LABOR. Work requiring exertion or ef fort, either physical or mental; toil.
Labor and business are not synonymous ; labor may be business, but it is not necessari ly so, and business is not always labor.
The labor and skill of one man are fre quently used in a partnership, and valued as equal to the capital of another.
The contract labor prohibition in the im migration act of February 20, 1907, makes it a misdemeanor "in any manner whatsoever, to prepay the transportation or in any way to assist or encourage the importation or migration of any contract laborer or con tract laborers into the United States," un less exempted under the provisos of sec. 2 of the act; which exceptions are skilled la bor of any kind which cannot be found un employed in this country, professional actors, artists, lecturers, singers, ministers of any religious denomination, professors of colleg es or seminaries, or persons belonging to any recognized learned profession, or persons em ployed strictly as personal domestic serv ants; U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1911, 503. A provision of a similar character was con tained in the act of February 26, 1885, but that was superseded by the act of March 3, 1903, which was re-enacted with some change in the act of 1907 above stated.
The decisions here given, though most, if not all of them, are under the old statute, are doubtless equally applicable to the later one, so entirely similar are their provisions. By sec. 6 of the act, advertisements promis ing employment to aliens are made viola tions of the act, as also is solicitation of im migration by transportation companies, ves sel owners, etc. Section 8 provides for the punishment of any person, including mas ters, owners, etc., of vessels, who brings aliens into the country in violation of the act.
The act is a constitutional exercise of the power to regulate commerce; U. S. v. Craig, 28 Fed. 795; In re Florio, 43 Fed. 114; it was passed to protect the health, morals, and safety of the people of this country; Warren v. U. S., 58 Fed. 559, 7 C. C. A. 368, 5 U. S. App. 656. The purpose of the stat ute was to stay the influx of cheap unskill ed labor, and it does not include the case of one engaged as a draper, window dresser and dry goods clerk ; U. S. v. Gay, 95 Fed. 226, 37 C. C. A. 46. It must appear that the alien did in fact emigrate, and that the person who assisted him knew that he was under contract; U. S. v. Borneman, 41 Fed. 751 ; there must have been a contract made previously to the importation, to perform labor here; Moller v. U. S., 57 Fed. 490, 6 C. C. A. 459, 13 U. S. App. 472. Where an alien writes to a resident proposing to come here and enter the service of the resident and the latter accepts the offer and pays his passage, it is not within the act ; U. S. v. Edgar, 48 Fed. 91, 1 C. C. A. 49, 4 U. S. App. 41, affirming 45 Fed. 44.
A laborer on a dairy farm is not a domes tic servant; In re Cummings, 32 Fed. 75; a
milliner is not a professional artist ; U. S. v. Thompson, 41 Fed. 28; a clergyman brought to this country under—contract to take charge of a church as a rector is not within the act; Church of Holy Trinity v. U. S., 143 U. S. 457, 12 Sup. Ct. 511, 36 L. Ed. 226 ; nor are alien seamen using our ports foi their ships ; U. S. v. Burke, 99 Fed. 895.
One is not liable to deportation as a labor er who at the time of the passage of the act requiring alien laborers to register, was a merchant and who subsequently perform ed labor on a fruit farm which he leased ; U. S. v. Sing Lee, 71 Fed. 680; nor is a chemist on a sugar plantation, though his expenses are paid ; U. S. v. Laws, 163 U. S. 258, 16 Sup. Ct. 998, 41 L. Ed. 151. Expert accountants imported under contract were held not members of a recognized learned profession and not entitled to entry ; In re Ellis, 124 Fed. 637. One who came to this country upon promise of employment at stip ulated wages by one who advanced money for his passage, secured by mortgage, and worked for the person at the stipulated wa ges and designated occupation, repaid the advance out of his wages and continued employed for a year, was within the act; Ex parte George, 180 Fed. 785.
As to new industries, excepted in the act, it has been held that the manufacture of fine lace curtains, which had been carried on in this country for only about three years and was still confined to two or three establishments, was such ; U. S. v. Bromiley, 58 Fed. 554 ; as was also the manufacture of "French silk stockings" ; U. S. v. McCal lum, 44 Fed. 745.
A clause in the constitution of California forbidding the employment by a corpora tion of any Chinese or Mongolian has been held in conflict with the treaty of the United States with China and void ; In re Tiburcio Parrott, 1 Fed. 481; so in New York a stat ute forbidding a contractor on public work to employ an alien was held a violation of the treaty with Italy and void ; People v. Warren, 13 Misc. 615, 34 N. Y. Supp. 942. See ALIEN; CITIZEN.
The provision of the New York Penal Code declaring it to be a misdemeanor to require as a condition of employment that the em ploy6 shall not belong to a labor organization violates the state constitution and the four teenth amendment by infringing the right of contract; People v. Marcus, 110 App. Div. 255, 97 N. Y. Supp. 322 ; and the court of ap peals in that state, reversing the appellate division, held valid a contract providing that only union members should be employed, to which the parties were the employer, his employs and the labor union ; Jacobs v. Cohen, 183 N. Y. 207, 76 N. E. 5, 2 L. R. A. (N. S.) 292, 111 Am. St. Rep. 730, 5 Ann. Cas. 280; and see note on this subject; 19 Harv. L. R. 368.
See TRUCK ACTS.