No establishment working in brass should be without a properly constructed exhaust system, so arranged as to separate and save the dust discharged from the wheels, for it has been demonstrated by experience that in all such places the deposits thus recovered render the exhaust system not an item of expense, but rather a real source of profit.

BAKESHOPS.

The operations of the Bakeshop Inspection Law have been very satisfactory in nearly all respects, except in the one item relative to the hours of labor. Section 110 of the Labor Law deals with this question and reads as follows:

Section 110. Hours of labor in bakeries and confectionery estabtablishments. No employe shall be required or permitted to work in a biscuit, bread or cake bakery or confectionery establishment more than sixty hours in any one week, or more than ten hours in any one day, unless for the purpose of making a shorter work day on the last day of the week; nor more hours in any one week than will make an average of ten hours per day for the number of days during such week in which such employe shall work.

During the year only nine complaints were received from the journeymen bakers complaining of violations of this section of the law. Every one of these complaints were carefully and thoroughly investigated, and as a result of such investigations, but one complaint was sustained. Prosecution was commenced against the person charged with the violation, but after repeated adjournments, the case was dismissed from the court on the strength of a technical error. However, the party charged with the offense complied with the law, although he escaped conviction.

Aside from the complaints filed with the Department the inspectors sent in 309 orders requiring the working hours of employes to be reduced to sixty per week, with which orders 246 full compliances were promptly secured.

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The court rulings on this section of the law leave the Department no opportunity to proceed against persons charged with violating this section of the statute, without the entire co-operation of the employe, and invariably the employe is loath to come forward and appear and testify against his employer, because to do so would mean the loss of his job. Frequently the offense is only a temporary one, caused by conditions over which the employer has no more control than has the man he employs. But, while we say this, still we know that there are men engaged in the trade who can not or will not see any other way to reach a profit than by compelling their employes to labor until the very last of their strength is exhausted.

There is but one way in which the journeymen bakers can make this section of the law effective, and that is by a thorough organization of their craft-a common sense level on which to treat with their employers and in entire and hearty co-operation. with the Department. The Department has not and will not shrink from a proper performance of its duties in any respect. The condition of the baking trade to-day is positively poor. The trade is over-crowded, competition is sharp, and, in consequence, all conditions surrounding the trade are contracted, which makes matters connected with the baking business all a little less than pleasant. Aside from the question of the hours of labor, the Department issued and received a full compliance with 8,337 orders of all kinds, as follows: Post labor schedule, 958; reduce hours to sixty per week, 246; cease employing minor, 24; file certificates, 19; provide pipe and hood or ventilate bakerooms, etc., 878; sanitary plumbing and drainage, 109; increase height of bakeroom to at least eight feet, 103; clean premises, remove coal, ashes, etc., 626; repair, and limewash or paint walls, ceilings, provers, etc., 2,759; repair, scrape, oil floors, etc., or provide new floors, 1,285; remove beds, beddings, etc., and cease sleeping in bakerooms, etc.,