    [Fifteenth Annual Report of the Secretary of Labor for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1927]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    ﻿L~h/ \ 9 m
    ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF LABOR
    FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30,1927
    SAN DIE^n PUBLIC LIBRARY BUSINESS DEP AHI WENT.
    3 1336 05750 2602
    OFFICIALS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, 1927
    Hon. James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor.
    Hon. Robe Carl White, Assistant Secretary of Labor.
    Hon. W. W. Husband, Second Assistant Secretary of Labor.
    Arthur E. Cook, Assistant to the Secretary.
    W. N. Smelser, Assistant to the Secretary.
    Theodore G. Risley, Solicitor for the Department.
    Hugh L. Kerwin, Director of Conciliation.
    Francis I. Jones, Director General of Employment.
    Robert Watson, Director, Industrial Housing and Transportation.
    Samuel J. Gompers, Chief Clerk and Superintendent.
    Ethelbert Stewart, Commissioner of Labor Statistics.
    Harry E. Hull, Commissioner General of Immigration.
    Raymond F. Crist, Commissioner of Naturalization.
    Grace Abbott, Chief, Children’s Bureau.
    Mary Anderson, Director, Women’s Bureau.
    CONTENTS
    Part I
    Pag*
    Administrative units of the department------------------------------------ 1
    Assistant Secretaries------------------------------------------------- f
    Solicitor---------------------------------------------------------
    Chief clerk___________________________________________________________ 2
    Department quarters------------------------------------,------ 2
    Personnel_________________________________________________________ 3
    Disbursing office------------------------------------------------- 5
    Publication and supplies------------------------------------------ 9
    Department library----------------------------------------------- 11
    The Conciliation Service--------------------------------------------- 12
    Typical cases---------------------------------------------------- 17
    United States Employment Service------------------------------------- 31
    Farm-labor activities-------------------------------------------- 32
    Junior placement-----------------------------------------------   35
    Industrial information division---------------------------------- 36
    United States Housing Corporation------------------------------------ 37
    Sales and conveyancing-------------------------------------------  38	•
    Litigation______________________________________________________  38
    Government hotels________________________________________________ 39
    Bureau of Labor Statistics_______________________________________________ 40
    Industrial accident prevention conference____________________________ 40
    Fireworks containing phosphorus______________________________________ 41
    Wages and hours of labor, by industries______________________________ 43
    Pottery__________________________________________________________ 43
    Boots and shoes-------------------------------------------------- 44
    Cotton goods_____________________________________________________ 45
    Woolen and worsted goods______________________________________—	45
    Men’s clothing___________________________________________________ 4G
    Iron and steel___________________________________________________ 47
    Bituminous-coal mining___________________________________________ 48
    Motor vehicles__________________________________________________ 49'
    Hosiery and underwear___________________________________________ 49-
    Union scales of wages and hours of labor_____________________________ 50
    Strikes and lockouts and collective agreements_______________________ 51
    Strikes and lockouts_____________________________________________ 51
    Collective agreements and arbitration awards_____________________ 52
    Employment in selected manufacturing industries______________________ 53
    Wholesale prices_____________________________________________________ 54
    Revision of bureau’s wholesale price index----------------------- 55
    Retail prices________________________________________________________ 56
    Cost of living_______________________________________________________ 57
    Need for a new family budgetary survey__________________________ 59-
    iii
    IV
    CONTENTS
    Bureau of Labor Statistics—Continued. Productivity of labor_________________________________________________ 61
    Indexes of labor productivity__________________________________ 62
    Labor productivity in the glass industry__________________________ 63
    Labor productivity in cotton manufacturing________________________ 64
    Labor productivity in iron and steel industry__________________	65
    Labor productivity in the printing trades_________________________ 65
    Labor productivity in longshore work______________________________ 66
    Industrial accidents__________________________________________________ 67
    Industrial safety codes_______________________________________________ 69
    Labor legislation in the various States and decisions of courts affecting labor____________________________________________________________ 70
    Building operations in principal cities of the United States__________ 71
    Cooperation (other than agricultural)_________________________________ 73
    Industrial hygiene____________________________________________________ 74
    Workmen’s compensation________________________________________________ 75
    Special surveys_______________________________________________________ 76
    Personal activities for employees--------------------------------- 76
    Future investigations------------------------------------------------- 77
    State and municipal pensions-------------------------------------- 77
    Labor turnover---------------------------------------------------- 78
    Apprenticeship in the building trades----------------------------- 79
    Accident compensation to seamen----------------------------------- 80
    Editorial division____________________________________________________ 80
    Publication of results of work------------------------------------ 81
    Labor Review______________________________________________________ 81
    Bulletins_________________________________________________________ 82
    Bureau of Immigration----------------------------------------------------- 84
    Immigration statistics------------------------------------------------ 84
    Deportation of aliens------------------------------------------------- 85
    Visa petitions-------------------------------------------------------- 85
    Reentry permits------------------------------------------------------- 86
    Chinese--------------------------------------------------------------- 86
    Border patrol--------------------------------------------------------- 88
    Fines_________________________________________________________________ 89
    Financial statement___________________________________________________ 89
    Immigrant students---------------------------------------------------- 90
    Cases reviewed-------------------------------------------------------- 90
    Miscellaneous immigration statistics---------------------------------- 92
    Children’s Bureau----------.------------------------------------------- 97
    Administration of the maternity and infancy act--------------------------- 97
    Child hygiene________________________________________________________ 101
    Child labor__________________________________________________________ 102
    Current statistics of children to whom first regular employment certificates were issued_______________________________________________ 104
    Delinquency and child welfare---------------------------------------- 105
    Studies of dependent children---------------------------------------- 108
    State and county child-welfare activities---------------------------- 109
    Recreation___________________________________________________________ 110
    State child-welfare commissions-------------------------------------- 110
    Child-welfare legislation-------------------------------------------- 111
    Exhibits_____________________________________________________________ 112
    Publications______________________________________-________________ 113
    CONTENTS
    V
    Page
    Bureau of Naturalization------------------------------------------------ 114
    Procedure under act of 1926_________________________________________ 114
    Cancellation proceedings-------------------------------------------- 116
    Criminal prosecutions------------------------------------------------ US
    Visa archives------------------------------------------------------- 118
    Textbooks issued_____________________________________________________ H9
    Declarations and petitions for citizenship-------------------------- 119
    Fees received------------------------------------------------------- 120
    Certificates of arrival_____________________________________________ 120
    Naturalization in New York City------------------------------------- 120
    Women’s Bureau__________________________________________________________ 121
    State studies_______________________________________________________ 123
    Special studies----------------------------------------------------- 123
    The effects of special legislation on the employment of women—	124
    History of the development of minimum-wage legislation in the
    United States------------------------------------------------- 127
    Industrial accidents to women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin ________________________________________________________ 129
    Women workers in Flint, Mich----------------------------------- 131
    Women’s employment in vegetable canneries in Delaware----------	132
    Fatigue and lost time in cotton mills-------------------------- 134
    Foreign-born women in industry---------------------------------- 134
    Trend of employment for women---------------------------------- 134
    Wages in 13 States______________________________________________ 134
    Library research-------------------------------,-------------------	134
    Educational work---------------------------------------------------  135
    Short talks about working women--------------------------------- 135
    Women workers and industrial poisons---------------------------- 135
    Exhibits-------------------------------------------------------- 136
    Publications-------------------------------------------------------- 136
    Part II
    Comments and recommendations-------------------------------------------- 137
    The worker’s estate------------------------------------------------- 137
    The bituminous-coal situation--------------------------------------- 145
    Unshackling industrial efficiency----------------------------------- 146
    Could modify law________________________________________________ 147
    Cotton and coal------------------------------------------------- 147
    Mutual benefits------------------------------------------------- 149
    Injunctions in labor controversies__________________________________ 150
    The negro in industry----------------------------------------------- 152
    Vocational education________________________________________________ 153
    Vocational rehabilitation of disabled workers----------------------- 155
    Bureau of Labor Statistics------------------------------------------ 157
    Bureau of Immigration----------------------------------------------- 159
    The policy of restriction_______________________________________ 159
    General_________________________________________________________ 162
    Codification of immigration laws needed------------------------- 162
    Suggested amendments________________________________________________ 166
    Reunion of families_____________________________________________ 166
    Family visas____________________________________________________ 169
    Further selection of immigrants_________________________________ 170
    VI
    CONTENTS
    Comments and recommendations—Continued.
    Suggested amendments—Continued.	Pag*
    Immigration technical advisers________________________________ 172
    Departments concerned in immigration matters------------------ 174
    Aliens ineligible to citizenship------------------------------ 175
    North American Indians---------------------------------------- 175
    Alien students________________________________________________ 176
    Certificates of admission------------------------------------- 176
    Surreptitious entry of aliens--------------------------------- 177
    The seamen’s route____________________________________________ 178
    Stowaways----------------------------------------------------- 179
    Visitors and transients--------------------------------------- 180
    Immigration from insular possessions-------------------------- 182
    Alien domicile------------------------------------------------ 182
    Immigration from nonquota countries--------------------------- 184
    Deportations-------------------------------------------------- 188
    Passport facilities for deportees----------------------------- 191
    Immigration and the “ domestic ” problem---------------------- 192
    Immigration and the farmer------------------------------------ 194
    Employment of illegal residents------------------------------- 195
    Conservation of alien labor----------------------------------- 196
    Enrollment of aliens------------------------------------------ 197
    Salaries and expenses of immigrant inspectors----------------- 199
    Bureau of Naturalization------------------------------------------ 199
    Educational qualifications-----------------------------------  199
    Continuous residence in the United States--------------------- 200
    Proof of character and residence------------------------------ 200
    Domicile in relation to service in the Army or at sea--------- 201
    Certificate of naturalization for each person naturalized----	201
    Unauthorized evidence of citizenship-------------------------- 201
    Reopening of dismissed petitions------------------------------ 201
    Certificate of arrival for declarants------------------------- 202
    Revocation of naturalization, termination of citizenship, and can-
    cellation of certificate—Grounds and procedure-------------- 202
    Children’s Bureau_________________________________________________ 203
    Child labor--------------------------------------------------  204
    Women’s Bureau____________________________________________________ 204
    Industrial poisons-------------------------------------------- 205
    Married women in industry------------------------------------- 205
    ■Women’s wages in manufacturing industries-------------------- 206
    Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------- 206
    Appendix—Act creating the Department of Labor------------------------- 209
    FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF LABOR
    LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
    Department of Labor,
    Office of the Secretary, Washington, November 7, 1927.
    To the Congress of the United States:
    In accordance with section 9 of the act of Congress approved March 4, 1913, I have the honor to submit a report of the business of the Department of Labor for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, and with it reports of investigations and conclusions.
    I also submit for your consideration certain recommendations which to me seem important and necessary.
    Respectfully submitted.
    James J. Davis,
    Secretary of Labor.
    VII

    FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT
    OF THE
    SECRETARY OF LABOR
    PART I
    ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS OF THE DEPARTMENT
    The Department of Labor is divided into administrative units consisting of the Office of the Secretary, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Immigration, the Children’s Bureau, the Bureau of Naturalization, and the Women’s Bureau.
    The Office of the Secretary is not only the administrative division of the department but includes also the services directly under the supervision of the Secretary of Labor known as the Conciliation Service, the United States Employment Service, and the Bureau of Industrial Housing and Transportation. The administrative subdivision of the Office of the Secretary include the Assistant Secretary, the Second Assistant Secretary, Assistants to the Secretary, the solicitor, the chief clerk, the disbursing clerk, the appointment clerk, the Division of Publications and Supplies, and the departmental library.
    ASSISTANT SECRETARIES
    The Assistant Secretary and the Second Assistant Secretary perform the duties assigned them by statute and such other duties as may be delegated to them by the Secretary.
    SOLICITOR
    The solicitor for the Department of Labor is an officer of the Department of Justice, and his staff are also employees of that department, but the work of his office is devoted entirely to matters of law arising in the Department of Labor. Therefore, the work performed by his office should be included in this report. The details of that work for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, are as follows:
    Legal opinions rendered, formal and informal (memorandum)1--------- 220
    Contracts and leases examined, approved, or disapproved------------------ 355
    Contracts, leases, forms of bonds, etc., drafted, redrafted, or modified-	6
    1 A great many oral opinions, of which no record is kept, were also rendered during the year.
    2	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Bonds on contracts examined, approved, or disapproved_________________ 13
    Bonds, alien immigrant, examined, approved, or disapproved____________4,158
    Bonds, official, examined, approved, or disapproved___________________ 5
    Bills drafted and redrafted___________________________________________ 2
    Power-of-attorney cards, authorizing agents to execute official and contract bonds for surety companies, examined___________________________3,409
    Miscellaneous matters embracing everything submitted for advice or suggestion of the solicitor or for the formulation of departmental action, not included in the foregoing_________________________________________ 784
    Total-------------------------------------------------------------8,952
    CHIEF CLERK
    Under the direction of the Secretary, the chief clerk has direct charge of the various divisions of the Office of the Secretary, and performs such duties as are usually performed by similar officers in all the executive departments.
    Department quarters.
    The need for additional space to properly house the constantly increasing activities of the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization has caused many shifts at the department headquarters. In the last annual report attention was called to the moving of a portion of the Division of Publications and Supplies to another building to relieve the congestion. Since then other moves have been made, including the transfer of a section of the Naturalization Service from the headquarters building to the Walker Building, 462 Louisiana Avenue. This location is advantageous, since the business of this branch of the Naturalization Service is with the activities housed in the courthouse. For additional filing space for the Bureau of Immigration, 525 square feet of floor space was procured in Tempo Building No. 1.
    There are situated in the administrative headquarters of the department, located at 1712 G Street NW., the administrative offices of the department, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Immigration, and Bureau of Naturalization. This building contains 87,292 square feet of floor space with a net available office space of 63,994 square feet. The other activities of the department are located as follows: The Children’s Bureau occupies 18,646 square feet, the Women’s Bureau 7,790 square feet, and a part of the United States Employment Service (as storage and file space) 1,470 square feet in Tempo Building No. 4, a total of 27,906 square feet. The United States Employment Service occupies 2,235 square feet and the Bureau of Immigration (for file space) 1,125 square feet in Tempo Building No. 1, a total of 3,360 square feet. The Division
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OE LABOR	3
    of Publications and Supplies occupies 1,402 square feet in the Ordnance Annex Building directly back of the department headquarters, and the Naturalization Service occupies 864 square feet in the Walker Building, 462 Louisiana Avenue. The Bureau of Industrial Housing and Transportation occupies 4,634 square feet of space in the Maltby Building, 200 New Jersey Avenue NW. The total floor space occupied by the department in all its activities in Washington is approximately 132,000 square feet gross, not sufficient for its needs.
    The lease which was under negotiation when the annual report for 1926 was printed has been signed. The provisions thereof were fully explained in that report.
    The erection of a new Department of Labor building as soon as possible is again urged. ’The makeshift moves constantly being made in the department to take care of its steadily increasing activities do not lend to efficient administration, one bureau of the department occupying part of five floors, including the basement and the ninth floor, with part of its files about a quarter of a mile distant from headquarters. Communication between the bureaus located outside headquarters and the administrative offices is slow and cumbersome, and does not make for efficiency in the handling of the public business. The need for a new building is vital.
    Personnel.
    Officials and employees.—There was an increase of 7 employees in the department on June 30, 192^, as compared with the number of employees in the previous year. There was a small increase in the Immigration and Naturalization Services and also in the Division of Conciliation, showing a total of 71; a decrease occurred in the Office of the Secretary, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Children’s Bureau, Women’s Bureau, and the Employment Service, of 64, making a net increase of 7 employees.
    Of the total number of employees in the department (3,994), 611 are employed in the District of Columbbia, and 3,383 in the field services outside the District. There are 284 employees (not included in the above figures) in the United States Housing Corporation.
    The total of 3,994 includes 406 who are employed at the nominal compensation of $1 per annum. Of this number 250 are in the United States Employment Service, 53 in the Bureau of Immigration, 66 in the Children’s Bureau, 31 in the Conciliation Service, and 6 in the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    4
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Number of officials and employees of the Department of Labor, July 1, 1927, as compared with July 1, 1926
    Bureau or office	July 1, 1927			July 1, 1926	Increase (+) or decreases (—)
    	In District of Columbia	Outside District of Columbia	Total
    Office of the Secretary.			93		93	96	-3
    Conciliation Service? 				4	1 69	73	2 68	+5
    Bureau of Labor Statistics		117	3 6	123	138	-15
    Children’s Bureau		128	<97	225	« 234	-9
    Immigration		140	8 2,579	2,719	7 2,680	+39
    Naturalization..		75	' 272	'347	' 320	+27
    United States Employment Service		14	8 360	374	’406	-32
    Women’s Bureau..?.		40		40	45	-5
    Total		611	3,383	3, 994	3,987	+7
    United States Housing Corporation		268	16.	284	302	-18
    1 Includes 31 at $1 per annum.	6 Includes 53 at $1 per annum.
    2 Includes 26 at $1 per annum.	7 Includes 58 at $1 per annum.
    3 All $1 per annum.	8 Includes 250 at $1 per annum.
    < Includes 66 at $1 per annum.	8 Includes 266 at $1 per annum.
    3 Includes 70 at $1 per annum.
    Transfers.—There were 31 persons transferred from other departments to the Department of Labor and 30 from this department to other departments. The table does not show, however, the number of employees who were appointed under the civil-service rules and who were nominally reinstated in this department for the purpose of transfer.
    The following table shows in detail the number of transfers to and from the department during the year:
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR	5
    Comparative statement.—The following table shows the number of employees in the Department of Labor on June 30, 1927, and the number on the rolls on July 1, 1927.
    The statement does not show any material change in the total, but there has been a slight movement between bureaus and services, the net result being nearly identical on both dates.
    Comparative statement of the number of employees of the Department of Labor June SO, 1027, and July 1, 1927
    Bureau or office	June 30, 1927			July 1, 1927
    	In District of Columbia	Field	Total	In District of Columbia	Field	Total
    Office of the Secretary			93	69	93	93	69	93
    Conciliation Service		4		73	4		73
    Bureau of Labor Statistics			116	6	122	117	6	123
    Children’s Bureau		131	102	233	128	97	225
    Immigration			 Naturalization				145 76	2,567 272	2,712 348	140 75	2,579 272	2,719 347
    United States Employment Service		14	352	366	14	360	374
    Women’s Bureau			40	—	40	40		40
    Total		619	3,368	3,987	611	3, 383	3,994
    United States Housing Corporation		268	16	284	268	16	284

    Retirement.—The following table shows the number of employees retired and those beyond the retirement age continued in the service under the provisions of the civil-service retirement act; also the amount of deductions refunded to employees leaving the service, each year, since 1921.
    There were 25 employees retired during the last fiscal year and only 12 given extensions. There were 349 applications for refund of deductions and the total amount of the refunds was $33,973.52. The total number of applications for refund for the period 1921 to 1927 was 1,963 with a total of $121,306.15 paid.
    Retirements, extensions, and refunds under the retirement act of May 22, 1920, for the period August 1, 1920, to June SO, 1927
    Actions	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	Total
    Employees retired		26	14	14	10	14	14	25	117
    Extensions		20	5	12	10	10	10	12	79
    Applications for refund	167	219	239	236	339	314	349	1,963
    Total		213	238	265	256	363	338	386	2,159
    Amounts refunded		$2,013.02	$8,464.43	$13,386.44	$16,168.02	$21,495.48	$25,805.24	$33, 973.52	$121,306. i5
    Disbursing office.
    Functions.—The disbursing clerk prepares requisitions for public funds from appropriations for the department. He also pays its obligations and does the general accounting of the department. Naturalization fees and moneys received by the Secretary of Labor
    6
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    from aliens in lieu of bonds are accounted for by him. Under the operation of the immigration permit fee system during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, approximately 121,097 remittances, aggregating $363,293.43 were received against 108,430 remittances, aggregating $325,297.83, handled during the preceding fiscal year.
    Appropriations.—For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, the appropriations by Congress to the department and its services were as follows:
    .Salaries, Office of the Secretary------------------------------ $186,	900.	00
    Salaries and expenses, commissioners of	conciliation_____________ 234,	000.	00
    •Contingent expenses______________________________________________ 52,	200.	00
    Rent______________________________________________________________ 24,	000.	00
    Printing and binding--------------------------------------------- 200,	000.	00
    Salaries, Bureau of Labor Statistics_____________________________ 220,	000.	00
    Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Labor	Statistics________________ 74,	000.	00
    Salaries, Bureau of Immigration___________________________________ 91,	840.	00
    Expenses of Regulating Immigration 1---------------------------- 6, 071, 365. 00
    Immigrant stations______________________________________________ 50, 000. 00
    Salaries, Bureau of Naturalization______________________________ 98, 000. 00
    Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Naturalization________________ 635, 000. 00
    Salaries, Children’s Bureau_____________________________________ 105, 000. 00
    Investigation of child welfare, Children’s Bureau--------------- 135, 000. 00
    General expenses, Children’s Bureau_____________________________ 54, 000. 00
    Promotion of welfare and hygiene of maternity and infancy_______	949, 646. 00
    Administrative expenses, welfare and hygiene of maternity and
    infancy_______________________________________________________ 50, 354. 00
    Salaries and expenses, Women’s Bureau--------------------------- 100, 000. 00
    Employment Service______________________________________________ 205, 000. 00
    Refund to Domingo J. Milord, 1926_______________________________ 500. 00
    9, 536, 805. 00
    Under the provisions of the act approved May 22, 1920 (41 Stat. L., 614), the following amounts were paid from the appropriations for the Department of Labor for the fiscal year 1927 and placed to the credit of the civil-service retirement and disability fund in the Treasury Department:
    Salaries, Office of the Secretary_________________________________ $4, 733.18
    Salaries and expenses, commissioners of conciliation______________ 457. 29
    Salaries, Bureau of Labor Statistics______________________________ 6, 891. 06
    Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Labor Statistics__________________ 520.33
    Salaries, Bureau of Immigration___________________________________ 2, 739. 28
    Expenses of regulating immigration________________________________ 143, 077. 72
    Salaries, Bureau of Naturalization________________________________ 3, 070.12
    Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Naturalization__________________ 17, 208. 28
    Salaries, Children’s Bureau_______________________________________ 3,124. 22
    General expenses, Children’s Bureau_______________________________ 343. 98
    Investigation of child welfare, Children’s Bureau_________________ 3, 886. 61
    Administrative expenses, welfare and hygiene of maternity and infancy___________________________________________________________ 933. 00
    1 $13,500 deducted and transferred to contingent expenses.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    7
    Employment Service_________________________________________ $211. 02
    Salaries and expenses, Women’s Bureau______________________ 2, 605. 74
    Total payments-------------------------------------- 189, 801. 83
    The above amounts are included in expenditures.
    Expenditures.—The expenditures, arranged according to items of
    appropriation, were as follows:
    Office of the Secretary:
    Salaries, 1925-26_____________________________________________ $7,	540.	78
    Salaries, 1927----------------------------------------------- 177,	346	90
    Contingent expenses, 1925___________________________________ 15. 30
    Contingent expenses,	1926___________________________________ 24,	915.	85
    Contingent expenses,	1927___________________________________ 51,	625.	94
    Salaries and expenses, commissioners of conciliation, 1926__ 11,141. 51
    Salaries and expenses, commissioners of conciliation, 1927__ 183, 378. 25
    Rent, 1926-------------------------------------------------- 2,000.00
    Rent, 1927-------------------------------------------------- 22,000.00
    Printing and binding, 1925__________________________________ 423. 40
    Printing and binding, 1926__________________________________ 95, 322. 73
    Printing and binding, 1927__________________________________ 117, 045. 81
    .	692, 756. 47
    Bureau of Labor Statistics:
    Salaries, 1926______________________________________________________ 8,	783.	35
    Salaries, 1927---------------------------------------------------- 209,	978.	98
    Miscellaneous expenses, 1925____________________________________ . 32
    Miscellaneous expenses, 1926________________________________________ 6,	955	53
    Miscellaneous expenses, 1927_______________________________________ 66,	861.	26
    292, 579. 44
    Bureau of Immigration:
    Salaries, 1926______________________________________________ 3, 668. 78
    Salaries, 1927__________________________________:___________ 87, 766. 78
    Expenses of regulating immigration, 1925____________________ 6, 357. 79
    Expenses of regulating immigration, 1926____________________ 546, 385.14
    ‘Expenses of regulating immigration, 1927___________________ 5, 766, 594. 74
    Immigrant stations, 1926____________________________________ 16, 641. 79
    Immigrant stations, 1927____________________________________ 42, 009. 44
    Refund, Domingo Milord, 1926________________________________ 500. 00
    6, 469, 924. 46
    Children’s Bureau:
    Salaries, 1926__________________________________________________ 4, 674.17
    Salaries, 1927-------------------------------------------------- 99,094.12
    General expenses, 1925__________________________________________ 5. 90
    General expenses, 1926_____________________________________________ 5,	580.12
    General expenses, 1927____________________________________________ 47,	857.	25
    Investigation of child welfare,	1926_____________________________ 6,	565.	61
    Investigation of child welfare,	1927___________________________ 125,	003.18
    Administrative expenses, welfare and hygiene of maternity and infancy---------------------------------------------------- 49, 098. 36
    337, 878. 71
    8	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Bureau of Naturalization:
    Salaries, 1926___________________________________________ $4, 455. 49
    Salaries, 1927___________________________________________ 92,462.96
    Miscellaneous expenses, 1925_____________________________ 13.45
    Miscellaneous expenses, 1926________1____________________ 55, 858. 81
    Miscellaneous expenses, 1927_____________________________ 579, 725. 83
    732, 516. 54
    Women’s Bureau:
    Salaries and expenses, 1926______________________________ 6, 688. 58
    Salaries and expenses, 1927______________________________ 93, 457. 21
    100,145. 79
    Employment Service:
    Employment Service, Department of Labor, 1925____________1. 46
    Employment Service, Department of Labor, 1926____________ 12, 708.17
    Employment Service, Department of Labor, 1927____________ 186, 012. 58
    198, 722. 21
    Grand total________________________________________ 8, 824, 523. 62
    Retirement payments are included in the above figures.
    In addition to disbursements by the disbursing clerk, the following expenditures on behalf of the department were specifically made:
    By special disbursing agents for the Immigration Service_____$117, 057. 56
    Claims settled by the Office of the Comptroller General______ 290, 006. 65
    407, 064. 21
    Miscellaneous receipts.—The following receipts from miscellaneous sources have been recorded during the year:
    Bureau of Immigration:
    Head tax-------------------------------------------------$3,341,032.10
    Head tax voluntarily paid, the statutory period for payment having expired___________________________________________ 24. 00
    Fines---------------------------------------------------- 392, 561. 69
    Collections for permits to reenter the United States_____	333, 940. 49
    Forfeiture of bonds______________________________________ 205, 931.13
    Coin-box collections, Ellis Island, New York Harbor______	346. 05
    Sale of exclusive privileges_____________________________ 1,182. 6.3
    Sale of Government property______________________________ 722. 43
    Miscellaneous collections________________________________ 60. 76
    '	4, 275, 801. 28
    Bureau of Naturalization:
    Naturalization fees______________________________________ 847,928. 55
    Nunc pro tunc examination fees___________________________ 4, 810.10
    852, 738. 65
    Total receipts------------------------------------- 5,128, 539. 93
    Unexpended loalances.—In accordance with the act of Congress of June 20, 1874 (18 Stat. L., 110, 111), the following unexpended
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    9
    balances of appropriations and repayments thereto were covered into the surplus fund of the Treasury Department February 4 and June 30, 1927:
    Salaries, Office of the Secretary, 1925____________________________ $756. 92
    Contingent expenses, 1925__________________________________________ 1,	788.	39
    Employment Service, 1925________________2__________________________ 4,	547.	37
    Salaries and expenses, Women’s	Bureau,	1925______________________ 1,	086.	53
    Salaries and expenses, commissioners	of	conciliation, 1925_______ 1,	856.	90
    Printing and binding, 1925_________________________________________ 96. 32
    Immigrant stations, 1925___________________________________________ 448. 61
    Expenses of regulating immigration, 1925___________________________ 418. 27
    Salaries, Bureau of Immigration, 1925______________________________ 22. 39
    Expenses of regulating immigration, 1924^25________________________ 2, 079. 03
    Salaries, Bureau of Naturalization, 1925___________________________ 2,173. 59
    Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau *of Naturalization, 1925____________ 67. 42
    Salaries, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1925_________________________ 4. 22
    Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1925___________ 116. 60
    Salaries, Children’s Bureau, 1925__________________________________ 872. 84
    General expenses, Children’s Bureau, 1925__________________________ 328. 70
    Investigation of child welfare, 1925_______________________________ 727. 89
    17, 391. 99 Publications and supplies.
    Printing and binding.—The appropriation of $200,000 for printing and binding for 1927 was apportioned as follows: Office of the Secretary, $11,500; Bureau of Labor Statistics, $87,500; Bureau of Immigration, $5,000; Immigration Service, $24,000; Children’s Bureau, $39,500; Bureau of Naturalization, $2,000; Naturalization Service and examiners, $10,000; Women’s Bureau, $9,500; Employment Service, $11,000. Of the $24,000 for the Immigration Service, $2,500 was set apart for binding in the field. Practically the entire amount was required for that purpose.
    Requisitions to the amount of $196,167.03 were made on the Public Printer, $60,000 of this amount being arrived at from estimates. Inasmuch as the bills for printing almost invariably exceed the estimates, it is believed that the apparent balance of $3,832.97 will be wiped out when the estimated work on pending requisitions, amounting to $59,992, has been completed.
    For the Housing Corporation printing was ordered to the amount of $753.35.
    The work was fairly constant as compared with the preceding year, 1,438 requisitions being written, as compared with 1,437 in 1926.
    Stationery for offices and bureaus required the submission of 166 requisitions and for the field services 271, a total of 437.
    71308—27----2
    10
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Envelopes.—Envelopes orders to the number of 373 were placed, calling for 4,867,716 envelopes, costing approximately $8,055.94. During the year 1926 $8,860.08 was expended for 5,419,987 envelopes on 461 orders.
    Editorial work.—The editorial and proof reading section forwarded to the Government Printing Office 23,533 folios of copy, 1,472 folios less than in 1926; 4,654 galley proofs, 15,408 page proofs, and proofs of 158 forms.
    Books and blanks.—Requisitions for books and blanks to the number of 5,250 were filled, apportioned as follows: Inside services, 209; clerks of courts and naturalization examiners, 4,113; general forms (Immigration, Employment, customs), 928.
    There were forwarded from the shipping section boxes, packages, bags, etc., to the number of 51,492. Of this number 4,388 packages were registered, the rest going by regular mail. The total weight of this material was 171,577 pounds. There were shipped for other offices and divisions 76 boxes by freight and express, 8,821 packages by regular mail, and 766,774 letters, a total of 775,671 pieces. Total weight of these items was 61,355 pounds. Supplies shipped by freight and express reached the number of 2,363, which, together with the 718 packages forwarded by mail, makes the total number of shipments 830,244, with a total weight of 496,978 pounds.
    There were received in the shipping section 17,452 packages of blanks weighing 161,835 pounds, and 2,395 packages of supplies weighing 150,745 pounds, making the total number of parcels handled, 850,091, with an aggregate weight of 809,558 pounds.
    Books and blanks furnished the various outside offices totaled 5,389 and 10,033,820, respectively.
    Duplicating work.—Work performed in the duplicating section during the year 1927 was as follows:
    Franks handled___________________________________________________ 234. 287
    Publications issued on franks____________________________________1, 599, 372
    Publications issued	on mailing	lists_______________________________ 456,	593
    Mimeograph requisitions handled______________________________________ 2,	793
    Mimeograph copies	made____________________________________________999,	602
    Mimeograph copies	folded_________________________________________ 444,	089
    Envelopes, letters, and cards addressed__________________________ 494,131
    Envelopes sealed___________________________________________________ 298,	465
    Photostat copies made____________________________________________ 566
    Supplies.—The value of supplies on hand July 1, 1927, was $14,-569.34 as against $16,988.62 one year before, requiring the handling of 2,168 separate requisitions and the writing of 2,806 orders containing a total of 4,075 items. The total expenditures on these orders amounted to $187,025.87.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    11
    Department library.
    With the present fiscal year the library completes 10 years as a departmental service. Although the organic act of the Department of Labor of March 4, 1913, provided for a library under the charge of the Secretary of Labor, the order consolidating the libraries of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Children’s Bureau was not issued until May, 1917, when the department moved to its present quarters. From two bureau collections totaling less than 55,000 volumes the library has grown in these 10 years to a collection of over 118,000 volumes, in addition to extensive subject files of small pamphlets, circulars, and mimeographed reports. It receives currently over 1,800 labor, statistical, and social-welfare journals from 46 different countries. With its wealth of reports of special investigations by both official and private organizations covering a wide range of problems connected with labor and child welfare, the Department of Labor library is now generally recognized as the most important collection of research material in the social and economic sciences in the country.
    The expansion of a service for two bureaus to one serving a whole department has necessarily meant a rapid growth in the library collection. A large library has not, however, been the aim; rather every effort has been made, by the regular weeding out of material no longer needed, to keep the library an efficient working collection closely limited to the problems of investigation or administration with which the department and its various bureaus are concerned. The growing complexity of these social and economic problems has made the systematic collection of the results of the efforts being made to solve them in this and other countries an essential activity of the department. This task is assigned to the library. It must not only secure the records but must properly classify and index them and utilize the information gathered in reference work with readers and in answering letters. In the 10 years since its organization the library has become an integral part of the research activities of the department. Its valuable resources are being used extensively also by other research organizations and individual investigators, and its special bibliographies have a very wide circulation.
    The most outstanding piece of work completed during the last 12 months was the checking of the “ Union List of Serials in the Libraries of the United States and Canada,” a cooperative undertaking by the libraries of the country. This list will, when completed, be one of the most important bibliographical publications in recent years. The record of the holdings in Washington libraries was brought together at the Library of Congress. Because of the fact that the library of the Department of Labor containjs many
    12	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    serial publications not available in other Washington libraries and sometimes nowhere else in the United States, it seemed highly desirable that the holdings of the Department of Labor should be included in this important list. In the process of checking it was possible to complete many of our sets by exchange with other libraries possessing among their duplicates out-of-print numbers which we lacked. This library was able to render a like service to other libraries. Most of these publications came to this library in the first place by gift from the organizations issuing them. In exchanging duplicates the wants of other Government libraries in Washington are given first consideration.
    Five bibliographies were contributed to the Monthly Labor Review during the year. These were on “Labor Banks in the United States,” “The Five-Day Week in Industry,” “Workers’ Leisure,” “ Employee Stock-Ownership in the United States,” and “ Absenteeism in Industry.” These annotated and selected bibliographies on topics of special interest have been in much demand. Some work also was done during the year on the bibliographies on Women in Industry and on Industrial Relations in the Coal Industry.
    The year’s record in cataloguing was 7,999 books and pamphlets, with approximately 22,000 index cards prepared and filed in the main catalogue. The library has continued to furnish copy for cards to be printed by the Library of Congress for all the publications of the department, for the special monograph series of the International Labor Office, and for important new accessions on labor, immigra-tion, and child welfare. The printing of special analytical cards for the International Labour Review was completed during the year.
    Approximately 44,000 separate journals were received, recorded, and circulated to the bureaus during the last 12 months, and 1,127 volumes were prepared for binding. The completing of sets has involved much extra correspondence. Since more than half the current accessions of the library are obtained through exchange with other Government departments, with trade-unions and employers’ associations, and with private philanthropic or research organizations all over the world, the day’s correspondence not infrequently includes letters to or from a dozen different countries.
    THE CONCILIATION SERVICE
    Hugh L. Kerwin, Director
    The records of the Conciliation Service for the fiscal year 1927 show that 545 trade disputes were handled by the representatives of this service. Of this number, 24 cases were pending at the close of the year; 395 cases (plus 41 from the preceding fiscal year) were adjusted; 69 cases were closed without assistance from the commis
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    13
    sioners, or were called off or settled with the assistance of local or State agencies; and 57 disputes are listed as “ unable to adjust.”
    The cases presented for settlement during the year directly or indirectly affected 575,723 workers. Many of these strikes or threatened strikes submitted during the year for settlement were extremely involved and difficult of adjustment, because the good .offices of the Department of Labor were not requested until after the directly interested parties had failed to reach an agreement; and, in some instances, trade associations, civic committees, or other local agencies had intervened and had likewise been unsuccessful. There were many cases of this character; in fact, in some disputes weeks had elapsed since the beginning of the dispute, and many of the former employees had secured work elsewhere; the employers had recruited workers and were carrying on their business as best they could, with new help. If, after our good offices were sought in a dispute of this character, business in that particular industry was slack, it was often practically impossible to compose the differences. However, in these cases a diligent effort was made to secure a workable settlement, and even in cases where we were only partially successful both management and men affected expressed appreciation of the department’s efforts.
    It was frequently the case that when a commissioner was assigned to adjust a trade dispute he found local committees or agencies using their good offices to terminate the controversy. In such cases he cooperated with any group earnestly striving to bring peace between the conflicting interests. In fact, in this line of endeavor commissioners of conciliation in the field must meet varying conditions and diverse views. Even in trade disputes arising in the same industry and in the same locality, it is often necessary for the conciliator to employ different methods and means to accomplish the desired result of bringing the disputants into conference, in order that a meeting of minds may be had and a satisfactory agreement reached.
    Official experience shows that in approximately 85 per cent of the cases submitted to the Conciliation Service for mediatory counsel, satisfactory settlements have been secured, and this has been accomplished under the theory and practice that commissioners of conciliation have no power to compel contesting parties to accept mediation. Neither have they authority to make awards or decide issues in dispute. Their duties are, rather, to negotiate, advise, and counsel with management and men, with the view to bringing about industrial peace upon the best possible basis for all concerned.
    Accordingly, the service is grateful that it is being called upon more and more to prevent strikes and lockouts and to end industrial misunderstandings and conflicts between workers and managements. Prevention is to be preferred to curative measures, and the under
    14	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    lying principle of the Federal Conciliation Service is that by negotiation and conference the issues separating the directly interested parties may be discussed in a friendly fashion and to the mutual benefit of employer and employee. Nearly always an acceptable settlement results.
    Production, with reasonable earnings for both management and worker, is the chief aim of each unit of industry. Employers and employees are cooperative necessities, each to the other. When strife and discord arise between them, each is the loser, and the public, too, which has a permanent interest in industry, suffers from such an ill labor relationship.
    There is no denying the truth that the Nation’s social and industrial welfare depends largely upon amicable labor relationships, since the great majority of our population is affected by some phase of labor life. Motives of opposition and antagonism should be discarded by both employers and workers, and cooperation and good will should be made the joint virtue of both. It is to establish the mutual respect so necessary for such industrial reciprocity that representatives of the Conciliation Service are continually striving.
    In having this policy as the basis for its work, the Conciliation Service is fulfilling the intentions of Congress, when, in creating the Department of Labor, it provided that: “The Secretary of Labor is authorized to act as mediator or to appoint commissioners of conciliation whenever in his judgment the interests of industrial peace may require it to be done.”
    Accordingly a staff of trained representatives, especially qualified by previous experience and by an understanding of men and of issues, has, during the year, had an appropriate part in the settlement of disputes affecting a total of more than half a million workers, many of whom, with the management involved in scores of the cases submitted, have approved the department’s conciliatory policies.
    It is not the general policy of the department to intervene unless the management, the men, or the public directly affected request its mediatory advice and assistance. To advance the cause of industrial peace is the sole function of the Conciliation Service. It has no power to make decisions and awards in any case, and is not empowered by law to impose an opinion upon either employer or employee.
    Thus, trained and experienced Federal conciliation representatives, with impartial minds but with broad knowledge and judgment in matters of industry and economics, have been constantly available to employers and employees, each of whom is finding that negotiation, through neutral parties who are responsible to the Government, is a satisfactory means of coming to an understanding of mutual regard for the rights of each other. And throughout the negotia
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    15
    tions the department takes the position that the best settlement of any industrial controversy is that reached by the parties themselves, without outside interference. Next in order of preference comes the settlement by mediation or conciliation, and, finally, the settlement by voluntary arbitration, if both sides can agree to leave the decision in the hands of a third party.
    If it becomes evident to the commissioner of conciliation that a strike or lockout can not be adjusted through conferences and he is convinced that further' negotiations will tend only to prolong the dispute, he suggests that the parties at interest submit the matter in dispute to arbitration and that the respective sides determine upon the manner and form of the arbitration proceedings. This course is frequently followed with success and in nearly all cases settlements are secured when both have previously voluntarily agreed upon the matters to be submitted and that both will accept the decision and conclusion of the arbitrator or arbitrators.
    This process of adjustment through arbitration presupposes that both of the directly interested parties have freely and voluntarily agreed to leave to arbitration certain disputed points upon which they can not agree.
    Our experience has proved that American employers and employees are not favorable to the principle of compulsory arbitration in labor disputes. In fact, there is a general reluctance among our people to setting up any machinery which would have arbitrary power to prescribe an iron-clad basis for the settlement of any differences between employers and workers; and they, themselves, are in most cases opposed to surrendering their rights and authority to a third party in matters which should be a matter of arrangement between themselves. Neither legal enactment nor compulsion seems to be practicable and proper as a means of bringing about industrial peace. The remedy lies not in governmental or other interference between employer and employee but, rather, in direct negotiation and mutual understanding. This objection, however, does not apply to voluntary arbitration when both parties, in the beginning, have agreed upon the form and the methods to be used in arbitrating their differences, and that they will accept as binding the opinion or conclusion of an arbitration board, made up in accordance and functioning in accordance with their mutual wishes at the time they agree upon such a plan as a satisfactory approach to settlement.
    It is greatly to the credit of American industry and all its diversified interests that it is now generally understood that employer and employee must stand or fall together; that neither one can long prosper at the sole expense of the other—for if one gains, both must gain, and if one loses, both must lose. The industry in which both worker and employer appreciate this vital joint interest is the
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    industry which is bound toward industrial peace. The development of this principle of mutual interest, mutual aims, mutual responsi-bilty, and mutual consideration, each for the other, on the part of both employer and worker, will go far toward building up a lasting industrial peace to the benefit of all who have at heart the industrial welfare of our country. Such is the scope and purpose of the Federal Conciliation Service as an impartial peacemaker, which is at all times responsible to employer, employee, the Government, the consumer, and the public at large.
    Statistical analysis.—The work performed by the service during the past fiscal year by States and by months, and the number of workers affected, together with a summary of the cases handled from 1914 to the end of the fiscal year 1927, is as follows:
    Cases reported from each State for each month
    States	July	Aug.	Sept.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.	May	June	Total
    Arizona													1	1
    California		5		2	1	3	3	1	1	1			3	20
    Connecticut		5	1	1			1	1		1	1	8		19
    Colorado					1				1					2
    Delaware				1		2			1			1	1	6
    District of Columbia.		1							1				2
    Florida		2	2	1					5		1			12
    Illinois		2	3	2	12			4		2	5	5	2	37
    Indiana		1	2	7	3	2		1		5	17	7	4	49
    Iowa		1			1	2	1			2	2	3	2	14
    Kentucky								5		1					6
    Louisiana			1											1
    Maine				2										2
    Maryland	 Massachusetts		2	10	4	• 6	4 2	4	1 2	2 2	1 4	5	1	1	8 43
    Michigan			1		—			1		1					3
    Missouri		1	1	1		1			1		1	1		7
    Montana										1				1
    New Hampshire		1				1		1			1	1	1	6
    New Jersey		1		4		2	1	3	2	3	5	5	4	30
    New York		8	3	7	6	3	5	3	7	9	9	12	11	83
    Ohio..				2	1	5	3	2	2	1	3	1	4	1	3	28
    Oregon			1	5		1						1	2	1	11
    Pennsylvania		8	9	10	10	10	6	13	13	9	12	16	11	127
    Porto Rico								1						1
    Rhode Island			4	1	1		1	2		1				2	5	17
    Tennessee											1	1		2
    Washington			1				1			1			1	2	6
    West Virginia						1								1
    Wisconsin					—						1	—		1
    United States..	42	43	48	45	36	30	34	41	41	66	67	52	545
    Summary of workers affected, hy months
    Month	Workmen affected		Month	Workmen affected
    	Directly	Indirectly		Directly	Indirectly
    1926 July			25,800 14, 802 56, 601 11, 384 8,497 24, 812	5,092 12,181 5, 706 14, 789 20,635 1, 367	1927 January..	18, 248 11, 863 24,207 32, 503 196,281 33, 369	4, 671 16, 314 8, 797 8, 655 9, 201 9,948
    August	1				February.	   .
    September				March			 .
    October				April	 ..
    November				May.
    December				June
    			Total
    				458, 367	117, 356

    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    17
    Summary of cases, 191.^-1921
    Cases	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927
    Number		33	42	227	378	1, 217	1,789	802	457	370	534	544	559	551	545
    Adjusted 			28	26	178	248	865	1,223	596	338	266	428	346	392	377	395
    Unable to adjust		5	10	22	47	71	111	96	48	41	27	62	64	61	57
    Pending-. 			5	21	42	7	13	9	24	31	60	67	42	43	24
    Unclassified			1	6	41	66	214	101	47	32	19	69	61	70	69
    Cases pending at end of last fiscal year and now adjusted, 41. Total number of adjustments, 436.
    Typical cases.
    To illustrate the character and variety of work done in the Conciliation Service, a brief descriptive account of a few typical cases follows. In this description will be found the cause of dispute, the name of the industry affected, the method of negotiation employed by the commissioner, and the result.
    Porto Rican-American Tobacco Co.—A strike of 3,000 cigar makers of the Porto Rican-American Tobacco Co. occurred on August 5, 1926, affecting plants of the company in San Juan, Ponce, Bayamon, Aguadilla, Gurado, and Utuado, and numerous small shops located in the rural sections of the island of Porto Rico. This company is the largest employer of labor in Porto Rico, “has the largest pay roll, and pays 25 per cent of all the taxes, including the revenue on stamps, which the government of Porto Rico receives, approximately $2,000,000 a year.” Under normal conditions this company employs 7,000 people in the leaf department and more than 10,000 in the field. Production has been from 300,000,000 to 350,000,000 cigarettes and about 200,000,000 cigars a year. All the workers are native Porto Ricans except the field superintendents, who are Americans. Governor Towner, of Porto Rico, interested himself in the strike and did everything possible to bring about a settlement. The mediation and conciliation commission, operating under the insular government, also tendered its good offices, but was unsuccessful in reaching an agreement. In January, 1927, the Spanish and Porto Rican societies of New York City importuned the President of the United States to take some action to bring the strike to an end. The matter was referred to the Secretary of Labor for such action as might be possible.
    The department instructed Commissioner of Immigration N. P. Nichols, of San Juan, to proffer the good offices of the department in an effort to bring about an amicable adjustment of the strike. Mr. Nichols made a thorough investigation of the trouble. He found that certain demands had been made upon the company which the latter was unwilling or unable to grant. Among these demands were the following: (1) Recognition of standing committees; (2) establishment of readers, or lecturers (a custom in some factories) ; (3) abolition of black list or boycott against members of the union; (4) demands for new wage rates or piecework rates on all shapes of cigars; (5) changes in working conditions.
    Commissioner Nichols succeeded in obtaining from the union a proposition of settlement, modifying some of the former demands, but it was not acceptable to the company and the strike continued. About this time William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, requested the Secretary of Labor to continue his efforts to bring about a settlement.
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    The strike had been pending for more than six months, with serious results to the people of Porto Rico and with a prospect that the cigar and cigarette industry of the island might be given a serious setback. Commissioners of Conciliation William C. Liller and John A. Moffitt were then assigned to the case. They proceeded to New York City for a conference with the president of the company and then sailed for Porto Rico. Arriving at San Juan, P. R., they conferred with Governor Towner, with members of the insular board of mediation and conciliation, with Immigration Commissioner N. P. Nichols, and with the company and union officials. Prospects of a settlement did not seem encouraging, but progress was made and finally a plan was worked out which eventually was acceptable to all. This provided for—
    “A wage increase of $1 per thousand on all shapes of cigars. Eight hours to constitute a day’s work. No discrimination because of union or other affiliations. Company to meet with committees of its employees to take up or adjust grievances.”
    The proposal to allow lecturers, or readers, in the shops was eliminated. A signed agreement embodying the above terms and providing for arbitration to avoid future strikes was proposed and was agreed to by the company. The employees’ representatives submitted the plan for settlement to a referendum vote and it was finally accepted by the workers. The commissioners received the hearty cooperation of Governor Towner, Commissioner Nichols, and members of the insular board of mediation, while President Luis Toro and Vice President John Frese, of the Porto Rican-American Tobacco Co., were courteous and did everything possible to assist in bringing the eight months’ strike to an end. The representatives of the workers cooperated and submitted the plan of settlement to a referendum of the workers for acceptance.
    The Department of Labor was commended by all interested parties in Porto Rico for the adjustment of this long drawn-out struggle, which cost the company approximately one million dollars and a loss in wages to the workers of nearly three and a half million dollars. All the people of Porto Rico were highly pleased when the strike was terminated.
    Prevailing wage controversy—Government buildings—Carpenters, Veterans’ Base Hospital, Menlo Park, Calif.—This controversy arose over the declination of the R. E. Campbell Construction Co., contractors, to pay the $9 scale for carpenters engaged in the erection of the Veterans’ Base Hospital at Menlo Park, Calif. The contention of the contractor was to the effect that as the location of the hospital was near the line of Santa Clara County and within 1 mile of the city of Palo Alto, which is in Santa Clara County, where an ample force of carpenters could be engaged at $8 a day and the fact that the scale in Santa Clara County was $8, they were justified in paying but $8 a day. As the work, however, was being done in San Mateo County where the carpenters’ scale was $9, it was contended that the prevailing rate in San Mateo County should be adopted and the contractors should pay that rate.
    The president of the State Building Tracies Council and local officers of the San Mateo County Building Trades Council enlisted the assistance of Commissioner Charles T. Connell in an effort to have the $9 rate established through mediation. The question of prevailing wage was the main issue and centered around the present policy of governmental authorities and a desire of the union officials to have inserted in all governmental contracts in the future a clause providing for the payment of the prevailing wage in the locality wherein the governmental work was to be done.
    The United States Veterans.’ Bureau was appealed to through the congressional membership, but the bureau advised that the contract in question was
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    19
    awarded under open bid system and they were not empowered under existing law to exercise control over contractors in the matter of wages, but they hoped that the differences might be adjusted and the work harmoniously and expeditiously handled. The superintendent of construction, Major Radcliffe, was instructed to cooperate with the commissioner of the Department of Labor to that end.
    In conjunction with the efforts of Major Radcliffe, a joint conference was called by Commissioner Connell, at Menlo Park, Calif., January 26, 1927, which included R. E. Campbell, contractor; Major Radcliffe, superintendent of construction ; Frank C. McDonald, president State Building Trades Council; Secretary Galloway, San Francisco Building Trades Council; and Secretary Jackson, San Mateo Building Trades Council.
    After a lengthy discussion of the situation and a desire expressed by all that drastic action should not hinder progress upon buildings needed for the care of unfortunate veterans, R. E. Campbell agreed to adopt the $9 carpenters scale which was the prevailing scale in San Mateo County.
    Strike-Transue-Williams Steel Forging Corporation, Alliance, Ohio.—A strike of 600 hammermen, heaters, and helpers at the plant of the Transue-Williams Steel Forging Corporation, at Alliance, Ohio, on November 1, 1926, furnishes an interesting example of what can happen when there is a complete lack of understanding and no confidence between employer and employee. This company brought in engineers to work out a new system of operation that would increase production, and, after several weeks of survey, a system was decided upon that would meet the needs of the situation.
    The new system necessarily increased the number of pieces of material that the hammermen must turn out for a given wage rate and this the employees promptly interpreted to mean a reduction in wages of about 17 per cent, in spite of the fact that it had been explained to them, or supposedly so, that they would be relieved of certain other duties so that they could turn out the additional product without any greater effort on their part, or even with less physical effort; but when the notices were posted announcing the change, they all went out on strike and refused to return under any conditions except the old system of operation.
    Commissioner of Conciliation Fred Keightly was assigned to the case and found the strikers and their employers about as far apart as it is possible to be in such a case. After a survey of the situation he suggested, in order to establish confidence in the firm’s good intentions, that the management give the employees a written guaranty against any reduction in their earnings over a period of three months, based on the same expenditure of effort by the employees as had obtained under the old system. The management agreed to this and Commissioner Keightly took the guaranty and went before a mass meeting of the strikers and recommended its acceptance. After some discussion a secret ballot was taken and the proposition was rejected by an overwhelming vote. When it is understood that these employees are about 98 per cent native-born Americans, nearly all of whom have worked for this company for from 5 to 20 years, the surprise of the commissioner at their action can be realized. Thereupon he left the city on another assignment. However, the strikers must have quickly realized their mistake, bicause the commissioner received a telegram from the strike leaders the next day, requesting him. to return to Alliance and place the matter before the strikers again at another mass meeting. This was done, and at the second meeting the proposition was unanimously accepted. There was no union organization in this plant up to the time of the strike, at which time they formed a local of the Blacksmiths and
    20
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Drop Forgers’ International Union, but the company would not deal with the union and the strikers did not press them to do so. Both sides freely expressed their appreciation for the service rendered by the Department of Labor in bringing this 26-day strike to an end, and there is little doubt in the minds of anyone familiar with the case that the department’s activities in this matter cleared up a bad misunderstanding and resulted in hundreds of families enjoying a bountiful Christmas for which the outlook was extremely gloomy before the adjustment.
    Ohio Collieries Co., Gloucester, Ohio.—A. strike in the mines of the Ohio Collieries Co., near Gloucester, Ohio, in October, 1926, while of minor importance to the industry generally, was nevertheless of vital concern to the citizens of that vicinity, as coal mining is the only important industry of the community. The company owned four mines, three of which were being operated at the time of the strike, and the miners from the fourth mine were given employment in the other three, thus creating a crowded and unsatisfactory condition in all the mines operated. Early in October the miners were notified that the fourth mine would be put in readiness for operation and the miners belonging in that mine were ordered to return. The machine men entered the mine and undercut the coal for the miners who drilled the holes and blasted down the coal. Payment for coal mined is not made until the coal has been loaded into the mine cars. When this coal was ready for loading into the cars the mine suddenly ceased operations and the miners were directed to return to the other three mines for work. It appears that the railroad company had notified the mine operators that they could not supply a sufficient number of a lbw type of car, which was the only car that could be used in this mine because of the low coal chutes. The miners were skeptical of this excuse and appealed to the subdistrict president of the mine workers’ organization. The local miners’ committee had made demands upon the company for pay for the time lost in moving their tools to the mine and preparing the coal for shipment. The subdistrict president indorsed this demand of the miners and when the company refused to pay for the lost time he ordered a strike in all three mines. Commissioner William Robinett was directed by the department to bring about an amicable adjustment of the trouble if possible. He arranged a conference between the mine district superintendent and the subdistrict president of the miners. The company refused to negotiate a settlement unless the miners first returned to work, claiming a violation of contract. The miners’ officials acknowledged that there had been a technical violation and, upon the commissioner’s recommendation, agreed to a resumption of work pending a settlement of the dispute. An investigation of the whole matter showed that the company was justified in its stand and that it would take several weeks to change the chutes so that the hopper coal cars could be loaded. The miners accepted the settlement without payment for the time lost. Upwards of 1,500 miners were directly involved in the strike.
    Building trades, Indianapolis, Ind.—During the past few years controversies have arisen between the Marion County Building Trades and the Contractors’ Association of Indianapolis, Ind., which usually terminated in strikes of one or more of the building crafts. Realizing that the prevention of labor disputes is. the most desirable form of service, Commissioner Harry B. Dynes, with headquarters in Indianapolis, interested himself with a view toward arranging some plan which might settle these controversies without the yearly recourse to strikes. In former years it had been impossible to pass the contract-making period without some craft striking or some contractor refusing to negotiate an agreement. It is true that through the good offices of the department these
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OE LABOR
    21
    strikes were adjusted, but only after a considerable loss of time and money on both sides. During the past four years the idea had grown that some sor< of agreement should be adopted to do away with the yearly disputes on both sides.
