Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-05-26

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trial commission, in its report to Con-
gress on labor legislation, recommends
improved legislation to the State legis-
latures rather than to Congress direct
ly.
THE subject of greatest public in
terest to-day" says the report, lis per-
haps that of the regulation of the hours
of labor permitted in industrial occu-
pations and especially in factories"
AS Congress has no power to legis-
late directly in this matter, the COM
mission recommends that a simple
statute be enacted by all the States
regulating the length of the working
day for all persons between the ages
of IA and II years who work in factor
les.
The report, in brief, says:
The employment of children below
the ages of IA should be prohibited in
factories. The length of the working
day in all public employment should
be fixed at eight hours. The same time
should be fixed for workmen in under
ground mines except in cases of emer-
gency. Employment in mines of chill
dren less than fourteen years of age
and all women and girls should be for
hidden. Congress might well enact
that al ~
be employed
As "a Telegraph Operator
upon railroads and that all engineers
and switchmen should submit to on
examination for color blindness; also
that it be made misdemeanor for
an engineer or switchman to be intox-
icated while on duty. simple and
liberal law regulating the payment of
labor should be adopted by all the
States, providing that all laborers 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 any particular store Provis-
ions for the fair weighing of coal at
mines before passing over a screen
should be adopted and the miners
should have the privilege of employing
a check weighman at their own ex-
pense.
The question of the enforcement OF
the labor contract by Injunction or
contempt in equity process, is a very
difficult one, mainly made so by the
abuses which have arisen from injunc-
tons carelessly issued. 1t is suggested
that it might be we'll to limit punish
ment for contempt to Imprisonment for
brief period, but equity courts must
not be deprived of the power to protect
themselves and to make their DEGREES
respected. The practice of
Awarding Blanket Injunctions
against all the world, or against I'M
named defendants, as well as the prac-
tice of indirectly enforcing the contract
for personal service by enjoining en-
ployes from quitting work, should be
discouraged not only by popular SEN
timent, but by intelligent judicial
opinion. On the subject of railway
labor, the commission is of opinion
that Congress should adopt a consist
ent code of law regulating all matters
concerning employment, such as hours
of labor, limitation of continuous runs
by engineers or continuous service by
telegraph operators or switchmen;
the enactment of consistent employ
ers' liability code; the liability OF the
employer or corporation for defective
appliances, etc. The statutes already
adopted in the several States, discrim-
mating as between union and non
union labor by making ii a penal Of
Tense for an employer to exclude union
labor only, seem to the commission to
be unconstitutional, being class Iegis-
lation. The statute should apply to
non-union as well as union labor alike.
if it is to be enacted at ALL The right
to be employed and protected without
belonging to a union should be pre-
served; but every facility should be
given labor to organize if it desires,
and the last vestige of the notion that
trade unions are a criminal conspir-
acy, should be swept away. The use of
Private Police Detectives
or other hired bodies OF men. to be
used in connection with labor troubles
has aroused considerable attention,
and Congress has the power to enact
reasonable legislation to prevent
abuses in this direction.
In a general way the commission re-
ports that Cancellation laws have been
found effective, but that strict arbitra-
ton machinery rarely works we'll Il
is recommended that labor bureaus or
commissions be established in all the
States.
Commissioners E. A. Smith and c.
J. Harris unite in a minority report in
which they express the opinion that It
would be both unjust and impractic-