st upright
judge into a position where he should not be put--that of being a kind
of king or lord chamberlain, with power to set aside improper or wrong
legislation.

With these preliminary remarks we are now prepared to examine the
legislation as it exists to-day (1910); cautioning our readers that
this subject, as indeed all others concerning labor legislation, is so
often tinkered in all our States as to make our statements of little
permanent value, except that restrictions once imposed are rarely
repealed. We may assume, therefore, that the law is at least as
radical as it is herein presented.

The hours of labor of _adults_, males, in ordinary industries remain
as yet unrestricted by law in any State of the Union; but several
States have laws making a certain number of hours a day's work in the
absence of contract;[1] and New York and a few other States have an
eight-hour day in "public" work--that is to say, work directly for
the State or any municipality or for a contractor undertaking such
work.[2]

[Footnote 1: Thus eight hours (California, Connecticut, Illinois,
Indiana, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin); ten hours
(Florida, Maine, Michigan--with pay for overtime--Minnesota, Montana,
Maryland--for manufacturing corporations--Nebraska, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island, South Carolina--in cotton and woollen mills--in New
Jersey), fifty-five hours a week in factories; in Georgia eleven hours
in manufacturing establishments, or from sunrise to sunset by all
persons under twenty-one, mealtimes excluded (see below). But these
laws do not usually apply to agricultural or domestic employment or to
persons hired by the month.]

[Footnote 2: In public work, that is, work done for the State, or any
county or municipality or for contractors therefor, the eight-hour day
is prescribed (California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia,
Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Porto Rico, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and
the United States). But the provisions for overtime and compensation
for overtime differ considerably.]

The labor of women (in mechanical trades, factories and laundries in
Illinois, or in mercantile, hotel, telegraph, telephone, etc., as
well, in Oregon) for more than a limit of ten hours per day in
Illinois, or nine in Oregon, is prohibited and made a misdemeanor;