night work for women was superseded by an elastic recommendation providing for a period of rest during the night of not less than nine hours. The Washington convention relative to night work for children met with a similar fate, and the rigid requirement that every person under 18 years of age should have at least a night's rest of eleven consecutive hours was somewhat modified.

A draft convention prohibiting the employment of children under 14 years of age in agricultural pursuits was adopted with certain qualifications.

Living-in conditions relating to the housing conditions of those who reside on the farms were also considered. It was pointed out that, while a bed would be considered a minimum requirement to a European, the standard of the Orient might only call for a mat. Accordingly a recommendation was drawn in very broad terms.

On the subject of education, each member was urged. to develop vocational agricultural education.

On the subject of rights of association a draft convention provided that each state undertake to secure to those engaged in agriculture the same rights of association as are extended to industrial workers.

Maritime questions were also dealt with by two draft conventions, one forbidding the employment of children under 18 as trimmers and stokers, and the other providing that the employment of any person under 18 shall be conditional on the production of a medical certificate attesting his fitness. Neither of these conventions applied to the fishing industry.

The convention was in such a state of mind that even the subject of weekly rest caused considerable discussion. A draft convention was finally adopted providing for 24 consecutive hours of rest in every period of seven days.

The use of white lead in paint caused great difficulty, but the convention as finally adopted prohibited its use in interior work while permitting its use for outdoor operations. Even in such exterior work men and persons under 18 years of age, except apprentices, cannot be employed. Interesting resolutions relative to unemployment were passed.

International Commissions

It was necessary to establish special Commissions to secure special information and advice relative to questions which are particularly complicated and troublesome.

The Joint Maritime Commission, established in 1920, is of first importance. It includes five ship owners, five seamen, and two members elected by the Governing Body of the International Labor Office, and it is consulted on all questions relating to Maritime Labor.

The Commission on Unemployment is composed of three members, one chosen from each of the three groups represented on the Governing Body. It first met at Geneva

October 7th, 1920. Among other things, it has adopted a definition of involuntary employment for submission to the Governments.

There is also a Mixed Advisory Committee on Agriculture, which, in addition to its six members, is advised by a panel of experts. It has been particularly interested in agricultural subjects for elementary classes, continuation classes, extension education and institutions for agricultural education, and is, of course, interested in the general subject of legislation.

The Emigration Commission met in August, 1921, in accordance with a resolution of the Washington Conference. It has eighteen members, consisting of Government Representatives, Employers' Representatives and. Workers' Representatives. Like all of the Commissions, it is purely a consultative body. It has sent out questionnaires to all of the Government members, and, on the basis of answers received, has drawn up some ten special reports. It has also adopted some twenty-nine resolutions dealing with some particular idea of its remedy.

The Advisory Committee on Anthrax dealt with the question of disinfecting wool and hair with anthrax spores. There are Committees of Experts which advise the International Labor Office on various matters, and among them are the Advisory Committee on Industrial Hygiene, Experts on Disablement, Experts on Social Insurance, and Experts on the Co-operative Movement. With these Committees, great emphasis is laid on correspondence, in view of the impracticability of securing adequate attendance for any considerable number of meetings. The Health Committee of the League of Nations has a representative on the Committee for Industrial Hygiene.

Collection and Distribution of Information According to the Treaty of Versailles "The Collection and Distribution of Information on all Subjects relating to the International Adjustment of Conditions of Industrial Life and Labor" is one of the duties of the International Labor Office. At the very outset the Labor Office was flooded with inquiries for information not contained in books, and it was necessary to establish a group of departments. The library department took over the library set up at Basle by the International Association for Labor Legislation. Now the average weekly number of fresh books and pamphlets is about seven hundred, the average number of periodicals about nine hundred, while the catalogue includes one hundred and thirty thousand different publications in some thirty languages.

There is also a Document Service which keeps press clippings and fugitive documents for the students of current history and the historian of the future. The service has collected and classified collective agreements and the rules and constitutions of Trade Unions and Employers'

Associations. It obtains much of its information by contact with trade unions, employers' associations, universities, etc. In some cases it resorts to questionnaires, and in others it sends an official to the country concerned to inquire about the question in hand.

The information so collected is used by the National Information Section and the Research Division.

The International Labor Office does not limit the distri

bution of its information for its own work, but believes in its general distribution. Such distribution consists in replying to particular requests from Governments and Associations, and in issuing and widely circulating various publications. Requests for information are received in large numbers, and special attention is given to requests from Governments and organizations of employers and employes represented in the international organizations. Information was sent to the United States Coal Commission at the special request of Secretary Hoover. India, South Africa, New Zealand, and other countries have sought information concerning particular problems of governmental policy.

The publications of the League are important. They consist of a bulletin containing the official records of the office, the reports of the meetings of the Government Body, correspondence with Government and official information concerning the ratification of Conventions. A publication, called Industrial and Labor Information, appears once a week covering current matters.

The International Labor Review appears monthly with special articles by experts and monthly surveys of the questions with which the office deals.

Special studies and reports appear from time to time including the results of important inquiries and investigations. The Legislative Series contains reprints of the Labor Laws of various countries, including administrative orders and regulations necessary to an understanding of the Legislation.

There is also issued an International Labor Directory containing information in regard to Government Departments dealing with labor and associations of employers and workers and co-operative organizations.

Results Accomplished by the Conventions and Recommendations

The Convention on Hours of Work adopted at the Washington Conference was ratified by only five countries of lesser importance. The British Government examined the Draft Convention, and found itself faced by conflict with existing collective agreements under which hours of labor are regulated in Great Britain. In the opinion of the British Government, the Draft Convention on Hours of Work was insufficiently flexible to fit this condition in Great Britain. The Government therefore indicated its desire that the whole

question should be considered at a future conference.

