Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-12-08
Labor Legislation of
The Year Summarized
New York Headquarters of American Association for Labor Leg
islation Has Just Issued a Review OF Labor Legislation o.
the Year 1914.

, ures for the prevention OF lead pols
oning in lead plants and %potteries M
of the dreaded "bends" or compressed
air illness in tunnel and calssOn 0
Four states gave further attention te
protecting their industrial workers
from fire, and Maryland passed t"t
comprehensive laws regulating can
neries and tenement workshops. Three
states and the territory OF Alaska leg
islated upon the subject of safety II
mines, Kentucky going furthest anc
enacting a new mine CODE, SeVera'
new railroad safety laws are concern
! ed with full crews, headlights and en-
| c.osed vestibules on trolley cars.
Factory Inspection
Seven states dealt with machinery
for more efficient enforcement or mel
labor laws. No changes from the olo
! style labor department to- an indus
trial commission are recorded thls
wear, but special commissions OF
| boards to administer workmen's com
~pensation laws were created in Ken
lucky, Maryland and New York. II
several states salaries Of labor de
partment stats were increased.
Child Labor.
Eleven states, or about three-quar
tiers of those in which legislation was
passed this year, took action on chic
labor. Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky,
Mississippi and Virginia passed entire
ly new codes, and other states amend
ed their laws, tending to raise age
limits and educational requirements
to shorten hours and to forbid hazard
Gus employments and night work
Backward steps were taken in Mary
land. where the minimum age for
newsboys was reduced from twelve
| years to ten, and in Mississippi, where
the maximum working hours for boys
of fourteen and girls of sixteen were
increased from eight to ten hours a
day.
Workmen's Compensation.
By the action Of New York, Ken
lucky, Louisiana and Maryland, eX'
actly twenty-four states, or one-hall
of those in the union, now have work
mems compensation laws. Massachu
sets after two years experience, rails
ell the benefits under it's law from
fifty per cent TO sixty-siX and two
thirds per cent Of wages, and New
Jersey also iiberalized its rates
though to a less extent.
Hours.
+. Alaska established an cight.houl
day on public works, and a number
of vacation and hour laws for public
employees we're enacted in Massachu
sets and New York. Five states and
Alaska legis.ated on hours i'll private
employment, railroad workers and
miners being groups most widely at
fected. The weekly rest day law in
New York was amended to exempt 4
nun Der OF milk handling establish
ments and also; in the discretion oil
the commissioner of labor, cOntinu
Gus industries in which no employed
works than eight hours a day.
-" Trade Disputes.
The use Of the injunction in labo
disputes was regulated in Massachu
sets and by congress, the latter bod.
also declaring the Sherman anti-trus
law inapplicable to labor organiza
tons as ''the labor Of a human beins
is not&a commodity or article of com
merce.' Congress, further, in appro
priating 100000 for the enforcement
of anti trust laws, for the secon.
time specified that none of the none.
was to be used for prosecuting labo
organizations whose acts were not il
themselves illegal. Louisiana an,
Massachusetts protected workmen il
their right to organize.
Unemployment.
Spurred on by the experiences O
the winter Of f1913-1914, three states
Louisiana, Maryland and New York
made provision for public bureaus t,
put employment givers and employ
ment seekers in touch with one an
other. The most important of thes'
laws is that of New York, which ere
ated a bureau of employment within
the state department of labor, will
branches throughout the state in tn
discretion of the commissioner. Til.
people OF Washington, incensed a
long-standing abuses, practically\abol
ished private employment agencies il
their state by prohibiting the takin,
of fees from applicants for work.
Women's Work.
Though minimum wage Legislation
this year was. represented only b
some amendments to the Massachu
sets five States and the fedora
government took action on hours an,
working conditions affecting women
Mississippi established for women
ten-hour day and a sixty-hour week
and Virginia extended it's ten-hou
law to cover certain establishment
not previously affected, while Ne,
York made it's nine-hour day and fifty
four-hour week general for wome]
employed in all mercantile establish
ments and limited their working wee
to six days. Congress established TO
all female employees in the Distric
of Columbia an eight-hour day and
forty.eight-hour week, prohibited thei
employment before 7 a. M. or afte
6 p M and provided a special stat
OF three inspectors, two of whom ar
to be women, to enforce the act.
CITY PLANT FAILURE.
Kansas. City, Mo, Dec. 7.~--Th
municipai cold storage plant in Clcvt