The Cordova daily times., 1918-09-30

ment be made for said overtime at the rate Of time and one-half the reg ular wages
 IL is such law as the above that the supreme court held to be consti- tutional-a law based upon the exer. else of the police power of the state
 This act is as different from the act
 m question as daylight is from dark ness For the sake of argument. lc'
 us assume that the territorial legis- laturc intended to enact this law as
 health measure. Does not our cnr-
 stitution seek to protect as fully the
 health of him who engages in private
 enterprise and by his own labor sup
 ports and edGcates his family as it
 does the health of him who offers his
 labor for sale in order to accomplish
 the same laudablc purpose? If A
 owns ten acres Of land and E. his nciGhbor. owns but one acre, how can it be said that A can work for him.
 self any number of hours per day and. though he needs B's services for
 more than eight hours per day and B desires to sell his services for more
 than eight hours per day, yet E, if he sells his services for ten hours per day to 4. will be violating the law, and \ also may be liable? Or. sup
 pose \ is q bookkeeper and B. his
 neiehbor. Is carpenter. 4 desires to add to the comfort of his home by having certain alterations made and E desires to do the work even ings after his regular employment for the day is finished There is no
 property or life in imminent danger. It is merely comfort for and his
 family, and needs the extra money he can earn to buy books for his H. hrary. Assuming that E on q certain i day did work for contractor eight hours, and on the same day worked for \ four hours, how can it be said that either A or E has violated the law? In thI.oehCadsr etaoin m III law? In the l.OChner case. supra, the ! supreme court considered law at tempting to fix ten hours as the limi, ! for hours of labor of baker as a mere meddlesome interference" Un der what possible theory can the legis lature say that the law it has enacted | in instances as above. is a proper eX ercise of the police power of the state? | Instances similar to the above are linn. i itless and demonstrate how such laws are in direct violation of the four i teenth amendment to our constitu tion.
 Under the police power of the state
 beneficial laws have been enacted for the purpose of regulating the hours
 of labor in mines, manufacturing es' 1 tablishments and other industries and occupations. The wisdom of such laws Is generally recognized They are up i held by the courts, and rightly so. But 1 that does not mean that 1t is funda mentally correct to say that every ] man. irrespective of the nature of the
 work he follows. shall be precluded 1 from selling more than eight hours oi his labor in any one day except 1T
 cases of emergency. We have al : cight-hour law applicable to labor il
 certain kinds of mining It Is based or
 the right principles. If a similar law | is needed to regulate the hours of labor i in any other industry. let the neces sary premises be stated and it's en i aCtment be another step in our on
 ward march toward the betterment o
 social and economic conditions. Bu ' to take the miner. the teamster. the i fisherman, the woodchopper, the farm i laborer, the clerk. the carpenter, the maChinist, the watchman. the waiter l the cook. and each and every other 1 kind Of wage or salary earners, bind 1 them in the same bundle, enact a law regardless of and under no theory i of the police power of the state, make
 no provision for payment for over ] time if required to work during ar ! emergency. and then say to them: Il i you work for another for wages ol i salary more than eight hours in any
 one calendar day. except when life ol
 property Is in imminent danger, yor
 are criminal. is unreasonable ant
 manifestly unjust
 The nature of the service performed
 by the defendant Coleman for the de 1 fendant corporation is not alleged il | the indictment But even If 1t haC 1 been specifically set forth. there ''
 nothing in the act to indicate that tho | legislature acted with any conside-0
 tion of. what the police power of the
 state means. It was the duty of the
 legislature to embody in the act the
 reason for the act. That function
 could not be delegated to the court l
 Not only Is 1t the courts right, but