In comparing legislation affecting factories, mines, shops and truck in
the chief industrial countries of the continent with that of Great
Britain, it is essential to a just view that inquiry should be extended
beyond the codes themselves to the general social order and system of
law and administration in each country. Further, special comparison of
the definitions and the sanctions of each industrial code must be
recognized as necessary, for these vary in all. In so brief a summary as
is appended here no more is possible than an outline indication of the
main general requirements and prohibitions of the laws as regards: (1)
hours and times of employment, (2) ordinary sanitation and special
requirements for unhealthy and dangerous industries, (3) security
against accidents, and (4) prevention of fraud and oppression in
fulfilment of wage contracts. As regards the first of these
subdivisions, in general in Europe the ordinary legal limit is rather
wider than in Great Britain, being in several countries not less than 11
hours a day, and while in some, as in France, the normal limit is 10
hours daily, yet the administrative discretion in granting exceptions is
rather more elastic. The weekly half-holiday is a peculiarly British
institution. On the other hand, in several European countries, notably
France, Austria, Switzerland and Russia, the legal maximum day applies
to adult as well as youthful labour, and not only to specially protected
classes of persons. As regards specialized sanitation for unhealthy
factory industries, German regulations appear to be most nearly
comparable with British. Mines' labour regulation in several countries,
having an entirely different origin linked with ownership of mines, is
only in few and most recent developments comparable with British Mines
Regulation Acts. In regulation of shops, Germany, treating this matter
as an integral part of her imperial industrial code, has advanced
farther than has Great Britain. In truck legislation most European
countries (with the exception of France) appear to have been influenced
by the far earlier laws of Great Britain, although in some respects
Belgium, with her rapid and recent industrial development, has made
interesting original experiments. The rule of Sunday rest (see SUNDAY)
has been extended in several countries, most recently in Belgium and
Spain. In France this partially attempted rule has been so modified as
to be practically a seventh day rest, not necessarily Sunday.
_France._--Hours of labour were, in France, first limited in factories
(_usines et manufactures_) for adults by the law of the 9th of
September 1848 to 12 in the 24. Much uncertainty existed as to the
class of workplaces covered. Finally, in 1885, an authoritative
decision defined them as including: (1) Industrial establishments with
motor power or continual furnaces, (2) workshops employing over 20
workers. In 1851, under condition of notification to the local
authorities, exceptions, still in force, were made to the general
limitation, in favour of certain industries or processes, among others
for letterpress and lithographic printing, engineering works, work at
furnaces and in heating workshops, manufacture of projectiles of war,
and any work for the government in the interests of national defence
or security. The limit of 12 hours was reduced, as regards works in
which women or young workers are employed, in 1900 to 11, and was to
be successively reduced to 10½ hours and to 10 hours at intervals of
two years from April 1900. This labour law for adults was preceded in
1841 by one for children, which prevented their employment in
factories before 8 years of age and prohibited night labour for any
child under 13. This was strengthened in 1874, particularly as regards
employment of girls under 21, but it was not until 1892 that the
labour of women was specially regulated by a law, still in force, with
certain amendments in 1900. Under this law factory and workshop labour
is prohibited for children under 13 years, though they may begin at 12
if qualified by the prescribed educational certificate and medical
certificate of fitness. The limit of daily hours of employment is the
same as for adult labour, and, similarly, from the 1st of April 1902
was 10½, and two years later became 10 hours in the 24. Notice of the
hours must be affixed, and meal-times or pauses with absolute
cessation of work of at least one hour must be specified. By the act
of 1892 one day in the week, not necessarily Sunday, had to be given
for entire absence from work, in addition to eight recognized annual
holidays, but this was modified by a law of 1906 which generally
requires Sunday rest, but allows substitution of another day in
certain industries and certain circumstances. Night labour--work
between 9 P.M. and 5 A.M.--is prohibited for workers under 18, and
only exceptionally permitted, under conditions, for girls and women
over 18 in specified trades. In mines and underground quarries
employment of women and girls is prohibited except at surface works,
and at the latter is subject to the same limits as in factories. Boys
of 13 may be employed in certain work underground, but under 16 may
not be employed more than 8 hours in the 24 from bank to bank. A law
of 1905 provided for miners a 9 hours' day and in 1907 an 8 hours' day
from the foot of the entrance gallery back to the same point.
