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Seriai No. R. 364:

[From the MONTHLY LABORREVIEW (March 1936) of the Bureau of Labor Stati"tks ..
United States Department of Labor]

Labor Conference of American States, Santiago,Chile

1936
By WARREN IRVIN, INFORMATION SECTION, INTERNATIONAL LABOR OFFICE

ORE than 20 resolutions dealing with social or labor questions

M of peculiar interest to the countriesof North, South, or Central
America were adopted at the Labor Conference of American States,
held in Santiago, Chile, from January 2 to January 14, inclusive,
and were referred by the conference, for action, to the Governing
Body of the International Labor Office in Geneva.
The principal questions dealt with in the resolutions were: Com-
pulsory social insuranee, women's and children's work, nutrition,
unemployment, migration, labor of native races, the truck system,
agrieultural work, and the relations of the International Labor
Organization with American countries. '.
The conference, the first of its kind to be held in the Net". World,
was attended by representatives of 20 countries. Costa Rica, the
oruy American country not a member of the 1. L. O., sent two ob-
servers. The United States delegation comprised: Hoffman Philip,
Ambassador to Chile, and Miss Frieda Miller of the New York State
Department of Labor, Government representatives; Joseph C.
Molanphy, employers' representative; William Hutcheson, president
of the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of the
American Federation of Labor, workers' representative; and John B·
Faust, United States consul at Santiago, secretary.
President Arturo Alessandri of Chile attended the inaugural ses-
sion. Foreign Minister Miguel Cruchaga Tocornal, speaking on
behalf of the President, welcomed the delegates and pointed out that
Chile has collaborated in the work of the 1. L. O. since its inception,
and has already ratified 33 internationallabor conventions. .
Dr. Walter A. Riddell, chairman of the Governing Body of the
1 L. O. and a Canadian Government delegate to the conference, re-
plied on behalf of the delegates and thanked President Alessandri for
his "noble initiative which has made possible this first regionallabor
conference in the Americas."
Besides Dr. Riddell, seven other members of the Governing Body
of the I. L. O. attended the conference. They were: Hans . :;,,~~t:ed;-:.»
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vice chairmah and Danish employers' representative; Frederick W.
Leggett, British Government representative; José Ruiz Manent,
Spanisn Government representative; Affonso Bandeira de Mello,
Brazilian Government representative and head of the Brazilian dele-
gation to the conference; Georges Curcin, Yugoslav employers' repre-
sentative; Evert Rupers, Netherlands workers' representative; and
Arthur Hayday, British workers' representative. . American countries wouid not only create "danger of l~leness and lts
Minister of Labor Alejandro Serani Burgos of Chile was chosen as
chairman of the conference; and, at the suggestion of Ambassador
Philip, President Alessandri was made honorary chairman.
Dr. José Antufia, Uruguayan Government delegate sought to ob-
tain from the conference endorsement of a proposaI made at the 1933
Pan America.n conference in Montevideo for the establishment of a
Pan American institute of labor. "The Pan American institute of
labor", he said, "should be a useful contribution to the work of the
Geneva organization and to its development. Both will be moved by
the same desire for sincerity and for social justice which is an essential
basis of peace, and will certainly bring them together."
Ecuador, Mexico, and Paraguay supported Dr. Antufia's proposai.
Chile, Haiti, and Brazil opposed it. But the principal opposition
came from the workers' group. Luis Solis Solis of Chile, chairman of
that group, declared:
We think that the importance of geographical and historical considerations
has been largely overemphasized. The rapid developments of recent years have
abolished many of the differences between countries. They have cut down the
distances that separate us and have accentuated the interdependence of peoples.
Therefore it would be a retrograde step to try at this stage to set up a separate
labor organization for America.
Later, in the selection committee, Dr. Antufia's proposaI met with
further opposition on the ground that it was a Pan American confer-
ence matter and had no place in the discussions of the Labor Con-
ference of American States. Dr. Antufia finally consented to with-
draw the proposaI. The United States delegates took no part in the
controversy.
The position of the United States as regards the two questions it
had proposed for the conference agenda-rationalization of, and reduc-
tion of hours of work in, the textile industry; and the raising to 16
