The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-06-16
Warning Countries Seek to Pro-
tect Health of Workers and
Promote Efficiency.
VALUE OF OLD LAWS SHOWN
Officials of United States Make Sur
Vey of Conditions Abroad With
Special Reference to the
ChiId-Lahor Situation.


iological--of the labor laws enacted be-
fore the war In our legislation Sc
cured in time of peace we shall find
! the conditions for better and more
intense production during the war"
These words of NJ. Albert Thomas,
| the French minister of munitions, IL
iustrate perfectly the official attitude
| of both France and England after two
years of emergency exemptions for
war industries, according to the Chill
| dren'S Bureau of the United States
| Department of Labor which has just
completed a brief review of all avail
| able reports on child labor in the war
ring countries.
In France and England, earlier
standards Of hours are being restored,
not only to protect the health of the
workers but for the sheer sake of in
dustrial efficiency, present and future.
In Italy in the central committee on
industrial mobilization, a movement
was under way to raise the age limit
for children in industry.
Canada, Australia, and New Zea-
land, in spite of the great armies of
men they have sent to the front. have
maintained their labor standards with
little or no variation. Victoria has
slightly increased the amount of over
time which may be permitted to WON
en- and children in special cases. On
the other hand, Manitoba has reduced
its legal overtime. No change what
ever in restrictions on woman and
child labor is reported from New Zea-
land
The Children's bureau sums up as
follows the child-labor situation in
France and England:
France, after almost two years of
wartime exemptions by which chill
dren under eighteen were allowed to
work at night in special cases, re-
stored the night-work prohibition for
girls under eighteen and provided that
other night workers should be subject
to medical supervision. The reason
/ IOi tlllS 10 lIIulGdlCu llOL Ollty III luC
1 statemenk by M Thomas. quoted
/ above, but again in the following ex-
tract from the French official Bulletin
DIES Usines de Guerre for July 81,
1916:
"With the continuance of the war it
becomes necessary not only to find the
! best possible disposition of the forces
available for our war industries, but
also to avoid every cause for exhaus-
ton or weakening of the labor EN-
! plOyed in our factories. There is
! close relation between the conditions
! in which we place our workers and the
| improvement or the increase of our
war products. For the very sake of
the national defense we must conserve
Ill their physical strength for the
workers who are responsible for the
manufacture of arms and for the out
put Of our factories"
France has now under consideration
AN education bill which would in effect
raise the standard of labor protection
III wall lllIt- Inns plOIOSttl W toltlb-
fish a system of continuation schools
and to require part-time school attend
ance during working hours by all
working children under seventeen
Years Of age has the Endorsement of
| the minister of commerce and of bust
ness interests in all parts of the coun-
try.
A similar advance has been recon-
mended in England by the Depart,
mental Committee on Education for
! Juvenile Employment after the war.
This committee also advises an effec.
| tive fourteen-year age limit for re-
Quired school attendance without the
exemptions permitted by the present
law. Supplementary estimates for ed
ucational purposes have been present
ed to parliament by the government
which look toward strengthening OF
adolescent education along the lines
suggested by the committee.
Long hours have forced dentists
assistants at Butte, Mont, to realize
the necessity for organization, and
they have formed the Dental Assist,
ants union and will apply to the A. f
of l.. for Il charter
4 permanent federal employment
agency has been opened in Boston
Particular efforts will be made to Sc
cure men for work in shipyards ant
Western grain fields.
Union longshoremen have RAISED
wages 10 per cent for the unload
ing Of lumber in the ports Of Chicago
Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo.
Wages have been increased to 3:
cents an hour by organized painter.
, and paperhangers in the twin cities
Marinette. Wis. and Menominee, Mich
Trenton IN. j. Metal Polishers
union has secured wage increases tina
range from 5 to 10 per cent in tn,
various branches of the industry.
Five per cent of the population q
this country earns its living directl,
or indirectly in the electrical bust
ness
. Peat covers about a seventh OF tn
+ area Of Ireland and deposits are est
> mated to contain 40000O00 tons O
fuel