As in Great Britain, distinct services of inspection enforce the law
in factories and mines respectively. In factories and workshops an
inspector may order re-examination as to physical fitness for the work
imposed of any worker under 16; certain occupations and processes are
prohibited--e.g. girls under 16 at machines worked by treadles, and
the weights that may be lifted, pushed or carried by girls or boys
under 18 are carefully specified. The law applies generally to
philanthropic and religious institutions where industrial work is
carried on, as in ordinary trading establishments; and this holds good
even if the work is by way of technical instruction. Domestic
workshops are not controlled unless the industry is classed as
dangerous or unhealthy; introduction of motor power brings them under
inspection. General sanitation in industrial establishments is
provided for in a law of 1893, amended in 1903, and is supplemented by
administrative regulations for special risks due to poisons, dust,
explosive substances, gases, fumes, &c. Ventilation, both general and
special, lighting, provision of lavatories, cloakrooms, good drinking
water, drainage and cleanliness are required in all workplaces, shops,
warehouses, restaurant kitchens, and where workers are lodged by their
employers hygienic conditions are prescribed for dormitories. In many
industries women, children and young workers are either absolutely
excluded from specified unhealthy processes, or are admitted only
under conditions. As regards shops and offices, the labour laws are:
one which protects apprentices against overwork (law of 22nd February
1851), one (law of 29th December 1900) which requires that seats shall
be provided for women and girls employed in retail sale of articles,
and a decree of the 28th of July 1904 defining in detail conditions of
hygiene in dormitories for workmen and shop assistants. The law
relating to seats is enforced by the inspectors of factories. In
France there is no special penal legislation against abuses of the
truck system, or excessive fines and deductions from wages, although
bills with that end in view have frequently been before parliament.
Indirect protection to workers is no doubt in many cases afforded in
organized industries by the action of the _Conseils de Prud'hommes_.
_Belgium._--In 1848 in Belgium the Commission on Labour proposed
legislation to limit, as in France, the hours of labour for adults,
but this proposal was never passed. Belgian regulation of labour in
industry remains essentially, in harmony with its earliest beginnings
in 1863 and onwards, a series of specialized provisions to meet
particular risks of individual trades, and did not, until 1889, give
any adherence to a common principle of limitation of hours and times
of labour for "protected" persons. This was in the law of the 13th of
December 1889, which applies to mines, quarries, factories, workshops
classed as unhealthy, wharves and docks, transports. As in France,
industrial establishments having a charitable or philanthropic or
educational character are included. The persons protected are girls
and women under 21 years, and boys under 16; and women over 21 only
find a place in the law through the prohibition of their employment
within four weeks after childbirth. As the hours of labour of adult
women remain ordinarily unlimited by law, so are the hours of boys
from 16 to 21. The law of Sunday rest dated the 17th of July 1905,
however, applies to labour generally in all industrial and commercial
undertakings except transport and fisheries, with certain regulated
exceptions for (a) cases of breakdown or urgency due to _force
majeure_, (b) certain repairs and cleaning, (c) perishable materials,
(d) retail food supply. Young workers are excluded from the
exceptions. The absolute prohibitions of employment are: for children
under 12 years in any industry, manufacturing or mining or transport,
and for women and girls under 21 years below the surface in working of
mines. Boys under 16 years and women and girls under 21 years may in
general not be employed before 5 A.M. or after 9 P.M., and one day in
the seven is to be set apart for rest from employment; to these rules
exception may be made either by royal decree for classes or groups of
processes, or by local authorities in exceptional cases. The
exceptions may be applied, generally, only to workers over 14 years,
but in mines, by royal decree, boys over 12 years may be employed from
4 A.M. The law of 1889 fixes only a maximum of 12 hours of effective
work, to be interrupted by pauses for rest of not less than 1½ hours,
empowering the king by decree to formulate more precise limits suited
to the special circumstances of individual industries. Royal decrees
have accordingly laid down the conditions for many groups, including
textile trades, manufacture of paper, pottery, glass, clothing, mines,
