Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-29
THE EIGHT-HOUR LAW.

1t Applies to Laborers and Mechanics in Di-
rect Employment of Government and Dis
trict.
Here is good news for laborers and mechanics
in the direct employment of the government
and Of the District of Colum bia.
The Attorney General renders a decision
that they come under the provisions Of the
eight hour labor law
Since the passage Of the eight-hour bill each
department of the government has been in q
quandary over the absolute meaning Of the act
While the promoters Of the act werc decided
enough in their own minds what they wanted,
the lawyers who framed it succeeded in dis
guising the intention of the bill SO effectually
that it would take keen judicial mind to dis
cover it.
Attorney General Miller has finally succeeded
in ferreting out the true intention Of the bill
In decision rendered the acting secretary Of
war today he says:
THE FIRST QUESTION FOR DECISION.
"The first question for decision is whether
this law applies only to labor performed upon
public works or whether as to laborers and
mechanics employed directly by the govern
ment or the District Of Columbia it is general
and applicable in all cases. Upon the reading
OF the law the question is by no means clear
and one which, without great violence to the
language Of the statute. might well be decided
either way"
The Attorney General then says that in the
first place the title of the act clearly favors the
more restricted meaning. Continuing, he says:
ION the other hand, the punctuation of the
act supports the opposite view. II the law were
read with q comma after the word sub con-
tractor, as first used in the first section, then
the phrase upon any of the public works Of the
United States OF of the said District Of Colum-
umbia' would qualify all the preceding part OF
the section, and it would be clear that the law
should be applied only to labor upon the
public works. IT, on the other hand, it be read
without such comma the opposite conclusion
would seem to be correct In the law itself,
both as enrolled and as printed, there is no such
comma. In the reports of both the Senate and
House committees recommending the passage
such comma is used, thus favoring a
construction apparently at variance with
that indicated by the punctua-
ton Of the fact ITSELF without the
comma the clause public works, &c., qualities
only the part relating to contractors and sub
contractors; with the comma it qualities each of
the three clauses of the SERIES So Tar, then,
with the title on the one side and the punctua-
tion on the other, the argument Is perhaps
fairly balanced"
At this point the Attorney General reviews
previous legislation and then says:
I'm view, therefore, of the previous legisla-
ton upon the subject, Of the alleged evils
sought to be corrected, and in Difference to the
legislative understanding and purpose apparent
in debate and reports Of committees while the
act was under consideretion-the act itself
being susceptible of either construction-I am
constrained to hold that the law, as to laborers
and mechanics in the direct employment
Of the government and of the District Of Co
lumbia is general, and that the limitation to
public works applies only to such persons g
are in the employ Of contractors and subcon-
tractors"
THE SECOND QUESTION.
The second question as to whether the law
applies to teamsters, watchmen, engineers and
fremen employed in the public service in the
War Department and to hrsmen and others on
government vessels 10 answered by the Attorney
General a. follows:
'If the employees named are ordinary laborery
or mechanics working for the government for
wages under ordinary conditions the statute
would seem to apply. At the same time 1t il
quite apparent that a. to some of
them 1t might frequently happen that
they would be within the emergency
exception named in tho statute, and q to
others, a., for instance, sailors or others ON
shipboard or tesmsters. their employment
being peculiar they might we'll be hsid q .
matter Of fact neither laborers NOR mechanics
within the meaning Of this lAw."