May and the first day of September, and a new map and copy of the same shall be filed as required in the original survey, or the original map may be so amended as to show the exact workings of the mine at the date of the last survey.

SEC. 2. In case the owner, agent or operator of any coal mine shall fail or refuse to comply with the provisions of section one (1) of this act it shall be the duty of the inspector of mines to appoint a competent mining engineer to make the survey and maps, and file and deposit them as required by said section one (1), and for his services he shall be entitled to a reasonable fee to be paid by the party whose duty it was to make such survey and map, and shall be entitled to lien on the mine and machinery to the same extent as is now provided by law for other work and labor performed in and about the coal mines of this State.

SEC. 3. The owner, operator or agent, of every coal mine in this State shall be and is hereby required to report to the inspector of mines on or before the 15th day of each calendar month the name of the person in charge of such mine, the number of tons of coal produced at such mine during the preceding month, the amount of wages paid employees during such month, the amount of money expended for improvements during the said month, together with such other information as may be necessary to enable said inspector to prepare his annual report as is now required by law.

SEC. 4. Any person who shall fail, refuse or neglect to do or perform any act or duty required by this act shall be held guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not less than five nor more than twenty-five dollars.

SEC. 5. In order that maps, reports and other records pertaining to the office of inspector of mines may be properly preserved, a room in the state house shall be set aside and furnished in a suitable manner as an office for said officer.

SEC. 6. Provided, That the provisions of this act shall apply to all coal miners in this State except to those employing less than ten men. Approved March 8, 1897.

CHAPTER 187.-Convict labor-Contract system abolished, etc.

SECTION 1. The contract prison labor in the State prisons and reformatories [shall] be abolished, and the boards of directors of the State penal and reformatory institutions are hereby authorized to establish as soon as practicable the public account system, to institute in said prisons an industrial and labor system by which the convicts shall be employed at such trades and vocations as will be required to supply said institutions as nearly as possible with all necessary articles of prison consumption, or as will in the judgment of the directors be expedient and wise. The regular hours for day work in said prisons shall not exceed eight hours, subject to temporary change under necessity, or to fit special cases to be sanctioned by the directors.

SEC. 2. In the event of more articles being produced than are needed to supply the said Stato penal and reformatory institutions, such surplus shall be furnished to such other State institutions as may need the same at the usual market price for which such articles are sold in the locality where such other institutions may be located.

SEC. 3. The warden shall appoint a superintendent, who shall be a competent and skillful person to have general supervision over all the buildings and work in the various industrial departments. The warden shall assign the convicts to such work as in his opinion they are particularly adapted to, and shall recommend to the board of directors from time to time such necessary materials, tools, apparatus or accommodations as are needful for the purpose of carrying on and conducting such industries as may be authorized under the provisions of this act. He shall make quarterly detailed statements of all materials or other property procured and the cost thereof and of the expenditures made during the last preceding quarter for such manufacturing purposes, together with a statement of all materials then in hand to be manufactured or in process of manufacture and the amount of all kinds of work done and the earnings realized during said quarter, and file same with the auditor of state.

SEC. 4. It shall be unlawful from and after the passage of this act to hire out under contract any of the convicts confined in the State penal and reformatory institutions, and the State and prison authorities are hereby forbidden to hereafter allow said convicts to perform any service whatever under contract or otherwise, for any one other than the State, under penalty of fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) and the forfeiture of office, to which may be added imprisonment in the county jail, not to exceed one hundred (100) days: Provided, That the operations of this act shall not affect any contracts for convict labor made previous to the passage of this act, and which contracts have not yet expired.

SEC. 5. It is the intent and purport of this act that all work done by inmates of any of the State penal or reformatory institutions shall, as far as practicable, be hană work.

SEC. 6. Any State benevolent or correctional institution in need of any of the prod ucts which may be manufactured in any of the State penal or reformatory institutions, shall give at least three months' notice of such demand to the auditor of state, who shall in turn notify the wardens of the penal or reformatory institutions, and no State institution shall purchase in the open market any product which can be furnished by the State penal and reformatory institutions: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to compel State institutions to forego the purchase of goods in the open market, when such can not be furnished within a reasonable time by the State penal or reformatory institutions.

SEC. 7. It shall be the duty of the board of directors of the State penal and reformatory institutions to institute such instructions of an educational and technical character as in their judgment is to the best interest of the inmates.

SEC. 8. All laws and parts of laws relating to the employment of convict labor, in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. Approved March 8, 1897.

NORTH CAROLINA.

ACTS OF 1897.

Fellow-servant act-Railroad companies.

