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It is held by the courts of some of the States that, as industrial enterprises have grown, and, because of the division of labor and the magnitude of operations, have been divided into distinct and separate departments, a laborer in one department is not a fellowservant with a laborer in another and separate department of the same establishment.

INCOMPETENCY OF FELLOW-SERVANTS.-If an employer knowingly employs or retains an incompetent servant he is liable for an injury to a fellow-servant sustained through the incompetency of the servant so employed or retained, provided the injured servant did not know and had not the means of knowing the incompetency of his fellow-servant. A master is not, however, liable for injuries to one servant by the negligence of another on the ground of unskillfulness of the latter unless the injuries were caused by such unskillfulness.

A master does not warrant the competency of his servants, but must use all ordinary care and diligence in their selection and retention. If he has not been negligent in selecting a servant, and subsequently obtains knowledge of the servant's incompetence and still retains him, he is liable to another servant for any injury resulting from said incompetence. If the employer had no actual notice of the servant's incompetence, if it was notorious and of such a character that with proper care he would have known of it, he will still be liable.

If a person, knowing the hazards of his employment as it is conducted, voluntarily continues therein without any promise by the master to do any act to render the same less hazardous, the master will not be liable for an injury he may sustain therein, unless it is caused by the willful act of the master. No servant is entitled to damages resulting from the incompetence of a fellowservant when he knew of such incompetence and did not inform his employer of the same.

When it is alleged that the master has been guilty of selecting or retaining an incompetent servant, the burden of proof of said allegation is on the plaintiff. Neither incompetency nor unskillfulness will be presumed; they must be proved.

A master who has employed skillful and competent general agents or superintendents is liable for injuries received by inferior. servants through the negligence of those employed by such general agents or superintendents without due care or inquiry, or retained by them after knowledge of their incompetence.

While the servant assumes the ordinary risks, and, as a general rule, such extraordinary risks of his employment as he knowingly and voluntarily encounters, he is not required to exercise the same degree of care as the master in investigating the risks to which he may be exposed; he has the right to assume that the appliances and machinery furnished him by the master are safe and suitable for the employment in which he is engaged; and to assume, when engaged in an occupation attended with danger and

requiring engrossing duties, that the master will not, without proper warning, subject him to other dangers unknown to him, and from which his occupation necessarily distracts his attention; and he has the right to rely upon the taking by the master of all usual and proper precautions against accident, and his faithful. fulfillment of all the duties devolving upon him.

If an employee is ordered by his master into a situation of danger and obeys, he does not assume the risk unless the danger was so obvious that no prudent man would have obeyed the order; and the master will be liable for any injury resulting to him by reason of such dangerous employment. If, however, he leaves his own place of work for one more dangerous, in violation of the master's direction, he can not recover for an injury sustained after such change.

If the servant, upon being ordered to perform duties more dangerous than those embraced in his original employment, undertakes the same with knowledge of their dangerous character, unwillingly and from fear of losing his employment, he can not, if injured, recover damages from the master; nor can he recover such damages where the injury results from an unexpected cause during the course of his employment; nor where the injury is sustained in the performance of a service not within the scope of his duty, if his opportunity for observing the danger is equal to that of his employer; and where an employee voluntarily assumes a risk he thereby waives the provisions of a statute made for his protection.

PROTECTION OF GARMENT WORKERS IN SWEAT SHOPS IN MARYLAND.

[January session, 1896, chapter 363, public local laws.]

131A. It shall not be lawful for any person, agent, owner, or proprietor of any sweat shop or factory where four or more persons are employed, to use any coal oil, gasoline, or any other explosive or inflammable compound for the purpose of lighting or heating in any form; any person, agent, owner or proprietor violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, be fined by the court before whom such conviction is had for every violation, the sum of one hundred dollars and costs, and stand committed until such fine and costs be paid.

131B. The owner or owners of any such house or building used as a sweat shop or factory where four or more persons are employed as garment workers, on other than the first floor of such house or building, shall provide fire escapes for the same, and if any owner or owners of any such house or building so used, fail to make or provide a fire escape within six months after the passage of this act, upon conviction thereof, shall pay a fine of two

hundred dollars to be recovered as other fines in this State, or imprisonment in the city jail for sixty days, or both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

SEC. 2.

And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect from the date of its passage.

Approved April 4, 1896.

EXTRACT RELATING TO LABOR FROM THE NEW CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

ARTICLE V, SECTION 33. Circuit courts and all courts inferior thereto and municipal courts shall have the power, in their discretion, to impose sentence of labor upon highways, streets, and other public works upon persons by them sentenced to imprisonment.

ARTICLE IX, SECTION 15. Every employee of any railroad corporation shall have the same rights and remedies for any injury suffered by him from the acts or omissions of said corporation or its employees as are allowed by law to other persons not employees, when the injury results from the negligence of a superior agent or officer, or of a person having a right to control or direct the services of a party injured, and also when the injury results from the negligence of a fellow-servant engaged in another department of labor from that of the party injured, or of a fellow-servant on another train of cars, or one engaged about a different piece of work. Knowledge by any employee injured of the defective or unsafe character or condition of any machinery, ways or appliances shall be no defense to an action for injury caused thereby, except as to conductors or engineers in charge of dangerous or unsafe cars or engines voluntarily operated by them. When death ensues from any injury to employees, the legal or personal representatives of the person injured shall have the same right and remedies as are allowed by law to such representatives of other persons. Any contract or agreement, expressed or implied, made by any employee to waive the benefit of this section shall be null and void; and this section shall not be construed to deprive any employee of a corporation, or his legal or personal representative, of any remedy or right that he now has by the law of the land. The general assembly may extend the remedies herein provided for to any other class of employees.

ARTICLE XII, SECTION 6. All convicts sentenced to hard labor by any of the courts of this State may be employed upon the public works of the State or of the counties and upon the public highways.

PART VI.

STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURES.

1. NUMBER EMPLOYED.

2. AVERAGE HOURS OF LABOR.

3. PROPORTION OF BUSINESS DONE.

4. AMOUNT PAID IN WAGES.

5. WAGE RATES.

6. ANALYSIS.

( 291 ).

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