    It seems that the seed fell on fertile ground, for when the negotiation time came around in the spring of 1927 both craftsmen and contractors sat around the conference table and adopted a permanent arbitration agreement. The primary contracts with the crafts run for a period of from April or May 1, 1927, to December 31, 1928. Wage rates were taken up by the contractors and craftsmen and increases were granted ranging from 7^ cents an hour in some crafts to 15 cents an hour in others, these increases being based on the comparative wage rates of each craft in 10 leading cities of the United States. This settlement affected 6,000 building-trades men directly and some 500 other employees indirectly.
    Detroit-Windsor ferry.—The International Seamen’s Union requested the department’s good offices in a controversy between the Detroit-Windsor Ferry Co. and members of the seamen’s union. Commissioner A. L. Faulkner was .assigned to the' case on July 14, 1926.
    It appeared that this company was operating four ferryboats and employing 127 seamen, all of whom were members of the seamen’s union. The controversy arose over the renewal of contractual relations. The employees had demanded a 20 per cent increase in wages and 26 days of annual leave instead of the 15 days’ leave in effect the previous year. The company refused both demands, but offered to renew the agreement at the old rate. The officers of the international union induced the employees to accept the proposition of the company, but when these officers called upon the officials of the company the latter stated that they would not sign any kind of a contract.
    Upon consultation with the manager of the company, Commissioner Faulkner found that a committee of employees had visited the manager in the interim and had denied the right of certain officers to represent them. The commissioner then arranged that such authority shown by the individual signatures of the employees be presented to the manager, whereupon the latter agreed to sign the new agreement, the terms of which were similar to those of the previous year.
    Threatened strike of engineers in schools, Erie, Pa.—In November, 1926, engineers employed by the school board of the city of Erie, Pa., threatened to strike unless the board agreed to place in charge as chief engineer a man who held an unlimited license, as required by the law governing such matters in the city of Erie.
    A strike vote was taken and the strike ordered after the board refused to agree to the demands of the engineers. Commissioners Thomas M. Finn and M. Emmilinne Pitt were assigned to the case, and after a meeting with officials of the engineers’ organization prevailed upon them to rescind the strike order until such time as they were given an opportunity to mediate the matter, if possible.
    The engineers agreed to this, and conferences were held with the mayor of the city, the director of public safety, and many others. Shortly after the con ferences began the board agreed to place in charge as chief a man with an unlimited license and the matter was adjusted in a manner satisfactory to all ■concerned.
    Had the strike occurred 18,000 school children would have been compelled to •remain out of school, due to the fact that no heat would have been supplied to the school buildings.
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Tuff firemen's strike.—In May, 1926, tug firemen employed on the dredges at the port of Buffalo, N. Y., struck as a protest against what they termed discrimination between the firemen employed at Buffalo and men following a like occupation at ports beyond Cleveland on the Great Lakes.
    A three-year agreement had been signed by the international and the strike was termed one of an “ outlaw ” nature. Tug firemen at Buffalo were receiving a lesser rate than were those at Chicago, Ill. This the Buffalo men objected to and a strike was called in order to bring the Buffalo rate up to that which prevailed in Chicago.
    A large contract for dredging was under way at the port of Buffalo and the strike was seriously hampering all operations. Firemen, dredgeworkers, and drill-boat workers were affected.
    Commissioner Thomas M. Finn was assigned to the case and within a short time had arranged joint meetings between representatives of the dredge owners’ association and tug firemen, with the result that a settlement was reached. The dredge owners gave the Buffalo firemen a $5 a month increase to equalize the wage rates.
    The work of the commissioner was so effective that both sides highly congratulated the department for services rendered in arranging the conference and guiding the negotiations.
    Bituminous-coal situation.—The agreement in effect between bituminous-coal operators and the United Mine Workers, signed at Jacksonville, Fla., in 1924, expired March 31, 1927. A joint conference between representatives of the operators and miners was held at Miami, Fla., on February 14, 1927, to negotiate a new contract to succeed the one expiring March 31.
    The coal operators contended for a revision of the wage scale downward claiming inability to continue under the old wage scale. The union insisted on a continuation of the scale of wages established at Jacksonville in 1924. The conference adjourned without reaching an agreement, and on April 1 the miners quit work. The suspension affected what is known as the central competitive field (the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania), and also Iowa, and the Southwest and Northwest coal fields. The States of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama being largely nonunion were not affected, except in parts of the various districts.
    There being no immediate prospect of a settlement for the industry as a whole, the miners’ policy committee met March 28, 1927, and adopted a policy whereby agreements were authorized with such districts or individual companies as would make a settlement, these agreements being based on a continuance of the Jacksonville wage scale until a basic contract was negotiated for the industry, when the terms of such a contract w’ould apply to all.
    Under the new policy of making individual agreements, the States of Montana, Michigan, Wyoming, and part of Washington resumed work under this form of temporary agreement, to run until a new contract was negotiated for the central competitive field.
    Central Pennsylvania followed this policy and agreed to continue work, which was done until July 1, when the temporary agreement was terminated after both sides had met in Philadelphia and disagreed over the question of making a permanent agreement. The union mines in central Pennsylvania stopped work on July 1. Some companies in this district have since been endeavoring to operate on a nonunion basis.
    The Indiana operators refused to sign as an association, but from time to time individual companies signed up with the union under the policy adopted by the union until by the 1st of September, 60 per cent of the normal output
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    23
    was being produced by mines operating under agreement, nearly all of the other mines signing up October 6 after the settlement in Illinois.
    In Illinois the mines were shut down, with few exceptions, from April 1 to October 1, when miners and operators again met in Chicago and signed an agreement to resume work at once, the old agreement to be extended until April 1, 1928; a commission of two from each side to make an investigation of the industry and report its finding, and recommendations to the joint scale committee, such report to become the basis of a new agreement after April 1, 1928. This commission is to report to the scale committee February 7, 1928.
    In western Pennsylvania several companies had been operating on a nonunion basis prior to the suspension April 1 and following the suspension on that date increased their efforts to produce coal with nonunion men. This policy is still in effect in western Pennsylvania.
    The operators in the State of Ohio refused to sign as an association, but some individual companies made settlements with the union. A number of the Ohio operators are endeavoring to operate on a nonunion basis.
    Since the settlement in Illinois October 1, the State of Iowa signed up on the same basis practically as Illinois, and on October 6 the union mines in the States of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas made a settlement on the same terms as Illinois. This leaves the strike in effect at the present time in central and western Pennsylvania, in a majority of the mines in Ohio, and in scattered mines in other districts.
    Through Commissioners James F. Dewey, William H. Rodgers, Harry B. Dynes, and Edward Stewart the department has kept in close personal touch with negotiations in the various coal districts of the country.
    American Pearl Button Co., Washington, Iowa.—A change in the method of cutting shells brought about a strike of 100 employees of the American Pearl Button Co., of Washington, Iowa, on May 11, 1927. It was contended by the strikers that the change was tantamount to a reduction in wages. The company denied this intent, but declared that the change was necessary in the interest of production and to enable it to compete with other manufacturers. Commissioner F. A. Canfield was assigned to the case by the department.
    All work in the factory was done on a piecework basis, the cutters getting a certain rate per pound for the shells worked. The company installed certain tests to keep the cutters from working too fast and wasting the shells. Previously to the strike the test had been on what is called a “ three-line ” basis. A notice was posted informing the employees that the three-line basis had been changed to five lines. At a joint conference of employer and employees the management agreed to change the test and work was resumed. A new notice was then posted advising that a four-line test would be used. This was not what the workers had expected and they again walked out. Commissioner Canfield attended a meeting of the strikers and found that all employees of the plant were planning to strike in support of the cutters. He persuaded them to postpone such action pending his efforts to bring about a settlement. In conference with the management he suggested a return to the three-line test for a time and to request the employees to be more careful regarding wasting of material. This was finally agreed to and the strike was declared off on May 27.
    On June 6, however, Commissioner Canfield was advised by phone that the agreement had been broken and that the employees were again on strike, and a renewal of his good offices was requested. Returning to the scene of the difficulties he was told by the strikers that the management had made a reduction of from 35 to 25 cents per 100 pounds in the grinding department, that a committee had called upon the management to protest, and that the entire committee had been discharged. The walkout then ensued.
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    The management’s explanation was that they had recently added an additional sorting machine in the grinding department and that as new work is tried out on these machines new scales must necessarily be made and revised from time to time, and that no scale on this particular work had ever been published or agreed upon. They stated that the rate of 25 cents per hundred gross was in line with the rates paid on other machines, all things taken into consideration.
    At the commissioner’s request joint conferences were again resumed. The management finally agreed that if all employees would return to work they would meet a committee again regarding the scale in question. This was finally agreed to and work was again resumed. The committee met with the management, the commissioner being present, and a rate of 30 cents in lieu of the 25 cents for the disputed work was agreed upon. The entire trouble at this plant seemed due to a general misunderstanding which closer relations between man and manager would have prevented.
    Musicians, motion-picture houses, Chicago.—Negotiations in a controversy between the musicians’ union and the motion-picture industry of Chicago, looking toward a new agreement, were completely broken off in the first week of September, 1926, due to inability to find a basis of settlement. Commissioner B. M. Marshman proffered the good offices of the department in an effort to reach an adjustment.
    Conferring with the executive board of the union the commissioner persuaded them to meet with the exhibitors’ association officials provided he were able to arrange a conference. The association officials were disinclined to meet the musicians in joint conference, but finally were persuaded to do so. The conference convened at 8.30 Saturday night and continued in session nearly all night. Adjourning without a settlement it was reconvened at 11 o’clock Sunday morning and continued in session until midnight. Much bitterness of feeling had developed, and on several occasions it had required much tact and diplomacy to avoid a break. At the time of adjournment no adjustment had been arranged and the strike became effective the next day, September 6.
    Both sides had made certain demands. The union requested an increase in wages and the operators desired a change in working conditions inuring to their benefit. Mr. Marshman now resorted to separate conferences in an effort to get an offer from either side which might be considered as a basis of negotiation. A proposal was secured from the union and, after consideration by the exhibitors’ association, was accepted so far as the wage feature was concerned. Another joint conference was then arranged. A stumbling block to a settlement rested in the union demands for a four-piece orchestra in the outlying theaters. The operators deemed this of vital importance to them, but agreed to refer the point to arbitration. The union finally agreed to this proposition, but stipulated that the orchestras must be working before the arbitration proceedings began. The wage increase amounted to $4.50 per week. The strike lasted for four days and involved 3,000 musicians.
    American Magnesia Co., Plymouth, Pa.—On August 10, 1926, the department received information relative to a strike at the plant of the American Magnesia Co. at Plymouth, Pa. This company engaged in the manufacture of magnesia products, pipe covering, and the like. Commissioner Homer J. Brown, in cooperation with Mediator Louis G. Hines, of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, was assigned to the case. All the skilled and unskilled workers, about 245 in number, none of whom were organized, struck as a protest against the introduction by the company of a so-called speed-up system to increase production which, it was stated, reduced the wages
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    25
    of one-fifth of the workers from 10 to 28 per cent. The change was not a popular one and caused much dissatisfaction and comment among the employees. The strikers were not even represented by a grievance committee and the Federal and State representatives, after discussing the situation with the management, suggested that a committee be selected by the workers in order to present and discuss their grievances and point out the alleged injustice due to the adoption of the new system.
    The vice president of the company at Cincinnati, Ohio, was advised by long-distance telephone of the serious situation, the plant being practically closed down. He agreed to come on at once to take part in the conference with the strikers that had been arranged by the mediators. It soon became evident to the workers, following a full discussion of the matter, that the company was willing to cancel or modify any part of the new system which did not give full justice to the employees or which brought about inequalities in pay. The result was that the strikers voted to return to work, which they did within the next two days.
    Asbestos workers, Baltimore, Md.—Information having reached the department that asbestos workers of Baltimore, Md., had gone out on strike on January 1, 1927, Commissioner E. FI. Dunnigan was assigned to take up the matter.
    Failure of the contending parties to agree upon the terms of a new contract brought about a suspension of work. It developed that the journeymen asbestos workers, members of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers’ Union, had made demands for a wage increase from $1.05 to $1.25 an hour for journeymen workers and from 62 to 75 cents an hour for improvers and helpers. These demands had been refused and the strike followed. Upon bringing the parties together but little difficulty was experienced in arriving at the terms of a new agreement. A wage rate of $1.25 an hour was agreed upon for experienced men, 85 cents an hour was decided upon for improvers and 50 cents an hour for helpers. The employers agreed that double time should be paid for overtime, and that eight hours constitute the regular day’s work. It was provided that there shall be no lockouts except when of a general nature and ordered by the Building Trades Employers’ Association, and no strikes except when of a general nature and ordered by the Building Trades Council. The agreement expires' on December 31, 1928.
    Nero York Marine Co.—A strike of freight handlers employed by the New York Marine Co. occurred on August 15, 1926. This company has the contract for unloading freight for the Erie Railroad Co. from barges on Piers 20 and 21, North River. This freight is chiefly fruit from California and is of a perishable nature. Commissioners Charles Bendheim and James F. Dewey were assigned to the case. This company has a regular force of freight handlers who are steadily employed and in addition employs an emergency force from time to time when the traffic is heavy. A demand was made for a wage increase and for certain changes in working conditions and when this was not granted the emergency workers quit, together with about 50 of the regular force, The bulk of the permanent force, numbering about 275 men, remained at work. The company expressed confidence in its ability to maintain service and to hire enough extra help to handle the emergency work and declined to grant a wage increase. The commissioners engaged the officers of the company in conference in an effort to smooth out the difficulties. An arrangement was perfected whereby the latter agreed to make certain changes in working conditions more satisfactory to the men. It was also agreed that all men of 71308—27-----------3
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    the regular force would be reinstated as soon as places could be found for them. In this way the department, through its good offices, was able to reestablish friendly relations between the company and its employees.
    Pamters, Memphis, Teivn.—Painter’s Local Union No. 49 of Memphis, Tenn., declared a strike effective April 1, 1927, after its demand for a wage increase of $1 a day had been rejected by the master painters. Commissioners George H. Van Fleet and W. H. Rodgers were designated by the department to take up the matter and arrange a settlement if possible.
    In reply to the painters’ demands the employers declared for the open shop. This move was not unanimous, however, and within a few days three of the largest painting contractors signed the new agreement, after granting the demands. A joint conference of the interested parties was arranged by the commissioners in an effort to clear up the situation. A settlement affecting about 75 per cent of the men on strike was arranged and work was resumed on most of the larger building projects concerned in the dispute. As a result of the discussions in the conference a better understanding resulted all along the line.
    Fur workers, Boston, Mass.—In September, 1926, the fur workers of Boston to the number of 1,000 went on strike for a wage increase, a 40-hour week, and for the limitation of apprentices. Commissioners Charles G. Wood and Anna Weinstock were assigned to the case by the department.
    Many conferences followed in an effort to reach a basis of settlement. It was arranged that the old agreement be taken as a basis for the settlement of the strike. There being but little opposition to the inauguration of the 40-hour week this was soon agreed upon. The entrance of communistic leaders into the discussions at one time delayed a settlement, as neither side desired peace brought about through this element. At the sixth and final conference of the contending parties an adjustment was reached. A five-day week, with eight hours a day, was agreed upon together with a wage increase of 12% per cent in the minimum rate. In the matter of apprentices it was agreed that the provisions of the old agreement should be reincorporated in the new contract. In the agreement ten holidays were enumerated where work, if performed, should entitle the workers to extra compensation. Piecework was prohibited.
    Bricklayers, Portland, Oreg— On June 1, 1926, bricklayers and tile setters of Portland, Oreg., went on strike for a wage increase from $11 to $12 a day. Commissioner E. P. Marsh got into immediate touch with the contending parties in an endeavor to bring about a settlement.
    An offer from the contractors to arbitrate the wage question was declined • and a counter proposition advanced by the bricklayers to make the rate $11.60 until September 1 and $12 thereafter. This suggestion was likewise declined. At this point Commissioner Marsh urged both sides to arbitrate the matter and submitted the following proposal:
    1.	That the men return to work at once.
    2.	That the final award of the arbitration body be retroactive to the day the men returned to work.
    3.	That no subject be arbitrated except the wage question.
    4.	That each side select one arbitrator and the U. S. Department of Labor to select the third member, subject to the approval of both sides.
    The arbitration proposal was agreed to by the contractors and submitted to a mass meeting of the strikers, where it met with considerable opposition, but finally was agreed to. Mr. Joseph M. Healy, a realty broker of Portland was designated as third arbitrator by the Department of Labor. On June 20 and 21 the arbitration board was in session and then promptly handed down its decision. The award granted the men a rate of $11.60 a day, retroactive to June 13 and until September 1, and $12 thereafter.
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    27
    Painters and electricians, Butte, Mont.—Information having been received by the department that the painters and electricians of Butte, Mont., would strike on April 1, 1926, unless a wage increase were granted, Commissioner Harry E. Gilham was directed to proceed to Butte and avert a strike if possible. Arriving upon the scene he found that the painters had asked for an increase of $1 a day and a five-day week. The electricians had also demanded $1 a day increase. Both crafts were receiving a flat rate of $9 a day.
    The wage scale in Butte is determined largely by that paid by the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. A sliding scale is paid by this company, the rate being governed by the market price of copper. At this time the rate was low, due to the price of copper, and in fact was much below the $9 rate being paid to painters and electricians in the city. Commissioner Gilham arranged a meeting of painters and electricians to be held on March 31. At this meeting it was decided to withdraw all demands and to continue at the old rate.
    Quimby Enterprise, Fort Wayne, Ind.—-On August 30, 1926, the Quimby Enterprise, operating vaudeville and motion-picture houses in Fort Wayne, Ind., through the Indiana industrial commissioner, sought the department’s aid in settling a controversy involving the stage hands, projectionists, and musicians. Commissioner of Conciliation Robert M. Pilkington was assigned to the case.
    The controversy arose over the continuance in employment of a “ swing man,” i. e., an extra man whose employment enabled the employee to have one day oft weekly. A wage increase had also been asked and a new agreement. Anticipating the refusal of the men to accede to the discontinuance of the “ swing man,” and to renew the agreement at the old rate, the employers brought in men from other cities who were being broken in after theater hours.
    In conference with the men Commissioner Pilkington persuaded them to remain on the job at the expiration of the agreement, pending further negotiations, although they expressed the belief that they were to be locked out. Conferring in turn with the employers the commissioner stressed the point that these workers had been employed from two to six years and that during this period the Enterprise had been admittedly successful. Fie suggested that the issues in dispute should be taken up and given consideration. This phase of the matter appealed to the Enterprise management. The questions in dispute accordingly were taken up again and the result was that a two-year contract satisfactory to both sides was agreed upon. The new employees brought in from the outside were dismissed and the old men reinstated. About 150 men were involved in the dispute.
    Fort Harrison Coal Co., Terre Haute, Ind.—On October 26, 1926, the miners employed at the Bardyke mine of the Fort Harrison Coal Co., at Terre Haute, Ind., went on strike. Commissioner Edward Stewart got in immediate touch with the situation at the request of District President Lawton, of the United Mine Workers’ organization.
    The trouble arose over the transportation of the miners in and out of the mine. An arrangement had been in effect whereby the company took the miners into the mine in the morning and brought them out at night where the distance exceeded 3,000 feet, providing this could be done without interfering with the regular eight-hour day. The company now maintained that they could not run what was known as a “ man trip ” and still get eight hours of work in the mine. The miners maintained that it could be done. Failing to come to an agreement the Bardyke mine was closed down and two other mines of the company went out in sympathy, throwing fully 1,500 men out of work. The district and International Mine Workers’ officials ordered the miners back
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    to work, claiming the strike was a violation of the joint agreement. Commissioner Stewart conferred with the miners’ committee and district officials. He suggested that a new committee be appointed and that the mines resume operations pending a settlement. On October 30 all three local unions met in a mass meeting and voted almost unanimously to return to work and submit the dispute to a commission to be composed of one miner representing the local unions, one district official, and two representing the coal company. The report of this commission was to be final and binding.
    Susquehanna Collieries Co., Glen Lyon, Pa.—Thirteen hundred anthracite miners employed by the Susquehanna Collieries Co., at Glen Lyon, Pa., went on strike August 9, 1926. Commissioner James F. Dewey was assigned to the case in cooperation with a representative of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
    In this case the miners claimed that they were not receiving the rate of pay to which they were entitled under a decision of Dr. Charles P. Neill, of the Anthracite Conciliation Board. The company maintained that they were paying the proper rate as provided for in the award. A mass meeting of the miners was called and the decision of Doctor Neill was explained in detail. They were finally convinced that their interpretation of the award was erroneous and that the company was complying with the terms of the decision. After three days of suspension work was resumed on August 12.
    Lehigh & Wyoming Valley Coal Co., Dupont, Pa.—The department assigned Commissioner Thomas Davis to a strike situation at a colliery of the Lehigh & Wyoming Valley Coal Co., at Dupont, Pa., on May 3, 1927. This trouble grew out of working conditions in the mine. There were two causes for the complaints. Some miners maintained that they were unable to earn a fair day’s pay, due to the fact that they were compelled to load the coal into buggies and push them to the regular mine cars and that they were allowed but 18 cents extra for cars loaded in this manner. Others claimed that on certain days they loaded rock instead of coal, and that on these days they were able to earn but $3. Being unable to get a satisfactory settlement the men went out on strike. A mass meeting of the miners was called and Commissioner Davis advised them to return to work and submit their case to the district officers for final settlement. At the conclusion of the meeting the district officers ordered the miners back to work and promised a speedy settlement. On May 14 the mines resumed operations.
    Cement workers, York, Pa.—Cement workers employed by the C. W. Strayer Co. and engaged in the construction of a grand stand in the fair grounds at York, Pa., went on strike in July, 1927. Commissioner John B. Colpoys was assigned to the case by the department.
    The erection of the grand stand was a project of some magnitude, its dimensions being 506 by 120 feet and its capacity to be about 10,000 persons. The pouring of the concrete for the lower stand had been completed and work was about to start on the upper tier when the cement finishers raised the question of jurisdiction in the removal of scaffolding by laborers employed on the job. The laborers had worked alongside the cement finishers without any complaint in the erection of the lower stand and the contractor was at a loss to understand why the question of jurisdiction should be raised when the work was nearing completion. While the matter was being investigated the cement finishers walked off the job. The erection of the grand stand was not what is termed a union job, as both union and nonunion craftsmen were employed. The contractor was affronted at what he considered this ill-timed action by the cement finishers and proceeded to finish pouring the cement with the force of
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    29
    laborers. He had been paying his finishers $1.20 an hour, which was 25 cents an hour more than the prevailing rate in the city of York, and felt that he had been given scant courtesy by the striking craftsmen. This view was concurred in by the other union craftsmen who continued at work while the laborers finished the cement work.
    Building laborers, Westerly, R. I.—On May 3, 1927, building laborers to the number of 500 went on strike at Westerly, R. I., for a wage increase from 65 cents to 75 cents per hour. Commissioner Charles G. Wood was assigned to the case. Conferences followed with both sides and a proffer of settlement was made by the contractors to grant an increased of 10 cents an hour to the hod carriers. The laborers voted to ask that the increase also be allowed to mason tenders. This was refused by the employers, who maintained that if the concession were granted to the mason tenders, there were other crafts that would expect the same increase. The strike continued until May 24 on which date Commissioner Wood succeeded in bringing about an adjustment. An increase of 10 cents an hour to hod carriers was granted and the question of compensation of mason tenders was submitted to arbitration, the department of labor to designate the arbitrator. Commissioner R. A. Brown was named in that capacity and submitted the following decision:
    “ That when mason tenders are employed as laborers they shall receive laborers pay, or 65 cents per hour. When they are employed as mason tenders they shall receive 75 cents per hour.”
    Inasmuch as the mason tenders were employed as laborers a large portion of their time this decision was acceptable to the employers, and was also declared to be satisfactory to the tenders.
    Loom -fixers—Margerison <& Co., Philadelphia, Pa.—Loom fixers employed at the plant of W. H. & A. E. Margerison & Co., Philadelphia, Pa., ceased work on May 20, 1927, due to the fact that the company refused to permit the head loom fixer to become a member of the union. Weavers to the number of about 300 were forced out of work when the loom fixers left their jobs. Commissioner L. R. Thomas was assigned to the case in cooperation with Mediator Patrick Ramsey, of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
    A joint conference of the interested parties was arranged by the conciliators to be held at the office of the company. A friendly spirit was brought about at this meeting and many matters of interest to the company and its employees were discussed. A tentative agreement was reached, subject to ratification by the unions of loom fixers and weavers. At subsequent meeting of these crafts the agreement was ratified and the strike declared off. It had been contended by the company that the head loom fixer was in fact a foreman and that he could not give loyal allegiance to both the company and the loom fixers’ union. The agreement provided that this man should be reinstated into the union, that he should pay up all back dues, and then be granted an honorable withdrawal card for as long a period as he remained as head loom fixer in the employ of the Margerison company.
    Electrical workers, Columbus, Ohio.—A controversy which threatened to assume the proportions of a strike occurred in connection with the construction of a radio broadcasting station on the American Insurance Building at Columbus, Ohio. Commissioner Hugh D. Friel proffered the good offices of the department.
    The dispute arose over the letting of a contract to a firm considered unfair to organized labor, while the American Insurance Union and the electrical workers had a working contract. Commissioner Friel interviewed both sides separately and became convinced that the trouble was due to a misunderstanding. On January 7 he secured a joint conference between the manager
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    of the radio department and the president of the local union of electrical workers, and after a number of allegations and denials had been made it was clear that it was not the intention of the American Insurance Union to violate its contract, and that the seeming violation was due to a failure of some subordinate to either understand or carry out instructions. The conference resulted in an agreement that there would be no electrical work done on the radio construction job that was not in accordance with the agreement with the electrical workers. This positive mandate was issued to the foreman of the job in the presence of the joint conferees and constituted a complete settlement of the controversy.
    Dyers and cleaners, Long Beach, Calif—On November 3, 1926, the department directed Commissioner Charles T. Connell to take up a strike of about 200 dyers and cleaners at Long Beach, Calif. Fourteen plants were involved in the dispute. The demands of the workers were for increased wages, changes in working conditions, and recognition of their union. It developed that the plan of the union workers was to establish the same conditions as obtained in the city of Los Angeles, where union conditions prevailed and where wages were from 30 to 40 per cent higher. Inability of the employers to find capable workers to man their plants had much to do with the final settlement. The strike brought about an organization of the dyeing and cleaning concerns in Long Beach and in the negotiations with the union representatives they acted as a unit. A wage increase of from 30 to 40 per cent was granted, certain changes in working conditions were put into effect, and recognition of the organization was obtained. Work was resumed in all plants on November 12.
    Home Telephone Co., Linton-Jasonville, Ind.—Conferences between the officials of the Home Telephone Co., a unit of the Bell system operating between Linton and Jasonville, Ind., and representatives of the operators having failed to reach an agreement on wages and working conditions for the ensuing year, the department assigned Commissioner Anna Weinstock to assist in working out a settlement.
    The questions involved included wages, overtime pay, vacations, and recognition of the union. Commissioner Weinstock brought about a joint meeting of the officials of the company and the girls concerned that finally resulted in an amicable adjustment of the points at issue. The terms of the agreement follow:
    1.	The company agrees that there shall be no discrimination against any employee because of union membership or activities.
    2.	The company agrees to meet a committee of its employees at any time for the purpose of discussing and adjusting any grievances or problems which may arise.
    3.	Overtime and Sunday work shall be paid for at the rate of time and one-half.
    4.	Holidays shall be paid for at the rate of double time.
    5.	Employees who have been in the continuous service of the company one year or more shall be allowed vacations with full pay.
    This settlement was hailed with general satisfaction by all concerned, due to the fact that during a telephone strike in 1920 in this community, which is located in a strongly unionized mining district, disturbances arose which necessitated the calling out of the State militia.
    Cuban Cigar Co., Denver, Colo.—The Cuban Cigar Co. of Denver, Colo., operating a union shop in Denver, established a factory in Webb City, Mo., on an open-shop basis. Taking umbrage at this action the Denver union requested the company to unionize the Webb City plant and coupled this with a demand for a wage increase of $3 per thousand cigars and certain changes in working
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    31
    conditions to apply to the Denver factory. The demands having been ignored, the cigar makers in the Denver plant went out on strike on September 11. Commissioner of Conciliation Thomas J. Williams took up the case for the department in an effort to bring about a settlement.
    Commissioner Williams found the Denver factory closed on account of the strike and the company extending operations at Webb City in an effort to supply the demands of the trade. The success of the company in operating its open-shop plant precluded the possibility of effecting a settlement prior to the Christmas holiday trade, and for a time matters stood at status quo. However, in February, at the instance of the State industrial commission, which was anxious to bring the industry back to Denver, Commissioner Williams with Mr. C. 0. Cole, of the industrial commission, again took up the matter and two joint conferences of the parties at interest were held. A proposition for a settlement was offered by the company and acceptance of the same was urged by the commissioner and by officers of the Cigar Makers’ International Union, but the local union rejected the offer. It might be stated here that the autonomy granted to local unions in the constitution and by-laws of the Cigar Makers’ International Union is probably more complete than that of any other labor organization in this country. The rejection of the company’s proposition for a settlement, which had provided for the immediate opening of the Denver factory, ended the negotiations, as the company had nothing further to offer. Subsequently Commissioner Williams and the State Commissioner returned to the case and effected a settlement.
    UNITED STATES EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
    Fbancis I. Jones, Director General
    While the volume of business in 1926 was the greatest in the history of the country, yet considerable unemployment was noted in the last quarter, a condition which continued with but little improvement during the first three months of 1927. Several factors contributed to this somewhat unusual situation.
    Influences have been at work during the past few years which greatly reduced labor turnover in practically all basic industries, resulting in fewer opportunities for temporary or casual employment, but, on the other hand, pointing to a more stabilized labor market. Ever-changing methods of production and distribution, especially the increased utilization of labor-saving machinery, are playing an important part. For example, the farmers in the great Wheat Belt are purchasing combines in large numbers. These machines head and thresh the wheat in one operation, and during the current year their use materially reduced labor requirements in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and other States.
    While the problem confronting the public employment placement office is consequently rendered more difficult, we must, of course, recognize the enhanced economic value of a condition wherein wage earners generally are more cautious about making voluntary changes in their own employment status.
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Coincident with the preparation of this report it is found that industrial employment generally is on a normal basis. Seasonal influences are responsible for decreased activity in several major industries. Many textile mills are operating part time, and there is a surplus of this class of labor. Iron and steel and automobiles reveal slight decreases in numbers employed. The New England district reports improvement in the boot and shoe industry. Considerable building is under way, but the volume is not great enough to absorb all available tradesmen. At this time of the year municipal improvements, road construction, and agricultural activities are affording employment to many workers, but the supply is everywhere sufficient to meet the needs. •
    The number of persons placed in employment through the cooperative service during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, was 1,688,476. Details of registrations, opportunities for employment, and placements are shown in the table following:
    Month	Registrations	Help wanted	Placed
    July			230,080 198, 303 221, 550 247, 890 192, 002 190,009 184,217 164,425 212,114 192, 668 199,379 208, 003	192,108 185, 604 221, 728 241, 363 161,148 142,005 114,013 102,933 151, 794 161, 548 166, 559 150, 795	166, 468 153, 209 179,432 195, 048 137, 944 122, 282 99,183 90, 398 131,105 137, 721 143, 987 131, 699
    August
    September
    October 	 -
    November
    December		_
    January	 _ _
    February	 _	_______
    March
    April 		 		 _ _
    Mav
    June 	 _
    Total
    	2, 440, 640	1, 991, 598	1, 688, 476

    The expense of establishing and maintaining the public employment services of the several States and municipalities is borne largely by the States and municipalities. However, the Federal Government makes a small financial allotment, provides the forms to conduct the work, and extends other aid to facilitate the employmentservice work. The United States Employment Service acts in the capacity of a clearing house, and is able through its cooperative service to clear labor from States where there is an oversupply to other States where a shortage exists.
    Farm labor activities.
    This report is for the calendar year, not, as are all other reports, for the fiscal year.
    The expansion and development of the farm labor work of the United States Employment Service during the calendar year 1926 produced gratifying results. This division is charged with the responsibility of recruiting and distributing men for the seasonal har
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    33
    vesting of practically all crops from Texas to the State of Washington.
    During the year a permanent office was established at Shreveport, La., making a total of nine permanent offices, located at—
    Kansas City, Mo. San Antonio, Tex. Fort Worth, Tex. Denver, Colo. Sioux City, Iowa.
    Sioux Falls, S. Dak.
    Fargo, N. Dak. Spokane, Wash. Shreveport, La.
    Seventy temporary field offices were maintained for an average period of 43 days. The average period during which temporary offices were maintained in the Wheat Belt was 33 days; in the Cotton Belt, 51 days; and in Washington and Oregon, 73 days. These offices were located from the Rio Grande northward to the Canadian line and westward to the Pacific. In addition to the maintenance of the temporary offices, preliminary surveys of labor requirements were made at approximately 70 other points, requiring from one to six days at each place. The farm labor division has a staff of 14 permanent employees and during the intensive seasonal periods 43 temporary special agents were engaged in recruiting, directing, and distributing labor. The average employment of the temporary field workers was 86 days.
    The value of the crops harvested by labor directed to it through this service aggregates several billions of dollars. This was accomplished at a per capita cost of a little less than 15 cents for each worker placed.
    The wheat harvest begins in Texas about June 1 and moves northward and westward as the grain ripens. The heavy demands made by reason of bumper wheat crops by Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, all coming within a short space of time, taxed the farm labor division organization to its utmost. It met the situation, however, and furnished the required help. The drought in Nebraska and South Dakota caused a decrease in the amount of labor necessary to harvest their crops, requiring considerably less than in former years. This condition prevented the usual movement of labor from South Dakota to North Dakota and made necessary the recruiting of new laborers for the extreme northern States.
    The organization in the Wheat Belt is so thoroughly in hand that, barring interference of the elements, it operates like a well-regulated machine, and the army of harvest hands marches from field to field and section to section with almost military precision. It brings into the Wheat Belt more than 100,000 harvest hands, gives them accurate and honest information as to employment opportunities and wages and living conditions, wins and holds their confidence, and through its field men actually directs their movement from Texas to Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana.
    34	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    It has established cooperation with county agents, chambers of commerce, and producers within the areas served, to the end that harmony of plans and action has resulted.
    It has established a daily reporting system by which the central office or the field headquarters receives a record of the daily activities, together with reports of shortages, surpluses, labor needs, wages, and all facts necessary to the intelligent handling of men in the harvesting of the crop. It issues a summary of conditions, which is mailed practically every day to the field men and all cooperating agencies. It has information as to dates when releases will occur and of the number of men that will be available for use in the fields farther north. It is able to announce to the sections demanding labor whether it will be available at a given time, and it proceeds to move the available labor to meet those demands. It controls the movement of labor already in the field, holding it in employment in threshing or on the farms, if immediate demands in the line of the harvest to the north will not absorb the available supply. If the available supply is not adequate to meet approaching needs, it has developed this information sufficiently in advance to enable it to recruit such additional labor as may be requirel.
    The Employment Service has extended seasonal farm-labor service to the cotton producers of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana; to produce sections of southern Texas, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon; to the great strawberry districts of northwestern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri; to the potato producers of the Red River Valley; to the fruit orchards and berry fields of Washington and Oregon; and to the corn producers of Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas, particularly in the harvesting of these crops, but as yet it has not been able to apply the same effective organization to these crops as in the Wheat Belt.
    In the cotton areas served by the farm labor division there were but two distinct cotton openings last year. Southern fields were late, and vast areas opening simultaneously created an abnormal demand for pickers and prevented the usual orderly movement of thousands from one section to another.
    In one of the cotton-growing States an association, viewing with alarm the shortage of cotton pickers, imported two shiploads of Porto Ricans. It was not a successful venture, as Porto Ricans are not experienced cotton pickers. The picking of cotton requires experience in order to make a satisfactory wage. Two hundred pounds per day per picker is a conservative estimate, the price ranging from 1 cent to iy2 cents per pound. The unusual cotton crop in Texas, opening at practically the same time throughout the State, created a tremendous demand for cotton pickers. In order to give the largest measure of service to cotton growers additional
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR	35
    special agents were appointed and appeals were made to contractors and others to release labor for the cotton fields. It was not possible at all times to furnish pickers at the exact time they were called for, but very little, if any, cotton was spoiled for want of pickers. It is hoped that this year the division will be organized and perfected in the cotton States as it is at present in the great Wheat Belt. It is not possible to compute in terms of dollars the value of the farm labor division to producers and to business in general. However, attention is called to the fact that the division in the year under review in providing emergency labor for two counties in Oklahoma alone effected a saving to producers of a sum far exceeding the total cost of maintaining the entire service for the year.
    Agricultural county extension agents, chambers of commerce, labor officials, bankers, and business men throughout the territory served cooperated to the very fullest extent, and newspapers were particularly generous in giving accurate publicity, which was of incalculable assistance.
    Since 1921 each year has shown a gradual development of the farm labor division. Realizing the value of a service that provides workers when crops are ready for harvesting, each year brings from farmers in sections where there are no offices requests for the establishment of the service in their vicinity. This demand has been met as far as funds would permit.
    In order to develop the farm labor division to its present efficient basis it has been necessary to curtail other activities. Additional funds should be made available to meet the pressing demands for permanent offices where they are needed and for the proper development of the farm labor division upon a scale commensurate with its value and worth not only to the agricultural interests but to the general welfare of the Nation. The farmers in the great Wheat, Cotton, and Corn Belts appreciate that the Federal Government, through its farm labor activities of the United States Employment Service of the Department of Labor, is rendering valuable assistance by solving their labor problems. The time is at hand when it is necessary that harvest labor be utilized to its fullest extent without loss of time, and to provide against economic loss the establishment of new offices at strategic points is of prime importance.
    Junior placement.
    Under the present plan the junior section functions through cooperation with public employment services of the several States, which are under the immediate direction of the State Federal directors, local public-school systems, and other agencies in various communities throughout the country. There is, of course, no interstate clearance of labor in junior work.
    36
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    In order that there may be uniformity in making reports, all forms, etc. for conducting the junior work are supplied by this service. The great army of boys and girls, having finished their required schooling, are unprepared to enter into industry or business. Many of them have no definite plan as to what work they desire to undertake for a life’s vocation. The junior service undertakes to direct and place these boys and girls intelligently in employment comparable with their fitness. Many of the leading high schools of the country, recognizing the value of such service, are giving more attention to Employment Service work in connection with their vocational guidance departments.
    At present the junior section is assisting in the operation of local placement offices in 30 cities in 15 States, such cooperation being effected through the public schools, and in two States, Wisconsin and New Jersey, through the State labor departments. In addition to the placement offices mentioned in the last annual report, the following new contacts have been established: Fresno, Calif., Pasadena, Calif., Colorado Springs, Colo., Appleton, Wis., and Sheboygan, Wis. Our cooperative arrangement with the public schools at Gary, Ind., was discontinued.
    Following is a summary of figures for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, taken from weekly reports sent by local offices to the junior
    division:
    Registrations_________________________________________________________ 55,	607
    Referrals_____________________________________________________________ 35,	892
    Placements____________________________________________________________ 24,	678
    Jobs registered (calls for help)______________________________________ 27,835
    Office interviews______________________________________________________145,	318
    Collateral activities:
    Cases of follow-up_________________________________________________ 16,	615
    Visits to employers------------------------------------------------- 6,	560
    Industrial information division.
    This division gathers monthly information concerning industrial conditions. The country is divided into nine zones, with a director in charge of each zone. Contacts have been established by these directors in the cities within their districts, these contacts including chambers of commerce, labor-union officials, employment offices, industrial leaders,- business men, and other sources of information. When this comment comes to the administrative office it is carefully reedited and published monthly in the Industrial Employment Information Bulletin.
    There is ample proof that the Industrial Employment Information Bulletin is being increasingly relied upon by those seeking employment and by employers in search of workers for all branches of industry. This tendency on the part of both classes will doubtless
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR	37
    manifest itself more and more for the reason that they know that the sole aim of the United States Employment Service is to present the facts as it finds them regarding employment conditions throughout the country. A public employment service can not properly have a different motive.
    In order that the public may receive early benefit from this information, a special edition is prepared for the press and made available to everyone by wide and generous publicity. Comment is being received from 583 cities, which is an increase over the previous year of 12 industrial centers.
    Copies of the bulletin are furnished to all public employment offices in cooperation with the United States Employment Service, supplying them with information as to where opportunities for employment exist and where the supply of labor is greater than the demand. It is also furnished to labor organizations, chambers of commerce, manufacturers, business men, railroads, and libraries.
    UNITED STATES HOUSING CORPORATION
    Robert Watson, President
    The United States Housing Corporation collected $2,731,175.14 during the fiscal year 1927. With the covering of this amount into the Federal Treasury the corporation will have returned $66,969,-047.63 to the Government as against its original appropriation of $100,000,000 for the war housing program. Receipts for the fiscal year 1927 were derived from the following sources:
    Disposal of properties-----------------------------------------$1, 533, 380. 85
    Operation of properties---------------------------------------- 458, 425. 43
    Repayment on loans--------------------------------------------- 367, 620.84
    Interest on loans---------------------------------------------- 371, 748. 02
    Total _________________________________________________ 2, 731,175.14
    Aside from the operation of the Government Hotels, expenditures on account of these various activities amounted to $84,872.82, or less than 4 per cent.
    Receipts from the Government Hotels totaled $445,730.68 and expenditures $393,967.47 for the period under consideration. From an operating standpoint, therefore, but without taking into consideration interest on the investment, depreciation, or rent, this project showed a profit of $51,763.21.
    The 12-month period covered by this report witnessed the settlement of a number of transportation and municipal loan accounts and the liquidation of many mortgages held by the corporation. Outstanding mortgages, however, are still widely scattered and cover properties located in 27 different projects.
    3g	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Sales and conveyancing.
    Sales contracts executed throughout the year aggregated $268,-032.75, and deeds to the number of 428, of which 117 were warranty and 311 deeds of release, were drafted. For the Bremerton housing project 99 deeds, as well as notes and mortgages, have been drawn and are now in process of delivery.
    It is scarcely necessary to state that the mere preparation of deeds, notes, and mortgages does not constitute all the work incident to conveyancing which must be performed in cases that have become involved in legal complications by reason of the demise or other changes in the status of parties to contracts. In fact, complications tend to increase, rather than decrease, in connection with many of the older contracts.
    A case in point is that of a man and wife who, several years ago, entered into a contract for the purchase of property in one of the Pacific coast projects. A dispute which subsequently arose between vendor and vendee as to whether or not the purchaser took with notice of certain easements imposed for the benefit of adjacent property holders has given rise to endless complications. Every effort, of course, is being made to effect an amicable adjustment of the controversy and thus avert resort to litigation.
    Obstacles in the way of delivery of deeds at the Hammond (Ind.) and Philadelphia (Pa.) projects, have thus far proved insurmountable. It is understood that action by the city officials of Philadelphia upon the request of the corporation for the removal of local taxes which had been spread of record against the properties of the corporation in that city, is being deferred, pending a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of the City of New Brunswick, N. J., v. the United States, to which more detailed reference is made hereinafter.
    In Hammond, Ind., special assessments which have been levied against the properties of the corporation on account of local improvements, and thus interpose barriers to the granting of clear titles by the corporation, have so far prevented the delivery of deeds.
    Litigation.
    It was to be expected that considerable litigation would arise incident to a program affecting property rights so diversified and extensive as this corporation has been called upon to administer.
    Foremost among the pending cases is that of the city of New Brunswick, N. J., against the United States. Involving the right of the said municipality to tax the properties of the corporation, which is an executive agency of the United States, this question is one of far-reaching importance. A decision sustaining the right of the municipality to levy such taxes was handed down by the District
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    39
    Court for the District of New Jersey. But upon appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, this decision was reversed. The case has now been carried to the Supreme Court of the United States through an application for a writ of certiorari by the municipal authorities.
    Another case of considerable importance to the corporation was that involving the amount of compensation to be paid to a family which formerly owned the site upon which one of the housing projects of the corporation in the Middle West was built. For something like eight years this matter had been in litigation. Because of disputes, both as to the amount of compensation which should be awarded and the parties to whom it should be paid—the latter question having arisen because of outstanding liens against the land—a cloud had been cast upon titles to all the properties which the corporation had developed in this community. The corporation is glad to be able to report, however, that this matter bids fair to be adjusted within the near future.
    There is no intention, of course, to recount in this report all the litigation in which the corporation has been, or is now, involved. At the present time there are pending some 40 cases to which the corporation is a party. Those mentioned above will illustrate in a general way the legal phases of some of the questions with which the corporation is confronted.
    Government Hotels.
    Some 880 female employees of the Government were living in the Government Hotels at the close of the fiscal year 1927, as compared with a total of approximately 1,000 at the end of the preceding year. As the demand for living accommodations in the hotels has diminished, it has been possible to assign buildings to the use of other branches of the Government in the city of Washington, for office purposes. At present the National Guard of the District of Columbia occupies two of these buildings, the juvenile court one, the Bureau of Home Economics of the Department of Agriculture another, and during a portion of the year a fifth building furnished accommodations for a detachment of marines who were engaged in guarding the mails.
    Laundering of towels for the various offices of the Government by the laundry of the Government Hotels is a business which has assumed large proportions, with a resultant saving to the Federal Treasury of thousands of dollars a year. Ice also is being furnished to the Capitol.
    The consummation of plans looking to the purchase of that portion of the land occupied by the Government Hotels which was formerly
    40
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    owned by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad averted the necessity of further payments on account of rent, and made possible a considerable saving in the operating expenses of the hotels.
    BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
    Ethelbert Stewart, Commissioner
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the oldest bureau in the United States Department of Labor, having been organized January 1, 1885. It was transferred to this department by the organic law creating the latter.
    It is the fact-finding bureau of the department, and upon request transfers its factual information to the various services and bureaus for such use as they desire to make of it.
    Details of the bureau’s work during the fiscal year are given in the following pages. As is well known, this bureau was formerly among the so-called independent establishments of the Government, i. e., it was for many years not attached to any department with a Cabinet representative. At the outset it was required to make an annual report, but these reports consisted of, or at least contained, the report on the subject or subjects investigated during that year, with all the resulting tabulations and statistical details. Later the bureau secured legal authorization to publish the results of its investigations as monographs, and thereafter, as each publication covered a single subject, there was no document from which a view of the work of the bureau as a whole could be obtained. The annual statements to the Secretary contained merely a list of publications issued during the year and gave a very inadequate idea of the work of the bureau for the year. To get in one place this more complete picture of the bureau’s activities the present report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics was prepared. Only a very general reference to the work of the bureau for the year will be made here.
    During the year 24 bulletins were published and 14 were in the Government Printing Office in process of publication. In addition to these publications, which are monographs, each one covering some special subject, there were published 12 issues of the Monthly Labor Review, amounting to a total of 2,785 printed pages. The 24 bulletins printed and delivered during the year represented a total of 3,926 pages, making a grand total of 6,711 pages. It is not practicable to estimate the pages of the reports in process of publication.
    The fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, was an especially busy one for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Industrial accident prevention conference.
    The year opened with an industrial accident prevention conference, which was held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C.,
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    41
    July 14—16. In response to a call from the Secretary of Labor, 33 States sent representatives to this conference, which was attended by 268 persons. The vital purpose of the meeting was to secure additional cooperation on the part of the States in the collection of adequate and uniform statistics of accidents/by industries, by causes, and by severity, with special reference to the amount of exposure or the one-man hours worked in each case. It has been the position of the Bureau of Labor Statistics all along that accident reports to be of any value for prevention purposes must show all the essential facts not only of the accident itself but of the industry and department of the industry in which it occurred and the amount of human exposure to accident at that point or at least in that department. This would make possible an accident rate or ratio based upon one-man hour exposure and not, as is now generally speaking the case, upon amount of pay roll or volume of production. The conference was in and of itself very satisfactory, and the resulting State cooperation has been entirely so. It is confidently believed that all the fruits of that conference have not yet been realized.
    Fireworks containing phosphorus.
    While the efforts of the bureau to eliminate the manufacture and sale of small articles of fireworks containing white or yellow phosphorus, such as “ sons of guns,” “ devils on the walk,” and the like, were begun during the preceding fiscal year, much of the real work in connection with it lapped over into this fiscal year. An agreement was made, through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between the department and all the manufacturers of such articles that they would cease so to manufacture on or before August 15, 1926. The text of that agreement was as follows:
    We, the undersigned manufacturers of the articles hereinafter named, agree jointly and each on his own behalf that we will discontinue on or before the 15th of August, 1926, the manufacture of any type, form, or style of fireworks containing white or yellow phosphorus, and that after the disposal of the present stocks on hand and specifically after April 1, 1927, we will not sell or offer for sale any forms of fireworks, novelties, or products or other devices that contain white or yellow phosphorus.
    And we hereby agree with the Secretary of Labor not only to cease the manufacture and sale of these articles on the dates hereinbefore specified, but to agree to any form of legislation or rules or regulations which may be instituted to prevent others from engaging in the manufacture or sale of such commodities, believing as we do that the injury resulting from such articles far exceeds their worth to the public.
    At the present time we, the undersigned, are so far as we know the only manufacturers of the above-named type of fireworks.
    And we, the undersigned manufacturers, do hereby certify that we have the authority to bind our respective concerns in the manner and form hereinbefore stated, and that the signatures hereinafter made are ample for this purpose.
    71308—27----4
    42
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    It is understood by the parties signatory hereto that this agreement shall only become effective upon the acceptance of the same by other concerns engaged in the manufacture of fireworks as per list, and upon its acceptance by the other concerns as per list shall immediately become effective. This agreement is intended to be perpetual from the time of its adoption.
    The Commissioner of Labor Statistics or the Secretary of Labor hereby agrees to notify the parties concerned when they shall have become parties hereto.
    By correspondence with the wholesalers and jobbers it was agreed that the purchase of this class of fireworks for resale would end on or before April 1, 1927. These agreements were, we believe, lived up to, and there is every reason to think that July 4, 1927, will be the end of the use of these dangerous toys containing white or yellow phosphorus.
    These agreements grew out of and were the result of an investigation made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last year and published as Bulletin No. 405, Phosphorus Necrosis in the Manufacture of Fireworks and the Preparation of Phosphorus, in which it was developed that the workers in the manufacture of this class of goods were subject to the occupational disease known as phosphorus necrosis, or “ phossy jaw.” It developed that there had been a number of deaths and several severe cases of necrosis. Following the investigation and the publication of the bulletin the manufacturers were brought together with the result above indicated.
    While the above-mentioned activities of the bureau were merely incidental to its regular work, attention is called to them in this place because they happened at the outset of the fiscal year.
    Primarily the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a fact-finding agency. Its duty as set forth in the act creating it is to “ collect information upon the subject of labor * * * and the means of promoting the material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity ” of the wage earners of this country. The function of the bureau is thus somewhat broader than is commonly understood by the word “ statistics.” Its field of work covers not only purely statistical data, such as the wholesale price index and such matters as wages and hours of labor, but includes subjects of vital human welfare, as accident prevention, housing, labor legislation, and social insurance in all its phases.
    The activities of the bureau for the fiscal year under review have covered the collection, compilation, and publication of statistical data regarding wages and hours of labor in various industries, union scales of wages and hours of labor, strikes and lockouts and collective agreements, employment in selected industries, wholesale prices, retail prices, cost of living, productivity of labor in various industries, industrial accidents, industrial safety codes, labor legislation in the various States and decisions of courts affecting labor, building operations in principal cities of the United States, cooperation (other than agricultural), industrial hygiene, workmen’s compensation, per
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR	43
    sonnel activities for employees, State and municipal pensions, labor turnover, apprenticeship in the building trades, and the preparation and publication of the Labor Review. In addition to these moie or less permanent lines of work, much of the bureau s time and energy was taken up with special studies, the principal ones being a health survey in the printing trades, published as Bulletin No. 427, a handbook of American trade-unions, published as Bulletin No. 420, and deaths from lead poisoning, published as Bulletin No. 426. Some of these will be referred to in more detail further on.
    WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR, BY INDUSTRIES
    For many years the principal activity of the Bureau of Labor Statistics was that of gathering and publishing data on wages and hours of labor in the various industries. Formerly this included three topics—wages, hours of labor, and length of time each plant was in operation during the year. The last-mentioned topic, however, proved very unsatisfactory, since employers would list a plant as in operation if any part of it was in operation, whereas under the present subdivision of industry into various departments of the same plant one department might work continuously while other departments were working on part time or entirely closed down for a considerable period of the year. This feature of the wage work was therefore dropped because it is covered in a more satisfactory manner by the bureau’s report on employment in selected industries.
    For some time data as to wages and hours of labor in the industries selected were collected each year. More recently, however, it has been the policy to gather this information every two years. Of course, it must be understood that since these wage surveys are made only once in two years, the report for any one fiscal year would not include the entire list of industries covered.
    It is impossible to draw a hard and fast line on the wage work of this bureau by fiscal years, for the reason that the collection of the data is very often begun in one fiscal year while the tabulation and publication of results occur in another fiscal year. Therefore the report for any one fiscal year will not only overlap from the previous fiscal year but will contain reference to projects and partially completed work the culmination of which can not be reached within the year indicated.
    Pottery.
    The wage division of the bureau during the year completed a study of wages, hours, and productivity in the pottery industry, which was published as Bulletin No. 412. In addition to the regular work on that industry in the United States the bureau sent a representative to Europe in the spring of 1926 to collect such data as could be obtained
    44	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    in Great Britain and in Germany for comparison with American conditions. Government statistical offices, employers, and trade-union officials were visited. Government official statistics as to wages and hours are very meager in Europe as compared with the United States. The Government offices state that their funds are not sufficient to enable them to make studies such as are made in the United States, and further there does not appear to be as full cooperation between the Government offices and the employers as in the United States.
    In the earthenware potteries of England male plate makers earned an average of 37 cents per hour; females, 26.4 cents. Male casters had an average earning of 33 cents per hour and females 17.7 cents. Pressmen in the slip house earned 34.5 cents per hour; female lithographers, 15.2 cents per hour.
    The prevailing working time in the potteries was 8^ hours per day and 47 hours per week. A plate-making crew of three (plate maker, mold runner, and finisher) made from 120 to 192 plates per hour. Occupational wage figures for the pottery industry were not found available in Germany, owing in part to the German method of classing employees in skilled or unskilled groups rather than by occupations. Skilled male pieceworkers ranged from 31.7 cents per hour in Berlin to 18.6 cents in small country places. Unskilled male timeworkers ranged from 17.9 cents per hour in Berlin to 13.1 cents in small country localities. These averages cover both earthenware and porcelain potteries. The prevailing hours were 8 per day and 48 per week.
    Boots and shoes.
    The work of collecting wage data for wage earners in the boot and shoe industry was begun in August and completed in December, 1926. Agents of the bureau copied wage data for 29,925 males and 22,772 females directly from the pay rolls of 154 representative shoe factories in 14 States. The 52,697 wage earners covered in the 1926 report represent 23.4 per cent of the total number reported in the boot and shoe industry in 1923 by the United States Census of Manufactures.
    The average for the 52,697 wage earners covered in 1926, or for the industry, were full-time hours per week, 49; earnings per hour, 52.8 cents; and full-time earnings per week, $25.87. Between 1913 and 1926 average full-time hours per week decreased 11.1 per cent, average earnings per hour increased 119.1 per cent, and average full-time earnings per week increased 95.4 per cent.
    Average full-time hours per week for the industry, or of all employees covered in each State in 1926, ranged from 46.2 in New Jersey to 53.4 in Maine. Average earnings per hour ranged from 39.8 cents in Maine to 61.2 cents in Massachusetts. Average full-time earnings per week ranged from $21.25 in Maine to $28.83 in Massachusetts.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR	45
    The summary figures for the industry were published in the March, 1927, Labor Review, and detailed figures in Bulletin No. 450.
    Cotton goods.
    Field work in the collection of wage data in the cotton-goods manufacturing industry study was started July 15, 1926. Data were obtained from 151 establishments located in the following-named 12 States: Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia. Data for hours of labor and earnings were obtained for 46,879 males and 36,103 females, or a total of 82,982 wage earners. Schedules from all establishments were obtained for a one-week pay period for all occupations except weavers, for whom a two-week pay period was taken.
    Average full-time hours decreased 10.3 per cent between 1913 and 1920. From 1920 to 1926 hours increased 2.9 per cent. The average full-time hours per week for 1926 were 53.3.
