EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY. 53 EMPORIA. from statutes forbidding them, are valid or not, is a question upon which the courts disagree. In England their validity is upheld, while in some of the United States they have been adjudged void, as against public polity and the policy of I he statute. The extension of employers' liability by the legislation above described has led to the insti- tution of a novel kind of insurance, known as employer's liability insurance, whereby the em- ployer is insured against loss by reason of his liability to his employees; the insurer, in consid- eration of a premium paid by the employer, Agreeing to pay all damages with which the lat- ter is legally charged or for which he may become legally liable. Bibliography. Bureau of Labor Statistics, New York, Seventeenth Repent ( ISil!)) , Economic and Social Aspects; Report of Industrial Com- mission: (a) Lindsay, Report on Railway Labor in tlic United Shitis (Laws and Court Decisions in Appendix) ; (b) IV. "Transportation" (Evi- dence of Witnesses) ; (c) V. "Laws." See also Dresser, Employer's Liability Arts (Saint Paul, 1902). See Labor Problem; Master and Ser- vant; Trade Unions. EMPLOYMENT BUREAU. Any agency intended to bring employers and the unemployed together. There are four kinds: (1) private agencies; (2) trade unions for skilled labor; (3) philanthropic societies; and (4) free bu- reaus established by national or local govern- ments. The free bureaus have in view the larger object of adjusting the entire labor market. The fullest expression of this method has been found in France, where in 1851 a comprehensive scheme for the establishment of employment bureaus throughout the country was submitted to the Legislative Assembly. The measure failed of adoption; but the idea was persistently agitated until October 7, 1888, when the Bourse de Tra- vail was opened in Paris with a subsidy of 150,- 000 francs from the Government. A large build- ing was erected in 1892 which became the head- quarters of labor syndicates. Owing to a dispute between the labor syndicates and the adminis- tration it was closed July 6, 1893. It was re- opened in 1896, and is at present under the management of a commission chosen in part by the labor syndicates, in part by the administra- tion. There are also throughout France nu- merous bureaus managed by unions of labor syndicates. These ordinarily seek to place mem- bers of syndicates — or unions — alone, though they may extend their assistance to other work- men with the hope of inducing them to join the syndicates. A national bureau has been estab- lished with the purpose of equalizing the supply of labor in different parts of the country. This bureau received in 1900 an appropriation from the State; but since it was found to employ its influence to keep workers away from districts where strikes are in progress, Government aid has been withdrawn from it. Public bureaus have been opened in forty-nine other cities. In 1870 the system was established in Belgium with good results. In England the movement is ex- perimental. The Egham bureau was established in 1885, and there are now a few in London and other cities. Switzerland has offices at Bern and Basel, and since 1889 several Italian cities have started labor exchanges, the most important being at .Milan. In German} tli" movement i recent, but extensive. In addition to the official bureaus, there exist employers' unions and joint associations of employers and trade unions. The lirst municipal bureau grew out of such an asso- ciation started at, Freiburg in 1S92. Bureau organized by other municipalities have been espe- cially successful in southern Germany. The best System is that of Munich, with an elective board ot employees and employers, having a citj officer as chairman. Certain bureaus and an associa tion of German employment offices have been organized. At the lirst meeting of the associa tion at .Munich in September, -1898, 58 cities with 08 bureaus were represented, including Mo main- tained by municipalities, 8 by provinces, and the rest by philanthropic and labor associations. In the United States the private agencies play an important part in adjusting the conditions of the labor market. Since it is usually laborers of the lowest and most ignorant classes who are compelled to make use of an agency for finding employment, it has been easy for unscrupulous parties to secure great, profits through the estab- lishment of fraudulent bureaus. A number of States have attempted to meet this evil by re- quiring the licensing of private employment bu- reaus, or the furnishing of bonds. In other States public labor bureaus have been established with the hope of destroying private agencies al- together. State laws providing for offices in connection with the labor bureaus have been passed in Ohio, Nebraska, Montana, New York, Illinois, and Missouri. Ohio, as the pioneer by the law of April 28, 1890, started bureaus in five cities. The New York City bureau reports success. Illinois has the best law (April 11, 1899), with provisions for collecting statistics. Three offices have been opened in Chicago. The Montana and Nebraska laws were inadequate, and the Montana law was repealed. In Missouri, before obtaining legislation in 1899, the Commis- sioner of Labor opened an office in Saint Louis. Kansas City now has an office. California and Iowa have made attempts to open bureaus with out legislative enactments. The municipal bureau of Seattle, opened in 1894, is of special interest since it does an extensive business throughout the State and even from Idaho to Alaska. The philan- thropic agencies are: the charity organizations, Young Men's Christian Associations, churches, settlements, and the Salvation Army. Since these agencies deal chiefly with the classes of the population which are of the lowest efficiency and which have a tendency to sink to permanent pauperism, their influence upon the distribution of labor is small. Consult Quarterly Journal of Economics, xiv. (Boston, 1900) (notes give ref- erence to State Bureau of Labor Reports and Foreign Reports). See Charity Organization Society; Labor Exchanges; Unemployment. EMPOLI, em'po-le. A city of Italy, on the left bank of the Arno, 19 miles west of Florence (Map: Italy, E 4i. Empoli manufactures straw. cotton, and leather goods, faience, glass, and macaroni, and markets fruit and vegetables. Population, in 1900. 20.404. EMPOLI, Jacopo in Clementi da. See Cle- menti. Jacopo di. da Empoli. EMPO'RIA. A city ami county-seat of Lyon County, Kan., 01 miles southwest of Topeka, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas and the Atehi-
