The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-09-08
SHAMEFUL ABUSES.
Pretty State Of Things in the
Republican Factory In
speetor's Office.
Especial to .The Jersey city News."l

Especial to 'tThe Jersey City News."1
TRENTON, Sept. S, 1S97.-There have
been some very much needed reforms In
Produces into the management of the
State Department of factory and work
shop inspection. This department, until
recently, was run in the most haphazard
way imaginable. There was a Chief In
spector, to whom the. deputy inspectors
were supposed to report their movements,
and they did so, after a fashion. The re-
ports were for the most part of an ex-
ceedingly general character, and gave but
little idea of the real work the deputies
were doing from day to day. In April OF
last year Senator John G. Ward was made
Factory Inspector.
H commended himself with adopting the
plan of the bigger officials around the
State House, of putting in an appearance
at the Capitol once. a week-on Tuesdays,
or Governors day, when even the poll
tieians who are not on the States payroll
at all come to Trenton to learn whatever
is new politically. Matters went on-the
Chief Inspector doing little or nothing and
the deputies doing practically as they
-pleased-until Chief Ward submitted to
the Governor in November last the manu-
SCilpt " me QCPdl ? oliiAeN ~
1t was h the there was an awaken
ing. The Governor looked over the report
and found it to contain a one-page intro
duction of the Chief Inspector to the dis
trict reports of the six deputies. And
those deputies reports. In some cases
they were not even a rewriting, OF the re-
port of the previous year, but page aIter
page of the old report was cut out and re-
used for the newer report without even
the change of a figure in the tables. Wnlcn
gave the names of manufacturing CON
Germs, the line of goods made, theRnumper
of male and female help employed, etc
The Governor then started an investlga-
ton. n he found that in the case OF at
least one deputy the same table and the
same set of figures had been made to DO
service for six consecutive reports. The
Governor sent the report back to Chlel
Ward for such corrections as 1t was pos
sible to make at that late day. The depu-
ties were sent for and the report was cor
rected as far as possible. In some cases
whole pages were cut out, and IN other
pages as many as 100 changes We're
made. Even with all this there is no pre-
tense that the report can be considered
as in any way approaching correctness.
The result of the Governors action has
been a reform in the manner of conduct
ing the bureau, although Chief Ward
manages to keep up his original pro-
gramme of spending a part of one day a
week in his office in the State House.
The reform which has been instituted
consists in the devising of a system
whereby a record is now kept in the Chief
Inspectors office of the work performed
each day by the several deputy inspectors
whose duty it is to visit the different rae
tories. workshops, mines and bakeries
and see that there are no violations OF
the several laws against child labor and
sweat shops, and that the different places
of employment are provided with fire
escapes and kept in a sanitary condition,
and that shafts and hatchways are
guarded. The deputies are now
provided with blanks upon which they
make minute reports of the places visited.
the condition in which they were found,
the number of hands employed in
each.
Edward B. Sterling, of this city, who
w4s appointed Chief Wards clerk since
making of the report with which Gov
ernor Griggs has found ault has devised
a set of books into which all the mforma-
ton contained in the reports is entered IN
a way that makes it possible to tell al
most at a lance what each deputy reports
having accomplished within the year IN
the way of visitations, and what had been
by employers in the matter of com
plying with complaints made against them
the deputy inspectors.