III. FOUNDRIES, MACHINE-SHOPS, AND IRON WORKS.

Wages paid per week in foundries, machine-shops, and iron works in Chicago.

VI. RAILWAY EMPLOYÉS.

Wages paid per week to railway employés (those engaged about stations, as well as those engaged on the engines and cars, linemen, railroad laborers, &c.) in Chicago, Il.

Wages paid per week of sixty hours in ship-yards (distinguishing between iron and wood ship-buildingin) Chicago, Ill.

Wages paid per week of sixty hours in stores, wholesale or retail, to males and females, in

Chicago.

XV. PRINTERS AND PRINTING OFFICES.

Statement showing the wages paid per week to printers (compositors, pressmen, proof-readers

&c.) in Chicago, Ill.

Retail prices of the necessaries of life in Chicago on August 1, 1884.

21 00

18 00

50

21.00

SIR: Having learned that the Workingmen's Assembly of New York has requested information through your Department and the United States consuls in regard to the condition of laboring men in Europe, as president of the Women's National Industrial League, and authorized by the league, I have the honor to inclose herewith a list of interrogatories in regard to the condition of laboring women and children in Europe, which I respectfully request may be sent to the United State consuls in Europe for examination and a report thereon.

The Senate Committee on Labor and Education is now investigating the subject fully, both as to male and female laborers, and the answers to these interrogatories, if obtained, will much facilitate and add to the value of such committee's examination and report. Being authorized by such committee to procure data in regard to working women, for their use (but without any guarantee as to expenses incurred), I make this request to you, believing that your Department will cheerfully aid in procuring all such information as may be acceptable.

With considerations of the highest respect, I remain your humble servant,
CHARLOTTE SMITH.

The Hon. SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Here followed interrogatories as given in circular.)

AN ACT to consolidate and amend the law relating to factories and workshops.

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

PRELIMINARY,

1. This act may be cited as the factory and workshop act, 1878.

2. This act shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1879, which day is in this act referred to as the commencement of this act: Provided, That at any time after the passing of this act, any appointment, regulation, or order may be made, any notice issued, form prescribed, and act done which appears to a secretary of state necessary or proper to be made, issued, prescribed, or done for the purpose of bringing this act into operation at the commencement thereof..

PART I.-GENERAL LAW RELATING to factorIES AND WORKSHOPS.

[(1) Sanitary provisions.

3. A factory and a workshop shall be kept in a cleanly state and free from effluvia arising from any drain, privy, or other nuisance.

A factory or workshop shall not be so overcrowded while work is carried on therein as to be injurious to the health of the persons employed therein, and shall be ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless, so far as is practicable, all the gases, vapors, dust, or other impurities generated in the course of the manufacturing process or handicraft carried on therein that may be injurious to the health.

A factory or workshop in which there is a contravention of this section shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with this act.

4. Where it appears to an inspector under this act that any act, neglect, or default in relation to any drain, watercloset, earthcloset, privy, ashpit, water-supply, nuisance, or other matter in a factory or workshop is punishable or remediable under the law relating to public health, but not under this act, that inspector shall give notice in writing of such act, neglect or default to the sanitary authority in whose district the factory or workshop is situate, and it shall be the duty of the sanitary authority to make such inquiry into the subject of the notice, and take such action thereon, as to that authority may seem proper for the purpose of enforcing the law.

An inspector under this act may, for the purposes of this section, take with him into a factory or a workshop a medical officer of health, inspector of nuisances, or other officer of the sanitary authority.

(2) Safety.

5. With respect to the fencing of machinery in a factory the following provisions shall have effect: (1) Every hoist or teagle near to which any person is liable to pass or to be employed, and every fly-wheel directly connected with the steam or water or other mechanical power, whether in the engine house or not, and every part of a steam engine and water wheel, shall be securely fenced; and (2) every wheel-race not otherwise secured shall be securely fenced close to the edge of the wheel-race; and (3) every part of the mill gearing shall either be securely fenced or be in such position or of such construction as to be equally safe to every person employed in the factory as it would be if it were securely fenced; and (4) all fencing shall be constantly maintained in an efficient state while the parts required to be fenced are in motion or use for the purpose of any manufacturing process.

A factory in which there is a contravention of this section shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with this act.

