of a district or circuit court of the United States, and when so acknowledged a copy of the same shall be transmitted to the chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, who shall file the same in the office of said commission.

Any agreement of arbitration which shall be entered into conforming to this Act, except that it shall be executed by employees individually instead of by a labor organization as their representative, shall, when duly acknowledged as herein provided, be transmitted to the chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, who shall cause a notice in writing to be served upon the arbitrators, fixing a time and place for a meeting of said board, which shall be within fifteen days from the execution of said agreement of arbitration: Provided, however, That the said chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall decline to call a meeting of arbitrators under such agreement unless it be shown to his satisfaction that the employees signing the submission represent or include a majority of all employees in the service of the same employer and of the same grade and class, and that an award pursuant to said submission can justly be regarded as binding upon all such employees.

SEC. 7. During the pendency of arbitration under this Act it shall not be lawful for the employer, party to such arbitration, to discharge the employees, parties thereto, except for inefficiency, violation of law, or neglect of duty; nor for the organization representing such employees to order, nor for the employees to unite in, aid, or abet, strikes against said employer; nor, during a period of three months after an award under such an arbitration, for such employer to discharge any such employees, except for the causes aforesaid, without giving thirty days' written notice of an intent so to discharge; nor for any of such employees, during a like period, to quit the service of said employer without just cause, without giving to said employer thirty days' written notice of an intent so to do; nor for such organization representing such employees to order, counsel, or advise otherwise. Any violation of this section shall subject the offending party to liability for damages: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent any employer, party to such arbitration, from reducing the number of its or his employees whenever in its or his judgment business necessities require such reduction.

SEC. 8. In every incorporation under the provisions of chapter five hundred and sixty-seven of the United States Statutes

of eighteen hundred and eighty-five and eighteen hundred and eighty-six it must be provided in the articles of incorporation and in the constitution, rules, and by-laws that a member shall cease to be such by participating in or by instigating force or violence against persons or property during strikes, lockouts, or boycotts, or by seeking to prevent others from working through violence, threats, or intimidations. Members of such incorporations shall not be personally liable for the acts, debts, or obligations of the corporations, nor shall such corporations be liable for the acts of members or others in violation of law; and such corporations may appear by designated representatives before the board created by this Act, or in any suits or proceedings for or against such corporations or their members in any of the Federal courts.

SEC. 9. Whenever receivers appointed by Federal courts are in the possession and control of railroads, the employees upon such railroads shall have the right to be heard in such courts upon all questions affecting the terms and conditions of their employment, through the officers and representatives of their associations, whether incorporated or unincorporated, and no reduction of wages shall be made by such receivers without the authority of the court therefor upon notice to such employees, said notice to be not less than twenty days before the hearing upon the receivers' petition or application, and to be posted upon all customary bulletin boards along or upon the railway operated by such receiver or receivers.

SEC. 10. Any employer subject to the provisions of this Act and any officer, agent, or receiver of such employer who shall require any employee, or any person seeking employment, as a condition of such employment, to enter into an agreement, either written or verbal, not to become or remain a member of any labor corporation, association, or organization; or shall threaten any employee with loss of employment, or shall unjustly discriminate against any employee because of his membership in such a labor corporation, association, or organization; or who shall require any employee or any person seeking employment, as a condition of such employment, to enter into a contract whereby such employee or applicant for employment shall agree to contribute to any fund for charitable, social, or beneficial purposes; to release such employer from legal liability for any personal injury by reason of any benefit received from such fund beyond the proportion of the benefit

arising from the employer's contribution to such fund; or who shall, after having discharged an employee, attempt or conspire to prevent such employee from obtaining employment, or who shall, after the quitting of an employee, attempt or conspire to prevent such employee from obtaining employment, is hereby declared to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof in any court of the United States of competent jurisdiction in the district in which such offense was committed, shall be punished for each offense by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars.

