Summary of business done by German public employment offices for 13 months, July, 1897, to July, 1898, both inclusive:

A more recent number of the Labour Gazette contains the following report of the British consul at Dünseldorf concerning the free employment registry at Cologne:

The employment registry was established towards the end of 1894 by a joint federation of employers' and workmen's societies. The municipality provides the offices, and gives an annual subsidy of £330, which practically suffices to pay the working expenses.

The operations of the employment registry are controlled by a board composed of equal numbers of representatives of employers' and workmen's societies, and were as follows in each of the years (ended June (30th) 1896-99:

The number of situations sought in the men's branch in the latest of these years was 14,423 (compared with 11,038 situations offered in that branch), of which 4,953 were situations sought by agricultural labourers or day labourers; 2,224 by smiths, fitters, etc.; 1,966 by porters, etc.; and 1,447 by joiners, wheelwrights, coopers, etc. The situations applied for in the same year in women's branch numbered 5,241 (compared with 9,394 situations offered in that branch), of which 3,272 were situations sought by domestic servants (cooks, etc.,) and 1,565 by laundresses, charwomen, etc.

a "This 'ast set of figures is subject to some deduction, since in some registries a situation is counted twice, viz: once to the employer and once to the workman."-British Labour Gazette.

The house agency department, intended for the free use of workmen, shop assistants, minor clerks, etc., was added to the registry of April 1st, 1898, the municipality defraying the initial cost (£40), and granting an annual subvention of £150 for working expenses. During the first three months 413 dwellings (92 containing one room, 123 two rooms, 90 three, 53 four, and 55 five or more) were offered, and 1,198 (102 to contain one room, 500 two rooms, 380 three, 137 four, and 79 five or more) were applied for through the registry.

BAVARIA.

The British Labour Gazette, August 1897, translated from the Deutcher-Anzeiger the following notice:

"The Clearing House System of Labour Registers in Bavaria:-The municipal employment registries of Kaiserslantern is now a center for focussing and redistributing information as to applications for work and for work-people received at the 9 outlying public registries of the Palatinate. The lists of situations offered and applied for at the outlying registries are mailed by the latter on Tuesdays and Fridays to the head office in Kaiserslantern, when they are embodied with the applications received at that office in a general list, copies of which are sent to the outlying offices on Wednesdays and Fridays to be posted up, or otherwise brought to the notice of persons likely to be interested. The cost is bourne by the municipality of Kaiserslantern."

No data showing the volume of business done by these Bavarian employment offices is accessible at this time. However, the fact that such institutions have commended themselves alike to the people and the government officials is witnessed by the practical endorsement and extension of them contained in the decree of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, dated May 1, 1898.

The following summary of the decree is translated by the Labour Gazette from the Allgemeine Zeitung:

"A decree of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, dated May 1, provides for the creation of clearing house arrangements in relation to the labour registries of that kingdom. There are to be 6 district registries, each of which will coöperate with the outlying registries situated within the area assigned to it. The outlying registries will coöperate with the communal administrations. Employers in outlying localities when in need of workmen, will apply to the nearest local labour registry or to the district registry. Workmen in outlying districts in search of employment apply to the communal authority of their town, etc., filling in a form which that authority will forward to the nearest local registry or, failing in that, to the district registry. A local registry receiving an application (from employer or workman) in the first instance will itself endeavor to supply the want, and if unable to do so will forward the application to the district registry with which it is affiliated.

"The district registries will draw up lists of vacant situations and of applications for work which they have been unable to meet, and may distribute the same amongst communes of more than 3,000 inhabitants situated within the district. With respect to agricultural labourers, the district committee is to publish the necessary details at regular intervals in certain newspapers."

RUSSIA.

The British Labour Gazette for March, 1898, qnotes from the Soziale Praxis as follows:

"Labour Registries at Moscow:-Soziale Praxis gives particulars concerning the working of certain labour registries at Moscow, and states that a commission has been appointed charged with the duty of taking steps toward the establishment of a municipal labour registry, and on the recommendation of this body a provisional labour registry has been opened by the municipality which, between September and November 1897, found situations for applicants in more than 2,000 cases. It has now been determined to establish a central registry for all occupations, on the lines of those at Munich."

