commissions investigated the wages of girls in factories and stores. They found that a fair percentage of these girls receive less than six dollars per week. The commissions have not claimed that morals and wages are inevitably connected, but the agitation is leading to the consideration of minimum wage laws in several States. Compensation for Accidents. Until recent years no employee who was injured in the course of duty could secure any compensation except by suing his employer. His employer was not liable for damages in most cases because the employee (1) "assumed the risk" in dangerous occupations, (2) because the employee could obtain nothing if he was guilty of "contributory negligence," and (3) the employer was not responsible if the injury was caused by a "fellow servant." The national liability law and the new liability laws in many of the States no longer allow the employers to escape payment because any of these three conditions has existed. These new laws protect labor much better than it has formerly been protected, but fifteen States have gone farther, having adopted some system of compensation. This permits the employers in certain industries to escape liability by agreeing to pay definite amounts to their employees who are injured. Industrial Arbitration and Conciliation. In the majority of the States there are boards to prevent the use of strikes and boycotts on the part of the employees and lockouts and blacklists on that of the employers. These boards, with a similar national board, have done something to protect the public from industrial warfare. REORGANIZATION IN CONGRESS The Insurgent Movement in the House of Representatives, 1910. The Speaker of the House is not the powerful official that he was in 1909 (§ 309). The revolt in Congress in 1910 against the arbitrary control of the "big three," the Speaker and his party associates on the Committee on Rules, deprived the Speaker of his position of the Committee on Rules and of his power to appoint committees. This "insurgent movement" gave the House the right to elect all committees, made the Committee on Rules (§ 310) a committee of ten members, and otherwise curbed the rule of the arbitrary leaders of the House. Change in Senate Customs. The Senate as well as the House has been reorganized (1913). Senatorial committees are selected by the Senate in a much more real sense than formerly, for the chairman and members do not hold their positions solely by virtue of seniority as formerly (§ 305), but at the wish of their colleagues. OTHER CHANGES (1909-1913) The Short Ballot. There has been a recent movement to shorten the ballot so that voters might not be compelled to consider the merits of the candidates for so many positions. This movement has been indorsed in cities that have adopted the commission form of government and in a few States which have made some administrative officials appointive instead of elective. Civil Service Reform (§§ 44, 74, 326). By the executive orders of President Roosevelt (1909) and President Taft (1912) all fourth-class postmasters, numbering more than 50,000, have been brought under the Civil Service Commission. President Wilson compelled all of the fourth-class postmasters, who were included in the classified service, to take examinations. With other changes since 1909, the positions in the classified service now number about 275,000 out of more than 400,000 national positions in the United States and dependencies. Civil service reform has made good progress in the cities, especially those that have adopted a commission form of government, and has made some progress in the state governments. Railway Commissions (§§ 140, 262). Since the railway law of 1906 changed the national Interstate Commerce Commission from an advisory commission to one with power to fix maximum rates, most of the States have followed the national plan. In consequence very few state publicity commissions (§ 140) are now in existence, most of the state commissions being of the first class, that is, with power to fix maximum rates (p. 135). A few are public service commissions which not only control steam railways, but most other public utilities, like street railways, water, light, and perhaps telephone companies. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1910 gave the national commission control of interstate telegraph and telephone companies, and created a special Court of Commerce to hear cases brought from the Interstate Commerce Commission. It gives the Commission control of classifications of freights as well as rates, and permits the Commission to begin investigations without waiting for complaints. Panama Canal (§ 234). — Congress has begun fortifying the canal. It has also exempted coastwise trading vessels which use the canal from the payment of tolls. National Taxes. — The sixteenth amendment to the National Constitution makes it possible to levy a national income tax, since the Supreme Court had denied the right before 1913 (§ 246). An income tax will by levied by the special session of Congress which met April 7, 1913. In 1909 Congress levied a corporation tax of one per cent on the net revenue of all corporations in the United States above an exempted minimum of $5000. This tax was abandoned in 1913. The "Rule of Reason" Method of Trust Control (§ 264). — The government of the United States has been quite successful in its suits against great trusts. The most important decisions of the Supreme Court in regard to trusts were the cases of the Standard Oil Company and of the Tobacco Trust, decided in May, 1911. The court decided that these trusts were monopolies and must be dissolved. It held that some of their acts were in restraint of interstate trade, but it stated that the "rule of reason" should be applied to ascertain whether any restraint was sufficient to make the act of restraint contrary to the Sherman Anti-trust Law. This practically, if not legally, reversed the position of the court as presented in the Northern Securities case (§ 263) and in earlier cases. The declaration of the court was opposed by many who thought that the court was trying to amend the Sherman Act, a power belonging to Congress. Changes in Land Laws (§ 278). The Ballinger-Pinchot controversy (1909) over the Alaskan and other coal lands aroused great interest in this form of conservation. In 1910 laws were passed which permitted the withdrawal of nearly one hundred million acres of coal lands, pending revaluation. Large deposits of petroleum, phosphate, and other valuable minerals have also been withdrawn from entry. In 1912 the national forest reserves covered nearly 190,000,000 acres. Postal Changes (§ 282). — A postal savings bank system 1 went into effect in 1912. It was tried in only a few towns at first, but has been extended to all first, second, and third class post offices and to about one tenth of the fourth class offices. A parcel post system was put into effect in 1913. The rates vary according to distance and weight. Packages may be sent to a maximum weight of twenty pounds. In 1912 the Post Office Department began sending periodicals by fast freight. For the first time in 30 years the Post Office Department showed an apparent excess of receipts. over expenditures. Apportionment for the House of Representatives, 1911 (§ 307). In 1911 the ratio was fixed at 1 member to 211,887 inhabitants, the number of members now being 435. The Department of Labor (§§ 330-341) was separated from the Department of Commerce and Labor, March 4, 1913, thus making ten regular members of the Cabinet for the first time in history. Supreme Court. In 1913 the Supreme Court of the United States was composed as follows: Chief Justice Edward D. White (La.). Associate Justice Willis Van Devanter (Wyo.). | Eighth 1910 Fifth 1910 Third 1912 Justice White was appointed an associate justice in 1894. During the four years he was in office, President Taft appointed five associate justices of the supreme court, and filled nearly one half of the national judgeships below the supreme court. |