    Between 1913 and 1920 earnings per hour increased 223.5 per cent and between 1920 and 1926 decreased 31.7 per cent. The average earnings per hour in 1926 were 32.8 cents. From 1913 to 1920 average full-time earnings per week increased 191.8 per cent and from 1920 to 1926 decreased 29.7 per cent. Average full-time weekly earnings for 1926 were $17.48.
    The highest average earnings per hour for males in 1926 were made by mule spinners, 65.6 cents, and the lowest by spooler tenders, 19 cents. For females the highest average was made by beamer tenders, 41.1 cents, and the lowest by spooler tenders and trimmers or inspectors, 24.6 cents. For all occupations males averaged 34.7 cents and females averaged 30.1 cents per hour.
    New Hampshire showed the highest average earnings per hour, 42.9 cents, for all occupations combined, and Alabama the lowest, 24.2 cents. Maine showed the greatest difference in hourly earnings between males and females, males receiving 8.8 cents more than females.	a .
    Summary figures of this study were published in the February, 1927, Labor Review, and detailed figures in Bulletin No. 446.
    Woolen and worsted goods.
    Field work in the collection of data in the study of wages and hours in the woolen and worsted goods industry was begun July 10, 1926. Schedules were obtained from 112 establishments located in the following eight States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Data for hours of labor and earnings were obtained for 22,152 males and 17,818 females, or a total of 39,970 wage earners. Schedules from all establishments were obtained for a one-week pay
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    period for all occupations except weavers, for whom a two-week pay period was taken.
    Average full-time hours decreased 13.8 per cent between 1913 and 1920, and increased 2.1 per cent between 1920 and 1926. The average full-time hours per week for 1926 were 49.3.
    Between 1913 and 1920 earnings per hour increased 253.7 per cent and between 1920 and 1926 decreased 21.8 per cent. Average earnings per hour were 49.1 cents in 1926. Between 1913 and 1920 average full-time weekly earnings increased 203.6 per cent and between 1920 and 1926 decreased 20.2 per cent. Average full-time weekly earnings were $24.21 in 1926.
    The highest average earnings per hour for males in 1926 were made by loom fixers, 80.7 cents, and the lowest by doffers, 28.8 cents. For females the highest average was made by wool sorters, 69.8 cents, and the lowest by doffers, 28 cents. For all occupations males averaged 54.5 cents and females averaged 41.8 cents per hour. All employees averaged 49.1 cents per hour.
    Connecticut showed the highest average earnings per hour, 52.6 cents, and Pennsylvania the lowest, 45.9 cents, for all occupations combined. Pennsylvania showed the greatest difference in average hourly earnings between males and females, males earning 19.5 cents per hour more than females.
    Summaries of this study were published in the February, 1927, Labor Review and detailed figures in Bulletin No. 443.
    Very late in the fiscal year the assistant commissioner was sent to Europe to secure information not only as to the corresponding wages by groups and occupations in the various countries of Europe but to secure information as to the productivity of labor or time cost of production as applied to a comprehensive selection of sample pieces of goods. The report of the results of his inquiries will be published later in the Labor Review.
    Men’s clothing.
    The field work for the 1926 figures in this report was begun about the middle of June and completed near the middle of September, 1926. The 1926 data were taken from the June, July, and August pay rolls of the companies visited and included 17,048 male and 16,611 female wage earners of 198 establishments operating 359 shops. The number of wage earners represents 17 per cent of the wage earners in the industry in the United States and approximately 27 per cent of the wage earners in the industry in the localities covered, according to the 1923 United States Census of Manufactures. The establishments covered in 1926 were located in 10 cities, besides a group of cities and towns in eastern Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    47
    Average hourly earnings for the industry as a whole in 1926 were 191.8 per cent higher than in 1913, more than three times that of 1911, 68 per cent higher than in 1919, and 3 per cent higher than in 1922, but were 1.3 per cent lower than in 1924. Average earnings per hour for the industry were 25.6 cents in 1914, 44.6 cents in 1919, 72.8 cents in 1922, 76 cents in 1924, and 75 cents in 1926. The earnings of males and of females were higher in 1926 than in 1924. The decrease for the combined earnings of males and of females was due to a larger percentage of females in the industry in 1926 than in 1924. Between 1913 and 1926 full-time hours decreased 14.3 per cent and full-time weekly earnings increased 151.4 per cent.
    Summary figures for the industry were published in the November, 1926, Labor Review and detailed figures were published in Bulletin No. 435.
    Iron and steel.
    The field work for this study was begun about March 1, 1926, and completed about the middle of June. The 1926 data were obtained from 199 plants, located in 13 States, and included 75,109 wage earners. The plants covered have been grouped into four districts—the “Eastern,” “Pittsburgh,” “Great Lakes and Middle West,” and “ Southern.” The wage earners covered were approximately 19 per cent of all employees in the industry, according to the United States Census of Manufactures for 1925.
    Industry averages of full-time hours were 66.1 in 1913, 64.9 in 1914, 65.5 in 1915, 63.1 in 1920, 63.2 in 1922, 55.2 in 1924, and 54.4 in 1926. Average earnings per hour were 30.1 cents in 1913 and 1914, 29.7 cents in 1915, 74.5 cents in 1920, 51.3 cents in 1922, 64.4 cents in 1924, and 63.7 cents in 1926. Average full-time earnings per week were $18.89 in 1913, $18.60 in 1914, $18.65 in 1915, $45.65 in 1920, $31.67 in 1922, $35.22 in 1924, and $34.41 in 1926.
    Average earnings per hour in 1926, by districts, for laborers in all departments combined were 37.4 cents in the “ Eastern ” district, 45.2 cents in the “ Pittsburgh ” district, 45.8 cents in the “ Great Lakes and Middle West ” district, and 28.1 cents in the “ Southern ” district. Average earnings per hour for laborers by department, all districts combined, ranged from 35.7 cents in puddling mills to 47.5 cents in sheet mills.
    Summary figures for the industry were published in the September and October, 1926, and May, 1927, issues of the Labor Review, and detailed figures were published in Bulletin No. 442.
    The representative of the bureau sent to Europe in the spring of 1926 found that in the iron and steel industry in Birmingham, England, puddlers earned from $3.54 to $3.85 per 8-hour shift, and their helpers $2.12 to $2.31. In open-hearth furnaces in Birmingham
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    the first melter earned about $9.34 per 8-hour shift, the second hand $6.31, the third hand $4.67, and the fourth hand $3.04. Stockers earned $2.09 per day and common laborers $1.70. In a sample blast furnace the keeper on an 8-hour day and seven shifts per week earned $27.83 per week, the charger (top filler) $22.78, the ore filler $21.63, the first stove man $19.44, the furnace laborer $12.91.
    In Germany wages were obtained from several localities. The earnings per 8-hour day for blast-furnace keepers ranged from $1.58 to $2.07, the stocker from $1.31 to $1.58, the open-hearth melter had a range of wages for a 10-hour day from $2.17 to $2.74, and the helper from $1.83 to $2.24 per day.
    Bituminous-coal mining.
    Collection of wage data by agents of the bureau was begun in the early part of November, 1926, and was completed in April, 1927. Data were collected from the November, December, January, February, or March pay rolls of 556 mines in 11 of the most important coal-producing States, and comprised a total of 148,155 wage earners, or 25 per cent of the 588,493 mine workers reported in bituminous-coal mining in 1925 by the United States Bureau of Mines.
    The three basic occupations in bituminous-coal mining are those of hand or pick miners, machine miners (cutters), and hand loaders. They represent approximately 63 per cent of all wage earners in the industry. Average hours worked per half month based on time at the face or working place (including time for lunch) of loaders was 66.2 in 1922, 63.3 in 1924, and 73.7 in 1926; of hand or pick miners, 71 in 1922, 65.6 in 1924, and 77 in 1926; of machine miners, 75.4 in 1922, 72.9 in 1924, and 86 in 1926. Average earnings per hour based on time at the face (including time for lunch) of loaders was 90.2 cents in 1922, 81.1 cents in 1924, and 77.9 cents in 1926; of hand or pick miners, 84 cents in 1922, 80.9 cents in 1924, and 78.3 cents in 1926; of machine miners, $1,274 in 1922, $1,163 in 1924, and $1,195 in 1926.
    Based on time at the face (including time for lunch) in 1926 average hours worked in a half monthly pay period by loaders in the different States ranged from 63.5 in Tennessee to 81.2 in Colorado; by pick miners ranged from 65.4 in Indiana to 85 in Kentucky; and by machine miners ranged from 74.5 in Illinois to 99.4 in Virginia. Average earnings per hour based on time at the face (including time for lunch) of loaders ranged from 43.6 cents in Tennessee to $1,116 in Indiana; of pick miners ranged from 43.6 cents in Tennessee to $1,047 in Indiana; and of machine miners ranged from 51.8 cents in Tennessee to $1,614 in Indiana.
    Summary figures were published in the July, 1927, Labor Review and detailed figures will be published later in bulletin form.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    49
    Motor vehicles.
    The field work for this study of wages and hours of labor in the motor-vehicle industry was taken up near the middle of October, 1925. The bulk of the data are for a pay period in October, November, or December. The 1925 data covered a total of 140,930 male and 3,432 female wage earners in 99 plants or establishments in eight States. The number of wage earners covered represents 35.6 per cent of the total number reported in the 1923 Census of Manufactures.
    Average full-time hours per week for the industry increased from 50.1 in 1922 to 50.3 in 1925. Average earnings per hour increased from 65.7 cents in 1922 to 72.3 cents in 1925. Average full-time earnings per week increased from $32.92 in 1922 to $36.37 in 1925.
    Summary figures were published in the August, 1926, Labor Review, and detailed figures in Bulletin No. 438.
    Hosiery and underwear.
    Between October 1 and December 31, 1926, wage data were collected by the agents of the bureau from the pay rolls and other records of 105 representative establishments in the hosiery industry m 18 States and 85 representative establishments in the underwear industry in 15 States. Data were collected for 10,250 males and 20,296 females, or a total of 30,546 in hosiery, and for 2,860 males and 12,188 females, or a total of 15,048 in underwear.
    The 1926 averages in the hosiery industry were full-time hours per week, 51.9; earnings per hour, 47.2 cents; and full-time earnings per week, $24.50. Averages for the underwear industry were full-time hours per week, 50.3; average earnings per hour, 37.8 cents; full-time earnings per week, $19.01. The averages for both industries combined were full-time hours per week, 51.3; earnings per hour, 44.$ cents; full-time earnings per week, $22.73.
    Full-time hours per week for both industries combined decreased from an index of 100 in 1913 to 92.4 in 1926. Average earnings per hour increased from an index of 100 in 1913 to 266.6 in 1926. Average full-time earnings per week increased from an index of 100 in 1913 to an index of 245.6 in 1926.
    Summary figures were published in the May, 1927, Labor Review and detailed figures in Bulletin No. 452.
    Other wage surveys planned during the year but for which no results are yet available are silk mills; foundry and machine shops; aluminum, brass, and copper wares; cotton-oil mills; and electrical house and shop equipment, by which term is meant the manufacture of small motors of 1 horsepower and under, and heating units without regard to horsepower.
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OE LABOR
    UNION SCALES OF WAGES AND HOURS OF LABOR
    Another important wage study made annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics covers the subject of union scales of wages and hours of labor in selected trades and occupations. This study has been confined to the unions working at time rates and which have definite agreements with their employers. In this work the bureau has secured the cooperation of several of the State bureaus of labor, which secure the information from the trade-unions in their State and furnish the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics with copies of reports from such cities and such unions as are contained in our list.
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics has collected information on union wages and hours of labor in selected trades and occupations back to 1907. The report for 1926 covered bakers, building trades, chauffeurs and teamsters and drivers, granite and stone cutters, laundry workers, linemen, longshoremen, book and job and newspaper printing trades, and street-railway motormen and conductors. Trades in the above groups are shown for 66 cities and include a total of , 824,313 trade-union members for whom minimum wages and maximum hours under agreements are shown.
    Data are collected as of May 15 each year by personal visits of special agents of the bureau in the case of 50 cities and by cooperation of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Ohio State bureaus for the other 16 cities located within those States.
    The bureau contemplates enlarging the scope of this report for 1927 and from time to time in the future as conditions may warrant.
    The average hourly wage rate for 1926 of all trades covered, except street-railway motormen and conductors, was $1.148; for motormen and conductors it was $0,662. The average hours for all groups except street-railway motormen and conductors were 45.4. No hours were shown in the case of motormen and conductors because of the irregular shifts worked. The average wages and hours in 1926 in some of the principal trades were as follows:
    Trades	Wages	Hours
    Bakers		$0 925	47 8
    Bricklayers		1 565	44 0
    Carpenters		1 267	44 0
    Painters		1. 305	42 R
    Plasterers		1 595	42 3
    Plumbers		1 381	44 0
    Chauffeurs	 _	. 657	55 1
    Compositors, day, hand, newspaper.	1.120	45.9
    Machine operators, day, newspaper..	1.135	45.4
    Photo-engravers, day, newspaper		1.213	44.1
    The general index number for all trades combined showed that hourly rates of wages for 1926 were approximately two and one-half
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR	51
    times the rates for 1913, while hours per week were 7.2 per cent lower than in 1913.
    A bulletin is published each year including all trades and occupations covered in this survey. In addition wages and hours for 20 of the principal trades in 40 localities are published in the September issue of the Labor Review and a summary for the year in the November issue.
    STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS AND COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS
    Closely connected with the wage studies of the bureau has been the work of the division which reports on strikes and lockouts and the division reporting on collective agreements and arbitration awards.
    Strikes and lockouts.
    Since 1916 the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been compiling statistics of industrial disputes and publishing condensed statements thereof in the Labor Review. Prior to 1926 such publication had been made quarterly and annually, but beginning with November, 1926, a change was made to a monthly basis to conform with the bureau’s desire to publish its statistics monthly whenever possible.
    There is no legislation in the United States requiring the reporting of strikes and lockouts to the Federal Government, and the bureau has no machinery for the prompt and full recording of such disputes. For the initial reports of disputes it must rely largely upon newspapers and other publications supplemented by information supplied by the conciliation service of the Department of Labor. As a result the bureau’s records should not be regarded as entirely complete. It is believed, however, that all the larger and more important strikes are duly recorded.
    In following up the preliminary reports of disputes reliance in the past has been placed chiefly upon correspondence, all parties to a controversy being written to and requested to fill out forms covering the principal items of information desired. This system has been only partially successful, and it is now planned to use representatives of the department to check up and complete the detailed reports desired. By this means it is expected that in future the bureau’s monthly reports on strikes and lockouts will be greatly improved.
    As shown by the data published by the bureau the number of industrial disputes in the United States for the past few years has been at a low level. Thus in 1926 the number of disputes in which the number of persons involved was reported was only 783, with 329,592 workers affected, or a smaller number than in any other year since the beginning of the bureau’s reports in 1916. The yearly
    52	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OE LABOR
    records from 1916 to 1926, and preliminary figures for the first four
    months of 1927, are as follows:
    Number of disputes and employees involved, by years, 1916 to April, 1921
    Year	Disputes in which number of employees involved was reported			Year	Disputes in which number of employees involved was reported
    	Number of disputes	Employees			Number of disputes	Employees

    		Number	Average per dispute			Number	Average per dispute
    1916		2,667 2,325 2,151 2,665 2,226 1,785	1, 599,917 1,227,254 1,239,989 4,160,348 1,463,054 1, 099, 247	600 528 576 1,561 657 616	1922	899 1,199 898 1,012 783 378	1,612,562 756, 584 654,641 428,416 329,592 289,146	1, 794- 631 729 423 421 765
    1917					1923
    1918					1924 ..
    1919					1925
    1920							1926 1
    1921							1927 2

    i Excluding those involving fewer than 6 persons and those lasting less than 1 day.
    1 First 6 months of year.
    The outstanding dispute occurring during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, was that of the bituminous-coal miners in the union fields. This dispute began April 1, 1927, and is still unsettled.
    Collective agreements and arbitration awards.
    The bureau makes every effort to collect copies of new collective agreements and arbitration awards. It has, however, no special equipment for this purpose and must rely largely on the labor unions and employers to furnish these documents. A careful search of the newspapers, trade-union journals, and labor papers is made in order to keep in touch with developments along this line.
    After the agreements have been received, study is made of their contents and any new features or peculiarities or changes in conditions, or any items deemed for any reason to be worthy of mention are noted and printed in the Labor Review. Similarly, changes in wages or hours are also stated and printed monthly in the Review.
    At the end of the year all available agreements made during the year are analyzed for publication in the annual bulletin on “ Trade agreements ” for that particular year. The bulletin for 1926, No. 448, will soon be issued.
    Arbitration awards are similarly treated. Significant ones are printed, in whole or in part, in the Review, as are also decisions of impartial chairmen in various branches of the clothing industry, in cities where impartial machinery has been set up, and decisions of the train service boards of adjustment.
    A complete reorganization of the divisions handling strikes and lockouts and collective agreements has been made and consolidated with that of union scales of wages and hours of labor, the purpose
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    53
    being to coordinate or practically merge the three. This administrative change has not been functioning long enough to justify a report upon it at this time.
    EMPLOYMENT IN SELECTED MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes monthly reports on employment in selected manufacturing industries, based on returns obtained by correspondence from nearly 11,000 establishments. These reports show the number of people employed and the total amount of their earnings in one week in 54 of the most important manufacturing industries. Additional facts are given as to changes in rates of wages, changes in per capita earnings, and changes in operating time, and the percentage of full-time and part-time operation for the plants as a whole.
    Approximately three-fourths of the 11,000 establishments make reports directly io the bureau each month; the remaining establishments make reports to the department of labor of the State in which they are located, these departments in turn furnishing the Bureau of Labor Statistics with a copy of the data, thereby saving a duplication of reports on the part of the establishments. At present this cooperative arrangement is in force with seven States—California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Wisconsin.
    Index numbers, which show relatively the variations in number of persons employed and in pay-roll totals in each Industry surveyed, as well as for all industries combined, are published by the bureau, together with charts, which show the course of employment over a series of months. These graphic charts make easily possible a comparison of industrial activities in the current month with conditions in previous months, and especially with conditions in the same month of the preceding year, the last-named comparison being a most reliable measure of general industrial.conditions. That is, while variations in employment and pay-roll totals from month to month may truly indicate increases or depressions in business, the relative monthly levels are most sensitive to seasonal variations, and hence may be wrongly interpreted, but when a comparison is made over a year’s interval the variation in levels is of the utmost significance.
    The average index of employment for the 12 months ended June 15, 1927, was 1.3 per cent lower than the corresponding average for the 12 months ended June 15, 1926. Employment in each of the first six months of 1927 has been at a somewhat lower level than in the corresponding month of 1926; pay-roll totals have also been lower in 1927 than in 1926, except in the month of May, when the level was the same in 1927 as in 1926.
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    The collection of monthly employment data of this character makes possible also a comparison of industrial conditions in the different sections of the United States and enables a study of the growth or decline of an industry in one section as compared with another section. For example, a study of the cotton-goods industry in the New England States, the Middle Atlantic States, and the Southern States has just been published, covering the period from January, 1923, to May, 1927, which graphically pictures the remarkable changes which recently have taken place in the location of this industry. Similar studies are made from time to time, as variations in an industry become apparent and as means are available.
    In handling the monthly data on employment statistics every effort is made to secure prompt compilation and publication of the results. Under the system now employed, a mimeographed summary statement of the data for each month is released on or about the 16th of the succeeding month and a printed pamphlet containing all details is issued about a week later.
    General index of employment and pay-roll totals in manufacturing industries, January, 1923, to June, 1927
    [Monthly average, 1923=100]
    Month	Employment					Pay-roll totals
    	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927
    January		98.0	95.4	90.0	92.3	89.4	91. 8	94 5	90 0	93 9	90 9
    February		99.6	96.6	91.6	93.3	91. 0	95.2	99.4	95 1	97 9	96 4
    March..		101.8	96.4	92.3	93. 7	91.4	100 3	99 0	96 6	99 1	97 7
    April...			101.8	94.5	92.1	92. 8	90 6	101 3	96 9	94 2	97 2	96 6
    May		101.8	90.8	90.9	91.7	89. 7	104 8	92 4	94 4	95 6	95 6
    June		101.9	87.9	90.1	91.3	89.1	104.7	87. 0	91.7	95 5	93.3
    July		100. 4	84.8	89.3	89. 8		99. 9	80. 8	89 6	91 2
    August				99.7	85.0	89.9	90. 7		99.3	83.5	91.4	94.6
    September		99.8	86.7	90.9	92.2		100.0	86.0	90.4	95. i
    October		99.3	87.9	92.3	92.5		102.3	88.5	96. 2	98. 6
    November		98.7	87.8	92.5	91.4		101.0	87.6	96. 2	95.4
    December				96.9	89.4	92.6	90.9	—	98.9	91.7	97.3	95.6	—
    Average		100.0	90.3	91.2	91.9	190.2	100.0	90.6	93.6	95.8	1 95.1
    1 Average for 6 months.
    In addition to the compilation of data showing the volume of employment and the amount of pay roll the bureau shows («) the percentage of establishments operating full time and part time and the average percentage of full time operated, and (&) the percentage of establishments operating with full force and part force, and the average per cent of full force employed. All of these items are shown by industries and by groups of industries.
    WHOLESALE PRICES
    Wholesale prices in representative markets of the country are collected each month by the bureau for more than 500 commodities. In some instances prices for a particular grade or quality of an
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    55
    article of special importance are obtained in several different localities. In other instances prices for several different grades of an important article are obtained in the same locality. At present 404 commodities or price series are included in the bureau’s weighted index numbers.
    A majority of the price quotations are taken from standard trade journals. About one-third are furnished directly by manufacturers or sales agents. In a number of instances prices are furnished by officials of boards of trade and similar bodies. As far as possible the quotations for the various commodities are secured in their primary markets. For example, the prices quoted for livestock and most animal products, as well as for most of the grains, are for Chicago; flour prices are mainly for Kansas City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis; pig iron and steel for Pittsburgh; and so on.
    The information collected by the bureau is published annually in bulletin form, each bulletin containing monthly data for the last two years and yearly data back to 1890. Detailed information is also published monthly in pamphlet form and in the Labor Review.
    The bureau’s results show that wholesale prices have appreciably declined in the fiscal year covered by this report, the weighted index number falling from 152.3 in June, 1926, to 143.7 in June, 1927, a decrease of nearly 5% per cent. Farm products declined approximately 3% per cent, foods 6% per cent, and clothing materials 3 per cent in the year. Fuels show the largest decrease of all, with a net decline of approximately 11% per cent in 12 months. In all of the commodity groups prices at the end of the fiscal year were lower than at the beginning.
    Revision of bureau’s wholesale price index.
    The purpose of the bureau’s wholesale price index being to show the changes in the price level, it has been realized for some time that the element of weighting derived from the volume of the various articles carried that reached the markets in the census year 1919 was to say the least rather old and might be inadequate. Many articles that were of very little importance in 1919 have become of exceedingly great importance since; for many articles where the weights or volume entering into the country’s commerce could not be secured in 1919, this information can now be definitely ascertained. There were also many articles where the weights could be ascertained, but there was no reliable source of prices so that these could not be used.
    During the fiscal year the bureau decided to change the weighting base from 1919 to a base which would represent the average of the two census periods 1923 and 1925, together with any information for the intervening year that could be procured, and to change the base price for index purposes from the average of 1913 as equaling 100 to the average of prices for 1926 equaling 100.
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Complete revision of the bureau’s index numbers of wholesale prices is now well under way, and it is expected that the new results can be announced early in the next fiscal year. The revision consists of (1) a change in the price base from the pre-wTar year 1913 to the last completed year, 1926, as and (2) the substitution of more recent data for the 1919 weighting data used in the construction of the index numbers for groups of commodities. In addition, a considerable number of articles of great importance, such as automobiles and tires, agricultural implements, prepared fertilizers, by-product coke, rayon, and box board, have been included in the revised figures, while several articles no longer important, as clay worsted and middlesex suiting, New York State hops, and Bessemer steel billets and rails, have been dropped.
    The shift in the price base from 1913 to 1926 has been made in order that the latest and most reliable information may be utilized as the standard for measuring price changes. Also it has become increasingly more apparent that the year 1913 is now too remote to furnish longer a satisfactory base for comparing prices.
    For much the same reasons data for the years 1923 to 1925 have been substituted for the 1919 figures used in weighting the prices included in the index numbers. Where trustworthy information for the three years 1923, 1924, and 1925 could be procured, as in the case of agricultural products, the average for these years was used as the weight. For manufactured products the census reports of 1923 and 1925 wyere used. In all cases the most recent and dependable information obtainable has been employed in constructing the weighted index numbers for the various groups of commodities. In addition, a few changes of minor importance have been made in the arrangement and composition of the groups. It is intended to include about 550 commodities in the revised index numbers.
    RETAIL PRICES
    For a number of years the bureau has collected and published data relating to retail prices of food. Prices are now secured for 43 articles in 51 cities. The information is furnished by approximately 1,500 retail dealers, the number ranging from 10 to 15 in the smaller cities to as high as 30 in several of the larger cities. Furthermore, reports are now received from about 240 bakeries, 225 retail coal dealers, 80 gas companies, and 70 electric-light companies. This information is furnished voluntarily on blanks supplied by the bureau.
    In the case of food, the retail dealers who furnish the information are selected through personal visits of agents of the bureau, the dealers being largely owners of neighborhood and chain stores patron
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    57
    ized by workingmen’s families. After the agent has selected a store, arrangements are made with the merchant to forward to the bureau a statement of prices of the various commodities on the 15th of each month thereafter. Return visits to the various firms are made by agents whenever it becomes necessary to make personal inquiries concerning the price quotations, or to secure new reporters in place of firms gqing out of business or who persistently fail to send in their reports.
    Coal dealers in each city are requested to quote prices on the kind of coal usually sold for household use. The prices relate to coal delivered to consumers, but do not include charges for storing the coal in cellars or coal bins when extra handling is necessary. Gas and electricity prices are collected twice a year, viz, June 15 and December 15, companies being visited frequently by agents of the bureau as questions arise that can be answered only by a personal interview with the official supplying the information. Coal, gas, and electricity prices are secured in each of the 51 cities for which food prices are collected.
    The information relating to retail prices is published annually in a bulletin, summaries back to 1890 being given in each report. Since July, 1915, much information has also been included in the Labor Review. The prices are published in the form both of averages and of index numbers. The index numbers for all food articles combined are made from weighted aggregates of actual money prices in order that each article may have an influence equal to its relative importance in consumption in the average family, the year 1913 being used as the price base or 100 per cent.
    The retail food index number is used frequently in wage discussions, food being estimated at about 38 per cent of the entire family expenditure and data being available each month, while cost-of-living figures as a whole are collected only twice a year.
    During the 12 months ending with June, 1927, retail prices of food have shown a downward trend, the index number for June being 158.5 compared with 159.7 for the corresponding month of 1926.
    COST OF LIVING
    Since 1918 the bureau has been publishing “ Changes in the cost of living.” However, when the work was begun prices were secured in a number of cities back to December, 1914, consequently the tables bearing on this subject start from that date.
    There are two essential features in this work. One is to find the differences from time to time in the prices or cost of the several articles entering into the usual family expenditures, and the other is so to “ weight ” the price of each article or group of articles that it 71308—27---------5
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    will have its proper effect on the cost of living as a whole. It is evident that the price of an overcoat will have greater weight in the family budget than the price of a pair of shoes or of a hat, but an overcoat will usually last several years, while most men purchase shoes and hats each year, so that the latter items may cost as much or more in the total than the former item.
    Having provided a system of weighting, the next step is to secure information relative to the prices of the various items or articles entering into the usual family budget and their changes from time to time. The number of articles is so great that it is impracticable to get prices at frequent intervals on all the articles the average family buys, so the bureau has selected a number of the more important and representative articles of each of the six groups and secures prices on these articles. It is believed that the articles so selected fairly represent all the articles in the respective groups, and that changes in the cost of living, based on changes in the cost of these articles, are very close to the actual changes experienced by the average family. The manner of securing and computing prices of food, coal, gas, and electricity is described under the section devoted to “ Retail prices.” All other prices are secured periodically by special agents of the bureau, who visit merchants, dealers, and agents and get data directly from records.
    In selecting stores and establishments from which to secure prices every effort is made to get representative firms in various sections of the city which are patronized by workingmen’s families.
    Quotations for each article are secured from four stores or establishments, with a few exceptions, such as street-car fares, for instance, where in the nature of things not so many quotations can be obtained.
    Data on rents are secured from 400 to 2,200 houses and apartments in each city, depending on the population. These houses are such as are occupied by representative workingmen’s families.
    Prices of clothing, furniture, and the like, are secured through the personal visits of agents, rather than by correspondence, for two reasons. The articles in these groups are not standardized to the extent that articles of food are; neither can they be described so definitely as to be readily identified at all times. Besides this, the grade or quality as well as the style of clothing, furniture, and the like, is constantly changing, and substitutions frequently have to be made. It is absolutely essential in order to secure correct results, when such substitutions or changes are made, that the article substituted be as nearly as possible of the same quality or grade as the original article. The experience of the bureau is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain satisfactory results in this work by correspondence. It requires the personal investigation and careful inquiry
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    59
    of a trained agent who thoroughly understands the work to secure the best results. Whenever substitutions have to be made prices are secured on the article substituted for the previous price period as well as for the present, so that the figures will always be comparable.
    The following table gives index numbers with 1913 as the base, or 100, showing changes in the total cost of living in the United States from 1913 to June, 1927:
    Index numbers showing changes in cost of living in the United States, 1913 t& June, 1927
    Date	Index numbers	Date	Index numbers	Date	Index numbers
    Average, 1913			100.0	May, 1921	 ..	180.4	December, 1923		173.2
    December, 1914.		103.0	September, 1921		177.3	March, 1924.		170.4
    December, 1915		105.1	December, 1921		174.3	June, 1924		169.1
    December, 1916		118.3	March, 1922		166.9	September, 1924		170.6
    December, 1917			142.4	June, 1922		166.6	December, 1924		172.5
    December, 1918		174.4	September, 1922		166.3	June, 1925			173.5
    June, 1919		177.3	December, 1922		169.5	December, 1925		177.9
    December, 1919		199.3	March, 1923		168.8	June, 1926		174.8
    June, 1920			216.5	June, 1923		169.7	December, 1926...'....	175.6
    December, 1920		200.4	September, 1923	..	172.1	June, 1927...		173.4
    In the year interval, June, 1926, to June, 1927, only five of the cities—Cincinnati, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Norfolk, and Seattle— show increases ranging from 0.2 per cent to 0.6 per cent, while the other 27 cities show decreases ranging from 0.1 per cent to 3.4 per cent.
    In the six-month interval, December, 1926, to June, 1927, all the cities, with the exception of Seattle, show decreases ranging from 0.4 per cent to 3.3 per cent, Seattle showing an increase of 0.4 per cent.
    Need for a new family budgetary survey.
    From the above it will be noted that the value of the bureau’s cost-of-living figures depends very largely upon the accuracy of the measurement of the standard of living as derived from the family budget survey. The family budgetary survey upon which the bureau is depending for its weights or, in other words, for the amount of each article consumed by the average workingman’s family, was made in 1918-19 and is therefore practically 10 years old. That survey covered 12,096 families. These families were pretty well scattered, but the distribution was based upon the fact that the information was primarily wanted for the United States Shipping Board; hence shipbuilding centers received possibly more consideration than they would in a budgetary survey intended to furnish a cross-section view of the entire industrial population of the United States.
    There can be little doubt in the mind of anyone who has had even casual contact with the workers of the United States that the standard of living has greatly improved since 1918. It has frequently
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    been stated that the per capita consumption of bread and flour is lower than it was several years ago, but the answer to this is that as our people learn the meaning of a balanced ration more vegetables and fruits will be used and less bread. The same is true of meat. As a nation we have been accused of being too heavy meat eaters; nevertheless, as education advances, this corrects itself; and the decrease in consumption of both of these articles of food does not mean a lowering of standards, but probably means a better or more intelligent standard. On the other hand, the 1918 survey did not cover installment buying. Just what effect installment buying of automobiles, radios, household electrical appliances, and the like may be having upon the purchases of the more generally accepted regular articles of household need, even food, it is impossible to tell. Retail grocers in many instances claim that installment buying of articles, such as automobiles, is at the expense of the table, and the story of the girl who so gladly accepted an invitation to dinner at a neighbor’s, with the remark that she had not had a square meal since her father bought the automobile, is quoted as typical of the entire situation. Those who deny and those who affirm are equally without information that could be accepted as evidence by anybody.
    It must be clear that if there has been a redistribution of expenditures along lines other than those found to be true in 1918, then the collection of present prices on articles consumed in 1918 and the application of these prices to the volume and distribution of consumption as found in 1918 does not give a 1927 cost-of-living picture. It is a very serious question as to whether or not the bureau should continue to collect up-to-date prices to be applied to a 1918 quantity distribution of family purchases and call this an up-to-date cost of living.
    Another use that has been recently made of the bureau’s family consumption figures has shown that those figures enable the manufacturers to determine very closely as to the volume of a given product which the American market would absorb; also that they give local merchants a very definite idea as to the quantity of any designated article of household or family use that can be sold in a given city in a year.
    A new family budget survey is being considered, the geographical limits of the survey to be selected along broader lines. The new survey should cover a better selection of industrial centers according to the proportion of our working population engaged in the various industries. A larger number of smaller cities should be included. The survey should include a larger number of families and the income limit of families to be budgeted should be increased. More stress should be laid upon quantity consumption per family and
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    per individual and a more careful study of installment-plan purchases should be made. In short, the study should be planned and conducted upon the basis of our methods of living to-day.
    PRODUCTIVITY OF LABOR
    In the earlier years of its existence the Bureau of Labor Statistics devoted a very large proportion of its time to the collection of wages, or what the worker is paid for his time. This spread from year to year until the bureau has an astonishing fund of wage information covering a very large group of industries. Subsequently much of the bureau’s time and effort were given to the subjects of cost of living, food prices, and so on, to determine what it costs the worker to live, and this in relation to the wages he receives. Under the present administration it has been felt that the other point of the triangle, should be ascertained to make the picture complete; that is to say, what the worker does for the wages he receives. We have ascertained what the worker receives for his labor and what he gets for the money received when he in turn spends it to maintain himself, but no attention has been paid to what the employer gets for the money he pays in wages. While this phase of the industrial problem has received some attention since the beginning of the present administration of the bureau, it is only within the past fiscal year that thoroughly worked-out plans have been put into operation.
    During recent months the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been devoting very considerable attention to the subject of labor productivity. The technical progress of an industry consists very largely of an increase in the amount of goods produced per unit of labor. The changing output of goods per man per hour is one of the best measures of the increased efficiency of labor and industry.
    The measurement of productivity is a problem entirely distinct from that of assigning the causes of any increases or decreases that may have taken place over a period of time. The increased output per man-hour in a given industry may have been due to more skillful and efficient labor, to new inventions, improved machinery, superior management, or any one of a number of factors; but the bureau in these general summaries makes no attempt to determine the relative importance of these factors. Labor time is used as the unit for measuring productivity, but this does not imply that the increased output is due to the efforts of labor alone, or that it is due to the efforts of labor at all.
    The productivity studies of the bureau have been along two lines: (1) To develop, from existing data, indexes of productivity showing for various important industries the changes in the output per man-hour over a period of years, and (2) special field studies of selected
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    industries. A study of the glass industry has been completed, as also a study of one branch of the cotton-manufacturing industry. Similar field studies of the iron and steel industry, the printing trades, and longshore work are now under way.
    Indexes of labor productivity.
    The primary problem in the compilation of indexes of labor productivity is that of harmonizing the statistics of production and of employment which are already being gathered by governmental and other agencies. These statistics have been compiled for other purposes than measurement of productivity, and they are not always readily combined to show output per man-hour; but when the importance and practicability of productivity measurement is clearly understood, it should be possible to gather employment and production figures in the important industries of the country in such a way that the changes in output per man per hour can be clearly and accurately shown from year to year. The timeliness of this work of the bureau is emphasized by the rapid growth and widespread use of such measurement by individual concerns for their own purposes.
    In approaching this problem the bureau has been interested primarily in general summaries of the man-hour productivity in the industry as a whole rather than sample data for important plants. The loss in accuracy of the general summary is more than counterbalanced by the comprehensiveness of the material and the significance of the resulting indexes. Thus far the bureau has been able to construct productivity indexes for 11 industries. These have shown increases in output per man-hour from 1914 to 1925, as follows: Iron and steel, 59 per cent; boots and shoes, 6 per cent; leather tanning, 26 per cent; slaughtering and meat packing, 27 per cent; petroleum refining, 83 per cent; paper and pulp manufacturing, 34 per cent; cement manufacturing, 61 per cent; automobiles, 172 per cent; rubber tires, 211 per cent; flour milling, 36 per cent; and sugar refining, 28 per cent. For the most part the period covered is that from 1914 to 1925, though occasionally it has been possible to make indexes further back, to 1909 or earlier. In no industry has there failed to be an advance in productivity between 1914 and 1925, while in some the output per man-hour has been doubled and even tripled in the last 10 years.
    The general productivity studies above described have relied chiefly on data already compiled and drawn from numerous sources. While sufficiently accurate for general purposes, the indexes so derived must be revised and amplified by direct field investigation before
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    thoroughness and exactness is attained. Further, the bare measurement of productivity must be supplemented by analysis of the reasons for changes which are discovered in order that the statistical results may not be misused by those economic groups desiring to claim the larger share of the credit for greater efficiency. The bureau is therefore ascertaining and measuring the causes of increased output per man-hour by means of these special field studies.
    Labor productivity in the glass industry.
    A very comprehensive study of the glass industry, with special reference to labor productivity, has been compiled and will be published shortly as Bulletin No. 441. The importance and general results of this study were set forth as follows in a summary published in the April, 1927, Labor Review:
    In no other industry has the introduction of machinery had a more dramatic effect upon labor productivity than in the glass industry. Thus, to take an extreme example, in the blowing of 4-ounce prescription bottles the average output per man is more than forty-one times as great with the automatic machine as with the hand processes which were in general use up to less than 20 years ago. This means a great reduction in the number of workers necessary to turn out a given quantity of product. It also means a great change in the character of the labor force. Instead of a group of very highly skilled glass blowers, assisted by a group of unskilled “ boys,” the automatic machine employs mechanics and machine operators, with little or no demand for child labor.
    These revolutionary changes in the glass industry have taken place within a period of 25 years. The advent of the twentieth century found the glass industry in the United States still in the stage of hand production. With the exception of a few experimental semiautomatic machines used for the making of vaseline jars, the process of blowing bottles and other glassware was essentially the same as that used in Egypt some 3,500 years ago. In 1925 hand production had all but disappeared from the field. Its place was taken first by the semiautomatic and more recently by the automatic machines.
    Perhaps a better idea of what has really happened in the glass industry can be given by the introduction here of a table showing the index numbers of labor productivity and labor cost by various articles and processes. The old hand-production method is here made the basis of the index. In other words, the hand process equals 100, and the table should be read as follows: Two-ounce prescription ovals, where one man produced 100 by the old hand process he would produce 3,906.4 with a machine, the percentage of increase being 3,806.4. Assuming the labor cost under the hand process to be $1, the machine labor cost would be $0.0274, the per cent of decrease in labor cost being 97.26.
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Index numbers of labor productivity and labor cost in the glass industry, by article and process
    Article	Labor productivity			Labor cost
    	Hand process	Machine	Per cent of increase	Hand process	Machine	Percent of decrease
    Bottles:
    2-ounee prescription ovals....	100.0	3,906. 4	3,806.4	100.0	2.74	97.26
    4-ounce prescription ovals			100.0	4,109.8	4,009. 8	100.0	2.70	97.30
    2-ounce extract panels		100.0	2, 511. 6	2,411.6	100.0	4.20	95.80
    >6-pint sodas		100.0	1, 642.0	1, 542.0	100.0	6.70	93.30
    1-pint whisky Randies		100.0	742.1	642.1	100.0	10.30	89.70
    1-quart milk bottles		100.0	1,449.3	1,349.3	100.0	5.10	94.90
    5-gallon water carboys.		 Pressed ware:	100.0	994.0	894.0	100.0	17.10	82.90
    8-9-ounce table tumblers		100.0	1, 228.1	1,128.1	100.0	6.70	93.30
    10-ounce table tumblers		100.0	1, 240.0	1,140.0	100.0	6.65	93.35
    4J4~5-inch nappies..					100.0	759.6	659.6	100.0	8. 62	91.38
    6-7-inch nappies		100.0	491.0	391.0	100.0	13.26	86.74
    3J4-ounce sherbets		100.0	817.0	717.0	100.0	8.97	91.03
    4J4-5-ounce sherbets	 Blown ware:	100.0	630.5	530.5	100.0	12.62	87.38
    Lamp chimneys		100.0	142.3	42.3	100.0	62.50	37.50
    25-watt electric bulbs		100.0	3,126. 2	3,026. 2	100.0	3.39	96.61
    40-watt electric bulbs		100.0	3,142.6	3,042. 6	100.0	3.39	96. 61
    9-10-ounce punch tumblers			100.0	1,419.1	1,319.1	100.0	7.00	93.00
    Glass tubing, sizes 19-21		100.0	591.9	491.9	100.0	18. 55	81.45
    Glass tubing, sizes 32-34		 Window glass:	100.0	746.7	646.7	100.0	14.70	85.30
    Single strength				100.0	261.1	161.1	100.0	31.30	68.70
    Double strength				 Plate glass:	100.0	228.4	128.4	100.0	32.80	67.20
    Rough plate				100.0	145.0	45.0	100.0	74.90	25.10
    Polished plate					100.0	160.5	60.5	100.0	66.70	33.30
    Labor productivity in cotton manufacturing.
    The results of an investigation of labor productivity in an American cotton mill were published in the Labor Review for September, 1926. Comparisons were made of production per man-hour and of labor costs during selected periods—1911, 1916, and 1925. The tabulations showed that 10.08 pounds of yarn were manufactured per man-hour in the 1911 period; that in the 1916 period the production had increased 4.9 per cent to 10.57 pounds per man-hour, while in the 1925 period it had advanced 9.7 per cent over the 1916 production to 11.59 pounds per man-hour. Cloth production from the yarn also showed an increase. In the 1911 period the output was 7.95 pounds per man-hour, but rose to 8.26 pounds per man-hour in the 1916 period, an increase of 3.9 per cent, and to 10.31 pounds in the 1925 period, a gain over 1916 of 24.8 per cent. The increases in both departments were mostly due to installation or substitution of more modern equipment or labor-saving devices, though also affected by more efficient management and better plant organization. Finishing of the cloth showed an increase from 56.62 pounds per man-hour in 1911 to 74.63 pounds in 1916, or 31.8 per cent, principally due to reduction in number of workers, but showed a drop to 63.40 pounds per man-hour in 1925, a decrease from 1916 of 15 per cent, through employment of additional help to insure better quality of cloth.
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    The foregoing figures are compiled from the books of a single cotton mill and therefore can not be accepted as having general application. The fact that in cotton mills the number of looms tended has been within the last few years increased from a general average of 12 looms per weaver to specific instances where one weaver is expected to tend 60 looms would indicate that for the occupation of weaver at least the production per man-hour has increased almost immeasurably. In this connection it ought, however, to be stated that the time of skilled workers is being more and more restricted to the actual use of such skill. Formerly the weaver did many things which were not directly connected with weaving while his loom was working all right and did not particularly require his attention. More recently, however, he is supposed to have looms enough to keep him busy as a weaver every minute and a much cheaper grade of labor is employed to do many of the things that the weaver formerly did. This change in division of labor taken in connection with the improvement in automatic devices connected with the modern loom has made it possible to increase very materially the number of looms tended.
    Labor productivity in the iron and steel industry.
    In the iron and steel industry the bureau’s representatives are now engaged in gathering data on productivity from blast-furnace, open-hearth, and Bessemer plants. This study will cover substantially every plant in the United States engaged in the production of pig iron and “ tonnage ” steel ingots. It is expected to throw light on the history of the industry and on the comparative status of the various producing districts and classes of plants. In its well-established accident statistics the bureau has obtained for many years information showing the total man-hours worked, by years, in the principal operating departments of the steel industry. In the present study effort is made to clarify the man-hour data and to obtain production and operating data in such a way that reliable indexes of productivity can be constructed and the changes attributed to major specific causes.
    Labor productivity in the printing trades.
    A study of labor productivity in the printing trades now being ■carried on seeks to obtain specific information on changes in methods, tools, or machinery, so as to compare present and past output for selected occupations, reduced to man-hour basis, as well as conditions of manufacture and the labor cost.
    In the beginning it was intended to include all the different operations belonging to the industry, but when it was realized that the many varied conditions would create conflicting comparisons, and that such a complete survey would consume too much time, the study
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    was eventually confined to the three principal mechanical processes in newspaper printing—composition, stereotyping, and presswork. Several cities were visited and information obtained direct from the pay rolls and production records of establishments, together with required data on equipment and working customs. Manufacturers of printing machinery were also interviewed for information on the various machines or attachments built by them, improvements, capacity, and other records pertaining to the survey.
    The results of this investigation will be published shortly in bulletin form.
    Labor productivity in longshore work.
    A study of the productivity of labor in longshore work—that is to say, in the loading and unloading of vessels—was started in the early part of 1927. In recent years many new methods and many new mechanical devices have been introduced in this work, and the present study should develop valuable information as to the relative efficiency of hand and machine methods as well as to the changes in labor productivity which have occurred in recent years.
    The problem of increased productivity of labor has become so important, especially in view of, first, the tendency in some quarters, to reduce the wages of unskilled men; second, the efforts put forth in certain quarters to break down our immigration restriction laws; and, third, the intake of labor through Mexico and Canada, that a-further study of this subject was taken up based upon the census figures, which enabled us to go a little further back than the available figures in this bureau. Such a study was printed in the Labor Review for May, 1927 (pp. 16-18). The essential features of that study are here quoted:
    Index numbers of wage earners in manufacturing industries, of population, of wage earners per 1,000 population, and of quantity of manufactured goods produced
    Year	Wage earners in manufactures	Population	Wage earners per 1,000 population	Quantity manufactured	Quantity manufactured per wage earner
    1919			100. 0	100. 0	100 0	100 0	100 0
    1921				77. 2	103. 3	73. 9	78 6	101 8
    1923		97. 5	106. 4	90. 7	120 2	123 3
    1925				93.3	109.9	83.9	125.0	134.0
    The data in the above table are remarkable. The number of wage earners in manufacturing industries was reduced nearly one-fourth between 1919 and 1921. There was a great increase from 1921 to 1923 and a falling off again in 1925, but in not one of the three later years was the level of 1919 reached.
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    Between 1919 and 1925 the number of wage earners decreased 6.7 per cent, yet population increased 9.9 per cent. Wage earners per 1,000 population in 1925 were 16.1 per cent fewer than in 1919. However, while the number of wage earners decreased between 1919 and 1925, there was an increase of 25 per cent in the quantity of goods produced. The last column of the table is of great significance, as it shows a continued increase in productivity per wage earner. The increase was not large between 1919 and 1921, but in 1923 each wage earner in manufacturing produced 23.3 per cent more goods than in 1919, and in 1925, 34 per cent more goods.
    The index numbers as to wage earners are computed from census reports which are complete and comparable. The census method of estimating population is considered exact; hence the number of wage earners per 1,000 of population must be nearly correct. There are many industries not included in the index of manufacturing production, but the industries included are so broad in scope that there is no reason to question the representative character of the figures, the industries included being iron and steel, textiles, food products, paper and printing, lumber, automobiles, leather and shoes, cement, brick, glass, nonferrous metals, petroleum refining, rubber tires, and tobacco.
    If we refer to the general index of employment as carried by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and attempt to couple it up with this study based upon census reports we will find that the decrease has been steady throughout the succeeding years. True, the census study is based upon the wage earners in manufacturing in proportion to population, while the bureau study is the volume of employment as indicated by the names on the pay rolls of a certain number of industrial establishments. The census shows that taking 1919 as 100 the index of wage earners in manufacturing in 1923 was 97.5. The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses the average of 1923 as 100 and finds that the volume of employment dropped to 90.3 in 1924 and rose slightly in 1925 to 91.2, again slightly in 1926 to 91.9, while for the first six months of 1927 it was 90.2. In comparing these, however, one must remember that the basic level or the 100 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics was equal to only 97.5 of the census index based on a comparison with 1919.
    INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS
    This section had its origin in a special investigation authorized by resolution of the United States Senate in 1910. That investigation covered hours, wages, labor conditions, and accidents in the iron and steel industry. The inquiry into accidents in the iron and steel indus
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    try has been continued annually. Its purpose, as well as the purpose of all accident inquiries carried on by the bureau, has been as follows:
    1.	To set up the average experience as a standard by which a given section of the industry might determine its relative standing in the matter of accident occurrence.
    2.	To determine by year-to-year presentation whether the trend of accidents is in the direction of increase or decrease.
    3.	To show by suitable examples the possibilities of accident prevention when the problem is attacked with intelligence and vigor.
    4.	To afford illustrative material for use in the prosecution of accident-prevention campaigns.
    The data used in the accident bulletins of the bureau have been derived from two sources—namely, from the concerns involved and from the records of State compensation commissions.
    In the case of the iron and steel industry the first data were assembled before the enactment of any compensation laws. Having begun by inquiry directed to the individual concerns it has been convenient to continue that procedure to the present time.
    For two years past the bureau has been gathering information regarding the experience of the State jurisdictions dealing with industrial accidents in order to determine accident rates for industrial groups other than iron and steel. For 1925 reports were secured regarding 24 industries located in 11 States, operating 1,272 plants and employing the equivalent of 555,988 full-year workers. This information was furnished in part by the State bureaus and in part was secured by a representative of the bureau in cooperation with the State officials.
    It is, of course, impossible to determine exactly what influence the placing on record of the facts regarding accidents in the iron and steel industry may have had in the remarkable decline in frequency and severity which has occurred in recent years. That it was an important factor there can be no doubt.
    What has taken place in the matter of accident reduction is illustrated by a few figures from a table found in the Labor Review for December, 1926. This table covers a section of the iron and steel industry in which accident prevention has been long continued and strenuous. From 1913 to 1925 the frequency rate declined, for the entire group, from 60.3 to 8.2. In the operation of machinery the decline was from 7.3 to 1.6. Hot substances declined from 5.4 to 0.6. Similar declines might be noted in other causes of injury. When the accidents are classified according to the departments of the industry the same trend is observed.
    During the past year a compilation of the accident experience of the iron and steel industry to the end of 1925 was published in the Labor Review (December, 1926) and also a compilation showing the
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    accident experience in various American industries in 1925 (October, 1926, issue). In addition there was prepared a bulletin which brought together all accident statistics for the United States over a period so far as such statistics were available. (Bui, No. 425.)
    The most serious need of the section at the present time is to be able to make more extended and more prompt contacts with the State bureaus. It is highly desirable to make personal visits to these officials. By so doing it will be possible to secure a greater degree of cooperation and to acquaint them with the plans of the bureau in a more definite way.
    INDUSTRIAL SAFETY CODES
    The bureau’s activities in connection with the American Engineering Standards Committee in the development of industrial safety codes is closely coupled with the machinery of the industrial accident section of this bureau.
    The portion of this activity which most directly affects the work of the bureau is the revision of its Bulletin No. 276, Standardization of Industrial Accident Statistics. This bulletin, originally prepared by the committee on statistics and compensation insurance costs of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, with the cooperation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is now 10 years old and seriously in need of revision. By agreement with the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, the industrial accident prevention conference held in Washington, D. C., July 14-16, 1926, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the matter of such revision -was proposed to the American Engineering Standards Committee and the revision is now in progress under the procedure of that committee.
    In its general work in cooperation with the American Engineering Standards Committee the bureau is the authorized representative of the Department of Labor on its executive and main committees, and as such is delegated to furnish representatives on all sectional committees having to do with industrial safety codes from the ranks of the workers actually employed to use the tools and machines to which the codes refer. The bureau further publishes for distribution throughout the industries and organizations of workers interested in each specific code the industrial safety codes as they are developed.
    Another function of the bureau in connection with the American Engineering Standards Committee work is to urge upon the States the adoption of these safety codes. A resume of State action on national safety codes so far as it had gone at that time was printed in the Labor Review for October, 1926 (pp. 47-50).
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    Some 40 codes have been projected, on most of which some work has been done. Of these, some 17 have been completed and approved. The safety codes which have been published by this bureau to date are as follows:
    Bui.
    No.
    331. Code of lighting factories, mills, and other work places.
    336. Safety code for the protection of industrial workers in foundries.
    .350. Specifications of laboratory tests for approval of electric headlighting devices for motor vehicles.
    ■351. Safety code for the construction, care, and use of ladders.
    364. Safety code for mechanical power-transmission apparatus.
    375. Safety code for laundry machinery and operations.
    378. Safety code for woodworking plants.
    382. Code of lighting school buildings.
    410. Safety code for paper and pulp mills.
    430. Safety code for power presses and foot and hand presses.
    433. Safety codes for the prevention of dust explosions.
    436. Safety code for the use, care, and protection of abrasive wheels.
    Bulletins Nos. 430, 433, and 436 were published during the fiscal year under review.
    The following codes are in process of publication:
    Bui.
    No.
    447. Safety code fdr rubber mills and calenders.
    451. Safety code for forging and hot-metal stamping.
    TABOR LEGISLATION IN THE VARIOUS STATES AND DECISIONS OF COURTS AFFECTING LABOR
    The two principal lines of work of this section that have been carried on since its establishment have been the compilation of bulletins reproducing the labor laws of the United States, and a presentation of selected court decisions of interest to labor. Beginning with 1912, bulletins on court decisions have been separate publications, usually annually, but in two instances combining two years in one.
    The sources of the material contained in the bulletins relating to labor laws have been the officially published codes, compiled statutes, and session laws of the various States. For the court decisions the national reporter system of the West Publishing Co. is the chief reliance. Each issue is examined for the purpose of discovering its contents, and representative cases or cases of striking importance are selected for presentation in the annual bulletins.
    Besides these general bulletins a separate series is published on the subject of workmen’s compensation and insurance. An occasional complete presentation of all workmen’s compensation laws and an annual review of new legislation and amendments make up this series.
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    71
    Occasional bulletins are also prepared on subjects of current importance, such as the minimum wage laws, labor laws declared unconstitutional, and wage payment laws. Reports of the bureau having a specific legal basis, as on convict labor, carry also a compilation of the laws on the subject, which is prepared by this section.
    During the fiscal year the following bulletins on the above-mentioned subjects have been published: Laws relating to the payment of wages (Bui. No. 408), Decisions of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1925 (Bui. No. 417), Labor legislation of 1926 (Bui. No. 434), and Workmen’s compensation legislation of the United States and Canada (Bui. No. 423).
    For the Labor Review, articles were written on subjects of current economic and legal interest, or giving account of outstanding decisions or action; digests were also prepared of reports of the State compensation commissions.
    A considerable amount of research was involved in the preparation of answers to inquiries which reached the department on subjects of interest involving the legal aspects of labor problems. Various incidental activities were also engaged in, as called for by the Secretary of Labor or the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, such as data for the drafting of bills and brief disc'ussions of specific points of legal interest coming before the department.
    BUILDING OPERATIONS IN PRINCIPAL CITIES OF THE UNITED STATES
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects data concerning building permits issued annually from cities of 25,000 population and over and semiannually from cities of 100,000 population and over.
    Summary results are given in the Labor Review and detailed data are published in bulletin form. The 1925 survey was published as Bulletin No. 424, and the 1926 survey will be issued shortly as Bulletin No. 449.
    Questionnaires were sent out on January 1, 1927, to each of the 319 cities in the United States having a population of 25,000 or over according to the estimate of the Census Office. Reports were received from 294 of these cities. Of these 294 cities reports from about 90 per cent were received by mail, either direct from the local building officials or from State bureaus cooperating with the bureau in this work. The States of Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania are cooperating with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Data from the remaining 10 per cent of the cities had to be collected by agents of the bureau. These data were obtained in the offices of the local building officials either from records kept by them or directly from the building applications.
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    In 1920 when this work was first taken over by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the Geological Survey it was necessary to send agents to over 40 per cent of the cities in order to collect the data in the manner desired.
    The primary purpose of the bureau in collecting information concerning building permits issued is to show the housing facilities provided in the different cities of the country, both as to the number of families provided for and the kind of dwelling provided. In addition the bureau also shows the amount expended for building in the different cities and the changes in the amounts spent for the different kinds of buildings, thus measuring the chances for employment in the different building trades.
