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 LABOUR

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LABOUR

level, however, some steps had been taken to protect the labouring class by legislation. In 1802 a law was passed which aimed at giving some relief to the pauper children in the cotton factories, and in 1824 the pro- hibition of labour combinations was repealed. Be- tween 1833 and 1878, the famous English Factory Acts were enacted, amended, and re-enacted, until they provided for safety and sanitation in all workshops, and regulated the hours of labour of women and chil- dren, and the age at which the latter were permitted to work. In the other countries of Europe the change from the system of handwork to the factory system came somewhat later and somewhat more slowly than in England, and consequently caused less hardship to the weaker members of the labouring class. More- over, the theory of legislative non-intervention was not so fully carried out, except in France and Bel- gium, where the political philosophy of the Revolu- tion had obtained a strong foothold. The guilds were abolished in France in 1789, and labour unions, strikes, and lock-outs were prohibited during substan- tially the whole period between that date and the year 1884. The first effective factory legislation was enacted in 1841, l)ut it was not seriously enforced for thirty years. In Belgium the guilds were abolished in 1795, and there was no very important labour legis- lation until 1886. Most of the laws for the protection of labour in Switzerland came into existence during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Effective labour laws were not enforced in Italy until 1886. In Prussia the complete abolition of the monopolistic privileges in certain trades enjoyed by certain towns, classes, and organizations took place in 1845, while a general code providing for industrial freedom was adopted in 1869 Ijy the North German States, and afterwards extended to the whole of the present Ger- man Empire. In 1881, however, a law was passed which gave to the volunteer guilds a certain privileged position, and the tendency since then has been to con- firm that position. Austria likewise retained the guilds and the old industrial regulations longer than England or France, and enacted new legislation dur- ing the first half of the nineteenth century. At no time did Austria attempt to carry out the disastrous policy of "complete industrial freedom".

At the present time laws regulating the hours of labour exist in all the countries of Europe. Except in Great Britain and Belgium, the State asserts the right to apply such legislation to the labour of all adult males, as well as to that of women and children. As yet, however, this regulation has not been applied to adult males generally, but only to those in certain arduous and dangerous occupations. The hours for women and children in mines, factories, and work- shops, and frequently in some other occupations, are restricted by most European states to ten per day, while the age at which children may be employed varies from eleven to thirteen in most employments. Regulations providing, with varied degrees of effi- cacy and comprehensiveness, for safety and sanita- tion in factories, workshops, and mercantile estab- lishments are practically universal. Many of the countries have compulsory state insurance against sickness and accidents; Germany and Italy have in addition a system of old-age insurance. England re- quires employers to compensate their employees for industrial accidents, and has a system of old-age pen- sions. Switzerland and Belgium insure against un- employment. In most of the European countries there are laws providing for the arbitration of indus- trial disputes, but in none of them is the arbitration compulsory. All the countries permit, and some of them give special privileges to, labour unions or guilds. In Germany and Austria membership in a guild is in- dispensable for certain trades. Generally speaking, peaceful strikes and boycotts are every^vhere la\\'ful. Boycotting was made legal in Great Britain in 1906.

The theory of non-intervention has exercised a stronger influence in the United States than even in England, owing to the fact that it was incorporated into the National Constitution, and in the Constitu- tions of most of the states. The constitutional pro- hibitions of class legislation and of interference with freedom of contract have caused American labour laws to be for the most part, "a collection of excep- tions to these general provisions" (Adams, "Labor Problems", 464). Between 1840 and 1850, laws were passed in some of the states limiting the hours of labour for women and children, and in 1877 Massa- chusetts enacted a code of factory legislation. Since then more than half the states have followed the ex- ample set by Massachusetts, and the general tendency points constantly toward more and better regulations for the protection of labour. In no state, however, is there a general law limiting the hours of labour for adult males. Such legislation would undoubtedly be construed as contrary to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of contract. The few states that have en- acted provisions of this sort have limited their appli- cation to occupations involving special danger to health, safety, or the public welfare. In many of the states the working day of women is restricted, usually to ten hours, on the theory that this is a legiti- mate exercise of the police power in the interest of public or private health, or on behalf of a peculiarly weak section of the population. The hours of labour of children have been limited in all the states, in the majority of cases to ten per day, but in a few instances to eight, nine, eleven, or twelve. Almost all the states set a minimum age at which children may be employed, at least in certain places, such as factories and stores. In the majority of cases the limit is four- teen years, although it is sometimes one or two years less, and sometimes one or two years higher for cer- tain employments. Laws governing the safety and sanitation of factories exist in more than half the states. As yet, there is no legislation providing for in- surance against disabilities of any sort nor for old-age pensions. The only legal regulations of this nature are based on the common law concerning the em- ployer's liability for accidents occurring to his em- ployees while at work. In many of the states tribu- nals have been created for the voluntary arbitration of industrial disputes, but none of these boards has been of much service. The national Arbitration Law, which applies only to railroads, has been more suc- cessful. Labour unions are given no special privi- leges, except that in some states they are encouraged to incorporate. Strikes are not prohibited, but occa- sionally the sympathetic strike and frequently the boycott have been forbidden by the courts through the process of injunction.

This brief review of the history of labour seems to make a few conclusions tolerably safe. If the labour- ing class of to-day be taken in the widersense which we have given it in discussing the ages before the indus- trial revolution, it is undoubtedly better off than it has ever been since the world began. If we use the phrase in the narrower sense of wage-earners, we can still say that the majority of these are now in a better position, materially, socially, and politically, than the labouring class, whether widely or narrowly interpreted, has ever been before. While it is very probably true that the poorest section of the manual workers of the later Mid- dle Ages was in a happier condition materially than the poorest workers of to-day, it is also true that the latter have the advantage socially and politically. And when we recall the sufferings that the toilers have en- dured through the contumely of the socially powerful classes, and through the injustice of legislation, we will not be inclined to make light of the better and more hopeful social and political position that belongs even to the lowliest among them to-day. A\'hen we remem- ber that about one thousand years ago the majority of