SEC. 5. SCREEN LAWS IN COAL MINES.-Most of the coal-mining States have passed statutes providing generally for the fair weighing,

in money by any holder thereof in a civil action against the person, firm or corporation selling, delivering, or in any manner, or 'for any purpose issuing the same; and such holder may be either the person to whom such instrument was originally issued, or who acquired the same by purchase and delivery; and any scrip, token, check, draft or other evidence of indebtedness, issued in violation of the provisions of this section, and presented by the holder thereof, shall be taken as prima facie evidence in any court of the guilt or indebtedness of any person, firm, company or corporation selling, giving, delivering, or in any manner issuing the same, and for the purposes of this act in case of a firm or corporation, the person selling, giving, delivering, or in any manner issuing said scrip, token, check, draft, order, or other evidence of indebtedness shall be the defendant to the criminal action, and the firm, corporation or company shall be held as defendant to the civil action. Nothing in this section shall apply to or affect the right of any person, firm, or corporation to give orders on any store, business house, or firm in the business or profit of which he has no interest, directly or indirectly.

SEC. 7015. (1) In any civil action on such check, token, draft, or other evidence of indebtedness issued in violation of the foregoing section, the same may be declared on as an instrument for the unconditional payment of money only; but it shall be sufficient to give the form only of such instrument, together with the denomination and the number of instruments of each denomination, if more than one is declared on; and any number of such instruments, in the same form of words, whether of the same or of different denominations, may be joined in a single count, and such joinder shall not constitute duplicity, and it shall not be necessary to give the form of such instruments more than once.

SEC. 7016. Whoever compels, or in any manner seeks to compel, or attempts to coerce, an employee of any person, firm or corporation to purchase goods or supplies from any particular person, firm or corporation, shall be fined not more than one hundred nor less than twenty dollars, or imprisoned not more than sixty days or both. And whoever sells goods or supplies of any kind, directly or indirectly, to his employee, or pays the wages, or any part of the wages of labor to his employees in goods or supplies of any kind, directly or through the intervention of scrip, order or other evidence of indebtedness, at higher prices than the reasonable or current market value in cash of goods or supplies, or whoever, without an express contract with his employee, deducts or retains the wages or any part of the wages of such employee, for ware, tools or machinery destroyed or damaged, shall be liable to like punishment and penalties above specified, and shall in addition thereto, be liable in civil action to the party aggrieved, in double the amount of any charges made for such ware, tools and machinery in the one case, and in the other case, for such goods and supplies, in excess of the reasonable or current market value in cash, of such goods or supplies. In Indiana (R. S.):

SEC. 7072. It shall be unlawful for any owner, corporation, association, company, firm or person engaged in this State in mining coal, ore or other minerals or quarrying stone, or in manufacturing iron, steel, lumber, staves, heading, barrels, brick, tile, machinery, agricultural or mechanical implements, or any article of merchandise to directly or indirectly procure any person or persons to execute any contract or agreement by the terms of which such person or persons agree to purchase any article of merchandise, food, groceries or supplies of any particular person, corporation, association, firm or company, or any particular place, shop or store in this State.

SEC. 7073. It shall be unlawful for any owner, manager, superintendent, operator, bank boss, agent or employer employed in any of the occupations described in section 1 of this bill [section 7071], to hold out any tokens or inducements, or make any threats or promises of reward, or in any other way by words or acts, to coerce any of their employees to buy any article of merchandise, food, groceries or supplies of any particular person, corporation, association, firm or company, or at any particular place, shop or store in this State.

SEC. 7074. It shall be unlawful for any owner, manager, superintendent, operator. bank boss, agent or employer to attempt by words or acts to coerce any of their employees to buy any article of merchandise, food, groceries or supplies of any particular person, corporation, association, firm or company, or at any particular place, shop or store in this State.

SEC. 7075. Every owner, corporation, association, company, firm, person, manager, superintendent, bank boss, agent or employer, who shall violate any of the provisions

etc., of coal at mines,' or that the coal must be weighed and credited to miners in determining the amount of wages due them before it is screened. The latter statute, however, has been held unconstitutional in Illinois and West Virginia, and by an opinion of the supreme court of Colorado, but has recently been sustained by the supreme court of Kansas, and, as to corporations, in West Virginia.

SEC. 6. OTHER METHODS OF PAYMENT, LABOR ON SHARES, ETC.

of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not more than two hundred dollars.

