might seem to have some force in this state. It appears that some of the courts have not allowed the evidence of the factory inspector to prevail against that of the employer. If this is true, Mr. McMackin would not have any assurance of winning his cases except when re-inspections had been made —of course by another inspector. Such corroborative testimony should be sufficient and prosecutions might advisedly be held until a second investigation had been made. According to Mr. McMackin's own report the total number of re-inspections was 2,174. Had he converted 5,000 or 10,000 of his inspections into re-inspections, the experience of other states shows that he should then have been able to secure convictions in at least from 1,000 to 2,000 cases. His actual record in 1903 was thirty-nine. Mr. McMackin, it would seem, has left at least nine-tenths of his principle duty undone.
How are we to account for the refusal of the labor commissioner to enforce New York labor laws? One explanation suggests itself. As labor commissioner Mr. McMackin is head of three bureaus: the Bureau of Arbritration, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Factory Inspection. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the hands of experts, has done excellent work both before and after Mr. McMackin's incumbency. It seems possible that Mr. McMackin, laboring under a fatal misapprehension of the duties of his office, has turned the factory inspection bureau also into a bureau of statistics. Mr. McMackin is "elated," to quote from his last report, because his report shows that 100,000 more employés were found at work in the places inspected than during the year before. Members of his staff say that he calls in almost half of the inspectors from their field work several months before the end of the year to do office work on the statistical report of the factory inspection done.
As a bureau of factory statistics the bureau of factory inspection has been a success. As a bureau of factory inspection it has been an almost total failure. Is the $85,000 which is appropriated principally for the enforcement of the labor laws to be squandered on the work of mere inspection and statistical reports, while the untold sickness, accidents, long hours and child labor caused by the non-enforcement of the law flourish and increase? Or will the state of New York, which has enacted some of the best factory laws in the Union, secure the appointment of a chief of factory inspection who knows what the factory inspection is for?
The Slavic Races in Cleveland
The Slavic races in Cleveland number one-fourth of the population and include Bohemians, Slovaks, Slovenes, Poles, Croatians and Russians. The most numerous are the Bohemians, Poles, and Slovaks.
Of the Bohemians there are about forty thousand. Like other foreigners they choose to live in groups and have three large settlements. They are among the most intelligent and progressive of our immigrants. Nearly all of them have had a common school education and their record as useful citizens is one to be proud of. They strive to own their homes and many of them already possess comfortable, attractive houses.
The Bohemians have representatives in nearly all the trades and professions, the younger generation, especially, turning to law, medicine and business. There are thirty doctors, twenty lawyers and many successful business men who have an established reputation for honesty and fair dealing. In the department of education they are also doing their share. Several of the young women are school teachers, one being on the teaching staff in one of the high schools, another a member of the Board of Examiners, a third, in the training school for teachers.
In politics they belong chiefly to the two great parties. For a dozen years or more some of the best men in the city council have come from the districts
- ↑ Miss Kucera is a nurse, Bohemian by birth.
