Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/723

LABORDE. des nouveaux jardins de la France et de ses anciens châteaux (1808-15).  LABORDE, Count de (1807-69). A French archæologist and traveler, son of the preceding, born in Paris. He was educated in Germany, traveled extensively in Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, and then entered the diplomatic service. In 1847 he was made conservator of the Louvre Museum of Antiques, and in 1857 director-general of the archives of the Empire. His numerous works include: Histoire de la gravure en manière noire (1839); Voyage en Orient, Asie Mineure et Syrie (1837-62); and Les archives de la France (1867).  LABOR EXCHANGES. (1) A class of institutions founded by the followers of Robert Owen (1832-35), which were designed to bring about the exchange of the products of labor without the intervention of money. Stores were founded which were to buy and sell commodities for 'labor notes,' the amount of time spent in producing a commodity being the basis on which it was valued. No difference was made for different kinds of labor. The plan was soon found to be impracticable. (2) The term is frequently used to designate an ideal employment bureau under public management, which should obviate the common evil that at one and the same time a need for labor exists in some occupations or localities, while many men are unemployed. It is generally recognized that labor, owing to the ignorance and inertia of the laboring classes, does not readily respond to the competitive laws which tend to place productive forces where they are most efficient. The better distribution of labor, it is held, ought to be one of the cares of the State, since under present conditions society loses much productive energy, while bearing an unnecessarily large burden of pauperism and crime.

So-called labor exchanges (bourses de travail) exist in numerous European cities, as well as in some of the American States and in Australasia; but they are not equipped with machinery sufficiently efficient to grapple with the larger problems of the distribution of labor. See.  LABORI,, (1860—). A French lawyer. He was born at Rheims, studied law at Paris, in England, and in Germany. He was called to the bar of the Court of Appeal in 1881, and in 1887-88 was secretary of the Conference of Advocates. He conducted several notable cases, among them the defense of the assassins Duval and Chevallereau, the anarchist Pini, and the dynamiter Vaillant. He was advocate for Gabriel Compayré in his famous libel action against Numa Gilly, and defended (q.v.). On August 14, 1899, during the final trial of Dreyfus at Rennes, a cowardly attempt was made to kill Labori. He was shot in the back while on his way to the court, and was dangerously wounded, but recovered sufficiently to resume his defense of Dreyfus. He has had charge of several literary cases, notably those of La Plume and the Théâtre réaliste. His defense of M. Zola, who was charged with libeling the President and the army, was the occasion for a display of marked ability. In conjunction with others, M. Labori has undertaken the publication of the Répertoire encyclopédique de droit français.  LABOR LEGISLATION. An inclusive term used to denote the body of statutes which in any way affect the labor contract or the relation of the employer and the employed. The first step was taken in the so-called factory acts of Great Britain, designed to improve the sanitary conditions prevailing in workshops and factories and safeguard the health of the laboring population. In the subsequent development many other points in the mutual relations of employer and employed have been the subject of legislative and administrative regulation, so that to-day the mass of statutory enactment on these topics is almost bewildering.

In the United States the problems of an industrial population developed later than in England, and labor legislation is of a later date. With the growth of modern industry, together with the prevalence of universal suffrage, the enactment of such laws did not encounter the same difficulties as in England. There has been no lack of legislation, though it has frequently been assumed that such laws would enforce themselves, and no adequate machinery was provided to insure their execution. In later years factory inspection has been widely introduced, though in many States it is not equipped with adequate machinery for the discharge of the duties imposed upon it. On the other hand, the progress of unionism has made the workingmen alert in the maintenance of their legal rights, and their officials have done much to render labor legislation effective.

Labor legislation is a matter of State concern, and while in America the laws of one State have frequently been enacted bodily by other States, there is still much diversity among the States. In reviewing the labor legislation in force in the United States, we must content ourselves with a general account of the various types of enactments, without attempting to specify where such laws are in force. The most usual subjects of legislation concern the hours of labor, mode of paying wages, and protection of machinery to avoid accidents.

On this subject several States in the South and in the Rocky Mountain district have no legislation whatever, and that of the other States in the same regions is rather meagre, as compared with the comprehensive laws of the North Atlantic States and those of the North-Central division. Rules for the hours of minors and women are general, while there are few restrictions upon those of adult males.

Most of the States prohibit the labor of children in factories, workshops, and mines before a certain age is reached. This is in some States ten years, but twelve and fourteen years are more frequent. Limitations of the hours of labor per day and per week for minors who have not reached the age of eighteen, or sometimes as much as twenty-one years, are frequent. This limit is usually ten hours per day, though in Pennsylvania it may be twelve. The latter State prescribes, however, that the work shall not exceed sixty hours per week, and other States with a ten-hour day provide that the weekly work shall be less than sixty hours (fifty-five in Ohio and New Jersey, fifty-eight in Massachusetts). Some of the States impose further restrictions. For children under sixteen, whose attainments do not reach certain standards, hours must generally be so adjusted as to permit of school