State for the purpose of securing employment for the unemployed and
for the purpose of securing help or labor for persona applying for such.

To arbitrate all disputes between employer and employee. To en-
force the hours of labor for females; to enforce the Factory Inspection
and Child Labor Laws; the Steam Boiler Inspection and the State Mine
Inspection Laws.

The Child Labor Law applies to all children between the ages of
fourteen and sixteen years, who must pass an educational test and also
a physical examination made by the physicians connected with the
Bureau, before receiving employment certificates.

Under the Child Labor Law, Acts 1912, Chapter 731, the total num-
ber of applications made at the Baltimore office for all classes of per-
mits was 11,828 in 1922, compared with 10,210 in 1921. The number of
inspections made under this act in 1&22 wag 718, compared with 575 in
1921, and the number found employed was 2,589 in 1922, compared with
3,082 in 1921. The average wage which children between 14 and 16 years
received in 1922 was $6.69, Compared with $7.20 in 1921.

Under the Hours of Employment for Females, Acts 1916, Chap. 147,
the number of establishments inspected, it is found that there was a
total of 3,613 inspections in 1923, compared with 2,616 in the previous
year, or an increase of about 38 per cent. This increase was particularly
noticeable in the counties, where in 1922 there were 80 inspections and
in 1923, 368, or an increase of 360 per cent. The inspections in Balti-
more city numbered 3,245.

The number found employed in Baltimore city and the counties un.
der this law were 44,769 in 1922 and 52,183 in 1923, or an increase of
about 16 per cent.

During the year 1923 the inspectors for Baltimore city visited 8,895
establishments, making therein 10,120 Inspections of different kinds,
viz.. Factory inspections, 1,496; Ten Hour Law inspections, 3,245;
Child Labor inspections, 589, and general inspections, 4,790. Under
general inspections are listed places which are visited by the inspectors,
but where no women or children are found at work. The total number
employed in these establishments wag 171,937, of which number 115,631
were males over 16 years of age; 1,685 males under 16 years; 52,786
females' over 16 years and 1,835 females under 16 years.

During the year 1923 the State boiler inspectors examined 277 boil-
ers, 45 of them were old inspections and 832 were inspected under the
A. S. M. E. Code. Of the 232 A. 8. M. E. inspection 99 were in Balti-
more City and 133 in the counties of Maryland. The decrease in the
number of inspections is attributed to old boilers being used.

There were no violations of the Boiler Inspection Law and no boilers
were condemned during 1923.

The collections amounted to .$8,652.00, of which 1,227 were from in-
surance companies 'and $1,425.00 were for inspections.

'Under the Mining Inspection Law 1902, Chap. 124, the total ton-
nage of coal and clay 'mined in the State for the fiscal year ending May
1, 1922, wag 1,688,095.1, compared with 3,479,153 in 1921. There were
5 fatal and 265 non-fatal accidents in the mines during 1922, compared
with 7 fatal and 280 non-fatal in 1921.

The number of, strikes ..during the calendar year 1922 was 12, .com-
pared with 11 in 1921, 21 in 1920; 22 in 1919 and 37 in 1918.