and such person shall be given preference on any list of registered applicants for employment in the labor service, in accordance with the dates of their several applications as though such applications had been filed prior to those of any persons on such lists not entitled to the preference provided by this section. A refusal to allow the preference provided for in this and the next succeeding section to any honorably discharged soldier, sailor or marine or a reduction of his compensation (intended to bring about his resignation) shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and such honorably discharged soldier, sailor or marine shall have a right of action therefor in any court of competent jurisdiction for damages, and also a remedy by mandamus for righting the wrong. [As amended by L. 1902, ch. 270.]

Prohibiting the Sub-letting of Public Contracts.

LAWS OF 1897, CHAP. 444.

AN ACT to prohibit the assignment and subletting of public contracts. Section 1. A clause shall be inserted in all specifications or contracts hereafter made or awarded by the state, or by any county, or any municipal corporation, or any public department or official thereof, prohibiting any contractor, to whom any contract shall be let, granted or awarded, as required by law, from assigning, transferring, conveying, subletting or otherwise disposing of the same or of his right, title or interest therein, or his power to execute such contract to any other person, company or corporation, without the previous consent in writing of the department or official awarding the same.

§ 2. If any contractor, to whom any contract is hereafter let, granted or awarded, as required by law, by the state, or any county, or any municipal corporation in the state, or by any public department or official thereof, shall, without the previous written consent specified in section one of this act, assign, transfer, convey, sublet or otherwise dispose of the same, or his right, title or interest therein, or his power to execute such contract, to any other person, company or other corporation, the state, county, municipal corporation, public department, or official as the case may be, which let, made, granted or awarded said contract shall revoke and annul such contract, and the state, county, municipal corporation, public department or officer, as the case may be, shall be relieved and discharged from any and all liability and obligations growing out of said contract to such contractor, and to the person, company, or corporation to whom he shall assign, transfer, convey, sublet or otherwise dispose of the same, and said contractor, and his assignee, transferee, or sub-lessee, shall forfeit and lose all monies theretofore earned under said contract except so much as may be required to pay his employees; provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to hinder, prevent or affect an assignment by such contractor for the benefit of his creditors, made pursuant to the statutes of this state.

§ 3. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Securing the Payment of Wages to Employees of Contractors Upon Canals.

LAWS OF 1894, CHAP. 338, BEING THE CANAL LAW, AND CONSTITUTING CHAP. XIII [XII] OF THE GENERAL LAWS.

§ 135. Security for payment of laborers.-The superintendent of public works or assistant superintendent having charge, shall also require and take from the contractor, a bond with at least two good and sufficient sureties, conditioned that such contractor will well and truly pay in full, at least once in each month, all laborers employed by him on the work specified in such contract, which shall be duly acknowledged and filed in the office of the clerk of the county wherein such contract or work is to be performed, and if partly in two or more counties, such bond or a certified copy thereof shall be filed in the clerk's office of each county.

Actions may be brought for a breach of such bond by any laborer not paid in accordance with its terms, and the commencement or maintenance of an action by one or more laborers thereon shall not be a bar to the commencement and maintenance of other actions thereon by other laborers. No action shall be maintained against the sureties unless brought within thirty days after the completion of the labor the payment of which is secured by the bond.

Authorizing the Eight-Hour Day Upon Reservoir Construction in New York City.

LAWS OF 1902, CHAP. 588.

AN ACT relative to the powers of the aqueduct commissioners, provided for and holding office under and pursuant to the provisions of chapter four hundred and ninety of the laws of eighteen hundred and eightythree, and its amendments.

Section 1. The aqueduct commissioners, provided for and holding office under and pursuant to the provisions of an act of the legislature of the state of New York, entitled "An act to provide new reservoirs, dams and a new aqueduct with the appurtenances thereto, for the purpose of supplying the city of New York with an increased supply of pure and wholesome water," said act being chapter four hundred and ninety of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and its amendments, are hereby authorized and empowered to agree with any person, firm or corporation with whom they have contracted or may hereafter contract, upon such terms and conditions as shall in their judgment and discretion, be for the best interests of the city of New York, that eight hours shall constitute a day's work for all laborers employed by said person, firm or corporation in the performance of his or its contract and that no laborer employed in the performance of any such contract shall be required, permitted, or allowed to work more than eight hours. No agreement made under the provisions of this act shall be valid or binding until the same has been approved by the board of estimate and apportionment of the city of New York.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

PRISON LABOR.*

The State Use System Established.

CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK, ARTICLE III.

Section 29. The Legislature shall by law provide for the occupation and employment of prisoners sentenced. to the several state prisons, penitentiaries, jails and reformatories in the state; and on and after the first day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, no person in any such prison, penitentiary, jail or reformatory, shall be required or allowed to work, while under sentence thereto, at any trade, industry or occupation, wherein or whereby his work or the product or profits of his work, shall be farmed out, contracted, given or sold to any person, firm, association or corporation. This section shall not be construed to prevent the legislature from providing that convicts may work for, and that the products of their labor may be disposed of to, the state or any political division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the state, or any political division thereof.

REVISED STATUTES, PT. 4, CH. 3, TITLE 2, AS AMENDED.

§ 98. The superintendent of state prisons, the superintendents, managers and officials of all reformatories and penitentiaries in the state, shall, so far as practicable, cause all the prisoners in said institutions, who are physically capable thereof, to be employed at hard labor, for not to exceed eight hours of each day, other than Sundays and public holidays, but such hard labor shall be either for the purpose of production of supplies for said institutions, or for the state, or any political division thereof, or for any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the state, or any political division thereof; or for the purpose of industrial training and instruction, or partly for one, and partly for the other of such purposes. [As amended by L. 1896, ch. 429.]

