LABOR LEGISLATION. An inclusive term used to denote the body of statutes which in any way affect the labor contract or the relation of the employer and the employed. The first step was taken in the so-called factory nets of Great Britain, designed to improve the sanitary conditions prevailing in workshops and, factories and safeguard the health of the laboring popula tion. In the subsequent development many other points: in the mutual relations of employer and employed have been the subject of legislative and administrative regulation, so that to-day the mass of statutory enactment on these topics is almost bewildering.
In the United States the problems of an indus trial population developed later than in Eng land, and labor legislation is of a later date. With the growth of modern industry, together with the prevalence of universal suffrage, the enactment, of such laws did not encounter the same difficulties as in England. There has been no lack of legislation. though it has frequently been assumed that such laws would enforce them selves, and no adequate machinery was provided to insure their execution. In later years factory
inspection has been widely introdueed, though in many States it is not equipped with adequate machinery for the discharge of the duties im posed upon it. On the other hand. the progress of unionism has made the worldngmen alert in the maintenance of their legal rights, and their officials have done much to render labor legisla tion effective.
Labor legislation is a matter of State concern, and while in America the laws of one State have frequently been enacted bodily by other States, there is still much diversity among the States. In reviewing the labor legislation in force in the United States, we must content ourselves with a general account of the various types of enact ments, without attempting to specify where such laws are in force. The most usual subject, of legislation concern the hours of mode of paying wages. and protection of machinery to avoid accidents.