Show LABOR legislation labor legislation in the united is something that has been merely talked of in tho past and not put into actual practice until within the last fer years when labor began to orga nize and cry for laws to better the condition of tho working class then some attention was paid the labor question massachusetts ia tho pioneer in the enactment of legislation in this country in favor of labor sho now has more laws on her statue bool relating to tho working class than any other state in view of this condition of affairs the massachusetts bureau statistics have gathered together some valuable information regarding tho laws and the constitution ution of class in that elate chief wadlin sums up the labor laws now existing as follows As tho grand result of this legislation the legal hours for employment for women and minors of eighteen years in factories are fixed at airty per week with the provision haac such women and minors cannot be employed at all between the hours of ten at night and six in the morning no child under thirteen years of age is to be employed in any manufacturing mechanical ch anical or mercantile establishment and no child under fourteen is to be employed before six in the morning or after seven in tho evening or during school hours no minor under eighteen can bo legally employed more than sixty hours per week in any mercantile establishment imprisonment for debt is abolished a lien law is provided necessary tools for the mechanic are exempt from attachment the trustee process is curtailed associations and banks or building societies are authorized regulations for tho pro lection of life and health in factories are provided and the inspection of factories required and finally while perhaps not strictly in the line of labor legislation educational facilities have been broadened and made perfectly free as regards instruction and text books without specific legislation ten hours has become the maximum days work in most industries while the tendency is toward a shorter working day all of these laws it will be noticed ora very wholesome and will certainly tend to belter the condition of the laboring class but they hive been enacted after duo consideration on the part of the lawmakers law makers some of the laws hayo been on the books since 1831 while others have been amended a number of times we speak of this from the fact that labor legislation is generally attended with rash ness when once the great mass of humanity the laboring class begin to assert rights they do eo with nothing short of rashness hence lc bor legislation has oft proven a failure in this country the great labor question must be solved as are other questions of the day by giving each feature duo consideration and by amending laws until wo find them suited to the circumstances the demands of POWDERLY for example are altogether to radical he asks for revolutions to bo made in the business of the country that will never work without disaster to the nation and yet ho but voices the radical demands of tho laboring class of tha country |