The Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor was the pioneering and pace‑setting agency among the states. Its first annual report in 1870 described accidents to children working in textile mills, paper mills and other establishments. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, primarily under the leadership of Carroll Wright who was appointed Commissioner of Labor Statistics in 1873, the bureau mailed questionnaires to employers and sent investigators out to observe conditions first‑hand. Working conditions varied widely and the annual reports presented a mixed picture. In 1871 the bureau found that ventilation in the Lowell Mills was poor because the windows had to be kept closed during the manufacture of certain types of fabric. In 1873, however, the bureau reported that improvements there in factory architecture, machinery, and ventilation had reduced the threats to the operatives’ health. The next year investigative agents went into most of the state's textile mills, checking machine guarding, ventilation, protection of shafting, fire escapes elevators, and amounts of air space per worker. They found shafting and machines guarded fairly well, though air space was not always adequate. Most of the mills were pronounced to be in good order.2
