231 Mass. 99 | Mass. | 1918
The question presented by this record is the constitutionality of St. 1912, c. 706, as amended by St. 1913, cc. 330, and 673, and St. 1914, c. 368, establishing the minimum wage commission. Sections 1 and 2 of the act regulate the appointment, compensation, clerical assistance and office accommodations of the commission. Section 3 states its duty to be “to inquire into the wages paid to the female employees in any occupation in the Commonwealth, if the commission has reason to believe that the wages paid to a substantial number of such employees are inadequate to supply the necessary cost of living and to maintain the worker in health.” Section 4 authorizes the commission, when of opinion after investigation that the wages of a substantial number of women in any occupation are thus inadequate, to form a wage board composed of an equal numbér of representatives of the employers and of the employees in the specified industry and of one or more representatives of the public, not exceeding one half the
Doubtless one aim of the act is to bring to bear the force of public opinion in support of the acceptance of the recommendations of the commission. This' may be a kind of coercion. But it can go no further than ascertained and published facts induce members of the public as individuals to the action of giving or withholding custom or patronage. The public money could not be expended for the support of the commission unless its functions related to a public as distinguished from a private matter. It hardly can be pronounced a matter utterly devoid of common interest to ascertain whether and to what extent substantial numbers of working women are receiving wages “inadequate to supply the necessary cost of living and to maintain the worker in health.” Restraint upon freedom of contract by women and children has been recognized as an appropriate exercise of the police power in numerous cases. See, for example, Berdos v. Tremont & Suffolk Mills, 209 Mass. 489; Commonwealth v. Riley, 210 Mass. 387; Desmond v. Young, 173 Mass. 90. The kind of constraint, which may arise from making public facts and conclusions at the expense of the Commonwealth, would involve other considerations if directed to affairs in which there could be no legitimate general interest directed to the rational promotion of the public health, order, morals and in a restricted sense the common welfare.
Merely for the purpose of illustrating the extent of the public interest in matters involving primarily and chiefly private concerns, numerous decisions are pertinent.
Interference with liberty of contract by employer and employee to the extent of requiring weekly payments of wages, Opinion of the Justices, 163 Mass. 589, and of limiting the hours of labor of women and minors, Commonwealth v. Hamilton Manuf. Co. 120 Mass. 383, Commonwealth v. Riley, 210 Mass. 387, Commonwealth v. John T. Connor Co. 222 Mass. 299, has been sustained. Freedom of contract as to small loans has been seriously curtailed by statutes which have withstood attacks upon their constitutionality. In Commonwealth v. Danziger, 176 Mass. 290, the requirement of a license for those making such loans was sus
The Supreme Court of the United States has upheld statutes requiring employers who pay wages in scrip, store orders, or other evidences of indebtedness, to redeem them in cash, Knoxville Iron Co. v. Harbison, 183 U. S. 13, Keokee Consolidated Coke Co. v. Taylor, 234 U. S. 224, forbidding persons to. deal in stocks on margin, Otis v. Parker, 187 U. S. 606, proscribing a fee in excess of $10 to any person for preparing and prosecuting a pension claim, Frisbie v. United States, 157 U. S. 160, 165, prohibiting contracts to pay wages less often than twice each month, Erie Railroad v. Williams, 233 U. S. 685, making illegal the sale of lard in bulk in small quantities or except in containers holding designated weights, Armour & Co. v. North Dakota, 240 U. S. 510, inhibiting the sale of, loaves of bread of other than standard weights fixed by the statute, Schmidinger v. Chicago, 226 U. S. 578, see Commonwealth v. McArthur, 152 Mass. 522, prohibiting washing and ironing in public laundries between specified hours, Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U. S. 27, requiring wages earned but not due to be paid immediately upon discharge, with or without cause, of any servant or employee, regardless of • contract respecting the subject, St. Louis, Iron Mountain & St. Paul Railway v. Paul, 173 U. S. 404, changing. the rules of the common law as to fellow servants, assumption of risk, contributory negligence and recovery for death caused by negligence, and prohibiting contracts to avoid the effect of that change, Second Employers’ Liability Cases, 223 U. S. 1, 49-52, Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad v. Schubert, 224 U. S. 603, and forbidding the manufacture of oleomargarine, Hammond Packing Co. v. Montana, 233 U. S. 331. Taxation to the extent of prohibition of contracts as to trading stamps has been upheld. Rast v. Van Deman & Lewis, 240 U. S. 342, 368. A statute' making it unlawful to pay miners employed at quantity rates upon the basis of screened coal instead of its weight as originally mined in mines where ten or more men were employed underground, has been decided not to violate the Fourteenth
Reference is made to these authorities solely to indicate the range of the public interest respecting matters of private relations, and not to intimate whether they afford any foundation for a compulsory ; minimum wage law. These decisions rest at bottom on the proposition that the public welfare in respect to health, morals and safety bears so close, a relation to the subjects dealt with in the several statutes as to justify legislative regulation.
