Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1902 — STANDS AT THE HEAD [ARTICLE]

STANDS AT THE HEAD

Indiana Credited With Having the Most Effective Law Bearing Upon Child Labor. HOW FACTORY LAW OPERATES Chief Inspector McAbee Talks Entertainingly of the Practical Results of Recent Legislation for the Benefit of Indiana Wage-Earners. “In the matter of legislation affecting child labor Indiana stands first among the states of the Union.” This is the significant statement of Mrs. Florence Kelly of Chicago, sec retary of the Consumers’ League, and formerly factory Inspector of the state of Illinois. And yet, no longer ago than 1896, Mrs. Kelly declared at a national convention of the state factory inspectors held in Detroit, that Indiana was among the most backward of all the states in this very particular. With the approval of Governor Mount on March 2, 1899, of an act “providing means for protecting the liberty, safety and health of laborers” and “for its enforcement by creating a department of inspection,” the state of Indiana took Its place among those commonwealths of the Union wherein modern conceptions concerning the right of the wage-earner to safe and sanitary surroundings have been embodied In statutes. Judged from this standpoint, the most advanced states of the Union are Massachusetts, the pioneer in labor legislation, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Connecticut and Illinois. The labor laws of these states are based upon 20th century ideas of human rights and duties. In striking contrast stand out the conditions in some other states of the Union —most notably Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi. In the Carolinas, for instance, laws for the protection of the factory wageearner are as conspicuously absent as they were in England a century ago, when the deplorable conditions prevailing in manufacturing centers served to awaken the conscience of a nation and inaugurate a peaceful industrial revolution. Children 9 years old are employed 12 hours a day in some Carolina cotton factories, and the letalone policy has marked the course of these states in their attitude toward conditions surrounding their rapidly developing factory life. The Indiana Factory Laws. The Indiana factory inspection law, enacted three years ago, strengthened by the last legislature and enforced, it is safe to say, more generally than the similar law of any other state, embodies every demand and wish of workingmen within the scope of factory legislation. Not only have its operations proved of immeasurable benefit to the factory worker, but the results of its enforcement have proved most gratifying to manufacturers, some of whom, though 41 reluctant at first to comply with the provisions of the law, have expressed their pleasure with the outcome. “It pays” is a motto to be seen everywhere in one of the model manufacturing establishments of Indianapolis—and so it does ■ —not only in the promotion of good will and the increase of self-reliance and skill, the advancement of morals and intelligence among wage earners, but, withal, in dollars and cents to the employer who understands himself and those who labor with him. Provisions of the Law. The Indiana law provides, in brief,

against the employment of boys under 16 and girls under 18 in factories, stores or shops for more than 60 hours a week or the employment of any child under 14 years of age. The provisions for the enforcement of this regulation are more stringent than those of any other state. No illiterate child under 18 years of age shall be employed. No woman shall be employed in a factory between the hours of 10 p. m. and 6 a. m. Elevators, stairways and dangerous machinery shall be properly safe-guarded. Proper washrooms and water-closets shall be provided, with dressing-rooms for women. Female employes shall be allowed to take seats when their duties do not necessitate standing. Not less than 60 minutes shall be allowed at the noon hour; buildings must be safe and sanitary. Sweat-shops are specifically provided against. A chief inspector and five deputies are provided for the enforcement of the law, and are vested with an authority which Governor Mount declared to be greater than any he possessed as chief executive of the state. Supplementary acts require the weekly payment of wages, and the inspection and condemnation of all unsafe buildings of a public cr semipublic character, placing upon the defendant in actions for damages for injuries the burden of proving the contributory negligence on the part of an employe, and for the sanitation of all food-producing establishments, were! passed in 1899 and 1901. Organization of the Department. The organization of the department was effected under the original law of 1899, by the appointment of D. H. McAbee of Muncie, as chief inspector. He has been most efficient In the performance of his duties. The last legislature, recognizing the importance of a more thorough enforcement of the <aw, authorized the appointment or three additional deputies or fire in all

