For labor on shares, croppers, etc., in agricultural labor, see Chapter VI.

SEC. 7. BONDS AND OTHER GUARANTEES.-New Mexico has a statute prohibiting the requirement of bonds from employees by any foreign guarantee company as an indemnity to the employer, unless such guarantee company has a designated agent within the territory, but this matter belongs more properly to the law of foreign corporations, which are usually prohibited from doing business in other States than the one where they are organized, except upon complying with certain regulations.

The States are rapidly adopting statutes forbiding the requirement by the employer as a condition of employment that the employee shall not join a labor union. (See Chapter IX, below.)

There are frequently statutes requiring contractors of public works, etc., to give bonds for the payment of labor employed by them1 (Mass. 16, 64; N. Y. R. S. 7th ed., p. 699; Ind. 5592; Mich. 8411 a; Minn. 1895, 354; Kans. 4747-8; Nebr. 3683; Mo. 1895, p. 240; Wash. 1897, 44; N. Dak. Civ. C. 4802).

SEC. 8. RELIEF SOCIETIES, CHARITABLE FUNDS, ETC.-A few States have adopted statutes prohibiting indirectly the establishment by railroads or other employers of labor of relief or benefit funds to which the

of standard manufacture for the weighing of all coal which shall be hoisted or delivered from such mines.

SEC. 21. All coal so delivered from such mines shall be carefully weighed upon the scales as above provided, and a correct record shall be kept of the weight of each miner's car, which record shall be kept open at all reasonable hours for the inspection of all miners or others pecuniarily interested in the product of such mine. The person designated and authorized to weigh the coal and keep such record shall * * * make and subscribe to an oath * * * that he will accurately weigh and carefully keep a true record of all coal delivered from such mine. * * *

SEC. 22. It shall be lawful for the miners employed in any coal mine in this State to furnish a check weighman at their own expense, whose duty it shall be to balance the scales and see that the coal is properly weighed, and that a correct account of the same is kept, and for this purpose he shall have access at all times to the beam box of said scales, and be afforded facilities for the discharge of his duties while the weighing is being performed. *

* *

SEC. 23. Any person, company or firm having or using any scale or scales for the purpose of weighing the output of coal at mines, so arranged or constructed that fraudulent weighing may be done thereby, or who shall knowingly resort to or employ any means whatsoever, by reason of which such coal is not correctly weighed or reported in accordance with the provisions of this act; or any weighman or check weighman who shall fraudulently weigh or record the weights of such coal, or connive at or consent to such fraudulent weighing and recording, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction, for each such offense, be punished by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars ($200) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed sixty (60) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment;

*

* *

SEC. 24. Any person, owner or agent operating a coal mine in this State who shall fail to comply with the provisions of this act, or who shall obstruct or hinder the carrying out of its requirements, shall be fined for the first offense not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200); for the second offense not less than two hundred ($200) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), and for a third offense not less than five hundred ($500), or be imprisoned in the county jail not less than six months nor more than one year: Provided, That the provisions of this act shall apply only to coal mines whose product is shipped by rail or water. 'Tex. Const., Article 16.-Protection of wages of laborers on public works.-Sec. 35. The legislature shall at its first session, pass laws to protect laborers on public buildings, streets, roads, railroads, canals and other similar public works, against the failure of contractors and subcontractors to pay their current wages when due, and to make the corporation, company or individual for whose benefit the work is done, responsible for their ultimate payment.

employee is compelled to contribute, or his contribution made a condition or preliminary of employment; but the federal courts have held such a statute, in Pennsylvania, unconstitutional.1

2

Compulsory insurance in a particular company is forbidden in Michigan, but the same statute allows voluntary agreements for benefit funds, and the employer may deduct sums due for such from the employee's wages. In Iowa, no contract of insurance, relief, benefit or indemnity in case of injury or death entered into prior thereto, between the person so injured and the corporation or any other person or association acting for it, nor the acceptance of any such insurance, etc., by the person injured or his wife, etc., after the injury, constitutes any bar or defence to an action. (See Art. G, § 1.)

