Ogden Daily Standard | 1916-01-17 | Page 4 | An Alien Labor Law

AN ALIEN LABOR LAW. "New York has an alien labor law which originally provided that none but United States citizens should be employed by contractors on public works," says the Sacramento Bee. "The enactment, including this provision, pro-vision, long since was held constitutional constitu-tional by tho United States supreme coprt. But the state legislature recently re-cently relieved contractors of the restriction re-striction mentioned, which had become be-come virtually a dead-letter, because the scarcity of national labor virtually forced employers to disregard It. Two years ago the act abruptly was dragged drag-ged from obscurity and a demand made for its enforcement, which resulted re-sulted in a sudden check to important subway work then in progress. The legislative amendment soon followed, to the effect that alien labor may be employed by contractors on public work whenever the supply of strictly American labor shall have become ex hausted. "Even as so changed, the law is open to much criticism, for the fact is pointed out that by requiring five years' residence in this country prior to naturalization our Federal, laws virtually concede that the right to work precedes the right to citizenship. To debar all alien's from employment on public work is to diminish their opportunities to obtain an honest living, liv-ing, and so tend to force them to get one of a different sort." Foreigners of all nations, once admitted ad-mitted to this country should be treated treat-ed with fairness and without discrimination. discrim-ination. oo