(Letter No. 26)

LABOUR (Continued)

The Commission on International Labour Legislation besides preparing and submitting to the Peace Conference the convention or treaty described in the preceding letter also recommended for the consideration of the members of the League of Nations an extensive programme for insertion in the treaty of peace separate and apart from the convention.

This programme consists of the following declaration of principles which has been characterized as the Labour Bill of Rights, viz.:

"1. In right and in fact the labour of a human being should not be treated as merchandise or an article of commerce.

"2. Employers and workers should be allowed the right of association for all lawful purposes.

"3. No child should be permitted to be

employed in industry or commerce before the age of fourteen years. In order that every child may be insured reasonable opportunities for mental and physical education between the years of fourteen and eighteen, young persons of either sex may only be employed on work which is not harmful to their physical development and on condition that the continuation of their technical or general education is insured.

"4. Every worker has a right to a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life, having regard to the civilization of his time and country.

"5. Equal pay should be given to women and to men for work of equal value in quantity and quality.

"6. A weekly rest, including Sunday, or its equivalent, for all workers.

7. Limitation of the hours of work in industry on the basis of eight hours a day or forty-eight hours a week, subject to an exception for countries in which climatic conditions, the imperfect development of industrial organization or other special circumstances render the industrial efficiency of the workers

substantially different. The International Labour Conference will recommend a basis approximately equivalent to the above for adoption in such countries.

"8. In all matters concerning their status as workers and social insurance, foreign workmen lawfully admitted to any country, and their families, should be insured the same treatment as the nationals of that country.

"9. All states should institute a system of inspection, in which women should take part, in order to insure the enforcement of the laws and regulations for the protection of the workers.'

Whether or not this general declaration shall be adopted by the powers signatory to the peace treaty, its formulation and recommendation by the International Commission indicates the extent of the programme which the civilized powers of the earth are invited to adopt. The Commission also adopted a resolution expressing the hope that as soon as possible an agreement should be arrived at between the high contracting parties with a view to endowing the

International Labour Conference, under the auspices of the League of Nations, with power to take, under conditions to be determined, resolutions possessing the force of international law.

This proposal embodies the recommendation of the Interallied Labour and Socialist Conferences held in London in August, 1917, and February, 1918. It is at variance with the general plan of the Covenant of the League of Nations, which carefully avoids any effort to erect a super-sovereignty over the nations, and confines itself to international agreements and their enforcement as the principal basis for the preservation of international peace. Fortunately, it is not embodied in the treaty, and it is improbable that the United States would accept it. The Covenant of the League of Nations carefully avoids the erection of a super-sovereignty on the nations, and preserves the character of the League as an Alliance-not a confederation or union. The nature of the Labour Conference follows, and should be held to the same theory.

Many of these recommendations for the

improvement of labour will appeal at once to the favourable judgment of the world. How far the present unequal condition of development of the different countries composing the League of Nations will warrant the standardization of labour conditions proposed by this convention is a matter calling for careful examination. The project involves a novel effort of far-reaching consequence. In view of that novelty, it is to be regretted that the proposed convention should be made so extraordinarily difficult of amendment as is proposed. By its terms, any amendment must first be adopted by the conference by two-thirds of the votes cast by the delegates present, then ratified by the states whose representatives compose the Executive Council of the League of Nations and finally by three-fourths of the states whose representatives compose the Body of Delegates of the League. The plan as a whole undoubtedly will appeal to a large number of people. It will have the endorsement of organized labour in the United States, and cannot fail to exercise a great influence upon the ratification of the peace covenant itself.