3

But Massachusetts, on the other hand, has a statute expressly permitting the establishment of relief societies for the employees of railroads, street railway companies and steamboat companies. In Indiana

1N. J., 1891, 212; Mich., 1893, 192; Ohio, 1890, p. 149, 3; Md., 1890, 443. 2 Mich., 1895, 209 (see below).

Iowa, 1898, 49.

* Mass. 1882, 244; 1886, 125; 1890, 181.

The Ohio law is as follows (1890, p. 149, § 1):

It shall be unlawful for any railroad or railway corporation or company owning and operating, or operating * * * a railroad in whole or in part in this State, to adopt or promulgate any rule or regulation for the government of its servants or employees, or make or enter into any contract or agreement with any person engaged in or about to engage in its service, in which, or by the terms of which, such employee in any manner, directly or indirectly, promises or agrees to hold such corporation or company harmless, on account of any injury he may receive by reason of any accident to, breakage, defect or insufficiency in the cars or machinery and attachments thereto belonging, upon any cars so owned and operated, or being run and operated by such corporation, or company being defective, and any such rule, regulation, contract or agreement shall be of no effect. It shall be unlawful for any corporation to compel or require directly or indirectly an employee to join any company association whatsoever, or to withhold any part of an employee's wages or his salary for the payment of dues or assessments in any society or organization whatsoever, or demand or require either as a condition precedent to securing employment or being employed, and said railroad or railway company shall not discharge any employee because he refuses or neglects to become a member of any society or organization. And if any employee is discharged he may, at any time within ten days after receiving a notice of his discharge, demand the reason of said discharge, and said railway or railroad company thereupon shall furnish said reason to said discharged employee in writing. And no railroad company, insurance society or association, or other person shall demand, accept, require, or enter into any contract, agreement, stipulation with any person about to enter, or in the employ of any railroad company whereby such person stipulates or agrees to surrender or waive any right to damages against any railroad company, thereafter arising for personal injury or death, or whereby he agrees to surrender or waive in case he asserts the same, any other right whatsoever, and all such stipulations and agreements shall be void, and every corporation, association or person violating or aiding or abetting in the violation of this section shall for each offense forfeit and pay to the person wronged or deprived of his rights hereunder the sum not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) to be recovered in a civil action.

The Iowa statute (1898, 49, § 1):

Section number two thousand and seventy-one (2071) of the Code [shall] be amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

"Nor shall any contract of insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity in case of injury or death, entered into prior to the injury, between the person so injured and such corporation, or any other person or association acting for such corporation, nor shall the acceptance of any such insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity by the person injured, his widow, heirs, or legal representatives after the injury, from such corporation, person, or association, constitute any bar or defense to any cause of action brought under the provisions of this section, but nothing contained herein shall be 249A- -5

(2300) it is unlawful for any railway company to exact from its

construed to prevent or invalidate any settlement for damages between the parties subsequent to injuries received."

Michigan (1895, 209):

SEC. 1. It shall hereafter be unlawful for any company or corporation doing business in this State or for any or the officers and agents of any such company or corporation, to require any of the employees of such company or corporation to take out or obtain a life, accident or life and accident policy in favor of such employee or other person in any particular or designated life, accident or life and accident company or association.

SEC. 2. All contracts hereinafter made between any such company or corporation and any employee of said company or corporation requiring or stipulating that the employee so contracting shall procure, obtain or have a policy of insurance in any particular or designated company or association shall be void: Provided, That nothing in the foregoing provisions of this act is intended to prohibit, or shall be construed as prohibiting the employers of labor and the persons employed from voluntarily making agreements with each other for contributions of money by the latter to any fund to be accumulated in their behalf and for their benefit in common with others, and in such case from further agreeing that the employer may deduct from their wages, from time to time, the sums due from them under such agreement.

