LEGISLATION IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES Since 1905, laws on one day of rest in seven have been enacted or decrees issued by government ministers in Argentine Republic, Austria, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Belgium, British India, Canada, Cape of Good Hope, Chili, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Roumania, Spain and Switzerland, putting into more or less general application the principle of weekly periods of rest. John A. Fitch, The Survey, April 17, 1909, p. 134. Most of these laws make Sunday the general rest day, but when for reasons specified in the laws, work must go on during Sunday, a period of rest, usually twenty-four hours, is required on some other day in the week. In France, Italy, and Canada, these laws are made to include practically every industry. In the other countries they are limited somewhat, to industries or to territorial districts. RESOLUTIONS FAVORING ONE DAY OF REST IN SEVEN Proceedings, Fifth Annual Meeting, American Association for Labor Legislation (1911). American Labor Legislation Review, Vol. II., No. 1, pp. 155-156. Whereas the number of industries that are kept in continuous operation and the number of wage-earners who are regularly employed every day in the week in such industries have greatly increased in recent years; Whereas the so-called Sunday Laws enacted in the first instance to protect the Sabbath from desecration have not only, in the turmoil and rush of modern industrial conditions, failed to do that, but have also signally failed in protecting men from the debasing effects of continuous seven-day toil; Whereas regular employment for eight hours or more a day on all seven days of the week tends to undermine the health, dwarf the minds and debase the morals of those engaged in it, by depriving them of the opportunity for reasonable rest, relaxation and enjoyment with family and friends, which is craved by every normal person; and Whereas several large companies have found it practicable to adopt a system allowing one day's rest in seven to all employees in continuous processes; Therefore be it Resolved, That this Association favors, and pledges itself to support legislation that will serve to protect industrial workers from being required or permitted to work regularly seven days in any week, and be it further Resolved, That the president of this Association be directed to appoint a committee of five or more persons to draft a bill designed to accomplish this object, and that an earnest effort be made to secure the enactment of this bill into law in the several states. In accordance with this resolution the following committee was appointed: Committee on One Day of Rest in Seven: Mr. John Fitch, Rev. Charles Macfarland, Mr. Charles M. Cabot, Mr. Louis Brandeis, Professor Ernst Freund, Mr. William D. Mahon. Social Standards for Industry: A Platform. National Conference of Charities and Corrections (Cleveland, 1912), p. 13. Six-day week.-The work period limited to six days in each week; and a period of rest of forty consecutive hours in each week. Letter to Presidents of all Constituent Companies. Elbridge H. Gary, president U. S. Steel Corporation (March 18, 1910). I emphasize the fact that there should be at least twenty-four continuous hours' interval during each week in the production of ingots. Massachusetts, Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor (1898), p. 95. While it is recognized that certain work must be done on Sunday, and that under modern conceptions of life other work is justified by custom, which in effect has the force of necessity, it is believed that at least one day's rest in every seven, if not upon Sunday then upon some other day, belongs to the workingman, and that industries and employment should be organized upon this basis. Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America: The Church and Modern Industry, Report and Resolutions, pp. 17-18; The Church's Appeal in Behalf of Labor; Report of Special Committee Concerning the Industrial Situation at South Bethlehem, Pa., N. Y., 1910, p. 15. We deem it the duty of all Christian people to concern themselves directly with certain practical industrial problems. To us it seems that the churches must stand for a release from employment one day in seven. The Commission on the Church and Social Service of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America . . . urges upon all Christian churches officially, through their pulpits, their brotherhoods, and various other organizations, to emphasize and bring home to their members . . . that it is the right of every man to have one day out of the seven for rest and recreation of body, soul and mind, and that it is the obligation of every Christian employer so to arrange his business that each of the employees may have one day holiday in seven, without diminution in wages. The normal holiday is the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's Day, but where the conditions of industry or service require continuance of work seven days and the consequent employment of some part of the employees on the Lord's Day, then those so employed are entitled to receive a holiday on some other day in the week. . . . A twelve-hour day and a seven-day week are alike a disgrace to civilization. . . . There should be laws requiring three shifts in all industries operat ing twenty-four hours a day, and there should be laws requiring one day of rest in seven for all workmen in seven-day industries. Methodist Federation for Social Service. Reduction [of hours] to the lowest practical point. One day rest in seven. Board of Home Missions, Presbyterian Church. We hold that the church ought to declare for the release of every worker from work one day in seven, . . . for such ordering of the hours and requirements of labor as to make them compatible with healthy physical, mental and moral