The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1906-08-04
LABOR LAW IS INVAL ID
According to a New York Judge
1t Is UnwarrantabIe In.
vasion of Rights.
IT ALSO IS CLASS LEGISLATION
Statute Involved Prohibits More Than
Ten Hours Work aDay for Wo-
men and Children-Case
To Be Appealed.

New York, Aug. 4.-The state law
of New York restricting labor by wo-
men and children in a factory to ten
hours day and sixty hours a week
was declared by Justice Olmsted, in a
decision handed down in the court of
special sessions, to be IAN unwarrant-
ed invasion of constitutional rights"
The ruling declared that the law was
class legislation. Justice Olmsted said
III his decision: 'To labor and employ
labor are inherent and inalienable
rights of our citizens, and cannot be
taken away in whole or in part unless
upon the broad ground of public good,
which must be apparent and cannot
be predicated upon legislative dictum.
One Plea of Justification.
1T may be stated as a we'll settled
legal proposition that the right to la
Dor and contract for that labor is both
liberty and a property right; when,
therefore, the legislature enacts stat
ute such as that under consideration
it must be admitted that it has in
fringed in the enactment the rights
which are very clearly accorded by
the constitution to the individual citi-
zen. The people, therefore, are called
upon to justify this invasion, and there
is but one plea in justification-that
the statute was enacted to protect the
comfort, welfare and safety of the
whole people, and the individual must
suffer this curtailment of his granted
rights in the interest of the common
good.
Rights of Citizens Restricted.
''In the case under consideration the
right of the employed and the right of
the employer are equally involved.
Nothing to the contrary appearing it
must be assumed that the woman was
willing worker for q willing en-
ployer, and that the result was mutual
~ satisfactory and profitable No ar
gument is needed to show that both
the employer and the employed have
been restricted in their rights by the
law in question. The present constitu-
ton of the state of New York was
adopted in 1894, and became effective
Jan. /, 1895. All Of the rights which
adult women possessed at that time
were confirmed by that document. One
of those rights certainly was the right
to contract for her labor and to work
when and where she pleased without
reference to the position Of the hands
upon the dial of the clock.
Argument of General Welfare.
1T was not until four years after
that the law-making power sought to
place the limitation under considera-
ton upon them. What was the legis-
lative intent in doing this? The at
torney general finds and urges - and
urges no other reason than-that the
general welfare of the state demands |
that the progeny Of women of the fac
tories shall have mothers with healthy
bodies to the end that the state NAV
nave sturdy citizens. Does the state /
look merely to the children of the fac
tory women for its future good citi- |
zens?
Judge Says There Are Others.
why should the housewife. the wo-
man who tolls at home, in mercantile
houses. in offices, or she who tolls not
at all-the society woman-be exempt
from legislative interference, injunctive
Or mandatory, for the same reason?
Some of them may be mothers of fu-
ture citizens, and it should be of as
great interest to the state that their
progeny should have proper birth and
breeding to conserve its welfare. If
this question of future citizenship is
he only excuse for the assumption of
ooilce power what becomes of the
tights of the nonchild bearing woman
"a considerable cIass:" Attorney
General Mayer announced that he
would appeal from the decision.
II a u