The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-08-07
FACTORY WOMEN PROTECTED.
New York Labor Law Declared Un.
Observation-Disclosures Glass
Legislation.

heSlS1dGlOu.
The state law Of New York restrict
ing the labor by women and children
to 10 hours a day and 60 hours week
in a factory was declared by Justice
Olmstcad. in a decision handed down
in the court Of special sessions to be
can mwarranted invasion of consti-
tutional rights"
The ruling was concurred in by JUS
tice Mexican and Justice Deuel.
Judge Olmstcad declared that the law
was class legislation.
Justice Olmstcad said in his decis-
ion:
"To labor and employ labor are in
herent and inalienablc 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 predicted
upon legislative dictum.
cit may be stated as n well-settled
legal proposition that the right to la
Dor and contract for that labor is both
liberty and property right; when,
therefore, the legislature enacts a
statute such as that under considera-
tion. it must be admitted that it has
infringed in the enactment, the rights
which are very clearly accorded by the
constitution to the individual citizen.
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 cmtailment of his granted
rights in the interest of the common
good.
Equally Involved.
"In the case under consideration
the right Of the employed and the
right Of the employer are equally in
volved. Nothing to the contrary ap-
pearing, it must be assumed that the
woman was a willing worker for a
willnng employer, and there the result
was mutually satisfactory and profi-
table.
"The present constitution of the
state Of New York was adopted in 1894
and became effective January 1, 1895
All of the rights which the 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.
cit was not until four years afte,
that the law-making power sought
to place the limitation unler con-
sideration upon them. What was the
legislative intent in doing thisq The
attorney general finds and urges no
other reason thain the general welfare
Of the state demands that the progeny
of women Of the factories shall have
mothers with healthy bodies, to the
end that the state may have sturdy
citizens. Does the state look merely
to the children Of the factory women
for it's future good citizens7 Why
should not the housewife, the woman
who tolls at home, in mercantile
houses, in Offices, or she who tolls not
at all-the society woman-be exempt
from legislative interference-injuc.
tive or mandatory, for the same rea-
SOM Some Of them may be mothers
Of future 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.'
Attorney General Mayer announced
that he would appeal from tho decis-
ion.