SEC. 11. Each member of said board of arbitration shall receive a compensation of ten dollars per day for the time he is actually employed, and his traveling and other necessary expenses; and a sum of money sufficient to pay the same, together with the traveling and other necessary and proper expenses of any conciliation or arbitration had hereunder, not to exceed ten thousand dollars in any one year, to be approved by the chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission and audited by the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, is hereby appropriated for the fiscal years ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 12. The Act to create boards of arbitration or commission for settling controversies and differences between railroad corporations and other common carriers engaged in interstate or territorial transportation of property or persons and their employees, approved October first, eighteen hundred and eightyeight, is hereby repealed.

Approved, June 1, 1898.

MASSACHUSETTS.

The law of the state concerning arbitration is as follows, being chapter 263 of the Acts of 1886, approved June 2, entitled, "An Act to provide for a State Board of Arbitration, for the settlement of differences between employers and their employees," as amended by St. 1887, chapter 269; St. 1888, chapter 261; and St. 1890, chapter 385; also St. 1892, chapter 382.

SECTION 1. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall, on or before the first day of July in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-six, appoint three competent persons to serve as a state board of arbitration and conciliation in the manner hereinafter provided. One of them shall be an employer or selected from some association representing employers of labor, one of them shall be selected from some labor organization and not an employer of labor, the third shall be appointed upon the recommendation of the other two: provided, however, that if the two appointed do not agree on the third man at the expiration of thirty days, he shall then be appointed by the governor. They shall hold office for one year or until their successors are appointed. On the first day of July in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint three members of said board in the manner above provided, one to serve for three years, one for two years and one for one year, or until their respective successors are appointed; and on the first day of July in each year thereafter the governor shall in the same manner appoint one member of said board to succeed the member whose term then expires, and to serve for the term of three years or until his successor is appointed. If a vacancy occurs at any time, the governor shall in the same manner appoint some one. to serve out the unexpired term; and he may in like manner remove any member of said board. Each member of said board shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, be sworn to a faithful discharge thereof. They shall at once organize by the choice of one of their number as chairman. Said board may appoint and remove a clerk of the board, who shall receive such salary as may be allowed by the board, but not exceeding twelve hundred dollars a year.

SECT. 2. The board shall, as soon as possible after its organization, establish such rules of procedure as shall be approved by the governor and council.

SECT. 3. Whenever any controversy or difference not involving questions which may be the subject of a suit at law or bill in equity, exists between an employer, whether an individual, copartnership or corporation, and his employees, if at the time he employs not less than twenty-five persons in the same general line of business in any city or town in this Commonwealth, the board shall, upon application as hereinafter pro

vided, and as soon as practicable thereafter, visit the locality of the dispute and make careful inquiry into the cause thereof, hear all persons interested therein who may come before them, advise the respective parties what, if anything, ought to be done or submitted to by either or both to adjust said dispute, and make a written decision thereof. This decision shall at once be made public, shall be recorded upon proper books of record to be kept by the secretary of said board, and a short statement thereof published in the annual report hereinafter provided for, and the said board shall cause a copy thereof to be filed with the clerk of the city or town where said business is carried on.

SECT. 4. Said application shall be signed by said employer or by a majority of his employees in the department of the business in which the controversy or difference exists, or their duly authorized agent, or by both parties, and shall contain a concise statement of the grievances complained of, and a promise to continue on in business or at work without any lock-out or strike until the decision of said board, if it shall be made within three weeks of the date of filing said application. When an application is signed by an agent claiming to represent a majority of such employees, the board shall satisfy itself that such agent is duly authorized in writing to represent such employees, but the names of the employees giving such authority shall be kept secret by said board. As soon as may be after the receipt of said application the secretary of said board shall cause public notice to be given of the time and place for the hearing thereon; but public notice need not be given when both parties to the controversy join in the application and present therewith a written request that no public notice be given. When such request is made, notice shall be given to the parties interested in such manner as the board may order; and the board may, at any stage of the proceedings, cause public notice to be given, notwithstanding such request.

When notice has been given as aforesaid, each of the parties to the controversy, the employer on the one side, and the employees interested on the other side, may in writing nominate, and the board may appoint, one person to act in the case as expert assistant to the board. The two persons so appointed shall be skilled in and conversant with the business or trade concerning which the dispute has arisen. It shall be their duty, under the direction of the board, to obtain and report to the