OTHER PROTECTIVE LABOR AND SOCIAL LEGISLATION § 1. Evils of early factory conditions. ˘ 2. Improvement of factory conditions. § 3. Limitations of the wage contract. ˘ 4. Usury laws. § 5. Public inspection of standards and of foods. § 6. Charity, and control of vice. § 7. City growth and the housing problem. § 8. Good housing legislation. ˘ 9. General grounds of this social legislation.
10. Training in the trades. § 11. Definition of unemployment. I 12. Extent and evils of unemployment. § 13. Individual malad justment of wages causing unemployment. § 15. Individual maladjust ment in finding jobs. § 16. Public employment offices. § 17. Fluctua tions of industry causing unemployment. § 18. Remedies for seasonal fluctuations. § 19. Reducing cyclical unemployment and its effects.
§ 1. Evils of early factory conditions. The time is but brief in the life of nations since the main manufacturing processes, now mostly conducted in great factories, were car ried on in or near the homes of the workers. This change has been reflected in the meaning of "manufactures," which first meant literally goods made by hand, but now conveys the thought of goods made by machinery. The craftsmen worked alone in their own homes or with the help of their wives and children. If the master craftsmen had other help ers, these were usually lodged and fed in the homes, and were taught by the side of the masters' own families. The old English law of master and servant was the labor law of that time, as, to some extent, it is to-day in Great Britain and America. The living and working conditions of the wage workers were in general the same as those of the master him self and of his own family; and this was the best possible guaranty that the conditions would be kept up to the best 379 standards of that time. The same change in industrial rela tions that led to the rise of the organized labor revealed new and often horrible neglect and evil in and about the factories. They had been erected with no thought of sani tation, safety, and decency for the workers.
§ 2. Improvement of factory conditions. Legislation to remedy these evils began in England a century ago, and the English code of factory laws, regulating the construction and operation of factories and providing for their inspection, has become voluminous. It has been copied, and in some respects improved, by all of the great industrial nations. This is true in American states in which manufacturing is largely de veloped, though the states in which agriculture is the domi nant industry still have very few such regulations. As a re
sult of these measures, accompanying and stimulating an en lightenment of the employers' self-interest, there has been a very remarkable improvement in such matters in recent years. In many American factories erected in the last quarter-century the conditions as to lighting, heating, ventilation, stairways, fire-escapes, protection of the workers against accidents, and lavatory and sanitary arrangements are better than the best conditions ever existing in domestic manufactures. A some what corresponding improvement 'has taken place on railroads, in mercantile establishments, and, perhaps less, in mining.
Factory legislation often has been opposed by employers because of the expense it causes; but if the regulations apply to all factories, the expense becomes a part of the cost of production and is shifted, like the other expenses of produc tion, to the general body of consumers, of which the employers form only a small part. Much of the recent progress in some establishments has, however, gone far beyond the require ments of any existing laws. Many employers recognize that it is costly and unprofitable to themselves to allow their work men to be in surroundings that reduce their vitality and efficiency.
1 See ch. 21, § 1.
§ 3. Limitation of the wage contract. In general the law does not attempt to interfere with the making, by individuals, of such contracts as they choose to make. Its main function is to interpret and enforce the contracts that are made. But there has been an increasing group of exceptions to this gen eral statement. It was forbidden even by the English com mon law for wage workers under some conditions to sign away their right to claim damages in case of accident, and many recent statutes have added more specific limitations in this re spect' Legislatures and courts have been particularly watch ful of the interests of children, who are usually deemed in capable of entering into contracts binding them to their in jury. Sailors, likewise, have been somewhat exceptionally treated, because, journeying far from home, they are under the often despotic control of their employers. The English courts may even change the contract if the sailors have been coerced by their masters.