quarries, engineering and printing works. In some the daily limit is
10 hours, but in more 10½ or 11 hours. In a few exceptionally
unhealthy trades, such as the manufacture of lucifer matches,
vulcanization of india-rubber by means of carbon bi-sulphide, the age
of exclusion from employment has been raised, and in the last-named
process hours have been reduced to 5, broken into two spells of 2½
hours each. As a rule the conditions of health and safeguarding of
employments in exceptionally injurious trades have been sought by a
series of decrees under the law of 1863 relating to public health in
such industries. Special regulations for safety of workers have been
introduced in manufactures of white-lead, oxides of lead, chromate of
lead, lucifer match works, rag and shoddy works; and for dangers
common to many industries, provisions against dust, poisons, accidents
and other risks to health or limb have been codified in a decree of
1896. A royal decree of the 31st of March 1903 prohibits employment of
persons under 16 years in fur-pulling and in carotting of rabbit
skins, and another of the 13th of May 1905 regulates use of lead in
house-painting. In 1898 a law was passed to enable the authorities to
deal with risks in quarries under the same procedure. Safety in mines
(which are not private property, but state concessions to be worked
under strict state control) has been provided for since 1810. In
matters of hygiene, until 1899 the powers of the public health
authorities to intervene were insufficient, and a law was passed
authorizing the government to make regulations for every kind of risk
in any undertaking, whether classed under the law of public health or
not. By a special law of 1888 children and young persons under 18
years are excluded from employment as pedlars, hawkers or in circuses,
except by their parents, and then only if they have attained 14 years.
Abuses of the truck system have, since 1887, been regulated with care.
The chief objects of the law of 1887 were to secure payment in full to
all workers, other than those in agriculture or domestic service, of
wages in legal tender, to prohibit payment of wages in public-houses,
and to secure prompt payment of wages. Certain deductions were
permitted under careful control for specific customary objects:
lodging, use of land, uniforms, food, firing. A royal order of the
10th of October 1903 required use of automatic indicators for
estimating wages in certain cases in textile processes. The law of the
15th of June 1896 regulates the affixing in workplaces, where at least
five workers are employed, of a notice of the working rules, the
nature and rate of fines, if any, and the mode of their application.
Two central services the mines inspectorate and the factory and
workshop inspectorate, divide the duties above indicated. There is
also a system of local administration of the regulations relating to
industries classed as unhealthy, but the tendency has been to give the
supreme control in these matters to the factory service, with its
expert staff.
_Holland._--The first law for regulation of labour in manufacture was
passed in 1874, and this related only to employment of children. The
basis of all existing regulations was established in the law of the
5th of May 1889, which applies to all industrial undertakings,
excluding agriculture and forestry, fishing, stock-rearing. Employment
of children under 12 years is prohibited, and hours are limited for
young persons under 16 and for women of any age. These protected
persons may be excluded by royal decree from unhealthy industries, and
such industries are specified in a decree of 1897 which supersedes
other earlier regulations. Hours of employment must not exceed 11 in
the 24, and at least one hour for rest must be given between 11 A.M.
and 3 P.M., which hour must not be spent in a workroom. Work before 5
A.M. or after 7 P.M., Sunday work, and work on recognized holidays is
generally prohibited, but there are exceptions. Overtime from 7 to 10
P.M., under conditions, is allowed for women and young workers, and
Sunday work for women, for example, in butter and cheese making, and
night work for boys over 14 in certain industries. Employment of women
within four weeks of childbirth is prohibited. Notices of working
hours must be affixed in workplaces. Underground work in mines is
prohibited for women and young persons under 16, but in Holland mining
is a very small industry. In 1895 the first legislative provision was
made for protection of workers against risk of accident or special
injury to health. Sufficient cubic space, lighting, ventilation,
sanitary accommodation, reasonable temperature, removal of noxious
gases or dust, fencing of machinery, precautions against risk from
fire and other matters are provided for. The manufacture of lucifer
matches by means of white phosphorus was forbidden and the export,
importation and sale was regulated by a law of the 28th of May 1901.
