The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1914-12-26

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present time. In many cases rear
rangement of drives and machinery
have been necessary to lessen danger
and make guarding possible. We
have 5000 feet of: electrically welded
wire fabric for further belt and pull
ley guarding to- be- used mostlys9e+tn
structural steel frames * ..S 2. :as*@
~ Women's Department.
The administration Of the laws rel
alive to women and children Is the D
peculiar work of the Bureau of Wo- /
men and Children, one of the SUBJ
ordinate bureaus Of the department.
This bureau followed up 283 VIOLA
tions Of the laws for the protection of
children during the last year; in
spected 281 mercantile establish
ments, and 201 factories; made a
special investigation of the ..condi-
tons of employment for women and |
234 restaurants investigated and took
care of IS cases of neglected. chill !
dren; FL cases of child delinquency
and also assisted a number of girls
in various kinds of difficulties, such
as sickness and inability to collect
wages due them. % -..,~
The bureau Of women and children
is very DESTROYS Of having the entire
state and to have legislation enacted
for the protection of " children in
street trades. They also believe that
women should be prohibited from
| working in any establishment where
| liquor is served, or for seven conse-
cutive days in the week or more
than ten hours in any one day. ..
Study Unemployment. - 4
The department has been making
special study of unemployment and
| the distribution of labor during the
| last two years, and has published
quite a complete report on this sub
ject in Part Of the biennial report.
It discusses both the private and the
public employment offices. Part VIII
on Special Investigations also dis
cusses the subject of employment Of
fees, particularly in connection with
the numbering and railroad camps.
The report on employment offices re-
veals that many abuses have grown
up in private employment offices.
Employment agents sometimes mis-
represent the conditions to which
they are sending workmen-they
charge exorbitant fees and resort to
various illegal and improper practices
for increasing their profits.
One of the worse evils that has
been discovered is the practice of an
employment agent making an agree"
ment with a foreman or superintend-
ent of some large company to send
the foreman a given number OF men
each month and then divide the en-
ployment fees between the employ
ment agent and the foreman or ST.
perintendent. In order to make
places for the men who are coming In
the foreman has to discharge some Of
the men that he has on, so that it
has become a saying with respect to
some of these concerns, that they
have one crew coming, one crew
working and one crew going. 1t is
often difficult to prove the truth Of
the charge of fee splitting, but it, is
a well known fact that this Is going
on:*'t Foreign laborers in particular
are the victims of exorbitant fees. In
one case the agent charged the men
! $500 for jobs az railroad laborers at
| $3.50 a day with the understanding
that $500: of the $500 would he re-
funded to the men if the work lasted
less than 10 days.: If the men worked
ten days they had to pay the, fee of
, $500. They paid $500 for the pri-
| vilege Of earning $500.
The recommendations of the COM
missioner for better regulation Of en-
| ployment offices have already been
referred to, and it is hoped by the
department that the private offices
may be more adequately controlled
and the public offices be made more
efficient.
| Unions Considered.
! One of the most interesting sections
! of the biennial report is the portion
on labor organizations. 1t is the first
! complete report on labor organiza-
tions that has ever been compiled in
Minnesota. It shows that there are
425 local unions in the state located
in So cities and towns They have
37,OS3 members, of, whom SIS are
women. Women members were re-
ported by 81 local organizations. The
number of unemployed members on
May first 1914 was 2,375- or Ga per
cent City Of Minneapolis leads in
the number of unions and members
with 90 local unions and 1927 mem
bers St. Paul has 81 unions and lo,-
1853 members, and there are II Twin
City unions whose me1nDSFS are
! about equally divided between the
/ two cities Duluth has Is unions with
| 3O6S members. The oldest .organiza-
tion with continued existence is the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Eng1n-
GERS, Division 102, organized In 1870
and there are Z other unions In the
state which were organized before
1880. 49,
The report of the mining inspectors
of st. Louis. Itasca and Crow Wing
Counties show that the total amount
of iron ore produced in the state In
1914 was somewhat less than thai
produced in 1913. The output IN
1913 was 3e,o1s,550 tons and in 1871
31,61S,372 tons, but the number Of
men employed lin 1914. was slightly
larger than. In 1918. This fact Is
explained: BY the increase in strip.
ping operations. In 1913 16,429,S2C
cubic yards of stripping were re-
moved and in 1914 21,so4,os5 cubic
yards. tE*&2 ~ -.