cases of such illegal employment to the school committee and to the chief of the district police, or to the inspector of factories for the district. Inspectors of factories and truant officers may require that the age and schooling certificates and lists provided for in this act, of minots employed in such factories, workshops or mercantile establishments, shall be produced for their inspection. Complaints for offenses under this act shall be brought by inspectors of factories.

SEC. 9. Sections thirteen, fourteen, sixteen to twenty-five inclusive, sixty-seven, sixty-nine and seventy of chapter five hundred and eight of the acts of the year eigliteen hundred and ninety-four, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed.

SEC. 10. This act shall take effect on the first day of September in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

Approved June 2, 1898.

CHAPTER 496.-Manual training in public schools, and penalty for employing children unlawfully absent from school.

SECTION 1. schools.

*

Manual training

may be taught in the public

SEC. 4. Every town and city of twenty thousand or more inhabitants shall maintain as part of both its elementary and its high school system the teaching of manual training.

SEC. 31.

*Any person who

employs * * * while school is in session any child absent unlawfully from school, shall forfeit and pay a fine of not more than fifty dollars.

SEC. 36. Public Statutes;

*

Sections one

of chapter forty-four

of the chapter four hundred and seventy-one, and sections one of chapter four hundred and ninety-eight of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-four; are hereby repealed.

SEC. 37. This act shall take effect on the first day of September in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

Approved June 2, 1898.

CHAPTER 505.-—Deductions in wages of women and children prohibited.

SECTION 1. No deductions shall be made in the wages of women and minors who are paid by the day or hour, employed in manufacturing or mechanical establishments, for time during which the machinery is stopped, if said women and minors were refused the privilege of leaving the mill while the damage to said machinery was being repaired; and none of the employees referred to in this section shall be compelled to make up time lost through the breaking down of machinery unless said employees are compensated at their regular rates of wages: Provided, That said employees have been detained within their workrooms during the time of such break down.

SEC. 2. Any person, corporation, officer or agent who violates the provisions of this act shall be punished by fine not exceeding twenty dollars for each offense. Approved June 6, 1898.

CHAPTER 548.-Protection of employees as voters--Time to rote to be allowed.

SECTION 5. No person entitled to vote at a State election shall, upon the day of any such election, be employed in any manufacturing, mechanical or mercantile establishment, except such as may lawfully conduct its business on Sunday, during the period of two hours after the opening of the polls in the voting precinct or town in which he is entitled to vote, if he shall make application for leave of absence during such period.

SEC. 409. An owner, superintendent or overseer in any manufacturing, mechanical or mercantile establishment, except such as may lawfully conduct its business on Sunday, who employs or permits to be employed therein any person entitled to vote at a State election, during the period of two hours after the opening of the polls in the voting precinct or town in which such person is entitled to vote if he shall make application for leave of absence during such period, shall be punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.

SEC. 410. Whoever, by threatening to discharge a person from his employment or to reduce his wages, or by promising to give him employment at higher wages, attempts to influence a voter to give or to withhold his vote at an election, or whoever, because of the giving or withholding of a vote at an election, discharges a person from his employment or reduces his wages, shall be punished by imprisonment in jail not exceeding one year.

SEC. 418. Chapters four hundred and seventeen eighteen hundred and ninety-three; chapters

of the acts of the year two hundred and nine

of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety four; all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed. Approved June 21, 1898.

CHAPTER 577.-Loans secured by mortgages of personal property which is exempt fina attachment or by assignments of wages.

SECTION 1. No person, corporation or copartnership engaged in the business of making loans shall make any loan secured by mortgage or pledge of household farniture or other personal property exempt from attachment, or by assignment of wages for personal service, for less than two hundred dollars and at a rate of interest greater than twelve per cent, without first having obtained a license for carrying on such business in the city or town in which such business is transacted. Such licenses may be granted by the board of police of the city of Boston in and for said city, by the mayor and aldermen of any other city in and for such city, and by the selectmen of any town in and for such town.

