Employment in transportation is regulated by both national and State laws. Navigation is controlled mainly by national laws. The act of 1915 sought to abolish virtual slavery among seamen by away the right to enforce contracts by imprisonment and provided for health and safety under regulations comparable to the factory acts. All the States seek to regulate employment in railroads, but Federal laws supersede in cases involving interstate commerce. Both seek to make full provision for the protection of employees and the safety of the public. There has been a sharp contest over the °full law which fixes the num ber of employees in proportion to the kind and size of the train. Twenty States have enacted such laws over the protests of the railway managers on the ground of useless expense, but the laws have been sustained by the courts as police regulations. In Missouri this law was defeated by popular vote.
Many of the earlier laws were incomplete in definition or inclusion. Lack of responsi bility for enforcement, lack of responsibility for violation, inadequate penalties, failure to de velop standards and lack of responsiveness to changing conditions were common defects of most of the legislations of most of the States. Of late the tendency has been to remedy these defects by defining in the law the end aimed at and leaving to commissions large discretion ary powers in defining the means necessary and the methods to be followed.
In recent years a great deal of legislation has centred around the question of liability for accidents. The old common-law rule was that responsibility for an accident must be fixed on some individual. If the employer could show that he had exercised ordinary care, he was exempt. Even when he had vio lated a law in failing to provide safe ma chinery, if it could be shown that the laborer knew of the danger, the courts held that he had assumed the risk. Or if the accident was due to the negligence of another employee (fel low-servant), this released the employer of all responsibility. In recent years a hard fight has been waged to change this law and make the industry bear the cost of accidents to its workers, just as it bears the accidents to its ma chinery. Georgia led the way as far back as 1856 in abolishing the fellow-servant rule on railways, but so far has been followed by only half the States. In 1910 New York shifted the burden of proof to the employer. A natural corollary of such legislation is some provision for compensation without lawsuit. By the opening of this century some of the European governments had enacted laws requiring def mite compensations to workers in cases of accident. Some countries put the whole burden on the employers, who take out insurance in regular companies or in government bonds and pass the cost on to the consumers. The first law looking to this end in the United States was passed by Maryland in 1902 as a sort of co operative insurance law. This and several more advanced laws by other States were declared unconstitutional. In 1908 Congress made a beginning for public employees and since 1911 no less than 32 States have legislated on the subject. In order to avoid the rock of uncon stitutionality, most of the statutes have been made elective, but coupled with the abolition of the employers' old points of refuge, such as fellow-servant rule, contributory negligence and assumption of risk. New York amended
her constitution and made the law compulsory. Five States provide State insurance funds, but employers may elect to carry their insurance in stock or mutual companies.
Health insurance is being agitated and the American Association for Labor Legislation has drafted a model (1915) for introduction in State legislatures, but so far no State has passed this or any bill like it.
Except for some kinds of public service lia bility and old age, pensions are practically un known in the United States. National, State and municipal governments provide pensions for several classes of employees, especially soldiers, sailors, policemen, firemen and teachers. Massachusetts and Wisconsin offer State assistance for voluntary old age pensions and Alaska and Arizona have recently legis lated on the subject. For pensions for women see MOTHERS' PENSIONS.
problem of unem ployment is attracting more and more attention. No State requires or even offers any insurance against it. Twenty-three States and a dozen or more municipalities maintain employment exchanges, some of which have placed a great many applicants. At least seven States require licenses of private employment agencies, and Idaho forbids the running of such agencies for profit. Emergency work is provided by several municipalities and by Idaho. The lat ter offers work on the public roads to citizens who have resided in the State six months. In the course of the World War the national gov ernment greatly enlarged its aotivity in bringing workers and jobs together.
Administrative Massachusetts created the first bureau of labor in 1869. Con gress followed with the National Bureau of Labor in 1884, the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903, and the Department of Labor in 1913. Nearly every State now has such a bureau. The chief duty of such bureaus is to collect and distribute statistical information re lating to the various fields of labor and to the development of productive industries. In some States they are expected to enforce the im portant labor laws. In recent years there has been a decided movement for the creation of industrial commissions, uniting in one authority the administration of such related laws as those dealing with workmen's compensation, factory inspection, etc. Five States—Colorado, Indiana, Montana, Nevada and New York went over to this system in 1915. The entrust ing of discretionary power to these commis sions has gone a long way in remedying early laws, especially where they were defective in definition and inclusion or not responsive to changing conditions. For example, Congress now merely demands safety of the railroads and leaves it to the Interstate Commerce Com mission to determine what devices are neces sary to meet this requirement. See CHILD LABOR; LABOR MOVEMENT; LABOR UNIONS.
Bibliography.— Labor Laws of the United States in Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nos. 148, 186 (1915); Commons, J. R., and Andrews, Jahn B. 'Principles of Labor Legislation> (New York 1916) ; Kelley, Florence, Some Ethical Gains Through Legis lation' (ib. 1905) ; 'Report of the Executive Council American Federation of Labor' (1916) ; various publications of American Association for Labor Legislation.