ficate, he will simply turn them out, and that is as far as his duty goes. At present the conditions with regard to child labor are very satisfactory in New York State. A child whose age is in doubt must not be employed under any circumstances; neither must it be put to work if there is anything about it which indicates its physical inability to do the work. If they are so employed the employer must settle with the factory inspector. If the Health Departments, reinforced by the good school law of New York, but co-operate with the Factory Inspection Department, as under the new law they are expected to do, I am confident that the enforcement of the child labor laws will be a simple thing in New York State. Children in mercantile establishments have been brought under the new regulations."

MR. BISHOP:

"As I understand the mining laws of Pennsylvania, a child is allowed to work in the mines at 12 years of age. Our factory law forbids the employment of children in factories under 13 years. There should not be this inequality."

MRS. STEVENS:

"Would you be in favor of raising the age limit in the mining law to 13 years, or lowering the factory age limit to 12 years? MR. BISHOP:

"I would favor raising the mining age limit to 13 years." MRS. STEVENS:

"When these papers were under discussion earlier in the sessions of this convention these questions were asked: 'Is the turning of children under 14 years of age out of factories, under the factory law, responsible for the increase of children in street occupations, such as peddling, etc.?' 'During the school year does not the enforcement of the compulsory school law take them from the streets, at least during school hours?' I would like to answer the questions for Illinois before this discussion is closed. It is in Chicago that the marked increase of children, especially of very little girls, among peddlers and in other street occupations is awakening concern. The type of child so engaged is quite different from the factory child. The hundreds of children who were re

moved from factories in Chicago in the first eighteen months of the enforcement of the factory law were found mainly in cigar and sweat shops. These are not the children on the street. They were Bohemians, Poles and Russians. The street children are largely Italians and Greeks. Very pretty and very bright children; easily and inevitably ruined, body and soul, in the work into which society suffers them to drift. The compulsory school law in Illinois is very inadequate, and is not enforced in Chicago. I am grieved to learn by the reports from other States that there is no attempt to regulate this kind of labor in any of the great cities. It is, of course, a problem of the great cities, and a disgraceful one."

President Morse asked if any of the chiefs of departments were prepared to report further upon work and progress during the past year. The Secretary was promised annual reports of their respective States, with copies of any recent legislation affecting questions discussed by the convention.

President Morse offered the following:

REPORT ON WORK DONE IN MICHIGAN.

It was not until the legislative session of 1893 that Michigan enacted a law providing for factory inspection. The first law was quite crude. The Commissioner of Labor was charged with the execution of the law and $4,000 was appropriated for expenses. There was no limit on the number of inspectors, except amount of appropriation. Four deputy inspectors were employed and a large number of improvements made. The Legislature of 1895 passed a new law, which is a great improvement over the first, though experience has shown it is still defective. The appropriation is $8,000, besides printing and necessary supplies. Five deputy inspectors are now employed. The law provides only for inspection of manufacturing places. Other public buildings, such as opera houses, hotels, churches, public halls, school-houses, etc., are without inspection except by local municipal authority. It is evident that state inspection is more efficient. As a result of State inspection in Michigan the following improvements have been secured in less than three years:

Inspectors have exercised praiseworthy discretion and there has been very littlefill feeling engendered, and it is safe to say that proprietors of manufacturing places recognize the usefulness of the law. Orders for improvements as a rule are promptly complied with. Public sentiment sustains the law and will demand

that it be extended. The Supreme Court has sustained the principle of the law in the only case it has passed upon.

There have been no changes in the Factory Inspection law since the Providence convention. The synopsis of the law will remain the same.

On motion of Mr. Wade the thanks of the convention were tendered to the retiring President for the courtesy and efficiency with which he had discharged the duties pertaining to the chair. PRESIDENT MORSE'S RESPONSE:

"I should not be doing myself justice if I failed to say to the convention that I appreciate to the fullest extent the intelligent and active efforts of the inspectors from every State and Province to make this convention a success, and I extend to you all my hearty thanks. If you accord to the incoming President and his successors the same measure of courtesy you have meted out to me, the success of all future conventions will be assured. I think we may be justly proud of the good work effected by this convention, and I look forward with pleasant anticipation to meeting you all in Detroit next year. It is now my pleasure to introduce to you your incoming President, Mr. Rufus R. Wade of Massachusetts."

The President-elect, in a few well chosen words, thanked the convention for the honor conferred upon him, and introduced First Vice-President Robert Barber of Toronto, Ont., and the other newly elected officers of the Association, after which the convention adjourned sine die.

SWEATSHOP LAWS.

