Protection of employees as voters

SECTION 8113. Threats.—[Threats of discharge from employment in attempt to influence votes are forbidden.]

Railroad employees-Illiteracy

SECTION 8352. Employment of illiterate trainmen.-It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation operating a railroad within the State of Idaho, whereon steam or electricity is used as motive power, to employ any conductor, engineer, fireman, brakeman, switchman, or any other employee whose duty may require him to act as flagman who can not read, write, and speak the English language. Any person, firm, or corporation violating the provis ons of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

ACTS OF 1921

CHAPTER 215.-Employment of children-School attendance

SECTION 752. Requirement.—[Any child under 18 years of age is required to attend school unless it is 15 and has completed eighth grade or "its help is necessary for its own use or its parents' support," or other good cause.]

ILLINOIS

CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE 4.-Mine regulations

SECTION 29. Laws to be passed.-It shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass such laws as may be necessary for the protection of operative miners, by providing for ventilation, when the same may be required, and the construction of escapement shafts, or such other appliances as may secure safety in all coal mines, and to provide for the enforcement of said laws by such penalties and punishments as may be deemed proper.

Coal mining is not a public employment within the doctrine of the cases subjecting public employments to regulation for the public good. This provision relates only to the enactment of police regulations to promote the safety of miners. 117 Ill. 294.

REVISED STATUTES-1917

CHAPTER 3.-Wages as preferred claims-In administration

SECTION 70 (as amended 1921, p. 1). Rank.-[Wages of common laborers and household servants rank with expenses of last illness (including doctor's bill) next after funeral expenses and cost of administration and widow's or children's award.]

CHAPTER 10.-Arbitration of labor disputes-State board

SECTION 19. Appointment of board.-The governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint three persons, not more than two of whom shall belong to the same political party, who shall be styled a "State Board of Arbitration," to serve as a State board of arbitration and conciliation; one and only one of whom shall be an employer of labor, and only one of whom shall be an employee, and shall be selected from some labor organization. They shall hold office until March 1, 1897, or until their successors are appointed, but said board shall have no power to act as such until they and each of them are confirmed by the senate. On the first day of March, 1897, the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint three persons as members of said board in the same manner above provided, one to serve for one year, one for two years, and one for three years, or until their respective successors are appointed, and on the first day of March in each year thereafter the governor shall in the same manner appoint one member of said board to succeed the member whose term expires, and to serve for the term of three years or until his successor is appointed. If a vacancy occure [occurs] at any time, the governor shall in the same manner appoint some one to serve out the unexpired term. Each member of said board shall before entering upon the duties of his office be sworn to a faithful discharge thereof. The board shall at once organize by the choice of one of their number as chairman, and they shall as soon as possible after such organization establish suitable rules of procedure. The board shall have power to select and remove a secretary, who shall be a stenographer, and whose salary shall be $2,500 per annum, payable out of the State treasury, upon the warrant of the auditor of public accounts, from any money not otherwise appropriated, said secretary to receive also his necessary traveling and other expenses, to be paid from the State treasury on bills of particulars to be approved by the chairman of the board and the governor.

SEC. 20. Duties.-When any controversy or difference not involving questions which may be the subject of an action at law or bill in equity, exists between an employer, whether an individual, copartnership, or corporation, employing not less than twenty-fiye persons, and his employees in this State, the board shall upon application as herein provided, and as soon as practicable thereafter, visit the locality of the dispute and make a careful inquiry into the cause thereof, hear all persons interested therein who may come before them, advise the respective parties what, if anything ought to be done or submitted to by both to adjust said dispute, and make a written decision thereof. This decision

shall at once be made public, shall be recorded upon proper books of record to be kept by the secretary of said board, and a short statement thereof published in the annual report hereinafter provided for, and the board shall cause a copy thereof to be filed with the clerk of the city, town, or village where said business is carried on.

