March 13.
The Shanghai Municipal Council has recognized the political obstacles to the enforcement of the Factory, Act as it should be enforced: on the basis of equality within and without the Settlement. Confident In the growing spirit of collaboration developing among the three muntcipal administrations, it is content to walt for policies to adjust themselves. Meanwhile, seized of the importance of public safety, it has exorcised the privilege of educating, the community in the elementary, principles of industrial sanity which Fests on attention to the welfare of workers, to the protection of the, Public "against the dangers of, factory operations and to the cultivation of measures for securing, the health of the Settlement as industrialization rapidly spreads in this large city. Like the "mercenary, young person" who flouted Mr. Boffin, the Council has done well. Tt has advanced considerably from the position which its predecessor of fourteen years ago adopted when It arrived at the bland conclusion that the employment of child labour was forced upon tender-hearted and reluctant employers by the cussedness, of local parents and that consequently nothing could be dene to mitigate infant woes. Tt {s now discovered that some of Shanghat's, factory-owners are themselves ready to justify their reputation for hu-inanity and appreciate the practical, benefits of improved oMelency which Fesults from enlightened treatment of the worker. The employer, in developing this policy, is sorely in need of guidance which can come only from an organization possessed, of the necessary machinery for collating information, spreading knowledge of factory hygiene and otherwise marshalling relevant statistics, In Shanghai such facilities are urgently needed because industrlalzation has spread itself far more rapidly than was foreseen a few years ago, The actualitley are thus' in advance of the Courcll's action In dealing with them, For example, out of the 450 boilers in the Settlement more than 150 have been installed in the last five years. Many of them are of local manufacture; even the non-technical critic will realize the danger aceruing from the operation of bollers constructed without the application of standards usually applied clsewhere, Yet the Council, by the exercise of educational persusston, has been able to bring nearly a hundred boilers under expert supervision—to the greater peace of mind of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood where the boilers are, to say nothing of the employees concerned. The Council's Industrial Section is therefore privileged at the moment to avoid the broad high road macadamized by acts of the legislature and watered by the responsive attentions of judicial authority, That road will bbe taken in due course; at present it is in the process of construction and the sign-board says "political steam-roller at work." So the Journey is an adventure in unmapped territory. The adventurers form an advance patrol for the forees of healthy _industrialism, They take their fun where they find it, They range over the Settlement's institutions—philanthropic,—official and commercial—and they choose their allies, They travel light and they live on the country by the ex-raise of the arts of persuasion forti-fled by solid experience which they place at the disposal of those whose ce-operation they manage to com= mand. 'Thus, knowing the modern practice of removing noxious fumes from the chromic acid' which lurks in the chromium-plating vat, they suggest the fitting ofan effective exhaust, The idea appeals, All but five out of 47 vats have adopted the device and the workers are protected from painful results incidental to the industry. The Council handicapped by a lack of complete {information regarding the occurrence of accidents in the Settlement's factories. "When the Fire Brigade or the Police Department has intervene in a catastrophe some data are made available, For effective prevention of accidents, more information is wanted. 'The patrol manages to ce-ordinate the independent activities of hospitals, Police, Fire Brigade' and, even, the factory-owners themselves, with the Fesul: that a workable "index of safety" is secured.
The Henry Lester Institute of Medical Research, nobly exploiting the exceptional opportunity offered along unregulated and unsuper= vised industrial system, has been carrying out three important in-quirles into the health of workers in Shanghai industries. Its report on the printing trade, recently reviewed In these columns, afforded striking proof of its benefteent ce-operation with the Council's development of an industrial policy. Thus Shanghai, unequipped at pres. ent with proper facilities for com= pulsory medical report on what are known as "dangerous. trades"—no newspaper will be found to deny that printing comes within that eaten gory—Is enabled to acquire scientific knowledge of the problems affecting its industrial growth—and there fore its cconomle, social and physical welfare, ' Study. of the admirable summary of the Jabours of the Industrial Section during the year, will surely reinforce this appreciation of the advance patrol's adventures, The Cotinell be warmly commended for its continued emphasis the value of this work, Even in time of depression it' recognizes that it €annot afford to relax those efforts, "Indeed it is at the beginning of a enormous task. Past remismess has to be repaired. Before the Council can claim that It is discharging its minimum responsibilities in this regard, it has to bulld up a specialist stair, as it is now gradually endeavouring do. Public opinion is strongly behind it, Unsatisfactory conditions of Inbour react seriously on the condition of the community as a whole. This educational—effort server a dual object: it efdently prepares the ground for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.