By a regulation of the 16th of March 1904 provisions for safety and
health of women and young workers were strengthened in processes where
lead compounds or other poisons are used, and their employment at
certain dangerous machines and in cleaning machinery or near driving
belts was prohibited. No penal provision against truck exists in
Holland, but possibly abuses of the system are prevented by the
existence of industrial councils representing both employers and
workers, with powers to mediate or arbitrate in case of disputes.
_Switzerland._--In Switzerland separate cantonal legislation prepared
the way for the general Federal labour law of 1877 on which subsequent
legislation rests. Such legislation is also cantonal as well as
Federal, but in the latter there is only amplification or
interpretation of the principles contained in the law of 1877, whereas
cantonal legislation covers industries not included under the Federal
law, e.g. single workers employed in a trade (_métier_) and employment
in shops, offices and hotels. The Federal law is applied to factories,
workshops employing young persons under 18 or more than 10 workers,
and workshops in which unhealthy or dangerous processes are carried
on. Mines are not included, but are regulated in some respects as
regards health and safety by cantonal laws. Further, the Law of
Employers' Liability 1881-1887, which requires in all industries
precautions against accidents and reports of all serious accidents to
the cantonal governments, applies to mines. This led, in 1896, to the
creation of a special mining department, and mines, of which there are
few, have to be inspected once a year by a mining engineer. The
majority of the provisions of the Federal labour law apply to adult
workers of both sexes, and the general limit of the 11-hours' day,
exclusive of at least one hour for meals, applies to men as well as
women. The latter have, however, a legal claim, when they have a
household to manage, to leave work at the dinner-hour half an hour
earlier than the men. Men and unmarried women may be employed in such
subsidiary work as cleaning before or after the general legal limits.
On Saturdays and eves of the eight public holidays the 11-hours' day
is reduced to 10. Sunday work and night work are forbidden, but
exceptions are permitted conditionally. Night work is defined as 8
P.M. to 5 A.M. in summer, 8 P.M. to 6 A.M. in winter. Children are
excluded from employment in workplaces under the law until 14 years of
age, and until 16 must attend continuation schools. Zürich canton has
fixed the working day for women at 10 hours generally, and 9 hours on
Saturdays and eves of holidays. Bâle-Ville canton has the same limits
and provides that the very limited Sunday employment permitted shall
be compensated by double time off on another day. In the
German-speaking cantons girls under 18 are not permitted to work
overtime; in all cantons except Glarus the conditional overtime of 2
hours must be paid for at an enhanced wage.
Sanitary regulations and fencing of machinery are provided for with
considerable minuteness in a Federal decree of 1897. The plans of
every new factory must be submitted to the cantonal government. In the
case of lucifer match factories, not only the building but methods of
manufacture must be submitted. Since 1901 the manufacture, sale and
import of matches containing white phosphorus have been forbidden.
Women must be absent from employment during eight weeks before and
after childbirth. In certain dangerous occupations, e.g. where lead or
lead compounds are in use, women may not legally be employed during
pregnancy. A resolution of the federal council in 1901 classed
thirty-four different substances in use in industry as dangerous and
laid down that in case of clearly defined illness of workers directly
caused by use of any of these substances the liability provided by
article 3 of the law of the 25th of June 1881, and article 1 of the
law of the 26th of April 1887, should apply to the manufacture.
