trimmer to match or combine the colors properly." In one of the extremely fashionable millinery stores, we found a fine, large, artistically-furnished salesroom, while the workrooms were in the basement under the pavement.

While some of the factories visited were in somewhat grimy and disorderly condition, not one of them was poorly lighted or unsanitary. Here, again, it is gratifying to find the attention given to the comfort of employés in the newer plants.

The law requiring the provision of separate water-closets for women is generally observed. In older buildings, these often adjoin the workrooms and are not properly ventilated. In every place inspected, they were furnished with sanitary plumbing. There were only five places bad enough to justify a complaint.

5. SEATS FOR WOMEN EMPLOYÉS.

Evidently the problem of how to provide women clerks with comfortable seats that will not prove serious obstructions in the narrow spaces behind the counters, has not yet been solved in San Francisco. In one place there were folding seats that looked fairly comfortable, but these must be attached to strong fixtures, and even then have a tendency to sag. Several stores have abandoned them as troublesome and unsuitable. The little stools which are most commonly used are very much in the way when a number of clerks serve behind one counter. In two or three stores the seats consist of a flat board which can be slipped between shelves or drawers when not in use. In some instances the proprietor's ideas as to what constitute "suitable seats" are peculiar. Among those to which they apply the term are little stepladders used to reach the upper shelves, the drawers, which can be drawn out to make little perches, and candy-boxes about six inches deep and two feet long, on which one might balance one's self.

The managers all declared emphatically that they did not object to girls sitting down when no customers were waiting. A number of girls were asked whether they were allowed to use the seats, and in no case did a clerk say that it was not permitted. While we rarely visited a store without finding some clerk seated, yet most of the women seem to stand much more than is necessary. Whether this is due to a careless expenditure of their strength or to a fear of being considered lacking in devotion to business, we are unable to say.

6. THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS.

It would take the full time of one person to enforce fully the laws for the protection of women and children in the cities about the bay. The child-labor law is worded in a peculiar way: Its penalty is operative when the person or corporation "knowingly violates" its provisions. To enforce these laws, every employer should be visited by an

agent of the Labor Bureau at least once a year, and places where a large number of women and children work should be inspected as often as once in three months. As has been pointed out, one of the chief difficulties met in attempting to enforce the law is the tendency to return false age certificates. This difficulty has been met in the Eastern States by stringent laws. In Massachusetts every child employed must have a sworn certificate, which not only gives the age and description of personal appearance, but also must show evidence of ability to read and write, and of regular attendance at night-school. Any officer who certifies to a false certificate is subject to a fine. The New York laws passed in 1903 are even stricter in their requirements. California lags behind the other progressive States of the Union in her age limit and educational requirements of child laborers.

Among the States which now have the 14-year limit in factories and stores are: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Idaho, Wisconsin, Colorado, and South Dakota. Kentucky, Maryland, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, and Tennessee have a 14-year limit for factories. In some of these States a child may work during the school vacation. In most of them educational qualifications are required before a child between 14 and 16 years of age is permitted to work.

Fortunately our industries in the past have not been those where the work of little children could be utilized. It would be well to come up to the standards set by the rest of the civilized world before the difficulties of securing legislative protection for child workers have been increased by the investment of a large amount of capital in industries where they can be exploited. If the economic development of the State is to be "promoted," the endeavor to secure a growth that is based on a sound and progressive policy deserves as much attention as the efforts to increase the supply of labor or variety of industries in which it can be utilized.

THE APPRENTICE SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA.

The different systems which control the several branches of the manual training of young men are not only of much interest to the student of statistics, but they are also of great economic importance. It means much to a country to have a complement of mechanics skilled in all branches of their respective trades, and the rules by which they are governed as apprentices have much to do with their thoroughness and proficiency as journeymen.

Endeavoring to supply information from which one may form his own ideas as to the relative merits of the systems in this State, an investigation was undertaken by this Bureau, and while the results are not complete, still a fair idea may be gained of existing conditions in the several trades considered. For the greater part the method of correspondence was used, although an attempt was made to gather data by interviews and by extracting from the by-laws of several of the unions material relative to the subject at hand.

Letters were sent to one hundred and twenty-eight unions throughout the State and to eighty-five different manufacturers. It was sought in these to gain information relative to the length of time served by apprentices, their number as compared to the total number of journeymen, and the rules generally observed by both employer and employed in this field.

Eighty-two replies were received from the labor unions-64 per cent of the number addressed. The table on pages 19 and 20 was compiled from the data derived from these replies.

Turning our attention to the contents of this table it is seen that 13.41 per cent of the occupations named are those in which the apprentice system does not prevail. Of the total number of organizations reporting apprentices there are 22, or 30.9 per cent, in which the organization provides no rule restricting apprenticeship. Generally, the period of apprenticeship varies from two to five years, three and four years being the more common. All branches of the trade are taught respectively in about 75 per cent of such trades investigated. In a few cases the matter of the number of branches of a vocation taught is optional with the apprentice; in others, the foreman decides, the ability of the young workman being the criterion. As regards the age limit at which apprentices may be indentured considerable variation is shown, but 16 or 18 years seems to be the average. There are but four cases of the total number reporting to the Bureau in which apprentices are required to work a greater number of hours per day than journeymen.