Every corporation, association, co-partnership, company, firm or person principally engaged or about to engage principally in the business of mining coal, ore, or other minerals, or quarrying stone or any process in connection with well-drilling for oil, gas or water, or manufacturing iron, steel, lumber, stoves, barrels, brick, tile, machinery, agricultural or mechanical implements, or any commodity, having a lease only on such mine, mineral or mining rights, quarry, well or manufacturing plant and on the tipple, shaft, trackage, works, tools, appliances or machinery used or to be used in such business, shall, before beginning or continuing such work, tender for filing to the clerk of the Circuit Court of the county in which such a business is located, a bond to be approved by such clerk, payable to the State of Illinois, in a sum double the amount of the semi-monthly pay-roll of any such lessee, and signed by good and sufficient free-hold sureties or a surety company and conditioned that wages due the employees of any such lessee will be paid promptly when due. If, however, the value of the real and personal property within the State of Illinois owned by such lessee as shown by the last preceding assessment or assessments for taxation or as shown by the sworn affidavit of such lessee is at least double the amount of the semi-monthly pay-roll of such lessee, then it shall not be necessary for such lessee to file such bond. Such clerk shall not file such bond until after the same has been examined and approved by him.
     The clerk of such court shall examine each lessee tendering such bond under oath touching the number of employees to be employed and the amount of wages to be paid. The Clerk of the Court may re-examine a lessee whose bond is on file and cause the amount of such bond to be increased or decreased on account of changed conditions of employment to an amount equal to double the semi-monthly wages of the employees of such lessee. If such lessee makes wage payments to his employees upon a weekly basis, the bond required to be filed hereunder, or the value of his property required to be shown by tax assessment or affidavit to dispense with such filing, shall be in an amount equal to 2 times the amount of the weekly pay-roll of such lessee. For purposes of this Act, “lease” includes a bailment or a conditional sale; “lessee” includes a bailee or a purchaser under conditional sales agreement.