Author: Quincy, Josiah [VI]
Title: [Als] Josiah Quincy Commentary on English Influence over Labor Laws & Manufacturing
Description: Boston, 1887. [4] pp. Bifolium. 4.5 x 7 inches. Dated and signed December 21st, 1887, Josiah Quincy and addressed to F.C. Griswold, in answer to a letter pertaining to labor law and manufacturing exemptions. Quincy draws from England's model, stating: "The establishment you name we excepted from the operation of the acts on the theory that their provisions would not be applied to establishments where the nature of the work was such that it was necessary to carry on the process of manufacture continuously, it being impractical, at any rate at times, to entirely suspend the work. The list of exemptions was taken exactly, if my memory serves me, from similar English act as it seemed on such a light investigation as was made that the methods of manufacture employed in those establishments in this state were so similar to those in England that the same reason for exemption, namely the necessary continuance without interruption of the process of manufacture, applied equally here. As to the propriety of these exemptions, I satisfied myself that in some cases, for instance in print works and dyeing establishments, they are absolutely necessary; the fact that they made in the very careful and strict English legislation is a strong argument for their necessity in the other cases named, and it certainly seems probable that the processes have, at any rate at times, to be continuous. "The gentleman who represented the manufacturers before the committee on labor of course asked for the same exemptions as in the English law and no reason was suggested why they should not be made. Of course legislation cannot be carried so far in the direction of protecting employees that such processes as dyeing etc. would have to be absolutely abandoned or else a separate set of hands engaged to work during meal times. I should not like to give anymore definite opinion on the matter without fuller investigation." Josiah Quincy VI (1859 -1919) was a Massachusetts lawyer-politician from a political dynasty, both his grandfather and great grandfather, serving as Mayors of Boston, as he would in 1896. A Democrat, he was a member of Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1887 to 1888, as was F. C. Griswold, his correspondent. Freeman Clark Griswold (1858-1910), Yale & Harvard Law (1884) was the son of American abolitionist & lawyer Whiting Griswold. He was one of the charter members and founders of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusetts, and was also elected to the Legislature in 1887. Very good, two hole punches along top margin folded, affecting one letter.

Keywords: , Americana, Law, Massachusetts , Labor Law, Manuscript Law


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