MONOPOLY POLICY OF TRADE UNIONISM; COMPULSORY TRADE UNIONISM.)

Exclusive Agreement. A form of TRADE AGREEMENT, at one time common in the building trades, by which the members of an EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION agree to hire none but union men, while the unions on thei side agree to work exclusively for the associated employers. Such an agreement, among its other effects, compelled the contractors of a locality to become and remain members of the employers' association, as otherwise they could not obtain a sufficient number of skilled workmen. The union men were usually given higher wages or shorter hours, and in return the association obtained a monopoly of the local contracting in the particular trade concerned. Although declared illegal by the courts, the agreement was frequently made, and is yet sometimes found, in spite of the fact that the national organizations now oppose its use. (See BIRMINGHAM ALLIANCES.)

Executive Committee. See TRADE UNION GOVERNMENT

LOCAL.

Exempt Cards. In some trade unions, members over a certain age and physically unable to earn the standard rate of wages are granted "exempt cards" or "old-age certificates" which permit them to work at certain specified rates below the union standard. (See EMPLOYMENT AT WILL; STANDARD RATE.)

Exemption of Wages. See WAGE EXEMPTION.

Existence Minimum. See MINIMUM SUBSISTENCE LEVEL.

Exploitation. The use of persons or materials as a means to profit-making. Economists use the word without reproach; but socialists and others who condemn the PROFITS SYSTEM make exploitation synonymous with the idea of unethically taking advantage of human necessity, ignorance, good nature, credulity, etc. In this sense scientific socialists regard all existing capital as consisting, in essence, of exploited "labor."

Expropriatory General Strike. See GENERAL STRIKE.
Expulsion. See FINANCES OF TRADE UNIONS; DISCIPLINE.
Extra-Hazardous Occupations. See HAZARDOUS OCCUPA-

TIONS.

Extractive Industries. See INDUSTRY.

Extremists. See LEFT, LEFT WING.

F

F. L. P. See FARMER-LABOR PARTY.

F. S. See FABIAN SOCIETY.

Fabian Research Department. See LABOR RESEARCH DE

PARTMENT.

Fabian Society. An association for socialistic research and propaganda, founded in London in 1884, and numbering among its early members Bernard Shaw, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb, Graham Wallas, H. G. Wells, and other well-known persons. It sought at first to advance the cause of SOCIALISM by "permeating" the conventional political parties with advanced economic ideas. Later, however, the Society definitely entered the field of labor politics, and in 1900 helped to found the INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTY. The Fabian leaders, particularly Mr. and Mrs. Webb, have exerted a strong influence on the British labor movement ever since. In 1918 Mr. Webb was one of the principal factors in drafting the British Labor Party's famous reconstruction programme, "LABOR AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER." The Fabian Society has, at least until lately, advocated a programme tending strongly in the direction of administrative STATE SOCIALISM. Its members are critical of Marxian formulæ, and believe for the most part in the gradual development of society into a COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH. (See PERMEATION POLICY; LABOR RESEARCH DEPARTMENT; FABIANISM.)

Fabianism. Politically, the doctrine or method of "making haste slowly," the term being derived from the name of Quintus Fabius Maximus, a Roman general noted for his cautious and dilatory tactics. In the modern socialist movement, a narrower usage confines this term to the theories and practice of the British FABIAN SOCIETY.

Fachschulen. In Germany, specialized TRADE SCHOOLS for apprentices, coordinate with the CONTINUATION SCHOOLS and alternative to them. They are for the most part conducted by trade guilds.

Factory Acts. A general term covering all legislation, whether applied to factories or to other industrial or commercial establishments, in regard to such matters as safety and health of workers, hours of labor, CHILD LABOR, payment of wages, etc. The term has usually been confined to such laws as require continuous official inspection and enforcement; as distinguished from laws which involve the bringing of an individual court action (such as MECHANIC'S LIEN, WAGE EXEMPTION, EMPLOYER'S LIABILITY, etc.), the latter class being known as LABOR LEGISLATION. This distinction, however, is tending to disappear, and "labor legislation" is now generally used in designation of all laws relating to labor.

Factory and Workshop Acts. Factory legislation in Great Britain dates from the year 1802, and between that date and 1856 numerous statutes were passed to regulate the hours of labor of women, young persons, and children in textile factories, and to make provisions for their safety, etc. In 1864 and 1867 certain nontextile factories and workshops were dealt with; and in 1878, as a result of a Royal Commission appointed in 1875, a comprehensive Factory and Workshop Act was passed. This was followed by various other Acts in 1883, 1889, 1891, 1895, and 1897. Then the provisions of these Acts were consolidated in the Factory and Workshop Act of 1901. This, with various amending Acts of later date, is now the principal general labor code of Great Britain. The matters dealt with are ventilation, sanitation, cleanliness, fencing of machinery, fire-escapes and exits, conduct of dangerous trades, etc. For women, young persons (those between fourteen and eighteen years of age), and children there are special regulations in regard to working hours, etc. The employment of children under twelve years of age is forbidden. An elaborate system of factory and workshop inspection is provided for. (See PARTICULARS CLAUSE; SANITATION AND SAFETY.)

