CHAP. 10. Hours of Labor in Mines. Regulates the hours of employment of workingmen in all underground mines or workings and in smelters and ore reduction works to eight per day, and provides penalties for violations thereof. Approved Feb. 23, 1903.

CHAP. 37. Eight-hour Day upon Public Works. On public works, all works or undertakings carried on or aided by the State, county, or municipal governments, eight hours shall constitute a day's labor; violation of act creates forfeiture to contractors. Approved March 9, 1903.

New Mexico. CHAP. 40. Eight Hours upon Public Highways. That all able-bodied male persons between 21 and 60 years must labor upon public highways the number of days required by the road supervisor (not less than two nor more than five) of eight hours each; $1 per day to be paid in lieu thereof. Approved March 18, 1901.

New York. GENERAL LABOR LAW, ART. 1. Eight Hours a Day's Work. Eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work for all classes of employés in this State except those engaged in farm and domestic service unless otherwise provided by law. This section does not prevent an agreement for overwork at an increased compensation except upon work by or for the State or a municipal corporation or by contractors or sub-contractors therewith. Each contract to which the State or a municipal corporation is a party, which may involve the employment of laborers, workmen or mechanics, shall contain a stipulation that no laborer, workman or mechanic in the employ of the contractor, sub-contractor or other person doing or contracting to do the whole or a part of the work contemplated by the contract shall be permitted or required to work more than eight hours in any one calendar day, except in cases of extraordinary emergency caused by fire, flood or danger to life or property. The wages to be paid for a legal day's work as hereinbefore defined to all classes of such laborers, workmen or mechanics upon all such public work or upon any material to be used upon or in connection therewith shall not be less than the prevailing rate for a day's work in the same trade or occupation in the locality within the State where such public work on, about or in connection with which such labor is performed in its final or completed form is to be situated, erected or used. Each such contract hereafter made shall contain a stipulation that each such laborer, workman or mechanic employed by such contractor, sub-contractor or other person on, about or upon such public work, shall receive such wages herein provided for. Each contract for such public work hereafter made shall contain a provision that the same shall be void and of no effect unless the person or corporation making or performing the same shall comply with the provisions of this section; and no such person or corporation shall be entitled to receive any sum nor shall any officer, agent or employé of the State or of a municipal corporation pay the same or authorize its payment from the funds under his charge or control to any such person or corporation for work done upon any contract which in its form or manner of performance violates the provisions of this section, but nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to persons regularly employed in state institutions, or to engineers, electricians and elevatormen in the department of public buildings during the annual session of the legislature. [As amended by L. 1899, ch. 567 and L. 1900, ch. 298.]*

CHAP. 588. Eight-hour Day upon Reservoir Construction in New York City. The aqueduct commissioners in providing new reservoirs are authorized to contract with such persons and upon such terms as will best serve the interests of the city of New York, and that eight hours shall constitute a day's work for all labors performed by said person or corporation in the performance of his or its contract, and that no laborer in the performance of any such contract shall be required or permitted to work more than eight hours. Approved April 14, 1902.

Ohio. Eight-hour Day upon Public Works. The service of all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed upon any public works or on work done for the State or for any political sub-division thereof, whether by contract or otherwise, is limited and restricted to eight hours in any one calendar day. It is unlawful for any officer or agent of the State or any contractor or sub-contractor hiring workmen on behalf of the State to work employés in excess of eight hours per day except in case of emergency and except on work upon public military or naval works of defense in time of war, and except in case of employment of labor in agricultural pursuits. It shall be stipulated in every contract made on behalf of the State that eight hours shall be the working-day except in cases as herein before mentioned. Each contract shall stipulate a penalty for violation of the act of $10 for each laborer for each and every calendar day in which he shall labor more than eight hours. It is the duty of the inspector to report such violation to the proper officer of the State. Penalty is provided for violation of the act. Passed April 16, 1900.

Pennsylvania. Eight Hours a Day's Labor. On and after July 1, 1868, eight hours of labor between the rising and setting of the sun shall be held to be a legal day's work in all cases of labor by the day where there is no contract to the contrary. This act not applicable to agricultural labor or service by the week, month, or year. Approved April 14, 1868.

