The  laws  passed  daring  the  year  relating  to  labor  continue
to  exhibit  the  strong  disposition  to  favor  the  working  classes
which  has  been  for  so  many  years  a  marked  feature  of  our
legislation.
California,  Minnesota  and  Utah  have,  by  stringent  laws,
provided  that  eight  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work  on  all
public  works  or  contracts,  and  an  act  of  the  Montana  legisla-
ture has,  in  the  case  of  mining  operations,  so  far  as  under-
ground work  is  concerned,  applied  the  eight-hour  limit  of  the
working  day  to  individual  employers  as  well  as  corporations,  with
a  criminal  penalty  for  a  violation  of  the  law.  This,  although
following  precedents  already  existing  in  previous  legislative  or
in  constitutional  provisions,  is  a  noteworthy  incident,  for  it  would
appear  that  if  the  legislature  can  prescribe  the  hours  of  labor
between  the  individual  employer  and  employee  in  regard  to  the
work  involved  in  one  sort  of  private  enterprise,  it  will  suggest
and  facilitate  an  advance  to  the  position  that  the  legislature
can  prescribe  the  hours  of  work  in  all  private  contracts  for
labor  of  any  kind.
The  Colorado  Eight-hour  Law,  so-called,  passed  in  1899,
has  been  held  invalid  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  on
the  ground  that  it  provided  for  the  health  of  the  miner  and  no
other  class  of  citizens,  and  was  class  legislation,  and  in  viola-
tion of  the  State  Bill  of  Rights.  This  has  led  to  the  submis-
sion to  the  people,  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  the
present  year,  of  an  amendment  to  the  State  constitution  in-
tended to  remove  the  obstacles  which  led  the  court  to  hold  the
former  act  invalid.
