CHAPTER VII.

RAILWAY LABOR.

SEC. 1. UNITED STATES LAW. This subject has received the attention of Congress. The Interstate Commerce Act, the Anti-Trust Act, or Sherman Act, and the recent arbitration act, with the acts requiring safety couplings, etc., have largely covered the field.

SEC. 2. STATE LAWS. Some States have special statutes regulating the hours of labor upon railways (see Chap. I, Art. B, sec. 4). In many States the common law of liability of the employer for injuries caused by negligence of fellow servants is specially modified in railway employment (see Chap. I, Art. G, sec. 2). But these have necessarily been treated in connection with the statutes applying generally, and it seems unnecessary to devote a special section to this subject.

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SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEES.-Many of the States have statutes for the protection of trainmen; as statutes regulating automatic couplers or buffers; blocking of frogs or switches; guards for overhead bridges; and the height of bridges is usually regulated, to at least 18 feet in the clear; regulation of electric poles or wires crossing track; power breaks from the locomotive; and guard rails at bridges, to protect trusses."

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SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF STREET RAILWAY EMPLOYEES.-Some States have statutes requiring platforms or fronts to be inclosed in winter.1

1Ohio 1898, p. 286; Mass. 1884, 222; 1895, 362; Conn. 3537; N. Y. P. C. 424; 1893, 544; 1896, 485; Ill. 114, 98; Mich. 1885, 147; Iowa 1890, 18; Nebr. 1794.

2 Ohio 9822; 1898, p. 342; Mass. 1886, 120; 1894, 41; Me. 1889, 216; Vt. 1888, 22; R. I. 187,50; Colo. 1897, 69; Mich. 1883, 174; Wis. 1809a; Minn. 2681; Mo. 2627; Wash. 1899, 35.

N. H. 159, 26; Vt. 1892, 65; N. Y. 1890, 565, 49; Mich. 3437; Ky. 776; La. 1882, 39. 4 Ohio 1898, p. 154.

5 Mass. ibid., R. I. 187, 22; N. Y. 1896, 486; Ohio 1893, p. 184; Iowa 1890, 18; Nebr. 1796.

6 N. Y.

I Mass. 1897, 452; N. H. 1899, 69; Conn. 1897, 241; N. J. 1897, 190; Ohio 1893, p. 220; Ind. 1895, 71; Kans. 1897, 172; Nebr. 1897, 54; Mich. 1895, 9; Wis. 1895, 279; Minn. 2767; Wash. 1895, 144; Va. 1898, 181; Mo. 1897, 102.

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CHAPTER VIII.

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.

ART. A. THE APPRENTICE SYSTEM.

Most of the States have still upon their statute books elaborate apprentice laws, but they have generally fallen into complete disuse; and even in States where conditions might still warrant the apprentice system the regulations of the labor unions have stepped in to interfere. A digest of the apprentice laws will be found in the second special report of the United States Commissioner of Labor, 1896, pp. 14-33.

ART. B. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

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The subject of industrial education has not received the attention it deserves. Undoubtedly some such instruction is given in the ordinary common schools, and a few States have established separate manual training or industrial schools, and doubtless in several States, as in Massachusetts, the cities or towns have established such schools without a special statute. Such action was declared legal by the courts of Massachusetts, where the city of Lowell had established a textile school without express statute authority. Now a statute provides for the establishment of such schools in cities having in operation 450,000 spindles.

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ARTICLE C. PUBLIC LIBRARIES, LECTURES, READING ROOMS, ETC.

SEC. 1. LIBRARIES.-Most of the large cities and many of the towns. in the North and East have free public libraries. In the State of Massachusetts a very few towns out of several hundred are without them. The matter should be mentioned while treating of industrial education, as public libraries undoubtedly largely supplement the work of the public schools and help to supply the want of special industrial schools, or a more elaborate system of industrial education.

SEC. 2. FREE LECTURES FOR WORKINGMEN.-These have been authorized by statute in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey, but may have been established in cities of other States without special statute.

1 Mass. 1898, 496; Conn. 2118; N. Y. 1888, 334; 1894, 566; N. J. 1888, 38; Ohio 8695; Ind. 5948; Ill. Chap. 122; Wis. 1895, 358; Ga. 1884, p. 72.

