Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-01-16
FOB CHANGES N LABOR LAWS.


and Printing And That in Salaries !
Of the Department be Put on an |
Equal Footing With the Others.
News and ObserTer.)
In the, letter of transmittal of his re-
port to the Governor, the Commission
er of Labor and Printing, M. L. Ship
Ian, makes number or recommended
tons concerning the department, stat
ing that these are for the provision of
necessary detail machinery in order
that the spirit of the statutes now upon
our books may be put into operation
and effect. He prefaces his recon-
mendations by saying:
Compared to the laws of other
states, the laws of North Carolina re-
Ia ting to industrial subjects indicate a
very limited amount of attention and
interest in this important general SUBJ
ject. While 1t may be said that with
few exceptions conditions do not call
for extensive enactment of laws along
this line, close studytwill show that
too much laxity exists here. In
broad sense it should be our purpose
to look continually to the uplift of our,
working population, both as an eco
nomic and a humane principle, and to-
prevent, as far as we may do so, the
deterioration of character that is so
often shown when young boys leave
the home and accept employment that
brings them in contact with the va
grant element that so assiduously in
tests public places. The young girl
employe is also entitled to protection
- TT 49,
from men of the masher type, and re-
striction in hours of employment that
she may be less exposed to advances
and temptations from street loafers
and others. One preventive measure
is worth a whole book of correctives
and is more effective"
The recommendation are:
81. The passage of specific ten
hour day and sixty hour week law.
The law as enacted by the Legislature
of 1911 has proven unsatisfactory and
insufficient
"2. A specific age limit law prohib-
iting children under thirteen years
from working in any kind of manufac-
turing establishment, or in messenger
service, or appearance in theaters in
any capacity: or in any employment
whatsoever during the hours in which
the public schools are in session; and
providing that no person whatever un-
der sixteen years of age may be en-
ployed in any capacity between the
hours of ten o'clock p. m. and six
o'clock a. m.
"3. That all manufacturing and
other concerns of whatever kind, adj
dressed by the Department of Labor
and Printing for information for use
in the compilation of it's report, be re-
quired to answer promptly to the best
of their knowledge and belief.
"a. That the law designating the
Commissioners of Labor and Printing
Inspector of Mines be repealed, I'M
less appropriation sufficient to put the
present law into practice is made.
This would include the services of an
active inspector, preferably, if not es-
sentially, a gradute of a school of
mining.
SO. Laws governing safety appli-
ances and sanitation. }ssI
sc. The passage of a law providing !
Tor inspection of factories and work
shops of whatever kind, to the end
that the child labor law, the limited
hours law, the fire escape law, and
such laws of sanitation and safety as
the Legislature-may see fit to enact,
may be enforced; such inspectors to
act as sttistical or census agents for
the department"
Commissioner Shipman states that
almost the entire time of the COM
missioner and the assistant comis-
sioner is required in the Office and
fhnf hn1d oaffuifinG
limited, that it is difficult to obtain
statistics, as some parties are not will
ing to cooperate in the collection Of
information; that it is impossible to
reach a number of manufacturing es-
Establishments owing to the difficulty in
securing names and addresses, that
an inspector, with the proper laws be-
hind him, could be of inestimable
value along these lines. The public
printing, he states, is the largest sin
gle item with which the department
deals, requiring constant attention and
supervision, that the results are on a
satisfactory basis, work being up to
date reports of all departments fur
nished on time being in print for the
General Assembly. Referring to sal
aries paid the department. he says it
"has been for years bearing the brunt
of the economical proclivities of the
members of the Legislature, which
while allowing advances from time to
time has never seen fit to put the
Office, so far as salaries are concerned,
on an equal footing with other depart
ments," and that the department Off
GERS "feel that the time has now ar
rived when the department officers
should receive the compensation to
which the general scale entities them
without the necessity of having to ask
for it and without being given insig
nificant advances that do not lessen,
in any great degree, the discrimination
they have labored under so long,:
BLOW AT STATES RIGHTS.