been bound, he may ask the court to discharge him from his obligations to the apprentice.22

The interests of the master are also protected by law. If the apprentice is guilty of gross misbehavior, or neglect of his duty, the master may bring complaint in the superior court to annul the contract.23 The costs of such a suit must be paid by the parents or guardian of the minor, or by the apprentice after he attains his majority. The master may also recover a fine of not more than $100 from any one who is guilty of enticing or persuading the apprentice to run away, or who harbors or conceals him, knowing him to be a runaway.24

Very little use appears to have been made of the state laws for the regulation of apprenticeship. Apparently the early labor organizations were not even aware of the existence of a law permitting the binding of the minor for a definite period. In 1867, at a meeting of the Industrial League, we find the members complaining of the lack of an apprentice law. 25 The carpenters discussed the subject in 1870, and, after denying any restrictive rules in their organization, declared that the boys would stay with their masters only one or two years; then, when they were just beginning to be of some assistance, they became impatient of control and left.26

That some of the trade-unions adopted rules restricting the number of apprentices at an early date is evident from the frequent newspaper criticism of the results of such a policy.27 Such rules must, at first, have been adopted more because they were accepted traditions of the organization brought from older communities, than because there was any immediate danger of

22 Civil Code, Sec. 276.

23 Ibid., Sec. 274.

24 Ibid., Sec. 275.

25 We should also have a law to regulate the apprenticing of our young men. At present the law scarcely provides for such an emergency. There are over two thousand young boys running at large in this city and county, who otherwise would be employed, if there were proper laws in existence to regulate the apprentice system. Alta, June 2, 1867. 26 Bulletin, January 15, 1870.

27 The carpenters who asserted in 1873 that their roll had contained 3,000 names, declared that they had never made a rule restricting the number of apprentices, but the other building trades and the iron trades seem to have had such regulations. Bulletin, January 13, 15, 1870; October 3, 1871; January 15, 22, 1873.

overcrowding in the various trades. In the trade-unions the necessary training is generally secured by the enforcement of the requirement of a certain number of years of experience before admission to the rank of a journeyman, and to membership in the union, rather than by indentures binding the apprentice to a particular master. Thus minors are allowed the same freedom of contract claimed by the mature workman.

As the trade-unions gained in strength, there were frequent disputes over this question of their right to restrict the number of apprentices.28 The Labor Commissioner undertook an investigation of the subject in 1888. He found that fourteen of the forty-eight organizations examined had passed rules regulating apprenticeship and restricting the number allowed.20 While the evils due to the crowding out of the mature workers by the cheap boy and girl help are fully recognized, the Commissioner deplores the fact that American boys are being deprived of the opportunity to learn good trades, and gives statistics showing that, of the artisans registered as voters in San Francisco, over forty-seven per cent. were foreign-born.30

31

Both in his chapter on the decay of apprenticeship and in the report of his investigation of the printers of San Francisco and Oakland,32 Commissioner Tobin points out the need of apprentice laws that shall compel the minor to stay with his trade until it is thoroughly learned, and also oblige the master to give more attention to the systematic instruction, rather than mere exploitation of the young people in his employ.

The printers were particularly concerned about this tendency to substitute minors for adult workers, and to confine the

28 We have in our times trades assemblies and unions, the members of which are striving to obtain control over the number of apprentices to be admitted to learn the trades in various workshops. This has been and will continue to be a fruitful source of difference between employers and employees, and has led to strikes more than once." (First Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (1883-4), p. 13.)

29 The trades having such regulations were: bricklayers, bag and satchel makers, calkers, cigar-makers, cigar-packers, coopers, glass blowers, hatters, iron molders, pattern makers, stone cutters, tailors, printers, and wood carvers. Third Biennial Report, Bureau of Labor Statistics, pp. 216-218.

30 Native-born artisans, 6,644; foreign-born, 5,960. (Ibid., p. 211.) 31 Ibid., pp. 193 ff.

32 Ibid., pp. 349-353.

instruction of the young people to a limited field where their services would yield the greatest profits. Abuses of this kind gave rise to several strikes and vigorously conducted boycotts, which prompted the special investigation of the Labor Commissioner, and also led the printers to take the initiative in the efforts to pass a stronger apprentice law.33

The proposed law, which had the support of the Labor Commissioner and was endorsed by the Federated Trades Council, undertook to provide heavier penalties for the failure to fulfill the obligations of both apprentice and master. The minor was to serve at his trade for not less than three or more than five years. If he left his employer without good and sufficient cause, he could be arrested and punished by a fine of not less than three hundred dollars, and by the forfeiture of back pay and all other claims against his master. If the employer failed to discharge his agreement "to teach, or cause to be carefully and skillfully taught to his or their apprentice, every branch of his or their business to which said apprentice may be indentured, ''34 he became subject to the penalties of the act.35 As the Legislature failed to pass the bill, this measure is interesting chiefly as an indication of what the labor organizations wanted.