SEC. 3. The violation of any of the provisions of this act is hereby made a misdemeanor, and any company or corporation violating any of the provisions of this act shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars for each and every offense, and any shareholder, officer or agent of any company or corporation violating the provisions of this act shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than sixty days, or by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars. The Massachusetts law (1882, 244):

SECTION 1. Seven or more persons within this Commonwealth, employees of any railroad or steamboat corporation existing under the laws of this Commonwealth, who associate themselves together by such an agreement in writing as is described in section three of chapter one hundred and fifteen of the public statutes, with the intention of forming a corporation for the purpose of receiving, managing and applying such property and funds as it may receive by contribution, assessment or otherwise, for the improvement and benefit of its members and for the relief of its members and their families in case of sickness, injury, inability to labor or other cases of need, and upon complying with the provisions of section four of said chapter shall be and remain a corporation with all the rights, powers, privileges and immunities, and subject to all the duties, liabilities and restrictions of corporations organized under said chapter.

SEC. 2. The by-laws of any such corporation shall be approved by the board of railroad commissioners and shall prescribe the manner in which and the officers and agents by whom the purpose of its incorporation may be carried out, and also the manner in which its property may be invested. Such corporation shall make to the board of railroad commissioners annually and as often as required by said board such statements of its membership and financial transactions with other information relating thereto as the said board may deem necessary to a proper exhibit of its business and standing.

SEC. 3. The board of railroad commissioners may verify such statement by an examination of the books and papers of the corporation; and whoever having charge or custody of such books and papers neglects to comply with the provisions of this section and the preceding section shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.

[The following additional legislation upon the above subject was enacted in chapter 125, acts of 1886.]

SECTION 1. Any railroad corporation operating a railroad or portion of a railroad in this Commonwealth may by vote of its directors associate itself with seven or more of its employees in forming a relief society under the provisions of chapter two hundred and forty-four of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-two, or may upon the invitation of any society formed under said act become a member thereof, and may from time to time aid such society by contributions to its funds or otherwise. The by-laws of such society shall provide for the manner in which the railroad corporation shall vote and be represented in said society.

SEC. 2. The funds of such relief society shall not be liable to attachment under trustee process, execution or any other process legal or equitable because of any debt or liability of the railroad corporation or of any member of the society.

employees, without their written consent in each instance, any portion of their wages for the maintenance of any hospital, reading room, library, gymnasium, or restaurant.

SEC. 9. COMPANY PHYSICIANS.-In Tennessee there is a law prohibiting employers from dictating to or in any manner interfering with an employee or laborer in his right to select his own physician, or from retaining or withholding any portion of wages due for paying a company doctor" (Tenn., 1889, 259).

66

ARTICLE D. REGULATION OF THE GENERAL LABOR CONTRACT AS TO HEALTH, MORAL CONDITIONS,

ETC.

There is no legislation of this sort in the United States except as to labor employed in factories and sweatshops, for which see Chapter IV, below.

ARTICLE E. AS TO ENFORCEMENT OF THE LABOR CONTRACT BY INJUNCTION OR OTHERWISE.

* * *

SEC. 1. DIRECT ENFORCEMENT.-A contract to render personal service can never be specifically enforced, by the time-honored principles of equity. Statutes forbidding the enforcement of such contracts directly or indirectly, by injunction, are therefore unnecessary. But California and Montana have adopted an express statute, as follows: "A contract to render personal service, other than a contract of apprenticeship, can not be enforced against the employee beyond the term of two years from the commencement of service under it; but if the employee voluntarily continues his service under it beyond that time, the contract may be referred to as affording a presumptive measure of the compensation" (Cal. Civ. C., 1980; Mont. Civ. C., 2675). It would appear from the above that the contract may be enforced specifically during the two years.

In view of the national abuse of chancery powers by injunctions carelessly rendered by judges who go too far in the direction of enjoining laborers from quitting work, Kansas has adopted the following statute (1897, Ch. 106):

1. That contempts of court are divided into two classes, direct and indirect, and shall be proceeded against only as hereinafter prescribed.

