materials. Setting aside the invaluable Statistique de V Industrie Minerale, for the conditions in the mining and cognate industries, and the great philosophical work of M. Baudrillart for conditions of labour in agriculture, the information on wages and hours has had to bo gathered from a number of miscellaneous sources, of which the pamphlets by members of the Societe de la liforme Sociale and the Report of the Jury International of 1889 are most valuable. The significance for France of its agricultural life is shown both by the complete- ness of information and the high standard of the writ- ings to be consulted. M. Baudrillart’s work is so cast I 1 ) The French Economists themselves are foremost in pointing out deficiencies in official publications. M. Scherer says of the recent volume of the Labour Office on Conciliation and Arbitration “ that its “ authors pass by the literature of their subject, and that as a collection “ of materials it is incomplete and full of errors.” Sec Revue d’Economie Politique, September 1893, p. 85(1. TT 78419. as to revive the old sentiment for the Provinces while accepting the modern departmental divisions. In this report it has been found most practical to accept gener- ally the smaller geographical divisions for purposes of illustration in so large a subject. The great changes in the legislation i'or the working classes are amply- commented upon by the interesting reports attached to bills before both Chambers. The spirit which animates them and the selected examples of bills and recent statutes to be found in the Appendix show more clearly than any description can do, the actual results of the progress of the socialist tendency in France. The materials for a report on past factory legislation and its operation are ample. Since the publication of the new authoritative text-book of M. Bouquet, on the law of November 2, 1892, the inquirer into present conditions of factory life for women and children will have a satisfactory guide. It remains to mention M. Levas- seur’s statistical study La Popidation Franpaise as the basis of the information respecting migration of labour. It has seemed convenient to adopt some general classification of the literature consulted in drawing up the report and the following fivefold division has proved satisfactory : — I. State and Parliamentary documents — (a.) bills, (b.) reports, (c.) statutes and decrees. II. Departmental statistics and publications. III. General literature — (a.) French, (6.) English, (c.) German, ( d .) Italian. IY. Reviews, periodicals and pamphlets. V. British Foreign Office reports and despatches. A catalogue has been drawn up on this basis. ( 2 ) DIVISION I.— TRADE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. A. — Introduction. Two strong tendencies in France have operated to (i.) Distinct produce a distinct phase of the labour question which, the though linked in certain aspects with that of other (tues tion in countries, yet suggests problems which will probably France, be solved on distinct lines. One of these tendencies is social, the other political, but both seemed rooted in racial characteristics, and appear in many of the special institutions of the country. On the one hand there is the tendency to an individualism which is only tempered by the inclination to form close personal relations where interests coincide, on the other hand there is the general political instinct to regard association as of two kinds only, viz., first the State, highly centralised and strongly armed ; secondly, a counterpart of this, the association which is an instrument of revolution, or at least of radical changes. While on the one side law and order is apt to be maintained by readier resort to repressive measures than in England, on the other side the tendency of the governed is towards submission until the spirit of revolt is suddenly aroused. The Commune may have been a recurrence of the revolu- tionary spirit which has appeared (broadly) at intervals of 25 years since 1789, but it was also a protest, first against excessive centralisation, and secondly against economic oppression of the bourgeoisie raised by the democracy of Paris, when it found itself in possession of arms after the siege. It can hardly be doubted that a similar resort to force might recur in our own times if circumstances were favourable. It is probable that a certain dread is working to produce the new official attitude to labour problems in France, which iR so striking to the outside observer. ( :l ) “ Every mind,” says M. Keufer, member of the (ii.) Official Higher Council of Labour, in a report prepared by attitude, him as president of a sub-commission on factory and (~) Sec Appendix, p. 96. ( 3 ) This paragraph and subsequent passages on the French attitude to associations arc strikingly sustained by the last volume of one of the 1 greatest Frenchmen of the century. M. Tame. The incapacity inherent in modern French society to associate spontaneously for a common interest is intimately linked with the political instability of the country, and springs from the nature of the Napoleonic "administrative “ mechanism ” and tho lack of natural local spheres of political appren- ticeship. Of. Le Regime Moderne, Vol. ii. 1894. An indication ot the working of some of t he administrative institutions is given in Appendix XIX., p. 137-9; cf. Appendix XXIII.. p. 113. — CLI>., 23/11/93. B 10 royal commission on LABOUR : Local official attitude. workshop regulations, “every mind, however little “ attentive to the events economic and social that are “ taking place in every country is compelled to admit “ the favourable mood that is being shown towards the “ study of labour questions On the one “ hand this movement is due to the influence of the “ industrial revolution ( transformation tconomique) “ which is in operation, and its inevitable results ; on “ the other hand . . . this care for the interests of “ the labouring masses results from the danger that “ might break out ... if capitalists (chef s in- “ dustriels) remained hostile to the legitimate and “ reasonable demands of the proletariate. ”(‘) These remarks of a member of the council may serve, not less perhaps than the fact of the institution of such a council, which aims at being [a sort of “ Council of State” for labour, to indicate the temper with which the labour question is being approached officially in France. ( 2 ) Far more striking, however, are the chief Government schemes for legislation in labour matters, such as the Pensions, Medical Aid, ; Popular and Agricultural Credit Schemes, and Insurance Bills.( 3 ) The attitude of the authorities generally is favour- able to the aspirations and theories of working class leaders. (') While, in most cases of outbreak on the part of workmen in combination, actual violence and lawlessness have been put down with a strong hand,( 6 ) still the pre vailing disposition is to sym- pathise with the claims of workmen for better conditions, and to frame labour laws with as much elasticity as possible in their favour. “There is a *< widespread feeling in the Chamber that the working “ classes are entitled to better conditions of living, and “ there is a strong desire on its part to free labour as “ much as possible from its weariness, dangers, and “ anxieties.” But, “ Legislation as far as the maintenance “ of public order will permit, is holding the balance “ pretty fairly” between all the forces making for social and industrial change. f') The tendency shewn by the legislature and central administrative authori- ties is much more strongly developed in local authorities and especially in the municipalities where the repre- sentation of the radicals and socialist labour party is growing continually stronger. ( 7 ) Where a check is needed it can hardly be counted on locally unless through the prefectures, which after all directly re- present the central authorities. This is well illustrated by the recent conflict between the labour organisations at the Labour Exchange (Bourse da Travail), supported by a majority in the Municipal Council, and the Prefec- ture of the Seine. Administration of the law which requires registration of all trade organisations! 8 ) had apparently tended to become lax. To remedy the irre- gularity the Government (i.e., the Prefect of the Seine) were “ so indulgent as to offer the Labour Exchange a “ month in which to obey the law of official registra- “ tion.”( 5 ) The Municipal Council took up the cause of the irregular syndicates or unions, who declared their intention of continuing to disregard legal formalities, and thus put itself into direct opposition with the Government. “ To the kindly caution of the Government “ ( aimables managements) the Executive Committee of “ the Labour Exchange responded with audacious “ defiance ; not only were the irregular syndicates re- “ commended to remain irregular, but the others were “ invited to become irregular and place themselves out- “ side the law of 1884. ”( 10 ) It will appear in the section on Labour Exchanges, how formidable a revolutionary force is potentially enclosed -within them. In them the working class leaders, doubtless consciously, hold the instrument for a new Commune. At this point all depends on the firmness with which the law is adminis- (>) Conseil SupOricur du Travail, Nationale. n„n. 1892. n. 205. DeuxiOme Session. Imprimerie Paris. 1892, p. 205. (») With regard to the Council of Labour, cf. infra, p. 89. For the Couucil of State, cf. p. 137. ( J ) Cf. infra, pp. 123, 125, 126, 132. ... . it, The recent course of events seems to point to a, qualification of this statement ; the attitude of the authorities might be more aptly described, perhaps, as one of submissiveness to the working class theories anc j aspirations. Where a stand is made against any particular claims (such as those at the Bourse du Travail) it is apparently made in response to a popular demand— C4.D., 30/9/93. (i) ]„ S omo eases of strikes, accompanied by violence, grave com- plaints have lie m made of supineness on the part of the authorities, e.g, at Carmaux. Cf. infra, p. 43. ( 6 ) Foreign Office Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, pp. XVI., CL “Journal desDdbats,” Auril 24th, 1893. The principal municipal centres of Socialism are Roubaix, Saint-Ouen, and Saint Denis. Con- (») Cf. infra, p. 99. (9) " Times,” June 14th. ( i") “ La Rfiforme Sociale,” .Tune 16th, 1893, p. 972, tered. Opinion in France was divided as to the firm- ness which was likely to be shown by the Minister of the Interior, M. Dupuy; his address at Albi seemed to affirm his resolution to demand obedience to the law under all circumstances, but in action he seems to have leaned towards the hesitancy which has too often hitherto been shown. ( n ) In the speech of M. Constans, at Toulouse, on June 5th, a stronger keynote was to be found, and in him may be recognised a possible power of resistance to the growing claims of the labour party. ('*) M. Dupuy’s subsequent adoption at the samo place, of some of M. Constans’ points, only makes still clearer the lack of strong convictions in the head of the Government. It is necessary at the outset to call attention to the (iii.) The intimate connexion between the socialist and the labour s " c d i ^ 8t ' movements in France and the political and non-political labour 6 causes and circumstances which brought these meve- movements, ments together. Whatever may have been the meaning originally attached in France to the word socialism, and whatever may be the precise body of doctrine to which it may be applied at the prosent time it is certain, as a writer in the Revue des Deu.r Mondes in 1890, pointed out that it has lost part of the significance of something “violent and some what offensive that it had formerly. 1 ”( 13 ) All parties alike in Fiance are agreed as to the fact of the change. The individualist school declares that the answer to the labour question is one and the same with the answer to the question :( 14 ) Is the labourer to become the blind follower of the revolutionary socialists who “ have come to such power as to have no longer neodof “ dissimulating their ends P” The organs of the Christian Socialist party and of the Social Democrats equally acknowledge the fact of the change, each from its own point of view. A writer of the Christian Socialist party says in the Revue des Deux Mondes : “I need not insist upon the “ fact of this irresistible, methodic wave of socialism, “ which for some years has been rivetting the attention f 11 ) Since the above was written the trial of the officials of syndicates affiliated to the Labour Exchange has terminated. The “Times,” August 11th, reported that the judgment of the Court completely sustained the action of M. Dupuy in closing the Exchange for refusing to conform to the law. “ Sixty-seven of the labour officials accused of “ wilfully resisting the law of 1884, which enjoins on the various unions “ the duty of registration, are condemned each to 60 francs fine and to “ the costs collectively. The immediate dissolution of 38 unions is “ decreed, ns well as the dissolution of the general committee of the “ so-called Executive Commission of the Paris Labour Exchange and " the affiliated exchanges .... It was M. Millerand who pleaded ‘ the impossible cause of the recalcitrant unions .... The “ judgment will be profoundly distasteful to the Labour party.” See “Times,” August 11, 1893. ( 12 ) Since the results of the general election of August 20th and Septem- ber 4th, 1893, have become clear, showing a definite ranging of the political forces of France along two lines, namely the Governmental Republicans (about 311 in number) and the Socialists and Radicals, (about 234 in number), it has become more evident than ever that the great need of the party of law and order is a strong leader and a positive programme. In the French Chamber, even more than in other Parliaments, a noisy and pertinacious party, though in a minority, such as that composed of revolutionary and radical socialists, has always only too much chance of getting its way. At the present time the minority has not only added to its numbers, but it has also found a leader in M. R6n6 Goblet, and has developed a definite programme in specific proposals for the application of State and other forms of Socialism. The programme o f the Governmental party of Republicans, in so far as it has one, can only be described as negative, the one positive promise of its programm c, namely, for a National Provident Scheme in a modified form, it shar with the Socialists. Meanwhile the strong men who might lead the comparatively Con servative party are hardly available. M. Constans, possibly throng h personal obstacles in high places to a Parliamentary career, is out of th e way in the Senate, M. Floquet is beaten in the elections, and M. I’drier is president of the Chamber. It is necessary to recollect that M. Dupuy i s not certain to back up his lieutenants even after able support from them in maintenance of order, and that he is apt to be at the bidding of a mutinous Parliamentary section. M. Ribot, M. Cldmenceau and M. de Freycinet, though belonging to different sections, are not in a position to command a strong or united following. The party that M. Goblet hopes to lead to various reforms and notably revision of the constitution and separation of Church and State, must be distinguished from one new and important group of supporters. He lias expressed an opinion that he will command a compact majority for his proposals among the 500 Republicans, he refuses at the same time to identify himself with the extreme socialist and labour party led by M. Jules Gubsde, although he hopes to gain their support. The plan of this latter party is to make itself as directly as possible the “mandatory of tfie working classes” and to immediately refer all reforms on their behalf that are rejected by the Chamber to the working class constituencies. “ It will be seen if in four years with such a system we are not masters in France.” This idea was presented to the Chamber during the recent session in a bill by M. Ernest Roche (July 20th, see “ Journal Officiel” June 21st) which aimed at “assuring “ to* the people the exercise of its sovereignty and at making its “ mandatories responsible at every moment before universal suffrage.” The method for bringing this about was to enable a tenth part of any constituency to recall its representative and bring him before a referendum by sending in its electoral cards to the President of the Chamber. The political act of the, member would then be placed before the constituency and the whole body of electors would be called upon to vote on the act in question, after a time for reflection of from 15 tn 20 days. Sixty -two votes out of 318 were given for this measure.— G.D., 30/9/93. ( 13 ) “ Socialisme d’lltat et Socialisme Chretien," Article by the Count D'Haussonville in the “ Revue des Deux Mondes.”— June 1890. (») Sec especially : “ Des Conditions de 1’Harmonie dans f’Industrie,” article by M. Gibon in “ La Reforme Sociale.”— May 1st, 1893. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. il “ of Europe, I wish only to indicate the events from “ whence its new power arises. ”(') Two forms of socialism ( nuances ) must broadly bo distinguished as they are found exemplified in the fighting organisations (trade syndicates) of the work- men. These would generally be described as aiming either at collective or anarchical socialism. ( 1 2 ) For example, in Paris the workers in the cabinet trade (les ebenos or ebenistes du Faubourg) have among them two organisations opposed to the syndical chamber of employers. Of these the larger, with 1,856 members, Ghambre Syndicate des Ouvriers Kbeniste et du Meuble Sculpte, is described as being of the collectivist tendency (nuance collectiviste ) the other, not so large, L' Union Syndicate du Meuble Sculp til et de V Dbenisterie , is of anarchist tendency (nuance anarchiste). Both might be classed as revolutionary, but only the latter is extreme. ( 3 ) In general the programmes of the socialist groups approximate to the Gotha programme, the introduction of Marx’s ideas into France being chiefly due to the Communards. It was not, however, until the time of the Havre Congress in 1880 that a regular socialist press was organised, and a programme on the lines of the German Social Democrats adopted. At the same time a division of Socialists into three parties, one anarchical, another aiming at social reforms under a republican government (of which M. Clemenceau might be taken as a type and leader), and the third, the revolutionary socialists or labour party, led by M. Guesde, was definitely established. The first gradually organised themselves in a number of clubs which generally adopted a sort of guerilla warfare against society and authority. Of these the best known is La Panthere, to which Louise Michel belonged in 1886, when there were 500 members. The organisation of the other two parties has never been very definite ( 4 ) and it is really the municipal socialism, formulated at the St. Etienne Congress, 1882, by M. Brousse, a member of the Paris Municipal Council, which is the strongest and most active in France. By this party, more than 400 “ Circles for Social Studies ” have been organised all over the country, with a central national executive committee. They have been called “ possibilists ” by the Guesdist party, and their chief aim is to munici- palise industries and subsidise workmen's associations productive and syndical. (iv.) Origin Existing phases of the labour movement and socialism of tho are to be traced as M. d’Haussonville traces them to man on of very mu ch the same origin. It is impossible to fail to the move- recognise the extreme reaction in French democratic merits. thought and feeling from the individualism of the revolution towards the “ discouragement of liberty “ which has invaded thought and which makes this “ close of the century so different from the opening. ”( 5 ) While noting the fact that there are philosophical and political motives or tendencies which have helped to determine such a reaction (and that the rise and fall, action and reaction of ideas to be found in all peoples is intensified in the country par excellence of ideas) ; it is the most powerful of the motives that has to be considered now ; namely the economic condition brought about by the industrial revolution, joined to the constantly increasing power of the working classes to give expression to their desires and needs. The conditions which gave rise to the strong in- dividualism of the beginning of the century have passed away. The leaders of the revolution, the Tiers-Etat, when they came into power, abolished the guilds (1791) and all state regulation of labour with full confidence in the power of competition to give free scope to every individual workman. “ The tone thus introduced into France” was intensified during the empire “by the brilliant positions achieved by men of humble origin. ”('’) As the industrial revolution, however*, by employment of machinery and other new methods of production gradually put into the hands of the capitalists oppor- tunities that were denied to the artisan thus “ divorced from his tools,” and as the main hope of the working classes became of necessity more concentrated upon raising and maintaining the market rate of wages, so did the old confidence in individual effort wane. Gradually irregular attempts at association arose, the belief in the advantages of unregulated competition died out, and appeals became more and more frequent to state aid for industry. Democratic leaders changed their text and talked of the utility of transforming a capitalist order into a public service, working, as the case might be, through the State on the one°hand or the commune or municipality on the other. No more distinguished exponent of the tendency to (v.) The return to State interference can be mentioned than the Comte Comte Albert de Mun.( ; ) He and his followers base all Mun and their latest claims for completer legislative control of Catho*icor industry upon the belief that the workman, reduced to Chr . istian work in the service and at the will of the capitalist, is SoeiaIlsm ‘ forced to submit to conditions over which he has no control, and that although there is an exchange of services between the capitalist and his employes, there is indeed no freedom of contract except for the former. The writer in the Revue des Deux Mondes above referred to, the. Comte d’Haussonville, spoke at that date, 1890, of a coalition which was likely to grow closer between Christian Socialists of the type of the Comte de Mun and other socialists whom he distinguished as Socialistes d'etat and Socialistes de chambre or State socialists and Parliamentary socialists of the ordinary Badical type. His prediction seems verified by a glance at the programme sketched by the Comte de Mun at the recent Catholic Congress. In their- efforts to outbid at the same time the liberal economists ana the revolutionary collectivists it seems not at all improbable that the Catholic socialists will have to make such considerable compromises in the direction of solialism as to swamp the Christian part of their pro- gramme and play into the hands of their most powerful enemies whom they hoped to supersede. At this point one other important factor in the ( v i.) Bour . change in democratic feeling in France must not bo geois legislu- overlooked. It is to be found in the omissions as well tl0n,lnl j} as the provisions of the civil code wherever it bears industrial upon the life of the labouring classes. With regard c l asses - to this M. d’Haussonville points out that tho code^was a code made for the copyholders, i.e., it was prepared by bourgeois lawyers for a bourgeois society. So far as the labouring classes as distinct from the hour- geoisie were concerned, the Revolution hardly effected much.( 8 ) The later diffusion of material prosperity effected by the Napoleonic institutions and legislation moreover scarcely touched tho life of a class just taking form; this legislation could hardly provide for those who, even if they could have expressed their needs, were hardly yet aware of them. Examples of the omissions in the code referred to might bo mentioned, e.y.the absence of provision for the recovery of debts by the workman proper, while provision is there for domestic servants. But it is held that the law as it affects compensa- tion for accidents offers the most striking illustrations of the defects of the Code.( a ) This point, with the hardships arising out of the interpretation of the law as to employers’ liability, will be dealt with later. That class antagonism, of a kind unknown on this side of the Channel, exists to a considerable extent in France, class an ' whether due mainly to such defects in law or not, may tasonism be recognised even e.g. in the common description of individualism as “ that bourgeoisie philosophy which “ has led to the prevalence of the meanest ideas ” (qui a fait triompher les idees les plus basses), and of an (1) (1.) “L’Association Catholique,” csp. articles by the Pore de Pascal (2.) “ La Revue Socialiste,” esp. La Revolution de Demain, by Henri Amici, 1892-3. (3.) “ Revue des Deux Mondes,” article by M. de Vogud "L’Heure Presente,” January , 1893. ( 2 ) Mr. Stephen in distinguishing revolutionary Socialism from evolutionary Socialism applies tho term collectivist to the former. Rut it may be pointed, out that there are eonvinced collectivists who do not advocate a violent or sudden transformation of society. P. O. Report, ^Miscellaneous Scries, No. 258, pp. iii., iv. ( 3 ) “Ebdniste Parisian de Haut Luxe ” ; “ Ouvriers des Deux Mondes ”• Monographie par M.P. Du Maroussem, 2nd series, 29 s fascicule’ p. 95. These syndicates are not quoted in the official “Annuaire des Syndi- cates Professionels ” ; possibly because they have not complied with the formalities required by the law of March 21st, 1884. ( 4 ) Nee however not 8 ( ls ), p. 10. ( 3 ) “ Revue des Deux Mondes,” June 1890. ( 6 * ) Foreign Office Report, by Mr. Condio Stephen. Miscellaneous Series No. 258, p. iii. Mun, (2.) “ 1 / Association L'athohque," organ of the " cercles catholiques.” ( 8 ) Le Code Civil et la Question ouvrihre. M. Glasson Paris Firmin. Diderot, 1891, section 1. See. however, the remarks of m’ Le'rov Keaulieu in the discussion of M. Glasson’s paper at the Acadcmie des Sciences, &c. “ It seemed to the legislators at the end of the last century that “ working men were not to be distinguished in general from other " citizens. To-day there is a tendency to treat them as a class amrt “ distinguished among all others, and as having a claim in all the details “ of their lives to a special treatment. This conception, peculiar to our “ own times, has a great defect, which was resisted with supreme enenrv “ by legislators m the end of last century and beginning of this one- “ the defect, namely, of breaking into the unity of the nation . . “ • • • Special legislation means privilege and injustice On Pii-’ pp. US-96. p. wn. ( 9 ) “ Revue Critique de Legislation, 1883.” Sauzet, Responsibility des Patrons, I., II. See infra, p. 8-32. B 2 (vii.) The “ depopula- tion ” of France. ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : eminent French economist (M. P. Leroy-Beaulieu) as “ the most devoted servant of the bourgeoisie.” (>) Recent utterances in the “ Bulletin Officiel ” of the Labour Exchange, subsidised by the Paris Municipal Council, illustrates this tendency much more strongly. Too frequently strikes and disturbances have to be attributed to a strong distrust and antagonism of the ■working classes to the bourgeois classes who are so constantly recruited from their ranks. 0 M. Le Play ( (i) * 3 * ) made it a grave matter of reproach to the bourgeoisie that they had neglected to cultivate in their role as leaders of industry those personal rela- tions with the working classes which he considered so essential to industrial harmony. They had not, he maintained, grasped the obligations laid upon them by their new position under the social and industrial revolution. Intoxicated by acquisition of the power they had so long sought they worked for their own material interests, forgetting their responsibilities to the nation that lay behind them. They had, he held, prepared by this negligence the new antagonism of classes and anti-social ideas to be found in modern Prance. But while M. Le Play attributed almost all the social and industrial ills he complained of to the part taken by the bourgeoisie after the Revolution, it was to an important section of that same class that he confidently looked for the remedy to come, namely to the rural proprietor. 0 Another reproach, coming from all schools of serious thinkers in France which cannot be passed by in a review of the industrial situation is especially directed against the bourgeoisie , although it has to be extended . beyond their ranks. It is generally traced to the same or a kindred cause, to an exclusive pre-occupation with the nearest material interests (■’), a feeling of contentment with that which has been gained, and a jealous refusal to risk its diminution. “ If the general birth-rate of France “ were equal to that among the flower of the bourgeois “ classes, at the close of 200 years not a single French- “ man would be left.” ( 6 * ) The writer of these words puts his case somewhat strongly, with a special view to pointing his own (socialistic) remedy. But his next words are echoed by thinkers the most opposed to his tendencies. For the smaller bourgeoisie amongst whom the birth rate is almost equally' low he “ can suggest “ no other cause than the settled determination to “ limit the number of children. It is through eco- “ nomy, through prudence, to spare themselves and “ their descendants the cares and tatigues of a too “ laborious life, that they have limited families.” The same determination is to be found, though certainly in a less degree, in large sections of the industrial and poorer agricultural classes. It is not so much the origins of this tendency that have to be traced at this point. They are perhaps not so simple as the writer quoted would suggest. Account would have to be taken of legal as" well as moral and economic fonts running through the whole structure of French life. Nor can its importance for French statesmen, who even as far back as 1867 were having their attention urgently directed to it(') be here estimated. It is simply as a fundamental fact affecting all industrial and agricultural life that it has to be considered. As (i) Cl. " La Revue Soeialiste,” esp. January 1893. pp. 7-2-9. (~) See " Journal Officiel ” for an account of a Memoire liy M. Doniol, on the “ Alleged Antinomy of the Bourgeoisie and the People in out Political Institutions." The idea of the opposition seems to have been first stated by Louis Blanc. ( 3 ) Note on Le Play .— This remarkable French economist was horn at Honfleur in 180(1, and died at Paris in 1883. having held various important public posts with distinction. The central idea of Ins writings was to apply (in a new and original wav) the methods of the sciences of observation to social studies. ‘ For 24 years he devoted six or seven monlhs annually to direct personal observation of the minutest details of all types of working Class daily life. His work“Les Ouvriers Europtens.” which “ photographs,” according to his own expression, the thirty-six types of working class families which he had set himself to observe, is spoken of by Saint -Beuve as a “model for all reformers.” After this task was finished in 1853. Le Plav he?an to work out his general ideas, and in 1864 wrote his “ Rcforme Sociale en France,” of which account is given in M. Ribot’s “ Du Role Sociale des Idoes Chrjtiennes,” Vol. 2. Another important work is “ L’Organisation du Travail ” (1870). [ See the article Le Play in M. Say’s Diet. D’Economie Politique]. (■*) "L’Organisation du Travail.” chaps. 29 and 30. “Du Role Sociale des Idcios Chrdtiennes.” P. Ribot, Vol. II., pp. 286-295. ( 5 ) What M. Bandrillart calls “ calculs etroit de l’intdrGt”: Les Populations Agricoles, Vol. II., p. 253. ( 6 ) “ La Revue Soeialiste.” January 1892. Article by M. Amiel, p. 57. (t) See, e.g., an article by M. Le Fort, in the “Revue des Deux Mondes,” 18fi C?„ article by M. Glasson, in “La Rcforme Sociale,” July 1st, 1893, p. 10.’ M. Baudi’illart has to point out repeatedly in his great work on the agricultural population of France, there are districts where without immigration of foreign labour, or of labour from provinces less calculating in their habits of mind, the harvests could not be got in, the mines could not be worked, the factories would be diminished. In parts of Normandy the farmers have to depend on Breton immigration. In the north-west of France the mines and factories are largely recruited by Belgian labour. Speaking of the diminution of population in the departments Seine-et-Oise and Seine-et-Marne, M. Baudrillart says : “ Here also it is “ to moral causes that the decrease must be attributed “ rather than to emigration ; less even (than to “ emigration) can it be attributed to privation. This ‘ ! voluntary restriction of the population only confirms “ our earlier remarks on the eminently calculating “ character of the comfortable agricultural popula- “ tion of L’lle-de- France, although here the example “ is set by the towns . . . it is not a question of “ feeble increase, it is a positive decrease for half of “ the departments in the province ” ( 8 ). This is the same in Picardy as in Normandy. In certain districts in the former province it is a matter of reproach to those who have large families. There it is stated the agriculturists in easy circumstances have followed the example of the rich, and it is only amongst the poorest agricultural labourers that “ a very feeble excess of births over deaths” can be discovered. “ I firmly believe that this .... is a moral “ and economic evil This calculating “ egotism removes a living force from the country “ where children are not a source of poverty but of “ wealth.” Too rapid growth of population, adds M. Baudrillart, although an evil, is a less evil than this systematic depopulation “ among the classes who “ represent the capacity, the capital, the real inteilec- “ tual force, moral and material of a nation.” ( •■) (1.) Etude historique. &c. Sur les Syndicats Professionels. Hyacinthe Glotin, Larose et Force). 1892. (2.) Dictionnaire de l’administration Framjaise. M. Block. 3me. Edition, 1892. Berger Levrault et Cie. ( 18 ) Discours du Gomte de Mun loc cit. p. 41. Lexis Gewerk-Vereine urd Unternehmer Verbiinde in Frankrcicli. P 7 ) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 213, pp. 8-9. ( 18 ) (1.) Le Code Civil et la Question Ouvriere, p. 7. (2.) Etude Historique, &e„, sur les Synd. Prof. pp. 108-9. (19) p o. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 213. c (ii.) Over- throw of the Guild system. Irregular growth of associations. (iii.) The law of May 25th, 1864. 18 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: (iv.) The jaw of March 21st, 1884. Irregular syndicates. “ forms having a certain appearance of legality.” Employers’ syndicates affected generally the form of a civil society, constituted for a fixed period between manufacturers of the same speciality, while workmen’s syndicates frequently took the form of a society with variable capital (d capital variable) under the Joint Stock Companies Act of July 24, 1867, or sometimes made use of the law relating to mutual aid societies (les sociites de secours mutuels .) (■) But in spite of all devices the fact remained that from the civil point of view such societies, having an illicit object, had no legal status and their acts were in consequence liable to be declared void. While the Government favoured the existence of these institutions, yet, if litigation arose, decisions of legal tribunals were apt to go in favour of persons infringing the rules of the societies. ( 2 ) “At last on “ the 22nd November 1880, a Bill ( projet de loi) was “ laid before the Chamber in the name of the President “ of the Republic, by M. Jules Cazot, Minister of “ Justice, and M. Tirard, Minister of Agriculture and “ Commerce. The Government intended to give a “ legal existence to those associations which it had so “ long permitted to exist illicitly. ”( 3 ) But the Bill did not become law until after many debates in the Chamber and the Senate.( 4 ) On March the 21st, 1884, the law recognising trade association came into force and gave equal rights to employers and employed. “ It was not “ a return,” says M. Glotin, “ to the ancient corpora- “ tions, but simply a consecration and recognition of “ that which already in fact existed. Custom became “ law. if one may say so.”p) The first and second section of this law( B ) repealed the law of June 17th, 1791, and Article 416 of the Penal Code (which punished combination with fine and imprisonment) and further declared certain other Articles 291-4 which controlled associations of more than 20 persons to be no longer applicable t'o professional syndicates. The second declared the freedom of industrial association to exist without special authorisation of Government.^) In the words of the Ministerial circular addressed to the prefects “ the law dispensed with all preliminary “ authorisation . . ., all useless formalities and “ demanded only one condition for the regular estab- “ lishment of such associations, namely, publicity.” The law also declared that fines and prohibitions in- flicted or pronounced by syndicates in connexion with strikes were “ no longer to be considered as an attempt “ to prevent the free exercise of industry and labour.” The law also provided that the syndicates might estab- lish “ benefit funds and undertake the duties of registry offices for the supply of labour. ”( 8 ) The effect of this law upon the movement towards industrial association may be most forcibly gauged by the following graphic table taken from the Annuaire des Syndicats Professionals of 1892 : — L Table III. Showing the Movement of Trade Syndicates (of Employers, Employed, Joint, & Agricultural), in France and Algeria, under the Law of March 21, 1884 (on July 1st of each Year). Employers’ Syndicates Workmen’s „ This work ( 9 ) shows that syndicates are registered under a special bureau by the prefect in each district according to the date of foundation. The register con- tains the exact title, the date of formation, number of members, place of meeting, of such associations and the various institutions formed by it if there are any. The committees of administration seem to be bodies varying too much to bo included in the register. A certain number of irregular syndicates, i.e., such as have not complied with the formalities prescribed by the law, were still in existence on July 1892. Out of a total of 3,988 syndicates 177 were irregular at this date, as * (*) (‘) fitude Historique, &c„ pp. 113-4. (Quoting Dalloz, Jump G6n„ Ouvriers, No. 167. For a review of the stateof the mutual aid societies and legislition regulating them, cf. infra, p. 81. ( 2 ) Etude Illstorique, &c. Sur les Synd. Prof., pp. 114 - 5 . ( 3 ) lb., p. 122. (*) Discours Politiques du Comte de Mini. Vol. II., pp. 38-98. , Joint or Mixed Syndicates Agricultural „ against 480 irregular syndicates in July 1884. It is only within the last four years that the decrease in such syndicates became rapid, either through dissolution or, more often, through reorganisation. Of syndicates formed since 1887 very few have failed to comply with the formalities of the law. Only 1 per cent, of em- ployers’ syndicates and only 9 per cent, of workmen’s syndicates are irregular. The distribution by departments of the syndicates is very unequal, certain departments, e.g., Seine (575 ( 5 ) Etude Historique, &e. H. Glotin. p. 123. ( 6 ) For text ot this law see Appendix ill. p. 99. ( 7 ) For commentary on the law— Cf. the works ot M. Gudin de Vavillon, and of M. H. Glotin above quoted. ( 8 ) F. O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. iv.-v. (’) Annuaire des Syndicats Professioneis. Issued under the “ Direc- tion de l’Enseignement industriel et Commercial." Berger Levrault. Paris, 1892. Immediate effect of the law. (v.) Distri- bution of the syndicates. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. I!) Numbers of members of syndicates. (i.) Services rendered by employers’ syndicates. syndicates), Rhone, Bouches-du-Rhone, Nord, Gironde, Loire, Ardennes and others rise considerably above the average in their total number of syndicates, while others, e.y., Ariege (two syndicates), Lozere, Haute Savoie, fall considerably below it. There is no depart- ment at the present date to which the system of trade association has not penetrated. The distribution by towns is also unequal , Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Bordeaux head the list with 566, 188, 143, and 109 syndicates respectively. It would be misleading to gauge the syndical move- ment solely by the number of separate associations. Ex- amination of the Annuaire shows that increase of associated industrial units does not always coincide with increase in number of associations. We may note, however, that the department Seine heads the list in both respects, and had a total of 32,964 associated- industrial units in 1892. The department Word follows with 11,781 associated units. The tables of the Annuaire show also that while the numbers of members of syndicates have increased in 34 depart- ments, they have remained stationary in 42, and have decreased in 14, within the last two years. A very useful alphabetical table at the end of the Annuaire deals with trades from the point of view of association by means of references to the body of the work. The following table summarises the results, giving the trades, exclusive of agriculture, in the order of numbers of organisations. (*) Table III a. Organised Traces. Trades. Employers. Synd Workmen. cates. Joint or Mixed. Total. Provision dealing trades (bakers, butchers, grocers, &c.) 359 83 11 453 Building trades (masons, carpenters, painters, plasterers, &c.) 115 267 30 412 Clothing trades (hat-making, tailoring, boot and shoe, &c.) 71 185 17 273 Textile trades, spinning and weaving 39 160 11 210 Iron, steel and hardware trades ------ 45 155 9 209 Book-making and printing trades 45 151 9 205 Leather trades -------- 28 57 1 86 Inu, coffee and lodging house keepers and waiters - 46 29 7 82 Transport (railways, shipping, carting, &c.) - 31 33 16 80 Coach building and allied trades (wheelwrights, coopers, shipwrights) - 30 49 — 79 Chemists and druggists ----- 79 — — 79 Watchmakers and jewellers ______ 37 33 4 74 Ceramic trades (porcelain, pottery, glass, tiles, &c.) 16 54 1 71 Furnishing trades ------- 29 31 3 63 Mining and quarrying trades - - - - 4 52 — 56 Lighting and heating - - - 32 19 — 51 Horticulturists and florists ----- 25 5 10 40 Brokers, commercial travellers, commission agents - 14 13 2 29 Clerks and shop assistants ----- — 24 — 24 Tobacco trade -------- — 19 — 19 Bankers and agents d’affaires ----- 15 — — — - Chemical trades -------- 10 2 1 13 It will be observed on comparison of the above table with the section to follow later, on distribution of strikes, that it is difficult to draw any general conclu- sions as to relations between number of disputes and degree of organisation. The most highly organised trades are in some cases singularly free from trade disputes, in others, and especially one group, the textiles, remarkably subject to them. It is perhaps worthy of special remark that the mining and quarry- ing industries which follow closely upon the textile trades in respect of number and importance of trade disputes, while falling rather low in the above table of number of organisations are destitute of any joint organisation of employed and employers. (2.) Employers' Syndicates. Mr. Condie Stephen remarks that, while the “work- “ men’s syaicates direct all their efforts towards unity “ in the hope of securing more favourable conditions “ of labour, the associations organised by employers “ possess no such harmony of aim, their object being “ the furtherance of the interest of special branches of “ industry rather than the defence of capital against “ labour. ... In a word, community of interest is con- “ fined to the trades themselvt‘3 . . . they are still far “ more occupied in directing an attack upon the con- “ sumer than in establishing a defence against the “ ever-spreading attack upon themselves. ”( 2 ) From one point of view this is a true description, but must not be accepted without at the same time taking note of the valuable institutions for the special benefit of workmen known as l; oeuvres,” or “ institutions patronales,” which are spreading amongst associated as well as unassociated employers in France, and which, in the opinion of the followers of Le Play, point to the solution of the industrial problem. ( 3 ) It is true that I 1 ) Annuaire des Syndicats Professionals, p. xxviii.-xxix. ( 2 ) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. v.-vi. ( 3 ) Report of the 15th Section of the 1889 Exhibition. Paris. Im- priraerie Nationale, 1892. “ La R6fonne Sociale,” Vol. xxiii., pp 218-33. C 2 the employers’ syndicates have in fact so far developed on very much the same lines as those which they proposed to themselves before the law of 1884, and the increase in their number seems rather due to the facility of formation combined with the necessity for pursuit of special trade interests than to the other causes operating in the case of workmens’ syndicates. M. Glotin enumerates some of the advant- ages secured to the employers by organisation ; they are chiefly summed up in the one idea of strength to com- pete, whether with foreign markets, or with powerful or unscrupulous adversaries in their own country. He quotes from a speech in the Chamber by M. Avnard, the results obtained in the toy-making industry, an in- dustry which was almost undermined by German competition. By the power of its syndical chamber this specially Parisian industry has been restored to its former prosperity. M. Glotin also draws attention to the increased number of convictions for illegal exercise of the trade of druggist, and declares that there is no doubt that this is due to activity in pro- secution by the syndicated members of the trade. Defence of trade interests against undue exercise of local administrative authorities is by no means uncom- mon. ‘’Thus syndicates of butchers have contested “ certain municipal decisions regulating the conduct of “ their establishments and establishing certain taxes “ and they have often gained their cause.” ( 4 ) Great facilities for petitioning Parliament directly have certainly been gained by organisation. The subsidiary institutions (funds, libraries, schools technical instruction) stimulated by the syndical move- ment are a remarkable feature of trade organisation in France, and in none of the four groups of syndicates are they more prominent than in that of employers. The subjoined table from the Annuaire des Syndicats Professionels gives a useful survey of such insti- tutions. ( 4 ) Etude Hi8torique, &c„ des Syud. Prof., pp. 398-420. Association by trades. Subsidiary institutions of the syn- dicates. 20 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : (ii.) Dis- tribution of the syn- dicates by depart- ments and towns. Table IY. Institutions atid. Establishments founded by Trade Syndicates. (Drawn up on July 1, 1892.) Syndicates. Nature of the Institutions. Industrial or Commercial. Total. Employers'. Workmen’s. Joint or MixOd. Agricultural. Friendly Societies or funds for mutual 36 243 28 13 320 aid. 2 36 Provident funds or savings banks 4 30 — Out of work funds - 70 1 — 71 Mutual credit funds - 2 2 — 3 7 Pension funds - - 6 31 6 — 43 Benevolent funds 2 - - — 2 Accident funds or societies - 13 3 - 1 17 Societies or funds for insurance against 2 — - 16 18 mortality of animals. 1 3 Societies or funds for fire insurance - 2 Societies or funds for hail insurance - — — — 3 3 Co-operative societies, distributive 2 26 1 9 38 „ „ productive — 10 — 2 12 Technical schools - 12 4 1 1 18 Technical classes and conferences 8S 58 5 33 134 Professional or technical competitions 2 1 1 ““ 4 Schools for apprentices - 2 — — — 2 Orphanages - - 1 - - 1 2 Industrial or commercial museums and S — 2 — 7 collections of samples. 1 1 Syndical exhibitions „ workshops 1 1 - 2 Libraries - - - - 62 300 10 24 396 Registry offices or labour agencies (') - 71 176 16 8 271 Offices for commercial intelligence 1 ~ - 3 4 Analytical laboratories - 13 - - 7 20 Legal aid - 19 2 1 2 24 Boards of arbitration 4 2 1 — 7 Medical aid - - 3 2 - 1 6 Field for experiments 1 - 1 37 39 Nurseries (agricultural) - - - 15 15 Journals and other publications 89 21 3 74 187 Wine markets - - 1 3 4 Societies for manual aid - - — - 2 2. Some of these heads, especially the various funds and the supply of experts and arbitrators, are fully and more conveniently treated under other sections of the Report. As for the educational services rendered by means of classes, laboratories, museums, &c., and the sreneral intelligence and journalistic departments of these syndicates, it seems sufficient to draw attention to them. M. G-lotin points out that further develop- ment of the already existing subordinate institutions of mutual credit might serve in France to fill the place of the popular banks and public institutions of credit established in Germany and Italy. The departments containing the greatest number of employers’ syndicates, were on July 1, 1892, as shown in the following tables : — Table Y. Department. Syndi- cates. Members. Department. Syndi- cates. Members. Seine - 325 54,174 Nord - 49 2,693 Bouches - du- 68 4,991 Gironde - 48 4,103 RhOne. Seine - InfO- 43 2,181 RhOne - 62 5,020 rieure. (') The numbers given by this official register should be compared with those furnished by another department in the Ministry of Com- merce and Industry for the same year. See p. 91 infra. Paris, Marseilles, Lyons, Bordeaux are, as might be expected, the towns which head the list in regard to number of syndicates. Paris has 323 employers’ syndicates. Of these 185 have been formed since 1884, the increase in number being most rapid in the years 1889 and 1890. The largest of all these associations is the Chambre syndicate des Dili- tants de Vins du department de la Seim, including 7,467 members. It was founded in 1877 and has a number of subsidiary institutions, e.g., an analytical labora- tory, medical and legal officers ( service medical, service de contentieuic) , conferences, library, labour agency or registry office, besides publishing a year-book and a newspaper, the Bulletin Commercial.” Next in size comes the Syndicat des Meuniers de France with 3,348 members. It was founded in 1886 and maintains a fund for mutual insurance against fire, legal officers, a registry office for mill employes and a library, besides publishing a year-book and a weekly and a monthly journal. The Chambre Sijndicale de la Boucherie de Paris enrolls 2,800 members. It was founded in 1868 and possesses several institutions. The Chambre Syndicate de la Boulangerie de Paris, which has 1,417 members and funds, laboratory, library, &c., is one of the oldest of all these syndicates, dating from 1801. Still older, how- ever, are the Communaute des Marchands de Bois a. ceuvrer (with 60 members) founded in 1498, and the Chambre Syndicate des Marchands de Bois u briiler, founded in 1549. These two societies, which were origin- ally founded by royal decrees (o rdonnance) never ceased to exist and were re-organised as syndical cham- bers in accordance with the law of 1884.(‘) The largest of the employers’ syndicates formed within the last few years is the Chambre Syndicate des Laitiers-nourisseurs (dairymen), founded in 1890 and now enrolling 800 members. Marseilles has now 59 employers’ syndicates, and of these 45 have been formed during or since 1884. None of them approach in size to the larger Paris syndicates . The largest is the Association des Artistes Marseillais, with 350 members. It possesses a provident or relief fund and was founded in 1888. Lyons has 54 of these syndicates. The most im- portant seems to be the Bakers’ Syndicate, founded 1882. It has 600 members whom it assists with legal advice, and it publishes a “ Courrier du Commerce” and a year book. The Chambre Syndicate des entre- preneurs de Travaux de Bdtiment (builders), founded 1863, has 380 members and gives legal advice. The Association de la Fabrique Lyonnaise (makers of woven fabrics) has 205 members and a benefit fund, and gives legal assistance. Bordeaux has 42 employers’ associations. The largest, the Association des Hoteliers Restaurateurs et Cafetiers has 285 members and supports a mutual aid fund. It also gives legal advice and provides a registry office. When the Annuaire des Syndicats Professionels is consulted from the point of view of the trades it soon becomes manifest that the employers’ syndical move- ment has advanced comparatively but a little way in the great manufacturing industries. There are no .great mining associations like those in England, and comparatively few associations in the cotton, woollen, and silk industries. A good many associations are registered under the somewhat general description of metallurgists.) 2 ) At Lyons, Lille, and Charleville, con- siderable syndicates of this description are to be found. Prominent amongst associations in the iron trade is the Comite des Forges de France, founded in 1888 and with 82 members registered. The president is the Baron Reille and the vice-president the Baron de Nervo. This society founded, early in 1891, a mutual insurance fund, against accidents, which represents more than 40,000 workmen and 50 million francs in yearly wages.) 3 ) In the building trade other syndical chambers, the master masons of the Seine department, with 495 mem- bers, founded in 1809, and the master plumbers with 140 members, founded in 1817, have similar important funds. The last is distinguished besides by a board of arbitration. (■) Annuaire des Synd. Prof., p. 221. ( 2 ) The term niHallurgistes, which lias been translated metal workers in the Belgian Report (Vol. IV.), appears by the classification in the Statistique des Graves, 1892, to correspond more nearly to engineers ; hut in the year book of syndicates it might apply to both engineers and to metal workers.— G. D. ( 3 ) Annuaire des Synd. Prof., p. 237. “ La Reforme Sociale,” Vol. xxiii., p. 220. (1.) Paris. Syndical chamber of wine deal- ers. Syndicate of millers. Syndical chamber of butchers. Two ancient foundations. (2.) Mai- seilles. (3.) Lyons. (4.) Bor- deaux. (iii.) Dis- tribution by trades. Metallur- gistes. Building trade. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 21 Chemical, clothinK.and other trades. (i.) Position and mem- bership of the work- men’s syn- dicates. (ii)lAttitude of the working men in France to the syndi- cates. The chemical and clothing trades are represented by a good many syndicates, especially the latter. In the former the largest is the Ghambre Syndicate des Produits chimiques, Paris, with 246 members, founded in 1860. It is among the ordinary retail tradesmen, however, the bakers, the grocers, the butchers, and the wine-merchants, that the syndical movement has ex- tended most widely so far as employers are concerned. Mention of the important syndicate of brewers of the North of Prance, with 580 members and founded in 1889 at Lille, should not be omitted. (0.) Workmen's Syndicates. In a report of a sub-commission of the Higher Council of Labour, prepared in 1891, it is mentioned with regret that workmen’s syndicates are only very slowly organised. “ There are many workers who are “ not yet organised ( syndiques ) and cannot profit from “ the advantages of the law of 1884, This law so “ excellent from every point of view has not yet “ yielded all the results that were looked for . “ Prejudices, often unjust, exist against certain of the “ syndicates, and in six years their progress has not “ been such as might have been hoped for. ’’(‘I Examination of the introductory tables in the Annua ire des Syndicate Professionals shows, neverthe- less, that there is a steady, even if slow, growth of these organisations. The number of workmen’s syndicates in 1891 (July 1st) was 1,250 as against 1,589 in 1892 (July 1st) showing an increase in number of 339 syndicates. The increase in numbers of syndicated workmen, shown at the same time, was 83,618 or 288,770 in 1892 as against 205,152 in 1891. Thus, not only had the number of syndicates increased, but at the same time the average size of the syndicates had slightly in- creased, from rather oyer 164 members to rather over 181 members. Comparison of the tables showing numbers of syndicates with those showing numbers of syndicated workmen, brings out, a curious ebb and How in the relations of the series. It will be sufficient to illustrate this by taking several of the most important industrial departments and combining them in the following table : — Table YI. Departments. July 1891. July 1892. (Syndicates. Members. Syndicates. Members. Ardennes - 57 9,352 83 16,331 Bouches-du-Rhone 87 11,887 89 12,301 Gironde - 73 7,348 88 9,588 Loire - 77 20,032 88 12,089 Nord 63 15,332 84 26,010 Pas de-Culais 19 18,916 20 28,045 Rh6ne 125 17,418 155 25,160 Seine - 172 58,514 217 89,458 The question arises, how is it that in the Loire de- partment, for example, with a considerable increase in number of syndicates the numbers of organised workers have so strikingly decreased, while in the Pas-de-Calais district, where only one new syndicate has arisen, the membership of the existing syndicates is consider- able. The cause may be local or connected with trade disputes, or may bo determined by fluctuations in the more important trades of the districts. ( 2 ) No doubt, everywhere in France the readiness of the workmen in general to join such organisations is not equal to the readiness of their more active leaders to form them. “ Either French workmen in the mass are “ generally sceptical as to the practical personal ad- “ vantages to be obtained by such associations or “ ' ' individualism ... is still very strong “ m French nature, and disinclines a good workman “ in times of prosperity to restrict his freedom of “ action by obligations which though, perhaps, con- “ ducive towards raising the wages of his neighbour, “ may for all he knows sensibly lower his own . . . “ Many employers to whom it is essential to get work Conseil SupOrieur du Travail. Premitre Session, 1891, p. 49. On this point the Statistique de Groves (p. 103) throws no light. “ punctually done, have been quick to observe such “ hesitation on the part of their best workmen, and “ have succeeded in preventing them from joining “ unions by the encouragement they have given to “ personal energy . . . Were bad times to come “ and steady workmen as well as bad ones to be thrown “ out of employment, it is more than likely that the “ numbers would soon rapidly swell, for although still “ shy of combination in practice the majority may be “ said to have been thoroughly won over to it as a “ theory. ”( 3 ) The case of the growth of the miner s’ organisation at Carmaux shows, however, that a very rapid development of a syndicate may take place without the condition above referred to, and even under circumstances of great in- dustrial prosperity.( 4 ) There is very little doubt, however, as Mr. Stephen points out, that the system of syndicates, spread over every important industrial district is one into which the labour forces of the country could very rapidly be drafted, and that the attitude of the unsyndicated majority towards it is rather one of observation than opposition. ( :> ) There is no doubt as to the apprehension existing in the minds of most em- ployers and amongst certain schools of economists (notably the school of Le Play represented by La Reforme Sociale, as to the possible developments of labour organisations. An economist of the type of M. Claudio Jannet would, however, probably challenge the conclusion drawn by Mr. Stephen that the activity shown by so many employers in promoting the welfare and interests of their workmen is due mainly to such apprehensions, and would trace it rather to the tradi- tional and national spirit of 'patronage and bonhomie which he considers as firmly underlying the social relations of the employing to the industrial classes in France.) 0 ) The view of this writer is ihat while the foundation of society is better in France than in many other countries, “ the instability of the Government and “ the harassing strife of political parties are a constant “ cause of excitement for the masses,’’ and that the anarchist and collectivist leaders are not slow to take advantage of this fact. He holds that while many organisations have been formed under such leaders with hostile intent to the employers, it is important that no legislative obstacles should be put in the way of industrial association. He maintains in fact that greater freedom to associate and to hold and receive properties excepting land is required than at present exists, while at the same time full safeguarding of freedom to remain outside labour organisations is also necessary.)") The chief specified objects of workmen’s syndicates are (1) to obtain as high a rate of wages as possible for their members, (2) to help those who are out of work, (3) to actas registry offices or labour agencies and find employment for their members gratis. Out of the 1,589 workmen’s syndicates in 1892. only 176 had registered labour agencies. Friendly society benefits were rendered by 379 syndicates. Some syndicates give a daily allowance of from one franc to two francs to men out of work ; 70 societies in 1892 had regular out of work funds registered. Other syndicates assist members to migrate in search of em- ployment. It is the general custom to exclude foremen and overlookers from the workmen's syndicates. “All “ members who become heads of departments or over- “ lookers in workshops shall be considered as repre- “ sentatives of their employers, by reason of which “ they lose their right to be members of the Syndical “ Chamber.”)*) The entrance fees average about 1 “ franc, while monthly subscriptions generally range between 50 centimes and 1 franc. Often the syndicates have no regular president, while the committee of administration varies from 15 to 30 members.) 9 ) Taking the Annuaire des Syndicats from the point of view of organisation of workmen in the great centres of industry, we find interesting information as to the distribution of syndicates by towns. Paris curiously, is the centre of fewer workmen’s than employers’ syndicates, having 222 of the former as against 323 of the latter in July 1892. Thirteen work- ( 3 ) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, N o. 258, pp. vi.-vii. ( ') Ct. infra, p. 41. ( 5 ) There are four departments where no workmen’s syndicates exist. Cf. Ann. des Synd. Prof., p. xv. ( 6 ) French Catholics and the Social Question. Article by M. Claudio Jannet, in the Quarterly Journal of Economies, January 1893 pp„ 146-7. ( 7 ) Cf., also Etude sur les Syndicats. Glotin, pp. 424-5, and elsewhere. ( 8 ) See draft of articles of Association. Appendix B., p. 11 of F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258; also p. viii. of the same Report. ( ,J ) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 268, p. viii. C 3 (iii.) Atti* tude of the capital- ists to the syndicates. (iv.) Objeots of work- men’s syndicates. (v.) Dis- tribution of work- men’s syn- dicates, ly towns. (1.) Paris, 99 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Gas work- ers’ syndi- cate. Typographi- cal printers’ syndical chamber. Associations ot railway employes. (2.) Lyons. (3.) Mar- seilles. (4.) Bor- deaux. (5.) Tou- louse. men's syndicates were formed during the previous year. Of these the most important was the Syndicat des Travaillers de la Compagnie Parisienne d'eclairage et de Cliauffage par le gaz, which registers 6,200 members and has its central place of meeting at the Bourse du Travail. It is interesting to notice in this connection the recent innovation of the Company in according to all their employes a share of 2 per cent, in their profits, the share being divided according to numbers of days worked and not according to salaries earned.^) The oldest workmen’s syndicate of any size in Paris is the Chambre Syndicate Typographique, founded in 1839 with 2,500 members; it possesses a library, pub- lishes a newspaper and maintains a fund for mutual aid and a labour agency. In 1873 the working plumbers’ syndicate was formed and now has 1,319 members ; it also maintains a library and a bureau de placement, besides technical classes for its members. The largest syndicates are those of railway employes, viz. : (1.) The Chambre Syndicate des Ouvriers et Employes de Chemins de Fer frangais, founded in 1890, and now registering 15,000 members. It has its centre at the Labour Exchange. (2.) The Syndicat Professionnel des Employes de Chemins de Fer et des Industries Similaires, founded in 1884 and registering 7,000 members. This society maintains 50 district committees, gives legal aid and publishes a monthly newspaper. Other important syndicates are those of the employes of the General Omnibus and Tramways Companies, with 3,043 members, and the cab-drivers of the Seine department with 4,000 members, and a provident fund. The syndicate of mechanics, stokers and conductors of steam engines ( machines a vapeur), founded in 1885, includes 3,800 members and supports technical classes. There are two important syndicates for commercial travellers numbering 2,900 and 2,895 members re- spectively. There are several women’s syndicates, for example, the laundresses and two or three mixed (men and women), notably the Chambre Syndicate des Ou- vriers et Ouvrieres aux Tabacs, with 1,070 members. The special manufacturing interests of Lyons are well represented by the workmen’s syndicates, of which there are in all 126. The majority are of very moderate dimensions, however, though the following are of con- siderable importance : (a) Trade syndicate of velvet weavers, founded 1884, registering 2,500 members ; (4) Trade syndicate of weavers, founded 1884, registering 1,000 members ; (c) Guild ( corporation ) of foremen weavers, founded 1885, and registering 1,150 members and various institutions ; (d) Guild of employes in silk factories, founded 1886, registering 280 members ; (e) Syndical chamber of workwomen in the boot and shoe trade, founded 1888, registering 420 members ; (/) Syn- dical chamber of workmen in chemical workshops, founded 1891, and registering 420 members. Marseilles has 75 workmen’s syndicates. Of these the largest is the syndical chamber of workwomen in the tobacco factories, with 950 members. Other important syndicates are : (a) the Chambre Syndical des Employes d’ Hotels, Restau- rants, Sfc., with 511 members, and supporting various institutions ; (6) the Chambre Syndicate des Cochers et Conducteurs d'Omnibus de la Ville de Marseille, with 325 members ; (c) the Syndicate of Custom House Clerks, which has mutual aid and provident funds, conferences, a library, and a labour agency. Bordeaux registers 64 workmen’s syndicates. Of these may be mentioned especially (a) the Chambre Syndicate des Employes de Commerce (clerks and shop assistants), with 1,764 members, and supporting various funds, classes, &c. ; ( b ) the Association des Voyageurs et Representants de Commerce (commercial travellers), with 570 members and funds ; (c) the Union Syndicate des Marins du Commerce, with 203 members, funds, library, and agencies ; (d) the Chambre Syndicate des Employes des Tramways et Omnibus, with 565 members and a provident fund. Toulouse registers 58 workmen’s syndicates. Of these may be mentioned the Syndicat des Ouvriers et Ouvrieres aux Tabacs, with 1.200 members, and the Union Mitallurgique du Department de la Haute-Garonne with 250 members. St. Etienne registers 45 workmen’s syndicates. The largest of these are three miners’ syndicates, founded in 1876, 1888 and 1889, numbering 800, 400 and 234 members respectively. Nantes registers 24 workmen’s syndicates. The largest is the syndicate of workmen and workwomen in the tobacco trade with 904 members. Lille registers 25 workmen’s syndicates. Of these the Chambre Syndicate de V Industrie Textile with 1,200 members, and the Union Syndicate de la Metal lurgie with 1,800 members, should be mentioned. Looking at this subject from the point of view of distribution by trades, we find that the building trades include the greatest number of workmen’s organisations, which in all branches are 267. The largest are to be found in the big towns, as might be expected. The plumbers’ society in Paris numbers 1,317 members, the masons’ society and the carpenters’ society in Bordeaux number respectively 510 and 240 members. The only other trade societies of any size connected with building are to be found at Perigueux (Dordogne) with 500 members and Clermont-Ferrand ( Puy de Dome) with 470 members ; both include members representing various branches of the trade. Syndicates representing the clothing trades come next in point of number, amounting in all to 187. Angers, Lyons, Mont Lu^on, Nancy, Grenoble, are the chief centres. The largest is the Chambre Syndicate uuvriere de la Cordonnerie d’ Angers, with 900 mem- bers. The same branch of the trade is represented at Lyons by a syndicate of 420 workmen. The glove making industry i3 represented at Grenoble by the Association Syndicate des ouvrieres Gantieres de VIsere with 320 members. The textile trades with 160 syndicates are represented by very much larger societies. The majority are to be found in the Ardennes, Loire, Nord and Rhone depart- ments. Lyons (Rhone) shows the largest syndicates and the greatest number of them, among towns ; the most important being the Syndicat Professionnel des Tisseurs de Velours with 2,500 members. At Roubaix (Nord) the Chambre Syndicate Ouvriere Textile de Roubaix has 2,085 members; in the same department at Fourmies there is a similar syndicate with 2,000 workwomen enrolled. Thizy (Rhone) is the only other town containing a syndicate of the same size. Mixed unions of men and women exist in considerable numbers. The iron and steel trades are represented by 155 syndicates, the largest being at Hautmont (Nord), the Chambre Syndicate des Ouvriers Mitallurgistes et autres du Bassin de Maubeuge (founded 1890) with 2,501 mem- bers. Next in sike comes the Union Syndicate de la Miiallurgie de Lille et Environs (founded 1890) with 1,800 members. In the Ardennes there are thirty syndicates of workmen in metallurgy, the largest being the Asso- ciation Syndicate des Ouvriers Metallurgistes de Nouzon, (founded 1885) with 1,547 members. Lille has a Union Syndicate de la Metallurgie with 1,800 members. To the mining industry we must turn for the largest of all these associations in France. Lens is the centre of the Chambre Syndicate des Ouvriers Mineurs du Pas-de- Calais, founded in 1884, which now enrolls over 25,000 members. As the total mining population of France is 134,060 ( 2 ) and few of the miners’ organisations fall below 200 in number of members, and several rise above 1,000, the strength of association in this industry is considerable. For Sin le Noble (Nord) a miners’ syndicate numbering 2,000 is registered, and at Dorig- nies in the same department another with over 1,000 members. At Trelaze (Maine-et- Loire) the largest of the quarrymen’s syndicates is to be found, viz., Chambre Syndicate des Ouvriers Ardoisiers with 740 members. In the printing and allied trades classed in France as Industries du Livre, which include 150 workmen’s syndicates, the largest is the Chambre Syndicate Typographique Parisienne which was founded in 1839 and now registers 2,500 members; it supports funds, a library and a registry office. The second syndicate in point of size is also to be found in Paris with 685 members and various institutions. Other important typographical associations are at Lille (350 members), Lyons (240 members), Marseilles (185 members), Tou- louse (180 members). The tobacco trade is represented by 19 syndicates of considerable size. In Toulouse 1,200 operatives, men (6.) St. Etienne. (7.) Nantes. (8.) Lille. (vi.)Distri- 1 bution by trades : — (1.) Build- ing trades. ! (2.) Cloth- ing trades. (3.) Textile trades. (4.) Metal- ' lurgie trades. i (5.) Mining and quarry- ing indus- tries. (6.) Print- ing and allied trades. (7.) To- bacco trade. (’) Ct. “ La Reforme Sociale.” May 1st, 181)3, p. 720. ( 3 ) Statistique de l’lndustrie Mindrale, 1891, p. 69. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 23 (8.) Trans- port indus- tries. Oompara- l ive strength nf organi- sation. (i.) Work of joint or mixed syn- dicates. and women, are enrolled in one syndicate, in Chateau- roux (Indre department), 1,176, in Paris, 1,070, and in Morlaix (Finisterre), 1,015. Most of the other tobacco operatives’ syndicates enroll more lhan 500 members. The most important syndicates connected with trans- port industries have their centre in Paris and have already been referred to under that head. In addition to those may be mentioned the Chambre Syndicate professionnelle des Ouvriers et Employes des Chemins de Fer de Vagglovv ration de Tours with 650 members. The following table comparing the strength of organisation in some of the more important trades has been compiled from the pages of the Annuaire des Syndicats for 1892, from the Annuaire Statistique de la France , from the Yearbook of the Labour Exchange, Paris, and from figures supplied by Sir Joseph Crowe : — Table VII. Trade. Total Numbers of Employed. Members of registered Syndicates. 1. Engineering, ironworks and 99,446 36,069 foundries. 2. Textiles - 1,166,170 31,544 3. Ceramics and Glass - 56,500 5,546 4. Mining - 134,060 41,709 5. Gasworks - - 15,000 6,315 6. Tobacco - 20,000 12,000 4. — Joint or Mixed Syndicates. Another form of association, of which we have hardly any experience in the United Kingdom (') and from which in a great measure the solution of the labour question is expected by representatives of various parties and shades of opinion in France, has to be considered, although, as the curve on page 18 will show, the movement in this direction is slow compared with the rate of growth in other organisations. The scope and work of the Joint Syndicates ( Syndicats mixtes ) have not, in the opinion of Mr. Loomis, United States Consul at St. fitienne ( * 2 3 ) had “ exact justice ” done to them by Mr. Stephen. They offer, or are offered by their promoters as a practical stepping stone to those “ continuous relations “ between employers and employed ” which in the words of M. Gibon, a follower of Le Play, “ should “ have the effect of dispersing from among working “ men agitators, ringleaders, politicians, and revolm “ tionary socialists. ”( :i ) “ It is by this,” says M. Paul Ribot, “ that the social question will be solved, not “ by association pure and simple but by association “ between employers and employed under initiative “ of the directing classes ( patronage de la classe dirigeante) .( 4 ) As * a matter of fact the control of the movement is mainly, if not entirely, in the hands of the Catholics. ( 5 * ) It remains to be seen yet how far they will be able to meet or take effective hold of the socialist rank and file by this particular method. In the meantime they assert that they are convinced that so long as “ the actual particularism of syndicates con- tinues, it will be impossible to make them the “ instruments of trade organisation,” that no law can remedy the onesidedness of the actual syndical regime, and that ‘‘ corporate professional organisation, uniting “ the two factors of industry alone can confer on a “ syndicate the privilege of speaking in the name of a “ profession or representing it, even vis-a-vis with “ those which remain divided.” ( G ) These words are echoed under various forms through the pages of the Catholic organ from which they are quoted, and this was the view advocated by the Comte de Mun at an earlier stage of his career (') before he began to despair of reorganisation of the old corporate form of industry, (*) The “ Fr»e Labour ” Associations of Southampton and Plymouth, arid the Joint Committees and Wages Boards in the Coal and Iron Trades, so different in working and origin, are the only groups to which we can turn for comparison. ( 2 ) Consular Reports on Commerce. Manufactures, &c.. No. 148, p. 9. (3) “ La Rdforme Sociale.” May 1st and 10th, 1893. “ Des conditions de THarmonie dans l’lndustrie.” A. Gibon, cf. also succeeding article (May 16) on “ La Liberty d’ Association.” (*) Du Role sociale des Iddes Chretiennes. Paul Ribot, Paris. E. Plon, 1879. p. 909. ( 5 ) Cf. Papacy, Socialism, and Democracy. A. Leroy Beaulieu, Chapman and Hall, 1892. Chaps, xiii., xiv. («) L’ Association Catholique. May 1893. p. 190. ( 7 i Cf- Discours Politiques, Comte de Mun. I. Socialismo Cattolico, F. Nitti, ch. 10. and turned his thoughts definitely in the direction of State socialism or extended State interference to regulate industry. The difficulties attendant on formation of these joint syndicates are sympathetically pointed out by M. Glotin in his study already referred to.( 8 ) He recognises all the advantages which might be secured by this form of association, but is obliged to confess that the difficulties are many as soon as the system is attempted in practice. First, it is rare to find employers and employed who both wish to unite in association ; secondly, when a syndicate is established the constitu- tion is complicated in a democratic country by the fact that the employed are more numerous than the employ- ers. The complications can only be surmounted when the ends to be attained by such institutions, namely, harmony and mutual understanding, are already achieved. Certain writers, for example M. Jannet,( 9 ) M. Hyvernat,( 10 ) and M. Gibon, in the article above quoted, hold that such difficulties might be practically met by the institution of collective properties, under a more enlightened law of association than at present rules in France. “ Unfortunately in France, liberty of “ association only exists subject to great restrictions. “ . The formation of mutual associations between “ employers and workmen presupposes full liberty of “ association and perfect freedom in instituting per- “ petual collective properties devoted to the public “ welfare. The laws of the United States are in this “ respect the ideal of the French Catholics; and when “ a turn in affairs puts them in power they will “ endeavour to introduce such laws in their own “ country.”( u ) This writer holds that such mixed organisations As the Union Co-operative de la Fabrique Lyonnaise, which is composed of weavers, clerks, and manufacturers, if truly voluntary and endowed with unrestricted right of receiving legacies, would become a valuable element of social stability. He would no doubt strongly contest the view suggested as to the ulterior motives of the promoters of these mixed asso- ciations, by Mr. Condie Stephen, who says : “ The two “ extreme political parties in France .... are “ equally straining every muscle to weld the wage “ earners into formidable battalions. Perhaps the “ distinction between the policy of the two may be “ described by saying that while one is endeavouring “ to convert by holding out prospects of an order that “ may never be realised, the other is seeking to enroll “ recruits by a system of patronage and privilege of “ which the ordinary workman is quite prepared “ occasionally to avail himself without necessarily “ being converted to the doctrines preached. ”( 12 ) Mr. Stephen sees under ihe surface of this phase of the movement of Catholic socialism a marked though “ skilfully veiled reactionary tendency',” which is based upon “ hierarchical ideas and prejudices. ”( 13 ) The slight sketch of these Catholic syndicates given by Mr. Stephen certainly suggests the doubt that they can ever serve to furnish that free school for training in self-government among working men which to an Englishman seems the matter of paramount value and importance in association. The view, however, of the real meaning for France of the “ institutions patronales” and the “evolution du patronage,” which is insisted upon by many writers in “ La Reforme Sociale,” as well as by M. Le Play himself, coincides in all important respects with that presented of them by M. Jannet, and it is these institutions which, according to the various promoters of them, must form the solid basis of the joint associations. ( H ) A model for the rules of such a syndicate recently published t 15 ) provides for the administration by a council, which is to be composed of four employers, four subordinate officials, four workmen, elected by a majority of votes in a general assembly ; the council is to choose a bureau or committee, which is to be re-elected by them annually. It is formed of a president (an employer) and three vice-presidents (an employer, an official, and a workman), a secretary and a ( 8 ) “ Etude Historique, &c., sur lesSyndicats Professionals. Part vi., cli 2 (9) '“ French Catholics and the Social Question,” Quarterly Journal of Economics. January 1893. (10) “Organisation de 1 Agglomeration Ouvriore. L Association Catholique. May 15, 1893. . „ ( 11 ) Article in the “Quarterly Journal of Economics quoted, pp. 151-9., cf. also “ Papacy, Socialism, and Democracy,” p. 199-207. ( 12 ) " F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. xiii. (is) j) 0 . do. do. p. xiv. (i->) Cf. infra, pp. 52-3 ( 15 ) “ L’Association Catholique.” February 1893, p. 191. C 4 (ii.)RelatioT to Catholic socialism. (iii.) Model for rules of a joint syn- dicate. 24 ROVAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : treasurer. The council is to meet once in three months, “ decide upon admission and exclusion of members. “ settle the budget, verify the accounts, decide on the “ application of subscriptions and funds of the associa- “ tion ; attend to the execution of the statutes and “ decisions of the association; look after its financial, “ trade, and provident institutions.” The council is permitted to call in the assistance of a consulting com- mittee, which may be formed of persons outside the association. There is to be an arbitration board, formed of two members of the council, one an employer and the other a workman, and one member of the consulting committee, who is to preside. (') It is an instance of the sometimes elastic application of the law of 1884 that many of these associations are regis- tered under the name of some saint, and in their statutes enjoin on their members abstinence from work on Sunday (le repos dominical) and attendance at an (•) Cf. " L’Association Catholique,” February 1893, p. 160. annual mass for the repose of deceased members. The law bad specially declared that religion as well as politics should be excluded from the syndicates. ( 2 ) It seems worth while, in view of the special preten- (iv.) sta- sions put forward on behalf of the mixed syndicates, to ramtn»°oint give as complete a view as possible of their practical syndicates? achievements. The subjoined tables are drawn from the latest official register of them. It will be seen that the largest is a women’s syndicate in a branch of the textile trades at Lyons, with 1,400 members. Next comes the carders, spinners, and weavers’ syndicate at ltoubaix with 1,346 members. The majority are of insignificant size, and not more than 144 syndicates in all, with a membership of 18,742 are to be found as yet in France. ( 2 ) The “ (Euvre des Cercles” has lately endeavoured to promote forma- tion of “ honorary committees composed of men of the higher classes outside the trades, whose duty it w ould be to act as arbitrators between members of the syndicate.” “ Papacy, Socialism, and Democracy.* p. 182 . Table YIII. Mixed Syndicates. Trade. Town. Department. No. of Members. Date of Foundation. 1. Builders _ • Chateau Thierry Aisne 93 1891 2. Horticulturists - Moulius - - Allier - - 68 1890 3. Clothiers - if - - - - 15 1890 4. Builders - - if - - - - 30 1890 5. Retail stores - ,, - - - - 18 1890 6. Cabmen - Vichy - - - - - 40 1890 7. ,, - Mentone - - Alpes Maritimes - - 49 1891 8. Metallurgists - - Cons la Granville - - Ardennes - - - 51 1891 9. Iron trade - Thilay - - ,, - - 83 1892 10. Hosiery Troyes - - Aube - - 60 1887 1 1 . Building - Carcassone - - Aude - - 73 1888 12. Clothing „ - ft - - 160 1888 13. - ,, - - - - 43 1889 14. „ - Marseilles - - Bouches du Rhone - - 15 1888 15. Mechanics, blacksmiths, &c. - - - - 18 1888 16. Chemicals ,, - - - - 30 1888 17. Weavers - - - - 20 1888 18. Builders - - - - M - - 82 1888 19. Journalists - - - - - 11 1890 20. Builders - - - - - 115 1891 21. Mariners - - - - 200 1892 22. Fishers - Martigues - - JJ - - 50 1889 23. Gardeners - - Caen - - Calvados - - 32 1889 24. Corn Trade - - - - - 6 18P0 25. Carriers - - - - - 6 1890 26. Horticulture - Honfleur - - - - - 120 1891 27. Brandy trade - - Cognac - - Charente - - 650 1890 •28. Newspaper vendors - - Dijon - - Cote d’Or - - 8 1885 29. Builders ~ Sarlat - - Dordogne - - 23 1890 30. - Besamjon - - Doubs - - 40 1891 31. Cahdrivers - if - - „ - - 50 1891 32. Horticulture - Pont Audemer - - - Eure - - - 36 1888 33. Sailors (coasting) - Blaye - - Gironde - - 107 1890 34. Jewellers - Bordeaux - - - - 70 1884 35. Shoemakers - - - - - 130 1887 36. Restaurateurs - „ - - - 412 1889 37. Fishers - - Sainte Terre - - - - 130 1881 38. Fishers and sailors - - Cette - - Herault - - - 66 1881 39. Builders - Rennes - - Ille et Vilaine - - - 550 1887 40. Metallurgy - » - - ft - 100 1887 41. Leather - - - - - - 75 1887 42. Gardeners - - - - - 68 1888 43. Book trade - - - - 70 1889 44. Basket makers - - - - 27 1890 45. Restaurateurs - - - - - 75 1891 46. - Tours - Indre et Loire - - 23 1887 47. Musical instruments - - Grenoble - Isere - - 30 1888 48. Shoemakers - - Blois - - - Loir et Cher - - - 40 1885 49. Watchmakers, &c. - - St. Etienne - - - Loire - - 35 1890 50. Cabinet makers - Nantes - _ Loire Inferieure - - 102 1883 51. Gardeners - - - - _ 115 1885 52. Restaurateurs - - - - - - 100 188G 53. Commercial travellers - - - - - - 26 1890 54. Builders - Orleans - Loiret - - 60 1887 55. Wine and vinegar - - - - - 48 1889 56. Builders - - Agen - - Lot et Garonne - - - 12 1885 57. Joiners - Angers - - Maine et Loire - - 117 1880 58. Textiles - - - - - 98 1886 59. Gardeners - , _ - 78 188C 60. Shoemakers • - - ?> - 31 1887 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE, 25 Trade. Town. Department. No. of Members. Date of Foundation. 61. Builders Angers Maine et Noire 75 1887 62. Metallurgy - - - 11 - - 63 1887 63. Tailors and drapers - - . - - - 13 1888 64. Horticulture, &c. - Doue la Fontaine - - 11 - 700 1887 65. Builders - Ingrandes - 11 - - 7 1890 66. Purveyors - - - - 7 1890 67. Clothiers - - - - - - - 12 1890 68. Gardeners - Saumur - - _ o 1890 69. Builders - - - - 6 1890 70. Stationers - - 5 1890 71. Ironmongers - - - - - 12 1890 72. Purveyors - - n - - 11 - 30 1890 73. Drapers - ,, - - - 47 1890 74. Purveyors - Segre - - 11 - - 14 1889 75. Builders - - - _ _ - _ 26 1889 76. Clothiers - - - _ _ _ 14 1889 77. Book trade - _ _ - - - _ 3 1889 78. Builders - Rheims - - Marne - 91 1889 79. Metallurgy - Laval - - Mayenne - - 69 1888 80. Gardeners - - - - _ 78 1888 81. Dressmakers - - - - _ 265 1890 82. Metallurgy - - Cousances aux forges - - Meuse - 50 1888 83. Weavers - Armentieres - Nord - C 1 ) 1892 84. Iron workers - Berlamont - _ ■_ 18 1885 85. Shipping - - Conde sur l’Escaut - _ - - 150 1861 86. Sailors - Dunkirk _ - _ 131 1891 87. Worsted - Fourmies _ _ - _ 380 1889 88. Shoemakers - Lille - _ - - _ 60 1885 89. Cotton - - _ - - 950 1886 90. Metal workers - - - _ - _ 120 1886 91. Joiners and carpenters _ 11 - 49 1889 92. Carding, spinning, and dyeing - Roubaix - - ,, - - 1,346 1889 93. Newsvendors - - _ 11 - - _ 38 1890 94. Worsted - Tourcoing _ _ _ 150 1887 95. Combing, spinning, &c. - - 11 - 1,101 1889 96. Printing - - St. Just en Chaussee - - Oise - - 12 1891 97. Lace making - - Alengon - _ Orne _ 21 1887 98. Builders - Clermont Ferrand - _ Puy de Dome - - 6 1890 99. Horticulturists - - Pau _ Pyrenees (Basses) - - 41 1885 100. Builders - _ _ ■t - 52 1886 101. Salters - - Collioure _ _ Pyrenees Orientates _ _ 15 1886 102. Weavers - Lyons _ Rhone _ 630 1877 103. Trimmings - - - _ _ 82 1884 104. Weavers - _ _ - 65 1888 105. Builders - _ _ _ _ 260 1888 106. Plaiters ( :t Bouillionneu- ses ” ) ( 2 ) - - - 11 - 1,400 1892 107. Builders - Thonons - - Savoie (Haute) - 80 1889 108. Painters and decorators - Paris - _ _ Seine _ - 60 1877 109. Horticulturists - _ _ _ 1,000 1880 110. Lithographers - 11 _ _ . _ 26 1880 111. Teachers - - _ _ _ _ 200 1884 112. Statuary - ,, _ _ 45 1885 113. Jewellers - _ _ _ 12 1885 114. Church servants - _ _ _ 180 1886 115. Restaurateurs - - _ - _ 500 1887 116. Jockeys - - _ _ _ 500 1887 117. Teachers - _ _ _ _ (*) 1888 118. Moulders and cutters - _ _ (>) 1888 119. Basket makers - _ _ _ 207 1888 120. Restaurateurs - - _ _ _ _ 50 1888 121. Voluntary schools - - - _ _ 550 1889 122. Cabdrivers - - _ _ 180 1890 123. Mechanics - - _ _ _ _ 50 1890 124. Bakers - _ _ 42 1891 125. Restaurateurs - - - _ _ _ 40 1891 126. Furniture - ,, _ _ _ _ 20 1891 127. Book - 11 _ _ 20 1891 128. Purveyors - - _ _ 20 1891 129. Teachers - - _ _ _ 10 1892 130. Clothiers - ,, _ _ _ _ 145 1892 131. Textiles - - Elboouf - _ Seine Inferieure - _ _ 40 1889 132. Cabdrivers - - Le Havre _ - 88 1889 133. „ - Versailles - _ Seine et Oise - 28 1892 134. Textiles - Amiens - _ Somme - _ _ 20 1890 135. Cabdrivers - Toulon _ Var - 25 1885 136. Builders - Poitiers _ _ Vienne _ _ 120 1886 137. Horticulturists - - _ _ _ _ | 120 1886 138. Clothing - _ _ 30 1887 139. Milliners and dressmakers Limoges - _ Vienne (Haute) - - - 160 1889 140. Builders - - - _ _ 200 1890 141. Porcelain - 9f - - _ _ 70 1891 142. Purveyors - - _ _ _ _ 60 1891 143. Furnishers - _ _ _ _ 40 1891 144. Dressmakers - „ - „ - - 50 1891 18,742 (') Numbers not recorded. C 2 ) Bouillon, " Certains gros pi in ronds qu’on fait a quelques 6toffes pour la parure et l’ornement. Dictionnaire de l’Acad6mie.” U 78419. j) 2G ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : (i.) Progress and charac- ter of agri- cultural syndicates. General aims. Model for articles of association. Changes noticed by M. Haute- feuille. 15.) Agricultural Syndicates. Of the regular agricultural syndicates, which M. Kergall, founder of the Societe des Agricultewrs de France , (*) contrasts as syndicate de paix with the syndicats de guerre of the ordinary industrial type, there were registered on July 2nd, 1892, 863, with 313,800 members. This is in a country with over two and a half million proprietors, and over two and two-third millions field-workers or day labourers. It seems a small proportion, but, when one considers the care with which the syndicate select members, and that they only admit them upon presentation and after inquiry, it is never- theless important.( 2 ) Reference to the curves in the table of the movement of syndicates given on page 18, will show that the formation of this class of industry has been most rapid from 1885-1888, and again since 1890. Of the four kinds of syndicates these “ may be said to have rendered “ the most practical service to their members. ”( :l ) Their aims in general are of the sober, thrifty character that all parties agree in attributing to the mass of the rural democracy. “ In the use that they make of association “ the agriculturists are at the head of the social “ movement . . . Where the industrial labourer, follow- “ ing the example from Germany,” speaks of “ war between classes,” the countryman responds “ union of classes.” “ In the agricultural syndicates one sees the proprietor side by side with the farmer,” and at timos “ the master beside the workman.” As yet, however, even when the articles of association provide for admission of the labourer very few have availed themselves of the privilege. In some cases separate associations are being formed by the day labourers, notably among the wood cutters at Morvan.( 4 ) Sub- scriptions vary from 1 franc to 5 francs a year. A number of typical rules and regulations may be consulted in the Annuaire des Syndicats Agricoles.(’) The objects which they generally propose arc : to unite their members in the procuring of the raw material of agriculture {e.g., manure, salt grain, &c.) at the least cost ; to sunpress as far as possible fraud in the sale of grains and manures ; to support and encour- age technical education suitable to the particular locality or district in which the syndicate lies ;( G ) to pro- mote harmony in the relations of the members with each other ;( 7 ) to take every opportunity to impress upon the government, central and local, the needs and claims of agriculture ; “to attend to and assist as far as possible “ to solve, by the light of their experience, such agri- “ cultural questions as may be brought before them “ by members ... to conciliate in matters of dispute ; “ to furnish lists of experts or arbitrators to tribunals ; “ . . . and to give unity to the rules and usages preva- “ lent in various parts of the department which affect “ the relations between proprietors, farmers, domestics, “ day labourers, herdsmen, &c.”( M ) The model for articles of association adopted by the Societe des Agriculteurs de France shows the tendency to widen the basis of these syndicates, under the second, section relating to “ composition.” This provides that the following may become members : (1) Proprietors, including those who sublet to farmers or metayers. (2) The said farmers or metayers with (3) their servants and workpeople, and (4) generally all residents in the neighbourhood who exercise a trade or profession allied to agriculture. ( 9 ) The Annuaire quoted is prefaced by the following remarks as to the movement of the syndicates. “ One “ hundred and fifty new syndicates have been formed “ (during 1892). Their total is about 1,100. It is in “ the new associations that the greatest activity is to “ be found .... (but) nearly all the syndicates “ are surer and more regular in their action in all that “ concerns purchases .... The talk in the press “ and reunions which has found its echo in Parliament “ and official councils has attracted the lively atfcen- “ tion of a great number of the syndicates .... “ Many seek to organise agricultural credit indepen- “ dently. .... Some .... have success- (') Almanack de la Democratic Rural. 1893. Part 2, p. 15. ( 2 ) “ La Rdforme Sociale.” Vol. xxiii., p. 357- ( 3 ) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No 258 ; Part 2, p. v. ( 4 ) Cf. " L’Association Catholique,” January 1SS3, p. ( 5 ) By M. Hauteteuille, Paris, 177, Rue Vaugirard, 1893. Published under the encouragement of the Minister of Agriculture. Cf., pp. 5-93. ( 6 ) lb., Syndicat des Agriculteurers des Ardennes, p. 10. (') lb., Syndicat Rrofessionnel des Vignerons Aveyron. p. 13. ( s ) lb., Syndicat Libre des Agriculteurs du P6rigord, Part 2, p. 28. ( 9 ) lb,. Formulaire adopts par la Societe des Agriculteurs de France. Part 2, p. 5. “ fully formed insurance funds against hail or loss of “ cattle. The general tendency is to come out of the “ old grooves, and to seek to render new services.” The table at the end of the Annuaire of M. Haute- feuille shows that 93 syndicates have instituted boards of conciliation or arbitration. By way of illustration the following may bo specified : — (1.) The Syndicat agricole Saint- Michel at Pon- tiacq-Vielle-pinte in the Basses Pyrenees (87 members) which was established between proprie- tors, farmers, and workmen, February 1888, and which is affiliated with the Union des Syndicats Agricoles de France; its members subscribe 5 francs a year, and it has a reserve fund of 1,000 francs acquired by gifts. It has a “ bureau of con- “ ciliation for settling by arbitration differences “ arising among associated members.” ( 10 ) (2.) The Syndicat regional agricole du Morvan et de VAuxois at Sanlieu in the Cote-d'or depart- ment which was established among “ employ - “ ers, stewards, workmen, and persons of allied “ trades ” in June 1886 (359 members). This syndicate is affiliated to the same union as the above. Among its objects it mentions that of ‘ ‘ furnishing arbitrators and experts for the solution “ of disputed questions between members. ”( n ) (3.) Syndicat regional agricole des cantons N.E. de la Loz'ere, &c.,” which was established among proprietors, farmers, and workmen in Novem- ber 1887, and is also affiliated to the Union des Syndicats agricoles de France. “ Beyond its con- “ sultative function it inquires into contentious “ matters brought before it by its members; and “ may name three arbitrators to study them, and, “ upon their report, attempts conciliation or “ pronounces sentence, which is without appeal ; “ the person who refuses to abide by it will be “ excluded from the society.” The departments in which the largest number of agricultural syndicates were to be found on July 1st, 1892, are : Cotes d’Or (38), Yonne (37), Isere (29), while those having the largest totals of enrolled members are: Chareutc-Inferieure (17,323), Vienne (13,256), Sarthe(‘ 2 ) (13,077). The largest of the syndicates included in these departments, and one of the most remarkable to be fouud in France is the Syndicat des Agriculteurs du dipartement de la Gharente-lufrricwre &t Saintes. It was founded in 1886, and has, owing to the practical character of its aims, bad a rapid and brilliant develop- ment and now enrolls 12,500 members. The specified objects are : — I . Purchase of raw materials ; 2. Es- tablishment of shops and stores where the small agriculturist may find necessary provisions at the lowest price ; 3. Organisation of classes and technical instruction ; 4. Development of culture of the vine ; 5. Use of improved instruments. It may be taken as typical of the most successful syndicates. In 1887, urged on by the growing importance of the divers claims made upon its energies, the council voted the formation of a Productive and Consumers’ Society with a separate capital which should discharge the purely commercial part of the affairs of the syndicate. This was formed in September 1888, and is steadily growing in prosperity. Statistics given in M. Hautefeuille’s year- book^ 11 ) shows that the members of this society effect a saving of 25 per cent, in their purchases of ordinary objects of consumpt ion. ( N 1 In 1890, the governing body or council of the syndicate voted a provision for the exclusive services of a professor of agriculture ; the establishment of laboratories and fields for experiments in all localities ; the foundation of an orphanage which should serve as a model farm and also as a house of retirement for aged members of the association. The funds of this syndicate come from subscriptions, gifts, bequests, and special levies. The bulk of the members are small proprietors. The honorary presi- dent is M. le Marquis de Dampierre (president of the Society of Agriculturists of France), and the presi- dent is M. Guillet Theodor, general councillor at Saintes. (ii.) Arbitra- tion and conciliation. ■v “ Syndicat des Agricul- teurs du dd- a parteraent de la Charente- Inferieure.” I ‘ (iii.) Co- operative production and con- sumption. * ( 10 ) Annuaire des Syndicats Agricoles, p. 787. (U) Do. do. p. 240. ( ls ) Ann. des Synd. Prof., 1892. Tables xxxiv., and £f. ( 13 ) pp. 164-5. p 4 ) Cf., also Etude Historique of M. Glotin, pp. 44t5— 7. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 27 I mportance of co-opera- tion for the agricultural syndicates. (i.) Legal position. (ii.) Classes of federa- tions or groups of syndicates. The formation of co-operative societies for the profit of members of the syndicates forms a distinct stage in the agricultural movement. “ One ought not to “ overlook the fact that this co-operative movement “ inaugurated by the initiative of the syndicates has within it the seeds of a complete transformation of “ industry, and it is not the least interesting fact “ about the syndicates. ”(') A vigorous campaign was carried on against the formation of the co-operative societies by the middlemen (intermediares , courtiers , et commissionaires ) who felt their interests at stake. The power, however, to start the co-operative societies was accorded by the circular of M. Waldeck Rousseau, dated August 25, 1884. This was interpreted and confirmed by a letter of M. Pierre le Grand, Minister of Commerce, May 27th, 1888, written in reply to complaints of Chambers of Commerce against the action of the syndicates. This administrative interpre- tation received further judicial sanction in a decision of the Court of Tours, March 26th, 1889. “ Theagricul- “ tural syndicate which deals directly with the manufac- “ turer with the aim of obtaining the raw materials ‘ ‘ necessary for agriculture on the most favourable terms “ for its members, does not perform an ordinary business “ transaction.” The aim of the interpretation through- out was to extend, as far as possible, the spirit of tho law of 1884 in such a way as to allow the distinct interests and aims of the agriculturists to have free play. The middlemen did not abandon the struggle in spite of this last decision. New fighting ground was taken up and strenuous attempts were made to under- sell the associations, which in some cases proved only too successful. It was reserved for the syndicates in these districts to discover a little later that in yielding to the allurements of cheapness they had capitulated to the enemy. Together with the ruin of their society they had then to face the return of cxccssivo prices and the old abuse of adulteration. ( 2 ) Equal in importance with the co-operative services rendered by these syndicates to their members is the general education in all that concerns them as citizens “ The education of the small agriculturists is yet to be “ effected . . . accustomed so long to bend before the “ local authorities they hardly are aware of their power ” to call public attention to general questions touching their interests. But the education has begun, and success has followed on the initiative of syndicates in exercising the right ofpetitioning against the imposition of fiscal and other burdens. ( 3 ) Complete development of the system of agricultural unions has been compared to a pyramid in form, “ the lowest part represent those syndicates which “ ruled only by the divers interests of their own neigh- ‘ ‘ bourhood, determine for themselves their district and “ sphere of operation. They may be according to their “ circumstances communal, cantonal, or departmental. “ These, according to the nature of their products “ (cereals, vine pasturage, &c.) are grouped in district “ Unions, which have to watch over the general “ interests of that branch of agriculture “ These again are united in a central union placed “ under the auspices of the Society of Agriculturists. “ The unions which by the law of 1884 are without civil “ personality (la personnalite civile) guard the moral “ interests of the syndicates, record their resolutions “ and desires in fiscal and economic matters, and “ formulate them and bring them before the public “ authorities. ”( 4 ) The movement towards federating and forming unions of syndicates is actually developing as rapidly as might be expected from the remarkable and practical progress of the individual syndicates. The following are those enumerated by M. Hauiefeuille Table IN. Unions. Department. Date of Formation. Syndicate. Members. 1. Agriculturists of France Paris - - - March 3, 1886 - 460 400,000 2. „ of the South East Lyons - - - October 1888 68 40,000 3. Union of agricultural associations of the South East. - March 27, 1889 - — — 4. Beaujolais Union of Agricultural Syndi- cates. Villefranche May 30, 1888 4 5,000 5. Agriculturists of the South West Toulouse - - - - 12 — 6. June 10, 1889 10 — 7. „ „ Franche-Comte Besancjon ... July 8, 1889 — — 8. „ „ Cdte-d’or Dijon - - - April 1888 17 200 9. ,, „ Bourgogne and of Franche-Comte. ” - - - March 12, 1892 - — 10. „ ,, Dr6me Die July 17, 1887 22 6,200 11. „ „ Region of Ardeche - - 3 3,000 12. Central Union of Agriculturists and Viticulturists. Orleans - - - March 11, 1892 - 10 15,000 13. Agriculturists of Normandy Caen - - Marcli 10, 1892 14 — 14. Professional viticulturists of the West - Montaigne ... 1892 — — 15. Agriculturists of the North - Boulogne-sur-Mer - August 16, 1891 14 — 6. Federations and Unions of Syndicates. Under Article Y. of the- law of March 21st, 1884, trade syndicates regularly constituted may freely form unions (or federations) for the study and defence of their interests. They are obliged to register the names of the syndicates of which they are composed. They have no right to hold real estate, nor have they civil per- sonality.( 5 * ) This article was voted by the Senate by 134 votes against 127. It was held that “ since (the “ granting of) civil personality would disturb a large “ number of minds, and it was not considered necessary “ to the development of these unions,” it was best to “ give satisfaction to such apprehensions,” and‘‘towith- “ hold from them civil personality.” Thus in civil law {dans les actes de la vie civile) their capacity is only such as exists under Article 291 of the Penal Code, as in the case of literary, scientific, and other associations. ( fi ) These unions are of three classes, like the individual syndicates of which they are composed (patronales, ouvrieres, mixtes), and may be formed permanently or merely for a temporary object, e.g., for a strike or for a ( 1 ) “ L’Association Catholique,’’ January 1893. pp. 11-16. (-) “ La R6forme Sociale,” Vol. xxiii., pp. 356, and If. ( 3 ) Cf. cases quoted in “ L’ Association Catholique,” January 1893, pp. 3-5. >) “ La It (-forme Sociale,” \ol, xxiii., p. 303. 5 ) Nouvelle Loi Relative A la creation des Synd. Prof., M. Gudin de Pavilion, p. 37. (o) “ Etude Historique, &e.” M. Glotin, p. 319. See Appendix. congress. They are formed amongst State or railway employes, as freely as among other industrial workmen. So far as their capital, which is drawn from sub- scriptions, levies, or gifts, will permit, they can found institutions, such as libraries and museums, in the same way as the syndicates. (') The earliest attempts to form these unions were amongst employers, and the oldest of them now exist- ing are in Paris. The Groups des Syndicats reunis des Commerces de Bois was founded 1828, and includes three syndical chambers (cf. above p. 20). In the same centre is the Association Generate du Com- “ merce et de V Industrie des Tissus et des Matieres “ textiles,” founded 1848, and including six syndical chambers. The builders have also a group of 25 chambers there, established in 1859. The largest of all is a general Union of Trades, enrolling 97 chambers of all characters ; its first statutes were passed by the syndicate in 1866, revised at various dates and finally brought under the law in 1889. All the remaining Unions of Employers’ Syndicates (the total number being 24) are composed, in the same manner, of hetero- geneous trades. The oldest of the Workmen’s Unions or federa- tions is the Union Generate des Ghambres syndicates ( 7 ) Cf., together with volumes just quoted articles on Professional Syndicates in ^Block’s Dictionaire de [’Administration, and Leon Say’s Dictionaire d’Economie Politique. D 2 (iv.) Educa- tion by the agricul- tural syndi- cates. (v.) Deve- lopment of the federal movement. Employers unions or federations. Workmen’s federations. 28 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : {ouvrieres de Bordeaux et de la region, founded in 1872 now enrolling 28 chambers), and next- is the Union des Chambres Syndicates ouvrieres de France, 1880 (including 30 chambers). All the others, except one, have been formed since the law of 1884 was passed, and the majority in or since 1890. Several of them repre- sent the interests of a particular trade or group of trades, e.g., the Federation regionale corporative du Tissage, 1891 (40 syndical chambers), at Charlieu, in the Loire department, the Federation Frangaise des Iravailleurs du Livre, f. 1881 (88 syndical chambers and not less than 6,000 workers), and the Societe Generate des Ouvriers Chapeliers de France, f. 1884 (36 syndical chambers) ; both of these have their centre in Pal is. Mr. Stephen specially mentions the Federa- tion des Ouvriers et Ouvrieres des Manufactures des Tabacs de France, with its 20 syndical chambers, having its centre at the Labour Exchange of Paris. ('; No single trade is so highly organised as this, which is entirely controlled by the State in France. ( 2 ) It is, however, impossible to quote an exact official statement as to the number of non-associated employes since no reports are issued on State factories. The year-book of the Labour Exchange gives the numbers as 20,000 non-associated, 12,000 associated. The mixed unions are only eight in number and Mixed or small in size. The largest are at Saumur and Segre in l0ns the Maine- et-Loiro department, and these each enroll cates, five syndicates. All are general unions. The subjoined table, drawn from the details of the (iii.) Table Annuaire, gives a comparative survey of the three °^retfclass“s classes of unions. of federa- (') F. O. Keport. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258. pp. xiii., and 27. tlons ‘ The other detads are drawn from the Annuaire des Synd. Prof., and the Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail. Paris, 1892. ( 2 ) Tobacco industry, conditions of, cf. infra, p. 93. Table IXa. Showing Unions of Syndicates. (N.B. Those marked * are groups of a single trade with its branches. The other Unions are groups of many trades). Department. Aisne Allier - » Alpes Maritimes - Ardennes - Bouches-du-Rhone It Charente Cher Cdte-d’Or Dordogne - Doubs - Gironde Herault Indre et Loire Isere Loire - Loire Inferieure Loiret Lot Lot-et-Garonne Maine et Loire ft » if Marne Nord - Pas de Calais Puy-de-Dome Rhone ft ” ft ft ft y> Seine t> Seine Inferieure Seine-et-Marne Tarn - Var Vienne „ (Haute) - Totals - Town. No. of Employers’ No. of Syndicates No. of Mixed Syndicates of Employed or Joint enrolled. enrolled. enrolled. _ Aisonville-Bernoville - 2 - Montlugon - - — 5 Nice 4 - Charleville - _ _ 67 - Aix _ 5 _ - Marseilles - _ _ 4 50 3 - Chateauneuf _ 8 - Vierzon ... _ _ 3 - Dijon - _ 6 6 - Sarlat - _ _ 2 - Besangon - _ - — 8 — - Bordeaux - - - - - 9 28 — - ,, - _ 10 10 - Cette - _ _ 11 - Tours _ _ 11 - Vienne ... _ _ 3 - Charlieu - _ _ 40* - St. Etienne - _ 7* - Nantes _ _ 9* - _ _ 11 15 - St. Nazaire _ _ 4 - Orleans - - _ 18 8 - Cahors - - - _ _ 5 - Agen _ 8 __ - Cholet ... - * — 7* — - ff - _ _ 3* - Iugrandes - - — — 4 - Saumur - - _ — 5 - Segre - - - — — 5 - Rheims - _ _ 7 — — - Hautmont - _ _ 2 - Lille _ _ 6 - Boulogne-sur-Mer - - — 6 — - Calais . _ — 5 — - Clermonte-Ferrand _ — 4 — - Givors - _ — 4 - Lyons ... - - 16 63 — - - - 10 38 — - t> ~ - - — 19 — - . - — 3 — - Tarrare ... _ - — 4 — - Paris _ _ 3* 30 4 6* 88* — - - 25* 36* — 94 20* — - ft “ - _ 37 4 — _ ft 12 5 z _ f> 8 33 — 10 — — - ft - _ 6 « — — - Le Havre - _ _ 8 — — - Rouen - - 75 1 1 — — _ Melun . 