Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-04-27
STATE FACTORY INSPECTION.
Deduction from the Advance Sheets OF
the First Annual Report.
Michigan Fast Becoming a Great Manu-
featuring State.

| featuring state.
! Act No. 126 of the last legislature provided
for an annual inspection of factories and
placed the work in the Bureau of Labor and
| Industrial Statistics.
| The act did not take effect until about the
| first of September and the season was far ad
vanced before the work was begun. bat with
mis- usual characteristic energy Commissioner
| of Labor Morse crowded the work forward
and through his deputies made a canvass OF
every part of the state.
| His first report is now in the binders hands
! and will be ready for distribution in few
lays. From its advance sheets much infor-
| nation can be CLEANED and its statistical
tables are not only interesting, but instruc-
/ tive.
| After his letter of TRANSMITTED and a few in
| troductory remarks, the commissioner pub
fishes the act providing for the inspection
which will thus place it in comprehensive
shape before those most interested in its pro-
| visions.
| The form of the blanks used by the in
| spectors is given, together with n detailed &C
| count of the work of the inspectors, showing
The number of places visited, the number of
| changes ordered and the number of accidents
reported during the year.
Over two thousand manufacturing places
were inspected in the five months the in
spectors were at work. OF these six hun
dred were in Wayne county, three hundred
and sixty-one in Kent county, one hundred
and ninety-six in Saginaw and Bay counties.
while the rest were scattered over the entire
state, many cities making a most gratifying
showing In their manufacturing enterprises.
Child labor, fire escapes and elevators have
been made a prominent feature in the IN
spection, while the question of egress from
factories in case of fire has received scrutiniz-
| ing attention.
The tabulation of factories inspected oc-
cupies a. pages of the report and gives in
spection number, date of inspection, name
of establishment, location, goods manufact
ured, running or idle, males employed, fe-
males employed, children of both sexes en-
| ployed, number of hours required for labor,
and number of minutes allowed for dinner.
Following this are the changes ordered,
whether it be regarding hours of labor, chill
dren unlawfully employed, or dangerous
| parts of machinery protected. Each factory
is designated by its inspection number and
all reference to the factory is made by the
number given it. The inspectors visited p
l15 factories and ordered l,426 changes: out
ward swinging doors, fire escapes, elevators,
dust blowers or arresters, receiving careful
attention. The changes ordered are being
generally complied with, most of the factory
owners and operators recognizing the de-
mand and efficacy of the law.
There were 225 accidents reported during
the year, of which POS were serious and II
fatal. OF the accidents it is found that in A.
cases the injured were cared for by the firms
employing them, 20 by insurance companies;
while in 81 cases the firms and insurance
companies divided the expense, and in ID
cases other employees aided in assistance. OF
the whole number 81 received no outside aid.
Many other interesting points are brought
out in this part of the report.
Ia 2,066 factories inspected il was found
that / III were running full time, 572 part
time, while 337 were idle. At the time of in
spection there were employed 6O,113 males
and 1860 females, while if running to full
capacity 1872 more would be employed. At
the same time those employed lose 26 per
cent of their time by working only part time,
and to this can be added a reduction of 9.5
per cent in wages since April /, 1893
1t is hard to comprehend what this inn
mense loss of time means to the factory la
borers of this state. II means. besides re-
duction in wages, total loss of l.763,060
days in five months (from September l, 1893,
TO February /. 1890, which is equivalent to
G7,Sll months, in about two-thirds of the
factories of the state. 1t is no wonder that
factory operatives viewed with alarm the
opening of winter, but it is a wonder that so
little public charity has been called for in be-
half of this most estimable class of citizens.
Commissioner Morse has now divided the
State into five inspection districts, designa-
ting the territory for each and appointing in
spectors who are now making thorough in
spection Ct every manufacturing place in the
state. The experience of the past year will
be of great value in making this years work
more efficient as all parties are more con-
versant with the requirements of the law.
which can but work for the benefit of all
concerned.
The report also contains the laws of the
state affecting laborers employed in factories,
many of which are made more operative by
the passage of the act creating factory in
spection.
The laws of other states which maintain
factory inspection is also wen, from which
many interesting points are CLEANED con
corning this work, and from which it will be
seen that factory inspection cats most i'm
portsnt figure in many of the states
Revelation.