Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-19
AN ORDER WILL BE ISSUED
Result of Taft's Conference With tha
President.
COMPLAINT OF LABOR LEADERS
Alleged Violations Will Be Reported
to the Department of Justice
for Prosecution.

Violations of the eight-hour law by con-
| public works of the United States viii here
| after be reported to the Department Of
Justice through the secretaries OF war of
| the treasury and of the navy by officers who
are regularly detailed to inspect such con-
| struction. An order to that effect will be
| issued within a few days at the War De-
partment through the chief engineers and
at the Navy Department through the sew
eral bureaus of the department, the com
| mandant OF the Marine Corps and the su-
perintendent OF the Naval Academy. This
| order goes out by direction of the Presi-
dent who during a conference with Secre-
tary Taft at Oyster Bay last Monday ap-
proved the Secretary's recommendation to
| that effect with regard to the War De-
| partment and at the same time directed
the secretaries of the treasury and OF the
navy to take similar action. In requesting
authority for the issuance of the order
Secretary Taft declared that. in his opin-
| ion, the executive departments should be
vigilant in the enforcement of laws for
| the protection of labor Of laws for its
regulation and that the officers and en-
ployes in the several departments should
cooperate with one another in assisting
the enforcement of the law"
Effect of the Order
Organized labor throughout the country
will rejoice In the issuance OF this order.
In effect II places upon every official to
whom is entrusted the inspection of work
contracted for by the government upon any
public works the duty of reporting any
contractor subcontractor who shall re-
quire laborers and mechanics employed
upon any public works to work more than
eight hours in any calendar day except in
case of extraordinary emergency, nor viii
the decision of what constitutes such an
I1ft
tion of such officers. They win be required
| to report every case In which laborers and
mechanics employed by the government or
government upon public works are required
to work more than eight hours day. and
IT will be left to the Department of Justice
% determine whether the exceeding OF that
time limit was necessitated by the exist
ence of extraordinary emergency" Here
tofore such violations were not reported by
officials of the government other than those
directly under the Commissioner of Labor.
The forthcoming orders are especially sig
nffcant in that they mark an important
step toward interdepartmentai cooperation
to enforce the laws upon the statute books.
ut is not for to say who shall be
prosecuted" declared Secretary Taft be-
fore leaving Washington; that is a matter
for the Department of Justice; but It is our
duty to cooperate with that department in
it's efforts to enforce he law by reporting
to II such violations of II as come under
our view
Some time ago a delegation representing
several powerful labor organizations visited
the President and filed with him many COM
plants regarding the treatment Of organ
lied labor by Congress and by the ex-
ecutive departments. The President re-
quested that these charges be placed in
writing, especially those with regard to the
violation of the eight-hour law and that
he be supplied with a statement specifying
tha y1,tay, pyha hn Ia uy0G not
obeyed. A long list of such cases sub
sequently sent to him. and from the White
House referred to the commissioner of Ia
Dor, Mr.. Charles p. Neill, with instructions
to Investigate the charges and report to
the Department of Justice those cases in
which the law had been violated. In the
course of his Investigation Mr.. Neill found
out that the law was being violated day
after day by some contractors engaged In
the construction of public works for the
government. To investigate each of those
cases would have been large undertaking,
and he saw that easier way out of the
difficulty would be to obtain. the co-opera-
ton of all officers of the army and navy
stationed as inspectors at various points
where public works were under construc-
ton.
AS soon as Commissioner Neiil called the
matter to the attention of Secretary TAFT
the latter responded readily to the sugges-
tion and Immediately drafted order to
that effect. which was later approved by
the President Soon after the eight-hour
law passed IN lS9Z the w ar ana navy
departments inserted clause in their con-
tracts requiring the contractor to observe
that law in the execution of his contract.
Later opinion was rendered by the
Attorney General to the effect that neither
the War nor Navy department could be
held responsible for the enforcement of the
eight hour law in connection with contract
work for the government. and the clause
referring to that subject has since that
time not been incorporated In government
contracts Although Secretary Taft ad-
mits the correctness of that ruling, In his
opinion there devolves upon the various ex-
ecutive departments a very serious respon-
sfblity, calling for their cooperation with
the Department of Justice to assist II in the
enforcement of the law. and he therefore
recommends to the President the advisable
fly of recurring violations of the eight-hour
law to be reported wherever they occur, and
that these repofts be turned over to the De-
partment OF Justice. Thus. the Attorney
General can use his discretion In the pros
ecutien of such cases as he sees ht-
Intricate Questions Involved.
It is probable that there will be far more
reports of violations Of the law than there
will be prosecutions under II. Nor should
it be inferred from that that the Depart
ment of Justice will not endeavor to enforce
the law There are many interesting and
intricate points of law involved IN many OF
the cases reported to the commissioner OF
labor by various labor organizations. which
can be decided only by the officials of the
Department of Justice. Opinions differ In q
case like the following: The government
contracts for the construction of break
water and agrees to pay so much per cubic
foot OF stone used In the construction.
There can be no doubt that under the
eight hour law laborers employed on the
site OF this breakwater cannot be required
to work more than eight hours day. for
thew are employed upon a public work Of
the government. It Is not 90 easy to de-
termine. however, whether the laborers em.
ployed by the contractor In loading tho
barges with stone from a dock q mile or