In the next Congress,
1899-1901, the eight-hour bill once more passed the House of
Representatives only to be lost in the Senate by failure to come to a
vote. In 1902, the bill again unanimously passed the House, but was not
even reported upon by the Senate committee. In the hearings upon the
eight-hour bill in that year the opposition of the National
Manufacturers' Association was first manifested. In 1904 the House Labor
Committee sidetracked a similar bill by recommending that the Department
of Commerce and Labor should investigate its merits. Secretary Metcalf,
however, declared that the questions submitted to his Department with
reference to the eight-hour bill were "well-nigh unintelligible." In
1906 the House Labor Committee, at a very late stage in the session,
reported "favorably" upon the eight-hour bill. At the same time it
eliminated all chances of passage of the bill through the failure of a
majority of the members of the committee to sign the "favorable" report
made. This session of Congress, also, allowed a "rider" to be added to
the Panama Canal bill, exempting the canal construction from the
provisions of the eight-hour law.
Pages:
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292