and Congress this year enlarged the scope of the eight-hour and the government employees' accident compensation measures. Of more than ordinary significance, too, are the prohibition of poisonous phosphorus matches through the use of the taxing power, and the authorization of an industrial relations commission.

The recent adoption of new constitutions in Arizona and New Mexico, and of progressive constitutional amendments in Ohio, laid broad foundations for protective legislation in those states. The Arizona constitution, for example, called upon the legislature to pass a compulsory compensation act, while the Ohio constitution expressly provides that laws "fixing and regulating the hours of labor, establishing a minimum wage, and providing for the comfort, health and safety and general welfare of all employees" may be enacted and that "no other provision of the constitution shall impair or limit this power".

This, our fourth annual Review of Labor Legislation, supplements earlier publications, and, by bringing down to date the record of labor legislation in the United States, furnishes a basis for further constructive work.

For valued cooperation in the preparation of the section relating to workmen's compensation laws we are indebted to Prof. Ernst Freund, of the Chicago University Law School, and for the preparation of the tabular analysis on that subject to P. Tecumseh Sherman, Esq., of New York. To Dr. Helen L. Sumner is due the main credit for the long painstaking analysis of the remaining topics.

JOHN B. ANDREWS, Secretary,

American Association for Labor Legislation.

LABOR LEGISLATION OF 1912

I. ANALYSIS BY SUBJECTS AND BY STATES

The labor laws enacted by the thirteen states which held regular legislative sessions in 1912, and by the seven states which held special sessions during the year, are indexed below in alphabetical order by subjects and by states, with chapter references to the session laws of each state. The new federal laws, and the laws enacted by the two states (California and Texas) which held special sessions late in 1911, are also included. Since the Vermont legislature does not convene until October, the record of its session could not be included here.

ACCIDENTS AND DISEASES

A. REPORTING.

The movement for compulsory, uniform reports of industrial accidents and diseases, as a basis for investigation, for the classification of dangerous trades, and for preventive legislation, made distinct progress during the year.

a. ACCIDENTS.

Seven states enacted new or strengthened old laws relating to the. reporting of accidents. In Massachusetts and New Jersey, laws passed in 1912 require all employers to report serious accidents to employees while at work, and in California all employers except those engaged in agricultural and similar pursuits and employers of domestic labor must report such accidents. In Rhode Island public utilities must report serious accidents, whether to employees or to patrons; in Virginia coal mine accidents must be reported; in Arizona reports are required of mine accidents and of accidents on public utilities; and in New Mexico fatal accidents in mines must be reported at once by telegraph or telephone.

Arizona.-Public service corporations are required to file with the corporation commission reports of whatever kinds or classes of accidents the commission may designate. These reports are not

admissible as evidence in actions for damages, but the commission must investigate the causes of all accidents. Penalty for a corporation, from $100 to $5,000, and for an officer, agent or employee, not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, for each offense. (C. 90, secs. 44, 76, 77. In effect, May 28, 1912). The state mine inspector must be notified immediately, in the quickest possible manner, of loss of life or serious accident in a mine, and the facts must be reported to him in writing. Penalty, from $50 to $300, or imprisonment for from thirty days to one year, or both. (C. 33, secs. 13 and 39. In effect, May 13, 1912).

California.-All accidents which arise out of or in the course of employment and which result in death or in disability lasting a week or more must be reported in writing by the employer, within fifteen days after their occurrence, to the industrial accident board. Employers in farming, dairying, agricultural and horticultural pursuits, poultry raising, and domestic service are excepted. The report must contain the name of the employer, the place and nature of the employment, the name, address, age, nationality, sex and occupation of the injured person, the length of time he had worked at the particular occupation, the date and hour of the accident, the hour when he began work on that date, the nature and cause of the injury, and the rate of wages. Employers must also keep records of all such accidents and these records must be open to the inspection of the industrial accident board. But no statement contained in a report is admissible as evidence in a legal action arising out of the injury. A supplementary report, containing complete statements as to payments made for medical or other care, claims for damages, and any compromise or settlement of such claims, must be sent in upon the termination of the disability or sixty days after the accident, if the disability extends longer than that period. And if any payment in settlement of a claim for damages is made thereafter it must be reported to the industrial accident board. Physicians who attend persons who are suffering from industrial accidents must also make reports, within ten days after their first attendance and also on the termination of the disability or of their attendance, giving specified information in regard to their patients' physical condition. Furthermore, employers' liability insurance companies must report monthly to the industrial accident board all injuries to employees reported to them, claims for damages filed and settlements or compromises made.

