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PREFACE

WITH the advance of the sciences in our colleges and universities has come a realization, steadily spreading over other academic departments, that the process of learning is aided by the use of the inductive methods of the laboratory. The student's grasp of a subject is made more certain, his critical sense is better developed, and his capacity for reflective and constructive thinking is increased, if his acquaintance with a subject is not limited to secondary, predigested material. The generalizations of text writers who are authorities in their fields, their criticisms, and their proposals mean more to students who have formed a first-hand acquaintance with the sources upon which those conclusions are based. This is the justification for the publication of the present book. It is a collection of illustrative material bearing upon the major problems which have grown out of the relations between the government and labor in the United States. Nearly all of it is of an official nature-judicial decisions, statutes, and administrative decisions and reports.

That the field is one of growing importance is evidenced by the larger attention given to it in newspapers and other periodical literature, by the amount of time consumed in legislative assemblies in considering bills relating to labor, by the many cases involving labor that come before the courts, and by the increase in the number of academic courses dealing with the relations between the government and labor. Hitherto, students of the subject have been compelled to rely largely upon secondary material because of the bulk and relative inaccessibility of the sources. The purpose of the editors, in making this compilation of original material, is to make it possible for the student to see the mill at work, to sample the grist that enters it and the meal that it produces.

Each selection has been carefully chosen after a critical exploration of the field and has been carefully edited with a view to saving as much space as possible without detracting from the didactic value. This textual material is designed to give a general knowledge of the more important rules or practices, and to afford a basis for class discussion in which their application can be clarified and fixed in mind, and corollaries, implications, and criticisms can be elaborated. This process is facilitated by the inclusion in each section of a list of ques

tions related to the main theme of that section and its ramifications. The Government and Labor is designed for use as the basic text by instructors who favor the extension of the case method in the teaching of the social sciences, but might well be supplemented by a text of the orthodox type, such as Commons and Andrews' well-known Principles of Labor Legislation, for the sake of the general background and the practice in other countries. It may also be used as a book of readings to supplement such a text by those who prefer that method of instruction.

It seems almost ungracious not to include Agnes Nearing Coombs as a third editor of this collection. Her work in supervising the copying of the selections from the many and various sources, the greater part of which she did herself, her advice and criticism of many parts of the collection, and her assistance in the laborious tasks of checking over the material and of proof-reading have done much to make the completion of the book possible.

Professor J. R. Commons and Mrs. Anna C. Davis, of the University of Wisconsin, Professor H. A. Millis, of the University of Chicago, and Mr. E. E. Witte, of the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library, have been kind enough to look over the manuscript and have given welcome suggestions and encouragement. The book in mimeographed form has been tried out and worked over in our own classes, and we appreciate both the patience and the cooperation of the students thus experimented upon.

We are especially indebted to Mr. F. B. Crossley, librarian of the Northwestern University Law School, for the many favors extended to us in connection with the use of the library.

Finally, acknowledgment should be made of the kindness of writers and publishers who have permitted the use of copyrighted matter as indicated in footnotes at the proper places.

ALBERT R. ELLINGWOOD

WHITNEY COOMBS

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