The Survey, Volume 30, Number 6, May 10, 1913

by Various

SOCIAL LEGISLATION AT THE PRESENT SESSION OF CONGRESS

In spite of the fact that the opening week of Congress saw the introduction of the Kern compensation bill for employes of the federal government suffering injuries or occupational diseases, the La Follette-Peters eight-hour bill for women in the District of Columbia, a bill prohibiting the shipment of goods manufactured in plants where women are employed more than eight hours a day, a minimum wage bill presented by Senator Chilton of West Virginia, and several other measures which fall under the head of social legislation, the impression seems to prevail that Congress will devote its chief energies to the consideration of the banking and revenue statutes. In his personally delivered message to Congress President Wilson said:

“It is best, indeed, it is necessary, to begin with the tariff. I will urge nothing upon you now at the opening of your session which can obscure that first object or divert our energies from that clearly defined duty. At a later time I may take the liberty of calling your attention to reforms which should press close upon the heels of the tariff changes, if not accompany them, of which the chief is the reform of our banking and currency laws; but just now I refrain.”

From these sentences, as well as from remarks made by the President to callers, it is inferred that the possibility of taking up anything like the program submitted to Mr. Wilson by the forty-five men and women interested in social legislation is remote indeed. Those familiar with the legislative processes of Congress point out, however, that after the tariff bill or bills leave the House and while they are being debated in the Senate, there may be an opportunity for the discussion of other matters.

It is of interest to note that the House leaders decided to defer the appointment of the majority of the standing committees till the tariff bills shall be out of the way. Only the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Rules, the Committee on Accounts and the Committee on Mileage were selected early in the session.

The Senate, however, fixed the membership of its standing committees some time before the extra session began. With the change in political control, there has been, of course, a thorough overhauling not only in chairmanship but also in memberships. Today the two committees in the upper chamber which will have much to do with social legislation, that on the District of Columbia and that on Education and Labor, are as follows:

Committee on District of Columbia: Messrs. Smith of Maryland (chairman), Pomerene of Ohio, Smith of Arizona, Kern of Indiana, Hollis of New Hampshire, James of Kentucky, Saulsbury of Delaware, Martin of Virginia, Dillingham of Vermont, Jones of Washington, Works of California, Kenyon of Iowa, Fall of New Mexico and Lippitt of Rhode Island.

Committee on Education and Labor: Messrs. Smith of Georgia (chairman), Shively of Indiana, Swanson of Virginia, Martine of New Jersey, Johnson of Maine, Shields of Tennessee, Borah of Idaho, Penrose of Pennsylvania, Page of Vermont, McLean of Connecticut and Kenyon of Iowa.

Among the bills relating to the regulation of labor that have been introduced into Congress at the present session is that by Senator John Sharp Williams of Mississippi, aiming to safeguard the children of the District of Columbia from employments that are dangerous or that are conducted under unsanitary conditions. The measure provides that children under sixteen years of age shall not work in factories, on railroads or on boats. The bill divides occupations into classes, and puts children into groups from the age of twelve to twenty-one, enumerating the prohibited occupations, but permitting exceptions under certain conditions. Discretion is vested in the District health officer to pass upon other employment for children not already forbidden by the proposed law.

The convict-made goods bill, substantially in its original form, has been introduced into the Senate by Senator Thomas of Colorado. This measure, it will be remembered, passed the House at the last session, but was not reported out of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. As Senator Thomas pointed out in a statement, “I propose that prison products shall be divested of their interstate character, leaving them subject everywhere to the laws of the states. Many states have prohibited the sale of such goods. The principle of my measure is the same as that employed in the Webb-Kenyon liquor law.”

While the principle involved in the Thomas bill is now on the federal statute books, thus affording a valuable precedent for additional legislation, it is not generally believed that the Senate will take up this measure at least till later on in the session. The new Senate Committee on the Judiciary is as follows:

Culberson of Illinois (chairman); Overman of North Carolina, Chilton of West Virginia, O’Gorman of New York, Fletcher of Florida, Reed of Missouri, Ashurst of Arizona, Shields of Tennessee, Walsh of Montana, Bacon of Virginia, Clark of Wyoming, Nelson of Minnesota, Dillingham of Vermont, Sutherland of Utah, Brandegee of Connecticut, Borah of Idaho, Cummins of Iowa and Root of New York.

Senator Kenyon of Iowa has introduced a bill making it obligatory that all railway employes shall have twenty-four hours consecutively off duty in every period of 168 hours. It is stated that the belief that the existing law, intended to protect railway employes and limit their hours of labor, is being violated because of the impracticability of its strict enforcement prompted Senator Kenyon to draw up this bill.