New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-14
Legislative Stupidity

Legislative stupidity could not have gone
much further than it did in the handling
Of the Brown "war emergency legislation.
The passage Of the bills removing the labor
laws restrictions on woman and child labor,
and the failure TO pass the bill suspending
the full crew law, ignored both the neccs-
sites of the situation and the economic and
humanitarian considerations which ought
TO govern the enactment Of labor measures.
What was done in each case should not
have been done; what should have been
done was left undone.
The full crew law is an economic waste. It
forces the railroads Of this state to employ
about 10000 men who perform no useful
function for their pay. Enacted originally
at the behest Of railroad labor unions, on
the theory that undermining Of trains
caused numerous accidents, the law has
proved itself a failure. Elaborate investi-
cations have indicated clearly that a small,
practically negligible, percentage of acct
dents is attributable to causes affected by
the number of men in train crews. The
net result of this legislation is that the
railroads, hard pressed for revenue and
short of workers in many departments,
spend large sums annually to little or no
purpose, without benefting themselves, the
railroad workers, so far as safety is con-
Cerned, or the public. Yet when the labor
unions rallied to the defence of this law
the legislators obediently refused to sus-
pend it. They insisted on continuing this
handicap on the proper and economical
conduct Of a great industry which is es-
sential to the nation in this crisis.
Senator Browns bill authorizing the In
dustrial Commission TO suspend the labor
laws for the duration of the war-and two
months thereafter-is, on the other hand, a
measure which every economist, every hu-
manitarian, every labor unionist, must OPP
pose. 1t is unwise and improper from
every angle. 1t would permit the abolish
ment of the eight-hour law, the day of rest,
the prohibition of night work. 1t would
permit the sweating of women and chill
dren. 1t would enable not individual fac
tories but whole industries to be exempted
from the laws present safeguards 1t
would make possible the speeding up" OF
industry to point where individual work
crs were worn out, and consequently out
put would not be increased, but diminished.
That was the history Of Great Britan's
experiment with unrestricted and unregu-
lated hours of labor; that is bound to be
the result here.
For that reason the bill is not only
vicious, it is foolish. The only theory on
which it could be supported is that it would
quicken production Of munitions and war
materials. But such course has been
proved to have the opposite effect. What
the bill would bring into being, therefore,
is a waste of workers and a diminution
Of product-distinctly conditions to be
avoided by this country. 1t would be bad
enough if the workers had TO have their
health and working power beaten down in
order TO increase production. But to spend
toll only TO turn out less and less, owing TO
the wasting strength and initiative of the
individual laborers, is unthnkable.
Senator Browns bill permitting mobili-
cation Of school children of twelve years
and over on farms is scarcely less unwise.
Farming is not a pleasant matter Of the
cry; it is hard, grinding toll. The farmers
day begins at sunup; it ends after sun
down. Even the lighter tasks in harvest
time are not easy. To imagine putting an
unframed child Of twelve on farm TO do
them would be bad enough; 10 expect him
10 take even part of the work of a skilled
farmland Of adult years and strength is to
ignore nature. II is also to ignore the
farmer, a stern, practical individual who
knows that a boy can eat as much as a
man, takes as much sleeping space as a