Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-28
SECRETARY sAckErr REPORTS.
Work accomplished by the Industrial
COmmtssion.

A report of Mr.. VIM. E. Sackett. secre-
tary Of the industrial commission, has been
submitted to Congress. 1t relates to the
work of the commission up to the present
time.
The industrial commission" the report
says. was created by an act OF Congress
approved June is, 1898 Its chief inspira-
ton was the hope of finding fundamental
economic grounds upon which capital and
labor can build together. side by side. in
more restful harmony. That each is essen
tlal to the operations of the other needs
only TO be said. Capital would rust in the
bank vaults if the hand of the workingnan
did not make IL productive. Labor would
waste its energies in profitless endeavor if
capital did not provide IL with opportuni-
ties. And yet fnterdependent as they are and
reciprocaIiy vital. no arrangement of indus
trial conditions has yet been devised 50 ex-
actly adjusting one to the other as to make
friction needless and impossible 1t was
primarily for the purpose of devising legis-
lation. both national and state to bring
them into closer sympathy that the indus
trial commission was called into being To
this broad function was added another quite
as broad and important 1t was required to
survey the world of commerce and bust
ness. with view TO regulatin more eduit-
ably. so far as legislation can accomplish IL
the complicated relations the producer, the
distributor and the consumer bear to each
other.
The creation of the industrial commits
sion is the first step ever taken by the gov
eminent to make an inquiry of this scope
and character for the guidance of Congress
and legislatures in the enactment Of a con-
stantly increasing body of industrial laws
Something like it had been undertaken in
England through the agency of a royal
commission on labor. organized under
royal warrant given at the court of ST
James April p. 1891. but as its title indf-
Gates its function was only with the labor
problem.
The testimony thus far taken by the
commission on this subject is embraced in
a volume. set in solid BREWER covering up
ward of LEO printed pages. 1t has been
carefully edited, with cross references
which make it easy to trace the bearing of
the evidence Of one witness upon that of
another. and for it, is being done for
each Of the other testimony volumes issued
by the commission. a careful digest and
analysis Of the testimony it covers has been
testimony outside of that taken on the trust
question already embraces about 100 printed
pages on agriculture and agricultural la
Dor, over go pages on labor employed in
manufactures and general business: ap-
proxlmately 700 on mining. and 300 on
transportation: 1871 on immigration. and 100
on educational topics.
The commission has also had prepared
beside the volume containing the trust
laws of the states and territories and the
decisions under them, volume embracing
a digest of the labor laws of the land, which
will be valuable for reference and a vol
ume on convict labor
The number of witnesses examined up to
December 81, 1899, was 212, and the ex-
penses of the commission to that date was
S56S7T.