The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-25
DEAR THINGS PESTER MAYER.
OH, HE MUST APPEAL rHB
UONAN'S LABOR CASE.

9tNtTdl NHNN dlNtI CAcObph a. AV MIN
OF hope that springs eternal IN a candidates
breast when the figures are close, he 10
willing now that a man named jackson
from Buffalo shall tsks UP the burdens
Of the Office,
The women have done III. They havs
worked a sort Of ondlcss chain on him.
And the unkindest thing about It Is that
Il was worked on the assumption that be-
cause he was defeated he had no mora
interest in doing his sworn duty. That
Is what makes him especially tired.
Every morning for the last ten days,
whether Mr.. Mayer has been in his Office
In Albany or in the one IN this city. he has
entered softly and has gone to the mall
clerk and whispered:
How many Of EN- havp you got this
morning.
hks that has hssn tho Answsr. Want %
read emf
Then Mr.. Mayer has moppsd bis brow
NC asked:
All just IKE The rest = arsn'e thsye'
'Oh, yes
We'll, Just send EN- back q copy Of tia
nsw form letter I had 70 make out
Then the Attorney-Geueral has gone 20
VI urnh duu cNOA1 N1N hoo ANbt "H SbO
bells on It at once, from telephone signals
down. Mssseng gers and assistants, clerks
snd stenographers have rushed In. This
h che burden Of he has had 90 say 30
! them:
III any representatives of women's clubs,
charity organizations, working girls unions,
phtlanthrupio institutions, settlements OF
: any kind, and especially il the head worker
"a A. -..-.o.I A.o,toNlon - agk
, Handed Women come in or call me UP on
the telephone question EN- hard, and II
youfnd that they want TO talk to me about
appealing from the recent decision OF the
Appellate Division that that part Of the
labor law forbilding women and children
70 work after Q O'Clock at night is not con-
stitutional, tell 'en I'm ont. Also be sure
and tell every mothers son Of 'em-no, I
mean every fathers daughter OF 'em-thst
I'm going to appeal the case 20 the Court
Of Appeals. Make it plain to 'em that I'm
still ON the job. Appeal to 'em 30 have pity
on the gray hairs of a poor defeated At
torney-Genersl. And, by the way, IL you
can find out who it was that started that
yarn among these kind hearted women
shat I did not intend 30 do my plain, sworn
duty, do 30. l want to get after that per-
rDu. ludJ - "OIbo GA1A VA SNAc"bc6
Cor election
For ten days the representatives OF all
kinds of organizations TO better the cause
of humanity have streamed into the At
torney Generals Office and demanded TO
see him personally. He has been busy
UP to the late hours Of the evening trying
90 clean mp the routine work of his office
90 that his successor might have q clean
- H. ILL., Lt----I
on the outlook, and just when he wanted
not to see folks who talk and won't let 60,
or TO read letters from three TO ten pages
long, the avalanche descended. 1t was
all about that labor law decision. Every
letter pointed out to him that the case was
argued just at election time, and 50 they
presumed there was some excuse for his
ab~sence-they have tried to be kind in the
way thew said it-snd every one Of his
callers and the letters has pointed out
tina the court was divided by a vote Of
three TO two, and still every one has in
formed him, with the idea that he would
bite the bait of fiattery, that she was sure
the decision would have been the other
way had he been there TO argue il. Every
one has also said that those Judges who
formed the majority we're really iGno-
rant OF the law, and please would he appeal
the case before it as too late, so that suffer-
ing womanhood and ~nnoce childhood,
&C., and the rights of mans the Magma
Charta, the Constitutions of the United
States and the State, organized labor and
working girls unions should be vindicated
and the hard hearted Representatives of
capital who are grinding out. the lives
OF women and children by night work
should be rebuked.
Attorney-Genera Mayer tried to explain
that the reason he wasn't in court to argue
before the Appellate Division was because
A. - --- Lw - - -.
the appeal from the Special Sessions de-
cision in the case of the People against
David l.. Williams should be submitted
entirely by briefs. He tried TO tell his callers
that the sanitation side OF the question, the
matter Of working more than a certain num-
Der of hours a week, had been eliminated,
and that the matter was simply a question
as to whether the State in the exercise Of its
police powers could interfere with the right
Of contract as TO hours Of labor of women,
a. against men, for the sake Of conserving
the health of the mothers and the future
mothers of the great American boy whose
vote sways or will sway the destinies OF
the nation, if the girls don't get his vote
away from him.
Mr.. Mayer handed ont copies OF his elab-
crate brief, one of the papers of his Office
OF which he is especially proud. II covered
not only all the law in this country but in a
dozen other countries. 1t cited the laws in
every State in the lane and quoted from
decision after decision where these laws
had been upheld. 1t had philosophy and
sentiment in it. He said in the paper:
sAs civilization progresses and becomes
more complex, the restrictions upon the
individual night to enjoy ~one'sown and use
10 as he may become more numerous"
He thought that pretty good kin Of talk.
and he hked il. Again he said;
Women being the mothers OF the race,
that which injuriously affects them has
accompanying evil effect upon the public
welfare. 1t follows that society as a whole
must regard the preservation Of the health
of women as a mat ter OF first importance,
and that society has the greatest possible
interest in it,"
There weren't many citations on the
detrimental side Of the brief, but Mr.. Mayer !
thought the women's organizations should
be satisfied with those nice words. They
weren't. Every one said:
IF you had been there those Judges
have decided that way. They
didn't understand the matter. They didn't
see that law can not override the right.
We should have won. Law? Never mind
the law; the decision wasn't right
Then some one started the story that Mr..
Mayer wouldn't appeal because he was
core over losing at the polls. II was de-
olared that he was too disgusted 10 take
any interest in his otica work and espe-
cially regarding anything that concerned