Eight Hours in Penal Institutions. Eight hours out of the 24 hours shall constitute a day's work in penitentiaries and reformatory institutions receiving support from the Common

* The prevailing rate of wages clause in this section was declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeals February 26, 1901.

wealth. All superintendents and officers, and all persons authorized to make contracts for work around said penitentiaries or reformatories are forbidden and prohibited to allow employés or under officers to work more than eight hours in each 24. Approved May 20, 1891. CHAP. 397. Eight-hour Day upon Public Works. Eight hours out of each 24 shall be a legal day's work for mechanics, workmen, and laborers in the employ of the State or any municipal corporation, or otherwise engaged upon public works. Applicable to persons working for contractors upon public works. None but citizens of the United States, or aliens who have declared their intention, who have been residents of the State six months, can be employed on public works. Penalty for violation. Approved July 26, 1897.

Porto Rico. SEC. 624. Eight-hour Day upon Public Works. No laborer shall be compelled to work more than eight hours in any one day upon public works, and they shall be if possible residents of the municipality. Approved March 1, 1902.

Tennessee. CHAP. 368. Eight Hours upon Public Highways. All county prisoners subject to labor shall be employed hereafter as far as practicable upon the public highways. . eight hours shall be a day's work upon the highways whether performed by convicts or free road hands. Approved April 22, 1899.

CHAP. 8. Eight Hours upon Public Roads. Males between 18 and 50 years subject to work upon the roads; eight hours to be a day's work; 50 cents a day to be paid for all labor assigned but unperformed. Approved February 8, 1901.

Utah. CHAP. 98. Eight-hour Day upon Public Works. Provides that eight hours shall constitute a day's work in all penal institutions and upon all works and undertakings carried on or aided by State, county, or municipal governments. Violation of act on part of any corporation, contractor, or officer of the State is deemed a misdemeanor. Approved March 12, 1903.

CHAP. 2, SEC. 1337. Eight-hour Day in Mines and Smelters. The period of employment of workingmen in all underground mines or workings and in smelters and all other institutions for the reduction or refining of ores or metals shall be eight per day, violation being a misdemeanor. Rev. Stat., 1898.

Washington. CHAP. 101. Eight-hour Day upon Public Works. Eight hours in any one calendar day shall constitute a day's work on any work done for the State or any county or municipality thereof. Work done by contract or sub-contract on any building or improvements or works on roads, bridges, streets, alleys, or buildings for the State shall be done under the provisions of this act, except in case of emergency when the hours for work may be extended, the rate of pay for time employed in excess of eight hours of each calendar day to be one and one-half times the rate allowed for the same amount of time during eight hours' service. These provisions to be stipulated in all contracts, sub-contracts, or agreements for work done for the State. Penalty provided for violation of act. Approved March 13, 1899.

West Virginia. CHAP. 17. Eight Hours upon Public Works. Eight hours to constitute a day's work for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed by or on behalf of the State or by any contractor or sub-contractor on any public works of the State. Penalty is provided for violation of act. Approved February 20, 1899.

Wisconsin. CHAP. 83. Eight Hours in Manufacturing and Mechanical Establishments. Provides for an eight-hour work day on all day contracts in manufacturing and mechanical business, unless specified to the contrary. Anno Stat., 1889.

Wyoming. Eight-hour Day. Eight hours' actual work shall constitute a lawful day's work in all mines, and on all State and municipal works. Constitution, Art. XIX, Sec. 1.

United States. Eight Hours upon Government Work. Provides for an eight-hour workday for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed by or on behalf of the government of the United States. Rev. Stat. 1878, Title 43, Sec. 3738.

CHAP. 1093. SEC. 4. Eight Hours upon Irrigation Works. Secretary of the Interior may cause contracts to be let for the construction of irrigation works . . . Provided, That in all construction work eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work and no Mongolian labor shall be employed thereon. Approved June 17, 1902, Acts of Congress.

It will be seen from the above laws that there are 27 states and territories, besides the United States, having an eight-hour day. There are six states where eight hours is prescribed as the limit for a day's work, unless specified to the contrary; these are Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania. Nevada and the United States specify the eight-hour day upon irrigation works and New York for laborers upon the reservoir. In Wisconsin, the eight-hour day is prescribed in manufacturing and mechanical establishments, unless

otherwise agreed upon. The laws of Missouri, New Mexico, and Tennessee specify eight hours to be a day's work for laborers on road work. Eight hours is a legal day's work in mines and smelters in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. The following states prescribe eight hours as the maximum day's labor upon public works: California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland (Baltimore), Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Porto Rico, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The United States provides for an eight-hour day upon government work.

