The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-02-07
FREE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES.

FREE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES.
New York Legislature Asked to Establish
| Public Labor Bureaus.
A bill to authorize the formation and
maintenance of free public employment
bureaus is shortly to be introduced in
the legislature at Albany.
The bill provides that the commissioner
of statistics of labor Immediately upon
the passage of this act shall organize and
establish in all cities having population
OF "a, 600 inhabitants or more free pub
lie employment Office or bureau for the
purpose Of receiving all applications for
labor on the part of those seeking en-
rloyment and all applications for help on
the part of those desiring labor.
Each Office shall be under the control
of superintendent, and the duty of the
superintendent will be to receive and re-
cord in book to be kept for that pur-
pose the names Of all persons applying
for labor or help, designating opposite
the name of each applicant the char
acter of employment or labor desired
and the address of such applicant. 1t
shall also be the duty of each superin-
tendent to make weekly report to the
commissioner.
The duty of the commissioner shall be
to cause to be printed weekly list of all
applicants for labor or help received by
him from the different offices and to
send these lists to the superintendent of
each of the Offices in the state for the in
spection of all persons desiring labor or
help.
No compensation or fee whatsoever
shall, directly or indirectly, be charged
or received from any person applying for
help or for labor, and any person en-
ployed in any of the Offices receiving any
money from an applicant shall be deemed
guilty of misdemeanor.
The bill further provides for the Office
of superintendent by setting his salary
at 81 200. It also proposes to give to the
common council of any incorporated
city or village within the state, the pop
ulation Of which is less than rs, 900 in
habitants, the power to provide by ordi-
nance for the esta blishment of similar
free public employment Office.
The tenure of Office of those appointed
under the act is fixed at two years, re-
serving to the commissioner the power
to make removals for cause.
This bill, which will, in case of it's be-
coming law, inaugurate a system en-
tirely new and radical in this state for
aiding the unemployed poor, is of French
origin. Several years ago commission
ers were sent from Ohio by the trades
unions there to study the results of the
free employment agencies in Paris. The
report made was so encouraging that a
similar bill was presented to the Ohio
legislature. It was enacted in that state
some two years ago, and since it's pas
sage more than $4,000 unemployed have
been provided with work under it's oper-
alton.
In the report of the bureau of labor
statistics Of Ohio for 1892 Commissioner
Lewis testifes to the substantial prog
ress that the system has made: I'm the
communities where these Offices are To-
Gated many firms depend upon them al
most exclusively in securing help. The
offices have benefited not only the large
cities, but the adjacent farming commu-
mites have used them to a considerable
extent, as have also business men in the
smaller towns and cities.
''In the people who come to the public
employment Office for work is represent
ed the whole range of trades and the
various lines of clerical, mercantile, fac
tory and domestic occupations. The
brawny laborer is followed by the young
miss just graduated from the high school
anxious to put her education to some
financial account, and she in turn by the
young emigrant couple who come direct
to the Office from the railroad station,
bringing their baggage with them"
Besides the broad object of securing
labor for the unemployed, secondary
purpose of free employment bureaus is
the eradication of the Intelligence Office
extortion," whereby both the employee
and employer are compelled to pay lib
orally for what they may or may not
get, the direct swindle where no service
is intended and the further evil of Turing
innocent girls to nefarious occupations.
In Columbus, Toledo and Dayton, where
the free system has been established, the
private intelligence Office evil has been
completely eradicated. Similar move
ments are being agitated in both Mis-
souri, and Iowa, where Governor Boies
gave the system his hearty Endorsement.
! Strikes In Germany.
Working hours in Germany are as a
rule very long and are subject to great
fluctuations. The chief factory inspector
of Bavaria says that in many factories
the hours of labor are not the same every
year, or even day by day, but are subject
to manifold changes. Strikes are most
frequent where social democracy is most
powerful, and it does not appear that
wages are especially low in the districts