IOWA.

CODE OF 1897 AND SUPPLEMENT OF 1907.

Mothers' pensions—Aid for dependent children.

when.

care,

SECTION 254-a20 (as amended by chapter 31, Acts of 1913). Commitment When any child of the age stated in section two [2], hereof, of dependent or ne glected [under the age of sixteen years] shall be found to be dependent children. or neglected, within the meaning of this act, the [juvenile] court may make an order committing the child to the care of some suitable State institution, or to the care of some reputable citizen of good moral character, or to the care of some industrial school, as provided by law, or to the care of some association willing to receive it, embracing in its objects the purpose of caring for and obtaining homes for dependent and neglected children, which association shall have been accredited as hereinafter provided. If the court finds that the mother of such dependent or neglected child Mother to is a widow, and if the court further finds that such mother is have poor and unable to properly care for said child, but is otherwise a proper guardian, and that it is for the welfare of such child to remain at home, the court may enter an order finding such fact and fixing an amount of money necessary to enable such mother to properly care for such child, and thereupon it shall be the duty of the county board of supervisors, through its overseer of the poor or otherwise, to pay to such mother, at such times as said order may designate, the amount so specified for the care of such mother. dependent or neglected child until further order of the court: Providing, however, That the amount to be paid for the care of any such child shall not exceed the sum of two dollars per week: And provided further, That such payment shall cease upon any such child attaining the age of fourteen years. The court may, when the health or condition of the child may require it, cause the child to be placed in a public hospital or institution for treatment or special care, or in a private hospital or institution which will treatment. receive it for like purposes without charge.

Aid to

Hospital

Protection of employees on street railways-Inclosed platforms.

Platforms to

SECTION 768. ** # * Every person, partnership, company or corporation owning or operating a street railway in this State be inclosed. shall, from November first of each year to April first following, provide all cars, except trailers, used for the transportation of passengers, with vestibules inclosing the front platform on at least all [sic] sides, for the protection of employees operating such cars. Any violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each day said cars are operated in violation hereof.

Protection of employees as voters-Time to vote.

Two hours to

SECTION 1123. Any person entitled to vote at a general election shall, on the day of such election, be entitled to absent himself be allowed. from any services in which he is then employed for a period of two hours, between the time of opening and closing the polls, which period may be designated by the employer, and such voter shall not be liable to any penalty, nor shall any deduction be made from his usual salary or wages, on account of such absence, but application for such absence shall be made prior to the day of

to

voter.

Attempting election. Any employer who shall refuse to an employee the influence privilege, conferred by this section, or shall subject such employee to a penalty or reduction of wages because of the exercise of such privilege, or shall in any manner attempt to influence or control such employee as to how he shall vote, by offering any reward, or threatening discharge from employment, or otherwise intimidating or attempting to intimidate such employee from exercising his right to vote, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars.

Organiza

tion.

Powers.

Duration.

Injuries

ligence.

Contracts re

ity.

Contracts of

Labor organizations, etc.-Incorporation.

SECTION 1642. Any three or more persons of full age, a majority of whom shall be citizens of the State, may incorporate themselves for the establishment of * trades-unions or other labor organizations, * by signing, acknowledging, and filing for record with the county recorder of the county where the principal place of business is to be located, articles of incorporation, stating the name by which the corporation or association shall be known, which shall not be the same as that of any such organization previously existing, its business or objects, the number of trustees, directors, managers or other officers to conduct the same, and the names thereof for the first year.

SEC. 1643. Upon filing such articles, the persons signing and acknowledging the same, and their associates and successors, shall become a body corporate, with the name therein stated, and may sue and be sued. It may have a corporate seal, alterable at its pleasure, and may take by gift, purchase, devise or bequest real and personal property for purposes appropriate to its creation, and may make by-laws. Corporations so organized shall endure for fifty years, unless a shorter period is fixed in the articles, or they are sooner dissolved by three-fourths vote of all the members thereof, or by the act of the general assembly, or by operation of law.

Liability of railroad companies for injuries to employees.

SECTION 2071 (as amended by chapter 124, Acts of 1909). Every caused by neg-corporation operating a railway shall be liable for all damages sustained by any person, including employees of such corporation, in consequence of the neglect of the agents, or by any mismanagement of the engineers or other employees thereof, and in consequence of the willful wrongs, whether of commission or omission, of such agents, engineers or other employees, when such stricting liabil- Wrongs are in any manner connected with the use and operation of any railway on or about which they shall be employed, and no contract which restricts such liability shall be legal or binding. Nor shall any contract of insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity insurance, etc. in case of injury or death, entered into prior to the injury, between the person so injured and such corporation, or any other person or association acting for such corporation, nor shall the acceptance of any such insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity by the person injured, his widow, heirs, or legal representatives after the injury, from such corporation, person, or association, constitute any bar or defense to any cause of action brought under the provisions of this section, but nothing contained herein shall be construed to prevent or invalidate any settlement for damages between the parties subsequent to injuries received.