SECTION 1. Any servant or employee of any railroad company operating in this State, who shall suffer injury to his person, or the personal representative of any such servant or employee who shall have suffered death in the course of his services or employment with said company by the negligence, carelessness or incompetency of any other servant, employee or agent of the company, or by any defect in the machinery, ways or appliances of the company, shall be entitled to maintain an action against such company.

SEC. 2. Any contract or agreement, expressed or implied, made by any employee of said company to waive the benefit of the aforesaid section shall be null and void. SEC. 3. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.

Ratified February 23, 1897.

RECENT GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.

[The Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments have consented to furnish statements of all contracts for constructions and repairs entered into by them. These, as received, will appear from time to time in the Bulletin.]

The following contracts have been made by the office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury:

WILMINGTON, N. C.—April 22, 1897. Contract with D. Getaz & Co., Knoxville, Tenn., for erection and completion, except heating apparatus, of the new ward building for the marine hospital, $6,887. Work to be completed within three months.

PORT TOWNSEND, WASH.-May 12, 1897. Contract with Oby & Co., Canton, Ohio, for low-pressure, return-circulation, steam-heating and ventilating apparatus for the marine hospital, $4,100. Work to be completed within one hundred and twenty days.

FORT WORTH, TEX.-May 27, 1897. Contract with Smith & Bardon for new toilet room and other changes in post-office, $3,361.55. Work to be completed within three months.

548

THE INSPECTION OF FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS IN THE UNITED STATES. (a)

BY W. F. WILLOUGHBY.

THE INSPECTION OF FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS AS UNDERSTOOD IN THE UNITED STATES.

It is important at the very outset to state clearly what is meant by factory inspection in the United States, for, as will be seen when the legislation by which inspection of factories has been provided for is considered, the true function of factory inspection has by no means been invariably understood, even by those enacting the laws or by those to whom the duties of inspection were intrusted.

Factory inspection has followed and has grown in consequence of the enactment of laws regulating the condition of labor in factories and workshops. A little consideration will show that these two classes of legislation are entirely different in character. The province of the first is to specify conditions; of the second, to see that they are enforced. The name of inspection is in some respects misleading. The real duty of factory inspectors is to enforce laws. Their powers of inspection are but incidental to this duty, and are exercised in order that the latter may be more efficiently performed. Yet, in the majority of the States having factory-inspection laws, the inspection of factories was first provided for, and the power of issuing orders directing factory operators to comply with the provisions of the laws, or at least the granting to the inspectors of adequate powers for enforcing them through judicial

a A report on behalf of the Department of Labor submitted to the Congrès International des Accidents du Travail et des Assurances Sociales, at Brussels, Belgium, July, 1897.

action, was only granted later as the necessity for such powers became evident. In a word, the inspector of factories is primarily a police officer with special duties.

The failure to recognize this essential character of the inspectors has retarded the development of factory inspection, not only through the failure to give to them adequate powers, but by attaching the duties of these officers to other bureaus, to the detriment of the work of both.

As regards the field of duties properly coming within the province of inspectors of factories, there is, of course, opportunity for a wide range of difference of opinion. Speaking generally, their duty is to enforce labor laws so far as they relate to factory work. Beyond this, however, there are a number of laws relating to factories and workshops the enforcement of which would seem to fall equally, if not to a greater extent, within the duties of other offices.

First, for instance, are those relating to the construction of factory buildings-the requirement that fire-resisting materials be used, etc. The enforcement of these obligations belongs primarily to the office of inspector of buildings.

Secondly, matters relating to the hygiene and sanitary condition of factories-their proper ventilation, heating, and lighting-are duties usually intrusted to health officers.

Thirdly, a most important State duty is that of the inspection of steam boilers and the examination of engineers and firemen to insure that proper persons are given control over them. This duty can be given to a special officer-the inspector of steam boilers-or intrusted to the factory inspectors.

A fourth field of inspection is that of mines, as in a few States where this industry is not of great importance the inspector of factories has been made the inspector of mines as well.

Finally, the field of inspection has in cases-notably in Massachusetts-been greatly enlarged by including public buildings, schoolhouses, churches, hotels, theaters, etc., among the buildings that should be inspected by the factory inspectors. In these cases the provisions to be enforced relate principally to the provision of fire escapes and of proper heating, lighting, and ventilation arrangements.

It is inevitable that in the different States the enforcement of these laws should be intrusted to different agencies. In the account that follows, therefore, it must be borne in mind that inspection is considered only in so far as it is performed by factory inspectors. A complete showing of the extent of inspection, except as regards the enforcement of labor laws proper, therefore, is not here made. Thus, for example, it will be seen that in a few instances factory inspectors are required to inspect steam boilers. It does not follow that these are the only States performing this duty. Others may do the same through special

inspectors of boilers.

A still further diffusion of inspection work occurs from the fact that laws are frequently passed relating only to the larger cities, the