The Labor 'Question 253 



to try to arbitrate when the fight is on and both sides 

 have grown stubborn and bitter. 



The Bureau of Labor Statistics has done more 

 than merely gather the statistics, for by keeping in 

 close touch with all the leading labor interests it has 

 kept them informed on countless matters that were 

 really of vital concern to them. Incidentally, one 

 pleasing feature of the work of this bureau has been 

 the steady upward tendency shown during the last 

 four years both in amount of wages received and in 

 the quantity and steadiness of employment. No 

 other man has benefited so much as the wage-worker 

 by the growth in prosperity during these years. 



The Factory Inspection Department deals chiefly, 

 of course, with conditions in great cities. One very 

 important phase of its work during the last two 

 years has been the enforcement of the anti-sweat 

 shop law, which is primarily designed to do away 

 with the tenement-house factory. The conditions of 

 life in some of the congested tenement-house dis 

 tricts, notably in New York City, had become such 

 as to demand action by the State. As with other 

 reforms, in order to make it stable and permanent, 

 it had to be gradual. It proceeded by evolution, not 

 revolution. But progress has been steady, and 

 wherever needed it has been radical. Much remains 

 to be done, but the condition of the dwellers in the 

 congested districts has been markedly improved, to 



