Chapter VI: Part 6

Under the general head of Labour Legislation all American statute laws regulating labour, its conditions, and the relation of employer and employé must be classed. It includes what is properly known as factory legislation. Labour legislation belongs to the latter half of the 19th century, so far as the United States is concerned. Like England in the far past, the Americans in colonial days undertook to regulate wages and prices, and later the employment of apprentices. Legislation relating to wages and prices was long ago abandoned, but the laws affecting the employment of apprentices still exist in some form, although conditions of employment have changed so materially that apprenticeships are not entered as of old; but the laws regulating the employment of apprentices were the basis on which English legislation found a foothold when parliament wished to regulate the labour of factory operatives. The code of labour laws of the present time is almost entirely the result of the industrial revolution during the latter part of the 18th century, under which the domestic or hand-labour system was displaced through the introduction of power machinery. As this revolution took place in the United States at a somewhat later date than in England, the labour legislation necessitated by it belongs to a later date. The factory, so far as textiles are concerned, was firmly established in America during the period from 1820 to 1840, and it was natural that the English legislation found friends and advocates in the United States, although the more objectionable conditions accompanying the English factory were not to be found there.

Early attempts to regulate hours.

The first attempt to secure legislation regulating factory employment related to the hours of labour, which were very long--from twelve to thirteen hours a day. As machinery was introduced it was felt that the tension resulting from speeded machines and the close attention required in the factory ought to be accompanied by a shorter work-day. This view took firm hold of the operatives, and was the chief cause of the agitation which has resulted in a great body of laws applying in very many directions. As early as 1806 the caulkers and shipbuilders of New York City agitated for a reduction of hours to ten per day, but no legislation followed. There were several other attempts to secure some regulation relative to hours, but there was no general agitation prior to 1831. As Massachusetts was the state which first recognized the necessity of regulating employment (following in a measure, and so far as conditions demanded, the English labour or factory legislation), the history of such legislation in that state is indicative of that in the United States, and as it would be impossible in this article to give a detailed history of the origin of laws in the different states, the dates of their enactment, and their provisions, it is best to follow primarily the course of the Eastern states, and especially that of Massachusetts, where the first general agitation took place and the first laws were enacted. That state in 1836 regulated by law the question of the education of young persons employed in manufacturing establishments. The regulation of hours of labour was warmly discussed in 1832, and several legislative committees and commissions reported upon it, but no specific action on the general question of hours of labour secured the indorsement of the Massachusetts legislature until 1874, although the day's labour of children under twelve years of age was limited to ten hours in 1842. Ten hours constituted a day's labour, on a voluntary basis, in many trades in Massachusetts and other parts of the country as early as 1853, while in the shipbuilding trades this was the work-day in 1844. In April 1840 President Van Buren issued an order "that all public establishments will hereafter be regulated, as to working hours, by the ten-hours system." The real aggressive movement began in 1845, through numerous petitions to the Massachusetts legislature urging a reduction of the day's labour to eleven hours, but nothing came of these petitions at that time. Again, in 1850, a similar effort was made, and also in 1851 and 1852, but the bills failed. Then there was a period of quiet until 1865, when an unpaid commission made a report relative to the hours of labour, and recommended the establishment of a bureau of statistics for the purpose of collecting data bearing upon the labour question. This was the first step in this direction in any country. The first bureau of the kind was established in Massachusetts in 1869, but meanwhile, in accordance with reports of commissions and the address of Governor Bullock in 1866, and the general sentiment which then prevailed, the legislature passed an act regulating in a measure the conditions of the employment of children in manufacturing establishments; and this is one of the first laws of the kind in the United States, although the first legislation in the United States relating to the hours of labour which the writer has been able to find, and for which he can fix a date, was enacted by the state of Pennsylvania in 1849, the law providing that ten hours should be a day's work in cotton, woollen, paper, bagging, silk and flax factories.

Employment of children.

The Massachusetts law of 1866 provided, firstly, that no child under ten should be employed in any manufacturing establishment, and that no child between ten and fourteen should be so employed unless he had attended some public or private school at least six months during the year preceding such employment, and, further, that such employment should not continue unless the child attended school at least six months in each and every year; secondly, a penalty not exceeding $50 for every owner or agent or other person knowingly employing a child in violation of the act; thirdly, that no child under the age of fourteen should be employed in any manufacturing establishment more than eight hours in any one day; fourthly, that any parent or guardian allowing or consenting to employment in violation of the act should forfeit a sum not to exceed $50 for each offence; fifthly, that the Governor instruct the state constable and his deputies to enforce the provisions of all laws for regulating the employment of children in manufacturing establishments. The same legislature also created a commission of three persons, whose duty it was to investigate the subject of hours of labour in relation to the social, educational and sanitary condition of the working classes. In 1867 a fundamental law relating to schooling and hours of labour of children employed in manufacturing and mechanical establishments was passed by the Massachusetts legislature. It differed from the act of the year previous in some respects, going deeper into the general question. It provided that no child under ten should be employed in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment of the commonwealth, and that no child between ten and fifteen should be so employed unless he had attended school, public or private, at least three months during the year next preceding his employment. There were provisions relating to residence, &c., and a further provision that no time less than 120 half-days of actual schooling should be deemed an equivalent of three months, and that no child under fifteen should be employed in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment more than sixty hours any one week. The law also provided penalties for violation. It repealed the act of 1866.

