Official Information from the Reports of the [German] Factory
     Inspectors.  Berlin, Bruer, 1898

The inspector in Hesse regards a reduction of working hours to ten for women in textile mills as “absolutely imperative,” as the continuous standing is very injurious to the female organism.

     Fourteenth International Congress of Hygiene and Demography. 
     Berlin, September, 1907.  Vol.  II, Sec.  IV.  Fatigue Resulting
     from Occupation.  Berlin, Hirschwald, 1908

     Doctor Emil Roth: 

“My experience and observations do not permit me to feel any uncertainty in believing that the injury to health inflicted upon even fully capable workers by the special demands of a periodically heightened rush of work is never compensated for.  Under this head we may consider the demands of all seasonal work, ... as also the special rush season in shops before Christmas.”

     Night Work of Women in Industry.  Reports on its Importance and
     Legal Regulation.  Preface by Etienne Bauer.  Night Work of Women
     in Industry in Austria.  Ilse Von Arlt.  Jena, Fischer, 1903

The suitable limits of working time vary with individuals, but it is acknowledged that not only is a regularly long day of work injurious, but also that a single isolated instance of overstrain may be harmful to a woman all the rest of her life.

     Proceedings of the French Senate, July 7, 1891.  Report on the
     Industrial Employment of Children, Young Girls, and Women.

When I ask, when we ask, for a lessening of the daily toil of women, it is not only of the women that we think, it is not principally of the women, it is of the whole human race.  It is of the father, it is of the child, it is of society, which we wish to reestablish on its foundation, from which we believe it has perhaps swerved a little.

In New York State, the hours of labor of adult women (women over twenty-one) in mercantile establishments are not limited in any way by law.

The law concerning seats in stores is as follows:—­

     Seats for Women in Mercantile Establishments

Chairs, stools, or other suitable seats shall be maintained in mercantile establishments for the use of female employees therein, to the number of at least one seat for every three females employed, and the use thereof by such employees shall be allowed at such times and to such extent as may be necessary for the preservation of their health.

The enforcement of this law is very difficult.  The mercantile inspectors can compel the requisite number of seats.  They have successfully issued one hundred and fourteen orders on this point[6] to the stores within the year 1909.  But the use of these seats to such extent as may be necessary for the preservation of the health of the women employees is another matter.  For fear of being blacklisted by the merchants, the saleswomen will not testify in court in those cases where employers practically forbid the use of seats, by requesting the employees to do something requiring a standing position whenever they sit down.  So that in these cases the inspectors cannot bring prosecution successfully, on account of lack of sufficient evidence.