SEC. 2. No such license shall be granted until the applicant or applicants theref shall file with the board authorized to grant the same a statement verified by oath, which in case of a corporation may be the oath of the president thereof or the agent thereof in charge of such business, setting forth the place in the city or town whre the business is to be carried on, the name or names, and the private and business address or addresses of the applicant or applicants, and, in case of a corporation, the State under the laws of which it is organized, and the name or names and private address or addresses of the clerk or secretary and the agent or other officer hav ing charge of its proposed business, nor until the applicant or applicants shail unless excused by the board authorized to grant the license, file with said board a power of attorney appointing some person satisfactory to the board to be his, their or its attorney, upon whom all lawful processes may be served in any action or proceeding arising under this act, with the same effect as if served upon sach applicant or applicants appointing such attorney. If any change occurs in the name or address of any licensee, or of the clerk, secretary or agent aforesaid of any licensed corporation, or in the place where the licensed business is carried on, or in the membership of any copartnership licensed, a true and full statement of such change, sworn to in the manner required above in the case of the original statement, shall forthwith be filed with the board granting the license. The board of officers granting any such license shall have full power to revoke the same for cause at any time after hearing.

SEC. 3. No license shall be issued unless or until the licensee or licensees named therein shall file with the treasurer of the city or town in which the business is to be carried on, a bond in a penal sum to be fixed by the licensing board, executed to said treasurer by said licensee or licensees, and by a surety or sureties, to b approved by a licensing board, which bond shall be conditioned for the faithful performance by the licensee or licensees, of the duties and obligations pertaining to the business so licensed, and the prompt payment of any final judgment recovered against the licensee or licensees, or for the payment of which any individual of the licensees may be legally bound under or by virtue of this act: Provided, however, That no sut at law or in equity shall be commenced or prosecuted against said sureties or either of them on any such bond until after thirty days from the time final judgment shall have been rendered against said licensee or licensees; but in any case at law or in equity under the provisions of this act against the licensee or licensees, when it shall be made to appear that the plaintiff is entitled to judgment or decree except for proceedings in bankruptcy or insolvency, or the discharge therein, of the licensee or licensees, the court may at any time, on motion, enter a special judgment or decree for the plaintiff for the amount of his debt, damages and costs, or for such other relief as he may be entitled to, and such bond shall be conditioned for the payment of such special judgment and compliance with such decree. Any person or pers ins aggrieved by a breach of the condition of such bond may sue and recover judgment upon such bond at his or their own expense and in his or their own behalf, but in the name of the obligee; and if any judgment for the defendant or defendants. for costs, shall be entered, execution therefor shall issue against the person or persons for whose benefit the suit is brought, as if he or they were the plaintiff or plaintiffs of record, but not against the obligee. In such snit like proceedings shall be had as in a suit by a creditor on an administration bond. The board issuing the license may at any time require the licensee or licensees to file one or more additional bonds of like nature and with like effect, and to give full information as to all judgments recovered on, or snits pending on, his or their bonds, at any time. On failure to tile any such bond required the license shall be revoked.

SEC. 4. In the case of any loan to which the provisions of this act app.y, a sum not exceeding two dollars if the loan does not exceed twenty-five dollars, not excceding ten dollars if the loan exceeds one hundred dollars, not exceeding three dollars if the loan exceeds twenty-five dollars but does not exceed fifty dollars, and not exceeding five dollars if the loan exceeds fifty dollars but does not exceed ono hundred dollars, may, if both parties to the loan so agree, be paid by the borrower or borrowers or added to the debt, and taken by the lender as the expense of making and securing the loan, and such sum shall not be counted as part of the interest of such loan. No greater sum than as above specified shall be taken for such purpose, and any sum paid, promised or taken in excess of such sum shall be deemed to be taken as interest and shall be so considered for the purposes of this act.

SEC. 5. The board of officers granting licenses in any city or town as provided in this act shall from time to time establish such rules and regulations with reference to the business carried on by the parties so licensed and the rate of interest to be charged by them as shall seem to said board to be necessary and proper. Said board in fixing said rate shall have due regard to the amount of the loan and the time for which it is made; and no person or party so licensed shall hereafter charge or receive upon any loan a greater rate of interest than that fixed by the board by which his license was issued.

SEC. 6. When any greater rate of interest or amount for expenses than is allowed under the provisions of this act has been paid upon any loan to which the provisions of this act apply the party paying the same may either by an action of contract or suit in equity recover back the amount of the unlawful interest with twice the legal costs, and no more, provided that the action or suit for the recovery of unlawful interest or expenses shall be brought within two years from the time of payment. SEC. 7. In case any loan to which the provisions of this act apply is secured by mortgage or pledge of personal property or by an assignment of wages the mortgage shall be discharged, the pledge restored, or the assignment released, upon payment or tender of the sum legally due under the provisions of this act, and such payment or tender may be made by the debtor, by any person duly authorized by him, or by any person having an interest in the property mortgaged or pledged or in the wages assigned. Whoever refuses or neglects, after request, to discharge a mortgage, release an assignment, or restore a pledge to the party entitled to receive the same, after payment of the debt secured thereby or the tender of the amount due thereon as aforesaid, shall be liable in an action of tort to the borrower or borrowers for all damages thereby resulting to him or them.

