by the lower court was reversed by the supreme court of the State on account of the declared unconstitutionality of the law as tending to create a status of involuntary servitude. The Federal statute forbidding peonage was held applicable in a case (Bernal v. United States, p. 185) in which a Mexican woman was being held to compulsory service by the proprietor of an alleged hotel in Texas on a claim that the latter had paid the woman's fare, and refused to allow wages for the work done.

A different aspect of the subject of enforced contracts is presented in the case of employees leaving service after having obtained knowledge of secrets of manufacture or other important data of value to their employer, whose exclusive right thereto is guaranteed by principles of common law. An obvious difficulty in passing upon questions involving secret processes of manufacture is their necessary disclosure to experts in cases in which the novelty of the process is in dispute. Such a question was involved in the case E. I. Du Pont de Nemours Powder Co. v. Masland, p. 78), in which the Supreme Court sustained an injunction against a general disclosure to experts, leaving the court opportunity to control inquiries and limit them to those necessary for a determination of the rights of the employer and the employee. In Aronson v. Orlov (p. 80) a simpler question was involved, since the contest hinged on the right of an employer to make use of a device for which applications for patents were under discussion. In this case the Supreme Court of Massachusetts affirmed an injunction against the employee making use of his employer's device in the conduct of a rival business in the same field. A list of customers of a laundry was held (New Method Laundry Co. v. McCann, p. 79) to be a trade secret, the use of which for soliciting trade for a rival company could be enjoined. The company's contention that the injunction should cover the receipt of work by its former employee from its old customers was not sustained.

BREACH OF CONTRACT.

Damages for the unlawful discharge of an employee were approved in a case (Barry v. New York Holding & Construction Co., p. 68) where an estimated value of commissions on business that might have been obtained but for the unlawful discharge was included in the award. A manager of a department store was held entitled to damages for discharge made during the course of the fourth year of service, under a contract for the term of one year, with presumed renewals, the court holding such a presumption controlling (Stewart Dry Goods Co. v. Hutchison, p. 72). Employment during a part of the time was held not to reduce damages, since it was unremunerative.

The effect of a custom of trade was under consideration in Cormier v. Lumber Co. (p. 70), in which it was held that "straight time"

covered the period of a protracted shutdown, since the employee had not been definitely discharged at its commencement.

The inattention of the superintendent of an establishment to its operation was held to warrant his discharge in Farmer v. First Trust Co. (p. 71), where it was in evidence that the establishment was not being satisfactorily managed and required close personal supervision-this in face of the contention that an employee of his rank could not be held to constant personal attendance upon his duties.

CLEARANCE CARDS.

The vexed question of the constitutionality of laws compelling the employer to furnish on demand a clearance card or service letter was before the Supreme Court of Missouri (Check v. Prudential Insurance Co., p. 75). That laws of this class ore within the police power of the State and that they are of beneficial intent as protecting workmen from the oppressive practices sometimes indulged in by employers or groups of employers was maintained by the court in the face of adverse citations.

INTERFERENCE WITH EMPLOYMENT.

The Supreme Court of Massachusetts had before it a case (Doucette v. Sallinger, p. 74), in which the question of damages for discharge caused by the activity of a third person was involved. The offender had acted under a mistake, but it was held that it was his duty to assure himself of the identity of the person complained of for nonpayment of a debt, failing which he was liable for damages for causing the discharge of an innocent man.

Two cases are noted which arose under the Sherman Antitrust Act, one (United States v. Hollis, p. 65) being a prosecution for conspiracy and combination to restrain trade by an association of retail lumber dealers. Its purpose was, among other things, to prevent sales to consumers by others than retail dealers and to boycott wholesale dealers and manufacturers who made such sales. Activities of this nature were held to be offenses against the law and were enjoined. The second case (Knauer v. United States, p. 64) involved quite similar activities on the part of an association of master plumbers, and in this case a conviction for violation of the Sherman Act was affirmed by a circuit court of appeals.

A novel case based on general economic principles was passed upon by the Supreme Court of the United States, which sustained the constitutionality of a statute of Maine which authorized municipalities to maintain coal and wood yards for the purpose of selling fuel at cost to the resident population. Interested parties sought to have this act declared unconstitutional on the ground that taxation

for such purposes was not for a public purpose and was not within the power of the legislature to levy. ever, denied and sustained the law. p. 121.)

SEAMEN.

This the Supreme Court, how(Jones v. City of Portland,

Since the enactment of the seamen's law of 1915 the status of such employment is much more closely assimilated to that of laborers generally, though none of the cases herein noted makes reference to that act. In Alaska Steamship Co. v. Gilbert (p. 188) the point involved : is simply as to the terms of the contract to be held as implied at the time of employment and changed without notice to the employee. The court held that a discharge for refusal to accept the changed conditions of employment was not warranted and affirmed a judgment awarding wages and expenses. Quite similar questions were involved in the second case (The Moana, p. 187), in which sailors were held entitled to the benefits of an understood agreement for a round-trip employment, as against the employer's contention that they were hired for one way only.

