rested and received a thirty-day jail sentence for their act. In the second case, the assault was by a woman sympathizer, on a woman inspector, who had seized some coats in a very dirty house and was removing them to the express office. The assault was made on the street, and the inspector was so badly injured that she was incapacitated for work for nearly three months, having been cut and scratched by the assailant from which blood poisoning set in. During all this time she was under medical treatment. I make mention of these cases here to indicate some of the difficulties the inspector has to contend with in his efforts to enforce the law.

The strike of the ready-made clothing workers caused considerable slackness in home work during its continuance. As soon as a settlement was reached there was a rush by employing contractors to make up for the time lost by the strike, and work was sent out to tenement houses wherever a worker could be obtained, without any regard for law or license. As a result of this condition, the inspectors were kept very busy for months, but by a liberal use of both the tag and the courts, a check was placed on the contractors, and a more normal condition made to prevail. Altogether 74 employers were haled to court on the complaint of the inspectors for placing out their work unlawfully. The total of all persons found at work in living apartments this year is 16,714, against 16,303 reported last year. The number of stores and other shops found in tenement houses was 1,134, with 3,266 workers, including the proprietors, against 1,500 shops and 4,140 workers last year. These comparisons show that the total of all workers varies but little. This fact will be further emphasized if the comparisons be extended to the past four years. I removed licenses from a total of 1,785 buildings, and 1,728 new licenses were granted. These figures do not mean the stopping of the work of so many old tenement workers and admitting a new flock in their places; it is merely indicative of the moving about of the people engaged in this class of labor. This condition is

constant.

Out of a total of 20,083 workers found in licensed buildings of all sorts, the numbers at work on different classes of goods were 7,530 on custom-made clothing; 8,417 on ready-made clothing; 1,747 on artificial flowers; 1,015 on feathers, and 1,374 on other

articles. These workers were distributed by races as follows: Italians, 10,753; Jews, 6,544; Germans, 1,127; Americans, 666, with the remainder scattered among 28 other nationalities with but small numbers in any one.

The general conditions are as satisfactory as can be expected, and I might add, as good as the weather and the Street Cleaning Department will permit in the so-called congested (neglected) sections of the city. The bulk of inspection work is done between October and May of each year, when the housing conditions are at their very worst, yet we do not find any real intolerable conditions or abuses. We find, as we always will find, the poor, who have no time for anything but to struggle for existence, the untidy who must be forced to observe even ordinary cleanly conditions, and congestion of families crowded into single apartments in twos and threes by reason of high rents. There seems to be no cure for these conditions, but rather a tendency to constantly increasing them.

We find no real antagonism to the enforcement of the law from any source, except in an isolated case here and there. Employers, especially the manufacturers, lend willing co-operation to the advice or suggestions of the officers of the Department.

me.

I desire to commend generally the inspectors working under They have given me willing co-operation in every way, and have been prompt in executing all directions given to them. I feel sure that the Division, when fully organized, for both field and office service, will be able to report even better results for the next year.

Respectfully submitted,

DANIEL O'LEARY,

Chief of Division.

REPORT OF THE MEDICAL INSPECTOR.

Hon. JAMES M. LYNCH, Commissioner of Labor:

SIR: I hereby submit my report as Medical Inspector of Factories for the year ended September 30, 1913.

During the year my time has been devoted principally to routine matters in the New York office having to do with new sections of the law relating to industrial hygiene. In this connection, visits were made to places where there was a question as to the dangerous nature of the process of manufacture or materials used, in many cases analyses were made of air conditions. Many of the visits were made in company with the supervising and factory inspectors. A number of questions were submitted for my consideration dealing with the danger of poisoning or disease resulting from processes of manufacture and materials used.

Together with Mr. Newell, Mechanical Engineer, I accompanied the late Hon. John S. Whalen, Chief Factory Inspector, on visits to the Utica, Rochester and Buffalo offices, where short talks were given the inspectors on industrial hygiene with regard to the sections of the law relating thereto. Visits were then made to large plants and factories in order to give a practical demonstration of the application of the law. Such matters as were referred to me by the supervising inspectors were also taken up, discussed, and definite action recommended. The results of these trips were of much benefit in having standard uniform orders issued, and acquainting the inspectors with modern remedial measures to be applied for the better protection of the health of the workers.

