PENDING PROBLEMS FOR WAGE-EARNERS. 57 



PENDING PROBLEMS FOR WAGE-EARNERS. 



By a. E. OUTERBRIDGE, Jr. 



IN studying the important question of management of employees 

 of industrial establishments from a common-sense as well as 

 just and humanitarian point of view, it is necessary to remember 

 that a factory is not an eleemosynary institution ; the functions 

 of the two are radically different, and experience has proved that 

 modern manufacturing industries can not be practically con- 

 ducted under the old idea of paternal or patriarchal regulations. 

 The operative is jealous of his personal freedom and suspicious of 

 purely philanthropic schemes originating within the establish- 

 ment, and he resents any beneficial regulations savoring of char- 

 ity. He does not complain of the strict enforcement of just rules, 

 but he is quick to take advantage of laxity on the part of over- 

 seers, which, if continued, soon leads to chaos. On the other 

 hand, unjust regulations can not be permanently enforced under 

 the modern labor restrictions, for labor legislation in this country 

 is extremely comprehensive, and takes cognizance of such infrac- 

 tions.* In some instances where labor legislation has been elabo- 

 rated to a degree which was unduly oppressive to employers, 

 it has served to restrict industrial development, reacting upon 

 the intended beneficiary — the employee — and has necessitated the 

 abandonment of such policy. The " granger legislation " relating 

 to railroads in some of the Western States affords a well-known 

 illustration of this tendency. Employees are no longer ignorant 

 of their rights or privileges, and employers, as a rule, neither care 

 nor dare to trample upon them ; but experience has also proved 

 that wherever numbers of men are massed together, a certain 

 degree of strict rule is essential to the preservation of order and 

 proper conduct of business. 



Many of the rules and regulations of workshops and factories 

 which appear harsh or unjust to the uninitiated are in reality 

 necessary to protect the faithful employee from impositions of 



* The labor laws differ greatly in the different States. Massachusetts has led the way 

 in such legislation, and the other States are following in her footsteps. Most of these laws 

 increase the responsibilities of employers, thus : Methods of protection from fire and acci- 

 dent must be provided in all factories and workshops, and employers can not by contract 

 exempt themselves from liability for injuries to an employee. The buildings must be pro- 

 vided with proper sanitary arrangements ; each room where machinery is placed must be 

 connected with the engine room by speaking tubes, electric bells, or appliances to control 

 the motive power. 



The most minute regulations relating to the entire economic system of factory construc- 

 tion, operation, and inspection exist ; and laws governing the payment of wages, exemption 

 from fines or garnishment of wages or tools of trade for debts, etc., cover every phase of 

 employment growing out of the factory system and are distinctly favorable to labor. 



VOL. XLIX — G 



