In addition to these investigations the Bureau was obliged to bring 32 criminal prosecutions under the child labor law during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912. These prosecutions were against persons who had been given a warning and had failed to heed it. The Bureau also brought action against 30 boys for vending between ten o'clock at night and five o'clock in the morning. These boys were taken before the Juvenile Court and given an admonishment. We did not desire that any record of conviction should stand against the boys, but only desired to break up the practice of young boys being on the streets when they should be in bed.

Owing to a conflict between the child labor law and the compulsory education law, the former provides that no child under 15 years of age shall be employed without a juvenile court permit, which can only be obtained when the parent or parents of the child are incapacitated from labor through illness, and the latter that any child under 15 years of age need not attend school if he or she has completed the prescribed grammar school course; we were obliged to issue a new permit, which we designated as a Temporary Work Permit. This permit is issued only by the Bureau upon satisfactory proof that the child has completed the grammar school course. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, 181 of these permits were issued.

Temporary Work Permits Issued to Graduates of Grammar School, Under 15 Years of Age, Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1912.

The following tables give a record of these certificates and permits issued to children under 16 years of age permitting them to work under the provisions of the child labor law in the entire State, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912.

Out of the total number of certificates issued 607 or 29.4 per cent were issued in the city and county of San Francisco, 790 or 38.2 per cent in Los Angeles County, 385 or 18.6 per cent in Alameda County, while the remaining 284 or 13.8 per cent were issued in the other 55 counties of the State. 1372 certificates or 66.4 per cent of the total were issued to boys and 694 or 33.6 per cent to girls. Of the 155 certificates issued to illiterate children 120 or 77.4 per cent were issued in Los Angeles County while only 13 or 8.4 per cent were issued in San Francisco and 20 or 12.9 per cent in Alameda County. Boys constituted 72.3 per cent of the illiterates and girls 27.7 per cent.

Out of the total number of permits issued 142 or 43.5 per cent were issued in the city and county of San Francisco, 38 or 11.7 per cent in Los Angeles County and only 8 or 2.5 per cent in Alameda County. The remaining 138 permits or 42.3 per cent were issued in the other counties. 266 permits or 81.6 per cent of the total were issued to boys and only 60 or 18.4 per cent to girls.

These juvenile court permits are only for a limited period of time. The following table shows the length of time for which permits were issued:

Illiterate children are obliged to attend night school and must furnish employers with a certificate of attendance.

It will probably have been noticed that the number of all certificates and permits issued exceeds the number of children we found working in establishments inspected. This may be accounted for in many ways. In the first place we did not reach every establishment in the State during our inspection, nor did we inspect the offices of attorneys and other professional men who employ several children under sixteen years of age, but the principal reason is the fact that a large number of children obtain permits and only use them for a short period of time, or use them to work after school or on Saturdays for delivering newspapers, or use them in place of a vacation permit and then return to school. This investigation did not include the children working during the school vacations, the majority of whom are employed in the agricultural industries.

PAYMENT OF WAGES.

The legislature of 1911 enacted two laws that stand out as milestones in the cause of improving the conditions of those that depend upon their wages for their existence. These two laws are what are commonly known as the payment of wages law and the pay check law. The former provides for the payment of wages earned, immediately upon the discharge of an employee, or within five days, when an employee quits or resigns. It also provides for a monthly pay day and prohibits the withholding of wages for more than fifteen days. The latter law provides for the payment of wages in cash or in negotiable paper, payable upon demand without discount at some bank or established place of business in this State.

The legislature, however, failed to make any provision for the enforcement of these laws or to make any appropriation to defray the cost of enforcing them; and, like many other laws, they would have remained dead letters upon our statute books. This Bureau, however, appreciated their importance and immediately undertook to put them into effect, but we realized at the start what an enormous task lay before us; in fact, the collection of wages has taken up the bulk of our time and has made heavy inroads into our funds.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, 1899 claims for wages were filed in the Bureau, and investigated. We succeeded in collecting 1292 of these claims, amounting to $24,445.59. These figures represent only the individual cases handled by the Bureau and do not include those involving large numbers or groups which were settled at one time. If we included the latter the amount would run to over $50,000. For example, we had a case in which a large contractor failed and left his men stranded upon the work with wages amounting to over $5,000 due them. We called a conference with the attorneys for the principals, the contractor and the bonding company, and after a series of meetings it was agreed that the bonding company would continue the work and protect the claims of the laborers.

If the claimants had been compelled to resort to the collection agents. for the collection of their wages, they would have received less than $5,000 out of this amount; for, in the first place, over one half of the wage claims were so small that a collection agent would not handle. them, and, in the second place, the cost of collection would have amounted to over 50 per cent of the amount involved. Furthermore, the usual methods of collecting wages would take two or three months, whereas in the wages collected by this Bureau the majority of claims. have been settled in a space of three days after filing.

A typical case of the abuses that were practiced upon wage-earners by collection agencies was one in which a laborer turned over his claim

for wages to an agent for collection. The agent brought an action in the Justices' Court, and after a delay of about three months succeeded in collecting the amount due. The agent then sent the laborer a check for 50 cents as his share of the $20.00 wage claim he had presented, the remaining $19.50 having gone to pay costs and commissions.

The wage collection agencies have been practically driven out of business since this Bureau undertook the enforcement of the payment of wages law.

It will be rather interesting to note the methods pursued by the Bureau in the handling of these wage claims, and will give the reader an idea of the amount of work involved.

When a claim for wages is presented at the office of the Bureau, a record of the facts is made and a special agent is sent out to the employer to make an investigation. If the employer refuses to pay the wages claimed and cannot offer a satisfactory explanation, he is cited to appear before the Commissioner, at a certain day and hour. It has been found necessary to cite the employer in over 80 per cent of the cases. At the time set in the citation the case is taken up and heard, and both sides have an opportunity of being heard. If no settlement can be arrived at and the employer refuses to pay the amount of wages that has been determined upon as due the claimant, a citation is issued directing the employer to appear at the office of the district attorney, to show cause why a warrant should not be issued for violation of the provisions of the payment of wages law. When the case is called at the district attorney's office both parties are present, also a representative of the Bureau, and the claim is again taken up, and if the employer then refuses to pay the amount determined upon, a warrant is issued for his arrest. It has always been our earnest endeavor to avoid court proceedings and to arrive at an amicable settlement. A warrant for the arrest of the employer is only sought after all other means have failed, or where we have reason to believe that the employer intends to flee the jurisdiction. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, we were only obliged to make twelve arrests for nonpayment of wages.

The Bureau in all this work has adopted a policy of absolute fairness in deciding disputes between employer and employee, and it has always been our aim to have both parties go away with the conviction that they have received a square deal, and with a better understanding of their obligations toward each other.

The collection of certain wage claims has often involved a great deal of work, time and expense when the employer has failed and his business is attached by creditors, or when he goes through bankruptcy. In these cases the Bureau has undertaken to make out and file the claims of the wage earner and to perform the necessary legal work involved. Our reason for assuming this additional work is that the wage earner has not the means to employ attorneys and as a consequence would be deprived of his earnings.

Our investigation into wage claims has brought to light some very