Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-04-27
united STATES SUPREME COURT
ON The SUBJECT.
Having Held an Eight Hour Law for
Miners to be Valid, the Court, by a
F1ajOrifY of !, Decides a Ten Hour
Day for Bakers in New York is
Unconstitutional.


| An interesting legal situation with
reference to labor laws is produced by
the decision of the supreme court OF the
United States-by vote OF judges to 4
which holds that the ten hour law for
work in bakeries in New York is uncon.
stitutional.
II this decision established the princi.
pie that state laws limiting hours of
labor are invalid, 1t would have a certain
general value, but it establishes no such
principle. Having heretofore decided
that aH eight hour law for work in mines
is not invalid, and now that ten hour
law for work in bakeries is invalid, the
other circumstances being the same in
each case SO far az legal effect is con-
cerned, the court forces us to hunt for
the distinguishing point somewhere in
the difference between work in bakeries
and work in mines.
In the light of those two decisions OF
the highest court in the land-n effect
only by one of its judges, labor reform.
ers and their lawyers are afforded a wide
field for industrious guessing. How
many hours in the heat OF bakery
would be excessive? 1t vas once sup
posed that every Legislature is the Judge
OF what is necessary to protect the health,
morals and safety Of the Inhabitants OF
its own state. And this has long been
held by the courts to apply to the regula.
ton of working time. For many years
Sunday laws have been enforced against
Jews and Seventh-Day Baptists, plead.
ing unconstitutional interference with
religion, on the ground that Sunday laws
are public safety regulations for the pre-
ventlon OF OverwOrk, and not religious
regulations, the choice of Sunday instead
OF some other dav az the day of enforced
rest being in the eye Of the law merely
accidental. Laws .lat limit labor hours
rest upon the came legal principle.
Either they are reasonably necessary for
the public safety, or they are totally
without legal justification; and the only
public body that can be fairly left to de.
termine the reasonab bleness OF the neces.
sity is the legislature whose constituents
are to be protected. Without the plaln-
est evidence Of the false pretense on the
part of that body, Its police regulations
ought not to be overridden by any body
of judges. This has long been even the
judicial view OF the matter, prone though
judges are to draw power to themselves.
This was the view that influenced the
minority judges in the case under con.
sideration. But the majority-a ma.
jority of one III nine-decide that they
are more competent than the legislature
OF New York to say whether Limitation
ought for the public health and safety to
be put upon hours OF labor in New York
bakeries.
Those judges do not assert that the
New York legislature acted IN bad faith
and that the ten hour law was fraudu.
lent police regulation. What they decide
is that the legislature erred in it's facts,
or as to their effect,-that it was mis-
taken in regarding the bakers occu patton
40 one in which excessive work is dan.
gerous to the public health. Consequent
ly, their decision SINNERS down simply
into this dictuum: Whenever a state
legislature fixes limit to labor hours
by police regulation for the public safety
OF the state, and the regulation restricts
the right OF private contract, the supreme
court OF the United States will pass upon
the validity of that regulation in accord.
ance with its own opidon OF the reason
able necessity for such a law, and not
according to the bona tide judgment of
the local Legislature. With some activity
in the enactment of labortime laws, and
litigations over them, it may come to be
possible to make schedule, approved
by the supreme court, that shall specify
the trades in which labor hours NAV be
limited by law. Until schedule so ap.
proved becomes possible, legislatures
contemplating the limitation of labor
hours by police regulation, will have to
make shrewd guesses. They know now
that an eight hour limit for work in a
mine is permissible, and that ten hour
limitation for work in bakery is not.
Beyond this all is guesswork. Every
case will have to stand on its own
bottom.
Cures Coughs and Colds.
Mrs. @. Peterson 62h Lake 81 Tnneka