16. What is meant by employee representation?

17. In what two quarters has the idea of employee representation aroused opposition?

18. Does this opposition prove that the principle of employee representation is a mistaken one? Why?

19. Explain how employee representation supplements, rather than absorbs, the functions of the trade union.

20. What is meant by saying that " employee representation offers no royal road to industrial peace "?

CHAPTER XIX

HEALTH IN INDUSTRY

109. The conservation of human life 1

of conser

One of the most significant developments in contemporary Growing American life is the movement toward conservation. Since the importance days of President Roosevelt the question of the conservation of vation. natural resources has been attracting wide attention, and yet this is only one phase of conservation. The greater and more inclusive problem is that of national efficiency. The waste of human life and energy in the United States is a menace to our national efficiency, and the elimination of reduction of this waste constitutes a grave social problem. Some phases of this problem are discussed in the following extract from the Report on National Vitality, Its Wastes and Conservation, prepared for the National Conservation Commission in 1908, by Professor Irving Fisher:

time

through death and

sickness.

I. Loss of time. Life is shortened by death and narrowed by Loss of invalidity. The ideal life, with respect to health, would be free from illness and disability of every kind. To approximate such an ideal is the aim of hygiene. It is usually true that the healthier a life the longer it will last. Humboldt maintained that he had lived four working lives by retaining a working power double the average for double the average number of years. According to Farr, for every death there is an average severe sickness of two years, or for each death per year there are two persons sick throughout the year. This would mean in the United States that, as there are about 1,500,1 From the Committee of One Hundred on National Health, Report on National Vitality, Its Wastes and Conservation, prepared by Irving Fisher. Washington, 1909. Summary of Parts II and IV.

Accidents.

Evils of a too long working day.

Preventable human

wastes measured

in money.

ooo annual deaths, there will always be about 3,000,000 persons on the sick list, which is equivalent to about thirteen days per capita...

American railways in 1907-1908 killed nearly 11,800 and injured nearly 111,000 persons. The deaths and disablements from accidents in industry, although less carefully recorded, also represent a great and needless impairment of efficiency. .

Chapter V-Prevalence of undue fatigue

6. The working day. The present working day, from a physiological standpoint, is too long, and keeps the majority of men and women in a continual state of over-fatigue. It starts a vicious circle, leading to the craving of means for deadening fatigue, thus inducing drunkenness and other excesses. Experiments in reducing the working day show a great mprovement in the physical efficiency of laborers, and in many cases result in even increasing their output sufficiently to compensate the employer for the shorter day. Several examples of such a result exist, but the real justification for a shorter work day is found in the interest of the race, not the employer. One company, which keeps its factory going night and day, found, on changing from two shifts of twelve hours each to three shifts of eight hours each, that the efficiency of the men gradually increased, and the days lost per man by illness fell from seven and one-half to five and one-half per year. Public safety requires, in order to avoid railway collisions and other accidents, the prevention of long hours, lack of sleep, and undue fatigue in workmen..

PART IV

RESULTS OF CONSERVING LIFE

Chapter XII The Money Value of Increased Vitality

...

1. Money appraisal of preventable wastes. - Doctor Farr has estimated the net economic value of an English agricultural laborer at various times of life by discounting his chance of future earnings after subtracting the cost of maintenance. On the basis of this table we may construct a rough estimate of the worth of an average American life at various ages, assuming that only threefourths of those of working age are actually earners of money or housekeepers.

...

the United

States.

It gradually rises from a value of $90 in the first year to $4,200 Example of at the age of 30, and then declines until it becomes negative for the higher ages. Applying this table to [our] existing population at various ages, we find that the average value of a person now living in the United States is $2,900, and the average value of the lives now sacrificed by preventable deaths is $1,700. . . . Applying the $2,900 to the population of eighty-five and a half millions, we find that our population may be valued as assets at more than $250,000,000,000; and since the number of preventable deaths is estimated at 630,000, the annual waste from preventable deaths is 630,000 times $1,700 or about $1,000,000,000. This represents the annual preventable loss of potential earnings.

110. Minimum standards for child laborers 1

child labor legislation.

From the standpoint of national health, one of the most serious Progress in evils in American life is the widespread employment of young children in industrial establishments. Fortunately there is an increasingly large number of laws which limit and control child labor. Thanks to the publicity work of such organizations as the National Child Labor Committee, the public is becoming aware of the necessity of still further safeguarding young children, so that the future will undoubtedly see a steady reduction in the evil of child labor. The following are the minimum standards for children entering employment, as drawn up by the Washington and Regional Conferences on Child Welfare in 1919:

Standards for children entering in

Minimum Standards for Children Entering Employment Age Minimum. An age minimum of 16 for employment in any occupation, except that children between 14 and 16 may be employed in agriculture and domestic service during vacation periods until dustry, with schools are continuous throughout the year.

An age minimum of 18 for employment in and about mines and quarries.

An age minimum of 21 for girls employed as messengers for telegraph and messenger companies.

1 From the Washington and Regional Conferences on Child Welfare, 1919. (Printed and distributed by the National Child Labor Committee,)

respect to

age,

education,

physical condition,

hours of

employment,

An age minimum of 21 for employment in the special-delivery service of the U. S. Post Office Department.

Prohibition of the employment of minors in dangerous, unhealthy, or hazardous occupations, or at any work which will retard their proper physical or moral development.

Educational Minimum.· All children between 7 and 16 years of age shall be required to attend school for at least nine months

each year.

Children between 16 and 18 years of age who have completed the eighth but not the high-school grade, and are legally and regularly employed, shall be required to attend day continuation schools at least eight hours a week.

Children between 16 and 18 who have not completed the eighth grade or children who have completed the eighth grade and are not regularly employed shall attend full-time school. Occupational training expecially adapted to their needs shall be provided for those children who are unable because of mental subnormality to profit by ordinary school instruction.

Vacation schools placing special emphasis on healthful play and leisure time activities, shall be provided for all children.

Physical minimum.

- A child shall not be allowed to go to work until he has had a physical examination by a public-school physician or other medical officer especially appointed for that purpose by the agency charged with the enforcement of the law, and has been found to be of normal development for a child of his age and physically fit for the work at which he is to be employed.

There shall be annual physical examination of all working children who are under 18 years of age.

Hours of employment. — No minor shall be employed more than 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week. The maximum working day for children between 16 and 18 shall be shorter than the legal working day for adults.

The hours spent at continuation schools by children under 18 years of age shall be counted as part of the working day.

Night work for minors shall be prohibited between 6 P.M. and 7 A.M.

Minimum wage. — Minors at work shall be paid at a rate of wages