4 - Graulhet - _ - — 4 - Toulon - - _ — 9 - Chatellerault - - — 5 — - Poitiers - - - — 2 — - Limoges - - - 3 — 3 - 79 unions of industrial syndicates 24 unions en- | 47 unions en- Eight unions en- of all classes. rolling 429 rolling 677 rolling 28 syndicates. 1 syndicates. syndicates. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 29 (i.) Meaning and aim of the labour exchanges. (ii.) Num- bers and relation to Die muni- cipalities. Of all these Federations or Unions that of the workers in the hook trade appears in every way as the most important. It includes the following classes of workers : — Compositors, correctors, conductors, mechanics, press-printers, founders, stereotypers, hinders, lithographers, Minervistes, stitchers, paper- makers, form setters, library employes, and others. The Federation publishes the journal La Typographic Francaise.) * 1 ) (7.) Labour Exchanges (Bourses du Travail). The meaning of; a labour exchange, according to the official statement of the executive committee of the Bourse du Travail in Paris, is that it should he the central point for union of the proletariate. Its practical aims should be “to facilitate employment of workers “ by bringing together supply and demand, to establish “ relations between groups of workmen, to inform “ them in case of strikes, to establish syndicates, to “ gather statistics as to association and the social “ question, and to care generally for the emancipa- “ tion of workers.”! 3 ) It is the special aim of the Paris Labour Exchange to permanently represent (while the congresses temporarily represent), and centralise all the provincial labour exchanges which have sprung up in its train. The congress of Labour Exchanges at Saint Etienne in 1892, issued a manifesto to workers in which it claimed to offer them a peculiar and inde- pendent power by which they might occupy the “ fore- “ most place in the* struggle for the conquest of the future,” and form a solid phalanx “ united by common interests, cemented by solidarity,” which should force the bourgeoisie, “ who had made a sport of past “ divisions and already counted on future divisions ’’ in the proletarian ranks, to take their place in the approaching “ inevitable social liquidation. ”( 3 ) In the same year the executive of the Paris Labour Exchange were “ happy to affirm ” that “ every day “ shows a forward movement of the labour exchanges, “ true schools of sincere socialists, who are freeing them- “ selves from the arbitrary despotism of the employers “ (patronat). ’'( 4 ) The leaders of the movement have not from the beginning attempted to conceal their militant spirit, though it has been more openly avowed as their power developed. They have certainly conceived a scheme for concentrating the industrial forces of the country which is potentially (i.e., if the working popula- tion only choose it), the furthest reaching instrument of revolutionary socialism ever devised. In fact, one may almost say that these institutions form the central point in any treatment of the labour question in France. Registers of the actual number of labour exchanges existing in France differ considerably. The Annuaire des Syndicate Professiormels for 1892, records the names and gives descriptions of 18 Labour Exchanges The Almanach de la Co-operation Fravpai.se of the same date speaks of labour exchanges which exist in 24 towns besides Paris, ( 5 ) while the editor of the Journal des Economistes records that at the recent congress of Labour Exchanges held at Toulouse, there were present 23 out of 40 Labour Exchanges in France. ( 6 ) The object of this congress was to further federal C) Annuaire des Syndieats Frofessionnels, p. 325. ( 2 ) Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail, 1302, preface. ( 3 ) La RCvue Socialiste. March 1892. pp. 354-5. ( *) Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail, 1892, p. 231. I 5 / Almanacli de la Co-operation Francaise, Paris, Imprimerie Nouvellc 1892, p. 85. ( 6 ) ‘'Journal des Economistes,” March 1893, p. 478. organisation of syndicates, and some of its proposals were: “ Constitution of a national strike fund with local “ branches for every exchange; general organisation “ of syndical chambers; federal' constitution of similar “ or allied trades ; . . . obligatory formation of an “ exchange in any commune where the workmen’s “ syndicates demand it and freedom from any control “ by the government or communal administrations. ”( 7 ) The last claim was strongly upheld at a meeting at the Central Exchange in 189 1.( 8 ) As a matter of fact, the most important of the ex- changes are not only municipal institutions but actually receive large annual subsidies from the municipalities. The question is therefore asked whether the ratepayers will consent to continue subsidies to institutions in no way under their control. ( 9 ) “ As the socialists openly “ point to the Labour Exchange as the instrument “ which is to bring about the realisation of their “ dreams, it is perhaps not altogether unnatural that “ certain ratepayers who are easily scared, and who “ have little confidence in the common sense of the “ working man, should object to any portion of their “ rates being avowedly applied to the furtherance of “ such revolutionary projects. ’’( 10 ) The attitude of the exchanges to the local and central government was touched on in the opening section. Strong protestations may be read in reports of meetings at the Labour Exchange in November and December 1891, (") against the control exercised by the prefectoral and municipal functionaries in various undertakings of the exchange, but especially in the matter of collection of statistics illustrating the conditions of the working classes. The special contention on that occasion was that the statistics which would be produced if the authorities had their hands upon the documents of the exchange, would be ‘ ‘ always the same lying statistics “ preached by the bourgeois economists and scattered “ abroad by all the press at the mercy of the bourgeois “ ( messieurs les bourgeois) in order to hide the truth “ from the workers whom they betray.” The general spirit of all the speakers at the meetings in question was the same, that they would have no governmental interference ( ingcrence administrative) of any kind within the exchange, and all held that it was the grow- ing strength of the workers which led the government to offer interference. The recent conflict between the prefecture and the exchange showed a new develop- ment. In 1891 the Paris Municipality had not identified itself with the spirit of the leaders in the exchange as it now has, and as even then the Marseilles Municipality had done with the Marseilles Exchange. At that date or at least on that occasion, the leaders of the workers rather regarded the Municipality and its control as one with that of the central authorities, and the protests were directed against the interference of both equally. The following table “ gives a summary view in order “ of date of foundation of those labour exchanges which “ were notified to the authorities and registered in the Annuaire des Syndieats or referred to in the “ Annuaire of the Paris Labour Exchange : the “ numbers of syndicates in the last column are (except “ in the case of those noted only in the former volume), “ those quoted in the latter volume ” : — ( 7 ) ” Journal des Economistes,” March 1893, p. 479. ( 8 ) Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail, pp. 123-9. ( 9 ) “ Journal des Economistes,” March 1893, p. 479. ( ln ) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. xii. t u ) Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail, pp. 120-129. Cf., also F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, pp. viii.-ix. Table X. Labour Exchanges. Date of Foundation, Town. Constitution and Mode of Government. Municipal Subsidies. Institutions. No. of Syndicates enrolled. 1887. Paris. Municipal institution, affairs Annual subsidy, Registry offices.* 205, or 220 (February). (Seine). administered solely bv syndicated workmen through a general, an executive and sub-committees. 50,000 frs. ; special subsidies, 63,400 frs., 55,400 frs. Important library, weekly journal. Annuaire. according to F.O. Report “ four of which are 1887. (March). Nfmes. (Gard). Municipal institution, adminis- tered by a council form of three delegates from each workmen’s syndicate, a bureau and officers. Annual, 1,160 frs.; special 49,560 frs. Library, technical instruction, registry office, journal three times a year. women’s.” 12 1888. (October). Marseilles. (Bouches-du- Rh6ne). Municipal institution, affairs administered by the council of the union of constituent workmen’s syndicates of Bouches-du Rhone, and an executive committee. Annual subsidy, 7,000 frs. ; special subsidy, 28,000 frs. Technical library and instruction ; registry office ; monthly journal. 70 D 3 Attitude towards the authorities. (iii.)Table of the various labour ex- changes. Registry cilices are all free. 30 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Date of Foundation. Town. Constitution and Mode of Government. 1 Municipal Subsidies. Institutions. i No. of I Syndicates enrolled. 1889. (February). St. Etienne. (Loire). Municipal institution, general committee controlled by' municipal council. Executive committee chosen from delegates of constituent workmen’s syndicates. Annual 2,500 frs. Library and publica- tions ; technical instruction ; col- lection of labour statistics ; registry office. 32 1889. (October). Toulon. (Var). Affairs administered by an executive committee chosen by the delegates of workmen’s syndicates. Library ; Registry Office. 8 1890. (March). (June). Bordeaux. (Gironde). 1. Controlled by the Munici- pality. 2. Independent, and administered by a committee named by delegates of the constituent syndicates. 1. Funds to defray expenses of build- ing and main- tenance of the same, not specified. 1. Technical instruc- tion ; Registry offices. 2. Registry Office, technical institu- tion ; monthly journal. 10 30 1890. (September). Toulouse. (Haute Garonne). Executive committee of ten, members elected by the majority of delegates of the constituent syndicates. Present of a building in course of pre- paration. Library ; technical instruction ; regis- try ; monthly jour- nal ; collection of labour statistics. 43 1891. (February). Lyons (Rhdne). Affairs administered by an executive council formed of single delegates from each constituent syndicate. Present of a building worth 13,000 frs. a year. Registry offices (separate) for men and women ; monthly journal “La Travail.” 6G 1891. (March). Beziers. (Herault).. Affairs administered by an executive committee delegated by the constituent syndicates for each year. Annual, G,500 frs. Night lodging for migrating labour ; library; technical instruction ; journal. 15 1891. (June). Montpellier. (Herault). Under the control of the Municipality ; general com- mittee elected by syndicates (three delegates each) which appoints an administrative council. Annual, 500 frs. Cost of building 1,500 frs. “Gar- dienage.” Registry office (con- cierge — registrar — paid by the town). 10 1891. (July). Cholet. (Maine-et- Loire). Executive committee composed of seven members. Committee of control of three members. — Registry office ; library. 2 1891. (November). Tours. (Indre et Loire). Organised by the Federation of Workmen’s Syndical Chambers of the West. Administered by an elective committee which appoints its own officials. Registry office ; library. 12 1891. (December). Agen. (Lot-et- Garonne). Instituted under the auspices of the municipality ; central elective committees ; adminis- trative bureau. Placing of unem- ployed ; library ; technical instruc- tion. l 1892. (March). Cognac. (Charente). Represented by a council called the Federative Union, which is composed of three delegates from each syndicate. This is divided into (1) a finance and library committee ; (2) an organising committee ; (3) a registry and statistical com- mittee. Registry office ; library ; technical classes. 1892. (March). Angers. (Maine-et- Loire). Governed by a committee com- posed of one delegate from each constituent syndicate ; half the committee retire every six months. 12 1892. (April.) Roanne. (Loire.) Governed by a representative committee and four sub- committees. — Registry office. 10 1892. (June). Cahors. (Lot.) Governed by a representative central committee and a bureau composed of a president, two vice-presidents, a secretary and a treasurer. 6 1892. Algiers. Under municipal authority ; affairs administered by a representative council. — Registry office ; library. 18 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 31 (iv.) His- tory of t he labour exchanges. Growth of t lie institu- 1 ion in Paris. fv.) Regu- lations, constitution &c. of the chief exchanges. (1.) Paris. Some of these labour exchanges had been so recently formed at the time of the preparation of the volumes from which the above table is drawn, that no institu- tions had had time to develop in connection with t -in. The following towns are mentioned in the Anuv.aire de la Bourse clu Travail jas being the centres of pro- jected exchanges: Saint Quentin, Cette, Calais, Conrs, Rhone, Nantes. The first proposal for a labour exchange dates as far back as March 1790, when a memorandum on the subject of engagement of workers was presented to the general assembly of the representatives of the Commune of Paris by le citoyen de Corcellet. It was sent to the department of public works and then forgotten until February 1851, when it was brought, by M. Ducoux, without attracting attention, before the Legislative Assembly. In February 1875 the Municipal Council of Paris, on the motion of M. Delattre, adopted a resolution demanding a labour exchange, or at least of a covered place for the hiring of workmen, where employers should be provided with facilities for en- gaging labour and workmen freed from the heavy fees incurred in getting employment through the registry offices (bureaux de placement). From that time the idea of a municipal labour exchange spread, and in 1884, when the working classes were represented on the Municipal Council by their authorised delegates, an active propaganda was made in its favour. After many proposals made by the councillors had been discussed, a report was drawn up by M. Mesureur in the name of the Municipal Commission on Labour, November 5th, 1886, and was adopted. In February 1887 the first labour exchange was installed in an office at the rue Jean Jacques Rousseau, “ and it only remained for the syndical chambers to take possession.”) 1 ) In the following August 42 syndicates had enrolled them- selves, the rules of the Paris Labour Exchange were adopted, and the executive committee was appointed. The table given above shows how soon the provinces followed suit. The growth of the institution in Paris was such that it was necessary to open a new and larger central office. This was opened in May 1892, in the rue Chateau-d'Eau, having cost three million francs. “ Certainly nothing could be better arranged than the “ new building, which is fitted up with electric light “ and telephonic communication, besides being well “ heated. There are 160 bureaux for the use of the “ syndicates, and on each floor there is a room set “ aside for discussions, while the central hall has all “ the appearance and is capable of serving the pur- “ poses of a Labour Parliament.” Besides defraying the cost of erecting this the Municipality increased its annual subsidy to 50,000 francs (2,000L) and meets the expenses of firing, lighting, and “gardienage.” Mr. Stephen is of opinion that complaints of abuses in application of the funds by the labour leaders are without adequate foundation, and that sufficient con- scientiousness “ from their point of view ” is shown by the executive in the appropriation of moneys for salaries, congresses, manifestations and so on. A translation of the regulations of the Central Labour Exchange which were definitely adopted on its transfer- ence to the present quarters is given by Mr. Stephen.) 2 ) Chapter 1. deals in five articles with the outline of the constitution, which has been indicated in the table (supra page 29). Chapter II. in articles vi. to x. defines the extensive powers of the general committee which, besides controlling all administration, “ has sole power “ to decide on the admission or expulsion of syndicates “ and corporations in accordance with the report of the “ executive committee.” Chapter III. deals in articles xi. to xviii. with the functions of the executive com- mittee (elected by ballot among members of the general committee and half of whose members must be renewed every six months). It is charged with execution of the decisions of the general committee and only provision- ally settles urgent questions coming before it. It keeps monthly accounts, directs the working staff of the central and dependent offices, and prepares tables of labour statistics. Its members are remunerated at the rate of one franc an hour. Chapter IY. deals in Article xix. with appointment of officers, secretaries, librarian, and assistants. Chapter Y. lays down (Articles xx. to xxiii.) regulations for the conduct of the following departments : finances, archives, gazette, and (*) Almanach de la Co-opdration Franpaise, 1892, pp. 82-88. F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 1,258, pp. viii.-xii. A nnuaire de la Bourse du Travail, p. 211. Annuairo dcs Syndicate Professionnels, p. 841. ( 2 ) F. O. Report cited, p. 17. Appendix E. inspectors. Chapter VI. provides (Article xxiv.) for a committee of control which is chosen by the general committee from among its own members, and is com- posed of “ 12 members renewable by sixths and in rotation every month.” It controls all acts of the executive committee and of the responsible officers. “ It shall meet in the evening for the performance of “ its duties as often as may be necessary. It shall “ delegate three of its members to attend the meetings “ of the executive committee. Its official report shall “ be issued one week prior to the meetings of the “ general committee.” Its members are remunerated on the same scale as the members of other committees. The exchange at Saint Etienne, though not the largest, is considered by the socialists in Paris as one of the most prosperous of the exchanges, owing to the sympathetic attitude shown to it by the municipality. It has an annual budget of 12,000 francs in addition to the sum spent on maintenance of its building, &c., by the municipality. The draft of its regulations) 5 ) shows that its constitution is simpler than that of the Paris Exchange, and without the check of the committee of control to be found there. In the case of the Bordeaux Exchange, affairs pro- ceeded less amicably with the municipality than at Saint Etienne, and, as may be seen in the table above, an independent exchange was quickly formed. It is not clear whether the sjolit was primarily due to rigid enforcement on the part of the mayor of the regulations respecting registration of syndicates. The second ex- change is governed by an executive committee formed by a representative delegate from each of the con- stituent syndicates. The exchange at Beziers is one of the more forward among the smaller exchanges. Its affairs are ad- ministered by a general committee composed of two delegates from each constituent syndicate. The general committee appoints the executive committee, of which the powers last for a year. The executive committee appoints in turn its own “ bureau.” No account is given of the practical results of the institution peculiar to this exchange, of anight ward for migrating labourers. “ It is,” according to the official statement of the Paris Exchange, “ one of those practical applications of com- “ munity of interests ” (solidarite), which they “would “ wish to see in all industrial centres. ”( 4 ) In addition to (1) its first practical work of replacing the services rendered by the registry offices or bureaux de placement, the work of the Central Labour Ex- change is : (2) to promote the conversion of workmen to socialistic views and the establishment of interna- tional relations among workmen) 5 ); (3) to collect statistics in support of the views held by its members('’) ; (4) to actively and in detail promote reforms and check abuses in connection with the relations between capitalists and workmen. Promotion by discussion or otherwise of the eight hours’ day, ( 7 ) establishment of a minimum wage of one franc an hour, suppression of piece-work, the trole and sweating system) 8 ) control or suppression of work in prisons and convents, ('■’) and promotion of arbitration by the labour exchanges in cases of strikes or conflict between employers and employed, may be taken in illustration of this point( lu ) ; (5) to forward certain legis- lative schemes, e.g., one for public assistance of old people and invalids among worKers, with special pro- vision for convalescent maternity homes. ( u ) The provision for free engagement of workers by employers, undertaken by the labour exchanges, holds an important position in the labour movement in France. “ There can be no doubt that there is some justification for the outcry ” against the abuses in the hire of workmen through the authorised labour agencies or registry offices. “ It is not only of the high rate of fees that complaint “ is made, but of facilities afforded for malpractice by “ possible collusion between such registry offices and “ employers of labour.” Instances have been known to occur of spurious engagement, followed by dismissal ( a ) Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail. Paris, p. 218 and ff. (■*) Do. dp. Paris, 1892, pp. 86-9, 403-19. ( 5 ) Do. do. p. 224. Do. do. ))p. 391, and ff. (") Article iv. of the regulations lays down that no employes of the syndicates or exchanges may be required to work more than eight hours a day. ( 8 ) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 528, p. xii. ( ,J ) Ann- de la Bourse du Travail, pp. 41-3. (*") Do. do. pp. 316-20. (“) Do. do. pp. 53-04. D 4 (2.) Sainte Etienne. (3.) Bor- deaux. (4.) Bd- ziers. (vi.) Actual services at- tempted by the labour exchange. Free regis- try offices of the labour exchanges. 32 KOYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Special com- mission on registry offices. Indepen- dent muni- cipal offices. on a false jiretext, the employer and the office sharing the fee. Another complaint is that these offices have a regular system of rcicolage or crimping, “ that is to “ gay that they have agents who watch the railway “ stations and frequent the streets in order to get hold “ of unsophisticated workmen arriving from the country. “ It is also said that employers frequently visit the “ night wards (asiles de nuit) and engage starving “ workmen below the current late of wages. ’’(O One of the first Commissions appointed by the Higher Council of Labour was for the purpose of inquiring into the advisability of suppressing the authorised registry offices. ( 2 ) The report adopted pointed out that the labour exchanges were not, so far, sufficiently developed to replace them. It also showed that existing municipal offices presented certain inconveniences ; the applica- tions are entered in the order in which they are received without due respect to the value or capacity of the workman. The impossibility of compelling the municipalities to provide full accommodation for labour offices was also indicated. The conclusion adopted was that the State should encourage by all means at its disposal free provision by syndicates of employment, and in particular by inserting in the budget a credit to assist (through the prefects) those syndicates which achieved similar results to those obtained by the Syndical Chambers of Butchers (employers and em- ployed) at the Labour Exchange in Paris. In 1890 they placed 3,031 workmen, with a saving in registry fees for the men of 27,279 francs. ( 3 ) The independent municipal labour offices are con- demned by the socialist leaders of the working men, and these latter are so far in accord with the recom- mendation of the Commission, although they further desire that employers may be forced to apply to the syndicates for the labour they used. Wherever the municipality closely controls the government of an Exchange, its agency would seem to be nearly the same as a municipal institution. The origin is distinct never- theless, and the agents promoted by the syndicates, must be treated separately from those established di- rectly by the municipality. The following are the returns in the Year-book of the Labour Exchange for 1892 : — ( 4 ) The control that the workmen may exercise through their exchanges on the municipalities is being even now made manifest. It was apparent from the beginning that this was a likely development, and it is in the nature of things that it should grow stronger. Two questions arise : (1) How far will it be necessary for the higher authorities (the Prefecture of the Seine, the Ministry of the Interior), to exercise a check on the pre- tensions of the workmen’s representatives, and to assert the law P (2.) How far are the workmen themselves likely to moderate their views and learn through internal administrative experience that law and order and regard for authority are the basis of the diffused well-being which they lay down as their ultimate (not always their proximate) aim ? The last question has to be considered first Whether it be through the long operation of the Napoleonic system of local administration which, admirably simple and clear though it is, entirely inverts the English idea of local self-government, ( G ), or whether it be through an in- herent unreadiness (racial or otherwise), to acquire self-control, or other causes, the result so far is the same that very little ground has yet been gained by French workmen in the way of self-government and respect for its forms. Anarchical utterances prevail where the most representative institutions of the work- men are found. It is possible that if the syndicates can be recruited by larger numbers of the practical work- men, and “ the latter become more informed on economic questions,” a transformation of these institu- tions may be effected. “ It may be that, in the long “ run the comparative independence acquired by these ‘‘ syndicates, if properly understood and not abused, “ may confer an incalculable benefit on the French “ nation by gradually teaching a large section of the “ population to govern themselves. At present, how- “ ever, there is no sign whatever of any such satis- “ factory issue.” As to the attitude likely to be taken by the authorities in checking such disregard of the law as was expressed in Paris on June lSthj 7 ), the press in France, and the correspondents of the English press seem to have very little doubt. “ Hardly a “ Republican would venture to urge it (the Govern- “ vernment), to allow any further breach of legality. ”( 8 ) Saving effected by the Bourse Table XI. du Travail. I 1S90. 1891. Registered - 29,274 37,142 Employed - 22,176 29,539 Extra hands 2,749 2,814 Attitude of the ex- changes to wards con- ciliation and arbitration. “ Taking 10 francs as the average fee to registry “ offices held by the . . . people whom the workers “ know only too well, we affirm that the workmen of “ Paris have saved 517,150 francs. "( 4 ) Important sections in the Year-book treat of the part taken by the labour exchange in mediation and arbitration between employers and employed, and in furthering the objects of the institution of councils of experts (conseils de prud? hommes ). This is a function more developed in the Paris than the provincial labour exchanges, but a review of it belongs to another section of the Report. It is only necessary to point out here that hitherto a strongly combative spirit has pervaded most of the attempts to regulate the issues of conflicts between patrons and ouvrieres. “ Instead “ of seeking means of reconciling the interests of “ labour and capital, no opportunity was lost of urging “ a strenuous resistance to the latter, and so extreme “ has the language of some of them been that . “ even liberal minded employers have hesitated to “ avail themselves of the new facilities held out for “ obtaining hands.” The labour exchanges foundcxl in the provinces are closely in touch with the parent and no sooner “ is a dispute between master and men “ announced than a delegate from headquarters appears “ on the scene for the express purpose of preventing, “ if possible, any conciliation save on conditions that “ meet with the approval of the leaders. ”( 5 ) (1) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. xi. ( 2 ) Conseil Supdrieur du Travail Premiere Session. 1891. pp. 139-150. ( 3 ) Conseil Sup^rieure du Travail, 1891, p. 149. ( 4 ) Ann. de la Bourse du Travail, 1892, p. 403. ( 5 ) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series. No. 258, pp. viii. and ix. (8.) Relations of associated and non-associated labourers and attitude of associations to employers. The account of the development of strikes(°) will bring out instances of a tendency, which is perhaps growing, of interference on the part of syndicated work- men with the freedom, of non-associated labour. At the same time it seems clear that this tendency has not shown itself in so marked a degree in France as in some other countries, and this is no doubt due partly to the fact that the workmen are nob so highly organised as in England or the United States, partly to the stringent nature of the laws relating to violence and the general national of habit being regulated by authority in smaller details of life as well as in larger. This habit “ usually “ renders it easy for the Government to ensure com- “ paratively fairplay at the outset when a strike begins. Picketing is therefore usually conducted in a “ less truculent form than in other countries, but when “ it takes a violent shape the gendarmerie do not hesi- “ tate, if necessary, to protect the men by using their “ swords freely. ( 10 ) Strictures passed by the economists and independent observers on the attitude of the Govern- ment at the time of such strikes as those at Decazeville and Carmaux, however, show, that if the power is still in the hands of the authorities of repressing violence and interference with freedom of labour, they do not always avail themselves of it.( u ) What the syndicates have actually attempted, if they have not yet interfered greatly with freedom of labour, has been to coerce employers into dismissing unpopular workmen. Statistics of causes of strikes show a con- siderable number which are due either to demand for dis- missal of foieign labourers or to objections to members of the staff in a factory.C 2 ) ( 6 ) i.e., proceeding from the central authorities downwards rather than arising from local institution upwards. ( 7 ) Cf. “Times,” June 14th. “If the bourgeoisie have the audacity to send into their prisons the representatives of trade unions” (for dis- regard or violation of regulations affecting the same) “ the latter will march out against them.” ( 8 ) See “ Times ” of same date. The note on page 9 shows that the action of the Government in temporarily closing the Exchange has been fully sustained by the verdict of the courts. ( 9 ) See infra, p. 42-3. (>°) F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. xvi. ( u ) See infra, p. 39-43. ( 12 j See infra, p. 33-4. (vii.) Pos- sible future of the labour exchange. (i.) Freedom 1 of labour in ; France. ‘ ■i Control by ■ the au- i thorities. Dismissals of non- syndicated workmen. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 33 (ii.) De- cisions of the Courts. The case of J cost and t he Gre- noble Court, 1690. The decision annulled by the Court of Cassation, 1892. Decision of the Court of L) ons, 1885. Decision of a J ustiee of the Peace, 1883. Decision of the Conseil de Prud’ horames at Bordeaux. Decision of the Tribu- nal of Com- merce, 1892. Certain decisions in the law courts in connection with such cases have attracted much public atten- tion in France. The courts had decided first that a discharged workmen could not recover damages from a syndicate which secured discharge, unless threats of strikes and boycotting were accom- panied by actual fraud or physical force, but this was reversed by the Court of Cassation. The test case is that of an appeal by a working printer on stuffs, named Joost, from the judgment of the civil tribunal of Bourgoin of January 11, 1890, to the Court of Grenoble, October 28, 1890. His claim was for damages against the syndicate of Jallieu, of which he had formerly been a member, on the ground that illegal pressure which led to his discharge had been brought by it to bear upon his employer. The decision of those courts was that “ the acts heretofore punished by Article 416 of “ the Penal Code constitute neither offences, nor “ partial offences since the law of March 21, 1884, “ relating to professional syndicates came into force. Mere threats of coalition and boycotting cannot “ be considered as constituting acts provided for “ and punishable by Article 414 of the Penal Code. “ Moral pressure brought to bear upon an em- “ ployer with a view to decide him to discharge “ a workman, when it takes place without violence or “ fraud cannot be considered an offence. Therefore a “ workman discharged by an employer who yields to “ threats of boycotting from a syndicate of workmen “ cannot use the fact of his having thus been dis- “ charged as a ground for demanding damages from “ the syndicate under Articles 1382 and 1383 of the “ Civil Code.”(‘) The decision of the Court of Cassa- tion on June 22, 1892, was that: “Article 7 of a law “ of March 21, 1884, gives every member of the syndi- “ cate absolute right to withdraw from the association “ whenever it seems good to him. While, since abru- “ gation of Article 416 of the Penal Code, threats of “ strike without violence or fraud are not actionable “ ( sont licit es) when they are for the purpose of defence “ of trade interests, yet they are actionable when they “ exact the dismissal of a workman, because he has “ withdrawn from a syndicate or refuses to enter it. “ Consequently the syndicate may be liable to the dis- “ missed workman when these threats take effect.”) 2 ) Another interesting decision was that of the civil tribunal of Lyons on May 13th. 1885, on an action brought against a syndicate by a firm of muslin- spinners for alleged boycotting of their establishment. Fines, prohibitions, proscriptions and interdictions with a view to preparation for a strike, whether by syndicated or non-syndicated workers, were pronounced to be no longer against the law nor to be regarded as attempts to interfere with the free exercise of industry and labour. “ The boycotting of an establishment “ decided by a general meeting of workmen, merely “ constitutes on their part the exercise of a right, pro- “ vided they cannot be charged with any allegation “ likely to damage the honour or reputation of such “ establishment.”) 1 ) An interesting case is quoted by M. Block, in con- nection with strikes, ( 4 ) of a decision by a justice of the peace at Soire-le-Chateau (Nord) in 1883. A certain workman in a swansdown factory was discharged in consequence of the closing of the establishment during a strike. He demanded and obtained an indemnity equivalent to three days’ pay, on the ground that he had not joined his fellow workers in the demands which led to the strike. This was a harder case for the em- ployer than that of the hat manufacturer at Bordeaux, who was obliged to engage new workmen to carry out some work which his regular workmen declined to do. His regular workmen presently got leave from their syndicate to undertake the task and insisted on return- ing to work and ousting the new hands. The manufac- turer wishing to oblige his old staff, apparently, dis- missed the new hands, but was condemned by the Conseil de Prud’hommes to pay 200 francs damages to each of the dismissed men.( 5 ) The decision of the Tribunal of Commerce for the Seine, on February 4, 1892, in connection with the arbi- tration on the Paris omnibus strike of 1891, taken with other decisions of the courts referred to, seems to prove conclusively that the courts generally will protect the (') F. O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. 31. ( 2 ) Annuaire des Syndicate Professionels.pp. 411-13. ( 3 ) Annuaire desSyndicats, &c., p. 409. (') Dictionnaire de ^Administration Fran<;aise, Article drives. ( 5 ) F.O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 208. p. xv. U 78419, workmen and their syndicates in every possible way.C 1 ) It was then established that “ all agreements entered “ into between employers and their syndicated workers “ for determination of the conditions of labour, constitute “ a veritable contract, for the observance of which em- “ ployers may be legally' held responsible and the “ execution of which may, if necessary, be ordered “ under compulsion.’’) 7 ) The latest proposal for adding to the trials and difficulties of employers is the Bovier-Lapierre Bill, Lapierre which has been twice through the Chamber of Deputies, Bill, and which may eventually pass the Senate in a modi- fied form.) 8 ) As the Bill at present stands it would render it a penal offence, with imprisonment and heavy fine attached, for a master to refuse to engage a work- man or to dismiss one on the ground of belonging to a syndicate. C. — Causes of Strikes and Lockouts. Full and detailed statistics have been collected as to causes of labour disputes in France for the years 1889- 1889 - 92 .” 92, ( 9 ) and attention will here be mainly directed to these. But a preliminary glance at the slighter and more sum- mary records of the years 1852 to 1889 may serve to ac- centuate leading characteristics of the present state of the labour question in France. Out of a total of 1,813 strikes, “ of which notice was p.) During “ given to the authorities in the return ordered to be made the years “ annually ’’ (the largest number for any single year being 321 in the year 1889), by far the greater number were caused either by a demand for increase of wages or a protest against reduction of wages. Mr. Condie Stephen has given, in Appendix I. of his report, several analytical tables, drawn, apparently, from the Statistique Generate de la France, 1890, setting forth the causes under four main divisions of trades, viz., weavers, spinners, metal- lurgists, miners. Certain discrepancies appear on com- parison of the more detailed with the summarised tables. Taking the former as correct, we find that out of 539 weavers’ strikes, during the period 1852-89, 207 arose through a demand for increase of wages ; 187 on account of a reduction of wages ; 41 on account of sundry grievances with regard to the conditions of labour ; 16 through demand for discharge of officials ; 13 as protest against discharge of officials ; 13 on account of fines ; only seven appear to have been through demand for reduction of the hours of labour ; while 13 strikes arose through the influence of other strikes ; the remainder are to be attributed to a large number of miscellaneous causes, of which "bad quality of raw material ” is the most prominent. Out of 157 spinners’ , strikes, demand for increase of wages, and protest against reduction of wages again head the list of causes, with the numbers 78 and 48 respectively; 11 arose on the question of the length of hours of labour ; four arose on each of the questions (1) of discharged work- men, (2) demand for discharge of officials, and (3) grievances with regard to conditions of labour. The remainder arose through minor miscellaneous causes. Out of 109 strikes among metallurgists, 43 began with a demand for increase of wages, and 20 with protest against reduction of wages; 11 appear in the table as “ demanding the discharge of foremen and workmen; ’’ five as demanding reduction of the hours of labour ; of the miscellaneous remaining causes, “ employers’ opposi- “ tion to the formation of a syndical chamber ” may be mentioned as the origin of one strike. Out of 88 miners’ strikes 46 were caused by a demand for increase of wages and only five were against reduc- tion of wages ; eight arose with a demand for discharge of officials ; among the miscellaneous causes one item may be mentioned, viz., “sum retained for a benefit “ aid society,” two strikes arose from this cause. During this period of 1852-89 one strike stands out as having been sufficiently prominent to be made the special subject of a Parliamentary inquiry) 10 ) into the position of labourers, industrial and agricultural, and to have raised the question, “ L’Etat doit-il intervenir.” This strike was amongst the miners of the Comyagnie ( G ) Cf. infra, Arbitration, p. 43. ( 7 ) Annuaire des Syndicats, Ac., p. 446. ( 8 ) Cf. mtra, matchmakers’ strike at Pantin, p. 46, where the text of the Bill will be found. ( 5 ) 1. Statistique gdndrale de la France, 1890, V’ols. xviii. and xix., Series No. 258. 2. Mr. Condie Stephen’s Report. Foreign Office Miscellaneous Series, No. 258. 3. Also Foreign Office Miscellaneous Series, Nos. 1, 109, 148, and 169. 4. Statistique des Groves. Office du Travail Fascicules, iii. and iv. ( 10 ) Report (No. 2,695, Chamber of Deputies) on the strike at Anzin, by M. Clemenceau, deputy. E (ii.) 1890. 34 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: B’Anzin, in 1884, affected thousands of miners, and lasted two months. It began on February 21st, after the company had given the miners notice of certain modifications of the conditions of employment. These modifications are enumerated in the report of M. Clemenceau, which was the result of the inquiry (1) suppression of the repairers ; (2) placing the work of the “ putters ” or “ trammers ” in the hands of the gangs at the seams ; (3) letting out the work by contract to that one of the gangs competing which makes the lowest tender. The contention of the strikers was that these changes put burdens and responsibilities on them which could not be accepted. Besides the modification of conditions of work, Professor Renault mentions the dismissal of 144 workers as cue of the causes of the striked 1 ) The company supported their changes in the mode of Working on the grounds of greater efficiency in results and augmented salary to the miners possessing special moral or professional qualifications. In 1588 a “ dangerous ” colliers’ strike, which bears some resemblance to the Carmaux strike, took place at the pits of Villeboeuf, near Saint Etienne. ( : ) It followed close on a smaller and successful strike at the same pits for advance of wages, and was attributed mainly to discontent fomented by socialists. It had an intimate connection with the strike for higher wages of the navvies and other employes on the Limoges and Brives Railway in the same year. Mention must not be omitted of the remarkable strike of bakers, in this same year, at St. Denis and St. Ouen, against the action of the municipality, who exercised their rights under the law of 1791 to advertise a maximum price of bread. It was considered necessary by the municipality to check a tendency shown by a syndicate of bakers to unduly raise the price of bread. One important strike for a limit of nine hours work a day is mentioned by Sir Joseph Crowe, in the above cited report, as having taken place in 1888 amongst Paris navvies. The Statistique Generate de la France, Yol. xviii., shows that out of a total of 110 strikes for 1888, 31 were caused by a demand for increased wages, 48 against a diminution of wages, 31 by other causes. The same authority ( 3 ) shows that out of 321 strikes during 1889, 161 were caused by a demand for increased wages, while 36 were against a decrease in wages. An important miners’ strike at Lens, in the Pas de Calais, coming under the former head, is the subject of a report by Sir Joseph Crowe, dated October 29th. 1889. The colliers struck on October 8th for higher wages, and succeeded in obtaining a rise of 10 per cent. A little later in the same month a still larger miners’ strike too jilace at Dorignies, in the Nord Department; ( 5 ) but this was on a question of conditions of employment. The largest strike of the year, measured by number of strikers, was amongst leather dressers, and was for an increase of wages ; 11,000 workmen came out (at Grau’lhet, in the department of the Tarn) from the 5th June to the 21 st August. Thirteen minor strikes were directly caused by a demand for a reduction of the hours of labour, the largest of them being among weavers at Roanr-e, in the department Loire. An increased num- ber (13) of strikes were attributed to influence of strikes in the neighbourhood. Several strikes arose through disputes on account of Italian workmen. At Gondrecourt in the Meuse Department, 1,500 navvies came out in June with a demand for the expulsion of Italians, and in the same month 1,000 Italian railway navvies came out on strike at Joinville (Haute Marne), through a dispute with their French fellow-workmen. During The f u u er statistics of the Ojjice du Travail are avail- able from the year 1890, ( l! ) and the strongly marked (socialistic) character of the workmen’s movement of the year 1890 heightens their importance and value. Out of a total of 313 strikes (affecting 768 establish- ments and including 114,773 strikers), 140 (including 308 establishments and 48,835 strikers) come under the heading “ Demand for increase of wages ” ; 59 strikes of smaller dimensions were caused by a direct or indirect decrease of wages ; 46 strikes of large dimensions were (0 Histoire des Graves, Paris. 1887. ( 2 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 109, by Sir Joseph Crowe. ( s ) Statistique G6n6rale, Vol. xix. (') Foreign Office, Miscellaneous Series, No. 148. ( : ) Statistique Gdndrale, xix. ( 6 ) Statistique des Graves. Fascicule III. Office du Travail. concerned with reduction of the hours of labour. One of the largest strikes of 1890 — among the miners of St. Etienne and Rive-de-Giera, affecting 9,500 men— seems to have been stimulated by the programme of the Joliment Congress. This strike began on June 5th with a demand for reinstatement of three workmen who had been dismissed, but had the ulterior objects of raising wages, reducing hours of work to eight, and reforming the relief fund. The year was in general distinguished by an unusually widespread “ agitation in favour of short hours,” often in the form an of eight hours’ day, and a “ minimum wage.” The demonstration of May 1st- struck the keynote of the spirit of subsequent demands of strikers. In the words of M. Jules Simon, it “ was not made for the purpose of setting forth pro- *' posals to employers, it simply asked the State to intervene to tne detriment of employers. . ..curtail liberty of contract, and rob not only manufacturers, but workmen of their freedom.” 0 In a great many of the most important manufacturing cities workmen “took a holiday without leave,” in order to join in the * demonstration of May 1st. Between that date and the 8th, 70,000 men, mainly in the textile trades, were out on strike in the neighbourhood of Roubaix and Turcoing, on the Belgian frontier alone, with a demand for an eight hours day and 30 per cent, increase in wages. The Lens miners struck for an eight hours day and 20 per cent, increase in wages. Lens had had trouble earlier in the year, for 5,000 men came out without success in January with a demand for re-instatement of three syndicated workmen.( 8 ) Most of the mining districts were in the forefront in the demands of the year. At Alais, Besseges, Molieres, and other parts in the department Gard, thousands came out with the almost universal demand for increased pay and reduced hours of work. At Saint Etienne, in the Loire, 9,500 were out through the greater part of June with demands for an eight hours’ day, increase of salary, reform of the relief fund, and other changes. ( ,J ) “At Vienne, in the Isere, where there was an anarchist riot on May 1st, a strike broke out in several trades. In the weaving factories the demands of the workmen were for an increase of 25 per cent, on the old scale of wages. The dyers and masons of the same place also claimed an advance of wages and reduction of working “ hours. ”( 10 ) In Paris and district a strike took place among gas workers between the 2nd and 12th May, on account^ of a demand for an alteration in shifts, which would reduce the hours from 12 to 10, together with an in- crease in wages ; this strike partly succeeded, in that a slight increase of wages was granted, but about 150 leaders of the movement were struck off the company’s books. Between May 6th and 28th two unsuccessful strikes took place among glassworkers at Aubervillers and Bas-Meudon, on account of dismissal in each case of a syndicated workman. Another, more noteworthy, in the same trade at Givors, in the Rhone Department, lasting from May 7th to September 11th, w r as caused by the demand that the workmen’s syndicate should have the right of engaging and dismissing employes ; in this case the strikers were eventually replaced by non-syndicated workmen. The ferment of the early part of the summer seems to have been followed by a certain calm in the second half of the year. Strikes were much smaller and less frequent. One important strike of miners, extending to 1,800 strikers at Firminy, in Department Loire, took place in October and November; the demand was for an increase in wages, and a promise of revision of tariffs was obtained. In the case at the foundries of Revin, in the Ardennes, the same demand (made in November) was complicated by subsidiary claims and extended into the spring of the following year.( n ) Out of 267 strikes registered by the authorities in (iii.) During 1891, 117 arose with a demand for increased wages, 1SLI1 ' 45 in protest against a reduction in wages, 25 were caused by other disputes in connection with wages, and 21 were concerned with reduction of the hours of labour. A considerable proportion, 43, arose out of ( 7 ) Quoted from M. Jules Simon in Foreign Office Report, Miscel- laneous Series, No. 109. ( 8 ) Same report. ( 9 ) Statistique des Gr6ves. Fascicule III. Office du Travail, pp. 22-3. ( 10 ) Foreign Office Deport, Miscellaneous Series. No. 169. ( u ) Statistique des Graves. Fascicule HI. Office du Travail. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 35 (iv.) During 1892. questions as to dismissal or retention of members of the staff. Other causes were : protests against fines, which led to 11 strikes, and the refusal by employers of rights claimed by workmen’s syndicates. (‘) Analysing the causes of the more important strikes of 1891, and beginning with the industries classed in France as extractives, we find that among the slate quarrymen of Trelaze, in Maine-et- Loire, a large num- ber of men came out in March to April with various demands, but especially for increase of wages. A general strike of miners in Pas-de- Calais, when 33,500 men were out from November 16 to December 1. was caused by dissatisfaction with the gradation of wages, with assessments, and management of the relief and pension funds ; sympathy with these strikers brought out the miners of Dorignies to the number of 1,050. A compromise was effected. A long strike on account of a revision of tariffs, resulting in reduction of wages, took place in December among the workers in foundries at Charlevillc. Reduction of wages caused a strike of more important dimensions early in the year at two engineering works at Haumont, in Department Nord. Under the heading Transport, a strike, extending to over 6,000 workmen took place in mid July amongst employes of railway companies in Seine, Seine-et-Oise, and other departments. The cause was a demand for increase in -wages joined to demands for reduction of the hours of work and other changes. The largest strike of dock workers was caused by a simple demand for increase of wages, and took place at Havre in Sep- tember. The successful omnibus and tramways strike in May at Paris was caused by demands similar to those of the railway employes. Turning to the division Agriculture, we find that in the late autumn a wood-cutters’ strike took place in Department Cher, with a demand for increase in wages ; a compromise was effected in the beginning of 1892. ( 3 ) The largest strike of the year in the textile industries, at Sedan, March to May, was caused by demand among weavers for increase of wage. The same reason, coupled with demand for a ten hours’ day, brought the spinners of Sains-du-Nord out in six factories, about the same date. Amongst glass-workers at Lyons the longest strike of the year, lasting from February 24th to October 15th. was caused by a “ decision of the employers to discontinue “ observance of a tariff drawn up at the close of a success- “ ful strike in 1886. . . This decision of the employers “ was not caused by the rate of the tariff ( taux de “ tarif) but by the accompanying conditions. ”( 3 ) The boot and shoe trade at Angers was similarly disturbed by a considerable strike in July, on account of an attempt of the employers to modify an existing tariff. f) In the absence of any trustworthy statistics of strikes in France in 1892, ( J ) it seems sufficient to mention the causes of the following prominent strikes : (1) of cab- drivers and (2) of omnibus employes in January, (3) of dock porters (portefaix) at Cette in the same month, (4) of Carmaux miners, (5) of Lens miners in September, (6) of employes in the co-operative establishment La Moissoneuse in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris, in December. The strike of cabdrivers was for a constant average price for the hire of cabs. The omnibus strike took place, the members of the syndicate declared, on account of abroach of faith on the part of the company. At Cette new duties on foreign wines, to come into force in the following month, occasioned an extra- ordinary press of work. The porters seized the moment to refuse to unload without a considerable rise in wages which would have brought them in 30 francs for a day of ten hours. The employers refused to consider the demands, and some disturbances followed. (’) The great strike among miners at Carmaux was begun, the miners declared, in vindication of the prin- ciple of manhood suffrage, which they alleged had been tampered with, in the dismissal from the mines of the Mayor Calvignac almost immediately after his election. The causes of the strike are, however, extremely (■) Statistique des Groves. Fascicule Ilf., Office du Travail. ( *) Statistique des Graves, pp. 7R-7, 100-1. ( 3 ) Statistique des GrOves, pp. 82-3. (*) The statistics of the Office du Travail were received just as these sections were going to press and are therefore taken account, of in the Appendix. See infra, p. 131-7.— G. 1)., 30/9/93. ( 5 ) " La Reform* Sociale,” Jan. IK, 1893. complex, and are fully dealt with in the account of the development of the strike. ( ,; J The strike at Lens about the same time was caused by the employment of Belgian workmen, who wero accused of underbidding the native miners. The Belgians nearly all departed voluntarily. (') In the same month a partial stoppage of work took place amongst hairdressers’ assistants in Paris, with a demand for early closing, i.e., at 8 p.m., in the centre and 9 p.m. in the suburbs. The dispute was amicably arranged by conference with the masters. ( s ) The strike amongst co-operative employes of La Moissonneuse in December 1892, was occasioned by a refusal of the administrative council to allow the formation of a syndicate. Out of 150 employes 60 were dismissed for attempting to form one. As the members (numbering 12,000) of the society were all workmen of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, “ who probably were them- “ selves members of syndicates,” their attitude to their employes seemed inconsistent. One of the most prominent causes of strikes in 1893 appears to be the law regulating the labour of women and children. Different authorities give the same con- clusion, namely, that it has created great discontent among the working classes. ( lu ) “ Since the new law* * “ changed the time for different classes of female hands, I; the masters have been forced to alter their arrange- “ merits. They have mostly done so by reducing “ hours. But they have also attempted to reduce the “ wages proportionately. They have dismissed as many “ as they could of the females under 18. They have “ claimed to dock the wages in proportion to the reduc- “ tion of time, and they have manipulated the periods of “ rest so as to bring out a profit for themselves. All “ this has necessarily led to strikes and quarrels. ”( n ) At Lille in the textile factories, where men and women were employed side by side, the employers decided to reduce the hours for both to eleven and cut off an hour’s pay. Men and women struck for the old pay. “ The masters yielded, and gave the old pay for “ twelve hours on the understanding that the hands “ should stand by the frames without any interruption “ during the whole time of the machinery being in “ motion. For every breach of the rule the hands “ were reduced to the wages of eleven hours. ”(“) At Seclin the new arrangement of hours left too short a time for meals, and three factories were deserted by the hands who came out on strike. At Rheims some of the masters granted longer meal hours, but attempted stoppages out of w r ages for estab- lishment of refectories. A strike ensued. At Saint Chamond and other places in the neighbour- hood strikes took place for maintenance of the existing rate of wage. At Marseilles, the women spinners and weavers in the Bouley factory came out on strike for maintenance of the wage 2 francs 50, in spite of the reduction of hours to eleven. ( 12 ) At Privas a strike took place among women throw- sters for a similar purpose. An arrangement was made that the day should be reduced to ten hours, the rest to two hours ten minutes instead of three hours, and the wages to remain at 1 franc 25 centimes. In the Paris sugar factories a strike took place among the -women sugar cutters, because several masters dis- missed girls under 18 in order to keep up the eleven hours’ system.( l:i ) No trustworthy general statistics as to strikes in 1893 are available. Such accounts as have appeared seem (°) See below, p. 39-42. ( 7 ) " I* ROforme Sociale,” Sept. IK, 1893. ( 8 ) lb. ( ,J ) ” La Revue tl’Eeonotnie Politique,” Jan. 1893. ( lu i Despatch to the Foreign Office of Sir Joseph Crowe, dated Paris, Jan. 11th, 1893. " La Reforme Sociale,” Jan. IK, 1893. (U) Despatch quoted above (of. infra, p. 53). •_ ( l2 ) “ La Rl forme Sociale,” Jan. IK, 1893, p. 1K5. ( 13 ) Despatch quoted above. The difficulties caused by the law are of three kinds : — 1. Demand of men workers to share in the reduced hours of fellow women workers. 2. Resistance of a reduction of wages equivalent to the reduction of hours. 3. Difficulties connected with the regulations as to leaving and entering the works. The first has been rare, the second the most frequent cause of strikes ; a strike took place early in the year at the Osines Marrell, in Rive do Gier, through the third cause. The article of Mr. Hubert-Valiereux in “ La Reforme Sociale,” September 1, on the strikes at Amiens should be consulted by those desirous of further information. — G. D., 30/9/93. E 2 (v.) During 1893. The law regulating labour of women and children in January 189J. 3fi ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Distri- bution by depart- ments. Depart- ments where most strikes occur. to show that the majority of strikes have been caused by questions affecting wages. In April a large strike took place at Flixecourt, in the Somme Department to protest against a new tariff and the dismissal of an employ £* ; 5,000 weavers came out. An important strike took place at Amiens for an increase of wages, in which 1,500 dyers and finishers were involved ; this ended in a compromise. At Houplines 800 weavers struck, partly on account of inferior materials, partly to secure higher wages, and the dismissal of a foreman. In May the strikes in the textile trades were less im- portant. Eight hundred silk weavers came out at La Patinere, in the Isere Department, for a new price list, which they obtained. At Suresnes, in the Seine Department, 620 dyers came out with a demand for increased wages, with reduced hours of labour, and after 11 days a compromise was effected. The building trades in the two months mentioned have had considerable strikes. At Lyons, in April, 1,500 painters and plasterers struck for the adoption of a new tariff. At Bordeaux, on May 2nd, 1,800 workers came out with a demand for fortnightly instead of monthly payments. They resumed work on June 2nd, after obtaining an increase of wages from 1 franc to H francs a day. The only strikes of any significance amongst miners in the same months were : (1) at Chaligny, of 300 miners to obtain the dismissal of an Italian workman, and (2) at St. Etienne, of 270 miners, on account of the transfer of a manager. The comb makers at Oyannax in the Ain department struck against a proposed reduction of wages in May. They numbered 2,000, and belonged to 190 different establishments. At the end of three days they returned to work, having obtained an increase in wages and a reduction of working hours. (') D. — Development, Organisation and Conduct of Strikes. 1. Distribution among Departments and Trades. The following Tables, XII. A., B., C., have been drawn from the Statistique Generale and the Statistique des Greves, and combine in one view the details for 1890 and 1891, and for 1888 and 1889, which are given separately by the authorities. The statistics for the period 1852 to 1889 are presented as given in the former work (1889) and as repeated in Mr. Stephen’s Report. It will be seen that, taking the average over the whole period, the departments most troubled with strikes are the Nord, Rhftne, Loire, Pas-de-Calais, Seine, and Ardennes Departments. If the estimate is for the separate period of years 1890 and 1891, the Seine might be dropped out of this list, for 1889 and 1890 the Ardennes might be omitted, and for 1852 to 1889 the Departments Marne and Y osges might be substituted for the Ardennes and Pas-de-Calais. Table XII. — A. Strikes in 1890 and 1891. Department. Number of Strikes. 1890. 1891. Ain ----- 4 2 Aisne ... 12 7 Allier ----- 3 2 Alpes (Basses) — — Alpes (Hautes) - — — Alpes-Maritimes - - — 1 Ardecbe - 5 5 Ardennes - - - 16 28 Ariege .... — — Aube ... 3 3 Aude ----- — 1 Aveyron - 2 1 Bouches-du-Rhone ... 9 6 Department. Calvados - Cantal Charente - Charente-Inferieure - Cher Correze - Corse Cote-d’or - Cotes-du-Nord Creuse - Dordogne - Doubs . Dr6me - Eure - Eure-et-Loir Finistere - Gard ... Garonne (Haute) Gers - Gironde - Herault - Ille-et-Vilaine Indre - Indre-et-Loire Isere - Jura - Landes - Loir-et-Cher - Loire - Loire (Haute) Loire-Inferieure Loiret - Lot - Lot-et- Garonne Lozere - Maine-et-Loire Manche Marne - Marne (Haute) Mayenne - Meurthe-et-Moselle Meuse - Morbihan - Nievre Nord Oise - Ome Pas-de-Calais - Puy-de-Dome Pyrenees (Basses) Pyrenees (Hautes) Pyrenees-Orientales - Territoire de Belfort Rh6ne - Sa6ne (Haute) Saone-et-Loire Sarthe - Savoie - Savoie (Haute) Seine - Seine-Inferieure Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Oise Sfevres (Deux) Somme - Tam - Tarn-et-Garonne - Var - Vaucluse - Vendee ... Vienne - Vienne (Haute) Vosges ... Yonne - Total - Number of Strikes. 1890. 1891. - 2 “ — — 2 5 1 1 - 2 1 " — — — — - 1 1 - — — - 1 — - — 3 — — — — - 1 — — — — — - 6 1 - 4 3 - 1 — - 6 7 - 6 3 • 2 9 2 1 - — 1 - 8 2 - — - 1 — - 29 11 - 6 2 5 1 - — 3 — — — 1 - — — - 6 7 — 1 * 12 9 - — — - 1 — - 2 1 - 2 — - l 1 - 2 3 61 68 1 1 1 2 - 11 6 - 2 1 — 1 — — - — — - 2 — - 28 20 - 4 2 - 5 1 - 1 — - — — - — 1 - 8 13 - 8 9 - 1 1 - 2 3 - — — - 4 1 - 1 4 - 4 — - 1 — - 3 — - — — _ 1 - 6 4 " — 1 - 314 (in 276 (in 52 Depart- 54 Depart- ments). ments). (') See" Labour Gazette,” June, July. On August 18 intelligence was received (cf. “ Times ” of that date) of the occurrence of serious labour riots in Aigues-Mortes on the littoral of the Mediterranean. The cause was a dispute between French and Italian workmen. REPORT OX THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 37 Table XII.— B. Strikes in 1888 and 1889. Department. Number of Strikes. 1888. 1889. Ain - Aisne - - 1 3 14 Alpes (Basses) - - — 1 Ardeche - — 1 Ardennes - - 7 3 Aube - - 2 3 Bouches-du-Rhone - - 1 4 Calvados - - 2 2 Charente-Inferieure - - - — 1 Correze - - 1 — Corse - - — Doubs - 1 1 Eure - - - 1 2 Gard - - 1 4 Garonne (Haute) " — 1 Gironde - - 1 4 Ille-et-Vilaine - - 2 9 Indre - - — 3 Isere - - 3 3 Jura - - 3 2 Loire - - 4 43 Loire-Inferieure - “ 2 4 Lot - - - — 1 Maine-et-Loire - - 1 3 Marne - - 2 1 Marne (Haute) - — 1 Meurthe-et-Moselle - - 2 — Meuse - “ 1 2 Nord - - 25 80 Oise - - 1 2 Orne - - - 3 i Pas-ue-Calais - - 2 15 Territoire de Belfort - - - — 2 Rhone - - 8 63 Saone (Haute) - - 1 1 Saone-et-Loire - 1 1 Savoie - - — 1 Savoie (Haute) - - 3 — Seine - - - 9 11 Seine-Inferieure - - 3 — Seine-et-Oise - - - 1 — Sevres (Deux) - - 1 — Somme - 6 S Tarn - - — 10 Var - - - — 5 V aucluse - — 2 Vienne (Haute) - - 1 — Vosges - 2 7 Algiers " “ 2 — Total 110 (in 36 Depart- ments). 321 (in 40 Depart- ments). Table XII.— C. Number of Strikes from 1852 to 1889. Department. Strike. Department. Strike. Ain 2 Lot-et-Garonne - 3 Aisne 51 Maine-et-Loire 18 Allier 5 Manche - 7 Alpes (Basses) 2 Marne 56 Alpes-Maritimes - 7 Marne (Haute) - 7 Ardeche 14 Mayenne - 2 Ardennes 42 Meurthe-et-Moselle 5 Ariege 2 Meuse 12 Aube 15 Morbihan 1 Aude 6 Nievre 17 Aveyron 19 Nord - 405 Bouches-du-Kh6ne 41 Oise 14 Calvados - 11 Orne - 3 Charente-Inferieure 3 Pas-de-Calais 53 Cher 19 Tuy-de-DSme 3 Correze 2 Pyrenees (Basses) 4 Corse 4 Pyrenees-Orientales 2 Cote-d’or 3 Territoire de Bel- 16 Cotes-du-Nord 1 fort. Creuse 4 Rh6ne 156 Doubs - 1 9 Sa6ne (Haute) 4 Department. Strike. Deparment. Strike. Drome 5 Saone-et-Loire 11 Eure 7 Sarthe - 17 Eure-et-Loir - l Savoie - - 4 Einistere - - 4 Savoie (Haute! - 1 Gard - 22 Seine - 156 Garonne (Haute) - 8 Seine-Inferieure - 54 Gironde - 43 Seine-et-Marue - 3 Herault - - 14 Seine-et-Oise - 8 Ille-et-Vilaine - 20 Sevres (Deux) - 1 Indre - 3 Somme - 54 Indre-et-Loire - 34 Tarn - 24 Isere - 54 Tarn-et-Garonne - 1 .T ura - 3 Var - 6 Landes - 1 Vaucluse - 5 Loir-et-Cher - - 7 Vendee - 2 Loire - 84 Vienne (Haute) - 10 Loire (Haute) - 4 Vosges - 56 Loire-Inferieure - 38 Yonne - 4 Loiret - 3 — Lot “ 3 Total - ” 1,825 For the years 1890 and 1891 comparison can be very Distribution completely made of the distribution of strikes among by trades, the important groups of industries. The result is as follows : — Table XIII. (*) — A. Industries. 1890. 1891. Mining and quarrying “ Metallurgy ” (engineering)( 3 ) - 39 22 8 4 Manufactured iron and steel (blast 33 34 furnaces, hardware, cutlery, &e.). Transport (docks, shipping and road 9 11 transport). Railway workers - — 10 Agriculture and forests 5 6 Commerce - — 1 Textiles (spinners, weavers, &c.) 118 104 Clothing and allied trades 12 18 Printing trades - - 4 — Chemical and gas works 7 1 Ceramics and glass works - 28 14 Building and construction 27 26 Leather and allied trades 6 5 Papermaking - 2 1 Cabinet and allied trades 9 17 Provision making trades 6 2 Totals 313 267 S ') Statistique des Graves. 2 ) Affected six lines and 6,059 workers. 3 ) See note ( 2 ) on page 20. Tho figures for 1888 and 1889 are as follows : — Table XIII.— B. Industries. 1888. 1889. Mining, quarrying, &c. . 4 16 Engineering, foundries, hardware, &c. 12 18 Transport - - 1 5 Commerce - - - - — 2 Textiles and dyeing - 55 195 Clothing and allied trades - 11 23 Printing ... 3 3 Chemicals - - 1 1 Ceramics and glass works - - 4 6 Building and construction - 12 18 Leather ... - — 7 Paper - - 1 — Cabinet making - 1 13 Provision making - — 9 Totals - 110 321 E 3 38 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : 2. Important Individual Strikes. (a.) Mining. (i.) Strike The strike of miners at Arizin in 1884 is the first of Anzin'Tssi. 1 the g rca t strikes that must be taken account of under this head. As indicated in the previous section (p. 3d), it was one of the most important that has ever arisen in France. An interesting table of the whole series occurring there since 1846 is presented in the report from which the account is mainly gathered(*) as follows : — Table XIV. Order and causes of Pate. previous Duration. Causes. Results. strikes. 1 1848 Ten days, t July 7th to 17th. Demand for increase in wages. Wages for day’s work of miner of the 1st class raised from 2 fr. to 2 fr. 3U c. 1848 Seven days. March 3rd to 10th. Demand for substitu- tution of horses for men on the under- ground roads. Employment of horses having been suspen- ded for some months it was resumed, and compensation given by raising wages to 2 fr. 50 c. 1855 Three days, February 9th to 11th. Demand for increase in wages. No satisfaction given to workmen. Next year a rise took place from 2 fr. 59 c. to 2 fr. 70 e. 1961 September - Attempt without re- sults. One hundred workmen went out, but returned next day. 1866 Six days. Oc- tober 23rd to 29th. Demands: 1. Suppres- sion of contract and raising of wage to 4 fr. a day ; 2. Free- dom to commence work at optional hours ( Remonfe (les travanxa des lieu res facultatives) ; 3. Formation at Denain of a co-operative society. Return to work with- out satisfaction of demands. It is note- worthy that wages had risen to 3 fr. on the 22nd October. 1872 July Demand for increased wage. Rise from 3 fr. to 3 fr. 25 c. 187S Twelve days. July 16th to 28th. Lowering of price for task work and con- tract work. , No satisfaction to the workmen. 1879 May 5tli to 6th. Uncertain 15 workmen arrested. 1880 Fifteen days. October 23rd to Novem- ber 7th. Tho same as in 1878 No .satisfaction to the workmen. 1884 Fifty-six days. February 21st to April 17th. . \ - Against changes in conditions of work, viz. : — 1. Suppression of re- pairers. 2. Placing work of trammers m charge of gangs at the seams. 3. Letting work out by contract to that one of the gangs competing which made the lowest offer. Work resumed on the company’s condi- tions. Position of It was in the middle of the month of February that f an^°iS8t the Company of Anzin( 5 ) announced the changes in con- panj, • ditions of work, the chief of which from the miners’ point of view was the suppression of certain distinct kinds of workers (involving discharge of 144 men). Early in 1883 the company had found some such changes necessary in their management of the mines, since competition both with French and foreign mines put them at a disadvantage unless they could adopt less expensive and antiquated methods than they had hitherto employed. “The work in the mine involves “ three operations (1) extraction, is the “ work of the miners ; (2) conveyance or transport of “ the coal on trollies, which is the work of the tram- “ mers (lierscheurs) ; (3) charge of the vaults and “ walls of the galleries, which is in care of the repairers “ and boy ■workers ( raccommudcurs et galibots). Only “ the miners produced a direct profit to the under- taking.”^) The company found that they employed oo many accessory workmen and determined to adopt (‘) No. 2,695. Chambre des Deputes. Imprimeric Quautin. Paris, 1885. p. 87. ( 2 ) Which is a union of seven concessions, and is a Societe civile under very old statutes. See Fourth Report of Commission on Mining Royalties. Questions 19,410-19,436. (*) Renault. Histoire des Grbves. p. 143. the system prevailing in other undertakings, e.g., at l’Escarpeile. A few days after the changed order was announced the strike began and extended by degrees from pit to pit. On February 21st, 7,623 workmen came out. „ 22nd, 4,625 „ 23rd, 2,112 ,', 24th, 799 On March 22nd, 1,300 ,, On April 4th, 2,659 ,, „ 7th, 1.720 „ 12th, 2,835 ,, 17th, 6,135 At this point the strike terminated. Before the strike begun the miners’ syndical union held meetings and communicated by letter IFeb- ruary 20th) with the deputies and authorities of the Department asking that the Government should inter- vene. On the day after the strike began, a delegate body of miners obtained an interview with the director of the company, but without any result. Next day (February 23rd) the same delegates had an interview with the prefect and sub-prefect of Valenciennes, and the former undertook to see the director with the view of arranging for a conciliation. He explained the demands, which were that they should “return to the “ former conditions of work and that the discharged “ workers should bo reinstated.’’ On the same day the director, M. Guary, informed the prefect that the company could not reconsider their decisions. The miners then passed a resolution that they would hold in reserve a call upon all other colliery workers in France to declare a strike. On the 24th the miners offered through the sub-prefecture to accept the conditions with the following modifications : — “ (a) that the fixed “ chargo per metre for maintenance of the galleries “ should be increased by 50 per cent, for each metre “ beyond 100; (5) that the responsibilities in case of “ accidents should not differ from those of the repairers “ ( raccommodeurs ).” On the 25th the company replied, that they could not reconsider their decisions with respect to the main- tenance of the gallei'ies, that the miners need fear no increase of responsibilities or decrease of wages and that, without exception, the repairers, whose services were dispensed with, would receive for six months a sum of 45 francs a month, and that those who had claims on the company should receive pensions. No understanding was arrived at and many futile meetings were held. On the 28th February a question was asked in the Chamber on the subject of the strike at Anzin. But it was not until March 15th that the Minister of the Interior announced that he had sent to Denain (the point at which the strike began) the Director-General of Mines, the President of the General Council of Mines, and the Inspector-General, for tho purpose of making an inquiry into tho circumstances of the strike. These representatives of the Government held meetings with the delegates of the miners “ on the “ subject of the re-engagement of the discharged “ workmen and all their other claims. In the words “ of their own report the mission of this committee of “ of three was ‘esentially conciliatory,’ to listen to the “ miners, to discuss affairs with them and to explain to “ them that their interests were certainly at one with “ the modifications which the company had the right “ to introduce in the conditions of work.”( J ) On the 1 7th the prefect was informed of a resolution on the part of the miners to continue the strike “ energetic- ally ” without any abatement of the first claims. Meanwhile attempts had not been wanting to extend the strike in other directions; on March 12th, for instance, the delegates, and especially M. Basly, deputy, had advised a strike on the part of the machinists i'or increased wage ; they, however, refused to join in the strike. On the 15th the company publicly affixed a notice that to prevent further misunderstanding, they de- clared that the responsibilities of the miners would be no greater than those of the repairers. On tho 31st another visit of the delegates to the director took place without result. On the 7th of April the miners not only repeated their first demand for return to the old conditions of work and the re- engagement of workers, but also demanded the release Numbers involved in the strike. Meetings and at- tempts at arrange- ment. Attitude ot the company. Interven- tion of the Govern- ment. Repeated demands of the miners. (*) Report No. 2,695. 1983. Chambre des Deputes, p. IIP. REPORT ON THE LAROUll QUESTION IN FRANCE. 39 (ii.) Strike at Decazeville, 1880. of their imprisoned comrades who had been appre- hended “ on the false reports of the gendarmes” and the payment of the expenses they had incurred through the strike. The arrests had been made on the 4th after serious disturbances. During the strike thero had been several isolated acts of violence and use of explosives. By the 8th, military forces were stationed at all the pits. On the 14th, an “honourable capitulation” was invited, and by the 17th the strike was at an end with no results beyond maintenance of the terms of the company and the pecuniary loss of the stoppage of work to both sides. The following opinion on the attitude of the company was expressed by the Commission (from whose report the narrative is mainly drawn). "The representative “ of the mining companies instead of seeing in the “ constitution of the syndicates a practical means of “ arriving at an understanding, have incessantly com- “ bated the syndical associations. They have thus “ aggravated the sentiments of hostility already “ existing, and seriously failed to recognise their “ proper interests.” M. Renault wrote(') that “ un- “ happily political motives were the soul of the resisi- “ ance shown by the workmen.” As for the company the only accusation against it that could be sustained was on the score cf' shortness of notice of changes. The application of the new mode was inevitable. The workmen misunderstood the notices of the com- pany largely through incapacity to read. Few strikes have, anywhere, arisen so suddenly, and at the same time lasted so long, as the strike of miners at Decazeville, which began on January 26th, 1886, and continued, or rather broke out afresh, and was renewed for nearly five months. According to some accounts, the workmen rose against a threatened decrease in wage and the harsh and irritating conduct of two civil engineers in charge of the operations. Accord- ing to others, “ the real caitse lay in the irritation “ felt by local shopkeepers against the co-operative “ society, towards the development of which the two “ engineers, already incriminated, had greatly con- “ tributed.”( 2 ) On these various heads the following facts are stated : first, that the managers proposed no decrease of wages ; this was expressly stated by the president and council of administration ; secondly, every account of the one of the engineers, who died in consequence of injuries inflicted by the miners, gives a direct contradiction to the charge brought against him by them. JIis fellow members in the society of civil engineers declared him to be “stern to no one but himself, and particularly devoted to the workmen.” It may be that details con- cerned with sub-contract in the interior of the mines which rested between the master miners and the workmen caused feelings of irritation which were worked off' upon the higher authorities) 3 * ) ; thirdly, the saving to the miners effected by the co-operative society was undoubted and its affairs were managed by the employes of the company. One cause of irritation in this connection, however, existed in a retention of part of the wages by the company up to the amount due by the workmen to the co-operative society. 'Phis control was discontinued during the strike conferences. The order of events in the strike was as follows. The commencement was marked by a violent assault on the civil engineer referred to, M. "Watrin, who died the same night. The secretary of the General Federation of Miners alleged that this strike was the result of an order (upon a resolution) of the Saint Etienne Congress. The mayor prevented any intervention of the gendar- merie, and work was resumed on the following day with certain modifications, viz. : that wages were to be paid fortnightly, and fixed prices were not to be altered within the fortnight ; that the wood stores should oe brought nearer to the mines. On the other hand, the miners expressly renounced any claim to increased wage or decrease in hours. The sudden calm was only on the surface. “ Disturbing causes of a political “ order were not wanting among the men.” On Feb- raary 11th, an interpellation of M. Basly, “ drew upon “ him two calls to order, and brought the Minister of “ Public Works, of the Interior, and of Foreign Affairs “ to the Tribune.” On the 15th, three miners were condemned by the magistrates (tribunal correctionel) of (i) In his history ot strikes above cited (p. 150), a work that gained the prize of the Academic des Sciences Morales et Politiqnes. (*) Histoire des Graves, p. 221-5. (*) Cf. infra. Lens strike, 1889, p. 40. Villefranche to imprisonment (2 months, 20 days, 5 days, respectively) for interference with freedom of labour. Gradually excitement grew and one month exactly after the terrible outbreak which began the strike, a general strike was proclaimed. Claims were made for increase in rates of wages after interviews with the local authorities and the chief engineer. Advice and help were sent to the strikers during March by the Municipal Council of Paris. At the same time an order from the Government was imposed upon its local representatives (the prefect and sub-prefect) forbidding them to take part in negotiations, while the Government itself undertook to preserve order. The company were now reduced to communicating their terms by means of printed notices. The main further events of March, were : (1 .) Meetings called by M. Basly at Firmy, and Mile. Louise Michel at Versailles, neither being very successful. (2.) Consultations and addresses of ministers and “ seven other orators ”(' 1 ). (3.) Attempts on the part of the miners to obstruct the mines still being worked. The month closed with an extension of the strike to Firmy and to all the forges, furnaces and workshops of the locality. At Firmy the ostensible cause was a demand for an increase in wages of ‘ ‘ one centime.” The strength of the influence of the political agitators had grown to such proportions that in April, some of them (MM. Due Quercy and Roche) were arrested. The chief aim seemed to be the ruin of the company. These arrests were followed by sentences of 15 months’ imprisonment. In spite of pecuniary help from many quarters the sufferings of the miners and their families were by this time very serious, and on May 4th, the first serious attempt at mediation and conciliation was made by M. Remes, a disinterested outsider, unconnected with mines or politics. His attempts proved fruitless, and the company announced their intention of importing outside labour. The minei’S then proposed (May 10th) an arbitration com- mittee to be composed of three deputies of their own choice, two members of the governing body, and two miners. The company naturally refused. On the 11th an arbitration offered by M. Laur, failed because the company refused to consider any other matter than “ verification of the equivalence of the tariffs of Febru- “ ary 26th with previous tariffs.” On the 19th, conflicts took place between the metal workers and miners, and explosions and incendiarism were reported from various quarters of the strike on May 22nd and 25th, and June 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 10th. At this point fresh representa- tions were made on the one hand by M. Laur to the miners, and on the other by the Government, who offered three arbitrators to decide on the point men- tioned by the company. The result was that by the 12th, the company had offered an increase of Id. (ten ceit- times) on each coal skip and peace was signed. “ M. Basly “ contributed to this happy result by hastening as soon “ as he knew of the generous intentions of the company, “ to exercise the great influence he had over the work- men in counselling them to agree to peace and “ resumption ofwork.”(“) The differences between the conflicting parties finally resolved themselves into such inconsiderable dimensions that it may almost safely be said that without revolu- tionary agitation on the one hand and with some convenient means of communication on the other, these disastrous events might have been averted. ( fi ) As in the strikes at Anzin and Decazeville, M. Basly played an important part in the strike of colliers at St. Etienne, which began in August 1888, but his action was of a new conciliatory character. The colliers struck for an advance of wages, and on a promise of 25 centimes increase a day, with additional contribution to the relief fund, returned at once to work. “But a “ spirit of discontent soon afterwards got abroad, “ encouraged by the action of the men at the works “ of the Limoges and Brives Railway, and about Sep- “ tember 5th the miners in three pits of the company “ of the Loire left work without notice, and by per- “ suasion or intimidation speedily effected a partial strike at all the collieries of the district. An imposing “ display of force was required on the part of the autho- “ rities to repress a dangerous repetition of excesses. “ The men, however, were soon divided amongst them- “ selves. They were baulked in their attempt to visit “ the pits in large bodies, they kept their chief demand “ for an advance of wages in the background, and they (‘) Histoire des Grisves, p. 23 S. ( 5 ) /*., p.239. ( 6 ) ib„ p. m E 4 (iii.) Colliers’ strike at St. Etienne, 1888. 40 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : “ merely contended that the relief funds required new “ regulating, that fincs(') ought to be suppressed and “ tasks and contracts be disallowed.”-; 3 ) The men also complained of the system by which a head miner acts the part of superintendent and distributes the wages ; it was alleged that under this system 40 per cent, of the wages was intercepted. “ On this and other points “ the masters showed themselves not unwilling to make “ concessions.” M. Basly predicted the failure of the strike to its leaders, pointing out (1) that two-thirds of the colliers were not in its favour ; (2) that the price then ruling for coal in central Prance made it vain to hope for an increase of wages ; (3) that the experience of the syndicate at Rive de Griers showed that the miners could not themselves work a mine with profit. “ The “ socialists, who were, it seems, movers of the strike, “ met and passed resolutions declaring M. Basly to be “ a traitor.’’ The strike broke down completely about October 6th. (iv.) Strike at Lens, 1889. (v.) General miners’ strike in May 1890. On October 8th, 1889, 2,742 colliers out of a total 5,700 came out in the pits of the Lens Company (Pas de Calais) for an increase of wages, and succeeded in obtaining 10 per cent. There was “ reason to believe “ that in some parts of the coal country higher rates ” prevailed than at Lens, where the average daily pay was about 4 francs 25c. ( 3 ) The demand for a scale of 5 francs 50c., 4 francs, and 3 francs 50c. for the different underground colliers had added to it claims for abolition of compulsory overtime, exemption from fines for non- attendance, and the privilege of residence in the com- pany’s miners’ dwellings for the widows of deceased colliers. The company at once offered to concede the minor points, to reduce fines, to make overtime optional and payable at an increased rate ; but they would only promise to pay the highest wages prevailing in any part of the Pas de Calais. “ At Carrieres, where, meanwhile, “ the strike had also broken out, the coalowners offered “ an advance of 7 per cent., and this gave an additional “ impulse to the movement, which ■went on extending “ as the men showed less and less inclination to listen “ to the offers of the masters. . . . On October 14th “ there were 5,700 miners out, and these numbers “ gradually increased on the 19th to 15,000 men belong- “ ing to 25 pits in the coal fields of the Nord and the “ Pas de Calais Departments. On October 20th, the “ Lens Company and the representatives of 14 other “ companies, including Aniche and Anzin, met at Douai, “ and passed a resolution granting an advance of wages “ of 10 per cent.” The cost of this advance was esti- mated at an annual sum of seven million francs (280,000L). The men in the Pas de Calais generally resumed work on these terms, although at a few places some held out for an advance of 20 per cent. The results in these cases were negative. ( 4 ) The Saint Etienne Miners’ Congress, 1890, and the demonstrations of May 1st “immediately succeeding it, were followed by serious strikes and disturbances. The resolutions carried out at that congress were “ of the most radical kind ” : (1.) Reduction of tbe working day to eight hours. (2.) Unification of wages in all collieries on the following scale : — Overground hands Underground „ Timberers in the ways Hewers 5 francs. 6 „ 7 „ 8 „ ■ (3.) That unless these demands were conceded a general strike should be proclaimed. At Saint Etienne, Decaze- ville, and throughout the Aveyron Department the men left their work for two days, and then returned on the old terms ; “ but in the Glard and Ardeche the colliers “ of the fields of Besseges and Alais went on strike for “ the Saint Etienne tariff to the number of 5,500 men,” and the collieries of Besseges, Molieres, and the neigh- bourhood remained empty until the end of the month. The demands meant an increase of about 25 per cent, to the wages paid at a time when collieries were “ noto- riously not prosperous.” The masters of Besseges and Alais calculated that the price of coal per ton would rise from 2s. 5 d. to 3s. 2d. a ton, and “ that these prices would necessarily curtail the output.” They declared that concession to the men meant ruin to themselves, and that under no circumstances did they see their way “ to reduce the shifts so as to include time in and time “ out within eight hours.” “ The mining population “ of the northern colliery districts of France left their P) The fines were levied for short attendance, defective lamps, Ac. ( 2 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series. No, 109, p. 4. ( 3 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 148, p. 3. (•>) Statistique Annuelle, 1890. Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 25S, Appendix, p. 42. “ work in large numbers on May 1st, but the only “ strike of importance which subsequently broke out “ was that of the Lens miners, who asked for the eight “ hours day and an increase of 20 per cent, of wages.” The masters refused to listen to terms, troops were called in to repress disturbances, and the colliers mostly returned to work before the end of May. In a few of the cases, e.cj., at Alais and Chamborigaud, slight con- cessions were made by the masters. At Alais the com- pany agreed to fortnightly payment of wages and free provision of tools. ( 5 ) In 1891 an important general strike amongst miners in the Pas de Calais aud Nord Departments lasted throughout November, and was brought to an end by an arbitration at Maries which arranged for a compro- mise. ( G ) At Maries (Pas de Calais) 3,000 men came out from October 23rd to December 1st, and this led to a general strike of 33,500 men from November 16th to December 1st, when there were many claims made, but especially for a more equitable distribution of wages and for re-organisation of the relief and superannuation funds ; on November 17th 1,050 miners at Dorignies (Nord) left work. “ The Carmaux strike will remain one of the saddest “ episodes of the war between capital and labour.”! 7 ) To this opinion all the commentators on this great struggle would yield a ready assent, though not all would agree entirely to the succeeding remarks : “ The company let “ loose the struggle by its intolerance, the workmen “ prolonged it by an attack upon freedom of labour, for “ which the Government did not know how to enforce “ respect, and the dynamiters seized the opportunity “ to sacrifice innocent victims to the Moloch of anarch- “ ism.” An exhaustive account (which was the result of a searching inquiry on the spot) was given in the pages of Le. Temps for the 9th, 11th, 18th, and 19th October 1892, of the hidden causes of the strike, which brings out, in a vivid and picturesque way the life of the miner and his surroundings in that highland district of the Tarn Department. The opinion of the writer of these articles as to the immediate cause of the strike agrees with those expressed by contributors to the leading reviews,; 8 ) and with the official account from the Labour Office. “ In the month of August a “ new conflict arose between the workmen and direc- “ tors of the mines at Carmaux, caused not by “ changes to be effected in the conditions of work, but “ by purely political considerations.”! 9 ) “ This strike was was of an entirely novel kind . . . “ The Carmaux miner knew very well that he would “ derive no material advantage from it, that he would “ return to the mines crippled with debts from which “ he would take years to set himself free.”(*°) The strike at Carmaux “was the consequence of discharge “ of a workman who had been elected Mayor and Coun- “ cillor of the arrondissement. The true, if not the “ avowed, motive of this dismissal was purely political. “ The opinions of the new Mayor were opposed to those “ of the company.”( u ) Various as are the views of the part taken by the company shown in the accounts, all agree that the strike and its causes were more purely political than were any others before it, even in France. It is undeniable also that more violent attacks were made upon freedom of labour than heretofore. ( 13 ) It is particularly important to trace the main circumstances which led up to the outbreak, and to show how the ground was slowly pre- pared for it. And first it seems important to note that in the early part of the year a strike had already broken out on the subject of wages. As early as January 12th certain demands had been made, but it was not until March 7th that 2,800 workers, impatient of delay in response from the company, ceased work.( 13 ) “Under pressure of “ public opinion the company accepted arbitration,”! 14 ) and meetings of the arbitrators chosen by both sides (vi.) General miners’ strike in November 1891. (vii.) Car- maux miners’ strike, 1892. Political character of the strike. Strike earlier in the year and its effects. ( 5 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 1C9, pp. 4, 5. Statistique des Graves, published 1892, p. 22. ( 6 ) De la Conciliation et de l’Aibitrage. Office du Travail, 1893, p. 535. ( 7 ) “ Journal des Economistes,” Novembre 1892. ( 8 ) Notably by M. Gibon (“ La RMorme Sociale,” February 1S92.) M. Gide (“ Economic Journal,” December 1892.) M. Molinari (" Journal des Econ.,” cit.) . ( 9 ) Do la Conciliation et de l’Arbitrage, Ac., Office du Travail, 1893, p. 651. ( 10 ) “ Le Temps,” October 18th, 1892. (H) “Journal des Economistes,” September 1892. Cf. “La Revue Socialiste/’ November 1892. ( 12 ) “ La Reforme Sociale,” February 1893, p. 262. ( 13 ) De la Conciliation et de 1’ Arbitrage, Office du Travail, pp. 543- 550. (i«) “ Economic Journal,” December 189*, article by M, Gide, p. 714. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 41 Conditions of employ- ment m Carmaux mines. Wages. Character of miners. Causes of the change. (three to represent each) were held at the Hotel de Ville, on March 13th, 14th, and 15th. Under this arbitration the miners were declared to be mainly in the right. “ The company had to consent to a rise in wages of 5 “ per cent., and to establish a minimum wage of 4.75 “ francs.” The effect, so far as the workmen were con- cerned, was naturally to produce iu them a fuller degree of self-confidence,! 1 ) and the repulse “ did not put the “ directors in a good humour, the more so as they were “ not long in observing, if their statistics arc accurate, “ that the workmen relying upon the minimum wage “ worked less and turned out less coal. According to “ the correspondence in the “ Temps,” the produce per “ workman fell from 716 kilog. to 651 kilog.”( 2 ) A slight sketch of the conditions of mining at Carmaux seems indispensable. The collieries are very rich and are situated in a picturesque mountainous district on a spur of the Cevennes less than two miles from Albi. The concession of the mine was granted to the Marquis de Solages in the middle of last century, and in 140 years the working of it has been continually developed. It is asserted that through improvements in working, the position of the miner of industrious habits in Carmaux has been for long superior to that which obtains in other collieries in France. ( 3 ) An eight hours’ day has been the normal day in this well-regulated mine, where the air is pure and accidents are almost unknown. When accidents do occur the company makes itself responsible for medical and other aid. Nearly all the older inhabitants of Carmaux are miners. The daily rates of wages at the time of the strike were as follows : — ( 4 ) (1 .) Underground. Hewers and timbermen - “ By turn men ” - Banksmen Trammers - Cagemen - 5f. 45c. 4f. 96c. 3f. 75c. 3f. 50c. 3f. 75c. (2.) Overground. Sorters - - - 2f. 18c. to 3f. 22c. Cokemen - - 3f. 05c. to 4f. 00c. Mechanics or tradesmen 3f. 25c. to 5f. 00c. All workpeople had and have in addition free coal. Many of them were able not only to buy their cottages, but also small plots of ground which they had leisure to cultivate. With extra earnings by the miners’ wives the monthly receipts of a family often reached 250 francs, and, as the cost of living are extremely moderate, savings might be effected to the amount of from 500 francs to 1,000 francs in the year. Up till the year 1882 no word of socialism had ever been preached in Carmaux, and the community peace- fully followed the lead of the mining company in times of elections. “ It was a sort of electoral fief in the “ hands of the powerful company, who, it was alleged, “ distributed their favours and their frowns amongst “ the workmen according as they showed themselves “ more or less submissive or independent.”! 5 ) From about the date just mentioned a great change began to come over the miner, in his standard of living and in his mental and moral character. From being a model amongst all other industrial workers in the matters of thrift, sobriety, industry, and peaceful ways, he has been transformed into a free-living, and free- thinking " fellow, who aims at being a fine gentleman, “ who frequents the bars and gambles .... slave “ of his factitious wants, the more he gains the more he “ spends.”! 5 ) There remains still at Carmaux a reserve of the former strong race, but the younger generation has beeomo corrupt in process of emancipation. The growth in number of public-houses (to a total of 131 in the beginning of 1893) for this little town of 9,000 souls, alone showed that a serious change had been affected in a period of three years.' 7 ) The change has been traced mainly to two causes ; (1.) The immigration of outside labour into the working of the collieries, which doubled their output in three years. (2.) Growth of the glass factories and establish- (') “ L’exaltation du m incur n’eut plus de bonus,” “Le Temns ’ October 19, 1893. (0 “ Economic Journal,” cit., p. 714. , W “ L e Temps,” October 11 , 1892. ” La Rbforme Sociale,” February lo!M, pp. 2o.v-4. J ( >) ,! La Rbforme Sociale,” loo. cit. ( 5 ) “ Economic Journal ” cited, p. 714. (“) “ La Rbforme Sociale,” February IK, 1893 , p, 266. ( 7 ) “ Le Temps,” October 11, 1892. U 78419. ment of a morally inferior race of workers on the spot- l o I hose luust be added as co-ordinate the development of the miners’ syndicate, under guidance of its secre- tary Calvignac, and of the revolutionary propaganda of the Oercle d' Etudes Societies. While the collieries were doubling thoir numbers of Tho glass workers the glass works were quadrupling theirs, and workers, the conditions of work in these latter tended to ac- centuate the unfavourable characteristics of tho outside labour employed in them.! 8 ) The opposition in manners and character might have served to keep the miners and glass workers apart had it not been that the glass factories offered too remunerative an opening for the wives and children of the miners to be neglected. I he syndical chamber of the miners which in 1883 The was no more than an industrial association for protec- syndical tion of trade interests and maintenance of friendly cbamber - benefits and which expressly excluded from discussion either political or religious matters, “had become in ' 1890 a centre for political discussions, personal, or ^religious hatreds of a revolutionary propaganda.”! 9 ) ihe Gerele d Etudes Societies fostered this move- ment. The syndical chamber was founded by a hewer in the mine named Alquier, and immediately recruited by from 500 to 600 members. It was founded broadly on the lines of the Saint Etienne Miners’ Syndicate and half the subscriptions (monthly 1 franc, 5 francs entrance) passed into the relief fund. By the be ginning of 1892 the members numbered 2,000. After the Saint Etienne Congress of 1883 the ambitious Calvignac Calrienar replaced Alquier in the office of secretary to the syndicate and on his motion a payment was attached to the post. Under his leadership the syndicate gradually established hostile relations with the com- pany. When the latter proposed that the relief funds should be paid into the State funds (Caisse Nationale dcs Retr elites) which offers special advantages to its beneficiaries, Calvignac hotly opposed the suggestion, although on another occasion he commended the superior advantages of the State over private funds. By the time of the elections of 1889 Calvignac had acquired considerable influence over the miners and all hi,s weight was thrown on the socialist side in opposi- tion to tho Marquis de Solages, who, however, was elected. On the 1st of May 1891, he organised processions of from 2,000 to 3,000 persons, men, women, and . children, carrying red flags and shouting seditious songs and cries, in spite of such emblems and songs being prohibited by the prefect. Every time the agents of the municipal police were ordered by the Commissary of Police to make an arrest they refused. _ The spirit of revolution “ was perman- ently settled in Carmaux ’’ from the date of the election of Calvignac as mayor, that is on May 15th. The writer in the “ Temps ’ remarked that the miners showed their gratitude to the Government for its favourable arbitra- tion at the time of the March strike in a strange way by thus defying its local representatives. The prefect’s notice (arrete) forbidding use of revolutionary emblems was cairied in the midst of tho processions, pinned to a red flag, These are the main events which led up to the strike that broke out on August 1 5th in very nearly the same violent way as that at Decazeville in i886. But the immediate cause has yet to be brought out. This was very simple according to the strikers. “ The mining company at Carmaux was reactionary. It saw with displeasure the election of Calvignac to the “ office of mayor on May 15th . . . and still more so his success against their own candidate on ( July 31st at the elections for the district council “ (conseil d’arrondissement) and the day after this ‘ election they dismissed him without pretext. It “ dealt a blow at the liberty of universal suffrage, and ( struck not at the workman (Calvignac) who was irreproachable, but at the representative of the “ masses.”! 11 ') Against such a statement has to be weighed the con- firmed lact that, in the two months and a half following his election to the mayoralty, Calvignac had attended work on only 17 days. He had obtained leave of absence for 18 days and had handed in, “ purely it would seem as a personal favour, a certificate of illness for “ 26 days. ”('') The company summoned Calvignac to explain his conduct, and on his refusal to choose between his duties C) *ll/ ra ’ division II., for conditions of employment (' ) Le Temps, ’ October 11 , 1892. (j°) “ Le Temps,” October 18tn, 1892. ( u ) “ Economic Journal ” cited, p. 715 . F 42 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Mistakes of the direc- tors. Attack on M. Humblot on August 15th. Picketing and intimi- dation. The Go- vernment. to them and his duties as a mayor (which they said was insolent) they discharged him. It does not appear why, if there was anything unjust in his dismissal, Calvignac did not sue the company and obtain the damages that would have been legally due to him. On the other hand, however just may be the grounds of complaint that the company had against Oalvignac and his followers in the mines, the directors cannot be acquitted of extraordinary want of circuriaspection in their choice of a moment to deal with the offender. If there was no political rancour in their action they seemed to have wilfully exposed themselves to the charge of it. They gave Oalvignac the pretext for an explosion which was of all others most acceptable to him. A striker informed the correspondent of the “ Temps ” that had the company chosen their moment better Oalvignac would have hardly had 1,000 supporters where he had 2,800. On August 15th. the excited strikers forced their way into the house of the director, M. Humblot, and sum- moned him with threats on his life to revoke Calvignac’s discharge or to sign his own resignation. He accepted the latter alternative, and Oalvignac as mayor of the commune intervened somewhat dramatically at this point to restore order. The strike continued, and as the soil for it had been well prepared, all kinds of violent or sometimes anarchical resolutions were passed at meetings of the strikers. Their cause was espoused by congresses and socialist bodies all over France, and deputies such as MM. Baudin, Lafargue, Ferroul, and others came down to the spot to organise meetings. “ One of them in particular, Baudin, a working man deputy for the department of the Cher, who had “ made a speciality of taking strikes in hand, fixed “ himself permanently at Carmaux, came to fisticuffs “ with the gendarmes, and had such a success amongst “ the workmen that his popularity caused that of “ Oalvignac to wane and called forth a sentiment of “ jealousy in the latter. ”(*) Picketing was organised with unusual vigour, and by September 8th the prefect for Tarn came in person to notify to Oalvignac and Baudin that if they continued their attacks on freedom of labour they should both be arrested. The activity continued without these threats of arrest being carried into effect. By the end of September the miners began to make specific proposals to the company who long withstood any suggestions of arbitration. One of the proposals was that Oalvignac should be considered as on furlough during his period of office and should be reinstated at the end. This was refused by the company, but they offered instead to maintain the mayor of the commune. At the same time the Marquis de Solages resigned his position as deputy, “ thus “ replying to those who reproached him with exercising “ political pressure.” ( 2 ) It is curious to note the attitude of the Government, who by this time had sent troops to the neighbourhood to preserve order, and who yet did not insist upon the maintenance of freedom of labour for non-syndicated workmen. The members of the syndicates still orga- nised pickets to watch the pits’ mouths day and night and prevent any workman from entering. At length, in respouse to a public demand, on October 11th the prefect sent an order to stop this picketing, to disperse street gatherings and groups of more than two or three persons. The order was annulled by the refusal of the mayor to post it. Such defiance was fittingly followed by increased disorder, and by the dynamite outrage, which destroyed five people unconcerned in the conflict, and the author of which remained undiscovered. ( 3 ) By this time, however, some arrests had been made by the gendarmerie, and in due course sentences were passed by the courts at Albi varying from eight days to four months, in some cases with fines added. The greater part of the strike occurred during Par- liamentary recess. The Chambers, however, met again on October 18th, and “ it was generally thought that “ the first sitting would be the last day of the Ministry. “ . . . Speakers on the right and on the left rose in “ succession giving notice of motions of censure against “ the Government, when at a solemn challenge from “ M. Viette, Minister of Public Works, Baron Rcille, “ the president of the company, ascended the tribune, “ and declared that for the sake of peace the company P) “ Economic Journal ” cited, p. 71(i. (P lb., p. 717. ( s ) “ La iteforme Sociale,” March 1, 181)3, p. 353. “ consented to arbitration, and elected as its arbitrator “ M. Loubet, president of the council. ”( 4 ) The miners’ syndicate consented to arbitration after pressure had been brought to bear upon them by the deputies, but decided to continue the strike until the verdict should be made known. Their demands were enumerated in the award of M. Loubet delivered on October 2tjth, which ran as follows : — “ The undersigned, the arbitrator nominated by the Carmaux Mines Company, and by the company’s work- men for the purpose of settling the points dividing the parties, has successively heard MM. Clemenceau. Pel- letan, and Millerand, deputies representing the work- men, M. Calvignac, a workman of the company and mayor of Carmaux ; Baron Reille, chairman of the company, assisted by M. Humblot, manager ; M. Dujardin Beauraetz, consulting engineer; MM. Beto- laud and Rousset, barristers. The delegates of the workmen in their behalf thus formulated their claims: (1.) Re-instatement of Calvignac ; (2.) Re-instatement of all the workmen without exception ; (3.) Removal of M. Humblot, manager. On these various heads it was replied by the representatives of the company : (1.) That they acted by virtue of the regulations in dismissing M. Calvignac ; (2.) That they are ready to take back all the workmen employed by the company at the time of the strike, with the exception of those who have been convicted by the Albi magistrates ; (3.) That they cannot agree to the removal of M. Humblot. After several times hearing the representatives of the workmen and of the company, and taking cognizance of the documents handed to him — “ On the first point (re-instatement of M. Calvignac), considering that the dismissal of M. Calvignac cannot be justified from July 15 to August 2 ; that he was on regular leave given by the company's doctor ; that the dismissal shortly after his election to the mayoralty and arrondissement council may have legitimately ap- peared a blow dealt at universal suffrage ; that, there- fore, the company has exceeded its right; but con- sidering that Calvignac’s new functions cannot permit him to devote himself to regular work, and that in this situation it appears fair, while maintaining him as the company’s workman, to grant him leave of absence during the whole time that his functions as mayor shall last : “ On the second point (re-iustatement of all the workmen without exception), considering that there is ground for drawing a distinction between the workmen who have simply taken part in the strike and those who, in connection with that strike have indulged in acts which have led to summary convictions ; as regards the former, considering that they have only used a right conferred on them by the law, and consequently should be taken back by the company ; as regards the latter, considering that in resorting to violence the} have exceeded their right, and justified the company’s refusal to take them back : “ On the third point (removal of M. Humblot), con- sidering that nothing is alleged which is of a nature to warrant the dismissal of this servant of the company .