Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-01-12
srAlR COMMISSIONERS OF LABOR.
soooad Report to the GOvernor-ImPort-
ant Points Touched.

ant POINTS 4Ouchbus
The repOot or State Commissioner or
Labor Edward Robertson has been filed
With the Governor. Mr.. Robertson has
gathered a great amount Of valuable IN
formation under the most difficult and
adverse circumstances. His blanks,
sent out 10 both the employers and
workmen, have been given but little al
tentiOn, one reason being that replies
were not compulsory, and while manu-
facturers and employers very largely DO
not care TO give the information, the
workmen, for whose benefit the work
OF the Commissioner is done, are negli-
gent or do not understand. The Com
missioner makes serious complaint OF
this state Of affairs in his report.
The statistics given shows that wages
have been increased In some instances
and decreased In others. There have
been but few labor troubles since the
last report, the most serious being the
Building Trades strike in Wheeling
and the miners difticulties at Raymond
City. Considerable space Is given to
the new mining laws and the necessity
fer their enforcement.
The report contains a long list OF re-
plies 10 requests for information as TO
what will improve the condition Of labor
I'm the State, furnished by workmen,
taken ct random both as to locality and
occupation. These replies cover all
sorts OF theories, but IL is noticeable
that nearly all OF them propose to re-
strict or discontinue immigration and to
- M ? NJ
and the restriction Of immigration may
be said 90 be the gist of all the replies.
Among the miners, the demand Is for
the weighing Of coal before it is screen
ed, the discOntinuance OF the "pluck
me" stores, better air in the mines, a
fortnightly pay day and payments Ia
cash instead OF scrip and punch out. p"
Closing, Mr. Robertson says:
The inspection OF factories indicates
a woeful neglect on the part Of en-
Dloyers ia regard 10 the proper protec-
tion Of employees from dangers to life
and limb. This is particularly notice
able in planning mills, hinge and lantern
factories, where the number or acci-
dents bear evidence to the dangerous
nature OF the machinery and the lack
of safeguards against injury, As there
is no state law giving the Commissioner
OF Labor power 20 enforce the erection
of accident preventives, and there
seems 90 be no disposition on the part
OF employers to do so, this state Of af-
fairs will probably continue so long as
there is no law against IL.
in several instances advances Of
800 b.va hnap mad In tho coal rp-
gions and Ia manufacturing centers,
since my last report, without resort 70
strike, and on the whole the condition
of the working people OF the State may
be said TO have improved during the
past year. But there is still room for
much further improvement, particular
ly in the newly developed mining sec
tions, where the wages are meager, the
treatment OF the men sCandulOuS, and
the standard OF living miserably low.
"While the advancement has not been
so great nor so general as 10 might have
been with more united effort on the
part OF the workingmen themselves,
there is cause for cOngratulation in the
fact that the laW-making and law-diS-
UeuSing powers OF the State have shown
a disposition to help rather than hinder
the progress Of the labor cause. This is
all the more gratifying when compared
with the judicial rulings In a neigh6or-
ing State on similar questions and should
be an incentive 70 the tOilers OF West
Virginia to renewed efforts to better
their condition by all the lawful means
within their power"