License

WISCONSIN.

ANNOTATED STATUTES OF 1898.

CHAPTER 41.-Examination and licensing of plumbers.

re- SECTION 959-53. No person, firm or corporation engaged in or quired in cerworking at the business of plumbing in cities of the first, second tain cities. or third class shall engage in or work at said business, either as a master or employing or as a journeyman plumber, unless licensed so to do in accordance with the provisions of the following three sections.

Applications.

SEC. 959-54. Any person desiring to engage in or work at such -business shall apply to the board of public works, where such exist, or the board of health having jurisdiction in the locality where he intends to engage in or work at such business, and shall, at such time and place as may be designated by the board of examiners hereinafter provided for, to whom such application shall be referred, be examined as to his qualifications for such business. In the case of a firm or corporation the examination and licensing of any one member of the firm or the manager of the corporation shall be sufficient.

SEC. 959-55. There shall be in every city of the first, second and third class having a system of waterworks or sewerage a board of examiners of plumbers consisting of the board of public works, or where such board does not exist, the chairman of the board of health, and in cities having an inspector of plumbing the inspector of plumbing of said city, who shall be a member ex officio of said board, and serve without compensation, and a third member who shall be a practical plumber. Said third member shall be appointed by the mayor for the term of one year from the first day of May, and thereafter annually before the first day of May, and who shall serve without compensation: Provided, That if in any city there is no board of public works or inspector of plumbing the board of health shall appoint a second member of said board of examiners who shall be a practical plumber and who shall also serve without compensation.

SEC. 959-56. Said board of examiners shall. as soon as may be after the appointment of the third member thereof, meet and organize by the selection of a chairman, and shall then designate the times and places for the examination of all applicants desiring to engage in or work at the business of plumbing within their city. Said board shall examine said applicants as to their practical knowledge of plumbing, house drainage and plumbing ventilation, and if satisfied of the competency of the applicants shall so certify to the board of public works, the board of health or inspector of plumbing, as the case may be. Said board of examiners shall thereupon issue a license to such applicant authorizing him to engage in or work at the business of plumbing as master or employing plumber or as a journeyman plumber. The fee for a license for a master or employing plumber shall be two dollars; for a journeyman plumber, fifty cents. Said licenses shall be renewed annually upon payment of a fee of fifty cents. All moneys accruing from such fees shall be paid into the treasury of the city. In case of the removal of the licensee from the city his license may be renewed by any board having like authority. A license shall entitle the licensee to pursue his occupation in all parts of the State unless the board of the city to which he removes shall object, in which event said plumber shall be examined by said board.

SEC. 959-59. Any person violating any provision of either of the ** ** * preceding sections shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for each and every violation thereof, and his license may be revoked by the examining board provided for in section 959–55.

CHAPTER 46a.-Bureau of labor and industrial statistics.

SECTION 1021b. The bureau of labor and industrial statistics, Bureau heretofore established, is continued. A room or rooms in the cap- tinued. itol shall be set apart for the use thereof, and such printing shall be done for and such supplies furnished the same as may be necessary for the performance of the duties devolved upon the officers thereof.

SEC. 1021c. A commissioner of said bureau shall be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, for the er. term of two years from the first Monday of February in the year of his appointment. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term.

SEC. 1021d. The commissioner may appoint a deputy, who, when acting for or instead of the commissioner, shall have equal authority with him. He may also appoint a clerk, a clerk and typewriter operator, a factory inspector, an assistant factory inspector and a clerk and janitor. The factory inspector shall be a resident of Milwaukee, and he and the assistant inspector shall perform their duties under the direction of the commissioner.

*

con

Commission

Assistants.

SEC. 1021e. Said commissioner shall collect, collate and publish Duties. statistical and other information relating to the manufacturing interests, industrial classes and material resources of the State; he shall especially examine into the relations between labor and. capital, the means of escape from, and the protection of life and health in, factories and workshops, the employment of children, the number of hours of labor exacted from them and from women, the educational, sanitary, moral and financial condition of laborers and artisans, the cost of food, fuel, clothing and building material, the causes of strikes and lockouts, and other kindred subjects pertaining to the welfare of the industrial interests and classes.

SEC. 1021f (as amended by chapter 158, Acts of 1899). The Access to faccommissioner of labor and industrial statistics], his deputy, the tories, etc. factory inspector and the assistant factory inspector may enter any factory, mercantile establishment or workshop in which laborers or women are employed, for the purpose of obtaining facts and statistics, examining the means of escape therefrom in case of fire and the provisions made for the health and safety of operatives or for suitable seats for women therein. If any such officer shall Notice. learn of any violation of or neglect to comply with the law in respect to the employment of children, the hours of labor for them or for women, or in reference to fire escapes or the safety of employees, or such seats for women, he shall give written notice to the owner or occupant of such factory, mercantile establishment or workshop, of such offense or neglect, and if the same is not remedied within thirty days after the service of such notice, such officer shall give the district attorney of the county in which such factory, mercantile establishment or workshop is situated, formal notice of the facts, whereupon that officer shall immediately institute the proper proceedings against the person guilty of such offense or neglect.

