Board was here empowered to adopt rules "regulating the construction, equipment, maintenance and operation of corerooms and the size and weight that may be handled by women" so as to protect their health and safety. The rules thereupon adopted by the board pertained to temperature and weight-lifting. Rule 584 prohibits females from handling cores "which have a temperature of more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit," and Rule 585 prohibits females from handling cores "where the combined weight of core, corebox, and plate at which she is working exceeds twenty-five pounds." i

1

SPECIAL WORKING CONDITIONS

By specific statutes as well as in the industrial code special conditions of work for women include requirements for seats, sanitary basements and proper washrooms and dressing rooms.

I. Seats 2

The early unenforced act of 1881 requiring seats in mercantile and manufacturing establishments has been mentioned. An amendment of 1896 (ch. 384) required employers of women in mercantile establishments to provide one seat for every three women and to make it possible for these seats to be used in front of or behind the counters according to the location of the work.

It is interesting to note the variety of decisions to which different jurisdictions have come in the matter of the weights women may lift and not injure their health. Compared with the 25 pounds in New York State as mentioned above, Pennsylvania and Ohio limit the weight to 15 pounds, while the maximum in Massachusetts is 40 pounds. The Foundry Safety Code of the American Foundrymen's Association and National Founders' Association states, "No female employed in a foundry shall lift any object exceeding 35 pounds in weight unless she uses mechanical means by which her effort is limited to 35 pounds." The New Position of Women in American Industry, op. cit., pp. 108-109. (No mention is made of the frequency with which these weights may be lifted.) 2 Labor Law of 1924, § 150.

"Employers of females in a factory or as waitresses in a hotel or restaurant" were ordered by act of 1900 (ch. 533), "to provide and maintain suitable seats" for these employees, permitting their use to an extent "reasonable for the preservation of their health." And in 1913 (ch. 197), a further amendment called for proper backs "where practicable," and women were to be allowed to use these seats "whenever they are engaged in work which can be properly performed in a sitting posture." The Industrial Board was given power to determine "when seats, with or without backs, are necessary and the number thereof."

Chapter 544 of the laws of 1919 added elevators to the list of employments in which seats are required for women, to be used "at such times and to such extent as may be necessary for the preservation of their health."

2. Basements

Employment of women and children in unsanitary basements had been legally forbidden in 1896 (ch. 384), and in 1908 (ch. 520) more drastic measures were taken against such employment. In extraordinary session of the legislature on June 16 of the same year, a further step was taken by prohibiting the work of women and children in all basements except by permission of the commissioner of labor. This regulation applied to mercantile establishments in cities of the first class, while the board or department of health held authority over similar matters in smaller cities. In 1913 (ch. 145), the Department of Labor was made responsible for this protection of women and children in second class city basements as well.

3. Wash-rooms, Toilets, Dressing-rooms1

As was seen in Part I there are, pretty generally, specifications for wash-rooms, washing facilities and water closets

1 Labor Law of 1924, §§ 378-381.

for all employees at the present time. Dressing rooms are seldom required for men however, where they have been required generally for women. For women in factories the

act of 1910 (ch. 229) provided that each such room should "have at least one window opening to the outer air and be enclosed by means of solid partitions or walls. In 1912 (ch. 340), dressing-rooms were required to be at least sixty square feet in size, separate from the toilets, properly lighted, provided with suitable means for hanging clothes and with a suitable number of seats. Toilets for females were ordered plainly marked and solidly partitioned.

Regulations similar to those for factories were made for mercantile establishments in 1914 (ch. 183), where more than five women were employed, and similar requirements were made for women employed on street railroads by act of 1919 (ch. 583).

CHAPTER III

INFLUENCES BEARING UPON LEGISLATION FOR WOMEN IN NEW YORK STATE

ONE of the strongest influences that bears upon the enactment of labor laws is unquestionably that of the decisions of high courts regarding the constitutionality of such laws. We have already followed American judicial reasoning in these cases and have observed that precedent has been established for nearly all types of statutes for the protection of industrial workers. Nevertheless, it is also plain that, in labor cases such as we have examined, judicial benches are more often divided than united, that the views of judges conflict. While court decisions influence the enactment of further statutes, those decisions themselves are reflective of their environment, and the reflection is one of contending social forces. Inevitably some judges are more responsive to progressive currents, some to traditional, and the effects of the judicial conclusions to which they arrive are incalculable.

It is thus our further task to analyze the extra-judicial environment which has furnished stimuli for the enactment of protective measures. We shall, in so doing, confine our principal attention to New York State-to the direct influences which have fostered special laws for women as they have been outlined in the preceding chapter. For, having established a working knowledge of the trend of legislation throughout the country, and more especially in New York, we are now in need of an analysis of sources.

349]

149

In general, the reports of recommendations of state bureaus and the labor unions have been positive influences toward the special protection of women in New York, but perhaps the most potent force has been that generated by philanthropic groups often through the medium of public

men.

The first of the modern laws enacted in 1899 to limit the hours of women employed in factories was probably the direct result of Governor Roosevelt's recommendation to the legislature. The governor had for some time been interested in relieving the oppression of wage earners, and his views were strengthened by the report of the Reinhardt Committee, which had been appointed by the state assembly in March 1895, for the purpose of investigating female labor in New York City. The first report of this committee had been submitted to the assembly in May of the same year, and a second in January 1896.

Both factories and mercantile establishments were investigated by the Reinhardt Committee, which included examination of witnesses before public hearings. In its final report the committee stated the gravest evil to be that of child labor, evasion of the existing law having been successfully practiced by employers. One of the early regulative labor bills passed by the legislature, therefore, was that in 1896 applying to children in factories. Measures similar to this one had been defeated in the legislature each session for a half dozen years, but this time advocates of the bill and those

1 The Bureau of Statistics of Labor in 1890 had given extended consideration to the testimonies of doctors and workmen in European countries as to the effect of labor upon women and their recommendation concerning its restriction by law. France's sluggishness was cited as contrasted with the progress of England and Belgium. This discussion centered in a general consideration of the world's trend toward a standardized working day and a specific treatment of "Female Labor on the Continent-its effects upon Population."