These are David F. Sprees of Vincennes, chief deputy; Harvey A. Richards of Muncie, Joseph H. Clark of Indianapolis, Thomas S. Wiliamson of Anderson, and James H. Roberts of South Bend. The demand for an increase in the number of deputies was emphasized by the recent rapid development of the industrial interests of the state. As Chief Inspector MeAbee says in his report just issued: “The wave of prosperity, which was first felt in the fall of 1897, has continued' with unabated force until not »nly have the unemployed found employment at remunerative wages, but it tas caused an actual dearth of mechanics and laborers in nearly all the trades. This is more noticeable in the window-glass houses and among that class of iron workers where the old process of iron, known as ‘puddling’ is still in vogue. Puddlers are at a premium, consequently they are receiving the highest compensation ever received for this kind of work. Furniture manufacturers are employing all who ask for work. Manufacturers of workingmen’s garments are crowded with orders, and sufficient help cannot be had to operate the machines now in position. The same conditions exist in all parts of the state. Common laborers do not have to tramp in search of employment.”

Chief Inspector McAbee Talks. “The work of this department has been largely educational,” said Chief Inspector McAbee to your correspondent the other day. “In almost every case it has been necessary only for us to call attention to deficiencies in factory surroundings in order to ensure their prompt improvement. In very few cases has it been necessary to employ drastic measures, but when occasion demanded, we have not hesitated to carry the law into the court for vindication, and we have not failed in a single instance to have it upheld. On the other hand many manufacturers have borne testimony to the beneficial effects of the law in the improvement of the personnel, the spirit and the efficiency of their employes. So great has been industrial growth ip our state during the past three years that it is exceedingly fortunate we have had this law to prevent the conditions which usually arise during such a period—the crowding of rooms, the failure to provide safety devices under the pressure of rapid changes, and the hasty erection of buildings.” Some Instances of Improvement. “Practical illustrations of the benefits of this law are plentiful. For instance, when I was first appointed, I was informed of a certain factory in Indianapolis where ten men were employed, one of whom died every year owing to unsanitary conditions. The room where these men were at work was at all /times full of flying dust. Conditions in that establishment have been revolutionized, the room is practically free from dust, and the life of a workman there is no longer limited to ten years. “I cannot now recall a place in the state that had, when this law went Into effect, what is called a blower system from emery wheels for taking the dust out of the rooms. The effect of flying particles of steel and other foreign substances, I need not say was most injurious to the health of workmen. Now the use of these appliances is practically universal. I remember one Indiana establishment employing a large number of men, where the rooms were so full of flying particles that it was impossible to see across them, forty or fifty wheels being in active operation. I said to the proprietor: ‘This will never do; your men can't live in such a place.’ It will cost me a thousand dollars to remedy the he replied, and he objected vigorously. I issued an order requiring the change, and it was made. Not long ago I went into that

establishment and noted a complete change of conditions. I met the proprietor, who said to me: ‘Well, you made us do It, and it cost us a thousand dollars, but we are mighty glad ive got it in.’ This is only one of a great many similar instances.” Operations of the Law. During the last year 2.413 Inspections were made, an increase in number of about 40 per cent over the previous year. In the establishments Inspected 151,719 persons were employed. Nearly 1,500 hundred orders requiring changes in arrangements were promulgated. Fire escapes were ordered on 72 buildings. Accidents to the number of 672 were reported to the office. Mr. McAbee is of the opinion that the requirement that accidents be reported to the chief inspector is having a very marked effect in inducing manufacturers to introduce safety appliances, and that this in connection with the features of the law, will ultimately result In reducing the number of accidents from machinery at least one-third. Indiana is not. as are some of her neighboring commonwealths, a bureauburdened state. Every executive department, each created to perform a useful function, is operated upon a business basis, at no greater expense than the work in hand demands. During the year ending Oct. 31, 1901, the total cost of the department of inspection including salaries, traveling expense and office expenses aggregated only $7,921/8. The cost to the state per employe in each of the establishments inspected was a little over five cents. The result of an expenditure so modest may not be measured in dollars and cents, for who can estimate the value to a state of the health, the happiness and the contentment of her toiling citizenship in whose behalf the labor laws of Indiana were enacted and are enforced.