life. Pamphlet of the Federation of Churches and Christian Organizations in New York City, Law Enactment and Law Enforcement Bureau, Hon. George B. Agnew, Chairman (1912), p. 6. Since January, 1911, the Federation's Law Enactment and Law Enforcement Committee has opposed or advocated, at Albany, many measures affecting the housing, health, educational, economic, recreational, neighborhood and civic conditions of the city, and affecting children, immigrants and other special groups. . . . It has opposed, for example, legislation tending to break down the weekly rest day, and advocated a law which would secure twenty-four consecutive hours' rest, weekly, to every worker. . . . Concerning the propriety of federative effort to free the laborers of New York from the slavery of seven-day toil per week for six-day wages there should be no question. American Federation of Labor, Industrial Platform. Proceedings of the Washington State Federation of Labor, 1911, p. 90. Whereas a very large percentage of the toilers of this state are compelled to labor seven days a week by reason of the fact that their vocations are exempt from the provisions of the Sunday closing act; and Whereas we deem it absolutely essential for the best interest of this commonwealth that no person should be compelled to labor more than six days in one week; and Whereas we deem it but just and humane that at least one day a week should be conceded to all persons; Therefore be it Resolved, That this federation convention use its best influence to bring about the enactment of a law covering this much-needed reform. Massachusetts, Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor (1898), p. 34. The large organizations representing steam-railway employees have at various times in the past stated their position by resolutions favoring such an arrangement of their work as should prevent Sunday work or provide one day's rest in every seven. Among these are the Telegraphers (25,000; Toronto, 1893), Trainmen (31,000; Boston, 1893), Locomotive Engineers (35,000; Atlanta, 1892); and the National Order of Railway Conductors (22,000; Toledo, 1893). Progressive Party, National Platform (1912). We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in state and nation for: One day's rest in seven for all wage workers. Socialist Party, National Platform (1912). The conservation of human resources, particularly of the lives and wellbeing of the workers and their families: By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than a day and a half in each week. IN A NUTSHELL 1. Seven-day labor is bad for the worker, and it is a suicidal policy for the state. 2. Most seven-day labor is unnecessary. 3. Other countries have legislated against it. 4. "Sunday laws", because unscientific and impractical, have failed. 5. One day of rest in seven is the only effective method of preventing seven-day labor. 6. It is admitted by employers to be "reasonable and fair." 7. Therefore, a law requiring one day of rest in seven, no matter how continuous the industry, is the real remedy. References: Among the most important references on the subject of one day of rest in seven that are readily available are: Report on Conditions of Employment in the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, United States Bureau of Labor (Washington, D. C., 1912); Report on Strike at the Bethlehem Steel Works, United States Bureau of Labor (Washington, D. C., 1910); Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Sta tistics of Labor (Boston, 1899); Massachusetts House Document No. 1160 (Boston, 1907); Twelfth Biennial Report of the Minnesota Bureau of Labor (Minneapolis, 1910); New York State Department of Labor, Bulletins Nos. 45 and 49 (Albany, September, 1910, and December, 1911); Miss Josephine Goldmark's Fatigue and Efficiency (Charities Publication Committee, New York, 1912); and Mr. John A. Fitch's The Steel Workers; The Pittsburgh Survey (Charities Publication Committee, New York, 1911). For foreign legislation on the subject, see the Bulletin of the International Labor Office, English edition, Vol. I, pp. 185, 387, 450; Vol. II, p. 288; Vol. III, pp. 101, 113, 124; distributed by the American Association for Labor Legislation. PROTECTION FROM LEAD POISONING Immediate Legislative Program: Secure sanitary regulations for the protection of workers exposed to the dangers of lead poisoning. Lead is a poison. THE MENACE OF LEAD It has been common There is nothing new in this statement. knowledge for over two thousand years. Hippocrates and Dioscorides wrote concerning it. Pliny deplored the "slaves' disease" of those compelled to make basic carbonate for paint. But we of to-day cannot, like them, dismiss lead with one or two indictments of its danger. We must recognize the fact that it is the most important of industrial poisons. We must realize that it is employed in some essential form in nearly one hundred and fifty trades, and that consequently thousands of workers are daily exposed to its influence and thereby run the risk, not only of disability, but even of death. POISONING FROM LEAD FUMES From these facts there is no escape. As we survey the field of American labor the menace of lead meets us on every hand. Its poisonous fumes pursue, not only the men in our lead and zinc smelters, but also the brass molders, the workers in typographical trades, and the makers of pipes, wire, sheet metal, solder, shot, and all the innumerable objects formed from metallic lead. The hospital records of fatal cases from this fume poisoning are not pleasant reading. R- H—, who died at the age of 40 as a result of carrying molten lead from the furnace to the molds, "went quick". W—— R—, who died at the age of 18 from exposure in a factory making tin cans and pails, "graduated from the public schools a big, strong boy, weighing one hundred and sixty-five pounds." J H— B—, who died at the age of 49 from acute |