More success was had with the Conventions relating to unemployment. The Washington Draft Convention relating to free employment exchanges was ratified by fourteen different countries. The Genoa Draft Convention concerning facilities to assist seamen in finding employment was ratified by six countries.

A large number of States ratified the decisions concerning the employment of women. The Draft Convention on Night Work for Women was ratified by eleven countries, and that relating to maternity by four countries.

Generally speaking, the interested countries responded even more freely to regulations covering the employment of children. The Washington Convention fixing a minimum age was ratified by eight countries. The Draft Convention adopted at Genoa fixing a minimum age for employment at sea was ratified by five countries. The Washington Convention covering Night Work for young people was ratified by nine countries and certain States ratified the Geneva Conventions relative to age limits for agri

culture.

In Great Britain, effect was given to the decisions of the International Body by two Statutes, one relating to minimum ages and night work for women and the other protecting women and children from leadpoisoning.

In the Orient it was not expected that great results would be accomplished, but in some respects the results there were most conspicuous. The Government of India was induced to reduce the hours of work to

sixty hours a week and to extend its Factory Act to places where only twenty workers were employed instead of limiting it, as theretofore, to places where fifty or more persons were employed. The Indian Government has also raised the minimum age for the employment of children from nine years to twelve years, and has reduced the number of hours during which a child may be employed in a factory from seven to six. It ratified the Washington Convention for the establishment of free public employment exchanges and for reciprocity of treatment for immigrants under unemployment insurance systems. India also has adhered to the Convention prohibiting the use of white phosphorous in the manufacture of matches. It is believed that a vast social revolution has been realized in India which will have a far-reaching effect in establishing a world wide equilibrium in industrial and social conditions.

Japan has done much. It has prohibited the employment of children under the age of twelve and has further stipulated that children over that age must

first finish an elementary school course. It has banned the employment of children under the age of fourteen on board ship and the employment of any person under eighteen years of age unless provided with a medical certificate attesting fitness for the work in question. The women are given protection before and after child birth, and, in the future, women and young people are to be barred from night work. Japan has also adopted the Convention prohibiting the use of white phosphorous.

China, like the other Oriental countries, has been the subject of special consideration. It has adopted a Convention limiting work to sixty hours a week for adult workers, forty-eight hours a week for those under fifteen years of age, and also recognizing the principle of one day rest in seven.

Conciliation

The Peace Treaty also contemplated that the International Office should constitute a center for international conciliation and arbitration, and some interesting activities in this connection have taken place. Three different commissions were established to regulate the transfer of social insurance funds from one trade organization to another in territories where a change of sovereignty had taken place.

In 1920 an international strike of seafarers was threatened. When the Geneva Conference failed to adopt the Draft Convention for an eight-hour day on the seas, a resolution was proposed at the Convention of the International Seafarers Federation to promote an international strike. However, an amendment was allowed and adopted appointing a delegation to interview the director of the International Labour Office with a view to obtaining arbitration between the owners and seamen, and further providing that, if such arbitration could not be secured, a strike of fortyeight hours was to be called in all ports. If, after this demonstration, the seamen's demands were not granted, a general strike was to be called. The Director communicated with the shipping federation, which finally agreed to meet the Seafarers Federation for a discussion of hours. The ultimate result was a joint meeting which averted the strike.

A labor advisory committee has also been set up to advise on labor questions in Upper Silesia.

Evidence was furnished the Labor Office in 1920 relative to the employment of children in the carpet weaving industry in Persia, Kerman, and adjacent villages tending to show that children were deformed for life through premature employment in unhealthy conditions. The International Office made friendly representations to Persia in regard to this matter, urg

ing an efficiency system of industrial inspection and requesting that it be informed of any statements which the Persian Government might wish to make concerning the accusations. Ultimately the communication was received informing the Labor Office that, pending definite measures, the authorities had been requested to observe the eight-hour day, to prohibit employment of children under ten, to permit workers to leave the factory at mid-day, and to provide proper factory conditions; further, to permit complete liberty for both sides in connection with the engagement of workers.

The General Union of Workers of Spain forwarded a complaint against restraint of freedom of association by the Spanish Government. The Spanish Government maintained that this was a matter of internal administration with which the League was not competent to deal, but the representatives of the workers on the Governing Body criticized this position. It was finally decided that an official bulletin should be published containing the complaint, the discussion, and the detailed report of the General Secretary of the Spanish Union.

In May 1920 the Labor Office was requested to send a delegation of its members to Hungary to establish direct contact with the Hungarian workers with a view to ascertaining the truth of the alleged white terror and persecutions of workmen. An inquiry was undertaken lasting several weeks, and was published in an official report entitled "Trade Conditions in Hungary." Subsequently the Hungarian Government adopted important measures suggested by the commission.

In 1921 protests concerning German internment camps for Russian prisoners were lodged, and these were supplemented by communications of the International Federation of Trade Unions. The representative of the Office was permitted to visit the camps and talk freely with the prisoners, and drafted a report approved in general by the German Government. The result was improved conditions.

By invitation of the Bulgarian Government, the Office investigated compulsory labor in that country. It had the hearty cooperation of the French Government in its investigation of the eight-hour day in the French mercantile marine, and joined with the CzechoSlovakian Government in investigating the eight-hour day for agricultural workers in that country.

Its attempts to investigate labor conditions in Soviet Russia were limited to information collected from documentary sources since neither the Labor Office nor the League of Nations could obtain permission from the Soviet Government to enter Russia.