New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-19
FACTORY INSPECTION. POOH!
Mrs. Kelley Holds Up to Ridicule Meagre
Results of a Year.

terms by Mrs. Florence Kelley In her animal re-
port copies OF which given out yesterday to
the members at the quarterly meeting of the Ma
tional Consumers League, in the Charities Build
ing.
1.-THE enforcement of the law" she says as de-
plorably insufficient and incompetent There are
but thirty-nine inspectors for the whole State of
New-York and the work Of the corps is pitffuly
Intellectual. when judged by the results embodied
In the latest report The report of the factory IN
spectors In the State of New-York is compiled by
the statisticians of the State Department Labor
and there is startling contrast between the brill
liant technical work of the compilers and the de-
plorable results chronicled by them behalf of
the inspectors. Thus. the report says: TO hold
every license fully up to the standard of the law
would require almost constant surveillance. while
under the favorable circumstances the de-
partment cannot with It's present force of inspect
ors make more than two inspections annually of
the thirty thousand licensed places
"Of the 81 800 persons continues Mrs. Kelley,
licensed to work in the garment trades in tene-
ment houses. fortysx persons were fined in a
year for violation of the law This is trfe
than person for each of the thirty whine in
spectors and triie less than one in a thousand
of the licensed persons. AS it is notorious that
the law Is more honored in the breach than in the
observance. particularly in the streets in which
the licenses most abundantly granted-in Null
berry Mott and Elizabeth sts.-ths record of in
competence IN the enforcement OF the law by
prosecution indicates an urgent need Of radical
change either in the methods the personnel of
the factory inspection department.
ONLY THREE CONVICTIONS.
The new child labor law, which takes effect in
October next, provides that boys and girls under
sixteen years of age may not be employed longer
than nine hours in any day, and ffty-four
hours in week AS the terms of the statute
clear and appear be workable. it is possible that
the enforcement Of this provision may place a suff-
cient premium upon the employment Of older per
sons (who will remain free work ten hours in
somewhat the work of children in the needle
trades. The latest report of the State Factory In
spector is not encouraging reading this subject
however. it records only three convictions OBJ
tanned and three fines of $40 each imposed in the
whole State of New-York in a year, by reason of
violations of the old law restricting the hours Of
labor of women and children, although the wide
spread habitual violation of the law has for
been notorious"
In the State of New-York Il, 355 factory employees
work the manufacture of clothing. mems suits
and overcoats and women's cloaks and wrappers
more than any other individual industry. OF these
workers $1,000 licensed to work in the tene
ment houses of New-York and Mulberry, Mott,
Eliza beth and Chrystie SITS. lead all others in the
number of licenses held, 1851 being held one of
these comparatively short streets In the heart of
the East Side OF these $1,000 persons, 1855 re-
ported that they at work on custom made
garments. Custom made garments those for
which the highest price is paid. often in the belief
that the payment Of such prices insures that the
garment shall not be made ina tenement work
room subject to the dangers of filth and disease
germs which they must there encounter.
EXEMPT FROM INSPECTION.
The difficulty in awarding the label manu-
facturers in the city of New-York' continues the
secretary, lis further intensified by the fact that
eight least, among the large sectarian places of
incarceration of women and children in the State
regularly work for the market. AS these institu
tons thus really factories, yet exempt
from registration and factory inspection. 1t is
possible to know certainly which manufacturers are
sending goods away from their premises to be
made up in the institutions In several cases the
State Of New-York is paying per capita main
tenance allowance to these institutions. 1t thus
pays for the maintenance of incarcerated persons
the product of whose labor is thrown upon the
market in competition with the product of fac
| tories in which every worker is receiving wages.
The competition of this form of prison labor presses
heavily upon the white muslin underwear trade in
| the city of New-York
| CONTROLLERS OFFICE CRITICISED.
The league addressed letter to Edward NJ
| Crout, Controller of the City of New-York, on
March %. 1902, asking to what extent the city
maintenance allowances to sectarian institutions
for incarcerated persons who employed in
| manufacturing garments for the market Inves-
| LEGATION promised, but in the of four
| teen months the Controllers office has not found
| time TO make it.
mo further information having been received
| continues Mrs Kelley. iii appears that the Con-
troIler's Office of the City New-York still g
norant of the occupations of the persons for whom
| It is paying maintenance during their ncarcera-
! ton A single of these institutions under
sfderation received during the present year from
| the city of New-York the sum of Sl9.6Sl H.
| The secretary yields the trenchant pen with
regard TO the State of New-Jersey. The fifty five
| hour law, she declares. regulating the hours or
| work of and children has never been en-
been required to work ali night in glass factories
precisely if there had never been any legal
The legislature which has recently adjourned
eracted a statute probably unique in the history
Governor OF the State TO remove from office the
| State Factory Inspector The responsibility for
! will devoIve upon Governor Francis Murphy even
| more explicitly than has been the case hitherto
during the last year from the Catholic Church,
| a fact credited to the action of Cardinal Gibbons
| the Consumers League of Maryland. Bishop Ca
| the league in that State and advised the Ladies
Catholic Benevolent Association to participate in
| its work and in Chicago the secretary spoke for
the first time before the Catholic Womens League.
adressed tan In any previous years New states
| added during the year were California, Colorado,
mont A delegate from the Colorado league was
present at the meeting. who reported that the
prohibiting the labor of ali children under fourteen
| during the last winter The law had previously
| applied only to boys In mines.
| MANY WANT THE LABEL.
| An interesting feature of the year has been the
strenuous application of all sorts of factories to be
| granted the label Manufacturers of pickles and
| skirt braid. and silk waists. mems and boy s
| clothing and umbrella covers have all asked for
| the label, showing the growing commercial i'm
| portance of the latter 1t decided at yester-
days meeting that the scope of the league should
be extended include umbrella covers, the making
| of which is allied trade. One manufacturer of
this article who sent urgent letters asking for
| inspection of his factory. declared that large