In 1869 began the establishment of that chain of offices in the United States, the principle of which has been adopted by other countries, known as bureaus of statistics of labour, their especial purpose being the collection and dissemination of information relating to all features of industrial employment. As a result of the success of the first bureau, bureaus are in existence in thirty-three states, in addition to the United States Bureau of Labour.

A special piece of legislation which belongs to the commonwealth of Massachusetts, so far as experience shows, was that in 1872, providing for cheap morning and evening trains for the accommodation of working men living in the vicinity of Boston. Great Britain had long had such trains, which were called parliamentary trains. Under the Massachusetts law some of the railways running out of Boston furnished the accommodation required, and the system has since been in operation.

Factory legislation, 1877.

In different parts of the country the agitation to secure legislation regulating the hours of labour became aggressive again in 1870 and the years immediately following, there being a constant repetition of attempts to secure the enactment of a ten-hours law, but in Massachusetts all the petitions failed till 1874, when the legislature of that commonwealth established the hours of labour at sixty per week not only for children under eighteen, but for women, the law providing that no minor under eighteen and no woman over that age should be employed by any person, firm or corporation in any manufacturing establishment more than ten hours in any one day. In 1876 Massachusetts reconstructed its laws relating to the employment of children, although it did not abrogate the principles involved in earlier legislation, while in 1877 the commonwealth passed Factory Acts covering the general provisions of the British laws. It provided for the general inspection of factories and public buildings, the provisions of the law relating to dangerous machinery, such as belting, shafting, gearing, drums, &c., which the legislature insisted must be securely guarded, and that no machinery other than steam engines should be cleaned while running. The question of ventilation and cleanliness was also attended to. Dangers connected with hoistways, elevators and well-holes were minimized by their protection by sufficient trap-doors, while fire-escapes were made obligatory on all establishments of three or more storeys in height. All main doors, both inside and outside, of manufacturing establishments, as well as those of churches, school-rooms, town halls, theatres and every building used for public assemblies, should open outwardly whenever the factory inspectors of the commonwealth deemed it necessary. These provisions remain in the laws of Massachusetts, and other states have found it wise to follow them.

The labour legislation in force in 1910 in the various states of the
Union might be classified in two general branches: (A) protective
labour legislation, or laws for the aid of workers who, on account of
their economic dependence, are not in a position fully to protect
themselves; (B) legislation having for its purpose the fixing of the
legal status of the worker as an employé, such as laws relating to the
making and breaking of the labour contract, the right to form
organizations and to assemble peaceably, the settlement of labour
disputes, the licensing of occupations, &c.

Factory and workshop acts.

(A) The first class includes factory and workshop acts, laws relating
to hours of labour, work on Sundays and holidays, the payment of
wages, the liability of employers for injuries to their employés, &c.
Factory acts have been passed by nearly all the states of the Union.
These may be considered in two groups--first, laws which relate to
conditions of employment and affect only children, young persons and
women; and second, laws which relate to the sanitary condition of
factories and workshops and to the safety of employés generally. The
states adopting such laws have usually made provision for factory
inspectors, whose duties are to enforce these laws and who have power
to enter and inspect factories and workshops. The most common
provisions of the factory acts in the various states are those which
fix an age limit below which employment is unlawful. All but five
states have enacted such provisions, and these five states have
practically no manufacturing industries. In some states the laws
fixing an age limit are restricted in their application to factories,
while in others they extend also to workshops, bakeries, mercantile
establishments and other work places where children are employed. The
prescribed age limit varies from ten to fourteen years. Provisions
concerning the education of children in factories and workshops may be
considered in two groups, those relating to apprenticeship and those
requiring a certain educational qualification as a pre-requisite to
employment. Apprenticeship laws are numerous, but they do not now have
great force, because of the practical abrogation of the apprenticeship
system through the operation of modern methods of production. Most
states have provisions prohibiting illiterates under a specified age,
usually sixteen, from being employed in factories and workshops. The
provisions of the factory acts relating to hours of labour and night
work generally affect only the employment of women and young persons.
Most of the states have enacted such provisions, those limiting the
hours of children occurring more frequently than those limiting the
hours of women. The hour limit for work in such cases ranges from six
per day to sixty-six per week. Where the working time of children is
restricted, the minimum age prescribed for such children ranges from
twelve to twenty-one years. In some cases the restriction of the hours
of labour of women and children is general, while in others it applies
only to employment in one or more classes of industries. Other
provisions of law for the protection of women and children, but not
usually confined in their operation to factories and workshops, are
such as require seats for females and separate toilet facilities for
the sexes, and prohibit employment in certain occupations as in mines,
places where intoxicants are manufactured or sold, in cleaning or
operating dangerous machinery, &c. Provisions of factory acts relating
to the sanitary condition of factories and workshops and the safety of
employés have been enacted in nearly all the manufacturing states of
the Union. They prohibit overcrowding, and require proper ventilation,
sufficient light and heat, the lime-washing or painting of walls and
ceilings, the provision of exhaust fans and blowers in places where
dust or dangerous fumes are generated, guards on machinery, mechanical
belts and gearing shifters, guards on elevators and hoistways,
hand-rails on stairs, fire-escapes, &c.

Hours of labour.