2. That contempts committed during the sitting of the court or of a judge at chambers, in its or his presence are direct contempts. All other are indirect contempts. 3. That a direct contempt may be punished summarily without written accusation against the person arraigned, but if the court shall adjudge him guilty thereof a judgment shall be entered of record in which shall be specified the conduct constituting such contempt, with a statement of whatever defence or extenuation the accused offered thereto and the sentence of the court theroon.

4. That upon the return of an officer on process or an affidavit duly filed, showing any person guilty of indirect contempt, a writ of attachment or other lawful process may issue and such person be arrested and brought before the court; and thereupon a written accusation setting forth succinctly and clearly the facts alleged to constitute such contempt shall be filed and the accused required to answer the same, by an order which shall fix the time therefor, and also the time and place for hearing the matter; and the court shall on proper showing, extend the time so as to give the accused a reasonable opportunity to purge himself of such contempt. After the answer of the accused, or if he refuse or fail to answer, the court may proceed at the time so fixed to hear and determine such accusation upon such testimony as shall be produced.

If the accused answer, the trial shall proceed upon testimony produced as in criminal cases, and the accused shall be entitled to be confronted with the witnesses against him; but such trial shall be.by the court, or upon application of the accused, a trial by the jury shall be had as in any criminal case. If the accused be found guilty judgment shall be entered accordingly, prescribing the punishment.

5. That the testimony taken on the trial of any accusation of contempt shall be preserved, and any judgment of conviction therefor may be reviewed upon the direct appeal to or by writ of error. from the supreme court, and affirmed, reversed, or modified as justice may require. Upon allowance of an appeal or writ of error execution of the judgment shall be stayed upon the giving of such bond as may be required by the court or the judge thereof, or by any justice of the supreme court. 6. That the provisions of this act shall apply to all proceedings for contempt in all courts of Kansas; but this act shall not affect any proceedings for contempt pending at the time of the passage thereof. All acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

This law is undoubtedly the most important and novel in principle of any legislation adopted by any of the States upon the labor question during the past five or ten years. Its merits are obvious, but the objections lie more beneath the surface. It may be doubted whether the effect of such statutes would not be practically to destroy equity jurisdiction or the enforcement of any legal right which does not sound in damages.

SEC. 2. PENALTY FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT OF PERSONAL SERVICE.A few of the Southern States have adopted statutes making it a penal offense to violate a contract of personal service under certain circumstances, and imposing damages for the same, usually to at least the full amount due for services already rendered. These States are South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana. The statutes are printed in full below.' And New Jersey has a severe statute applying to railway labor.

1South Carolina (1897, 286, 1; see also Chap. VI.):

Any laborer working on shares of crop or for wages in money or other valuable consideration under a verbal or written contract to labor on farm lands who shall receive advances either in money or supplies and thereafter willfully and without just cause fail to perform the reasonable service required of him by the terms of the said contract shall be liable to prosecution for a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than twenty days nor more than thirty days, or to be fined in the sum of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, in the discretion of the court: Provided, The verbal contract herein referred to shall be witnessed by at least two disinterested witnesses.

Tennessee (§ 3438):

Any persons o under contract or employ of another, leaving their employ without good and sufficient cause, before the expiration of the time for which they were employed, shall forfeit to the employer all sums due for service already rendered, and be liable for such other damages the employer may reasonably sustain by such violation of contract. (See also Art. F, §3.)

Arkansas (§ 4790):

'If any laborer shall, without good cause, abandon his employer before the expiration of his contract, he shall be liable to such employer for the full amount of any account he may owe him, and shall forfeit to his employer all wages or share of crop due him, or which might become due him from his employer.'

Alabama (§ 3762):

Any immigrant who abandons or leaves the service of an employer without repaying all passage money and all other advances, must, on conviction, be fined in a sum not more than double the amount of wages for the unexpired term of service, and imprisoned not longer than three months, or sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than three months, at the discretion of the jury.

Louisiana (1890, 138, 1):

Whoever shall wilfully violate a contract upon the faith of which money or goods have been advanced and without first tendering to the person from whom said money