Ethelbert Stewart (1857–1936) was the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from 1921 to 1932. Stewart worked as a coffin-maker, then founded and edited labor newspapers. He was made the commissioner of labor for the state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

in the 1880s.Ethelbert Stewart Papers, 1884-1933
at Wilson Library at UNC-Chapel Hill He was made deputy commissioner of the BLS in 1913 along with other roles in the

U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unem ...

.Commissioners: Ethelbert Stewart
at bls.gov In that position he had a public role in how the organization should track women workers, child labor, and occupational injuries and illnesses. In the fall of 1913 he mediated a coal mining dispute involving the Rockefeller interests in Colorado and helped resolve the Indianapolis streetcar strike of 1913. It was hard to keep the Bureau staffed during World War I and Stewart advocated offering pensions to civil servants.Goldberg, Joseph P., and William T. Moye. 1985.
First hundred years of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
'. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 2235. U.S. Government Printing Office. . Chapters 4 and 5. In 1920 he was elected as a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the American Statistical Association.List of ASA Fellows
, retrieved 2016-07-16. When commissioner Royal Meeker left in 1920, Stewart was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson to take the top role, newly elected President Warren Harding re-nominated him, and Stewart was confirmed in 1921. The Bureau began issuing productivity statistics in this period, and increased coverage of wholesale prices, employment and unemployment, and industrial safety statistics.

Publications and archives

* Ethelbert Stewart
"1913=100"
'' Monthly Labor Review'' 15:2 (Aug. 1922), pp. 11–12. * Stewart's archives are kept at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Ethelbert 1857 births 1936 deaths American civil servants Bureau of Labor Statistics People from Cook County, Illinois Fellows of the American Statistical Association Mathematicians from Illinois Woodrow Wilson administration personnel Harding administration personnel Coolidge administration personnel Hoover administration personnel