Comparative negligence.

In all actions hereafter brought against any such corporation to recover damages for the personal injury or death of any employee under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this section, the fact that the employee may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery, but the damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence Defenses attributable to such employee: Provided, That no such employee who may be injured or killed shall be held to have been guilty of contributory negligence in any case where the violation by such

barred.

common carrier or corporation of any statute enacted for the safety of employees contributed to the injury or death of such employee; nor shall it be any defense to such action that the employee who was injured or killed assumed the risks of his employment.

This section is constitutional. 127 U. S. 210.

The intention of this statute is merely to give employees a right of action for injuries arising from the negligence of coemployees, and not to change the degree of care necessary as between master and servant. 26 Iowa 363.

The company is not liable to an employee under circumstances that would not have rendered it liable to one not an employee. 107 lowa 682. This statute does not confer upon a widow the right to sue for the death of her husband occasioned by the wrongful act of a railroad company. 88 N. W. 815.

A railway company can not avoid liability under this statute by requir ing of its employees more than reasonable care in the discharge of their duties. 83 Iowa 380.

This statute is not unconstitutional, being applicable to all persons or corporations engaged in a peculiar business. 20 Iowa 338.

It seems not to be applicable to street railways. 68 Fed. 82.

A receiver, operating a railroad under the appointment of a court, is within the terms of this section. 62 Iowa 728.

The statute applies only to accidents growing out of the use and operation of railroads. One who is required in the course of his employment by a railroad company to go upon a train is to be regarded as being engaged in its operation, notwithstanding his employment may not be connected with the running of its trains. 41 Iowa 344.

The running of special trains by a construction company engaged in constructing a road is operating it within the meaning of this statute. 43 Iowa 406.

A clinker man in a roundhouse injured while coupling tanks moved by engines is within the statute. 87 Iowa 206.

So is a bridge worker who is required in the course of his employment to ride on trains. 47 Iowa 375.

So is a section hand. 36 Iowa 372.

And a man engaged in shoveling gravel from a gravel train. 43 Iowa 406.

Or in the operation of a dirt train. 36 Iowa 52.

Or running a hand car. 137 U. S. 507.

The ordinary work of a section gang is not within the statute. 107 N. W. 616.

Operating a ditching machine which worked by the movement along the track of the train of which it forms a part is within the statute. 73 Iowa 576.

An employee injured while operating a derrick situated on a flat car, worked by moving the car, recovered under this statute. 73 Iowa 576. As did one injured by the caving of a sand bank where he had been' engaged in loading a train. 72 Iowa 709.

And one injured in a coal house by the negligent moving of a plank over which coal had been carried to the tender of a live engine. 106 Iowa 54. But employees elevating coal to a platform from which tenders were to be filled were not within the statute. 70 Iowa 555.

Nor repair men at work on a track and not injured by the operation of the road. 68 Iowa 22.

Nor a car repairer who worked on cars while not in motion, though sometimes required to ride from place to place on trains of the company for the purpose of making such repairs at different places. 64 Iowa 644. The foreman of an iron gang on a bridge, who controlled the speed of trains by signals, was directing the operation of trains in such a sense as to fix the liability of the railway company for the death of an employee at the bridge, caused by a train running at too great speed. 72 N. W. 545.

The fact that an employee is foreman of a crew of men whom he directs and whom he may hire or discharge does not prevent his being a coemployee with such workmen so that he can recover under this section for injuries received by their negligence. 60 Iowa 230.

A written contract by which an employee agrees to hold the company harmless for injuries received in doing certain acts which he is advised are dangerous is admissible for the purpose of showing the existence of the rule and of notice to the employee of such rule and of the danger. 73 Iowa 158.

This section does not make the employer responsible for negligent acts of an employee done tortiously or outside the line of duty. 78 N. W. 698. The clause as to restrictive contracts is constitutional. 134 N. W. 1135.

So also of acceptance of benefits. 108 N. W. 902, 31 Sup. Ct. 259.

Railroad.-Safety appliances.

Automatic

SECTION 2079. No corporation, company or person operating any line of railroad within this State, or any car manufacturer or couplers. transportation company using or leasing cars therein, shall put in use any new car or any old one that has been to the shop for general repairs to one or both of its drawbars, that is not equipped 39387°-Bull. 148-14- 46

Same subject.

Power brakes.

Control engineer.

Penalty.

Exception.

by

with automatic couplers so constructed as to enable any person to couple or uncouple them without going between them.

SEC. 2080. * * * No corporation, company or person, operating a railroad, or any transportation company using or leasing cars, shall have upon any railroad in this State any car that is not equipped with such safety automatic coupler: Provided, That the board of railroad commissioners shall have power upon a showing which it shall deem reasonable, to extend the time within which any such corporations shall be required to comply with the provisions of this section; but no such extension shall be made beyond January 1st, 1900.

A locomotive is not a car requiring equipment with automatic coupling under this section. 93 N. W. 275.

