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Although they don't use those exact words, that's what the purpose of the New York Labor Department was. It was to provide for the regulation of this strange relationship between master and servant, in which, because of the large numbers that were employed by one employer, instead of the old master-servant direct relationship, the employer was no longer able to really know what was the best thing for his employees. It was to provide an administrative office which was to look into the conditions of working people in the State of New York. The State of New York charter is very good and it's been copied by the other states.

It states that they shall first investigate the conditions of the working people of the State of New York and then the conditions upon which they labor. Then they shall report upon the same to the Governor and to the Legislature and make recommendations for any legislation of procedure that may be necessary to correct unfortunate abuses.

That's what it was all about. That was the core of the program. I think that the use of the word “labor” to mean organized labor was purely a short-cut in semantics. The whole philosophical concept of labor as being a class-conscious group didn't go far in the United States. Those that did come here from Germany in the sixties did so