Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-10-15
Report Made by wennerstrum
State Labor Commissioner.
CONDITIONS OF loWA's 1oILERs
An Exhaustive Document Telling Of
the Result Of Months of Tireless
Work on the Part of the Commits.
sioners-Interesting to All.

port shows that Mr.. Wennerstrum
has not neglected any of his duties
nor spent any time foolishly. In fact,
the volume of work he has done almost
unassisted is wonderful, and in his re-
port he urges that additional forces be
employed to do the work of the bureau.
The benefits of such a bureau are in
disputable, and with more help than he
now has, Mr.. Wennerstrum can doubt
less increase these benefits so that
they will be recognized by everyone
in the state.
The bureau has compiled statistics
relatives to the wage earners of Iowa,
showing nativity, wages, nature of &C.
cupation and other facts and statistics
of the organization of labor unions. An
investigation has been made of the
movements for an eight-hour day as 1t
affects labor generally, also of the
progress of manual training in Iowa
schools, of the development of coop
eratiye undertakings in Iowa, and
profit-sharing in adjacent states.
Convict Labor.
The report says full investigation
of the effect on Iowa interests of the
employment of convict labor has not
been possible for lack of time and
means For the most part" states
the commissioner, "the opposition to
convict labor is, in my opinion, justl.
| fed; but it is not possible, nor would
it be proper for me prior to such an
| investigation as had hoped to make,
| to say just what extent and in what
directions Iowa industry and labor are
injuriously affected by the employ
ment of the states convicts at the
penitentiaries."
Sunday Work.
Though prevented from full inves-
tigation of the extent to which ordl-
nary business pursuits are followed on
Sunday, Mr.. Wennerstrum says:
'sThe conducting of business on Sun
day is an injustice to the employees who
are thus compelled to forcgo one days
rest each week, and a wrong to the
businesses man who faithfully observes
the Sabbath, giving him one days less
of business each week than the man
who transacts business seven days in
the week. The reasons for Sabbath
observance are so obvious that l need
hardly say more on the subject"
DeplorabIe Condition in Factories.
The report says the most import.
ant work of the bureau during the past
few years has been inspection of fac.
tories and industrial establishments
throughout the state. Investigations
were confined to towns of 5000 and
over as a rule, Three hundred and
Itwenty-eight factories were visited
Il ,on CT t,,fi
not touched on in the report were also
inspected.
Important Manufacturing Center.
The report shows the erroneous ma
ture of the idea that Iowa is not an
important center of manufacturing
There are sixty-four townse in Iowa
with 1000 or more Inhabitants and sia
with more than $4,000. In these towns
and cities are factories to the number
, of at least 14,819 according to the 1906
census, employing $3.50 persons
There is a large number of factorie!
in which 500 people are congregatet
and the largest had LOO persons OF
the payroll. The amount of capita
represented in these factories aggre
gate $102,733 ,103. The wages paid il
1900 was $23,931 $50 The value of pro
ducts turned out by Iowa factories las
year was $164,617,S77.
Inspection of Factories.
at is nothing less than astonishing,
proceeds the report, that with sucl
very considerable population devot
/, ed to manufacturing, Iowa is anon
, the very few states without statutor
regulations and inspection for the EN-
+ ployment of men, women and childrel
l within the factories of the state. Will
it is but fair to say that on the Who'll
the conditions of industrial employ
ment in Iowa are fairly satisfactory
: nevertheless many of the condition
found in large numbers of factorie
are dangerous to say the least and il
!. tolerable in numerous instances. Gu
, of 200 factories with two or more stol
les which were visited there were onl
. twenty with fire escapes. The san
! tary conditions prevailing in larg
: numbers of factories were exceedingl
: dangerous to the health of the employ
6 and to the community in which the IA
!, tory was located. The arrangement
3 . respecting closets and urinals wer
, generally defective in the extreme.
/. lhduSquutC lOI pIOIG
a tion Of employees from dangerous m;
chinery are said to be common"
=, , The necessity for legislative actio
!. for more complete supervision of ii
. dustrial establishments to do ava
with the serious evil pointed out
strongly set forth. A rigid law for fa
tory inspection is recommended.
i Child Labor in Iowa.
e The prevalence of child labor
S pointed out. 1T seems strange" say
q the report, that a progressive stat
S like Iowa should not be among tn
more advanced commonwealth of til
union in the matter of protecting chi
d dren from too early employment in til
d industrial pursuits. There were yo
e unfairly reported to me by employer
If 403 employees that were under fourtee
l. years of age, and subsequent inquil
p developed the fact there were 604 Chi
. dren employed. This number. a.
sure, is very much below the actu
number. Many of thes childre
e. were as young as 10 years. In mar
N cases the children were employed
a. tasks that involved hard and laboriol
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