Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 92, no. 2374]: September 13, 1913

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REAL ESTATE BUILDERS AND NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 1-3, 1913 piIS!!ll!!lii«IBB#!iBBili»|!|!l|i!9IW»^^^ 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 'jJliBlliailiiiiiiailiMIMIiiiM^^^^^^ ■ iililiBliiillitM^^^^^^^ 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