The statutes relating to hours of labour may be considered under five
groups, namely: (1) general laws which merely fix what shall be
regarded as a day's labour in the absence of a contract; (2) laws
defining what shall constitute a day's work on public roads; (3) laws
limiting the hours of labour per day on public works; (4) laws
limiting the hours of labour in certain occupations; and (5) laws
which specify the hours per day or per week during which women and
children may be employed. The statutes included in the first two
groups place no restrictions upon the number of hours which may be
agreed upon between employers and employés, while those in the other
three groups usually limit the freedom of contract and provide
penalties for their violation. A considerable number of states have
enacted laws which fix a day's labour in the absence of any contract,
some at eight and others at ten hours, so that when an employer and an
employé make a contract and they do not specify what shall constitute
a day's labour, eight or ten hours respectively would be ruled as the
day's labour in an action which might come before the courts. In a
number of the states it is optional with the citizens to liquidate
certain taxes either by cash payments or by rendering personal
service. In the latter case the length of the working day is defined
by law, eight hours being usually specified. The Federal government
and nearly one-half of the states have laws providing that eight hours
shall constitute a day's work for employés on public works. Under the
Federal Act it is unlawful for any officer of the government or of any
contractor or sub-contractor for public works to permit labourers and
mechanics to work longer than eight hours per day. The state laws
concerning hours of labour have similar provisions. Exceptions are
provided for cases of extraordinary emergencies, such as danger to
human life or property. In many states the hours of labour have been
limited by law in occupations in which, on account of their dangerous
or insanitary character, the health of the employés would be
jeopardized by long hours of labour, or in which the fatigue
occasioned by long hours would endanger the lives of the employés or
of the public. The occupations for which such special legislation has
been enacted are those of employés on steam and street railways, in
mines and other underground workings, smelting and refining works,
bakeries and cotton and woollen mills. Laws limiting the hours of
labour of women and children have been considered under factory and
workshop acts.

Sunday labour.

Nearly all states and Territories of the Union have laws prohibiting
the employment of labour on Sunday. These laws usually make it a
misdemeanour for persons either to labour themselves or to compel or
permit their apprentices, servants or other employés, to labour on the
first day of the week. Exceptions are made in the case of household
duties or works of necessity or charity, and in the case of members of
religious societies who observe some other than the first day of the
week.

Payment of wages.

Statutes concerning the payment of wages of employés may be considered
in two groups: (1) those which relate to the employment contract, such
as laws fixing the maximum period of wage payments, prohibiting the
payment of wages in scrip or other evidences of indebtedness in lieu
of lawful money, prohibiting wage deductions on account of fines,
breakage of machinery, discounts for prepayments, medical attendance,
relief funds or other purposes, requiring the giving of notice of
reduction of wages, &c.; (2) legislation granting certain privileges
or affording special protection to working people with respect to
their wages, such as laws exempting wages from attachment, preferring
wage claims in assignments, and granting workmen liens upon buildings
and other constructions on which they have been employed.

Employers' liability.

Employers' liability laws have been passed to enable an employé to
recover damages from his employer under certain conditions when he has
been injured through accident occurring in the works of the employer.
The common-law maxim that the principal is responsible for the acts of
his agent does not apply where two or more persons are working
together under the same employer and one of the employés is injured
through the carelessness of his fellow-employé, although the one
causing the accident is the agent of the principal, who under the
common law would be responsible. The old Roman law and the English and
American practice under it held that the co-employé was a party to the
accident. The injustice of this rule is seen by a single illustration.
A weaver in a cotton factory, where there are hundreds of operatives,
is injured by the neglect or carelessness of the engineer in charge of
the motive power. Under the common law the weaver could not recover
damages from the employer, because he was the co-employé of the
engineer. So, one of thousands of employés of a railway system,
sustaining injuries through the carelessness of a switchman whom he
never saw, could recover no damages from the railway company, both
being co-employés of the same employer. The injustice of this
application of the common-law rule has been recognized, but the only
way to avoid the difficulty was through specific legislation providing
that under such conditions as those related, and similar ones, the
doctrine of co-employment should not apply, and that the workman
should have the same right to recover damages as a passenger upon a
railway train. This legislation has upset some of the most notable
distinctions of law.

The first agitation for legislation of this character occurred in
England in 1880. A number of states in the Union have now enacted
statutes fixing the liability of employers under certain conditions
and relieving the employé from the application of the common-law rule.
Where the employé himself is contributory to the injuries resulting
from an accident he cannot recover, nor can he recover in some cases
where he knows of the danger from the defects of tools or implements
employed by him. The legislation upon the subject involves many
features of legislation which need not be described here, such as
those concerning the power of employés to make a contract, and those
defining the conditions, often elaborate, which lead to the liability
of the employer and the duties of the employé, and the relations in
which damages for injuries sustained in employment may be recovered
from the employer.

(B) The statutes thus far considered may be regarded as protective
labour legislation. There is, besides, a large body of statutory laws
enacted in the various states for the purpose of fixing the legal
status of employers and employés and defining their rights and
privileges as such.

Labour contract.

A great variety of statutes have been enacted in the various states
relating to the labour contract. Among these are laws defining the
labour contract, requiring notice of termination of contract, making
it a misdemeanour to break a contract of service and thereby endanger
human life or expose valuable property to serious injury, or to make a
contract of service and accept transportation or pecuniary
advancements with intent to defraud, prohibiting contracts of
employment whereby employés waive the right to damages in case of
injury, &c. A Federal statute makes it a misdemeanour for any one to
prepay the transportation or in any way assist or encourage the
importation of aliens under contract to perform labour or service of
any kind in the United States, exceptions being made in the case of
skilled labour that cannot otherwise be obtained, domestic servants
and persons belonging to any of the recognized professions.