A third case that may be mentioned under this head involved the construction of the Federal alien contract labor law and its application to aliens brought from a foreign country for employment on an outgoing vessel, service as sailors also being rendered on the voyage to the United States. The claim that this service was a subterfuge was rejected, as was their classification as laborers; while their transfer from one vessel to another in an American harbor was held not to constitute a bringing of them into the United States under the terms of the law. (Scharrenberg v. Dollar S. S. Co., p. 61.)

RESIDENCE IN COMPANY VILLAGE.

An interesting case that does not fall under any of the usual headings is one (Harris v. Keystone Coal & Coke Co., p. 73) in which the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania passed upon the validity of a company order excluding a tradesman from the streets of a village owned by it and occupied by its employees. The authority to make such exclusions was sustained as being within the terms of a valid contract with the workmen.

WAGES.

MINIMUM WAGE LAWS.

The question of the constitutionality of laws authorizing the establishment of a minimum wage for women and minors was before the courts of last resort of Arkansas and Minnesota. The Supreme Court of Oregon had upheld a law of that nature in a decision rendered in 1914 (Bul. 169, p. 172), and this was sustained on April 9, 1917, by an evenly divided court on an appeal to the Supreme Court

64919°-18-Bull. 246- -2

of the United States, one justice known to be in favor of the constitutionality of the act not taking part in the decision by reason of his connection with the case during its trial. Subsequent to this decision (June 4, 1917), the Arkansas law establishing a statutory daily wage was sustained by the supreme court of the State (State v. Crowe, p. 191), reference being made to the physical needs of women as requiring an adequate wage. The Minnesota statute resembles that of Oregon in providing for a commission to determine wages, and a subordinate court had taken the position that the law was unconstitutional and enjoined its enforcement. The supreme court, however (Williams v. Evans, p. 193), took the opposite view and sustained the law as a valid exercise of the police power not forbidden by the fourteenth amendment.

MODE AND TIME OF PAYMENT.

In the Ballestra case (p. 195), a California statute forbidding the payment of wages in scrip, etc., unless immediately redeemable in full in lawful money was held constitutional and a conviction for its violation affirmed.

A case that may be noted here as involving the question of the full and adequate payment of wages earned, though not concerned with the question of scrip or orders, is one decided by the Supreme Court of Oregon (Sumpter v. St. Helens Creosoting Co., p. 199), the matter of overtime pay being under consideration. A contention that the 10-hour law of the State was unconstitutional was first rejected, but inasmuch as the monthly pay checks were so drawn as to constitute, when indorsed, receipts in full of wages earned to date it was decided that no claim could be sustained for labor performed in excess of the 10 hours declared by law to be a day's work.

A law of Arizona establishing a semimonthly pay day was challenged as to its validity, primarily because its enforcement might involve imprisonment for debt where the employer became subject to punishment for its violation (Arizona Power Co. v. State, p. 197). This contention was rejected in view of the fact that the employer in the present instance was a corporation, which could not be imprisoned, and was therefore not entitled to raise the question. The fact that the law applied only to corporations was likewise held not to invalidate it; nor could it be regarded as void for uncertainty in requiring payment of wages "at once" to persons leaving service, the language being held to imply payment within a reasonable time.

ASSIGNMENTS.

The practice of assigning future earnings as security for loans is regulated by law in an increasing number of States, and the con

stitutionality of such laws was challenged in two cases coming under review at this time. In People v. Stokes (p. 62) a conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Illinois against a lender who charged a rate in excess of the statutory amount, the law being held valid against claims that it was cla legislation and that it abridged the privileges and immunities of citizens, depriving them of property without due process of law. The Supreme Court of Ohio (Wessell v. Timberlake, p. -), likewise sustained the validity of the law of this State against quite similar objections where money had been loaned without procuring the license required by the statute.

the

An assignment of a different type was before the Supreme Court of Virginia (London Bros. v. National Exchange Bank, p. 179), case being one in which a contractor had assigned a balance due him prior to the satisfaction of claims for labor and supplies. The lower court had sustained the validity of the assignment, holding that the mechanics' lien law of the State was not available where the property improved was owned by a municipal corporation. The supreme court reversed this decision, however, and held the assignment invalid until the claims had been met.

Where a contractor borrowed money from a bank and assigned as security all money to become due him on a contract with a city, prior to any notice that claims might be made for unpaid wages, the final balance paid by the city was subject to the assignment to the bank rather than to such claims, leaving the contractor's bondman liable therefor. Time checks for labor assigned by the workmen themselves might also be cashed by the bank and fall within the protection of such bond, though the claims of a subcontractor and a bookkeeper were not of such a nature as to be entitled to this protection (Northwestern National Bank of Bellingham v. Guardian Casualty & Guaranty Co., p. 196).

HOURS OF LABOR.

RAILROADS.

The most important decision of the year under this head is that construing and sustaining the Federal eight-hour law applicable to railroad employees, decided in March, 1917. As it was possible to insert this decision in the bulletin covering 1916 decisions, it was reproduced in that number (No. 224, p. 144). The decisions to be noted at this time relate entirely to the construction of the 16-hour law, so-called, though some of the cases relate to the 9-hour employment of certain classes of persons under the same act. Thus in Chicago & A. R. Co. v. United States (p. 118), a circuit court of appeals held that switch tenders who habitually received orders by telephone were within the class to whom the nine-hour provision ap