INTRODUCTION.

In presenting the Thirteenth Biennial Report, it is our aim to render an account of our stewardship and to state the policy or lines followed, and the reasons in brief therefor.

The Bureau was originally created in 1883 as one of labor statistics. The act is very broad and comprehensive, and permits of a wide range or field for investigation. There have been added to the duties of the Commissioner from time to time, the enforcement of laws regulating the sanitation and ventilation of factories and workshops, for the protection of the physical welfare of women, the regulation and control of employment agencies, the child labor law, the law regulating the hours and labor of druggists' employes, and also an act requiring the gathering of social statistics.

It will be seen that the work of the Bureau is of a dual nature, that of gathering and preparing statistical work and factory inspection, and law enforcing, or the virtual exercise of police powers. These dual functions can be performed by the Bureau because of their close association and relation, with mutual advantage to both.

Either one of these added duties would require more than our present force of special agents and a much larger allowance for traveling expenses, and police power (which power the officers of this Bureau are not clothed with) to properly enforce them.

With all these additional duties, this Bureau has not been allowed by the legislature a commensurate increase in the number of assistants, nor in the amount available for contingent expenses. The proper enforcement of the Child Labor Law in the city of San Francisco alone would require several times our present force of special agents devoting their entire time thereto.

For the fiscal year of 1906-07 there was available for all expenses, exclusive of the printing and rent funds, and the salaries of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner, the sum of $291.60 per month. With the commencement of the fiscal year 1907-08, this amount was increased to $375 per month. After the necessary deductions of the salary of stenographer, office and incidental expenses, including postage, stationery (not furnished through the printing fund), telephone, needed office equipment, and the further necessity of creating a fund for the additional work required in the compilation of this report, there

remained a net amount available for salaries and traveling expenses of special agents for all work of the Bureau the sum of, approximately, $225 per month. This was during the period when most of the work of gathering statistics was carried on. The work of the special agents and their time was so apportioned as to give as nearly equal weight as possible to each branch or division.

In carrying on the statistical work of the Bureau, lines laid down by former Commissioner Stafford have, in general, been followed. The excellent work begun with his administration has been continued. Some modifications have been necessary, and new work has been undertaken along lines that suggested themselves in the carrying on of the statistical work and in the enforcement of the labor laws. Further changes will of necessity have to be made, both in the present plan of the gathering of statistics and the material sought. But with the departures from the existing lines of carrying on our work, extreme care will be taken so that all data available from past reports may be utilized as a foundation for comparative studies, which will be further developed and become a prominent feature in future reports. The results of some work along these lines are presented in this report.

Blank forms will be designed and printed covering all of the various industrial enterprises in the State. Related industries will be grouped together. These blanks will be either special or composite, and will show in detail all the data required in the respective fields and will greatly facilitate this work, and will more readily enable corporations or individuals from whom the information is ought to comply with our requests. And it is also believed that it will overcome in a great measure the present hesitancy on the part of corporations and manufacturers in furnishing information and data, they deeming the same to be of a personal nature and a seeming intent on the part of the State to pry into their private affairs. We believe that with the full realization of the methods of handling this statistical data, wherein all identity is lost and the personal interests are protected in conformity to the law, that all information sought will be readily and cheerfully furnished.

A summary of the work performed during the period covered by this report includes principally the gathering of statistical data relative to stores and factories, covering all the more important manufacturing, commercial and industrial activities in the various centers of population in the State; and agriculture in all its branches and divisions, including that of horticulture, viticulture, seed farming, and stock raising, embracing the large valleys and districts devoted to these lines; transportation on water, and a thorough investigation of the shipping of the port of San Francisco; land systems of transportation, including steam and electric railways; labor organizations; employment agencies; child labor; orientals, including Chinese and Japanese.

These investigations show the numbers of persons employed, sex, adults, minors, wages, hours of labor; numbers of persons furnished employment, together with the fees paid, nature of employment and destination; the sanitary conditions of workrooms and other detailed information, representing upwards of 3,500 personal inspections, covering 120,000 individuals, excluding data on steam railroads, labor organizations and employment agencies. These personal inspections have been supplemented by extensive individual and personal correspondence. Personal opinions have been sought in many of the various subjects enumerated. The data gathered is very exhaustive and complete in all details. The work of compiling and tabulating was carried on with extreme care and precision. Totalizing has been followed throughout in all of the tables. Condensing was absolutely necessary, the numbers of tables being minimized, and only as many as were essential to present all the information of value were utilized, the amount available in our printing fund placing limitations. Graphic charts have been introduced to show tendencies, and only such deductions have been drawn and presented on the various subject-matters treated as the extent of our data would warrant.

While carrying on the work of gathering data special care and attention was given to enforcing the child labor and other laws. All infractions or violations were required to be corrected, and special work was done during this period on sanitation in San Francisco. Special attention was given to the enforcement of the Child Labor Law. Extensive correspondence was had with city and county officials and with the general employing public, complaints investigated, and when possible frequent inspections were made.

Rigid enforcement of the Child Labor Law was required in all cases coming to the attention of the Bureau and absolute compliance required in all detail.

The act regulating employment agencies occupied a large part of the time of our officers and special agents. During the period covered by this report, many hundreds of complaints were investigated, and where violations were obvious compliance with the law was compelled. This is one of the most difficult of laws to enforce.

In handling complaints of violations of these various laws, a policy of warning has governed this Bureau, and only when a salutary effect was desired has the Bureau resorted to the extreme measures of prosecuting. The slow workings of our lower criminal courts, due in a large measure to the tendency of postponement, and the excessive time consumed when necessarily so engaged, and consequent slighting of other important work, made the cost of prosecutions rise to a prohibitive figure. This is especially true of points distant from San Francisco,

where there are added other elements-those of railroad fares and the cost of maintenance of our agents. Expediency required this line of policy, but the future work of this Bureau along these lines will not necessarily be governed by this attitude. With an increased number of special agents, more time will be devoted to this work, the importance of which we fully realize. The purpose of the original act creating the Bureau was constantly kept uppermost.

Investigations covering the important industries of lumbering and mining were of necessity omitted. Their centers of activity are located at great distances from San Francisco and cover a wide area. The element of cost would rise to a prohibitive figure and personal investigations were, therefore, impossible. We hope to include these industries in our next biennial report.

It will be the aim of the Bureau in its future work in the field of agriculture to widen materially the scope, to investigate most thoroughly the many problems connected with that important industry, bearing on its various branches and the relations of labor thereto, using as a basis a minimum of 2,000 units (individual farms, orchards, vineyards, and stock ranches).

I desire to call the especial attention of the reader to the chapter devoted to social statistics. This work is very full and complete and contains many new ideas and thoughts. The work has been carried on mainly by personal correspondence, thus minimizing the cost. The data and information for this article has been drawn from many sources, including officers of the State prisons and reformatories, county sheriffs, county clerks, probation officers, and police officials in the larger cities and towns of the State.

Numbers are valuable primarily for the tendencies they show. In addition to the numerous tables presented, we have introduced charts which show graphically these tendencies. Some new and original lines of research are presented. We believe that there is a close relation existing between crime (especially juvenile, in the more serious offenses), lack of education (due in a large measure to the indifferent or nonenforcement of the Cumpulsory Education Act), and child labor in early youth. Additional information will be sought to carry on this investigation, as part of our future work in this branch. A careful analysis of crime committed in the State, especially felonies (adults) and juvenile), will be made to determine, among many points, the percentage having its origin and growth or development within the confines of the State, and due, therefore, to existing social and economic conditions, and that coming to us from other states and countries. In this regard we will coöperate with the officials of the United States Immigration Commission.