INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION.
Members of the League of Nations agree to establish a permanent
organization to promote international adjustment of labor conditions
to consist of an annual conference and a labor office, the former
composed of four representatives of each state, two from the
government and one each from employers and employed.
The international labor office will be established at Geneva as a part
of the League. It is to collect and distribute information on labor
throughout the world, publish a periodical, and prepare agenda for the
conference. The first conference will take place in October, 1919, at
Washington to discuss the eight-hour day, prevention of unemployment,
child labor, and similar questions.
Nine principles of labor conditions are recognized in the treaty. They
include the principle that labor should not be regarded as a mere
commodity; the right of association of employers and employees; a wage
adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; the eight-hour
day, or forty-eight hour week; a weekly rest of twenty-four hours,
including Sunday; abolition of child labor, education, and proper
physical development of children, equal pay for equal work for men and
women; equitable treatment of all workers lawfully resident therein,
including foreigners; a system of inspection in which women shall take
part.