The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1900-05-31
COTTON Mill LABOR.
Children Under "A Should Not be
Employed in Factories.
INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION REPORT.
Congress Has No Power to Legislate
Directly in the Matter of Regulation
of Hours of Labor.

Washington, ID. c., Special.-The in
| Gustrial commission On its report TO
| Congress en- labor legislation recon-
| mends improved legislation to the
State legislatures. rather than to Col-
gress directly. The subject of greatest
| public interest today, says the report
is perhaps that of the regulation CT
the hours of labor permitted in indus
trial occupations and especially in fac
tories" AS Congress has no. power to
| legislate directly in this matter the
commission recommends that a simple
statute be erac ed by all the States reg
l2ting the length CT the working GaytcT'
all persons between the ages of II and
q years, who work in factories. hTe
report ssy5 in blief: TIE employment
CT children below the ages cf IA should
be prohibited in factories. The length
of the working day in all public en-
ployment should be fixed at eight hours
The same time should be fixed for
worknren in underground mines, ex-
cept in cases Of emergency Employ
ment in the mines Of children less than
II years CT age and Of all women and
girls should be forbidden. Congress
might we'll enact that no person under
IS should be employed as a telegraph
operator upon railroads, and that all
engineers and sWitchmen should sub
nit to an examination for color blind
ness: also that it be made a misdemea-
nor for an engineer or switchman to be
intoxicated while on duty. A simple
and liberal law regulating the payment
Of labor should be adopted by all the
States, providing that all labcrers shall
be paid in cash orders without dis
count, not in goods or due bills, and
that no compulSion, direct or indirect,
should be used to make them purchase
goods at particular stores. Provision
fer the fair weighing of coal at mines
should be made, and the miners should
have the privilege Of employing check
weighman at their own expense.
1t is suggested that it might be we'll
to limit punishment for contempt of
court Imprisonment for brief period
for disobedience CT injunctions, but
equity courts must not be deprived Of
the power to protect themselves and
to make their DEGREES respected. The
process Of awarding blanket injunc-
tiCns agains: all the world, or against
unnamed defendants. as well as the
practice Of indirectly enforcing the con-
tract for personal service by enjoining
employees from quitting work, should
be discouraged not only by popular
sentiment, but by intelligent judicial
opinion. Congress should adopt con-
sistent code Of laws regulating all mat
tiers concerning railroad employment.
such as hours OF labor, limitation OF
continuous runs by engineers or con-
linuous service by telegraph operators
or switchmen; the enactment Of a con-
sistent employers liability code; the
liability OF the employer or corporation
for defective appliances, etc. The sta
tutes already adopted in the several
States, discriminating as ice.ween union
and non-union labor by making it a
penal offense for an employer to eX-
clude union labor only seem to the
commission to be unconstitutional, be-
ing class legislation. The statute
should apply to non-unicn as well as
union labor alike il it is to be enacted
at ALL The right to be employed and
protected without belonging to union
should be preserved, but every facility
should be given labor to organize, if it
desires, and the last vestige Of the no.
ton that trade unions are criminal
use pri.agoo shrdlu cmfwy vbskqi
con spi-acy should be swept away. The
use OF private police detectives or 9TH
er hired bodies of men to be used in
connection with labor troubles has
aroused considerable attention, and
Congress probably has the power to
enact reasonable legislation to prevent
abuses In this direction. In general
way the commission reports that con-
ciliatGy laws have been effective, but
that strict arbitration machinery rare
ly works WELL 1t Is suggested that la
Dor bureaus or commissions be estab-
lished in all the States.