GOVERNORS URGE UNIFORMITY
Governors Urge Uniformity TEAM WORK on the part of the states in the effort to do economic justice to the workers of the nation was the positive note struck at the Governors' Conference which met...
...Upon all subjects, of course, it is manifestly impossible to , secure this uniformity, but upon many subjects co-operation can be achieved...
...Several instances might be enumerated of industries having been moved from a state attempting to enforce humanitarian laws into a state having no such laws—and the industry justifying the move by the statement that they could not comply with the regulations of a progressive state and at the same time meet the competition of concerns conducting their business in the non-progressive states...
...Governor Dunne discussed the general character of such laws and expressed the conviction that they should be so drawn as to provide for the widest possible measure to safety...
...Such laws should ba uniform in fairness to the employers...
...Reasonable laws for the protection of the life, health, safety and welfare of employees are essential to the political and social health of the states and the nation...
...Governor Dunne said: "A progressive state which enacts humane laws for the conservation of human life ana limb, and for the preservation of the health, morals and well being of its laboring citizens, is thus placed at a great disadvantage as compared with a non-progressive state, which, by its failure to enact such laws, invites the manufacturer,', whose only aim is financial profit, within its borders, and thus enhances the manufacturing development in such non-progressive states...
...How to enforce workmen's compensation, safety and sanitation and other laws of a kindred nature, and yet not do a commercial injustice to capital invested in industries has become a problem in every- progressive state...
...This latter alternative has been seriously urged...
...Governors, ex-governors and governors-elect representing eighteen states of the union spent a full day discussing this problem, the principal papei being read by Governor Edward F. Dunne of Illinois...
...Governors Urge Uniformity TEAM WORK on the part of the states in the effort to do economic justice to the workers of the nation was the positive note struck at the Governors' Conference which met in Madison, Wisconsin, November 10-14...
...their respective states recommendations for the enactment of uniform laws which will be just to both employer and employee and meet the demands of modern society for laws which will conserve the health and lives of the working men and the working women of ' the republic...
...A federal law, must be uniform in its application to all parts of the United States, and a law, which might be salutary and advisable relating to the manufacture of goods in the tenement districts of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, might be grossly unjust and unduly onerous in western villages and cities...
...On the last day of the program the governors held a round table session with the heads of the various administrative departments of the Wisconsin state government and discussed the features of their work as It contrasted with the work of similar administrative bodies in other states...
...This step towards co-operation of the states in procuring uniformity of laws has been advocated heretofore by some of the best thinkers and most enlightened political economists...
...I believe in the creation and operation of such commissions, operating through administrative orders, so far as the courts will permit the same to be done...
...It is interesting to note that the Governors' Conference is obliged to work through persuasion and influence and cannot adopt any binding resolution or take any action that has the force of law...
...This bosie has made cowards of many well-intentioned men and has operated to vitiate health and safety laws either by affecting the form In which they are passed or the manner of their administration...
...And experience has shown that this is not a fancied but a real danger...
...In this connection it should be a matter of considerable pride to every citizen ot Wisconsin that every governor present at the round table session expressed approval and admiration for the thoroughness and enthusiasm with whioh government is administered in Wisconsin...
...For this reason the appointment of experts by the executive ot each state to represent that state in a conference at which uniformity is to be discussed, is the only practical way in which the Governors' Confer ence could approach this problem of uniformity...
...Over the heads of legislators in every state has hung the threat that "regulation will drive business away...
...He continued: "A commission created for the purpose of keeping pace with the march of modern science, with power to examine from day to day, and from week to week, new methods and new contrivances, would have a facility of power and effectiveness, which could not be obtained in any cast iron law passed by a legislature...
...When the experts have worked out and agreed upon a program of uniformity each will report to the governor of his state and the matter will probably then come before the next conference of governors to be further discussed by the executives of the states and finally to be presented to the legislatures of the various states in the form of a bill accompanied by the recommendations ot the governor in each instance...
...Other subjects up for discussion during the meeting were "Rural Credit", "Extradition", "State Control of Natural Resources" and "Submission of the Governors' Recommendations to the Legislatures in Bill Form...
...By working together, through uniform laws (that is, uniform as to essentials), it is believed that the states will be able to rout completely the great "drive-business-away" bogie...
...I believe that co-operation between ths great manufacturing states toward the securing of the same or similar laws affecting industries, is urgently demanded and not difficult of attainment...
...At the close of the discussion it was agreed that Governors Walsh of Massachusetts, Eberhart of Minnesota and Dunne of Illinois should issue a call to the governora of all the states to appoint commissions of experts to make a study of the laws and conditions in their own states, and later to meet in conference to work out a program for uniformity in legislation with regard to safety and sanitation and workmen's compensation...
...The call is to ba issued at once and the conference of state experts probably will be held lato in the winter...
...by many manufacturers and political economists, but in my judgment is not feasible or possible...
...Federal legislation, under the Interstate Commerce „ Act, may be applied to interstate railroads, and other interstate utilities, but most of the products of our manufacturing industries are not impressed with an interstate character...
...Yet, as Chief Justice J. B. Winslow of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, speaking at the farewell banquet tendered the visiting governors, said: "It is not right that the attempt by one state to do economic justice should he in danger of defeat by the simple expedient of removing a business to a state which has made no such attempt...
...The time has come, in my judgment, when the different states of the union, engaged largely in the manufacture of industrial products should, through commissions, created by the legislatures, or appointed by the executives of these states, arrange for an investigation of the conditions relating to manufacturing and the advocacy of the laws covering these industries insofar as the health, sanitation, morals and safety of the men and women engaged therein is concerned...
...I am confident, moreover, that such commissions, after meeting in a spirit of fairness and Impartial justice, can submit to the' legislatures of...
...Such commissional orders, however, should be uniform, and applicable alike to all classes of citizens and manufacturers in similar classes...
...Uniformity should come and will come, from co-operation between the states, and it is the duty of every citizen interested in the wellbeing of our industrial classes, and prosperity of our country, to co-operate In bringing about the much desired achievement" Uniformity also of the laws fixing the requirements to be met by foreign corporations before doing business in a state was recommended in a paper by Governor Charles R. Miller of Delaware...
...The common grounds and the grounds of difference having been determined by experts representing each of the states, the governors believe that at their meeting next year in Boston they will be able to discuss uniformity with a scientific foundation for their discussion...
...It must he apparent that if such salutary laws must be passed and enforced—as all must concede—that there should be more or less uniformity of legislation in all the states where such industries are carried on, or the enactment of federal laws covering the subject matter...
Vol. 6 • December 1914 • No. 46