In Tennessee (1887, 208):

SECTION. 1. It shall be unlawful for any joint stock company, association, or corporation, organized, chartered, or incorporated by and under the laws of this State, or operated or doing business in this State under its laws, either as owner or lessee, having persons in their service as employees, to discharge any employee or employees, or to threaten to discharge any employee or employees in their service for voting or for not voting in any election, State, county, or municipal, for any person as candidate or measure submitted to a vote of the people, or to threaten to discharge any such employee or employees for trading or dealing, or for not trading or dealing as a customer or patron with any particular merchant or other person or class of persons in any business calling, or to notify any employee or employees either by general or special notice, directly or indirectly, secretly or openly given, not to trade or deal as customer or patron with any particular merchant or person or class of persons, in any business or calling, under penalty of being discharged from the service of such joint stock company, corporation, or association doing business in this State as aforesaid.

SEC. 2. Any joint stock company, association, or corporation organized, chartered, or incorporated under the laws of this State, or operated in this State violating any of the provisions of the foregoing section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall pay a fine of not less than one hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars for each offense for which convicted.

SEC. 3. Any person acting as an officer or agent of any joint stock companies, associations, or corporations of the kind and character herein before described, or for any one of them, who makes or executes any notice, order, or threat of the kind and character herein before forbidden, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall pay a fine of not less than one hundred dollars and not more than five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned in county jail not less than ten days nor more than three months.

1 Pa. Dig. 1897, 224; Ohio 1898, p. 163; Ind. 1891, 49; Ill. 93, 20-33; W. Va., p. 998, 1891, 82; Iowa 1888, 53; Kans. 1893, 188; Ky. 1885, 6, 1251; Tenn. 1887, 206; Ala. 1895, 140; 1897, 486; Mo. 7055; 1899, p. 305; Ark. 1899, 102; Utah 1897, 19; Colo. 1897, 37; W Vyo. 1890, 79; N. Mex. 1889, 126.

Pa. 1897, 224; Ohio 1898, p. 33; Ind. ib. 5; 54; Kans. 1893, 188; W. Va. ib.; Mo. 7054; Wyo. 1890, 79.

Ill. 1887, p. 235; 1891, p. 170; Iowa 1888, 1899, p. 304; Ark. ib.; Wash. 1891, 161;.

The Pennsylvania statute reads as follows (1897, 224):

SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any mine owner, lessee or operator of any bituminous coal mine in this Commonwealth, employing miners at bushel or ton rates, or other quantity, to pass the output of coal mined by said miners over any screen or other device which shall take any part from the weight, value or quantity thereof, before the same shall have been weighed and duly credited to the employee sending the same to the surface and accounted for at the legal rate of weight fixed by the laws of this Commonwealth.

SEC. 2. Any owner, lessee or operator of any bituminous coal mine, violating the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction, for each and every such offense be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred ($100) dollars nor more than five hundred ($500) dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed ninety days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, at the diseretion of the court; proceedings to be instituted in any court of competent jurisdiction.

The Illinois statute (the part not held unconstitutional, G. S., 93, 20–24):

SEC. 20. The owner, agent or operator of every coal mine in this State at which the miners are paid by weight, shall provide at such mines suitable and accurate scales

For labor on shares, croppers, etc., in agricultural labor, see Chapter VI.

SEC. 7. BONDS AND OTHER GUARANTEES.-New Mexico has a statute prohibiting the requirement of bonds from employees by any foreign guarantee company as an indemnity to the employer, unless such guarantee company has a designated agent within the territory, but this matter belongs more properly to the law of foreign corporations, which are usually prohibited from doing business in other States than the one where they are organized, except upon complying with certain regulations.

The States are rapidly adopting statutes forbiding the requirement by the employer as a condition of employment that the employee shall not join a labor union. (See Chapter IX, below.)

There are frequently statutes requiring contractors of public works, etc., to give bonds for the payment of labor employed by themi (Mass. 16, 64; N. Y. R. S. 7th ed., p. 699; Ind. 5592; Mich. 8411 a; Minn. 1895, 354; Kans. 4747-8; Nebr. 3683; Mo. 1895, p. 240; Wash. 1897, 44; N. Dak. Civ. C. 4802).

SEC. 8. RELIEF SOCIETIES, CHARITABLE FUNDS, ETC.-A few States have adopted statutes prohibiting indirectly the establishment by railroads or other employers of labor of relief or benefit funds to which the

of standard manufacture for the weighing of all coal which shall be hoisted or delivered from such mines.

