Denver labor bulletin., 1917-02-24
WYOMING LABOR
WINSLEGISLATION
A STATE LABOR DEPART
MENT ESTABLISHED.
Give Commissioner Appropriation of
$4,000 Per Year; Compensation
Law Amended Along Lines Ad-
vocated by Labor Unions.
BY r. Z. CROsKEY.

CHEYENNE, Wyo., Feb. 10.
Readers of The Denver Labor Bull
letin will no doubt be interested to
know how union labor Jared in the
session of the Wyoming legislature,
so Will give you resume of our la
oors- OF course / was sent here to
stop, if possible, statutory prohibit
Of Bartenders, etc. We accomplished
this and gave the people what they
asked for, submission of this question
to the people. 1t will be voted upon
at the next state election in 1918
with provision that if carried, to 90
into effect January l, 1920.
The active labor lobby consisted of
President Harry W Fox of the State
Federation, Secretary James Morgan
OF DISTRICT %, U. NJ. W. of A, and
myself. We were on the Job dav and
often at night. We had to assist US,
eight members of organized labor,
seven IN the house and one in the
senate These boys worked as a team.
they were always right on the lob
and altho many of them were serving
their first term, they showed knowl-
edge OF Legislative tactics and pulled
inside stuff" that was commendable
and without which action nothing
would have been accomplished. II
simply goes to show what a few active
men can accomplish for labor when
they are right" and willing to listen
to suggestions from those who have
had experience in this work. some
thing l must say we found sadly
lacking at times in the past.
Three Good Labor Laws.
We gained for labor three real i'm
portant measures out of ten bills
drafted. The most important we
fought hard for and got They were
as follows:
The creation of state labor de-
partment, with a labor commissioner
appointed for four years and he to
choose his own assistant For this
department the sum of $4,000 a wear
is appropriated. When we consider
that Colorado got along for twenty
years with an appropriation of less
than half this amount we may con-
slider that in the creation of this de-
partment and amount allowed to carry
it on, that labor did remarkably we'll
IN this state of less than 150, 900 pop
ulation.
The enactment of a woman's sh-
hour workday. This law without the
labor commissioner to enforce it
would have been as valueless as the
previous law that was declared un-
constitutional. The new law is bullet
proof and drafted to meet all obiec-
tons raised by its enemies and to
stand the test of courts successfully.
We tried for the straight eight-hour
law, but of course took the best we
could get with the hope of amending
it TO suit US at some future time
Union Delegation Present.
The amendments to the compensa-
ton law. These amendments in part
raises the death compensation from
1000 to $4,000 and the amount for
total disability from $4,000 to $4,000.
Many other Questionable features in
the old law have been eliminated.
The legislature came to close
Saturday night or rather 10 a. m.
Sunday morning. 1t closed with more
and better legislation enacted than
any previous session as far as labor
| is concerned.
In the presence of a delegation
from Cooks, Walters and Mattresses
Union No. 3S7, Tuesday afternoon,
Governor John B. Kendrick signed
the woman's Si2 hour law. He used
a gold pen furnished by Mrs. Bessie
LeFors, business agent of the union.
The law goes into effect March /,
1917.