SEC. 21. Application.-Said application shall be signed by said employer or by a majority of his employees in the department of the business in which the controversy or difference exists, or by both parties, and shall contain a concise statement of the grievances complained of, and a promise to continue on in business or at work without any lockout or strike until the decision of said board, if it shall be made within three weeks of the date of filing said application. As soon as may be after the receipt of said application the secretary of said board shall cause public notice to be given of the time and place of the hearing thereon; but public notice need not be given when both parties to the controversy join in the application and present therewith a written request that no public notice be given. When such request is made, notice shall be given to the parties interested in such manner as the board may order, and the board may, at any stage of the proceedings cause public notice to be given, notwithstanding such request. The board in all cases shall have power to summon as witnesses any operative or expert in the department of business affected, and any person who keeps the records of wages earned in those departments, or any other person, and to examine them under oath, and to require the production of books containing the records of wages paid, and such other books and papers as may be deemed necessary to a full and fair investigation of the matter in controversy. The board shall have power to issue subpoenas, and oaths may be administered by the chairman of the board. If any person, having been served with a subpoena or other process issued by such board, shall willfully fail or refuse to obey the same, or to answer such questions as may be propounded touching the subject matter of the inquiry or investigation, it shall be the duty of the circuit court or the county court of the county in which the hearing is being conducted, or of the judge thereof, if in vacation, upon application by such board, duly attested by the chairman and secretary thereof, to issue an attachment for such witness and compel him to appear before such board and give his testimony, or to produce such books and papers as may be lawfully required by said board; and the said court or the judge thereof shall have power to punish for contempt, as in other cases of refusal to obey the process and order of such court.

SEC. 22. Decisions to be in writing.-Upon the receipt of such application, and after such notice, the board shall proceed as before provided, and render a written decision, which shall be open to public inspection, shall be recorded upon the records of the board and published at the discretion of the same in an annual report to be made to the governor before the first day of March of each year.

SEC. 23. Force of decision.--Said decision shall be binding upon the parties who join in said application for six months or until either party has given the other notice in writing of his or their intention not to be bound by the same at the expiration of sixty days therefrom. Said notice may be given to said employees by posting in three conspicuous places in the shop or factory where they work.

SEC. 23a. Enforcement of award.-In the event of a failure to abide by the decisions of said board in any case in which both employer and employees shall have joined in the application, any person or persons aggrieved thereby may file with the clerk of the circuit court or the county court of the county in which the offending party resides, or in the case of an employer in the county in which the place of employment is located a duly authenticated copy of such decision, accompanied by a verified petition reciting the fact that such decision has not been complied with and stating by whom and in what respects it has been disregarded. Thereupon the circuit court or the county court (as the case may be) or the judge thereof, if in vacation, shall grant a rule against the party or parties so charged to show cause within ten days why such decision has not been complied with, which shall be served by the sheriff as other process. Upon return made to the rule, the court, or the judge thereof, if in vacation, shall hear and determine the questions presented, and to secure a compliance with such decision, may punish the offending party or parties for contempt, but such punishment shall in no case extend to imprisonment.

SEC. 23b. Joint application.-Whenever two or more employers engaged in the same general line of business, employing in the aggregate not less than twenty-five persons, and having a common difference with their employees, shall, cooperating together, make application for arbitration, or whenever such application shall be made by the employees of two or more employers engaged in the same general line of business, such employees being not less than twenty-five in number, and having a common difference with their employers, or whenever the application shall be made jointly by the employers and employees in such a case, the board shall have the same powers and proceed in the same manner as if the application had been made by one employer, or by the employees of one employer, or by both.

SEC. 24. Strike, etc., threatened.-Whenever it shall come to the knowledge of the State board that a strike or a lockout is seriously threatened in the State involving an employer and his employees, if he is employing not less than twenty-five persons, it shall be the duty of the State board to put itself in communication as soon as may be with such employer or employees, and endeavor by mediation to effect an amicable settlement between them, or to endeavor to persuade them to submit the matters in dispute to the State board. SEC. 24a. Duty of mayors, etc.-It shall be the duty of the mayor of every city, and the president of every incorporated town or village, whenever a strike or lockout, involving more than twenty-five employees, shall be threatened or has actually occurred within or near such city, incorporated town, or village to immediately communicate the fact to the State board of arbitration, stating the name or names of the employer or employers and of one or more. employees, with their post-office addresses, the nature of the controversy or difference existing, the number of employees involved,. and such other information as may be required by said board. It shall be the duty of the president or chief executive officer of every labor organization, in case of a strike or lockout, actual or threatened, involving the members of the organi zation of which he is an officer to immediately communicate the fact of such strike or lockout to the said board, with such information as he may possess, touching the differences or controversy, and the number of employees involved. SEC. 24b. Investigation without application.-Whenever there shall exist a strike or a lockout, wherein, in the judgment of a majority of said board, the general public shall appear likely to suffer injury or inconvenience with respect to food, fuel, or light, or the means of communication or transportation, or in any other respect, and neither party to such strike or lockout shall consent to submit the matter or matters in controversy to the State board of arbitration, in conformity with this act, then the said board, after first having made due effort to effect a settlement thereof by conciliatory means, and such effort having failed, may proceed of its own motion to make an investigation of all facts bearing upon such strike or lockout and make public its findings, with such recommendations to the parties involved as in its judgment will contribute to a fair and equitable settlement of the differences which constitute the cause of the strike or lockout; and in the prosecution of such inquiry the board shall have power to issue subpoenas and compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses as in other cases.