- “ The undersigned arbitrator has given the following decision: — (1.) Calvignac shall be re-installed in his functions as the company’s workman. Leave of absence is granted him during all the time that his functions as mayor shall last. (2.) All the workmen who have struck shall be taken back by the company, with the exception of those who have been convicted by the Albi magistrates. (3.) There is no ground for the removal of M. Humblot. — Loubet. Paris, October 26, 1892.” A semi-official note added that M. Humblot intended to resign the post of manager. After a few hours’ deliberation the following resolu- tion was drawn up by the strike committee : — “ The strike committee, having heard the decision of the arbitrator read by the prefect of the Tarn, and having considered its contents, resolve that, whereas the arbitrator himself sets forth in his decision that the dismissal of the mayor of Carmaux is a violation of universal suffrage, and in consequence finds that Cal- vignac should be re-instated ; whereas further, this decision, although providing for the rc-instatement of Calvignac, decrees that leave must be accorded him during his mayoralty, from which fact the re-instate- ment is virtually nullified, the leave and re-instatement being simultaneous, while it is necessary, for the re-in- statement to be effective, that Calvignac should be allowed to return directly to the mines ; whereas it is (*) “ Economic Journal ” cited. M. Loubet’s arbitration. Strikers' reply. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 43 because they hold the same opinion with reference to the dismissal of Calvignac as that expressed in the arbitrator’s decision that the workmen on August 15 went in a body before the directors to demand the complete reinstatement of the elected representative ; whereas the decision of their arbitrator vainly endeavours to make a distinction between the miners who joined together on August 15 by stating that all those who went out on strike will be taken back, while those upon whom the severity of the courts of law has already fallen will be excluded; whereas the 10 miners condemned were only found at the house of the manager in company with the whole of their comrades, who have never repudiated their responsibility for their acts ; whereas in addition other miners have been sentenced during the strike, and may have to undergo the same exclusion ; whereas, under these conditions, it is not possible for the strike committee to accept a decision which, while declaring that universal suffrage has been violated, not only accords no satisfaction to its defenders, but turns against them ; whereas further, the ridiculous character of this decision has been justly appreciated by the prefect of the Tarn in explaining it to the committee and advising them to accept it ‘ with resignation, if not with enthu- siasm ’ — the strike committee, after having deliberated on the matter, unanimously resolve that it is not pos- sible for them to submit to the decision of the arbitrator, and also resolve to continue the strike by all peaceable and legitimate means, and appeal from the decision to Republican opinion, awaiting the verdict with confidence. Signed on behalf of and by order of the committee, J. F. Mazens, president; Colmette, secretary.” The award was held up to public indignation in the papers by Mid. Clemenceau, Pelletan, and Millerand. •Grace” of A petition was presented to the Government for an the Govern- « amnes ty ” ( 0 r exculpation) for the prisoners sentenced m, ‘ n ' at Albi. A strong vote in the Chamber rejected this proposal, as also the suggestion that the troops should be withdrawn from Carmaux ; but a “grace,’’ i.e., a decision remitting the penalty of the crime, was agreed to by the Government on condition that the miners should accept the arbitration and return to work. Acceptance These terms were accepted by the strikers, under of terms. advice of the three Radical deputies, who were, no doubt, influenced by the strong vote in the Chamber, and who promised to find work for the condemned strikers. M. Humblot resigned bis post, so. that prac- tically the strikers gained most of their points. It is a curious epilogue to the story, however, that when the election of the successor to Marquis de Solages took place, no miner could be found to nominate the hero Calvignac. “This proves that the Carmaux miners are by no means such bad judges of raen.”(‘) Cost of The cost of the strike to the miners in wages was Strike to the calculated at 800,000 francs, and certainly they under - miners. we nt some cruel sufferings for the principle they adopted — “Vindication of manhood suffrage.” Picketing M. Gibon says of this strike that it was distinguished and intimi- amongst all others not only by its acutely political dntion. character, but also by its incidents: “The tyrannical “ action of the syndicate towards non-strikers ; the “ agitations of the socialist municipality tolerated by “ the Government; the violence of the strikers shown “ in revolutionary language, songs of war against “ society, . . violences, . . insults of the pickets “ to the soldiery, . . ; by the feebleness of the Go- “ vernment, which under political pressure set free “ men who were capable of most censurable acts.”( 2 ) ( :l ) (1.) Transport and Allied Industries. (i.) strike of The strike of railway servants in 1891 affected six servants companies or lines and extended to 6,059 workers. The vs 9 T. lU ' ’ demands were various, but the most important were for an increase in wages together with a reduction of the hours of labour. The strikers included enginemen and porters concerned both in the passenger and goods traffic, together with the men in the workshops. Of f 1 ) “ Economic Journal,” December 1892, p. 721. (2) “ La Reforme Sociale,” April 1. 1893, p. 530. ( 3 ) The miners’ strike of this summer and autumn, which has just come to an end, has been the occasion for another inter- vention on the part of M. Clemenceau, who is for a time excluded from political life. Possibly his dependence on journalism himself led to his proposal that the Paris press should arbitrate in the strike, while his earlier leaning to the workmen’s side in collective dis- putes is emphasised by his heimr out of Parliament. However, on the day after the consideration hv the Editors’ Syndicate of M. C16menceau’s proposal, the strike was declared closed at a delegate meeting at Lens by 38 votes to 16. The distraction of public sympathy due to the Russian visit seems to have taken away the last chance of prolonging the strike. This recalls the circumstances which closed the strike among tailors, detailed on p. 45.— G.D., 7/11/93. tho latter alone there were 2,351. The following figures show the number of strikers for each railway: — Nord, 1,185. Est, 685. Ouest, 959. Orleans, 1,282. Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, 1,927. Ceinture, 21. The strike lasted only four days, however, and the strikers were entirely defeated. The omnibus strike of May 25 to 27, 1891, in Paris (jj.) omni- is one of those rare cases where recourse was had bus strike at voluntarily to an outside arbitration. The demand was ‘ ay for an increase in wages and a reduction of the hours of labour and 1,316 men came out.( 4 ) Two delegates of their syndicate had asked an interview of the Ad- ministrative council of the company for the purpose of laying before them the demands of themselves and their fellow workers. The council replied on May 20th by a formal refusal to receive the delegates. On May 21st MM. Vacqueri chief editor of the “ Rappel,’’ Me- surer. deputy, and Pierre Lefevre applied for leave to bring representative members of the syndicate and discuss the claims that had been formulated by the workmen. The reply of the Director was that he would receive M. Mesureur “as a deputy and a former municipal councillor” ; this was a refusal to treat with the syndicate. At a meeting on May 24, the strike was decided on and the next morning omnibus and tramway traffic was suspended throughout Paris. The adminis- trative council of the company then called upon the Municipal Council to provide for mediation, and M. Levraud, the president, accepted the office. After long discussions an agreement was signed by the disputants in M. Levraud’s office, and in the presence of the Committee of the Municipal Council. It arranged that : (1) Employes dismissed since May 10 were to be re-instated ; (2) the day was not to exceed twelve hours, including mealtimes, and that this arrangement was to commence on .June 18th ; (3) further claims of the employes were to be discussed between the repre- sentatives of the company and of the members of the legally constituted syndicate. Work was resumed on May 27th. After observing the clause relative to the days’ labour for some time, the company attempted to substitute an average twelve hours’ day for the fixed twelve hours. On the dispute which resulted, the Tribunal of Com- merce for the Seine was invifed to arbitrate. Its decision was dated February 4, 1892, and held the company bound by the terms of clause (2) of the agreement into which it had entered. “ The General “ Omnibus Company is bound not to compel its “ employes to work more than twelve hours a day “ from the moment of leaving to the moment of “ turning into the yard exclusive of mealtimes (li “ hours).” The company also was condemned to pay the costs. ( 5 ) The strikes of Paris navvies and carpenters in 1888 (iii-) Strike were closely connected with each other. navvies and The Paris navvies struck on July 25, with a demand i88s. enterS ’ for a nine hours day, a six days’ week (Sunday rest), and a minimum wage of 60 centimes an hour. They objected to the existing system of eleven hours, and declared that the wages averaged 44 centimes. Twelve thousand workmen were out between July 25th and August 18th. It was reported that the strike com- mittee received 12,758 francs (508/.) for distribution among the strikers. Many were starving when they returned to work. The masters’ ultimatum was a minimum wage of 50 centimes an hour without limits as to hours. The men returned to work on the masters’ terms. The carpenters in Paris and suburbs also came out on August 14th for a nine hours’ day and a minimum wage of 80 centimes an hour. Of the 20,000 carpenters in Paris, the greater number were said to have been earning between six and seven francs a day. As, however, a certain number were unemployed, the strike committee declared that the average wage was four francs a day. Only 300 of tho carpenters still held out for the 80 centimes minimum at the end of a week. On August 24th they gave in entirely. The employers’ contention was that a uniform wage frustated their intention of reserving the lighter tasks for the older or weaker members of the trade. They maintained that they could not pay the same wage for 54 hours’ work as for 72 hours. The theory of the men was that ( 4 ) Statistique des Grfcves, p. 160. De la Conciliation et de T Arbitrage, p. 527. ( 5 ) Cf. supra, p. 33. F 2 44 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LA HOUR : (iv.) Strike of navvies and other la- bourers on the Brives and Limogei Railway in 1888. (v.) Strike of Paris navvies, 1891. there would be no unemployed if Sunday were made a legal holiday, hours were reduced to eight or nine a day, and all foreigners were excluded. In these two struggles for the same purpose it is carious to observe that the more highly skilled trade gave in more readily. “ Those who were ready to incur risk were few in “ comparison with those who preferred the security “ of their employment.’’ The result of the unskilled labourers’ strike was “to eliminate weak and aged “ men, and to leave none but those able to compete for “ the earning of an uniform rate of wages.’’! 1 ) The movement on the Brives and Limoges railway which began at the close of the strike of Paris navvies ended more favourably for the men than the Paris strikes, but there (Haute Yienne and Correze) the wages were much lower. “ The line . . . was “ undertaken at a time when wages were lower than “ usual, and it is said that contractors outbid each “ other imprudently enough in making cheap offers “ for sections of the permanent way. They hoped to “ recoup themselves by paying low wages to the “ numerous hands who were idle at that time on “ account of a slack season in the slate quarries, and “ othex- districts through which the line passed.” They said they actually could obtain workmen of all kinds for an average rate of 37£ centimes an hour for time work and 6 francs a day for piece-work. The men on strike declared that the average rate paid was less than this, and they asked for an increase, which would mean an average rate of 47£ centimes an hour; piecework was to be disallowed. The contractors refused the advance asked and would only consent to a slight rise in the rates for unskilled labour, which would mean an average of 39 centimes ; they refused to disallow piece- work. On September 1, a good many men bad returned to work, but the strike was not at an end before October lst.( s ) The strike among navvies ( terrassiers ) or daily labourers employed on earth works in Paris in August 1891 was interesting not so much because of its size or the demands of the strikers as because of the determi- nation shown at the time by the Government to protect freedom of labour. For some time considerable dissatisfaction had been felt among the workers on account of the low rate of their wages, which, according to one of their leaders, had been steadily falling from 45 centimes to 40 centimes, and even 35 centimes since a successful strike of some years before. “ This dissatisfaction culminated at the end of “ July, when more than 2,000 labourers wont out. On “ July 31st a meeting was held at the Labour “ Exchange and a general strike was declared. In “ addressing the meeting the president of the strike “ committee laid stress on the bad faith of the masters “ who in 1882, ( :t ) had agreed to a minimum wage of 60 “ centimes an hour, and strongly urged that they should “ all continue on strike till their employers signed an “ agreement granting those terms. This proposal was “ adopted, and a committee was formed for the purpose “ of extending the movement and preventing the “ places of those on strike being filled by others. ”( 4 ) An active propaganda was then carried on and several other batches of earth workers in the suburbs of Paris joined the strike, while the carters raised threats of coming out. Attempts of “ agitators ” to organise interference with navvies who had not struck brought about conflicts with the police and gendarmerie who had been posted to keep order. Numerous arrests were made and heavy sentences passed. A specially serious struggle took place at the Yillette canal, “ where “ an organised attempt was made to drive away the “ men employed on it from the works . . . It was “ only by calling up reinforcements that the gendar- “ merie were able to protect the men, and then not “ without some bloodshed.” Moderate Republican organs drew attention at the time to the “ dangers that “ might ensue from abuse of the extensive privileges “ granted to labour associations.’^ 5 ) Some alarm was felt at the attempts that were made to induce the street sweepers and sewer men to organise thoroughly and join the strike so as to bring pressure to bear upon (*) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 109, p. 2. This result may be compared with that of the great London dock strike of the same year. ( 2 ) Foreign Office Report, No. 109. ( s ) See Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 109, however. Can this be the strike of 1888 when the masters promised a minimum wage of 50c. P (■*) Memorandum to the Foreign Office, by Mr. Condie Stephen, dated Paris, August 19th, 1891. ( 5 ) lb. municipal authorities. By August 19th some of the employers had accepted the terms of the men, but the strike was not closed until some time later.( r ’) (c.) Textiles, Clothing, Glass, and Miscellaneous. In August 1888 a strike of stocking weavers took (i.) Stocking place at Troyes in the mills of Messrs. Mauchaufl'ee on the ground- of unjust dismissal of a workman named August 1888. Cotel. After the strike had commenced various demands were put forward — for new rates of pay, for abolition of fines for irregular attendance, for suppres- sion of overtime, for supply of articles used by mill hands at cost price, and other changes. The men also claimed to be treated as a body through their syndicate and not, singly. “Messrs. Mauchaufl’ee met the last of these demands by a coalition of the syndicates of employers. They entered men to take the place of those on strike, and carried a resolution under which '* a ll tl ie niill owners of Troyes declared a lock-out to take effect on a certain day. A meeting of the rival unions of syndicates only revealed the conflict- “ ing views of both sides. fl’he men required the “ reinstatement of Cotel and the dismissal of the new hands; they refused to treat (with their employers) “ except as a workmen’s syndicate. The employers “ expressed their willingness to treat with delegates “ of the men, but refused to discuss matters with a “ deputation of the syndicate. They consented to an “ increase of wages for plain stocking weaving ; they “ reduced the fines for irregular attendance to from “ 25 centimes to 50 centimes, provided the men were not “ more than ten minutes late. They professed to have no “ interest in the question of overtime, and they “ promised to force no man to take two looms unless “ he liked. ”( 7 ) After holding out for six weeks the men went back on the terms offered by the employers. The strikes among textile operatives at Roubaix, on the Belgian frontier, in 1890, were of a serious character. They were mostly connected with the demonstrations cf May 1st. The nature of the agitations and demands of this year have already been pointed out in connection with the miners’ strikes. “ The chief centre of dis- “ turbance was at Roubaix, where upwards of 30,000 “ workmen spent May 1st idling in the street, and “ claiming eight hours and 30 per cent, increase to wages. “ . . . In some cases the same wages were asked “ for ten hours as for twelve, in other cases more for “ ten hours than had hitherto been paid for twelve. “ The masters might have seen their way to concede “ higher pay, but they declared themselves unable to “ make any concessions as to short time until the “ Government procured an international agreement to “ that effect. . . . Unfortunately the strikers at “ Roubaix, Turcoing and that vicinity, were not satis- “ fled with peaceful agitation, they formed themselves “ into bands which scoured the country, broke into “ mills, threatened the lives of manufacturers, and “ caused grave anxiety to the authorities.”( 8 ) The following table shows the progress of the strike at Roubaix as regards spinning operatives. (ii.) Strikes among textile operatives at Roubaix in May 1890. Table XV. No. of Strikers. Factories Dates. Cause. 73 1 April 11 to 22. Demand for increased wage. 1,265 7 Maj - 1 to 6 Demand for 10 hours’ day, with 12 hours’ wage. 1,720 5 ,, 1 to 7 99 99 1,000 7 „ 1 to 8 99 99 435 3 „ 1 to 9 99 )) 100 1 „ 1 to 10 99 99 1,352 12 „ 1 to 12 99 if 60 1 „ 3 to 8 99 n 675 4 „ 5 to 9 99 if 600 6 „ 5 to 10 99 if (6) The French Official Statistics for 1891 make no mention of this strike. No account can be obtained of the final steps which led to the enu oi me suiae. . , T ( 7 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series. No. 109, 1888, p. 3. No particulars are given as to the numbers involved in this strike. ( 8 ) Foreign Office, Miscellaneous Scries, No. 109. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 45 Thus 47 factories were affected for a period of one month by 7,910 strikers among spinners. The result was defeat for the strikers. The course among dyers at Roubaix was as follows : — No. of Strikers. Factories. Dates. Cause. 35 1 May 1 to 5 Demand for reduction of hours and increased wage. .505 3 „ 1 to 6 ,, 1,440 8 „ 1 to 8 320 2 „ 1 to 9 835 9 „ 3 to 12 20 1 „ 3 to G 13 1 „ 3 to 8 400 1 „ 3 to 9 80 1 ,, 5 to 8 720 6 „ 5 to 9 >> J5 Thus in 32 dying works 4,668 workers came out, and the strike extended in all over twelve days. The strikers were defeated. A similar table might be made out for the weavers ; of these there were 10,131 strikers, and 65 factories were affected. The strike extended from April 30th to May 13th, and was defeated. (') /ntexRle lkeS Large strikes took place among workers in the textile trades in trades in 1891. The most important was amongst the weavers in Sedan and its environs (Ardennes) which lasted from March 2.9th to May 19th and extended to 3,500 hand and loom workers. The demand of the strikers was for an increase in wages, which they even- tually obtained. ( 2 ) Another important strike was amongst the spinners at Wignehies in the Nord department. On July 14th 100 spinners in one factory came out in protest against the dismissal of a worker. On August 17th they were joined by 1,750 spinners from three other factories, who suspended work in order to show sympathy with the cause. These latter returned to work on September 1st. The others returned on September 12th. The strike was unsuccessful, and 280 workers were dis- missed. (iv.) Strike of working tailors, Paris, 1883. Character of the working tailor. A strike in Paris of six weeks’ duration among tailors’ assistants in 1885 presented some interesting features, and revealed certain important facts in the tailoring trade. The official declaration of the strike by the strike committee was made on April 28th. Demands were made for a reduction of the hours of labour, an increase of wages, and a reform of the woi’kshops in matters of sanitation, by a small, restless anarchist group called L’ Aiguille. On the last point they said they were prepared to temporise. The time workers were in receipt of 9 francs a day, and asked for an advance of 10 centimes an hour ; the piece-workers were in receipt of from 100 to 150 francs a week, and asked for an advance of 2 francs a piece. It is important to notice in connection with these demands that in the preceding 30 years the wages of working tailors had advanced 50 per cent, while the selling price of the garments had remained almost stationary, that the advance asked meant an additional rate of 16 per cent., while the firms spent already 40 per cent, in wages, and only made 20 per cent, profits. In addition to the wages the employers subscribed to the relief fund. The employers declared at the outset that it was quite impossible for them to add anything to the wages bill. M. Renault wrote in 1887 that the working tailor was more luxurious and less thrifty than any other class of worker’s, and pointed out that amongst 30,000 of them only 219 of them supported their mutual aid society. ( : ‘) A delegate of the syndical chamber of cutters acknow- ledged that he earned 4,000 francs yearly, and his wife 2 francs a day, but that he had never saved a franc. At the beginning of the strike 50 workshops were deserted, and on the next day 200 more. “ The strikers “ threw themselves into the movement with all the “ carelessness of artists, forgetting the most important “ point of having well replenished funds.” At first tumultuous meetings were held amongst them, but after about eight days of anarchy some organisation grew up. On May 10th, at one of their meetings, a cutter was I’rogressof forcibly expelled for pointing out that the sinews of thestl- ike. war were wanting, since they had no money. On the 15th a serious skirmish took place in the Mathurin and I ronchet Streets ; on the 17th some arrests were made ; on the 18th serious attacks on free labour were carried out in the street. On the 20th a half-hearted proposal for a conference with the employers was made. “From this moment the termination of the strike seemed to be only a matter of time.” The funeral of Victor Hugo dis- tracted attention, and there were so many defections from the band of strikers that the committee announced to an inquirer that three-fourths were “ false.” Twelve days later the strike was officially closed, after having lasted six weeks. the employers were thoroughly united and firm in resisting the deinands of the strikers throughout, and secuied the assistance of their creditors amon°* the cloth and silk merchants. Their reply to the proposal of conference was.- ‘‘If we had been able to consider the smallest rise in wages we would already have done so. they admitted #o point for consideration but the return of the men to work. Many of the men did. so eight days before the final submission. The position of the emyloyers was rendered more difficult by competition on t c part of the English clothiers. ( 4 ) Attitude of the em- ployers. The strike of glassworlcers at La Mulatiere in the (v.) strike Rhone department m September 1886 lasted over of s la ss- three months and caused serious loss and suffering to LaMuTa^ French industry, but had one o- 00 d result in bringing tibre in 188G. about an improved understanding between employers and employed in that district. On April 8th two hundred workers of the Allouard- Dumont glassworks announced a strike which was to begin on the following day. They expected to be joined by all the other glassworkers in the district, number- ing about 1,400. ( 5 ) The alleged cause was an attempt to reduce wa«es. The demands of the strikers were for a revision of tariffs, some of which were too high, others too low. On May 7th a very serious attack was made on the Attack on Allouard works where several imported labourers had imported been established. One of them was, it was alleged, a labourers - Prussian, whose advent was notified to the strikers (who were engaged at the time in meetings) by some women and children. These women took part in the struggle that immediately followed. Revolvers were used. Eighteen arrests were made. On the 9th and lltli some of the individuals arrested Committee were set free and on the 12th an attempt at mediation ^ 0 ™ edia ' was made by a former master glassworker ( maitre verrier). The employers consented to his nomination as mediator, and on the 14th he began his inquiry with the help of a committee of four workers. On the 18th, however, the workmen made a demand for (1) arrest of M. Allouard, and (2) dismissal of the workers who had replaced the strikers or remained at work when the strike was declared. To the latter pro- posal the employers could only return an energetic refusal. As for the former demand, the workmen them- selves apparently withdrew it. From that time the situation was altered by the systematic attempt of the employers to introduce outside labour. They declared that it was impossible to arrange one uniform tariff for every works. The strikers were further excited by an incidental strike of leather workers in the neighbourhood in the end of June. Picketing of the works where imported labour had Successful been introduced was systematically and successfully Picketing, carried out. The new workers twice over joined the strikers and entered the syndicate with enthusiasm. On July 9th the workmen proposed at a meeting to ask a grant of 400,000 francs from the Minister of the Interior in order that they might manage a glass factory for themselves. On the 16th, however, the committee of mediation tired of going up and down between the disputing parties started the idea of adopting the tariff (*) Stalistique ties Greves, 1892, pp. 35-41. ( 2 ) Statistique ties Graves, 1892, p. 89. ( 3 ) Histoire ties Greves, 1887, p. 180. ( 4 ) Histoire des Graves, pp. 178-185. ( 5 ) The account is not exact as to the numbers who joined, but it appears that all the glasswcrkers, except one, were gradually involved Histoire des GirOves, pp. 255-2C2. F 3 46 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : (vi.) Strike of bakers at St. Ouen and St. Denis, 1888. Statute of 1791. Ring: of bakers. Co-operative bakeries. (vlt.) Strike of bakers at Marseilles, February 1893. (viii.)Match- makers’ strike, April 1893. of the one glass factory which had not been affected by the strike. On July 11th this com- promise was adopted by both employers and syndical delegates and the strike was declared at an end. The Allouard-Dumont firm was the only one which refused to discharge the workmen who had not fraternised with the strikers. It was accordingly boy- cotted. A dynamite explosion on December 17th at M. Allouard's private house was connected with this fact. No person was injured and the event seemed to be the last echo of the strike. One of the most curious strikes of 1888 was among the bakers of St. Ouen and St. Denis in October. A syndicate of bakers had been formed in these suburbs of Paris which exercised its growing power to raise the price of bread to what was considered an un- due extent by the municipality. Under an old law of 1791 the municipalities of France have power to fix a maximum price of bread. In the majority of the Communes the exercise of the power had fallen into abeyance, although it was a common thing for the local authorities to advertize a quoted price for the guidance of bakers ; the latter considered themselves at liberty to realise higher quotations if they could. The maxi- mum proposed at St. Ouen in 1887 was 74 centimes for 2 kilos of bread (7 \d. for 4 lbs. 6™ oz. av.) and the bakers declared they could only do this at a loss. At St. Denis the maximum was not advertised until September 15th, 1888. at 76 centimes (7 $d.) for 2 kilos. It was stated that the bakers’ syndicate had “ kept “ household bread at 80 centimes (7-fcf.) for 2 kilos “ and had caused the failure of one refractory member “ of the trade by underselling him for dealing at prices “ below those of the syndicate.”! 1 ) When the notice of the municipality came out, the St. Denis bakers com- bined to close their shops at the same time. In St. Ouen the bakers gave their men notice of a reduction in wages of over twenty per cent. (4-5 francs to 35 francs). The men left work and the community were reduced to the same discomfort as in St. Denis. There the people stormed the chief bakery and plundered it. In both places the municipality imported bread and sold it at the maximum price. This action forced the bakers and their men to capitulate. Such troubles were, it is said, avoided in the provincial towns where co-operative bakeries existed. The expenses of a baker baking daily 2| sacks or 400 kilos were proved during the strike to be annually 6,688 francs 45 centimes. Upon this basis “the municipality, taking the price of “ flour also into account, fixed the maximum price of “ bread at 75 centimes for 2 kilos ; the cost of making “ being taken at 11 francs per 100 kilos per diem.”( 2 ) A similar strike of bakers took place at Marseilles in February 1893. This time the mayor and municipal council considered that 40 centimes per kilog. was too high a price and reduced the standard to 374 centimes. The bakers in the neighbouring towns joined in protest with the Marseilles bakers. Bread could not be pro- vided in spite of great efforts by the municipality, and riots ensued. Eventually the bakers accepted the standard officially fixed, under protest, declaring that they would petition against interference. It was in October 1892 that the Chamber last refused by a great majority to reconsider the law of 1791 . ( 3 ) The matchmakers' strike in the Government factories at Pantin, Trelaze, Bordeaux, and other places, in April 1893, raised some very interesting points, and especially showed the difficulties that might be introduced for the State as an employer of labour if any measure such as the Bovier-Lapierre Bill ( 4 ) were to become law. One of the foremost demands of these strikers was that a syndical workman discharged by the director should be reinstated without even a reproof for the offence for which he was discharged. (>) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 109, p. 5. ( 2 ) Do. rln. p. 6. ( 3 ) “ La Revue d'Economie Politique,” March 1893. (■*) Which is as follows : — Article I. All employers, labour contractors, and foremen, who shall have been proved to have by threats, of loss of employment, or deprival of work, refusal to engage workmen or employes, or by threatening to discharge them on account of being members of a. syndicate by acts of violence and assault, gifts, offers, or promises of work, obligation or hindrance to become members of professional syndicates recognised by the law of March 21, 1884, shall be punished by imprisonment of six days to one month and a fine of 100 fr. to 8,000 fr„ or by one or other of such penalties onlv. Article II. The provisions of Article 403 of the Penal Code are appli- cable to the penalties edicted by Article I., supra. Article III. The present law is applicable to Algeria and the Ctlonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and the island of Reunion. For some months before the strike the matchmakers iiad been putting forward demands for an increase in wages. Certain classes of the workers gained a slight increase, but others alleged that they had sustained a loss through modification of the tariffs. Eventually the strike was announced, and the claims were : (1) For time-workers, 5 francs (men) and 3 francs 50 (women) ; (2) for piece-workers, 6 francs (men) and 4 francs (women) ; (3) limitation of the day’s labour to 10 hours ; (4) improvement in the hygiene of the factories, e.g., by use of red instead of white phosphorus. ( 5 ) It was pointed out in the course of negotiations that lead poisoning of a slow but sure kind was prevalent through- out the factories, and that, while the State ostensibly pensioned its workpeople, these latter hardly ever reached the age when the pension became due. A pension of 600 francs a year was due after 30 years’ service and at 55 years of age. The workmen declared that a match factory worker never lived so long. After several days had failed to bring about any understanding between the directors and the strikers, the former having declared that they could not enter- tain any thought of the proposed increase in wages, the proposal above referred to, relating to the syndicated workman, was added to the first claims. At this point certain deputies took the matter in hand, and, after notice of an interpellation had been given, the Minister of Finances consented to receive a body of the workpeople led by the deputies. Fair promises were given at the meeting, and hopes of an immediate arrangement were entertained. But other meetings had to be arranged before the difficulty of the dismissed syndicated workman could be got over. Eventually, “after a show of firmness, the Minister “ capitulated to the workmen without a single con- “ dition.’’( 6 ) The increase of wages asked was given. The workpeople went to tear down the notices of the director, and posted up an exultant manifesto instead. Five match factories were involved in the strike. One of the largest, Trelaze, a few miles from Angers, employs 260 workpeople, of whom 90 are men. 170 women. In all, these factories produce 29 milliards of matches in the year. In their comments on the events of the strike, one party pointed out the blow struck at order and discipline by this capitulation to State servants, who, it was alleged, had advantages in their conditions of employ- ment unknown in private enterprises ; (') the other party declared the conditions of employment in these State factories to be in reality inconceivably worse than in private factories. The directors of the State factories, “ assured of their good salary and absolute “ impunity, laugh at the prescriptions and regulations “ imposed by the law on employers in private industry. “ Official industry and Government labour are above “ the laws, and those who direct them make light of “ odious abuses and inhuman practices, against which “ the present movement claims measures of protec- “ tion.”( s ) In support of these statements instances are quoted of punishments inflicted for minor offences on women, such as standing at work for two or three days for the offence of talking. Terrible descriptions are given of the process of lead poisoning, which seems inevitable where no precautions are taken against the use of white phosphorus. 3. General Results of Strikes. Out of the total number of strikes in 1888, which was 110. 22 were favourable in their results to the workers, 24 were concluded with a compromise, and 64 failed. Out of 321 strikes in 1889, 65 were favourable in their results for workers, 65 were concluded with a compro- mise, 166 failed, and in the case of 25 the results remained unknown to the authorities. The following tables sho " the results of strikes in these years, and in 1890 and 1891, classifying them at the same time according to their causes.! 9 ) ( 5 ) “ L’Economiste, Franqais.” April 22. 1893, article by M. George Michel. “ L’Association Catholique,” April loth. 1893, p. 496. ( 6 ) “ L’Economiste Franqais ” cited. (') View of the writer in “ L’ficonoraiste Franqais,” quoted above. ( 8 ) View of the writer fn “ L’Association Catholique.” quoted above. ( 9 ) See Statistique des Graves, 1892, and Statistique GOndrale, 1890. Claims made. Mediation of deputies. Factories involved. Comments on the sig- nificance of the strike. (a) Results of strikes irotn 1888 to 1891. I REPOET ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 47 (b) Results of strikes during the period 1832- l->89. (i) Nature and uses of the institution of experts ( Prud’- hommes). Table XYa. Shewing Results of Strikes in 1888 anil 1889. Number of Strikes followed by Strikes on Account of Success. Compromise. Negative Results. Unknown. 1888. 1889. 1888. 1889. 1888. 1889. 1888. 1889. 1888. 1889. Increase of wages 4 33 10 34 17 94 _ 31 161 Diminution of wages 11 10 11 11 26 15 — — 48 36 Divers causes - - - 7 22 3 20 21 27 — — 31 99 Unknown - — — — — — — — 25 — 25 Totals - 22 65 24 65 64 166 — 25 110 321 Table XYb. Shewing Results of Strikes in 1890 and 1891. Number of Strikes followed by Total Number of Strikes on Account of Success. Compromise. Defeat. Unknow'n. Strikes. Strikers. 1890. 1891. 1890. 1891. 1890. 1891. 1890. 1891. 1890. 1891. 1890. 1891. Wages 65 73 48 47 104 65 2 2 219 187 64,636 86,683 Hours - - 10 4 9 8 25 9 2 — 46 21 47,043 11,902 Unionism or synd'cal — 2 1 3 4 6 — — 5 11 710 9,352 claims. Staff dismissal 12 8 1 6 30 28 i 1 44 43 12,097 11,295 Regulations or disci- 5 3 1 1 6 6 — 1 12 11 1,302 2,006 pline. Aid funds — — — 3 1 — — — 1 3 9,850 37,290 Totals 92 90 60 68 170 114 5 4 327 276 135,638 158,528 The results of strikes during the period 1852 to 1889 have also been classified by the French authorities. During this period there were 539 strikes among weavers. There were 111 with favourable results for the workers, 119 ending in compromise, 303 failed, and fi of which the results are unknown. In the same period there were 157 spinners’ strikes. Of these 22 were favourable to the workers, 16 concluded with compro- mise, 118 failed, of 1 the results wore unknown. Out of 109 strikes in metal works 19 were favourable to workers, 23 led to a compromise, 66 failed, and in the case of 1 the results remained unknown. Out of 88 miners’ strikes 11 produced favourable results, 7 ended in compromise, 61 failed, and in 9 cases the results were unknown. The French statistics attempt no estimate of the cost of strikes. (') E. — Prevention and Settlement of Strikes. 1. Councils of Experts (“ Conseils de Prud'hommes ”). The peculiarly French institution of industrial “ prud- hommes ” is taken first in this section, although primarily and directly it is not concerned with the settlement of strikes (collective disputes) or with the fairness or unfairness of wages. ( 2 ) There are two good reasons for considering the work of these councils before that of the arbitration and conciliation councils which exist in certain trades, viz. : (1.) Their mode of working first suggested the idea in France of formation of permanent arbitration boards ; and (2.) There is no doubt that to the institution of conseils de prud’hommes is mainly due “ the comparative tranquillity prevailing in French industry in this century. It has obviated many partial strikes by assuring to workmen a com- petent, rapid, and economic arrangement of disputes ') Sec p. 136 for strikes in 1892. 2 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 159, 1890, p. 2. “ with their employers.” The costs, delays, and vexations of legal processes are dispensed with. Two- thirds of the cases which come up for conciliation are settled off-hand, for an expense not exceeding 30 centimes (3d.), by judges of the technical matters in question. “ Who does not know that it is the repetition “ of small unsettled disputes which produces in the “ long run that irritation which gives rise to strikes. ”( :i ) If the expense for the individual workmen of clearing away his difficulties were greater than it is, he would not resort to the conciliation or arbitration of the prud’hommes. It seems unfortunate that the institution should be found in a comparatively small number of industries. This will he shown presently in the classification of disputes settled. A further examination of the detailed statistics would show that, while in many disputes as to the mode of carrying out a contract no highly technical knowledge is required of an arbitrator, yet, on occasions, even the conseil de prud'hommes is obliged to call in a special arbitrator, who submits to them a report. The matter coming before the councils must arise out of interpretation of a contract, written or implied, between the employer and one of his employed, while the amount of the claim in dispute must not rise, where judgment is given, above SI. ; over that amount an appeal must be made to the Tribunal of Commerce. The great majority (about 75 per cent.) of the disputes referred to the councils are directly concerned with wages, he., as to the exact amount agreed upon, the time and mode of payment, amounts of fines, and so on. Absences from work, defective workmanship, appren- ticeship, valuation, piece-work, delay in completing task work account for other cases ; of these the first mentioned form about 10 per cent, of the disputes settled. For the execution of their functions the councils (;;) Division ave divided into two sections or committees, viz., the of functions; “ bureau The “ experts ” are con- cerned only with inter- pretations of contracts. ( 3 ) De la Conciliation et de V Arbitrage, &c.,l 1893. F 4 48 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: particu- lier,” and " bureau g6n6ral.” (iii.) The committee of conciliation (bureau particular). (iv.) The committee of judgment (bureau gOnCral). committee of mediation or conciliation and the com- mittee of judgment ( bureau particulier ou cle conciliat ion et bureau general ou cle jugement). “ The council was insti- “ tuted to terminate by conciliation the small disputes “ which arise daily, whether between manufacturers “ and workpeople or between managers and journey - “ men or apprentices. It was also authorised at the “ same time to pronounce judgment up to an amount “ of 60 francs without forms or expenses and without “ appeal on the disputes in which conciliation had “ failed.” It was further instructed to keep an account of the trades and the workpeople under its jurisdiction, and for this purpose might make visits of inspection two or three times a year.(‘) Mr. Condie Stephen says that in several of the cases which he heard in the committee of conciliation, “ the “ workman who was presiding seemed to bo aware, “ after a few questions, that the applicant had no cause “ for complaint, and told him so, with the effect that “ the latter withdrew, with all the appearance of a man contented at least with having had his say. On “ the other hand, employers, when the sum in dispute is “ a small one, and they have not a good case, prefer to “ pay rather than incur the loss of time incurred by “ appearing in court, and this to some extent is a “ protection for workmen. In like manner workmen “ frequently agree to a compromise proposed in the “ bureau of conciliation rather than run the risk of “ losing their case by taking it on to the other bureau. “ Much good is also done by this system in protecting “ apprentices and seeing that they are properly taught “ their trade. ”( 2 ) The committee of conciliation consists of two mem- bers, one an employer, the other a workman, and, if possible, of different industries. These preside at the sittings alternately month by month. The sittings must be held at least three times a week, from 11 a.m. till 1 p.m., and every endeavour must be made to bring the disputants, who both present their cases, to a friendly understanding. The disputants appear with their witnesses, if they choose to bring them, and without lawyers. The cases are called up in the order set down on the roll and according to the order of date on which notices were sent to the disputants, which is the sitting next after the registration at the secretary’s office. The committee has the right to call for docu- ments or industrial products relating to the case. Where the case i-s not decided in court the committee retires to deliberate for a few minutes in private ; the terms then proposed by the president do not in any way prejudice the decision of the committee of judgment if they are not accepted. If they are accepted, the secretary draws up the conditions arrived at, and the president urges their fair acceptance. If the parties are referred to the next meeting of the committee of judgment, full notes are retained by the secretary of the statements made, the terms proposed, and the alleged motives for refusal. The public arc admitted to the sittings of the com- mittee of judgment, which meets at least once a week. This committee consists of a president (an employer), a vice-president (a workman), who preside alternately, and of two master and two workmen prud’kommes. If either of the parties fail to appear on the day appointed, the case L judged by default, and the judgment becomes operative if the defendant shows no cause to the con- trary within three days. “ Occasionally a prud’homme “ is deputed to inquire on the spot and report to the “ board before judgment is delivered. ”( 3 ) Generally, however, the case is conducted in court by verbal examination under the president. The inquiry may extend over more than one sitting, and be subject to report by a member of the committee. “ Counsel are “ not admitted, but a minor may be accompanied bj’ a “ parent or guardian. . . Order is maintained by “ the president, who may have recourse to the services “ of the police if necessary. ”( 4 ) Heads of industrial establishments may be represented by their managers. Witnesses may be called, and are obliged to appear. The court meets in Paris at the Tribunal of Commerce, and in other towns or centres suitable offices are pro- vided for them. The court has power by law to punish disturbances in factories by imprisonment for a period not greater than three days, but this power is not now exercised. Costs, including seizure of goods in default of payment, cannot exceed 43 francs 60 centimes, and will not exceed o francs 50 centimes if the decision is promptly carried out. The following bill shows the details : ( 5 j [Notice to attend - Summons Judgment - Notification - Writ' ... Notice of seizure Official report of publication Verification - Fr. c. 0 30 1 80 3 20 3 90 2 .60 11 80 12 00 8 00 Details of costs. Total - - 43 60 A council can bo created od the request of a local (v.) Election Chamber ot Commerce by a State decree which must of,he specify exactly (1) how many prud’hommes are to make SSSrt, up the council, six being the smallest number exclusive ot the presidents ; (2) over what communes their jurisdiction is to extend ; (3) the industries that are to be subject to the council. Under the decree of March 8, 1890 only those trades in which materials undergo transformation can elect these councils ;( r ') thus manu- facturers and builders have the privilege, while merchants and shopkeepers, mines and railways are excluded. Ihe original council at Lyons was composed < of nine members, the Lille council consists of 24 members of which eight belong to each of the three groups: textile, mepallurgic and miscellaneous in- dustries ; ot the eight, four are employers, four workmen. ( 7 ) Ihe suffrage is given to all masters, heads of workshops and workmen over 25 years who have resided three years in the locality. According to the Ministerial circular of July 5th, 1853, “employers” include all who convert the materials belonging to them into products or com- modities, while “heads of workshops ” are those work- men who at their homes, either alone or assisted by one or more companions or apprentices work upon the materials entrusted to them. The time and place of election is determined by the prefect to whom the list of electors has been previously submitted by the mayors of the Communes concerned. The masters and workmen hold separate meetings to elect their respective “experts” ; “workmen ”°kere includes heads of workshops and foremen. Electors ] are. separately convened to attend ballots. The qualifi- cations for experts practically are the same as those of electors, but the expert must in addition be 30 years of age and able to read and write. Women are not yet allowed to vote nor are they eligible for election, but, as will be presently shown, the Chamber of Deputies has passed a Bill, not yet sanctioned by the Senate, by which they would be empowered to take part in the elections. ( Half of the council retire every three years, but are re-eligible. Prudhommes are generally, but not always, paid a salary averaging 41. monthly at the expense of the municipality. The total annual cost to the Paris Municipality is rather over 8,000Z.( S ) The following are some of the items : — Experts’ salaries .... £ 4,992 Clerks and secretaries’ salaries - 1,364 Offices 1,092 1 Total - - £7,448 Certain grave abuses have arisen in connection with ( v j_) Abuses elections of the councils under the influence of in elections, socialistic committees. It is sufficient to illustrate this by quoting the recent action of the Council of State( a ) which nullified the election of a workman who had declared himself to be willing to resign at any time when his general altitude or his decisions did not meet with the approval of his syndicate. The frank attitude recently adopted by the Labour Exchange shows to what lengths the demands of the organised working- men might go, and the discredit which might easily fall upon this otherwise admirable institution if depar- tures from due observance of impartiality and dignity are not promptly checked. The more violent socialistic organisations “ have for some time not only put (>) De la Conciliation et tie 1’Ai bitrage, Ac., p. 3. See Articles fl and 7 ot t he law of March 18, 180G. ( 2 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, 1S92, p. xxii. ( 3 ) Do. do. No. 15!), p. 3. ( ‘) Do. do. No. 358, p. xxi. (•'■) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. 11G. ( 6 ) Do. do. No. 258. p. 00. ( 7 ) Do. do. No. 150, p. 2. (*) Do. do. No. 159, p. 4. ( 5 ) See Appendix, p. 137. EE PORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 49 (vii.) De- crease in per-eentage of cases settled by coneiliation. “ forward a claim to impose a binding mandate upon the “ working men prud’hommes, but also even the duty of “ voting always in favour of the working man plaintiff. “ It is still more extraordinary that certain candidates “ have accepted these conditions without scruple and “ have been elected. Such facts are the very negation “ of justice and call for the intervention of the legis- “ lator.”(‘) There is no doubt that the elections are already manipulated to a considerable extent by municipal wirepullers. It is stated by Mr. Stephen, and it is perhaps a significant fact, that the percentage of cases sent to the committee of judgment through failure of conciliation has shown a tendency to rise. In 1887 there were 41,917 cases brought up for conciliation and of these 15,656 were not conciliated; in 1888 41,117 cases came before the committee for conciliation and 16,219 were not conciliated. In 1889 43,141 cases came up for conciliation and 16,178 were not conciliated. ( 2 ) In the council for textile trades in Paris in 1890, 3,112 cases came up for conciliation and 1,124 conld not be settled; in 1891 2,841 cases came before the same council and 949 could not be settled ; the tables are not complete for 1890 and a comparison cannot be made between all the groups of trades in Paris ; safe conclusions cannot be drawn from the separate groups. This will be seen from the proportions in the following Paris figures for 1891. C) — Cases. Not conciliated. Metals 2,841 949 Textiles - 3,858 1,447 Chemicals - 4,931 1,854 Building “ 12,779 6,127 In the chemical products division, in 1890, only nine per cent, of the cases were brought up for judgment, in 1891, eleven per cent. There are 116 conucils of experts in all. In 1891 these dealt with about 60,000 cases, of which 24,000 were in Paris. Of these 24,000 cases 12,000 were dealt with by the building trades council of experts. Table XYI. showing Cases dealt with in Paris in 1890 and 1891 by the Textiles Division. Cases dealt with by the Textiles Branch of the Paris Conseil de Prud’hommes. 1890 Number. 1891 N umber. Special Committee. Cases still to be conciliated on January 1, 1890. Number of cases submitted to the 1G 26 special committee. 3,096 3,832 Total ... 3,112 3,858 Cases conciliated by the i special committee. 1,339 1,474 Cases withdrawn by the parties before the committee had decided thereon. 303 554 Cases not conciliated by the special committee and referred to the general committee. 1,124 1,447 Cases not conciliated by the special committee, but not referred to the 320 356 general committee. Cases unsettled on December 31, 1890. 26 27 Total ... 3,112 3,858 (’) Le Code Civil et la Question, Ouvrfere M. Glasson, p. 76. PS, 1 ? Conciliation et do l’Arbitrage, &c„ p. 5. Cl. also “ Journal Officiel. Mav fi. 1893. n. 0.303. Cases dealt with by the Textile Branch of the Paris Conseil de Prud’hommes. 1890 Number. 1S91 Number. General Committee. Cases not decided on January 1, 18 25 1890. Cases referred to the general com- 1,124 1,422 mittee. Total 1,142 1,447 Cases withdrawn before judgment 569 793 given. Cases settled by judgment without 469 544 appeal. Cases settled by judgment but with 79 76 right of appeal. Cases still to be judged on Decern- a 25 34 ber 31, 1890. Total ... 1,142 1,447 Classes of Cases. Apprenticeships ... 66 98 Discharges - - - - 4,105 1,017 Wagesf 4 ) ... - 1,400 1,974 Spoilt work - ... 55 32 Certificate books of receipts for — — weaving. Sundry questions ... 486 737 Total ... 3,112 3,858 The origin of these councils is interesting. The silk (viii.) Origin manufacturers of Lyons in the last century possessed a councils. Tribunal Commun for settling trade disputes which worked within the limits of their guild or corporation. It fell, with the latter, under the law of March 1791. The manufacturers feeling the disadvantages and cost- liness of the more cumbrous machinery of the Law Courts in settling their disputes, took advantage of a visit from the Emperor in 1805 to petition for an in- stitution similar to their old Tribunal Commun, in which men pronounced sentence who understood the trade. It was granted in the law of March 18, 1806, and worked so well that it served as a model for the councils which were rapidly formed at Rouen, Nimes, Avignon and other towns. The decree of June 11, 1809, defined the procedure for creating future councils. The first council formed in Marseilles was for the soap factories, in 1810. In the beginning of 1892 there were in that town 149 councils for all sorts of trades. (’’) For some time the need of codifying the various («■.) Cocbfi- decrees relating to the institution has been felt, and a dbeire^and Bill has been adopted (in 1892) by the Chamber^') which draft Rill on attempts this task and introduces various innovations the councils, such as : — (1) the extension of the suffrage to new voters and to women, and the extension of the councils them- selves to new occupations not yet admitted (clerks, dressmakers and others), (2) raising the sum beyond which appeal must be made from 8Z. to 207. , (3) grant- ing indemnities to witnesses for loss of time, and other modifications. Some apprehension exists as to the results of exten- sion of the suffrage and jurists have uttered warnings on the subject. It is also pointed out by them that it is most important “ to guard against any measure which may have the effect of destroying equality as “ between employers and employed, or of making a “ privileged and independent court of the councils of “ prud’hommes .... The appeal from the “ councils to the tribunals of commerce might be “ given to the civil tribunals of the arrondissement. “ Such a reform would reinforce the authority of the “ councils . . . and would at the same time be a “ recognition of the equality of citizens before the law “ . . . . It is difficult to deny that courts com- “ posed of permanent magistrates would offer greater (■<) Under the term wasos sfbould be included not only cases relating to wages properly* so-called, but also to settlements of accounts, and questions of notices of leave at end of one week, a fortnight, or month. (®) Long and detailed tables in the work on conciliation and arbitra- tion oiled, show tho workings of the various councils in Paris. ( 6 ) See Appendix IV., p. 100 for text of tho Bill. U 78419. Gr 50 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: f a. (Syndical Provision for c onciliation ! )nd arbitra- tion. (i.) The Syndical Chamber of Working House- painters. Spirit of conciliation. (ii.) The federation of workers in the book trade. “ security to litigants and that on the other hand the “ councils would redouble their zeal and impartiality “ if they felt themselves placed under a more vigilant “ supervision. ”(*) 2. Voluntary Arbitration and Conoiliation Committees in certain Trades. In the consideration of syndical chambers, it has already been indicated that arbitration and conciliation have for some time been acknowledged as part of their work or interest. M. Lyonnais in his report to the Chamber in 1889( 2 ) pointed out that there were a large number of syndicates, both of employers and employed, which had clauses in their articles of association pro- viding for arbitration or conciliation. The species of arbitration generally attempted by the employers’ syndicates can hardly be considered here, as it is generally of a commercial character, and for the arrangement of disputes between employers. The rules of the Syndical Chamber of Butchers in Paris is distinguished among these, however, by the further provision it rfttkes for conciliation with working men.f) In 1891 out of 1,212 employers’ syndicates, 144 had rules or practice providing in some sort for arbitration and the same might be said of 648 workmen’s syndicates out of 1,588. Among the latter the Syndical Chamber of Working House-painters in Paris, and the Federation of Workers in the Book Trade, have been most honourably distin- guished. The National Syndicate of Workers in Artistic Industries have recently made provision for following in the same lines. The syndicate of working house-painters mentioned, which is an old established, steady organisation, has shown a remarkable fidelity to its engagements with the Employers’ Chamber, and has on more than one occasion relinquished an opportunity of pressing de- mands for a rise in rates of wages, in order not to break its peaceful relations with the latter. An un- written understanding or rather engagement was entered into by them in 1876 that the rates of the town should be loyally held binding for a period of two years and that if a revision was desired, then notice should be given some months in advance. In the spring of 1878 when the press of work for the Exhibition build- ings gave to compact bodies of workmen an excellent opportunity of gaining a rise, and certain groups of them came ouc on strike, the Syndical Chamber of Working House-painters refused to support the move- ment in any way whatever. At the end of the year, however, both employers and workmen came to an agreement on a rise and the arrangement was peaceably made. It is the older associations generally which show the greatest anxiety to improve the position of workers by pacific measures. The federation of workers in the book trade is a striking example of this spirit. “It “ may be remarked that the trade represented by this “ federation is one in which ideas of association are “ most highly developed ; the Paris syndicate out of “ which it grew existed in the form of a mutual aid “ society as far back as 1839. ’’(^ • The federation itself was founded in 1881 for the defence of the common interests of the workers all over France and in Algeria. (’) Its statutes from the first asserted the necessity for maintaining the principle of conciliation before striking : — Article 6. “ When “ there is disagreement in any section between em- “ ployers and workmen on the matter of revising a “ tariff, the sectional committee shall inform the “ central committee before ordering a stoppage. No “ strike should be declared before all means of con- “ ciliation have been exhausted. “ If agreement is recognised as impossible the central “ committee will authorise a stoppage if the new tariff “ presented has received its assent. “ The central committee may .... delegate “ one or more of its members to act as mediator, or if “ need be to form part of the strike committee. . . . “ Every strike declared without authorisation of the ‘ ‘ central committee shall be at the cost of the sectional “ committee. ( 1 ) Le Code Civil et la Question ouvriOie, pp. 73-74. ( 2 ) Chamber of Deputies, 1889, No. 3,856. ( 3 ) See Appendix, p. 122, of Mr. Stephen’s Report (Foreign Office, Miscellaneous Series, No. 258). ( 4 ) De la Conciliation et de l’Arbitrage, &c„ pp. 507-9. ('-) See above, p. 29. “ . . . . the central committee declares that it “ will not support any strikes but those stirred up “ through attacks on acquired rights and those ap- “ proved in advance by it.”( s ) The journal of the federation, La Typographic Franfaise, gives admirable record of the conciliatory work done by its delegates. The first attempt at con- ciliation was at Nancy in April 1882 and was successful in averting a struggle which might have been long and must have' been costly to all concerned. There was then no consistent rate of pay in the various printing establishments at Nancy ; the tariffs varied from one firm to another and the highest rate, at the Berger - Levrault establishment, was below that asked for by the workers. The first visit of the federation delegate was to this firm, where he obtained a promise of a rise which was nearly equivalent to the demands of the workers. Other firms promised to follow suit, but disaster nearly overtook the arrangement when it was discovered at a general meeting of the workers that two firms had promised to grant the full demands of the workers. “ Nevertheless to avoid a strike of which “ the result was uncertain, and in consideration of the “ small number of members of the syndicate, the “ majority agreed to conciliation” and to the com- promise that had been agreed upon. (7) Next month at Nimes the moderating and conciliating influence of the federation delegate was still more strikingly shown. There an unauthorised tariff had been presented, and it became the duty of the delegate to inform the local syndicate that in spite of sympathy in general for the syndicate, yet nothing could justify the federation in supporting it in its “ conduct, which was illegal from “ the point of view of the statutes and constituted a “ grave breach of that discipline without which the “ rising federation must fall into anarchy. ”( 8 ) After considerable efforts the delegate succeeded in putting an end to the strike. In his own words: “Before “ leaving, I went to two of the employers to beg them “ to take back the workers who had commenced the “ strike, and who were without work, and this was “ accorded to me without difficulty.” In April 1884, the working typographers at Mar- seilles, after obtaining a rise in their tariff, with the approval of the federation, started the idea of forming a joint board of arbitration. Since that date the most cordial relations have existed between the employers and workers. Numbers of instances of the good work of the federation might be cited in the succeeding years. In 1890 it seems to have been particularly active. An unfortunate strike took place in September of that year, at Chateauroux, in such haste that when the dele- gate arrived on the scene it was only to find that the workers had put themselves hopelessly in the wrong. “ The employer, taking advantage of the faults com- “ mitted by the workers, refused any concession, “ and only consented to take back a small number of “ the strikers.” The delegate, in his report on this affair, drew attention strongly to the need of increased vigilance in the maintenance of discipline, and carrying out of educational propaganda. “ It must be confessed,” he said, “ that an inaccurate idea of rights is more “ predominant, and a claim for advances keener, among “ the workers, than a desire to conscientiously fulfil “ their duties. Too often our comrades imagine that “ it is sufficient to belong to a syndical organisation “ without performing any further duty, in order that “ their right to strike should be recognised, and that “ their position should improve as if by magic. It is “ our duty to contend without vacillation against this “ dangerous error.”; 10 ) At the National Congress of book workers in July 1892, M. Keufer, secretary of the federation, declared that “in the greater number of “ cases, if the syndical workers knew how to defend the “ cause of their members calmly, while frankly asking “ for a delay in order to reflect on the proposals of the “ employers, conflicts would become much rarer . . “ In our view, to persist in combative methods is to “ err greatly. Modern industrial organisation demands “ a different method in which discussion and diplomacy “ are made full use of, even when the employer himself “ fixes a very short period for the reply to his pro- “ posals.”( u ) It was in May 1892 that the National Syndicate of Workers in Artistic Industries established a permanent (C) X)e la Conciliation et de 1’ Arbitrage, &c„ p. 510. (7) lb.. p. 511. (X) lb., p. 512. O lb., p. 513. (“) lb., p. 519. (n) lb., p. 520. Concilia- tory work done by the federation : The National Congress of Book Workers in 1892. (iii.) The National Syndicate of REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 51 Workers in Artistic Industries. (5.) Joint committees : (i.) The mixed syndical council for the paper trade. (ii.) Joint committee of typo- graphers at Rouen. (iii.) Joint arbitration committees for bleachers and laundry workers. council of arbitration and conciliation, for arrangement; of difficulties with the employers, in respect of work- shop regulations, wages, labour contracts, apprentice- ship, and other matters. The council comprises (1) a committee of conciliation, (2) a general bureau. All matters which cannot be arranged by conciliation come before the general bureau, which alone can pronounce an award. In case of a division in this bureau, there is a permanent arbitrator or umpire, whose decision is obligatory and without appeal. There are five em- ployers and five workmen on this general bureau, and the syndicate has chosen M. Lyonnais (arbitrator of the Tribunal of Commerce, member of the Higher Council of Technical Instruction) as permanent arbitrator. Joint committees for conciliation have been formed, either by some of the mixed syndicates, or by special arrangement between the separate syndicates. The joint syndical council for the paper trade was formed by the latter method (on the employers’ initia- tive) in 1873, expressly on the model of the English joint committees. “ The mixed syndical council for the paper trade did “ not provide for penalties against those who did not “ accept its decisions The moral authority which it “ acquired was sufficient. Among its achievements is “ that of the adoption of a ten hours’ day by the “ majority of paper firms in Paris. ”(*) This council has succeeded in settling a number of affairs which would otherwise have come before the council of experts There seems to have been no strikes in this industry since the formation of the council. The council is formed of eight employers from the employers’ syndi- cate, and eight members of the working men and work- ing women’s syndicate. Its affairs are managed by a president and a secretary, the one elected* from among the employers, the other from the workmen, both for the year. Regular meetings are held, but in case of any conflict or disagreement between employers and em- ployed, it is the duty of the council to hold special meetings and make every effort to arrange for an under- standing. In reply to an inquiry by the Office da Tra- vail the president of this council wrote in January, 1892, that the institution had produced the best possible results, that its chief role was preventive, and that this role had been admirably fulfilled, but that also it had done a good deal in the way of spreading special trade information amongst those whose interests it repre- sented. The president added that much was due to the thoroughly democratic spirit which had always animated the employers’ syndicate. “ We invite the workmen “ to join in our corporative festivals to criticise the works “ of apprentices done in our technical school ; we set “ ourselves to find employment for them to help their “ mutual aid fund, &c., and these efforts bring their “ own fruits.”( 2 ) This institution might very well be counted amongst the special employers’ institutions (oeuvres patronales) which have done so much in France to maintain good feeling and understanding in certain industrial establishments. A similar joint committee exists among the typo- graphers at Rouen, which is composed of three em- ployers and three workmen, and is presided over alternately by an employer and an employed. It was pro- visionally founded in 1877, having been for some years the aim, and almost exclusive pre-occupation, of the syndicate of working typographers. However, for five years its services were never actively required. In 1882 it satisfactorily arranged for an increase in the tariff which ruled down to the beginning of last year. Every year the two syndicates elect their members for the committee, exchange expressions of their mutual desire of concord, and that is all. “ All members of “ the syndicates respect the tariff, and no dispute has “ arisen amongst them. Neither the council of experts “ nor the committee have held sittings at their “ instance.”! 3 ) Since the end of 1891 arbitration committees founded by the joint efforts of the syndicates of employers and employed in bleach houses and laundries have been working satisfactorily for the Department of the Seine (Paris), and at Boulogne. In the latter town only one award on a dispute was made a subject of appeal in the course of a year. This was brought before the local conseil de prud’hommes and the award was confirmed. The “ Journal des Blanchisseurs et Buandiers ” con- ( 1 ) lb., p. 504. ( 2 ) lb., p. 505. ( 3 ) lb., p. 507. gratulatod the committee for the Seine fast October on the way in which “ it had fulfilled its delicate functions, “ with the greatest dignity, justice, and urbanity. ”(') 3. The New Law of Arbitration. The law of December 27, 1892, providing for con- ciliation and arbitration in collective disputes between employers and workmen, ( 6 ) with the circular of the Minister of Commerce addressed to the prefects and the circular of the Minister of Justice to the attorneys- general ( Procureurs Generauae) on the principles for its application, were sent out, in the end of February 1893, to all the registered syndicates in the country through the Office du Travail. The letters to the secretaries of the syndicates enclosing these documents drew attention to the fact that in its main idea the new law was only an extension of the principle of the law of March 21, 1884. “ If, according to the express intention of the legis- lator, the new text is an instrument of pacification at the disposal of every labourer, whether he forms a part or not of a syndical group, it is no less certain that its efficacy can only be secured by the active co-operation of industrial organisations animated by the spirit of concord and loyalty which alone can insure the exe- cution of conventions which are freely entered into.( 6 )’’ It is impossible as yet to indicate what effect this new law may have in the future. Until quite recently no report of any case of its application has been received. ( 7 ) It attempts a compromise between a purely voluntary or permissive measure and a measure worked by State initiative. It does not, in the meantime at least, organise permanent boards, but seeks to prevent in- dustrial crises. It offers help, but does not impose it. Full provision is made for what may be called the machinery of arbitration at the least possible effort and cost to the disputants. ( 8 ) If after the expiration of a certain time no initiative is taken by the disputants in the direction of conciliation or arbitration the duty devolves upon the justice of the peace of taking every possible or prudent step to induce the parties to submit their case to the machinery offered by the law.( 0 ) Women are expressly admitted as delegates with a view to conciliation. If conciliation is resorted to, the justice of the peace is at the disposal of the committee as president of the debate. If conciliation is without effect the justice of the peace organises an arbitration. If an award is pronounced it is sent to the justice of the peace. But no provision is attempted for the cases when arbitra- tion is either refused by both parties or when an award is repudiated. ( 10 ) The Ministerial circular to the prefects points out that much can be done locally by the representatives of the State who may intervene as mediator with the offer of official arbitration when conflicts in industry arise. Whilst it remains the first duty of the prefect to main- tain public order and to assure, above every thing, strict freedom of labour, the Minister sees no reason why the prefect should not successfully insist on holding up the superiority of the procedure offered by the law ( 4 ) lb., p. 5*14. ( ’) For translation of the text of the law, see Appendix V., p. 104. (®) Lie la Conciliation et de l’Arbitrage, &c., p. 602. (") Statistics have been supplied by the Office du Travail for the months January to September inclusive, which show the number of attempted applications of the law and the results. Out of 90 cases, 40 were initiated by the justices of the peace, 43 by the workmen, 5 by employers, and 2 by mutual agreement of the disputing parties to resort to the law. In 54 cases committees of conciliation were formed under the provisions of the law ; 38 of these led to conciliation, 21 being the subject of compromise between the disputants, in 17 cases unconciliated disputes were referred to arbitration under the further provisions of the law, but objections were raised to this six times by employers, three times by employed, and twice by both, while on one occasion an arbitrator gave up his task. In 16 cases strikes were continued after failure of conciliation, but 10 of these were eventually compromised. On the whole the figures seem to show that the employers are less anxious to apply the law f han the employed. The only sanction attached to the law is a public posting up at the mairie of the conditions of the refusal to conciliate, together with the name of the person or persons refusing. Very little notice of the cases just summarised has appeared iu the public press, probably because the strikes leading to them have been the least prominent and noisy. In the department of the Seine the justice of the peace has no authority to intervene, and thus the law has not been applied. Possibly there might have been more applications in the provinces if the law had not depended so much upon officers of the State liable to be removed at pleasure. Arbitration is easier before the justice of the peace than the prefect ; workmen and employers are too dependent, on the prefect to readily come to harmony in his presence. A report of a meeting of miners on strike in the Pas’ de Calais which appeared in the “ Temps ” for September 22, shows that there is a tendency among workmen to seek to apply arbitration outside the machinery provided by the law.— G.D. 1/11/93. ( 8 ) See especially Articles 2-4, and 13. ( ,J ) See Article 10 . ( llJ ) See Articles 5, 7, 8, 9. G 2 (a.) Law of December 27, 1892. Official letter to syndicates thereon. Character of the law. (b.) The Ministerial circular to the prefects. 52 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: over those methods formerly occasionally adopted. The whole of this circular forms an authoritative commentary on the law.(') to'the irCUlar The circular addressed to the Attorneys-General Procureurs ( Procureurs Gineraux ) by M. Bourgeois, Keeper of the G 6n£raux Seals and Minister of Justice, forms a commentary upon Minister of the “ new attributes with which it invests the justices justice. “ of the peace, which are as important as they are “ delicate.” The choice of an authorised mediator and the organisation of a simple procedure have beeu the prevailing idea of the legislator who has held that the former should be a person invested with the considera- tion and weight attaching to a servant of the public and at the same time equally removed from political strug- gles and industrial quarrels. Conciliation. The justice of the peace has nothing to do with determination of the mode of nomination of the repre- sentatives of the disputing parties on the committee of conciliation. The law purposely abstains from regu- lating this and merely lays down that the representa- tives must be chosen from among the interested parties. The justice of the peace presents the neutral ground on which the disputants may meet. When the committee of conciliation is formed he is not called upon to give decisions as to the conflicting claims before him “ and “ far from having a preponderant voice in the dis- “ cussion he has not even a deliberative voice “ he can only preside if the interested parties express “ a desire for it.” Arbitration. It i s Loped that free discussion of the difficulties will often lead to a complete understanding, but if not the recourse to arbitration can be by a rapid and simple procedure . (") “ There is no need to add that the “ necessity of accepting the arbitration proposed by “ the magistrate is imposed upon no one, and that “ both parties have entire liberty to refuse the invita- “ tion vvhich is addressed to them.”( 3 ) If it is accepted and recourse eventually has to be made to an umpire, a new element of impartiality is introduced by the law. In case the justice of the peace may have been in- fluenced in any way by the intercourse he has had with the disputants, the choice of the umpire is relegated to the president of the civil tribunal. Tlle . “ It would be impossible to guard the choice of the umpire. new arbitrator with better guarantees. This magistrate- must bear in mind, however, that the sanction of the award is of a purely moral order, that it is worth nothing but just so far as the arbitrators have secured the confidence of the interested parties, and that it is of importance to appoint a man who can rest upon an indisputable authority through his technical knowledge, his disinterestedness and his known impartiality between employed and employers. ”( 4 ) The Minister of Justice declares in this circular his inability to define the occasions when the justice of the peace should take up his power of initiating the operation of the law in case of strike. Only their own tact and experience can teach them when to step in and when to refrain. Generally speaking his assistance should be promptly offered. If a strike extends over several cantons ( 5 ) the several justices of the peace should take counsel together. As for provision of sanctions to support decisions of arbitrators, the law attempts nothing beyond an appeal to public opinion through careful adoption of due publicity and formality of procedure. It assures “ the “ authenticity and preservation of resolutions adopted “ by the committees of conciliation and of arbitrators’ “ awards in ordering that they shall be deposited at “ the office of the justice of the peace.” Full con- fidence is expressed in Ihe verdicts of public opinion, “ which will show itself justly severe on a strike with- “ out motive or an unjustifiable resistance to these “ councils for reconciliation and pacification.” Throughout the proceedings the justice of the peace will have full scope for serving the “ cause of concord and social harmony. ”( 6 ) * (*) (>) See Appendix VI., p. 105, for a summary of the circular. ( 2 ) Articles 7, 8, and 9. ( 3 1 De la Conciliation de l’Arbitrage, p. 597. (*) lb., p. 599. (s) A Canton is a territorial district including generally several com- munes and forming a subdivision of the arrondissement ; there arc some large towns or communes which include several cantons. The canton is the province of the juge de paix ; it also serves as the basis for elections to the Conseil General and the conseil d' arrondissement (See M. Block, Dirtionnaire de 1’Administration Franpaise). ( 6 ) De la Conciliation ct de l’Arbitrage, p. 601. 4. Employers’ Institutions. As has already been indicated, ( 7 ) the most important remedy for industrial conflicts is held by many of the more prominent social reformers to be an indirect one, namely, the development of the special institutions of employers ( ceuvres patronales), which formed the subject of a special report by M. Cheysson to the Social Economy group of the International Exhibition of 1889. Among the recipients of medals for these institutions France came most prominently forward, Belgium standing next in the list of honour among European nations. In detail the institutions may be resolved into more or less fully developed schemes of profit sharing on the one hand, or improved conditions of labour and develop- ment of provident schemes on the other, and, accord- ingly, the matter lends itself more conveniently for treatment under these special heads in other parts of the ReportJ 8 ) M. Leon Say, in his summary of the report presented or the subject to the Social Economy group, says : — (a.) An im- portant indirect remedy. “ Everywhere these efforts of the employers have met with happy results. . . It is noteworthy that from the point of view of what may be called their social or economic method not one of these establishments is absolutely similar to another. . . The one thing in common among them is the spirit of devotion. If the reporter has been able to draw up an order of method among them, it is not on account of the degree in which this spirit is manifested, but rather it is based on the actual intellectual and moral progress appreciable amongst these harmonised working populations, who have found in the satisfaction of their sentiment of dignity, and in the unity of their interests with those of their chiefs, reasons more or less consciously adopted for striving to maintain social peace. If French industry were represented in its entirety by the pictures which M. Cheysson has laid before us, one would derive from them a consoling impression ; but, although the number of employers and workmen which appear in them is very great, it is far from representing the whole of the working population. . . What we can affirm with confidence is that the example is good, and that it may be imitated in diverse ways . . in the great majority of cases, because the industrial establishments which are still backward in this order of ideas may make a choice between many models, and select that one which is most suited to its particular industrial situation and the dominant spirit of its working population. ”( 9 ) The order of merit drawn up by the jury was based upon a classification of 12 distinct meritorious features, as follows : — 1. Institutions providing against improvidence. 2. ,, remedying vice. ;5. ,, improving the intellectual and moral condition. 4. Organisation of labour and wages tending to raise the condition of the worker. 5. Subventions tending to render the condition of the labourer stable. 6. Habits of saving. 7. Harmony between workers at the same piece of work. 8. Permanent good relationship between workers at the same work. 9. Alliance between agricultural and manufacturing undertakings. 10. Possession of dwellings by workpeople, or perma- nence of tenancy. 11. Respect shown for the character of young girls. 12. Respect shown for the character of the mother of the family! 10 ) It is the spontaneous character of the institutions (j.)National inquired into under these heads which has chiefly struck sentiment students of them. Hitherto in France the national sentiment at its best has been in favour of intimate and relations, long continued relations between employers and em- ployed, and it is the survival of this sentiment which has retarded the independent growth ot association amongst workmen in so many districts. 1 Instead of (’) See page 23 above. . . TTT ( 8 ) Division II., pp. 58-9, 73 ; Division II L, pp. 76 ■>. . ( ,J ) Rapports k hours a day. It seems probable that ., W hours a week will become the rule. In certain . . . season trades leave will be given to exceed „ \ he8 . e regulations with a maximum of 12 hours a day , during 60 days in the year, and a deputation from Lyons has demanded the application of this clause to this district. 1 be law is in nine sections, which are as follows : I. Dealing with age of admission to factories and length of the day’s work. II. Dealing with night work and the weekly dav of rest. J J TIL Regulating underground labour. IV . Providing for supervision and care of children employed m industry. V. Regulating sanitation, protection of machinery VT and Providing for notification of accidents. V i. Extending the service of inspection provided for under earlier laws. ^-Defining the constitution and functions of the -Higher Commission of Labour, and of depart - me] ital Employers’ Committees. V II. Providing for fines and the applications of Article 463 of the Penal Code. IX. Specially providing for the issue of administra- tive orders, after consultation with the Hio-her Commission and the Consultative Committee of Aits and Manufactures, and other matters con- nected with application of the law.( 4 ) The law applies to the work of children, young girls and women m works, factories, mines, and allied ’indus- trial works, quarries, yards, workshops of every kind public or private. * ’ The age of admission to the above industrial under- unlo«f l 18 A A 5 ° Uld , may bc adm itted below 13 unless he or she has completed the twelfth year, and is ph?K(Tta es ^ ' (1) ° f ***«• No child below 18, and no women or young o-irls of ma L be - em ? l0yed hl the above specified indus- exceDtfon m§ t h ’ tv * bet , Ween 9 P' m ' and 5 a - m - Certain exceptions to this rule are to be provided for by ordei ; s ; similarly the provision for a m“ppii“S J * **" ”“ y be ™ dified By Article 8, only the prefects of the departments, or m Paris the Minister of Public Instruction, may give ( j t.O. Report. Annual Series, l.isi, p. is ( ) See Appendix for text of the law, 106. (5.) Law regulating hygiene and safety in industrial establish- ments, of June 12th, 1893. Subjects dealt with by the law. The prohibition of employment of women and girls underground m mines or quarries to be found in Article 7 of the law of 1874 is repeated in Article 9 of t ie present law. The age of boy labour in mines is ral ® ed f } 2 to 13 - Special regulations have been added to the law m regard to (1) employment of bov labour m mines, (2) employment of women and children in certain industries. ( 5 ) It seems possible that this law regulating women’s labour may act in effect as a law regulating men’s labour ; when the factories are deserted at the end of eleven hours by the women it will be impossible to continue the work of the men in the majority of cases. 1 he following regulations have been issued by a group of manufacturers in Lille 1. Actual hours of work „ ( trava u effe.ctif) are reduced to eleven. 2. From the u moment when the machinery begins to work the men w i w °men should be at work in their respective „ P acp ® from which they should not move until the ,, machinery stops. 3. Every worker who conforms ([ mitirely to the foregoing regulation and who has not missed work during a fortnight will receive the same daily wage as for twelve hours. ( 6 ) To the above-mentioned laws must be added one promulgated on June 12th, 1893, which regulates matters affecting the health and safety of workers in factories and workshops. (') It applies to factories, yards, works or workshops, excepting only those family workshops wnere no steam or mechanical power is used, or danger- ous occupations are carried on. It provides for the fencing of dangerous parts of machinery, and the closing of bridges, trap doors, and openings. Where machinery, bridges, trap doors, &c., are used in theatres circuses, and shops, the law applies as it does to ordinary industrial establishments. The Consultative Committee of Public Hygiene may be called upon under tins law to give advice relative to the framing of regulations concerning sanitation, ventilation, lighting dust, noxious vapours, &c. The law is to be admin- istered (applying from the third month after the date of promulgation) by the inspectors provided for adminis- tration ot the laws above referred to. Provision is made for compulsory notification of all accidents to workers m the establishments included under the law. 1 mes for a first offence range from 5 francs to 15 francs ™ m 1 ' repeated offences may rise to 200 francs. Offenders are to be prosecuted lief ore the ordinary police courts ( tribunal dr simple police). Those who put obstacles in the way of performance by an inspector ot las duties may bc fined from 500 to 1,000 francs. (II.)— (a.) Conditions in Mines, Quarries, and Metallurgy Trades. In their evidence before the Royal Commission on _ Mining Royalties (*) the French witnesses MM. Duval ftltolEUSi ana Aguillon pointed out the effect of foreign competi- Commission tion and strikes in France ( 9 ) on Deduction, and £“ M !? inK apparent absence of effect upon wages and certain other B ^ * eS- conditions of labour in French mines. In spite of continued importation of coal from England and brermany, which increased during strike periods miners wages have steadily tended to rise on the whole ; in some parts they have risen higher than in others and local differences in conditions of production seem to a certain extent accountable for this, but local custom lias ceased to have any effect on the fixino- 0 f actual wages since transport has been cheapened ( 10 ) ihese witnesses had no doubt that the French mining * system, based on State concessions, had tended to a development of the mineral industry in France. ( n ) But the position of the coalfields and the daily increased facilities lor transport had done more. “ The develop- ‘‘ me nt began about 1840, when the coalfields of the Pas-de-Calais were discovered. That has given a “ great impulse to the industries in that district, and ‘‘ now all those departments are the most inhabited, and have a larger industry developing, especially, for '• instance, the sugar industry, which has spread on a very large scale in the north of France. If they had “ not had coal in sufficient quantity, and cheap enough, and ol good quality, that would have been impossible. • . • • The expansion of industry in all those districts of course has benefited all landowners and agriculturists also.’’( 12 ) This expansion of industry (ff See Appendix VIII., p. 108, lor text of decrees. Of. “ La Retonne Sociale,” January 16. 1893 , p. 165 . ( ' ) * or text of the law see Appendix IX., p. no ( 8 ) I- our tli Report, 1893. ( 9 ) 16., questions 19.332-41- ("’) questions 19,336-41 ; 10,375-6: 19.390-7. I 11 ) lb., questions 19,408-13. ( ,2 ) lb., questions 19,413-4. Map of France. Key to Departments J Ain ? Aisne 3 AlUtr 4 Aipes ( Barnes ) i „ (ffciutes ) 6 m (Maritime* ) 7. Ardeclu 8 ^irtie rules 9 Ariei/e to. Auhe n. Aiuie . IS AveATon 13 Pouihrs ila -Shone 14 Cal*iuU>s 15 C arUtd 16 Chnrente J7. Inf" 18. Cher 19 Corre'xe W. Corse St. Cotes d‘ Or. Cotes dn yard 23 Cren.se 24 Dordogne . 25. Daubs . 26 Drome 27. Dure 28 Eure et Loire . 29 Finisterre . 30. Card 31 Gar 4 >n*v<* / Men itej 32. 6 ers 53 Gin>nde . 34. Herault . 35. JUe et f'dcttne 36. Inctre 37. Jrulre et Loire . 36 Jmere . 39 Jurt / 40 Lajides 41 Loire- et, Chet • 42 Loire . 43 Loire ( Haute,) Shewing important towns <£ chief mining departments . Key to Departments 44 Loire- Jrrf&rieure 45 Liner et . 46 Lot 47 Lot et-Garonne 48 Loxerec. 4H Maine eM Loire 5V Afctnxhe . 51 Marne 52 Marne ( ffciute ) 53 May trine 54. Meurthe et Atoselle 56. Meuse 56. Morbihun 57 Hie-vre 58 JVortL 59. Oise 60 Orne . 61. Pas de Calais. 62 Pu$' de Dome . 63 Pyrenees (Passes ). 64 .. _ „ (Hatties). 65 . „ Orientates 66 ■ Rhone . 67 Scwne (Haute). 68 Boone et Loire 69 S or the 70 Savoie . 71 ,, Haute 72. Seine 73 Seine Jnterieure 74 Seine et Marne 75 Seine, et - Oise 76 Sevres ( Deuce. ). 77 Sonurui' 78 Tam . 79 Tam- etr Garonne 80 far 81 Vauctuse 82 Vendee . 83 Vienne 84. Vienne (Huute). 85. Vosges. 86 Yhnne Prepared in the office or the Royal Commission on Labour from Statistics given m Levasseurs Population Tr ana rise and the Statisth/ue Minerale 1890. udd *. C? L'. d , Lit JudtUC? L f .‘, Lith. 63,C.rt«r L.n., II. 93. Silt uutgramnr. DEPARTEMENT DU PAS-DE-CALAIS FlechindUe Trial number employed; yOtogeih n o 3 - >73 \Uhdzrgrcunrl’ 25 .494 JOicvzn Drocrtcrt I Diagrams shevjjnc numbers o Mortice l Cortes ( . et beru eh ens 2C8 ' -T Eli ciau (158) dihmr (485 1(305) A ?J\i __ J,\97)jj < Timbirediiidf y. Thin ae Me yuan us Rcdu la Moliere et Firminy L.. 4 . Trt lys i tpa ! rn esalade L'Anehaifon 360 G 23 )J| t , ( 7 uunpec/<\ ' irason f X ’ Bcrxmdi dr/ ^§i ) ''A I , A La Grand Ctmbe Trcsecl Fla nr ij£ y\ - 0 , 574 -) ^ SEJcrni \U8l - ,(724) de VctUrisdc Mont ram hit f/ V, L Roehebefle u Ten circus Tcta Is 12 . 156 8. JOG JucH & C? LL*, Li th . 63 , Carter Lane // 93 5322 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 55 (ii.) General view of mining laws. Effect on production. * (iii.) State lobulation of safety in mines. offers new opportunities for increased demands on the part of the wage paid labourer. In the mining districts of the North and the Pas-de-Calais no one is obliged to be a miner, for anyone may find work above ground. This may be illustrated by the fact that during the mining strike of 1891 in the Pas-de-Oalais many strikers got work at the sugar factories at once.(') In view of the terms of reference of the Royalties Commission,! 2 ) and the results of its inquiry, and of the importance of information showing the economic opera- tion of the systems under which industries are carried on, it may be useful to give a brief recapitulation of the essential features which mark the system of State control of mining in Prance. The characteristic feature of the system of mining laws in Prance are :( :! ) (1) That the Government has sovereign power to decide whether there shall or shall not be a concession, what its extent shall be, and in favour of whom. Works of exploration must first prove the value of the mine to be conceded. (2) The Govern- ment cannot impose at its own discretion any condition peculiar to the concessionnaire except on two points, viz., the “ inventor’s indemnity ” and the ground rent or royalty (redevance trefonciere) to be paid to the proprietors of the surface ; all other conditions are fixed by the law. The inventor’s indemnities have varied from 40L to 2,000Z. in the last century. One form of the ground rent is fixed, and is from \d. to id. an acre, to be paid whether the mine is worked or not, to the landlords whose property lies within the concession ; the other is proportional, about 5 d. a ton extracted, and is only paid to the landlords of those lands under which work is proceeding. (3) The law determines the taxes due to the State, and the conditions laid down for working. The taxes are twofold, fixed (id. per acre) and proportional (5'5 per cent, of the net revenue produced in the preceding year). A concession may be withdrawn if the following conditions are not observed : (a.) Government authorisation is required for combina- tion of mining concessions ; (b.) when a syndicate of concessionaires has been formed each party to the contract must pay the share agreed upon of the expenses, (c.) works of safety ordered by the Government must be carried out, and if with the help of Government loans, must be repaid. (4) While the State neither possesses nor works any mine, there is a State department, composed of the Minister of Public Works, assisted by a technical committee, called the General Mining Council. Under the Minister, the prefects for each department issue instructions supported by mining experts or engineers. Prance is divided into 17 minera- logical arrondissements, at the head of which is a chief mining engineer who is in correspondence with the prefects and the Minister ; these arrondissements are sub-divided into sections under charge of an ordinary engineer, who inspects the mines and reports to the chief engineer. “It is unanimously admitted that “ fertile results follow the absolute distinction which “ exists between surface property and the working right “ of mines. In a country where property is so minutely “ sub-divided as it is in Prance, the reasonable and “ active working of mines would be impossible on any “ other system.”! 4 ) As to the State tax on the net revenue, while it seems satisfactory in theory it often produces unsatisfactory relations between the miners and the authorities. “ The great majority of the former would be glad to “ give up this system for one which might not look so “ good in theory, but which would bo more simple and “ much less annoying; that is to say, the payment of a “ tax per ton extracted, whatever the net revenue “ might be.”( 4 ) General precautionary measures against accidents are imposed upon all concessionaires by a decree of 1813. Provision of medicaments and skilled assistance is compulsory, and instructions on the subject are given to the directors of the mines by the Minister. Certain specially important mines have the duty of maintaining a special surgeon. On occasion of occurrence of an ( 1 ) lb., questions 19,449-58. ( 2 ) “ To inquire into the amounts paid as royalties .... on coal and metals of mines ....'. worked in the United Kingdom, and the terms and conditions under which those payments are made, and into the economic operation thereof upon the "mining industries of the country; and further to inquire into the terms and conditions under which mining enterprise is conducted in foreign countries by the system of concession or otherwise, and the economic operation thereof.” F) See Block’s Dietionnaire de l’Administration Franchise, and Say’s Dictionnaire d’Economie Politique, articles Mines ; also report sent by Sir J. Crowe to Mining Royalties Commission, Fourth Report, Appendix pp. 102-6. (*) fourth Report, Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, 1893, p. 100. accident, the mayor and the inspecting engineer arc- hound to appear on the spot immediately and to issue all necessary instructions. Neighbouring concession- aires may be called upon to render every assistance in their power.! 5 ) The law of July 8, 1890, provided for the institution of “ delegate miners ” who should visit mines, minieres and quarries for the purposes of examining (1) the general conditions of safety for the miners, and (2) the circumstances preceding any accident which may arise. ( r ’) The district over which an individual delegate’s duties extend is determined by an order of the prefect, after a report on the subject has been submitted to the Minister of Public Works by the in- specting engineer. The “ district ” generally includes a certain number of pits, galleries and yards belonging to one undertaking, and which would not require more than six days for complete examination. The delegate is bound to visit this district twice a month. In case of accident the director of the mine must give an account of the attendant circumstances on the spot to the delegate. All observations made by the delegate must he entered in a special register which is kept open for use of the workmen. The delegates are elected by the miners by ballot, they must be Frenchmen, in enjoy- ment of political rights, must he 25 years of age, and be able to read and write. Their office lasts for three years, and they are paid by the Treasury for their days of inspection at the ordinary rate for their day’s work. No reports on the working of this law of July 8, 1890, have been published. Bach engineer-in-chief in charge of a district addresses a report yearly to the Minister of Public Works of a confidential character (rapport administratif et conjidentiel) on the workings of the mining service, which includes references to the delegues mineurs, but these are never published in any official document. Certain Ministerial circulars regula- ting nomination, remuneration, &c., of the delegates have been published in the Journal Officiel, 1890-2. M. Basly has a Bill before the Chamber which proposes to extend the district in charge of a delegate so that he may devote his whole time to it and cease to be depen- dent on his work as a miner. This of course would fundamentally alter the character of the institution. The greatest coalfields are in the Pas-de-Calais, Nord, Gard, Loire, Saone-et-Loire, Aveyron, and Allier departments. These are mentioned in their order ac- cording to the number of workmen of all kinds em- ployed in them. The most important mining depart- ment, coal mines excepted, is the Meurthe-et-Moselle department. Rich and important single mines exist in many other parts, but these are the widest spread mining districts. The diagram A facing the page, shows the numbers employed in the districts mentioned in 1889. ( 7 ) The map illustrates the mining departments. The numbers employed in mines were 12,000 more in 1890 than 1889. The totals are : — Men 119,578, women 4,363, boys (under 16) 10,119, i.e., altogether 134,060. The workers in the mines of the Anzin Company had increased to 10,000; of Lens, 7,000; Blanzy, 6,600; Grand Combe, 4,800. The numbers employed in iron minieres were estimated at 1,500, and in quarries at 110,000. The diagram B gives the proportion of workers employed in quarrying in various departments in 1889.0 The latest accessible figures showing the wages and hours of miners are the result of an official inquiry started in 1890, and are to be found in the volume for 1891 of the “ Statistique de FIndustrie Minerale.” Before analysing them it is important to sketch the organisation of miners’ work in France. “ With the “ exception of certain special kinds of work — of pre- “ paration and repair, performed in three shifts of “ eight hours each — there is for the 24 hours only one “ shift of working on the face, this is the day shift or “ poste de charbon, which begins according to the “ district, between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m . There is normally “ a second Rhift, called the night shift, which begins “ between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. In this period, propping, “ repairs, and removing spoil are carried on, kinds of “ work which could not be executed simultaneously “ with tho coal mining aud removal of the coal. “ Except in those districts where, on account of the ( 5 ) Dictionnaire de l’Administration Framjaise, article Mines. (6) Do. do. do. Delegues mineurs and Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail, Paris, 1892, p. 372. For text of the law see Appendix XI.. p. 12U. ( 7 ) See table at the end of the Statistique de l’lndustrie Mmdrale, 1S ( 'j Statistique de l’lndustrie Minerale for 1879 and 1889, p. 42-3 and Appendix. G 4 (iv.) Law providing for working men in- spectors. (v.) The great mining and quarry- ing districts of France. (vi.) Organ- isation of miners’ work. System of shifts. 56 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : “ slightness of the layers, the earth has to be removed, “ the more and more distinct tendency is to clear spoil “ during the day shift so as to do away with the night “ shift, except in urgent cases, when repairs have to “ be attended to as promptly as possible. “ Wages are fixed by the job usually for the coal “ winners, by load or measure of "volume, or else as “ the work advances, or concurrently by both these “ systems at once. In the case of repairs only is the “ work paid for by the day. There is as a rule no “ stipulation with regard to a minimum of day labour. No sliding “ There is no scale of wages variable according 1o scale. “ the price of coal. Wages on the contrary rather “ tend to be fixed, although with a constant tendency to “ increase year by year. However of late . . . the “ workmen, especiallj- in districts where there has been “ a considerable rise in prices, have received, in the “ form of premiums, successive increase with the rise “ of the price of coal. f 1 ) ( v 'i.) Wages A comparison of rates of wages is most valuable and industry! 1 interesting when it separates the most highly skilled of the miners from their assistants and from women and child workers. For the whole of France the engineers’ calculations of coal miners’ wages give the following figures - Categories of Workers. Underground. Overground. Fr. c. Fr. c. Hewers - - - 5 4 — Repairers, timbermen, &c. 4 41 — Holleywaymen and trammers - 3 58 3 21 Women — 1 61 Children - - - 1 91 1 44 These figures vary widely from the mean average wage, which is calculated as 3 fr. 94 c. They do not include either premiums or such allowances as free coal, cheap dwellings, pensions, relief funds. These advantages are not easily expressed in figures, but complicated calculations have led to the conclusion that they amount to an additional 35 c. per head per day in the collieries.^) The following table gives the result of this calculation for the chief coalfields : — Table XVII. ( 3 ) Mean Daily Wage of Workers in the chief Coal Districts (including Bonuses and Allowances). Classes of Workers. Valenciennes. St. Etienne Alais Le Creusot Blauzy Aubin and Coinmentry Grais- Fuveau (Bouches Pas de Calais. Nord. (Loire). (Card). (Saone-et- Loire). Carmaux (Tarn). (Allier). sessec (Herault). du Rh6ne). Underground. Fr. c. Fr. e. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. e. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. e. Hewers 5 91 5 56 5 93 5 38 5 26 4 59 4 48 5 22 4 85 Repairers, &c. 4 85 4 75 5 12 4 35 5 01 4 57 4 16 5 15 4 31 Rolleywavmen, &e. 3 96 4 33 4 10 3 99 4 00 3 67 3 38 3 87 3 47 Children 2 16 2 56 2 25 2 67 2 54 — — 2 35 2 86 Overground. Men 3 73 4 05 3 55 3 57 4 30 3 45 3 41 3 53 3 63 Women 2 06 2 03 2 25 1 70 2 29 1 64 1 62 1 78 1 64 Children 1 71 2 01 1 80 1 59 2 05 2 07 1 86 1 88 1 51 Proportion The proportion of the different, classes of workers of classes of „ - ,, workers. m collieries are : — Hewers, 38, repairers, 10, rolley- waymen, 41, women, 3, boys, 8, in 100 workers. In 1890, the total employed underground was 82,488, overground, 29,127, and in all, 111,615. The next table compares the annual production of the workers with the annual and daily wage Table XVIII.( 4 ) Coalfields. Annual Wage per Worker. Daily Wage per Worker. Annual Production per W orker. Total Wage per Ton produced. Under- ground. Over- ground. Under- ground. Over- ground. Under- ground. Without distinction. Fr. Fr. Fr. c. Fr. c. Tons Tons Fr. c. Nord and Pas-de-Calais - 1,378 1,008 4 72 3 21 325 252 5 13 Saint Etienne - - - - 1,392 996 4 91 3 47 318 225 5 81 Alais ----- 1,330 1,027 4 68 3 15 252 170 7 23 Le Creusot and Blanzy - - 1,365 1,072 4 49 3 56 348 190 6 SI Aubin and Carmaux - 1,273 636 4 31 2 77 292 186 5 59 Comm entry - - - 1,099 850 3 92 2 94 315 216 4 73 Lignites of Fuveau (Provence) 1,053 924 4 38 3 37 234 166 6 11 General figures for France 1,314 936 4 57 3 16 300 215 5 62 Rise in The rise in wages for the last 10 years has been rat! of pro- continuous, but also the average production per worker duction. has not ceased to rise. In 1870 this last was 168 tons, in 1880 it was 195 tons, in 1890, 252 tons. But this alone was not sufficient to produce the higher wage, and the consumer has paid his share in the rising price of coal.f) MM. Duval and Aguillon held that miners in France receive about 50 per cent, of the price of coal at the pit’s mouth( G ) : — (■) Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, fourth Report. Appendix, p. 105. ( 2 ) Sea supplementary note at the end of this Section. ( 3 ) Statistique de l’lndustrie MinCrale for 1880, Appendix, p. 234-. (■*) Do. do. for 1800, p. 11. ( 5 ) “Journal des Economistes,” March 1892, article by G. Francois, “ Les llouillCres du Nord etc.” p) Final Report Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, p. 76. Allowances in the chief districts are calculated (viii.) AI at : — ances c. For Pas-de-Calais 41 per head per day. „ Nord 53 „ ,, Saint Ivtienne - 25 ., ,, Alais 24 „ ,, Le Creusot and Blanzy - 56 „ „ ,, Comm entry 17 „ • ,, Carmaux 20 ,, Aubin 26 „ ,, Graissessac 25 „ ,, Fuveau - 14 Discounting allowances, the highest wage given to underground workers is 5 fr. 68 c. in the Loire ; and REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 57 (ix.) Length of day’s work. (x.) Con- ditions in iron and other mines. Meurthe-et- Moselle iron mines. Wages in iron mines. the highest wage given to overground woi'kors is 3 fr. 74 c. at Blauzy in the Sa6ne-et- Loire depart- ment. In gauging the value to the miners of these wages, or, from another standpoint, the effort that it has cost them to earn them, note must be taken first of all of the length of the day’s work. In the Pas de Calais a hewer earns 5 fr. 30 c. by a day of eight hours work, while at Commentry, in the Allier department, the same workman is paid 4 fr. 31 c. for nine hours’ work. “ This depends upon the fact that the contracts “ between employed and employers are necessarily “ influenced by local usages, by the struggle for “ existence, and above all by the necessity for the “ employer as much as for the employed of main- “ tabling sufficiently remunerative conditions.”