THE LAWS OF OTHER STATES AND THE RESULTS OF THEIR OPERATION.

THE OHIO LAW.

The first of the United States to try the experiment of free public employment offices was Ohio. The Cincinnati Labor Congress, composed of delegates from all the trade and labor unions of that city, began the agitation for "free public employment offices," and in 1890 this congress drafted a bill which it requested the state legislature to pass. The bill was introuced in the Senate as drafted, by State Senator M. C. Corcoran, of Cincinnati. In its original shape it made the free employment offices branches of the State Bureau of Labor Statistics, fixed the salaries of their officers and placed the entire expense upon the state. The Senate, however, saw fit to amend the bill so as to require the salaries of superintendents to be fixsd and paid by the city councils of the cities in which the offices were located; and while the law fixed the salary of the clerks it required the cities to pay these salaries, leaving only the general expenses of these offices to be borne by the state. The House of Representatives tried to amend the bill as it passed the Senate by substituting the original bill, which it passed; but the Senate refused to concur, and in joint conference the House was forced to yield.

The law passed April 28, 1890, with an amendment (Section 308 a), which was passed the next year, i. e., March 24, 1891, is as follows:

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 308 OF THE REVISED STATUTES OF OHIO.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that Section 308 of the Revised Statutes be so amended as to read as follows: SEC. 308. The commissioner shall have an office in the state house, which shall be a bureau of statistics of labor, and he shall collect, arrange and systemize all statistics relating to the various branches of labor in the state,

and especially those relating to the commercial, industrial, social, educational and sanitary conditions of the laboring classes. Said commissioner is hereby authorized and directed, immediately after the passage of this act, to organize and establish in all cities of the first class, and cities of the first and second grade of the second class in the State of Ohio, a free public employment office, and shall appoint one superintendent for each of said offices to discharge the duties hereinafter set forth. Said superintendents shall cause to be posted in front of their said offices on a sign board, or in a suitableplace on the building where such offices are located, the words, "Free Public Employment Office.” It shall be the duty of such superintendents to receive all applications for labor of those desiring employment and those desiring to employ labor, and record their names in a book kept for that purpose, designating opposite the name of each applicant the character of employment or labor desired, and the address of such applicant. Each of the said superintendents shall be provided with such clerical assistance as in the judgment of the commissioner may appear necessary for properly conducting the duties of their several offices.

No compensation or fee shall, directly or indirectly, be charged to or received from any person or persons seeking employment, or any person or persons desiring to employ labor through any of said offices. Said superintendents shall make a weekly report on Thursday of each week to said commissioner of all persons desiring to employ labor, and the class thereof, and all persons applying for employment through their respective offices, and the character of employment desired by each applicant; also, of all persons securing employment through their respective offices and the character thereof, and a semi-annual report of the expense of maintaining such offices. Said commissioner shall cause to be printed weekly a list of all applicants and the character of employment desired by them, and of those desiring to employ labor, and the class thereof, received by him from the respective offices aforesaid, and cause a true copy of such list on Monday of each week to be mailed to the superintendent of each of said offices in the state, which said list by the superintendent shall be posted immediately, on receipt thereof, in a conspicuous place in his office, subject to the inspection of all persons desiring employment. Said superintendents shall perform such other duties in the collection of labor statistics as said commissioner shall determine. Any superintendent or clerk, as herein provided, who directly or indirecty. charges or receives any compensation from any person whomsoever in secur-ing employment, or labor for any other person, or persons, as provided in this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be fined in any sum not exceeding fifty dollars and imprisoned in the county jail or workhouse not exceeding 30 days. The superintendent of each of said offices shall receive a salary, to be fixed by the council of such city, payable monthly. The clerk or clerks required in any such offices, shall receive a salary of not more than fifty dollars per month; provided the compensation of such superintendents and clerks so appointed shall be paid out of the city treasury, which such free public employment office may be located..

7 L. S.

in