The Washington times., 1901-12-01
EXTENSION OF
TIME WANTED.
PLEA OF INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION
Two Months VIII he Asked in Which
to Complete the Final Report
and Review of Testimony
scope of the work.


Scope of the work.
On the 18th instant the Industrial Com
mission. which was created by an act Of
Congress of June, 1898, will expire by lin
itation. But, as it will be next to impos-
sible for the Commission to complete its
final report by that time 1t will ask Con-
gress for an extension of its term of SER
vice for two months Originally the time
I of the term of the Commission was two
years. but it was extended from June is,
1900, to December Is, 1901.
The Commission consists at present of
four Senators, four Representatives. and
ten salaried members, nine sppoinled by
the President, and one who retained his
position after the close of his term of Of
fee as a member of Congress. The salaries
OF the Commissioners are $500 each,
while the Commission has been given an
annual appropriation of $4,000 for ex-
penses. the whole of this sum, however,
not having been expended in any year.
The Commission has endeayored, in an
impaired way, to secure the fullest and
most correct information regarding all
Industrial conditions and problems, and
to secure likewise the free expression of
opinion of the citizens regarding these
conditions and problems.
scope of Commission's Work.
The wide scope of the commissions
work may be judged from the fact that
its Investigations, aside from its final re-
port OF conclusions and recommendations,
include no less than eighteen octave vol
umes, containing nearly 10000 pages of,
closely set type. They include four vol
umes relating to trusts and industrial
combinations Zone Of these covering ex-
isting legislation regarding trusts and an
other Industrial combinations in Europel;
two volumes on transportation; two on
manufactures and general business; two
on agriculture and agricultural labor, be-
sides a valuable report on the distribu-
tion of farm products constituting another
volume; one volume on mining and mine
labor; one on immigration, including
part on the subje OF education, and five
on different branches of the labor prob
lem.
The greatest bulk of the commissions
reports consists of the oral testimony Of
witnesses. In all 67S Witnesses have been
heard before the commission. They repre-
sent all classes OF people and discuss the
widest variety of topics. 1t was found al
most impossible to close the testimony
because SO many matters of controversy
we're brought forward by witnesses, TO
which others desired to make reply. The
commission has also availed itself largely
of existing sources of Industrial informa-
tion, especially of official data. For the
purpose of summarizing such information,
as well as of making first hand inyesti-
cations, it has employed a number of
highly competent experts, and several of
the REPORTS prepared by them under the
direction Of the commission are of great
value.
The mass of material presented by this
Commission would be largely Inaccessible
II published, as is so often the case with
Government reports. without adequate
summaries, tables of contents and in
dGxes. The Commission has made a spe-
cial point Of rendering all of it's p'Iblica-
tions easily usable by the busy man. Each
volume Of testimony contains condensed
review, a more detailed digest, and
thorough index The preparation OF some
of these reviews was necessarily delayed
until after the closing of the testimony
and the revision OF them by the Commits
Il
Of time up to a recent date.
Efforts TO Comply With Law.
The Commission has bent every effort
to the completion of its work within the
time limited by law, and is able to re-
port that all of the volumes except that
containing its conclusions and recommen-
dations will be ready to submit to Con-
gress before December 15 1t has been
found impossible. however, to complete
the final volume. 1t is the aim
to present in this volume, in thorough
but concise form, the essential facts elic-
tied in all of the Commissions investi-
cations. The volume must necessarily be
OF considerable size and must cover many
topics as may be seen by the preliminary
outline The final report will probably
contain from 200 to LOCO pages. On the
basis Of the facts thus epitomized, the
Commission Will draw up its conclusions
and suggestions for legislation.
Review of Facts Completed.
The commission has already virtually
completed its review of facts and state
ment of conclusions regarding the sub
jects of transportation, trusts, agricul-
ture, immigration, and mining, and has
made considerable progress in the direc-
tion of proposed recommendation on
these topics. The difficulty of the prob
lens involved, however calls for careful
and prolonged deliberation. Even II, how
ever. no extension is secured, the reports
on trusts and transportation Will be COM
pleted by December IS. The Commission
has been unable. as yet, to do more than
prepare preliminary draft for the final
report regarding the important topics of
manufactures and general business, labor
problems, and taxation. To complete the
report on these topics, and to draw up
recommendations for needed legislation
regarding them. will require not less than
two months additional time. The vari-
GUS parts of the final report can, II de-
sired, be submitted to Congress from
time th NE as completed.