The Alaska daily empire., 1921-05-04
STEWART REPORT ON LABOR GIVEN
 10 LEGISLATURE
Committee Report Comments Labor Commissioner S Work
 Requests Printing.

| Strong commendation of the work of ex-officio Labor Commissioner B D. Stewart for his work in that of flee. in addition to his heavy duties as mine inspector, is contained lH the report of the House Committee on Capital, Labor and Immigration regarding the biennial report which the Labor Commissioner yesterday submitted to the House though the office of Gov Riggs. The report rec ommends that 750 copies of the re port of MT Stewart be printed "for 1 the reason it contains the first au- thentic and comprehensive account of labor conditions and labor in our greatest industry the fisherie 3 which employs over 10000 people.
 The committee report concludes Considering that the office of La bor Commissioner is only an adjunct to that of the Mining Inspector and necessarily a great deal of time could not be given to the duties of Labor Commissioner, B. D. Stewart, our mining inspector, eX-officio labor commissioner is to be commended for the good work he has done in inspecting over 30 canneries in this minor branch of his office"
 Conditions in General.
 Mir Stewart devotes some atten- tion to labor conditions in general ;,, ,rrni iAs | from June 1, 1919 to December 31. 1920 He reports a serious lab1r shortage in the mining industry ir 1919 and the early part of 1920 together with a marked drcp in ef- ficiency particularly in the coastal sections. A similar shortage it is stated, was experienced in labor in the Interior but the efficiency there was much higher. The Alaska Road Commission, he states, was the principal sufferer from the shortage of labor in the Interior
 Social Conditions Bad i Taking up the social side of the ! labor situation, the report declares social conditions at some canneries as affecting female employees are in many cases bad and it strongly recommended that a further investi gation should be made into social conditions where Native girls are i employed" The report further states: "The practice of parents allowing girls or boys of high school age to be sent from home to work in outlying canneries should be discour. aged"
 The report states that the opera tion of Title fourteen of the revenue act of 1918 passed by Congress in. 1 hibiting the employment of children under the age of 19 years of age not only caused a shortage of certain classes of labor in the cannerief but caused a hardship on many Native l families unable to comply with the provisions of the Act This, it is stated was somewhat improved dur l ing the past season by certain modi- 1 fications but it is recommended that an effort be made to have the Ma tives removed from the provisions of the Act.
 Many People Employed
 A total of 20,565 peope were em- l ployed in canneries and allied plants during the season of 1920, according to the report, which was slightly year previous. The money paid out in wages, however, last season was higher than in 1919. In 1920 wages paid amounted to $l1,39S.90 as com. pared to $10,901,72 in 1919. Com menting on the wage question, the report states. "A matter worth of emphasis and serious study is the fact that the bulk of the cannery labor is imported from the States. is employed but four months in Al aska and is returned to the States and there paid for the seasons work Thus Alaska loses almost entirely the benefit of the $11 900 900 payroll involved in Alaskan fishing operations"
 Shows Accidents
 The report covers the accidents tG employees in the canneries only. a similar statement being made in the Mine Inspectors report on the min ing industry Tn the canner.as dur ing the year 1919 there were ten fatal accidents, 42 serious in na ture and 8 slight In 1920 there was an increase in fatalities of al most 100 per cent the number be ing placed at 1S the number of ser ious accidents at 43 and of slight in juries at 33.
 COOPERS' UNDERWEAR, union