    The 1926 figures showed that a total of $3,625,325,946 was spent for new buildings in 294 cities with a population of 25,000 or over.. Of this amount 63.3 per cent was for residential building and 36.7 per cent for nonresidential building.
    In 1926 reports were received from 257 cities which have reported continuously since 1921. In these 257 cities 462,114 families were provided for in new buildings. Of this number only 40.7 per cent were cared for in one-family dwellings, 13.9 per cent in two-family dwellings, and 45.4 per cent in multi-family dwellings (apartment houses). In 1921, on the other hand, 58.3 per cent of the 224,545 families provided for in that year were domiciled in one-family dwellings, 17.3 per cent in two-family dwellings, and only 24.4 per cent, in apartment houses.
    This change in the character of American homes seriously affects the wage earners of the country. First, the increased apartmenthouse living undoubtedly means a smaller percentage of homes owned. This makes for less settled conditions in the community.
    Less observed, but also very significant, is the effect that such a fundamental change in type of building has upon the character of the work demanded in those employed in the construction industry. Broadly speaking, the one-family dwelling is primarily a matter of bricks and wood, and the workers employed are chiefly bricklayers and carpenters. The large apartment house, on the other hand,, while still demanding carpenters and bricklayers, also calls for structural iron and steel workers, for concrete work on a large scale,, very often for elaborate stone, tile, and sheet-metal work, and usually for a number of accessory trades which are needed very little or not at all in the building of small residences, particularly those of the cheaper type.
    While the country as a whole shows that nearly one-half the total number of families provided for by new buildings were to live in apartment houses, the individual cities differ greatly in this respect.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    73
    In New York, for instance, 71.6 per cent of the families provided for were cared for in apartment houses, while in Baltimore only 6.8 per cent were to live in the multi-family dwellings.
    Another thing the bureau is attempting to do is to see how far the country as a whole and the individual cities have by postwar building made up the housing shortage occasioned by the war-time curtailment of building.
    COOPERATION (OTHER THAN AGRICULTURAL)
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics has for nearly a decade been following the development of the consumers’ cooperative movement not only in the United States but throughout the world. An attempt is made to sketch for the public all new developments by means of the Labor Review, in which a regular section on cooperation is carried month by month. As the cooperative activities in the agricultural field have long been covered by the Department of Agriculture, the bureau has confined itself to the other phases of the movement—those in which the working people are especially interested. In 1920 the bureau made the first comprehensive statistical study of the consumers’ societies made in this country.
    A second and more comprehensive study of the cooperative movement was completed and published during the past year. (Bui. No. 437.) This study covered all phases of the movement except the cooperative marketing of agricultural products. The study includes credit societies; cooperative workshops; consumers’ societies selling general merchandise, gasoline and motor oils, and bakery goods; and those operating laundries, restaurants, boarding houses, and the like; and housing societies. The section on consumers’ societies is a revision of the study of this type of society made in 1920.
    On the basis of returns made to the bureau it is estimated that the membership of the types of societies covered in the study numbers more than 700,000 persons and that the combined business of the societies amounts to considerably in excess of $300,000,000 a year. More than $1,250,000 were returned in patronage dividends in 1925 by the societies reporting.
    The credit societies are expanding more rapidly than any other phase of cooperation, due to the recent passage of enabling legislation in many States. These societies are filling a real and widespread need, supplying a source of credit at low rates for persons of small income, who have heretofore had difficulty in securing loans. The value of this type of society is attested by the fact that although credit cooperation has developed only within the past few years, at the end of 1925 at least 170,000 persons were members of credit unions, there were societies in some 30 States, and about $30,000,000 71308—27--------6
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    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    was disbursed in loans during 1925. Besides the benefit to the borrowers of the low rate of interest, the societies reporting returned in dividends more than $450,000.
    The consumers’ societies have come through a period of hard times since 1920, but now seem to have rallied. The stability of the movement seems further favored by the shift of emphasis within the movement from high dividends to the accumulation of adequate reserves.
    The housing societies are proving their worth in congested places, such as New York City, where accommodations are difficult to secure and rents are high.
    The cooperative workshops, though presenting an interesting attempt to solve the problem of employment and livelihood, are not expanding to any appreciable extent. The study covered 21 of the 39 known to be in existence in 1925. These had a total membership of 2,438, of whom 465 were employed in the business; 807 nonmembers were also employed. The business of these societies for 1925 amounted to somewhat over $4,500,000 and profits were made by 12 societies amounting to about $250,000. Societies of this type are often handicapped by lack of knowledge of salesmanship and market conditions, and hence may have difficulty in disposing of their product.
    The study disclosed on the whole a slow but healthy growth in cooperation since the bureau’s first cooperation study in 1920.
    Another phase of the bureau’s work along this line lies in answering the numerous inquiries received on the subject of cooperation, some of which require considerable research.
    In order the better to keep in touch with developments in the movement a representative of the bureau is sent to the national congress of consumers’ societies held every two years in one of the various cities of the United States.
    INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
    The work of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the field of industrial hygiene includes the publication of occasional bulletins dealing with industrial poisons or diseases; a review of current medical literature as it relates to occupational hazards, which is published each month in the Labor Review; and replies to the many inquiries regarding specific poisons or the hazards from gases, dusts, and fumes, which are addressed to the bureau either directly by the persons requesting the information or by other Government offices which have referred the inquiries to this bureau.
    Two bulletins dealing with the health of workers were published during 1926-27: Bulletin No. 426, Deaths from Lead Poisoning, and
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    75
    Bulletin No. 427, Health Survey of the Printing Trades. Bulletin No. 426 is a statistical study from various sources of the number of deaths occurring from lead poisoning in different occupations in the United States and certain of the European countries, and Bulletin No. 427 embodies the results of a field survey of health conditions in the printing trades.
    In the review of current medical literature relating to industrial hygiene and occupational diseases published in the Review, digests are given of articles appearing in American and foreign medical journals and of special reports prepared by Government bureaus or other investigating agencies. Some of the subjects covered in the past year were as follows: Health hazards in brass foundries and in photo-engraving plants; lead poisoning among motor-car painters and in the rubber industry; benzol poisoning; occurrence of nickel rash in a nickel refinery; carbon-monoxide poisoning; silicosis in gold mines; occupational skin diseases; eye conservation in industry; and the physical and mental effects of noise.
    The requests for information in regard to specific hazards which are directed to this bureau come from employers who suspect that some substance or process in use in their plants may be hazardous or who have had suspicious cases of illness arise, and from employees who fear their working conditions may be harmful to health. During the past year information has been sought from the bureau in regard to the hazards, symptoms of poisoning, and so on, resulting from exposure to fumes of nitric acid, sulphur and carbon bisulphide, and the danger from exposure to lead, aniline, carbon tetrachloride, dibutyl phthalate, tetraethyl lead, brass, benzol, nitrobenzol, and mercury. Inquiries were received also in regard to the ill effects of gasoline and other petroleum products and to the incidence of cancer due to these products; to the effect of dust inhalation on metal grinders; and to the effects of humidity on the health of workers.
    Every effort is made by the bureau to supply the information requested in these inquiries, but this work is hampered by the lack of a properly equipped personnel. For the regular work of the bureau on this subject the part-time services only of one person have been available.
    WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics has by general agreement become the clearing house for information concerning the activities of the various State boards and commissions administering the workmen’s compensation laws of the various States.
    In addition to the publication annually of workmen’s compensation laws as amended in the various States, a section devoted to this
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    topic is carried in the Labor Review. The bureau also publishes the proceedings of the annual conventions of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, which is an organization composed of the various State workmen’s compensation boards and commissions. During the year the following bulletins were published dealing with the subject of workmen’s compensation: Bulletin No. 423, Workmen’s Compensation Legislation of the United States and Canada, and Bulletin No. 432, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions.
    SPECIAL SURVEYS
    Among the special surveys made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics during the year the most extensive study was that on—
    Personnel activities for employees.
    The field work of a study by the bureau of the personnel activities carried on by employers for the benefit of their employees in manufacturing establishments and in commercial and transportation enterprises was completed in August, 1926. The study covered, in the main, plants in which more than 300 persons were employed, and industries in different sections of the United States were visited by agents of the bureau, so that the conditions shown may be considered fairly representative of the policies in effect in the larger plants throughout the country.
    The study was undertaken because of a request by the National Conference on Outlook Recreation that the bureau make a survey of the facilities provided industrial employees for participating in outdoor recreation and sports, but was extended to cover other features of personnel work as well. Schedules were secured from 430 plants with a total of nearly 2,000,000 employees. The following articles on subjects covered in the study have been published in the Labor Review and will form a part of the completed report to be published in the fall:
    Vacations with pay for wage earners. (May, 1926, issue, pp. 1-7.)
    Medical and hospital service for industrial employees. (January, 1927, issue, pp. 7-19.)
    Lunch rooms in industrial establishments. (March, 1927, issue, pp. 13-22.) Sick leave with pay for factory workers. (April, 1927, issue, pp. 33, 34.) Outddor recreation for industrial employees. (May, 1927, issue, pp. 1-16.) Group insurance experience of various establishments. (June, 1927, issue, pp. 76-86.)
    A comparison of conditions with those shown in a similar survey made 10 years ago shows a considerable extension of many of the services provided by employers and improvement in the quality of
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    77
    service rendered. Emergency hospitals and lunch rooms are among the more necessary features of personnel work and the proportion of employers providing these services is greater than at the time of the previous study. There is a larger number of well-equipped dispensaries or emergency hospitals at the present time and more companies are doing work along preventive lines in addition to the care of actual cases of sickness or injury. Three hundred and seventy-three of the companies visited have hospital rooms and provide the services of one or more physicians or trained nurses or both, while 34 furnish first-aid equipment only.
    The granting of vacations w’ith pay to production workers is becoming increasingly popular as employers are coming to realize that the costs are not prohibitive. In the present study, 133 firms were found to be giving vacations to shop employees who have a record of service varying in the different establishments from a few months to not more than two years. This is in decided contrast to conditions 10 years ago, when only 16 firms were found to be giving vacations to the larger part of their wage-earning force. The usual vacation is one week, although when less than one year of service is required it may be for varying lengths of time from three days to a week. Additional leave is granted by many firms for longer periods of service, usually beginning with 10 years. Sick leave with pay granted to factory workers according to a definite plan was also found in a number of cases.
    Facilities for recreation, both indoor and outdoor, are provided by many companies. These take the form of clubhouses or clubrooms, athletic fields, country clubs, or summer camps, bowling alleys and game rooms, swimming pools, and so on. In many cases the athletics are in charge of a director and there are many organized teams of various kinds.
    A very great extension in the provision of group insurance has also been one of the developments of. recent years. This form of insurance, which is changing from straight life insurance paid for usually by the employer to insurance covering in addition sickness, accident, and even endowment features, was found in force in 186 of the establishments visited.
    FUTURE INVESTIGATIONS
    The following studies are now under way:
    State and municipal pensions.
    The public interest in pension systems appears to be growing and the bureau is continually receiving requests for information as to where such systems are in use, how effective they are, and what are their most important features. To meet these inquiries the bureau
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    has undertaken a study covering all state-wide pension systems and municipal pension systems in cities having a population in 1926 of at least 400,000. The intention is to find what classes of employees are brought under such systems, what is the general practice as to requiring contributions from employees, how the retirement allowance is calculated, what are its minimum and maximum amounts, what conditions as to age and years of service must be fulfilled before a pension can be claimed, at what age retirement is permitted, at what age, if any, it is compulsory; whether pensions are given to disabled employees and, if so, under what conditions; what is the custom as to refund of contributions in case of death or withdrawal before a pension is gained, what is the cost of the system, how expenses of administration are met—in brief, to learn all the attainable facts which may be of use to those contemplating the establishment or the reorganization of a retirement system.
    Labor turnover.
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics was the pioneer in research work as to the extent, causes, and cost of what has now become generally known as “ the labor turnover.” These studies had to be dropped in 1920 when the first severe reduction in the bureau’s appropriations was made. During the fiscal year covered by this report efforts were made to resume this work. Cooperation with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. has been perfected to the extent that that organization is now arranging the contacts with large employers who furnish to the insurance company their records of labor turnover. The understanding between this bureau and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. is substantially this, that as soon as a sufficient number of establishments signify their willingness to report labor turnover monthly to make it possible to classify these returns by industries and there is a sufficient volume of reports in each industry to make it possible to establish a labor turnover index, then the entire matter will be turned over to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In other words, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. undertook to do the field work necessary to put a labor turnover study on its feet. The results of the work of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. are published quarterly in the Labor Review.
    The value of a labor turnover study which could be developed into index numbers by industries is only beginning to be understood by the manufacturers and by the workers.
    It is now planned to have this study include also a labor stability index; that is to say, to show not only the number of workers who quit, die, or are discharged but also those who remain in the employ of the same corporation or company for a period of 12 months or longer. It is beginning to be realized that a study of the “ stays ”
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    79
    is quite as valuable as a study of the “ quits.” Besides it brings out the fact that labor turnover is frequently confined to a very small percentage of the total employees. Cases are on record where there was a turnover of 234 per cent as applied to the entire pay roll; 19 per cent, however, remained during the year, so that the 234 per cent must be applied not to 100 per cent of the employees but to 81 per cent. Again, there was an instance where 82 per cent of the employees remained throughout the year, so that whatever labor turnover there was applied to 18 per cent of the jobs, but these changed so frequently that there was a 30 per cent labor turnover applied to thft entire pay roll.
    The importance of locating the spots to which heavy turnover applies is for the purpose of determining whether or not there are bad conditions of labor in that particular area of the plant.
    Another value of labor turnover statistics that is just beginning to be realized is its application as a quantitative measure of the success of welfare plans, shop committee plans, stock distributions, and other schemes having as their basic economic purpose the holding of employees. It is all very well to say that the elements entering into turnover are so varied that it can not be considered an answer to any question, but the fact remains that if any industrial relations plan has been introduced for the purpose of holding the employees, the real test of the success or failure of that plan is, Does it hold the employees? Labor turnover is the individual strike. By merely computing turnover percentages you can not, it is true, determine the cause of those strikes, but you can be sure that any specific scheme of management introduced to prevent dissatisfaction among the employees of that establishment has failed to reach the cause of the dissatisfaction.
    Apprenticeship in the building trades.
    Recent building activity throughout the country emphasized some unwholesome and unprofitable conditions in the building industry and led to a renewed interest in the question of apprentice training. To determine to what extent apprenticeship is a factor in the industry, and what effect the agitation for a revival of the apprentice system is having, the Bureau of Labor Statistics began an investigation in June, 1926, in several cities. The bureau limited its study to actual apprenticeship; that is, actual contract or some equivalent obligation extending over a stipulated period of years. Helpers who are hired and dismissed according to the needs of the moment were not considered, even though they might be boys of apprentice age who will eventually become journeymen.
    The survey planned will cover the following cities, which are considered representative: Atlanta, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; Birmingham,
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    Ala.; Boston, Mass.; Buffalo, N. Y.; Charleston, S. C.; Chicago, Ill.: Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Memphis, Tenn.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Newark, N. J.; New Orleans, La.; New York City, N. Y.; Niagara Falls, N. Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and St. Louis, Mo.
    Some of these cities were known to have organized movements for training apprentices in accordance with provisions of the Federal vocational education law. These were studied to determine the operation of the system and the effects of the movement on the supply of mechanics. Other cities, about which the bureau had no previous information, were visited to determine whether or not anything was being done in apprenticeship training by any of the parties at interest.
    Sources on which the bureau has drawn for information are the local building-trades unions, the trade associations of employers where they are organized, builders’ exchanges, school authorities, and representative individual employers. Among the individual employers visited are union and open-shop men and contractors who do and who do not employ apprentices.
    Factors entering into the apprentice question which have been made the salient points in the investigation are the supply of train-able material, the demand for trainees on the part of the contractors, the attitude of unions and employers toward apprenticeship and the efforts they are making to promote it, the extent and effect of union regulations governing apprenticeship, provisions for continuity of employment, the practicability and effectiveness of part-time school training, the different plans of concerted action on the part of organized employers and journeymen, the record of completion of apprenticeships, and the effect on the local building situation of the various systems on the one hand and lack of system on the other.
    Accident compensation to seamen.
    This study will cover the question of the frequency of accidents among seamen and the amount and character of the compensation received.
    EDITORIAL DIVISION
    The editorial division is responsible for the preparation and issue of the Labor Review, and is also charged with the editing, proof reading, and preparation for the printer of all publications of the bureau. The 12 numbers of the Labor Review issued during the past fiscal year represented a total of 2,785 printed pages. The 24 bulletins printed and delivered during the year represented a total of 3,926 printed pages. This makes a grand total of 6,711 pages handled by the editorial division. The printing is, of course, done by the Government Printing Office, but the editorial division proof reads, both in galley and page, all bureau publications.
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    81
    Publication of results of work.
    During recent years the bureau has placed increasing emphasis upon the prompt publication of the results of its work. For this purpose the Labor Review is of primary importance. In it are published the monthly compilations of retail and wholesale prices, employment statistics, and statistics of strikes and lockouts; the semiannual surveys of changes in cost of living; summaries of all wage surveys as soon as such surveys are completed; and the results of special studies, either in whole or in part.
    The detailed basic data of all important studies are later published in bulletin form. But there is usually and necessarily some delay in the printing of such bulletins, and the prompt publication of the principal findings of a study in the Labor Review meets the requirements of the great majority of interested persons.
    Furthermore, for the use of those particularly concerned, mimeographed or printed releases of the monthly studies of employment and prices and of the semiannual cost-of-living surveys are prepared and made public as soon as the data are assembled. Thus, as an example, a summary of the employment statistics for each month is ready for distribution in mimeographed form on the 16th of the succeeding month, and a printed pamphlet containing the full report, with charts, is published about two weeks later.
    Labor Review.
    The Labor Review is published on the 16th of each month. As noted above, its primary function is to serve as a medium for the prompt publication of the results of the bureau’s surveys and studies. In addition it seeks to follow the work of other agencies engaged in activities affecting labor and to present the results of studies and reports in the labor field both in the United States and foreign countries. To this end the editorial division of the bureau secures and reviews practically all the current publications in any way dealing with labor matters.
    The Labor Review averages about 225 pages each month. It is impracticable to attempt a review of all the material published therein during the past year. It may be noted, however, that in addition to the current reports on prices, employment, wages, and so forth, and the current reviews of labor developments, the Labor Review during that period contained some 35 special articles covering a very wide field. Most of these represented original work on the part of the bureau’s staff, while a few were contributed by outside students and investigators. Of these special articles the following are believed to be of unusual interest: Welfare work in the British coal industry; accidents among Government employees; Filipino contract laborers in Hawaii; labor conditions among textile workers in
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    India, China, and Japan: prevalence of five-day week in American industry; the municipal market system of Norfolk, Va.; changes in occupational character of immigration since the war; chambers of labor in Austria; productivity of railroad labor; factory labor turnover—two new monthly indexes; labor conditions during the 1926 apple harvest in the Wenatchee Valley; comparison of employment and productivity in manufacturing industries, 1919 to 1925; the work of the International Labor Organization; exploitation of labor through nonpayment of wages, and efforts of labor offices to enforce payment; and cooperation as a world movement.
    Bulletins.
    With few exceptions the bulletin method of publication is reserved for the more extended studies, which are too long for complete publication in the Labor Review. As already pointed out, however, the effort is made in every case to publish a summary account of each study in the Labor Review, this summary appearing well in advance of the complete report and for most readers supplying all the information desired. The bulletins, however, contain the detailed data which are essential for intensive analysis of a subject.
    During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, the bureau published a total of 24 bulletins. Several of these have been referred to above under the several division headings. For convenience of reference, however, the full list is appended:
    No. 412. Wages, hours, and productivity in the pottery industry, 1925. (175 pp.) No. 415. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1925. (255 pp.)
    No. 416. Hours and earnings in anthracite and bituminous coal mining, 1922 and 1924. (92 pp.)
    No. 417. Decisions of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1925. (281 pp.)
    No. 418. Retail prices, 1890 to 1925. (229 pp.)
    No. 419. Trade agreements, 1925. (151 pp.)
    No. 420. Handbook of American trade-unions. (199 pp.)
    No. 421. Wages and hours of labor in the slaughtering and meat-packing industry, 1925. (149 pp.)
    No. 422. Wages and hours of labor in foundries and machine shops, 1925. (159 pp.)
    No. 423. Workmen’s compensation legislation of the United States and Canada as of July 1, 1926. (687 pp.)
    No. 424. Building permits in the principal cities of the United States in 1925. (83 pp.)
    No. 425. Record of industrial accidents in the United States to 1925. (113 pp.) No. 426. Deaths from lead poisoning. (45 pp.)
    No. 427. Health survey of the printing trades, 1922 to 1925. (149 pp.)
    No. 428. Proceedings of the Industrial Accident Prevention Conference, held at Washington, D. C., July 14-16, 1926. (169 pp.)
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    No. 429. Proceedings of the thirteenth annual convention of the Association of Governmental Labor Officials of the United States and Canada, held at Columbus, Ohio, June 7-10, 1926. (123 pp.)
    No. 430. Safety code for power presses and foot and hand presses. (64 pp.)
    No. 431. Union scale of wages and hours of labor, May 15, 1926. (212 pp.)
    No. 432. Proceedings of the thirteenth annual meeting of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, held at Hartford, Conn., September 14-17, 1926. (243 pp.)
    No. 433. Safety codes for the prevention of dust explosions. (40 pp.)
    No. 434. Labor legislation of 1926. (58 pp.)
    No. 435. Wages and hours of labor in the men’s clothing industry, 1911 to 1926. (63 pp.)
    No. 436. Safety code for the use, care, and protection of abrasive wheels. (22 pp.)
    No. 437. Cooperative movement in the United States in 1925 (other than agricultural). (165 pp.)
    In addition, the following bulletins were in process of being printed on June 30, 1927:
    No. 438. Wages and hours of labor in the motor-vehicle industry, 1925. (114 pp.)
    No. 439. Handbook of labor statistics, 1924-1926. (828 pp.)
    No. 440. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1926. (255 pp.)
    No. 441. Productivity of labor in the glass industry. (204 pp.)
    No. 442. Wages and hours of labor in the iron and steel industry, 1907 to 1926. (192 pp.)
    No. 443. Wages and hours of labor in woolen and worsted goods manufacturing, 1910 to 1926. (44 pp.)
    No. 444. Decisions of courts and opinions affecting labor, 1926. (295 pp.1)
    No. 445. Retail prices, 1890 to 1926. (230 pp.1)
    No. 446. Wages and hours of labor in cotton goods manufacturing, 1910 to 1926. (49 pp.)
    No. 447. Safety code for rubber mills and calenders. (10 pp.)
    No.448. Trade agreements, 1926. (204 pp.)
    No. 449. Building permits in the principal cities of the United States in 1926. (120 pp.1)
    No. 450. Wages and hours of labor in the boot and shoe industry, 1907 to 1926. (100 pp.1)
    No. 451. Safety code for forging and hot-metal stamping. (36 pp.1)
    1 Estimated.
    84
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION
    Harry E. Hull, Commissioner General
    During the fiscal year 1926 to 1927 no new immigration legislation of any particular importance was passed and the Bureau of Immigration has continued to administer the selective immigration act (partial) of February 5, 1917, and the numerical restrictive act, known as the immigration act of 1924, frequently referred to as the quota act of 1924. The 1917 act provides for the exclusion and deportation from the United States of certain classes of undesirable aliens, including physically and mentally disabled persons, anarchists, criminals, immoral persons, and the like, and the 1924 act limits the number of aliens of each nationality that may annually be admitted to the United States.
    IMMIGRATION STATISTICS
    In the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, a total of 538,001 aliens were admitted to the United States, as compared with a total of 496,106 aliens for the previous year. As compared with 1926, 253,508 aliens departed during 1927, against 227,755 departures for the previous year. Therefore, for the past fiscal year there were 284,493 aliens admitted in excess of departures, as compared with 268,351 for the preceding year.
    Of the 538,001 aliens admitted in the past fiscal year, 335,175 were immigrants, or newcomers for permanent residence, and 202,826 were nonimmigrants returning from a temporary visit abroad or coming here for a visit. Of the 253,508 aliens who departed, 180,142 left the United States with the intention of returning, while 73,366 departed without expressing an intention of returning.
    About three-fourths of the present-day immigrant aliens are in the prime of life, 16 to 44 years of age. During the past fiscal year less than one-sixth, or 51,689 aliens, were undei^ 16 years of age, 254,574 were between 16 and 44 years, and 28,912 were over 45 years of age. Of the 335,175 alien immigrants, 194,163 were males and 141,012 females, though quite a few countries sent more females than males. For example, Greece sent 1,516 females as compared to 573 males. The excess of females over males for individual countries consists mostly of wives of American citizens, such aliens being admissible without regard to the quota provisions of the 1924 act.
    Practically one-half of the immigrants admitted during the past year came from countries in the Western Hemisphere, the quota restrictions not applying to these countries. Canada and Mexico furnished the greatest number of immigrants, 81,506 coming from Canada, and 67,721 from Mexico, or about 45 per cent of the entire
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR	85
    number of immigrants for the year. Europe sent 168,368, the largest contributors being Germany, 48,513; the Irish Free State, 28,054; Great Britain, 23,669; the Scandinavian countries, 16,860; Italy, 17,297; and the rest of the European countries contributing 33,975. As compared with figures of the previous year, Canadian immigration to the United States decreased 10.5 per cent, Mexico increased 56.3 per cent, and European immigration increased 8.2 per cent.
    DEPORTATION OF ALIENS
    The expulsion of undesirable aliens from the country is one of the most important functions of the Immigration Service. The classes of aliens subject to deportation include criminals, anarchists, insane and feeble-minded aliens, aliens who have become public charges, and the like. During the past fiscal year 12,055 aliens were arrested and deported, as compared with 10,904 for the preceding year. Of the total number, 12,055, 4,775 were returned to Europe, 2,913 to Canada, 2,790 to Mexico, 545 to other countries of the Western Hemisphere, 566 to Asia, 73 to Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, and 393 departed before deportation orders to specific countries were issued. The number of aliens deported for the past year exceeds the number deported for the previous year by 758 and is the largest number deported in a single year by the Immigration Service, this notwithstanding the fact that during the latter part of the fiscal year it was necessary to curtail deportation activities because of the lack of an available appropriation. In addition to the 12,055 aliens against whom deportation proceedings were actually instituted and whose cases were disposed of in the manner described above, there were approximately 14,619 aliens subject to deportation who departed, before deportation proceedings were instituted.
    VISA PETITIONS
    Under the immigration act of 1924 citizens of the United States residing therein, over 21 years of age, may, by petitioning in the manner prescribed by law, secure nonquota status for their wives and unmarried children under 18 years of age. The law also provides that in the issuance of quota visas preference shall be given to the unmarried children under 21 years of age, the father, the mother, the husband, or the wife of a citizen of the United States who is 21 years of age or over. During the past fiscal year 34,169 petitions were filed with the bureau for the issuance of nonquota visas in behalf of wives and unmarried children under 18 years of age and for preference status in the issuance of quota visas for children between the ages of 18 and 21 years, parents, and husbands, an increase of approximately 10,300 over the preceding year. Of this number 27,623 were approved and 3,203 rejected, the remainder for one reason or another, not being perfected.
    86
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    REENTRY PERMITS
    The immigration act of 1924 provides that alien immigrants lawfully admitted to the United States may return to this country after a temporary visit abroad without being charged to the quota. To facilitate the reentry of such persons and to obviate the necessity of their obtaining nonquota immigration visas from American consular officers, there is a provision whereby such aliens may secure in advance of their departure a reentry permit which is issued by the Commissioner General of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor.
    During the fiscal year the bureau received 112,254 applications for permits. Of this number, 102,195 applications were granted and permits issued, 5,840 were denied, and 4,219 were pending at the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1927. During the year 9,110 extensions were granted, making a total of 111,305 permits and extensions granted. At the rate of $3 for each permit and extension, a total of $333,915 was covered into the Treasury.
    During the previous year 104,666 permits and 4,034 extensions were granted, realizing a total of $326,100. As compared with the previous year 2,471 fewer permits were issued this year, but 5,076 more extensions were granted. Therefore there was a net increase of 2,605 applications granted, or an increase of $7,815.
    The reentry permit system has now been in operation since the date the present immigration act became effective, July 1, 1924. In the course of that period there have been 88 cases where aliens have presented themselves for admission with fraudulently obtained permits issued to other persons by changing photographs or otherwise altering the permits. Also during this period 66 cases were discovered in which the reentry permit was counterfeited. However, these difficulties have been overcome by the adoption during the past year of a new style of permit, which it is thought will be much more difficult to successfully counterfeit; and also by the adoption of a system whereby the proper holders of the permits must be identified both prior to their departure when the permits are delivered to them and upon their return. Since the adoption of the new permit and system of issuance there has been but one attempt at substituting photographs, and that attempt was discovered and the alien deported.
    CHINESE
    The number of Chinese admitted during the past fiscal year was 8,305, (1,051 immigrant and 7,254 nonimmigrant) as compared with 8,622 (1,375 immigrant and 7,247 nonimmigrant) for the previous year. During the past year 9,881 Chinese departed, showing an excess in departures over arrivals of 1,576. In the previous year 9,015
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    87
    departed, an excess over the arrivals of that year of 393, so it will be seen that many more Chinese departed in comparison during the past year than for the previous year. Of the total number of arrivals seeking admission for the past year 598 were refused; whereas 477 were refused for the previous year.
    A far-reaching decision, principally involving persons of races ineligible to citizenship, but also applying to persons of all races, was handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 6, 1927, as yet unreported. This case is known as Weedin v. Chin Bow. It involves a question of citizenship which directly concerns large numbers of Chinese. Section 1993 of the Revised Statutes reads as follows:
    “All children heretofore born or hereafter born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, whose fathers were or may be at the time of their birth citizens thereof, are declared to be citizens of the United States; but the rights of citizenship shall not descend to children whose fathers never resided in the United States.”
    Prior to the passage of the immigration act of 1924 the question of citizenship of the third generation mentioned in this statute was not essential as the courts had admitted them as “children of citizens,” regardless of their citizenship. However, the 1924 act provides that no alien ineligible to citizenship can be admitted unless they come within certain exemptions named within that act, and the alien children of citizens are not exempt. Therefore, it became necessary to construe this statute for the reason that if these children of the third generations were declared to be citizens they must be admitted as such; otherwise exclusion would have to be directed. The department construed the statute to the effect that unless the fathers of this third generation had resided in the United States prior to the birth of their children, such children were aliens, and the subsequent arrival of the fathers in the United States had no effect on the citizenship of these children. Accordingly, on August 7, 1924, in its general orders it provided the following: “ Where the father of children who are born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States is a citizen of the United States, but never at any time prior to the birth of such children resided therein, such children, for the purposes of the immigration laws, shall be regarded as aliens, even though, subsequent to their birth, the citizen father became a resident of the United States.” The department’s construction of this statute was successfully attacked on habeas corpus in both the district and circuit courts. However, on June 6, 1927, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the two lower courts and unanimously sustained the department’s construction of this statute.
    88	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    This statute has a vital effect on limiting the numbers of Chinese that come to the United States, for the reason that many Chinese who migrated to the United States years ago, before there were any stringent restrictions on their coming, settled down and had children born to them, and these children, being born in the United States, were citizens thereof. Subsequently, following the Chinese custom, they proceeded to their native country, married, and had children born to them. Many of these children remained in China, and they in turn had children born to them. It is this latter class of children that are affected by this decision in cases where their fathers did not migrate to the United States prior to their birth. It is impossible to estimate how many Chinese are, or will eventually be, affected, but the ever-increasing number of this class of Chinese who were coming to the United States prior to the rendering of the decision cited indicates that large numbers would in the course of time find their way to our country if the decision had been to the effect that such persons were citizens.
    BORDER, PATROL
    The border patrol of the Immigration Service continues to expand and for practically an infant organization (it being but three years old) almost amazing results are shown for the past fiscal year. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, the force consisted of 632 men, whereas the authorized force for 1927 was 781. The organization is made up as follows: One supervisor, 4 assistant superintendents, 30 chief patrol inspectors, 170 senior patrol inspectors, 537 patrol inspectors, 24 clerks, 13 motor mechanics, and 2 laborers.
    Most gratifying results are indicated by a comparison of the present year’s statistics with those of the preceding year. During this year 19,382 persons were apprehended and delivered to other officials as compared with 5,580 during the previous year; 786 automobiles were seized as compared with 537 for 1926; 303 boats and other vehicles, as compared with 241; and, most important of all, 12,098 smuggled aliens were captured, compared with 3,382 for the previous year.
    The increased efficiency of the border patrol results from several outstanding causes, principally the increased appropriation, thereby permitting of a larger personnel and more and better equipment, including automobiles. However, undoubtedly the most direct cause for this vast improvement is the fact that the force is growing out of its infancy, having just completed its third year. In the three years of its existence it has been necessary for it to go through a sifting process, for the purpose of weeding out undesirable members who were totally unfit either morally, mentally, or physically for
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    89
    a service of this nature and filling their places, in the hope of finally securing, as near as possible, a 100 per cent complement of the proper type of men. The results hoped for are being accomplished with great rapidity.
    In reviewing the year’s work of this important branch of the service it is believed that the following statement made in this report for the previous year can be repeated with good conscience. “ The border patrol is the greatest deterrent of alien smuggling that has ever been devised, and besides its activities devoted to immigration ends it has made a substantial contribution to the cause of law enforcement in other departments of the Government, notably the prohibition and customs units.”
    FINES
    The amount of fines collected from the various steamship companies for bringing aliens here in violation of law was $440,010, as compared with $644-540 for the preceding year. This reduction in the amount of penalties imposed on the steamship companies reflects increasing efficiency of inspection abroad, a system which was inaugurated within the past few years. It also reflects an increasing degree of cooperation on the part of the steamship companies with the Immigration Service.
    FINANCIAL STATEMENT
    Appropriation for the conduct of the Immigration Service and the administration of the immigration laws
    For the enforcement of regulating immigration into the United
    States____________________________________________________$4,584,865.00
    For coast and land border patrol____________________________ 1, 500, 000. 00
    For physical maintenance and upkeep of immigration stations_	50, 000. 00
    For salaries, Bureau of Immigration_________________________ 91,840.00
    6,226, 705. 00
    The net amount expended during the year for all purposes, after deducting refunds to the appropriation for expenditures not properly chargeable to the Government, was $6,190,270.75, leaving an unexpended balance of $36,444.25.
    Balanced against the expenditures mentioned there was collected as hereinafter shown the sum of $4,267,782.58, making the actual net cost of operation $1,922,478.17.
    Income and sources thereof
    Head tax collected____________________________________________$3, 341, 032.10
    Administrative fines__________________________________________ 392, 561. 69
    Reentry permits and extensions-------------------------------- 333, 915.00
    Bonds forfeited and paid without suit_________________________ 197,931.13
    71308—27-----7
    90	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Sale of exclusive privileges (feeding, money exchange, etc.)_	$1,187.93
    Sale of Government property__________________________________ 722.43
    Miscellaneous collections____________________________________ 86.25
    Coin-box collections, Ellis Island___________________________ 346. 05
    4,267, 782. 58
    IMMIGRANT STUDENTS
    The immigration act of 1924 provides that bona fide students may come to the United States without regard to the quota restrictions and remain here as long as they maintain their status as students. During the past year 1,833 students were admitted as compared to 1,920 for the previous year. Since the present act became effective 5,215 students have been admitted, and of this total 1,085 have completed their studies and left the United States. During the past year 128 additional schools have been approved under the authority of section 4 (e) of the immigration act of 1924 for the admission of immigrant students, making the total number of approved schools 1,034. As stated in the report of last year, the lack of authority in the law to exact bonds guaranteeing that students maintain their status is still apparent. Under the law in general, the department has authority to exact bonds in many classes of cases guaranteeing that aliens will maintain the status under which admitted, but such a provision does not apply to students. The opinion that a requirement to this effect is warranted is borne out by the fact that during the past year it was necessary to issue 135 warrants of arrest for alleged students who failed to maintain their status as such. All the approved schools cooperate splendidly with the department, and when it is ascertained that a student does not maintain his status, a warrant is issued for him and he is deported when apprehended.
    CASES REVIEWED
    Under the system of review which has been devised for purpose of checking and safeguarding the legal rights of aliens who are excluded at the ports and appeal to the Secretary of Labor, and aliens for whom warrants of arrest after entry are issued, 32,970 cases were reviewed and decisions rendered during the past year. The number of aliens involved in these review proceedings was 59,880. In other words, the cases of approximately 5,000 aliens were passed upon in the average month, nearly 200 every working day.
    The following table explains somewhat in detail the character of cases reviewed. It should be explained, however, that the numbers quoted include cases that have been reheard, and therefore are only an indication rather than an exact statement of separate aliens. For instance, in the case of an alien ordered deported because convicted of crime and sentenced to a year or more in the penitentiary, if after
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    91
    the deportation is ordered and before execution a complete pardon is received from the governor of the State under whose law he was convicted, the case would be reopened, thus getting into the record of cases reviewed a second time. Cases may be considered or reconsidered at other times when evidence presented justifies it. The following table, however, is enlightening:
    Cases handled by board of review
    Number of cases reviewed and decisions written------------------------- 32,970
    Number of aliens involved_______________________________________________59,	882
    Number of oral bearings	by the board----------------------------------- 1,	826
    Accompanying aliens________________________________________________________ 129
    Actors_________________________________________________________________ 1>	092
    Alien contract labor____________________________________________________21,	062
    Anarchists, Communists, I. W. W., etc--------------------------------------- 52
    Assisted aliens------------------------------------------------------------ 237
    Barred zone________________________________________________________________ 100
    Children under 16, unaccompanied------------------------------------------- 215
    Crimes involving moral turpitude (burglary, felony, forgery, grand
    larceny, murder, perjury, robbery, smuggling, etc.)-------------------- 2,835
    Domestic servants---------------------------------------------------------- 142
    Entered within one year of deportation------------------------------------- 562
    Excess quota___________________________________________________________ 1> Hl
    Heart trouble______________________________________________________________ 192
    Hernia______________________________________________________________________ 42
    Idiots, feeble-minded, imbeciles, mentally deficient,	etc.)---------------- 133
    Illiterates------------------------------------------------------------ 1> 411
    Insane_________________________________________________________________ 1> 214
    LPC (aliens	arriving	without	funds)--------------------------------- 2,289
    Physically defective (deformed, epileptics, nervous affections, paralysis, and senility)------------------------------------------------------------ 052
    Prostitution,	immorality,	procurer,	etc-------------------------------- 1> 064
    Section 17 (23) (foreign contiguous territory)----------------------------- 526
    Student and student laborers----------------------------------------------- 542
    Surreptitious entry, stowaways, without inspection and without passport or visa_______________________________________________________________12> 044
    TB, LCD, and DCD	(favus, leprosy, trachoma, venereal diseases, etc.)—	727
    Visitors___________________________________________________________________ 261
    Chinese________________________________________________________________ 2> 553
    Japanese------------------------------------------------------------------- 484
    92
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    MISCELLANEOUS IMMIGRATION STATISTICS
    Table 1.—Aliens admitted to the United States, fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, showing principal classes under the immigration act of 1921/, by country or area of birth, as specified
    [Quota immigrant aliens are charged to the quota; nonimmigrant and nonquota aliens are not charged to the quota]
    Country or area of birth	Annual quota	Admitted
    		Quota immigrant	Nonimmigrant	Nonquota immigrant	Total
    All countries—	-	-	164,667	1 158,070	95,704	284,227	538,001
    Europe, total.		161,422	155,605	53,969	107,254	316,828
    Albania		-	----------------	100	99	39	689	827
    Andorra 		100	8	1	6	15
    Austria					785	861	605	954	2,420
    Belgium 		2 512	549	606	1,033	2,188
    Bulgaria 	-	-	-	--	100	119	77	165	361
    C zeeh oslo vakia	- -		3,073	3,030	576	3,390	6,996
    "Danzig, Free Citv of	-	--	228	213	32	28	273
    Denmark 	-		2 2,789	2,619	918	1,405	4,942
    Estonia 				-	---------------	124	132	33	83	248
    Finland	--			471	456	437	1,287	2,180
    France	-	-		2 3,954	3,592	3,148	2,961	9,701
    Germany	-----	51,227	49,649	6,515	7, 973	64,137
    Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
    England			(	12,341	16,530	9,743	38, 614
    Northern Ireland--	-			--	| 2 34,007	889	260	225	1,374
    Scotland			--		13,822	4,011	5,853	23,686
    Wales				I 1,205	529	483	2,217
    Greece 	--------------------	100	164	386	3,848	4,398
    "Hungary				473	492	427	1,404	2,323
    Iceland		100	73	9	17	99
    Irish Free State		28,567	31,566	1,555	3,929	37,050
    Italy 		-	-	---	2 3,845	4,033	3,958	33,818	41,809
    Latvia		142	172	86	174	. 432
    Liechtenstein	_	_ 		100	34	1		35
    Lithuania			-			344	355	156	807	1,318
    Luxemburg		100	102	32	96	230
    Monaco	-		100	8	10	3	21
    Nether lands	-	- - -	21,648	1,568	1,339	1,134	4,041
    Norway.		6,453	6,120	1,969	2,670	10,759
    Poland			5,982	5,977	1,150	6,397	13,524
    Portugal		2 503	451	251	2,583	3,285
    "Rumania		603	753	435	1,489	2,677
    Russia	-		2 2,248	2,014	1,401	1, 738	5,153
    San Marino		100	72	1	3	76
    Spain. 		-				2 131	162	3,729	2,977	6,868
    Sweden		9,561	8,936	1,160	2,952	13,048
    Switzerland		2,081	1,981	1,160	1,428	4,569
    Turkey in Europe		2100	84	200	951	1,235
    Yugosla via - -					671	639	201	2,401	3,241
    Other Europe.			(2)	265	36	157	458
    Asia, total.			1,424	996	10,342	8,691	20,029
    A fgh an i st an		100	1	1		2
    Arabia	-				100	14	3	2	19
    Armenia	-	- -		124	63	35	79	177
    Bhutan...	-	-		100	1	1		2
    China..	-	-		100	125	6,310	2,174	8,609
    India		100	112	421	157	690
    Iraq (Mesopotamia)		100	78	23	6	107
    Japan			100	23	2,775	4,550	7,348
    Muscat	-----	-----	-	100			2	2
    N epal 	-		100		1		1
    Palestine		100	135	147	233	515
    Persia.	-			100	86	37	53	176
    Siam		100	1	27	1	29
    Syria.				100	125	366	555	1,046
    i Also includes aliens to whom visas were issued during the latter part of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, and charged to the quota for that year. (Nationality for quota purposes does not always coincide with actual nationality. See sec. 12 of the immigration act of 1924.)
    ’ Annual quota for colonies, dependencies, or protectorates in Other Europe, Other Asia, Other Africa, Other Pacific, and in America, is included with the annual quota for the European country to which they belong. Quota for Turkey in Asia is included with that for Turkey in Europe.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    93
    Table 1.—Aliens admitted to the United States, etc.—Continued
    Country or area of birth	Annual quota	Admitted
    		Quota immigrant	Nonimmigrant	Nonquota immigrant	Total
    Turkey in Asia		<’) (2)	36 196	113 82	769 110	918 388
    Other Asia
    Africa, total
    	1,200	351	525	198	1,074
    Cameroon (British)
    	100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 (2)	1	2		3
    Cameroon (French)
    Egypt							99	111	38 1 2 5	248 1 11 53
    Ethiopia
    Liberia			6 29	3 19
    Morocco	 .
    Ruanda and Urundi
    South Africa				156 1	316	102	574 1
    South West Africa
    Tanganyika
    Togoland (British)
    Togoland (French)
    Other Africa			59	74	50	183
    Pacific, total
    	621	296	4,343	405	5,044
    Australia
    	121 100 100 100 100 100 (’)	164	3,231	271	3,666
    Nauru
    New Zealand			112	971	94	1,177
    New Guinea
    Samoa			3	14	2 5 33	19 5 177
    Yap
    Other Pacific					17	127

    Country or area of birth		Admitted
    		Quota immigrant	Nonimmigrant	Nonquota immigrant	Total
    America, total			822	26, 525	167,679	195, 026
    Canada	.....
    			8,884 557 2,774 5,786 580 129 2,627 143 24 75 13 1,836 385 93 14	71,279 4, 723 78,948 3,789 384 101 2, 337 28 40 17 38 1,670 1,243 68 3	80,163 5,280 81, 722 9, 575 964 230 5,604 202 96 145 51 3, 506 1,628 217 19
    Newfoundland
    Mexico
    Cuba
    Dominican Republic
    Haiti... ..
    British West Indies			’ 640 ’31 ’32 ’ 53
    Dutch West Indies	 .
    French West Indies
    British Honduras
    Canal Zone. 	 .
    Other Central America..
    Brazil
    British Guiana			’ 56 ’2 (’)
    Dutch Guiana
    French Guiana
    Other South America							2,584 1 20	2,990 1 20	5,574 2 48
    Greenland. 			(’) ’8
    Miquelon and St. Pierre

    2 Annual quota for colonies, dependencies, or protectorates in Other Europe, Other Asia, Other Africa, Other Pacific, and in America, is included with the annual quota for the European country to which they belong. Quota for Turkey in Asia is included with that for Turkey in Europe.
    94
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Table 2.—Aliens debarred from entering, and aliens deported after landing in, the United States during the fiscal years ended June SO, 1926 and 1927, by causes
    Causes	Debarred		Deported
    	Fiscal year 1926	Fiscal year 1927	Fiscal year 1926	Fiscal year 1927
    Total		20,550	19,755	10,904	11,662

    Insanity, epilepsv...		61	34	796	594
    Other mental conditions		184	94	257	243
    Loathsome or dangerous contagious disease		507	308	100	159
    Other physical conditions	 		207	113	90	46
    Likely to become a public charge			3,590 10	1,847 3	887	569
    Professional beggars, vagrants, or paupers.	-				2	2
    Assisted aliens	.1	1		55	46	42	35
    Accompanying aliens _	. . ..				77	29	1	1
    Under 16 years of age (unaccompanied by parent)		94	43	54	53
    Unable to read (over 16 years of age)			682	353	494	708
    Contract laborers		724	404	27	88
    Criminals			 		273	160	793	953
    Under narcotic act..				76	54
    Immoral classes			95	49	412	572
    Had been deported within one year	—	17	14	131	182
    Entered without inspection..					902	524
    Under Chinese exclusion act .							178	141
    Under percentum limit act of 1921 (excess quota)				536	833
    Under section 17 of immigration act of 1924.		_ 		39	40	256	77
    Remained longer than permitted				26	192
    Failure to maintain student status.. 					15	17
    Without proper visa under immigration act of 1924: At land border ports.					11, 579 2,354 2	13,536 2,679 3		5,464
    At seaports				J 4,582
    All other causes. 	 					247	155

    Table 3.—Last permanent residence of immigrant aliens admitted and intended future permanent residence of emigrant aliens departed, during the fiscal years ended June 30, 1926 and 1927, by countries
    [Note.—Residence for a year or more is regarded as permanent residence]
    Countries	Immigrant		Emigrant
    	Fiscal year 1926	Fiscal year 1927	Fiscal year 1926	Fiscal year 1927
    All countries....			304,488	335,175	76, 992	73,366
    Europe, total..				155,562	168, 368	60,040	55,402
    Albania					158	243	314	237
    Austria				1,102	1,016	487	468
    Belgium				718	764	491	482
    Bulgaria						175	222	88	130
    Czechoslovakia				2,953	3,540	2,301	2,276
    Danzig, Free City of			210	223	1	6
    Denmark		2,549	2,505	691	536
    Estonia		132	139	15	14
    Finland		491	438	519	536
    France, including Corsica		4,181	4,405	1,011	1,637
    Germany..				 Great Britain and Northern Ireland:	50,421	48,513	3,908	4,748
    England		10, 599	9,990	4,921	4,994
    Northern Ireland		419	491	208	165
    Scotland				13,661	12,611	1,332	1, 441
    Wales				1,268	1,068	37	44
    Greece...					1,121	2,089	. 5,164	3,130
    Hungary						906	813	871	841
    Irish Free State		24,478	28,054	851	1,049
    Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia				8,253	17,297	19,980	17,759
    Latvia									298	403	58	21
    Lithuania						636	770	408	314
    Luxemburg						127	111	7	13
    Netherlands							1, 753	1, 733	379	456
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    95
    Ta rtf. 3.—Last permanent residence of immigrant aliens admitted and intended future permanent residence of emigrant aliens departed, etc.—Continued
    Countries	Immigrant		Emigrant
    	Fiscal year 1926	Fiscal year 1927	Fiscal year 1926	Fiscal year 1927
    Norway				5, 756	6,068	2,087	1,786
    Poland				7,126	9,211	2,881	2,650
    Portugal, including Azores, Cape Verde, and Madeira Islands				666	567	2,926	2, 347
    Rumania				1,211 1,766	1,270	1,404	1,248
    Russia	 			1,183	181	239
    Spain, including Canary and Balearic Islands		326	429	2,465	2,178
    Sweden		8,513	8,287	1,150	1,115
    Switzerland		-			1,994	2,121	486	594
    Turkey in Europe		210	216	30	24
    Yugoslavia.			1, 059	1,190	2,342	1,911
    Other Europe							326	388	46	13
    Asia, total		3,413	3,669	4,931	6,007
    Armenia		-			16	13	43	20
    China		1,751	1,471 102	2,989	4,179 126
    India				93		113
    Japan...					-			654	723	1,208	1,205
    Palestine		250	464	173	142
    Persia		56	33	27	33
    Syria	«		429	590	208	185
    Turkey in Asia		21	60	126	74
    Other Asia...							143	213	44	43
    America, total				144,393	161,872	11,485	11,303
    Canada		91,019	81,506	2,173	1,953
    Newfoundland		2,349	3,074	283	487
    Mexico		43,316	67.721	3,198	2,957
    Cuba				2,281	3,020	1,922	1,598
    Other West Indies.			941	9'.4*	1,917	2,134
    British Honduras				39	108	45	20
    Other Central America				1,335 877	1,663	521	701
    Brazil						1,089	210	209
    Other South America....					2,230	2, 688	J, 215	1,244
    Other America		—-			6	4	1
    Others, total		1,120	1,266	536	654
    Egypt				214	228	38	28
    Other Africa				315	292	88	84
    Australia							376	464	257	379
    New Zealand.		180	248	134	129
    Other Pacific islands		35	34	19	34
    96
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Table 4.—Aliens admitted to the United States under the immigration act of 1924, during the fiscal years ended June 30, 1926 and 1927, by classes, as specified
    [Note—The number of immigrants appearing in this table and in Table 3 is not comparable with the number of statistical immigrant aliens shown in Table 3, covering countries of last residence]
    Classes
    Fiscal year Fiscal year
    1926	1927
    Grand total admitted....................................................
    Nonimmigrants, total......................  -...........................
    Government officials, their families, attendants, servants, and employees__
    Temporary visitors for—
    Business..................................................................
    Pleasure_______________________________________________________________
    In continuous transit through the United States____________________________
    To carry on trade under existing treaty....................................
    Nonquota immigrants, total...........................................
    Wives of United States citizens_________________________________________.....
    Children of United States citizens_________________________________________
    Residents of the United States returning from a visit abroad_______________
    Natives of Canada, Newfoundland, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic,
    Canal Zone, or an independent country of Central or South America________
    Their wives....________________________________________________________
    Their children_________________________________________________________
    Ministers of religious denominations..........................................
    Wives of ministers_________________________________________________________
    Children of ministers______________________________________________________
    Professors of colleges, academies, seminaries, or universities_____________
    Wives of professors..........................................................
    Children of professors________________________________________________________
    Students...................................................................
    Veterans of the World War..................................................
    Wives of veterans__________________________________________________________
    Children of veterans..........................................................
    Spanish subjects admitted to Porto Rico.......................................
    Quota immigrants (charged to quota), total...................................
    496,106	538,001
    88, 758	95,704
    5, 666	5,683
    19,951	22,515
    36, 663	37,993
    25, 574	28,312
    904	1,201
    249,916	284,227
    1 6,810	10,084
    1 4, 344	8,421
    83,754	95,910'
    150,299	158, 657
    1965	889
    1 190	189
    664	595
    235	338
    436	721
    151	138
    39	40
    26	21
    1,920	1,833
    72	4, 514
    3	887
    8	980
    	10
    157,432	158,070
    1	Wives, and unmarried children under 18 years of age, born in quota countries.
    2	Does not include aliens born in nonquota countries who were admitted under the act as Government officials, visitors, returning residents, etc.
    Table 5.—Increase or decrease in population by admission and departure of aliens during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, by race or people, sex, and age
    Race or people	Aliens admitted			Aliens departed			Increase (+) or decrease (-)
    	Immigrant	Nonimmigrant	Total	Emigrant	Nonemigrant	Total
    Total		335,175	202,826	538,001	73,366	180,142	253,508	+284,493
    African (black)		955	2,671	3,626	870	1,585	2,455	+1,171
    Armenian	 Bohemian and Moravian	983	294	1,277	51	134	185	+1,092'
    (Czech)	 Bulgarian, Serbian, and Monte-	2,406	2,254	4, 660	1,724	1,578	3,302	+1,358
    negrin		600	849	1,449	1,592	1,180	2,772	-1,323
    Chinese		1,051	7,254	8,305	4,117	5,764	9,881	-1,576.
    Croatian and Slovenian		821	991	1,812	251	195	446	+1,366
    Cuban	 Dalmatian, Bosnian, and Herze-	1,919	6,332	8,251	980	7,267	8,247	+4
    govinian		69	184	253	380	627	1,007	-754
    Dutch and Flemish		3,125	3,780	6,905	1,005	3,639	4,644	+2,261
    East Indian		51	167	218	83	103	186	+32
    English		40,165	39,851	80,016	7,449	49, 274	56,723	+23,293
    Finnish		629	1,447	2,076	577	1,669	2,246	-170
    French		19,313	8,970	28, 283	1,761	8,838	10,599	+17,684
    German		56,587	18,809	75,396	5,515	14,902	20,417	+54,979
    Greek		2,557	3,456	6,013	3,140	1,491	4,631	+1,382
    Hebrew		11,483	3,864	15,347	224	1,395	1,619	+13,728.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    97
    Table 5.—Increase or decrease in population by admission and departure of aliens during the fiscal year ended June SO, 1927, by race or people, sex, and age—Continued
    Race or people	Aliens admitted			Aliens departed			Increase (+) or decrease (-)
    	Immigrant	Nonimmigrant	Total	Emigrant	Nonemigrant	Total
    Irish		44,726	6,910	51,636	1,432	5,732	7,164	+44,472
    Italian (north)		2,637	5,549	8,186	2,209	3,463	5,672	+2,514
    Italian (south)		15,892	20,334	36, 226	15,627	12,499 10,315	28,126	+8,100
    Japanese		660	6,517	7,177	1,148		11,463	-4,286
    Korean	 _ 	 _	47	43	90	52	71	123	-33
    Lithuanian		549	403	952	331	404	735	+217
    Magyar		1,049	1,524	2,573	946	971	1,917	+656
    Mexican		66,766	13,873	80,639	2,774	8,180	10,954	+69,685
    Pacific Islander		8	11	19	7	20	27	-8
    Polish		4,249	1,947	6,196	2,725	2,448	5,173	+1,023
    Portuguese		843	2,820	3,663	2,363	1,499	3,862	-199
    Rumanian		422	642	1,064	1,201	923	2,124	-1, 060
    Russian		1,249	1,241	2,490	510	978	1,488	+1,002
    Ruthenian (Russniak)		445	135	580	19	55	74	+506
    Scandinavian (Norwegians,
    Danes, and Swedes)		19,235	11,272	30,507	3,678	10,446	14,124	+16,383
    Scotch		25,544	11,503	37, 047	1,930	8,144	10,074	+26,973
    Slovak			1,017	505	1,522	693	540	1,233	+289
    Spanish		1,065	7,738	8,803	2, 781	5,094	7,875	+928
    Spanish American		3,185	4,547	7,732	1,792	5,049	6,841	+891
    Syrian		684	697	1,381	203	431	634	+747
    Turkish		112	187	299	166	162	328	-29
    Welsh		1,300	779	2,079	65	298	363	+L 716
    West Indian (except Cuban)		381	1,660	2,041	754	2,017	2,771	-730
    Other peoples		396	816	1,212	241	762	1,003	+209
    SEX
    Male		194,163	127, 279	321,442	51,536	111,569	163,105	+158,337
    Female		141,012	75,547	216,559	21,830	68,573	90,403	+126,156
    AGE
    Under 16 years		51,689	11,034	62,723	2,986	10,587	13,573	+49,150
    16 to 44 years		254,574	145,417	399,991	54,217	131,582	185,799	+214,192
    45 years and over		28,912	16,375	75,287	16,163	37,973	54,136	+21,151
    CHILDREN’S BUREAU
    Grace Abbott, Chief
    .Administration of the maternity and infancy act.
