The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-01-25


gress of New York State, Syracuse,
December S, l9l4)
| am asked to respond to the topic,
what Part is Labor Playing in the
Safety Movement of the Shop" That
question appears to me to be about
as pertinent as an order to carry
Goals to Newcastle"
The role which labor is playing in
the safety movement of the shop and
for society, is just as militant, just
as sincere and just as nonpartisan
role today as it was in the earliest
stages of social production, when the
massing of human beings commenced
in the workshops and factories of
modern nations.
Factory Penalties to Labor.
Then invention of the steam en-
CINE, the high pressure boiler, and
the many varities of labor-saving,
labor isplacing machines brought in
their wake ten thousand terrors of
the unknown to those whose duty
or lot it was to operate them. The
workers were MANNED crippled and
killed by the newly invented judi
gernauts designed to produce ma
terial wealth and necessities for the
multitude. The workers were com
PEELED to bear the whole of the bur-
den and all the calamities attendant
upon accidents, such as physical pain,
mental agony, fear of the future, de-
pendence upon others, and every hor-
ror of poverty and helplessness
which the human mind could con-
ceive. Together with these burdens
came new sense of responsibility
and duty-the responsibility of care
fulness and safety; the duty to teach
these lessons to their relatives, asso-
ciates and shopmates. The workers
have been resourceful to a fine de-
gree and they have not hesitated to
enlist every available public influence
in behalf of safety, especially the
important influence of legislation.
The factory safety ventilation and
inspection laws of the countries of
Europe have been made the subject
Of careful and scientific study on the
part of labor in cooperation with
employers, engineers, and health sci
entists. Since the installation of the
factory system in the United States,
the Industrial workers have made
strenuous endeavors to secure the in
.stallation of the best safety devices
in the shops, in the mines and on the
railroads, and they have intelligently
directed their endeavors to the con-
servation of life and limb by means
of state and federal legislation.
Beneficial Legislation
Largely as the result of the mill
tant efforts of the trade unions,
thirty states have enacted laws re-
quiring guards on dangerous machin-
cry and thirty-fve states now require
certain standards of ventilation and
sanitation in factories.
Forty-four states, Porto Rico and
the District of Columbia, provide for
some form of factory inspection by
authorized officials. Thirty-four
states have mine inspection laws
with authorized inspectors. Thirty
six states require fire-escapes on
factories and public buildings. Six
teen states have enacted boiler in
spection laws. Twenty-Five states
officially inspect bakery shops. Forty
two states have enacted automatic
coupler, automatic brake, and other
standard safety appliance laws for
railroad employees, most of which
compare favorably with the federal
safety appliance laws. Thirty states
require mine operators to report all
accidents to some authorized state
official and within the last seven
years thirty-six states have followed
the lead of Congress and enacted
rigid accident report laws requiring
common carriers to report all rail
/ road accidents to the Interstate Com
merce Commission. We now have
ready access to official statements
as to the casualties in these great
! human activities Railroad service and
mining operations. Notwithstanding
the installation of safety devices and
safety measures, however, the acct
dent rates among railroad men and
mine workers are still appalling.
None of the so-called labor laws
have had more bitter opposition than
the very essential Accident Report"
laws.
Forty-one states have established
bureaus of labor which serve as
clearing houses for industrial infor-
nation with the officials of the state
federation of labor, assist effectively
in the task of securing better state
factory laws.