Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-25
AN EIGHT-HoUR DAY
Industrial Commissions Labor
Recommendations.
REPORT SUBMITTED, 10 CONGRESS-
Exercise and Abuse of the Enioin-
ing Power.
TO FURTHER ARBITRATION

The report of the industrial commission
on labor legislation, including recommended
| tons as to general legislation, was submit
ted to Congress today. The commission
has not completed its investigation of the
| conditions of mine labor, and while some
suggestions on that subject are contained
| in the report submitted to Congress today,
it will be more fully discussed later.
An EiSht-HOur Work Day.
The commission recommends that all
states regulate the length of working day
for persons between the ages of fourteen
| and their majority. and prohibit the en-
ployment of children in factories, in
shops and mercantile establishments, if
they cannot read and write and, except
during vacation unless they have attended
school for at least twelve weeks in each
year. The commission also recommends that
eight hours be fixed as a working day in
all public employment, and that the Utah
law limiting the daily working hours of
miners to eight, except in cases of emer-
gency, be followed by all the states; also
forbidding the employment of children I'M
der fourteen years and of women and
girls in mines. The report also rec
Cmmends that no person under eighteen
years should be employed as a telegraph
operator upon railroads and that all engl-
neers and switchmen should submit to an
examination for color blindness, and that 1t
be made a misdemeanor for an engineer or
switchman to be intoxicated while on duty;
also that payments for all labor should be
in cash or in cash orders. Miners should
have the privilege of employing check
weighmen at their own expense.
Abuse of the EniOininE Power.
1.-The question of the enforcement of the
labor contract by injunction or contempt
in equity process" the report says, lis a
very difficult one, mainly made by the
abuses which have arisen from injunctions
careessly issued by learned judges or by
the unlearned judges of inferior courts in
states which confuse chancery and common
law jurisdiction. The injunction is a high
prerogative writ, and should be awarded
only after the most careful examination by
a tribunal thoroughly competent. Wherever
possible and wherever the transaction COM
planned of is a simple criminal offenSe. 1t
should be left to the jurisdiction of the To-
cal criminal courts, aided, if necessary. by
the police or military authorities: but when
the case is one which is properly subject
of equity jurisdiction. and where issuance
of an injunction is really necessary to pre-
vent irreparable loss or wrong. 1t seems to
be going too far to say that no contempt of
the injunction shall be punished without all
the delays and safeguards of an ordinary
jury trial. 1t might be well to limit pun
ishment for contempt to Imprisonment for
a brief period. but equity courts must not
be deprived of the power to protect them
selves and make their DEGREES respected.
AT the same time, the practice of award
ing blanket injunctions against all the
world. or against numerous unnamed de-
PENDANTS, as well as the practice of indi-
rectly enforcing the contract for personal
service by enjoining employees from quitting
work. should be discouraged not only by
popular sentiment, but by intelligent judi
cial opinion There should be no unneces-
sary departure from the time-honored prin-
ciple that the contract of personal service
cannot be specifically enforced, because to
do so entails condition of practical slav-
cry.
Political Rights of Laborers.
'There is at present no federal legislation
protecting the political rights of laborers,
and it would seem that the ordinary state
statutes, which prohibit employers from CO.
e1cing employees in the exercise of the right
of suffrage or from seeking to influence
them by pay envelopes, threats Of discharge
or otherwise. could properly be made ma
tional law applying to elections to federal
Offices.
In states which have many factories the
Well-knOWn factory act of Massachusetts
or New York. based upon the English act
which served a model to all SUCH is rec
commended for uniform adoption.
The sweat shop law, also. which is now
practically identical in the important states
Of New York. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania
and Ohio, is recommended for general adop
ton
On the subject of railway labor which is
ers of Congress, the commission is of
opinion that Congress should adopt a con-
sistent code of law regulating all matters
concerning employment in that industry
such as the hours of labor, the limitation of
continuous runs by engineers. or continuous
service by te1egraphic operators or switch
men. without period of sufficient rest the
enactment of consistent employers liza
bility code
In the Interests of Arbitration.
81,
the report says, "have recently been con-
sidered by Congress in connection with the
arbitration act applying to railway dis
putes. In a general way, the commission
would report that such laws in the States
have been found effective for purpose of
Cancellation, but that the strict arbitration
machinery rarely functions well. The ar
duration laws now existing, particularly
the national act of 1898, should be made
clear. so that the parties to the arbitration,
whether employer or employe, should APP
pear as lawfully constituted associations or
corporations, or otherwise individuals
with proper machinery for representation
by their leaders; and the commission be-
1ieVes that whoever inaugurates a lockout
or strike without first petitioning for arb-
tratlon or asserting to it when offered,
should be subjected to an appropriate pen
atty. The object of the first recommended
ton is to get responsible parties to the rec
ora, ana to make sure that the individuals
concerned in the difficulty are lawfully
represented in the proceedings; and the OBJ
1ect OF the second recommendation Is to en-
courage peaceable adjustments of differ
enceS and to discourage the resort to strikes
or lockouts until legal methods have been
tried. The statute should not confine arb-
trat1on to a public board, but should per-
init the parties to choose arbitrator If they
prefer. There should be no provision to
compel either side to abide by the decision.
1t is believed that a full and fair investiga-
ton of the facts will, in. most cases, bring
the parties into substantial agreement,
while in other cases the result may be safe
~ left to public opinion
In conclusion, the commission would
recommend the establishment by all the
states OF labor bureaus or commissioners,
who shall, besides their local duties as now
defined. be charged with that of exchanging
their statistics and reports, and of conVen-
Ing at least once a, year in national confer
ence for general consultation, which ma
t1onal conference should have power to sub
init directly to Congress its recommends
tions for such federal legislation as ma
Jor1ty OF the state commissioners may deem
advisable, and shall also submit to all of
the states, through tho commissioner of
each separate states their recommendations
Tor such uniform state statutes upon labor
subjects as may seem wise and desirable"
Senator Daniel and Messrs. Smyth and
Harris dissent from the report on the SUBJ
Ject OF the eight-hour law, saying that