PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF CARROLL D. WRIGHT, COMMISSIONER OF LABOR, FOR THE COMMITTEE ON INTER-TATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, TO ACCOMPANY

A REPORT SUBMITTED BY HON. JOHN J. O'NEILL,

OF THAT COMMITTEE, JULY 20, 1892.

JULY 20, 1892.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE,

REPORT ON THE LABOR LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES, JULY

20, 1892.

Mr. O'NEILL, of Missouri, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT:

[To accompany H. Res. 152.]~

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to which was referred H. Res. 152, "providing for the compilation of the labor laws, etc., of the various States and Territories and the District of Columbia," submit the following report:

The committee, recognizing the great benefits that will be derived by the people from a knowledge of the labor laws now in force, hereto append a compilation thereof furnished by the Department of Labor.

LETTER FROM THE COMMISSIONER OF LABOR.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,

July 20, 1892.

SIR: In obedience to the request of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the House of Representatives, I have the honor to hand you herewith a compilation of the labor laws of the various States and Territories and of the District of Columbia.

In preparing this compilation the first question to arise related to the legislative year with which to close the compilation. It was manifestly impossible to bring this report fully up to date, and it was therefore determined to bring it up to a date to include those laws passed prior to the legislative sessions of the year 1890-'91. This has been done, and in the case of the Federal statutes the labor legislation of the year 1890-'91 has also been included.

The table following contains a statement for each State and Territory, as to whether the sessions of its legislature are held annually or biennially, its latest session laws that have been examined for material for this compilation, and the year in which its subsequent session was held. In many cases the session laws of States are not printed for many months after the close of the session. It has been impossible, therefore, to include the legislation of 1892 and, for some States, of 1891 in this compilation of laws:

Sessions of legislature, whether annual or biennial, latest session laws examined, etc.

Questions have arisen from time to time in the progress of this work as to what classes of legislation could be said to have such a bearing on the general subject of labor as to warrant their inclusion therein. Many laws have been enacted, particularly in recent years, designed directly to affect the subject of labor in many of its various phases. These laws have, of course, been included. There are, however, many laws on the statute books not designed to be distinctly labor laws, but to be of a more general application. Still, in their actual application, many of these laws would seem to affect the laboring classes more than others, or at least to have a bearing upon the condition of the laboring man. A good example of this class are the exemption laws. Such laws may be deemed to have a place in any compilation of laws designed to illustrate the state of legislation bearing upon labor, and the intention has been to include all such laws herein.

The question, however, as to whether a certain law would properly fall within this class is largely a matter of judgment, and it may well