^) The hours vary from eight throughout the Pas-de- Calais and Loire departments ( 2 ) to 10 hours in the Grand’ Combe Mines (Gard). Other mines in the Gard department work nine hours; and Anzin (Nord) and the majority of the mines in the Saone-et-Loire depart- ment work nine hours. “ Out of 82,488 workers in “ the interior of mines, 37,499, that is to say, “ 45 percent, work eight hours a day; 16,794 work a “ shorter day, and 28,195 a longer day.” The over- ground workers’ day is generally nearer 10 hours than eight. The mean day for the former is 8h. 13m., the mean day for the latter, 9h. 39m. Boys working in the mines are generally employed during the same hours as the men ; above ground their hours and those of the women are sometimes cut short by r one or two hours as in the Pas-de Calais, sometimes intermitted by rests as in the Aveyron. The figures just given indicate hours of actual work. Presence in the mines and yards is sometimes longer. The following table shows the number of workmen who are on duty during given hours : — • Table XIX. No. of overground workers 358 296 12,071 1,883 4,933 8,986 No. of underground workers - 2,898 6,330 18,633 14,728 1,503 22,260 611 12,813 2,712 Totals - - 2,898 6,330 19,591 15,024 1,503 34,331 2,494 17,746 11,698 Hours spent at or in mines - 8h. Ml** 00 9h. 9|h. 9fh. lOh. 10ih. llh. 12h. The official inquiry of 1890 showed that there were 10,785 workers employed in the metallic and other mines (not coal) which are scattered over a large number of departments ; they are classed as follows : — Table XX. Class of Workers. Under- ground. Over- ground. Total. Per- centage. Hewers (piqueurs) - 5,069 5,069 47' Repairers (ouvriers d’etats) 643 — 643 6- Eolleywaymen (ma- nceuvres) - 1,415 2,668 4,083 38- Women — 542 542 5- Boys (enfants) 125 323 448 4- Totals 7,252 3,533 10,785 100- Meurthe-et-Moselle is the only department which employs a considerable number of workmen in mines other than coal mines. In iron mines alone in 1890 2,166 were employed underground, 490 overground, 81 of which were boys ( enfnnts ). No women are employed about the mines in this department. The following figures show the daily and yearly wage of workers in mines other than coal mines throughout France in 1890 : — Table XXI. 1. Mean Daily Wage. Classes of Workers. Iron Mines. Metallic Mines. Various Sub- stances. Salt. («.) Under around. Fr. c. Fr. o. Fr. c. Fr. c. Hewers ... 4 37 3 83 3 76 4.38 Repairers, &c. 3 89 3 80 3 50 — Rolleywaymen, Ac. 2 rt 3 08 3 19 3.45 Children 2 22 1 72 2 °S — (b.) Overground. Men 3 43 2 86 2 95 3.4 1 Women 1 61 1 43 — — Children 1 65 1 41 1 92 1.56 All classes - 3 95 3 24 3 45 3.92 2. Mean Yearly Wage. Fr. Fr. Fr. Fr. All classes 1,059 829 880 1,156 (‘) Statistique de l’lndustrie Minerale, 1891, p. 2155. ( 2 ) Blanzy (Sa6ne-et-Loire) works also eight hours. IT 78419. Allowances in these mines are much less important than in the collieries. They average 12 centimes per head per day, for iron mines, four centimes in other metallic mines, 11 centimes under the undertakings classed as various, and six centimes in the salt mines. f) Hours of labour in iron mines average nine, under- ground, and between eight and a quarter and eight and a half for the other mines. In almost all cases the hours on duty are longer than the hours of actual work. The following table shows the proportion of workers actually at work under stated periods of time : — Table XXII. 1. Underground Workers. — 7 to 7\ Hours. 8 to 85- Hours. 9 to 95 Hours. io to io| Hours. 11 Hours. Iron mines - - 188 641 1,622 937 52 Metallic mines - - 931 1,058 566 358 103 Other mines - 101 380 53 109 - Salt mines - - 26 95 16 16 — Totals - - 1,246 2,174 2.256 1,420 155 2. Overground Workers. Iron mines 13 — 102 621 136 Metallic mines - - 1,005 1,202 208 Other mines 2 ... 6 74 108 Salt mines - - 7 41 8 Totals 15 - 1,120 1,938 460 In view of proposed legislation on employers’ liability and compulsory insurance, statistics of accidents become specially important. But “ statistics of accidents “ supply data of a very unequal value. The number “ of workmen killed can be known as accurately as “ possible; but the number of injured and of corre- “ spending accidents is not exactly known . . . In “ accordance with the decree of January 3rd, 1813, “ deaths and grave injuries alone (excepting those duo “ to fire damp accidents), are brought to the lcnow- “ ledge of the engineers; the definition of injuries “ which ought to be considered grave is a difficult “ matter.’’) 1 ) In 1890, 180 accidents and 178 cases of injury more than in 1889 were reckoned to have occurred ; but there were 23 fewer deaths. ( 3 ) See Appendix X., pp. 112-9, for full tables of wages in mines drawn from the Statistique Minerale, 1889. C) Statistique de l’lndustrie Minbrale for 1890, p. 52. H Allowances i n iron mines. Hours in iron and mis- cellaneous mines. (xi.) Acci- dents in mining industries. 58 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: (xii.) Con- cetsions gra nted to miners, and worked by them. (1.) Rivede Gier. (2.) Mon- thieui. The ad- ministrative council. The following table compares the number of workmen employed with the number of accidents and of victims in 1890.(*) Table XXIII. Number of Workers Employed. Number of Accidents. Number of Victims. Nature of Undertaking. Underground. Above ground. Total. Under- Above Total. U nder- Above ground. ground. ground. ground. Killed. Wounded. Killed. Wounded. Killed. Wounded. Coal mines 86,836 34,719 121,555 734 96 292 679 20 79 312 758 Other mines 8,567 3,938 12,505 69 4 15 56 1 3 16 59 Together - 95,403 38,657 134.060 803 100 307 735 21 82 328 817 Underground quarries 11,970 6,656 18,626 61 4 23 50 3 1 26 51 Open quarries — 93,024 93,024 168 91 110 91 no Total 107,373 138,337 245,710 864 272 330 785 115 193 445 978 Two attempts have been made in France to work mines by the miners themselves. These have been at Eive de Gier. and at Monthieux (in the St. Etienne coalfields). The former was the earlier attempt and already showed signs of failure when the second was begun. The miners syndicate of Rive de Gier “got “ their concession for nothing. The original con- “ cessionaries went to law with the syndicate to recover “ the mine but were cast in several actions at law. “ The Government then intervened and forced the “ syndicate to form themselves into a company. Their “ prospects for a time looked better than had been “ expected, because a remnant of seam was found still “ existing, which it had been thought was exhausted. ”( 1 2 * ) “ Dissolution,’’ however, began to set in ; a number of members left the principal pit and began working a fresh place on their own account the syndicate became divided against itself, and so was led into fresh litigations. The colliery of Monthieux which became the property of the miners’ syndicate of St. Etienne in the autumn of 1891 , is a concession of about 69 hectares (170 acres) in the coalfield of St. Etienne. It belonged previously to the firm of Stern and Company in Paris, who spared no pains to keep the works and plant in order. Two shafts, one being for ventilating purposes, were sunk to the depth of 500 metres. A sum of 2,000,000 francs. (80.000Z.), was said to have been spent on the under- taking, but unsuccessfully, and the works and plant were put up to auction at a reserve of 300,000 francs (12.000Z.). No buyers appeared, and finally it was sold to the Miners’ Syndicate for 10,000 francs (400Z.), a sum which they obtained from the Municipal Council of St. Etienne with the sanction of the Government. The Government, however, would only consent to the transfer of the concession on the condition that the miners could start with 60,000 francs (2,400Z.). This was presented to them by M. Marinom. a wealthy capitalist. But then the Miners’ Syndicate had “ to “ face an outlay for royalties, pensions and sick funds, “ and other outgoings of about 9,000 francs (360Z.) a “ year, and to hold money in hand for working ex- “ penses. To meet these liabilities they asked the “ Government for a grant in aid of 50,000 francs “ (2,000Z.).”( 4 ) This grant was voted iu the Chamber of Deputies on December 1st, by all the members present except one. It was treated as a vote for relief of the miners who had been out of work for seven months. M. Basly, the labour representative, had wished that the vote should be for the purpose of assuring work to the miners of Monthieux “ which would have been an objectionable precedent.” (’) The 500 miners of Monthieux began their operations by electing an administrative council. They Lad before them (together with the inherited burden of pensions to former workmen injured in the mines) the problem of reducing the working expenses in a deep colliery, in which tne principal seam was so exceptionally fiery. (1) Statistique de 1’Industrie Minfirale for 1890, p. 52. ( 2 ) Despatch by Sir Joseph Crowe to the Foreign Office, dated Paris, November 30th, 1891. ( 4 ) Despatch quoted. ( 5 ) See “Journal Officiel ” of that session for Debates in the Chamber on this subject. that two years before an explosion in a neighbouring concession killed 200 men, and where the condition of the roofing was so dangerous that an unusual amount of timbering was constantly required. The administrative council began by discharging a certain number of the workmen of the old company, who did not belong to the syndicate. The members of the syndicate, however, took the part of these discharged workmen and a struggle began between the council and the syndicate. This struggle resolved itself ultimately into a dispute about money. The syndicate demanded a restitution from the council of 20,000 francs. In the end of April strike troubles began which were only closed on July 1st by an order of the Presiding Judge (President du Tribunal), which called for the nomination of a new council of administration within ten days. During this period the mine was closed. When it was opened under a new council the financial difficulties of the situation began to make themselves felt. The wages paid were the same as in the other concessions of the Loire, and were for a shorter day of only eight hours’ duty. One of the pits became flooded, in another badly conducted work caused a subsidence in the ground, which ended by involving the miners’ company ( Societe de la Mine au.v, mineurs), in a lawsuit with owners of houses threatened with ruin. “ Such is the existing situation. ”( r ’) Everything seems to point to the conclusion that the mine must be closed. The reports of actions at law form a long series, showing internal dissensions, which point to the conclusion that workmen when they become employers inherit the difficulties of employers, and add to them those arising out of want of discipline and inexperience. f) The Lens Mining Company claims, in reply to a statement made by strikers in the end of September, 1893, that while it has devoted nearly 60 million francs to the establishment of its pits, railways, schools and workmen’s lodgings, and to the acquisition of its material and machinery, and distributes annually three million francs to its stockholders, it pays each year more than 15 million francs in wages to its various servants. “ Is it then to be blamed for having known “ how to render valuable the mineral wealth discovered “ by it under the sterile plains of Lens, for having “ largely contributed to enrich a country formerly very “ poor, for having so developed its industry that it now “ provides a living for 45,000 inhabitants and pays “ 8,400 workmen wages, the general average of which “ rose in 1892 and 1893 to 4f. 76c. a day ? This average “ does not include the accessory advantages of lodging ( 6 ) “ Da Revue d’Economie Politique” January 1893, p. 41-2. ( 7 ) A very different account of these undertakings is given in the “ Revue d’Economie Politique,” July-August 1S93, by Dr. Regnault and 51. Waton. It is shown that the workers at Rive-de-Gier have exercised constant self-control, moderation, and industry in the face of great privations and hardships ; that 46,000 tons of coal have been extracted in six years, and that for five years 100 workers have been entirely supported bv the undertaking ; that the land and plant have been continually added to, while an important reserve fund has been formed. Finally, it is declared that the company has a promising future before it. The affairs of the Monthieux undertaking have been managed with less sagacity, and greater internal difficulties have had to be over- come. But even'this company has a hopeful future, and 170 workers are supported by the mine. In both cases the wages, hours, and production per worker are the same as those in neighbouring concessions. G.D.— 11/11/93. (xiii.) Sup- plementary note on employers’ institutions. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN PRANCE. 59 (i.) The docks at Havre and Mar- seilles. (li. ) Con- ditions at Havre. “ at reduced, prices, gratuitous fuel, superannuation “ pensions, and other grants. There are few pro- “ fessions or industries in France olfering their work- “ men such advantages. In normal times the company “ is besieged with requests for work from men who “ appreciate the favour of entering its service. ’(') _ The present content of the Anzin miners during a period of general agitation and strikes makes it interesting to inquire into the institutions patvonales which are to be found in that district.! 2 ) In the mines of the Anzin- com- pany payment is entirely by the piece (d l enterprise ), and in this way active skilled workers earn from one-fourth to one-third more than the less active. The company pays more than 31,000 francs yearly to schools and libraries, helps to support four churches, and has in its pay two chaplains (cures) for the workers. It possesses 2,628 houses with gardens, which it lets at less than half the market rate (from 3f. 50c. to 6 francs a month) ; in this way the company foregoes about 223,800 francs a year. Free fuel is distributed to the amount of 359,130 francs annually. The following figures show the expenditure in pensions and relief during 1888 : — Fr. c. 1. Pensions to aged workers - 581.978 70 2. Monthly relief to orphans - 16,083 85 3. Relief to invalids and widows who are without claim for a pension - - - 23,292 10 4. Contribution to the miners’ relief fund - 9,698 90 5. Subscriptions to the national superannuation fund - - 108,427 70 Total - - 739,481 25 The costs of medical aid and service de sante in the same year were 198,709f. 27c. The company also subscribes to recreation and musical societies. The institutions for their workpeople supported by the Compagnie des Mines de Blanzy (Saone-et- Loire) are of a similar liberal character. (b.) Transport and Agriculture. (1.) Transport. Reports of Her Majesty’s Consuls at Havre and Marseilles in 1892 give the most recent detailed in- formation on the conditions of labour in docks. The docks at Havre are State property and are managed by the Engineers of Bridges and Causeways, subject to the control of the minister of Public Works. The docks at Marseilles are partly State and partly private property (belonging to a dock company and the Chamber of Commerce). The port authorities control and direct the Government property and the Harbour Works while a board of directors manage the affairs of the Dock Company and Chamber of Commerce. At Havre there are nine docks covering about 185 acres and providing quay room for ships extending to 12,370 yards. During 1891, exclusive of coasting trade 2,826 vessels of 2,603,875 tons register entered the docks. In 1892, 2,529 vessels of 2,320,626 tons register entered ( :i ). Of these 1,232 were British vessels (in- cluding packets) with 922,730 tons register. The following table gives the total entries of British ships in five northern ports : — Table XXIV.( 4 ) Table showing Total Entries of British Shipping in the Six Principal Ports of the District of the Consulate General in the years 1892 and 1891. Ports. 1892. 1891. Number of V essels. Tons. Number of Vessels. Tons. Havre - 1,074 869,316 1,213 1,052,897 Caen 304 96,896 331 104,132 Trouville 109 39,319 122 43,094 Honfleur 129 62,484 167 91,343 Fecamp 58 18,441 67 19,818 Dieppe 422 174,551 486 228,077 Total 2,096 1,261,007 2,386 1,539,361 (’) See “ Times,” September 27, 1893. ( 2 ) See Rapports du Jury Internationale, Groups de l’Economie Soeiale, Part. II., p. 460. I 3 ) Cf. also F.O. Report, Annual Series, No. 1174, 1893, p. 2. (<) lb., p. 6. Great alterations and improvements of the port have improve- been projected and partly provided for by legislation, merits of the Eventually a larger subsidy will have to be granted por ' to carry out the full scheme. The Western Railway Company has lines laid down round the five chief basins of the harbour. Movable and floating hydraulic and steam cranes are in use. The lighting of the channel and estuary of the Seine have recently been improved, and there is a great increase in safety for night work. During the last three or four years a good many French French sailors and firemen have been regularly shipped sailors on on steamers leaving this port for the United States, vessels. The necessity for guaranties of repatriation acts as a certain check on this movement.! 5 ) The number of emigrants who embarked at Havre in Emigration. 1892 for foreign countries was 26,530 or 8,400 less than the previous year. Of these only 2,669 were of French nationality. The number of men employed on the quays at Havre Numbers of varies greatly from day to day. The Compagnie des employed. Bodes Entrepots steadily employ 300 men, who are engaged by the month, and last year the average number of day labourers was 400. The greatest number of men employed at one time is 5,000. The ordinary work of loading and unloading is done at a rate per ton by stevedores, who act to a certain extent as middlemen. There appear to be no syndi- cates among these men. In 1892 a Syndical Chamber of the Civil Navigators of the Port was founded with 100 members.! 6 ) No women are employed about the port. The purchasing power of wages is considered by Wages. Her Majesty’s Consul to be from 15 to 20 per ceDt. less than in England. The following are the daily rates paid by the Dock Company. Foremen and coopers - - 7 francs. Regular labourers - - - - 5 francs 40. Casual men - - - - 6 francs. Coal porters - - - 7 to 8 francs. Machine drivers - - - 5 francs 50. Lightermen are paid 120 francs a month. The men are engaged by the day or half day, rarely by the hour. They receive counters which are ex- changed for money at the end of a week or fortnight. It is the regular men who are paid fortnightly. From April 1st to September 31st working hours Hours, are from 6 a.m. till 12 noon (rest from 8 till 8.30) and 2 p.m. till 6 p.m. From October 1st to March 31st hours are 7.30 till 12 noon (rest 9 till 9.15) and 1.30 till 4.30 or 6 p.m. The average working day is nine hours, and it is rare for men to work more than 24 hours at a stretch. Overtime is paid at one third more than the ordinary rate and sometimes on Sundays and holidays at double rate. There are no sanitary regulations for warehouses, Sanitation sheds or unhealthy cargoes and after machinery has and in- been once officially inspected before first use, it is no machinery^ longer controlled. Workmen are insured by the em- ployers against risk of accidents. There is no competition for employment by foreign labour in the port. Periodically large numbers of men are out of work, but there are no special provisions for relief of unemployed beyond those supplied by the bureaux de bienfaisance and private charity. The machinery in use at Marseilles is of the same character as at Havre. Improvement works are actively progressing. The surface of the docks covers 1,720,560 square metres, the extent of quays is 18,117 metres. (iii.) Con- ditions at Marseilles. During 1891, 9,063 ships arrived of 5,307,619 tons Extent of register. In 1892, 8,123 vessels with 4,817,381 tons docks, &e. register entered the port. Of these 613 were of British nationality and 5,905 were French vessels, the former registered 873,806 tons and the latter 2,996,860 tons. The entry and tonnage of British vessels showed a decrease for 1892. Fewer French vessels entered than in the previous year, but the tonnage was rather greater. p) /£., p. 4. ( 6 ) Aimuaire des Syndicats Professionels, p. 270. H 2 GO ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Numbers of employed. Emigration. Emigration from the Port of Marseilles was 3,540 in 1892, and was almost exclusively Italian. ( l ) It is estimated that from 1,600 to 1,700 men are daily at work in the docks. Only a few of the Navigation Companies have a permanent staff. In most cases the work is given out by contract at so much per ton and per nature of goods. The contractors pay the men at a daily or half daily rate. There are two syndicates among the workers, one founded in 1883, the other in 1891 ; both are of very small dimensions.! 2 ) A few women are employed in the port for unripping and sewing up bales and sorting goods. They are generally related to dock labourers. Wages are, for foremen 200 to 250 francs a month, for labourers 5 francs a day, and 3 francs for half a day or less. Stevedores earn 6 francs a day, engine men 7 francs a day with a percentage on the coal economised. The wages are paid at the dock pay-offices by the contractors. The truck system is unknown. Hours of work are 10 in summer and eight in winter. Night work, Sunday and holiday work are paid by special agreement. A man who has worked all night may stop work if he pleases for the next day. Provision is made against accident by fire, and a Government Commissioner inspects the machinery once a month. Contractors are liable for all accidents occurring to men working under them and insurance is general. Unhealthy cargoes are supervised. ( 3 ) Nearly half the labourer’s employed are Italians, and there has been a great deal of ill-feeling and even strikes caused by their employment. After a strike in 1891 it was agreed that not more than three-tenths of the employed should be Italians, but the agreement has been a dead letter. (iv.)Theem- Shipbuilding at La Ciotat, near Marseilles, has lately buildfng the developed at an extraordinary rate under the Messageries yards of the Maritimes Company. In 1892 there were 4,112 workmen MariUme' 68 em P'°y e d- All the employes of the Company are given ■ an interest in the profits as they are awarded a per- centage on economies effected by them in their work. The company supports an insurance fund, a pension fund, and a hospital for the sick or injured. and premiums, amounted in 1882 Table XXV.b. Women’s labour. Wages. Hours. Accidents. Foreign labour. (v.) The railway employe in France. Mr. Condie Stephen illustrates the condition of the railway employe in France by a detailed account of a railway company's institutions ; the name of the com- pany is not given.) 4 ) In France, he says, wages for railway servants arc determined at the beginning of every year and paid monthly. Allowances and premiums make a very consid- erable addition to the wages, sometimes more than doubling them. Allowances are given on the ground of distance from work, and may amount on this head alone to 2s. 6d. or 3s. a day ; free passes over the lines are liberally given to employes’ families, and extra allowances are made to those who have more than three children. Premiums are granted for (a.) economy in use of materials ; (6.) punctuality in arrival of passenger trains ; (c.)making up time which was not lost through the servant’s fault ; (d.) care taken of the engines. The following table shows the addition that may be made to wages by such premiums. The figures are for 1882 : — Table XXV. a. Occupations, Fixed pay. Premium. Total. Engineers : Francs. Fr. c. Fr. c. Maximum 2,700 2,246 70 4,946 70 Average - 2,200 1,120 70 3,320 70 Stokers : Maximum 1,600 423 05 2,023 05 Average 1,482 218 50 1,700 50 Wages. The maximum average wages of engineers and stokers, including the fixed rate, extra pay for residence n\ F.O. Report, Annual Series No. 1,182, 1893, pp. 1-4. ( 2 ) Annuaire des Syndicals Professionels, pp. 3(5 and 39. ( 3 ) Report of Her Majesty’s Consul at Marseilles, 1892. ( 4 ) See F.O. Report. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, pp. G5-76. at a distance, to : — Engineers : Fr. c. Maximum - - - 5,340 45 Average - - - - 3,701 60 Stokers : Maximum - - - 2,516 05 Average - - - - 1,989 80 Engineers are paid by the day, and in 1892 were as follows : Daily wage, 6 francs 25 centimes (5s.), annual increase 6 d. a day until the sum has amounted to 8 francs 75 c. In rare cases it may amount to 9 francs 35. Stokers commence at 3 francs 75 centimes (3s.), and the annual increase is 3d. until the sum has amounted to 5 francs a day. Further details are given in the following table : — ( 5 ) Table XXVI. Comparative Table of Wages Paid at the Present Time to Some Other Employes of the Company. Francs. Pointsmen of all grades - 1,300 to 2,050 Guards and breakmen - - 1,300 „ 1,850 Labourers, porters of all grades, navvies, &c. - - - 1,000 ,, 1,600 Washers 1,200 „ 1,500 Number and classes of employed. Grants in aid of rent may be given over and above other allowances referred to, the company disburses 1,000,000 francs annually for this. Wages are not paid for days off work, but Sunday labour is paid at the rate of time and a half, and holidays are regularly granted. Servants on the transport staff are granted 12 to 20 days holiday in the year with full pay, servants in the offices similarly have from 10 to 20 days. The staff of the company under consideration consists of 23.000 employes. No one is admitted to employment under 21 years of age or over 35. Applicants for service are examined free of charge as to phj-sical fitness by the company’s medical officer. When vacancies occur choice is first made among those candidates who have completed their military service. The employed are divided into three classes : — (1.) The regulars on transport duty registered and possessing a commission signed by the director of the company. (2.) Probationers on transport duty who are paid daily for six months or a year. (3.) The clerical staff, who are paid from 100 francs to 150 francs a month. It is only after the period of probation has been aid U funds ,1 LABOUR: (vii.) Widely varying conditions of agri- culture in Trance. Prevalence of farming, in the north, of mdtayage, in the Eouth. (viii.) Rela- tions be- tween agri- culture and industry. (ix.) The Bouches-du- RhOne de- partment. The enormous variation in the natural conditions oi agriculture in a country so rich, extensive, and varied as France, and with such varying local customs and traditions, which are rooted in many cases in a historic past, almost precludes the possibility of summary state- ments as to the conditions of agricultural life. As soon as we pa- s from consideration ot the moral and social to the economic basis of this life, local illustration must he attempted. Broad lines, however, may be first drawn. In the north of France the mode of cultivation called “ intensive ” fills a much greater place than in the south. Most of the products in the south lend themselves to “ extensive ” culture, and the application of capital in highly specialised forms is not essential ; personal labour has in no direction a greater part co play than in the southern regions. Setting the working proprietors aside, farming is a main characteristic of the north, where the cultivator expects regular results. Towards the south where cultivation is far less regular in its results, metayage is the characteristic system. By metayage is meant an association in which the proprietor depends on one or more tenants to cultivate his land, while he supplies the most of the necessary capital and directs the work to a certain extent. The metayer gives his labour and lends his cattle. The produce is generally divided equally, but the division varies with local custom. (') In the south the proprietor exercises a much closer control over the operations of the metayer than towards the north. The departments of Gers, Haute-Garonne, Tarn-ei-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne, and the sea border ot Landes, as those in which the greatest number of metayers are found. Direct farming gains ground wherever the cultivation of the vine predominates ; where varied agriculture is found, there metayage generally pre- dominates. In the Pyrenees Orientates, the two systems work equally ; in the Hantes-Pyrenees pro- perty is excessively subdivided and metagage almost disappears. Statistics for the whole of France show that there is only one metayer for every three farmers, while statistics for 21 southern departments show a proportion varying from 51 '80 to 90'89 per cent.( 2 ) For a general review of agricultural conditions it is important to observe how dependent on the condition of manufacturing industries portions of the agricultural population may sometimes become. The country, equally with the towns, for example, may be affected by a stoppage in the silk industry. Whole districts are given up to the rearing of the silkworm. In these districts the cultivation of the mulberry is also liable to many vicissitudes of its own. The tree and the animal together require a multitude of close minute attentions which can only be given by a trained popu- lation. While this highly specialised skill may in prosperous seasons be remunerated at the rate of 40,000 francs a hectare in the year, a bad season may bring ruin. In the wine growing countries conditions of agricultural industry are much more stable.) 3 ) The southern districts are, in general, not equal to the north and west in wealth and density of population, but they have approached in these respects in the last century. Prevailing features of life among day labourers in representative departments may now be pointed out. Beginning with the south and with Provence, the Bouches-du-Rhone department may be selected. In this country, where wheat is the chief product (cover- ing 50,000 hectares) and vines, oats, and olives form the rest of the staple produce, small proprietorship predominates, and in some districts to an extreme degree. In the arrondissement of Marseilles there are 15,700 rural proprietors, and it is rare to find one possessing 4'» hectares; the greater part of the lots are bought by workmen or small shopkeepers by dint of great economy. In the arrondissement of Aix the sub-division is still more excessive and seriously affects economic production. A middle-sized property may bo broken up into five or six lots inconveniently distant from each other. In seed time and harvest proper control of the work is almost impossible. A great number of the day labourers possess small plots on which they generally work between 4 and 7.30 a.m. before they go to their employer for the day’s work. Metayage occupies a considerable place in the arron- dissement of Aix, and until quite lately the relations between the proprietors and metayers were good. Latterly agricultural depression and increasing de- mands of labour in general have begun to alter these relations for the worse. Daily wages for a labourer in both the arrondisse- Wages in ments cited average 3 francs for a man and V50 for a seUles'and woman, without board. The monthly wage varies from Aixarron- 30 to 50 francs with board. Task work is rare, dissements. Subsidiary occupations for the rural population are found in the tiles and potteries works, whore 3 francs 50 cents, may be earned by a man and 1 franc 75 cents, by a woman. In the canton of Gardenne there is a considerable movement of the agricultural population into industrial occupations. Out of 3,000 people 600 passed into working of the coal mines. The difficulty of finding hands raises wages there to 5 fraucs, even in some cases to 7 francs. It is reported that the moral habits of the agricultural population have been affected for the worse hy this development. (‘) In the arrondissement of Arles, where property is less Wages in sub-divided than in Aix, a prevalently high level of ^strict* comfort is to be found. In a family partly peasant pro- s prietors, partly wage earners, the annual income is about 850 francs (husband 700 francs, wife 150 francs). The expenses would be approximately Fr. Lodging - - - - - 50 Corn 130 Oil - - - - - - 3C Pork 100 Groceries - - - - - 50 Sundries 150 Total - - - 510 Thus appreciable savings can probably be effected. Throughout the Bouches-du-Rhone indigence is rare, Rarity of although privations may often be hard. Few beggars indigence, are seen, and the poor are fully provided for by the Bureaux de Bienfaisance. Investment in the savings banks of the department is general and most practised in the specially agricultural cantons.; 5 ) In the depart- ment there are 27 agricultural syndicates, of which the largest is at Salon with 209 members. Some of these syndicates offer facilities for investment of savings. There are eight co-operative supply societies. In this, as in other districts, association is making steady pro- gress. ( fi ) \ The Gard department is growing into a great centre ( x .) The ! for what is known as sericiculture or cultivation of raw Gard silk. It was a great vine district formerly, before the (le P artm ent. appearance of the phylloxera ; in 1868 98,942 hectares were planted with the vine, but two-thirds have been replaced by other forms of cultivation. In 1890, 2,279,027 kil. of raw silk or cocoons were produced. This represents 27'7 per cent, of the total produce of France. The population of the department is fairly divided between agricultural and industrial pursuits. There are many mines of great importance, the develop- ment of which has been fostered by the exceptional energy and wealth of the Protestant part of the population “ which flung itself into industry with the “ force given by capital .... The development “ of that industry gave a new outlet to the activity, “ while increasing their wealth. The agricultural Protestants “ population is still mainly Catholic; in the towns and “ Protestantism holds a stronger social position on a 0 1C! ' “ account of its numerical strength. ”( 7 ) Mimes is an important centre of this Protestantism. A profound separation exists between the two popula- tions in ideas and manners, even where they come into contact. The culture of silk seems to hold a middle ground between the two. It is remarked that the conflict or competition of the two religions has not been without its happy effects upon the average level of manners and morality. The agricultural populations Social are distinguished by the social peace which reigns s tth# among them. “ Nowhere have sentiments of jealousy cathodes. * “ or hatred been known to arise among the poor “ against the rich proprietors ”( s ) during the agricul- tural depression which was brought about by the double affliction of phylloxera and disease among silk worms ( maladie de vers a soie). In the arrondissement of Vigan for example the value of property under mul- berry trees fell during this period by 60 per cent. ; here (1) Dictionnaire d’Economie Politique, Leon Say, Article Tenure des 6YY6S. ( 2 ) Les Populations Agricoles, Vol. III. p. 10. (*) Tb„ p. 13. (B lb., p. 133. (5) lb., ]). 110-1. I s ) Annuaire des Syndicats Agricoles, 1893, pp. 112, and fl (") Les Populations Agricoles, Vol. III., p. 289. ( 8 ) lb., p. 291. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 65 Wages at Yuan. Depopula- tion, emi- gration. Agricultural associations. ('i.) Ilaute- Garonnc. Cha-acter- isticjof the people. Growth in population, an 1 migration to towns. metayage is the prevailing form of land tenure. Throughout the G-ard department middle-sized pro- perties are prevalent. Primitive forms of association are to be found uniting the small proprietors and the metayers ; these have animals and instruments of labour in common. Many proprietors complain of scarcity of good day labourers. Wages, vary ; in the neighbourhood of Nimes, out of harvest time, a man can earn 2 francs a day in winter and 3 francs in summer (without board). The days last from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with two hours’ rest included. During the harvest time 5 francs a day may be earned. At Vigan the day’s wage 3 without food are, ordinarily, for men 2f. 50c., for women If. 50c., and during harvest for the former 5 francs. A carter may earn 500 francs a year with food ; a shepherd may earn 600 or 700 francs with food. A certain number of wives and daughters of the rural labourers find employment in the small towns in silk spinning or hat works ; others knit woollen or cotton stockings in their own homes. In such ways If. 25c. to If. 50c. may be earned a day. Everywhere it is affirmed the living and nourishment of the rural labourer has im- proved. Nearly all the peasants eat meat three times a week and drink coffee ; wine is much less drunk than it was before the ravages of the phylloxera. The bread of the country is excellent and the consumption of wheat has notably increased per head. Lodging has improved ; the rural workman pays about 60 to 80 francs in rent where he is not proprietor of a small house. Population is diminishing in the Gard department, and this is attributed to voluntary causes. Greater care is shown than formerly in the rearing of children. Emigration set in after the disease bad begun its ravages amongst the silkworms. The population of the Vigan arrondissement was — 66,249 in 1851 ; 64,538 in 18o6 ; 63,396 in 1861 : 60,247 in 1866 ; 59,260 in 1876 ; 57,272 in 1881; 56,868 in 1886. Since the vines have begun to improve and the disease in silk worms has been checked this tendency has slackened.! 1 ) There are nine agricultural syndicates in the Gard department, of which one, with its centre at Nimes, enrolls 1,186 members, another at Alais enrolls 301 members. Both provide agricultural implements and effect sales for their members. The seven co-opera- tive societies of the department include L’Abeille Nimoise founded by M. de Boyve in 1883, which possesses a capital of 33,300 francs. ( 2 ) The next department chosen for illustration is in the south-west, and is the Haute-Garonne, which is in general less fertile and wealthy than the preceding departments. It is readily divided into two parts, one of the mountains and the other of the plains ; in the latter the staple produce is of the same character as in the Gard department. The net produce is very much below that of the north-west departments, although the rural population is about three-quarters of the whole. ( 3 ) The general character of these south-western peasants is distinct. Quickness of perception is universal, oc- casional manifestations of practical cleverness are to be found in the midst of the more prevalent alternative of indolence. Popular education remained for a long time extremely backward in spite of the brilliancy of the University at Toulouse. But it is beginning to make up for lost time and moral and mental progress are dis- tinctly visible in the populations. Temperance and a sense of personal dignity have gained ground, it is said, at the same time that the rural labourer has ob- tained greater material comfort. The steady growth of the population is one im- portant index of the material welfare of the country. At the same time a strong movement of the population from the country to the towns must be noted. Few cities have grown more rapidly in proportion to surrounding population than Toulouse. In 1800 it contained 15 per cent, of the total ; in 1866 it had risen to 25 per cent, and contained 126,936 inhabitants. At the present day it contains 140,000. “Although “ the superior excitement given to certain sorts of “ labour in the cities, and the impulse towards pleasure “ felt by the rural populations has an important share “ in the migration towards towns, it cannot be denied “ that their development in our century is traceable “ also to natural and general causes which need not bo “ regretted. . . . Increased facility of transport, D) lb., pp. 295-304. ( 2 ) Annuaire des Syndicats Agricoles, pp. 344-54. ( 3 ) Les Populations Agricoles, Vol. III., p. 387. U 78419. “ and tho progress of agricultural machinery which has “ diminished the importance of manual labour, are “ among the causes. Another cause of depopulation “ of the country must be attributed to agricultural “ crises. But it is neither impossible nor improbable “ that these various causes may lose their intensity. “ If it is so, as we trust, . . . the decrease in the “ population which weighs upon us as a menacing “ symptom may prove to be only a time of arrest not “ without previous examples in history.”) 4 ) The progress of the movement towards sub-division Check to of property was arrested i n the Haute-Garome during division of the great period of agricultural depression through properties, which it has recently passed. It is only here and there that the land can be said to be excessively sub-divided. From 50 to 80 hectares of land are reckoned a large property. These properties form approximately l-5th of the land, the average properties 2-5ths, the small 3-6ths. The value of the land tends to rise. A tendency is shown for the mode of tenure by Direct metayage to pass into that of direct farming. In the - arrain K- arrondissement of Saint Gaudens the proportion of those who directly farm their own land is 19 ‘ 20, and this is the highest proportion of the depart- ment. Until quite recently the spirit of association was very backward, but some of the syndicates are beginning to do excellent work amongst the small and middle proprietors.) 5 ) There is a greater spirit of economy discoverable amongst the rural labourers of the Haute-Garonne than amongst those of the Lot and Herault departments, at the same time there is a stronger tendency for wages to rise. Daily wages are 2 francs for a man, Wages. 1 franc for a woman. Harvesting and planting are paid by task, and are carried out by couples called solatiers, a man and a woman ; the daily wage then rises to 4 francs. The yearly income of a labourer’s family does not rise above 900 irancs, and rarely or never falls below 400 francs. The conditions of nourishment are inferior to those in the other departments considered. Butcher’s meat is very rarely eaten, and the staple food is vegetable. Lodging, however, has greatly im- proved, and for 80 francs a labourer can lodge his family in a comfortable house with several rooms. A growing tendency to more expensive and less thrifty habits of clothing shows itself here as in the north of France. Indigence is hardly to be found ; a few beggars come occasionally from the mountains, but generally the families are well insured from suffering by mutual aid societies and savings funds. To effect this condition of things, however, it is nearly always necessary for the mothers of families to contribute to the income. ( G ) In this department, as in those surrounding it, M. Baudrillart discovered moral traits worthy of remark. Especially in the Tarn department) 7 ) and the Agenais district of Lot-et-Garonne, he found energy and pride, and simple, strong manners. He quotes with approval an estimate by M. Yeyries of the work in these districts done by the women. “ The “ strength of this race . . . lies in the women. How “ many households we have seen where the wife “ supports husband and children; they earn the money “ and save it. . . . It is the mothers who instruct their “ children, giving them good example and good words “ . . . and what a profound sense of religion there is “ in these uncultured women. Catholics and Protes- “ tants alike, when they are left to follow their own “ bent, know how to satisfy their common need of “ an ideal, under it matters not what religious “ form.”) 3 ) The Haute-Loire department is in the fullest sense of the term a land of small proprietorship. About seven- tenths of the agricultural population are small proprie- tors, in the monntainous districts owning from one or two hectares, in other parts from one to six hectares. Larger and medium-sized properties have been sold and broken up very often during the agricultural crisis. The owners of them have complained of the burdens of high wages and taxes, and no dcubt depression has in some parts led to subdivision of land, but in certain districts this movement has been determined by the intellectual and moral condition of the peasantry, who (*) Les Populations Agricoles, Vol. III., p. 400. ( : ‘) lb., pp. 401-5. Ann. des Synd. Agr., p. 355-6. ( 6 ) Les Populations Agricoles, Vol. III., pp. 406-S. (9 lb., p. 423. (») /*.. p.637. (xii.) Moral traits in the peasantry of the south- west (Guyenne). (xiii.) The Haute-Loire department. I ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: (xiv.) The Sarthe department (Maine). 6t> are active, intelligent, and businesslike. The men carry on trade in cattle and the women make lace, and the young men in winter or in times of want of employment migrate temporarily to other districts and return with savings to their homes. In 10,000 hectares of la nd the average number of farms will be 258, and of metayages 32. In the same district there would be on an average 273 day labourers and 508 farm servants. Amongst all the classes of day labourers proprietors of small pieces of land are to be found. Here, as elsewhere, the metayer may own part of the land he works upon. Out of 1,864 agricultural workers of all sorts 61 per cent, will be proprietors. The tenancy of the farmers is most stable under the large proprietors. On the middle-sized properties a farm rarely descends from father to sou. “ The farms “ and metairie s leave much to be desired in the matter “ of buildings and situation. ”(*) Model arrangements may be found on certain large properties, but unfortu- nately their example is the less inspiring because the landlords have lost moneyin the attempts. ‘‘ In time these “ examples starting from above will produce their fruit. “ We have discovered the existence of a considerable “ number of large proprietors in the Haute-Loire who “ understand their duty in a noble sense. We have met “ one of' these men . . . the moral authorities of a country “ . . . types of governing classes, . . . models of “ courtesy and practical intelligence, faithfully at- “ tached to religions and family traditions, and at the “ same time accessible to ideas of intellectual and “ social progress. These are the elements of strength il and security for a country which knows how to turn “ them to account. ”( 2 ) A great difference is announced as existing between labourers employed by the day and labourers employed by the task in the Haute-Loire, especially towards the Auvergne mountains. In the mining districts the agricultural labourer pure and simple is scarcely to be found, for he generally works in the mines at night The very small proprietors often earn in the same way from 4 to 5 francs daily. In general the mining industry has had the effect of raising wages in surrounding districts. The wages of an ordinary rural day labourer have risen more than 50 per cent, since 1830, on an average all over the Haute-Loire, but there are districts where the rise has been much less. At task work air agricultural labourer may earn 5f. 50c. by working from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. This is mainly during harvest time. The farmers often arrange for this work through an intermediary who controls and provides food for the workers. During the main part of the year a day labourer earns from 3 to 4 francs, and a woman from If. 75c. to 2 francs, without food, with food the rates are 2f. 50c. and If. 25c. The tendency is to adopt the former system. The women work, a good deal in their own homes at passementerie and Jace-making, aud may earn in this way from 2f. 50c. to 3 francs a day, the work being paid by the piece and each model having a different price. By the finer sorts of lace a woman may earn 4 francs a day, and they often give themselves up with such ardour to the work that household duties have to be fulfilled by the men. The race, it is said, begins to show traces of loss of health and strength through excessive work (which has increased since development of the mining industry), accompanied by insufficient feeding, out it may still be called robust. House room is dear and low in standard. Cleanliness and con- venience are greatly to be sought. Towards the mountains the dwellings often consist of one large apartment, and animals and men go in and out by the same door. In Velay aud other arrondissements the peasants are proprietors of their dwellings. Bents vary from 40 to 100 francs. ( :i ) Passing to the North of France, and beginning with the Maine districts, the Sarthe department may be selected for illustration. Large farms are rare, those covering from four to ten hectares predominate. Proprietors generally hold land extending over 10 to 25 hectares. Large properties, t.e., of not less than 80 hectares, cover only one-tenth of the department, small properties about six-tenths. If a farm is less than eight hectares it is locally known as a bordage. ( J ) Los Populations Agricoles, Vol. II., p 591. ( 2 ) lb., p. 592. ( ■') lb., pp. 692-99. The agricultural depression has greatly affected the large proprietors. A marked tendency is to be seen towards extension of the peasant proprietorship system. This has naturally been accompanied by a decrease of the number of day labourers pure and simple ; but a very large number of the peasant proprietors undertake wage paid labour. The working classes generally in the Sarthe have achieved great material progress. The staple food consists of good bread, meat, pork, and dairy produce in sufficient quantity to maintain a vigorous race. Although farmhouses have improved, however, the dwellings of the agricultural labourer and small peasant proprietors have not made equal progress. Some of them possess their own houses, and yet let them for 50 and even 20 francs a year. Wages apparently did not rise in 1888 above 3 francs a day for a man, without food, and 2 francs with food ; 2 francs and If. 25c. similarly for a woman. Twenty years ago these figures would have been If. 17c. and 64c. for a man and 82c. and 43c. for a woman ; food is thus evidently cheap. In 1888 farm servants’ wages were : men 300 to 400 francs a year, boys 120 to 200 francs, women 150 to 250 francs. A large number of the agricultural labourers increase their earnings by subsidiary occupations, such as weaving, llax spinning, manufacture of sabots. A family income may be increased by these means by 221frs. Tiie spirit of saving has received an impetus by the increase in earnings, at least amongst the older members of the communities. Amongst the youthful members a spirit of extravagance and search after pleasure is at the same time noticeable. This is one of the depart- ments where immigration takes place during certain seasons of the year. At harvest time 1,000 or more men and more than 500 women may temporarily drift in. Nevertheless a steady emigration of agricultural labourers goes on all the year round. The numbers were estimated as averaging 4,760 men and 3,515 women by M. Baudrillart in 1888.( 4 ) The chief products are: wheat, covering 77,912 hectares; rye, 21,229 hectares ; oats, 36,246 hectares ; potatoes, 40,078 hectares ; beetroot, for fodder, 8,856 hectares ; vines, 9,100 hectares. Cider is much more largely produced than wine ; in 1890 54,485 hectolitres of wine and 143,330 hectolitres of cider were produced. There are a good many agricultural syndicates of considerable size. One of the most important includes workmen and farmers (855 members), and was founded in 1886 at Sable. The largest is at Mans, founded in the same- year, and enrolls now 5,500 members. Co-operative bakeries are extending.) 5 ) In the neighbouring department of Indre-et-Loire mrtayage still holds a considerable place. Both pro- prietors and farmers have suffered here from agricul- tural depression, but the wages of the day labourer have not only been maintained, they have increased. This was shown by the agricultural inquiry of 1866, and has been since proved to continue. The attractions of the towns Tours and Paris have drawn so many hands steadily away that the remuneration of those remaining was bound to increase. Emigration to foreign countries is extremely rare.) 0 ) Day labourers earn from 2f. 50c. to 5 francs and women from 2 to 2f. 50c. without food. A worker among the vines may earn 900 francs a year, a young carter 600 francs with food. Wood cutters’ wages are 5 to 6 francs a day. There is a passion amongst the people of this country ( paysans tourangenur) for ownership of their own homes. The peasant proprietor furnishes his house with the greatest care,, and there are few mistresses of farms who do not maintain a high standard of cleanliness and comfort within them. The greater part of the day labourers own small houses, with a care ■ fullj- tended plot of ground. There is only a small amount of indigence in Touraine. In 1884 there were 118 communes with boards of charity (bureattx de bienfaisance) dispensing 180.000 francs annually, very largely for infirmity and sick relief at home. The general hos- pital at Tours provides skilled treatment for those who cannot properly be treated at home. The Conseil General of the department votes 1,200 francs annually for the purpose of sending poor convalescents to watering places. A depot de mendicih C‘) aud orphanages are well supported. M. Baudrillart pointed out in 1888 that the ( 4 ) Les Populations Agricoles, Yol. II., p. 2S. ( 5 ) Annuaire des Syndicats Agricoles, pp. 862-82. ( 6 ) Les Populations Agricoles. Vol. II., p. 140 and ff. ( 7 ) Of. infra, pp. 86-6. Material progress. (xv.) Indre- et-Loire (Touraine). REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 67 (xvi. ) North- west of' Prance. Land tenure. The Civil Code. Wages. Standard of living. 'I'he Nord department, and serni- rural manners. peasantry had only just begun to systematically develop provident and mutual aid societies, but the movement showed promised 1 ) Passing to the extreme north-west of Prance to Artois and Picardy, or the Pas-de-Calais and Nord departments, we have to consider a country which is thickly scattered over with industrial centres. In Picardy, as in Normandy, there is a considerable number of large proprietors and a multitude of peasant proprietors, who form the democracy of the land. In Artois middle-sized properties prevail, and the land is largely cultivated by tenant farmers on small farms. The following are the proportions in Artois : peasant proprietors 30 per cent, of the land, middle-sized pro- perties 50 per cent., large properties 20 per cent. In this part of Prance, as in the other widely diverse parts, which have been here so rapidly surveyed, there is properly no agrarian question. The relations between farmers and proprietors are apparently very satisfactory. M. Baudrillart attributes the peace which generally prevails to the Civil Code, which “ has been a great “ instrument for pacification in our countries.” It regulates the conditions of lease ( les conditions du bail d forme) in a precise, clear, and equitable manner. “This advantage, which can hardly be “ estimated too highly, joined to division of property, “ has created the fundamental accord of interests “ in the heart of the agricultural classes which “ is too often forgotten when critics begin to talk.”( 2 } Certain exceptions to the general rule of peace have been noted in questions arising out of the exact limits of properties in Artois and Picardy. ( a ) It is peculiarly difficult to arrive at an exact estimate of the real wages of agricultural labour in Artois. Almost everywhere there are opportunities for adding to the wage of field labour. This has been increased, as in other parts, through the competition of industrial occupations for labour. The mines have exercised a strong attraction for labourers about the collieries of Bethune. There better lodging can be found, and many advantages in the way of provident and mutual aid funds. While a marked migration of agricultural labourers to the industrial centres has progressed “ it can hardly be said that there “ are fewer agriculturists in the country ” ; the progress towards peasant proprietorship has been irresistible. The peasant proprietor works not only on his own land, but on other lands, and in winter in different factories, e.g., in breweries and sugar factories. Field labour was paid at the rate of 3 francs a day in 1888 ; workers in breweries can make 30 francs a month ; a labourer going into a sugar factory in winter may earn 4 or 5 francs, and a woman 3 francs or more. In spite of the movement of agricultural labourers, the factories employ a large number of Belgian work- men, who are thrifty and steady. These workmen live wholly in the open air during summer, sleeping at night on beds of straw. Good lodging is attainable by the native workers, rural and industrial, at sufficiently moderate rates, and the general standard of living has improved Still indigence is one of the distressing features in this part of the country. M, Baudrillart remarked in 1888 that in certain villages one tenth of the population received assistance, and that beggary was too frequent. ( 4 ) In Picardy (Nord department) manners, it is stated, have suffered from the crowding of workers in semi- rural, semi-industrial centres. Immorality, criminality, drunkenness, are far rarer in the purely agricultural than in the urban districts. The control of public opinion operates in a stronger degree in the country, where each person is known by all. Such misdemean- ours as are found there are far more often to be attributed to impulse than to premeditation. ( 5 ) In the districts surrounding Amiens a floating population is found which manifests many of the faults and vices belonging to the towns. The young people, who formerly would have spent their holiday time in simple open air amusements, such as dancing and sports, now crowd into the cafes and gambling saloons. (°) With a decrease in stability of habits and customs a slackening of the friendly bonds between the workers 9 Les Populations Agricdfes, Vol. II., p. 149-50. -) lb., p. 353. (- 1 ) 77;., p. 354. *) II., p. 365. (u lb., pp. 380 and ft. ( 6 ) Ib„ p. 383. and their employers in semi-rural districts is to bo observed, as it is also in Normandy. “ The relations “ between masters and servants have certainly become “ more difficult. . . . One finds in these parts a “ pale reflection of the conflicts dividing capital and “ labour ’’ in industrial centres. ( 7 ) That respect for property is weakened in a certain degree in spite of the widely extended ownership of property, is shown by an increase in statistics of thefts. Comparison of the agricultural situation in Normandy and Brittany presents immediately a startling contrast in the matter of growth of population. In the former a steady and striking decrease is to be found, in the latter a still steadier and greater increase. From 1872 to 1876 Normandy lost 10,175 souls, while in the same period Brittany gained 66,470. During the same period are to be noted the steady growth of manufactures and the transformation of much arable into grazing land in Normandy, and in Brittany the inverse process in respect of agriculture, with a continued paucity of manufactures. A number of causes have operated, in the view of M. Baudrillart. to produce the decrease in Normandy. The increased mortality among workers in industrial centres he rejects as a cause of inadequate importance to explain facts by itself, and in the matter of agricul- tural land, in spite of an increase of pasturage, Normandy still remains for the immensely greater part “ a land for labourers and not for shepherds. ”( 8 ) In 1885 in the department of La Manche, for instance, out of 432,000 hectares only 92,000 hectares were given over to grass. The decrease is due, M. Baudrillart holds : first, to decrease in the birth rate; second, to emigration ; third, to an increase in mortality. All three causes have worked to the detriment of the agricultural situation. “When the rural labourer “ leaves his native country it is seldom that it is not ‘ 1 an unfortunate circumstance for agriculture. . . . “ In the Orne department 9,000 or 10,000 workers " emigrated, some to carry on a retail trade in Paris, “ some to travel round the country as pedlars, col- “ porteurs, &c. . . . When such emigration tends “ only to raise earnings of those remaining, and to “ produce habits of thrift and saving it is not regret- “ table. When it means immigration of strange labour “ . . . with a tendency to substitute manners of “ nomads for those of a stable population ... it “ is hurtful to the morality and well-being of the “ country. ”( 9 ) As a matter of fact, in many depart- ments of Normandy the labour has to be replaced not only by immigration from other parts of France, but from abroad. In the Eure department, farmers directly import Belgian labour. These are good workers, but are less sober than the natives. Swiss are also largely em- ployed. ( 1U ) Of natives from other departments many come from Artois, for short contracts. The introduction of machinery has diminished the necessity for appren- ticeship to a great part of agricultural labour ; it often reduces a man’s task to a purely muscular effort and soldiers are increasingly employed in work, which is accomplished by the aid of simple machinery. In no part of France is the increase in rates of wages more striking than throughout the greater part of Normandy. An inferior day-labourer could earn 3 francs a day, and piece-workers could earn 5 francs in a day in 1885 ; mowers earned 3 to 4 francs, and reapers 5f. 50c. to 6 francs ; but their day was 13 or 14 hours. In certain districts a considerable addition can be made to agricultural wages by weaving and other industrial occupations. “ It is not at all rare for a “ labourer to bring his daily earnings up to 7 or 8 “ francs, and, more rarely, even to 10 francs, food “ included, during harvestl”( u ) This was especially noted in the arrondissement of Bernay. The work in their own homes of the women, on the celebrated embroidery on tulle, was formerly a source of wealth to the simplest villagers, but it has latterly greatly decayed, to the loss in many cases, of family manners and wellbeing. The women who would have been employed in this way migrate to seek employment as farm servants in districts remote from their homes. ( 7 ) Les Populations Agricoles, Vol. II., p. 391. ( 8 ) lb., Vol. I., 1885, p. 520-3. ( 9 ) lb., p. 325. ( 10 ) Cf. supra p. 14. ( u ) Les Populations Agricoles, Vol. I„ p. 336. i i (xvii.) Com- parison of Nor- mandy with Brittany. migration and de- crease in population in Nor- mandy. Immigra- tion. "Wages in Normandy. 68 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Friction between employers and em- ployed. Standard of living. Develop- ment of'as- sociations required. (xviii.) Peasant proprietor- ship in Brittany. The constant movement of labour in Normandy has tended to bring about a greater friction between the agricultural labourer and his employer than in most other parts of France. The labourer is in general more exacting in demands and capricious as to fulfil- ment of his contracts, than elsewhere.(‘) Certain farmers have attempted to enforce a system of certifi- cates of character, or rather of condition, stating the antecedents of applicants for employment. Most pro- prietors and farmers have declared in favour of some such system. It seems unlikely that it can be strictly enforced in times and districts where the labour is in great request. Kemarkable variations are to be discovered in the standard of living. In the Eure department it reaches perhaps its highest level. Meat, good bread, fruit, vegetables and dairy produce are plentifully supplied to the labourer, who is fed at the farms. An employer who did not do so would find difficulty in obtaining service. In Calvados, Orne, and Marne departments the standard is not so good. The quantity is not in- ferior, but variety is lacking in the articles of food. The cider in most parts is good, but in certain districts is sour and not wholesome. Lodging is perceptibly im- proving in most directions. ( 2 ) There is a great field for development of mutual aid societies in most country places in Normandy, and M. Baudrillart believes that association for such purposes might do much to check emigration. The bureaux de bienfaisance are inadequate to cope with the indigence among the labourers. Special measures have had to be adopted for the repression of mendicity in certain de- partments, notably in the Orne. The new law for free medical assistance may do much for the indigent sick.( 3 ) In Brittany the number of peasant proprietors has increased as steadily in the last 40 years as at any time since the Revolution. Nevertheless “ large proprietors “ continue to form an elite, who preserve an influence “ which is greater or less according as the proprietor “ lives on his own land or far from it.”( 4 ) More often than not the peasant proprietor of Brittany presents the traits of an agricultural labourer rather than that of an employer. He is, generally, simply a a rural labourer living only partly on a revenue which is less than half of his earnings in wages. Some of the most interesting agricultural types may be studied in the extreme west of Brittany in the Finisterre deport- ment. A special feature of the country about Koscoff, Morlaix, and Brest is the thriving market gardening that is carried on. Here the peasant proprietor is generally prosperous. A little further to the east, at Guingamp in the next department (Cotes-du-Nord), there has been a sensible growth in wellbeing together with a general progress in methods of cultivation ; poverty may still, however, be considered as prevalent. A day labourer rarely earns lfr. (with food) on a farm. If he provides his own food it is generally poor in quality. The poorest live almost exclusively on potatoes, bouillie de sarrasini;’), and coarse cakes without butter. ( G ) The cottages are narrow, low and dark, and rents for the poorest of them range 1'rom 25 to 30 francs a year. The most prosperous wage earner may pay 60 francs for his dwelling. The women add to the family income by spinning, and may earn in tliiB way 20 centimes (2d.) a day. In the Ille-et-Vilaine department the standard of living is higher, and sarrasin is generally only used for bread when mixed with proper flour. A similar improvement (') Les Populations Agricoles, p. 333. ( 2 ) lb., p. 340-1. p) Cf. infra Assistance Pullique, p. 3 . {*) lb., p. 497. ( 5 ) No traveller in the north of Brittany can have failed to he struck with the picturesque effect of the cultivation of this white herb which produces such poor food. The seed which is only used for animals elsewhere is ground and treated as (lour in Brittany. Dr. Johnson’s famous dictum on the oats of Scotland might he applied here without aying it open to such a prompt and fair retort as he met with. \°) Les Populations Agricoles cit. p. 609. is to be noted in the Loire-Infcrieure. There is through- out Brittany a competition amongst wage-paid labourers which prevents such a marked rise in wages as must be recognised almost everywhere else in France. ( 7 ) Two general vices afflict Brittany in a marked degree, inveterate begging and drunkenness. Indigence proves a more pressing problem here than in any other pro- vince. (c.) Textiles and Miscellaneous Industries. Statistics of wages in the larger and in the small industries for the department of the Seine, prepared by the Office du Travail will be published very shortly. A thoroughly organised inquiry has been in progress for some time, which will eventually produce statistics covering all the important manufacturing districts of France. The method adopted differs from that of previous inquiries of the same nature. ( 8 ) The figures which will appear in the report have been prepared by delegate commissioners who have made minute in- quiries in certain industrial establishments and have drawn up average statements from the manufacturers’ books. Formerly the method was to check general statements of manufacturers by means of local com- missions. This was unsatisfactory, because the local commissions could not be sufficiently representative and official to produce really trustworthy proof of the figures. In Paris and the Seine department the dele- gate Commisssioners have been : (1) the permanent staff of the labour office ; (2) as assistants, certain out- side workers of known capacity ; (3) the engineers of bridges and causeways and the mines (by permission of the Minister of Public Works). These latter have done the most important part of the inquiry. The detailed statements drawn up as to the condition of the establishments consist of 17 columns giving — nature of industry, locality, average working days of the establishment, classes of workers, number of days worked by each category of workers, whether work is by piece or by time, amounts earned by certain given lengths of hours ; and so on. The inquiry is most exhaustive. About 470 industrial establishments, employing 60,000 workers, have been examined for the Seine. A full third of the workers, 33 per cent, of the men, 50 per cent, of the women, work by piece. This method is rarest in the building trade and most common in the cabinet-making trades. The rate of wages paid for it is generally higher than the rate for time work. The inquiry seems to show that, setting extremes and exceptional cases aside, any man exercising a skilled trade ( metier ) in the department of the Seine may earn from 7 to 10 francs by a day of about ten hours. An ordinary unskilled labourer may earn from 4f. 50c. to 6f. 50c. Women s wages hardly reach half of men’s wages, they run, ordinarily, from 2f. 50c. to 3f. 50c. for fairly skilled work. Children and young workers by ten hours’ work may earn from 1 franc to 3f. 50c. Foremen gain an average wage of 250 to 300 francs a month, in some cases their wages are below those of highly skilled labourers ; these may gain from 13 to 20 francs a day. Working jewellers, workers in metal, typographers, &c. may earn 10 francs a day. At the rate of 8f. 5Cc. to 9 francs may be found piece-workers at wood carving, upholstery, stone polishing, &c. The following table will give an opportunity for comparing these general averages with details prepared before 1885.( 9 ) p) lb., pp. 608-629. ( 8 ) Other inquiries have been: EnqutHe tie 1S35-47; EnquCte de 1835-55 ; Enqufete de 1861-65. See “ La Reiornie Sociale” August 16, 1893, pp. 822-11. p) Appendix to Mr. Condie Stephen’s Report F.O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, Statistique G6n<5rale de la France, 1885. 1. Wages (a.) Inquiry instituted by the “ Office du Travail.” Picce-worlc. (6.) Statis- tics drawn from eariiet inquiries. MAPS REPRODUCED FROM LEVASSEUR (Population Frangaise, Vol. I (889 . p.p. 368^9. ) I. Map shewing the distribution by departments, of persons engaged irv U. Map shewing distribution by departments, of persons large industries exclusive of mining & metcdlurgic industries, (88). engaged in small industries, (88). REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE, 69 Table XXIXa. Wages in Great Industries in 1885, not including those connected with Mines and Metallurgy. Department of the Seine. Other Departments. Daily Pay of Workmen without Board. Daily Pay of Workmen without Board. Description of Industries. Workmen Properly so Called. Men. Children. Workmen Properly so Called. Men. Children. fr.c. Fr.c. . ( 3 ) " La Rdforme Sociale,” May 1, 1893, p. 720. ( 4 ) Rapport sur les Soci<5t6s Co-opera tives. Senate No. 29, 1892, p. 43. (•'■) See Draft Bill, Pait IV., Appendix XII. p., 120. ( 6 ) Report quoted, p. 4. 1C 0. The Gas Company of Paris anil its staff. (a.) Origin and progress of the co- operative movement. (i.) The Act of 1867. 74 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : In 1881, M. Floquet, then prefect of the Seine, revived this decree as regards works in the city of Paris. (') A committee appointed by him drew up some regulations specially favouring working men’s societies, and those contracting firms which admitted their employes to a share (ii.) Thecir- in the profits. In 1888 a circular dated June 4, was cui;u- of ^ addressed by the Minister of the Interior to the prefects, June 4, 1888. s ^ a ^.; n ^ that societies of working men were in future to enjoy certain advantages ever other persons or 6rms in tenders for State contracts, namely: (1) they were to be free from the obligations of a deposit for works and supplies under 2,000/. in value; (2) they were to have the preference at equal tenders over any other contractors ; (0) they were to have the privilege of fortnightly payments on account. The French Government conceded these privi- leges without the sanction of a Statute, and no protest was made in Parliament. (■) This circular was probably based on the results of the Extra-Parliamentary Commission appointed March 20th, 1888, by M. Waldeck- Rousseau, Minister of the Interior, for the purpose of inquiry into woi'kmen’s associations and profit-sharing. The Commission was divided into two sections, one appointed to study the modifications that could be effected in the law of 1867 on societies, the other to receive delegates of the co-operative societies, and heads of firms which gave a share in the profits to their employes. (iii.) Separa- Before proceeding to analyse the changes proposed in legislation which are the outcome of this inquiry, it seems advisable to present a brief sketch of the actual state of the movement in France under existing laws and alleged obstructions. Owing its origin mainly to such men as Fourier and Buchez, the co-operative movement is now generally sepa- rated from the advanced socialistic and communistic wings of the labour movement, and is strongly repudiated by the extremer spirits at the Labour Exchange. “ Workmen “ who join profit-sharing establishments, said one of them “ in 1890, desert the army of labour, and declare war on “ the syndicates. ( 3 ) Few social'sts will even admit co- operation as a “ palliative” of present industrial evils, and in general they look upon it as an outpost of reaction. The most distinguished exponents of the co-operative principle are equally strong in expressing their dissent from the la test teachings of collectivists. “ We differ, “ says M. Charles Gide, from the collectivist party on two “ important points. The first is that we see no necessity “ to abolish individual property even in instruments of “ production ; we desire on the contrary to be able by “ association to make, the workman the owner of these “ instruments. The second point wherein we differ from “ collectivism is that we entertain a certain distrust of the “ State . . . although we admit its intervention as re- “ gards the protection of the individual. Wedonot believe “ much in the efficacy of law for the creation of a new “ social order. . . The organisation of society appears “ to me under the aspect of a multitude of associations of “ every kind and proportion, in all of which the workmen “ receive the entire product of their labour, because they “ will possess the instruments of production. I believe “ in co-operation, but it cannot be built up in a “ day.”( 4 ) Civ.) Pro- Certainly it is true that, while France is the “classic” Ciiciiye^ land p f profit-sharing, it has not yet made any great :l !id Credit progress in productive co-operation. According to M. Societies. Gide’s calculations, there are 81 productive societies in all, cf which 40 are in Paris. ( 5 ) The industries undertaken are varied in character ; among them are included the two mining enterprises of Rive de Gier and Monthieux.( 6 ) No general account has yet been officially prepared of the modes of government prevailing or of distribution of profits among members of the productive societies. The following list has been drawn from the Co-operators’ Almanack for 1893.( 7 ) The lists of building societies and co-onerative loan societies are attached : — Table XXXIII. Co-operative Productive Associations in France. (81 Societies not including Fruitieres et Laiteries.) Societe des charpentiers de la Vilette, 49 rue St. Blaise, Paris. (>) Report quoted, p. 8. (-) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 213, pp. Hand 19. ( ;i ) Foreign Ollice Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 238. p. xviii. (i) Rapport sur les Soci6t6s Co-operatives, cit. pp. 27-80. (5) Revue d’Rconomie Politique, January 1893. ( 6 ) See above, Division II., p. 58. (?) Almanaoh de la Co-operation Franqaise, p. 93. Association l’Ebenisterie parisienne, 1 7 bis, cite Bertrand, Paris. Association des menuisiers de Paris, 30 rue du Poteau Paris. Association de menuisiers (atelier svnrlical), .34 rue Baron Paris. * Association de menuisiers l’Esperance du batiment, 81 rue des Pyrenees, Paris. Association de peintres : le Travail, 6 rue de Madrid. Paris. Association de peintres : le Progres, 60 rue Caulaincourt, Paris. Association de peintres : la Fraternelle, 4 rue de Crillon, Paris. Union des seulpteurs-mouleurs, 60 rue Caulaincourt, Paris. Union des serruriers, 7 rue Froissart, Paris. Association des ouvriers tapissiers, 5 rue Meissonier, Paris. Association l’Eclairage moderne, 99 faubourg du Temple, Paris. Societe de fumistes-briqueteurs, 38 rue Richard-Lenoir, Paris. Association des toliers fumistes, 29 rue Geoffrey-St.- Hilaire, Paris. Societe co-operative des parqueteurs, 10 rue dela Rosiere, Paris. Association des paveurs de Paris, 131 boulevard Bessieres. Paris. Association le Pavage, 77 ter, rue de la Tombe-Issoire, Paris. Association de terrassiers, puisatiers-mineurs, 6 rue Guille-rninot, Paris. Association des ouvriers granitiers, 67 rue Mouton- Duvernet, Paris. Association piquers de gres, 33 rue du Moulinet, Paris. Association des casseurs de pierres, "4 avenue de Clicliy, Paris. Association des doreurs sur hois, 36 rue Saint-Vincent, Paris. Association des ferblantiers reunis, 15 rue des Trois- Bornes, Paris. Association des ouvriers en voitures, 69 rue Puchet, Paris. Association de carrosserie et charronnage, 45 rue d’Avron, Paris. Union des ouvriers bijoutiers en dore, 12 cite Dupetit- Thouars, Paris. Societe des ouvriers en colliers anglais, 95 faubourg Saint- Martin, Paris. Association des ouvriers horlogers, 43 rue Saintonge, Paris. Association Imprimerie Nouveile, 11 rue Cadet, Paris. Association des facteurs en instruments de musique, 81 rue Saint- Maur, Paris, Association des ouvriers en limes, 48 rue des Gravilliers, Paris. Association d’ouvriers lithographes, 27 bis, rue Corbeaif, Paris. Association generale d’ouvriers tailleurs, 33 rue Turbigo, Paris. Association d’ouvriers selliers PAvenir, 49 rue de Rivo'i, Paris. Societe co-operative desbouchons, au Boulou (Pyrenees- Orientales). Association des charpentiers de navires, a Boulogne-sur- Mer. Societe de paveurs et cimentiers l’Epar^ne, 24 rue Degries, Bordeaux. Union des ma<;ons, platriers et tailleurs de pierres, Narbonne. Association des ouvriers menuisiers, Poitiers. Redouly et Cie, ancienne maison Leclaire, 11 rue Saint- Georges. Association ouvriere de graveurs, 17-19 rue des Grandes, Augustins, Paris. Societe des lunetiers, 6 rue de Poitou, Paris. Association des ouvriers formiers, 48 rue St.-Sauveur, Paris. Association des facteurs de pianos, 54 rue des Poissonniers, Paris. Societe cooperative de ouvriers et ouvrieres en sacs en papier, 10 rue Thiboumerv, Paris. Association de la chapellerie aixoise, Ai.x (Bouches-du- Rhone). Societe co-operative de l’industrie drapiere Vienne (Isere). Societe co-operative de l’industrie cotonniere, Thizy (Rhone). Societe co-operative de l’industrie cotonniere, Lagresle (Loire). REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 75 Societe co-operative des ouvriers sabotiers la Conciliation, Limoges. Societe co-opdrative des ouvriers hrossiers le Creusot. Association ouvriere l’lmprimerie Nouvelle, Lyon. Association d’ouvriers cordonniers, Marseille. Association d’ouvriers tailleurs de limes, Arnay-le-Duc (Cot.e-d’Or). Association d’ouvriers ma^-ons, Lyon. Socidte civile des ouvriers menuisiers de Lyon, rue Vauban. Societd co-operative des tailleurs de pierres, a Bourg (Ain). Dequenne et Cie, ancienne inaison Godin, association du Familistere de Guise (Aisne). Societe anonyme et co-operative de la Laiterie de Leschelle (Aisne). Association co-operative d’ouvriers menuisiers, Nice (Alpes-Maritimes). Imprimerie Nigoise (association co-operative), Nice. Societe des mineurs des mines de Rancid (Ariege). Brasserie bourguignonne (association co-operative), Dijon. Societe fruitiere co-operative (laiterie) a Marignac-Saint- Beate (Haute- Garonne). Societe des paveurs l’Epargne, a Bordeaux (Gironde). Societe de cordonnerie, Tours (Indre-et-Loire). Societe co-operative d’Abilly, instruments agricoles (Indre-et-Loire). Societe des vanniers, a Villaines (Indre-et-Loire). Syndicat agricole de Poligny (Jura). Societes fruitieres, fromageries diverses. Verrerie stephanoise (societe co-operative) ,9 rue Trcfilerie, Saint-Rtienne (Loire). Compagnie stephanoise de la Mine aus mineurs, a Monthieux. Syndicat des mineurs du bassin houiller du Gier, a Rive-de-Gier. Societd de battage de Saint-Claude, pres Blois (Loir-et- Cher). Syndicat agricole de Maine-et-Loire (battage des recoltes). Societd co-operative de battage de recoltes, a Montreuil- sur-Breche (Oise). Societd co-operative de battage a Haudivillers. Socidte des tullistes de Calais. Syndicat des cliarpentiers de navires de Boulogne-sur- Mer. Association co-operative du journal le Petit Clermontois, a Clermont Ferrand. Laiterie co-operative a Mauze-snr-le Mignon (Deux- Sevres). Laiterie co-operative a Usseau (Deux-Sevres). Socidte des cordonniers de Limoges. Table XXXIV. Co -operative Building Societies. (3 Societies.) Socidte co-operative immobiliere de Paris, 8 rue du Foin. La Pierre du foyer, societe co-operative de construction et d’cpargne, Marseille. Societe co-operative de construction (en formation), chez “ les fils de Peugeot freres,” a Valentigney (Doubs). Table XXXV. Co-operative Banks in France. (18 Societies.) Credit mutuel et populaire (le R. P. Ludovic de Besse), Paris. Banque populaire du V' ne arrondissement de Paris, 34 boulevard Saint-Germain. Societd agricole, Senlis. Societe lyonnaise de credit au travail, Lyon. Banque populaire, Marseille. Banque populaire, Menton. Banque populaire, Nice. Banque populaire, Angers. Credit mutuel agricole, Poligny (Jura). Credit mutuel et populaire, Bourges. Banque populaire agricole. Saint- Florent-snr-Cher. La Prudence (banque ouvriere), Montceau-les- Mines. Caisse de cvddit mutuel du syndicat agricole de 1’Auxois (Nievre). Caisse de crddit mutuel du syndicat agricole de Senne. Caisse de crddit mutuel du syndicat agricole de Baigneux. Caisse de crddit mutuel du syndicat agricole de Segre (Maine-et- Loire). Caisse de crddit mutuel du syndicat agricole de Saint- Amand-de-Boisse (Charente). Crddit mutuel du syndicat des Deux-SSvres. The number of productive societies and information about them has certainly increased, for only 50 were known to be in existence at the time when the report to the Senate on the law regulating co-operative societies adopted by the Chamber was prepared in 1892. Most of the Paris societies belong to a consultative chamber which meets in the Rue Cadet. Table XXXIII. shows that the undertakings are varied in character. The co-operative credit societies or popular banks are not developed in proportion to the activity of the propaganda in their favour. In this propaganda, M. Vigano, the promoter of Italian banks, seems to have had some share. The con- gresses of Marseille 1889, Mentone 1890, and Bourges 1891, devoted considerable attention to the subject. The Credit Mutuel et Populaire de Paris was founded by M. le Pere Ludovic de Besse, and in the end of 1890 possessed a capital of 100,350 francs, and enrolled 457 shareholders holding 2.007 shares of 50 francs. La Banque Populaire de Menton is an “ anonymous co-operative society with variable capital,” and in December 1890, its profits were estimated at 26,226 f. 81 c. The view of the Commission in the Senate, 1892, was that this form of co-operative providence could not develop until it was first relieved of the expenses of formation and fiscal charges which fall upon financial societies, and secondly, given particular advantages which should encourage the poorest labourers. Building societies can hardly be said as yet to exist in France, the only successful one being La Pierre du foyer formed by M. Rostand at Marseille in 1891. Details of its constitution are lacking as in the case of most of the productive associations. M. Gide traces the uncertain development of these branches of co-operation largely to the naturally weak associative capacity of Frenchmen. Organisations which are worked out spontaneously and steadily amongst the Teutonic (Anglo-Saxon and German) peoples have only a fitful history with Latin peoples. French history of this century shows three periods during which the co-operative idea was applied with impetuousity and then almost abandoned through political, religious or simply personal diversions. These periods coincided with the Revolution of 1848, the favour shown by Napoleon III. about 1863, and with the early workmen's congresses at Paris and Lyons between 1876 and 1877- Work- men in France do not care to be governed by then- equals. “ One is sometimes tempted to ask if the race “ has the capacity of adapting itself to any other form of “ association than that which calls itself the State. ”(/) A remarkable reassurance on this question is given by the success of the co-operative movement in connection with the agricultural syndicates. Their success in performing the work of distributive wholesale societies has already been referred to.( 2 ) In so far as these societies aim at facilitating cultivation of the land by means of common property in instruments, they become productive co-opera- tive societies. M. Arthur Rostand, the promoter of the co-operative branch of the great agricultural syndicate of La Charente Inferieure dreamed of ultimately forming a a single great society, La Co-operative de France, which should have controlled all the undertakings of these syndicates. Whether some such scheme be possible or not, it is certain that successful beginnings of productive co-operation are to be seen in the dairies of Aisne, Deux- Sevres and the Nord departments, in the butcheries at Nimes and Astaffort (Lot-el-Garonne), and in local threshing groups and associations for provision of agri- cultural implements or machines, as at Anglure (Marne) and Saint Florentin (Yonne).( :i ) It is not to be forgotten in considering this movement that it rests upon a wider basis than any purely labour organisation, since it includes large as well as small pro- prietors. The difficulties of order and discipline and want of business knowledge have not arisen at the outset as in so many of the workmen’s industrial undertakings. These were the difficulties which, added to those of want of sufficient capital and obstacles in the nature of the under- taking, so nearly wrecked the workers mining companies of Rive-de-Gier and Monthieux. The history of these at- (>) Le Mouvement Co-operative en France. Ch. Gide, pp, 12-2; 14- 17. 2 ) Supra, p. 2-B7. 3 ) Les Syndicats Agrieoles, Comte dc Itocquigny, pp. 161-230. K 2 Co-operative credit societies. Building societies. Uncertain develop- ment of productive co-opera- tion. Success of Agricultural Societies. (v.) Workers’ Mining Companies. (vi.) The "Familistere de Guise.” Constitu- tion and Government of the Asso- ciation. 76 KOYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : tempts lias already been referred to(') ; it remains to further draw attention to the organisation of the companies themselves. The Company of Rive-de-Gier is an “ anony- “ rnous civil society with variable capital and members,” constituted under the law of July 24, 1867. It may con- stantly replace deceased or retiring members, and so is unlimited as to duration. It can only be dissolved by a majority of nine-tenths of the shares (actions) unless in case of loss of three-quarters of its capital, a case which is provided for by article 37 of the law referred to. When the society was legally constituted each worker pledged himself for the sum of 100 francs. These founders re- served no special rights for themselves, in spite of the severe struggles and privations that they endured at the outset. No privilege of any kind is permitted in respect of the capital of the society ; president and miners, ad- ministrators and unskilled labourers alike, may possess only one share of 100 francs. Careful regulations, how- ever, are drawn up as to the admission of shareholders. Members of the society who have been guilty of serious offences are dealt with by the general assembly. Until the capital sum of the society amounts to 100,000 francs, a reserve of 80 per cent, on profits will be set aside ; after the sum mentioned has been attained, 40 per cent, will be set aside out of the profits. Twenty per cent, is reserved out of profits for the relief fund, to this is added one per cent, on wages. The administrative council is com- posed of nine members named for three years by the general assembly ; it meets once a fortnight. Two mem- bers nominated by the council form the directing com- mittee ; one of them controls the works, the other is especially concerned with the financial affairs of the society. The control of the workers is of the simplest kind and the “ penal code of the company ” is very brief. Discussion of politics and religion is especially forbidden in the mines or at meetings. ('-) From the point of view of internal peace the affairs of the Monthieux society were less well arranged. It was subsidised by public as well as private funds, and yet bad greater difficulties of a financial kind. A certain number of shares not bearing interest were given specially to the miners’ syndicate, which first moved in the undertaking. The independence of the society was not so complete as at Rive-de-Gier. The capital subscribed by outsiders was divided into (100 shares of 100 francs each, and three classes of shareholders were admitted, viz. : (1) associated shareholders, working in the mine and holding one share, who have a right to part of the profits ; (2) preference shareholders ( detenteurs ) who comprise those workers who began the undertaking; (.'!) syndicate share- holders. Added to those distinctions is a special privilege for founders ( parts de fondatewrs ) giving claim to a special portion of the profits. Every workman entering the mines becomes a shareholder without subscription. Less careful provision is made for a reserve fund ; only five per cent, is mentioned for this purpose in the statutes. 'I’he arrangements for a council of administration and directing committee are the same as at Rive-de-Gier. Among productive co-operative undertakings it is almost needless to point to one as the most famous, viz., the Asso- ciation du Familistere Guise, formerly the Maison Godin, now working under the name of Dequenne et Compagnie. The history of the origin of the undertaking is the common property of the economic text-books and can only be briefly referred to. Under the influence of the ruling ideas of the Revolution of 1830 M. Godin devoted a considerable part of a large property acquired in iron works to steadying and improving the condition of the working classes. By degrees he developed his factories at Guise into a vast institution for the benefit of his own employes. In 1870 difficulties arose through the events at Paris, where M. Godin had deposited a large part of his funds, but these were successfully passed. The prosperity of the works made continuous strides until it became necessary in the view of its founder to reconstruct the undertaking and give the workers a legal right to control and continue it in case of his death. The latest accounts record a continued prosperity. ( 3 ) Since its reorganisation as an “ integral asso- ciation of capital and labour” in 1880 its success has been unbroken. The death of M. Godin in January 1888 made no break in the affairs of the society. M. Dequenne was elected for life by the General Assembly of the Society as managing director in accordance with the statutes drawn up in 1880. His powers are those of a president of a council of administration and of a director of a joint stock company. He represents the society, and be alone has power to dismiss officials within the limits laid down in the statutes. He can only be called to account at the General C) Sunra, p. 58. ( 2 ) ltcvue d’Economie Politique. July-August, 1S!)3, pp. 635-9. ( 3 ) Ajusteur-Surveillant tie L’Usine de Guise. Urbain Gourin. Timiin JDidot, Paris, 1892, p. 33. Assembly on the motion of the Managing Council. His annual stipend is 15, GOO francs, with a share of 4 percent, in the profits. The role of the. Managing Council is mainly consultative and deliberative, and it meets once a month. This council meets also weekly under the name of Council of Industry to decide questions of industrial order. There are, besides, the Council of the Familistere and the Council of Surveillance. The latter is composed of three associates directly appointed by the assembly to overlook accounts and to prepare the annual returns ; this council attends the sittings of the Managing Council, but has no deliberative share in its proceedings. “ The Societe de Guise has a long future before it, for its deed of association ( com- mandite ) was drawn up for a period of 99 years. ”( 4 ) The possibility of revision as well as of dissolution have been provided for ; the latter requires the common consent of all the members ; the original members may gradually pass away, however, without affecting the deed of associa- tion. It is the method of dividing the profits which chiefly distinguishes the factory. The net profits are not declared until after the following have been deducted from the gross profits of the year. (1) 5 per cent, of the value of the real estate, 10 per cent, of the value of the material, 15 per cent, of the plant; (2) a sum equal to 2 per cent, of the wages for the pension fund and the fund for primary necessaries ; (3) the ex- penses of education and instruction ;( 5 ) (4) the interest due to the beneficiaries of funds ; (ft) a levy of 25 per cent, for a reserve fund. The profits are then divided in the following proportion : (1) 25 per cent, to intelligence, i.e., to the director, 4 per cent. ; to the managing council, 10 per cent. ; for each of the members of the council of surveillance, 2 per cent. ; to ex- ceptional workers 2 per cent.; in scholarships 10 percent. ; (2) 75 per cent, are then divided between labour and capital, one franc of wages being held equal to one franc of capital. Wages amount to 1,740,430 francs and the in- terest on them is paid, not in specie (as for capital), but in savings-notes which bear an interest themselves of 5 per cent. The workers are not all on the same footing. The highest class who are elected by general assembly are called associates ( associes ) and receive profits to the amount of twice their wage. The next class are called socictaires and are appointed by the director ; they re- ceive in profits one and a half times the amount of their wage. The participants are appointed in the same way and receive 1 franc in profits for every franc of wage. The “auxiliaries” only share in the advantages of the provident funds and social advantages of the place without directly receiving any profits. In 1888 there were 13 associes, 67 societaives, 52 participants out of a total of 1,237 employes and work- people. At the same date there were 230 of the staff who had been in the employment for 5 years, 282 for 5 to 10 years, 152 for 10 to 15 years, 180 for 15 to 20 years, 142 for 20 to 25 years, 88 for 25 to 30 years, 45 for 30 to 35 years, lfi for 35 to 40 years, 2 for 40 to 45 years. These figures show briefly the great stability of the staff. The industrial undertaking of the society comprise manufacture (1) of ovens, ranges, culorifh'es, and stoves; (2) kitchen utensils ; (3) articles for lighting and furnish- ing ; (4) miscellaneous hardware. The mean annual consumption in the processes are : of pig iron 7,500,000 kilos, of steel 100,000 kilos, cast iron 100.000 kilos, coke 2,500,000 kilos, coal 2,200,000 kilos. The mean annual turnover is 4,000,000 francs for a capital of 4,600,000 francs. The Familistere comprises three big buildings, capable of holding 1,800 inhabitants, each family renting from two to three rooms. There are certain inconveniences attached to the limitation in the accommodation at the disposal of each family. The sanitation and hygienic arrangements are declared to bs excellent. ( r ’) The common institutions provide for all sorts of recreation and instruction. There is a well managed nursery, where the mothers can leave their children from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The schools are free, but parents are not obliged to send their children to them. All teachers are certificated ( dipiom ’s ), and must possess a brevet superieur. Bnysand girls are taught together. “The. “ working class families at Guise have obtained valuable “ advantages ; a sufficient wage, moderate hours of work, “ Sunday rest, a savings institution, which, besides an “ interest of 5 per cent, gives a right to a dividend. (*) lb., p. 49-50. ( 5 ) These may not be less than 10,000 francs for general expenses and 15.000 francs in salaries to teachers according to the statutes. Op. cit., pp. 6 and 46. (°) Op. cit. p. 37-9 and L’Almanach dc la Co-opOration Francaise, 1893, p. 14. 1893. Method of sharing profits. Classes of workers. >: Numbers. Work of f he factory. The Familistere. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN PRANCE. 77 (vii.) Distri- butive societies. ' La SociCtC (lii XVIII". arrondisse- ment.” I “ La Mois- sonneuse.” “ They consider that they are working on their own “ account ; they do not dream of conflict with the “ directors of the Association, whose interests they regard “ as one with their own. At Guise social peace is always “ maintained. ”(‘) The other great firms in France which passed from profit-sharing into co-operative societies are the Maison Leclaire for house painting, founded in Paris, 1842, the Maison Laroche-Joubert et Cie ; paper works at Angouleme, founded 1843 ; and the Magasins du Bon Marche, (formerly Boucicaut, now Plassard, Morin, Fillod et Cie.) in Paris, founded 1877- 'These are the famous typical examples of successful profit-sharing and co-operative undertakings. As no official statistics of co-operative supply or con- sumers’ societies (distributive stores) have yet been prepared any statements about the numbers of these associations must be taken with reserve. A provisional list has been drawn up for the French Co-operators’ Almanack. ( 2 ) According to this there are 942 supply associations, in 82 departments, of which a large number are bakeries. These figures include three Unions of Societies, viz. ; (1) the Co-operative Union of French Consumers Societies (de Consommation) which has its central committee at Paris ; (2) the Federation of the Consumers’ Societir-s of the Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean railway employes, at Grenoble ; (3) the Federative Committee of the Bouches-du-Rhone Societies at Marseilles. Only six departments are without any of these distributive societies, namely Corsica, Cotes- du-Nord, Finistere, Lozere, Orne, Tarn-et-Guronne. The department with the greatest numbers are : Charente Inferieure, 113; Seine, 84; of which 50 are in Paris and 34 in the surrounding districts ; Rhone, 84 ; Saone- et-Loire, 62 ; Nord, 38 ; Aisne, 29 ; Doubs, 29 ; Loire, 28. The earliest distributive societies in France were to be found over 50 years ago. In 1850, there were 38 of them, but they dwindled and almost disappeared in the next 10 years. One of the most flourishing of these societies, the Society of the XVII Ith Arrondissement of Paris (Rue Jean Robert, 14) was founded in 1866, the same year as the one called La Revendication de Puteaux, which owed its existence to the “ inspiration of the citizen Benoit Malon.” The majority have sprung into existence rapidly in the last 20 years. In 1888, the total sales of 317 societies was over 13| million francs, which gave an average of 239,000 francs for each society, and 440 francs for each associate. It is in the departments rather than in Paris that the distributive societies have been chiefly successful, but there are prominent and successful societies in Paris also. The “Society of the XVIlIth Arrondissement” and the Moissoneuse may be taken as typical among these. The former began with 54 members in 1S86, and has aimed at being strictly self-contained and providing the daily necessaries of life for its own members only. “ Our “ society is civil, that is to say our operations are for “ ourselves only ... we do nit sell.” Important clauses in the rules of the society provide : — (1.) That every member must continue such for 10 years, except in certain formulated cases of necessity ( force majeure). (2.) That the subscription for each member should be 50 francs, of which six are paid on entering, and two francs every succeeding month. This sum does not bear interest. (3.) That the society pays cash for all its purchases. (4.) That the risks of the general expenses should be provided against by selling the commodities to mem- bers with a fixed additional sum (plus-value fixe) added to the price paid in the first instance ; the surplus is afterwards divided among the associates in proportion to their purchases. The total sales for the first half of 1892 were 409,085 francs 80 centimes. A net profit was realised of 9'51 per cent., out of which 45T per cent, was distributed in dividends. The society built its own premises at a cost of 340,009 francs 74 centimes. Special subscriptions were required for this; the members subscribed 165,000 francs; the Credit Foncier lent 80,000 francs, the town lent 47,000 francs. In June last year a great part of the debt had been pa ; d off, and the Society is still in possession of a considerable reserve. ( 3 ) La Moissoneuse was founded by 18 men and women in August 1874. During the first few years the sales were conducted gratuitously, by members in turn, in a very (') “ Ajusteur-surveillant”, &c., cit. p. 51. ( 2 ) Almanach de la Co-operation Francaise, 1893. (First year, p. 107). ( 3 ) Rapport sur les SociCtCs Co-op6rativcs, Senate No. 29, 1892. Almanach he la Co-operation Fr;uu;aise. 1893, p. 50- 7. modest store. At the present time the Society has 17 departments, employs 150 workpeople, lias 13,574 members, and pays about 7‘60 per cent, in dividends to its members. It has an annual turnover of 7,000,000 francs. Amongst the most prosperous distributive societies in the departments are those of the miners at Anzin, of the employes of the Paris Lyon-Mediterranee Railway Company and the Abeille Nimoise. The Society of the Anzin Miners was founded in 1865 by the workmen, under the patronage of the Company, but the organisation is entirely independent. It has a central store with 16 departments. The profits represent a saving for each member of 110 francs annually. On March 1, 1889, the members numbered 3,118. They receive about 5 per cent, in dividends, while the annual turnover is about two millions. Grocery, bakeries, and drapery are the staple of the work undertaken. ( 4 ) The Federation of the Emjjloyes of the Paris Lyon- Mediterranee railway was founded in 1889, at a meeting of 15 co-operative societies at Lyons. Its aim is to centralise the work of the societies, and to arrange for important purchases, doing away with intermediaries as far as possible. Its affairs were administered by a council and a directing committee, chosen among the members of the different constituent societies. The federated societies subscribe 5 francs yearly if they number less than 250 members, and one franc more for every 100 membeis above 250. The federation publishes a monthly bulletin, which is of great service in educating and giving trade information to the societies. The following table shows its financial condition — Number of societies - 43 Number of members - 13,500 Turnover for 1891 - - 5,560,000 francs. Savings - - - 562,400 „ Social capital, January 1892 - 731,800 ,, Reserve capital - - 116,000 „ The federation has given strength to the separate societies of these railway employes, and the bonds uniting them seem to be close. ( 5 ) The society called L’ Abeille Nimoise received its first contributions at a large meeting held at Nimes on October 15, 1883, in favour of co-operation, which had for some time shown signs of making way amongst the working population. The rules of this new society were modelled on those of the Rochdale Pioneers and the Paris societies. It commenced operations with 105 members ; by 1889, it had 618 members, and a reserve of 30,000 francs, while it had paid dividends of 10 per cent, for five years. “ This society has had illustrious foreign visitors, “ such as Messrs. Vansittart Neale, Holyoake, Ugo Rabbeno ... It has rendered great services in “ studying and preparing the organisation of several new “ undertakings, such as ‘ classes for apprentices ’ and in “ drawing citizens of different classes together.( r> )” It was in 1886 that the first serious attempts were made to fuse the Abeille with an older society of Nimes called the. Solidaritu. The employes of the Paris- Lyon-Mediter- ranee turned to the Nimes co-operators for advice, when they wished to start their own societies ; it is estimated that the movement at Nimes has had considerable influence upon co-operation in France generally. It is this school which corresponds in a measure to the Socialist wing of the English Co-operators, and which is inclined to subordinate associations for production to the consumers associations as representing wider interests. Consumers associations powerfully organ- ised are the indispensable conditions, they hold, of productive associations, for they alone can supply the three elements which have hitherto been lacking, namely, managers, capital, and markets. The more conservative school of Le Play of which M. Fougerousse is a prominent adherent, still believes in the independence of the productive societies, and advises that the profits of the distributive societies should be employed in supporting provident funds and constructing workmen’s dwellings. Although federation of separate societies has made some way in France, the work of establishing wholesale societies has yet to be accomplished.^) It is the aim of the group of economists, MM. de Boyve, Clavel, and Robert, whose efforts to establish a co-operative congress and federation of co-operators were crowned with success in the establishment of the Comite Central de V Union Co- operative in 1886, to further carry out this development (9 Rapports du Jury International. Groupe de l’Economie Sociale, 2nd Part, 1892, p. 461. (“) Almanach de la Co-operation Franchise 1893, p. 71-2. ( r ‘ ) Histoire de la Co-operation A Nimes, De Royve, 1889, p. 21. ( 7 ) Rapport sur les SociCtCs Co-operatives, cit. p. 45-6. K 3 Society of the Anzin miners. “ La Federa- tion des Employes du P.L.M.’ “ L’ Abeille Nimoise.” Absence of wholesale societies. 78 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : of co-operation which has worked for so long in England and Scotland. (*) Profit The question of profit-sharing by co-operative era- co^operat'ive ployes was raised at the Congress at Marseilles in 1890. employes. inquiries were instituted as to tbe mode of remuneration generally adopted ; to these, 44 co-operative societies, com- prising a staff of -301 persons, sent replies. Among them, 29 societies gave their servants an interest in the general returns, and the remaining 15 confined themselves to giving bonuses. “ The Solidarite de Pantin has adopted a “ mixed system ; to graduated wages it adds a propor- “ tional remuneration calculated both on the number of “ customers served and the quantity of goods distributed “ during the month by each employe. The Societe Co- “ operative Alimentairc de Bethel, composed of 324 mem- “ hers, has a head employe who receives for himself, his “ wife, three daughters and a warehouseman, 2£ per cent. “ on the amount of sales, besides being lodged and pro- “ vided with firing and light. ”(") (6.) Profit Profit-sharing is (says M. Charles Robert, who is perhaps firmsm the greatest living authority on the subject in France) an Prance. agreement, express or tacit, by which the industrial, com- mercial, or agricultural employer gives to his workmen, in addition to their regular salary, a share in the proSts with- out a share in the losses. It is, according to M. Chaix, the well-known printer in Paris, “ a mixed system between “ modern capitalist institutions and workmen’s associations, “ . . . by it the workmen may learn to become in- “ dependent and to form those associations for which they “ are as yet insufficiently prepared. It is a transitory “ regime, which, without revolution or spoliation, can “ make workmen proprietors of the factories. ”( ;i ) The idea is purely French in origin, and the first to put it into practice was M. Leclaire in 1842. The above quoted opinions as to the transitional nature of the idea are fully borne out by the actual history of the four great early attempts at profit-sharing, which all in time adopted a mainly co-operative basis. The example of the Maison Leclaire has been, in France, very much what the equi- table pioneers of Rochdale have been in England. (‘) Profit-sharing, like co-operation, received a great check during the early time of the Empire ; but fresh activity began with the successful attempt of M. Goffinon in 1862, to turn his plumbing works into a profit-sharing under- taking. By 1872, 68 new applications of the principle had been attempted in France, and the movement spread to other countries. The following table gives the comparative progress in Europe and the United States in certain prominent years( 5 ) : — Table XXXVI. 