ECONOMIC POWERS.--(1) The Factory Workers Council aids by its technical advice the employer in giving the factory as high an economic efficiency as possible, and co-operates in introducing in the factory new methods of work. This co-operation on the part of the Factory Workers Council assumes that the employer keeps it in touch with the condition in the industry and with the most important events in it. The Council may therefore demand that the employer supply the Factory Committee, or the Council with all the necessary information on the work and the condition of workers, and that he show the pay-rolls--for the purpose of checking up with the schedules agreed upon by collective contracts--and all other documents necessary for the supervision of the execution of collective agreements. This right of inspection is limited in two respects. On the one hand, the Factory Workers Council can only examine records on the economic aspects of the factory, thus excluding all political, union, militarist, denominational, scientific or other investigations on the part of the Councils. On the other hand, the law specifies that this right of examination must not be exercised in such a way that it jeopardizes secrets of the factory or commerce. The question remains as to what must be understood as a secret of the factory or of commerce; this must be settled by judicial decision. From the first moment commentators on the law of February 4th, held that business contracts, records of profits and loss, the schedules and pay-rolls, estimates of net cost, and the purchase price of raw material are not questions that the Factory Workers Councils are forbidden to investigate. In addition the employer must at least once every quarter furnish the Factory Workers Council with a report on the situation and the progress in general of the factory, on its output and on its prospective needs in the way of workers. Finally the Factory Council may demand that every year a balance sheet for the factory and a statement of profit and loss for the preceding year shall be submitted to the Factory Committee, or the Council, if there is no Factory Committee.