HERBERT R. O'CONOR, GOVERNOR. 1601

STATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES

3. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to organize,
establish and conduct free employment agencies, in such
parts of the State as said Commissioner may deem advisable,
for the free use of the citizens of the State of Maryland, for
the purpose of securing employment for unemployed persons
who may register in said agencies, and for the purpose of
securing help or labor for persons registering as applicants
for help or labor. The said Commissioner shall investigate
the extent and the cause or causes of unemployment in this
State, and the remedies therefor adopted and applied in the
States of this country and in other countries, and report
thereon to the Governor, and shall do all in his power to
bring together employers seeking employees and working and
laboring people seeking employment.

ARBITRATION OF LABOR DISPUTES

4. Upon information furnished by an employer of labor,
whether person, firm or corporation, or by a committee of em-
ployees, or from any other reliable source, that a controversy
or dispute has arisen between employer and employees, involv-
ing ten or more persons, which controversy may result in a
strike or lock-out, the Commissioner or such person officially
connected with his office may be deputized in writing by the
said Commissioner, shall at once visit the place of controversy
or dispute and seek to mediate between the parties, if in his
discretion it is necessary so to do.

5. If mediation can not be effected as provided for in Sec-
tion 4 of this Article, the Commissioner, or such person official-
ly connected with his office may be by him deputized in writ-
ing, may, at his discretion, endeavor to secure the consent of the
parties to the controversy or dispute to the formation of a
Board of Arbitration, which Board shall be composed of one
employer and one employee engaged in the same or similar oc-
cupation to the one in which the dispute exists, but who are
not parties to the controversy or dispute, and to be selected by
the respective parties to the controversy; the third arbitrator
may be selected by the two first-named arbitrators, and said
third arbitrator so selected shall be president of the Board of
Arbitration; and upon the failure of the two first-named arbi-
trators, as aforesaid, to agree upon the third arbitrator, then
the Commissioner shall act as third arbitrator, or he may
deputize, in writing, some person officially connected with
the Department of Labor and Industry to so act, and the
said Commissioner, or the person who may be deputized by
him, shall act as president of said Board.

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