1886. 1890. 1891. France - 50 81 92 England ----- 8 49 62 Alsace - 3 6 6 f Bavaria - 4 3 6 o | Hesse ... 1 1 1 g <{ Mecklenburg - - - 1 1 1 5 | Prussia - 8 8 8 ^ (_ Saxony - o 2 2 Austria and Hungary 2 2 2 Belgium ----- i i 5 Denmark, Sweden, and Norway 3 -i 4 United States - 3 40 35 Holland 2 4 5 Italy - - - i 4 4 Portugal ----- — 1 1 Russia - - - - i I 1 Switzerland - 12 14 16 Spain - — — 1 102 222 250 (>) Almanacb de la Co-operation Francaise, p. 35. ( 2 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. xix. The seventh Congress of Co-operative Societies was opened at Grenobleon October 15th. 1893, under the presidency of M. I’aul Doumer, deputy for the Yonne. Mr. Gray, General Secretary of the Co-operative Union of Great Britain, and Mr. Maclnnes, Secretary of the Lincoln Society, addressed the Congress on the opening day. On the same day M. Gide pointed out in an address that while co-operators in France were opposed to revolutionary socialism, they were practically working out many of the ideals of collectivism, and at the same time were avoiding class struggles. In the subsequent proceedings consideration of the Bill before Parliament on workmen’s associations naturally occupied a considerable share of attention. The question of organisation of the co-operative movement amongst agricultural syndicates was also discussed and a resolution in favour of development of agricultural credit adopted. It was stated by M. de Boyve that while there were over 1,000 Co- operative societies in France, only one or two hundred have joined the Union. G.D. 1 11/93. ( 3 ) Rapport sur les Socidtds Co-operatives, cit. p. 82. ( 4 ) lb , p. 58. ( s ) lb., p. 60. The figures for Italy do not include the 150 co-operative popular banks. The following table drawn from M. Trombert’s useful guide to profit-sharing shows, in one view, the history of the movement and the actual state of the firms in France, from the point of view of method of dividing the profits. (The sign indicates the method.) Table XXXVII. 03 Cl 3 Mode of Appli- cation. Date of Commence! Profit Sharing. Name of the Finn or Undertaking. Fixed Quantum. c n >s rO u o 'o Paid direct in Specie 1 to the Workmen. Paid into Provident Institutions. An. XI Comddie Francaise, A Paris + I _ + 1811 Iinprimerie Nationale, a Paris (fondde en l’an III). 1 — + 1839 Seydoux Sieber et Cie., filature et tissage de laine, an Cateau. + — + — 1844 Chemin de Fer d’Orleans (Compagnie du) - + — + 184(5 Comptoir de I/Industrie Liniere, A Paris - + — + 1848 Deberny et Cie., fondeurs de carac teres A Paris. + — 4* 1848 Dupont (Paul) Imprimeur, A Paris - + — — 4- 1848 Gaidan, banquier, A Nlmes + — + 1850 Assurances Generates (Compagnie d’). A Paris. + — + 1853 Le PhCnix (Compagnie d ’assurances) , A Paris. + + + 1854 Cliagot et Cie., (Mines de Blanzy) — — — + 1854 L’ Union (Compagnie d’assurances contre l’iueendie et sur la vie), A Paris. + ,7 + + 1S55 La Nationale (Compagnie d’assurances), A Paris. + — + + 1858 La France (Compagnie d’assurances), A Paris. + — — + 18(15 Canal de Suez (Compagnie du), A Paris + — + + 1808 Renard, \ diet et Bunand, teinturiers, A Lyon. — — + — 1870 Socidtd Anonyme de Tissus de Laine Des Vosges, an Thillot et A Trougemont. + — + + 1871 Abadie et Cie., fabrieants de papier, au Theil (Orne). — — + 1871 Pernod, distillateur, a Pontarlier, (Daubs) — — — + 1871 Roland-Gosselin, aeent de change, A Paris - — — — + 1871 Vernes et Cie., banquiers, A Paris — — — + 1872 Aubert, imprimeur, A Versailles — + 1872 Barbas, Tassart et Balas, ccuverture et plomnerie, A Paris (aneienne maison Goffinon). + + + 1872 Chaix, imprimeur-editeur, A Paris a. — + + 1872 Gaget, Perignon et Cie., plomberie et cuiverie d’art, A Paris. + — + 1872 Goilchaux et Cie., imprimeurs-Cditeurs, A Paris. + — + + 1872 Hanappier, ndgociant en vins, A Bordeaux - — — — + 1872 L’Aigle, (Compagnie d’assurances) A Paris - Le Soleil (Compagnie d’ assurances), A Paris. + — — + 1872 + — — + 1872 Socidtd Anonyme Des Matiferes Colorantes et Produits Chimiques De Saint-Denis. + — — + 1874 Marne et fils, impnmeurs-editeurs, A Tours. + — + 1874 Masson, dditeur, A Paris — 1875 Comptoir D’BscompteDe Rouen + — 1875 Filature D’Oissel (Seine-Inferieure) - — — + + 1875 L’Urbaine (Compagnie d’assuranees) , A Paris. + — — + 1870 L'Abeille (Compagnie d’assuranees) , A Paris. — — — + 1877 BesseliCvre, fabric-ant cl’indiennes, A Ma- romme (Seine- Infdrieure). + + 1877 Sautter, Lemonnier et Cie., 61ectriciens, A Paris. + + 1879 Buttner-Thierry, imprimeui-lithographe, A Paris. — — + + 1880 Blancliisserie et Teinturerie De Thaon (Vosges). + + 1880 Caillard fr6res, constructeurs-mbcaniciens au Havre. ~ — 4- ISSO Domaine De Chateau-Montrose, (Mbdoc) - + — — + 1880 Socidtg Liniere Du Fin'stbfe, A Landemeau + — + + 1881 Caillette, entrepreneur de maronnerie, A Paris. + + — 1881 Lefranc et Cie., fabrieants d’encre d’ im- primerie, A Paris. ~ + 1881 Piat, fondeur-mtonicien, A Paris - — — + 1882 Dognin et Cie., fabrieants de tulles et den- telles, A Lyon. ~ + — 1882 Moullet. imprimeur, A Marseille — — + — 1882 Moutier, entrepreneur de serrurerie, A Saint- Germnin-en-Laye. + . + + 1882 Pommery (veuve) fils et Cie., fabrique de vins de Champagne, A Reims. - + 1 + 1883 Comrragnie de FRes-Lille (Nord) - + — — + 1883 Gilon, entrepreneur de serrurerie, A Paris - + — -h + 1883 Soci6t6 Anonyme des Usines De Mazieres (Cher). — + 1884 Gounouilhou, imprimeur, A Bordeaux + — + + 1885 Baille-Lemaire, 'fabricant de jumelles, A Paris. + + + 1885 Lecoeur et Cie.,entrepreneurs de menmsene, A Paris. + + + 1885 Lombart. fabricant dechocolat, A Paris — — + + 1885 Mozet et Delalonde, entrepreneurs de mafonnei'ic, A Paris. Rouxet Cie., machines A vapeur Tangye, A Paris. . , _ . + + 1885 + + + 1885 Saunier, ent vepreneur de pemture, A Paris - + — j 1880 Bribre et fils, imprimeurs, A Rouen Felix ( Maison) couturier, A Paris - + j + — 1880 l — REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 70 Ta blf. XXXV II. — continued. Rate of Commencement of Profit-Sharing. Name of the Firm or Undertaking. Fixed Quantum. Joint Ownership by Shares. ; Paid direct in Specie i 0 „ to the Workmen, ( §ir7 q j Paid into Provident | l Institutions. 1 • 1886 LariboisiOre (Comte de) exploitation agri- cole, it Monthorin (Ule-et-Vilaine). + - + 4- 1S86 Monduit, entrepreneur de convert ure, i\ Paris. + 4- 4- 1887 Navrolles, ateliers dr broderies, it Paris + + 4- — 1887 Thuillier, frOres, entrepreneurs de couver- ture et de plomberie, a Paris - 4- 4- 4- 1888 Bonniot-Pouget, fabrique de tiges pour chaussures a Yallon ( Ard£ehe) . 4- 1889 La PonciOre (Compagnie d’assurances) it Paris. ~ 4- 1890 Boivin, fabr. de ganses pour passementeries it Paris. 4- 4- 1890 Broquart fabricant de miroiterie, Bor- deaux, 4- “ 4- 4- 1S90 La Providence (Compagnie d’assurances) it Paris. 4- ~ 4- 1890 Mines De Houille D’Aubigny-La-Konce (Cote d’Or). + 1890 Sachs, engrais chimiques it Aubervilhers (Seine). 4- 4- 1891 Society co-operative Do Consommation Des Ouvriers et Employes de MM. Solvay et Cie., it Dombasle (Meurthe-et-MoselJe). 4- 4- 1892 Breguet, fabrique d’appareils de PrOcision, a Paris. 4- 4- 1892 Compagnie Nationale De Voitures L Abeille, a Paris. + 1892 Deberc, fabrique de bouchons, a Reims + + 4- — 1892 Leclerc, fabricant de lits on fer, a Saint- liizier (Haute- Marne). + + 4- 4- 1892 Muller et Roger, fonderie de bronze et robinetterie, A. Paris. 4- 1892 Thomas frftres, imprimeurs, a Pontarlier Banque de DOpdts et De Comptes Courants, a Paris. — — — 4- + 4- Banque Parisienne, a Paris + — — 4- Banque Russe et Franchise, a Paris - + — 4- — Boulonneries De Bogny-Braux (Ardennes) - — — — — Compagnie D’Eclairage par Le Gaz des villes du Mans de Vendorae et de Vannes. + 4- Compagnie PonciOre de France, a Paris + — 4- 4- Compagnie Francaise du T61<3graphe de Paris & New Aotk, it Paris. + 4- Compagnie G6n6rale Transatlantique, a Paris. — 4- ~ Compagnie HouillSre et M^tallurgique de Belmez, & Paris. + 4- Cusenier, distillateur, a Paris — + — — Ducher, aneienne Maison Gerbeaud, tailleur d’habits et uniformes, a Paris. — - ~ 4- Fauquet (Octave) filateur, aux Cables (Eure). — 4- 4- Gaudmeau & la Fl6che - - - - — — — . — Gillet et Fils, teinturiers en soie, a Lyon - — — 4- — Janvier pfereet fils, an Mans - — — — — Magazins Du Printemps (Jules Jaluzot et Cie.), a Paris. + 4- Peugeot frOres, fabricants de quineaillerie, a Valentieney (Doubs) . Piguet et Cie., ateliers de constructions mecaniques, a Lyon. Rattier, (Spicier en gi'os, a Saint-Etienne (Loire). 4* * + 4- Rivoire et Carret, fabricants de pates ahmen- taires, a Lyon. 4- SocietO Anonymc “ Le Nickel,” a Paris + — 4- — SociOt.6 Des Grands Moulins de Corboil + — 4- — Soci6t6 GGnOrale des Telephones, a Paris - 4- (i.) System r fhe bookbinding, printing, and bookselling establish- Mame ' ment of MM. Mame et Fils at Tours, which has admitted et Fils. its employes to a share in its profits since 1874, is a good example of the system of sharing by a fixed quantity ( Quantum determine). In this undertaking the employes in the bookselling department receive 3 francs per 1,000 on the sales, and the workers in the other departments re- ceive 25 francs per 1,000 on the total production of the workshops. A third of the sums thus set aside for the workmen is paid directly to them with the wages, while two-thirds are reserved for the provident funds. In 1888 the sums amounted to 48,500 francs among 322 profit sharers. In addition to the direct share in the profits MM. Mame subscribe freely to schools and other insti- tutions for the working classes. The firm received a grand prix at the exhibition of 1889 for its oeuvres patronales.( l ) (') Rapport du Jury International, p. 489. Guide Pratique Pour 1’ Application de la Participation. A Trombert, Paris, 1892, p. 91. At the same exhibition the Im/primrrie, Chain obtained a (ii.) The gold medal for similar institutions. The system of profit- sharing in this firm is calculated on the basis of length of service at the rate of 50 francs per year, beginning at a three years’ service. Thus, for three years the share is 150 francs; for ten years 500 francs ; for twenty years, 1,000 francs. The sums are divided into three parts, of which one-third is paid directly. The other parts are invested in the provident funds; the second is put to the worker’s credit to be paid at any date when he leaves the firm, but the third can only produce interest for him at 60 years of age or after 20 years’ service. ( 2 ) The Maison Leelerc, for manufacture of iron beds and (iii.) Maison furniture (profit-sharing founded 1892), divides its profits Beclerc. between capital and labour in the following way. The share of labour is reckoned partly upon rate of wages, partly upon length of service, partly on importance of the function of the labourer; one-half is paid directly, the other half is paid into the national pension fund for work- men. The workers may buy shares in the firm by means of savings at 100 francs a share. There is a workers’ con- sultative committee which discusses the balance sheet. ( 3 ) As stated above, co-operative and profit-sharing enter- ( c ) Legisla- prises are hitherto governed in France by the law of tion July 24th, 1867, which only modified the ordinary regu- cooperative lations applying to joint stock companies and did not and profit- create any new forms of association. It gave no legal sharing status to co-operative societies, and is said to have greatly 1 p 1 retarded the growth of the movement through the burdens prescribed by it. “ The law of 1867, in which the insertion of the words ‘ co-operative associations ’ was designedly “ omitted, contains a series of provisions which necessi- “ tates the deposit of capital and which subordinate all “ other operations to this deposit. . . . Moreover the “ association with variable capital may not hold more “ than 200,000 francs . . . The law of 1867 is equally “ unfavourable to societies among working men, whether “ they are elementary or powerful. It is not surprising “ that workmen have not entered into the path opened up “ for them by the law.” These and similar views cf the matter were laid before the Extra-Parliamentary Com- mission of 1883 by M. Waldeck-Rousseau in his intro- ductory address. (') All the precautions, he said, provided by the law were with the view of hindering stock jobbing and speculation. This danger is not to be feared in the case of honest working men, whose societies are founded to improve their economic position and not for the purpose of financial transactions. The difficulties attending profit- sharing enterprises were also pointed out by him. In evi- dence given before the Commission M. Robert showed that the most serious hindrance to the progress of profit-sharing lay in the control of accounts given by the law to employes in case of disagreement. “ Of all the objections to profit- “ sharing this is the only serious or grave one. It is only “ because employers are permitted to make an express “ convention to the contrary preventing all indiscreet “ intermeddling on the part of employes in the accounts, “ that profit-sharing has not been in great peril. ”(’) The domains of administration and of control, M. Robert says elsewhere, cannot be kept too distinct. Shareholders them- selves should not directly inquire into accounts, but should only do it by means of representatives. The view of the Parliamentary Committee of 1892 was that new legislation should give the greatest encouragement to a mixed form of profit-sharing, that is to say, the form under which part of the profits declared arc retained for benefit funds. The finding of the earlier Commission of M, Waldeck-Rousseau was in accordance with the views expressed by its president, and the recommendations have been mainly repeated by the Committee of 1892. The changes proposed may be most easily grasped by a synoptic view of past and proposed control under the chief heads affecting industrial associa- tions. The following table has been prepared from one presented by the Committee referred to and presents a parallel view of English law on the subject. ('j ( 2 ) Guide Pratique, &c„ cit.. p. li t. ( а ) 16., p. 329. (*) Unquote ile la Commission Extra-Parliamentaire Ire Partie, Imprimerie Nationale, p. 31. ( 5 ) 16., Vol. iii., p. 23, also Report to the Senate, 1892, No. 29, p. 103. ( б ) Nee Annexe 15 of the Report to the Senate, No. 29 of 1892. For the text of the law, see Appendix XII., p. 121. K 4 80 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Table XXXVIII — Showing Legislation relating to Co-operative Societies. 1 French law of July 24th, 18G7. English law, 187G. (39 &40 Viet. ch. 45.). Proposed French law. Character of the societies Variable capital and member- ship. Two types: “ Societies of per- sons and societies of capi- tals,” (industrial and provi- dent societies). Variability of persons and of capital. Constitutive deed Private or notarial agreement ordered. Private deed. Notification to the Registrar. Private deed. Deed executed before a notary purely volun- tary. Number of members (mini- mum). 7 17 7 Initial share capital - 200,000 francs Unlimited - Unlimited. Minimum subscription One-tenth (of the nominal share). Arranged by agreement of the society. One-tenth. Amount of the shares Minimum 50 francs - Optional - Minimum 20 francs. Form of the shares - Nominal Nominal until all paid up Nominal. Maximum capital per mem- ber. - 200Z. - - - - 5,000 francs. Choice of director and ad- ministrators. To be chosen among the members. Arranged by agreement of the society. Associates, proxy, associated director. Liability of the governing body. Under common law - - Liability for execution of their mandate. Liability of associates to out- side persons. Under common law - Limited or unlimited - Limited by amount of sub- scription. Representation at law Through the administrators - ' Through director or a delegate of the council unless the statutes provide otherwise. Inventories or returns Number not fixed Annual returns by an expert - At least oue annual inventory . Admission, exit, exclusion - Optional exit at any time unless otherwise agreed. Arranged by agreement of the society. To be arranged by the statutes. Liability after exit - For five years For one year - Common law. Maximum decrease of share capital. Not less than one-tenth No provision - - - One-half of share capital un- less otherwise agreed. Mode of voting in general assembly. Left to arrangement by statutes. - One vote per associate, one vote by proxy for absent members. Reserve fund One-twentieth at least until it reaches one-tenth of share capital, and then it is optional. No provision - One - tenth. Optional after reaching one-fifth of share capital. Control (audit) Surveillance Commissioners - Public auditors Commissioners, associates or otherwise. Fiscal exemptions Exemption from income tax and stamp duties on receipts, bills of exchange and cheques ; rights of registra- tion for friendly societies. Exemption from stamps, and free registration. Exemption from revenue tax, from whole- sale and retail licences ; re- duction in the costs of con- veyancing. (i.) Com- , mission of Inquiry on Caisses de R"- traites. 2.— Workmen’s Superannuation or Pension Fund ( Caisses de Retraites). A report on this subject was presented to the Chamber of Deputies in February 1893 by M. Paul Guieysse, in the name of the Commission appointed to inquire into it with a view to the formation of a National Workmen’s Provident Fund.(') The general view of this Commission was that, while it was impossible to praise too highly individual funds already instituted, whether by the workmen them- selves through their syndicates, or by the employers, and while so far as they reached, their excellence was manifest, yet they are so inadequate that far-reaching legislative schemes are necessary. “ For a working population of “ about 12,000,000 labourers the Mutual Aid Societies “ reach only one-tenth, i.e. t in 1890, 1,232,067 members, of “ whom a considerable number do not enter into the “ category of bona fide working men. This is to show at “ once the insufficiency of these societies, for the develop- ment of which, nevertheless, too much cannot be done.”(") As for the efforts of the employers, “without speaking of “ the superannuation, aid, and other funds of the great “ industrial undertakings, such as the railway companies “ and the mines, there exist a large number of workshops “ and other undertakings where funds . . . particu- “ larlv appropriate to the district or peculiar conditions of “ the industry are to be found. It would be extremely “ regrettable that Ihese which multiply daily should dis- “ appear or be absorbed in a general scheme, the more so “ because the contributions of the employers {patrons ) are “ much higher than (hose provided for in the proposed “ law ( projet de loi).”{ 3 ) It is by the development of all private enterprise as well as by the formation of national schemes, the Com- mission held, that the best results will be obtained Employers’ institutions. 8 lb ., p. 8. lb ., p. 37. (') No. 2576, Chambre rtes Deputes, Paris, Imprimerie Motteroz, 1893. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 81 (ii.) Justi- fication of State interference. (iii.) The mutual aid societies. (iv.) The employers’ funds for workmen. Besides all direct advantages to the workers and the indus- trial forces of the country, the Commission held that the State bv taking this matter up would most effectually furnish a check to that diminution of the population “ which constitutes a veritable national danger.”! 1 ) A rapid solution, they pointed out, was especially called for in France, the country where social questions “ had been “ earliest raised and which was yet most backward in “ presenting prompt practical solutions applicable to a “ painful situation full of danger to society.” While acknowledging that in this particular case something had been achieved, the Commission pointed out that the laws were absolutely inadequate since they represented no care- fully defined principle. It was laid down that whilst it was a duty for every member of the social body to contri- bute according to his faculties to the development of society.it was for society to put each member in a condition to live freely and according to nature ; “ that is to say, to “ found a family which he may support in comfort by his “ labour.” The limited budget of public assistance is insufficient to meet the needs of those poorer labourers who undeservedly fall victims to illness or accidents or reach old age without securing a competence. To the question whether the labourer should not have a share in the profits of industrial undertakings otherwise than in the precarious form of wages, the all-sufficient reply, according to the Commission, was to be found in a study of the institutions founded on behalf of the labourers by all employers who are “ anxious “ in a just measure about the lot of their workpeople. “ What some of them have accomplished society has the “ right and the duty to impose on all the others.”! 2 ) The principle to regulate interference by the State is that it should be resorted to where the individual members of society are powerless by themselves to attain a given necessary end. “ Of late years in the mutual aid societies the “ mean pensions did not rise above 73 francs, and only ap- “ plied on December 31st to 27,737 annuitants or 2 percent. “ of their members. In the course of 1890 only 3,745 new “ pensions were given, of which 472 were from 100 to 200 “ francs and only 00 above 200 francs. As for the “ National Pension Fund, in spite of the advantages “ it offers ... it only numbers 800,000 depositors, “ of which the greater number come through the great “ industrial societies or private administrations, such “ as the railway companies, Le Oreuzot, &c.”( 3 ) The charge is too heavy for the poorer workmen. It is the duty of the State to complete the work of the employers in favour of the working classes “the more so as so many of “ them do not depend on employers properly so-called.’’! 4 ) This seemed to the Commission specially justifiable in view of the unequal distribution of public charges (impots) which even directly, and much more indirectly, press most heavily on the citizens of most modest income. It would only be a “ restitution ” made by society if those working class citizens who wish to practise providence were given by the State “a share in the social profits ” of their labour, f) Hitherto the various kinds of provident funds in France, “■which do not develop as rapidly as might be desired,” have chiefly aimed at rendering aid in cases of illness and generally also give it on the death of the member to his family; some give annuities to their members above a certain age, but only a small number have so far attempted to fix the amount of such pensions on a scale justified by their resources. “The number of those societies whose “ situation is financially sound in view of their engagements “ is unfortunately too limited. They operate perfectly, as far “ as aid in case of illness iseoncerned, and aDo give useful “ aid in the form of annuities, but very few give pensions, “ which are supported by bases in proper proportion to “ their resources or the subscriptions of their members.”! 6 ) The working of these societies is regulated by a decree (decre.Uloi) of March 26th, 1852, but a new law proposed by the Senate is now before the Chamber of Deputies, which “ profoundly modifies it in a most liberal sense,”! 7 ) and which would fix the normal relations which ought to exist between the resources and the engagements of the societies. ( s ) At present the Slate subsidises those Mutual Aid Societies which possess superannuation funds. The employers’ institutions as has already been seen, are remarkable. But several Bills are before one or other of the Houses affecting them. The superannua- (') lb., p. 41. ( 2 ) lb., p. 4. ( 3 ) lb., p. 5. (■*) lb., p. 5. ( 5 ) lb., p. 6. ( 6 ) lb., p. 20. ( 7 ) lb., p. 55. ( 8 ) In 1890 there were 7,071 mutual aid societies approved by the authorities or recognized as a public benefit {d'ulilUe publique) ; these enrolled 1,091,152 members. At present prefectoral authorisation is necessary for the formation of these societies, and their development is said to be hampered by their inability to own real property. Idee la ROfortne Sociale, October 10, 1893, pp. 619-622. U 78419. tion funds of the railway companies are actually under the control of the Minister of Public Work3. It was pro- posed in a Bill under discussion by the Senate at the date of the Commission Report that the mining employers should be bound to contribute either to a national super- annuation fund or to syndical funds “ a sum equal to three “ per cent, of the wages of workers and foremen of which “ half should be subtracted from the wages and half pro- “ vided by the employer over and above the wages.”! 8 ) Three national insurance funds have for long existed in France in connection with the Deposits and Consignments Fund ( Gaisse des Depots et Consignations). These are : — (a.) The superannuation fund created by the law of June 18th 1850, reorganised on more rational bases by the law of July 20th 1886, and decree of December 28th 1888 This is purely voluntary and the old age pensions may begin according to the choice and contributions of a depositor either at 50 or 65 years of age. The ordinary maximum for one year dispensed to an annuitant is 1,000 francs. Under certain exceptional cases this maximum may reach by a judicial decision the amount of 1,200 francs.( 9 ) I n certain cases of misfortune, under the decree of July 27th, 1861, an extra allowance (pension bonifiee) may be provided through the budget of the Minister of the Interior. This allowance (bonification) may not exceed 360 francs and cannot be accorded to foreigners fulfilling the ordinary conditions, while the other benefits of the fund may be extended to them.( 10 ) According to the report of the Commission it is this fund whose organisation and rates must serve as primary basis of any projected National Provident Fund since it possesses its proper tables of mortality. “The fund specially devoted to superannua- “ tion through accident, and those parts of the provident “ fund, generally, which depend upon a group of new ele- “ ments should be provided as soon as possible with their “ special tables of mortality lor the establishment of “ appropriate rates.”! 11 ) (b.) The Life Insurance Fund, instituted by the law of July 11th, 1868. This provides for individual or collective insurance. The latter means that the approved Mutual Aid .Societies may make annual collective insurances on behalf of their members. In the case of insurance by an individual “ the sum assured may not exceed 3,000 francs “ a head.” In the case of assurance by societies the sums may not exceed 1,000 francs. This fund “has only given mediocre results both in “ respect of the number of contracts effected and in respect “ of pecuniary results. It will have to be profoundly “ modified or may even disappear ” in the new scheme. A great development of life insurance is looked for under the Workmen’s National Provident Fund.( 12 ) (c.) The insurance fund in case of accident instituted by the law of July, 11th, 1886. This provides for (1) complete disability for life ; (2) partial disability for life. “ It has “ given rise to a very limited number of insurances, and “ may be expected to disappear when the New National “ Fund for accidents is established.”! 13 ) In reviewing the whole matter the Commission had before it ten drafts of laws relating to the organisation of a special superannuation fund which might be reduced to six distinct projects “ all of which rested on the one hand on “ the conditions of capitalisation and mortality, and on the “ other hand on the optional or obligatory contributions of “ the depositors increased by subsidies from other sources, “ chiefly from the State and the employers.”! 14 ) The Commissioners took as the chief subject of inquiry the draft bill (projet de loi) presented by MM. Constans and Rouvier in the name of the President of the Republic. This scheme, besides being the most complete, had the merit of maintaining the dominant character of uniting in one common provident effort the workman, the employer and the State, although it raised even on a first reading the gravest financial questions.! 15 ) ( 8 ) lb., p. 56. ( 9 ) lb., p. 219. ('") lb., p. 220-221. ( n ) lb, p. 57. For a report of the work and position of this fund during 1892, see the “ Journal Olfieiel ” June 25, 1893, p. 3117. ( 12 ) lb., pp. 234-5. ! 13 ) lb., pp. 237-8, cf. infra pp. 82-4, and 126. ( H ) lb., p. 17. i 15 ) For a translation of this projected law, as well as of a socialistic scheme of MM. Chassaing and others, and of the scheme offered by the Commission, see Appendix pp. 122-6. The following brief account of MM. Constans and Rouvier's scheme may be found useful. The scheme of MM. Constans and Rouvier for securing annuities for old and intirm workmen, proposes to make insurance compulsory for all workmen whose incomes do not exceed 120 f. a year, unless at the age of twenty-five they make a declaration before the “ maire ” that they will renounce the benefits of such insurance. The insurance may be effected by paying premiums at the rate of from five to 10 centimes a day into any mutual benefit, provident, or pension fund approved by the State. The employer deducts these premiums from the wages of his employes, adds an equal sum, and pays them into the desired fund. L (v.) National insurance funds. (vi.) Alter- natives before the Commission, 82 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: Threel methods of instituting life annui- ties. (vii.) Modi- fications necessary. Some of the remaining schemes were covered by the Government scheme, others suggested points reproduced in the scheme drawn up by the Commission, others again were open to serious criticism on account of errors or oversights or failure to recognise need for stimulus to thrift on the part of the workmen benefited. (’) There are three methods of instituting life annuities by a society: (1) by raising in anticipation from the bene- ficiaries as a whole (prelevant stir la masse ) and settling on each individual annuitant at the moment when he makes his claim, a capital sum which, when augmented by the interest accruing to it, assures payment of the sums due until the final payment has been made ; (2) by forming the above capital sum by means of annual individual con- tributions, which are capitalised, taking account of favour- able chances of mortality; (3) by simply employing the revenues of the fund to effect the payment of arrears when the annuity falls due. It is this last method which is used by the State in pensioning it.3 own officials, “the most costly method a “ priori and the least just, because it throws on to future “ years the charges of the past, without even keeping for “ special application the inadequate reserves levied as so “ much per cent, upon the salaries. ”( 2 ) The greater num- ber of the mutual aid societies employ too often some such method as the first. “The second method is the only rational one, but “ requires from the very beginning absolute precision and “ certainty in the investment of capital in order that a “ determinate result may be obtained.” If these condi- tions are fulfilled, it absolutely secures the payment of their claims to the depositors, who are the real collective possessors of all the moneys in the fund, without making the payment of arrears each year, a matter of discussion in the budget. This is the method actually applied by the existing National Pension or Superannuation Fund. The Commission strongly deprecated absorption of this fund in new funds to be created, on the grounds that it would be to the great detriment of actual annuitants. “ It is necessary to devise conditions for organisation of “ general funds for pensions, insurance, providence, what- “ ever may be the name given, and to seek to attract the “ greater part of the enormous capital, which the creation “ of such funds sets in movement. In place of dead “ capital throwing its official weight on the financial “ market, there should be a capital lending vitality to the “ great industrial undertakings, compelled to circulate “ continually while creating works useful to the country, “ and diffusing work throughout the entire mass of “ citizens.” The Commission approved adoption of the principle of the scheme of M. Jules Siegfried( 3 ), i.e., formation of a bureau for departmental and communal loans to take the place of the Credit Fonder ,( 4 ) to various institutions, from which such loans have hitherto been made. “ It would be easy to make these loans at 3$ per “ cent, and the Bill (of M. Siegfried) proposes to utilise “ the capital of the deposits and consignments fund ; in “ reality what is asked for is simply the expropriation of “ the Credit Fonder. The New Pension Fund lends “ itself to this operation ; but its role should not be “ limited to this.” It might undertake other great public works, such as those guaranteed by the loans of the Shipping Chambers of Commerce for the creation of When the pension is completed the State adds a sum equal to two-thirds of the pension acquired. Interest on deposits is calculated at the rate of 3i per cent., and the total amount of the pension to which the em- ploy becomes entitled at the age of fifty-five, or after thirty years’ payment for 290 days in each year, is from 12 1. to 2-1 1. a year. If before that time the workman becomes permanently incapacitated, he receives back the premiums deposited in his name, together with interest upon them at the rate of 100 per cent., if they have been paid into a mutual benefit fund, 50 per cent, in other cases. If the workman dies before his pension matures, his family receive nothing ; but for a small extra payment he may insure his life for from 20f. to 40 1. If the scheme were carried out in France the State would have to furnish 451, 6007. in the- first, year, 626,8007. in the second, and in the seventy-fourth year a fixed sum of 3,506,3701. 5s. 10 d. P) Ib., pp. 8 to 16 and annexfes quoted thereon. ( 2 ) Ib., p. 20. ( 3 ) Proposition de loi portant creation d’une caisse des emprunts departementaux et Communaux. ( 4 ) In France the term Credit Fonder has two meanings ; one applies to immovable property, as a security, the other to a special financial institution which, in other countries as well as in France, effects under certain determined conditions the great majority of loans on real property. Its aim is “ to convert mortgages and other liabilities “ on real properties by giving them (for the benefit of the proprietor “ and the convenience and security of capitalists) the advantages of “ uniformity, regularity in the payment of arrears, and easy realisation “ a» to title, already enjoyed by the public debt.” ( Dali oz, quoted in the Nouveau Dictionnaire D’ Economic Politique). Itis the institution that is here referred to. It was on December 10, 1852, that a decree wots issued by the Government with a view to centralising all institutions hitherto established for a similar purpose. This transformed the Banque Fondere de Paris into the Credit Fonder and extended its working to all departments ; the guaranteed capital was fixed at 60 millions and power was given to lend 200 millions on mortgages. (See Say’s Dictionary, cit. p. 629.) popular credit and agricultural credit. District funds might be established, “administered by delegates of tnose “ interested, employers and workmen and representatives “ of the authorities.” These local administrative bodies would have the duty of discovering all undertakings in their district which offered safe security for investments; they would then propose them to a Central Council in Paris, and if the securities were approved would “be “ charged with the management and supervision of the “ operations.” It will be seen that the Commission has embodied this principle of district funds in its Bill immediately after the first articles which deal with the co-operation of the worker, the employer, and the State. The Bill is called one for formation of a “ National Workmen’s Provident Fund.”( 5 ) The Commission preferred to use a term which included not only the one form of providence, namely annuity (rente viag'ere), but also all the other wider forms, such as insurance against illness, and life insurance. The scheme of the Commission differs from the Govern- ment scheme on the three important points of — (^admis- sion of annuitants ; (2) employers’ contributions; (3) State subsidies. The Government scheme only admits and en- forces insurance of those whose annual resources are below 3,000 francs. The Commission considered that admission should be absolutely free and that the advantages offered would be sufficiently large to attract spontaneous insurance. The Commission also sought to equalise the burdens on different employers, and to remove the temptation, which they held would exist under the Governmental scheme, to less scrupulous employers who might seek to deter their workpeople from inscribing their names on the Fund, in order that they might themselves escape the corresponding charges. It would divide equally amongst all employers the amount of the contribution from employers (les charges de la contribution patronale ) on “the principle that “ every person who presumably profits by the labour of “ others owes to society under the form of a contribution, “ a part of the advantages he has drawn. ”( 6 ) In the matter of the State subsidy the proposal of the Government was that this should amount to two-thirds of the united deposits of the employers and workmen ; the Commission adopted the principle of contribution from employers and the State correlative to the entirely optional deposits of the workmen. “ It placed no limits or restric- “ tive condition on the resources or revenues, or on the “ circumstances of subscription to and liquidation of the “ Pension. It left almost entirely open the age of com- “ mencing membership and of receiving the pension ; and “ it admitted no clause for forfeiture. ”( 6 ). 3. — Employers’ Liability and Compulsory Insurance. The question of employers’ liability has been long before the public in France. As early as 1884 a Commission was appointed to report upon a series of Bills which had been presented from 1880 onwards to one or other of the Cham- bers^ 7 ) In 1888 the Chamber of Deputies passed a projet de loi of MM. Carnot and Pierre Legrand, and in 1890, another Government Bill was adopted by the Senate. Another Commission was appointed to inquire into these, and a fresh series of Bills and its report was presented in February 1892. ( 8 ) This report is a valuable document, which contains an account; of — (1) foreign legislation on the subject ; (2) the French Bills ; (3) a fresh scheme which has been recently debated and voted on in the Chamber of Deputies (May 18th June 3rd, 5th, 6th, 10th); and (4) full explanatory memoranda; (5) Appendices giving text of measures and allied information. In view of the recent strong vote of the Chamber (510 votes against 6) in favour of the adoption of the scheme of the Commission, it is unnecessary to consider any details of earlier Bills, and it will be sufficient to sketch the purport of this scheme. It is, however, convenient to refer first to the actual state of the law in France, as regards employers’ liability for accidents sustained by workmen in course of employ- ment. Hitherto there has been no special regulation distinct from the general law voted in 1804. By the terms of Articles 1,382 and following of the Civil Code, there is no distinction of persons who are subject to accidents. Da- mages can be obtained if the injured person can bring legai proof (apporter judiciarement la preuve) that injury * (*) ( 5 ) See Appendix XIII,, p. 121. ( 6 ) lb., p. 27. The law was voted in the Senate in March 1S93. (“) Those anxious to study the question historically will find this report useful. No. 2,634 Chambre des DOputds. Quantin, Paris, 1884. (*) No. 1,926 Chambres des Deputes. Motteroz, Paris, 1892. Local ad- ministrative bodies and their func- tions. Movement in favour of an employers’ liability law. Actual state of the law. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. o3 Decisions of the higher courts. (iii.) View of the Commission of 1892. Scope of the measure. Employers’ liability f or al 1 accidents. is imputable to the defendant personally, or to those for whom he is responsible, or to things which he has under his care. For illustration of the application of this prin- ciple reference must be made to important cases decided by various courts. (‘) “ The decisions of our tribunals, our “ Courts of Appeal, the Court of Cassation, the State Coun- “ cil, are the starting point in this critical examination. “ They show undeniably a logical and uniform character ; “ one may say that practically they have arrived at con- “ struction of a complete general system of liability. . ■ . “ The obligation that the contract of service puts upon the “ employer, in my view is that of taking all appropriate “ steps to safeguard the health and life of the workpeople. “ . . ‘ It is a principle ’ says the court at Besanfon, accord- “ ing to common law, ‘ that the company( 2 ) in employing its “ ‘ agents in operations which are often difficult and peril- “ ‘ ous, should assure their safety, that it should even, if “ ‘ occasion offer, seek to protect its employes against their “ ‘ own unskilfulness or personal omissions.’ And the “ court at Dijon : ‘ the employer has a strict obligation to “ ‘ protect the workmen against the dangers consequent “ ‘ on the work, and this obligation entails the necessity “ ‘ to foresee even possible accidents, and take measures “ ‘ which are of a nature to obviate them.’ And the “ Court of Cassation in dismissing an appeal, declared, “ that the employer was bound ‘to defend his workmen “ * from the consequences of dangers inherent in their “ ‘ work.’ ” These decisions apparently exclude any doctrine like “ contributory negligence. ”( 3 ) Nevertheless the Commission held that the principles of the Common Law were insufficient in view of the rela- tions existing between the head of an industrial establish- ment and his workpeople, the latter being wholly under orders. Injured workmen can only obtain damages, they declared, if they can prove that the accident occurred through the fault, imprudence, or negligence of the em- ployer or his officials. They accepted as proved the statement, that for every hundred accidents, seventy-five were through unforeseen chance or caused b y force majeure in which cases the workmen could obtain no compensation, and that out of the remaining 25 cases only a small pro- portion obtained satisfaction. The delays and uncertainties and expenses of legal procedure were also pointed out. The scheme of the Commission has a fourfold aim : — It determines at the outset which are the accidents giving rise to indemnities, and fixes their ratio to the wage paid (Parts I. to III.). It traces the regulations of competency whether of justices of the peace or of the special court of arbitration contemplated (Parts IV. to V.). It organises the modes of compulsory insurance of the employers (Parts VI. and VIII.). It regulates the payment of pensions and indemnities due to victims or their representatives (Parts VII. to IX.). Article I. defines the scope of application of the provi- sions of the Bill. It is intended that it should apply to workmen and persons employed in (a) mining, quarrying, engineering and allied industries; (b) transport in all its branches ; (c.) workshops and factories of all kinds, build- ing trades and generally all establishments or branches thereof, where explosives are manufactured, or use is made of steam engines or machines worked by elementary power (air, water, steam, gas, electricity, &c.) or by animals. Enterprises of the State, departments, communes, and all public establishments are expressly included. A detailed list of these various industries will he pre- pared by a Government department ( the Conseil Superiear des Accidents de Travail). It will he noted that this list does not contain “ sailors ” or “fishermen,” who, it is intended, shall he the subject of special legislation. In these trades, then, which, speaking roughly, are the dangerous trades, the principle of the employer’s liability for all accidents ( risque profession el) is to he recognised and enforced. The workman, or his representatives, is to be entitled to compensation according to a statutory tariff for injury from accident of any kind, except accident intentionally produced hy himself. Nevertheless, in case it is proved on behalf of the employer that the accident was due to the gross fault (misfeasance, faute lourde) of the workman, the compensation may be reduced, or even altogether forfeited, and vice versa if the workman proves that the accident was due to the gross fault of the em- ployer or one of his foremen (proposes), the compensation may he increased up to complete indemnity. No contracting out is to he allowed. All actions are to be brought within a year from date of accident. (') The whole subject was exhaustively inquired into by Mr. Sauzet in the Revue Critique de L6gislation, 1883, pp. 596-640 & 677-704. ( 2 ) A railway company. ( 3 ) Revue Crit. de L6gis. cit. pp. 615-0. In order to secure the payment of the compensation, the system is introduced of Compulsory Insurance ( Assur- ance Oblirjatoire). The State is made directly respon- sible, hut is to be recouped hy employers in local groups. For this purpose the whole of France is divided into dis- tricts (cir conscriptions). Each district is to consist of one or more departments, except that the department of the Seine may be subdivided into several districts. In each district all employers in all the occupations subject to the Bill are made collectively responsible (as herein-after men- tioned) for the statutory compensation to all workmen of the district who are injured hy accident, power, however, being reserved to single employers or to syndicates of employers to exclude themselves from the general arrange- ment, and, instead, to insure the same statutory compensa- tion for their own workmen, such insurance to be in conformity with certain prescribed regulations as to caution money, & c. The district does not insure beforehand against the risk of accidents : bul the total amount of compensation awarded and paid hy the State in the course of any year to workmen in the district (including cases where, as usual, the compensation is in the form of an annuity, the capital sum representing such annuity) is recovered in the next year from the employers of the district and repaid to the State, the relative contribution of each member being determined by the product of the total of the salaries paid by him during the past year a certain “ co-efficient of risk,” which, as presently to he explained, has been officially assigned to his establishment, as representing its degree of dangerousness. ( 4 ) Such is the general scheme. In greater detail it is as follows : — The Higher Council on Accidents in Industry ( Conseil Superieur des Accidents de Travail) besides framing a list of the industries, assigns to each of these industries a co- efficient of risk ; such co-efficient is in three degrees, from which, by a subsequent process presently described, one will be selected and assigned to each individual establishment belonging to that particular industry. The list will be revised every three years, hut in the meantime additions may be made to it when necessary. Each district is administered by a Governing Committee ( Comite Directeur) and is divided into sections, each of which has a Sectional Committee also. The Sectional Com- mittee is elected hy and from employers of the section. The Governing Committee is to be elected by the Com- mittee of Sections. Each committee is to last for four years, and to be paid. The function of the Sectional Committee is chiefly to advise the Governing Committee, more particularly as to the co-efficient to he assigned to each separate establishment, and as to the reduction (boni- fication) amounting in some cases to 30 per cent, upon the contribution of the employer, to he allowed where all due measures for safety are observed in the establishment. The function of the Governing Committee is to settle the list of all the establishments of the various industries within the district, which are subject to the law, and to assign to each separate establishment its proper co-efficient of risk, to settle the reductions and fix the amount of contribution from each employer, and deal with every claim for compen- sation. Each employer is bound at the beginning of each year to make a return, which is subject to correction by the Governing Committee, of the number of workmen he has employed in the past year, the number of days each has been employed, and the salary paid to him. From this return and other official information the Governing Com- mittee prepares the list of establishments of the district, commune by commune, showing for each establishment : (a.) The class to which it belongs in the classification issued from the Higher Council, (b.) Its co-efficient of risk, being such one of the three degrees of the co-efficient assigned to the class hy the Higher Council as appears to the Governing Committee to be most suitable to the particular establishment; and (c.) the reduction to be allowed, if any. If several different industries, with different co-efficients are carried on in the same establishment each has to be treated as a separate establishment. The list is sent to the Mayor of the Commune. Any employer may object to his own classment or co-efficient ; and anyone whosoever may apply for anyone else to be put on the list of contributory employers. At the end of ten days the Mayor forwards the list together with any objections, or applications he may have received, to the Sectional Committee, who in turn forward it with their observations to the Governing Committee, who settle it. Any omissions of establishments from this list may be subsequently rectified by supplementary lists, and the proprietors made to contribute. The list so settled ( 4 ) See German Report, Vol. V., of this series, pp. 70-75. L 2 (iv.) General scheme of insurance. Higher council on accidents in industry. General and sectional committees. Lists of industrial establish- ments, with co -efficients of risk. 84 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Compensa- tion. Exceptions. Choice of procedure. is final, except that any employer may within three months appeal to the Council of the Prefecture for the Depart- ment ( Oonseil de Prefecture du Departement) on the ground that the co-efficient of risk assigned to his establishment, is not authorised by the legal classification. The Governing Committee will thus be in a position to issue a fist of contributories, together with the contributions of each, necessary to provide the total amount of the last year’s compensation. In case of the default of the Governing Committee to levy the contributions, the Minister of Commerce and Industry will appoint persons to do so. When the accident is fatal, the compensation is : — (a.) Funeral expenses, equal to 20 times the daily pay, i.e., the pay on the day of the accident, but not to exceed 100 francs. (b.) To the relict — An annuity for life - - - 20 per cent, of annual salary. (c.) To children — If only one, an annuity up to 16 years of age - 15 99 If only two, an annuity up to 16 years of age - - 25 ,, If only three, an annuity up to 16 years of age - 35 ,, „ If only four, an annuity up to 16 years of age - - 40 99 Or if orphans, to each child an annuity up to 16 years of age - 20 „ 99 The total not to exceed - 40 „ 99 (d.) If neither relict nor children, then To each grandparent a life annuity - 10 „ 99 But total not to exceed - - 20 99 When the effect of the accident is permanently to dis- able, then the compensation is : — (a.) If disability be the total, i.e., if the workman be unable to earn anything towards his livelihood, a life annuity equal to two-thirds of annual salary. (i b .) If disability be partial, i.e., if the workman be able to earn something, but not sufficient for a livelihood, the life annuity of two-thirds is subject to a corre- sponding reduction. Annual salary means the remuneration (in cash and emoluments) actually received during the year preceding the accident ; if the employment has been for less than a year, then the remuneration actually received during the period of employment, plus the salary received by a work- man of the same category in the same industry during the remainder of the year. If the employment is in a trade which only lasts part of the year, then annual salary means the salary received during the period of activity, plus any other salary received during the rest of the year. In the case of a youth or an apprentice, the annual salary is taken to be that of the lowest workman in the same enterprise. When the effect of the accident is to temporarily disable, “temporary indemnities ” are given as follows : — (a.) Medical expenses. (b.) Allowance during continuance of disability at the rate of half of annual salary, but not to exceed 3fr. 50c. a day. These “ temporary indemnities ” up to the end of the first month fall upon the individual employer, after that on the district. An accident which disables- for only three days or less does not count as an accident, and gives rise to no claim for compensation. The compensation awarded may, within three years of the award, be revised, on the application of either party, with a view to its being either increased or decreased, on account of the consequences of the accident having in the meantime proved to be more or less severe than had been anticipated. A workman whose salary is under 2,000 francs can pro- ceed only under the Bill, and forfeits his Common Law rights. If over 2,000 francs he may elect between pro- ceeding under the Bill or proceeding under the Common Law, in which case compensation is subject to no statutory limit, but proof of negligence will have to be given by workman. In the case of gross fault being established against the employer in a Common Law suit, the district is only liable for so much (if anything) as may be necessary to make up the damages to the statutory amount. The Bill does not interfere with the Common Law right ot the person injured against the third person who actually caused the injury, but in the event of this right being exer- cised, the district is only liable for so much (if anything) as may be necessary to make up the damages to the statutory amount. When an accident takes place the employer has within 48 hours to notify it to the Mayor and send medical certificate. Then if the accident is fatal, or threatens to be so, or to occasion permanent disability, the Mayor forwards the notification to the Justice of the Peace (Juge de Paix), who holds a public inquiry, if necessary, with an expert, and within ten days forwards his report to the President du, Tribunal Civil de V Arrondissement. {}) Temporary indemnities, medical expenses, and funeral expenses are settled by the Juge de Paix of the canton where the accident took place. But for the annuities, there is a special procedure. First, with a view to conciliation, if possible, the President du Tribunal Civil calls together the represen- tative of the district, the employer, and the injured work- man, or, if he be dead, his representatives, and if they can settle it together, well ; if not, the case is referred to a Board of Arbitration (Tribunal Arbitral). The Board sits at the capital of the arrondissement, and consists of three employers, three employed, and the President du Tribunal Civil or his deputy. The three employers are taken from a list, which every year is officially prepared and revised, of all employers in the arrondissement who possess certain qualifications — i.e., they must be 30 years of age, be able to read and write, and must have resided two years in the canton. The three operatives are taken from a similar list of operatives. The process is that when a case comes on to be heard there are drawn by open lot : — Six from the list of employers. Six from the list of operatives, Four supplementary jurors. All of these are paid; each side can challenge three. The trial is public, and the decision is final, except that on a point of law there is an appeal to the Court of Cassation. The order of the Board of Arbitration, or, where the parties have agreed, the order of the President declaring the right of a workman to a pension, will constitute a good claim against the National Fund for Insurance against Accidents (Cuisse Nationale d’ Assurance centre les Acci- dents) which will then pay the pension in Paris through one of its offices or in the departments through the local collectors andassessors (les receveurs et percept ears). It appears that it is the duty both of the Governing Com- mittee of the district and also of the Sectional Committee to see that the annuity is not continued after the death of the annuitant. Somewhat similar arrangements are made for the pay- ment of the temporary indemnities. The National Fund for Insurance against Accidents will, if necessary, be financed by the Deposits and Consignments Fund ( Caisse des Depots et Consignations), the rate of in- terest being fixed by the Minister of Commerce and Industry and the Minister of Finance. All payments made by the National Fund are in the nature of advances only and will, as above described, be re- paid in the following year by the districts. The yearly budget of the expenditure of the districts will consist of : — 1. The capital required to provide the annuities awarded the year before. 2. The temporary indemnities of the year before. 3. The cost of administration of the year before. 4. Contribution to a reserve fund, such contribution not to exceed one quarter of the expenditure of the pre- vious year.( 2 ) 4. — The State and Organisation of Poor Relief. (U Assistance Publique). The ruling idea of public relief of indigence in France, the classic land of voluntary relief, f) is best indicated by the words of M. Thiers in a celebrated report to the National Assembly in 1848 ; “ The State like the indi- vidual should be charitable, but like the latter it should be so morally (par vertu), that is to say, freely.” Charitable legislation thus acknowledges the moral obligation of not leaving real suffering unaided, but the right of any indivi- dual to claim assistance has never been explicitly acknow- ledged.^) The aim has been to stimulate and to complete, or rather to further, the efforts of private charity by sys- tematic administration. For example, (1) legislation has v made of the boards of charity ( bureaux de bienfaisance) l 1 ) See infra, p. 137-9 for definition of terms. ( 2 ) For text of the Bill see Appendix, p. 126. ( 3 ) Aschrott on the English Poor Law System, p. 105. (■>) On two occasions attempts were made to introduce the principle of obligatory assistance ; under the Revolution, and in 1848. Under the former a whole system of relief was organised. Under the second attempt the provisional Government was compelled under pressure from the imeute to recognise the right of the people of Paris to work, and, of consequence, to relief. Of these two attempts nothing remains. Procedure. State inter- vention. (i.) Prin- ciples of relief of the indigent. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 85 Exceptions to the optional character of relief. The two general kinds of relief. (ii.) Depart- mental relief. the chief avenue of public relief, while these boards are properly speaking only the recipients of private liberality (through subscriptions, donations, bequests), (2) the hos- pitals are primarily voluntary institutions and only secondarily subsidised by the State. “ It is noteworthy “ that private liberality shows itself most actively pre- “ cisely ... in the towns where the service of official “ assistance is varied and complete and the resources “ abundant. ”(‘) For instance, in Paris, 20 million francs are counted on as coming from private charity alone. The organisation of relief of indigence in France is general, departmental, and communal. “ It is general where it “ proceeds directly from the central power whether under “ the form of general establishments of charity or by “ means of subsidies allotted to local institutions. It is “ departmental where the charitable institutions are formed “ and supported by the department, as are the lunatic “ asylums or (in certain departments) the depots d ■? mendi- “ cites. It is communal where the charitable services are “ supported by the commune. ”( 2 ) It is the last-named form which is the main official form in France ; each commune is theoretically relied on for the assistance of its poor and its own poor alone Any self- governing local institutions are considered as being in the municipal service Two exceptions only exist to the rule of optional charity in France, viz., the care of lunatics and of deserted children. Another case might perhaps be added. Where depart- mental prohibition of mendicity exists, there the support of mendicity offices (depots de mendicite) is enacted by law. These were designed as houses of correction by the decree of July 5, 1^08, but they have practically become part of the hospital service of the country and generally receive only the infirm and incurables.)*) The State plays only a limited part in the assistance of the poor. The Minister of the Interior has the direct administration of certain “ national charitable institutions,” such as V Hospice des Quinze Vingfs pour les Aveugles ; La Maison de Cliarenton ptour les Alienes, and others, and he exercises a general supervisi m over similar departmental institutions by means of inspectors (Decree of August 1870). Every year also a place is reserved in the estimates of the department for subventions, proposed by the general councils for various urgent cases of want. Extraordinary relief in favour of victims of accidents (e.g., of floods and storms) is effected through the Ministers of the Interior and of Agriculture. In 1885 the State dispensed in these various ways 74 million francs. The two distinct types of general public relief are on the one hand the hospitals and hospices or asylums, and on the other the Bureaux de Bienfaisance. These two services are united under one administration in Paris. Fllsewhere they are separate and their composition and organisation are regulated by the laws of May 21, 1873, and August 5, 1879. A certain proportion of their income may be devoted by the hospitals to out-door relief (law of May 21, 1873), and this leaves, as far as is possible, only the able-bodied indigent to the care of the Bureaux d? Bienfaisance. The laws set aside certain revenues to the support of these establishments, e.g., certain local taxes, the revenues derived from fines for postal contraventions, and for insanitary dwellings, confiscations of property, &c. It is remarked that certain of the poorer communes which are without adequate charitable institutions neglect to claim some of these valuable sources of income. The departmental funds have also to support part of the expenses of poor relief; their application is proposed by the prefects and regulated by the general councils. The homes for foundlings are subsidised under the decree of Jan. 19, 1811, and the law of May 5, 1869, and the asylums for indigent lunatics under the law of June 30, 1838. The obligatory support of these institutions is justified on the obvious considerations of public order. The doctrine of obligatory relief of beggars where there is departmental prohibition of begging, was established by a Ministerial order of May 24, 1869, on the occasion of a dispute between the departments of Allier and Creuse on the subject of an infirm beggar who was domiciled in the latter department. The following are the chief charitable objects for which fundi are annually voted by the greater number of the general councils : “Out-door relief, relief of indigent in- “ valids and maternity cases, pharmaceutical stores, sending “ indigent invalids to watering places ( eaux thermales ), “ public relief works ( ateliers de charitt), aid to poor “ travellers, pensions for old age and incurables, pensions “ for children.” The organisation of free medical service is established in at least half of the departments in France.) 3 ) (') Dictio.maire d’Economie Politique. Leon Say, p. 72. (*) Dictionnaire de 1’ Administration. Maur.ee Block p. 201. ( 3 ) This section, with the exception of the note at the end of it, was written just before the passing of the law proviling for compulsory medical relief of persons without means. The text of the law will be found in the Appendix.— G.D. In 1885 the departmental relief expenses reached 30 million francs, of which only 423,000 francs were provided by foundations. The main type of communal relief is the Bureau de Bienfaisance, of which only one may exist in a commune, and which operates only within the commune, liy a ministerial circular of June 25, 1873, a municipal council cart only distribute relief independently if there is no communal bureau ; they may then, if they judge it to be necessary, distribute relief through a charity commission or by undertaking special charitable works. The only compulsory charity for the communes is in the contribution to the homes for foundlings and lunatic asylums. Indigent invalids are treated in communal hospitals if these exist, and so long as a bed is vacant may not be turned away. If there is no hospital in the commune, their admission to a hospital in another commune is dependent on payment of a certain sum by the commune in which the invalid is domiciled (law of August 7th, 1851). Free medical service is to be found in a very large number of communes (grouped in cantons) aided by subsidies from a special credit in the budget of the Minister of the Interior. Public relief works ( ateliers de charite) wherever they are undertaken, and then optionally, are undertaken by the communes. The “ wages paid are always lower than the market rate.”( 4 ) These undertakings are not subject to any legislation. In 1885, exclusive of Paris, the communes administered 28 million francs in relief. M. Emile Cheva'ier points out that the spirit of charity is very little developed in many country communes. “The inhabitants, being less rich, “ give less . . . Relief, they say, engenders misery, “ attracting to or retaining the poor in their communes ; “ organisation on their part of a service of relief is not to “ be counted on . . their temperament is foreign to “ the idea of initiative in this matter.”) 5 ) The solution of part of the difficulty is to be found by establishing easy terms of transfer for country invalids to the big institutions in the towns where too many beds are often vacant. Departmental aid would have to be called in to effect this change. The administration of relief in the metropolis is distinct from that, of provincial communes. There is one adminis- tration for its various forms, and this effects a real economy of its large resources. The control is through the Director of Public Assistance, together with a Council of surveillance. The resources are the same as in the provinces, but the share of the municipality in providing them is enormously greater, being in 1891, one half of all the other resources. At Lyons, as at Paris, the municipality plays an im- portant part ; but the ancient foundations in Lyons, and the general revenues for relief purposes are so great that they are applied throughout the department of the Rhone, and even in other departments. In Lyons the Mayor is ex-officio president of the Surveillance Committee of Public Relief, and the Archbishop honorary president, though there is in addition an ordinary acting president:. The following tables from the Statistique Generale show the actual state of the provision for the indigent in France. A table showing operations of the State pawnshops (Monts- de-Ficte) is added. (iii.) Com- munal relief. Ateliers de charitC. Funds ad- ministered by the communes. (iv.) Relief in the Paris and Lyons communes. Table XXX IX. Boards of Charity. (Bureau de Bienfaisance.) 1889. Population of the parishes after the last census was taken ----- 26,049,703 The number of Boards or Commissions of Charity in the parishes - 15,308 -.I, *,. , i- ,/ French - 1,616,481 Js umber of people relieved | Sl;rangers . 55,871 Number of reliefs given ... - 14,756,910 Receipts. .evenues obtained from real property and 1 invested capital. roceeds of the sale3 of moveable or real property effected during the year. , f Parish - rants i Special - - 15,747,753 12,152,475 808,456 ( 4 ) Dictionnaire tie ! Administration, p. 219. ( 5 ) Dictionnaire de l’Economie Politique, article Ass. Pub. L 3 8(j ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Certain Rates. |"(Droit des Pauvres, sur le produit des spec- Receipts coming | tacles, bals et con- front public J certs) - or private) Result of collections, charity. j poor boxes, subscrip- tions, &c. ^Donations and legacies Other ordinary or special receipts 1,346,730 2,769,094 3,040,495' 3,869,572 Total - 39,734,575 Total funds from voluntary sources 13,275,172 Expenses. Expenses of Administration. \ f Expenses of f Staff the Board \ Appliances | Other expenses of ad- ministration (the sup- port and maintenance of immovables, large buildings, &c.) I r Relief <( In kind (rated J as money) . and In money Food Clothing Heating - Medicines medical fees - Other help of the kind Total 2,460,306 407,159 2,574,878 13,098,389 1,331,668 1,254,424 3,093,873 2,012,896 10,088,272 36,321,865 Investments. Total amount of f In real estates investments. \ In rents 5,866,076 21,664,016 STATISTICS OF THE OFFICES FOR MENDICITY (Des Depots de Mendicite). Table XL. — Hospital Staff. Number of Establish- ments. Staff. Nuns. Inspectors and Nurses. Total Staff. 30 131 180 268 579 Table. XLI. — Numbers Relieved. Kind. Number of Days Present. Number of Beds. Placed in Ward A (Reclus) Men - Women Children 316,221 91,124 100 1,643 706 16 Relieved (Assistes) ’Men - Women L Children 1,420,657 756,381 69,962 4,319 2,449 308 Total - 2,654,445 9,441 Table XLII. Staff and Appliances of the Invalid Establishments. Class. Paris. Depart- ments. France. Number of invalid Establishments : Hospitals ... - 27 281 308 Class. Paris. Depart- ments. France. Infirmaries . 882 882 Convent Hospitals - ■ 16 433 449 Total - 43 1,596 1,639 Staff: Doctors and Surgeons - 188 2,788 2,976 Nuns ... - 154 11,001 11,155 Employes ... - 170 2,761 2,931 Servants - 3,640 9,877 13,517 Total - 4,152 26,427 30,579 Appliances. Beds used : For those ill : Military beds - 13,253 13,253 Non-military beds 11,739 53,505 65,244 For infirm, old, and incurables 11,870 49,931 61,801 For Foundlings 790 13,731 14,521 For staff of the establishments 3,794 21,860 25,654 Total 28,193 152,280 180,473 Table XLIII. Financial Situation of the Invalid Establishments. [ Receipts and Expenses. Paris. Depart- ments. France. Receipts. Francs. Francs. Francs. Regular income of the Establish- ments : Proceeds from real estate 2,698,759 17,050,526 19,649,285 Proceeds from State rents, parish rents, particular. 5,178,059 16,715,751 21,893,810 Transfer of rents, sale of real estates, loans. 1,089,910 4,200,807 5,290,717 Profits of the pawnshops 57,595 215,937 273,532 Grants : Parish grants 18,649,806 7,495,167 26,144,973 Special .... 1,517,000 630,134 2,147,134 Private charity and rates : Certain rates, (Droit des pauvres sur les spectacles). 4,438,142 339,765 4,777,907 Donations and legacies 5,275,146 4,732,842 10,007,988 Repayments of expenses : Of the ill. infirm and strangers, (paying). 2,770,242 9,735,181 12,505,423 Departmental allowances for foundlings and strangers. — 3,432,974 3,432,974 Various - 3,787,331 2,902,924 6,690,255 Other receipts (tines, cemetery concessions, chapel fees, pro- ceeds from burials, work of those ill, &c.). 888,195 6,031,175 6,919,370 Total receipts obtained ) in the year. ) 46,250,185 73,483,183 119,733,368 Voluntary funds from various) sources reported in 1889. ) 2,624,698 17,860,405 20,475,103 Total amount of receipts - 48,874,883 91,333,588 140,208,471 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 87 Table XL I II. — cont. Receipts and Expenses. Paris. Depart- ments. France. Expenses. Francs. Francs. Francs. Expenses for the administration of the property and income of the establishments. 780,571 5,277.967 6,008,538 Ordinary expenses : Staff 3,562,166 8,595,254 12,157,420 Appliances 7,505,699 8,976,396 16,482,096 Nourishment 8,581,442 25,358,332 33,939,774 Drugs .... 1,774,329 2,857,191 4,631,520 Out-door relief given 10,256,175 1,230,465 11,486,640 Various expenses, among which are expenses connected with the foundlings. 11,348,306 18,663,928 30,012,231 Total expenses • 43,758,688 70,959,533 114,718,221 Amount of receipts exceeding > amount of expenses - - 5 5,116,195 20,374,055 25,490,250 Table XLIV. — Lunatic Asylums. Masculine Sex. Feminine Sex. Total. Existing on the lst.Tanuaiy 22,148 24,670 46,818 1889. Entries ... 6,720 6,378 13,098 Total number treated 28,868 31,048 50,916 Departures - 6,182 5,465 11,647 Remaining on the 31st 22,686 25,583 48,269 December 1889. II. — Position on the 1st January 1889 of lunatics in the departments. (a) Asylums : — Lunatics treated in the asylums of the departments 34,657 ,, ,, hospitals ... 5,041 ,, ,, private asylums - - 7,120 Total * - 46,818 III. — Expenses undertaken by the departments for lunatics under their charge. Funds provided by the parishes - - - 6,511,404 „ „ hospitals - - 62,470 „ „ families ... 1,394,385 „ „ departments - - 13,658,093 Total expenditure- - 21,626,352 Table XLY. — Foundlings or Charity Children (Enfants Assiste.) 88 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR C/3 CO X OS CO X OS CO t'- CD - 1 fc- CD X X X X X X X CD X 00 X X CD CD X X X CD X CD X ■*-f _ wO Ol o X co wo tc o - OS' (M CO O' f® a o' of oi •— < CO 1^ N cd os" CM -I- wo wo o Ol wo bO r~ » w -+ wo OS_ CD « CM' co WO' ’-J' Ol wd wd o CO o. 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C30 wd co o" 1—1 , " H 1—1 Ol Ol 01 CM X X X CO Os CD t- o X X SCO 03 CD wo Ol X co os <73 13 i; 3 ■** CO CO ■d' o wo" h>. rr C30 ^d CO wd N cd wo cd wo co" .t- bo C3 13 a CO OS Ol wo X X co CD o X CO wo Ol o 'S O (2 N 00 OS' cs co wo" wo" co wo" Tt< co * CO' -td o id Ol' id CO c CD X co wo X Tf C/3 wo OS X Ol wo OS OS o wo X o X -+ 3 l- CD CO CS X oT o" wo" cd t t- rG -C CM Ol Ol CM Ol a ^ o -> wo X CM X CO 1^ 1— 1<0 o Ol CD C30 Os" of Os of 1— i CM X x" " pH " Ol Ol Ol Ol X X o C/3 o Cl CM X T* W0 ■ CM a co wo OS I- CO OS 13 03 IS 3 CD X OS o 2 00 X o^ ^ Gc -*-> in -> O H £ c/3 wo os a wo Ol ^ o o o Ol o 1 ^ o CD X C3 o a co X o pa H P3 - - o i < a a a in a Q o X os p CO 1^ X OS o C o l- « GO X X CD X X X X ^ X X r gc X X CD a CD X X X X X X X £ s - r ~‘ *“ a <— 1 a H j Cfl o H REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 89 (vi.) New law pro- viding free medical aid, July 18,1 1898. (i.) Institu- tion of the council by decree January 22, 1891. Ex-officio members. Table XLVI. — Operations of State Pawnshops ( Monts-de-Pietc ), 1888. Number of things. The Amount of sums lent. A. — Things pawned : — fUnder 5 francs ... Number From 5 to 10 francs of „ 11 to 25 „ - Articles J „ 26 to 50 „ that have" „ 51 to 100 ,, - been „ 101 to 500 „ - - pawned. „ 501 to 1 ,000 „ Over 1,000 franos - - - Total 1,042,896 1,197,040 469,232 248,909 148,365 73,028 3,578 2,374 francs. 3,314,791 8,391,004 7,792,159 9,108,947 9,825,908 12,660,036 2,620,157 6,164,586 3,185,422 59,883,588 B. — Things pawned, redeemed and renewed each month. — Jan. Feb. March. April. May. June. July. August. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total. Number of articles pawned. Amount of sums lent (francs). Number of articles redeemed. Amount of sums lent on these things (francs). Number of articles renewed. Amount of sums lent on these things (francs). 297,641 5,584,533 222,154 4,599.196 122,880 3,275,377 241,351 4,532,811 206,468 4,027,512 110,008 2,798,163 249,488 4,717,819 233,711 4,412,621 118,755 3,125,612 262,878 5,505,968 239,435 4,588,190 112,993 2,925,391 206,150 5,011,129 241,642 4,783,578 112,63S 2,965,004 251,305 4,767,368 239.43S 4,616,365 109.5S4 2,882,907 294,921 5,731,659 248,996 4,803,417 120,551 3,299,130 290,518 5,197,296 253,254 4,915,S23 117,304 3,003,350 251,984 4,490,956 243,360 4,513,113 115,721 2,897,456 274.7S0 5,276,776 250,789 4,912,359 123,510 3,271,236 255,259 4,618,756 227.397 4,517,299 114,885 3,039,486 249,141 4,448,497 234,760 4,414,306 109,455 2,864,864 3,185,422 58,983,588 2,841,404 55,104,139 1,3SS,887 36,347,979 C. — Sales. Number of articles sold in the year - f Amount of loans - Amount obtained from sales < Interest and expenses (including valuation) L Amount of bonus A portion of this bonus reclaimed within the year - ,, ,, not ,, - francs. 4,996,717 489,1 73 1,600,202 1,268,128 332,074 - 322,616 ] francs. ^ 7,086,092 1 1,600,202 Table XLVIa. — Various Information. Amount of profit Way of using this profit : f Staff (including allowances to valuer) Expenses of Administration -j Appliances (maintenance of property, buildings, L rents, &c.). francs. 559,666 2,640,658 888,265 A law providing free medical aid for the indigent sick, which was passed by the Chamber of Deputies last year, and discussed in the Senate in several sittings during the session just closed, (') has been recently promulgated. ( 2 ) It gives all the sick poor of French nationality a right to free medical aid within their own homes or in a hospital . Women approaching confinement are classed as sick. Foreigners resident in France will be entitled to medical aid, if a treaty to that effect has been con- cluded with their Government. In each department the service of medical aid will be under the prefect, with local communal bureaux d’ assistance. A special organi- sation will bo accorded by the Minister of the Interior to those communes which show special efficiency in their provision of medical aid. 5. — The Higher Council of Labour and the “ Office du Travail.” On January 22, 1891, a decree was promulgated which established the Higher Council of Labour under the direc- tion of the Minister of Commerce, Industry and the Colonies. In accordance with this decree, it was composed of 50 members, nominated at the request of the Minister of Commerce and Industry, and chosen among the following manufacturers, workmen, members of syndical chambers or other associations, eonseils de prud’hommes, and persons specially informed on economic and social ques- tions. The following are ex-officio members of the Council : — The Director of Home Commerce. The Director of Technical Education. The Director of Railways at the Office of Public Works. The Director of Roads, Navigation, and Mines at the same Office. (') See “ Journal Olfieiel” March 17, July 12, 1898. ( 2 ) For text, see Appendix, p. 132. U 78419. The Director of the Department of mutual aid societies at the Ministry of the Interior. The Director-G eneral of Deposits. The Director General of Works of the City of Paris. The President of the Paris Municipal Council. I he President of the Pans Chamber of Commerce. The President of the Tribunal of Commerce of Paris. The vice-presidents and secretaries of the Council are nominated by the Minister and appointed by Ministerial decree. The members of the Council are appointed for two years. Half the number are chosen by lot to retire every year, but the retiring members are re-eligible. The Council assembles on the invitation of the Minister ,, ,. of Commerce and Industry, who fixes the date, duration ofthe ° y and object of each session. The Minister may also institute Minister of a permanent Commission chosen among the members of an^SdS the Council. Temporary committees or commissions are try. formed to study particular labour problems. The Council may, with the Minister’s sanction, institute inquiries and take evidence from those whom it may consider capable of throwing light on such problems. The members of the Council may be granted attendance fees and travelling expenses by special decision of the Minister. A credit of 25,000 francs was voted in the budget of 1891 to meet the expenses of the Council. A despatch was annexed to this decree, addressed to the Despatch president, which explained that the Council was formed on explaining a basis analogous to those of other consultative bodies tion°oFth* U " attached to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and council. "" ' ‘ that it was specially designed as an instrument for “ examining proposals and preparing solutions on which “ Parliament might be required to pronounce, its object “ being to furnish rapidly and correctly such information “ respecting labour questions as had previously been “ obtained only after costly inquiries, the result of which had for the most part not corresponded to the effort M Decree appointing members. Dissatisfac- tion at the labour exchange. Counter scheme of the Labour Exchange. first meet- ing of the Council. (ii.) Institu- tion of the Labour Office. Composition of the De- partment. 90 ROrAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : “ made.”(') The Commission of 1883, appointed to inquire into the conditions of workers in artistic industries, and the Commission of 1884, appointed to inquire into the position of working men’s associations, may be taken as typical of such inquiries. A supplementary decree was published shortly after the decree of January, 22, 1891, which gave the names of those appointed. Among them, only Hi were workmen, the remainder being either deputies, senators, employers or specialists on labour questions. Great dissatisfaction was expressed by the labour party when the constitution of the Council became known, and murmurs were heard, especially among workmen’s syndi- cates, when the actual composition of the Council was announced. The labour or socialistic party declared that it was essential that the majority of the Council should be directly nominated by workmen themselves, and not by Government. A meeting was promptly held at the Labour- Exchange on January 26th, 1891, at which a resolution was passed urging those workmen who had been appointed to the Council to refuse to act on the ground that a Council so composed was anti-democratic, and could not be fit to deal with the problems which it was appointed to solve. ( 2 ) The members of the Labour Exchange, moreover, drew up a counter scheme for a council of labour which was to be composed of 110 members, of whom 80 were to be work- men, 15 members of the Chamber and 15 to be chosen among presidents and secretaries of Employers’ and Mixed Syndicates. ( 3 ) In spite of such resolutions, however, only one workman councillor went so far as to resign at the first meeting of the Council, which was held on February 18th, 1891, under the presidency of M. Jules Roche, Minister of Commerce and Industry. Several of the workmen councillors on that occasion offered criticism of the composition of the Council. ( 4 ) The chief work of the first meeting was to define the functions of the Council and to appoint special sub-com- mittees for the consideration and investigation of special and pressing questions. These questions were four: ( 1 ) Arbitration in cases of disputes between workmen and employers. This question has since passed into a new phase, ( s ) the resolution of the Council having been partly embodied in law. (2.) Labour agencies or registries ( Bu- reaux de Placement). Pending legislation, special atten- tion has been given to this subject by the executive, and a Ministerial circular of May 25, 1893, emphasises the necessity for strict application of the law regulat- ing the agencies. (3.) Wages, terms (dates) of pay- ment, and distraint of wages. Bills on this subject are before both Houses of Parliament. (4.) Institution of a Labour Office. The resolution of the Council on this subject has been acted upon by the creation of this department of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The resolution as to the general plan was, that the office should “ undertake the collection and populari- “ sation of all documents and information relating to “ labour, and its relations with capital to hours of labour, “ wages of workers, men, women, and children. ”( G ) In detail, it was to collect statistics on numbers employed, and wages paid in various classes of industries, great and small ; on condition and wages of agricultural labourers ; on mutual aid and provident societies ; on piecework and time work; on syndicates, and comparative numbers of organised and non-organised workers ; on causes and settlement of strikes, disputes, lock-outs ; on orphanages and industrial schools ; on labour in prisons ; on mortality among workers ; on foreign labour legislation, and in general to centralise information on labour questions at home and abroad. A decree was published on August 21, 1891, which em- bodied, with some modification, the suggestions of the Higher Council for a Labour Office. The department consists of two sections, central and external. “ The latter is composed of three permanent “ travelling delegates, who collect information, which is “ compared with that collected by the central section, “ whose duty it is to draw up the reports. The wording of “ the articles of the decree guard against any interference “ with the work of other statistical departments, and the “ two sections are placed under the management of a “ director, who receives an annual salary of from 480/. to “ 7201. ; those of his clerks varying from a maximum of f 1 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series. No. 258, p. xxv. ( 2 ) Annuaire do hi Bourse du Travail 1892, p. 3G. ( 3 ) 16., pp. 27-9. ( >) Conseil SupCrieur clu Travail. Premiere Session, Paris. 1891, pp. 7 and ft'. ( 5 ) See above. Law of Arbitration, p. 31, and infra pp. 104-5. ( 6 ) Report cited, p. 197. “ 360/. to a minimum of 88/. The total staff does not “ exceed 16 in number, and the annual grant for the “ expenses of the bureau is 6,000/. ”(') The opposition of the Labour Exchange has been persis- tent, and it has refused all information to the Labour department, on the ground that it would be used against the interests of the working men. But little need be said on the subject of the work that has been done by the Labour Office, in its two years of existence, with a small staff, and in face of opposition from the socialistic labour party. Reference has been fre- quently made in these pages to the publications of the Department. To its recently published and valuable work on arbitration and conciliation, it will shortly add an im- portant statement on the conditions of labour (wages, hours, &c.) in large and small industries. The second report of the Higher Council of Labour was published in the late autumn of last year (1892). Five meetings were held and resolutions were adopted on the following subjects : — 1 . Encouragement by the State of all means for provi- sion of cheap and healthy workmen’s dwellings. 2. Formation of a permanent committee in the Council to consider associations for popular credit. 3. That the draft bill on co-operative societies( 8 ) should become law as speedily as possible. 4. Formation of a permanent museum of social econ- omy, on the lines suggested by the inquiry at the Exhibition of 1889. 5. That workshop and factory rules should be submitted to the approval of Conseils de Prud’honnnes, in general assembly. 6. — Labour Agencies ( Bureaux de Placement.) On May 25, 1893, a circular was addressed by the Minis- ter of the Interior to the prefects of the departments and to the prefect of police. It ran as follows : — “ Many complaints are addressed to my department on the working of the authorised labour agencies, which are sent by individuals, guilds, and workmen’s syndicates. These complaints followed by incidents in the public streets have aroused violent polemics in the press. In December last, and even more recently, the question has been brought before the Chamber of Deputies, where the conditions under which the industry of labour agencies have been carried on, have given rise to discussions and criticisms, of which some seem justified. “ Linder these circumstances and without waiting for modification of existing legislation, I consider that it is time to guard the strict application of the provisions of the decree of March 25, 1852. I draw your attention specially to Articles 4 and 5, which seem to me to sufficiently pro- vide means for repression of abuses in certain labour agencies. ( u ) I beg you to direct the authorities under you to actively supervise the authorised agencies in your de- partment, and, in case of infringement of the conditions imposed on them you will not hesitate to bring the delin- quents before the competent tribunals. ”( UI ) ‘ It was with a view replacing these labour agencies that the Labour Exchange was ostensibly started, in order, i.e., to offer better facilities for employers to engage work- men, and to free the latter from the heavy fees charged by the agencies. The high fees charged were not the only cause of complaint. Abuses arise through the fact that it is not to the interests of the agencies to arrange for per- manent engagements, a circulating clientele is obviously productive of more business to them. It asserted that cases of collusion between the registry or agency offices and employers who divide the fees, have been frequent, and that a regular system of crimping ( racolaqe ) is carried on( n ) by means of agents who wait at the railway stations and catch unwary countrymen in the streets. The subject was investigated, as has been already pointed out, during the first session of the Higher Council of Labour. Since the publication of the report of the committee ap- pointed in the Council, an important historical and statis- tical volume on the subject has been issued by the Labour Office. ( 13 ) The conviction expressed in the report that suppression of registry offices would bring about sucb dis- turbances as took place after a similar attempt in 1848,( 13 ) (") Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p. xxvi. (*) Cf. infra, Appendix XII.. p. 121. ( '■) Journal Officiel. May 13, 1893. p. 274. (ii) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 258. p. xi. (in) "Le Placement des Employes, Ouvriers, Domestiques,” Paris, 1893. (is) Conseil Supdrieur du Travail, Premiere Session, 1891. Second report of the Highei Council of Labour. (i.) Minis- terial circu- lar of May 25, 1893. Complaints against the labour agencies. (ii.) Investi- gation by the Higher Council and the Labour Office. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 91 (iii.) Tables showing the work done by various kinds of agencies. seems fully borne out by the exhaustive statistics of the pub- lication of the Labour Office. The report at the same time pointed out— (i.) that labour exchanges were not sufficiently organised or universal to take the place of the agencies m question, and that certain inconveniences were attached to management of labour offices by the municipality ; (ii.) that the law of March 24, 1884, had provided in Article (> for a remedy by permitting syndicates to freely institute information offices for the demand and supply ol labour. This remedy, the committee’s report pointed out, was actually coming into operation, and might with advantage be encouraged by special Government grants. The following tables, drawn from the above-mentioned publication of the Labour Office, (') will sufficiently indi- cate the relative importance of the various kinds of labour agencies in France : — Table XLVIIa. — Showing kinds of Labour Agencies in France in 1891. 1 . Agencies authorised by- law - 1,374 2 . Agencies of Syndical Chambers : ( 1 ) Of employers 54 (2) Of employed - 3220 (3) Joint - 13 3. Free Municipal Agencies 24 4. Journeymen's agencies 32 5. Mutual Aid Societies’ agencies 59 6 . Charitable Societies’ agencies - 7b Table XLVIIb. Showing — (a) Demand and Supply for Engage- ment, and (6) Engagements effected by various agencies. Demands for em- ployment. Offers of employ- ment. Perma- nent en- gagements. Engage- ments by the day. 1. Agencies authorised by 2,495,07 l J 938,237 489,459 361,991 law. 2. Agencies of Syndical Chambers (1) of Employers 22,594 20,851 18,396 430 (2) of Employed 122,666 71,639 86,124 8,538 (3) Joint 2,558 1,882 1,896 1,396 3. Free municipal agencies 24,594 13,292 10.85G - 4. Journeymen’s agencies - 6,288 6,188 6,188 - 5. Mutual aid societies’ 35,041 33,059 17,794 16,000 agencies. 26,227 107,431 6. Charitable Societies’ Agencies. 132,036 25,911 The amounts charged by the authorised agencies varied Fees in the different trades. The following examples are chosen charged by as representative of fees charged in Paris. ( :i ) agencies! 3 *' Registry Offices. 1. Bakers’ assistants 2. Cafe waiters 3. Millers’ assistants - 4. Pastrycooks 4. Domestic servants - Table XLVIII. Rate of Fees. 50 centimes a day for 15 days from engagement. 15 per cent of the wages as estimated by the employer, 50 centimes a day. 3 per cent, and 6 per cent, of annual salary, i of monthly wage, 25 francs maximum. 3 per cent, of annual wages. The next table shows in detail the work done throughout France by the authorised agencies in the various trades. ( 4 ) It will be readily observed that these agencies stand outside the great manufacturing industries. Trades pro- vided for by the agencies. Table XLIX. Labour Agencies and their Work in the Trades. Annual Number of > Replies Value Number of - Agen- cies. sent to inquiry attributed to the Agencies by the Titulars. Engagements. Trades, of the Office du Applicants. Oilers of Places. Of a Of a Travail. Permanent Temporary Nature. Nature. Francs. Butchers, pork merchants 18 17 268,500 54,902 21,062 16,980 2,436 Baker's - - - 91 81 620,285 121,118 47,332 25,971 40,114 Brewers - 1 1 — — — — — Hairdressers - - - - - 30 29 207,275 84,887 22,929 15,006 42,047 Shoemakers ----- 1 1 20,000 6,000 4,200 1,700 — f for bourgeois households Domestics! for farms- - - - 1,036 49 717 37 5,249,099 64,095 1,378,124 10,576 611,774 8,442 254,716 5,682 52,440 698 , f in commerce - Employes | invetail Ws . _ . 4 4 82,000 20,340 3,120 1,776 252 2 2 125,000 8,400 7,200 6,760 240 f restaurants - 74 61 1,601,710 712,848 149,984 88,952 193,380 grocers - - - - Garqons J .... 3 8 9 8 130,000 49,250 20,080 1,534 28,320 1,284 26,400 1,052 228 [.dairymen - - - - 1 i 15,000 6,000 3,000 1,800 360 Teachers ----- 17 9 390,000 24,840 12,132 6,480 396 Gardeners - - - - - - 2 2 100 120 120 120 — Farriers - ----- 3 3 5,000 956 788 752 — Sailors - - - - - - 22 9 50,000 6,468 1,668 1,200 Pastry-men, cooks - 8 8 200,000 29,662 14,708 4,938 29,400 Tailors - - - 1 1 — 24 24 24 Dyers ------ 3 1 8,000 200 150 150 — Totals - - - - 1,374 994 9,135,314 2,495,079 938,237 459,459 361,991 (*) “Le Placement, &c.,” cited esp. cf., pp. 678-9. ( 3 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series. No. 258., p. 15. ( 2 ) See footnote on p. 20. ( 4 ) " Le Placement,” p. 468. .omo M 2 92 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : The free municipal agencies. Work done by t he syndicates. Legislation (iv.) Rise of the labour agencies. The working of the free municipal agencies is shown in detail by the following table. (‘) Table L. — Showing Work done by Tree Municipal Agencies. Departments. Towns. Date of Foundation of the Ageucy. Annual Number Of Demands. Of Offers. Of Engagements. Gironde - - - - Bordeaux - . . 1888 3,161 734 696 f Sainte-Menehould - - — — — Marne - - - - s Vitry-le-Francois - - - 90 90 90 l Sezanne - - - „ — — - Meurthe-et Moselle Jarville pres Nancy - - 1891 — — — f Lille - - - 1884 1,248 194 — Nord - J Cambrai - - - 1889 100 100 100 |_ Caudry - - - ff 24 24 24 f Flers _ _ - - ,, — — — Orne - - - 1 La Firte-Maee - - - >> 74 74 74 f 1st arrondissement - 1,410 1,035 1,009 2nd - - 1891 975 295 150 3rd - - 1888 4,500 5,000 4,000 4 th - - 1889 2,104 956 482 5th _ - „ 284 284 284 6th - - „ 4,000 1,800 1,500 * 7th » - - ft — — — 8th - - — — — — 9 th - - — — — — 10 th - - — — — Seine = Paris ■ 11th >> - - — — — — 12 th >> - - — — — — 13 th - - 1891 492 156 101 14 th - - 1889 1,000 670 604 15 th - - 1888 1,000 715 715 16 th - — — — — 17 th >> - - — — — — 18 th >» - - 1887 2,743 765 627 19th ?> — — — — 1 20th „ - - — — — — Levallois Perret - “ 1883 1,600 400 400 Seine Inferieure Le Havre - - — — — — Seine-et-Oise Noisy-le-Grand " — — — — Haute-Vienne - - - Nantiat " “ 1891 " Totals 24,805 13,292 10,856 In the majority of the departments the work being done in this respect by the syndicates is gaining ground. Out of 3,253 syndicates applied to for information on the subject by the Labour Office, 1,212 replied. Among these, as shown in the above table, agency offices had been opened by 54 employers’ syndicates, 322 workmen’s syndi- cates, and 13 joint syndicates. To these agencies 147,318 applications were made for employment, and 94.372 oilers of work were given ; 106,306 engagements of a permanent nature were effected, and 10,364 of a temporary nature. These figures include the operations at the Labour Exchanges. The Labour Office invited the opinion of bodies and officials interested in the question of legislation on the agencies, and received replies from prefects, sub- prefects, mayors and syndicates. Among them 97 were in favour of maintaining existing legislation, 48 desired some modification of the law, and 93 asked for suppression of the authorised agencies. The decree of 1852 referred to was drawn up after a commission of inquiry at the Ministry of Commerce had reported on the subject. It provided that no one should open an agency or registry office for any trade, occupation, or employment whatever without special authorisation, first from the prefects, secondly from the municipal authorities, who were directed to grant it only to persons of well-known character, lhe municipal authorities are also directed to supervise the offices so as to ensure maintenance of order and just management. ( * 2 ) This decree was never the subject of complaint until 1875. But since that time the institution has been constantly assailed. Various Bills have been pre- sented to the Chamber for their suppression, the most prominent being one drawn up by M. Camelinat, and another by MM. Mesureur and MilleranJ. The rise of the registry offices or labour agencies was a natural consequence — (i) of the suppression of corporations and guilds at the end of last century, and (ii) of the decay of journeymen’s associations in the beginning of this century. At the same time it is important to observe that in an enormous number of cases the demand and supply of labour meet without any official intermediary or agency. In Paris especially, and in innumerable country nlaces there are open markets or stands ( Gr'eves ) where the hire of labour is simply effected by a few words between em- ployers and workmen. This is the commonest case of earch for the worker being made by the employer. Many similar engagements are made at inns, cafes, wine shop’s, or other well-known places. More often the workmen seek an employer by offering their services at works or factories. This method is adopted by miners, navvies, metal workers, weavers, masons, carpenters and almost every kind of worker in the great industries. ( 3 ) Another method prevails largely in agriculture, mining, clothing and hand-weaving ; it is the method of search for the worker by sub-contractors, and foremen commissioned for the purpose (contremaitres commissiones) . The employer in such cases hardly comes in contact with his subordinate workmen at all. The method of advertisement in public prints exists in France as in England and hardly calls for special comment. 7. — State and Municipal Employment op Labour. In addition to certain artistic manufactures known as manufactures nationales (viz., Sevres porcelain and mosaic, and Gobelins and Beauvais tapestry), there are three industries which are under State control in France, and which in fact form State monopolies. These are the tobacco, matchmaking and gunpowder industries. To these might perhaps be added certain convict or peniten- tentiary works, e.g., (1) at Nogent in the Haute-Marne, where grave complaints have been made by local cutlery workers as to the effect on their industry of cheap Govern- ment products, (2) at Fays Billot in the same department, where similar complaints have been made by basket workers. ( 4 ) (>) “ Le Placement,” p. fill. ( 2 ) Foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Senes, No. 258, p. 12. (a) “ Le Placement .” p. 177-198. ( 4 ) Report by M. Reybert, deputy, Chambre des Deputes, Session 1892, No. 1943. (i.) The personal methods of hiring labour. State monopolies. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 93 Match- making. Tobacco. No reports have ever been made public on the conditions of labour in French State factories, and the reports pre- pared by various Ministers on the conditions of work and wages of their workers, e.g., by the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of Finances, are not accessible. Thus no statements can be made on the subject of State employment of labour except with caution arid reserve. The journalistic accounts of the strike in the match- making industry (') early in this year seem to indicate that the conditions of employment in some of the State factories are not altogether satisfactory. The match factories are five in number. The factory at Trelaze' near Angers, occupies 260 workers, of whom 170 are women. Strikes have taken place there in 1890, in 1891 and 1893. The production of matches amounts at Trelaze to five milliards a year, at Pantin to 14 milliards, at Marseilles to five milliards, at Begles three milliards, at Saintincs one milliard, that is in all, 29 milliards. It must not be forgotten in estimating the relations between the State as employer and its workpeople that, while none of the factories were mentioned in the first order of merit for prizes in the awards at the exhibition of 1889 for employers’ institutions, yet the names of some of the chief officials appeared in the second and third orders of merit on that occasion. The Annuaire Statistique for 1891 shows the progress of the State monopoly in tobacco during the years 1815 to 1888. In 1815 the total quantity sold was 9,753,537 kilos, of which 772,134 kilos were exported. In 1850 the total quantity sold had mounted to 19,218,406 kilos, of which only 276,682 kilos were exported. In 1888 the total quantity sold was 36,020,985 kilos of which 301,495 kilos were exported. Expenses and produce of the sale were : — — 1815. 1850. 1888. Francs. Francs. Francs. Expenses - 3,742,105 17,673,379 36,231,655 Produce - 53,631,250 121,311,282 368,494,470 In 1888 the sums paid into the Treasury amounted to 306,272.889 francs. In 1889 this sum rose to 314,237,316 francs. ( 2 ) There are 15 national tobacco factories established in Paris (two), Havre, Morlaix, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Tonneins, Marseilles, Lyons, Lille, Nantes, Chateauroux, Dieppe, Nancy, Riom, Dijon, Nice, Le Mans, Pantin. All the works are directed by a Council composed of a director, president, engineer, sub-engineer, and controller. The members of Council meet every day to arrange for current business. The director is the chief of the estabishment and directs the whole service, the engineer is in charge of the technical work, manufacture, construction, and working staff. The cultivation of the plant in the departments is regulated under a Birecteur des Tabacs and in the departments there are a special inspector and special com- missioners to overlook the cultivation in detail. Cultiva- tion of tobacco is only authorised in a certain number of departments (not above 22) and every process is closely controlled, from the measurement of the area under the plant up through all its stages. As a writer in the Journal des Hconomistes points out, State conduct of agriculture and industry in France need not be discussed hypothetically ; practical experiments have been long enough made to enable the theorists to test their conclu- sions by observation of actual processes. ( 3 ) Any would-be planter of tobacco must obtain permission from a local commission composed of five persons, of whom the prefect is president. Not less than 10 acres may be laid under the plant by one cultivator. The harvest must be handed over entire to the authorities ; if there is a deficit or the amount is les3 than that expected the matter is made the subject of a special inquiry by experts. When the autho- rities have all that they require from a planter he is compelled to destroy the rest, even the gleanings in the fields. Infringements of the many Government regulations by the planter are subject to heavy fines. “ No one will “ be surprised that this organisation has often given rise “ to discussion on points of economy and order between “ the representatives of the Government and of agricul- “ ture.”( J ) On all points, it is asserted, “there is dis- “ cipline ill-understood and of excessive rigour, an ex- “ aggerated opposition to all individual initiative, and a “ marked tendency to reduce the planter to the position f 1 ) See supra p. 4(1. ( 2 ) Dictionnaire D’Economie Politique. Leon Sa.v, p. 971. ( 3 ) Journal des Economistes, February 1893. L ’Agriculture d’Etat, by E. Ratoin. “ of a machine for sowing and planting. . . .( 6 ) As “ for expense, this special form of cultivation is open to “ all the criticisms which are ordinarily brought against “ State industries. 'The staff is too numerous . . . and “ is inferior in strength, activity and intelligence to those “ in private industries.” The statistics of increased and increasing revenue from tobacco hardly seem to bear out all the criticisms of the writer quoted. Municipal socialism was declared by the International Jury of 1889 to be more dangerous than State socialism, and especially so in France, where the vagueness of the law and the peculiar relation in which the municipal authorities stand to the prefect or representative of the executive may favour the rapid development of certain forms of socialism. C’) “ Our municipal law does not define “ the attributes of the communal councils. It is true that “ it includes a fairly long enumeration of decisions which “ are dependent on approbation of the prefect. This is “ the system of tutelage. The result of this system of “ authority is that one finds an understanding among those “ working under it that all which is not forbidden is “ permitted. But interdictions are always unpopular.” In effect the municipalities easily slide into undertakings which would be opposed by a respectable minority among the electors if they could make their wishes felt. “The “ tutelary authority is always at hand to correct abuses “ . . ., but it is apt to exercise its strength according “ to the views of the political patty in power. And thus “ it happens that the decisions of the Paris Municipality “ relating to conditions of labour and grants of subsidies “ to strikers have sometimes been ratified, sometimes “ annulled, by the prefect according to the shade of “ political opinion held by the Minister of the Interior. ”(') At the same time it should be noted that the Paris Com- mune has an independence that is hardly shared by other communes in France. In 1882 it adopted, with the approval of the prefect of the Seine, a series of measures regulating the public works of the town which established exceptions to the common law ; working men’s associations, for instance, were exempted from the necessity of deposit- ing securities for the execution of works undertaken. The circular of 1888 has already been alluded to in con- nection with co-operation. ( s ) Special arrangements for reserve funds in case of accidents to workers and a standard serie des prix or tariff of wages were also made in 1882. Throughout the administrative control of public works in France, there are provisions for the relations of contractors ( entrepreneurs ) to their workmen. ( 9 ) Contracts are investigated by contract commissions. The standard rate of wages drafted in 1882 remained until 1888, when the Municipality attempted to revise it. “ It “ was known to everyone that ordinary labour wages had “ fallen from 6d. to Ad. an hour in the interval; vet the “ Council passed a resolution enacting that wages of men “ employed by the Municipality should be regulated by “ the standard of 1882, that working days should be “ limited to nine hours, that one day’s rest per week was “ obligatory, and that the sub-letting of contracts would “ from henceforth be illegal. Several firms which had “ been in the habit of contracting for municipal work “ protested against these rules. ”( ln ) A strike among navvies complicated matters, and presently a majority of the contractors submitted to the rules of the Council. Certain firms gave in tenders under protest and asserted that the regulations were not binding. This was one of the occasions when the Government began by supporting the Municipal Council. The protesting firms appealed from the Minister of the Interior to the Council of State, and, in the spring of 1890, the latter gave judgment to the effect that the regulations of the Municipal Council were illegal and constituted an interference with freedom of contract between masters and men. There are no municipal workshops or tramways in France, but the Municipality of Paris have a right of interference in the matter of fares charged on the tram- ways, omnibuses and Seine steamers. The power is exercised in the direction of reducing the fares that are charged to a low level. The municipal control of public funds has not as yet been seriously exercised in the direction of industrial enter- prise. Once an attempt was made to start a tramway which was entirely unsuccessful.