In accordance with these prescribed functions and purposes the present activities of the bureau may be outlined as follows:

1. Securing and publishing information on special problems relating to women in industry, and making recommendations and formulating policies and standards concerning their protection and advancement.

2. Searching out, arranging, and indexing existing material relating to such problems.

3. Coöperating with other agencies in securing the adoption of formulated policies and standards for the protection and advancement of women in industry.

4. Preparing and circulating exhibits and other educational material, in illustrated form, concerning women in industry.

Investigations and Recommendations Concerning Women in Industry. In order to arrive at satisfactory standards and policies for the employment of women in industry the bureau secures original information by means of a force of field employees, and interprets and utilizes the existing information collected by other agencies which may be of special significance in the problems under consideration. Each problem is separately studied and the qualifying factors are carefully investigated before any recommendations are made or standards are promulgated.

In planning its investigations and special studies and before undertaking original field investigations, the bureau searches out all available material that can be reorganized or amplified so as to give the necessary information. Only in so far as such material is not available or adaptable does it undertake original investigations.

As the activities of women in industry are numerous and the working conditions are varied in the different industries and localities, the field of work for an agency like the Women's Bureau is too large to permit it to make comprehensive surveys such as may be undertaken by the Census Bureau. In selecting its field of activity, therefore, the policy of the Women's Bureau is to study the questions most in need of immediate action, or those which would disclose the most significant and important information needed to guide the bureau in the formulation of those policies and standards which it was created to establish. Thus, for example, when a survey is made of wages, hours, and working conditions of women in industry in a locality or state, no attempt is made to secure data for all the women included in the field of study but representative figures are obtained from a sufficiently large field to insure validity and to constitute satisfactory bases for recommendations.

The investigations are mostly undertaken at the request of state or national authorities or by important private organizations concerned with the welfare of women in industry. Special studies are also inaugurated from time to time at the initiative of the bureau.

The original investigations and special studies are made by field employees, grouped in one or more parties, all under the direction and supervision of the Director of the bureau. Before starting on a field investigation a schedule of inquiry is prepared in conference at the bureau for use by the field agents. As the facts are gathered they are analyzed in the field by the industrial supervisor or agent in charge, who submits the original data together with a memorandum showing the salient facts that have been developed by the investigation.

The final tabulation and report writing and editing are done in the office of the bureau.

Whenever there is an urgent need for the immediate use of the information collected by the field force, as when a legislature is in session, and the facts are needed for the information of the legislators, the memoranda are mimeographed in the shape submitted by the field representative, and copies are supplied to those who have occasion to use them immediately. The issuing of such preliminary copy does not affect the subsequent publication of the finished report.

Since the Armistice, the Women's Bureau has issued a report setting forth standards for the employment of women in industry, these standards relating to the daily and weekly hours of labor, Sunday rest, meal time, rest periods, night work, wages, comfort and sanitation in work places, posture at work, safety, home work, and employment management. The method of coöperation of workers and official agencies in the enforcement of these standards was also dealt with.

Studies have been made concerning labor legislation, post-war wages, negro women in industry, home work, the opportunities for women in the government service, women's part in the American industries during and after the World War, industrial training for women and girls, the effects of legislation limiting hours of work for women, the employment of women street car conductors and ticket agents, family responsibilities of women as compared with those of men, and health problems of women in industry; also a report on " a physiological basis for the shorter working day for women," a study of census schedules showing the family status of bread winning women, an analysis of changes in the

occupational status of women as shown by census figures of 1910 and 1920, a study of inventions made by women during the past ten years, and reports on wages, hours of labor, and working conditions of women in industry in Georgia, Kansas, Iowa, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, and New Jersey. Research Work. In the planning and carrying out of every investigation or special study by the bureau, a survey is made of all available sources of information, and such data are extracted from those sources as can be utilized in the work on hand. Reference material concerning women in industry is constantly being prepared and is kept on file and indexed for current use in answering inquiries and in carrying on the other work of the bureau. Notations are made of all state and other legislation affecting women, and this information is indicated on maps and charts which are kept up to date.

Cooperation with Other Agencies. In its work of planning and conducting investigations and in formulating standards and policies and recommending their adoption, the bureau coöperates with national, state, local, and other agencies concerned with the welfare of women in industry. It keeps in close touch with the state officers who are concerned with industrial problems for the exchange of information and advice regarding activities of women in industry and for the bringing together of opinions concerning standards and policies.

The bureau issues once each month, a mimeographed news-letter which outlines the current activities affecting women in industry in the different states, the informa

tion being supplied by the state officers and by organizations working in the states. The news-letter is sent to a limited number of state officers and organizations concerned with the welfare of women in industry.

Several studies have been made at the request of state officers with the view of assisting them in the solution of their problems and supplying the bureau with information of more than state-wide significance which is needed in its more general work. Among such studies were investigations of wages, hours of labor, and working conditions of women undertaken in order to secure data on which to base recommendations for higher standards in their employment, and the working out of budgets of the living expenses of working women for the use of minimum-wage commissions in the District of Columbia and in the states.

Preparation and Distribution of Exhibit Material. As a means of securing the adoption of the standards and policies advocated by the Women's Bureau, exhibits are prepared and circulated to present good and bad working conditions and other information bearing on women in industry that can be most effectively given in illustrated or graphic form.

These exhibits include a moving picture film showing the interior and exterior of actual factories while in operation, twenty copies of this picture being in constant use. Up to November 1, 1921, 139 organizations, including some business establishments in thirty-one states, the District of Columbia, and Belgium and Mexico had exhibited these films. To accompany the moving picture films, explanatory folders are supplied for distribution among the audiences. Stereoptican