Licensed occupations.

The Federal government and nearly all the states and territories have
statutory provisions requiring the examination and licensing of
persons practising certain trades other than those in the class of
recognized professions. The Federal statute relates only to engineers
on steam vessels, masters, mates, pilots, &c. The occupations for
which examinations and licences are required by the various state laws
are those of barbers, horseshoers, elevator operators, plumbers,
stationary firemen, steam engineers, telegraph operators on railroads
and certain classes of mine workers and steam and street railway
employés.

Labour organizations.

The right of combination and peaceable assembly on the part of employés is recognized at common law throughout the United States. Organizations of working-men formed for their mutual benefit, protection and improvement, such as for endeavouring to secure higher wages, shorter hours of labour or better working conditions, are nowhere regarded as unlawful. A number of states and the Federal government have enacted statutes providing for the incorporation of trade unions, but owing to the freedom from regulation or inspection enjoyed by unincorporated trade unions, very few have availed themselves of this privilege. A number of states have enacted laws tending to give special protection to and encourage trade unions. Thus, nearly one-half of the states have passed acts declaring it unlawful for employers to discharge workmen for joining labour organizations, or to make it a condition of employment that they shall not belong to such bodies. Laws of this kind have generally been held to be unconstitutional. Nearly all the states have laws protecting trade unions in the use of the union label, insignia of membership, credentials, &c., and making it a misdemeanour to counterfeit or fraudulently use them. A number of the states exempt labour organizations from the operations of the anti-trust and insurance acts.

Labour disputes.

Until recent years all legal action concerning labour disturbances was based upon the principles of the common law. Some of the states have now fairly complete statutory enactments concerning labour disturbances, while others have little or no legislation of this class. The right of employés to strike for any cause or for no cause is sustained by the common law everywhere in the United States. Likewise an employer has a right to discharge any or all of his employés when they have no contract with him, and he may refuse to employ any person or class of persons for any reason or for no reason. Agreements among strikers to take peaceable means to induce others to remain away from the works of an employer until he yields to the demands of the strikers are not held to be conspiracies under the common law, and the carrying out of such a purpose by peaceable persuasion and without violence, intimidation or threats, is not unlawful. However, any interference with the constitutional rights of another to employ whom he chooses or to labour when, where or on what terms he pleases, is illegal. The boycott has been held to be an illegal conspiracy in restraint of trade. The statutory enactments of the various states concerning labour disturbances are in part re-enactments of the rules of common law and in part more or less departures from or additions to the established principles. The list of such statutory enactments is a large one, and includes laws relating to blacklisting, boycotting, conspiracy against working-men, interference with employment, intimidation, picketing and strikes of railway employés; laws requiring statements of causes of discharge of employés and notice of strikes in advertisements for labour; laws prohibiting deception in the employment of labour and the hiring of armed guards by employers; and laws declaring that certain labour agreements do not constitute conspiracy. Some of these laws have been held to be unconstitutional, and some have not yet been tested in the courts.

Arbitration and conciliation.

The laws just treated relate almost entirely to acts either of
employers or of employés, but there is another form of law, namely,
that providing for action to be taken by others in the effort to
prevent working people from losing employment, either by their own
acts or by those of their employers, or to settle any differences
which arise out of controversies relating to wages, hours of labour,
terms and conditions of employment, rules, &c. These laws provide for
the mediation and the arbitration of labour disputes (see ARBITRATION
AND CONCILIATION). Twenty-three states and the Federal government have
laws or constitutional provisions of this nature. In some cases they
provide for the appointment of state boards, and in others of local
boards only. A number of states provide for local or special boards in
addition to the regular state boards. In some states it is required
that a member of a labour organization must be a member of the board,
and, in general, both employers and employés must be represented.
Nearly all state boards are required to attempt to mediate between the
parties to a dispute when information is received of an actual or
threatened labour trouble. Arbitration may be undertaken in some
states on application from either party, in others on the application
of both parties. An agreement to maintain the _status quo_ pending
arbitration is usually required. The modes of enforcement of obedience
to the awards of the boards are various. Some states depend on
publicity alone, some give the decisions the effect of judgments of
courts of law which may be enforced by execution, while in other
states disobedience to such decisions is punishable as for contempt of
court. The Federal statute applies only to common carriers engaged in
interstate commerce, and provides for an attempt to be made at
mediation by two designated government officials in controversies
between common carriers and their employés, and, in case of the
failure of such an attempt, for the formation of a board of
arbitration consisting of the same officials together with certain
other parties to be selected. Such arbitration boards are to be formed
only at the request or upon the consent of both parties to the
controversy.

The judicial enforcement of labour laws.

The enforcement of laws by executive or judicial action is an important matter relating to labour legislation, for without action such laws would remain dead letters. Under the constitutions of the states, the governor is the commander-in-chief of the military forces, and he has the power to order the militia or any part of it into active service in case of insurrection, invasion, tumult, riots or breaches of the peace or imminent danger thereof. Frequent action has been taken in the case of strikes with the view of preventing or suppressing violence threatened or happening to persons or property, the effect being, however, that the militia protects those working or desiring to work, or the employers. The president of the United States may use the land and naval forces whenever by reason of insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful obstructions, conspiracy, combinations or assemblages of persons it becomes impracticable to enforce the laws of the land by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or when the execution of the laws is so hindered by reason of such events that any portion or class of the people are deprived thereby of their rights and privileges under the constitution and laws of the country. Under this general power the United States forces have been used for the protection of both employers and employés indirectly, the purpose being to protect mails and, as in the states, to see that the laws are carried out.