Legislative provision against abuses of the truck system appears to be
of earlier origin in Switzerland (17th century) than any other
European country outside England (15th century). The Federal Labour
Law 1877 generally prohibits payment of wages otherwise than in
current coin, and provides that no deduction shall be made without an
express contract. Some of the cantonal laws go much farther than the
British act of 1896 in forbidding certain deductions; e.g. Zürich
prohibits any charge for cleaning, warming or lighting workrooms or
for hire of machinery. By the Federal law fines may not exceed half a
day's wage. Administration of the Labour laws is divided between
inspectors appointed by the Federal Government and local authorities,
under supervision of the cantonal governments. The Federal Government
forms a court of appeal against decisions of the cantonal
governments.
_Germany._--Regulation of the conditions of labour in industry
throughout the German empire is provided for in the Imperial
Industrial Code and the orders of the Federal Council based thereon.
By far the most important recent amendment socially is the law
regulating child-labour, dated the 30th of March 1903, which relates
to establishments having industrial character in the sense of the
Industrial Code. This Code is based on earlier industrial codes of the
separate states, but more especially on the Code of 1869 of the North
German Confederation. It applies in whole or in part to all trades and
industrial occupations, except transport, fisheries and agriculture.
Mines are only included so far as truck, Sunday and holiday rest,
prohibition of employment underground of female labour, limitation of
the hours of women and young workers are concerned; otherwise the
regulations for protection of life and limb of miners vary, as do the
mining laws of the different states. To estimate the force of the
Industrial Code in working, it is necessary to bear in mind the
complicated political history of the empire, the separate
administration by the federated states, and the generally considerable
powers vested in administration of initiating regulations. The
Industrial Code expressly retains power for the states to initiate
certain additions or exceptions to the Code which in any given state
may form part of the law regulating factories there. The Code (unlike
the Austrian Industrial Code) lays down no general limit for a normal
working day for adult male workers, but since 1891 full powers were
given to the Imperial government to limit hours for any classes of
workers in industries where excessive length of the working day
endangers the health of the worker (R.G.O. § 120e). Previously
application had been made of powers to reduce the working day in such
unhealthy industries as silvering of mirrors by mercury and the
manufacture of white-lead. Separate states had, under mining laws,
also limited hours of miners. Sunday rest was, in 1891, secured for
every class of workers, commercial, industrial and mining. Annual
holidays were also secured on church festivals. These provisions,
however, are subject to exceptions under conditions. An important
distinction has to be shown when we turn to the regulations for hours
and times of labour for protected persons (women, young persons and
children). Setting aside for the moment hours of shop assistants
(which are under special sections since 1900), it is to "factory
workers" and not to industrial workers in general that these limits
apply, although they may be, and in some instances have been, further
extended--for instance, in ready-made clothing trades--by imperial
decree to workshops, and by the Child Labour Law of 1903 regulation of
the scope and duration of employment of children is much strengthened
in workshops, commerce, transport and domestic industries. The term
"factory" (_Fabrik_) is not defined in the Code, but it is clear from
various decisions of the supreme court that it only in part coincides
with the English term, and that some workplaces, where processes are
carried on by aid of mechanical power, rank rather as English
workshops. The distinction is rather between wholesale manufacturing
industry, with subdivision of labour, and small industry, where the
employer works himself. Certain classes of undertaking, viz. forges,
timber-yards, dockyards, brickfields and open quarries, are
specifically ranked as factories. Employment of protected persons at
the surface of mines and underground quarries, and in salt works and
ore-dressing works, and of boys underground comes under the factory
regulations. These exclude children from employment under 13 years,
and even later if an educational certificate has not been obtained;
until 14 years hours of employment may not exceed 6 in the 24. In
processes and occupations under the scope of the Child Labour Law
children may not be employed by their parents or guardians before 10
years of age or by other employers before 12 years of age; nor between
the hours of 8 P.M. and 8 A.M., nor otherwise than in full compliance
with requirements of educational authorities for school attendance and
with due regard to prescribed pauses. In school term time the daily
limit of employment for children is three hours, in holiday time three
hours. As regards factories Germany, unlike Great Britain, France and
Switzerland, requires a shorter day for young persons than for
women--10 hours for the former, 11 hours for the latter. Women over 16
years may be employed 11 hours. Night work is forbidden, i.e. work
between 8.30 P.M. and 5.30 A.M. Overtime may be granted to meet
unforeseen pressure or for work on perishable articles, under
conditions, by local authorities and the higher administrative
authorities. Prescribed meal-times are--an unbroken half-hour for
children in their 6 hours; for young persons a mid-day pause of one
hour, and half an hour respectively in the morning and afternoon
spells; for women, an hour at mid-day, but women with the care of a
household have the claim, on demand, to an extra half-hour, as in
Switzerland. No woman may be employed within four weeks after
childbirth, and unless a medical certificate can then be produced, the
absence must extend to six weeks. Notice of working periods and
meal-times must be affixed, and copies sent to the local authorities.
