ing employers of labor, one shall be selected from a labor organization and shall not be an employer of labor, and the third shall be appointed upon the recommendation of the other two, or if the two appointed members do not, at least thirty days prior to the expiration of a term, or within thirty days after the happening of a vacancy, agree upon a third member, he shall then be appointed by the governor. Each member shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, be sworn to the faithful performance thereof, and shall receive a salary at the rate of two thousand dollars a year and his necessary traveling and other expenses, which shall be paid by the commonwealth. The board shall choose from its members a chairman, and may appoint and remove a secretary of the board and may allow him a salary of not more than twelve hundred dollars a year. The board shall from time to time establish such rules of procedure as shall be approved by the governor and council, and shall annually, on or before the first day of February, make a report to the general court.

DUTIES AND POWERS.

Section 2. If it appears to the mayor of a city or to the selectmen of a town that a strike or lockout described in this section is seriously threatened or actually occurs, he or they shall at once notify the state board; and such notification may be given by the employer or by the employees concerned in the strike or lockout. If, when the state board has knowledge that a strike or lockout, which involves an employer and his present or former employees, is seriously threatened or has actually occurred, such employer, at that time, is employing, or upon the occurrenceof the strike or lockout, was employing, not less than twentyfive persons in the same general line of business in any city or town in the commonwealth, the state board shall, as soon as may be, communicate with such employer and employees and endeavor by mediation to obtain an amicable settlement or endeavor to persuade them, if a strike or lockout has not actually occurred or is not then continuing, to submit the controversy

to a local board of conciliation and arbitration or to the state board. Said state board shall investigate the cause of such controversy and ascertain which party thereto is mainly responsible or blameworthy for the existence or continuance of the same, and may make and publish a report finding such cause and assigning such responsibility or blame. The board shall have the same powers for the foregoing purposes as are given to it by the provisions of the following section.

§ 3. If a controversy which does not involve questions which may be the subject of an action at law or suit in equity exists between an employer, whether an individual, a partnership or corporation employing not less than twenty-five persons in the same general line of business, and his employees, the board shall, upon application as hereinafter provided, and as soon as practicable, visit the place where the controversy exists and make careful inquiry into its cause, hear all persons interested therein who come before it, advise the respective parties what ought to be done or submitted to by either or both to adjust said controversy, and make a written decision thereof which shall at once be made public, shall be open to public inspection and shall be recorded by the secretary of said board. A short statement thereof shall, in the discretion of the board, be published in the annual report, and the board shall cause a copy thereof to be filed with the clerk of the city or town in which said business is carried on. Said decision shall, for six months, be binding upon the parties who join in said application, or until the expiration of sixty days after either party has given notice in writing to the other party of his intention not to be bound thereby. Such notice may be given to said employees by posting it in three conspicuous places in the shop or factory where they work.

§ 4. Said application shall be signed by the employer or by a majority of his employees in the department of the business in which the controversy exists, or by their duly authorized. agent, or by both parties, and if signed by an agent claiming to represent a majority of the employees, the board shall satisfy

itself that he is duly authorized thereto in writing; but the names of the employees giving the authority shall be kept secret. The application shall contain a concise statement of the grievances complained of and a promise to continue in business or at work without any lockout or strike until the decision of the board, if made within three weeks after the date of filing the application. The secretary of the board shall forthwith, after such filing, cause public notice to be given of the time and place for a hearing on the application, unless both parties join in the application and present therewith a written request that no public notice be given. If such request is made, notice of the hearings shall be given to the parties in such manner as the board may order, and the board may give public notice thereof notwithstanding such request. If the petitioner or petitioners fail to perform the promise made in the application, the board shall proceed no further thereon without the written consent of the adverse party.

§ 5. In all controversies between an employer and his employees in which application is made under the provisions of the preceding section, each party may, in writing, nominate a fit person to act in the case as expert assistant to the board and the board shall appoint such experts if so nominated. Said experts shall be skilled in and conversant with the business or trade concerning which the controversy exists, they shall be sworn by a member of the board to the faithful performance of their official duties and a record of their oath shall be made in the case. Said experts shall, if required, attend the sessions of the board, and shall, under direction of the board, obtain and report information concerning the wages paid and the methods. and grades of work prevailing in establishments within the commonwealth similar to that in which the controversy exists, and they may submit to the board at any time before a final decision any facts, advice, arguments or suggestions which they may consider applicable to the case. No decision of said board shall be announced in a case in which said experts have acted without notice to them of a time and place for a final conference on the

matters included in the proposed decision. Such experts shall receive from the commonwealth seven dollars each for every day of actual service and their necessary traveling expenses. The board may appoint such other additional experts as it considers necessary, who shall be qualified in like manner and, under the direction of the board, shall perform like duties and be paid the same fees as the experts who are nominated by the parties.

§ 6. The board may summon as witnesses any operative and any person who keeps the record of wages earned in the department of business in which the controversy exists, and may examine them upon oath and require the production of books which contain the record of wages paid. Summonses may be signed and oaths administered by any member of the board. Witnesses summoned by the board shall be allowed fifty cents for each attendance and also twenty-five cents for each hour of attendance in excess of two hours, and shall be allowed five cents a mile for travel each way from their respective places of employment or business to the place where the board is in session. Each witness shall certify in writing the amount of his travel and attendance, and the amount due him shall be paid forthwith by the board, for which purpose the board may have money advanced to it from the treasury of the commonwealth as provided in section thirty-five of chapter six.

LOCAL BOARDS OF CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION.

Section 7. The parties to any controversy described in section three may submit such controversy in writing to a local board of conciliation and arbitration which may either be mutually agreed upon or may be composed of three arbitrators, one of whom may be designated by the employer, one by the employees or their duly authorized agent and the third, who shall be chairman, by the other two. Such board shall, relative to the matters referred to it, have and exercise all the powers of the state board, and its decision shall have such binding effect as may be agreed upon by the parties to the controversy in the written submission. Such board shall have exclusive jurisdiction of the

controversy submitted to it, but it may ask the advice and assistance of the state board. The decision of such board shall be rendered within ten days after the close of any hearing held by it; and shall forthwith be filed with the clerk of the city or town in which the controversy arose, and a copy thereof shall be forwarded by said clerk to the state board. Each of such arbitrators shall be entitled to receive from the treasury of the city or town in which the controversy submitted to them arose, with the approval in writing of the mayor of such city or of the selectmen of such town, the sum of three dollars for each day of actual service, not exceeding ten days for any one arbitration.

MICHIGAN.

[Public Acts of 1889, No. 238.]

An Act to provide for the amicable adjustment of grievances and disputes that may arise between employers and employees, and to authorize the creation of a State Court of Mediation and Arbitration.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Section 1. That whenever any grievance or dispute of any nature shall arise between any employer and his employees, it shall be lawful to submit the same in writing to a court of arbitrators for hearing and settlement in the manner hereinafter provided.

§ 2. After the passage of this act the governor may, whenever he shall deem it necessary, with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint a State Court of Mediation and Arbitration, to consist of three competent persons, who shall hold their terms of office respectively one, two and three years, and upon the expiration of their respective terms the said term of office shall be uniformly for three years. If any vacancy happens by resig nation or otherwise he shall, in the same manner, appoint an arbitrator for the residue of the term. If the senate shall not be in session at the time any vacancy shall occur or exist, the governor shall appoint an arbitrator to fill the vacancy, subject to the approval of the senate when convened. Said court shall