2N. J. Sup. p. 375; 1887, 173; 1894, 349; Ohio 760, 763, 768, 943; 8696; Ill. ibid.; Kans. 1893, 146; Md. 1898, 273; Colo. 2167-2182; 2187-2198; N. Dak. Const. § 216 Pol. C. 885, 974; N. C. 1891, 139; Ga. 1273; Ala. 1891, 449; La. 1894, 68.

3 Mass. 1895, 475.

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The New York law requires them to be given in the evening in the public schoolhouses-one, at least, in each ward (see Mass. 1893, 208; N. Y. 1888, 545; 1891, 71 and 43; N. J. 1895, 48).

In Michigan (1891, 137) the State board of agriculture is empowered to hold institutes and maintain courses of reading and lectures for the instruction of citizens in agriculture, mechanic arts, domestic economy and the sciences relating thereto, one such course to be given in each county where a farmers' institute society numbering 20 persons has been formed.

ART. D. LICENSING OF TRADES.

Possibly consequent on the decrease of the apprentice system there is a rapid increase in the laws regulating or restricting employment in specified trades and requiring that they shall not be practiced, except by persons who have had certain instruction or experience. Such legislation will usually be found also in the statutes regulating mining labor. (See Chap. 5). A brief table of the trades hitherto regulated in the several States, with a rough indication of the nature of qualification required, is here appended in the note.1

1 Stationary engineers (examination by board): Md. 1898, 123, 426-430; Mass. 1896, 546; 1895, 471; Ill. 24, 424; Minn. 480; Mont. Pol. C. 550; D. C., U. S. 1887, 272. Plumbers or gasfitters (examination by board): N. H. 1899, 55; Md. 1898, 123, 509; D. C. 1898, 467; Wis. 1897, 338; Wash. 1897, 80; Minn. 1897, 319; Tex. 1897, 163; Ill. 1897, p. 279; Mass. 1897, 265; 1894, 455; N. Y. 1892, 602; Pa. 1895, 133; Mich. 1895, 10; Cal. Pol. C., p. 459; Colo. 1893, 132.

Horseshoers (examination by board): Md. 1898, 491; Minn. 1897, 128; N. Y. G. L. 32, Art. 12, 1899, 558; Ill. 1897, v. 233; Mich. 1899, 229; Colo. 1897, 54.

Barbers (examination by board): Minn. 1897, 186; Mo. 1899, p. 44.

Locomotive engineers: Ala. 1887, 59.

Steamboat engineers: N. H. 1899, 56.

CHAPTER IX

TRADE UNIONS, COMBINATIONS OF EMPLOYEES, ETC.

ARTICLE A. TRADE UNIONS.

SEC. 1. LAWS AUTHORIZING TRADE UNIONS.-Nearly all the States have adopted statutes permitting the formation or incorporation of trades unions, and there is also a national statute', but the workingmen have hitherto taken advantage of them in the rarest possible instances. There are very few legally incorporated trade unions in this country, though there are many in England. The States having such acts are Massachusetts (1888, 134), New York, Pennsylvania (Dig. p. 2017), Michigan (1897, 13), Maryland (23, 37), Iowa (1091), Kansas (miners, 1899, 33), and Louisiana (1890, 50).

Special provision is made for the incorporation of assemblies of Knights of Labor (Mich. 1883, 159; Wyo. 589, 590, 599).

In Nebraska the lodges of Knights of Labor have apparently all been incorporated by general act without their expressed consent (Nebr. 1892, 1893):

No union has yet been incorporated under this law.

SEC. 2. TRADES UNIONS EXCEPTED FROM GENERAL STATUTES REGULATING CORPORATIONS, ETC.-A few States have statutes excepting trade unions from the regulation of other statutes. Thus, (1) from the statute concerning the organization and regulation of fraternal beneficiary societies (Kans. 1899, 23, 16; Mass. 1899, 468); (2) from all "antitrust" acts (see Chap. X, § 3).

1U. S., 1885-6, 567:

Incorporation of national trade unions.

SEC. 1. The term "National Trade Union," in the meaning of this act, shall signify any association of working people having two or more branches in the States or Territories of the United States for the purpose of aiding its members to become more skillful and efficient workers, the promotion of their general intelligence, the elevation of their character, the regulation of their wages and their hours and conditions of labor, the protection of their individual rights in the prosecution of their trade or trades, the raising of funds for the benefit of sick, disabled, or unemployed members, or the families of deceased members, or for such other object or objects for which working people may lawfully combine, having in view their mutual protection or benefit.

