ber 13, 1889, and the royal decrees which supplement it were based on the principle that males over 16 years of age and females over 21 years of age require no special protection and therefore enjoy precisely the same status as adult males. In other words, boys over 16 years of age are not children in the eyes of the law, as far as the need of protection in industry is concerned. Hence the Sunday law, which introduced a restriction upon the labor of adult males and females, also introduced a modification of the conditions of employment for boys between 16 and 21 years of age.

This law applies not only to industrial but also to commercial establishments, except transportation by water, fishing, and periodical markets and fairs.

Employees, apart from members of the employer's family and his domestic servants, must not be employed to work more than six days per week. It is specifically stated that this provision is intended to apply to “work done under the authority, direction, and oversight of an employer." The day of rest must be Sunday. Exceptions are permitted in the following cases:

(1) When work is urgently necessary because of circumstances beyond human control or of circumstances that can not be foreseen in the ordinary course of business.

(2) Watching the places of business.

(3) The work of cleaning, repairing, and caretaking necessary to guarantee the normal continuance of business; and tasks, apart from production, that are necessary to avoid delay in the regular resumption of work on the following day.

(4) Work necessary to prevent the deterioration of raw materials or finished products.

The above sorts of work may be carried on either by the regular employees or by others; they are permissible only to the extent that the normal transaction of business is not consistent with their performance on some other day of the week than Sunday.

In a specified list of industries and occupations the employees may be kept at work 13 days out of 14, or 64 days out of 7; and in such cases the day or half day of rest need not fall on Sundays nor be the same for all the employees in a given establishment. The half day of rest must be given either before or after 1 p. m., but the working period must not exceed five hours. This list includes:

(a) The manufacture of food products intended for immediate delivery to consumers.

(b) The retail sale of articles of food.

(c) Hotels, restaurants, and taverns.

(d) Tobacco stores and the sale of natural flowers.

(e) Apothecaries' shops and the sale of medical and surgical appliances.

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(f) Public bathing establishments.

(g) The printing and sale of newspapers; public amusements. (h) Loan libraries, the hire of chairs, and means of locomotion. (i) Illuminating plants, and plants for the distribution of water or of motive power.

(j) Transportation by land; loading and unloading at wharves, landings, and stations.

(k) Employment agencies and agencies for the distribution of information.

(1) Industries in which the nature of the work is such as to suffer neither interruption nor delay.

The law gives the King power to make additional exceptions to the general principles of the Sunday law. Thus, by royal decrees under date of April 15 and August 18, 1907, employers in charge of certain kinds of establishments in which work is carried on by two or more relays of laborers, may keep the night relay at work until 6 a. m. on Sunday morning. In this case, however, these laborers may not begin work again until fully 24 hours later. The list enjoying this privilege includes 23 industries, among which are the manufacture of phosphate of lime, saltpeter, potash, cornstarch; flour mills; the manufacture of lampwicks; stone cutting and polishing by machine; and lead rolling mills.

The Sunday law expressly provides, however, that the exceptions to the general provisions of the law shall not apply to children under 16 years of age, nor to female persons under 21 years of age, employed in industries subject to the factory law of 1889. But if the work in any of these industries is such as to suffer neither interruption nor delay, the King may authorize the employment of children over 14 years of age and of female persons under 21. during seven days in the week, either permanently or temporarily, or upon certain conditions. The royal decrees permitting such employment shall in all cases provide that employees must be allowed once a week to attend. to their religious duties, and that they shall have either half a day per week or a full day per fortnight for rest. Even in establishments not comprised within the scope of the law of 1889, the two provisions just indicated shall apply to children under 16 and to females under 21 years of age.

The royal decrees passed in conformity with the above provisions (under date of July 28, 1906, and May 27, 1907) concern the children employed in the manufacture of plate glass and mirrors; the manufacture of crystal and glassware; the manufacture of window glass; and canning and preserving vegetables. In the first, boys between 14 and 16 may be employed seven days a week in alternate weeks at the work of casting the glass; on the seventh day, however, the workday must not exceed six hours, interrupted by a pause of at

least half an hour; they may be employed at this work seven days every week provided the work on the seventh day lasts but four hours or less, and is completed either before or after 1 p. m. In the second occupation, children between 14 and 16 may work seven days a week in alternate weeks in making sheet glass and in operations of a similar character which involve "refining" the glass; the work on the seventh day must not be for more than six hours, interrupted by at least half an hour's pause. In the third occupation children between 14 and 16 may work at the furnaces, glass pots, and spreading ovens thirteen days per fortnight or six and one-half days per week; the half day's rest, however, must be given entirely before or entirely after 1 p. m., and the workday must not exceed five hours, interrupted by a pause of at least fifteen minutes. In canning and preserving vegetables, children between 14 and 16 may be employed thirteen days per fortnight or six and one-half days per week during the period from June 10 to August 10; the half day's rest must be given either before or after 1 p. m., and the duration of the workday must not exceed five hours, interrupted by a pause of at least fifteen minutes.

In the first, third, and last of the occupations named, the decrees specifically provide that the days or half days for rest need not be on Sundays, nor is it necessary that they be the same, in a given establishment, for all the employees concerned.

AGENCIES FOR ENFORCING THE LABOR LAWS AND DECREES.

