Digest of recent reports of State bureaus of labor statistics: Page. Laws of various States relating to labor, enacted since January 1, 1904..... 1043-1054 1055-1058 1059-1061 Cumulative index of labor laws and decisions relating thereto... 1062-1093 Index to volume 15... 1095, 1096 At its last session the Fifty-ninth Congress provided for an investigation of the subject of woman and child labor, and this investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Labor. The collection of laws here presented has been prepared for the information and assistance of the experts and special agents engaged on that work, and is intended to include all legislation on the subject in existence at the close of the regular sessions of those legislative bodies that met in the year 1907. In a few instances laws apparently superseded by later enactments. have been omitted, even though they appeared in the volumes consulted in preparing this compilation. Decisions by the higher State courts as to the construction and application of the laws here presented are not numerous, partly because of the comparatively recent date of their enactment, and partly, perhaps, on account of the methods of enforcement that are prescribed in many instances. The constitutionality of statutes regulating child labor is generally admitted, though with reference to those affecting the employment of adult females there has been greater diversity of opinion. Such opinions of the higher courts as have come to the knowledge of this office have been examined, and brief statements of the points determined are appended to the acts or sections which were the subjects of judicial consideration. ALABAMA. CODE OF 1897. CIVIL CODE. Earnings of married women. Earnings SECTION 2521. The earnings of the wife are her separate prop- separate prop erty. Employment prohibited. Seats to be provided. Age limit. Certificate. Night work. Employment of women and children in mines. SECTION 2933. No woman, nor any boy under the age of twelve years, shall be employed to work or labor in or about any mine in this State. Seats for female employees. SECTION 5512. Any person, owning or controlling a store or shop in which any female is employed as a clerk or saleswoman, who fails to provide such female with proper accommodations for sitting and resting when not actively engaged in the work of her employment, or who fails to permit her to do so when not so engaged, must, on conviction, be fined not less than ten dollars. ACTS OF 1903. ACT No. 57.-Employment of children. (Page 68.) SECTION 1. No child under the age of twelve (12) years shall be employed in or about any factory or manufacturing establishment within this State unless a widowed mother or aged or disabled father is dependent upon the labor of such child, or in case a child is an orphan and has no other means of support. No child under the age of ten (10) years shall be so employed under any circumstances. SEC. 2. It shall be unlawful for any factory or manufacturing establishment to hire or to employ any child unless there is first provided and placed on file in the office of such employer an affidavit signed by the parent or guardian or person standing [in] parental relation thereto, certifying the age and date of birth of said child; any person knowingly furnishing a false certificate of the age of such child shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be brought before some justice of the peace or other court or officer having jurisdiction for trial, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars, or be sentenced to hard labor for a term not exceeding three months. SEC. 3. No child under the age of thirteen (13) years shall be employed at labor or detained in any factory or manufacturing establishment in this State between the hours of 7 p. m. and 6 a. m. standard time, and no child under the age of sixteen (16) years shall be so employed or detained between said hours for more than Hours of la- forty-eight hours in any one week; and no child under the age of twelve shall be employed or detained in any factory or manufacturing establishment for more than sixty-six (66) hours in any one week. bor. Penalty. SEC. 4. Any person, persons or corporation or representative of such corporation who violates any of the provisions of this act, or who willfully or knowingly suffers or permits any child to be employed in violation of its provisions, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than ($200) two hundred dollars. ACTS OF 1907. ACT No. 341.-Hiring out children to support parents in idleness. * SECTION 1. * * (1) or any person who has no property sufficient Who are for his support, and who is able to work and does not work, but hires grants. out his children or allows them to hire out: * * * Is hereby declared to be a vagrant, and must on conviction be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), and may also be sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than 12 months: Provided, however, That Proof. in no presocution [prosecution] under this act shall the burden of proof rest upon the State to establish the fact that the defendant has no property sufficient for his support, nor means of a fair, honest and reputable livelihood, but whenever it shall be established by the proof in any prosecution under this act that the defendant * * * * * * is able and does not work, but hires out his minor children or allows ACT No. 776.-Employment of children in factories. SECTION 1. No child under twelve years of age, shall be employed Age limit. or permitted to work in or be in or about any mill, factory, or manufacturing establishment in this State, and this provision shall be in force and effect from and after January 1, 1908. One year after the provisions School attendof this section as above set forth go into force and effect, no child ance. between the ages of twelve and sixteen years shall be employed or be permitted to work or [be] detained in or about any mill, factory, or manufacturing establishment in this State unless such child shall attend school for eight weeks in every year of employment, six weeks of which shall be consecutive. SEC. 2. No child under the age of fourteen years shall be so employed Hours of labor. or detained in or be in or about any mill, factory, or manufacturing establishment within this State for more than sixty hours in any one week, the provisions of this section shall be in force and effect from and after January 1, 1908. SEC. 3. No child under sixteen years of age shall be employed or detained in, or be in or about any mill, factory, or manufacturing establishment within this State, between the hours of seven o'clock p. m., and six o'clock a. m. standard time, and no child over sixteen and under eighteen years of age shall be so employed or detained between said hours for more than eight hours in any one night, the provisions of this section shall be in force and effect from and after January 1, 1908. Night work. SEC. 4. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to Certificates. employ, or detain in or permit to work in, or be in or about any mill, factory, or manufacturing establishment any child under eighteen years of age, without first requiring said child to present on a blank furnished by the employer, the form of which shall be provided by the inspector, the affidavit of the parent or guardian or other person standing in parental relation to such child, stating the date and place of birth of said child. Said affidavit shall be filed by such employers within ten days after the employment of such child, in the office of the judge of probate of said county, and shall be numbered and labeled with the name of the child, and a complete index thereof made and preserved as other records in said office. For the services so rendered the judge of probate shall receive from the county treasury ten cents for each such affidavit. A copy of said affidavit shall be forwarded, within ten days after the employment of such child, to the inspector, Montgomery, Alabama. |