CHAPTER XIX

THE STATE-Continued

LABOR

ALTHOUGH "labor questions," as we call them, have existed from prehistoric times, the exact form which they have now taken is new and brings with it a new view of the State's authority and duties. The needs which the State is striving to satisfy are: I. Increased efficiency of the worker.1

Factory laws, including also regulation of the hours of labor. 3. Compensation for accidents to workmen.

4. The settlement of disputes between employer and labor. 5. The wage rate.

6. Improvement of the worker's status in legal disputes.

2. Factory Laws.-The intervention of the State in factory and workshop has done more than any other government measure, except education, to civilize modern industry. However critically we may regard government interference in other fields, in this department it has undeniably wrought a great improvement. In the smaller workshops and tenement houses there is still need for thorough regulation. During his waking hours the worker's health and safety are determined by the conditions of the factory or workroom; his welfare demands healthful and reasonably comfortable surroundings. If we followed him through a day's labor we should find that he is constantly confronted by a number of dangers to both safety and health, under conditions which he is often unable to avoid, but which may be improved by State action. The prevention of these dangers is a public service which benefits directly one-quarter of our people. It includes the following subjects:

a. Dangerous machinery;

b. Ventilation and sanitation;

c. Decency and morality;

d. Fire protection;

e.

Hours of labor;

f. Sweatshops.

Each commonwealth has established a special department of factory inspection with a chief inspector and a force of deputies, each deputy being responsible for the conditions in his district.

1 This improvement in the worker's effectiveness is second to none in practical importance; the means by which the State can assist are shown under Vocational Education in a subsequent Chapter.

The number of deputy inspectors is entirely inadequate, the largest being 125 in New York.

a. Dangerous Machinery.-All machines, elevators, engines, boilers, belting and other dangerous mechanism must be surrounded with proper safeguards to prevent injury to employés and others. This clause has been found difficult to administer because of the slowness to adopt modern safety devices, also because of the unwillingness of the workers to keep the safeguards and appliances in the proper position. The latter obstacle has been particularly noticed in looms and factory machines generally, where any delay in operation is occasioned by the necessity for keeping the appliances properly placed. It is frequently reported that in spite of the positive instructions of superintendents and inspectors alike, the employés have removed safeguards from machinery. The explosion of steam boilers is guarded against by a careful system of boiler inspection and the requirement that regular tests shall be made. These latter are often conducted by the boiler insurance companies.

b. Ventilation.-In many textile industries the nature of the fabrics produced and the character of the work to be done require a heated, damp air throughout the entire day, while in others, such as lead and paint mills, the dust and smoke continually arising from the necessary processes of manufacture are highly injurious. In still others the crowding together of large numbers of people in poorly heated rooms, makes ventilation impossible in the winter time, while in summer the conditions are worse. This is not true of the larger and newer establishments, in which high ceilings, abundant light, and modern air-supplies are provided, but in the smaller and older buildings the lack of light and ventilation is common, and necessarily affects the health of the inmates. Most of the States now prescribe a certain number of cubic feet of space, from 250 to 1,000 feet, for each person employed, allowing the deputy inspector to use his judgment in regard to the suitability of the means of changing the air. It is doubtful if this expedient will prove permanently satisfactory, because of the large number of shops and factories situated in old buildings with inadequate systems of ventilation."

c. Morality. The tone of decency, modesty and morality is lowered by any failure to provide reasonable and separate washroom and toilet facilities for men and women employés. Factory life, at its best, is apt to be clean, wholesome and moral in influence,

1 A remarkable improvement in the large factories is being wrought by such associations of employers as the National Metal Trades Association; this body sends to its members a full description of the latest ideas and inventions for safety purposes. Undoubtedly a very great proportion of accidents could be prevented by a systematic campaign of education among both workers and employers, both of which classes need much enlightenment on the subject. 2 See the description of the Ohio, Wisconsin and New York labor departments, below.

but in the large cities where floor space is expensive and unsuitable buildings are utilized, the provisions for personal comfort, cleanliness and decency are often such as cannot be tolerated with safety, and frequent complaints of these conditions are made. All of the States now require separate adequate provision to be made but the laws are usually enforced with laxity.

d. Fire Protection. The maintenance of fire escapes in all factories, mills and tenement houses is compulsory, but practical tests of the capacity of the means of escape are not usually held except on the initiative of the employer. A vast majority of fire escapes are entirely insufficient to accommodate the employés in time of a sudden rush. Fire drills are not, but should be required by law. They are the only means of preventing loss of life in large establish

ments.

e. Child Labor.-The evils of child labor are sought to be ameliorated by prohibiting the employment of persons under a certain minimum age, varying in different States. In Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania, 14 has been fixed as the age limit. It is also provided that between this age and 16 years, children who are employed in factories must be able to read and write English and to have attended school according to law. No children under 18 are allowed to work more than a certain number of hours per week nor more than a certain time in any one day. This limit also varies somewhat, a common provision being 54 hours per week and ten hours in any one day. A list of the names, ages and residences of all children employed in the factory must be furnished by the employer to the deputy inspector, and posted at the factory. The first two of these provisions, restricting labor under a certain age, are evaded in most of the densely populated manufacturing districts. This is not the fault of the employers but is rather due to the eagerness of parents to secure the small amount of wages which may be earned by the child. In many instances, particularly in New York and Pennsylvania, it has been found that parents are sometimes willing to commit perjury in order that their children should be so employed under the legal age and it is not safe to depend upon parents for active co-operation in the execution of the law. In Massachusetts an effective plan to prevent evasion has been devised which is now adopted in Pennsylvania and other States. This requires that the age certificate shall be issued by the school authority of the proper district. The school superintendent on his part refuses to issue the certificate unless the school records show the child to be fourteen or over or unless a properly attested birth-certificate is produced.

