Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-01
FOR THE FACTORIES.
Mr.. Martin Reflects on Lo0seness in
the Law Which Limits the
NUMBER OF CHILDREN AFFECTED
Westinghouse officials Offer Three Dollars
for Nine Hours.
MANY LABOR DAY DEMONSTRATIONS

William Martin, Vice President OF the
American Federation of Labor, and Secre-
tary OF the Amalgamated Association, re-
turned yesterday from vacation trip to the
East. He devoted his time altogether to
pleasure and a much needed rest, and held
aloof from everything of political or
economical nature. He returns, therefore,
with a fresh stock of health, but without
any news.
Mr.. Martin was found at his house last
evening and submitted, N his customarily
good -hatured way, to some cross-examining.
Runners of a Democratic-Labor coalition
against Mr.. Dalzell induced the inquiry as
to what Mr. Martin knew about it.
CAN know about il" said that gentle
mar sis what read in the papers"
Asked if he had any plans for the future
when be had severed his connection with the
Amslgamated Association on the 1st of Oc-
tobef, Mr.. Martin said that, so far, he had
not given the matter thought, but would
now bestir himself and see what he would
do. He could not outline anything at pres
ent. In general discussion Of local matters,
Mr.. Martin said that there was one thing
which he thought needed remedy at the
hands Of the Legislature.
AS IT SHOULD BE.
That was the present condition of the laws
regulating the employment OF children in
factories, and the manner in which they
were carried into effect. He said that, in
the first place, the State officer should be a
man who would carry out the provisions of
the law regardless alike Of friend or foe, and
in the next, that the assistant inspectors
should be appointed from, and live in, the
district in which their work lay. He under
stood that at present inspectors were ap-
pointed in a haphazard way and irrespec-
tive as we'll of their particular knowledge
of the subject they were supposed to be ac-
quainted with, or of their acquaintance
with the locality within which their oper-
ations lay.
'An instance which illustrates the two
points have mentioned came under my no.
tice lately" continued Mr.. Martin. "One
of the assistant inspectors-I believe there
are two altogether-for this district, some
time ago called at a factory in Allegheny
where he found 10 girls at work who, to him,
seemed to be under age. He told the pro-
prietor that he should discontinue employ
ing them, and said that he would expect, on
his next visit, to find he had complied
with the law. When he next came
around he found that all the girls had
been discharged but nine. The proprietor
had looked into the provisions of the law
and ascertained, as understand it, that it
required that ten persons should be employed
in any one place to constitute factory"
He therefore had discharged all but nine, so
evading the law, as his factory was no longer
factory" resumably he reinforced his
workers after the inspectors back was
turned.
SHOULD BE A RESIDENT.
"To properly enforce the factory act in
such large industrial center as Pittsburg,"
Mr.. Martin continued, sit should be made
obligatory ON the inspector to reside in the
locality, and he should, in the first instance,
be appointed from the ranks Of the workers.
There is ground for supposing that an in
spector's zeal would not be very great where
he had no sympathy for or, at least, nothing
in cob ION with the people whom it was his
duty to serve. In respect of limiting the
number of persons provided as coming un-
der operation OF the law, think the factory
acts are wrong. and should receive atten-
tion at the hands OF the Legislature. And
I am clear that the assistant inspectors
should live where they operate most.
1 understand that in this district the as
sistants live away from the county al
together and have no personal knowledge
of the condition of affairs in the factories
here. That such evils as are reported in
the daily press as existing, is not to be
wondered at under the circumstance"