Many cases pertaining to the constitutionality of the eight-hour day have been taken to the courts. Appeals have been taken in some instances from the State court, the matter being subsequently referred to the United States Supreme Court. The following are citations of some of the most important decisions:

Colorado. Unconstitutionality of Eight-hour Law. — Mines and Smelters. - The Supreme Court of Colorado, on July 17, 1899, rendered a decision holding that the eight-hour law enacted by the legislature was unconstitutional. The case in question was an application of Thomas A. Morgan for a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner challenged the validity of the statute making eight hours a legal day's work in all underground mines or workings and in smelters and all other institutions for the reduction or refining of ores or metals as being contrary to certain sections of the constitution whereby personal liberty and rights are established. In stating the opinion of the court, Chief Justice Campbell said that the statute had been considered by the attorney-general to be a health regulation and hence to come within the range of the police powers of the State; but a similar bill had been declared unconstitutional four years before this statute was enacted. The eight-hour law of Utah, similar to the act in question, and three cases in which the Supreme Court of Utah had held the law valid were cited, but, the constitution of the State of Colorado having no provision similar to that upon which the decisions in the Utah cases were based, the chief justice held that these decisions could not be considered authority. In view of the attempt to sustain the statute as coming within the police power, the judge said: The result of our deliberation is that this act is an unwarrantable interference with, and infringes the right of, both the employer and employé in making contracts relating to a purely private business in which no possible injury to the public can result; that it unjustly and arbitrarily singles out a class of persons, and imposes upon them restrictions from which others similarly situated and substantially in the same conditions are exempt; and that it is not, under our constitution, a valid exercise of the police power of this State, either in the subject selected or in the reasonableness of the regulation.

Kansas. Constitutionality of Eight-hour Law. - The constitutionality of the eight-hour law on public works of the State of Kansas was affirmed on November 30, 1903, by the United States Supreme Court. The law regulating labor on public works in Kansas was enacted in 1891 and provided that eight hours should constitute a day's work for workmen employed by or on behalf of the State. It prohibited contractors from requiring laborers in the performance of any work for the State or in the furnishing (for the State) of any material manufactured within the State to work more than eight hours in any one day. The case in question was that of W. W. Atkins v. State of Kansas. Atkins had a contract with the corporation of Kansas City, Kansas, for paving a street, and he was charged with requiring the workmen to labor 10 hours a day. Atkins was prosecuted in the State courts and appealed from the decisions (which were uniformly against him) to the Federal Supreme Court, alleging that the statute was in violation of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution in that it denied him due protection of the law and deprived him of his property without due process.

The opinion was based on the authority that the municipalities of a State are the creatures of the State; that work for them is of a public character and does not infringe on the personal liberty of anyone. Further: Whatever may have been the motives that controlled the enactment of the statute in question, we can imagine no possible ground to dispute the power of the State to declare that no one undertaking work for it or for one of its municipal agencies shall permit or require an employé on such work to labor in excess of eight hours each day, and t flict punishment upon contractors who disregard such a regulation. It cannot be deemed a

part of the liberty of any contractor that he be allowed to do public work in any mode he may choose to adopt without regard to the wishes of the State. On the contrary, it belongs to the State, as the guardian and trustee for its people, to prescribe the conditions upon which it will permit public work to be done. No court has authority to review its action in this respect. Regulation of this subject suggests only considerations of public policy, and with such considerations the courts have no concern."

Kansas. Constitutionality of Statute. Hours of Labor on Public Works. The petition of one J. T. Dalton for a writ of habeas corpus was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of Kansas. It alleged that he was unlawfully restrained of his liberty by the sheriff of Geary county, being held in custody by him under a warrant in which he was charged with the violation of chap. 114, Acts of Kansas, 1891, providing that eight hours constitute a day's work for all laborers, workmen, mechanics, and others employed by or in behalf of any municipality, county, or township in the State, in that he permitted and required certain workmen employed by him to work over eight hours per day in building the county court house and jail. He alleged that the statute above referred to was unconstitutional and void, but the Supreme Court, after a hearing, rendered decision December 9, 1899, and affirmed the constitutionality of the statute and denied the writ. The opinion of the judge in part was: "We see in this law no infringement of constitutional rights. There can be no compulsion of a contractor to bid upon public work nor is the laborer bound to take employment from a person having such contract. If the terms relating to the hours of labor do not suit either the contractor or the employé, there is no compulsion upon either the one or the other to take the contract or to perform labor for the State. His liberty of choice is not interfered with nor is his right to labor infringed. We conclude, therefore, that the statute under consideration is a mere direction of the State to its agents and a proper exercise of its power in that respect." 59 Pacific Reporter, page 336.

