THE INDUSTRIAL BOARD.

The Industrial Board was established in connection with the reorganization of the Department of Labor effected by chapter 145 of the Laws of 1913. That reorganization and the establishment of the Board were the result of the recommendation of the New York State Factory Investigating Commission made in its report to the Legislature in January of this year. The considerations which led to its creation and the general theory of the Board are best indicated by the following excerpt from the Commission's report upon the subject.

We believe that the only way of obtaining a labor law which will be enforceable, is to abandon the theory underlying the Labor Law as it now stands, that it is possible to provide specifically, the measures that must be taken in each different industry for the protection of the lives, health and safety of workers under all conditions.

This theory of factory legislation we believe to be absolutely erroneous. It is at variance with the systems in use in Wisconsin and in those European countries where the administration of laws has been a decided success.

These systems of labor legislation are based upon the theory that it is impossible to regulate factory sanitation and safety solely by statute.

The Commission, as a result of investigation and study of the subject, is convinced that it is impossible to legislate definitely by statute so as to cover the details of all industries. These details are too numerous to be safely enumerated in a statute difficult to change or modify. Stringent regulations which are perfectly proper for one class of factories are often unnecessary and unfair for others.

Conditions vary in different industries. New methods of manufacture, and new types of machinery present new and troublesome questions to be solved. Our labor laws should have reasonable elasticity and flexibility so as to permit of special requirements that may be adjusted to the progress of industry and its varying conditions. It should not be necessary to have to resort to the tedious process of amending an old law or enacting a new one whenever a remedy is needed for some condition overlooked in the old statute, or newly discovered.

We are of the opinion that the legislature should make broad and general requirements of safety and sanitation, setting forth where practicable minimum requirements, and delegating to some responsible authority the power to make special rules and regulations to carry the provisions of the statute into effect in the different industries and under varying conditions. These rules and regulations should be collected in an industrial code that could be enlarged or changed with comparative ease from time to time as occasion may require. This principle is approved by all those who have given thought and study to this important subject.

In Europe the futility of regulating labor conditions by specific statutes was recognized a long time ago. There the statutes are very broad and . general and power is given to administrative boards to make rules and regulations for their application under varying circumstances and conditions.

The question of how best to render these principles effective and yet to secure the effective enforcement of the labor law and rules and regulations adopted thereunder, has proved to be a most difficult problem.

To give one man, namely, the Commissioner of Labor, the power to make rules and regulations would be entirely out of the question. This power is too great to entrust safely to any one individual. Two other methods were suggested: (1) to create a commission at the head of the Department of Labor in place of the present single commissioner, with power to make rules and regulations and to enforce them; and (2) to create a Board within the Department of Labor to make rules and regulations, and to leave the Commissioner of Labor at the head of the department, as at present, with full power to enforce the provisions of the statute and the rules and regulations adopted by the board, and with full responsibility for their enforcement. The Commission has carefully considered the advantages and disadvantages of each plan. We have found that there are advantages and disadvantages in each, but after careful study we have decided that the second alternative is the one likely to produce better results to the state. In reaching that conclusion, we were guided by the following principles:

1. Responsibility for enforcement of law must be definitely located. 2. Administrative work can best be done by one man.

3. Questions involving discretion and requiring deliberation are best decided by a body of men.

The plan we propose has the deliberative advantages of commission government and the administrative advantages of a single head. The formation of a board to make, with due deliberation, regulations to carry into effect the intent and purposes of the law, will secure for the department all the benefits of a commission; and the retention at the head of the department of a single commissioner to enforce the law and the regulations adopted thereunder will prevent any shifting of responsibility.

The question has arisen, whether this Board shall be merely advisory and its conclusions subject to veto by the Commissioner of Labor. We believe, however, that such veto power would not produce good results. Nevertheless, the Commissioner of Labor should not be placed in a subordinate capacity, but should be chairman of this board and thus have an important voice in framing the rules and regulations upon which the successful administration of his department so largely depends.

The Industrial Board is regulated by Article 3-A of the Labor Law. It consists of the Commissioner of Labor, as chairman, and four associate members, whom the Governor is empowered to appoint by and with the advice and consent of the Senate for specified terms. The annual salary of each is $3,000. The Board has authority to appoint a secretary, at a salary fixed by itself.

From time to time the Commissioner Labor must detail to its assistance such employees of the Department as it may require. In aid of its work it is empowered to engage experts for special and occasional services and to employ necessary clerical assistants. Stated meetings are required to be held at least once a month either in Albany or New York City, and other meetings may be called at such times and places as the needs of the public service may require; all sessions are to be open to the public.

