Getting a Living: The Problem of Wealth and Poverty--of Profits, Wages and Trade Unionism

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Macmillan, 1903 - 769 pages

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Page 544 - It is a part of every man's civil rights that he be left at liberty to refuse business relations with any person whomsoever, whether the refusal rests upon reason, or is the result of whim, caprice, prejudice or malice.
Page 651 - And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
Page 537 - We regard the statute chiefly as in the nature of a direction from a principal to his agent, that eight hours is deemed to be a proper length of time for a day's labor, and that his contracts shall be based upon that theory. It is a matter between the principal and his agent, in which a third party has no interest.
Page 163 - From a legal point of view no part of the whole story is so remarkable as the part played by the judges in defining, and, indeed, in a sense creating, the offense of conspiracy. They defined it, I think, too widely; but that their definition was substantially right is proved by the fact that the act of 1871 has made provision for punishing practically all the acts which they declared to be offenses at common law.
Page 631 - I believe that ignorance and suffering might be lessened to an incalculable extent, and that many an Eden, beauteous in flowers and rich in fruits, might be raised up in the waste wilderness which spreads before us. But no class can do that. The class which has hitherto ruled in this country has failed miserably. It revels in power and wealth, whilst at its feet, a terrible peril for its future, lies the multitude which it has neglected. If a class has failed, let us try the nation.
Page 437 - The question in each case is whether the legislature has adopted the statute in exercise of a reasonable discretion, or whether its action be a mere excuse for an unjust discrimination, or the oppression, or spoliation of a particular class.
Page 437 - We have no disposition to criticise the many authorities which hold that state statutes restricting the hours of labor are unconstitutional. Indeed, we are not called upon to express an opinion upon this subject. It is sufficient to say of them that they have no application to cases where the legislature had adjudged that a limitation is necessary for the preservation of the health of...
Page 223 - The right and liberty to pursue a lawful calling and to lead a peaceable life, free from molestation or attack, concerns the comfort and happiness of all men, and the denial of them means the destruction of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the benefits which the social organization confers.
Page 435 - Sec. 2. The period of employment of working men in smelters and all other institutions for the reduction or refining of ores or metals shall be eight hours per day, except in cases of emergency, where life or property is in imminent danger.
Page 673 - ... country and so many of the necessaries of life to inspection and control by public authority ; the devising of some just system of preventing the rapidly increasing conflicts between employers and employed ; and the establishing of just and proper qualifications alike for immigrants and for electors. It certainly would tend to make private property far more secure in America if the less fortunate majority of our population saw us of the more fortunate minority giving courage and time and thought...

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