The hours of labor for women are usually fixed at the same maximum as those for children. The number of hours is being gradually lowered in many States; it is impossible to fix a reasonable limit for all industries, such limit depending on the nature of the employment. All forms of piece-work in factories are prone to occasion

a nervous strain which is accompanied by serious effects if maintained during a ten-hour day. On the other hand, ten hours in a department store would not involve more than eight hours of work in other lines, except during the period of holiday trade. A careful classification of industries is urgently needed as a basis for the regulation of hours.

The national conference of commissioners on uniform State laws, has provided a model child labor bill to be introduced in the legislatures. The chief provisions of this measure are: the prohibition of all factory labor for children under 14; the fixing of 16 years of age for certain dangerous occupations, especially those connected with dangerous machinery; the requirement of employer's certificates and records of school attendance and of certain minimum educational standards; children under 18 years of age are to be forbidden in certain other more dangerous occupations, and all minors are excluded from employment in connection with saloons or establishments where intoxicating liquors are sold; the eight-hour day is prescribed for boys under 16 and girls under 18; newspapers may not be sold in large cities by boys under 12, nor girls under 16. The advantage of such a uniform measure to all concerned is that it would fall with equal weight upon all manufacturers who are competing in the same field while lack of uniformity is a heavy handicap upon those who are located in the States having the highest standards. Competition in manufacturing should not be based on such a difference in the laxity of the law.

Hours of Work for Men.-Next in importance to the working hours of women and children is the limitation of time for men. A noteworthy growth of legislation along this line may be traced. At the outset all restrictions upon the conditions of labor contracts were resisted both by employers and workmen, as involving a State interference with the freedom of contract of the individual and as being therefore unconstitutional. For example, the law requiring the payment of wages to be made at least once in every two weeks was declared unconstitutional in Pennsylvania, as were also the New York, Pennsylvania and California laws providing one day of rest weekly in bakeshop work. While these measures were intended to promote the welfare of the laborer, they were held by the courts to be an unwarrantable interference with his and the employer's right to make a contract, and therefore contrary to the 14th Amendment as a violation of liberty and property. The legislation restricting the work of women and children, however, is based upon the protection of health. It has been sustained on this ground in all the States where a case has arisen, the courts holding that for the necessary protection of health and safety the freedom of contract may be limited without violating the purpose and intent of the Amendment. But the protection of health is a matter which may be extended even to adult men in mines and dangerous industries, and nt decisions have established the point that an eight-hour

law governing miners is constitutional and valid so far as it is based on the protection of health.1 The same doctrine has been maintained by at least one State court in upholding a limitation of hours of labor in a bakeshop on grounds of health protection. As a rule, however, the working hours of men over 21 years of age may only be regulated in dangerous industries.

f. Sweatshop Laws.-Last but by no means least in the list of dangers against which the law has been directed, is the "sweatshop." A manufacturing, repairing or renovating business carried on in a dwelling or tenement is usually called by this name. Clothing manufacture is the chief sweating industry; the materials are taken home, usually from a custom-tailor's establishment, and are finished by all the members of the family and sometimes several other persons from the outside, all working, perhaps, in a single small tenement room. The crowded condition of the workroom, the latter usually being also the living room of the family, makes cleanliness difficult. The garments in course of manufacture are piled promiscuously about the workroom and bedrooms. In case of contagious disease the utmost care is used to prevent discovery, for discovery means a raid by the factory inspector. The completed garments being returned to the tailor, often spread the disease. By carefully tracing the sources of contagion it has been found that a single lot of clothing made by one family has caused over a dozen other cases of smallpox.

While the danger to the public health is the most apparent of all the disadvantages of the sweatshop, it is not the most serious. The gravest evil is wrought upon the workers themselves. The workshop atmosphere has conquered that of the home; poor ventilation, long hours, child labor, overwork and low wages have become the common incidents of the sweatshop. Since the finishing of clothing is all paid by the piece, the earning capacity of the family depends upon the quantity of work turned out, which in turn depends upon the number of members, their speed and the length of the working day. There are no restrictions on work in the home; the whole process resolves itself into a simple test of human endurance, in which every man, woman and child is driven to the utmost by the hope of earning a little more. The head of the family often is tempted to secure more work by under-bidding other families, and the price per piece is lowered, a process that has taken place slowly but steadily in all the large cities in spite of union, strike and consumers' league. By successive stages of competition the home workers have lengthened their hours to an unheard-of extent, increased enormously their output and kept wages at the minimum point of subsistence! The reason for this suicidal policy lies in the extensive immigration of certain races and in the transfer of the industry to the home of the laborer. Any body of men and women working in a factory must necessarily feel that their interests 1 Holden v. Hardy, 169 U. S. 366; 1898.