Laws may be

SEC. 1021h. Any officer of the bureau may post in any factory or workshop examined by him the laws relating to employment of posted. children therein, hours of labor, fire escapes or other matters pertaining to the health and safety of artisans; any person who shall remove or mutilate such laws so posted shall be fined fifty dollars for each offense. Any such officer may order bull wheels, fly Guards for wheels, tumbling rods, elevator wells, stairways, shafting or dan- machinery. gerous machinery of any kind to be inclosed or otherwise guarded so as to protect workmen or others; and any person refusing to obey the written order of such officer to such effect shall be fined fifty dollars for each such refusal. It shall be the duty of such officers to examine freight and passenger elevators and to condemn those found to be defective and unsafe by serving written notice on the person for whom it is being operated or on his agent,

H. Doc. 733, 58-2-80

Elevators.

or by posting such notice on the walls or cab of any elevator found to be in an unsafe condition; the owner of any elevator so condemned, or the person for whom it is being operated, shall, by continuing the use thereof without making such repairs as will place it in a safe condition, be liable, civilly and criminally, for any physical injury caused by such use, whether such injury reCommunica-sults in the death of the person injured or not. It is also the duty tion with en- of such officers, when in their judgment it may be necessary, to gine room. see that in every manufacturing establishment, the machinery in which is propelled by steam power, communication, by means of speaking tubes or electric bells, shall be provided between each room in which machinery so operated is placed and the room in which the engineer is stationed. Any person occupying as owner, lessee or manager any manufacturing establishment where machinery so operated is used, or controlling the use of any building or room in which machinery propelled by steam is used, who shall fail to provide such means of communication shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars; but no prosecution shall be commenced for such violation until thirty days after written notice has been given by one of the officers designated in this chapter to such person of the changes necessary to be made to comply with the provisions hereof, nor then, if, in the meantime, changes have been made in accordance with such notice. Collection of SEC. 10211. The said commissioner shall have power to prescribe statistics. blank forms and transmit them to employers, which shall be filled out clearly and completely, under oath, by the persons to whom they are sent, with the facts, statistics and statements asked for, and returned to him within such reasonable time as he may fix. In case any owner or occupant or his agent shall refuse to admit any officer of the said bureau to his workshop or factory he shall forfeit the sum of ten dollars for each and every offense, and if he shall, through his agent or otherwise, neglect, fail or refuse to fill out the said blank forms and verify and return them as required, he shall forfeit the sum of ten dollars for each and every day the said blank may be so delayed beyond the time fixed by the commissioner for their return. The fines authorized by this chapter shall be sued for in the name of the State by the district attorney of the proper county upon complaint of any officer of said bureau or any citizen, and shall be paid into the school fund.

Seal.

Powers.

Report.

Duty of district attorney.

SEC. 1021j. There shall be provided a seal of office for the use of the bureau, and the commissioner or his deputy, for the purpose of making any investigation contemplated by this act, shall have power to administer oaths, take testimony and subpoena witnesses, which witnesses shall receive the same fees as are allowed to persons testifying in circuit courts, to be paid out of the State treas ury on the certificate of the commissioner or his deputy: Provided, however, That no person subpoenaed by the said commissioner or his deputy shall be compelled to go outside of the city or town in which he resides to testify in behalf of such investigation.

SEC. 1021k. The commissioner shall make a report to the gov ernor within ten days after the expiration of the biennial fiscal term, which report shall be printed and bound as provided by law. SEC. 10211. Whenever any officer of the bureau of labor and industrial statistics shall give written notice to any district attorney that any hotel, factory, public building or any other structure in his county is being used without fire escapes, watchmen or other means of safety prescribed by law, including means of communication beween the rooms of manufacturing establishments as prescribed in section 1021h, such district attorney shall at once institute the proper proceeding against the offender, and without the aid or presence of any such officer do all that may be necessary to secure a determination of the guilt or innocence of the person complained of; and in case such district attorney shall refuse or neglect so to do any officer of such bureau may file charges against him and demand his removal from office.

CHAPTER 52.-Hours of labor on public roads.

SECTION 1248. * * Every such person who shall so appear Eight hours a and work agreeably to the direction of such superintendent upon day's labor. the highways in his district shall be credited on his highway tax one dollar and fifty cents for every day he shall actually work eight hours,

CHAPTER 69.-Employment of intemperate drivers on public con

veyances.

SECTION 1592. No person owning or having the direction or con- Intemper a te trol of any coach or other vehicle running or traveling upon any be employed. drivers not to road in this State for the conveyance of passengers shall employ or continue in employment any person to drive such coach or other vehicle who is addicted to drunkenness or to the excessive use of intoxicating liquors; and if any such person shall violate the provisions of this section he shall forfeit five dollars per day for all the time during which he shall have kept such driver in such employment.

