. Labor problems and labor legislation . in. In 1895 theIllinois Supreme Court set aside an eight-hourlaw for women workers on the ground that itwas an infringement on the liberty of a womanto work as long as she saw fit. For some yearsafterwards decisions by state courts varied. Thenin 1908 came the test case in which the Oregonwomens ten-hour law came before the SupremeCourt of the United States. Louis D. Brandeis,who later became a member of the court, andMiss Josephine Goldmark, prepared a famousbrief in defense of the law. This brief em-phasized not so much legal technicalities as theharm
. Labor problems and labor legislation . in. In 1895 theIllinois Supreme Court set aside an eight-hourlaw for women workers on the ground that itwas an infringement on the liberty of a womanto work as long as she saw fit. For some yearsafterwards decisions by state courts varied. Thenin 1908 came the test case in which the Oregonwomens ten-hour law came before the SupremeCourt of the United States. Louis D. Brandeis,who later became a member of the court, andMiss Josephine Goldmark, prepared a famousbrief in defense of the law. This brief em-phasized not so much legal technicalities as theharmful effects of excessive hours on the healthof women. The court upheld the law as ahealth measure. As healthy mothers are es-sential to vigorous offspring, the judges said,the physical well-being of women becomes anobject of public interest and care in order topreserve the strength and vigor of the afterwards the Illinois court sustaineda new law for a ten-hour day. In 1915 theUnited States Supreme Court took a further [52]. LABOR PROBLEMS AND LABOR LEGISLATION progressive step in upholding the Californiaeight-hour law for women. All but five states had laws limiting the dailyor weekly hours of womens wTork at the begin-ning of 1922. The ten-hour day was still themost frequent, but the eight-hour day was inforce in nine western states, the District of Co-lumbia and Porto Rico, and a nine-hour day inmore than a dozen of the remaining states, in-cluding the important industrial areas of NewYork, Ohio, and Missouri. A few states havedaily limits of from ten and a quarter to twelvehours. Most states fixed weekly as well as dailylimits, which varied from forty-eight to sixtyhours. Night Work The United States is among the most back-ward of modern industrial countries in check-ing night work by women. In 1906 an inter-national conference on womens night work wascalled at Berne, Switzerland. Fourteen leadingEuropean countries were represented. A massof evidence on the phy
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectlaboran, bookyear1922
