accepts the recommendations contained in the report of the commission; and if not, whether it proposes to refer the complaint to the Permanent Court of International Justice of the League of Nations.

Article 416. In the event of any member failing to take the action required by Article 405, with regard to a recommendation or draft convention, any other member shall be entitled to refer the matter to the Permanent Court of International Justice.

Article 417. The decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice in regard to a complaint or matter which has been referred to it in pursuance of Article 415 or Article 416 shall be final.

Article 418. The Permanent Court of International Justice may affirm, vary, or reverse any of the findings or recommendations of the commission of inquiry, if any, and shall in its decision indicate the measures, if any, of an economic character which it considers to be appropriate, and which other governments would be justified in adopting against a defaulting government.

As to the treatment of defaulting governments, it is provided:

Article 419. In the event of any member failing to carry out within the time specified the recommendations, if any, contained in the report of the commission of inquiry, or in the decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice, as the case may be, any other member may take against that member the measures of an economic character indicated in the report of the commission or in the decision of the Court as appropriate to the case.

Article 420. The defaulting government may at any time inform the governing body that it has taken the steps necessary to comply with the recommendations of the commission of inquiry or with those in the decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice, as the case may be, and may request it to apply to the secretary-general of the League to constitute

a commission of inquiry to verify its contention. In this case. the provisions of Articles 412, 413, 414, 415, 417 and 418 shall apply, and if the report of the commission of inquiry or the decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice is in favor of the defaulting government, the other governments shall forthwith discontinue the measures of an economic character that they have taken against the defaulting government.

Articles 421-23 deal with the application of conventions to colonies, protectorates and possessions, and Articles 424-26 with the first International Labor Conference.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Part II of the Labor Section enunciated certain methods and principles as international standards for the regulation of labor conditions. Sir Robert Borden, the Canadian Prime Minister of the day, had an honorable part in drafting and securing agreement upon these resolutions. This part of the Section reads:

Article 427. The High Contracting Parties, recognizing that the well-being, physical, moral and intellectual, of industrial wage-earners is of supreme international importance, have framed, in order to further this great end, the permanent machinery provided for in Section I and associated with that of the League of Nations.

They recognize that differences of climate, habits and customs, of economic opportunity and industrial tradition, make strict uniformity in the conditions of labour difficult of immediate attainment. But, holding as they do, that labour should not be regarded merely as an article of commerce, they think that there are methods and principles for regulating labour conditions which all industrial communities should endeavor to apply, so far as their special circumstances will permit.

Among these methods and principles, the following seem to the High Contracting Parties to be of special and urgent importance:

First. The guiding principle above enunciated that labour should not be regarded merely as a commodity or article of

commerce.

Second. The right of association for all lawful purposes by the employed as well as by the employers.

Third. The payment to the employed of a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life as this is understood in their time and country.

Fourth. The adoption of an eight-hours day or a forty-eight hours week as the standard to be aimed at where it has not already been attained.

Fifth. The adoption of a weekly rest of at least twenty-four hours, which should include Sunday wherever practicable.

Sixth.-The abolition of child labour and the imposition of such limitations on the labour of young persons as shall permit the continuation of their education and assure their proper physical development.

Seventh. The principle that men and women should receive equal remuneration for work of equal value.

Eighth. The standard set by law in each country with respect to the conditions of labour should have due regard to the equitable economic treatment of all workers lawfully resident therein.

Ninth. Each State should make provision for a system of inspection in which women should take part, in order to ensure the enforcement of the laws and regulations for the protection of the employed.

Without claiming that these methods and principles are either complete or final the High Contracting Parties are of opinion that they are well fitted to guide the policy of the League of Nations; and that, if adopted by the industrial communities who are members of the League, and safeguarded in practice by an adequate system of such inspection, they will confer lasting benefits upon the wage-earners of the world.

INTERNATIONAL LABOR CONFERENCES

Seven International Labor Conferences have been held under the provisions of Article 389. The first, which was convened at Washington, October 29, 1919, with delegates present from thirty-eight countries, considered questions bearing on four of the nine principles of the Labor Sectionthose dealing with the eight-hour day, child labor, equitable economic treatment for all workers lawfully resident in the country and factory inspection. The Conference adopted draft conventions on three principles of the Labor Section considered the eight-hour day, abolition of child labor and equitable treatment of alien workers.

The draft convention on the eight-hour day defined the term "industrial undertaking" broadly to include every kind of mine, quarry, industrial establishment, construction and maintenance work, and transportation, but stipulated that the provisions relative to transport by sea and on inland waterways should be determined by a special conference, which was held the next year. The working hours of persons employed in any public or private industrial undertaking were limited to eight in the day and forty-eight in the week, with the exception that the provisions were not to apply to persons holding positions of supervision or management, nor to those employed in a confidential capacity. The daily hours of labor might be extended not more than one hour for the purpose of obtaining a shorter work-day on one or more days of the week. Employment in shift for longer hours was permitted if the average hours over a period of three weeks or less did not exceed eight in the day and forty-eight in the week.

In case of accident, actual or threatened, or of urgent work to be done to machinery or plant, or in case of force majeure, the limit of hours might be exceeded, but only when necessary to avoid serious interference with the ordi

nary working of the undertaking. Provision was made for a maximum work-week of fifty-six hours in continuous industries, and for the regulation by public authorities of exceptions in the case of those whose work must necessarily be carried on outside the limits laid down for the general working of an establishment or whose work was essentially intermittent. Such regulations might be made only after consultation with the organizations of employers and workers concerned and the rate of pay for overtime could not be less than one and one-quarter times the regular rate. In order to insure against abuse of these exceptions, each government was required to communicate to the International Labor Office a list of processes deemed necessarily continuous, full information in regard to public regulations permitting exceptions and as to agreements between workers' and employers' associations which permitted more than eight hours' work in a day but not more than an average of forty-eight in a week. Certain modifications in the convention were made in the application to Japan, British India and a few other countries.

The convention on the age of admission of children to industrial undertakings fixed the minimum age at fourteen and required every employer to keep a register of all employees under sixteen years of age. Exemption was provided for work done by children in technical schools which were under public supervision and special provisions applied to Japan and India.

The convention regarding the night work of young persons prohibited the employment in industrial undertakings during the night (including the interval between 10 p. m. and 5 a. m.) of persons under the age of eighteen years except in the case of certain continuous industries, where persons over sixteen might be employed. Special provisions were made for coal mines, bakeries, industries in tropical