^ 1 ) In 1S86 the Paris ( l ) Diclionnaire d’Eronomie, Politique, p. 970., ( 5 ) L’Agriculture d’Etat, art. cit. Journal des Economistes, p. 205. ( 6 ) Groupe de l’Economie Sociale, cit. pu. 555-504. (?) lb., pp„ 563-4. (“) See supra p. 74. Cf. Dictionnaire de l’Administration Frangaise, p. 2,138. H lb., p. 2,129. ho) foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 213, p. 19. (U) Rapport du Jury Internationale, Groupo d’Economie Socialo Part II., p. 5C0. (ii). Mun- icipal socialism. The Paris commune. “ Sdrie des Prix.” M 3 04 royal commission on labour : Municipality attempted a costly experiment in the form of a co-operative theatre, to be subsidised by the town and managed by an association of actors. This too was unsuccessful. (*) Before the last municipal elections the only socialistic municipalities outside Paris were those of Saint Ouen and Iloanne. But at the last elections an addition was made to the number of socialistic mayors and municipal councils. It is through this avenue that the chances of the socialistic party may be found. ( 2 ) The Socialist Con- gress of Marseilles recognised as of equal importance a socialistic agrarian campaign, with a programme, of which the first article was that a minimum agricultural wage should be fixed by the municipal councils.f 3 ) (iii.) The In view of sundry proposals of the socialists lor recog- Ateliers nition of the right to labour, the following account of the Nationaux attempt made to establish national workshops under the M. Emile Republic of February 20th, 1848, may be useful. Tnomau. It should be recognised first, however, that a commercial crisis and panic following upon the revolution had thrown large numbers of workmen out of employment, and that one of the first problems the Government had to face was their control, while political intrigue and jealousy .pressed too hard to admit of a calmly considered scheme. The Provisional Government ( Gouvernement provisoire) announced by decree of February 25th that it “ guaranteed “ the existence of the workman by labour,” that it “ recog- “ nised the need of association among workmen to the “ end that they might enjoy the legitimate fruits of their “ labour,” and therefore voted for this purpose a sum arising from the civil iist, which “ properly belonged to “ them.” M. Louis Blanc wished to effect the organisa- tion of the workmen himself, and demanded the formation of a Ministry of Labour, of which he should be chief ; but the majority of the Provisional Government seeing danger in this arrangement refused, and only under considerable pressure consented to the formation of a State Labour Committee, of which M. Louis Blanc was appointed president, and M. Albert, a workman, vice-president. A committee composed successively of 750 delegates from all trades then began to hold meetings at the Luxembourg under the presidency of these leaders, the members being elected in a very irregular manner. The decree of February 25th was shortly followed by another, ordering the imme- diate establishment of national workshops under the care of the Minister of Public Works. On February 28th the Minister of Public Works ordered that from March 1st important works should be set on foot at various points and that “all workers wishing to take part in them should “ apply to one of the mayors in Paris who should imme- “ diately direct them to the yards or works.” Certain operations at different points were accordingly begun and preparations made for employment of nearly 8,000 workers. The Minister of War at the same time opened a work- shop at the Champ-de-Mars. The admission to these . various works operated as follows : — Each applicant for work presented a certificate from his landlord stating that he lived in Paris or in the depart- ment of the Seine. The certificate had to be seen and stamped by the commissary of police of the quarter, and when delivered to the mayor of the district ( arrondissement ) was exchanged for a ticket of admission to the national workshops. When the number of applicants began to exceed the number of vacancies, the workmen, after fruit- less visits to the various works, began to return to their districts “ worn out, hungry, and discontented.” At first a promise of bread in default of work was given, but instead of this a distribution of money began at the mairies. Every mayor was authorised to pay the sum of lfr. 50c a day to any man unable to find employment ; this was at a time when men employed as navvies received 2 francs a day. Two central labour bureaux were established, and if no work was to be had at either, men returned to the mayor of their district and claimed their lfr. 50c as out- of-work pay. (’) A labour colony was founded by the Paris Municipal Council at La Charmelle (Marne) in January, 1892, the laud for thepurpose (about 316 acres) beimr leased by the city to the department of the council which has charge of l’Assistance l’ublique. The type of men admitted is superior to those in the German colonies, admission being reserved for those who are recommended by the directors of night refuges as willing to work. Wa; es are paid at 50 centimes a day. Of the 106 entrants up to August 16th, 1893, 36 were placed in situations, 37 left of their own wish, 5 were expelled for misconduct, and 28 remained in the colony. The total cost was 32,000 francs, the receipts from the sale of farm produce 17,000 francs, and the net cost 15,000 francs. “ It is too “ soon to judge of the picked colonist system as carried on at La “ Charmelle.” Ace Report on the Unemployed, issued by the Board of Trade, 1893, p. 829. ( 2 ) La Revue Socialistc, June 1893. Lc Socialisme Communal. I 3 ) Les Syndicats Agricoles. Comte de Rocquigny, Paris, 1893, p. 139. “ Soon the workmen arrived at this simple calculation : ‘The State gives me 30 sous fordoing nothing, and pays ‘me 40 sous for working, therefore I owe the State no “ ‘ more work than is worth ten sous.’ ”(■*) Ihe disorganisation consequent upon tins system aroused serious apprehensions in the minds of the members of the Provisional Government, and they induced M. Emile 1 homas to undertake a semi-military organisation of the labourers on the principles of Saint Simon. As “ Com- missary of the Republic” he assumed the directorship of a free general labour bureau, which, in addition to organisa- tion of labour, also supervised the giving of relief. The unemployed, who were estimated at 1 7,000, were formed into gangs and sub-gangs or divisions under officers of their own election ; the head of a gang received 3 francs a day, the head of a division 2fr. 50c, for every working day, and lfr. 50c. when unemployed ; labourers were paid 2 francs a day on working days, and lfr. 50c. if deprived of work. Provision was made for the payment of the sick, for their treatment in the hospitals, and for the distribution of bread and meat to their families. ( 5 ) Rules were drawn up for the maintenance of discipline among the workmen, and the breach of them punished by fines and dismissal. Tools were provided at the expense of the nation. The first obstacle encountered was the difficulty of finding work for the large number who applied ; many were left idle in consequence, and the burden of their maintenance was so great that on March lfith a general reduction of wages was necessary, and was announced by an order of M. Thomas. Troubles arose immediately, partly from the excitement of party feeling and irritation against the Provisional Government and partly from jealousy between the new semi-military organisation and the old national guard. A manifestation led by ultra revolutionaries (exploit/' par le parti rouge) took place on the 17th, but calm was restored by the efforts of M. Thomas and his friends. This calm was accompanied by a recognition on the part of the workers that they had aroused alarm in the Government, and that their power of compressing them ( puissance de compression ) was con- siderable. The workshops were reorganised under the influence of Buchez, with greater attention to details, and inspectors were appointed to supervise the works which were carried out. Again the lack of work created difficulty, for the Government could not incur the expense of works on a sufficiently large scale. “Only 12,000 workers could be “ employed with the utmost exertions and the enrolment “ ( embrigadement ) increased in alarming proportions.”^ In the end of March a new credit of 5,000,000 was made to the national workshops and a special office instituted to care for the needs of the unemployed. Meantime work was almost at a standstill, and the members of the various corps occupied themselves in planting “trees to liberty ” in every part of the city. The election of officers by popular vote proved a failure, and in future all candidates were required to pass an examination in the principles of land surveying. Increasing distress among the employes necessitated the formation of work- shops for the manufacture of clothes and shoes, which, though sold at cost price, were beyond the means of men receiving 1 franc a day. In order to decrease the expenditure Emile Thomas was obliged to reduce the payment of the sick, to suppress Sunday pay, and to allow those who could find work elsewhere to discharge themselves. The principles of Louis Blanc were gaining influence among the workmen, and on 17th April a demonstration took place in the Champ-de-Mars with the object of forcing the Government to adopt his system; it ended, however, in failure. The rivalry between the national workshops and the followers of L. Blanc continued to increase, until the work- men were denied a share in the review of April 22nd. M. Emile Thomas was elected to represent the workmen in Parliament, and did all in his power to employ the corps in a useful manner. Political agitation, however, revived, and caused the Government to look upon the national workshops as nests of sedition. A commission was appointed on May 25th to investigate the affair. It required Emile Thomas to resign, and at the same time despatched him on a mission, described by himself as “illusory” and “fantastic,” to Bordeaux. M. Lalanne was appointed to succeed him as director of the workshops, which were reorganised on a basis of task work. This was foimd ineffectual for the suppression of discontent and violence. The number of workmen began ( 4 ) Les Ateliers Nationaux. E. Thomas 1848, p. 30. ( 5 ) lb., pp. 62-3 and Appendix. ( 6 ) lb., p. 144'. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 95 National thrift en- couraged in France. Report of the Bulletin de Statis- tique. Capital held by the National Savings Bank in 1890. Proportion which investors in private savings banks bear to total population. at 6,000 ; in the “ days of June” they were found to he at least 100,000, though their numbers were never actually known. On the28th of June 1848 the “Ateliers Nationaux were entirely and suddenly dissolved. ”(') 8. — Savings Banks. In France, it is said, more than 140 million pounds are invested in savings banks alone ; the number of persons holding savings in this form are over 7,500,000. Ihe thrift of the people is thus not only directed towards pur- chase of agricultural land. “ No effort is spared by “ Government to encourage this inherent virtue in French “ character, and among many admirable measures adopted “ to encourage a habit of thrift may especially be men. “ tioned the practice in vogue in schools of rewarding pro- “ ficiency and diligence by crediting the boy or girl with “ a few francs in a savings bank, instead of giving a prize or “ book.”( 2 ) This practice has been adopted in some of the schools especially maintained by employers for the children of their workpeople. The Bulletin de Statistique gives an account of the operations of the State savings banks and of private Savings banks in 1890. ( s ) In the National Savings Bank first deposits in 1890 were, more numerous and considerable than they had ever been before. The net excess of the deposits over the withdrawals was 70,478,117 francs; deposits amounted to 261,999,132 francs; depositors were 1,949,371 in number; withdrawals effected were 191,521,015 francs. The institution of branch banks has been recent and has greatly stimulated development of the habit of saving. A considerable reduction has been effected in the relative cost of administration with regard to the amount due to each depositor; in 1882 this cost was ‘76 per cent., in 1890 it was reduced to '47 per cent. On December 31st, 1890, the National Savings Bank held in French Government securities a capital of 36S, 384,471 francs 41 centimes. The revenues for the year amounted to 13,733,123 francs 71 centimes, while the expenses were 2,084,398 francs 29 centimes. As the revenue applicable to administrative expenses were settled at 2,846,104 francs 48 centimes, the bonus realised amounted to 761,706 francs 19 centimes. The total receipts of the private savings banks in 1890, including interest, credit of transferred accounts, arrears of rentes collected by the banks and the capitalised interest in favour of depositors was 985, 338, 61 6 francs. In 1889 it was 872,068,495 francs. On December 31st, 1890, the depositors numbered, 5,761,408 ; deposits amounted to 2,911,722,358 francs; average for each depositor was 505 francs 38 centimes. With regard to the total population it may be noted that there were 151 depositors in 1,000 or rather over one-sixth of the population, and these figures mean a saving of 76 francs 19 centimes per head of the total population. Profiting by the authorisation given by virtue of the “ Order of June 3rd, 1829, and the law of June 5th, 1835, savings banks deposit the funds collected by them in current account at the Deposit Office, which, by virtue of the law of Marcli 31, 1837, was charged with the adminis- tration of such accounts under the guarantee of the Public 1 reasury and the surveyance of the Special Com- “ mission instituted by the law of April 28, 1816. The total of the sums due by the Deposit Office on December 31, 1890, to private savings banks in France, Algeria and the colonies, both for funds belonging to the depositors and that portion of the personal estate left in current account, amounted to 2,960,317,034 francs, of which “ 2,953,007,251 francs were due to savings banks of Paris and the, provinces, and 5,231,312 francs to those in Algeria. ( 4 ) 1 he interest allowed to the savings banks by the Deposit Office amounted to 112,478,256 francs. The transactions of the savings banks in 1890 were characterised by the very great and simultaneous develop- ment of the deposits, which were 869 million francs, and of the withdrawals, which were 739 million francs. The balance due to depositors on December 31st was 2,911 million francs. ‘‘ 1 be marked progress observed is only “ due to the excess of deposits over the withdrawals of all kinds to the extent of about one half, the surplus being derived from the. capitalisation of interest.”( s ) By uniting the statements for private and for the national banks in December 1891 the figures are : Total number of accounts - - 7,671,213 francs. Balance due to depositors - - 3,558,071,284 0 L H i? toi f e d ® s 2 Vte, i ers Nationaux.” Emile Thomas. U ,, • foreign Office Report, Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, p 29 ( 3 ) Report cit., pp. 138-147. ’ 1 P> lb -> PP- 142 - 3 . (5) IK p _ K5 _ The report of the Minister of Commerce and Industry Supplcmen- to the President of the Republic on the working of savings J“f n ”g teon banks in 1892, stated that while the number of these banks in institutions authorised during the preceding year had been 1892 - 544, their number was 545 for 1892, after deduct! ■ n bad been made of 21, which were closed (suppirimes) in the same year.(®) These numbers include banks which are entirely under municipal control (and which number nearly three-fourths of the whole), those which are partly under municipal control, and those independent of such regula- tion ; two of these last were attached to Monts-de-piete and were managed by the Council of the same. The increase on the whole was not so great as in preceding years. The total number of working banks (en activite ) for 1892 was 2,033 including dependencies ( succnrsales et percepteurs), while the numbers of new deposits were 3,508,348, amounting to a sum of 8/9,862,096 fr., 54 c. On December 31st. the average deposit for each of the 6,121,283 possessors of certificates (livrets) was 527 fr. 25 c. Nearly half of the certificates were held by women, of whom the majority were married. This fact affords “ testimony to the happy results of the law of 1881 ,” which permitted married women to make deposits without special authorisation of their husbands. Only in a very small number of cases did the husbands avail themselves of their right to forbid the deposits. The personal property of the banks at the same date rose to 86,901,074 fr. 98 c. Part of this was held on account with the deposits and consign- ments fund. The general condition of the hanks was stated to be of a most satisfactory character. A slight panic at one time had been raised in connection with the realisation of sums in the Deposits and Consignments Fund, but this had been successfully calmed by the directors in co-operation with the Government. It is important to note the relative numbers of certi- ficates issued to various classes of workers in the com- munity. The total number of certificates issued in 1892 was 509,427, divided as follows : — Class or Calling. Male Depositors. Female Depositors. Total. Num- ber. Per- centage of the whole. Num- ber. Per- centage of the whole. Num- ber. Per- centage of new Certifi- cates. Employers, indus- trial and agricul- tural - 31,622 12-18 20,525 S' 22 52,147 10-21 Agricultural la- bourers 34,259 13-20 19,395 7'76 53,654 10-51 Industrial workmen 43,718 16-84 34,376 13-76 78,094 15-30 Domestics 17,909 0-90 36,657 14-67 54,566 10*69 Soldiers and sailors 5,688 2-19 1,378 0‘56 7.066 1-38 Clerks 16,485 6-35 5,567 2-23 22,052 4-32 Liberal professions - 6,090 2-35 2,961 1-20 9,051 1-77 Proprietors and per- sons without pro- fessions 26,798 10-32 57,221 22-88 84,019 16-46 Minors without pro- fession 77,018 29-67 71.760 28-72 148,778 29-14 Total 259.5S7 100-00 249,840 100-00 509,427 99-78 Societies and asso- ciations — % — 1,113 0-22 Total 510,540 lOO'OO The average numbers of certificates issued in the depart- ments was 70,360 per department. Seventeen departments rose above this average, of which the following may be mentioned Seine. 629,000 ; Rhone, 296,800 ; Nord, 248,200; Seine, Inferieure, 215,400. The smallest figures are Haute-Savoie, 9,700; Allege, 8,100; Lozere, 6,600; Corsica, 5,900. The operations of the National Savings Bank in 1892 Operations surpassed both in number and importance those of preced- National ing years, and the prosperity of (he institution was affirmed Savings' on all points. p) Early in 1893 a crisis arose temporarily Bank, 1892. in connection with political causes, hut the financial situation soon became normal. During 1892, 2,499,327 deposits, amounting to 388,088,103 fr. 31 c., were made. The net excess of receipts over repayments was 93,566,136 fr. 66 c. Four-fifths of this sum were converted into state bonds ( vcoleurs de I’etat franpois), and the rest entered in the current account of the Deposits and Con- signments Fund. Out of the 450,000 accounts ( cemptes ) opened by married women without special authorisation of their husbands 32 were opposed or disputed by their husbands. The most numerous clients of the National Savings Bank in 1892, as in previous years, were to he found amongst persons with- out profession, domestics and industrial workers. The ( r >) “ Journal Ofiiciel,” November 16th, 1893, pp. 5, 6, 8 and ff. ( 7 ) “Journal Officiel,” November 23, 1893, p. 5,761 and ff. M 4 96 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: figures showing the distribution of certificates in 1892 are as follows : — Class or Calling. Men. Women. Total. Pro- portion per 100. Employers, industrial and agricultural 27,128 9,224 36,352 7-40 Agricultural labourers ■ n ,7 / I 11,768 49,542 10*16 Industrial workers - 46,096 21,986 68,082 14*00 Domestics - 28,588 40,(554 69,242 14*22 Soldiers and sailors 15,962 156 16,118 3-30 Clerks 29,852 4,902 37,754 7U5 Tiiberal professions 13,012 4,640 17,652 3*63 Proprietors and persons without profession 26,790 58,064 84,854 17-44 Minors without profession - 62,092 44,776 106,868 21-97 Nomads 2,069 1,204 3,273 0-67 Totals 289,363 197,374 486,737 100-00 New certificates given also to societies of all kinds numbered 379, of which 120 were issued to mutual aid societies, 78 to trade syndicates, 32 to ecclesiastical bodies (fabriques paroissiales), 11 to agricultural bodies, 22 to charitable bodies, and 12 to co-operative societies. Looking at the number of depositors in 1,000 inhabitants tlie following appear as the departments where the National Bank is best established: — Sarthe, 406; Rhone, 368; Loiret, 365; Yonne, 365; Seine. et-Marne, 362. The smallest figures are those for Haute-Savoie, 36; Ariege, 35 ; Corsica, 20. The Seine departmont has 200 in 1,000 ; Nord, 143; Pas-de- Calais, 111. A P PEND I X. APPENDIX I. The catalogue subjoined is drawn up on the five-fold scheme indicated on page 1. I. State and Parliamentary Documents. (a.) Bills deliberated in the Senate or Chamber of Deputies. Senate : 1. Government Bill(*) (adopted by the Chamber of Deputies relating to employers’ liability for accidents. Session 1888. No. 552. 2. Government Bill (adopted by the Chamber ot Deputies) relating to labour of children, young girls and women. Session 1889. No. 56. 3. Government Bill (adopted by the Chamber of Deputies) relating to Pension, Provident, and Relief Funds. Session 1891. No. 38. 4. Bill presented by M. Jnles Godin, Senator, relating to workmen's associations, associations oj employers, and workmen in view of profit-sharing. Session 1891. No. 93. 5. Government Bill (sent up a second time to the Senate by the Chamber of Deputies) relating to labour of women and children. Session 1891. No. 19. 6. Government Bill (adopted by the Chamber of Deputies) relating to conseils de prud'hommes. Session 1892. No. 75. Chaynber of Deputies. 7. Bill presented by M. Nadaud relating to duration of hours of labour in works and factories. Session 1885. No. 196. 8. Bill presented by M. Nadaud relating to women s labour. Session 1885. No. 197. 9. Bill presented by MM. le Comte Alberl du Mun and others on the protection of workmen injured by accidents industrial employment. Session 1886. No. 391. 10. Bill presented by MM. Camelinat, Boyer, Basly, and others, on the labour of women and children. Ses- sion 1886. No. 1,098. 11. Government Bill on the regulation of the labour of women and children. Session 1886. No. 1,244. 12. Bill presented by MM. Le Corn- de Lamarzelles and A. de Mun on arbitration. Session 1887. No. 1,847. 13. Bill adopted by the Chamber on the labour of children, young girls, and, women. Session 1889. No. 1,087. 14. Bill presented by MM. Ferroul, Boyer, Cluseret, and others, on reduction of hours to eight in mines, fac- tories and workshops. Session 1889. No. 43. 15. Bill presented by M. Le Baion Pierard on the duration of hours of labour. Session 1889. No. 106. 16. Government Bill (adopted by the Senate) on the labour of children, young girls and women. Session 1889. No. 221. 17. Bill adopted by the Senate, modified by the Chamber of Deputies, on delegates for the safety of work- ing miners. Session 1890. No. 157. 18. Bill presented by MM. Guillemet, Managan, Laroche-Joubert, and many other deputies relating to profit-sharing in State enterprises and concessions. Session 1891. No. 1,428. (') A proj.et de Ini is a Government Bill, a proposition de loi is a private member’s Bill. The original text of the Statutes Bills, and some of the reports cited or translated in this Report, can be obtained by ordering back numbers of the “ Journal Officiel,” or “ Bulletin des Lois.” Copies of the Parliamentary publications can be ordered by the numbers cited. — G.i*. 19. Bill adopted by the Senate and by the Chamber of Deputies, on the labour of children, young girls, and women. Session 1891. No. 447. 20. Bill presented by MM. Argelies, Yilfen, Cou- turier, and others, relating to the conditions of work in transport industries. Session 1891. No. 1,731. 21. Government Bill relating to wages. Sessionl891. No. 1,506. 22. Bill presented by MM. Lagrange, Mesureur, and others, relative to application of Article 1 of the decree of September 9, 1848, to employes in transport indus- tries under the Government. Session 1891. No. 1,433. 23. Bill presented by MM. Argelies, Conturier, and others, on a weekly day of rest. Session 1891. No. 1,720. 24. Government Bill (twice returned to the Chamber by the Senate) relating to the labour of children, young girls, and women. Session 1891. No. 1,732. 25. Government Bill on conciliation and voluntary arbitration. Session 1891. No. 1,753. 26. Bill presented by M. Julien Goujon, relating to reduction of hours of labour. Session 1891. No. 1,412. 27. Government Bill relating to the formation of a national pension fund for working men. Session 1891. No. 1,473. 28. Bill presented by MM. Le Cour, de Mun, and others, on accidents in industries. Session 1891. No. 1,274. 29. Annexe to a Bill presented by MM. F. de Ramel, L. Gavriau, and others, on pension funds for workers. Session 1891. No. 815. 30. Bill presented by MM. Yian, Hubbard, and others, on compulsory and gratuitous insurance of workers against accidents. Session 1891. No. 1,526. 31. Bill presented by MM. Dumonteil, and Argelies on reduction of the day’s labour to 10 hours. Session 1892. No. 2,001. '32. Bill presented by M. Naquet on profit-sharing. Session 1892. No. 2,194. 33. Government Bill on Co-operative Societies and profit-sharing. Session 1892. No. 2,251. 34. Government Bill for the creation of a society for popular and agricultural credit. Session 1892. No. 2,311 35. Government Bill (adopted by the Senate) on Mutual Aid Societies. Session 1892. No. 2,413. (b.) State and Parliamentary Reports. 36. Report of the Commission on Workingmen’ s Associations appointed by the Minister of the Interior. 1883. 2 parts. 37. Report of the Commission on the condition of workers in artistic industries, 1884 (appointed by the decree of December 24, 1881.) 38. Report presented to the Chamber by the Com- mittee appointed to consider the Bills on employers’ liability and accidents in industry. Session 1882. No. 1,334. ' 39. Report presented to the Chamber by the same Committee. Third report. Session 1884. No. 2,634. 40. Report of the Parliamentary Committee on the Anzin strike. Session 1884. No. 2,695. 41. Report presented to the Chamber of Deputies by M. Waddington in the name of the Committee on the Bills relating to labour of women and children. Session 1887. No. 2,204. 42. Report presented to the Senate by M. Charles Ferry in the name of the Committee on the Bill relating REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 97 to labour of women and children. Session 1889. No. 182. 43. Report presented to the Chamber by M. Lyonnais in the name of tho Committee on the Bills for compul- sory arbitration. Session 1889. No. 3,856. 44. Report (with Annexes) presented to the Chambers by M. Richard Waddington in the name of the Com- mittee on the labour of women and children. Session 1890. No. 649. 45. ReDort presented to the Chamber by M. Jacque- mart in the name of the Committee on the Bills relating to protection of wages against seizure by creditors. Session 1890. No. 992. 46. Report presented to the Chamber by M. Chollet in the name of the Committee on profit-sharing in State undertakings. Session 1891. No. 1,480. 47. Report presented to the Senate by the Committee on the Bill adopted by the Chamber on trade syndicates. Session 1891. No. 120. 48. Report ptesented to the Senate by M. Tolain in the name of the Committee on Bills sent up by the Chamber on the labour of women and children. Session 1891. No. 138. 49. Another of later date, same session. No. 1,750. 50. Report presented to the Chamber by M. Gaillard in the name of the Committee on a Bill modifying the law relating to trade syndicates. Session, 1891. No. 1840. 51. Report presented to the Chamber by M. Dubois in the name of the Commission on Bills relating to free registry offices. Session 1892. No. 2,067. 52. Summary report to the Chamber on work in prisons and convents. Session 1892. No. 1,943. 53. Report presented to the Chamber by M. Ricard in the name of the Committee on employers' liability. Session 1892. No. 1,926. 54. Report presented to the Senate by M. Lourties in the name of the Committee on co-operative societies. Session 1892. No. 29. 55. Report presented to the Chamber of Deputies by M. Paul Guieysse on workmen’s superannuation funds. Session 1893. No. 2,576. (c.) Statutes and Decrees. 56. Law of September 9, 1848. regulating hours of labour in factories and works. Bvlletin des Lois. No. 69. 57. Decree of May 17, 1851, bringing in exceptions to the law of September 9, 1848. Bulletin des Lois. No. 394. 58. Law on coalitions modifying articles 414-6 of the Penal Code. May 15, 1864. Bulletin des Lois. No. 1,206. 59. Law of May 19, 1874. on the labour of children and young girls. Bulletin des Lois. No. 204. 60. Decree of March 27, 1875, regulating the appli- cation of Article 2 of the law just cited. Bulletin des Lois. No. 255. 61. Decree of March 1, 1877. making addition to the decree just cited. Bulletin des Lois. No. 339. 62. Decree cf September 22, 1879, regulating appli- cation of Article 13 of the law on the labour of children and young girls. Bulletin des Lois. No. 494. 63. Decree of October 31, 1882, further regulating application of the law and decrees just cited. Bulletin des Lois. No. 749. 64. Law of February 16, 1883, providing for inspec- tion under the law of September 9, 1848. Bulletin des Lois. No. 756. 65. Law of March 21, 1884, relating to formation of trade syndicates. Bulletin des Lois. No. 846. 66. Decree of May 5, 1888, completing enumeration of dangerous or unhealthy undertakings. Bulletin des Lois. No. 1,172. 67. Law of November 2. 1892, regulating tho labour of children, young girls, and women. 68. Law of December 27, 1892, providing for con- ciliation and arbitration in collective industrial disputes. 69. Law of June 12, 1893, relating to health and safety of workers in industrial establishments. Journal Official, Juno 13th. 1893. 70. Journal Official de. la llepublique Franfaise, containing reports of laws, Bills, Parliamentary debates, &c. January 1st to October 31st, 1893. IT. — Departmental Statistics and Publications. 71-2. Statistique Generale de la France, 1888-91. 73. Annuaire Statistique, 1891. 74. Annuaire Statistique de la Ville de Paris, 1890. U 78419. 75-9. Bulletin du Conseil Superieur do Statistique. Sessions 1885 to 1890. 80-81. Conseil Superieur du Travail. Sessions 1891 and 1892. 82-3. Office du Travail. Notices et Comptes Rendus. Fascicule I. to II. 1892. 84. Statistique des Greves survenus en France pendant les Annees, 1890-1. Office du Travail, Fasc. III. 85-8. Rapports sur l’applieation de la loi du 19 Mai, 1874, et de la loi du 9 Septembre, 1848, pendant l’Aunees, 1883, 1889, 1890, 1891. 89. Annuaire des Syndicats Professionels, Ministere de Commerce et de l’Industrie, Paris, 1892. 90. Annuaire des Syndicats Agricoles, publie avec les encouragements du Ministere de l’Agriculture, Paris, 1893. 91. Le Placement des Ouvriers et Domestiques en France. Office du Travail, 1893. 92. De la Conciliation et de l’Arbitrage dans les Conflicts Collectifs entre Patrons et Ouvriers. Office du Travail, 1893. 93-4. Rapports du Jury International. Groupe d’Economie Sociale. 2vols. 1891, 1892. 95-6. Statistique Minerale. 1889-90. III. — General Literature. (a.) French. 97. Dictionnaire de l’Administration Framjaise. Maurice Block, 1891. 98. Dictionnaire d’Economie Politique. Leon Say. 1891. 99. Dictionnaire Technologique. Rohring. 100. .Discours Politiques et Sociales. Comte Albert de Mun, 4 vols. 101. Du Role Sociale des Idees Chre'tiennes. P. Ribot, 1879. 102. Etude Historique, Juridique, et ficonomique sur les Syndicats Professionels. M. Glotin, Paris, 1892. 103. Guide Pratique Pour l’Application de la Partici- pation aux Benefices. A. Trombert and Charles Robert, Paris, 1892. 104. Histoire des Ateliers Nationaux. Emile Thomas, 1848. 105. Histoire des Greves. Charles Renault, Paris, 1887. 106. Les Budgets Comparees. Cheysson and Toque. 107. Les Catholiques Libdraux. A. Leroy-Beaulieu, 1885. 108. Le Code Civil et la Question Ouvriere. M. Glasson, Paris, 1891. 109. Le Collectivismc. P. Leroy-Beaulieu, 1885. 110. Les Origines du Socialisme Contemporain. P. Janet, 1883. 111. Les Ouvriers des deux Mondes: — (50.) Faienciers de Nevers (Nicvre). M. Ernest de Toytot, Paris, 1886. (59.) Paysan Metayer de la Basse Provence. M. D’Estienno de Saint-Jean, Paris, 1883. (62 ) Tailleur de Silex et Vigneron de l’Orlea- naiB (Loir-et-Cher). M. Fenelon Gibon, Paris, 1889. (73.) Ajustcur-Surveillant de I’Usine de Guise (Oise). M. Urbain Guerin, Paris, 1892. (74.) Ebenistc Parisien de Haut Luxe (Seine), M. P. du Maroussem, Paris, 1892. 112. La Population Framjaise. A. Levassour, 3 vols. 1889-91-92. 113. Les Populations Agricoles de la France. 3 vols. M. H. Baudrillart, 1885-9-93. 114. Le Socialisme integral. 2 vols. B. Malon, 1891 and 1892. 115. Les Syndicats Agricoles et le Socialisme Agraire. Do la Rocquiguy, Paris, 1893. 116. Le Travail des Enfants et des Filles mineurcs dans l’lndustrie. L. Bouquet, 1885. (') 117. Nouvelle Loi Relative a la Creation des Syndi- cats Professionels. Gudin de Pavilion, 1881. 118. Papacy, Socialism, and Democracy. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, 1892. 119. Saint Simon et le Saint Simonisme. P. Janet, 1878. C) The commentary by the same author on the law of Novein her 2, 1S92, was received as this report was going to the press. N f)S ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: (b.) English, . 120. Report of the Royal Commission on Mining Royalties. (c.) Italian. 121. 11 Socialism^ Cattolico. F. Nitti, 1891. 122. Le Societa Co-operative di Produzione. U. Rabbeno, 1889. (d.) German. 123. Agrarische Zustande in Frankreieh und England. Reitzenstein. 124. Die Arbeiter Versichcrung in Frankreieh. Von der Osten, 1884. 125. Gewerk-vereine und Unternehmer. Verbande in Frankreieh. Dr. W. Lexis, 1883. IV. — Reviews, Periodicals, and Pamphlets. 127. L’Association Catholique, May 1891 and January to August 1893. 128. La Revue Socialiste, 1888 to 1893. 129. La Reforme Sociale, 1892, 1893. 130. Journal des Economistes 1891-2-3. 131. Revue d’Economie Politique 1893. 132. Revue Critique de Legislation, 1883. Sauzet. “ Responsabilite des Patrons,” I., II. 133. Le Socialisme Contemporain. E. Villey. 134. Almanack de la Co-operation Fra^aise, 1893. 135. Almanach de la Democratic Rurale, 1891-2-3. 136. Annuaire de la Bourse du Travail, Paris, 1892. 137. L’Economiste Framjais, April 22nd, 1893. 138. Le Temps, October 11th. 15th, 18th, 19th, 1892. 139. Economic Journal, December 1892. Article by M. Gide on Carmaux. 140. Quarterly Journal of Economics, January, 1893. Article by M. Jannet on French Catholics and the Social Question. 141. Revue des Deux Mondes, June 1890. “ Socialisme d’Etat et Socialisme Chretien.” Par M. le Comte d’Hassounville 142. Le Mouvement Cooperatif en France par Charles Gide, 1893. Bordeaux. 143. La Co-operation a Nimes, par de Boyve, Paris, 1889. 144. Le Code Civil et les Reformes Indispensables a la Liberte de Families. Claudio Jannet, Tours, Maine et Fils, 1884. V. — British Foreign Office Reports and Despatches. 145. The Cause, Extent, and Result of recent Strikes in France. F.O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 109, 1888. 146. Strikes in Northern France. F.O. Miscellaneous Scries, No. 148, 1889. 147. French Councils of Prud’hommes. F.O. Mis- cellaneous Series, No. 159, 1890. 148. The Labour Agitation and recent Strikes in France. F.O. Miscellaneous Series. No. 169, 1890. 149. The Present State of the Labour Question in France. F.O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 213, 1891. 150. The Relations between Capital and Labour. F.O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 258, 1892. 151. The Proposed Reduction of Interest in Savings Banks’ Deposits in France. F.O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 265. 1892. 152. Poultry Yards and Dairy Farms in France. F.O. Miscellaneous Series, No. 295, 1893. 153. Agriculture of the Calais Consular District. F.O. Annual Series, No. 1,152, 1893. 154. Trade of the Consular District of Marseilles. F.O. Annual Series, No. 1,182, 1893. 155. General Trade of France. F.O. Annual Series, No. 1,158, 1893. 156. Agriculture of the Consular District of Nantes. F.O. Annual Series, No. 1,162, 1893. 157. Trade of the Consular District of Calais. F.O. Annual Series, No. 1,167, 1893. 158. Trade of the District of the Consulate-General at Havre. F.O. Annual Series, No. 1,174, 1893. 159. Trade of Brest. E'.O. Annual Series, 1,177, 1893. 160. Trade of the Consnlar District of Marseilles. F.O. Annual Series, 1,182, 1893. 160. — (a.) Despatch from A. Condie Stephen, Esq., C.B., C.M.G. F 0., August 19, 1891. Paris. (5.) Despatch from Sir Joseph Crowe, K. C.M.G. ; F.O., December 5th, 1891. Paris, No. 86. (c.) Despatch from Sir Joseph Crowe, K. C.M.G. ; F.O., December 5th, 1891. Paris, No. 84. (d.) Despatch from Sir Joseph Crowe, K. C.M.G. ; F.O., December 9th, 1891. Paris, No. 87. (e.) Despatch from E. H. Egerton, Esq., C.B. ; F.O., December 9th, 1891. Paris, No. 460. (/.) Despatch from E. H. Egerton, Esq., C.B. ; F.O., December 23rd, 1891. Paris, No. 489. [g.) Despatch from Sir Joseph Crowe, K. C.M.G.; F.O., January 11th, 1893. Paris, No. 4. APPENDIX II. Law of August 8, 1893, regulating stay of Foreigners in France and the Protection of National Labour.(') The Senate of the Chamber of Deputies have adopted, the President of the Republic promulgates the following law : — Article 1. — Every foreigner not naturalised arriving in a commune for the purpose of carrying on a trade or entering into business must make a declaration as to residence and identity at the town hall within eight days of his arrival. For this purpose a special register of the entry of foreigners will be kept in a form to be determined by a Ministerial resolution. An extract of this register shall be delivered to the declarer in the ordinary form of civil certificates pro- viding similar rights. In case of passing to another commune the foreigner’s certificate must be registered (vise) at the town hall of the new place of residence. Article 2. — Every person who knowingly employs a foreigner unprovided with a certificate shall be liable to penalties of the police courts (de simple police). Article 3. — The foreigner who has not made his declaration within the time appointed or who refuses to produce his certificate on the first demand shall be liable to a fine of 50 to 200 francs. Any one who has knowingly made a false or inaccurate declaration shall be liable to a fine of 100 to 300 francs, and to temporary or indefinite exclusion from French territory. The expelled foreigner who re-enters French territory without authorisation of Government shall be sentenced to imprisonment for six months, and shall be conducted to the frontier at the expiration of the sentence. Article 463 of the Penal Code is applicable to the case provided by this law. Article 4.- — The fines levied under the present law shall be attached to the municipal fund of the commune in which they are levied. Article 5. — Foreigners aimed at (vises) by Article 1, actually in France, are allowed one month in which to conform to the prescriptions of the law. The present law, deliberated and adopted by the Senate, shall be carried out as a law of the State. Given at Fontainebleau, August 8, 1893. Carnot, President of the Republic. The President of the Council and Minister of the Interior. Ch. Dupuy. Guardian of the Seals and Minister of Justice, E. Guerin. P) Journal Officiel, August 1893. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 99 APPENDIX III. Law of March 21st, 1884, relating to Trade Syndicates^ 1 ) Article I. — The law of June 14th-‘27th, 1791, and Article 416 of the Penal Code are repealed.! 2 ) Articles 291, 292, 293 and 294 of the Penal Code and the Law of April 18th, 1834, are not applicable to trade syndicates.! 3 ) Article II. — Syndicates or trade associations, even those composed of more than 20 members of the same profession or of similar professions connected therewith for the supply of special products, may be formed freely and without the authorisation of the Govern- ment Article III. — The exclusive object of trade syndicates is the consideration and defence of the economical, in- dustrial, commercial and agricultural interests. Article IV. — The founders of any trade syndicate shall register its articles of association and a list of the names of those who, in whatever capacity, shall be entrusted with its administration or direction. The articles shall be registered at the town hall {mairw) of the locality where the syndicate is formed, and at Paris at the Prefecture of the Seine. Registration shall be renewed whenever changes are made in the direction or in the articles of associa- tion.! 4 ) The articles of association shall be communicated by the Mayor or by the Prefect of the Seine to the Attorney- General of the Republic. Members of every trade syndicate entrusted with the administration or direction of such syndicate must be French citizens in the enjoyment of their civil rights. Article Y. — Trade syndicates regularly constituted in accordance with the provisions of the present law may meet freely for the consideration and defence of their economical, industrial, commercial and agricultural interests. In accordance with the second paragraph of Article IV., the names of the syndicates of which the meetings are composed shall be published. They cannot possess real property, nor can they appear in courts of justice. ( 1 ) Nee F. O. Report, Misc. Ser„ No. 258. ( 2 ) Tlie following nro the consequences of such repeal (a.) The fact of having concerted measures in view of preparing for a strike is no longer an offence, either as regards syndicates com- posed of masters, workmen, or labour contractors; or as regards workmen, labour contractors, or masters who are not members of a syndicate. (6.) Fines, prohibitions, prescriptions and interdictions, inflicted or pronounced in pursuance of concerted measures, are no longer con- sidered an attempt to prevent the free exercise of industry and labour. — (Ministerial Circular, August 25, 1884.) ( 3 ) Penal Code, Article 291.— No association of more than 20 members, whose object is to meet every day, or on certain specified days, for religious purposes, may be formed, except with the authorisation of the Government, and under such conditions as it may please the public authorities to impose. Article 292.— Every association of the above character formed without such authorisation, or which, after having obtained it, shall have infringed the imposed conditions, shall be dissolved. Law of April in, 1834, relating to associations.— Article I. The pro- visions of Article 291 of the Penal Code are applicable to associations of more than 20 members, even When sucli associations are divided into sections composed of a less number, and although they do not meet daily, or on specified days. The authorisation of the Government may- be revoked at any time. (■*) This provision is not made under penalty of the acts done by the syndicate becoming void.— (Court of Paris, January 20, 1886.) The documents to be registered shall be exempt from taxation aud stamp duty.— (Decision of the Minister of Finances, July 21, 1884.) Article VI. — Trade syndicates of masters or work- men may take legal proceedings. They may make use of the funds derived from sub- scriptions. Nevertheless, they cannot acquire real estate other than such as shall be required for their meetings, libraries and class rooms for technical instruction. They may, without authorisation, while observing the other provisions of this law, constitute among their members special funds to be applied for mutual aid and pensions. ( 5 ) They shall be at liberty to open and to carry on the management of registry offices for the supply of and demand for labour. They may be consulted upon all differences and questions connected with the special objects of the syndicate. In all cases of contention or dispute the advice of the syndicate may be afforded to the parties, who may take note thereof and make copies. Article VII. — Every member of a trade syndicate may resign at any time notwithstanding any regulations to the contrary, but without prejudice to the right of the syndicate to claim his subscription for the current year. • All those who resign membership of a syndicate retain their right to be members of mutual aid societies or societies for providing retiring pensions on account of age towards the funds of which they have contributed by subscription or donation. Article VIII. — When property has been acquired in a manner contrary to the provisions of Article VI., the nullity of the purchase or of the donation may he claimed either by the Procurator of the Republic or by the parties interested. In the case of purchase burdened with certain condi- tions, the property shall be sold and the produce of the sale paid into the funds of the association., In cases of donation the property shall revert to tlie donors, their heirs or administrators. Article IX. — Proceedings in cases of infringement of the provisions contained in Articles II., III., IV., V., and VI. of the present law may be taken against the directors or administrators of syndicates, who may be punished by a fino of 16 francs to 100 francs. The courts may also, at the instance of the Procurator of the Republic, order the syndicate to be dissolved, and cancel the purchase of property effected contrary to the pre visions of Article VI. In cases of false declaration relative to the articles of association and the names or qualities of the adminis- trators or directors the fine may be increased to 500 francs. Article X. — The present law is applicable in Algeria and in the colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Reunion. Foreign workmen aud those employed as immigrants cannot be members of syndicates. ( 5 ) Members of trade syndicates who desire to benellt by the advantages reserved to mutual aid societies, approved or recognised, should be regulated according to the special laws in such cases.— (Circular of 5 August 5, 1884.) N 2 100 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: APPENDIX IV. Government Bill relating to the Institution and Organisation of Councils of Experts. (CONSEILS DE PrUD’HOMMES.)(’) Section I. Powers. Article I. — Councils of experts are instituted for the purpose of settling by arbitration the disputes arising in matters of contracts for the hire of labour, between employers and workmen, salaried clerks and other employes. They are also competent to consider and advise upon differences arising between workmen on labour questions. They decide, without right of appeal upon all matters not exceeding the sum of 500 francs, and with right of appeal, upon whatever may be the amount of the claim, in cases which have failed to receive an amicable settlement. Nevertheless, they cannot take cognizance of actions for damages brought on account of accidents to employes, workmen or apprentices. Moreover, they exercise the powers conferred on them by virtue of special legislation. Article II. — Councils of experts are instituted by decrees issued in the form of regulations of public ad- ministration, according to opinions given by chambers of commerce, or consulting chambers of arts and manufactures, in places where the importance of the trade indicates the necessity. The institution of councils of experts is lawful when the request has been made by the municipal council of the district where it is intended to be established, ac- companied by the recommendation of the general council of the department, and that of the municipal councils of the districts included in the proposed quarter. Article III. — The decree of institution shall decide the qualifications of the council, the number of categories among which are classed the trades and pro- fessions submitted to its jurisdiction, and the number of councillors told off for each category in such manner that the total number of the members of the council shall be equal, and not less than 16. Article IV. — The councillors are elected for a term of six years. They are to be re-elected, one-half at a time, every three years, but they remain in office until their successors are elected. Article V. — The following are workmen electors: — 1. Workmen, assistants, clerks, travellers, accoun- tants, foremen, messengers, handymen and porters, labourers, workmen and clerks employed by transport agencies, and generally all salaried employes engaged in every kind of commerce, trade, and agriculture, on the con- dition of being entered on the roll of political electors. 2. Women who are French citizens, of the full age of 21 years and upwards, employed in one of the occupations comprised in the foregoing paragraph, and who have not incurred any of the penalties threatened by Articles 15 of the Decree of February 2, 1852. The following are master electors : — 1. Masters who employ in their business one or more workmen or clerks, foremen, partners in com- panies, managers or directors invested with powers over a factory, manufacture, banking, or com- mercial establishment, workshop, and, generally speaking, any kind of business; directors and engineers of transport agencies, cmicessioniiaires, and those who carry on mining operations, members of boards of directors, engineers of works, and heads of departments, and directors of mining operations, inspectors and managers of mines, on the condition of being entered on the roll of political electors. ( 1 ) See F. O. Report, Misc. Ser. No. 25S. 2. Women who are French citizens, of the full age of 21 years and upwards, personally engaged in one of the occupations mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, and who have not incurred any of the penalties provided by Article 15 of the Decree of February 2, 1852. On the list of electors for councils of experts are also entered the former members of one of the two categories above-mentioned who have retired from their occupation or trade for less than 10 years, and who have not incurred any of the penalties provided by Article 15 of the Decree of February 2, 1852. Women who are called upon to elect councillors must furnish proof of residence, during six months at least, in the district of the council at the time the electoral lists are drawn up. Article VI. — Men of 25 years of age, able to read and write, are eligible as electors. Article VII. — Councils of experts arc composed of an equal number of each class of workmen and em- ployers. There shall be at least two employers and two workmen of each class. Article VIII. — The workmen are elected by work- men, and employers by employers, at two distinct meet- ings, each to be presided over by the justice of the peace or his deputy. In cases where several polling places are opened for the facility of voting, the prefect may appoint, by decree to that effect, a mayor, or deputy mayor, to preside at one or more of such polling places. Article IX. — The elections take place by scrutin de liste (balloting by a list of persons), and accord- ing to the category to w'hich the respective electors belong. On the first ballot an absolute majority of the votes given is necessary. On the second ballot the relative majority will be sufficient. In case of an equal number of votes on the second ballot the elder candidate is declared to be elected. Article X. — Every year, during the 15 days follow- ing the revision of the electoral lists, the mayor of each district of the province, assisted by two electors, one workman, and one employer, shall enter, on two different lists, the names and occupations of the workmen and employers who are electors. These two lists are sent to the prefect, who draws up and pub- lishes by decree the list of each class of electors. Article XI. — By the method of triennial renewal, half the number of councillors, workmen, or employers of each class shall retire. In each of these classes the names of the councillors who are to be replaced the first time shall be drawn for. Retiring councillors are re-eligible. Article XII. — When elections are to take place the prefect gives at least 20 days’ notice to the electors, and informs them of the date and place of meeting, and the hours for opening and closing the poll. The elections are to be held on a Sunday or holiday. The second ballot shall be made one week after the first. Article XIII. — The lists are kept at the office of the secretary of the council of experts, and shall be communicated to anyone who asks for them, or who may wish to make a copy thereof. The lists may be challenged during 15 days following the date on which they were deposited in the secretary’s office. Such challenge is notified to the justice of the peace for the district, inquired into, and decided upon in accordance with Articles 5 and 6 of the Law of December 8. 1883, on consular elections. Rectifications are to be made by virtue of the pro- visions of Article 7 of the said Law. The regulations established by Articles 13, 18 to 25, and 26, paragraphs 1, 3. 27 to 29 of the law of April 5, 1884, on municipal elections, apply to electoral opera- tions respecting councils of prud’hommes. REPORT UN 'J’HE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 101 During the three days succeeding the reception of the official report of the elections the prefect transmits certified copies of the same to the procurator-general and to the secretaiy of the council of experts. Pro- testations against the elections are made, inquired into, and decided upon in the manner prescribed by Article 11, paragraphs 5, 6 and 7, and Article 12 of the Law of December 8, 1883. Article XIV. — During the 15 days succeeding the election, or, in case of dispute, during the 15 days succeeding the final decision thereon, the prefect shall instal the councillors who have been elected. At the time of their installation the councillors shall each take, before the prefect the following oath : — “ I swear to fulfil my duties with zeal and integrity.” Article XV. — In case one or more vacancies occur in the council from death, resignation, cancelling of the first elections, changes of conditions or otherwise, com- plementary elections shall take place within one month from the date of the occurrence necessitating the same, unless not more than three months have to elapse between such occurrence and the date of the next triennial renewal. Every member elected under these conditions only remains in office during the remainder of the term for which his predecessor was elected. Article XVI. — Should necessity arise for comple- mentary elections, either on account of the original elections not having produced satisfactory results for the formation or completion of the council, or on account of the refusal by one or more councillors to accept office, or because of their resignation, or from their having ceased to be in office by the application of Article XLI., and should one of these circumstances arise, the vacancy thus occurring shall not be filled up until the next triennial renewal, but the council shall Continue to act, whatever may be the class of members regularly elected or duly exercising their authority, provided that their number equals at least one-half of the total number of which it is composed. The same rule applies in cases where one or more elections have been annulled on account of the in- eligibility of those elected. Article XVII. — The council assembled in general meeting, and piesided over by its senior member, elects among its number, by ballot, and on the absolute majority of the members present, a president and vice- president. If two ballotings show that neither of the candidates has obtained an absolute majority of votes of the members present, and if at the third ballot there should be an equal number of votes for each candidate, the councillor who has been for the longest period in office shall be elected. If both the candidates have served for one and the same period of time, the preference shall be given to the senior in age. The same rule applies with regard to the formation of a new council. Article XVIII. — When the president has been chosen from among the workmen, the vice-president can only be chosen from among the employers, and vice versa. By exception, in the case provided for by Article XVI. the president and vice-president may both be chosen among workmen or employers, should the council happen to be composed of one only of these classes, masters or men. Objections to the election of members of the com- mittee are submitted to the Court of Appeal. Article XIX — The president and vice-president are elected for a term of one year. They are re-eligible. They remain in office until their successors are appointed. Article XX. — Councils of experts comprise : — 1. A committee of conciliation. 2. A committee of judgment. Article XXI. — The committee of conciliation is composed of two councillors, one workman and one employer. The presidency belongs alternately to one and the other, according to the rotation provided for by the special regulations of each council. Lots are drawn to decide which of them shall take the chair. By exception, and in the cases provided for by Article XVI., both members of the committee may be chosen from among workmen or employers if the council happens to be composed of one class cniy. Article XXII. — Meetings of the committee of con- ciliation are held once a week ; they are not public. Article XXIII. — The committee of judgment is composed (not including the president or vice-president) of an equal number of employers and workmen. There must be, at least, two of each class. By exception in the cases provided for by Article XVI. the committee of judgment may validly deliberate if composed of an uneven number, five, at least, being present, even though the respective numbers of work- men and employers present may not be equal one to the other. The decisions of the committee of judgment are determined by an absolute majority of the members present. The sittings of the committee of judgment are public. Should the discussion be of such a nature as to give rise to scandal, the president may order the doors to be closed after having referred to the opinion of the committee. The judgment must always be pronounced publicly. Article XXIV. — A secretary shall be appointed, at a general meeting, for each council, on the absolute majority of votes of the members present. He may be dismissed at any time, but in such case the resolution to that effect must be signed by two-thirds of the councillors. The secretary is present at, and writes the minutes of the proceedings of the committees of conciliation and judgment. Section II. Of Procedure betore Councils of Experts. Article XXV. — -Every one who comes within the jurisdiction of, and is called before, the council of experts, is bound, on an ordinary notice from the secretary, sent through the post and registered, to present himself in person on the day and hour fixed. He cannot name anyone to represent him before the committee of arbitration except in case of his absence from home or sickness. Under these circumstances only he may be represented by a relation or someone of the same trade as himself, and, like himself, a workman or employer, who shall produce the secretary’s notice countersigned by the party to whom it is addressed. The latter’s signature must be legalised in the usual manner. Heads of industrial establishments may be represented by their managers or by an employe duly empowered to that effect. The parties cannot give notice of their defence. Article XXVI. — The notice must specify the day, month, and year, the name and profession of the ap- plicant, a summary state of the case, and the day and hour of appearance. It may be sent by the applicant to the defendant’s domicile, or transmitted through the post by the care* of the secretary. Article XXVII.- — Parties may at all times volun- tarily present themselves before the committee of conciliation, and in such case the matter is proceeded with as if a formal application had been previously made by them. If on the day named in the secretary’s notice the applicant fails to appear, the case is struck off the list, but it may come in again after a week’s interval. Article XXV11I. — If the defendant does not appear or if an understanding cannot be come to, the case is adjourned to the next meeting of the committee of judgment. The secretary gives notice to the parties by registered letter. Article XXIX. — On the day appointed by such notice the parties must appear in person before the committee of judgment. In cases of sickness, or absence they may be repre- sented in the manner prescribed by Article XXV. Should either of the parties fail to appear judgment is given by default. Article XXX. — Judgments of councils of experts are final and without appeal when the amount claimed does not exceed the principal sum of 500 francs. Article XXXI. — If the claim exceeds 500 francs, appeal may be made to the civil tribunal against the N 3 102 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : decisions of the council of experts. The appeal to the civil tribunal shall be inquired into and decided upon, as in commercial cases, without the assistance of a solicitor ( avoue ) being obligatory. Documents relating to procedure must be engrossed in stamp, and the cost of registration placed to the debit. The civil tribunal shall deliver judgment within three months of the date of lodging the appeal. Article XXXII. — Judgments rendered by councils of experts can be contested by suing under a writ for overstepping of due power. The appeal must be lodged at latest within three months of the date of notice of judgment by a declaration lodged at the registry of the tribunal, and notified within the week under pain of the case falling through. Within a fortnight of the notification the documents must be sent to the Court of Cassation. No sum shall be paid into Court, nor shall the assistance of counsel be obligatory. The Court of Cassation shall deliver judgment within a month of the reception of the documents. Article XXXIII. — In cases of absence, hindrance or refusal of the husband’s authorisation, the council may allow a married woman to apply for conciliation and to appear as applicant or defendant before it. Article XXXIY. — Minors who cannot be assisted by their father or guardian are provided by the council with a guardian ad hoc chosen among its members, who shall perform under such special circumstances the duties of a guardian. Article XXXV.— 1 The members of a council of experts can be challenged: — (1.) When they have a personal interest in the matter at issue. (2.) When they are relatives by blood or marriage of one of the parties up to the degree of cousin-german inclusively. (3.) If in the year preceding the challenge criminal proceedings have been taken between them and one of the parties or his or her wife or husband or relatives or allies in line direct. (4.) If a civil action be pending between them and one of the parties or the wife or husband of either of them. (5.) If they have given a written opinion in the matter. (6.) If they are the employers of workmen of one of the parties in the case. The party who desires to challenge a councillor is bound to make the challenge and explain its motives by means of a declaration bearing his signature, and delivered by him to the secretary of the council, for which a receipt shall be given to him. • Article XXXVI. — The duties of councillors are absolutely gratuitous with regard to the parties. The councillors cannot claim any fee for any of the duties performed by them. Article XXXVII. — All documents judgments, and acts required for the execution thereof must be en- grossed on paper stamped according to Article 70 of the Law of 22 Frimaire^An VII., and the cost of registration placed to the debit. Mention of the registration is stamped on the original document at the time. The foregoing provisions are applicable to cases carried to appeal or before the Court of Cassation. The party non-suited is condemned in cost payable to the Treasury. Article XXXVIII- — The competency of councils of experts is fixed, as regards work done in factories, in the locality where the factory is situate, and as regards work done at home, in the place where the engagement was contracted. Article XXXIX.— In urgent cases councils of ex- perts can order such measures to be taken as to them may seem requisite in order to prevent any goods or objects in respect of which the application has been made, from being seized, removed, or damaged. Article XL. — Articles 5, 7, 10 to 15, 18 to 22, 28 29, 31 to 43, 46, 47, 54, 55, 452 to 460, 474 and 480 of the Code of Civil Procedure, Articles, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 13 of the Law of May 25th, 1838 are applicable to the jurisdiction of councillors in all that is not contrary to the provisions of the present law. Section III. Regulations of Councils of Experts. Article XLI. — Every member of a council of experts who, without legitimate reason, and after having been duly notified, shall refuse to render the service he is called upon to perform, shall be dismissed from the council. Article XLII. — The president specifies the refusal to serve in an official report containing the decision of the committee after the councillor has been previously heard upon the matter or duly summoned to appear. If the council does not give an opinion within one month of the date of convocation, the president shall mention this omission in the official report sent by him to the prefect. Article XLIII. — On the receipt of the official report the dismissal is decreed by the prefect whether the council has deliberated or not. In case of dispute the Minister of Commerce and Industry finally decides the point with right of appeal to the Council of State on the ground of ultra vires. Article XLIV. — Every member of a council of experts who shall have seriously neglected his duties in the exercise of his office, shall be called before the council to explain the act with which he is charged. If the council does not express its opinion within one month of the date of convocation, mention shall be made in the official report addressed by the presidents to the prefect. Article XLV. — The official report is transmitted by the prefect together with his opinion thereon, to the Minister of Commerce and Industry. The following penalties may be pronounced : — (1.) Censure. (2.) Suspension for a period not exceeding six months. (3.) Forfeiture of his office. Article XLVI. — Censure and suspension may be pro- nounced by means of notice given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry. Forfeiture is pronounced by ministerial decree. Article XLVII. — Every councillor duly elected, who declines to be installed, or who has retired by virtue of Article XLI., cannot be re-elected before the expiration of three years from the date of the prefectoral decree. Article XLV1II. — Every councillor against whom forfeiture has been pronounced cannot be re-elected for the same duties during six years from the date of the decree of forfeiture. Article XLIX, — In case of a charge of prevarication against members of the council of experts, proceedings against them shall be taken in the form prescribed with respect to judges by Article 483 of the Code of Criminal Inquiry. Article L. — Articles 4 and 5 of the Civil Code, Articles 505 to 507 of the Code of Civil procedure, and Articles 126 and 185 of the Penal Code are applicable to members of a council of experts. Article LI. — Councils of experts may be dissolved by decree delivered on the initiative of the Minister of Commerce and Industry. In such case the general elections shall take place within one month from the date of the decree of dis- solution. Councils of experts may also be suppressed by decree delivered according to the regulations of public adminis- tration. Section IV. General Provisions. Article LII. — Every council of experts shall prepare in general meeting regulations for its own manage- ment. RFPOBT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 103 These regulations only become valid after they have been approved by the Minister of Commerce and Industry. Article LIII. — Councils of experts assemble in general meeting whenever the request is made by the superior authority, by one-half their number plus one of the members in active service, or when the president considers it to be necessary. The official report of each meeting is transmitted within a fortnight by the president to the Minister of Commerco and Industry. Article LIV. — Members of councils of experts wear, while on duty, either during the sittings or elsewhere, the distinctive badge, specified by the Order of Novem- ber 12, 1828. Article LV. — Secretaries to councils of experts are remunerated at the following rates : — For each notice to appear before the council (not including postage), 15 centimes. For each page of certified copy, documents delivered by them containing 20 lines on each page, and 12 syllables in each line, 40 centimes. For the certified copy, if required by the party, of the official report stating that the parties could not agree, and which shall mention summarily that they could not come to terms, 80 centimes. For the notice by registered letter, 60 centimes. The cost of paper, account books, and prepayments shall be paid by the secretary. The secretary shall receive direct from the parties the fees allowed, including those for certified copies delivered by him. Article LVI. — In case the services of process-servers be required, they shall receive for notifying a judgment ] franc 75 centimes. If, at a distance of half a myriametre (10 kiloms.) between their office and the place where the judgment has to be notified, they shall receive 2 francs per myriametre there and back. For copies of documents which may be supplied with the copy of judgment they shall receive for each page of certified copy of 20 lines to the page, and 12 syllables to the line, 20 centimes. Article LYII. — Witnesses giving evidence, who ask for it, are allowed by the council of experts 3 francs, as compensation for loss of time. Witnesses who reside out of the district at a distance of more than two-and-a-half myriametres and less -than five myriametres are allowed six francs for every myriametre or fraction thereof ; beyond five myria- metres they receive six francs for every five myriametres or fractions of that distance. Article LYHI. — Every secretary or huissier (process server or usher) employed by the councils of experts proved to have charged a higher rate than that allowed them is punished for extortion. Section Y. Expenses of Councils of Experts. Article LIX. — The premises required by councils of experts are to be provided by the town where the council is established. Article LX. — The charges obligatory upon the districts comprised in the jurisdiction of a council of experts are the following : — (1.) Expenses of founding the council. (2.) Purchase of badges. (3.) Fuel, &c. (4.) Lighting and petty expenses. . (5.) Costs of elections. Article LXI. — The president of each council of experts shall, during the month of December each year, submit for the approval of the prefect of the department the accounts of expenditure set forth in the preceding Article. Section VI. Councils of Experts in Algeria and Colonies. Article LXII. — The provisions of the present law are applicable with the following modifications in Algeria : — Article LXIII. — Electors of 25 years of age able to read and write in the French language are eligible. Article LXIY. — In districts where the importance of the Mussulman population demands it, councils of experts shall include Mussulman assessors, mention of which shall be set forth in the articles of establishment. The Mussulman assessors, employers and workmen alike, shall always be of an equal number in each class. Article LXV. — In every instance where one or more Mussulmans not enjoying the rights of French citizens appear, the committees of conciliation and judgment shall include two Mussulman assessors, one employer, and one workman, with right to speak but not to vote. Article LXVL— Mussulman councillor-assessors are elected by Mussulmans not enjoying the rights of French citizens who are inscribed on the municipal electoral lists' and fulfilling the conditions provided in Article V. of the present Law. The list of electors is drawn up separately. Article LXVII. — Mussulman councillor-assessors are elected in the same manner as other councillors. They are subjected to the same conditions of eligibility; but as far as relates to assessorship, it is enough for the candidates to be able to speak the French language if they are able to read and write in their native tongue. They cannot be members of committee, but they take part in its nomination in the same manner as the other members. Article LXV III.— Interpreters may be attached to councils of experts in Algeria ; they shall be appointed in the same manner as secretaries, but they must take the professional oath before commencing their duties. Their salary is fixed by decision of the prefect. Article LXIX. - — Mussulman councillor-assessors are to be renewed by half their number every three years as provided by Article XI. Article LXX. — The present law is applicable to the colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion. Section YII. Special Provisions. Article LXXI. — Repeal is made (1.) Articles 1 to 9, 29 and following of the law of March 18, 1806. (2.) The Decree of June 11. 1809. (3.) The Decree of August 3, 1810. (4.) The Laws of June 27. and May 6, 1848. (5.) The Law of August 7, 1850. (6.) The Law of June 1, 1853. (7.) Article XV. of the Law of June 22, 1854. (8.) The Law of June 4, 1864. (9.) The Law of February 7, 1880. (10.) The Law of February 23, 1881. (11.) The Law of November 10, 1884. (12.) The Law of December 10, 1884. And generally of all provisions contrary to the present law. Section VIII. Temporary Provisions, Article LXXII. — Within six months of the promul- gation of the present law general elections for ail members of all councils of experts shall be held. (Signed) Carnot, President of the French Republic. (Signed) Jules Roche, Minister of Commerce and Industry. (Signed) L. Ricajid, Chancellor Minister of Jnstice and Public Worship. 104 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: APPENDIX Y. Law providing for Conciliation and Arbitration in cases, of Collective Disputes between Employers and Employed (December 27, 1892). The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have adopted, the President of the Republic promulgates the following law : — Article 1. — Employers, workmen or employes, between whom a dispute of a collective character relating to conditions of employment has arisen, may submit the questions which divide them to a committee of conciliation, or, in default of an agreement of this committee, to a council of arbitration, and these shall be constituted in the following manner : Article 2. — The employers, workmen or employes may, together or separately, in person or by proxy, address a declaration in writing to the justice of the peace ( juge de paix ) of the canton or one of the cantons in which the dispute has arisen, which shall contain — (1.) The names, capacities, and domiciles of the applicants or their proxies. (2.) The matter of dispute with a succinct account of the motives pleaded by the other side (partie). (3.) The names, capacities, and domiciles of the persons to whom the proposal of conciliation or arbitration should be notified ; (4.) The names, capacities, and domiciles of the delegates chosen from amongst those concerned by the applicants, in order to assist or represent them; the number of these delegates not exceeding five. Ar ticle 3. — The justice of the peace delivers ac- knowledgment of the receipt of this declaration with indication of the date and hour of its deposit, within twenty-four hours, to the opposing party or its repre- se catives, by letter, or, if nted be, by notices posted on the gates of the courts of justice of the canton, and on those of the mayoralty of the commune in which the dispute has arisen. Article 4. — On receipt of this notification, or within three days, those concerned must send their reply to the justice of the peace. This period having passed, their silence is taken as a refusal. If they accept, they give in their reply the names, capacities, and domiciles of the delegates chosen to assist or represent them, the number of these latter not exceeding five. If the departure or absence of the persons to whom the proposal is notified or the necessity of consulting the principals ( mandants ), partners, or an admmis- trative council, does not permit of a reply within three days the representatives of the said persons should within the three days declare what is the delay necessary for arrangement of a reply. This declaration is transmitted by the justice of the peace to the appli- cants within twenty-four hours. Article 5. — If the proposal is accepted the justice of the peace urges ( invite d’urgence) the parties or then- delegates to form among them a committee of concilia- tion. The meetings take place in the presence of the justice of the peace who may be appointed by the committee to preside at the debates. Article 6 .— If an agreement is arrived at as to the conditions of conciliation, the conditions are set down in a report drawn up by the justice of the peace and signed by the parties or their delegates. Article 7. — If an agreement is not arrived at the justice of the peace invites the parties to appoint either one or more arbitrators each, or a common arbitrator. If the arbitrators do not agree as to the solution of the dispute they may choose a new arbitrator to act as umpire. Article 8. — If the arbitrators can neither decide on the solution of the dispute nor agree as to the new arbitrator they must declare the fact in the report, and this arbitrator will be named by the president of the civil tribunal after inspection of the report, which shall be sent to him forthwith by the justice of the peace. Article 9. — The decision on the points at issue (fond) which has been arrived at, revised, and attested by the arbitrators, is sent to the justice of the peace. Article 10. — When a strike occurs in default of initiative on the part of those concerned in it, the justice of the peace, ex-officio and by the means in- dicated in Article 3, invites the employers, workmen, or employed, or their representatives to make known to him within three days : — (1.) The matter of dispute with a succinct account of the alleged motives : (2.) The acceptance or refusal of conciliation and arbitration ; (3.) The names, capacities, and domiciles of the delegates chosen, where the case occurs ( le cas echeant), by the parties, the number of the persons chosen by each side not exceeding five. The delay of three days may be increased for the reasons and under the conditions indicated in Article 4. If the proposal is accepted it shall proceed comformably to Articles 5 and following. Article 11. — The reports and decisions mentioned in Articles 6, 8, 9 above, are preserved in the minutes at the office of the justice of the peace, who sends a copy free of charge to each of the parties and addresses another to the Minister of Commerce and Industry through the prefect. Article 12. — The demand for conciliation and arbi- tration, the refusal or failure to reply of the opposing party, the decision of the committee of conciliation or of the arbitrators notified by the justice of the peace to the mayor of each of the communes over which the dispute is spread, are made public by each of these mayors, who post them up in the place assigned to official notices. The posting up of these decisions may be done by the parties concerned. The notices are exempted from stamp duty. Article 13. — The premises necessary for the meetings of the committees of conciliation or councils of arbitra- tion are provided, heated and lighted by the communes in which they meet. The expenses arising therefrom are included among the compulsory expenses of the communes. The outlay of the committees of conciliation and arbitration shall be fixed by a notice of the prefect of the department entered among the compulsory depart- mental expenses. Article 14. — All deeds executed in carrying out the present law are exempt from stamps and registered gratis. Article 15. — The arbitrators and the delegates nominated under the present law must bo French citizens. In professions or trades where women are employed they may be chosen as delegates on the condition that they are of French nationality. Article 16. — The present law applies to the colonies of Guadaloupe, Martinique and the Reunion. The present law deliberated and adopted by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies shall be carried out as a law of the State. Executed at Paris, December 27th, 1892. Carnot. By the President of the Republic : the Minister of Commerce, of Industry and the Colonies. Jules Siegfried. REPORT ON TIIE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 105 APPENDIX VI. Summary of a Circular of the 23rd January by the Minister for Commerce, Industry and the Colonies addressed to the Prefects on the Application of the New Law of Conciliation and Arbitration^) The law of the 27th of December 1892, relating to conciliation and arbitration in case of disputes between masters and workmen, was passed with a view to the prevention or settlement of conflicts between capital and labour. In adopting it the legislator has desired, in the interest of the regular development of native industry, to preserve from dissension that considerable proportion of the population which lives entirely by the fruits of its daily labour, and whose interests are ever being looked to by the Government. It is the duty of the Ministers of the Interior and Justice to send you the necessary instruction for the application of this law which invests justices of the peace with new powers (Article 2 et seq), and includes (Article 13) the expenses incurred in respect of sittings of the committees of conciliation and arbitration in the compulsory expenditure of the communes and depart- ments. I believe it to be my duty, by reason of the exceptional importance of this law, to point out to you in what spirit you should recommend its application. 1. The conflicts between capital and labour result, for the greater part, from industrial expansion and develop- ment, based, not only on the progress of the arts and sciences, but also on the concentration of capital. In this new organisation of labour the workmen and the heads of industrial establishments are not on the terms of so much intimacy as in the past, their relations being much less cordial. Simple misunderstandings are apt to be readily changed into bitter and characteristically keen disputes. Attentive observers have not failed to recognise that the best means of a voiding and overcoming the irritation arising from these differences, which in many cases spring from the most trivial causes, is to bring about more frequent meetings and wider exchanges of views between the men, who usually only fight because they lack the means of appreciating and rendering justice to their respective intentions. Experience has everywhere justified this view, under the inspiration of which private initiative has estab- lished in England, Belgium, and America, admirable institutions of conciliation and arbitration which, put- ting the masters and workmen in the same factory or the same industry in permanent relations, permit them to look into and to quietly decide, as soon as they ap- pear, their trade disputes, and finally unite the repre- sentatives of capital and labour in perfect agreement. The law of the 27th December 1892 has the same objects in view, and for the future it points out clearly the way by which they may be obtained. This hope will not appear chimerical if it be observed that far from manifesting any desire to artificially create a cur- rent of opinion, the new law is in direct harmony with old aspirations, which were clearly evidenced during the strikes of recent years. The tendency to substitute argument and peaceful discussion for the abrupt cessation of labour, for strikes in fact, has been observed several times in France : on the other hand, several remarkable strikes have been fortunately terminated by conciliation and arbitration ; finally, nearly half of the workmen’s unions, constituted in accordance with the law of 1884 have spontaneously imposed upon themselves, by their statutes, the obliga- tion to only resort to a strike after having exhausted all the means of conciliation. 2. The law of 27th December 1892 can only be put into motion by three classes of persons : masters, work- men, or, failing them, the justices of the peace ; but you will be able to contribute very materially to make it popular. An attentive observer of all disputes which may affect public order, the first to be informed of their appearance, in daily touch with their symptoms, you are also frequently applied to by the interested parties themselves to interrene in industrial conflicts as official arbitrator, and sometimes also to bring the weight of your influence to bear on one side or other of the parties. You will therefore be better qualified than anyone to advise interested parties as to the new law, which supplies them with the means to end conflicts peaceably and promptly. Certainly, the arbitration organised by the law of 1892 is only optional ; it can be protested against or rejected quite independently ; the liberty of joint action or of resorting to strikes remains entirely without any restriction. But the free procedure instituted by the law is so simple, it is so adapted to receive an almost instantaneous application in all cases, in all places, and with the least possible disarrangement; it is so con- siderate of all susceptibilities and interests, that you should not hesitate to recommend it on every occasion. This procedure is suited, in fact, to the conflicts which extend to all the various branches of an industry which may be spread over several communes or con- fined to one district, as also to those persons who are only interested in a single workshop, a single factory, or a section of a factory ; it applies equally to the differences which occur in temporary works with a temporary staff, such as certain agricultural works, and road-making ; it may be offered to workmen who have already ceased labour, as well as to those who are resolved only to resort to strike after having exhausted all means of conciliation. The infringement, also, of the liberty of labour, of which certain strikers may be guilty, should not deter you from making every effort to bring the opposing parties to the consideration of the advant- ages of the law of the 27th December 1892. Briefly, although your first duty may be to maintain public order and to strictly secure to all the liberty of labour, there is no case in which you may not urge the superiority of the procedure instituted by this law over all those to which hitherto resort has been had. This insistence will be all the more efficacious, as it will be made at a time nearer the origin of the conflicts, and tho sooner that the system is resorted to the greater the chance of settlement. Yery often hitherto the idea of arbitration has only arisen when already the minds of the disputants have been warped and hearts hardened by mutual recriminations, and arbitration has not pro- duced in these conditions any except the must meagre results. You will resolutely repudiate the old mistakes, and consider before everything the law of the 27th December 1892 as a means to prevent the conflicts. The workmen already know that at a time when the support of public opinion is indispensable for the triumph of any demand whatsoever, the surest way of obtaining this support is by bringing prominently for- ward the reasons upon which they base their claims, and by submitting them to free discussion. You will remind them that the liberty of labour constitutes for each citizen the necessary guarantee of his independ- ence. You will convince them that, for the future, by reason of the facilities which are granted for the dis- cussion and settlement on neutral ground, in presence of a third disinterested party, of the disputes which may arise between them and their masters, strikes will not receive much sympathy, and the attacks on liberty of labour will be regarded as unjustifiable. On any occasion when the violation of one or several clauses of the contract of service ( contrat cle louage) is brought under your notice, either by the masters or the workmen, you must insist on prompt recourse to the procedure of conciliation. The Government has, moreover, the firm conviction that after a short experience the workmen will them- selves recognise that the new law is adapted to save them from the lung stoppages and all the miseries which must inevitably ensue. In fact, without discon- tinuing work, they may invoke its aid in order to ventilate their grievances, without jeopardising either their wages or the national production, the prosperity of which is of as much importance to them as to the heads of manufacturing establishments. Proof will therefore be very soon afforded that the law cf 27th December 1892 on conciliation and arbitra- tion, in conjunction with that of the 21st March 1884, on trade unions, gives facilities to workmen for satis- fying, without trouble or violence, all their legitimate aspirations. On their side, the masters, concious of Iheir own interests, will certainly manifest a disposition to accept the new procedure. You will not fail on every occasion that presents itself to influence them in that dii’ection. The Minister of Commerce, Industry, and the Colonies. (Signed) Jtjles Siegebied. (») The law on arbitration and conciliation is supplemented by a second Ministerial circular addressed by the Keeper of the Seals to the Attorneys-General. An account of this will be found in the text of the Report at p. 52. U 78419. O 100 KOVAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : APPENDIX YD. Law of November 2nd, 1892, regulating the Work of Children, Young Girls, and Women in Industrial Establishments. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have adopted, the President of the Republic promulgates the following law : — Section I. General Provisions, Age oe Admission, Duration of Work. Article 1. — The work of children, young girls, and women in the works, factories, mines, minieres and quarries, timber or stone yards, workshops and their dependencies, of whatever kind, public or private, secular or religious, even when these institutions are for the purpose of technical instruction or for charity, is subject to limitations determined by the present law. All the provisions of the present law are to be applied to foreigners working in the establishments above mentioned. Those works are excepted which are carried on in establishments where only the members of one family are employed, under the authority of either the father, or the mother, or the guardian. Nevertheless, if the work is done by means of steam or motive power, or if the trade practised is classed among dangerous or unhealthy establishments, the inspector shall have the right to prescribe measures for security and health in accordance with Articles 12, 13, and 14. Article 2. — Children cannot be employed by masters, nor be admitted into the estalilishments enumerated in Article 1, before they have completed their thirteenth year. However, children provided with the certificate for primary studies, ordained by the law of March 28th, 1892, can be employed from the age of 12 years. No child under 13 years can be admitted to work in the establishments above described, if he is not provided with a certificate of physical fitness given gratuitously, either by one of the doctors appointed to superintend the young children, or by one of the medical inspectors of schools, chosen by the prefect. This examination shall be in presence of both parties ( sera contradictoire) if the parents demand it. The inspectors of labour shall always be able to demand a medical examination of all children under 16 already admitted into the establishments above described," with a view to ascertain if the work on which they are employed exceeds their strength. In this case, the inspectors shall have the right to exact their discharge from the establishments with the assenting opinion of one of the doctors indicated in paragraph 3 of the present Article, and after examina- tion in the presence of both parties, if the parents demand it. In the orphan asylums and charitable institutions described in Article 1, where primary instruction is given, the manual or technical instruction shall not exceed three hours a day for children under 13, except for children 12 years old supplied with a certificate for primary studies. Article 3. — Children of either sex under 16 may not be employed in actual work for more than 10 hours a day. Young workmen or workwomen from 16 to 18 may not be employed in actual work for more than 60 hours a week, while the daily work may not exceed 12 hours. Girls under 18 and women may not be employed in actual work for more than 11 hours a day. The hours of work above indicated shall be inter- rupted by one or more pauses, during which work shall be suspended, and the whole amount of which shall not be less than one hour. Section II. Night Work, Weekly Rest. Article 4. — Children under 18 years, girls under 21, and women cannot be employed in any night work in establishments enumerated in Article 1. All work between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 p.m. is considered as night work ; work, however, will be permitted from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., when shared between two relays of workers working for not more than 9 hours each. The work of each gang shall be interrupted by a rest of at least one hour. The power of prolonging the work until 11 p.m. at certain times in the year, not exceeding 60 days at a time, shall be allowed for women and girls over 18, in certain industries to be hereinafter determined by public administrative orders, and under conditions of employment to be precisely stated in the said orders. In any case the actual day’s work cannot be prolonged beyond 12 hours. The power of permanently altering the provisions in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the present Article shall be allowed in certain industries, to be determined by an administrative order, while the work shall in no case exceed 7 hours in the 24. The same order may author- ise a temporary relaxation of the aforesaid rules in certain industries. Further, in case of a stoppage by an accidental or an inevitable interruption ( force majeure), the above prohibition can be temporarily altered for a fixed period in any industry whatsoever. Article 5. — Children under 18 and women of any age cannot be employed in the establishments enume- rated in the first Article for more than six days a week, nor on holidays recognised by law, even for putting the workshop in order. A placard put up in the workshops shall state the day set apart for the weekly rest. Article 6. — Nevertheless, in the works with furnaces in constant activity, the women above 21 and boys can be employed every day of the week in the night for necessary work, on the condition that they have at least one day of rest in the week. Those branches of industry in which this night work is allowed, and the lajise of time during which they can be carried on shall be determined by an administrative order. Article 7. — The enforcement of the weekly rest and restrictions relating to the continuance of work can be temporarily suspended by the inspector of the division, for workers given in Article 5, for certain industries, to be indicated by the aforesaid administrative order. Article 8. — Children of both sexes under 13 years of age may not be employed as actors, dancers, &c., in public representations given in the theatres and cafe concerts. The Minister for Public Instruction and for Fine Arts at Pa'-is, and the prefects in the departments may occasionally authorise the employment of one or more children in the theatres for the representation of certain pieces determined upon. Section III. Underground Works. Article 9. — Girls and women cannot be admitted into underground works, mines, minieres, and quarries. The administrative orders shall determine the special conditions of work for boys from 13 to 18 years of age in underground works above described. In certain mines specially indicated by the administrative orders, as requiring by reason of their natural conditions an abatement of the ordinances of paragraph 2, Article 4, these orders may allow work by children from 4 o’clock in the morning until midnight, on the express under- standing that the children shall not do more than eight hours’ actual work, or be in the mines for more than ten hours out of the 24. Section IV. Surveillance or Children. Article 10.— The mayors are bound to provide the father, mother, guardian, or employer gratuitously with a service book which contains both the surname and Christian name of children of both sexes under eighteen years old, the date and the place of their birth, and their home. If the child is under thirteen, the service book must mention that he is provided with a certificate for primary studies instituted by the law of the 28th of March 1882. The managers or employers shall write on the service book the date of entry into the workshop and of leaving. They must also have a register on which shall be mentioned all the information inserted in the present Article. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 107 Article 11. — The employers or managers and letters- out ( loueurs ) of motive power, are expected to post up in each workshop the provisions of the present law, the administrative orders relating to the carrying out of the same and specially concerning their trades, as well as the addresses and names of the inspectors ot the district. They shall also post up the time when the work is to begin and end, as well as the time and length of the rests. A duplicate of this notice shall be sent to the inspector, and another shall be left at the town hall ( mairie ). The organisation of shifts which results in prolonging the length of the working day beyond the legal limits, is forbidden for persons protected by the present law. In all workrooms of workshops, orphanages, charitable workshops, dependent upon religious or lay institutions, there shall be placed permanently a table indicating in legible characters, the conditions of children s work as given in Articles 2, 3, 4 and 5, and also the employment for the day, that is to say, the hours for manual work, rest, study, and for meals. This table shall be looked over by the inspector and signed by him. A complete enumerative account of the children educated in the establishments given above showing their surnames and Christian names, the date and place of their birth, and certified as correct by the directors of these establishments, shall be delivered every third month to the inspector, and shall make mention of any alterations that may have occurred since the last account was furnished. Section Y. Health and Safety of Workers. Article 12. — Administrative orders shall determine the different kinds of work to be forbidden for women, girls and children which are dangerous, or exceed their strength, or are injurious to morality. Article 13. — Women, girls and children cannot be employed in unhealthy or dangerous establishments, where the worker is exposed to operations or processes prejudicial to her health, unless under special conditions detei’mined by the administrative orders for each of these categories of workers. Article 14. — The establishments given in the first article and their dependencies must be kept in a con- stant state of cleanliness and be properly lighted and ventilated. They must have every condition of safety and wholesomeness necessary to the health of the work- people. In every establishment containing mechanical appara- tus, wheels, straps, gear or any other appliance which may be dangerous shall be separated from the workmen in such a manner that it is impossible to approach except for the purpose of directing them. The wells, trap-doors and lifts must be enclosed. Article 15. — Every accident having caused a wound to one or more workmen, happening in one of the estab- lishments mentioned in the first Article, shall form the subject of a statement by the employer {chef de V enterprise) , or failing him and in his absence, by his overseer. This declaration shall contain the name and address of the witnesses of the accident ; it shall be made within forty-eight hours to the mayor of the commune, who shall draw out an official report of it in a form to be determined by an administrative order. To this declaration will be joined a doctor’s certificate, produced by the master, showing the state of the wound, the probable results of the accident and the length of time in which it will be possible to know the definite result of it. An acknowledgment of the declaration and of the medical certificate shall be re- mitted forthwith to the sender. Notice of the accident is given immediately by the mayor to the inspector of the division or department. Article 16. — The masters or heads of establishments must, moreover, be attentive to the maintenance of good morals and to the observance of public decency. Section YI. Inspection. Article 17. — The inspectors of labour are ordered to see to the carrying out of the present law and of the law of the 9th September 1848. They are ordered, moreover, in concurrence with the commissaries of police, to carry out the law of December 7, 1874, relating to the protection of children employed in the itinerant trades. Nevertheless, in everything concerning the working of mines, m\ nieres and quarries, the carrying out of the law is entrusted exclusively to the engineers and comptrollers of mines, who for this service are placed under the authority of the Minister of Commerce and ludustry. Article 18.— The inspectors of work are nominated by the Minister of Commerce and Industry. This service will comprise : — 1. Divisional inspectors. 2. Departmental inspectors, male or female. A decree, delivered in accordance with advice of the Committee of Arts and Manufactures and of the Higher Commission on Labour instituted below, shall determine the departments in which they shall create departmental inspectors. It shall fix the number, salary and circuit expenses of these inspectors. The inspectors, male and female, of the departments are placed under the authority of the divisional inspector. The inspectors of labour must take an oath to reveal nothing of the secrets of manufactures, and, generally , the processes of working with which they will become acquainted in the exercise of their duties. Every violation of this oath is punished comformably to Article 378 of the present Code. Article 19. — Henceforth, only those candidates who have satisfied the conditions set forth in Article 22 will be admitted to the duties of divisional or departmental inspector. The nomination to the post of titular inspector will only be definite after the space of one year. Article 20. — The inspectors, male or female, have right of entry into all the establishments described in the first Article ; they can insist upon being shown the register prescribed by Article 10, the service books, the private rules, and if necessary the certificate for physical fitness mentioned in Article 2. The infringements are stated in the official reports of the inspectors (male or female) which are taken as evidence ( fontfoi ) unless contrary proof is shown. These official reports are drawn up with duplicates, and one is sent to the prefect of the department and the other is left at the Public Prosecutor’s office. The above orders do not interfere with the rules of Common Law relating to the ascertainment and prosecu- tion of infringements of the present law. The inspectors have, beyond the supervision entrusted to them, to prepare statistics on the conditions of in- dustrial work in that district which they are appointed to supervise. A report summarising these communica- tions will be published every year, under the care of the Minister of Commerce and of Industry. Section VII. Higher and Departmental Commissions. Article 22. — A Higher Commission composed of nine members, whose duties are unpaid, is established under the Minister of Commerce and of Industry. This com- mission includes two senators, two deputies elected by their colleagues, and five members nominated for a period of four years by the President of the Republic. It is appointed : — 1. To guard the uniform and vigilant application of the present law. 2. To give advice on regulations to be made, and, generally speaking, on the various questions respecting the workers under protection. 3. Finally to arrange the conditions for the admission of candidates to the divisional and departmental inspection, and the programme for the examina- tion they must undergo. The divisional inspectors appointed under the law of May 19th, 1874, and actually in office, shall be re- distributed among the various posts (divisional and departmental) established under the present law without undergoing a new examination. The inspectors of departments may be retained in their posts without undergoing a new examination. Article 23. — Each year the President of the Higher Commission addresses to the President of the Republic a general report upon the results of the inspection, and upon the facts relating to the execution of the present law. This report must be published in the Journal Ojfciel in the same month that it is presented. O 2 108 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Article 24 — The General Councils must form one or more commissions charged to present reports on the execution of the law, and the improvements which may be made in it, which shall he transmitted to the Minister and communicated to the Higher Commission. The divisional and departmental inspectors, the pre- sidents and vice-presidents of the committee of experts ( prud’liommes ) of the chief place, or of the principal in- dustrial centre of the department, and, if there is one, the engineer of the mines, shall ex-officio form part of these commissions in their respective districts. The local commissions instituted by Articles 20, 21, and 22 of the law of the 19th May, 1874, are abolished. Article 25. — There shall be in every department employers’ committees having for their object : — 1. The protection of apprentices and of children employed in the trade ; 2. The development of technical instruction. The General Council in each department shall deter- mine the number and the district of the employers’ committee, of which the statutes shall be sanc- tioned, in the department of the Seine, by the Minister of the Interior, and the Minister of Commerce and of Industry, and by the prefects in the other departments. The employers’ committees shall be governed by a com- mission composed of seven members, four of whom shall be nominated by the General Council, and three by the prefect. They are renewable every three years. The members going out of office may be recalled to take part in it. Their duties are unpaid. Section VIII. Penalties. Article 26. — The manufacturers, directors, or mana- gers of establishments set forth in the present law who shall have transgressed the prescriptions of the said law, and the administrative orders relating to the carry- ing out of the same, shall be brought before the police courts, and shall be liable to a fine of from 5 to 1 5 francs. The fine shall be inflicted as often as there are persons employed under conditions contrary to the present law. Nevertheless, the penalty will not be inflicted if the in- fringement of the law has been the result of an error arising from the production of birth documents, service books, or certificates containing false statements or delivered by another person. The employers (chefs d'inclustrie) shall be legally responsible (civilemcnt) for the fines pronounced against their directors or managers. Article 27. — In case of a fresh offence, the offender shall be brought before the magistrate and punished by a fine of from 16 to 100 francs. It is to be considered a second offence when the person contravening has already undergone sentence for a like contravention in the twelve months preceding the deed under consideration. In case of several con- traventions bringing in their train those penalties be- longing to the second offence, the fine shall be applied as many times as new contraventions shall have been noticed. The magistrates shall be able to apply the provisions of Article 463 of the Penal Code concerning extenuating circumstances, so long as the fine in any case for each offence is not less than 5 francs. Article 28. — The posting of the sentence, according to the circumstances and in the case of a second offence only, can be ordered by the magistrates. The magistrate can also order in the same case the insertion in one or more journals of the department of the sentence passed, at the expense of the offender. Article 29. — Whoever shall put any obstacle in the way of an inspector’s fulfilment of his duties shall be punished by a fine of from 100 to 500 francs. In case of a fresh offence, the fine shall be increased, and shall be from 500 to 1,000 francs. Article 463 of the Penal Code applies to conviction. Section IX. SrECiAL Provisions. Article 30. — The administrative orders necessary for the application of the present law shall be delivered after advice from the Higher Commission on Labour, and the Consultative Committee of Arts and Manu- factures. The General Council on Mines shall be called upon to give its advice on the orders provided in execu- tion of Article 9. Article 31. — The provisions of the present law apply to children placed as apprentices, and employed in one of the establishments set forth in the first article. Article 32.— The provisions set out in the present law will only apply from January 1st, 1893. The law of May 19th, 1874, and the administrative orders issued for the execution of its provisions, will be annulled on the date above given. The present law, resolved on and adopted by the Senate and by the Chamber of Deputies, shall be carried out as a law of the State. Given at Paris, November 2, 1892. (Signed) Carnot, By the President of the Republic. The Minister of Commerce and Industry, (Signed) Jules Roche. Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, and Public Worship, (Signed) L. Ricard. APPENDIX VIII. Decree of May 3rd, 1893, regulating the Application of the Law of Novemrer 2nd, 1892, as regards the Length of the Actual Day’s Labour for Boys in Mines, Minieres, and Quarries. The President of the Republic, with the advice of the General Council of the Mines, of the Consultative Com- mittee of Arts and Manufactures, and of the Higher Commission of Labour, decrees: — Article 1. — The length of the actual labour of boys under 16 in the underground galleries of mines, minieres and quarries may not exceed eight hours ( par poste) in the twenty-four. The length of actual labour for young workmen of sixteen to eighteen may not exceed 10 hours a day or 54 hours a week. These hours do not include the ascent and descent nor the time spent in going to and from the yards, nor the rests, which last may not be less than one hour. Article 2. — Boys and young workmen may be em- ployed in sorting the minerals, in pushing and rolling the trucks, in working the gates and ventilators, and in accessory works not exceeding their strength. They may not be employed in working the ventilators for more than half a day, with periods of rest intervening amounting to at least half-an-hour. Young workmen of sixteen to eighteen may not be employed at miners’ work except as helps or appren- tices and for not more than five hours a day. All work beyond what is mentioned in the preceding paragraphs is forbidden in the underground galleries for boys and young workmen. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 109 Article 3. — The special provisions in Article 9, paragraph three, of the law of November 2nd, 1892, may be applied to workers of small coal strata in which the labour is carried on by double post ( double poste) and when the labour of one of the posts consists in removal of surrounding rocks in the breaking yards and the embankment which could not be carried out during the work of extraction. The employer who wishes to avail himself of this rule must give notice beforehand to the engineer-in- chief of mines. If the latter is opposed, the employer must apply for authorisation of the Minister of Com- merce, Industry and the Colonies. Article 4. — The Minister of Commerce, Industry and the Colonies is charged with the application of the present decree, which shall be inserted in the Bulletin des Lois and published in the Journal Officiel de la Republique Frangaise. driven at Paris, May 3rd, 1893. Carnot. The Minister of Commerce, Industry, and the Colonies, Terrier. Decree of May 13th, 1893, relating to Article 12 of the Law regulating Labour of Women and Children. The President of the French republic ; On the report of the Minister of Commerce, Industry, and the Colonies ; Considering Article 12 of the law of November 2nd, 1892; Considering the advice of the Consultative Committee of Arts and Manufactures ; Considering the advice of the Higher Commission instituted by Article 22 of the law cited ; The Council of State having concurred — Decrees : Article 1. — Employment of children under 18, girls under age, and women, is forbidden in oiling cleaning, or repairing of machinery or mechanical apparatus which is in motion. Article 2. — Employment of children under 18, girls under age and women is forbidden in workshops where there are machines guided by hand or by motor power, of which the dangerous parts are not protected by wheel guards or other measures. Article 3. — Employment of children under 18 is forbidden in the working of apparatus by treadles. Similarly their employment in working horizontal wheel gear is forbidden. Article 4. — Children under 16 may not be employed in turning vertical wheels for more than half the day, divided by a rest of at least half-an-hour. Similarly employment of children under 16 in working those looms called “ hand-looms ” by means of treadles is forbidden. Article 5. — Children under 16 may not work the circular or twisted saws ( scies circulaires, scies d ruban). Article 6. — Children under 16 may not be em- ployed in working shears or other sharp-edged tools. Article 7.— Children under 13 may not be employed in cutting or blowing glass at glassworks. Above 13 and under 16 they may not be employed in cutting a weight of glass above 1,000 grammes. in glass bottle and sheet-glass factories blowing by the mouth is forbidden to children under 16. In the works where blowing is done by the mouth a separate mouthpiece (embout personnel) shall be set apart for every child under 18. Article 8. — It is forbidden that children under 16 should be set to overlook steam cocks. Article 9. — It is forbidden that children under 16 should be employed as folders in the workshops where wire rods are rolled and drawn. However, this provision does not apply to the work- shops where the work of folders is protected by guards. Article 10. — The employment of children under 16 is forbidden in works carried out by means of wingod scaffolding (eehafaudages volants) whether for repairing or cleaning houses. Article 11.— Young workmen and workwomen under 18 employed in industry may not carry, whether outside or inside factories, works, workshops and yards, any burdens exceeding the following : — Boys below 14 - 10 kilogr Boys from 14 to 18 - - 15 „ Girls below 16 - 5 „ Girls from 16 to 18 - 10 „ It is forbidden that the same workers should be employed in pushing or dragging, either in industrial establishments or on public roads, any loads requiring greater corresponding efforts than those just indicated. The conditions of equivalence in the two kinds of effort shall be determined by a Ministerial resolution (Arrete). Article 12. — Employment of girls under 16 in work- ing sewing machines by treadles is forbidden. Article 13. — Employment of children, girls and women is forbidden in preparation of writings, prints, bills, drawings, engravings, paintings, emblems, pictures or other objects, the sale, supply, exhibition, posting or distribution of which are repressed by penal laws as contrary to good morals. Similarly the occupation of children under 16 and girls under age is forbidden in the -workshops where the pre- paration of writings, prints, bills, &c., &c., which, without falling under the application of the said penal laws, are of a nature to injure their morals. Article 14. — In the establishments where the pro- cesses named in Table A., annexed to the present decree are carried on, the entry into those workshops is for- bidden to children under 18, girls under age, and women. (‘) Article 15. — In the establishments where the processes named in Table B. annexed to the present decree are carried on, the entry into those workshops is forbidden to children under 18. Article 16. — The labour of children, girls under age and women is only authorised in the workshops enumerated in Table C. annexed to the present decree, under the conditions specified in the same table. Article 17. — The Minister of Commerce, Industry and the Colonies is charged with the execution of the pre- sent decree, which shall be inserted in the Bulletin des Lois, and published in the Journal Officiel de la Republique Frangaise. Given at Paris, May 13th, 1893. Carnot. By the President of the Republic ; The Minister of Commerce, Industry and the Colonies, Terrier. Decree of July 15th, 1893, regulating Labour of Women and Girls above 18. The President of the French Republic ; On the report of the Minister of Commerce, of Industry and the Colonies ; Considering Articles 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the law of November 2nd, 1892 ; Considering the advice of the Consultative Committee of Arts and Manufactures ; Considering the advice of the Higher Commission instituted by Article 22 of the law cited ; The Council of State concurring — Decrees : Article 1. — In the industries and at the periods here- inafter determined, women and girls above 18 years may be employed until eleven o’clock in the evening, while the hours of actual work may in no case exceed 12 in the 24 : — 0) This Table A., and the Table B. anil C„ mentioned in the next Articles, will he found in tile Journal Officiel for May 11th, lxa 3 . They are of so elaborate and detailed a character, covering almost all the industrial chemical processes, that it is impossible to reproduce them m a work of this size. O 3 110 RO¥AL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Industries. Periods of the Year. "W orks. Workers. Branches or Occupat i ons. Upholstery, tapestry and passementerie for furniture. Jewelry and trinkets Hatmaking or trimming Readymade clothing and under- clothing for women and children. Readymade clothing for men - Gilding of wood and metal for furniture. Artificial flowers - Making up of furs - - Typographical printing Lithographical printing - - - Making up of paper, envelopes, school copybooks, fancy stationery Wall-papers - Dress plumes - - - - Binding - Toys and fancy goods - - - Dyeing, trimming, bleaching, stamp- ing, goffering and watering of stuffs. Weaving of novelties in stuffs for clothing - - - - Nets, laces and silk breadths - December, January. December, May. February, March. December April. March, October. December, January. February, March. November, December. November 15th to December 15th, and June 15th, to July 15tli. December, January. November, December. March, September. August 16th to Octo- ber 15th. December, July. November, December. April, October. April 15th to May 1 5th and October 15tli to November 15th. February 15th to March 31. Article 2. — Permanent exceptions to the provision in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 4 (night work) of the law cited may be made for women who have attained their majority (while the work may not exceed seven hours in the 24) in the following industries: — Stitching of printed matter, folding of journals, lighting of lamps for mines. Article 3. — The industries hereinafter enumerated are authorised to make temporary exceptions to the provisions relative to night work, while the actual work of women, girls or children employed at night may not exceed ten hours in the 24 : — Industries. Total Length of the Exceptions. Hat making or trimming 30 days. Readymade clothing for women and „ children. Confectionery ... 90 days. Preserved fruits and vegetables „ Preserved fish - - - - ,, Removal of wool from sheepskins 60 (lays. Artificial flowers - 30 days. Making up of furs - - JJ Printing (lithographic and t 3 'po- ,, graphic). Perfume making - 90 days. Patty making ( Pates alimentaires ) - 30 days. Dress plumes - - - - ,, Urgent repairs of ships and motor 1 20 days (children machines. above 16.) Coopering for barrels of fish - 90 days. Article 4. — In works where fire is continually kept up women who have attained majority and boys may be employed at night in the following occupations : — Beetroot eries. distill- Boy ■s and women i Washing, weighing, sorting the beetroot, turning the cocks for juice and water, helping at the distilling machinery. Enamelled iron and brass works. Boys Working the oven doors from a distance. Oil - extracting works. Boys Filling and shaking the sacks, carrying empty sacks and screens. Paper works - Boys and women Helping the machinists, cutting, weighing, rolling and piling the paper. Sugar factories and refineries. Boys and women As in the beetroot distilleries; also, looking after the filters, washing the apparatus and the works, working the sugar into tablets. Metal works - Boys Helping in the preparation of beds of fusion and a number of accessory works ( affinage , lavinage, martelage, trefilage) arrangement of bundles, sheets, tubes and wires. Glass works Boys - Handing the tools, helping in various processes ( souffiage moulage) all under the condi- tions of Article 7 of the decree of May 13th, 1893. When women and boys are employed through the night they must have intervals of rest amounting in all to not less than two hours. The hours of actual work must at the same time not exceed ten. Article 5.— Among the industries in which the com- pulsory weekly rest and ether restrictions on duration of work applies, a certain number may be exempted from these provisions by the sectional inspector in the case of children under 18 and women of any age. They are as follows : — Open brick works ; making up of hats ; corset making ; readymade clothing for women and children ; preserved fruits, vegetables and fish ; open rope yards ; removal of wool from sheepskins ; artificial flowers ; perfume making (from flowers) ; making up of furs ; printing, typographic and litho- graphic ; dress plumes ; urgent repairs of ships and motor apparatus ; dyeing, bleaching, goffering, &c., of stuffs ; weaving of novelties in stuffs for clothing. Article 6. — Each time that an employer in the trades mentioned in Article 3 wishes to avail himself of the power given in that Article he must give notice of it 12 hours beforehand to the inspector or inspectors and to the mayor of the commune. This notice shall announce dates for beginning and ending the departure from the ordinary custom. A copy of the notice shall be posted up immediately in a prominent place in the factories and shall remain there during the whole period of the new departure. A copy of the authorisation shall be similarly posted up in the cases provided for by Article 5. Article 7. — The Minister of Commerce, of Industry and the Colonies is charged with the execution of the present decree, which shall be inserted in the “Bulletin des Lois,” and published in the “ Journal Officiel ” of the French Republic. Executed at Paris, July 15tli, 1893. C ARNOT. By the President of the Republic ; The Minister of Commerce, Industry and the Colonies, Terrier, APPENDIX IX. Law relating to the Health and Safety of (June 1! The Senate and Chamber of Deputies have adopted, the President of the Republic promulgates the following- law : — Article 1. — The provisions of the present law apply to manufactures, factories, works, yards, workshops of all kinds, with their outbuildings ( dependances ). Workers in Industrial Establishments. 1 I, 1893.) Only those establishments are excepted in which the members of a family are employed under the authority of the father, mother, or guardian. Nevertheless, if work is carried on in the latter by means of steam or mechanical power, or if the industry is classed among dangerous or unhealthy undertakings, the inspector shall have the right to prescribe those (*) Journal Officiel de la Republique Franfaise, June 13th, 1893. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. Ill measures for safety and sanitation which are provided under this law. Article 2. — The establishments held in view (vises) by Article 1 must be constantly kept in a cleanly state, and maintain the hygiene and sanitary conditions necessary for the health of the workers. They must be arranged in such a way as to secure the safety of the workers. In every establishment worked by machinery the wheels, bands, gear, or any other possible source of danger shall be separated from the workers in such a way that approach to them can only be made for the necessary purpose of directing them. Wells, traps, and openings must be covered over. Machinery, gear, tools, and engines should be fitted up and maintained in the best possible state for safety. These provisions are applicable to theatres, circuses, shops, and similar establishments where mechanical apparatus is used. Article 3 Administrative orders drawn up under advice of the Consultative Committee of Arts and Manufactures shall determine : — (I.) Within three months of the promulgation of this law, the general measures for protection and safety applicable to all the establishments under it, notably in the matters of lighting, ventilating, drinking water, cesspools, steaming and sizing, precautions against fire, &c. (2.) In accordance with ascertained needs, the detailed prescriptions relative to certain industries or modes of labour. The Consultative Committee of Public Hygiene shall be called upon to give advice in all that concerns the general regulations provided by paragraph 2 of the present Article. Article 4. — The inspectors of labour are charged with the execution of the present law and the orders provided for by it ; they have entry into the establish- ments specified in Article 1 and the last paragraph of Article 2, in order that they may carry out the super- vision and inquiries with which they are charged. Article 5. — Contraventions are stated in the reports of the inspectors, which are held as evidence (font fox) unless proof to the contrary is given. The reports are prepared with duplicates, one copy being sent to the prefect and the other to the office of the Public Prosecutor (parquet). The foregoing provisions do not derogate from the rules of common law in regard to the statement and prosecution of infringements of the present law. Article 6. — Nevertheless, in all that concerns the application of the administrative orders provided for by Article 3, the inspectors should summon (mettront en demeure ) the employers to conform to the provisions of the said order before they prepare a report. This summons (mise en demeure) should be made in writing in the register of the works ; it should be dated and signed, should indicate the contraventions in ques- tion, and fix a date by which the contraventions should have disappeared. The date should never give less time than one month. Within 15 days of the summons the employer may, if he thinks fit, address a demand to the Minister of Com- merce and Industry. If obedience to tbe summons necessitates important alterations in the structure of the works, the Minister may, with the advice of the Committee of Arts and Manufactures, accord to the employer a delay which in any case should not be longer than 18 months. Notification of the decision is sent to the employer in administrative form (dans la forme administrative) ; advice of it is sent to the inspector. Article 7. — The employers, directors, managers, or officers in charge who have contravened the provisions of the present law, and the administrative orders relative to its execution, shall be prosecuted before the police courts (tribunal de simple police) ,(') and punished with a fine of from 5 francs to 15 francs. The fine shall be applied as many times as there are distinct contraven- tions stated in the reports, without, however, passing a limit of 200 francs. The judgment shall fix, moreover, the time in which the changes for safety and sanitation imposed by the law shall be carried out. The employers are legally responsible for sentences pronounced against their directors, managers, or officers. Article 8. — If, after a sentence is pronounced under the preceding Article, the measures for safety and health imposed by the present law or administrative orders have not been carried out within the time specified by the sentence the matter is brought in a fresh report before the magistrates (tribunal correctionnel) . ( 2 ) After a new summons (mise en demeure) which remains with- out effect, this Court can order the establishment to be closed. The sentence is subject to appeal ; the Court shall declare the matter urgent (statuera d’urgence). Article 9. — In case of a fresh offence the person con- travening the law shall be prosecuted before the court for misdemeanors, and punished by a fine of 50 to 500 francs, but the sum total of fines may not rise beyond 2,000 francs. There is a fresh offence when the person contravening has been subject, within the 12 months preceding the fact which is the matter for prosecution, to a first sentence for infraction of the present law or the administrative orders relative to its execution. Article 10. — The inspectors must prepare every year circumstantial reports on the application of the present law throughout their districts. These reports should mention the accidents of which workers have been victims and their causes. They should contain pro- posals relative to new precautions likely to assure safety in the work. A summary report of these communica- tions should be published every year under the care of the Minister of Commerce and Industry. Article 11. — Every accident which has caused injury to one or more workers in the establishments mentioned in Article 1 and the last paragraph of Article 2 shall be the object of a declaration by the head of the under- taking or, in his default or in his absence, by the official in command. This declaration shall contain the name and address of the witnesses of the accident ; it shall be delivered within 48 hours to the mayor of the commune, who shall prepare a report in a form hereinafter to be deter- mined by administrative order. To this declaration shall be appended, by the employer, a certificate indi- cating the condition of the injured person, the probable consequences of the accident, and the date at which it will be possible to know the definite result. Acknow- ledgment of the declaration and the medical certificate shall be sent forthwith to the deponent. Notice of the accident is given immediately by the mayor to the departmental inspector. Article 12. — All those who shall have placed auy obstacle in the way of accomplishment by the inspector of his duties shall be punished by a fine of 100 to 500 francs, and in case of a second offence of 500 to 1,000 francs. The provisions of the Penal Code which prevent and repress acts of resistance, outrages, or violence against officials of the law (police judiciaire) are applicable to those who are guilty of like offences against the inspectors. Article 13. — Nothing is introduced in regard to surveillance of steam gear. Article 14. — Article 463 of the Penal Code is applic- able to sentences pronounced under the present law. Article 15. — All provisions of laws and regulations contrary to the present law are abrogated. The present law, deliberated and adopted by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies shall be executed as a law of the State. Executed at Paris, J une 12, 1893. Carnot. By the President of the Republic ; the Minister of Commerce and Industry and the Colonies. Terrier. The Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice. Guerin. f 1 ) See Appendix XIX., p. 137. ( 2 ) lb . 112 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR APPENDIX X. Number, Average Wages, and Duration of Labour of the Hands employed i.i the Mine. Nature of Average daily Output. Number Average Average Num- Average daily Wages Names of Groups and Basins. Names of the Sub- Sum- Departments. stances extracted. Of Miners pro- perl,' r so- called. Ofother Of un- Of Chil- dren from 12 to 16 Years. her of Hours Hours of actual Labour lerDay. Of Miners r pro- j lerlyso- called. | 3f other Of un- skilled Work- men. skilled Work- men. Total. 1 present >er Day n Mine. skilled Work- men. skilled Work- men. 3f Chil- dren. I.— MINERAL l. COAL AND Nord and Pas- Tons. drs. in. db-Caxais. Hrs. m. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Valenciennes Nord, Pas-de- Coal 40,623 24,059 4,451 10,148 4,349 43,007 9 25 8 8 5 30 4 41 3 62 1 86 Calais. Le Boulonnais - Pas-de-Calais - .. 10 24 6 5 — 35 9 0 8 0 2 75 2 00 2 00 — Total and average. - 46,633 24,083 4,457 10,153 4,349 43,042 9 4 S 8 5 30 4 41 3 62 ; 1 86 Loire. Saint-Etienne - Loire - - Coal n,ias 3,197 2,474 4,175 64 9,910 10 45 7 58 5 68 4 87 3 85 2 00 Sainte-Foy-l’Ar- Rhone - - ( „ 150 56 24 65 — 145 11 0 10 0 4 75 4 55 3 35 — gentifcre. Communay I sere Anthracite 36 26 9 3 - 38 11 0 10 0 4 60 3 75 3 60 — Total and average. - 11,384 3,279 2,507 4,243 64 10,093 10 45 8 0 5 66 4 86 3 84 2 00 Gard. Alais - Gard, ArdOche - j Coal 6,546 3,410 1,023 2,920 J92 7,545 11 8 8 51 5 14 4 11 3 75 2 43 Anbenas - ArdOclie • Anthracite 121 73 2 93 - 168 10 28 9 0 3 89 4 50 2 85 - Le Vigan - - j Gard Coal 13 - - 39 - 39 10 30 9 0 - - 3 59 - Total and i average. - 6,680 3,483 1,025 3,052 192 7,752 11 7 8 53 5 11 4 12 3 75 2 43 Burgundy and Nivernais. Le Creusot and Saone-et-Loiro - Coal 4,446 2,499 696 572 266 4,033 9 23 8 13 4 70 4 45 3 44 1 98 Blanzy. Decize - NiOvre - „ 527 341 109 226 80 756 9 0 8 0 4 16 3 70 3 10 2 40 Epinac Saone-et-Loire - 37S 200 108 133 - 441 10 0 8 30 3 85 3 50 2 85 - Aubigny-la-Ronce C6te-d’Or - .. 15 38 1 17 - 56 10 0 9 0 S 25 3 25 2 75 - La Chapelle-sous- Sa6ne-et-Loire - 167 56 41 59 - 156 9 0 8 0 3 80 3 50 2 50 - Dun. Bert - Allier 162 119 11 70 - 200 10 0 9 0 4 57 4 10 3 00 - Sincey C6te d’Or „ 13 20 3 3 - 26 9 0 8 0 3 60 3 00 2 75 - Total and average. - 5,708 3,273 969 1,080 S4G 5,668 9 24 8 14 4 55 4 22 3 20 2 08 Tarn and AVEYRON. Aubin - Aveyron - Coal 2,665 1,600 647 571 - 2,818 9 31 8 26 4 05 4 04 3 53 - Carmaux - Tarn 1,295 567 265 497 - 1,329 8 45 7 59 5 19 5 04 3 34 - Rodez - Aveyron - 46 44 2 20 66 10 0 9 0 3 76 2 57 3 14 - Saint-Perdoux - Lot 4 9 - 3 - 12 12 0 10 0 3 17 - 2 25 - Total and average. - 4,010 2,220 914 1,091 - 4,225 9 17 8 18 4 36 4 33 3 44 - Bourbonnais. Commentry Allier • Coal 3,016 1,888 612 646 - 2,546 10 0 9 0 4 31 3 99 3 21 - Saint-Eloy - Puy-de-D6me - .. 520 390 - 328 - 718 10 0 8 30 4 30 - 3 32 - L’Aumance Allier - „ 118 59 13 43 - 115 9 24 8 24 3 41 3 52 2 91 - Total and average. - 3,654 1,837 625 917 - 3,379 10 0 8 52 4 28 3 98 3 23 - Auvergne. Brassac - Haute- Loire, Coal and 848 198 260 334 792 9 59 7 59 4 75 4 50 4 25 — Puy-de-D6me. anthracite Champagnac Cantal Coal 220 60 08 107 — 235 9 30 7 30 5 00 4 25 4 25 — Langeac Haute-Loire 45 13 - 27 - 40 10 0 8 0 4 50 — 3 25 - Total and average. - 1,113 271 328 468 - 1,067 9 53 7 53 4 79 4 45 3 40 - HSrault. Graissessac HOrault - Coal 1,018 437 168 489 28 1,122 10 3 8 49 4 97 4 90 3 62 2 10 Southern Vosges. Ronchamp - Haute-Sa6ne - | Coal 760 564 74 415 - 1,053 9 0 8 0 4 88 3 38 3 07 - 1 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 113 APPENDIX X. various categories of Workmen employed in Mines. ( Statistique Minirale, 1889.) Hands employed outside the Mines. Number Of Men. Of Women. Of Chil- dren. Total. Average Number of Hours present at the Mine per Day. Average Number of Hours of actual Labour per Day. Average daily Wages. Of Men. Of Of Chil- Women, dren. Estimated addition to daily Wages arising from Allowances of Fuel, Rent, Pensions, Aid, Ac. Average daily Wages per Head. In the Mine. Above ground, Average daily Wages per Head without distinction, and includ- ing the estimated Addition. Average Num- ber of Work- ing Days in 1883. Average annual Wages per Head without distinction, and includ- ing the estimated Addition. COMBUSTIBLES. ANTHRACITE. G,508 5 674 1,969 9,151 5 Hrs. m. 10 51 12 0 Hrs. m. 9 50 10 0 Fr. c. 3 39 2 00 Fr. c. 1 64 Fr. c. 1 47 Fr. c. 0 45 0 07 Fr. c. 4 47 2 51 Fr. c. 2 83 2 00 Fr. c. 4 63 2 53 299 263 Francs. 1,384 665 6,513 674 1,969 9.156 10 51 9 50 3 39 1 64 1 47 0 45 4 46 2 83 4 63 299 1,3S4 4,298 267 391 4,056 10 5 8 10 3 30 2 00 1 55 0 25 4 69 3 09 4 40 297 1,307 44 - 10 54 11 0 11 0 2 50 - 1 50 0 05 4 09 2 32 3 66 2G3 963 26 - - 26 11 0 10 0 2 90 - - - 4 34 2 88 3 76 258 970 4,368 267 401 5,036 10 5 8 12 8 30 2 00 1 55 0 25 4 67 3 09 4 39 297 1,304 2,851 536 395 3,782 10 20 10 2 3 S3 1 46 1 35 0 24 4 39 2 86 4 12 297 1,224 80 2 - 82 11 0 10 0 2 45 1 50 - 0 14 3 32 2 43 3 17 298 945 21 - - 21 12 0 9 30 2 61 - - 0 08 3 56 2 62 3 2!! 292 958 2,952 538 395 3,885 10 21 10 2 3 30 1 46 1 35 0 24 4 36 2 85 4 10 297 1,218 1,903 45 4 461 2,818 10 47 10 52 3 74 1 73 1 49 0 56 4 SO 3 05 4 34 304 1,319 308 130 26 464 11 0 9 0 3 16 1 84 2 01 0 35 3 59 2 72 3 61 326 1,177 153 30 20 203 12 0 10 30 2 75 1 50 1 25 0 10 3 46 2 42 3 23 284 917 19 - - 19 12 0 11 0 2 75 - - 0 20 3 09 2 74 3 20 286 915 93 - - 93 12 0 11 0 2 71 - - 0 10 3 29 2 70 3 19 29!) 954 02 5 28 125 11 0 10 0 2 65 1 60 1 20 0 28 3 99 2 29 3 62 278 1,007 8 - — 8 11 0 10 0 3 00 - - 0 35 3 42 3 00 2 68 164 604 2,576 610 535 3,730 11 41 ■ 10 35 3 52 1 74 1 49 0 48 4 09 2 94 4 It 304 1,249 970 499 37 1,506 10 10 9 30 3 15 1 40 1 33 0 26 3 95 2 53 3 71 290 1,076 601 - 115 776 10 2 10 0 3 31 - 1 99 0 20 4 47 3 11 4 17 233 972 26 18 — 44 12 0 10 51 2 50 1 50 - 0 04 4 30 2 11 3 47 262 903 5 — - 5 12 0 10 0 2 50 - — - 3 00 2 50 2 76 114 315 1,662 517 152 2,331 10 10 9 42 3 20 1 40 1 83 0 23 4 11 2 71 3 85 271 1,043 713 106 204 1,023 11 0 10 0 3 24 1 45 1 51 0 17 4 00 2 70 3 80 284 1,079 218 33 5 256 12 0 10 30 2 65 1 46 1 47 0 13 3 85 2 50 3 6* 312 1,129 63 — 2 65 11 30 10 17 2 90 - 1 50 0 10 3 24 2 85 3 20 243 OO 994 139 211 1,344 11 16 10 8 3 09 1 45 1 51 0 16 4 00 2 67 3 74 287 1,074 282 22 36 340 11 34 9 50 2 78 1 67 1 50 \ 0 07 4 12 2 57 3 73 311 1,160 72 23 9 ! 104 12 0 11 0 3 25 1 50 1 25 0 23 3 99 2 68 3 82 300 1,146 26 — - 26 12 0 10 30 3 43 - - 0 03 3 65 3 43 3 60 250 900 380 45 45 470 11 41 10 8 2 til 1 60 1 45 0 10 4 08 2 65 3 74 307 1,148 530 138 35 703 11 58 9 31 3 28 1 53 1 30 0 25 4 30 2 85 4 00 296 1,184 209 32 71 312 12 0 10 0 2 90 1 90 1 47 0 18 4 06 2 47 3 88 285 1,103 1 1 U 78419. 114 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Appendix X. — Number, Average Wages, and Duration of Labour of the Hands employed in the Mine. Names of Groups and Basins. Nature of the Sub- Average daily Output. Number Average Num- Average- Num- ber of Hours of actual Labour perDay. Average daily Wages Departments. stances extracted. Of other. Of un- Mmcrs skiUed ; skilled perl y so- Work- i w «*- called? I - men ‘ Of Chil- dren from 12 to 16 Years. Total. her of Hours present per l)ay in Mine. Of Miners pro- perly so- called. Of other! Of un- : skilled j skilled Of Chil- Work- Work- 1 clren. men. men. I. — Mineral Combustibles. Creuse and Tons. 1 CORREZE. Hrs. m. Hrs. m. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Ahun - Creuse Coal 633 376 57 171 - 604 10 0 9 0 4 15 3 75 3 00 - Bourganeuf . Creuse * >» 37 25 2 11 2 40 10 0 9 0 3 10 3 00 2 50 1 50 Cublac. Meymac, and Argentat. Correze „ 13 22 3 11 - 36 10 0 9 0 3 58 3 07 2 59 - Total and average. — 683 423 62 193 2 6S0 10 0 9 0 4 04 3 69 2 94 1 50 Western Alps. La Mure - Lsere Anthracite 411 624 123 16 - 763 9 0 7 3G 4 00 3 40 3 03 - Maurienne- Hautes-Alpes, . 149 299 8 67 — 374 8 30 7 57 1 92 3 25 1 93 _ Tarentaise and Brianijon. Savoie, Oisans ... lsere ” 5 32 6 — — 38 10 0 8 19 2 20 2 42 — — Chablais and Faucigny Haute-Savoie - 2 2 - 1 3 10 0 10 0 3 00 - 2 50 - Total and average. - 597 957 137 84 - 1,178 8 53 7 25 3 32 3 36 2 19 - West. Le Maine - Mayenne, Sarthe Anthracite 233 199 10 85 30 324 10 5 8 19 3 49 2 87 2 27 1 34 Basse-Loire Loire-Infdrieure, Coal 171 214 9 104 8 335 9 48 8 17 3 42 3 42 2 50 1 25 Maine-et-Loire Vouvant and Chantonay. Vendee, Deux- Sdvres. >. 148 139 9 101 14 263 10 0 8 34 4 18 4 11 2 67 1 50 - 552 552 28 290 52 922 9 57 8 23 3 64 3 45 2 51 1 37 Total and average. Les Maures. Les Maurcs Var Coal and bituminous 23 95 3 51 9 158 , 10 0 9 31 4 25 4 75 I 3 25 2 00 schist. | 1 2. LIG- Provence. 1 Fuveau - Bouches - du - Lignite 1 - 1,223 966 109 534 133 1,742 8 1 7 1 4 71 1 17 3 33 2 72 Rhone. 100 Manosque - Basses-Alpes - ” 100 81 4 10 2 9 53 9 VI 3 98 3 50 3 05 2 00 Total and - 1.323 1,050 113 544 135 1,842 8 8 7 8 4 66 4 15 3 32 2 72 average. Comtat. Bagnols, Orange, Gard, Vaucluse- Lignite - i 83 93 - — - 93 8 51 8 51 4 37 — — — Banc-Rnuge. Barjac - Gard - - j ” ■ i 12 10 - - 10 9 0 9 0 3 90 - - - Methamis Vaucluse - » - 1 3 9 — j 4 — 13 10 0 8 0 4 50 — 3 75 - Total and ~ 98 112 - 4 - 116 8 59 8 46 4 31 - 3 75 - average. Southern Vosges. Gouhenans - Haute-Saone - Lignite - 31 32 - 28 5 65 9 0 8 0 2 90 - 2 15 1 90 Norroy - Vosges - „ 5 8 4 7 - 19 11 0 11 0 2 75 3 50 2 00 Total and - 36 40 4 35 5 84 9 27 8 40 2 87 3 50 2 12 1 90 average. South-West. Millau and Aveyron, Gard - Lignite - 16 33 2 2 - 37 9 53 9 6 3 66 3 50 2 50 — TrOvezel. Estavar Pyrdnees-Orient- „ 7 5 — 3 — 8 10 0 10 0 3 15 — 2 55 — ales. 11 3 50 La Cannette Herault - 4 9 — — 2 10 0 9 0 — 1 25 Simeyrols and Dordogne „ 1 2 6 - - — 6 10 0 10 0 2 67 — — — La Chapelle- Pecliauu. Total and - 29 53 2 5 2 62 9 56 9 17 3 47 3 50 2 53 1 25 average. HAUT-RnoNE. La Tour-du-Pin - lsere - Lignite - 5 22 11 - - 33 11 0 10 0 1 95 1 95 - - Hauterives • Drome - 4 3 - 2 5 9 0 8 0 3 00 - 2 75 - Douvres - Jura - 2 2 1 4 | - 7 10 0 9 0 3 50 4 00 2 50 - Total and average n 27 12 0 1 - 45 10 37 9 37 2 18 2 12 2 58 - General total and average for com- 84,312 42,750 11,428 23,120 | 5,184 82.4S8 9 45 8 13 5 04 4 41 3 58 1 91 bustible minerals. i i REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 1L5 various categories of Workmen employed in Mines — continued. Hands employed outside the Mines. Estimated addition to daily Wages arising from Average daily Wages per Head. Average N umber Average Number of Hours present at the Mine per Day. Average Number of Hours of actual Labour per Day. Average daily Wages. per Head without N um- ber of Work- ing Davs in 1859. Of Men. Of Women. Of Chil- dren. Total. Of men. Of jof Chil- Women. dren. 1 of Fuel, Rent, Pensions, Aid, &c. 1 y !|0i 1 1 n the Above Mine, ground. and includ- ing the estimated Addition. Average annual Wages per Head without distinction, and includ- ing the estimated Addition. 1. Coal and Anthracite — continued . 358 8 11 158 64 2 580 10 11 Hrs. m. 12 0 12 0 12 0 Hrs. m. 11 0 11 0 11 0 Fr. c. 2 80 2 52 2 66 Fr. c. 1 60 Fr. c. 1 40 1 50 Fr. c. 0 10 Fr. c. 3 95 2 83 3 22 Fr. c. 2 32 2 30 2 56 Fr. c. 3 17 2 72 3 06 321 286 195 Francs. 1,017 778 597 377 168 66 601 12 0 11 0 2 79 1 60 1 40 0 09 3 70 2 32 3 14 315 989 260 33 21 314 10 0 9 0 3 05 2 68 2 00 0 13 3 87 2 94 3 73 250 933 19 - - 19 10 0 10 0 2 50 - - 0 15 1 95 2 47 2 01 101 203 — _ — — — — — 2 16 — 2 16 85 104 — - - - - - - - 3 00 - 3 00 25 75 279 33 21 333 10 0 9 3 3 00 2 68 2 00 0 13 3 20 2 92 3 27 204 667 137 6 143 12 6 10 36 2 47 _ 0 98 0 09 2 96 2 41 2 88 284 818 158 — 6 164 11 20 9 47 2 67 - 1 OO 0 16 3 09 2 61 3 07 270 829 120 - 12 132 11 21 9 21 2 41 - 1 42 0 26 3 46 2 32 3 34 264 882 415 24 439 11 36 9 56 2 53 - 1 20 0 17 3 15 2 46 3 09 1 273 844 22 6 3 30 10 0 10 1 0 3 50 1 50 1 25 - 3 81 2 97 3 68 252 927 NITE. 545 65 41 651 10 3 9 9 3 49 1 50 1 37 0 14 4 10 3 17 3 99 255 1,017 42 - 1 43 11 0 9 56 2 71 - 2 00 - 3 83 2 70 3 49 264 917 587 65 42 694 10 6 9 12 3 44 1 50 1 39 0 13 4 09 3 14 3 96 255 1,010 16 16 9 26 8 56 2 43 4 37 2 43 4 08 216 881 2 - — 2 11 0 9 0 2 50 - - - 3 90 2 50 3 67 190 697 2 - — 2 10 0 10 0 2 75 - - - 4 31 2 75 4 07 202 828 20 - - 20 9 33 9 3 2 47 - - - 4 32 2 47 4 04 212 856 13 1 14 11 0 9 30 2 50 1 25 0 09 2 49 2 43 2 57 256 658 11 - — H 11 0 11 0 2 18 - - 0 13 2 03 2 18 2 60 107 278 24 - 1 25 11 0 10 9 2 35 - 1 25 0 10 2 53 2 32 2 58 216 557 9 9 11 0 9 53 2 50 3 59 2 50 3 39 188 637 - - - - - - - - - 3 00 - 3 00 251 751 - - - - - . - - - - 3 09 - 3 09 137 423 1 — - i 10 0 10 0 3 00 — — — 2 67 3 (10 2 71 46 125 10 - - 10 10 54 9 54 2 55 - - - 3 34 2 55 3 24 177 573 1 94 1 94 16S 326 1 - - 1 9 0 9 0 2 75 - - - 3 00 2 75 3 00 94 282 7 - - 7 10 0 9 0 2 50 - - - 3 57 2 60 3 00 133 399 8 - - 8 9 52 9 0 2 53 - - - 2 31 2 53 2 34 153 358 21,926 3,231 3,970 29,127 10 46 9 39 3 21 1 61 1 44 0 35 4 34 2 80 4 29 290 1,244 116 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Appendix X. — Number, Average Wages, and Duration of Labour of the Names of Departments. Nature of the Substances extracted. Average daily Output. Hands employed in the Mine. N umber ; Averaee A A erage . S Num - Of Miners pro- | perlyso- called. I Of other skilled Work- men. Of un- skilled Work- Of Chil- dren from 12 to 16 Years. Total. ber of Hours present per Day in Mine. Num ber of Horn's of actual Labour perDay. Average daily Wages. Of Miners pro- perly so- called. Of other skilled Work- men. Of un- skilled Of Chil- Work- dren. men. II.— IRON North-East. Tons. Hrs.m. Hrs.m. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Meurtlie-et-Moselle Iron - 6,760 1,802 238 67 59 2,166 10 0 9 7 4 43 4 00 3 19 2 19 Sa6ne-et-Loire „ . 390 139 22 24 8 193 10 0 9 0 4 15 3 80 3 50 2 25 Jura „ . 7 3 - 1 - 4 10 0 9 0 3 50 - 2 50 - Total and average 7,157 1,944 260 92 67 2,363 10 0 9 7 4 41 3 99 3 26 2 19 South-East. I sere Iron • 187 194 48 19 -- 261 10 2 9 2 3 35 3 04 2 74 - ArdOche „ - 268 95 8 88 191 10 0 9 0 4 01 3 50 2 91 - Gard ,, . 151 84 - - - 84 9 0 9 0 4 24 - -- - Var „ . 35 10 2 8 - 20 10 0 9 30 4 00 4 50 3 00 - Savoie „ . i - 4 - - 4 10 0 10 0 - 3 70 - Total and average 642 383 62 115 -- 560 9 62 9 2 3 73 3 18 2 89 - South-West. Pyr6nees-0rien tales Iron . 126 106 10 2 — 118 10 41 10 0 3 76 3 30 2 50 — Aribge „ . 66 83 7 106 6 202 7 21 6 21 2 10 2 43 2 01 1 00 Aveyron » . 45 19 - - - 19 10 0 9 0 3 60 - - - Tarn „ . 3 10 — 6 — 16 10 0 9 0 3 40 - 2 50 — Aude ,, . 4 4 - 2 - 6 12 0 10 0 3 00 - 2 50 - Total and average 244 222 17 116 6 361 8 46 7 52 3 09 2 90 2 05 1 00 North-West. Manche Iron 100 45 - 41 - 86 10 0 9 30 5 00 3 70 — Calvados „ . 154 54 6 10 - 70 10 0 9 0 4 21 4 35 3 10 - Total and average 254 99 6 51 - 156 10 0 9 30 4 57 4 35 3 58 -- General total and average for iron ore. 8,297 2,648 345 374 73 3,440 9 51 8 55 4 25 3 77 2 82 2 10 III.— METALLIC Centre. Puy-de-D6me Silver galena 68 229 26 1 53 308 8 14 7 14 2 81 3 00 2 34 Rh6ne Iron pyrites - 600 152 38 83 - 273 9 30 8 30 4 75 4 65 4 25 — Sa6ne-et-Loire Peroxide of manganese - 40 44 7 10 - 61 10 0 9 0 4 25 3 71 3 50 - Haute-Loire Sulphuretted antimony- 3 22 4 21 - 47 8 0 8 0 4 00 4 00 2 75 - Creuse Tin - - - - 12 - 12 11 0 10 0 - - 2 50 — Indre • Peroxide of manganese- 2 - - - - - - - - - — - Total and average 713 447 75 179 - 701 8 55 7 59 3 66 3 96 3 35 - South-East. Var Silver galena and blend 105 142 5 85 - 232 9 30 8 30 4 39 5 00 3 25 - Lozbre Sulphuretted antimony 38 116 6 44 — 166 10 11 9 16 3 54 2 76 3 IS — and silver galena. 3 76 Corse Sulphuretted antimony- 8 161 5 75 27 268 9 50 9 8 4 25 3 00 1 50 Gat'd Iron pyrites, calamine, 58 94 12 54 _ 160 9 32 9 0 4 05 4 92 3 00 — blend, and sulphuretted antimony. Ardcche Siiver galena and blend 2 61 6 25 82 10 0 10 0 3 61 3 83 2 80 — Drome Calamine 25 18 - 25 - 43 10 0 9 0 4 00 - 3 00 - Total and average 236 682 34 308 27 951 9 47 9 3 3 91 4 26 3 08 1 60 REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 117 various categories of Workmen employed in Mines — continued. Hands employed outside the Mines. Estimated addition to daily Wages arising from Average daily Wages per Head. Average daily Wages per Head without distinction, and includ- ing the estimated Addition. Average Num- ber of Work- ing Days in 1889. Average annual Wages per without distinction, and includ- ing the estimated Addition. Number. Average Number of Hours present at the Mine per Day. Average Number of Hours of actual Labour per Day. Average daily Wages. Of Men. Of Women. Of Chil- dren. Total. Of Men. Of Women. Of Chil- dren. Allowances of Fuel, Rent, Pensions, Aid, &c. In the Mine. Above Ground. ORE. 468 26 1 - 22 490 26 1 Hrs. m. 10 44 10 0 10 0 Hrs. m. 10 3 10 0 9 0 Fr. c. 3 60 3 00 2 50 Fr. c. Fr. c. 1 64 Fr. c. 0 07 0 30 Fr. c. 4 28 3 95 3 25 Fr. c. | 3 68 3 00 2 50 Fr. c. 4 20 4 14 3 10 274 263 112 Francs. 1,150 1,089 347 495 — 22 517 10 44 10 3 3 57 — 1 64 0 09 4 26 3 49 4 20 273 1,146 73 10 20 103 12 0 10 0 2 40 1 60 1 50 0 24 3 18 2 15 3 17 299 948 .35 — 1 36 10 0 10 0 2 55 - 1 25 0 13 3 48 2 50 3 46 270 934 35 — - 35 10 51 9 34 3 17 - - 0 20 4 24 3 17 4 02 256 1,029 4 4 - 8 10 0 10 0 3 25 1 50 - - 3 65 2 28 3 29 303 997 1 — - 1 10 0 10 0 4 00 — - 2 00 3 70 4 00 4 00 257 1,028 148 14 21 183 11 18 9 55 2 72 1 57 1 49 0 18 3 50 2 44 3 53 280 989 98 1 99 11 32 10 0 3 04 1 00 3 70 3 02 3 39 295 676 9 2 1 12 7 50 6 25 2 28 1 25 1 00 0 44 2 04 2 00 2 46 173 425 6 — - 6 10 0 9 0 3 20 - - 0 49 3 63 3 20 4 01 308 1,235 5 2 - 7 10 0 9 0 2 40 1 20 - 0 02 3 06 2 14 2 83 83 235 - - - - - - - - - 2 83 - 2 83 334 945 118 4 2 124 11 0 9 33 2 96 1 23 1 00 0 22 2 71 2 88 2 97 234 695 45 45 12 0 11 0 3 49 4 38 3 49 4 08 205 836 3 - - 3 10 0 10 0 4 0 — - 0 13 4 06 4 00 4 18 282 1,191 48 - - 48 11 52 11 0 3 52 - - 0 05 4 24 3 52 4 12 234 964 809 IS 45 GO I to 10 50 10 0 3 31 1 50 1 53 0 12 4 00 3 18 3 95 2G8 1,059 ORES. 8 22 38 148 12 0 10 30 2 5S 1 00 1 11 0 03 2 74 1 97 2 52 277 698 126 - 3 129 10 0 10 0 3 75 - 2 25 0 16 4 69 3 72 4 47 297 1,328 1 - 12 73 12 0 11 0 2 61 - 1 60 0 05 4 06 2 42 3 22 264 850 14 9 5 28 11 0 10 0 2 50 1 50 1 25 0 05 3 43 1 96 2 93 188 550 — - - - - - - - - - 2 50 - 2 50 140 350 7 - - 7 12 0 11 0 3 00 - - - - 3 00 3 00 182 546 296 31 58 385 11 15 10 24 3 09 1 16 1 26 0 08 3 61 2 66 8 36 270 907 92 79 10 181 10 0 10 0 3 27 1 56 2 00 0 03 3 98 2 45 3 34 291 972 160 42 33 235 11 14 9 44 2 83 1 43 1 48 0 05 3 43 2 40 2 87 225 646 67 31 7 105 10 0 10 0 2 84 1 26 0 75 - 3 33 2 23 3 00 162 486 88 12 38 138 11 16 10 0 3 25 1 67 1 50 0 04 3 76 2 62 3 27 265 867 45 9 7 61 11 0 10 4t 2 82 1 34 1 86 0 20 3 38 2 50 3 19 154 491 8 10 9 27 10 0 10 0 2 75 2 00 1 50 0 04 3 42 2 07 2 92 232 682 460 183 104 747 10 37 9 58 3 00 1 50 1 50 0 05 3 58 2 42 3 12 236 736 1 l ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: 11 S Appendix X. — Number, Average Wages, and Duration of Labour of the Hands employed in the Mine. Nature of the Substances A verage daily Output. Number Hou?s ' Hours per Day Actual Average daily Wages. Departments. extracted. >»”« ToW - called. ; men ' 1 lnel '- Years. 1 Of Miners pro- perlyso- called. Of other skilled Work- men. Of un- skilled Work- men. Of Chil- dren. III. — Metallic South-West. £| Tons Hrs.m. Hrs. m. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. A yeyron Silver galena and blend at 139 46 91 1 277 8 19 7 19 4 39 3 76 3 06 1 50 Tarn „ a. » GO 65 22 42 - 129 9 0 8 0 3 50 2 75 2 40 — Hautes-Pyrendes - Silver galena, 65 90 7 23 - 120 12 0 10 0 4 25 5 00 3 00 -- Basses-Pyrendes - Blend and pyritic copper 22 93 5 31 7 , 136 8 0 8 0 4 43 5 00 3 00 1 90 Aridge Silver galena, blend, and 9 54 4 30 11 99 11 54 10 19 5 28 4 75 3 27 2 00 calamine. Aude Silver galena and bioxide 24 46 7 20 3 76 11 30 10 0 3 26 3 43 2 60 1 67 of manganese. Dordogne - Iron pyrites 13 14 2 — — 16 12 0 10 0 3 50 3 50 — Haute-Garonne - Galena and blend - 2 1 3 - 6 12 0 11 0 6 00 5 00 3 15 — Pyrendes-Orientales Bioxide of manganese - - 4 1 4 - 9 10 0 10 0 3 00 2 75 2 50 - Total and average - 287 507 95 244 22 868 9 40 8 37 4 22 3 71 2 90 1 91 North- West. Ille-et-Vilaine Silver galena and blend 200 285 30 140 - 455 8 0 7 0 3 10 3 10 2 80 — Morbihan - Tin - 24 4 - - 28 8 0 8 0 2 60 2 60 — — C6tes-du-Nord Silver galena and blend - 11 2 - - 13 8 0 7 0 3 00 3 00 - - Total and average - 200 320 36 140 - 496 8 0 7 4 3 05 3 03 2 80 - General total and ‘ 1,436 1,856 240 871 49 3,016 9 15 8 21 3 79 3 76 3 04 1 68 average for metallic ores otherthaniron. IV.—' VARIOUS South-East. Ain Asphaltic lime - 38 21 17 38 11 44 10 27 3 48 3 00 Gard 15 24 - 12 ~ 36 10 45 10 20 3 67 - 2 75 — Haute-Savoie 6 9 - 2 - 11 10 0 10 0 3 00 - 2 75 - Total and average - 59 54 - 31 - 85 11 6 10 20 3 49 - 2 90 - Centre. Saone-et-Loire Boghead and bituminous 478 276 45 57 2 380 11 0 8 30 3 83 3 47 3 19 2 25 sch ists. Allier Bituminous schists 155 99 13 32 — 144 8 41 7 38 3 30 3..07 2 97 Total and average - 633 375 58 89 2 524 10 22 S 10 3 67 3 38 3 11 2 25 South-West. * Vaueluse, Basses- Sulphur 14 23 6 L 30 9 46 9 1C 4 07 — 3 50 2 00 Alpes. Hautes-Alpes Graphite 1 4 — — — 4 9 0 7 0 2 00 — — Gmeral total and 707 456 58 126 3 613 10 26 8 35 3 65 3 39 3 08 2 17 average for various substances. V.— ROCK SALT AND 1 North-East. 1 ] Meurthe-et-Moselle j Rock salt 286 83 - 38 - 121 8 23 7 53 4 60 - 3 39 - Doubs, J ura, II aute • Salt springs - 164 - - - - - - - - - - - Total and average - 450 83 38 - 121 8 23 7 53 4 66 - 3 39 -- th-West. Landes Rock salt 45 13 - 3 - 16 10 30 9 0 3 10 - 3 25 - Basses-Pyrdndes - „ 40 13 - 3 - 16 12 0 10 0 3 25 - 3 25 - Total and average - 85 26 - 6 - 32 11 15 9 30 3 19 3 25 - General total and average for salts. 535 109 44 153 9 0 8 17 4 32 3 39 REPORT ON THE LABOUR (QUESTION IN FRANCE, 119 various categories of Workmen employed in Mines — continued. Hands employed outside the Mines. Estimated addition to daily Wages arising from Allowances of Fuel, Rent, Pensions, Aid, &c. Number Average Number of Hours present at the Mine per Day. Average Number of Hours of actual Labour per Day. Average daily Wages. Of Men. Of Women. 'drem Total - Of Men. Of Women. Of Chil- dren. Average daily Wages per Head. In the I Above Mine. Ground. A verage daily Wages A verage per Head Num- without ber of distinction, Work- and includ- intf ing the Days in estimated 1889. Addition. Average annual Wages per Head without distinction, and includ- ing the estimated Addition. Ores — continued. Hrs. m. Hrs . m. Fr c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Francs. 158 78 3 239 11 0 9 38 2 96 1 62 1 50 0 19 3 85 2 50 3 41 314 1,071 104 20 2 126 10 0 9 0 2 40 1 20 1 25 0 11 3 00 2 20 2 72 198 538 70 - 57 127 12 0 10 0 3 00 - 1 40 - 4 00 2 30 3 14 281 882 59 26 3 88 10 0 10 0 3 00 1 50 1 40 - 3 99 2 50 3 41 120 409 46 24 10 80 12 0 11 0 1 91 0 83 1 20 0 06 4 27 1 50 3 09 287 S25 52 10 3 65 12 0 10 0 2 33 1 10 1 25 0 07 3 04 2 09 2 07 282 753 ' 4 - 4 12 0 10 0 3 50 - - 0 08 3 50 3 50 3 58 344 1,232 2 5 - 7 12 0 11 0 4 25 1 50 - - 4 33 4 00 4 20 35 147 - - - - - - 2 78 - 2 78 122 339 495 163 78 736 11 5 9 50 2 49 1 41 1 37 0 09 3 74 2 26 3 15 250 788 354 147 28 529 11 0 9 45 2 59 1 30 1 10 3 00 2 15 2 55 276 - - 704 14 - - 14 11 0 10 0 2 10 - - 2 50 2 07 2 38 306 722 4 - -- 4 12 o 10 0 2 15 - - - 3 00 2 25 2 82 270 787 372 147 28 547 11 0 9 45 2 57 1 30 1 10 - 3 0(X 2 15 2 54 . 27 S 706 1,023 524 268 2,415 10 57 9 57 2 82 1 39 1 37 0 04 3 54 2 35 3 24 250 829 SUBSTANCES. 45 2 47 10 0 10 0 3 00 2 00 3 26 2 96 3 09 286 884 28 - 28 11 2 10 58 2 50 - - - 3 36 2 50 GO cs C-J 183 545 1 - - 1 10 0 . 10 0 2 75 - - - 3 00 2 75 3 00 189 567 74 £ 76 10 23 10 21 2 81 - 2 00 - 3 27 2 79 3 04 232 705 73 7 80 12 0 11 0 2 89 1 75 0 17 3 67 2 79 3 66 280 1,025 25 - 25 10 53 9 48 2 04 - - 0 06 3 21 2 01 3 18 234 744 98 7 105 11 44 10 43 2 83 - 1 75 0 14 3 54 2 75 3 54 267 945 8 8 9 0 9 0 3 44 3 90 3 44 3 79 200 758 1 — — 1 8 0 8 0 1 50 - - - 2 00 1 50 1 90 70 133 181 9 190 11 5 10 31 2 84 1 81 0 11 3 51 2 79 3,45 255 880 SALT SPEINGS. 36 8 - 1 ^ 00 j 11 19 10 7 10 26 9 52 3 50 4 00 - 1 50 0 08 0 01 4 26 3 46 4 00 4 18 4 01 297 313 1,241 1,252 44 - 1 45 11 6 10 20 3 51 - 1 50 0 08 4 26 3 56 4 15 297 1,233 6 6 10 30 9 0 2 50 3 13 2 50 2 95 282 832 5 — — 5 12 0 10 0 2 50 - - - 3 31 2 50 3 14 279 876 ii - — 11 11 11 9 30 2 50 - - - 3 22 2 50 3 05 280 854 55 1 56 11 7 10 10 3 38 1 50 0 06 4 04 3 35 3 92 295 1,156 P 4 120 RCYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : APPENDIX XI. Law of July 8th, 1890, providing for Delegates for the Safety of Working Miners^ 1 ) The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have adopted, the President of the Republic promulgates the following law : Article 1. — Delegates for the safety of miners are appointed subject to the regulations of the present law, to visit the underground workings of mines, minieres or quarries, for the exclusive purpose of examining the safeguards for the persons of the workers therein em- ployed, and further, in case of accident, of examining the circumstances under which the accident shall have occurred. A delegate and an assistant delegate exercise their functions within a subterranean district, the limits of which are prescribed by an order of the prefect, given under the authority of the Minister of Public Works in accordance with the report of the inspecting engineers of mines, the director having been informed ( Vexploitant entendu). Each group of shafts, galleries, and yards under one management, for the detailed inspection of which not more than six days are required, constitutes only one district. Other works are sub-divided into two, three, or more districts, according as the inspection requires respectively 12, 18, or more days. The same older declares the boundaries of the various districts into which the -whole group of neighbouring shafts, gal- leries, and yards under one management, and within the bounds of the same commune or of several adjacent communes is, if necessary, divided. At any time the prefect may, in consequence of changes arising in the works, modify the number and the limits of the districts on the report of the engineers of mines, and the director having been informed. To the prefect’s order a plan is annexed giving the boundaries of each district and showing the limits of the communes under whose territory they extend. On the demand of the prefect and in accordance with his directions this plan is supplied by the director in three copies. The prefect’s order is notified within the week to the director, to whom one of the plans annexed to the said order is sent at the same time. A duplicate of the prefect’s order, with 'one of the plans annexed, is deposited at the town hall (mairie) of the commune specially named in the order as being among those under which the districts extend which the plan marks out. The duplicate is kept there, without being re- moved, for the use of all interested. An order from the prefect, given upon the report of the engineers of mines, can dispense with the services of delegates in the case of every concession of mines, or every group of concessions of mines or all underground workings of minieres or quarries dependent on the same director, which employ less than 25 workmen working underground. Article 2. — The delegate must visit all the shafts, galleries and yards in his district twice a month. He must also see to all the apparatus used for traffic and the conveyance of workmen, and visit without delay those places where an accident, resulting in death or serious injuries to one or more workers, or any changes which may affect the safety of the workmen, have occurred. Notice of the accident must be given im- mediately to the delegate by the director. The delegate in his visits must conform to all the measures prescribed by the regulations, with a view to secure order and safety in the works. The assistant delegate only takes the place of the delegate in the event of any obstacle alleged by him, and after notice of it has been given by the delegate both to the director and to the assistant. Article 3. — The observations made by the delegate on each of his visits ought to be recorded by him on the same day or at latest the next day in a register specially supplied by the director, and always kept at the works for the nse of workmen. The delegate writes down on the register the hour at which he has begun and ended his visit as well as the account of his survey. The director may put down on the same register his opinions and his remarks upon those of the delegate. Copies of both are immediately sent by the respective authors to the prefect, who communicates them to the ( ; ) No. 157, Chambre des Deputes, Session, 1890. engineers of mines. After their circuits ( tournees ) the engineers of mines and comptrollers of mines must sign the register of each district. They can always be accompanied on their visits by the delegate of the district. Article 4. — The delegate and assistant delegate are chosen by ballot ( scrutin de listc ) under the forms provided in the following Articles. Article 5. — The workmen who work underground are electors in a district on the condition : ° 1. That they are French, and enjoy political rights. 2. That their names are inscribed on the note of the last wage paid in the district before the order for convening electors. Article 6.— The following are eligible delegates in any district on condition of knowing how to read and write, and never having undergone sentence for an in- fringement of the provisions of the present law or of the law of April 21st, 1810, or of the decree of the 3rd January 1813, or of Articles 414 and 415 of the Penal (Jode : (1.) The electors above designated (Article 5) who have completed their 25th year and have worked underground for at least five years in the district or in one of the neighbouring districts dependent on the same director which are settled by the same prefect’s order in accordance with paragraph 3 of the above 1st Article ; (2.) Former workmen living in the communes under which the whole district with the district in question extends, in the same order (meme arrete) fixing the boundaries in accordance with the said paragraph 3 of the 1st Article, on condition that they have completed their 25th year, that they are French and enjoy political rights, and that they have worked underground for at least five years in the districts comprised in tho aforesaid order, and that not more than 10 years have elapsed since they were employed as underground workmen, delegate or assistant delegate. (3.) Former workmen will only be eligible if they have already been delegates, not only for a district of the director’s mine, but also for a district of another mine situated in or beyond their commune. For the first five years which follow upon the opening of works in a new district, those electors shall be chosen who have had five years’ work underground in a mine, miniere, or quarry of the same nature, Article 7.— During the eight days which follow the publication of the prefect’s order, calling together the electors, three copies of the electoral list of the district, drawn up by the director, are delivered by him to the mayor of each of the parishes over which the district extends. The mayor has this list immediately posted on the door or the town hall (mairie) and makes an official note of the posting up of the list ( dresse proces- verbcd de cet affi-chage). He sends the two other copies to the prefect and to the justice of the peace with a copy of the official note of the publication. Within eight days also, the director must have posted up the said list in the ordinary places for notices to workmen. If the director does not send to the mayors and does not have the electoral list posted up, in the said time and under the conditions provided above, the prefect must prepare and post up this list at the expense of the director, without removing the penalties which shall be pronounced against the latter for contravention of the present law. In case of complaint from those interested, application must be made, five days at the most after that on which the posting up has been carried out bv the least expeditious mayor (par le maire ?e moins diligent), to the justice of the peace, who gives decree on plea of urgency and without appeal (statue d'urgence et < n dernier ressort). If a district extends over two or more cantons, the competent justice of the peace is he whose canton includes the town hall of the commune designated as the voting place by the prefect’s order at the convocation of electors. Article 8.— The electors of a district are convened by an order from the prefect. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN PRANCE. 121 The order must be published and posted up in the communes over which the district extends 15 days at least before the election, which must always take place on Sunday. The order decides the date of the election, as well as the hours in which the ballot will be opened and shut. The voting takes place in the town hall of the commune fixed upon by the order of summons from among those communes over which the district extends. Article 9. — The electoral committee is presided over by the mayor, who chooses as his assistants the oldest and the youngest of the electors present at the time of the opening of thq, ballot. and failing the electors present or consenting to sit, two members of the Municipal Council. Each vote bears the names showing the qualification for the delegate or for the assistant delegate in each candidate. No one is elected on the first round of the ballot if he has not obtained the complete majority of votes given, and a number of votes equal to at least a quarter of the number of the electors enrolled. At the second round of the ballot the majority is sufficient, whatever number of votes there may be. In case of an equal number of votes the eldest of the can- didates is elected. If a second ballot is necessary it must take place on the following Sunday, under the same conditions with regard to formalities and duration. The voting is effected under cover of a fixed form left at the prefecture under pain of becoming void. Article 10. — Those who have influenced the vote by blows, violence, threats, bribes, or promises, whether by causing an elector to fear loss of his appointment, or deprivation of his w r ork, or by exposing his person, his family or his fortune to injury, shall be punished with an imprisonment of one month to one year and a fine of 100 to 2,000 francs. Article 463 of the the Penal Code may be applied. Article 11. — Every election may be annulled in which the candidates elected shall have influenced the voting by promisiug to interfere in questions or claims foreign to the delegate’s functions, such as are defined in section 1 of the 1st Article. Article 12. — After the counting of the votes the president proclaims the result. He draws up and delivers to the prefect the official report of the pro- ceedings. Petitions must be recorded in the official report or be directed, under penalty of becoming void, within three days from the day of election, to the pre- fect, who acknowledges receipt of the same. The directors, as well as the electors, can within the same time, direct iheir petitions to the prefect. In case of petition, or if the prefect considers that the con- ditions prescribed by law are not carried out, a brief is sent at latest on the fifteenth day after the election to the Council of Prefecture, who must decide within the following eight days. In case of annulment the election must take jdace within a month. Article 13. — The delegates and assistant delegates are elected for three years ; but they must continue their duties until they are replaced. At the end of three years new elections take place within one month. In the month which follows a vacancy arrangements are made for supplying the place of the delegate or assistant delegate who has died, or resigned, or been dismissed, or who has failed in qualifications necessary for the post. The newly-elected delegate is nominated for the period still to run up to the time which was assigned for the functions of the official whom he replaces. Fresh elections will have to take place for the districts which are created or changed by applica- tion of paragraph 4 of the 1st Article of the present law. Article 14. — Article 7, paragraph 3, of the decree of the 3rd January 1813, is altered thus : — In case of disputes, three experts will be ordered to carry out the necessary examinations. The first shall be nominated by the prefect, the second by the director, and the third shall ex-officio be the delegate of the dis- trict, or will be appointed by the justice of the peace, if a district does not exist. If the examination concerns several districts the delegates of these districts shall nominate the third official from amongst themselves. Article 15. — Each delegate or assistant delegate can be suspended for serious negligence or abuse in the exerise of his duties, or in consequence of convictions pronounced by virtue of Articles 414 and 415 of the Penal Code, but only for three months at the most by a resolution of the prefect, taken after inquiry, with advice given by the engineers of mines, and the dele- gate having been informed ( le delegue entendu). The order for suspension is submitted within a fortnight by the prefect to the Minister of Public Works, who can increase or reduce the period of suspension, and if necessary, pronounce the revocation of the delegate. The delegates and assistant delegates who have been revoked cannot be re-elected for a period of three years. Article 16. — The delegate is paid by the Treasury for the visits ordered by the present law, as days of work. In the month of December of each year the prefect, upon the advice of the engineers of mines, and by the authority of the Minister of Public Works, fixes for the following year and for each district, the maximum number of days to be taken by the delegate lor his visits and the price by day. Likewise he fixes the minimum of the monthy indemnity for the districts containing at most 12U workmen. In other cases the indemnity to be granted to the delegates for the monthly regulation visits shall not be less than the price of 10 days’ work a month. The supplementary visits made by a delegate, either to accompany the en- gineers or comptrollers of mines, or to inquire into accidents, shall be paid to him as an extra and at the same rate. The delegate draws up, monthly, an account of the days employed on visits both by himself and by his assis- tant. This account is verified by the engineers of mines and checked ( arretc ) by the prefect. The amount due to each delegate is paid him by the Treasury upon an order delivered monthly by the prefect. The sums advanced by the Treasury are recovered from the directors, as in the case of direct contributions. Article 17. — Those persons will be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the law of the 21st April 1810, who put any obstacle in the way of visits and statements of the delegates, or who transgress the pro- visions of the present law. Article 18. — The workings of open mines, mini'eres and quarries, shall, by reason of the dangers which they present, be put on the same footing as underground workings as regards the application of the present law, by order of the prefect given upon the report of the engineers of mines. Woikmen in these undertakings shall be treated as underground workers in the matter of elections and eligibility. Given at Paris, July 8, 1890, Carnot. By the President of the Republic : The Minister of Public Works, Yves Gui/.ot. APPENDIX XII. Summary of Text of Bill regulating Workmen’s Associations.^) Part I. General Provisions. Article 1 . — Co-operation is an association of persons sharing in a common work, in order to obtain, under the best conditions, the necessaries of life, to realise (’) No. 29 Sunat. Session 1892. economy, or to obtain, the best possiblo profit from their resources of labour. Article 2. — Co-operative societies are either private or commcrical, according to their method of working. They can only be constituted as societies, with variable capital. Article 3. — They cannot be composed of less than seven persons. U 78419. Q 122 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Article 4. —They can be formed by private deed, properly dated, and made out in duplicate. A notary deed is optional. Article 5. — Every co-operative society must be registered, as well as its statutes and deeds. Article 6. — The initial capital will be determined by the statutes of the society ; it can be increased by the addition of new members or by increased payments of the associates. The shares cannot be under 20ifrancs nor over 100 francs. The part that each member can have in the society can not exceed 5,000 francs. Article 7 — No co-operative society can be definitely established before the registration of the deed and the payment of the tenth part at least of each share. A declaration signed by the founders of the association to this effect must be filed at the first general assembly of the shareholders. Article 8. — The first general assembly must be com- posed of at least half of the members, and half of the capital must be represented. Article 9. — In the first meeting the administrators are chosen ; they may be paid or unpaid, but they must belong to the society and can be revoked. A director is elected from among the administrators, who must be a Frenchman, and in full possession of all his civil and political rights. The inventory will take place at least once a year at a date fixed in the statutes. Article 10. — The administrators and the director are only responsible for the proper execution of the trust confided to them ; they contract no personal obli- gation during a period of their administration. Article 11. — The capital may be diminished by reason of the withdrawal, exclusion, or decease of one or several members or for any other cause. When the capital shall have decreased by one-half, the society will be dissolved, unless a majority in the general assembly convoked by the chairman decides otherwise. Article 12. — In all deeds, papers, and publications, printed or otherwise, the name of the society shall be followed by the words : Co-operative society with, variable capital. Article 13. — Each year a general assembly must be held, in which the books are produced and the balance- sheet read and submitted to the approval of the meeting. Article It. — If a general meeting finds itself outside the conditions determined in the statutes, a second will be convoked 15 days later; and in this assembly any deliberation will be legal, irrespective of the number of members present. Article 15. — When a general assembly has to de- liberate on a proposed modification of the statutes or on the dissolution of the society, each member must be notified a fortnight in advance, both of the day and the hour of the meeting and of the nature of the convoca- tion. One-half of the members at least must be present, and one-half of the capital represented ; however, where the society counts more than 4,000 members, one-fifth of the capital and one-fifth of the members will consti- stute a legal assembly. Article 16. — Each member has only one vote, and cannot represent more than one absent member. A roll will be called at the commencement of each meeting. Article 17. — The necessary deeds for the constitution or dissolution of a co-operative society are exempt from stamp duties and registration tax. Shares bear stamp duty under Article 18 of the law of April 23, 1871. Article 18. — The allowance for stamp duty on shares shall not decrease with deci-ease of share capital, but in case of new issues stamp duties shall remain the same. Article 19. — Co-operative societies are not dissolved by the death, withdrawal or bankruptcy of one of several members ; they may be continued among the other associates. Article 20. — Any member can withdraw under the conditions prescribed by the statutes. Article 21. — In every co-operative society the general assembly convoked for the purpose has the right to decide by a majority of three-fourths of the voters present on the exclusion of one or more of its members. The share of the excluded member is re- turned to him after deduction is made of that portion which is destined to the reserve fund. Article 22. — Every year the tenth part of the net profits of the society, and before declaring a dividend, is to be contributed to the reserve fund ; yet where this fund exceeds the fifth part of the social capital, this injunction ceases to be obligatory. Article 23. — Co-operative societies are not allowed to profit by the disposition of the present law, except on the condition that no more than 5 per cent, be asked on the capital as remuneration. Article 24. — Co-operative societies can be repre- sented before the courts by the director or a delegate of the council, unless the statutes may have disposed otherwise. ' » Article 25. — Co-operative societies with a variable capital may profit by the present law on the condition that they fulfil all the requirements of Part I. as well as of the part specially applying to them. Article 26. — Co-operative societies that have been legally constituted can form among themselves “unions” for the study of their interests and the purchase and sale of different articles for the good of the society ; these unions must declare, at the town hall, the names and addresses of the members, their statutes and the office of the union. Part II. Relative to Supply Associations or Stores. Article 27. — The deposits prescribed in Article 5 must be effected by co-operative supply societies at the office of the clerk of the court. In order to consti- tute the society the following papers must be put in : A copy of the Act of the society, a declaration similar to that contained in Article 7, and a declaration signed by the administrators of the general assembly to the effect that the prescriptions of the same Article have been obeyed. Article 28. — Supply associations can admit adherents to the distribution of the objects purchased on the pay- ment of an entry lee fixed by the statutes. The ad- herent can take no part in the administration or direc- tion of the society, nor can he vote in the assemblies. The entry fee is put down to his account, to which is added annually his part in the bonus. As soon as the amount of his account reaches that of a share, he will take his place among the members of the society. Article 29. — Supply associations which sell exclu- sively to their members and adherents and divide the bonus between all the clients according to the amount expended by each maintain their character of civil societies and pay no tax on the revenue, nor do they require any liquor licenses, but they must provide themselves with a wholesale and retail license. Part III. Loan Societies. Article 30. — Co-operative loan societies must fulfil the conditions prescribed in Article 5. Article 31. — These societies can only be composed of members. Article 32. — The loan societies which aloue are admitted to benefit by the present law are those which effect discounting, advances, or deposits with their associates. Article 33. — Loan societies are allowed to make advances of money to their members, and only to them, for a period not less than one year, and at a rate not exceeding 3 per cent. Part IV. Building Societies. Article 34. — Co-operative societies for the construc- tion of workmen’s houses have for their aim the rendering of their members proprietors of the habita- tion, either by lending on mortgage a sum of money to effect or complete the purchase, or by building the dwelling and selling it by annuities. Article 35. — They are subjected to all the formalities of the supply and loan societies. Article 36. — The loans or sale price cannot exceed 5,900 francs. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 123 Article 37. — They can admit adherents in considera- tion of a monthly payment to be fixed by the statutes. These adherents can become members of the society when their payments reach to a tenth part of a share. Article 38. — The reserve fund of each savings bank can be employed in loans made to co-operative societies up to one-tenth of the total. Each request on the part of these societies must be submitted to the approval of the Government. Article 39. — The national insurance bank is author- ised to treat with co-operative societies and effect in- surances, having for its object to guarantee to them, in case of the premature death of one of its members, the entire payment of the sums remaining due at his death. These loans can, by exception, attain the sum of 5,000 francs. Part V. Co-operative Productive Societies. Article 40. — Co-operative productive societies have all the character of commercial societies. They maintain, however, their private character if they do business exclusively with their own members. Article 41. — When a member brings to the society a share not in money, commissioners will be appointed by the general assembly to determine the value of the share. Article 42. — Co-operative productive societies will have to conform to the rules laid down in Article 5. Article 43.— Co-operative productive societies are bound to conform in all their transactions to the prescriptions of the commercial code. Article 44. — In the societies the capital can not be increased until the half at least of the shares previously subscribed be paid up. Article 45. — Co-operative productive societies are exempt from the income tax as long as the nominal capital of the society, divided by the number of associates, does not exceed 2,000 francs for each member. Part YI. Transfer of Shares. Article 46. — The shares of a co-operative society having a commercial character arc not negotiable until after the definite constitution of the society and its registration. The negotiation must be exclusively by means of transfer on the registers of the society. The statutes may authorise the council of administra- tion or general assembly to oppose the transfer. Article 47. — In the transfers of credit effected by co-operative societies, the assignee shall enter into possession by the act of accepting the endorsed transfer of the debtor under whatever form. Article 1,690 of the Civil Code applies to those who cannot write. Article 48. — After receipt of his signature the debtor shall be held liable for declaration of the fact, if he has given any other signature for transfer or notification of the amount. Article 49. — Registration duties are fixed at 50 centimes for 100 francs for transfer of debts : 3 francs on the principal for deeds of acceptance ; and one franc for witnessing of signatures. Part YII. Profit-sharing. Article 50. — Any merchant, manufacturer, or farmer and any commercial, manufacturing or agricultural, society, can admit its workmen or employes to a share in the profits in the enterprise without incurring responsibility in case of loss. Article 51. — In accepting the share in profits, the interested parties can expressly renounce all control or verification. In case there be no specified renounce- ment, the control and verification can be regulated by agreement. In the case where there is no agreement, an accountant agreeable to both parties can be named by a civil magistrate. Article 52.— In the case where, according to the statutes, the whole or a part of the profits annually dis- tributed is kept in the business, and gives the right to a new share in the profits, the participants will possess no other rights as regards the control of the books than that defined in the last paragraph of the previous Article. Article 53. — The profits distributed to the workmen in any industrial, commercial, or agricultural under- taking are exempt from all tax. Article 54. — All the previous laws, in so far as they are contrary to the present law, are abolished Co- operative societies already established can profit by the present law by conforming to its prescriptions. APPENDIX XIII. Draft Bill drawn up by the Commission on Labour for the creation of a National Provident Fund for Industrial Workers^ 1 ) Article 1. — A national provident fund for French industrial workers of both sexes is hereby created, which shall be maintained by contributions of in- vestors, of employers or masters, and by subsidies from the State. Article 2. — The national provident fund for workers aims at forming pensions for labourers and, in general, at permitting them to make all the life assurances or settlements of capital which shall be provided and determined in the regulations for the fund. It is directed by the general director of the fund for deposits and consignments, assisted by a Higher Central Council. Article 3. — It includes branches or local funds ad- ministered by a local council, and deputed specially to receive sums collected in the district, and turn them to best account either by investment in French Govern- ment Stock and guaranteed State securities or by loans to departments and oommunes, by investments in industrial, agricultural and commercial enterprises, public works, landed property, &c. An administrative order shall determine the number, position and scope of the local funds, as, likewise, the relations of the local councils to the Higher Central Council and to the (9 No. 2,576. Chambre des Deputes, 1893. cantonal committee, which will be further treated of in Articles IS and 20 of the present law. Article 4. — The Higher Central Council, meeting in Paris, shall determine the general conditions of invest- ments, which shall not be made without being so authorised. It shall further be held responsible for the control of the management of the national fund and the branch funds, shall determine the various conditions of as- surance both in life annuities and in stock, and shall fix the rate of interest adopted for the tariffs. Article 5. — The Higher Central Council is presided over by the Minister of Commerce, and consists of: — Two senators nominated by the Senate ; Two deputies nominated by the Chamber of Deputies ; Two members of the Accountant-General’s office, and two members of the Council of State nominated by the Minister of Commerce ; The general director of the Fund for Deposits and Consignments ; The general director of Funds for the Minister of Finance ; The general director of assessed taxes ( Directeur General des Contributions directes ) ; 124 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Two inspectors of finance ; Two presidents of the local funds, and ten members chosen from among the Fellows of the Institute of French Actuaries, or persons well informed on the subject of provident institutions, and nominated by the Minister of Commerce. The members of the Council, with the exception of those who are members by right of office, are appointed for four years. Article 6. — The Local Councils consist of : — An inspector of finances nominated by the Minister of Commerce ; The treasurer general and the director of assessed taxes of the department at the head quarters of the local fund. And for each of the departments included in the district : — Two general councillors appointed by the General Council ; Six members chosen from among the employers or masters who form part of the cantonal com- mittees and nominated by them ; Six members, chosen from among the beneficiaries of the National Fund, who form part of the cantonal committee, and nominated by them. The nominated or eligible members of these councils are elected for four years ; they elect their own president. Article 7. — The following are admitted as bene- ficiaries of the National Provident Fund for Workers : — 1. All paid workers of French nationality not attached to a public or private administration which already possesses a pension fund regulated or recognised by the State ; 2. Artisans, piece-workers, masters, contractors, or traders, on the condition always that they do not permanently employ more than two workers outside the family; 3. Members of productive co-operative societies ; 4. Farmers and metayers on condition that they do not employ permanently more than two workers outside the family, and small proprietors working their business themselves with the aid of their families. Article 8. — Begistration in the National Provident Fund for Workers is not obligatory. The investors (. adherents ) classed under one of the preceding categories are bound to make their declaration of agreement {declaration d’ adhesion) on proving their qualifications, before the mayor of the locality in which they are resident. They will thereupon receive a certificate of nomination for the provident fund. Article 9. — There shall be kept in each town hall (mairie) a public register containing the names of all the investors resident in the commune. When any one of them removes, he shall give notice thereof to the mayor, who shall examine his certificate, and he shall have his name registered again in the town hall of his new place of residence. Article 10. — The investors in the National Fund must be of the age of 12 years at least ; but, up to the age of 16 years, the consent of the father, mother or guardian is necessary. Married women ma) sign a certificate of enrolment ( acte d' adhesion) without the consent of their husbands. The payment of the certified annuity cannot fall due within fifty years, except in case of disablement or under conditions within the discretion of the Higher Central Council. The date of the payment of the certified annuity can be fixed in advance, at the pleasure of the beneficiary, or entrance into enjoyment of the pension may be deferred to a later date. Article 11. — Payments are made by the investors either directly by means of pension stamps or by money placed in the hands of the collector, or indirectly in the same way by the masters, or by the representative of benefit societies and savings banks. The collector settles each year the account of each certificate entered by him in a special register, inscribing officially the amount of the masters’ contributions and the subsidies owed by the State (regulated by Articles 14, 15, 16, 17 below), and he sends a certified copy of this register to the local fund. Article 12. — Payments made by the investors are applicable for any form of life assurance (life annuities constitution de capitaux. At the same time, assurances payable at death can only be contracted on coming of age. Article 13. — Payments from investors cease to be received after they have sufficed to constitute a life annuity ot 600 francs at the age of 50 years whatever may be the form of assurance adopted. ' Every investor may cease to make payments at will without incurring risk, of forfeiture. Every annual payment gives an official right (to an amount of the maximum value of 30 francs) to a State subsidy for any investor, and to a contribution from the master for wage-earning investors. These sums being once registered in a certificate become definitely the property of the beneficiary, whether they consist of payments made by the beneficiary, of contri- butions from the masters, or of State subsidies. Life annuities and capital guaranteed by the sums entered in the certificate cannot be transferred and are not liable to seizure. Article 14.— The State subsidy is equal to the amount of the annual payments of the investors, and can only be used for the purchase of a life annuity, by trans- ferred capital (a capital aliene) in consequence of this, it cannot exceed 30 francs per annum for each in- dividual, and ceases by law when its total amount reaches the value of 1,000 francs. Notwithstanding, if the investor has employed the whole or part of his payments giving a right to a State subsidy in the purchase of a life assurance, a supplementary subsidy shall be granted to him by the State equal to the third part of this payment and applicable for the same purpose. Article 15. — A masters’ contribution must be paid to the National Provident Fund for workers by every employer or master who has employed in any form the labour of paid outside workers. For each of these masters’ contributions there is entered in the certificate of the respective beneficiary a sum equal in amount to his annual payments, but which shall not exceed 30 francs per annum. The masters’ contribution is paid every year by the Higher Central Council, in such a way as to insure the normal working of the National Provident Fund. For employers or masters engaged in agriculture, it must not be less than 2 francs or more than 6 francs for 300 days labour employed. For all other employers or masters it must not be less than 3 francs, or more than 9 francs for 300 days labour. In case of insufficiency, the amount of the contribution shall be determined by a special law. The masters’ contribution, as in the case of the State, can only be used in the purchase of a life annuity by transferred capital. Article 16.- -Declaration of the numbers of days’ labour employed is made each year by the employer or . master at the town hall of the commune in which the labour has been employed, the number of days, for one worker, not to be reckoned as more than 300 in one and the same year. These declarations are controlled by a committee of three members, appointed by the Municipal Council. They are entered in a register, a duplicate copy of which is sent to the tax- collector of the commune. Every false declaration is punished by a fine of 16 to 200 francs. In case of repetition of the offence the fine shall be doubled. Article 17. — Tne tax collector recovers the rates due from the employer or masters in the same form and under the same conditions as assessed taxes. He transmits the amount to the local fund through the representative of the treasurer general of the depart- ment. Employers or masters wbo satisfy the regulations of the following Article are not liable for the aforesaid tax. Article 18. — From the masters’ rates defined in Articles 15, 16 and 17, are exempt all employers or masters who shall have established in favour of their employes and workers individual pensions which are provided by annual payments, at least equal ou the one side to the maximum provided for by Article 15, and on the other, to the payments made by the employes and workers, the limits to compulsory payment, at the same time, being fixed at 30 francs per annum. Notifications of payment shall be made to the mayor of the commune, and to the tax-collector, who shall collect these payments on behalf of the local fund, as in the case of other contributions from masters. Article 19. — A central committee of control is in- stituted in each canton ; it consists of the justice of the peace as president, three employers or masters, and three investors in the National Provident Fund for Workers elected by those persons who are enrolled on the respective communal registers and chosen from REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 125 among themselves. These members are appointed for four years. Article 20. — The cantonal committees hold the first judgment ou all complaints made by masters with regard to the official declaration or calculation of days of work, as well as to the amount of the masters’ con- tributions. Similarly they receive complaints made by investors relative to the state of their certificates. Article 21. — The local councils hold final judgments on appeal, if such be made, on the decisions given by the cantonal committees. Matters for appeal are sent to them by the prefect of the department, notice thereof being given with cause shown by the director of assessed taxes. Article 22.— Every employer or master making use of foreign employes or workers shall pay double the maximum masters’ contribution fixed by Article 15. Article 23.— The amount of the masters’ contributions paid on behalf of foreigners shall be paid iuto the local fund to constitute a sick fund, the purpose of which will be defined in Article 24 following. This fund shall receive also State donations, gifts and legacies, as also the amount of certificates which are unpaid through absence of rightful holders and have fallen into abeyance (i en di'sherence). Article 24.— The sick fund shall serve to constitute life pensions in favour of workers who through in- firmities, setting aside accidents, in the course of work, have become incapable of providing for their own needs and those of their families, and shall give temporary relief in favour of workers overtaken by sickness. It may also be employed in aiding workers who are sick or burdened with a large family, in the payment of their subscriptions to the National Provident Fund for Workers. The local councils shall regulate the distribution of this relief. Articles 25 to 27 complete the bill and present certain temporary provisions for transference or invest- ments of capital. APPENDIX XIV. Pension Scheme of M.M. Constans et Rouvier^ 1 ) Article 1 . — A pension fund for workers which is attached to the National Fund for Old Age Pensions, regulated by the law of July 20th, 1880. is hereby created for the benefit of workers, employes, metayers, or domestic servants, of both sexes, who are French by birth or naturalisation, and whose annual earnings are below 3,000 francs. Article 2. — This fund is supported by : — 1. Direct payment from depositors, increased by equal grants from their employers ; 2. Payments made by the State, under the conditions stated below. Article 3. — The worker is assumed to have the desire to participate in the benefits of the law, unless express declaration to the contrary be made before the mayor of the district in which he lives ; a formal acknowledg- ment of this declaration shall be issued. In the case where this acknowledgment is not laid before him for inspection the master shall withhold from the sums owed by him to the worker in his service a sum of the minimum value of 5 centimes, and of the maximum value of 10 centimes for a day’s work, and shall be bound to contribute an equal sum to the savings of his employes. Article 4 — Tbe sums thus constituted shall be paid at least quarterly, either into the Pension Fund for Workers, or to some mutual aid society, or pension society, or trade syndicate, or properly authorised pro- vident fund. They shall be entered in a special certifi- cate mutual aid societies, trade syndicates, pension societies, and other provident institutions, shall be empowered either to invest the funds thus received under the conditions stipulated by the law concerning mutual aid societies, or to deposit them in the pension fund for workers. Article 5. — Societies other than the authorised mutual aid societies can only confer upon their members the right to participate in the benefits of the present law by virtue of an order from the Minister of the Interior. Article 6. — Payments entered in the depositors’ certificate shall be increased by the State, to the extent of two-thirds of their amount. These additional sums shall be entered in the certificate at least once a year. Article 7.— On making a first application for State subsidy (major avion), the depositor shall make a formal declaration, certified by his master and the mayor of his commune, that his annual income does not exceed 3,000 francs. At the date of payment of his pension, he is required to show that his income does not exceed 000 francs. A false declaration shall be punished by a fine of from 50 to 500 francs, and entails the loss of the State subsidy. 0) No. 2,576, Chamhre des D6put6s, Session 1893. Article 8. — The depositors may contract with the life insurance fund instituted by the law of July 11th, 1868, by means of 30 annual premiums, for a capital varying from 500 to 1,000 francs, equal to the total sums that he would have to contribute to the National Pension Fund. The State will be responsible for a third of the annual premiums. Article 9.- — In order that the sums completed by the State may be definitely acquired by the depositor he must have made his payments from the age of twenty- five years. Interruptions in payments (which may not at most exceed five years) are admitted in cases of necessity (force majeure) for depositors who can prove them. The interrupted payments must be taken up and carried on for a length of time equal to the inter- ruptions. Article 10. — The life annuities to which the sums inscribed on the worker’s certificate give a claim shall be entered in the ledger of the National Fund for Old Age Pensions. The payments arising from the State contribution shall serve for the settlement of the income (serviront d la constitution de la rente), but this pension, taken together with the other revenues of the depositor, may not exceed 600 francs. Article 11.— Every master employing foreign workers of either sex shall contribute 10 centimes a day for each of these workers. Article 12. — A common fund shall be formed with the help — 1. Of gifts and bequests made to the workmen’s pension fund ; 2. Of the contribution by employers of foreign workers ; 3 Of the sums remaining at the disposal of the State in consequence of liquidation of pensions above 600 francs, or on account of depositors having revenues higher than 600 francs; 4. Of sums arising from State payments which were not continued on behalf of depositors in conse- quence of interruptions in payments ; 5. Of payments or arrears of income charged with prescription (atteints par la prescription) ; 6. Of interest on the common funds. Article 13. — The proceeds which go annually to the common funds shall lie applied 1. To complete, up to the half, the annual premiums paid to the life insurance fund by depositors whose funds would have been invested bj' a mutual aid society or other provident society ; 2. To anticipate the liquidation of the pensions of workers, employes, metayers or domestics, whose infirmities prevent them from working up to the total amount of the pension for those whose pay- ments shall have been invested by a mutual Q 3 126 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : aid society or provident society, and up to the amount of the half of the pension for those whose funds shad have been paid to the workmen’s pension fund; 3. To give exceptional help to those wlio are tem- porarily prevented from making their payments by accidents ; 4. To the expenses of working the worker’s pension fund. Article 14. — Pensions which have been liquidated under the present law are not transferable and cannot be seized. Article 15. — Persons indicated in the 1st Article above 25 years and less than forty years of age may profit by the provisions of the preceding Articles on condition of commencing their payments in the year following promulgation of the law. Article 16. — Life annuities already paid by the National Pension Fund shall be subsidised to the amount of two-thirds and within the limits indicated in Article 9, provided that they have been purchased by at least ten annual payments. Article 17. — Likewise life annuities proceeding from payments already made by depositors or invested by mutual aid societies shall be subsidised to the amount of two-thirds under the same limits and conditions. Article 18. — An administrative order shall determine the measures suitable for assuring execution of the present law. APPENDIX XV. Socialistic Proposal for providing Pensions for Old Age. Presented to the Chamber by M. Chassaing, Deputy, and others^ 1 ) Draft Bill. Article 1. — A fund is instituted, independent of the budget, to be called “ The General Pension Fund for Aged Persons.” Article II. — All French citizens of either sex, residing on French territory, shall benefit thereby from and after January 1 following the completion of their sixtieth year. Officials, workmen, and employes of the public force and public administrations, who receive pensions from the State or districts, are excepted, as well as those living exclusively on their own incomes, if such pensions or incomes exceed the amount of the pensions stated below. Article III. — The pension is paid by twelfths and in advance, at the birthplace of the person entitled thereto. In case such person has not retired to the district in which he was born, he shall receive the pension allowed to the natives of such district, wherever may be his place of residence. Article IV. — The rate of pensions is as follows : — Francs. For Paris ------- 800 Districts of over 100,000 inhabitants - 700 ,, from 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants - - - 600 ,, from 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitants - - - 500 ,, from 12,000 to 25,000 inhabitants - 400 ,, under 12,000 inhabitants - 300 Article Y. — Every year, at the beginning of Decem- ber, each district shall make known to the central administration of the general pension fund the number of persons, then alive, born in the district, who will have completed their sixtieth year on December 3.1, so that they receive, before the end of the year, the sum required for the payment from and after January 1, of the first twelfth. This same sum shall be sent to them every month until the next year. Article VI. — At the end of each year, the districts shall return to the central administration the sums remaining in their possession in consequence of death or unclaimed pensions, &c. Article VII. — In order to facilitate the execution of the two foregoing Articles, each time death occurs the registrar of The place of decease shall inform the registrar of the place of birth, and mention of the death shall be made in the margin of the birth register. Article VIII. — The general pension fund is provided by:— 1. The sums to be derived from the suppression of inheritance in collateral line. 2. Succession duties paid by each heir upon the share coming to him after deduction of charges, and at: — Francs. Francs. Per C 1. Up to 10,000 - 1 2. From 10,000 to 15,000 - 2 3. ,, 15,000 „ 20,000 - 3 4. „ 20,000 „ 25,000 - 4 5. „ 25,000 „ 30,000 - - 5 6. ,, 30,000 „ 50,000 - 10 7. „ 50,000 „ 100,000 - 20 8. „ 100,000 „ 500,000 - 40 9. ,, 500,000 ,, 1,000,000 - 50 10. Upon sums exceeding 1,000,000 francs. 75 3. Similar duties payable upon donations during the donor’s lifetime. 4. Donations and bequests to the pension fund. 5. Sums paid by the State in case the resources of the fund be insufficient. Article IX. — At the end of every year the capital not employed by the pension fund shall be handed over to the general budget. Article X. — Under any circumstances pensioners shall not be prevented from improving their circum- stances by means of insurance or membership of private benefit or pension societies or by work, but they cannot be admitted to public employment in the district of the State. Article XI. — Foreigners who have become naturalised French citizens for more than twenty years, may claim under the same conditions as French-born citizens retiring pensions, which shall be paid them by the district in which they obtained naturalisation. APPENDIX XVI. Employers’ Liability and Compulsory Insurance against Accidents.( 2 ) Draft Bill. Section I. Enterprises subject to Insurance. Accidents. Compensation. Article I.— All accidents happening by and during the performance of their duties to workmen and (') F. O. Report ,Misc. Ser., No. 258. (-) From the F. O. Report, Misc Ser.. No. 258, p. 148. employes engaged in building works, factories, manufac- tures, yards, transport, loading and unloading of merchandise, public warehouses, mines, mining stores, quarries, and generally in all establishments or branches thereof in which explosive materials are manufactured or employed, or where use is made of steam engines or machines worked by elementary power (air, water, steam, gas, hot air, electricity, &c.),or by animals, give right in favour of the sufferer or his representatives to REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 127 compensation, the importance and character of which are hereinafter determined. This provision is applicable to workmen and em- ployers engaged in enterprises and works connected with the State, the departments, districts and public establishments. Article II. — Employers and workmen whose annual wages exceed 2,000 francs only benefit by the provisions of this law up to that amount. Article III. — When the accident causes permanent and absolute incapacity to work, the sufferer is entitled to a life annuity equal to two-thirds of his annual wages. Blindness, the complete loss of the use of two limbs, or any incurable infirmity which renders the workman unable to work and provide for his maintenance, are considered as permanent and absolute incapacity to work. Article IV.— When the accident causes permanent partial incapacity, the compensation allowed to sufferers by the preceding Article is diminished in proportion to the capacity to work still retained. Article V. — At the time of the final settlement of the compensation the sufferer may demand that one- fourth of the capital required to constitute a life annuity shall be paid him in cash. This capital is calculated according to the provisions of Article LXXIII. of the present law. The sufferer may also demand that the capital required for the constitution of his pension, reduced or not, as provided by the preceding paragraphs, shall be employed, up to one-half at least, lor the constitution of a life annuity in favour of his wife. Article VI. — When the accident is fatal the compen- sation shall be composed of — (1.) The value of 20 days’ pay for funeral expenses This sum is not to exceed 100 francs, and shall be paid to the representatives within eight days from the date of death. It may be advanced by the head of the establishment, who shall be reimbursed by the district. (2.) A pension paid to the persons hereafter indicated from the date of death under the following con- ditions : — (a.) A life annuity equal to 20 per cent, of the deceased’s annual wages in favour of the con- joint survivor, his widow, not divorced, nor against whom judicial separation has been pro- nounced, on condition that the marriage had been contracted previous to the accident. (h.) For the children or orphans of father or mother up to the full age of 16 years an annuity calculated on the deceased’s annual wages at the rate of 15 per cent, if there be one child only, 25 per cent, if there be two, 35 per cent, if there be three, and 40 per cent, if there be four or more children. The annuity to each of the children, orphans of both parents, shall be 20 per cent, of the wages. Illegitimate children who have been recog- « nised previous to the accident have right to the same annuities, and come under the same con- ditions as the legitimate offspring. The total annuities granted to the children cannot exceed 40 per cent, of the wages in the first case, nor 60 per cent, in the second. Each of the above annuities may be proportionally reduced according to circumstances. (c.) If the deceased be unmarried, or leaves neither widow nor child, a life annuity to such of his ascendants who were supported by him shall be paid at the rate of 10 per cent, of his annual wages on condition that the total amount does not exceed 20 per cent. Each of these annuities may be proportion- ally reduced according to circumstances. Article VII. — The representatives of a foreign work- man who at the time of the accident did not reside in France, are not allowed to claim under the foregoing provisions, unless they can prove that in the country of which the sufferer by the accident was a native, French citizens enjoy such privilege without condition of residence. Article VIII. — In all accidents which have caused incapacity to work during more than three days, the head of the establishment shall bear the expense of medical attendance and medicines. He shall also pay during the illness arising from the accident a sum equal to one-half of the sufferer’s wages, on condition that such sum docs not exceed 3f. 50c. per diem. The head of the establishment is only responsible for this compensation for a period not exceeding 30 days from the date of the accident. After the thirtieth day, if the sufferer be not in a fit state to return to his work, the temporary indemnity above provided and cost of attendance and medicines shall be at the charge of the district. The head of the establishment shall, however, continue to provide them up to the time when a definite decision has been pronounced by competent jurisdic- tion, but as an advance only, and at the expense of the district, which shall reimburse him. This temporary compensation shall be paid from the date of the accident at the usual periods of payment of wages, and at latest every 15 days. Article IX. — Heads of establishments, may relieve themselves of the obligation to pay the cost of the illness and temporary compensation during the first 30 days following the accident, if they can prove — (1.) That they have at their own cost founded special benefit funds, or have associated their workmen to approved or authorised mutual aid societies. (2.) That such funds or societies are bound to pay, independently of the treatment of the wounded, a compensation equal to one-half of their daily wages, on condition that this indemnity shall not be obliged to exceed 3f. 50c. per diem during the illness, or at least during the first 30 days. Article X. — The Articles of Association of private benefit societies mentioned in the foregoing Article shall be drawn up in accordance with the laws relating to mutual aid societies and professional syndicates. A regulation of the public administrative authorities shall settle the modifications to be made in the existing Articles of Association of mutual aid societies in ordei to adapt them to the new powers conferred upon them. Section II. Amount of Wages to be taken as a basis for fixing Annuities and Compensation. Article XI. — The annual wages to workmen employed in the works during the 12 months preceding the acci- dent shall be understood to include the actual remuner- ation granted him by the head of the establishment either in money or in kind. For those who have been employed less than 12 months prior to the accident, the annual wages shall include the actual remuneration thej' have received since they were engaged, increased by the average pay that workmen of the same class have received during the period required to complete these 12 months. In industries where the work is intermittent the annual wages are calculated equally upon the active period of work and the earnings of the workmen during the rest of the year. If a portion of the wages be paid in kind, the valua- tion shall be estimated according to the customs and tariffs of the place. In the case of workmen under 18 years of age, or apprentices, the amount of compensation to be paid, as provided by Articles III. to VI., shall not be less than the lowest wages paid to valid workmen of the same class employed on the works. The temporary compensation and funeral expenses shall in every case be calculated upon the daily pay of the sufferer at the time the accident ocourred. Section III. Declaration of Accidents. — Inquiry. Article XII. — Every accident causing incapacity to work and happening in establishments of the class mentioned in Article I., shall be declared by the head of the establishment or his representative. This declaration shall be made within 48 hours of the occurrence to the mayor of the district, who shall draw up an official report in the form to be settled by a Ministerial decree. The head of the establishment shall annex to this declaration a medical certificate setting forth the state of the injured person, the probable consequences of the accident, and the date when it may be possible to learn the positive result. A voucher for the declaration and medical certificate shall be immediately given by the mayor to the deponent. Q 4 128 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LAROUR : Similar declarations and productions of certificates may be made by the injured man or his representatives. Article XIII. — When the injuries appear likely to become fatal or to entail permanent incapacity for work, the mayor shall send copies of the declarations and medical certificate to the justice of the peace for the district. Within 24 hours of the receipt of such notice the justice of the peace shall institute an inquiry for the purpose of learning — (1.) The cause, nature, and circumstances of the accident. (2.j The names of the sufferers. (3.) The kind of injuries sustained. (4.) The place where the killed or wounded are to be found. (5.) The relatives of the sufferers who may present claims for compensation. (6.) The daily and annual wages of the sufferers. Article XIY. — The inquiry shall be held in the manner prescribed by Articles 35, 36, 37 and 39 of the Code of Civil Procedure in the presence of the parties concerned, or those duly and specially convened by registered letters. The justice of the peace shall visit those injured by the accident, who, by reason of their injuries, cannot possibly attend the inquiry. When the medical certificate does not appear to him sufficient, the justice of the peace may appoint a doctor to examine the sufferer. He may also nominate an expert to assist him in the inquiry. Nevertheless there shall be no need to nominate an expert when the enterprise is under administrative control, or in cases of State enterprises or works submitted to a service of control distinct from the system of management, and in Government establish- ments in wnich operations are carried on which the necessities of public safety require to be kept secret. In these various cases the officials charged with the survey or control shall transmit to the justice of the peace, to be annexed to the official report of the inquiry, a copy of the report which they are required to send to the judicial authorities. The justice of the peace may claim from those con- cerned all such further information as may be of use for ascertaining the truth. Article XY. — Except in cases of material impossi- bility, duly set forth in tbe official report, the inquiry shall be closed with the shortest possible delay, and at latest within 10 days from the date of the accident. The justice of the peace shall give notice by regis- tered letters to the parties of the inquiry being closed, and of the report being lodged at the registry, where, during five days, they may take cognizance thereof, and obtain unstamped copies. After the expiration of the said five days the documents relating to the inquiry shall be transmitted to the president of the district civil court. Article XVI. — Heads of establishments or their re presentatives who neglect to comply with the pro- visions of Article XII., shall be punished by a fine of 16 francs at least, such fine not to exceed 200 francs. In case of repeated neglect within 12 months, the fine may be increased from 200 francs to 100 francs. Article 463 of the Civil Code is applicable to offences provided for by the present Article. Section IY. Competence, Jurisprudence. Article XVII. — Disputes between sufferers from ac- cidents, the heads of establishments, or the district, with regard to temporary compensation, medical atten- dance, cost of medicines, and funeral expenses shall be decided, without appeal, by the justice of the peace of the district where the accident occurred. Article XVIII. — With regard to the other compensa- tions provided for by the present law, within eight days of the reception of the documents relating to the inquiry, the president of the civil tribunal shall convene the injured person or his representatives, the head of the establishment, and the representative of the district. If the parties agree, the amount of the compensation shall be definitely settled by an order of the president, who delivers an act to this effect. When the parties do not agree, the dispute shall be settled at the chief town of the district, where the accident occurred, by a court composed of three heads of establishments and three workmen assembled before the president of the tribunal or in his absence before the the judge appointed by him. Article XIX. — For this purpose, during the month of February in each year a commission, composed of the justice of the peace and the mayors of the cantons, shall draw up two lists containing, the one, the names of all the heads of establishments, partners of firms, directors and managers ; the other, the names of all the workmen employed in such establishments. Only those heads of establishments or workmen who are 30 years of age, able to read and write, residing in the district for at least two years, and possessing their civil and political rights, can figure in the above lists. Article XX. — 'The lists of each canton shall be drawn up in duplicate ; one shall be lodged at the registry of the justice of the peace, and the other at the registry of the civil tribunal of the district. Interested parties may take cognizance of these lists during the 15 days which follow their being lodged at the registry of the justice of the peace. Article XXI. — During the month of April a com- mission, composed of the president of the civil tribunal and four members appointed by the prefect, from among the council lors-general and district councillors, shall draw up district lists of heads of establishments and workmen. This commission may enter on the lists the names of those omitted from the cantonal lists, and cancel those which have been entered therein by mistake. The district lists, when definitely settled, shall be signed immediately, and lodged before May 1 at the registry of the civil tribunal. Article XXII. — Whenever necessity arises for appli- cation to the court of arbitration, the district tribunal shall draw lots at a public meeting from the district lists for 12 jurymen, six among the heads of establish- ments, six among workmen and employers. Four extra jurymen residing in the chief town of the district are to be appointed in the same manner. Article XXIII. — The president of the tribunal, or the judge who takes his place, causes the parties and the jury to be summoned by giving them notice at least five days in advance of the aate and place of meeting. The notice to the parties shall contain the names of the jurymen. Article XXIY. — Every juryman who, without lawful reason, fails to attend or refuses to take part in the deliberation, incurs a fine of 16 francs to 300 francs. The fine is pronounced by the president of the court of arbitration, who delivers judgment, without appeal, upon the defence put forward by the juryman so fined. This magistrate also pronounces, without appeal, upon the causes of hindrance put forward by the juryman, and upon all causes of incapacity and exclusion. In case of insufficient numbers, the president shall select from the lists drawn up, according to Article XXI., the persons, heads of establishments, or workmen required to complete the court of arbitration. Article XXV. — The registrar of the civil tribunal shall draw up au official report of the proceedings. He shall call in due order the causes upon which the court of arbitration has to decide. When the case is called the parties have each the right to three peremptory challenges. When several parties interested appear in the same case they shall settle among themselves their right to challenge or draw lots to decide which of them shall exercise this right. If the right to challenge be not exercised, or only partially, the president shall first constitute the court of arbitration from among the regular jurymen, and afterwards among the extra members. Article XXVI. — When the court has been formed every juryman shall take oath to fulfil his duties im- partially. The parties or their attorneys may summarily present their observations. The court of arbitration may hear all those whom it believes capable of throwing light on the subject, and also use any means for information that it deems necessary. The discussions shall be public. The provisions of Section V. of the Code of Civil Procedure on the order REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 129 of public audiences are applicable to the court of arbitration. After the discussion is declared to be closed by the president, the court shall immediately retire to deliberate without quitting the place. The motives of the decision shall be stated. Article XXVII. — The decision of the court of arbitration can only be appealed against by a petition of appeal, and then only for excess of power or violation of the law. The appeal must be made by declaration at the registry of the civil tribunal within 15 days from the date of the decision. The appeal shall be notified to the parties interested within the week under penalty of forfeiture. Within the 15 days of notice of appeal the documents shall be sent to the civil chamber of the court of appeal, which shall deliver judgment in the course of the following month. The judgment, if delivered by default at the expira- tion of this delay, is not subject to opposition. When a decision has been reversed, the court shall choose the court of arbitration to which the case is referred, and may select the one which gave decision in the first instance. Akticle XXVIII. — Within the limit of his competency the justice of the peace may, on an express request, after having consulted the- list of taxpayers and ascer- tained the position of the party making the request, order urgent judicial aid, which in such case is by right extended to Acts relating to the executions of the judg- ment delivered. The justice of the peace shall order a process server to serve the necessary notices. Article XXIX. — A regulation of public administra- tion shall enact the rules relating — (1.) To the working of the cantonal and district com- mission. (2.) To the organisation of such commissions in Paris. (3.) To the forms to be used before the court of arbitration, the manner in which this court shall deliberate, and how its decisions shall be notified. (4.) The organisation of judicial aid. (5.) The indemnity to be allowed to jurymen. Section V. Responsibility. — Actions for Compensation. — Revision. Article XXX Neither of the compensations settled by the present law may be allowed to the injured persons who intentionally caused the accident. Judgment should be deferred by the court of arbitra- tion so long as no final decision has been pronounced in the public action brought before or during the claim for compensation. Article XXXI. — The court of arbitration has the right, if it be proved by the employer or the district that the accident was due to the serious default of the workman, to diminish or even to refuse any pension whatsoever to the sufferer or his representatives. Article XXXII. — When it has been proved that the accident was due to the serious fault of the head of the establishment, or of one of those placed by him in the charge of, or to survey, the works, the court of arbitra- tion may increase the compensation provided under Section I. The normal compensation is alone carried to the account of the district, or included in its expenditure. The payment of the supplementary compeusation shall be recovered from the head of the establishment. The injured person or his representatives have full right to benefit by judicial aid for the recovery of this compensation, which is guaranteed by the privilege conferred by Article 2, 101 of the Civil Code, and men- tioned therein under No. 6. Article XXXIII. — Actions to recover the amount of the compensation provided for by the foregoing Articles are limited to one year from the date of the accident. Article XXXI V — The head of the establishment, the injured person or his representatives, and the district may appeal to the court of arbitration during three years from the date of the final decision in order to obtain a modification in case of improvement or aggravation of the state of the sufferer, and, in case of his death, the revision of the compensation originally allowed him. Article XXXV. — Sufferers from accidents whose wages exceed 2,000 francs, or their representatives, may make their claim for compensation against the head of U 78419. the establishment either before tho court of arbitration in the manner settled by Article II. or before any other jurisdiction according to the rules of common law. Nevertheless, when such jurisdiction has been com- petently applied to they cannot have recourse to another. Sufferers by accidents whose wages do not exceed 2,000 francs, or their representatives, can only claim from the head of the establishment the compensation provided by the present law. Article XXXVI. — The injured person, or his repre- sentatives, reserve against the authors of the accident, other than the head of the establishment, a right to compensation for the injuries received according to the rules of common law, but the damages thus obtained shall not accumulate with the compensation provided by Article III. and those which follow it. In such case the district or heads of establishments who are insured according to the provisions of Article LXXV., Section VIII., are trot responsible for the com- pensation provided by the present law, except in so far as it exceeds the amount of damages to which the authors of the accident are liable, and only for the por- tion exceeding the amount of such damages. When the damages thus allowed consist of capital, the life annuity to which this capital corresponds should be calculated in order to settle the portion of the com- pensation remaining due by the district or tho heads of establishments, as provided by Article LXXIII. Section VI. Compulsory Mutual Insurance. 