Employment of protected persons in factory industries where there are
special risks to health or morality may be forbidden or made dependent
on special conditions. By the Child Labour Law employment of children
is forbidden in brickworks, stone breaking, chimney sweeping, street
cleaning and other processes and occupations. By an order of the
Federal Council in 1902 female workers were excluded from main
processes in forges and rolling mills. All industrial employers alike
are bound to organize labour in such a manner as to secure workers
against injury to health and to ensure good conduct and propriety.
Sufficient light, suitable cloakrooms and sanitary accommodation, and
ventilation to carry off dust, vapours and other impurities are
especially required. Dining-rooms may be ordered by local authorities.
Fencing and provision for safety in case of fire are required in
detail. The work of the trade accident insurance associations in
preventing accidents is especially recognized in provisions for
special rules in dangerous or unhealthy industries. Officials of the
state factory departments are bound to give opportunity to trustees of
the trade associations to express an opinion on special rules. In a
large number of industries the Federal Council has laid down special
rules comparable with those for unhealthy occupations in Great
Britain. Among the regulations most recently revised and strengthened
are those for manufacture of lead colours and lead compounds, and for
horse-hair and brush-making factories. The relations between the state
inspectors of factories and the ordinary police authorities are
regulated in each state by its constitution. Prohibitions of truck in
its original sense--that is, payment of wages otherwise than in
current coin--apply to any persons under a contract of service with an
employer for a specified time for industrial purposes; members of a
family working for a parent or husband are not included; outworkers
are covered. Control of fines and deductions from wages applies only
in factory industries and shops employing at least 20 workers. Shop
hours are regulated by requiring shops to be closed generally between
9 P.M. and 5 A.M., by requiring a fixed mid-day rest of 1½ hours and
at least 10 hours' rest in the 24 for assistants. These limits can be
modified by administrative authority. Notice of hours and working
rules must be affixed. During the hours of compulsory closing sale of
goods on the streets or from house to house is forbidden. Under the
Commercial Code, as under the Civil Code, every employer is bound to
adopt every possible measure for maintaining the safety, health and
good conduct of his employés. By an order of the Imperial Chancellor
under the Commercial Code seats must be provided for commercial
assistants and apprentices.
_Austria._--The Industrial Code of Austria, which in its present
outline (modified by later enactments) dates from 1883, must be
carefully distinguished from the Industrial Code of the kingdom of
Hungary. The latter is, owing to the predominantly agricultural
character of the population, of later origin, and hardly had practical
force before the law of 1893 provided for inspection and prevention of
accidents in factories. No separate mining code exists in Hungary, and
conditions of labour are regulated by the Austrian law of 1854. The
truck system is repressed on lines similar to those in Austria and
Germany. As regards limitation of hours of adult labour, Hungary may
be contrasted with both those empires in that no restriction of hours
applies either to men's or women's hours, whereas in Austrian
factories both are limited to an 11-hours' day with exceptional
overtime for which payment must always be made to the worker. The
Austrian Code has its origin, however, like the British Factory Acts,
in protection of child labour. Its present scope is determined by the
Imperial "Patent" of 1859, and all industrial labour is included
except mining, transport, fisheries, forestry, agriculture and
domestic industries. Factories are defined as including industries in
which a "manufacturing process is carried on in an enclosed place by
the aid of not less than twenty workers working with machines, with
subdivision of labour, and under an employer who does not himself
manually assist in the work." In smaller handicraft industries the
compulsory gild system of organization still applies. In every
industrial establishment, large or small, the sanitary and safety
provisions, general requirement of Sunday rest, and annual holidays
(with conditional exceptions), prohibition of truck and limitation of
the ages of child labour apply. Night work for women, 8 P.M. to 5
A.M., is prohibited only in factory industries; for young workers it
is prohibited in any industry. Pauses in work are required in all
industries; one hour at least must be given at mid-day, and if the
morning and afternoon spells exceed 5 hours each, another half-hour's
rest at least must be given. Children may not be employed in
industrial work before 12 years, and then only 8 hours a day at work
that is not injurious and if educational requirements are observed.