§ 103. The labor of the convicts in the state prisons and reformatories in the state, after the necessary labor for and manufacture of all needed supplies, for said institutions, shall be primarily devoted to the state and the public buildings and institutions thereof, and the manufacture of supplies for the state, and public institutions thereof, and secondly to the political divisions of the state, and public institutions thereof; and the labor of the convicts in the penitentiaries, after the necessary labor for and manufacture of all needed supplies for the same, shall be primarily devoted to the counties, respectively, in which said penitentiaries are located, and the towns, cities and villages therein, and to the manufacture of supplies for the public institutions of the counties, or the political divisions thereof, and secondly to the state and the public institutions thereof. [As amended by L. 1896, ch. 429.]

*See also article IV of the Labor Law, "Convict-made Goods."

§ 105. The superintendent of state prisons, and the superintendents of reformatories and penitentiaries, respectively, are authorized and directed to cause to be manufactured by the convicts in the prisons, reformatories and penitentiaries, such articles as are needed and used therein, and also such as are required by the State or political divisions thereof, and in the buildings, offices and public institutions owned or managed and controlled by the state, including articles and materials to be used in the erection of the buildings. All such articles manufactured in the state prisons, reformatories and penitentiaries, and not required for use therein, may be furnished to the state, or to any political division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the state, or any political division thereof, at and for such prices as shall be fixed and determined as hereinafter provided, upon the requisitions of the proper officials, trustees or managers thereof. No articles so manufactured shall be purchased from any other source, for the state or public institutions of the state, or the political divisions thereof, unless said state commission of prisons shall certify that the same cannot be furnished upon such requisition, and no claim therefor shall be audited or paid without such certificate. [As amended by L. 1896, ch. 429.]

Board of classification; prices to be fixed.-§ 107. The comptroller, the state commission of prisons and the superintendent of state prisons and the lunacy commission are hereby constituted a board to be known as the board of classification. Said board shall fix and determine the prices at which all labor performed, and all articles manufactured in the charitable institutions managed and controlled by the state and in the penal institutions in this state and furnished to the state, or the political divisions thereof, or to the public institutions thereof, shall be furnished, which prices shall be uniform to all, except that the prices for goods or labor furnished by the penitentiaries to or for the county in which they are located, or the political divisions thereof, shall be fixed by the board of supervisors of such counties, except New York and Kings counties, in which the prices shall be fixed by the commissioners of charities and correction, respectively. The prices shall be as near the usual market price for such labor and supplies as possible. The state commission of prisons shall devise and furnish to all such institutions a proper form for such requisition, and the comptroller shall devise and furnish a proper system of accounts to be kept for all such transactions. It shall also be the duty of the board of classification to classify the buildings, offices and institutions owned or managed and controlled by the state, and it shall fix and determine the styles, patterns, designs and qualities of the articles to be manufactured for such buildings, offices and public institutions in the charitable and penal institutions in this state. So far as practicable, all supplies used in such buildings, offices and public institutions shall be uniform for each class, and of the styles, patterns, designs and qualities that can be manufactured in the penal institutions in this state. [As amended by L. 1896, ch. 429; L. 1897, ch. 623, and L. 1901, ch. 418.]

6

Restrictions upon Printing Industry in Prisons.

LAWS OF 1898, CHAP. 645.

AN ACT in relation to printing in penal institutions in the state. Section 1. No printing or photo-engraving shall be done in any state prison, penitentiary or reformatory for the state or any political division thereof, or for any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the state or any such political division except such printing as may be required for or used in the penal and state charitable institutions, and the reports of the state commission of prisons and the superintendent of prisons, and all printing required in their offices. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Highway Improvement by Convict Labor.

LAWS OF 1894, CHAP. 266.

AN ACT to provide for the employment of state prison convicts upon the public highways.

Section 1. The superintendent of state prisons may employ or cause to be employed, not to exceed three hundred of the convicts confined in each state prison in the improvement of the public highways, within a radius of thirty miles from such prison and outside of an incorporated city or village.

§ 2. The agent and warden of each prison may make such rules as he may deem necessary for the proper care of such prisoners while so employed, subject to the approval of the superintendent of state prisons.

§ 3. The agent and warden of each prison may designate, subject to the approval of the superintendent of state prisons, the highways and portions thereof upon which such labor shall be employed; and such portions so designated and approved shall be under his control during the time such improvements are in progress, and the state engineer and surveyor shall fix the grade and width of the roadway of such highways and direct the manner in which the work shall be done.

§ 4. The superintendent of state prisons is hereby authorized to purchase any machinery, tools and materials necessary in such employment. § 5. Any person interfering with or in any way interrupting the work of any convict employed pursuant to this act, upon the public highways, or any persons giving or attempting to give any intoxicating liquors, beer, ale or other spirituous beverage to any state prison convict so employed, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any officer or keeper of any state prison having in charge the convicts employed upon such highways, may arrest without a warrant any person violating any provision of this section. [As amended by L. 1894, ch. 664.]

Employment of Prisoners in County Jails.

LAWS OF 1892, CHAPTER 686, BEING THE COUNTY LAW AND CONSTITUTING CHAPTER XVIII OF THE GENERAL LAWS.

§ 93. Food and Labor.-Prisoners detained for trial, and those under sentence, shall be provided with a sufficient quantity of plain but wholesome food, at the expense of the county; but prisoners detained for trial