    Cooperation of the States with the Children’s Bureau under the Federal maternity and infancy act for the promotion of the welfare and hygiene of maternity and infancy has been extended during the past year. In addition to the 43 States and Hawaii that had been cooperating, the Legislature of Kansas accepted the provisions of the act on March 16, 1927, and that of Maine on April 12, 1927, making a total of 45 States—all except Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Illinois—and the Territory of Hawaii cooperating under the act at the close of the fiscal year.
    The following table gives the amounts available and the total amounts accepted by the States from the appropriations for the fiscal years 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, and 1926, and for 1927 up to June 30, 1927:
    98
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    Amounts available to States and Haxvaii from Federal maternity and infancy funds and amounts accepted1
    [Statement as of June 30, 1927]
    State	Maximum amounts available from 1922 appropriation 2	Amounts accepted by States from 1922 appropriation	Maximum amounts available from 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, and 1927 appropriations	Amounts accepted by States and Hawaii3 from—
    				1923 appropriation	1924 appropriation	1925 appropriation	1926 appropriation	1927 appropriation 4
    Alabama		$10,297. 56	$10,297. 56	$25, 836.95	$25,836.95	$25,836.95	$25,836.95	$25,836. 95	$25,836.95
    Arizona.			5,753. 88	5,000.00	12; 253.71	5; 000.00	12; 253. 71	12, 253.71	5,000. 00	12; 253.71
    Arkansas		8,953. 03	5, 000.00	21,817. 51	6,855. 75	16,817. 51	13, 500.00	14, 000.00	12, 000.00
    California		12, 731.12	(’)	33,112.01	24,279. 35	13,114. 93	15, 620.00	26, 730.00	25, 470. 00
    Colorado		7,119.83	5, 000.00	16,337. 20	9,976.99	9,999.33	9,999.37	10, 000. 00	10,000.00
    Connecticut		8,114. 75 5, 503.10	8,114. 75 5, 503.10	19,311.48	9, 655. 74	11,504.01	11, 504.01	11, 504. 01	11,504. 01
    Delaware				11, 504.01	11, 504. 01
    Florida		7,184.90	5, 000. 00	16,531.72	8, 621.28	16,531.72 15,250.00	16, 531.72	16,531.72	16, 531. 72
    Georgia		11, 533.10	6,750.00	29, 530. 55	11,000. 00		28,490.00	29, 530.00	23, 610.00
    Hawaii		5, 974. 30	5, 000.00	3 11, 725. 96	6,250. 00	7,912.66	11, 725.96	9, 934. 37	5,000.00
    Idaho				12,912. 66			5, 691. 60	9, 308.40	6,000.00
    Illinois		19,631.03	(5)	53, 739.10	24,995.00	26,250.00	25, 750.00	25, 000. 00	25,000.00
    Indiana		11,611.07 10,423. 56	8,199.09 10,423. 56	29, 763. 62
    Iowa				26, 213. 60	26,213. 60	26,213. 60	26,213. 60	26,213. 60	26,213. 60
    Kansas			8, 991. 51	8,991.51	21, 932. 52	12, 097.33			26,298. 64	16,800. 00
    Kentucky		10,452. 00	10, 452. 00	26, 298. 64	26,298.64	26,298. 64	26,298. 64		26,298. 64
    Louisiana		9, 057. 50		22,129.80		17, 590. 60	22,127. 79	22,129.80	22,129.80 5,000.00
    Maine		6, 732. 66	7, 913.57	15,179. 77	19,277.05	19,269.05	19,164. 58	19,277. 00
    Maryland		8,270.49		19, 777. 05					19, 277.00
    Massachusetts		13, 691. 06	13,253. 97	35, 981. 70	34, 741.11		 34, 741.11	34, 741.11	34, 741.11	34, 741.11
    Michigan		13,276.07		34, 741.11
    Minnesota		10,385.44	10, 385.44	26, 099. 65	26,099. 65	26,099. 65	26,099. 65	26,099. 65	26,099. 65
    Mississippi		9, 039. 70	9, 039. 70	22,076. 58	22, 076.58	22,076.58	22, 076. 58	22,076. 58	22,076. 58
    Missouri		12, 679. 67	12,473.15	32, 958.19	28, 527.38	21, 762.17	24, 000. 00 13, 701.91	25,000. 00	32,958.19
    Montana		6, 238. 31	6,238.31	13, 701. 91	13. 701.91	13, 701.91		13, 700. 00	13,700.00
    Nebraska		7,924, 66	7, 924. 66	18, 743.21	17, 661. 69	7,409. 50	11,915.00	12, 980.00	11, 000. 00
    Nevada		5,174. 63	5, 000.00	10, 522.06	5,000. 00	10, 522.00	10, 522.00	10, 522.00	10, 522.00
    New Hampshire-.	5,999. 61	5,000. 00	12,988.31	5,000.00	12,988.31	12, 988. 31	12,988.31 31, 284. 55	12, 988.31
    New Jersey		12,119.83	12,119. 83	31,284.55	31, 284. 55	31,284.55	31,284. 55		31,284.55
    New Mexico		5,812.96	5,812. 96	12,430. 33	12,430. 33	12,236.40	12,430. 33 80, 041.78	12,430.33	12,430.33
    New York		28,429.70		80, 041. 78		80, 041.78		80,041.78	80, 041.78
    North Carolina		10,773. 47	10, 773.47	27,259.66	27.259. 66	27, 259. 66 6,000. 00	27,259. 66	27,259. 66	27, 259. 66
    North Dakota		6,459.36 17,993. 41	5,000.00	14,362. 74 48,843.46	6,000.00		8,300.00	8,300.00	6, 500.00
    Ohio			7,187.95		11,900.00	17,297. 89	26, 606.96	31,400.73	5,000.00
    Oklahoma		9, 575. 88	5,000.00	23,679.48	5,000.00	20,934.06	23, 679.17	23, 689.48	23, 679. 48
    Oregon		6, 767. 35	6, 232. 61	15, 283.46	8,000.00	15,283. 46	15, 283. 46	12,395. 87	15,283.46
    Pennsylvania		24. 672. 69	24, 667.12	68, 810.99	68,810. 20	68, 810.99	68,810.99	68, 810.99	68, 810.99
    Rhode Island		6,363. 54 8,798. 54		14,076. 28		4,999. 86 21,355. 65	14,076. 28	14,076.28	14,076.28
    South Carolina..—		8,797.50	21,355. 65	21,355.65		21,355. 47	21,355. 65	21,355. 65
    South Dakota		6,436.07	6,436.07	14,293.11 25, 767. 55	12,844. 24 18, 521.94	14, 272.92	13,451.18	14, 293.11	5,000.00
    Tennessee		10,274.35 15, 520.41	5,000.00			22,410. 73 40, 689.20	25, 767. 55	25, 767. 55	24, 795.00
    Texas			9,363.93	41,450. 52	32, 567.38		40, 447. 84	35,350. 52	35,350. 52
    Utah			6,013. 85	5,000.00	13,030. 89	6,365.00	13,000.00	13,000.00	13,000.00	13,000.00
    Vermont			5, 795.09		12,376.90		2, 775. 33	4, 281.36 25, 574.00	5,000.00	5,000.00
    Virginia		10, 209. 61	10, 209. 61	25,574.00	25, 574.00	25, 574.00		25, 574.00	25, 574.00
    Washington		8,060.58	4,998. 70 5,000.00	19,149. 55	10,000.00	10,000.00	10,000. 00	10,000.00	5,000.00
    West Virginia		8,302.16		19, 871. 74	5,000.00	10,000.00	10,000.00	19,871. 74	19, 871. 74
    Wisconsin		10,938.04	8,995.03 4,998. 87	27, 751. 62	27, 750.44	27, 751.62	27, 751. 62 6, 600.00	27, 751. 62	5,000.00 7,500.00
    Wyoming		5,438. 57		11,311.12	5,000. 00	11,000.00		6, 600.00
    Total.		477,500. 00	316, 554.02	31,201, 725.96	716, 333.40	877,122.04	932, 754. 69	949. 646.00	904, 824. 71
    1	Under the terms of the act each State accepting receives $5,000 outright; an additional $5,000 is available to each State if matched; the balance of the appropriation is distributed among the States, if matched, on the basis of population. Amounts shown as accepted are the amounts actually accepted by the States less refunds of unexpended balances returned to the Federal Treasury as of June 30, 1927.
    2	Owing to the fact that only a few months of the 1922 fiscal year remained at the time the appropriation act for that year was passed a full appropriation was not made.
    3	The benefits of the act were extended to Hawaii on March 10, 1924. No appropriation therefore was available to that Territory in 1923 and 1924. The total amount available to the States and Hawaii was increased from $1,190,000 to $1,201,725.96 beginning with the fiscal year 1925.
    4	These funds are available until July 1, 1928. Actual acceptances up to June 30, 1927, are here given.
    8	California and Illinois accepted the full amount available, and Vermont accepted $5,000. However, these funds were not spent but were returned to the Federal Treasury.
    Reports from the States show that during the fiscal year 1927 in 44 States2 and the Territory of Hawaii 1,808 combined prenatal and
    2 Maine did not begin work unden the act until July 1, 1927, the end of the fiscal year.
    Kansas began May 1, 1927.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    99
    child-health conferences were held, 21,347 child-health conferences, and 3,231 prenatal conferences. The number of expectant mothers reached through conferences, literature, home visits, and class work in the 38 States reporting was approximately 161,000. The number of infants and preschool children reached through similar efforts to promote their welfare and hygiene in the 39 States reporting and Hawaii was approximately 1,034,000. The number of counties having maternity and infancy work in 44 States and the Territory of Hawaii was 1,884.
    Increased interest on the part of communities and a greater sense of local responsibility for the welfare of maternity and infancy have resulted in the development of more permanent types of work. The number of combined prenatal and child-health centers established in 1927 was 70, of child-health centers 235, and of prenatal centers 14. The number of county public-health nurses giving full or part time to maternity and infancy work was 354. The number of counties taking over maternity and infancy work initiated or assisted by the States was 69.
    The fourth annual conference of the State directors of maternity and infant hygiene was held at the Children’s Bureau January 11-14, 1927. Representatives were present from 37 of the cooperating States and the Territory of Hawaii and from 3 noncooperating States. In addition to the directors, the State supervising nurses were invited to the conference and many came. State health officers from 5 States also attended the conference, making a total of 63 representatives in attendance, from 40 States and the Territory of Hawaii. Representatives from the Children’s Bureau consulting obstetrical committee were present at the conference and took part in the program and discussions. The subjects discussed were: “ Developing a permanent rural program in prenatal and natal care,” “ Making maternity and infancy work permanent,” “ General administrative problems,” and “Maternity and infancy nursing problems.” Through the courtesy of the State director for Maryland and of Johns Hopkins University the conference spent a day in Baltimore visiting the Maryland Bureau of Child Hygiene, the State department of health, pediatric clinics and lectures at Harriet Lane Home, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the nutrition laboratories of Johns Hopkins University Medical Department.
    Representatives of the maternity and infant-hygiene division of the bureau have visited the States to confer with the State directors and to see the work being done in different sections of the States. The bureau accountant, as usual, has audited the State accounts.
    Members of the Children’s Bureau staff have been detailed at the request of the States or the United States Census Bureau for special
    100	ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR
    work in 28 States, as follows: To assist in conference work in 3 States; instruction of midwives in 2 States; graduate obstetrical course for physicians in 2 States; maternal mortality study in 2 States; evaluation of maternity and infancy work in 11 States; and survey of infant and maternity homes in 1 State. In cooperation with the vital-statistics division of the Census Bureau, the Children’s Bureau has assisted in promoting birth registration. To this end the bureau has detailed members of its staff to 7 States not in the birthregistration area. During the year 4 new States (Idaho, Arizona, Arkansas, and Tennessee) entered the area, making the number in the area at the end of the fiscal year 37.2a
    A study of maternal mortality planned by the bureau’s consulting obstetrical committee to determine the factors influencing the high maternal death rates has been begun in three States, and in four more plans for beginning the study in the near future are under way.
    Extension of the authorized appropriation for maternal and infant hygiene.—Section 2 of the maternity and infancy act authorized for a five-year period an annual appropriation of $1,240,000, to be used by the Children’s Bureau in cooperation with the States in promoting the hygiene of maternity and infancy. That five-year period ended with the close of this fiscal year. In the belief that this authorized appropriation should be extended, with the approval of the President it was recommended to the chairman of the House and Senate committees having the subject before them that the appropriation in the amount originally authorized should be continued during the fiscal years 1928 and 1929.
    The bill introduced by the chairman of the House committee (H. R. 7555) embodying the suggestion made for a two-year extension of the maternity and infancy appropriation was favorably reported by the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and passed the House April 5, 1926, by a vote of 218 to 44. The House bill was reported to the Senate by the Committee on Education and Labor, with an amendment providing that the appropriation should be extended for one year only. The bill came to a vote in the Senate on January 13, 1927, and was finally passed after considerable debate, with the amendment that with the two-year extension of the authorized appropriation the act itself, which was permanent legislation, should be “ after June 30, 1929, of no force and effect.” With this compromise amendment, the House bill was promptly passed by the Senate and concurred in by the House, so that the appropriation has been authorized for the next two fiscal years. Whether or not the cooperation of the Federal Government with the States at the end of this
    2® Alabama, Louisiana, and Missouri have been admitted to the birth-registration area since July 1, 1927, making 40 States now in the area.
    ANNUAL REPORT SECRETARY OF LABOR	101
    period will continue will be for Congress to decide, as it would have been if the House bill had passed unamended.
    Any unprejudiced examination of the work being done under the act would show the value of the cooperation of Federal, State, and local governments in developing better home care for mothers and babies and better community provision for hospital care at the time of childbirth.
    Child hygiene.
    Community control of rickets—The New Haven study.—The New Haven rickets study completed its third year on September 30, 1926. Since the study was planned as a three-year demonstration only, the clinic was closed, and work on organization of the data collected was started. In order to be certain that uniform methods of interpretation were used for all X rays taken throughout the demonstration a complete review of the plates has been made. The physical-examination records for the group of children given antirachitic treatment from infancy through one to three years have been edited, and the material is now ready for statistical analysis.
    Study of the X-ray plates in the New Haven rickets demonstration revealed the fact that there were many which were very difficult to interpret because of lack of knowledge as to what could be considered normal. The finding of what were thought to be slight evidences of rickets in the X rays of many young infants’ bones was attributed to the fact that the study was being conducted in a climate where the protective effect of the sunlight, even when reinforced with cod-liver oil, was frequently inadequate entirely to prevent the disease. Some doubt arose, even, as to whether the characteristics noted in these cases were really due to rickets or were simply evidences of normal, rapid growth.
    The Porto Rico study.—Before correct interpretation of these plates could be made it seemed important to attempt to establish the normal by study of infants who were receiving adequate antirachitic treatment in a natural manner. In view of the present-day conception of the etiology of rickets it seemed reasonable to suppose that infants born in a tropical country and known to live much of the time out of doors and in houses whose windows were not glazed, would show bone growth as nearly normal as it was possible to find. A study was therefore undertaken in Porto Rico to provide a series of X rays of bones of infants living in the Tropics, which might be used in comparison with the series taken in New Haven. With the cooperation of the Department of Health of Porto Rico and the School of Tropical Medicine, the Presbyterian Hospital in San Juan, and the Asilo des Damas in Ponce, examinations were made of
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    approximately 600 Porto Rican infants between the ages of 2 weeks and 2^ years. In order that the data obtained in Porto Rico might be as nearly comparable as possible with those obtained in New Haven, the procedures were kept uniform and the work was carried out by the same personnel. Careful study of the X-ray material gathered in this study is being made, and the conclusions will be of great value in the further interpretation of the X rays taken in New Haven.
    The posture study in Chelsea, Mass.—Additional tabulations have been made of the material collected during the two-year study of the effect of posture on the physical fitness of children in the schools of Chelsea, Mass., and the report is now being written.
    Infant mortality in the District of Columbia.—A study of infant mortality in the District of Columbia has been undertaken at the request of the Council of Social Agencies with the cooperation of the health officer of the District. Statistical evidence will include the 9,107 infants born alive in 1925 and the infant deaths of 1925 and 1926. Effort will be directed toward ascertaining the problems underlying infant mortality. The need for visiting and educational nursing, medical care, and proper distribution of prenatal and childhealth clinics and hospital facilities are to be considered.
    Crippled children.—Field work has been completed in connection with a study of the treatment and education of crippled children in 10 States representing different sections of the country and both rural and densely populated regions. The study has included an examination of laws for the benefit of crippled children and of methods of administration. A description of public provision for clinic, hospital, and convalescent care, and for education and employment service, together with methods of locating cripples and preventive measures being used, will be presented in detail. Accounts of some outstanding private institutions and agencies will also be included in the report.
    Popular publications.—The child-hygiene division has continued the preparation of popular bulletins on child health. During the past year the division prepared material to be used in connection with the bureau’s exhibit at the Sesquicentennial Exposition. The Baby’s Daily Time Cards, Sunlight for Babies, and the posture bulletins have been in great demand. A revised edition of Child Care is in preparation. A third edition of Child Management with a new section was prepared.
    Child labor.	•
    Vocational opportunities for minors.—The most important new undertaking of the industrial division of the bureau during the year
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    has been a study of the occupational histories of employed minors in Rochester and Utica, N. Y. This is one of a series of studies (similar inquiries have been made in Milwaukee and in two New Jersey cities3) undertaken with a view to finding out the kinds of occupation open to boys and girls going to work at different ages and with different educational and other qualifications, and the extent to which sex, age, and the amount of general education and special training affect the young workers’ opportunity to enter and progress in different occupations, their wages, stability of employment, and other conditions. Information has been obtained through the inquiry for some 4,000 working boys and girls in Rochester, a city of highly diversified industries, and for some 1,000 boys and girls in Utica, a large proportion of whom were employed in textile factories.
    Studies of work histories of minors mentally handicapped.—A preliminary analysis has been made of information obtained in connection with a study of work histories of young persons who were formerly inmates of State institutions for the feeble-minded in Illinois, of whom more than four-fifths had intelligence ratings of below 70, the usually accepted border line of feeble-mindedness. Three-fourths of the boys and girls not only were mentally defective but had had court records for delinquency before they were committed to the institution. It was found that most of the 171 young persons included in the study who had been out of the institution for at least 12 months were gainfully employed and that a considerable number of those who were or had been at work—43 of the 66 boys— had worked at least one-half of the time between the date they left the institution and the date they were interviewed.
    Most of the boys and girls were in occupations which required little or no industrial or academic training. As was found in a study of 1,000 young persons ■who had been enrolled in special classes for the mentally defective in the public schools of seven cities,4 but had not been committed to institutions for the feeble-minded, the girls usually were semiskilled operatives in factories or were employed in domestic service. The largest proportion of the boys in this study, as in the former one, had been engaged in occupations classified as manufacturing and mechanical, either as semiskilled operatives or as laborers. The findings of the present, as of the former, study indicate that boys and girls of less than average mentality can earn their living at certain types of industrial work.
    Child labor in New Jersey.—During the past year preliminary analyses of several of the studies of various aspects of the child-labor
    • Annual Report of the Secretary of Labor for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1926, p. 74. Washington, 1926.
    1 Work Opportunities for Young Persons of Subnormal Mentality (report in preparation).
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    problem made in 1925-26 have been completed, and the writing of the reports is in progress; the section on children in street trades in Newark and Paterson has been completed. It is to be published as part of a report on children in street trades in eight cities. The Newark and Paterson study included all children under 16 years of age attending public schools who reported that they had spent at least 26 days in any street work between the close of school in June, 1924, and the date of interview in the spring of 1925. In Newark 1,882 children worked during the school term—467 selling newspapers, 679 carrying newspapers, and 736 bootblacking, peddling, and doing other street work. During vacation 1,633 had worked—450 selling newspapers^ 407 carrying newspapers, and 776 bootblacking, peddling, and doing other street work. In Paterson, of the 413 children working during the school term, 108 sold newspapers, 178 carried newspapers, and 127 peddled or did other street work; of the 425 vacation workers, 118 sold newspapers, 145 carried newspapers, and 162 peddled or. did other street work. Facts were obtained concerning the age and grade attainment of the children, the nature of the work in the various street trades and its probable effect upon the children, and the extent and effectiveness of legal regulations.
    Current statistics of children to whom first regular employment certificates were issued.
    The industrial division of the bureau has continued to receive current reports of employment certificates issued from State and city officials. Information has been compiled for 10 States, for 24 citie& of 50,000 population or over outside these States, and for the District of Columbia relative to the numbers of children receiving employment certificates or work permits in the calendar year 1926.
    The records of work permits issued to children between 14 and 16 years of age in the places reporting to the bureau, although they do not include the large number of children entering occupations for which certificates are not required under the State laws nor those going to work illegally, are representative of conditions in most of the important child-employing centers as regards at least the legal employment of children of work-permit age in most industrial and commercial pursuits.
    Information concerning the number of children 14 and 15 years of age receiving first regular employment certificates is available for the three years, 1924,1925, and 1926, for seven States for which complete reports were obtained, for 14 cities outside these States, and for the District of Columbia. Five of the seven States, eight of the cities outside these States, and the District of Columbia reported increases in 1926 over the previous year in the number of children 14 and 15 entering employment for the first time. The total number of
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    children to whom first certificates were issued (in all the States and cities for which comparable information was obtained for the three years) increased 4.8 per cent in 1926 over 1925, whereas the increase in 1925 over 1924 was 7.6 per cent.
    During the year a revised report blank which provides more conveniently than that previously used for the correlation of the information desired has been prepared for the use of State and city officials furnishing statistics to the bureau. This blank is being tried out by a number of officials in making up their reports for 1926 and 1927. A representative of the bureau is visiting State departments charged with the supervision of certificate issuance or the enforcement of child labor laws and also certificate-issuing offices in most of the larger cities throughout the country. The purpose of these visits is to explain the new form and obtain cooperation of an increasing number of States and communities in compiling information, including not only data regarding the numbers of permits issued each year but also material which will serve as an indication of the trend over a period of years on such points as the age at begin ning work, the schooling which the young workers have had, and the kinds of industries and occupations which they enter.
    Laws affecting the employment of minors, and their administrcb-tion.—A revision to date of the texts of the child labor and compulsory school attendance laws of the various States, published by the bureau in 1915, is nearing completion. Work has been started in connection with an inquiry into the provisions and the methods of administration of the State workmen’s compensation laws as they affect employed minors. It is planned in this inquiry to study the methods of reporting accidents and of awarding compensation to child workers.
    Delinquency and child welfare.
    The Chicago hoys'1 court.—Though there is great popular interest in crime among young people, accurate information is not available concerning its prevalence, the characteristics and histories of young offenders above juvenile-court age, the methods of dealing with them, and the results obtained. In order to throw some light on these problems the Children’s Bureau undertook a study of the cases dealt with by the only specialized court in the United States dealing exclusively with young people between juvenile-court age and the age of legal majority—the boys’ court branch of .the Chicago municipal court.
    The number of boys’ court cases per 10,000 population in Chicago of the ages dealt with by the boys’ court was lower in 1925 than in any other of the 11 years included in the study, with the exception of 1923, and was highest in 1915. This was the reverse of the situa-71308—27----------8
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    tion in the municipal court as a whole, where the case rate was higher for 1925 than for previous years.
    The Children’s Bureau studied intensively 972 cases disposed of by the boys’ court in 1924 and 1925. The records show that 42.1 per cent of the boys in this group had been previously arrested after they had passed the age of juvenile-court jurisdiction, and that 24.6 per cent had delinquency records in the juvenile court. Forty-seven per cent had neither previous juvenile-court nor other court records, so far as was known, 11 per cent had juvenile records only, and 27.9 per cent had other court records only.
    Of the boys with juvenile-court records for whom information was obtained concerning the disposition of the last case in the juvenile court, 48.4 per cent had been committed to institutions, 20.7 per cent had been placed on probation, and the cases of 26.7 per cent had been dismissed, dropped, or continued generally. This is a large proportion with experience in institutions for juvenile delinquents. Institutional commitments formed only 27.8 per cent of all juvenilecourt commitments by the Chicago court during the eight years previous to 1924.
    Institutional treatment of juvenile delinquency.—The care of juvenile delinquents in institutions presents many difficult problems. The section of the New Jersey child-welfare study relating to this subject is still in preparation, although reports of the development of public supervision and control of the agencies and institutions of New Jersey, the selection of public personnel, the child placing and administration of public aid to dependent children by the board of children’s guardians, and the studies of juvenile courts, poor relief, private agencies, and community organizations in the four selected counties have all been completed.
    In New Jersey responsibility for the care of juvenile delinquents committed to the State schools is divided by the State department of institutions and agencies among the classification service, the institutions, and the parole service. The bureau report will include general material on the standards of care of juvenile delinquents in institutions, as well as description and analysis of the care given in New Jersey.
    Alcoholism among parents of juvenile delinquents.—A study was undertaken in Boston, Mass., to determine what is the incidence of alcoholism among the parents of delinquent children and whether this complicating factor in juvenile delinquency is an increasing or a decreasing problem. The group chosen for study consisted of 2,378 delinquent children referred by the Central Boston Juvenile Court to the Judge Baker Foundation clinic during the eight-year period from July 1, 1917, to June 30, 1925. This group was selected for study because the records of the foundation afforded comprehensive
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    information about the family life of the children coming to the clinic. Furthermore, the children examined in the clinic represented those who had come to the courts because their behavior presented some serious problem.
    The records of these children showed that 41 per cent of the fathers and 7 per cent of the mothers were reported to be alcoholic. Although the information obtained showed no relation between the type of offense for which a child was brought to court and intemperance on the part of the parents, alcoholism of the parents was associated with the number of times a child appeared in court. Repeaters—that is, children who were brought into court more than once—were more likely than first offenders to come from homes in which alcoholism was a problem.
    Since alcoholism of the parents is an added complication in the treatment of juvenile delinquency, in that it seriously affects the cooperation to be expected of the parents in the treatment that the court decides is necessary to correct those habits held responsible for the child’s delinquency, it is important to discover whether or not it is an increasing or a decreasing problem. Investigation of this phase of the subject took two forms, a study of the persistence of alcoholism among fathers whose past records could be compared with their present habits, and the analysis of the proportionate number of the children referred to the clinic in each year from 1917 to 1925 whose fathers had been alcoholic. The results of this inquiry show that 29 per cent of the men studied who were alcoholic in 1918-19 were not alcoholic in 1924-25. Evidence of a decrease in alcoholism is shown also by the change in the rate of alcoholism among the fathers in different years. The highest rate (41 per cent) was for the year ended June 30, 1919; the lowest (16 per cent) was for 1921-22. The rate in 1924-25* (23 per cent) was somewhat higher than for 1921-22 but definitely lower than that for the preprohibition period.
    Uniform reporting of juvenile-court statistics.—During the year the plan for uniform reporting of juvenile-court statistics of delinquency, dependency, and neglect has been put into operation. The plan has been presented to juvenile courts and State departments of public welfare through correspondence, explanatory talks at national and state-wide meetings of judges and probation officers, and personal visits of a representative of the bureau.
    Judges, probation officers, and representatives of State departments of public welfare have responded with a great deal of interest. Already about 80 courts in 20 States have promised cooperation and have been supplied with statistical cards. These courts represent different parts of the country; for instance, California, Washington, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, to mention only a
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    few States. The number of cases dealt with varies from less than 50 a year to several thousand. Among the large cities cooperating in the plan are New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Detroit, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Washington.
    So far as possible, the bureau has attempted to work through State boards or departments of public welfare, since such departments in a number of States are already working toward state-wide uniformity in reports and statistics. Twenty-six departments have promised cooperation in varying degrees. Some have assumed responsibility for introducing the plan and trying it out in selected courts; some have revised their own report forms in line with the uniform classifications; and others, unable to cooperate to such an extent, are distributing bulletins and calling the plan to the attention of court workers as opportunities arise.
    Cards are being received monthly or quarterly from a number of cooperating courts, and the work of tabulation is being done currently so that tables may be completed promptly at the close of the year. A representative of the bureau keeps in touch with courts using the plan, assisting them by means of correspondence or visits if they experience any difficulty in using the statistical cards.
    Studies of dependent children.
    Histories of children of illegitimate birth.—Earlier studies by the bureau have treated of various aspects of illegitimacy as a community problem. The purpose of this study was to interpret the results of the experience of a number of agencies in following the plan of keeping children of illegitimate birth with their mothers. Case records were obtained from 27 organizations located in 11 cities, whose policy was to assist the mother to adjust herself in the community, this adjustment including the assumption of responsibility for the child’s welfare by his parents and their relatives. Histories of 253 children were obtained, and with few exceptions these show that the children have been successfully absorbed into the life of the communities.
    An analysis of the histories shows a favorable outlook for the future for a majority of the children, as a result of the care and supervision the agencies had given. As a rule the children were not known as illegitimate in the communities in which they lived. In the few cases in which the child’s status was known he was kindly treated and apparently had not been discriminated against by other children.
    Handbook for the use of boards of directors, superintendents, and staffs of institutions for dependent children.—This publication, which was issued early in 1927, outlines standards of care for children of different ages in institutions and discusses policies, management,
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    ■equipment, and plans of institutions for dependent children. Its reception indicates that it fills a long-felt want of institutional administrators and board members who are interested in bringing the institutions that they are serving to their fullest social value. The preparation of this handbook was suggested by the Georgia State Department of Public Welfare. A preliminary draft prepared by the Georgia department was revised and enlarged by the Children’s Bureau with the assistance of an advisory committee composed of representatives of State boards and public and private institutions and of other experts in this field.
    State and county child-welfare activities.
    Child-welfare conditions and resources in seven Pennsylvania counties.—The report of a study of child-welfare conditions and resources in a group of seven Pennsylvania counties, made in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Children’s Commission, was published during the year.
    The survey of these seven counties showed that 1,326 children under 18 years of age came to the attention of courts or correctional institutions during the year covered by the study. Throughout the counties six types of courts heard and disposed of these cases. Legally all child offenders under 16 can be taken to the juvenile court, but it was found that almost one-half of these children were being taken into other courts.
    In the seven counties 8,145 children (2.9 per cent of the estimated population under 18 years of age) had received some form of organized assistance in the course of a year. One-fifth had received care away from their families and four-fifths had received assistance in their own homes (from overseers of the poor, mothers’ assistance boards, or private family-welfare agencies). The children cared for away from their homes were in the custody of 69 organizations (institutions or agencies) caring for dependent children. The multiplicity of organizations and agencies assuming the responsibility and difficult function of direct child care makes necessary unification of purpose, coordination of effort, and State supervision as insurance against abuses.
    From a review of the number of agencies and the methods employed the conclusion seems inevitable that the solution of the problems of child care in Pennsylvania lies not in the creation of additional agencies or institutions, public or private, but in the more intelligent and discriminating use of those in existence and in the insistence that all who engage in this work must meet at least minimum standards of service and responsibility.
    Child welfare in Washington.—At the request of the Washington State Conference of Social Agencies a study is now being made of
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    the care that is being given to dependent, defective, and delinquent children in six representative counties of the State. The counties studied include some that are almost entirely rural and others that contain a large city with many social resources. This study, in common with the somewhat similar studies made in North Dakota, South Dakota, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, has as its purpose to obtain accurate information about the extent of dependency, defect, and delinquency in the counties and about the facilities and work of public and private agencies providing care for children.
    Recreation.
    A bulletin on recreation for blind children was published during the year. This report suggests many recreational activities such as club work, music, and dramatics, describes games and competitions of various sorts, and includes a number of sections on programs and events that have been found practical by members of school staffs and other persons working with the blind.
    The preparation of a report on the methods of supervision and control of commercial and community recreation has been completed, and the report will be published early in 1928. It includes a digest of the dance-hall ordinances of about 500 cities of 15,000 population or over, and a survey of 17 cities having different types of dance-hall control and community-recreation programs.
    The bureau has cooperated with the State agricultural extension service in providing recreation courses in the State camps for the members and leaders of the Four-H Clubs of West Virginia and Vermont. The programs used with these farm boys and girls wrere planned to give material that would be especially useful during recess periods of rural schools, at club meetings and parties, and to help them gain experience in leading such activities.
    Upon the request of the Woman’s Club of Omar, W. Va., a four months’ playground program was planned, and play leaders were given a short training course for work in 12 playgrounds in the mining camps near that town. The playgrounds that had been badly equipped and unsupervised for several years before were replanned to allow space for games, and a program was worked out with the play leaders by the bureau’s specialist in recreation.
    State child-welfare commissions.
    During the past year child-welfare commissions have been active in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. California created a commission on problem children, and New Jersey passed a law creating a commission to study probation laws and procedure. The Delaware Children’s Laws Commission and the Pennsylvania Children’s Commission were not continued. Florida created a State board of public
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    welfare, with an assistant secretary to be known as director of child welfare.
    Child-welfare legislation.
    Regular legislative sessions have been held during 1927 in 44 States, and a special session was held in Virginia and in Louisiana. Only two State legislatures (Kentucky and Mississippi) did not meet this year. Legislative material has been received by the department from practically all the States, and information concerning child-welfare measures has been published in a number of the issues of the Child Welfare News Summary.
    State laws improving child-labor standards are known to have been enacted in only five States (Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina). In two of these States—North Carolina and Illinois—and also in Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wyoming, bills to raise child-labor standards failed to become law.
    Bills affecting juvenile courts were passed in Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Ohio. In Ohio divisions of domestic relations with juvenile and domesticrelations jurisdiction were created in the common-pleas courts of Franklin and Stark Counties. In Michigan the provisions of the juvenile court law were extended to wayward minors between 17 and 21 years of age, and the act was amended in other particulars. Wyoming, which has no juvenile court law, passed a bill making it a misdemeanor to cause or encourage the delinquency of any child under 18.
    Dependent children formed the subject of bills considered in 1927 by many of the States. The State appropriation for mothers’ aid was increased in North Carolina from $60,000 to $100,000 and in Pennsylvania from $1,750,000 to $2,750,000 for the ensuing biennium. Minnesota repealed the provision of the mothers’ pension law authorizing State reimbursement of one-third the amount expended by the counties. New York included mothers with tuberculous husbands among those entitled to benefits. Maryland amended its poor law relative to pauper children by authorizing their placement under the supervision of a child-caring agency or maintenance in their own homes, as alternatives to placement in family homes or institutions, which was previously authorized, and provided for a tax levy for this purpose.
    Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington repealed their laws providing for indenturing or apprenticing minors. Maryland also passed a law requiring child-caring agencies and institutions to be licensed except those receiving State aid or having contracts with the State. The Legislatures of California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming amended the adoption
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    laws of their respective States. Delaware and Maine passed laws declaring the mother and father joint natural guardians of their minor children.
    New Jersey continued the crippled children’s commission created in 1926. Oklahoma authorized the establishment of a hospital for crippled children. California, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Hawaii enacted or extended laws granting aid to physically handicapped children. Tuberculous children were benefited by laws in California, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. Bills relating to blind and deaf children and to mental defectives were passed in some States.
    Pennsylvania raised the legal marriage age to 16 years for both parties, and Minnesota raised from 15 to 16 years the minimum marriage age for girls. New York passed a law requiring documentary proof of age of persons actually or apparently under 21 before issuance of a marriage license.
    Exhibits.
    The Children’s Bureau work in exhibits during the year has been expanded as a result of an increased number of loans and a wider borrowing public. New material added during the past year includes 75 new wall panels, two new models—Posture and Sun Baths for Babies—and a mechanical book. A motion-picture film, Sun Babies, was completed in March, 1927. Seven additional prints of the posture film, issued in 1926, were purchased to meet the constant demand for this film. Twenty-five copies of the film, Sun Babies, and 28 copies of the posture film have been sold to public and private health agencies during the past year.
    Exhibits have been sent on request to National, State, and local agencies, including the American Medical Association and other medical societies, boards of health, public-health organizations, social-service organizations, the American Red Cross, child-welfare societies, fraternal societies, educational institutions, Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, women’s clubs, fairs and expositions, and religious organizations. During the year 132 large exhibits and also other material were sent out, so that 472 shipments were made, including 1,556 lantern slides, 50 strips of film slides, 503 reels of motion pictures, 2,985 wall panels, 21 projectors, and 24 models.
    Thirty-one requests for future loans were on file on July 1, some of the material being scheduled for exhibits in November and December, 1927.
    Sesquicentennial International Exposition.—A special appropriation enabled the Children’s Bureau to participate in the Government exhibit at the Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The
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    main features of the bureau’s exhibit included a child-health conference and posture demonstrations, models of a nursery and a playground, a baby’s fashion show, and motion pictures and film slides of various phases of child welfare. Three hundred and fifty children were examined at the health conference, and during the last month of the exposition 700 children were weighed and measured. In the center of the exhibit was a large mural painting, emblematic of the work of the Children’s Bureau, entitled, “ The Child Shall Be First.” The bureau received a medal of honor for the entire exhibit and a gold medal for the painting.
    Publications.
    During the fiscal year 1927, 46 new and revised publications were issued and 6 were in press at the close of the fiscal year. The most important of those issued are as follows:
    Child hygiene.—No. 164, Posture Clinics, organization and exercises; No. 165y Posture Exercises, a handbook for schools and for teachers of physical education; No. 163, Milk, the Indispensable Food for Children; No. 59, What Is Malnutrition? (revised).
    Child labor.—No. 168, Work of Children on Illinois Farms; No. 93, Child Labor—Outlines for Study (fifth edition) ; No. 79, Physical Standards for Working Children (appendix revised to include legislation to August 15,1926) ; Folder No. 6, From School to Work.
    Delinquency and dependency.—No. 160, Dependent and Delinquent Children in North Dakota and South Dakota, a study of the prevalence, treatment, and prevention of child dependency and delinquency in two rural States; No. 161, Dependent and Delinquent Children in Georgia, a study of the prevalence and treatment of child dependency and delinquency in 30 counties, with special reference to legal protection needed; No. 176, Child-Welfare Conditions and Resources in Seven Pennsylvania Counties; No. 169, The County as a Unit for an Organized Program of Child-Caring and Protective Work; No. 170, Handbook for the Use of Board of Directors, Superintendents, and Staffs of Institutions for Dependent Children; No. 171, The Work of Child-Placing Agencies: Part I.—A Social Study of Ten Agencies Caring for Dependent Children; Part II.—Health Supervision of Children Placed in Foster Homes; No. 173, Public Child-Caring Work in Certain Counties of Minnesota, North. Carolina, and New York; No. 174, Child Welfare in New Jersey: Part 1.—State Supervision and Personnel Administration; No. 175, Child Welfare in New Jersey: Part 2.—State Provision for Dependent Children.
    Recreation.—No. 172. Recreation for Blind Children.
    Maternity and infant hygiene.—No. 156, The Promotion of the Welfare and Hygiene of Maternity and Infancy—The Administration of the Act of Congress of November 23, 1921, Fiscal Year Ended
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    June 30, 1925; No. 157, Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of State Directors in Charge of the Local Administration of the Maternity and Infancy Act of November 23, 1921; No. 158, Maternal Mortality, the risk of death in childbirth and from all diseases caused by pregnancy and confinement; No. 167, A Study of Maternity Homes in Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
    Child 'Welfare News Swnmary.—The Child Welfare News Summary was issued thirty times during the year. On July 1, 1926, there were 1,075 names on the list; during the year 73 names have been added. This summary is sent on request only to persons who are actively engaged in child-welfare work and to child-welfare agencies and publications.
    Publications to the number of 1,306,064 were distributed. The distribution of the popular bulletins on the care of the mother and child were as follows: Prenatal Care, 166,399; Infant Care, 335,235; Child Care, 60,520; Child Management, 63,912. The folder on Sunlight for Babies, issued last year, proved to be the most popular of the publications on the care of the mother and child, with the exception of Infant Care and Prenatal Care; the distribution was 78,060. The Baby’s Daily Time Cards (chart No. 14) was another publication of the year that proved popular; the first edition was 15,000, and it was necessary to double this number before the end of the year. The bureau’s printing allotment was smaller than in 1926, because the special allotment of $7,500 for the purchase of bulletins on the care of the mother and child, which was available in 1926, was discontinued. The issuing of small editions and the curtailment of distribution through circularization of the mailing lists were continued last year. The orders for popular bulletins for sale by the Superintendent of Documents for the last fiscal year are: Prenatal Care, ‘51,500; Infant Care, 113,500; Child Care, 65,000; and Child Management, 50,500.
    BUREAU OF NATURALIZATION
    Raymond F. Crist, Commissioner
    Procedure under act of 1926.
    For years many judges, both Federal and State, have urged that naturalization become a function of the executive branch of the Government instead bf one exercised by the judiciary of this country. This year witnessed the first experiences in what may be the first steps toward that end.
    Under the act approved June 8, 1926, the judges of the district courts of the United States are empowered to designate naturalization examiners to conduct preliminary hearings of a judicial nature. These hearings as conducted by designated examiners are comparable to those hearings held before masters in patent causes, ref
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    erees in bankruptcy, and such similar semi judicial hearings. The findings at these naturalization hearings are reported to the courts by the designated examiners, with their recommendations, for final action by the courts at the final hearings on these petitions. The act of 1926 authorizes the acceptance by the judges of these district courts of the United States of these findings and recommendations made by these designated naturalization officers. In 56 United States district courts designations were made of naturalization officers to hold naturalization hearings up to the end of the year. Under the operation of this law 116,448 petitions for naturalization were heard by designated naturalization officers with all the solemnity and care surrounding a judicial proceeding, testimony on the part of the petitioner and witnesses was taken, witnesses for the Government were called and duly heard, and formal findings made and duly entered upon records specially prepared for the part which the executive branch of the Government is required to perform under this statute. These findings, with corresponding recommendations for the admission of the petitioners, or for the denial or continuance of their petitions, were made in appropriate manner to the respective district courts of the United States by the designated administrative officers conducting the preliminary hearings. There were 58,774 cases of favorable findings and recommendations accepted by the courts. In 5,380 cases of objection the courts affirmed the objection and directed the continuance in 3,661 cases, while ordering the admission to citizenship in 164 cases where the finding at the preliminary hearing was not favorable. Of these latter the objections were largely formal in nature.
    In all of these cases the applicants appeared in the open-court sessions. Those favorably recommended were required only to take the oath of allegiance in the presence of the judge, who signed one order for the admission of the group appearing for the final action. Where the recommendation of the designated examiner is unfavorable the witnesses as well as the petitioner might appear before the judge. Approximately 15-minute sessions were all that were necessary to accomplish the formal admission by a judge of hundreds of applicants favorably recommended.
    Nearly one-third of all naturalizations during the year occurred under the new proceeding conducted by administrative officers. The proceedings, under both the administrative and the judicial branches of the Government, were marked by dignity and orderliness, in definite contrast to the crowding, pushing, and disorder previously prevailing in the court rooms, where a great number were to be naturalized. The elimination in nearly every case of the requirement for the appearance before the judge of the two witnesses directly
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    contributed to the discontinuance of the court-room disorders through the reduction of the number of individuals by two-thirds.
    In many of these courts the enforcement of the naturalization law in preceding years consumed one, two, and sometimes three days in a week, extending generally throughout the year. These days have now been saved for the consideration of other litigation where the practice prevails of convening court for the disposal of the naturalization cases 15 minutes in advance of the usual hour. The expense has been greatly reduced to the public, whether concerned in naturalization cases or other litigation. The simplification of the naturalization procedure has made it possible to advance to an earlier termination other litigation which otherwise would have been deferred. Large numbers of applicants have filed petitions for naturalization in Federal courts in preference to the State courts in the large cities, wherever the designations have been made by the judges of the district courts of the United States. The preference is immediately traceable to the reduced expense to the applicant, as he is usually not required to bring witnesses at the time of the hearing in court. While the expense and cost, both to the judicial branch of the Government and to the public, have been materially reduced, an increased cost would immediately be imposed upon the Government if the enlargement of authority should be extended to the 2,000 or more State courts exercising naturalization jurisdiction.
    Cancellation proceedings.
    The United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in the case of United States v. Pandit, 15 F. (2d) 285, a high-caste Hindu, decided that the Government was estopped from questioning in cancellation proceedings under section 15 of the act of June 29, 1906, a litigated question of fact (whether the applicant was a “ white person ” within the meaning of section 2169 of the Revised Statutes) forming part of the judgment of the State court in naturalizing Pandit, because such proceedings had not been instituted during the period of time allowed litigants for review. A review of this decision was undertaken through a petition to the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari. The Supreme Court declined to grant the petition. While the refusal of the Supreme Court to issue the writ of certiorari does not affirmatively sustain the principle of construction of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in the Pandit case, its action is significant of the apparent lack of importance to the public attached to the legal point contained in that case. Immediately upon denial of the petition of the Government by the Supreme Court this department suggested to the Department of Justice the desirability of applying this rule to the pending cases of cancellation of the naturalization of other
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    Hindus before various district courts of the United States. In this suggestion the Department of Justice concurred, and instructed the various United States attorneys accordingly. One far-reaching effect of a most desirable character which follows upon this construction of the law by the Circuit Court of Appeals in the Pandit case is found in the application of that principle to the veterans of the World War who entered the military forces of the United States and had citizenship conferred upon them while in the uniform of the United States and who are of those nationalities and races not included within the terms of the naturalization law. These World War veteran soldiers and sailors of our forces, by the application of the rule that the Government is estopped by the judgments of the State courts, will make their citizenship secure unless at some later time the Supreme Court should decide adversely.
    In the case of United States v. Maney, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, on June 16, 1927, decided an important question of law in favor of the United States and held that the certificate of citizenship had been illegally obtained. It reversed the action of the District Court of the United States which had dismissed the suit of the Government to cancel the certificate of naturalization. A certificate showing the date, place, and manner of arrival of the alien in the United States had not been obtained from the Department of Labor and filed with and made a part of the petition for naturalization at the time that instrument was filed, as required by the naturalization act of 1906. This failure caused the Government to object to the naturalization, but the alien was admitted over the objection. The appellate court, in holding the citizenship as illegally acquired, cited the decision of the Supreme Court in United States v. Ness, 245 U. S. 319, in which it had been decided that the filing of a certificate of arrival as provided by law is an essential prerequisite to a valid order of naturalization. The Circuit Court of Appeals held that this interpretation of the Supreme Court seemed clearly to indicate that the requirement in the act is mandatory and that the courts are without authority or discretion to depart from one of the simple though important provisions of the act.
    There were 91 suits recommended by the bureau and referred b^ the department to the Department of Justice for action during the past fiscal year, to take citizenship away from individuals who had secured it illegally or through fraud. From these suits instituted and those pending from the preceding fiscal year, 58 certificates of naturalization were canceled during the year; 27 suits were dismissed, most of these being cases not initiated by this bureau and cases handled pursuant to the rule of the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit in the Pandit case.
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    Criminal prosecutions.
    The criminal prosecutions referred to in previous reports occurring under indictments returned in 1923 for fraudulent naturalization in California and Nevada were terminated during the year by the death of the defendant.
    Visa archives.
    Under the immigration act of 1924 the immigration visas received in the bureau during the fiscal year have amounted to 346,082; during the preceding year, 311,628, being an increase of 34,454. There were 11,699 applications from aliens who arrived in the United States after July 1, 1924, for permits to enable them to return to the United States after temporary absences; for the preceding year there were but 5,772. These applications are received in the Bureau of Naturalization and verified from the immigration visas in its archives as to the correctness of the facts alleged regarding arrival in the United States.
    There was an increase of 20,441 in the number of applications for first naturalization papers received in the bureau from among those arriving in the United States under the operation of the immigration act of 1924, the total numbering 77,447 as compared with 57,006 the preceding year. On these applications, 71,090 certificates of arrival were issued for naturalization purposes. In addition to these there were 2,063 who failed to establish the legality of their claim of entry into the United States, and their applications were forwarded to the Immigration Service in connection with further investigation and deportation if found illegally in the country. There were 10,165 applications at the end of the fiscal year under investigation. In addition to the 71,090 certificates of arrival issued on applications received in the bureau from those entering the United States under the immigration act of 1924, applications were received in and certificates of arrival furnished its field offices to the number of 133,849 from that number of aliens desiring to declare their intention who had arrived in the United States after the commencement of the first quota law and prior to July 1, 1924.
    There were 26,723 petitions for preference or nonquota immigration visas handled during the year from newly naturalized citizens to enable them to bring in the various members of their families entitled to such visas. Of these 2,095 were returned because of lack of evidence to support the claims of the petitioners, while 24,168 were forwarded for the purpose of approval of the status to which entitled. At the end of the year there were 460 in the process of investigation.
    The large number of errors in the applications relating to the dates and ports of arrival, names, ages, occupations, even including the
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    given and surnames, add to the complications of the work of verifying these applications, both for declarations of intention and petitions for special visas. Full reports of irregularities in all these cases, both of petitioners for nonquota visas and applicants for naturalization papers, were promptly made to the immigration authorities.
    Textbooks issued.
    Copies of the Federal Textbook on Citizenship Training have been furnished to 488 communities—23,150 copies of Part I, 15,751 copies of Part II, and 17,403 copies of Part III.
    Declarations and petitions for citizenship.
    There were 258,295 declarations of intention to become citizens, 240,339 petitions for naturalization filed, and 199,804 certificates of naturalization issued during the year. These figures show a decrease in the number of declarations of intention from the preceding year of 19,244. There were, however, 10,165 applications on file in the bureau from aliens desiring to make declarations of intention which were under investigation at the end of the year. Notable increases, however, are observable in the petitions for naturalization filed and certificates issued. In the preceding year there were 172,232 petitions filed, or 68,107 fewer than in the fiscal year 1927. In the preceding year there were 146,331 certificates of naturalization issued, or 53,473 fewer than the year under review. The increases are noticed, therefore, in the two branches of the work which require the greater administrative supervision and attention. In this year the largest number of petitions for naturalization were filed that were ever filed in the history of the Federal supervision, excepting the high level year of 1919, when 256,858 petitions for naturalization were filed. The largest number of naturalization certificates was issued during this year of any excepting in 1919. In the former year, due to the large number of military naturalizations, there were 217,358 certificates issued.
    A total of 11,946 petitions for naturalization was denied during the year by both Federal and State courts. The causes were largely incompetency of witnesses, ignorance of the institutions of our Government, immoral character, and lack of sufficient residence. The courts temporarily deferred the admission to citizenship of 41,770 applicants in order to give the Government further time to furnish evidence or to enable the candidates to qualify for admission to citizenship. In all there were 211,750 petitions heard by the 2,220 courts, representing an increase of 52,145 applications over the preceding fiscal year.
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    Fees received.
    Naturalization fees and other revenues collected and deposited in the Treasury of the United States amounted to $994,654.41, or $196,422.53 more than that received in the preceding fiscal year and an amount greater than in any preceding fiscal year in the history of the administration of the naturalization law. Of this amount $79,-778.50 was accounted for through the Department of Justice. The cost of operation was $746,621.91, or $248,032.50 less than the revenues, thus eclipsing the high peak reached in the year 1917, when the revenues exceeded the cost of operation by $243,502.37.
    During the period of Federal supervision of the naturalization law there has been deposited in the Treasury of the United States a total of $10,982,164.02 as the result of the activities of the Bureau of Naturalization. The total cost of administering the naturalization law for this period has been $10,336,384.50, or $645,779.52 less than the revenues.
    Certificates of arrival.
    The accumulations of applications for certificates of arrival heretofore reported as persisting at Ellis Island were finally cared for in the early part of the year. Since that time, while there has been a large reduction of the personnel assigned at that station to this work, the force continued there is sufficient to maintain an efficient service to all applicants for certificates of arrival at that port.
    Naturalization in New York City.
    The conduct of the naturalization work in New York City has been most successful during the past year, when taking into consideration the condition of the work. During the year the large accumulation of applications to petition before the district court in New York was completely cared for, notices being sent to all, the petitions filed of all who responded, and the work brought current. A larger number of petitions for naturalization was filed in the Supreme Court for Bronx County and the United States district court in Brooklyn during the year than in any preceding fiscal year, but'there were some applications on hand awaiting action at the end of the fiscal year, due to the unprecedentedly large number received. Plans have been formulated, however, to care for all these applications within the coming fiscal year. Included in these plans were the rental of larger and more commodious quarters at lower cost for the housing of the naturalization service in New York City and increased accommodations in the post office building in Brooklyn acquired during the year.
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    WOMEN’S BUREAU
    Mary Anderson, Director
    The Women’s Bureau has to report for the fiscal year 1927 the completion of several extensive and important studies made in the interest of wage-earning women and in accordance with the authority of the bureau to “ investigate and report * * * upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of women in industry.”
    The field investigations of the effects of special legislation on the employment of women were practically completed in December, and the report will shortly be turned over to the editorial division for preparation for printing. In January a preliminary report of the findings of this study as regards 48-hour and 50-hour laws was presented, by request, to the Industrial Survey Commission of New York, appointed by the legislature of that State; and in May an address on the subject of the investigation was delivered before the section on industrial and economic problems of the National Conference of Social Work, in convention at Des Moines. A brief statement of the findings of th -> survey forms part of this report.
    The history of minimum wage laws in the United States, 1912 to 1927, which has occupied the research division of the bureau for a. long time, has been completed. The report is the most thorough analysis of this important subject which has been made and it constitutes a record which will have permanent value.
    The study of industrial accidents to women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin, made primarily to ascertain the facts about injured women’s industrial rehabilitation after a decade under compensation laws, and reporting also upon the causes, frequency, and severity of accidents, their prevention, and the legislation and administration of compensation acts, will shortly be delivered from the press.
    Several interesting studies remain to be completed as the larger reports are got out of the way. If it be true, as evidence seems to prove, that women are employed in industry in an increasing proportion, however slow the actual rate of increase, their employers, their fellow workers, and the public as a whole naturally are interested in that fact and in the conditions of their employment. It is the purpose of the bureau to collect, correlate, and make available for reference a mass of information which shall be accepted by employers, employees, health authorities, women’s organizations—in fact, any interested persons—in their combined efforts to have the working conditions and employment relations of American women the best in the world.
    71308—27---9
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    Again the only figure for total number of women employed in the United States is the eight and a half million reported by the census of occupations of 1920 and quoted by the Women’s Bureau in each of the years since then. By now that number may be a considerable underestimate. Unfortunately not many figures are available which show by sex the trend of employment. Even the United States census of manufactures, now taken biennially, has not collected figures on the sex of employees since 1919, the tabulation and publication of the more general figures being as much as the staff can handle in the two-year period.
    An example of the evidence referred to in regard to women’s advance in industry since the latest Federal census may be mentioned here. The Women’s Bureau is in possession of the 1914 to 1924 employment figures for Ohio, the third State in the Union as regards numbers of wage earners in manufacturing, and these show that women fared better, proportionally, than did men between 1919 and 1924. That period witnessed the very severe depression of 1920-21, during which women lost employment to a less degree than did men, and another bad year for manufacturing (1924) was more serious for men than for women. As a consequence, women—who .in 1919 constituted 15.8 per cent of all wage earners, and who recovered somewhat from the depression following, though men did not— were 16.8 per cent of all wage earners in 1924. They lost some thousands in manufacturing, but men lost more heavily in proportion and women advanced from 14.9 per cent of the total in 1919 to 15.9 per cent of the total in 1924. In the various lines grouped as “ service ” both sexes made large gains, but women advanced in the five years from 39.7 to 40.3 per cent of the total. In clerical occupations, where again both sexes increased in numbers, women slightly more than held their own, being 49.3 per cent of the total in 1919 and 49.4 per cent of the total in 1924. Trade, especially employment as sales persons, tells a different story, women declining during the five years from 52.1 per cent to 45 per cent of all sales persons employed, but among all employees in all industries—wage earners, clerks, and sales persons—women were 21.2 per cent in 1919 and 22.6 per cent in 1924. At the end of the five years men still were some 1,500 behind their 1919 figure, while women were something over 18,000 in advance of theirs.
