New-York tribune., 1912-12-03
FACTORY BOARD WARNED
Rabbi Wise Wants New Bureau
Free from State Politics.
CANNING INQUIRY PRAISED
Chairman Wagner at Meeting
Here Says Disclosures Were
Not Contradicted.

Conditions in the canneries formed
| large part of the discussion al the session
yesterday Of the State Factory InveSt-
eating Commission. In complimentinS
the commission on its work Rabbi Ste
phen S. Wise mentioned the disclosures
! Of the working of four-year-old children
| long hours, and said:
Somehow the legislators from upstate
| have always been unwilling TO yield to
the demand of the social workers that
the canneries be treated on the same
| plane as factories. You have performed
signal service in this instance The
canneries should not be treated eXcep-
tionally and allowed 10 work children un-
DER fourteen years of age and women
more than hfty-four hours week.
Senator Robert F. Wagner. the chair
man of the commission. said ne wished to
make the following statement regarding
the canneries:
At the time the report was made pub
lie representatives OF the twenty-eght
principal canneries in the state and coun-
sci representing them besides were pres
ent. We gave their counsel the right TO
cross-eXamine our witnesses or to intro
duce new witnesses to discredit our eVi-
dence None Of the facts established by
our investigation were contradicted by
those facts were corrOborated. There
have been some complaints nevertheless
that our disclosures were Inaccurate We
would be glad TO have testimony submit
ted at any Of our hearings 10 correct
any alleged inaccuracy
The commissions counsel. Abram /.
Elkus. supplemented Senator Wagners
statement by saying:
The members of the commission saw
the children working in the sheds. We
examined the books of several cannerles
and discovered that they had been falsl-
fed to make II appear that the employees
worked no more than sixty hours a
week whereas, In reality they Workeu
| 100 The report of our investiSator' MI
Potter. was admitted 10 be fair by coun-
sci 10 the Gamers, and We iurtheT tie nd
the testimony of Miss Mary LoIlsa
Chamberlain corroboratins him. Her tes-
tlmony was true and counsel 10 the can
ners did not question her.
Rabbi Wise warned the commission that
If il did not wish to see its labor wasted
II. must take care that the bureau Gre
ated at its recommendation 10 super
wise factories should not become po-
litical annex of the state government as
he declared happened TO the Bureau oI
Fire Prevention here in New YORK Clty'
THE bureau is actually worthless oe-
cause IL has been made the home OF the
out-of- works who couldn't be given en-
plovment elsewhere, he said. You must
see TO II that those who get places are
not those who need the money but those
who are really capable OF performing the
service in the spirit which has animated
| YOU in your work.
During the day William c. Rogers,
chief mediator OF the Department Oh
| Labor. sent q small rocket whizziny IN
the direction of the City Hall. When Mt
Elltus referred to the settlement OF the
e1press strike by Mayor Gaynor ana Ffes-
,dent Tovne OF the Merchants Assocla-
| ,iop Mr. Rogers retorted with icy polite
ness:
Our very good friend Mayor Gaynor
| and Mr. Towne solved the proolefn hhu
| got nlentv Of newspaper nouce' Dut 'ns.
Touldn't have been 90 successful II the
| COmn1issioner of Labor hadn't the va!
| before given the employers lol' -e's''
/ hours TO end the conflct
/ Mrs. Vladimir Smkovtch. Of Green
u,,ch House. a member Of Mayor Gay
ror's Recreation Commission. suggested
! ,bat q state arbitration system be estao-
Iushcd by law. p. Tecumseh Sherman for-
NOR State Labor Commissioner, mace
q number OF suggestions. as d'd DI'
! charles Edwin Emory Winslow' OF the
! College OF the City Of New YORK. ana
! lanes /. Gernon. head Of the bureau OF
| mercantile research at Albany.