SEC. 21. All coal so delivered from such mines shall be carefully weighed upon the scales as above provided, and a correct record shall be kept of the weight of each miner's car, which record shall be kept open at all reasonable hours for the inspection of all miners or others pecuniarily interested in the product of such mine. The person designated and authorized to weigh the coal and keep such record shall * * * make and subscribe to an oath * * * that he will accurately weigh and carefully keep a true record of all coal delivered from such mine. * * *

SEC. 22. It shall be lawful for the miners employed in any coal mine in this State to furnish a check weighman at their own expense, whose duty it shall be to balance the scales and see that the coal is properly weighed, and that a correct account of the same is kept, and for this purpose he shall have access at all times to the beam box of said scales, and be afforded facilities for the discharge of his duties while the weighing is being performed. * * *

SEC. 23. Any person, company or firm having or using any scale or scales for the purpose of weighing the output of coal at mines, so arranged or constructed that fraudulent weighing may be done thereby, or who shall knowingly resort to or employ any means whatsoever, by reason of which such coal is not correctly weighed or reported in accordance with the provisions of this act; or any weighman or check weighman who shall fraudulently weigh or record the weights of such coal, or connive at or consent to such fraudulent weighing and recording, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction, for each such offense, be punished by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars ($200) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed sixty (60) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment; * * *

SEC. 24. Any person, owner or agent operating a coal mine in this State who shall fail to comply with the provisions of this act, or who shall obstruct or hinder the carrying out of its requirements, shall be fined for the first offense not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200); for the second offense not less than two hundred ($200) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), and for a third offense not less than five hundred ($500), or be imprisoned in the county jail not less than six months nor more than one year: Provided, That the provisions of this act shall apply only to coal mines whose product is shipped by rail or water.

1

Tex. Const., Article 16.-Protection of wages of laborers on public works.-Sec. 35. The legislature shall at its first session, pass laws to protect laborers on public buildings, streets, roads, railroads, canals and other similar public works, against the failure of contractors and subcontractors to pay their current wages when due, and to make the corporation, company or individual for whose benefit the work is done, responsible for their ultimate payment.

employee is compelled to contribute, or his contribution made a condition or preliminary of employment; but the federal courts have held such a statute, in Pennsylvania, unconstitutional.1

2

Compulsory insurance in a particular company is forbidden in Michigan, but the same statute allows voluntary agreements for benefit funds, and the employer may deduct sums due for such from the employee's wages. In Iowa, no contract of insurance, relief, benefit or indemnity in case of injury or death entered into prior thereto, between the person so injured and the corporation or any other person or association acting for it, nor the acceptance of any such insurance, etc., by the person injured or his wife, etc., after the injury, constitutes any bar or defence to an action. (See Art. G, § 1.)

3

But Massachusetts, on the other hand, has a statute expressly permitting the establishment of relief societies for the employees of railroads, street railway companies and steamboat companies. In Indiana

4

1N. J., 1891, 212; Mich., 1893, 192; Ohio, 1890, p. 149, 3; Md., 1890, 443.

2 Mich., 1895, 209 (see below).

Iowa, 1898, 49.

* *

*

It shall be unlawful for any railroad or railway corporation or company owning and operating, or operating a railroad in whole or in part in this State, to adopt or promulgate any rule or regulation for the government of its servants or employees, or make or enter into any contract or agreement with any person engaged in or about to engage in its service, in which, or by the terms of which, such employee in any manner, directly or indirectly, promises or agrees to hold such corporation or company harmless, on account of any injury he may receive by reason of any accident to, breakage, defect or insufficiency in the cars or machinery and attachments thereto belonging, upon any cars so owned and operated, or being run and operated by such corporation, or company being defective, and any such rule, regulation, contract or agreement shall be of no effect. It shall be unlawful for any corporation to compel or require directly or indirectly an employee to join any company association whatsoever, or to withhold any part of an employee's wages or his salary for the payment of dues or assessments in any society or organization whatsoever, or demand or require either as a condition precedent to securing employment or being employed, and said railroad or railway company shall not discharge any employee because he refuses or neglects to become a member of any society or organization. And if any employee is discharged he may, at any time within ten days after receiving a notice of his discharge, demand the reason of said discharge, and said railway or railroad company thereupon shall furnish said reason to said discharged employee in writing. And no railroad company, insurance society or association, or other person shall demand, accept, require, or enter into any contract, agreement, stipulation with any person about to enter, or in the employ of any railroad company whereby such person stipulates or agrees to surrender or waive any right to damages against any railroad company, thereafter arising for personal injury or death, or whereby he agrees to surrender or waive in case he asserts the same, any other right whatsoever, and all such stipulations and agreements shall be void, and every corporation, association or person violating or aiding or abetting in the violation of this section shall for each offense forfeit and pay to the person wronged or deprived of his rights hereunder the sum not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) to be recovered in a civil action.