The power of the courts to interfere in labour disputes is through the injunction and punishment thereunder for contempt of court. It is a principle of law that when there are interferences, actual or threatened, with property or with rights of a pecuniary nature, and the common or statute law offers no adequate and immediate remedy for the prevention of injury, a court of equity may interpose and issue its order or injunction as to what must or must not be done, a violation of which writ gives the court which issued it the power to punish for contempt. The doctrine is that something is necessary to be done to stop at once the destruction of property and the obstruction of business, and the injunction is immediate in its action. This writ has been resorted to frequently for the indirect protection of employés and of employers. (C. D. W.)

AUTHORITIES.--ENGLISH: (a) Factory Legislation: Abraham and Davies,
_Law relating to Factories and Workshops_ (London, 1897 and 1902);
Redgrave, _Factory Acts_ (London, 1897); Royal Commission on Labour,
_Minutes of Evidence and Digests_, Group "C" (3 vols., 1892-1893),
_Assistant Commissioner's Report on Employment of Women_ (1893),
_Fifth and Final Report of the Commission_ (1894); International
Labour Conference at Berlin, _Correspondence, Commercial Series_ (C,
6042) (1890); House of Lords Committee on the Sweating System,
_Report_ (1891); _Home Office Reports_: Annual Reports of H.M. Chief
Inspector of Factories (1879 to 1901), Committee on White Lead and
Various Lead Industries (1894), Working of the Cotton Cloth Factories
Acts (1897), Dangerous Trades (Anthrax) Committee, Do., Miscellaneous
Trades (1896-97-98-99), Conditions of Work in Fish-Curing Trade
(1898), Lead Compounds in Pottery (1899), Phosphorus in Manufacture of
Lucifer Matches (1899), &c., &c.; Whately Cooke-Taylor, _Modern
Factory System_ (London, 1891); Oliver, _Dangerous Trades_ (London,
1902); Cunningham, _Growth of English Commerce and Industry_ (1907);
Hutchins and Harrison, _History of Factory Legislation_ (1903);
Traill, _Social England, &c., &c._ (b) Mines and Quarries: _Statutes_:
Coal Mines Regulation Acts 1886, 1894, 1896, 1899; Metalliferous Mines
Regulation Acts 1872, 1875; Quarries Act 1894; Royal Commission on
Labour, _Minutes of Evidence and Digests_, Group "A" (1892-1893, 3
vols.); Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, _Appendices_ (1894);
_Home Office Reports_: Annual General Report upon the Mining Industry
(1894-1897), Mines and Quarries, General Reports and Statistics (1898
to 1899), Annual Reports of H.M. Chief Inspector of Factories
(1893-1895) (Quarries); Macswinney and Bristowe, _Coal Mines
Regulation Act_ 1887 (London, 1888). (c) Shops: _Statutes_: Shop Hours
Acts 1892, 1893, 1896, Seats for Shop Assistants Act 1899; _Report of
Select Committee of House of Commons on the Shop Hours Regulation Bill
1886_ (Eyre and Spottiswoode). (d) Truck: _Home Office Reports_:
Annual Reports of H.M. Chief Inspector of Factories, especially
1895-1900, Memorandum on the Law relating to Truck and Checkweighing
Clauses of the Coal Mines Acts 1896, Memorandum relating to the Truck
Acts, by Sir Kenelm Digby, with text of Acts (1897).

CONTINENTAL EUROPE: _Annuaire de la législation du travail_
(Bruxelles, 1898-1905); _Hygiène et sécurité des travailleurs dans les
ateliers industriels_ (Paris, 1895); _Bulletin de l'inspection du
travail_ (Paris, 1895-1902); _Bulletin de l'office international du
travail_ (Paris, 1902-1906); _Congrès international de législation du
travail_ (1898); _Die Gewerbeordnung für das deutsche Reich_. (1)
Landmann (1897); (2) Neukamp (1901); _Gesetz betr. Kinderarbeit in
gewerblichen Betrieben_, 30. _März 1903_; Konrad Agahd, _Manz'sche
Gesetzausgabe_, erster Band und siebenter Band (Wien, 1897-1898);
_Legge sugli infortunii del lavoro_ (Milan, 1900).

UNITED STATES: See the _Twenty-Second Annual Report of the
Commissioner of Labor_ (1907) giving all labour laws in force in the
United States in 1907, with annotations of decisions of courts;
bimonthly _Bulletins_ of the U.S. Bureau of Labor, containing laws
passed since those published in the foregoing, and decisions of courts
relating to employers and employés; also special articles in these
_Bulletins_ on "Employer and Employé under the Common Law" (No. 1),
"Protection of Workmen in their Employment" (No. 26), "Government
Industrial Arbitration" (No. 60), "Laws relating to the Employment of
Women and Children, and to Factory Inspection and the Health and
Safety of Employés" (No. 74), "Wages and Hours of Labor in
Manufacturing Industries, 1890 to 1907" (No. 77), "Review of Labor
Legislation of 1908 and 1909" (No. 85); also "Report of the Industrial
Commission on Labor Legislation" (vol. v., _U.S. Commission's
Report_); C. D. Wright, _Industrial Evolution in the United States_
(1887); Stimson, _Handbook to the Labor Laws of the United States_,
and _Labor in its Relation to Law_; Adams and Sumner, _Labor
Problems_; Labatt, _Commentaries on the Law of Master and Servant_.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The term "labour" (Lat. _labor_) means strictly any energetic
work, though in general it implies hard work, but in modern parlance
it is specially confined to industrial work of the kind done by the
"working-classes."