    Ohio was of tremendous importance industrially during the World War, and contributed many thousands of men to military service. Women replaced men in industry in an almost spectacular way, and the pre-war status has not been resumed. Of wage earners in manufacturing, women constituted 13.1 per cent in 1917 and rose to 15 per cent in 1918, the year of the draft; six years later they formed 15.9 per cent of the wage earners in manufacturing. Of all wage
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    earners, women constituted 13.9 per cent in 1917 and rose to 15.7 per cent in 1918; by 1924 they had advanced to 16.8 per cent of all wage earners. Of all persons employed—wage earners, clerks, and sales persons—women comprised 17.9 per cent in 1917 and jumped to 20.5 per cent in 1918; in 1924 they constituted 22.6 per cent of all persons employed.
    There would seem to be no reason why Ohio should differ from other industrial States in regard to the trend of employment of women, and if these figures are typical of American industry as a whole they merit respectful attention and analysis.
    It may be assumed that the Government will again call for the sex of wage earners in its census of manufactures in 1929, following a lapse of 10 years since the last enumeration of these important data and to be used in conjunction with the less exact statistics of the 1930 census of occupations. The war-ridden countries of Europe may be excused for gaps in what should be a continuous series of statistics, but there would seem to be no excuse for our own prosperous country to allow so regrettable a lapse.
    The bureau continues to recommend its reasonable standards of hours, wages, working conditions, and employment relations, and feels a growing confidence in its ability to furnish guidance and be of genuine assistance in putting such standards into practice.
    STATE STUDIES
    The Women’s Bureau has always made investigations of the conditions of employment of women in individual States an important part of its work, having conducted 18 such surveys in the nine years of its existence. Each of these surveys has been undertaken at the request of some group in the State, either the department of labor or some organization interested in the problems of wage-earning women. In this way the bureau renders a valuable service to the States in which the surveys are made and to the country as a whole in presenting data representative of women in industry that are comparable for various sections of the country.
    Owing to the limited appropriation available and the pressure of studies already under way, no new surveys of this type could be undertaken during the past year, but the work on two—Women in Delaware Industries and Women in Tennessee Industries—was completed. These two reports and one other—Women in Mississippi Industries—came from the press during the year.
    SPECIAL STUDIES
    During the past year the Women’s Bureau has continued or completed a number of special studies relating to the problems of wa»e-earning women.
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    The effects of special legislation on the employment of women.
    The investigation of the effects of special legislation on the employment of women, the inception and method of which were outlined in the eighth annual report of the bureau, has been completed and the report on the study is being prepared.
    Though the complete findings are not yet ready for circulation, certain aspects of the conclusions have been made public. The first report was made in January before the Industrial Survey Commission of the State of New York. This commission was appointed by the New York State Legislature to study the need for labor legislation in that State. At the request of the commission, the Women’s Bureau submitted a preliminary statement showing the findings of its investigation in regard to the effect of 48-hour and 50-hour laws on the. employment of women. In May a more comprehensive report on the general findings of the investigation was made to the members of the industrial section of the National Conference of Social Work, meeting in Des Moines, Iowa.
    The scope of the study has been very extensive, and many different sections of the country have been covered in the effort to secure information regarding different types of women’s employment and any relation which could be found between opportunities for such employment and legislative regulation. The field work was begun in March and completed in December, 1926. During that time the agents of the Women’s Bureau collected information from establishments and women workers in California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island.
    Information regarding the employment of women in stores in Pennsylvania was supplied to the Women’s Bureau by the bureau of women and children of the department of labor of that State, and in New York State the bureau of women and children in industry made a special study of the employment of women in newspaper offices as proof readers, monotypists, and linotypists.
    Information was secured also from the Industrial Survey Commission of the State of New York. This commission, appointed, as already stated, to investigate the need for labor legislation in that State, conducted its investigation largely by means of public hearings, at which interested persons reported their experiences and recommendations regarding the various laws under consideration. A considerable part of the testimony presented to the commission was in regard to a proposed 48-hour law for women. After the hearings were over and the recommendations of the commission had been made to the legislature, the Women’s Bureau was given access to the transcript of the testimony presented to the commission and secured copies of those sections which were pertinent to the investi
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    gation of the effects of special legislation. By this means the bureau was able to examine and evaluate data which it might have been obliged to secure by some other method. With the exceptions noted, all the data secured during the course of this investigation have been collected by the agents of the Women’s Bureau.
    The employment of women in many different types of industry was studied, but special emphasis was laid on five manufacturing industries which are typical of the different conditions of women’s employment—boots and shoes, hosiery, electrical apparatus and supplies, paper boxes, and clothing. For this group of industries a very detailed study was made of all the factors affecting women’s employment in two or more States having different standards of legal regulation. A careful study was made also of women in stores and restaurants.
    In addition to the detailed information secured from these industries, data were gathered from a very large number of establishments which employed women at night, or which employed men longer hours than were legally permitted for women. From these establishments it was possible to get a general idea of the policies of employers regarding women’s employment and the extent to which opportunity for women was affected by hour and night work legislation.
    As much of the special legislation which has been enacted for the regulation of women’s employment applies to specific occupations, it seemed desirable to include studies of certain typical occupations for women in addition to the general problems of their employment in industry. The occupations included for study were elevator operating, the work of pharmacists, and a large group of occupations which are prohibited for women in one or more States. In all, a total of not far from 1,500 establishments were visited during the course of the survey, and more than 1,000 women workers were interviewed for their personal experiences of the effect of laws on their conditions of employment.
    In getting the information desired in each State the Women’s Bureau received the fullest cooperation from State departments of labor and other interested groups. In several instances the State departments of labor circularized their inspecting agents to get the data necessary for the successful blocking out of the work of the bureau’s agents. Women’s organizations and trade-union organizations also cooperated to the fullest extent in supplying names of individuals who could give pertinent information and in advising as to local problems which should be examined.
    Before deciding that an adequate amount of material had been secured in the field, the bureau submitted an outline of the data
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    collected to its technical committee, consisting of Miss Mary Van Kleeck, director of industrial studies of the Russell Sage Foundation; Mrs. Frank B. Gilbreth, industrial engineer; and Dr. Charles P. Neill, formerly Commissioner of Labor of the United States. Though it was recognized that the material collected was at best only a sampling of the information available, it seemed to this committee and to the Women’s Bureau that the information was sufficient to give an adequate basis for drawing deductions.
    It is expected that the report will be ready for circulation during the coming winter. In addition to the details of the investigation made, it will include a chronological study of the laws and amendments to laws regulating the employment of women in each State; a history of the labor legislation affecting women in New York, Massachusetts, and California, showing the origin of the various laws and the forces which proposed and opposed them; and a special study of trade-unions in relation to labor legislation for women.
    The most important conclusions which can be drawrn from this investigation are these:
    The regulatory laws as applied to the great bulk of women wage earners, those who are engaged in the manufacturing processes of industry, do not handicap women, but serve to regularize employment and to establish the accepted standards of modern efficient industrial management. When applied to specific occupations not closely akin to the industrial occupations for which the laws were drawn, this regulatory legislation has proved in a few instances to be a handicap to women.
    Laws prohibiting night work for women in industry seem generally to be merely a reflection of the usual attitude of employers regarding such work, but occasionally they result in a limitation of women’s employment. When applied indiscriminately to certain special occupations which are professional or semiprofessional in type, night work prohibition or regulation has resulted in restrictions of women’s employment which do not seem to be entirely warranted by the conditions of work.
    The laws which prohibit women’s employment in certain occupations have been found in a number of instances to be an unnecessary restriction.
    The most satisfactory future policy for legislation affecting women probably will be a more careful adjustment of laws to the requirements of certain occupations, a more specific stipulation of the type of worker covered by the law, and a replacement of prohibition by regulation except for such occupations as are shown to be more hazardous for women than for men.
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    History of the development of minimum-wage legislation in the United States.
    The research study of the various State minimum wage laws, based on the text of the laws and the publications and records of the State minimum-wage commissions, has been completed in the past year.
    In this report the provisions of the laws are analyzed and methods of carrying out these provisions are summarized. All orders issued under the laws are analyzed in detail. Methods of enforcing these orders are illustrated and results of the orders are studied from the figures on rates and earnings presented by the commissions. In addition the relation of the courts to these laws and the influence of the size of the appropriations that have been available for the work are discussed.
    Minimum-wage legislation had been tried in Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand before any law was passed in the United States, but this type of legislation still was largely an experiment when it began to receive serious attention in the United States. From 1912 to 1923, 15 States—Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin— and the District of Columbia and Porto Rico passed minimum wage laws. In four cases—Arizona, Porto Rico, South Dakota, and Utah—a minimum rate of pay for women workers was established in the law. All the other States set up the machinery for establishing such a rate through orders issued by the body administering the law. Arkansas provided both a rate in the law and the means of setting other rates.
    In two States—Colorado and Nebraska—no orders ever were issued. In the 11 other States 226 separate orders setting rates of pay were issued over a period of 14 years, 1913 to 1927. In all the States except Massachusetts and Nebraska these orders had the force of law. In Massachusetts and Nebraska the only means of enforcing the rates was public opinion, through the publication of the names of such firms as failed to comply with the orders. The differences in the very fundamentals of these laws show how unformed were the ideas of minimum wage and indicate how largely this law was an experiment.
    At present, because of three adverse decisions of the United States Supreme Court when the constitutionality of the laws of the District of Columbia, Arizona, and Arkansas was questioned, the compulsory type among these laws seems likely to disappear before it has been fully developed.
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    The Women’s Bureau bulletin is primarily a report of the ways in which the various States have worked out the machinery for carrying on this new type of law rather than a report on the results of the law. This legislation has been in effect for such a relatively short time, its administration and enforcement have been developed along such diverse lines in the different States, the number of women for whom rates have been set is so small in comparison with the total number of gainfully occupied women in the United States, and, most important of all, the war and postwar periods during which the laws have functioned have been influenced by abnormal economic forces so much stronger than the laws that any sweeping judgments as to positive effects of the laws must be guarded against. The report shows clearly that statements as to the laws’ bad effects can find no general support. It shows also that statements as to their good effects must be careful not to consider the minimum wage laws much more powerful than is actually the case, nor to attribute to the laws situations brought about by a combination of economic factors.
    In the discussion of the laws’ administration, the most apparent point is that every act connected with these laws has been in the nature of an experiment. One State will handle a given problem in one way; another State will try a method exactly opposed to the first. Within a State, a situation will be met in one way at one time and in another way at a later date. Moreover, the commissions have had to learn slowly, through actual experience, just what must be done to carry out the law. Even to-day there are many problems, particularly those that relate to applying the decrees to actual industrial conditions, that have never been touched by certain commissions.
    Among the interesting points brought out by the report is the fact that the activities of the bodies administering the laws seem to show that a minimum wage law generally is most carefully and thoroughly applied by a commission organized especially to take care of this law, and particularly when such commission has a woman member. In another chapter of the report a careful study of the cost-of-living figures prepared as an aid to setting rates and of the rates themselves shows that no State has equaled the announced cost of living in all its decrees, and that only one State, California, has ever had all its women workers who were covered by decrees paid at rates which might be said to equal the cost of living for a self-supporting woman. After thus considering how adequately or inadequately the decrees have provided adult experienced women with the necessary cost of proper living, the report considers the treatment accorded to minors, apprentices or learners, and substandard workers. The most striking fact brought out by this part of the study is that the commissions quite generally have allowed learning periods, at rates well below the minimum, long enough to enable a woman to master a skilled trade,
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    though at the end of this time the order required only that she be paid a minimum rate based not on skill but on the minimum cost of living.
    Continuing the analysis of the decrees, the report makes it clear that most decrees have not contained adequate rules for applying the rates to the actual conditions of industrial life. Few decrees have ruled how many hours of work per week were necessary to obtain the minimum rate. Few have given complete rules for applying the special rates for apprentices. The situation of how to handle workers who are paid piece rates has not been met. The report points out that all these problems had to be met in practice and should have had careful consideration by the commissions and uniform treatment.
    In all the fields covered by the report it is shown that California outranks the other States having the best practice. Individual good points are found in almost every State, but the highest general level is in the State with an independent commission created for this particular law, with a woman member of this commission, and with appropriations several times as large as those found in the other States. The inference can not fail to be drawn that minimum wage laws on the whole have not had sufficient support to develop their real possibilities. Their flexibility and adaptability particularly have been lost sight of because in most cases money and in some cases proper interest in utilizing fully the potential values of these laws have been lacking.
    Industrial accidents to women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
    In the spring of 1923 the Women’s Bureau undertook to make a study of the effects of accidents to wage-earning women. It was the purpose of the study to examine “ the relative importance of various factors in accident causation, the regulations passed by legislatures to relieve the victims of industrial accidents, as far as possible, of the burdens inflicted by wage loss and by permanent physical incapacity, and the procedure by which these regulations are being enforced.”
    The survey was limited to three States—New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin—but in each of these States the industries are diversified and employ a considerable number of women, and the accident records are so kept as to make possible their statistical use. In each State the compensation law has been in force long enough to be fairly well worked out.
    Material was taken from the records of the three States for the period between July 1, 1919, and June 30, 1920. This time was selected because of the advantage in being able to consider the number of accidents in relation to the census figures on numbers of women working in the various occupations. Also, enough time had elapsed
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    between the accidents recorded and the date of the study for interviews with permanently disabled women to show what adjustments they had been able to make.
    The records showed 1,096 compensable accidents to women in New Jersey in the year covered, 1,545 in Ohio, and 644 in Wisconsin, making a total of 3,285 accident records studied. In addition to a study of the detailed records in the files, 385 women who had suffered some degree of permanent disability were interviewed. The majority of the accidents reported (over three-fourths) had occurred in manufacturing industries, and 15 per cent of the women injured had been working in clerical occupations. The others were scattered among transportation, agriculture, public utilities, and trade. Considerably over one-half of the accidents to women in manufacturing establishments were due directly to machinery, while falls and the handling of heavy, sharp, or rough objects together were responsible for more than one-fourth of the factory accidents to women.
    The figures of the report give some indication of the relative hazard in the different industries employing women in the States surveyed. The manufacture of metal products had a much higher frequency rate than had any other industry—40 accidents in the year for every 1,000 women employed. In iron and steel plants there were 27 accidents and in establishments preparing food products 22 accidents per 1,000 women employed.
    There were only 15 fatalities among the 3,285 cases reported, but in 536 cases the worker had been left with some permanent disability. Over four-fifths of the cases were recorded as causing only a temporary disability. Well over one-half of the permanent disability cases involved only one finger.
    The problem of the person who has suffered a permanent disability is the most difficult of solution, and a satisfactory adjustment of indemnity, medical aid, and rehabilitation in cases of injury resulting in permanent disability has not been evolved. This is why the survey included interviews with women who had suffered permanent disabilities to discover what adjustments individual women had been able to make. The interviews showed that many of the women had found it difficult or impossible to regain their preaccident status. In all 385 women were visited. Almost half of these were responsible for the support of other persons in addition to themselves. Over one-third of the women had been working less than six months at the occupations they were engaged upon when injured. Two-fifths of the women were disabled for their former work; one-tenth were disabled for all available work. Of those who returned to industry, 79.6 per cent went back to their former employers, but almost one-fourth of these were laid off soon or found it necessary to quit on
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    account of the disability. Over one-fourth of the women who returned to work had not at any time since the accident earned as much as they had earned before.
    Women workers in Flint, Mich.
    The study of the women in industry in Flint, Mich., has been completed. A preliminary report of the findings was sent in October to the agencies which requested the survey. The study has a general significance in that it presents the problems of a one-industry city. Flint is a city whose population has shown a tremendous increase during the past 30 years, and this unusual increase has been due entirely to the growth of one industry, the manufacture of automobiles and their accessories, employing a small proportion of women. Any violent change in production in the automobile industry affects the prosperity of the whole town.
    The data of the report were obtained in two ways: First, from visits to industrial establishments and from their records; and second, from a house-to-house canvass in a representative industrial neighborhood.
    The plant study included 138 establishments employing 2,814 women. More than one-third of these were mercantile in character, and over one-fourth were restaurants. Nevertheless, not far from two-thirds of the women included in the survey were employed in factories manufacturing automobiles or automobile accessories. A day of 9 hours, or one of more than 8 but less than 9 hours, was the most common for the Flint women who worked in factories, stores, or laundries—55.1 per cent of the women working on the schedule first named and 39.8 per cent working on the second. Very few had a schedule of 8 hours and less or one of more than 9 hours.
    Wage records could be obtained for only a little over one-third of the women employed in the establishments visited. The median of the week’s earnings of the 899 women for whom wages were reported was $15.10.
    The actual daily hours of restaurant workers in some cases were shorter than those of the other women workers in Flint. Because restaurant workers frequently have very different hours on different days of the week, it is easier to take the individual working day as the unit rather than the individual worker. There were 169 women for whom hour information was obtained, and the total number of working days for these women in the week surveyed was 1,128. Almost three-tenths of these employee-days were shorter than 8 hours, and slightly more than that proportion were 8 hours in length. Days of more than 9 hours were more common in restaurants than in other establishments surveyed. It must be remembered that the restaurant worker often has the inconvenience of scattered hours within
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    a long over-all working period. Furthermore, over two-thirds of these restaurant employees had a 7-day week, while mercantile workers had a 6-day week, and most factory and laundry workers had one of 5y2 days.
    The earnings of restaurant employees were tabulated separately from those of the other workers because tips and meals increased their earnings to some extent. The median of their pay-roll earnings was $12.25.
    Attention was given to the working conditions in the establishments visited. Lighting was found to be more satisfactory than was ventilation. In laundries and restaurants particularly hoods with exhausts over machines and stoves are especially important, and seldom had adequate attention been given to such provision. Sanitary facilities frequently were unsatisfactory, for common drinking cups, common towels, and inadequate toilet equipment were found in a number of instances.
    In the neighborhood study 3,648 living units were included, either families or groups of other people living together, and the number of adult women in these groups was 4,844. Of these practically one-fifth were working or had worked during the year. One in 20 of those not working was interested in getting work. Jobs were desired also by most of the women who had worked during the year but were not working at the time of the survey.
    Women’s employment in vegetable canneries in Delaware.
    During the summer and autumn months canning forms an important part of the industrial activity of Delaware. The material in the bureau’s report on canneries was obtained as part of the general study of hours, wages, and working conditions of the women employed in that State. Because of the seasonal nature of the canning industry and its special problems it seemed that the material in the report which related to canneries would be of interest outside of the State, and it has been presented in a separate bulletin.
    Thirty-four canneries were visited. Of these, 3 were equipped for handling corn only, 1 for Lima beans only, and 2 for both corn and tomatoes. In 28 of them, however, tomatoes alone were being handled. At the time of the survey these 34 canneries employed approximately 1,700 women workers.
    The outstanding features of cannery work are its seasonal character and the irregularity of work even during the busy season. The crop may not have come on rapidly enough to keep all hands busy a full day or the cannery may run overlong hours to avoid loss from spoilage. Dependence on the ripening of the crop and poor planning in contracting ahead cause slack days and days on which there is excessive overtime. Most State laws regulating women’s working
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    hours recognize this irregularity and exempt canneries from the provisions of the law.
    Most of the plants visited in Delaware could not be said to have any regular schedule of working hours. During the week for which records were taken almost one-third of the women for whom the number of hours worked was reported had been on duty more than 55 hours—the maximum set by law for other industries. On the other hand, not far from one-half of the women had worked less than 40 hours, or on less than four days of the week.
    Individual pay-roll records were available for 844 white women and 252 negro women. The median of the week’s earnings of the former was $9.40 and of the latter it was $5.55. In 12 canneries individual earnings were, not reported for tomato peelers and only figures on average earnings can be given for these women. In one cannery the women had averaged only $4.16 during the week recorded, while in another the average earnings were $14.04. These two represent the extremes and the averages for the other 10 canneries fell between.
    ' The buildings in which the work was done ordinarily were low frame buildings, only semi-inclosed. In many cases only haphazard attention had been given to seating, and in the majority of the establishments visited the workers had not even platforms to stand upon which would keep them off the wet floor. Few of the canneries made any satisfactory provision of drinking water and only 9 canneries provided a special place for the workers’ convenience in washing. Thirteen supplied soap ahd 15 supplied individual towels of some type. Practically all the canneries had outside toilets and many of. these were in bad condition. Only 9 were fly proof.
    In many cases canneries are so located that there is no labor supply near at hand, and some provision must be made for housing migrant workers. Fourteen of the 34 canneries visited had housing accommodations for all or part of their employees. The people in over one-half of these camps came from Baltimore; in several they were negroes from near Norfolk or from the eastern shore of Maryland. There was one group of Italians from Philadelphia. The camps ordinarily were very near to the cannery buildings themselves and, with few exceptions, hardly met even the simplest standards of housing.
    Less than one-fifth of the white women in the canneries who reported their ages were under 20, more than two-fifths were between 20 and 40, while almost as many were 40 or over. The negro women were somewhat younger on the whole. The majority of the white women (85.7 per cent) were native born. Exactly three-fourths were or had been married.
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    Fatigue and lost time in cotton mills.
    The bureau is continuing the collection of figures on time lost by men and women employed in certain textile mills covered in the study on that subject published in 1926. The original study showed an excessively high rate of absence in the spinning rooms of the cotton mills, and for that reason special attention is being given to the problems of temperature and fatigue in that department. Certain mills have introduced new methods in their spin rooms which may have some effect on fatigue, and a study of absence and turnover figures in relation to such changes is under consideration.
    Foreign-born women in industry.
    This study, based on interviews with foreign-born women in and near Philadelphia and in the Lehigh Valley, is nearing completion. Information was obtained concerning the ages of the women, their residence in the United States, marital status, size of the family, number of wage earners in the family, and their industrial experience in their native countries and in the United States.
    Trend of employment for women.
    This is an analysis of the employment statistics for men and women collected by the State of Ohio during a period of 11 years, 1914 to 1924, but not published by that State since 1915. It will constitute an important contribution to the subject of employment fluctuation.
    Wages in 13 States.
    A compilation of the material already collected by the bureau on earnings of women workers in 13 States is being pushed to completion as other work permits.
    LIBRARY RESEARCH
    As in previous years, research activities have constituted an important part of the work of the bureau. Functioning as the bureau does, as a source of information, the research division has supplied data on the subject of wage-earning women to many individuals and organizations for educational or legislative purposes. Extensive library work has been necessary to fill such requests and to meet the demands of the bureau in connection with its publicity and exhibit work, its surveys and reports.
    The study of the operation of minimum wage laws has been completed; much research in different fields has been necessary for the study of the effects of special legislation on the employment of women, including a history of such legislation by States; a brief summary of the laws affecting women in a selected group of Euro
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    pean countries has been prepared; and for the International Labor Office a summary has been made of existing legislation for women in the United States, covering chiefly hour and night-work laws, minimum-wage laws, and laws prohibiting or regulating the employment of women in certain occupations or under specified conditions. Work has continued on the bibliography of women in industry, the minimum-wage section of which has already been published. That part of the bibliography now in progress deals with central European literature.
    Publication of the News-Letter was resumed during the year. This publication, inaugurated in 1921 at the request of the Association of Governmental Labor Officials, reports current activities relating to working women in this and other countries, and serves as a clearing house of such information. It is a source of copy for newspapers and periodicals. Effort is made to report through this channel the progress of legislation in the various States and countries, the findings of investigations relative to women at work, here and abroad, notes on conferences and meetings of interest, changes in personnel among State labor officials, and all matters of importance and general interest which come to the attention of the bureau through constant research and observation.
    EDUCATIONAL WORK
    Practically all the activities of the bureau might properly be considered as educational work—the bulletins and the news releases on their findings, the news letter compiled by the research division, the addresses and conferences by the director and members of the staff, special articles on the work of the bureau and on the problems of women workers, and the information supplied by letter to correspondents, each constituting an essential feature of the work for which the bureau was created.
    Short talks about working women.
    For general educational purposes the bureau has published in pamphlet form a group of short talks relating to women’s progress in industry, their wages and hours, and the conditions under which they work.
    Women workers and industrial poisons.
    The address before the women’s industrial conference in January, 1926, by Dr. Alice Hamilton, professor of industrial medicine at Harvard, on the subject of the employment of women in the poisonous trades, has been made available for distribution because of the importance of its subject and the authority of the speaker.
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    Exhibits.
    The exhibit at the National Sesquicentennial Exposition at Philadelphia was dismantled in December. A number of the factory chairs and certain other things which had been lent to the bureau for display were presented to the bureau and now form part of its permanent exhibit in Washington for inspection by anyone who cares to see them. As in other years, the bureau’s portable exhibit material— comprising paintings, models, motion pictures, slide films, an automatic book, charts, posters, and maps, including machines for showing the motion pictures and the slide films—was lent to organizations making application therefor and meeting the costs of transportation. The material is sent out by freight, express, or post, according to size and weight.
    PUBLICATIONS
    During the year the following bulletins have come from the press:
    No. 52. Lost Time and Labor Turnover in Cotton Mills.
    No. 53. The Status of Women in the Government Service in 1925.
    No. 54. Changing Jobs.
    No. 55. Women in Mississippi Industries.
    No. 56. Women in Tennessee Industries.
    No. 57. Women Workers and Industrial Poisons.
    No. 58. Women in Delaware Industries.
    No. 59. Short Talks about Working Women.
    The following bulletins are in the printing office:
    No. 60. Industrial Accidents to Women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
    No. 61. The Development of Minimum Wage Laws in the United States, 1912 to 1927.
    No. 62. Women’s Employment in Vegetable Canneries in Delaware.
    The following bulletins are in process of preparation for the printer:
    Women Workers in Flint, Mich.
    State Laws Affecting Working Women (revision).
    Oregon Legislation for Women in Industry.
    PART II
    COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
    THE WORKER’S ESTATE
    The happiness and prosperity of the American people so stand out as to be the subject of admiration and study of people the world over. One after another, foreign observers have been detailed to look info our affairs, to discover what is the secret of our success. One after another these observers have agreed that a new order of life appears to have established itself in America, and with one accord they proclaim that our success is due to large production of wealth made possible through cooperation between worker and employer, one striving to produce to the utmost and the other willing to pay a just wage for this maximum output.
    As a consequence we have better understanding and good will between worker and employer. The problem, or rather ambition, is to maintain good will and thus maintain good times. Booms and panics were once regarded as an order of nature. We do not now believe this to be true; we believe it is within our own hands to wipe out depression and make prosperity permanent. The simple means is to keep alive this partnership and teamwork between the worker and the man who employs him.
    But while we take account of the splendid life of plenty and peace we enjoy, we must not suppose that all is perfect with us. While it is true that no people in history have produced such wealth, and while never before has a nation’s wealth been so widely distributed among its people, we still have within our population a great number whose share in our good things is not what it should be. The distribution of our national wealth is good, but it is not perfect. I can best refer to the people I mean by quoting the words of President Coolidge in his message to the last Congress, when he said:
    In the industries the condition of the wage earner has steadily improved. The 12-hour day is almost unknown. Skilled labor is well compensated. But there are unfortunately a multitude of workers who have not yet come to share in the general prosperity of the Nation. Both the public authorities and private enterprise should be solicitous to advance the welfare of this class.
    In speaking of these wage earners, the President referred in the main to unskilled labor, and his reference is borne out by the actual figures on wages of our unskilled labor as gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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    During the past generation marvelous changes have occurred in the living and working conditions of the American laborer. Twenty-five years ago the 60-hour week was general for all classes of labor, with many workers on a 72 and 84 hour week. Now the 48-hour week obtains for practically all classes of labor, with a very considerable number on a 44 and even a 40 hour week. The 60-hour week is gone. The 72-hour wTeek is confined to a very small percentage of workers, and the 84-hour week, which meant 12-hour days seven days a week is virtually abolished.
    At the same time that hours of work have come down the standard of living has risen to a degree which at this time can not be measured. Comparing the rates of wages in the organized trades and taking the average wage rate of 1913 as the basis, or 100, the hourly rates of wages to such workers have increased from an index of 89.7 in 1907 to an index number of 259.5 in 1927. On the same basis the hours of work per week have decreased from 102.6 in 1907 to 92.4 in 1927. And the full-time weekly wage rates have increased from 91.5 in 1907 to 240.8 in 1927. These figures tell the astounding story of the American worker’s rise in prosperity in the past 20 years.
    While the cost of living has increased, the standards of living have risen and the ratio of wage increases has doubtless also increased. But so has the American worker’s productiveness increased and so also has his consuming power. Since 1899, taking all manufactured goods together, production per man has increased 49 per cent, and in the same year our exports were 7 per cent of our production. Yet in 1925 our exports were only 4.9 per cent of our production, proving that the home market—which means to a very large extent the purchasing power of the American workman—had absorbed more than the entire increase in his own productive powers since 1899.
    As I have repeatedly pointed out, our home market means the purchasing power of the workingman, and his purchasing power means the relation of his wages to production and price. Our relatively small exports, when measured in percentage of the whole of production, must emphasize to any thinking man the fact that in home market, not in exports, lies the safety of American industry and American business. The way to enlarge the home market is to enlarge the purchasing power of the vast majority of persons who constitute that market; that is to say, the workers.
    I have pointed to the fact that so long as the worker is paid in proportion to his greater productiveness, no fear need be felt for the high-speed automatic machinery that is constantly being introduced into industry. It is everlastingly to the credit of the American worker that he has made the most willing use of this machinery, in full confidence that he will receive, in wages, his due share of this
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    greater machine production. I must also credit the American employer who, in general, has seen good business in paying good wages, and has willingly paid them, in full confidence that he can count on maximum output from his employees. It is this mutual willingness of the worker to produce and of the employer to pay for production that accounts in large measure for our present prosperity. It has crowded our home market with millions of ready consumers and buyers; it has stocked that market with an infinite variety of goods for improving their standard of living.
    It is sometimes argued that wages must be reduced if we are to increase the sale of our goods in foreign markets. The answer is that by such wage reductions we reduce our profitable home market far more than we increase the less certain profits of the foreign market. Experience has proved, even to the most casual observer, the fallacy of much of the bad economic thinking of the past.
    The low-wage fallacy is the worst of all. A dullard must see the folly of killing the purchasing power of the greatest buyer, the worker, in the market at home which provides us with all but a fraction of our national wealth and prosperity.
    No matter on what plea or excuse, reduction of wages is bad business and worse economics, whether applied in the broadest social sense or to a given industry. No matter how large the population, we know that no low-wage country is prosperous, and we also have it proved in figures and facts that no low-wage industry in the United States is prosperous to-day. No low-wage section of the country to-day is as prosperous as are the sections where higher wages prevail. The employer, therefore, wTho reduces wages, whether from a selfish motive or because he thinks it good business, is not a good business man and is hurting himself. He may for a time succeed in paying a wage below the cost of living, but he is only throwing on the community at large the expense of paying, in the form of unpaid grocery and clothing bills, the wages which he himself should pay. To be very frank, he is stealing from the public. This applies to any industry as a whole, as it does to any individual employer. The time has passed when any industry or any employer who seeks to break down wage scales will be looked upon by the community as shrewd or clever in business. Such employer is not clever in business but a parasite on the community, and public opinion will eventually force him to pay a decent wage or get out of business.
    This is not a random statement. Unfortunately, employers of this description still exist, not only singly but sometimes in groups. I can cite the instance of a certain American city where an enlightened employer who comes to establish a new industry and is prepared to pay the wage rates current in that industry throughout the United States will be informed that the local wage rates are thus and so, and
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    that he is injuring business if he pays any more. If the new employer ignores the warning a committee will visit him and make personal appeal. If he still ignores the suggestion, he will be outside the ranks, playing a lone hand. No one there appears to have seen the restriction to the entire life of the place in this‘restriction of wages. Labor ip the past has been bitterly assailed and justly criticized for taking the stand that the poorer workmen shall receive the same wages as the best and that the output of all shall be regulated by the output of the poorest. Yet which is more reprehensible, this sort of labor practice or the action of the business men in this particular city in forcing an enlightened employer to their own lower scale of wages ?
    After the World War the same kind of economic thinking—-which had taught for a century that a nation’s prosperity is measured only by its excess of exports over imports—flooded the public press and built up a literature with the demand that the American wage rate had to come down. A sufficient comment on this type of rolltop-desk prophets is the fact that ever since the war American wages have steadily risen. Even when they were broken by the temporary collapse of 1921 they did not stay down.
    The hard fact is that other peoples can not afford to buy American goods. Practically the entire income of the vast majority of the peoples of the world is needed to maintain a standard of life that does not permit the purchase of American products. One American producer of food specialties said to me that goods of his which appear on nearly every American table are to be found only on the tables of the well to do in Europe. More than that, American goods, even where they are within the reach of other peoples, seem not to fit into standards of living which those people, either by custom or from inherited taste, refuse to change. It has been said that if the Chinaman would add 1 inch to the length of his shirt, it would absorb all the cotton overproduction of the entire world. The answer is that it would cost the world more to induce the Chinaman to lengthen his shirt than it would to throw away the whole of our surplus cotton.
    We must beware of excessive hopes from our exports; we need to see a real danger in one of our imports. I refer to the importation of immigrants whose standard of living is far below our own. It is a process that curtails our home market without expanding our foreign ones. The sooner we realize this the quicker we shall decide to establish in all industries a wage rate that will attract American working men at American standards of living, with a purchasing power to maintain that standard and give us a market that, unlike the foreign markets, will provide us with wealth and not cost us
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    more than it is worth, socially and commercially, politically and financially.
    One of the slogans of the bad economic thinking of the past was that “You can’t lift yourself up by your boot straps.” For a generation we have taken that trick catchword for an axiom. It is one of those illustrations that do not illustrate. The trouble with the statement is that national industry, commerce, and prosperity do not constitute a single entity like the human body. It may be that with his boot straps alone no man can lift his own body, but I can say with confidence that economically, industrially, socially, politically, morally, or in any other way the only way in which a nation can lift itself at all is, figuratively speaking, by its boot straps. We are doing it all the while. What else does national prosperity mean but that the bottom—that is, the mass of the people—is coming nearer to the top?
    Class prosperity is another matter altogether. I am discussing social and national prosperity, and that means the increased purchasing power of the income of the industrial and agricultural classes and their dependents and all others.
    Taking that purchasing power for what it is at present, however, the year ends with the Nation’s industry generally in a gratifying state of peace. Our Conciliation Service is devoting its good offices to the settlement of the industrial disputes arising in industry. For more than five years none of our major industries, coal alone excepted, has been afflicted with a general strike. Never before in all the history of American industry has the country witnessed such a degree of general harmony between worker and employer. This attitude of mutual respect, good will, and partnership is growing in this country.
    Twenty-five years ago employers and workers were in a state of chronic open or covert warfare. Each mistakenly viewed the other as his natural enemy. Now hostility has given way to understanding. Employer and employee see each other for what they are—necessary partners with a common interest. And the contentment arising from this, to say nothing of the solid financial benefits to both, has convinced both manager and man that this partnership feeling is too valuable to be even lightly threatened, much less destroyed. The result to the country is a rate in the production of wealth but seldom lessened or interrupted’by strikes or lockouts, but rather speeded, by the special zeal that the worker has for his job. This simple secret of our prosperity is now understood as widely as it is by both worker and employer.
    A few years ago the newspapers were filled with the news of strikes,, either already in effect or certain to come. Nowadays I
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    sometimes pick up a paper with the word “ strike ” in its front-page headlines; but frequently when I turn to the article I find that the “ strike ” is apt to be a strike of school or college boys who take that means of resisting opposition to their ownership of automobiles, and the like.
    Certainly many of the old grievances that once provoked strikes have passed. In place of many former fights over wages, we now have generally a wage scale well above anything of the like ever known in history. With his good wages the worker has, as I say, contributed a tremendous new buying power to the American market. This not only enlarges business for the entire country, it not only keeps the mills busy and their workers employed, fully and at good wages, it brings the worker himself new and larger enjoyments in life. To mention only one such enjoyment, the automobile, once a luxury for the well to do, is now in the hands of thousands upon thousands of workers, and the time may come when not a worker in the land will be without one. A thousand similar enjoyments are now within the reach of all, because machinery and mass production have cheapened their cost.
    I can not help reflecting, at the end of that thought, on the marvelous contribution that American invention has made to life. Not long ago I visited a modern steel manufacturing plant. In one department automobile fenders and tops were being turned out in great numbers and at great speed by remarkable automatic machinery. “ That,” I said to the superintendent who was showing me through, “ is what has made possible the automobile at a price so that it may be sold to users enough to make the automobile a thing of profit to maker and user alike.” The same thing has put countless other enjoyments and articles into the great market made up of the worker and others in moderate circumstances.
    This is not all that invention and automatic machinery have done for humanity. They have robbed production of vast amounts of terrific work and great personal danger. In this same steel mill I witnessed any number of manufacturing processes that once were a burden on the backs of men and a risk to their lives now performed by machines at far greater speed and with no risk whatever to the worker. The sight was all the more impressive to me, as my early life was spent in the iron and steel mills at the old hand processes and amid terrific heat. The body was not only worn to exhaustion by the heavy work, it was seared by the heat at the same time.
    In passing through later processes the steel was rolled, pickled, annealed, and otherwise treated. All these steps in manufacture involved the same backbreaking toil under trying conditions. In the so-called pickling process one wore heavy leather aprons and other
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    protective clothing, and one’s body was burned within by the acids and chemicals employed. Now a man may work in street clothes in this modern plant. I said to the man who was showing me through that instead of the pickling room, such a place should be called a “ steel laundry.” In the same way the rolling of steel into bars and shapes, the annealing of the metal, their shearing into standard lengths, every old method once done by hand is now put through by ingenious machines that work almost at the touch of an electric button. Steps in manufacture that once required 40 men or more, and often maimed and burned them, are now in the hands of machines that turn out accurate work in a fraction of the time once needed, and with sometimes not a tenth of the men once employed.
    Puddling is the only step in iron manufacture where no machine has yet been devised to take the place of the human touch. The iron puddler still does the same work. With heavy tools he still kneads and otherwise manipulates the 200-pound ball of iron in its fiery furnace. No mechanical contrivance has yet displaced the trained eye that tells the puddler when the iron is free at last from all impurities and ready for the rolls. But I am hopeful that before long inventive genius will supply some such machine. The terrific toil in puddling iron breaks men down in their middle years. Mechanical aids ,would leave these men their valuable skill, but would leave them also physical strength to live out long lives of usefulness. I hope for the day when the iron puddler can lay aside his heavy tools and go on with his skill, so that at 70 he may be handling the machine with profit to his employer and with unbroken wages for himself/
    What has happened in the steel industry, with this one exception of the puddling process, has occurred in nearly every other American industry. The invention of to-day is yearly bringing about revolutions in manufacture almost as drastic as the first industrial revolution following Arkwright’s invention of the spinning jenny and Watts’s invention of the steam engine. And the contribution to human advancement is just as great. The wealth of our country is being produced at a far more rapid rate than ever before and with a far lighter tax on the time and the energies of men. The result is more wealth for us all to share, more leisure in which to enjoy life, with bodies and minds more fresh and unfatigued to cultivate life’s enjoyments.
    My only concern is that we shall study to see this greater wealth as evenly distributed as it should be. While this automatic machinery of production is a boon to mankind, it has one tendency that must be watched. It lifts the heavier burdens from men, but it also tends to relieve them of the necessity of possessing as much skill as formerly. The machine itself supplies the skill. One effect of this
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    might be a gradual reduction of all labor to the level of semiskilled labor, with a further temptation to some employers to pay the wages of semiskilled labor.
    It must not be. To scale down the wage is to scale down the market, and if that is done our marvelous machines defeat themselves. We then are speeding them up only to shut them down. In fact, the real extent of the revolution wrought by our modern automatic machinery remains to be measured, more even in its social than in its economic aspects. One of the more serious social aspects is in the tendency of labor-saving machinery to displace hand workers at a rate more rapid than they can be absorbed in new pursuits. We must guard against the general economic loss we shall suffer if labor-saving machinery is to load us down with chronic increases in the nonproductive and unemployed. We all lose something the moment a single worker loses an opportunity for employment and ceases to produce wealth. We must not curtail our market in that way, either.
    Now that the physical burdens of production are being lessened the proportion of jobs where mature judgment is an asset should become greater. The man who can and does think is of supreme importance to industry.
    If one will but consider that in reducing child labor and extending the period of schooling for the average youth, the age at which he becomes productive must necessarily be higher than in the past. Furthermore he enters upon his life’s work with a stronger vitality and a background of knowledge which enable him to carry on to a greater age. The span of useful human life is lengthening. Industry should take cognizance of these facts.
    There is another and a different thing to think of. This great industrial organism in nearly every respect so scientific in its working has a defect which no amount of prosperity should allow us to forget. This marvelous national machinery which produces wealth in greater volume than was ever known before on earth is enormously wasteful in the most precious of all commodities—human life.
    No other industrial nation produces so many goods as we do, and in no other country are so many men killed and maimed in industry. We have been so busy speeding up this industrial machine of ours that we have turned our backs on the price we have been paying for this in terms of American workers killed or maimed every day in the course of their occupation. The truth is that our peace-time industry kills every year more men than America lost on the battlefields of Europe during our part in the war.
    Whatever its mechanical wonders, the Nation can not continue to be proud of its industry and prosperity while the machinery that produces it kills by preventable accident 63 men a day and annually
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    maims 105,000 more. Every person thus killed or disabled is a needless martyr to the carelessness of Americans in general. Most of the casualties in industry are the result of preventable accident or carelessness, which a little thought or education would have ended. Fortunately industry is now thinking of life and limb and how to save them. If it will bend itself to the conservation of life with the same energy that it has applied itself to perfecting its mechanical equipment the result in safer conditions will be assured.
    American labor has not yet attained all the gains that are destined to accrue to it. If one looks back to the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, or to the time of the Civil War, or even to a time still less remote, one will find the comparison most heartening. But no nation or body of men ever stands still. It either advances or retrogrades. American labor, I am confident, is destined to continue its advance movement.
    The modern view is that all good things exist for all; that happiness should be alien to none; that the whole of humanity is involved in a common destiny. Human history has been made glorious by men who have stood for the larger aims of civilization.
    THE BITUMINOUS-COAL SITUATION
    The mining of coal remains one industry that lags behind others in living up to American standards of organization and business administration. Other great industries were faced with the same problems, and they have solved them. Fifty years ago production in the other industries was carried on by many scattered units, most of them fighting each other. Now these units function together, with enormous savings in administration and with vast benefit to the public. All along the line of manufacture they effect economies in scientific management. From the moment the raw materials enter their plants until the same material comes to the consumer in the finished product, saving has been effected. With corrective public scrutiny always upon them, these industries have either been made to share, or voluntarily share, these savings with the public they serve—in the form of lower prices and in higher wages. Coal remains an industry composed of scattered and competitive units. These outworn practices keep the industry chronically beggared, so that its operators make little money and can not pay continuous wages, with the consequence of chronic unrest, frequent stoppages, and much waste.
    We know’ in detail what is wrong with the coal-mining industry. No other industry in the country has had the benefit of such prolonged, intimate, and painstaking study—most of it at Government expense. Over a period of 10 years the Fuel Production Committee
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    of 1917, the Fuel Administrator from 1917 to 1919, the Bituminous Coal Commission of 1921, the Federal Fact Finding Commission, not to mention various congressional and State legislative committees, have all examined the ills of the mining industry and have fully reported upon them. The Federal Fact Finding Commission, the most recent of all, made by far the most extensive and exhaustive study and has published a priceless aggregation of facts. We thus know precisely what is wrong with the coal-mining industry. We have all the facts we need. The industry needs no further examination. What it needs is to be urged and helped.
    The people of the United States are perfectly willing to pay for their coal a price that will yield a good profit and a good wage, but in return for the price they want their coal in a dependable and unbroken supply and without the present stoppages and fluctuations in price that constantly disturb American industry. To remove this disturbance and to guarantee stability and prosperity to the mining industry, I believe the American people are willing and anxious to see the industry properly organized and brought up to the standards of efficiency maintained in all the other great industries. I believe Congress stands ready to help in every constitutional way. I believe the people at large are willing to have Congress remedy any existing laws that interfere with this necessary process of bringing order and system into the mining of coal. Perhaps a series of corporations with combined selling agencies would aid in solving the problems of coal mining. We know that the bigger the corporation the easier it is to see and control. And in the control of our great corporations public opinion has become more effective than any law. What is more, the great corporations have answered this by voluntarily adopting high ideals of public service. These conditions being what they are, I believe the American people would agree to a modification of any law that stands in the way of order and organization in the mining of coal. Within due safeguards of a better law, such organization of mining, and that alone, will stabilize production, eliminate the wastes of overdevelopment and overcompetition, and make employment and wages continuous. Nothing else, I believe, will end the present anomaly of chaos in producing one of the prime essentials not only to all the rest of our industries but to life itself.
    UNSHACKLING INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY
    One of the great policies which America has always kept foremost in mind, through its branches of government and through stimulating a sentiment of freedom which is probably stronger there than it is in any other country in the world, is the public interest and its relationship to the various instrumentalities of law and government.
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    This is a land of initiative and enterprise, in which, nevertheless, it is always sought to give the weak as much protection as the strong. Hence in our business enterprises we have found it necessary, in order to conserve independence and commercial equality, to enact legislation which would prevent the stronger from taking advantage of the weaker. This particular form of protection is found in the so-called antitrust laws, which prevent abusive groups from crushing the smaller groups, which, too, have the right to live and to pursue the business practices which to them seem wisest and most profitable.
    In a large measure the Sherman Act and other forms of antitrust enactments have been so equitable in the conservative protection they have given to business interests and to the public interests as well, thus permitting ethical competition so necessary to good business and good government, that hardly anyone would wish to see the complete abolition of the antitrust principles which prevent powerful monopolies from securing despotic control of income and wealth. Any such combination could not be allowed or condoned by the free Government which has so completely and so popularly been established in America. Neither production nor price could be placed absolutely in the hands of a mere few, because under such a practice the Government itself would soon become the fixer of prices and costs, and the next step would be Government ownership and operation, to the prejudice of the masses of American people. This would be a socialistic tendency not anticipated in this free land.
    Could modify law.
    Nevertheless it frequently appears that improvements could be made in the present status of our antitrust principles. In fact, I have observed not a few situations in which it seemed to me that consolidation or combinations in the field of industry would be of much benefit to the general public and to those who have been directly concerned in several unfavorable industrial situations. In other words, it has seemed to me more than once during the past few years that the spirit and intent of antitrust principles could have been retained, and, yet, that adjustments could have been made which would have relieved a tense industrial situation. For not all business consolidations are illegal; nor, does it seem to me, are all prosecutions enumerated under antitrust principles properly applicable to industrial leaders, whose first concern is usually to meet the laws of supply and demand. It is only when trade is flagrantly restrained, as I understand it, that competition is endangered by monopolistic combinations.
    Cotton and coal.
    For example, I learn that leaders in cotton textiles, whose motives can not be questioned, believe that the industry might give greater
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    service to all concerned in the way of production, earnings, and steadier employment if permitted certain amalgamations not now allowed under the antitrust law.
    The present deplorable conditions in the bituminous coal-mining industry in this country, overdeveloped and overmanned as it is, unprofitable in the main part for most operators and furnishing but intermittent employment to the miners, could be improved by consolidation were it not for fear that indictments could lie under the antitrust laws. With consolidation there would be ample competition. Many plans have been suggested in the bituminous-coal situation looking to some forms of relief, among them the establishment of joint selling agencies by which coal in certain territory might be marketed jointly, thus giving assurance of steadier employment and more stable output, with sufficient car supply and other advantages which are now lacking. But it is said that the plans suggested along this line are in open violation of the law against the formation of monopolies. Personally, I do not believe in any one industry becoming a monopoly.
    In speaking to the coal operators on this particular point at the American Mining Congress nearly a year ago I said:
    I can see but a single simple way out. That is, production of coal sensibly regulated to meet the demand. I do not mean regulation by Government decree, but by the industry itself, with due regard to the law. To bring order out of this chaos larger units of ownership or management may have to be formed, but only by this amalgamation of existing companies can the necessary central direction be effected, with output and employment stabilized, wages and prices steadied, and unprofitable workings closed.
    In answer to this the cry of “ stifled competition ” might arise. I doubt it. The American people have lost their fear of industrial corporations merely because of their size. We no longer ask how big they are, but how useful they are. We ask only about the quality of their product, the prices they charge, the treatment they give their workers.
    Right at this moment the public sanctions amalgamations of existing railroad systems, as planned by railroad executives and as watched by the Government. The public knows that these amalgamations will lead to better returns to investors in railroad stocks and in better transportation to the public itself. If transportation is one of the foundations of our national industrial structure, coal is another, and the argument that works for the betterment of one applies to the other.
    On another occasion which came to my notice, a leading manufacturer announced to the press that his company would appropriate many millions to build a new mill, to be used in the production of an article of which the country already had more than a sufficient supply. I inquired of one of the officials of the company why it was necessary to use so much money for the construction of a plant when business did not warrant it, and the men then engaged in its manufacture were working only part time, and it was during a period when the country was prosperous.
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    He answered that he had to do it because it was necessary to produce a full line of his product in order to supply his customers.
    I asked him why he did not buy one of the mills that were working only part time, or make some satisfactory cooperative arrangement with some party who had a mill of the requisite capacity, and he said that as much as he might desire to do it he had found that he could not do it under the existing antitrust laws.
    It seems to me that these illustrations point toward the need for a broader view by the proponents of antitrust principles of the actual and absolute present-day needs of industry, to the end that the law might have a greater sympathy for industry, upon which our country so much relies.
    There is no doubt that the far-seeing American business men are loyal and law-abiding. They do not desire to run afoul of the law; and frequently astute and learned counsel tell them not what they can’t do, but, rather, what they can do under the laws affecting business amalgamations and consolidations. They do, however, know the country’s industrial needs, and they would, if they could, frequently invoke the principle of consolidation—scientifically, sensibly, and to the common good of the greatest number, without bringing suffering to any honest competitor.
    As a matter of fact, I believe that the principle of amalgamation in business is, to a varying degree, a necessity, in view of the world tendency to produce goods, promote sales, and serve consumers upon a large scale, in order to lessen the costs of production and to simplify marketing.
    Somehow or other I have the belief that it may be possible, in the near future, to do away with some of the unnecessary fears of criminal prosecution under antitrust questions; and to keep in mind the spirit and intent of antitrust principles, rather than their technicalities, which carry with them the haunting dread of a court room and its attendant publicity, so abhorrent to honorable American business men. Under such a trend, the Government could still reserve the right to dissolve, in civil proceedings, cooperative monopolies in gross restraint of trade, and in contravention to the principles of honorable competition.
    Mutual benefits.
    It seems to me that both capital and labor, the Government and the governed, would be benefited by a broader application and interpretation of the antitrust enactments; and that in bringing about such an evolution we can preserve the full spirit and intent of those measures, and, too, permit more cooperation for the general good of all.
    I have been informed that in one of the foreign continents principles like those of the Sherman Act have long been in force, but they are tempered with the admonition that restraint is not unlawful
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    when it is not harmful to the general public. In the same law there were provided ample means by which governmental authorities could intervene and restrain the amalgamation of forces whose interests were purely selfish and proscriptive.
    Employers and employees, financial and commercial interests, it appears, have time and time again advocated a modification of these laws of restraint—a modification which would stimulate and help industry, business, and commerce—and labor, too, through its leadership, has recently requested a more liberal type of restrictive laws against trade consolidations, believing that the welfare of the workers generally would be better protected and conserved. Certainly, as I have stated, the need for revision has appeared to me a number of times, when vital interests were menaced by disorder and lack of cohesion. I trust that our industrial future may mark a sane revision of these restraining laws and that helpful and cooperative arrangements may be legalized, with the view, of course, of guarding against putting harmful power into the hands of a small but favored group to regulate the business to the detriment of the people and the public, and, on the other hand, of providing always for fair, honest, and reasonable competition.
    INJUNCTIONS IN LABOR CONTROVERSIES
    In all the years of our national development one of the greatest virtues of our people has been their faith in and respect for the law and the courts, through which there has been developed an equitable and just system of jurisdiction wThich now merits universal respect.
    In the happy contact which I am continually having with the great body of the American working people I have observed a recurrence of the spirit of restlessness over what they seem to think is the too frequent use of the injunction in the controversies which now and then enter into the relations between employer and employees.
    It was the belief of labor that the enactment of the Clayton amendments of 1914 to the Sherman antitrust law would restrict the use of the injunction to a greater extent than the courts now hold to be the legal effect of such acts. Labor organizations are of the opinion that the measure is not being given the liberal and effectual interpretation by our courts which Congress intended and that on that account its value as a remedial measure is at times being seriously impaired.
    The courts have riot been in general accord in construing these important and far-reaching provisions. The district courts and the circuit courts of appeal differ and the Supreme Court frequently differs with those courts. In a number of cases there has even been a striking diversity of opinion in that court, for example, in the case of
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    Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering, in American Steel Foundries v. Tri City Trades Council, and recently in the case of Bedford Stone Co. et al. v. Stone Cutters’ Association et al. In the last case the Federal District Court for the District of Indiana, after a hearing, refused a preliminary injunction and subsequently, after final hearing, entered a decree dismissing the bill. On appeal this decree was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, but when the case went to the Supreme Court that court held that the acts of the workers’ association fell within the terms of the antitrust act and that the petitioners were entitled to injunction under section 16 of the Clayton Act. Mr. Justice Stone filed a separate opinion, indicating a reluctance to concur in the opinion of the majority of the court, and Mr. Justice Brandeis wrote a dissenting opinion in which Mr. Justice Holmes concurred.
    The belief that the intention of Congress is being defeated and the diversity of opinion among the courts as to what the real intention of Congress was may lead to the regrettable result of disrespect for the courts. This situation calls for action by Congress toward clarification of the Clayton amendments to the Sherman Antitrust Act to make the will of Congress clear, so that there may be no cause, real or apparent, for the belief that controversies in labor disputes are being determined through judicial legislation. It would also be worth the serious thought of Congress to provide for speedy trial and decision in such cases, for the long delays which often occur between the hearing in the lower court and the final decision in the appellate courts not infrequently have the result that the party successful in the lower court, for example, obtaining an injunction, accomplishes his purpose even though the decision is reversed by the higher courts. This situation engenders a belief by those who have suffered from the action of the lower courts that at times the courts instead of serving the purpose of justice are being used as a means of oppression.
    The interest of employers and employees and of the general public requires that Congress devote its best efforts to furnish adequate relief to litigants and to our courts, which have become congested by the great volume of business growing out of much recent legislation, and to simplify our complex and diversified judicial procedure.
    Many of the law’s delays are unavoidable, but in many cases the cause seems to be the failure of legislative bodies to provide a procedure that can not be twisted by litigants to gain delays that will be expensive and burdensome to their opponents. Delay in the administration of justice is the most serious defect of the judicial system and nothing does more to lessen the people’s respect for the courts, and this is particularly true in the cases of poor litigants. But, on the other hand, nothing so inspires confidence in the wisdom and fairness of the courts as the prompt trial of cases.
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    I know that the wage earners appreciate the necessity and duty of respecting the courts and recognizing the supremacy of their authority in construing and interpreting the laws of our country. They realize that judges are only human and that in the clash of opinions over seriously controverted questions they may reach conclusions that are not in harmony with the spirit and the purpose of the law. They know that it is also humanly impossible for legislative bodies to enact laws that will adequately cover all the shifting contingencies of conflicting human affairs. They do not expect the impossible, but they do expect that the courts will so administer the laws as to safeguard their rights and privileges from unwarranted invasion by unsympathetic interests and organizations.
    THE NEGRO IN INDUSTRY
    In the sense of absolute justice to all the people living in America, President Coolidge has said that—
    The social well-being of our country requires our constant effort for the amelioration of race prejudice and the extension to all elements of equal opportunity and equal protection under the laws which are guaranteed by the Constitution.
    And upon assuming the duties of directing the Federal Department of Labor in its work in behalf of the Nation’s wage earners, I said:
    There is no such thing as segregating the economics of the Negro from those of any other group in America.
    At this time, I am firmly convinced that the industrial and economic interests of the Negro are indissolubly a part of those of all the American people. Our Constitution so decrees it; and our convictions as a Nation which is foremost among the powers of justice of the world forbid that any group within our keeping should be denied the full freedom of democratic government and opportunity because of race, creed, or previous condition of servitude.
