Chapter 351. To create a Commission on Industrial Relations
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CHAP. 351.— An Act To create a Commission on Industrial Relations. August 23, 1912.[[H. R. 21094](/us/bill/62/hr/21094).][[Public, No. 300](/us/pl/62/300).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That a commission is herebyCommission on Industrial Relations.Composition. created to be called the Commission on Industrial Relations. Said commission shall be composed of nine persons, to be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, not less than three of whom shall be employers of labor and not less than three of whom shall be representatives of organized labor.
The Department of Commerce and Labor is authorized to cooperate with said commission in any manner and to whatever extent the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may approve. Sec. 2. That the members of this commission shall be paid actualCompensation, etc. traveling and other necessary expenses and in addition a compensation of ten dollars per diem while actually engaged on the work of the commission and while going to or returning from such work. The commission is authorized as a whole, or by subcommittees General authority.of the commission, duly appointed, to hold sittings and public hearings anywhere in the United States, to send for persons and papers, to administer oaths, to summon and compel the attendance of witnesses and to compel testimony, and to employ such secretaries, experts, stenographers, and other assistants as shall be necessary to carry out the purposes for which such commission is created, and to rent such offices, to purchase such books, stationery, and other supplies, and to have such printing and binding done, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes for which such commission is created, and to authorize its members or its employees to travel in or outside the United States on the business of the commission.
Sec. 3. That said commission may report to the Congress its findingsReports and recommendations to Congress. and recommendations and submit the testimony taken from time 416to time, and shall make a final report accompanied by the testimony not previously submitted not later than three years after the date of the approval of this Act, at which time the term of this commission shall expire, unless it shall previously have made final report, and in the latter case the term of the commission shall expire with the making of its final report; and the commission shall make at least one report to the Congress within the first year of its appointment and a second report within the second year of its appointment.
Sec. 4. Inquiries into labor conditions of principal industries, etc. That the commission shall inquire into the general condition of labor in the principal industries or the United States including agriculture, and especially in those which are carried on in corporate forms; into existing relations between employers and employees; into the effect of industrial conditions on public welfare and into the rights and powers of the community to deal therewith; into the conditions of sanitation and safety of employees and the provisions for Associations, etc.protecting the life, limb, and health of the employees; into the growth of associations of employers and of wage earners and the effect of such associations upon the relations between employers and employees; into the extent and results of methods of collective bargaining; into any methods which have been tried in any State or in foreign countries for maintaining mutually satisfactory relations between Labor disputes.employees and employers; into methods for avoiding or adjusting labor disputes through peaceful and conciliatory mediation and negotiations; into the scope, methods, and resources of existing bureaus of labor and into possible ways of increasing their usefulness;
Asiatic entry.into the question of smuggling or other illegal entry of Asiatics into the United States or its insular possessions, and of the methods by which such Asiatics have gained and are gaining such admission, and shall report to Congress as speedily as possible with such recommendation as said commission may think proper to prevent such Causes of industrial dissatisfaction.smuggling and illegal entry. The commission shall seek to discover the underlying causes of dissatisfaction in the industrial situation and report its conclusions thereon.
Sec. 5. Appropriation. That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated for the use of the commission for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen: *Provisos*.Payments.*Provided*, That no portion of this money shall be paid except upon the order of said commission, signed by the chairman thereof: *Provided*, That the commission may expend not to exceed five thousand Experts.Compensation restricted.dollars per annum for the employment of experts at such rate of compensation as may be fixed by the commission but no other person employed hereunder by the commission, except stenographers temporarily employed for the purpose of taking testimony, shall be paid compensation at a rate in excess of three thousand dollars per annum.
Approved, August 23, 1912.