[2] H. D. Traill, _Social England_, v. 602 (1896).

[3] W. Cunningham, _Growth of English Commerce and Industry_.

[4] W. Cunningham, _Growth of English Commerce and Industry_.

[5] From an "Essay on Trade" (1770), quoted in _History of Factory
Legislation_, by B. L. Hutchins and A. Harrison (1903), pp. 5, 6.

[6] Minutes of Evidence, House of Commons, 1876; quoted in _History
of Factory Legislation_, by Harrison and Hutchinson, p. 179.

LABOUR PARTY, in Great Britain, the name given to the party in parliament composed of working-class representatives. As the result of the Reform Act of 1884, extending the franchise to a larger new working-class electorate, the votes of "labour" became more and more a matter of importance for politicians; and the Liberal party, seeking for the support of organized labour in the trade unions, found room for a few working-class representatives, who, however, acted and voted as Liberals. It was not till 1893 that the Independent Labour party, splitting off under Mr J. Keir Hardie (b. 1856) from the socialist organization known as the Social Democratic Federation (founded 1881), was formed at Bradford, with the object of getting independent candidates returned to parliament on a socialist programme. In 1900 Mr Keir Hardie, who as secretary of the Lanarkshire Miners' Union had stood unsuccessfully as a labour candidate for Mid-Lanark in 1888, and sat as M.P. for West Ham in 1892-1895, was elected to parliament for Merthyr-Tydvil by its efforts, and in 1906 it obtained the return of 30 members, Mr Keir Hardie being chairman of the group. Meanwhile in 1899 the Trade Union Congress instructed its parliamentary committee to call a conference on the question of labour representation; and in February 1900 this was attended by trade union delegates and also by representatives of the Independent Labour party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society. A resolution was carried "to establish a distinct labour group in parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their own policy, which must embrace a readiness to co-operate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interest of labour," and the committee (the Labour Representation Committee) was elected for the purpose. Under their auspices 29 out of 51 candidates were returned at the election of 1906. These groups were distinct from the Labour members ("Lib.-Labs") who obeyed the Liberal whips and acted with the Liberals. In 1908 the attempts to unite the parliamentary representatives of the Independent Labour party with the Trades Union members were successful. In June of that year the Miners' Federation, returning 15 members, joined the Independent Labour party, now known for parliamentary purposes as the "Labour Party"; other Trades Unions, such as the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, took the same step. This arrangement came into force at the general election of 1910, when the bulk of the miners' representatives signed the constitution of the Labour party, which after the election numbered 40 members of parliament.

LABRADOR,[1] a great peninsula in British North America, bounded E. by the North Atlantic, N. by Hudson Strait, W. by Hudson and James Bays, and S. by an arbitrary line extending eastwards from the south-east corner of Hudson Bay, near 51° N., to the mouth of the Moisie river, on the Gulf of St Lawrence, in 50° N., and thence eastwards by the Gulf of St Lawrence. It extends from 50° to 63° N., and from 55° to 80° W., and embraces an approximate area of 511,000 sq. m. Recent explorations and surveys have added greatly to the knowledge of this vast region, and have shown that much of the peninsula is not a land of "awful desolation," but a well-wooded country, containing latent resources of value in its forests, fisheries and minerals.

_Physical Geography._--Labrador forms the eastern limb of the V in the
Archaean protaxis of North America (see CANADA), and includes most of
the highest parts of that area. Along some portions of the coasts of
Hudson and also of Ungava Bay there is a fringe of lowland, but most
of the interior is a plateau rising toward the south and east. The
highest portion extends east and west between 52° and 54° N., where an
immense granite area lies between the headwaters of the larger rivers
of the four principal drainage basins; the lowest area is between
Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay in the north-west, where the general level
is not more than 500 ft. above the sea. The only mountains are the
range along the Atlantic coast, extending from the Strait of Belle
Isle to Cape Chidley; in their southern half they rarely exceed 1500
ft., but increase in the northern half to a general elevation of
upwards of 2000 ft., with numerous sharp peaks between 3000 and 5000
ft., some say 7000 or 8000 ft. The coasts are deeply indented by
irregular bays and fringed with rocky islands, especially along the
high Atlantic coast, where long narrow fiords penetrate inland.
Hamilton Inlet, 250 m. north of the Strait of Belle Isle, is the
longest of these bays, with a length of 150 m. and a breadth varying
from 2 to 30 m. The surface of the outer portions of the plateau is
deeply seamed by valleys, cut into the crystalline rocks by the
natural erosion of rivers, depending for their length and depth upon
the volume of water flowing through them. The valley of the Hamilton
river is the greatest, forms a continuation of the valley of the Inlet
and extends 300 m. farther inland, while its bottom lies from 500 to
1500 ft. below the surface of the plateau into which it is cut. The
depressions between the low ridges of the interior are occupied by
innumerable lakes, many of great size, including Mistassini,
Mishikamau, Clearwater, Kaniapiskau and Seal, all from 50 to 100 m.
long. The streams discharging these lakes, before entering their
valleys, flow on a level with the country and occupy all depressions,
so that they frequently spread out into lake-expansions and are often
divided into numerous channels by large islands. The descent into the
valleys is usually abrupt, being made by heavy rapids and falls; the
Hamilton, from the level interior, in a course of 12 m. falls 760 ft.
into the head of its valley, this descent including a sheer drop of
315 ft. at the Grand Falls, which, taken with the large volume of the
river, makes it the greatest fall in North America. The rivers of the
northern and western watersheds drain about two-thirds of the
peninsula; the most important of the former are the Koksoak, the
largest river of Labrador (over 500 m. long), the George, Whale and
Payne rivers, all flowing into Ungava Bay. The large rivers flowing
westwards into Hudson Bay are the Povungnituk, Kogaluk, Great Whale,
Big, East Main and Rupert, varying in length from 300 to 500 m. The
rivers flowing south are exceedingly rapid, the Moisie, Romaine,
Natashkwan and St Augustine being the most important; all are about
300 m. long. The Atlantic coast range throws most of the drainage
northwards into the Ungava basin, and only small streams fall into the
ocean, except the Hamilton, North-west and Kenamou, which empty into
the head of Hamilton Inlet.