    The Negro in America has made his way as a citizen, a soldier, and a worker. During the past half century, particularly in industry and agriculture, and among the Nation’s gainfully employed people, he has gone forward in satisfaction to himself and to the productive enrichment of America. His continued progress will be an industrial asset of value to all the people. It follows that it is to the interest of all, both employers and employees, to encourage the negro group to continue its advancement in home life, in education, and in its respect for and loyalty to American practices and ideals. This means that it will be but fair and just to give the negro worker an equal wage for his labor, and the permanent hope for promotion
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    and advancement commensurate with the training, efficiency, and skill which he puts into his labors. He will thus become capable of contributing a real share toward increasing our prosperity and wealth as a Nation.
    He will become a larger buyer of American products, reaching beyond the mere necessities of life, rather than a poorly paid competitor, unable to purchase commodities and the comforts of life which increase the Nation’s business and create an increased demand and supply. Upon these principles, I believe, a substantial measure of our future industrial success is dependent.
    VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
    The Secretary of Labor is ex officio a member of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and as the elected chairman of that board I am gratified by the character of work which this agency of the Government is performing. Both vocational education and vocational rehabilitation of persons disabled in industry are subjects of great social importance.
    In the past the educational program of the United States has not been a democratic program, in that there has been discrimination as between different groups of citizens in the provision for free educational service. For those groups desiring what is commonly called general education, or cultural education, and for those desiring to enter into the professions, ample provision has been made at public expense. For those of our citizens who work for a living, only within comparatively recent times have their needs for educational service, particularly in the fields of their work, been recognized. Vocational education, as it exists in this country to-day, represents at least one phase of extension of education and service to a group of our citizens who have in the past been to a considerable extent discriminated against.
    Vocational education is that form of education which either assists prospective workers in entering an occupation to advantage or which assists those already employed to follow their occupations to better advantage; in other words, it is that form of education which enables people to get a job, hold a job, or get a better job. It is therefore that form of education which assists those people who work______who,
    as a matter of fact, comprise the great majority of the population of the United States.
    Vocational education, therefore, applies to the entire range of activities. It is vocational education to train the clergyman, or the doctor, or the lawyer for the practice of his profession. It is equally vocational education to train the apprentice looking forward to the practice of a skilled trade or to provide additional opportunity 71308—27---------11
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    for the journeyman to acquire a further mastery of his trade. It is vocational education to train the girl looking forward to marriage, so that she can better manage the home and can carry on the duties of the home which she will be largely responsible for maintaining. It is vocational education which aids the farm boy to learn how to use and apply the most modern practices and technical knowledge of farming, and it is equally vocational education which puts this same knowledge at the disposal of the working farmer, and so on through the entire range of those who are engaged in gainful occupations.
    We always have with us those who have either lost their earning power through accident or disease, or who were born with restrictions which have prevented their being able to support themselves and which have made them dependent. Vocational education also is that sort of education which enables the man who has become unable to hold down his job through accident to secure, as a result of special training, an equally good job; and it is this same vocational training which educates the person who has, through congenital disease or otherwise, always been regarded as unable to support himself to secure such education and training as enables him to become an independent and self-supporting individual.
    The particular type of vocational education with which this report deals is that which is represented by the particular kind of occupational education represented by the national vocational education act and represented, so far as the Federal Government is concerned, by the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Under the terms of this act any education which is encouraged through the use of Federal funds must be of less than college grade. This throws the function of this particular form of vocational education out of the field of professional training and into the field of the needs and the wants of those who actually work. Within this field it is unlimited. It can serve either the adult or the youth, either the man or the woman, in practically all fields of work. So far as the use of Federal funds is concerned, however, the work is restricted to agriculture, trade and industry, and the work of the woman in the home.
    One of the ways in which this has been done is through what are known as evening classes, which are attended by those already employed who desire additional training in the occupation which they are following. Last year nearly 300,000 employed boys and girls were helped through continuation schools which these young employed people attended several hours a week during the working-day. The total enrollment this year amounted to somewhat less than 1,000,000. This, as already pointed out, includes boys and girls, men and women, in all sorts of occupations. Among the occupations which have been included in the scope of the program as it has been
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    developed to the present time are the workers on railroads, in mines and factories, and on the farm, and in the home. This year approximate figures will show that 200,000 women and girls were enrolled in courses dealing with the work of the home; 403,000 men, women, boys, and girls were enrolled in courses dealing with trade and industry; and 105,000 men and boys were enrolled in work dealing with agriculture.
    Labor has always stood squarely behind this program of vocational education, but has always insisted that it should be properly safeguarded. These safeguards are of various characters. Instructors must be qualified workers drawn from the occupation, and the programs must be under public control. In addition, it is now very generally recognized that such programs must be administered by boards of control in which all parties in interest must be represented, such as the employer, the employee, and the public. In many States at present there are advisory committees which represent in most cases the various occupations with which the work deals, and in some States the existence of these committees and their representative character are required by law. This program, whether carried on under the terms of the national vocational education act or otherwise, opens up to the working people of this country an opportunity to secure such education and training as they desire or need in the pursuit of' their occupations or in preparation for such pursuits. The working people of this country have always desired education and have taken advantage of educational opportunities wherever they were available. One of the forms of education which they have desired has been vocational education. In the past they have been obliged to look very largely to private agencies for such aid. The present program is intended to relieve them of the necessity of paying for such education and to enable them to secure it at public expense, according to what they want, and to give it to them when they want it. The vocational education program, therefore, confines itself strictly to making available the knowledge and skill and training which go with any given occupation. Other agencies are responsible for providing other forms of education, to which working people are equally entitled and which they equally desire. Vocational education, therefore, represents a distinct addition to our educational program intended to meet the needs of the great mass of our working people, and to that extent represents one further step in the democratization of the educational system of this country.
    VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION OF DISABLED WORKERS
    Despite continuous promotion of the safety movement, each year thousands of persons become physically disabled through accident, disease, and congenital causes, and annually 50,000 of these persons
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    become vocationally handicapped as a result of physical disability. Since the year 1920 the National Government, through the States, has been engaged in providing a service for the disabled, fitting them, again for employment and replacing them in remunerative occupations. Forty-one States are now engaged in this work of vocational rehabilitation.
    Since the inception of the program over 30,000 disabled persons have been rehabilitated and returned to self-supporting work. The cost of rehabilitating a disabled man averages less than $250, a significant figure in contrast with that of $300 to $500 a year, the cost of maintaining him in idleness at public expense.
    The economic significance of vocational rehabilitation is shown in the returns received by a State for its investment in the program.. The following table covers a five-year period (1921-1920) :
    Total number of disabled persons rehabilitated--------1------------ 1, 03&
    Total gross annual earnings before rehabilitation------------------ $499, 208. 09
    Total gross annual earnings after rehabilitation-------------------$1,159, 948.18
    Per capita annual earnings before rehabilitation------------------- $481. 85
    Per capita annual earnings after rehabilitation-------------------- $1,119. 64
    Percentage of increase of earnings--------------------------------- 232
    Per capita cost of rehabilitation---------------------------------- $242. 37
    Statistical tables can never provide an adequate account of the tremendous economic and social accomplishments of the vocational rehabilitation program. To do this adequately would require a descriptive account of all the cases rehabilitated each year. However, the recital of the following two cases is suggestive:
    A man 34 years of age lost his left leg above the knee as a result of an injury in a boiler shop, where he was employed as a layout man. He had been receiving nearly $200 a month in wages before his injury. He was utterly incapacitated to return to his trade. He was most discouraged and never expected to make more than a bare living again. He came in contact with the division of rehabilitation. A talk with him developed the fact that he was interested in dental mechanics. The rehabilitation division arranged to give him a course of training. He now conducts his own laboratory with two assistants, and besides is assistant instructor in dental mechanics at the State university. He is thoroughly contented and successful in his new work.
    A young man 24 years old, early apprenticed to a butcher, married in his teens, had a wife and two children, when he met with an acci-■dent which resulted in the loss of his left hand. He had no savings and his relatives were unable to assist him materially. His case was compensable, but compensation was delayed by dispute between the insurance company and the employer as to liability. Before his recovery from the injury one of his children died. He was prac
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    tically without funds when his case was called to the attention of the rehabilitation bureau. This young man has a fine presence, is unusually intelligent, and knows the practical side of the meat business. It was readily apparent that if he could receive some business training he could become a competent salesman and perhaps be the manager of a meat business. To relieve the immediate distress, $100 maintenance money was furnished at once. A business course was proposed and readily accepted. After six weeks in school he seemed a position as a salesman with another firm; he was furnished a small car and developed his own route, earning $25 a week, completing his business course in evening school. His home has been reestablished .and his success is assured.
    BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
    In the resume of the activities of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, as contained in Part I of this report, certain features stand out as calling for special consideration.
    One of the important tasks which the bureau must early undertake is the preparation of a new family budgetary system to supplant the survey made in 1918. Our cost of living surveys are necessarily based upon the quantities consumed as shown by the family budgetary survey, now 10 years old. A cost of living survey must be based upon a given standard of living; as that standard changes new surveys must be made to determine what the change in standard is in order to give cost of living surveys the accuracy which is essential to their usefulness. The cost of living statistics are widely used in adjusting wage rates and in settling industrial disputes when wages are concerned. If the basis upon which the cost of living is figured does not take into consideration a standard of living representative of the present, it is useless for the purposes intended to be served.
    The inquiries now being made by this bureau into the subject of productivity of labor or one-man-hour output are developing such remarkable conditions that it is hoped that the work can be continued and made to cover a reasonably wide industrial field.
    As a result of the Industrial Accident Prevention Conference held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C., and referred to in this report, the cooperation between the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the various States along the line of industrial-accident statistics has greatly increased, but very much remains to be accomplished. This feature, it is hoped, can be broadened in the near future.
    The time has arrived when the Bureau of Labor Statistics should definitely include in its work a record of labor turnover in the United States, by industries, such record to include a sufficient per
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    centage of the establishments in each industry to form an adequate basis for an index of labor turnover. The value of a labor-turnover index may be viewed from several standpoints. A number of these have been referred to. However, from the point of view of the Bureau of Labor Statistics a labor-turnover index would supplement and greatly enhance the value of its volume of employment index as a measure of the employment situation in the United States.
    Labor turnover is a very important element in any study of unemployment. If and when any large volume of unemployment from other causes takes place in the United States, then the knowledge of what industries and what localities are furnishing the greatest amounts of unemployment through labor turnover and how that labor turnover can be checked will prove of very great advantage in handling the situation.
    The present apprenticeship situation in the United States can only be bettered by acquainting the public and the industrial managers with the real facts of the situation. What is responsible for the very evident collapse of the old idea of apprenticeship? What, if any, effort is being made still to train apprentices under the old method? What real constructive effort has been made to introduce and put into effect a new idea of apprenticeship? The bureau has already done some work along the line of answering these questions and intends to continue it.
    A competent study of migratory labor in the three Pacific Coast States—California, Oregon, and Washington—it is believed, is necessary to furnish an authoritative statement on all the elements that go to make up the conditions under which these workers live. The survey, when it can be undertaken, will include the nature of the employment, source of the labor supply, wages, the preparations for housing or taking care of the worker, the question of the care of the children of the migratory worker, their schooling; in fact, it should be a really scientific analysis of the situation.
    The organic law of Hawaii requires that the commissioner of labor statistics shall make a survey of labor conditions in that Territory once in five years. The last survey was made in 1915; hence such survey is now seven years past due. The funds of the bureau have never since that time permitted any work to be done in Hawaii. The situation is that while the repeal of the law has been advocated, neither repeal nor appropriation has been forthcoming. It does not appear that an investigation of Hawaii at set periods of five years apart is necessary. I am, however, convinced from various sources within the last two years that the time has come when another survey of labor conditions in the islands of Hawaii by the Bureau of Labor Statistics should be made.
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    The policy of restriction.
    The opponents of restricted immigration frequently refer to the policy of the United States as though this country were the only one to which aliens could not come unrestrictedly. They would make others believe also that all restriction is of very recent origin—since the war. It is true that limitation by numbers has come since the world conflict, but the policy of discriminating as between different individual aliens is the result of laws, some of which have been nearly a half century in the making.
    The United States, however, is not alone in this control of movement of aliens within national territory. In all ages the inward movement of aliens has been more or less regulated. The present laws of this country in that regard have been considered so necessary and beneficial in effect that they have been copied by other countries, some of them by countries which are emigrant sending rather than immigrant receiving. In some instances, of course, there is a difference in policy in some of the details, as in Canada, where some classes of aliens are not permitted to immigrate except'upon contract of domestic or agricultural employment, with bond requiring maintenance of that status for a prescribed period of time. In the United States contracts of employment as an inducement or condition of admission are prohibited except by special permission of the Secretary of Labor. It will be recalled that a policy of encouraging “ contract labor ” was indulged in by the United States just following the Civil War, but was discontinued after a very short period.
    Great Britain at the present time goes further than the United States in prohibiting the entrance of aliens for permanent stay. The aliens act of that country is so drastic that even tourist musicians have difficulty in playing engagements there. A memorandum on the subject by the leader of one of America’s most prominent orchestras tells something of the restriction imposed:
    I was allowed with my band to go to England and play in the London Hippodrome and in the London Hippodrome only for a period of six weeks. On arriving in London I was immediately called upon to play numerous engagements other than my theatrical booking. I was immediately informed by Sir Montagu Barlow that inasmuch as I was engaged only to play a contract engagement I could, not play single engagements, thereby interfering with the work of the English musicians. It was outlined to me that if I were to play other than at the Hippodrome I would be required to engage as many English musicians as American for the members of my band, and that I would have to personally rehearse and direct the combination. The English musicians at once said that they knew as much about jazz as I did and refused to be rehearsed by me, then turned around and reported to the ministry of labor that I had refused to rehearse them. I have since had an opportunity to send a band to the Grafton Galleries, but the ministry of labor refused the permits. I don’t know what the reasons were.
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    It might not be out of place to point out that there are thousands of musicians in the city of New York alone who are British subjects, while there are certainly not more than 100 American artists in London. We have also in New York a large number of actors and actresses and vaudeville artists from Great Britain who have not become citizens. Because of the difficulty with which Americans can secure similar employment in Great Britain there is an agitation among American musicians and the theater professions for restriction of the British competition.
    I venture the assertion, without fear of successful contradiction, that the United States gives to the alien immigrant more rights, more sympathetic consideration, more actual courtesy and safeguards than any other country of the world. Countless efforts are made to defeat and violate our alien laws, and that fact makes for vigilance by the Government officers, but in every case every legal safeguard is placed about any possible rights which an alien may have.
    The American citizen who leaves this country with the intention of establishing his home and entering business, trade, or profession in another land can not expect to receive equal courtesies or like protection. Notwithstanding that the alien laws of other lands are in many respects designed to discriminate against alien immigrants, Americans who travel abroad as tourists, for business, or pleasure frequently receive complaints, which they voice upon return, regarding the administration of our immigration laws. In taking cognizance of these complaints they fail to realize that they are of a class, when traveling abroad, which is not interfered with by the administration of our own laws. They fail to realize that the American citizen going abroad for permanent residence, to obtain his means of subsistence by employment in a foreign land, is the exception and not the rule, and that therefore he, the tourist, does not get the same treatment as the immigrant receives. He fails to realize that the hundreds of millions of dollars which American tourists spend abroad have an important bearing upon the warmness of his reception. Yet even he is subject, in most countries, to a system of police registration and follow-up. Let such a visitor decide to remain, solicit employment, or otherwise indicate that he expects to live from the proceeds of that country, and he will discover that the status of the American, the tourist, is different from that of the American, the alien immigrant, within the same country, and his welcome affected accordingly.
    The excluded classes in most of the immigrant-receiving countries are not unlike those excluded from the United States. In all countries, so far as our study shows, the criminal, defective, and immoral classes are excluded. Even a literacy requirement is being adopted, but in at least one country this requirement is of further-reaching
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    effect than here. The immigration law of that country makes it necessary for an alien applicant for admission to read in the language submitted by the inspector. While for admission into the United States the alien may designate the language in which he chooses to be examined, in that country the inspector rejects the applicant if he does not read the language which the inspector chooses to submit.
    In one immigrant-receiving country aliens from certain countries of eastern Europe and Asia Minor will not be admitted except they show possession of the equivalent to approximately $5,000 United States currency. In another, married women traveling alone may not be admitted unless they have the written consent of their husbands.
    So far as I can ascertain, there is no other country than the United States in which an alien-applying for admission has recourse, after denial of right to enter by executive authority, to the courts of the land to have that right determined by judicial proceedings. In that respect the laws of this country give to aliens, in the form of the writ of habeas corpus, the unusual privilege of having the benefit of the rights of citizens in the country they seek to enter.
    The subject of immigration is being considered in every country of the world. The problem, of course, is greater in the United States than in other countries because of the rapidity with which this country has been filled with persons from foreign lands and the number of family ties which link us and foreign countries. Even a very slight limitation (and it must be pointed out that the quota law as it stands is only a slight limitation, 538,001 aliens being legally admitted during the past year) is felt by the one-third of our population which are foreign born or children of foreign-born parents.
    In favor of the laws of most of the immigrant-receiving countries it must be said that more discretion is vested in the responsible administrative officer than is given to any officer in the United States. Apparently the Congress has attempted to make the immigration laws “judgment proof,” and it has pretty well succeeded. I believe in the policy of restriction, and in the main ours is working exceptionally well, but it has always seemed to me that in dealing with rights as varied as those presented in the immigration laws discretionary powers should be given to the administrative officer so as to take care of peculiar circumstances which the law can never be made justly to embrace.
    It is the object of this comment to point out the effect of certain provisions of the restrictive laws and to indicate some of the measures which are necessary to strengthen them in the minds of the people.
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    General.
    The statistics on immigration set forth in this report and the more detailed figures contained in the report of the past fiscal year of the Commissioner General of Immigration show a marked improvement in results. The duties devolving on the Immigration Service are constantly increasing and are being met with a degree of success that is most gratifying. A number of interesting developments have occurred during the year. One of these developments amounts to a startling disclosure in showing what becomes of large numbers of aliens after their arrival in the United States. During the month of January, 1927, a survey^ was made of the alien inmates of penal institutions, insane asylums, hospitals, and poorhouses throughout continental United States, Alaska, Porto Rico, and Honolulu in Hawaii. That survey shows that in prisons, penitentiaries, and jails there were found to be 45,193 aliens; insane asylums and other institutions for the care of such cases were found to harbor 37,470; hospitals and the like contained 14,383; and poorhouses, etc., contained 16,059. This gives a grand total of 113,105 aliens who have found their way into public institutions in this country. The great majority of these aliens can not be deported, for the reason that the statutory period within which deportations of aliens can be effected has expired. The greater portion of these aliens did not become public charges until after they had been in the country for a sufficient period of time to prevent deportation. For many years past the country deprecated the fact that the great majority of immigrants, though ostensibly of the peasant and farmer type, did not upon their arrival in the United States proceed to the farming sections of the country and take up agricultural pursuits, but instead concentrated in business and industrial centers. Statistics seem to indicate a welcome change in this situation. It appears that the newcomers are spreading more evenly throughout the country than ever before. However, the State of New York still leads all others as the central settlement for immigrants. The improved situation is particularly reflected in the following figures: During the past fiscal year there were 90,000 immigrant aliens admitted who gave New York as their destination, while 26,000 from that State were recorded as emigrating. Massachusetts received 26,000, Michigan 28,000, and Texas, a distinctively agricultural State, received 40,000. California, also an agricultural State, received 20,000. Thbse States lost in emigration less in proportion than New York State. The Southern States, as usual, neither gained not lost to any marked degree;
    Codification of immigration laws needed.
    In the 1926 report outline was made of the various steps in immigration procedure, pointing out how, consistent with enforcement
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    of the intention of Congress as expressed in immigration statutes, every right of an alien under those laws is exercised. Every case coming before the department involves some element of human appeal, and in many of these cases strong equities are present which are given due weight in arriving at decisions.
    Only by long experience in administration and observation of the operation of the statutes can the defects of the system be discovered. Recommendations for the perfection of immigration laws have been made from time to time, and in some instances amendments made by the Congress. Constant amendment in minor particulars and the passage of additional laws to cover special circumstances have produced a fabric of somewhat unequal texture—close and strong in parts and in others large and weak. Some of the older provisions might well be repealed as being unnecessary or obsolete, because the objects of their passage are amply protected by newer and better laws. In some provisions the law appears arbitrary and lacks facility of discretion which the service of rights of human • beings demands; again, in some respects sufficient provision is not made for keeping families together or to facilitate reunion of those separated. The provision for admission in the 1924 act of certain relatives of American citizens as nonquota or preference-quota immigrants, equitable as it is, is not in principle the most salutary method of handling the situation which it is designed to correct. There are, in short, a number of ways in which the system of immigration laws could be improved to carry out the obvious intent of the Congresses which enacted numerous constituent acts.
    There is a good deal of legislation relating to aliens which is rightfully a part of laws that in the main concern other subjects, such as the seamen’s act, the white slave traffic act, and others, but there are altogether too many laws or fragments of laws which are concerned exclusively with immigration and aliens. Some of the more important examples of this scattered legislation are: The general immigration act of 1917, the quota act of 1924, the act of 1918 to exclude and expel from the United States aliens who are members of the anarchistic and similar classes, and the Chinese exclusion laws.
    This department has already made a preliminary codification of the various laws relating to immigration by grouping together those provisions which concern particular subjects, and the result is a rather amazing conglomeration of repetitions and other unnecessary verbiage which clearly suggests the desirability of entirely rewriting these laws into one comprehensive and simplified immigration statute. The department has given this proposal very careful consideration and has reached the conclusion that it would be distinctly advantageous if there were a single statute which would cover all phases
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    of the immigration problem, and it is also convinced that the plan is entirely feasible.
    It is at once obvious that the consolidation of the Chinese with the general immigration laws affords the only real obstacle to such a plan, but in view of the highly restrictive provisions of the act of 1924 as applied to Asiatic peoples, a separate law for the Chinese, in the opinion of the department, is no longer a necessity, and in fact the present Chinese act has to some extent become detrimental in the matter of regulating immigration from that country.
    So far as the numerical restriction of immigration from China is concerned, the superiority of the act of 1924 over the Chinese exclusion law is clearly shown in the following statistical record: During the four fiscal years 1921 to 1924, before the quota system was applied to China, the average number of immigrant aliens of the Chinese race admitted to the United States was 4,306. The act of 1924 was first applied in the fiscal year 1925, and the number of immigrant aliens of that race admitted immediately dropped to 1,721 in the first year, 1,375 in 1926, and 1,051 in 1927.
    A multiplicity of laws applicable to the same problem very naturally creates confusion, and this has been true of the department’s more recent experience in the matter of Chinese immigration, such immigration being subject to the Chinese exclusion law, the general immigration act of 1917, and, since July 1, 1924, to the quota immigration act of that year. The Chinese exclusion law is a survival of a time when the United States was open to unlimited immigration from every other part of the world. The first law, which was approved May 6, 1882, was based on the Chinese Treaty of 1880, its principal provision being that all immigration of Chinese laborers, skilled or unskilled, should be suspended for a period of 10 years. Two years later it was materially strengthened in some particulars', and, while it has since been amended from time to time, it is still essentially a law which relates almost entirely to aliens of the laboring classes.
    A multitude of court decisions during the 45 years that the law has been in operation has on the whole had the effect of weakening the law from an administrative viewpoint. Being applicable to laborers only, it has permitted the entry of very considerable numbers of other occupational classes who, because of court decisions, have been privileged to abandon the exempt status under which they entered and become laborers in the United States without affecting the legality of their residence here. Thus an alien admitted as a student was free to become a merchant or even a laborer at will, while a person admitted as a merchant or some other exempt class could and in many cases did assume an occupational status after admission which would have made him ineligible to entry at the time of his original arrival.
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    It is true, of course, that some of these difficulties have been eliminated or modified under the act of 1924, but so far as there has been any improvement it affects only those who entered since that law was enacted. It does not affect the thousands who arrived prior and who may still change their status at will. Other disadvantages still persist to an extent which seemingly outweigh any advantages they will afford through the retention of the Chinese law on the statute books, and such advantages, if they really exist, might well be retained and perhaps made generally applicable in a consolidated law.
    There ought to be no considerable difficulty in consolidating all the other acts dealing with immigration, and, as already pointed out, it seems very obvious that the adoption of a single statute which would include all the essential features of the various laws now in force and at the same time eliminate repetitions and conflicting provisions would be of material benefit in the administration of our immigration system.
    One of the strange situations which have developed in Chinese practice is the interpretation which has been given by the courts to the words “Chinese merchants.” What is a Chinese merchant? Clearly the term should mean a merchant engaged in business in China. The laws of all nations with whom friendly relations of others are maintained, while they may be restrictive, always give more or less freedom to the merchants of other countries coming temporarily in pursuance of their commercial business. Our commercial treaties are intended to guarantee the noninterruption of international business. We admit freely foreign merchants, with whom we have treaty relations, for temporary periods in connection with their foreign business. A Chinese “ merchant ” clearly should mean a merchant engaged in business in China; a French merchant one in business in France; a German merchant one engaged in business in Germany, and so on. Yet by judicial construction it is held that a Chinese may be, under the Chinese exclusion law, a Chinese merchant though he were never engaged in any mercantile establishment in China and never handled a single item for a Chinese destination. Even a proprietor of a restaurant, operating in the United States, if he be of Chinese race, is a Chinese merchant.
    It is not believed that the Chinese exclusion law ever contemplated that a Chinese who somehow got into the United States and thereafter started a mercantile or restaurant business in the United States, should be considered a “ Chinese merchant.” The exemption from exclusion for Chinese merchants was intended to permit a “Chinese merchant” to come to the United States accompanied by wife, minor children, and, no doubt, secretary or necessary servants, not to establish a business in the United States and remain here, but in this character as one engaged in mercantile enterprise in China
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    to buy and sell merchandise here in connection with his business in China. He should be in a position no different from that of a European merchant who comes here to buy and sell.
    The extent to which the Chinese exclusion law has been weakened by judicial interpretation suggests the desirability of a clarifying enactment if the present law is to remain in force.
    SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS
    In all the recommendations I am making for amendments to strengthen the laws relating to aliens it should be understood that they are suggested in the event that the various present laws are preserved. The better plan, in view of the general confused condition of the body of immigration laws, is an entirely new code. If such be adopted the principles involved in the amendments suggested should be carried into the new code.
    Reunion of families.
    The provisions of the present immigration law which have had most serious thought are those which are designed, or should be designed, to effect the reunion of separated families. In the consideration of this subject there has also been studied means for preventing the further separation of families by the arrival in the United States of husbands and fathers as immigrants whose intention is later to bring families to this country.
    Under the act of 1924 wives and unmarried children under 18 years of age of citizens of this country are nonquota immigrants, while preferences within quotas are provided for unmarried children under 21, husbands and fathers and mothers of American citizens. These provisions are very just concessions to citizens, for it must be conceded that a citizen of the United States separated from his family is entitled to special consideration. Moral and economic reasons, as well as privilege because of citizenship, dictated the wisdom of joining these families and of keeping them together. If citizenship is to be the basis of the right to the comfort and association of a family, then it is urged that the class of nonquota immigrants should be extended to include husbands of American citizens, as well as wives.
    Section 6(1) gives preference within the quota to “the unmarried child under 21 years of age, the father, the mother, the husband, or the wife of a citizen of the United States who is 21 years of age or over.” Obviously this was intended to insure that children petitioning for their fathers and mothers should be old enough to be responsible for their parents after arrival, and it does not seem that it was intended to deprive the lawful American wife the right of preference for her husband because the wife happened to be, say, 19 or 20, and not 21, at time of filing petition. Reason should dictate
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    that the youthful wife required the early reunion with her husband even more than where she was of greater age and experience. A few cases have arisen in which 18-year-old girls have married aliens in the United States on temporary visits, not knowing the limitation upon residence of their husbands. American children have been born, and the wives, having never been out of the country, do not desire to leave. This causes a separation of the family, and the wife, under the plain language of the law can not petition for preference within the quota for her husband until she has reached the age of 21.
    In a preceding paragraph I recommended that American wives be given the right to bring in their alien husbands regardless of quota. The reference to preference here made, and the requirement that the petitioner be over 21 years old, is made in case the Congress should not see fit to extend the nonquota privilege to husbands. In either event, whether the status for husbands of American citizens remains as preference within the quota, or their status changed to nonquota, the language of the act should permit of the reception of the petition of the wife regardless of her age.
    As now expressed, the “ relief ” section of the 1924 act relating to preferences within quotas serves in some instances to cause the same type of hardship intended to be relieved. Fathers and mothers of American citizens over 21 are preference quota immigrants upon the petitions of citizen children. Collateral relatives of citizens, including brothers and sisters, are not embraced in the preferred classification. This provision has resulted in a number of cases of the granting of preference and the issuance of visas to parents of American citizens, the parents being the heads of families abroad. The situation not infrequently arises of fathers and mothers accepting the visas and proceeding here, leaving their minor children, the brothers and sisters of citizens, abroad. Upon arrival in the United States these parents present requests for what they term “permits” for their children to follow, representing that this Government encouraged their own migration by tendering them special invitations in the form of preference visas. There are also many cases of preference visas authorized and issued to parents with families who do not leave their children (brothers and sisters of citizens), but through their citizen children protest the apparent arbitrary and what they believe unreasonable action in sanctioning the division of the family.
    I do not believe that it was the intention of the Congress that the preference for parents should be used to divide a family, but rather for the purpose of facilitating the admission of fathers and mothers who were more or less alone on the other side and who might be dependent on or wish to spend their remaining days with, perhaps, their only kin, in the United States. In this connection I wish to refer to my comment and recommendation under the heading “ Fam
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    ily visas,” and to suggest that some provision be made to prevent the further separation of families by reason of preference given to parents who are the heads of families with minor children.
    The objection to the making of citizenship a qualification for exemption of families, and preference for fathers and mothers, is found in the resulting urge to citizenship by aliens who would not assume citizenship from patriotic desire or any politically well-grounded wish to be associated with us as an integral part of our Government. Citizenship, pure and simple, should come from a desire in the heart to become an influence in the upbuilding of the Government along the lines which the present great majority desire to see continued—the continued stability of constitutional government safeguarding human and property rights, liberty, and law, as is found in our own political institutions.
    The situation would be greatly improved if preference within quotas were extended to certain relatives of domiciled aliens, plus a provision which would prevent the further separation of families by the admission of family heads until arrangement had been made for the admission of the family should they not accompany him.
    At this time it is estimated that the number of aliens residing abroad who are the wives or minor dependent children of aliens legally admitted prior to the effective date of the immigration act of 1924 (July 1, 1924), is not very great. The overwhelming flood which was predicted when the suggestion was first made to grant nonquota status to such aliens, and which apparently influenced the Congress in not acting favorably upon bills introduced to that end, it is believed wmuld not now materialize. Many of those affected have already obtained visas in regular numerical order; others have secured citizenship and therefore have acquired the right to so bring in their families as nonquota immigrants. For all those who have not there now remains less than two years before they will have met the residence requirements for naturalization and will then be given the same privilege. It seems to me, therefore, that the cases of these aliens should again receive the consideration of Congress. For those who will be able to become citizens five years from July 30, 1924, this action will only have the effect of giving them the association of their wives and minor children (in those cases of countries of delayed quotas) a year or a year and a half earlier than if they were compelled to wait. The fact stands out that it is only a short time before these people will be admitted as nonquota immigrants, through naturalization of the husband and father. In that connection I wish to point out that experience with the returning alien veterans act shows that while the lowest estimate of the number who would take advantage of it was 15,000, actually less than a third of that number applied.
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    Section 12 of the act of 1924 complicates matters of family relationship because it provides that “ an immigrant born in the United States who has lost his United States citizenship shall be considered as having been born in the country of which he is a citizen or subject, or if not a citizen or subject of any country, then in the country from which he comes.” Even the termination of the marital status does not prevent the operation of this section to permit a person of American birth to return to the United States, where it frequently happens all the other relatives reside. The language above quoted should be repealed.
    In dealing with the rights of human beings as distinct from their property, hardships must arise under hard and fixed rules such as pertain in the immigration statutes. In the absence of discretionary powers, which I believe should be given to the administrative power, there should be a method of handling a special problem. Most of the hardships grow out of quota limitation, and for that reason I suggest the setting aside of a small quota or reserve, to be distributed and used by the Secretary of Labor for special relief. Frequently cases arise where unusual hardship results in the necessity for certain applicants to wait for quota allotment, as, for instance, where the death of the wife of an American citizen leaves small children unsuitably cared for, while at the same time that citizen may have a sister abroad dependent upon him for support who would willingly supply the needs of the children if she could be brought to this country for the purpose. This mentions only one of numerous situations which do arise where the assistance of a special quota, available to the Secretary of Labor, could be humanely applied. The one cited is not hypothetical, but is of my personal knowledge, the American citizen being unable in this country to get suitable care for his American-born children. Cases of hardship arising in the United States, not abroad, should be the basis for this special consideration and the relief granted only upon evidence presented in this country to the administrative officer.
    Family visas.
    In a previous report, recommendation concerning “Family visas” was discussed, but it is so important that it should be repeated here.
    One of the sources of hardship which becomes apparent is the practice of male immigrants with families coming first to the United States, expecting later to send for their families. It is not unnatural that husbands and fathers, especially of families of small means, should desire to make suitable preparations in the new country for the future home of their wives and children. In many instances the head of the family must earn and save, in his new job, the funds for transportation of the family. When he is able to send
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    for them, however, he may find that the number of applications awaiting distribution of quotas is so great that years may elapse before the family can secure the necessary quota visas.
    To overcome this objection, for it is an objection that families can not be reunited while we are receiving other immigrants, it is recommended that whenever an application is received by an American consul from an immigrant head of family, such applicant should be questioned regarding his intention relative to the future residence of his dependents, and, if he expects to have them follow him to the United States later, he should be required to file applications for his family at the same time. When his name is reached for visa they should at the same time be given preliminary examinations to determine their apparent admissibility, and they also would receive, if admissible, their appropriate visas. In the case of these family visas, the period of validity of the visas should be increased from four months, as now limited, to one year, thus making it possible for all preliminaries to be arranged by the husband and father for his family prior to his own departure from abroad.
    Further selection of immigrants.
    Suggestions have been advanced for selecting or giving preference to aliens coming to the United States to join other members of families already here. Recommendations have been made calculated to prevent further separation of families. Reference is also made in this report to the excellent results which have followed the establishment of inspection machinery abroad. All this is a part of the plan which I have chosen to refer to from time to time as the selective system of immigration. In previous reports reference has been made to the need for selecting other immigrants; that is, those who are not embraced within the classes enumerated as entitled to preference because of family affiliations. If the selective system were to be extended so as to give preference to those whose services are most needed in American industry, the number who could be admitted under the quota would be sufficient to meet the needs for labor and at the same time the quota limitation would be doubly effective in keeping out those classes whose economic or occupational status might tend to injure industries in which a surplus of labor is already here.
    As pointed out in my report for the last fiscal year, the general immigration laws prohibit the solicitation abroad of labor (except of certain specified classes) to be utilized in the United States. The contract-labor clause bars the gates to immigrants thus solicited and also’ makes the act of solicitation a criminal one. Permission to import specialized skilled labor, however, may be had from the Secretary of Labor upon showing the need for it and the fact that labor of like kind unemployed is not available in the United States. When
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    this permission is granted suitable contracts of employment may be entered into. Since, however, no provision is made in the 1924 act for preferences for such needed labor, permission to import under the contract labor law may mean little. The quota law is in addition to the general immigration law, and, therefore, after such labor is solicited in a lawful manner and suitable persons employed, the quota limitation under the nonpreference rule of first come, first served, may operate to prevent its being utilized until after the lapse of a considerable time after the need is discovered.
    Among applications made to the Department of Labor for permission to import contract laborers are those involving admissions for temporary periods while others are intended to be permanent residents of the United States; some represent need in a going industry for skilled labor to keep intact the chain of industrial activity within the industry affected—to insure the steady employment of American workers dependent upon a proper balance of industrial activity. Other applications represent help needed for the establishment of new industries or processes which are being imported from abroad. The prompt importation of such workers, and they will be limited in all events in number to the available quota, means the opening of new opportunities for American workmen because, with the assistance of these trained workers, American labor is trained to the new processes involved and will get the benefit of the additional industries thus established.
    The admission of alien labor of this character is as much for the benefit of American labor as for American employers. Such labor adds to the opportunities of employment of American workers and in every instance a full and complete investigation is made of the application to determine that labor of like kind can not be found unemployed in the United States and, therefore, that in no individual case will such an alien displace an American workman in his occupation.
    A method for admitting such labor when needed is necessary. I repeat the recommendation made in previous reports that when labor is needed for permanent employment, skilled or unskilled, where labor of like kind can not be found unemployed in the United States and no strike or lockout exists or impends in industry needing the labor, provision should be made for such importation, within the quota, upon special immigration certificates issued at the direction of the Secretary of Labor, after full and ample hearing and investigation into the conditions under which it is sought to bring labor into the United States.
    We are entitled, it seems to me, in the United States definitely to select the types as well as the numbers of aliens to whom we are to give the right of residence and eventually of citizenship. If this recommendation for selection of immigrants according to our needs,
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    as well as according to the dictates of humanity, as referred to in the provisions I have advocated for the reunion of families, we will have a 100 per cent selective policy. Understand, too, that all this immigration would be subject to the inspection system abroad, so that in all respects immigration to the United States would be of the highest type available.
    Immigration technical advisers.
    Prior to the passage of the so-called quota act in 1921 all immigration laws were largely negative in their nature, the primary purpose being to debar undesirable aliens from entry.
    Steamship lines, however, were at liberty to accept as passengers any aliens who possessed the requisite funds to purchase passage, and as a consequence it was not unusual for aliens to dispose of all their possessions in the homelands in order to purchase transportation, only to find upon arrival at our ports that they could not gain admission.
    Many of such cases aroused the most sincere sympathy upon the part of’executive officers who were compelled to render decisions in their cases, for, unlike the judge on the bench, who upon occasion can temper justice with mercy, the administrative officers charged with the duty of enforcing the immigration laws oftentimes have no alternative, but must deny applications for admission, as the laws render mandatory the exclusion of aliens where certain conditions exist. In times past it was not unusual for a comparatively large family to arrive at our ports only to have medical officers of the Public Health Service, who conduct the mental and physical examination of applicants, certify one of the dependent children as being mentally defective or otherwise excluded by reason of physical or mental disability. Confronted with such a situation, the administrative officers were compelled to deny admission to the child so afflicted, and the law provides that where a rejected alien is helpless from sickness, mental or physical disability, or infancy, and is accompanied by another alien whose protection or guardianship is required by such rejected alien, such accompanying alien may also be excluded.
    This administration from the outset has sought ways and means whereby the admissibility of aliens could primarily be determined before they had sacrificed their all to come to this country, but no solution of the problem offered itself until the passage of the immigration act of 1924, which requires applicants to obtain immigration visas from consular officers before they can be admitted, gives such officers authority to refuse visas and imposes a penalty upon transportation companies for bringing to the United States by water from any place outside thereof immigrants who do not have them.
    Shortly after the passage of this act it occurred to this department that, inasmuch as the law provided that no immigration visa
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    shall be issued to an immigrant if it appears to the consular officer, or he has reason to believe, that the immigrant is inadmissible to the United States under the immigration laws, the examination abroad should be as thorough as it formerly had been at our ports of entry. With that end in view a conference between the State Department, the Public Health Service, and this department was arranged, at which it was decided to station at such European consulates as the respective foreign Governments should request Public Health doctors and immigration officers to assist the consular officers in the capacity of technical advisers. Accordingly, in July, 1925, Public Health surgeons and immigration officers were assigned in that capacity to certain consulates in Great Britain and the Irish Free State. So successful was the plan in its operation that it was not long before other countries, realizing the benefits which would be conferred upon their nationals, requested its adoption, and in 1926, in addition to those already mentioned, Public Health doctors and immigration officers were assigned to consulates in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, and the Netherlands. Under this plan applicants at American consulates in the countries mentioned are first subjected to a careful physical and mental examination by Public Health surgeons, after which they are questioned by consular and immigration officers to determine whether they can qualify under the immigration laws..
    I venture the assertion that never since our country adopted the policy of restricting immigrants have our immigration laws operated with such a minimum of hardship as has resulted through inauguration of the plan under discussion. As an illustration of the success of the plan, the following table shows the number of aliens applying for admission at the port of New York, the principal seaport of arrival for European aliens, the number debarred, and the percentage .of applicants debarred from 1922 to 1927, inclusive :
    Aliens arriving at Ellis Island during fiscal years specified
    Fiscal year	Number of applicants	Debarred	Per cent of applicants debarred
    1922. 				279, 638	3,898	1.4
    1923		389,497	4,110	1.1
    1924		419,428	6,370	1 5
    1925		241,318	2j 997	1.2
    1926				270,074	1544	.6
    1927		299,112	1,319	.4

    It will be observed that for the years 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1925, over 1 per cent of the aliens applying were debarred, whereas in the fiscal year 1926, the percentage dropped to six-tenths of 1 per cent, and during the fiscal year covered by this report to four-tenths of 1
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    per cent. It should be taken into consideration, moreover, that during the fiscal year 1926, technical advisers were stationed only in Great Britain and the Irish Free State, and that during the fiscal year 1927 many aliens arrived at the port of New York from countries where technical advisers are not stationed. Practically all the rejections occur of aliens who have not had examination abroad. From the countries in which technical advisers are now operating, less than one alien out of every thousand was excluded.
    At the time of writing this report, but before any immigrants could be affected by it, the system has been extended to Italy. All countries having a considerable number of emigrants for the United States, therefore, now have the technical adviser service.
    Confronted with such concrete results, the success of the plan seems firmly established, and, should it become universal in its application, it is not unreasonable to believe that only in extremely rare instances will exclusion of European aliens occur, a condition of affairs which should be pleasing to all those who have the interests of our country and the welfare of the immigrant at heart.
    In concluding these remarks it seems not amiss to add that the officers representing the three branches of our Government in the operation of the plan have manifested the utmost zeal in their endeavors to protect prospective immigrants from a fruitless and expensive journey and at the same time safeguard the interests of our country, and it is felt that they are entitled to the highest commendation for the spirit of cooperation manifested by them in the performance of their duties.
    Departments concerned in immigration matters.
    Under the heading of technical adviser service in foreign countries it is pointed out how the State, Treasury (Public Health Service), and Labor Departments cooperate abroad in sifting out, in those countries where the arrangements for foreign examinations exist, aliens who might reasonably be presumed to be inadmissible to the United States if they were permitted to proceed to this country. The State Department’s field of activity is, of course, confined to matters relating to the departure of aliens from foreign countries, and the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor in all matters relating to aliens before they arrive in this country is advisory only. Likewise the jurisdiction of the Public Health Service is advisory abroad, but this branch of the Treasury Department assumes a more affirmative role in examination after arrival at an immigration station, for it is not until passed by the medical officers as free from those physical and mental defects and diseases which render exclusion mandatory that aliens can be lawfully admitted by the Immigration Service. There is no appeal from the findings of the Public Health Service as to certificates rendered at our ports.
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    Another branch of the Government service, also a part of the Treasury Department, with which the Immigration Service is somewhat affiliated is the Customs Service. Among other things, that service controls the hours of opening and closing of the international boundary, both northern and southern, so that while the immigration service regulates the admission of aliens it can not fix the hours during which such admissions may be made.
    As will be noted from the resume of activities of the border patrol, this branch of the immigration inspection service is cooperating with the Customs Service in detecting and capturing contraband along the border at points where sufficient customs inspection is not available.
    Aliens ineligible to citizenship.
    It has been said by some of those who assisted in writing that portion of the law that section 13 (c) of the act of 1924 has proved to be broader in its application than was intended. An alien, whether ineligible to citizenship or otherwise, who comes to the United States as a nonimmigrant under section 3 (6) of the act as a “treaty merchant,” is permitted to be accompanied by wife and dependent, unmarried, minor children by reason of construction given to that section to the effect that the status of the wife and such minor children follows that of the husband and father. The Chinese exclusion act specifically permits the entrance of Chinese merchants, and the courts have held that such provision includes the wife and dependent, unmarried, minor children. Should an oriental alien, however, chance to be the wife of an American citizen, regardless of the occupational status of the husband, the wife can not be admitted, thus giving to a Chinese and other aliens the right to the association of his wife which is denied to the citizen. I am sure it was never intended by the Congress that an alien should be entitled to more rights under the immigration laws than an American citizen.
    North American Indians.
    Since the naturalization laws permit the naturalization only of persons of the white race or of African nativity or descent, American Indians born outside the territory of the United States can not become citizens, and therefore they belong to the classification “ineligible to citizenship,” and their immigration to the United States is definitely prohibited. Considerable comment has been made on this effect of the law, especially as it affects North American Indians who reside close to our northern border and who have been for many years accustomed to crossing and considered that privilege a matter of right. I see no reason why members of these tribes whose original domain consisted of territory in the United States and Canada should not be permitted to come to this country when they desire.
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    Their numbers are not large and could have little, if any, effect upon our economic position.
    Alien students.
    By section 4, subdivision (e), of the act of 1924 an alien at least 15 years of age seeking to enter the United States solely for the purpose of study at an accredited school, college, academy, seminary, or university is classified as a “nonquota immigrant.” It is understood that the admission for student purposes is conditioned upon leaving the country upon the completion of the studies for which enrolled. Section 15 of the same act reads “the admission to the United States of an alien * * * declared to be a nonquota immigrant by subdivision (e) of section 4 shall be for such time as may be by regulations prescribed, and under such conditions as may be by regulations prescribed * * * to insure that at the expiration of such time or upon failure to maintain the status under which admitted, he will depart from the United States.” In the case of certain nonimmigrant classes, admitted for specific purposes, bonds may be required, but no bonds can be exacted in the case of “ immigrant students.” It is believed that the status of students would be more clear and administration of that provision of the law be better accomplished if the classification of alien students were to be transferred from the “ immigrant class ” to the “ nonimmigrant class,” or, in other words, that subdivision (e) of section 4 be transferred to section 3 as subdivision (7). Also that section 15 be amended to give authority to require bonds in student cases to insure the ultimate compliance with the terms of admission.
    Considerable difficulty is experienced by aliens and their friends in understanding the limitations upon the admission of students, because of the fact that they are classified as “immigrants,” which apparently gives them a permanent status in the United States. The confusion can be eliminated by making the changes suggested.
    Certificates of admission.
    Except along the land borders where, in some cases, head-tax receipts are issued, alien immigrants admitted to the United States for permanent residence are not furnished with a certificate of arrival or other evidence showing legal entry. This is manifestly unfair to the immigrant, and a plan is being formulated under which every alien who is admitted to reside permanently will be provided with a certificate to that effect. This will enable the lawfully admitted alien to prove his right to residence here at any time, and it is believed that it will prove to be particularly helpful to him in facilitating naturalization and in the matter of securing employment in cases where employment is refused to aliens except on proof that they are lawfully resident in the United States.
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    Surreptitious entry of aliens.
    The number of aliens who annually enter the United States through surreptitious means can not be even approximately estimated. If a count could be made, needless to say, it would be possible to put an end to most of the traffic, permitting only such entries as represent aliens finding their way through loopholes for which the law itself is responsible. That the number of aliens who have gained surreptitious entry is large, however, is evident to even a casual observer, but it is certain that the inspection and patrol net is daily making smuggling more difficult. To stop it entirely would require larger appropriations and strengthening laws. There are holes in the present law which no amount of vigilance can stop. These holes need legislative repair.
    In the way of purely clandestine entries, small boatloads of smuggled aliens have been picked up while stealing across the waters from Cuba, across the Detroit River, and at other places where a water entry is possible. Wagonloads coming by the land route have been apprehended back from the border line, and they have even been found in water tenders of locomotives in the interior. Enterprising air navigators have brought smuggled human cargoes onto flying fields in Michigan and the plains of Southern States. To the best of our ability the deportation machinery is kept grinding at the raw material which thus pours in from all sides, but at best there is no assurance that our efforts can approach 100 per cent effectiveness. So frequently we are confronted with cases of deportation for a second and third time as to leave no room for doubt that the experiences gained in the first illegal attempt to reside in this country furnish valuable assistance in evading the law on second and later attempts.
    Deportation alone as a punishment for illegal entry into the United States is not a sufficient deterrent for repetition of the act. Endeavoring to stop this law violation with only the statutes now in force is like trying to prevent burglary with a penalty no severer than opening the front door of the burglarized residence, should the burglar be found within, escorting him to it, and saying, “ You have no right here; see that you don’t come in again.” That is exactly what the immigration laws do for an alien who beats his way in. We take him into custody, give him a hearing, and, if found guilty, we apply to the country of which he is a national for a passport so that he can make a regular exit, we buy his steamship ticket, and bid him bon voyage. As soon as he has bidden good-by to our shores and our hospitality he can try the same plan again, and usually with better success. Should he be caught the second time, however, there is still no penalty except that of presenting him with a ticket and paying the foreign Government for his passport and the right to return. Under
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    our scheme of limited immigration the alien who illegally enters the United States is usurping the rights of those lawfully resident here. He is taking from those who have acquired the right of residence something to which he is not entitled. He should be treated as a law violator and punished effectively.
    One of the interesting—though for the Government expensive— processes is the deportation of orientals who cross the border into the United States for the express purpose of having their fares paid back to remote corners of the world. This has happened in numerous cases of Chinese who have established themselves in foreign contiguous territory and who are desirous of making a return visit to their old homes. They have managed to sneak across the line and deliberately place themselves before inspectors, indicating that they had no objections to being sent across the waters. It is reported that in one such case a Chinaman was found sitting on the steps of a post office in a southern California town, calmly waiting for his free ride to China. Inasmuch as the law specifically requires that Chinese aliens found in the United States without legal status shall be deported to China, they have the right to expect such treatment.
    However, it is quite apparent that the majority of surreptitious traffic across the border is not aimed toward apprehension for the purpose of travel, and many are the avenues of escape into the interior for one who is minded to effect concealment. A few months undetected and such an alien can work a transformation in appearance and manners that will belie the recent foreign origin.
    The seamen’s route.
    One of the fruitful sources of gaining admission without going through the regular procedure is that provided by the seamen’s law when alien seamen take shore leave in an American port and remain 60 days for the purpose of reshipping in their trade. There is no way of keeping track of such seamen during the 60-day period, and there are actual records of many thousands who desert ships and are not recorded as returning to the sea. During the fiscal year 1927,23,447 of such seamen are recorded as remaining on “ shore leave ” who should have been checked out. It is true that a considerable number of such aliens are apprehended and deported, but as there is no other penalty than deportation provided, manifestly one arriving as a sailor has nothing to deter him from making a second or successive attempts. It means only that if he insists upon his right when apprehended he may go back as a passenger rather than have to work his way across on the return voyage. Who shall say that this is penalty for an unsuccessful attempt to beat the law and acquire a residence in the United States! I am firmly convinced that a penalty should be attached, in addition to deportation, to insure that this game of hide
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    •and seek which certain classes of aliens feel they can play under Federal laws is not such a joke as they like to believe it.
    Attention to this avenue of gaining illegal residence is particularly important since test cases have gone through the district and circuit •court of appeals, in which it has been judicially decided that unless a seaman is apprehended within three years’ residence in the United States he is not amenable to the immigration laws. Therefore, while the statute of limitation for deportation may be five years on one of the grounds specified, that five-year limitation, according to the courts, can not be applied if the alien happens to have acquired entry as a seaman. The effect of this decision is that should a person enter by surreptitious means other than as a seaman, he can be deported if taken into custody at any time within five years, while if he happens to have adopted the seamen’s route he needs to evade inspectors for only three years. The difference is still more marked for those aliens who arrived since the immigration act of 1924 has been in effect, because there is no time limitation upon deportation for violation of this later act. However, since the courts have ruled that a seaman is not amenable to the immigration laws after three years, particular attention should be given by Congress to remedy the situation.
    Stowaways.
    Stowaways are among the excluded classes named in the general immigration act, with the proviso that a stowaway, if otherwise admissible, may be admitted in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor. Such discretion, however, is now rarely applicable because few alien stowaways possess the consular visa which is a requisite of admission under the quota law. Nevertheless, attempts to enter the, country as stowaways have increased greatly under the quota system. During the past eight years (1920-1927), 19,085 stowaways have been found on vessels arriving at American ports, the annual average being 2,386. The annual average just prior to the World War (1910-1914) was only 613. This increase, in the main, represents efforts to defeat the quota law, and is only one of the added problems which that law has imposed on the Immigration Service.
    Cases are constantly arising in which there is strong suspicion, and sometime positive proof, of collusion between stowaways and members of steamship crews. The law provides no penalty in such cases, unless it can be shown that the aliens were embarked for the United States with the knowledge of some responsible officer of the vessel, and this is usually difficult of proof. The situation has become so serious, however, that an additional safeguard is needed, and legislation is recommended to the effect that whenever stowaways are discovered at ports of arrival, and, in the opinion of the Secretary of Labor, their presence on board might have been detected at the port
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    of departure or during the voyage, an adequate penalty shall be imposed upon the steamship line.
    One of the recent flagrant cases of collusion between stowaways and members of steamship crews was the bringing to this country, on an American ship, of 19 such aliens. Upon arrival of the ship in the United States port, these 19 aliens were placed in the oil tanks of the steamer, the ship being equipped with oil-burning furnaces. It developed that it was only the timely arrival of the immigrant inspectors and their immediate release from the tanks that saved the lives of the clandestine passengers. They were in various stages of suffocation from the fumes of the oil when dragged out of the quarters in which they had been concealed.
    Visitors and transients.
    While many interests opposed to restrictive immigration would have it appear, by articles in the press and otherwise, that legitimate commercial travel to and through the United States is interfered with by the present policy of restricted immigration, it is in fact true that very little, if any, difficulties stand in the way of the visiting of aliens to these shores as bona fide visitors for business or pleasure for temporary periods, or in transit through this country to other lands. Such aliens are expressly exempt from the limitation provisions of the quota acts, and the only thing which is necessary for such travelers to show to immigration officers is the appropriate visa of the American consul in the country from which such alien comes and satisfactory proof that the alien is generally admissible as of the status claimed. No legitimate visitor or transient has any difficulty in making such proof.
    Because of the comparative ease with which bona fide visitors and transients can visit and pass through the United States, it is not surprising that large numbers of aliens who really intend to remain in this country should seek the apparently easier path of entry into the land of their dreams. Frequently the immigrant inspectors at the ports discover aliens with passport visitors’ or transients’ visas wlm only a short time before had made application for the right to make permanent homes in this country. Naturally a presumption arises against such aliens, and it is seldom that such presumption is not justified. But not all such cases can be discovered because, as already explained, every effort is made to prevent hardships accruing to legitimate travelers for business or pleasure, and, unless the attempted fraud is clearly apparent, evidence of the attempted improper entrance is not adduced. This has resulted in a considerable number of aliens being found in the United States who have originally gained entrance as visitors and failed to keep faith with the Government by leaving. They have frequently purchased homes
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    and businesses in this country and almost invariably have employment which should be, under our scheme of restricted immigration, reserved as a right to those who are legally in the country.
    As an incidence of the fraud connected with the admission of transients, I cite a case which only recently was brought to light. A report came to the department from abroad that a certain alien woman and her son had applied to an American consul for immigration visas to come to the United States for permanent residence, to reside here with son and brother. No quota numbers being available, the visas were refused; but it was later discovered that upon application to another consulate this party had secured “ in transit ” visas to proceed to the United States en route to Mexico, where it was alleged they were destined to relatives residing in Mexico City. A street address was given in the latter place. The port at which these aliens would arrive being known, an investigation was made and it was found that they had arrived and were residing, under their transit privilege, with the son and brother. They were advised by the immigration officer making the investigation that their agreement with this Government called for their transit to Mexico and that they could not be permitted to remain in the United States for residence. Numerous citizens of the community, including the mayor, a judge of a local court, and other public officers, as well as prominent parties in distant States, protested against the inhumanity of the Department of Labor in requiring these aliens to leave a happy home, which they had had for several weeks and from which there was no place, they stated, to which it was possible for them to go. The aliens themselves earnestly declared that they had no living relatives in Mexico or in the place from which they came. Eventually these aliens arrived in Mexico, but one of the daily tasks of the department for a long time consisted of replying to entreaties made that special dispensation be granted and that the department “ exercise leniency ” to permit these aliens to return to the United States to the home from which they claimed to have been forcibly ejected. The aliens apparently were willing freely to admit that their tickets purchased through from Europe to Mexico and the claimed relatives in that Republic were but efforts to deceive the Government into permitting a temporary footing here. The department, of course, had no authority to permit the residence here and could not admit the aliens either as visitors or for permanent residence unless they had appropriate visas.