The age of employment is raised to 14 for "factories," and the work
must be such as will not hinder physical development. Women may not be
employed in regular industrial occupation within one month after
childbirth. In certain scheduled unhealthy industries, where
certificates of authorization from local authorities must be obtained
by intending occupiers, conditions of health and safety for workers
can be laid down in the certificate. The Minister of the Interior is
empowered to draw up regulations prohibiting or making conditions for
the employment of young workers or women in dangerous or unhealthy
industries. The provisions against truck cover not only all industrial
workers engaged in manual labour under a contract with an employer,
but also shop-assistants; the special regulations against fines and
deductions apply to factory workers and shops where at least 20
workers are employed. In mines under the law of 1884, which
supplements the general mining law, employment of women and girls
underground is prohibited; boys from 12 to 16 and girls from 12 to 18
may only be employed at light work above ground; 14 is the earliest
age of admission for boys underground. The shifts from bank to bank
must not exceed 12 hours, of which not more than 10 may be effective
work. Sunday rest must begin not later than 6 A.M., and must be of 24
hours' duration. These last two provisions do not hold in case of
pressing danger for safety, health or property. Sick and accident
funds and mining associations are legislated for in minutest detail.
The general law provides for safety in working, but special rules
drawn up by the district authorities lay down in detail the conditions
of health and safety. As regards manufacturing industry, the
Industrial Code lays no obligation on employers to report accidents,
and until the Accident Insurance Law of 1889 came into force no
statistics were available. In Austria, unlike Germany, the factory
inspectorate is organized throughout under a central chief inspector.
_Scandinavian Countries._--In Sweden the Factory Law was amended in
January 1901; in Denmark in July 1901. Until that year, however,
Norway was in some respects in advance of the other two countries by
its law of 1892, which applied to industrial works, including metal
works of all kinds and mining. Women were thereby prohibited from
employment: (a) underground; (b) in cleaning or oiling machinery in
motion; (c) during six weeks after childbirth, unless provided with a
medical certificate stating that they might return at the end of four
weeks without injury to health; (d) in dangerous, unhealthy or
exhausting trades during pregnancy. Further, work on Sundays and
public holidays is prohibited to all workers, adult and youthful, with
conditional exceptions under the authority of the inspectors. Children
over 12 are admitted to industrial work on obtaining certificates of
birth, of physical fitness and of elementary education. The hours of
children are limited to 6, with pauses, and of young persons (of 14 to
18 years) to 10, with pauses. Night work between 8 P.M. and 6 A.M. is
prohibited. All workers are entitled to a copy of a code of factory
rules containing the terms of the contract of work drawn up by
representatives of employés with the employers and sanctioned by the
inspector. Health and safety in working are provided for in detail in
the same law of 1892. Special rules may be made for dangerous trades,
and in 1899 such rules were established for match factories, similar
to some of the British rules, but notably providing for a dental
examination four times yearly by a doctor. In Denmark, regulation
began with unhealthy industries, and it was not until the law of 1901
came into force, on the 1st of January 1902, that children under 12
years have been excluded from factory labour. Control of child labour
can be strengthened by municipal regulation, and this has been done in
Copenhagen by an order of the 23rd of May 1903. In Sweden the 12
years' limit had for some time held in the larger factories; the scope
has been extended so that it corresponds with the Norwegian law. The
hours of children are, in Denmark, 6½ for those under 14 years; in
Sweden 6 for those under 13 years. Young persons may not in either
country work more than 10 hours daily, and night work, which is
forbidden for persons under 18 years, is now defined as in Norway.