1. Districts and Sections. Article XXXV 1 1 . — As regards the annual distribu- tion of the duties resulting from the present law, heads of establishments mentioned in Article I. who are nob insured on their own account and not members of a syndicate according to Article LXXV., shall be com- pulsorily united on districts comprising one or more departments. These districts shall be divided into sections. The department of the Seine may be divided into several districts. Article XXXVIII. — The district shall possess a special administration entrusted to a committee of management. Each section shall be administered by a committee subordinate to the committee of manage- ment. The district may take action at law, and is repre- sented, with regard to third parties and the administra- tion by the president of the committee of management. Article XXXIX. — The mission of the committee of management is — 1. To draw up the annual statement of the subordi- nate establishments and the list of subscriptions to be collected from the heads of establishments in the district. 2. To settle the amount of the bonus which heads of establishments are entitled to receive as pro- vided by Article LXI. 3. To deliberate upon the demands made by sufferers from accidents, or their representatives, and to authorise the representative of the district to accede, if need be, to such demands as are provided by Article XVIII. 4. To cause the suppression of all compensations not due b}'' the district. 5. And generally to look after and watch over all interests of the district. Article XL. — The mission of the committee of sections is : — 1. To give its opinion on the classification of the establishments in the section, the regulation of their relative proportion of risk, and upon the reduction of the subscription which heads of establishments may be entitled to : 2. To cancel all compensations paid in the section which are no longer due : 3. To keep the committee of management informed on all points of interest to the district, and to perform the duties delegated to it by this com- mittee. Article XLL— Heads of establishments may vote, and are eligible for the committees of sections if they possess civil and political rights and form part of the section. .R 130 ItOYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Members of the committee of management are elected by the committee of sections, and may only be chosen from among the electors of these committees. Heads of establishments, insured in the manner pro- vided by Article LXXV., and following, can neither be electors nor are they eligible for the committees oi section or districts. Members of the committees are appointed for four years. Each committee elects its own president. Objections relative either to the list of electors or to the election of members of committees are decided upon according to the forms and conditions prescribed by the law of December 8th, 1883, on the election of consular judges. Members of committees shall receive compensation, the amount of which is fixed, on the proposal of the committee of management, by the Minister of Commerce and Industry. The committee of management nominates and revokes the secretaries, employes, and inspectors required for the working of the district, and fixes the amount of their salaries and compensations. It also settles, on the proposal of the committees of sections, the number of the secretaries, employes, and inspectors of the sections and their salaries. Article XLII. — A regulation of public administra- tion shall settle : — 1. The respective boundaries of the districts and sections. 2. The seat of the district and of each of the sections. 3. The number of the members of the committees of management and of sections. 4. The industries which, according to the districts, should necessarily be represented on these com- mittees. 5. The regulations relating to the formation of electoral lists, elections, deliberations, and the working and dissolution of committees. 2. Higher Councils on Accidents resulting f rom Labour. Article XLIII. — A Higher Council on Accidents re- sulting from Labour is instituted by and under the presidency of the Minister of Commerce and Industry. This council is composed of two senators, two deputies, two Councillors of State, the Director-General of the deposit and lodgment office, and of 10 persons chosen equally from among the members of the Institute of Actuaries, and such others as are well-known for their competency in matters relating to accidents from labour. The Minister nominates the members of the Higher Council and chooses from among them a vice president ; he also appoints the secretary. The Higher Council may call upon the directors of different State departments to take part in its delibera- tions. A regulation of public administration shall fix the rules relating to the working of the Higher Council. Article XLIY.— The Higher Council shall draw up within six months of the promulgation of the law a list, in which shall be enumerated all the industries and professions subject to its provisions. It shall set forth the series of the relative proportions of risks to which each industry or profession is liable according to the conditions under which they are carried on, which conditions should be stated in the said list. To each class of industry at least three graduated proportions shall correspond. The list shall be approved and made executory by decree, and shall be revised every three years. In case of omission of an industry the parties in- terested may apply at all times to the Minister to obtain its insertion, and it shall be added, if need be, to the general list by means of a decree to that effect. Article XLY. — The Higher Council advises upon all matters submitted to it by the Minister. It must be consulted upon all the regulations, de- crees, and Ministerial decisions delivered with regard to the application of the present law. 3. Distribution of Compensation ; Drawing up of Lists; Objections. Article XLYI. — The sum to be distributed each year according to district comprises : — 1 . The capital required to constitute the incomes and pensions entered on the books during the pre- ceding year: 2. The sums charged during the same period to the account of the district for funeral expenses, temporary compensation, and cost of administra- tion and collection. 3. Additional capital for a reserve fund, the amount of which shall be settled annually by the com- mittee of management and shall not exceed one fourth of the sum distributed during the preced- ing year. Article XLVIL— For this purpose the committee of management shall draw up every year for each parish of the district, according to notice and proposal of the committee of sections, a list of names according to the heads of all the establishments under the control of the parish or commune, with particulars of their classifica- tion, their relative proportion of risk, and, if need be. the reduction of subscription allowed to each of them. The denomination of every establishment on the list according to the character of the business carried on there must necessarily be taken from the decree of classification provided by Article XLIV. The committee of management decides which of the various proportions of risk specified by the decree shall be assigned to each respective establishment. If several industries having a series of different pro- portions on th# general list are carried on in the same establishment each of these industries requires a distinct classification with the assignment of a special proportion to each. Article XLVIII. — All heads of establishments who have carried on a trade or profession classified during the preceding year, and who have not fulfilled the provisions of Article LXXV., and following, should be entered on the list each year. At the end of the list drawn up for each parish or commune shall be entered the names of all those heads of establishments who have declared their desire to benefit by the provisions under Section VIII. Article XLIX. — The list is addressed to the mayor of the commune during the first fortnight of December, to be placed at the disposal of interested parties during 10 consecutive days. Notice thereof shall be given by posters and publica- tion at the places set apart for this purpose. A special sheet, previously marked and initialed by the mayor, shall, during such period, be lodged at the town hall for the reception of objections to whicli the list may give rise. Each interested party may protest against the classifi- cation of his establishment and the proportion of risk attributed to him. Anyone may call attention to the establishments omitted. Article L. — At the expiration of the delay fixed by the preceding Article the mayor shall send the list, together with the sheet of observations, to the committee of the section, which shall transmit it with its own decisions to the committee of management. If this committee be of opinion that it is right to act upon the observations transmitted, it shall rectify the list. Its decision is final as far as regards the settlement of the co-efficient of risk. Article LI. — During the month of January every head of establishment so classified shall remit to the mayor of the district, who shall give an acknowledg- ment for the same, a declaration stating the number of workmen and employes engaged by him during the preceding year, the number of working days, and the total wages paid to them. These declarations, collected by the committee of section, shall be transmitted by its means, and with its opinion to the district committee. They may bo rectified by the committee of manage- ment, which settles ex-ofjicio the amount of wages in the establishments for which no declaration has been presented within the time allowed. Article LII. — When an establishment comprises several industries or professions, with separate pro- portions of risk, the declaration as to the amount of wages should be made separately for each of them. Article LIII. — The surveyor of direct taxes shall send each year to the committee of management a copy of the list of trade licences in each district. They shall also furnish to these committees or their agents all useful information at their disposal. Article LIV. — The annual distribution is made between each classified industry, or, if required, between each separate trade forming part of the same REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 131 classified establishment in proportion to the product of its share of risk and the amount of wages of its work- men and employes. Article LV. — The districts may relieve themselves of the obligation to pay to workmen and employes temporary compensation and costs of illness beyond the thirtieth day by means of subscriptions deposited for this purpose with jn’ivate benefit funds or mutual aid societies in the manner prescribed by Articles IX. and X. Article LYI. — The committee of management shall draw up a list for each parish or commune. This list is made executory by the prefect of each department ; it shall be published, and the amounts recovered in the same way as direct taxes. Article LYII. — Heads of establishments whose names were omitted from the original roll, who were engaged in any subordinate business or profession prior to January 1 of the year the roll was issued shall be assessed by means of supplementary rolls, which may be published at any time in the course of the year. The assessment of these heads of establishments is settled in proportion to the share of risk and the amount of wages assigned to them by the committee of management at the rate of distribution resulting from the original roll. Article LVIII. — Interested parties may within a delay of three months from the date of the publication of the roll protest against the classification assigned to their establishment, and the amount at which they are assessed. Such claims are decided upon after notice by the committee of direction by the prefectoral council of the department in which the seat of the district is placed. The prefectoral council is bound in its decisions to conform itself to the general classification of the in- dustries mentioned in Article XLIV., and to the co- efficient fixed by the committee of management in accordance with Articles XL VII. and L. Nevertheless, in cases where the proportions of risk assigned to an establishment by the committee of management is not of the kind applicable by virtue of the decree of classifi- cation to establishments of this class, the prefectoral council fixes the co-efficient ex-officio. ' Article LIX. — In default of the distributions of assessment by the committee of management within the first four months of the year, the Minister of Commerce and Industry designates the persons who should proceed ex-officio with such distribution, in accordance with the foregoing regulations. 4. Fines. Article LX. — Every false declaration of the number of workmen shall be punished by a fine of 10 francs for each workman undeclared. Moreover, all delays in making the declarations, every false declaration relative to the number of work- men and employes, the amount of their wages or the period during which the business has been carried on, shall be punished by a fine of 16 francs to 200 francs. In cases of offences repeated within five years the courts of justice may' increase the fine up to 1,000 francs. 5. Bonuses. Article LXI. — The following persons are allowed to benefit by a reduction of assessment up to 30 per cent. 1. Heads of establishments under Government in- spection who produce annually a certificate given by the board of control or inspection, stating that they have taken steps considered necessary for the prevention of accidents. 2. Heads of all other establishments who produce annually a similar certificate given to them by the engineers specially delegated for this purpose. The amount of bonuses granted by virtue of the fore- going paragraph is borne by the other heads of estab- lishments in the district and increases to that extent the amount they have to subscribe. A Government order shall decide the conditions under which the present article is applicable. Section YII. National Insurance Fund ; Payment and Class of Compensation. Article LXII. — The insurance fund against accidents founded by virtue of the Law of July 11, 1868, takes the title of “The National Fund for Insurance against Accidents.” Article LXI II. — The payment of incomes and pensions due by virtue of the present law is effected at Paris by the National Insurance Fund, and in the provinces through the receivers of the funds and the collectors. These incomes and pensions are entered upon presen- tation of the copy of the decision of the court of arbitration, on the order of the president stating the terms agreed upon between the parties. Article LXIY. — Funeral expenses, temporary com- pensations, cost of administration, and, generally, all other expenses at the cost of the district, are re- imbursed or paid on presentation of orders from the representative of the district, issued in accordance with the decisions of the committee of management or on communication of the judgment of the justice of the peace. Article LX\ . — -The incomes and temporary com- pensations granted to those injured by accidents, or their representatives, are not alienable, and cannot be seized or attached. Article LXVI. — After three years of unclaimed arrears these incomes are struck off the books of the National Fund, and their re-establishment gives no ground for claim of any kind for arrears prior to the demand for re-inscription. Article LXVIL— The right of obtaining or the enjoyment of such incomes shall be suspended by virtue of a criminal sentence and during the term of the penalty. Article LXVIII. — The subscriptions collected by virtue of Article XLVI. and following, and the amount produced by fines inflicted under the present law, shall be paid into the National Fund, and carried to the special account of each district. Article LXIX. — The following items shall be carried to the account of the reserve fund of the district : 1. The subscriptions which cannot be recovered ; 2. The amount of discharges and reductions ; 3. The interest on advances by the National Fund ; 4. The compensation to sworn members of the Court of Arbitration, and the costs of organisation of such courts incumbent upon the district; 5. The sums arising from the reduction or increase of the compensation according to the conditions provided by Article XXXIV. : 6. The subscriptions recovered by virtue of the sup- plementary rolls ; 7. The amount produced by the fines indicted by application of the present law ; 8. The arrears of incomes unclaimed during three years, according to Article LXVI., and those on incomes suspended bv the application of Article LXVIL Article LXX.— The advances required for the due working of the fund shall be made by the Deposit and Consignments Fund at a rate to be fixed by decree issued by the Minister of Commerce and Industry and the Minister of Finance. During the first year the National Fund shall operate by means of capital belonging to the fund for insurance against accidents founded by the Law of July 11, 1868. Article LXXI. — The capital of the fund shall be employed in the same manner as that of the National Pension Fund. Article LXXII. — In each department an account of the sums paid or collected for the National Fund shall be kept at the office of the Paymaster-General. Article LXXIII. — Within six months of the promul- gation of the present law the National Fund shall establish the tables required for the constitution of the incomes to be paid by it to the injured, their widows, children, or other relatives. These tables shall com- prise all ages from the date of birth up to the age of 80 years. Pensions in favour of persons over 80 years of age shall be paid according to rates fixed for that age. These tables shall be revised at least every five years. Article LXXIV. — A Government order shall decide the conditions of the organisation and working ot the National Fund and the publicity to be given to its operations. R 2 132 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Section VIII. Individual and Syndical Insurances ; Special Guarantees. Article LXXV. — Heads of establishments, who desire, either individually or in the form of a syndicate, to remain their own insurers shall make a declaration before December 1 every year to the prefect of their department, and to the committee of management of their district. They shall at the same time prove the deposit -with the National Fund of the guarantee to which they are subjected. The articles of association of the syndicates shall be approved by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, after notice from the Council of State. Article LXXVI. — A Government order shall settle the basis and nature of the guarantee, taking into account the dangers of the industry, the number of workmen, the relative proportion of risk, and the hours of labour. It shall set forth the rules according to which heads of establishments insured, either individually or as a syndicate, shall contribute to the cost of organisation and working of the Court of Arbitration. It shall fix the procedure to be followed for the in- formation of such syndicates. Article LXXVII. — The amount of the interest on the guarantees shall be settled by the Minister of Commerce on the motion of the Director-General of the Deposit and Lodgment Fund. Article LXXV1II. — Compensation due in respect of accidents provided for by the present law, shall in every case be decided in accordance with the foregoing regulations. Disputes arising between the persons injured, or their representatives, and the heads of establishments, shall be settled in the manner prescribed by Article XVII. and following. The pensions allowed to the sufferers or their repre- sentatives shall be paid by the National Insurance Fund. The capital required for the constitution of these pensions shall be taken from the guarantee fund, and shall lie replaced within 15 days from the date of application to the National Fund. If the syndicates or heads of establishments neglect to conform to this condition, the latter, whether they be syndicated or not, shall be officially subjected to the provisions of Section V r I. of the present law, from and after the date when the security is no longer adequate. Members of syndicates remain jointly and severally responsible toward the National Furd for the amounts advanced by it for the purchase of pensions, not entirely covered by the guarantee deposited. Article LXXIX. — Sufferers by accidents, or their representatives, have a privileged claim according to the terms of Article 2,102 of the Civil Code upon securities lodged as a guarantee. Section IX. General Rules. Article LXXX. — The official reports, certificates, notarial acts, writs, judgments, and other legal docu- ments made or delivered by virtue of and for tho execution of the present law shall be delivered without fee, and stamped and registered gratis whenever the formality of registration is deemed necessary. Article LXXX1. — Every agreement contrary to the present law is, as such, null and void. Article LXXX11. — The present law shall take effect from and after January 1 of the year following its promulgation. Article LXXXIII. — Heads of establishments are bound under penalty of a fine of 16 francs to 100 francs to post up in every workshop a copy of the present law and. the decree of classification prescribed by Article XL1V. Article LXXXIY. — No derogation whatever is made with respect to the laws, ordinances, and regulations concerning pensions to workmen, apprentices, and labourers employed in the arsenals and r.avy yards, and those workmen regularly inscribed in manufactories of arms depending on the War Department. A special law shall decide the consequences of accidents happening to sailors and fishermen in the exercise of their occupation. APPENDIX XVII. Law relating to Free Medical AiD.( a ) The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have adopted, the President of the Republic promulgates the following law : — Part I. Organisation of Medical Aid. Article 1. — Every sick French person without means of subsistence may receive free medical aid in his own home from the commune, department or the State, according to his relief domicile, or if this cannot be satisfactorily done, then in a hospital. Women lying-in are regarded as sick. Foreign sick persons without means are regarded as French in all cases in which the Government shall have passed a treaty of reciprocal assistance with their country. Article 2. — The commune, department or the State may always call for help, if occasion arises, either from each other or other persons, societies or bodies charged with provision of medical aid to the indigent sick, notably from the members of the family of the person claiming relief, as indicated in Articles 205 to 207 and 212 of the Civil Code. Article 3. — Every commune is attached, for the purpose of treatment of the sick persons belonging to it, to one or more of the nearest hospitals. In thoses cases in which it is impossible to give adequate treatment to a sick person in his home the doctor delivers a certificate of admission to the hos- pital. This certificate should be countersigned by the president of the board of aid (bureau d’ assistance) or his representative. The hospital may not claim back the expenses of tho day except on presentation of the above-mentioned cer- tificate. Article 4. — In each department a service of medical aid for the sick poor is established under authority of the prefect and according to the conditions laid down by the present law. The general council deliberates, in accordance with the conditions provided by Article 48 of the law of August 10, 1871 : (1) upon the organisa- tion of medical aid, the determination as to sites and foundation of the hospitals to which each commune or syndicate of communes is attached ; (2) upon the share of the expense to fall on the communes and the department. Article 5. — In default of deliberation by the general council upon the matters mentioned in the preceding Article, or in case of suspension of the deliberation in execution of Article 49 of the law of August 10, 1871, the regulation of the service may be provided for by a decree given in the form of an administrative order. Part II. Relief Domicile. Article 6. — Relief domicile is acquired: (1.) By habitual residence during one year in a commune after majority is attained. (2.) By birth ( filiation ). A child has the same relief domicile as its father. If the mother has survived the father, or if the child is illegitimate and recognised only by the mother, it has the domicile of its mother. In case of separation or divorce of its parents a legitimate child shares the domicile of the parent who has the care of its education. (') Jonrruil Otficiel, July 18, 1893. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN PRANCE. 133 (3.) By marriage. The wife from the day of her marriage acquires the relief domicile of her husband. Widows and wives divorced or separated from their husbands retain the relief domicile that they had before the dissolution of the marriage or the judgment of separation. In cases not mentioned in the present Article the relief domicile is the place of birth up to the attainment of majority. Article 7. — Relief domicile is lost : — (1.) By an uninterrupted absence of one year after majority is attained. (2.) By acquisition of a new relief domicile. If the absence is occasioned by circumstances excluding all liberty in choice of residence or by necessity of treatment in a hospital at some distance from the habitual residence of the invalid, the period of one year shall be reckoned from the day when these circumstances cease to exist. Article 8. — In default of a communal relief domicile the duty of administering medical aid falls upon the department in which the sick person without means has acquired his relief domicile. When the sick person has neither a communal nor departmental relief domicile, the cost of medical aid falls upon the State. Article 9. — Charity children have their domicile in the department which has the charge of them, up till the time when they acquire another relief domicile. Part III. Board and Roll of Atd. Article 10. — In each commune a board of aid ( bureau cV assistance) provides a service of medical aid. The administrative committee of the board of aid is formed from the administrative committees of the charity hospice and board of charity (bureau de bienfaisance) or by the latter only when there is no hospice in the commune. In default of a hospice or board of charity the board of aid is governed by the law of May 21, 1873 (Articles 1 to 5), modified by the law of August 5, 1879, and possesses, in addition to the attributes bestowed by the present law, all the attributes which appertain to a board of charity. Article 11. — The president of the board of aid has the right to accept gifts and bequests as a trustee (a titre conservatoire) and to raise every question in the transfer, without special authorisation ( former . . . toute demande en delivrance). The decree of the President of the Republic or the resolution of the prefect which follow afterwards take effect from the day of this acceptation. The board of aid is legally represented ( represente' en justice et dans tons les actes de la vie civile ) by one of its members elected by his colleagues for this purpose at the beginning of every year. Administration of the foundations, gifts and bequests which have been made to the poor or to the communes in favour of medical aid, devolves upon the board of aid. The boards of aid are subject to the regulations which apply to the administration and book-keeping of the hospices, in so far as they have nothing in them con- trary to the present law. Article 12. — The administrative committee of the board of aid meets at least four times a year at the instance of its president. One month before the first ordinary meeting of the municipal council this committee prepares a list of the persons holding relief domicile within the commune, who in case of sickness should be admitted to medical aid and its revises this list one month before each of the other three sessions. The relief doctor or a delegate of the doctor’s, the municipal collector and one of the assessors chosen by the sub- prefect may take a consultative part in the pro- ceedings. Article 13. — The medical aid roll should include by name all those who are admitted to relief even when they are members of one family. Article 14. — The roll is checked by the Municipal Council which deliberates upon it in private ; it is de- posited with the secretary to the mairie. The mayor gives notice of this deposit in the usual manner. Article 15. — A copy of the roll and the official report stating the accomplishment of the formalities pre- scribed by the preceding Article is sent at the same time to the' sub-prefect of the district ( arrondissement ). If the prefect deems that the formalities prescribed by the law have not been observed he refers the operations, within eight days, to the council of the prefecture which takes a decision within eight days and fixes, if necessary, the time within which the annulled opera- tions shall be repaired. Article 16. — Within 20 days from the time of depositing the roll, claims for inscription or erasure should be made by any inhabitant or ratepayer of the commune. Article 17. — A cantonal committee decides without appeal upon these claims, the mayor concurring or being duly appealed to. This committee is composed of the sub-prefect of the district, of the councillor general, of a councillor of the district in order of nomi- nation, and of the justice of the peace for the canton. The sub-prefect or, in his default, the justice of the peace, presides over this committee. Article 18. — The president of the commitee, within eight days, gives notice to the sub-prefect and the mayor of the decisions as to additions or withdrawals effected on the roll. Article 19. — In urgent cases between two sessions, the board of aid may provisionally, and under the con- ditions in Article 12, admit a sick person not inscribed on the list to relief. When it is impossible to call the board of aid together in time, admission may be pronounced by the mayor, who gives a private account of the matter to the muni- cipal council at its next sitting. Article 20.— In case of accident or acute disease, medical aid to persons not having relief domicile in the commune where the accident or illness occurred devolves upon the commune, under the conditions defined in Article 21, if no hospital exists in the com- mune. Admission of these sick persons to medical aid is pronounced by the mayor, who gives notice of it immediately to the prefect and gives a private account of the matter to the Municipal Council at its next sitting. The prefect acknowledges receipts of the notice and decides within 10 days on the admission to relief. Article 21. — The expenses advanced by the com- mune in virtue of the preceding Article, except the first 10 days of treatment, are re-imbursed by the department according to a regular statement prepared conformably to a tariff fixed by the general council. The depart- ment which has afforded aid can call for assistance from certain people. If the person aided has his relief domicile in another department the claim is against that department, which may in turn exercise its claim for assistance from others. Article 22. — The inscription on the roll, provided in Article 12, continues to hold good during one year, in respect of the third (au regard des tiers ) from the day on which the person inscribed has left the commune, saving only the right of the commune to prove that this person is no longer in need of free medical aid. Article 23. — The prefect pronounces admission to relief of medical aid in the case of sick persons without means and deprived of communal relief domicile. The prefect is bound at the beginning of each month to send the list of names of sick persons so admitted at the end of each month to the departmental committee or to the Minister of the Interior, according as it falls upon the department or the State. Part IY. Hospital Relief. Article 24. — The charge per diem for sick persons placed in hospitals at the expense of the communes, of the departments or the State is regulated by a resolu- tion of the prefect after a proposal by the administra- tive committees of these establishments and after an opinion has been expressed by the general council of the department, with the provision that a charge per diem may not be imposed which is less than the average determined during five preceding years. Article 25. — Rights arising out of founder's deeds (actes de fondations), orders for amalgamation (edits R 3 134 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Strike of workwomen in sugar refineries, Paris. d’ amalgamation), or special agreements ( contractions particulieres) are and remain reserved. There is no de- parture from Article 1 of the law of August 7th, 1851. All beds not occupied under the provisions of the previous paragraph, or not considered necessary for the use of old people or incurables, of soldiers, charity children or maternity cases, are devoted to the service of medical aid. Part Y. Expenses, Ways and Means. Article 26. — Expenses for the service of medical aid are divided into ordinary and extraordinary. The first include : — 1. Pees for doctors, surgeons and midwives in the service of home aid ; 2. Medicaments and instruments ; 3. Hospital expenses. These are obligatory. They are borne by the communes, the department and the State, according to the rules established in Articles 27 to 29. Extraordinary expenses include the cost of enlarging and constructing hospitals. The State contributes to these expenses by subventions determined by the credits voted. Each year a sum to this effect is inscribed in the budget. Article 27. — The communes, the special and ordinary resources of which are insufficient to cover the costs of this service, are authorised to vote certain additions (centimes additioneh ) to the four direct rates, or to the octroi duties in order to obtain the complement for necessary resources. The octroi duties voted in virtue of the preceding paragraph are submitted for the approval of the competent authority according to the dispositions of Article 137 of the law of April 5th. 1884. . . .(‘) Article 28. — The department, in addition to the expenses falling upon them by the preceding Articles, are bound to grant subventions to the communes which are compelled to have recourse to increased rates. (‘) . . . Article 29. — The State subscribes to departmental expenses for medical aid, by subventions, which may vary from 10 to 70 per cent, of the total expenses covered by the additional centimes.(') . . . The State is moreover charged : — (1.) With the expenses occasioned by the treatment of sick persons without relief domicile. (2.) The expenses of administration relative to the execution of the present law. Part YI. General Provisions. Article 30. — The communes, departments, boards of charity and hospitals, possessing properties through foundations, the revenue of which is devoted by the founder to medical aid for sick persons in their homes, are bound to contribute to the expenses of medical aid up to the amount of the said revenue, exceptin'* for what has been said in Article 25. Article 31. — All the collections relative to the service of medical aid are made through the local tax gatherers (comme en matiere de contributions diredes). All the receipts of the boards of aid for which the laws and regulations have not provided a special mode of collection are effected through forms prepared by the president. These take effect (sont executoires) after they have been overlooked (vises) by the prefect or sub-prefect. Oppositions put in are judged as summary affairs when the dispute is as to the compe- tence of the ordinary tribunals, and the board may put in a defence without authorisation of the Council of the Prefecture. Article 32. — The certificates, signatures, judgments, contracts, receipts, and other acts accomplished in virtue of the present law, and relating exclusively to the service of medical aid are exempt from stamp duties, and registered freely without prejudice to the benefit of the law of January 22nd, 1851, on judicial aid. Article 33. — All disputes relating to execution of the law, whether as to the deliberation of the general council in virtue of Article 4, or the decree in virtue of Article 5, or in case of claims of the administrative commissions relating to the execution of the resolu- tion of the prefect provided for in Article 24, are brought before the council of prefecture of the depart- ment in which the plaintiff resides, or in case of appeal before the council of State. Proceedings before the council of State in the case provided in the preceding paragraph can dispense with intervention of an advocate. Article 34. — The doctors in the service of medical aid must be considered as ineligible for the general council or the council of the arrondissement on account of their payment through the departmental estimates. Article 35. — The communes or syndicates of com- munes which prove a complete fulfilment of their duty of aid to sick persons may be authorised to have a special organisation by a special decision of the Minister of the Interior, given after consultation with the Higher Council of Public Relief. Article 36. — The provisions of the decree of 24 v endemiaire an II. are repealed in so far as they are contrary to the present law. Executed at Paris, July 15th, 1893. Carnot, President of the Republic. President of the Council and Minister of the Interior, Ch. Dupuy. Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice, E. Guerin. Minister of Finance, P. Peytral. APPENDIX XVIII. Strikes in 1892. By the courtesy of the director of the “ Office du Travail,” advance procf sheets have been received of the forthcoming work on Strikes in 1892. One or two of the more interesting among them, of which no details could hitherto be procured, can thus be treated here. The first selected is the strike of September 9th to 29th, among the workwomen (breakers of sugar) in the refinery of Messieurs Sommier et Cie., Paris. On September 8th a notice was posted up in the works to the effect that from the 19th the pieceworkers in the breaking department would be paid 50 centimes the 100 kilogrammes of sugar broken, instead of the (i) A reference to schedules follows here. See “ Journal Otficiel,” July IS, 1893. 60 centimes which they had earned on each quintal of sugar placed in the boxes and between the boards. This decision really only affected the workwomen employed at the boards. The boxes contained 60 kilogrammes and the boards from ten, or five, down to one kilogramme; but hitherto the boxes were counted as 50 kilogrammes instead of 60, while in the case of the boards the weights were more exact. When deciding to lower the rate M. Sommier undertook to pay the boxes at their real weight, that is, the workwomen, instead of receiving 60 centimes for 120 kilogrammes, received 50 centimes for 100 kilo- grammes. The breakers of sugar decided that they would not accept the new rate, and on the 9th 90 of them ceased work. The other workwomen, earning by time-work from 3 francs to 3.25 a day in other departments REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 135 Strikes among; cab drivers. joined, and so brought up the number of strikers to 160. The situation remained unchanged until September 14, on which day M. Sommier received a deputation of workwomen who demanded a restoration of the old rate. Ho agreement, however, was arrived at, as the strikers refused a slight concession (the substitution of 53 centimes for 50) offered by the employer. The same day a meeting was held at the Labour Exchange and a general strike in the trade was deter- mined on ; a subscription list was opened to provide necessary funds. On the 15th 35 workwomen left the breaking department in the works of MM. Lucas and Descambre. Their example was followed next day by 250 workwomen of the firm Lebaudy, 110 (out of 120) in the firm Francois, and by 24 (out of 30) workwomen in the French sawyards (scierie franpaise). This result was accompanied or preceded by several interferences with freedom of labour which, however, were quickly repressed. At a meeting of the Labour Exchange on the 16th the following resolutions were taken : — “ The “ workwomen ( casseuses de sucre ) in the firms of “ Lebaudy, Sommier et Cie., Lucas et Descambre, and “ Francois, undertake not to begin work until they “ have obtained : (1) at the works Lebaudy, 80 cen- “ times per 100 kilos. ; suppression of fines ; Saturday “ payment of wages; payment by the employer and “ not by the employed of the weighers and tarers ; a “ rise of ten centimes an hour for the time-workers. “ (2) At the works of Sommier and Company : main- “ tenance of the rate of 60 centimes per 100 kilos.” At the same time an appeal was addressed to all the workwomen in the refineries to join a syndicate, in process of formation, as soon as possible. On September 17th, however, 60 workwomen returned to work at the refinery of Lebaudy, 50 at the works of Francois and all the sugar breakers at the works of Lucas and Descambre, so abandoning the struggle. On the 19th a fresh deputation to the firm of Sommier asked for a return to the old rate. The reply was that this was impossible, but that the works were open to all who would return to work. A meeting in the large hall of the Labour Exchange next day adopted the following resolution: — “The workmen and workwomen “ of the Sommier refinery, in general assembly on “ September 20, in view of the revolting attitude of “ the exploiter Sommier, decide to continue the strike “ more firmly than ever, and declare that the readiness “ of the syndicates at the Labour Exchange to subscribe “ subsidies offer them every encouragement in main- “ taining their claims.” A small number of the strikers attempted a third approach to M. Sommier on September 26. He was desirous of ending the strike, renewed his offer of September 14, promising 53 centimes per 100 kilos, of sugar broken. Seeing that they could obtain no better conditions, the workwomen informed M. Sommier on the 27th that work would be resumed the following day. This they did, but a new incident arose ; the drawers and pushers refused to work except at the same rate aB the breakers. To avoid prolongation of the strike M. Sommier, consented to grant this demand, and on the 29th work was resumed by all. Three strikes among cab-drivers ( cockers de fiacre) took place during 1892 in Paris : — - Diites. Firms affected. No. of Strikers Claims of Strikers. Results for Strikers. 1 Jan. 3 to Mar. 7. One 1,800 Reduction of hire from 22 to 15 francs. Defeat. Mar. 26 to Ap. 0. Eight 600 Daily wage of 5 francs, and suppression of hire. Defeat. 3 Aug. IS to 19. Eight 900 Reduction of hire, and ap- plication of the horo-kilo- rnetric mea- sure. Defeat. The first of these, which is chosen for illustration as the longest and most interesting, arose among the em- ployes of the Compagnie Urbaine and began at the depot Batignolles. An unsigned notice was distributed among the cab-drivers, complaining of a rise in hire from 20 to 22 francs, which was announced, they said, in spite of an attempt to arrange the matter by a deputa- tion to the “council of administration,” and calling upon the men to come out on strike with a demand for a fixed daily rate of 15 francs. Several depots were deserted in response to this at once, and by January 4th the strike was universal. Further demands were put in : (1) that the cabs should not be at the charge of the drivers on the days when they did not leave the yards, (2) that delegates should be neither threatened nor dismissed. M. Lamonta, president of the council, replied that the latter points would be considered, and that while the company had hitherto found it quite impossible to establish a fixed daily rate, they were disposed to show as much consideration as possible in establishing an average. A meeting was held at once, January 4th, at the Labour Exchange, at which it was resolved to continue the strike until all claims were satisfied. A subscrip- tion list was opened, and from that date until the close of the strike not less than 3,000 francs in all were received. On the 12th a deputation of cab-drivers was received by the conrpany. The former then declared that they were ready to re-commence work if the company would allow them to work at choice, according to an average or a market rate ( soit d la moyenne , soit a la feuille). The company at once agreed, but no cabs were taken out of the yard on the following day. At a meeting at the Labour Exchange the action of the deputation was repudiated, and continuation of the strike voted. On the 14th, offers of conciliation were sent to M. Lamonta through the Municipal Council of Paris. He replied that he would meet the latter if the following were associated with him in consultation, as the matters in question were vital to the whole trade : — M. le President de la Compagnie generate des voitures ; M. le President de la Compagnie l' Abeille ; The principal cab-owners and the president of their syndical chamber. This reply was taken as a refusal of mediation. On the 19th it was decided to continue the strike with the utmost energy (dernier e energie). and the Municipal Council voted a credit of 10,000 francs to the strikers. On their part the “ Urbaine ” company were supported by all the greater cab-owners. Ho important incident took place until February 12th, when a proposal for arbitration was sent to M. Lamonta, the drivers suggest- ing M. Mesureur, deputy for the Seine, as their repre- sentative. This proposal was rejected. On February 16th the Marquis de Mores explained to a mass meeting of drivers the details of a scheme, whereby (with the aid of a loan from the bank of France) they might become co-proprietors of the plant of the company. A number of other orators addressed the meeting, which eventually adopted a long series of resolutions ; of these the most practical was that the drivers were “ compelled to carry the strike on in its natural course “ ( marche normale ) until the prince financier Lamonta “ submitted or resigned (se soumette ou se demette).” Protests were entered against the action of the police in interfering with a strike which had been carried on in a “most calm and dignified” manner. It should be noted in passing, in connection with this con- tention, that one hundred actions ( proces-verbaux ) for interference with freedom of labour were brought against strikers, and that the greater number of arrests were followed by sentences varying from 15 days to six months’ imprisonment. Whether the arrests had any effect or not, it was from February 18th that cabs belonging to the Urbaine company began to be seen in the streets again. On March 2nd a fresh attempt at conciliation was un- successfully made, followed by fresh declarations of “ solidarity ” and “fraternite” on the part of the drivers. On March 4 three delegates from the drivers’ syndicate were received by M. Lamonta, who refused their proposals. A last meeting of the drivers took place on the 5th. It was resolved that “ while closing “ the strike . . . the remaining strikers, certain R 4 136 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR: Tanners’ strike, Chkteau- renault. “ that they had fulfilled their whole duty . . . would “ continue to relieve their comrades languishing in “ prisons for no worse crime than that of defending a “ just cause against capitalist and police tyranny . . “ and would organise a strike fund for the future “ which would assure eventually the triumph of their “ unappreciated rights.’’ A strike in which arbitration was successfully applied took place among the working tanners of the firm Biemeivue et Cie at Chateaurenault, in the end of 1892. The cause of the strike was a demand for increased wages. It commenced on November 28th, and was only terminated in January 25th, 1893. Initiative in appli- cation of the new law of conciliation and arbitration, December 27th, 1892, was taken by the juge de pair directly after its promulgation, in default of initiative by the disputing parties. Several unavailing attempts at conciliation under the provisions of the law were made. The first meeting took place on January 11th, before Lucien Davoy, juge de paix of the Canton Chateaurenault in the arrondissement Tours (Indre- et-Loire). Five working tanners and curriers’ dele- gates appeared for the one side, and two members of the firm Bienvenue for the other. These stated that 54 workmen out of 84 had left the works of Bienvenue aine et Cie. on November 28th, and that the cause was alleged by them to be insufficient wage. The pre- liminaries having been settled, the workmen opened the debate ( pris la parole), and expressed surprise that MM. Bienvenue had not appeared in person to defend their action, and stated that they themselves desired concilia- tion rather than arbitration. The delegates for the firm replied that they (MM. Bienvenue) had every wish to act in conformity with the law, and that this permitted them to send delegates. The claims then put forward by the workmen were : (1) a price of 10 francs the 100 kilos, of dried, glazed, and cut hides; (2) 40 centimes an hour for time-work at the river, and in the drying rooms ; (3) 30 centimes an hour for work in the yards, beginning at the age of 16. MM. Foucher and Aubin, the delegates for the em- ployers, then put forward a tariff in the name of their principals : (1) specifying rates varying from 4f. 50c. to 17f. for various kinds of hides ; (2) offering If. 40c. per hide for every sort treated at the river ; (3) and 3 francs a day (of 12 hours) for men and lads working- in the court, the latter to be chosen by capacity and not by age. The working delegates then replied that they could not accept any alteration in their own terms, and asked for a postponement of the consultation until the 13th, when they should have consulted their fellow workers. MM. Foucher and Aubin promised that a member of the firm would meet the workers at the date specified. When the meeting. took place the workers objected to the presence of the delegates of the employers along with a member of the firm, M. Niore. They retired, and M. JNiore then asked for arrangement of an arbitration. No agreement on the subject of arbi- trators could be arrived at, but at another meeting on January 18th, an arrangement was made. Three working curryers, outside the disputing parties, were nominated on behalf of the workers, and two master curriers on behalf of the employers. At a meeting of the arbitrators on January 23rd, the following award was given : — (1.) In the currying and glazing departments prices to be paid varying from 18 francs to 4f. 50c., the greater part of this tariff being that proposed by MM. Foucher and Aubin. (2.) For work by the river 1 franc 40 per hide of every kind. (3.) The work in the yards to be paid entirely’ accord- ing to the aptitude of the men “ in accordance with “ the just appreciation of the employers and their “ old customs.” This was unanimously agreed on by the arbitrators. (4.) In case of strike while hides are still in the water the If. 40c. mentioned in Article (2) to be paid only after completion of the task. This arbitration was accepted and put into force from January 24th. The following table shows the strikes in 1892 from the point of view of the trades : — Trades. No. of Strikes. No. of Days’ work lost. A. — Mining, . Quarri/ing, and En- gineering Trades. 1. Mines - ... 15 255,000 2. Quarries - - - 5 6,000 3. Iron, engineering, and metal works 40 61,000 B. — Transport and Agriculture. 1. Railways - 1 60 2. Other forms of transport 14 125,000 3. Agriculture and forests - 6 235,000 C. — Textiles, Clothing and Miscel- laneous Trades. 1. Textiles - - - - 79 82,000 2. Clothing, dyeing, &c. 5 900 3. Chemicals - - - 3 150 4. Printing trades ... 5 850 5. Provision trades ... 4 10,000 6. Leather ... 14 35,000 7. Cabinet trade - ... 23 35,000 8. Cutting and polishing stones ' 15 46,000 9. Construction and canal works 32 29,000 Totals - - - 261 920,960 Table, showing Causes and Results oe Stkik.es, 1892. Chief causes or Claims of Strikers. Suc- cessful. Com- pro- mise. Defeat. Un- known. Total. Demand for increase in wages. 31 31 39 2 103 Against reduction of wages - 10 17 31 - 58 Demand for reduction of hours. * 10 5 - 17 Miscellaneous disputes about wages. 11 G 20 i 3$ Refusal by employers of general rights or rules claimed by syndicates. 3 i 1 — 5 Dismissal of workmen 2 G 12 i 21 Demand for dismissal of members of staff. 4 5 20 - 35 Protests against fines and regulations of works. G 5 3 — 14 Demand for reform of relief and pension funds. — 1 — — 1 Of all these strikes, 13S lasted for one week or less ; 50 from 8 to 15 days ; 27 from 10 to 30 days ; 30 from 31 to 100 days ; 5 for more than 100. In 11 cases the duration was unknown. Table of Strikes in 1892 by Departments. Departments. Number of Strikes. Number of Days of \V ork lost during the Strikes. 1. Ain ... 2. Aisue ... - 3 7,500 3. Allier - 4 5,500 4. Alpes (Basses) - 1 400 5. Alpes (Hautes) - - 1 35 6. Alpes (Maritimes) - ~ — — 7. Ardeclie - - 2 4,700 8. Ardennes ... - 10 8,500 9. Ariege - 1 130 10. Aube ... 4 5,500 11. Aude - - 1 700 12. Aveyron ... - 2 120 13. Bouches-du-Rhone - — — 14. Calvados ... - 2 30 15. Cantal ... - — — 16. Charente ... - — — 17. Charente-Inferieure - 2 1,700 18. Cher ... - 8 170,000 19. Correze - - — — 20. Corse 2 475 21. Cote-d’-Or - 2 -- 22. Cotes-du-Nord - 2 700 11EP0RT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 137 Departments. Number of Strikes. Number of Days of Work lost during the Strikes. Departments. Number of Strikes. Number of Days of Work lost during the Strikes. 23. Creusc - . . _ 59. Oise .... 7 2,400 24. Dordogne - - - 1 600 60. Orne - - - — — 25. Doubs - - 3 4,400 61. Pas-du-Calais ... 10 3,300 26. Drome - - - — — 62. Puy-de-Dome - - - — — 27. Eure - - 1 1,000 63. Pyrenees (Basses) — — 28. Eure-et-Loire — — 64. Pyrenees (Hautes) - - - 1 170 29. Finistere - - 1 5,000 65. Pyrenees (Orientates) I 60 30. Gard - - - 2 800 66. Territoire de Belfort — — 31. Garonne (Haute) - - 2 6,500 67. Rhone - 5 100 32. Gers - - — — 68. Saone (Haute) 1 220 33. Gironde - - - 4 11,000 69. Saone-et-Loire ... — 34. Herault - - - 7 17,000 70. Sarthe - - - - — 35. llle-et-Vilaine - - 3 350 71. Savoie - — — 36. Indre - - - 2 6,800 72. Savoie (Haute) - - - — — 37. Indre-ct-Loire - 5 350 73. Seine - - - 31 150,000 38. Isere - - 1 6,800 74. Seine Inferieure - - 7 1 1 ,000 39. Jura - - 1 3,600 75. Seine-et-Marne - 2 300 40. Landes - - - — — 76. Seine-et-Oise - - - 3 300 41. Loire-et-C’her - - 3 26,000 77, Sevres (Deux) - — — 42. Loire - - - 6 21,000 78. Somme - - - - — — 43. Loire-Haute - - — — 79. Tarn - - - 6 240,000 44. Loire (Inferieure) - - 2 7,000 80. Tarn-et-Garonne - - - — 45. Loiret - 2 4,600 81. Var .... — — 46. Lot - - - — 82. Vaueluse - - 1 120 47. Lot-et-Garonne - - - 2 1,000 83. Vendee - - - - 48. Lozere - - - — — 84. Vienne - - — — 49. Maine-et-Loire - - - 8 2,200 85. Vienne (Haute) 1 35 50. Manche - - — — 86. Vosges - - - 2 4,400 51. Marne - - 11 13,000 87. Yonne - - - i 450 52. Marne (Haute) - - - 1 325 — 1 53. Mayenne - - 1 1,200 Total - - - - 263 920,000 54. Meurthe-ei-Moselle - - - 3 1,800 55. Meuse _ _ I — 56. Morbihan _ _ _ 6 600 N.B. — One strike (among wood-cutters) extended to three 57. Nievre - _ _ 4 10,000 departments, and this brings up the total to two more than in 58. Nord - - - 54 60,000 the last table. APPENDIX XIX. Explanations of certain Legal and Political Terms net already given in the Text. Conseil Communal ou municipal ; maire . — The muni- cipal body in each commune is composed of a municipal council, a mayor, and one or more assistants (see law of April 4, 1884, Article 1). The law of 1884 in giving the Municipal Council a foremost place, was intended to put into application the principle of universal suf- frage, and Article 76 of this law lays down that the mayor holds his office in virtue of election by universal suffrage. It is in his quality of president of the council that he walks always at the head of it. In principle the exercise of municipal functions is gratuitous, but the law has especially reserved the power of granting re-imbursements to members and the mayors out of ordinary communal resources. Since the law of March 28, 1882, the mayor has been elected from among the councillors by ballot in the council, and by an absolute majority, in all the communes, except Paris. Tho mayor takes precedence in public functions immediately after the President of tho Tribunal of Commerce, and if he is a Catholic has an ex officio place on certain eccle- siastical bodies ( conseil cle fabrique, lane d’ceuwre). His attribute® vary according as he is considered an agent of the central power or of the communal association. A. The first of his attributes under the former head is the publication or posting up (to be carefully dis- tinguished from the promulgation) of laws, adminis- trative orders, and prefectoral resolutions ( arretes prefectoraux). The mayor is also charged by the higher administra- tive powers — (1) with the carrying into effect of laws and administrative orders of general measures relating to safety and public order ; (2) with the fulfilment of special functions, such as registration of the civil state of citizens, control of the police, and matters appertaining the administrative law. 13. As head of the communal administration the mayor may formulate special resolutions (pi-encl des arretes) on local affairs generally confided to his care, e.g., U 78419. sanitation; he also has to defend tho financial interests of the commune, and to represent it when necessary in the law courts. If resolutions taken by the mayor are of a temporary character they may be put into operation immediately after notice of them has been sent to and acknowledged by the sub-prefect, without objection on the part of the prefect; if they apply permanently they must remain under consideration of the prefect for not less than one month. “ The mayor is the link joining the adminis- “ tration and the administered. He sees to the “ effective operation of the laws of the higher authori- “ ties. Although hierarchically subordinated to the “ prefect and the Minister, his powers are extended “ and varied, while limited to his own commune.” The number of municipal councillors in a commune varies with the population, and may be 10 for 500 inhabitants, or less, 12 for 500 to 1,500, 16 up to 2,500, and 50 on. The prefect determines the number after each quinquennial census. (See Block, Dictionnai/re de V Ad minis trail on Fran- paise. Articles, Organisation Communal, Administra- tion.) Conseil d'Ftat. — This is the chief council of the head of tho State and his Ministers. It assists in the prepara- tion of laws and administrative orders in all departments of the public service. It also has to decide or pronounce judgment on litigations arising within the domain of administrative law (see Droit administratif). “In “ some cases it is the court of first instance, but it is “ more often a court of appeal, sometimes even a court “ of cassation for administrative affairs.” The insti- tution of the Council of State is traditional in France, although its actual composition has varied at different epochs. It is now composed — (1) of 32 ordinary State councillors, and 18 extraordinary ; (2) of 30 maitres des quetes ; (3) of 36 auditors and a sectretary-general. Tho presidency of the council belongs to the office of the Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice. The S 138 KOYAI, COMMISSION ON LABOUR: other Ministers have a place in the general assembly of the council, but they have no concern with litigations, and only deliberate upon the affairs belonging to their own Ministry. The President of the Republic nominates the vice-president of the council, and the presidents of socti.ms (see Block, cited, Dicey, Law of the Constitution, Lecture Y). Gonseil de Prefecture. — This institution is one of the elements of the executive system founded at the be- ginning of the century. It has judicial as well as executive functions to fulfil, and is the administrative (or executive) tribunal, which takes cognisance of the most varied matters, although it has not a universal jurisdiction like the civil tribunal. It only pronounces judgment on certain categories of affairs which are expressly confided to its care by the laws. Appeal from its decisions lies to the Conseil d’Etat. Besides its legal attributes the Conseil de Prefecture is specially charged with repression of certain contraventions and auditing of communal accounts. The numbers of members of the Council of the Prefect vary. In the Seine department there are nine, including the presi- dent, and in 29 others, including e.g., Nord, Rhone, Loire, Douches du Rhone, there are four councillors. In a certain number there are only three members. The importance of the affairs to be administered in the Seine department have led to the institution there of a permanent president of the council (see below, Prefet de la Seine). The councillors in all the departments are nominated by the head of the State ( Chef de VEtat). (See Block, cited.) The Conseil General is an assembly of an elective character for each department, which is entrusted with the care of certain special interests of that district, and which also exercises certain functions from the point of view of general interests which are delegated to it by the State. Each canton of the department elects a member of the Conseil General by universal suffrage. Members may not be chosen among prefects or other members of the prefecture, procureurs gencraux, juges de paix and certain other legal and state officers. (See Block’s Dictionary for further information.) Cour de Cassation. — This institution which “ is in- “ tended to lead the various tribunals of France to a “ strict observation of the forms of the law and to main- “ tain a uniformity of jurisprudence amongst them,’’ was founded by the law of December 1, 1790. At first the members of the court were elected for four years with re-eligibility at the end of the term. Since 1815 the members have been 49 judges, appointed for life, and from among these a president and three vice- presidents are chosen. Since 1826 the court has been divided into three chambers, viz., The chamber of requests, the civil chamber and the criminal chamber ; these may unite in formal sitting ( audience solennelle). The functions of the court were defined by the law of November 27, 1790 : — “ Article 2. The functions of the Court of Cassation are to pronounce on all demands on appeal (i.e., any of the ordinary law courts whether courts of appeal or not) to judge the demands for reference from one tribunal to another ... on account of conflicts of jurisdiction and rulings of judges “ Article 3. It shall annul all proceedings ( proce- dures ) in which forms have been violated, and every judgment which contains an express contravention of the text of the law. Under no pretext and in no case may this tribunal take cognisance of the ground of the action ; after having quashed the proceedings or judgment it sends back the affair to the competent tribunal.” Droit Administratif. — This term, though not directly used in the text of the report is implied whenever a fundamental distinction existing between French and English law is touched upon. In England, officials of the State are liable before the ordinary law courts like any ordinary citizen in their own persons for damages, in case of acts done in excess of their lawful authority, even if done in official character and in obedience to commands of a superior. In France no official can be brought before the ordinary courts (la justice) for the performance of any act done in his official character. He must be tried by the “ body of rules which regulate “ the relations of the administration or of the adminis- “ trative authority towards private citizens.’^ 1 ) At the head of all the administrative courts stands the Conseil d’Etat. Professor Dicey describes Droit Adminis- tratif as “ that portion of French law which deter- “ mines, (i.) The position and liability of all State “ officials ; (ii.) the civil rights and liabilities of “ private individuals in their dealings with officials as “ representative of the State ; (iii.) the procedure by “ which these rights and liabilities are enforced.” According to M. Block the relations of the administra- tion with the ordinary law courts ( avec la justice) are of a delicate nature. The two authorities are parallel and independent of each other; they “mutually “ complete each other and are equally indispensable to “ the well-being of the State.” They differ in nature, because judicial authority is delegated to immoveable judges while administrative authority is given to removable functionaries. They differ in power, because the administration has the power of initiative and of prescribing, while ordinary justice only judges. They differ in object, because the administration is entrusted with care of general interests, while ordinary justice has intended to solve the difficulties which arise through conflict of private interests. The vagueness of these descriptions would lead one a priori to expect a debatable land between the two spheres of law. As a matter of fact there exists of necessity in France a special, tribunal the Tribunal des Covflits, which has to decide on conflicts of juris- diction. “ The special function of this body is to “ determine finally whether a given case,” say an action against a policeman for an assault, “ comes within the “ jurisdiction of the civil courts or of the administra- “ tive courts.” Ester en Justice. — To be a party to an action before a tribunal or judge, either as plaintiff' or defendant. Juge de Paix. — The justices of the peace in France (like certain courts of a special character, such as the tribunals of commerce) are an exception to the general rule of irremoveability of judges. Under a name borrowed from England the Assembly of 1790 created an institution peculiar to France, which has survived all subsequent changes. Originally each canton elected a juge de paix and two assessors ; since 1814 the head of the Government alone nominates or revokes a juge de paix. The fundamental principle of the institution is that the justice of the peace should act as a modera- ting or conciliating power. No affairs can be brought before the tribunals of the airondisscment without first being cited before the justice of the peace. When the justice decides as judge he sometimes acts as a court of first instance, sometimes without appeal. He may never decide on questions belonging to the com- mercial or administrative tribunals, but may give judgment on questions outside those spheres relating to personal or moveable property (de L'ordre civil) up to 100 francs if it is without appeal, up to 200 francs if it is in first instance. Certain special laws provide for intervention of the juge de paix in some cases of infraction of the customs laws. (For procedure, &c., see Block, article Juridictions Civiles.) Pnfet de la Seine. — The Prefect of the Seine is nominated by decree, at the instance of the Minister of the Interior, like other prefects, but is of exceptional rank, and has a special yearly provision (traitement) of 50,000 francs. His secretary also is of exceptional position and receives 18,000 francs yearly. The Prefect of the i^eine is at the same time the representative of the State, the administrator of the department, and (except 'where police affairs are concerned), the Mayor of Paris. Proc'es Verbal. — The legal statement of a fact or facts (fait) by a public official or agent (whether belonging to the administration or to the civil courts) is called a proc'es verbal (see Block, proc'es verbal). Procurer's Gencraux. — Public functionaries attached for the safeguarding of public order and morality to all the various courts and tribunals of France, excepting only the Councils of the Prefects, the tribunals of Commerce, justices of the peace, and councils of experts. Tribunal d’Arrondissement. — These tribunals are something more than the term suggests, for in certain cases they apply to more than one arrondissement. They cannot be considered as courts of first instance only, for they act as courts of appeal from decisions of the juge de paix, nor can they be considered as purely civil courts, for they also judge in certain commercial (>) Dicoy, Law of the Constitution, p. 184. quoting from Aucoe. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 139 cases and take cognisance of certain misdemeanours (, delits ). In the latter sphere they arc known as tribunaux correctionnels. The number of judges on these tribunals varies from 3 to 12 according to population. They are divided into three classes, outside the Seine department : (1) those sitting in towns containing 80,000 inhabitants; (2) those in towns containing 20,000 inhabitants; those in towns of less than 20,000 inhabitants. (For a full account of their competence and procedure, see Block’s Dictionary, article “Jurisdictions Civiles.’’) Reglement Administratif. — This is to be distinguished from the Reglement d' Administration Publique. The latter, which is referred to so often in the text of the report, is a “ complementary legislative act, the pre- “ paration of which has been specially delegated to the “ head of the State by an express or special provision “ of the law.” The former term applies to a spontaneous action of the Government formulating an assemblage of prescrip- tions, binding upon all citizens or a certain category of citizens, and this in virtuo of general powers conferred on the head of the Government by constitutional laws. Tribunal de simple Police. — This jurisdiction apper- tains exclusively to the juges de pa/ix. The polico courts take cognisance of contraventions of laws pun- ishable by fines up to 15 francs, or imprisonment for five days. The judgment is only one of first instance and is subject to appeal where imprisonment is inflicted. Tribunal Commerciale. — These are elective tribunals to be found wherever commercial interests are of sufficient importauce to call for such an institution. They take cognisance of commercial disputes which ordinarily come before the civil courts, but only at first instance and subject to appeal. The latest statistics showed that there were 222 such courts in France. The election of judges to serve on them is for two years. Each court is composed of a president, of a certain number of judges not more than 14 and not less than two, and a certain number of deputy judges in a suitable proportion. APPENDIX XX. Decree of March 25, 1852, regulating Bureaux de Placement.(i) Article 1. — In future no person may open a registry office under any pretext or for any trades whatsoever, without a special permission, given by the municipal authority to those persons only who are of recognised character. Actual possessors of registry offices are allowed a period of three months in which to provide themselves with this permission. Article 2. — The request for a permission should furnish a statement of the conditions under which the applicant proposes to carry on his trade. He is bound to conform not only to these conditions but to any further orders which may be issued under Article 3. Article 3. — The municipal authority shall so super- vise the registry offices that it is assured of the main- tenance of order in their conduct. It shall also draw up the necessary resolutions to this effect, and regulate the rate of fees charged by the owner of the office. Article 4. — Every contravention of Article 1, or the second paragraph of Article 2, or of regulations made in virtue of Article 3, shall be punished by a fine of 1 franc to 15 francs with an imprisonment of not more than five days, or by only one of these punishments. The maximum punishment allowed shall always be inflicted where the offender has undergone a sentence for contravention of the present decree, or the police regulations above referred to, within the pre- ceding 12 months. These punishments do not include the restitutions or damages due on account of the actions imputed to the owner of the office. Article 463 of the Penal Code is applicable to the contraventions above indicated. Article 5. — The municipal authority may withdraw permission : — (1) from individuals who have incurred or are about to incur sentences under Articles 15 and 16 of the decree of February 2, 1852 : (2) from individuals who have been or are about to undergo sentence for coalition ; (3) from those who have been sentenced to imprisonment for contravention of the present decree or of resolutions issued under Article 3. Article 6. — The powers above conferred on the municipal authority shall be exercised by the Prefect of Police for Paris and the province of his jurisdiction, and by the Prefect of the Rhone for Lyons and the other communes in which he fulfils the functions attri- buted to him by the law of June 24, 1851. Article 7. — Withdrawals of permission and orders issued by the municipal authority are not binding until after the approval of the prefect. APPENDIX XXI. Note on Industrial and Agricultural Technical Education. There is no completely organised system of technical education (he., industrial as distinct from agricultural) in France, but technical schools, national, departmental, communal, and private, exist in most important centres, and may be considered under the heads: primary, secondary, and higher* It is only the first class of schools that is specially regulated as to course of instruction by laws. The national and departmental schools of apprentices ( ccolesprofessionnelles on d’appren- tissage) and the communal primary technical schools are specially recognised or provided for by the law of December 11, 1880, and by decrees of March 17 and July 28, 1888, which further determine the conditions under which the law shall apply. The law was pro- moted by its supporters with a view to filling the gap left by the decay of the old industrial system of appren- ticeship and the rise of the factory system. These schools are placed under the double authority of the Minister of Public Instruction and the Minister of Commerce and Industry. National schools are created by a decree after proposition by two Ministers. Depart- mental and communal schools are authorised by the Minister of Public Instruction on advice (sur Vcwis conforme) from the Minister of Commerce and Industry, and also after advice from a delegate for both these Ministers and from the Departmental Committee of Public Instruction. When a general council ( Conseil General ) desires to found a school, with or without co-operation of the communes, it takes a resolution setting forth the expenses which will be at the charge of a department. When it is a commune that desires to found a school the procedure is the same as in the case of establishment of ordinary primary schools. Each school has attached to it a local committee formed by local government and municipal officials. The director and staff of a national school are nominated by the two Ministers above mentioned. In the case of a departmental school they are nominated by the prefect, and in a communal school by the mayor. State funds provide for the national schools, while in departmental and communal schools general expenses of maintenance are provided out of primary education, funds and staff expenses out of local general funds. S 2 ( 1 ) See "Le Placement clcs Ouvriers,” p. 134, Paris, 1893. 140 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : The schools are under the ordinary system of inspection for primary education, as well as being subject to special inspection determined by the Ministers. No child enters these schools under 12 years of age, and the course is then three years at least. To a certain complement of primary instruction the primary technical school adds teaching in drawing, applied science, and manual work. The first of all these schools was established by special decree at Vierzon to serve as a model for subsequent attempts. But the school which is still considered one of the finest in France was established by the Munici- pality at Havre in 1866. It was designed for and admirably fulfils the purpose of supplying skilled workers and foremen for workshops in iron and wood industries. The instruction, which is theoretical and practical, includes, (1) under the former head, the French language, history, geography, arithmetic, elements of physics, chemistry, mechanics, political economy, hygiene, algebra (elementary), geometrical and freehand drawing, (2) under the second head, lock- making, forging, founding and moulding, coppersmiths’ work, cabinet and furniture making, carving, and modelling. The number of pupils is 250, all of whom are day scholars (externals) , and the expenses annually 58,000 francs. Secondary technical education generally aims at forming managers and directors of industrial under- takings. There are four national schools of arts and crafts for this end, one of them founded in 1788 by the Duke de la Rochefoucauld- Liancourt at Compiegne, which was removed in 1806 to Chalons. These schools are regulated by a decree of April 4, 1885, and are partly for boarders. The instruction in theoretical subjects is very extended in scope, and includes various branches of mathematics, pure and applied, applied science and construction of machinery, geography, history, industrial finance, and hygiene. Practical instruction is given in the trades relating to iron and wood. Higher technical education aims so far at forming engineers, and is provided by the Central School of Arts and Manufactures, the National Conservatoire of Arts and Crafts, the School of Bridges, Causeways, and Mines, the School of Telegraphy, and the School of State Manufactures. Agricultural education is relatively new in France, but has already been highly organised. Governmental initiative in this direction began in 1848, but it should he noted that the first attempt was made in 1818 by Matthieu de Dombasle. He founded a school at Roville specially designed for peasant proprietors and stewards of larger properties. The example was fol- lowed, but no system was founded until the State came to the aid of farm-schools which were designed for the instruction of the agricultural labourer. At the time when the law of October 3, 1848, was passed there were 25 farm-schools besides the Institutes of Grignon and Grand- Jouan. This law organised a scale of instruc- tion as follows : — Primary, the farm-schools ; secondary, the district schools ; higher, a national institute for the theory of agriculture. Various subsequent decrees and laws modified the system. At the present day there are four stages. There are 30 farm schools and schools of agricultural apprentices, where practical instruction is given in various kinds of cultures and dairy farming. Then follow the secondary schools, which give a certain amount of theoretical teaching. Thirdly, the national schools of agriculture are designed to train large farmers in the theory and practice of farming and rural administration. Finally there is the Institut National Agronomique, re-constituted by the law of August 9th, 1876, which holds a somewhat similar position in agriculture to that occupied in the letters, arts and sciences by the various academies of the Institut de France. Auxiliary instruction in agriculture is provided for by departmental chairs, courses, and fields for experiments. (See Block’s Diet, de 1 ’Administration Franchise, articles Enseignment Agricultural, Enseign- ment Technique.) APPENDIX XXII. Regulations drawn up by M. Emile Tiiomas for the National Workshops in 1848. REPUBLIC OF FRANCE. 1 NATIONAL WORKS. Regulations for Enrolment in Brigades. § I. Enrolment in brigades will take place for the different districts (arrondissements) in the order, and at the time indicated by an order of the day sent to the offices of the mayors. § II. No enrolment in brigades takes place on Sun- days or national holidays. § III. In order to be enrolled a workman must — (a.) Certify at the office of the mayor of his district, that he is over 16 years of age, or else fatherless, or the eldest of a family of six children. (b.) He must appear in person, and only on the day and at the hour specified for his district, provided with a note bearing his name, calling, address, the stamp of the mayor of his district, and dated at least the day previous to the enrolment. (c.) If a workman is on guard on the day of admission for his district, he shall ask leave from the officer in charge of the guard in order to go to the central bureau. (d.) A workman who desires to be enrolled in a brigade which has already been formed, must appear in person on the day and at the time fixed for his district, with a message from the chief of that brigade, stating his own number, that of the company and of the service. (e.) A workman who has lost bis book shall call at the inquiry office with a certificate from the chief of his company, in order to obtain a fresh one ; he shall then pay 50 centimes. > Histoire des Ateliers Nationaux, pp 59-73. (/.) The workmen shall enter by brigades made up of 56 of the men who are present. Each brigade which presents itself incomplete shall be com- pleted by the latest arrivals of the following brigade. No brigade shall start uncompleted from the bureau of enrolment, except the last. (g.) Brigadiers and chiefs of squads are elected before- hand by the workmen ; but their brigade or squad may be taken to fill up incomplete lists belonging to the same district. Their nomination is not confirmed until after the enrolment in brigades. (h.) Every day a lieutenant sent by the head of the district shall come to announce the service num- bers of the companies and brigades to which newly- enrolled workmen belong, in order that these numbers may be entered on their books. These books, moreover, shall bear the names and addresses of the managers (chefs de service) of the heads of companies, of the lieutenants, brigadiers, and heads of squads. The Commissary of the Republic, Director of National Works, Emile Thomas. REPUBLIC OF FRANCE. Ministry of Public Works. NATIONAL WORKS. General Regulations for Workmen engaged on the Works or awaiting Engagement. The Commissary of the Republic, Director of the National Works, considering that different orders of the REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 141 day have hitherto regulated the measures adopted for the administration of these works : That it is important to combine in one regulation the different orders of the day enumerated above : Enacts the following provisions which have been dis- cussed in a council of heads of the districts, and laid before the assembly of workmen’s delegates engaged in the national works, who have adopted them in their entirety. The payment of brigadiers, heads of squads, and workmen are fixed as follows : — Days of Work. fr. c. Brigadiers - - - -30 per day. Heads of squads - - 2 50 Workmen- - - - - 2 0 Non-working Days. fr. c. Brigadiers - - - - 3 0 per day. Heads of squads - - 1 50 Workmen 10 On Sundays work is suspended ; brigadiers, heads of squads, and workmen receive no pay. No person enrolled in a brigade shall be entitled to two days’ work until after the first Monday following his enrolment. Heads of squads, and workmen selected for guard duty on any day except Sundays, or legal holidays, shall be considered as discharging a public duty, and shall be entitled to the payment accorded for days of active work, provided that within 24 hours they deliver to the chief of their company the document summoning them on guard, stamped with the seal of the staff officer of their legion, which document must bear the Christian name of the workman. After 24 hours the document will not accepted. The document, handed as aforesaid to the head of the company, shall be transmitted to the director through the manager ( chef de service) stating the district, the service, the company, and the brigade to which the workman belongs. Extra guard duty, and similar duty when performed as a punishment, are excepted from the above pro- visions. Lieutenants and brigadiers are exempted from national guard duty by the head of the district, who shall write to the sergeant-major who has summoned them. The list of the men who have received the indemnity for guard duty shall be forwarded on the Monday and Tuesday of each week, at one o’clock, to the office of the sub-directorate of M. Dellisse, with the names and addresses of the men who have been summoned. Men who are ill and confined to bed, and not admitted to the hospitals, receive without distinction, the pay- ment of two francs per day from the special agents of the medical bureau if their state of health has been pre- viously attested by a medical certificate, registered by the commissary of police, and verified by one of the doctors of the central bureau. Men admitted to the hospitals shall not be paid, as the State bears the cost of the hospital treatment ; if they are married their wives and children shall receive indoor relief. The family of every workman admitted to the hospital in consequence of injuries sustained during work re- ceives the wages payable to the latter when not engaged in actual work. On days when the weather is considered too bad for the proper execution of the works, operations shall be suspended. The head of the district shall decide as to the possibility of carrying on the work. Any workman who, having presented himself in his turn for work, leaves without the permission of the manager, shall bo considered as absent. Should he obtain leave to absent himself there will be deducted, at the time of payment, quarter, half, or three- quarters of the day’s pay, according to the time at which he has left. With a view to simplifying and reducing the number of separate accounts the squad roll sheets arc from this day suppressed, and new roll sheets by brigades will bo established after the following model : — Public Wobk- REPUBLIC OF FRANCE. National Wobk. ROLL SHEET. Arrondissement. Service. Day of Brigade. Company. 1848. Squad No. Conse- cutive Num- ber. Surnames, Christian Names and Ranks. The Brigadier should place his Name and Signa- ture first. Wages to pay. Sums paid. Fines. Signa- ture. Remarks. State cause of Punish- ment, Absence, Ac. Companies not occupied in active work shall receive payment in a place determined by the manager, and of which the lieutenants, brigadiers, and chiefs of squads shall be notified. Payment will begin at half-past three, and conclude at half-past four. The lieutenants are responsible for the payment to the heads of their companies. This payment shall be made, under the superintendence of the lieutenant, by the brigadiers, assisted by a pay clerk. The roll sheet bears the names of the 56 men who make up a brigade, including the brigadier and the heads of squads. This sheet shall be delivered on the preceding day to the brigadier, who shall first write his name at the top and then enter those of his 55 men. Each man must always occupy the same place in the numerical order of the poll sheet. When the head of a brigade pays a workman, he shall make the latter sign opposite to his name in the column provided for that purpose. Anyone refusing to sign shall not be paid. If the workman is unable to sign, a man belonging to his squad, and the delegate of the same, shall certify by their signatures that the payment took place in their presence. The workman, on receiving his pay, shall hand his book to the brigadier, who shall initial it, inserting the date, and the sum paid. The lieutenant shall receive the roll sheet from the brigadier, and return it, immediately after the payment has concluded, to the head of his company, so that the latter may in his turn send it back to his manager. Fines for Breaches of Regulations. Heads of brigades whose roll sheets are not drawn up as prescribed by the present regulation shall be liable to a fine of one franc. In the case of serious irregularities they shall be dismissed. Any workman who, without just cause, fails to reply when his name is called, shall not be paid, unless his absence be duly justified on the following day. Any workman who, without just cause, has on two successive occasions failed to reply to his name at pay- time, shall be struck oft' the lists. A daily report of the fines shall be transmitted by the managers to the heads of the district. Any brigadier, head of a squad, or workman fined three times in one fortnight shall be struck off the lists. Fines are inflicted on workmen by the heads of companies on the reports of the brigadiers and lieu- tenants. The accumulated fines shall lie distributed every fortnight among the workmen of each brigade. Special Provisions affecting Brigadiers and Heads of Squads. No chief elected by the workmen may resign his post, except for very grave reasons, of which the administra- tion shall be the judge. A stoppage of 5 francs shall be made from the pay of chiefs of squads, for the purpose shown further on under the article “Tools.” S 3 142 ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR : Stoppages shall be made from the pay of brigadiers, the total of which will form a guarantee of 15 francs. When this sum has been reached no further stoppage shall be made. Tickets for Belief in Kind. Tickets for bread, meat, and soup are distributed at the relieving office, 4, Rue de Chartres, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day to the indigent fathers of families belonging to each brigade, in the following proportion, and on presentation of the list given by the delegate, verified and visad by the chief of the company. Bread. No. of Kilo- Weight. children. grams. (Avoir.) lbs. ozs. 1 - i 4 0 9 2 . 1 " 9 1 1 3 . - 3- 4 1 10 4 . • k - 1 2 3 5 . - - - 1J 2 12 6 - - H 3 5 7 - - - - If 3 13 8 - - 2 4 6 9 - - - - 2J 4 15 10 - - 2| 5 8 Bread, and, Meat. (1.) Fathers of families who are ill and treated at the hospital are not paid. Their wives and children shall receive assistance in bread, meat, and soup daily. (2.) Fathers of families who are ill, but are treated at their own homes, receive working pay — that is to say, tw r o francs ; medicines and medical attendance are ren- dered gratis. In this case they are only entitled to the allowance of bread, meat, and soup granted to all indigent fathers of families. General Regulations. (3.) For families numbering from six to ten children and over, the distribution of food shall take place three times a week. For families of three to five children, twice a week. For families of one to two > children, once a week. Medical Oflicet An office is organised under the direction of the Chief Physicians Bujeon and Gaston Gaudinot, 14, Avenue Chateaubriand. The workmen engaged in the national works alone are admitted — (1.) For consultation, which takes place every day between the hours of 8 and 10 in the morning. (2.) For the delivery of applications from sick persons confined to bed for domiciliary visits, daily between the hours of 8 and 4. These visits are made by the chief and assistant physicians. Consultations. All workmen who are ill are admitted to consultation on presenting their book. They receive (1) advice, medicine, and the dressing of any wounds or injuries ; (2) temporary dispensations from work, in the case of simple indisposition ; such dispensations may not exceed the term of 10 days. For any workman who presents himself for consulta- tion, and only obtains a medical prescription, without dispensation from work, the fixing of the seal and date on his book shall certify to the brigadier that the workman has presented himself for consultation without receiv- ing the indemnity, and that he is entitled to the pay of one franc. Domiciliary Visits. Workmen confined to bed receive domiciliary visits in response to an application transmitted by the head of their brigade or delegate, and addressed to the medical bureau, open between the hours of 8 and 4. In case of urgency patients may apply to the physician nominated by the administration. Twelve physicians are attached to the medical office ; a list of the patients whom they have to visit is sent to them every morning. These patients receive attend- ance on the same day. In case of urgency parents may, as already stated in the order of the day of May 10th, apply to the nearest doctor, who shall receive two francs for his visit. The patient must, at the same time, give notice to the medical office, so that the physician of the administration may visit him on the following day. The wives and children of workmen are likewise en- titled to medical assistance. The delegates shall receive the list of the addresses of the physicians in the various districts. The applicant, in case of simple indisposition, receives — (1.) Advice ; medicines, which are supplied by certain stated apothecaries ; and a few days’ dispensation from work, towards which he will be assisted with 1 f. 25 c. per day. Only workmen confined to bed, and who have families dependent on them, shall be entitled to the pay of 2 francs. (2.) In the case of serious illnesses requiring a period of more than 10 days, workmen must obtain ad- mission to a hospital, or apply to the ordinary physicians of the benevolent institutions. Payment and Assistance to Sick Persons. 1. Workmen who, after consultation, have received a dispensation from work, shall receive, in addition to attendance and medicine, a sum of 1 f. 25 c. per day until the expiration of that period. This payment shall be made at the medical office by the cashier, who shall sign his name below the seal of the medical department. He shall only remit 25 centimes for each day’s leave. The pay of 1 franc is to be remitted to the house by the delegate of the brigade. The payment allowed by the physician to a patient confined to bed shall each day be discharged by the medical office. The physician summoned to the house of a sick work- man shall in case of urgency attend to the family of the latter. Workmen at the Works. The heads of companies, lieutenants, brigadiers, heads of squads, and workmen must be assembled at half-past six at the meeting place, whence they are to set out for the works. The head of the district shall determine the hour of arrival at the works according to the distance to be traversed by the men in order to reach them. The meal times are fixed as follows : — Morning meal, 1 hour, 9 to 10. Evening meal, 1 hour, 2 to 3. Work shall cease at six o’clock in the evening. Two roll-calls at least shall be undertaken every day by the heads of companies. Any inspector passing through the works may demand a supplementary roll- call from the head of a company, or, in the absence of the latter, from the lieutenants, or even from the brigadiers. Any workman failing to answer incurs a fine of 25 centimes. Failure to respond at two calls entails the loss of a day’s pay. Any workman who fails during two days to appear at his yard shall be struck off the lists, except in one of the circumstances provided for by the above order of the day regulating payment. Any workman leaving the works for a moment with- out the permission of the head or deputy head of the company shall be fined 50 centimes. The delegates shall not make inquiries of the work- men, nor receive their claims during working hours. Only the central delegates shall be admitted to the relieving offices ; they must present the lists which have been handed them by the three other delegates. Any workman neglecting his work, on being reported by the chief of his company, by the lieutenant, or inspector, shall be fined 50 centimes. All gaming is prohibited during working hours ; infractions ot this clause shall entail a fine of 50 centimes. Any workman, or person in charge of a squad or brigade, refusing to obey his superiors, or found under the influence of drink on the works, shall forfeit his day’s pay. If he repeat the offence he shall be struck off the lists. Under certain circumstances of a grave nature, not provided for in the regulations, the head of the district is authorised to suspend any officer or workman from his duties pending the decision of the administration. A report on the step taken shall be immediately made to the director. REPORT ON THE LABOUR QUESTION IN FRANCE. 143 Nn officer elected by the workmen can be deprived of his office until the. matter has been inquired into by the administration. Every workman must carry his book about his person, and show it at the first request of one of his superiors. The heads of squads are always at the disposal of the brigadier and the delegate to aid them in their duties. Any brigadier or head of a squad deprived of his rank on the report of one of his superiors, may make a written appeal to the director, but should his claims not be found valid, he shall return to the ranks as a simple workman, and shall not be eligible for re- election. No measure, purchase, or payment is valid without the written authority of the director. Tools. The depot for all tools belonging to the national work, is situated in the rue Chartres, No. 4. Divisional depots shall be established in the yard ; the tools must be deposited there every evening. Special keepers, selected and appointed by the sub- director of stores, shall be responsible for the tools during the time they are not in use. The brigadiers shall, every morning and evening, sign the sheet regarding the putting in and taking out of the tools. All the tools shall be marked “ A. N.” This mark shall be placed on the sheds by the storekeepers for tools already taken out. No tool may leave the depot without a ticket from the head of the service for whom it is intended, registered by the sub-director of stores. No purchase of a tool shall take place without a written order of the sub-director ; this order is to be kept by the merchant to establish his claim for payment. No tool shall be replaced in the depot except on presentation to the keeper of a ticket from the sub- director. No tool shall be used which has not first been entered and sent out from the store in the regular way. Brigadiers are responsible for all the tools of their brigade. The sum of 15 francs, which is deducted from their pay, shall answer for the consequence of this responsibility. The person in charge of a squad is answerable to his brigadier for the tools of his squad. The 5 francs deducted from his pay shall also be guarantee for the consequences of this responsibility. Every workman is responsible to the man in charge of his squad for the tools entrusted to him. Tools broken or unfit for service, should be returned to the depot in order that they may be replaced by an equal number of serviceable ones. Commissary of the Republic, Director of National Works, Emile Thomas. APPENDIX XXIII. Report on certain Syndicates, addressed to the Minister of Justice by the Procureur- General of Douai. French administrative methods have recently been illustrated by the publication of a confidential report addressed by the Attorney-General of Douai to the Minister of Justice (M. Guerin) and forwarded by him to the President of the Council (M. Dupuy), This docu- ment was given in full in La Petite Republigue, the organ of M. Millerand, Socialist Deputy, on November 13th. In reply to inquiries of the Minister of Justice, the Attorney-General (M. Cbenest) gives details as to the origin and organisation of the syndicates among the miners in the Pas-de-Calais and Nord Departments. The former was established in 1884, the latter formed in 1892 by the amalgamation of several smaller societies ; the number enrolled in the syndicate of the Pas-de-Calais miners is estimated as greater than 30,000 ; no proper record can be obtained in the case of the other syndicate. Both are shown to have failed to comply regularly with the provision of the law of 1884, which exacts an accurate registration of the numbers of the association and of the names of the governing body. Further, it is shown that members are admitted and objects pursued which cannot be described as professional, under the terms of the law. The syndicates are united in a federation, of which, again, no record can be found in the official registers at the Prefectures or Sub-Prefectures. In view of the illegal character of the two syndicates and the federation, their action in connection with strikes, and the avowedly socialistic character of their objects, M. Cbenest reports to the Minister of Justice on the advisability of attempting a prosecution. He judges the question to be rather one of a political than a legal character. If these syndicates are not prosecuted it becomes impossible for the department to equitably prosecute any other syndi- cate for failure to comply with the law. From the point of view of expediency no better moment could be seized for instituting legal proceedings. ‘‘The syndi- “ cates have just sustained a marked defeat ; they have “ drawn their members into a profitless struggle, and “ it is certain that they have lost something of their “ popularity. I do nob say that a prosecution may not “ lead to some agitation among the miners, but my “ formal opinion, and I know ic is that of M. le Prefet “ du Pas-de-Calais, is that a resuscitation of the strike “ could not result from it,. The workmen, defeated and “ discouraged, only protest very timidly against the “ heavy blows that the company are dealing on the “ ranks of' their men ; they would not protest to any “ purpose in favour of a syndicate which has lost a “ notable part of its prestige, and which has led them “ to defeat. If you decide, M. le Garde des Sceaux , to “ institute proceedings, it will be desirable that I “ should have your instructions at once. It seems to “ me indispensable to institute a search immediately ‘ ‘ at the offices of the syndicates and in the houses of their “ administrators, with a view to seizure of books and “ correspondence ; amongst the administrators are the “ two deputies, MM. Basly and Lamendin. If pro- “ ceedings are not instituted until after Parliament “ meets, an authorisation from the Chamber will be “ necessary, and the persons concerned will be warned *' in time to conceal any compromising documents that “ they may possess.” (Signed) E. Chenest. Procureur-General. Douai, 19 Novembre. I ■ UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 3 0112 084985164 ja a kM] ■PilMr-^ j KW'I i ; ‘ * A