    Under another section of this report, entitled “ Enrollment of aliens,” reference is made to the desirability of keeping a roster of aliens in the United States. While intended primarily as an aid to the Naturalization Service in rendering its facilities to aliens lawfully resident here and entitled to naturalization, it is perfectly obvi
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    ous that such an enrollment would be of inestimable value in determining who had legal status here. I wish it distinctly understood,, however, that the enrollment I propose is not of the nature of an espionage act, nor to require police reporting, finger printing, or other similar forms of registration smacking of Prussian or Russian pressure systems.
    Immigration from insular possessions.
    The arrival on the Pacific coast of a considerable number of natives of the Philippines during the past year resulted in a protest against the movement, particularly because of a belief that they were not medically inspected at any time. It is presumed that most of those who do come to the coast States are a part of the rather extensive movement of Filipinos to Hawaii, where they have been employed as laborers in large numbers in recent years. It may be explained that while the Filipinos are not full-fledged citizens of the United States, nevertheless they are not aliens within the meaning of the immigration law and therefore not subject to that law. The United States Public Health Service, however, advises that on their departure from the Philippines for Hawaii, Filipino laborers are subjected to a thorough examination for quarantinable diseases.
    For the information of those who challenge the right of citizens of our territories, including Hawaii, Porto Rico, Virgin Islands, and other possessions, to come to continental United States, I merely refer here to the fact that, while citizenship must be proved, when it is established there is no limitation upon the right of the citizen to travel to or reside in any other State or Territory of the United States.
    Alien domicile.
    Hundreds of thousands of aliens are unable, or would be unable if called upon to do so, to prove legal admission into the United States. This class includes not only aliens who have deliberately evaded inspection but as many more who believe that they have the right to be here. For many years there was very little difference in the requirements for permanent residence and for a visitor’s privilege coming from Canada, and even to-day certain visitors are not required to pay head tax nor to have documents of any kind. Their inspection by immigration officers is less rigid than for those who apply for the privilege of residence. This has been true since time immemorial, and when there was no numerical limitation on immigration from any source many aliens, knowing that there was less delay at the border when coming to visit, indicated to the officers that they would be back within a short time. Aliens who thus entered and were not recorded for permanent residence have never acquired a lawful domicile in the United States.
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    Those aliens who have entered the United States but have not been inspected and recorded by an immigration officer for the right of residence frequently find themselves in difficulties at this time. If they desire to become citizens, they find when they petition for naturalization that they are unable officially to establish the five years’ residence required by the law. The naturalization law makes it necessary for a petitioner for naturalization to submit a certificate of the appropriate immigration officer attesting that the official records of the department show his legal entry into the United States for residence. If the record has not been made of the entry, or if the alien has forgotten material facts connected with admission, this certificate can not be furnished. In that respect the alien who was properly admitted, but who forgets the date, the place, or the steamer of arrival, is in exactly the same situation as the one for whom no record has been made, because in that case the officer can not identify it, and therefore can not make appropriate certification.
    Viewed in the legal sense, it can hardly be expected that an officer of the Government will make a statement to a court of the United States that a particular fact is so when his records do not disclose it, yet that is exactly what immigration officials did do at one time in cases of this character. That is, there grew up to be a practice of making records nunc pro tunc. On judicial determination, however, it was held that a certificate of arrival based upon the creation of a record nunc pro tunc at a time subsequent to entry did not satisfy the law and that the department had no right tn make such a record. A distinction was made, however, in this type of cases as against one in which some record was made at the original time of entry but which was in some respects defective, as, for instance, in stating the purpose of entry, in the latter class it being held that a correction could be made of an existing record, but that one could not be created.
    Not only the courts challenged the right to make such a record nunc pro tunc, but Congress itself, through the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House of Representatives, called the responsible officers of the department to account for what they considered an abuse of discretion. An investigation was made of this practice, which had begun many years ago, and the question of the legality of the procedure was referred to the solicitor. He concurred in the opinion expressed by the courts and by the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. The policy of issuing nunc pro tunc certificates, therefore, was discontinued.
    The situation thus created is far from satisfactory. The mere fact that an alien can not qualify for citizenship does not render him liable to deportation. So far as the manner of entry is concerned, an alien found unlawfully in the country for that reason or unable to prove
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    his right to residence can not be deported after five years. If not taken into custody during that period, he assumes the anomalous position of having the sanction of the law to remain but being barred from the right to citizenship. He is put in a still further embarrassing position should business or personal or family reasons dictate the necessity or desire to travel abroad. The right to return to the United States as a nonquota immigrant when returning from a temporary visit abroad is specifically limited by the immigration act of 1924 to “an immigrant previously lawfully admitted.” An alien who has not been previously lawfully admitted, no matter how short a period he should remain outside the United States, and no matter what his previous length of residence may have been, can not return to this country and to his established home until he complies with the quota and all other laws relating to the admission of new immigrants.
    This situation, which is referred to also in other sections of the report, requires immediate remedial action. I can not too strongly urge it upon the Congress. The legislation to accomplish it should take the form of a, statute to give authority to the administrative officer to give legal domicile to aliens who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, the effective date of the present quota immigration law, upon showing in appropriate hearing that they are not subject to deportation on any other grounds and that they meet the certain required standards.
    Immigration from nonquota countries.
    The fact that the aggregate annual quotas allotted under the immi-gration act of 1924 amount to 164,667 has been widely published and is quite generally understood. It is not strange, therefore, that the department is repeatedly asked why the number of aliens admitted each year is greatly in excess of the total quotas. In the last fiscal year 158,070 immigrants were admitted and charged against the quotas of various countries, but the Bureau of Immigration records show that the grand total of aliens entering the country during the same period was 538,001. The explanation, of course, is a simple one, for the reason that 95,704 nonimmigrants, which term includes government officials, temporary visitors, aliens in transit, and so on, and 284,227 nonquota immigrants were also admitted during the year.
    These nonquota immigrants included 10,084 wives aand 8,421 children of United States citizens; 95,910 alien residents of the United States returning from a visit abroad; 4,514 veterans of the World War who were admitted under special legislation; 1,833 students; and a smaller number of ministers of religious denominations and professors of colleges, academies, seminaries, and universities and members of their families. The largest number of immigrants admitted under a nonquota status, however, was comprised of natives
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    of Canada, Newfoundland, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Canal Zone, and independent countries of Central and South America, who are specifically exempt from quota requirements. The number admitted under this exemption was 158,657 during the fiscal year.
    This, of course, indicates that the numerical control of immigration is by no means an established fact, and immigration will continue to be an uncertain quantity so long as any considerable number of aliens are accorded a nonquota status solely because they happen to be born in some one of the countries the natives of which are not subject to quota limitation.
    The control of immigration under the quota-limit system has been a gradual development. The first law upon the subject was the act of May 19, 1921, which in effect applied the quota method only to European countries, Africa, and the Near East, the latter including Persia and territory of the former Turkish Empire in Asia. Aliens who had resided continuously for at least one year immediately preceding the time of their application for admission to the United States in any country of the Western Hemisphere or adjacent islands were accorded a nonquota status. Later on the operation of this act was extended to June 30, 1924, and five years’ residence in nonquota territory was required.
    The permanent quota act of 1924, however, extended the quota system to all the world except natives of Canada, Newfoundland, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Canal Zone, and independent countries of Central and South America.
    This nonquota territory has a combined population of approximately 105,000,000, and if the present policy is continued such territory is obviously the reservoir of our future immigration, apart from the limited number who are permitted to come from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Many of the inhabitants of the New World countries, of course, are natives of countries to which the quota system applies and therefore would be subject to the numerical limitations imposed under the act of 1924, but the great majority of them were born in territory which is exempt from quota requirements, and these are free to come to the United States as immigrants in unlimited numbers, provided they can meet the requirements of the general immigration law. It is true that there never has been any considerable immigration to the United States from countries of the Western Hemisphere other than Canada, Newfoundland, and Mexico, but the fact that there is no limit to the number who may come clearly creates a situation which makes it impossible to prophesy as to the probable extent of our immigration from such sources in years to come.
    71308—27---13
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    When we study the history of immigration into the United States it is found that the really great movements from the various sources developed quite suddenly and in a large measure unexpectedly. It is well known that there was comparatively little immigration during the colonial period, so that at the time of the Revolutionary War the great majority of the American people were native born, and probably most of these were at least of the second generation. It is also true that comparatively few aliens came to the United States between the Revolutionary period and about 1830. Our official statistics of immigration begin with 1820, and in the decade ending with 1829 only 128,502 aliens, or an average of 12,850 annually, were admitted.. In the next decade (1830 to 1839) the number admitted was 538,381 and the annual average 53,838. The 10 years ending with 1849 witnessed the first really great immigration movement, for in the years 1840 to 1849 a total of 1,427,337 entries were recorded, this sudden rise being almost entirely due to the exodus from Ireland during the period of the potato famine and the beginning of what was subsequently the enormous movement from Germany. This great increase came almost without warning and continued with more or less important fluctuations for about 40 years. As the tide of immigration from the countries of northwest Europe receded, that from other European countries began, and it increased so rapidly that in a period of 20 years it reached upward of 1,000,000 annually and continued at approximately the same rate up to the outbreak of the World War.
    In the light of this experience it is by no means idle to predict that large numbers of aliens may come from hitherto unsuspected sources with the same rapidity which has characterized the earlier movements referred to. If history repeats itself in this regard, future immigration can come only from sources to which no quota limitation applies.
    The experience of a century has taught us that there are several major forces which contribute to the upbuilding of a great immigration movement. These include economic distress and political dissatisfaction in the countries of origin; economic prosperity and political freedom in countries of destination; the activities of transportation companies; and, perhaps more important than any of these, the personal element through which immigrants who have succeeded in their new home induce their relatives and friends to follow them. This personal element is something which multiplies and remultiplies as time goes on, and undoubtedly it has been the strongest single factor not only in promoting immigration to the United States during the last century but in determining the character and the destination in the United States of the more than 36,000,000 aliens who have come h^re during that period.
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    Immigration from Canada to the United States has been largely coincidental with European immigration, although there has been a very considerable increase in the number who have crossed our northern boundary and taken up residence in the United States since the limitation has been placed on the number who may come from Europe, such increase ranging from an annual average of 63,543 in the six years immediately prior to the World War to 107,535 during the six years ending June 30, 1927. Nevertheless, it is a movement which has continued to a greater or less extent for more than a century, and as early as 1850, when the population was first enumerated by country of birth, there were 147,711 natives of British territory to the north already resident in the United States, which number had increased to 1,138,174 by 1920.
    As already indicated, there has never been any considerable immigration from Central and South America, and the number coming from the former source is approximately the same as before the war. Immigration from South American countries, however, has increased from an average of 3,369 during the six years, 1909 to 1914, to 4,338 during the past six years.
    The records of immigration from Mexico in recent years pretty clearly indicate that a wave of immigration from that country which to a degree is comparable to the two great waves from Europe is already under way, although, of course, it will never be numerically as important, for the reason that the entire population of Mexico is only about 14,000,000. However, immigration from Mexico during the past seven years has averaged 49,630 (19,551 in the lowest and 89,336 in the highest years), compared with an annual average oT 17,435 during the six years just preceding the World War, and, next to Canada and Newfoundland, it already furnishes more immigrants than any other country, while as a race or people the Mexicans, with 66,766 admitted during the last fiscal year, are far and away in the lead of all other peoples, their nearest competitors being the Germans with 56,587, the Irish with 44,726, the English with 40,165, and the Scotch with 25,544. The other British race, Welsh, sent 1,300.
    In according practically all the peoples of the New World a nonquota status the Congress was undoubtedly actuated by the spirit of neighborliness which very properly dominates our relations with such peoples. It is very doubtful, however, whether this highly desirable end will be furthered by a continuation of the immigration situation which has arisen under the present quota-limit system, for what was unquestionably intended as a friendly discrimination in favor of New World peoples may very well prove otherwise. Except in the United States alone, there is no such thing as population pressure in any of the countries of the Western Hemisphere, as is the case
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    of most European countries. As a matter of fact, most of our neighbors are in need of additional population and a good many of them are making efforts to promote immigration from overcrowded sources in other countries. As already pointed out, natives of European countries, no matter where residing, are subject to the quota limitations which apply to the land of their birth. Therefore, in practice we take from the nonquota nations only their native-born population, with the result that such countries are in the position of sending us their native-born citizens and filling their places with people from foreign sources.
    On our own part, as has already been stated, the situation makes it impossible for the United States to regulate the number of immigrants who may be admitted at a time when there is abundant need for such regulation, if we are to achieve and maintain an economically sound balance between the labor demand and supply. The limitation of European immigration has clearly proved to be a long step toward this desired and wholly desirable end, but it seems obvious that such a goal can not be fully established and permanently maintained so long as there are near-by sources from which millions of immigrants may come at any time they may choose to do so.
    Deportations.
    The records show continued increase in the number of deportations effected by the service, 12,055 being deported during the past year.
    Studying the laws carefully and the practices which have grown pp in some of the States with reference to the elimination of aliens of this type from our midst, it becomes more and more apparent that a codification and rewriting of the deportation laws in common with the whole system of alien laws should be undertaken.
    It was at one time the practice of immigration officers to take into custody and deport aliens sentenced to imprisonment, when such aliens were released on parole, or otherwise than at the termination of imprisonment in a legal sense. In some instances deportations were effected of aliens released on parole where parole was granted for the express purpose of giving the alien into the custody of the local immigration officer. The department is anxious that its machinery be used to its utmost capacity in effecting deportation of these classes, but it must of necessity keep within the wording of the statute. To effect a deportation which is not in accordance with the law is not due process as required by the Constitution of the United States.
    The practice has been, and still is, upon being advised of the conviction of an alien under conditions which require deportation at “ termination of imprisonment ” to serve a warrant of arrest and grant a hearing to the prisoner while in the custody of the peniten
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    tiary. After the hearing has been completed and the case reviewed in the department, a warrant of deportation is issued, and nothing further may be heard of the case by the administrative officers until the deportation has been accomplished and the warrant returned satisfied, or a protest against deportation is filed at the time of the alien’s release by the prison authorities. Protests have in a few cases been received against the deportation of criminal aliens who had been paroled, on the grounds that a parole did not constitute “termination of imprisonment,” as the law requires. The solicitor and courts have held that this interpretation of the law is correct and that a paroled alien may not be deported until the legal termination of imprisonment.
    In general the States have been anxious to be rid of alien criminals and have cooperated with the department in bringing this about as speedily as possible. While a parole does not terminate imprisonment, a commutation of sentence does, and the executive authority of most of the States are willing, if deportation is to be effected, to commute the sentence for that purpose when the imprisonment is to be for many years’ time. In that way the communities are relieved of the burden of caring for these criminals at State expense, and frequently, also, the aliens themselves request that such procedure be followed.
    At least one State, however, has officially stated that it expects to defeat deportation of an alien by the granting of pardons for the offenses committed. The counsel for the governor of that State reported to the department that it was the practice to parole prisoners, and in case the prisoner were an alien to consider his case with a, view to granting a pardon for the purpose of preventing deportation at the time the sentence was legally completed. It was further stated that, if immigration officers were to take aliens into custody for deportation upon their release on parole, the governor would be compelled to resort to pardons rather than paroles, but that he disliked to thus discriminate in favor of the alien as against the citizen. It was intimated, however, that if the department, when these cases were brought to its attention, should fail to stay deportation until the expiration of the period of parole, pardons would be issued to defeat the Federal statute requiring deportation.
    Another section of the law which needs strengthening is that relating to alien peddlers of narcotics. Since the courts have ruled that the mere violation of “ the act to prohibit the importation and the use of opium for other than medicinal purposes,” approved February 9, 1909, and amended, does not constitute a crime involving moral turpitude, the violation of that act does not furnish grounds for deportation unless conviction is had under section 2 (c), which provides that it will result in deportation only if the alien has per
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    sonal knowledge that the illicit wares which he peddles were in fact smuggled into the United States.
    I believe that deportation is a proper penalty for all aliens who are found in the illegal narcotic peddling trade, regardless of the source of their wares.
    The record of deportation, as given in Part I of this report, shows ■an increase in expulsion of aliens over any previous year—12,055 in actual numbers. This figure, however, fails to take into account the number of aliens who were advised informally of their illegal presence and who elected to depart before the service of warrants of arrest. The reports of the border patrol show an indication of the magnitude of departures technically not deportations and yet which should be classified in the deportation records.
    The practice of the service is to take into custody for deportation all aliens of the criminal, immoral, and anarchistic classes whose illegal presence is indicated, and we believe that so long as appropriations are not sufficient to proceed against every case brought to our attention these classes should be given precedence in expenditures. It frequently happens on the borders and in seaports, however, that the presence of an alien is unlawful because he has overstayed a visitor’s admission, failed to reship foreign within the time specified, and so on, and the alien knowing that deportation is in order specifically requests that he be permitted to leave without awaiting formal order. Inspectors can not enforce such departures, and do not endeavor to do so, but upon written request or waiver of process, admitting his unlawful presence, he is permitted to go and his departure verified. The record of such cases is not now complete, but will be for 1928. The incomplete records for the past fiscal year show 14,619, which makes more than 26,000 deportations accounted for during the past year.
    Effort is being made constantly to effect deportation of undesirable aliens as speedily as possible. We believe that once an alien has been regularly adjudged to be unlawfully here his rights to the privilege of remaining are at an end. It is surprising, however, how many sincere requests are received, even after aliens admit they have no right to be here, that they be permitted to remain—six months, a year, or indefinitely. Frequently the requests are based upon no other ground than that the alien would be in better financial circumstances when arriving abroad if he could save for another six months. The most common plea is based upon a statement that the alien owes sums of money to American citizens, and it is stated that the interests of the citizens demand the alien’s continued residence here. Akens whose unlawful entry dates only a few weeks previously produce witnesses to testify that they are creditors who desire to be protected by the holding of warrants of deportation in abeyance. Furniture
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    houses and clothing shops doing credit or installment business are among those affected. These requests come alike as to aliens who are ordered deported for having smuggled into the country and those ordered deported for crimes committed, including the peddling of narcotics. Manifestly if the financial welfare of aliens or those who might have business dealings with them should be taken into consideration it would be difficult to deport any alien. The department can only follow the law. If American citizens and lawful residents enter into business relationships with aliens unlawfully here, their risk of loss must be considered a business risk and they can not expect to have the laws of the United States set aside for the mistakes they have made in not determining the character of the risks which they assume.
    I wish here to call attention to the necessity for a revision of deportation laws to make them more adequately meet the needs of the Government. A new and complete deportation law should be a part of the proposed new code of all alien laws.
    Tassport facilities for deportees.
    In a number of instances the department has been unable to effect deportation of undesirable aliens because of passport complications and the refusal of foreign Governments to accept from the United States aliens who should be deported to those countries. These refusals involve criminal and mental defective cases, as well as those who for other reasons have become a burden upon public beneficence. Frequently the foreign Governments decline the responsibility solely on the grounds that by absence from the homeland the alien has become expatriated. In all such cases, however, it should be pointed out, the alien has not actually acquired any other nationality; if he had, naturally the deportation order would be to the country of such alien’s allegiance.
    This situation seems to me to require legislative action, and it is suggested that suitable enactment be made whereby immigration shall be suspended or further restricted from countries which refuse to accept back deportable aliens or unreasonably delay issuance of passports for those whose last allegiance was to their Governments. This action is recommended also as to nationals of such countries from which it is impracticable to obtain passports through the usual channels.
    While referring to these cases of difficulty in effecting deportation, I believe it only fair to call attention to a somewhat analogous situation existing in some of the States of the United States as regards citizens of this country, former residents of those States, who become deportable from other countries to this because of becoming public charges or of insanity. Because of absence from those States they refuse to accept back from other nations former resident citizens of
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    their Commonwealths. As a matter of experience, this difficulty arises only as to American citizens who become public charges in near-by foreign territory, and the complication does not frequently present itself, but it is of sufficient consequence to cause friction in the enforcement of our own deportation laws. I believe Congress should take some action in this regard, either to direct such citizens’ return to the last State of residence or to appropriate institutions maintained by the Government. The facilities of the Government are, I believe, extremely limited, and apparently there is no authority of law for the use of such as are available for the purpose suggested. On the other hand, the individual States are equipped to take care of their resident insane and public charges. Under present conditions if a particular State refuses to accept former residents, the only course left to the country seeking to return a citizen is to convey him into the United States and abandon him at some point. In such a case the States having ports of entry would receive the burden, whereas the citizen may never before have been within the State. This is manifestly unfair.
    Immigration and the “ domestic ” problem.
    The “ servant-girl problem ” has been referred to in many quarters for decades. The inability of households in which the housewife does not perform all the tasks of the home to secure competent help at wages the householders desire to pay is not a new difficulty, but many of those most interested now voice the opinion that the root of the problem grows out of the recently enacted restrictive immigration laws. Because of these statements, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Women’s Bureau, and the United States Employment Service, as well as the Bureau of Immigration, were asked to furnish data on the subject.
    Briefly stated, the conclusions submitted are to the effect that the present domestic-servant situation is not due to immigration restriction, but to far-reaching and persistent economic and social causes entirely unrelated to immigration. The Commissioner of Labor Statistics points out that the outcry about the scarcity of good domestic servants is no new condition and is no greater to-day than in the year 1897, when Lucy Maynard Salmon wrote her book on “ Domestic Service,” published by Macmillan, of New York. In that book, the author voices the same outcry as is heard to-day and predicts the same calamities that are current at! this time. As to the effect of immigration upon the problem, while there has been a decrease in the total number of female immigrants entering the United States since the war and since the passage of the restrictive immigration acts, there has been practically no decrease in the number of females of the races generally preferred by American households for domestic service, such as English, Irish, Scotch, German, and Scandinavian.
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    Immigration statistics show the previous occupation of aliens who come to the United States as immigrants, and while the number who were classified as servants on arrival was naturally much larger prior to the war than it is at the present time, it seems to be an accepted fact that comparatively few of them entered domestic service in the United States. This, it is believed, was particularly true of the large immigration movement for so many years just prior to 1914. Generally speaking, it is a matter of common knowledge that while the very early immigration formerly brought a great many young women who entered domestic service, this is not the fact concerning the immigration which was so heavy in numbers just prior to the World War.
    The immigration laws from the beginning have denied admission to aliens coming to the United States under contract to perform labor here. Persons coming to follow certain occupations, however, are specifically exempt from this so-called contract labor provision of the law and “ persons employed as domestic servants ” are among the exempt classes. Aliens of this occupation were also exempt from the quota under the so-called quota laws which were in force from 1921 to 1924, but a very limited number of domestic servants were brought to the country in spite of these favorable exceptions.
    It is not the purpose of this report to state the actual extent or seriousness of the servant-girl problem, but I am convinced that the Commissioner of Labor Statistics and other officials of the department who have studied the situation are correct in their belief that whatever difficulty may exist in connection with the domestic-servant problem, that difficulty is primarily due to causes other than restrictive immigration. A careful survey of the employment agencies does not reveal a greater number of requests for domestic servants than there are applicants for such positions. Facts indicate that those applying to the Employment Service of the Department of Labor for domestic help name a rate of compensation willing to be paid so low that the women applying for such jobs decline to accept them. There would be very little of the servant-girl problem in the United States if the heads of those families employing such servants would realize that a domestic is a laborer worthy of his hire in the same sense as are workers in trades and other occupations. The domestic worker is not a slave and is entitled to be treated with the samp courtesy and consideration both in the conditions of employment and in wages received as are workers in other occupations. An immigrant worker is entitled to a wage sufficiently high to provide for current needs and to set aside something for the future. The servant girl deserves no less. In those families where conditions of employment are satisfactory and compensation is given with due re
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    gard to the hours worked and nature of the services performed, there is no difficulty in maintaining a full staff of competent domestic assistants.
    Immigration and the farmer.
    The opponents of limited immigration find many ills which they endeavor to trace to the restrictive policy. Even the difficulties of the American farmer have been traced by antagonistic forces, including sections of the press, to the smaller influx of foreign born. Strange to say, the same organs in their propaganda have attributed the economic failure of farmers to both lack of help to grow more produce and lack of population to eat up the surplus.
    Overdevelopment of industry—the ability to produce more goods when facilities for production are operated on full time than are normally consumed—is one of the problems of all enterprise in the United States. The farmer is met with it to the same extent as is the manufacturer, but the latter is better organized to eliminate waste and reduce overhead. Just as the small coal mine, with potentiality for relatively high-cost production, can not profitably operate during normal times, the small unfertile farm can not make a return to compete with the large and fertile acreage worked with modern labor-saving machinery. The production of the latter is too great, and where one good farm well managed can pay good wages and yield a profit, another of lesser possibilities can afford no wages at all and forces the owner out on foreclosure.
    America’s present quota of farmers produce all the crops that can be consumed in the United States—and more. The real problem of the farmer has long been that of disposing of the surplus. Assuming, however, that this were not a fact and that more productive labor for farms is needed, it should be pointed out that while the immigration act of 1924 specifically grants preference to persons skilled in agriculture, the number applying for and qualifying for this preference is exceedingly small. The fact is that during the past score of years, even when immigration to the United States was at its peak, very few of them, even among those classified by their occupation in Europe as farmers, went to the farms in the United States. The relative ease with which agriculturists coming to the United States for that purpose can gain admission, considered in the light of the few who thus seek admission, is strong evidence that few, if any, more workers for farms would be received if the bars were thrown down, allowing open and indiscriminate immigration.
    There is something other than a desire to help the farmer behind the propaganda that millions of immigrants are needed to consume the farmers’ surplus produce. The youngest school child knows that purchases can not be made without funds. The funds which the average immigrant brings with him will not sustain him long; he
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    must produce wealth with which to buy the surplus which is deplored, and how shall he gain it? Shall he go on the farm and help to swell the surplus still further by producing foodstuffs for a dozen; more immigrant families? Or shall be go into the mines which now produce so rapidly that those now mining can scarcely find occupation for more than two-thirds of the normal working time? Or go into the steel mills, or textile factories, or other basic industries in which industrial development is already so far advanced as to make capacity production an economic impossibility ? What would be the result of dumping the labor of millions of immigrants into the labor markets of the country ? The answer is obvious; competition would be so keen that wages would fall to a point where the great buying public would no longer be able to buy. Radios, pianos, and other musical instruments, automobiles, telephones for the homes, movies, and a host of other luxuries, now near necessities, would no longer be in mass production, for the masses could not buy. The farmer himself would feel the pinch of no funds.
    Reply is made that other countries exist on greater density of population. That is true, but not with anything approaching the degree of prosperity which pertains in the United States. In those countries comparatively little machinery displaces human labor. Should millions of immigrants be dumped precipitously in this country the value of human labor would immediately be less than the cost of machines. The worker to-day is prosperous because he has machines working for him and he reaps the benefit. When machines are displaced by hands, the worker has only the wealth created by his own two hands with which to buy the necessities and the luxuries (if any) his family requires.
    There can be only one motive attributed to those thinking men who would flood America with millions of cheap labor “ to eat the farmers’ surplus,” and that is a desire to weaken the economic standing of the American wage earner by radically lowering wages. If population alone made a country prosperous, China economically and financially would lead the world.
    Employment of illegal residents.
    A large part of the aliens who gain illegal entry to the United States over the land boundaries or through seaports are led thus to violate our immigration laws because of the assurance or belief that profitable employment can be secured in the United States. If our labor market could be closed to such aliens and made available only to such as are regularly and legally admitted, the incentive to smuggle in unlawfully would quite largely disappear. There are some employers of labor in the United States, including a few large industrial establishments, who will not give employment to an alien who arrived since the enactment of the 1924 immigration act except
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    on proof that he has been lawfully admitted to the country. The extension of this helpful practice is being urged by the department in the hope that employers of foreign-born labor generally will assist the Government in the enforcement of the immigration law through refusal to give employment to persons who have entered illegally.
    Conservation of alien labor.
    Prior to and for a while after the enactment of the first quota act (1921), dire results were predicted in certain quarters from an anticipated shortage of unskilled labor. The “ dire ” results failed to materialize. Unemployment diminished. Ways and means too numerous to mention were found in industry to compensate for the curtailment of the flow of cheap labor. Nevertheless, any mention of the extension of the quota system to the Western Hemisphere today produces the same familiar protests, but from a different quarter. u We can’t survive,” say the border States, “ if the flow of raw alien labor from the Western Hemisphere and particularly from Mexico is curtailed by an extension of the quota system to the New World.” The great agricultural areas, the railways, and mines, particularly of the Southwest, are represented as being dependent very largely, if not quite entirely, upon Mexican labor. It is claimed that new levies of this labor must annually be brought in to do this work, which it is claimed will not be done by Americans. Nobody denies that new alien labor is cheap labor, costs superficially considered. But is it truly cheap ? Is it not, in fact, more expensive in the long run than labor commanding a higher wage ? Is it as productive ? Is it as dependable ? Does it have the purchasing power ? This labor may pour in without numerical limitations. It is doing so; the flow is steadily increasing and penetrating farther and farther in every direction into our country. From any standpoint-—ethnic, economic, or social—is it superior to the immigration from Europe which is now sharply curtailed ? Are the employers of this country in the fields of agriculture, railroading, and mining, making any attempt to conserve that labor which they already have, and that which flows to them yearly from Mexico, instead of demanding fresh levies annually? The answer is, They are not. Not until these fresh levies are stopped, seemingly, will they attempt to conserve that which they have in abundance.
    If the employers of Mexican labor would organize by industries— the agricultural interests through the creation of financially responsible associations, the railroads through the creation of joint agencies, the mines in the same fashion—and each group would adopt measures to encourage the transfer of labor from one job, when completed, to another requiring the same class of work, instead of dropping it immediately the job at hand is finished, the employers in such associations and joint agencies would not need to replenish their forces
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    annually by large levies of fresh recruits. They would have dependable, experienced workers. Instead of Smith turning loose a lot of laborers on his ranch or farm after a certain job of work was finished and Jones, his neighbor, being without the necessary help for a given job, the management of the association would transfer Smith’s laborers to Jones, provided they were willing to accept the employment. This system could well be extended to the railroads, where one section on a division is turning loose laborers and another is crying for help. It is believed that it might be extended not only as between the units of one railroad but possibly as between the units of different systems.
    An outstanding example of the possibilities of conservation of labor along these lines is afforded by an association of farmers in the State of Arizona. This association had its beginning during the World War. From the lessons then learned it has developed to a point where its members are very largely freed from the bugaboo of labor shortage. The association coordinates and conserves. What is possible with respect to certain growers of the State of Arizona is possible for the growers of other States, and by the same token allied industries could if they would, it is believed, profitably emulate the example set by the enterprising, far-seeing cotton growers of Arizona. Enrollment of aliens.
    The so-called “ melting pot,” if that doctrine ever had any efficacy, is failing to “ melt ” millions of immigrants into perfect American union. The experience of the Bureau of Naturalization shows that the average time an alien remains of that status in the United States is about 10 years, or twice the time required by law to complete the process.
    Notwithstanding that the quality of citizenship is of fundamental importance to the Nation, there is in existence no Federal means of facilitating the naturalization process by encouragement. The alien must seek not only the naturalization but the desire. There is no way directly of the Federal Government bringing the desirability of the status to the prospective candidate. An outline of a plan whereby the Government may, without interfering with the freedom and liberty of the individual alien, through the Naturalization Service, encourage and facilitate the acquisition of citizenship has been outlined in previous reports, particularly for the years 1925 and 1926. This involves the enrollment of aliens under the direction of naturalization officers.
    In numerous ways there come to the attention of the department cases of aliens who sincerely desire citizenship, but who can not acquire it for the technical reason that no record is available of an original lawful entry. For every petitioner for naturalization a certificate of arrival must be furnished. If the alien should have
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    forgotten the exact date of arrival, the name of the ship, or, if he entered across a land border, the exact place of entry, a certificate can not be issued and naturalization is impossible. In the case of land-border crossings, some years ago, when no restrictions were imposed, many probably crossed as bona fide visitors with intention of returning, but, liking the country, remained. If any record was made of such admission, it is insufficient upon which to base a claim of legal residence, for courts have ruled that residence for naturalization purposes does not begin until there is a recorded entry for residence purposes.
    Whatever may be the reason for failure to prove lawful entry, it is certain that many thousands of law-abiding residents are put to great inconvenience and often much hardship without any corresponding good accruing to the Government. There are other difficulties which beset aliens who can not prove their lawful entry for permanent residence. Under the immigration act of 1924 “ immigrants” previously lawfully admitted and returning to the United States after a temporary absence abroad are to be regarded as nonquota immigrants for the purpose of their return. Return permits may be secured by such persons to facilitate the return. While the statute of limitations may have run against the deportation of an alien who has not been legally admitted or the record of whose admission can not be identified from the information furnished, making continued residence in the United States assured, the lapse of time does not make a lawful admission, and consequently should an alien of this status apply for a reentry permit it must be refused. Should such a person actually leave the United States, upon returning he must comply in all respects with the immigration laws in effect at the time of application for reentry. This includes the quota provisions. In many instances aliens who have left the country for temporary visits of only a few days have found it impossible to return to their established homes and business. The quota limitation in some of these cases is an obstacle which can not be removed without years of waiting.
    The recommendation is made that as a part of the enrollment procedure all aliens who arrived prior to June 30, 1924, the effective date of the present quota law, and who enroll could be given a legal status for permanent residence upon proper hearing, in which it could be developed whether such aliens were entitled to it by reason of meeting the standard requirements as a resident.
    As in previous reports, I wish to make it plain that my recommendation does not contemplate a system of police registration, finger printing, and the like, but a means of acquiring in the Bureau of Naturalization for use in connection with legalizing prior admissions an official roster of aliens under the protection of our flag.
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    The advantages which may be expected to result to the alien as well as to the Government are set forth in the recommendations previously carried in annual reports, and I can not too emphatically repeat them.
    Salaries and expenses of immigrant inspectors.
    Attention has been directed in other reports, and I particularly refer to the report for the fiscal year 1926, to the fact that no provision is made by law for paying the necessary travel expenses of field officers of the Immigration Service transferred to different stations. I wish to repeat, as heretofore, that authority should be granted to pay all necessary expenses, not only of the officer himself but for his family and goods, where, for the good of the Government itself, transfers between stations for more or less permanent stay are directed.
    Reference is made again to overtime given by immigrant inspectors without additional compensation. In order that the landing of passengers from ships may not be delayed, it is customary for inspectors to board vessels at quarantine early in the morning, requiring their leaving shore at an early hour, and also to work late into the evening when coming in with ships which arrive at quarantine late in the afternoon. Customs officers in the Treasury Department who are required to work overtime in inspecting baggage of incoming passengers are paid for this extra service, but immigrant inspectors receive no extra compensation for this average of several hours daily additional time. I believe these inspectors should be appropriately compensated.
    BUREAU OF NATURALIZATION
    As in previous reports, a number of recommendations are here made for amending the naturalization law. The present Bureau of Naturalization has had 21 years of administrative supervision of the present law, and the recommendations submitted grow out of that experience. Many of these recommendations have been urged before, but as to such as are repetitions of previous recommendations, their necessity increases each year. The whole subject of naturalization is deserving of treatment with a view to a complete new code based upon existing law and the experience which has been gained in administering it. I urge this codification. Aside from the matter of codification, however, the following specific recommendations are made:
    Educational qualifications.
    There is no educational standard set by existing naturalization laws for aliens desiring citizenship. They are merely required to speak the English language unless physically unable to do so. In those cases where the alien since June 29, 1906, declared his intention
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    and made a homestead entry this requirement is waived. It is unnecessary for him to be able to read in any language, while the petition for naturalization may be signed by the applicant in any language. The declaration of intention may be made by an alien who is unable to sign his name. Notwithstanding these laxities in the law, the applicant is supposed to be able to satisfy the court hearing his petition for naturalization that he is attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same. The absence of specific statutory requirements along these lines results in the admission to citizenship of thousands of aliens annually who could readily acquire a better knowledge of our institutions of Government and of the ordinary elements of education if the law required them to do so.
    Continuous residence in the United States.
    With but few exceptions the law requires an alien to reside “ continuously within ” the United States for five years prior to the making of a petition for naturalization and admission to citizenship. Notwithstanding the requirement of residence within the United States, the definition of residence is not clear enough to exclude in some jurisdiction from citizenship aliens who have been absent from the United States as much as four years and more during the five years immediately preceding the filing of their petitions for naturalization. An exact definition of residence in its relation to naturalization in this country should be made legislatively.
    Proof of character and residence.
    In addition to clarifying and perfecting the law as it relates to educational qualifications and residence, a modification of the method of proof of character and residence is needed. The general requirement is five years’ continuous residence in the United States and one year in the State in which the petition is filed. If during the five-year period residence has been in States other than that in which the petition is filed, proof of the residence outside the State is required only in the form of depositions, but if the entire five years have been spent within the State in which the petition is filed it is necessary for petitioners to present personally two witnesses to testify as to his residence and character, even though some portion of the residence may have been considerably remote from the place where the petition comes on for hearing. In some States this requirement makes for some petitioners citizenship a matter of prohibitive expense. For instance, in a State like Texas, if the petitioner should have spent two or three years of his residence near one border of the State and then move to a remote section bordering on another State, he would have to bring witnesses into the court from a great distance, but if the early residence happened to be only across
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    the line in the adjoining State, perhaps only a mile away, depositions from witnesses would satisfy the statute. It is not believed that this restriction in the method of proof of residence should be so made, and it is recommended that proof by deposition be made acceptable to prove residence in the State outside the county in which the applicant resides when he desires to petition for naturalization.
    Domicile in relation to service in the Army or at sea.
    Some courts during the last year have held that a sailor, soldier, marine, or other individual performing such service as prevents him from having a place of abode in the usual sense is not entitled to. naturalization until he has resided in the United States for five years. This is by reason of the application of section 2170 of the Revised Statutes and the act of June 29, 1906, as amended. The mandatory provisions referred to were originally construed as allowing an applicant who had performed military, naval, or merchantship duty to become naturalized upon the completion of the term of enlistment after having made a declaration of intention and that instrument had reached the age of two years. If the Congress should desire to recognize such service as sufficient to allow the exemption from the full five years of residence usually required, the conflicting section referred to should be repealed.
    Certificate of naturalization for each person naturalized.
    It has been judicially determined that a certificate of naturalization can be given only to the petitioner for naturalization upon his admission to citizenship. His children who derive citizenship by the admission of the parent to citizenship have no means of identifying themselves as American citizens. A certificate of citizenship should be authorized for such citizens and they should be required to petition for a certificate before the court in whose jurisdiction they reside. The oath of allegiance should be required of such individuals. Unauthorized evidence of citizenship.
    The issuance of evidence of citizenship other than the certificate of citizenship authorized by law, in the miscellaneous form and practice of some courts now prevailing without specific warrant of law, should be prohibited.
    Reopening of dismissed petitions.
    In the district courts of the United States and other courts governed by Federal statutes in their procedure the usual rules applicable to other litigation apply to naturalization petitions, which have been declared by the Supreme Court of the United States to be litigation within the meaning of the Constitution, the circuit court of appeals act, and the Judicial Code. Inasmuch as there is a doubt as to the applicability of these rules to State courts, although they 71308—27----------14
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    are acting as Federal agencies in the administration of the naturalization law, the subject should be regulated by statute so that there will be a uniformity in the procedure in these cases. This is particularly applicable in cases where, under the rule of some States, the petition for naturalization, in common with other suits, may be reopened without regard to the usual term limitation.
    Certificate of arrival for declarants.
    Under the immigration act of 1924 and the quota laws immediately preceding that act, excellent records have been maintained of the entry of aliens into the United States in compliance with those laws. There are many reported as having come into the United States illegally since June 3, 1921, the day of the beginning of the operation of the quota restrictions. It is highly desirable, therefore, that legislation should be enacted which would require every alien to obtain a certificate of arrival before making a declaration of intention in order to exclude from any step leading to citizenship those aliens who arrived in the United States since the enactment of the quota restrictions but not in conformity with those laws. This would simply require the certificate of arrival to be furnished by each alien prior to the making of a declaration of intention. The certificate of arrival so obtained would also be used by him in accordance with the present requirements of the law at the time he petitions for naturalization. There would, therefore, be no hardship placed upon the alien to secure a certificate of arrival before taking any step toward naturalization, since he must produce it before he can complete his naturalization. It has been impossible to find a record of entry of many aliens who entered the United States prior to June 3, 1921, many of them perhaps lawfully and, according to their statements, in compliance with the requirements of the immigration laws at the time of their entry. All those who entered this country prior to June 3, 1921, unless they belong to the excluded classes and are subject to deportation, should have legislative relief, whereby, upon examination before the immigration authorities and showing themselves free from these limitations, they may receive certificates of arrival should they desire to proceed to citizenship. Further reference to the predicament of aliens who are unable to prove lawful entry into the United States is made in discussion in this report on the administration of the immigration laws.
    Revocation of naturalization, termination of citizenship, and cancellation of certificate—Grounds and procedure.
    The present authority granted by section 15, act of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat., 596), to cancel certificate of naturalization, includes only those illegally or fraudulently procured. Some inherent defect at or prior to naturalization must be proved. Even the commission of
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    a felony within a few days after naturalization gives no ground to set aside the citizenship status just conferred. Many persons use their citizenship for the most sordid and mercenary purposes, demanding the protection of this Government while evading the responsibilities and obligations of citizenship. After having taken the solemn oath of allegiance to this country, they represent themselves as aliens the more cheaply or easily to secure passports from the representatives of foreign Governments to travel abroad; they take up permanent residence abroad or depart from the United States for that purpose; they become expatriated by taking the oath of allegiance to a foreign State or by becoming naturalized therein; some of them lend their naturalization certificates to aliens seeking to enter the United States in violation of the immigration laws; or they commit felonies or acts of gross immorality within a brief period after their naturalization. Such persons should be deprived of their American citizenship status and the evidence thereof through statutory means.
    The statute above referred to provides for notice by publication where the holder of the certificate is absent from the United States. Some courts have required personal service in such cases through the United States Consular Service. While not required by law, such course would seem to be more in harmony with the principles of equity and should be provided for by statute.
    CHILDREN’S BUREAU
    Public concern over the amount of delinquency and crime in the United States continues, and it is generally recognized that criminal careers have their beginning in maladjusted or delinquent childhood. More than one-fourth of a group of boys between the ages of 17 and 21 years coming before the Chicago boys’ court and studied by the Children’s Bureau had been dealt with as delinquent children by the juvenile court, and almost half the boys with juvenile-court histories had been sent to some institution for periods of training. Individual failures in the treatment of delinquent children are costly, in terms of taxpayers’ money as well as in human values.
    It is believed that if the Children’s Bureau were able to develop a division devoted to the scientific study of juvenile delinquency, equipped with the necessary psychologists, psychiatrists, and social investigators, much could be accomplished to remedy the situation. The need for the creation of such a division becomes more evident each year. Elsewhere in this report I have described the plan inaugurated by the Children’s Bureau for collection of uniform statistics of delinquency and dependency, in which 80 courts and 26 State departments are now cooperating. By this means I hope that we shall
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    soon have a basis of estimating whether the trend in juvenile delinquency is up or down and what areas of the country show rising or falling rates. The information thus obtained will furnish the starting point for the scientific studies of causes and of methods of prevention and treatment which are urgently required.
    CHILD LABOR
    I have already discussed the trend in child labor which is revealed by the reports of the number of children to whom a first regular employment certificate was issued last year. These reports have been received by this department from 10 States and the District of Columbia and from 22 cities of 100,000 population or over, and 3 cities of between 50,000 and 100,000, outside the 10 States which reported. They show an increase in the number of children employed in 1926 over 1925, and last year we reported that the figures for 1925 showed an increase over those for 1924. While it may be that these increases, reflect the general economic condition of the country, this is not a satisfactory answer to the questions which this increase raises. If times are good and jobs are plentiful, more children ought to be kept in school, and the numbers going to work should show a decrease,, whereas the reverse is revealed by an analysis of the work-permit figures. Reports from the State legislatures which met in 1927 show very little advance in State legislation, and the defeat of many bills, which would have raised either health, education, or age standards for working children. There should be no decrease in interest in the protection of children from premature or too long hours of work or work under dangerous conditions.
    WOMEN’S BUREAU
    Each year the Women’s Bureau finds it necessary to refuse more requests than it can grant for help in investigations and for consultation on local problems asked for by employers and employees, public and private organizations, and other persons interested in women’s employment. In contrast to the number and the variety of the problems related to the employment of women and the need to safeguard these workers, the mothers of the citizens of to-morrow, the public investment in the work of the Women’s Bureau is small indeed. The women now at work in America’s factories, stores, and laundries are home makers, mothers, and potential mothers and what is their concern necessarily is the concern of the Nation.
    For years the bureau has made recommendations for study of certain aspects of women’s employment. These recommendations are here repeated, and projects which call for immediate attention are-these:
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    Industrial poisons.
    A subject requiring careful and scientific investigation is that of industrial poisons as related to women workers. A great many new and unfamiliar industrial poisons have come into use since the war. That women are more susceptible to certain poisons than are men has been proved scientifically. Moreover, when pregnant women are exposed to such conditions there is danger not only that the mothers will be poisoned but that the offspring will suffer bad effects. That the Women’s Bureau is the national organization which should make investigations of this sort is logical, but to make such a study it would require the services of experts trained to handle most efficiently this type of scientific investigation.
    Married women in industry.
    Additional information on the subject of married women in industry would seem to be called for by the great increase in their numbers. The census of 1920 reported almost 2,000,000 married women in gainful occupations, and women occupy a larger place in industry to-day than they did in 1920. The subject of married women workers is extremely complex, linked so closely, as it is, with the welfare of the home and the family and related so definitely in the long run to the health of the race and the progress of the Nation. In order that injustices may not be worked in any direction, it is desirable to make a comprehensive study of this subject. Information gathered by the Women’s Bureau shows that most women are at work to supplement the family income, and there is need for definite data, gathered at first hand, giving current information on this and other phases of the problem. Such a study would require considerable field work and would be extensive in scope, but it would prove of infinite value to the country by presenting truths of vital importance and settling a much-disputed question.
    In addition to the projects recommended, there is an aspect of women’s employment which the bureau has had neither time nor funds to inquire into—that of the employment of women in semiprofessional and professional pursuits. The bureau is continually being asked for information along such lines, and it is serving to the best of its ability, though it is handicapped by the lack of personnel conversant with the aspects of this type of employment for women.
    Another type of activity in which there should be considerable expansion is the educational work, especially in the number of news releases about the purpose and activities of the bureau and of popular articles on all subjects pertaining to women workers. An increase in the exhibit material is highly desirable, since by such popular educational methods a certain part of the public to whom technical material makes little appeal can be reached.
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    Women’s wages in manufacturing industries.
    In a late release of the National Industrial Conference Board it is shown that, in spite of the recognized principle that equal work should receive equal pay, the earnings of men and women workers in the manufacturing industries of the United States show a considerable disparity.
    In the tables presented in this release, men are divided into two groups, as skilled and unskilled, but women workers are placed in a single group. The figures given for the three groups were for June, 1927. At this time the average wTeekly earnings for the skilled males were $31.48 and those for unskilled males were $24.49, but for the group of women workers, skilled and unskilled alike, the average was only $17.37. As 26 different types of industry are reported upon and averaged, this would seem to present a representative picture of current conditions. The only industries included where the week’s earnings averaged higher for women than for the unskilled men were in the southern textile mills (in the northern mills they were below the unskilled male average), and in news and magazine printing. In no instance did women earn as much a week as did the skilled men, and in some industries they earned less than half as much.
    Taking into consideration the fact that these women had among them a large number of casual workers who were new to industry and who, in consequence, tend to enter the least difficult and lowest paid jobs, the Women’s Bureau has frequently called attention to the fact that there are thousands of women in manufacturing, as in other industrial divisions, permanently employed and highly skilled, and who are supporting dependents quite as much as are their male fellow workers. In the course of 18 studies alone, made by the bureau in various parts of the United States, 7,500 women giving personal information reported that they had worked 15 years or more in one industry.
    The average hourly wage reported by the industrial conference board for the same month was $0,656 for skilled males, $0,493 for unskilled males, and $0,399 for women.
    CONCLUSION
    In the foregoing pages I have attempted to portray not only the activity in administration of the laws intrusted to the care of the Department of Labor but also the condition of the worker and some of the things which could be expected to improve his social and economic condition. After all, we Americans are not absorbed in the making of material gain to the exclusion of everything else. A humanitarian spirit prevails in our industrial life. Our present
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    prosperity is more than a beaverlike production of wealth. That production itself is the product of intelligence, energy, and invention. I feel sure that the national ingenuity which has evolved this remarkable machinery of production will be equal to the task of keeping that machinery going and correcting its faults. Day by day we are learning more about economic truth—not a few of us are learning; we all are. I fully believe that the people who conquered this continent and built upon it the greatest industrial development in history will go on to keep that development healthily growing and safe from the pitfalls that I have pointed out. If we keep our national industrial organization well oiled with good will, if we keep our great home market protected against senseless wage reductions from within and against those who would undersell it from without, I see no reason why we should not keep prosperity with us as a permanent thing.
    If we do, by these simple means, guarantee ourselves an unbroken stream of material wealth, then I see this people of ours launching forth into the production of a great new spiritual wealth. This population of ours, the largest number of alert and energetic people ever assembled in a single self-governing body, must contain within itself a genius for more than material development. Much of our keenest economic thought has come from leaders produced from the ranks of the workers themselves. This in itself is an omen of the stores of talent that must be scattered among our people. By the rest of the world America is put down as purely materially minded. With machinery more and more saving our bodies from drudgery and releasing our minds to new activities, I foresee a day when our people will lead in the arts, the sciences, in all the finer play of the mind, and there rise to the same supremacy they now enjoy in the making of material things. Thus far America has only been building its house and setting that house in order. Before a people can indulge in a brilliant spiritual culture, it must have the means to pay for that culture. The science of producing those means we have perfected at a phenomenal rate, but I believe our achievements in this are only the beginnings of the America that is yet to be.
    Secretary of Labor.
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    APPENDIX
    ACT CREATING THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That there is hereby created an executive department in the Government to be called the Department of Labor, with a Secretary of Labor, who shall be the head thereof, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and who shall receive a salary of twelve thousand dollars per annum, and whose tenure of office shall be like that of the heads of the other executive departments; and section one hundred and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to include such department, and the provisions of title four of the Revised Statutes, including all amendments thereto, are hereby made applicable to said department ; and the Department of Commerce and Labor shall hereafter be called the Department of Commerce, and the Secretary thereof shall be called the Secretary of Commerce, and the act creating the said Department of Commerce and Labor is hereby amended accordingly. The purpose of the Department of Labor shall be to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. The said Secretary shall cause a seal of office to be made for the said department of such device as the President shall approve and judicial notice shall be taken of the said seal.
    Sec. 2. That there shall be in said department an Assistant Secretary of Labor, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars a year. He shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed by the Secretary or required by law. There shall also be one chief clerk and a disbursing clerk, and such other clerical assistants, inspectors, and special agents as may from time to time be provided for by Congress. The Auditor for the State and Other Departments shall receive and examine all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the office of the Secretary of Labor and of all bureaus and offices under his direction, and all accounts relating to all other business within the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor, and certify the balances arising thereon to the division of bookkeeping and warrants and send' forthwith a copy of each certificate to the Secretary of Labor.
    Sec. 3. That the following-named offices, bureaus, divisions, and branches of the public service now and heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and all that pertains to the same, known as the Commissioner General of Immigration, the Commissioners of Immigration, the Bureau of Immi-
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    gration and Naturalization, the Division of Information, the Division of Naturalization, and the Immigration Service at Large, the Bureau of Labor, the Children’s Bureau, and the Commissioner of Labor, be, and the same hereby are, transferred from the Department of Commerce and Labor to the Department of Labor, and the same shall hereafter remain under the jurisdiction and supervision ■of the last-named department. The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization is hereby divided into two bureaus, to be known hereafter as the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization, and the titles Chief Division of Naturalization and Assistant Chief shall be Commissioner of Naturalization and Deputy Commissioner of Naturalization. The Commissioner of Naturalization or, in his absence, the Deputy Commissioner of Naturalization shall be the administrative officer in charge of the Bureau of Naturalization and of the administration of the naturalization laws under the immediate direction of the Secretary of Labor, to whom he shall report directly upon all naturalization matters annually and as otherwise required, and the appointments of these two officers shall be made in the same manner as appointments to competitive classified civil-service positions. The Bureau of Labor shall hereafter be known as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor shall hereafter be known as the Commissioner of Labor Statistics; and all the powers and duties heretofore possessed by the Commissioner of Labor shall be retained and exercised by the Commissioner of Labor Statistics; and the administration of the act of May thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight, granting to certain employees of the United States the right to receive from it compensation for injuries sustained in the course of their employment.
    Sec. 4. That the Bureau of Labor Statistics, under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, shall collect, collate, and report at least once each year, or oftener if necessary, full and complete statistics of the conditions of labor and the products and distribution of the products of the same, and to this end said Secretary shall have power to employ any or either of the bureaus provided for his department and to rearrange such statistical work and to distribute or consolidate the same as may be deemed desirable in the public interests; and said secretary shall also have authority to call upon other departments of the Government for statistical data and results obtained by them; and said Secretary of Labor may collate, arrange, and publish such statistical information so obtained in such manner as to him may seem wise.
    Sec. 5. That the official records and papers now on file in and pertaining exclusively to the business of any bureau, office, department, or branch of the public service in this act transferred to the Department of Labor, together with the furniture now in use in such bureau, office, department, or branch of the public service, shall be, and hereby are, transferred to the Department of Labor.
    Sec. 6. That the Secretary of Labor shall have charge in the buildings or premises occupied by or appropriated to the Department of Labor of the library, furniture, fixtures, records, and other property pertaining to it or hereafter acquired for use in its business; he shall be allowed to expend for periodicals and the purposes of the library and for rental of appropriate quarters for the accommodation of th^
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    Department of Labor within the District of Columbia, and for all other incidental expenses, such sums as Congress may provide from time to time: Provided, however, That where any office, bureau, or branch of the public service transferred to the Department of Labor by this act is occupying rented buildings or premises, it may still •continue to do so until other suitable quarters are provided for its use: And, provided further, That all officers, clerks, and employees now employed in any of the bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service in this act transferred to the Department of Labor are each and all hereby transferred to said department at their present grades and salaries, except where otherwise provided in this act: And provided further, That all laws prescribing the work and defining the duties of the several bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service by this act transferred to and made a part of the Department of Labor shall, so far as the same are not in conflict with the provisions of this act, remain in full force and effect, to be executed under the direction of the Secretary of Labor.
    Sec. 7. That there shall be a solicitor of the Department of Justice for the Department of Labor, whose salary shall be five thousand dollars per annum.
    Sec. 8. That the Secretary of Labor shall have power to act as mediator and to appoint commissioners of conciliation in labor disputes whenever in his judgment the interests of industrial peace may require it to be done; and all duties performed and all power and authority now possessed or exercised by the head of any executive department in and over any bureau, office, officer, board, branch, or division of the public service by this act transferred to the Department of Labor, or any business arising therefrom or pertaining thereto, or in relation to the duties performed by and authority conferred by law upon such bureau, officer, office, board, branch, or division of the public service, whether of an appellate or revisory character or otherwise, shall hereafter be vested in and exercised by the head of the said Department of Labor.
    Sec. 9. That the Secretary of Labor shall annually, at the close of each fiscal year, make a report in writing to Congress, giving an ; account of all moneys received and disbursed by him and his department and describing the work done by the department. He shall also, from time to time, make such special investigations and reports as he may be required to do by the President, or by Congress, or t which he himself may deem necessary.
    Sec. 10. That the Secretary of Labor shall investigate and report to Congress a plan of coordination of the activities, duties, and powers of the office of the Secretary of Labor with the activities, duties, and powers of the present bureaus, commissions, and departments, so far as they relate to labor and its conditions, in order to harmonize and unify such activities, duties, and powers, with a view to further legislation to further define the duties and powers of such Department of Labor.
    Sec. 11. That this act shall take effect March fourth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, and all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.
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