Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-01-04

end of the fiscal year, June 80, 1900,
and the uneNpended portion of the APP
preparation made for the bureau of la
Dor statistics for the fiscal year ending
June 80, 1000, is hereby transferred
and made available under this act, and
such uneNpended portion of said APP
preparation may besdrawn for the ORR
ginal purposes for which they were
appropriated. The secretary of the
state society of Labor and Industry,
as commissioner of said bureau, shall
have an office in the state capitol build
ing, properly furnished for the work of
said bureau, and shall perform his du-
ties as herein provided.
Sec. 3. 1t shall be the duty of the
commissioner to collect, assert, arrange
and present, in biennial reports to the
governor, to be by him transmitted to
the legislature, statistical details relat-
ing to all departments of labor and in
dustrial pursuits in the state; to the
subjects of cooperation, strikes and
other labor difficulties; to trade-unions
and other labor organizations, and their
effect upon labor and capital; to other
matters relating to the commercial, in
dustrial, social, educational, moral and
sanitary conditions prevailing within
the state; and the exploitation of such
other subjects as will tend to promote
the permanent prosperity of the re-
spective industries of the state. 1t
shall also be the duty of the commits
sicner of the bureau TO cause to be en-
~
ment of health, lives and limbs of OPP
orators in workshops and factories, on
railroads, and other places, and all laws
enacted for the protection of the work
ing classes now in force or that may
hereafter be enacted. In its biennial
report the bureau shall also give an
account of all proceedings which have
been taken in accordance with the pro-
visions of this act, or any of tile other
laws herein referred to, and in addi-
ton thereto such remarks, suggestions
and recommendations as the commits
sioner may deem necessary for the in
formation of the legislature.
sec. 4. The commissioner is hereby
authorized to furnish and deliver a
written or printed list of interrogato-
riss to any person, company, or the
proper Office of any corporation, oper-
ating within the state, and require full
and complete answers to be made
thereto, and returned under oath; the
commissioner shall have a seal and
have power to take and preserve testi-
mony, to issue subpoenas, and admin
lister oaths and examine witnesses I'M
der oath in all matters relating to the
duties herein required by said bureau,
such testimony to be taken in some
suitable place in the vicinity to which
the testimony is applicable. Witnesses
subpoenaed and testifying before the
commissioner of said bureau shall be
paid the same fees as witnesses before
sthe district court, such payment to be
made from the incidental fund of the
bureau. Any person duly sub
poenaed under the provisions of
this act who shall wilfully neglect or
refuse to attend, or refuse to answer
any, question propounded to him con-
corning the subject of such examina-
ton as provided in this act, or if any
person to whom a written or printed
list of interregotories has been furn-
ished by said commissioner shall neg
lect5 or refuse Ito answer and return
the same under oath, such person or
persons shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and upon complaint of
the commissioner before a court of
competent jurisdiction, and upon con-
viction thereof, such person or persons
shall be fined in a sum not less than
$25 nor more than $780,, or by impris-
onment in the county jail, not exceed
ing ninety days, or by both such fine
and imprisonment; provided, however,
that no witness shall be compelled to
go outside of the county in which he
resides to testify. In the report of said
bureau no use shall be made of the
names, of individuals, firms or corpora
tons supplying the information called
for by this act, unless by written per-.
mission, such information being deem
ed confidential and not for the purpose
of disclosing personal affairs, and any
officer, agent or employe of the bureau
violating this provision shall forfeit a
sum not exceeding $500 or be impris-
oned not more than one year.
Sec. S. The commissioner as state
factory inspector shall have the power
to enter any factory or mill, workshop,
private works or state institutions
which have shops or factories, when
the same are open or in operation, for
the purpose of gathering facts and stat
istics such as are contemplated in this
act, and to examine into the methods
of protection from danger to employees
and the sanitary conditions in and
around such buildings and places and
to make record thereof of such in
spection. If the commissioner as state
factory inspector shall find upon such
inspection that the heating, lighting,
ventilation or sanitary arrangements
of any workshops or factories is such
as to be injurious to the health of the
persons employed or residing therein,
or that the means Of egress in case Of
fire or other disaster are not sufficient,
or that the belting, shafting, gearing,
elevators, drums, saws, cogs and ma
chinery in such workshops and factor
les are located or are in condition so
as to be dangerous to employees, and
not sufficiently guarded, or that the
watts, pans, or other structures filled
with molten metal or hot liquid, are
not surrounded with proper safeguards
for preventing accidents or injury to
those employed at or near them, he
shall notify in writing the owner, pro-