years of the minimum age for admission to employment-was pre-
sented by Miss Miller. In discussing the rIrst question, she gave a
brief résumé of conditions in the textile industry here, and cited
President Roosevelt's report to Congress last August, wherein he
asserted that the experience of the industry during the preceding 2
years had shown a definite limitatÎon of hours of employment to be
4'both feasible and practicable." He also declared that abolition of
child labor in the industry was an advance which "must be retained."
The employers' delega.tes of both Chile and Bra.zil 'put th.emselves
on record as opposing any reduction of hours of ~ork m th~ mdustry.
Mr. Goyeneche Magnere, of Chile, said that whI1e the Umted States
was an industrial country suffering from unemployment, the South
American countries "a.re only gradually becoming industrial.ized and
have no unemployment." He argued that shorter ~ours m Sou~h
pernicious consequences", but would lead to a decre~s: III t~e volu~e
of production and augment the difficulties ~f co~petItIO?- wIth foreIg~
products. Mr. Vincente Galliez, of BrazI1, sa;d the dl~. c ulty of hlS
ountry was to obtain a sufficient number of tramed Brazlhan workers.
~hile there is considerable unemployment in the .United ~ta~es, he
said , conditions in most South American countrIes are slmIlar to
BraziI. . th
With regard to the United States proposaI t? rals~ to 16. years . e
minimum age for admission to employment, MISS MIller sa;d she ,;as
a.wa,re proponents and opponents of child laboT often put thlS que~tIOn
on the basis of a measure that would help the unemployment sItua-
t ·IOn. That " she held would be one of the incidental 1results. "To
us" she explained, ilthe real significance of a prqposa to el ml~:m
i' t
e
child labor lies in the fad that if, anywhere in th~ wor!d, we contmue
long to exploit the labor of children, we shall Ill.vahdate ou:, most
earnest efforts toward the achievement of those obJects for whlch. the
International Labor Organization exists." The conference .declded
finally to request the Governing Body of the.I. L. O. to conslder the
advisability of recommending to the InternatIOnal ~abor Confere~ce
the raising of the present minimum age of 14 years m the four chIld-
labor conventions. . " '
The committee on social insurance, of which Jose EnrIque S.andov~l,
Cuban Government delegate, was chairman, took as a ?aSIS for ItS
discussions the special report prepared by. the Internat~onal Labor
Office. This report contained detailed studres of the Varl?US aspects
of accident, health, and invalidity i~s~rance, and wld.ows' and
orphans' and old-age pensions. The decisions of the comml~tee were
incorporated in a series of resolutions addressed to the Gov~rnmgBody
of the 1. L. O. and these resolutions were afterward subnlltted to and
approved by the conference. ., .
The committee on women's and children s work, un.der the cha:rr-
manship of Miss Miller, discussed, among other questIons, the ~m­
imum wage, hours of work (including night work), .and protectl~n
before and aIter childbirth. Its findings aiso were Illcorporated m
resolutions addressed to the Governing Body of the 1. L. 0: ; andthese,
too were submitted to the conference and approved by lt.
I~ submitting to the conference a re~olu.tion urgin? the. Inte~~­
tionai Labor Office to make speciu.l studles III connectI~p.1imIttJ;/:::.
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gration trom Europe to America, Dr. Alejandro Unsain, Argentine
Government delegate, said that this problem was of great and almost
overwhelming importance for most countries of the American Conti-
nent. "Densely populated Europe", he said, "has an excess of popu-
lation which will find a suitable outlet on the sparsely populated
American Continent. Europe and America are more or less like
communicating tubes, and what is in excess in one of them will flow
into the other quite naturally if it is allowed to do so." When the
resolution came before the conference for its approval, however,
Government representatives of Brazil and Bolivia announced that
their Governments intended to retain complete freedom of action
with regard to immigration. The resolution was adopted with these
reservations.
The resolution on nutrition, submitted by the Chilean Government
delegates, contained possible bases for a policy intended to bring
about an improvement in nutrition; and urged the establishment by
governments of technical commissIons to assist them with measures
of nutrition policy, as weIl as the adoption so far as possible of inter-
national health legislation on nutrition questions.
The resolution on unemployment requested the Governing Body of
the 1. L. O. to study the conditions and extent of unemployment in
the countries of the American Continent and prepare a technicai