Factory Committee or Council. See WORKS COUNCIL.

Factory Committees in Russia. See TRADE UNION ORGANIZATION IN RUSSIA; TRADE UNIONS IN RUSSIA; WORKERS' Control IN RUSSIA.

Factory Inspection. The several American states and those foreign countries which have enacted laws protecting employees and regulating their hours in factories and in mines have found it necessary, in order to secure the enforcement of such legislation, to create staffs of inspectors with police powers. The duties of these

inspectors include the enforcement of the laws providing for safety and sanitation; those prohibiting CHILD LABOR, in which case usually cooperation is maintained with the school authorities and the truant officers where such officers exist; those for the regulation of SWEAT SHOPS, bake shops, and mercantile establishments; those regulating employment on public works, and so on. In those states which have STATE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSIONS, the factory inspection system is usually under the control of the commission; in other states the system is separately organized.

Factory Schools. TRADE SCHOOLS carried on in connection with large industrial establishments, the instruction being designed primarily as a substitute for APPRENTICESHIP, are commonly so called. The term is also sometimes applied to general CONTINUATION SCHOOLS Conducted by individual employers within their own establishments. (See CORPORATION SCHOOLS; VESTIBULE SCHOOLS; RAILWAY SCHOOLS; WORKS SCHOOLS.)

Factory System. As marking the fourth and latest stage in modern INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION, this is the method of LARGESCALE PRODUCTION (superseding the DOMESTIC SYSTEM) under which workers and machinery are concentrated in specially designed buildings known as factories. This method usually involves the use of complex machinery and tends toward a minute DIVISION OF labor. The individual initiative of the domestic system is replaced by corporate responsibility, and the control of industry passes definitely into the hands of the owners of capital. In many cases the organization of production has extended until it involves vastly more than the single factory-until it includes, in a unified system, many factories, and sometimes a great variety of industries, cooperating toward the production of a single ultimate product or class of related products. (See NATIONAL ECONOMY; LABOR PROBLEM; WAGE SYSTEM.)

Factory System in the Garment Trades. As distinguished from the CONTRACT SYSTEM or any form of OUTWORK, the term "factory system" denotes in the garment trades the plan or method under which articles are produced entirely upon the premises of the manufacturer. The term "Boston system" is sometimes used in a similar sense. (See INSIDE SHOP.)

Fair, Unfair. As used by trade unionists, these adjectives commonly denote the acceptance or non-acceptance of union regulations and conditions, on the part of either employers or fellow

workers. Thus, a "fair shop" or "fair house" is one that employs union workers under union conditions; while an "unfair shop" or "unfair house" does not. A "fair man" is one who belongs to a union; an "unfair man" is a non-unionist. The word "foul" is still occasionally used in the sense of "unfair"-as for example, “foul shop," "foul man," etc. (See FAIR LIST; UNFAIR LIST.)

Fair Day's Pay. See FAIR WAGE.

Fair Day's Work. Like its companion term, FAIR WAGE or "fair day's pay," this phrase is too relative and abstract to permit of precise definition. As an employer's standard, it may be either (1) the amount of work which he personally and arbitrarily fixes as a "fair" standard; (2) the amount produced by the most proficient worker in his employ-sometimes a professional "speeder" or "pacer"; (3) an amount determined by careful averaging of past shop records for the entire working force. As a worker's standard, it may also be a purely personal and arbitrary one; or it may be an amount determined by collective understanding after weighing all the facts and factors connected with the particular work to be done. In any of the above cases, however, what is considered "fair" by one side might be counted grossly "unfair" by the other. Unless determined by COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, there is little chance of fixing a standard acceptable to both sides. (See PRODUCTION STANDARDS.)

Fair List. As sometimes published or otherwise circulated by trade unions, this is a list of employers in a specified town or district who comply with union regulations and conform to union conditions. In a general way it corresponds, on the trade union side, to the employers' WHITELIST. (See UNFAIR LIST.)

Fair Wage. As far as it is possible to frame any definition of so relative and abstract a term, the following (quoted from Tead and Metcalf's "Personnel Administration") is perhaps as satisfactory as any other: "A fair wage is one which, in relation to the work agreed upon, under existing circumstances, with the then available facts and taking account of all active factors, the interested parties agree to be reasonable, possible, and expedient." As officially used, the term "fair wage" may mean, in the United States, either a LIVING WAGE or a wage established by the highest rate of payment for the particular kind of work in a particular industry; in England and Canada it generally means the prevailing rate of wages for a specified kind of work in a specified industry. (See FAIR WAGES CLAUSE; FAIR DAY'S WORK.)