Governor Sulzer on May 16th, during the legislative recess, appointed as associate members of the Industrial Board, Messrs. Richard J. Cullen, civil engineer, of New York City; Charles C. Flaesch, attorney and counselor at law, of Unadilla; Maurice Wertheim, manufacturer, of New York City, and Miss Pauline Goldmark, who at the time was in charge of the Bureau of Social Research of the New York School of Philanthropy. These appointments were confirmed by the Senate in extraordinary session on June 25th.

The Board met in New York City on May 28th and organized by electing as its secretary Mr. John R. Shillady, who for the preceding four years was executive secretary of the Buffalo Association for the Relief and Control of Tuberculosis, and who had been prominently identified with matters relating to public health and industrial questions. His salary was fixed at $5,000 per annum. At that meeting it was resolved that the Commissioner of Labor direct the heads of the Bureaus and Divisions of the Department of Labor "to prepare and submit such information and detailed recommendations as they may believe necessary to the improvement of conditions in the various matters under their charge." The office of the Board is in the offices of the Department of Labor in New York City at 381 Fourth avenue.

General power is vested in the Board (1) "to make investigations concerning and report upon all matters touching the enforcement and effect of " the provisions of the Labor Law and regulations made by the Board thereunder; (2) "to make, alter, amend and repeal rules and regulations for carrying into effect" the provisions of the Labor Law, "applying such provisions to specific conditions and prescribing specific means, methods or practices to effectuate such provisions"; and (3)" to make, alter, amend or

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repeal rules and regulations for guarding against and minimizing fire hazards, personal injuries and diseases." The law further de clares its policy and intent" to be "that all factories, factory buildings, mercantile establishments and other places to which this chapter is applicable shall be so constructed, equipped, arranged, operated and conducted in all respects as to provide reasonable and adequate protection to the lives, health and safety of all persons employed therein, and that the said Board shall from time to time make such rules and regulations as will effectuate the said policy and intent." The rules and regulations of the Board are to be embodied in an industrial code, are to have the force and effect of law, are to be enforced in the same manner as the statutory provisions, and may apply in whole or in part to particular kinds of factories, machines, apparatus, articles, processes, industries, trades or occupations. The industrial code and all amendments and alterations thereto are to be certified by the Board's secretary and filed with the Secretary of State.

At the outset the Board adopted a formal plan of work. Under this its work is apportioned to eight general divisions, as follows: (1) Fire Hazards, (2) Ventilation and Lighting (including temperature and humidity), (3) Sanitation and Comfort, (4) Dangerous Machinery, (5) Dangerous Trades, (6) Bakeries and Confectioneries, (7) Foundries, (8) Mines and Tunnels. The plan provides for the appointment of an advisory committee on each of these subjects composed of persons outside the Board but with a member of the Board as chairman. Each committee may appoint subcommittees outside its own membership, subject to the approval of the Board and the latter will assist the committees by tendering the services of such experts in the Department of Labor as may be required. These committees, as a result of their investigations and deliberations, are to propose for the consideration of the Board rules and regulations on the particular matters within the sphere of each. On matters of moment it is the intention of the Board to submit for criticism its committees' proposals to interested and informed individuals, as well as organizations. If valuable suggestions should result from this course the Board may recommit the subject matter to the respective committee with its own suggestions. After this preliminary work the final form.

and substance of the proposed rules and regulations will be determined by the Board.

To enlist the community intelligence in the service of the workers in the state the Board plans to secure on its committees employers, employees, professional men, experts, officials and any others familiar with the questions to be considered. Especially, it is the plan that these committees, in addition to technical experts and officials, should be composed of persons most immediately affected by its rulings, namely, employers or their managers, foremen or engineers who are fully acquainted with the technical details of their own business and employees who possess a working knowledge of industrial conditions from actual experience in their trades, so that all rulings may be practical, while providing at the same time proper safeguards for the protection of the workers. The Board will thus base its regulations as far as possible upon the best industrial methods found in practical operation in each industry.

Thus far the Board has issued regulations upon three subjects and formally denied one exemption within its power to grant under the law.

Section 78 of the Labor Law permits as an exception to the general fifty-four hour law for women in factories, the employment of women 18 years old or over in canneries for sixty hours a week between June 15 and October 15, and further provides that the Industrial Board may "adopt rules and regulations permitting the employment" of such women for sixty-six hours a week beween June 25 and August 15 "if said Board shall find that such employment is required by the needs of such industry and can be permitted without serious injury to the health of women so employed."

An application was made to the Board by the New York State Canners' Association for this latter exemption, and a hearing on this application was held at Utica on June 27th, at the conclusion of which a regulation was adopted granting the exemption under certain conditions. This regulation, known as Regulation No. 1 is as follows:

REGULATION No. 1.

Pursuant to subdivision 3, section 78 of the Labor Law, and upon application to be made by the employer to the Commissioner of Labor, women