The Iowa statute (1898, 49, § 1):

Section number two thousand and seventy-one (2071) of the Code [shall] be amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

"Nor shall any contract of insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity in case of injury or death, entered into prior to the injury, between the person so injured and such corporation, or any other person or association acting for such corporation, nor shall the acceptance of any such insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity by the person injured, his widow, heirs, or legal representatives after the injury, from such corporation, person, or association, constitute any bar or defense to any cause of action brought under the provisions of this section, but nothing contained herein shall be 249A- -5

(2300) it is unlawful for any railway company to exact from its

construed to prevent or invalidate any settlement for damages between the parties subsequent to injuries received."

Michigan (1895, 209):

SEC. 1. It shall hereafter be unlawful for any company or corporation doing business in this State or for any or the officers and agents of any such company or corporation, to require any of the employees of such company or corporation to take out or obtain a life, accident or life and accident policy in favor of such employee or other person in any particular or designated life, accident or life and accident company or association.

SEC. 2. All contracts hereinafter made between any such company or corporation and any employee of said company or corporation requiring or stipulating that the employee so contracting shall procure, obtain or have a policy of insurance in any particular or designated company or association shall be void: Provided, That nothing in the foregoing provisions of this act is intended to prohibit, or shall be construed as prohibiting the employers of labor and the persons employed from voluntarily making agreements with each other for contributions of money by the latter to any fund to be accumulated in their behalf and for their benefit in common with others, and in such case from further agreeing that the employer may deduct from their wages, from time to time, the sums due from them under such agreement.

SEC. 3. The violation of any of the provisions of this act is hereby made a misdemeanor, and any company or corporation violating any of the provisions of this act shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars for each and every offense, and any shareholder, officer or agent of any company or corporation violating the provisions of this act shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than sixty days, or by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. The Massachusetts law (1882, 244):

SECTION 1. Seven or more persons within this Commonwealth, employees of any railroad or steamboat corporation existing under the laws of this Commonwealth, who associate themselves together by such an agreement in writing as is described in section three of chapter one hundred and fifteen of the public statutes, with the intention of forming a corporation for the purpose of receiving, managing and applying such property and funds as it may receive by contribution, assessment or otherwise, for the improvement and benefit of its members and for the relief of its members and their families in case of sickness, injury, inability to labor or other cases of need, and upon complying with the provisions of section four of said chapter shall be and remain a corporation with all the rights, powers, privileges and immunities, and subject to all the duties, liabilities and restrictions of corporations organized under said chapter.

SEC. 2. The by-laws of any such corporation shall be approved by the board of railroad commissioners and shall prescribe the manner in which and the officers and agents by whom the purpose of its incorporation may be carried out, and also the manner in which its property may be invested. Such corporation shall make to the board of railroad commissioners annually and as often as required by said board such statements of its membership and financial transactions with other information relating thereto as the said board may deem necessary to a proper exhibit of its business and standing.

SEC. 3. The board of railroad commissioners may verify such statement by an examination of the books and papers of the corporation; and whoever having charge or custody of such books and papers neglects to comply with the provisions of this section and the preceding section shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.

[The following additional legislation upon the above subject was enacted in chapter 125, acts of 1886.]

SECTION 1. Any railroad corporation operating a railroad or portion of a railroad in this Commonwealth may by vote of its directors associate itself with seven or more of its employees in forming a relief society under the provisions of chapter two hundred and forty-four of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-two, or may upon the invitation of any society formed under said act become a member thereof, and may from time to time aid such society by contributions to its funds or otherwise. The by-laws of such society shall provide for the manner in which the railroad corporation shall vote and be represented in said society.

SEC. 2. The funds of such relief society shall not be liable to attachment under trustee process, execution or any other process legal or equitable because of any debt or liability of the railroad corporation or of any member of the society.