_Geology._--The peninsula is formed largely of crystalline schists and
gneisses associated with granites and other igneous rocks, all of
archaean age; there are also large areas of non-fossiliferous,
stratified limestones, cherts, shales and iron ores, the unaltered
equivalents of part of the schists and gneisses. Narrow strips of
Animikie (Upper Huronian or perhaps Cambrian) rocks occur along the
low-lying southern and western shores, but there are nowhere else
indications of the peninsula having been below sea-level since an
exceedingly remote time. During the glacial period the country was
covered by a thick mantle of ice, which flowed out radially from a
central collecting-ground. Owing to the extremely long exposure to
denudation, to the subsequent removal of the greater part of the
decomposed rock by glaciers, and to the unequal weathering of the
component rocks, it is now a plateau, which ascends somewhat abruptly
within a few miles of the coast-line to heights of between 500 and
2000 ft. The interior is undulating, and traversed by ridges of low,
rounded hills, seldom rising more than 500 ft. above the surrounding
general level.

_Minerals._--The mineral wealth is undeveloped. Thick beds of
excellent iron ore cover large areas in the interior and along the
shores of Hudson and Ungava Bays. Large areas of mineralized Huronian
rocks have also been discovered, similar to areas in other parts of
Canada, where they contain valuable deposits of gold, copper, nickel
and lead; good prospects of these metals have been found.

_Climate._--The climate ranges from cold temperate on the southern
coasts to arctic on Hudson Strait, and is generally so rigorous that
it is doubtful if the country is fit for agriculture north of 51°,
except on the low grounds near the coast. On James Bay good crops of
potatoes and other roots are grown at Fort George, 54° N., while about
the head of Hamilton Inlet, on the east coast, and in nearly the same
latitude, similar crops are easily cultivated. On the outer coasts the
climate is more rigorous, being affected by the floating ice borne
southwards on the Arctic current. In the interior at Mistassini, 50°
30´ N, a crop of potatoes is raised annually, but they rarely mature.
No attempts at agriculture have been made elsewhere inland. Owing to
the absence of grass plains, there is little likelihood that it will
ever be a grazing district. There are only two seasons in the
interior: winter begins early in October, with the freezing of the
small lakes, and lasts until the middle of June, when the ice on
rivers and lakes melts and summer suddenly bursts forth. From
unconnected observations the lowest temperatures of the interior range
from -50° F. to -60° F., and are slightly higher along the coast. The
mean summer temperature of the interior is about 55° F., with frosts
during every month in the northern portion. On the Atlantic coast and
in Hudson Bay the larger bays freeze solid between the 1st and 15th of
December, and these coasts remain ice-bound until late in June. Hudson
Strait is usually sufficiently open for navigation about the 10th of
July.

_Vegetation._--The southern half is included in the sub-Arctic forest
belt, and nine species of trees constitute the whole arborescent flora
of this region; these species are the white birch, poplar, aspen,
cedar. Banksian pine, white and black spruce, balsam fir and larch.
The forest is continuous over the southern portion to 53° N., the only
exceptions being the summits of rocky hills and the outer islands of
the Atlantic and Hudson Bay, while the low margins and river valleys
contain much valuable timber. To the northward the size and number of
barren areas rapidly increase, so that in 55° N. more than half the
country is treeless, and two degrees farther north the limit of trees
is reached, leaving, to the northward, only barrens covered with low
Arctic flowering plants, sedges and lichens.

_Fisheries._--The fisheries along the shores of the Gulf of St
Lawrence and of the Atlantic form practically the only industry of the
white population scattered along the coasts, as well as of a large
proportion of the inhabitants of Newfoundland. The census (1891) of
Newfoundland gave 10,478 men, 2081 women and 828 children employed in
the Labrador fishery in 861 vessels, of which the tonnage amounted to
33,689; the total catch being 488,788 quintals of cod, 1275 tierces of
salmon and 3828 barrels of herring, which, compared with the customs
returns for 1880, showed an increase of cod and decreases of salmon
and herring. The salmon fishery along the Atlantic coast is now very
small, the decrease being probably due to excessive use of cod-traps.
The cod fishery is now carried on along the entire Atlantic coast and
into the eastern part of Ungava Bay, where excellent catches have been
made since 1893. The annual value of the fisheries on the Canadian
portion of the coast is about $350,000. The fisheries of Hudson Bay
and of the interior are wholly undeveloped, though both the bay and
the large lakes of the interior are well stocked with several species
of excellent fish, including Arctic trout, brook trout, lake trout,
white fish, sturgeon and cod.

