CHAPTER IV.--TRANSITORY PROVISIONS

=ARTICLE 424.=--The first meeting of the Conference shall take place in October, 1919. The place and agenda for this meeting shall be as specified in the Annex hereto.

Arrangements for the convening and the organization of the first meeting of the Conference will be made by the Government designated for the purpose in the said Annex. That Government shall be assisted in the preparation of the documents for submission to the Conference by an International Committee constituted as provided in the said Annex.

The expenses of the first meeting and of all subsequent meetings held before the League of Nations has been able to establish a general fund, other than the expenses of delegates and their advisers, will be borne by the members in Accordance with the apportionment of the expenses of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union.

=ARTICLE 425.=--Until the League of Nations has been constituted all communications which under the provisions of the foregoing articles should be addressed to the Secretary-General of the League will be preserved by the Director of the International Labor Office, who will transmit them to the Secretary-General of the League.

=ARTICLE 426.=--Pending the creation of a Permanent Court of International Justice, disputes which in accordance with this part of the present treaty would be submitted to it for decision will be referred to a tribunal of three persons appointed by the Council of the League of Nations.

ANNEX

_First Meeting of Annual Labor Conference, 1919_

The place of meeting will be Washington.

The Government of the United States of America is requested to convene the conference.

The International Organizing Committee will consist of seven members, appointed by the United States of America, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium, and Switzerland. The committee may, if it thinks necessary, invite other members to appoint representatives.

Agenda:

1. Application of principle of the 8-hours day or of the 48-hours week.

2. Question of preventing or providing against unemployment.

3. Women's employment.

(a) Before and after childbirth, including the question of maternity benefit.

(b) During the night.

(c) In unhealthy processes.

4. Employment of children:

(a) Minimum age of employment.

(b) During the night.

(c) In unhealthy processes.

5. Extension and application of the International Conventions adopted at Berne in 1906 on the prohibition of night work for women employed in industry and the prohibition of the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches.

SECTION II.--_General Principles_

=ARTICLE 427.=--The High Contracting Parties, recognizing that the well-being, physical, moral, and intellectual, of industrial wage earners is of supreme international importance, have framed, in order to further this great end, the permanent machinery provided for in Section I, and associated with that of the League of Nations.

They recognize that differences of climate, habits, and customs, of economic opportunity and industrial tradition, make strict uniformity in the conditions of labor difficult of immediate attainment. But, holding as they do, that labor should not be regarded merely as an article of commerce, they think that there are methods and principles for regulating labor conditions which all industrial communities should endeavor to apply, so far as their special circumstances will permit.

Among these methods and principles, the following seem to the High Contracting Parties to be of special and urgent importance:

First--The guiding principle above enunciated that labor should not be regarded merely as a commodity or article of commerce.

Second--The right of association for all lawful purposes by the employed as well as by the employers.

Third--The payment to the employed of a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life as this is understood in their time and country.

Fourth--The adoption of an eight hours day or a forty-eight hours week as the standard to be aimed at where it has not already been attained.

Fifth--The adoption of a weekly rest of at least twenty-four hours, which should include Sunday wherever practicable.

Sixth--The abolition of child labor and the imposition of such limitations on the labor of young persons as shall permit the continuation of their education and assure their proper physical development.

Seventh--The principle that men and women should receive equal remuneration for work of equal value.

Eighth--The standard set by law in each country with respect to the conditions of labor should have due regard to the equitable economic treatment of all workers lawfully resident therein.

Ninth--Each State should make provision for a system of inspection in which women should take part in order to insure the enforcement of the laws and regulations for the protection of the employed.

Without claiming that these methods and principles are either complete or final, the High Contracting Parties are of opinion that they are well fitted to guide the policy of the League of Nations; and that, if adopted by the industrial communities who are members of the League, and safeguarded in practice by an adequate system of such inspection, they will confer lasting benefits upon the wage earners of the world.