New York. Eight-hour Law Void. The Court of Appeals of New York declared unconstitutional the eight-hour provision of the penal code (subdivision 1 of section 384, H), in the case of the People v. the Orange County Road Construction Company, reversing the decision of the appellate division, second department, and sustaining that of Judge Beattie of the Orange county court, who ordered the discharge of the defendant company, upon its demurrer alleging that the law was unconstitutional.

The law, which is a complement of the eight-hour law provision of the labor law, passed at the same session of 1899, made it a misdemeanor for any person or corporation, contracting with the State or with a municipal corporation, to require more than eight hours work for a day's labor.

The defendant corporation was engaged in road construction for the county of Orange, and criminal proceedings were instituted in behalf of the people for its infringement. The defendant entered a demurrer, asserting that the law was unconstitutional. This demurrer was sustained by Judge Beattie, but overruled by the appellate division, from whose decision the defendant appealed.

Judge Cullen's opinion, in which the whole court concurs, holds that the law is not a proper exercise of the police power of the State, but unduly discriminates between different classes of contractors, and between the same contractor working for the State and for a private party, or for itself. It is conceded that the State has a right to protect women and children or adults from unwholesome or dangerous occupations. This law, Judge Cullen holds, does not deal with the character of the work, or with age, sex or condition of employment, nor even with the personality of the employer.

Ohio. Eight-hour Law Held Void. The Supreme Court of Ohio held, in the recent case of The City of Cleveland v. Clements Brothers Construction Company, that an act limiting to eight hours per day the work of laborers, etc., employed on behalf of the State or any of its political subdivisions, and requiring that every contract for public work should contain a stipulation that no laborer should be permitted to work more than eight hours, under penalty of a forfeiture by the contractor of a certain sum for each day any person should work more than such time, was unconstitutional and void.

Utah. Constitutionality of Statute.-Eight-hour Law. Albert F. Holden was convicted in the district court of Salt Lake county, Utah, of violating the act regulating hours of employment in mines, and upon said conviction appealed to the Supreme Court of the State, raising the question of the constitutionality of the law. The Supreme Court rendered its decision Nov. 11, 1896, upheld the constitutionality of the act and affirmed the conviction of the appellant. The law provided that eight hours should be the working-day for workingmen in all underground mines or workings in Utah and provided penalty for violation of the same by any employer. Chief Justice Zane, in his decision, said: "The legislature in naming eight hours to be a working-day, such period was deemed reasonable. The people of the State in their constitution made it mandatory upon the legislature to pass laws to provide for the health and safety of the employés in factories, smelters, and mines. We do not feel authorized to hold that the tatute quoted was not designed, calculated, and adapted to promote the health of the class of

men who labor in smelters and other works for the reduction and treatment of ores, nor can we see that the law conflicts with any provision of the Constitution of the United States. . . . The application for the discharge of the defendant is denied, and he is remanded to the custody of the sheriff until released in pursuance of the law."

Utah. Constitutionality of Statute. Hours of Labor. Holden v. Hardy and State v. Holden. In the above cases the constitutionality of chap. 62, laws of Utah of 1896, making eight hours a legal day's labor in mines, smelters, etc., was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the State. The cases were then brought before the Supreme Court of the United States, which rendered its decision February 28, 1898, sustaining the decisions of the State court.

Wisconsin. Law Limiting Hours of Labor. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin held, in the case of Wenham v. The State, that a statute limiting the hours of work in certain employments does not infringe the constitutional rights of either employer or employé.

The following tabular statement shows the cities and towns in the Commonwealth accepting the eight-hour day upon public works, according to the provisions of chapters 344 and 357 of the years 1899 and 1900, respectively. The date of acceptance is given in each case.

Cities and Towns in Massachusetts having the Eight-hour Day upon Public

* Validity of vote questioned; again voted upon and accepted Mar. 3, 1902.
† Eight-hour day adopted but legality subsequently questioned.

Dec.

Dec. 3, 1901

Mar.

5, 1900

Dec. 12, 1893

Dec. 11, 1900

All the cities in the State have accepted the provisions of the law making eight hours a legal day's work for public employés, while only a few of the towns have availed themselves of the privileges of the Act.