Child Labor Bulletin Volume 2, No. 4 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 Excerpt: ...compensation. In line with this tendency are the statutes of some half dozen states which provide that eight hours shall constitute a day's work unless otherwise specified by contract. Ten other states limit the work of convicts to eight (or less) per day. More significant are the increasing number of states limiting the hours of work of public employees to eight a day without overtime except in cases of emergency. Their provisions vary greatly, applying in some cases only to persons employed directly by the State or by municipalities and in other cases to all persons employed on contracts for the government. The law covering federal employees is fairly comprehensive and shows that Congress has definitely accepted the principle that eight hours constitute a normal day's work for adults. (See Table II following.) Health. There is another type of state laws fixing an eight-hour day for adults in certain specified occupations. Arkansas, Nevada, Maryland and others limit to eight hours the working day of persons on whom depends the safety of others. Certain classes of railroad employees (particularly those who are responsible for the spacing of trains) and hoisting engineers in mines are specially selected for such restriction, because a mind alert and well controlled is obviously necessary for the protection of the public in one case, and of fellow workers in the other. The statutes tacitly admit that an alert mind, which means a body free from excessive fatigue, can be assured only by the eight-hour day. Consider: the adult is assumed to fall below par physically if he works more than eight hours. What then of the immature youth, the child under 16 years, who works more than eight hours? His work may not involve the safety of others but it surely involves his...