6. Where an inspector considers that in a factory any part of the machinery of any kind moved by steam, water, or other mechanical power, to which the foregoing provisions of this act with respect to the fencing of machinery do not apply, is not se curely fenced, and is so dangerous as to be likely to cause bodily injury to any person

employed in the factory, the following provisions shall apply to the fencing of such machinery:

(1) The inspector shall serve on the occupier of the factory a notice requiring him to fence the part of the machinery which the inspector so deems to be dangerous. (2) The occupier, within seven days after the receipt of the notice, may serve on the inspector a requisition to refer the matter to arbitration; and thereupon the matter shall be referred to arbitration, and two skilled arbitrators shall be appointed, the one by the inspector and the other by the occupier; and the provisions of the companies clauses consolidation act, 1845, with respect to the settlement of disputes by arbitration shall, subject to the express provisions of this section, apply to the said arbitration, and the arbitrators or their umpire shall give the decision within twenty-one days after the last of the arbitrators, or, in the case of the umpire, after the umpire is appointed, or within such further time as the occupier and inspector, by writing, allow; and if the decision is not so given the matter shall be referred to the arbitration of an umpire to be appointed by the judge of the county court within the jurisdiction of which the factory is situate.

(3) If the arbitrators or their umpire decide that it is unnecessary or impossible to fence the machinery alleged in the notice to be dangerous, the notice shall be cancelled, and the occupier shall not be required to fence in pursuance thereof, and the expenses of the arbitration shall be paid as the expenses of the inspectors under this act.

(4) If the occupier does not, within the said seven days, serve on the inspector a requisition to refer the matter to arbitration or does not appoint an arbitrator within seven days after he served that requisition, or if neither the arbitrators nor the umpire decide that it is unnecessary or impossible to fence the machinery alleged in the notice to be dangerous, the occupier shall securely fence the said machinery in accordance with the notice, or with the award of the arbitrators or umpire if it modifies the notice, and the expenses of the arbitration shall be paid by the occupier, and shall be recoverable from him by the inspector in the county court.

(5) Where the occupier of a factory fails to comply within a reasonable time with the requirements of this section as to securely fencing the said machinery in accordance with the notice or award, or fails to keep the said machinery securely fenced in accordance therewith, or fails constantly to maintain such fencing in an efficient state while the machinery required to be fenced is in motion for the purpose of any manufacturing process, the factory shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with this act.

(6) For the purpose of this section and of any provisions of this act relating thereto, "machinery" shall be deemed to include any driving strap or band.

7. Where an inspector considers that in a factory or workshop a vat, pan, or other structure, which is used in the process or handicraft carried on in such factory or workshop, and near to or over which children or young persons are liable to pass or to be employed, is so dangerous, by reason of its being filled with hot liquid or molten metal or otherwise, as to be likely to be a cause of bodily injury to any child or young person employed in the factory or workshop, he shall serve on the occupier of the factory or workshop a notice requiring him to fence such vat, pan, or other structure. The provisions of this act with respect to the fencing of machinery which an inspector considers not to be securely fenced and to be dangerous shall apply in like manner as if they were re-enacted in this section, with the substitution of the vat, pan, or other structure, for machinery, and with the addition of workshop, and if the occupier of a factory or workshop fails constantly to maintain the fencing required under this section in an efficient state, while such vat, pan, or other structure is so filled or otherwise dangerous as aforesaid, the factory or workshop shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with this act.

8. Where an inspector observes in a factory that any grindstone, worked by steam, water, or other mechanical power is in itself so faulty, or is fixed in so faulty a manner as to be likely to cause bodily injury to the grinder using the same, he shall serve on the occupier of the factory a notice requiring him to replace such faulty grindstone, or to properly fix the grindstone fixed in the faulty manner.

The provisions of this act with respect to the fencing of machinery which an inspector considers not to be securely fenced and to be dangerous shall apply in like manner as if they were re-enacted in this section with the necessary modifications. Where the occupier of a factory fails to keep the grindstone mentioned in the notice or award in such a state and fixed in such manner as not to be dangerous, the factory shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with this act.

9. A child shall not be allowed to clean any part of the machinery in a factory while the same is in motion by the aid of steam, water, or other mechanical power. A young person or woman shall not be allowed to clean such part of the machinery in a factory as is mill-gearing while the same is in motion for the purpose pf propelling any part of the manufacturing machinery.

A child, young person, or woman shall not be allowed to work between the fixed