SEC. 2. National Trade Unions shall, upon filing their articles of incorporation in the office of the recorder of the District of Columbia, become a corporation under the technical name by which said National Trade Union desires to be known to the trade; and shall have the right to sue and to be sued, to implead and be impleaded, to grant and receive, in its corporate or technical name, property, real, personal, and mixed, and to use said property, and the proceeds and income thereof, for the objects of said corporation as in its charter defined: Provided, That each union may hold only so much real estate as may be required for the immediate purposes of its incorporation. SEC. 3. An incorporated National Trade Union shall have power to make and establish such constitution, rules, and by-laws as it may deem proper to carry out its lawful objects, and the same to alter, amend, add to, or repeal at pleasure.

SEC. 4. An incorporated National Trade Union shall have power to define the duties and powers of all its officers, and prescribe their mode of election and term of office, to establish branches and subunions in any Territory of the United States. SEC. 5. The headquarters of an incorporated National Trade Union shall be located in the District of Columbia.

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SEC. 3. LAWS REGULATING UNION LABOR.-A statute has been almost universally adopted in New England and the Northern States prohibiting employers from discharging employees for belonging to or for joining labor unions, or from making it a condition of employment that they should not be members of such unions, and the blacklisting statutes are in part aimed at the same thing (see Chap. X, § 1; Chap. II, Art. A, § 2).1

It must be stated that there is considerable doubt as to the constitutionality of such statutes, and the supreme court of Missouri has held them unconstitutional, while there are indications that such will be the holding of the higher courts of New York and other States. On the other hand, an Ohio court sustained the law; and an Illinois court has held that there is no constitutional objection to the vote of a municipality, or its executive board or officers, to employ solely union labor. The States which have so far adopted such a statute are: Massachusetts (1894, 508, 3), Connecticut (1899, 170), New York (P. C. 171a), Pennsylvania (1897, 98), New Jersey (1894, 212), Ohio (1892, p. 269), Indiana (2302), Illinois (1893, p. 98), Wisconsin (4466b), Minnesota (1895, 172, and 174), Kansas (1897, 120), Missouri (1893, p. 197), California (P. C. 679), Colorado (1897, 50), Idaho (1899, p. 314), Georgia (1893, 380). The Pennsylvania statute applies to corporation employees only.

'Thus, in Massachusetts and Connecticut:

No person or corporation, or agent or officer on behalf of any person or corporation, shall coerce or compel any person or persons into an agreement, either written or verbal, not to join or become a member of any labor organization, as a condition of such person or persons securing employment or continuing in the employment of any such person or corporation.

In New York (P. C., § 171a, added by chapter 688, acts of 1887):

Any person or persons, employer or employers of labor, and any person or persons of any corporation or corporations on behalf of such corporation or corporations, who shall hereafter coerce or compel any person or persons, employee or employees, laborer or mechanic to enter into an agreement, either written or verbal from such person, persons, employee, laborer or mechanic, not to join or become a member of any labor organization, as a condition of such person or persons securing employment, or continuing in the employment of any such person or persons, employer or employers, corporation or corporations shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. The penalty for such misdemeanor shall be imprisonment in a penal institution for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

In Pennsylvania (1897, 98, § 1):

If any officer, agent or employee of any corporation chartered under the laws of this Commonwealth, or any foreign corporation doing business in this Commonwealth, shall coerce or attempt to coerce any employee of such corporation by discharging them or threatening to discharge them from employment of such corporation because of their connection with any lawful labor organization which such employee may have formed, joined or belonged to, or if any such officer, agent, or employee shall exact from any applicant for employment in such corporation any promise or agreement not to form, join or belong to such lawful labor organization, or not to continue a member of such lawful labor organization, or if any such officer, agent or employee shall in any way prevent or endeavor to prevent any employee from forming, joining or belonging to such lawful labor organization, or shall interfere or attempt to interfere by any other means whatsoever, direct or indirect, with any employee's free and untrammeled connection with such lawful labor organization, be [he?] or they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be liable to a fine of not more than two thousand nor less than one thousand dollars ($1,000), and imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or either, or both, in the discretion of the court.

And for the new Colorado statute, see Chap. II, Art. A, § 2, above. *Held unconstitutional.