The strongest criticism is concerned with the welfare of business. Business in one state may suffer from competition with business in another state if laws which affect the cost of production are unequal in the two states. Charges of this nature have been made in the Pacific coast states with reference to some businesses. It is to be observed, however, that labor legislation is rapidly spreading, thus reducing the evils of competition and lack of uniformity. For instance, in a very few years, workmen’s compensation laws have spread to twenty-four states. Indeed the rapid spread of social legislation is one of the incidental demonstrations of this paper.
Of all classes of wage-earners, women most need protection. They have not learned to organize for better wages and shorter hours, and there are special obstacles to their doing so. Yet, the inroads of machinery into the home-occupations are throwing large numbers of inexperienced women into the factory and the store, a situation not suited to a policy of little government and unrestrained liberty. And when it is remembered that women are peculiarly related to the welfare of the race, the new theory of the state seems amply warranted in legislating for their welfare. The new states of the Pacific coast, in moulding their social order, have not hesitated to provide for their women citizens.
Oregon was the first state to limit extensively the hours of labor for women; in 1907, a ten-hour law was adopted. Maine and North Dakota had previously passed ten-hour laws for women, but these were for a rather limited field of occupations. Oregon’s ten-hour law is famous in being the first to be declared constitutional by the supreme court of the United States. California and Washington, in 1911, adopted eight hour laws for women and remained unique in this respect until 1913, when eight-hour laws were passed in Arizona and Colorado. In 1914, a similar law was given the District of Columbia. The hours of labor of women in Oregon have been further restricted under the minimum wage law for women. This law gives the commission establishing the minimum wage the power to limit hours of labor. This has been done varyingly for the different industries.
Of recent labor legislation for women, the minimum wage laws have aroused the greatest interest. The causes necessitating the minimum wages for women are mainly these. The development of the factory and the consequent break down of home industry has forced large numbers of women to seek employment outside the home; and the large supply of women means a low wage. The supply has been unevenly distributed because of the attractions of the store and the unattractiveness of the domestic work in the private home. The situation has been further aggravated by the fact that some girls who could be partially supported by parents were willing to work at very low wages. These
