Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jun 18, 1914

Six-Day Labor Law Upheld in New York

The supreme court of the State of New York has recently declared constitutional the clause in the State labor law which provides for one day of rest in seven. The Survey of May 9, 1914, says:—

In ordering the writ dismissed, Justice Tompkins pointed out that since the penal code makes all unnecessary Sunday work illegal in trades, manufactures, and mechanical employments, the statute under consideration was apparently framed to provide employees in factory or mercantile establishments that are in operation

on Sunday, with some other full day of rest in every seven. He said:—

“I think the law may be sustained as a health regulation and for the general welfare of the public. It has always been held that the state has power to protect the health and morals of the people, and preserve the repose and sanctity of the Sabbath day by forbidding labor and industrial and commercial pursuits on that day. I think the state has the same power to require employers who have the legal right to conduct their operations on the first day of the week to provide their employees another day out of every consecutive seven days for rest and recreation.”