7734

Not only the trade-unions, but also the employers have attempted to frame apprentice regulations which would meet their needs more fully than those of the statutes. Some of these contracts have been quite unfair to the apprentices, as they permitted a discharge with forfeiture of back pay or other bonus whenever the master saw fit, and there were no guarantees of proper instruction. Among some of the provisions quoted from these agreements by the Labor Commissioner were the following: "I am to make myself useful in any department whenever and wherever directed, etc." "I am to be discharged by said. whenever in their judgment they deem me incapable of performing the work as they desire."36 A firm employ33 Union Printer, November, 1888; February, 1889; March, 1889. 34 The bill is published in the Coast Seamen's Journal of January 30, 1889.

35 A fine not exceeding $500 or less than $100, to be paid to the apprentice.

36 Third Biennial Report, Bureau of Labor Statistics (1887-1888), p.

ing fifteen to twenty apprentices required them to sign a contract agreeing to work for a term of years, and allowing the withholding of ten per cent. of the wages to insure the fulfillment of this agreement. At the same time the master claimed the right to break the contract and confiscate the sum reserved from the wages, if the apprentice failed, neglected, or refused to conform to the rules and regulations, or to perform diligently all lawful work required of him.37

The Labor Commissioner gave the apprentice regulations of the Union Iron Works as typical of the better class of agreements. The fact that hundreds of San Francisco mechanics have learned their trades under such contracts gives its terms particular interest.38

37The said parties of the second part hereby agree to instruct the party of the third part in the business of through their employees and not individually or personally; and reserve the right to discharge said from their employment, under this indenture, and avoid this instrument at any time during said term, on account of any of the causes hereinafter specified; in which case the sum reserved from said wages, as hereinafter specified, shall be forfeited.

"It is further stipulated and agreed, that the wages as hereinbefore expressed are so fixed upon the express condition and consideration that the said shall remain and continue in said service and employment for and during the term of years next ensuing from the date hereof; and it is stipulated and agreed that said party of the second part shall reserve and keep back from and out of the monthly wages to be paid, .. the sum of ten per cent. thereof." Ibid., p. 198.

38Boys will be received either as ordinary apprentices to serve four years in one department, or as engineer apprentices, to serve six years— two years on machines, one year in the pattern shop, one year erecting, and two years in the drafting room.

Ordinary apprentices will be received in the following departments: As machinists, including erecting; as pattern makers; as blacksmiths; as molders; and as boiler and plate workers.

No boy will be received under sixteen years or over eighteen years in the machine, pattern maker, blacksmith, or molder departments; nor under fifteen or over seventeen years of age in the boiler and plate works, including shipwork.

Boys in all departments will be taken on thirty days' trial, in order to satisfy themselves that they have made a proper choice, after which they will be required to register themselves as regular apprentices, by their parents or guardians in their behalf, and by themselves in their own behalf, all of which signatures will be considered as evidence that all the conditions herein named are understood and accepted by all parties interested.

For machinist and pattern maker apprentices the parent or guardian will be required to deposit $50 with the company, as a guarantee of good behavior by the boy. The company will also deposit $50 to the credit of the boy, said $100 to be given to the boy on the completion of his apprenticeship.

For molders, blacksmiths, and plate workers, the company will make

LAWS REGULATING THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH MINORS MAY BE EMPLOYED.

Notwithstanding the repeated efforts to secure adequate apprentice laws, this relationship has not been the typical or extensively accepted method by which the young people of California have entered upon their industrial careers. The census of 1870 shows 2,214 young people between 10 and 15 years of age engaged in gainful occupations in California; of this number only 393 were apprenticed. It is evident from the reports of the Labor Commissioner, and comments in the labor papers, that the apprenticing of minors with the full acceptation of the relationship has not been extensively practiced since that date. Like the older workers, the child has freely contracted with one employer or another, and accepted such terms as the conditions of the labor market made possible.

If "collective bargaining" is necessary to enable the adult worker to sell his labor advantageously, some means of protecting the children from the cupidity of their employers is even more indispensable. It is greatly to the credit of the tradeunionists that the needs of the children have never been forgotten. Demands for the thorough education and protection of the young have always received particular emphasis in the platforms and declarations of principles of the California labor movement.

The eight-hour movement was the first organized effort to secure better conditions of labor through legislation. It culminated in the law of 1868, which placed the first limitation on

the deposit of $50 to the credit of the boy, to be paid to him on the completion of his apprenticeship.

Ordinary apprentices' wages shall be: First year, $4 per week; second year, $5 per week; third year, $6 per week; fourth year, $8 per week; three hundred full days must be worked to complete any one year.

Engineer apprentices will be received between the ages of fifteen and seventeen years, for a term of six years as already set forth. The parent or guardian will be required to deposit $100 as a guarantee of good faith. The company will also deposit $100 to the credit of said boy. Said $200 to be paid to the boy on the completion of his apprenticeship.

Engineer apprentices' wages shall be: First year, $4 per week; second year, $5 per week; third year, $6 per week; fourth year, $7 per week; fifth year, $8 per week; sixth year, $9 per week; three hundred full days must be worked to complete any one year." (Third Biennial Report, Bureau of Labor Statistics (1887-1888), p. 198.)