United labor bulletin., 1911-12-28


prised of five different departments
handling different phases of the labor
question. Four of these departments
have legal recognition and employees pro-
vided for, while the fifth, the wage claim
department, which is one of the most
useful of the five and doing some of the
most necessary work for the poorer class
of wage-earners, has no legal recognition
and no employees to do the work pro-
vided for; the work being done by every
member of the whole department as a
sort of added duty which is freely done
to assist the poorer class of Wage-earn-
ers in getting wages due them, which 1t
seems the policy of some dishonest en-
ployers to deprive them of. Miss Char
Iotte Fry, the stenographer accredited to
the bureau of labor statistics, has charge
of this branch of work, keeping the
books and records of the many claims
filed, assisted. as stated, by all the mem
bers of the labor department..
THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
The Bureau of Labor Statistics proper,
which is the original creation, is now
comprised of two employees aside from
the chief of all branches the deputy Ia
Dor commissioner, Edwin V. Brake; the
labor statistician, R. e. Croskey, ana
stenographer, Charlotte NJ. Fry. The
duty OF this department is to gather
statistics on thirteen different subjects:
Agriculture, mining, mechanical and man
ufacturing industries, transportation,
clerical and other skilled and unskilled
labor, the amount of cash capital in
vested in lands, building and machinery
severally and means of production and
distribution generally, the number, age,
sex and condition of persons employed,
apprentice system, wage and hours, etc..
the number and condition of the unem-
ployed etc, the sanitary condition OF
the workers, ETC., number, condition and
nature of employment of inmates in vari-
Gus prisons, state and county, and eX-
tent of competition of their work with
free labor, all information in relation to
labor as the commissioner may deem es-
sential and the number and description
of the different labor organizations OF
the state.
The information thus gathered is for
the information of inquirers and to boost
the state generally that capital may be
induced to invest in it, thus creating
labor for the workers and upbuilding
the state in both population and wealth;
and further, keeping a record of the con-
dition of the workers that the American
standard of living shall be maintained
for them.
To the uninformed it would perhaps be
surprising the number of letters from
commercial bodies, colleges and work
ers that are received by this department
inquiring into the subjects above enum-
Grated, nearly 1,100 letters have been
received and answered the past year,
large number of them requiring consid
erable space, thought and research to
intelligently reply to. The method of
gathering statistics is that of sending
out printed forms of set questions to
manufacturers, commercial bodies, labor
organizations, county assessors, superin-
tendents of state institutions, etc, and
farming and mineral communities. The
trouble with this system is that not suf-
ficient attention is paid to the answering
of these schedules; the different bodies
to whom they are sent are very negli-
gent about complying with the law in
sending back intelligent answers and in
fact in many instances of answering
them at all; resulting in not as thorough
knowledge being gained by the depart
ment as it is to the interest of all parties
concerned should be gained, in order
that the conditions and boundless re-
sources of the state should be properly
put before investors and inquirers. This
fact does not apply to any special set of
individuals to whom forms are sent, but
applies generally to business men and
labor bodies alike 1t would seem that
when the state appropriates funds for
the purpose of advertising the state
resources and the conditions of the
wage-earners that these people would
gladly cooperate in work designed for
their benefit The last legislature failed
to comply with the wish of the depart
ment in supplying it with some funds
to enable it to send an agent to investi-
gate resources and conditions in section
of the state where the inabitants are
too careless to care to report for them
selves. The different state institutions,
county assessors, etc, report regularly
and fully upon all questions asked, but
those are the only complete reports that
are received, and therefore much inter
esting data on live subjects is not avail
able for the reasons given
FREE EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS.
Free employment Offices are estab-
lished at Denver Colorado Springs and
Pueblo: the Denver Office is in charge
of Eli NJ Gross, superintendent, and
Mrs. Imogene Clarke. Colorado Springs,
w. c. Daily, superintendent, and Geo.
w. Painter. Pueblo Lee A. Tanquary,
superintendent, and Elias Anderson.
Notwithstanding that work has not been
plentiful the past year, these offices have
well maintained their business record in
the number OF help supplied to employ
ers and positions obtained for the JoD-
less, of former years. The years record
shows over $4,000 men, women and boys
obtained employment free of charge in
the three Offices.
REGULATING AND LICENSING PRi-
vATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES.
The law regulating and licensing pri-
yate employment Offices was something
that was long needed in this state, an