FACTORY INSPECTION

the investigation of industrial establishments — by special government officials to report | | 2a) 2a on the enforcement of the labor laws for the protection of factory workers. Factory inspection first became a govern-| ment function in England, after 1819, | when the first factory laws were enacted and aroused much resentment among factory owners at what they considered unwarranted interference with their private busine by the state. In this country factory inspection began in Ma achusetts, in 1876, for the enforcement of the laws restricting the employment of children in the textile mills and other manufactories. In 1886 there was organized, in Philadelphia, the International A ociation of Factory Inspectors, with which, since then, have become affiliated the factory inspection officials of Canada, Ma achusetts, New York, New Jersey, Penn Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Tilinois, Wisconsin, Mi ouri and Indiana. This organization holds an annual convention at which constituent members report on new methods and discu their joint problems.