out the year, and as rapidly as possible they have been answered. It is probable that this phase of our work will increase rather than diminish. Some provision should be made for quickly supplying accurate information. This work is important, and should not be neglected. The Association, however, should not be expected to permanently assume a burden which the federal government can be induced to carry.

BULLETIN OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR OFFICE.

The most exhaustive and authoritative source of information on labor legislation is furnished through the American Association in the form of the quarterly Bulletin of the International Labor Office. This bulletin, printed in three languages, German, French and English, is now recognized as the only periodical publication that keeps the reader informed concerning the progress of labor legislation throughout the world.

For a time, the usual delays of preparation and publication of material of this nature, coupled with further unavoidable delays, have made the delivery of the Bulletin a slow process. Within the last few months, however, the work has progressed more rapidly, and six quarterly numbers of the Bulletin were delivered during 1909. The preparation of this Bulletin is an expensive but extremely valuable piece of work. It should be encouraged in every possible way.

MONTHLY DEPARTMENT IN THE SURVEY.

Although the quarterly Bulletin furnishes an invaluable review of the labor legislation of the world, it does not attempt to supply the need for a current American publication dealing with this subject. Our Association is scarcely well enough established to consider the publication of an American review, valuable as such a periodical would be. In a less pretentious way, however, our or

ganization is fortunate in having a regular monthly medium for items of special interest to American readers. An arrangement, made with the editor of the Survey magazine, enables our organization to reach a wide circle of readers each month through a special department on Labor Legislation. This department serves to draw the attention of our readers to important publications and news notes of more general interest in our field. It also serves a useful purpose in presenting from month to month a few typical examples of advanced social legislation from European experience.

The Survey has also published from time to time, special articles prepared at the request of the Association. Among these articles during the present year were several which formed a very interesting and valuable series on Inter-State Competition.

ANNUAL REVIEW OF LABOR LEGISLATION.

Perhaps one of the most frequent complaints heard with reference to publications of labor laws, is that often in the past they have appeared too late for the use of those actively interested in securing legislation. The nature of the work involves frequent and exasperating delays, and exhaustive reprints of labor laws necessarily consume much time in the preparation. But less voluminous digests can be made and issued more quickly.

Early last spring, officials of this Association conceived the idea of briefly reviewing the labor legislation of 1909, as soon as possible after the adjournment of the various State legislatures. The work of preparation was turned over to the Assistant Secretary, Irene Osgood, who in a carefully arranged pamphlet of forty pages, reviewed the labor legislation of the forty-two states which held legislative sessions during that year. Several thousand copies of this pamphlet were printed and distributed. Its

initial reception, re-inforced by a continual demand for additional copies, indicates the need of something of this kind, and the Association will undertake the publication of such a legislative review each year hereafter.

SUMMARY OF LAWS IN FORCE.

A tabulated summary of Labor Laws in force in this country, so arranged that one may see at a glance which States excel in reasonable requirements and which States are more backward, has been one of the expressed longings of the International Office. The preparation of such tables, even after the facts have been collected, is an arduous undertaking, requiring extreme care and sound judgment on the part of the student. But the work was begun in the belief that the results would amply justify the undertaking.

The first three sections of this summary have been published. A fourth is now in press, and a fifth is in preparation.

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.

Prominent members of our organization made the suggestion at a meeting in Boston last May, that this Association should keep in touch with the movement for industrial education, and, if possible, present a study of present legislation bearing on that subject. The suggestion was communicated to Professor Elliott of the University of Wisconsin, who during the next few months prepared for us a classified summary of the existing legislation relative to industrial education in public, elementary and secondary schools. This, as Professor Elliott says in a prefatory note to the pamphlet recently published by this Association, is timely, "In this day of many earnest endeavors to adapt the work of our educational system both to the modern requirements for

individual efficiency and to the demands for the new industrial order." At least, we hope this effort may be found of value in helping to crystalize the "progressive consciousness of the new needs of contemporary life which constantly endeavors to embody itself in progressive legislation."

WOMAN'S WORK.

Another subject which has interested the Association in a practical way during the past year, has been the problem of limiting the working hours of women. Our International Association has, in Europe, arranged international treaties which prohibit the night work of women in fourteen countries, and otherwise place maximum limitation upon the hours of labor for females. The question of limiting the working hours of women in this country has been focused since last summer upon the ten-hour law in Illinois. The Association, impressed with the fact that the setting aside of this law in the important industrial State of Illinois, would establish a serious obstacle to the progress of social legislation in America, has done what it could to arouse public attention to the seriousness of the crisis. On October 15th, the Association sent a special circular letter to a selected list of 1,000 Illinois people. This letter was reprinted and distributed by Illinois organizations in furtherance of the campaign. for the protection of women.

Under the general head of Woman's Work the American Association, has also distributed to its members, several important pamphlets on this subject. One of these, prepared by Irene Osgood, under the title "Women Workers in Milwaukee Tanneries", and published by the Wisconsin Bureau of Labor, attracted very wide attention. Copies of the Illinois Ten-Hour Law, as well as the report of the Illinois Industrial Commission, with A

Plea for Women Workers, were also mailed out from the Association headquarters. More recently still, the Association has distributed several thousand copies of the pamphlet: "Constitutional Aspects of the Ten-Hour Law", published by the Illinois Department of Labor, but prepared by Ernst Freund, as president of our Illinois State Branch. Professor Freund has also secured as an aid in the oral defense of the Illinois ten-hour law, the services of Attorney William James Calhoun, more recently appointed by President Taft as Minister to China.

Long before the injunction was issued setting aside the ten-hour law in Illinois, and months even before the law was enacted, the American Association had been making a comparative study of the laws which limit the working hours of women. More recently the work was put, for final arrangement and verification, into the hands of Maud Swett, a trained student in this field. The results of this painstaking work, put in graphic form in a pamphlet of sixteen pages, and published by this Association in the middle of December, are now accessible to our members. This work has been undertaken with the conviction that "permanent industrial progress cannot be built upon the physical exhaustion of women." In the work on this topic care has been taken to avoid, so far as possible, duplication of any of the work undertaken and carried to such a splendid conclusion by Josephine Goldmark of the National Consumers' League, and Louis D. Brandeis of Boston. Conscious coöperation between allied organizations should be an important phase of similar undertakings in the future.

CHILD LABOR.

The policy of the American Association with reference to topics of labor legislation already largely cared for by