report on the social aspects of the solutions adopted forthis problem
in the American States.
The resolution on the labor of native races, also submitted by the
Peruvian Government delegates, asked the Governing Body to instruct
the International Labor Office to make a special study of this problem
and consider the possibilities of international action leading to
practicalresults. Before this resolution was drafted, Rosendo N aula,
Ecuadorean workers' delegate; Rafael Burgo, Colombian workers'
delegate; and Felipe Ortiz, Bolivian workers' delegate, aIl denounced
the conditions under which Indian workers were compelled to live and
labor in their respective countries.
The resolution on the truck system, submitted by the workers'
group, asked the Governing Body to consider and study the questions
of insuring that wages shall be paid in cash, and of supervising the
truck stores, with a view to eliminating abuses of the truck system in
American countries. It asked, also, that the Governing Body con-
sider the questions of creating ministries of labor in countries where
they do not exist, and of creating and extending central bureaus of
social statistics.
The resolution on agricultural employment, submitted by the
Mexican Government delegates, asked that the International Labor
Office study the possibility of carrying out an inquiry among the
Governments of aU American countries concerning the form, motives
periodicity, and scope of the various statistics concerning agricultural
work already in existence; and also concerning the possibility ofeach
government's extending and coordinating, internationaUy, such sta-
tistics in regard to agricultural work, including crop raising and cattle
breeding.
The resolution concerning relations of the International Labor
'Ûrganization was a composite of resolutions submitted by Ml'.
Enrique Sandoval, Cuban Government delegate; Dr. Unsain, Argen-
tine Government delegate; and the workers' group. It asked the
Governing Body of the 1. L. O. to consider the advisability of conven-
ing other regional conferences in America, of increasing the number
of American officiaIs and technical experts in the International Labor
Office, and of increasing the circulation of 1. L. O. documents in the
languages of the American Continent. It asked also that these be
made available at popular priees.
Ml'. Harold B. Butler, director of the 1. L. O., in his final address
to the conference, drew attention to some of its more salient features.
Discussing the tasks of the future, he said:
On this point the conference has clearly shown the way in which inter-American
collaboration can be strengthened by the work of the International Labor Organi-
zation. Four principal points have been brought up. The first is that there
should be further Americanconferences of this kind. The success which has
been obtained on this occasion is, l think, the best indication that this should not
be the last American conference. Secondly, the Office undoubtedly requires
strengthening as regards its American personnel, as regards American repre-
sentation on its technical committees, and by increasing the number of corre-
spondents of the Office in American countries. Then there is a question of
publications in the languages of the American Continent. There, too, l think
a great deal needs to be done and as far as l am concerned l shall do everything
l can to insure that there is far more published in Spanish and in Portuguese
than has been the case in the pasto We shall also try not to forget the suggestion
made that publications should be issued at popular prices, so as to bring them
within the reach of everybody. Finally, there are suggestions for intensifying
research on problems of special interest to America, and in that connection four
very important and far-reaching questions have been raised. The tirst is that of
native labor, the second of immigration, and l hope on these two questions, at
any rate, the Office will succeed in carrying out a personal inquiry in the course
of the present year. Then there is the question of the truck system, put forward
by the Argentine delegation, and that of agricultural conditions, which is perhaps
the most far-reaching and difficult of all these questions.
We shall do our best to take up these questions one by one and try to throw
sorne light on them; of course, with the assistance and collaboration of the
countries concerned, without whom we can do very little. In addition to these
regional questions, a greal deal of light has also been thrown from an American
standpoint on a number of other questions of a general character such as unem-
ployment, the minimum wage, family allowance, and nutrition. The last
problem is one of a universal character, but l think the discussions that have
taken place on it here will prove of great assistance in dealing with it on a universal
plane.