SEC. 2081. No corporation, company or person operating any line of railroad in the State shall use any locomotive engine upon any railroad or in any railroad yard in the State that is not equipped with a proper and efficient power brake, commonly called a "driver brake."

SEC. 2082. No corporation, company or person operating a line of railroad in the State shall run any train of cars that shall not have therein a sufficient number of cars with some kind of efficient automatic or power brake to enable the engineer to control the train without requiring brakemen to go between the ends or on the top of the cars to use the hand brake.

SEC. 2083. Any corporation, company or person operating a railroad in this State and using a locomotive engine, or running a train of cars, or using any freight, way or other car contrary to the provisions of the four preceding sections, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subject to a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars for each and every offense; but such penalties shall not apply to companies hauling cars belonging to railroads other than those of this State which Assumption are engaged in interstate traffic. Any railway employee who may be injured by the running of such engine, train or car contrary to the provisions of said sections shall not be considered as waiving his right to recover damage by continuing in the employ of the corporation, company or person operating such engine, train or

of risk.

Limit of sixteen hours.

Violations.

cars.

Hours of labor of employees on railroads.

SECTION 2110-a. It shall be unlawful for any railway company within the State of Iowa, or any of its officers or agents to require or permit any employee engaged in or connected with the movement of any rolling stock, engine or train, to remain on duty more than sixteen (16) consecutive hours, or to require or permit any such employee who has been on duty sixteen (16) consecutive hours to perform any further service without having at least ten hours for rest, or to require or permit any such employee to be on duty at any time to exceed sixteen (16) hours in any consecutive twenty-four (24) hours: Provided, however, That this section shall not apply to work performed in the protection of life or property in cases of accident, wreck, or other unavoidable casualty, or prevent train crews from taking a passenger train, or freight train loaded exclusively with live stock or perishable freight, to the next nearest division point upon such railroad: And provided further, That it shall not apply to that time necessary for the trainmen to reach a resting place when an accident, wreck, washout, snow blockade or other unavoidable cause has delayed their train: And provided further, That this section shall not apply to employees of sleeping-car companies.

SEC. 2110-b. Any superintendent, train master, train dispatcher, yardmaster or other official of any railroad in the State of Iowa, violating any of the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty

of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) and not more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each offense. It shall be the duty of the board of railroad commissioners to receive written statements of violations of this act and when so requested to hold the same without disclosure of the name of the person making such statement, and to investigate each and every complaint filed alleging such violation. The board in making such investigation shall have the power to administer oaths, interrogate witnesses, take testimony, and require the production of books and papers, and must file a report of such investigation in writing with a full statement of its finding to the governor. In all cases of violation of this act, the board of railroad commissioners, through the attorney general, must at once begin the prosecution of all parties against whom evidence of violation is found; but this act shall not be construed to prevent any other person from beginning prosecution for violation hereof.

Railroads-Height of wires crossing tracks.

SECTION 2120-d. The railroad commissioners of this State shall have general supervision over any and all wires for transmitting electric current or any other wire whatsoever crossing under or over any track of a railroad in this State.

SEC. 2120-e. Within thirty (30) days from the taking effect of this act said railroad commissioners shall make regulations prescribing the manner in which such wires shall cross such railroad tracks in this State.

SEC. 2120-f. It shall hereafter be unlawful for any corporation or person to place or string any such wire for transmitting electric current or any wire whatsoever across any track of a railroad in this State except in such manner as may be prescribed by the railroad commissioners as provided by this act.

Power of commissioners.

To make regulations.

Noncompliance unlawful.

Information

SEC. 2120-g. The board of railroad commissioners shall, as soon as possible after the taking effect of this act, either by personal to be secured. examination or otherwise, obtain information where the tracks or railroads are crossed by wires strung over said tracks, contrary to or not in compliance with the rules prescribed by the railroad commissioners as contemplated by this act, and shall order such change or changes to be made by the persons or corporations owning or operating such wires as it may deem necessary to make the same comply with said rules and within such reasonable time as it may prescribe.

Height of

SEC. 2120-h. In case such wires cross over said track, in no case shall said board of railroad commissioners prescribe a less height wires. than twenty-two (22) feet above the top of the rails of any railroad track for any wire.

SEC. 2120-i. The board of railroad commissioners are hereby an- Crossings at thorized to provide for and regulate the crossing of wires over and highways, etc. across railroad rights of way at highways and other places within the State.

SEC. 2120-j. Any person or corporation who string or maintain any wire across any railroad track in this State at a different height or in a different manner from that prescribed by the said board of railroad commissioners shall forfeit and pay to the State of Iowa the sum of one hundred dollars ($100) for each separate period of ten days during which such wire is so maintained, said forfeiture to be recovered in a civil action brought in any court of competent jurisdiction in the name of the State of Iowa, by the attorney general, or by the county attorney of the county in which such wire is situated, at the request of the said board of railroad commissioners, and it is hereby made the duty of the said attorney general and county attorney to bring such action forthwith upon being so requested.

Violations.