LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

OFFICE OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

AUSTIN, TEXAS, November 1, 1910.

To His Excellency, Thomas M. Campbell, Governor of the State of Texas.

DEAR SIR: In accordance with Chapter 24 of the General Laws of the Regular Session of the Thirty-first Legislature, I have the honor to present herewith for your consideration the first biennial report of this Bureau.

Yours respectfully,

JOSEPH S. MYERS,

Commissioner of Labor Statistics.

INTRODUCTION.

The establishment of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of Texas was authorized by an act of the Thirty-first Legislature, and was organized September 1, 1909. Many unsuccessful attempts had been made in the past to create such a department in our State government, and in view of the fact that thirty-two States, the Federal government and nineteen foreign countries had previously established labor bureaus which were rendering a great service for their people, it is to be regretted that Texas was so tardy in this respect. Our State's industries have multiplied to that extent that laborers constitute a large class of our citizenship, and it is highly important that reliable information concerning them should be disseminated to manufacturers considering locating in Texas, as well as to the public generally. It is also indispensable that such information should be available for the use of our legislators in considering laws for the benefit and protection of the laboring class. Mr. Thomas Brassey, an English railroad magnate, declared in a speech in 1885 that "good statistics of labor were the basis of all social reform.”

The primary function of the Bureau, as defined by the law creating it, is to "collect, assort, systematize and present in biennial reports to the Governor statistical details relating to all departments of labor in Texas, and especially as affecting or bearing upon the commercial, social, educational and sanitary conditions of employes and their families, the means of escape from dangers incident to their employment, the protection of life and health in factories and other places of employment, the labor of children and of women and the number of hours exacted of them, and in general all matters and things which affect or tend to affect the prosperity of the mechanical, manufacturing and productive industries of this State, and of the persons employed therein."

Other duties, broadly stated, are to enforce the laws relating to labor, and to collect information from the various counties as to the mechanical, mining and manufacturing interests therein, and as to all sites offering natural or acquired advantages for the location and operation of any of the different branches of industry, and to impart such information to interested parties throughout the country with a view to inducing manufacturing and producing plants to locate in this State.

This report will be somewhat brief and incomplete on account of a lack of time and necessary funds. With only a few months time to gather and compile the statistics, and having to use much of this time in assuring wage-earners that the information desired of them was necessary and for their own welfare and that their names would not be divulged, it will be seen that the work has progressed under difficulties. The Legislature did not provide sufficient funds to carry on the work in the most efficient manner. For example, the appropriations for postage and stationary was only $100 for the first year, and had not Governor Campbell allowed a deficiency for an additional $100 little could have been accomplished.