_Population._--The population is approximately 14,500, or about one person to every 35 sq. m.; it is made up of 3500 Indians, 2000 Eskimo and 9000 whites. The last are confined to the coasts and to the Hudson Bay Company's trading posts of the interior. On the Atlantic coast they are largely immigrants from Newfoundland, together with descendants of English fishermen and Hudson Bay Company's servants. To the north of Hamilton Inlet they are of more or less mixed blood from marriage with Eskimo women. The Newfoundland census of 1901 gave 3634 as the number of permanent white residents along the Atlantic coast, and the Canadian census (1891) gave a white population of 5728, mostly French Canadians, scattered along the north shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence, while the whites living at the inland posts did not exceed fifty persons. It is difficult to give more than a rough approximation of the number of the native population, owing to their habits of roving from one trading post to another, and the consequent liability of counting the same family several times if the returns are computed from the books of the various posts, the only available data for an enumeration. The following estimate is arrived at in this manner: Indians--west coast, 1200; Ungava Bay, 200; east coast, 200; south coast, 1900. Eskimo--Atlantic coast, 1000; south shore of Hudson Strait, 800; east coast of Hudson Bay, 500. The Indians roam over the southern interior in small bands, their northern limit being determined by that of the trees on which they depend for fuel. They live wholly by the chase, and their numbers are dependent upon the deer and other animals; as a consequence there is a constant struggle between the Indian and the lower animals for existence, with great slaughter of the latter, followed by periodic famines among the natives, which greatly reduce their numbers and maintain an equilibrium. The native population has thus remained about stationary for the last two centuries. The Indians belong to the Algonquin family, and speak dialects of the Cree language. By contact with missionaries and fur-traders they are more or less civilized, and the great majority of them are Christians. Those living north of the St Lawrence are Roman Catholic, while the Indians of the western watershed have been converted by the missionaries of the Church Mission Society; the eastern and northern bands have not yet been reached by the missionaries, and are still pagans. The Eskimo of the Atlantic coast have long been under the guidance of the Moravian missionaries, and are well advanced in civilization; those of Hudson Bay have been taught by the Church Mission Society, and promise well; while the Eskimo of Hudson Strait alone remain without teachers, and are pagans. The Eskimo live along the coasts, only going inland for short periods to hunt the barren-ground caribou for their winter clothing; the rest of the year they remain on the shore or the ice, hunting seals and porpoises, which afford them food, clothing and fuel. The christianized Indians and Eskimo read and write in their own language; those under the teaching of the Church Mission Society use a syllabic character, the others make use of the ordinary alphabet.

_Political Review._--The peninsula is divided politically between the governments of Canada, Newfoundland and the province of Quebec. The government of Newfoundland, under Letters Patent of the 28th of March 1876, exercises jurisdiction along the Atlantic coast; the boundary between its territory and that of Canada is a line running due north and south from Anse Sablon, on the north shore of the Strait of Belle Isle, to 52° N., the remainder of the boundary being as yet undetermined. The northern boundary of the province of Quebec follows the East Main river to its source in Patamisk lake, thence by a line due east to the Ashuanipi branch of the Hamilton river; it then follows that river and Hamilton Inlet to the coast area under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland. The remainder of the peninsula, north of the province of Quebec, by order in council dated the 18th of December 1897, was constituted Ungava District, an unorganized territory under the jurisdiction of the government of the Dominion of Canada.

AUTHORITIES.--W. T. Grenfell and others, _Labrador: the Country and
the People_ (New York, 1909); R. F. Holmes, "A Journey in the Interior
of Labrador," Proc. _R.G.S._ x. 189-205 (1887); A. S. Packard, _The
Labrador Coast_ (New York, 1891); Austen Cary, "Exploration on Grand
River, Labrador," _Bul. Am. Geo. Soc._ vol. xxiv., 1892; R. Bell, "The
Labrador Peninsula," _Scottish Geo. Mag._ July 1895. Also the
following reports by the Geological Survey of Canada:--R. Bell,
"Report on an Exploration of the East Coast of Hudson Bay," 1877-1878;
"Observations on the Coast of Labrador and on Hudson Strait and Bay,"
1882-1884; A. P. Low, "Report on the Mistassini Expedition," 1885;
"Report on James Bay and the Country East of Hudson Bay," 1887-1888;
"Report on Explorations in the Labrador Peninsula, 1892-1895," 1896;
"Report on a Traverse of the Northern Part of the Labrador Peninsula,"
1898; "Report on the South Shore of Hudson Strait," 1899. For History:
W. G. Gosling, _Labrador_ (1910). (A. P. Lo.; A. P. C.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] From the Portuguese _llavrador_ (a yeoman farmer). The name was
originally given to Greenland (1st half of 16th century) and was
transferred to the peninsula in the belief that it formed part of the
same country as Greenland. The name was bestowed "because he who
first gave notice of seeing it [Greenland] was a farmer (_llavrador_)
from the Azores." See the historical sketch of Labrador by W. S.
Wallace in Grenfell's _Labrador, &c._, 1909.