Women may not be employed in industry within four weeks of childbirth,
except on authority of a medical certificate. All factories in Sweden
where young workers are employed are subject to medical inspection
once a year. Fencing of machinery and hygienic conditions
(ventilation, cubic space, temperature, light) are regulated in
detail. In Denmark the use of white phosphorus in manufacture of
lucifer matches has been prohibited since 1874, and special
regulations have been drawn up by administrative orders which
strengthen control of various unhealthy or dangerous industries, e.g.
dry-cleaning works, printing works and type foundries, iron foundries
and engineering works. A special act of the 6th of April 1906
regulates labour and sanitary conditions in bakehouses and
confectionery works.
_Italy and Spain._--The wide difference between the industrial
development of these southern Latin countries and the two countries
with which this summary begins, and the far greater importance of the
agricultural interests, produced a situation, as regards labour
legislation until as recently as 1903, which makes it convenient to
touch on the comparatively limited scope of their regulations at the
close of the series. It was stated by competent and impartial
observers from each of the two countries, at the International
Congress on Labour Laws held at Brussels in 1897, that the lack of
adequate measures for protection of child labour and inefficient
administration of such regulations as exist was then responsible for
abuse of their forces that could be found in no other European
countries. "Their labour in factories, workshops, and mines
constitutes a veritable martyrdom" (Spain). "I believe that there is
no country where a sacrifice of child life is made that is comparable
with that in certain Italian factories and industries" (Italy). In
both countries important progress has since been made in organizing
inspection and preventing accidents. In Spain the first step in the
direction of limitation of women's hours of labour was taken by a law
of 1900, which took effect in 1902, in regulations for reduction of
hours of labour for adults to 11, normally, in the 24. Hours of
children under 14 must not exceed 6 in any industrial work nor 8 in
any commercial undertaking. Labour before the age of 10 years and
night work between 6 P.M. and 5 A.M. was prohibited, and powers were
taken to extend the prohibition of night work to young persons under
16 years. The labour of children in Italy was until 1902 regulated in
the main by a law of 1886, but a royal decree of 1899 strengthened it
by classing night work for children under 12 years as "injurious,"
such work being thereby generally prohibited for them, though
exceptions are admitted; at the same time it was laid down that
children from 12 to 15 years might not be employed for more than 6
hours at night. The law of 1886 prohibits employment of children
under 9 years in industry and under 10 years in underground mining.
Night work for women was in Italy first prohibited by the law of the
19th of June 1902, and at the same time also for boys under 15, but
this regulation was not to take full effect for 5 years as regards
persons already so employed; by the same law persons under 15 and
women of any age were accorded the claim to one day's complete rest of
24 hours in the week; the age of employment of children in factories,
workshops, laboratories, quarries, mines, was raised to 12 years
generally and 14 years for underground work; the labour of female
workers of any age was prohibited in underground work, and power was
reserved to further restrict and regulate their employment as well as
that of male workers under 15. Spain and Italy, the former by the law
of the 13th of March 1900, the latter by the law of the 19th of June
1902, prohibit the employment of women within a fixed period of
childbirth; in Spain the limit is three weeks, in Italy one month,
which may be reduced to three weeks on a medical certificate of
fitness. Sunday rest is secured in industrial works, with regulated
exceptions in Spain by the law of the 3rd of March 1904. It is in the
direction of fencing and other safeguards against accidents and as
regards sanitary provisions, both in industrial workplaces and in
mines, that Italy has made most advance since her law of 1890 for
prevention of accidents. Special measures for prevention of malaria
are required in cultivation of rice by a ministerial circular of the
23rd of April 1903; work may not begin until an hour after sunrise and
must cease an hour before sunset; children under 13 may not be
employed in this industry. (A. M, An.)