jured. The value of this service to the people of this State would be greatly enhanced if we were in a position to follow up every important or serious accident, requiring when necessary new or additional safeguards to prevent future accidents. NEW METHODS. Immediately after you assumed office I conferred with you on the subject of improved methods of recording inspections, orders issued, etc. You then authorized me to undertake a complete revision of our blanks and a re-arrangement of methods of recording and filing our data. This meant some months of hard work, but I feel that the result is so satisfactory that it affords ample compensation for the labor expended. The adoption of the card system to cover every phase of our work is a distinct advantage and brings our bureau up to modern standards. It is my intention to describe the entire system in detail in the annual report of this Bureau, which is to be prepared a little later. I wish to gratefully acknowledge the valuable assistance rendered in connection with the drafting of our new forms, by Hon. Lawrence Veiller of New York City, and also to acknowledge your uniform courtesy and invaluable. counsel, especially in relation to the proper interpretation of our laws. Respectfully submitted by (Signed) JOHN WILLIAMS, First Deputy Commissioner of Labor. PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE SECOND DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, IN CHARGE OF THE BUREAU OF MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION. ALBANY, N. Y., September 30, 1905. Hon. P. TECUMSEH SHERMAN, Commissioner of Labor, Albany, N. Y. DEAR SIR: The following is a synopsis of the general scope of the work of the Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration for the fiscal year October 1, 1904, to September 30, 1905, inclusive. During the above period the Bureau recorded 155 industrial disputes. This record includes the collection and compilation of statistical information, investigation into cause, duration, method of termination, etc., of the industrial disputes in this State reported to this Bureau. In each case a formal tender of the services of the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration has been made to the parties to the dispute. The major portion of this work has been done through correspondence, although it has been and will continue to be necessary to utilize the services of special agents of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the collection of statistical data. We have collected and filed in the Bureau copies of nearly all of the important trade agreements or contracts entered into between employers and employees during the report year. We have also collected and filed in the form of a card index a directory and a practically complete list of employers' associations or organizations of the State, which will greatly facilitate the collection of industrial information in future. The experience of the Bureau has been and continues to be that the function of arbitration by the State Board will be very rarely exercised, except possibly in the case of interruption of important public utilities, and probably then this function will be in the form of so-called public investigation, one of the pertinent reasons for this being the fact that nearly all disputes involve either local or trade conditions, or both, and contain features which render them more susceptible to local conciliation, mediation or arbitration than to that of a State board. To meet this condition the Bureau is now engaged in formulating a plan or series of plans and suggestions, having for their ultimate object the establishment of local boards or agencies of conciliation, mediation or arbitration, where such do not now exist. This work will require much time and attention, and the earnest coöperation of organizations and individuals interested in maintaining industrial peace. The Bureau was practically reorganized during May of this year, by the addition of a clerk to the oflice force, and the practically permanent assignment of the Mediator of Industrial Disputes to the metropolitan district. The result of this has been a decided improvement in both the volume and character of the work done by the Bureau, enabling it to keep more closely in touch with reported disputes through correspondence, and to make a much larger percentage of personal investigations in the metropolitan district, where the largest number of disputes naturally exist. Our annual report, giving in detail the work of the Bureau, will be prepared as soon as the incomplete information relating to disputes occurring in the last quarter of the fiscal year has been collected. Respectfully submitted. (Signed) JOHN LUNDRIGAN, Second Deputy Commissioner of Labor. APPENDIX IV. REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE FREE EMPLOYMENT BUREAU IN NEW YORK CITY. Hon. P. TECUMSEH SHERMAN, Commissioner of Labor, Albany, N. Y. DEAR SIR: I herewith submit to you a report of the work of the State Free Employment Bureau for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1905. During the year there were 6,032 applicants for work; 2,502 being women and 3,530 being men. There were 4,072 applications for help, 3,288 of which were for women and 784 for men. The total number of situations secured was 4,384, of which 3,526 were secured by women and 858 by men. At no time during the year was the Bureau able to supply the demand made on it for female help. Particularly so was this instanced in the case of women who were wanted to perform the duties of a general houseworker. This is an old story. It tells the tale of conditions affecting the domestic economy of the home, and at present there seems to be no way out of it. The greater number of women reported as being re-employed were hotel cleaners. Very often they are not to blame for leaving their employment. The work of a cleaner is very laborious and trying and there is nothing in it to make it pleasant or agreeable. They usually work from 2 o'clock until 6 in the morning and then a rest of about three hours is taken. At 9 o'clock they resume their labors and generally finish about 12 o'clock. I have every reason to believe that