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REAL ESTATE
BUILDERS
AND
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 1-3, 1913
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I THE INDUSTRIAL BOARD AND ITS METHODS '
Not to Sit in Solemn State—Will Ask the Assistance of Expert Advisers
in Bringing the General Average Up to the Best Industrial Practice
By JOHN R. SHILLADY
Secretary Industrial Board, New York State Department of Labor
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AS all the Record and Guide's rend¬
ers may know, the Industrial
Board, in cominon with much other leg¬
islation affecting the working people of
the State, was the result of two years'
work of the New York State Factory
Investigating Commission. The crea¬
tion of the Industr'al Board was due to
no hurried impulse or hastily conceived
scheme to achieve some imagined good,
on the theory that any new method is
better than the old one.
On the contrary, the commission's
recommendation to the Legislature,
that an industrial board with broad
discretionary powers be created, came as
the result of long and careful delibera¬
tion. The Factory Investigating Com¬
mission clearly recognized the ineffec¬
tiveness of the methods generally preva¬
lent in our .American States to
protect the lives, health and safety of
the laboring people of the country.
These methods were recognized as
defective and ineffective, not because of
any failure to enforce the law, or of ad¬
ministration by incapable officials, but
because, to quote the commission, "the
labor law is framed on what we believe
to be a mistaken theory." They ac¬
cordingly recommended tlie "abandon¬
ment of the theory underlying the labor
law as it now stands, that it is possible
in any statute to provide specifically .the
measures that must be taken in each
different industry for the protection of
the lives, health and safety of workers,
under all conditions."
European countries, and the State of
Wisconsin had already departed from
the method of rigidly defined statutes
lo be applied to all industries alike, re¬
gardless of the dangers of the indus¬
try or needs of the workers.
Inception of the Board.
To come to the point. There was cre¬
ated an industrial board. In Wisconsin
the Industrial Commission's "orders"
constitute the sole labor law. The New-
York Board's powers were limited by a
definite body of statute law, defining the
minimum requirements to which all fac¬
tories and mercantile establishments
must conform.
With the written law as a stand¬
ard of minimum requirements the In¬
dustrial Board was definitely empow¬
ered to "make, alter, amend, or repeal
rules and regulations for guarding
against and minimizing fire hazards, per¬
sonal injuries, and disease; ... it
being the policy and intent of this chap¬
ter that all factories, factory buildings,
mercantile establishments and other
places . , . shall be so constructed,
equipped, arranged, operated and con¬
ducted in all respects as to provide rea¬
sonable and adequate protection to the
lives, health, and safety of all persons
employed therein."
What Secretary Shillady Has Done.
Mr. Shillady assumed his duties as
secretary of the Industrial Board
June 1, 1913. The previous four
years Mr. Shillady was e.xecutive
secretary of the Buffalo Association
for the Relief and Control of Tuber¬
culosis, and had taken a prominent
part in social work, particularly
matters relating to the public health
and industrial questions.
He is now chairman of the Com¬
mittee on Public Health of the 1913
New Vork State Conference of
Charities and Correction, and in 1912
was chairman of the Committee on
Social and Industrial Diseases of the
National Conference of Charities
and Correction; was appointed by
Governor Hughes in 1910 a member
of the Board of Trustees of the
New- York State Hospital for In¬
cipient Pulmonary Tuberculosis;
resigned .\ugust, 1913.
He has been a member of tlie
Central Council of tlie Buffalo
Charity Organization .Association,
and president in 1911 of the National
Conference of Tuberculosis Secre¬
taries. He has contributed articles
to the Survey and the Journal of the
Out-Door Life.
The board was appointed by Governor
Sulzer May 16 and confirmed by tlie
.Senate on June 25. The board is con¬
scious of its deep responsibilities to the
public. Its power does not so much
elate as sober the membership of the
board. It early concluded that, more
important than anything else, was the
adoption of a plan of work commensur¬
ate with the breadth and scope of its
powers.
It could, of course, sit in solemn state,
hold hearings and adopt rules and reg¬
ulations, if it were so minded. The board
however, chose, as the c'litral features
of its plan of action, publicity, coopera¬
tion, education. .\t its last meeting, held
on .August 28. the final draft of its "Pro¬
gram" was presented and adopted.
The Board's Program.
The board welcomes the opportunity
lo make known to the readers of the
Record and Guide, its method of
procedure. We appreciate that the
real estate and building interests will be
affected by many of the regulations to
be made by the board. It is the sin¬
cere desire of the board to give due
weight to every proper consideration of
principle and expediency and to give
ample opportunity to every person or in¬
terest to br heard on every matter on
which tlie board proposes to act.
More than that, the board is not content
to maintain a merely passive receptivity
of mind, but will take steps to inform
itself on all matters within its sphere.
No man, or group of men or women, is
likely to be fully advised on any one sub¬
ject, to say nothing about the baffling
complexity of modern industrial devel¬
opment.
It is the aim of the Industrial Board
to organize and enlist the community in¬
telligence in the service of the workers
of the State. Its first duty is obviously
to protect the men, women and children
whose only capital is their skill of hand
and brain, which in turn is dependent
for its exercise or unimpaired health and
freedom from injury while at work.
In this aim, which is the proper con¬
cern of every citizen of the State, tlie
lioard asks the support and sympathy of
all public spirited citizens. If there be
any who incline to put above the general
interest, the temporary advantage that
may accrue from unguarded machinery,
ill-equipped and unsanitary workshops,
or unsafe factory buildings, the board
appeals to the fair-minded men of all
callings and professions to uphold it in
every rightful action. Differences of
opinion there always will be. We appeal
to that unity of spirit and true consid¬
eration for the rights of the weaker,
which should animate all men and wo¬
men.
Division of Work.
To give each interest and the general
interest its due proportion, the board
has divided its work into eight general
divisions; to wit; Fire Hazards; Ventila¬
tion and Lighting; Sanitation and Com¬
fort; Dangerous Machinery; Dangerous
Trades; Bakeries and Confectioneries;
Foundries; and Mines, Tunnels and
Quarries.
On each of these subjects the board
plans to appoint advisory committees to
be known as State Industrial Board
Committees. The chairman of each
committee will be a member of the
board. The secretary of the board,
or an assistant to the secretary,
will act as secretary to the committees.
Each of the committees may be divided
into such sub-committees as may be
necessary or desirable.
The board will assist the committees
by offering the services of such ex¬
perts in the Department of Labor's em¬
ploy as may be required. Each of the
committee is to recommend to the In¬
dustrial Board, as a result of its inves¬
tigations and deliberations, proposed
rules and regulations on the particular
matters within its sphere.
The recoinmendations of the advisory
committees will then be reviewed by the
board. On matters of moment the board
may submit the committees' proposals
to interested and informed persons and