The Portland daily press., 1886-08-02

assisting them in settling their difficulties by
! arbitration"
The champion of black labor was true
prophet Before the, debate was over one
| after another of the leading members
from the South arose and protest
ed against the proposed labor legislation
| as unconstitutional. The voting was equally
significant By 1879 yeas to 80 nays the bill
passed. South Carolina furnished a single
aye, that cast by Robert Smalls, the negro
member The old pilot is of the wise-as-ser-
| pents-and- harmless-as-doves order of Con-
| gressmen. He is concilatory. He did not
ruffle the feelings of his six white colleagues
by any remarks on the bill, but he let his
vote speak for the labor of the coast cotton
fields. South Carolina did better; three of
her eight white congressman voted for arbl-
| tratlon and two against
A year ago a Bureau of Labor was
established by Congressional action. The
| first annual report of the Commission
er of Labor has just been published.
1t makes a closely printed book of 494
pages. The agents of the bureau have roam
ed from Maine to California They canvassed
the industries of this country and Europe
They present the reports of wages paid in
hundreds OF occupations. The cost of living
is investigated and compared with the fiuctu-
alton of wages. The causes of depression
are dwelt upon. Remedies for the anchor
alton of labor are suggested. Seemingly the
work has been done with great thoroughness
but from cover to cover there is nothing
bearing upon the black labor of the South,
its condition, its past or its future.
The index shows that considerable atten-
tion has been paid to cotton. But when one
turns to see what the bureau has learned of
''cost Of production of cotton" 1t is to dis
cover that all the research has been devoted
to the production of the manufactured ar
ticle.
The book tells all about the spinner and
carder of the Rhine district of Germany what
the wages are and what the cost of living,
but there is nothing of the history of the
staple and the labor represented up to the
time OF baling and shipping from the Caro-
linas and other cotton States. This is not
mentioned by way of criticism, but simply
as statement of fact. The Commissioner
Of Labor did not conceive it was within his
province to inquire into the problem of black
labor, and he didn't touch it. He searched
far and wide for the causes and remedies of
industrial depressions, but never set foot on
a cotton. sugar or tobacco plantation.
An appendix Of the Labor Commissioners
elaborate report is devoted to "a synopsis OF
labor legislation in the United States" This
work appears to have been thoroughly done
Three pages of fine print are required to pre-
sent the digest of the statutes PENNSYLVANIA
has passed for the wage-earners. Ohio, New
ly as elaborate. California, Colorado, Con-
necticut Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska,
NEW Hampshire, oregon, It10ue 1SIanu. V er-
mont, West Virginia and Wisconsin, all have
labor laws.
Here is the record of the South:
Vrginia-No labor legislation.
North Carolina-No labor legislation.
South Carolina-No labor LEGISLATION.
Georgia. provisions that hours OF labor shall
be from sunrise to sunset for persons under twenty
one years in all manufacturing establishments
and machine shops. Also provision abollShng
coporal punishment, and making owners of eStab-
lishments violating liable in action
Florida-No labor legislation.
Alabama-No labor legislation.
TenneSsee-An act providing for the ventilation
and operation of coal mines similar in its general
tenor TO the acts of Northern States
Kentucky-No labor legislation.
MisSiSsippi-No labor legislation.
Louisiana-No labor legislation.
Arkansas-No labor legislation
Texas-An article making it unlawful for per-
sons to the number of three or more to assemble
for the purpose of preventing any person from
pupSuing any labor, occupation or employment, or
to iAtimldate any person from following his daily
y0catlon or to interfere in any manner with labor
subject to fine Ct $500, and if they cause riot
to Imprisonment from six months to one year.
From the labor legislation of Texas to that
of New Jersey is long jump. The labor
laws of the latter State declare:
1t is not unlawful for two or more persons to
unite combine, or bind themselves by oath, cov-
enant, agreement alliance otherwise to per-
shade, advise, or encourage by peaceable means
any person to enter into any combination for or
against leaving or entering into the employment
OF any person or corporation
If the leaders of the new revolution are to
be believed the field of labor legislation has
How far, then, is the South behind?