Considerable time was devoted to the planning and equipping of the analytical laboratory situated in the New York offices, and which was made possible by an appropriation for that specific purpose. In connection with the laboratory, I have started the nucleus for a permanent exhibition relating to the subject of industrial hygiene.

The Department was represented at the meeting of the International Association of Factory Inspectors held in Chicago, Ill., where the work of the various states and Canada was discussed and compared. An opportunity was also afforded to meet with the two medical inspectors of the Illinois Bureau of Factory In

spection, and observe the methods pursued in their medical inspection service.

The Department was represented at the meeting of the American Public Health Association at Colorado Springs, Colo., where I presented a paper entited "Industrial Hygiene, a Neglected Field of Public Health Work." An opportunity was also afforded to visit various state labor departments and industries in other states.

The Department was again given representation on the Committee of Standard Methods for the Examination of the Air, and also the Committee on Standards of Air Supply, of the American Public Health Association.

Under the auspices of one of the largest white lead companies, a conference was called of physicians employed by the white lead and paint companies situated in the United States for the purpose of discussing the question of lead poisoning. I was present at a portion of the conference. The result of the conference will do much toward securing improvements in the hygiene of lead and paint works, better medical supervision of the workers, and a diminution of the number of cases of plumbism.

With a view toward diminishing fatalities resulting from accidents or poisoning in the industries, I have endeavored to secure the co-operation of societies engaged in promoting" first aid to the injured” work, but find that the industrial field has not been covered very much. I would respectfully recommend that the teaching of first aid be encouraged through the publication of pamphlets and through the means of illustrated lectures.

During the year the following recommendations were submitted to the Industrial Board:

Ventilation and Heating. The necessity for a standard of vitiation, preferably a CO2 standard, a standard for humidity, and a standard for temperature during the winter months, so that a minimum and maximum heating temperature may be guaranteed in work rooms.

Regulations covering the use of illuminating gas for commercial purposes, such as heating of apparatus, brazing, etc.

Regulations covering the exposure of workers to glaring lights, such as in the manufacture of incandescent mantles, or at chemical furnaces, and also the use of powerful lights in doing certain other types of work.

Regulations covering the handling of acids and caustics, as in chemical works or processes requiring the use of chemicals.

Regulations for the removal of acid and caustic fumes from such places as chemical works, storage battery works; in galvanizing; in enamelling household ware, and in electro-plating.

Regulations to cover the removal of dust not created by machinery such as occurs in the dusting of lithographs, in dry cleaning establishments, in hand bronzing, and in the manufacture of food products, chemical, pharmaceutical, and toilet preparations.

Regulations relating to the natural lighting of workrooms, i. e., the keeping clean of window panes, the removal of obstructions near the windows, which may inhibit natural lighting of the rooms (these obstructions usually consisting of partitions, stock, or receptacles for holding stock), also the use of prismatic or ribbed glass.

Regulations covering the use of cellars and basements for manufacturing purposes, as well as those in mercantile establishments.

Regulations as to the sale of food in factories, i. e., relating to the establishment of peddlers' booths and lunch counters in the workrooms.

Prohibition of sleeping, or the presence of beds or bedding in workrooms. This is especially prevalent in the small tenant factories, and is undoubtedly a cause of fires.

Regulations for the protection of workers engaged in oxy-acetylene or electric welding.

Regulations relating to the establishment of " first aid to the injured " packages or equipment in factories.

Rules relating to the employment of women and children on polishing wheels where material other than the baser metals is worked. At present the law permits women and children to operate polishing wheels so long as they do not polish baser metals and iridium.

The including of a number of additional industries as prohibited occupations for women and children.

Regulations as to traps and drainage of fixtures, also receptacles for drinking water supply.

These comprise a number of conditions to which my attention has been called by the inspectors and which have been observed by me in various visits and investigations. These subjects have also been discussed at length in my annual reports. I would again respectfully recommend them for attention.

Husted Mill Explosion.

One of the first investigations undertaken in connection with. the Industrial Board was that of the explosion at the Husted mill, Buffalo. Together with Mr. Newell, Mechanical Engineer, and Mr. Shillady, Secretary of the Board, several days were spent in visiting the ruins and interviewing such persons as might throw some light upon the subject as to the primary cause. Mr. Newell and myself visited other mills of a like character and samples of grain and dust were secured for analyses.