Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/557

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TREATY 487 TREATY and no taxes to be imposed beyond those necessary for upkeep and improvement for which Germany is to be responsible. In case of violation of or disagreement as to those provisions, any State may appeal to the League of Nations, and may demand the appointment of an in- ternational commission. For preliminary hearing of complaints Germany shall es- tablish a local authority at Kiel. SECTION XIII. INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION Members of the League of Nations agree to establish a permanent organi- zation to promote international adjust- ment of labor conditions, to consist of an annual international labor conference and an international labor office. The former is composed of four repre- setatives of each State, two from the Government, and one each from the em- ployers and the employed; each of them may vote individually. It will be a de- liberative legislative body, its measures taking the form of draft conventions or recommendations for legislation, which, if passed by two-thirds vote, must be submitted to the lawmaking authority in every State participating. Each Gov- ernment may either enact the terms into law; approve the principles, but modify them to local needs; leave the actual leg- islation in case of a Federal State to local legislatures; or reject the conven- tion altogether without further obliga- tion. The international labor office is es- tablished at the seat of the League of Nations as part of its organization. It is to collect and distribute information on labor throughout the world and pre- pare agenda for the conference. It will publish a periodical in French and Eng- lish and possibly other languages. Each State agrees to make to it for presen- tation to the conference an annual re- port of measures taken to execute ac- cepted conventions. The governing body, in its Executive, consists of twenty-four members, twelve representing the Gov- ernments, six the employers, and six the employes, to serve for three years. On complaint that any Government has failed to carry out a convention to which it is a party, the governing body may make inquiries directly to that Gov- ernment, and in case the reply is un- satisfactory may publish the complaint with comment. A complaint by one Gov- ernment against another may be referred by the governing body to a commission of inquiry nominated by the Secretary General of the League. If the commis- sion report fails to bring satisfactory ac- tion the matter may be taken to a per- manent court of international justice for final decision. The chief reliance for securing enforcement of the law will be publicity with a possibility of economic action in the background. The first meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at Wash- ington, to discuss the eight-hour day or forty-eight-hour week; prevention of un- employment; extension and application of the international conventions adopted at Berne in 1906, prohibiting night work for women, and the use of white phos- phorus in the manufacture of matches; and employment of women and children at night or in unhealthy work, of women before and after childbirth, including ma- ternity benefit, and of children as re- gards minimum age. LABOR CLAUSES Nine principles of labor conditions were recognized on the ground that "the well-being, physical and moral, of the industrial wage earners is of supreme in- ternational importance." With excep- tions necessitated by differences of cli- mate, habits and economic development. They include the guiding principle that labor should not be regarded merely as a commodity or article of commerce; the right of association of employers and em- ployes; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; the eight- hour day or forty-eight-hour week; a weekly rest of at least twenty-four hours ; which should include Sunday wherever practicable; abolition of child labor and assui'ance of the continuation of the edu- cation and proper physical development of children; equal pay for equal work as between men and women; equitable treatment of all workers lawfully resi- dent therein, including foreigners; and a system of inspection in which women should take part. SECTION XIV— GUARANTEES As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty German territory to the west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied by allied and associated troops for a fifteen years' period. If the conditions are faithfully carried out by Germany, certain districts, including the bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacua- ted at the expiration of five years; cer- tain other districts including the bridge- head of Coblenz, and the territories near- est the Belgian frontier will be evacua- ted after ten years, and the remainder, including the bridgehead of Mainz, will be evacuated after fifteen years. In case the Interallied Reparation Commission finds that Germany has failed to observe