The Holbrook news., 1921-09-02
NEW LABOR LAWS
Important Legislation in Interest
 of Workers.
Statutes Enacted Since the Signing of the Armistice Are Matters
 for conpratuIation.

Substantial progress has been made since the signing of the armisdce in erecting additional legal safe guards for working men and women, according to the summary of labor laws enacted, made public by the American Association for Labor Leg islation.
 The statutes passed by forty states and by congress were examined in compiling the summary, and the con- clusion Is reached that the advance in the field of social insurance is par ticularly marked. Four more states adopted workmen's compensation laws last year, making a total of forty-five states and territories having such leg of the federal government for Its civilian employees and the soldiers and sailors insurance act.
 North Dakota, one of the new states to join the compensation group, has now an enlightened provision for an exclusive state fund.-" Ten states raised their scale of compen- sation, and at present twenty-three states in all require employers to pay workers when injured from 60 to 66 2-3 per cent of their wages. Only six states. all of them In the South, lack workmen's compensation acts.
 Even more significant, pr. Andrews thinks, than the compensation inSur- ance legislation is "the impetus given to the movement for compulsory workmen's health insurance to pro- tect wage-earners and their families against the hazards of sickness as workmen's compensation now safe guards them when accidentally in- jured."
 Women Workers Benefited.
 Progress was also made, the report states, in obtaining legislation limit ing the employment of women and children. In half a dozen states the hours of women workers were re duced, including an eight-hour limit in Massachusetts, won "after a full half-century's struggle" North Da- kota passed minimum wage legisla- tion for women and children, bringing the total of states having such laws up to IA, in addition to the District of Columbia.
 "While congress continued to hold back" says Doctor Andrews, well considered measures for a federal state employment service. as embodied in the Kenyon-Nolan bill, and voca- tional rehabilitation for industrial cripples, several states took action to cfo in addition to Massachusetts, where beginnings were made year ago, au- thorized aid In re-educating and find- ing employment for industrial crip- ples. and the Smlth-Bankhead bill, ex- tending the present federal state sys- tem of vocational education to cover the maimed victims of industrial ac- cidents, passed the United States sen ate"
 Labor Unions Legalized.
 Labor unions were expressly legal ized in three states during the year, while in two of these the use of in- functions in labor disputes is strictly limited. Oregon created a state board of conciliation for industrial disputes, such as New York has, while South Carolina passed law establishing penalties for violation of its concilia- tion and arbitration act. Six more states passed criminal syndicalism and sabotage laws.
 California, Minnesota and Okla homa increased the powers of their in- dustrial commissions to facilitate en- forcement of safety regulations and other labor laws.