SEC. 1593. If any driver, while actually employed in driving such coach or vehicle, shall be guilty of intoxication the owner or person having the charge or control of such coach or other vehicle shall, on receiving written notice of the fact, signed and sworn to by any passenger who witnessed the same, forthwith discharge such driver from such employment; and every person who shall retain or have in such service, within six months after the receipt of such notice, any driver who shall have been so intoxicated shall forfeit five dollars per day for all the time during which he shall keep any such driver in such employment after receiving such notice.

CHAPTER 73a.-Factories and workshops-Inspection, etc.

Intoxication driver.

SECTION 1636j. No person or corporation shall employ and put Overcrowding. to work in any factory, workshop or other place where labor is performed, or in any part of any such place, a larger number of persons than can be kept at work there without doing violence to the laws of health. The local board of health shall have power to determine any question arising under this provision, and its written determination shall be conclusive upon all parties to any action

or proceeding under the same. The owner or manager of every Guards for place where persons are employed to perform labor shall surround machinery, etc. every stationary vat, pan or other vessel into which molten metal or hot liquids are poured or kept with proper safeguards for the protection of his employees, and all belting, shafting, gearing, hoists, fly wheels, elevators and drums therein which are so located as to be dangerous to employees in the discharge of their duty shall be securely guarded or fenced. Any person or corporation which shall neglect for thirty days after the receipt of written notice from the State factory inspector to provide a suitable place for the persons employed by him to work in or who shall fail to make and maintain such safeguards as this section requires and as said inspector shall specify, shall forfeit not to exceed twenty-five dollars for each offense, and every day's neglect or failure, after a conviction hereunder, shall constitute a separate offense.

Failure to guard machinery dangerous to an employee engaged in his ordinary duties is a violation of this act and is negligence per se. 73 N. W. Rep. 563.

The statute does not require every place to be guarded that might possibly cause injury, but only such places as are dangerous to employees engaged in the discharge of their duties. 86 N. W. Rep. 153.

A plaintiff guilty of contributory negligence can not recover, even if defendant has failed to cover his gears. 89 Wis. 523.

Whether machinery is so located as to be dangerous to employees is a question for the jury. 95 Wis. 482.

What preferences void.

CHAPTER 80.-Wages preferred—In assignments.

SECTION 1693a.

All

assignments which shall contain or give any preference to one creditor over another, except for the wages of laborers, servants and employees earned within six months prior to the making thereof, shall be void as to the preference, but valid for all other purposes.

Wage debts SEC. 1700. * * * before making any dividend the assignee to be paid first after shall pay all taxes assessed upon the property assigned, which taxes, etc. remain unpaid, and the compensation due all laborers, servants and employees for labor or personal services performed for the assignor within six months next preceding the making of the assignment, the claims for which shall be paid by him next after the payment of unpaid taxes and assessments, debts due the United States or this State, the expenses of the assignment and the execution of the trust.

Limit of day's labor.

Age limit.

Permit for employment.

One who goes from place to place erecting and repairing machinery is an employee within the meaning of this statute; likewise bookkeepers and salesmen, though paid by the month or year and whether their compensation is usually called salary or wages. 47 N. E. Rep. 915.

One doing work under contract at job or piece rates is not an employee. 64 Wis. 525.

CHAPTER 83.-Employment of women and children.

SECTION 1728. In all manufactories, workshops and other places used for mechanical or manufacturing purposes the time of labor of children under the age of eighteen years and of women employed therein shall not exceed eight hours in one day; and any employer, stockholder, director, officer, overseer, clerk or foreman who shall compel any woman or any such child to labor exceeding eight hours in any one day, or who shall permit any child under fourteen years of age to labor more than ten hours in any one day in any such place, if he shall have control over such child sufficient to prevent it, or who shall employ at manual labor any child under twelve years of age in any factory or workshop where more than three persons are employed, or who shall employ any child of twelve and under fourteen years of age in any such factory or workshop for more than seven months in any one year shall be punished by fine not less than five nor more than fifty dollars for each such offense.

The mere employment of a child under the prescribed age and his presence in a factory do not constitute actionable negligence on the part of the employer. 93 Wis. 448.

SEC. 1728a. No child under fourteen years of age shall be employed at labor or service in any mine, factory, workshop or place of public entertainment or amusement except upon permit as hereinafter provided; but nothing herein shall interfere with or prohibit the employment of such child in the service of its parent outside of school hours. The county judge of the county wherein any child resides may, by order entered of record, grant a permit and deliver a copy thereof under seal to any child over twelve years of age exempting such child from the operation of this section as to employment. Every such permit shall specify the conditions and the time during which such child may be employed and fix such limitations as to said judge shall seem proper; and in determining whether such permit shall be granted the judge shall consider the moral and physical condition of the child, his state of education, the necessities of the family to which such child belongs and such other circumstances as, in the discretion of the judge, ought to affect the question of exemption. No charge or fee shall be required in any matter under this section: Provided, That where such child resides at a distance of more than ten miles from the county seat the power to grant permits herein conferred upon the county judge may, under the same limitations and with the same conditions, be exercised by the mayor of the city or the president of the village in which or nearest to which