SEC. 8. No mortgage or pledge of personal property or assignment of wages to which the provisions of this act apply shall be valid unless it states, with substantial accuracy, the actual amount of the loan, the time for which the loan is made, the rate of interest to be paid, and the expense for making and securing the loan; nor unless it contains a provision that the debtor shall be notified, in the manner provided in section seven of chapter one hundred and ninety-two of the Public Statutes, of the time and place of any sale to be made in foreclosure proceedings at least seven days before such sale. And no notice of intention to foreclose under sections seven or ten of said chapter shall be valid in such case, unless it expressly states where such notice is to be recorded and that the right of redemption will be foreclosed sixty days after such recording. At any time after twenty days from the date of any such mortgage if the same has not been recorded the holder thereof shall forthwith on demand and payment or tender of one dollar, give to the mortgager, or any person interested in the mortgaged property, a copy of the mortgage and note or obligation secured thereby, which such holder or holders shall certify to be a true copy thereof.

SEC. 9. Whenever any payment is made on account of any loan to which the provisions of this act apply the person receiving the payment or his principal shall, when the payment is taken, give the person paying, a receipt setting forth the amount then paid and the amount previously paid, and identifying the loan, note, mortgage or assignment to which it is to be applied.

SEC. 10. Any person or persons not being duly licensed as provided in this act who, on his or their own account, or on account of any other person or persons, copartnership or corporation not so licensed, shall engage in or carry on, directly or indirectly, either separately or in connection with or as part of any other business, the business of making loans to which the provisions of this act apply, shall be pun ished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the house of correction not more than sixty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. SEC. 11. Chapter three hundred and eighty-eight of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and eighty-eight and chapter four hundred and twenty-eight of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-two, shall not apply to any loan of less than two hundred dollars made by any person holding a license under this act, nor shall this act affect any right of action which has accrued under either of said acts prior to the passage of this act. Nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to licensed

pawnbrokers, or to repeal or affect section thirty-four of chapter one hundred and two, or section six of chapter one hundred and ninety-two of the Public Statutes. chapter four hundred and ninety-seven of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, chapter one hundred and eighty-three of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-six, or so much of section three of chapter seventy-seven of the Public Statutes as provides that when there is no agreement for a different rate the interest of money shall be at the rate of six dollars upon each hundred dollars for a year.

SEC. 12. This act shall take effect on the first day of September in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

Approved June 23, 1898.

RESOLVES CHAPTER 78.-Bureau of statistics of labor -- Investigation of labor and cooperative insurance.

Resolved, That the burean of statistics of labor is hereby instructed to make an investigation into the subject-matter of labor and cooperative insurance and profit sharing, whereby provision is made to secure to employees either a share of the profit, or sick and mortuary benefits, as well as annuities, after a certain period of employment, or after reaching a certain age, and report to the general court as soon as convenient such data and statistics as it may be able to obtain in this country as well as abroad, with such comments or suggestions as may be deemed advisable. The expenses of such investigation, which shall not exceed the sum of one thousand dollars, shall be paid from the treasury of the Commonwealth.

Approved April 22, 1898.

1

RECENT GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.

[The Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments have consented to furnish statements of all contracts for constructions and repairs entered into by them. These, as received, will appear from time to time in the Bulletin.]

The following contracts have been made by the office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury:

BROCKTON, MASS.-October 1, 1898. Contract with McIlvain, Unkefer Company, Pittsburg, Pa., for the construction of post-office, except heating apparatus and electric-wire conduits, $42,353. Work to be completed within twelve months.

ST. ALBANS, VT.-October 10, 1898. Contract with Huey Brothers, Boston, Mass., for low-pressure, return-circulation, steam-heating and ventilating apparatus for custom-house and post-office, $4,000. Work to be completed within sixty-five working days.

BOISE, IDAHO.-November 1, 1898. Contract with Finegan & Eastman for excavation, foundation, stone work of basement exterior walls, etc., for public building, $8,243.95. Work to be completed within four months.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.-November 5, 1898. Contract with Chas. MeCaul for superstructure (except interior finish) including certain piers, interior walls, etc., in basement, and constructive steel work of floors, roofs, etc., for new mint, $441,743. Work to be completed within eighteen months.

7443-No. 19——9

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