the food furnished such people is often of an inferior kind. This has been admitted to me more than once by head cleaners, who say that they have tried to have it remedied but to no purpose, as the stewards are opposed to bettering conditions. Then again, the sleeping quarters are lacking in comfort. I have one hotel in mind where the dormitory consists of a large room or loft, the beds being arranged around the walls somewhat after the fashion of bunks in the steerage quarters of a ship. There is absolutely no privacy of any kind, the women being compelled to dress and undress in the presence of each other, old and young. The clothes rack in this instance consists of a wire cable extending the length of the room, over. which wire the women place their clothes when about to retire for the night. In other cases, where the women "sleep out," their condition is more aggravated. They are roomed at a distance from the hotel and in the early morning they have to wend their way to and from the hotel in all kinds of weather. After working from 2 o'clock, and when heated from their work, they have to return to their sleeping quarters, resulting often in their contracting severe colds unfitting them for work for a considerable length of time. Their lot in life is anything but a pleasant one. Clergymen have more than once complained to me of the immoral tendency of such surroundings. Some years ago, at the request of the Working Women's Association, an officer of the sanitary squad of the police department made a tour of the hotels and found the sleeping-rooms in a worse condition than some of the Bowery lodging-houses. Other women reported as being re-employed were those who went out by the day washing, cleaning, etc. Then, too, there were some whose age prevented them from continuing their task; and others who for one reason or another were dissatisfied with their condition and desired to make a change. The men who were given more than one place were, as a rule, people who worked by the day as laborers, or in boarding-houses. Some few of them were farm hands who returned to the city after the season's work had come to an end. In the early spring an advertisement was placed in the American Agriculturist calling attention to the work of the Bureau. As a result of this advertisement a great number of applications were made for farm hands. To meet these orders an advertisement was placed in the New York World stating that there were vacancies for farm hands. The farmers were willing to pay transportation for anyone who would take employment with them. It was soon made evident that farm hands were very scarce. There were many applicants for farm work who knew absolutely nothing of the requirements. They simply thought they would like to work on a farm for a change. It is very hard usually to get men to work on farms once they get the "city habit." During the year 195 men secured situations as farm hands. As a rule they kept their places until the season closed. The usual call for harvest hands to go to the West came from Mr. Gerow, the director of the Free Employment Bureau at Topeka, Kan., who wrote to the effect that some 40,000 men were wanted to take care of the wheat crop in the West. On the receipt of Mr. Gerow's circular I sent a transcript of it to the local papers, and as a result hundreds of men came or wrote to the Bureau asking for information about the work, how to reach the place of employment, wages offered, etc. In answer to their inquiry the following circular was issued: STATE OF NEW YORK, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, FREE EMPLOYMENT BUREAU, 107 East 31st Street. DEAR SIR.-Work in the wheat fields in Kansas has now commenced. A party of men will leave this Bureau for Topeka, Kansas. The cost of transportation from New York to Topeka, Kansas, will be $26.75. This money is to be paid by you to an agent representing the railroad. We simply get the rate and introduce you to the railroad agent who places you on the train. In addition to the $26.75 required for railroad fare to Topeka, you will have to pay one cent a mile from there to any place Mr. Gerow sends you. It is therefore advisable and necessary that you have money to meet this extra expense and also sufficient to pay your board until assigned to work by Mr. Gerow. The Bureau sends the men direct to Mr. T. B. Gerow, Director of the Free Employment Bureau, Topeka, Kansas. He in turn sends them to the farmers who need their services. We do not guarantee that the men will get employment in the wheat fields. We simply send them to Mr. Gerow when instructed by him to do so. Nor does Mr. Gerow guarantee to get work for every man that goes there. As a rule, if the men are able to do the work they find employment. Mr. Gerow says they will need 40,000 men this year. It must be borne in mind that harvesting in the southwest is the hardest kind of hard work and no one should attempt to leave home and go there unless he has been used to hard work in the open air. Yours very truly, JOHN J. BEALIN, Superintendent. A copy of the above was given to each applicant who visited the Bureau and one was sent to all who wrote for information. It was my opinion that after paying railroad fare to and from the West, even if 100 days' work were obtained, there would be little left to compensate people for making the trip. This view was shared by many who wanted to go to the West and only twenty who made application went to the harvest fields. The largest number of men finding employment through this office during the year were what is known as usefulmen. Such men are divided into two classes: First, men who were employed taking care of small places in the country. Their work consisted of taking care of a lawn, driving horses and doing chores around the house. Second, men who acted as general utility men in hotels and boarding-houses. The greater number of women finding employment through this office were hotel cleaners. Employers who made use of the Bureau apparently were satisfied with the help they secured, and employces in every instance had their wages paid and were satisfied in the main with conditions. The following table shows the work of the Bureau for the year: |