the many questions involved with that largeness which has thus far
distinguished work in this direction. Kansas, in the report for 1888,
gave general conditions, women being treated incidentally; and
Minnesota, in the report for the years 1887 and 1888, gave a chapter on
working-women, wages, etc.

Colorado followed, giving in the report for 1887 and 1888, under the
management of Commissioner Rice, a chapter on women wage-workers, in
which space is given to certified complaints of the women themselves, as
to what they consider the disabilities of their special trades. Domestic
service, with some of its abuses, was also considered, and is of much
value. These reports sum up the work so far done in the West, where
labor bureaus are of recent growth. The spirit of inquiry is, however,
equally alive; and each year will see minuter detail and a deeper
scientific spirit.

Maine, in the report for 1888, took up many questions of general
interest, with their incidental bearings on the work of women; and in
1889 came another report from Kansas, in which the labor commissioner,
Mr. Frank Betton, gave large space to an investigation conducted under
many difficulties, but covering the ground very fully. A very full
report from Michigan, under Commissioner Henry A. Robinson, was issued
in 1892, nearly two hundred pages being given to an exhaustive
examination into the conditions of women wage-earners in the State, its
methods owing much to the work which had preceded it.

With this background of admirable work always, no matter what might be
the limitations, making each report a little broader in purpose and
minuter in detail, the way was plain for something even more
comprehensive. This was furnished by the Bureau of Labor of the United