The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-03
the legislation concerning silver as money

the legislation concerning silver as money
in 1878 and since that Year,"
Now, We respectfully submit, that per-
son can be blamed for characteriZing this as
a political and partisan report when Mr..
Powers himself, in the sentence above quot
ed, frankly announces his intention of MAX
| ing 1T just that kind Of a report
| The date of transmission OF the document
to the legislature shows that it was published
| Oct. 10, 1886, about three weeks before cleo
| ton and nearly three months before the
time required by law 1t is matter of
document.
We do not affirm that Mr.. Powers has
proved anything in regard to the purchas-
| ing power of gold in this report. We re-
spectfully submit that the closest analysis on
our part has failed to find any definite con-
illusions to be drawn from the labyrinth of
figures and tables covering 400 pages of the
report, nor have we met anybody who does
know what he is trying to accomplish in
| these statistical gymnastics. OF course, this
may be due to the fact that are plain,
practical working people, and not professors
! of political economy. We respectfully tender
In advance our respectful admiration to your
committee if you succeed in finding out
what conclusion Mr.. Powers draws in regard
! to the purchasing power of gold.
We see by the newspapers that Mr.. Powers
| claims that his report has received high COM
| mendatton from professors in European uni
| vers1ties. We do not dispute this statement,
but we maintain that these sayants are not
paying $12,G00 year for this sort of thing,
! and they neither know care what are
J
draws his salary.
We have no objections whatever to Mr.. Pow
ers gaining all possible fame for the exploita-
! ton of his personal theories on any branch
of political economy, but we think your COM
mittee and the taxpayers of the state will
agree with US, that this should be done in
some other capacity than labor commits
sioner and under the pretense of collecting
labor statistics at the expense of the state
We wish, too, to call your attention to
that phase of the law imposing on the labor
commissioner the responsibility of inspecting
all factories and workshops and giving him
authority to place around dangerous machin-
cry the safeguards necessary to protect life
and limb.
We have In Minnesota every equipment both
| as to law, money for expenses and corps Of
! inspectors to carry out the provisions of the
factory law. II it is not rigidly enforced.
do not see how any good excuse be offered
| for neglec of this duty.
| We are unable to take the report on fac
| tory inspection for 1885. because 1t is not
published and We are told that 1t bids fair
to be three months too late, instead of too
esaGllG{' as was the Purchasing Power Of
We hope, however, that your committee will
| carefully investigate and report the reasons
| for this delay, which is direct violation of
the law requiring the biennial reports to be
submitted to the legislature on or before the
! first Monday in January.
The act of 1885 provides that ANY person
| who violates or omits to comply with any
| of the requirements, or who disobeys any or
der of the labor commissioner or his in
Spector Is liable to fine or Imprisonment"
and clearly points out the method of procedure
in such
The most recent published report on factory
inspection in the state is that of 1884. There
were then three inspectors, and the report
! states that they found $50 cases in which
| the law was violated In go only part of the
| inspection orders were needed, and dangerous
machinery was left partly exposed, thus be-
| ing constant danger to operatives and Wis.,
| TORS In many instances no attention what
ever was paid to the orders of the labor COM
| missioner. There is indication that there
were any prosecutions for failure to comply
! with these orders, a serious neglect Of the
duties of his ONCE.
This is even more serious than the sta
tistical department, for if the factory act is
! exposed to danger of life and limb from ma
| chinery, and also danger to general health
from unsanitary conditions.
We ask your committee to investigate to
what extent the factory act has been en-
forced since its passage, and if it has net been
enforced, to tell why Mr.. Powers continues
he is either lacking in inclination or ability
to perform his duties, as plainly stated by
Mr. Powers himself asked the legislature
to pass the present factory act, but we have
never heard of a single prosecution for viola
! ton of the factory law. The only report to
! Wnicn we can get access certainly does not
! show any.
We do not know in how many instances
! there is continual danger to operatives or
where accidents have occurred and employers
become involved in expensive lawsuits on &C
count of the derelictions of this department.
/ but there have been many reports to this
effect, and we hope your committee will make
the investigation necessary to give US in
formation on this important point.
Because of or inability to bring about good
sanitary conditions in factories and proper
safeguards for machinery the factory law
was enacted and state employees appointed at
| liberal salaries to carry them out. We do
think. however, that you will find in the
| correspondence of the bureau in the last three
years number of complaints about the dan
rnrn nT1d 4icfo
tories, and we hope you will ascertain what
! was done in such cases.
There is also a provision that all buildings
! more than three stories high shall have fire
escapts. We are unable to learn from the
published reports OF the bureau how many
fire escapes have been placed on buildings
| under directions of the factory inspectors and
lated.
We have always tried to leave the labor
| commissioner entirely free to carry out his
work in his own way and we are sorry to
nave to make this protest to your commit
tee, but we feel that the lives and safety
/ CT many WageWCTkers are involved and we
know that employers not always amen
able to moral suasion and that the law must
be enforced If these people are to be pro-
tected. We therefore ask The most careful
examination of the acts of the labor bureau
in regard to factory inspection in the past
and await your recommendations for the
future.
There are many other laws on the statute
DOCK that are left to be enforced by the la
Dor commissioner, laws regulating the en-
ployment OF children, minors and women;
Tor the protection of the health lives and
llmDs OF workmen; for the protection of the
working classes; regulating and prescribing
the qualifications of persons in trades and
handlcrafts; providing that seats shall be
FURNISHED for female employees In great
stores; regulating the hours OF labor: the
anu-lroncIad law; d-blacklist law etc
IL the bureau has devoted any attention
to the enforcement of such laws we are
unable to lind any record thereof, nor have
our unions ever been consulted by Mr. Powers
regarding their enforcement.
We feel that the whole labor bureau has
drlfted from its original intent and no longer
holds the relations to the wageworkers which
the legislature intended or which It should
hold in order to give good results with it's
work. ivy
We would respectfully ask that you de-
vote little time to establishing this orig
mai intent. If your committee find that in
your opinion, the bureau has been proner1v
conducted and that the future management
needs no change Of policy, we will simply
ask thai the title be SO amended as to
make 1t bureau Of statistics or that il he
given any title which omits the word labor
either directly or by implication Then our
responsibility in relation 10 it will cease and
We shall have no criticism to make
| II 1t be continued a labor bureau we
would suggest that the law be amended maxi
ing the salary of labor commissioner 81 O00
that OF deputy, commissioner 81 POO, that there
be two factory inspectors at a. salary Of
: 81, COO each. that the contingent fund be re-
duced to $1,500 annually thus making tha