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Moreover, inspections were only made from nine to three o'clock each day, when there was the least probability of overcrowding, with children at school, lodgers probably out, and older members of the family, if employed at other occupations, usually away. Persons not members of the family could not be discovered, as they visited from one tenement house to another illegally carrying their work with them. Indescribable violations of the rule against work in the presence of disease were discovered by the commission. Tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and virulent skin diseases did not prevent their victims from intimate work upon articles made for sale. The mature observation of the commission was that "the attempt to enforce the statute has saddled upon the community a continuing expense for the salaries of inspectors incurred in the effort to do that which in the end has failed." 1

In spite of all these discouragements, there has been a rather steady improvement in homework conditions in recent years. The tag has proved the "most effective argument" in obstinate cases, by which illegally made goods are marked "tenement-made" for the information of all concerned and are not permitted to be sold. Many employers are reported to coöperate in observing the rules even to the point of sending severe warnings to women that they will refuse to give them work to take home if they are discovered to be disobeying the law, particularly in respect to putting their children to work. Women act promptly upon such a warning for in most cases the necessity of work is urgent.* Small new contractors give the agents of enforcement a great deal of difficulty. They know little and care less about the

1 Op. cit., 1913, p. 738.

'There has been at times active opposition on the part of employees however, and several times, according to report, inspectors have suffered for weeks from the result of assaults by woman sympathizers.

law. They are transients in the trade and divulge none of their secrets to inspectors; and if their goods are tagged they leave them unclaimed. Custom tailors and dressmakers are also as persistent violators as they are skilled in evasion. It is difficult to make workers1 understand that the law forbids one to "hire a few helpers" in a rush season.

The greatest recent problem in connection with regulating tenement work in New York State seems to be that there is more work done in homes that do not come under the law than in homes that do, for one and two family houses have never been included in the law. However, it is clear that the "evils in connection with homework are not created by the type of house or building in which the work is done, but very much depends on the habits or conditions of the people doing the work."

PROHIBITED EMPLOYMENT

Employment after Childbirth

This legislative regulation appears to be one of the most difficult to enforce. In fact it is not enforced; nor can it be by the present methods. Administration of the labor laws is necessarily dependent upon complaints from some source for the reason that inspectors are so very few. Two authorities have told me that there are no complaints submitted in regard to women's working after childbirth, but on the other hand, that there are sometimes protests from women themselves if they are not given work within the forbidden four weeks. These facts surely bear silent and convincing testimony to the need of some form of maternity insurance.

1 There are many more Italians among tenement house workers than people of any other nationality. The 1916 report of the Industrial Commission (pp. 56-57) stated that of the 20,779 workers reported and representing thirty-four races, 10,641 were Italians, 6,367 were Hebrews, 1,140 were Germans, 1,093 were Americans, and 1,538 were miscellaneous. 19,018 of these workers were employed on articles of clothing.

SPECIAL WORKING CONDITIONS
1. Seats

The early laws requiring seats for women in mercantile and manufacturing establishments found ardent champions in the New York City Consumers' League, the City Improvement Society, and other philanthropic bodies that worked tirelessly for their enforcement. These organ

izations collected facts regarding violations and laid them before the district attorney, whose reply was that "in his opinion it would be difficult to secure a conviction under the loosely constructed law." The Consumers' League urged shoppers to make frequent inquiries regarding the proper provision of seats in stores and the encouragement by floor walkers of their use. Failure to comply with this provision kept merchants from having their firm names published in the league's "white list." Proponents of the law were encouraged when Dr. Ernst Lederle became president of the New York City board of health in 1901, and announced publicly that this law should be enforced, that there would be no more "judicious enforcement," no "side door."

There seems no evidence to show the results of efforts to enforce the provision for seats in these earlier years of the century, but, in 1909, the commissioner of labor implied in his report (pages 41-42), that compliance was more or less casual and that the law was very much disregarded in stores during special sales and rush periods for which special counters were set up. Very frequently, also, women were not permitted to use seats that had been provided. Sometimes this denial was discovered to be the ruling of some petty overseer, and a word of warning by the management was found to be sufficient. But the policy of many firms was reported to be that employees should not sit down during working hours even though seats were available.

1 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1909, pp. 41-42.

When the statute began to be taken fairly seriously by some employers, the question arose as to the meaning of 66 'suitable seats. There was a wide difference of opinion on this point. Chairs, stools, benches, boxes, and shelves were used to meet the requirement of the act. The commissioner of labor for 1911 (page 77), reported that very few seats then supplied could be considered suitable or restful, and that portable seats were practically the same as none at all, for they were too easily pushed out of the way. He recommended standard seats with backs. Seats of standard requirements were described by the Factory Investigating Commission and a bill embodying these requirements was introduced for passage by the legislature, but the act was defeated. And so far like acts for standardizing seats have repeatedly failed to pass.1

It is difficult to say to what extent the law for seats as it stands has been enforced. With regard to factories, the Factory Investigating Commission complained in 1912 that "in a great many of the [manufacturing] establishments no seats whatsoever are provided. Where they are furnished, the work that the women have to perform does not permit of their use." 2 In 1913, the commissioner of labor reported that "The enforcement of this section of the law for the past five years has changed the attitude of some employers, relative to permitting employees to use the seats after provided. The up-to-date manager realizes the necessity of allowing the females to use the seats at such times as their duties will permit." " In 1921, the Bureau of Women in Industry, reporting on The Employment of Women in 5 and 10 Cent Stores, (Bulletin No. 109), said

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1 Description of these requirements was given on pages 272-3, supra. Preliminary Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1912, vol. i.

3 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1913, p. 84.

that "the question is not so much whether seats exist or not, but what chance there is to use them. The only real opportunity to be off one's feet comes when the girls are off the floor.'

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Another report of the women's bureau in 1921 based upon replies from 103 manufacturing firms in New York State, was that fifty-nine were using ordinary chairs with backs' throughout their factories. Stools, apparently without backs, were still in use in some 25 of the plants." But more significant still is the implication in the bureau's statement that "These laws, as they stand, offer little protection to health, because even when a sufficient number of seats is provided, it is practically impossible to see that employees are allowed to use them." 2

2. Basements

It is possible that the absence of statistical data regarding the observance of the law requiring a permit for employing women in basements means that it has been perfectly observed! Although one has learned to doubt, there seems little to prove the contrary. In fact, the commissioner of labor in 1909 (page 41) reported that the specification for ventilation in basements when women and children were to be employed had made basements the best ventilated parts of such premises. He made the recommendation that these specifications be extended to cover the entire premises. Again in 1911 (page 164) the commissioner reported"We found in basements where there are proper mechanical means of ventilation, that the air was better than on the other floors of the building." But there seem to be no data on the extent to which the provision prohibiting women from working in unventilated basements has been enforced.

1 Industrial Posture and Seating, Bulletin no. 104, p. 40, New York State.

2 Op. cit., p. 35.

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