The present organization of labor inspection in Belgium is fixed mainly by a royal decree of October 22, 1895, modified by that of February 20, 1899. The present labor office, combining the agencies intrusted with the administration of the labor laws and the collection of labor statistics, was organized on April 12, 1895, in conformity with a royal decree of the preceding year. This office also has charge of the collection and publication of information concerning the conditions of labor. It is empowered to make suggestions concerning the extension and modification of labor legislation, in conjunction with the councils of industry and labor, and the superior council of labor.()

The present organization of labor inspection in Belgium provides for two classes of officials: Labor inspectors, under the direction of the labor office, and mining engineers, under the direction of the administration of mines. The latter are intrusted with the inspection of mines, quarries, and metallurgical establishments.

The superior council of labor (Conseil superieur du Travail) has 48 members appointed for a period of four years by the King, of which 16 represent the Laborers, 16 represent the employers of labor, and the remaining 16 are experts In economics and sociology.

In 1895 the staff of labor inspectors consisted of 22 persons, but this number has been gradually increased to 40, divided into two groups: (1) Labor inspectors attached to the central office, and (2) labor inspectors or delegates residing in the Provinces, whose field of activity and whose place of residence are determined by the minister of industry and labor.

The inspectors at the central office are concerned particularly with those industries and establishments that are specially designated by the minister. It is their duty to supervise and coordinate the work of the provincial inspectors and delegates; to examine the reports of the latter; and to suggest plans for the improvement of the service generally. It is also their function to act as advisers whenever appeals are presented to the King with regard to the interpretation and application of the laws governing dangerous and insalubrious establishments.

The central office includes 1 inspector-general, 1 director, 1 chief inspector, 2 inspectors, 1 adjunct inspector, and 2 female inspectors whose mission is to visit concerns in which only female laborers are employed, such as dressmaking and millinery establishments.

The provincial service consists of agents charged with inspecting the establishments subject to the law in the 10 districts into which the country has been divided for this purpose. Each district has at least 1 inspector, assisted by one or more " adjuncts" or "delegates." The provincial service as a whole comprises 10 inspectors, 11 adjunct inspectors, and 1 technical delegate; to these should be added 7 workmen delegates (délégués ouvriers) and 5 medical inspectors, making a total of 34 officials in the provincial service.

All of the officials are appointed at the free and unrestricted option of the minister of industry and labor; that is to say, there are no competitive examinations and the choice is not limited to certain groups of persons. Of the 42 officials now in the service, 7 are physicians and 23 are engineers. (") The five medical inspectors are, by virtue of the ministerial decree of January 31, 1898, charged exclusively with supervising the enforcement of the regulations concerning the health of the laborers and the hygienic condition of the places of employment. Another ministerial decree, under date of June 17, 1902, further restricted the scope of their activity and assigned to them the task of investigating general or local causes of insalubrity in industrial establishments, and of making special studies of such subjects as may be assigned to them. The decree of 1902 also provided for the designation of associate physicians to take charge of such work as examining laborers employed in certain particularly unhealth ful industries, like the manufacture of phosphorus matches and of lead

That is to say, graduates of a technical college or of an engineering school of university grade.

compounds. A ministerial decree of December 31, 1902, appointed 38 () of these associate physicians; they are paid, according to a scale of fees fixed by ministerial decree, by the employers whose establishments are subject to the law.

The labor inspectors and delegates receive in addition to a regular salary an allowance for expenses of transportation and residence whenever they travel more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from home.

The labor inspectors are charged with supervising the enforcement of the following laws: That of December 13, 1889, concerning the labor of women, adolescents, and children in industrial establishments; the regulations concerning establishments classified as dangerous or insalubrious; the law of August 16, 1857, concerning the payment of wages; the law of June 15, 1896, on factory and workshop regulations; in a part of the Kingdom, the law of May 24. 1898, concerning the police supervision of open-air quarries; the law of July 2, 1899, concerning the health and security of industrial and commercial employees; the law of March 10, 1900, concerning the labor contract; the law of July 30, 1901, regulating the measurement of work; the law of December 24, 1903, concerning compensation for industrial accidents; the law of June 25, 1905, requiring that seats be provided for women employed in stores and shops; and the Sunday law of July 17, 1905.

The mining engineers, constituting the second general group of officials having to do with the enforcement of labor laws, are not appointed exclusively for this purpose. But as early as 1810 they were required to "watch over the safety of employees and the prevention of accidents," and since the passage of the law of 1559 they are required to secure the observance of the law and decrees concerning the labor of protected persons in mines and allied e-tablishments. This service in 1908 comprised 63 officials. To these should be added 39 workmen delegates (délégués ourriers), provided for by the law of April 11, 1897, paid by the Government, and appointed for 3 years. These delegates must have had at least 5 years' experience in skilled underground labor in mines, and not be engaged in any business for profit; they must make at least 18 visits of inspec tion per month and record their observations. These records may be commented upon in writing by the mine owners. Employers are required to provide the delegates with guides in visiting mines, and the delegates may question employees privately.

In a certain sense the local authorities in Belgium also take part in applying labor laws, either by reporting infractions of the law or in giving notice of its provisions. This is particularly true with regard to the Sunday law.

In 1905 the number was 63.