BUREAU OF BEDDING AND
UPHOLSTERY
The Bureau of Bedding and Upholstery was for-
merly a Section in the Bureau of Inspection. As
the work of this Section had very little in common
with the general work of the Bureau of Inspection,
it was made a Bureau on October 27, 1927, by ap-
proval of the Executive Board.
The Bedding and Upholstery Act of April 14,
1923, as amended by Act of June 14, 1925, charged
the Department of Labor and Industry with the duty
of requiring the manufacturers of mattresses, pillows, comfortables, and
articles of upholstered furniture to state on a tag attached to such
articles an exact and definite statement of the material used in filling.
Because of the lack of supervision of this industry, great latitude
and license in what was put inside of articles of bedding and upholster-
ed furniture were employed by many manufacturers throughout the
United States. Highly colored descriptions were used to describe the
most ordinary and inferior grades of filling ma-
terials, so that, in many cases, it was next to impos-
sible for any one to know just what they were buying
in such articles as mattresses, pillows, upholstered
furniture, etc. A mattress might be labeled COT-
TON FELT and contain the lowest grade of cotton
linters; a pillow might be labeled DOWN and con-
tain erushed chicken feathers; and a davenport
might be labeled HAIR (supposedly HORSE
HAIR) and contain a dyed vegetable fiber mixed
with hog hair.
At the present time only the actual materials used
in the manufacture of an article coming under the
provisions of the Act may be printed on the tag attached. No trade
names may be used to describe the filling material. A pillow to be
labeled DOWN must contain at least ninety per cent of DOWN, a
tolerance of ten per cent of small feathers being allowed on account of
the natural conditions in the feather industry which do not permit of
perfect separation.
In connection with the offices of the Bureau is a laboratory in charge
of a chemist where filling materials are analyzed.
The Bedding and Upholstery Advisory Committee at present con-
sists of twelve representative manufacturers of Pennsylvania. These
members are appointed by the Secretary of Labor and Industry who
acts as Chairman of the Committee. They meet at the call of the Secre-
tary to discuss regulations affecting the industry and questions pertain-
ing to legislation. The Committee comprises: General Albert J. Logan,
H. E. Wolf, I. H. Wolfson, all of Pittsburgh; H. Gilman Fisher, W.
D. Babcock, David T. Gladding, Charles Gearhart, A. J. Schob, all
of Philadelphia; John K. Herr, Lancaster; C. W. Parkinson, Waynes-
boro: Issac C. Decker, Montgomery :~and G. W. Atlee, Chester.
M. P. Frederick
Director
