RAILWAY STATISTICS. We have not received returns from all the blanks sent out from this department to the railways, and, consequently, take the report made by the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Company, it being the fullest and most complete return made, as a basis, so that some idea at least may be had as to the salaries paid the 19,486 men in Missouri engaged in working upon and operating the several railroad lines. that traverse this State. LABOR LAWS. At the suggestion of a number of representatives of the laboring classes, we have reproduced the labor laws of Missouri. In addition, however, to those published in our last report, we have added what is known as the "Truck Law." This was an act of the legislature of 1881, and forbids the payment by employers to their employes in any commodity whatsoever, and requires them to pay in legal money of the United States. The bill creating this law was introduced by the Hon. James Carroll, of St. Louis, and has had a very salutary effect. In other States, where the legislatures have appropriated more money for the expenses of their Labor Bureaus, the "Labor Laws" have been published in pamphlet form and mailed to laborers and those interested in the laboring classes. The nearest we can approach this is to print them in our reports. |