Employers, physicians, and insurance companies, moreover, must furnish whatever further information the industrial accident board may require in order to obtain a complete history of every injury and the damages or compensation paid. Penalty, from $10 to $100, or imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both. (C. 53. In effect, March 10, 1912). The law of 1911 requiring reports of accidents on railroads is extended to cover accidents on all public utilities. These reports must be made to the railroad commission, which may investigate the causes of all accidents which have resulted in loss of life or injury to person or property. Neither accident reports nor orders or recommendations of the commission relating to accidents are admissible as evidence in actions for damages. (C. 14, sec. 44. In effect, February 21, 1912).

Massachusetts. All employers, instead of merely those engaged in manufacturing and mercantile businesses, must report accidents within ninety-six hours, instead of "forthwith", to the chief of the district police (now to the board of labor and industries). As under the previous law, the accidents to be reported are those which occur while the employee is at work and which result in death or in such bodily injury as to prevent the employee from returning to work within four days. Employers must also keep records, open to inspection by the factory inspectors, of all such accidents. It is further provided that no statements in these reports shall be admissible in an action arising out of the accident. The penalty, which applies not only to failure to make the report, but to failure to keep the record, is raised from a maximum of $20 to a maximum of $25 and a minimum of $10 for each offense. (C. 409. In effect, May 6, 1912).

New Jersey. In lieu of the reports required by the act of 1911 to be made to the employers' liability commission, employers must notify the commissioner of labor in writing of all accidents "in any employment of labor" by reason of which an employee is unable to resume work within two weeks. The notification must contain the time, place, and cause of the accident, the extent of injuries, and any other facts which the commissioner may require. If the injury does not result in death, the report must be filed within four weeks after the accident, and if it results in death, within two weeks. thereafter. Casualty insurance companies must furnish the com

missioner with similar reports of the same class of accidents within four weeks after they have been notified of the injury, or within two weeks after they have been notified of the death of an employee insured by them. These reports may not be made public and may not be opened to inspection unless, in the opinion of the commissioner of labor, the public interest requires, but they are at the service of the employers' liability commission. They may not be used as evidence against an employer in any action for damages. Penalty, $50 for each separate offense. (C. 156. In effect, March 26, 1912). New Mexico.-Fatal accidents in mines must be reported at once by telegraph or telephone, and within ten days a full and complete report must be made in writing to the state inspector of mines. Complete records, to which the inspector has access, must be kept at mines of all accidents, whether or not they were fatal. (C. 80. In effect, September 6, 1912).

Rhode Island. Every public utility must notify the public utilities commission of all accidents attended with loss of human life or serious injury, and the commission may investigate such accidents. (C. 795, sec. 49. In effect, April 17, 1912).

Virginia. The state mine inspector must be notified forthwith of any explosion or other accident in a coal mine which has resulted in loss of life or serious personal injury. Penalty, from $10 to $500, and imprisonment for from ten to ninety days. (C. 178, sec. 17. In effect, June 13, 1912).

b. DISEASES.

Two new states, Maryland and New Jersey, are added to the list of six states which last year required physicians to report cases of certain occupational diseases. It is interesting to note, moreover, that the New York Department of Labor has requested physicians, as it is empowered to do under the 1911 law, to report all occupational diseases, and that the Maryland law of 1912, though enumerating the same diseases that must be reported in other states, specifically provides that physicians must report all diseases contracted as the result of employment.

Maryland.-Physicians are required to report to the state board of health all cases of industrial poisoning from lead, phosphorus, arsenic or mercury, or their compounds, or of anthrax, compressedair illness, "or any other ailment or disease contracted as a result