The following are the laws to regulate manufacture of clothing, etc., to which reference was made in papers read before the convention upon 'The Sweating System"

SWEATSHOP LAW OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Sec, 1. Be it enacted, etc., That no room or apartment in any tenement or dwelling house shall be used, except by the immediate members of the family living therein, for the manufacture of coats, vests, trousers, knee pants, overalls, cloaks, hats, caps, suspenders, jerseys, blouses, waists, waist-bands, underwear, neckwear, furs, fur trimmings, fur garments, shirts, hosiery, purses, feathers, artificial flowers, cigarettes or cigars. No person, firm or corporation shall hire or employ any person to work in any room or apartment in any rear building, or building in rear of a tenement or dwelling house, at making, in whole or in part, any of the articles mentioned in this section, without first obtaining a written permit from the factory inspector or one of his deputies, stating the maximum number of persons allowed to be employed therein. Such pernit shall not be granted until an inspection of such premises is made by the factory inspector or one of his deputies, and may be revoked by the factory inspector at any time the health of the community or of those so employed may require it. It shall be framed and posted in a conspicuous place in the room, or in one of the rooms to which it relates. Every person, firm, company or corporation contracting for the manufacture of any of the articles mentioned in this section, or giving out the incomplete material from which they, or any of them, are to be made or to be wholly or partially finished, shall keep a written register of the names and addresses of al persons to whom such work is given to be made, or with whom they may have contracted to do the same. Such register shall be produced for inspection and a copy thereof shall be furnished on demand made by the factory inspector or one of his deputies: Providing, That nothing in this section shall be so construed as to prevent the employment of a seamstress by any family for manufacturing articles for such family use.

Sec. 2. Not less than 250 cubic feet of air space shall be allowed for each and every person in any work-room where persons are employed at such labor as is herein before described. There shall be sufficient means of ventilation provided in each work-room of every such establishment, and the factory inspector and deputy factory inspectors, under the direction of the factory inspector, shall notify the owner, agent or lessee, in writing, to provide, or cause to be provided, ample and proper means of ventilating such work-room or rooms, and shall prosecute such owner, agent or lessee if such notification be not complied with within ten days of the service of such notice.

Sec. 6. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this act, or who

suffers or permits any of the articles hereintofore described to be made in violation of its provisions, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 or less than $100 for each offense.

THE SWEATSHOP LAW IN ILLINOIS.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted, etc., That no room or rooms, apartment or apartments, in any tenement or dwelling house used for eating or sleeping purposes, shall be used for the manufacture, in whole or in part, of coats, vests, trousers, knee-pants, overalls, cloaks, shirts, ladies' waists, purses, feathers, artificial flowers or cigars, except by the immediate members of the family living therein. Every such workshop shall be kept in a cleanly state and shall be subject to the provisions of this act; and each of said articles made, altered, repaired or finished in any of such workshops shall be subject to inspection and examination, as hereinafter provided, for the purpose of ascertaining whether said articles, or any of them, or any part thereof, are in a cleanly condition and free from vermin and any matter of an infectious and contagious nature, and every person so occupying or having control of any workshop as aforesaid shall within fourteen days from the taking effect of this act, or from the time of beginning of work in any workshop as aforesaid, notify the Board of Health of the location of such workshop, the nature of the work there carried on, and the number of persons therein employed.

Sec. 2. If the Board of Health of any city or said State Inspector finds evidence of infectious or contagious diseases present in any workshop, or in goods manufactured or in process of manufacture therein, and if said board or inspector shall find said shop in an unhealthy condition, or the clothing and materials used therein to be unfit for use, said board or inspector shall issue such order or orders as the public health may require, and the Board of Health are hereby enjoined to condemn and destroy all such infectious and contagious articles.

Sec. 7. The words "manufacturing establishment," "factory" or "workshop," wherever used in this act, shall be construed to mean any place where goods or products are manufactured or repaired, cleaned or sorted, in whole or in part, for sale or for wages. Whenever any house, room or place is used for the purpose of carrying on any process of making, altering, repairing or finishing for sale, or for wages, any coats, vests, trousers. knee-pants, overalls, cloaks, shirts, ladies' waists, purses, feathers, artificial flowers or cigars, or any wearing apparel of any kind whatsoever, intended for sale, it shall, within the meaning of this act, be deemed a workshop for the purposes of inspection. And it shall be the duty of every person, firm or corporation to keep a complete list of all such workshops in his, their or its employ, and such list shall be produced for inspection on demand by the Board of Health or any of the officers thereof, or by the State inspector, assistant inspector, or any of the deputies appointed under this act.

Sec. 8. Any person, firm or corporation who fails to comply with any provision of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $3 nor more than $100 for each offense.