The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1914-09-12

ecutive an honorary ex-officio men,
Der of each board, an arrangement
that would not compel him to attend
board meetings, but which would give
him full leave freely to meet and dis
cuss with any board at any time.
Labor laws it is proposed shall be
administered by a. bureau Of labor in
department Of commerce and labor.
Along with the bureau of labor would
be associated in this proposed depart
ment; regulation of banks, of insur-
ance, weights and measures, grain
inspection, licensing of occupations.
and, through it's commission, railroad
and warehouse Regulation. This CO.
ordination either mistakes or minim-
ICES the character and scope of labor
regulation, which is designed to pro-
tect the human factor in production
against exploitation ,Sand to encourage
rsightedness and humanity in en-
ployes by compelling the shortsighted
and inhuman, employer to treat la
Dor fairly. The separation of the
United States department Of COM
merce and labor into two parts is
not to be attributed solely to the
pressure of labor unions for a sepa-
rate department. of labor. There was
! logic in dividing the old department.
| Labor regulation is in strong con-
trast with supervision Of banks, in
surance, and the regulation Of rail-
roads. Bank, insurance, and rail-
| road regulation concerns itself di-
rectly with things and contracts. The
! labor department is more directly
concerned with human conservation.
It's work is closely allied to that of
public health, and if co-ordinated at
all, it should be, coupled up with the
| health bureau. The work of the labor
department is, however, sufficiently
extensive and its importance so great
| as to justify giving it the prestige of
organization as lone of the depart
ments Of the state with a director
sitting in the governors cabinet.
Safety in industry depends to a
large extent on the worker. In our
new form of government, if we wisely
make a change, the official will count
for even more than under the present
system Of dispersion of power and
responsibility. The efficiency commits
sion says 1T is expected that the di-
rector of the several departments
will be laymen,' not technical ex-
perts." This seems to assume either
that there are experts as disting-
uished from technical experts, or that
an expert is necessarily too narrow
to be director of department. Lay
men are not appointed to be deans
Of the several university colleges A
deans skill in agronomiy, mathema-
ties, or biology does not impair his
usefulness as COLLECT director. spe-
cialists in various branches Of war
fare are today heading Europe's sew
eral armies. The real expert is not
narrow. He cannot be. A cavalry Of
ficer IN the present war who does
not :understand and appreciate the
value Of infantry and artillery could
not be a. cavalry. expert. Experts in
general may be divided into three
classes. There is the expert Who pro-
poses, to knoNesand who recognizes as
important only his special field. This
type may be- well adapted to taking
orders, but It could scarcely plan a
war campaign, or a campaign to re-
forest Minnesota. There is, in the
second place, The expert who believes
every other field to be mere branch
of his more important domain. And
there is the expert who recognizes
that his speciality, along with many
others equally important, constitutes
a highly complicated and in many
way co-ordinated or to-be-co-ordin.
ated whole. The expert is neither
necessarily d ''pin-head" nor an ego.
list. Honesty, vision, courage, social.
mindedness, and marked capacity fol
dealing with people and with things
are the first qualities to be desired in
public officers: If in addition we can
have broadminded experiences, let US
be. business-like and gladly profit
by 1t.