The present act may have had its origin in the belief that women and minors in some branches of industry, under the constraint of necessity to earn their living, were working for wages less
The natural and inalienable rights are secured to each member of society by arts. 1, 10 and 12 of the Declaration of Rights of our Constitution to enjoy liberty, to acquire, possess and defend property and to seek and obtain safety and happiness, and to be protected by law in the exercise of these rights. Freedom of contract in a broad sense is a constitutional right. "Liberty” as used in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
There are limits to the right of the public to inquire into private affairs. The coercion resulting from legislation, in form not compulsory, may in practice be so severe as to leave no alternative save compliance. In such a case its validity would depend not upon its form but its substance. But it is not necessary to discuss limitations of this character, for the reason that the present statute does not according to its terms reach into that realm. There is nothing in the record to warrant the inference that such is its actual effect. The inducements held out by this act to employers to accept the recommendations of the commission in principle do not go beyond those of the workmen’s com
As has been pointed out, the present statute does not impair liberty of contract. Absolute freedom to make any contract respecting wages is left untouched.' Notwithstanding its terms, still “An employer has a right to engage all persons who are willing to work for him, at such prices as' may be mutually agreed upon; and persons employed or seeking employment have a corresponding right to enter into or remain in the employment of any person or corporation willing to employ them.” Vegelahn v. Guntner, 167 Mass. 92, 97. The right of every man is undisturbed “to determine what branch of business he will pursue, and to make his own contracts with whom he pleases and on the best terms he can.” Carew v. Rutherford, 106 Mass. 1, 14. Opinion of the Justices, 163 Mass. 589, 595. Commonwealth v. Perry, 155 Mass. 117.
There is no undue invasion of the right of privacy assuming that that is an element of the constitutional right to seek and obtain “safety and happiness.”
The principles on which the boycott and blacklist are held unlawful, as set forth in Pickett v. Walsh, 192 Mass. 572, Burnham v. Dowd, 217 Mass. 351, Cornellier v. Haverhill Shoe Manufacturers’ Association, 221 Mass. 554, and other decisions, have no application to the official publications authorized by this statute.
The statute does not take' property of the employer for the reasons already stated.
Since the statute is not compulsory either in form or effect, there is no ground for holding that it is invalid because not affording equal protection of the laws. Whatever might be said about certain provisions of the act in this regard, if it were mandatory, there is no occasion now to discuss that matter. The principles
The analysis of the act already made demonstrates that it is not open to objection as an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. In this respect the statute is well within the authority of numerous decisions. Brodbine v. Revere, 182 Mass. 598. Commonwealth v. Kingsbury, 199 Mass. 542. Commonwealth v. Sisson, 189 Mass. 247. Commonwealth v. Hyde, 230 Mass. 6. Boston, petitioner, 221 Mass. 468. It is plain also that it does not confer judicial powers upon the commission. Nelson v. State Board of Health, 186 Mass. 330. Binan v. Swig, 223 Mass. 516, 520. It follows that the statute does not violate art. 30 of the Declaration of Rights. Boston v. Chelsea, 212 Mass. 127.
There is no criminal element about the act so far as it concerns the employer. The facts which the commission is authorized to ascertain and the evidence which it is empowered to seek from employers cannot form the basis of a criminal proceeding, because no crime is created and no prosecution is provided for. Revealing the information or answering the questions required by the statute cannot subject the employer to penalty or forfeiture, and does not expose him to imputation of crime. Therefore the constitutional prohibition against a subject being “compelled to accuse, or furnish evidence against himself” is not violated. Aft. 12 of the Declaration of Rights. Commonwealth v. Willard, 22 Pick. 476, 477. It follows that there is no foundation for the contention of the respondents that they are subjected to punishment without proper notice, or complaint, or hearing, or trial by jury.
It is not necessary to consider the scope and validity of § 15 of St. 1912, c. 706, which purports to compel newspapers to públish notices and findings of the commission at its regular rates for space, and of § 16, which purports to exonerate the commission and publishers and proprietors of newspapers from liability for damages for such publication, except for wilful misrepresentation. Those sections are not involved on this record and are left entirely open for future consideration. Even if they should be found to transcend in any respect the power of the
The act as it has been interpreted does not seem to us to violate any provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The reasons upon which this decision rests, as already stated, appear to us to make this conclusion clear. Holding ourselves strictly bound by the decisions of the United States Supreme Court upon which the respondents rely, such as Coppage v. Kansas, 236 U. S. 1, 17, 18, Adair v. United States, 208 U. S. 161, Smith v. Texas, 233 U. S. 630, Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45, (see Bunting v. Oregon, 243 U. S. 426,) Japanese Immigrant Case, 189 U. S. 86, 100, Loewe v. Lawlor, 208 U. S. 274, Gompers v. Bucks Stove & Range Co. 221 U. S. 418, 437, 438, 439, Hawkins v. Bleakly, 243 U. S. 210, Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277, 320, 327, Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Garrett, 231 U. S. 298, 307, and Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, none of them in our opinion are at variance with the result here reached.
The grounds upon which this decision is put make wholly unnecessary consideration of the question whether a mandatory TnrniTmvm wage law would violate the provisions of our Constitution. They also render superfluous a prophecy whether such an act will be held by the United States Supreme Court to be contrary to the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See, in this connection, Stettler v. O’Hara, 69 Ore. 519, affirmed by an equally divided court, Mr. Justice Brandéis taking no part in the consideration and decision, in Stettler v. O’Hara, 243 U. S. 629, State v. Crowe, 130 Ark. 272, Williams v. Evans, 139 Minn. 32, and Larsen v. Rice, 171 Pac. Rep. 1037.
Writ to issue.