SEC. 25. Compensation.-The members of the said board shall each receive a salary of $1,500 a year, and necessary traveling expenses, to be paid out of the treasury of the State upon bills of particulars approved by the governor. SEC. 26. Service of process.-Any notice or process issued by the State board of arbitration shall be served by any sheriff, coroner, or constable to whom the same may be directed or in whose hands the same may be placed for service.

CHAPTER 10b.-Wages as preferred claims-In assignments

SECTION 6. Amount.-[Wages earned within 3 months prior to any assignment are to be paid after the costs, commissions, and expenses of assignment.]

CHAPTER 13.-Suits for wages-Attorneys' fees

SECTION 13. Fee allowed, when.-Whenever a mechanic, artisan, miner, laborer, or servant, or employee, shall have cause to bring suit for his or her wages earned and due, and owing according to the terms of the employment, and he or she shall establish by the decision of the court or jury that the amount for which he or she has brought suit is justly due and owing, and that

a demand has been made in writing at least three days before suit is brought, for a sum not exceeding the amount so found due and owing, then it shall be the duty of the court before which the case shall be tried to allow to the plantiff, when the foregoing facts appear, a reasonable attorney fee, in addition to the amount found due and owing for wages, and in justice court such attorney's fee shall not be less than $5, and in the county or circuit court, not less than $10, to be taxed as costs of suit.

This act is constitutional. 42 N. E. 386.

Attorneys' fees can not be collected if the amount recovered is less than the amount named in the demand. 49 Ill. App. 36.

This statute does not apply to an action brought by an employee for damages for being discharged, but only when the amount sued for is found to be wages due. 57 Ill. App. 606. miner working at a given rate per ton are wages within the mean140 Ill. App. 282.

The earnings of a ing of this statute.

SECTION 3. as follows: minerals;

CHAPTER 242.-Department of labor, etc.

Departments.-Departments of the State government are created The department of labor; the department of mines and * the department of registration and education.

SEC. 4. Heads. Each department shall have an officer at its head who shall be known as a director, and who shall, subject to the provisions of this act, execute the powers and discharge the duties vested by law in his respective department.

The following offices are hereby created: **

Director of labor, for the department of labor; director of mines and minerals, for the department of mines and minerals; director of regis

tration and education, for the department of registration and education.

SEC. 5 (as amended 1921, p. 335). Other officers.-In addition to the directors of departments, the following executive and administrative officers, boards, and commissions, which said officers, boards, and commissions in the respective departments, shall hold offices hereby created and designated as follows:

In the department of labor: Assistant director of labor; chief factory inspector; superintendent of free employment offices; chief inspector of private employment agencies; the industrial commission, which shall consist of five officers designated industrial officers.

In the department of mines and minerals: Assistant director of mines and minerals; the mining board, which shall consist of four officers designated as mine officers and the director of the department of mines and minerals; the miners' examining board, which shall consist of four officers, designated miners' examining officers.

In the department of registration and education: Assistant director of regis tration and education; superintendent of registration.

* *

The above-named officers, and each of them, shall, except as otherwise provided in this act, be under the direction, supervision, and control of the director of their respective departments, and shall perform such duties as such director shall prescribe.

SEC. 6 (as amended 1921, p. 340). Boards.-Advisory and nonexecutive boards, in the respective departments, are created as follows:

In the department of labor: A board of Illinois free employment office advisers, composed of five persons; a board of local Illinois free employment office advisers, for each free employment office, composed of five persons on each local board.

In the department of registration and education.

The immigrants commission, composed of five members, one of whom shall be the director of the department of registration and education. The members of each of the above-named boards shall be officers.

SEC. 7 (as amended 1921, p. 341). Qualifications of officers.-Industrial officers: * * Of the five industrial officers, two shall be representative citizens of the employing class operating under the workmen's compensation